Confidentially Yours (1983)

2/5

Truffaut's Confidentially Yours is certainly a whimper of a final film. The plot follows Julien Vercel (Trintignant), who is being accused of murdering Massoulier with a shotgun to the face. We soon find out that Massoulier was sleeping with Vercel's wife (Sihol). When she ends up dead, even Vercel's lawyer (Laudenbach) cannot help him. He goes into hiding with the help of his secretary (Ardant). She's the only one who believes he's innocent--and she's willing to lie, cheat, and steal amidst the seedy underbelly of France to expose the truth.

Just about every facet of this film is mediocre or subpar. The acting is awkward and unconvincing. The shifts in mood destroy what little tension Truffaut is able to manage. Poor lighting and poor writing make the film impossible to enjoy. Half the scenes are too dark for me to tell what's going on and the other half seem intentionally obfuscated to keep it "mysterious." While I was intrigued and engaged initially, the unsatisfying ending absolutely ruins the rest of it. The "explanation" just doesn't make much sense and there are a lot of loose ends that never get tied up. A supposed tribute to Hitchcock, Confidentially Yours only serves to show us that it takes more than studying a master to replicate his genius.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086551/

Drive (2011)

2/5

Drive is an over-stylized mess of a movie without a clear focus, although it's directed as if it had one. The threadbare plot is too simple and pointless to warrant a sentence reiterating it; suffice it to say it's about crime, revenge, and a little bit of driving (but not as much as the title would lead you to believe). Ryan Gosling plays the strong, silent superhero who "doesn't carry a gun" but has no qualms with stomping skulls in. He plays it well--his acting is probably the best part of the movie--but he does it under misguided direction from Refn. He alternates between stoic and angry and child-like on a dime, but doesn't do it in a convincingly personal or meaningfully complex way, just on the whims of the plot so we can see some sensational yelling or killing at random intervals.

Refn directs the movie like a comic book, with striking visuals and superb juxtaposition telling the story in place of dialogue. The 80's synth music and pink typography give it a retro feel, but it feels a little out of place. I commend the style, but I guess I came into the theater expecting the maturity of a novel. I typically don't like violence without a purpose: I want a movie to give me something back to make up for assaulting my senses. But Refn's goal with Drive seems simply to shock and appall you without any substance beneath the special effects. All in all, I cannot recommend this movie.

Also, it stole its tagline from No Country for Old Men.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780504/

Moneyball (2011)

4.9/5

Moneyball is a superb film about a revolution in the game of baseball. Billy Beane (Pitt), the general manager for the Oakland A's, is losing his top three players to higher-paying teams. While trying to find the cheapest "good" players he can, he discovers Peter Brand (Hill). Brand is an econ major who enjoys watching baseball, but he brings with him a new way to build a team, using statistical analysis to figure out which players are undervalued because of perceived defects (e.g., a pitcher who throws funny, a batter who waddles). Instead of scouting for the all-star with good looks, a clean swing, and a hot girlfriend, Beane and Brand are searching for the people with the highest on-base percentage and recruiting them for dirt cheap.

Although based on a true story, the only reason this movie feels as authentic as it does is because of the genuine performances from the stellar cast. We see regret in Pitt's face, an overwhelming sense of inadequacy from an actor we would expect the exact opposite out of. In Hill we see the everyman with a bright idea without the confidence to stand behind it. The dialogue is pristine and the cinematography and editing are crisp. Every scene is filled with energy and humor and Miller transforms all that verve into a lively, entertaining film. Much like Sorkin's previous screenplay, this one is about a small idea that challenges the status quo and changes a way of life. This movie is ultimately about progress, at the social level and at the individual level, despite being a "baseball movie." I am not a big fan of sports movies, but this is one of the best. Moneyball is a movie that just happens to be about sports, and an incredible one at that.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1210166/

Possession (2002)

2/5

Possession is a film adaptation of a book that is likely superior in every way. The plot focuses on two English literature historians, Roland Michell (Eckhart) and Maud Bailey (Paltrow), who both research Victorian-era poets: Michell knows Randolph Henry Ash (Northam) and Bailey knows Christabel LaMotte (Ehle). As the two uncover a heretofore secret, hidden love affair from the past, they discover the emergence of their own love for each other. Yes, the storyline sounds more than a little cheesy, but it reminded me--in a good way--of Wong Kar-Wai's In the Mood for Love. (Unfortunately, it never even came close to being as good as that movie.) All the storytelling elements were there to make this a truly compelling story, but the rest of the filmmaking was not. The acting oscillated between flat and harsh. The written dialogue was unconvincing and stilted. Most of the shots were plain Jane boring. A few times LaBute surprised me with some clever juxtaposition of scenes or imagery, but I left the movie unimpressed. (It doesn't help that it ends on a ridiculously laughable action/chase/fight scene.) Trust me when I say that Possession is a movie not worth seeing. If the plot sounds interesting, I would suggest you try reading the book instead.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0256276/

Happythankyoumoreplease (2010)

3/5

Happythankyoumoreplease is another middle-of-the-road quirky indie comedy, but what this one has that no other one has is an annoying title that omits spaces for no reason whatsoever. The plot follows three couples in New York: 1) Sam (Radnor) and Mississippi (Mara) after a three-night stand, 2) Annie (Akerman) and Sam #2 (Hale) in a workplace romance, and 3) Mary Catherine (Kazan) and Charlie (Schreiber) with an unexpected pregnancy. I really don't have much to say about this movie, except that it is exactly what I expected based on the preview.

It's about six 20-something romantics and their sex lives, who try to find grand meaning in the smallest details of their boring lives. The characters were bland and uninteresting; nobody had a backstory to make them fleshed out or complex. The acting was equally unmemorable and flat. The movie's saving grace was the humor (yes, it was funny), but the script overall was pretty weak. (And I always hate it when people try to argue that New York is the greatest city in the world when we all know it's Chicago.) And although they feel trite and overused, the movie's messages are thoughtful and real. It's a happy enough indie movie that's enjoyable enough to sit through without feeling like your time was wasted, but it's nothing to write home about.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1481572/

50/50 (2011)

3/5

50/50 tells the story of Adam (Gordon-Levitt), a 27-year-old who discovers he has a rare form of cancer that carries with it a 50% chance of death. His reaction is a mixture of numbness and distance; other people react differently. His girlfriend (Howard) cheats on him, his best friend (Rogen) uses the diagnosis to pick up girls, and his mother (Huston) constantly nags him to let her take care of him. He sees a therapist (Kendrick) to help sort out his emotions, but she is inexperienced and unprepared for the relationship they develop.

The acting by Huston and Kendrick was phenomenal. Every single time they were on screen, I was astounded and moved by the emotions on display. Rogen's acting was his typical fare, boisterous and hilarious. Gordon-Levitt was probably the weakest link, playing a relatively boring character to mediocrity. The writing was basic and plodding at some points and profoundly touching at others (my favorite scene in the movie is where Adam talks to his father before his surgery, because it is the only time he is directly addressed after being practically ignored or treated as a joke throughout the film).

For me, the movie's biggest problem lies in the medical setting. Maybe I'm biased, but I just could not believe how the doctors treated him; it felt like unrealistic melodrama and pity-mongering. On top of all that are countless medical inaccuracies and inconsistencies. Granted, 50/50 feels true enough for most people watching, and it's about mood and not medicine, but it bugged me incessantly and prevented me from enjoying the movie. Overall, it's good at tugging at your heartstrings while tickling your funny bone, but I would avoid it if you're at all familiar with the medical field.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1306980/

Contagion (2011)

4.9/5

Steven Soderbergh's Contagion is a phenomenal, finely-crafted film. This doomsday thriller uses an exquisitely contagious pathogen to intertwine the lives of people around the world. The movie starts with Beth Emhoff (Paltrow) after she develops an annoying cough. She flies home from China to meet her husband (Damon) in Minneapolis and manages to spread it across Kowloon, Guangdong, Chicago, and San Francisco within days. Scientists at the CDC (Ehle, Martin) and WHO (Cotillard) are racing against the clock to find patient zero and treat the disease. Dr. Cheever (Fishburne) and Dr. Mears (Winslet) begin isolating known contacts, quarantining the sick, and dealing with the press while an internet blogger (Law) proclaims the miracles of a homeopathic drug. Seemingly minuscule actions rapidly spiral out of control and we cannot help but try to follow along at its breakneck speed.

There is an intensity and urgency to everything about the movie; its feverish pace is electrifying. The film manages to pack a lot of content into its 90-minute running time, and luckily this movie has some very intriguing thematics and hypotheticals from every sphere of society for you to ponder. Technically, the filmmaking is exceptional. Soderbergh switches between storylines swiftly and smoothly without it feeling startling or obnoxious. The acting is pristine and believable, which is difficult to do considering the somewhat alien and unpredictable scenario. The writing is equally authentic. The challenge in medical films is getting the science right, but Contagion does it with aplomb. There is nary a misstep in sight, despite a few improbable stretches of the imagination for the sake of artistic license. It's not quite a perfect movie, but Contagion has just about everything you could want in a movie and I can't wait to watch it again.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1598778/

Soul Surfer (2011)

3/5

Soul Surfer is a very Christian movie that was not advertised as such. Nor was it written or acted as such. That's a good thing, because otherwise you'd end up with a movie like Fireproof. Soul Surfer tells the true story of Hawaii surfer Bethany Hamilton (Robb), who gets her left arm bitten off by a shark on the eve of her professional surfing career. She is saved by Hercules (Sorbo), although I don't think that's his name in this movie. Her father (Quaid) continues to push her to surf, while her mother (Hunt) isn't so sure it's the right decision. She gets frustrated at having to relearn something that used to be so natural to her and wants to quit, but she convinces herself to go on a missions trip to Thailand to gain some perspective.

Soul Surfer is a rare Christian movie where it's a movie first and an advertisement for Christianity second. Unfortunately, it's not exactly the best movie on its own merits, but it's assuredly one of the better Christian movies I've seen in recent memory. The acting was pleasantly believable (except for Carrie Underwood, who destroys every scene she's in). The dialogue was surprisingly well-written and realistic. The script managed to insert Christianity and churchgoing as everyday entities in the protagonist's life instead of emphasizing them to the point of awkwardness. It also didn't force a romance onto us, although it gave us the threads to create one if we wanted it. All in all, the movie is entertaining and uplifting without being too cheesy or ridiculous. I would recommend it to anyone who's interested; don't let the Christian aspect throw you off.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1596346/

The Debt (2010)

4/5

The Debt is a compelling mystery thriller about missed opportunities and making up for past mistakes. The plot follows three Mossad agents 30 years after killing the Nazi war criminal known as the "Surgeon of Birkenau" (Christensen). Rachel (Mirren), Stephan (Wilkinson), and David (Hinds) have been continually venerated for their contributions, giving talks to the military and television show hosts for years. The movie starts at a release party for a new book, written by Stephan and Rachel's daughter Sarah (Aboulafia), based on their perspective. It then backtracks several times to the events that transpired 30 years ago, and we get to witness the almost-romance between Rachel (Chastain) and David (Worthington) and the truth behind their legendary acts.

The movie works on just about every level it aspires to. It is gripping and tense, keeping you on the edge of your seat with your heart pumping adrenaline into every artery of your body. The directing and editing are calculated and precise, giving us just the right amount of story arc and excitement in each time period before switching back over. The story is thought-provoking and engaging. Though the details of their situation will almost certainly never come up in your life, everybody eventually must grapple with similarly complex ethical dilemmas. The characters are fascinatingly intricate, but hindered by uneven acting that felt too simplistic at times and too complicated at others. The poor casting decisions didn't help; there was a striking similarity between the old David and young Stephan that made it difficult to follow. And while this movie works as a character study, a mystery thriller, and a provocative parable, it is by no means a masterpiece on any of those genres. Still, The Debt is a well-made movie that scores high marks all around.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1226753/

13 Assassins (2010)

4/5

Takashi Miike's 13 Assassins is a precisely-constructed samurai movie. The plot centers around Shinzaemon (Yakusho), a samurai tasked with killing the evil Lord Naritsugu (Inagaki) for terrorizing innocent townspeople and committing sadistic acts of violence. Shinzaemon enlists the aid of 12 other fighters, including his nephew Shinrouko (Yamada) and the hunter Koyata (Iseya), but they must defeat 200 soldiers and Naritsugu's bodyguard Hanbei (Ichimura) first. With some trickery and bribery, they force Naritsugu to go through a small, booby-trapped town in the hopes of evening the score and successfully completing their mission.

Much like Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, the first half of the movie focuses on character development while the second half centers around the climactic battle itself. Miike does a remarkable job showing us just how depraved Lord Naritsugu is, using overwhelmingly graphic imagery to an almost nauseating level. There are a few other characters that are equally well-developed (Hanbei, Shinrouko, Koyata), but most are forgettable and basically interchangeable. I was not particularly impressed with the writing or acting; most of the dialogue felt stilted with performances that were equally wooden, although perhaps that is the point. The second half is exciting, but the filmmaking itself is fairly lackluster, with uninteresting cinematography and standard editing. One thing that made it harder to enjoy was that everybody looks so similar. It is almost impossible to differentiate the various samurai. All I could tell was that the good guys were in black. Still, this is a very good film and highly recommended for anyone who likes this genre.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1436045/

127 Hours (2010)

3/5

127 Hours tells the true story of Aron Ralston (Franco), an engineer who gets trapped under a boulder while canyon-exploring alone. I think just about everybody knows what he had to do to escape, but I won't ruin it for you if you don't (perhaps because you're the one who's been living under a rock, huzzah!). Knowing how the film ends--you know, from hearing about it on the news in real life--turned out to be a huge detractor from the film's thrill and excitement. Lingering scenes that would normally build tension just feel like unwanted guests in your home that you want to kick out so you can get on with your day. Pacing became critical, as everyone is just waiting for the eventual finale to come. Luckily the movie didn't overstay its welcome too much, thanks to pitch-perfect acting and on-point editing. The directing also helped keep the film interesting, using hallucination scenes and unique POV shots to explore Ralston's internal struggles and emotions. All in all, this is a well-made film about last year's water cooler topic that will likely soon be forgotten.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1542344/