In Bruges (2008)

4/5

Martin McDonagh's wonderfully-crafted In Bruges centers around hitmen Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson in Bruges following the former's botched first job. Ralph Fiennes plays their foul-mouthed boss, who has to go to Bruges himself when their second job there is botched. He also delivers a phenomenal line after he finds out they failed. The movie is, for the most part, a comedy. There is a bit of action too, and some tension, along with emotion and drama, but to say it is anything other than a comedy is difficult. But it's the great kind of character-driven comedy that delivers a complete appreciation of its inhabitants, their strengths and weaknesses, their steadfast morals and inescapable failures--all while laughing.

Visually, it was a real treat to watch. The cinematography, editing, and music were all exceptional. The plot progressed naturally and switched between moods effortlessly. The writing was exemplary, the acting even better. You truly get a sense of who these people are and miss them at the end. I did, however, find the accents extremely difficult to understand, and we had to turn on subtitles half an hour in. While it destroyed the punchline for a couple jokes, it also revealed quite a few more. While I liked the dialogue, I found the script on the whole a bit simplistic. The ending was a bit predictable and a bit of a let-down for me. It's not that everything was tied up in the end, it's that they added coincidence to tie it up so cleanly. All in all, I had a great time watching it. I highly recommend it.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780536/

The Interpreter (2005)

3/5

Sydney Pollack's The Interpreter is a skillfully-made political thriller. The plot follows Nicole Kidman as a translator of African tongues. One night after hours she hears about an assassination threat. The next day she reports it and Sean Penn from the Secret Service is assigned to protect her. The only problem is he doesn't believe her, because she may be closely involved in the situation. I really liked the plot and how it unfolded; the mystery consistently intrigued me while the suspense kept me on my toes. The tense atmosphere is without a doubt the best part about the movie. I could feel my pulse racing through almost the entire second half of the movie. Unfortunately, the pieces relating to the politics were pretty generic, made more worthless by being completely fictitious.

I actually liked the acting, although I found the characters a bit cookie cutter. The writing and dialogue were poor, whereas the cinematography was adequate and the editing was excellent. The music melded perfectly with the editing to create the appropriate energy and excitement. As far as thrillers go, this is top notch. It's just the rest of the stuff that's under par. If you were interested in seeing this when it came out, I don't think you'll be disappointed. But I won't be recommending it to anyone who hasn't heard of it before.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0373926/

Bad Boys (1995)

3/5

Michael Bay's Bad Boys tries to be many things and doesn't always succeed. The plot centers around cops Will Smith and Martin Lawrence as they attempt to regain a large amount of stolen heroin while simultaneously protecting Tea Leoni, a witness to a related murder. One part of the story involves a cheesy gimmick wherein Lawrence must pretend he's Smith, but it only serves to confuse the plot and add unfunny attempts at jokes. The dialogue was very poorly written. They attempted realistic back-and-forth arguing as you'd see in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia or Knocked Up. But it wasn't funny. Which just made it annoying. Only about half the action scenes are truly exciting; for the rest, we're just watching stuff happen. As the camera rotates around us. The technical aspects are pretty uninspired and unimpressive. The worst part is that it takes a long time to really get into the meat of the story, the funny jokes, and the thrilling action. You have to put up with half of the movie before you're really rewarded in any way. So, watch it at your own risk. Just don't expect too much out of it.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112442/

Rush Hour 3 (2007)

3/5

Brett Ratner's Rush Hour 3 continues in its tried and true tradition of black-Chinese action-comedy. You pretty much know what you're getting into when you start watching this movie. There are no surprises. This time, the team goes to Paris to get to the bottom of a mystery involving the Chinese triad and help prevent the assassination of the Chinese ambassador. Most of the jokes were awful and groan-inducing (they even did a who's on first bit with Chinese men named Yu and Mi). On the other hand, most of the action scenes were truly awesome and extremely well-choreographed. They were exciting, fun, and funny. All of the rest was pretty standard stuff (cinematography, editing, script, acting, etc. were all unimpressive).

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0293564/

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

2/5

Star Trek: The Motion Picture, produced by Gene Roddenberry and directed by Robert Wise, was made 10 years after the television series was canceled. The plot? When a dangerous and curious life form plots a course straight for Earth, Admiral Kirk retakes command of the Enterprise to investigate and prevent the Earth's demise. While it may hold very special sentimental value for many viewers, I grew up on The Next Generation and have no nostalgic feelings for it. I value it as a movie, and not too highly at that. While there was doubtless acres of history I missed out on, the movie subtly hinted at it without boring those who already knew it. And it was probably just as exciting as the show used to be, but much longer.

The pacing is abysmally slow. Much of the movie seems to give us time to be awed by what we are seeing on the screen, but the dated special effects do not amaze us. In fact, they bore us. (Although I guess it's better than the George Lucas alternative of re-editing the movie with CGI to satisfy our modern sensibilities.) The score is reminiscent of Italian horror films like Deep Red--in a word, atrocious--although it was great to hear the familiar theme music once more. The acting and dialogue were also laughable, as was the costuming. The best part about the movie was the alien life form, more specifically how it raised questions regarding the nature of life. It explored some very intriguing philosophical thematics as it approached its finale. Still, it's not enough to see this movie. If you love the original Star Trek, you will probably love this movie. As for myself, I cannot help but laugh at it.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079945/

The Apartment (1960)

4.9/5

Billy Wilder's The Apartment is pure moviemaking bliss that only he knows how to do. The movie stars Jack Lemmon as a nobody insurance agent who rents out his apartment to his bosses for several hours so they have somewhere to take their mistresses. He finds himself attracted to the elevator girl Shirley MacLaine, who unfortunately finds herself attracted to Lemmon's married boss, Fred MacMurray. Our hearts fill with empathy for Lemmon, seemingly the nicest man on earth, willing to sacrifice everything for others, and with sympathy for MacLaine, trapped by her love to a married man. And we find ourselves believing and trusting MacMurray. Every character is pitch perfect, achingly so.

Being written by Billy Wilder, the dialogue is flawless. While his writing makes every character endearing, it is the actors who make them full and rich and real. They are flawed, but so are we, and we see ourselves in the people on the screen. And we don't want to leave them when the movie ends. While Wilder writes a human story we can all relate to, he shoots it with the utmost precision. The cinematography in this movie is stunning; it is miles above every other romantic comedy I've seen. He lets scenes play out in mid and wide shots. He leaves room to breathe in long takes with dynamic blocking. He keeps the editing to a minimum and paces the film without a wasted second.

All in all, The Apartment is one of the finest romantic comedies ever made. Although not as high on my personal favorites as Roman Holiday and Annie Hall, it definitely beats out Chasing Amy and Knocked Up. They really knew how to make 'em back then. Especially Billy Wilder.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053604/

Cloverfield (2008)

4/5

Cloverfield, produced by the seemingly unstoppable JJ Abrams, is a remarkably thrilling and engaging monster/disaster movie. It kept me on the edge of my seat nearly the entire time. The brilliant marketing campaign (mysterious trailer, viral websites, etc.) created a hype that it was actually able to meet. And I'm sure it will become a cult classic very quickly. I was a bit skeptical, although intrigued, when I first heard that it was to be entirely hand-held POV, but it performed past my expectations. Coming to the movie as a filmmaker, I know how unrealistic much of the POV explanations were. Many shots wouldn't have been edited, wouldn't have been as steady, and wouldn't have even existed (the camera probably would have been left behind a number of times). Still, these sacrifices were made for the sake of the audience and the story, and it was never so bad that I was unable to suspend my disbelief. (Cleaning the blood off the camera lens with his shirt was a bit laughable though.)

The special effects were absolutely phenomenal. I have no idea how they did what they did, but they deserve some serious congratulations. Sound design, editing, and cinematography were all above average. The acting was believable and I felt like I got to know the characters well. The cameraman was a bit too glib given the situation, but his humor went much appreciated by me. The backstories of all the characters, including the monster, were surprisingly fleshed out, considering the relatively simple storyline and short runtime. Beyond these technical aspects is the mood, the atmosphere, the experience of watching it. And I must say, it was exhilarating. There were scenes of pulse-pounding tension (the spider attack) and tender emotions (the phone call with his mother). The movie did not try to explain everything, but it explained enough to satisfy you while simultaneously keeping you curious. There were flaws--the biggest being a rather weak ending--but none that can't be ignored. And none that will ruin the movie. I highly recommend it. JJ Abrams knows how to give the people what they want.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1060277/

John Tucker Must Die (2006)

3/5

John Tucker Must Die is a silly high school comedy for all the girls who aren't actually in high school yet. Its juvenile humor, dialogue, and acting worked for its target audience, but not for me. The plot concerns three high school hotties who all have a "special bond"--not a relationship--with John Tucker, only to realize he's a true player and cares not the least for each of them. They team up with a new kid in school, Kate, to make her into the most sought after prize and have her reject him. The plot gets a little more complex, as she realizes she's falling for him and that he may be worthy of redemption, but she also gets closer to Tucker's brother Scott. I truly found myself on the edge of my seat wondering how it would end. Unfortunately, the ending is lame and unintelligent. A food fight is involved, as well as a reference to an earlier scene, in itself bad, made worse by repetition. Perhaps that was the best ending they could come up with to satisfy as many of its audience members as possible.

There were some really clever gags and practical jokes. And it was always fun to see how John Tucker would spin it so that he came out looking even better than before. It was actually a pretty funny movie throughout. Kyle will attest to me laughing at least 3 times in Google Talk in all caps. (It was late though, and I probably laugh more when it's late.) Still, I had a very good time watching it, until the disappointing ending. If you're forced to see this movie, I don't think you'll claw your eyes out. Hey, you might even be pleasantly surprised. But I wouldn't make any effort to see it.

Note: The only reason I saw this was because I know the screenwriter, Jeff Lowell, and was tricked into seeing his latest film, Over Her Dead Body. I was told that this one was better; it was, but not by much.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0455967/

Disturbia (2007)

4/5

DJ Caruso's Disturbia was an exceedingly well-made suspense thriller about a teenager who suspects his neighbor is a serial killer. A remake/modernization of Hitchcock's Rear Window, it must inevitably be compared to its source material. And I'm glad to say that it stands its ground surprisingly well. The basic framework of the movie stays pretty similar, except we are in the suburbs instead of an apartment complex, we have teenagers instead of adults, and our main character is kept immobile through house arrest, not a broken leg. Also, they add a little bit of romance in this version (he's already engaged in the original), which I could've done without, and a lot more tension and excitement, which was a wise choice for its target audience. The last thirty minutes or so were absolutely terrifying (although the logic behind it is a bit shaky). As far as all these differences go, most of them worked really really well.

Much was also kept the same. I'm glad that they had multiple neighbors and multiple side stories. While not as charming as in the original, they were still engaging and entertaining. One thing that made the original so good was the use of first person shots. They continued that technique here, albeit in a more muted fashion. They move exactly as we would move, and show exactly what we want to see. This natural movement helped us get involved in the storytelling. Technically, it was better than a lot of movies, but not exceptional. The acting was on point, the characters believable, and the dynamics between them fleshed out and full. The pacing seemed to be effortless perfection. The cinematography and editing worked well together. The music was sometimes out of place or overbearing, but on the whole it kept the mood nicely. I highly recommend this movie, to those who have seen Rear Window and those who haven't, and to those who just want a truly suspenseful and thrilling movie.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0486822/

The Rock (1996)

4/5

Michael Bay's The Rock is one of the finest action movies made in the 90's. Yes, I know we all love to poopoo Michael Bay, but here he has actually made a movie worth watching. The plot concerns Ed Harris as a former military commander who takes hostages on Alcatrez and threatens the US government with a civilian attack as an act of patriotism. He demands payment to each family who was lied to concerning their relative's death as a black ops agent in Desert Storm. Nicolas Cage plays a dorky chemical weapons expert and Sean Connery plays an ex-SAS agent who is brought in because he was the only man to have escaped Alcatrez alive. They infiltrate Alcatrez and take down Harris in a series of wonderfully exciting action sequences.

I was actually impressed by how technically proficient the movie is. There are some really great shots and camera movements in this movie that added to the action and sense of cool. The rapid-fire editing was effective without being an eyesore, but the music emphasized the mood and atmosphere a bit too much; it could be very overbearing. The acting on the whole was excellent (Harris and Connery were on point, but Cage was a bit overdramatic) and the dialogue was always funny (half the time from good writing and half the time from bad). All in all, a very thrilling action comedy.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117500/