Straw Dogs Remake Trailer

The remake of the controversial Sam Pekinpaugh movie is coming out soon and the first trailer has been released. It looks pretty good so far. It is dark but so was the original. Dustin Hoffman's role as a cowardly man pushed to his limits is now in the hands of James Marsden. Marsden is a pretty good actor and I am looking forward to see how he does..

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two

I am a biased fan of this series but this trailer looks like an amazing end to a very good series based on a great series of books. It was the best book easily and this looks like it may be the best film.

Movies that Make You Feel Old

Funny infographic from XKCD:

I Love You Phillip Morris

 I really really wanted to like this movie more than I did. I had followed its production for a while and had lots of good things about it. It was presented as a Catch Me If You Can with Jim Carrey playing a crazy gay southern con man.

The good: I Love You Phillip Morris contains many funny moments and a very good performance from Jim Carrey. Carrey is good when he takes risk, (The Truman Show, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Man on the Moon are all good examples) and pretty annoyingly bad when he sticks to his shtick (Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, Yes Man, Me Myself and Irene and many others). So when I heard he was playing the main character in this comedy based on a true story about a gay conman who falls in love with a fellow prisoner and does whatever he can to be with him I was intrigued.

Jim Carrey is very funny (even if he doesn’t have the best southern accent) and Ewan Mcgregor is equally entertaining as the object of Carrey’s affection.

The bad: This movie could have been much shorter. It felt like the filmmakers were to in love with their material and did not know when to make tough cuts. I found myself multiple times looking at the timer on the Bluray player wondering how it had only been on 30 minutes, 35 minutes, 45 minutes, etc… If the movie was a little more focused and not as intent on including every step of this guys journey it would have been much more enjoyable.

It's Kind of a Funny Story

 It’s Kind of a Funny Story is a very entertaining film that suffers from a bad name. The marketing campaign did not help either. Fresh off of the mammoth success of The Hangover this movie’s advertising relied heavily on the fact that it featured Zack Galifinakis. While he is funny in this film and there are many very humorous scenes it is not mainly a comedy.

The story follows a young suicidal man who checks himself into a mental hospital thinking he can get helped or medicated quickly and be back in school on Monday. Unfortunately he finds out that he is being admitted for observation and will not be able to leave for at least five days. There he meets a variety of other patients and learns a lot about himself. The main patient he bonds with is a middle aged man who has attempted suicide multiple times and acts as a glimpse of what our young protagonist could become. The man is portrayed by Zach Galifinakis who turns in a very fleshed out and subtle performance. The main thing I walked away thinking was, “Wow, Zach Galifinakis is very good actor, it’s a shame people only want him to play the same weirdo over and over again.”

I recommend this movie for its heart, humor and interesting characters. It plays out like a lighter, younger version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest with a dash of a Garden State type romance thrown in.

The Hangover Part Two Trailer

I am not sure if it is going to be any good. It is pretty hard to match the quality and number of laughs as the orignal when making a comedy sequal. This trailer however is pretty funny. Some of the moments reminded me too much of the original as I was hoping they would go in a more original directions but I am still looking forward to this as of now. What do you think?

Red State

A lot has  been spoken about the way Kevin Smith is releasing his new film Red State. I want to step away from that aspect of the film and just focus on the movie itself. Does it work as a movie, not as a new way of releasing films. If I was to answer that question simply, the answer would be a resounding "Yes". The movie works amazingly well on its own.

However at the same time I would also respond to the question, "Is this a movie for most people?" with a tentative, "no". There are a lot of people who would be offended by the opening of the film where a group of teenagers discuss sexual matters that are perverse, but funny. This same audience would probably be offended as the film progressed at the portrayal of fundamentalist Christians being just as dangerous as religious fanatics of other faiths.

The movie is a very original film, it is different (very very far from anything Smith has ever done) and it is also a bit schizophrenic. It changes moods and styles frequently. The movie begins as a comedy. A comedy much like Smith’s earlier works only with a grittier more realistic feel. A trio of loser friends (Nicholas Braun, Michael Angarano, Kyle Gallner)  in a small town high school set out on a Friday night to meet a women from the internet who has promised a night of sexual exploration. Once they arrive they are drugged and the movie takes a swift turn into a very dark very, very intense horror film. If the intensity of this mid sequence had been maintained for the rest of the film I have to say it may have been too much for me to handle. It is during this section that we get to see the religious cult at the center of this film worshipping and going into action in their battle against homosexuals. It is painful yet incredibly well done.

However, keeping with the schizophrenic feel, the film switches moods again and turns into a scathing attack on the way the American government deals with religious groups. John Goodman steps into the spotlight portraying a conflicted ATF that has been tracking the “Church” and is forced into a very violent standoff due to the mistake of an inept sheriff portrayed by Stephen Root.

Feeling a lot like a mix of Tarentino and Coen Brothers, the film closes up in a denouement that is surprisingly funny. It felt to me like Smith bookended the film with two more comic sequences to let the audience ease into the beginning and relax in the end.

At the heart of the film is Michael Parks. He portrays the leader of the religious group Abin Cooper. He is loosely based on the real life preacher and spreader of hate Fred Phelps. Although watching this film Cooper (while killing many innocents) seems much more charismatic than the real life Phelps. His performance is funny, haunting and powerful. I had been impressed seeing him in multiple Tarentino and Robert Rodriguez films. Here he is given center stage and he knocks it out of the park. Besides Parks the cast is strong across the board. The three young men all go from being unsympathetic losers to realistic and flawed victims. Goodman is very strong as the weathered broken agent who wants to do good and is not sure how. Fresh off her Oscar win Melissa Leo is once again convincing as a horrible controlling mother (like she was in The Fighter) and loyal daughter to The cult leader.

I really hope that when this movie comes out in October it gets the audience and the respect it deserves. It is experimental and divisive in the best way. As a very big fan of Smith I have to say this is hands down his biggest risk, his most techinically proficient film and maybe his best film altogether.

Never Let Me Go

What if you mixed a merchant ivory film with a sci-fi film? What if Jane Austin had written Logan’s Run? Never Let Me Go is what you would probably get. Based on the popular novel, Never Let Me Go explores topics of love, life and the importance of both.

Writing this review roughly 30 minutes before turning 30 makes me appreciate the fact that I live in the real world and not the world presented in this film. Starring Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield and Keira Knightley this film follows three students of the Hailshem School through the three phases of their short lives.  The world they live in is much like our own with the exception that it  has followed a different scientific route. I am trying to keep as much of the film secret as possible as I feel it works better not knowing exactly where it is going on, however you will know within a few minutes of starting it the direction it is taking.

Never Let Me Go is mostly focused on the love triangle involving the three main characters as they battle for not just their hearts but their very survival. The film is beautiful, haunting, sad and incredibly acute in it’s analysis of our life.

The strongest aspect of the film (other than an amazingly tight script) is the performances of its three central leads. Carey Mulligan is perfectly vulnerable, wise and honest in the main role. Andrew Garfield who I had only previously seen in The Social Network is outstanding in this movie. After seeing him in the Fincher film I thought he was an adequate actor. After this, I think he is going to be a serious player in the future of film. Some of the emotions he hits are very raw and real and done with seeming ease. Rounding out the threesome is Keira Knightley, an actress I previously thought of as cute and serviceable in easy roles. I was very impressed by her work this time .She revealed range I previously thought unreachable for her.

This movie is moving and thought provoking. Director Mark Romanek has crafted a movie I look forward to revisiting very soon.  It is perfect for a couple who wants a little romance and a little something different.

Check out this great MSN video: 'Never Let Me Go' Trailer

Cyrus

 

Cyrus is the pretty entertaining indie comedy from the Duplass Brothers. It is the story of John (played by John C Reilly), a man who has spent the last seven years since his divorce in a tailspin of depression. He is constantly around his ex-wife (Catherine Keener) and her fiancé. At her urging he goes to a party and meets Molly (Marisa Tomei). The two hit it off and start a relationship. Everything is going well until John meets Molly's son Cyrus. Cyrus is a 22 year old unsuccessful musician that lives at home and completely controls his mothers life. Cyrus is played in a more understated performance by Jonah Hill. This is the first time I have seen much potential for growth in Hill's acting ability. He does well going between, funny, sad and completely creepy.

 

The movie works really well because it avoids a lot of the standard romantic comedy clichés. Some of it feels like a Meet The Parents type comedy where everything that can go wrong does and the tension builds and builds. However being from the Duplass brothers the formula is a little skewed and plays out more painfully realistic than painfully over the top. A large portion of the script was improvised. Reilly has a history of being an incredible improviser and does well. It only hurts the film occasionally when some of the scenes can seem to go on just a bit too long. Overall the acting is very strong. The characters though weird are likeable (with the exception of Cyrus). If you are a fan of offbeat comedies this film works well.

The Fighter

David O Russell’s The Fighter is a very well made conventional feel good sports film. I will admit initially I was hesitant to see it. I am not the biggest sports film fan as I feel like they are all pretty much the same. Boxing movies are no exception. I feel like after Rocky 1 and 2, we saw the two ways a boxing movie could end and we have been on repeat ever since. (The obvious exception is Million Dollar Baby and I would have been really surprised if this movie ended the same way.)

The good; the acting is very strong. Christian Bale was exceptional as the drug addled Dicky, brother of Mark Wahlberg’s Mickey Ward. Bale is always like a chameleon in film and this is no exception. The tole this guys body must take jumping between roles Is insane. I was a hug fan of John Hawke’s understated performance as Teardrop in Winters Bone, but I can see why the Academy voted for Bale as he has much showier performance. Melissa Leo is outstanding as Mickey and Dickey’s overbearing terrible mother. The only drawback to her part is she is so despicable it was painful every time she was on screen. Amy Adams plays Mickey’s headstrong girlfriend and is a perfect foil to Mickey’s family. I am starting to think it is impossible for Amy Adams to not be charming and wonderful in every role she takes on.

With all these great performances we get to one bad point. All of these supporting roles are incredibly strong and scene stealing. They make it easy to forget about Mark Wahlberg in the title role of The Fighter, Mickey Ward. He plays his part well and I understand his performance. But when the protagonist of the film is so passive and easily manipulated it can be frustrating. Especially in the midst of all these powerhouses.

The movie is fairly conventional as a sports film. It hits all of the notes you would expect. But it does do it quite well and the ending worked for me big time. Some of the drug abuse storyline with Bale is pretty tame, but it is ok since it is not the main focus of what this movie is. It’s about family and it is most importantly about believing in yourself. While not perfect, you would have to be pretty damn cynical to not be moved by the finale.

Buried

Buried is a movie that could have been a masterpiece of suspense. It definitely had things about it that I admired but I think it failed as a whole to live up to its potential. Instead of a classic, I think it is a fairly solid film that will not be for everyone.

First the good; Ryan Reynolds actually shows some pretty impressive acting chops. I have never disliked the guy; he has been funny in his movies and is always likeable. He has just never been a draw for me to see a movie. Considering 100% of Buried features Reynolds in a coffin, his performance is important. He portrays very well the claustrophobia and terror of his predicament. I commend Reynolds and the director Rodrigo Cortes for taking a film that is simply a guy buried alive and turning it into a very intense movie that is never ever boring. The camera work inside that coffin is very inventive and used effectively to ratchet up the tension.

While the movie is all about Reynolds, there are supporting actors whom we hear on the phone. They are all pretty effective in their various roles, especially considering we never even see them.

The bad; while Reynolds does a very good job acting, the script does him a major disservice. He’s a pretty big jerk. Now I am not going to fault a guy for having a bad attitude when he has been buried alive, but there were many moments in the first 30 minutes of the movie where he frustrated the hell out of me with the way he was talking to people on the phone. I just kept thinking if you would stop screaming at people you may get better help. I have two other complaints. First off, there is a scene involving a snake that pops up in the second act that really strained believability for an otherwise reality based thriller. The last complaint, the film is incredibly cynical. Every possible way a person could screw him over, they do. Every possible way a corporation or the government could be evil it does. I didn’t think the political stuff was completely necessary in this story. None of the politics in the film offended me, I just felt like it made the entire world other than Reynolds character Paul the enemy. It felt like there was no possibility for a light at the end of this dark tunnel.

I would suggest checking this out if you are interested in seeing a Cortes and Reynolds take a risk and do something very different. Just remember the tone is unrelenting (not a bad thing) and desperate. But the pacing and acting are very impressive. The last line of the film is haunting and effective and wraps up the movie very well.

Jack Ass 3D

Sometimes a movie comes along that causes a shift in cinema. Citizen Cane, Pulp Fiction, Toy Story, Easy Rider. These come along at just the right moment with a bold new vision or new way of doing something old. In 2010 Johnny Knoxville and Dickhouse productions released the movie Jack Ass 3D and it was not one of those films.

 

Obviously.

 

However, it was a very funny albeit disturbing experience. I am not sure why I like these movies or what it says about me, but I have to admit, I think they are pretty hilarious. I don't think they are lasting movies and not something I want to watch over and over but, when the credits rolled my cheeks were sore from laughing. That is cheeks on my face by the way, I am just throwing that out there considering the movie I am talking about.

 

Jack Ass 3D does not really need a review. You either think these guys are funny or you don't. I cant imagine someone who doesn't enjoy them at all being convinced by a review that they should spend time watching these dudes embarrass, humiliate, injure and prank one another. I didn't see the film in 3D because I can not stand the 3D trend going on right now and don't feel like anything was really lost for me.

 

If you liked the other two movies this one was on par with them. If you didn't like them or even see them, this one is no different. There is a lot of people getting hit in the crotch, a lot of poop flying, people being injured by animals, ingesting bodily fluids, urinating on each other and a large amount of male nudity. Pretty much it is all very highbrow sophisticated stuff.

127 Hours

127 Hours opens and closes with montages of people in mass. People on the street, people in stadiums, at worship, people interacting and living amidst each other. It is a great contrast to the life of the central character in the film, Aron Ralston. He is a man that is mainly concerned with one thing, himself. Ralston is played brilliantly by James Franco in an Oscar nominated performance. Out of the performances I have seen so far this year, it should have won in my book. The progression his character goes through in this film is brought ot life perfectly. For a movie mainly concerned with a man stuck in a crevice it is amazingly fast paced and engaging.

 

Going into the movie I was excited to see how well the it would work because I was a big fan of James Franco and Director Danny Boyle. This was Boyles follow up to his Best Picture winner Slumdog Millionaire. I had been intrigued by Ralstan's story back in 2003 when it first happened. I was impressed by this man's ability to do the unthinkable to survive, but also always thought he was just kind of an idiot for having gone out there by himself without telling anyone where he was. Franco's portrayal of him really makes the audience connect with Ralstan. As the days go by, Ralstan's struggle to survive becomes more precarious, his hallucinations become more severe, his memories flood into the film and his confessions to his video camera become more and more candid. These devices allow a window into Ralstan's mental and physical life.

 

Boyle and screenwriter Simon Beaufoy do a wonderful job of showing the importance of community and connections with each other by showing a man completely alone. It comments on the effect that selfishness and carelessness with the way we relate to each other can have on our lives. The film does build to the climax that everyone is expecting and possibly dreading. It is shocking and uncomfortable but done in a way that is not sensationalist or just for shock. Most of it is only heard and done just off screen.

 

I highly recommend seeing this film for Boyle's direction, Franco's tour de force performance and a story that is surprisingly emotional and inspiring.

How Long Were The Speeches at the Oscars?

Steve Murray at the National Post put together this infographic regarding the speeches at the Oscars this year. I thought it was interesting, especially the sections in red where the speakers were talking while the band was trying to usher them off of the stage.



Here is a link to the full article:
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2011/02/28/graphic-oscar-speeches-dissected/

Winter's Bone

Winter's Bone is a dark fascinating look at a crime ridden rural landscape. The movie follows a 17 year old girl (played perfectly by Jennifer Lawrence) trying to track down her father who may be dead in the hopes of saving the family home and being able to take care of her two younger siblings.  It is very similar in style to mystery/detective films of the past. Instead of an adult male detective you have a teenage girl and in place of the mean streets of a rainy city you have the mountain environment of an underprivileged drug addicts.

The setting is bleak and the characters are desperate. The stakes are very high as the young protagonist struggles to do everything she can to find her father and save her brother and sister. This is one of the best independent films I have seen in a very long time. The plot is simple and straightforward and told in an incredibly tight form. The people are the focus and even the smallest roles seem so layered and real. I was blown away by all the performances. At one point Lawrence’s character Ree visits an army recruiter in hopes of getting money for her family by enlisting and the recruiter is played outstandingly. This actor has only moments of screen time and is able to produce a fully formed character that seems pulled from a documentary rather than a narrative film. He is just but one example of the many outstanding performances in the film.

John Hawkes who is an always solid character actor turns in a great performance as Ree’s uncle Teardrop. He is a frightening and complex man torn by his loyalty to his life, his family and his addiction. The two’s journey together is a unique thing to watch and very well scripted.

The movie has been nominated for several Academy Awards (including Best Picture and nods for Lawrence and Hawkes) and worthy of all the praise it can get. It is a dark and rewarding film that should have been released to a much larger audience than it was offered to. For almost the entire running time there is a sense of dread that is strong to the point of draining. You know that this story will not likely turn out well. But thanks to the incredible performance of Jennifer Lawrence you never want to turn away. You want to follow her as far as she is willing to go to find justice or at least survival for her family.

Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work

Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work is an entertaining interesting movie. Interesting mostly because it is way better than a documentary about Joan Rivers should be. Like most people of my generation, Joan Rivers was just that crazy old lady that made fun of celebrities (mostly on E!) at Hollywood events. The movie revealed her to be a much more interesting character than that. Her story was surprising, I had no idea about her history as a standup comedian. I had no idea that at one point she was somewhat of a groundbreaking female comedian who spoke about things that women in polite society were not supposed to discuss.

It is obvious in the film that she is the type of person who feels very comfortable playing the victim role. While you do feel sad for her in many moments you can also see that she somewhat relishes being “oppressed” or “mistreated”.

I suggest watching for a few reasons. You get a glimpse of her as a person rather than just a caricature. You see her as a vulnerable, insecure, working comedian. You get to see her actually being funny which was mostly foreign to me up to this point. It works as a portrait of a woman in entertainment and how difficult that world can be for an older female.

5 Movies that Should Have Won Best Picture

Since we are a day away from the Oscars I decided to post a little about some past awards. Sometimes the Oscars get it wrong. Actually it’s more often than not. But, some of the big mistakes in my opinion are as follows. I am not going to include any movies I feel were the best of the year and not even nominated. These are all movies that were nominated but lost.

1)In 1990 Dances with Wolves won Best Picture. Dances With Wolves is fine, I don’t mean to knock it, however the film it beat is not just the best mafia movie ever but one of the best movies of all time.

Goodfellas

Goodfellas is an amazingly fast paced hard edged look at three decades of life in the mafia. It was based on the true story of wiseguy turned informant Henry Hill. It followed his rise and fall during the 60s 70s and 80s. The cast was perfect, the soundtrack amazing, and it served as a pretty good blueprint for The Sopranos. I love The Sopranos but it is very reminiscent of Scorsese's masterpiece of the mafia genre. Speaking of cast, this is hands down Joe Pesci's best performance ever. "Am I a clown, am I here to amuse you?"






2) Four years later the Academy dropped the ball on another crime drama. One very influenced by Goodfellas but very different. In 1994 the award went to Forrest Gump. Gump is a cute film and entertaining, but it was nowhere near as visionary, challenging and original as Quentin Tarentino's

Pulp Fiction.

Fiction was unlike anything that had come before it. It borrowed from many influences of course (as a lot of Tarentino bashers like to point out) but it assembled them a completely original way. Like Goodfellas, the pacing, editing, soundtrack and cast are outstanding. Scorsese and Tarentino are both geniuses when it comes to assembling a soundtrack. John Travolta, Sam Jackson, Uma Thurman, Bruce Willis, Harvey Keitel, Christopher Walken and more fill out the cast of criminals and low lifes whose lives intersect over a few days in California. This movie is incredibly re watchable and just as fresh as it was when originally released. It's only fault is the countless copycat movies that came out afterwards that were almost all terrible. A side note, another better film that lost to Gump that same year, The Shawshank Redemption.

3) The Academy loves romantic epics and often gives them the award over much more deserving films. 1996 was no exception. The long, boring and completely forgettable The English Patient beat out the wonderful Coen Brother's classic

Fargo

Fargo is a dark black hilarious comedy thriller. It's a movie I can watch over and over and always find new things to love. Francis McDormand is hilarious and believable in her Oscar winning role as Marge Gunderson, the very pregnant Midwestern cop trying to catch a couple of killers who have come through her town on a kidnapping job gone wrong. The cast of Coen brothers regulars are hilarious dark and shocking. It is very similar to the film that won the brothers their Best Picture statue years later, No Country For Old Men. Although this film was a lot funnier than the even darker No Country.




4) In1998 Shakespeare In Love won. It's an ok romantic comedy that is also pretty forgotten. Yet somehow it beat out the Spielberg WWII epic,

Saving Private Ryan

Saving Private Ryan is mostly remembered for the intense, extremely graphic and realistic recreation of D Day. While that sequence is sobering and engaging and kicks off the film strongly, the rest of the movie in my opinion is just as strong. It raises a lot of great questions about war, the value of a life and the destruction of men in battle. It also contains a good performance from Tom Sizemore right before he kind of fell off the map and landed in a jail and rehab over and over.





5)The final movie on my list that should have won, lost in 2000. That year the Ridley Scott throwback to sand and sword epics of the past Gladiator nabbed the award. Gladiator is an entertaining movie. The battles are fast paced and violent, Russel Crowe is at his best as Maximus, the soldier turned slave. However, it is also pretty cheesy and by the numbers. The movie that should have won was

Traffic

Traffic directed by Steven Soderbegh was an American adaptation of the British miniseries Traffik. The original covered the opium, heroin trade. The new version was focused on the drug world in America and Mexico. It had multiple plots all shot in a different colored filters to guide the audience through the huge world of police, politicians, drug dealers, socialites, drug users and their families. It was huge in scope yet very focused on it's characters. Traffic won the Academy Awards for Best Director, Best Editor and Best Screenplay. So while they thought it was the best written, directed and edited film, they somehow came to the conclusion it was not the best film.

Waiting For Superman

Davis Guggenheim’s follow up to his excellent Academy Award winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth is another very well made, very strong film perfect for raising discussion. Like his previous film this documentary is about an important issue. This topic, however, is one that is not as politically dividing as his movie on climate change. (A side note, it is called climate change now, because global warming causes a lot of people to misunderstand the issue.)

Waiting For Superman takes a look at the education system in America. It takes aim at many of the flaws that are prevalent in our system. It is told in a very savvy and entertaining way. It looks at the bureaucracy of the system, the teachers unions and the rise of Charter schools. The biggest fault of the film comes towards the end. The movie spends its running time describing the issues but by the end you realize it has not done enough, in terms of suggesting a solution.

The strongest portion of the film is also its emotional core. It follows a selection of children across the country entering lotteries in the hopes of gaining a spot for their children in the overcrowded Charter schools. All of the children are worthy of the best education possible and watching the hope and despair that comes along with their situation is heart wrenching.

This is an important film no matter what you believe about the state of our schools or the reason we have gotten to this point. The movie raises discussion about one of the most important issues in life, the well being and future of our children and nation.

Movies I Love: Little Children

I remember back in late 1999 hearing so much buzz about this new movie coming out called American Beauty. All of the critics were raving about it and it had a very intriguing poster. If I remember correctly the poster was a a picture of a stomach and a rose. Around this image were paragraphs of rave reviews from pretty much every major film critic and a lengthy list of critic circle awards it had won. For a film geek, this was exciting, they were selling this as the greatest movie of all time. It even went on to win a bunch of Academy Awards.

 

I am not knocking that movie, but when I saw it I was a little let down. It was good, had amazing performances from all the main cast and was cleverly scripted. But it didn't move me, it didn't blow me away like I had expected. I bring this up, because a movie came out a few years later that dealt with a lot of the same themes. It was a look at suburbia, family, infidelity, criminals, redemption, secrets, hopes. Like other films had done (namely American Beauty and Blue Velvet) it was a look at the underbelly of suburban life.

 

Little Children did exactly for me what I wanted American Beauty to do those years earlier. It blew me away. Megan and I watched it one night on DVD, I had picked it up at a used book store because I had heard good things about it and remembered it had garnered some Oscar Buzz. We started the film and were sucked into this world within the first few minutes. A lot of times people will accuse movies with narration of being lazy. This is not one of those movies. The narration actually adds another great layer to the film. It is a God voice, not of any of the characters. It gives the movie an almost surreal documentary feel. As if we are with a crew secretly filming these people. When the film ended I called a friend of mine and instead of suggesting that he watch this movie, I demanded that he come over the next evening and watch it with us again. He was unsure at first that it sounded interesting but like Megan and I the night before, within minutes new he was watching something exceptional.

 

Director Todd Field guides us through this suburban landscape expertly. The leads, Kate Winslet (perfect as always) and Patrick Wilson play two unhappy married people struggling with the fact that their dreams have not come true. They find each other at the playground and neighborhood pool where they routinely take their children and immediately respond to each other. They see in each other what they want in their spouses. Meanwhile, Jackie Earle Hailey; in a powerful, sad and creepy performance, is a recently released sex offender who is constantly tormented by an ex cop obsessed with running him out of their safe ideal world. Hailey is joined by Phyllis Somerville, in a heartbreaking performance as his mother, who just wants her son to be normal and in her words, "Be a good boy".

 

As these peoples lives intersect and slowly unravel the film builds to an emotional climax that without spoiling it will leave you haunted and conflicted and definitely discussing. This was the movie American Beauty could have been, it is a very funny, very disturbing (like Beauty) but also emotionally engaging and affecting.  

 

 

Infographic About How Netflix Is Killing Blockbuster

Cool infographic I came across on Slashfilm. Which is my favorite movie blog.


Via: Online MBA Programs