Even if you are Amish or have short-term memory problems, or have otherwise not seen the entire narrative spoiled in the previews, the story in Warrior is so expected that you can see it coming from two summers ago. Hardy plays Tommy Conlon, an angry and bitter man who has suffered through many hardships in life, many from his estranged father Paddy (Nick Nolte) who was drunk and abusive before finding religion and sobriety. Edgerton plays Brendan Conlon, brother to Tommy, who left his family at sixteen to be with his would-be wife. Brendan has not seen Tommy since then and is still hesitant about any contact with his father.

Tommy’s past is a mystery since he is emotionally withdrawn and does not talk about it to anyone, especially his prying father. We learn in bits and pieces about him fleeing with his mother only to watch her painfully die later on as well as his heroics in the military and a promise made to the widow of one of his fallen compadres. Brendan on the other hand has a beautiful wife and two girls but is in a bad financial situation to the point that he is about to be removed from his house without a substantial amount of money. With that, both brothers sign up for a MMA tournament against fourteen other top fighters in the world for a chance to win $5 million.

It is odd that a film like The Fighter, which is good but very predictable, can be nominated for Best Picture along with a slew of other awards and the only Oscar nomination for Warrior goes to Nolte. Granted, Nolte is great with his performance as the outside man desperately seeking redemption from his remaining family. He carries the knowledge of his past failures and is humbled because of them but both sons mostly cast him aside except for Tommy who clearly specifies he needs Paddy as a trainer and nothing else. Hardy also turns in a criminally under-appreciated performance as Tommy who hides years of physical and emotional trauma behind a steely facade with nothing but rage and aggression poking through when he is in the cage.

Rounding out the trio of emotionally scarred Conlon men is Edgerton as Brendan who I first noticed and became a fan of from Animal Kingdom. Edgerton’s character has a good amount of time devoted to him but his character lacks the stress of Tommy or the rejection of Paddy rendering Brendan the more plain character out of the three. He still does a remarkable job though as Brendan is the underdog throughout the process and is given the most material to sympathize with. For most of the film, Tommy comes off almost as an ungrateful punk who doesn’t give a damn about anyone so connecting with him is a bit more difficult.

Even though the story seems a tad unoriginal, co-writer and director Gavin O’Connor infuses the film with so much energy that I feel comfortable in saying that you too will want to tackle someone at parts of the movie. The fight scenes, of which there are many, never feel overly staged or choreographed and the typical handheld camera shots are not overdone to risk confusing you as to what is going on. Punctuating the fight scenes are conversations between Tommy and his father, Brendan and his wife, and so forth but those don’t feel like filler or padding the way some sports movies throw in “heavy” scenes. Even if you are not a fan of martial arts or sports movies, it is close to impossible to watch this film and not get teary-eyed when appropriate or otherwise invested in the characters. I haven’t seen a lot of the heavily lauded films from last year so I can’t proclaim this is the best but I am disheartened that this top-notch drama did not receive a bit more recognition.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Adam, essentially a stand-in for Reiser, who learns he has a rare form of cancer along his spine in the peak of his life. Seth Rogen, from reports who basically plays himself as he did to Reiser, is the supportive, opportunistic, and (of course) foul-mouthed friend to help along the way. We also meet Adam’s super-supportive girlfriend Rachel (Bryce Dallas Howard), his overbearing mother (Anjelica Huston), and his new-to-the-field therapist (Anna Kendrick) as they try and support Adam though the diagnosis, treatment, and aftermath.

While the previews mostly portrayed this film as more comedic in tone, 50/50 is primarily a drama with a sprinkling of comedy, usually courtesy of Rogen. There is only so much light you can make of a film about a debilitating illness without it coming across as inappropriate or crass. Fortunately, Reiser’s script walks a pretty fine line between making a mockery of the suffering of millions and taking what comes from life in stride. The film succeeds on this front as it is not a heavy-handed “live your life to the fullest” affair but also addresses the hardship that comes with the plights of Adam’s fellow cancer buddies played by Philip Baker Hall and Trashcan Man Matt Frewer.

Not many actors can pull of such a varied performance as Gordon-Levitt did as he hits every stage of the process in perfect form with scenes filled with joy, anger or grief and some all combined together. I would say it is an award-worthy performance but apparently the powers that be do not agree. The rest of the actors merely revolve around Adam in some shape or form with Rogen not breaking too much new ground and Kendrick playing the same young and sensitive, yet inexperienced role that she has in other films. Huston in minimal screentime had quite an impact as the mother that Adam purposefully distances himself from yet relies on when everything comes down to the wire.

Director Jonathan Levine takes what you would anticipate being an ensemble effort and focuses superbly on Adam and his struggle. From the first diagnosis when the “State University” doctor remarks that his cancer is quite interesting because it is rare and yada yada yada, Levine pulls back and focuses solely on the ear of the patient as he tries to comprehend the words being causally tossed at him. We follow Adam throughout the entire ordeal as he has his first chemotherapy, gets high on weed-laced macaroons, and comes to terms with the probable outcome that he will die. The emphasis on Adam and the events in his life during his treatment put you in the mindset of someone in that situation. It is not a joyous, “to hell with rules” mindset but one of reason, despair, and sorrow.

On one hand, 50/50 is not a feel-good movie as it evokes many emotions that most (including myself) would disregard while watching a film. But it is not only a strong movie off the back of Gordon-Levitt’s great performance, but also one that can help you see the bright side in even the worst situation.

I don’t read a ton (read: any) books, thus I was largely unaware of Larsson’s trilogy until the original Swedish film debuted in 2009 to much acclaim. The bulk of the praise as I recall centered around Noomi Rapace‘s portrayal of the unstable, anti-social, brilliant researcher Lisbeth Salander to the point that there was some general worry due to the casting of Rooney Mara as Fincher’s Lisbeth. Mara showed her acting chops perfectly in the first segment of Fincher’s last film, Social Network, but would she be able to pull off this challenging role? And how does Daniel Craig as disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist factor into it? And will Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross win another Oscar for their score? So many questions. Let’s get to the answers.

If you’ve read the books or seen the original, from what I hear there will be few surprises in this version as it is rather faithful to the material. Blomkvist is hired by Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer) to investigate the forty-year-old murder of his granddaughter. Meanwhile, Salander is busy trying to make ends meet by her assigned duties of investigating and/or computer surveillance while battling a grotesque pig of a “guardian” who uses his control over her finances to some, well, rather horrible means. A long stretch of the film goes by with Blomkvist doing his thing and Salander doing hers (you can take that in a number of ways) before they finally join forces and discover that the murder of one lone girl ties in with a string of murders previously undetected.

All the talk of Fincher being a difficult director seem to be warranted (he even confirms as much in the commentary for Se7en) but the man certainly has a clear vision and is unstoppable at achieving it. Much like most of his work, Dragon Tattoo is a dark story with many heinous acts shown or spoken throughout. Yet, there is a sense of beauty in the visuals as Fincher and his DP Jeff Cronenweth use the slow pan of a room with pictures tacked on the wall or of the serene landscape to almost offset the horror in the story’s details. Much like Se7en, this film centers around the hunt for a serial killer but this is not an action-packed affair with shootouts and car chases throughout that would permeate such a film normally (although those do happen infrequently here). It is more of a quiet reflection on the dark side of human behavior and unraveling the mindset behind a man who can rape, murder, and dismember another human being.

If nothing else, Fincher is an actor’s director as I cannot recall a horribly miscast or performed character in any of his movies (yes, even the much maligned Alien entry). This film is no different with Craig, Plummer, and Stellan Skarsgård as another of the Vanger clan turning in superb performances that shy away from typical Hollywood style of overacting. Most of the performances are done well enough that sell the characters as real life people, not simply James Bond trying to portray a normal person. Mara though outdoes them all with her performance as Salander. The internet is rife with debate between Mara and Rapace as the better Salander. Again, having not seen the Swedish version in its entirety, I cannot comment so much other than to say Mara was fantastic. A nomination of some sort is required after seeing this seemingly normal girl envelope the role so much that she donned her own genuine body piercings and is able to simultaneously embody an apathetic woman toward life in general as well as a woman so determined that she will put herself in harm’s way to stop a murderer. The dynamic between Craig and Mara is surprisingly authentic and their interactions engross you more into the story.

If you’ve seen the assembly cut of Alien 3 or either version of Zodiac, you know that Fincher is no stranger to movies that are quite long. Dragon Tattoo takes the cake though with a more than two-and-a-half hour runtime that could have been easily excised if Fincher, or writer Steven Zaillian, had a bit more control over the story. The best part of the film is when Salander and Blomkvist are paired up investigating the murder of almost a dozen Swedish women from decades ago. Unfortunately, there is a lot of questionably important backstory to get through before that happens. Likewise, after the murder mystery is resolved, the film still has a quite unnecessarily long coda of Blomkvist regaining his reputation. This is the one thing that hurts the movie as the best part, namely the investigation, is bookended by portions may serve the characters’ and their arcs but disrupt the narrative to do so. I hear this is the same in the novel and the original film as well but a good portion of the runtime could have been trimmed from these outskirts which are neat, but nowhere near as entertaining as the main plot.

Even with the assembly of a great cast and bringing his talent to this film, Fincher’s Dragon Tattoo is bogged down by the underlying uneven story. Everything else is undoubtedly great including Reznor and Ross’ second collaboration together on the score. Despite the effort though, Dragon Tattoo is merely a solid film, not as spectacular as I had hoped.

So, it appears that ‘Team Jacob’ is not going to be able to pull off a stunning upset in the bottom of the ninth as Bella (Kristen Stewart) is uterus-deep in wedding planning and other such shenanigans for her pending nuptials to Edward (Robert Pattinson). Yes, kids, let this be a lesson to you courtesy of Stephanie Meyer: follow, stalk, and mostly be a jackass to a girl but as long as you have pale skin and dreamy hair, you’re a shoe-in. The wedding seems to act as a manner of reintroducing old friends (poor Anna Kendrick!) and introducting new superfluous-for-now plot points (Maggie Grace looking quite creepy!) but mostly to affirm that Edward is dreamy, and perfect, and has great hair, and … anyways. They tie the knot, have a few awkward/embarrassing moments like any family occasion, and set off on their honeymoon to some random island with a beautiful house that would be toothpicks in a tsunami. ::Spoiler:: No such tsunami happens while Edward and Bella are vacationing there. ::snaps fingers::

After a hilariously over-the-top sex scene their first night (I hear the book is as bad), Bella is bruised and battered as Edward is either really good in the sack or really bad at containing his temper. There are shelters for you, Bella. They spend the next eternity in movie time sitting around, swimming, playing chess, and … bam! Bella’s pregnant! To Forks they return where no one has any idea of how that could happen or what to do next but Bella insists on keeping the baby even though it is breaking bones, feeding off her internal organs or something, and apparently applying quite effective makeup to show the emaciated girl. Jacob (Taylor Lautner) learns of about her “condition” to which the rest of the wolve-y clan aren’t keen about. Jacob breaks from the pack to protect Bella from the hostile shape-shifters while Bella continues to succumb to the demon-ish baby thing inside of her. If you’ve read the books, you know the rest. If not, the rest is actually kind of cool.

Perhaps it’s because I just watched the horrid New Moon, or maybe it’s Opposite Day, or it’s possible that I’m just clinically insane but I actually kind of dug BD:P1. Most of it at least. From the male perspective, the most painful part is the first half or so. I understand that after three mostly unbearable films with the will-she-or-won’t-she affair between Bella and Edward, there needed to be some celebratory event. But, just like most family gatherings I attend, the wedding and its aftermath goes on far too long with little to occupy yourself other than copious amounts of alcohol. When Edward and Bella (why don’t they have a cool compound name like Bedward by now?) head off to the secluded island, the story drags like a tantrum-prone four-year-old in the checkout line but most everyone else wanted to see them get it on. For a movie that clocks in at just under two hours, I can think of a good fifteen to twenty minutes that should have been trimmed from this section.

When Bedward return after learning of the growing spawn, the otherwise overqualified director Bill Condon takes the movie into a bunch of wacky, yet ultimately interesting directions. I can’t really tell if there was a strong anti-abortion agenda present in the film as almost everyone is urging Bella to get “that thing” out of her or if Bella was just being her typical, insipid self and refusing to listen to the voice of reason that the child is killing her, inside and out. Stewart starts off the film much more attractive than I’ve previously found her before but ends looking like a poor woman struck down with some incredibly debilitating illness courtesy of some quite good makeup and CGI. And shockingly, Stewart is mostly up to the task excepting the typical stutter and awkwardness that her character is built upon. Honestly though, the majority of the other characters come off as bossy, assy, or just plain hateful which makes her almost seem like the sane one.

As Tabitha touched on in her review, there was a great deal of emotional impact that could have been harvested from the story as Bella is dying as a child/whatever is growing but most of that seemed to be jettisoned for Jacob scowling, Edward scowling, or random and insultingly-stupid wolf growl to human voice dubbing. Even the experience that Bella goes through is mostly extrapolated from everyone else’s reactions to her, which I guess is in keeping with the spirit of the rest of the series since she has very little defining character traits of her own. Bella does step out of her drab shell though to make things awkward as she remarks to Jacob “it feels complete when you’re here” in front of her new family and … HER NEW HUSBAND. I thought we were past this by now.

This series has chronically suffered from not-good acting but things were a bit better this time around. Pattinson has become better each film through heavy makeup, Stewart isn’t quite as irritating as the first couple films, and it even features more Billy Burke and Sara Clark! Yay for that! The rest of the Cullen clan are merely bystanders in their own house but there was nothing too incredibly off-putting here. Except Lautner. I thought the kid was okay before but maybe that was just when he had hair and no six-pack abdomen. He’s probably too focused on whatever crap movie he’s starring in at this point anyway.

I’ve already written way too much about this movie than I intended but it is pretty damn entertaining once we get past the lovey-dovey aspect of the story. Even without an external threat like the last film, Breaking Dawn: Part I is thus far the best in the series. Don’t get me wrong. It’s no American Beauty or Halloween, but something that I can possibly see myself watching (and fast-fowarding through) at home.

Having read the books, I went in with higher expectations than some. The final book is one of the most compelling teen romance novels I’ve ever read. There is action, anticipation, conflict, questioning of morals and a real story was being told. With director Bill Condon (Gods and Monsters, Dream Girls) in the seat for his first installment of the saga, I just knew that this would be the best of the series on the big screen. You know what they say about assumptions. Returning screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg did everything except capture the intensity and depth of the story being told. This was one of the most anticipated sequels for teenagers and middle age women all over. I mean, what female doesn’t want to see the wedding of the century and the forever desired sex scene of the human losing her virginity to an immortal?

The movie opens with Jacob (Taylor Lautner) receiving the wedding invitation. Of course he is angry so we see a shirtless Jacob shift into a wolf-beast thing and begin his disappearance from the first third of the movie. Cue the wedding planning, angst and lackluster acting of Stewart. Wedding time bliss also means cold feet for either the bride or groom. For a brief second Bella has a nightmare that hints that she is having second thoughts. But then to the wedding! After all, who has second thoughts about marrying an immortal who will turn them in a blood sucking monster? I imagine her reaction as: “Pfft, so I won’t be human anymore? Who cares? I’m going to be hot and not die and stuff.” We do get to experience Pattinson’s improved acting chops as he delivers more than just one facial expression. I do not care for Pattinson as an actor but I have to commend him for stepping it up. The downside of his performance was comparing him with the rest of the actors who turn out either subpar or just ok performances. Jacob makes his reappearance and there is still hope in his eyes and the hearts of all ‘Team Jacob’ members. With Bella in his arms as they dance, you forget they are at the reception for her wedding and you began to cross your fingers that Bella will change her mind. I mean, who do you want to spend your honey moon with? A cold-as-ice, possibly-can’t-get-an-erection, vampire or the warm-blooded, well-built and will-definitely-get-an-erection sexy werewolf?

Onto the secret island for the honeymoon! Everyone was on the edge of their seats and plenty of panties were wet with the thoughts of a naked Edward and the night full of passion and bed-breaking intercourse. Loins tight, nails bit and breath being held we waited … and waited. Yes, we know it has a PG-13 rating but dammit all to hell for nothing more than glorified making out. It was like the Paranormal Activity of love scenes. Most of the popping of the cherry took place off screen. We are brought back in to a destroyed bedroom and a bruised Bella. How did the lamp across the room get broken, clothes hamper turned over, the ottoman and pictures on the far wall get destroyed? I need to know! Afterward Edward refuses sex until she is changed. And then she’s pregnant. This is the point of the downward spiral for the film. The build up with no climax to a half-assed love scene and Bella accepting after a moment’s hesitation that she is pregnant with what could be essentially be a demon child. Back to Washington, re-enter Jacob and add in a bonding moment with Edward over the need for an immediate abortion.

Because of the pregnancy, the wolf pack wants to destroy Bella and the “baby.” This causes Jacob to claim dominance as the Alpha of the pack in a fierce fight with the current Alpha. He runs off and forms his own pack. It is one of the most powerful scenes of the entire movie. It’s beyond description and slightly arousing in a weird and awkward way. The great part is there is limited speaking! It’s just wolves doing their wolfy battle while snarling and occasional thought sharing thing. Lautner has come far from his Shark Boy days but his performance covers two emotions throughout most of the film: rage and depression. Jacob’s words exclaimed the array of emotions that Lautner failed to deliver. Lautner’s shining moment was after the delivery of the baby. The vampires and wolves are fighting outside of the house, Rosalie (Nikki Reed) is holding baby Reneesme by the fire, Edward is coming to terms with Bella’s death, and Jacob runs inside to make a choice of killing or rescuing Reneesme. We all assume his choice is to kill because that would save the Cullens from the attack. Then he imprints (a soul bond) with Reneesme. At that moment Lautner allowed the awe, wonder, surprise and devotion shine through with about ten minutes left in the film. The wolves back off, the vampires clean up the birthing room and Bella wakes up.

Having sat through the first three movies, I would say this was neither a step forward or a step back. It was just on the level with the last film. Having read the Saga, this movie is lacking so much. If you take away the lofty expectations, this was a good movie. It isn’t nearly as intense or ferocious as we expect but it still has its edge thanks to the good, not great, directing capabilities of Condon. I feel that it would have been much like the second film if the same director had taken the seat. Breaking Dawn carries the Hollywood cinematography feel like the last two whereas the first carried the air of an indie film. The let down comes from the screenplay itself. The biggest omission that would have made the film a great movie: reactions to life changing events. There should have been the agonizing feeling of loss since Bella would never be able to see her family again once she becomes a vampire. No one would make that decision after only a second of contemplation of life after mortal death. Plus, a normal woman goes insane with the smallest inkling they may be knocked up. I can only imagine the emotion and terror from knowing you’re pregnant with a supernatural creature’s spawn that could kill you. It would have resulted in more than just a pout in the mirror. The internal struggle to do what would be right and what would save your life should have been addressed with Bella more than just a few seconds. The conflict between pro-life and pro-choice from the mother’s point of view was left on the cutting room floor I assume.

To sum it up, Edward is still a whiney little hen that gives vampires a bad name, Bella made choices without thinking them through, Jacob is now a soul-mate to an infant and separated from the pack and the vampire over lords will show up in the next film. Over all, this is an OK movie. I wish I had waited for it to come to video rather than wasting money to view in theater. To clean my vampire movie screening palate I’m going to go watch Interview with the ‘at least attractive’ Vampire.

Look, I know that the first movie was nothing great or special to the population at large (excepting certain groups of course). The dialogue is trite, the acting is not very good (or downright horrid, K-Stew!), and it is merely an inconsequential teenage love affair that happens to feature “vampires.” Yet, even with all of that going against it, Twilight is probably close to ranking as a guilty pleasure just because I love the cinematography and the music. Oh, and Billy Burke. He’s pretty awesome too. Yet, the producers of New Moon seemed to extract from my dreams what I liked about the first and exclude those from this film because … hey, this isn’t a series for me.

The stupid teenage angst is still front-and-center with the awkwardly non-descript Bella (Kristen Stewart) smitten with her “vampire” beau Edward (Robert Pattinson) to the detriment of everyone else in her life. On her birthday, she attends a celebration of sorts at the Cullens’ which threatens to turn interesting after she gets a papercut and blood-thirsty Jasper lunges after her. Sadly, he does not succeed and Bella is still breathing afterwards. In turn, Edward decides that she is in danger around them and the vampire clan move off to sunny southern California or wherever leaving her behind. She fills the Edward-shaped void in her life with Jacob (Taylor Lautner) since he’s around, young, naive, and has a pretty nice six-pack if I do say so.

Imagine Bella’s heartbreak (!) when Jacob abandons her to run around half-naked with a bunch of other guys in the woods. I mean, it’s not like she’s bothered to cultivate any other emotional connections with anyone else other than a vampire and a shape-shifting wolf boy. So anyways, Jacob alludes to Edward that Bella is dead to which the distraught Edward decides to out himself as a vampire to provoke some the Godfather mafia of the vampire world. Oh, and there’s a few fleeting scenes of Victoria coming back to Forks to kill Bella but that makes up no more than ten minutes or so of this unbearably long film.

Replacing Catherine Hardwicke in the director’s chair this go-around is Chris Weitz, who is competent enough but has nowhere near the skill to make me remotely care about these stock characters and asinine situations. Or at least, he has nothing to distract me from them. Even worse though is the script from Melissa Rosenberg, who I can’t really fault based on the source material, because … nothing freakin’ happens other than Bella being a tease to Jacob and pouting over Edward. You could say the same thing about the first in which the main threat didn’t meet the core cast until the final twenty minutes or so but at least there was a threat. As I mentioned, Victoria and the other guy appear but their appearances are very brief and never really consequential to the story. Instead, we are treated to Bella acting like a damn fool just to have hallucinations of Edward saying “Bitch, please!” or something. And don’t get me started on the lazy and completely inept narration as Bella emails Alice at a non-functional address as a poor attempt to give her any sort of depth.

The final act if you can call it that is nothing more than the movie trying to interject some sense of tension or tragedy into the story. It’s sad that I don’t really care if Edward kills himself or Bella dies so that didn’t really register and it served more as (from what I hear) set up for following stories than anything noteworthy here. It was quite funny though when head vampy Aro (Michael Sheen) looks into Bella’s thoughts and remarks “I see nothing” since it perfectly describes Bella as a character who is defined only by whoever she happens to be around at the time. K-Stew’s performance doesn’t help as she’s just as frustratingly bad as the first film. I’ve seen Adventureland at least and know that she is capable of more but this character isn’t helping her portfolio. Pattinson is barely in the movie and Lautner swings from bad to decent pretty easily. And there is a severe lack of both Billy Burke and Anna Kendrick this time around so no acting points for you movie!

As I said, pretty much anything that I could give faint praise to the first film for has been left out here. Other than Bella and Jacob’s bonding sessions and the revelation that Jacob’s crew are werewolf-things, there is nothing necessary in this story. The Cullens leave town but return before the end, Edward ditches Bella but then asks her to marry him in the final seconds, and Victoria is still out for Bella’s blood when it’s all said and done. If you were to watch just the first and third films, there would be very little questions or confusion because this film is so useless. I can’t quite give it the crap category solely for the fact that my crap-o-meter is probably out of whack still from Halloween: Resurrection but this is easily the worst film in the franchise thus far. That should be damning enough.

A few years previously, Christiane (Edith Scob), daughter of the renowned Docteur Génessier (Pierre Brasseur), was in a car accident that horribly mangled her face, leaving only her eyes intact. Christiane is secluded to the doctor’s estate after another young girl is found dead and Génessier identifies her as his “missing” daughter. Génessier has a wild notion (wild before the beauty of Face/Off that is) that a face can be transplanted from one person to another. With the guilt from causing the accident responsible for his daughter’s condition combined with his arrogance that he can actually succeed, Génessier and his assistant enlist unwilling young women as part of the makeshift operation.

This film has elements that seem vaguely familiar but damn if I can place from where. While watching it, I was inexplicably reminded of The Brain that Wouldn’t Die, or otherwise known as Mike’s first episode on MST3k as that is another black and white science-fiction-ish tale of a mad doctor who ultimately succumbs to his “project.” Really, if not for the fact that the film was remarkably engrossing and technically sound, this is almost the type of stuff Mike (or Joel) and the ‘bots would riff on. The wacky, demented carnival music certainly fit that bill as well.

Brasseur as the good doctor gives an impressive performance of a character whose complexities are normally foregone in modern moviemaking. Génessier is the real monster in this tale as Brasseur embodies a man who is determined and yet diabolical, motivations that fit Michael Myers to a T. Scob though has a tough sell for her character. Christiane is almost complicit with her father’s affairs as she sits and watches while young girls are hacked up to make her whole again. When not donning the skin of another woman, Scob is stuck behind a blank, emotionless mask leaving only her eyes and subtle movements of the faux-mouth to express her desire for a normal life on one hand, or a quick death on the other.

Franju takes a very slow and methodical approach to the story, again not unlike Carpenter’s Halloween. There are long stretches of the film without dialogue, which is welcome occurrence to be able to focus on the scenery rather than the subtitles, but also to establish the characters as they plot and plan their next moves. It is odd that this film is lumped in the horror category but this is what I would think a Coen Brothers’ horror film would be like. It is quiet and thoughtful, yet at the same time disturbing. Not so much in the imagery but in the thought of what a man blinded by pride and love is capable of.

I’d heard from several friends and colleagues (not in the 6-12 age range that the original cartoon targeted) that the Avatar series was excellent. I have thus seen about five episodes of the first season and can confirm that the animated tale of the titular last airbender is not only quite entertaining, but one of the most universally excellent animated series in recent times. It (and the movie, but we’ll get to that later) centers around Aang, who has been literally frozen in time for a century discovering his role in the ongoing war between the Fire Nation and the other subsets of the human race. Aang is an airbender who can harness and control air with his skills. The Fire Nation can control fire and are apparently pissed at something and decide to exterminate the Airbenders and are waging war against the Water People and Earth People. Thus, Aang and his friends Katara and Sokka must fight the Fire Nation and some dethroned prince or something. I haven’t gotten that far in the series and damn if the movie did anything to clarify.

I need to get a few things out of the way before the review can continue. M. Night sucks balls and should go back to filmmakers’ school or wherever will no longer insult my sensibilities. And the cartoon (even only seeing maybe 1/20th of it) is far better than the movie. Allegedly, this was intended to be the first in a trilogy of films that cover the series’ three seasons, each tackling Aang mastering one of the other elements. The movie failed (at least critically) so that may never happen. Upon watching the series (after the movies for the record), I was struck by how heartful and genuine it was. The series is not dark and brooding like the film, and in fact embraces the innocence of childhood as Aang is quickly thrust into an authoritative figure that he is not cut out for. All of that was lacking from the film but that is not all.

Sure, it is ambitious to try and condense a 22-episode season into a film. M. Night deserves accolades for that in theory at least. But just like watching every other episode of a TV series, you may get the gist but it is rather awkward and jarring. What took the 22 minute series premiere to cover, M. Night gets in less than seven minutes or so but with the side effect of stripping any redeeming character moments or mystery from it. The story is interesting (thus what got me watching the superior TV series) but as certain plot points are efficiently hit, I really lost track of why the hell I should care since I barely knew these characters or what they were up against. The fact that this movie had more voiceover than what I hear the original Blade Runner is like and characters that exist ONLY for exposition only cements that we are not watching a full story, only a condensed version of it.

This entire review won’t be comparing the film to the series (but there’s no contest, go watch the series NOW) so I will move on to things specific to the film. M. Night is no stranger around Movie Scum and I believe I mentioned once before that he should stick to directing. Scratch that … he should stick to producing or retiring. There are some things that I enjoyed about the film (namely the cinematography and the production design) but most everything else was lackluster at best. Noah Ringer, Nicola Peltz, and Jackson Rathbone as Aang, Katara, and Sokka respectively all turned in garbage acting. In fact, there was not one (1!) actor in the film that I could pick out as decent against their horrendous counterparts. Across the board, it is that bad.

Likewise, the special effects are not too spectacular considering this was a multi-million summer release which should have had all of Paramount and Nickelodeon’s money behind it. Yet, some were okay, most were bad, and some were head-scratchingly abysmal which makes watching this film (not in 3D mind you) a headache in and of itself. The boats employed by the Fire Nation though were awesome and especially the design of the different worlds whether the ice-capped Water People world or the beautiful Earth People world (these were rather glossed over in the film) were impressive even if there were jettisoned for horrible storytelling at every angle.

I may not be the most attentive movie watcher, but I swear there was a girl in the final third of the film who merely showed up, seemed to be important, and then died in a triumphant matter (oops, spoiler!) without the chance for me to even catch her name. And thus, the main failure point of the movie (not counting the horrid acting) is that the story is literally 480 minutes of story truncated into a feature film with no regard to the playful nature or even attempting to scratch the depth of the source material.

That said, The Last Airbender is not a crap category type of film. It is beautifully shot but simply incompetently directed in every other regard. It might be worth seeing just what the “hype” is about but it does not contain the awfulness as some of the other films we’ve reviewed.

Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights is inspired by, loosely based on or whatever you want to call it, the life of porn star John Holmes (at times, it even directly lifts dialogue from interviews with Holmes that appeared in a later documentary in which featured Anderson) . While the two are similar, it is more so a fictitious depiction of the lives of some folks in the porn industry during the 70s and 80s. It does have some true elements to it, such as the movement to get porn to convert from film to videotape. Ultimately, it is an examination of several people’s lives as they move in and out of the adult film world.

The main story of this film revolves around Eddie Adams (Mark Wahlberg), a 17 year old who works at a car wash by day and a nightclub at…well, night. Eddie believes that everyone has one special thing that they are blessed with. His special thing happens to be a penis that hangs around 13 inches or so. The particular nightclub that he works for, happens to be frequented by a porn director, Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds). Jack convinces Eddie to come to his home and ultimately audition for him by having sex with Rollergirl (Heather Graham). He changes his name to Dirk Diggler and as he becomes a star in the adult film world, much like a rock star, the more money he makes, the more ego, drugs and recklessness consume him. We witness an engrossing journey of a young man as he tries to handle the pressure of  fame and people’s fascination with large appendages.

In addition to this main story, the film is comprised of many vignettes that focus on the lives of other characters (porn actors/crew). Reed Rothchild (John C. Reilly) is a magician, Buck Swope (Don Cheadle)  wants to open an electronics store and struggles to find his identity, Little Bill (William H. Macy) is constantly walking in on his wife fucking someone else, and many other stories. While vignettes are naturally isolated, P.T.A. does quite an excellent job of wandering between the straightforward narrative in to a vignette and then back.

Every single person in this film is excellent. Everyone has a very natural, and at times almost improvisational delivery of their dialogue that is quite pleasing. John C. Reilly gives his best performance in this film. At his first appearance he does his “ham and cheese” routine but as the film progresses, he demonstrates that he is actually quite gifted beyond being a staple in an Adam McKay  project (although I am fine with that). In particular, there is a scene in which Dirk, Reed and their fellow drug addict Todd (Thomas Jane)  attempt to rob a drug dealer. All three of them are quite brilliant in this scene as they react to multiple nerve wracking occurrences.  There is a moment in which Wahlberg is staring off and the camera lingers on him for what seems like an eternity and there is absolutely no indication of what he is thinking about (although you can infer many things). It is just as hypnotic for the viewer as it seems to be for Diggler.

Anderson’s direction is very satisfying. He goes for the handheld camera and it works quite well, especially as we follow people from behind as they walk. His script is also filled with delightful subtleties that couples with the camera work, make it seem like a documentary rather than a scripted film.

I can’t really say a negative thing about this film. Puck would delight in that Julianne Moore is also in it, and her performance is just as great as everyone else’s. A truly brilliant film indeed.

I don’t necessarily have a problem with “romance” movies. They just are not designed with my sensibilities in mind. I can still objectively review them from a critical standpoint to determine if they are completely bland and unsurprisingly (not unlike Love and Other Drugs) or a remarkably decent story merely concocted around a lovey-dovey tale like this film. Written and directed by George Nolfi, the film is based on a Philip K. Dick short story called Adjustment Team. I have not read the story (this comes as a surprise?) thus I am not sure if the wishy-washy sentimentality was present in the original, or just filled in by the filmmakers to avoid the wrath of thousands of moviegoers conditioned to accept the lowest common denominator in stories, especially those regarding the L word.

At its core, The Adjustment Bureau is a fine film. Matt Damon is quite charismatic as David Norris, the young hotshot would-be senator from New York. As he works out his concession speech in despair over the crushing defeat, David meets Elise (Blunt) who turns his frown upside-down with an encouraging talk and a passionate kiss. She soon is chased out of the hotel by security but David cannot shake her from his thoughts. After a “chance” reunion a few weeks later, David gets her number but quickly loses it as he discovers that a secretive team of … something not human, apparently has fumbled and David was not supposed to see her ever again.

David is sat down by the bland-looking gentlemen of the titular organization for a bit of exposition. The men act as real-life choreographers, putting people in certain places with certain events set to occur to shape their subjects’ path through life. David responds by declaring that he has free will. One of the inconspicuously dressed men informs him that he is free to his choice of toothpaste or beverage but the real heavy lifting is left up to this group. They tell him to never reveal their identity to anyone else for fear of a “reboot,” essentially erasing his memories and personality. Well, that’s actually a pretty good definition of a reboot.

Expectedly, there is a lot of talk about free will and destiny. David is determined to prove he can shape his own life even with a bureaucracy attempting to prevent that. These are the same guys in suits who declare that their period of intervention brought the Renaissance and the Enlightenment while mankind flying solo crafted the Dark Ages and WWI. Really, all it stands to illustrate is that David is madly in love with Elise and will stop at nothing to be with her. So, essentially it boils down to just about every other damn love story I’ve seen, except this time with sci-fi elements! Damon and Blunt are great in their roles and fortunately exert a lot of chemistry in their scenes together. There is a lot of heartache for both characters during the film and their interactions sell that quite well. The suits in the Bureau are not necessarily menacing, only in a “man following orders” sort of way.

Without going into spoiler-y specifics, the film closes with a not-quite “happily ever after” sort of ending, but it is pretty darn close. It feels very cheesy and directed at the romantic-seeking audience base that the movie caters to (not the marketing though as I recall). It’s all well and good but the end almost negates all of the drama and conflict from the preceding 100 minutes or so in a syrupy-sweet way that struck me as odd. For his directorial debut, Nolfi does an admirable job crafting sympathetic characters in a movie that normally I would be less inclined to watch. He touched on some deep meanings about life and humanity but wasted those on a story not worthy of such depth.