Killer Joe

Every once in a while, a movie comes along and you just don't know what to make of it. For me, that movie is Killer Joe. I saw it last night and when I left the theater, I couldn't decide if I liked it or not. Parts of it were so, so very good while others (especially the last 20 minutes or so) were over-the-top ridiculous. I slept on it and I'm still thinking about it this morning (which I guess is a good thing??) but I still haven't made up my mind.

Killer Joe begins with Chris (Emile Hirsch), a two-bit drug dealer and general screw-up who decides the best way to pay off his $6,000 debt to his suppliers is by killing his deadbeat, junkie mom and using her $50,000 life insurance policy as the pay off. The beneficiary is his dimwitted little sister, Dottie (Juno Temple) so he decides to get his trailer park trash dad (Thomas Hayden Church) and his new wife (Gina Gershon) involved. They decide the best and easiest way to go about murder is to hire Killer Joe (Matthew McConaughey), a Dallas detective who moonlights as a hitman. Of course, double crossing and, since this is based on a play from Tracy Letts (Bug, August: Osage County), general third act CRAZINESS (yes, it requires all capital letters) ensues.

Killer Joe is rated NC17, I'm assuming because there is an awful lot of nudity (mostly female, although if you didn't get your fill of McConaughey's backside in Magic Mike then you're in luck!) and even more random and extreme violence. That stuff doesn't bother me. It just seemed sort of out of place. I generally don't like to compare movies but there is a fine line that movies like this and Bug (which sports the same writer and director) walk between acceptable human drama and over-the-top crazy ridiculousness. I think Bug was a far more successful movie at walking that line. The really out there stuff that happens in the third act of Bug seems organic, growing from a natural place. Killer Joe, which has hints of this craziness throughout, just sort of randomly becomes too much at a certain point in the third act. It didn't feel natural at all and it also didn't necessarily serve the plot. Letts is a fantastic writer and of the three things I've seen by him (movie versions of Bug and Killer Joe and August: Osage County on Broadway), I've loved his ability to write characters and dialogue. I also love his gutsiness and the way his work always just GO FOR IT. Something about Killer Joe, the movie, which was also a play, just didn't jive for me.

It wasn't the fault of the cast, that's for sure. The thing that worked most about this movie, in fact, was Juno Temple's crazy adorable performance of Dottie with all her wide eyed innocence and sexual discovery. Temple has been the next big thing for a while now but lacked a big break out role. This performance can surely do it for her. The question is, will people see it and appreciate it? It's not the kind of movie that the average person on the street is going to enjoy, but I'm still hoping this movie benefits Temple's career in a big way. McConaughey is great as well. He's having a banner year and you can argue that this or Magic Mike (or both) are his career best performances. Emile Hirsch is great as well, and it's nice to see him back on the screen in a starring role. Church and Gershon are fine, although not stand outs.

Like I said, there are some fine moments in this movie. Just about every time Juno Temple is on screen, whether she is doing karate or twirling in the street, it's almost impossible to take your eyes off her. There was a particularly well shot scene involving Hirsch being chased by some goons. In fact, the whole movie is well shot and well directed and well acted. It's just that pesky third act that almost ruins the whole damn thing. I don't want to give anything away but believe me when I tell you, it's CRAZY.

Grade: C??? (I really can't decide)

Top Ten List: Best Actors of the Decade

10. Michael Shannon in Bug (2007) - Shannon's work as a possibly mentally ill ex-soldier is so intense that it just sticks so firmly in my mind. This performance could be outlandish but he makes it real. His performance is fearless and his chemistry with Ashley Judd is out of this world.

09. Emile Hirsch in Into the Wild (2007) - Hirsch is funny, charming and a little cocky in this film as he builds his supertramp character who doesn't think he needs human contact for happiness. Still, it's his moments with other characters that are truly divine. Plus, his final few moments on screen are guaranteed to break your heart.

08. Bill Murray in Lost in Translation (2003) - This is Murray at his best. This is a completely different side to him which is impressive in itself. He captures this role with such precision that you believe it was tailer made just for him. His chemistry with Scarlett Johansson is surprisingly realistic and complex. And he has a good singing voice!

07. Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler (2008) - Everyone says he made a hell of a comeback, but for people who are real Rourke fans, they know he never really went anywhere (see also: Spun). The film is about a wrestler struggling with the fact that his career is just about done. He has burned every bridge in his personal life, his looks are fading, he's damaged himself pysically and emotionally for years and years. Rourke probably didn't have to look far for inspiration and it shows with this knock-out performance.

06. Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain (2005) - The Dark Knight was a showier role, sure, but at the end of the day, I truly believe Ledger will be remembered for his role as a cowboy in love in Brokeback Mountain. His performance was so simple and so understated that it just seemed so much more realistic. His Joker may be a hell of a lot more fun but it's so much harder to do a quiet, understated performance like he did in Brokeback Mountain.

05. Tom Wilkinson in In the Bedroom (2001) - The movie excellent but mostly it just reminds me of the astounding talents of Tom Wilkinson. He is so perfect as a grieving father and when he sets out to exact his revenge, he acts with intelligence and compassion.

04. Sean Penn in Mystic River (2003) - Penn never misses a beat as a man dealing with the worst possible thing a parent can face - the death of a child. Penn is left playing a complicated character - a grieving father but also a cold-blooded ex-con. He manages to make his performance so intense, so passionate, so realistic and so damn good.

03. Leonardo DiCaprio in The Departed (2006) - DiCaprio is an actor who keeps getting better. In The Departed, he manages to wear his emotions on his sleeve, playing such a vulnerable, terrified, yet tough character. The crazy paradoxes to his character are impressive and DiCaprio simply nails it. He embodies this modern day tragic hero with such grace and ease.

02. Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood (2007) - Make no mistake, There Will Be Blood is a movie made for Day-Lewis to do whatever the hell he wants. This is HIS show. His performance is such a powerhouse that it puts most other actors to shame. Then there's that final scene when director Paul Thomas Anderson really lets Day-Lewis off his leash, so to speak. Because, let's face it, he was a sweet little kitten up until that point.

01. Sean Penn in Milk (2008) - Sean Penn is known for his moody, intense work (see number 4) so it's refreshing to see him play someone like Harvey Milk, so carefree and emotionally open. He embodies Harvey Milk and literally becomes him. Penn even inhabits and exudes a sweetness (yes, sweetness... yes, Sean Penn). He plays Harvey to perfection and definitely deserved that second Oscar.

Top Ten List - Best Supporting Actor 2008

10. Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Stop Loss - The first good performance of the year, Gordon-Levitt plays the role of a man dealing with being back from war the way he plays every role - with unbridled passion and talent. To say he's one of the best actors under thirty is an understatement.

09. Aaron Eckhart in The Dark Knight - Eckhart may not give the best performance in the film (more on that later) but he does play the only character with any sort of arc and he plays it extremely well. He starts off as a stand up man full of principle and morality and ends up as a hateful villain.

08. John Malkovich in Burn After Reading - One image from 2008 that I will never forget? John Malkovich coming off a boat dressed in a bath robe holding an axe. His disgraced CIA agent is hilariously on edge. One of the many reasons I celebrate Malkovichmas.

07. Josh Brolin in Milk - Slowly unraveling. He's a coiled ball of nerves. He may not be my favorite of the supporting men of Milk but he is responsible for the single best scene of the movie - a drunken encounter with Harvey at a party. Brolin just keeps getting better.

06. James Franco in Milk - Is anyone sweeter than Franco in Milk? I don't think so. He stands by his man through much of the film and even after they break up, he's still there in spirit. Kudos for saying the line "if I hear about politics one more time tonight I'm going to stab you with a fork" and still managing to sound adorable.

05. Emile Hirsch in Milk - At the beginning, he's a tough talking kid. A queen if there ever was one who just wants to party. Near the middle, he's responsible for one of the most moving scenes as his Cleve Jones describes the unspeakable hatred he saw in Europe. Hirsch is moving and powerful.

04. Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder - What could have easily become an offensive off-putting performance was elevated to something that everyone could laugh at thanks to great writing... and Downey's fantastic performance. He manages to be hysterically funny while still raising poignant thoughts about racism and even method acting.

03. Michael Shannon in Revolutionary Road - I have been a fan of Leonardo DiCaprio's for my entire life / his entire career. There's never been a time when I thought he was out done by any other actor - even when going head to head with Jack Nicholson in The Departed. Still, there is a particular scene in Revolutionary Road where DiCaprio and Shannon get in a rather heated argument. During this scene, I thought to myself, "Man, Shannon is acting circles around Leo!" Shannon is out of control in this movie - a continuous explosion that just shakes everything to its core.

02. Michael Pitt in Funny Games - Imagine a killer being the most polite, kind, cutest boy you ever saw? It's terrifying, right? Pitt plays the young killer of Funny Games so straight and sweet that it makes it the most terrifying thing you've ever seen. All at once, he's frightening, hilarious, kind, chilling and fiercly intelligent.

01. Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight - Is there anything left to say about Ledger's outrageously perfect performance? I don't think there is. He really, really, really is as good as everyone says. Actually, he's probably better. With every viewing, his performance becomes more effective and more entrancing. The most perfect performance of the year. Hands down.

Tomorrow - Best Actress!

Oscar contenders arrive - Men who age backwards, nuns and political activists, oh my!

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Benjamin Button is maybe the most fascinating man you'll ever meet. Born with a warped face and amidst doctors warnings that he wouldn't live very long, his birth father abandoned him on the back steps of an old person home where the loving and caring Queenie (Taraji P. Henson) found and raised him as her own. As Benjamin (Brad Pitt) beat the odds and grew up, he may have looked like the other old men in the house but he sure didn't act like them. As his life progressed, he became younger and younger, living a full and amazing life. He left home to join a tugboat captain (Jared Harris, stealing scenes as usual) and eventually join a war. He met the alluring Brit Elizabeth (Tilda Swinton) and a host of other interesting characters. But it was the lovely Daisy (Cate Blanchett) who was the love of his life. While she aged normally, he aged backwards - could their love ever really work out? Based on the line "youth is wasted on the young," the film is a moving and emotionally harrowing journey through the life of one man. David Fincher directs the hell out of this film which has a great script and great performances. For as slow as it moves in the first half, the emotional aspect is kicked into high gear in the second half and it becomes a near masterpiece. There are so many moments of brilliance that it makes up for it's uneven beginning. Brad Pitt is the star but it's more about his journey than his acting. The acting stand outs, for me, came from a trio of fabulous women - Swinton who is all toughness and sophistication, Henson who is the heart and soul of the film and knocks it out of the park (let's start the Oscar campaign now!) and Blanchett who takes Daisy's vain, self centered nature and turns it into something that actually works. There is no one more beautiful than Blanchett as she dances in the fog. Overall, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a beautiful journey well worth the time.
Grade: A-

Doubt - There is a particular scene at the end of the film between Meryl Streep and Phillip Seymour Hoffman that just proves these two are arguably the two best working actors today. I didn't think anyone was going to make it out of that scene alive. Streep is the stubborn and stern Sister Alyisous who begins to think that Father Flynn (Hoffman) had an inappropriate relationship with the only black student at the school. Stripped down to just four main characters - Amy Adams as the naive and sweet (and I think the key to making your final decision about Flynn's innocence or guilt) Sister James and Viola Davis who has one powerful scene as the boy's mother - the film is very character driven with intense dialogue and a great, well written story. John Patrick Shanley is indeed a fantastic writer. I'm not convinced he is a great director, however. He's making a character/dialogue driven film but spent much of the first act using strange camera angles to tell a very simple story. His choices at times were very distracting from the effectiveness of the script. The performances, however, make up for it. Every one is making a huge deal about Viola Davis and I admit she was quite good. However, and maybe it's because I've been hearing for so long about how amazing she is, I didn't think she was quite as riveting as everyone else. Instead, in the supporting actress character, I felt Adams' more subdued and understated work was far more impressive. Then there's Streep and Hoffman and, like I said, they were pheneomenal in every way.
Grade: B+

Milk - There may be a more touching, gripping, emotional, politcally timely, perfect film released this year... but I haven't seen it. Milk is everything a movie should be. Directed by the fantastic Gus Van Sant (he has directed two of the best this year - Milk and Paranoid Park), Milk tells the true story of Harvey Milk (Sean Penn), the first gay man elected to public office in the late 1970s in San Francisco. It follows his long journey to the top - where he ran for office numerous times, losing over and over again before finally winning and fighting for gay rights, human rights before being shot down by a disgruntled co-worker, Dan White (Josh Brolin). Milk surrounded himself with a group of young, empassioned followers who helped rally the gay community, including Cleve Jones (a fantastic Emile Hirsch), Anne Kronenberg (Alison Pill, the spitfire) and two boyfriends including the long suffering Scott (James Franco) and the needy and smothering Jack (Diego Luna). The script is face paced and well written. Van Sant sticks to straight directing, for the most part. However, there are a few of his little artsy moments thrown in there and it adds to the film, for sure. Whether he's directing art films or more mainstream work, Van Sant is one of the most daring and interesting directors working today. Of course, the cast is amazing. If all is right in the world (which, of course, it's not) the men of Milk could all but over run the Supporting Actor category. Franco, Brolin and especially Hirsch are all fantastic. But, of course, this is Penn's show and he embodies Harvey Milk like you wouldn't believe. Known for his moody and intense work, it's refreshing and lovely to see him play someone a little more carefree and emotionally open. His performance is Oscar worthy, for sure and I'd love to see him win a second Oscar. The best thing about Milk, however, is how very timely it is. With the recent passing of Prop 8 (which is much like the Proposition 6 that Harvey fights so tirelessly against in the film), it's clear to see that after thirty odd years, Harvey's fight is still not over. This movie should be a rally cry, a call to people to come together and stand up for gay rights, civil rights, human rights.
Grade: A+

Speed Racer + mini reviews

Speed Racer - Based soley on the cast (Emile Hirsch! Christina Ricci! Susan Sarandon! John Goodman!), I thought this movie might be pretty damn good. I had my reservations, of course. A PG racing flick might be a little too kiddie - it doesn't matter who is involved. However, it is from the Wachowski brothers (The Matrix series) so I thought, if nothing else, it will look pretty spectacular. And it does look spectacular, in a sort of hyper colorful cotton candy way that is cool for about ten minutes before it makes you feel so dizzy that you feel it might make you sick. The plot itself goes from serious to over the top to campy to ridiculous without any rhyme or reason. Emile Hirsch (who I love so much) does a decent job at trying to make his cartoon character (in every sense of the word) into a real person the audience cares about. He never quite gets there but it's not entirely his fault. In fact, you can't really blame any of the actors. I guess it all looked good on paper and it's not their fault the directors turned it into a crazy, out of control, so bright it hurts your eyes carnival. Throw in an annoying little kid and a monkey and this movie is just a disaster. It really pains me to do this because I wanted to like it. For the sake of the actors (especially Emile who I have loved in everything he's ever done), I really wanted to like it. Alas, it's just too awful. It was the first movie in a long, long, long time that I wanted to walk out of.
Grade: F

Delirious - Ah, Michael Pitt. He of the gorgeous blue eyes and those lovely lips. I would watch anything with him in it based purely on very shallow reasons. Is he an exceptionally wonderful actor? I would say no although I did enjoy him in quite a few things. But maybe that's because he's gorgeous... Anyway, it helps that Delirious is actually a decent enough movie. Co-starring Steve Buscemi (!!) and Alison Lohman, it tells the story of a homeless wannabe actor (Pitt) who befriends a paparazzi (Buscemi) before falling in love with a Britney-esque pop-star (Lohman). It's a dark indie comedy that actually has a heart. The end actually almost melted my little black heart a little bit.
Grade: B


One Missed Call - One Missed Call is this intelligent socioeconomic think piece about the way instant technology is slowly destroying our communications skills with each other on a purely humane level. Or... it's just a really shitty horror movie starring some pretty people and some annoying people. Shannyn Sossamon (what were you thinking?!??!!) stars as a young co-ed who has to battle the evil spirits who travel from cell phone to cell phone. If they call your cell phone... then you die! Can you say scary? No, you can't. Because it's not. At all. Not even a little bit.
Grade: D-


What Happens in Vegas - Pretty people (Ashton Kutcher, Cameron Diaz) meet cute in Las Vegas. They get drunk. They get married. Upon realizing their mistake, they decide to part (not so) amicably. Then, surprise! They win $3 million and are sentenced to do 6 months married time (I think I'd rather go to prison) before the judge (Dennis Miller) unfreezes the fortune. Can you imagine what happens next? If you guessed "they really fall in love" then you hit the bullseye! Congratulations for being such a forward thinker. It's lame and cliche. It's been done a million times before. Kutcher and Diaz are both exceedingly charming on their own but they have absolutely no chemistry whatsoever together.
Grade: D+

Young @ Heart - Young @ Heart is cute enough. It's also at times hilarious and heartbreaking. But, is cute and heartbreaking enough? Not exactly. The documentary follows the lives of about 25 senior citizens in a Massachusetts choir who cover songs like "Golden Age," "Nothing Compares 2 U," and "Schitzophrenia." (No, seriously). These songs by Bowie and the Talking Heads and the Ramones never had their lyrics mean quite the same thing as they do when they are being sung by a group of people in their 70s and 80s. There are moments when you'll laugh so hard you'll cry. And there will be other moments when you will be moved to tears for other reasons. Still, Young @ Heart at times doesn't feel like it delves deep enough. I wanted more. I wanted something else from the experience. Ultimately, it feels like something you could catch on a one hour television special and not like a full feature documentary.
Grade: C+

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - My Lord, what cinematography! The film is shot beautifully. It's a breathtaking film to watch with performances that are really top notch. I can take or leave Brad Pitt but he did a good enough job as the outlaw Jesse James. Sam Rockwell, I thought, was excellent in his supporting role, especially in his last few scenes on screen. But the star of the show is really Casey Affleck as Robert Ford. Surprise, surprise! He is the star of this movie, not a supporting actor (Sorry to burst the Academy's bubble). Jesse James dies and guess what? The story continues! Because it's not about Jesse James. It's about Robert Ford. (Spoiler...) When Robert Ford dies, guess what? The story ends! Affleck definitely deserved his Oscar nomination. He's just riveting to watch, creating such a perfectly creepy yet naively innocent character. The movie itself is fantastic. I could have done without the narration which was more distracting than anything else but ultimately I felt the movie was pretty damn great.
Grade: A-

Lust, Caution - Ang Lee's NC-17 story about war, deception and crazy sex, Lust, Caution is slow burning and completely absorbing. It follows a group of drama students who decide to take their act into the real world, portraying make believe people in an effort to get close to a man they feel is helping the war effort. Tang Wei plays a woman, once shy and naive, who gets a little too close to said man. The results are intense. It's a riveting film totally worth checking out.
Grade: B+

Best of 2007 - Top 10 Best Performances

Javier Bardem in No Country For Old Men
I'm doing this list in alphabetical order to be fair. However, if I was going to start with the best performance of the year, Bardem would still be first. [Granted I haven't had the chance to see Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood.] Bardem gives a truly deliciously evil performance. He is a pleasure to watch. Every time he enters the scene, you are excited and sort of terrified to see what he'll do next. From the opening scene right up until his last, he's just simply perfect.

Cate Blanchett in I'm Not There
Again, I'm doing this alphabetically. Still, Cate would be second. She disappears into the character of Jude Quinn (Bob Dylan) and all the ticks and stutters. It's actually almost a little creepy to see this gorgeous Australian woman become a man and make it look so effortless. I'm not one of those people who are in love with everything Blanchett does. But I am in love with this performance.

Josh Brolin in No Country For Old Men
If Javier Bardem didn't steal this movie in every single way imaginable, you would definitely leave the theater talking about how great Brolin is. Brolin is essentially carrying the bulk of the film on his shoulders and he's more than up for the challenge. This year he's finally been given roles that let his talent shine through.

Julie Christie in Away From Her
Is it wrong to say that Christie's performance is just unforgettable? It's been months and months and everything about her performance is still burned firmly into my mind. Christie gives a performance even better than her Oscar winning role in Afterglow. She has the vibrancy of a young woman and is sexier than most women half her age. Her performance is perfect and I, for one, will be very disappointed if she loses the Oscar.

Emile Hirsch in Into the Wild
Hirsch's career is one I've been following for a while now. Watch films like Imaginary Heroes and The Mudge Boy and you'll see what a great actor he really is. Still, Into the Wild is the sort of movie that lets his real talent come out in full force. Hirsch has charm to spare and uses tha to help build this supertramp character who doesn't think he needs human contact for happiness. Plus, his final moments on screen are guaranteed to break your heart.

Tommy Lee Jones in No Country For Old Men and In the Valley of Elah
Jones is doing better work this year, at the age of 50-something, than ever before. His performances this year were both spot-on. His performance in In the Valley of Elah would fall to number three on this list if it was from very best to still great. What kills me most? He's not even getting a lot of attention for these great roles! Sure, he's not used a lot in No Country For Old Men and he's showed up a bit by Bardem who has the flashier role. But there's something to be said about restraint and reserve. There's something to say about being the strong, silent type. Jones is just doing better work now than ever before.

James McAvoy in Atonement
There's a lot of great women in this film but McAvoy steals the show. His performance is really a masterclass in the act of subtlety. He makes sure Robbie keeps his basic goodness and never resorts to histronics. There is a particular scene between Robbie and Briony as a teenager, that is just perfection.

Viggo Mortensen in Eastern Promises
I just have to respect and admire anyone who has the guts to film a scene that includes a naked knife fight. I mean, come on. He manages to make Nikolai both enigmatic and mesmerizing. He is seemingly rough and tough and yet we are somehow drawn to the goodness in him even as we are not quite sure we should be. It's a skillful and understated performance that quietly but effectively blows you away.

Ellen Page in Juno
I think it's safe to say this: Ellen Page is the best actress under 25 working today. First there was her acting masterclass of a performance in Hard Candy. Now with Juno she even bests that. She does something I think Diablo Cody should be grateful for: makes her highly / overly WRITTEN dialogue just flow and come off the page beautifully (which must have been a DIFFICULT challenge). Thanks to Page's perfection of a performance, it becomes almost impossible to not love this movie and especially the main character.

Michael Shannon in Bug
This movie is definitely not for everyone. Still, months and months later, it's Shannon's intense work that sticks so firmly in my mind. He takes this outlandish performance and is really just fearless. His chemistry with Ashley Judd (who slipped to number 11 on this list) is so intense that these two actors carry this film. Shannon, especially, is perfect and draws you in to this strange, psychological little story.

30 Days of Night, Into the Wild, Across the Universe

30 Days of Night - File this under - 'What took them so long to come up with this brilliant idea?' The setting is Barrow, Alaska - the northernmost town in the United States. It's isolated for miles and miles on all sides. It snows all the time. Once a year, the small town is plunged into darkness for an entire month. This year, a mysterious Stranger (the electrifying, as always, Ben Foster) has arrived. He's destroyed all their cell phones. He cut off all their power. He killed all the sled dogs. He's burned many of the cars. Those that chose to stay (the last airplane leaves at sundown and a plane won't be back until dawn) are effectively cut off from the outside world. Being plunged into darkness for a month sounds creepy enough but when you throw a gang of supernatural vampires into the mix it's downright scary. A small band of survivors unite to try to last through the darkness and make it to daylight. They are led by Sherriff Eben (Josh Hartnett) and his estranged wife Stella (Melissa George). When I told my mom this movie was a love story, I wasn't joking. It kind of is. Stella and Eben have a lot of issues and, really, when is it a better time to realize how much you love someone than when you are being stalked by bloodthirsty vampires? (See, there's something for everyone here). The movie is directed by David Slade who last directed the fantastic film Hard Candy and he does an equally impressive job here. There's a lot of quick cuts. There's a lot of fast action. And, there's a lot of blood! His overhead shots of vampires ransacking the small town are glorious. The movie isn't exactly scary but I've seen a million horror movies and so I'm a bit jaded by now. It actually plays a little more like a Western to me (maybe I like Westerns now?). It's definitely got the swagger and attitude down. The acting is solid but nothing spectacular (it is a horror movie, after all). Hartnett particularly impressed me because I'm so used to him feeling so rigid and stiff in his roles. He actually shows quite a bit of emotion here, especially in the last act of the movie. George is the weakest link here. At times, her performance is strong but there's something about her that just annoys me (Sorry but it's true). Of course, Ben Foster steals all the scenes he is in. This is pretty much the perfect role for him. He's a great character actor who seems to love characters who are a little bit strange, to say the least. Maybe his mantra is: 'The crazier the better.' And he's great at it. Here's hoping he keeps making movies like this and keeps playing such complicated, crazy, wonderful characters. The movie starts with a hectic, gritty intensity and it doesn't let up. The movie is definitely sinister, violent and unrelentingly violent. I'm over zombies, let's return to the vampire genre! And this is a great way to start that trend!
Grade: B

Into the Wild - There are movies that you instantly forget you ever saw. There are many of those. There are movies that are enjoyable or even thought-provoking that stick with you for a few days or a few weeks, sometimes months and years. There are many of those as well. Then, there is the rarest of films - the kind that burrows into your soul. The kind that you just know will live with you forever. The kind that is absolutely unforgetable. Into the Wild is the latter. Honestly, I'm not sure how to even review this movie. In a way, it's beyond words. There's too much beauty, too much tragedy, too much unexplainable perfect-ness to try to capture in a paragraph or two of clumsy words. But I'll try. Into the Wild follows recent college graduate Chris McCandless (Emile Hirsch in a performance so powerful and astonishing, it's really hard to see how he can't be Oscar nominated in January) who burns his social security card, cuts up his credit cards and gives away his life savings to Oxfam. He leaves behind his family (Dad William Hurt, Mom Marcia Gay Harden, sister Jena Malone), gets in his car and just hits the road. We follow him on a series of life changing / life altering experiences and adventures. He meets a lot of great characters played by a lot of great actors (Holy Kristen Stewart! I was right, I was right. She can act!). He takes the name Alexander Supertramp and sets off to see it all. He does rapids from the desert into Mexico (without the permit that would require him to wait 12 years!). He works in a wheat field with Vince Vaughn. He forms a kind of tramp family with the lovely Catherine Keener. He has a moment of true clarity with an apple. All of these adventures, with hippies and nude colonies, Reno and the dirty streets of Los Angeles, moutains and deserts and sweet young love left unconsummated, his true goal is to go North - to Alaska. When he gets there he lives in a Magic Bus for over three months. He hunts (killing a moose which he writes is the biggest tragedy of his life), he pretends he's a bus driver having conversations with his imaginary passengers, he reads, he just lives. And then, well, nature has its funny ways. It's, perhaps, the biggest tragedy of all that the earth that he so worshipped and adored ultimately destroys him. To look at Emile Hirsch in those final few scenes is utterly painful. He looks so pained, to gaunt (you know, the Academy loves when actors lose a lot of weight for roles!!!). The cinematography is stunning. Sean Penn's rebellious direction is superb. The acting is downright brilliant. Hirsch, like I said, deserves to be nominated for an Oscar. I've been a fan of his for years but this is the performance that will cross him over into the mainstream - if he wants to. He gives his all to this role and the result is beyond words. The supporting cast is great as well especially turns from Hal Holbrook, Catherine Keener and Kristen Stewart. The bottom line is that this movie is just plain amazing. As far as I'm concerned, it's the best movie of the year and I can't forsee anything beating it. I'm sure some people out there might find the main character to be a pompous, stubborn asshole, but I see him (as does Penn) as some sort of martyr. His story is inspirational. If I had the guts, I would love to do the same thing. Is there anything wrong with this movie? I could say I didn't love Jena Malone's wise-beyond-her-years narration but that would just be nitpicking. As far as I'm concerned, this movie is as close as you can get to perfect.
Grade: A+

Across the Universe - Sometimes being visually daring doesn't exactly pay off. Sure, this movie looks great. It's got style by the truckload but that doesn't help a boring cliche filled script and loads of mediocre performances. The movie, of course, is set to Beatles music. And the songs are mostly great. The actors are up to the challenge of singing them. But sometimes it's overload. I'm pretty sure the only reason the character of Prudence is even in the movie is so they have an excuse to sing 'Dear Prudence' at one point. She's absolutely the most unnecessary character in recent memory. A few other characters show up just so they can randomly sing songs as well. In a way, the movie is an acheivement in art, design, style and dance. However, it's still a movie and as a movie it suffers from not having a strong script. It suffers from using every 60s era cliche it can possibly find. It suffers from being a little too strange for it's own good. It suffers from being about 40 minutes too long. (It's called editing Julie Taymor, please embrace it next time). There's no character development. No character arcs. No lessons learned. Nothing. But let's ignore the fact that the characters never learn or develop and remain completely one-dimensional because the movie looks great! No, I'm not that easy and you shouldn't be satisfied that easily either. Maybe what irked me the most was that it didn't follow the one very simple rule of musicals. You can pretty much get away with murder in a musical as long as you follow this one simple rule: All songs must advance the plot. This movie fails miserably at that. Jim Sturgess does a fine job playing the main character Jude, a man who leaves Liverpool to find his father in America and instead finds and falls in love with Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood). Wood... annoys me sometimes. In some movies I love her and in some movies I don't. I loved her in Pretty Persuasion and Down in the Valley. I didn't like her here. Dana Fuchs pretty much steals the show as Sadie, a very Janis Joplin type singer. Her rendition of Helter Skelter is easily the best part of the film. The movie isn't so bad, however. There are some great scenes. I particularly loved the bowling alley scene, the 'Happiness is a Warm Gun' scene and the 'Let it Be' scene (eventhough, again, random characters who only serve a function to sing and then disappear). It's not the best movie of the year (nowhere near it) but its not the worst either. It's more or less a two hour long glorified music video.
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