When Maggie MET Louis.

I know the Met Costume Gala this year was held more than two weeks ago, but bear with me, I've rarely had time to blog this month and this being my second favorite fashion event of the year and all, I thought you all could indulge me and help me pretend as if the looks from the ball were completely fresh in your eyes.


Maggie Gyllenhaal, bless her soul, isn't the smartest dresser out there.
Sure she's not quite common as an actress and she might want to bring her quirk to her looks but she rarely makes it work.
This Gothic Louis Vuitton gown was probably great in theory but her lack of makeup and lazy hairdo steal the dramatic edge the dress needed to stun.


Kirsten Dunst looks fabulous from the head all the way up to the hideous country boots she's wearing.
The lacey Rodarte dress looks beautiful with her fresh face but ugh the shoes...why does she always try so hard to boycott herself in red carpets?


The lovely Carey Mulligan is straight out of the 60's in a lavender Miu Miu minidress.
The pockets are adorable but notice the delicate work in the embroidery and you'll understand why she pulls off this look like no one else could.


Demi Moore is a vision in all her Jessica Rabbit glory. I loved the dramatic effect the silver gave her femme fatale look.
My surprise was to realize that this wasn't Versace but Lanvin!


Anne Hathaway looks like a 50's princess in a flesh toned Valentino.
She reminded me of Grace Kelly and Judy Garland and to think that she got the simple hair and makeup so damn right by keeping it so simple is a wonder.
Her smile is as usual her best accessory oh yes and that's Kate Bosworth next to her...


Always the icon, Sarah Jessica Parker pulled off a stunner in her Halston Heritage gown.
This year the Costume Institute celebrated the American woman and she's straight out of the disco era (the flower!) in a subdued design by one of the country's most brilliant couturiers.


If Marion Cotillard is suggesting she'll become a legend she couldn't have done better than in this sparkly Dior inspired by Marlene Dietrich.
I'm not sure if I like the altogether look (it's a bit too matronly for the young actress) but the intention is delicious and in such a night reminds us that glamor came from the old continent.


Another who's never afraid to experiment, January Jones pulled all the runway tricks and wears this YSL minidress like a pro. The makeup and opera gloves might be a bit too much and perhaps would've been more appropriate for last year's gala.


I love Charlotte Gainsbourg and I adore Nicolas Ghesquiere and I love that they love each other.
But sometimes I think a little time apart wouldn't harm them as she keeps inspiring the same ideas in him and he keeps providing her with print minis and strange shoes.
They look amazing but seeing other people might not harm them.


Quite the Greek vision Christina Hendricks is straight out of a theater B.C. the L'Wrenn Scott dress is a beauty but her makeup is a bit too kabuki.


J. Lo is gorgeous but a bit safe in this Zuhair Murad gown.
Is it me or did Marchesa make something just like it a few years ago and Beyoncé wore it?


If I had Blake Lively's legs I probably would prance around in short dresses showing them off as well.
But I'd love to see her in something with more fabric for once. Can you imagine the effect of this Marchesa if it had a huge, puffy skirt to go with it?


Melissa George evokes film noir in this simple J Mendel.
The color is magnificent and the draping is to die for but the real beauty is how her hair and makeup go so perfect with the whole thing.
Times like these make me wish she was a huge movie star.


Renee Zellweger is wearing a gorgeous Carolina Herrera, as usual.
But what the hell is going on with her Kathy Geiss hairdo?

Did you pay any attention to the Met gala?
If so, did I miss any of your favorite looks?

Crazy Heart **

Director: Scott Cooper
Cast. Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal
Colin Farrell, Robert Duvall, Beth Grant, Jack Nation

A good performance does not a good movie make and Jeff Bridges is no exception in "Crazy Heart". He plays former country star Bad Blake whose career all but disappeared leaving him to play bowling alleys and dark bars in random towns. He's also an alcoholic and has four ex-wives but no family.
Things change for him when he meets journalist Jean Craddock (Gyllenhaal) and falls in love with her but can he really overcome all his demons and make her happy?
If you think you've heard this one before you probably have and Scott Cooper's directorial debut doesn't bring any refreshing detail to this stale story.
Bridges is of course terrific (but when isn't he?) and makes Blake's little quirks and head movements more interesting than all the dialogue Cooper can muster from Thomas Cobb's novel.
He's so lacking in selfconsciousness and camera awareness that sometimes you feel like you're intruding into his private moments.
Bridges turns almost blasé when he has to enact some redundant scenes, like his rivalry with the man he mentored (Farrell) who became a superstar or the Kodak inspired scenes where he "composes" songs.
But watch him burst into joyous life in the most unexpected moments like when he acts with Jack Nation who plays Jean's four year old son. His eyes share the sense of wonder the kid has and his longing and care say more about his character's backstory than a silly subplot-which is practically forgotten in the screenplay-regarding his own lost son.
The issue with "Crazy Heart" is that nothing feels truthful, this is the kind of movie that would've been served from that magic Robert Altman put in "Nashville"; a certain feeling of life before and after the credits roll.
Everything in this movie though is only conceived to make the story move forward, it has no sense of spontaneity other than to give Blake a rushed redemption.

Away We Go ***

Director: Sam Mendes
Cast: John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph
Catherine O'Hara, Jeff Daniels, Allison Janney, Jim Gaffigan
Carmen Ejogo, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Josh Hamilton
Chris Messina, Melanie Lynskey, Paul Schneider

Leaving behind his sterile formalism and working in a very relaxed style, Sam Mendes directs his first movie that feels refreshingly un-directed.
For someone that has specialized in the deconstruction of characters surrounded by pristine art direction and/or obvious camera moves, this tale of two people looking for a home, comes as a delightful surprise.
Burt (Krasinski) and Verona (Rudolph) are a couple in their mid-thirties who are expecting their first child. They live in a cottage in the middle of nowhere where they indulge in practices they have carried on from their college days.
But this won't do for their baby. With that in mind they set on a journey across North America to find the perfect place to settle.
First they go to Burt's parents (played splendidly by O'Hara and Daniels) who reveal they are moving to Antwerp and are just starting to live the lives people in their twenties desire.
Then it's off to Phoenix where they are greeted by Verona's former boss Lily (Janney) and her husband (Gaffigan). Lily calls herself a nutcase and insists that her little daughter is a dyke while her husband listens tolerantly.
After their awkward meeting they take a detour to see Verona's little sister (Ejogo) in Tucson with whom the film takes a turn for the purely bittersweet as the sisters remember their deceased parents.
After this they go to Madison to see Burt's childhood friend Ellen (a loopier, and oddly sexier, than ever Gyllenhaal), a college professor, who with her husband Rod (Hamilton), has taken to New Age-y parental practices that include them having sex in front of the kids.
They run away from this all the way to Montreal where they encounter college friends Tom (Messina) and Munch (Lynksey) who seem to have the perfect married life, but actually have deep pain.
Last, but not least, they go to Miami to see Burt's brother Courtney (Schneider, great as usual) whose wife recently abandoned him, leaving him alone to raise his young daughter (Isabelle Moon Alexander).
After life shows them all the possible people they can become, conveniently arranged in cinematic moral hierarchy, they have to decide where to move and who they most want to resemble.
As if they'd forgotten to decide the destination of their journey before leaving, they might always end up finding themselves where they began.
Luckily for such an aimless road trip, Krasinski and Rudolph keep the movie grounded and fascinating at every moment.
Even if the supporting characters are comprised of archetypes, weirdos and plain indie quirky clichés, they make Burt and Verona real people.
More than that, they make them people who are genuinely in love with each other ("I will love you even if I can't find your vagina" says Burt in a way that sounds breathtaking), for whom the problems of finding "the one" are done and over with.
When most movies settle for making the discovery of love the ultimate goal of life, this movie reminds us there's more than that and that life is a process.
"We're not fuck ups" they say at the beginning of the movie and they spend the rest of it showing us people who might as well be.
This comparison isn't condescending because truth is anyone watching the movie will try to empathize with them and see that after all they are not that bad.
In a lovely scene Burt proposes to Verona for the umpteenth time (she doesn't think marriage is necessary). She rejects him once more, but to ease his fear she ends up making promises from a list Burt comes up with spontaneously.
Mendes' delicate direction here isn't intrusive, but we know we are witnessing a making of vows more significant than anything we'd see at a wedding.
This is the film's best thing, not the big scenes with lots of characters, but the small intimate moments when we see Burt and Verona cuddle and lie quietly next to each other.
When they have to travel by train, they lie awake in their bunk beds, Ellen Kuras' spare cinematography suggests a void, and before long Burt has moved down to be with his girl.
Musicalized with Alexi Murdoch's lovely songs and with art direction that feels lived in more than anything, "Away We Go" is the kind of movie that indie filmmakers would die to produce, but has none of the pretentious resolutions we find in them more and more.
Perhaps a strike of good luck, or mere exhaustion (as the film was shot during a break Mendes took from "Revolutionary Road") we might leave not knowing if Burt and Verona found what they seeked.
But Mendes has finally achieved maturity.

The Dark Knight ***1/2

Director: Christopher Nolan
Cast:
Christian Bale,
Heath Ledger,
Aaron Eckhart
Maggie Gyllenhaal,
Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman

The essence of Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” is pretty much contained in an exchange of dialogue between two random characters.
Two men sit in a bar while everyone else in the city is consumed by fear. One of them asks “shouldn’t you be out there doing something?”, the other remains seated and replies “today’s my day off”.
The new entry in the Batman saga, might as well have been called “On the Gotham Waterfront” because like, and maybe not as deep since, the 1954 film it explores what makes a singular person stand up against a decaying world of corruption.
As a group of mobsters flood Gotham City with crime, three men unite to bring an end to the mob; Lieutenant James Gordon (Oldman) who seems to be the only incorruptible police member, new District Attorney Howard Dent (Eckhart) who has become a guiding light of hope in the arena of politics and billionaire Bruce Wayne (Bale) as the Batman, the masked vigilante who Gotham fears, hates and loves.
After a couple of big hits against organized crime, the mafia bosses receive a business proposition from a bizarre psychopath who calls himself the Joker (Ledger): for half their money, he will kill Batman for them.
Once they understand the scope of the Joker’s evil, they, ironically, take him seriously, accept his plan and stand back as the villain unleashes complete hell on the city.
The finale of “Batman Begins” was a thing of rare beauty; as a single card announced the arrival of a villain for the next chapter and the film somehow assumed that the audience would be back for more.
Turns out that this overpowering mix of excitement and arrogance was built upon steady grounds, because “The Dark Knight” not only fulfills the promise set by its predecessor, it raises the bar to a completely different level which films, not merely the ones inspired by comic books, rarely touch.
Nolan’s hyper realistic vision, gets under your skin and creates constant threat and fear, making this the most political film released so far this year as it deals with terrorism, impending cataclysms and seeping corruption without moralizing and going to absolutely dark places without becoming hopeless.
The Joker is Nolan’s biggest ally in this, because as a self professed lover of chaos he is as unpredictable and destructive as a force of nature.
Ledger’s performance is one of pure maniacal evil; wearing makeup he seems to have extracted from the ashes and blood of the dead, he moves like a sneaky creature. His scars are terrifying because you never learn where they come from (he delivers a different backstory to whoever he’s interested in destroying next) and whenever he’s not onscreen you fear what he will do next.
The whole film serves itself from this impending sense of doom, but Nolan is a master at keeping this feeling on various levels.
His idea of chaos doesn’t come only as obvious explosions and evident acts of terrorism (dealt with in thrilling and elaborated action sequences, where Wally Pfister’s cinematography shines and which the movie has plenty of), but the worst kind which grows inside all of his characters making them question the nature of good and evil.
Eckhart’s Dent begins as an idealistic politician, aided by his looks (which make him feel like Gary Cooper in a Capra film) and his defiant spirit, the actor brings a sense of optimistic sadness to Harvey, with Eckhart you feel the struggles he had to face to get where he’s at.
Those familiar with the Batman story (and sometimes the script becomes a bit predictable based on this need to satisfy its comic book roots) know that Dent will turn out for the worst and those that don’t, still will feel that he is too good to be true and will expect him to fulfill their need to be right and show his dark side.
Proving that Christopher and Jonathan Nolan’s screenplay has a point when it tackles people’s shaky view of moral grounds.
When you take into consideration that Dent and Wayne both are in love with the same woman (played by Gyllenhaal, more luminous than ever) and that fate plays a big deal in their lives, you realize that Dent is the real tragic figure of the story. He is the one the gods choose to play with.
In an ensemble that works wonders, Freeman as Lucius Fox and Caine as faithful butler Alfred, go beyond bringing the joy of their mere presences and deliver their lines with enough class to avoid being tagged as comedic relief.
Oldman’s Gordon anchors the film with a performance that draws from serenity and subtlety. His quiet manner and his strong belief in the good in others, especially in the slowly rotting system he’s part of, give the story its strongest axis of hope.
And Bale, who like Batman suffers from a syndrome of being given for granted, turns in the film’s most powerful performance as someone who has to take on all the troubles times two.
For his Bruce Wayne a line must be set between the careless playboy image and the part of him that comes closer to his alter ego and leads him to put his secret identity in jeopardy.
For his Batman a limit must be established between how strong is his will to fight injustice, without crossing to the side of lawlessness.
This is no ordinary superhero and Bale vanishes so much into both of them that even his character begins to feel shakable.
While we wonder what makes people choose between good and evil, Bale pushes us further and at moments makes us believe that Wayne is so selfish that as Batman he uses Gotham (designed by Nathan Crowley as a concrete labyrinth that rivals the mind in terms of dark alleys) as his personal playground or as his unlimited therapy session where he can battle his demons at the sake of others.
The Joker feeds from this sense of duality inside everyone and in the film’s greatest scene poses a dilemma of Melvillean proportions between the passengers of two ferries.
During these moments you can see “the whole world contained in one place” as people fighting for survival build democracy for contingencies, wonder about the paths they’ve taken in their lives and even dare to think they can decide who lives and who doesn’t.
Interestingly enough, here the audience also makes a choice and based on this personal decision the film will have a different outcome for anyone who watches it.
While for some it will instill the need to find the light shining in the darkest places, for others who have laughed at the Joker’s horrifying deeds it will just be a reassurance of apocalypse.
What remains true is that in “The Dark Knight”s sadomasochist view of the world the brave ones are those who wonder if we’ve become immune to other people’s pain; with the potential for the heroic lying in the path this leads them to.