Forbidden Games

Rene Clement's tale of two children coping with war and death in 1940s France is powerful stuff. Child actors are usually pretty unreliable, but he gets two extraordinarily good performances out of his two young players. Forbidden Games hits notes that are by turns humorous, dramatic, charming and tragic. Well worth your time.

Of note: This film supposedly originally contained a beginning and ending sequence that bookended the film and made it seem more like a fairytale. I think Clement was wise to cut this; it would have detracted from what is a strong beginning and a more powerful ending.

Sleeping Beauty (2011)

Lucy is a struggling college student down under who holds many jobs to make ends meet (copy clerk, waitress, lab volunteer...hooker) and finally enters into a series of jobs in an erotic underground for high paying clients. Her most lucrative jobs come from getting drugged and spending the night with older men whose only rule is "no penetration". She awakes with no memories of the previous encounters and goes on with her life. Overall a pretty clinically shot movie and a story that meandered here and there. A curiosity at best. 2.0 / 4.0

I am also glad they were cut. This is one of my favorite films. That ending hits me like an emotional hammer every time.

Hugo Still my #1 film of 2011 (although I haven't seen A Separation yet.) Although it's meant for huge screens, it works for me on the small screen, too, and it's nice to be be able to stop it for a moment and admire the set design for Papa Georges's toy shop, or the museum or book store. I love the way the train station comes alive and how Hugo observes slices of life through clock faces. 9 of 10.

Sgt. Kabukiman NYPD

For many years, I've been a champion of Lloyd Kaufman's films. Kaufman has always considered Kabukiman to be one of his weakest, and after revisiting it for the first time in many a moon, I have to agree with him.

The story has B-movie potential: A bumbling cop is accidentally given the power to be a Japanese superhero. But Kaufman's ultimate take on the film's production was spot-on; there were too many irons in the fire, too many people pulling in too many creative directions. He wanted to make a splatstick comedy in the vein of The Toxic Avenger, while the investors wanted something a bit more serious and action-packed. In the end, the film has some splatter, some comedy, some action, some drama, some romance, and none of it sits well together. Kaufman would redeem himself with the one-two punch of Tromeo And Juliet and Terror Firmer, but Kabukiman stands out as one of the low points of his career.

I always thought Kabukiman was one of his most underrated films myself, i'll admit it is extremely disjointed, but in spite of that it worked pretty well. I wasn't all that crazy about Terror Firmer though, it was OK, it just seemed to drag at times due to being a bit long in the tooth at 120 minutes, and IMO it just wasn't that funny.

Tyrannosaur (2011)

Tyrannosaur is a look into the lives of Joseph, a 50ish year old blue-collar class widower whose life is so consumed by bitterness and anger he literally can't function anymore, and Hannah, a mid-to-late 30s looking woman whose life of superfical middle-class comfort betrays an existence even more painful than Joseph's. This is a good, if extremely bleak, film directed and written by Paddy Considine. I'm familiar with the environment that the film is set. I come from a town in the North of England (about 30 miles from where Considene grew up and 50 miles from where this film appears to be actually set) so I am familiar with the sights, sounds, language and cultures depicted.

The success of the film comes from the 2 lead performances. Peter Mullan does a great job making a utterly unlikable character just about human enough for you to want to side with him on some level. But it is difficult. For example in the first 5 minutes he kicks his beloved pet dog to death in a drunken rage. But there is a human being there behind the eyes, you can just about see it. He's a bravely written character that could have gone awfully wrong but the actor gives him just enough to make him work.....which is no mean feat.

And then there is Olivia Coleman, better known as a comic actress in the UK she puts in a beautiful and sometimes heartbreaking performance here. I can't let you into her plight without giving too much of the film away but if the Oscars had an credibility she may have received a well-deserved nod at the nomination stage!!

All in all, well worth a look

8/10

Your Highness (2011)

Given the title, I thought this would be more stoner comedy of the Pineapple Express or Harold and Kumar variety. It's there in parts, but not as prevelant. What's left is hit and miss as Danny McBride's Thadeus follows the familiar tale of trying to transform himself from loser, underachieving younger brother into the hero who saves the day. There were a few parts I laughed at and the wizardry special effects and locations are above average. Very uneven otherwise. 2.0 / 4.0

Phat girlz

Although it has static direction and a superficial script, this movie is a solid film about accepting yourself. 3/4

Wooo this thread has 500 pages!

Also, I saw American Reunion (2012)

I found it the usual American Pie mixture of humor, awkwardness, and likable characters. Overall I was pleased. ***

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

What really struck me about The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance was the ambiguity of the film's message. We start off with a clear conflict - what good are laws without enforcement? Stewart's character is a staunch supporter of law and order. Wayne's plays the epitome of Western badass: he steals scenes with his witty one-liners and knows that a gun is the only true defense on the frontier. As things develop, one side isn't really favored over the other until Stewart stands up to Lee Marvin's character in a duel. I would say that at this point, Tom Doniphan (Wayne) has won the debate, but the film keeps going. When the delegates meet to choose a representative to send to Washington, it is evident that Stoddard's (Stewart) method is the only option moving forward. Overall, it is clear that both philosophies have their own uses based on the situation. This point by itself is not a major revelation, but what fascinates me is that it's conveyed through a Western (by Ford no less). Westerns, at least in my experience, are generally black and white with their morals. Good guys vs bad guys, sheriff vs outlaws, and occasionally outlaws vs worse outlaws (or corruption). These films are usually clear cut. Not so here. Even in the final scene, while Stoddard and Hallie are on the train together, we learn that Hallie has never gotten over Doniphan (Ford admitted this in an interview).

It seems that a common complaint is how cartoony all of the characters are. Honestly, this didn't bother me. Every character was written to be an archetypal caricature. Why else do you think the frontier sheriff was cowardly and impotent? I enjoyed the comic relief; it showed that the film didn't have to take itself too seriously to get its point across. This is something I think that The Searchers suffered from. While it is a better movie, I think it fell flat in certain scenes because its level of seriousness crossed the line into dumb.

Finally a few comments on casting. This is the film John Wayne should be remembered for. I'm not even that big of a John Wayne fan. Also, James Stewart was too old for the part of the young lawyer. He would have been perfect about 30 years earlier. He does his best, and there is some great passion in his acting. It reminds me of Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, just set in the West.

3.5/4.

The Cabin In The Woods

There's more going on here than just your run of the mill slasher horror movie in this Joss Whedon vehicle. Some nice touches in the script and the direction, but what keeps it from "greatness" is a bit of a rushed pace and a plot that, while it may have been at home in the Buffy universe, seemed a bit grandiose for a stand-alone motion picture. 3.0 / 4.0

You Don't Mess With the Zohan (unrated extended edition of course)

Not a great movie or even a great comedy, but one I found moderately enjoyable. The frequent lapses into complete absurdism are probably what saves this. I mean ultimately it's not extremely clever but clever enough to stave off boredom.

Have my standards gone too low? I don't know, I just know that I've sat through enough painfully dumb comedies for one lifetime and while this one was dumb, it was by no means painful. One of those cases where 2.5 out 4 stars seems a little low and 3 out 4 seems just a little too high.

From Dusk to Dawn

While extremely self indulgent, stupid, and over the top (remarks that could easily be applied to You Don't Mess With the Zohan) this was an enjoyable romp through B movie territory. The acting was generally okay (for what it was) with Tarintino's performance, somehow working in spite of his horrible abilities as an actor. The only scene where he doesn't appear to be acting is when a vampire is pooring booze down her leg, while he licks her toes.

Solid 3 out of 4.

-Jeremy

I saw that one in the theater when it first came out and literally knew nothing about it except it had a Tarantino association. When those vamps first showed up, I didn't know where the hell I was. Had someone put on a reel from a different movie? Great fun ensued.

My mom did the same thing a few years back. She was watching the movie on cable and I called her to talk and naturally asked what she was up to. She told me she was watching From Dusk Till Dawn, and I responded, "Oh, that's a pretty cool vampire movie." She said, "Umm, I don't think this is a vampire movie. You must be talking about something else." I laughed and told her to call me back when it was over. About 2 hours later I got a call from her telling me what a cool vampire movie it was.

It's one of my favorite fun movies and it does a really great job of setting everything up. If someone can honestly go into it knowing nothing about its premise, they're in for a treat.

The Girl With A Dragon Tattoo (2011) - at first, I considered giving this **** like James did but upon considering it further, I think I'm gonna go with ***1/2. In someways, it improves upon the original (definitely, this is the stronger of the two visually, which isn't surprising considering that David Fincher is the director) but on the balance, I would put it on equal footing. Rooney Mara was excellent as Lisbeth Salander although I'm slightly more partial to Noomi Rapace's interpretation. One thing I appreciated was how differently the relationship between Blomkvist and Salander was handled here from the 2009 version. Fincher elects to take things in a slightly darker direction and the ending leaving wanting to know more about how things will develop between these two, if nothing else. In the end, this was an excellent film but I cannot justify **** in good conscience.

The Descendants - a near-perfect dramatic comedy that uses a deft touch to deal with a natural difficult subject. In this, it reflects another good movie from 2011, 50/50, which used humor to chronicle one man's quest to beat cancer, but this one is even better. At times, the movie is laugh-out-loud hilarious and at other times, it evokes a powerful emotional response but shifts in tone are consistently handled smoothly and despite the difficulty of the material, this is very much a life-affirming movie. Perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised by how good this was considering that it was directed by Alexander Payne, who did this as his long-awaited follow-up to 2004's Sideways, which also relied on a mixture of comedy and drama to relate its tale. Just as he was able to get a superlative performance from Paul Giamatti in the earlier film, he is able to do so with George Clooney, who gives what might be his best performance ever (and considering the series of strong performances the actor has give since finally shaking off his former reputation as a lightweight, that's saying something. I'm a little tired from working out right now so I'll come back when I can organize my thoughts more - and perhaps after I have given the movie a second go-round.

But I can't help thinking how the film would have run without that....ahem...turn of events. The beginning is awesome and the vampire thing feels a little bit like a cop out.

Horrible Bosses (2011)
Three friends each suffer from abuse by their bosses - a corporate bully (Kevin Spacey), a nymphomaniac dentist (Jennifer Aniston) and an irresponsible cokehead (Colin Farrell) - and decide to get rid off them with the help of a specialist (Jamie Foxx).
The premise of ‘Horrible Bosses’ has great potential for a dark comedy, but the promise of something edgy remains unfulfilled, regrettably. I would have liked ‘Horrible Bosses’ to be more of a mean-spirited satire about real-life working conditions, but if your showcase subplot for sexual harassment involves Jennifer Aniston as the perpetrator, the material is automatically neutered. (I suspect most males wouldn’t feel too harassed if Jennifer Aniston would absolutely want to have sex with them.) There are a few other missteps as well, such as an unfunny running gag about a statutory rape conviction, and the ending is not just good enough. Nevertheless, it’s not a bad comedy and offers quite a few genuinely good laughs, i.e. ‘Horrible Bosses’ gets the job done - 5/10

Hellboy (2004) (rewatch)
When occult Nazi scientists and mad monk Rasputin try to summon a demon at the end of WWII, a red, horned little baby appears, who is saved by the Allies and grows up to be Hellboy (Ron Perlman), an agent of the paranormal unit of the FBI, who must fight Rasputin and his demonic minions.
After a few years and having watched numerous other comic book based superhero movies, Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Hellboy’ is much better than I remembered it to be. Granted, the plot is messy, preposterous and doesn’t make sense and the overall story has a “by the numbers” feel to it. However, the production design and the visuals are excellent and - similar to Robert Downey Jr. in ‘Iron Man’ - Ron Perlman as Hellboy steals the show. Apart from his witty one-liners, there is a humorous tone throughout, which fits the ludicrous material. Good stuff - 7/10

The Harder They Come (1972)
In this first movie to be produced in Jamaica, country bumpkin “Ivan” Ivanhoe (Reggae star Jimmy Cliff) comes to the big city with hopes of making it as a singer. He doesn’t find a job and is taken in by a church community, but runs afoul of the minister when he falls in love with the preacher’s ward and plays Reggae music in the church. When he finally manages to record a demo of the eponymous song, he is cheated by the producer, so he turns to a life of petty crime and soon becomes an outlaw folk hero.
This 1970ies cult movie is credited with making Reggae popular in the U.S. and it does indeed have a fantastic soundtrack. As for the film itself, it seems to have been made with mostly unprofessional actors and on real locations to the extent that it sometimes feels like a documentary on early 70ies shantytown life in Kingston - until the sense of authenticity is sacrificed for a far fetched gangster plot. Technically, the filmmakers seem to have been influenced by French New Wave films and Nicolas Roeg’s cutting techniques. Although the jump cuts etc. may have well been the result of budgetary constraints, they make ‘The Harder They Come’ seem artier than it really is. Overall, I thought it was an unexpectedly good and very original film - 7/10

True, though I really enjoyed it, the way it's filmed makes it seem like the first half was just the set up for the zany vampire action that comes in the second. Which doesn't feel right.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

I saw this theatrically Friday night (George Takei's birthday!), by myself since my Trekkie buddies were apparently too busy with conflicting social obligations. If that sentence negated any cherished stereotypes, I apologize.

I have stumped for Wrath of Khan in the past, and while The Voyage Home doesn't contain an emotional setpieces to top the one in Wrath of Khan (or, for that matter, the superb U.S.S. Kelvin sequence in the Star Trek reboot movie), it may just be the best all-around Star Trek film. I find that it's certainly the funniest and the most consistent with the tone of the original series, without conceding any of the action, adventure, and excitement that one would demand of a Star Trek feature.

It's also the most deranged in terms of its premise. A dangerous space probe comes to Earth trying to talk to the whales, which are unfortunately extinct. Kirk and his crew must go back in time a few hundred years to retrieve some, otherwise the probe will destroy the planet. While this sounds like utter madness, it is executed adroitly. It earns its sci-fi badge with its numerous suggestions of a stable time loop, though it works equally well as comedy--not parody, but organic comedy that grows from the situations and personalities of the characters. The San Fransisco of 1986 proves to be a particularly baffling place to the crew that has boldly gone just about everywhere else. The movie also finds time to dwell on the horrors of whaling, which is depicted briefly in stomach-churning archival footage.

Nimoy is most valuable player here. Obviously, he is Spock, and his work in the role is exceptional in this movie. He also directed and co-developed the story with producer Harve Bennett and Trek movie guru Nicholas Meyer. Shatner and Kelley seem relaxed and more like their Original Series selves than in any other movie, perhaps suggesting that they are most comfortable under the direction of someone who was right there with them for the whole damn journey.