I Am Legend, I'm Not There, Once

I Am Legend - First off, I have to admit my love for Will Smith. When the end of the world is coming, I trust Will Smith and only Will Smith to save the world. Not only is he my favorite heroic actor, with I Am Legend, he proves that he can carry an entire film on his own. This is not something many actors can do. Tom Hanks can do it (Castaway). I'm sure there might be a few (very few) others but Will Smith definitly can. His Robert Neville is someone we want to cheer for. Smith brings his acting A-game to a movie that requires a lot of emotion in order to captivate the audience. That is what I loved most about this movie. Sure, it was thrilling and intense. That's a definite. But it was also emotionally heartbreaking. (Seriously, try not to cry during a particular scene involving Neville and his beloved dog). Smith plays Neville, the seemingly sole survivor of the world, living in New York City, after a virus created by man that was originally created to cure cancer does unspeakable damage instead. Smith, alone in a new world with his dog, mannequins and random deer, dedicates his life to finding a cure for the virus... and talking to said mannequins (the scene with 'Fred' is particularly wonderful... as is the scene with the dark haired beauty at the video store. Ha.). The special effects are great - especially the endless shots of a destroyed New York City, a Times Sqaure populated by lions, streets of deserted cars, bridges blown in half. The movie isn't necessarily scary, but it is intense at some points, especially the first encounter in the darkened warehouse (or whatever). So, the first half of I Am Legend is quite spectacular. It sets a tone, it has great cinematography, it has a great performance from Smith. Then Neville meets a fellow survivor. And it kind of goes downhill from there for me. I really just didn't like the last 20 minutes (especially the very end) at all. I'm sure some people might... but not me. Overall, it's a solid movie with a lot of thrills and, surprisingly, a lot of heart.

Grade: B-

I'm Not There - It's true: Cate Blanchett is EXTRAORDINARY. I'm not one of those 'Cate Blanchett is the best actress whoever lived in the history of the world. OMG Cate' people. But, even if you hate Blanchett (which seems a bit harsh), you can't deny she dominates this great artsy film. This film amazed me. It was a vision in black and white and color, drenched with Bob Dylan music. This movie is like a dream, lots of random scenes and random images that all are somehow cohesive in a way that is impossible to explain. Of course, there's so much publicity around the movie. Cate Blanchett is a female Bob Dylan! Marcus Carl Franklin is a 12 year old African American Bob Dylan! There's also Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Richard Gere and Ben Winshaw. All of these characters, these versions of Dylan's life and music, are like a kaleidoscopic dream where the pieces never quite meet. This movie is almost too brilliant. Will people who don't like Dylan even get it? Will they even care about it? It's possible that they won't. It's possible that this movie is too smart for the average viewer... but that's what I loved most about it - it makes you think. There wasn't a movie this year that was more unique, more stylish, more individulistic than I'm Not There. All of these actors and actresses playing Bob Dylan? Well, guess what. Dylan was exactly the mess of lies, grandeur, childishness, arrogance, rebelliousness and genius that is portrayed by one or all of these actors. Of course, when you have a movie that follows multiple storylines, it's usually the case that some of the stories are more interesting than the others. What would have made this movie more interesting? Well, they could have fleshed out the Richard Gere storyline, for starters. I walked away hating that part of the movie but I think if it was done better, it could have been great. Also, and I hate to say it because I absolutely love him, I could have completely done without Christian Bale. Franklin and Winshaw are stellar (Winshaw doesn't have a storyline, per se, but I love every single word that came out of his pretty mouth). I liked Heath Ledger in this movie. If you would have told me quite a few years ago that Ledger would have this kind of career right now, I would have laughed at you. Never would I have seen this coming after The Order. I thought his career was over. But he's coming one of the most surprisingly strong actors of his generation. He's doing great work lately. He has great chemistry with his artist love played very well by Charlotte Gainsbourg. The instant attraction is great and the eventual downfall is even better. Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams and David Cross show up to add a little support. But, really, this is Cate Blanchett's show. She melts into her eye-rubbing, nose-twitching, lip-conscious character that is only too quick to lash out on whoever is closest. So, best Bob Dylan? From best to worst: Blanchett, Winshaw, Ledger, Franklin, Bale, Gere. Still, even though it's not a perfect film for me, it's still visceral, enlightening, comedic, pensive, wild, tender. It's a film that is complex, like it's subject.

Grade: B+

Once - Let's vote this one: Most Likely to Make You Smile No Matter How Cynical and Full of Despair You Are. Let's also Vote Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova the Best Unconsummated Romance of the Year. This movie was really just honest and beautiful, spectacular and full of great, great, great music! It's a modern musical about a street musician (Hansard) who meets a pretty imigrant (Irglova). They form a friendship that could have been a romance at another time in their lives. They write songs together, they play music together, they rehearse, they record a great demo. It's simple and it's lovely. What more could you possibly want out of a movie? It doesn't disappoint in any way, shape or form. It's filmed beautifully (that scene near the end where they are frolicking at the beach is just the definition of beauty). This is a feel-good movie that is not mushy in any way. It has comedic moments that are realisitc and relatable. This is the way a musical should be - contemporary and not cheesy at all. It's not too sentimental. The movie was great. The music was great. I strongly suggest you check this movie out as soon as possible!

Grade: A

I Know Who Killed Me, rethinking Eastern Promises

I Know Who Killed Me - There's so many things I could say. Re: Lindsey Lohan, I know who killed my career. Re: the movie, I know I want my money back. I know I wasted two hours of my life on this crap. There's just so many ways to use this title. The title, itself, is at least interesting, which is more than I could say for this disaster of a movie. A friend of mine claimed it was worse than Captivity. It's her worst film of the year. I wouldn't go that far. I mean, yes, it's awful in every sense of the word. But I think Captivity is still slightly (just slightly) worse. Anyway, where to start when ripping this movie to shreds? Let's start broad: horrible acting, terrible script, bad camera work, ridiculous plot. Specifically: Lohan works at a strip club where numerous women are topless and yet she never takes her bra off (at one point she is even wearing a sheer bar with pasties ON THE TOP OF IT. Seriously). I mean, I could care less about seeing her naked (because, really, we've all seen it before, more or less), but if you are playing a stripper and you don't want to do nudity, you might at least have to imply nudity with some well placed hands or helpful camera angles. The twists in the movie are ridiculous. I won't ruin them because they aren't worth being ruined. It's not a decent premise and it's poorly executed. It seems they tried to cash in on the "torture porn" genre (man, I hate that term) and cash in on the obsession with Lindsey Loahn but they failed in every sense of the word. Someone should tell casting directors that Lindsey isn't really famous for being an actress. She's famous for being in magazines all the time falling down or doing something while drunk or high or whatever. It takes every bad cliche about thrillers and uses them to the point where this whole big mess of a movie becomes comical. Characters come and go for no reason. Scenes cut away to some other random scene that doesn't really follow any sort of logical thinking. If you have half of a brain, you can probably predict the killer. The final thirty minutes is just plain hilarious! Laugh out loud funny, for sure! I don't think I laughed this much since Superbad. But, you know, Superbad is supposed to be funny. Also, I understand there was probably a meaning to the whole 'blue' motif but really, it's just a bit much. I wouldn't even recommend this movie so that you could see Lindsey do a pole dance. I mean, go watch Natalie Portman in 'Closer' or even Rose McGowan in 'Grindhouse' instead. It's really just a total disaster.

Grade: F

Eastern Promises - So, thanks to the wonders of illegal downloading and a friend, I got to watch Eastern Promises again. I remember the first time around, I enjoyed it quite immensely but I didn't necessarily love it. Well, I changed my mind and I do, indeed, love it. It's great the first time around but I really just loved it even more the second time around. It's quite simply an amazing film. Even now that I've seen two of the best films of the year: Into the Wild and No Country For Old Men, I think Eastern Promises is right up there with them. The movie promises and delivers. David Cronenberg's work always makes you uncomfortable. It's that thin line between what is the necessary amount of violence and what is just a bit too much that he walks perfectly. Eastern Promises is subtle, almost subliminal, so you find yourself thinking about it months later without even realizing it. You find yourself thinking, "Well, Josh Brolin was great in No Country For Old Men... but Viggo was better a few months ago." Cronenberg has this uniquely clinical storytelling style that is undramatic visually and completely realistic. Nothing in a Cronenberg film appears on-screen without a reason. He's almost the film-making equivalent to Ernest Hemingway. It's deceptively simple with an unflinching eye. His films have a calm surface that still manages to get under your skin and hints at the labyrinth that rests beneath the surface. And Viggo. Well, like I said last review, the naked knife fight may not make Academy voters want to nominate him but he deserves it either way. On second viewing, I think his work in this movie is better than nearly every other performance I've seen this year (with the exception of Javier Bardem in No Country For Old Men and maybe, maybe Tommy Lee Jones in In the Valley of Elah). I don't usually change grades. I usually like to stick with my gut. But I'm going to make an exception here.

Grade: A-