The International (2009)

2/5

Tom Tykwer's The International is a simple-minded action movie with more plot holes than plot. The movie stars Clive Owen and Naomi Watts as some sort of international coppers trying to bring down a bank involved in murder, terrorism, and government corruption. The bank eventually falls, we are to assume, but not really because of anything they do; instead it is through insolvency as a result of the bank's horrible large-scale investments. The whole movie is fairly predictable and uncreative, with flat, boring characters pretending to be deep, interesting ones. Their backgrounds and motivations are absent, except when they might serve as convenient plot devices. Even the action, while somewhat heart-pounding, only punctuated the film two or three times.

The one good thing about this movie was its exemplary cinematography. And it was exemplary. Wow, does Tom Tykwer know how to shoot a movie. From the opening shot, I was blown away by the compositions and camera movements. Hand in hand with the cinematography was stellar set design. And I loved how the movie took place in five or six different countries. But this is a movie, not just a well-shot travelogue, and it just doesn't live up to my expectations for a Clive Owen actiony thrillery mystery. There is much to be desired after seeing this movie, so don't waste your time.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0963178/

Duplicity (2009)

4/5

Tony Gilroy's Duplicity is an immensely fun, thoroughly intelligent con movie that far exceeded my expectations. Despite the growing pile of negative reviews, I had relatively high expectations. Why? Because I like Michael Clayton (another cerebral spy thriller written and directed by Tony Gilroy), Clive Owen (especially in Children of Men), and con movies (except bad ones like House of Games). The plot follows Clive Owen and Julia Roberts as two ex-spies working intelligence for two competing cosmetics companies, chaired by Tom Wilkinson and Paul Giamatti. Their jobs are covers to hide the fact that they are trying to steal insider information and sell it for millions. Can they trust each other to do their part, or will one of them leave the other behind and keep all the money?

The plot and its twists are a bit complicated, but fun to figure out and relatively easy to understand if you pay attention. The characters are all written with a uniqueness and clarity that make them both singular and memorable. (Giamatti's character is hilarious, reminiscent of an unholy union between Steve Ballmer and Steve Jobs). The dialogue is written with equal skill, infused with wit and elegance, and spoken with honesty and precision by the actors. While I am not a fan of Julia Roberts (nor was I back when she was younger, less wrinkled, and just as big-mouthed), I thought her acting was as good as that of the other stars. The rest of the technical aspects were more than competent, although not particularly noteworthy. All in all, Duplicity is a stellar example of classy entertainment, one that I highly recommend for anyone who is looking for a comic caper flick.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1135487/

Shoot 'Em Up (2007)

3/5

Shoot 'Em Up is everything you'd expect from a movie with a title named after a video game genre. I enjoyed every moment of this movie and cracked up the entire time. Like Hot Fuzz, it spoofs the ludicrous situations that appear in action movies by creating even more ludicrous situations. They took the time and effort to come up with some truly ingenious fight scenes. It is a laugh a minute, with one hilariously impossible scenario following another. There are numerous references and in-jokes for audience members who know the actors and their previous films--which I loved--but they weren't carried far enough or made obvious enough, as they were in Hot Fuzz. In fact, the more I write this review, the more I realize that this is really just a worse version of Hot Fuzz. It exists solely to spoof and so does not have a life or energy of its own, and will thus fade into obscurity instead of remain in the minds of its viewers like Hot Fuzz.

The plot is obviously worthless, and explaining the overly convoluted plot actually gets in the way of the good stuff, like bad jokes (eat your vegetables) and preposterous action sequences. And some of the dialogue was actually too bad to the extent that you couldn't even laugh at it. Much of the movie felt uneven. The characters were laughable, as intended, but their absurdity still seemed forced. At 80 minutes it was a good length, but still extended maybe 15 minutes past what I would consider the perfect length for this movie before the audience gets tired of its antics. All in all, this is a very enjoyable romp through an otherworld, and highly highly recommended if you just wanna turn off your brain and watch some senselessly cool crap.

IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0465602/

Children of Men (2006)

5/5

Children of Men transfixed me from its beautiful opening shot and never let me down from that point on. The use of long tracking shots throughout the entire movie gave it a gritty, raw realism that made it incredibly powerful. The beauty of the piece is not just in the shot compositions and precise attention to detail, but also the manner in which such cinematic techniques are all put into practice. Everything about this dystopic future is the background because it is the setting of the story and not the story itself. That is perhaps why an explanation for mankind's infertility is never even attempted. Much of the movie is seen through windows, often barred, trapped in cars or buses. Sometimes the background is so richly textured that it is impossible to focus on the events taking place, and we drown in the abundance of information, requiring multiple viewings.

With a single event about thirty minutes into the movie a la Hitchcock's Psycho, Cuarón totally threw out the conventions of modern cinema and had me on the edge of my seat for the rest of the movie. There was no way to predict what was going to come next; anything was possible. And that made this movie truly terrifying. But the heart of this movie is the setting, the sad world our future becomes, where not even the cure to our disease can stop the bloodshed and anarchy.

The dialogue was brilliant, the acting phenomenal. Clive Owen is a magician, but he never steals the show because every other actor was awesome as well. There is one scene I can still see, in which Michael Caine is talking about Clive Owen's baby while Owen is listening in just around the corner. There is so much emotion and heartfelt sadness in that one scene that I would've been satisfied if all of the movie built up to just that one moment. And that is only halfway in; it just gets better from there. There wasn't much wrong with this movie, except that the camerawork was a bit shakier than I would've liked (although nothing so bad as in The Bourne Supremacy).

IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0206634/

The Hire: Powder Keg (2001)

5/5

My favorite short film of all time. Iñárritu, always a master of emotions and tensions, shines in this short. The script is mind-blowing, and the actors delivering the lines are equally spectacular. Every word that is uttered is essential, every sentence integral, growing more depth the further into the film you go. It seems as if every extraneous word was stripped from the script and put on the film as an image, which is exactly the point of cinema.

--"So why are you a photographer?"
--"I don't know, I don't know. Because my mother taught me to see."

When you reach the end, the words have taken on a new meaning completely. The film covers so many topics in so little time so flawlessly that we feel so fulfilled when the credits roll after only ten minutes. The choice of cinematography, editing, and music was precise and necessary to evoke the proper mood; and they were carried out with just as much precision.
IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0285930/