The Official Review Thread of 2008

[Mister Tee]

It's funny, all of them have the same profile: problematic script associated with a near-certain acting nominee (nominees, in The Wrestler's case). Of course, Frozen River is a match for that, as well. Maybe it just ended up being a coin flip, in the end.

Do you place Mike Leigh's nomination for Happy-Go-Lucky in this same group? I thought the film was not only wholly original in concept, but execution as well.

Haven't seen Happy Go Lucky. I find it interesting that the screenplay survived the cut where Hawkins couldn't -- suggesting either it was one of the strongest contenders in the category, or, considering his three previous nods, that Leigh is simply held in consistent, Woody Allen-like high regard by this branch.



Edited By Big Magilla on 1241381224

[Damien]

Just got through enduring Frozen River. A filmmaker who has as much contempt for people as Courtney Hunt has nothing valid or interesting to say to me. A movie as grossly misanthropic as this reminds me of why I adore Leo McCarey. And the faux sentimental conclusion doesn't negate all the shallow nastiness that came before. And don't commence to let me begin on all the contrivances and narrative absurdities.

If Rachel Getting Married had been less aggressive in its noisomeness, this thing would be 2008's worst picture.

Melissa Leo. Not wooden. But too calculated by far in wanting us to find her likable. Everything about this character tells us she should be crude and volatile; instead she has a certain soigne aspect. Compare her work to that of Amy Ryan's in Gone Baby Gone and you see immediately what minor work Leo's performance is.

2/10



Edited By Damien on 1234857802

[flipp525]

It's funny, all of them have the same profile: problematic script associated with a near-certain acting nominee (nominees, in The Wrestler's case). Of course, Frozen River is a match for that, as well. Maybe it just ended up being a coin flip, in the end.

Do you place Mike Leigh's nomination for Happy-Go-Lucky in this same group? I thought the film was not only wholly original in concept, but execution as well.



Edited By flipp525 on 1234853149

[Mister Tee]

I think people like the concept of Melissa Leo being nominated for Best Actress more than the actual performance.

This is a solid point. Even I can't help feeling good for old pros like Leo and Jenkins getting recognition at this level. I just wish I liked their movies better.

Looking over that list of original screenplays you cite as alternates to Frozen River...I agree, those were the other likely options. But then I recall why each of them seemed unappealing for me (Vicky Christina the least, but then I'm an old Woody Allen whore), and I'm hard pressed to say which one should have got in instead. It's funny, all of them have the same profile: problematic script associated with a near-certain acting nominee (nominees, in The Wrestler's case). Of course, Frozen River is a match for that, as well. Maybe it just ended up being a coin flip, in the end.

I'm simply glad In Bruges managed to slip past the crowd -- as well as that Milk and Wall E, the two strong hopefuls, made the list.



Edited By Big Magilla on 1241381240

[The Original BJ]

Oh, and may I say I truly came to loathe the movie when the "package" was left in the middle of the ice?

This scene was laughably bad.

I hate Frozen River. I can't believe it got a screenplay nomination. Not simply because the writing is so lousy, but because it beat out so many higher-buzzed contenders: Rachel Getting Married, The Wrestler, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Burn After Reading, Synecdoche. It's not that any of those scripts are tremendously stellar, but compared to Frozen River most of them are Shakespearean, and I just don't understand how with a MUCH low profile, Frozen River could have bested them. It could be that when there are so many possibilities, the options for surprises open up exponentially...but still.

I think people like the concept of Melissa Leo being nominated for Best Actress more than the actual performance. She's good, much more interesting than Angelina Jolie, but certainly nowhere near Sally Hawkins or Kristin Scott Thomas.



Edited By Big Magilla on 1241381251

[Big Magilla]

Maybe because she couldn't it happening from inside the trunk.

[Sabin]

Oh, and may I say I truly came to loathe the movie when the "package" was left in the middle of the ice?

Why didn't the Pakistani woman say anything? It doesn't make sense. It's Paul Haggis writing.

[Mister Tee]

A few words about Frozen River -- proof, along with The Visitor, that what critics love in indies doesn't float my boat one bit.

Right from the start, I thought, oh god, two hours of losers losing. The accumulation of woes in the opening half hour brought to mind Thelma Ritter's immortal "everything but the hounds yapping at her rear end". This movie was pretty much Sundance High Concept: Economically strapped protagonists? Check. Women done wrong by men? Check. Devoted mothers? Hot-button social issue? Dire developments? Female empowerment? Hopeful-ish ending? Checks all down the line.

The story also verges on mechanical. Misty Upham's needs dovetail so neatly with Melissa Leo's that, were this a studio movie, the terms "formulaic" or "contrived" would be tossed around (such terms are of course verboten when discussing a cheap indie). You can see set-ups coming a mile off (Hmmm..will that blowtorch play a part?). And the story turns dire at just the moments you expect it will. ("Don't go off the reservation" is such an obvious omen it ranks with "Don't feed Gremlins after midnight") Oh, and may I say I truly came to loathe the movie when the "package" was left in the middle of the ice? Manipulation like that enrages me -- just as it did in Crash when the cute little girl appeared about to be shot.

As for Melissa Leo...she's fine. I don't see what has critics tossing their hats in the air, in a year when there were quite a few more notable female performances. It may be -- corollary to BJ's bird-in-hand axiom -- that her being the only candidate out there for the many months after Sundance got many critics accustomed to thinking of her as a best actress leader, a mind-set they were unable to drop when better possibilities emerged. Or it may be simple critical favoritism toward cheaply made films. It has seemed to come to the point where many prominent critics think the only way a movie can be good these days is to come from indie sources. The overpraise of The Visitor and this film, while Benjamin Button (a spotty movie but one that at least has ambition) is relegated to cheap put-downs, tells me the center is having a hard time holding in modern film criticism.

[anonymous1980]

MILK
Cast: Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, James Franco, Alison Pill, Diego Luna, Denis O'Hare, Victor Garber, Joseph Cross, Stephen Spinella, Lucas Grabeel.
Dir: Gus Van Sant

Truly one of the best films of 2008. This exceptional film is the true story of the life and death of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man elected to public office in the U.S. Sean Penn is outstanding and a supporting cast is strong especially Hirsch and Brolin. This is probably my favorite Gus Van Sant film I've seen so far.

Grade: A

[Heksagon]

Changeling (Clint Eastwood) 8/10

As usual in recent years, I ended up liking a Clint Eastwood film more than I expected to. Starts slowly, but once it warms up, it's a haunting film. I'm delighted that Tom Stern finally got an Oscar nomination for this film, he certainly would have deserved to be nominated earlier.


Doubt (John Patrick Shanley) 4/10

This film didn't impress me at all. It's not bad, but it is... unremarkable. It feels too calculated and emotionless. Acting included.


In Bruges (Martin McDonagh) 4.5/10

Another highly rated recent release that left me yawning. For much of its running time the film looks like a travel advertisement. The major problem, however, is that none of the characters - virtuous murderers - were even remotely believable (in spite of good acting, especially by Farrell). The film has a number of good scenes also, but not enough to make up for the bad ones.



Edited By Heksagon on 1234036105

[anonymous1980]

DOUBT
Cast: Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Viola Davis.
Dir: John Patrick Shanley.

This is a very well-made and very well-acted film adaptation of the Pulitzer-Prize winning play. Shanley's no auteur but I thought he did an okay enough job making the play more cinematic thanks to Roger Deakins' cinematography. Adams and Davis are both excellent but I felt Streep and Hoffman were just a tad miscast. Streep's last scene seemed to come out of nowhere, IMO.

Grade: B-

[Sabin]

I'll be surprised if Waltz with Bashir wins Best Foreign-Language film. Beyond the fact that it's of Jewish theme, it would be such an odd choice for the Academy. Waltz with Bashir is an animated documentary. The animation serves to distance one from the events like the dissociative memory discussed in the film. This is fine in that the soldiers are meant to look exhausted and the film eschews any form of glamorization beyond stylizing it at all. The only "cool" moment in the film features a soldier jamming out his gun like a guitar but this is juxtaposed with the futility of stopping an assaulting car. So in this, the film is mostly beyond reproach in that it has an out by way of style. But what the film documents though isn't terribly probing. The film is certainly affecting but the moment it approaches a fascinating treatise of equating any form of inaction to the Naziism amidst Holocaust, it abruptly concludes. It's a cohesive and affecting mea culpa for the massacres and works towards understanding the Israeli combat mentality, but as a documentary it almost feels incomplete.

I'm still sorting out my thoughts.

[anonymous1980]

AUSTRALIA
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, Brandon Walters, David Ngoombujarra, Bryan Brown, Jack Thompson, Jacek Koman, David Gulpilil, Ben Mendelsohn, Bruce Spence, John Jarratt, Bill Hunter, Essie Davis, Barry Otto, Arthur Dignam, Max Cullen, Sandy Gore, Crusoe Kurddal, Kerry Walker, Angus Pilakui, Lillian Crombie, Yuen Wah.
Dir: Baz Luhrmann.

This film would have been a pretty darn great epic film, sort of like an Australian version of Giant if it weren't for two people: Nicole Kidman and Baz Luhrmann. Director Luhrmann doesn't know the meaning of the word "subtletly". Even in the film's "quiet" moments, he isn't subtle and Nicole Kidman is pretty much his partner in crime in this manner especially the first half-hour. Hugh Jackman and Brandon Walters through their performances, make this film quite entertaining and Catherine "Mrs. Luhrmann" Martin's designs and Mandy Walker's cinematography are pretty top-notch.

Grade: B-

[Penelope]

Wanted was filmed in Chicago. One day, on my walk to work, I passed James McAvoy out for a morning jog. Even better looking in person.

[Okri]

Heh -it actually opened to a fifty-million plus weekend and did solidly overall. No, the film isn't of any consequence, but it was a cut above the general no-name action hits we see. Hell, if you trust Rotten Tomatoes, it was a bigger critical success than The Reader.