The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I don't know what I was expecting, to be honest. I read the book, by Steig Larson, and loved it. I saw the original Swedish version starring the incendiary Noomi Rapace, and loved it. Now, here comes the American version, directed by my very favorite director (David Fincher), starring a total badass as Lisbeth (Rooney Mara), and what? I was slightly disappointed but I can't exactly put my finger on why. The movie was absolutely great. The directing was great, the adaptation was great, the performances were great, the music was great. The movie will most likely make my Top Ten List of the year (it's currently in there, but there are still a few more movies to see). Again, I don't know what I was expecting, but somehow I was expecting more.
In case you have been living under a rock, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is about Mikael Bloomqvist (Daniel Craig), a disgraced Swedish journalist who gets hired by an aging billionaire (Christopher Plummer) to officially write his memoirs but unofficially investigate the mysterious disappearance of his favorite niece, Harriet, forty years earlier. You see, the entire deranged, crazy, awful, detestable Vanger family was together on their island for a yearly meeting. The only bridge onto the island was shut down due to an accident. Then Harriet disappeared and the only explanation was that someone on the island must have killed her and buried her body. So, Mikael must try to find something new within the forty year mystery that will help him finally catch the killer. Eventually he asks for a research assistant and they give him the bad ass, punk rock, leather wearing computer hacker who, unbeknownst to him, did his background check - Lisbeth Salander (Mara), who is arguably the greatest character in modern day literature (definitely the greatest female character, but character in general is debatable, I guess... though, not for me). The disgraced journalist and the anti-social ward of the state team up and delve into a mystery so much more complex than originally thought by anyone. And so you have one of the best murder mystery, female empowerment films of the last ten years or so.
So, then, why was I disappointed?
I still can't put my finger on it. Maybe my expectations were just way too high. Fincher is a film god and I guess I was expecting him to make some radical changes that I, as a Girl with the Dragon Tattoo purist, would still love. He did keep the ending from the book (which the Swedish version did not), which I loved. He did change a major plot point in the third act which I think made more sense anyway. Other than that, it was just another version of something that was already amazing. Fincher's film was much darker, maybe. The music was eerie and creepy and wonderful. The performances were top notch. Daniel Craig, who I was on the fence about, was a great complicated leading man. Christopher Plummer was perfect as the sweet old Henrik. Robin Wright, who seriously has never looked hotter, was great in a small role. Stellan Skarsgaard was fantastic - elegant and creepy - as Martin Vanger. But, Mara, of course, steals the show as Lisbeth. With her tattoos, piercings, bleached eye brows, and sometime Mohawk, she doesn't even have to say a word. She invokes so much with a mere look. She is perfect, almost as good as Rapace was. The movie suffers from the same things that the book and the Swedish version suffers from which is to say, that it's part of a trilogy so after the mystery wraps up, there is still a good twenty minutes to go and so it sort of feels anti-climactic in a way.
So, I guess I was expecting too much. I guess I built it up too much in my mind. I have been anticipating this movie for over a year. Still, it was great in just about every way. Maybe, with time, I will appreciate it a little bit more.
Grade: B+

The Descendants & Beginners

The Descendants - I will fully admit this right now: I didn't like Sideways either. I guess "either" is a strong word. It leads you to assume that I didn't like The Descendants, which isn't entirely true. It's not that I didn't like it. It's just I sort of felt the same way about it as I do about every other Alexander Payne movie. It's good, solid story telling, acting and film making, but all terribly overrated. The Descendants follows Matt King (George Clooney - this is his best work ever, no joke), a Hawaiian lawyer who is dealing with selling his families pristine beach when his wife hits her head while boating and falls into a coma she may never come out of. To top it all off, he has two daughters: a 10 year old who sends nasty texts to her classmates and a 17 year old at a boarding school (a really, really superb Shailene Woodley) who is all kinds of messed up. Then, to make matters worse, he finds out his loyal and devoted wife was cheating on him and preparing to leave him for a real estate agent (a surprisingly well-rounded Matthew Lillard). So, Matt deals with his crazy daughters and traipsing around the islands to tell different friends and family members about his wife's condition. He meets with cousins of varying craziness to discuss proposals about selling the land. He deals with daughter Alex's annoying maybe-boyfriend (really, the only character that you want to punch in the face and guess what? Someone does!). Then he decides to track down his wife's lover, Brian Steer to confront him and maybe fight him, only to discover that he's a happy family man who never really loved Matt's wife the way she loved him. By this point in the film, if you're a little bored, don't fret, the fantastically underrated Judy Greer shows up to steal the whole goddamn movie (well, almost, Woodley is stupid good too). So, there you have The Descendants. It's great, sad story telling. The film making is amazing. There are two scenes in particular that are flawless: the spiral staircase scene and the scene where Alex begins to sob underwater which was my single favorite moment of the movie. The acting is surprisingly good all around. Clooney and Woodley will surely be nominated for Oscars for their complex, layered, flawless performances. Clooney is charming and flawed. He looks handsome and destroyed. Woodley is a revelation. I was a skeptic. I didn't think some teenybopper from some dumb ABC Family show could really be that good - but I will fully admit that I was wrong. She is so, so very good, just empathetic and full of sassy attitude, angry, depressed, sad, happy, sometimes all at the same time. Greer turns up around 3/4 through the film and all but steals it away from everyone else. But her role is so small, she probably won't get any nominations out of it. So, The Descendants is good, it's just not THAT good, the level of good that everyone is saying it is. It's slow moving. It's boring at times. It's too long (and that's coming from someone who LOVES long movies). Plus, there is way too much annoying voice over at the beginning. Still, The Descendants is worth checking out, because there is still a lot of good in there.
Grade: B

Beginners - Now here is a surprising little film. It all but came out of nowhere to tie with The Tree of Life to win Best Film at the recent Gotham Awards. I can't say I'm surprised. It's lovely, heartfelt little movie. It follows Oliver (Ewan McGregor, superb), an artist who is struggling with getting to know his dying father (Christopher Plummer, Oscar worthy) who, after being married for 44 years has come out of the closet as a gay man. Meanwhile, Oliver is also trying to take a page from his father as he attempts to start his life over and forge a relationship with a quirky, adorable French actress (Melanie Laurent). It's a simple, little story and could end up cliched in the hands of a lesser cast and filmmaker, but instead, Beginners is a different, original, funny, sad, heartwarming take on a tired genre. Writer and director Mike Mills is fantastic, adding humor and quirky little extras (a dog that talks via subtitles) to the film. McGregor, who has a lot of misses on his resume due to the crap he's been making for the past decade or so, is really, really great, as is the adorable Laurent. Their initial meeting is instantly classic. But, it's Plummer, who recently received his very first Oscar nomination at the age of 70something for The Last Station, who is mesmerizing to watch. Plummer is so good - alive even though is character is dying - that he should not only find himself nominated for a second Oscar, but also, probably winning.
Grade: B+