More Mini-reviews

Here's another handful of mini-reviews of some of the movies to come out all throughout last year. I have a few more movies I'd like to see before I wrap up with a top five of 2009 list as well as a best of the decade list.

*****

The Hurt Locker

Dir. Kathryn Bigelow (2009)

*****

The Hurt Locker is one of the best war movies I've ever seen and is bound to be a top contender to win the Oscar. It's discouraging that no woman has ever won the Oscar for Best Director or has directed a Best Picture winner. I think this movie is definitely worthy of both prizes, so the Academy better not pass up this opportunity to make history and inspire other female moviemakers. The Hurt Locker is a different kind of war movie and will definitely be interesting for anyone who is interested in modern combat. As opposed to other war movies, which are saturated with disorienting gunfire and explosions, The Hurt Locker instead is a suspense-builder that is constructed with a great precision. The film follows a team of bomb defusers in Iraq. In particular, it focuses on William James (Jeremy Renner), who has such an obsession with defusing bombs that his squad views him as reckless. The combination of the tenseness of bomb defusing, the examination of a character's somewhat twisted psychology, and the details of modern warfare make The Hurt Locker a tough movie to not enjoy. While Fantastic Mr. Fox is as of now my "favorite" movie of the year, I would consider The Hurt Locker the "best" - and yes, there is a difference.

*****

My Rating: A

*****

A Serious Man

Dir. Joel & Ethan Coen (2009)

*****

Everyone seems to mention a "Coen brothers style," but in reality every single one of their movies is so different. After having made movies as strange as Raising Arizona, as uncomfortable as Fargo, and as thrilling as No Country For Old Men, it's hard to know what to expect next from these two geniuses. Their most recent work, A Serious Man, is very personal and also very odd. Right from the start you can tell what kind of movie this is going to be. The story is a modern day version of the book of Job, where everything goes badly for Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg). Everything that happens to him is strangely funny after you let the movie settle in. While viewing A Serious Man, though, I had a hard time being able to see where the movie was going. This is a film that is meant to be watched more than once. While I found it enjoyable on my first viewing, I do expect it to be better the second time.

*****

My Rating: B+

*****

Ponyo

Dir. Hayao Miyazaki (2009)

*****

It seems like the animation industry is heading towards going entirely 3-D, so I'm very thankful that we still have Hayao Miyazaki, who is well-loved for his magical style of hand-drawn 2-D animation. His works are all connected by an element of magic, and we have an idea what to expect from him nowadays. Much of his work is deep and mature - like the recent Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle. I must say though that I am more a fan of Miyazaki's classic My Neighbor Totoro, which is a much simpler cartoon that is filled from top to bottom with charm. Ponyo has the same simplicity and charm, and so it is unsurprising that I enjoyed it a ton. The story is about a fish named Ponyo who runs away from her family, becomes friends with a human boy, and eventually wants to become a human herself. This is a story that is filled with so much expression (not just in the characters, but also the style of drawing in general), and using 3-D animation à la Pixar or Dreamworks would just not work here. It is probably a lot to hope for, but I hope that Ponyo and Disney's recent The Princess and the Frog will mark the beginning of a 2-D animation renaissance.

*****

My Rating: A

*****

Adventureland

Dir. Greg Mottola (2009)

*****

Greg Mottola, who made Superbad, returns two years later with Adventureland - another coming of age story that replaces the sheer hilarity of Superbad with an extra dose of charm. This movie was kind of marketed as being similar to Superbad, which was a goofy move in my opinion, as the shortage of funniness in Adventureland was definitely much more of a disappointment as it should have been. Putting that issue aside, we're left with a hip "love" story, though in this film the line between "love" and "getting some" is blurry. Perhaps it's exactly this that makes the movie, and especially the ending, a little awkward for me. Both of the lead actors (Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart) play their roles to perfection, but I don't think the way the characters were written was exactly impeccable. Which stinks because the movie revolves around the contrast between the two characters' lifestyles. Oh well.

*****

My Rating: B-

*****

Precious

Dir. Lee Daniels (2009)

*****

Precious is one of the most powerful movies I've seen in a while - it's mostly devastating but has glimpses of inspiration. The acting across the board is perfect, though the film is largely carried by Gabourey Sidibe as Precious and Mo'Nique as her abusive mother Mary. Life is about as bad for Precious as it can get. She's been the victim of incest and is now pregnant with her second child; she's an outcast at school and at home. However, throughout all of this, Precious displays all of the characteristics that suggest that she can take control of her own future. The film is about turning these hopeful characteristics into actions. Sidibe is perfect in displaying Precious's complex emotional states and really brings the audience into the film. Meanwhile, though Mo'Nique's character seems to be an "antagonist," her character is also the result of a complex set of emotions. Both actresses are bound to get Oscar nominations, and the film is highly worthy of one too.

*****

My Rating: A

*****

Drag Me To Hell

Dir. Sam Raimi (2009)

*****

If you're a fan of the Evil Dead trilogy and miss the old Sam Raimi style before he went mainstream to make the Spiderman trilogy, then Drag Me To Hell will be a nice little treat - though don't see the movie expecting something as crazy as Army of Darkness. Drag Me To Hell has many of those over-the-top moments that ride the border between scary and funny, just like in those Evil Dead movies. However, the main downfall here is that Raimi's attempts to bring the plot together are weak. There is a level of mysticism in Drag Me To Hell that explains why protagonist Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) is being chased by a crazy lady spirit in the first place. However, unlike in The Evil Dead, where the scenes that explain the mystical elements are themselves scary, in this film, those scenes are actually kind of boring and just seem like filler. A subplot involving Christine's career aspirations is kind of fluffy as well. Still, as long as you can get over Justin Long's acting (he should just stick to Mac commercials), Drag Me To Hell is overall a fun experience, and something I recommend for anyone who likes the Evil Dead movies or over-the-top horror in general.

*****

My Rating: B

*****

Coraline

Dir. Henry Selick (2009)

*****

Neil Gaiman's graphic novels are magical, and the expressionist style of 3-D animation that Henry Selick (maker of The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach) brings to the table is a great fit for Gaiman's Coraline. Overall, I don't think Gaiman's works are meant to be turned into movies, but if a movie must be made, this is probably how it should be done. The film adaptation of Coraline isn't bad, but it doesn't do too much to impress - and I think this kind of thing happens a lot in general when adapting graphic novels into movies. I haven't read the book, but it's often the case (as in Watchmen and Sin City) that a film adaptation tries to be an exact copy of the book, especially since the images are already given. This is unlike adapting a prose novel, where the film director is given a lot more freedom to create his or her own visualizations of the book. Coraline is satisfying in its expressionist visuals and silly style of horror, but I feel that both aspects could have been a lot, lot better. Perhaps a little more of the horror aspect would have been nice.

*****

My Rating: B+