2011 Fusion LGBT People of Color Film Festival March 3-4

One of the highlights of being an openly gay person of color living in Los Angeles is having access to the Fusion LGBT People of Color film festival. I missed most of last year's edition, but attended and reviewed the 2009 and 2007 editions.

I'm not sure I'll be in town this year, currently I'm planning a trip to South Africa for March 2011 but my dates are relatively flexible.

MOVIE REVIEW: The Fighter

Finally saw David O. Russell's The Fighter starring Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams and Melissa Leo in the week between Christmas and New Year's Day.

The Fighter tells the true story of Micky Ward, a Boston-Irish boxer whose (half)brother Dicky Edlund was a marginally successful but is now primarily coaching and training his younger brother while unsuccessfully trying to hide his crack addiction from his brother and mother. Micky is played by Mark Wahlberg and Dicky is played by Christian Bale. Their mom (and manager) Alice is played by Melissa Leo and Micky's girlfriend and future wife Charlene (played by Amy Adams).

The Fighter is animated by incendiary performances. The first of these is Bale's transformation from handsome, muscular hero (Batman begins, The Dark Knight) to a gaunt, hyperactive, confused drug addict. It is a harrowing performance to watch. ("Just give him his Oscar now" I whispered to my Other Half on the way out of the theater.) The flip-side of Bale's Dicky is Wahlberg's Micky. Although Wahlberg is the lead actor and presumably the eponymous fighter referred to in the title, Micky's lot in life resembles a follower, not a fighter. He basically does whatever his brother or mother tell him to do, and only slowly does he begin to realize that their wishes may not be parallel to his best interests. Wahlberg's performance is quiet and self-effacing where Bale's is flashy and unforgettable. Leo's Alice and Adams' Charlene are relatively similar in tone and appearance: strong, willful women with rough (and somewhat repellent) exteriors.

Although boxing is a 1-on-1 gladiatorial sport, in The Fighter most of the fighting (or squabbling) is done in threes: Micky and Charlene versus Dicky, Dicky and Alice versus Micky, Micky and Dicky versus the World, and Micky and Charlene versus his entire family. As you can see, many of these fights are between family members and are fraught with the intense emotions that can arise in those situations.

Overall, all boxing movies come into the world in which Rocky and Raging Bull have influenced the audience. The Fighter is a worthy addition to that oeuvre, and with the depiction of family dynamics and the excellence of the acting, the movie should be viewed favorably with the great family dramas (Ordinary People and Dangerous Liaisons).

Title: The Fighter.
Running Time: 1 hour, 54 minutes.
MPAA Rating: R for language throughout, drug content, some violence and sexuality.
Release Date: Friday, December 10, 2010.
Attendance Date: Thursday, December 30, 2010.

Plot: B.
Acting: A+.
Visuals: A-.
Impact: A-.

Overall Grade: A- (3.667/4.0).

Top 10 Movies of 2010

Following the precedent set by my list of Top 10 movies for 2009, this year's list shall only consist of movies that are eligible for the 2010 Oscar and that I also saw in 2010, not just Oscar-eligible movies that I saw whenever or non Oscar-eligible movies that I saw in the last calendar year. Anyway, here is MadProfessah's list of Top 10 movies for 2010 (you can select film names to read my reviews):

10. The Town. This is Ben Affleck's second feature film that he has directed, following an excellent debut with Gone, Baby, Gone. This time he also co-wrote the screenplay and is the lead actor. Affleck wisely cast Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker) in the pivotal role as Affleck's character's childhood best friend. The Town features some broad Bostonian accents and some thrilling heist and chase sequences well-executed and well-directed. It is the love story at the heart of the film which makes an indelible impression, however.

9. The Fighter. Directed by David O. Russell and starring Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale as brothers with Amy Adams and Melissa Leo as their girlfriend and mother, respectively. The Fighter at first glance would appear to be a quotidian example of yet-another boxing film attempting to ape Rocky, but it is energized by an incendiary performance by Bale as a quirky, crack-addicted, former boxing champ who is trying to train his older brother to a world title. Leo and Adams are also excellent in their somewhat confined roles, while Wahlberg is surprisingly very good indeed. And it's based on a true story!

7. True Grit. Who in their right mind would try and adapt an Oscar-winning classic Western and cast an unknown in their debut movie role in the film's central character? The Coen Brothers, of course! True Grit stars Jeff Bridges in the role which John Wayne won his Oscar and Matt Damon plays the second male lead. Introducing Hailee Steinfeld (remember that name) as the 14-year-old girl who wants revenge for the murder of her daddy and who gets more than she bargained for. The cinematography is stunning and the language of the original book the movie is based on is highlighted in a delightfully entertaining way.

7. The King's Speech. Appears to be genetically designed for Oscars: a period picture (London between World War I and II), more legendary British actors than you can shake a stick at, a lead character with a personal disability he needs to overcome in order to succeed at his job and a quirky supporting character who helps the lead character achieve his goal. Of course, "the job" Colin Firth has to succeed at is public speaking, because he is the King of England. And the quirky supporting character is played by the always delightful Geoffrey Rush. The film is bolstered by Firth's remarkable performance; he makes the audience feel sympathy for a monarch, never an easy task.

6. 127 Hours. This was the movie which had the most visceral impact on me during the entire year. How could it not? James Franco depicts the real story of a guy who got trapped for more than 5 days and nights in a canyon and hacked his own arm off (with a dull implement, no less) in order to surviver and have the movie of his life directed frenetically by the Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle. I admit that I looked away from the screen during those scenes but I defy you not to watch this film without your heart racing at some point.

5. The Kids Are All Right. Lesbian moms who watch gay porn as foreplay?Ohhhhh- kay. What really makes this surprisingly affecting film is the verisimilitude of the depiction of the relationships and mistakes the characters make as they deal with an emotionally fraught situation: teen-aged kids get in contact with the sperm donor their very different lesbian moms used to create their family. Annette Bening and Julianne Moore are equally wonderful as the two leads, but Mrs. Beatty is finally, deservedly, receiving the overdue acclaim (and possibly the statuette) that Hilary Swank has previously denied her (twice!).

4. Waiting for Superman. After seeing this documentary you will be enraged by the way we handle education in this country and the devastating impact this has on children and their (and our) future. The one time I cried in a movie theater all year was in despair realizing that a real person's potential was being disposed of right before my very eyes and there was nothing that I could do about it. Emotionally powerful filmmaking.

3. The Social Network. Film-making of the highest quality: every element just works. From Jesse Eisenberg's annoying "punk genius billionaire" persona, to David Fincher's suspenseful direction of Aaron Sorkin's incredible script punctuated by Trent Reznor's score, The Social Network was the film of the year for 2010. It seizes you from the opening scene and never lets you go.

2. Toy Story 3. Pixar again! Now they are really just ****ing with the rest of Hollywood. Not satisfied with a string of unprecedented successes (11 and counting!) Pixar is now showing that they can make sequels of sequels and they will still be better than 99% of the what the rest of the industry produces.Toy Story 3 in my estimation, is actually the best of the Toy Story films and is in the very top tier of all Pixar films (The Incredibles is still #1 in my book). Even though it is is "just" cartoons, the film's story pack an incredible wallop which allows all members of the audience to either remember their own childhood and the joy of playing with toys, or to experience the film as a delightful romp of toys coming to life. How they are able to repeatedly, unerringly come up with brilliant stories, impeccably executed is one of the wonders of the world. All you can really do is sit back and enjoy the ride for as long as it lasts.

1. Inception. Christopher Nolan is my favorite director, and has been since his feature film debut with Memento. Most of the world knows him for his fantastical box-office success with Batman Begins and The Dark Knight but I love his films (like The Prestige) for the brilliant puzzles, spectacular direction and always, ingenious originality he brings to every endeavor. Even with his reputation I was still dazzled by Inception. A dream within a dream within a dream? A triple ticking-time bomb? Are you kidding me? Inception has all the brilliant film-making of elements of The Social Network and then combines it with a visual feast and a mind-bending screenplay that significant fractions of the tens of millions of people who have seen the film still do not understand. My question is, do you think the top stopped spinning?

The most important (final) scene in Inception

Honorable Mentions: Shutter Island, Kick Ass, How To Train Your Dragon, Winter's Bone.

Oscar Contenders Not Seen in 2010: Black Swan, Inside Job, Carlos, Biutiful. 

MOVIE REVIEW: Waiting for 'Superman'

Finally saw the acclaimed documentary Waiting for 'Superman'. It was showing at my favorite second-run theater, the Regency Academy 6 in Pasadena ($2 for a matinee, $3 other times). As an educator myself and someone interested in reforming mathematics education (especially 8th grade algebra) I had heard that this was a must-see film, and I was not disappointed.

Waiting for 'Superman' is the film which provoked the greatest emotional impact on me this year. It made me cry with despair and it made me gasp and groan with shock and disappointment. In the year of films with $100 million visual effects budgets, the most suspenseful moment I experienced in a movie theater in 2010 was waiting for a lottery ball to drop and reveal whether a student had been selected by random drawing for a slot in a public charter school!

The movie follows the educational hopes of five multicultural children, Daisy (a Latina 5th grader in East Los Angeles), Francisco (a Latino 1st grader in The Bronx), Anthony (a Black 5th grader in Washington, DC), Bianca (a Black kindergartener in New York City, NY) and Emily (a white 8th grader in Redwood City, CA). Each of these kids has engaged parents(or caregiver)  who have inculcated a love of education in their charges. However, the school uses an array of facts and figures to demonstrate that in order to improve their chances in life they will need to get a superior education, and in order to do that they will need to change what  schools they are going to. However, the decision of what school a child gets to attend in America depends on a number of things, and the primary thesis of the film is that the most important factor in the decision is luck. Either luck in being born to parents who have the resources to send you to private school, or the resources to buy a house in  a school district with good public schools. If you are not lucky to have been born to rich parents then you need the luck of the draw to win the lottery for admission to a public charter school that is committed to insuring that all their students have a good education and a better future.

The director, David Guggenheim, is already an Oscar winner for An Inconvenient Truth, and decided to tackle the issues of education reform when he realized that he was driving by numerous public schools on the way to dropping his kids off at at their private school.

Some would question the director's motives and are upset by the depiction of teachers' unions (American Federation of Teachers and National Education Association) as the primary impediment to meaningful education reform and the lionization of controversial Washington, D.C. superintendent Michelle Rhee and charter schools KIPP and Harlem Children's Zone. But I think people who dismiss the film for these reasons are missing the point; what Guggenheim's movie is trying to point out is that the American education system is  "about the adults" instead of being "for the children." And until that prioritization is corrected (and hopefully reversed) education is not just "other people's problem" it is all of our concern.

Title: Waiting for 'Superman'
Running Time: 1 hour, 42 minutes.
MPAA Rating: PG for some thematic material, mild language and incidental smoking.
Release Date: Friday, September 24, 2010.
Seen: Tuesday, December 28, 2010.

Plot: A+.
Acting: N/A.
Visuals: A-.
Impact: A+.

Overall Grade: A/A+ (4.11/4.00).

MOVIE REVIEW: True Grit

The Other Half and I saw Joel & Ethan Coen's True Grit last week in the run up to the holidays. We've always been a fan of the Coen Brothers, and I think we have seen most of their entire oeuvre (Raising Arizona, Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink, Fargo, The Hudsucker Proxy, The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men and Burn After Reading) although we skipped last year's Osar-nominated A Serious Man.

True Grit stars Jeff Bridges in the role that won John Wayne his Best Actor Oscar (which Bridges won last year for Crazy Heart), Matt Damon, Josh Brolin and introduces Hailee Stanfield. Stanfield plays 14-year-old Mattie Ross who hires Bridges' U.S. Marshall Rooster Cogburn to hunt down Brolin's Tom Chaney who killed Mattie's father and stole a horse. Damon plays a Texas Ranger named La Boeuf who has been tracking Chaney for years but hasn't been able to get very close to him. The three (La Boeuf, Cogburn and Ross) reluctantly join forces to find Chaney in the unincorporated Western Territory even though Mattie wants Chaney captured so that he can hang for killing her father while La Boeuf needs Chaney alive to be brought back to Texas in order to collect a substantial reward. Cogburn will go along with anyone who can guarantee him a steady enough to income to pay for his excessive alcohol consumption.

The original True Grit is a classic Western, based loosely on a book by the same name by Charles Portis. The novel has very stylized language (there are no contractions like "can't" or "ain't"); the Coen Brothers adapted the book, kept most of the formal dialogue and inserted broad humor.

In relation to the end-of-year award sweepstakes True Grit holds its own as an enjoyable, well-made and well-acted film in a genre which hearkens back to the Golden Age of Hollywood. It is not as meaningful a film as Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven, which re-imagined and re-invigorated the Western. However, (somewhat surprisingly to some) the Coen Brothers have not produced a quirky parody of a Western, but a pretty straightforward example which emphasizes the strengths of the form.

Title: True Grit.
Running Time: 1 hour, 50 minutes.
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some intense sequences of western violence including disturbing images.
Release Date: Wednesday, December 22, 2010.
Attendance Date: Thursday, December 23, 2010.

Writing: A-.
Acting: A.
Visuals: A-.
Impact: A-.

Overall Grade: A- (3.75/4.0).

WATCH: All 2010 Movies In One Clip

 

MOVIE REVIEW: The King's Speech

Finally saw The King's Speech, the latest Oscar-bait ("Based on the incredible true story") from The Weinstein Company. It is directed by Tom Hooper, starring the crème de la crème of British acting talent (Colin Firth as King George VI, Helena Bonham Carter as Queen Elizabeth, Timothy Squall as Winston Churchill, Michael Gambon as King George V) as well as some renowned Australian actors (Geoffrey Rush and Guy Pearce).

The King's Speech is widely seen as a front-runner for the 2010 Best Picture Oscar, with Firth garnering kudos from almost every critics group under the sun and building a convincing claim that last year's Best Actor nomination for A Single Man was merely a precursor to a win this year. Rush, who already has a Best Actor statuette for Shine, is generating buzz for a supporting Oscar, but it looks like Christian Bale's work in The Fighter may have that category wrapped up.

It's hard to evaluate the film outside the context of the annual Oscar race, especially considering the Weinsteins' history and the caliber of the actors involved. Hooper is a well-regarded but youthful British direct most well-known for the HBO miniseries John Adams which starred Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney and won a boatload of Emmys last year.

The King's Speech is about the story of an unorthodox Australian speech therapist named Lionel Logue who worked with the Duke of York (the King's second oldest son) to try to correct a severe stammer and a concomitant paralyzing fear of public speaking. Firth does a heart-wrenching job of portraying the agony of a chronic stutterer. Since, he is second-in-line for the throne, Firth's character (called Bertie by his friends and family) has many, many opportunities (and obligations) to give public speeches and the film depicts the way time seems to stand still as Firth labors to produce coherent and articulate sounds. In addition to the personal journey of Bertie to overcome what appears to be an insurmountable disability, the film also is leavened with suspense as the political intrigue thickens as Bertie's brother becomes King, making Bertie next in line. Of course, the problem is that if Bertie becomes King then of course he will have even more obligations to speak publicly.

Overall, the film depicts pre-World War II era London impeccably. Firth's performance, along with Bonham Carter's clever turn as his consort and Rush's attempt to steal scenes are the main reasons to see the film. Although it is hugely entertaining and captivating, I did n;t leave the film thinking "Wow, that was a reallly good movie" which is how I did feel when I walked out of Toy Story 3, Inception, The Kids Are All Right and The Social Network.

Title: The King's Speech.
Running Time: 1 hour, 51 minutes.
MPAA Rating: R for some language.
Release Date: Friday, November 26, 2010.
Seen: Tuesday, December 21, 2010.

Plot: B+.
Acting: A.
Visuals: A-.
Impact: A.

Overall Grade: A- (3.75/4.0).

MOVIE REVIEW: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1

Saw the 7th Harry Potter film on Thanksgiving weekend, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1.

As someone who read all seven of the Harry Potter  books, had the last book delivered to my house on the day of release by amazon.com and read the entire 784-page book that weekend, I had high hopes for the movie adaptation (especially since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the best book of the series).

Ultimately I was disappointed with this movie because I thought it focussed far too much on the bleak aspects of the book. Since the last book (and movie) are wrapping up an intricate, immense tale I expected lots of action in the film adaptation. There are several storylines that need to get resolved before the conclusion of the film series. That's not to say that the film is not exciting and gorgeous to look at, but its more of a mature film, since the Hogwarts school is no longer the primary setting for the story (or film).

The basic story is that the most powerful (and evil) magician of all-time named Lord Voldermort killed Harry Potter's parents when he was a child but for some reason could not kill baby Harry. Voldemort vanished from the scene soon after but he is the most feared magician of all time and throughout the first books was more well-known as "He Who Shall Not Be Named." The first four books are about the growing realization that Voldemort's supporters (called Death Eaters) are successfully working to return The Dark Lord to power. We discover that Voldemort has split his life essence into seven pieces called "horcruxes" in order to make himself nearly-immortal but that something went wrong the day he tried to kill Harry Potter and he nearly destroyed himself. Throughout the latter part of the series we have been slowly exposed to these horcruxes and to date two have been destroyed in the process of various adventures.

*SPOILER ALERT*

One more horcrux gets destroyed in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1, but that means there are four more horcruxes that need to be found (and hopefully destroyed) in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 which is released July 15 2011. And the searches for the horcruxes are just the main trunk of the story, which has many many branches and offshoots (romance between Harry and Ginny Weasley, romance between Harry's two best friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, determination of Severus Snape as good or evil, the fate of Hogwarts and revenge for Dumbledore's death, just to name a few).

* END OF SPOILER ALERT*

There is so much story in the final book it seems odd that there is so little story developed in Part 1, which will make Part 2 chock-ful (maybe too full) of plot and resolutions. Part 1 does an excellent job of depicting the baleful middle passage of the book where it is clear that Harry, Hermione and Ron are on their own battling against the forces of the Dark Lord which are ascendant. We do find out what the deathly hallows are (they happen to include objects which showed up in the earlier books: The Resurrection Stone, The Invisibility Cloak and the Elder Wand), which is important, and Ron and Hermione solidify their relationship but that's about it. Some more (mostly) minor characters die, which is possibly foreshadowing that characters may die in the final installment.

Interestingly, Part 1 has generally been well-accepted by audiences (88% positive) but not so much by critics (79% positive) and has grossed $257 million in 24 days of release. It will probably end up just behind Inception  (#5 at 292 million) for the 6th highest grossing movie of 2010. Part 2, I suspect will almost certainly be the top box-office film of 2011, even with Thor, Captain America, Pirates of the Caribbean IV, Mission Impossible IV and Transformers 3 in competition during the summer.

I will most definitely be seeing the conclusion of the Harry Potter series on opening weekend next summer.

Title: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1.
Director: David Yates.
Running Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes.
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some sequences of intense action violence and frightening images.
Release Date: November 19, 2010.
Seen: Sunday, November 28, 2010.

Plot: B.
Acting: A-.
Visuals: A.
Impact: B.

Overall Grade: B+ (3.417/4.0).

Toy Story 3 Tops 2010 Box Office With $415M

Toy Story 3 has ended it's box office run with a total of $415 million, which puts it at #9 on the all-time domestic box-office champions list, just behind the execrable Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men's Chest at $423 million.

Toy Story 3 will almost certainly end the year as the #1 movie of the year, with only Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 possibly having enough legs to challenge it. That movie is already at $232 million in just under three weekends but it is highly doubtful it will break the $400 million dollar barrier; it almost certainly will become the highest grossing of the Harry Potter franchise (at least until the final film y Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 is released, in 3-D, on July 15, 2011).

The rest of the Top 10 grossing films for 2010, so far, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com are:

Rank	Movie Title (click to view)	Studio	Total Gross /Theaters		Opening / Theaters		Open	Close
1	Toy Story 3	BV	$415,004,880	4,028	$110,307,189	4,028	6/18	12/2
2	Alice in Wonderland (2010)	BV	$334,191,110	3,739	$116,101,023	3,728	3/5	7/8
3	Iron Man 2	Par.	$312,128,345	4,390	$128,122,480	4,380	5/7	8/19
4	The Twilight Saga: Eclipse	Sum.	$300,531,751	4,468	$64,832,191	4,468	6/30	10/21
5	Inception	WB	$292,316,474	3,792	$62,785,337	3,792	7/16	-
6	Despicable Me	Uni.	$249,787,065	3,602	$56,397,125	3,476	7/9	-
7	Shrek Forever After	P/DW	$238,395,990	4,386	$70,838,207	4,359	5/21	9/9
8	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1	WB	$232,301,000	4,125	$125,017,372	4,125	11/19	-
9	How to Train Your Dragon	P/DW	$217,581,231	4,060	$43,732,319	4,055	3/26	7/22
10	The Karate Kid	Sony	$176,591,618	3,740	$55,665,805	3,663	6/11	9/23

Interestingly, I have seen 7 of these Top 10. (Happily I have missed viewing the cinematic trainwrecks that are The Last Airbender, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse and The Karate Kid.)

Some people believe that Toy Story 3, in addition to being the top grossing film of 2010 is also the best picture of the year. I would have to say that I disagree (see MadProfessah's review) although it is currently tied with Inception (see MadProfessah's review) as my best reviewed film of the year (4.167/4.0). Another contender for Best Picture, The Social Network, is languishing at 3.73/4.0.

There are a lot of outstanding movies released in 2010 I have yet to see, such as Black Swan, 127 Hours, The King's Speech, True Grit and The Fighter. What films are you hoping to see before 2010 ends?

VIDEO REVIEW: Laputa (City in the Sky)

Finally saw Hayao Miyazaki's classic film Laputa, which is generally called Castle in the Sky in this country, on DVD (Thank you, Netflix!) recently.

This is an absolutely lovely film that if you ever have an opportunity to see on the big screen you should run (do not walk!) to the movie theater to do so.

Miyazaki is the director of Princess Mononoke and the Oscar-winning Spirited Away as well as 2009's Ponyo (see MadProfessah's review).

Castle in the Sky is a delightful film, much more readily accessible to a broad audience than the trippy Princess Mononoke and the lyrical (but decidedly strange) Spirited Away.

As usual, the protagonists are children, this time two orphans, one of whom literally falls from the sky (and survives due to a magical pendant) named Sheeta and the other, Pazu, who has a curious obsession with trying to find the mythical floating city of Laputa, the Castle in the Sky.

The cast also includes another one of Miyazaki's famous archetypes: the old crone or witch, This time her name is Dola, and she leads a band of pirates. It was Dola who chased Sheeta out of an airship, causing her to jump into midair in the beginning of the film--she covets Sheeta's magical pendant.

Eventually, after many more adventures, Pazu and Sheeta do find Laputa, and the fabled Castle in the Sky has some secrets in store which are resolved in an uplifting fashion which is a fitting end to this entertaining movie.

Running Time: 2 hours, 5 minutes.
MPAA Rating: Rated G.


OVERALL GRADE: A.

ACTING: A-.
IMAGERY: A+.
PLOT: A.
IMPACT: A.

WATCH: Trailer for "Stonewall Uprising"

MOVIE REVIEW: AVATAR (3D)

I saw James Cameron's Avatar in 3-D twice in the first three days of its release. I saw it opening day at the Arclight Cinemas Cineramadome using the XpanD 3D system and at the Regal Cinemas Alhambra Renaissance 14 in RealD 3D. I'll probably see it one more time, in 2-D to compare.

I should note that I can probably count on one hand the number of films I have seen multiple times in the theaters (Star Wars, Aliens, Tell No One, Finding Nemo). Avatar belongs on this list. It is an incredible cinematic experience, not just because of the immersive aspects of the 3-D film experience but due to the complexity and intensity of the storytelling.

The star of Avatar is the "It" boy of the moment, Sam Worthington, who plays Jake Sully, a paralyzed Marine who fills in for his recently murdered brother on a mercenary interplanetary mission to assist in the exploration and exploitation of an eden-like moon called Pandora which is rich with vast natural resources which humanity has only begun to understand. Sigourney Weaver a favorite of Cameron's from the Aliens franchise plays the head of the ecological team interacting with the 10-foot-tall, bright blue, cat-eyed alien natives called the Na'vi via the use of genetically engineered avatars. Zoe Saldana, who plays the lead alien native Neyitri captures Worthington while in avatar form and the story deepens from there. I really don't want to say any more about the explicit details of the story.

The central messages of the film are surprisingly pro-environmental and anti-militaristic and contain explicit depiction of native/tribal religio-cultural expression.

The visual impact of the film can not be overstated.

Running Time: 2 hours, 41 minutes.
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 [See Full Rating] for intense epic battle sequences and warfare, sensuality, language and some smoking.
Director: James Cameron.

OVERALL GRADE: A+.

ACTING: A+.
IMAGERY: A+.
PLOT: A+.
IMPACT: A+.

My Favorite Films of the Decade 2000-2009

Here is my Top 10 list of my favorite films seen in the last decade, from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2009.

1. The Lord of the Rings. The pure cinematic achievement of Peter Jackson's adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings is absolutely stunning. The films were box-office blockbusters and universally critically acclaimed, even by people who had never read the book(s). I first read the book(s) at the age of 9 and loved these perfect filmic realizations even more than the original(s). Director: Peter Jackson. Released: 2001, 2002, 2003.
   
2. Memento. I still remember the sense of wonder and amazement I felt during and after watching Christopher Nolan's debut feature film. My mind was blown but I knew that I wanted to see it again, and that I would make sure to see everything this director would ever release in the future (The Dark Knight, The Prestige, Batman Returns, Insomnia). Director: Christopher Nolan. Released: 2001.
   
3. Avatar. Yes, believe the hype! James Cameron confounded all the doubters who refused to believe that the director of Aliens and Titanic could (again!) reinvent the cinematic experience with an(other) original story. I saw the film twice in the first weekend of release and know that I will see it again several times. This is the current generation's Star Wars: a film which restores the sense of wonder to cinema. Director: James Cameron. Released: 2009.
4. The Incredibles. From the director of the instant classic The Iron Giant and the wizards at Pixar came this incredibly poignant and action-filled story of a family of superheroes. The Incredibles, like Finding Nemo, Up, WALL-E and Ratatouille demonstrate that animation can be as emotionally powerful as live-action. Whenever I see this film on TV I must stop what I'm doing and watch it all the way to the end. If I believed in God, I'd pray for a sequel! Director: Brad Bird. Released: 2004.
5. Tell No One (Ne Le Dis A Personne). An innocuous little French thriller that grabs your attention from the first scene and leaves you breathless at its satisfying conclusion. The story is adapted from Harlan Coben's thriller "Tell No One." It also does a very good job of illustrating contemporary life in Paris, subtly challenging preconceptions that ideal living standards must be American. Director: Guillaume Canet. Released: 2006 (France), 2008 (United States).
6. House of Flying Daggers. Although Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was more widely acclaimed (winning the 2000 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and being nominated for Best Picture) I think that this film is the more amazing cinematic achievement, although this is admittedly a very close and somewhat arbitrary call. Together with this director's Hero, this trio of films (all featuring the incredible Zhang Ziyi) are must watching for anyone who likes martial arts and gorgeous spectacle. Director: Zhang Yimou. Released: 2005.
7. Dreamgirls. Who said the musical was dead? Openly gay writer-director Bill Condon achieved the impossible by adapting the thinly veiled 80s-era musical about the 60s supergroup The Supremes and finding someone who could handle the tsunami posing as a song "(And I'm Telling You) I'm Not Going." Jennifer Hudson won a well-deserved Oscar in her debut movie role and Beyoncé showed that she was born to inhabit the role of Miss Diana Ross. Director: Bill Condon. Released: 2006.
8. Spirited Away. This is not a Disney cartoon! Any serious student of film in general and animation in particular knows the name of Miyazaki. The Japanese filmmaker makes emotionally resonant films with curious stories that contain heart-stoppingly strange and beautiful images that are hard tp forget. In Spirited Away Miyazaki is at the top of his game and we are all the richer for it. Director: Hayao Miyazaki. Released: 2004.
9. Far From Heaven. Written and directed by Todd Haynes but animated by Julianne Moore's heart-wrenching performance as a 1950s-era wife married to a man with a secret played by a surprisingly good Dennis Quaid, this film is like a nearly perfect confection: short and sweet and leaves you wanting more. Director: Todd Haynes. Released: 2002.
10. Brokeback Mountain. The first film to have millions of gay men leave the theater shattered at finally seeing an emotionally true depiction of homosexuality in a major motion film. The relationship between Heath Ledger's Ennis Delmar and Jake Gyllenhaal's Jack Twist is the core of the film but it is the story and beautiful direction that really twists the knife. And, yes, I'm still bitter it didn't win Best Picture! Director: Ang Lee. Released: 2005.

And since I couldn't just mention only 10, here are ten more (not in any order) that should not be forgotten.

Honorable Mentions: Pan's Labyrinth, Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit, The Prestige, Finding Nemo, Juno, Slumdog Millionaire, Kill Bill, United 93, Milk and Moulin Rouge!

MadProfessah is watching AVATAR *right now*

I'm in the 7pm showing at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood. Will try and write a review over the weekend. So, far the Los Angeles Times, New York Times and Chicago Sun-Times have given the film rave reviews of 100/100 and Steven Spielberg reportedly said "The last time I came out of a movie feeling that way it was the first time I saw Star Wars."

"Two Spirits" Movie About LGBT Native Americans

One of my students alerted me to the trailer for the very interesting film about Native American "two-spirited" people, which is the word used to describe people who have both masculine and feminine traits. Generally, we think of such people as part of the LGBT community. The film is called Two Spirits and the trailer is below:


UPDATE FRI 12/18/2009 09:11AM
I heard yesterday that there will be a special screening of Two Spirits on Thursday March 18th at 7pm at the Japanese American National Museum in downtown LA by the Red Circle Project, a Native American HIV/AIDS agency run out of AIDS Project Los Angeles. I plan on attending and seeing this interesting documentary!

MOVIE REVIEW: Where The Wild Things Are

The Other Half and MadProfessah decided to go see Where The Wild Things Are in the theaters last weekend before it disappears to a television, computer screen or DVD. The film is directed by Spike Jonze well-known for his trippy, unique filmic vision song apparent in Being John Malkovich (1999), Adaptation (2002) and several genre-defining music videos (Beastie Boys' "Sabotage," Björk's "It's So Quiet" to name a few).

Both Being John Malkovich and Adaptation were written by the even trippier Charlie Kaufman but the adaptation of Maurice Sendak's beloved children book was written by Jonze and Dave Eggers (who wrote the screenplay for Away We Go released earlier this summer directed by Mr. Kate Winslet, Sam Mendes--see MadProfessah's B/B+ review).

The movie got both rave reviews and indifferent responses but there was general consensus (rottentomatoes.com score of 70%) that it was a visually arresting, if emotionally harrowing and dark vision of the imaginary world of an 8-year-old named Max.

The Other Half liked the movie more than I did. I enjoyed trying to figure out who was playing the voices of the Wild Things. "Hey, is that Claire from Six Feet Under? I really think KW is the red-headed actress from HBO." I was correct that KW is voiced by Lauren Ambrose but did not figure out that James Gandolfini played the lead Wild Thing named Carol and Paul Dano (Little Miss Sunshine), Chris Cooper, Forrest Whitaker and Catherine O'Hara are in the amazing cast.

The film does look amazing, and there are some very fun visually uplifting sequences, but in the end the overall impact of the experience is somewhat emotionally draining because it is basically a depiction of the many ways adults use speech and emotional non-verbal communication to attempt to hurt and manipulate others. There is a lot of talking in this movie, and a lot of unrepressed rage displayed by little creatures and big creatures alike.

Running Time: 1 hour, 41 minutes. MPAA Rating: Rated PG for mild thematic elements, some adventure action and brief language.

Plot: C-.
Acting: A-.
Visuals: A-.
Impact: B-.

Overall Grade: B/B-.

MOVIE REVIEW: The Hurt Locker

The Hurt Locker is the most critically acclaimed movie of the summer (98% rating at rottentomatoes.com) although it is approaching the end of its run in movie theaters, having grossed just over $12 million dollars so far. Over Labor Day weekend the Other Half and I saw it at the Mann Theaters 10 in Glendale.

This is probably the first outstanding artistic venture inspired by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The movie is an intense experience, engrossing the viewer immediately and keeping you on the edge of your seats. The Hurt Locker has been called "the best action movie of the summer" and a "viscerally exciting, adrenaline-soaked tour de force of suspense and surprise" by A.O. Scott of the New York Times (who incidentally can now be seen every weekend taking over for Siskel & Ebert on ABC's At The Movies television show).

Although the film was written by Mark Boal and directed by Kathryn Bigelow it has the look and feel of an unscripted documentary peek at real life of soldiers working in an explosive detection and remediation unit. There are three main characters, played brilliantly by Anthony Mackie, Jeremy Renner and Brian Geraghty but the real main character is the war in Iraq itself and the frustrating, bewildering, terrifying predicament these soldiers (and our country) have found ourselves in.

Running Time: 2 hours, 10 minutes. MPAA Rating: Rated R for war violence and language.

OVERALL GRADE: A+.

ACTING: A.
IMAGERY: A+.
PLOT: A.
IMPACT: A+.

MOVIE REVIEW: District 9

District 9 is summer 2009's surprise late summer hit. Executive produced by Peter Jackson and directed by a surprisingly young wunderkind from South Africa named Neill Blomkamp on an incredibly small budget of $30 million, the film is surprisingly effective and entertaining.

MadProfessah and The Other Half saw the movie in its first week of release. He liked it more than I did; I felt that it got a little slow in the second act.

The basic story is about an alien ship which appeared suddenly above the city of Johannesburg a few decades. When humans explored the ship they found hundreds of thousands of malnourished and stinking aliens (who look like some kind of arthropod so that they get the nickname "prawns") who are then housed in horribly slum-like conditions. The movie has the form of a faux documentary covering the actions of a private corporation (Multi National United) who has received a contract to relocate the now 1.8 million prawns from their ghetto near the heart of a major South African city to a remote area hundreds of kilometers away which are a thinly disguised concentration camp.

The star of the documentary is a bureaucrat with clearly less-than-average intelligence named Wikus van der Merwe, played by the completely unknown actor Sharlto Copley.

The plot has a number of surprising twists and the visual effects are stunning.

District 9 is an excellent piece of film-making reminiscent of the original breakthrough hit 28 Days Later created by Danny Boyle (Sunshine, Slumdog Millionaire) which is not perfect but is a significant innovation in the way action films are regarded. District 9 had a stunning marketing campaign (realistic signs on bus benches with "Restricted Area: For Humans Only") that raised the anticipation of the film to a fever pitch among fanboys and others, and then lived up to those expectations (89% on rottentomatoes.com).

Running Time: 1 hour, 52 minutes. MPAA Rating: Rated R [See Full Rating] for bloody violence and pervasive language.

OVERALL GRADE: A.

ACTING: A-.
IMAGERY: A+.
PLOT: A.
IMPACT: A.

Disney Buys Marvel For $4 Billion

Disney announced on Monday that they are buying Marvel for $4 billion. The details of the deal are available at Wonder Man's blog, who is worried that The Mouse will "bring Ororo, Jean Grey and The Wasp into the Disney family and make them princesses."

What do you think?

Busy Day For JRC Today

Today is a busy day for the Jordan Rustin Coalition, the leading Black LGBT advocacy organization in Southern California that MadProfessah heads.

JRC is serving as community collaborators for a movie called "Rivers Wash Over Me" at OutFest today at 1:30pm at the Directors Guild of America, and at exactly the same time (from 10am to 3pm) JRC will be participating in a voter canvass with Equality California, Vote For Equality, Equal Roots and others. The idea is to talk (and listen) to voters in South Los Angeles (Ladera Heights, Leimert Park and View Park, mostly) to find out what their views are on LGBT people, same-sex marriage and homophobia in general.