january movie reviews

This is the first year I’m trying really hard to keep this up. Movies that are rewatches will be reviewed, but if they are watched again in the same year, I will not write a new review, unless I feel like I have a new insight to share.

The “reviews” do not serve the typical purpose of reviews either. These reviews are not to entice anyone to see the films (but I recommend you view the ones with higher ratings if you have not already), but just for me to write down my sort of stray thoughts about the films in question.

You’ll notice that I started off with the initial idea of writing one to three sentence reviews. You’ll also notice I sort of said “fuck it” to that idea.

Also, I know some people don't believe in perfect movies, let alone multiple perfect movies. But I think some movies are just so great and I can't find anything wrong with it that a full 10 just seems deserved. But that's just me.

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS TO TONS OF MOVIES!

January

Magnolia (DVD, 10/10) – Incredible story, incredible acting, incredible directing from the best director ever. Incredible.

Closer (DVD, 6/10) – Enjoyable and thoughtful, but suffers from the same thing most plays-to-movies suffer from: feeling small and like there’s much more to explore and expand on now that it’s a film.

Frost/Nixon (Theater, 7/10) – Excellent acting but suffers from possibly fictional discussions that play as key moments in the movie and occasionally slips into “This is how I talk in a movie, I was the president, this is exposition” type lines. Also, Ron Howard is a solid director but rarely takes risks or tries new things. His direction feels safe.

Futurama: Bender’s Game (DVD, 7/10) – This is obviously rated on a totally different level than any “film.” Better than the last Futurama movie, not as good as the first. Humor is less situational and much more broad, but still proves to be funny.

Hard Eight (DVD, 8/10) – PT Anderson’s first. Not as good as his later films, but is still better than most everything else out there. Phil Baker Hall is awesome in this and Samuel L. Jackson has a great monologue near the end. Even at this early in his career, Anderson already has a good grip on his “style” with long tracking shots and an excellent understanding of human interactions. Excellent movie.

Slumdog Millionaire (Theater, 6/10) - This movie is stylistically breathtaking and filmed with tons of energy and vibrant colors. The first half of the movie, telling the story of when the main characters were younger, is much more enjoyable than the second half though. The first half is full of fun and heartbreak and the plot device is still fairly original. The second half says, “fuck it,” and turns into a cliché story devoid of any real human emotion and feels horribly trite. The cinematography and direction is still top-notch, but the story dive bombs.

Pineapple Express (DVD, re-watch, 9/10) – Everyone thinks I have such elitist tastes, but this isn’t the case - I just like good movies. Pineapple Express happens to be a great one. I love Seth Rogen, but he’s not the best part of this action comedy: James Franco is. His character is so fucking funny that he delivered, to me, the funniest movie line of 2008 (“What’s in there? A fucking Rancor?”). This movie is filled with hilarious jokes and badass action. The fight scene in Red’s is a great example of violence mixed well with comedy. Ugh. Such a good movie. I own it now so I’ll be watching this whenever I’m feeling down.

28 Days Later (Theater, re-watch, 7/10) – While this is still an excellent movie, I felt like it wasn’t as good as the first time I saw it. It’s still pitch-perfect, creating an amazing atmosphere and having some amazing shots, but I realized how stilted most of the acting is. There’s also some “x factor” that I can’t put my finger on that bugged me a bit. Still a fun movie and has some excellent moments of violence. I don’t see myself watching this again, though.

Deconstructing Harry (DVD, 10/10) – Dane has been telling me for a while this is one of Woody Allen’s best and I now agree with him. I’m a sucker for Woody movies like this because I can’t help but relate and understand. His writing is as sharp, thoughtful, profound, and funny as ever. It uses some interesting filming techniques, too, like abrupt jumps in scenes and the like. It’s a movie about a man who demands so much from his world that he can’t even function properly in it, so he hides himself in life-reflecting art and vice. Tons of great anti-religious stuff too (“Harry, I know where he learned phrases like ‘banging beavers’ and ‘fuck God.’”). Woody’s movies are so unique in voice and are always so fun to watch. Excellent acting, hilarious vignettes (Robin Williams being out of focus is genius), incredible script, and that classic Woody directing. Excellent movie, one I will surely be watching again and again.

Mulholland Drive (DVD, re-watch, 10/10) – I saw this movie something like three or four years ago, and at the time it made no fucking sense to me, and so it somehow slipped out of my head. Re-watching last night in my darkened and lonely dorm room, the movie made a huge impact on me. I can honestly say I can’t think of a movie that has ever gotten under my skin more than this one. I felt afraid to go outside. The movie has these feeling of constant unrest and horribleness, like anything could happen at any moment. This permeated into my real life. I looked behind my chair and in my bathroom, to make sure no fungus-growing blackened bum was lurking. This movie reminds me of the anime series Boogiepop Phantom and the play The Rimers of Eldritch, only in the sense that it assumes it’s audience is smart and competent and refuses to give away the story in some horribly convoluted exposition. This is one to re-watch, and then watch again, and then again. David Lynch proves he’s fucking nuts, but in the best way possible. The movie pops with flashes of color, and is given an eerie atmosphere by the purposely stilted acting (The movie becomes even more creepy on second viewings, knowing the nature and reason of the acting). And just remember: “No hay banda.”

Happiness (DVD, 7.5/10) – This was a difficult one. And trust me, coming from me that means something. I want to point out that I was not offended by this movie, but multiple parts proved hard to watch. Also, simply because I gave it a 7.5 is not to say that I did not like this movie, I thought it was very well done, thoughtful, and the acting was seriously on par (Dylan Baker and my man, Philip Seymour Hoffman, having the strongest performances), but it didn’t really command my attention and didn’t feel all that compelling most of the time. This is movie about how fucked up we all are, essentially. At first I thought every character besides Trish was miserable, but then I realized even before she found out her husband raped two young boys, she was living a hollow, seemingly loveless life. And even though you don’t see her cry over it in the movie, you can tell it eats away at her. That’s also the movie’s hardest portion: Dylan Baker plays a pedophile who rapes two young boys simply because, as he puts it, “he can’t help himself.” While no child rape is actually seen, the scenes with him drugging children or dealing with a child the morning after are hard to stomach. Some people misguidingly call this a “sympathetic portrayal of a pedophile,” but this is simply not true. Solondz simply gives the facts and Dylan Baker delivers a seriously strong performance of a man haunted by shame and lust. Simply because he’s not some greasy man licking his lips at children people assume this makes it “sympathetic.” If that were the case, the movie would not be as harsh as it was. Other things of note: Only movie I can think of besides porn that has (without seeing the genitalia) cum shots; Philip Seymour Hoffman (as Allen) really does the best job at playing socially scared and pathetic people, which he does with so much grace; Lara Flynn Boyle is beautiful; and possibly the most perplexing and great thing about the movie is the use of stereotypical “happy movie” stock music used at the most inappropriate times (Bill drugging his son’s friend, Allen masturbating to a random woman’s voice over the phone, etc), which creates these amazing moments of juxtaposition.

Dog Day Afternoon (DVD, 9.5) – First of all, the rating of 9.5 is totally arbitrary because I didn’t want to give it a full 10 and I didn’t want to give it a 9. So it’s 9.5. Anyhow, holy fuck. Al Pacino is the man in this movie. His performance is so astonishing I can tell it’s just going to stick with me. Even when he’s not speaking, his acting his phenomenal, as in the final scene where Sal is killed and he’s arrested. The look in his eyes as he sees the jet drive away, the hostages get into a car, the handcuffs are placed on his wrists: he just can’t believe he made it this far, did all of this, for nothing. It all blew up in his face. Charles Durning, as Moretti, also serves up an excellent performance as the seemingly only level headed person there. Seriously, though, this movie is all about Pacino and how fucking awesome he is, goddamn. So good! Also, excellent choice not having a soundtrack in the movie. The movie created the tone for itself.

The Reader (Theater, 5/10) – This really missed the mark. Unlike my hate that has been bubbling for Slumdog, my feelings for this movie lean more towards ambivalent and boring. I don’t hate it. I just don’t care. I read the book and decided that it would make a better movie, and after seeing the movie, decided it made a better book. Without the (albeit elementary) philosophy of the book, the scenes move forward with no purpose and we never truly get to go inside Michael’s head. Everything feels void of depth. Hanna and Michael’s relationship seems less loving and understood and more rushed, because we never get to go inside Michael’s head like the book allows. The movie also totally changes the message of the book, which is, are moments in our life affected by what came before or what could come after? The movie ditches this, leaving vestiges of it and decides to make it about a man’s obsession with a woman to the point of ostracizing people around him (this was exclusively created for the movie as the two characters that embody Michael’s fear of closeness were created for the film and appeared no where in the book). The movie looks okay but there’s nothing special about the cinematography. The script is decidedly hollow and is just scenes that go forward because that’s what happened. The best part is the performances of the young Michael Berg and the professor. The twist of Hanna being illiterate is still a clever one, but again, given the “message” of the movie, feels out of place; unlike it did in the book. The movie also felt way too long (because it added unnecessary scenes that weren’t in the book) and just feels on a whole, pointless. What message was this movie trying to get across? Seriously? On a slightly off topic note, you see Kate Winslet’s boobs. A lot. Again, this wasn’t a movie I hated, and on a whole it certainly wasn’t badly made, the script just lacked everything it needed to be compelling. It just moved. But I can’t give it anything lower than a five. That just seems unfair.

The Wackness (DVD, 8/10) – I am a sucker for good “coming of age” stories. There’s nothing I can relate to more than a loser who is sexless and pines for the girl he knows he can’t have. Luckily, this movie does that sort of tired story justice and feels new. The choice of time period is seriously awesome, and is probably one of the biggest plusses for the movie. Josh Peck and Ben Kingsley have great chemistry as unlikely best friends, and Olivia Thirlby plays the kind of girl I know all too well to a T. Everything about this movie is pretty spot on. The direction was surprisingly competent and there were some real cool shots that impressed me quite a bit. Minus some lame moments in the script (Like when Luke goes to Steph’s apartment and Justin comes to the door naked… what movie has that scene not been in?) this is a really enjoyable movie. It’s not deep and full of profound meaning, but it’s certainly not dumb and shallow. It’s just very enjoyable, something I wouldn’t mind watching again.

Revolutionary Road (Theater, 9/10) – Now this is a fucking movie. Harsh, devastating, completely engrossing stuff. Tightly filmed, and explosive acting that was only escalated as the movie was allegedly filmed in sequence. I am big fan of Leo and I feel like he really escalated himself to new heights in this one. The scene where April, Winslet’s character, calmly tells him she doesn’t love him anymore and he was “just some guy at a party who made her laugh” and he then beats the chair against the wall and pours his heart into his rage is just… excellent. Their tortured relationship is a depressing spectacle, with Winslet giving a FAR better performance than what was seen in The Reader (possibly because the material was so much better here). Michael Shannon is also great as a sort of “bearer of truth,” playing a man just out of the insane asylum who picks apart Frank and April’s world in a few cutting words. The movie is another exercise in “everyone cheats on everyone” which is starting to really bum me out in movies, but I guess it’s part of a life. A depressing part. The movie looks impeccable as well, and Mendes uses some interesting tricks (setting facial reactions into the left upper part of the screen – where the audience usually looks) to make it just as engrossing to watch. This is just one those solid movies that is impossible to knock. Maybe a few bits in the script that are lame (The usual stuff that pisses me off, like blatant exposition) but the movie is expertly crafted. The movie is an excellent portrayal of “the grass is always greener…” but having no sense of what is on the other side to begin with, if anything. Wanting, yearning, waiting for something – but never looking for it, never trying to assess what you already have either. Letting yourself die in a state of wanting anything but “this.” By the way, the most affecting scene to me was the scene shown right before the movie title, with Frank and April’s fight on the side of the road (“You, in a trap? You, in a trap?”). It’s the just so affecting to show such an aggressive, seemingly “it’s been coming” fight five minutes into the movie. A devastating movie, but one that is done so well. A true horror movie.

Manhattan (DVD, 10/10) – God, what is there to even say? This movie is perfection. Simple as that. No one makes movies like Woody.

The Wrestler (Theater, 9.5/10) – Fucking brilliant. No one else could’ve played Randy the Ram than Mickey Rourke, whose name is for the most part unknown to my generation. This movie is his story, and Aronofsky decides to take a break from fucking your mind and lets Mickey tell the story with his camera just following him around. This is just simply a human story, a story of a man who truly has nothing but one thing in his life. His daughter hates him. His friends nonexistent. The woman he likes pushes away and doesn’t approve. What’s so great about this movie is that it’s rich in character and visuals, but it’s a simple story. It’s about a man trying to do right in a world that’s spitting in his face. You see his ups, his downs, him do right, him do wrong, but he always has one things: Wrestling. This is not a complicated movie. This is not a complicated story. This is just raw human emotion put to film and we are given the pleasure to just revel in it. Really inspiring and gut-wrenching all at the same time. Brought tears to my eyes.

Gran Torino (Theater, I can’t even fathom the proper rating for this one) – My experience watching Gran Torino was not my usual movie going experience. I was not really interested in seeing it, but my friend Sam invited a bunch of people to go see it for his birthday. We saw a late showing, so the theater was fairly barren. There were two couples and another group of six people or so. I was ready to give the movie a shot… and then, right as the title came on the screen, my friend Justin said aloud, “When does this movie get racist?” That set the tone for how we saw this movie. If I were to see it in the middle of the day, Sunday, with a ton of people, I wouldn’t find most of this film funny, but fucking EVERYTHING in this movie was a joke to us. Clint Eastwood played some wild parody of himself, grimacing overbearingly at fucking everything, growling and grunting his way through the script. His character, Walt, started of making racial slurs, but then just descended into saying meaningless insults (like, “bonehead”) and making them sound racist. There was a scene where Clint Eastwood coughed up blood and then said, “fuck me,” which to us was the funniest thing and we kept on repeating throughout the movie, out loud. Look, if you know me, then you know I HATE people talking during movies in the movie theater, but this was just too funny to pass up. At one point there was this sexual innuendo going on in our heads during a scene where Thao was helping Walt take something up the stairs, and they kept on arguing who was going to go “on top.” Don’t get me started when Walt answered the door and Thao just immediately asks, “WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT FAUCETS?” Not to mention EVERYONE did a horrible acting job, and I mean fucking everyone. At one point I asked the seemingly innocent question of, “What is up with this movie?” and Jake just responded, “It’s five hours long and there’s no story!” at which point I just fucking lost it I was laughing so hard. How this movie can be taken seriously by anyone is beyond me. Just seeing Clint in sweatpants made us all die of laughing. And then, if the movie wasn’t beyond all comprehension ridiculous to begin with, right as the closing credits started a song came on… WITH CLINT FUCKING EASTWOOD SINGING. WHAT THE FUCK. Strangest and funniest movie experience ever. What an odd movie.

Til next month...