Her

My first actual review of 2014! I'm happy to say that it's for a good movie.

I hadn't really planned on seeing Her, but I decided to give it a chance since I heard a lot of positive things about it. Plus it's nominated for Best Picture and every year I try to see all the Best Picture nominees.

Her is a science fiction film that takes place in the not so distant future. It tells the story of a man named Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix), a lonely letter writer whose about to finalize his divorce. He sees an advertisement for the worlds first artificially intelligent operating system, known as OS1. Of course, he purchases one and is immediately drawn to Samantha (voiced by Scarlett Johansson). the voice of his OS1. As time goes by, Theodore and Samantha become very close and eventually fall in love.

Sounds crazy? Of course it does. That's what I thought at first, but as the movie went on I found it to be surprisingly sweet. There were even some funny moments. It's such a well made movie that you forget that Samantha isn't "real" (in the sense that she doesn't have a physical body).

Aside from the whole OS aspect, I think the movie did a great job  realistically portraying the ups and downs of a relationship.

The acting was great all around. Joaquin Phoenix gives a brilliant performance as Theodore. If the Best Actor category had more than five nominees I'd say he would've made the list this year.

I'm not sure if Scarlett Johansson was there on set when Joaquin was doing his scenes or if she was alone doing the voice in a recording studio. Either way, she does an amazing job portraying a variety of emotions without actually being on screen.

There were so many other great actors in this that I just don't have the time to talk about all of them- Amy Adam, Rooney Mara, Chris Pratt, Kristen Wiig, etc.

Her is directed by Spike Jonze, whose previous films include Where the Wild Things are as well as several shorts. I love how in this film he explores the idea of what it means to be human. There's also some really nice cinematography in here as well.

My only real complaint is that the ending is very predictable. Not that it was bad by any means, but I could see it coming from a mile away.

I have a feeling Her is going to be one of those films that people either love or hate. At the screening I was at I saw two people walk out. But I would say give it a chance. You may be surprised like I was.

My Rating: 8/10