Film Grades and Reviews: 2011

Can't Miss
A/A-
The Tree of Life
Melancholia
Moneyball
Weekend
Drive
We Were Here
Beginners

Great with reservations
A-/B+
Buck
50/50
Young Adult
Warrior
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II
Shame
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
War Horse
The Artist

Good, but...
B+/B
Bridesmaids
Jane Eyre
Take Shelter
Rampart
Bill Cunningham New York
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
A Dangerous Method
Crazy Stupid Love.
Pariah
Super 8
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Rango
Fast Five

Why not?
B/B-
The Skin I Live In
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Help
The Muppets
The Ides of March
The Descendants
Midnight in Paris
The Adventures of Tintin
Hanna
Higher Ground
Anonymous
Bad Teacher

Take Me or Leave Me
B-/C+
Gnomeo & Juliet
George Harrison: Living in the World
Page One
Being Elmo
Martha Marcy May Marlene
X-Men: First Class
The Adjustment Bureau
Source Code
Extremely Loud, and Incredibly Close
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Real Steel
Captain America: The First Avenger


Feh
C+/C
Like Crazy
My Week With Marilyn
Limitless
The Beaver
Friends with Benefits
Conan O'Brien: Can't Stop
Our Idiot Brother
Carnage
Horrible Bosses
Thor
No Strings Attached
Winnie the Pooh
The Mechanic

Not Recommended
C/C-
Immortals
Hugo
The Iron Lady
Larry Crowne
The Whistleblower
Albert Nobbs
Take Me Home Tonight
One Day

Cinematic Ebola Virus
D+ thru F
Rio
Happy Feet 2
Cars 2
Water for Elephants
Just Go With It
The Change-Up
Green Lantern
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Sucker Punch
Beastly
Going Down in La-La Land

She's Not There- "My Week with Marilyn" Review

      It seems like every few years, whether we want it or not, we're inundated by some new, apparently big revelation about one of our favorite stars of classic Hollywood yore.

     Katharine Hepburn was bisexual!

     Bing Crosby was an abusive drunk!

     Cary Grant dabbled in LSD!

     A new author always seems to be chomping at the bit on the Today Show with their newest and juiciest bit of dirt to unearth for all to see a truer and more potent side of who (insert celebrity name) really was.

     So in 1995 when Colin Clark, in his memoir "My Week with Marilyn" detailed his affair with the titular bombshell during the making of her film "The Prince & The Showgirl" in the summer of 1956, it was an instant success. Fans clamored for as much new and scandalous information as they could about the star that many still don't feel like we knew very well at all.

     Unfortunately, for all of it's talk of these missing pieces to the Marilyn Monroe puzzle, the frothy film of "My Week with Marilyn" ends up a slow and shallow attempt that never really reveals much of anything at all.

Somebody's Paranoid Eyes- Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy Review

During the Cold War, the decisions that left the world on the brink between life as they knew it and total annihilation was put in the hands of men; courageous and powerful men, but men none the less.
     But what happens when these men begin to lose trust in the very foundations in which they have devoted their lives and effort? What happens when even the girl who pours your coffee or the office gofer is someone you suddenly can't trust? These themes are explored in classic espionage thriller style in "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" this formal and slow-burning stunner based on the novel by John le Carre.
     It's London, 1973, and when it's discovered the Soviets have placed a mole inside of British Intelligence (aka The Circus), some of the highest ranked and most secretive operatives (with the code names of tinker, tailor, soldier, and spy) become the suspects. Now it's up to George Smiley (Gary Oldman), a former operative forced into retirement, and a secret team of some of the bureau's youngest operatives to find the true story, stop the Soviets, and eradicate the mole before the world is brought even closer to the nuclear disaster.

Bruised But Not Broken- Warrior Review

Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton face-off for one final bout in "Warrior"

Warrior: Two brothers, both with the weight of the world and their past on their shoulders, enter the cage. Only one may leave with the five million dollar prize.
     "Warrior" is an action-packed drama about a pair of brothers both traumatized by their shattered childhoods, who now are trying to redeem themselves in the tumultuous and dangerous ring of mixed martial arts. One brother, Tommy (a mercurial Tom Hardy), a  shaken, returning veteran from the Iraq War, and the other Brendan (Joel Edgerton) a high school physics teacher haplessly trying to pay the mortgage.They along with their father (played with sweet sadness and unbridled fury by Nick Nolte) try to use fighting to fix their troubled pasts, but also to embolden their fleeting futures.

     In an age when more and more people whine and complain that the movies they see don't reflect their regular American values, and that things like "The Blind Side" are the only antidote, "Warrior" goes a long way to remind that movies with heart need not check their intelligent dramatic tension or their fierce emotional performances at the door. This film written and directed with great blue collar gumption by Gavin O'Connor ("Tumbleweeds" and "Miracle") is muscular, taut film with some amazing performance to buoy even its silliest moments.

You've Got It Bad Girl- Young Adult Review

Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron) doing everything she can to win back her man

     Just imagine that worst-case scenario version of seventeen year-old yourself. Think of all of your little quirks you had then, those annoying and frustrating habits that you've been able to lessen or eliminate from growing up or gaining some life experience.

     Now just imagine that version of yourself is 37 and completely unchanged from that petulant and socially inappropriate teenager, and even worse, blithely oblivious that that kind of behavior is not expected or even wanted anymore. This is a good starting place to try to describe the ballsy, slightly manic, and always delusional Mavis Gary, Charlize Theron's protagonist in the new comedy "Young Adult" from writer Diablo Cody ("Juno," TV's "United States of Tara") and Jason Reitman ("Up in the Air" and "Juno").

     Mavis is a mess. As a writer of a series of young adult "Sweet Valley of the Traveling Pants"-style novels (that was recently canceled) about popular blonde girls whose intelligence and smarts are like obviously ignored because they're so popular and beautiful, she spends most of her time recovering from her hangover from the previous night, drinking vast amounts of Diet Coke, and procrastinating from finishing her final book by online shopping and watching "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" for inspiration. It's not a full life, but she's so happy if for nothing else then to be living in the Big City (Minneapolis) and not in her tiny little hometown of Mercury, Minnesota.

Joy to the World- The Muppets Review

  
     When I was younger, my family had an old VHS tape my parents had recorded of, "The Muppets: A Tribute to Jim Henson," that aired on CBS during November sweeps in 1990. This one-hour special honored the legendary genius, puppeteer, and innovator behind the Muppets, Sesame Street, and Fraggle Rock, amongst other things, who had died only months earlier of a strep infection. The tribute was a mix of old footage from past Henson programs and films, interviews with colleagues plus, a continuing skit where the Muppets tried to plan a tribute to Henson without knowing who he was.

    The mood was appropriately somber with testimonials from the likes of Carol Burnett, Harry Belafonte, and Steven Spielberg waxing poetically about Henson's creativity, his artistic pursuits as a storyteller, and his integration of education into children's television programming. But, despite these moments of sobriety, the Muppet characters themselves, with their whoopie cushion jokes, delightful plays on words, and silly musical numbers, were not letting any amount of melancholy or sadness spoil the pursuits Henson had for his singular creations--to laugh, sing, be silly, and simply, just make everyone happy.

    Writer/star Jason Segal ("Forgetting Sarah Marshall," TV's "How I Met Your Mother") hasn't forgotten this same joy and this same exuberance when creating his own film titled simply "The Muppets." Unlike in the most recent cinematic, Muppet efforts ("Muppet Treasure Island" or "Muppets in Space"), where the film relied heavily on a high-concept, this film goes back to the old-fashioned "put-on-a-show" style movie.

     The show in question is a benefit concert for the Muppet Studios which, unless they raise the money, will be taken over by an evil oil baron (played with reckless abandon and obvious fun by Chris Cooper). Segal plays Gary, who along with his girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams), and his Muppet brother Walter (a gaga fan of the Muppets), travel across the country to Hollywood, see the dilapidated studio, and then try to get the gang back together for one last event.

      High Shakespeare it most certainly is not, but it doesn't matter because between the new original songs (written by Brit McKenzie of "Flight of the Conchords" fame), the great running gags, and the verve from the lead actors (Amy Adams!!) as well as the celebrity cameos the film delivers exactly what it's supposed to.

     But that's also the problem. There's nothing new, nothing fresh. There's nothing as startlingly perfect as Kermit singing "The Rainbow Connection" at the beginning of the first film or a cameo as well played as Orson Welles or Steve Martin. Yes, a running gag involving how the Muppets are has-beens is funny and has good mileage for jokes, but it can't be the whole film. I wish Segal would have pushed for a more original way to tell the same story. Everyone was obviously apt to do, and the songs (especially "Life is A Happy Song" and "Man or Muppet") are as catchy as ever, but the film as a whole feels just rather flimsy.

    Gripes aside, I don't think it's possible to leave the theater with anything less than a smile on your face. You go to the theater for 98 minutes, smile, laugh, and beam from ear-to-ear; can you possibly do better than that? It's been twelve years since their last film, and more than anything I'm just so glad there's a whole generation of kids and families that can get excited and be happy to see the Muppets on the screen. Grade: B

  

Scary Monsters & Super Creeps

  

 

     As we've seen in many of the films of 2011 ("The Tree of Life, "Melancholia") there seems to be this new ever constant worry that something bad is about to happen. With the floods, earthquake, tsunamis, and even the supposed potential of the Mayan 2012 deadline, there is a heightened paranoia that has permeated and ingrained itself upon our lives and culture, and now into our cinemas. Two of this year's biggest Sundance titles, "Take Shelter" and "Martha Marcy May Marlene" tackle this obsession and fear in different and rather personal ways.

     In "Take Shelter," writer/director Jeff Nichols looks at these prevailing insecurities through the eyes of Curtis LaForche (Michael Shannon), an Ohioan construction worker, husband, and father to a young deaf girl, who begins having a series of intense and vivid dreams involving the wild and disastrous weather, his dog, and even his family turning on him. He tries to deal with these fears, much to his wife's dismay, by buying gas masks, stockpiling canned goods, and even refurbishing the storm shelter in the backyard of his small farmhouse.

After the jump...Martha Marcy May Marlene