Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire
Phenomenal acting, especially by Mo'Nique. I never thought I'd say that. She was a comedienne I didn't think was funny in the slightest and starred in movies like Phat Girlz (think about the spelling of that title for more than 7 seconds and you won't remember the next 2 days) and Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins, but she totally killed it in this movie. She won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for this. I don't know or care who else was nominated.
Anyway, I had 2 problems with this movie though the filmmakers are only really responsible for one. First, this novel "Push" by Sapphire should have been renamed "Kill Yourself: Based on One of the Most Depressing Novels Ever Written." Claireece Precious Jones begins the film 16 years old, illiterate, physically and verbally abused by her mother, parent to a child with Down's Syndrome, preggo with a second child... oh, and her father raped repeatedly since she was 3 and is the father of her 2 children. Also, the filmmakers cut out the part in the novel where Claireece's mother forces Claireece to give her oral sex. Apparently, that was deemed too much. What. The. ****.
Second, there's too much voice over. I got the feeling that screenwriter Geoffrey S. Fletcher just couldn't let go of some of Sapphire's best lines which work in prose but felt forced in the film. They're nicely written lines. However, voice over does make the movie suffer. Not all movies with voice over narration suffer from it. Or maybe they just need to be narrated by Morgan Freeman in order to work. That's a joke though honestly, I thought it worked in Shawshank Redemption and Million Dollar Baby.
Overall, I liked it. Probably won't ever watch it again, but I'd recommend seeing it once.
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World
I liked it. Pretty funny and the fight scenes were cool. I loved all the videogame references. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is totally hot. I was surprised that Nintendo let them use some Zelda sound effects/music considering they recently cockblocked the Justin Beiber movie from using the Mario theme. I guess that makes sense. Scott Pilgrim is a pretty decent film for what it was while Justin Beiber is a total abortion of pop culture and America's taste in music. Anyway, Michael Cera plays every character exactly the same way: as Michael Cera. Even if he was told to be something entirely different, he'd still play the role as nervous, socially awkward and mumbly Michael Cera. To his credit, it worked in this movie.
These Girls
It starred Caroline Dhavernas. She was the lead in my favorite show of all time, Wonderfalls. This movie wasn't terrible, but not great. Also had very heavy voice over narration and it didn't work here. Show don't tell. Things that should be given and shown through dialogue or action is just plainly told. Bah. That's the first thing they teach you in any writing class. This movie was also made in Canada so we can just blame it on that.