February 7, 2012

• Movie Review Update – 02/07/2012

  previous reviews here.

   

  The Devil’s Double (2011) – based on the true story of Saddam Hussein’s lunatic son’s body double.  Dominic Cooper plays both roles, the son Uday and the double.  predictable caricature of the dictator’s asshole son that never really gets any deeper than a bad foreign tv drama.  even if the content is all 100% true, the movie never tried to convince me that it’s not some over-the-top bullshit, that it is actually true.  it just rested on the nasty reputation of the actual Husseins to create an assumption that the drama is real.  but to me it all just looked like poop.  1 star.

  Attack the Block (2011) – very nice surprise film, definitely one of the best i saw in 2011.  aliens invade the ghettos of London, and the street toughs who live there are willing to fight back.  sounds so silly — and it is — but it is completely aware of the pitfalls and deftly sidesteps them.  it’s not too campy, not too crass, not too melodramatic and not too self-important.  it’s just unexpectedly good fun that strikes a nice balance between humor and thrills, while also carefully layering in commentary about race and community.  but nevermind all that foofy stuff.  alien monsters invade!  4 stars.

  Submarine (2010) – Kind of a British version of Rushmore, except with a gobs of unnecessary voice over narration.  3 stars.  

  Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) – unexpected fun despite a few pretty heavy shortcomings.  this is an origins prequel to the iconic Planet of the Apes series that started in the 70′s.  a brilliant scientist played by James Franco (first head scratching moment) is crazily working on a promising cure for alzheimers.  the apes get smart, and people suck.  forget his stoner roles and 127 Hours and James Franco’s prolific career is filled with him mis-cast as someone intelligent.  now i’m not saying he, himself, is not smart, but he definitely cannot convincingly play one in front of a camera.  the beautiful Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire) is made of 100% styrofoam in her role as his gf, and the talented Brian Cox (second head scratching moment) is totally wasted here as one of several human villains so completely inept, arrogant and mean that they are rendered total buffoons.  Draco Malfoy apparently speaks perfectly American English and behaves the same in a primate zoo as he does at Hogwort’s.  can you say “typecast forever”?  yet despite all that craptastica, this movie was fairly fun!  the predictable transformation of Caesar, the intelligent ape, from childlike imp to warrior king is addictive to watch, and worth the price of admission… again, despite the huge flaws.  3 stars.
  
  Midnight in Paris (2011) – cute!  Woody Allen film about Owen Wilson in a crappy marriage with Rachel McAdams (can that be possible?) when weird shit starts to happen in Paris and i can’t say anymore because i don’t want to ruin anything.  3.5 stars.

  Poetry (2011) – Lee Chang Dong’s latest film about a grandmother taking care of her grandson in a changing world of brutality and indifference.  One of my favorite filmmakers.  4 stars

  Megamind (2011) – Overlooked animated film with Will Farrell and Tina Fey about a sensitive villain who tries to create a new hero to battle after he kills his original arch-nemesis.  Totally cute and funny movie.  I wonder why no one talks about this.  3.5 stars

  Drive (2011) – Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan.  He’s a quiet and isolated getaway driver who recently befriended his neighbor (Mulligan) and her son before trouble comes.  The music and vibe are totally 80s like Miami Vice and To Live and Die in LA and that’s what you’re here to see in this film.  The story and character development are all a bit flimsy, but that stylish and slowly building tense atmosphere, sharp bursts of violence, and a surprisingly evil turn by the normally goofy Albert Brooks all make this movie fun and worth seeing.  (Unfortunately Carey Mulligan’s formidable acting chops are wasted here on a non-descript character.)  4 stars. 
  
  Jennifer’s Body (2009) – Diablo Cody’s (Juno) sophomore script about the class hottie who gets sexually assaulted one night then turns into a vampiric murderer of boys.  I think I read before that it’s all a metaphor for teenage feminism, but it strikes me more as a statement about the damage teenagers can do with their powerful, but as yet misunderstood, sexuality.  Or maybe it’s just not serious at all, and is just a teenage horror movie with the always hot Megan Fox and the always great Amanda Seyfried.   3 stars.

  Jane Eyre (2011) – Mia Wasikowski (serious up-and-comer) and Michael Fassbender. (is there a movie he WASN’T in this year?!) you know the story.  it’s a good one, and this is a good version of it.  3.5 stars. 

  Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop (2011) – documentary about Conan and his live tour he went on while waiting for his show on TBS to start.  Sort of candid look at Conan and his addiction to performing.  There’s a great shot of him backstage basically being a totally rude and unfunny asshole to Jack MacBrayer (30 Rock) who is simply stunned that Conan would be such a dick.  But Conan O’Brien can’t stop!  3 stars. 
  
  Hanna (2011) – Saorse Ronan and Eric Bana in a very meh film about a tiny girl assassin unleashed on the world with vengeance in mind.  2 stars.

  50/50 (2011) – Joseph Gordon Levitt either is a master at picking great roles for himself (Cobra Commander aside) or he makes everything he’s in better. (G.I. Joe aside)  Here he’s a young adult diagnosed with cancer.  Good times.  It should be a pretty formulaic and banal film about stuff you’re familiar with, but he makes a pretty interesting attempt at bringing rounded humanity to the struggle, not just pity and tears.  3 stars.
  
  Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011) – Elizabeth Olson (sister to twins Mary Kate and Ashley) is simply mesmerizing here as the psychologically wounded escapee of a small cult.  I can’t explain.  I couldn’t take my eyes off her and I was carefully listening to every word she spoke.  Her presence simply sucked up all the oxygen from everything around it and lit her up.  Aside from that though, it was a decent but flawed movie.  Imo, there wasn’t enough development for her character and the suspenseful drama towards the end didn’t really hit its mark.  I could watch it a hundred times more though just to watch the bewitching Elizabeth Olson.  3 stars.

  Bridesmaids (2011) – NOT The Hangover for girls.  It’s actually smarter with better characters, but one scene in particular might make it just as raunchy.  I also love Kristen Wiig.  3.5 stars. 
  
  The Third Man (1949) – Orson Wells stars in a film on many people’s “best of ” lists.  I don’t see it.  2 stars.

  
  

  Buck (2011) – documentary about this guy who is the real life horse whisperer.  (in fact, he was a consultant on that film.)  horses are great, and so are nice old cowboys.  not sure there’s a whole lot more than that though.  2.5 stars.  

  Midnight Cowboy (1969) – Jon Voight is a redneck rube come to NYC to make his fortune as a gigolo, and Dustin Hoffman is the NYC gutter native who happens to cross his path.  there’s a buddy film theme and a fish-out-of-water theme intertwined here.  multi-layered film with plenty of NYC debauchery, but also some unexpectedly human characters and a big heart.  3.5 stars.
  
  Super 8 (2011) – throwback film.  fun!  kids accidentally film a train derailment and then the shit hits the fan.  elements of a bunch of different films here like E.T., The Goonies, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and that’s no accident since JJ Abrams meant this as an homage to Spielberg’s great early films.  some people say this film only has throwback value, and is useless to anyone not familiar with those earlier films, but I disagree.  I think it should be good fun for anyone, especially since the kid actors are all pretty cute and engaging.  4 stars.

  Like Crazy (2011) – two college kids in love with each other are separated by circumstances (of their own making).  a bittersweet kind of movie, which is usually a good thing with me, but i couldn’t let go of that feeling that these two kids are kind of annoying and irresponsible.  it definitely has its sweet moments though.  3 stars.
  
  Shame (2011) – Michael Fassbender is a sex addict.  It’s kind of hard to think that this currently hot commodity sex symbol could be taken seriously as an emotionally stunted, self-destructive addict of sex, but he pulls it off straight to the very bottom of the barrel.  3.5 stars. 

  The Guard (2011) – Brendan Gleeson as an Archie Bunker type rude, crude, police officer in a small town investigating an infiltration of organized criminals.  Funny.  with Don Cheadle and Mark Strong, who also seems to be in every movie lately.  3.5 stars.

  Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol (2011) – the more I think about this one, the less I like it.  Perfectly entertaining in a bland nonsense kind of way, but it tries to get emotional and ends up being a caricature of itself.  it has at least two “dramatic” scenes that had me cringing in embarrassment for everyone involved.  That sky-scarper scene is pretty awesome though.  especially in IMAX.  2.5 stars.

  Margin Call (2011) – historical fiction about the recent financial crisis.  Zachary Quinto is a low-level risk analyst at a huge bank, and he unwraps the mystery of his bank’s exposure to risky assets.  this movie is an “eve of destruction” snapshot before the market takes a nosedive into the abyss, trying to get a handle on all the emotions and motivations involved in the boardrooms and directors’ offices.  as a drama, i think it was very successful to start with, but the drama gets lost under its own preachy wet blanket by the end.  and that head fake is pretty much the only reason why i didn’t like it more.  overall though, it’s perfectly serviceable as a film.  3 stars.
  
  Tiny Furniture (2011) – Lena Dunham stars in this film she made pretty much about herself, though under a different name.  it even co-stars her sister as her sister.  she’s an out of work recent film school graduate living with her mother and sister.  she’s just trying to figure shit out in her own mumblecore way, making mistakes and presumably growing from them.  she’s not shy about being a little brutal with herself though since this isn’t a very flattering picture she paints of herself, and that makes this a little bit endearing.  this movie got a lot of press out of the festivals, and landed her a Judd Apatow produced HBO series this year called Girls, which looks great, judging by its trailer.  3 stars.
  
  Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) – Disappointing because of its sloppy story-telling.  What happened to who what how now?  For a complicated story, a little too much was assumed and not enough was laid out in a logical way.  There’s certainly enough to grab hold of, but I was just left with too many procedural questions at the end.  I did enjoy the whole production of it though.  It looked great, and I enjoyed the mood it produced even if I didn’t get all that was going on.  I also liked seeing Gary Oldman in a role that didn’t involve his usual spazzing out.  2.5 stars. 
  
  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) – better than the Swedish original.  I have problems with the mystery element of the story that sticks out from the rest of it, as well as some of the development of the main character Mikhael Blomkvist.  Presented as an honest and righteous character, he seems a little too morally compromised to go unnoticed.  This whole story also seems like some sexual fantasy for middle-aged males, which makes me feel like a creep when I think about it.  This movie is undeniably Fincher though, who made his bones with grinding, dark films sometimes involving crazy people.  (Seven, Zodiac, The Social Network)  In his hands, the seemingly weak underlying story and characters are given a pace and tone that are too entertaining to overlook.  Rooney Mara (who is apparently from the Maras of the NY Giants?  you know.. .THOSE Maras!) will deservedly get tons of attention for her embrace of the brutally raging waif Lisbeth Salander, but Fincher brings this one home.  Scenes all carry a properly ominous mood and even the boring exposition is made to look exciting and eventful.  3.5 stars.

  The Ides of March (2011) – George Clooney directed this film about a young political operative’s (Ryan Gosling) turn of fortune when he’s presented with a little hardball on a presidential campaign.  Smart and intriguing, and not idealistic in the slightest. co-stars George Clooney, Marisa Tomei, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti and Evan Rachel Wood.  4 stars.

  The Notebook (2004) – I can’t believe this is what all the hype is about.  Seriously, people?  2 stars.

  Moneyball (2011)  – Brad Pitt is baseball manager Billy Beane in this narrative film based on true events in the Oakland A’s organization not too long ago.  Billy Beane wants to introduce number-crunching analysis into the old-school world of baseball and its intangibles.  New guy versus old system movie you’re familiar with already, but done fairly well with a good ear for dialogue.  co-stars Jonah Hill who is mysteriously nominated for an Oscar for his role.  not sure wtf is up with that.  3.5 stars. 
  
  Contagion (2011) – Steven Soderbergh’s pandemic film that was pretty much the most frightening thing I saw all year.  It’s Outbreak except it doesn’t star Cuba Gooding Jr., and doesn’t suck.  Building tension and fear dominate most of this film before a slight drop-off for the easy landing at the end.  co-stars a shit ton of people you know.  3.5 stars. 
  
  Point Blank (2010) – French film about a male nurse whose life is kidnapped by murderous events.  This is a perfectly able, if not heart-pounding, action thriller about a good man caught up in a bad situation.  3 stars. 
  
  Tucker and Dale vs Evil (2010) – Stereotypes and bigotry are the overt stars of this satire about two rednecks whose country vacation is interrupted by vacationing college kids and their suspicions of evil.  I thought it was funny and cute.  3 stars.  

  The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) – Humphrey Bogart is one of three companions on a solitary mountain trip to find buried treasure.  What could go wrong?  Surely not greed or paranoia.  3.5 stars. 
  
  Narc (2002) – Jason Patric is a former undercover narc investigating the murder of, fellow cop, Ray Liotta’s partner.  Early 2000s style makes it look a little dated, but the drama is all there for good consumption.  Everyone is stressed out, each with his own demons and baggage.  3.5 stars. 

  The Searchers (1958) – John Wayne film that everyone talks about as a less clownish John Wayne film, but I’m not sold.  He still seems clownish to me.  2.5 stars. 
  
  North by Northwest (1959) – Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film about a businessman caught up in a case of mistaken identity.  I was very tired while watching this…  3 stars. 

  Hall Pass (2011) – Owen Wilson is a middle-aged hornball given a “hall pass” to cheat on his wife for a week.  predictable, with a few funny moments.  might be ok for cable, but don’t go look for this one.  2.5 stars. 

   

  And do you watch Community on NBC?  It’s on hiatus now, but I friggin love it.  So funny and cute and good natured.  Community!

   

   

   

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