Movie Review Roundup
I still have a handful of movies to see before I can make my year end picks but I thought I’d do a round up of films currently on DVD (and one that is soon to be). These won’t be long reviews, just short takes on the films.
9
I really was looking forward to this back in the Spring, but I didn’t get to see it in theaters so I caught it on DVD. Director Shane Acker tried expanding his short film into a feature like Neill Blomkamp did with District 9, but couldn’t find anything interesting to say or do with it like Blomkamp did. It’s not a terrible film really, just completely irrelevant.
The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
This made Roger Ebert’s Top 10 films of the year. I want to know what drugs he (and Nicolas Cage) are on. This is a film by a director who is has a persona of being crazy and I feel like he almost uses it as an excuse to just make the most ridiculous film of the year. Cage plays the titular drug crazed lieutenant like a crazed maniac and I never felt connected to his character or understood the reason for anything his character, or any other in the film, was doing.
This is a truly awful film that maybe I’m missing something on, but to me its just an hour and a half of bad acting, bad writing, bad cinematography, and bad direction.
Big Fan
Few people I know love Patton Oswalt like I do and I was a fan of writer/director Robert Siegel’s work on The Wrestler. That’s why I was so disappointed by this disjointed look into a middle-aged die hard fan who is beaten up by his favorite athlete and refuses to do anything about it out of loyalty to his team. The second half of the film is completely ridiculous and I totally stopped caring about Oswalt’s character. Oh, and did they really need the scene of Oswalt jerkin it?
Coraline
This is another critically hailed film that I just didn’t get what everyone was talking about. The story is equally illogical and all over the place as it is utterly boring. The animation is very well done, so it at least has some positives unlike the 2 films above, but from a story aspect I hated it.
Mary & Max
A refreshing change of pace over the previous films is this little Australian animated film about 2 lonely souls, a young girl in Australia and a middle-aged man with Aspergers in NYC, who become pen pals and create a life long friendship. I found it a moving look into friendship and how important it is to life. Its also has a wonderful sense of humor intertwined with some powerful emotional scenes. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is fantastic as the emotionally stunted shut-in Max. One of the year’s best films that you should really look for.
Paper Heart
In this pseudo-documentary, young comedienne Charlenne Yi crosses the country in search for what “love” is, something she has never felt or believes in. She falls for Michael Cera (playing himself), a friend of the director going along with Yi on her journey, and that slowly takes over the heart of the film.
I found the documentary elements were done very well, but the beginning of their relationship drags the film but thankfully I think the end of the film redeems it somewhat. If you like Cera, or are looking for a good date movie, I’d recommend renting it.
Taken
I missed this one in theaters, and I wish I hadn’t because even on TV this was one of the best action films I’ve ever seen. The story is pretty cookie-cutter but it serves the films strengths which are Liam Neeson and the best fighting sequences you’ll see all year. Best way I can put it is, Taken is an awesome movie.
Whatever Works
Woody Allen is back with his bread and butter New York, neurotic comedy. Larry David plays the Woody role as a genius who has secluded himself from the world after trying to kill himself, and failing miserably, because he can’t deal with the idiots around him and suffers from crippling panic attacks at times. One day he meets with an eccentric young Southern girl who refuses to accept his misanthropy and eventually they start a relationship.
Like I said this is a classic Woody Allen comedy, but I would argue that essentially its just rehashing of all those with Larry David adding his angry comedy into the fold. That said, a Woody Allen rehashing isn’t all that bad, so you probably will find something to enjoy here.
