A Beautiful Mind (2001)

This is an incredible story, and even if only part of it is accurate, it's still an incredible story. If you haven't ever watched it, pick it up or put it in your queue.

I feel it is pretty much established that Ron Howard knows how to make movie. You take a great story, tell it straight out and add great actors. He is excellent with this formula. Think of Splash, for God's sake.

Well, this story is great. A genius mathematician turns out to also be a paranoid schizophrenic. That doesn't stop him from winning a Nobel prize. And the cast? Russell Crow is Nash, the mathematician. Ed Harris and Paul Bettany are there, Jennifer Connelly is his wife. It's a great group in the hands of an able director.

Russell Crowe should have won the Oscar for this one.

It did win Supporting Actress, Director, Picture and Adapted Screenplay. Denzel won the best Actor in '01 for Training Day, which was just a payback win for previous years. Russell won after this for Gladiator, which was also a payback win.

127 Hours (2010)

This is a great film. Part of me wanted to see it just to check out how Danny Boyle would structure a film that is essentially one long shot of a guy pinned in a narrow fissure by a rock. Well, Mr. Boyle has more imagination than I do. First, he starts in the early hours of that Saturday with Aron Ralston (James Franco) leaving his apartment and driving to the desert. He bikes in to the area he wants to climb, meets some girls, gets diverted for a while. He does get back on task for his climb, and then he meets that f**king rock.

The movie is only 94 minutes, and it moves quickly. Aron has a pack of equipment, but not what he needs. He mainly needs a lot more water, and food. He could use a good knife, but he has a crappy freebie knife in his pack. He could use "eight burly" men to help pull the rock free. He has a camera and a video camera, so he tapes himself. He hallucinates, and he remembers events that lead him to conclude he has regrets. (The main regret would be not telling anyone where he was going.) He eventually determines that his whole life to date has been moving toward this meeting with the rock.

This is a great movie. So far this year, other than Harry Potter, I think Winter's Bone and 127 Hours are the best films I've seen. I think this should get an Academy nod for Best Picture, Director, Actor, Editing and Cinematography.

Solitary Man (2009)

Crap - I thought this was a film from 2010, but I mis-remembered. I didn't check. I'm not sure I would have watched if I'd realized, but I'm glad I did. This is well done, with great acting. Michael Douglas plays a guy who has literally thrown away his whole life - business and personal - for a ridiculous reason. If you want to watch the effects of really bad decisions, this one is a heat-seeking missile directed at you. It is unflinching and sometimes embarrassing to watch, and there is no real ending. The film ends, but there is not a wrap-up type of ending. That's cool. The cast is great; all the women are interesting characters, and Jesse Eisenberg turns in a good performance.

Love and Other Drugs (2010)

Ed Zwick directed this and shared the writing credit. In my view, the problems with this movie are his problems, as I think of him as a schlocky emotional director who makes over the top, almost romanticized films. A few examples that may help make my point: Blood Diamond, Courage Under Fire, Legends of the Fall. Each of these movies has good aspects - usually good acting, but to me they beat you over the head with their point, whether it is a tragedy or an issue. I don't enjoy that.

This time it's a romantic comedy between Jake G and Anne Hathaway, with a serious disease as a second plot. I wouldn't call it a sub-plot; it's very much part of almost every scene. There is a millionaire slacker (disgusting slob, Apatow-style) brother thrown in for comic relief. The brother's dialog is either stupid funny or enlightening, depending on the moment. Most of the dialog is just precious - very scripted clever and well delivered. There is tons of nudity, much of it gorgeous. I could look at Jake G all day, but I want less disease crap to go with the scenery. The ending is ridiculous - the typical grand gesture. I was hoping for a better movie. There are laughs here, but save it for a rental.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

There are so many great surprises in this movie. First, how did those little kids picked so long ago turn out to be really great actors? Was it luck? Because these kids are awesome. In particular, Hermione has a very expressive face. I read nervousness, fear, anger, surprise, desolation and desperation - often mixed - quite easily, running across her face as this movie unfolded.

It will be hard for these kids to move past these roles, but what a curse!

I loved the kids out in the world - away from Hogwart's. (I know they are NOT kids any more, but they'll always be kids as long as the DVDs are at home.) It took the series to a new level, and that world was nicely realized by the art department and director. The pacing is fantastic. There is so much going on with the story, but the director made sure to keep the quiet when necessary. In this movie it is very important for the trio to have crises of friendship, of self confidence; to doubt what they are doing is right or just stupid. That takes stillness rather than action. And there's plenty of action.

And the supporting cast continues to be fantastic. Bellatrix is a nut-job, Draco is so conflicted! Voldemort is the creepiest thing alive. I want to see more Luna and Neville, but it will happen. I can hardly wait for the next one - but it will be the last! Shit.

As You LIke It (2006)

This production seems a bit odd to me, but I have never been super in touch with Shakespeare. The two dukes and their kids are set down in Japan, rather than in France. As we are in Japan, this version includes sumo wrestlers. The lion is there in Japan, too. The final wedding scene is in kimonos.

The acting is really great - particularly Bryce Dallas Howard as Rosalind, and the guys who play Oliver and Orlando, Adrian Lester and David Oyelowo, respectively. (I fell in love with Orlando a bit.) There is some unusual casting, tho. Alfred Molina and Kevin Kline seemed wasted. There is also a big dance number at the end, with singing, that I found ridiculous.

I would pass on this one unless a serious fan of Shakespeare.

Divorce Italian Style (1961)

I found this to be one of the most unattractive films (that sits in the comedy category) - in terms of humanity - I have ever seen. Let's see - a married 37 year member of the Italian aristocracy falls in love with his 16 year old cousin. He cannot get a divorce, so he needs to kill his wife, which means he needs a good excuse. He determines infidelity on her part would be best; he's a "don" so he won't do as much time for murder as a member of the working class. He gets going with hooking her up, so she can be unfaithful and he can kill her and marry the first cousin.

Yep, it's a lovely story. On top of that, all the older women have mustaches and uni-brows. If that's a cheap laugh, it was lost on me. Marcello Mastroianni stars as the endearing husband.

If you want to watch people treat each other badly, there are many films in the drama category (Schindler's List, Hotel Rwanda) that will make you consider becoming a shut-in. But this is supposed to be a comedy. Not cool.

Tales of the City (1993)

For those of you who like mini-series, this one is really good. It is based on a book by Armistead Maupin, and is set in 1976 San Francisco. These were the days of drugs and free love, but AIDS hadn't shown up yet. Gay men are everywhere, and lesbians are around too, and then there are straight people. It's really hard to tell who will sleep with whom. The story is centered by Mary Ann, played by a very young Laura Linney. Mary Ann is fresh from Cleveland and pretty conservative, but she loves San Francisco. She moves in to a bohemian apartment complex on a hill run by Mrs. Madrigal (Olympia Dukakis). Through Laura, we are introduced to a large circle of people at the apartment, at her job, the relatives of her friends and co-workers. It's a small world, and it is very interesting. People have incredible secrets (except for Mary Ann) and the way they are intertwined is really great.

Also - Thomas Gibson (from Dharma and Greg) plays a real piece of shit in this one. It's fun to hate him.

Fearless Vampire Killers (1967)

I found this boring and stupid. It's a vampire farce, which is ok, but the boring part really was a problem. Roman Polanski directed this and shared a writing credit. He also acted in it, so you can see his acting chops. I was not impressed. The most notable item was Sharon Tate - this is where Roman met Sharon, who was later killed by the Manson family.

The running joke in this film seems to be woman taking baths - woman with huge zambas takes baths. It wasn't that funny.

The Killer (1989) by John Woo

I am just going to have to accept that John Woo is not my guy. So that makes two directors on my shit list this week. The Killer apparently made John Woo a star internationally, but I was bored. I stopped reading my magazine during the zany shoot-em-up scenes (I believe 150,000 people are movie-killed in the The Killer), but was bored the rest of the time. The dialog sucks, the plot is ridiculous, the villain is stupid. But those are not the things you watch this movie for, to be fair. Chow Yun-Fat looks awesome in his white suits and in his black suits! He looks kinda cute in a fake mustache. He's just hot.

The action scenes are pure Hong Kong, and that's a lot of fun. I am not a fan of white doves and candles though, so I gagged a bit every time Woo had an operatic white doves in a church scene. There were at least two.

Also, this movie is totally gay. I think there is supposed to be a thing going on with CYF and this singer, but the tension only exists between CYF and the cop trying to catch him. When the cop was telling Chow that he had to arrest him, had to stop him, I found myself adding dialog: But I really want to KISS you instead - in a mystery science theater voice. It was pretty funny. I think they were in love. Just once it would be cool if the homoerotic tension were actually followed through - I would be so surprised! Until then, there is just violence and white suits.

Annie Hall (1977)

I never feel so stupid as when I watch a Woody Allen film. Annie Hall was a huge hit in 1977. It won the Best Picture Oscar. And I just don't get it. I don't think it's particular clever to speak to the camera, I get tired of all the women Woody Allen sleeps with (he appears to be that successful with ladies in real life, though, so it is NOT a stretch), and the constant Jewish jokes or references are old. I feel the same about the constant analyst references. Is it possible that Allen's films are so much a part of our culture that watching them is actually a non-event?

It's either that or I just don't like them. There's a scene in Annie Hall where somebody is putting Fellini down (is he called self-indulgent?), and I thought - Woody Allen is self-indulgent. Then I thought - Oh wait, am I supposed to feel that? If I have enough mental space to think circular thoughts in a film, I'm not into it.

I really liked Match Point though!

Franny and Alexander (1982)

Ingmar Bergman wrote and directed this one, and it's pretty fantastic. I like some of his other movies better, but I haven't even seen a fraction of his body of work yet. I need to get to it. I need to have a marathon.

This one took a bunch of awards, and it should have. It is beautifully filmed and impressively paced - the movie is three hours long, but time passes quickly in and out of the film. There are some very strong mystical or magical qualities. There were times when people appeared in scenes when they were in fact elsewhere; there were ghosts; there was one character who may or may not have been real, and who may have been a male or a female.

Fanny and Alexander live a wonderful life with their parents and grandmother until their father dies. Mom remarries a terrible man - she even knows he is terrible, but she appears to want the opposite of her old life? It is bizarre. The children have to escape, and they do physically, thanks to their grandmother's lover. But that does not mean that everything ends well.

I believe at its heart this is a movie about family, and about how you never really leave your family behind you, no matter where life takes you.

The Descent (2005) and Neil Marshall

Neil Marshall is definitely a guilty pleasure of mine. He is a horror / action director with four feature length movies under his belt, and I enjoyed three of them. (I haven't seen the one released in '10, but it looks stupid. Of course, so do the other three, so I will probably check it out.)

These are not the kinds of movies you want to think too logically about. For example, in The Descent a group of friends (all female) descends into a cave that one member of the group asserts is virgin territory - never before explored. That cave happens to be inhabited by a mutant race of men that have evolved to live underground, rising to the surface only to get humans upon which to feed. This is classic stuff. The women do not always behave as a team, which is a nice treat, plus these gals kick ass. And the ending kicks ass.

If you like this one, try Dog Soldiers (2002) - werewolves!; and Doomsday (2008) - Bob Hoskins is in this one. It's largely a Road Warrier ripoff, but Rhona Mitra is the heroine, and she kicks some ass too!