Archive for January, 2012
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Sundance is showing a movie generated entirely by a computer which can reshuffle scenes for a different film every time. The critical response to the three very different showings of “Whiteowhite: algorithmicnoir” were thumbs down, thumbs sideways and thumbs up. Two thirds of the time a bad and dull movie was created. Proof positive that it doesn’t take an idiot to make a terrible film.
In a year of somewhat retro movies like War Horse and Hugo this is probably the most honest of them all. A-.
I saw this at our local Chattanooga dollar theater. If you can get over the insult of having Shakespeare as a minor character in his own life and work and even slightly villiany then you might enjoy the other weird conspiracy theories about Elizabeth I and the rest of Elizabethian playwrights. All in All a medium interesting historical drama. I give it a B-.
Occassionally I am in the mood for watching a chick flick from the netflix cue with the wifey. I Don’t Know How She Does It is not quite as intolerable as the two Sex and the City films and I bought Sarah Jessica Parker as a supermom trying to balance high powered career and family life. But what really made the movie for me was Christina Hendricks and her freckles (which I never knew she had) as the best friend- and Olivia Munn’s Momo the work assistant clueless to the joys of parenthood and sisterhood. SJP’s best work since the Will Rogers Institute promos and only half as annoying. A solid B.
Not so much a Spielberg film as it is a cross between John Ford (80%) and David Lean (20%). Even the acting here is a throwback to a cleaner less messy style. Loved its sweep and intimacy. A solid A.
For a diversion from those brawny spy flicks (James Bond, MI: Ghost Protocol) try this brainy one. Caution: it is a movie you really have to watch and listen to or you will get lost very quickly,– so no bathroom or concession trips 30 minutes in. Gary Oldman as George Smiley really shines in a cast brilliant at emotional and mental subterfuge. Glad enough Academy voters recognized how great Oldman is in this most understated of roles. A solid A.
Michelle Williams performance is great as pastiche– which is fine, since director Simon Curtis point is that Marilyn was never out of character even with herself. The method (Marilyn) vs classical feud (Kenneth Branagh doing Laurence Olivier) keeps the movie humming along on a sheen of faux dramatic pretense. Without it, it would be pretty lightweight and disposable as the movie these two screen idols made together: The Prince and the Showgirl. A B.
Three times more emotionally brutal and twice as cold as the original 2009 Swedish version that starred Noomi Rapace. Really a bookend to David Fincher’s 2007 Zodiac which featured Jake Gyllenhaal as a librarian/reporter hero- just sub the net for library stacks. Rooney Mara is every nerd’s vision of a super-cyber heroine. An A-.
Most other 9/11 films try to reach some understanding about why it happened and what it all means. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close concedes the imposibility of this and instead focuses on the individual healing and shared grief that comes with exploring the connections we all share. Sure the symbolims of the key, journey and the echoing father figures is a little too pat, but the build up is honestly emotional and well earned. Max Von Sydow gives a wordless (and justly earned Academy nominated) performance that subtly parallels his other roles from the Seventh Seal to Jesus and even a little nod to the Exorcist. I leave you oh filmgoer to discover those for yourself. An A-.
30 Second Cinema 