Melancholia: Writer/director Lars Von Trier tries to solve the giant questions of life in this apocalyptic drama about depression, family, and what's important. Split into two sections each named for each of his female leads, Lars explores what happens when the dynamics of a relationship invert as a giant planet is ominously approaching an ever-waiting world leaving his characters in new roles from where they started. Kirsten Dunst is a revelation as Justine, the sister who starts as a woman teetering on the brink of insanity and desperation. Gone is the teenager still trying to be a leading lady, Dunst is one performance that you can't seem to forget. Charlotte Gainsbourg as her more rigid sister is so in touch with her emotions that her character's about face doesn't feel out of place or odd. It's sooo gorgeous too. The cinematography just encompasses these moments of light with the impending darkness and the use of Wagner's Tristan and Isolde is magical. Another cinematic triumph from one of its most oddball of characters. A
The Adjustment Bureau: With a healthy helping of suspending your disbelief as well as not trying to overthink what you're watching, this film is actually a sturdy, well-made romance with some thrillery, sci-fi elements thrown in. The chemistry between Matt Damon and Emily Blunt is fizzy, sexy, and real, and I like the attempts of the filmmakers to break them up and mend them without it feeling to jarring. The middle 45 min, as we're being explained (or not explained) what's going on gets a bit wonky, and final reveal feels a bit limp, but I can't wait to see what Damon and Blunt do next...Hopefully it's together because on-screen connection like that is hard to come by. B
After the jump...Horrible Bosses, Joseph Gordon-Levitt's cancer "comedy" 50/50, Beginners, and Captain America
Horrible Bosses: Three guys try to kill their titular superiors in this mildly funny black comedy. The guys: Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, and Charlie Day (It's Always Sunny...) are all fine at the comic timing parts and such, but only Sudeikis seems to survive in a way that was incessantly irritating. Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell, and Jennifer Aniston, the bad bosses, obviously savored playing such despicable people, but really only Aniston was that funny. As a dentist with a penchant for sexual harassment, she gets to be crude, rude, and down right kinky. Hope she keeps pushing herself in roles like this from now on. The film's fine, and it certainly explores the idea of once you've decided to kill someone how difficult it actually can be quite well, but it just feels a bit short on real laughs. B-
50/50: When your world is falling apart around you, things get a bit funnier, right? That's the premise, in part, to this new dramedy starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Adam, a young radio producer who gets cancer and fights like hell with his body and his psyche to hold on. Gordon-Levitt is masterful in both masking his obvious frustrations and pain and finally letting them out in a fury that is hard to forget. Seth Rogen does his best Seth Rogen as Adam's best friend, and Anjelica Huston is back in a small but mighty role as Adam's overbearing mother. The other real find though is Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air), as Adam's wunderkind therapist. She challenges him and pushes him to deal with his emotions and their chemistry is wonderful too. The films second half is far stronger than the first (it's all your fault Bryce Dallas Howard), but the certainly packs an emotional punch. B+
Beginners: A slow moving yet thoughtful character study of life, death, humor, and unexpected love even in times of emotional upheaval and confusion. Ewan McGregor stars as Oliver a man trying to deal with the father dying of cancer who recently revealed he was gay after 44 years of marriage to Oliver's mother (and her subsequent death). What could be trite and overly sappy is neither. Writer/director Mike Mills' taught and highly structured screenplay allows the feelings and motivations of his characters to reveal themselves in such organic and gentle way that you can't help but relate and be drawn even closer. It's a modest film that's so kind to its characters. Plummer is superb as a man trying to give life one more big push, and McGregor hasn't been this good in years. B+
Captain America: Finally! After a summer of ho-hum superhero films, one of them finally feels like a complete film, even though it's still not the best thing in the world. It's certainly the best made though. The period meet sci-fi sets and perfect World War II era costumes are the winners throughout as is the jaunty score by Alan Silvestri. Chris Evans, though made of muscled granite, is steadfast and safe as the good Captain, but he's still a little boring. Tommy Lee Jones and Hugo Weaving are great in the typical assignments of grizzled Army general and evil Nazi crazy man respectively. Perfectly sets up next summer's The Avengers. Wish that didn't look so stupid. B-
The Change-Up: Since Hollywood has the originality of a ham sandwich, this is another body swapping movie where Dave (Jason Bateman) the workaholic lawyer and family man swaps with Mitch (Ryan Reynolds) the over-sized man child still smoking pot all day and playing with his...samurai sword. When they switch after pissing in a magical fountain (I mean seriously) things change and both men eventually realize what's missing or wrong with their own lives....Awww. Whatever. It's so tonally off, and really not that funny in the beginning that the eventually the material meant to tug at the heartstrings falls somewhat flat. The love interest, Leslie Mann and Olivia Wilde, do their darndest to make it worth our while (especially Mann who is just so game, so funny, and so sexy), but they can't save every sinking ship. C-
The Whistleblower: It's a strong, well-made drama about a real life, American police woman who went to Bosnia to work for the UN and discovers sex trafficking going on with their aid. Rachel Weisz stars as this woman and she embodies with all the nuance and quirks the glorified Law & Order SVU-level script lets her. The film is much better late as she is on the run, and can't avoid potential danger, and the young cast of Eastern European actresses employed to play the victims are quite remarkable. I just wish the film was too. C+
No comments:
Post a Comment