A Return to Writing

Hello readers and fellow movie-goers,

I know it had been far too long since I have written, the initial reason being a stage show that I started rehearsing in August, but wrapped in November, and since then it has been a very busy work schedule, and the daunting task of reviewing all the movies I have seen in a past few months in order to catch up. But I feel that writing is good for me, and I have had several of my readers approach me and ask me to keep writing, so it is with all of you in mind that I take up my metaphorical pen, and will dive back into doing what I love so much.

But I felt that in order to catch up and make it so I can start writing consistently again, I needed to knock a whole bunch of reviews out at once, and if I stuck with my format from before, I would be writing well into my 30s. So I have decided to use this post as a "Catch-Up" post, where I will break from my traditional format and just provide a brief summary of my thoughts about each film discussed. I will try to limit myself to 5 (or so) sentences on each, so that you the reader don't become bored as well, and then move onto the next. After this post, and the post on the Oscar Best Picture contenders that I plan to write, I will return to my traditional format, including basic plot summaries, pictures, cast and crew listings, etc.

So without further ado, let the reviewing begin!!

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

To anyone who knows me more intimately than through my blogs, they know me as a die-hard Harry Potter fan who has read the books collectively more than 100 times. But as anyone who has loved a piece of literature that has been adapted to the big screen knows, the book almost always tends to be better than the movie, and director David Yates' new foray into J.K. Rowling's wizarding world is no exception. The movie is good, not great, taking the major plot points of the book and presenting them in a somewhat muddled manner on screen. The acting does seem to get better with each movie, as the children especially continue to grow into their roles; the one exception being Bonnie Wright, the awkward, introverted girl chosen to play Ginny Weasel, the fiery, witty sister of Ron, who completely lacks the energy and disposition that make that character great. My other major complaint with this movie, is that David Yates played it too safe with the dark tones and vicious violence that exist within the pages of the book. Scaling his film back to create a nice PG family tent-pole movie for Warner Bros., Yates created a bland, prude retelling of what I view to be the darkest, and therefore most enjoyable and thought-provoking entry in the saga, devoid of blood, evil, and most blatantly, the final epic battle out of the castle! But overall, not a bad movie, but not the best that we've seen in the Harry Potter septology.

My Review: B-

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

I don't ever attempt to keep my hatred for Michael Bay, or his balls-out style of "explosive" film making (pun intended), but he occasionally makes a movie that I not only will consider watching, but I will outright enjoy (Let's not forget that this man did give us what I view as the second greatest action film of all time, The Rock.) Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, is NOT one of those movies. Despite myself, I loved the first Transformers, for it's shameless display of the giant transforming robots that I had loved as a child, and it's attempt to not really be anything else other than a fun, mindless action flick. Revenge of the Fallen, while still retaining the epic robot battles, tries and fails to fill its poorly thought out plot with juvenile comedy, pot-addled mothers, unnecessarily abundant slow-motion shots of Megan Fox's boobs, and two of the most racially inappropriate and offensive characters to be seen on screen since Orson Welles thought he should play Othello. The movie is fluff and filler, without any attempt at a cohesive story, and a crowded cast of new Transformers that bogs the movie down even more.

My Review: D

Public Enemies:

Once again, a movie that could have been an exciting action film, but is instead slowed by distracting digital photography, an overabundance of "historical" scenes that simply further the plot along its timeline, and characters that you just don't really care about that much. Johnny Depp's portrayal of John Dillinger is convincing, but it all feels very surface level, and you never really empathize with him, which I believe to be the movie's main reason for using his point-of-view to tell the story. Christian Bale's performance as Federal agent Melvin Purvis is even more lack-luster, never truly making him the villain, but instead presenting a character who sort of just occasionally gets in Dillinger's way, and then kills himself, a fact that is oddly presented after the climax of the movie and before the credit scroll, but is never hinted at or discussed in the movie itself. Marion Cotillard is the standout performance in the movie, but is not enough to save a film that had all the pieces to be a good movie, but just couldn't deliver. And how did Michael Mann miss the chance to put Billy Crudup in high heels?? J. Edgar Hoover is rolling over in his grave...

My Review: C-

Moon

An expertly directed film that flew under most people's radars, Moon reveals itself to be one of the unsung Sci-Fi gems of last year. While I can't help but compare it to Stanley Kubrick's 1968 masterpiece, 2001: A Space Odyssey, the movie does have some originality and unique qualities to its story-telling. Sam Rockwell gives the performance of his career as Sam Bell, and Kevin Spacey entertaining voicing of GERTY, Sam's robotic partner and command module, gives the movie some light-hearted moments to break up the deep, existential tones of the movie. This is one of those movies that you feel you need to watch again as soon as it is over, because the twists, turns, and reveals have your head spinning and attempting to process what just happened. The tagline of Moon is, "The Last Place You'd Ever Expect to Find Yourself," which was apparently how most of the movie-going public felt, but I highly recommend taking the time to find yourself watching Moon.

My Review: A-

Jennifer's Body

1. Diablo Cody got lucky with her Oscar-winning Juno Screenplay, because this movie is horribly (Can't think of a worse word at the moment) written.

2. Despite its blatant depiction of nude/near-nude Megan Fox, this movie completely repulsed me from her, not because she was a demon, but because her performance made me nauseous.

3. Attempted to turn the genre backwards, and for once have a female character hunting down and killing male characters, but instead it just gave more reasons to hate the movie.

4. Ellen Page was able to pull it off in Juno, but why does Diablo Cody think she can just invent words/phrases/idioms/etc. and have it been called brilliant writing, and think that we as the audience have any idea what she is saying?

5. Why did I see this movie?

My Review: F

Zombieland

Ahhhhhh, a breath of fresh air after that last review, Zombieland is a gem in the genre, and should be considered an instant classic for its wonderful sense of satire, depth, story-telling. We have seen a lot of the same stuff in the profitable market of Zombie movies, but what makes director Ruben Fleischer's feature film debut so enjoyable, is its choice to examine less about the zombie breakout and survival aspects, and focus more on the morality of the apocalypse, and reasoning behind why certain people survive, and why others become meat popsicles for the undead. This quirky examination is actually very profound, and told in a brilliant way with a cast of 4 strangers who form a wonderful relationship, and a horde of zombies chasing them. Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin bring together one of the funniest comedies in years, and one of the most enjoyable movies of 2009.

My Review: A

Paranormal Activity

This was last year's little movie that could. Made on a budget of $12,000, and armed with an absolutely brilliant marketing campaign, Paranormal Activity set out to scare audiences around the nation, but only if you had enough people request the film's release in an area near you. Taking the things that movies like The Blair Witch Project (few), and Cloverfield (lots) did right, Paranormal Activity, despite a fairly non-existent plot, emerges as a truly enjoyable movie, with genuine thrills and jumps, and has you leaving the theater thinking just a little bit more than usual about what happens to you when you sleep. Imaginative film making makes this movie what it is, especially when about 80% of the movie is shot from one perspective. Aided by very believable performances from the movie's three actors, especially from The Psychic, and an audience who could literally feel everyone holding their breath throughout the movie, makes Paranormal Activity the Cinderalla story of 2009, despite its various plot holes and a so-so ending.

My Review: B

Where the Wild Things Are

Spike Jonze's adaptation of Maurice Sendak's classic children's book has been in the works for a very long time. The author had been trying to get someone to pick it up since the 1990's, but Spike Jonze's was finally able to bring the world of Max and the Wild Things to the screen in 2009. In my belief, this is one of the most misunderstood movies of last year, as people walked out of showings spouting the same comment, "That was really dark...wasn't it supposed to be a kid's movie?" This is both the movie's greatest flaw and strength; this movie is dark and because people expected a kid's movie, they fell on the side of not enjoying it because it was dark, but its strength lies in that darkness too. The movie is not a children's movie, it is a movie about being a child, which includes all the darkness, jealousy, and imagination of children, and is what makes this movie great in my opinion. The original cut of the film actually worried Warner Bros. so much because of its dark tone, that they were ready to scrap and reshoot the entire $75 million process, but Jonze did some reshoots and reorganizing of the film to allow it to open mostly unchanged. This beautiful film mixes the brilliant linguistic performances of talents like James Gandolfini, Paul Dano, Forest Whitaker, and Chris Cooper, with incredibly lifelike physical performances from the on set puppets. The film is as visually stunning as any other movie of the year, despite is earthy tones, and the images are paired beautifully with the tone of the story, something that many filmmakers strive for, but seldom achieve.

My Review: A

The Fantastic Mr. Fox

Now to turn to a movie that was indeed made for children, Wes Anderson's newest paternal-driven film is an adaptation of the classic Roahl Dahl novel, and a breakthrough piece in the industry of stop-motion technology. Voiced by an all-star cast including George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, and Jason Schwartzman, Anderson finds a way to put his own quirky twist into the story, while maintaining all of the childlike wonder than is key to a Dahl book. The animation is absolutely beautiful, and gives a a depth to the characters that makes them feel more like living, breathing people than mechanical puppets. A traditional Anderson soundtrack highlights the cavalcade of comedy, heart, and whistling foxes. The movie goes to show that Anderson can put his style on anything, and keep it heartfelt, satirically funny, and most importantly, enjoyable.

My Review: A-

Ninja Assassin

I didn't even know how badly I was aching for a hack and slash ninja movie until my eyes were pleasured by the gory popcorn movie that is Ninja Assassin. Starring Korean pop singer, Rain, Ninja Assassin treads familiar ground with its story of ninja hierarchies and betrayal, but it does it in such an enjoyable way that you barely notice that you know exactly what is going to happen. That being said, the narrative itself is fairly lackluster, but it doesn't matter, because you are really only watching it for the amazingly choreographed ninja battles that tend to take place about every ten minutes. Each battle scene is cooler than the last, consistently pushing the envelope further and further from reality, but with every spleen sliced, and every body disemboweled, you laugh harder and cheer for more! This movie strengthens my resolve more than ever, that producers Larry and Andy Wachowski understand how to make a genuinely entertaining movie for a target audience, even if critics say otherwise (I am of course speaking about the Wachowski Brother's totally overlooked 2008 magnum opus, Speed Racer).

My Review: B

The Princess and the Frog

Despite the controversy surrounding their newest princess, I found myself greatly anticipating Disney's newest animated feature, not because I found the story particularly engaging, but because it was the first fully HAND-ANIMATED feature from Disney since their lame attempt at a teenage-relatable comedy in 2004 with "Home on the Range." And while I would like to say it was worth the wait, I think it is lame that an animation studio made us wait at all for a time-consuming animated feature like this one. That being said, the movie is absolutely stunning from a visceral perspective, and if the public doesn't see the difference, I believe that they have lost the heart and soul that classic Disney movies presented from Snow White to Hercules. The characters have more warmth, more personality, and more spirit when carefully animated cell by cell, and it makes all the difference in the world. The story is masterfully spun, like we knew Disney always could, and is punctuated by memorable songs and characters. This movie gives me hope for the future of Disney, rather than riding on the coat tails of Pixar, but returning to the tradition of high caliber animation that gave them their start back in 1923.

My Review: B+

Ok, that's enough for now. I know they're short and succinct, and trust me I want to write more about each one, except for Jennifer's Body, but I want to get caught up and get back to doing reviews every week or so, and be able to do them exactly how I want, and so I can be happy with them. That's not to say that I'm not happy about these ones, but I just have so much more I would want to share with you! So look for me in a few days or so, and I'll put up a collection of reviews all devoted to this year's Best Picture list, until them, keep watching!