Welcome to The Morning After, where I share with you what movies I’ve seen over the past week. Below, you will find short reviews of those movies along with a star rating. Full length reviews may come at a later date.

So, here is what I watched this past week:

Her

Beginning with Being John Malkovich in 1999, Spike Jonze turned his strange music video fascination into a profitable enterprise on the big screen. With only his fourth film, Jonze continues to impress us with his dazzling and bizarre impressions on life and growth.

Telling the story of a lonely letter writer named Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) who falls in love with the Artificial Intelligence operating system he installs on his futuristic computer, Her explores the nature of love in how it supports each person individually. Will the perfect man or woman make us whole or is that perfection in itself a flaw?

Scarlett Johansson’s superb vocal performance is the highlight of the film, though Phoenix’s vulernability adds immeasurable depth as well. That both had to convey complex emotions without physically being present shows the capabilities of each actor. Amy Adams as Theodore’s longtime friend Amy is a weak point, as is Chris Pratt as Theodore’s co-worker Paul. Rooney Mara does fine work in a limited engagement on screen and Kristen Wiig has a killer vocal cameo as a lonely woman with a very bizarre sexual fetish.

Jonze’s film isn’t a conventional love story, just as Being John Malkovich, Adaptation. and Where the Wild Things Are aren’t conventional pictures. However, he grounds each film with a solid directorial hand that plays matter-of-factly with the bizarre stories and gives the audience the impression that they are watching real events no matter how unusual they are.