2011 in Review: Movies
2011 is over. Here are some of the movies I enjoyed.
Moneyball is about baseball and one of my favorite things is baseball and sports movies are a guilty pleasure of mine. Moneyball tells the story of the 2002 Oakland A’s and their General Manager Billy Beane and his use of Sabermetrics. While the movie has a baseball theme, the movie really explores Beane’s attempt to have some type of success after being a failure as a baseball player.
Drive is a beautiful mess. The cast is top notch, filmed in a style that keeps you watching, and violent. Drive is violent, very violent at times, but done in such a way that it almost operatic. Ryan Gosling is brilliant in the cold calculated stunt drive and Carey Mulligan is gorgeous. Drive is so good at times, it is easily one of the best films. It does have some awkward dialog at times. Mmmmmhmmmm.
Action. Action. Action. That is pretty much what Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol has going for it. That isn’t a bad thing, the action is great, especially if you see the movie in IMAX. The sequences filmed at the Burj Khalifa (tallest building in the world) in Dubai is amazing and vertigo inducing. The entire cast is top notch including the always great Simon Pegg. Go see it in IMAX and buy some popcorn and enjoy.
Source Code came out a while ago, but still provide a great experience. Source Code plays out as a interesting present day sci-fi film by Duncan Jones (David Bowie’s son). Some parts The Matrix and Run Lola Run, it has you repeating the same sequence in attempt to solve the puzzle.
I’m a huge Conan fan, but this movie kinda change my opinion of him, for better or worse. The guy is crazy and kind of a jerk. I’m sure if you are in his inner circle, you understand his humor, but Conan is somewhat delusional and sad. Always putting himself and his staff down. A very interesting look as one of the funnier comedian of the last decade.
My only foreign film on the list, I Saw The Devil is a violent, gory, revenge film. Much like Drive, this film if gorgeously shot, each shot is brilliant, but the film is easily one of the more violent movies I have ever seen. Add the fact that the main villain is Choi Min-shik known for his role in the movie Oldboy, it makes it even more creepy. Well worth watching, but you have been warned about the content.
Super 8 was one of the more enjoyable movies I saw all year. It is a 80′s homage taking notes from classics such as E.T., Stand By Me, and The Goonies. As someone who grew up on these movies Super 8 hit all the same notes of silly kids doing crazy things under unthinkable circumstances and in the end triumphing over impossible odds.
What were some of the movies you enjoyed in 2011?
Back from Super 8
I work up this morning to an email saying I could go see Super 8; the new movie from JJ Abrams creator of LOST, Alias, and director of the recent Star Trek reboot, in IMAX Fake IMAX a day before it comes out. It appears that they are doing a heavy Twitter and Facebook campaign due to fears that people don’t know enough about the movie, partly due to the cryptic trailers that show very little about the film. Well seeing a movie early is always fun in my book, so they sold me and I was quite happy with the movie. WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW!!
The Brothers Bloom at IFFBoston
My pal Joe asked if I wanted to check out The Brothers Bloom at the Independent Film Festival here in Boston a couple weeks ago. Me being a movie nut and a fan of the movie Brick, of course I said yes. We made the drive up to the Somerville Theatre, found some parking, got our tickets, grabbed a beer (beer at a movie, awesome), and found some seats. It wasn’t until we sat down that we found out it was opening night and The Brothers Bloom was the headlining movie. What luck!
If you haven’t heard The Brothers Bloom stars Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo as con artist brothers who scheme a plan to con recluse hobby collector Rachel Weisz out of millions. The twist is that Mark Ruffalo character writes these cons to the level of plays that Adrien plays a part, and typically becomes emotionally involved. After years of coning people Adrien’s character doesn’t want to do it anymore, but his brother crafts one last con and humor ensues. The overall theme is a fairly light hearted comedy wrapped with Rian Johnson’s very sharp writing. Acting is top notice, and some of the characters are easy to like, including Bang Bang, a tiny Japanese girl with an unhealthy fascination with explosives, who hardly speaks through the entire movie. The movie got a little slow at the end, but overall I enjoyed it a great deal. I love crime movies, and the addition of the humor makes this a very enjoyable film. Check it out when it comes out in May.
Back to the Future Marathon
With all the snow the local Blockbust had almost everything rented, so I fired up Comcast OnDemand and combed around to see the entire Back to the Future Trilogy in HD. I have seen these movies countless times over the years, but not all three in a single night. They are fairly silly, but I have to give the writers credit for paying attention to detail. Christopher Lloyd is insane in this role, and I really can’t imagine Marty being Eric Stoltz at all.
Planet Earth Bluray = WOAH!
I picked up the BBC mini series Planet Earth on Bluray and it is amazing. If you have a HDTV and a Bluray player, you must do yourself a favor and buy it now. It is truely amazing to watch. The detail is jaw dropping, and seeing nature in such scale that is almost looks fake.
Max Payneful
So I got the chance to watch Max Payne recently and I couldn’t even finish it. The movie was just painful to watch. As a fan of the games, I was surprised how poor the transition to film was. The story went no place for me, I finally turned it off. Also Mila Kunis was just painful in this role. I’d avoid this movie.
Just finished The Illusionist
I just recently watched the Illusionist, the other magic movie (the other being The Prestige), and I have to say it was a well crafted movie. The tricks were often foreseen, but entertaining. Edward Norton was did an excellent job as Eisenheim, as did Paul Giamatti as Inspector Uhl. I mostly noticed the terrific editing job on the film with a very soft look and interesting fades on cuts. The film had its slower moments, but was still well worth watching. So place it on your NetFlix or Blockbuster list.
Check out Zodiac
So I got to check out the movie Zodiac by David Fincher this weekend at The Crest a local second run theater in Seattle. The movie is about the Zodiac Killer who terrorized the San Fransisco Bay area through the late 60′s to mid 70′s. The movie really breaks into two sections, with the first act being about the actual crimes and the media publicity and the second half is about the obsession of Robert Graysmith, the comic artist at the San Fransisco Chronicle at the time of the killings, and his attempts to figure out who the Zodiac Killer true identity.
The film is a great departure from David Fincher previous body of work. This was just a crime drama, and not the mind twist that Fincher has previously done with The Game and Seven. The attention to detail in the time period is striking and really has a excellent visual style to it without even noticing it. Many aspects are subtle but greatly effective in making the movie quite tense at moments.
The movie also had an excellent cast including Jake Gyllenhaal as Graysmith, Robert Downey Jr. as Paul Avery the crime reporter at the SF Chronicle, and Mark Ruffalo as Inspector David Toschi. All of them give great performances especially Downey Jr, as he always does. Gyllenhall really plays the part of this noble naive eagle scout perfectly. At times you can see the boyhood curiosity in his eyes through the film, which then turns into a downward spiral of obsession losing everything including his marriage and children.
Probably the one major problem with the movie is the length, at almost 2 hours and 40 minutes. It keeps going and going. While it is full of some amazing insight and information and some great story telling through film, it does drag for about the last 30 minutes. There are some spots that really could have fallen on the editing room floor.
Overall it was a great true crime movies. If you are interested in shows like Dominick Dunne’s Power Privliege and Justice, L.A. Confidential, The Black Dahlia, or Summer of Sam, you might want to check out Zodiac when it comes out on DVD in a couple months.
Pan’s Labyrinth Thoughts
I got to see Pan’s Labyrinth a couple weekends ago and walked away impressed with the craftsmanship that director Guillermo del Toro had on the movie. Everything was so detailed and beautiful. The movie reminded of other non-traditional fairy tale movies like Labyrinth, Dark Crystal, and The Neverending Story in that all of them have very dark overtones to them and aren’t scared to use them for theatrical effect. Compared to the others Pan’s Labyrinth is much more an adult in terms of content and use of violence, which took me by surprised, even though I know Guillermo del Toro style is a more violent and bloody, but some scenes were relentless. Typical with many subtitled movies people complain about having to read the subtitles, but the story in Pan’s Labyrinth is fairly simple so it isn’t difficult to watch the film with the subtitles, and the natural flow of the dialogue is really a pleasure to see and listen too. I hate watching movies that take place in Spain or Russia and everyone speaks English, it really breaks the immersion of the movie. Overall the movie was breathtaking, and really shows what creative people can do with even a limited budget, Pan’s Labyrinth estimated budget was around $15 million. I really hope the film wins the Oscar for Best Foreign Film and Original Screenplay. Well worth seeing while it is in theaters.