Perhaps Inherent Vice is over my head or maybe it was just not my cup of tea or maybe it’s just a bad movie. I found it extremely hard to stay focused on it because the movie is all over the place with strange conversation. Why it won or was nominated for anything is more than I can comprehend.
The movie takes place in the 70s and stars a huge cast. Inherent Vice starts out with Shasta Fay Hepworth (Katherine Waterspoon) visiting her x-boyfriend, Larry “Doc” Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix) at his run down cabin. Doc is a private investigator, a hippy and a serious drug abuser. Shasta provides Doc with a new case involving her current rich boyfriend, Mickey Wolfmann (Eric Roberts). It seems Mickey’s wife and her lover plan to abduct him, then commit him to an insane asylum. Doc’s assignment is to stop this from happening.
Doc takes on 2 more cases which happen to be connected to the first case. The second case involves finding mickey’s bodyguard, Glen Charlock (Christopher Allen Nelson). Soon after taking on the second case and encountering many incidents, Doc takes on the 3rd case when he is hired by Hope Harlingen (Jena Malone) to find her missing husband, Coy (Owen Wilson). There are so many twist and turns and actors like Josh Brolin, Benicio del Toro, Martin Short, Reese Witherspoon and Maya Rudolph, to name a few. The dialogue is weird but the acting is great.
My 5.5 rating is mostly neutral. I’m not saying Inherent Vice is a bad film, just too different for me to truly enjoy. This, of course is my opinion — you should see it to form your own opinion. Inherent Vice is due to be released on DVD sometime in April 2015.
[INHERENT VICE is nominated for Costume Design and (Writing) Adapted Screenplay]
It took a lot of focus to get into Wild, as I found it pretty boring at first. Reese Witherspoon is playing Cheryl Strayed a young wife, sister, daughter and substance abuser who is trying to get hold of her life by hiking, on her own volition, through the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). Wild is based on the memoirs of Cheryl Strayed who’s life spiraled out of control when her mother died of Cancer and her marriage failed, causing Cheryl to lose all hope. The hike starts from the Mexican border through the Mojave Desert to the Canadian border, which she later changed to Oregon’s Bridge of the Gods. We see Cheryl wearing a monstrous nap sack on her back, heavier than Reese herself. The hike will take 3 months and cover more than 1,000 miles. There’s a lot of flash backs depicting Cheryl’s life with her family, including her mother, who was a teacher named Bobbi, played by Laura Dern. Day 1 of her journey, in an apprehensive state of mind, Cheryl is wondering what she’s done by starting this endeavor. She reminds herself that she can quit anytime. After setting up in the wilderness, tent and all, she writes in her journal, reads a book and reflects on her past, showing us where she came from. Things really become challenging when night falls, as the only light comes from her small flash light. As if things are not bad enough, she drops a boot down a rocky path, then throws the other boot down the same path while screaming at the top of her lungs. Her toe nails keep falling off and she’s in plenty of pain because her boots are too small. She meets up with other PCT hikers who offer help from time to time. Cheryl’s journey includes hitchhiking, personal hygiene issues and reflection on her failed 7 year marriage to Paul played by Thomas Sadoski. Cheryl also has a brother named Leaf played by Keene McRae who is an intricate part of her life. Wild is 1 hour and 55 minutes of pure Reese Witherspoon at her very best, to date. In the end, producer, 
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