Short Reviews 2

Valentine’s Day

Director:
Garry Marshall

Writer:
Katherine Fugate

Cast:
Ashton Kutcher, Jennifer Garner,
Jessica Biel, Patrick Dempsey,
Jamie Foxx, Anne Hathaway,
Eric Dane, Topher Grace, many others.

Released: 2010
Studio: Warner Bros.
Box Office: $109,191,458 (as of 3/16/10)

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 18%
IMDB Score: 5.7

Format: Theater

It suffered from trying to cover too many storylines. None of the characters were developed enough so that I could get past “Oh, that’s Julia Roberts.” or “Hey, he was in That 70’s Show.” The movie was entirely too predictable and cliched. Taylor Swift and Taylor Lautner were terrible, but overall the acting was good.

Favorite Performance:
Bryce Robinson as Edison

Favorite Quote:
Franklin: Valentine’s day was a massacre in Chicago where lots of people were killed and they put a curse on the Chicago cubs.

Grade:
D

Dear John

Director:
Lasse Hallstrom

Writer:
Jamie Linden

Cast:
Channing Tatum as John Tyree
Amanda Seyfried as Savannah Curtis
Richard Jenkins as Mr. Tyree

Released: 2010
Studio: Sony/Screen Gems
Box Office: $78,782,986 (as of 3/16/10)

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 27%
IMDB Score: 5.4

Format: Theater

I went into this one with pretty low expectations, and I got about what I expected. Channing Tatum cannot act. I have yet to see a performance from him that I would call passable. He really drug this movie down. Other than that, this film was an average date movie.

Favorite Performance:
Richard Jenkins as Mr. Tyree

Favorite Quote:
John Tyree: No matter where you are in the world,the moon is never bigger than your thumb.

Grade: C+

(500) Days of Summer

Director:
Marc Webb

Writers:
Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber

Cast:
Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Tom Hansen
Zooey Deschanel as Summer Finn

Released: 2009
Studio: Fox Seachlight
Box Office: $32,391,374

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86%
IMDB Score: 8.0

Format: DVD

This one was very different from what I expected. Its about Tom’s and Summer’s relationship, but it doesn’t go through it in a conventional manner. It skips around in time and in mood. Its also not conventional in the sense that it doesn’t have a happy ending. (spoiler alert!) They don’t end up together in the end. I guess I just didn’t get it, but I didn’t like this one as well as the critics.

Favorite Performance:
Zooey Deschanel as Summer Finn

Favorite Quote:
Author’s Note: The following is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. Especially you Jenny Beckman. Bitch.

Grade:
B-

Up in the Air

Director:
Jason Reitman

Writers:
Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner

Cast:
George Clooney as Ryan Bingham
Vera Farmiga as Alex Goran
Anna Kendrick as Natalie Keener

Released: 2009
Studio: Paramount
Box Office: $83,517,859 (as of 3/16/10)

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%
IMDB Score: 7.9

Format: DVD

This is a movie about the art of firing people, but it’s also about so much more than that. It’s about finding out what are the important things in your life. Ryan Bingham is a “termination facilitator”, which means he gets hired by a company to come in and do their downsizing for them. He doesn’t decide who gets let go, he just gives them the news and sends them on their way.

He spends most of his time on airplanes or in hotels. Specifically American Airlines planes and Hilton Hotels. He is a very loyal customer and a member of their most exclusive clubs. He is on a mission to join another very exclusive club. The American Airlines 10 million miles club. His whole life revolves around getting those miles. One might think that his life is very lonely. He doesn’t see it that way. He gives motivational speeches about “unpacking life’s backpack”. About removing all unnecessary ties to people and possessions that just tie you down.

Along his travels, he meets another person like him. Alex becomes his one connection, his one item in the backpack that he doesn’t want to get rid of.

His life becomes threaten when the new college graduate in his company tries to revolutionize his job. She introduces video conferencing. His life is suddenly grounded. Ryan convinces his boss to let him take Natalie on the road to learn the ropes.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this film. It is very smartly written, perfectly cast, and superbly acted. I would highly recommend this to anyone.

Favorite Performance:
Anna Kendrick as Natalie Keener

Favorite Quote:
Ryan Bingham: Never get behind old people. Their bodies are littered with hidden metal and they never seem to appreciate how little time they have left. Bingo, Asians. They pack light, travel efficiently, and they have a thing for slip on shoes. Gotta love ’em.
Natalie Keener: That’s racist.
Ryan Bingham: I’m like my mother, I stereotype. It’s faster.

Grade:
A-

Short Reviews 1

Where The Wild Things Are

Director:
Spike Jonze

Writers:
Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers

Cast:
Max Records as Max
James Gandolphini as Carol
Forest Whitaker as Ira
Paul Dano as Alexander

Released: 2009
Studio: Warner Bros.
Box Office: $77,233,467

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 73%
IMDB Score: 7.5

Format: Theater

I was really excited when I found out that they were making a movie of one of my favorite books from when I was a kid. Then I heard that Spike Jonze was attached to direct. I hadn’t seen any of his films, but I knew that he had made some well liked movies. Then I learned that Maurice Sendak, the author of the book, was actively involved, and I became even more excited. Then I saw the previews on TV, they looked really good and I got even more excited.

I saw the film on opening weekend and I was slightly disappointed, not because it was a bad film, but because I had such high expectations. It was a little darker than I thought it was going to be. The cinematography was exceptional. They used real suits for the wild things and CGI’d in the faces later.

Favorite Performance:
Max Records as Max

Favorite Quote:
Carol: Hey King! What’s your first order of business?
Max: Let the wild rumpus start!

Grade:
B+

The Blind Side

Director:
John Lee Hancock

Writer:
John Lee Hancock

Cast:
Sandra Bullock as Leigh Anne Tuohy
Tim McGraw as Sean Tuohy
Quinton Aaron as Michael Oher
Jae Head as S.J. Tuohy

Released: 2009
Studio: Warner Bros.
Box Office: $248,953,327 (as of 03/02/10)

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 69%
IMDB Score: 7.7

Format: Theater

This is a case of a movie taking an inspirational story and turning it into a cheesefest. What Michael Oher and the Touhy’s did really is exceptional, but what the makers of the movie did was play it up a little too much in my opinion.

Quentin Aaron did a good job playing the shy Oher, but Sandra Bullock is the one getting all the attention. She is nominated for Best Actress at the Academy Awards. I thought she overacted and her southern accent was off. That one line that was in all the previews where she says, “You can thank me later.” just grates on my nerves.

Favorite Performance:
Quentin Aaron as Michael Oher

Favorite Quote:
Leigh Anne Touhy: If you so much as set foot downtown you will be sorry. I’m in a prayer group with the D.A., I’m a member of the NRA and I’m always packing.

Grade:
B+

Paranormal Activity

Director:
Oren Peli

Writer:
Oren Peli

Cast:
Katie Featherston as Katie
Micah Sloat as Micah

Released: 2009
Studio: Paramount
Box Office: $107,918,810

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 82%
IMDB Score: 6.8

Format: Theater

First of all, I don’t like horror movies. I just don’t go see them. I can count how many horror movies I’ve seen on one hand, but I had to see this one. I waited and waited for it to finally come to my theater and I went to the first midnight showing. Holy crap! This was the single scariest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. I’ll never watch it again.

It was shot for $15,000. That’s it. It took one week and one camera. If I didn’t know that the footage wasn’t real, I would totally believe that it was. If you want to see it, I would see it with a group of people because seeing their reactions really adds to the experience.

Favorite Performance:
Katie Featherston as Katie

Favorite Quote:
Micah: So you’d think a psychic would, uh, be on time. You know, like he could foretell if the traffic was going to be bad?

Grade:
A-

Major Update 3

Now that the new semester has settled in, you can expect me to finish what I started around Christmas.

Milk

Director:
Gus Van Sant

Writer:
Dustin Lance Black

Cast:
Sean Penn as Harvey Milk
James Franco as Scott Smith
Josh Brolin as Dan White
Emile Hirsch as Cleve Jones

Released: 2008
Studio: Focus Features
Box Office: $31,841,299

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%
IMDB Score: 7.9

Format: HBO

I had no intention of ever seeing this movie because films about the struggles of homosexuals are just not my thing. But alas, I came across it on HBO. I was pleasantly surpsised. I knew it had been nominated for the best picture Oscar and that Sean Penn had won Best Actor. The reason that I don’t like this movie more than I do is (I’m just going to right out and say it) this movie is very gay. Sean Penn and James Franco making out is not something I ever want to see again.

Favorite Performance:
Sean Penn as Harvey Milk

Favorite Quote:
Harvey Milk: How do you teach homosexuality? Is it like French?

Grade:
B+

Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire

Director:
Lee Daniels

Writer:
Geoffrey Fletcher

Cast:
Gabourey Sidibe as Precious
Mo’Nique as Mary
Mariah Carey as Ms. Weiss
Paula Patton as Ms. Rain

Released: 2009
Studio: Lionsgate
Box Office:

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%
IMDB Score: 7.6

Format: Theater

Its about a 16 year old girl pregnant with her second child by her own father. She is physically, emotionally, verbally, and sexually abused by her mother. She can’t read or write. She gets kicked out of school. Her family is on welfare. But she finds a glimmer of hope and clings to that and tries to get out of her situation. Precious is a very difficult film to watch. Its not for everybody. It impeccably acted and it would be the biggest travesty in Oscar history if Mo’Nique doesn’t win.

Favorite Performance:
Mo’Nique as Mary

Favorite Quote:
Mrs. Lichtenstein: You’re 16; you’re still in Junior High School; and you’re pregnant with your second child. Is that correct?
[No reply]
Mrs. Lichtenstein: Are you pregnant, again?
[Mrs. Lichtenstein huffs, exacerbated]
Mrs. Lichtenstein: What happened Clareese?
Clareece ‘Precious’ Jones: I had sex, Mrs. Lichtenstein.

Grade:
A-

Moon

Director:
Duncan Jones

Writers:
Duncan Jones and Nathan Parker

Cast:
Sam Rockwell as Sam Bell
Kevin Spacey as GERTY (voice)

Released: 2009
Studio: Sony Classics
Box Office: $5,010,163

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 89%
IMDB Score: 8.0

Format: Blu-ray

I was slightly disappointed by this movie. I thought I was going to like it a little better. Its still pretty good though. It about a man stationed on the moon at a mining outpost alone for 3 years with nothing but a talking computer for company. I’m not going to give away the plot because this is not one of those films that even if you know how its going to end the journey is still fun. This is another difficult film to watch because Sam Bell is the only character on screen for 99% of the movie.

Favorite Performance:
Sam Rockwell as Sam Bell (by default)

Favorite Quote:
Sam Bell: You look like a radioactive tampon.

Grade:
B

Major Update 2

I’ve seen nine more movies since I made the last post a couple of days ago, so I feel like I might be fighting a losing battle, but I’m going to stick with it and try to get completely caught up. Also I’ve decided that a few of the films are deserving of full length reviews, so they will have their owns posts scattered in.

Sunshine Cleaning

Director:
Christine Jeffs

Writer:
Megan Holley

Cast:
Amy Adams as Rose Lorkowski
Emily Blunt as Norah Lorkowski
Alan Arkin as Joe Lorkowski

Released: 2009
Studio: Overture
Box Office: $12,062,558

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 72%
IMDB Score: 7.1

Format: DVD

Here is an average film about two sisters who start a crime scene cleanup business. It features strong performances by all the leading characters. It was fairly funny and kinda sweet. I don’t really know what else to say about this film.

Favorite Performance:
Alan Arkin as Joe Lorkowski

Favorite Quote:
Lynn: How’d she die?
Norah: It was sorta a do-it-yourself thing?

Grade:
B-

Memento

Director:
Christopher Nolan

Writer:
Christopher Nolan

Cast:
Guy Pearce as Leonard
Carrie-Anne Moss as Natalie
Joe Pantoliano as Teddy Gammell

Released: 2000
Studio: Newmarket
Box Office: $25,544,867

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%
IMDB Score: 8.6

Format: Blu-ray

One of the more confusing films I’ve ever seen. It’s about a guy with a short-term memory problem who is trying to find his wife’s murderer. But the story is told backwards, from the end to the beginning, so the story can be hard to follow. Each scene is about the length of one of his memories, and the end of a scene corresponds with the beginning of the previous scene. Christopher Nolan, who also directed Batman Begins and The Dark Knight is one of my favorite directors.

Favorite Performance:
Guy Pearce as Leonard

Favorite Quote:
Leonard Shelby: I have to believe in a world outside my own mind. I have to believe that my actions still have meaning, even if I can’t remember them. I have to believe that when my eyes are closed, the world’s still there. Do I believe the world’s still there? Is it still out there?… Yeah. We all need mirrors to remind ourselves who we are. I’m no different.

Grade:
A-

Taxi Driver

Director:
Martin Scorsese

Writer:
Paul Schrader

Cast:
Robert DeNiro as Travis Bickle
Jodie Foster as Iris
Cybill Shepherd as Betsy

Released: 1976
Studio: Columbia
Box Office: $28,262,574

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 98%
IMDB Score: 8.6

Date Seen: September 21, 2009
Format: DVD

This was a hard movie for me to wrap my head around. Most films are made so that the watcher gets a sense of enjoyment out of it. I got no enjoyment from watching Taxi Driver. Martin Scorsese paints a bleak picture of a man consumed by loneliness.

Robert DeNiro plays Travis Bickle, a Vietnam veteran suffering from insomnia and looking for a job. He takes a job as a cabbie working the night shift. He travels through the city, going to places and picking up customers that the other cab drivers won’t. There are several shots of Bickle driving his taxi around the city past the pimps and prostitutes and drug dealers. His fellow drivers think that he needs some protection, so he buys several handguns that he starts to keep on him. He meets Betsy, a campaign worker for a senatorial candidiate, but after he takes her to a dirty movie on their first date, she rebukes him and this sets him off. He goes into a manic state and determines that he is going to kill the politician. I’m not going to give anymore of the plot away, but Bickle is the loneliest character I have ever seen in a motion picture. Everytime he tries to make a connection with somebody, they end up leaving him.

Scorsese’s masterful direction turns what is quite frankly a boring storyline into a suspenseful drama. I like how he develops Travis’s madness slowly over the course of the movie. It shows him alone in his apartment practicing pulling the guns out of their holsters and firing the empty guns at the TV.

I can’t deny that this is a very well made and complex film. I understand why the critics like it so well. I just didn’t enjoy it enough to recommend it to anyone else. I felt depressed when the movie was over.

Taxi Driver is listed as number 52 in AFI’s 100 Greatest Films.

Favorite Performance:
Robert DeNiro as Travis Bickle

Favorite Quote:
Travis Bickle: The days go on and on… they don’t end. All my life needed was a sense of someplace to go. I don’t believe that one should devote his life to morbid self-attention, I believe that one should become a person like other people.

Grade:
B+

Recommendation:
Don’t see it unless you want to watch a classic film or are in the mood to watch a depressing film.

Citizen Kane

Director:
Orson Welles

Writers:
Herman J. Mankiewicz and Orson Welles

Cast:
Orson Welles as Charles Foster Kane
Dorothy Comingore as Susan Alexander Kane
Joseph Cotten as Jedediah Leland
Everett Sloane as Mr. Bernstein
William Alland as Jerry Thompson

Released: 1941
Studio: RKO
Box Office: $1,585,634

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 100%
IMDB Score: 8.6

Date Seen: August 20, 2009
Format: DVD

Citizen Kane by many critics and other people in the film industry as the best movie ever made. Although I am no expert on the matter, I have to respectfully disagree. There is no denying the technical aspect of the production, I just never got drawn in to the story.

It’s about the life and death of newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane. At the beginning of the movie Kane dies and utters his last word, “Rosebud.” An eager reporter tries to find the meaning of this last word. There starts a series of flashbacks told from the perspective of the people closest to Kane. He started out poor, but from the sale of some family land that a gold mine had been discovered on, he came into a great wealth. He then decides to spend part of his fortune on a struggling newspaper. He turns the paper around a goes on to own several papers across the country, becoming the country’s most powerful newsman. Kane is loosely based on real life newsman, William Randolph Hearst. Hearst tried to stop the release of the film, and did not allow any of the media outlets he owned cover the movie.

The movie was shot with what is called “deep focus.” Which means what is in the background and foreground are in focus simultaneously. The makeup was also revolutionary for the time, as Orson Welles portrayed Kane from a young man all the way to an elderly man. Even though the film was made in 1941, I would have to say that the makeup rivals that of 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Even though Citizen Kane is possibly the most technologically advanced film of its time, the story seem to drag and honestly just wasn’t very interesting to me. So therefore, I have to say that it was just an above average film.

Citizen Kane is listed as number 1 in AFI’s 100 Greatest Films.

Favorite Performance:
Orson Welles as Charles Foster Kane

Favorite Quote:
Female reporter: If you could’ve found out what Rosebud meant, I bet that would’ve explained everything.
Thompson: No, I don’t think so; no. Mr. Kane was a man who got everything he wanted and then lost it. Maybe Rosebud was something he couldn’t get, or something he lost. Anyway, it wouldn’t have explained anything… I don’t think any word can explain a man’s life. No, I guess Rosebud is just a… piece in a jigsaw puzzle… a missing piece.

Grade:
B

Recommendation:
Couldn’t tell you not to watch it.

All The President’s Men

Director:
Alan J. Pakula

Writer:
William Goldman

Cast:
Robert Redford as Bob Woodward
Dustin Hoffman as Carl Bernstein
Jason Robards as Ben Bradlee
Hal Holbrook as Deep Throat

Released: 1976
Studio: Warner Bros.
Box Office: $70,600,000

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 100%
IMDB Score: 8.0

Date Seen: August 7, 2009
Format: Netflix Instant View

I don’t usually become so enthralled with a movie as I did with All The President’s Men. I couldn’t look away. I was hanging on every sentence. That’s the sign of a good movie with great pacing. Even though the film is almost entirely dialogue without any action sequences, it kept me on the edge of my seat.

It follows the two Washington Post journalists who discovered the Watergate scandal that caused the resignation of President Nixon. It covers the beginning of their investigation up til the point where they discover that the president may be involved. Then it cuts to shots of news wires being written that detail the results of the investigation with the last one being “President Nixon resigns.” I wish the movie would have covered the entire investigation but since it was made just a couple of years after Watergate, I guess most people of the time knew most of the later details so they decided to focus on the beginnings of the discovery.

Both Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman gave masterful performances. They played their characters as almost desperate men who knew that they were onto a very deep and complex story but didn’t know exactly how deep or how important. Two particular sequences really caught my attention. One was when they were going house to house of people who worked for the committee to re-elect the president for statements about payments made to the Watergate burglars and the shot was set up looking from within the house out towards the two journalists and then the door would slam in there face over and over. The other shot was set within the office of the newspaper and you can see Redford and Hoffman in the background working on the story while the rest of the employees are gathered around the T.V.

All The President’s Men is listed as number 77 in AFI’s 100 Greatest Films.

Favorite Performance:
Dustin Hoffman as Carl Bernstein

Favorite Quote:
Ben Bradlee: Now hold it, hold it. We’re about to accuse Haldeman, who only happens to be the second most important man in this country, of conducting a criminal conspiracy from inside the White House. It would be nice if we were right.

Grade:
A-

Recommendation:
See it.

American History X

Director:
Tony Kaye

Writer:
David McKenna

Cast:
Edward Norton as Derk Vineyard
Edward Furlong as Daniel Vineyard
Avery Brooks as Dr. Sweeney
Guy Torry as Lamont

Released: 1998
Studio: New Line
Box Office: $6,719,864

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 83%
IMDB Score: 8.6

Date Seen: July 23, 2009
Format: Blu-ray

One of the most powerful, moving, emotionally charged films I have ever seen. American History X is the story of a family ripped apart by the consequences of hate, bigotry, and racism. Derek Vineyard, played by Edward Norton in an Oscar nominated performance, is the leader of a neo-nazi gang in Venice Beach. He is arrested for the murder of two black gang members and sentenced to three years in prison. In prison he initially joins in with the other whites, but he soon realizes they cooperate with the Mexicans and blacks. this does not fit in with his ideals he splits with that group. They violently teach him a lesson and he ends up befriending one of the black inmates. When he gets out, he learns that his little brother has followed in his footsteps and Derek tries to reform Danny.

This movie takes one of the hardest and most uncompromising looks at racism that I have ever seen. I’m at a loss for words trying to describe how it makes me feel. All I know is I am emotionally exhausted when it is over. It is, in my opinion, one of the defining films of the last 20 years. The main point of the movie is that nothing good ever comes from hate. The Vineyard family is almost torn to shreds by the aftermath of what happened to Derek. Only when Derek denounces his hatred do they begin to pick up the pieces again. The ending montage of the film says that one should always end with a quote since someone else has already said it best. I leave you with the ending quote from the film.

“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”
-Abraham Lincoln

Favorite Performance:
Edward Norton as Derek Vneyard

Favorite Quote:
Danny: Hate is baggage. Life’s too short to be pissed off all the time. It’s just not worth it.

Grade:
A

Recommendation:
I personally own it and everyone should see it at least once.