Rigel

Movie: Monsters (2010)
Rating: ***1/2 out of *****
Notes: This is a very weird movie to rate. An alien microbe has gotten to earth and birthed giant squid monstrosities that are rampaging across the Central American countryside, requiring the construction of a giant fence and wall to protect external areas. A photographer and a wealthy socialite have to make their way to the US border through the "infected zone". Filmed by a crew of two with a pair of $8500 cameras, there was a script but minimal direction or idea of scene. The two actors (all other individuals were people who just happened to be around at the time) wandered the area and just started filming wherever they were, adding CG in post-production. What results is part Jurassic Park with aliens, part Mexican travelogue. Those looking for "Battle LA" will be disappointed by the slower pace and all too brief bouts of excitement, but it doesn't work too bad as an artsy and atmospheric sometimes-monster movie made for less than $1 million.

Movie: Alpha & Omega (2010)
Rating: *1/2 out of *****
Notes: It was just a matter of time before I got around to this one. Surprisingly, it wasn't quite as terrible as I'd expected - at least after I'd gotten used to it. That's not to say this isn't anything better than direct-to-DVD kiddie dreck, aimed solely at the preteen set, but I get the sense that there was a spark of potential at one point during conception that was simply crushed out by Crest Animation's production values. Two wolves with separate destinies are repopulated to Yellowstone, forging their way back to prevent tribal warfare while accompanied by a pair of birds, one being a goose modeled straight out of "Balto". They switch at random times between being four-footed "Lion King" style animals and Looney Tunes upright anthropomorphisms. The humor is restricted to proto-slapstick conceived by Saturday morning cartoonists. Somehow, it remained watchable through the big dance number at the end.

Movie: The Social Network (2010)
Rating: ****1/2 out of *****
Notes: Slick, clever, and fast - this dramatized recounting of Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg's rise to fame from his Harvard origins is a stunning performance by Jesse Eisenberg, an actor who I have come to respect more and more with each film. His portrayal of the fast-talking, arrogant, ADD-affected billionaire is sharp, just as every other performance in this film, depicting an ensemble of brilliant, yet broken personalities. Its two-hour length just breezes by as fast as the dialog while you more often stare at the players with a sense of schadenfreude, with their lives both collapsing and exploding around them. The story is pure Silicon Valley start-up on steroids, as we all know by the result, featuring all the stereotypical horrors that such entails. It's quite a tale and amazing to watch - both inspiring and cautionary.

Next: Waiting For Superman, Tamara Drewe, Middle Men

Movie: Catfish (2010)
Rating: ***1/2 out of *****
Notes: As the science of making a documentary becomes more clinical, the morals of making them also become more vague. This film purports to chronicle the online friendship between a NYC photographer and a family in Michigan that starts to show signs of falsehood, initiating an investigation by the photog and his brothers. While it spins a great lesson about not believing everything you see on the Internet, the doc itself has also been called on the carpet. If you think too much about it, the scenario will start to fall apart as many events and scenes begin to appear too good to be true. But then again, how do you tell the story after the fact without recreating the events? What is and isn't real is the subject of the entire film, so it's almost fitting that the directors have yet to let on how much is fact and how much, if any, is fabrication. Very intriguing.

Movie: John Rabe (2009)
Rating: ****1/2 out of *****
Notes: The number of WW2 documentaries out there could choke a horse. There are some very good ones and some very bad ones. "John Rabe" is one of the former, detailing the unique perspective of a German engineer in Nanking who decides to stay and protect his workers and the civilians of the city rather than return to nazi Germany as ordered by his company, Siemens. While it doesn't give much thought to the citizens themselves, it focuses tightly on the foreign officials charged with saving them from the invading Japanese army. I've never been versed in the history of the "rape of Nanking," but this biographical drama gets right down in it, the resulting depiction of which comes close to the atrocities visualized in "Schindler's List." Often a tough film to watch, it's well-directed and paced, highlighting the events that mattered rather than getting bogged down in dialogue and romance. Excellent and solid historical pic.

Movie: Let Me In (2010)
Rating: ***1/2 out of *****
Notes: This is the American version of the superior Swedish film, "Let The Right One In." As far as remakes go, it definitely could've been worse, and it makes enough of an effort to be true that much appears to be simply a scene-for-scene reshoot in english. Many scenes and scenarios are trimmed, edited, or altered for US audiences so as not to offend morals or sensibilities (which is odd due to the viciousness of the few brief violent pieces). Abby is now more clearly female so as to reduce the uncomfortable vampiric homoeroticism among prepubescents, disregarding that this is supposed to evaporate when Owen peers at her undressing - another omitted scene. Gone, also, is the development of the accidental victim - previously a dramatic tragedy; now a horror fic footnote. The worst of it are the CG attack scenes that use jarringly bad animation from a decade ago. Regardless, the original is a must-see, and if you can't handle foreign films and subtitles, this version isn't bad at all, merely missing some of the style, drama, and subtext.

Next: Monsters, Alpha and Omega, Middle Men

Movie: Red Hill (2010)
Rating: ***1/2 out of *****
Notes: An aussie cop is transferred to a remote town for some peace and quiet. But the town has a little bit too much wild west in it for comfort, especially when one of its aboriginal residents returns to settle a score. Does a good job of riding the fine line between a being a thriller and a horror film. The story feels a bit rote, but the finely-conceived setting and characters makes it feel fresh, as rural officers are terrorized instead of nubile teenagers. Spends so much time on atmosphere that it misses filling a number of gaping plot holes, tho. A very watchable tale that keeps up the pace.

Movie: The Tillman Story (2010)
Rating: ***1/2 out of *****
Notes: In 2004, Corporal Pat Tillman was killed in a firefight in Afghanistan. The US government attempted to turn his story into propaganda of a heroic leader who sacrificed himself for his country in order to sell the war. But they ran afoul of the truth: he'd been killed by his own troops' friendly fire during a moment of panicked anarchy, with dubious evidence of enemy presence. This documentary spends much of its time with the family, telling the story of Tillman before his death, and the director does a spectacular job of salvaging the soldier's reputation, painting him as an irresistibly charming football player with staggering political potential. Whether you buy into it or not is up to the viewer, but it sure doesn't help the government's case to see Rumsfeld and the top military brass testifying their absentmindedness over the ordeal during a Congressional hearing.

Movie: Machete (2010)
Rating: ***1/2 out of *****
Notes: We love us some Danny Trejo. He's been one our favorite character actors for the longest time. So it was with gleeful anticipation that we watched "Machete," the feature-length film built from the fake trailer for what was then a fake film in front of Tarantino's "Grindhouse" double-feature. Milking the 70's latino exploitation as expected, it balances buckets of gory hacky goodness with heavy-handed anti-anti-immigration messaging, and topped off by a frequent black comic absurdity that director Robert Rodriguez competently dishes out. It's horribly hokey and corny, but it's Robert Deniro, Don Johnson, Cheech Marin, and Steven Segal being hokey and corny - how can you resist? Pure pulp fluff.

Next: John Rabe, Catfish, Let Me In

Movie: Client 9 - The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer (2010)
Rating: ***1/2 out of *****
Notes: Eliot Spitzer was a democratic, attack-dog Attorney General, then house-cleaning governor of New York, then was caught soliciting prostitutes, then resigned. What seems cut and dry is revealed to be surprisingly deeper. The doc shines a light on the massive conservative effort to oust him by any means necessary, and the potential subterfuge used to do so. Also surprising is how the doc has extensive, exclusive interviews with Spitzer himself, maturely expressing contrition for his actions. There's clearly a story behind the story, but it isn't dug up as much as it deserves to be. As for Spitzer himself, considering all the good he was doing until vice did him in, I'd still vote for him.

Movie: The American (2010)
Rating: ***1/2 out of *****
Notes: An American expat assassin on the run from his own demons holes up in a tiny Italian villa where he quietly procures weapons for another killer's job. Throughout, he's hunted by others and attempting to salvage his humanity. George Clooney as the lead is competent as usual, but the production is minimalist, and as such he doesn't have a whole lot to work with. The director takes the French drama approach, with long, lingering pauses, panning gazes at the environment, and brief bouts of dialogue. As such, it didn't introduce to American audiences well, though it's not at all a bad movie, even with the atypical ending for viewers from the states who expect non-challenging roles from Clooney.

Movie: Secretariat (2010)
Rating: *** out of *****
Notes: Unable to avoid comparison to its predecessor, "Seabiscuit," this similar horse racing film comes across as adequate, but a pale shadow without a compelling story to buoy it. Instead of rags-to-riches, it's a riches-to-more-riches tale of a bored housewife who finds something to do by rescuing her father's stable from liquidation. Add to that the ultra family-friendly, pollyanna-ish demeanor that even co-star John Malkovich can't sour, and what we have is a mild, non-threatening Disney movie-of-the-week. Not that there's anything wrong with that - it's pleasant, cheerful, and we all know how it ends. A nice, risk-free drama.

Next: Red Hill, The Tillman Story, Machete

 

Movie: Red (2010)
Rating: ***1/2 out of *****
Notes: Bruce Willis leads an ensemble cast of atypical ex-CIA action heroes, including Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, and Helen Mirren, to thwart an attempt to wipe them out. The reasons behind it are never clearly expressed, but plot is secondary to the comedy adventure that attempts to hit three goals at once: appeal to the old skool nostalgia market; appeal to the 13-18 action crowd market; and to try to introduce these mostly dramatic actors (excluding Willis) to a new generation. Willis carries most of the more exertive thrills, while the others stick to one-liners and gunplay. It's not particularly sharp and merely chuckle-worthy, but there's an occasional flash of cartoonish brilliance. Purely popcorn level, as it's sprung from the DC comics line.

Movie: The Topp Twins - Untouchable Girls (2009)
Rating: *** out of *****
Notes: Starting out as buskers, these lesbian twins from New Zealand soon became the most popular country/folk music comedy duo in their country. Most of us in the states have never heard of them, so this documentary gives viewers a very thorough inspection of their rise to stardom. Note, however, that these kiwi superstars are nothing like American ones. Their rustic, hardworking farm background somehow manages to balance with their political and social activist history. Think "Greater Tuna," or the stage show at a Nebraskan state fair, but with lots of crossdressing and gay jokes. They're what the bible belt would look like without the bible. If you're into lots of country/folk music and humor, you'll get much more out of this than I did.

Movie: What's the Matter With Kansas? (2009)
Rating: * out of *****
Notes: This documentary was advertised as an examination of how the GOP convinced the Kansas population to vote Republican, against their financial self-interests. At no point in the film was this touched on. In fact, the film touches on very little at all. A disembodied, voiceless interviewer holds a camera to various Kansas residents, capturing their daily lives, farming, craft-building, entrepreneurship, political aspirations, and a visit to the Creation Museum. They go on about plenty to make liberals grind their teeth over, but the one-way dialogues lack direction, focus, or narrative. Barely more than home movies, it's a tremendously lazy attempt that utterly fails to get any kind of message across.

Next: The American, Secretariat, Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer

Movie: Down Terrace (2009)
Rating: **1/2 out of *****
Notes: When a son returns home to his UK family after being acquitted of charges, we soon learn that criminal activity runs in the family. Shot in a handicam style on the cheap, it mostly features family bickering, punctuated at intervals by brief, violent, murderous outbursts. It's another exercise in nihilistic plotting, and as the family's situation deteriorates it begins to resemble the recent "Animal Kingdom," if not for the fact that this is billed as a dark comedy. The blacker than black humor comes in brief moments of dialogue, and tends to be pushed aside by the drama, which happens to to be a decent effort for the comedy duo (The Amazing Wizards) who produced the film, considering their expertise seems to be faking modern "Faces Of Death" gags for YouTube these days. Heavy accents require subtitling.

Movie: Julie & Julia (2009)
Rating: **** out of *****
Notes: Meryl Streep is Julia Child in 1950's France, Stanley Tucci is her husband, and Amy Adams is a modern yuppie determined to cook and blog every Child recipe. While Adams' story is cute in a light romantic comedy way, we kept eagerly awaiting returns to Streep's superb paralleling performance as the delightfully joyful and optimistic Child. Her scenes focus on her life with her husband when she learned to cook rather than her televised era, so the emphasis is on her studies, interests, and romantic life. Towards the end, things thin out to stretch the story and the characteristics get a little tiring - it could've trimmed about 20 mins for efficiency. Very cute, nonthreatening, and charming.

Movie: Dumbstruck (2010)
Rating: ***1/2 out of *****
Notes: Documentary about the lives of five individual ventriloquists. It's centered on the Vent Haven ventriloquism convention in Kentucky where they all attend. Contrary to the other major ventriloquism doc, "I'm No Dummy," the focus here is on the participants lives, spending almost 1/3 of the time away from the primary subject matter, to create human interest stories. Each person has a very different background and tale as the film progresses, from the ex-beauty queen, to the aspiring teenager, to the cruise ship performer. It's very much a portrait of a niche fandom from which a few excellent actors can have the hope of jumping to celebrity. Friendly and non-judgmental, although some of the uninvolved family members express passive-aggressive sentiments.

Movie: Bag It (2010)
Rating: **1/2 out of *****
Notes: If you've ever been to EPCOT at Disney World, you may notice that some pavilions feature short 10-15 minute films either promoting a cause or philosophy, often environmental or cultural. "Bag It" is one Colorado man's documentary about reducing plastic use, and his buoyant, idealistic schtick is reminiscent of those happy Disney presentations stretched out to near 90 minutes. The guy has some good ideas, but surely they're all suggestions we've heard before. He's got a lot of handy statistics and great graphics, but the camera is always focused on himself, and he comes off as a poor man's Michael Moore - just not cynical enough, nor emphasizing the hazard with due gravitas. If you like your enviro-docs family-friendly, humorous, and upbeat, this will be up your alley.

Next: What's the Matter With Kansas?, The American, Secretariat

Movie: Army of Crime (2009)
Rating: ** out of *****
Notes: A WW2 drama that tells the story of a group of individuals who loosely cooperate to conduct attacks and sabotage on occupying German troops as oppression escalates. Each character starts out independently, but they never really coalesce into a functional group. Sometimes there are secret meetings where only some characters are present, others where a mission is undertaken that involves other individuals, but it's not clear who those particular people are taking part. Only a handful of small acts are committed, and the rest of the film is spent bickering and conniving. As courageous as these acts were, either they aren't dramatic enough for a 2+ hour film, or they weren't dramatized enough to hold an audience.

Movie: Devil (2010)
Rating: *** out of *****
Notes: Shyamalan returns with a creepy tip of the hat to Agatha Christie. Five individuals get in an elevator, but one is the devil, and a police office must rescue them before they're all dead. Features some great supernatural elements in a modern high rise, as it's part of a supposed "Night Chronicles" trilogy, featuring paranormal occurrences in urban environments. As opposed to his prior laughingstock, "The Happening," Shyamalan gets a bit more of a grip on believability, but not enough to rise out of B-grade slasher territory, ala Wes Craven, which the actors' performances more than buoy. It's a fun diversion, but doesn't break any new ground.

Movie: The Whistleblower (2010)
Rating: *** out of *****
Notes: A UN women's rights department leader in Bosnia uncovers evidence of sex crimes committed by UN employees against post-war civilians. It has all the hallmarks of a great rebellion-from-within storyline, but doesn't spend enough time familiarizing the viewers with the different officers or women it keeps reintroducing, so it's hard to keep track of who's who. There's also a throwaway romance mixed in that seems gratuitous, and for a film describing legal shenanigans, it tends to skip over some necessary logical potholes that don't form a complete explanation. Still, the story is dark and gritty, the message is clear and unambiguous, and theres a worthwhile twist at the end. As partially fictionalized as it is, it might be good for those into themes on women's issues.

Movie: Buried (2010)
Rating: **** out of *****
Notes: Ryan Reynolds is a truck driving non-military contractor in Iraq who is kidnapped and buried in a coffin. That all happens before the film even begins, we start out in the box, and the entire film occurs in the box. For such a limited environment, the writers do an amazing job of coming up with enough plot to fill 90 minutes. Claustrophobia aside, it can't decide whether it wants to be a bleak thriller or a political message, taking the time to bluntly hammer both concepts home. By the end, despite the rare insertion of moments of black humor, the depiction of fear and suffering started to feel gratuitous, but it resolves at just the right moment before it gets to be too much. Excellent performance by Reynolds is likely assisted by the close focus on him. Worth checking out for the great genre mashup, but I'm starting to burn out on the tiring nihilism trend.

Next: Down Terrace, Julie & Julia, What's the Matter With Kansas?

Movie: Salt (2010)
Rating: **1/2 out of *****
Notes: Angelina Jolie is or isn't a CIA agent, a Russian double-agent, or some third-party triple-agent - it's never really explained - either involved in or working to stop the assassination of the visiting Russian president. It's "Die-Hard" as written by Tom Clancy, minus the tongue-in-cheek one-liners and curmudgeonly snarky commentary. The absence of a sense of humor is what weighs the production down because the FX-enhanced over-the-top stunts demand it to justify a suspension of disbelief. Liev Schreiber added more character to the story than Jolie, whose character the script couldn't properly dramatize. The CG environments were fantastic, creating locations in DC that were completely nonexistent on the set. The disc has a Theatrical, Director's (pick this one), and Extended Cut, none of which are explained. Big excitement, but just not explicable.

Movie: Lebanon (2009)
Rating: ****1/2 out of *****
Notes: In films like "Hunt For Red October" or "Below", they take place almost entirely within the claustrophobic confines of a submarine at war. "Lebanon" takes place entirely within the confines of an Israeli tank during the first days of the second war with the film's namesake. It gets right to the point at the outset, depicting the most dreadful horrors of war through the brilliant use of only a tank's periscope. Gradually, it slips into a tense drama/thriller, making excellent use of grave dialog and borderline panic among the crew. Very well performed, gripping, and intense. The director, reportedly a tank gunner during that period, is clearly sending an anti-war message, and there are those who disagree with the portrayal. But for those without military expertise, this gets the ominous experience across quite efficiently. Definitely worth checking out, but requires a strong stomach.

Movie: Animal Kingdom (2010)
Rating: **** out of *****
Notes: An Australian teenager's mother dies of a heroin OD, forcing him to move in with his extended family of criminals, ranging from professional bank robbers to unbalanced killers. This is one of those horrifying downward-spiral dramas, where things just get worse, bleaker, more grim, and just when you think it can't get any more depressing, it does. Not by fate, but by hardwired degeneracy that becomes loosed when the only safeguards are removed from the equation. Jacki Weaver's role as the mother hen of the group is particularly gripping. Violence is usually brief, abrupt, and shocking. The dialog is super-saturated with Aussie accent, so you may need subtitles. A merciless tale of being caught in a family's inescapable dark gravity that really sinks its claws into you.

Next: Army of Crime, Devil, Buried

Movie: Heartbreaker (2010)
Rating: **** out of *****
Notes: I'm usually hard-pressed to enjoy most French romances, much less rom-coms in general, but this one manages to be an outlier in that it's both actually funny and truly charming. A trio in the business of splitting couples up for money starts to lose control when their point-man becomes enamored of a difficult target. Unlike frequent foreign fodder, the story here moves along at a tolerable clip, never dipping into sloggish drama, or jumping the tracks to wallow in slapstick. The performances are crisp, smart, fresh, and believable. Dialog is spoken in switch, so sometimes the viewer finds themselves listening to english while reading english subtitles. The machinations of the puppet-master customers get somewhat complex and hard to follow, but the rest is comprehensible even without catching on. Worth a look.

Movie: Legend of the Guardians (2010)
Rating: ***1/2 out of *****
Notes: As an example of how far CG has come since the early days of Pixar and "Tron", look no further than "Legend of the Guardians". A pair of kidnapped owls must seek a cadre of guardians to break an imminent invasion by bad owls. The imagery of the owls themselves is hi-def photorealistic, even as the environments tend to be more painterly in the fantasy RPG vein. The adventure itself is action-packed, and director Zack Snyder puts his hardcore action sequence experience to use successfully, creating some particularly thrilling scenes, if a little hyper-busy. The cast both has a lot of character, and is loaded with characters - so many that the focus tends to suffer, and I found I couldn't remember most of the owls' names by the credits. I was also hard-pressed to accept owls performing metal and stonework. It took some time for me to get into what initially felt like a silly concept, but by the end I was really getting into it and cheering for the heroes and the peppy theme songs. While the ending is wide open for a sequel, its disappointing American performance seems to have kiboshed that idea.

Movie: The Town (2010)
Rating: *** out of *****
Notes: Ben Affleck stars as a bank robber in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston who falls in love with one of the victims of his caper. Told as a crime noir, it can't seem to determine whether it's a criminal thriller or a sappy romance. Scenes of meaningful emotional dialog are broken up by interrogations and armored car heists. The cast has the hard Bostonian accents down to a science - so much so that it was frequently hard to understand without subtitles. It's long as over two hours, but the pacing keeps the interest flowing right up until the end, which turned out to be an incredulous leap of moral disappointment. It's a minor epic of a project, based on the "Prince of Thieves" concept, and is probably suitable to those interested in modern American ethnic anti-hero drama.

Movie: Patrik, Age 1,5 (2008)
Rating: *** out of *****
Notes: A Swedish gay couple are hard-pressed to find an adoptable son, but when a 1.5 year old becomes available, they learn upon his arrival that a typographical error misstated his age - and he's homophobic. It's billed as a comedy but, while charming, is much more of a drama as it elicits few laughs. The actors are believable and the script is nice, but the story is light and shies away from really exploring the wages of both youth and cultural anti-gay sentiment in exchange for relationship drama between the two men. It does a good job of teetering around the ending regarding both Patrik's ultimate fate, and the future of the couple. Overall a sweet story that doesn't take too many risks in order to remain accessible.

Next: Salt, Lebanon, Animal Kingdom

Movie: The A-Team (2010)
Rating: *** out of *****
Notes: The only purpose of this remake seems to be an attempt to reignite interest in the original TV show's concept to the tween and young teen boy set. The plot is barely there amidst the showboating and posturing of the individual characters, as well as the rampaging action which is really what we all came for anyway, right? A bunch of individual military rangers coalesce into a team that is subsequently sent on the run from being wrongly accused. It's a good whack by the actors at reliving Hannibal, Face, Murdock, and Barackus, and none of them are so offensively off that they ruin the characters. Cartoonish action, requiring extensive suspension of disbelief, and mayhem with a forgettable plot and standard one-liner humor.

Movie: Despicable Me (2010)
Rating: **1/2 out of *****
Notes: Apparently, it is possible for Steve Carell to be involved in an unfunny, uninspiring cartoon movie. His character, Gru, adopts three children to use as tools toward his malevolent plans for great acts of, well, theft. Such thefts are just one-upmanship with another bad guy rather than any attempt at world domination, making the whole endeavor seem small and unimportant, regardless of the target of the pilfering. There seems to be an inordinate lack of wackiness, and any slapstick feels dry and bland. There are little yellow minions that serve as comic relief, but they are as they are due to budget constraints, and just don't seem particularly silly. I found myself hard-pressed to find cleverness in the script, or even charm in the girls' cuteness that seems to have begun to feel overused. While it's a perfectly adept swing at animation, I can't help but feel it might've been better as live-action with CG flourishes.

Movie: The Other Guys (2010)
Rating: *1/2 out of *****
Notes: Samuel Jackson and Dwayne Johnson are two cops that take down bad guys in hilariously over-the-top, comic-book style carnage. That lasts for fifteen minutes, and then Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg take over. I don't know why I keep giving Ferrell's films more chances - I'm just not a fan of his style of comedy. To me, this pitiful tale of two underperforming cops who try to pick up the hero slots vacated by their predecessors, is painfully lacking in laughs. His awkward humor is just plain awkward. Wahlberg spends half the film whining and screaming. I felt sorry for the plethora of notable supporting cast members, like Michael Keaton and Rob Riggle, who have seen better days. The star-and-a-half is for Jackson and Johnson's bit, and probably for the gag reel which is better than the whole rest of the film.

Next: Heartbreaker, The Town, Legend of the Guardians

Movie: Dinner For Schmucks (2010)
Rating: **** out of *****
Notes: We saw the French film this was based on, "The Dinner Game," nearly a decade ago and enjoyed it. While the only thing this American remake has in common is the premise, its much more grandiose, in-your-face, and very western culture take on things turns out surprisingly funny. In order to climb the corporate ladder, an executive must participate in a dinner gathering where the participants compete to invite the best idiot as a guest. Since this is a Steve Carell carrier, it's a requirement that you must enjoy his comedy, as he's basically playing Michael Scott if he never got a paper company job. Paul Rudd is a great foil, and the humor is primarily of the obnoxious and socially awkward variety. It makes for a great teen film since it's balanced right in that niche-level of vulgarity. It got lots of laughs from us and was perfectly light fare with a healthy moral.

Movie: The Trotsky (2009)
Rating: ***1/2 out of *****
Notes: This one is a carrier for Jay Baruchel, who we most recently saw in "Sorcerer's Apprentice". As he was probably the best part of that film, it made this one much easier to watch. A student who believes he's the reincarnation of Leon Trotsky sets out to unionize his classmates. This would be another great teen opportunity, except for his relationship with an older woman and the whole historical Russian politics theme, both making the target audience vague. Those with a broad cinema palate will still get a good dose of clever humor, and particularly enjoy Colm Feore's greasily evil principal. It's a little bit beatnik, a little bit Breakfast Club, and worth a rental.

Movie: GasLand (2010)
Rating: ***1/2 out of *****
Notes: An anti-fracking documentary about the evils of natural gas drilling. It's not so much against natural gas as it is about corporations' passively malevolent attitude towards communities they drill within, their disregard for the clear and present danger their drilling causes, and the harmful technique used to harvest the resources. Fracking involves pumping hazardous chemicals into the earth to break up layers of strata and release natural gas. However, the side effects include uncontrolled gas output, poisoning local water supplies, and turning tap water flammable, as demonstrated repeatedly on camera. As believable as these scenes are, it's all mostly anecdotal without providing sourceable numbers or figures, and the footage is all just some guy driving around to visit people, spending a little too much time talking about himself. Still, those fireballs coming out of faucets are mighty convincing.

Movie: Cyrus (2010)
Rating: ** out of *****
Notes: Another entry from the kings of mumblecore, the Duplass brothers. This entry in their portfolio features some bigger stars than usual, including John C. Reilly and Jonah Hill. When Reilly's barely-employed schlub of a character falls in love with a woman he meets at a party, he must contend with her live-at-home adult son who develops an adversarial relationship. Watching the film is sitting through 90 minutes of long-form improv. Not like, is. Either the actors were given bullet points and allowed to stumble through things on their own, or they're brilliant performers, because it takes them minutes to stammer out simple conversations. Towards the climax, it attempts to rise from the mundane and begins to exhibit some credible comedy props, but doesn't quite make it out of the muck.

Next: The A-Team, Despicable Me, The Other Guys

Movie: Exit Through The Gift Shop (2010)
Rating: ****1/2 out of *****
Notes: Not about the elusive Banksy, as it initially appears, but rather a documentary about a videographer, Thierry, who tags along with various high-profile street artists and eventually winds up as Banksy's assistant. For the most part, the film is cute, as the man behind the camera is little more than a fanboy that the artists tolerate gamely. But when Thierry strikes out on his own, the subjects of the doc realize they've created a monster, leading to humorously confused reactions in the final reel. It gives unprecedented glimpses into the subversive, clandestine motions that are gone through to post this sort of graffiti, as well as great inadvertent bios of the artists themselves. Thierry winds up with some hypothetical slime on him by the end, but the quirkiness of the evolution of the story makes for engaging viewing.

Movie: James and the Giant Peach (1996)
Rating: ** out of *****
Notes: One of Tim Burton's earliest stop-motion films of this style, it presents Roald Dahl's children's book in both animated and live-action. James, in slavery to his two oppressive aunts, meets a stranger who gives him some glowing worms which enlarge a peach wherein he meets some bugs, and they all travel to NYC. The plot is just as convoluted as it sounds. Perhaps it's just me, but I've never really gotten into Burton's "Nightmare Before Christmas" or "Corpse Bride" franchises, feeling that the animated style just isn't very appealing, and in this case, neither is the story. Even the songs by Randy Newman don't twinge the heart. Only the delightful evilness of James's keepers, looking like dual Cruella de Vils, made parts enjoyable.

Movie: Billy Elliot (2000)
Rating: *** out of *****
Notes: In a family of striking miners, Billy resists male stereotyping by taking up ballet. Evolved into a Broadway stage musical smash hit, this original film is a frisky tale that has appeal, but is too earnest for its own good. Billy's dancing, in particular, is inexplicable. On the street, he seems to have all sorts of wild, flailing moves that we're supposed to guess are lifted from 1940's musicals, but are performed awkwardly, gracelessly, and oddly desperately, which makes it hard to understand why he has such a difficult time adapting to ballet. It otherwise does a good job of depicting the life of a northeastern English town, including the rough, scrabbling life of unionized miners. Nice story, but very rough around the edges, probably smoothed out in the stage version.

Next: Dinner For Schmucks, The Trotsky, GasLand

Four minutes of high-speed carnage from animation studio Space Patrol.

The Chase from Philippe Gamer on Vimeo.

Movie: The Artist (2011)
Rating: **** out of *****
Notes: As the Best Picture Oscar-winner, I tend to agree with the choice as it's a crystal window on the past, and pure without the modern Hollywood baggage, even as it's about Hollywood all the same. George Valentin, a silent film star, must deal with the sudden advent of the talking film era, which sets fire to his career. It's just as much an imitation of 1920's cinema as it is an homage, which is both a strength and a weakness. I was greatly impressed with the care and accuracy to make the film's set design look and feel exactly like its era, right down to the full-frame presentation. It's a unique experience to see a new film in that style in a modern theater - one that hasn't been felt in almost 100 years. But in its mimicry, it also featured the same tone of cliched plot - I'd been hoping for something new and fresh, but it really is a 20's film just like most every other 20's film. Performances were stellar, Jean Dujardin (who we recently saw in the OSS franchise) was a perfect fit, as well as John Goodman, although I questioned why Malcolm Macdowell got top billing for his two minutes of screen time. Worth checking out in its theatrical encore run while you still can.

Movie: Soul Kitchen (2009)
Rating: ***1/2 out of *****
Notes: An unexpectedly entertaining German release, about the owner of a diner-style renovated warehouse who goes through multiple hardships on his way to revamping the facility into the titular namesake. More of a progression of events rather than the standard surmounting of challenge and climax of regular Hollywood films. But it has energy and upbeat grittiness, and there are some very entertaining and humorous scenes scattered about. You could say that it's the usual hard-luck cook makes good theme, but in a German-industrial grey-area-of-the-law setting. The cast and dialog are sharp, none of this foreign-film mumblecore or puttering drama. A cute and occasionally raunchy stand-out.

Movie: Easy A (2010)
Rating: **** out of *****
Notes: Another surprisingly enjoyable film, reminding me of Mean Girls crossed with Saved, but nicer. High-school student, Olive, lies about losing her virginity in order to be cool. Cue downward spiral, followed by Olive not giving a crap, martyring herself, and giving the students what they want in hedonistic fashion. The real stars are Emma Stone, whose performance I adored, and the fast-paced, witty/snarky dialog, filled with one-liners and snappy comebacks. Everyone in the film, whether naughty or nice, is delightfully peppy - even her parents, including one of my faves, Stanley Tucci. Malcolm Macdowell's even in there as the principal. The only drawbacks are that nobody in the film looks the age of, or acts like, a real high school student. They do a great job as 20-somethings pretending to be, tho. Also notable are several ostracization subplots, particularly the one featuring Dan Byrd as a gay kid who resembles a young Oliver Platt, that wants the viewer to weep for the oppression he's under, of which there's never so much as a hint of. These issues don't manage to sink the otherwise well-performed film, which gave us lots of solid laughs.

Next: Exit Through the Gift Shop, James and the Giant Peach, Billy Elliot

Movie: The Kids Are All Right (2010)
Rating: ** out of *****
Notes: A film about the children of two lesbian parents who try to make friends with their newly-discovered sperm-donor dad. Julianne Moore and Annette Bening, straight actors in real life, play the two parents. And that's just how the movie feels: like a film written by a straight person pretending to be gay. What it details is the breakdown of a relationship, but all the nuances are heterosexual, as if the story was written about a het couple and a female was pasted over the father role. While well-performed by the seasoned pros that they are, the script requires them to do scenes that are confoundingly antithetical, from the porn they watch to the key act of betrayal. I disliked every adult character except Bening's and felt they all got what they deserved, which I really doubt was the point.

Movie: Joan Rivers - A Piece Of Work (2010)
Rating: **** out of *****
Notes: A documentary about a year in the life of Joan Rivers. At only 85 minutes, this is really a highlights feature and barely has time to work in any sort of objective goal to orbit around, but it manages to cover a lot of bases and dig a decent level into her personal life. Did you know Rivers in her late 70s? Her decisions and style may lead the viewer to think of her as vain or self-obsessed, but the doc makes it clear that her business is Joan Rivers - finding work for herself, an industry as a person, and her drive that is still trying to crank that machine is well-spotlit. We meet her staff, see her shows and promotions, travel with her, visit her opulent home, and learn about her family, past and present. The film makes her more human and she doesn't seem to be a bad one.

Movie: Peepli [Live] (2010)
Rating: **1/2 out of *****
Notes: An Indian film with a message, highlighting the plight of impoverished farmers in India who are being forced to abandon their livelihoods due to financial hardship. Farmers Natha and Budhia learn that their family will receive a government payment of 100K rupees if they commit suicide, but when the media learns of it, their plans become a national circus and involving the candidates of the upcoming election. For the most part, it's a comedy, although the cultural differences also translate to differences in humor. Dialog is often spoken in switch, rapidly changing from Hindi to English and back. It's hard to keep track of all the characters and their machinations, and the ending of the film is bleak. This is understandably due to the need to hammer the message home, but it abruptly flips the tone right when the script has reached a pinnacle of mishmash. At least there's no bollywood musical numbers.

Next: The Artist, Soul Kitchen, Easy A

The Banana Man. Vaudeville surrealist comedy.

Movie: The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle (2009)
Rating: **1/2 out of *****
Notes: A unique, but messily-executed indie about a janitorial crew fed experimental cookies that produce a gastrointestinal surprise. The surprise isn't whimsical, but rather fantastical and icky at the same time. It's preceded by scene after scene of cookie-induced drug trips that, while making for great FX, fail to forward the story at all. The characters are "Clerks" rejects and there's a tone of religious irreverence throughout, but the moral or point seems to be buried or absent. A few silly moments don't make up for basic urban relationship dramas and shallow, unexplored players. An interesting sort of creative writing put to film.

Movie: Exam (2009)
Rating: ***1/2 out of *****
Notes: It's another one of those films where an ensemble cast is trapped in a situation where they must solve puzzles to escape or turn on each other while they're eliminated one by one. In this case, it's a job interview in a where eight people are to take an abstract test for which the question and answer are unknown - if any of them leave, spoil their test papers, or talk to anyone except each other, they're disqualified. The usual brinkmanship ensues. Differing from other similar films like "Fermat's Room" and "Cube", there's little bloodshed and mostly just psychological manipulation which is all well and good in itself, but would sit better if the solution wasn't so cheap and the explanation wasn't so murky.

Movie: Micmacs (2009)
Rating: **** out of *****
Notes: By long-absent director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, known for "Amelie" and "Alien: Resurrection," this is the fluffy, anti-war tale of Bazil, who tries to take down two arms merchants with the help of some friends. While the director claims it's inspired by "Toy Story," "Snow White," and "Amelie," I felt the influences of Charlie Chaplin and Tex Avery. The cast of French characters is strongly caricatured, but not stereotyped, and the action is more whimsical than slapstick. It's a creative little film that at times feels like a children's movie, and at others like a dark thriller, yet has an obvious message to get across. Light, fun, and a welcome entry from Jeunet.

Next: Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, Peepli Live, The Kids Are All Right

Movie: Ginger Snaps (2000)
Rating: **** out of *****
Notes: "Ginger Snaps" is a werewolf movie that does a lot of things right. There's no expansive cast of imbecilic teenagers who get offed one by one. There's no unbelievably hokey CG monster. The director doesn't spend all his time framing shots to avoid showing the werewolf. Instead, it's a somewhat clever mashup of specifically female coming-of-age, focusing heavily on sensitive topics like menstruation, and solid, indie horror that isn't afraid to deliver the goods. Two social outcast sisters obsessed with suicide run across a werewolf one night, which leaves them torn between a cure and revenge. The FX are effective costumes and prosthetics, and there's an extensive amount of gore, especially to pets. Raw, violent, and even occasionally darkly humorous.

Movie: Shrek Forever After (2010)
Rating: *** out of *****
Notes: The final going-thru-the-motions entry in the Shrek-specific franchise. Rumplestilskin gives Shrek a day to himself, but the consequences of the contract are, of course, in the details. The players rush, rapid-fire, through the scenes and lines as if they couldn't wait to get off the lot and back to more important work. It's got the same humor, cleverness, and timing, but leaves character development in the wings. The overall quality is that of a direct-to-DVD disc, or even an episode of a Saturday morning cartoon series, it's that inconsequential. Best to move on to what seems to be the fresher Puss In Boots franchise.

Movie: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010)
Rating: ***1/2 out of *****
Notes: My rating may be tempered by the fact that SPvsTW is so loaded with in-jokes, indie rock references, classic console gaming homages, and winking easter eggs that are not part of my generation, so went primarily way over my head. But I still got the general gist of it, and the cartoonish and wildly energetic script and directing made the experience extremely entertaining, if somewhat devoid of depth or plot. Scott Pilgrim falls for a girl and must defeat her seven evil ex-boyfriends in "Street Fighter" style combat. Of all the people who could've played Pilgrim, Michael Cera would not be anywhere near the top of my list, and his typical whiny performance can barely support the gymnastic combat that ensues. Loud, in-your-face, silly, and fun, but miscast and hollow.

Next: The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle, Exam, Micmacs

Just finished listening to "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline on audiobook, read by Wil Wheaton. Best book I've read/heard in a long time. Highly recommended, particularly for children of the 80s, referencing coin-op arcade games, Monty Python, Rush, TRS-80s, and all set in an MMO.