The Teen Critic's Blog

2010 Oscar Predictions: Gearing Up

2009-08-03T17:25:00.000-07:00

These'll be coming fast and furious from now on, I hope. This is turning out to be one of the more interesting Oscar predictions seasons in a long time. Say what you will about the decision to extend the Best Pic nominees to ten, but it's creating some pretty intense conversation pieces.

Best Picture:

Amelia
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Invictus
The Lovely Bones
Precious
The Road
A Serious Man
Shutter Island
Star Trek

Best Director:

Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Lee Daniels, Precious
Clint Eastwood, Invictus
Peter Jackson, The Lovely Bones
Lone Scherfig, An Education

Best Actor:

George Clooney, Up in the Air
Matt Damon, The Informant!
Daniel Day-Lewis, Nine
Peter Sarsgaard, An Education
Michael Stuhlbarg, A Serious Man

Best Actress:

Saoirse Ronan, The Lovely Bones
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia
Hilary Swank, Amelia
Audrey Tautou, Coco Before Chanel

Best Supporting Actor:

Matt Damon, Invictus
Anthony Mackie, The Hurt Locker
Tobey Maguire, Brothers
Alfred Molina, An Education
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Best Supporting Actress:

Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Mo'nique, Precious
Imelda Staunton, Taking Woodstock
Rachel Weisz, The Lovely Bones
Michelle Williams, Shutter Island

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Amelia
Nine
Precious
Up in the Air
Where the Wild Things Are

Best Original Screenplay:

Bright Star
Brooklyn's Finest
Funny People
The Hurt Locker
A Serious Man

Best Animated Feature Film:

The Fantastic Mr. Fox
9
Up

Best Art Direction:

Bright Star
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Inglourious Basterds
Public Enemies
Where the Wild Things Are

Best Cinematography:

Amelia
Avatar
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker
Nine

Best Costume Design:

Bright Star
Cheri
The Tempest

Best Film Editing:

Avatar
The Lovely Bones
Nine
Shutter Island
Star Trek

Best Makeup:

Avatar
Star Trek
Watchmen

Best Original Score:

Avatar
Bright Star
A Christmas Carol
The Lovely Bones
The Road

Best Sound Editing:

Avatar
District 9
Public Enemies
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
2012

Best Sound Mixing:

The Hurt Locker
9
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
2012

Best Visual Effects:

Avatar
Star Trek
2012

An Updated 2009 Rundown, and August Anticipation

2009-08-01T13:10:00.000-07:00

I've seen some stuff in the month of July. I've added "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" (****), "Coraline" (****) "My Sister's Keeper" (****), "G-Force" (***1/2), "Public Enemies" (***1/2), and "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" (**1/2). I've also downgraded "Taken" by half a star, bringing it to ***1/2; just a movie that has withered a tad over time and that I'm not as enthusiastic about now.

J.J. Abrams's "Star Trek" (****)
David Yates' "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" (****)
Zack Snyder's "Watchmen" (****)
Pete Docter's "Up" (****)
Henry Selick's "Coraline" (****)
Nick Cassavetes' "My Sister's Keeper" (****)
Alex Proyas' "Knowing" (****)
Michael Bay's "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" (****)
Sam Raimi's "Drag Me to Hell" (****)
Pierre Morel's "Taken" (***1/2)

Hoyt Yeatman's "G-Force" (***1/2)
Gavin Hood's "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" (***1/2)
Tom Tykwer's "The International" (***1/2)
Letterman/Vernon's "Monsters vs. Aliens" (***1/2)
Michael Mann's "Public Enemies" (***1/2)
Tony Scott's "The Taking of Pelham 123" (***1/2)
Justin Lin's "Fast & Furious" (***)
Anne Fletcher's "The Proposal" (***)
Andy Fickman's "Race to Witch Mountain" (***)
Carlos Saldanha's "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" (**1/2)

Paul McGuigan's "Push" (**1/2)
Peter Chelsom's "Hannah Montana: The Movie" (**)
McG's "Terminator Salvation" (*1/2)
Brad Silberling's "Land of the Lost" (zero stars)

I should be seeing A LOT more movies in the month of August. The first weekend (the 7th) brings us "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra," which looks cool, and "Shorts," which could be a major comeback for Robert Rodriguez in the kid's arena (his last decent family flick was "Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams"). Also interested in the Meryl Streep/Amy Adams headliner "Julie & Julia." The second weekend (the 14th) is packed with goodies and brings us Peter Jackson's intriguing "District 9," Hayao Miyazaki's newest animated film "Ponyo," Todd Graff's high school comedy "Bandslam," Robert Schwentke's romance/fantasy "The Time Traveler's Wife," and Neil Brennan's "The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard." The third weekend (the 21st) brings only one film of interest to me: Quentin Tarantino's war film "Inglourious Basterds." The last weekend offers only Ang Lee's artsy semi-biopic "Taking Woodstock."

Films I'm skipping out on for various reasons: An unhealthy influx of horror movies, such as "A Perfect Getaway," "Halloween II," and "The Final Destination." Also, horrid-looking romcoms, like "Post Grad" and "My One and Only." Also missed will be littler movies that probably won't play in the Dallas/Fort Worth markets: "Cold Souls," "Paper Heart," "It Might Get Loud," "Spread," "Grace," and "St. Trinian's" (I'll try to catch some of these on DVD).

Review: G-Force (***1/2)

2009-07-26T16:07:00.000-07:00

Zach Galifianakis (Ben), Will Arnett (Kip Killian), Bill Nighy (Saber), Kelli Garner (Marcie), Piper Mackenzie Harris (Penny), Tyler Patrick Jones (Connor), Jack Conley (Agent Carter), Gabriel Casseus (Agent Trigstad), Justin Mentell (Terrell), Niecy Nash (Rosalita), Loudon Wainwright III (Grandpa Goodman). Featuring the voices of Sam Rockwell (Darwin), Penelope Cruz (Juarez), Nicolas Cage (Speckles), Tracy Morgan (Blaster), Jon Favreau (Hurley), Steve Buscemi (Bucky). Directed by Hoyt Yeatman. Rated PG (action, rude humor). 89 minutes.

In 2005, Disney released a film that was a glorious spectacle in the B-movie tradition. It was called "Sky High," and it was a dazzling mix of the "Harry Potter" series and "The Incredibles" that worked wonders and was that summer's most fun release by a mile, a joyous respite that worked as well as, but in different ways than, the darker releases that season, such as the final "Star Wars" film or the "Batman" reboot. In the same way, and with one minor but considerable flaw, "G-Force" is this year's answer. The film is in no way smart or sophisticated, but how can it be? It's about guinea pigs that are special agents with the FBI! The plot calls for a B-movie and "G-Force" delivers the goods.

The movie forms some sort of plot. Appliance manufacturer Leonard Saber is developing brand new technology to go along with his devices (including a specially-designed coffee maker); it will connect them using a radio frequency. But his inventions seemingly hide something more sinister: the operation reveals something called Clusterstorm, a plot to overrun the world with machines. On the case are the G-Force of the title, and they include: three guinea pigs named Darwin, Juarez, and Blaster and their mole Speckles. The team escape from the clutches of the FBI and are marooned in a pet shop. Here they meet Hurley, an unsure, slightly overweight guinea pig, desperate to leave the pen. After losing one of their own team members in an escape plan gone awry, team leader Darwin is keen on vengeance--and will stop at nothing to prevent global destruction.

If we still lived in the times of VHS, video tapes everywhere would probably be worn out watching "G-Force." It's just that type of movie. It reminds, in tone, of last year's "Meet Dave," except with better special effects and a much more sufferable first act. "Meet Dave" was neither as terrible as the trailers were nor as clever as the concept was. "G-Force," on the other hand, is much more involving than its concept would initially seem. The idea of guinea pigs as special agents is tired and juvenile, sort of like making a movie about Alvin and his fellow chipmunks, which did happen, to disastrous results. "G-Force" is the Second Coming in comparison and much cleverer than most kid-friendly espionage movies out there; it's the best of its kind since the underrated, kind-of-visionary gem "Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams" and trumps fare like both "Agent Cody Banks" movies, "Catch That Kid," and the unbearable "Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker," none of which have the wit or style of this film.

The G-Force is a likable troupe of guinea pigs and more characterized than you may think--with one exception. Leader Darwin, plagued by guilt over the loss of a good friend around the end of the first act, turns into the consummate movie hero, extremely likable, resourceful, and flawed. Sam Rockwell embues humanity into his role, which is one of the best voiceovers in a Disney film I've seen a long while. Agent Juarez is somewhat of an off-to-the-side role but Penelope Cruz does what she can and does it well, besides. As Hurley, Jon Favreau is hilarious and heartfelt, much the same way John Ratzenberger is in his many voiceovers for Pixar's films. Nicolas Cage's voice is completely unrecognizable as Speckles, the mole in two different ways, but he's terrific and almost photorealistic in execution.

If the film has a flaw, it is in the inclusion of Agent Blaster, voiced irritatingly by Tracy Morgan, who is underqualified for this role. They could've gotten Eddie Murphy and the role could probably have the potential to be a Donkey-type of beloved animated character. More intriguing is Steve Buscemi's virtual extended cameo as Bucky, a fellow petshop-mate of Hurley's, who is funnier with 10 minutes of screen time than Blaster is in the entire picture. My suggestion to the writers would be to switch those characters and the star rating might have been pushed up to four stars.

Luckily, Blaster only pauses the experience and doesn't bring it to a complete halt. Otherwise, the film is unadulterated fun and one of the better movies this summer. The action scenes are actually intense (something I didn't foresee), and the villain, Saber, is played with great relish by Bill Nighy. One might think Nighy is too good, but he impresses from frame one with a deliciously over-the-top performance that reminds of John Malkovich's Pascal Sauvage in the underrated "Johnny English" or Jim Broadbent's Inspector Butterman in the brilliant "Hot Fuzz" (which this film is the kid-version of). The other human actors are window-dressing, like Zach Galifianakis and an underused Will Arnett, but that is perfectly okay under the circumstances.

Director Hoyt Yeatman has directed his first feature after years of special effects work, but he proves himself worthy with this film, a kind of Michael Bay for the kiddos. He frames some of his action scenes as Bay would. The ending would have been derivative of "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," what with its Transformer made out of kitchen appliances, but it's practically as insane as some of the stuff in last month's action masterpiece. The special effects are nearly as accomplished and deliriously beautiful. That Oscar winner Scott Stokdyk (look him up) helped with effects is not surprising. Editor Mark Goldblatt has worked on such big-budget films as "Starship Troopers," "Armageddon," "Hollow Man," and "Bad Boys II," and he uses every tool in his arsenal here (that "G-Force" is better than those movies is perhaps more indicative of their deficiencies, but what the hey).

"G-Force" is a wonderful family film, one that is unexpectedly moving at times and nearly always funny; but it has that extra layer of ingenuity that most live-action family films from Disney have missing. This summer has presented disappointments, like "Terminator Salvation" and "Land of the Lost," both films with better advertising than this and another surprise, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine." "G-Force" is a big success and should be seen by 7-year-olds everywhere. One of the shocking aspects about the movie is its refusal to pander to the age group and then treat them like imbeciles. There is a genuinely surprising twist at the end that kids may not like, but they will certainly understand it. It treats its target age with respect and doesn't condescend. That's all we can ask for.

Review: Harry Potter and Half-Blood Prince (****)

2009-07-15T11:55:00.000-07:00

Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley), Emma Watson (Hermione Granger), Jim Broadbent (Horace Slughorn), Michael Gambon (Albus Dumbledore), Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy), Alan Rickman (Severus Snape), Maggie Smith (Minerva McGonagall), Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley), Jessie Cave (Lavender Brown), Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood), Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix Lestrange), Robbie Coltrane (Rubeus Hagrid), Frank Dillane (Tom Riddle at 16), Hero Fiennes-Tiffin (Tom Riddle at 11), Helen McCrory (Narcissa Malfoy), Warwick Davis (Professor Flitwick), Mark Williams (Arthur Weasley), Julie Walters (Molly Weasley), Natalia Tena (Nymphadora Tonks), David Thewlis (Remus Lupin), Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom), Freddie Stroma (Cormac McLaggen), James Phelps (Fred Weasley), Oliver Phelps (George Weasley), Amelda Brown (Mrs. Cole), Anna Shaffer (Romilda Vane), Elerica Gallagher (Waitress), Georgina Leonidas (Katie Bell), Timothy Spall (Peter Pettigrew), David Bradley (Argus Filch), Isabella Laughland (Leanne), Alfie Enoch (Dean Thomas). Directed by David Yates. Rated PG (scary images, violence, language, sensuality). 153 minutes.

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," like "Star Trek" before it, represents this summer's biggest success. Not only is the film itself a masterwork (and boy, is it), but like the film that went as boldly as ever, this one doesn't simply center around amazing visual effects. It deals with matters of the heart, too, and crafts one of the best suspense thrillers in recent years. Shymalan and Hitchcock would be proud of some of the set pieces on display here. The sheer aptitude that clearly-gifted director David Yates uses to film what is probably the hardest PG-rating for any movie ever, or at least since "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" 25 years ago, is something to behold. Also, the film boasts the best cinematography of the year and certainly of the series.

Following the tragic death of his godfather Sirius Black, Harry Potter's summer between fifth and sixth years at Hogwarts is interrupted when Albus Dumbledore snatches him away to the nice village of Budleigh Babberton. Harry's mission: help convince Potions master hopeful Horace Slughorn to return to Hogwarts. More important are the memories that Slughorn holds of Lord Voldemort, so that Harry and Dumbledore can find Horcruxes--pieces of Voldemort's soul that, if destroyed, will be the end of him. Meanwhile, Harry himself battles another villain: affection, specifically for Ginny Weasley, Ron's younger sister. And Hermione and Ron have spats in between Ron's snogging with Lavender Brown.

There are two scenes in "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" in which Hermione and Ron call Harry their best friend. It's this kind of connection that makes the film so special, more so than any visuals could. One scene in particular has Hermione pouring her heart out to Harry after Ron and Lav-Lav kiss for the first time. It's heart-wrenching and heart-warming in equal measure, because we know the friendship between them and Ron is as strong as any in the film medium. The hormones that are prevalent at the age of 16 are fierce and brutal (heck, they still are for me, four years later), and the film presents them in an uncompromising way. Luckily, there's hope yet. The last five minutes in particular are an exquisite capper on a trio of friendship that will most assuredly last a lifetime.

But it wouldn't be "Harry Potter" with the usual dazzle of special effects, and they are as accomplished as ever. The first scene has a thrilling and terrifying attack by Death Eaters on the helpless Muggles. The war has started. No one's safe. The effects used here are flawless, as are those in an equally scary attack on the Burrow (the Weasleys' house). The blurry, surreal murkiness of the transition into the crucial memory sequences couldn't be more perfect. The final sequence in a dank and dark cave is almost too realistic, with the disgusting inferi and the subsequent ring of fire Dumbledore conjures to ward them off indistinguishable from the actual-real surroundings.

The other tech credits are seamless. The musical score by Nicholas Hooper is essential to setting the mood for every scene and it does that beautifully, especially in the most tense of moments. The aforementioned cinematography by the great Bruno Delbonnel is sumptuous and utterly gorgeous, shrouding everything in a surreal light that matches the goings-on in the plot. Things at Hogwarts are not the same as they once were, and at the end, the situation is even more grave. The cinematography reflects that beautifully, especially in the emotion-driven ending. That Delbonnel has signed on to the two-part "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" gives me hope that they will be absolutely terrific-looking unlike anything else.

The actors are more than impressive. Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint by now know these roles and could play them in their sleep, but luckily they don't. These are strong, committed performances by consummate professionals, not young-adult actors anymore, and the scenes of teenage hormones are beautifully played-out by all involved (also of note are equally strong takes from Bonnie Wright as Ginny and newcomer Jessie Cave as groupie Lavender Brown). Other actors of the generation include Tom Felton, as evil and conniving as ever as Draco Malfoy, with a new mission from the Dark Lord himself, and Evanna Lynch, as quirky and wise as ever in the now-historic role of Luna Lovegood (one of my personal favorite characters in the series).

But as good as the "kids" are, the adults are even better. Deserving of an Oscar nomination (and possible win) is Michael Gambon as Dumbledore. It's amazing to think that at one time I was unsure of his transition into the character, especially after the regal Richard Harris played the headmaster in the first two films. Now, though, I can't imagine anyone else playing this role better than Gambon, whose Dumbledore is a man willing to take whatever comes his way. As the wisest and most powerful wizard, it's something to behold when he becomes vulnerable in the last act; Gambon is shattering and unforgettable, a force of nature in what reminds me of Billy Crudup's devastating turn as Dr. Manhattan in "Watchmen." Alan Rickman is superbly icy in another of the year's great turns thus far. His Snape hasn't had much to do since the first film, only playing Snape in extended cameos. Snape doesn't even try to cover up his true colors by the end, and Rickman gives the character an extra layer that is unforeseen and a bit of foreshadowing for the final film in the series. And the great Jim Broadbent (one of my favorite actors ever since "The Borrowers" twelve years ago) is, well, great as Horace Slughorn, quirky and only a little conceited but with a smidge of something else when he talks about students he loved.

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," as corny as it may sound, is ultimately about the power of a friendship among three people that comes around once in a blue moon. It's why the final sequence, implying a dangerous and frightening journey that they may not survive, is so beautiful. Ron and Hermione pledge their complete devotion to Harry's task as their own. The school is lost, the world is darkened by a pall of dread and gloom, but their friendship will last an entire lifetime, no matter what happens. And we all relate to it, because we all have at least one friend who is comparable (I know I do). The razzle-dazzle of special effects, the beauty of the cinematography, the pathos of the actors' performance--none of it would matter if the film didn't have that heart-wrenching element of truth and gravitas. This is one of the year's finest achievements.

OSCAR 2010: Talk About Change

2009-06-29T11:21:00.000-07:00

Due last week's triple-announcement of changes, including a nixing of both the Original Song and Honorary Awards categories and the majorly controversial move to extend the number Best Picture nominees to ten, things are going down at AMPAS that most people don't like. For the record, I'm not a big fan of the nixing of any categories, but I am one of the few proponents of the Best Pic extension. Any haughty judgments that people have been awarding the move are solely based on circular logic: the reasons against it are the reasons it should exist, or so it appears. I think the Academy is pushing the limits of their creativity in a way that could resuscitate interest in the proceedings (overlong telecast notwithstanding). It opens the door up for quite a few movies to be noticed from now on and I hope they keep this up (unless it turns out disastrous).

Having said that, I figured it would be time for a new Predix article. Note that these are not original nominee predictions. I get these from the fellas over at InContention. But then no predictions are truly original, as the folks at IC get theirs from Awards Daily for the most part and I'm sure Awards Daily gets theirs from somewhere else. It's not plagiaristic to copy off something that's not an original in the first place, is it? Plus, I'm not that literate in the art of predicting like those before me, so I take what makes sense from others' perspectives and make them my own. They are conveniently original.

Here goes, down a different road than before:

Best Picture:

Avatar
Bright Star
Funny People
The Informant
Invictus
Precious
Public Enemies
A Serious Man
Shutter Island
Up

Best Director:
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
James Cameron, Avatar
Lee Daniels, Precious
Clint Eastwood, Invictus
Mira Nair, Amelia

Best Actor:

Daniel Day-Lewis, Nine
Johnny Depp, Public Enemies
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker
Peter Sarsgaard, An Education
Ben Wishaw, Bright Star

Best Actress:

Shohreh Aghdashloo, The Stoning of Soraya M.
Abbie Cornish, Bright Star
Penelope Cruz, Broken Embraces
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Audrey Tautou, Coco Avant Chanel

Best Supporting Actor:

Matt Damon, Invictus
Anthony Mackie, The Hurt Locker
Tobey Maguire, Brothers
Alfred Molina, An Education
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Best Supporting Actress:

Kathy Bates, Cheri
Marion Cotillard, Public Enemies
Penelope Cruz, Nine
Leslie Mann, Funny People
Mo'nique, Precious

Best Adapted Screenplay:

The Informant
Nine
Precious
Shutter Island
Up in the Air

Best Original Screenplay:

The Boat That Rocked
Bright Star
(500) Days of Summer
The Hurt Locker
A Serious Man

Best Animated Feature Film:

Coraline
The Fantastic Mr. Fox
Up

Best Art Direction:

Amelia
Bright Star
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Nine
Where the Wild Things Are

Best Cinematography:

Bright Star
Green Zone
The Hurt Locker
Public Enemies
The Road

Best Costume Design:

Bright Star
Cheri
Public Enemies

Best Film Editing:

Bright Star
Green Zone
Invictus
The Lovely Bones
Public Enemies

Best Makeup:

Bright Star
Star Trek
Watchmen

Best Original Score:

Avatar
Broken Embraces
The Lovely Bones
The Road
Up

Best Sound Editing:

Green Zone
The Hurt Locker
Star Trek
Terminator Salvation
Up

Best Sound Mixing:

Green Zone
The Hurt Locker
Public Enemies
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Best Visual Effects:

Avatar
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

2009: A Rundown (Updated)

2009-06-25T12:09:00.000-07:00

Here's the, well, rundown for you.

J.J. Abrams's "Star Trek" (****)
Pete Docter's "Up" (****)
Zack Snyder's "Watchmen" (****)
Michael Bay's "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" (****)
Alex Proyas' "Knowing" (****)
Sam Raimi's "Drag Me to Hell" (****)
Pierre Morel's "Taken" (****)
Gavin Hood's "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" (***1/2)
Tom Tykwer's "The International" (***1/2)
Letterman/Vernon's "Monsters vs. Aliens" (***1/2)

Tony Scott's "The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3" (***1/2)
Justin Lin's "Fast & Furious" (***)
Anne Fletcher's "The Proposal" (***)
Andy Fickman's "Race to Witch Mountain" (***)
Paul McGuigan's "Push" (**1/2)
Peter Chelsom's "Hannah Montana: The Movie" (**)
McG's "Terminator Salvation" (*1/2)
Brad Silberling's "Land of the Lost" (zero stars)

So there you have it. 18 movies. Back with more at the end of next month.

Review: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (****)

2009-06-24T22:56:00.001-07:00

Directed by Michael Bay

Cast: Shia LaBeouf, Ramon Rodriguez, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro, Julie White, Kevin Dunn, Tyrese Gibson, Isabel Lucas, Michael Papajohn, Rainn Wilson, Glenn Morshower, Matthew Marsden, John Benjamin Hickey.

Voice Cast: Peter Cullen, Anthony Anderson, Hugo Weaving, Darius McCrary, Reno Wilson, Frank Welker, Tony Todd, Charles Adler, Tom Kenny, Jess Harnell, Mike Patton, Robert Foxworth, Mark Ryan.

2009--150 minutes

Rated: PG-13 (sci-fi action violence, language, crude and sexual material, drug material)

In 2007, "Transformers" was one of the best summer movies to have been released. No question about it. It wasn't perfect, but it signaled the strengths of director Michael Bay, who specializes in action and effects, rather than in characters or dialogue. With breathtaking visuals and Bay's famous (or infamous, depending on who you listen to) hyperkinetic editing that doesn't leave room for development, "Transformers" was a rollercoaster of a ride. Still, it had its flaws, most notably an overlong action finale and an irritating performance by John Turturro. The question was, would Bay be able to top the already huge success of his first film? The answer is an overwhelming "yes."

"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" is a new classic in the action genre, one of the best entries in a long time. After years of horrid action films (such as Bay's own "Armageddon" in 1998), movies like this coming rising from the phoenix ashes and rejuvenate hope that someone, somewhere, is making the "great trash" that Pauline Kael once reveled. She must be turning in her grave right now. "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" is something of a miracle, a $200-million movie that wastes not a penny and has a masterwork to show for it. The movie is, no doubt, as dumb as a box of hair, but Bay knows this. His films (especially ones titled "Transformers") are about nothing more than explosions and carnage. Don't go in expecting "Citizen Kane," and you'll enjoy yourself. The dialogue is indeed pretty terrible, but who really cares in the long run, if you can see ginormous robots beating the robotic daylights out of each other, courtesy of some of the best visual effects in the medium?

The plot is a non-issue, but I'll run it down anyway. Sam Witwicky is still recuperating from finding a race of alien robots on Earth and banishing the evil Megatron to the depths of the sea. Now he's starting college, but is cut off after one day when he finds a sliver of the supposedly destroyed All-Spark. He has a breakdown in class and begins to see strange symbols in the front of his vision. When he is called by leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime, to take part in the ultimate battle with the remaining Decepticons, Sam is reluctant to do his duty. But he is forced into action when the Decepticons attack and transported to Egypt to find a mysterious key that could save the world and its sun--if he finds it before the god of the Decepticons (the Satan of the film).

"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" borrows elements from as many films as you can think of, but that doesn't stop Michael Bay from doing his thing. From the beginning of the movie, you can sense Bay at the top of his game like he's never been. An early action sequence in Shanghai sets the stage for what comes next and plays a major part in helping the heroes out. It's a thrilling sequence, but nothing compared to what Bay has in store for the next two hours. It seems that the entire film, every five minutes, is drinking a can of Monster spiked with stereoids; the adrenaline starts and never stops. Very little is off here--perhaps the pot-induced humor is tired and all the sensual angles of females get old after we've realize they're hot--but so much of it is insignificant to the film as a whole that you forgive and forget in a matter of seconds. Other attempts at humor, especially with regards to John Turturro (who really comes into his own here) and twin robots named Skids and Mudflap, are hugely successful and sometimes rip-roaring. The dramatic bits are vintage Bay--histrionics at best--but effective enough at showing the main couple's relationship troubles.

But audiences are looking for Bay's specialty: explosive mayhem. Dialogue and character development are not part of the Bay equation, and anyone who has seen any of Bay's movies knows this. The carnage on display contains some of the best-choreographed action in a long time. A sequence early on in which little tiny robots attack Sam at his house is nearly perfect in execution, culminating in a rescue attempt from Sam's personal "alien robot car," Bumblebee, that ratchets up tension in a matter of seconds. The hour-long finale ultimately doesn't fall into the trap of the finale in the first film (which was too long by half), even if it's longer by 25 minutes. The plotting is pretty hefty and a little labyrinthine, but the side characters explain everything as best they can. The action keeps things going, and by the end, everything comes together perfectly. Some shots are breathtaking in their aesthetics, especially in the homestretch of the finale. The robots are bigger and better than ever; Bay's visual effects artists have outdone themselves and topped the seemingly-impossible-to-top graphics in the original. And throughout, Bay has his signature hyperkinesis at an all-time high.

"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" is a breathless ride, and part of that is credited to the performances. LaBeouf still hasn't topped his role in "Disturbia" as far as acting goes, but he's a perfect fit for Sam Witwicky, unassumingly handsome and charming with that spark of life needed for an action hero from cartoonland. Megan Fox is hotter than ever, yes, but adds some layers to her role of Mikaela, so thankless in the first film. The main characters' relationship feels somewhat real, and there seem to be fireworks this time. John Turturro, as the sardonic Agent Simmons, spouts off fewer irritating one-liners and fleshes out his character to be a major player in the plot, instead of the nuisance he undoubtedly was in the original; he gets a moment of truthful and heartfelt civic duty in the middle of the climax, and when he voices this, we believe him. It's true none of these performances are Oscarworthy (which is the difference between this and the superior "Star Trek"), but they more than get the job done, reminding of Roland Emmerich at his very best with the well-acted "Independence Day" 13 years ago.

Also notable is the voice work, whose ante is upped considerably. Peter Cullen is, as he always has been, perfect for Optimus Prime, voice filled with emotion and pride and sometimes anguish. Turturro voices the best new robot, Jetfire, who isn't introduced until the middle of the movie and comes into play, big time, in the insane last half-hour. Tom Kenny (also known as Spongebob) voices the hysterical duo Skids and Mudflap; their every line of dialogue is witty and sarcastic but never over-the-top and always successful. Hugo Weaving gets a huge bump up in characterization and by the end we understand Megatron's motives, even if we don't agree with them. Finally Tony Todd does wonderfully evil work as mega honcho Decepticon leader president of the title (you'll figure it out).

Films like "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen"--which represents this year's equivalent to "Wanted" in terms of being a masterpiece of trashy entertainment--are praiseworthy for being what they're meant to be and must not be criticized for what elitist critics think it "should be." You either understand Bay's filmmaking style or you don't. You know who you are. For me, though, it's easily superior to the already-excellent first film. Now we must wait for the third installment, and my hopes are they keep up what they're already doing and do not add too many villains. We already have two in this movie and that is enough. Maybe something different for a while. For now, Bay has made his best film, a masterwork in explosive cinema and one of the best action pictures of the decade.

Tonight

2009-06-24T16:03:00.000-07:00

"Transformers" was awesome. "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" should be awesomer. Reviews are awful, which means this'll be a lot of fun. "Dumb-as-rocks but massively entertaining" is the highly accurate phrase Actionman would choose.

The Great Films: An Introduction

2009-06-16T16:37:00.000-07:00

I will not make hyperbolic claims that I am any authority on film. I have not seen very many movies in comparison to other critics. But the forty films in this series are some of the most important experiences I've ever had in the medium. Are there modern films? Yes, all the way up to this year. Are there omissions? For sure, especially of films like "Citizen Kane" or "Casablanca" or "The Wizard of Oz." But there are more rewarding experiences than those, in my opinion, as brilliant as those are. I've also changed it pretty drastically from last September's list. And I have a few rules for myself (for instance, now I don't allow myself any series to be included, like "The Lord of the Rings" or "Star Wars")

Film is one of the most important media in existence. There is no hyperbole in saying that movies will be around till the end of time, even if they are not made anymore. Films like the ones I have chosen are instrumental in showing perfectly the kind of art that can be made when every aspect of the medium is put to perfect use.

So...join me on my personal journey through the echelon of filmmaking.

Next post: #40-36. Should be on fairly soon, I think.

New Blog

2009-06-16T14:00:00.000-07:00

I've created a blog for the dissection and parsing of Armond White's reviews. Visit it here.

On P.T. Anderson

2009-06-15T00:50:00.000-07:00

I must confess that two years ago today I wouldn't have been able to tell you one of the films that 39-year-old directing genius Paul Thomas Anderson directed. Then I saw "There Will Be Blood" and was interested, to say the very least. Over the past three weeks, I have seen two other films from him, and both have touched me deeply, both as a person and as a film critic.

The first film I saw was "There Will Be Blood" (***1/2), which is as flawed a masterpiece as any. It is a work of nihilism and despair--"mad genius" was what main actor Daniel Day-Lewis called it in an interview. The film has so many themes at work, so many ideas, that it's ashame, if forgivable that the film falls apart in the final act. Oh, the themes are working. The actors are acting. But it especially has a cold efficiency that didn't suit the beginning 150 minutes. And what a section those 150 minutes were. The film began as one of the truly great films in American history, something of a new "Citizen Kane," and ended as a slightly overrated (in the midst of all the hubbub, at least) curiosity of a high order. The film is as close to perfect as any imperfect movie that has been released since "The Fountain."

It's strange to consider that, with its electrifying, monumentally terrifying performance from Daniel Day-Lewis that ranks as one of the best performances by an actor in the history of cinema, "There Will Be Blood," for me, is somewhat inferior to its immediate predecessors.

"Punch-Drunk Love" (****) is so much more than just the best Adam Sandler movie ever made. It's a starkly realistic and intricately written romantic comedy that works on multiple levels and never misses a step. Sandler is indeed the best he's ever been (and could possibly be) in the film, but he doesn't carry his humorous antics. No, the antics are less desperate here, more dramatic, more believable. His bursts of outrage or breakdowns of nerve are sheer loneliness, the signs of which are trapped in a man unable (or is it unwilling?) to let go. And Emily Watson is utterly luminous as the woman who barges into Sandler's life and messes it up--in a good way. This is one of the best films of the decade, true and deep and sad and lovely.

"Magnolia" (****), which I watched tonight, is one of the most important and potently powerful moviewatching experiences of my lifetime. What unfailingly rings true is the fragility of life that Anderson is able and willing to bring across in this massive character epic, literally (not figuratively) flawless filmmaking for over three hours. With its career-best performances by William H. Macy, John C. Reilly, Julianne Moore, and Philip Baker Hall, as well as brilliant and well-rounded character work from Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman (as per usual for him), and Melora Walters, "Magnolia" is not a film to miss out on. If you love movies, any kind, you owe it to yourself to seek out the blistering and haunting masterpiece that Anderson wrought. I won't say it's the best film I've ever seen, but it's sure as heck one of 'em. (More to come on "Magnolia" in my 40 Best Films of All Time series.)

Just thought I'd share. Anderson apparently has a project called "Desperadoes" in the works. I'm there. He could remake "Bratz" and I'd go. He's an incredible talent and one of today's most diverse directors.

Soon to Come...

2009-06-14T18:21:00.000-07:00

As I've seen many a film since past September's posted list of the 25 greatest films ever made, I figured it's time to update. The new list, a collection of 40 films that I, for various reasons, hold near and dear to my heart. The oldest film on the list is from 1920s. The newest is from this decade. Its layout will be paragraph-long coverage of five films each post It's a wide array, carefully selected, but it's one of those personal lists that can be argued in many, many ways. I welcome it. And I look forward to it. Look for the list to start in a few days. (Below is a sample of five of the films included.)

Review: Land of the Lost (zero stars)

2009-06-09T20:25:00.000-07:00

Directed by Brad Silberling
Cast: Will Ferrell, Danny McBride, Anna Friel, John Boylan, Jorma Taccone, Bobb'e J. Thompson, Matt Lauer
Voice Cast: Leonard Nimoy
2009--101 minutes

I'm not quite sure how to talk about "Land of the Lost" in a civilized way, without rambling on in an aimless review filled to the brim with curse words in my head that most people don't even know exist. Since this blog is meant to be family-friendly for those who desperately want to read civilized reviews, I will try my best, but note that this is incredibly edited from what is going through my head right now. Truth is, I want very much for the makers of "Land of the Lost" to personally refund my ticket. Considering that the ticket was free, I think my point has been made. And I'm pretty sure that I littered that ticket onto the floor of the men's bathroom in Borders. "Land of the Lost" made me nearly fuming-mad as many times as, say, "In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale" last year, "Bratz" and "Dragon Wars" the year before, and "Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker" and "My Super Ex-Girlfriend" the year before that, except that this may be the most disappointing of the lot.

Considering that director Brad Silberling has made an affecting human drama ("Moonlight Mile") and two subversively dark family films ("Casper" and "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events"), he is one of my favorite modern directors. But "Land of the Lost" is an unspeakable mistake on his part. The movie has to do with Dr. Rick Marshall, a scientist apparently inept in everything that has the word "social" in front of it, and as shown in the embarrassing, cringe-inducing opening interview with an obviously bored Matt Lauer, he has written a book about how time warps could, in theory, work. Three years later, no one believes him and he is stranded to teaching some science class to creepy children with too much knowledge about human female anatomy. Then he...

Oh, I give up. Trying to understand "Land of the Lost" is like trying to teach a 2-year-old what the word "physics" means. You're gonna get a blank stare and possibly kill some of the child's brain cells in the process. Really, that's how the movie is as an entity itself. With this movie, nothing resonates, nothing satiates (not even the most undiscriminating of viewers will be able to enjoy themselves), and nothing amuses. Not even Danny McBride comes out unscathed. Normally McBride's line delivery is spot-on (as in "Pineapple Express" and "Tropic Thunder"), but considering his normal R-rated pedigree, I'd say his thankless role as Will Stanton is a huge step down.

To cover the movie's failed aesthetics would take a college thesis paper, not a paragraph, but I'll again try my best. The cinematography by the normally reliable Dion Beebe (he shot 2004's best film, "Collateral") is abnormally hideous, shrouding everything in ugly yellows and oranges. Then again, no color would've worked, so maybe Beebe should be cut some slack. The musical score by Michael Giacchino is awful, pretty much a slap in the face after his amazing work on "Star Trek." Apparently Giacchino can be a gutless hack whenever the project is this bad. The visual effects are supposed to be cheesy, but an effort is actually made to make them believable sometimes, which defeats the purpose. Thus, they just become as awful and annoying as the rest of the picture. In this way, last summer's underrated "Journey to the Center of the Earth" was much more impressive, never losing sight of the fact that it was dumb. At least it didn't misplace its humor, like "Land of the Lost" does.

The acting is hopeless. I already mentioned McBride's lack of material to deliver (though he's not bad in the role, per se). Will Ferrell is awful as Rick Marshall, in a way he's never been. None of the characters has anything to work with, as far as characteristics or even caricatures, but Ferrell especially embarrasses himself in scenes like one in which he drinks a bottle of dinosaur pee while splashing it on himself. The scene has no payoff (unlike an unbearably hilarious and quite similar scene in last year's "Superhero Movie" that culminates in urine being sprayed sprinkler-style onto a bedroom floor), thus no attempt is made to give us a reason to laugh. Anything can be funny in the right context, but no context exists under Silberling's tasteless and indistinctive direction.

Special mention must go to Jorma Taccone for doing the impossible: he makes the ape-man Cha-Ka seem endearing and sweet at the audience's first sight and then creates one of the most despicable, overused, and repugnant movie characters of the last twenty years, so obnoxious that he could take the previous crown held by Jar-Jar Binks in the annals of Hated Movie Characters. Cha-Ka is nothing more than a gimmick--a bad one--and every time he's on screen I cringed, especially with his incessant feeling-up of Anna Friel's breasts. The only person that doesn't make you wanna tear out your eyeballs is Friel, ironically, though she's not very good, either. Even Leonard Nimoy turns up in a voice cameo, but it's much ado about nothing.

Something like "Land of the Lost" comes about rarely. It is one of those films that made me very nearly lose faith in the cinema. All I could do during film were three things: 1) count the cobwebs forming on the screen; 2) wonder what sort of criminal acts Brad Silberling & Co. should be guilty of; and 3) think happier thoughts, like the sweet respite of being trampled by spiky-shoed horses followed by wild boars. By the end, I couldn't wait to leave the theater and breathe some fresh air. The problem is, zero star films are ones that I don't soon forget. The thought of playing scenes from "Land of the Lost" in my head is terrifying to consider. This is the worst film of the year. Not "the year so far," you'll notice. I don't think it'll get any worse than this.

Love It

2009-05-22T22:13:00.000-07:00

I love Eminem. Just love his music, for no apparent reason. He's shocking, appalling, controversial, incredibly potty-mouthing, and never-compromising. This is the CD cover for "Relapse," which is for me the best album of 2009 so far.

I'm not gonna "review" it, but three songs really caught my attention: "My Mom," "Medicine Ball," and "Beautiful." All pretty much masterpieces of rap music, especially the absolutely rip-roaring hilarious "Medicine Ball," which goes into places that even Eminem has never gone to. It's amazing what this dude gets away with.

Review: Terminator Salvation (*1/2)

2009-05-22T19:41:00.000-07:00

Directed by McG

Cast: Sam Worthington, Christian Bale, Moon Bloodgood, Anton Yelchin, Jadagrace, Bryce Dallas Howard, Helena Bonham Carter, Common, Ivan G'Vera, Michael Ironside, Jane Alexander, Terry Crews, Chris Browning

Voice Cast: Linda Hamilton

2009--130 minutes

Rated PG-13 (sci-fi violence, language)

"Terminator Salvation" is a terrible film. That takes a moderate amount of meditation. Doesn't it belong to the famed series birthed by the visionary director James Cameron, he of "Aliens" and "Titanic?" Yes, the series began in 1984 with the wildly fun "The Terminator," which acted as both a massively entertaining sci-fi film and a terrifying vision of a post-apocalyptic battle between humans and robots. 1991's "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" was even better and is considered by many to be a fulcrum achievement in summer entertainments; I don't disagree, as it is one of my personal favorite science fiction films. 2003's "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" was considerably less liked and has its share of detractors; I am not in this group, as I thought that the film was that year's best summer blockbuster, a virtually breathless cavalcade of high-stakes action and more than a bit of the intrigue the previous films held.

In comparison, "Terminator Salvation" feels like nothing more than a copy of a copy of the previous films, plagued with an almost kid-friendly PG-13 rating that stunningly compromises what James Cameron and Jonathan Mostow (director of the third film) had set as the standard for what makes a film in this series work. Not only does director McG's dully realized vision not work as a "Terminator" film; it doesn't even satisfy as a meaty sci-fi extravaganza. The earlier films were both taut and fittingly epic, encompassing their stories gracefully and rarely, if ever, missing a beat. The highly anticipated fourth film, however, provides a convoluted story that attempts to equal the astonishing first three films in scope. It comes up drastically short.

The year is 2018. The war prophesied to have ravaged the Earth is currently taking place and a resistance against the machines has been formed by John Connor. As this war goes on, Connor continues to look for his father, Kyle Reese, in order to save him from a terrible death at the hands of the machines; if they kill him, there would be no future anymore. Meanwhile a former prisoner named Marcus Wright has donated himself to science upon his lethal injection years earlier and in return gotten a makeover in the form of a half-robotic/half-human body. Before long, Connor and Wright will team up to save Reese from the robots and, hopefully, make the future a better place for all.

From frame one, "Terminator Salvation" screams of mediocrity. From the plotting, which is much more confused than I just made it sound, to the action sequences, which bore and numb the viewer in the way that Michael Bay's films have been wrongfully accused of doing, the film just doesn't work. The cinematography by Michael Fitzgerald and Shane Hurlbut is among the worst of the year, shrouding everything in a dank sort of darkness that works against the themes presented. This is a film that could have looked incredible under the hand of someone like the great Emmanuel Lubezki, who memorably shot the similarly apocalyptic "Children of Men" a few years ago, but instead this is a film during which I felt like closing my eyes. The screenplay by John Brancato and Michael Ferris purports to be about something deeper than it ends up being, but doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of the admittedly intriguing themes present.

Visual effects work is impressive across the board, especially in the otherwise unremarkable action sequences, and never look less than impressive. These effects are in the service, however, of a vanity project that never takes off as well as planned--never. Not one time did I believe in anything that was happening on screen due to the aforementioned screenplay. Still, aesthetically, the effects work. As far as acting goes, the only standout is Sam Worthington, who envelops the character of Marcus Wright with a humanity that wouldn't otherwise make sense with the character at hand; indeed, Marcus is the only character in the film with either a discernible quality or even three dimensions.

In contrast to Worthington, who is the saving grace among the performers, Christian Bale has never been worse, dismayingly playing John Connor as a humorless bore with no humanity whatsoever. Gone is the sarcasm of Edward Furlong's committed performance in the 1991 film, as well as Nick Stahl's three-dimensional vulnerability in the 2003 installment. Bale also looks bored and disinterested. Apparent complications on set and his quarrels with Shane Hurlbut evidently afffected his mood, and it shows. Other performances, such Moon Bloodgood's as the only person to give Marcus considerable affection or Bryce Dallas Howard in the stock Worried Wifey role, are so inconsequential as to not be there. Even worse offenders are rapper-turned-actor Common, former Starship Trooper Michael Ironside, Anton Yelchin in the crucial role of Kyle Reese and a nearly nonexistent Helena Bonham Carter, all turning up for maybe five minutes between them and never leaving a good impression.

Films like "Terminator Salvation" are disappointing for many, many reasons, and it's a shame that an entry into one of the most beloved series of films out there is the worst movie this year's had to offer thus far (even beating out something like "Hannah Montana: The Movie," which at least wasn't completely boring). It's bereft of a brain and a soul, and even when the last action sequence in the movie works, it's only out of a sick pleasure of seeing something that liberally steals the occurrences of the innovative and genuinely exciting finale of "Terminator 2: Judgment Day." Even Arnold himself shows up in a shameless ploy to cash in on those previous films (and his appearance is horridly incorporated, to boot). What a mess "Terminator Salvation" was, and how tragic.

Really Quick

2009-05-22T08:45:00.002-07:00

"Terminator Salvation" (*1/2) is a very bad film. In-depth thoughts later, once I get my thoughts in such an order as to write it in a review, but the thing was a disaster and the worst film so far this year. The cinematography was ugly and indistinct, the action dull and poorly staged, and Christian Bale's performance something close to awful. What a mess.

Next week brings Pixar's newest, "Up," which is getting raves from Cannes Film Festival. Can't wait.

Essay Review: "Star Trek" (****)

2009-05-14T19:42:00.000-07:00

Directed by J.J. Abrams
Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, John Cho, Simon Pegg, Eric Bana, Anton Yelchin, Bruce Greenwood, Leonard Nimoy, Winona Ryder, Ben Cross, Jacob Kogan, Jimmy Bennett, Chris Hemsworth, Jennifer Morrison, Spencer Daniels, Rachel Nichols, Tyler Perry, Clifton Collins Jr., Deep Roy.
2009--127 minutes

Rated PG-13 (sci-fi violence, sexual content)

Color me neither a Trekkie nor a Trekker. It isn't that I never liked the late Gene Roddenberry's magnum sci-fi opus. I'm just more of a "Star Wars" guy. Grew up as one and that may never change. "Star Trek," however, has been just as famous as George Lucas' monumental addition to the sci-fi genre, an entity that graced the television screen for 13 years as "Star Trek" (from 1966 to 1979, with a nearly-unwatched animated series running from '73 to '75), "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (from 1987 to 1994, and in my experience the best series in the group), "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (from 1993 to 1999), "Star Trek: Voyager" (from 1995 to 2001, of which I've never watched one episode), the excellent "Star Trek: Enterprise" (from 2001 to 2005), and the failed "Star Trek: New Voyages" that ran for six episodes in 2004. The saga has also spun six movies out of the original Kirk/Spock years--1979's "Star Trek: The Motion Picture," 1982's "Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan" (a brilliant film and the only one I've seen of the pre-Picard years), 1984's "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock," 1986's "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home," 1989's infamously bad "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier," and 1991's "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country." Then Patrick Stewart's Jean-Luc Picard was introduced. Him I'm more familiar with, as I came to love the 1987 series that starred Stewart (I watched it faithfully when I was younger). There were four movies that spun out of this branch of the saga--1994's "Star Trek: Generations," 1996's "Star Trek: First Contact" (the best of the Picard films), 1998's underrated "Star Trek: Insurrection," and 2002's craptastic "Star Trek: Nemesis." After the latter film bombed with critics and audiences, with a disappointing box-office intake to boot, it was rightfully believed that "Star Trek" was a dead entity.

Forgive the length of that first paragraph for the sheer amount of television and film versions that a decidedly cheesy '60s series spawned, but visionary producer J.J. Abrams's reboot, simply titled "Star Trek" and based off the original series starring William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, answers the question I've always had: why is this series famous? The characters of the original show are of the two-dimensional type and sometimes quite hard to relate to, the special effects are of the sort that you laugh at now because they are see-through by today standards (though certainly not by the standards of 1966), and the sci-fi tale it tells is as generic as they come, even in those days. Thoughts ran rampant in my head in 2006 when I learned that they would be revamping the saga; thoughts like, "After the failures of the previous two movies and 1998's awe-inspiringly bad 'Lost in Space,' another adaptation of a '60s TV show, why in the world would they try this?"

Well, come three years later, J.J. Abrams, that genius producer of TV shows like "Lost" and "Fringe" and the 2008 monster-movie-from-a-video-camera masterwork "Cloverfield," as well as reboot director of 2006's action-packed "Mission: Impossible III," has trumped our expectations and made the definitive "Star Trek" experience that could equal the influence that "Star Wars" had in 1977. This is an astonishing gem of a motion picture, mixing fun with pathos to great effect. Visual effects run rampant--as they should--and the achievement is nothing less than a landmark in the medium, much like 2005's "King Kong" and 2007's "Transformers" were, except that they are more defined and more seamless than what those films had to offer in the F/X field. "Star Trek" far surpasses the latter film and just about equals the first in terms of entertainment value, with unbearably exciting action sequences that further the story and enhance the characters. If this is to spawn remakes of a few of the older films as rumored, I welcome it with open arms. Abrams has created a new American masterpiece that works as science fiction and as a rousing blast of popcorn-munching, Coca Cola-guzzling summer movie extravagance.

The film opens with a bang as George Kirk captains the Federation starship Enterprise into an ensuing battle with a Romulan mining ship. He doesn't make it out alive, valiantly dying in a suicide mission/rescue attempt that leaves the opposing ship crippled, but not before his wife births a son, whom they name James. Fast forward twenty or so years. James Kirk is an unhappy guy who is recognized as George's son by Christopher Pike, the current Enterprise captain. Reluctantly, James joins the space academy which Pike is the principal of, along with "Bones" McCoy and Uhura. Meanwhile on the planet Vulcan, Spock dismisses an opportunity to be on council and joins the Federation instead. When Kirk and Spock meet on a mission to disconnect a drill that is endangering the planet Vulcan, things are not good between them, due to a natural rivalry between the races. But their rivalry will have to wait, as a villain from both their pasts threatens to end the lives of those closest to them.

You know that feeling you got when you first watched "Star Wars" or "Indiana Jones," the feeling that the movie you're seeing will define the way you look at movies in the future? The former did that for me at the age of four, when I regarded it with a sort of awe. The sheer spectacle of Lucas' first film absolutely amazed me, and every time I see it, the film reinforces why I love movies (even the prequels have that effect on me, if at a slightly smaller level). "Indiana Jones" did that for me the following year, when it was released on a special edition video that Dad immediately bought. Both franchises have been incredibly dear to me as both a critic and as a lover of film.

Shock of all shocks, "Star Trek" does the same thing, which is a big surprise after my history with the franchise (or substantial lack thereof). The movie just works, much in the same way that "King Kong" did in 2005 and just as well. The film is pure entertainment for 127 glorious minutes, but there are themes at work here, characters that are surprisingly three-dimensional, and a script that never talks down to the audience and consistently surprises with revelatory plot turns (especially a big shocker around 3/4 of the way into it). Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman are the go-to guys to make intelligent action films, as proven by their oeuvre, which has included "The Island," "Mission: Impossible III," and "Transformers." Having written another of this summer's biggest flicks, "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," it's evident that Orci and Kurtzman have complete ownage of tentpole event films. They have a huge future ahead of them (as long as they don't pull another "The Legend of Zorro"). Their writing here, however, is far above anything they've done before. Much like siblings Christopher and Jonathan Nolan beat the odds last year with "The Dark Knight," Orci and Kurtzman have done something that they never quite did before: they never lose sight of the bigger picture and never miss a step in their labyrinthine plotting.

The film rides on the casting, and it is perfect. Chris Pine has never had a role to call his own, except for his apparently breathtaking performance as a Neo-Nazi in "Smokin' Aces," a film I did not see (nor do I especially want to). The film that brought him to light was 2006's godawful Lindsay Lohan-starrer "Just My Luck," where he played a dimwitted, unlikable character put through awkwardly staged bouts of bad luck. Here he nothing less than comes into his own, bringing humanity and humor to what would otherwise be a stock action-hero role. Zachary Quinto, on the other hand, in a role destined to remind one of Billy Crudup's Dr. Manhattan in "Watchmen," endows the character of Spock with the Vulcan lack of emotion, yet his character is the most heartfelt. The reason Quinto works so well as Sylar on TV's "Heroes" is that his facial expressions are an array of pure evil anyway it turns. The same can be said about Spock's ultimate warmth and vulnerability, despite having the appearance of a hardened war veteran.

Coming up with the best performances in the film are a revelatory Karl Urban as "Bones" McCoy and Eric Bana, pure evil after a string of nice-guy roles as villainous Nero. Urban is known as Eomer from the "Lord of the Rings" films and Kirill from "The Bourne Supremacy." This being his first role as a pleasant person, it must be stated that Urban is the incredibly strong here. His voice inflections are almost creepily close to the original's DeForest Kelley, his line readings on target, and I don't know this for certain, but was Kirill/Eomer actually making jokes work? Bana, so awful in the disastrous "Hulk" from a few years back, has made his comeback role as far as summer films go. Nero is the best villain for anything since Joker in "The Dark Knight" (not that that's saying much), and he comes across as having a twisted humanity and a reason--not an excuse--for wanting peace, especially considering his views. The guy is wicked smart and incredibly coldhearted, and unexpectedly enough, Bana makes that aspect work wonders.

Smaller performances also make big impressions, including Simon Pegg, reminding us why he's one of the funniest actors in the business as Scotty, Zoe Saldana, emanating goodness of heart as Uhura, John Cho and Anton Yelchin, as faithful button-pushers Sulu and Chekhov, and Bruce Greenwood in his best performance thus far in his career as former captain Christopher Pike. Even smaller roles include Jacob Kogan and Jimmy Bennett, leaving strong impressions as younger versions of Spock and Kirk, while Winona Ryder and Ben Cross are incredible in their ever-so-brief roles as Spock's human mother and Vulcan father. Finally, former Spock himself Leonard Nimoy appears at the half-way point and lingers in memory beyond the amazing end credits; this is not just a gimmicky cameo but a real, heartfelt performance from a person who is synonymous with the original "Star Trek."

Technical aspects are sterling across the board, but the most noteworthy aspects are the visual effects, the musical score, and the cinematography. The effects work here, as I earlier noted, are nothing less than angelic in nature. For a film so dependent on effects, the filmmakers had to crank out the most impressive visuals they could for basically 98% of the time, and they don't let us down--ever. I would pick a memorable shot, but that's like a parent choosing a favorite child. Simply put, there is no one shot that rises above the rest (although the implosion of a planet is a masterpiece of a shot, both in its visuals and astonishing sound work). The film makes a new meaning for the term "Oscar-worthy visuals." The musical score of the original series and movies has been remastered to great effect by J.J. Abrams regular Michael Giacchino, and it's a hopeful shoo-in for Best Original Score at the 2010 Oscars. The cinematography by Daniel Mindel is amazing, in both the shots that are entirely made up of special effects and the more intimate shots of human interaction.

Movies like "Star Trek" are released once in a blue moon. Sure, there were "The Dark Knight" and "Watchmen" that took the time-worn superhero genre and shook things up to create deep, thoughtful, penetrating stories of dark characters and the skewed ideas of good and evil. "Star Trek" lives to entertain us, and it does that perfectly. But there's something deeper at work that what audiences are probably expecting. The advertisements are right; this isn't your father's "Star Trek." It's something much, much better. What "Star Trek" achieves is a completely altered definition of the term "summer tentpole," and like the "Star Wars" films did for yours truly, it may define another four-year-old's idea of what a movie is and push them to watch even more. It's simply that good, that influential, and that fun. That's right. "Star Trek" has turned from a childhood curiosity to a defining film in my movie-watching experience.

2009: A Rundown (so far)

2009-05-12T17:00:00.001-07:00

I've now seen ten films from 2009. I'll be updating this every end of the month from now on.

In descending order of brilliance:

Zack Snyder's "Watchmen" (****)
Alex Proyas' "Knowing" (****)
Pierre Morel's "Taken" (****)
Gavin Hood's "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" (***1/2)
Tom Tykwer's "The International" (***1/2)
Letterman/Vernon's "Monsters vs. Aliens" (***1/2)
Justin Lin's "Fast & Furious" (***)
Andy Fickman's "Race to Witch Mountain" (***)
Paul McGuigan's "Push" (**1/2)
Peter Chelsom's "Hannah Montana: The Movie" (**)

So, there you have it. Not as many by this time as last year, but that's because I'm in college now.

Should be seeing "Star Trek" very, very soon. This summer should be a lot of fun.

Happy moviegoing!

Review: X-Men Origins: Wolverine (***1/2)

2009-05-01T20:52:00.000-07:00

Directed by Gavin Hood

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Danny Huston, Liev Schreiber, Ryan Reynolds, Lynn Collins, Dominic Monaghan, Taylor Kitsch, Kevin Durand, Will i Am, Scott Adkins, Daniel Henney, Julia Blake, Tim Pocock, Troye Sivan, Max Cullen, Patrick Stewart, Michael-James Olsen.

2009--107 minutes

Rated PG-13 (violence, partial nudity)

"X-Men Origins: Wolverine" is nothing if not the biggest surprise I've had at the movies this year (tied with the unexpectedly masterful "Knowing"). The trailers were largely lacking and made the movie appear campy instead of intriguing. Lo and behold, it's completely the other way around. An enthralling entertainment at best, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" had potential to be a disaster, but instead, director Gavin Hood has crafted the second-best entry in the installment, after 2003's unbeatable "X2," and certainly rights the wrongs made by Brett Ratner in 2006's disastrous "X-Men: The Last Stand." Whereas the latter film was simultaneously turgid in pacing and too short in length (104 minutes), this film, only three minutes longer at 107, makes the most out of it and presents visually dazzling action sequences and surprisingly effective character developing for the title superhero.

As a child, Jimmy Logan killed his father. This accidental murder is a chilling first five minutes, provocative and insightful about Jimmy's future path. His brother, Victor, practically raises him, until they join a possibly criminal pact of vigilantes--among them, Deadpool, Bolt, Blob, Agent Zero, and Wraith--who do anything and everything, including killing innocents, to get what they need. That is, until they cross the line from Jimmy's point of view, forcing him to leave the group.

Fast forward six years. Jimmy lives happily in the Canadian Rockies with wife Kayla, until she is brutally murdered by Victor as a way to get back at Jimmy for leaving the group (don't worry, as I'm not ruining anything). This pushes Jimmy to the edge, and he teams up with former group leader Stryker, who presents him the option of injecting adamantium, a super-hard metal, into his bones and body. Jimmy, now called "Wolverine" and practically indestructible, joins forces with former team member Wraith and villain-turned-ally Gambit to bring down Stryker, Victor, and whoever else gets in his way.

"X-Men Origins: Wolverine" impresses in a big way, with cleanly plotted storytelling and a distinct visual style that works in a completely different way than its predecessors. Also helping matters is a great cast, led by a fiercely felt performance by Hugh Jackman as Jimmy Logan. Jackman has never been better thus far in this role, which has understandably been drawn out to feature length after years of being shoved to the side in a supporting part. Aiding Jackman are supporting performances, by Liev Schreiber as Victor and Danny Huston as Stryker, that are meatier than they may appear at the outset. Schreiber comes up with the best performance in the film, oozing menace and sarcasm as Victor. Huston perhaps has less to do (simply act suspiciously throughout the film), but that's necessary, as the audience is never certain of his intentions. Smaller roles leave a deeper impression than normal, most notably an especially on-target Ryan Reynolds as the lightning-fast Deadpool.

The film is not perfect. The choice to include famed "X-Men" character Gambit turns out to be nothing that special, even if Taylor Kitsch plays the character well. Gambit is, sadly, extraneous and not nearly as much of an impact as the others who help out Wolverine through the course of the picture. Also, the CGI work is a bit iffy in spots and somewhat takes away (though not much) from the razzle-dazzle; for a perfect example, take the trailer's money shot of Wolverine hanging out of a jeep and ripping his claws through another jeep. The shot is amazingly bad, but all is forgiven as the scene loses none of its armchair-gripping suspense. The finale, however, is absolutely flawless in its integration of action and effects work.

In the end, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" is no more than a great actioner for the Friday night crowd, but it has something deeper at work in its thematics and characterization. Wolverine was never the most likeable hero, but with Hugh Jackman's brilliant performance and David Benioff and Skip Woods's near-cerebral take on the character, he's now at least understood. It's a tragic story that surrounds Jimmy Logan/Wolverine, and director Gavin Hood has embraced that story full-on, despite a few flaws, with pathos, intelligence, and pure, action-laden fun. If Hood stays, these origin stories may be huge fun to watch.

Review: Hannah Montana: The Movie (**)

2009-04-22T20:33:00.000-07:00

Directed by Peter Chelsom

Cast: Miley Cyrus, Billy Ray Cyrus, Lucas Till, Margo Martindale, Jason Earles, Emily Osment, Melora Hardin, Vanessa Williams, Moises Aria, Mitchel Musso, Jared Carter, Peter Gunn, Beau Billingslea, Barry Bostwick, Emily Reaves, Katrine Hagger Smith, Taylor Swift, Jane Carr, Jay DeMarcus, Gary LeVox, Darrell Hammond, JoeDon Rooney, Tyra Banks.

2009--102 minutes

Rated G (nothing objectionable)

"Hannah Montana" is one phenomenon I don't understand. Sure, she's appeared on lunchboxes, flip-flops, coloring books, backpacks, and even children's swimsuits, and it's obvious from the sales of her "Best of Both Worlds" concert film last year that she's as famous as anyone in Hollywood right now. But to what end? The Disney Channel television show is as obvious as they come, an obvious, pandering show in which, if the characters had any sort of intelligence, the problems would be solved by the third episode. The movie that it has spawned is thankfully much better, perhaps because the studio audience has been removed or perhaps because director Peter Chelsom provides a decidedly more cinematic feel. However, when judging "Hannah Montana: The Movie" as a standalone film in itself, the whole enterprise crumbles. Even if the film tells a true and sobering message about the dangers of fame taken too far, the low-brow, mean-spirited sense of humor that marred the series, as well as an insulting and misguided last five minutes, ruins any sort of charm that the individual performances and potential thematic relevance that the movie provides.

The film starts with Miley in the midst of her fame and glory as counterpart Hannah Montana, as she performs "Best of Both Worlds" for a audience made only (as far as I could tell) of screaming pre-teen girls. When a British tabloid reporter sneaks into her backstage tent claiming to be writing a piece on the true identity of Hannah Montana, Miley's agent understandably throws him out of the room. This act, multiplied by her missing both her brother's send-off to college and best friend Lilly's huge Sweet 16 bash, causes father Robbie Ray to force Miley into staying with her grandma in Tennessee for two weeks. Meanwhile, Miley must reconsider her future as Hannah Montana.

"Hannah Montana: The Movie" is, I suppose, just about as good a movie that can be made of the series. It is confidently filmed by Peter Chelsom with a distinct indie feel that would work wonders on anything other than this franchise. Simply put, "Hannah Montana: The Movie" is filled to the gills with the type of humor that I have long grown tired of: pratfalls. There are too many of these to count. One enormously painful sequence has Miley as Hannah participating in a cat fight with Tyra Banks...over shoes. No joke. It's never funny, never cute, and always wrongheaded and somewhat violent. The kids may laugh at the exaggeration, but the parents in the audience may wonder why their kids like this sort of stuff. The movie is basically comprised of scenes playing out with ridiculous and moronic character motivations. None of it makes sense. The Hannah-Tyra fight goes on for too long, as does a scene involving Grandma's favorite plates falling off of a china cabinet and one where Miley switches between personas during both an important dinner and a date with old friend Travis.

Is "Hannah Montana: The Movie" completely worthless? No. The film does touch on some important themes regarding the dangers of fame. Two sequences--one where Travis finds out Hannah's true identity, the other the final performance of "The Climb"--are almost lyrical and certainly better than anything else in the movie. Also, there is a performance of "Hoedown Throwdown" in the middle of the movie that is more fun than any of her other performances. It's this kind of energy that's missing, as the rest of the film is lugubrious and turgidly paced. Miley Cyrus is an energetic performer onstage, but her songs as Hannah are all awfully written. She's much better as herself, where she can belt out songs and be just as good as the next. This is most obvious in the aforementioned climactic performance in a scene that would absolutely be the perfect capper to a misguided and empty franchise. The ideas presented by this sequence are deeper felt than expected, but are followed up by a final five minutes that horridly turns everything on its ear and selfishly reverses everything that the franchise claims to be about.

I can understand young girls gobbling this up as it is the end of a saga (no other word for it), but when a movie ends as hypocritically as this one does, the problem stems beyond "target audiences." The problem I had with "Hannah Montana: The Movie" has nothing to do with my gender or age but with pure movie logic. If the ending had stopped with that performance, it might have been a sobering viewpoint on the end of an era. The five minutes following is a section that ruins any sort of realism that the performance held. It would be tragic for young girls to see their idol quit the very thing that made her famous, but it might also open their eyes to the possibilities of real life. "Hannah Montana: The Movie" fails on this count and it's ashame. This could have been a glorious ending. Instead, it ends with a whimper of sheer audience appeasement instead of a tear.

Ten years...

2009-04-20T20:16:00.000-07:00

...since the Columbine tragedy. I still remember the shocking story unfolding on TV, almost as much as I remember 9/11. Simply awful that teens could do that. Horrible, horrible thing. My heart goes out to the families on this anniversary.

2009-03-27T13:06:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the first of ten specials where I cover the best films I've seen in the 2000-2009 decade (technically 2010 is in the next decade). In each year, I will pick three films I loved or was affected by for various reasons. It's a very diverse group. This month's special covers a year from which I have not seen very many films. I have seen my fair few, however, so this is my two cents:

2000:

The Cell

Directed by Tarsem

This is a mind-trip if I’ve ever seen one but equally brilliant and, in the end, oddly touching and resonant, as well as the best film that the year had to offer. Tarsem (who made his debut with this film after years of directing music videos and followed up with “The Fall,” which is positively normal by comparison) juggles two different genres to great effect. One is more prevalent and more disturbing, and that is the “Silence of the Lambs”-type procedural drama that takes precedence and ends up being even more nihilistic than the Hannibal Lecter tale. The other is a highly affecting personal drama.

“The Cell” stars Jennifer Lopez as an F.B.I. agent, tasked with entering the mind of a ruthless and sadistic serial killer. What she finds is a diseased mind, ravaged by memories of a molesting father and alcoholic, distant mother. Tarsem visualizes his mind as a music video of the most disturbing kind (Marilyn Manson was apparently forever changed by the visions and used similar color schemes from then on), complete with Vincent D’Onofrio, in a miraculous, career-defining, and devastatingly powerful performance that stands as one of the best of the decade, showing up in every possible physique, from bearing horns while wearing an unimaginably long cape to donning a clown outfit covered in what seems to be human blood; D’Onofrio not only sells the performance but also makes it frighteningly believable. Rumors that the film was nearly given the fearful NC-17 rating are believable as well.

Gladiator

Directed by Ridley Scott

A staggering achievement from Ridley Scott—the first of two of Ridley’s films, the other showing up in 2003’s line-up—“Gladiator” was a war movie of the greatest kind, whose violence is ratcheted up to grim levels while it maintains a life-affirming message about honor and courage. It was the best war film since Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan” and remains as much today. The performances by Russell Crowe, the late Richard Harris, and an especially on-the-mark Joaquin Phoenix represent what the medieval swashbuckler can do when its actors recite dime-store odes that you can set your watch to and not make them sound that way. “Braveheart,” though perhaps the better film due to more practical effects, did the same exact thing.

“Gladiator” stars Crowe as Maximus, a man whose family is ruthlessly murdered by the egomaniacal ruler of Rome. Maximus has fallen in love with said ruler’s sister, who is victim to an unhealthy relationship with and spawned by her power-hungry brother. The film is simultaneously heartbreaking and heartpumping, a war film that pulsates with a brooding energy and at the same time holds a deep sadness beneath the violence. Technical credits may be strong across the board, but it is ultimately Scott’s direction and the aforementioned acting that stand out.

Requiem for a Dream

Directed by Darren Aronofsky

Every once in a while, there is a film that kicks you in the gut and leaves you reeling. Its graphic depictions of violence or sex or drug use or even profanity may shock and appall you, but you are left thinking for a long time after watching it what its implications were and where its humanity lied. “Requiem for a Dream” is a film like that. As a disturbingly honest, disquietingly beautiful look at the underground world of drugs and prostitution, the film is unforgettable.

I’ve seen two films by Darren Aronofsky: this one and the fascinatingly strange “The Fountain,” a film I have long referred to as the most flawed masterpiece ever created. “Requiem for a Dream,” however, isn’t flawed, as far as I can see. Along with “The Cell,” it is a film I have only seen once and plan to keep it that way. Both films are unimaginably grim and, to some, repulsive. It is not a film to sit down and watch one boring Sunday afternoon. What it is, however, is a highly rewarding experience for anyone willing to take a step back from the content and view the film on its own merits. Aronofsky apparently opted to refuse the threatened NC-17 and to go with no rating. Although I can see where the MPAA was coming from, I disagree with the choice they could have made. Although it does have more nudity that any film I have ever seen, it is far from porn. Although it features nearly non-stop sequences of harrowing use of every single drug on the market, it is nowhere near glorification or even exploitation. I would recommend this to drug users, dealers, and suppliers, as well as prostitutes and pimps, and would like to see how drug and prostitution rings are changed after viewing it. My prediction: if everyone involved in those worlds saw it, they would both be businesses no longer.

So, there is my best estimation of the film quality in 2000. It may be different than yours, and there might be films I'm omitting. The first choice would be because, well, to each his own. The second would be because I either haven't seen everything, or haven't seen a certain film in many, many years.

Coming April 23: The Best Films of 2001. That will be a much easier year to cover.

Special Four-Film Review: Little Manhattan, Akeelah and the Bee, Bridge to Terabithia, Penelope

2009-03-18T20:19:00.000-07:00

In 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008, some great cinematic family treasures were released, so I thought I would give my views on four of the most overlooked masterpieces to have come out this decade.

In June of 2005, naught but the day after I saw "War of the Worlds," I was browsing the Internet and came upon a trailer for a movie entitled "Little Manhattan" (****), which at first glance seemed to be a charming and funny story about a really big crush a ten-year-old boy had on an eleven-year-old girl. The downside was that it would only be released in New York and Chicago on September 30 of that year, so I would have to wait on DVD. And I did. Boy, am I glad. "Little Manhattan," unlike many "kid's movies" these days, is gloriously enchanting in a way that few romances are. This is not a film about a crush of the superficial or superfluous kind, but a film about true, pure, unadulterated love. Yes, these are kids, and yes, they are immature in most ways. But weren't we all? More than that, these kids are troubled beyond words, with a longing and deep sadness (but undeniably a sense of real, kiddy joy).

The film was transcendent and ended up, for me, as one of 2005's finest achievements, a transcendent, almost angelic experience. And at its center (like "Bridge to Terabithia," to be talked about in a bit) was a revelatory, career-making performance by Josh Hutcherson. Yes, he of "Journey to the Center of the Earth" gave what I thought was easily an Oscar-worthy performance as the film's male equation of the budding relationship, Gabe, an already world-weary soul who gains a wisdom rarely, if ever, seen in a boy of his age. And newcomer Charlie Ray as Rosemary, the apple of Gabe's eye, is equally brilliant.

Then, not a year later, another highly intelligent near-classic was released in the form of "Akeelah and the Bee" (****). This film was clearly one of the best of its kind since the likes of "Searching for Bobby Fischer" and "Spellbound." An inspirational "intellectual sport" movie stripped down to its base elements, "Akeelah and the Bee," like the other four films in this review, was destined for failure. However, through miraculous performances by Laurence Fishburne and spirited newcomer Keke Palmer, as well as intricate direction by Doug Atchison, the film was a startling success.

Unrelenting in its refusal to give in to conventions, even when the plot itself is as conventional as they come, "Akeelah and the Bee" was more than charming and affecting--it was beautiful and effective. The problem with today's kid audience is that a film like this does not connect well with them. Kids get antsy, see, and movies as low-key and independent as "Akeelah and the Bee" don't come out very often. For me, however, this is something to savor and not to criticize. There is a line between kid film and audience-directed insult. Most films of this kind fall splat into the latter category. "Akeelah and the Bee" (as well as the other films in this category) does not, and thank heavens for that.

In 2007, director Gabor Csupo captured--there is no other way to put it--lightning in a bottle, a kind of rarity of the film genre, dealing with issues of mortality and livelihood and friendship and imagination. That film was the majestic and elegiac "Bridge to Terabithia" (****). It was one of '07's best, featuring another grand central performance by the clearly-talented Josh Hutcherson, who is fastly becomed the male Dakota Fanning of this generation. Hutcherson is utterly revelatory, in a low-key dazzler of an electrifying kid performance as Jess Aarons. Jess is a kid like any other has demons in his own way. He is constantly bullied around, and his dad is not the most personable guy. But then he meets Leslie, an imaginative and worldly wise girl who introduces him to the make-believe world of Terabithia.

But it's so much more than that. Do not, whatsoever, pay attention to the advertising campaign for this film. The fantastical sequences involving overgrown badgers, fairy people, and walking trees take up maybe fifteen minutes of screen time and are largely in the kids' heads. The final twenty minutes of this film are devastating, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting like few family films are these days. I think it is safe to say that "Bridge to Terabithia" easily tops the other films in this review on sheer charm and effectiveness (with a strong emphasis on the latter).

And then there's "Penelope" (****). Originally slated for release in October of 2006 after a successful run at Toronto and then inexplicably discarded for a full year and seven months, the film was finally released in the final week of February 2008. I saw it on a complete whim, with no real interest (further tarnished by a scathing review in Entertainment Weekly). I am glad I did. Truly one of the most romantic films to have come out last year, "Penelope" was astounding in its implications above all. Was it predictable? Yes, but only in theory. I found it increasingly difficult to know what would happen ahead of time, perhaps because the actors refused to mug or because the script refused to stick to convention 100% of the time.

The performances matched those of the great recent romances. James McAvoy in particular, doing much better work here than in the wildly overrated "Atonement," was affecting and unexpectedly powerful as Max, the only man for Penelope, a woman whose physical appearance (a snout for a nose) means nothing to Max. Ricci is vulnerable and beautiful onscreen. Her snout-nose is surprisingly not as ugly as others think; perhaps the idea of the nose is more repulsive than the nose itself, something I have always thought was the point the filmmakers were making.

These four films are just simply wonderful examples of the genre. If this article seemed random, it is because I'd been meaning to this all along. Watch these films. They're completely worth it.

A Change is Gonna Come

2009-03-18T14:48:00.000-07:00

Tweaking the blog layout a WHOLE lot, hopefully adding a banner, and some other stuff.

Also got my first volume (of ten of them) for the Best Films of the Decade. The first section will be on March 27, covering my Top Three films of 2000. After that, more for the rest of the decades 2001-2009 will be covered on the last Friday of each month. On Jan. 1, it should be complete, the day after my Top Ten of 2009.

On April 24 I shall have a Summer Introspective for films I plan to see (for May through August); on August 28 a Fall Introspective (for September and October); and on October 30 a Winter Introspective. Likewise, on July 3, I will have my Best of the 2009--Halfway There special.

Keep watch! Lotsa good stuff a-comin'.

Review: Race to Witch Mountain (***)

2009-03-14T11:05:00.000-07:00

Directed by Andy Fickman

Cast: Dwayne Johnson, AnnaSophia Robb, Carla Gugino, Alexander Ludwig, Tom Everett Scott, Ciaran Hinds, Billy Brown, Christopher Marquette, Cheech Marin, Garry Marshall, Iake Eisenmann, Kim Richards, Meredith Salenger, Tom Woodruff Jr., Christine Lakin.

2008--99 minutes

Rated PG (violence, frightening situations, thematic elements)

Like his 2006 gender-crossing Amanda Bynes-starrer "She's the Man," Andy Fickman's "Race to Witch Mountain" is undeniable fun. Oddly enough it is a much better sci-fi adventure than December's "The Day the Earth Stood Still." Perhaps that says more about that clunky bore of an alien invasion pic than it does about this film, but there you have it. Whereas "The Day the Earth Stood Still" walked and talked like a serious movie but ended up being much sillier than anticipated, "Race to Witch Mountain" knows what it is and embraces its silliness. This doesn't always work, and in fact it is quite uneven in its aspirations and subsequent execution, but hey, who says you can't have fun with trifles. That is as it was with "She's the Man" and it is such here.

Jack Bruno is a down-on-his-luck cabbie in Sin City. Being an ex-con and former auto racer, Jack has seen his share of weird things, but a UFO convention being held in Vegas does it. Jack just cannot believe in something that seems so, well, unbelievable. That is, until he meets Seth and Sara, two 14-year-old kids with some amazing diction and almost emotionless faces. They claim to be from another planet, but naturally Jack thinks that is just baloney. His feelings about this do not stay true for long, as shortly after the kids are involved in a duel with a seemingly indestructible robot. On their tail (and unbeknownst to them) are a group of FBI agents involved in possibly the greatest cover-up in human history.

"Race to Witch Mountain" is pure silliness, to be sure, but there is a sense of zeal that was missing in "The Day the Earth Stood Still," which has a surprisingly similar plot. That film was a chore to sit through and, while both share practically the same length, moved at a much slower pace than this. The action scenes put those in the earlier film to shame, as the special effects are not so glaringly obvious, and the pacing is much zippier. This film is also not as thematically confused as the earlier film; there is no environmental or political agenda here, instead just one entertaining scene after another.

The performances are fitting for the material at hand, with two exceptions. At the forefront of the picture is an unusually terrific Dwayne Johnson. He's possibly never been better, even as his dramatic bits are a tad forced. His comedic timing, specifically, is right on the ball, as Jack Bruno becomes as likeable a character as he's ever played. AnnaSophia Robb is always good in her roles, whether they be in affecting fluff like "Because of Winn-Dixie" or 2007's masterpiece "Bridge to Terabithia." She has a way of commanding her scenes with an unforced, wide-eyed sense of naturalism. That is no different in the role of Sara. Ciaran Hinds is fittingly sniveling as the FBI agent in charge and the major villain of the film. Not as impressive are Carla Gugino, as Alex, a doctor who believes in only science, and Alexander Ludwig as Seth. Gugino was much more impressive in a particularly smaller role in last week's "Watchmen;" here, she annoys and is obviously so bored that she gives the role everything she's got. Sadly, it doesn't work in the slightest. Ludwig, such a robot in "The Seeker: The Dark is Rising," is just as bad here; his work as Seth is some of the most monotone acting I've ever seen. He emotes not once.

The plot is not airtight and plotholes abound, but "Race to Witch Mountain" is sure to leave a smile on your face. This also happened in the aforementioned "She's the Man," an equally uneven comedy that worked only because Amanda Bynes was so wild and untamed that her performance became the sole reason for the movie's terrifically high comedic value. Everything else seemed to pale in comparison to Bynes' sheer presence. Likewise, the Bynes factor in "Race to Witch Mountain" is the near-atmospheric sense of joy.

When compared to other Disney-produced live-action flicks of the last four years, the rundown looks something like this. "Race to Witch Mountain" is not as unabashedly fun or clever as "Sky High" (far and away the best of the group) or "Enchanted," just about equals December's "Bedtime Stories," and is veritably the Second Coming compared to "Zoom." With comparisons like that, it's easy to see why the movie has been released for the children in the audience. But what is invaluable to the film's success, as reserved as it is, is that adults might dig it as well.

Review: Watchmen (****)

2009-03-07T11:22:00.000-08:00

Directed by Zack Snyder

Cast: Patrick Wilson, Jackie Earle Haley, Billy Crudup, Malin Akerman, Matthew Goode, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Matt Frewer, Carla Gugino, Laura Mennell, Stephen McHattie, Rob LaBelle, Stephanie Belding, James Michael Connor, Gary Houston, John Shaw, Mary Ann Burger, Robert Wisden.

2009--163 minutes

Rated R (graphic violence, sexuality, nudity, language)

In 1986, novelist Alan Moore wrote lightning. His 12-part series, entitled "The Watchmen," revolutionized and reformed the ideas behind the comic book superhero. More graphic, both in its violence and sexual themes, and more adult than any other of its kind, "The Watchmen" influenced the coinage of the term "graphic novel" as we know it. If there's one thing that cannot be denied, it is that Moore's work is a masterpiece, epic without losing sight of the very flawed characters, as well as psychologically disturbing and emotionally draining without losing the inherent excitement of the genre it is undoubtedly in. Moore also influenced with his books, in a major way, fellow graphic novelist Frank Miller, responsible for such works as "The Dark Knight Returns" (whose depiction of The Joker in turn influenced Heath Ledger in his historic portrayal), "Sin City," and "300."

It was thought, understandably, that the series was unfilmable, too much for one director to handle. Darren Aronofsky, David Fincher, David Lynch, Paul Greengrass, even Steven Spielberg--all took their own shots at adapting the series and found it too difficult. Thus, it is surprising to say that 33-year-old director Zack Snyder and screenwriters David Hayter and Alex Tse have masterfully consolidated all twelve parts into one film. Despite mildly changing the ending for audience-pleasing purposes, all three new talents have remained truthful, uncompromisingly so, to the psychedelic and paranoid tone and Cold War-themed story of Moore's work.

Much has been made of the muddled plotting and slow-moving nature of the proceedings. Ignore them. Set in a completely alternate version of 1985 where Richard Nixon has been elected for a fifth term, "Watchmen" deals with themes never dealt with before in the superhero genre. The United States is in deep with Russia-based plots of nuclear war, pushing President Nixon to give free rein to the Watchmen to run amok, fighting crime (and come to think of it, everyone else, as well). The Watchmen is a group of anti-superheroes, flawed and ruthless Joker-type good guys who are hated by the public and needed by them at the same time. Rorshach is a masked vigilante--a more brutal version of Batman with an even darker past--whose mask changes shape, constantly and enigmatically. Dr. Manhattan was a scientist, given extraordinary powers and a blue electroskeleton instead of a body. Silk Spectre II is a woman borne of her mother's (and predecessor's) rape by fellow Watchman, The Comedian. Speaking of, The Comedian is seen through flashbacks after his brutal murder at the start of the film. He is seen as a "hero" who is as bad as Nazis. Nite Owl is really a lonely man whose only human connection seemingly is his affair with Silk Spectre II. Finally, Ozymandias is the smartest man in the world; that's all I'll say.

"Watchmen" is a revelatory motion picture experience, monumentally innovative on a visual level, profoundly moving at times, and exceptionally fascinating in its procedural aspects. What people may mistake this for--a preconceived notion proved incorrect upon viewing it--is that, as a superhero movie, the film must be fast-paced, brisk, and exciting. Otherwise the impatient ones in the audience may get bored. This is an ignorance that most undeniably hold (and that is not an insult). The truth is that "Watchmen" is most definitely not a superhero movie, at least in the normal sense. Like last year's "The Dark Knight," which was an Scorsesean crime drama that just so happened to have a bat as its hero and a clown as its villain, Snyder's masterpiece is a brooding murder mystery and a psychological character study with superheroes at its center. But, as I've already said, even the superheroes are not normal. They are ugly, flawed, cold-blooded sociopaths that you can't help but care about. They are doing good, after all.

In this day and age of empty action and cardboard caricatures, "Watchmen" (and "The Dark Knight" and "Spider-Man 2" before it) is a complex, emotionally resounding, abnormally innovative war cry to the cinematic heavens. Have no fear that what you see you will never forget. Is the film bloody? Yes, extremely. The R-rating is warranted and the film not for the kids. One scene pits Rorshach against a man who murdered and chopped up a small girl. This scene is exceptionally disturbing, the darkest in a very dark film, but it's also one of the most starkly and accurately portrayed visions of how cruel (yet undoubtedly fair) so-called heroes can be. It also asks the audience how they would respond to the beggings of a man who did something as awful as what he did. So, "Watchmen" is thinking-man's cinema as well.

The performances are all solid (though the film has no Heath Ledger, that is, a standout performance that is Oscarworthy), but there are two I want to discuss. About the others (Malin Akerman, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Matthew Goode, and Patrick Wilson), let's just say that they sell their roles and play them very well. The real performances, though, are by Jackie Earle Haley and Billy Crudup.

Rorshach is not the most likeable of characters, but what Haley does with this role is just astonishing. He gives Rorshach a compassion while never compromising the character. Haley's growling voice works wonders (as well or even better than Christian Bale's did last year), and he narrates with a fascinating, matter-of-fact tone. Crudup meanwhile gives the film's best performance as Dr. Manhattan. Even while under a blanket of CGI, Dr. Manhattan's soul is bare for all to see. He barely emotes throughout the film, but it's plainly obvious that he is a tortured soul without a substantial body. It's a brilliant performance, low-key and reserved.

I've mentioned the style many times already. The visual effects, the digital cinematography, the slow-mo filmmaking--all are brilliantly incorporated into the story instead of the other way around. The effects are practically flawless, especially in the scene where Dr. Manhattan travels to Mars and thinks back on his life. The cinematography is beguiling, capturing perfectly well both Mars's barren landscape, the nighttime wonders of the deep underbelly of the city, the arctic desert of the film's final act. The slow motion that Snyder incorporates works wonders for the proceedings, especially the fight scenes, whose pacing matches that of "The Dark Knight."

Despite my one quibble (that the two sequences involving President Richard Nixon himself are marred even further by hideously distracting makeup), "Watchmen" is impressive through and through, both exactly what fans want--I should know, as I'm one of them--and what might get non-fans interested in reading the series, which is now available as one large copy. Slow-boiling but never meandering, fascinatingly textural in its plotting while never once seeming muddled, "Watchmen" lives up to the hype surrounding its masterfully executed trailers and then some. Oh, and did I mentioned the brilliant soundtrack, consisting of songs by Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan (most memorably used in what is quite possibly the greatest opening credits montage ever made), and Nena? No? Well, it's just as effective as everything else. What a knockout "Watchmen" was.

TWO. DAYS.

2009-03-04T08:33:00.000-08:00

"Watchmen." The masterful, epic graphic novel, brought to (hopefully) brilliant life by Zack Snyder. Seeing it Friday at 7:30 with a friend. Anticipation overtakes me.

Apparently the extended edition (a la Lord of the Rings) will be a whopping, staggering 220 minutes. What...the...heck.

This is simply my most anticipated of the year. Just unbeatable.

Oh and also: I'm not seeing it for adaptation purposes. With Harry Potter being eviscerated for "murdering" the books (I don't think they do, at all), I've learned to stop looking at films as adaptations, even if they are. Liberties simply HAVE to be taken. For me, "Watchmen" will be viewed as a landmark in the superhero genre.

A actual, full-length review (remember those?) will be published sometime over the weekend.

And then...nothing, really, until summer.

Insane Year-in-Advance 2010 Oscar Predictions

2009-02-23T11:03:00.000-08:00

Coverage on last night's broadcast will come soon. Right now, I'll do a crazy year-in-advance predictions.

Here goes:

Best Picture:

Amelia
Mandela
Nine
Shutter Island
Taking Woodstock

Best Director:

Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Clint Eastwood, Mandela
Ang Lee, Taking Woodstock
Rob Marshall, Nine
Martin Scorsese, Shutter Island

Best Actor:

Matt Damon, The Informant
Daniel Day-Lewis, Nine
Leonardo DiCaprio, Shutter Island
Morgan Freeman, Mandela
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Boat That Rocked

Best Actress:

Penelope Cruz, Broken Embraces
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Michelle Pfeiffer, Cheri
Saoirse Ronan, The Lovely Bones
Hilary Swank, Amelia

Best Supporting Actor:

Billy Crudup, Public Enemies
Matt Damon, Mandela
Richard Kind, A Serious Man
Ewan McGregor, Amelia
Mark Ruffalo, Shutter Island

Best Supporting Actress:

Penelope Cruz, Nine
Sophia Loren, Nine
Mo'Nique, Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
Imelda Staunton, Taking Woodstock
Michelle Williams, Shutter Island

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Cheri
Mandela
Nine
Shutter Island
Taking Woodstock

Best Original Screenplay:

The Boat That Rocked
Broken Embraces
An Education
A Serious Man
Up

Best Animated Feature Film:

Monsters vs. Aliens
Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea
Up

Best Art Direction:

Cheri
Nine
Public Enemies
Sherlock Holmes
The Wolf Man

Best Cinematography:

Amelia
Broken Embraces
Nine
Public Enemies
Shutter Island

Best Costume Design:

Amelia
Cheri
Nine
Public Enemies
The Wolf Man

Best Film Editing:

Amelia
Green Zone
Mandela
Nine
Shutter Island

Best Makeup:

Cheri
Star Trek
The Wolf Man

Best Original Score:

Amelia
Broken Embraces
Cheri
Public Enemies
Up

Best Sound Editing:

Green Zone
Public Enemies
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Up

Best Sound Mixing:

Avatar
Nine
Public Enemies
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Best Visual Effects:

Avatar
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

So, there you have it. My crazy predictions. Deal with them now. Not another one until Juneish.

Really Quick

2009-02-08T12:45:00.000-08:00

Paul McGuigan's "Push" (**1/2) is a flashy, diverting, ultimately uneven action film that relies so much on its cinema verite filmmaking style that the story gets lost along the way. In the end, it sets itself up for a sequel that is not particularly desired, based on the box office intake.

If I Had a Ballot

2009-02-05T15:36:00.000-08:00

Everyone calls it that. So am I going to.

I include all of the main awards (from Best Picture to Best Screenplay) and the technicals (from Best Art Direction to Best Visual Effects). And then I have two categories I would like to see the AMPAS include. They are signified by being the final two categories listed.

I'm going to model this after the posting by my good friend Actionman (not because I'm stealing everything from him; he just thinks of darn good things to do), by having the nominees in order of best best to least best.

Motion Picture of the Year:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
WALL-E
Slumdog Millionaire
The Fall

Achievement in Directing:

David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight
Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
Tarsem, The Fall
Ben Stiller, Tropic Thunder

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role:

Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino
Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionaire
Robert Downey Jr., Iron Man
Seth Rogen, Pineapple Express

Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role:

Angelina Jolie, Changeling
Cate Blanchett, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Kate Beckinsale, Snow Angels
Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Dark Knight
Olivia Thirlby, Snow Angels

Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role:

Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder
Aaron Eckhart, The Dark Knight
James Franco, Pineapple Express
Gary Oldman, The Dark Knight
Bobb'E J. Thompson, Role Models

Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role:

Jane Lynch, Role Models
Tilda Swinton, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Amy Sedaris, Snow Angels
Cate Blanchett, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Amber Heard, Pineapple Express

Animated Motion Picture:

WALL-E
Bolt
Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!

Achievement in Screenwriting:

The Dark Knight
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Slumdog Millionaire
Tropic Thunder
Pineapple Express

Achievement in Art Direction:

The Fall
Tropic Thunder
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Cloverfield
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Achievement in Cinematography:

The Fall
The Dark Knight
Slumdog Millionaire
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Snow Angels
Changeling

Achievement in Costume Design:

The Fall
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Changeling

Achievement in Film Editing:

Slumdog Millionaire
The Dark Knight
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
WALL-E
Cloverfield

Achievement in Makeup:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
The Dark Knight

Achievement in Musical Score:

The Dark Knight
Slumdog Millionaire
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
WALL-E
Changeling

Achievement in Sound:

WALL-E
The Dark Knight
Cloverfield
Iron Man
Slumdog Millionaire

Achievement in Visual Effects:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Iron Man
Wanted
Cloverfield
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Ensemble in a Motion Picture:

Tropic Thunder
The Dark Knight
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Performance by an Actor/Actress in an Extended Cameo:

Tom Cruise, Tropic Thunder
Eric Roberts, The Dark Knight
Danny McBride, Pineapple Express

Until next year!

Wow.

2009-02-02T15:33:00.001-08:00

http://www.aolcdn.com/tmz_audio/020209_christianbale.mp3

I think Shane got the point.

Really Quick

2009-01-30T18:39:00.000-08:00

"Taken" (****) has the potential to be an action classic. I loved very close to every second of the film. Liam Neeson is utterly revelatory.

Review coming soon, I hope.

The Sundance Film Festival: Films I'm Watching For

2009-01-20T08:09:00.000-08:00

This year's Sundance Film Festival is one with films to be excited about truly. These are just a few of the films I'm looking forward to seeing in wide release.

Black Dynamite: Much positive feedback has been given to this spoof/throwback to the blaxploitation films of the 1970s. I simply can't wait for it, as it supposedly uses the Technicolor filming process, which hasn't been use since the 80s.

500 Days of Summer: A festival favorite right now. Supposedly, it encompasses falling in love perfectly. Can't ask for anything better than a great love story. The film releases on July 24. Count me in.

Don't Let Me Drown: The title seems to point to an episode of "Degrassi." But the film, about two teenagers also falling in love and living in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, seems to be garnering a lot of praise.

Mystery Team: Supposedly the first non-SNL sketch movie ever made (okay, that's wrong; "Napoleon Dynamite" is), but it's getting good feedback. That's good for, uh, a sketch comedy.

The Greatest: Supposedly a heartbreaking story about a family that has lost a son. Stars Pierce Brosnan.

The Clone Returns: A Japanese indie sci-fi film about a guy who dies and is resurrected as a clone of someone else. Should be a mind-bender.

Five Minutes of Heaven: Liam Neeson stars in this small political film set in Ireland. Sounds like a great indie.

Taking Chance: A horridly titled movie about a guy escorting his fallen ex-Marine friend's body back to his hometown.

Mary and Max: A claymation film about a girl who befriends an obese Jewish priest with Asperger's Syndrome. Having Asperger's myself, I can't wait to see how it is portrayed.

I'm looking forward to everything else, but these will be highlights for me. I only wish I was actually there at Sundance. Count each of these as one's I will actually see either in theaters or when they arrive on DVD. All of them.

Oscars 2009: Final Predictions

2009-01-19T06:29:00.000-08:00

The nominations come out on Thursday (which, ironically, is also the one-year anniversary of Heath Ledger's death). So, without further adieu, my final predictions for the Oscars 2009.

Best Picture:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Director:

Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon
Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight
Gus Van Sant, Milk

Best Actor:

Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino
Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn, Milk
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

Best Actress:

Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie, Changeling
Melissa Leo, Frozen River
Meryl Streep, Doubt
Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road

Best Supporting Actor:

Josh Brolin, Milk
Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionaire

Supporting Actress:

Amy Adams, Doubt
Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis, Doubt
Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Kate Winslet, The Reader

Adapted Screenplay:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Doubt
Frost/Nixon
Slumdog Millionaire

Original Screenplay:

Happy-Go-Lucky
Milk
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
WALL-E
The Wrestler

Best Animated Feature Film:

Kung Fu Panda
WALL-E
Waltz with Bashir

Best Art Direction:

Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Milk
Revolutionary Road

Best Cinematography:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Defiance
Revolutionary Road
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Costume Design:

Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Duchess
The Other Boleyn Girl
Revolutionary Road

Best Film Editing:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Makeup:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Synecdoche, New York
Tropic Thunder

Best Original Score:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Defiance
Revolutionary Road
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E

Best Original Song:

"Down to Earth," WALL-E
"I Thought I'd Lost You," Bolt
"The Wrestler," The Wrestler

Best Sound Editing:

The Dark Knight
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Iron Man
Quantum of Solace
WALL-E

Best Sound Mixing:

The Dark Knight
Iron Man
Quantum of Solace
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E

Best Visual Effects:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Iron Man

Official Golden Globes Predictions 2009

2009-01-09T11:33:00.000-08:00

The title says it all. I've got predictions for everything in the film categories. Don't have the energy to get into TV nominations. Mainly because the TV I watch is limited to stuff on DVD or DVR.

Best Motion Picture--Drama:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Frost/Nixon

The Reader

Revolutionary Road

Slumdog Millionaire

Winner: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Reason: It's been getting raves since two months before its release. And it's widely regarded as the best of the year, except by Ebert. Reason enough.

Runner-up: Slumdog Millionaire

Reason: It's a terrific, life-affirming masterpiece, but I think it'll be second-string to the man getting younger than everybody else.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture--Drama:

Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married

Angelina Jolie, Changeling

Kristin Scott-Thomas, I've Loved You So Long

Meryl Streep, Doubt
Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road

Winner: Anne Hathaway.
Reason: Her performance has been called "electrifying" and "revelatory." Anything else?

Runner-up: Angelina Jolie.
Reason: Hers was a praised performance (for a good reason), but the mixed buzz for the film will hurt her chances.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture--Drama:

Leonardo DiCaprio, Revolutionary Road
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon

Sean Penn, Milk

Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

Winner: Mickey Rourke.
Reason: Does the phrase "one of the great performances in cinema" do anything for you? Rourke has long been forgotten since he messed up his career, and this is his great comeback. Have yet to see the film, but his scenes are startlingly brilliant.

Runner-up: Sean Penn.
Reason: He's said to embody the character--as he always does--with life and energy. Playing a gay activist has its share of stereotypes to overcome and he apparently does it. Can't wait to rent this.

Best Motion Picture--Musical/Comedy:

Burn after Reading
Happy-Go-Lucky
In Bruges
Mamma Mia!

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Winner: Happy-Go-Lucky.
Reason: Been veritably fell for head over heels because of its brilliant human comedy. I wouldn't know. I just think it's the little movie that will.

Runner-Up: Mamma Mia!
Reason: One word: musical. One name: Meryl Streep. Does there need to be anything else? Maybe critical decisiveness, which is strangely divided, while mostly everyone loved the un-nominated Tropic Thunder. Huh.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture--Musical/Comedy:

Rebecca Hall, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky
Frances McDormand, Burn after Reading
Meryl Streep, Mamma Mia!
Emma Thompson, Last Chance Harvey

Winner: Sally Hawkins.
Reason: She's like a comedic Anne Hathaway here. Apparently revelatory, unbeatable performance.

Runner-up: Meryl Streep.
Reason: Would be weird, her winning for this and not Doubt. But she might, if Hawkins doesn't pull through. Which, you know, she will.

Best Supporting Actor:

Tom Cruise, Tropic Thunder
Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder
Ralph Fiennes, The Duchess
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight

Winner: Heath Ledger.
Reason: Is one necessary? He's already won 23/25 awards. This will be #24. I think the whole country will be flabbergasted if someone else wins. But that's not even a possibility. Pretty much every critic of the film--even its detractors, with the exception of Armond White--has called Ledger's Joker is the best performance of the year, no matter how strong Sean Penn's Harvey Milk, Mickey Rourke's Randy "The Ram" Robinson, and Robert Downey Jr.'s Kirk Lazarus were. Most of the same critics think he could have even beaten out Penn and Rourke in Best Actor. It's the highest praise. Plus, the original Joker himself, Jack Nicholson, called the performance better than his own. That's praise that the HFPA (and the AMPAS) can't ignore.

Runner-up: Robert Downey Jr.
Reason: That's a funny word. This is only if things fall through. Which, as I've pointed out, is not gonna happen. Still, Downey's performance has been called the best purely comedic/satiric one of the last few years (up there with Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat, they say). So, it's one to fall back on.

Best Supporting Actress:

Amy Adams, Doubt
Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis, Doubt
Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler
Kate Winslet, The Reader

Winner: Penelope Cruz.
Reason: Her role as the bisexual wife of Javier Bardem's character has been praised. She's practically the Heath Ledger of ladies this year.

Runner-up: Viola Davis.
Reason: Her infamous ten-minute sequence as the mother of a possible abuse victim has pretty much been the talk of the town for five weeks.

Best Animated Feature Film:

Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
WALL-E

Winner: WALL-E.
Reason: Um...

Runner-up: Bolt
It opened to very big buzz. Plus, it's one brilliant film, much better than Kung Fu Panda, and and that's the critical consensus.

Best Foreign-Language Film:

The Baader-Meinhof Complex
Everlasting Moments
Gomorrah
I've Loved You So Long
Waltz with Bashir

Winner: Gomorrah.
Reason: While I'm surprised that Let the Right One In is not in this group, as it probably would've won being the critical darling it is, this film has been called the finest mob drama since GoodFellas. If that doesn't lead to a win, nothing will.

Runner-up: I've Loved You So Long.
Reason: Kristin Scott-Thomas' unequivocally praised performance might lead it to a win, but I don't see that happening, really.

Best Director--Motion Picture:

Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
Stephen Daldry, The Reader
David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon
Sam Mendes, Revolutionary Road

Winner: David Fincher.
Reason: He's created a masterpiece here, and if it wins picture, he'll win.

Runner-up: Danny Boyle.
Reason: Really the only one to fall back on if Fincher doesn't win. Of course, his film is a masterpiece, as well. So...

Best Screenplay--Motion Picture:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Doubt
Frost/Nixon
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

Winner: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Reason: Eric Roth's epic is on par with Forrest Gump, which won in 1994. The same will happen to this. That, and it's a brilliant screenplay.

Runner-up: Slumdog Millionaire.
Reason: It's really these two giants vying for the majors this year. But Button is more the critical darling, so it'll sweep everything with Slumdog not far behind.

Best Original Score--Motion Picture:

Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Defiance
Frost/Nixon
Slumdog Millionaire

Winner: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Reason: It's indelible, haunting, and lends to the proceedings. Also, it's widely regarded the finest scoring work of the year.

Runner-up: Slumdog Millionaire.
Reason: I think it's going to be forgotten in this category. Though perhaps Button's score is slower and more evocative, I actually prefer A.R. Rahman's glossier and more upbeat rock music score, and its innovative use of the music from "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" It's severely overlooked and I think most people will believe it to be a wild card. Me? I think it's a dark horse.

Best Original Song--Motion Picture:

"Down to Earth," WALL-E
"Gran Torino," Gran Torino
"I Thought I'd Lost You," Bolt
"Once in a Lifetime," Cadillac Records
"The Wrestler," The Wrestler

Winner: "The Wrestler."
Reason: It's a haunting song, the best movie-produced song of the year, and a masterpiece all its own.

Runner-up: "Down to Earth."
Reason: It's a catchy tune. And it's from Pixar. And it's by Peter Gabriel.

And that's it. Follow me tomorrow evening on my Twitter page, as I have live updates from the show.

2008 in Review: The Best Films of the Year, and Runners-Up

2009-01-01T10:32:00.000-08:00

Let’s skip the introductions, shall we? Those were already given.

First, I give the list of films that I cherished but nevertheless didn’t quite make on my top ten. I still love them, though. Case in point: I gave all of these four stars.

In alphabetical order:

Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!

“Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!” was one of the more magical experiences I had at the movies this year. A wondrously animated, side-splittingly hilarious adventure, the film was every bit what I wanted from the previous live-action efforts. It was simply magical, telling a thrillingly original story with a kid-friendly but useful message.

The Happening

Probably the most misunderstood gem of the collection, “The Happening” was, for me, nerve-rattling, uneasy, and inherently terrifying. Is it a B-movie underneath? Yes, but an effective one at that. Probably this year’s best American horror film along with “Quarantine,” the movie was so effective for its slap-in-the-face of an environmental message, which surprisingly doesn’t talk down to the viewer.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

In my original review, I called it a “visionary movie masterpiece.” And so it is. The direction by Spanish master Guillermo del Toro makes this film even better than the already-brilliant 2004 original. Filled with nightmarish special effects and art design that seems straight out of del Toro’s great “Pan’s Labyrinth,” “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” was one of the best films of the summer.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

One of the best Friday night actioners of the year (nothing can beat “Wanted”), this was a splendidly made, visually exciting entry into a historic cinematic saga. No, it ultimately doesn’t live up to the other films, but does that matter? It’s still wonderfully witty and very much a pulp entertainment at its heart. The ending has been eviscerated as being awful and desperate, but I really loved its inevitability (think about it).

Iron Man

The second best superhero film of the year, as well as the third best graphic novel/comic book adaptation, was “Iron Man,”, which succeeded in doing three things: being a terrific piece of popcorn entertainment that nicely jumpstarted the summer season, a hilarious and indirect dissection of Robert Downey Jr.’s career, and a surprisingly effective personal drama regarding fate and calling. In a summer movie? You bet.

Marley & Me

A film I saw in the last two days of the year, “Marley & Me” was simply terrific. My fear walking into it, compounded by unimpressive trailers, was that the filmmakers would turn it into a slapstick comedy and forget the dramatic bits of the incredible source material. This was somewhat confirmed in my mind by the PG rating of the film, an adaptation of a very PG-13 book. Then I found out who the director was: David Frankel. He had directed “The Devil Wears Prada” to great success a couple years ago. Everything was okay for me. And it is. This is a film on the level of “My Dog Skip” or “Benji! Off the Leash.” Simply great stuff.

Penelope

The film I championed back in February to…nothing. Like, no one saw this movie, and I hate that. “Penelope” was one of the best romances this year and the most overlooked film of the year. With a resonant and intelligent screenplay and effective performances by James McAvoy and Christina Ricci, “Penelope” was a near-classic of its kind and on par with last year’s “Bridge to Terabithia” as one of the great family films of recent years.

Quarantine

Maybe I was overreaching when I told a group of friends that this film was better than “Cloverfield.” After watching the latter film another time after viewing this one, ultimately that film beats it. But that doesn’t take away from the impact of “Quarantine,” a terrifying surprise this year that I once was dreading horribly. Gosh, it’s amazing how things turn out to be, isn’t it?

Son of Rambow

Along with “Penelope” as one of the forgotten masterworks this year, “Son of Rambow” was a magical bit of filmic nostalgia, following a group of kids in the ‘80s as they venture to make the film of their dreams. What’s brilliant about the experience is its intelligence in film production and the pains of childhood and adolescence, brought across with equal amounts of humor and pathos.

Wanted

One of the best and most innovative summer blockbusters in a couple of years, “Wanted” was breathlessly exciting, so much so that after two viewings, it ended up good enough to be on this list. In a summer chock-full of innovation (sue me, it was), “Wanted” was one of the most satisfying experiences. Saying that, after the awful marketing campaign, feels weird, but it’s true.

#10

Young@Heart

Directed by Stephen Walker

Heartbreaking and hilarious in equal measure, “Young@Heart” was a transcendent and fascinating documentary depicting the performances of the Young@Heart Chorus at an old folks’ home. The songs they choose are timeless, the performances they give equal that of the original performers. It’s heartbreaking because of the imminent and unstoppable mortality. At the same time, we want none of these people to go away.

In a year where any given week had a sequel or remake of some sort, “Young@Heart” was blessedly one of the most satisfying movie experiences in it. This is a must-see for any family with older and more discerning children, or younger children who have seen films dealing with similar topics, as far back as “My Girl” and as recent as “Bridge to Terabithia." This film is their equal.

Cloverfield

Directed by Matt Reeves

The only film out of the spring months of January through April (“Young@Heart” was close, releasing wide in early May), “Cloverfield” was the year’s first masterpiece, a tight, taut, and frankly terrifying bit of sci-fi/horror chamber drama. Depicting a giant monster attacking Manhattan and leaving rubble in its wake inadvertently reminiscent of the World Trade Center towers, the film was a breath of fresh, innovative air in a spring season sadly bereft of such a gem otherwise.

The final moments, however, elevate this past its well-worn genre conventions into something deeper. The thoughtful rumination on humanity and its imminent end was something I didn’t expect. Shot like a home video would be, with overlapping chaos and dialogue, the film was more of a surprise than anything else. I expected something freakin’ awesome, not awesomely freaky.

Bolt

Directed by Byron Howard and Chris Williams

Immediately entering my list of fifteen great animated films, “Bolt” is what happens when you make a perfectly good animated film without the help of Pixar. A brilliantly rendered story of companionship, friendship, and unconditional love that sounds predictable at the outset but ends up being quite the opposite, “Bolt” was the biggest surprise of the year. It was a surprise for two reasons: (1) I never thought it would make this list, and (2) it was surprisingly as entertaining and funny as anything by Pixar, with the exception of possibly “WALL-E.”

What makes “Bolt” so effective? I’m not sure. But I am sure that it laughs in the face of convention and goes in directions unseen at the outset. The ending is predictable in theory but not in execution, and the result is a highly rewarding and entertaining animated experience. I really loved everything about “Bolt,” and I think everyone should see it.

Changeling

Directed by Clint Eastwood

“Changeling” would be the most resonant experience of the year, if it were not for my top two films. Angelina Jolie gives one of the best performances of the year as a woman who has lost her child and doesn’t know what to do with that information. Receiving opposition from the very place she should be receiving help—the exceedingly corrupt Los Angeles Police Department—she finally takes matters in her own hands, only then to be thrown in an asylum.

Suspenseful, slow-moving, and brilliant for its first half, “Changeling” unfolds into something even more inherently tragic by the end. When Jolie’s Christine Collins is faced the life-altering truth about her son’s whereabouts, we see something in her eyes that transcends performance; she slowly has become the woman she’s playing. We, too, see her plight as our own, and the fear of losing something precious to you is more evident than ever. One quick question: where the heck do critics get the idea it was overstuffed yet overlong? Does that make sense to anyone?

Tropic Thunder

Directed by Ben Stiller

After writing those two paragraphs about “Changeling,” it seems a tad unfair to award a comedy directed by Ben Stiller a higher placement. Let me make this clear: the five following films are far removed from the other five, in much the same way “In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale” was infinitely worse than the other four films on that list. “Tropic Thunder,” however, is an undeniably resonant piece of cinematic art in a completely different way than the other four films. This is a comedy and a satire all in one, both equally effective.

By eviscerating every aspect of Hollywood that has been eviscerated before, Ben Stiller captured lightning in a bottle, advancing the comedy genre where other films this year and last did not, and simultaneously making a highly effective epic war spoof. That’s a lot for someone to handle, but Stiller did it, and we love him for it. Oh, and did I mention the Oscar-worthy, hilariously ribald performances by Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Cruise?

The Fall

Directed by Tarsem

Probably the most indescribable and most original work on this list, “The Fall” is a bizarre masterpiece that one cannot deny. The story falls by the wayside completely, but still manages to charm the viewer with how deep it goes. The visuals are the point here, and they are top-notch. The cinematography is beautiful, the art direction is stunning, and the costume design is certainly intricate.

The inherent self-pretentiousness is almost endearing, as in the first scene that shows a movie being made and one of the people involved being injured. The entire scene is filmed in slow motion, for no reason. That is the tone of the whole film. No, it doesn’t have a “point,” but maybe that is its point. The audience is never sure, and director Tarsem has achieved what he set out to do. Isn’t that all that matters?

Slumdog Millionaire

Directed by Danny Boyle

For a film celebrating life, the R-rating given to “Slumdog Millionaire” entirely unwarranted. Case in point: I sat next to a group of high-schoolers who could have been watching something more mainstream, like “Bedtime Stories” or “Yes Man” or “Marley & Me” but weren’t; they were really involved in the intricate plotting of this film, its refreshingly vital filmmaking. That was encouraging to see: a group of high-school-aged kids seeing a film being highly honored by most critics’ circles.

This is a fantastic film, endlessly romantic, undeniably fascinating, and unspeakably touching. It ranks as the second-best live-action romance of the year and the third-best in general. In Dev Patel’s debut performance, director Danny Boyle has found an incredible talent; Patel is intense and never-wavering in his portrayal of someone who’s life has gone so wrong, it’s a wonder he keeps going and finds joy in it. Scored with music by British pop star M.I.A., “Slumdog Millionaire” is continuously inventive from its opening sequence that flashes back and forth, to scenes scored to the theme music of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?,” to the energetic and uplifting Bollywood number over the end credits.

WALL-E

Directed by Andrew Stanton

Like my previous three choices, “WALL-E” is romantic, beautiful, and side-splittingly romantic, an unforgettable animated experience. So good is it that it transcends the genre and becomes something more. It is, in that respect, the greatest of its kind ever made, so far removed from every other of its kind (except perhaps “Beauty and the Beast”) that it almost isn’t animated at all. It’s the epitome of the phrase “genre masterpiece.”

“WALL-E” works as three different movies in one. The first is a hilarious and lovable slapstick comedy portraying WALL-E’s endearing escapades cleaning up the Earth’s mountains of trash. The second is one of cinema’s most affecting romances, written with such clarity and emotion as to make “WALL-E and Eve” synonymous with “Forrest and Jenny.” The third is a scarily realistic sci-fi film, containing haunting visions of a Manhattan made out of trash and a civilization completely unaware of their turmoil in space. This is not a masterpiece; it’s three masterpieces in one.

The Dark Knight

Directed by Christopher Nolan

The very best film of the year 2008 until its last week, “The Dark Knight” ranks as the best superhero film ever made, but that’s almost damning praise on something that transcends the superhero genre and becomes a crime drama on the level of “The Godfather” or “GoodFellas;” its similarity with both of those films goes beyond just a sentence though. Bruce Wayne is a lot like Henry Hill from Scorsese’s classic in that he’s unsure whether what he’s doing makes him happy or not; their turmoil becomes the films’ central theme of calling and destiny, two things that have never truly been covered in either genre. Harvey Dent is much like Michael Corleone from Coppola’s masterpiece in that he’s a good man driven to do very bad things because he feels he has no other choice; both men’s wives have died by the end of both films, and there’s gonna be hell to pay.

Heath Ledger’s Joker is a lot like Hannibal Lecter, nice and outgoing at the outset and then demented and psychopathic within five minutes of meeting him. Joker is not without a moral compass—he may be an “agent of chaos,” but he follows his own rules, as well—but it’s skewed to the point of ridiculousness and is in the opposite direction. That’s how Ledger plays him, demonic but reserved; he rarely, if ever, has angry outbursts, opting to laugh instead of get angry, and that makes him all the scarier. What Nolan did, unapologetically and groundbreakingly, was to deconstruct the genre that “The Dark Knight” is undoubtedly in—that of superhero—and rebuild it into something new and more revitalizing. Let’s just hope the inevitable third picture, reportedly starring Johnny Depp as The Riddler and Rachel Weisz as Catwoman, can live up to this entry. If so, and if any of the possible fourth and fifth films live up as well, we are looking at one of the great American sagas of all time.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Directed by David Fincher

A film that has haunted me ever since seeing it last Friday evening, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” is a historic achievement in cinema, a film so impressive that it rivals “Minority Report” as the best film of the decade and ultimately beats out “The Dark Knight” for best of 2008. Beautiful and intimate, yet epic and unforgettable, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” is finally a thoughtful rumination on mortality and death. These are touchy themes, not always used in cinema but refreshing when they are. Made with refreshing originality and unequivocal beauty by David Fincher, the film was simply a masterpiece for every minute of its 159.

I want to take a moment to address the comparisons to screenwriter Eric Roth’s previous opus “Forrest Gump.” They are completely warranted. Like the previous film, it is about a character who makes his way through the world in a way that is different in most ways but the same in others. Benjamin Button is a lot like us, since we probably don’t know how this world works either. Is it so different, in the long run, to live backward than to live with a physical or learning disability or even in a minority or of a different sexual orientation? Life is a box of chocolates, according to Roth’s creation. Every chocolate’s different, right? If nothing else, both films are epic pleas for one-of-a-kind personalities.

2008 in Review: The Worst Films of the Year (among other things)

2008-12-30T22:28:00.000-08:00

Without further ado, my five least favorite films of the year:

Honorable Mentions: “Fool’s Gold,” “One Missed Call,” “10,000 B.C.”

Speed Racer

Directed by the Wachowski Brothers

Throwing any sense of wonder and innovation to the wind, the Wachowski Brothers created a vanity project in every respect. From the nauseous, headache-inducing visual style to the nondescript, one-dimensional characters to the awfully gee-whiz screenplay, “Speed Racer” just didn’t work on any level. The only thing going for it was a strong performance by Matthew Fox as the mysterious Racer X, but he’s at the service of bad material. “Speed Racer” could have been one of the most beautiful and original films ever created but instead became something akin to “Starburst Skittles Milkshake: The Movie.” And yes, I said that just now.

Space Chimps

Directed by Kirk De Micco

Here is the worst animated film I’ve ever seen, the sheer amateurishness almost insulting. It’s like the filmmakers didn’t really try and instead just cranked something out in a few months. The animation is beyond average, the synching of dialogue to movement at a notable disconnect. The plot is stringent and thin, not even substantial enough to hold together 81 measly minutes. The only good thing is that it at least feels its length and doesn’t drag on. The characters are straight out of video games, except they would be more interesting that way. This is awful stuff. In fact, I forgot most of it before the credits.

Meet the Spartans

Directed by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer

After the film ended, I asked myself the following question: Can comedies get more depressing? The answer would be…yes, actually, as proven by my #2 film. Still this is among the worst of its kind I’ve ever seen. Remember when spoofs and satires were among the best comedies of all time? Think of the greats, like “Airplane!,” “The Naked Gun: Files from the Police Squad!” (and its respective sequels), and “Hot Shots! Part Deux” (the original is just okay for me, but the second is a laff riot). Even as far back as “Dr. Strangelove.” Those are prime examples of lampoonery, and “Meet the Spartans” craps on their memories. It’s not irredeemable, because all spoof films have potential; nevertheless, it’s depressing.

You Don’t Mess with the Zohan

Directed by Dennis Dugan

Yet, no matter how depressing a comedy “Meet the Spartans” was, “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan” was worse. If the former was depressing, this film was soulless. The plot is hypocritical and disgusting: a terrorist who wants to be a hairdresser and also really likes giving quickies to old ladies who come into his salon. Uh huh. It’s a terrible plot made worse by the typical Sandler structure—that of pea-brained sex and anatomy jokes, followed by romantic and dramatic histrionics of the most cloying kind. It worked in his great “The Wedding Singer,” as well as “Mr. Deeds,” but here it just flops around for 113 interminable minutes, with one big chuckle near the end. What awfulness!

In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale

Directed by Uwe Boll

For me, no film ever made (nor any that will be made in the future) even touches the sheer badness of “In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale.” Critics have called this film “laughably bad,” but I don’t see what’s so funny. Every single aspect of this film doesn’t work in the most basic of senses. The direction by schlockmeister Uwe Boll can be kindly described as the worst of any movie ever made (you don’t wanna hear what the unkind description is). The screenplay by Doug Taylor isn’t missing anything except a story, character development, good dialogue, effective action, and structural integrity. The technical aspects are catastrophically off the mark: the cinematography is the worst I’ve ever seen; the visual effects, what little there are, are just terrible; the film editing could have only been done by a blind monkey with Tourette Syndrome (yeah, that’s a fitting description); the costume and makeup designs are straight out of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. So, does that describe it for ya? To call it a vanity project is to be kind and caring to the proceedings at hand. It isn’t good enough for direct-to-cable, let alone theatrical release.

Most Underrated Film of 2008:

The Happening

I’m not sure what the critics’ problems were with “The Happening,” a film I consider the best chiller of the year and scarier than most of 2008’s horror films. The plot is understated (as is the acting) and terrifying in a general sense. Think about it: the plant life on the earth is turning against humans by killing them in the only way possible—assisted suicide. It’s a brilliant plot device, very Shyamalan, and the execution is even better for me. The only reason I can think of for Shyamalan to be so reviled for this film, as well as his touching and beautiful “Lady in the Water,” is that he stands up to any criticism. It speaks more to the critics reviewing his films than to any of his actual films. They can’t take someone who can take their “all-knowing” judgment. I, for one, loved both films. But that’s me.

Most Overrated Film of 2008:

The Strangers

Built on a terrifying premise made even scarier when one considers it is a true story, it is unfortunate that “The Strangers” is ultimately a sloppy motion picture. Spare and grim, singular sequences are terrifying but were handled with much more realism and emotion in “The Descent” and the underrated “Saw III.” The problem with “The Strangers” has less to do with the scares present and more with the fact that I’ve seen done before and better. The ending is more nihilistic and mean-spirited than anything done in the name of true events. And people say the “Saw” trilogy is torture porn…

Tomorrow: The Ten Best Films of 2008

A Slight Delay...

2008-12-30T10:55:00.001-08:00

...on the Five Worst list. It, as well as the Most Underrated/Overrated, will be on in a few hours. Keep watch.

2008 in Review: An Introduction and Thoughts

2008-12-28T21:21:00.000-08:00

(Note: this is not a great piece of writing, and I know that. It's meant to be a lengthy intro to the year we just finished. The great writing has been saved for the other articles.)

The year 2008 has been different. Looking at my current top ten, only three films came out in the fall months of September through December. Five films were released during the summer, including four of the top five. The other two were released in the spring. That’s diversity right there.

January was a terrible month (as it always is), but out of the three films I saw, there was one gem: “Cloverfield”. The other two, put mildly, were pieces of radioactive sludge. Still, “Cloverfield” was a breath of fresh air, a terrifying thrill ride that I knew would be hard to beat when it came to entertainment. February was pretty uneventful, starting off with the iffy “The Eye,” the disastrously unfunny “Fool’s Gold,” and the scant “Jumper,” which was one of my more anticipated of Spring 2008. I found the time to be thrilled by “Vantage Point,” but the real surprise was the brilliant “Penelope,” a tiny and forgotten gem every inch of which I loved to death.

March was a good month, though it admittedly started off with the abysmal “10,000 B.C.” Just the week after, however, there was the delightful and hilarious “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!” The week after that, another small gem called “Married Life” came and went practically unseen, much like “Penelope.” Then the spoof genre had a savior in the witty and sweet “Superhero Movie,” which was the best outright comedy I’d seen so far. I only saw three films from the month of April: the fun “The Forbidden Kingdom,” a return for the floundering Jackie Chan, “Son of Rambow,” which also was a forgotten, underseen near-masterpiece, and the charming if uneven “Baby Mama,” which I saw on a whim.

So, good but disappointing were the early months of the year, but I did have four wonderful choices for the end of the year list (note: only one makes it to the final top ten). Then summer came, as it does, and turned things around.

May was a very good, if not great, month for summer blockbusters. For every great “Iron Man” and “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” type of success, there was a “Speed Racer” disaster and a “The Strangers” letdown to cloud one’s vision of the good stuff (then again, neither of the latter made much money, so there was an upside). In the middle of them all was the thrilling “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” and a little masterpiece called “The Fall” to hold them together. June was one of two months of excessive movie-going for me. I saw the following: the funny and exciting “Kung Fu Panda,” the awful “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan,” the underrated “The Happening,” the dumbly fun “The Incredible Hulk,” the equally funny “Get Smart” and “The Love Guru,” and the masterworks-for-different-reasons “WALL-E” and “Wanted.” It was a refreshingly good month, but “WALL-E” beating out “Cloverfield” for the top prize was unexpected, as nothing else had done so. My thought at the time was that even the long-awaited “The Dark Knight” would have to perfect in order to beat it.

July started off with the disappointing “Hancock,” which turned out to be much ado about not much. The weekend of July 11 brought me to the theaters for all three big films: the surprisingly not awful “Meet Dave,” the fun “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” and “Hellboy II: The Golden Army,” the biggest comeback for superhero movies since May’s “Iron Man.” But then “The Dark Knight” came out. I had my winner for the entire year, even the months that had not yet passed. It was an utter masterpiece and a work of pure genius—and that’s just the late Heath Ledger’s performance. Other movies after that paled in comparison, until the evening of August 15. But I’m getting ahead of myself. I also saw “Space Chimps,” which depressed me, and “The X-Files: I Want to Believe,” which lifted my spirits.

My impending move to college and my brother’s wedding dampened August’s movie-going experiences, and I didn’t see a film for two weeks. Perhaps this affected my liking “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.” The following week, a comedic masterpiece in Ben Stiller’s “Tropic Thunder” and three weeks after that, the brilliant thriller “Traitor.”

After this point, movies became few and far between. I was more busy than I’d ever been, but I did find the time to see the brilliant “Lakeview Terrace” and the entertainingly paranoid “Eagle Eye.” In October, I saw the hauntingly scary “Quarantine,” a film I was dreading with my every fiber of being, and the resonant “Changeling,” a film that left a big impression on me. In November, the films I saw were okay, but the only major disappointment was “Quantum of Solace,” the incoherent follow-up to “Casino Royale.”

But December has been pretty good. The first movie I saw was the disappointing “The Day the Earth Stood Still” and next the sappy “Seven Pounds.” I liked its comedies, such as “Yes Man” and “Bedtime Stories,” as well as the thriller “Valkyrie.” But in the final week of the year, I saw a film so powerful and so resonant as to make me question the chances for “The Dark Knight” to be on the top spot at the end of the year: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”

For the last two days, it’s been haunting me. I can’t stop thinking about it. Which film beat which? I’ve made my choice, and it was, for me, a hard one to make. Both films are masterpieces of their respective genres. Both are those kinds of rarities I call perfect. I’m not entirely happy which choosing one over the other, but alas I must. You shall see in two days.

Let us start the journey…

UPDATED 2008: A Rundown (so far)

2008-12-27T17:46:00.000-08:00

I've added David Fincher's resonant, beautiful, epic masterpiece, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (****), although it's fighting with "The Dark Knight" for the top spot and its placement may change, by the time my top ten is published on Wednesday. On another note, I've ultimately decided not to see "The Spirit" on Monday and will just end my 2008 movie-going experience this weekend. My Year in Review articles are under way. I've also added the other films I've seen since last Friday: "Valkyrie" (***), "Australia" (***), "Yes Man" (***), "Bedtime Stories" (***), and "Seven Pounds" (**1/2).

Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight" (****)
David Fincher's "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (****)
Andrew Stanton's "WALL-E" (****)
Tarsem's "The Fall" (****)
Ben Stiller's "Tropic Thunder" (****)
Clint Eastwood's "Changeling" (****)
Howard & Williams's "Bolt" (****)
Matt Reeves' "Cloverfield" (****)
Stephen Walker's "Young @ Heart" (****)
Timur Bekmambetov's "Wanted" (****)

Jon Favreau's "Iron Man" (****)
Mark Palansky's "Penelope" (****)
Hammer & Tongs' "Son of Rambow" (****)
Steven Spielberg's "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" (****)
Guillermo del Toro's "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" (****)
M. Night Shyamalan's "The Happening" (****)
Hayward and Martino's "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!" (****)
John Erick Dowdle's "Quarantine" (****)
Chris Carter's "The X-Files: I Want to Believe" (***1/2)
Ira Sachs's "Married Life" (***1/2)

Michel Gondry's "Be Kind Rewind" (***1/2)
David Schwimmer's "Run Fatboy Run" (***1/2)
Osborne and Stevenson's "Kung Fu Panda" (***1/2)
Bryan Singer's "Valkyrie" (***)
Pete Travis' "Vantage Point" (***)
Baz Luhrmann's "Australia" (***)
David Wain's "Role Models" (***)
Fumihiko Sori's "Vexille" (***)
Peyton Reed's "Yes Man" (***)
Andrew Adamson's "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" (***)

Michael McCullers's "Baby Mama" (***)
Craig Mazin's "Superhero Movie" (***)
Adam Shankman's "Bedtime Stories" (***)
Catherine Hardwicke's "Twilight" (***)
Anne Fletcher's "27 Dresses" (***)
Paul Weiland's "Made of Honor" (***)
Rob Cohen's "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" (***)
Louis Leterrier's "The Incredible Hulk" (***)
Seth Gordon's "Four Christmases" (***)
Peter Segal's "Get Smart" (***)

Patricia Rozema's "Kit Kittredge: An American Girl" (***)
Marco Schnabel's "The Love Guru" (***)
Eric Brevig's "Journey to the Center of the Earth" (***)
Gabriele Muccino's "Seven Pounds" (**1/2)
Oliver Stone's "W." (**1/2)
Moreau and Palud's "The Eye" (**1/2)
Marc Forster's "Quantum of Solace" (**)
Peter Berg's "Hancock" (**)
Doug Liman's "Jumper" (**)
Scott Derrickson's "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (**)

Bryan Bertino's "The Strangers" (**)
Brian Robbins's "Meet Dave" (**)
Eric Valette's "One Missed Call" (*1/2)
Andy Tennant's "Fool's Gold" (*)
Roland Emmerich's "10,000 B.C." (*)
The Wachowskis' "Speed Racer" (*)
Kirk De Micco's "Space Chimps" (1/2*)
Friedberg and Seltzer's "Meet the Spartans" (1/2*)
Dennis Dugan's "You Don't Mess with the Zohan" (1/2*)
Uwe Boll's "In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale" (zero)

OSCARS 2009: Closing In...

2008-12-25T20:38:00.000-08:00

Lot of changes this week. Also, "WALL-E" is creeping into the Best Picture buzz with a flurry of precursors. You won't see it here. I don't think it will be nominated, as much as I think it should.

Best Picture:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Director:

Woody Allen, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight
Gus Van Sant, Milk

Best Actor:

Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn, Milk
Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

Best Actress:

Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie, Changeling
Melissa Leo, Frozen River
Meryl Streep, Doubt
Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road

Best Supporting Actor:

Josh Brolin, Milk
Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionaire

Best Supporting Actress:

Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis, Doubt
Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler
Kate Winslet, The Reader

Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay):

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Doubt
Frost/Nixon
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Writing (Original Screenplay):

Happy-Go-Lucky
Milk
Rachel Getting Married
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
The Visitor

Best Animated Feature Film:

Kung Fu Panda
WALL-E
Waltz with Bashir

Best Art Direction:

Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Duchess
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Revolutionary Road

Best Cinematography:

Australia
The Dark Knight
Defiance
Revolutionary Road
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Costume Design:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Duchess
The Fall
The Other Boleyn Girl
Revolutionary Road

Best Film Editing:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Defiance
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Makeup:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Synecdoche, New York
Tropic Thunder

Best Music (Original Score):

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Defiance
Milk
Revolutionary Road
WALL-E

Best Music (Original Song):

"Down to Earth," WALL-E
"Gran Torino," Gran Torino
"I Thought I Lost You," Bolt
"I Want It All," High School Musical 3: Senior Year
"The Wrestler," The Wrestler

Best Sound Editing:

The Dark Knight
Defiance
Iron Man
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
WALL-E

Best Sound Mixing:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Defiance
Iron Man
WALL-E

Best Visual Effects:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Iron Man

Best Foreign Language Film:

The Baader-Meinhof Complex
The Class
Everlasting Moments
Gomorrah
Waltz with Bashir

Best Documentary:

At the Death House Door
Blessed is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh
I.O.U.S.A.
Man on Wire
Trouble the Water

Schedule for next week

2008-12-24T22:22:00.000-08:00

It's gonna be a busy weekend for me, writing up my Year in Review articles and other miscellanea, as well as seeing "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" tomorrow evening, "Bedtime Stories" on Saturday, "Valkyrie" on Friday, and "The Spirit" on Monday (yes, I'm seeing if it's as bad as reported). I may be reviewing them. Maybe not. We'll see.

That'll be it for 2008 on my end. I know, I know--I haven't seen the higher profile films like "Slumdog Millionaire" or "Synecdoche, New York" or "Frost/Nixon." But I have a darn good lineup for my top ten right now. And if "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" lives up to the potential, the climate could shift further.

Anyway, as of next Monday, I will have seen 61 movies this year. Considering the year I've had subtracting movies from it, that's impressive. I saw 58 in total from last year, so this is upping that number.

So, without further procrastination, here's my very busy lineup for the Year in Review week:

Monday--Introduction and Thoughts in conclusion to the year 2008 as it pertains to movies (no, that's not the title)

Tuesday--The Five Worst Films of 2008, along with the Most Overrated, Underrated, Overlooked, and Overhyped Films

Wednesday--The Ten Best Films of 2008, along with the Ten Runners-Up

Thursday--The JSC Awards, where I nominate everything that the Oscar voters categorize, plus Best Ensemble in a Motion Picture (thank you, Kris Tapley of InContention), and no, this is nothing like the Teen Choice Awards

Friday--The Year in Superlatives, which announces my winners in said categories

Saturday--The Ten Most Anticipated of 2009 (I know, it'll be the 3rd already, but I won't have seen anything, so...)

And on Jan. 10 and Feb. 22, I will be giving my final predictions for the Globes and Oscars, respectively. Live updates will take place on my Twitter page for both.

I may also provide reviews of each season of 24, in preparation for Jan. 11's season 7 premiere. The Wednesday after that (the 14th) will have a review of the 2-night, 4-hour premiere. Coverage of each episode will ensue.

Can't wait to do all of this! Keep watch!

Review: Role Models (***)

2008-12-20T20:54:00.000-08:00

Directed by David Wain
Cast: Seann William Scott, Paul Rudd, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Bobb’e J. Thompson, Elizabeth Banks, Jane Lynch, Ken Jeong, Ken Marino, Kerri Kinney, A.D. Miles, Joe Lo Truglio, Matt Walsh, Nicole Randall Johnson, Alexandra Stamler, Carly Craig.
2008—99 minutes.
Rated R (crude and sexual content, language, nudity)
Reviewed by The Teen Critic on December 20, 2008.

“Role Models” works. It just works. Yes, it’s uneven, and raunchy. But it’s very, very funny and contains two of the best comedic performances of the year. But more on those later. Yes, it’s nowhere near “Tropic Thunder,” but it’s funnier than some of the other comedies this year. Like “The Love Guru,” it’s shameless in its raunchiness, isn’t too deep, and is just a foulmouthed funfest. I like the spirit of “Role Models” over all; it was blessedly R-rated but never mean-spirited. And those performances—man, did they make the movie.

Danny and Wheeler are best friends and drunks. They have been having a bad day, selling their power drinks as they do, until Danny’s girlfriend breaks up with him after an unromantic proposal. He ruins the next presentation, wrecks the tow truck trying to take their car, and is threatened with jail. That is, unless he and Wheeler can prove their worth by spending time with some kids at Sturdy Wings, an organization specializing in troubled kids.

Danny is assigned to Augie, a wide-open nerd obsessed with RPGs and never quite able to live in the real world. It ends up that Augie has extra layers, and Danny finally realizes why Augie is the way he is. There is a brilliantly played-out scene where Danny and Augie’s parents argue about Augie’s upbringing; it ends with Danny kicked out of their house for making better points than the parents. Meanwhile, Wheeler has to deal with Ronnie, a potty-mouthed 10-year-old with no filter, it seems, to move past the bad words. No worries; the heroes, and the organization’s headmistress, are just as salty.

So, the plot of “Role Models” isn’t exactly a novel one, but it works for this film. The screenplay is amiable, and the direction by David Wain consists mostly of montages, yes, but the most entertaining montages in a while. What works best about “Role Models” is the acting, and good performances are not in short supply. Paul Rudd is impressive as Danny, showing true colors near the end and deserving it. Seann William Scott is hilarious as Wheeler, but isn’t given enough to work with (he’s still good with what he’s got). Elizabeth Banks is radiant as always as love-interest Beth, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse, fresh off of “Superbad,” is wonderful as the role playing Augie. (Note: the role-playing sequences are very believable.)

But the two aforementioned brilliant performances—seriously among the best of the year—are by Jane Lynch and Bobb’e J. Thompson. Lynch plays Gayle Sweeny, the head of Sturdy Wings, as the demented cousin of Tom Cruise’s Les Grossman. She’s that good and hits every note perfectly. It’s brilliant, and, above all, side-splittingly hilarious. Now, for Bobb’e J. Thompson as Ronnie. Consider this among the four most fearless supporting actor performances of the year, right up there with Cruise and Robert Downey Jr. in “Tropic Thunder” and, yes, Heath Ledger’s Joker. Thompson is simply electrifying and, in my opinion, Oscar-worthy in the role, and I predict he will go far as a result of this performance. Every other word is a naughty one; I suspect he would positively blanch Les Grossman and Kirk Lazarus—combined.

There are things that don’t work. The dramatic sequences are mostly melodramatic and unrealistic. The scenes between Danny and Beth are from any romantic comedy you can think of. The scenes with Wheeler and Ronnie, however, are perfectly balanced. I love how Thompson switches between dramatic and comedic without losing a step or a single bad word. The scenes between Danny and Augie are dramatically inert, except for that dinner sequence.

But the comedy’s the key in “Role Models,” and thank goodness for that. The performances are also electric, especially from Lynch and, more so if possible, Thompson. This is a vulgar good time at the movies. And that’s all the filmmakers were looking for, right?

Review: Seven Pounds (**1/2)

2008-12-20T13:32:00.000-08:00

Directed by Gabriele Muccino
Cast: Will Smith, Rosario Dawson, Woody Harrelson, Michael Ealy, Barry Pepper, Elpidia Carillo, Robinne Lee, Joe Nunez, Bill Smitrovich, Tim Kelleher, Gina Hecht, Andy Milder, Judyann Elder, Sarah Jane Morris, Madison Pettis.
2008—118 minutes
Rated PG-13 (thematic elements, disturbing content, sensuality)
Reviewed by The Teen Critic on December 20, 2008.

Writing about the 2007 independent Kevin Bacon-starrer, “Rails & Ties,” Roger Ebert said, “…there were fundamental decisions to be made about the lives and fates of these characters, and I think somehow the filmmakers lost the way, lost sight of the people inside the plot.” Likewise, Gabriele Muccino’s “Seven Pounds” is like that. Here is a movie whose premise is ingenious but which bogs itself down in overbearing melodrama and other machinery. It’s utterly ordinary, and anyone looking forward to a brilliant follow-up to Muccino’s previous Will Smith film, 2006’s devastating and realistic “The Pursuit of Happyness,” will be disappointed and, afterward, inclined to look elsewhere.

“The Pursuit of Happyness” was never overbearing; its inherent sentimentality sprung out of believable situations, and above all, we cared about the characters. I wasn’t as invested in the character of Ben Thomas, especially when the Big Revelation is made near the end of the film. Not even when the film title’s meaning is revealed at the end did I for one second believe in him or, for that matter, the reason for his wanting repentance. It isn’t that I didn’t care; it’s that I didn’t know when I was supposed to.

Ben Thomas is an IRS agent, making his rounds to people who are possibly the final seven on his list. There is a blind telemarketer, named Ezra Turner, whom he insults on the telephone in the first scene of the film. And there is a woman who has developed congenital heart disease and is currently on a donor list. These two people, as well as five others, will be drastically changed in some way by the actions that Ben takes.

Oh, the movie works itself out by the end, but you’ll have it all figured out by the halfway point. Yes, the premise is intriguing. Yes, the Big Revelation is shocking and realistic. Yes, the final fifteen minutes are excellent (after all, the ending is most important, no?). Yes, the cinematography is gritty enough for the film to feel realistic. Yes, there are enough intense scenes between the actors to fill a book. My problems with “Seven Pounds” will perhaps be dismissed by those simply taken by all of the above and not looking for anything else in the picture. I, for one, am less interested in the story at hand and more interested in what takes place off-screen: the stories of those other five people, what troubles they are going through.

There are things about “Seven Pounds” I am weary of. One of them is the acting, surprisingly enough. I love Will Smith to death, and in nearly every one of his movies, he inhabits the character, even in disappointments like “Men in Black II” and “Hancock.” I use the word “nearly” because “Seven Pounds” is his first major misstep. If there was ever a performance that was over the top and too reserved at the same time, this is it. Smith is curiously off the mark here, overplaying the dialogue he is given. Woody Harrelson is simply awful as Ezra Turner, and Barry Pepper is forgettable as Ben’s best friend. The only person who comes through is Rosario Dawson, strong and affecting as Emily Posa, a woman fully aware of her mortality; it’s a brilliant performance deserving a better film. I am also weary of the screenplay, which sidesteps the more important storyline to pursue an unaffecting romance between two people whose relationship would be meaningless and absurd if the ending means what it means. Finally, I am weary of the terrible music score that turns saccharine in scenes that are supposed to be sweet (there’s a difference).

I’m at an odd place with “Seven Pounds.” I know people will see it, which I ultimately do not recommend, but I can’t ruin the ending. And that ending is brilliant. The rest of the film isn’t worth the time. At the same time, to understand the ending, the rest of the film must be seen. Do this at your own risk. It isn’t awful in the slightest, and you may like it, and I won’t blame you. Just know that this is not all there is. There’s more to it, and maybe the director’s cut DVD (or a redo) might bring the whole movie to light.

Review: Bolt (****)

2008-12-18T21:21:00.000-08:00

Directed by Byron Howard and Chris Williams
Cast: John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, Susie Essman, Mark Walton, Malcolm McDowell, James Lipton, Greg Germann, Diedrich Bader, Nick Swardson, J.P. Manoux, Dan Fogelman, Kari Wahlgren, Chloe Moretz, Randy Savage, Ronn Moss.
2008--96 minutes

Rated PG (violence)

Reviewed by The Teen Critic on December 19, 2008.

(Note: This review contains potential spoilers. Read with care. You might want to see the movie before reading it.)

There's a moment in "Bolt" when I just about choked up. You might miss it if you take the sequence out of context. It comes near the middle of the film, when Bolt has found out the truth about himself: that he isn't any real hero and instead is just the star of a television show depicting as such. He wants to learn what a real dog is like, so his feline friend Mittens tells him to stick his head out the window, just like other dogs. "Stick your tongue out," Mittens suggests. He does. And loves it. It's a little scene, maybe forty-five seconds out of 96 minutes. But it stuck with me and I wasn't able to forget it. I kept thinking back to that sequence after viewing it, thinking about how powerfully it hit me and wondering why. Then I remembered: I had similar experiences in the other two animated films that I adored this year, "WALL-E" and "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!" Those films also received four stars from me, because they elevated themselves within the animated genre (this also happened with "Ratatouille" and "Meet the Robinsons" last year, "Happy Feet" and "Monster House" in 2006...you get the picture).

I think the sequence I described speaks directly to the themes of the film: finding one's true identity, and never forsaking a friendship. They are "stock themes," if you will, right out of the handbook, but they are made fresh and exciting by a near-perfect screenplay and brilliant handling by the filmmakers and the writers. "Bolt" is four things: side-splittingly hilarious, surprisingly tender, visually beautiful, and wondrously exciting. So were "WALL-E" and "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!," the former nonetheless at a higher level. All three are magical experiences just the same.

The plot is actually kind of ingenious. Bolt is a superdog, both on and off TV. On the tube, he plays a dog with super powers to defeat evil. Off the tube, he's a renowned superstar, forming on billboards and, I'm assuming, lunchboxes. The catch is, he knows only about his TV persona and nothing about the real world; to him, the show is real world, and there isn't anything else. Because of a plot development on his show (his person Penny's character gets kidnapped, so naturally he wants to save her, thinking Penny herself has been kidnapped), Bolt goes after her and in the process ends up in the real world--Hollywood, to be exact. He teams up with queenie cat Mittens and rabid fan Rhino the Hamster to find Penny. Soon, however, Bolt must learn the truth about himself and...

That's where I'll stop. I don't want to ruin anything for you before you see the movie. The plot is ingenious, yes, but it takes turns you won't expect and the ending is actually not that predictable (to a level, it is, but there are elements about it you won't foresee). Nearly all the usual stuff is here: sidekicks abandon hero, they get back together and reconcile, arrive just in time to save heroine, etc. But it's delivered with originality, verve, and charm.

These animals are almost human in nature--they make rational decisions which have consequences in the near future--but then, aren't all animated creatures humane? Yes, but these have extra layers. When Mittens breaks near the climax, explaining the true nature of humans to Bolt, there is a certain sadness and, dare I say, weariness behind her eyes. She's experienced it; she can testify. When Rhino the Hamster explains the true meaning of friendship to Mittens later, as he has learned from Bolt's TV show, it isn't just another sermon. He's learned so much from the show, is so excited to impart it, that his endearing hyperactivity gives way to a wisdom rarely seen in movies of this ilk. And as for Bolt, his emotions are all given by facial expressions--understandable since he is an actor--and there is a moment when he sees the horrifying reality of recasting a role on a TV show; the scene is deeply ironic and heartbreakingly sad at the same time.

The technical attributes are alarmingly good. The fast-paced editing, as well as the disorientingly good animation, make for a visual style reminiscent of and just as good as anything by Pixar (yes, I just said that). It may not be on the level of "WALL-E" (that required more intricacies), but surprisingly, it comes rather close, though on a different level. The voice work is, simply put, amazing. I am coming rather close, with this film, of forgiving Miley Cyrus of her alter ego, Hannah Montana; maybe her picking a smarter movie than the upcoming "Hannah Montana: The Movie" will do that for me. For the time being, she easily does her strongest work as Penny, a true individual when the situation needs it. John Travolta and Susie Essman have great chemistry together--Bolt is as strong an individual as Penny, and Mittens's true colors are only shown in that aforementioned sequences. But perhaps the best work in the film is by relative nobody Matt Walton as Rhino the Hamster, ranking as the best animated comedic character since Dory in the Pixar classic "Finding Nemo;" like Dory, Rhino the Hamster isn't all laugh and no heart, and he shows a real soul in his humor. All of these are actually great performances, by any standards, both live-action and animated.

I'm not sure why I was so touched by "Bolt." Perhaps the same reason I was so touched by "Penelope" earlier this year: it's a rather conventional story arc, told with originality and not without its unexpected developments. It ranks as the biggest surprise of the year, and yes, I would call it an animated masterpiece and a new classic of the genre. On a special note, this is the best 3-D experience I've ever had; I've never liked the process, but here it works beautifully, as the colors pop and are tailor-made for 3-D. I cannot think of a place this movie steps wrong. It's one of this year's very best.

UPDATED 2008: A Rundown (so far)

2008-12-18T20:55:00.000-08:00

I've added "The Fall" (****) to my list (you'll see it, right near the top), as well as the two I saw tonight, "Bolt" (****) and "Role Models" (***).

Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight" (****)
Andrew Stanton's "WALL-E" (****)
Tarsem's "The Fall" (****)
Ben Stiller's "Tropic Thunder" (****)
Clint Eastwood's "Changeling" (****)
Howard & Williams's "Bolt" (****)
Matt Reeves' "Cloverfield" (****)
Stephen Walker's "Young @ Heart" (****)
Timur Bekmambetov's "Wanted" (****)
Jon Favreau's "Iron Man" (****)

Mark Palansky's "Penelope" (****)
Hammer & Tongs' "Son of Rambow" (****)
Steven Spielberg's "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" (****)
Guillermo del Toro's "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" (****)
M. Night Shyamalan's "The Happening" (****)
Hayward and Martino's "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!" (****)
John Erick Dowdle's "Quarantine" (****)
Chris Carter's "The X-Files: I Want to Believe" (***1/2)
Ira Sachs's "Married Life" (***1/2)
Michel Gondry's "Be Kind Rewind" (***1/2)

David Schwimmer's "Run Fatboy Run" (***1/2)
Osborne and Stevenson's "Kung Fu Panda" (***1/2)
Pete Travis' "Vantage Point" (***)
David Wain's "Role Models" (***)
Fumihiko Sori's "Vexille" (***)
Andrew Adamson's "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" (***)
Michael McCullers's "Baby Mama" (***)
Craig Mazin's "Superhero Movie" (***)
Catherine Hardwicke's "Twilight" (***)
Anne Fletcher's "27 Dresses" (***)

Paul Weiland's "Made of Honor" (***)
Rob Cohen's "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" (***)
Louis Leterrier's "The Incredible Hulk" (***)
Seth Gordon's "Four Christmases" (***)
Peter Segal's "Get Smart" (***)
Patricia Rozema's "Kit Kittredge: An American Girl" (***)
Marco Schnabel's "The Love Guru" (***)
Eric Brevig's "Journey to the Center of the Earth" (***)
Oliver Stone's "W." (**1/2)
Moreau and Palud's "The Eye" (**1/2)

Marc Forster's "Quantum of Solace" (**)
Peter Berg's "Hancock" (**)
Doug Liman's "Jumper" (**)
Scott Derrickson's "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (**)
Bryan Bertino's "The Strangers" (**)
Brian Robbins's "Meet Dave" (**)
Eric Valette's "One Missed Call" (*1/2)
Andy Tennant's "Fool's Gold" (*)
Roland Emmerich's "10,000 B.C." (*)
The Wachowskis' "Speed Racer" (*)

Kirk De Micco's "Space Chimps" (1/2*)
Friedberg and Seltzer's "Meet the Spartans" (1/2*)
Dennis Dugan's "You Don't Mess with the Zohan" (1/2*)
Uwe Boll's "In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale" (zero)

61 movies. Wow.

Review: The Fall (****)

2008-12-18T10:38:00.000-08:00

(Note: Sorry for the lack of photos. Couldn't really find any. Plus, don't wanna spoil the beauty of the film.)

Directed by Tarsem
Cast: Catinca Untaru, Justine Waddell, Lee Pace, Kim Uylenbroek, Aiden Lithgow, Sean Gilder, Ronald France, Andrew Roussouw, Michael Huff, Grant Swanby, Emil Hostina, Robin Smith, Jeetu Verma, Leo Bill, Marcus Wesley.
2008--117 minutes
Rated R (violent images)
Reviewed by The Teen Critic on December 18, 2008.

I have a rhetorical question for you: How the heck do you even write a review for "The Fall," let alone a plot description? It's the closest thing to indescribable as a movie could get. As Roger Ebert would say, that's not a criticism, that's an observation. I would like to say that "The Fall" is a bizarre masterpiece and it's all that can be said. Well, dang it, I'm wrong. There are a lot of things that can be said about Tarsem's film, much like his previous one, "The Cell."

That film was perhaps a bit better to explain: A woman goes into the mind of a serial killer, only to be caught up and trapped inside it. It was 2000's best film by a mile, not only visually striking, but also frightening, trippy, and quite touching. "The Fall" is equally trippy and perhaps even more touching. The plot description is murky: In order to get more morphine, a paralyzed and suicidal man tells stories to a crippled girl about...what? And to what effect? Many films must have a logical point; people demand it. What if the film has no logical point? They won't hear of it. Must be the "artsy-fartsy" thing.

I believe that "The Fall" has no logical point (or much of a narrative, either), and instead contains a creative engine only. That's it. Nothing else. The film works as a celebration of style over substance, yes, but what about when there's very little substance to begin with? "The Fall" has less a story than a plot, but that works in its favor, as the lack of a strong narrative gives way to the best cinematography and scenery and set direction and costume design ever conducted on film.

That's pretty much the point that Tarsem is making: the visualization of someone's uninhibited imagination. It's like an abstract painting. Some understand it, some don't. I guess it really is all relative. All I know is this: I will never forget "The Fall." Forget the 59% on Rotten Tomatoes. Forget its near incomprehensibility. This is a goundbreaking visual achievement that needs no review to establish that. It has established itself, I believe.

Whenever someone says that a film is pretentious because it makes its own points and makes sense within its own universe, I have to think to myself, "That happened to '2001: A Space Odyssey.' And that's a great film." So, is "The Fall" confusing? Yes. Maddening? Very. Strange? Doesn't even scratch the surface. Masterpiece? Maybe, though that's hard to say. Striking? Extremely. Plot-driven? No. It doesn't have to be. It's driven by its own means, you see. It's also one of the very best films I've seen this year, and possibly one of the most strikingly original ever made. Which tells you something right there.

2008-12-16T07:51:00.001-08:00

Great shot of the "Labyrinth of Despair," which is a great name. Can't wait. "The Fall." Actionman praised it back in June. His choice for best film of the year. It was on Ebert's list. Better than "The Dark Knight?" I'll be watching it with lunch.

I really loved Tarsem's previous film, 2000's masterpiece "The Cell." It was creepy, scary, beautiful, haunting, and had an involving plot to go with the truly unforgettable imgery. What nearly no one knows is "The Cell" is my pick for 2000's best film. It'll be on my "Decade in Review" article next December. This looks completely different, but just as entrancing. Actionman compared it to "Pan's Labyrinth." Wow. If it's that good, I'm freaking excited.

UPDATED 2008: A Rundown (so far)

2008-12-13T14:22:00.001-08:00

I added "Twilight" (***), "Four Christmases" (***), and "The Day the Earth Stood Still (**) to my list. I'll be doing this again next Saturday, as I'll being seeing a lot of movies by then.

Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight" (****)
Andrew Stanton's "WALL-E" (****)
Ben Stiller's "Tropic Thunder" (****)
Clint Eastwood's "Changeling" (****)
Matt Reeves' "Cloverfield" (****)
Stephen Walker's "Young @ Heart" (****)
Timur Bekmambetov's "Wanted" (****)
Jon Favreau's "Iron Man" (****)
Mark Palansky's "Penelope" (****)
Hammer & Tongs' "Son of Rambow" (****)

Steven Spielberg's "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" (****)
Guillermo del Toro's "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" (****)
M. Night Shyamalan's "The Happening" (****)
Hayward and Martino's "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!" (****)
John Erick Dowdle's "Quarantine" (****)
Chris Carter's "The X-Files: I Want to Believe" (***1/2)
Ira Sachs's "Married Life" (***1/2)
Michel Gondry's "Be Kind Rewind" (***1/2)
David Schwimmer's "Run Fatboy Run" (***1/2)
Osborne and Stevenson's "Kung Fu Panda" (***1/2)

Pete Travis' "Vantage Point" (***)
Fumihiko Sori's "Vexille" (***)
Andrew Adamson's "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" (***)
Michael McCullers's "Baby Mama" (***)
Craig Mazin's "Superhero Movie" (***)
Catherine Hardwicke's "Twilight" (***)
Anne Fletcher's "27 Dresses" (***)
Paul Weiland's "Made of Honor" (***)
Rob Cohen's "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" (***)
Louis Leterrier's "The Incredible Hulk" (***)

Seth Gordon's "Four Christmases" (***)
Peter Segal's "Get Smart" (***)
Patricia Rozema's "Kit Kittredge: An American Girl" (***)
Marco Schnabel's "The Love Guru" (***)
Eric Brevig's "Journey to the Center of the Earth" (***)
Oliver Stone's "W." (**1/2)
Moreau and Palud's "The Eye" (**1/2)
Marc Forster's "Quantum of Solace" (**)
Peter Berg's "Hancock" (**)
Doug Liman's "Jumper" (**)

Scott Derrickson's "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (**)
Bryan Bertino's "The Strangers" (**)
Brian Robbins's "Meet Dave" (**)
Eric Valette's "One Missed Call" (*1/2)
Andy Tennant's "Fool's Gold" (*)
Roland Emmerich's "10,000 B.C." (*)
The Wachowskis' "Speed Racer" (*)
Kirk De Micco's "Space Chimps" (1/2*)
Friedberg and Seltzer's "Meet the Spartans" (1/2*)
Dennis Dugan's "You Don't Mess with the Zohan" (1/2*)

Uwe Boll's "In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale" (zero)

Review: The Day the Earth Stood Still (**)

2008-12-13T14:22:00.000-08:00

Directed by Scott Derrickson

Cast: Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, Kathy Bates, Jaden Smith, John Cleese, Jon Hamm, Kyle Chandler, Robert Knepper, James Hong, John Rothman, Sunita Prasad, Juan Riedinger, Sam Gilroy, Tanya Champoux, Rukiya Bernard.

2008--103 minutes

Rated PG-13 (violence)

Reviewed by The Teen Critic on December 13, 2008.

I don't remember "The Day the Earth Stood Still" being one big environmental message. The original 1951 picture is one of the greatest science fiction films of the age, and its remake is one of the weakest. This is spineless pulp fiction at best; one imagines original director Robert Wise shaking his finger at Scott Derrickson. And how can we blame him? Derrickson turned GORT, one of the great villainous robots in the movies, into the worst special effects creation of the last year and three months (since the dragons of "Dragon Wars").

Still, I suppose this was inevitable. The original maybe shouldn't have been touched, but then, what teenager today will admit he has seen it? Moreover, who of those will admit he loves it? So, Derrickson attempts to update it, and the result is the best film that can come from an immortal film. How good is that? Not very, but it's far from boring.

Wise's "The Day the Earth Stood Still" was one of the best chillers ever made; he was sci-fi's Hitchcock, if you will, followed closely by Kubrick. Derrickson's remake is a second-rate action flick with not very much action. The most intense sequence involves a silly and gigantic robot taking control of fighter pilots and running them into the ground. Insidious, yes; skillful, no. The effects in these sequences are laughably see-through, not a good sign for a sci-fi movie released in 2008 with Keanu Reeves.

Speaking of Reeves, he plays Klaatu, an alien who has come to "save the planet Earth," though not necessarily its inhabitants. He teams up with "astrobiologist" Helen Benson and her stepson Jacob to evade the government, who is trying to kill Klaatu so that the human race is okay. What they don't know is, he's got some pretty freaky powers. He can control a lot of things with his mind. There's one chilling scene when he causes a guy to have a heart attack and die. Too bad the whole movie couldn't have been that chilling.

There's a lot of melodrama in this "The Day the Earth Stood Still," a lot of which doesn't work, but I did like the scenes with little Jaden Smith's character when he mourns the loss of his father by lashing out at others; it's more realistic than any special effect could be and shows how brilliant the film could have been but wasn't. The whole movie feels that way: a series of missed opportunities. I can't tell you how many sequences began well and ended disappointingly.

There are a few good things. I was very impressed by the tiny nanobyte/bug thingies and how they dissolved everything in their path; the effects here are Oscar-worthy while nothing else in the film is. And the human emotions of young Smith's character are palpably felt. And Reeves does well with what he's got playing Klaatu: he's impressively emotionless.

It's a shame the movie they are in is the biggest disappointment of the year, easily surpassing--but not leaving the restraints of the star rating--"Hancock," "Jumper," and "Quantum of Solace." While maybe I shouldn't have, I was expecting something epic. What I got was neither an epic nor an epic failure. I really didn't hate this film. I just really didn't like it, either. It's just plain forgettable, without being incomprehensible or terrible.

Seeing it...

2008-12-13T06:18:00.000-08:00

...in about two-and-a-half hours. Pretty excited, but also leery. Been getting bad reviews, yes, but not even Ebert liked it.

I'll be posting my review a little later today.

On the Golden Globe Nominations

2008-12-12T06:21:00.001-08:00

This year's Golden Globe Nominations are more exciting than disappointing (for me, at least). This'll be something that's talked about endlessly in the media for about a month after the show's already been televised. There are some snubs--gotta expect that with the HFPA--but a lot of these are surprises and delights.

The Best Dramatic Picture category has a lot of non-surprises, but the snub for the buzz-filled "The Dark Knight" is surprising to say the least. No surprise for nominees "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (which I predict will take the gold) and "Revolutionary Road." What is surprising is the shutout of "Milk" from the lineup; once I see it on Monday, I'll tell you what I think about the snub. "Slumdog Millionaire" is the dark horse here, no matter how good it is. I expect it to take something home, but what that will be has yet to be determined in my mind. "The Reader" is an odd choice to me; there's really no substantial buzz.

As for the comedies and the lone musical in the group, there's only one movie that has the power to take home the gold: "Burn after Reading." Yes, I know that "Happy-Go-Lucky" has been widely acclaimed, and that "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" has been called Woody Allen's best in 10 years. On the other end of the spectrum, "In Bruges" wasn't expected--at all--and "Mamma Mia!" seems to be on here because it made money. But the HFPA love the Coens (forgiving their awful snub of "No Country for Old Men" last year) and "Burn after Reading" has enough buzz to win the award. But that's me, and I haven't yet seen it.

The acting in the drama categories are basically givens in themselves. Sean Penn will win for "Milk," and Anne Hathaway will win for "Rachel Getting Married." The only ones who could take it away from them (but won't) are, respectively, Mickey Rourke for "The Wrestler" and Kristin Scott-Thomas for the highly acclaimed French drama "I've Loved You So Long."

The comedy actors are stranger and harder to predict. "In Bruges" has two nominees here, but neither of them will win. I think the winner here is James Franco as the pothead sidekick in "Pineapple Express." The actresses...that's a toss-up, but I think Sally Hawkins might get it for the title description in "Happy-Go-Lucky."

We all know that Heath's gonna win for "The Dark Knight" (the only nomination it received), but I think it's super that Tom Cruise and Robert Downey Jr. were nominated for their roles in "Tropic Thunder." PSH was nominated for the theater adaptation "Doubt," which I will hopefully see on Sunday evening. The odd man out here is Voldemort (aka Ralph Fiennes) for "The Duchess"; I am shocked he didn't get one for "In Bruges" here, as he was called the best in the film by a lot of people. And I think it's a given that Penelope Cruz will win Supporting Actress for "Vicky Cristina Barcelona."

Just as "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" will win drama picture, so will David Fincher win for director. And as "WALL-E" is the only one that could win animated film, that's a given; it'll also win screenplay. The acclaimed mob drama "Gomorrah" will take home the gold for foreign film. The score for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" is brilliant (I've heard some of it), and the title song of "The Wrestler" is beautiful.

That's it for now. No getting into the TV nominations right now.

Essay Review: The Dark Knight (****)

2008-12-10T15:59:00.000-08:00

Directed by Christopher Nolan
Cast: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Monique Curnen, Ron Dean, Cilian Murphy, Chin Han, Nestor Carbonell, Eric Roberts, Ritchie Coster, Anthony Michael Hall.
2008--152 minutes
Rated PG-13 (violence)
Reviewed by The Teen Critic on December 10, 2008.

Question: Can superhero films get any better than "The Dark Knight?"

Answer: No.

Reason: It transcends the genre by delving into themes not-so-different than those in "The Godfather" or "GoodFellas."

This is a masterpiece and the best film of the last three years. Better than "WALL-E" and "No Country for Old Men" and "Children of Men" and "Pan's Labryinth." That's quite the list to beat, but "The Dark Knight" does it. This is truly operatic in nature, a Greek tragedy with a bat as its hero and a clown as its villain. Isn't that true irony? We are to fear bats and delight in clowns, but that which we fear is the very thing that will ultimately save us. Or will it? By the end of "The Dark Knight," the viewer is not so sure. It's that impressive on the viewer's minds, that thematically rich, that emotionally charged. I have now watched the film five times, and will watch it again, and each time it has left me staggering. I've used that word quite a bit: staggering. What does that even mean? you might ask. It means this: something so good as to be disconcerting to the viewer.

I'm really at a loss, with the most recent viewing, to point out what works best in the film. Is it the cinematography? Certainly Wally Pfister has shot this film to perfection, every little corner something to be savored. Is it the film editing? Lee Smith is one of the most overlooked editors out there (he previously edited "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World," one of my favorites of 2003), and the editing in the action sequences is flawlessly mounted, every scene dripping with suspense. Is it the musical score? Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard, recently requalified for this masterwork, have written something completely different yet utterly familiar; the use of violins and cellos here is quite something (and is it just me, or is that continuous droning sound reminiscent of "There Will Be Blood?").

Or is it the acting, with brilliant performances by the entire ensemble? Christian Bale is unusually strong with his quivering, gravelly voice of someone wearied by fighting crime. Aaron Eckhart is equally strong as a man who had everything and then lost it. Gary Oldman is the heart and soul of the film, giving a stunningly great performance as Jim Gordon, a man who knows justice and does the right thing to the end. Maggie Gyllenhaal is tour-de-force as a woman who loves two men, one more than the other, and may die for both their causes. Michael Caine is typical Michael Caine, just better; who knew that acting as a butler for a superhero could be one of his finest roles? Morgan Freeman, good in everything he's in, is equally powerful.

Or is it the person whose performance has been hailed by the AFI as one of the finest in cinema, Heath Ledger? His untimely death has nothing to do with how good he is. James Berardinelli nailed it, saying that the performance "would have been no less memorable had it not been his last and most grueling." Ledger is a force of nature...when he isn't speaking. This is the best villain performance I've seen, as well as the best performance in general. You just believe him every second he inhabits the screen. If Ledger doesn't win the Oscar, the Academy will have a riot outside Kodak Theatre. Forgetting my opinion for a second, many call this the best performance of the year in any respect, and they're not wrong.

I thought about giving a plot description but have opted against it. The reason for this is: it's made over a billion dollars worldwide. If you don't know the plot, why are you reading this review? So, if you want plot, go somewhere else. Other than the fact that Batman is less popular than normal and must fight an insane terrorist named The Joker, what do you need to know? Just that this is a complex and labyrinthine (but never impossible) plot that is accessible to everyone.

Before "The Dark Knight" came out, "Spider-Man 2" was, for me, the pinnacle achievement in the superhero genre. After viewing this film for the first time, I saw that that sequel was only the beginning. Not that it diminishes the power of the earlier film, but with it I always felt aware I was watching a "comic book movie." I even felt this sometimes with "Batman Begins." What Christopher Nolan has done with "The Dark Knight" is to dissect it completely with the world of Batman as we know it but still stay within the restraints of the genre. Yes, Bruce Wayne is Batman, but more Ray Liotta in "GoodFellas" than Michael Keaton in Tim Burton's overrated "Batman" and "Batman Returns." There are shots here that will haunt me. The shot of The Joker hanging his head out of the window of a cop car.

Films like "The Dark Knight" come out once in a blue moon. What some people forget, I think, in the middle of the Heath shuffle, is that "The Dark Knight" is perfectly fine, with or without Ledger. Take out the great performance by Ledger, replace it with a lesser one, and you've still got a brilliant film. The plotting, the technical aspects, the acting--all have spelled a mixture that has Oscar written all over it. This is what happens when all of the aspects of great superhero cinema are put to their best uses.

"Sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded." This line pervades the themes of the film. I wonder what the Academy will make of this film come the January announcements. But will they be able to look at this as transcendent of its genre? I certainly hope so. It's good enough to win the big award (and I think it will, despite my predictions saying otherwise). We shall see.

Sorry...

2008-12-09T13:09:00.001-08:00

...my review for "Minority Report" is here. Read and enjoy!

Trailer Debut: "Terminator: Salvation"

2008-12-09T12:00:00.000-08:00

Okay, so it's Japanese. I'm loving the ever-so-brief glimpses of Josh Brolin, moving from Dubya to Terminator. Overall, looks friggin' brilliant.

On DVD Today

2008-12-09T06:56:00.001-08:00

"The Dark Knight." Buying it tomorrow at noon(ish). Nothing else matters. Review should be up soon.

Speaking of, it's now been requalified for Best Music Score. Thank God. It'll win, no doubt. Well, maybe some doubt. But not much. Things are looking up.

Roger Ebert's Best Films of the Year

2008-12-08T16:17:00.000-08:00

He has twenty of them this time.

"Ballast" (I want to rent this. It came highly touted from TIFF, and the trailers seem to lead me to believe it's brilliant.)

"The Band's Visit" (Same with this one. Looks terrific. Might be a rental for me.)

"Che" (This one will be a seer when I have four and a half hours on my hands. Once I do, it's zip-to-the-theater-or-rental-place time.)

"Chop Shop" (Yet again. Need to rent this and Bahrani's previous film, "Man Push Cart." Ebert adores both of them.)

"The Dark Knight" (A masterpiece, all four times I saw it. Buying it in less than two days. Will probably be watching it a couple more times before the week is over.)

"Doubt" (Gotten some rave reviews, and I will probably catch it over Christmas break sometime.)

"The Fall" (Looks like Ebert and Actionman are ganging up on me to see this. Will be renting it on the 16th, I hope. Looks phenomenally weird.)

"Frost/Nixon" (Will be catching this on the 15th. Can't wait.)

"Frozen River" (Probably won't rent it for a while, but at some point, yes.)

"Happy-Go-Lucky" (Will try and catch this over Christmas break. But not sure about timing matters. I'll see it eventually.)

"Iron Man" (May make my Top-Ten of 2008, but that remains to be seen. Surely my runners-up if not.)

"Milk" (Seeing this the first chance I get. Looks like a masterpiece.)

"Rachel Getting Married" (Will rent once on DVD. Looks startlingly good.)

"The Reader" (Won't be seeing it, but I've heard great things.)

"Revolutionary Road" (Opens the day after New Year's for me. Will be there opening night. Cannot freakin' wait. Looks staggeringly good.)

"Shotgun Stories" (When I sign up for Netflix next year, I will get this immediately. Somehow I missed his review. Reading it now, I need to rent this. Need. To.)

"Slumdog Millionaire" (Hoping to see this on the 14th or 18th. I have a weird schedule.)

"Synecdoche, New York" (Seeing this on the 17th, due to the maddening fact that "The Wrestler" comes out in Dallas on Jan. 16--when I'll be in college again. I was all pumped for an apparent masterpiece. So, I'll see another apparent masterpiece instead. Actionman, I hope you're right.)

"W." (Boggles the mind. Not that it was awful, but I didn't care for it. A really well-acted SNL skit.)

"WALL-E" (An animated classic for all ages. And a great movie, too.)

His Special Jury Prize winner:

"My Winnipeg" (Won't be seeing this anytime soon, but sometime in my life.)

His favorite documentaries:

"Encounters at the End of the World" (Looks hauntingly brilliant. According to Actionman, it is. I'll rent it.)

"I.O.U.S.A." (This is one I'm intrigued in. Possibly a renter next summer.)

"Man on Wire" (DEFINITELY!!! I wanna see this. Badly. Everyone has said it actually surpassed "Standard Operating Procedure" as the Best Documentary frontrunner this year. Speaking of...)

"Standard Operating Procedure" (I wanna see this, too, but I don't know when.)

"Trouble the Water" (Heard great things about this. Maybe next summer.)

Scathing Review #2: Bratz (zero stars)

2008-12-07T16:27:00.000-08:00

Directed by Sean McNamara

Cast: Logan Browning, Janel Parrish, Nathalia Ramos, Skyler Shaye, Chelsea Staub, Annelise van der Pol, Malese Jow, Ian Nelson, Stephen Lunsford, Jon Voight, Lainie Kazan, William May, Emily Everhard, Chet Hanks, Carl Rux, Kadeem Hardison.

2007--110 minutes.

Rated PG (thematic elements)

Reviewed by The Teen Critic on December 7, 2008.

I want to make something very clear: It isn't that I don't like "Bratz" because I was a 17-year-old guy when I saw it last year. It's that I don't like it because it's horrible from any perspective. That's a common misconception that I have dealt with from girls younger than I who liked the film. I am serious when I say that I can't see what's good about it from any angle. I'm all for a cute, Disney Channel-level movie that sermonizes to us about friendship; I think they are underrated and watch them every once in a while if I'm in a cheerful mood. So, I confess that I wasn't dreading "Bratz" as much as I should have. I expected it would be bad (it's expected with a movie based on a line of children's dolls) but fun enough to sit through, much like a movie made for Disney Channel is.

I was off the mark--way off the mark. This isn't even good enough for the Disney Channel. At least with those films and television shows, even stuff like "Hannah Montana," you get a sense that the players are trying to teach us something. This is not so with "Bratz," a vile piece of trash that is so terrifying in its contempt for high-schoolers that it's a wonder someone didn't intervene.

The most irksome thing about "Bratz," other than its very existence, is how utterly and completely hypocritical it is at its very core. Those Disney Channel movies have fun messages that turn out well for the character in the end. Maybe the characters do bad things to get there, but, in the world's eyes, the end justifies the means. They learn their lesson. Whether we like the final product isn't important, because at least it hasn't given us a bad taste in our mouth. The characters in "Bratz" live up to the movie's very title and, as the images ravage our cornea with such melodrama as to choke the viewer, we realize something much more insidious than its materialistic teachings: this movie is telling us that, in order to reconnect with our friends, we must plot against the mean girl and make her more miserable than she ever made ours. It's a bad message to teach kids, and that's what differentiates "Bratz" and the everyday kids' movie.

The plot of "Bratz" is as generic as they come. Four girls have been BFF's since, like, ever, and they're entering high school together for the first time. "Don't lose your passion for fashion," Sasha says to Cloe, in one of the movie's more original moments (that's not necessarily a good thing, considering Cloe is changing her clothes right in front of the school with only the other girls to cover her). Two years pass by, apparently (I don't remember the transition), and the girls have parted ways, joining cliques as the girls in this mysterious universe from another planet do, at the whim of ice queen Meredith. After the girls get back together following a food fight (of course!), "Mer" plots to steal their thunder. So, as mentioned before, the Bratz plot to get her back at her televised sweet sixteen party.

It took all of my brain power to remember that plot, and the stuff I couldn't remember was gotten off of WikiPedia. It's asinine, stagnant entertainment at best, soulless and mind-boggling at worst. Suffice to say, the latter two attributes are prevalent for 95% of the movie. Not only is the plot generic, but it is also cut and pasted from the most cliche moments out of countless better Valley Girl movies--namely the Valley Girl masterworks "Clueless" and "Legally Blonde," both films endlessly more delightful than "Bratz" ever hopes to be. The dialogue is stale, to say the least, the characters sounding exactly like soundbytes from the animated films made about the dolls. Speaking of the dolls, they have more personality and charm than the four talentless hacks playing them.

Logan Browning, Janel Parrish, Nathalia Ramos, and Skyler Shaye have never acted before this film. If this is any sort of proof of their acting ability, I never want to see something with any of these actresses again. Ever. These are not actresses emoting; they are no more than cardboard that moves. There isn't a brain in any of their pretty little heads, no soul behind their actions, no heart in the material. These are four of the worst performances I have ever seen splattered onto the cinema. If you saw "Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker" and "Dragon Wars" and were taken aback by both Alex Pettyfer and Amanda Brooks, get a load of these four girls. I understand that preteens want over-the-top, but this is beyond that. There is nary a good performance in the film, but they are asked to hold the material on their shoulders. They don't, but then, there would have to be material to work with.

The pitiful direction by "That's So Raven" and "Hannah Montana" alum Sean McNamara is so nondescript it is as if he gave up and set the camera on "autopilot" mode. The script by McNamara is nothing more than crap disguised as cutesy. Not only could monkeys have written it better, they could have won an Oscar compared to this. In fact, the script seems to be about ten pages long, triple-spaced. They repeat the same thing over and over and over and over.

In short, to write this as they would understand it: LIK OMG THIS IS SOOOOOOO AWFUL!!! ITS AMZINGLY AWFULZ!!!! ISNT THERE ANY JUSTIZ IN THIZ WORLD?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Scathing Review #1 - Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker (zero stars)

2008-12-05T20:15:00.001-08:00

Directed by Geofrey Sax

Cast: Alex Pettyfer, Alicia Silverstone, Mickey Rourke, Missi Pyle, Bill Nighy, Damian Lewis, Robbie Coltrane, Stephen Fry, Ewan McGregor, Sophie Okonedo, Andy Serkis, Ashley Walters, Alex Barrett, Richard Huw.

2006--93 minutes

Rated PG (violence)

Reviewed by The Teen Critic on December 6, 2008.

I find it difficult to find even one good thing to say about Geoffrey Sax's disaster "Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker," except maybe one good use of cinematography in the entire 93 minute running time. This is a film so awful in its every facet, so disquietingly uninteresting, so repugnantly, viciously irredeemable, that one wonders if the actors were even trying.

I have an interesting story behind my watching this film. A friend and I were browsing Movie Boy's website and decided to watch two films that he hated. We chose this and "Zoom." We had heard "Zoom" was the worst of the Tim Allen Trilogy of Shame in 2006, but hadn't seen it or the other two 2006 releases he was in, so we gave it a shot. We both figured, well, Movie Boy isn't always that smart about his star ratings, so his giving "Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker" zero stars and "Zoom" half a star was just a fluke.

Good God, were we wrong. While "Zoom" was awful, you couldn't consciously hate it. It had a zeal, even if every scene failed miserably, a kind of "Sky High" rip-off. "Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker," however, started as an "Agent Cody Banks"-lite for about five mediocre albeit harmless minutes and descended into such levels of awfulness that I don't think a family-friendly actioner has ever reached.

It is also the most incomprehensible drivel written before January 11, 2008 (when the impossibly worse "In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale" was released). The script is utterly lifeless, attempting to squish a plot that, while awful, is also much too large for a film like this. That is to say, if anyone could understand it. Not one second of expository dialogue is, well, expository. Not one action sequence makes an iota of sense. Not one character has enough depth (or any depth for that matter) to latch onto. This is not "so bad it's good" we're talking about. It's "so bad it's awful."

The plot I could understand (or remember) involves a plot to kill millions of children by transferring some sort of virus into computers. So, not only is it incomprehensible, but it is also inherently disturbing. Nice. But then, the transfer is so ridiculous that it doesn't even exist in a reality that is of any sort on this earth.

If "Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker" is useful for one thing, it is how not to make a kid-friendly action film. From the schizoid, ADD filmmaking by Sax (who, big surprise, made the non-suspenser "White Noise" in 2005) to the nondescript cinematography (except one single crane shot near the end) to the unbelievably bad fight choreography (Alex beats up seven people with a rope and without any previous training), this film steps wrong in any direction. I would say to watch it if you just want to laugh at the badness of it all, but that would be like saying the badness is entertaining. It's not. It's depressingly bad.

Rumor is that star Alex Pettyfer was chosen out of 500 other boys to play Alex Rider. Those 499 others must have been unspeakably bad. I think Movie Boy says it best in his review, "...it's safe to say that a sock puppet could have been capable of delivering a more dedicated performance than Alex Pettyfer does." He's too kind there. I don't think that Pettyfer emotes one time in the entire film. Not that he has anything to work with here or anything. The supporting cast is no better (but thankfully not worse) with Alicia Silverstone giving the best performance in the film; the catch is, she's awful. Mickey Rourke acts like he has a million better things to do, and he probably does. Sophie Okonedo, Ewan McGregor, Robbie Coltrane, Bill Nighy, Missi Pyle, Andy Serkis, Stephen Fry, Sarah Bolger, and Damian Lewis are all wasted in nothing roles.

"Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker" comes to a point close to cinematic torture, but is one step away from that. It presents an endurance test for the viewer: How inept can it get at any moment? The answer is, a whole freakin' lot. This is irredeemable filmmaking at its very atrocious and the second-worst film I've ever seen. I've seen only six films I could say that about. So, that's saying a lot.

Also...

2008-12-05T20:09:00.000-08:00

...I will be offering reviews of six special films in the course of the next few weeks:

Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker
Bratz
Domestic Disturbance
Dragon Wars
In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
My Super Ex-Girlfriend

They're special, because they are irredeemable pieces of trash that aim for "bad" and come up short. They are the worst films I've ever seen, and in the case of one of them, nothing will come close.

I love reviewing great films but perhaps love writing scathing reviews even more. It's fun, ganging up on those films I abhor.

2006: A Rundown

2008-12-05T19:12:00.000-08:00

Man, I'm on a roll with these movie lists. This is one of the best years for cinema--ever. Possibly THE best.

The films of 2006:

Alfonso Cuaron's masterful Children of Men (****)
Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth (****)
Neil Marshall's The Descent (****)
Gabriele Muccino's The Pursuit of Happyness (****)
Bill Condon's Dreamgirls (****)
Darren Lynn Bousman's Saw III (****) (I know, I know, I'm gonna catch flack for this, but I stand by it...)
George Miller's Happy Feet (****)
Emilio Estevez's Bobby (****)
Doug Atchison's Akeelah and the Bee (****)
J.J. Abrams's Mission: Impossible III (****)

David Frankel's The Devil Wears Prada (****)
Steven Frears's The Queen (****)
Gil Kenan's Monster House (****)
Christopher Nolan's The Prestige (****)
Marc Forster's Stranger than Fiction (****)
Clint Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers (****)
M. Night Shyamalan's Lady in the Water (****)
Martin Campbell's Casino Royale (****)
Oliver Stone's World Trade Center (****)

Barry Levinson's Man of the Year (***1/2)
Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain (***1/2)
Ron Howard's The Da Vinci Code (***1/2)
Bryan Singer's Superman Returns (***1/2)
Lasseter and Ranft's Cars (***1/2)
Alejandro Agresti's The Lake House (***1/2)
Tony Bill's Flyboys (***1/2)
Neil Burger's The Illusionist (***1/2)
James Gartner's Glory Road (***)
Clark Johnson's The Sentinel (***)

Gore Verbinski's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (***)
Gary Winick's Charlotte's Web (***)
James McTeigue's V for Vendetta (***)
Tony Scott's Deja Vu (***)
Johnson and Kirkpatrick's Over the Hedge (***)
Brett Ratner's X-Men: The Last Stand (***)
Andrew Davis' The Guardian (***)
Richard Loncraine's Firewall (***)
Richard Donner's 16 Blocks (***)
John Moore's The Omen (***)

McG's We are Marshall (***)
Frank Marshall's Eight Below (**1/2)
Carlos Saldanha's Ice Age: The Meltdown (**1/2)
Allen Coulter's Hollywoodland (**)
Wolfgang Petersen's Poseidon (**)
Stefen Fengmeier's Eragon (**)
Frank Coraci's Click (*1/2)
Jared Hess's Nacho Libre (*1/2)
Peter Hewitt's Zoom (1/2*)
Ivan Reitman's My Super Ex-Girlfriend (zero)
Geoffrey Sax's irredeemable, mind-numbing Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker (zero; and no film from 2006 that I ever see will be worse than this steaming puddle of turtle pee...and yes, I used that term just now)

"Great Films Series" Upcoming

2008-12-04T16:21:00.000-08:00

In the words of Tony Stark/Iron Man, I'm working on something big.

Because of the list I posted in September, I thought, well, why not provide some reviews of those films? I already covered "WALL-E" and will cover "The Dark Knight" as soon as I watch it for a fifth time this coming Wednesday. I'm in the process of writing a review for the masterpiece "Minority Report," to be on in a few days.

The other films' reviews will be slowgoing, but nevertheless, every review will be on by the time next May rolls around.

2009 Golden Globe Prediction

2008-12-02T18:15:00.000-08:00

Here are my thoughts, with the winners signified like they normally are.

Best Motion Picture--Drama:

Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Milk
Revolutionary Road
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Actor--Drama:

Leonardo DiCaprio, Revolutionary Road
Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn, Milk
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

Best Actress--Drama:

Cate Blanchett, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Angelina Jolie, Changeling
Nicole Kidman, Australia
Meryl Streep, Doubt
Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road

Best Motion Picture--Comedy or Musical:

Burn After Reading
Mamma Mia!
Pineapple Express
Sex and the City
Tropic Thunder

Best Actor--Comedy or Musical:

Josh Brolin, W.
Steve Carell, Get Smart
Robert Downey Jr., Iron Man
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Synecdoche, New York
Ben Stiller, Tropic Thunder

Best Actress--Comedy or Musical:

Elizabeth Banks, Zack and Miri Makes a Porno
Anne Hathaway, Get Smart
Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky
Sarah Jessica Parker, Sex and the City
Rachel Weisz, The Brothers Bloom

Best Supporting Actor:

Josh Brolin, Milk
Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder
James Franco, Milk
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road

Best Supporting Actress:

Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Rosemarie DeWitt, Rachel Getting Married
Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler
Michelle Williams, Synecdoche, New York

Best Director:

Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Charlie Kaufman, Synecdoche, New York
Sam Mendes, Revolutionary Road
Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight
Gus Van Sant, Milk

Best Score:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Defiance
Revolutionary Road
WALL-E

Best Animated Film:

Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
WALL-E

Best Foreign Film:

The Class
Gomorrah
Waltz with Bashir

And...I'm not bothering with the TV nominations. I'm sure "The Shield," "Mad Men," and "House" will be nominated. But beyond that, I can't say.

OSCARS 2009: A "Dark" Horse

2008-12-02T17:19:00.000-08:00

Finally, the Best Picture buzz for the best picture of the year is taking shape. Critics have called out "The Dark Knight" for a Best Picture nomination and deservedly so. It's a monstrous film, both critically (95% on Rotten Tomatoes) and commercially ($997 million worldwide, not counting the millions destined to be raked in next Tuesday).

I also noticed that I keep forgetting to add Documentary Feature Film and Foreign Film categories. Consider them added permanently.

On a slightly different note, I will be giving my Golden Globes Nominations Predictions either tonight or tomorrow. Keep a look out. The real nominations are announced next Friday, the 12th. I'll post those then.

Best Picture:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Director:

Darren Aronofsky, The Wrestler
Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight
Gus Van Sant, Milk

Best Actor:

Leonardo DiCaprio, Revolutionary Road
Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn, Milk
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

Best Actress:

Cate Blanchett, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Kristin Scott-Thomas, I've Loved You So Long
Meryl Streep, Doubt
Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road

Best Supporting Actor:

Josh Brolin, Milk
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionaire
Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road

Best Supporting Actress:

Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis, Doubt
Rosemarie DeWitt, Rachel Getting Married
Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler

Best Adapted Screenplay:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Revolutionary Road
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Original Screenplay:

Happy-Go-Lucky
Milk
Rachel Getting Married
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
The Visitor

Best Animated Feature Film:

Kung Fu Panda
WALL-E
Waltz with Bashir

Best Art Direction:

Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Duchess
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Revolutionary Road

Best Cinematography:

Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Defiance
Revolutionary Road

Best Costume Design:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Duchess
The Fall
The Other Boleyn Girl
Revolutionary Road

Best Film Editing:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Defiance
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Makeup:

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Synecdoche, New York

Best Original Score:

Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Defiance
Revolutionary Road
WALL-E

Best Original Song:

"Down to Earth," WALL-E
"Gran Torino," Gran Torino
"I Want it All," High School Musical 3: Senior Year
"Jai Ho," Slumdog Millionaire
"The Wrestler," The Wrestler

Best Sound Editing:

The Dark Knight
Defiance
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Iron Man
WALL-E

Best Sound Mixing:

Australia
The Dark Knight
Defiance
Iron Man
WALL-E

Best Visual Effects:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Iron Man

Best Foreign Language Film:

Captain Abu Raed
The Class
Everlasting Moments
Gomorrah
Waltz with Bashir

Best Documentary Feature:

Encounters at the End of the World
Man on Wire
Pray the Devil Back to Hell
Standard Operating Procedure
Trouble the Water

Essay Review: Minority Report (****)

2008-12-02T07:09:00.000-08:00

Directed by Steven Spielberg
Cast: Tom Cruise, Max von Sydow, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton, Neal McDonough, Jessica Capshaw, Lois Smith, Tim Blake Nelson, Kathryn Morris, Tyler Patrick Jones, Dominic Scott Kay, Mike Binder, Peter Stormare, Steve Harris, Patrick Kilpatrick, Daniel London, Michael Dickman, Matthew Dickman, George Wallace, Amy Ryerson, Arye Gross, Ashley Crow, Joel Gretsch, Jessica Harper.
2002--145 minutes

Rated PG-13 (violence, language, sexuality, drug content)

Reviewed by The Teen Critic on December 2, 2008.

Having watched "Minority Report" within the last week, I find no quibble to be had. Every once in a blue moon, there is a movie I would label as "perfect," and "Minority Report" is the best of those. This is a full-blooded masterpiece, as well as Spielberg's greatest achievement yet. I seriously cannot see him topping this, as every sequence, shot, and frame has a deeper meaning and could be dissected for hours at a time. Besides being a thoughtful rumination on fate and whether the future truly is written in stone, "Minority Report" is also a masterfully exciting science fiction epic and a staggering masterpiece of complex plotting and note-perfect direction. It also contains the most visually stimulating special effects sequence I've ever seen (yes, even more so than anything in "King Kong") and the most beautiful cinematography of any film I've seen from this decade, by the great Janusz Kaminski. In fact, I think "Minority Report" is the best film of the decade, and considering we have two years and one month left until December 31, 2010, I don't see anything in the lineup possibly reaching these heights. Before "The Dark Knight" and "King Kong" became pop entertainment masterpieces and veritable classics in their own right, there was this film, one so perfect in its every facet, so striking at any second, that I have no problem saying it stylistically blows those two films out of the water.

The story is so labyrinthine it makes the plot of "The Dark Knight" simple to follow in comparison. The Pre-Crime Division Unit of New York City has been established, and crime has been nearly stopped for good. Chief John Anderton is pretty sure that the technology is absolutely perfect, until his name comes up as the perpetrator to murdering someone he has never met. The catch is, it's supposed to go down in 36 hours. Also figuring into the forefront of the plot in unexpected ways is the personal drama involving his missing son, taken years earlier at a public pool.

Oh, but it goes deeper than that--much deeper. This story goes in directions you will never be able to guess, because Steven Spielberg won't let you. How the story takes its turns is simply and undeniably perfect in its execution and scripting. The character arcs are forever changed and, if the film has a mildly "happy" ending, that is because this story deserves it. Nothing that comes before prepares us for the emotional and visceral rollercoaster ahead, and thus we need something to lift our spirits in the end; but that does not mean it cheats the audience.

Just look at this movie. The cinematography, stark and spare yet wondrous and beautiful at the same time, shrouds the movie in hopeful despair. Times are bad, but they'll get better. The film editing, especially during the unbelievably exciting action sequences, flows nicely, never wavering or cutting two quickly.

Take two scenes, for example, that will be included in my "Great Sequences of 2000-2009" article next year. One is a gun battle and then all-out fistfight between Tom Cruise's Anderton and Colin Farrell's Danny Witwer. The other is the aforementioned brilliant visual effects sequence, involving robotic spiders sent into Anderton's building. The first is chaotic, because any other way it wouldn't work. The effects of the blast gun are perfectly mounted, as are the repercussions of using it (the user is a bit disoriented due to the backlash). The second is so fluid as to be unlike any action scene ever filmed; the camera looms overhead and, in one long unbroken shot, builds tension until...well, see the movie.

This is what happens when cinema (as well as pop sci-fi) reaches levels of perfection all too rarely seen in movies. Taking Philip K. Dick's brilliant, 30-page short story and adapting it into a staggering achievement of modern film is something that rarely, if ever, happens. Dick was a master at writing science fiction--perhaps the best there is--and all of his short stories and both of his novels have labyrinthine plots tackled wonderfully. Another example: "Paycheck," which was made into the underrated 2003 masterpiece starring Ben Affleck. "Minority Report" and "Paycheck" (both the films and the sources) have something in common: they are about men who have been dropped into a misunderstanding that may ruin their careers and lives. They are also about forms of time travel and manipulation and deal with this aspect brilliantly. The difference between them lies in the directors. Spielberg is better than John Woo, who opts more for action than characters--ironic, since "Paycheck" is his finest, a nearly operatic action film of a very high order, and that also benefited from well-drawn characters. Both are great films, but "Minority Report" is beyond great: it's literally perfect in every aspect, and the best summer blockbuster ever made.

Tom Cruise is at his absolutely finest when playing confused, emotionally damaged action heroes (just look at his work in "War of the Worlds"), and this is his best role. John Anderton is a hero to root for and care about, and Cruise brings that humanity to the forefront. This is a powerful performance. Equally effective is Samantha Morton, Oscar-worthy as Agatha, one of the Pre-Cogs, who has seen the future and doesn't like it. Morton doesn't have a substantial line of dialogue until a scene near the end, but even when not talking, you can't take your eyes off of her. Also making strong impact are Colin Farrell and Max Von Sydow as the agent taking over when Anderton is suspected of future murder and the mentor and friend...and with true colors not seen till the end.

The most maddening thing surrounding this film is that it was denied even one Oscar nomination, when it was better than any of the films from 2002 (pick one). Not visual effects. Not the indelible music score that ranks as one of the best I've heard. Not that haunting cinematography. Not the film editing. Not the film, for Pete's sake. Nothing. This is a travesty. Everything about this film resonates with the viewer for months after viewing. But then, it's the Academy. What do you expect? Them to be reasonable?

Reviews coming...I think:

2008-11-30T20:24:00.000-08:00

I watched five notable films over the five-day Thanksgiving break. I already reviewed "WALL-E," but what about that "Minority Report" I promised. It'll be on in a few days; I just gotta, you know, write it.

As far as other films go, I saw the zippy, charming, surprisingly good "Four Christmases" in theaters over the weekend, as well as the powerful, undeniable "Mystic River" and the disappointing "Hollywoodland."

I'll review all four of these eventually. My December will be busy.

Essay Review: WALL-E (****)

2008-11-27T06:53:00.000-08:00

Directed by Andrew Stanton
Cast: Fred Willard
Voice Cast: Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, John Ratzenberger, Kathy Najimy, Sigourney Weaver, Kim Kopf
Special Voicing Appearance: MacInTalk
2008--99 min.
Rated G (nothing objectionable)
Reviewed by The Teen Critic on November 27, 2008.

"WALL-E" is utterly astounding and remarkable, the best animated film I've ever seen, and that takes some meditation. Isn't the animated genre one that has spawned "Beauty and the Beast," "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," and "Toy Story?" Yes, and I truly believe that "WALL-E" is better than all of those, masterpieces though they are. This film redefines animation and brings it to a level that has never before been seen in the genre. It soars to new heights. No, scratch that--it creates new heights and has set the bar (for me, at least) for all animated films that come after it. It'll now be one of those movies to which one compares others, saying, "Such-and-such isn't as good as 'WALL-E.'"

The story is simple and straightforward, but aren't all of Pixar's stories? They are just engines to drive the message home. Here, the message is mildly disquieting, making this not just a "cute cartoon" or "kid's movie" in the normal sense. The movie has been criticized, even by its lovers, of being insulting to fat people, but I don't think so. What the movie is saying is much more insidious than that. The real message doesn't make the point of "WALL-E" much more different than say "2001: A Space Odyssey," "A.I. Artificial Intelligence," or "Minority Report" (and, for the record, just as good). It's more about one's meaning in society than it is about robots or outer space.

WALL-E is the only robot left on Earth, his job being to clean up the world's insane amount of garbage, piled up and practically looking like full-sized versions of N.Y.C. WALL-E (which stands for "Waste Allocation Load Lifter--Earth-class") is lonely, having not seen other robots for who knows how many years. He spends his days cleaning, gazing at the stars expectantly, and watching the 1969 musical "Hello, Dolly!" Having seen that film once on TCM, I can honestly say that WALL-E has more love for than I.

When a shuttle lands, dropping off EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator), WALL-E is instantly smitten with EVE's curiosity and protectiveness. He falls in love so much, in fact, that in one scene his built-in windshield wipers clear off the grimy surface of his eyes to see the beautiful robot in front of him. Little does WALL-E know that EVE's directive is to find a living thing on the planet Earth and return to the ship holding its previous inhabitants. WALL-E has found one, and when he shows it to her, it acts as a homing device for the ship that dropped her off. WALL-E latches onto to the ship, follows her to the mothership, and gets caught up trying to return the humans to their original planet.

Wow, so maybe the plot isn't so simple, but it is ingenious and straight out of a Steven Spielberg film. It owes a lot to Spielberg's "E.T.--Extraterrestrial" and the aforementioned "A.I.: Artificial Intelligence." Both films were about lost souls (an alien and a humanoid) trying to find their respective places on Earth. WALL-E tries to fit in on the mothership as soon as he gets there. In my opinion, this film is just as outstanding and inherently disquieting as those Spielberg masterworks. Just compare Andrew Stanton's vision of a garbage-laden Manhattan to Spielberg's dark vision in "A.I.: Artificial Intelligence" and you'll see many similarities.

"WALL-E" works as three different films in one. As a love story, this is as intimate and effective as any in the past few films. This romance is as realistic, if not more so, than the best live-action romance in this year's "Penelope." By the end, when EVE saves WALL-E's life during the climax, we no longer see them as robots but as real, human personalities. As a comedy, this is one of the best of the year. WALL-E is such a sweet klutz that the slapstick humor surrounding him works just as well as any in cinematic history. The supporting characters, especially the scum-cleaning M-O, are equally effective and nicely drawn out, their emotions giving way to true characteristics instead of caricaturizations. And, finally, as I said above, the sci-fi elements are perhaps the most striking aspect. Obvious comparisons to Spielberg's work, as well as Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey," are warranted, those comparisons to Kubrick's film well beyond Stanton's innovative use of "Thus Spoke Zarathustra."

In the last five years (since 2003's great "Finding Nemo"), there have been precious few great animated films--before "WALL-E," the best could be counted on one hand and still have two fingers left--but this film harkens back to the classics of yesteryear, creating affecting characters, tender romance, and brilliant humor. I have yet to give a Pixar film a grade lower than three stars (that being "A Bug's Life"), but I would give "WALL-E" even higher if possible. It not only ranks as the best animated film I've ever seen--or, at least, tied with the equally transcendent "Beauty and the Beast"--but one of the best films this decade and all time. I love WALL-E, and I love "WALL-E."

OSCARS 2009: November Predictions

2008-11-25T17:52:00.000-08:00

Three months away...

Best Picture:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Revolutionary Road
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Director:

Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Sam Mendes, Revolutionary Road
Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight
Gus Van Sant, Milk

Best Actor:

Leonardo DiCaprio, Revolutionary Road
Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn, Milk
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

Best Actress:

Cate Blanchett, The Curious Case Benjamin Button
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Kristin Scott-Thomas, I've Loved You So Long
Meryl Streep, Doubt
Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road

Best Supporting Actor:

Josh Brolin, Milk
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionaire
Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road

Best Supporting Actress:

Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis, Doubt
Rosemarie DeWitt, Rachel Getting Married
Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler

Best Adapted Screenplay:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Doubt
Frost/Nixon
Revolutionary Road
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Original Screenplay:

Happy-Go-Lucky
Milk
Rachel Getting Married
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
The Visitor

Best Animated Feature Film:

Kung Fu Panda
WALL-E
Waltz with Bashir

Best Art Direction:

Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Duchess
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Revolutionary Road

Best Cinematography:

Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Defiance
Revolutionary Road

Best Costume Design:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Duchess
The Fall
The Other Boleyn Girl
Revolutionary Road

Best Film Editing:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Defiance
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Makeup:

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Synecdoche, New York

Best Original Score:

Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Defiance
Revolutionary Road
WALL-E

Best Original Song:

"All Dressed Up in Love," Sex and the City
"Down to Earth," WALL-E
"I Want It All," High School Musical 3: Senior Year
"Rock Me Sexy Jesus," Hamlet 2
"The Wrestler," The Wrestler

Best Sound Editing:

The Dark Knight
Defiance
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Iron Man
WALL-E

Best Sound Mixing:

Australia
The Dark Knight
Defiance
Iron Man
WALL-E

Best Visual Effects:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Iron Man

Sorry...

2008-11-25T16:07:00.000-08:00

I'm buying "WALL-E" tomorrow, at which time I will start my review over. It'll be on in a few days.

I may also offer up a review of this decade's best film, "Minority Report." Yes, it's even better than "The Dark Knight." It's a staggering masterpiece of sci-fi pop entertainment and the best of the genre I've ever seen. I'll get into it a little later.

COMING TONIGHT!!!

2008-11-23T16:13:00.000-08:00

"24: Redemption," the TV movie leading up to the seventh season of my favorite show on television--ever. Jack Bauer is a great television hero. Can't go wrong. The fifth season is the best season of anything ever (except perhaps the superlative fourth season of "The X-Files").

TRAILER DEBUT: "Astro Boy"

2008-11-23T12:31:00.000-08:00

This actually has potential. I'm loving the animation.

Essay Review: Tropic Thunder (****)

2008-11-22T18:18:00.000-08:00

Directed by Ben Stiller

Cast: Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Jay Baruchel, Brandon T. Jackson, Steve Coogan, Danny R. McBride, Bill Hader, Nick Nolte, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Cruise, Reggie Lee, Trieu Tran, Brandon Soo Hoo, Jon Voight, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jason Bateman, Lance Bass, Alicia Silverstone, The Mooney Suzuki, Kathy Hilton, Mickey Rooney, Tobey Maguire, Kevin Pollak.

2008--108 min.

Rated R (pervasive language including sexual references, violent content, drug material)

Reviewed by The Teen Critic on November 22, 2008.

Ben Stiller is a genius. After months upon months of such viral marketing to rival that of "The Dark Knight" and "Cloverfield," Stiller surpassed expectations to make the most consistently funny movies I've ever seen. A satire of everything Hollywood above all, "Tropic Thunder" is gloriously R-rated, wholly ingenious, rip-roaringly funny, and shockingly smart all in one (I'll be using those types of seemingly hyperbolic adjectives in my other two reviews, so get used to it). Stiller, who directed the picture with the hand of someone like Steven Spielberg or Ridley Scott and cowrote it with buddies Etan Cohen and Justin Theroux, has simply crafted a potty-mouthed masterpiece that would make a good triple feature with "Dr. Strangelove" (which poked fun at the Cold War-induced paranoia movies of that time) and "The Princess Bride" (which satirized the B-movie fantasy films such as "Legend" and "The Neverending Story"), as a movie that skewers the Hollywood system in its every facet. From the uptight, Weinstein-like producer to the method actor who doesn't get out of character "until I've finished the DVD commentary," "Tropic Thunder" eviscerates everything in its path. It's unapologetic, blissfully so, and purely hilarious for its entire running time. In fact, the laugh-a-minute ratio is probably four or five successful comedic bits every three minutes. You do the math.

Director Damien Cockburn (what a great name, right?) is not having a good week. He's five days into filming his soon-to-be masterpiece, "Tropic Thunder," and already $100 million over budget. The film was destined to rejuvenate the careers of its three stars. Tugg Speedman has burnt out after the long-in-the-tooth "Scorcher" series and failed Oscar bait in "Simple Jack," about a mentally challenged farm hand. Jeff Portnoy ruined his career after starring in the critically acclaimed "Heat Vision 'N Jack" by starring in fart comedies, such as "Fart Club" and "The Fatties." And method actor Kirk Lazarus floundered in the recent failed "Satan's Alley" (call it what my friend called it: "Brokeback Monastery").

In attempt to assuage the guilt of making some of the most critcally panned films ever made, Cockburn takes the plunge and sets out to make the best, most expensive war movie ever made. When the biggest mistake happens--a $4 million explosion that goes off without the cameras rolling, in one of the funniest scenes this year--producer Les Grossman threatens to pull the project if Cockburn and screenwriter Fourleaf Tayback don't get their bleeping act together. So, Tayback suggests that Cockburn line the forests of Vietnam with tiny cameras and watch them as they make the film themselves. Cockburn is killed by a surprise landmine that isn't one of theirs, and of course, the actors just think it's an effects show (this leads to a tastelessly funny sequence involving a "prop head" that leaves you appalled but laughing your head off). When Tugg is kidnapped, the other actors start to catch on that maybe things aren't what they seem. Lazarus, disguised both in form and voice as character Sergeant Osiris, heads up a rescue mission with Portnoy, rapper Alpa Chino, and character actor Kevin Sandusky.

"Tropic Thunder" is unlike many other comedies, in that it never ever condescends to the audience. Controversy has surrounded so much of the movie, including the makeup for Robert Downey Jr. as an African-American general and the use of the word "retard" in a supposedly offensive way. If the tone of the film is hateful toward something, it's toward the conventionality of Hollywood. It's an amazing sight to see when a satire of American war films is made with the professionalism and gravitas of those films. Ben Stiller quarterbacked the project to his fullest capabilities and captured lightning in a bottle. He even hired the cinematographer John Toll, of "Braveheart" and "The Legends of the Fall." "Tropic Thunder" is a beautiful, gritty film to look at. Also production designer Jeff Mann, who did wonderful work on "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" and "Transformers," creates a brilliant environment. A film set within a film set is hard to do, I'm sure, but Mann puts it to great use.

Now, a note on some of the performances. Ben Stiller has seriously never been better in the role as Tugg Speedman. You really end up caring for Speedman as a person by the end, both as an actor (he's really quite good) and as a growing person. His performance, in my opinion, is one of the better ones this year. Jack Black is surprisingly two dimensional as Jeff Portnoy, someone who goes through an actual transformation by the end. Jay Baruchel and Brandon T. Jackson are fall-down funny as Kevin Sandusky and Alpa Chino, yet surprisingly good, too. Smaller roles, including ones by Nick Nolte, Matthew McConaughey, and Steve Coogan are successful and funny, too, if mildly underwritten.

But the performances that really put the film into perspective are those by Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Cruise. Downey Jr. makes for both a scarily good Australian method actor and a believable black general. Think of this as Russell Crowe meets Louis Gossett Jr. Downey is simply spectacular in one of the three finest performances so far this year (the others being Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight" and Angelina Jolie in "Changeling.") Not only does he make Lazarus believable, but he makes Lazarus in turn make Osiris believable. If that doesn't make sense to you, see the movie and then everything will come together. The role is one of the classic comedic endeavours this decade and should be up for an Oscar if the Academy is smart at all.

As for Tom Cruise, let me say this: His performance as Les Grossman is one of ribald tour de force. Yes, his hip-hop dances to "Low" by Flo Rida are silly, but no less intelligently played out. Grossman is just that, a vulgar spoof of the Weinstein brothers. Every other word is the f-word, adding twisted humanity to a character that easily could've been broad and unfunny. Grossman may be a horrible human, but he's still a human. It's scary how well Cruise plays this character. Watch his delivery of each line, as if it's physically painful to communicate with humans he finds to be lesser than he, and you'll see that it has completely rejuvenated Cruise's career post-couch-jumping.

"Tropic Thunder" isn't simply a satirical comedy; it's about the need to create something artistic. The movie they ultimately make, showcased at the Oscars sequence just before the credits, actually looks entertaining. The filmmakers and screenwriters set out to spoof Hollywood--and spoof it they did--but they inadvertently and lovingly reference it at the same time. In a country where something like "Meet the Spartans" represents the comedy that teenagers seemingly enjoy (I don't, for the record), "Tropic Thunder" is a success that goes beyond words, creating characters and situations. It's not smug with itself. And that's what makes it the comedic masterpiece it is. It isn't just a great comedy. It's Ben Stiller's Great American Movie.

It's not the end of the year yet, but...

2008-11-22T18:16:00.000-08:00

...I've been dying to do essay critiques on "The Dark Knight," "WALL-E," and "Tropic Thunder." They are, in my opinion, the three best movies this year. It'll take something monstrous to knock them off the top.

Starting right now, extra-long, extra-awesome reviews of three majorly special films this year.

Review: Twilight (***)

2008-11-21T20:34:00.000-08:00

Directed by: Catherine Hardwicke

Cast: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Billy Burke, Ashley Greene, Nikki Reed, Jackson Rathbone, Kellan Lutz, Peter Facinelli, Cam Gigandet, Taylor Lautner, Anna Kendrick, Michael Welch, Justin Chon, Christian Serratos, Gil Birmingham.

2008--122 min.

Rated PG-13 (violence, sensuality)

Reviewed by the Teen Critic on November 22.

Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" series is second only to Harry Potter on the list of modern literary pop culture phenomena. There's a reason for that. The first book (the only one I've read) is provocative, sumptuous entertainment; anyone who claims it is only for the mid-teenage girl crowd is simply biased against a novel that is truly something special. More about one's inevitable mortality than about a girl and vampire falling in love, "Twilight" is one of the better teen-aimed books I've read in a few years.

The filmic adaptation, directed with a schizoid tone by Catherine Hardwicke, doesn't even come close to the book. At a mere 122 minutes (this could easily have been 145 minutes, considering the slower pace of the novel), "Twilight" is a tad too short for its own good. If lengthier, the tone could have been a little more balanced between effective drama and morbid comedy. As is, the tone is all over the place. But more on the flaws later.

Bella Swan is a confused teenager (the phrase seems all the more redundant as of late) whose mother and stepfather decide to move to Florida at an inopportune time in Bella's life. So, to compensate, Bella's mother sends her to her father's place in Forks, Oregon. She almost immediately makes a few friends.

Enter the Cullens and the Hales. They all live together under the roof of one Dr. Carlisle Cullen--as in, live together. None of the family members is related, so a few of them date each other, making their walkings-in awkward to look at for others (and making for some quirkily funny sequences). They are not a pleasant bunch to hang around, but Bella quickly befriends the most mysterious--and single--of the family, Edward. But Edward is not as he seems. He seems super-fast. He's uncommonly strong. His skin is pale white. What is he? Bella knows and hopes she's wrong.

On the surface, "Twilight" is so sappy that it could pass for a "True Blood"/"Everwood" crossover made for the SoapNet. Underneath, a pall of deep sadness lingers over the proceedings, as if none of the characters wants to be in their present position. The way Meyer wrote the book--and, to a lesser extent, the way Hardwicke directs the film--is to present the romance between Bella and Edward as realistic with a tinge of "Dracula" thrown in. This is simply a romance that cannot work as it should. Edward is a vampire, and there would be problems. "I would be the next meal," Bella says slyly.

First order of business is the flaws, and there are a few. The musical score used is awful and ranks as one of the worst this year. The tender scenes between girl and vampire are score with electric guitars and drums. The few moments the score does work are crane shots or the occasional action scene. The other stuff is dreck and should never have been released. It actually takes away from the experience at times. Also, as I mentioned before, the tone is all over the place, the film awkwardly positioning comedy within dramatic scenes and vice versa.

There are a steady, if not overwhelming, number of good things to be had, however, including some beautiful cinematography that never wavers below "amazing." Primarily made up of blues, blacks, and grays, "Twilight" is stunning to look at. The CGI, thankfully used in only a few scenes, is also top-notch.

Robert Pattinson is nothing less than excellent as Edward Cullen. Sure, he's a handsome guy, but his charms go beyond that. He's also a really good actor, and he makes Edward his own. Kristen Stewart nevers falters as Bella Swan, but she's good in everything (just see last year's excellent "In the Land of Women"). Stewart doesn't hold a candle to Pattinson, but she's solid anyway. Smaller supporting roles, such as Billy Burke, wonderful as Bella's father, and Cam Gigandet, snaky and creepy as James, are successes in their own right. The film, however, belongs to Stewart and, especially, Pattinson.

In a time of big, CG-infested movies, here is an entertaining, albeit flawed and uneven, supernatural romance. It works. "Twilight" may be far from a great film--couldn't they have tightened up the loose screws of the tone a bit?--but it's a lot better than last week's box-office smash, "Quantum of Solace" and deserves every penny it will get. It will get a lot of pennies, no doubt, and judging by this film, a sequel is welcome. Perhaps even better is to come.

Oscar Caliber Movie Trailers

2008-11-20T18:23:00.001-08:00

I mean to say, trailers of movies that should get nominated.

I'll go the Globes route on this. Comedic and dramatic trailers (and animated).

Please comment!!

Drama:

Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Milk
Revolutionary Road
The Wrestler

Musical/Comedy:

Burn after Reading
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Hamlet 2
In Bruges
Pineapple Express
Tropic Thunder

Animated:

The Tale of Despereaux
WALL-E
Waltz with Bashir

Upcoming Review: Twilight

2008-11-20T17:28:00.000-08:00

I'm seeing it tomorrow night. I'm actually really looking forward to it, despite the nearly awful reviews it is receiving. I'm expecting something faithful to the book, something sumptuous and provocative.

2008: A Rundown (so far)

2008-11-17T13:41:00.000-08:00

Same as the last post.

Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight (****)
Andrew Stanton's WALL-E (****)
Ben Stiller's Tropic Thunder (****)
Clint Eastwood's Changeling (****)
Matt Reeves' Cloverfield (****)
Stephen Walker's Young @ Heart (****)
Timur Bekmambetov's Wanted (****)
Jon Favreau's Iron Man (****)
Mark Palansky's Penelope (****)
Hammer & Tongs' Son of Rambow (****)

Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (****)
Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy II: The Golden Army (****)
M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening (****)
Hayward and Martino's Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! (****)
John Erick Dowdle's Quarantine (****)
Chris Carter's The X-Files: I Want to Believe (***1/2)
Ira Sachs's Married Life (***1/2)
Michel Gondry's Be Kind Rewind (***1/2)
David Schwimmer's Run Fatboy Run (***1/2)
Osborne and Stevenson's Kung Fu Panda (***1/2)

Pete Travis' Vantage Point (***)
Fumihiko Sori's Vexille (***)
Andrew Adamson's The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (***)
Michael McCullers's Baby Mama (***)
Craig Mazin's Superhero Movie (***)
Anne Fletcher's 27 Dresses (***)
Paul Weiland's Made of Honor (***)
Rob Cohen's The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (***)
Louis Leterrier's The Incredible Hulk (***)
Peter Segal's Get Smart (***)

Patricia Rozema's Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (***)
Marco Schnabel's The Love Guru (***)
Eric Brevig's Journey to the Center of the Earth (***)
Oliver Stone's W. (**1/2)
Moreau and Palud's The Eye (**1/2)
Marc Forster's Quantum of Solace (**)
Peter Berg's Hancock (**)
Doug Liman's Jumper (**)
Bryan Bertino's The Strangers (**)
Brian Robbins's Meet Dave (**)

Eric Valette's One Missed Call (*1/2)
Andy Tennant's Fool's Gold (*)
Roland Emmerich's 10,000 B.C. (*)
The Wachowskis' Speed Racer (*)
Kirk De Micco's Space Chimps (1/2*)
Friedberg and Seltzer's Meet the Spartans (1/2*)
Dennis Dugan's You Don't Mess with the Zohan (1/2*)
Uwe Boll's In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale (zero)*

*This is also the worst film of all time, in my opinion.

2007: A Rundown

2008-11-17T12:50:00.000-08:00

Got this idea from Actionman himself, and because no one really knows what movies I saw last year. Therefore, I am listing, from best to worst and in sections of ten, the films I saw in 2007. Then I'll do the same for 2008 thus far, next post.

The Coens' No Country for Old Men (****)
Tony Gilroy's Michael Clayton (****)
Andrew Dominik's The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (****)
Jason Reitman's Juno (****)
Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (****)
David Yates's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (****)
Paul Greengrass's The Bourne Ultimatum (****)
Brad Bird's Ratatouille (****)
Gabor Csupo's Bridge to Terabithia (****)
Denzel Washington's The Great Debaters (****)

James Mangold's 3:10 to Yuma (****)
Terry George's Reservation Road (****)
Edgar Wright's Hot Fuzz (****)
Rob Reiner's The Bucket List (****)
Craig Gillespie's Lars and the Real Girl (****)
Julie Taymor's Across the Universe (****)
Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood (***1/2)
Frank Darabont's The Mist (***1/2)
Peter Hedges' Dan in Real Life (***1/2)
Marc Lawrence's Music and Lyrics (***1/2)

Michael Bay's Transformers (***1/2)
Jake Kasdan's In the Land of Women (***1/2)
Gore Verbinski's Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (***1/2)
Stephen J. Anderson's Meet the Robinsons (***1/2)
Bob Shaye's The Last Mimzy (***1/2)
David Silverman's The Simpsons Movie (***1/2)
D.J. Caruso's Disturbia (***1/2)
Francis Lawrence's I Am Legend (***)
Andrew Fleming's Nancy Drew (***)
Peter Berg's The Kingdom (***)

Matthew Vaughn's Stardust (***)
Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3 (***)
Kevin Lima's Enchanted (***)
Tom Shadyac's Evan Almighty (***)
Hickner and Smith's Bee Movie (***)
Gordon and Speck's Blades of Glory (***)
Mennan Yapo's Premonition (***)
Antoine Fuqua's Shooter (***)
Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's Thirteen (***)
The Pangs' The Messengers (***)

Kevin Munroe's TMNT (***)
Len Wiseman's Live Free or Die Hard (**1/2)
Robert Zemeckis' Beowulf (**1/2)
David S. Goyer's The Invisible (**1/2)
Steve Bendelack's Mr. Bean's Holiday (**1/2)
Chris Miller's Shrek the Third (**1/2)
Michael Polish's The Astronaut Farmer (**)
Mikael Hafstrom's 1408 (**)
Jon Turteltaub's National Treasure: Book of Secrets (**)
Tim Story's Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (**)

David L. Cunningham's The Seeker: The Dark is Rising (**)
Walt Becker's Wild Hogs (**)
Joel Schumacher's The Number 23 (*1/2)
Brett Ratner's Rush Hour 3 (*1/2)
Frederik Du Chau's Underdog (*1/2)
Kirsten Sheridan's August Rush (*)
Oliver Hirschbiegel's The Invasion (*)
Mark Steven Johnson's Ghost Rider (*)
Tim Hill's Alvin and the Chipmunks (1/2*)
Sean McNamara's Bratz (zero)
Hyung-rae Shim's Dragon Wars (zero)

Oscars 2009: Seen and Unseen

2008-11-17T11:18:00.000-08:00

Things are winding down for Oscar season now. Major players next month, most notably my two personal most-anticipated of December, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and "Revolutionary Road," and are finally having screenings for the press and being called modern cinematic classics. That I can't wait to see them is a given (I've mentioned it before), but the fact that I'm seeing both of them on two consecutive days is simply thrilling to consider. The early feedback is promising, as well.

Not many changes this week. Enjoy!

Best Picture:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Revolutionary Road
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Director:

Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Sam Mendes, Revolutionary Road
Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight
Gus Van Sant, Milk

Best Actor:

Leonardo DiCaprio, Revolutionary Road
Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn, Milk
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

Best Actress:

Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie, Changeling
Kristin Scott-Thomas, I've Loved You So Long
Meryl Streep, Doubt
Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road

Best Supporting Actor:

Josh Brolin, Milk
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionaire
Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road

Best Supporting Actress:

Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis, Doubt
Rosemarie DeWitt, Rachel Getting Married
Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler

Best Adapted Screenplay:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Doubt
Frost/Nixon
Revolutionary Road
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Original Screenplay:

Happy-Go-Lucky
Milk
Rachel Getting Married
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
The Visitor

Best Animated Feature Film:

Kung Fu Panda
WALL-E
Waltz with Bashir

Best Art Direction:

Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Duchess
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Revolutionary Road

Best Cinematography:

Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Defiance
Revolutionary Road

Best Costume Design:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Duchess
The Fall
The Other Boleyn Girl
Revolutionary Road

Best Film Editing:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Defiance
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Makeup:

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Synecdoche, New York

Best Original Score (Note: "The Dark Knight" was officially disqualified from this category last week. Maddening, I know. That score is perhaps among the greatest of all time. If it was able, it would win.):

Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Defiance
Revolutionary Road
WALL-E

Best Original Song:

"All Dressed Up in Love," Sex and the City
"Down to Earth," WALL-E
"Now or Never," High School Musical 3: Senior Year
"Rock Me Sexy Jesus," Hamlet 2
"The Wrestler," The Wrestler

Best Sound Editing:

The Dark Knight
Defiance
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Iron Man
WALL-E

Best Sound Mixing:

Australia
The Dark Knight
Defiance
Iron Man
WALL-E

Best Visual Effects:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Iron Man

Review: Quantum of Solace (**)

2008-11-15T16:26:00.000-08:00

Directed by Marc Forster

Cast: Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric, Judi Dench, Giancarlo Giannini, Gemma Arterton, Jeffrey Wright, David Harbour, Jesper Christensen, Anatole Taubman, Rory Kinnear, Tim Pigott-Smith, Joaquin Cosio, Fernando Guillen Cuervo, Jesus Ochoa.

2008--106 min.

Rated PG-13 (violence, sexual content)

Reviewed by The Teen Critic on November 15, 2008.

In 2006, "Casino Royale" stood tall in my mind as one of the best action movies of the past few years. It was fresh, exciting, riveting, innovative, and (at 144 minutes) nearly epic in its execution. Daniel Craig, it seemed, couldn't go wrong as James Bond, delivering a brilliant performance and making a darn-good action hero at the same time. I gave it four stars as an action movie second only to "Mission: Impossible III," that year's best summer flick. With "Quantum of Solace," the tables have been turned. This is a brooding, indecipherable action film, every bit on the level of "Hancock" or "Jumper." Mind you, the film is a bit better than those, but it is every bit as disappointing.

Kicking off mere minutes after "Casino Royale," "Quantum of Solace" largely takes place in Bolivia, as Bond tracks down Dominic Greene, whose evil plan consists of thirsting sections of the country, then upping the prices and getting lots of money for it. Meanwhile, Bond continue's to find the killers of his one great love, Vesper Lynd (who was played so brilliantly by Eva Green). The "Bond Girl" this time around is the nearly emotionless Camille, played by Olga Kurylenko as a drone going through the motions. Even the kiss between them feels almost reluctant.

"Quantum of Solace" is not a good movie. It is a very skillful one, though, and the action scenes are almost at a "Bourne" level of excitement and tension. But couldn't director Marc Forster (who stepped so right with low-key dramedies such as "Finding Neverland" and "Stranger than Fiction," yet somehow steps so wrong with this film) made the plot even a bit more accessible? The bits above are stuck together from the tiny sections I was able to decode. I did not understand one bit of the plot, thus the action scenes were purely empty of humanity. You never got that with "Casino Royale."

Daniel Craig, again so good in the original, is utterly emotionless as Bond. This takes some sort of meditation to consider. Craig is good in everything (even last year's disastrous "The Invasion), so where does he go wrong? Easy: He loses all credibility when things are not blowing up and people are not getting shot. He nails the action hero. But at least the chemistry with Vesper Lynd goes beyond the physical realm; I never less than believed in the relationship between Bond and Lynd. His chemistry with Camille is nearly nonexistent. They spend half the movie arguing and the other half moping.

There is a problem with "Quantum of Solace," and that problem lies in the storytelling. Earlier this year, "The Dark Knight" surprised us with a labyrinthine plot that we could invest our interest in and not become confused. All of its trick were laid out on the table sooner or later, if not at the beginning, and the movie was a masterpiece for it.

I'm not sure "Quantum of Solace" has any tricks. As far as I could tell (which wasn't very far), the proceedings were utterly predictable. There were no "revelatory moments." At the same time, though, I had no idea what was going to happen, because I didn't know what had happened or how we got there. Or why. Or why I should have cared. What Bond is this? Agent 006.25?

Mini Review: No Country for Old Men (****)

2008-11-12T18:33:00.001-08:00

"No Country for Old Men" was the best film of 2007, bar none. Every single sequence worked, every single performance resonated. In fact, looking back at my top 25 of all time (it was #12), It was definitely among the five greatest films this decade has shown. So terrifying a villain was Javier Bardem that it's hard to say who would win in a fight between him and the Joker (my bet's on the latter, but that's just me). Bardem is terrific in the role and deservedly won the Oscar for Supporting Actor. Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin (serving up some surprisingly intricate performances for such a hard-edged film) are equally effective and were snubbed of any golden nods in 2007.

The film is set in the year 1980. Vietnam veteran Llewellyn Moss is out hunting when he finds the bloody outcome of a drug deal gone bad. All of the drugs are missing, all of the people involved are dead or dying, and Moss is left holding a satchel of money and guns all to himself. On his tale are two people: Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, who finds the scene of the crime while on call, and the animalistic serial killer Anton Chigurh, who is after the money, no questions asked. As bodies pile up, Bell, Moss, and Chigurh enter a cat-and-mouse game with eachother (or would that be a dog-cat-and-mouse game?)

"No Country for Old Men" is flawless, simply put. I have watched it more than four times and cannot find a mistake anywhere. The cinematography, by the great Roger Deakins, is beautiful, the film and sound editing are perfection, and the lack of a musical score allows for additional tension: there is no falsified lead-up to the violence.

"No Country for Old Men" is undeniably nihilistic--containing few hopeful scenes (if any)--and has a maddening ending for anyone who likes convention. But in my opinion, the ending is nothing short of brilliant. It's a chilling and unforgettable capper to one of the great movie-going experiences of the past ten years. As for it being nihilistic, one can't blame that on sibling directors Ethan and Joel Coen. The original source material--the short story by Cormac McCarthy, previously thought unfilmable due to the writing style--is exactly the same. What the Coens have done is stayed almost creepily faithful to McCarthy's masterful story. It's a perfectly balanced film, containing shocking violence and dark, morbid moments of humor, and a brilliant potboiler to boot.

Mini Review: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (****)

2008-11-11T12:56:00.000-08:00

"Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" is a great musical. But it's also a veritably creepy horror movie and an effective human drama. But it's mostly a musical. That Tim Burton was even able to pull this off (after the poor reception to the 80s film version and a late-90s direct-to-cable release, the Broadway smash was thought to be unfilmable from then on) is a testament to his talents as a director of quirky, dark, strangely funny works. "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" is among his finest, a dark, grim, almost savagely intimate classic of both its genres.

Benjamin Barker is a barber whose marriage comes to an abrupt halt when his wife and child are stolen (yes, stolen) by a ruthless politician. He's sent to prison on false charges of treason and sedition. Upon his return, Benjamin has changed his name to Sweeney Todd, given into depression and given up on hope. Soon, a rival barber by the name of Signor Adolfo Pirelli arrives in town. Sweeney simply won't have it, so he and local piemaker Mrs. Lovett cook up a scheme: Kill people, cook their remains, and bake them into pies.

Overall, "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" is Burton's most nihilistic and unbelievably savage film yet, but it's still a twisted delight to watch. As with most of 2007's films, the cinematography is beguiling, it's use of blacks and grays contrasting nicely with the red blood. Interestingly, the blood gives the film a morbid beauty.

This is Johnny Depp at his finest. Yes, he's showy and brilliant in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" trilogy, but his role in this film is the most effective in a long time. Equally powerful are Helena Bonham Carter and Alan Rickman, both utterly snubbed for their roles. But the very best in the film was Borat--ahem, Sacha Baron Cohen in the cameo role as Pirelli. Cohen's a force of nature.

All in all, as you will see with my long-delayed Top Ten of 2007 later this month or early next month, "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" is one of Burton's masterpieces and one of the best films last year.

Mini Review: There Will Be Blood (***1/2)

2008-11-11T12:34:00.000-08:00

Paul Thomas Anderson's "There Will Be Blood" isn't the masterpiece that some critics claim it to be, but that doesn't mean it's bad. In fact, it's amazing film in its own right. But there are major quibbles to be had with the ending. It's fortunate, then, that its lead performance is so mesmerizing, brilliant, groundbreaking, and nearly earth-shattering in its utter believability that it makes up for any inconsistencies or sudden drop-offs. Also, the cinematography is simply wonderful the whole way through, and the filmmaking by Anderson is some of the most exquisite in recent memory.

Daniel Plainview is not a likable guy. He didn't bat an eye when his best friend is killed on his watch, so obsessed with the oil business is he. Instead, he finished the mission he was on and immediately takes in his godson, H.W. Ten years later, he and H.W. are making lots of money in the oil field. Unfortunately, when a spitfire preacher named Eli shows up (claiming another name and identity completely), Daniel is close to breaking point. As his specialty is intimidation (he repeatedly makes death threats to sell oil rigs), he tries to scare Eli into shutting down his cult church gathering.

For about 145 minutes, "There Will Be Blood" ranked as one of the greatest films ever put on cinema. I was so utterly enthralled by this large section that it was almost painful when the movie gave up in the last quarter to a silly overreaching ending that comes to a complete halt when things should be heating up. It's too bad; the movie could have been a masterpiece.

A word on Daniel Day-Lewis: This is the best performance of the first seven years of the millenium. Although Heath Ledger later beat him out by somehow being even better in "The Dark Knight," Day-Lewis' performance is something for the history books. No, really. Books on acting would be remiss to forget Daniel Day-Lewis when talking about great, cinematic performances for the age.

The cinematography by Robert Elswitt, which one the Oscar last year, is utterly phenomenal. Visions seep into the memory and never let go (pick a sequence and it can be dissected for hours). Although I personally believe that Roger Deakins was robbed from his deserved win for the underrated masterpiece "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," that doesn't mean that the cinematography for "There Will Be Blood" was worse. It just showcases that 2007 was a history-making year for great cinematography. "There Will Be Blood" may be flawed, but it is an interesting must-see for future directors. Or actors.

Mini Review: Changeling (****)

2008-11-04T12:22:00.000-08:00

Directed by Clint Eastwood

Cast: Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich, Jeffrey Donovan, Michael Kelly, Colm Feore, Jason Butler Harner, Amy Ryan, Geoff Pierson, Denis O'Hare, Frank Wood, Peter Gerety, Reed Birney, Gattlin Griffith, Devon Conti, Eddie Alderson, Asher Axe, Lily Knight.

2008--148 min.

Rated R (violent and disturbing content, language)

Reviewed by The Teen Critic on November 4, 2008.

Clint Eastwood captured lightning in a bottle with 2004's "Million Dollar Baby," easily the best of 2004's impressive lineup. "Changeling" may not be the best film of 2008, but it is easily one of the best films of the year, due to a revelatory, quietly effective performance by Angelina Jolie that ranks as her best ever and cinematography so breathtaking one is lost in it for most of the running time. "Changeling" is a masterpiece of storytelling and true cinematic art. Expect this film to be high on my Top Ten of 2008.

Jolie stars as Christine Collins, a telephone operator whose son tragically goes missing during a long day at the office. She tells the police her story, and the police seem to believe her. When they find a boy who looks like, and claims to be, Christine's son, they return him to her. But she knows her son--knows that he's not been circumsized, knows that he does like movies, and knows that he is lying. The police, in their lack of common sense, do not believe her and at first appear to be covering up their mistake.

Oh, but there is so much more in its 148 minutes, which fortunately don't drag for one second. Eastwood has crafted a sprawling, intimate epic whose length is aided by an awards-worthy screenplay, top-notch performances across the board (no weak links as far as I could tell), and the aforementioned cinematography, which comes dangerously close to the heights reached by Roger Deakins's fine work last year in "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" and "No Country for Old Men." If "Changeling" isn't the best of the year, its cinematography certainly is.

If Jolie is riveting, John Malkovich, Jeffrey Donovan, and Amy Ryan (in a slightly underwritten role that she sells all the way) are every bit her equal--especially Donovan, strangely believable with his Californian accent as Captain J. J. Jones. The ensemble is perfection personified.

OSCARS 2009: Old Faces and New

2008-11-03T11:53:00.000-08:00

Not much change this week.

Best Picture:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Revolutionary Road
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Director:

Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon
Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight
Gus Van Sant, Milk

Best Actor:

Leonardo DiCaprio, Revolutionary Road
Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn, Milk
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

Best Actress:

Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie, Changeling
Kristin Scott-Thomas, I've Loved You So Long
Meryl Streep, Doubt
Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road

Best Supporting Actor:

Josh Brolin, Milk
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionaire
Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road

Best Supporting Actress:

Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis, Doubt
Rosemarie DeWitt, Rachel Getting Married
Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler

Best Adapted Screenplay:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Doubt
Frost/Nixon
Revolutionary Road
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Original Screenplay:

Happy-Go-Lucky
Milk
Rachel Getting Married
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
The Visitor

Best Animated Feature Film:

Kung Fu Panda
WALL-E
Waltz with Bashir

Best Art Direction:

Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Duchess
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Revolutionary Road

Best Cinematography:

Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Defiance
Revolutionary Road

Best Costume Design:

Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Duchess
The Other Boleyn Girl
Revolutionary Road

Best Film Editing:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Defiance
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Makeup:

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Synecdoche, New York

Best Original Score:

Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Defiance
Revolutionary Road
WALL-E

Best Original Song:

"All Dressed Up in Love," Sex and the City
"Down to Earth," WALL-E
"Last Chance," High School Musical 3: Senior Year
"Rock Me Sexy Jesus," Hamlet 2
"The Wrestler," The Wrestler

Best Sound Editing:

The Dark Knight
Defiance
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Iron Man
WALL-E

Best Sound Mixing:

Australia
The Dark Knight
Defiance
Iron Man
WALL-E

Best Visual Effects:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Iron Man

Mini Review: Halloween (****)

2008-11-02T12:42:00.000-08:00

Directed by John Carpenter
Cast: Donald Pleasance, Jamie Lee Curtis, Nancy Loomis, P.J. Soles, Charles Cyphers, Kyle Richards, Brian Andrews, John Michael Graham, Nancy Stephens, Arthur Malet, Mickey Yablans, Brent Le Page, Adam Hollander, Robert Phalen, Tony Moran.
1978--91 min.
Rated R (violence, language, nudity)
Reviewed by The Teen Critic on November 2, 2008.

John Carpenter's classic "Halloween" is drenched in the kind of suspense that few, if any, horror films today even dream of reaching. The music score is quite possibly the most iconic in film history, creepily showing up at moments of dread or unbelievable terror. That all of the horror film cliches are ticked off the hypothetical list isn't surprising--this film created those cliches. The POV of the killer, the going-to-the-place-where-you-heard-the-strange-noise scenes, etc., are all included but done so well that you forget you can predict exactly what's going to happen. Everyone knows the spare, no-subplots-given story: When he was 6, Michael Myers brutally stabbed his sister to death and was put into an insane asylum. Seventeen years later, Michael returns to his hometown to wreak more havoc.

"Halloween" is a masterpiece. There is no other way to put it. It's one of the great cinematic experiences and must be viewed in the dark on the namesake holiday (or the day before or after) for full effect. It is a film of sheer tension, one to give you nightmares, but it's also simply a great film. The performances by Donald Pleasance, as Michael's guilt-ridden doctor, and Jamie Lee Curtis, as the lion's prey herself, are close to flawless, while relative no-name Tony Moran plays Michael cold, calculating monster. The stark cinematography by Dean Cundey, the fluid filmmaking by Carpenter, the film editing that cuts from one scene to the next as slowly and methodically as Michael himself, and that irrepressible musical score--all aspects of "Halloween" make for a pitch-perfect filmic experience that ranks as the best horror film I've seen.

A couple notes

2008-10-31T05:06:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the promised Tim Burton reviews. Those will pop up here and there in the next week. The "Saw" reviews are postponed as well.

Happily, I will be watching a horror film tonight, in the Halloween spirit. I have a few to choose from (all of which I will watch before the end of this year). I'm choosing from Movie Boy's collection of Halloween-inspired movie reviews. I promise (cross my heart and hope to die) that I will review whatever it is I watch tonight. In fact, if you're up, expect the review to pop up at midnight.

I'm choosing out of these seven (his reviews linked for good measure):

Creepshow
Halloween
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Pet Sematary
Scream
The Funhouse
A Nightmare on Elm Street