<dl dt_class="field"> Observe and Report (2009) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1197628/">2/10</a> Seth Rogan stars as a bipolar mall cop. It's as bad as it sounds. Written and directed by someone named Jody Hill, it's hard to believe that the ordinarily quite genial Rogan was in this movie for any reason other than that he lost a bet. None of Rogan's fellow mall cops are in any way endearing. His quote-girlfriend-unquote is appalling and nothing recommends this film. Cowboys & Aliens (2011) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0409847/">5/10</a> Daniel Craig stars as an alien abductee from the old West who tries to piece his life back together after waking up in the desert. He wanders into a town controlled by Harrison Ford and populated by the usual collection of townies. Olivia Wilde is there as well, looking utterly stunned as usual.<fn> My relief at her character's death was short-lived as she came back from the dead, PG-naked and retroactively explaining her wooden acting with a backstory that she's an alien (different race) in human form. Daniel Craig is steely-eyed and fits the role quite well. Harrison Ford is pretty much wasted. Paul Dano is as well. It was OK, but the number of self-contradictions was distracting enough to point up how utterly unbelievable and unexplained vast parts of the story are. Wilde's character stands in as a deus ex machina wherever convenient. Stir Crazy (1980) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081562/">6/10</a> Name one other movie starring Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder <i>and</i> directed by Sidney Poitier <i>and</i> also featuring Erland van Lidth de Jeude, an opera-singer MIT-graduate who is 6'6" tall and weighs over 350 pounds. You can't do it. Wilder and Pryor are mistaken for two armed robbers and arrested and jailed. The prison scenes are pretty clichéd but they're also 30 years old so maybe they <i>invented</i> those cliches. Food for thought. The best scene was with Wilder accompanying himself on guitar in prison, followed by a plaintive a cappella aria from van Lidth de Jeude. All in all, though, <i>See no Evil, Hear no Evil</i> was better. The Informant! (2009) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1130080/">6/10</a> <div>Matt Damon plays a real-life ADM (Archers Daniels Midland) executive and whistleblower from the early 90s. The story is interesting and his performance is spot-on---his manic-depressive personality was quite convincing. His running internal monologue included several gems, my favorite of which I've reproduced below. <bq>When polar bears hunt, they crouch down by a hole in the ice and wait for a seal to pop up. They keep one paw over their nose so that they blend in, because they've got those black noses. They'd blend in perfectly if not for the nose. So the question is, how do they know their noses are black? From looking at other polar bears? Do they see their reflections in the water and think, "I'd be invisible if not for that." That seems like a lot of thinking for a bear.</bq></div> Did You Hear about the Morgans? (2009) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1314228/">3/10</a> Sarah Jessica Parker applies her not inconsiderable power to disgust and annoy to completely and utterly eradicate any goodwill to the film engendered by the nearly always affable Hugh Grant. They play a couple of caricatured New Yorkers thrown by circumstance out of The City. The horror. It's hard to tell what the message is: are the New Yorkers deluded in their belief that their high-stress world is better? Or are the other characters really less-civilized hinterlanders? The movie is a series of clichés made all the more horrible by Parker's constant screeching and whining and ego and anorexia. Does anyone like her enough to hear her talk that much? A generous interpretation would be to assume she was acting, but I'm not feeling very generous. Mary Steenbergen and Sam Shepard are a nice couple and the scenes with only Grant are fun. Gone with the Wind (1939) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031381/">7/10</a> A movie about how the Civil War affected the lives of Southern nobility. Vivian Leigh stars as Scarlet O'Hara Hamilton Kennedy Butler, a sociopath with an unquenchable thirst for both her best friend's husband and wealth. Clark Gable plays Rhett Butler, the scoundrel millionaire who came by his fortune by hook <i>and</i> by crook, although absolutely no one seems to judge him for it in the movie. He sees himself and Scarlet as kindred spirits---caring nothing for no one unless it's to get ahead---and grows to love her. She never loves anyone but herself and the one man who would never have her: the husband of her best friend (and the flat-out nicest lady in the movie, Melanie). The first third is decent, the middle third in which she builds her fortune is quite good and the final third is mixed, with some quite hurried plotlines all snapping together to make it in time for the end of the movie. Scarlett is ruthless---and shallow and absolutely appalling when rich---but it's also interesting how many people clung to her ruthless coattails and quickly forget how much she did for them when times were very dark. Some of her melodrama seemed quite strained, some of Butler's grins seemed to bend his face completely out of shape (as if he had false teeth or something), but it's a film from another era, so let it slide. Leigh has some absolutely devastating long stares that hint of madness bubbling not too far beneath. Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0800039/">8/10</a> The story is of Peter, played by Jason Segal, whose heart is broken by Sarah Marshall, played by Kristen Bell. He is devastated and ends up a few weeks later in Hawaii, where he meets her and her new beau, rock star Russell Brand (as Aldous Snow, a role he would reprise in <i>Get Him to the Greek</i>). Mila Kunis works at the hotel and takes a shine to Peter; Paul Rudd and Jonah Hill are among the other hotel employees. The second half is definitely better than the first and Segal's quite decent writing and nuanced feel for real, adult characters shines through. Kunis is a nicely balanced character and Brand is delightfully unbalanced and a jackass/really-nice-guy all in one. The dinner scene is especially funny and well-paced. There's also a puppet vampire musical in there, for fans of that. And, just in case, Segal is the only one who's naked at all in it, so seek elsewhere should that be your goal. The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119567/">5/10</a> Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Malcolm is pretty much the only redeeming thing about this movie. After a bit of a slow start, it's just two straight hours of dinosaurs on murderous killing sprees: big ones, then tiny ones, then medium ones, then big ones again. It's entertaining enough if you're doing something else while watching it. Saw it in German. Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054698/">7/10</a> The screenplay by Truman Capote is less than generous in its portrayal of Mid-western-nobody-turned-New York-socialite Holly Golightly, played by Audrey Hepburn. She is at times grating but occasionally amusing as she flits through life supported by handouts from occasional boyfriends and payments from a mob boss for whom she plays an (supposedly, though believably) unwitting information mule. George Peppard (who would go on to play Hannibal in the TV-series "A-Team") plays a male version of the same lifestyle, albeit with at least a hint of talent---as a writer. Mickey Rooney plays a jarringly tone-deaf and appallingly demeaning stereotype as the Japanese landlord of Holly's brownstone. Those scenes are painful, whereas most of the rest of the film is only vaguely disconcerting as the film is primarily about a woman with no discernible talent beyond being friendly and whose fantasy world is only occasionally intruded upon by harsh reality. It's not too hard to tell that Capote liked neither the people of the NYC social scene nor women. Drive (2011) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780504/">7/10</a> Ryan Gosling stars as a stoic modern-day gunslinger whose primary feature is that he's a driver. He drives. He gets mixed up in some sordid business as a consequence of helping a weak and helpless neighbor and her recently paroled husband, but he handles it all with a terse aplomb and efficiency. There is never a doubt that he will succeed, which is actually quite a lot of fun to watch. He is less a man than a force of nature. The cinematics or visuals---the look and feel of the film---were lovely, with long shots a welcome respite from car chases that induce epilepsy (in other films). Gosling was quite good, as were Bryan Cranston, Ron Perlman and Albert Brooks, but Carey Mulligan was annoying in a just-about-to-break-into-tears-at-any-moment kind of way. An interesting movie more about mood than about story, really. For the squeamish, the film is punctuated by some quite brutal depictions of physical violence (beatings) but they are generally past before you realize what happened---and then the horror washes in as you realize what you just watched. If that's not your thing: beware. Blue Valentine (2010) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1120985/">7/10</a> Went into this thinking "chick flick" and was soon convinced otherwise. Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams star as a young couple of meager means and meager education making their way through the lower strata of American society in Pennsylvania---but it could be anywhere in poor America, including upstate NY, which is what resonated for me. He's a genuinely nice guy---almost guileless---who claims to be happy with his lot; she's not as genuinely nice as he is---more selfish machinations---but still a good person with a work ethic, etc. etc. She has no self-esteem whatsoever, which leads to poor relationship choices---if high-school one-night-stands can be thusly described---a driving force in the film (spoiler: the scene in the liquor store where she is approached by the boy-now-man who impregnated her in high school and told she looks good and asked whether she was faithful---and she just smiled and begged off instead of hitting him---was the linchpin of her character). Thoreau said it best: <iq>The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation</iq>; this is a film about that. The Killer Inside Me (2010) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0954947/">8/10</a> Casey Affleck stars as a small-town, tightly wound sheriff in Texas with a violent past (but not how you think) with which he tries to reconnect with his romantic dalliances (Jessica Alba and Kate Hudson). This is not at all a film for the squeamish as it includes some shockingly violent footage. Spoiler alert: also, if you <i>really</i> like Jessica Alba's face the way it is <i>or</i> you really want to keep thinking Casey Affleck is a nice guy, do not see this movie. It is also a painstakingly shot and framed film with some really lovely, lovely shots and a standout performance by Affleck. Alba is much more daring than she has been in other roles---though it's in the service of a quite misogynistic goal (the film is based on a 1950 noir novel). Hudson is subdued, but also inexplicably submits to Affleck's character's more violent desires. All told, the story is quite good, the dialogue is good and the movie pulls you in. Some scenes and conversations are really lovely and some are so violent that you're just waiting for them to end. It ended in a fashion similar to <i>Dogville</i>: with most of the cast consumed in a final act of violence accompanied by a completely incongruous tune that carries the viewer into the credits (in this case, <i>Spade Cooley</i>'s <i>Shame on You</i>; in Dogville's case, it was <i>Young American</i> by <i>David Bowie</i>). Happythankyoumoreplease (2010) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1481572/">4/10</a> In a film dripping with insipid hipsters and their interminable flow of shitty, uninteresting problems (and their subsequent whining about them), Josh Radnor of <i>How I Met Your Mother</i> fame doesn't make quite the same splash as his companion Jason Segal did in <i>Forgetting Sarah Marshall</i>. His character, Sam Wexler, is amusing enough, and some of the other characters grow on you (if only a bit)---in a contrast to my usual attitude, I thought the young kid was great from start to finish---but the affected inflection of Malin Akerman is hopelessly grating and the tiny world view of the sheltered New Yorkers is anything but amusing. Perhaps I'm getting too old to watch 90 minutes of young people being self-centered and completely unaware that none of their suffering is anything but a first-world problem. The Lovely Bones (2009) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0380510/">5/10</a> A story about the ghost of a girl who was abducted and murdered in the 70s in Pennsylvania (not a true story). The purgatory in the picture is bizarre and not very convincing and the film is more maudlin than entertaining. Lots of slow-motion camera and lingering face shots to emphasize compassion or menace. Stanley Tucci is quite good but he stands alone. Black Swan (2010) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0947798/">8/10</a> A story of a ballet dancer whose own life mirrors that of the Swan Queen, who she is chosen to play in Swan Lake. The woman's relationship with her mother has strong parallels to that found in <i>La Pianiste</i> by <i>Michael Haneke</i>, in that they were both as mad as hatters and entirely too close for comfort. Mila Kunis is fun, as usual, and Vincent Cassel is quite good in a role that is written with less misandry than expected (and thus has him exhibiting only a low- to medium-level misogyny). It was actually a good film, with Portman playing the part of an untrustworthy observer quite well---reality is altered either by her self-starvation<fn>, dabbling with drugs, mental illness or a mix of all of them. A film well worth watching, but it's quite dark and there are only a few hints of ballet (if that was the reason you were watching; if it was because of the notorious lesbian scene starring Portman and Kunis, prepare to be disappointed). Remarkable for the almost complete reversal of male-to-female proportions; Cassel is at best a minor supporting role and the other males are limited to lifting the female leads. Auf der Strecke (2007) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1219675/">8/10</a> A Swiss short film (40 minutes) about a security officer who uses his camera to watch a woman who works in a bookstore. When he sees her on a train with another man, he is jealous; when they fight, he is relieved; when the man is accosted by "die Schweizer Jugend", he does nothing. The man later dies from his injuries and she seeks out the security officer for solace. The man turns out to have been her brother. Conflicting emotions ensue. It was quite well done. Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1114740/">4/10</a> Less overtly offensive than <i>Observe and Report</i>, mostly because Kevin James is a different kind of funny than Seth Rogan: he's more capable of playing the goofy family movie hero. Still not a good movie by any stretch of the imagination, though. That doesn't mean that Paul Blart II isn't in the works. I did myself a favor and didn't check IMDB. Il neige à Marrakech (2006) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1161758/">8/10</a> Another Swiss film short in French about a family in Morocco with an ailing father figure whose only remaining wish is to schuss the Alps in Splügen. When his visa is denied, his family hatches a plan to take him to a local mountain instead and "Swiss things up" a bit to fool the old man into thinking his dream had come true. It's pretty hilarious and well worth it. The Last Boy Scout (1991) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102266/">7/10</a> A good role for Bruce Willis as a down-and-out cop/former Secret Service officer---think John McClane, but with an even bigger drinking problem and about the same tendency to get punched. Damon Wayans plays a former quarterback, who teams up with Willis to solve a ... whatever, there's a case, there are wisecracks, good manly action stuff happens and the good guys win in the end. Willis does not compromise and stays totally manly. That's pretty much all you need to know. It's not high cinema, but entertaining enough. Saw it in German. 500 Days of Summer (2009) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1022603/">6/10</a> Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel star as what from his point-of-view are a couple in love and from hers are a couple of friends/occasional fuck-buddies. The story recounts the 500 days from the day they met through their budding friendship to their breakup (spoiler alert: less than halfway through the 500 days) and culminates in his recovery from her. He's a glorified man-child with the emotional maturity of...well, something without a lot of emotional maturity. She's ok at first, but seems to be deliberately ignorant and then manipulative of how much in love with her he is. Neither of them are any great shakes at communicating. The film isn't even especially saved by cool or funny friends on either side (see, e.g. <i>Going the Distance</i>). An OK movie made better by good visuals and a non-chronological flow. The Fighter (2010) --- <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0964517/">9/10</a> An excellent film about a boxer from Lowell, Massachusetts making his way to a title shot in 1993. His life is complicated on the one hand by a family that's a nearly complete horror-show---a brother on crack, a mother who is a bitch-with-a-capital-B, a father who is a good-hearted enabler, sisters who have no idea what useless, drunken morons they are and a girlfriend who thinks she's better than all that, but is also living in a fantasy world---and on the other by having a solid boxing skill set but less raw talent than the aforementioned brother and a tendency to slug things out, relying on a gift of being able to take a punch. In the middling to waning years of a boxing career, this is a less useful tack to take. Excellent and eminently believable fight scenes and unbelievably strong performances from Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale<fn> as well as Melissa Leo, who played his mother. Amy Adams was also quite good, having transformed herself quite convincingly into a college-dropout bartender/bar-skank. I haven't been this excited watching movie boxing in a long time. The final fight was awesome.<fn> </dl> <hr> <ft>That's not a typo.</ft> <ft>The hallucinations and paranoia brought on by self-starvation are also a theme explored in <i>The Machinist</i> with Christan Bale.</ft> <ft>Bale is crack-addict skinny in this one, a complete change from his bulk from the Batman films or <i>American Psycho</i>. He's not nearly as skinny as he was in <i>The Machinist</i>.</ft> <ft>Spoiler alert: it was based on a true story. He really did win the belt in London. It was very cool to find out at the end of the film. That it was a true story enhanced the film for me in the same way as it did for <i>Invictus</i>.</ft>