My Review of All Good Things

This movie was debuted December 2010 but in a very limited release.  With a cast this elite it’s surprising that it didn’t see a larger audience base.   The story is based on one of the most infamous missing person case’s in New York History.  The director, who hasn’t really done much beyond this movie, uses court records and speculation to piece together what may or may not have happened.  Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst, and Frank Langella are so good in this movie.  

Gosling and Dunst play a happy couple who marry despite his father’s (Langella) wishes.  We find out through the course of the movie that Gosling’s character, David, has had quite a horrific childhood.  Dunst’s character, Katie, represents something normal to him.  And thus, of course, he fights to control her.   This would be the typical disintegrating marriage type of story, except Gosling and Dunst are so good they elevate the movie to something it would never be without them.

 I know there are some Dunst haters out there, but I think she is incredibly charming.  And this is one of the best things I have ever seen her in.  And Ryan Gosling, I mean, where can you go wrong here.  I haven’t seen him in anything where he has done a poor job.  I read in People Magazine recently that Gary Oldman says Gosling is the actor he admires, so that’s gotta tell you something. 

There is a bit of dissatisfaction when the movie ends, but that usually comes with unfinished stories that are based somewhat in factual information.   You’ll need to rent this one, or stream on Netflix.  But it’s worth a watch if you’re in a thriller type of mood.  But it is unsettling so maybe just the one time is enough.

My Predictions for the 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards

Let me start by saying if in today’s age of 3D and D-Box movies, you can create as much intrigue and buzz as silent film The Artist has, you deserve some kind or recognition.

I haven’t seen all of these movies yet, haven’t even had the opportunity to in regards to many of them.  So my predictions are based on the films I have seen, the buzz I’ve heard and read about others, and the previous work that the nominated individuals have done.  Also, during awards season you have to remember that the people who actually vote on these things have probably never been to an actually movie theater and only watch the films they're required to.

I love awards season!

Best Motion Picture - Drama

The Descendants
The Help
Hugo
The Ides Of March
Moneyball
War Horse: Will win and should win

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama

Glenn Close – Albert Nobbs

Viola Davis – The Help: Should win

Rooney Mara – The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo:  Will win

Meryl Streep – Iron Lady

Tilda Swinton – We Need To Talk About Kevin

 

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama

George Clooney – The Descendants:  Will win

Leonardo DiCaprio – J. Edgar

Michael Fassbender – Shame

Ryan Gosling – The Ides Of March

Brad Pitt – Moneyball:  Should win

 

Best Motion Picture - Comedy Or Musical

50/50
The Artist:  Will win and should win
Bridesmaids
Midnight In Paris
My Week With Marilyn         

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy Or Musical

Jodie Foster – Carnage

Charlize Theron – Young Adult

Kristen Wiig – Bridesmaids:  Unfortunately will win

Michelle Williams – My Week With Marilyn

Kate Winslet – Carnage:  Should win

 

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy Or Musical

Jean Dujardin – The Artist:  Will win and should win

Brendan Gleeson – The Guard

Joseph Gordon-Levitt – 50/50

Ryan Gosling – Crazy, Stupid, Love.

Owen Wilson – Midnight In Paris

 

Best Animated Feature Film

The Adventures Of Tintin:  Will win
Arthur Christmas
Cars 2
Puss In Boots
Rango:  Should win

Best Foreign Language Film

The Flowers Of War (China)
In The Land Of Blood And Honey (United States):  Will win
The Kid With A Bike (Belgium)
A Separation (Iran)
The Skin I Live In (Spain)

Best Performance by an Actress In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

Berenice Bejo – The Artist

Jessica Chastain – The Help

Janet McTeer – Albert Nobbs

Octavia Spencer – The Help:  Will win and should win

Shailene Woodley – The Descendants

 

Best Performance by an Actor In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

Kenneth Branagh – My Week With Marilyn:  Should win

Albert Brooks – Drive

Jonah Hill – Moneyball

Viggo Mortensen – A Dangerous Method

Christopher Plummer – Beginners:  Will win

 

Best Director - Motion Picture

Woody Allen – Midnight In Paris

George Clooney – The Ides Of March

Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist:  Will win and should win

Alexander Payne – The Descendants

Martin Scorsese – Hugo

 

Best Screenplay - Motion Picture

Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist:  Will win

Nat Faxon, Alexander Payne, Jim Rash - The Descendants

George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon - The Ides Of March

Woody Allen - Midnight In Paris

Stan Chervin, Aaron Sorkin, Steven Zaillian - Moneyball:  Should win

 

Best Original Score - Motion Picture

Ludovic Bource - The Artist:  Will win and should win

Abel Korzeniowski - W.E.

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Howard Shore - Hugo

John Williams - War Horse

 

Best Original Song - Motion Picture

"Hello Hello" – Gnomeo & Juliet
Music By: Elton John
Lyrics By: Bernie Taupin

"Keeper, The" – Machine Gun Preacher
Music & Lyrics By: Chris Cornell

"Lay Your Head Down" – Albert Nobbs
Music By: Brian Byrne
Lyrics By: Glenn Close

"Living Proof, The" – The Help:  Will win and Should win
Music By: Thomas Newman, Mary J. Blige, Harvey Mason, Jr. and Damon Thomas
Lyrics By: Mary J. Blige, Harvey Mason, Jr. and Damon Thomas

"Masterpiece" – W.E.
Music & Lyrics By: Madonna, Julie Frost and Jimmy Harry

Review of Rise of the Planet of the Apes

It's better than you think it's going to be.  You know how JJ Abrams made Star Trek cool again?  That's sort of what Rupert Wyatt is doing with the Planet of the Apes franchise.  No, it's not as good as Star Trek.  But it is still good, and entertaining. 
The action was very well balanced with story.  They made me care about a chimpanzee without being overly 'carry a dog in my purse' type of stuff..  And I'm very thankful that James Franco wasn't totally baked the whole time.  And I'm sure Anne Hathaway is too.  John Lithgow was his usual easy-to-watch self.  No matter what part he plays, I'm afraid Tom Felton will forever be Draco Malfoy.  But he earns what he gets in this movie.
The is a prequel of sorts.  It's the beginning of a franchise reboot, and it leaves you satisfied yet wanting more.  There is one fairly obvious plot hole, but you can't really focus on that too much when the story itself is about Apes taking over humanity.

Best and Worst 2010

Toy Story 3.  I laughed, I cried, I laughed until  I cried.  There was a point near the end where I thought, "they are actually going to kills toys, this is not okay."  Isn't it so satisfying when the movies in a franchise just get better and better?  Spanish Buzz and Mr. Tortilla Head? Whoever thought those up needs a raise, cause that's comedy.

Inception...there are no words.  Well, that's a lie.  There are too many words.  I really don't think Christopher Nolan can make a bad movie and we should all worship at his altar.  I love that he expects the attention of his audiences and doesn't treat us like we're stupid.  (That being said, watch Following.  You won't regret it.)  When the top is spinning and the movie ends, gasp.  I also love hearing everyone's different theories on why the top did or did not fall.  You know it's a good movie when people STILL talk about it.  And if you hated this movie because you didn't get it, well I hate to break it to you, but that's not the movie's fault, it's yours.  "You're waiting for a train....".

I could watch The Town over and over.  And sometimes I do. Jeremy Renner, where have you been all my life?  He is incredible.  And get used to seeing him because it's going to happen a lot.  Everyone in this movie is awesome.  There's nothing bad about it.  The robberies and subsequent getaways are so clever and action packed.  And the climactic heist is the best of all.  What a place to rob! Awesome!  I know what you're thinking and yes, Gigli is awful on so many levels, but get over it.  Ben Affleck is good.  He's a good director and a good actor.  If after watching The Town you still aren't convinced go rent Hollywoodland (he plays George Reeves) and Gone Baby Gone (which he directed).  And if you're still not convinced after that go rent Battlefield Earth and I'm sure you'll love it cause you clearly have terrible taste in movies.  If you are renting The Town, try to get the extended version (it's only available on blu ray).  It's well worth it.

Why is Jeff Bridges the "Dude" in Tron:Legacy?  Is he still pissed about his rug or something?  And why are there so many holes in the plot?  And why is the only entertaining part of this movie when they're racing the light bikes?  Also, if you're going to cough up the extra 3D surcharge it's totally crap that nothing is even in 3D until about half an hour into the movie. What a crock.

Get Him to the Greek is disgusting.  Not funny.  Disgusting.  Not dirty joke funny. Disgusting.  And no, it doesn't get any better and no one is redeemed.  It just gets more disgusting.

Clash of the Titans....yep. Moving On.

Nope, I don't like Russel Crowe.  Nope, I don't think he's a good actor.  Nope, I don't think he's a terrible actor.  I think he's worse than that.  He is unbelievably average.  The movies he's in that are good aren't good because of him, it's because the story is good enough to overshadow him.  Robin Hood is not that great of a movie.  And it shouldn't be called Robin Hood.  It should  be something like Robin Longstride.  Cause he's only Robin Hood for about 10 minutes of the whole thing.  Yes, Gladiator is a good movie, because the story is good and the supporting cast is awesome.  And while we're on the subject, Gladiator won Best Picture, but Ridley Scott didn't win Best Director.  If you can direct someone so mediocre to win Best Actor, you really should win Best Director.  (for the record, Steven Soderbergh won that year for Traffic.) 

I'm not sure it's totally fair that The Kid's Are All Right is on here, considering I didn't even watch the whole thing because it was too boring and I sat through G-Force.  Yes, apparently guinea pigs are more entertaining than lesbians.

Are you ever watching a sequel to a movie you really enjoyed and thinking, what's changed?  Is it me?  Is it them?  Do I love them, but I'm not in love with them?  In this case, it's not me, it's them.  And they're bad. Sex & the City 2 oh how I wish you were a good movie.  The first one was so good.  Funny, heartbreaking, fashion shows.  I  mean what else can you ask for?  I would like to ask for this second installment to be wiped from the records of cinematic history.  I just can't defend you.

Review of Bridesmaids

I do think Kristen Wiig can be pretty funny.  She was hysterical in Knocked Up and was one of the only good things about Adventureland.  But I think she's the funniest in supporting roles.  Bridesmaids has some funny moments, and some really funny moments.  Wiig's impersonation of a penis is a total laugh right out loud kind of moment.  Overall though, it's a long disingenuous average comedy.
It seems like most of this movie was an inside joke between Wiig and Maya Rudolph, and I wasn't in on it.  Most of the side story lines were awkward and unfunny.  It seemed like they were things that the writers (Wiig being one of them) thought were really funny and wanted to keep no matter how much longer it made the movie.  And believe me, it seemed long.
Enter the movie's saving grace, Melissa McCarthy.  She is hysterical.  So funny, in fact, that I'm going to start watching her tv show.  Her character definitely keeps you guessing (unlike the plot) and you never know what she is going to do and say next.  Those are the best performances to watch in any movie.  Her scene when she is hitting on the man sitting next to her on the plane is awesome.  The funniest part of the movie is also the grossest.  Food poisoning is a bummer to have (no pun intended) but it sure is funny to watch.  And gross.  But that didn't matter too much cause I could hardly see the gross stuff through my tears of laughter.  McCarthy is a natural comedienne.  It is such a pleasure to watch her because she's so relaxed.  She never seems to be forcing the jokes.  She just plays the scene.  Wiig's downfall here is that she is pushing the jokes so hard that you get tired of feeling forced to laugh.
There is a potentially really great romantic storyline with Wiig and a policeman.  The cop (played by Chris O'Dowd) is one of the few sincere people in the movie.  He's just so likeable.  But when Wiig is playing opposite of him in what should be genuine moments, she is so uncomfortable that it isn't believable.  Even if the movie is a comedy, you need some honest moments to make you care about the characters.
I'm sure this movie was a lot of fun for real life friends Wiig and Rudolph to make.  I just wish it was as fun to watch.  And John Hamm, stop it.  You are too charming and good looking to be playing a douchey role like this.  Go back to Mad Men where you are a person we love to hate but still lust after.  And why do 3 people in this movie have foreign accents?  So weird.  And why does Maya Rudolph look like she is either in physical pain or just smelled pooh all the way through this movie?  I mean, during one scene it makes sense.  But the whole movie? 
Dear Kristen Wiig,  It's a good thing the supporting cast swoops in and saves this movie from being a totally snoozer.  Maybe you should stick to bit parts and sketch comedy, cause you really can't carry a movie on your own.  Sincerely, Someone who was thinking, "man, The Hangover is way funnier than this," during the last half of your movie.
I say, worth a watch, but rental only and don't expect hysterical just shoot for mildly entertaining.

Review of Warrior

So you go to rent a movie.  It's all checked out, on blu ray AND standard dvd.  You look around to see how much it is to purchase it.  It's all sold out, on blu ray and dvd.  You go to Walmart.  It's all sold out.  You go to the other Walmart (yes we have two in my town).  They're all sold out.  Now either this is a much sought after movie or maybe I made its existence up in my head.  This is how my experience trying to get a copy of Warrior went. 
When I finally did watch it, I was not disappointed at all.  I will now publicly admit that I really like the Rocky movies.  Not so much the one where he teaches the kid to fight, but all the others, yeah I like those.  However, I do recognize that they're not really good movies.  The dialogue is pretty bad, the acting is pretty bad, but you cheer for Rocky, you cry for Mickey and Apollo, and you hate Russia and Brigitte Nielsen.  Alright, maybe you hate Brigitte cause her and Flava Flav were nasty.  But still, you cheer Rocky on.
Warrior is like Rocky, but actually good, not just guilty pleasure good.  Joel Edgerton, Tom Hardy, and Nick Nolte should get nominated for this movie.  But they probably won't because the Academy doesn't like movies that regular people do (ie Dark Knight), blah blah.  They're so genuine and make you care about them so much.  It seems not enough movies have that anymore.  The director, Gavin O'Connor, hasn't really done anything note-worthy, but I think we're going to be seeing a lot more of his movies.
The story pits brother against brother and father against son against son.  At the start of the movie I was wondering who I'm going to be cheering for, since I have a brain and could deduce from the cover and character introductions what was ultimately going to happen.  But it doesn't matter that you know, because the story is so surprising and the characters so captivating.  If you finish this movie and think, "Ugh, it was so predictable," first of all I think you're partially lying, and second of all you missed the point. 
The two different paths and journeys that the brothers are on come to a head at an MMA tournament.  During the first 2/3's of the movie they set up Brenden's (Edgerton) story so completely that you begin to wonder how you can ever root for his brother Tommy (Hardy).  But during the few days of the tournament the truth and lies of Tommy's life erupt out.  And his first fight in the tournament is so awesome you might cheer for him based on bad-assness (yeah it's probably not a word, get over it) alone.  During his fights it's obvious why he is playing Bane in the next Batman movie. Dude's got some pent up aggression.
Like I said before, if you have a brain, you know how the ending begins.  But the torment of it playing out is intense.  I cried. Yeah, during Warrior.  Cause I was so happy at one point.  Men fighting for family.  It'll getcha every time.
If you think the ending is not cleaned up enough, or has too many loose ends, you missed out on the bigger themes.  It's about the characters journey to that point.  And I like that the ending isn't necessarily a happy fairytale everyone-lives-in-a-castle type of ending.  It's a movie about hope.  And hope sells, not quite as well as sex, but it sells.
Just a forewarning, after watching this movie you may think that being an MMA fighter is a good idea (I did.), I'm going to go ahead and say that you're wrong.  You would cry and try to climb out of the cage, and just embarrass yourself.  I watched this movie a week ago and still haven't been able to find it for purchase on blu ray.  Seriously people, restock your shelves!

Let's Talk About My 2011 Best and Worst Lists.

I want to give a few little tidbits (feeble as some of them may seem) behind the best and worst of 2011.  Crazy, Stupid, Love was funny, romantic, silly, witty, and completely entertaining.  There are a few surprises along the way that you really don't see coming.  I think Steve Carrell is better in movies like this than he is on The Office.  He can actually act.  When Ryan Gosling takes his shirt off, Emma Stone's reaction is exactly what was going through my mind.  There's also a really funny moment with a velcro wallet.
Super 8; so nostalgic.  Spielberg to a tee.  If Goonies, ET, and Close Encounters had a baby, it would be Super 8.  The kid actors are really good here.  And it is so great that we get to see the movie that they've been working on during the credits.
Baseball movies are great.  Moneyball is no exception.  It's a much smarter movie than I think you would anticipate.  Brad Pitt is so reminiscent of Robert Redford that it's kind of spooky.  And I actually wanted to watch Jonah Hill during the whole movie.  He wasn't his normal obnoxious self.  Maybe he lost that part of himself with all the rest of the weight.
Pirates 4. Ugh.  A really good cast of actors stuck in a really awful story.  The first movie was awesome because it was new and fresh and we hadn't seen it before.  But no no no, we can't make just one good movie.  We have to go screw it up by milking it for everything it's worth.  Hey Disney, the horse is dead, stop beating it.
Sherlock Holmes seems like I should like it.  But I don't.  I didn't like the first one and I didn't like the second one.  They're boring.  And they're not as smart as they think they are.  And for the love of everything holy Guy Ritchie, enough of the slow motion.  It does nothing but slow down an already long story.  The chase scene in the forest is so long that I think my butt fell asleep.  Never a good thing.
Go on Youtube, watch the preview for The Way Back, do not go rent the movie.  Resist the urge, I'm warning you.  The preview gets you all excited for this epic journey of hope that turns out to be a muddy boring walk through the desert.  Too bad.  It had so much potential.