Expected more

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Philip Seymour Hoffman's directorial debut (and, of course, only effort as director) is a small indie flick based on an off-Broadway play (written by Robert Glaudini) in which he starred. He plays it very safe in both his direction and acting, but the results are pretty satisfying. Hoffman plays Jack, a man who has zero experience with relationships. His best friends (John Ortiz and Daphne Rubin-Vega) set him up with Amy Ryan. She likes him fine, but Jack finds he has very little to say to her. He decides to make himself a better man by learning to cook and swim (two of the interests she mentions on their first date). Jack is a pretty typical Hoffman character. In particular, he reminded me of Scotty from Boogie Nights. Ryan is good, but the script really doesn't give her much character. Ortiz and Rubin-Vega, playing a married couple who are having some troubles, are fairly interesting. Hoffman opens up the stage origins, and the film actually looks quite nice, especially during the swimming sequences, which have some nice underwater photography. I suspect most, or maybe all of the play takes place in Ortiz's and Rubin-Vega's apartment, where most of the biggest scenes in the movie take place. The film's worth seeking out.

www.eattheblinds.comThere's no such thing as an "easy" relationship. Some work, most don't. When two people bring out the best in each other, they shouldn't take for granted something's working and worth holding on to. The world shits on us regularly and a great relationship is a comforting reprieve from this shiz storm. The hardest thing to anticipate is the inevitability of protecting the other person from yourself. We're flawed, but are we doomed to poisoned relationships because of these flaws? Sometimes yes, rarely no. Undiluted love does happen and in these rare instances, someone inspires such good in you, you can't help but be a better person than you've ever imagined possible. This is when you learn to love yourself through the eyes of someone else. It's a powerful thing. Even more powerful then when you're with the wrong person, seeing yourself doing ugly things and hating yourself all the more because of it. Perhaps the point of all this is to hold out for the right person. This is, essentially, what Jack Goes Boating is all about.The movie is adapted from Bob Glaudini's play of the same name, skillfully translated to the screen by first time director and star Philip Seymour Hoffman. Like the writing, acting and directing, the soundtrack is populated with songs (by Grizzly Bear) articulating each moment with bittersweet melancholy. Throughout the film you feel the pain without being told what the pain is. It's underplayed like most good art is and there's moments of introspection where you're allowed to find you own way into the character's heads and hearts. Because of this, Jack Goes Boating feels personal and real. The longing hurts, but it's a story that gives your heart a glimmer of hope, a reason to keep looking for love. In the end, we all want to be loved. We all want to love ourselves a little more. We all want someone we can can love and give back to them, what they give to us. Like us, these people are all flawed, yet they're there for each other, and in their moments of selflessness, we see (to quote the band Sloan) the good in everyone.

Perhaps the best way to watch Seymour's movie is without knowing a word about it as I did, and being enchanted by the magic on this film filled with the lights and shadows that can be found in two love parallel stories. Four characters played deeply by all the actors/actresses that carry you to the cold and meaningless streets of any big city where any story can develop to show you that we are still human and in any corner you have feelings and emotions. Beautiful screenplay where you follow the characters growing,applying the quote that the only normal people are the ones you do not know very well (Frédérick Jézégou). Perhaps being mature when you start a relationship means you can see around to other's mistakes trying to avoid them. Although not quite sure if you will finally behave in the same way. Brilliant film worth to see and being surprised by big Philip Seymour who should have a whole shelf in his house filled with Oscars.

I like Phillip and was excited to watch this movie but this is my third time attempting to watch this. I give up. It's so slow and uneventful I just fall asleep or get distracted. An annoying thing about this movie was they played an entire album, didn't even bother to be creative and pick a bunch of artists (until they ran out of songs on the album). It was so consistent with the music it felt like I had a CD playing rather than a movie. If you are looking for a nice movie to sit down with and enjoy don't bother with this one. Personally I would find writing the word 'Apple' 10,000 times over and over more exciting. Rating: G'ay out of 10