Film Reviews from a Cinefile's Point of View (and more!)

 

 

2012

Director Roland Emmerich’s new catastrophe film 2012 is a non-stop sci-fi adventure that will leave you excited but cold and frankly a bit empty. This is the man who brought us the famous cult-classic “Stargate” and the noble endowed “The Patriot”. He also brought us the great character driven (for a sci-fi) "Independence Day". Unfortunately he must have run out of story-telling for 2012, all the same, what a visual feast! I was riveted. The acting by John Cusack was whiner-less and lead material, but the stand out performance award for this film belongs to Chiwetel Ejiofor. Go see it.

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The Blind Side

The Blind Side based on Michael Lewis' book, The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game has good performances by just about everyone in the flick. But it is a little light on the gritty facts. Sandra Bullock is hot in a motherly way and feisty enough to take on a crack dealer. All in all a good way to spend a Sunday Night.

 

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant

John C. Reilly is that "George Hamilton meets Bela Lugosi" type vampire in Cirque du Freak and I just love it. He is pompous and sartorial and kinda romantic.  The crowd of misfits he hangs with makes leaving the screen for popcorn impossible. This film is uneven; but it is also funny and sometimes scary, a little. Again, the real winners in this film are the freaks who are not given enough screen time. Patrick Fugit plays a green-skinned Snake Boy, Salma Hayek is a nice bearded lady and Orlando Jones is appropriately called Alexander Ribs. The cirque is run by the judicial leader Mr. Tall, ably handled by Ken Watanabe.

Cirque du Freak tries to balance family ties with debts to friends. It sets up the plot, or in this case, maybe the sub-plot, through the life of its hero, Darren, nicely played by Chris Massoglia.  Director Paul Weitz who is best when he works with his brother, Chris, ran solo on this one. Chris was busy directing his own vampire movie, you remember that little vampire tale, Twilight? It is due out next month and may have started this whole new undead craze.   

 

District 9

It is surprising that once 3D Animator and now director Neill Blomkamp would make a film like District 9 that appears to be not so CGI awesome but somewhat believable. The movie is an interesting blend of Sci-Fi, CNN, and a 10th grade film on living conditions in South Africa. I loved it, and expect it to be a cult classic in year’s to come. But do not expect to be watching Star Wars.

 

Extract

I think Mike Judge made Extract with an idea that it would look something like his satirically funny, Office Space, only from the company point of view. In this case, the boss is Joel, played by an evenly low-tempered Jason Bateman.  No points to Bateman but kudos to Ben Affleck who was a refreshing change of pace. And a “wow you have grown up”, kudos to Mila Kunis.

 

Fame

Preconceived notions are a bad thing to bring into a movie theater. Director Kevin Tancharoen does a great job directing and producing the talented young performers in this 21st century remake of the 1980 “Fame”, which brought an evolutionary change to adolescent musicals.  The acting is fair to good, the dancing is wonderful and the music top notch. The main problem with this film and I am sorry to say there is a problem, is that we never really get to know the characters with the exception of maybe, superficially, one or two. Too bad (for us) but it seems this novice director, tied to Britney Spears, didn’t pass the muster on this remake.     

 

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Director Stephen Sommers has been my hero since The Mummy trilogy and Van Helsing so news that he was adapting my favorite childhood toys, Hasbro’s G.I. Joe, who wouldn’t be ecstatic? Again, proving the expectation is sometimes better than the receipt, GI Joe left me cold, with exception of a few very cool and innovative CGI inventions like the running suits.

Even the always welcome Dennis Quaid and dancer turned fighter Tatum Channing didn’t quite work.

 

The Informant

Matt Damon is a bonafide actor and I can see his interest in a movie about a fellow like Mark Whitacre, an Ivy League Ph.D. who was a rising star at Archer Daniels Midland in the early 1990s. The guy seems, at first look, a hero. He blew the whistle on the company's price fixing tactics. The problem is both the movie and Mark are bi-polar.  I so wanted to love this flick!

 

It's Complicated

As is always the case in the filmmaker's movies, the problems for Jane and Jake are high-class ones. "It's Complicated" is set in the lush affluence of Santa Barbara, it made me jealous. Someome said that the problem with It's Complicated, a romantic comedy about the menopausal crowd starring Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin, is that it's not nearly complicated enough. I am not so sure I agree as I was in love with the movie and its talented and seasoned cast, though the problem may be that it is 15 minutes too long!. 

 

Julie and Julia

This film, directed and written by the talented Nora Ephron, cuts back and forth between the two leads way too much for me.  In order to work, the film needed to show just how far their (Julia & Julie) dedication to cuisine shaped their lives and marriages. 524 plus recipes are made throughout the movie, some are served, but there is never a moment when I ate through my popcorn tub thinking it was beef bourguignon or anything special like I did watching ‘Like Water for Chocolate’. One thing that needs to be known about this film, Meryl Streep is spot on. She has Julia Child down (with or without butter)!

 

The Proposal

Ahhhhhhhh…love sweet-not so much love-sweet love. The chemistry between the leads in this film is overpowering considering Bullock is cold and tight lipped through most of the movie. Its formulaic but who cares, we all need this type of film from time to time. Betty White is fab!

 

Public Enemies

Just what we needed was another remake about Heartland bank robbers. No doubt Depp brings something to this worn out character and the flick does a good job giving a 1930’s feel. However, the film lags from redundancy and just plain old, seen that before syndrome.

 

Star Trek (2009)

Thank you JJ Abrams.  Not because of your multi-talented story-telling. Not because of your exhaustive television work. Not because of your 2011 feature films. Thank you for making us fall in love with Star Trek all over again. Man, I loved this film. Buy it on DVD today.

 

The Time Traveler's Wife

Okay so, Librarian Henry De Tamble played by a suffering and almost brooding Eric Bana has a rare disorder that causes him to drift uncontrollably back and forth through time. I had a cousin who had that same disease. On one of his sojourns, he meets the love of his life, Claire played by the hauntingly girl next door attractive Rachel McAdams, and they marry. Do they live happily ever after?  Love is immortal and this flick helps us all to remember that.

 

White Out

Where for art though Dominic? Where is the director that brought us the characters of Kalifornia, Swordfish and Gone in Sixty Seconds? He must have had he flu while making this year’s Antarctic murder mystery, Whiteout.

Even though I have had a movie crush on Kate Beckinsale since Pearl Harbor and almost became a priest after seeing her in the Underworld films as I realized then that she was out of my reach. However, even my love for the leather loving Kate can’t get me excited about Whiteout and her non-leather roll. Tom Skerritt as the third lead is nothing to shout about either. He is firm and dependable and, well, boring. This film just didn’t excite me even though it is not totally predictable. Maybe that’s why producer Joel Silver took so long getting it to market.