Just a Lil' Break...

Seriously, sorry for the silence the last little while (Again, I know all 3 of you are super concerned about my lack of posting). Anyway, I'll be back and better than ever. There's just a lot of things going on in my life (personal and private) that have taken a lot of time to attend to (and no I'm not talking about my addiction to Jersey Shore which is neither personal nor private). Regardless life takes time and I've been feelin' it lately...

 

Though those personal issues haven't changed drastically, they are becoming increasingly better. Lots of prayers have gone my way and I'm appreciative of those. I'm thankful just that people take time out of their busy days to think of others (especially my family).Which brings me to another point, it's better to be thought of than not at all. Yes, I'm sure even on the bad days Lindsay Lohan appreciates Pitbull rapping about her being "locked up." Riiiigggghhhhhtttt?

Sorry for the mini-rant...
Glad LC has my back... I'm ready to start over again.

Blogging commencing... NOW!

P.S. I have a shameless confession to make... I really miss LC and The Hills. Now all she does is design clothing for Kohl's... sigh

The CineMATTIC's Best of Film 2011...

I was seriously considering writing something clever about what a year at the megaplex 2011 was and then I just decided to take a cue from "The Spears" and get on with the list…

  Isn't she just the voice of reason?

Without further adieu, my selections for Best Films of 2011...

 
HONORABLE MENTIONS (in no particular order): The Ides of March, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Young Adult, Midnight In Paris, Tree of Life.

10. Like Crazy – “...the perfect love story without being perfect at all. There is no Nicholas Sparks schmaltz, no John Hughes nostalgia--only real, raw, authentic, love. Though it's characters navigate through all the stereotypical moments of first love (the kiss, the awkward date, the terms of endearment, the heartbreak, etc.), they do so with such authenticity that we feel like Anton Yelchin and Felicity Jones are really falling for each other. It's easy to see how Like Crazy swept Sundance off it's feet, because quite literally it floored me.” 

  

9. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo- “This is David Fincher’s version of female Fight Club. For years Fincher has been derided (and deservedly so) for his supposed hate for women, at least in Fight Club. Yet, Dragon Tattoo is the anti-male movie, with a fiercely quiet Rooney Mara saving the day and the man like some female version of a punk-rock superhero. It’s dark, but daring and all the while reinvents and redefines what femininity can be in the new millennium.”

8. Crazy, Stupid, Love –“Might just be the best romantic comedy since Pretty Woman. It’s clever, distinctively quirky, and all the while unquestionably warm. It’s also extremely well cast and reads like a “who’s who” of Hollywood’s hottest stars with Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Kevin Bacon Steve Carrell, Julianne Moore, and don’t forget about Marisa Tomei all leading the way. This movie deftly captures love, that is both crazy and stupid and even a little over the top—well almost all the time.”

7. Moneyball- “A film that sidesteps all the sports movie clichés by creating an absorbing niche as a character study. It’ll still have you standing on your feet, but it does so in such a unique way that you almost forget your watching a movie about baseball, but rather a movie about life. Brad Pitt turns in a performance far more grounded than he has in recent memory.”

 

6. Bridesmaids – “Funnier in almost every way than the so-called crown jewel of comedy The Hangover. The acting is superb and the situations laugh-ou-loud hilarious. Kristen Wiig is a modern day Carol Burnett with her wit and undeviating talent to make every moment on screen both awkward and authentic. Even still, It’s Melissa McCarthy who steals the show as the overweight yet undeniably infectious bridesmaid. We can only hope there’s a sequel on the horizon.”

5. Super 8- “JJ Abrams love note to Spielberg films of the 80's is entertaining, while also reminding us exactly why we like movies so much. Its nostalgic when it needs to be, while not overstaying its welcome. The cast again is stellar with each character actually being a character, with real personalities and real emotion. Abrams deftly blends sci-fi with familial drama in a way that simply hasn't been seen, well since Spielberg. Super 8 might be our generations’ version of E.T. or Goonies, but one thing is for certain it's a film we'll never forget...”

4. The Help-“You is smart. You is kind. You is important. Honestly, those words alone catapult The Help this far. Sure, it’s a movie about civil rights, but more importantly a film about finding yourself—and being okay with whatever you are. Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer headline the cast, but it’s the utter joy of Jessica Chastain and the unflinching hate of Bryce Dallas Howard that provide the emotional backbone for the film. This film makes me want to believe that I am in fact smart, kind, and most of all, important."  

3. Drive- “Every frame of the film is like a piece of art, a 21^st century fresco highlighted in neon grunge and bathed in dark shadows. It’s violent, bloody, and has the biggest WTF moment of the year with a slow motion shotgun-blast-decapitation. Sure, Drive is not everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s so daring with its house infused synth tracks that both the sound and visuals combine to bore deep into your veins. Rarely do films haunt me like Drive did, but it’s become not only my neon nightmare, but the dark art house flick I never dreamed of liking let alone loving.”

2. War Horse-“… a masterpiece of staggering emotional proportions. It’s quite simply one of the best films of the year. War Horse might be described as the most manipulative film in recent memory. There’s really nothing that can be said about a film this flawless that moves both seamless and with such soft-as-satin sentimentality as War Horse.”

1. The Descendants- “Rarely do films manage to blend comedy and realism—well realistically. It’s authenticity lies not in the plot or action but in the subtle and even silent moments in the film. We feel as they fell, because they represent the human condition so closely. By the film’s conclusion we find no real happy ending, probably because life offers no fairy tale respite. Rather life goes on, we move on, the sun comes out tomorrow and yes however bleak it may appear hope indeed never dies. Don’t miss this movie. It may not be the “feel good movie of the year,” but it is certainly the “feel right” one.”


Well.. there you have it... That's it till next year...

War Horse (Review)

BRIEFLY: War Horse is a masterpiece of staggering emotional proportions. It’s quite simply one of the best films of the year. There’s nothing necessarily groundbreaking here, the camera work, cinematography, plot, etc. are nothing new in the least bit, but with legendary director Steven Spielberg behind the lens every moment feels like magic—and not the crummy Criss Angel type. Indeed, Spielberg does little more than gun for our hearts but boy does he get us. In this way War Horse might be described as the most manipulative film in recent memory. Not that that is a bad thing, but every moment of the movie is meant to do just that—move us and move us it most certainly does.  There’s really nothing that can be said about a film this flawless that moves both seamless and with such soft-as-satin sentimentality. It’ll definitely have you clinging for some Kleenex and hugging those you love a little tighter. You. Must. See. War Horse.  

DETAILED REVIEW: A couple years ago when Spielberg announced his plans to take the popular stage play War Horse to the big screen, you could almost hear the collective “meh” from film fans spanning the globe. I was one of those fans and remember saying, “Seriously this is the best Spielberg can do?” Indeed the man behind E.T., Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, Minority Report, Jaws, Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan, and Catch Me If You Can was tackling a stage play? And we’re supposed to be thrilled? Yet there I was standing in a theatre lobby stunned by the two hour journey Spielberg had whisked me away on. Boy, did I feel silly doubting him; kinda like Lindsay Lohan after she turned down a role in The Hangover because she surmised it wasn’t a “bankable” film. In the end, it’s Spielberg with the last laugh and likely Oscar gold to boot.   

War Horse is a film with a scope the breadth of the Titanic (both the ship and Kate Winslet’s “goods”) that feels at least a partial paean to the Hollywood films of yore—the so-called golden age. It’s got the deep spirit of adventure like Lawrence of Arabia, the prismatic cinematography of Ben Hur, and the drama of Gone with the Wind. It’s grander, at least in scale and scope, than any of Spielberg’s films aside from maybe Saving Private Ryan. There’s so many truly beautiful shots that it’s hard to single out just one, but the opening sequence which showcases breathtaking granite studded Britain vistas is truly remarkable. We immediately are taken back by a film that promises to emotionally wrestle us and does so again in part due to the overwhelming scope.

The story of War Horse is again nothing new. We are not shocked when the underdog horse affectionately named Joey plows a rocky field he shouldn’t be able to plow. Nor are we surprised when he is hauled off into a far-flung war in despite his owner’s wishes. We are also not stunned when tragedy strikes Joey and all hope is lost. Surprising—no. Shocking—Absolutely not. Are we Touched, without a doubt. We feel so deeply what happens that we almost become the myriad of characters the courageous Joey finds along his way. It’s really not the story of a horse, but the tale of a people—or more specifically us.

The acting throughout is absolutely wonderful yet there isn’t one “stand-out” performance. The acting duties are rather spread out equally over a sprawling and diverse ensemble. Spielberg has a deft eye for picking actors and actresses who accurately convey humanity. So much so, that you don’t feel like you’re watching “acting” at all. There’s literally every emotion on screen at one point or another. You’re utterly arrested by these characters who suffocate you with the lush panorama of emotions they each portray.

Earlier I mentioned that War Horse is a manipulative film, and I won’t back down from that. Spielberg goes for the poignant jugular in seemingly every frame of this two hour epic onslaught. By the end it’s draining but in a good way. In fact I cried not once, but twice—and yes then again in the car. It stirs within so many conflicting feelings that it’s hard to decipher exactly why you’re crying at all.

In the end, War Horse is exactly the film I didn’t think Spielberg would make at least at this juncture in his already illustrious career. Yet, War Horse has completely swept America off its collective feet and also simultaneously catapulted itself to the top of the Best Picture Oscar race—yes it is truly THAT good.

GRADE: A

Young Adult (Review)



P.S. Is this not the coolest movie poster... well ever? Tori Leavitt and Amanda Mitchell could back me up on this without a doubt... Right?

BREIFLY: Writer Diablo Cody and Director Jason Reitman (both of Juno fame) bring us Young Adult, a fiercely dark and remarkably authentic character study with headier content than Juno but far less gravitas or poignancy than Up in the Air. In truth, Young Adult might be Jason Reitman’s boldest film yet—yes even more than Thank You for Not Smoking. His aim here is not to create empathy for the self-absorbed thirty-something novelist, played to perfection by Charlize Theron. Rather, Reitman is concerned with portrayal under the scrutiny of a sincere if sometimes harsh lens. Yes we feel for the shallow Theron, but we also simultaneously hate her. In the end, Young Adult is precisely the kind of film you don’t want to model your life after—so yes you should probably see it.

DETAILED REVIEW: Jason Reitman’s career has been of interesting note. He crafts films that are uniquely American yet somehow manages to add just enough quirks that they seem otherworldly. Juno is one example as is Up in the Air. We know his characters and yet we don’t know them at all. Young Adult is no different as Charlize Theron is “that” girl in high school we all hated even though we secretly wanted to be her. You remember her: good looks, rockin' bod, hot jock boyfriend, popular, cheer captain, etc. She was the type of girl that was the physical manifestation of the Ms. Spears song “If You Seek Amy.” (listen to the lyrics...you'lll agree). At the end of the day you couldn’t help but want to be her—even if it meant you’d be labeled a bitch. This is exactly what Thereon channels as the Y.A. novelist Mavis Gary who goes back to her hometown in hopes of swooning back her old love flame Buddy (he was of course the aforementioned high school jock).

Thereon plays the thirty-something shallow woman with such ease that you come to accept her as Mavis. With a character like Mavis it’s easy to see how Theron could move beyond reality into straight tongue-in-cheek slapstick, but she manages to weigh her character down with an honesty that’s so harsh it cuts to the bone—thus revealing a character more insecure than she’d ever admit. Past her prime with her “Waverly Place” young adult fiction franchise, Mavis clings to her success while simultaneously degrading it. She’s bipolar in regards to her so-called “fame,” and would rather get drunk and loaded than sell books.

It’s also of note that Theron’s appearance changes faster than a diaper at KinderCare. In one moment, Theron is the ultimate femme fatale only to wilt in the next shot to a hung-over hag that even Zach Galifinakis would pass on. She deserves credit here as well, because as her looks change so does the acting. It’s deft, without being overt. It’s a well-crafted character that is memorable to say the least. Theron definitely deserves an Academy Award nomination for her work here and should have no problem garnering it either.

Mavis of course can’t help herself and throws herself at Buddy who is now happily married with a child. Buddy shuns Mavis, but because she was the “It-girl” in high school she reasons it’s because Buddy is insecure about himself. When he tells her he’s married she responds, “We can beat this together.” It’s that type of dialogue that typifies the film while revealing both Mavis’ superficiality as well as her brutal honesty.

Though it’s definitely nowhere as good as Reitman’s Juno or Up in The Air, Young Adult is the type of film Hollywood only dares to make, but rarely ever does. This is again because we can’t really enjoy watching the hometown high school has-been disintegrate, but we also don’t want her to suceed—not entirely at least. It’s really a movie about an antihero trying to be something more, something better: The Hero! Yet in doing so we and also she discovers it’s not only blonds that have more fun, its bitches too.   

GRADE: B

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Review)

BRIEFLY: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, is David Fincher’s version of female Fight Club. For years Fincher has been derided (and deservedly so) for his supposed hate for women, at least in Fight Club. Yet, Dragon Tattoo is the anti-male movie, with a fiercely quiet Rooney Mara saving the day and the man like some female version of a punk-rock superhero. She kicks ass, takes names, and even does a little body art in a moment that doesn’t just scream feminist empowerment—it howls it. This is certainly not a movie for everyone (there’s an abundance of nudity, drug use, and a few rape scenes). In other words, don’t see it if this content is offensive to you, but if you read the source material (by the same name penned by Stieg Larsson (and you probably did—It sold over 50 million copies), you’ll certainly find Fincher’s take both haunting and quite loyal.

DETAILED REVIEW: What’s so interesting about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is how popular it is. How on earth a book with such heinous content rose to such popularity is beyond me. It’s not for the Twilight, Hunger Games, or Harry Potter crowd and I certainly can’t envision it being on Oprah’s book club, but here it is 50 million sold and counting. Every terrible thing you can imagine (yes pretty much except maybe the extinction of the McRib) is in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Rape, violent killings, blood, sexual deviants, drug use, intercourse, and sexual promiscuity are all on full display on both the pages and on screen. If you have ovaries in fact, you probably should just hide in a closet somewhere. That, at least on the surface is with Dragon Tattoo is about.

Someone in the Swedish wealthy Vanger family has vanished some time ago, and the eldest member of the family wants it to finally be solved. In comes Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) to save the day. In true narrative form, one would assume that Blomkvist will indeed solve the crime, but this is not your typical film. Instead, Blomkvist needs the help of dare I say—a woman.

In comes genius sleuth Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara). She saves her male counterpart (a rather inept David Craig) while also managing to lift up her gender in the meantime by saving the oppressed females from Tyler Durden and the Fight Club misogynists. While most films in classical Hollywood form hew to the male being in charge, Dragon Tattoo skews completely to the side of the female. When Lisbeth needs something she takes it—just like the Honey Badger only instead of Half-eaten cobras, she wields brains and pierced breasts. When Lisbeth wants sex—she takes it. There’s no casual or even chivalry involved—its cold and calculated like her. She looks at times like an abstract painting with her extreme hair, piercings, tattoos, and scowl. We project our own back story onto her pale canvas face throughout the film. One thing we are sure of—if we are in a fight we want Salander. Durden is our second pick.

At one point, we do find ourselves wondering if Fincher has leapt back into his misogynistic tendencies as Salander does get raped in an unnerving display that is anything but easy to watch (semi-spoiler there). Moments later, Fincher shocks us with a revenge rape in which Salander utilizes a “night-stick” and a little permanent black tattoo ink. By the end of that similarly unnerving scene we’re not doubting Salander anymore, she can fend for herself and then some. In other words, she’s no post-rehab Kelly Osbourne.

The film follows both Blomkvist and Salander as they work to solve the crime. It’s a whodunit, but not necessarily one in which we wonder who actually did it as much as why they are connected to the two protagonists. At times the viewer will certainly wonder “what’s the connection,” but by the end they’ll hopefully have a “ah-ha” moment. That should occur when Salander literally saves Blomkvist only to ask almost mechanically, “may I kill him?” It’s at that time we realize Fincher’s full vision of the film not as a faithful adaption to the crime thriller, but to the raw power of feminism. Rooney Mara IS Salander and probably has found her way firmly into the Oscar race as a result. She immerses herself into the role so much so that the only way to describe it is to use a tired cliché: she was born for it. No doubt Julia Roberts, Reece Witherspoon, nor even Hollywood’s hottest mess Lindsay Lohan would even answer a casting call to a film as daring as Fincher’s Dragon Tattoo. None of them will probably even Netflix it—which is a compliment really. I doubt Salander’s ever seen Pretty Woman and I bet The Parent Trip isn’t even in her queue.

While Fight Club defined what it meant to be man, and maybe even still what it means to be a man, it’s hard to decide whether Dragon Tattoo will have that impact for women. If anything though, it’s the bookend to its gender sibling Fight Club and at least now we know that if Tyler Durden were real, he’d be fantasizing about Salander (as if he’d have a chance with her. After all she’s got James Bond). Watch a Kotex commercial, sip a Diet Coke, and give yourself a cigarette burn. After you’ve done all  that watch The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.   

Grade: A-

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (Review)

BRIEFLY: Brad Bird, the Pixar wunderkind behind The Incredibles and Ratatouille has crafted a near perfect Mission: Impossible film. This is easily the best in the franchise and Bird also does the unthinkable: make Tom Cruise bearable for the general public. Even more, with most of the film shot in IMAX 70mm film Bird also takes us literally to places we can only experience in real-life—until now. Simon Pegg and Jeremy Renner add some laughs and muscle to freshen up the cast. While Bird does one hell of a job resurrecting the franchise, his biggest misstep here is a sandstorm in Dubai that just feels and looks quite cheesy (I think you can even see the pixels). We expect more from special effects, especially someone who’s worked at Pixar. Nonetheless, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol can’t be missed, especially if you see it in IMAX.

DETAILED REVIEW: If you ever wondered, “What would a real-life Pixar movie look like?” you may have finally got that answer with Brad Bird’s Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. Though it’s a film extremely low on story (at least creatively speaking), it is high on plot. Indeed, every moment leads invariably to the next and so on. This is a flesh-and-blood manifestation of The Incredibles. After an incredibly white knuckle opening, I found myself half expecting the white-lamp Pixar logo to make an appearance (a comment far more complimentary than you might think).

Ghost Protocol follows the Mission Impossible formula once again as the IMF disavows its spies, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, villains, blah, blah, blah, world to end, blah blah blah…. Really the plot is not groundbreaking here and recounting it would be like re-watching the entire season of Teen Mom 2—teen gets pregnant. Have kids. Drama ensues. MTV cashes in. Truly, Bird doesn’t mess with the plot too much as the formula is successful at least financially, but Bird does take into account every shot with his meticulous eye, developed over years at Pixar. A crumbling, exploding Kremlin is of particular note.

The biggest surprise here though is Bird making Mr. Cruise actually relevant. Somehow, someway, Cruise channels his mid-nineties moxie—the one that lit up screens with Jerry MaGuire and A Few Good Men and even the original Mission: Impossible. Nevertheless, whatever voodoo ceremony Bird cast on Cruise, it was worth it. Somehow, Tom Cruise is back and we’ll hopefully forget that Oprah couch jump like we forgot Y2K and Furbies.

Though the film follows it’s “paint-by-numbers” plot, its well-worth the watch. Near the end of the second act, Bird takes us to Dubai and places us atop the world’s tallest skyscraper. Cruise dangles from one window and clings to another. I can’t really even remember why Cruise is doing it, but it doesn’t matter. You feel while watching him that you’re actually going to fall off the gleaming building edges and into the desert abyss. This is aided by the larger IMAX format. In fact, don’t see this any other way, BUT in IMAX; seriously. To see it any other way would be a disservice, like watching a home video of Splash Mountain on YouTube instead of actually riding it.  

Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, and a breathtaking Paula Patton (where did she come from?) round out a pretty stellar cast that manages to rummage up laughs when needed, while also being serious enough as to not paint the film in a film swatch of tongue-in-cheek cheese. Renner and Patton are “stars-in-waiting.” I’m still not sure where Pegg is, but he certainly isn’t going down.

The biggest problem I had with Ghost Protocol involved an “all-too-convenient-looks-like-a-brendan-frazier-mummy-rip-off-sandstorm.” The sand clouds seriously look like they were rendered with software from the late 1990’s on a purple plastic covered iMac (you know the ones). I certainly expect more from a film in 2011 and expect exponentially more for the guy who handcrafts reality at Pixar all the time. The sandstorm was just too-farfetched. I felt like I was watching someone try to channel the Hitchcock “plane scene” ala North by Northwest. It just doesn’t work, not in 2011, nor in the last decade—ask Brendan Frasier and The Rock.

Regardless, Mission Impossible is like a Disneyland thrill ride you’ve ridden before—perhaps like the aforementioned Splash Mountain. You’ve ridden it before, maybe several times, but you can’t help but enjoy it again, and again. That, in a nutshell is Ghost Protocol—a thrill ride you won’t be disappointed with. Just don’t see it in on YouTube (the theatre) go to the park (IMAX) and take it for a spin.

GRADE: B+   

Blogging is my life? Meh. I guess...

It's been brought to my attention by others (at least 3 of you, probably the only 3 who read this crap) that my life is blogging. I'm apparently nothing more than a bot who should be fulfilled simply by churning out web content. This means of course that I'm not supposed to love, be loved, or feel loved. Not to corner it on one emotion (love), I'm apparently not allowed any emotion (positive or negative) at all. Further, I'm also expected to refrain from being social,or even socially frustrated for that matter, and regardless of how sad I feel, my outlet should not be an actual person, but (you guessed it) the blog. Why would I ever want to talk about anything other than movies? Hell, my life needs no expression or vent--I got movies AND a blog. I kinda think that reasoning (finding happiness in my blog) to be a load of steaming crap, but obviously the people I respect (maybe not so much anymore) think otherwise.

Sometimes I just want to talk, like really talk, to someone who really wants to listen, and really cares. But asking for that is apparently impossible--it's simply never gonna happen. There are simple truths in life: Leann Rimes aint eating a Big Mac--ever, the Seaver's won't reunite to make a Growing Pains reunion movie, and Snooki will always love pickles and Juicehead-Gorillas.

And as for me and my simple truth in life?--I will probably never get to really talk and have someone really listen. Oh well. I got a blog.........bitches!    

So, I'll blog... and blog some more...and sling noodles at The OG in between...'cause much like reading Tori Spelling's memoir, this is fun... AND fulfilling (sarcasm very much intended).

Emma take it away...