DVD Mini Reviews

During the year, I like to try to watch as many movies released during that year as possible. I won't go pay to see a bad movie in theaters but I have no qualms about watching bad movies via Netflix. This is so I can make my best possible best and worst lists at the end of the year, making sure I see as many options as possible. The movies I've been watching lately from Netflix from this year were sort of on the disappointing side for the most part.

Mud
Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Tye Sheridan, Reese Witherspoon, Michael Shannon (!!)
Plot: Two young boys set out to find an island where a boat has been washed into a tree. They also happen to find a mysterious man named Mud and they become entangled in his personal life. Drama and danger ensue.
Thoughts: This was the only good movie I've seen via Netflix in the last few weeks. It's a pretty simple story, but the script is so well written and all the performances are out of this world, that it just elevates the material. Tye Sheridan is a great find, a young actor who can completely command attention from more famous co-stars. And McConaughey?!? Man, he is on a role. His career is so hot right now that I am always anticipating new work from him which is something I never, ever thought I would think. But, seriously, how many award worthy performances can he give in a row???
Grade: B+

Dead Man Down
Stars: Colin Farrell, Noomi Rapace, Terrence Howard
Plot: A lonely disfigured woman witnesses the man across the street kill another man in his apartment and decides to blackmail him into murdering the man who disfigured her.
Thoughts: The best part of this movie was when it was over. I think I may have fallen asleep at one point, but it really didn't matter because you can see the "plot twists" coming a mile away. I love Farrell and Rapace and think they did a great job with the material, but this movie ultimately fails to deliver but succeeds at boring you into submission.
Grade: D+

A Good Day to Die Hard
Stars: Bruce Willis, Jai Courtney
Plot: John McClane heads to Russia, where his wayward son is in trouble with the law. Or is he?? Turns out his hottie son is working for the CIA and the two sexy bald McClane men team up to fight Russian bad guys. Smashing through ceilings, gun fights and helicopter chases ensue.
Thoughts: Obviously not as good as the original Die Hard. Or Die Hard 2. Or even Live Free or Die Hard from a few years ago. It's basically Die Hard paint by numbers and if you like action and sexy bald men, then it's not a terrible way to spend an hour and a half. This would have gotten a higher grade had Jai Courtney been shirtless for more than ten seconds. (What?? I'm totally a girl sometimes.)
Grade: C

Magic Magic
Stars: Juno Temple, Emily Browning, Michael Cera
Plot: A bunch of college friends go to a secluded farm to drink and hang out. One of their cousin's tags along. She goes cray.
Thoughts: Allow me to justify why I got this movie from the Red Box to begin with: I had a coupon, okay?? It was for a free movie and it expired that particular day. Neither my boyfriend nor I had ever heard of this movie. I have a pretty major girl crush on Juno Temple and he has a thing for Emily Browning. Plus, Michael Cera is awesome, so we decided to go for it. BIGGEST MISTAKE EVER. This is, quite possibly, one of the worst movies I have ever seen in my entire life. I don't even know why we watched the whole thing instead of just turning it off and calling it a day. Still, it's better than Lords of Salem, so that's a plus, I guess.
Grade: F

The Host
Stars: Saoirse Ronan, Max Irons, Jake Abel, Diane Kruger, William Hurt
Plot: Aliens begin taking over the bodies of humans, erasing their memories, and living a peaceful existence. One young woman fights back against the force to hold onto her love and protect her brother.
Thoughts: Positives first - William Hurt is awesome in this movie. Also, I'll never complain about a movie featuring not one (Irons) but TWO (Abel) cute boys. But, mostly, this movie is ridiculous. There are no high stakes. There is no drama, really, except for a minute here and a minute there. Plus, this movie features the absolute strangest love triangle I have ever seen.
Grade: D+

Welcome to the Punch
Stars: James McAvoy, Mark Strong, David Morrissey
Plot: It's your basic cops and bad guy movie complete with dirty cops and complicated plot lines that don't entirely make sense until the end.
Thoughts: Like I said, pretty basic. There is nothing bad about this movie, but there isn't really much to say about it that's good either. This movie is basically entirely carried by the charms and charisma of McAvoy, so if you like McAvoy like I do, then you probably won't mind watching a mediocre movie.
Grade: C+


And finally, the movie COMPLIANCE was released last year instead of this year, but I finally got around to watching it and I'm not sure how I feel about it. It's the true story of a man who poses as a police officer and calls fast food restaurants to see how far he can push managers in taking advantage of employees. For example, he tells the manager of Chickwich that one of her employees is a thief which leads to a strip search and so much more. This is an entirely true story and according to Wikipedia, happened at least 70 times around the country. I can't really believe one group of people were stupid enough to fall for this hoax, let alone 70! It's a pretty uncomfortable movie to watch but i also find it highly effective. It's as tense as a movie that takes almost entirely in one small room can be. So, anyway, I'm still not sure what to make of it so if anyone watches it, I'm really interested to hear another take on it.

Top Ten Best Supporting Actors of the Decade

10. Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds (2009) - The most exciting supporting actor turn of the year comes from Waltz as a member of the Nazi party who is as charming as he is evil. His turn manages to be funny and terrifying all at once. There's a particular scene between him and Melanie Laurent which is the epitome of intense. She knows what he is capable of yet plays along with nicities and the audience waits for him to turn on her. Brilliant portrayal.

09. Mark Wahlberg in The Departed (2006) - Not only does Wahlberg get to deilver all the best lines, he somehow manages to steal every scene he's in, whether its with DiCaprio, Damon, Baldwin or Martin Sheen. His portrait of a by the books Boston cop leaves the audience anticipating his every scene.

08. Paul Newman in Road to Perdition (2002) - Playing an old Irish mob boss, Newman gives one of his best character performances in decades. He was well into his 70s when he made this film and still managed to show up young guns like Jude Law and Tom Hanks. He gives the most subtle, moving performance in the film. He really was a master.

07. William Hurt in A History of Violence (2005) - He's on screen for all of 15 minutes. Maybe less. But his performance is completely effective and powerful. He shows up near the end and manages to make a good film even stronger with his unexpected and pivotal performance which shows what a powerhouse actor he truly is.

06. Jack Nicholson in The Departed (2006) - Maybe I'm just biased because of my love for Jack. Or maybe it's just because Jack can do this kind of bad boy bad ass role in his sleep but Nicholson shines when working with Scorsese. Playing a Boston mafia kingpin, he's clearly reveling in every single, nearly over the top moment of every scene of which he is a part.

05. Clive Owen in Closer (2004) - As Larry, the hotheaded doctor in love with Julia Roberts' Anna, Owen gives her best performance to date. His character is completely and 100% unlikeable, a sleazy, too-clever, manipulater, yet Owen manages to make him almost charming. He's brash and disagreeable, dangerous and alluring. It's impossible not to take your eyes off him.

04. Jackie Earle Haley in Little Children (2006) - Talk about a comeback! Haley made a name for himself as a child actor in Bad News Bears. Then he all but disappeared only to return again in Little Children playing the worst kind of monster of all - a child molester (and who says he isn't the perfect casting choice for Freddy in the Nightmare on Elm Street remake). His performance is unflinching, unforgiving and just plain brutal.

03. Benicio Del Toro in Traffic (2000) - In a ridiculously amazing cast, it seems hard to think that one little known Latino actor could stand out but Benicio Del Toro managed to shine above big name cast mates like Michael Douglas, Don Cheadle and Catherine Zeta Jones. It's no accident that the movie begins and ends with shots of him. He plays a Mexican cop caught in the middle of a corrupt sysetm and his character is subtle and endlessly compelling.

02. Javier Bardem in No Country For Old Men (2007) - A few years ago, Bardem was winning every award in existence for his portrayal of a silent and very deadly hit man (with a very bad haircut) in No Country for Old Men. And he deserved every single one of those awards plus, probably, more. His Anton Chigurh is absolutely ruthless. He is enigmatic and menacing and becomes this frightening portrait of evil down to his very bones. A brilliant and chilling performance.

01. Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight (2008) - Every great hero needs an equally great villain. In the original Batman films, there were a few good villains, a few decent villains and quite a few terrible ones. The one thing Batman Begins lacked was a really, really good villain. Well, thanks to Heath Ledger's punk rock, anarchist, no-holds-barred performance as The Joker, The Dark Knight had a GREAT villain. Perhaps the greatest villain in the franchise history. He took the Joker well past the silly, funny Joker Nicholson played and went to a much, much darker place. A place so dark, I don't know how the film got away with a PG-13 rating. Ledger may have left us too soon but his performances, this one especially, will live on forever.

Vantage Point + more

Vantage Point - The concept of Vantage Point isn't exactly bad. It's sort of interesting actually. The premise is: the President gets assassinated at a Summit meeting in Spain. Then, the same twenty minutes are shown multiple times from different points of view which all uncover different clues to lead you to the conclusion. If it had been executed properly, this movie could have been very strong. Unfortunately, it's absolutely predictible (at least I predicted it from twenty minutes in), the dialogue is terrible and the movie more or less dumbs itself down. It's not the cast that is to blame. Granted they don't have much to work with but William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, Dennis Quaid, and Forest Whitaker are all strong actors. Still, the most interesting parts of movie, for me, was when they showed the story from the point of view of the seemingly background characters. There was a car chase near the end which was pretty fantastic at first and then just became more and more ridiculous. Then there were a lot of small things that just drove me kind of crazy. First of all, this international counter-terrorism summit is hosted, not by the prime minister of Spain or another high ranking Spanish politician but by... the mayor. Yeah, ok. Also, in such events, I would think the general public would not be allowed to show up, especially such a huge crowd. But what do I know. I also hated the way the movie assumed the audience was dumb (granted, most of them probably were because people on imdb seem to like this movie). It showed us something that happend in the past of Quaid's character. Then, literally, fifteen minutes later, it showed us again in flashbacks. Let's remind the audience why this character is so stressed and paranoid in case they already forgot. I also have quite a few issues with the ending. I'm trying not to give too much away but the reason the terrorists don't succeed with their mission is because the getaway car crashes... because they didn't want to hit a little girl. Now, before you say, awww, such nice terrorists, consider that they already assassinated a president, blew up a square full of innocent bystanders, orchestrated a detailed kidnapping plot and engaged in a high speed chase through small side streets of a Spanish village. But, no, god forbid we hit a little girl who is too stupid to get out of the road for a speeding vehicle! The thing that bothers me so much about this movie is that it actually could have been really good. But, alas, for now, Cloverfield still sits atop the Best of 2008 list... and that's kind of sad.
Grade: D+

Margot at the Wedding - Noah Baumbach, how I love you. Margot at the Wedding is a neurotic biting film where the laughs are as sharp as razor blades. They come fast and furious and are often enough to draw blood. It focuses on a disfunctional relationship between two sisters (Nicole Kidman is the titular Margot and Jennifer Jason Leigh is her sister Pauline) who haven't spoken in years. Margot and her son Claude come to stay with Pauline to celebrate her wedding to Malcolm (Jack Black who is somehow maybe channeling Napoleon Dynamite). The film is choppily edited and the piece has a structure which is all over the place. Still, I mostly enjoyed it. I didn't love it as much as The Squid and the Whale but it's still a strong film. Leigh is fantastic as a mostly mellow woman who has a serious lack of accomplishment and a penchant for temper tantrums (which are completely justified usually). Kidman as Margot is the best she's ever been in my opinion. She likes to make trouble for everyone to keep the focus on them and away from her own problems. There is a point when Margot and Pauline even become like an extension of the same character. There are a lot of clues to things that may hide under the surface (abuse, incest, etc.) but is never really investigated further. This is a very dark film but it's mostly enjoyable. I loved Kidman and I loved Leigh. I did have a few problems with the film (the babysitter while I guess she served a purpose, was just plain annoying and the next door neighbors who seemingly inhabited a whole different world). Also, I didn't exactly love the ending. Still, the movie is sharply written and the performances by the leading ladies are superb.
Grade: B

American Gangster - The very first scene in American Gangster shows a man getting lit on fire. That is a perfect way to start a film, in my opinion. It took me a while to give in and watch this movie. I couldn't get over the two hour and forty minute running time. Now, I love a long movie. There Will Be Blood was almost three hours long and I wish it would have been LONGER! Still, I love Daniel Day-Lewis and I love Paul Dano and I will watch them for ten hours if Paul Thomas Anderson wants me to. However, I don't really love Denzel Washington and I am just now starting to not hate Russell Crowe so the almost three hour time was daunting. I do love Josh Brolin but he's barely in this movie, unfortunately. Anyway, American Gangster follows Washington's Frank Lucas, a driver for a mob boss who dies and then decides to take over Harlem for himself. He goes oversees and starts smuggling pure drugs into New York City. It's twice as good as the other stuff on the street and half as expensive. He becomes a multi-millinaire and more or less runs the streets of Harlem. Crowe plays Richie Roberts, a cop who is honest on the job but not with his wife. He heads up a drug enforcement program and he begins to center his investigation on Frank Lucas after a while. While the film is long, it's mostly engrossing and enjoyable. While everyone keeps talking about Washington with this film (and he does play a badass, whatever), I liked Crowe's more subtle performance better. The different sides of his personality are always fighting with each other and his nuances are perfect. Then there's Ruby Dee. She's nominated for Best Supporting Actress at tonight's Oscars and she might win and... I don't think she deserves it at all! Sorry, but she had one good scene. It was a solid stand out scene but it is hardly Oscar worthy. Overall, I really liked the movie... until the last five minutes when they show what happened to all the different characters in real life. I won't ruin it but there is a certain turn of events that I feel is completely against the characters of the film and that sort of ruined the movie for me a little bit. It made me feel like I was lied to; there was a character I admired and learned to like that I just felt betrayed by. To sum up: Ruby Dee should not win Best Supporting Actress, T.I. is a sexy man... but not as sexy as Josh Brolin, and Russell Crowe totally blows Denzel out of the water here.
Grade: B-

Tomorrow - Oscar wrap-up!