The Official Review Thread of 2005

[Penelope]

That's precisely it, Tripp, I'm of two minds about it. On the one hand, as you say, Allen has done this in the past, and referencing classic literature/film can be a fascinating endeavor. At the same time, however, I just had a sense of déja vu about the whole project, it has been done so many times, by so many people--including Allen himself--that it didn't seem like such a revelation to me.

[FilmFan720]

Penelope, I too noticed the strong parallels to A Place in the Sun, but Allen has always been known to borrow and reflect from other artists works...why should this be any difference?

Perhaps my love of Woody Allen got in the way, but I thought this was one of the best films of the year, second probably only to Brokeback Mountain. The changes that Allen made in this film from his usual style, particularly in the cinematography of the film, were so interesting to watch. There were times that I completely forgot this was Woody Allen.

As for Scarlett Johnansson, I actually went away feeling the opposite. I thought she got better as the film went on. At the top of the film, I didn't understand the praise for her. I thought she was good, but seemed out of her element. As the film progressed, however, and her layers of confidence slowly peeled away, I was mesmerized by her. It was such a subtle series of changes, and makes her performance in the beginning so much more powerful. You understand how out of her element this girl has always been in her skin, and see the charade start to fall away. Some spectacular work.

Tripp

[flipp525]

But, more than that, has anybody else noticed that's it's also essentially a reimagining of A Place in the Sun (An American Tragedy)? Poor boy (Montgomery Clift/Jonathan Rhys Meyers)--with a parent who is heavy into religion--moves to a new locale, becomes involved with a wealthy family and is dazzled by their riches, and when his potential wealth and "happiness" is threatened by an indiscretion with a poor woman, he contemplates murder...?

Most definitely. I've heard this comparison cited in other places.

It's also very Dreiser-esque to have luck and chance play such an important role in a story. The old woman's ring falling back to the ground from the railing in Match Point is similar to the way that the safe door closes shut, irrevocably sealing Hurstwood's fate in Sister Carrie.

[Penelope]

Saw Match Point this evening--warning some SPOILERS ahead. Not bad, but not quite the revelatory resurgence I was expecting based on the buzz. While I found some of the acting a bit uneven (Scarlett Johansson, whom I adore, started out great--her drunk scene is magnificent--the script lets her down in the second half when her character becomes a shrew and her performance becomes silly), I found it to be one of Woody's most visually arresting films--that shot of Chris and Chloe first walking into their new apartment is fantastic, and brought an audible reaction from the audience.

But there's a certain aspect to the film that I'm not sure how to respond to. Of course, he's riffing on Crime & Punishment (in reverse); much has been said that he's redoing his own Crimes and Misdemeanors; and Ed confirmed my suspicion that there's a vague similarity to Fatal Attraction. But, more than that, has anybody else noticed that's it's also essentially a reimagining of A Place in the Sun (An American Tragedy)? Poor boy (Montgomery Clift/Jonathan Rhys Meyers)--with a parent who is heavy into religion--moves to a new locale, becomes involved with a wealthy family and is dazzled by their riches, and when his potential wealth and "happiness" is threatened by an indiscretion with a poor woman, he contemplates murder...? The twist is that, here, the rich girl is actually the frumpy Shelley Winters part while the poor girl is the sexy Elizabeth Taylor part. EDIT: and I just realized, the first scene between Rhys Meyers and Johansson is essentially a reworking of the first scene between Clift and Taylor, with ping pong instead of billiards.

[dylanfan23]

Syriana

I rate this is a five out of five star film. I can't help but draw similarities to traffic. These films are kinda almost identical in themes and the way he develops the plots. Just two very different subjects. I've heard some complaints about character development. I don't think thats an issue at all. This film isn't about the characters, traffic in many ways was. This film deals with many different stories about the main theme, and thats oil. The world's greatest energy resourse. And there really isn't any good guys here. Well there are a few in this film, Siddig's part is a good guy, a very good guy. This film is hard to follow in some ways, i watched it twice and that helped. It just helped on picking up little details that were missed. The general points aren't hard to follow at all. The general point is that it's quite amazing what a world we're living in. What a country we're living in. What our leaders are doing. I couldn't help but think how much morals comes up in every election, mainly by our right wingers. How important it is to be on the side of having good morals, and when it comes to running our country like a business, good morals get you in a lot of trouble....good morals are nowhere to be found. They lie, they cheat and they steal. And you can say, oh ok this is something we all knew already, we all knew whats going on so what does this film say. Well its says are you kidding me, this is not right. In no more complicated terms than that, this isn't right. It isn't pointing any fingers, it isn't saying that mr. bush is to blame, its just saying this is really not right. And it says in a very powerful way. I was totally moved by this film and it affected and has stayed with me since i first viewed a few weeks ago and it will stay with me agian longer now that i viewed it a second time. All in all its very sad. As for the performances....all were very good. George Clooney was great...i'm a fan of clooney's, as a person and as an actor. I loved his doug ross, i loved him in out of sight and o'brother. He deserved an oscar nomination for o'brother where art thou. I don't know if he deserves one for this, but i won't be screaming if he gets one. Alexander Siddig has been getting no mentions and i have no idea why, his character was so important to this film and he did such a great job with it. Somebody should be praising his work. Damon, wright, plummer among others all did a good job. Great film, so glad it was made.

[dylanfan23]

The Upside of Anger

This is a pretty darn good film here. Sometimes sitcomish and sometimes weird and sometimes painful to watch. But i liked it very much as a hole. The story is a painful one to watch sometimes. It centers around a mother of 4 daughters who's life is totally breaking down and who turns to alcohol, someone you hate watching at times. I for one cringed and wanted to be somewhere else during a few scenes. Joan Allen plays this to perfection, you don't expect anything less from this actress. She kinda just delivers everytime. And she does again here, she deserves an oscar nomination for this performance in my opinion. And with the horrible lack of credible lead performances by woman this year, its a crying shame she's not going to get one. The other great performance of this film was by kevin costner..who plays a supporting part as a man who comes into joan allen's life. Can't really say how, he just starts being there, all the time. But everybody in the film and myself are usually glad he is there all the time, he adds such a great spark to every scene he's in. I have a soft spot for costner, i've been a fan for a long time. I think he's done great jobs in The Untouchables, No Way Out, Bull Duhram, Field of Dreams, JFK, A Perfect World, Tin Cup and Open Range. And he does a great job here, one of the best supporting performances of the year. He carries the film and story at times. Writer and director Mike Binder does a nice job here, behind the camera and in front, his performance is a great one as well. I'm a huge fan of one of his early films, Indian Summer, a great little film. And he's never quite lived up to that promise, but here he does, and i hope he keeps going. The film takes a few bizarre twists and its hard to follow some of the stories of the daughters. But the important points always seem to hit, and right at the times i found myself losing the story it picked up with a nice scene. So a very positive reaction with two very memorable performances. 4 out 5 stars.

[Sabin]

I don't think it's quite as effective. Imagine Rear Window with a third act where Jefferies got his cast removed and tracked Raymond Burr on foot. I'm thrilled there was nary a trace of gush, but come on.

[Penelope]

Oh, Sabin, I didn't mind that Red Eye got, er, grounded in it's final third--where else could they go? Besides, this section is just as effective and efficient as everything that comes before and continues to demonstrate McAdams' character's agility with improvisation (for the sake of survival). Most of all, I liked that it refused to get all gushy at the end, instead, retaining that jokey, hey-this-is-just-a-lark-of-a-film vibe all the way to the fade out (compare, for example, Red Eye's straight-forward ending with the convoluted, drippy conclusion to Flightplan).

[dylanfan23]

Hustle and Flow

Just a few things on this film. I'll start by saying this film could have been pretty bad. This story is a story we've all seen before. And the script isn't all that great. It lost me in a few directions it went towards the end, i just didn't get behind it and i couldn't get to emotionally involved for some reason. But that being said, i woudl give this positive rating. The performances were all great. Terrence Howard deseves all the attension he's getting. He put his heart into this role and really shows. He has a lot of talent and it came through in this film. Taryn Manning and Taraji Henson also shined really bright here, both did a great job, espesially Manning, i felt everything she was trying to express, she did a good job. The direction probably saved this screenplay. He did a great job with his actors and he kept me interested in a screenplay that would have probably lost me otherwise. So good job, good film, not great, good performances. And on terrence howard. I do believe he did a great job, like i said he deserves all the attension he's getting. But he's not in my top five of lead actors this year, and if that fifth nomination is between him and Crowe, i'll take Crowe's performance.

[Sabin]

(incidentally: yes, sad & alone)

So I'm watching Red Eye, and here's my train of thought: yes, yes, yes, yes...and then it gets conventional and ordinary. Watchable? Sure, but nowhere near as inspired as the first hour where I was actually questioning my sanity while reshuffling my top ten list. In a perfect world, the picture doesn't leave the plane and become...well, just an ordinary Wes Craven movie. Before then, it's an almost ridiculously efficient thriller. It's also jokey, silly, and cliched in the best possible ways, aided immeasurably by a stalwart Rachel McAdams and Cillian Murphy who's just so damn fun in mincing, "movie-ish" roles.

Strongly recommended, but I'm pining for the perfect movie that could've been.

[Sabin]

Rewatched Sin City for the first time since its release. No question about it: amazing piece of filmmaking. But did I enjoy it? Mmmm...no. Not really. It's labored and tedious, and its faithfulness to the source is still a huge detriment to the finished result; these are some self-aware chatterbox toughs, and when all you need is a steamy noirish image, we're given far too much obnoxious accompaniment.

I then watched the "Marv" sequence Uncut, and it does improve a modicum. The big lug is given more breathing room and he feels more complete. Mickey Rourke's performance feels fuller, more the iconic work so many seem to believe. It's more entertaining...but not enough to make me want to revisit the rest of the Uncut chapters, just yet.

Rodriguez is opening up the horizons of film and makes more imaginative use of digital film and greenscreening in ten minutes than Lucas has in almost five hours of Star Wars. It's hard for me to disapprove, but I still can't bring myself to whole-heartedly to recommend the film. But it's got some really good stuff.

[Big Magilla]

I rewatched The Constant Gardener on DVD and came away from it still thinking Ralph Fiennes gives the film's best performance, but Rachel Weisz and Danny Huston are almost as good.

I caught Fiennes in another 2005 film new to DVD this week, with the unlikely title of The Chumscrubber. It's a surprising little gem of a movie in which Finnes plays the mayor of a suburban Los Angeles town who is having a nervous breakdown on the eve of his wedding to interior decorator Rita Wilson.

It's an ensemble piece, and Fiennes and Wilson are only two of the actors who give excellent performances. Jamie Bell, proving once again that Billy Elliot was not a one-shot wonder, is terrific as the teenage hero who discovers his best friend has hung himslef and doesn't tell anyone because he doesn't think they'd care in this dark comedy. Glenn Close as the friend's mother, Allison Janney and William Fichtner as Jamie's self-absorbed parents, Carrie Ann Moss as another middle-aged mom who thinks she's still a teenageer and John heard as the local cop are also quite good, but it's the kids who really shine.

Camilla Belle (The Ballad of Jack and Rose), Justin Chatwin (The War of the Worlds), Thomas Curtis (North Country), Lou Taylor Pucci (Empire Falls, Thumbsucker) and Rory Culkin (You Can Count on Me) are the other kids and they are all quite good. I expect we'll be seeing a lot more of all of them for years to come.

[Franz Ferdinand]

Franz Ferdinand >> hmmm... i have my doubt that you were able to foresee the 'Toub is gonna shoot Pena's daughter' scene 'right when Toub bought the gun at the beginning and his daughter asked for the red box'... for during this initial scene, Pena's character hasn't even appeared yet... so how would you know that Toub's character is gonna collide with Pena's character?... heck, how would you know that Pena has a daughter?...
nevertheless, i take your word that the scene was 'no doubt, well acted out' as a form of compliment... even if it was of the lowest degree...

lol, fair enough, I didn't think that one through before writing it. I realized that plot thread when Pena's daughter was under the bed, and he told her about - and gave her - the invisible cloak. By the end of that scene (which I thought was great, very loving and genuine) the pieces were set and I could just tell his daughter would get "shot".
And I was sincere in that compliment! A little disappointed that it was so obvious, but it was still shocking for that immediate instant.

[Sabin]

I've been ripping through a lot of movies recently in a post-New Year's, pre-birthday funk. I finally finished "On the Road" after almost a damn year's worth of effort. Red Eye, Cache, and Match Point are next, but I needed a little bit of pleasure viewing...

And what movie gave me more pleasure last year than Junebug? I couldn't tell you. Lovely, lovely movie, one that I've been meaning to return to since it first opened. I look at the video release date, and I have no idea how I was able to rent it as soon as yesterday. Some kind of omen, I think.

Junebug still strikes me as very, very close to a great film. I just wish it picked a stronger direction at the end. The third act feels like a slog of sorts, too many goodbyes, too many speeches, not really enough happening; considering how much I adore how "little" happens in the first two acts, I couldn't even begin to tell you what needed to happen.

I wish I saw this film before voting in my OFTA ballot. Junebug might have the single best ensemble cast of the year. I will not forget any time soon the degree of gravity Celia Weston brings to her role. She is a sublime character actor, in such a small role, who makes such a strong impression. And Benjamin MacKenzie (whom I have yet to see on "The O.C.") is quietly perfect; when he makes a very important phone call to Ashley at the end of the film, he closes his eyes in headache before pulling the phone away from his ear. Just a great moment.

Embeth Davitdz (darling!) is clearly the lead in the film, the hugely underrated lead in a very difficult role. She has some great moments in the film, not the least of which involve her fanning her newly painted fingernails in the air to the beffudlement of the family. However, it's to Amy Adams' credit that she seemed like the lead for so long to me. She doesn't appear until seemingly almost fifteen minutes into the film and is gone (save for one scene) for the entire third act. I maintain: she is perfection, so far from caricature but existing in her own world. I found myself laughing out loud at her reactions just as much as her line-readings, at how she cannot contain her almost frighteningly wide smile after beginning her interrogation of Madeleine. This is an almost ridiculously strong year for supporting actresses (seriously: why not move Amy Adams and Rachel Weisz for lead consideration? Either one would win.) but if voters watch her performance, I have a feeling she'll pull off an upset victory.

Maybe the best scene of the year is the attempted meerkat taping (oh, how I wish I included it on my ballot!), which defies convention and lets their relationship remain as imperfect and incommunicative as it has always been.

I expect "Harmour Love" to stay in my head for another month now.

[dylanfan23]

I missed these two films in the theatre for some reason but watched them on dvd.

40 Year Old Virgin
Not much to say here except that i laughed out loud many many times. The script is hilarious and all the performances are flat out funny. Steve Carell is a comic genious, and i say this from watching this and his tv show the office, as well as the daily show. And he hits all the right notes here, almost everytime. Theres a few moments that i'm sure was suppose to be really funny that just didn't connect with me. But that withstanding, i think this film pretty much achieved everything it set out to do. All Carell's friends/coworkers in the film are perfect, they almost get more laughs then carell himself. The story is a little lame at times, just like all these sorts of comedy's are. But this along with the wedding crashers really hit the right notes with these types of films. I can't imagine anyone being dissappointed when they watched either of those two films. So i give this 3 1/2 stars out 5. It shouldn't get recognized for any awards, not even the globes, i don't agree with the screenplay getting nominated by the guild, even though it would probably be in my top 10 or 15 for originals this year. But this was just a great fun time watching a film.

Cinderella Man
I don't know what happened with me missing this one earlier in the year. I guess i wans't too excited about it coming out. I'm a very big sports fan, and at one time i was very much into boxing, a lot more so then i am today. So i am familiar with the great jim braddock story. It's arguably one of the most amazing stories in sports history, might be the most amazing. But when i heard they were making a film about it, part of me said about time and part of me said there is no way this is going to be done the right way. This is a hard story to get right because it is naturally overly sentimental, theres no way around it. But this story was done right. I was very surprised how into this story i got by the end of the film. Ron Howards direction is superb again, right back to the job he did on A Beautiful Mind and Parenthood. And even better then the job he did on Apollo 13. I've always been hit or miss on howard, but this is definately a hit. He kept this story very level headed. Everything made sense and all the emotions hit home at the right times and in the right ways. Russell Crowe was perfect for this part, and very ironic he plays a character like this in a year when he's had a little trouble in the press for being a bad guy. Jim Braddock could not be a better guy, he's a family man that stands up for what he believes, and he believes all the right things. And he happens to be a great fighter with a lot of heart. Crowe again proves his talent. This guy is a great actor, i've never been dissappointed him, and he shines again. I've heard a lot of talk about the blahness of Zellwegers role. I have to say i disagree, i thought she did a great job, in a supporting role, she should have been pushed as a supporting actress. Not that she would have gotten nominated nad i'm not saying i would nominate her either, but she did a fine job and had some very good scenes with both crowe and giamatti. Speaking of Giamatti, talk about perfect for a role. He was perfect for this part and shined in every scene he was in. In a weak year for supporting actors, he's probably going to make my top 5, but i wouldn't go crazy and give him an oscar for this. But he deserves the attension he is getting, a great supporting role. So all in all, a great film. And a great surprise, i'm glad they got this story right, it's a story that should have been told to everybody that doesn't know it, and i'm so greatful it was told this way. 41/2 out of 5 stars.