Skyfall and Cloud Atlas

Skyfall
(2012, Sam Mendes)

Daniel Craig returns in another solid James Bond film. Not a whole lot of new territory is covered but Javier Bardem is always awesome as a bad guy. This film strips things back to a simpler more traditional Bond adventure. (6/7)

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Cloud Atlas
(2012, Tom Twyker and The Wachowskis)

This could have been so cool. The trailer made me cry. Then I watched the movie. It has its moments and the idea of using the same actors and actresses for all the rolls was an interesting one-- but the gimmick was distracting. Not especially amazing nor moving. The acting overall was decent and there were especially good performances from Doona Bae and Xun Zhou.  It seems like this film could have been edited differently and it might have had more resonance. Hrm.  (4/7)

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Taichi Zero and Pitch Perfect

Taichi 0
(2012, Stephen Fung)

A fun first part of a multi-part series this film features a cast of classic wuxia actors and some new faces from the world of wushu competition and taichi. This is billed as a steam-punk influenced epic but it really more of a fantasy in the tradition of Scott Pilgrim style game influenced editing. There are some wonderful performances and smart editing but there are also a lot of weak moments that distract from the forward movement of the plot. Hopefully part two is better. Definitely worth seeing with your favorite beverage and a bowl of popcorn.  Angelababy is capable as the love interest and wushu competitor and new comer Yuan Xiaochao does a great job. Tony Leung Fa Kai is one of China's great actors Wei Ai Xuan is awesome as a the little taichi master girl. (5/7)

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 Pitch Perfect
(2012, Jason Moore)

Uh, this Anna Kendrick collegiate acapella competition movie is fun. I liked it. Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson) is extra solid. All the singing is decent and some nice 80's Breakfast Club nods. Skylar Astin is suitably not annoying as the male lead. At times very funny and occasionally moving this movie did not suck. (6/7)

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The Master

(Paul Thomas Anderson, 2012)

Hmmm. This film is well acted and well filmed. Joaquin Phoenix and Phillip Seymour Hoffman do very fine work in this story about a psychologically disturbed WWII veteran who meets an L. Ron Hubbard/ Werner Erhard/ James Edward Baker- type guru and becomes intimately involved in the development of his "movement."  I honestly didn't care at all about any of the characters. The period feel is fantastic and a few of the photographic tableau in the film are amazingly evocative of the war era but this film lacked a heart. Maybe I am in the minority but this meditative saunter through a disturbed man's mind never really grabbed me. I was more fascinated by the psychology of Lancaster Dodd (Hoffman) but the audience only gets glimpses into his mind as the story unfolds. Looks great and has really good performances but the story isn't one I really cared about at all. (6/7)

Here is a good book about the nutty LRH

Looper and Taken 2

 Looper
 (2012, Rian Johson)

Rian Johnson is still great at dialogue and visuals but this time travel story with Joseph Gordon Levitt and Bruce Willis is probably more about telekinetics than it is predestination paradoxes. Rumor has it Shane Carruth may have advised Rian Johnson on aspects of time travel mechanics for the film (see this). (6/7)

Trailer


Taken 2
(2012, Olivier Megaton)

Summing-- this Luc Besson/ Olivier Megaton sequel to the Liam Neeson actioner is really bland. There are some nice ideas about triangulation and close-quarter combat but otherwise it is pretty darn bad. (3/7)

Ugh

The Raven, Ted, The Campaign

Ted
(2012, Seth MacFarlane)

This is a solid movie. MacFarlane, Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis are all great. A surprisingly tender and well thought out film about a teddy bear brought to life by a wish and some love.  (5/7)


The Raven
(2012, James McTeigue)

John Cusack as Poe. Could have been cool. Sadly was not. Luke Evans is a standout. Wonky ideas, some wonky editing and horrible credits music. (3/7)

The Campaign
(2012, Jay Roach)

Sometimes really funny and sometimes really not funny. Ferrell and Galifinakis are good but this story rambles. Karen Maruyama as Mrs. Yao is worth watching the movie for. Also Southerner Katherine LaNasa is very appealing as Rose Brady. (4/7)


Ted
The Raven
The Campaign

On DVD: The Clash ( Bẫy Rồng)

(2009, Le Thanh Son)

This movie was really fun. I was not sure what to expect from a Vietnamese action movie but I hoped it would be amazing. Southeast Asia is the hope for Neo-HK style action flicks and Johnny Tri Nguyen brought the sauce. Mr. Nguyen wrote, produced and starred along with his on-screen partner Ngo Thanh Van.  Ngo Thanh Van (Veronica Ngo) is super tough and hot and the fight choreography is top drawer. The plot/ story is a bit tired with no really new ground covered but for a lower budget action movie this is really good. Tri Nguyen is very charismatic and his martial arts are solid. Nice MMA/ Jiu Jitsu and Muay Thai and  Vovinam  derived moves-- adding a modern and believable feel to the fights. We don't get to hear Tri Nguyen sing but he does dance. . . (5/7) Also Tri Nguyen is my age-- YAY! Double Punch!

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The Dark Knight Rises and Coming Soon: Cloud Atlas

(2012, Christopher Nolan)

A bit predictable but well done. Glad I was right about the identity of the character Marion Cotillard was to play when they first cast her. Good film. (6/7)

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Coming Soon to Theatres

Cloud Atlas by the Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski and Tom Twyker: I think it looks epic, awesome, and beautiful and I hope it is. Check it out here CLOUD ATLAS

Moonrise Kingdom; Amazing Spiderman; Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Moonrise Kingdom

(2012, Wes Anderson)

Bloody brilliant. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Great story-- great performances. Wes Anderson is still the hope for American movies. Writing by Roman Coppola and Wes Andersen.  Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward are wonderful. The score/ soundtrack is stellar.  This film is Double Punchy goodness in the spirit of Judy Blume and other classic voices. (7/7)

Moonrise Kingdom
 

The Amazing Spiderman

(2012, Marc Webb)

Okay so I thought (500) Days of Summer was mostly bad but director Marc Webb pulls of The Amazing Spiderman. Very entertaining reboot. Worth watching for Spidey fans especially if you like Sara Pichelli's artwork. Far more true to the canonical ideas of Spiderman-- really dynamic and believable performance by Andrew Garfield. Great stunts and fight choreographic and decent FX. (6/7)

Amazing Spiderman


Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
(2012, Timur Bekmambetov)

I liked Nightwatch and Daywatch and I thought aspects of Wanted were cool but this movie, while enjoyable, I felt lacked Bekmambetov's usual flair and verve.  Felt under budgeted somehow. Some solid ideas and effects with a screenplay by the writer of the novel.  If they blew the adaptation it he shares the blame. Rufus Sewell is always a great bad guy. (5/7)

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Snow White and the Huntsman

(2012, Rupert Sanders)

Okay I like Kristen Stewart and I like Chris Hemsworth and this movie is filled with great character actors (Bob Hoskins, Ian McShane, Ray Winstone, Nick Frost, Toby Jones, Eddie Marsan, etc.) and has some solid effects, lensing, and costumes in places. Overall this was a fun tale if I was 12 I think I would have been crazy about this movie. I thought the ending was flat and then I realized. . . oh, a sequel cometh. Kristen Stewart double-punch action, dwarfs, faeries, the White Heart, Judeo-Christian-Celtic-y-mish-mash, a troll, and hallucinogenic fungi.  The soundtrack was "meh" by James Newton Howard. Charlize Theron is solid as the evil queen Ravenna. 6/7

Prometheus

(Ridley Scott, 2012)

So I never thought it would happen. . . a Ridley Scott movie that I didn't really like. So basically this movie looks great(!) and has some fine actors in it but it is poorly developed, illogical drek on many levels. All the characters and subsequent interactions are wooden and at times laughable-- except for the android played by Michael Fassbender.  Seriously-- a biologist who is hired by a multi-trillion dollar company and describes a totally alien organism as a "reptile-like" thing almost mad me laugh out loud.  I imagine a real scientific expedition to an alien world would have the biologist on his hands and knees for hours just outside the space craft.  Their containment/ contagion protocols felt hilarious too.  I felt like the whole time I was watching some BS studio version of the film and not the Director's cut. Totally, utterly predictable for anyone who knows the Alien films. Some great FX and production design and some cruddy make-up too. Weird. Thanks Ridley Scott for disappointing me.  Weak sci-fi, weak aliens/ monsters, just weak. . . . Oh yeah Noomi Rapace still rules and can do no wrong. (5/7)

Official site

The Dictator

(2012, Larry Charles)

It is the funny from England Jew Sacha Baron Cohen back again this time making fun of America, Jews, and Muslims and lots of other things. This movie is funny but incredibly predictable. Some nice humor with goats.  I enjoyed myself. Ana Faris can do no wrong. (5/7)

Trailer

Pickpocket on Criterion DVD

(1959, Robert Bresson)

Pickpocket is one of the most brilliant films ever made. Period.  Get this now. DVD extras are worth it.
(7/7)

Criterion Entry

The Avengers and Cabin in the Woods

The Avengers
(2012, Joss Whedon)

Nice superhero team action finally on screen. Some great CG and some less than great CG. Solid humor and acting. Fun. (6/7)

Trailer

Cabin in the Woods
(2011, Drew Goddard)

This is a fun and funny horror movie that reveals what it is going to be about in the first few seconds of the film. I wish the Ancient Ones had been more overtly Cthuluvian but hey can't win 'em all. Good work from Joss Whedon and various actors from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the Office, Thor, and elsewhere.  Some smart, double punchyness, brief nudity and some great creatures. (7/7)

Trailer

The Raven

(2012, James McTeigue)

John Cusack stars as Edgar Allen Poe as he works with Baltimore police as they try to stop a serial killer who is using Poe's stories and poems as inspiration for his crimes. Cusack is surprisingly convincing as Poe and he is supported by some solid character actors including Luke Evans (Immortals) and  Brendan Gleeson (Gangs of New York, Kingdom of Heaven). The movie is in essence a sort of ratiocination story for which Poe himself is know and has some nice references to Poe's contemporaries, those who would follow him (Jules Verne) and to Poe's battles with depression and perhaps comes up with an imaginative tale which explains how he eventually died.  Entertaining-- McTeigue offers decent period visuals (though clearly this film is not shot in the USA) but the soundtrack and ending/ outro is often times annoying. 5/7

Trailer

On DVD: Ironclad (Director's Commentary)

(2011, Jonathan English)

James Purefoy (Rome), Brian Cox, Paul Giamatti, Jason Flemyng, Derek Jacobi, Mackenzie Crook (The Office, Pirates of the Caribbean) and Kate Mara star in this independently produced film about the event surrounding the 13th century siege of Rochester Castle.  King John (Giamatti) goes up against a knight Templar and the Baron Albany as they attempt to enforce the rule of Magna Carta which John signed but refuses to follow.  Styled after the Magnificent Seven or Seven Samurai this movie has some nice elements but in the end fails on a number of fronts-- mostly (it would seem) related to budget constraints.

The reason this film should be viewed is for the Director's Commentary. It is really well done and is quite detailed as it delves into the various directorial sensibilities which influenced Jonathan English as well as the various choices and techniques which informed the creation of the film in practical terms. The film gets a 5/7 the commentary gets 7/7.

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Coming Up: Lawless

Lawless
(2012, John Hillcoat)

Seriously-- look at the cast. Epic.

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On DVD: *Must See* Marcel Carné, Les Enfants du Paradis CRITERION

(Marcel Carné, 1945)

Considered the best french film of all time by the Cinémathèque Française (and many critics) director Marcel Carné and writer Jacques Prévert have created a magical, emotional tale filled with compelling visuals, distinctive characters, and striking artistry and theatricality. This film has clearly influenced directors as diverse as Terry Gilliam and Jean Pierre Jeunet, Martin Scorcese, Bob Dylan and others.

The Criterion release is a further refinement of the 1990's Pathé restoration and they have done a fantastic job. The ancillary materials are solid but the film itself is what is so good. The translation/ subtitling is solid as well with few glaring translational issues that I could discover with my meagre french abilities. An historical drama set in the Paris of 1840's it is a time of ribaldry, duels, and diverse entertainments-- it is the "true" story of mime Jean-Gaspard Deburau "Baptiste" and actor Frédérick Lemaître on the famed Boulevard of Crime.

Amazing sets and theatrical "stories within the story" coupled with wonderful music help to add richness to the world peopled by a range of quirky and interesting characters often played brilliantly by the cast. Arletty's Garance, Pierre Brasseur's Frédérick Lemaître, Marcel Harrand's Lacenaire, and Jean-Louis Barrault's amazing mime Baptiste are all winning. There are a number of standout character performances as well (the humorous "Authors" come to mind).

This is a touching tale with something for every heart that has ever known or lost love. (7/7)

Cinémathèque Française

Trailer

Two this week: Hunger Games and 21 Jumpstreet

The Hunger Games
(2012, Gary Ross)

Okay let's see: I liked the books but I must say the film is miscast across the board. While there are some nice filmic notes throughout-- this film fails to translate the spirit of the book. It is fairly accurate in depicting the basic events of the story but the scenic detail and convincing world-building are lost. The costumes and FX were (except for the bleak District 12 attire) fairly cheesily executed. The music is generally solid however (T-Bone Burnett producing). Jodelle Ferland (Tideland) wanted to be Katniss and I think she would have been a better choice. The story builds in the sequels, so hopefully the director will step up. . . . (4/7)

Official Site

21 Jumpstreet
(2012, Phil Lord and Chris Miller)

This will be the highest rated film that Down the Movie Hole has so far reviewed. It was a non-stop, double punch, laugh strike to the bladder. Completely winning, epic, brilliant and completely ridiculous! Genius. Cameos by the original Jumpstreet crew are a welcome addition! An hilarious romp for the GenX audience with some amazing social commentary and cultural references to and about the aloof Fakebooke generation and the social machinery of earlier generations. Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum are awesome with Brie Larson (Scott Pilgrim), Dave Franco (James Franco's little bro see them both on Funnyordie), awesome Ellie Kemper (The Office), and Johnny Simmons (Scott Pilgrim) in a short but hilarious appearance. Bring on the college sequel-- I'll be right up front laughing my arse off again. Music by Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh. (7/7)

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Three This Week: Chronicle, John Carter, and Silent House

Chronicle
(John Trank, 2012)

Chronicle is a movie about superpowers. It tries to do something few other "powers" movies have done and it succeeds for the most part. In many ways it is like the cult time travel film Primer in the approach that it takes to telling a story about how negative things can come from having access to awesome power. Overall I felt like the FX were decent (especially relative to films like Cloverfield and fellow South African District 9). I feel like we are almost "getting there" with the integration of POV filming and "verité" effects. Still this film had some obvious story issues and some weak acting at times. A decent effort and a lesson to bullies. . . . (5/7)

(I wish Shane Carruth and Primer had had $12M to play with. . . .)

John Carter
(Andrew Stanton, 2012)

John Carter is Andrew Stanton's (Wall-E, Finding Nemo ) attempt to translate the Edgar Rice Burroughs classic "A Princess of Mars" to the big screen. In terms of capturing the essence of the source material while avoiding some of the author's own weaknesses he succeeds. This is a fun film. It has some nice editing and the effects are generally not distractingly CG looking. The costume, prop, and set design are all solid and in places stunning. The inclusion of the Edgar Rice Burroughs character (Daryl Sabara) is actually in keeping with the original material! I like that most of HBO's ROME cast seem to have made it into the film. Giacchino's score is fine. I liked the 3D too. Good escapist play. Taylor Kitsch looks appropriate as John Carter and Lynn Collins is beautiful as Dejah Thoris. Willem Dafoe is great as Tars Tarkas. Also my name: Jed is prominent throughout the original material and film. Way to go. 6/7

Go to the website or IMDB and look at the full voice cast: some heavy hitters in there!
Hopefully the sequel will be better.

Silent House
(Chris Kentis/ Laura Lau, 2012)

Silent House attempts to raise the fear bar and exploit the "single long take" idea to tell what to me is a wholly predictable and unoriginal story. I liked the acting by Elizabeth Olsen-- but once I conceived of where the story was going in the first 20 minutes or so, it is just a long wait to be right. I was. Like Haute Tension I would have liked this movie much better if it was not a scary story about real people with fractured selves. Spoiler alert! Oops. Hey predictable is as predictable does. Still this was scary but the long take scheme adds little cinematic value to the story. Disturbing in the way that Hard Candy, Butterfly Effect and Gothika are disturbing.
(5/7 for scenic scares, 4/7 for obvious storytelling)

Haywire and Warhorse

Haywire
(2011, Steven Soderbergh)

The short of it is: Gina Carano works as an action star but this film was too contemplative and the story a bit contrived. Decent lensing. Nice triangle choke. A sequel might work. Michael Fassbender can do no wrong. I hoped for more and better and nudity. 4/7

Trailer

Warhorse
(2011, Steven Spielberg)

A tear jerker. Animal movies are sad. A decent film with competent acting. Some nice locations and war action. Tom Hiddleston and Benedict Cumberbatch show that they are actors to watch. Peter Mullan has one of the best voices around. Hopefully young Jeremy Irvine does not go astray as an actor because he was pretty believable in Warhorse. Not a bad film from Mr. S'berg. 5/7

Trailer

Sleeping Beauty

(2011, Julia Leigh)

Check it.

The Grey (¡¡Advanced Screening!!)

(2012, Joe Carnahan)

Okay so I won tix to Liam Neeson's new wilderness survival pic from good old Nordling at AICN. So that was cool. . . Nordling raved about this exciting movie and seemed to think Mr. Neeson would be up for an Oscar if it were not after the selection period. I am not sure about that but the acting is good. (H-town's own) Dallas Roberts is really good as is Frank Grillo (in important supporting roles). I like to describe Frank Grillo as the handsomest man that director's manage to make look really rough. This is a fairly unremarkable story of plane crash victims versus ravening wolves. There are some nice poetic edits, some nice lensing, some decent wolf effects (KNB), and we get to hear Liam Neeson be Irish. There is good emotion here but I did not cry and there is no double-punchiness. . . think the somberness of The Road but not as bleak. I want to like Joe Carnahan-- I dug Smokin' Aces, and I found the A-team pleasantly surprising. There were some logical gaps in this film and if I say that then there are some logical gaps in this film. Stay through the credits if you want. . . . (5/7)

Official Site

The Divide (Coming Soon)

(2011, Xavier Gens)

The up coming film the Divide. Reminds me of a post-apocalyptic re-telling of a certain Bible story I was working on. . . Damn Collective Unconscious!

The Divide Official Site

Trailer

On DVD: Freeze Frame (2004)

(2004, John Simpson)

This is a film I saw years ago and could never remember what it was called. Now I rediscovered it! I found this movie to be a rather original take on a murder mystery. Sean Veil is accused of a crime he maintains he did not commit and spends all of his time filming himself in case he is ever accused of another crime. . . which of course he is. A tale of well-placed paranoia, evidence, and opportunity. A visceral and stirring performance by Lee Evans as Sean Veil (he actually shaved his eyebrows for the role!!) (5/7)

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