"I'm gonna go to the movies. Because I don't want to feel anything" - The Dark Shape, probably

I don't demand anything from films. What an idiotic thing to do.

OH GOD. YOU'VE BROKEN ME, BRO! WHAT WILL I DO WITH MY LIFE NOW?!

Go back to believing that you know shit.

Uh-huh. Go back to watching 500 Days of Summer, champ.

I like you TDS, but that is the worst excuse of a diss ever.

Silver Linings Playbook

So I just watched this, thought I'd check it out seeing as though it's nominated for a lot of Oscars. A good film is one that has the ability to grip you right off the bat, and this gripped me. Perhaps it was the decision to allow Pat's story to take effect before introducing Tiffany, I don't know, but it just grabbed me and I enjoyed it until the credits. You know, with an Oscar film, it's very easy to award them a higher than normal grade because you have the safety of knowledge that a bunch of respected industry professionals also grade it highly, and this is true of Silver Linings Playbook. I'd say this is a very well-made film, one of the best of the year.

Robert De Niro, Bradley Cooper and Jacki Weaver were fantastic. Really, really great. They all deserve to win their Oscar acting categories. Bradley Cooper was especially good. I loved his temperamental aura, which matched his bi-polar character trait. That's real acting. I didn't think Cooper was up to it, but after seeing Silver Linings, I am happy to admit I was wrong. Jennifer Lawrence was good too, but not award-winning level. I actually think any 20-something actress could have played that role. But she did good enough and it made the film click.

I liked the ending. Some parts of it were obvious, with none of it being a surprise, but it played out well enough, and I was glad he didn't choose his wife, the two-timing bitch. I also thought that Chris Tucker was good. He's lost his annoyingly high-pitched voice and is more likeable as a result. The script was great, and the scenes with De Niro in the family setting were absolutely awesome - reminded me so much of the manic atmosphere in our house when all of the family are present. I don't think I'm over-selling this when I say that the script was excellent. I really loved it. Especially Cooper's character, Pat, and De Niro's father character. He was some crazy American Football fan, that's all he cared about, and all Pat cared about was getting to see his wife again, but there was this whole tangled web of agendas in the middle of that. Just a good, likeable, watchable film, and I hope it does well.

I do think that some things weren't perfect, though, like the dancing scene at the end. All of the shots were very close. I would have liked a few lengthy shots at a distance so that we could actually see them dancing. Make them actually learn the damn dances, otherwise you end up with what we received, which was an obvious attempt at deception. The other negative point was the score/music. I think this film was a great opportunity to use some powerful music, but the score was unmemorable for me, apart from the ending which was fine.

In many ways, this film is funnier than outright comedies. I was laughing my ass off at some of the scenes. Off the top of my head, the first running scene with both of them. Some great dialogue. He was just so blunt, and it reminded me of myself, and so I instantly loved the character. All the way until the end, he was brilliant. I'd have liked to know what he said to his wife, but it's not a big deal. It finishes with a typical rom-com ending, but most rom-coms are vacant of emotion and depth (not this one). Silver Linings triumphs because of the layers that the film-makers worked so hard to include in the first two thirds.

A-

Mike, he said Jennifer was good. In Algren-speak, he might as well profess his love to her.

The happy ending is perfect for this. Its what it should be and its foreshadowed earlier in the film and also in the film's title.

I presume the book is the same. I'd suspect that it was a big reason for Russell taking the film on (considering his dealings with mental illness).

A dark ending would have detracted from the film.

TDS, looks like you're quite in a minority on this.