Starring: Ben Kingsley, Josh Peck, Olivia Thirlby
Director: Jonathan Levine
Country: USA
Genre: Dramedy
Coming of age isn’t just for teenagers.
The coming-of-age film can usually be riddled with independent film clichés bogging down any semblance of tenderness the story may hold, but if the film is really driven from a personal place and passion it can usually overcome these obstacles. Such is the case with Jonathan Levine’s The Wackness. The cast is as solid as they come, with strong performances from both experienced veterans (Ben Kingsley = greatest actor ever,) as well as newcomers (the underrated Olivia Thirlby, and under seen Josh Peck.) It’s a tale of first love, a journey into manhood, and a huge slice of nostalgia as it takes place in the mid-nineties and boasts a soundtrack of the greatest era of rap music. Like the best independent dramedies, it balances its quirkiness with its darkness really well, and ultimately creates a portrait of what it was like to take the first step toward growing up at age 18 and at age 50.
Starring: Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jude Law, Daniel Craig
Director: Sam Mendes
Country: USA
Genre: Drama, Neo-noir
Every shot in this film looks like an Edward Hopper painting.
The legendary cinematographer Conrad L. Hall really outdid himself on Road to Perdition creating such a visually stunning palate of shadows and dark colors in true noir fashion. Sam Mendes took an interesting turn for his second directorial venture, finding inspiration in the stunning graphic novel by the same name. Ever the master of dealing with actors, Mendes pulls one hell of a performance from Tom Hanks, in a much darker role than his usual everyday hero types. Road may be a gangster movie on its surface, but below the dark anterior lies a touching father and son tale. Mendes and Hall artfully play with the distance between Mike and Michael Sullivan throughout the film, allowing them to grow together both visually and emotionally. And let’s not forget about Jude Law in his most disgusting and despicable character he’s ever played. Honey dipped fried chicken anyone?
Starring: Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Don Cheadle
Director: Niels Mueller
Country: USA
Genre: Drama
The road to madness is sometimes a familiar one.
When you have a film produced by Alexander Payne, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Alfonso Cuarón that stars one of the most dedicated actors in its lead role and a supporting cast of the highest caliber, you know you’re dealing with a quality film. Surely, this harrowing descent into madness is an effective one. It’s a little tricky in its manipulation though, making us sympathize and connect with a character that we know will ultimately commit some sort of heinous crime. We’re never fully certain what it will be, and, well it’s not pretty. But watching Assassination is to watch an incredibly crafted character study and one of Sean Penn’s finest performances. The film is as quiet as the person you wouldn’t expect to blow, but when it does… whoo boy.
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley
Director: Martin Scorsese
Country: USA
Genre: Thriller-ish.
At Shutter Island nothing is as it seems.
In his fourth collaboration with DiCaprio, Scorsese has pulled out one of his best performance, and crafted perhaps one of his most interesting films. Sure to infuriate some and delight others, Shutter Island is all about evoking a response out of the audience – participation. It’s a detective story about a detective, but the investigation isn’t the investigation that the detective is investigating. Or is it? It raises a lot of questions, and doesn’t take the audience for granted in finding the answers for themselves. Also, in a departure from his usual visual style, Scorsese has created one of his more luscious looking, albeit foreign feeling, films to date.
Tags: Adaptation, Crime, Detectives, Drama, Dysfunction, Ensemble, Horror, Mystery, Neo Noir, Period Piece, Suspense, Thriller, Violent, War
2010 Films | this guy over here | 
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Starring: Brad Pitt, Christophe Waltz, Mélanie Laurent
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Country: USA
Genre: War
The master of homage is back in his homagiest homage yet!
It took two viewings of this film to fully appreciate it. The first time I was looking for the nuance of its brilliance, but it’s quite blatant and I think I took that as arrogance. Maybe it is. This is by far Tarantino’s most patient and deliberate film to date. For being two and a half hours, it’s only filled with a small number of incredibly long scenes. As it’s been said by many more articulate people than I, it’s his use of dialogue to build the suspense of the scenes, particularly the opening. Plus, his dialogue, though completely fantastical as it may be, is just so fun to listen to. Performance wise, Christophe Waltz almost doesn’t need mention as his talent is beyond obvious. However, many harp on Pitt for his lame accent. I, however, found it to be obvious that he knew he was doing a cartoon version of his character… because it is after all a fairy tale film. Once upon a time, and happily ever after.
Starring: Ivana Baquero, Sergi Lopez, Maribel Verdu
Director: Guillermo Del Toro
Country: Mexico
Genre: Foreign, Fantasy
The Grimm Bros have nothing on this dark fantasy.
Fairy tales have always been pretty dark at their core. Somewhere along the timeline of passing stories from generation to generation they have become sugar coated to shield children from the horrors of life, (does the current version of Hansel and Gretel have them pushing her into the oven, or do they all sit down and have a democratic discussion about their hardships? I’ve lost track.) With Pan’s Labyrinth, Guillermo Del Toro brings us all back to the reasons fairy tales exist… escapism, metaphors to understand our surroundings, pure hellish childhood delight. It’s as complex as Del Toro’s previous foray into his personal projects, (The Devil’s Backbone,) as it reflects the harsh reality of war with the mysterious curiosity of fantasy. The real star of the film is Del Toro’s imagination and the creations in which it manifests. Not since Jim Henson’s heyday has there been such enchanting creatures.
Starring: Rudy Youngblood, Raoul Trujillo
Director: Mel Gibson
Country: USA
Genre: Foreign, Epic
Not sure if this one was on the Mayan calendar… but it should be.
I’ll just come out and say it. Apocalypto is kind of badass. I was completely taken by surprise anticipating some sort of laborious experience, which probably stems from the endurance needed to get through Passion of the Christ. Gibson has crafted one hell of a fight-for-your-life chase movie. There’s something incredibly appealing about the savagery and primality of survival that I’m sure most meat eaters will respond to. One disconcerting thing was traveling to IMDb afterwards and coming to the obvious realization that some of the cast were actors, but that’s a compliment to the realism of the film, though Gerardo Taracena’s Klaus Kinski-eqsue performance should have been an indicator. Like most of Gibson’s films, it is not for the squeamish. There’s something extra nerve wracking when you’re dealing with near-naked characters fighting each other with sharp objects.
Starring: Ben Kingsley, Josh Peck, Olivia Thirlby
