[malcolm1980]

1/7

Women in Love (Ken Russell) *** - Director Ken Russell passed away relatively recently and it occurred to me I have yet to see a film of his. This is the film I chose to lose my Ken Russell virginity to. It's an adaptation of a DH Lawrence novel about two sisters during the 1920's who have affairs with two upper-class men who are close friends with some complications of course. Overall, I thought it was a very good film. Ken Russell manages to make what's essentially a period romantic drama into something that feels quite contemporary and not stuffy at all. Glenda Jackson was very, very good in her Oscar-winning role but I find it a bit strange that she won while Oliver Reed, who for me had the most compelling, complicated role and was the standout of the piece, wasn't even nominated. Oh, well. I look forward to more films from Russell.
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[malcolm1980]

1/8

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (Guy Ritchie) **1/2 - I wasn't a huge fan of the first movie though I did find it entertaining. I did like this one a bit better but not by much. It seems it has everything going for it. The cast is very good, there are some thrills and laughs along the way and Guy Ritchie does some cool things with the visuals and all but everything adds up to it being entertaining but ultimately disposable and forgettable.

Diary of a Lost Girl (G.W. Pabst) ***1/2 - This is director G.W. Pabst's and Louise Brooks' second and last movie together (news to me too, I thought they worked together a lot!). It's about a young girl who descends into a tumultuous, troubled life. The film has tons of soapy and melodramatic elements to it but the direction and the acting keeps it quite compelling. Louise Brooks was incredible in this one. It's no Pandora's Box but it's respectably close.
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[malcolm1980]

1/13


Melancholia (Lars Von Trier) ***1/2 - Ah, Lars Von Trier. He's a filmmaker whose films contain things that I find fascinating and downright brilliant but at the same time, he has elements which bug and irritate me and this film is no exception. This is his rather unique take on sci-fi apocalyptic genre about depression and a huge planet that's about to incinerate the Earth, ending life as we know it. Yes, it's very much downer and rather bleak but beautifully so. Lots of hoopla have been made about Kirsten Dunst, though I do think she's strong here, I thought Charlotte Gainsbourg was a bit better.
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[malcolm1980]

1/14

Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami) **** - What a magnificent film! This is probably my favorite Abbas Kiarostami film so far (along with A Taste of Cherry, which is due for a rewatch). This is a film about a couple. That's about the only thing I can say without giving way too much away but the film's appeal is finding out the direction where it is headed as it does a rather strange but wonderful narrative shift midway which reflects the title of the film. The two lead performers are magical onscreen together. I'd love to see this again. One of my favorites of the year so far.
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[malcolm1980]

1/15

A Separation (Asghar Farhadi) **** - Wow. What an intense, devastating drama. A husband and his wife separate. But an incident involving a miscarriage of a pregnant female caretaker of the husband's father opens up a whole new can of worms. This is one of the reasons why I love cinema. This is an eye-opening look into what goes on in Iranian society. This story can only be told in Iran yet its humanity is universal. The cast is amazing. I also absolutely love the fact that you really sympathize with all the characters involved, which makes this film all the more heartbreaking. It is one of the best films of the year.
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[malcolm1980]

1/20


Jane Eyre (Cary Fukunaga) ***1/2 - I haven't read the Charlotte Bronte book it's based on but I've found out that it's actually a Gothic novel with supernatural/spooky undertones. This film adaptation actually brings out some of that. So in that way, the film kind of reminds of Twilight, however, this story has a far more well-written, stronger female character. And that character is brought to life beautifully by Mia Wasikowska, who's well on her way to becoming a major actress. (And supported by a great supporting cast too). Speaking of that, the young director of this film, Cary Fukunaga is also likewise on his way to becoming a major director. Despite being a period romance, the film is totally absorbing and never feels stuffy, this is all due to his direction. A solid piece of work.
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[malcolm1980]

1/21

Coriolanus (Ralph Fiennes) *** - This is yet another modernized adaptations of one of Shakespeare's plays and this is one of his more obscure ones. For good reason, it isn't quite as great as Hamlet or Romeo & Juliet or Macbeth but it's still an interesting, compelling story anyway. As for the film adaptation, Ralph Fiennes acquits himself well both as a lead actor and first-time director with the help of a great supporting cast. It's very good but far from great.
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[malcolm1980]

1/22

The Purple Rose of Cairo (Woody Allen) ***1/2 - A fictional character from a movie steps out into the "real world" to charm the pants off a woman with an unhappy marriage during the Great Depression. It is a wonderful, charming, funny film that's essentially about the magic of the movies. It's not Woody's funniest film but I had a smile plastered throughout a huge chunk of it. Jeff Daniels is terrific in a dual role and Woody Allen's muse, Mia Farrow, is also as strong as she's ever been. The final shot of the film is absolute perfection, IMO.

Manhattan (Woody Allen) **** - It's one of the handful of canon films/all-time/top classics I haven't seen and by God, why did I wait so long? This is an amazing film and without a doubt it's one of Woody Allen's masterpieces. The script is funny and nuanced. Although Woody's films are often not praised for their visuals, this one contains some really jaw-dropping cinematography courtesy of Gordon Willis. Despite clearly made and set in the 1970's, it does not feel dated at all. It's a true classic, one of the greats.
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[malcolm1980]

1/23

Midnight in Paris (Woody Allen) **** - The worst thing I can say about this film is that it isn't quite as great as Woody Allen's masterpieces from the '70s and '80s. But it is very much a highlight on his current contemporary European phase of his films. It's a funny, joyful infectious romp about writer who longs for the past and suddenly getting his wish come true at the stroke of midnight. Owen Wilson manages to make the "Woody Allen"-type lead character without doing an overt impression. I'm watching this right after a marathon that consisted of The Purple Rose of Cairo and Manhattan and this film has plenty of elements that strongly reminds me of both films.

We Bought a Zoo (Cameron Crowe) **1/2 - The highest praise I can give this film is that it's fine and it could have been a hell of a lot worse. It's a highly unremarkable film that somehow managed to entertain thanks to the charm of Matt Damon and the cast. The script dials down the potential for silly sap and annoying cute moments. It's an interesting enough story that could have been a bit better as a TV pilot, I think. Still, it's just....fine.

Deconstructing Harry (Woody Allen) *** - It's 8 1/2 meets Wild Strawberries with F-words, C-words and sex jokes. That's the best way I can describe writer-director Woody Allen's probably most vulgar, explicit film. There are some good laughs in it and the supporting cast is terrific (Kirstie Alley especially). It's not quite as great as Allen's finest works but it's overall, a solid, respectable and fascinating film. It's a wilder, wackier Stardust Memories in a way, if I think about it.
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[malcolm1980]

1/28

J. Edgar (Clint Eastwood) ** - I usually really like Clint Eastwood's films. This one is probably the weakest I've seen from him in a long time. Granted his last few films were far from masterpieces, I really struggled with this one. The film is full of potential. Somewhere in there is a great film waiting to be made especially since the subject of this film is such a fascinating, complex character. It seemed to want to be so many things that it lost me. Leonardo DiCaprio is a bit miscast though he has moments of greatness, I can't help but feel a LOOK AT ME!!!! I'M AAAAACTINNNG!!! vibe from him from time to time. Armie Hammer was really good but I agree that his old age makeup was horrendous.
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[malcolm1980]

1/29

Haywire (Steven Soderbergh) **1/2 - This is an interesting piece of work. What it is, it's essentially a pure B-movie plot done in the distinctive Soderbergh-style, almost arthouse in its look and pacing. It sort of/kind of works but it would have been better if Gina Carano was a slightly better actress. She kicks ass extremely well but she's a barely adequate actress. The supporting cast (except for Channing Tatum, who's slightly BELOW adequate) give interesting performances. All in all, a nice try.

Voyage to Italy (Roberto Rossellini) **** - A married couple from England travel to Italy to sell off the house inherited to them by a dead relative and soon they realize how fragile their marriage really is. Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders are terrific as the couple and director Roberto Rossellini's use of the sights and sounds of Italy to juxtapose and reflect on the couple's relationship lends a lot of complexity and layers to the film. It's a fantastic piece of filmmaking.
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[malcolm1980]

2/4

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (David Fincher) *** - Having already read the book and seen the original Swedish adaptation, this English-language version of the same story holds very little surprises. Apart from the terrific opening titles sequence, David Fincher's filmmaking style actually does not do all that much to make this any more than just a solid thriller. Overall, i think the Swedish original film was better as an adaptation. I do however think that Rooney Mara made a better Lisabeth Salandar than Noomi Rapace. She is EXACTLY how I imagined the character to be when I read the book. It's not one of Fincher's best works.

Chronicle (Josh Trank) ***1/2 - I was very wary of the "found footage" format of this film. But I was surprised by how much it actually worked, at least for the most part. This film manages to combine two genres that are starting to show signs of fatigue and twisted it enough to make it new and fresh. It is a terrifically entertaining, above-average superhero movie (or should I say, an anti-superhero movie). It helps that the actors lend an air of credibility. Dane DeHaan in particular was terrific and he's an actor to watch out for, I believe.
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[malcolm1980]

2/5


The Grey (Joe Carnahan) *** - A plane carrying a group of oil drillers in Alaska crashes and a small group of survivors must survive the elements and a pack of killer wolves. What seems like a typical action-adventure survival story is actually a very interesting, complex meditation on deeper spiritual and religious issues surrounding life, death and the brutality of nature. Liam Neeson delivers one of his best performances in a long, long time in this one after seemingly put on autopilot kicking people's asses in B-action movies the last couple of years. It's not a perfect film but one of the more interesting films so far this season.
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[malcolm1980]

2/11

The Woman in Black (James Watkins) **1/2 - This is a British ghost story produced by Hammer Films and it's very much reminiscent of creepy haunted house films like The Haunted (the original one) and The Innocents. The film is nowhere near as great as those aforementioned films but is a passable enough entry to the genre with a few good atmospheric scares. Daniel Radcliffe acquits himself well in his first role playing an adult although I did have a bit of trouble buying him as a widowed lawyer even with the stubble. All in all, far from horrible but also far from the best of the genre.
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[malcolm1980]

2/18

The Descendants (Alexander Payne) ***1/2 - Alexander Payne, for me at least, is a mixed bag of a filmmaker. I thought his early work, Citizen Ruth and Election are a lot stronger as a whole, from his latter works, About Schmidt and Sideways. This is like the latter two, an imperfect film, far from a masterpiece but the strong ensemble of actors especially George Clooney in the central role rises above the flaws and give this film a whole lot of depth and emotional heft without being too saccharine or cliched. It's overall a very, very good film.

Hugo (Martin Scorsese) **** - I love film. I'm passionate about film. Director Martin Scorsese through this magnificent film managed to take that love, that passion and put it magically on the screen through a coming-of-age story of sorts of an orphan boy in the train station. The film is unsurprisingly visually dazzling but more than that, it's also a deeply personal work that obviously comes from the heart and it shows. As someone who likes Martin Scorsese, this is definitely in his top five best films. It's one of the best films of the year and any film which captures why the art of cinema is so wonderful is great in my book.
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[malcolm1980]

2/19

A Touch of Zen (King Hu) ***1/2 - When a high ranking public official was tortured to death unjustly for a crime he didn't commit, an evil eunuch puts out a death warrant on the rest of his family and they go on the run. This is a pretty good older entry in the wuxia genre of martial arts films. It's over three hours long and the action and plot takes a long while to unfold but when it does, it both figuratively and literally kicks ass. It may not be as slick as today's wuxia films but it still manages to wow.
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[malcolm1980]

2/25

Mysteries of Lisbon (Raoul Ruiz) ***1/2 - This is my first Raoul Ruiz film and I believe this is one of, if not THE last film of his and I have to say it is perfectly crafted swan song. After a boy is conked on the head, his mother, a countess visits him and soon a tale unfolds with all sorts of different characters and storylines going off on various directions. This film reminds me a bit of The Saragossa Manuscript in its numerous flashbacks and tangential plot lines. Its 4.5 hour running time and the various directions make this film a little tough to sit through occasionally but it's such an impeccably crafted, beautiful film that it's definitely well worth it. The twist/ambiguous ending may piss a few people off.
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[malcolm1980]

3/3


War Horse (Steven Spielberg) **1/2 - This is the type of film director Steven Spielberg can pretty much do in his sleep. It is extremely old-fashioned style of filmmaking that's so predictable and by the numbers, it borders on parody but goshdarnit, it is beautiful to look at and entertaining to boot. The film strongly reminds me of a John Ford picture though nowhere near as great. Though it's not a bad film by any means, I felt this is sort of a regression for Spielberg of sorts whose filmography of the past decade is eclectic, intriguing and interesting (even his perceived failures).

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (Stephen Daldry) ** - The good news: This film is somewhat of an improvement from director Stephen Daldry's two previous works The Hours and The Reader but the bad news: it's still not very good. I lowered my expectations for this one so low that I actually didn't find it as nearly as offensively bad as many people have said but the film definitely wears out its welcome after a while. Thomas Horn is very good as the lead character. I thought there was nothing wrong with his performance but it's the character who I found a bit grating and this is coming from someone who has touches of whatever quirky spectrum that this character has. It would have been fine if it focused on how a quirky kid comes to terms with loss but the 9/11 element gives it a bit of an aura of self-importance which I found a bit off-putting.
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[malcolm1980]

3/4


My Week with Marilyn (Simon Curtis) **1/2 - This film is pretty much what I or anyone would expect it to be. Thoroughly and completely unremarkable as a whole but the story's interesting enough and the performances of the cast make worthwhile to sit through. Michelle Williams was wonderful as Monroe. She manages to portray an actual character rather than just a shallow impersonation. She and Kenneth Branagh got Oscar nominations but I do feel that special mention should be made of Judi Dench as Dame Sybil Thorndike, she manages to make an impression even in her limited role.
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[malcolm1980]

3/9


The Help (Tate Taylor) ** - I was dreading watching this film. Though it's nowhere near as offensively bad as I thought it would be, it's still a bland cookie-cutter film that tackles the troubling, disturbing and rather complex subject of racism in a safe, simplistic, obvious way. The film's tone and performances are all over the place. Viola Davis is terrific and makes the film watchable but her performance belongs to a different, better film. Bryce Dallas Howard, on the other hand, is such a shrill over-the-top broad caricature that I feel it belongs in a John Waters movie. Jessica Chastain manages to make an impression and create an actual character with her limited screen time but frankly, I don't get the appeal of Octavia Spencer. Cinematography, costumes and sets are strictly perfunctory. Overall, the film gets an A for good intentions but a D in filmmaking.
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[malcolm1980]

3/10

Moneyball (Bennett Miller) ***1/2 - Now if there are two things I'm TOTALLY and COMPLETELY not interested in at all, it's sports and math (sports more than math). This film has plenty of both but is so well-made, well-written, well-directed and well-acted that I was totally and completely swept up and intrigued by it. (According to a friend of mine, it plays more like a heist film than a baseball film, I agree). Based on a true story about how ex-baseball player turned manager Billy Beane took his losing baseball team and using a unique method using stats gave the team a 20-game winning streak. The film is about underdogs and the importance of outside-the-box thinking and new ideas. You don't need to be a sports fan to be able to relate that that.

John Carter (Andrew Stanton) ** - It hurts me to write this review because I do greatly admire director Andrew Stanton. This is his live-action feature debut, an adaptation of an Edgar Rice Burroughs' sci-fi novel. It's got a lot of things going for it. Taylor Kitsch is a great find and makes a very charismatic lead, there are great visuals and some really good action scenes here but unfortunately everything that is good about it is all mixed up in a huge mess of a film which really could have used an editor with a better sense of pacing.
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[malcolm1980]

3/10

The White Sheik (Federico Fellini) ***1/2 - A newlywed breaks away from a rigid unromantic honeymoon schedule set up by her husband to a film set where she meets up with an actor playing an idealized romantic character the White Sheik. It's lighter and fluffier than the works of Fellini which I've seen so far. It's also quite funny and absurd. I was somewhat annoyed by the characters at first but it won me over in the end.
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[malcolm1980]

3/17

Mirror, Mirror (Tarsem Singh) **1/2 - A lavishly designed reimagining of the Snow White lore suffers from an uneven tone. It wants to be goofy, comedic and campy while at the same time trying to tell straightforward fairy tale. It's a very tricky thing to do especially in a live-action film (Animated features can get away with this easier, I find). It's all over the place. I believe at least some of the fault lies on Julia Roberts, woefully miscast as the Evil Queen. She was trying to be both funny and menacing but failing both which throws off the entire film. This is the last film of costume designer Eiko Ishiaka and her costumes are gaudy, lavish and elaborate as always and compliments the great art direction.
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[malcolm1980]

3/18

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (Hayao Miyazaki) **** - This one is in serious competition with Spirited Away as my favorite Studio Ghibli film or even my favorite anime film. Hell, it's already zoomed in my top ten favorite animated films of all time. A princess from a post-apocalyptic world where a huge portion of the world is toxic and unlivable must stop an impending war between two huge cities. It's got pro-environment and anti-war messages all through out but doesn't hit you over the head with it. Instead you get a visually sumptuous, rousing and exciting science fiction adventure film. This is the kind of film I'd be watching again and again. It's wonderful piece of work.

Blue Valentine (Derek Cianfrance) *** -Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams both give outstanding performances as a young couple whose marriage is falling apart. The film cuts back and forth to the when they first meet and fall in love and to the current state of their marriage. Despite some flaws here and there and the fact that it didn't really break new ground, the film's success lies in the performances of the two lead actors who really elevate the material and made it feel real, raw and frankly uncomfortable (in a good way). P.S. why was this ever rated NC-17? I mean, come on! Seriously?
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[malcolm1980]

3/24

The Muppets (James Bobin) ***1/2 - I grew up watching the Muppets on TV as well as watching many of the Muppet movies so imagine my delight and surprise that this was gonna happen again. And for the most part, it largely works. Screenwriters Jason Segel and NIcholas Stoller and director James Bobin successfully transfers the formula of the Muppets to the 21st century without trying too hard to make it "hip". Certain moments from this film feel like pure child-like joy captured on film.

The Hunger Games (Gary Ross) *** - I haven't read the books so I'm rating this purely from a movie standpoint. I do know of the plot of the novel it's based on so I was a bit surprised that Gary Ross was picked to do this film since nothing he has directed or even wrote in the past is even similar to this but in his first outing in this type of film, he did pretty darn well (it's better than Seabiscuit). Jennifer Lawrence fulfills the promise of her Oscar nomination and carries the film expertly. Even though I haven't read the books and don't know all the details, I was able to follow the film and I found it to be solid entry in the sci-fi post-apocalyptic genre.
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