Best Supporting Actor - 2016

Honorable Mention - Hugh Grant in Florence Foster Jenkins

05. Jeff Bridges in Hell or High Water - Bridges could probably play a grumpy Texas ranger in his sleep, but that doesn't actually make his performance of a grumpy Texas ranger any less impressive. He is the witty heart of the first half of the movie and the emotional backbone of the second half.

04. Michael Shannon in Nocturnal Animals - There is something about great performances as Texas rangers going around this year, because Shannon knocks it out of the park as the morally questionable detective investigating a kidnapping in this bizarre, wonderful film.

03. Ben Foster in Hell or High Water - I have loved Foster's scene stealing work for as long as I can remember. I still vividly remember his eerie work as a Renfield-esque character in 30 Days of Night. But Hell or High Water, as an ex-con bank robbing troublemaker, might be his best work yet.

02. Aaron Taylor-Johnson in Nocturnal Animals - While everyone on the internet couldn't stop buzzing about Shannon, I couldn't stop buzzing about Taylor-Johnson, whose performance as a kidnapping, murdering mad man is like a live wire, so tense and so explosive, it elevates every moment he is on film.

01. Ralph Fiennes in A Bigger Splash - I didn't LOVE this movie (I did like it though), but I still think Fiennes work as the ex lover of a rock star is the best performance I saw in all of 2016. From his subtle manipulations to his bravura lip syncing performance, he steals every scene and elevates this movie from MEH to MUST WATCH.

Mini Reviews: The Rest of 2013

I'm planning on working on finalizing my Top Ten list for Wednesday, so, for now, here are the last of the 2013 movies that I've watched on DVD and in theaters.

Plush
Stars: Emily Browning, Xavier Samuel
Plot: A rock star trying to get over the death of her brother / songwriting partner gets involved with a groupie turned band mate who may or may not be crazy.
Thoughts: Listen, I'm all in on Xavier Samuel, so I will follow him wherever he goes. Unfortunately, this movie is not exactly a good place to go. Forget the fact that it's entirely unbelievable that Browning is a rock star. At least the music is pretty cool. But this mostly plays off as a lame B movie you might find on Showtime at 3 am.
Grade: D+

Adore
Stars: Naomi Watts, Robin Wright, Xavier Samuel, James Frencheville
Plot: Two lifelong best friends begin affairs with the others grown son.
Thoughts: This could have been a very provocative, sexy, boundary pushing film. Instead, mostly because of really crappy dialogue, this movie is sort of lame. It definitely has the cast and the potential to be something sexy, but it mostly fails at that. Still, it's not a terrible movie.
Grade: C

The Kings of Summer
Stars: Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso, Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally
Plot: A group of teenage friends get sick of their crazy parents and decide to run away and build a house in the middle of the woods, where they live for a summer, until girls get in the way of friendship.
Thoughts: This year has been full of really great, really original, really well done coming of age stories and The Kings of Summer is another one. It's whip smart, funny as hell and really sweet. It loses its footing a bit in the final act, but it's mostly a really worthwhile little film.
Grade: B

The Canyons
Stars: Lindsay Lohan, James Deen
Plot: A social climbing It girl is still in love with her loser / actor ex-boyfriend even though her new boyfriend is super rich, charming, controlling and a possibly a sociopath.
Thoughts: Look, I'm not about to convince anyone that this is a GOOD movie. It's not by any means of the imagination. But sometimes it's one of those movies that is so bad it's good. You know the kind... those movies that are absolutely train wrecks and you know they are terrible and, yet, you can't take your eyes off them. That's almost this movie.
Grade: D+

Inside Llewyn Davis
Stars: Oscar Issac, Carey Mulligan
Plot: A self-destructive musician wanders aimlessly around New York City, upsetting friends, crashing on people's couches, befriending cats and playing folk music.
Thoughts: Besides an ill-advised road trip sequence featuring a terribly annoying John Goodman (I never thought I'd use those words to describe Goodman, one of my absolute favorite people in the world), Llewyn Davis is pretty flawless. Llewyn is a pretty despicable guy, but because of Issac's crazy great performance, you can't help for the guy to change his asshole ways. Spoiler alert: He never does. Having just been snubbed by the Oscars, Inside Llewyn Davis is bound to reach cult status, which is exactly how it should be. Also, Adam Driver totally kills it during a singing performance with Issac and Justin Timberlake. It's worth seeing for that segment alone.
Grade: B+

Her
Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Rooney Mara, Scarlett Johansson
Plot: In the very near future, when the new item in men's fashion is awful high waist pants, a lonely writer falls in love with his new computer operating system.
Thoughts: I know Her sounds absolutely ridiculous on paper, but it's damn near flawless on screen. My only problem with it is that it's just a tad too long. Other than that, it's absolutely everything a movie should be: smart, quirky, original, funny, sweet, intimate, and sad. Her is a wonderful film, and not to be missed.
Grade: A

Ain't Them Bodies Saints
Stars: Rooney Mara, Ben Foster, Casey Affleck
Plot: A young woman struggles to take care of her daughter after her boyfriend goes to jail for a crime she committed. Upon his release, he realizes she has befriended a cop from their past.
Thoughts: First off - the score to this movie is wonderful. Otherwise, it's a beautifully shot, wonderfully acted film, although it does have major pacing problems. But, honestly, I think Rooney Mara is the most beautiful girl in the entire world, so looking at her for 100 minutes isn't all that bad. Plus, I have a crush on Casey Affleck's voice.
Grade: B-

Wednesday = my Top Ten List of 2013!

Contraband

My first movie of 2012. What can I say? Well, it wasn't as bad as it could have been, that's for sure. The good news here is the supporting cast. Mark Wahlberg and Kate Beckinsale are just fine as the leads but you can sign me up for any movie starring (or co-starring) Ben Foster, Giovanni Ribisi, J.K. Simmons, and Lukas Haas. Personally, I would like to champion Hollywood to make a much, much better movie for Foster and Ribisi to co-star in and make that happen as soon as humanly possible. It's almost a shame to watch two of the most exciting character actors in the business get weighted down in this overwrought, cliched material.
But, more on that later.
Contraband stars Mark Wahlberg as a former smuggler turned family man who settled down with his pretty wife (Beckinsale) and two young sons to lead an honest life in New Orleans. However, his brother-in-law, Kate's (yes, that's her name in the movie, too) little brother (Caleb Landry Jones) isn't so smart. Despite tons of warnings, he got himself caught up in the smuggling business. When customs searches the boat he's smuggling drugs on, he throws the package overboard and finds himself in the hospital with a huge debt thanks to a particularly snaky smarmy bad guy played by the lovely Giovanni Ribisi. So, Wahlberg and his ex-smuggler bestie Sebastian (Foster) try to pay his debt but Giovanni isn't having it. He wants his money and he wants it fast. So Wahlberg and friends go to Panama via a boat captained by J.K. Simmons for one last heist.
And that's all of the plot that you'll get. There is a pretty significant plot twist that I won't give away (although, really, if you are a fan of a certain actor's work in general, you won't really be surprised by the twist, as I wasn't). If you are looking at Contraband as a fun way to kill two hours on a cold, winter's day then you won't be disappointed. It is an action filled movie that is interesting enough to keep your attention with likeable enough stars to make you cheer for them. However, Contraband isn't really anything to write home about. It has a mediocre script, at best. The dialogue is cliched and contrived. There is one particularly well directed scene that almost seems like a waste because the rest of the film is directed in a very hodge-podge, throw it against the wall and see what sticks kinda way. These characters aren't particularly complicated and well thought out or subtle. They are very two dimensional characters, with the exception of Sebastian and that's only because Foster is so damn good, so much better than just about EVERYONE else. And his performance makes up for a lot with me. This movie would be an utter failure without him (Ribisi and Jones are pretty spectacular as well, although they don't do as much with their flat characters). Foster makes this character come alive. He is a ridiculously talented actor who should probably be getting all of Ryan Gosling's roles (don't get me wrong, I love Gosling too... it's just a shame how underrated Foster is).
So, overall, Contraband isn't a complete waste of time or a terrible way to start off the 2012 movie year. It's fun if not forgettable and cliched. But Ben Foster makes up for A LOT with his complicated, dazzling performance. His performance alone brought my grade up at least a letter grade.
Grade: C+

Horror Movie Month: Frozen / 30 Days of Night + 50/50

FROZEN
The stars: Shawn Ashmore, Kevin Zegers, Emma Bell
The gist: Two longtime friends and one of their girlfriends go away for a weekend ski trip. After bribing the lift operator to let them take one more trip up the mountain, they get stuck on the lift after it gets closed down for the night. Since this ski resort is only open on weekends and it happens to be Sunday night, the threesome are stuck dealing with freezing temperatures, frost bite and wolves!
The scares: It's not scary, per se, just very intense and kind of thrilling. But just because it's not scary doesn't mean it isn't good, because it is. In fact, it's a whole lot better than it needs to be.
The body count: Since there are only three characters, telling you that would be a huge spoiler. Plus, the end is sort of ambiguous.
The grade: B+

30 DAYS OF NIGHT
The stars: Josh Hartnett, Melissa George, Ben Foster, Danny Huston, Mark Boone Jr.
The gist: Every year Barrow, Alaska is plunged into darkness for 30 consequetive days. Many of the townspeople can't deal and flee but some stick it out. So, in the greatest vampire set up ever, a group of blood suckers show up to wreak havoc on the ones who stay.
The scares: These vampires don't glitter. These vamps are scary as hell. They are fast and their teeth look more like shark teeth than flimsy little vampire teeth. I've seen this movie before but forgot how good and scary it truly is. Definitely one of the best vampire films of the 2000s.
The body count: Somewhere over 100!
The grade: B

50/50
This one has nothing to do with Halloween or horror movies but I saw it recently and must say I was very pleased with it. Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as a super heathly twenty something who suddenly discovers he has a rare form of spinal cancer and only a 50% chance of surviving. So, he tries to deal with the fact that he may die. Along for the ride in this charming, heartwarming, funny, semi-raunchy film are Seth Rogen as his loveable best friend, Anjelica Huston as his over bearing mom, Bryce Dallas Howard (who between this and The Help, may be the most hateable woman in Hollywood this year) as his cheating girlfriend and scene stealer Anna Kendrick as his therapist struggling to get things right with her third patient ever. Those who thought Kendrick's performance in Up in the Air was a fluke (I admit, I was one of them) will be delighted to see just how damn good she is in this movie. While everyone else is damn good in this charmer, she steals the show and just might find herself nominated for another Oscar!
Grade: B+

The Mechanic (DVD)

Listen, I'm just as surprised as you are, but I actually didn't hate The Mechanic. There are few things I like more than a movie featuring Ben Foster. Especially when Ben Foster (probably the best actor under 35, who should be getting better roles like his contemporaries Ryan Gosling and James Franco do) is a bad ass, cold blooded assassin who likes to wear fedoras and vests. I will not go so far as to say that I outright liked The Mechanic, but it wasn't a complete waste of time, especially for a movie that stars Jason Statham, someone so keen on making mindless action flicks that have no merit whatsoever.

Statham stars as Arthur Bishop, an enigmatic assassin who is the best at his job. He can get in and out of a highly guarded house without any security officers having even the slightest feeling that something is amiss. He makes murders look like accidents or natural causes. He is sort of like a ghost, coming and going without anyone noticing. He lives alone in a house you can only get to via boat. He has no girlfriend, no friends, nothing. Except his mentor, Harry, played by Donald Sutherland. Harry co-owns some sort of underground organization with Tony Goldwyn's Dean. They have a group of assassins that take out high ranking people for loads of money. However, Harry has back stabbed the company and Dean hires Arthur to take him out. Eventually, perhaps from remorse, Arthur begins to mentor Harry's failure of a son, Stephen (Foster!). Stephen is young and angry and Arthur tries to teach him and help him become a killer. Of course, not everything is at it seems.

For a mindless action movie, this one isn't quite so bad. I was fully expecting to hate it and have a movie for my end of the year worst list, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. In fact, it's sort of enjoyable if you ignore all the plot holes and character flaws. For one, Arthur is such a highly intelligent man, you think he would realize the danger of taking a hot head like Stephen under his wing, but he doesn't seem to mind or even take it into consideration. The direction is just fine although some of the action scenes tend to be a bit dizzying. The movie has some pacing problems as it so easily goes from being fast paced, entertaining and enjoyable to boring and slow. Statham is fine, and he should be as he has played this exact role approximately fifteen times by now. Sutherland is as good as to be expected from a legend who only has a few scenes. Goldwyn is menacing in a very good way. But it's Foster, OF COURSE, who steals the show. He is always so much better than his surroundings. While I've loved quite a few of his movies, I always love him, even if the movie disappoints me. I wish he would finally get a showy Oscar baity role because he totally deserves to win an Oscar at some point in his career. I've always thought maybe he was too weird for Oscar, but if Franco can be nominated (and he's slightly insane, I think), then Foster surely isn't too out there. Anyway, he's great here as the wayward son, the angry young man who wants both acceptance and revenge.

Overall, I would have liked it had the movie ended ten minutes sooner. The end was a little bit too much, I think: too many twists, too many explosions. Still, The Mechanic is not nearly as bad as you might think. It's actually a pretty entertaining action movie, great mindless entertainment for a rainy day.

Grade: C+

The Informant!, Pandorum, Whip It, Zombieland

The Informant - The problem with The Informant is NOT Matt Damon's stellar performance. In fact, it just may be the best performance of his career (or second to his subtlety in The Departed). Damon manages to portray the self-obsessed Whitacre with the right amounts of "Hey, I'm a jackass" and "I'm a martyr doing the right thing." No, the problem with The Informant is mostly it's glacial pace. The story is interesting, sure (a man makes $300,000 a year at a company but turns informant instead), and it's true. Still, it takes about 3/4 of the movie until the pace starts to pick up to an enjoyable level. Steven Soderbergh does a great job and The Informant sure is interesting if it's not successful and I'm not sure it is. Also, it's trying to do too many things at once. Is it a wacky, zany comedy? Well, it's not funny enough. Is it a corporate thriller about embezzlement? Well, it's not nearly exciting enough. Damon's performance is enough for me to recommend the film but I wouldn't say it's necessarily good, just average.
Grade: C

Pandorum - Let's get this out of the way - Ben Foster is incredible. Dennis Quaid is incredible. The twist at the end is pretty damn great (you can predict it, but it's still done well enough that I didn't even care). The critics bashed it. Sci-fi fans are heralding it as the best sci-fi movie in a long time. I fall somewhere in the middle. It's an exciting film and it's a little horrifying. Foster and Quaid wake up on a ship that seems abandoned. They are locked in a room on a space ship and they've been in hyper sleep way longer than they should. Foster tries to escape the room through the ventillation system while Quaid guides him. Foster finds help... and some major problems while Quaid meets another young member of the crew who is going off the deep end (played by Twilight hottie Cam Gigandet). My major problem with the film is the crappy camera work. I know it's supposed to be exciting but there's a fine line between hand held exciting camera work and not having any idea what the hell is happening to your characters. Also, at times, it's just a little gross for gross' sake. Being disgusting doesn't further the film in any way. Also, it seems a little convenient that a side effect of hyper sleep is temporary memory loss. However, Foster and Quaid's characters remember just enough when they need to. And while their characters are in different parts of the ship for most of the movie, it allows the screenwriter to fill a ridiculous amount of time with the two trying to contact each other via radio. Basically, the film has its problems but it's also good enough to merit a recommendation. Again, not good, merely average.
Grade: C

Whip It - Whip It is cute. Sometimes that's a good thing and sometimes, well, not so much. Drew Barrymore makes her directorial debut and any shortcomings this movie has aren't necessarily her fault. She does a pretty good job at directing. Sometimes, it's very basic. Nothing she's doing is groundbreaking. But there are some pretty great scenes, very well directed (especially the pool scene near the end... just beautiful). Whip It follows a reluctant beauty queen named Bliss (Ellen Page) who is basically only doing beauty pageants to appease her mom (the amazing / wonderful / fantastic / goddesss of the world Marcia Gay Harden). On a shopping trip to Austin, Bliss discovers a flyer for roller derby. She and best friend Pash (Alia Shawkat a.k.a. Maeby Funke from the greatest show ever to be on TV Arrested Development) go to the derby exhibition game and Bliss is impressed. Soon, she is lying about her age and trying out for the Hurl Scouts team. She changes her name to Babe Ruthless and joins the team alongside Maggie Mayhem (Kristen Wiig) and Smashely Simpson (Barrymore). There are a few things that endear this movie to me. 1. Har Mar Superstar has a little cameo. 2. Tilly and the Wall is on the soundtrack. 3. I was at some of the places they filmed in Austin. Then, of course, there is the predictibility. This script is paint-by-numbers, cliched and totally predictable. That makes parts of it boring. Then there is the cuteness factor. Some of the cute stuff is just that - cute. Some of it (like a showdown with rival Iron Maven (Juliette Lewis) that turns into a silly food fight) is just dumb. Also, Jimmy Fallon just needs to stop acting. He needs to stick to late night and he's not even good at that (just not as bad as acting). All in all, Whip It is a little too cutesy at times although Barrymore does a fine job presenting a kick ass girl power story. See it for the great cast and the cool soundtrack, just don't expect too much.
Grade: C+ (B- on a good day... if I'm feeling nice... which I'm not today).

Zombieland - Zombieland is excatly what it needed to be. I was expecting a ridiculous, off beat, fun horror flick and that's exactly what it is. There is no subtle build up to Zombieland. You are dropped right in (it's complete with flashy, great opening credits). First, you meet Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg who is like Michael Cera although maybe funnier?), a college kid who has a lot of ticks and fears and a lot of rules for surviving Zombieland. Always shoot the zombie twice to make sure it's dead, Beware of bathrooms, Always wear your seatbelt, etc. He is one of five (ha!) surviving humans in Zombieland. Along the way he meets Tallahassee, a totally bad ass Woody Harrelson who just seems to have been born for this role. He's hilarious and bad ass and just all kinds of perfect for this role. All he really wants to do is find a Twinkie and kick zombie ass. They team up and eventually meet Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin), a sister con-artist duo who dupe our heroes before eventually teaming up with them. Their plan is the head west to Pacific Playland, an amusement park outside of Los Angeles which they believe is zombie free. Along the way, they make a pit stop at a Beverly Hills home where there is the most perfect cameo in cameo history. I won't ruin it (although I'm sure you can find out) but it's pretty freaking great. Anyway, of course, they eventually get to their destination and guess what? There are TONS of zombies including a really freaky clown zombie. Overall, Zombieland is a whole lot of fun and that's all I really wanted out of it.
Grade: B

Mini DVD Reviews

Paranoid Park - It's no secret that I think Gus Van Sant is brilliant. A genius, even. He is most definitely ever present on a list of my top ten directors of all time (perhaps I shall make that list sometime...). And while I like to pretend that the ill-conceived Psycho remake never really happened, I have come to terms with the all around mediocre lameness of Finding Forester. After all, he's better than those two bit boring films. And Paranoid Park is the next film to prove it. With it's minimilistic cineamatography, non-linear story telling and mostly non-professional cast, Parnoid Park is another gem from Van Sant. It's exceedingly well done with an interesting story (did a high school skateboarder accidentally kill a security guard?) and great acting from lots of unknowns. Van Sant has not disappointed me in a very, very long time.
Grade: B+

Return to Sleepaway Camp - Having long been a believer that Sleepaway Camp is one of, if not, THE best horror films, perhaps my expectations were too high for the long, long, LONG awaited sequel. And since the original Sleepaway Camp has possibly the best twist ending ever, the sequel can't possibly top it, right? Well, unfortunately, it is right. While Return to Sleepaway Camp has the same cast (Felicia Rose and more!) and the same director, it also, unfortunately, has the same story line. There is little difference between the original and the sequel... except for, you know, twenty years or so. You can see the big twist ending coming a mile away and the main character is probably the most annoying horror movie character since Franklin in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Still, it's not a total bust. The death scenes are all original and cool as hell, my friend Nick has a scene stealing cameo and, well, it's just great to have the original cast back together. It's not a great film by any means but it's a fun way to spend an hour and a half.
Grade: C

Get Smart - The best parts are pretty much everything you see in the trailers. There's nothing really to expand on here. Bill Murray's cameo in a tree is brilliant. Other than that, I wasn't shocked by anything: Alan Arkin is a hilarious scene stealing genius, Steve Carrell is adorably dorky, Anne Hathaway is a terrible actress and The Rock has a certain amount of charm that makes up for his lack of talent. It's not a bad movie by any means... it's just not good either.
Grade: C

Transiberian - Now let's talk about the hidden film gem of 2008. I never even heard of this movie. Usually, I at least hear of most films. If I haven't heard of something, then I think it's probably a bad sign. But the cast of this film was enough to make me change my mind and give it a try. After all, it's got Ben Kingsley, Woody Harrelson, Kate Mara and, of course, Emily Mortimer who is so good and so fantastic in this film. The film follows a young couple (Mortimer and Harrelson) who get entangled in a drug trafficking plot while traveling on a train through Russia. Kingsley plays a drug agent who is on to their incidental involvement. Of course, there's so much more to the story but I wouldn't want to spoil anything. Plus, there's so much story it would take forever to explain. Basically, let me say this - Transiberian is totally worth it. It's completely engulfing, interesting and pleasantly surprising.
Grade: B

Pathology - Next on to a film which is neither engulfing, interesting or pleasant in any way. It follows Milo Ventimiglia from Heroes as a pathology student who gets involved with a little game. He and the rest of the med students begin to kill random people. The others have to figure out how it was done. Interesting concept, I guess, but that's all it really has going for it. The acting is mediocre, at best. The character arcs of certain people are completely unbelievable and bizarre. It lacks any likeable characters to cheer for. It's just a bad film, plain and simple.
Grade: D

Birds of America - Who is the MVP of pretty much every movie he's ever been in? If you answered BEN FOSTER, then you're right. Birds of America is just above terrible. The only saving grace, really, is Foster and his performance as a man so sick of society that he begins eating berries and living by a ravine. Maybe it's that I can completely relate to him because that's what I want to do just about every day of my life or maybe it's just that he's such a fantastic actor (or probably both) but it was enough to keep me interested in an otherwise dull and boring movie.
Grade: D+ (the plus is for Foster, of course)

Coming soon - Bond. James Bond.

Top Ten List: Things to Be Thankful For...

Well, it's Thanksgiving. I'm done stuffing myself with food. I'm a little bored waiting for The Birds to come on AMC (that movie scares the hell out of me), so the list lover in me decided to make a Top Ten List. This time around, it's the things to be thankful for this year. It's been a pretty good year for movies, I think. Sure, there have been some disasters (I'm talking to you Captivity and Evan Almighty) but this post is meant to focus on the positive, not the negative. So, here's my list:

10. Low Budget Horror Movies - You can take your Saw IV and your Halloween remake and shove them somewhere. I'll take a couple more low key film releases this year. First, Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon was a unique take on the tired horror genre. It was interesting, compelling, funny and just plain well done. Then there was David Arquette's funny, quirky The Tripper which wasn't so much a new look at a tired genre. But at least it felt more fresh than the exhausted Saw series.

09. The Return of Michelle Pfeiffer - Miss Michelle simply does NOT make enough movies. She's been absent from the screen for far too long. But this summer we were treated to not one, but two wonderful Michelle roles! First she was delightfully evil as a former beauty pageant winner in Hairspray. Next she was... delightfully evil as a former pretty witch in Stardust.

08. The Affleck Brothers - First, Casey Affleck was pretty much the best thing about Ocean's Thirteen (although, I guess, that's not saying much since that movie just plain was awful). Next, The Assassination of Jesse James came out in which he is rumored to be Oscar worthy. Then there was Gone Baby Gone. Directed by Ben Affleck, who is a better director than actor, Casey starred and gave a truly riveting, heartbreaking, ballsy performance.

07. Michael Cera - Little George Michael Bluth is all grown up and guess what? He's easily the funniest young man in show business. Not only did he have a hilarious internet who called Clark and Michael, but also he starred in the funniest movie of the year - Superbad. Plus, did I mention ever this little movie coming out next month called Juno?

06. The Cast of Hairspray - I already mentioned my love for Michelle. But let's not forget about one of the best ensemble casts in recent memories: Newcomer Nikki Blonsky might get a Golden Globe nomination, John Travolta dresses as a woman, Christopher Walken is just plain cool, James Marsden and Zac Efron steal hearts, Queen Latifah belts it out like few others can, Amanda Bynes is hilarious and adorable all at the same time, and then there's the unsung hero of the movie: Allison Janney. Homegirl has the least amount of screentime and yet steals the show. Whoever had the brilliant idea to put her in this movie deserves some sort of award.

05. Upcoming December Releases - While this year has been great, let's not forget that some of the possible best movies of the year still haven't come out yet. I probably won't get to see No Country For Old Men or I'm Not There until December. Other December releases include: Juno, Atonement, Grace is Gone, I Am Legend, Youth Without Youth, Sweeney Todd, Walk Hard, Charlie Wilson's War, There Will Be Blood, and Cassandra's Dream.

04. Ben Foster - No one else this year has portrayed crazy characters quite like Ben Foster. First, he played a Meth junkie who does karate and shits on floors in Alpha Dog. Next, he played a crazy bad ass cowboy in 3:10 to Yuma. Finally, he stole the show with his subtle yet over the top Stranger in 30 Days of Night. He's possibly the most exciting young actor working today.

03. Into the Wild - Easily my favorite film of the year so far; it's damn near perfect. Sean Penn directed a beautiful, epic, intimate, heartbreaking, inspiring piece of art. He compiled a damn near perfect cast (Emile Hirsch, Catherine Keener, William Hurt, Marcia Gay Harden, Kristen Stewart, Hal Holbrook, Jena Malone). I just simply love this movie.

02. Ashley Judd and Michael Shannon in Bug - I know they probably won't get any love once the awards start pouring out... but they should. Judd and Shannon give two of the gutsiest, ballsiest, fiercest performances of the year. They don't do anything safe in this movie. They shed inhabitions and just simply go for it. They take huge chances. This movie surely isn't for everyone, but the people who like it, will really love it. And most of the reason for loving this movie lies in the performances from Judd and Shannon.

01. The Women of 2007 - Last year was pretty unexciting as far as female performances go. The same five women (Cruz, Dench, Mirren, Streep, Winslet) pretty much ruled the awards circuit with Mirren cleaning up. This year... might not be quite as much of a lock. There are a lot of women giving some truly great performances. If you really wanted to, you could have a Best Actress list full of performances that came out BEFORE summer: Christina Ricci in Black Snake Moan, Ashley Judd in Bug, Keri Russell in Waitress, Julie Christie in Away From Her, Marion Cotillard in La Vie en Rose (more on that movie coming soon). If the Academy was feeling cheeky, they could fill up the Best Supporting category with women just from Grindhouse. Then there's the performances that I haven't even seen yet: Cate Blanchett in I'm Not There, Ellen Page in Juno, Kiera Knightley and Romola Garai in Atonement, Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Jason Leigh in Margot at the Wedding, Laura Linney in The Savages, Amy Adams in Enchanted. I'm sure I'm missing quite a few. My point is this: it's been a great year for actresses!

3:10 to Yuma, Shoot Em Up

3:10 to Yuma - The truth is, I'm not a fan of the Western in general. I find them too busy, too distracting, too difficult to follow at times. The truth also is that I'm just not that well versed in the Western as a genre. I've seen two that I like: The Quick and the Dead and Tombstone. Other than that, I tend to avoid them at all costs. Perhaps I should rethink that. The remake of 3:10 to Yuma has an intoxicating swagger about it. It's got charm, it's got wit, it's got action, it's got character development and great performances! There's not much more you can really ask, especially at this point in the season. Summer's over. All the blockbuster's are done. The disappointing movies are over. It's time to get into Oscar season. 3:10 to Yuma is the perfect crossover. For me, it wasn't an amazing film but it's a million times better than most of the stuff that came out in the last three and a half months. I'll admit it took me a while to get into the movie which is why I can't ultimately give it a higher grade. At first it was a little on the boring side but about halfway through it really, really picks up and becomes exhilirating. The movie follows Ben Wade (Russell Crowe), a legendary outlaw who is the epitome of badness and coolness. He has a crew of guys who are downright evil (one of which is the wonderful Ben Foster who has really played some of the most interesting characters this year). He gets arrested and a group of men have to transfer him to Contention to make sure he gets on the 3:10 train to Yuma where he'll be imprisoned. One of the men is farmer in debt Dan played by Christian Bale, who perfectly captures the desperation of a man who is continually done wrong by his country, politicians and even God. The film also features Peter Fonda as a bounty hunter and Gretchen Mol as Dan's long-suffering wife. There are horses and gunfights and Luke Wilson makes a surprise appearance. James Mangold (director of Walk the Line) has a gritty approach to the film and it's fantastic. (And Kudos for not giving us a ton of agonizing close ups of clocks). He really builds tension perfectly in the last few minutes. By the way, that ending is fantastic. I don't think I've loved an ending so much all year. I won't ruin it, but, WOW! That's all I have to say. The action is fast paced but also not overbearing. There are breaks to build character and develop plot. But when the action starts, it really starts. The performances are absolutely wonderful. Foster as Charlie Prince, Crowe's right-hand man, is scary and hilarious at the same time - something Foster does so well. Fonda's role is too brief but wonderful. Mol doesn't have much to do but I always wonder why she doesn't make more movies. She's excellent in everything she does, people just need to give her more to work with. But, really, it comes down to an actor showdown between Bale and Crowe. Crowe is having the time of his life playing the bad ass. He's wicked and intense. He's provocative, smug, and, later, shows true compassion and tenderness. Bale is gritty and sympathetic. In a film about atonement, he tries to prove to his family (especially tag along 14 year old son) that he's not a bad father and husband. His performance is subtle and moving. So, who wins the showdown? While I'm more of a Bale person usually, I'd have to say Crowe is a bit better by a hair. With a simple message of friendship, redemption and morality, this movie really is entertaining and well done.

Grade: B

Shoot Em Up - When people say a movie has 'non-stop action,' they usually don't mean it literally. But, seriously kids, Shoot Em Up has non-stop action. This movie has absolutley no regard for logic, plot or development. It leaves all that, you know, the boring stuff, completely out of the picture. And the result is something that is halfway fun and halfway eye-rolling ridiculous. Half the time I didn't know if I should laugh or be offended. The movie starts with the mysterious Mr. Smith (Clive Owen) coming to the rescue of a pregnant woman and, after cutting the umbilical cord via bullets, and, after the woman is shot in the head, somehow decides to raise the baby who a bunch of crazy men are trying to kill (including a truly wicked Paul Giamatti) with the help of his lactating hooker friend (Maria Bello). Like I said, there is pretty much no plot here at all. That doesn't mean it's not fun! Among the many shocking/fun/ridiculous moments: Clive Owen kills multiple people with a carrot. Oh, and since the movie is called Shoot Em Up, there are a lot of gun fights. Gun fights while sky diving. Gun fights while having sex (which apparently will give you the best orgasm of your life!). Gun fights while in the playground. Clive Owen is absolutely perfect for the tragic hero sort of character he plays often. He's cocky and charming with a great swagger about him. Plus, he's just about the sexiest actor working today. Paul Giamatti is wonderful here as well. But, honestly, it was all just a little bit too much for me. I mean, I know that's what the movie was going for but I really don't need to see a man carrying a baby around while he's shooting ten other men and then jumping from a building into a window and crashing into someone's living room. The whole thing is fun. The action is there. The dialogue is atrocious. It loses it's steam somewhere around the final act and what started out as entertaining becomes ultimately tiresome. Still, it's definitely a fun time. In the end, it was all just a little bit too ridiculous for me.

Grade: C-

Alpha Dog

This movie was supposed to come out last year at this time. I remember reading a story about it a year before that, so, more or less, I have been waiting to see this movie for two years. This movie could very easily have let me down because I had it so built up in my head. However, it did not in the least. It was well worth the wait. It's the sort of movie that sucks you in, entrances you, and then hits you over the head with a baseball bat. It's full of characters who are not too likeable, yet we somehow feel for most of them because they are free in ways that most people are not. Nick Cassavetes (who follows up The Notebook with this movie!) really does a wonderful job capturing the essence of this true story. The way he puts you into the prospective of what happened, the way you see what happened as though you are actually experiencing it yourself, is absolutely brilliant.
The story is true, as most people know by now. In an interview, Cassavetes said that this is as true to what happened as could possibly be. The only thing that he changed were the names. So, instead of Jesse James Hollywood, Emile Hirsch plays Johnny Truelove, a young drug dealer who sells various drugs to most of his teenage friends in the sunny, barren wasteland of San Gabriel, California. He's got a group of drug addicted, tough guy friends including Justin Timberlake as Frankie and Shawn Hatosy as Elvis. Ben Foster and his character of Jake Mazursky is sort of the catalyst for everything that happens in this film. It seems Jake owes Johnny money and after a few days of back and forth retaliation between the two (breaking windows, stealing televisions, using the living room carpet as a toilet...) things really spiral out of control when Johnny decides it would be a good idea to kidnap Jake's innocent and sweet little brother Zack (Anton Yelchin) who they happen upon en route to Palm Springs for Fiesta Weekend. They bring little Zack along for the ride and he doesn't mind so much because he gets to play video games, drink and smoke, have sex with two girls and all around feel like one of the crowd. If you've read anything about the true story, then you know what is going to happen next. Still, even if you see it coming a mile away, it still knocks you out of your seat. The relationship between Timberlake's Frankie and Yelchin's Zack is really the backbone of the film. They genuinely become almost friends and that final scene with the two of them will easily break your heart.
There's a mood and energy, a style that Cassavettes so easily captures and portrays that makes this film so far removed from any cliched studio product geared toward the teenybopper set. The film feels honest and genuine and has a lot of unexpected heart and soul, and that makes all the difference in the world. Cassavettes also does a lot of creative things in the movie including interviews to make it feel more like a documentary than a drama, split screen camera tricks, a run down of the dates and times that everything went down, and the part I loved the most, a running count of all the witnesses who saw the kidnapped boy over the three day period. To say that these kids are stupid is a huge understatement. But that's the point. They are a bunch of drugged out, tripping young kids who think they rule the world, because in a strange sort of way, they do. They think they can do anything they want and get away with it. This is, essentially, a story about a group of people who make one bad decision after another until it spirals so far out of control they have no idea how to get out of the mess they created. And, of course, they choose the worst possible way to try to get out of the situation.
The performances are really most impressive. This is a sprawling cast with a ton of wonderful performances. It's nearly impossible to pinpoint any one person specifically because I don't really think there was a star of the movie. This is ensemble casting at it's best. There are wonderful performances from Shawn Hatosy, Emile Hirsch, Chris Marquette, Sharon Stone, Dominique Swain, Olivia Wilde, Bruce Willis, and Anton Yelchin (whose last few moments on-screen are gut wrenching). Everyone just really does a great job. Justin Timberlake is the most surprising, of course. Surprise, surprise: the guy can act! Forget everything you think about him, all your preconceived notions of the boy bander or whatever. He crackles whenever he's on screen and he has all the right ingredients for a stellar acting career: charisma, screen presence and natural acting talent. But, the standout performance, for me anyway, was from Ben Foster. I remember watching a documentary a few years back about meth addicts and Ben Foster just nails it. He's so on spot in every single scene. He's almost frightening to watch. He's stunning and terrifying. I never thought that little Tucker James from Flash Forward would scare me so much but he does. He's just simply wonderful. He gives one of those rare performances that you won't soon forget.
Grade: A