Top-5 movies of the week - 23.06 - 30.06

I was very busy this week, but I still found the time to choose 5 movies of the week.

1. "Cars 2"
Star racecar Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) and the incomparable tow truck Mater (voice of Larry the Cable Guy) take their friendship to exciting new places in "Cars 2" when they head overseas to compete in the first-ever World Grand Prix to determine the world's fastest car. But the road to the championship is filled with plenty of potholes, detours and hilarious surprises when Mater gets caught up in an intriguing adventure of his own: international espionage. Mater finds himself torn between assisting Lightning McQueen in the high-profile race and towing the line in a top-secret mission orchestrated by master British super spy Finn McMissile (voice of Michael Caine) and the stunning spy-in-training Holley Shiftwell (voice of Emily Mortimer). Mater's action-packed journey leads him on an explosive chase through the streets of Japan and Europe, trailed by his friends and watched by the whole world. The fast-paced fun includes a colorful new all-car cast, complete with menacing villains and international racing competitors. (Official movie site)

Trailer - http://elenastr.blogspot.com/2011/04/cars-2-2011-trailers_08.html

2. "Bad Teacher"
Some teachers just don't give an F. For example, there's Elizabeth (Cameron Diaz). She's foul-mouthed, ruthless, and inappropriate. She drinks, she gets high, and she can't wait to marry her meal ticket and get out of her bogus day job. When she's dumped by her fiancé, she sets her plan in motion to win over a rich, handsome substitute (Justin Timberlake) - competing for his affections with an overly energetic colleague, Amy (Lucy Punch). When Elizabeth also finds herself fighting off the advances of a sarcastic, irreverent gym teacher (Jason Segel), the consequences of her wild and outrageous schemes give her students, her coworkers, and even herself an education like no other. (Official movie site)

Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VihlsPKMh4U

3. "A Better Life"
From the director of About a Boy comes A Better Life - a touching, poignant, multi-generational story about a father's love and the lengths a parent will go to give his child the opportunities he never had. (Rotten Tomatoes)

Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaLSBdL-zCY

4. "If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front"
I think that it's very important not to forget what the humanity is doing to our planet. This new documentary by the filmmaker Marshall Curry explores the inner workings of the Earth Liberation Front, a revolutionary movement devoted to crippling facilities involved in deforestation, while simultaneously offering a profile of Oregon ELF member Daniel McGowan, who was brought up on terrorism charges for his involvement with the radical group. (Rotten Tomatoes)

Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAGxy85R380

5. "Leap Year"
Laura is 25 years old. She's a journalist, she's single and lives in a small apartment in Mexico City. After a series of short-lived affairs, Laura meets Arturo. After the first time they make love, she is left deeply unsettled. They embark on an intense and passionate sexual relationship, in which pleasure, pain and love merge. As days go by which Laura conscientiously crosses out in a calendar, her secret past resurfaces, pushing Arturo to the limit. (Rotten Tomatoes )

"It's a gripping, mysterious use of no-budget cinema at its finest, and an intimate character study with surprising emotional power." - Andrew O'Hehir from Salon.com

Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlN39kAMcY8

Top-5 movies of the week - 16.06 - 22.06

I'm a bit late with my every-week top-5, but I hope you'll find in this list some, which you haven't seen yet.

1."Mr. Popper's Penguins" 
Jim Carrey returns as Mr. Popper, a driven businessman who is clueless when it comes to the important things in life - until he inherits six penguins. Popper's penguins turn his swank New York apartment into a snowy winter wonderland - and the rest of his life upside-down. Filmed on a refrigerated soundstage with real Emperor Penguins, Mr. Popper's Penguins is a modern adaptation of the classic children's book written by Richard & Florence Atwater. I hope it would be not less hilarious as Jim's early movies.

Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBVTtaJbMUI

2. "Green Lantern" 
A comic-based story about a superhero by director Martin Campbell. The story takes place in a vast and mysterious universe, where a small but powerful force has existed for centuries. Protectors of peace and justice, they are called the Green Lantern Corps. A brotherhood of warriors sworn to keep intergalactic order, each Green Lantern wears a ring that grants him superpowers. But when a new enemy called Parallax threatens to destroy the balance of power in the Universe, their fate and the fate of Earth lie in the hands of their newest recruit, the first human ever selected: Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds). Hal is a gifted and cocky test pilot, but the Green Lanterns have little respect for humans, who have never harnessed the infinite powers of the ring before. But he has a smart and beautiful friend Carol Ferris (Blake Lively), who will help him to learn how to control his new power. The supervillain, who Hal have to fight, is played by talented actor Mark Strong.

Trailer - http://elenastr.blogspot.com/2011/06/green-lantern-2011-trailer.html

3. "Buck"
Documentary story about a very gifted man and his horses. "Your horse is a mirror to your soul, and sometimes you may not like what you see. Sometimes, you will." So says Buck Brannaman, a true American cowboy and sage on horseback who travels the country for nine grueling months a year helping horses with people problems. This story follows Brannaman from his abusive childhood to his phenomenally successful approach to horses. A real life "horse-whisperer", he eschews the violence of his upbringing and teaches people to communicate with horses through leadership and sensitivity, not punishment. Buck possesses near magical abilities as he dramatically transforms horses - and people - with his understanding, compassion and respect. In this film, the animal-human relationship becomes a metaphor for facing the daily challenges of life. (Rotten Tomatoes)

Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCMm5uoZtXw

4. "Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times"
Andrew Rossi captured a documentary about life in "NY Times". It is named "Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times", so I hope to see how journalists are working and to see it without any decorations - just truth. And official trailer promises us the same. Also Andrew Rossi is going to show us how they are working with new media and I find it important, because the world lives in Internet. But is the real work in "NY Times" as exiting and the one to dream about? Waiting to discover it.

Trailer - http://elenastr.blogspot.com/2011/05/page-one-year-inside-new-york-times.html

5. "My Afternoons with Marguerite"
The story of life's random encounters. In a small French town, Germain, a nearly illiterate man in his 50's and considered to be the village idiot by his friends at the local bistro, takes a walk to the park one day and happens to sit beside Marguerite, a little old lady who is reading excerpts from her novel aloud. She's articulate, highly intelligent and frail. Between Germain and Marguerite, there are 40 years and 200 pounds difference. Germain is lured by Marguerite's passion for life and the magic of literature from which he has always felt excluded. As Marguerite broadens his mind via reading excerpts from her novel, Germain realizes that he is more of an intellectual than he has ever allowed himself to be. Afternoons spent reading aloud on their favorite bench transform their lives and start them both on a new journey - to literacy and respect for Germain, and to the deepest friendship for Marguerite.Gerard Depardieu portrays Germain, so I'll definitely watch it. (Rotten Tomatoes)

Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7Qm_nDvpZ0

"The September Issue" (2009)

Now I'm watching a documentary "The September Issue" about everyday life at on of the most famous fashion magazines - 'VOGUE'. Director R.J. Cutler becomes an insider, who discovers all secrets of the magazine's success. A couple years before this documentary was made, there was another similar movie about hard life in fashion industry, called "The Devil Wears Prada" and I really enjoyed how Meryl Streep portrayed ice queen of fashion journalism. Both movies are showing how passionate and obsessed (in a good way) people can be with their work and how high the price to be successful can be.

The plot is simple. Anna Wintour, the British-born editor-in-chief of American Vogue, is working 24 hours per day to make the biggest issue of the year very impressive. She has a great team of professionals, who are prepared to live in stress for weeks till the work is finally done. They aren't actors, but they are used to such attention. One of the narrators is Grace Coddington, a former model and the creative director of American Vogue magazine, who isn't another ice queen, has a kind heart and is a very romantic person.

The documentary is made very smart, because scene by scene the director tells us more and more secrets. It also is very dynamic, everybody is in a rush - models, photographers, stylists, assistants and designers. They are trying to be ahead of the fashion and the results turned out brilliant.

And my favorite quotes -

Anna Wintour: I think what i often see it that people are frighteened about fashion. Because it scares them or make them feel insecure they just put it down. On the whole people that may say, the meanny things about our world I think that's usually because they feel, in some ways, excluded or, you know, not a part of 'the cool group' so as a result they just mock it.
Anna Wintour: Just because you like to put on a beautiful Carolina Herrera dress or a pair of J Brand blue jeans instead of something basic from K-Mart it doesn't mean that you're a dumb person.
Anna Wintour: There is something about fashion that can make people really nervous.

Official Trailer -

"Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times" (2011) - Official Trailer

"Journalism is alive and well and feisty especially in the New York Times".
I'm making a project for my university about a newspaper and, of course, I chose "The New York Times". It's one of the oldest and the most respectable newspapers in our time. Gathering information I found out that director Andrew Rossi captured a documentary about life in "NY Times". It is named "Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times", so I hope to see how journalists are working and to see it without any decorations - just truth. And official trailer promises us the same. Also Andrew Rossi is going to show us how they are working with new media and I find it important, because the world lives in Internet. But is the real work in "NY Times" as exiting and the one to dream about? Waiting to discover it.

Official Trailer: