A Journey Through Cinematic Heaven and Hell

Review: The Brothers Bloom

The Brothers Bloom | Rian Johnson, 2009

Last year, I finally decided to watch Brick, Rian Johnson’s directorial debut. I had heard about how great it was, but never thought about giving it a chance. Well, when I did, I loved it. So, because of this, I eagerly anticipated his follow up: a film about con men. However, due to Summit’s crappy release patter, I was just able to watch it, and although it is not as good as Brick, it is pretty good.

The Brothers Bloom follows two brothers Bloom (Adrien Brody) and —–(Mark Ruffalo). They, along with their explosions expert, Bang Bang (Rinko Kikuchi), live the life fantastique, but Bloom is not happy and wants a normal life so he quits, but soon after his brother finds him so that they can do one last con. This con involves Penelope, a rich shut-in that wants adventure. And so, they travel around the world to give her adventure and hope they can con some money out of her.

Like I said, this is not as good as Johnson’s previous directorial effort, mostly because of the script. The plot is very thin and it barely holds the movie together. Near the end it drags, but the ending does save it. As a director, Johnson does a good job at channeling his inner Wes Anderson. The best thing about the movie, though are the performances.

Rachel Weiz as Penelope gives the best performance of the bunch. She just seemed to be having a lot of fun and was totally into the character. Plus, her performance makes for the funniest moment of the year. Her performance is one of the best of the year. Brody, Ruffalo, and Kikuchi are good for what they have to do, but they didn’t seem to be into their characters as much as Weiz.

The Brothers Bloom is fun movie. It is not quite as brilliant as Brick, but it did show that Johnson can work with a bigger budget well and that he can get good performances out of his actors. Hopefully his next movie is better.

2010: 02/08
CATEGORY: Three Star Reviews
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Review: Michael Jackson’s This is It

Michael Jackson’s This is It | Kenny Ortega, 2009

I was never a huge fan of Michael Jackson. Sure, I liked his music (I mean, who doesn’t like “Thriller”), but was more familiar with his legal woes than anything. So, I can’t say that I was excited to see this “Documentary.” I wasn’t even morbidly curious about it. But I now wish that I had seen it in theaters for it was quite extraordinary.

This is It is made up of rehearsal footage that was filmed during Jackson’s preparations for his 50 performances in London in July of 2009. It was cut to be like what the people in London would have seen during the concerts, but of course, without an audience or the proper look of the performance. This movie shows Jackson being a perfectionist, trying to get everything right for the concerts, but never being difficult when people didn’t do what he wanted. He was nice to his musicians, dancers, producers, etc. It also shows that at the age of 50, and weeks before he would pass away, he still had it going on. His voice was still in shape, and his moves, thought not quite as energetic because of his age and because he was just rehearsing, was still great. It pretty much is teaser for what would have been a great show.

I must mention that the movie would not have been what it is without the editors. They did an amazing job of pretty much creating good musical numbers out of many hours of footage, some number which might have been captured in their entirety.

This is It is an entertaining movie that shows a music icon doing what he love, and that he still had it. The world may have lost one of the greatest musicians of all time, but his music still will be heard and loved by generations to come.

2010: 02/07
CATEGORY: Four Star Reviews
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Review: Bright Star

Bright Star | Jane Campion, 2009

I first heard about this movie when it was announced as part of the Cannes Film Festival competition line-up. I had heard of John Keats and knew a bit about his story, but I had not read any of his work, and to this day I haven’t. I decide it to watch it based on the fact that the people who liked it, loved it. So, as time went by and it didn’t reach a theater near me, my anticipation grew and grew, and now that I finally watched it, I could not help but feel a little bit underwhelmed by it.

The story is simple: Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish) is a fashionable and strong willed woman who falls for poet John Keats (Ben Whinshaw). As the movie progresses, we see the love they have for each other grow. However, as expected, her mom sort of opposes to it because he has no money, and his best friend (Paul Schneider) doesn’t want him to lose his freedom by getting married.

The movie is not so much about the story, but about the journey. If you know anything about John Keats, then you already know that he dies in the end. Knowing that, all we have left to do is to enjoy the relationship go along for the ride so that in the end we feel what they characters feel. This is where the movie fails. By the end, I felt for Fanny, but I didn’t feel emotionally invested with the story. Besides that, everything is excellent.

Jane Campion’s direction, though far from the best of the year, is excellent and makes the time period come to life, with the help of her production crew of course. The sets and Oscar-nominated costumes by Jane Patterson are the best of the year. Meanwhile, the cinematography is breathtaking. The score, although very short, is quite pleasing to the ears.

As for the performances, they are uniformly good with Cornish and Schneider being the stand outs. Winshaw is good at being romantic and sick, but he had not much else to do.

Bright Star is not a bad movie, but it is not quite what some people made it out to be. I am looking forward to watching the movie again and see if I have a different oppinion.

2010: 02/05
CATEGORY: Three Star Reviews
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Review: The Oscar-Nominated Animated Short Films

I have just watched all the animated short films that have been nominated for the Academy Award in that category. I will review each one from the one I liked the least to the one I liked, the most, which is the one I think should win.

Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty | Nicky Phelan

This short is about an old woman with Marge Simpson-like hair that goes up to her grand daughter to tell her the story of Sleeping Beauty. However, she is so bitter about her old age that she twists the tale and reveals her true feeling about young women and how elderly folks are always treated. The concept is nice, but the execution is not. I’m not going to criticize the animation since it looks good for a movie with a limited budget, but the way the story is told, and the personality given to the old woman did not please me at all. Not a bad short, but it should not have been nominated.

2010: 02/04
CATEGORY: Four Star Reviews
Three Star Reviews
Three and a Half Star Reviews
Two and a Half Star Reviews
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Oscar Nominations: ‘Avatar’ and ‘The Hurt Locker’ Lead With Nine Noms

Although this mornings announcement offered some surprises, AMPAS once again stayed on the safe side. I will analyze each category individually and express my thoughts.

Best Picture

* “Avatar” James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
* “The Blind Side” Nominees to be determined
* “District 9” Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers
* “An Education” Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
* “The Hurt Locker” Nominees to be determined
* “Inglourious Basterds” Lawrence Bender, Producer
* “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers
* “A Serious Man” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers
* “Up” Jonas Rivera, Producer
* “Up in the Air” Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers

These is almost what I predicted with the exeption of The Blind Side. I do believe that Star Trek deserved to be nominated, but The Blind Side is the kind of movie that they would go for, but it would not have been nominated in a field of five. And the inclusion of An Education, District 9, A Serious Man, and Up does soften the blow. Overall, the expansion to 10 nominees was a success.

2010: 02/02
CATEGORY: Special
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Final Oscar Predictions

A few days ago I posted a set of predictions, but I thought I should make another set with updates since the nominations are coming out on Tuesday. No major changes, some of them will definitely be wrong, but I just feel right by posting them. I will list them with a couple of alternates for each category.

Here they Are:

(Bumped for tomorrow’s anouncement)

2010: 02/01
CATEGORY: Special
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The Decade in Review: My Favorite Posters

I know I had said that I was done with the “Decade in Review Lists” but I decided that I should make one dedicated to my favorite posters. Other than the first one, they will be in random order.

(BTW, Just because I like the poster does not mean I like the movie)

Here’s my favorite poster of the decade:

Keep reading to see my other favorites.

2010: 02/01
CATEGORY: Best Of
Lists
Special
The Decade in Review
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Short Reviews: My Sister’s Keeper, Thirst

My Sister’s Keeper | Nick Cassavetes, 2009

I was ready to hate this movie, I truly was. The reviews were rather bad, and I had heard about the book’s original ending, and I thought that it was the worst thing ever written. However, I could not help it and the movie won me over.

Mind you, it is nor a great movie, it is merely good, and its problems do not allow it to go above that level. I didn’t like the beginning, how each character was narrating their take on the story. I felt it was unnecessary. Also, I didn’t like Cameron Diaz’s performance. I just could not take her seriously. She went way over the top in some scenes. In fact, the only performers who were above just “good” were Abigail Breslin and Sofia Vassilieva. The only thing I truly loved about it was the cinematography.

By the end of the movie I shed a couple of tears, so I guess this movie did it’s job.

2010: 01/29
CATEGORY: Uncategorized
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Review: Fantastic Mr. Fox

Fantastic Mr. Fox | Wes Anderson, 2009

In one of my write ups of the best movies of the decade, I took the time to single out Wes Anderson’s film out put this past decade because although they did not make the top 50, they affected me in some personal level due to his ability to take on a family’s situations, no matter what they are. At the same time, I mentioned that while I like his style, it was becoming stale due to the many copycats out there and that he should try something new. I had not seen Fantastic Mr. Fox then, I have to say that I am once more enamored with his style, and I still love how he tells stories about families.

Mr. Fox (George Clooney) is “middle aged” and has a job he doesn’t enjoy. He also has a loving wife (Meryl Streep) and a 12-year-old son (in fox years) named Ash (Jason Schwartzman). He is not happy with his life, so he decides to move his family to a dangerous location and to steal from the three meanest and baddest farmers in the whole world, which leads him to have to run from them because they won’t stop destroying things until he is dead. So now he must work with his underground friends to beat the humans and make sure his family survives.

Stop-motion animation and Wes Anderson were made for each other. Through this medium, Anderson was able to refresh his aesthetic style, and introduce himself to a new generation of movie watchers, meaning the few kids that actually saw and liked the movie.

Besides that, I could just praise it the same way I’ve praised every other Anderson movie: good script (probably his best one yet), great cinematography, art direction, costumes, music (Alexandre Desplat’s score is superb), and performances. I loved this movie.

2010: 01/23
CATEGORY: Three and a Half Star Reviews
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Review: Julie & Julia

Julie & Julia | Nora Ephron, 2009

I love Meryl Streep. I even sat through Mamma Mia because she was in it. It was painful, but her performance made it worth the watch. So, I was really looking forward to watching this despite the fact that I was not familiar with Julia Child and I had no idea who Julia Powell was. Most of the reaction I heard was mixed, so I decided to wait until it came out on DVD. Finally I got the chance to watch it and I loved it.

Julie & Julia, as all the ads say, is based on two true stories. One is about Julia Child and her life in Paris and how she went about writing her first cook book and her struggle to get it published during the 1960s. The other story is about Julie Powell, a failed writer that feels she could do more with her life so she decides to write a blog about her cooking her way through Julia Child’s cook book in one year. Both stories are interwoven to show how similar both women were and how they discovered themselves.

This is one of those movies where although it has some big flaws, I still loved it due to it’s ability to make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I just felt happy all the way throughout. Plus, since Waitress in 2007 no movie has made my mouth water so much. But that’s not the only reason why I love it.

First off, the script by Norah Ephron is rather good. A movie based on Powell’s “challenge” would not have been interesting enough for an entire movie. Also, a movie about Child’s life would have been way too annoying because although she had a great personality, it can get tiring after a while. The script does a nice job of highligting some of the most important parts in Child’s life in Paris and her struggle to write her book, as well as the most interesting part of Powell’s life. The fact that there was room to take on the women’s marriages and how they influenced them was a nice touch.

Also, Ephron’s work as a director is good. The movie never gets cheesy or over sentimental. There are only a few moments that feel awkward, but I blame Powell’s life. The quality of her work as a director also shows in the quality of the production. Alexandre Desplat’s score, the sets, the costumes, make-up, all great and perfectly aid in telling the story.

The thing that made me enjoy the movie the most were the performances though. Amy Adams does the best she can with the one-note character that Julie Powell is. Chris Messina is also very good as her husband. Stanley Tucci is amazing as Paul Child, Julia’s husband who loves her no matter what she does. They have amazing chemistry together. This brings me to Meryl Streep, who is simply amazing. She definitely deserves all the accolades she has been getting, and if she doesn’t win the Oscar, I’m going to break something.

Julie & Julia is one of my favorite movies of the year. It will not make it in my top 10 or anything, but I truly enjoyed it. If only there were more movies like this out there…

2010: 01/22
CATEGORY: Three and a Half Star Reviews
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Where All Movies and TV shows get a fair chance

Review: The Brothers Bloom

Review: Michael Jackson’s This is It

Review: Bright Star

Review: The Oscar-Nominated Animated Short Films

Oscar Nominations: ‘Avatar’ and ‘The Hurt Locker’ Lead With Nine Noms

Final Oscar Predictions

The Decade in Review: My Favorite Posters

Short Reviews: My Sister’s Keeper, Thirst

Review: Fantastic Mr. Fox

Review: Julie & Julia

Factoid of the Week

Upcoming Reviews or Short Reviews:

Most Anticipated Movies of 2010

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