When the term “monster movie” is thrown about, to some it evokes the shaky hand-held glimpses at the Gozilla-esque creature from Cloverfield. To some others, it brings back memories of the Godzilla-esque creature from 20 Million Miles to Earth. I’m sure somewhere it even evokes memories of Godzilla. But rarely does a monster movie find a way into the human psyche and human spirit.
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Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer, Michelle Monaghan
Director: Shane Black
Country: USA
Genre: Crime, Comedy
Hopefully with RDJ’s new-re-found fame, people will discover this amazing piece of entertainment.
Robert Downey’s career comeback didn’t happen overnight as one might suspect. For nearly a decade he honed his craft doing little under the radar films like Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. There is something so appealing about this film: it has a decent little mystery, a edgy-enough style, and a bubbling chemistry between its actors who all put in super fun performances. Perhaps it shouldn’t be to surprising to find out the man behind the hilarious back and forth between the main characters comes from the mind who also brought us Leathal Weapon. But in his directorial debut, Shane Black shapes perfect escapism. This neo-noir has a tongue-in-cheek tone that the Coen Brothers would be jealous of, and Downey knocks it out of the park. It’s fascinating how engaging (and hilarious) his 50’s style detective narration can be.
Starring: Aaron Eckhart, J.K. Simmons, William H. Macy
Director: Jason Reitman
Country: USA
Genre: Independent, Comedy
It’s Mr. Smith Goes To Washington starring Joe Camel.
Satire is not an easy game. While The Daily Show and South Park make it look easy, there is such a tricky balancing act for it to work. If it gets pushed in either direction of comedy or drama too far then it makes it hard to be taken seriously. Reitman in his directorial debut could be mistaken for a seasoned vet. The film follows a tobacco lobbyist and the different aspects of his job. Thank You For Smoking isn’t plot driven. It restricts itself to the various duties of its main character, and the circumstances of his scrupulous occupation. For a film that deals with such a weighty subject, it’s delivered very light and airy. Reitman’s style brings out every ounce of the humorous and humanistic characteristics of story. Relentlessly.
Starring: (voices) George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Wes Anderson
Country: USA
Genre: Animation, Adventure
The wonderfully amazing Fantastic Mr. Fox is an awesomely brilliant dose of excitement.
2009 seems to be the year that a lot of directors are answering to their inner child as they delve into more childlike films, and thank goodness, (though let’s be honest and admit that neither this nor Where The Wild Things Are are children films.) Wes Anderson’s stop-motion animation flick is anything but conventional. It’s so inventive in fact, that I often felt awestruck watching it, in a way that I really hadn’t since I was a young’n and saw the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, (does that date me?) Anderson uses his specific theatrical directorial style to its full extent, squeezing out every minutia of humor, adventure, and even drama. I’m beginning to realize that calling a film like this “brave” for not hiding elements of real life from kids, (like cussing, pregnancy, death, and even *gasp* smoking!) is silly. It’s just common sense. Fantastic Mr. Fox is just so much fun, and fulfills that gap in adventure films that will unlock creativity in children as they plot out their own schematics in their playtime.
Starring: Penélope Cruz, Carmen Maura, Lola Dueñas
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Country: Spain
Genre: Foreign, Drama
To say Volver is good is like saying Americans kind of like pizza.
Volver evokes one of Hitchcock’s least seen films, The Trouble With Harry in both its subject matter and its tone, tiptoeing on dark humor, suspense, and human drama. In its first half, each plot point is revealed in a Hitchcockian manner, but in its second act it deviates from this form and very much matures into its own entity. To summarize Volver would never do it justice as its complexity is a huge part of its intrigue. Almodóvar brings another stupendous performance out of Cruz playing a mother trying to protect the innocence of her daughter, and a daughter trying to come to terms with her own troubled upbringing. The most surprising thing about Volver is the classical style in which the story is told, making it feel like it would fit in with classic American dramas of the 40s and 50s, if it weren’t for the exciting and vivid colors of the cinematography.
Starring: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Jim Broadbent
Director: Edgar Wright
Country: UK
Genre: Action, Comedy
I would have hated to be the editor of the 5,500+ cuts this film has.
Sophomore efforts are always judged more harshly than probably should. When you have a successful debut like this team did with Shaun of the Dead, you have certain expectations to meet. For me, Hot Fuzz at first didn’t necessarily meet my expectations, but more like sidestepped them. I thought it was trying to be too many things at once. But upon subsequent viewings, I’ve come to the conclusion that I think this film is more brilliant than it appears to be. All at once it embraces the humor from Shaun that made them famous, but also separates itself by crafting an action detective story that would fit right in with the Dirty Harry series. And even in that respect, it’s completely an homage, but it’s never derivative. It’s a fun and over the top policeman officer comedy!
Starring: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Lucy Davis, Kate Ashfield
Director: Edgar Wright
Country: UK
Genre: Comedy, Horror
Shaun of the Dead isn’t the first to mix movie genres, but it certainly is one of the most successful on recent years, especially the horror realm. It’s first and foremost a comedy, setting up jokes rather than scares but it shouldn’t be discredited as a horror film as it has a conclusion equal to that of any of its many influences (Romero obviously and especially.) It brings together a quaint love story, but also a tale of friendship and finding a balance in life… sometimes the only thing that brings balance is the zombie apocalypse. There’s no question why this has reached such high levels of cult status as it’s got more than a handful of hilarious and memorable scenes, including one that will never allow me to hear “Don’t Stop Me Now” by Queen again without laughing my ass off.
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Articles | this guy over here March 9, 2010 | 
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