30 Day Movie Challenge: Day 1- Accidental Love (2015)

Alright as I said before, this is the real 30 day movie challenge that you guys should be doing because it so easy to watch a film that you already have before. Why not take the challenge of checking out films you never have and support filmmakers everywhere. For day one, I said to watch a film from your favorite actor and one of my favorite actors happens to be Jake Gyllenhaal (Okja) and the film I chose for today is 2015's Accidental Love which was directed by David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook). The film stars Jessica Biel (The Illusionist) as small town girl Alice Eckle who seems to have it all from a cool job to a loving police officer boyfriend, but all of that is taken away when she is struck in the head with a nail gun lodging a nail inside her skull. Unfortunately for her, she has really bad health insurance and she decides to go to Washington to confront her local congressman Howard Birdwell (Gyllenhaal), but even that proves to be a challenge. The film also stars Tracy Morgan (Cop Out) as Keyshawn, Kurt Fuller (Ghostbusters II) as Reverend Norm, Malinda Williams (High School High) as Rakeesha, James Marsden (Sonic The Hedgehog) as Scott, Catherine Keener (The 40 Year Old Virgin) as Rep. Pam Hendrickson, Paul Reubens (Flight Of The Navigator) as Edwin, James Brolin (The Amityville Murder) as Speaker Buck McCoy, Beverly D'Angelo (National Lampoon Vacation) as Helen Eckle, and Kirstie Alley (Look Who's Talking) as Aunt Rita.

This was surprisingly a pretty good film that I didn't even know existed until I searched for Jake Gyllenhaal films on Amazon Prime. There were some scenes in the film's writing that just felt a little forced at times, but other than that it was just a fun movie to watch. Two actors in this film really surprised me and I feel the film would have lacked if they were not in it and that is Tracy Morgan and his blown out asshole (in the film) and Kurt Fuller and his permanent erection that was now chaffing with his leg (in the film). Those two provided me with some laughs throughout the film that were much needed because Biel at times was drowning. There were times when you could tell she was trying to be funny and it just didn't work at times. The one thing I did like however was her dynamic with Gyllenhaal who was great as the dumb witted rookie senator who has no idea how anything really works in the senate. Their love story works for the reason that they are both sad individuals who seriously need each other. I loved James Marsden in the film with his percentages of how he felt things were going to go like there was a 65/35 percent chance this would happen and etc. (watch the film to know more). I definitely do not regret watching the film because it had some good cinematography and overall it was a cool story. I am going to give the film an B- for a final grade.

The Illusionist (2006)

One of my favorite actors to emerge in the 1990's was the one and only Edward Norton (The Score) who impressed me tremendously with American History X. It is very rare to find an Edward Norton picture that doesn't live up to the hype, but there are also a lot of films that have slipped through the cracks and today's film is one of them. Tubi, a free app presented the opportunity for me to see the 2006 film The Illusionist which was adapted for the screen and directed by Neil Burger (Limitless). The film stars Norton as Eisenheim the Illusionist, a man who abilities to do things that are dazzling people in turn of the century Vienna, Austria. It dazzles them so much so that he is able to secure the long lost love of his life (who is above his social class), but it comes with as very deep cost. The film also stars Jessica Biel (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) as Sophie, Paul Giamatti (Private Parts) as Inspector Uhl, Rufus Sewell (A Knight's Tale) as Crown Prince Leopold, Eddie Marsan (The Gentlemen) as Josef Fischer, Jake Wood (EastEnders) as Jurka, Tom Fisher (The Mummy Returns) as Willigut, Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Avengers: Age Of Ultron) as Young Eisenheim, Eleanor Tomlinson (Jack The Giant Slayer) as Young Sophie, and Karl Johnson (Hot Fuzz) as The Doctor.

I don't think this was my favorite Edward Norton film and it 's not even because of his performance because that was absolutely amazing. I just thought that while the story was cool it wasn't super exciting or on the edge of your seat kind of stuff. I think the first half of the film is great and the pacing is wonderful as you see him do all of these amazing tricks and the story to get the girl is great, but the last half of the film was just a little slow. The whole time, you were wondering what was going to be his way to get revenge on this evil crown prince guy and you do not find out the juice until the very end of the film. Your left with the notion of how clever it was, but in the back of your mind you sort of had an idea that was what was going to happen. As I said before, Edward was absolutely fantastic in this film as he took total charge of the film and camera time with confidence. He is only rivaled by one man in the film and that was definitely Rufus Sewell who played a very good asshole in the film making him the perfect villain for this film. I loved the sets and I loved the overall tones of the film which were kind of medieval or primal if that makes any sense. You sense the fact that everything was lit by candlelight in those days so it has that tone to it. The film as I said before is available on Tubi, but it is also available to watch on IMDB right now as we speak. So, I definitely think you should check this one out and I am going to give it an an B+ for a final grade.