Let the Right One In

This is a Swedish movie that a lot of critics have been raving about.  The film is definitely competent and intelligent but really, really slow.  It's a great movie to see if you're in the mood for something a bit blue.  It's essentially a vampire tale told through the lens of two twelve-year-old loners who form a bond against the often inhumane world.  The performances by the two young actors are what really keep the film grounded and their sweetness towards each other is authentic and heartfelt.  Maybe I shouldn't have had a few before the movie, because all I wanted was for the film to move along faster.  There are endless shots of the cold Swedish tundra replete with snow falling from the sky at night and WS of the general grayness and an overbearing lack of color.  Thankfully there's enough blood to add some red flourishes throughout the film.  The metaphor I would use for this film is an incredibly plain bowl of rice with a few really explosive nibbles within it.  There are some incredibly artistic touches that reinvent some vampire cliches (exposure to sunlight, the sounds the vampires make), and one thing I really liked was that a lot of the violent/suspenseful action was shot from a wide angle which somehow really heightened the surprise of it.  But overall I thought the film was a bit of a snore with an ending that was satisfying, if not a little inappropriate.

Tropic Thunder

This movie was terrible.  Ben Still needs to stop coming up with premises for movies, writing for movies, and directing movies.  The movie is essentially a series of inside-jokes about Hollywood and the process of making films - from the big asshole exec. producers, to the asshole agents, to the asshole actors, to the asshole groupies.  Nothing new is revealed about the cliche of Hollywood being full of assholes, and Stiller is probably the biggest asshole for thinking that putting Robert Downey, Jr. in black face and dressing up Tom Cruise like fat, balding executive and making him dance to rap during the end credits.  The plot itself is so contrived and unrealistic that I lost interest about a half hour in.  I watched the second half of the movie in fast forward with subtitles so I could save 15 minutes or so.  I think the most impressive thing about the movie was how deep Downey got into his character of an Australian actor playing a black character, to the point where there were no traces of the real RDJ and all you had was this completely different, completely believable human being.  Even in "Iron Man" he spends a lot of the movie being himself, but in "Tropic Thunder" he is really someone else.  Other than that, Stiller makes fun of the mentally challenged again for laughs and Jack Black is his usual zany (yawn) self.  I think the funniest part of the DVD is that there is an ad about respecting those with mental challenges on it.  What a bunch of assholes.

Slumdog Millionaire

There goes Danny Boyle again, getting me all excited with the premise of a film and dazzling me for the first hour before dumbing down his ending and leaving me ultimately unsatisfied.  There were some things about "Slumdog Millionaire" that were fantastic- the cinematography, the colors, the music-video paced editing, the soundtrack, and the access he had to Mumbai's slums, but the ending is terribly saccharine and the whole driving force behind the movie is sappy and predictable.  Granted, this movie probably wasn't made for my tastes.  It's definitely a crowd pleaser that delivers a fun, escapist experience but it's not really trying to reflect any type of reality in the world.  The same goes for Boyle's other films like "Millions" and "Sunshine" which were dazzling and fun and brilliant to look, but resolved themselves unrealistically at the end.  It's the kind of thing that separates the great filmmakers from the legendary ones.  You can either please audiences now, or please critics now and forever.  Anyway, I would still recommend anyone to go and see this movie because it does have some great moments and you will probably see some things you have never seen before.  

My Blueberry Nights

This movie was universally panned by critics, but somehow the cover of the DVD box still attracted me to check it out.  It stars Norah Jones in her first, and possibly only, starring role ever and was directed by Hong Kong legend Wong Kar-wai ("Chungking Express," "In the Mood for Love") in his first English-language feature.  Yes, Norah Jones' acting is atrocious as she spends the majority of the film eating so that she just doesn't sit there looking clueless.  But in terms of creating a mood and a feeling, this movie was a great success.  The cinematography and the editing do a great job in creating an America that doesn't look like America, but more of a romaniticized version seen from the outside-- resplendent with neon signs, a rushing subway, open roads and charming cafes/bars/diners.  It's clear that though it's not his best effort, Wong is quite adept with the subtleties of human interaction and his work still sucks you in-- even without a very good protagonist.  

Son of Rambow

So, this movie wasn't too good.  I think conceptually, somehow using Rambo: First Blood as part of the story was a cool idea and that probably drew people into watching it.  The guy that directed this movie is a famous music video director who has done a lot of stuff for Blur.  The problem is the same one that I see from a lot of music video/commercial directors in that they can do fancy visual camera tricks, but they think that stringing a series of these together will make a compelling story.  The mixing of reality with animation is done well here and the characters are somewhat compelling though a bit cliche.  It starts to feel like a Gondry knock-off pretty fast while we marvel at the creativity of the young protagonist who draws amazing worlds in the pages of his textbooks.  However, the story stumbles once it gets into more serious territory like religious cults, brothers that raise brothers and the true meaning of friendship.  The ending is borrowed a bit from "Cinema Paradiso" and the tears of the kid at the end make you want to toss the DVD out the window.  I guess this is worth watching if you wanted to direct an effects-heavy commercial or music video and saw this as part of his reel-- as a film it's too much gravy and not enough meat.  Mmm, Thanksgiving is right around the corner...

SLING BLADE

So recently I've been interested in films by first time directors.  Especially ones that have done pretty well at Sundance by first-time directors.  If I hadn't expressed it before I believe directing a good film is one of the most difficult things to do in the world (right up there with hitting a Major League home run) so, much props to those people that have done it.

The first thing that struck me about this movie was how well Billy Bob Thornton understood the world he was creating, and especially understood the characters within it.  We were being led by an expert.  We jump straight into the heart of the movie with the story told by the murderer in the mental hospital, talking in detail about one of his kills.  It's clear that the world we live in is a perilous, cruel one.   Billy Bob's Karl character is a force of nature within the film-- a simpleton who acts by what he believes is right and just (definitely not the Hamlet type).  As Karl gets released from the mental hospital and attempts to start his life anew, we are certain that he will once again face a decision where he must kill to maintain his sense of justice.  Even though you kind of know where the film is going, it's how we get there that keeps the film genuine and real.  What really drives the film is the cruelty of the antagonist, Doyle, in the film.  He's like a lot of people we know - selfish, immature, moody, insensitive, and it seems that Thornton is saying that cruelty is the result of a deep-seated dissatisfaction with one's self.  When Karl eventually hacks Doyle up, he does it without a struggle from him, and with a kind of acceptance.  In real life, the bad guy kind of knows that they're the bad guy which is sad.  I think the great thing about the film is that it's not trying to be big and cutting edge, but rather focuses on the small unexpected details of life.  I think most young directors try to hit the scene big with a totally original concept but fail to really give it the attention to detail it needs to make it good.  So many times I see that going small is the best way to go big.