Once again, I admit to being a complete sucker for this type of thing. The following trailer for Charlyne Yi’s Paper Heart, a faux documentary directed by Nicholas Jasenovec that follows Yi on her journey to figure out why she doesn’t believe in love. In between seems to be a fictionalized love story between her and Michael Cera, who are actually a couple in real life. It also seems to be loaded with cameos from just the trailer alone, as we see appearances from the likes of Demetri Martin, Martin Starr and Seth Rogen. Apparently, the film screened at Sundance to mixed reviews, with some describing it as the “holocaust of Twee,” which just sounds awesome to me.

Paper Heart is set for a limited release on August 10th, which for most of us means we’ll have to wait for it on DVD. I have to admit though, I have felt a little bit of over-exposure with Michael Cera lately. But with this and Scott Pilgrim (which is currently filming as we speak), he seems to at least be picking the kind of films that I’m interested in.

image via The Playlist

I’m not sure where my thoughts lie with a new Metric album coming down the pipe in just a few short months.  As much as I loved Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?, the follow-up in 2007 was just a major disappointment.  Some of you may disagree, but the band drifted so far away from what made them special in the first place, and decided to just “rock out” with 2007’s Live It Out.

Thankfully, the saving grace for this band came with Emily Haines fantastic solo record and subsequent EP.  If anything, this is the direction the music should’ve went if such a drastic change was necessary.  With that being said, consider my interest peaked once the new record, Fantasies, is released on April 14th.  I actually missed this single that was floating around towards the end of last year, but i’ve been listening to it quite a bit, and it’s actually pretty good.

What Metric has to do with Edgar Wright’s (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) upcoming graphic novel adaptation Scott Pilgrim VS. The World, according to The Playlist, is that acclaimed producer Nigel Godrich had asked the band to contribute a track to the film.  The unreleased track to be used is called “Black Sheep.”

I’ve actually never read the graphic novel, but the casting news has been really great over the past month or so with Michael Cera landing the lead role.

MP3: Metric :: “Help I’m Alive”
MP3: Metric :: “Help I’m Alive (acoustic)”

At first glance, Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist seemed like a movie that I could easily get behind.  Judging on my recent history of favourite films, this concept of a boy and girl and their mutual love of music, who spend this one whirlwind night together within the confines of New York City, should be something I would instantly love and relate to.  That coupled with the casting of Michael Cera – who’s been on quite a roll lately – while trying his hardest to not be typecast in his roles.  With all of these positive attributes, there’s just one problem I have with this movie: It just isn’t very good.

It’s not that I hate it, something just didn’t click with me.  Maybe it was the lame secondary characters, or its failed attempt at being a John Hughes comedy, when I think it could have served itself better as a more intimate/romantic story of these two people as they fall in love while adventuring through the city.  It’s obvious at times that the movie wants to go in this direction, but for every charming/memorable scene, it’s sorta ruined by one of its many phony secondary characters that I mentioned earlier, or some random bit of hijinks to further along the plot of the story (they’re trying to catch this secret show).

The other main feature of this movie that peaked my interest in the beginning is the music.  There’s a very large emphasis on the current wave of popular indie bands from the very beginning of the film.  The opening credits are littered with familiar bands like Vampire Weekend, Bishop Allen and We Are Scientists – along with a soundtrack which could easily be renamed “Now! That’s What I Call Indie.”  Now this is all well and good, but it also feels like it’s trying too hard to be hip.  I’m curious if a lot of you who listen to this music would even care to watch this movie because of it?  I imagine not many.  Though, I did have a good time identifying songs, and recognizing some cameos every now and then.  And Mark Mothersbaugh’s score is pretty damn good, as it evokes some whimsickle goodness.

When it comes down to it, there just aren’t a lot of good movies to watch right now.  If you’re interested in seeing something that is at times charming, but pretty much forgettable, than it wouldn’t hurt to give it a shot.  Also, this has the ability of making you feel very old.  I’m sure i’m right at the edge of it’s demographic being 25, but I felt incredibly old watching in this.

*Here’s a little mix I came up with, basically just songs from boy/girl duos.  Seemed to fit the tone of the movie, I think.

MP3: The Submarines :: “The Wake Up Song”
MP3: Georgie James :: “Look Me Up”
MP3: The Rosebuds :: “The Lover’s Rights”
MP3: Mates of State :: “Hoarding It For Home”
MP3: Matt & Kim :: “Yea Yeah”
MP3: Cars Can Be Blue :: “I Used To Think”

Tonight after watching Juno with a packed theater of people, I ended up deciding on something i’ve never thought about doing after leaving a theater: I decided to turn back around away from my car, and proceeded to buy another ticket to watch Juno for a second time.

I just didn’t feel like going home, and felt completely distracted during the entire movie because of the large crowd and the insane amount of “awwws” that were heard each time Michael Cera’s character Paulie Bleeker would say something cute or absurd (which kind of made me feel good inside, being that kind of shy-nerdy type myself). Thankfully, the later show was not as packed and I left the theater ultimately feeling better about having seen Juno, but as I sit here typing – i’m just not really sure if I love it or not. It’s almost like I felt that it was going to be the type of movie where I would see myself laughing at every joke. That definitely wasn’t the case, and what I ended up with was seeing a great movie with equally wonderful characters.

Don’t get me wrong though, Juno is a very smart, sweet film. Incredible performances across the board, with Ellen Page (who i can’t help but be completely in love with at this point) completely obliterating my misconceptions of what a young actress is really capable of. She breathes life into the title character, who I honestly felt really put off with during the beginning, much due in part to the ridiculous dialogue that I felt bogged the first 10-15 minutes of the film. It wasn’t until the scene with the lone protester outside of the abortion clinic (which absolutely killed me), that I felt the film really began to take it’s stride. It’s truly scenes like that along with moments between Juno and her father that will make me smile when I happen to think back on this film.

I think the film I was most reminded of while watching this is Rushmore, not in style, but in the way that both have it’s own unique quirkiness, yet still having very genuinely heartfelt moments throughout. I loved how the film played on a lot of my preconceptions on a few of the characters, and completely reversing my opinions on them in the end. There are a few other things I want to bring up, but that would delve into spoiler territory. Let’s just say that I love the last half hour and I felt the ending scene was perfect in a way that made the entire soundtrack make complete sense to me.

Anyways, it’s almost 2:30 am and i’m really beginning to not make any sense of anything I just typed. For those that have seen Juno, what do you think? Also, I had to post this song because it’s just so unbelievably cute.

“Anyone Else But You” :: Michael Cera and Ellen Page

“Anyone Else But You” :: The Moldy Peaches