Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)

If you like film, pick this one up. It will be nominated for some Oscars, plus you've probably never seen anything like it.

Quvenzhane Wallis plays Hush Puppy, a six year-old girl who lives in the Mississippi Delta area called the Bathtub.  The Bathtub is off the grid, cut off from civilization, and the people who live there have their own way of viewing good and bad, family, celebration, society, everything.

This movie combines magical realism with reality so well that I had a hard time determining if anything in the story was real. Or was it all real? 

Hush Puppy's dad is sick, and her mom is gone. The ice cap is melting, so the Bathtub and its inhabitants are in danger. That's pretty much all you need to know. This is another example of a movie without a linear story line, which is fine with me. I like it when there is no beginning or end, when we are dropped in the middle of a story and just along for the ride.

Lawless (2012)

This movie was amazingly bad. It got bad reviews, so my expectations were low, but it was even worse than I thought possible. And Yahoo users are giving it 7plus stars. Do not be fooled!

This movie is about the Bondurant brothers in Franklin County, Virginia, who run whiskey to Chicago during prohibition. The eldest brother, Forrest, played by Tom Hardy, believes the brothers are invincible. Here are the basic problems with the film:

1. Shia LaBeouf as the youngest brother is supposed to be an immature young man, a coward, who hides behind his violent brothers. During the space of the film he supposedly grows a pair and becomes - what, a criminal? A righteously angry, yet responsible, young man? This transformation is unbelievable, poorly written and poorly acted.

2. Jessica Chastain plays Maggie, a Chicago dancer, who walks into Forrest's restaurant one day looking for a job. She is ridiculously out of place in this hick crossroads restaurant, and in this movie, and her character is not remotely believable, no matter how great Chastain's acting is.

3. Guy Pearce plays a revenue agent, and he plays the agent as an OCD germaphobe who wears white leather gloves to beat people up, dyes his hair and wears perfume. It is nuts. What the hell has happened to Guy Pearce? Why did the director not see that this was a ridiculous way to play the character?

4. Tom Hardy - I love this guy and he is a great actor. Here he plays an extremely violent man who barely speaks - mumbles his words and grunts - and yet falls in love with Maggie, treats her gently, and wears ratty old cardigans. It's weird. Each character in this movie is so oddly written and poorly developed that I am going to get the book. I want to see if Hollywood totally screwed up this story.

I would pass. Tom Hardy never takes off his shirt. There's no point in watching this piece of crap.

Les Miserables (2012)

This movie isn't my type of thing. I wasn't expecting to like it, and I didn't. I'm putting this out there for purposes of full disclosure. In many ways I liked it even less than expected, but in a couple of ways I found it compelling.

If you haven't read the book (I loved it as a kid - need to re-read) or seen the play (once was enough for me), then you should know this movie closely follows the book. It's a tragic story about a convict, Jean Valjean, in 1800s France who gets out of jail after 19 years and breaks parole in order to become a new person. He succeeds, but his past is always following him in the form of a policeman by the name of Javert. The redeeming part of the story is about love for fellow man and resiliency. And it's a great book - a true classic.

The movie sings every line except for perhaps two sentences. It sings "hello". This is not something I enjoy, but I believe many people do. The director, Tom Hooper, wrings all the pathos out of his scenery that any director possibly could. In a way, he's like Steven Spielberg in this. In Spielberg's films, everything is gorgeous and over-the-top. In this film, everything is filthy and disgusting and cold and over-the-top. I found the shivering and shaking and artistically applied dirt to be ridiculous. While the acting was great, I am not fond of the sets that this guy uses. I felt the same way about the King's Speech (also by Tom Hooper) - great acting, but overly contrived sets. Almost cutesy. In this movie the sets are Hollywood-style grungy. Not at all realistic, and distracting.

The good part would be some of the performances, but overall, this movie was way too long for me, and way too melodramatic.

Django Unchained (2012)

Loved it loved it loved it. There was a false ending and then some more scenes, but I liked them. This is no Lincoln! I loved everything! From the cheesy scenery in the opening scenes of slaves being chain-walked in front of false boulders to the hilarious dialog and the sight gags, and of course the great acting, this movie is Tarantino having fun. The fact that he is having fun with a shitty subject may leave some people conflicted, but personally, I loved watching the creepy, nasty, it's-ok-to-have-slaves plantation owners get blown away.

And oh my god! They get blown away. It is very satisfying to watch, as is any revisionist history where the bad guy gets taken to task (with guns or whatever) by a righteous individual and his posse. Hence the Western. This doesn't change the fact that slavery occurred, and many people wonder - what would I have done? What would I have done in Nazi Germany, or in Mississippi during slavery, or - is there something now I should be concerned about?  What am I missing that is occurring right now in our world?

Well, this movie is what Tarantino, and a lot of white people (based on the demographic of the theater I was in) would like to have seen happen. Or, perhaps, sitting in our comfortable homes now, this is what we like to see.

And it's good film-making. How, in such a violent and serious film, does Tarantino manage to make some scenes so light?  A few examples - watch for the sight gags. First, the giant tooth on the top of Dr. King Schultz's (Christopher Waltz's) wagon is ridiculous and funny every time it's seen. It squeaks. Django's first suit - straight out of a cartoon. But it works. The scene with Don Johnson and Jonah Hill (as Bag Head #2) is allowed to develop and run, and it's wonderful. They are buffoons, but haven't you ever looked at the Klan and thought - Why do they wear those stupid cone hats?  What buffoons. 

There is a family of hillbillies (don't know how to describe them) on Candie's (Leo's) property who are unintelligible. They have dialog, but it is gibberish. How Leo kept a straight face in these scenes is a testament to his ability to straighten up and fly right. And this hick family is one of the most evil things you'll see in the film. You didn't have to be rich to go along with slavery.

Anyway, I need to see it again. I know I missed a lot - and I don't want to miss any of this film. Go go go. Skip Lincoln and watch this.

Rust and Bone (2012)

This movie has almost everything I like. The acting is great. The story is unusual, the characters felt fresh, and I really found myself considering their motivation - what made them do the things they did. I loved the cinematography and the art direction. They didn't try to make everyone look pretty all the time. And these people felt real - they did stupid things and had questionable behavior.

I did not like the ending. It was tied up pretty damn neat, which is not unusual for American films, but was a little shocking for a French film. Oh well. This is still a great film - especially if you want something that's not your usual superhero / cop / rom-com.

Marion Cotillard will likely get a Best Actress nomination for her role here as a whale trainer (like at Sea World), Stephanie, who loses her legs in a freak work accident. Already sounds a bit different, right? While recuperating, and while depressed, she randomly calls the number of a bouncer, Ali (Matthias Schoenaerts), she met previously in a one-off encounter. Ali has recently arrived from Belgium with his five-year old son, and is living at his sister's while he picks up odd jobs as a bouncer, security guard, and then bare knuckle fighter.

These two stories are united by Stephanie and Ali's friendship, which is unusual and constantly evolving. It's very interesting, and I really recommend this movie. As a character study, it's fantastic. And the acting is out of this world.

Jacques Audiard directed this, and he also directed The Prophet. I loved that movie as well, and will get the rest of Audiard's movies in my queue.

The Guilt Trip (2012)

This is a fun, sweet movie. The NYT said this movie was too nice and needed more bite. I disagree. This is not even remotely a perfect film, but if you need a nice movie that will give you a bunch of laughs - a movie to take the in-laws to over the holiday - this will work nicely. It is not too long, it is funny, it has great performances.

Seth Rogen and Barbra Streisand are mother and son who take a road trip together - annoying mom and distant son in a small car for eight days. Nice set-up, right? Hi-jinks ensue, as expected. And I really liked the ending! It was a nice surprise.

And mom and I made it all the way through this one, unlike Anna K.

Anna Karenina (2012)

Well, this movie sucked ass. Mom and I walked out - it felt like about hour 3, but it's only a two hour movie.  We don't often walk out, and we probably would have stayed to the bitter end, but I had a headache. Mom noticed, and said - I hate this movie, let's leave. We left, and discussing why we hated this movie - what made it so bad - was a real bonding experience for us. 

If you've read the book, you know that there are a few story lines - Anna and Vronsky, Stiva and Dolly, Levin and Kitty. Anna and Vronsky represent the tortured love story. But this entire movie is tortured, and that was the director's call. Joe Wright also directed Atonement and a version of Pride and Prejudice (a crappy version), and I disliked both movies. Atonement was particularly bad, and I would summarize the problem as style over substance. There was much camera work that was lovely, but that added nothing to the story - it distracted and frustrated.

In Anna K it's the same story. To cram in tons of plot, characters and scene changes, Mr. Wright uses the visual trick of putting the movie on a stage set. Transitions occur as people walk up a ladder and into a different scene, for example. This is distracting and crowded and frenetic. There are very few scenes in a natural setting, and those scenes are largely unnecessary. The camera work is also nauseating. There is a dance scene with much twirling and shots back and forth between partners. If you are inclined to seizures, pass on this. Also, this movie is choreographed. Waiters move in unison in a dance, dances are performed with elaborate hand movements and gestures, there is off-screen singing, workers in an office are choreographed. It's a bizarre mash up of a musical and a tortured drama. And it did not work for me. 

Here's the good stuff. The clothes and jewels are great. Keira Knightley is good, and I am not a fan. Jude Law is great. But this movie blows. Yahoo users are giving it a 7.1, and it got mediocre reviews. I disagree. I give this a 3 out of 10, and a very bad review.

Butter (2011)

I loved this movie - I'm watching it again. I believe it got mediocre reviews at best, and Yahoo users are giving it a 6. Which means nothing, but still!

I hope this becomes a cult classic. Jennifer Garner is awesome as a super-bitch Republican housewife with a squeaky-clean public image, a narrow, nasty mind and an impressive potty mouth (all delivered in a mid-west accent). Ty Burrell is her whipped husband who seeks solace in the back seat with stripper / hooker Olivia Wilde. Hugh Jackman is a car salesman - hilarious. This is the guy who plays Wolverine. I love actors - when they're good, they are so good.

Alicia Silverstone is adorable, and Yara Shahidi as her foster child is not just cute. She can deliver lines too!

The plot revolves around butter carving competitions. It's quite funny. I recommend this, and I will probably buy it.

The Butcher Boy (1997)

This movie blew my mind. Neil Jordan adapted the screenplay and directed this story about a young boy, I would guess he's about 12 in the film, who is slowly losing his mind.

We meet Francie Brady while he is playing with his best friend Joe. Francie is trouble, but in the beginning the trouble seems to be normal kid stuff - not nice perhaps, but not criminal. However, Francie's mother is suicidal and his father is the town drunk. Chaotic doesn't begin to describe what he deals with at home, and his friend Joe is his refuge. There is a nasty neighbor, played by Fiona Shaw, who calls Francie and his family pigs. She constantly calls him a pig, and she means it.

Mom dies and Francie is sent to a boy's school. There he runs into a "funny" priest. Francie is not surprised, and uses this encounter to get an early exit and heads back home. Dad dies. Worse, his friend Joe starts avoiding him. Francie is losing his hold on his sanity, which we see, and the people in town should see it too, but they don't.

I was expecting violence, but when it arrived I was shocked. This entire movie shocked me. This kid was let down by everyone in his life - relatives and priests, police, neighbors, parents of friends, everybody. Nobody reached out to help this kid. And he really needed help.

The movie is directed beautifully, which clever dialog, and a raucous, carnival-like soundtrack. The pace of the movie is brisk and cheerful, yet the tension builds. It's ominous. The acting is top notch (FYI, you will see a lot of the Harry Potter cast in their younger years here). I highly recommend it.

We Own the Night (2007)

This is a serious downer of a movie.  In a family of cops, one son (Joaquin Phoenix) tries to break away and develop his own life. Bobby works at a nightclub which is owned by Russians. Turns out they're Russian drug dealers. 

After his brother, Joe (Mark Wahlberg), arrests one of the Russians, the family is targeted.  There are shootouts, chase scenes, betrayals by friends and loved ones, it's just ugly. Lots of people die and the drugs keep coming. 

Robert Duvall plays the dad. With these three as the family, the acting is good, but the dialog is not.  In this script the brothers are poorly developed - one the good brother, the other the rebel. Both compete for dad's attention, but he's so joyless I have no idea why they do. The only person who blew me away here was Eva Mendes as Bobby's girlfriend. This gal should be in more movies, and should get better roles.  The good acting makes the mediocre script and dialog stand out.

If you like cop / gangster films, this one is a decent rental. But the dialog. Not cool. 

Delicatessen (1991)

This is a film by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, the director of Amelie.  I really liked Amelie, and I probably liked A Very Long Engagement even more.  However, Jeunet also makes fantastical, live-action films with vivid cartoon-ish imagery about imaginary worlds.  Examples would be City of Lost Children, Micmacs and Delicatessen. I am not a big fan of these films, though I do understand their appeal. 

Delicatessen is set in a post-apocalyptic world where food is in short supply. The residents of a dark and dank apartment house are reliant on their ground-floor butcher for food, and they don't seem to mind that the source of the meat is neighbors who get on the butcher's bad side or people who wander by. The artistic imagery is gorgeous and lush and dark and evil at the same time. There is a charming love story.  But I didn't really care. You know how this will end, and I found I was just watching to see the art, the camera angles, the staging. But the rest was dull.

If you would like to see Monsters Inc, for example, with real monsters - check this out. 

Life of Pi (2012)

I am so glad I saw this movie!!  I had a really bad taste in my mouth after Lincoln, so thank God for Ang Lee. He is one of the great working directors today, and he got me out of my movie funk.

Ang Lee has a crazy breadth of ability - it is really not possible to pigeon-hole him. He is the director of Sense and Sensibility; Brokeback Mountain; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - to name of few of my faves. These three alone represent a period romance/class study/adaptation of Jane Austen; a stunning story of hidden lives against desolate mountain vistas; an epic love story and adventure tale with virtuoso wire-work.

And he didn't let me down with Life of Pi.  I really loved this book, and if anyone could transform it into a movie, he could do it. And he did, in a way I didn't expect. This movie has a candy-like, fairy tale quality, while still being incredibly frightening at times.

Pi is young man sailing for Canada from India with his family and their zoo animals.  The freighter goes down and Pi alone survives with a tiger, zebra, hyena and an orangutang. They are together on a lifeboat, but here the law of the jungle is the only law. Eventually the lifeboat occupants are down to Pi and the tiger, and Pi must use his wits to survive.

This movie is insanely beautiful. If you can handle 3D, watch it that way - and definitely on the big screen.