28 Days Later and The Secret Window

#2. 28 Days Later (2002)

Directed by Danny Boyle; starring Cillian Murphy (creeper from Red Eye, creeper from Batman Begins)

I watched this movie with Pete during one of his rare nights off. We were in the mood for a movie, but there was nothing he wanted to see in Redbox and nothing I wanted to see in the theaters, so we started browsing our "On Demand" options on TV. This title caught my eye since I remember my brother once saying it was the scariest movie he had EVER seen, which was saying a lot since he is pretty tough (though he was scared of Thomas the Tank Engine as a kid, so then again, maybe not =).

Pete agreed to watch it so we fired it up. In short - I LOVED THIS MOVIE!!! Yes, it was very scary and I did sleep with my nightstand lamp on for a fews days after I watched it, but I am so, so glad that I did.

Quick summary: a bicycle courier named Jim (Cillian Murphy) wakes up from a coma in a London hospital only to find the city deserted and in shambles. He eventually runs into a guy and girl around his age and gets some of the scoop - the majority of the population has been obliterated by something called "RAGE,"  a virus spread via blood and saliva that turns those infected into violent, zombie-like destructors. Those who survived live in total fear and isolation, moving about only during the daytime when they are less likely to be attacked. Once the virus is contracted, the window of time between remaining normal and turning into a blood vomiting psycho is only about 20 seconds, so if you're with a family member or loved one who gets infected, unfortunately you have to club them, and club them fast.

Some of the shots in this movie are absolutely breathtaking in an unnerving sort of way, like Jim wandering around the deserted streets of London in his hospital scrubs, or Jim on the roof of the hotel covered by various colors and shapes of plastic containers in attempts to catch rainwater. To describe my favorite scene would be to give too much away, so you'll just have to watch it.

As interesting as it is to see the trio try to navigate throughout the hidden perils of the city, the movie gets even more interesting when they end up at an ancestral country mansion, the last outpost of order being run by the English Army. Unfortunately, their concept of order is comprised of some very sadistic ideas regarding how to restore the population, and suddenly those infected with RAGE are no longer the worst enemy.

At this point in his career, Danny Boyle had directed a small number of movies but was most famous for Trainspotting. Since then, he has gained notoriety for directing Millions, Sunshine, 28 Weeks Later (a sequel to 28 Days...), and, most notably, Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours.  Both films were nominated for Best Picture, and Slumdog won him the award as well as a statue for Best Director.

I think if I could be any living director, it would be Danny Boyle. His films are astoundingly diverse in subject matter and tone, yet they still have that lingering whiff of their maker's cologne that mark them all as his. I could spot a Coen Brothers film from a mile away with a blindfold on, and probably a Scorsese film as well, but a Danny Boyle film would be much more difficult to pick out, and I appreciate this, as much as I love the noticeable mark of a well-developed auteur.

Also, a note on Cillian Murphy - though I haven't seen him in many films, I want to put it out there that I think he is one of the most underrated actors of today. Despite remarkable blue eyes and an almost pretty face, he has the ability to be quite the chameleon, and can act both vulnerable and gritty with equal convincingness. I would love to see more of him, as I truly think he could do anything. If you're looking for another movie to get your Cillian Murphy fix, I would recommend The Wind That Shakes the Barley, which I discussed briefly in an earlier post.

I think my favorite thing about this movie is that amongst all the blood and gore and human perversity is a subtle strain of hope, hope that there are some people who will still do the decent thing under even the most extreme duress. Selena, one of Jim's fellow survivors, responds tartly to his idealism with the quip "Plans are pointless. Staying alive's as good as it gets." But what's beautiful is that not even she believes this. There's a difference between staying alive and being alive, and a difference between survival and truly living, and the movie both celebrates and explores this distinction.


What the NY Times has to say: "but what lingers is a curious sweetness. Mr. Boyle has hardly lost his sly, provacative perversity or his ear for the rhythms of unchecked violence, but he does seem to be maturing. It's as if, in contemplating the annihilation of the human race, he has discovered his inner humanist." - A. O. Scott

Bottom Line: WATCH IT.

28 Days Later Trailer

#3. The Secret Window (2004)

Starring Johnny Depp. 

This movie is hardly worth discussing, especially after writing about a very good movie that I actually liked. After Pete and I watched 28 Days Later, my roommates got home and wanted to watch a movie all together. I voted for watching something that would make me feel better and dilute my fear, but when the movie for that job was voted to be Flipper, I quickly settled for the other top choice The Secret Window (those who know me know there's nothing I hate more than animal movies, except for maybe Christmas movies). 

The Secret Window is based on a Stephen King short story, and is about a post-divorce, lonely writer who gets accused by an Amish-hat wearing weirdo that he stole his story. Lots of typical creepy things ensue, like noises in the night throughout his abandoned cabin, or finding his dead and mutilated cat on the doorstep. Seems like the Amish stranger means business!! All the creepiness/violence escalates until poor Johnny Depp is a stylishly-disheveled wreck of a man (not that he was ever anything but). What is going on?! Did he really steal the man's story? Is his ex-wife's new lover trying to intimidate him? Will he ever be able to write in peace again?

SPOILER ALERT: As it turns out, HE IS the Amish-hat-wearing man, and has been all along! After buying the hat at a garage sale, he invented this character as a crazy alter-ego who could do all the dark things that he apparently wanted to do but couldn't (like kill his own cat???) He needed to embody this man in order to carry out his ULTIMATE dark desire, which is to kill his cheating wife. He does this, and kills her new lover too, and buries them in the yard and plants a garden over it. Apparently he gets away with all this, except for now the towns people are all jumpy around him, and he can't pick up a date at the supermarket to save his soul. 

This movie was filled with all sorts of cliches and could not be saved even by the very likable Johnny Depp. While my fears were not entirely diluted, I did feel a bit better, since the whole thing was too ridiculous to be really scary, and also, who could be afraid of Johnny Depp? Reminds me of that other likeable-star-kills-his-fictitious-wife-movie, What Lies Beneath, with Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer. Again, I couldn't be scared once I began suspecting that Harrison Ford was the bad guy because, honestly, he's Harrison Ford. 

What the NY Times has to say: Didn't bother to find out, but it probably ain't good. 

Bottom Line: Don't see this movie, unless it's between that and Flipper. 

#1 - Mirror, Mirror (2012)

Okay, so here it goes with the first of the 10.5 movies I've watched in the past two weeks.

Starring: Lily Collins (Phil Collins daughter, thick eyebrows, formerly linked to heartthrob Taylor Lautner) Julia Roberts (duh), and Armie Hammer (famous for playing the Winkelvii in The Social Network!)

My Take: This is the first of two Snow White movies to come out this year, Mirror Mirror being the more lighthearted, family-oriented of the two. While the upcoming Snow White and the Huntsman looks violent, epic, and battle-heavy, Mirror Mirror is more in the vein of Ella Enchanted. This movie was really, really dumb in a lot of parts, but I think I was saved from too much cynicism because I saw it with my cousin and grandparents. What helped redeem the movie for me were the amazing colorful clothes and the ridiculous handsomeness of Armie Hammer. Here are some photos of both:

This movie also made me feel bad for dwarf actors. It seems as if they will be forever pigeon-holed as the comedic relief. One final word: the closing Bollywood-esque dance/song number was fun, and made me wish that perhaps the whole thing had been a musical. Then it's okay if it's shallow! 

What the NY Times has to say: "...yet while Mr. Singh knows how to make performers and sets look good, he has trouble putting them into vibrant, kinetic, meaningful play, which effectively means that he's a better window dresses than a movie director. "Mirror Mirror" is consistently watchable, even when it drifts into dullness because Mr. Singh always gives you something to look at, whether it's the Queen's blood-red gown, the sailing clouds decorating her bedroom or the dwarf's woodland home. Everything looks as if has been meticulously selected for this or what spot, including the performers. Ms. Roberts, Ms. Collins, and Armie Hammer, as Prince Alcott, look as pretty as fairy-book illustrations, but their performances are similarly one dimensional, as if they had been art directed into place instead of cut loose." -Manohla Dargis

10.5 Most Recent Movies I've Seen

Though I still have many more movies to add to my "Summer Movies I'm Excited to See" list, and about 80 movies to add to my "Movies I've Watched Since Fall 2011", I'm going to interrupt both pursuits to write about the most recent batch of movies I've seen, while they're still fresh in my mind.

A quick aside - the following list of movies is really quite an uneven assortment of films. One might wonder if I have any taste in movies at all, or even find yourself asking if I am a masochist (why else would I watch The Girl Next Door? Or the Footloose remake?)

I have two answers for why I watch the movies I watch:

1) The Intellectual Argument: Sometimes I think I am as interested in why we (as a culture, as a country, etc) watch and make the movies we do as I am interested in the movies themselves. I would love for some future species to judge us on only our best art, and come to all kinds of enlightened and admirable conclusions about the wondrous folk who created them. However, this would neither be fair nor accurate. The bleak facts are that $145,824,897 worth of people saw Beverly Hills Chihuahua, and people like Snooki are household names. I think that our worst artistic output says as much about us as our best, and I think that all the stuff in between perhaps says the most of all.

One thing I love to do is watch formulaic or genre movies and pinpoint who the intended target audience was and whether or not a movie delivered the goods to them. Studio execs have to believe that at least some aspect of a movie is marketable or it will never get the green light to begin with. This could be anything from "Channing Tatum's abs" to "we're really into vampires right now so I think that'll work." It's fascinating to me that certain cliches can simultaneously make me groan and grin (a first class example is the aforementioned "clothes-trying-on-montage" in chick flicks).

The point of all this is: there's a part of me that loves jumping on cultural bandwagons to see what all the fuss is about. Sometimes in the middle of all that fuss I find something that pleasantly surprises me, and sometimes I am morally, physically, and intellectually repulsed. But most of the time, I just scratch my head in disappointment and amusement.

Movies as a medium are unique in their ability to act as indicators of our current cultural fears, tastes, obsessions, hopes, secrets, and dreams. More widely consumed than books and more globally marketed than TV shows, movies literally reach the world. They tell our stories even as we're using them to tell the stories of others.

So yeah, that's one very long reason why sometimes I watch as many bad movies as good movies.

Reason Number Two.

2) The Truth, via Food Analogy: There are those foods that are good for you. There are those foods you have to work at (either acquired tastes or foods you literally have to spend a lot of time and effort making). There are those foods that are easy (microwavable Lean Cuisines! Frozen pizza!) And then there are those foods that sometimes, you just want (Funyuns, anyone?!).

Movies are the same. I don't always want that four-course Bergman, sometimes I just want the Hot-Guy -of-a-cheese-puff.

So here's the list of the 10.5 movies I've watched in the last two weeks, blurbs to follow:

Mirror, Mirror
28 Days Later
Secret Window
13 Going on 30
Like Crazy
Fish Tank
The Cabin in the Woods
Footloose
The Girl Next Door
*Captain America (haven't finished)
Insidious


P.S. - I have never actually watched Beverly Hills Chihuahua or so much as an episode of Jersey Shore. Give me some credit.

Summer Movies I Want to See

Unlike most summer/blockbuster seasons, there are actually quite a few movies I can't wait to see this summer! It's so nice to still be excited about going to the movies post-Oscar season. Here's the first of many I'm excited to see:

Moonrise Kingdom - May 24th

This is director Wes Anderson's first film since 2009's The Fantastic Mr. Fox, and gauging from the trailer, it appears to be classic Wes Anderson fare, other that that there is not a Wilson brother in sight. (If you've seen Anderson's other movies, you know he has certain actors who he reuses over and over again, two of them being Luke and Owen Wilson. ) Fear not though, for Billy Murray and Jason Schwartzman (two other regulars) both have lead roles, and they are joined rather excitingly by Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton, and Frances McDormand. The story takes place in 1965 New England, and follows two preteen runaways and the adults who are looking for them. If the trailer is any indication, the film will be aesthetic perfection. The poster alone is worth hanging on a wall even if the movie means nothing to you! I'm sure I will see this movie soon after it comes out, since Pete is a huge Wes Anderson fan. We'll see if the story lives up to the visuals. Check out the trailer below:

Moonrise Kingdom Trailer

Movies I've Watched Since Fall 2011

Sometime this fall, I decided to start keeping a list of all the movies I watch. I already do this with books, but it turned out to be a lot more difficult with movies, since I watch on average at least two a week.

I'm going to post it in 10 film chunks, and attempt to write a few lines about each, either of my gut reaction or any lingering impressions it left on me. There are certainly many films that will be left out, since I often forget to update the list.

Here goes List #1:

1. Moneyball - I think the first word that comes to mind about this film is likable. Brad Pitt is likable, Jonah Hill is likable, Brad's daughter is likable, the team is likable, the underdog story is likable, the sleepy success that this movie had was likable. I expected to be somewhat bored, but wasn't for a second. I especially liked the dynamics between the somewhat rag-tag teammates, and the relationship between Brad and his daughter. Her song for him at the end was maybe my favorite part! I'm this movie got some recognition!

2. Drive - !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This movie deserves it's own post. My favorite movie of 2011, hands down. My love for Drive is somewhat like my love for The Departed, that is, inexplicable. It's violent, romantic, subtle, visceral, cathartic, vague, memorable, and evocative. I watched this movie 5x in one week when it came out in Redbox. I own the DVD, the soundtrack, and the poster. My favorite part of the movie is when Carey Muligan and Ryan Gosling, zoning out in their respective apartments, are edited in such a way that it implies that they're looking at, and thinking of, each other. I cannot get enough of this movie.

3. Crazy Stupid Love (x2) - This movie was actually really well done - touching, funny, well-acted, and very satisfyingly structured. Stars the perennial everyman Steve Carrell, the always attractive Ryan Gosling, the always likable Emma Stone, and the always red-haired Julianne Moore (not much to say about her, I guess). Despite this movie actually being funny, touching, and well-made, it made me sad when I first watched it, because everything that goes wrong in this movie is the result of bad choices made about love and sex - choices that are so commonplace these days that we seem more apt to shrug our shoulders in resignation of them, and make light of them in comedies, that we do to actually do something to fix them.

4. 30 Minutes or Less - Comedy with Aziz Ansari (Parks and Rec) and Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network) about two friends who have to steal a bunch of money after some really dumb, pyscho crooks (led by Danny McBride of  Eastbound and Down/Pineapple Express fame) strap a bomb to one of them. Not really funny. What you would expect of such a movie. Meh. Nothing else to say.

5. Breaking Dawn (x2) - Obviously, Part One of the final Twilight franchise films! A big "WTF, mate?" regarding the whole thing. Highlights: A)seeing it at the midnight show with a bunch of other like-minded Twilight fans (of the "we know this is stupid but we can't stop reading/watching" variety.) B)Jasper's unintentionally hilarious addition to the "fetus is incompatible with Bella's body" discussion - the oddly timed and oddly delivered "Possibly." C)The wolf pack argument in Optimus Prime voices, culminating with the "I AM THE GRANDSON OF EPHRAIM BLACK!" declaration by Jacob. D)The honeymoon scene. I think it put my little sister off sex for life. E) Jacob's creepy Renesme imprinting montage. F)The only actual highlight - Bella's Tree of Life-esque flashback sequence in which her entire life (mostly comprised of Edward moments) plays backwards in her head, ending with her own birth, as she lies fighting for her life after her own pregnancy turns out to be something from Rosemary's Baby. I actually thought this sequence was moving, but maybe it was just the best part of an otherwise awkward movie, or maybe it was just the lovely "Bella's Theme" piano piece that accompanied it.

6. Our Idiot Brother - Paul Rudd, Rashida Jones, Zooey Deschanel, Elizabeth Banks, Emily Mortimer. Paul Rudd is a nice hippy guy who gets shopped around by his three very different sisters when he stumbles upon hard times. Zooey Deschanel as the free-spirited, experimenting lesbian, Rashida Jones as her most-interesting-character-in-the-whole-movie girlfriend, Elizabeth Banks as the uptight career sister, and Emily Mortimer as the uptight earth mother sister, who is married to a jerk of an artist-model-canoodling photographer/documentary maker husband (Steve Coogan). If it sounds like a lot of liberal stereotypes in one movie, it is. Paul Rudd is likable enough, but the movie never quite found the notes it wanted to hit.

7. All Good Things - Ryan Gosling/Kirsten Dunst movie. Watched during Ryan Gosling kick. A "Did he murder his wife/did he not?" story. Based on a the life of Robert Durst, the son of a real-estate mogul and multiple murder suspect. Gets creepy at the end when Ryan Gosling starts crossdressing? Just "meh" of a movie...nothing outstandingly awful, but nothing outstandingly memorable.

8. The Way Back - Colin Farrel was in this movie. So was that British guy, Jim Sturgess, from the Beatles musical Across the Universe. Not memorable. Men escaping from a Russian work camp, I believe. Debatably (word?) based on real events. Gritty and fine, but utterly forgettable.

9. Melancholia - I should watch this movie again, but I'm not up for it anytime soon. Depressing in the most realistic sense of the word. Should have been nominated for Best Pic, Best Director, and Best Actress/Supporting Actress. Felt nauseous throughout, partly because of the handheld camera work and partly because it was So. Dang. Depressing. All that being said, I think it's the most realistic depiction I've  ever seen of what a family would actually act like if a cataclysmic event such as the physical annihilation of Earth was imminent.

10. Monte Carlo - Very disappointing lack of clothes-trying-on montage! Selena Gomez, if you were trying to avoid teen chick flick cliches, DON'T! That's what we came here for! Other than that, the hot, kind, orphan-helping Italian guy made a nice impression, so much so that my cousin and I Google-imaged him when we were done. And Leighton Meester was very likable as the uptight stepsister.

That concludes Round One! So many more to come!

Why, Hello!

It's been OVER a year since I posted on here! I decided to fire this thing back up again to write something about this year's Academy Awards, only to realize I have posted since before LAST year's awards. Not that anyone reads this and has been wondering about my absence:)

Anyways, my first new post will be something about the Oscars, or about my favorite movies of this year.

VICTORY

My predictions were right!! Hooray. I was 10/10 for Best Picture and 4/5 for Best Director (I had Christopher Nolan instead of the Coen Bros.) Now that all the nominations are officially out, I can place my bets on the winners. I'm starting to think The King's Speech will edge out The Social Network for Best Picture. Only time will tell I suppose. As for Best Actor and Best Actress, I think Colin Firth and Natalie Portman are shoe-ins.

More Oscar Predictions

So I've already listed six predictions for Best Picture. Obviously, this is one of the most interesting, if not THE most interesting race, so I am especially curious to find out which films will fill the remaining four slots.

Two films that I think have a pretty good shot are Winter's Bone and Toy Story 3. I also think that The Kids Are All Right, Blue Valentine, and 127 Hours have a good chance. I've heard The Town tossed around, but I watched it two nights ago and thought it was good but not great.

I'll go out on a limb and make this my final list:

1. The Fighter
2. True Grit
3. Black Swan
4. The King's Speech
5. Inception
6. The Social Network
7. Winter's Bone
8. Toy Story 3
9. The Kids Are All Right
10. 127 Hours

I don't necessarily agree with all of these choices, I just think that's what they'll be. I wish Shutter Island would get a nod, but as it came out right after last years awards, I doubt it will.

As for Best Director, I think David Fincher (The Social Network) is a sure thing. I also think Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan) will be nominated since I don't think he's gotten a nod before. But as for the last three spots, there are six feasible names I can seen filling them, the most likely probably being David O. Russell (The Fighter), Tom Hooper (The King's Speech), and Christopher Nolan (Inception). The other three who have a shot are the Coen Brothers (True Grit), Lisa Cholodenko (The Kids Are All Right), and Debra Granik (Winter's Bone). Maybe the last two are just wishful thinking on my part, since this category is so notoriously short on women, but I can see Granik getting a shot as the indie dark horse.

Of course, there's always the chance that Danny Boyle could get nominated for 127 Hours (which I still haven't seen, and thus can't comment on whether or not he deserves it) or Ben Affleck for The Town (which I have seen, and thought it was a less good version of Gone Baby Gone, so, while I hope Ben gets nominated someday, I hope it's for a better movie than this).

Next up are predictions for the acting categories and maybe if I feel like it, screenplays.

Playing the Oscar Prophet

In a couple of days, after I've had some time to sit down and think about it a little more thoroughly, I will come up with a more complete list of Oscar Nomination Predictions. And once the actual nominations are posted, I'll make more accurate predictions about the winners. But until then, here's what I predict:

Among the Best Picture nominees will be -

1. True Grit
2. The Fighter
3. Black Swan
4. The King's Speech
5. Winter's Bone
6. Inception
7. The Social Network

And I predict that The Social Network will win.

Why I Watch Movies

I've been lucky enough to see A LOT of great movies lately, each of them worthy of their own lengthy post. Unfortunately, there's just no way I can get thoroughly caught up. So, with the adage of "Something is better than nothing" in mind, I'll give a brief gut reaction to each of them.

1) The Fighter - Excellent, understated film that manages to live up to the hype but not in the way you would expect. Avoids cliches and "triumphant-sports-movie-swell-of-emotions" moments by refraining from indulgent camera-lingering after "important" or "moving" lines have been said. Matter-of-fact in the best sense possible.

2) True Grit - As good as you would expect a movie with this subject matter made by the Coen Brothers to be. Could not be a more perfect marriage of content and director; an exceptionally great cast to boot. At its core, about how Time itself (much like protagonist Mattie Ross) plods matter-of-factly and mercilessly on.

3) Black Swan - Slightly disappointing, simply in that it was not as shocking as is was touted to be. However, this could be due to one of two reasons: 1) because I had read a signigicant number of reviews and spoiler alerts before watching this film, and 2) because I am very familiar with the world of ballet and thus could not be shocked by what otherwise might be "shocking realities" of the ballet world. That said, I was impressed by Natalie Portman's appearance, though not Barbara Hershey's. I also applaud Darron Aronofsky for spotting an excellent opportunity for a setting - the world of ballet (rife with vulnerable girl-women striving impossibly for perfection, domineering Balanchine-esque directors, physical rigor bordering on masochism, and the ever-present mirror, with it's second-guessing, esteem-sucking quality) - and using it as the stage for one woman's descent into obsession and insanity.

4) The Wind That Shakes the Barley - This film broke my heart and ended before it could mend it again; still, I would recommend it to anyone. Like The Lives of Others, this film portrays the daily lives of common people during an era of history largely unfamiliar to most. At the end, I was left really questioning for the first time the causes of war, and if any cause is ever worth it. More specfically, I found myself marveling at the fact that a belief in an abstract idea, government, or political concept could be so strong that you could look another human being in the eye and kill them because of it. This movie contains characters who are both able and unable to do this, and compassionately portrays all of them.

5) The Lives of Others - Astoundingly interesting and moving film that manages to be compelling on multiple levels - first as an in-depth look into the realities of pre-fall Germany, secondly as a testimony to the transformative power of art, and finally as a subtle celebration of our ability to be moved by another person's humanity.

Boogie Nights

Yup, I watched it. I don't know why I watched a movie about the porn industry and expected it not to have a lot of sex in it, but I did. If you're wondering why I watched this movie in the first place, I'll give you three reasons:

1) Mark Wahlberg.
2) It's actually somewhat critically acclaimed, and Marky Mark's breakout film.
3) I was snowed in.

Whether any or all of those reasons is good enough for you is matter for a different discussion. I have an inexplicable "thing" for Mark Wahlberg (clarification: a "thing" is different than a crush; I don't watch his movies because I think he's hot and I want to see more of him; I watch his movies because he confuses and amuses me).

Apart from seeing more sex than I wanted to (and in reality, there was probably no more sex than was in The Reader, it just didn't look as pretty or seem as romantically tragic), I have mixed feelings about this film. On the one hand, it's about more than the porn industry; it's about a lost boy looking for a way to be something and thinking he finds the answer down his pants. It's also about what a significant number of other movies have been about, i.e., the downside of fame, fortune, and power, particularly when they're obtained through some illegal, unsavory, or atypical means deemed unacceptable by society (Ex: drug dealers, mobsters, prostitutes, rock stars). Maybe this is why the movie ultimately didn't do it for me - because the main story (or "message," if you will) seemed so familar. I've seen it before, recently (Blow, American Gangster ), and I've seen it before, done better (The Godfather and Godfather II).

Still, this movie deserves some credit for a) discovering that Marky Mark had more to offer than just his fit bod as an underwear model, and b) having the nerve to tackle the porn industry and essentially treating it as if it were just any other business. What's good about this movie, and at the same time what makes it sad, is that it shows us the most overt human vices - sex, drugs, money - and lets us see what happens when they're taken to their utmost extremes. Eventually, Dirk Diggler (Marky Mark's character) get's everything he ever wanted, loses it all, and, at the very end, slowly starts to regain it again. The thing is, even when he was on top, it didn't look all that appealing.

What makes this film still relevant, and at times - if you can call it that - touching - are the various moments of desperation and humiliation experienced by the ensemble of characters. There's Don Cheadle as the Western-clad, wannabe cowboy and pathetic stereo salesman Buck Swope, wondering to his buddy why he's not successful even as his friend tells him that fringed shirts are no look for a black man; Heather Graham and Julianne Moore as porn stars Rollergirl and Amber Waves, sobbing in each other's arms after deciding to be a surrogate mother/daughter pair while tweaking out on coke; John C. Reilly as Dirk's best friend Reed Rothchild, initially trying to one-up him like a little kid comparing card collections; William H. Macy as the director's assistant Little Bill who's forever stumbling upon his wife in bed (or on the lawn, or in the pool) with another man, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the porno groupie Scotty J, with his misplaced admiration for Dirk that leads to a supposedly drunken kiss and an ensuing love declaration. It's these moments and these characters - and their desperate attempt to find some sort of meaning in a world that has none - that provides the heart of the film. Ultimately, everyone in the movie has the same story as Dirk - not the fame and the fortune part, but the part that brought them to the industry in the first place - of a lost someone looking for a place to call home, or a somebody to think they're something.

The movie doesn't glamorize this world, nor does it make it look terrible. Instead, it tackles the whole thing with an "it is what it is" attitude - these are porn stars, yes, but they're people too. Boogie Nights doesn't pose a lot of questions, but it does present some situations that could lead to them. Nor does it make any attempts to provide the answers. It's just "Here are some people, they do what they do." Some have reasons for the choices they've made, and maybe some of these reasons are excuses for the way they turned out. They rise, they fall, and (if they're still alive), they find solace in the father figure that is director Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds) and the camraderie of the others who have ended up, by chance or by choice, in the same sordid profession as they did.

The Reader

I've been wanting to see this film ever since I first heard about it. First, because Kate Winslet is probably my favorite actress and fantastic and diverse in everything she does. And secondly, I'll admit, because the subject matter seemed so salacious: older woman has sex with underaged boy and turns out to be some sort of Nazi. I'm not a pervert; it's just that there's no way you can read that description of a film and not think it sounds interesting. Plus, the fact that it was nominated for multiple Academy Awards and starred Kate Winslet meant that it had to be more than just a sensationalized sex story.

And it was. As soon as I finished watching it, I felt eager to recommend it to my family. Upon second thought, I realized that it really does have quite a few very nude love scenes and might not be the best "family film." But the reason why I initially failed to remember the multiple sex scenes in this film is exactly the reason why it's so good: this is one of those rare movies where I felt the sex/nudity was neither gratuitous nor did it overshadow the point of the movie. I can't say much without giving too much away, but for me, this film was ultimately about the life of one woman as discovered by a boy (and later man) who once, and perhaps still does, unconventionally love her. A truly good film has the ability to take an obscure and unrelatable situation (for example, a Nazi woman who has sex with fifteen year old boys) and help us see our own humanity in it.

King Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes (funny, I always thought it was Shakespeare) "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun." Though we don't all consummate our lust for people that are off limits, and we certainly aren't all Nazis, the emotions portrayed in this film - wonder, innocence, uncertainty, excitement, confusion, shame, pity, anger, grief, love - have been felt throughout the ages, time and time again, by all sorts of people. This film recognizes both the beauty, and the frailty, of such emotions, no matter who they are felt by. While The Reader by no means celebrates the actions of the characters in the film, it honors the integrity of the emotions that result from them.

I am so glad I watched this film, and so glad that Ms. Winslet finally, finally won her much deserved Oscar.

The Fountain

I've watched so many movies since last posting, many of them memorable, and have at least a couple of unfinished posts waiting to be published, so rather than try to catch up thoroughly, I'm just going to give some very brief reactions to whichever ones I can remember. I have given no deep thought or extended contemplation towards the critique of any of these films, apart from the reflection that is a natural part of time's passage.


First up: The Fountain. This movie wasn't perfect - I suppose a few moments didn't quite "land" - but I loved it. Going into it, I knew nothing about the plot, when it had been released, or who directed it, and I couldn't remember having read a single review of the film. This was the ideal state of mind with which to go into watching this movie (and indeed, I wish I could go into more movies with such total ignorance). The movie is directed by Daron Aronofsky, who I later found out directed Requiem For a Dream, Pi, The Wrestler, and the soon to be released Black Swan. I hadn't seen any of those other films at the time; the only thing I knew was that he often uses the composer Clint Mansell, who wrote the epically memorable score of Requiem For a Dream that was used in The Two Towers trailer. The music for this movie is every bit as memorable and beautiful (I'm listening to it right now), and appropriately captures both the devastating, all-consuming grief and the eternal triumph felt by the main character in the story. Speaking of characters, the two main ones are played wonderfully by Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz. Rachel Weisz was and always is lovely - both lovely acting and lovely looking. As for Hugh Jackman...I had no idea he could act! But he can, and he was excellent in this film - so good that I totally forgot he was Hugh Jackman at all, that buff, singing, Sexiest Man Alive.

A previous review sums up the story better than I can, so I'll paste that description here: "A love story weaving together three interrelated tales set in the past, present and far future, with the couples in each all played by Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz: a medical researcher racing to find a cure to save his terminally-ill wife; the characters in a novel she's writing about a 16th century conquistador questing after the fabled Fountain of Youth for his lover, the Queen of Spain; and the same scientist, who mysteriously hasn't aged, traveling to a distant star in the 26th century, still searching for the secret of eternal life." I can see some people distancing themselves from this third sequence and dubbing it too "New Age-y" (I myself felt a slight pull in this direction), but don't if you can at all help yourself. There is actually nothing in the sequence that need be silly (or for Christians) heretical. Some may think this film advocates for its own specific vein of vague "spirituality", but I would disagree. Rather, I think it's a mediation on one man's attempt to deal with death, grief, and loss, and the very reason it's so wonderful is because it manages to be simultaneously acutely personal and relatedbly universal. One more thing I would like to mention: this movie is visually beautiful, especially the scenes in the snow.

Well, that was longer than I thought it would be, but in closing: see this movie, go into it with focus and an open mind, and you might be taken by surprise.

Revocation of previous statement

In my recent post about A Serious Man, I said "Actually, the Coen Brothers seem the sort who care about their viewers’ opinions about as little as I cared about the plight of Larry Gopnik..."

This is not true. I did care about Larry Gopnik, which I realized after talking to my mom. I think sometimes when people have such inconceivable bad luck, I get frustrated and take it out on them, because it is easier to feel anger and fed-uppedness than it is to feel sadness and sympathy. I felt this same sort of frustration during the first part of Jane Eyre, which is why it took me until the third read to actually enjoy the book. It's easy to start blaming the recipient of the misfortune for the misfortune. I think this is what I did with poor Larry ("Just STAND UP FOR YOURSELF and PUNCH SOMEONE ALREADY!"), which is why I left feeling cold hearted.

The larger point of this post is that I don't ever want the aim of criticism to supercede my natural human reaction the things. I do not want to fall into the trap of snark for snark's sake. Obviously, I hope to analyze movies fairly, objectively, and level-headedly, but I hope to always leave room for compassion and empathy, because what are movies if they cease to make us feel anything?

Vent

Actors who annoy me for reasons I can't articulate:

-Kevin Spacey (look at that self-satisfied smirk...or is it a simper?)

-Tim Robbins (when I see his face I think "Evil lurks beneath this seemingly harmless exterior")

Actors who annoy me for reasons I CAN articulate:

-Nicolas Cage (not a good actor, picks dumb movies to be in, perpetually lethargic-sounding voice, droopy eyes, unattractive, only got famous because he is a Coppola?)

A Serious Disappointment

This review is going to be short and not-so-sweet. It's probably been two months since I watched this movie and I am behind as it is.

The movie in question is last fall's A Serious Man, directed by the Coen Brothers. The reason I was so excited to see this movie is because a couple of scenes from it were filmed at St. Olaf, and a handful of students got to be extras, including Stephen.

To give you an incredibly brief synopsis: A Serious Man is about a Jewish college professor, Larry Gopnik, who, despite being an alright guy, has a whole lot of bad things happen to him in rapt succession: he fails to receive tenure, is bribed by a student, discovers his wife’s infidelity, must deal with his wayward and annoying kids, thinks he has cancer, and to top it off, has anti-Semitic neighbors…Larry is accurately described by most reviewers as “a modern-day Job”.

The acting is great (virtually all complete unknowns), the set pieces fantastic, and the abrupt quirkiness so characteristic of the Coen Brothers is present and in full force. But these elements, either individually or collectively, failed to make me feel anything. In my head I knew that it was truly tragic that all these bad things were happening to the same nice guy who didn’t deserve any of them, much less all of them at once.

The thing is, I just didn’t…..care. I guess I walked away from the TV screen with feelings of "I have it pretty good," but the sentiment was more obligatory than naturally induced.

Since I already know the Coen Brothers to be accomplished filmmakers (personal favorites include No Country For Old Men and Fargo), I won’t question their genius. I will however theorize on where they went wrong:

1) This movie was an inside joke, so inside in fact that they forgot to let anyone else in, namely their audience. I felt somewhat the same way about Burn After Reading, but at least didn’t get bored during that one (though had it not been so star-studded…Clooney, Brad Pitt, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand…I probably would have). David Denby of The New Yorker called both movies “bleak, black, and belittling”, and I am prone to agree.

2) They tried to make it funny, touching, satirical, perhaps even revealingly autobiographical, but missed the mark.

Since the Coen Brothers are just about as intentional as one can get when it comes to moviemaking, my guess is that #1 is closer to the truth, and that the movie I saw was exactly the movie they wanted me to see. They probably just hoped David Denby and I would like it a little better.

Actually, the Coen Brothers seem the sort who care about their viewers’ opinions about as little as I cared about the plight of Larry Gopnik, so scratch that last statement.

Regardless of any of this, I am excitedly awaiting their next film, True Grit, which in my mind will be No Country For Old Men with a 14 year-old female protagonist…truly intriguing!

Catch Up

I've fallen grossly, wildly behind. Reviews of A Serious Man, A Single Man, Inception, The Other Guys, Agora, and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo pending. I'm posting this so you all hold me accountable!

Top 100 Movies List Addendum

Here are some additions to my Top 100 Movies list, which is now at 134 and counting:


1. Ever After (thanks to Sarah for pointing this out)
2. The Scarlet Pimpernel (also Sarah)
3. First Knight
4. The Insider (thanks to Pete for making me watch it)

At some point I'm going to have to weed out some titles and consolidate the list to 100. I foresee that the two reasons for omitting titles will be a) because they're cheesy and not that well-made and b) because they depress me. However, I am loathe to do this, because many of the movies that fall into the "a" category make me really happy despite their stupidity, and many movies that fall into the "b" category are really sensational, they're just such downers or so disturbing that it bums me out to watch them.

AVATAR: Everything I Thought It Would Be and More

Vindicated (v): to free from allegation or blame; to confirm, substantiate; to provide justification or defense for (to justify, to defend); to maintain a right to

I'm going to come right out and say it. Avatar sucked, I knew it, and I've been saying it all along. Up until now I've been unabashedly bashing it without having actually seen the movie, which I felt I had the right to do because I was so wholeheartedly convinced that it was, is, and always will be an absolute poopstain of a movie.

Thus, I feel vindicated.

On Sunday night, I watched this film for the first time on a 30 inch TV in my boyfriend's basement. Now, before all the cries of "I do protest!" begin from those who assert that my criticism is rendered invalid because I didn't see it in 3D on the BIG SCREEN, I will say that no amount of special effects or technology can make up for a crap story, crap script, crap characters, and crap acting. If a movie lacks all of these things, it defeats the point of being a movie and is thus BAD. And thus should NOT be nominated for Best Picture. Succeeding on a special effects level alone is not enough for me. If I wanted to be visually wowed, then I'd follow the example of the men who stare at goats, do some LSD, and watch a 90's screensaver. No need to make the most expensive movie ever made about oversized blue people with tails.

You've heard it before, but I'm going to say it again, mostly because it's so damn true. Avatar is just a recycled version of Pocahontas (with Dances With Wolves, Fern Gully, and a splash of cliches from just about every other fantasy movie I can think of thrown in for good measure.)

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It's been a while since I started writing this review, and I just can't seem to muster the energy to do a thorough job of finishing. Exerting my skills of film criticism would be waste in this case. I thought about posting some sample dialog from the film, just so you could see how bad the writing really is, but I would have had to copy and paste the entire "Quotes" section from imdb.com, which means this post would require a five-minute scroll just to get to the bottom of it. So I'll refrain. What I will do is highlight some particularly awful aspects that really bugged me.

1. Sigourney Weaver/her character: I haven't seen enough of Ms. Weaver's work to determine whether or not she's actually a good actress; however, she certainly didn't wow me in this film. What's more, every time she came on screen I felt thoroughly annoyed. She delivered all her lines like it was her first role in a movie and, out of sheer inexperience, was imitating every prior tough-woman role to appear on film. Clearly, this is not the case, as she is very experienced, but her performance seemed a parody at worst and self-referential at best. And maybe I especially love to hate her because she said that Kathryn Bigelow, who directed The Hurt Locker and is ironically James Cameron's ex-wife, only won the Academy Award for Best Director "because she had tits." Classy. You could probably find a like-minded excuse for anyone that's ever won ("his son had cancer", "he's never won before", "because he's black", etc.) Maybe the reason James Cameron didn't win was not, pardon my French, because he lacked tits, but because HE LACKED HAVING MADE A GOOD MOVIE.

2. A portion of "here's where we explain the plot" dialog: This is such an elementary blunder that I can't believe someone like JAMES CAMERON (who, correct me if I'm wrong, has directed a number of fairly successful films before) let it make it into his film.

Screenwriting 101: DON'T TALK ABOUT THE PLOT. Example: "I can't believe we're about to attempt a robbery on this impossibly well-secured building, owned by a man so vindictive that he will surely kill us if caught. Good thing I know exactly how to disarm the alarm system by doing X, and exactly how to pick the lock by doing Y, and exactly how to remove the 3.2 billion dollars in 4 minutes flat."

The Number One rule of screenwriting is "Show, don't tell." Film is a visual medium; save excessive wordiness for the stage.

Since it's been a couple weeks since I watched Avatar, I don't remember the specifics of the conversation I'm referring to, but the gist of it was, "Here we are coming up on Pandora (which contains this amazing resource worth gajillions of dollars, and we want it, but the planet is really dangerous and populated by huge ferocious blue people and lots of crazy wildlife, so we created these avatars piloted by marines that look just like the blue people so we can infiltrate them and talk them into moving) on your left..." Pretty subtle stuff, only not.

3. Giovanni Ribisi's performance as "Selfridge": I almost feel bad picking on him, because he's a pretty minor character and an up-and-coming actor who really didn't do that bad of a job. However, his characterization of Selfridge absolutely REEKED of Ari Gold (the iconic agent played by Jeremy Piven on Entourage), and though imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I think imitation is best left out of the dramatic arts unless you can somehow out-do he whom you imitate.

4. The creepy tail thing: If you haven't seen the movie, you won't know what I'm talking about. If you have seen the movie, and for some mysterious and disturbing reasons find the tail thing "cool", then YOU are creepy. For those of you who haven't seen it (SPOILER ALERT), the "tail thing" refers to the fact that all the blue people (excuse me, "N'avi") have long tails that have a little spout of hair on the end, much like a lion's, and they use their spouts to forge "connections" with other creatures by inserting them into these weird little tentacle-like plugs. Once their wiggly appendages have been "fused", a "bond" is formed, and the animal is calmer, more trusting, and more responsive. If you're thinking that the whole thing sounds awkward and vaguely sexual, you're right. Apparently there was originally a "sex" scene between the main dude and his blue lover in which they fused tails as a sort of love-making act. WEIRDED OUT.

5. CLICHÉS: Native American clichés, Other World clichés, Fantastical Creature clichés, Bitchy Woman clichés, Tough Woman clichés, Tough Military Officer With a Scar clichés, Impetuous and Brash Yough Military Guy clichés, Dialog clichés, Grandmother Willow clichés, Mother Earth Talk clichés, Circle of Life Talk clichés, Spirit Quest clichés, Star-Crossed Lover clichés. Name a cliché, and Avatar has it covered.

I guess I'll stop here. As my friend Jordan said, "If you took a shot every time something stupid happened in this movie, you'd be blackout drunk five minutes in." I have other better movies to review, though bashing this one has been fun. I do apologize to anyone whose tastes I've offended. Clearly, a lot of people LOVED this movie because it absolutely dominated at the box office. Whether this is because there was actually something to it that eluded me, or because Americans as a collective film audiences are idiots, I will leave to you to decide.

However, I do have to say that if this movie gave anyone that excited, "feel like a kid again" magic that movies still sometimes have the ability to do, then I respect your experience and am happy that anyone was blessed with the when-the-lights-go-down-goosebumps that I have been lucky enough to feel many times, for well-made and stupid movies alike (see top 135 list), throughout my movie-going life.

The Girl Who Stares at Men Who Stare At Goats

Thankfully, very little of this movie is spent actually watching men stare at goats. Unfortunately, the result is something only marginally more exciting.

The Men Who Stare At Goats is (or at least I assume it supposed to be) a comedy, starring George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges, and Kevin Spacey. The films starts with a title card reading "More of this is true than you would believe..." And indeed, if any of it is true, then reality is pretty ridiculous.

McGregor plays hapless yes likable reporter Bob Wilton, who journeys to Iraq to pursue "the romance of war" after the romance of his own marriage fails. He thinks he's stumbled upon the story of a lifetime when he meets Lyn Cassidy (Clooney), a seemingly crazy special agent on an unknown mission. Lyn was once a soldier in the now defunct U.S. New Earth Army, an obscure unit employed to practice and conduct experiments in psychic and paranormal warfare, run by the ex-army-officer-turned-hippie Bill Django (Jeff Bridges). The driving motivation behind the project was to outdo Russia by becoming "the first superpower to create super powers."

After being introduced to just what exactly "psychic and paranormal warfare" entails (absurd activities such as "cloud bursting" and "remote viewing"), Bob decides to follow Lyn on whatever his mission may be. The two travel through the desert and experience a series of mishaps, before eventually ending up at a secret U.S. Army base run by a former New Earth Army defector, the "villain" Larry Hooper (Kevin Spacey), who now conducts his own psychic research. Some goats are set free, some prisoners liberated, LSD is smoked/inhaled/consumed, or whatever it is you do with LSD, and that pretty much wraps it up.

Summary aside, this movie elicited no strong feelings in me one way or the other. I had the vague sense that it was supposed to be funnier than it was, and I'm left sitting here three days later trying with difficulty to remember anything much about the movie at all. The acting was obviously excellent, as you would expect from such an exceptional cast. I especially want to call attention to the performance of McGregor, who has mastered that rare skill of playing a character thoroughly, charmingly, and competently, but still knows when to step back and let someone else control the scene.

I think this film’s biggest problem is that it never decided quite what it wanted to be, tone-wise. It wasn't funny enough to succeed as a comedy alone, nor was there enough political commentary or judgment to succeed as a satire. There were fleeting moments of the absurdity and whimsy that makes some Wes Anderson films such a delight, but as they were just moments, I never felt sufficiently charmed. I'm sure there are those who interpreted what I've diagnosed as "lack of tonal commitment" as sophisticated and subtle humor, and thus greatly enjoyed this film. But there are also those who hated (I know because I’ve talked to them and they’ve been very vocal about it).

As for myself, I neither hated nor loved this film. There were some genuinely funny parts, but not nearly enough for me to recommend this movie or make me want to watch it again. If someone asks me if they should check it out, I'll ask them what their other options are: if it's between watching The Men Who Stare At Goats and going for a walk or reading a book, I'd say the latter, but if it's between watching this movie or oh, say, watching Avatar, then I'd say this movie will not only be well worth your time but also seem like the Greatest Story Ever Told in comparison.