1875 - The Giant Mechanical Man

Netflix recommended this to me, and I could argue with the cast!  The story of two lost souls finding each other is nothing new, but this puts a bit of a fresh spin on it with the street artist storyline.  I guess my big gripe with the film, is like some of the detractor characters, I didn't fully understand what Messina's character's ultimate goal with his street art was.  Or if he had one, or if that mattered.  I would have liked to have seen that explored just a little bit more.  The other problem being that all the other characters just felt super unlikeable, and there's on purpose to some extent, but it also just doesn't present any kind of balance.  And as much as I enjoyed Topher Grace playing a bit of a douchebag, there was never any real belief or concern that she would end up with that guy over Messina - it would have been nice to have a more credible risk to their growing relationship.
Sounds like I'm bagging on this film but I really did find it to be quite charming.  If you like Jenna Fischer or Chris Messina than it's absolutely work checking out at some point.

1641 - Take Me Home Tonight

First off, I'm a big fan of Michael Dowse and I'll check out anything he's involved in.  It kills me that they shelved this film for four years because they were scared of all the cocaine use.  Especially considering that that was probably all in the script.  I suppose the reason is that it's because it's a comedy…  weird.  So.  I think this film might not have done super well at the box office which is a shame because it's a pretty damn good film.  It's feels like an eighties teen comedy - not a parody and that's the big difference, it never feels like they're trying to send anything up here.  This just feels like one of those films that I grew up loving, although updated for modern audiences.
It's about a group of twenty-somethings who don't know what the next step of their life is going to be, and so they stumble through figuring it out over the course of a single evening at the end of summer.  A lovely little coming of age film with a lot of laughs and a decent amount of heart.  I love Topher Grace as an actor and there is this really great sequence involving himself, Teresa Palmer, and a trampoline that is a really wonderful and great moment.  All comedies with romance plots should have a scene as good as that one.
This is an easy recommend, it's funny, it's full of characters you root for, there's absolutely no reason not to give this film a try - especially if you're a child of the 80's!

1566 - Valentine's Day

When I first started seeing the posters for this I wasn't sure if I was all that interested - despite the fact that I'm a rom-com nerd, and despite the fact that this film is full an ass-load of actors that I love - it just felt like... a gimmick.  It's not, it's actually a legitimately decent flick. 
Well, it's hard to say that it's not a gimmick - cramming this many celebrities into a film is always a bit of a ploy, but the story moves along well and feels nice and balanced, we get to see the characters weaving in and out of one another's stories and that's fun.  I liked that it wasn't just about relationship love and there seemed to be some nice pleasant surprises.  I suppose my biggest grief with the whole thing is that pretty much everyone ends up happy (except maybe the one dude - I won't spoil anything here).  I think that I would have liked to of seen it balanced a little bit more with some realistic vibes that respected the idea that some people just can't get it to work on Valentine's Day. 
Despite that if you're looking for a fun and simple rom-com, then you could do a lot worse - and it's from the master Garry Marshall.  I'm actually considering watching this again with the commentary on - I think it'll be pretty insightful - or at the very least entertaining!
Valentine's Day  Valentine's Day [Blu-ray]