Posted by Doug S. on March 1st, 2011
9 stars out of 10
Genre: Drama
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Run time: 120 min.
Writer: Aaron Sorkin
Director: David Fincher
Year: 2010
Here’s a Hollywood movie that defies every convention, every logical idea about how to make a hit movie, and yet pulls it all together and makes it crowd-pleasing and fascinating.
It reads like a checklist of “things not to do” Likeable main character? Nope. Heroic objective? Nope. Dramatic action? Negatory. Big stars? Well, Justin Timberlake is in there for a few minutes but that’s about it. The script is almost all talk and the “action”consists of a lot of typing at keyboards. And yet, it’s thrilling, engaging, even engrossing. You never would have imagined.
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Posted by Doug S. on March 1st, 2011
9 stars out of 10
Genre: Documentary
MPAA Rating: R
Run time: 87 min.
Writer: -
Director: Banksy
Year: 2010
"Exit Through The Gift shop" seems like it’s going to be about street art cult icon Banksy… but then it’s not. Then it seems like it’s going to be about a guy making a documentary about Banksy. But then it’s not. It takes such a wild and unexpected left turn at that point that it catches you completely off guard, and its twists and turns, while apparently real, rival the surprises in any really good narrative film. And it winds up dissecting not only the art market, but the nature of art in general. It might be genius.
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Posted by Doug S. on March 1st, 2011
4 stars out of 10
Genre: Thriller
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Run time: 109 min..
Writer: Stephen Cornwell, Oliver Butcher
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Year: 2011
Whether Liam Neeson’s transformation from dramatic leading man full of dignified gravitas to aging action hero is intentional or forced upon him by the demands of the market, is uncertain. But it seems like the guy just can’t land a decent dramatic role anymore. His turn as the leader of “The A-Team”this past summer was pretty much rock bottom and anything that comes after it can’t help but seem an improvement. And that’s about all that this tepid, uninvolving thriller has going for it.
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Posted by Doug S. on February 8th, 2011
Reviewer rating: 7/10
Genre: Sci Fi
MPAA Rating: R
Run time: 94 min.
Writer: Gareth Edwards
Director: Gareth Edwards
Year: 2010
Director Gareth Edwards’ stated objective in making “Monsters” was to make “the most realistic monster movie ever”. While he may not have succeeded at that, it’s safe to say that he did succeed at making something unique: a full-on indie romance with a monster movie backdrop. It’s like he took the standard Hollywood monster movie formula of 80% monsters, 20% romance and inverted it. And to a large extent, it works.
The story plays out in Central America and Mexico, where a crashed satellite has led to an infestation of (largely unseen) deadly alien creatures. Scoot McNairy plays a journalistic photographer documenting the destruction, and tasked with getting the daughter (Whitney Able) of his wealthy employer out of the “Infected Zone” and back to the States. Naturally, a romance ensues as the two make the arduous trek and occasionally cross paths with the deadly creatures.
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Posted by Doug S. on February 8th, 2011
Reviewer rating: 8/10
Genre: Action
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Run time: 148 min.
Writer: Christopher Nolan
Director: Christopher Nolan
Year: 2010
I was puzzled for at least half the considerable running time of “Inception” But “puzzled” is mercifully different from “confused” in that while confusion is frustrating, puzzlement can be engaging. I want to see it again to figure out all the stuff that puzzled me. And that, I think, is the way Christopher Nolan designed it.
Concepts don’t come much higher than this. Leonardo DiCaprio plays a guy whose job it is to infiltrate the dreams of corporate executives and steal ideas right out of their heads. But the twist comes when he’s asked to reverse the process and actually plant an idea without the recipient being aware that it’s been planted. This requires diving into an incredibly complex series of dreams within dreams within dreams, and hence the puzzlement about exactly which dream everybody’s in and what they’re supposed to be doing.
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