The Official Review Thread of 2010

[Sabin]

(Mister Tee @ Feb. 18 2011,7:06)

Remember the old t-shirt, "Life's a bitch and then you die"? That's Biutiful in a nutshell.

Yup.

This is a movie about Javier Bardem walking, slouched, pissy, dying, always pulling cash from his pockets. That's almost every scene of this pretentious, stupid movie. It's so funny that Arriaga and Innaritu had a spat where they each accused the other of not appreciating each other enough, and then independently made the same exact film (apparently). Without Arriaga to supply convergent storylines, Innaritu left to his own devices juggles subplots with the same arbitrary abandon. Nothing is explored with any maturity or depth. Most curiously the film has nothing to say about Bardem's ability to converse with the dead, which is done with such conviction by the actor. And at two-and-a-half hours long, the film is an incredibly chore to sit through, one of the dullest films I've seen in some time.

I was hoping that freed from Arriaga's multiple storylines, Innaritu (not an untalented filmmaker) would find some focus when left to his own devices. While there are undeniably some lovely moments in Biutiful as well as a new cosmic high of miserablism in one particularly tragic sequence, much of it is unbearable. And pretentious! The lav mics remain so audible you can hear clothing rend unnaturally...'cause it's real, man! Likewise, he blows out the audio and picks incredibly weird music. Before Biutiful, I always thought that Innaritu was a talented filmmaker who was making the same movie again and again. After watching this film of his own writing and directing, I think the man is just dumb.

Javier Bardem is good in a how-could-he-not-be kind of way. He gets to do everything a great actor would kill for, and he's fun to watch on the screen. But you can pretty much predict his performance ahead of time. Like the film, he has some particularly wrenching moments, but it's impossible to feel close to this man. I'm glad he is nominated in lieu of Gosling or Duvall, but it's really saying something about the quality of this film that he's not given enough to do...and he's given everything.

[Mister Tee]

Remember the old t-shirt, "Life's a bitch and then you die"? That's Biutiful in a nutshell. I'm not sure a Dickens novel plus a full season of Pauline's perils inflicted as much woe as befalls Javier Bardem's character in what seems a few weeks. I didn't much care for Innaritu's first two films, but I was one of the few half-defenders of Babel here, because I thought, despite its melodrama, it stretched into some interesting areas and was really trying to do something different. In this film, I honestly have no idea what he was driving at. He hits alot of hot-button topics -- immigration, bipolar disorder, and the great lord cancer -- but doesn't connect them in any meaningful way. As Damien says, the most interesting element is his psychic gift, but for such a bold plotting device it's used way too llittle (though I did like his scenes with his fellow psychic).

As for Bardem...performers like him don't come around often. He has a great, fully masculine handsomeness, a commanding and soulful presence, and seriously strong acting ability. This is the full Paul Newman package, and any director is lucky to get him aboard. Yet, I couldn't help feeling he gave alot more to the film than it gave to him. He had lots to do, but not a particularly interesting character to play. At the end, I felt like I'd watch him carry the film, but not to any special end. I don't begrudge his nomination, but don't feel it was the imperative that some of his fellow actors did.

So, now, having seen two of the foreign language nominees, my instinct is the winner will be...one of the others.

[Damien]

(dws1982 @ Feb. 15 2011,10:40)

Flipp, Netflix Instant Play makes a lot of movies really accessible, and it's easy to just click play on something like The Last Song when I'm in the mood to watch a movie, but may not be in the mood for any specific type of movie. I also intentionally watch several ignored/dismissed/reviled movies every year, because once in awhile, I'll get something like Let Me In (best American movie of 2010, from what I've seen), or Kit Kittredge, or a really enjoyable piece of fluff like Mrs. Pettigrew Lives For a Day, or even an ultimately unsuccessful but very interesting film like...

I can't wait to hear your thoughts on Let Me In. It's an incredibly underrated film. I need to see it again as the manner in which I saw it was less than optimum, but outside of lapses in the maturity of Chloe Moretz's character and a sad familiarity with the film's that robs some of the surprise of it, it's a pretty darn good film. And the failed backseat murder is one of the great pieces of entertainment this year.

Josh, this is what I wrote when I saw Let Me In back in October. And between this and The Road isn't Kodi Smit-McPhee to most perfect child actor ever at portraying fear, longing and angst? The anti-Mickey Rooney

When I heard that the fine Swedish film, Let The Right One In, I couldn't imagine why. But even though I'm still not sure the remake was necessary, it is a better film. The remake does follow the Tomas Alfredson original fairly closely but still trumps it. The first film had a cool sense of ambiguity, but Reeves's version occasionally shows an equally cool sly sense of humor. Where Reeves's movie beats Let The Right One in is in having the original's sense of dread replaced by a more affecting feel of melancholia. And even more, this film tops the earlier one because of the casting of the two leads. Kodi Smit-McPhee and Chloe Moretz each possess waif-like looks that express a truly haunted air about them. Whereas the kids in the original seemed like any two kids going through some pre-adolescent growing pains, Smit-McPhee and Moretz, with their hushed, hesitant line readings, tremulous presences and beautifully sad faces, truly show us two people very much alone in the world.

[Sabin]

(dws1982 @ Feb. 15 2011,10:40)

Flipp, Netflix Instant Play makes a lot of movies really accessible, and it's easy to just click play on something like The Last Song when I'm in the mood to watch a movie, but may not be in the mood for any specific type of movie. I also intentionally watch several ignored/dismissed/reviled movies every year, because once in awhile, I'll get something like Let Me In (best American movie of 2010, from what I've seen), or Kit Kittredge, or a really enjoyable piece of fluff like Mrs. Pettigrew Lives For a Day, or even an ultimately unsuccessful but very interesting film like...

I can't wait to hear your thoughts on Let Me In. It's an incredibly underrated film. I need to see it again as the manner in which I saw it was less than optimum, but outside of lapses in the maturity of Chloe Moretz's character and a sad familiarity with the film's that robs some of the surprise of it, it's a pretty darn good film. And the failed backseat murder is one of the great pieces of entertainment this year.

[dws1982]

Flipp, Netflix Instant Play makes a lot of movies really accessible, and it's easy to just click play on something like The Last Song when I'm in the mood to watch a movie, but may not be in the mood for any specific type of movie. I also intentionally watch several ignored/dismissed/reviled movies every year, because once in awhile, I'll get something like Let Me In (best American movie of 2010, from what I've seen), or Kit Kittredge, or a really enjoyable piece of fluff like Mrs. Pettigrew Lives For a Day, or even an ultimately unsuccessful but very interesting film like...

For Colored Girls
Another movie people might not expect me to watch. I've never seen anything by Tyler Perry before, so I don't have anything from him to compare this to. (I know it's a pretty big departure anyway.) No, this probably never should've been made into a movie. The main problem is that Perry tries to have it both ways--by trying to capture the spirit of the play, but also trying to make it into something that mass audiences can enjoy. As a result, I don't think it really coheres, as much as Perry tries to bring these vignettes together.

A lot of the movie just doesn't work, and that's about all there is to it. (The trip to the abortionist...; Whoopi Goldberg forcing her daughter to pray for forgiveness) But when it works, it really works. Sometimes Perry tries too hard, but sometimes he gets it exactly right. Anika Noni Rose has a monologue about 70 minutes into the film, and Perry's decision to shoot it a single-take close-up is absolutely the right one. And Anika Noni Rose knocks the monologue out of the park. It's a truly excellent, unforgettable scene. Tessa Thompson also has a monologue (not long after Rose's) that's just excellent in delivery and in execution. The way he incorporates poetry from the original play works better than I ever would've expected. (Although I'm not totally sure that it really works, or needed to be there.) But then on the debit side we have things like a rape scene that Perry reduces to cheap crosscuts--although some of the imagery associated with it is undeniably striking. Anika Noni Rose is definitely the standout, although the truth is that most of the actresses have some scenes that are quite excellent. The problem is that they can go from excellent in one scene to godawful in the very next one. (Thandie Newton is a case in point. Janet Jackson does nothing of interest for much of the film, and then nails some of her big scenes, especially a lengthy monologue towards the end) And another problem is that the characters tend to remain more abstractions than anything. They are ideas about women, rather than actual women, in a lot of cases.

I don't know that Perry was the right person to bring this to the screen, or that it should've been brought ot the screen at all. But I respect the ambition it took to mount this project, and I respect that he was willing to make bold choices, even if they don't always pay off.



Edited By dws1982 on 1297834849

[flipp525]

Flipp, I watched The Last Song because it was available on Starz on Demand, I had nothing else to watch, and romances/"women's films"/""chick flicks" are my favorite genre. So I figured what the hell. But then landed in hell.

Couldn't you have just popped in a dusty old copy of Play It as It Lays instead?

[Damien]

Tee, Red Riding improves as it continues. The films subsequent pair of films are well-done and intriguing, and I do recommend that you see the entire trio. I also would suggest you do so sooner than later because both 1980 and 1983 have references to the first film (especially '83) that will resonate more clearly if the initial movie is still fresh in your mind.

Wolf Man is not particularly good but it was the kind of mindless-but-not-stupid entertainment I was in the mood for the night I saw it. I think my 5/10 rating shows it to be the mediocrity it is. (I still prefer the old Daily News 4 Stars criterion. It gets 2 1/2.

Flipp, I watched The Last Song because it was available on Starz on Demand, I had nothing else to watch, and romances/"women's films"/""chick flicks" are my favorite genre. So I figured what the hell. But then landed in hell.

[Mister Tee]

The "Red Riding" Trilogy:

Red Riding: In The Year Of Our Lord 1974 (Julian Jarrold)

5/10

Red Riding: In The Year Of Our Lord 1980 (James Marsh)

6/10

Red Riding: In The Year Of Our Lord 1983 (Anand Tucker)

7/10

So they do improve as they go on? I'd really looked forward to these films -- I have a weakness for investigative procedurals -- but found the first film so dull and near-incoherent I couldn't rouse myself to watch the others.

Also, Damien -- I have to say I'm surprised you're so gentle toward The Wolf Man. I thought it was pretty sloppy and uninspired. The screenwriters seemed to be going for something deeper than the standard wolf-bite/full moon mythology -- something Freudian -- but it felt like they only half-worked it out, and I had the constant sense that scenes were happening without enough context. (And having Anthony Hopkins explain it all in one monologue was the sort of thing everyone complained about with Inception)

I did like Elfman's score alot, and thought the design/costumes were handsomely done. They probably rated nomination over some of the films cited this year.

[Big Magilla]

Totally agree about The Last Song, which I subjected myself to a few weeks ago. As great as Netflix Instant Play is, I've sat through plenty of awful movies that I never would've bothered with just because they were available to watch Instantly.

I can't fathom why anyone on this Board, let alone you two, would even bother sitting through this.

Unless there's a special event, a local, national or international world crisis, I tend not to watch a lot of television but I generally have it on while eating.

I caught a bit of it myself the other day while channel surfing during a meal. I was flipping back and forth between that and something else - the news I think - but I actually thought it wasn't all that bad. Slight, but not bad, until near what appeared to be a very hokey forthcoming ending and turned it off.

Maybe it was low expectations, but from what I saw of it, Miley Syrus is a better actress than I expected her to be. Liam Hemsworth wasn't bad and Bobby Coleman, who played Cyrus' little brother is one of the better child actors around. Greg Kinnear was fine and so was Kelly Preston in a brief role, but the rest of the cast was strictly from hunger. Maybe they deliberately cast lousy actors so as not to show up the star. I don't know, but the kid playing the bad boy was particularly annoying and the woman who played Hemsworth's mother was equally dreadful. But then, I didn't watch the whole thing, although I did sit through all of Dear John, which was a true waste of time.



Edited By Big Magilla on 1297696908

[flipp525]

Totally agree about The Last Song, which I subjected myself to a few weeks ago. As great as Netflix Instant Play is, I've sat through plenty of awful movies that I never would've bothered with just because they were available to watch Instantly.

I can't fathom why anyone on this Board, let alone you two, would even bother sitting through this.

[Damien]

The "Red Riding" Trilogy:

Red Riding: In The Year Of Our Lord 1974 (Julian Jarrold)

Nineteen-Seventy-Four is evoked not only in the costume and hair design but in the fact that investigative reporters are the heroes and conspiratorial paranoia runs rampant (both offering odes to Watergate, and to movies from that period). That’s the most interesting thing about an otherwise very ordinary, unconvincing movie, with motivations and actions stemming from a screenwriter’s imagination rather than a world in which these characters would actually live. It’s atmospheric enough, but the predictability of it all (including a “surprise” or two) renders it disposable, and the worst (and unintentionally hilarious) aspect of the film is the casting of the (literally) pencil-necked geek Andrew Garfield as a tough-but-sensitive hard nosed reporter who’s irresistible to women.
5/10


Red Riding: In The Year Of Our Lord 1980 (James Marsh)

Even though its made by the director of the reprehensible Man On Wire, this policier about a serial killer of women is tighter and more cohesive than the 1974 installment, and benefits from a much better actor and screen presence (Paddy Constantine) in the main role. Taut and atmospheric, although it does border on the ludicrous as it goes on and everybody in the Yorkshire Police Department seems to be corrupt.
6/10


Red Riding: In The Year Of Our Lord 1983 (Anand Tucker)

The most focused, least pretentious segment of the trilogy is also the best, thanks to the strong presence of the likable David Morrissey and Mark Addy in lead roles, and the ingenuity of, and twists in, the narrative. On the negative side, the film bounces around different years without differentiating them very carefully so confusion occasionally does set in. But when you're not otherwise engaged sorting out the time frame, it’s often mesmerizing.
7/10

[dws1982]

Totally agree about The Last Song, which I subjected myself to a few weeks ago. As great as Netflix Instant Play is, I've sat through plenty of awful movies that I never would've bothered with just because they were available to watch Instantly.



Edited By dws1982 on 1297655623

[Damien]

The Last Song (Julie Anne Robinson)

Movies don’t get much worse than this (well, there is Inception). Absolutely atrocious, starting with the two leads. I’d never seen Miley Cyrus “act” before, but she can be described as – to put it kindly – pathetic. Grimaces and other weird facial expressions and body movements, spastic line readings, an unpleasant hard-edge persona combine together for an unappetizing screen presence. And, really, how did someone who looks like she become a star – I assume homely girls embraced her as one of their own on the Hanna Montana series she was on; there’s no other reason why with her moon face (she looks like Charlie Brown with a wig), huge teeth and Joe E, Brown mouth, huched Quasimodo shoulders and a lack of neck that rivals Ben Stiller’s she would be a leading lady. The leading man – one Liam Hemsworth - is just as bad. He looks like a defective Ken doll that quality control at the factory had to throw out, one degree of separation from being a hunk, but oh how big that degree is. His acting has as much conviction and emotional impact as the Secretary reading the minutes of the last meeting of the town’s Sewer Commission. As for the movie, Oh My God, there are more melodramatic plot turns, arbitrary life-changing incidents and character reversals than in any Victorian play – the pile up of incidents becomes stupefying. It’s shameless in its maudlin-ness. But Robinson handles all the material with a bland detachment, material that needed either the irony, wit and visual acuteness of a Douglas Sirk or the serious conviction of a John M. Stahl or Delmer Daves. And apart from her negative screen presence, Cyrus’s character is also hugely unappealing. The kid makes no sense – an exaggeratedly morose and moody teenager whose heart of gold is quick to surface when the plot calls for it (she loves animals and is kind to an outsider girl who has no basis in reality). And her little brother could be cousin to the kid in Blind Side – that’s how noisome he is. Too much of the movie consists of watching the two leads hang out. Their throwing mud at each other is hardly the stuff of scintillating cinema. The other Nicholas Sparks picture from 2010, Dear John was pretty dreadful, but compared to this, it’s The Shop Around The Corner, and that film’s Amanda Seyfried and Channing Tatum are Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn when lined up against this pair. Oh, and one of the most hilarious aspects is when the piano genius Miley sits down to play they don’t even attempt to show her entire body – cut from her upper torso on the piano bench to someone else’s hands tinkling the ivories. The only saving grace is the presence of the ever-excellent Greg Kinnear.
2/10



Edited By Damien on 1297675592

[anonymous1980]

THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT
Cast: Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Mia Wasikowska, Josh Hutcherson, Yaya DaCosta.
Dir: Lisa Cholodenko.

I have to admit that despite all the nominations and awards it got, I had low expectations overall with this film. The premise is a bit on the slight side and the script had its share of flaws but I loved the performances of the cast (especially the three leads) and the film's inherent sweetness and sincerity that I was completely won over in the end.

Oscar Prospects: I think Moore should've also been nominated.

Grade: B+

[Damien]

127 Hours

Over directed in the extreme by Danny Boyle with so many flashback/fantasy sequences, that they deflect from the main, rather slim narrative. Intrusive music score and split screen doesn't help either. There are plenty of ways this story could have been told and Danny Boyle seems to have picked the worst possible ways to do it. And what the hell is James Franco nominated for? He really has very little to do.

2/10

We're in complete agreement about this terrible movie, Precious. I've always liked James Franco, but for the life of me I can't figure out the acclaim for his performance here.