Toy Story 3 (2010)

4.9/5

Toy Story 3 is another spot-on piece of entertainment to come out of Pixar. The plot follows the toys' attempt to escape the prison-like Sunnyside daycare center after being mistakenly discarded as trash while Andy moves his stuff for college. The new toys were far more interesting than those in the second one and the recurring toys were given even more texture and complexity. The incinerator scene was both harrowing and heartwarming, and surprisingly draining emotionally. The second half of the film is directed effortlessly as a prison escape, and there are thrills and creativity aplenty. The inventiveness of the animators allows them to envision an alternate world for the toys with its own set of rules (especially with respect to Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head) that feels completely believable and fresh. And just as you think there is no way the toys will survive, the writers blindside you with a surprise you never could have expected.

The concept of abandonment makes its somewhat tired presence here once more, but a few more interesting thematics crop up as well. The toys could easily represent parents who must be there for their kids at every waking moment, even when the kid grows apart with teenage rebellion or adult maturity. If so, the daycare allegory doesn't really follow. It feels like a closer approximation of heaven and hell. And what would donation represent? I see some very intriguing potential here, but I'm not so sure it was fully thought-out.

This movie is tough to rate. On the one hand, the storytelling and technical precision make this a splendid film to enjoy. On the other hand, I miss the refreshing, eye-opening take on our world that the first one presented. I wish this one had blown me away with its thematics as much as it did with its visuals and storytelling. But maybe I'm being too hard on it and expecting too much from it. It really is a joy to watch.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0435761/

Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010)

2/5

Diary of a Wimpy Kid is an inappropriately-titled movie. The kid (Gordon) is not wimpy; he's just a superficial, image-obsessed boy who thinks he's cooler than he is and will do anything to make the "Class Favorites" section of the yearbook, even betray his best friend (Capron). Quite frankly, it's difficult to sympathize with his plight, and to even cheer him on at the end once he learns the error of his ways. I don't know if I would want my kids to watch this, because I'm not convinced that the protagonist's heart is in the right place. I don't want my kids to have the same motivations he has. And the movie is clearly directed towards kids, with nothing for adults to enjoy as one would find in a Pixar film. Even so, it contains the occasional scene where I smiled or laughed. My favorite character was actually the best friend, who should have been the model of the movie. He is big, childish, and out of place, but he believes in himself and puts himself out there for his friend. And the movie shows that he is rewarded for it. He was the heart and soul of the movie; the wimpy kid was just a jerk. Not my first choice for a kids movie, but not my last either. Watch at your own discretion.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1196141/

The Last Song (2010)

1/5

I officially hate Nicholas Sparks. The Last Song is manipulative, melodramatic dross (definition: worthless or dangerous material that should be removed) that is neither entertaining nor inspiring nor meaningful nor any positive adjective. Before I even get into my rant, this sentence serves as a "spoiler" alert, because I want everybody reading this to know that I must reveal plot points to effectively show how disgustingly bad this movie is. The plot follows an ugly New York vegetarian eco-terrorist teen (Cyrus) who starts up a summer romance with an ugly volleyball playing, aquarium-volunteering mechanic (Hemsworth) while staying in Georgia over the summer with her father (Kinnear) and younger brother (Coleman). She is nothing but a moody, unlikeable brat the entire time, even after she finds out that her father is dying of cancer. She befriends a troll/ogre/ghoul (Chaikin) but is cruelly betrayed by the uggo after a ludicrous misconception concerning her sleazy pyromaniac boyfriend (Lashaway).

The writing is preposterous, the acting by the two leads could serve as an ipecac replacement, and the directing should have a black box warning for increased suicidality. There is a scene where sea turtle eggs hatch and waddle into the ocean. The movie tries to play it off as cute, but it just looks like a horde of cockroaches are infesting our waterways. There is another scene where Miley Cyrus is at the funeral for her father. Her boyfriend walks into the church (late, for some reason) and a super-bright beam of sunlight penetrates her father's stained-glass window. Then she says--out loud--"Hi, Daddy." If it sounds as if this entire review is just me spitting venom, that's because this movie needs to be dissolved in acid and removed from the world of cinema; it makes me ashamed to call myself a film lover.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1294226/

Let The Right One In (2008)

1/5

Let The Right One In is described as a Swedish romantic horror movie about a young boy (Hedebrant) who is the victim of bullying and his vampire love interest (Leandersson) who cannot enter residences without being invited in (thus the unnecessarily unrelated title). The movie is paced slowly, full of dark atmospheric locations where nothing happens and artsy shots of objects that resemble still-life paintings more than film. Much of the plot is inferred with silence and "knowing looks," which depends heavily on social conventions and can make the movie confusing for US audiences. The characters are bland and uninteresting--the director/writer presumably think it is "interesting" to imagine vampires realistically with the same problems that non-vampires have. The acting was anywhere from adequate to poor, depending on how nice you're feeling. The computer graphics are atrocious to the point where it hurt the mood of the film. (All those fake cats were laughably bad, and you're not scared if you're laughing.) All in all, this movie takes a potentially fascinating concept and turns it into a dull, boring, confusing mess. Avoid at all costs.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1139797/

Toy Story 2 (1999)

4/5

Pixar's Toy Story 2 is a well-made family film, but nowhere near as fresh or inventive as the first one. The plot follows toy cowboy Woody (Hanks) as he is stolen by Al the Toy Collector (Knight) to be sold to a museum in Japan as part of a collection known as Woody's Roundup Gang, which includes cowgirl Jessie (Cusack), steed Bullseye, and prospector Stinky Pete (Grammar). Buzz (Allen) and the gang go on a mission to save him, but Woody must decide if he even wants to return to a child he knows will grow disinterested in him over time or go to the museum to be eternally revered by kids behind a glass display case.

The major new theme in this film is the idea that it is better to be loved and forgotten than to never have been loved at all. However, the idea of abandonment has already been addressed in the prior film, and much more poignantly so. In that movie it was a frightening possibility that Woody fought tooth and nail to overcome, while here it is just a hint of a prospect. Much of this film I thought was a reiteration or reaffirmation of the first one, albeit wrapped up in a splendidly entertaining package. I wasn't a huge fan of the new characters that were brought in, but I did enjoy getting to know Hamm (Ratzenberger), Rex (Shawn), Mr. Potato Head (Rickles), and Slinky Dog (Varney) a bit better. They were far more fleshed out and interesting in this movie. All in all, this is an enjoyable follow-up to the first one, with a haunting and mesmerizing song by Sarah McLachlan, but a bit of a letdown considering how stunning and original the first one was.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120363/

Mother (2009)

4/5

Mother is a Korean film about the mother (Kim) of a mentally challenged man-child (Won) who is accused by the police (Jae-Moon) of killing a young schoolgirl (Na). Of course the mother knows her son could not have done it and will go to great lengths to prove his innocence. As she begins her amateur sleuthing, she stumbles upon the seedy underbelly of her town and the victim's salacious past. She digs past her unsettling revelations and teams up with her son's friend (Jin) to beat the truth out of certain witnesses. But even after you discover the events that happened that fateful night, the movie contains 30 very interesting minutes of a character study that are more provocative than the plot twists that preceded it.

This film, by the director of The Host, is an incredibly tense and atmospheric thriller. Even so, it is surprisingly relationship-driven, with the weirdly intimate and overprotective mother-son interaction providing the foundation and fascination of this awfully strange movie. I don't quite know what to make of it. It lingers in your brain after the final frame and keeps you thinking about the movie, but it also may turn a large portion of its audience away with disgust. While the characters intrigued me, the acting didn't impress me. That may be a result of the directing, which constantly used artsy-fartsy compositions at the cost of fluidity. Still, some of the shots and the editing as a whole were phenomenal. They cut across time and place to similar objects, similar perspectives, or similar themes. But the editing also has its own faults, as the movie was unnecessarily slow and long in some portions. It's impossible to recommend this movie to just anyone who likes murder mysteries and crime thrillers, but it's really unique for a wide range of reasons and there may be something to ponder in here for everyone. As long as they can stomach the more disturbing aspects of the film.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1216496/

Going the Distance (2010)

5/5

Going the Distance is an irreverent romantic comedy that will please those looking for raunchy laughs or sappy tearjerking. The plot follows Erin (Barrymore) and Garrett (Long), two people who fall in love one summer and find themselves fighting to survive in a long-distance relationship. Most romantic comedies work as follows: the two leads are stripped of any unique or interesting qualities so that nobody in the audience can find a fault with them (except maybe loving the other person too much) as the forces of the world tear them apart. But because the studios need to turn it into a comedy, they give the guy and the girl cohorts of friends with quirky senses of humor who are free to get a little more wild and risky. While this movie certainly has some unbelievable side characters (Day, Sudeikis, Applegate, Gaffigan), it doesn't dumb down the main characters into bland milquetoasts in the hopes that we will relate to and empathize with them. Going the Distance has characters that we care for because it takes the opposite tack. These people are real; they are vibrant and alive, imperfect, passionate, even distasteful at times. The decision to use off-screen couple Drew Barrymore and Justin Long was without a doubt the correct one, because you can see their love for each other in every frame on the screen.

The acting is pitch-perfect. It makes the writing seem nonexistent. Everything they say just rolls off the actors' tongues in perfect harmony and synchrony with their body language. Drew Barrymore has just the right amount of sass to make her adorable and edgy without being annoying. Justin Long is far more charming and charismatic than I ever thought was possible. Charlie Day steals every single scene he is in, playing a character that is almost identical to his role in It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia (which I hope is almost identical to his personality in real life). Though the jokes are risky, they hit all the right notes at all the right times. The movie honestly shows emotions without glamorizing it or turning it into melodrama. It lets scenes play themselves out, whether filled with joy or despair. And despite some predictability, this movie is a near-perfect romantic comedy. I can't wait to watch it again.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1322312/

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)

4/5

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is an incredibly immersive tale of mystery and suspense. The environment is dark and dismal, with men arbitrarily assaulting women, raping them, and murdering them in brutal ways. The original title is literally translated to Men Who Hate Women, which is a far more apt title based on the thematics threading themselves through every plot line. Lisbeth Salander (Rapace) is a computer hacker investigating journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Nyqvist) on trial for a libel suit. Mikael is hired by Henrik Vanger (Taube) to investigate his niece's disappearance from 40 years prior. He believes she was killed by a member of his own family, of which three are neo-Nazis and the rest are cruel and hateful. He has reached a dead-end when Lisbeth, who is still hacking his computer, discovers the answer to the puzzling set of numbers that stopped him. He enlists her help and together they stumble on something far bigger and more disturbing than they first imagined.

Lisbeth is inwardly preoccupied, but incredibly resourceful when the outside world intrudes on her. We imagine Lisbeth's past based on a few facts--she has a probation officer and she was previously in a psychiatric hospital--but we end the film knowing very little about her history with any certainty. We are forced to witness her current abuse, by strangers and by authority figures, in scenes that are difficult to watch. But they are necessary for us to understand her sense of meaning and rightness in the world. I do not believe we are meant to relish the revenge that is taken against these women-hating men, but it is clear that the author believes in some form of justice despite the horrible events that take place. It seems that what Lisbeth represents may be far more important than who she actually is.

The acting was phenomenal, due to Rapace's burning intensity and Nykvist's everyman curiosity. The cinematography and editing suffered from a few mistakes, but on the whole they never detracted from the experience. The cinematics were surprisingly precise, with almost all of the elements combining into a taut, intellectual thriller that kept you guessing until the very end. There are only a few suspects, so it is possible you may have guessed the evildoer before being revealed, but by that time the whole crux of the movie has shifted so that what you thought was fact turns out to be a lie. It very effectively gives us a plot twist that is neither predictable nor gimmicky. This is a well-made movie, unexpected but much appreciated, depressing but hopeful, that will keep you gripped to your seat. Watch it. I plan on watching the sequel while it's still in theaters. Stay tuned.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1132620/

Small Change (1976)

3/5

Small Change is in many ways exactly what you'd expect from Truffaut after seeing his entire oeuvre. It focuses on the childhood experience, on sexual discovery and other coming-of-age aspects, and it does so with lingering cinematography and awkward editing. But it broaches some difficult topics that seem to me a fascinating departure from Truffaut's typical fare as well. While watching the film, I presumed "childhood" to be its theme (although my teachers loved telling me that a single word can never be a theme). But actually childhood is more the idea--the mood, the atmosphere--than it is the theme. It is the setting in which events take place, events that happen haphazardly without a plot to lead them along. And that is one of the film's strengths: it reproduces the feeling of being a child, strung along by random events with no control over or prediction of tomorrow. It is episodic and unrelenting, without a beginning or end in sight. You are just stuck in the middle as life happens around you.

Unfortunately, that is also the film's weakness. The lack of a plot made a lot of the movie painfully tedious. Not knowing what will happen next turns even the shortest of movies into ones that are too long. There are some memorable moments (an infant by an open window ledge on the 9th floor) and other moments that stir up memories of ourselves and the stubborn refusals, incorrect assumptions, and rebellious behavior of our own childhood. But we cannot relate to all the moments, so some just pass us by and feel like wasted footage. Although Truffaut gets the mood right, he didn't get the movie as a whole right, at least for me. I don't go into a movie hoping for a yearbook so I can relive my past. I go for the possibilities of the future. I go for concepts that stimulate my brain or events that force a visceral reaction out of me, be it tension or heartbreak or joy. This movie did not do that. It may be the perfect film for some people, but it is not for me.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074152/

Day for Night (1973)

4.9/5

Day for Night is one of three or so Truffaut movies that were independently identified and recommended to me. And correctly so. This is by far his best movie, and one of the best movies I've seen about making movies. This movie is the complete opposite of almost all of his earlier movies, but the funny thing is that it draws from Fellini and Altman more than from Truffaut himself. It doesn't really feel like his personal style of movie, and I am extremely thankful for that. The plot follows a director (Truffaut) on the set of his new movie, Meet Pamela, starring Julie Baker (Bisset), Alexandre (Aumont), and Alphonse (Leaud). The movie they are making is a tragedy, and we fear that the movie we are seeing may suffer a similar fate. We see a fragile actress who had a nervous breakdown on her previous film, a dependent actor immediately and obsessively in love with a freewheeling spirit, and a secretive actor who makes nightly visits to the airport for reasons nobody knows. There are moments where dedication and sacrifice are needed, where creative thinking and improvisation are essential. But despite the problems on set, there are moments of happiness and fluidity. And it is for those moments that people dedicate their lives to making movies.

The filmmaking in this movie shows some New Wave flourishes, but it is subdued in favor of brevity and efficiency in plot and style. The colors are bright without being oversaturated, the camera movements are meaningful without lingering, and the editing is brisk without being curt. In this movie, Truffaut fixes almost all of my complaints from all of his previous movies. But not quite. He still overuses zooms, still writes dialogue that sounds like it's written, and still uses bizarrely jarring cuts. But those annoyances are few and far between in this one. Day for Night is a tremendous film, and one that I can see watching time and time again. It is made by a true lover of film for true lovers of film.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070460/