Horror Movie Month + The Ides of March

Horror Movie Month - Masters of Horror: Cigarette Burns
The stars: The ridiculously sexy Norman Reedus
The plot: A theater owner in debt searches for a super rare film in order to make some cash. Said film is a foreign movie that was only shown once in public. Seems everyone who sees it becomes a homicidal maniac.
The scares: It's not scary at all, but interesting. The premise is pretty great although I'm not sure it's executed well. Shame on you, John Carpenter.
The body count: It's hard to tell if things are happening for real or all in his head. Maybe 5.
The grade: C+

Horror Movie Month - I Spit On Your Grave
The stars: Sarah Butler
The plot: In the remake to the BEST REVENGE MOVIE OF ALL TIME, a young writer goes to a secluded cabin alone to work on her next novel. She is brutally beaten and rapes by a group of local men who leave her for dead. A month later she seeks revenge.
The scares: Not scary at all, but disturbing and gory as hell. (Although the part where a certain person gets their eyes pecked out by birds scared me to death, but maybe only because I'm terrified of birds).
The body count: Five. And they all deserved exactly what they got.
The Grade: Not nearly as good as the original... C-

Horror Movie Month - Seconds Apart
The stars: Orlando Jones
The plot: Two creepy twins use their powers for evil instead of good and wreck havoc on the mean kids at their school.
The scares: Not so much. It's actually pretty stupid and pointless, to be honest. The twins are creepy though. Too bad they aren't in a better movie.
The body count: Seven.
The Grade: D

The Ides of March - Ryan Gosling continues to knock it out of the park, giving his second amazing starring performance in the last two months. First up was his cool and collected performance in Drive. Now he is the star of the best ensemble cast of the year in the political drama The Ides of March. Gosling stars as Steven, a hot young campaign manager who is working for the next would be president (George Clooney). The governor seems perfect and it seems Steven and his colleagues (including Phillip Seymour Hoffman) can't lose. However, throw in a troublemaking journalist (Marisa Tomei), the opponent's sneaky manager (Paul Giamatti) and a sexy young intern (Evan Rachel Wood) and you've got yourself one hell of a movie. Like I said, this is the best ensemble of the year with everyone giving amazing performances. Clooney is also the director and he does a damn good job. The writing is sharp and crisp and the story is engaging. This one is a sleeper for the Oscars next year. It's definitely a great film!
Grade: B+

Ceremony, Battle Los Angeles, Crazy Stupid Love

Ceremony - Here's the thing about Ceremony: it's awfully cute at times, has a fantastic lead performance but also feels contrived. The film is written and directed by Max Winkler (the son of Henry Winkler a.k.a. The Fonz!), and it's an admirable debut film. It follows Sam (Michael Angarano), a children's book author who makes his best friend Marshall (Reece Thompson) go away with him for the weekend. However, he withholds the fact that his purpose is to ruin the wedding ceremony of the girl of his dreams, Zoe (Uma Thurmnan) to her pompous fiancee, Whit (Lee Pace). If you were going to put Ceremony in a genre, it would be "Quirky Indie Movie" and, boy, is it ever. The problem with quirky indie movies is that sometimes they try way too hard. And that is one of the problems here. For all the moments when Ceremony is brilliant and funny and poignant, it has moments where it feels fake and forced. However, Angarano's performance is so damn good that it's easy to overlook the flaws. He's simple perfection, all bravado and forced confidence and fast talking charm. He's hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time. I've loved his work since his days as the young William Miller in Almost Famous and it's nice to see him grow up into these kinds of roles. I hope he sticks with the indie scene because he's too good of an actor to take shitty supporting roles in bad movies. He could grow up to be a Sam Rockwell type actor. In fact, he's sort of morphing into Sam Rockwell at times in this movie. And I most certainly don't have a problem with that.
Grade: B-

Battle Los Angeles - Oy vey! This movie has zero redeemable qualities. I can't even believe that I wasted two hours of my life on this crap. It's a badly directed, badly written, stupid sci-fi movie that wastes the considerable talent of Aaron Eckhardt. I'm not even going to bore you with a plot. Aliens take over Los Angeles. Blah, blah, blah. Lots of bad action sequences and even worse writing. Stay far away from this movie as it is a complete and utter waste of your time.
Grade: F

Crazy Stupid Love - The romantic comedy genre is lacking, at best. Two years ago, a little indie movie called 500 Days of Summer came along and completely breathed a whole new life into the genre. Crazy Stupid Love isn't quite that good, but it is definitely one of the better romantic comedies made in the last few years. First we meet Steve Carell's Cal, a man who has been with his wife (Julianne Moore) for over thirty years when one day she tells him she wants a divorce. Of course, his life begins to unravel. He starts going to bars and drinking his sorrows away. There he meets Jacob (Ryan Gosling), a young ladies man who takes Cal under his wing and teachers him how to pick up women. Cal seems to know it all... except when he actually begins to fall in love with Hannah (Emma Stone) and doesn't know what the hell to do. Throw in Marisa Tomei, Kevin Bacon, Josh Groban, and Analeigh Tipton (I still can't believe if she is the weirdest looking or prettiest looking girl of all time), and you've got yourself a fantastic cast for a romantic comedy. And it is very funny, which is a plus. You might think Carell gets all the laughs, but it's actually Gosling who all but steals the show (Stone and her awkward goofy adorableness comes in a close second). Plus, the movie just simply has heart. It's not raunchy and it doesn't try too hard to be a certain kind of movie. It stays true to itself and is very sweet. Plus, the cast doesn't hurt. The cast is actually fantastic all around and helps elevate any problems to a different level. There are a few problems, mainly the running time. It feels longer than it is. However, all in all, Crazy Stupid Love is a sweet, funny, great time at the movies.
Grade: B

The Lincoln Lawyer

I don't want to get too excited here but I will say this: The Lincoln Lawyer is the best movie of 2011, so far. The thrill of FINALLY finding a movie that is actually good this year may cloud this review just a bit; after all, it's been months and months of crap at the theaters. So, I'm going to start off with the negatives just in case this becomes a review where I praise the hell out of this movie. First of all, one of my biggest pet peeves in a movie is something I call the false ending. That's where you think the movie ends more than once before it actually ends. This movie has about five of those. And it really irks me. I think a lot of crappy decisions in the writing of a film can be forgiven with a really great ending. But, guess what? If you have three or four ideas for a great ending, don't use them all! It's overkill. That is my biggest problem with the film. Other than that, it's all minor things - it meanders in pace from time to time, I wish parts of it had been a little more ambiguous, some overstating of the obvious. But, really, that's it!

The Lincoln Lawyer stars Matthew McConaughey as Mick Haller, a cocky, effortlessly charming defense lawyer whose office is in the back of his car (a Lincoln, hence the title). His m.o. is getting criminals out of jail, druggies, murderers, it doesn't matter as long as the pay checks show up. But then he takes on the case of a pretty rich boy (Ryan Phillippe) who is accused of beating the hell out of a girl he met at a bar... who just so happens to be a prostitute who may or may not have devised this evil plan to get millions of dollars out of the spoiled rich kid, Louis. And that's basically it. Sounds simple, but there are twists and turns and damn great storytelling that will keep you on the edge of your seat. This is an intense legal thriller that has a great feel about it, a gritty, dirty tale of redemption in Los Angeles.

McConaughey gives the best performance of his career as the caddish lawyer who seemingly develops a conscious over night. I'm not his biggest fan but (and I'd truly like to see if he is actually a good actor by having him branch out and do something different, something that shows his vulnerable side) he is solid in this role. It's right in his wheelhouse - effortlessly cool, calm, funny, cockiness under the surface. Another performance that is in an actor's wheelhouse is that given by Phillippe. Again, not his biggest fan, but I do think some of the criticism of him as a "wooden" actor is unjustified. He'll never be the type of actor who can do any kind of role. He's not Meryl Streep, for Christ's sake. But when given a certain type of role - cold, possibly conniving, pretty rich spoiled brat - he nails it. And it's because of his "wooden" acting that allows him to embody seemingly devious characters. The audience is never sure if they should trust a word he says and Phillippe is sort of perfect for a part like that, probably because you're not sure if you like him in real life. The rest of the cast is pretty stellar as well - William H. Macy as Mick's investigator bestie, lightening the mood with his humor and wit, Josh Lucas as the up and coming lawyer from the district attorney's office who isn't above playing dirty, Michael Pena as a possibly innocent man in San Quentin, John Leguizamo as a squirrely bail bondsman, Bryan Cranston as a hardnosed cop, and my man Shea Whigham who all but steals the damn movie in one perfectly played scene. Then there are the ladies, Marisa Tomei as Mick's lawyer ex and Frances Fisher as Louis' tough as nails mom, who are terribly, terribly, terribly under used. That is another of the problems I have with this movie. The men all have riveting, interesting roles. The women? Not so much! Why not hire nobodies? They are wasting the talents of Tomei and Fisher with empty roles.

Overall, the acting is excellent (most of the men are already gracing my best of 2011 lists... although I'm sure some of them won't make the cut once the heavy hitting movies are released). The plot is solid and tight and grabs your attention from the beginning and barely lets you go. The writing is smart and witty. There's a great soundtrack and the film is evenly paced and doesn't flounder or lose it's way too often. The direction is raw and gritty, and I personally like all the handheld camera work although I could understand where it would annoy some as being unnecessary. The Lincoln Lawyer is based on a book in a series by Michael Connelly which means there may be a franchise. I, for one, say bring it!

Grade: B

Coming soon: Reviews of Limitless, Sucker Punch, and more!