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 February 25, 2010 | 
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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: Ken Wantanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya
Director: Clint Eastwood
Country: USA, Japan
Genre: War, Drama
You scream. I scream. We all scream when we’re being shot at.
This companion piece to Eastwood’s lackluster Flags of Our Fathers is far superior in every way, which helps my theory that some of Eastwood’s films are great regardless of his abilities. But Letters from Iwo Jima is an incredible story, and quite an unconventional one for an American director to tell. It follows Japanese soldiers during the invasion of Iwo Jima. Like any great war film it shows that the men on both sides are equal in both their savagery and humanity. It lacks a strong anti-war theme, but doesn’t become overly patriotic either. It’s this balance of subject matter that really make the film effecting. The unbiased point of view allows for the viewer to project their own feelings or fears on war and patriotism.
Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Elija Wood, Ian McKellen
Director: Peter Jackson
Country: New Zealand, USA
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure
All good things must come to an end. All great things get a four and a half hour extended edition.
Farewells are always difficult, which might be why there are twenty-five minutes of them at the close of this trilogy. Peter Jackson sealed the deal on his legacy with the release of the final chapter of the beloved Lord of the Rings films, and with much legitimacy. To see the characters at the end of Return of the King compared to the beginning of Fellowship of the Ring, it’s hard to believe that they came from such humble beginnings. It’s impossible not to be bombarded with the word “epic” while watching RotK as everything is bigger and grander than anything I’ve ever seen on screen before. Good luck to all of the sci-fi fantasy films of the next twenty years living in its shadow.
Starring: Daniel Brühl, Diane Kruger, Guillaume Canet
Director: Christian Carion
Country: UK, Germany, France
Genre: Foreign, Holiday
French. German. Scots. Christmas!
Wow. If you’re all Scroogeish over the Holidays becoming commercialized, this could be the drop of elixir you’re looking for. While most Holiday films, even the best of them, have a commendable underlying message to them, they are so wrapped up in cookie frosting that it’s hard not to get a cavity swallowing all of the sugar. Joyeux Noël is the greatest example of what the Holidays should represent: a respect and love for your fellow man. It’s set on the front lines of World War I during Christmas Eve where German, Scottish and French forces are pitted against each other. I realize that It’s a Wonderful Life is a bold comparison, but Joyeux Noel is definitely one of the best Holiday films I’ve ever seen.
Starring: Bruno Ganz, Alexandra Maria Lara, Corinna Harfouch
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Country: Germany
Genre: Foreign, War
Hitler has never been so radiant.
When it comes to World War II movies, it often feels like there isn’t much that hasn’t been done or said before. Seldom does a film present the horrific events in a new light, but when one does it makes you realize the infinite stories that could be told from the war. Downfall is certainly one of those films. It takes place in the last days, the ‘downfall’, of the Third Reich and of the Nazi soldiers individually. At times, Downfall recalls films made just after WWII, (Forbidden Games, Ashes and Diamonds,) and this classic style of storytelling feels very fitting as it doesn’t sensationalize Hitler as a sympathetic character. It does an amazing job of showing Hitler as a person with humanistic faults, but also for the flat out ruthless villain that he was. There is a reason this film has sparked a bit of an internet sensation.
