The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo – 10
You’ll like this movie if you like
a. Atmosphere
b. Plot
c. Chemistry
I walked out of this and said “now that’s a movie!” Make no mistake - this is a dark, brutal, graphic movie that is not for the squeamish or prudish. I want to also disclose that I was unburdened by the book, or the previous Swedish movie version. I walked into this movie knowing little and was rewarded with the best movie I’ve seen this year - finally, on December 30th.
David Fincher, who directed last year’s masterpiece The Social Network, starts with an incredible title sequence and never lets up. When a movie has the guts to start with an amped up cover of Led Zeppelin's "The Immigrant Song" you know you're in for a ride. Daniel Craig superbly plays a disgraced journalist who is called upon to solve a 40 year old murder. There’s no way he can unravel this, it’s too old and too complicated. Then his daughter unwittingly solves a clue, and he realizes he’s dealing with a serial killer. He takes on the bizarre title character as a research assistant. She’s a computer hacker and that’s not her only skill. Rooney Mara is incredible as Lisbeth and their chemistry is one of those magical mysteries that couldn’t have been predicted. They roll through the maze of clues and keep us riveted. I can’t think of a scene that wasn’t perfect.
I’ve watched the first 10 minutes of The Social Network several times because the “breakup” scene that launches Mark Zuckerberg is a classic. Rooney Mara is the girl he’s breaking up with and who would’ve guessed she could pull this role off? She won’t win an Oscar because this character is so far out there, but she gives my favorite performance of the year. The movie is long and winding, but I can't think of a dead moment. Awesome cinema.
Be warned, this is a hard R rated movie. With graphic rape and sex scenes and brutal violence, I’d have rated this NC-17 if I’d been doing the rating – but that doesn’t diminish its greatness.
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol – 8
You’ll like this movie if you like
a. Tom Cruise in action
b. Crisp special effects
c. Amazing stunts
Tom Cruise’s versions of the old Mission Impossible TV series have always been missing an essential part of that series – the teamwork part. It felt like a one-man band, a starring vehicle for the ever photogenic Cruise. That shortcoming is unexpectedly remedied in this fourth installment as the IMF team is formed on the fly starting with the rescue of Ethan Hunt (a maturing Cruise) from a Russian prison.
What will make this movie famous is the scene where Cruise climbs, jumps, and repels on the outside of the Dubai skyscraper. If you're afraid of heights, you may want to look away. Probably, you won’t be able to. The scene is shot so effectively that it’s one of the most exciting action pieces ever done in a movie. I don’t know how they did it, but it’s terrific.
Surprisingly, the movie keeps up its momentum after that. There’s one ridiculous stunt after another, but isn’t that what we expect? They’re done with a light-hearted believability and they set up the next installment nicely. The resultant IMF team, played by Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton, and Simon Pegg, are all set. How long do we have to wait for the next installment?
J. Edgar – 7
You’ll like this movie if you like
a. The History Channel
b. The FBI
c. Leonardo DiCaprio
Clint Eastwood directs this chronicle of the life of J Edgar Hoover, FBI Director for most of our lives. Maybe this is a factual story of his life, but it’s drier than a bone. While the set pieces are perfect and every detail appears to be correct in the public side of the things, it just seems that the speculated upon private life of the never-married Hoover is just guessing. It’s like a historical National Inquirer version as Eastwood lightly touches on rumored cross-dressing and homosexuality
Eastwood jumps back in forth in time at a frantic pace and using what used to be a nice touch in a movie of a few flashbacks, he vaults around like on a pogo stick. It’s 50 vignettes back to back, as Hoover tells his story to a bureau biographer, one of many unnecessary plot devices.
Leonardo DiCaprio is earnest and intense in the title role, and he may even get some award citations. But let’s be honest – This was a role that should have been played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman. He would've been great. DiCaprio just doesn’t have the pudge factor. Nevertheless, it’s a nice examination of power in the cold war era.
Margin Call – 8
You’ll like this movie if you like
a. Financial drama
b. Kevin Spacey
c. Bail-out debates
it used to be that high drama and suspense took place in the wild, wild west, or maybe in a crime drama. Today, in light of financial collapses, bank failures, and government bailouts, there is no better setting for high drama than a financial firm on the brink. Wall Street never sleeps, and the walls keep tumbling down.
The story is told here of one such brokerage firm. It starts on layoff day, as the firm is downsizing. One of the downsizees, Eric Dane played by Stanley Tucci, is a risk analyst who’s been studying the risk models of his firm’s financial bets. He can’t quite figure out how bad it is, but before taking his exit, flips a flash drive to his protégé,Peter(Zachary Quinto). Unfortunately, Peter has no such problem, and over the course of one long overnight sequence, gets to explain the math to all the firms’ succession of bosses. It’s riveting stuff. Some critics have called this the best movie ever made about Wall Street.
It’s excellent for sure, with standout performances by Kevin Spacey and Jeremy Irons. Spacey plays the middle manager who must pull off the impossible task of dumping the toxic assets before the buyers catch on. His conflicted soul is the moral center of the movie, and Spacey gives one of his best performances. Jeremy Irons is equally riveting as the salesman who runs the firm while never sure of exactly what he’s selling, just that it has made him rich.
Watching the mass survival instinct of a company in trouble, and the lengths they will go to is interesting. The problem is that the story is so dryly told it feels methodical. The emotional detachment that most of the brokers feel permeates the movie. It’s their love of money that they put first, but it’s a love with no passion.
Tree of Life – 4
You’ll like this movie if you
a. Are a movie critic
b. Like stunning visuals
c. Hate dialogue
Wow. I’m not sure where to begin. This is the consensus best picture of the year per the film critics. (See metacritic.com) It’s visually stunning – that’s true. Apparently director Terrance Malick is telling the story of the creation of the earth, counterpointing it with the story of a repressed family in Texas in the 1950’s. Brad Pitt plays the strict father of 3 sons, and he’s perfect, as is Jessica Chastain as his wife. The oldest son Jack grows up to be played by Sean Penn who is apparently still suffering from his upbringing. Most of the abuse is shown, as there is probably less dialogue per minute than any movie since talkies began.
Malick’s Days of Heaven is one of my favorite movies, so I don’t consider myself a dolt on his style. This movie has been compared to Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, and that’s an apt comparison, as in the wildly artistic scenes, I just could not figure out what he was getting at. The pacing is so slow I’m sure it will try the patience of the typical movie-goer. I’m probably wasting my breath here anyway. The movie never made it to Mississippi, you probably won’t see it, and I couldn’t sit through it again if you paid me.
Scanning the Satellite
Cedar Rapids – 6
This 2011 feature did nothing at the box office and it’s easy to see why. It doesn’t know if it’s a comedy or a drama, and I certainly didn’t either. It starts out as “country bumpkin goes to the city,” and there are some funny bits there, as John C. Reilly, Ann Heche, and Ed Helms put on quite a raunchy show. Then the movie turns serious and Capraesque and I thought it lost steam, but maybe you won’t.
Jolene – 5
I watched this movie just to check out the debut 2008 performance by this year’s breakout star Jessica Chastain who plays the title role. Her stunning work in 6 movies released in 2011 has earned her accolades and recognition by several critics groups. That amazing charisma is on display in an otherwise average movie that has no idea what it wants to be. Is it soft porn, is it soap opera, is it a lifetime movie? Hard to figure, but worth watching to see the sparkle of an actress we’ll be watching for a long time to come. She gives way more than the movie deserves.
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