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. 

OSCARS 2011: PGA Announces Nominees For Best Picture

Here are the nominees for the Best Pictures of the Year according to the Producers Guild of America:

127 HOURS
Producers: Danny Boyle, Christian Colson

BLACK SWAN
Producers: Scott Franklin, Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver

INCEPTION
Producers: Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas

THE FIGHTER
Producers: David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman, Mark Wahlberg

THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT
Producers: Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, Celine Rattray

THE KING’S SPEECH
Producers: Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Gareth Unwin

THE SOCIAL NETWORK
Producers: Dana Brunetti, Ceán Chaffin, Michael De Luca, Scott Rudin

THE TOWN
Producers: Basil Iwanyk, Graham King

TOY STORY 3
Producer: Darla K. Anderson

TRUE GRIT
Producers: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Scott Rudin

I've seen all of these movies except for Black Swan which I hope to get to this week. Click on the film name to go to my review.

The PGA and the Oscars' Best Picture nominees are often concordant, especially since both organizations moved to 10 nominees in the same year.

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: 127 Hours

The husband and I saw Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle's 127 Hours at our usual theaters in Alhambra recently. 127 Hours is the follow-up to his multiple Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire  (Best Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Sound Mixing, Score and Song) stars James Franco in the incredible true story of Aron Ralston. Ralston is the guy who went hiking in a Utah canyon without telling anyone where he was going and after a freak accident left him trapped under a boulder was forced to cut off half of his own right arm in order to escape after nearly 5 days (127 hours) with minimal food and water.

127 Hours is currently rated 93% positively on rottentomatoes.com, one of top-rated movies of 2010. Franco is also stating to garner multiple notices from critics for his riveting performance in the film.

Initial marketing of the film concentrated on the audience reaction to the graphic nature of the scene where Franco's character saws off his own arm with a dull knife in order to escape his entrapment under a boulder in a canyon crevice. More recently, Fox Searchlight has started marketing a "I Kept My Eyes Open For 127 Hours" website, button and t-shirt campaign to rebrand the intense film experience as a rite of passage (or possibly indication of machismo) for some filmgoers.

Actually, I don't think I could wear the t-shirt because although I may have kept my eyes open for the entire
film, I was definitely squirming in my seat during the scene where Franco's character starts to cut into his own flesh. Director Danny Boyle does an incredible job of really placing the audience in the position of Aron Ralston. You really do feel like you are trapped in that canyon with James Franco, which is an amazing feat of immersive filmmaking.

The visuals and impact of the film are the most impactful of any film that I have seen all year. You are filled with immense respect and admiration for Aron Ralston and it really makes you question what you would do in a similar situation.


127 Hours really makes you think about the limits of human endurance and marvel at the power of film in the hands of a gifted filmmaker and a fully committed actor.

Title: 127 Hours.

Running Time: 1 hour, 33 minutes.

MPAA Rating: R for language and some disturbing violent content/bloody images.

Release Date: Friday, November 5, 2010.

Seen: Sunday, December 11, 2010.

Plot: B+.

Acting: A.

Visuals: A+.

Impact: A+.

Overall Grade: B+ (4.0/4.0).

SAG Award Nominationss Announced

The Screen Actors Guild award nominations were announced this morning. Since the Actors branch is the largest block of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the SAG Awards often track the Oscar nominations very very closely.

Here they are (courtesy AwardsDaily.com):

Ensemble:
Black Swan
The Fighter
The Kids Are All Right
The King’s Speech
The Social Network

Actress, Lead:
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Hilary Swank, Conviction

Actor, Motion Picture
Jeff Bridges, True Grit
Robert Duvall, Get Low
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
James Franco, 127 Hours

Supporting Actor
Christian Bale, The Fighter
John Hawkes, Winter’s Bone
Jeremy Renner, The Town
Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right
Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech

Actress, Supporting
Amy Adams, The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech
Mila Kunis, Black Swan
Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit

I am bitterly disappointed by the absence of Inception from this list.

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?

MOVIE REVIEW: The Town

I finally saw the film The Town directed by Ben Affleck which has a 94% rating at rottentomatoes.com while I was in Washington, D.C. on a business trip at the Ballston Mall.

The Town is a surprisingly good film, starring Affleck as Doug MacRay, the brains behind a gang of bank robbers in Boston, Massachusetts. In fact, a statement at the beginning of the movie claims that the Charlestown section of Boston (i.e. "The Town") has the most bank robbers and armored car robbers per capita of any community in the country. Also starring in the film are Jeremy Renner (Oscar nominated for last year's The Hurt Locker), Jon Hamm (star of television's Mad Men) and Rebecca Hall (The Prestige, Vicky Christina Barcelona). The film also features Oscar-winner Chris Cooper (Adaptation) as Doug's father, Stephen MacRay.

The plot is interesting and features excellent performances, primarily by Renner, Affleck and Hamm.. The story is a pastiche of a romantic drama featuring Hall and Affleck, a heist thriller with several scenes of numerous bank robberies executed like clockwork, and a cop procedural featuring Hamm and "the feds" as they trace Affleck and his brotherly gang of thieves. This is not  meant as a critique, but a fair description to illustrate Affleck's creativity as a writer. However, it as a director that Affleck really makes his mark. The Town moves swiftly, in an engrossing fashion. Although it is sometimes preposterous, and often quite violent, it is never boring.

Running Time: 2 hours, 4 minutes.
MPAA Rating: R for strong violence, pervasive language, some sexuality and drug use.
Release Date: September 17, 2010.
Seen: Sunday, November 14, 2010.

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

Overall Grade: A- (3.50/4.0). 

MOVIE REVIEW: The Social Network

The Social Network is more ubiquitously known as "The Facebook movie." This is odd, because although the movie does tell the story about the creation of what would go on to become the largest social networking website in the world in Fall 2003 in the dorm room of a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate, it is really about Mark Zuckerberg the creator and current CEO of Facebook.

The movie is directed by the brilliant David Fincher (Fight Club, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Alien³) from a screenplay adapted by the equally renowned Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing, A Few Good Men) from a book called The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal.

The movie stars Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg, whom he plays as a fast-talking, emotionally distant computer genius. In fact, emotionally distant doesn't begin to describe Eisenberg's emotional affect as Zuckerberg in the film; he appears as clearly somewhere advanced on the Autism-Asperger's Syndrome axis.

Since the film makers are well aware that the audiences for the film will likely be on Facebook themselves they provide us with all the details of how a computer program essentially created in a single dorm became a worldwide cultural behemoth less than 7 years later.

Sorkin's screenplay cleverly intercuts between Zuckerberg being deposed in two separate lawsuits over the creation of Facebook, one from his erstwhile best friend Eduardo Saverin (a fellow Jewish student of Brazilian descent played by the attractive actor Andrew Garfield) and from Divya Narendra, Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss. The Winklevoss Brothers (who are 6'5", 220 lb, blond blue-eyed champion members of Harvard's crew team, played by a single actor Armie Hammer with his face digitally projected on a body double) and Narendra had plans to make a website called HarvardConnect which would allow Harvard students to interact with each other online. They approached Zuckerberg after he became famous on campus for nearly bringing down Harvard's network connection after he developed a website in one night, while drunk, which allowed Harvard students to rate female Harvard students on "hotness." Zuckerberg agreed but never produced any actual code for the Winklevoss twins, and instead started his own website with $1,000 in seed funding from his friend Saverin which he called "thefacebook.com." This is about as much of the plot as I want to reveal; suffice it to say it is worth watching, in the theaters, for yourself.

The film is an engrossing, well-told tale of how friendships and relationships can be destroyed by an overwhelming desire to be successful in business, and although Zuckerberg doesn't come out smelling like a rose for his interactions with both the Winklevoss twins and with Saverin, the film clearly demonstrates that Zuckerberg is the reason why Facebook is what it is today and in the word of Eisenberg's character scoffs at the notion that either of the groups suing him could have created anything similar.

It should be noted that Fincher, Sorkin and Zuckerberg have all declared The Social Network to be a work of fiction, but in some sense that makes the film even more entertaining.

Hopefully the film, as well as the work of Eisenberg, Fincher, and Sorkin will not be forgotten at end-of-year awards time. I fully expect this film to be high in my annual Top 10 list.

Running Time: 2 hours, 1 minute.
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for sexual content, drug and alcohol use and language.
Release Date: October 1, 2010.
Seen: Sunday, October 24, 2010.

Writing: A+.

Acting: A+.

Visuals: A-.

Impact: A-.

Overall Grade: A (4.0/4.0). 

MOVIE REVIEW: Despicable Me

The Other Half and I saw Steve Carell's non-bomb summer film, Despicable Me, last Sunday at a matinee at our usual theater in Alhambra.

The film is well-animated and is well-voiced by Steve Carell. The story features three ridiculously adorable girls and a story arc  that surprisingly heartwarming for a movie where the main character is named Gru and aspires to be the Worst Villain in the World.

Although there are some gags which are clearly designed for adults (sign over "The Bank of Evil" reads "former Lehman Brothers.") but this is definitely a film for kids and has a PG or G sensibility. As Miyazaki has shown, this does not mean that the film has to be uninteresting to adults, and there's definitely plenty of action, again with a primarily childish bent.

Overall, you can probably wait to see this on Netflix or cable.

Running Time: 1 hour, 35 minutes. MPAA Rating: Rated PG for rude humor and mild action.

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

Overall Grade: B/B+ (3.222/4.0).

MOVIE REVIEW: The Kids Are All Right

Decided to go see The Kids Are All Right starring Annette Bening and Juliane Moore as a lesbian couple on our 2nd wedding anniversary at the shiny, new L.A. Live Regal 14 Theaters in downtown Los Angeles. Mark Ruffalo stars as the sperm donor (I prefer the term sperm dad or "spad," being one myself) which resulted in the couples two kids, played by Mia Wasikowska (last seen in Timothy Burton's Alice in Wonderland) and Josh Hutcherson (who has starred in Journey to the Center of the Earth, Zathura, Bridge to Teribithia).

The film was written (with Stuart Blumberg) and directed by Lisa Cholodenko, a lesbian mom herself.

The Kids Are All Right is a heart-wrenchingly real depiction of American family life, especially from an LGBT perspective. It is also laugh-out-loud, gasping-for-air funny. However, as I told my husband on the way out, "There's an awful lot of heterosexual sex in that movie for a lesbian comedy!" He pointed out that there's a fair amount of depiction of gay sexuality as well, with multiple kisses and affection between Jules(played by Julianne) and Nic (played by Annette), not to mention the entire "gay man porn" subplot.

The basic premise is that the two kids, Joni (played by Wasikowska) and Laser (played by Hutcherson) become curious about their father and make contact with him. Since Joni is 18, she has to make the call to the sperm bank, at the request of her rambunctious 15-year-old brother. But it is another member of the family who ends up making a significant connection with Ruffalo's Paul, who is played with excessive charm.

As a matter of fact, all the acting is superb, with Annette and Bening leading the pack. Annette's Nic is fragile, funny and domineering, but fiercely loves her family. Julianne's Jules is spacey, beautiful and (often inadvertently) hysterically funny. This film should get them both back into the Oscar nominations discussion, and may even win one or both of these beautifully aging actresses (Annette, 51; Julianne, 49) that little gold statuette they have been denied for years.

The writing is astonishing. All of the characters are flawed, but also appealing in some way. Just like in real life. Although some critics have taken issue with the degree of accuracy or fidelity in the depiction of lesbian sexuality as well as the non-depiction of people of color in a positive light,

overall I would argue this is a must-see film for most regular film goers.

(On a side note, it was pretty surreal to watch the final scenes of the movie and yell out "Hey, that's Occidental College!" Joni goes off to college, and the place she picks just happens to be the place at which I teach and work. Go figure. It's silly, but that familiar aspect, as well as the distinctive shots of Los Angeles gave the film an especially high emotional resonance with me.)

Running Time: 1 hour, 46 minutes. MPAA Rating: Rated R for strong sexual content, nudity, language and some teen drug and alcohol use.

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

Overall Grade: A (4.0/4.0).

MOVIE REVIEW: Salt

The Other Half and I saw Salt at our new favorite theaters, the Arclight Cinemas in Pasadena, on its opening weekend.

Salt stars Angelina Jolie, Chiwetel Ejiofor and

Liev Schrieber in a script written by Kurt Wimmer and directed by Phillip Noyce (Clear and Present Danger, Dead Calm).

One of the interesting aspects of Salt is that the main character of Evelyn Salt was originally written for a male actor, namely Tom Cruise. When you see the movie this is not surprising because it is very reminiscent of the Jason Bourne movies (The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum.)

Similar to these movies, Salt is pretty action-packed; it is practically a non-stop thrill ride. As a feminist, it is quite fun to see Angelina Jolie kicking so much butt.

There are some aspects of the plots that don't quite past the smell test but in general events are proceeding so quickly one generally doesn't dwell on these imperfections. Without giving away any spoilers I will say that the movie ends in such a way that makes a sequel (or sequels) highly likely.

Running Time: 1 hour, 39 minutes. MPAA Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action.

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

Overall Grade: A-/B+ (3.583/4.0).

MOVIE REVIEW: Inception

MadProfessah and The Other Half saw the latest film from Christopher Nolan, the director of Memento, Insomnia, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and now Inception. Memento is one of my favorite films of all time, and Nolan is one of my favorite film directors. I have seen and enjoyed all of his films to date.

We saw Inception at the new(ish) Arclight Cinemas in Pasadena on opening day, Friday July 16th. We generally avoided most of the reviews, which were mostly (but not overwhelmingly) positive. The current rottentomatoes.com rating for the film is 86%.

Inception is a fiendishly complicated story that revolves around the premise that there exists technology which allows multiple individuals to share and participate in each others' dreams. Usually this procedure is used to steal secrets from an individual's subconscious by accessing it in their dreams. The concept of "inception" in this context is the notion that one can insert an idea into the dreaming individual, in such a way that they believe that the idea is actually self-generated.

Leonardo Dicaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Dileep Rao and Tom Hardy all play members of a team led by DiCaprio's Dom Cobb who is being hired by Ken Watanabe's character to place an idea in Cillian Murphy's character's head. Got it? The basic idea of the film is not that complicated, but the successful execution of "inception" requires Murphy's character to be taken into a dream within a dream within a dream. As one reviewer mentioned, this device allows director Nolan to have not one but three ticking clock scenarios for the audience to watch and, in my opinion, raises the level of suspense to a fever-pitch.

The story is further complicated by Cobb's subconscious, which features his ex-wife Mal Cobb, played magnificently by Oscar winner Marion Cotillard. She is infiltrating his dreamscape and doing her best to foil his plans. Other important supporting characters are played by Pete Postlethwaite (Murphy's near-death father), a near unrecognizable Tom Berenger (Murphy's right-hand man) and 2-time Oscar winner Michael Caine as Cobb's father-in-law and mentor.

Nolan gets immense respect from me for writing and directing such an ambitious piece of film-making that can be also be successfully marketed as summer blockbuster popcorn entertainment.

Running Time: 2 hours, 28 minutes. MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sequences of violence and action throughout.

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

Overall Grade: A+/A (4.167/4.0).

MOVIE REVIEW: Iron Man 2

Finally saw Iron Man 2 with the Other Half on a lazy Memorial Day after tennis from the French Open was done for the day.

The sequel has now grossed nearly 300 million dollars since its release on Friday May 7th. At rottentomatoes.com it has a rating of 74% (which is significantly lower than the original which is rated at 93%).

The film stars Robert Downey, Jr, Gwyneth paltrow, Don Cheadle, Mickey Rourke and Scarlet Johanssen.

Unfortunately, as with most summer blockbusters, the challenge of repeating a success is too much for many films and the sequel is less enjoyable than the original.

The plot literally makes no sense whatsoever, and multiple sequences seem to have been included merely to provide the opportunity for huge explosions.

Downey is fine and replays his narcissistic version of billionaire Tony Stark a bit too convincingly. Oscar-winner Paltrow is merely annoying as Downey's sidekick and purported love interest. The appearance of Don Cheadle to play the character originated by Terrence Howard in Iron Man is just offensive. It leaves the impression the director and producer felt that one black actor is indistinguishable from another.

The best part of Iron Man 2 is Mickey Rourke, who plays an excellent, creepy villain in Ivan Stanko. There is a deliberate effort to connect to the Iron Man character to upcoming Marvel Studios films featuring Captain America and The Avengers which will be arriving in future summers.

The movie has some mildly entertaining sequences but overall it's really a movie you can wait to see on cable.

Running Time: 2 hours, 4 minutes.
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence, and some language.
Director: Jon Favreau.

OVERALL GRADE: B/B-.

ACTING: B.
IMAGERY: A-.
PLOT: C.
IMPACT: B-.