The Reel Deal

Oscars 2012: For Every Great Nomination, There is a Terrible Snub

2012-01-26T11:14:00.001-05:00

For every one satisfying Oscar nomination, there are endless movies, directors, and actors that could have filled that spot as well. This year, a surprising amount of suspected shoo-ins were snubbed, along with many that may never have had a chance. This year, who will join the ranks of "The Searchers," "Touch of Evil," and "Do the Right Thing" for most egregious snubs of all time? It is time to celebrate those who didn’t make the cut.

Best Picture: 50/50

Usually, Best Picture is associated with large scale, historical spectacles. What the Oscars really love, however, are stories of triumph in the face of adversity. No other movie could have better fit that label than “50/50,” Will Reiser’s funny and moving autobiographical story of coping with cancer. It deals with both the dire and the mundane in ways that few movies about cancer before this ever have. It might not have caught the Academy’s eye, but the impact of its naturalistic writing and effortless performances will long outlast the February 26 ceremony.

Best Director: Steven Spielberg (War Horse)

Spielberg is known at times for letting his emotions get the best of his movies. However, his sentimentality toward movies and re-creating history are at their best here. This is perhaps the most detailed depiction of World War I in film, and the ending, evoking John Ford’s most famous westerns, could make even the most hardened movie buff cry.

Best Actor: Ryan Gosling (Drive)

Gosling pulled a hat trick this year with memorable performances in “Crazy, Stupid, Love,” “The Ides of March,” and “Drive.” His against-type performance in “Drive” was the best of these. Conveying so much with so little dialogue, his transformation from a stellar getaway driver to a psychotic killer in the film’s final act is shocking in its subtle believability. Gosling helps elevate a flawed movie by turning The Driver into one of the most unforgettable movie characters in years.

Best Actress: Charlize Theron (Young Adult)

It may be tough to make the bitchy former high school prom queen likable, but in “Young Adult,” Charlize Theron shows that it is at least possible to make her relatable. Theron so perfectly disappears into Mavis Gary’s self-denial that sometimes, it is hard to even tell whether it is really self-denial. “Young Adult” doesn’t give Mavis the fairy tale redemption ending that a lesser movie would have resorted to. While she doesn’t deserve our sympathy or attention, giving it to her doesn’t seem like such a crime.

Best Supporting Actor: Patton Oswalt (Young Adult)

Awards season is usually kind to comedians who take a stab at dramatic acting. However, Patton Oswalt, who had not one, but two, fantastic dramatic turns, first in 2009’s “Big Fan,” and this year in “Young Adult,” has yet to be nominated. Oswalt’s performance is much more toned down than anything usually seen from him. He serves as a perfect foil to Theron, wallowing in self-pity, but also displaying a great deal of self-awareness. While his life has fallen apart, he never seems disturbed by it. An actor’s job is to make an unlikable character likable, and Oswalt takes a loser and turns him into something much more unique.

Best Supporting Actress: Shailene Woodley (The Descendants)

This breakout performance from the 20-year-old Shailene Woodley has been inexplicably left out of the race. Woodley delivers one of the most devastating moments of the year: after hearing that her mother is in a coma, she goes underwater to cry. Making the leap from an ABC Family melodrama to holding your own against George Clooney in an Alexander Payne movie is the mark of a promising movie star in the works.

Honorable Mentions:

Brendan Gleeson (The Guard): For the ten of you out there who actually saw this movie, you'll know that Brendan Gleeson is the only person who could make a bumbling and racist Irish cop hilarious and a bit of a sneaky genius.

David Fincher (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo): Fincher turned a pulpy story into a haunting Swedish noir. Seriously, after this, "The Social Network," and the various other movies he hasn't even been nominated for ("Se7en," "Fight Club") how has this guy not won an Oscar yet? Perhaps Fincher is the Academy's new Scorsese.

And a few more: Joseph Gordon-Levitt (50/50), Ryan Gosling (The Ides of March), Owen Wilson (Midnight in Paris), Diablo Cody (Young Adult)

You can also check this article out at The Daily Orange. It is also available in print. Yes, print still exists.

Oscars 2012 Nominations: Initial Reaction

2012-01-24T12:15:00.000-05:00

The Oscar Nominations were announced today, and there was less surprises in the movies included and more in those that were excluded. Those snubs are for another post entirely.

After a late release date and tepid reviews, "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" pulled off a surprise Best Picture nomination, as well as a Supporting Actor nod for Max von Sydow. Like Christopher Plummer, he is another veteran actor who has yet to take an Oscar home. Plummer, thought to be the guarenteed winner, now has some competition. Things just got interesting.

Meanwhile, "Hugo" received the most nominations of any movie this year, with a whopping total of 11. Frontrunner "The Artist" follows close behind with 10. The amount of nominations a movie receives usually doesn't usually equal a win, but "Hugo" definitely became a much more serious contender than it was prior to today.

The most satisfying part of the nominations is the prominent presence of pure comedies in the major categories. Woody Allen deservedly returned to the Best Picture and Best Director race with "Midnight in Paris." Meanwhile, "Bridesmaids" scored nominations for Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo in the Original Screenplay category, and for Melissa McCarthy as a supporting actress. This will mark the first time in Oscar history that a mainstream R-rated comedy with a combined puke and diarrhea joke gets to be nominated. It looks like comedies are finally starting to be taken more seriously. Maybe if "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," "Knocked Up," and "Superbad" had come out this year, they could've been contenders, too.

Full list of nominations here. My annual list of snubs will be published tomorrow.

Speaking of comedies, Jim Rash is one of the writers who is nominated for "The Descendants." Yes, this guy.

Movie Review: Me and You and Everyone We Know

2012-01-17T01:04:00.000-05:00

"We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible to ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love."
-Dr. Seuss

Few movies could be as polarizing, yet as undeniably well made, as Miranda July's "Me and You and Everyone We Know." Some will angrily walk out of it believing they have just seen the typical, nonsensical Sundance entry. Others will take a queue from the opening credits, which are placed against a man setting his own hand on fire, and be prepared for the totally unexpected.

"Me and You and Everyone We Know" is told in a series vignettes that sometimes overlap, and sometimes don't. July plays Christine Jersperson, the perky and awkward performance artist who has a day job as a driver for Elder Cab. She struggles to sell her art, which consists of videos of her acting out various dialogues, usually concerning people in love.

Richard Swersey (John Hawkes), who had set his hand on fire in the first scene, foolishly thinking he could pull off a magic trick, is recently separated from his wife and he tries his best to bring his two sons up right. His two young boys take to the Internet and form a twisted relationship in a chat room, while two neighboring and insecure teenage girls vie for the attention of a creepy man who lives next door. They may all vary in age, but they are all dumbfounded by the seemingly meaningless direction of life.

July, a former Portland based performance artist in real life, has created a movie that is itself a piece of performance art: every scene depends on an audience reaction in order to get it going to its intended effect. There are so many different scenes that push it to a limit, whether it be the hand burning or the goldfish scene. In the memorable yet perplexing goldfish scene, a goldfish in a water-filled plastic bag is tossed from car to car on the highway. In a way, it shows how helpless each character in the ensemble is to the unfolding of their own story and in the way that the fish's survival depends on the movement of each car, so does each character depend on the actions of one another.

July is just as good of an actress as she is a writer and director. She displays a delicate emotional vulnerability that is funny and sometimes sad. While her speaking manner is awkward and timid, her presence is always inviting. When her and Hawkes are on screen together, they share an uncomfortable chemistry that makes it seem as if each of them was a puzzle piece that was meant to be together. Creating this can be tough, but these two actors rose to the occasion and succeeded.

Watching "Me and You and Everyone We Know" made me think of Todd Solondz's "Happiness." Just as that movie was about the many eccentric lengths people go to in order to find happiness, this movie is about the crazy lengths people will go in order to find what they think is love. In the end, love is not some universally known feeling. It is something that can only be shared amongst a select group, it is what connects me and you and everyone we know.

"Me and You and Everyone We Know" is filled with many deep and powerful images that might not hold as much significance on a first viewing. I began to appreciate the film more during round two. You will begin to notice little things, such as one image at the beginnings that mirrors a painting shown at the end, and the combination of those two is rather remarkable. I would not call this a nice little movie, as some of the characters do things that wouldn't necessarily make them likable. However, it is a movie that is very quiet and mature throughout all of its humorous instances. It is not a concluding resolution, but rather a concluding feeling, that defines everything. Movies don't do that often enough.

Golden Globes 2012: My Predictions

2012-01-15T13:46:00.000-05:00

Since the Golden Globes don't mean much towards the Oscars, and they are actually kind of a sham (last year, "Burlesque" was nominated after some actions that most people would consider to be corrupt), I will not spend too much time analyzing who will win and why. The Globes are a fun night to watch everyone in Hollywood get drunk and compliment each other. However, with Ricky Gervais hosting again, another large scale takedown seems possible.

Since you probably don't care much anyway, without much further adieu, here are my predicted winners for tonight's Golden Globes in all of the major film categories*:

Best Picture (Drama): The Descendants Upset: The Help

Best Picture (Musical or Comedy^): The Artist Upset: Midnight in Paris

Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist) Upset: Alexander Payne (The Descendants)

Best Actor (Drama): George Clooney (The Descendants) Upset: Brad Pitt (Moneyball)

Best Actress (Drama): Viola Davis (The Help) Upset: Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs)

Best Actor (Musical or Comedy): Jean Dujardin (The Artist) Upset: Owen Wilson (Midnight in Paris)

Best Actress (Musical or Comedy): Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn) Upset: Charlize Theron (Young Adult)

Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer (Beginners) Upset: Jonah Hill (Moneyball)

Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer (The Help) Upset: Berenice Bejo (The Artist)

Best Screenplay: The Descendants

*I have neglected to include the TV nominees, as the absence of "Breaking Bad," "Community," and "Parks & Recreation" lead me to believe that those categories don't even exist this year.
^This is among the dumbest pairings of all time.

Attention Everyone: The New Wes Anderson Trailer Has Arrived

2012-01-12T18:13:00.002-05:00

Lately, I've been complaining a lot about terrible, no good, misleading trailers for movies. That temporarily ends today, as the trailer for Wes Anderson's "Moonrise Kingdom" has arrived. Not only does it make this movie look fantastic, but it is most likely showing exactly what we will get, maybe that's simply because Anderson has a very distinct style of filmmaking. It almost looks like a series of children's drawings.

I love everything about this trailer. I love the outdated look of it. I love the French soundtrack. I love that it includes a clip of Edward Norton saying the phrase "Jiminy Cricket," which brings back the use of the phrase "cuss" in "The Fantastic Mr. Fox," Anderson's last movie (and one of my favorite movies of the last decade). I love that the rest of the cast includes Frances McDormand, Bruce Willis, and Bill Murray. Seriously can Bill Murray win an Oscar for this role? Just because he's Bill Murray?

But I digress. Watch the trailer below. Then re-watch it a few more times like I did:

Movie Review: The Purple Rose of Cairo

2012-01-12T16:13:00.000-05:00

Warning: The following review contains some content that many would consider to be spoilers, mainly because it is hard to discuss this film without giving a lot of the story away (especially the ending). So if you haven't seen this movie, just go rent it right now based on this sentence alone.

When I was younger, I was one of those kids who thought I could free the miniature people trapped inside the TV set. Luckily, my parents never let me play with a hammer.

Woody Allen probably never had a hammer either, but he did have the ability to write a superb script. "The Purple Rose of Cairo" combines Allen's gift for realistic fantasy story telling with chaos theory. The result is one of his finest films.

Cecilia (Mia Farrow) is a wishful thinker and a bit of a dreamer. That might be because she lives in Depression era New Jersey (any era New Jersey would probably be bad enough), has an abusive husband (Danny Aiello), and works a dead end job as a waitress which she is eventually fired from. Things like this would want to make anyone want to escape into the comfort of a good movie every single day.

Cecilia frequents the action-adventure-romance picture "The Purple Rose of Cairo." Enough is seen of this movie's story that "The Purple Rose of Cairo" becomes a movie-within-a-movie with the movie within it also being called "The Purple Rose of Cairo." Hope your head doesn't hurt too much yet, because the main character of the movie within a movie, the explorer Tom Baxter (Jeff Daniels) literally walks off the screen and into Cecilia's life.

Tom is the kind of man that could only exist in Cecilia's dreams: he's strong, brave, and romantic. Meanwhile, she's used to a weak-willed alcoholic. The best part of this whole act is that there is absolutely no explanation for it. It is similar to the way that Allen goes to no length to explain Gil's ability to travel back in time in "Midnight in Paris." Save the science behind it for a J.J. Abrams movie. All that matters to Allen is the ensuing reactions if seemingly impossible situations such as a movie character coming to life were to happen to an ordinary person.

In accordance to Chaos Theory (sorry, there has to be at least a little background philosophizing here), the movie-within-a-movie's story cannot go on without the presence of even a minor character such as Tom. This leaves the characters in the movie within to partake in much philosophical kvetching. Meanwhile the actor playing Tom, Gil Shepherd (Daniels, again), is left to ponder his next career move after this debacle occurs, and he eventually, like his own character, finds himself falling for Cecilia after they meet.

"The Purple Rose of Cairo" might be Allen's saddest movie. Well, almost every one of his movies ends on some sort of note of melancholy. However, this is one of the few that leaves its protagonist with too many problems and too little hope. Maybe the funniest thing about this movie is that even though it tells us that movies provide the best form of escape, the bigger movie itself is as far from escapism as possible.

This is a movie that tends to also be really funny at times. I love the way the characters attending the screening of "The Purple Rose of Cairo" interact with the characters on the screen. Everyone is so surprised as to what as happened, but no reacts in any over-the-top way. Reacting as little as possible to a situation that requires a more emotional reaction is always funny. Escapism is okay as long as we know that we are escaping into a realm of fiction, and not into a realm of reality.

"The Purple Rose of Cairo" is a great black comedy about the absurdity of reality. Every one of its characters, even the minor ones, are memorable in some way. Farrow steals the show as the abused mess of a woman, and she is absent of the high-pitched shriek voice that she would have to take on two years later in "Radio Days." She also owned the ukulele before Zooey Deschanel and her army of hipsters decided to take it over. Daniels also gives my favorite performance I have ever seen him in ("Dumb & Dumber") in two different roles, one being the overly confident pseudo-intellectual that Allen so frequently mocks.

The scene in which Tom Baxter first jumps off the screen, even by today's standard of special effects, still feels magical and jarring. Maybe it is the way he so suddenly changes from black and white into color.

The conclusion of "The Purple Rose of Cairo" is one that is beautiful even in its sadness. Cecilia seems to have become more self-aware, yet she remains just as sheltered by the cinema. After Gil leaves town without telling her and she realizes her husband won't change, she returns to the theater and watches Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing with a sense of both desolation and wonderment. Perhaps it was at that moment she understood that that was the best her life would ever get: to sit inside a theater and watch two people who don't exist feel a sense of happiness that she would never get to feel. Maybe every once in a while, being drawn in by the flashing light of film from a projector can be a good thing. It can heal wounds and make the pains of life feel just a little bit better.

The Season 6 Premiere of 30 Rock Tonight...

2012-01-12T15:18:00.000-05:00

...finally gives me a reason to post the clip below. One of the funniest scenes in the show's history, and a disturbing reminder that Don Draper can also impersonate a Jamaican woman:

PS. Save "Community." Seriously

Check This Out: If We Don't, Remember Me

2012-01-11T21:32:00.000-05:00

I have been meaning to share If We Don't Remember Me for a while now. It is a gallery of living, moving movie stills (or GIFs, in Internet speak). IWDRM has found a way to maximize the art of the movie still: it is no longer just a still image, but a living encapsulation of a brief moment in time. Watch endlessly, the moment before Travis Bickle snaps, or notice a sense of humor you didn't notice before in Sergio Leone's films. Some are funny and endearing, others are subtle and almost moving. In between my viewing of videos of cats morphing into croissants and the dog from "The Artist" skateboarding (is there anything this dog can't do?), there is something subtle and quiet to be addicted to on the Internet.

I don't think I need to say much more, I am now going to let a few of my favorite stills from the site speak for themselves:

Blow-Up

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

Fight Club

American Psycho

Taxi Driver

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

2001: A Space Odyssey

Red Tails: On Dubstep, False Advertising, and My Hatred of Kids

2012-01-11T00:28:00.000-05:00

We here at The Reel Deal enjoy making fun of George Lucas a lot. Mainly, we target him for the fact that hokey Naboo sequence for "Attack of the Clones" and the fact that he will be rereleasing "The Phantom Menace" in 3D later this year.

The latest release under the Lucas name is "Red Tails" or as I will call it here, "DubTales" for the absurd soundtrack that has been accompanying its commercials. During Lucas's interview on "The Daily Show" on Monday night, I saw a side of him that took me off guard: he was forthright rather than pompous. This looked a lot more like the guy who made "American Graffiti" and "A New Hope."

"DubTales" is yet another movie about the Tuskegee Airmen, the brave African American fighter pilots who, against all odds, took to the sky and fought for America during World War II. Lucas has been working on this movie since 1988, and various people, including himself and Samuel L. Jackson, have been slated to direct. Anthony Hemingway is slated to direct a final script written by John Ridley. Anthony is unfortunately not related to Ernest, but Ridley is credited with the story for "Three Kings," one of the best war movies ever made. Perhaps he can bring something original to a story that has been told so many times on film.

George Lucas and Steven Spielberg raping Indiana Jones (courtesy of South Park).

The story behind the making of "DubTales" is an interesting story itself. According to Lucas, studios were hesitant to finance a story like this. Studios today largely concentrate on foreign box office, as that is where the real money is. It is no longer just about making movies that will appeal to Middle America, but what will appeal to the rest of the world. Instead of doing careful research, the easiest thing to do in order to break cultural barriers is to make movies that have less emphasis on story, and more emphasis on explosions. This explains the existence of the "Transformers" series.

So apparently, an inspirational story about African Americans won't sell well overseas. I have never conducted a focus group, and don't know if any were actually conducted to reach this conclusion, but the most perplexing part about this is that even George Lucas can have trouble getting a movie made.

Lucas was not trying to make "DubTales" for a foreign audience. Rather, he is targeting it toward teenage boys, whom he would like to learn more about this momentous story. That explains the Dubstep soundtrack in the trailer. I appreciate his efforts, but adding music like this to a movie about World War II seems wrong. It feels less like finding the right audience and more like pandering. And how could I resist making fun of blatant pandering? Teenage boys should be encouraged to see movies about history, but they should not be the one deciding the way in which they are made.

This picture has no purpose here, I just think it's funny.

It is very possible that this ad was just an attempt to grab an audience and not a reflection on the actual film. I have been starting to trust ad campaigns for movies less and less by the day, thanks in part to how the trailers for "War Horse," "Hugo," and "Young Adult" represented their respective movies so inaccurately. Trailers are not the selling of the actual product, that is what buying tickets is for. Trailers are meant as a tool for hype, but given that no one seems to know how to represent a movie accurately nowadays, studios should look into heavier use of word of mouth.

I believe George Lucas cares more about the movies he makes than he lets on, and I will consider seeing "Red Tails," but never "DubTales."

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2011: In A Weak Year, There Are Still 10 Best Movies

2012-01-10T18:44:00.000-05:00

2011 wasn't necessarily a bad year for movies. Sure, it looks poor when compared to 2010, which boasted both "Black Swan" and "The Social Network." Just like any other year, 2011 had too many great movies to fit on just one list but as always, I will try.

Choosing number one this year was difficult. I didn't know what to choose, so I looked to my heart, my head, and my gut. My heart said "War Horse," my head said "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," and my gut said "Midnight in Paris." Ultimately my heart won out, but it was a close battle. One of these days, I might have to abandon numbers and simply pick the ten movies I enjoyed most. But for now, these are the best movies of 2011:

1. War Horse- Once the ending credits rolled and I finally found the emotional strength to leave the theater, a thought immediately rushed into my head that was so contagious that it simply wouldn't go away: "War Horse" is the year's best movie. The common theme of 2011 was nostalgia and Spielberg brought "War Horse" past its roots into a tribute to the great film epics of the past. Every emotional note hits its mark seamlessly here. The ending itself is enough to reduce any film buff to tears. Its journey into the crushing soul of war and then back again is as rewarding a journey as you'll take this year. Most times, I would deem a film like "War Horse" as a pandering attempt to win Oscars. This time, I call it the best film of the year.

2. Midnight in Paris- Every few years, Woody Allen has another supposed comeback. However, "Midnight in Paris" is the real thing, and it ranks near "Annie Hall" and "Hannah and Her Sisters" as one of his absolute best. A struggling writer (Owen Wilson, a perfect Woody Allen stand-in) vacationing in Paris looks for answers in the past, and through a thankfully unexplained gap in the space-time continuum, ends up in 1920s Paris, talking to the likes of Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. "Midnight in Paris" is the most thoughtful, inventive, and overall, entertaining comedy of the year. And it achieves both of these things by being neither too dark nor too light-hearted. No matter what city he is in, and no matter how old he gets, Woody Allen's wit, insight, and grasp on human conversation never cease to amaze me.

3. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo- I might have spoken a little too soon when I deemed this the best movie of the year a few weeks ago. Then again, Facebook isn't necessarily the best form of communication. "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" is still among the most extraordinary films of the year. It's an old fashioned film noir wrapped in crisp digital cinematography, a haunting score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, and mesmerizing direction from David Fincher. It is most notable, however, for recreating Lisabeth Salander and making her the female hero the Digital Age. Rooney Mara gives the bravest performance of the year and in one scene, pulls off an act that is shocking even in a time when being shocking and controversial proves all the more difficult. Due to very poor scheduling during a crowded weekend at the end of the year, "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" still cannot find the audience it deserves. Yet, the sequel is still in the works. The more time I can spend with Salander and the rest of the "Dragon Tattoo" universe, the better.

4. Hugo- "Martin Scorsese made a children's movie" was the hype surrounding the release of "Hugo." What everyone should have been saying is, "Martin Scorsese made another classic." "Hugo," a movie about the preservation of movies, plays into this year's theme of nostalgia. Perhaps Hollywood's answer to trying to improve the state of movies was to look toward the past. If so, it is working. It also helped that "Hugo" is the only movie I'd encourage anyone go see in 3D, as it actually adds to rather than detracts from the story. It is the most entertaining lesson in film history you'll ever get. "Hugo" might just give birth to a whole new generation of cinephiles.

5. Young Adult- Mavis (Charlize Theron), the young adult writer from which this movie gets its name, is like an odd mixture of Stephanie Meyer and Paris Hilton. She might be the least likable movie protagonist of the year, but Theron makes Mavis seem so genuine because Theron doesn't seem to think too highly of her either. "Young Adult" is a turning point in the careers of director Jason Reitman and writer Diablo Cody; it is more in line with the ambiguity of "Up in the Air" and much less precious than "Juno." "Young Adult" will be a good time capsule movie, as it so accurately portrays America in 2011 in both its disenchantment and its cultural excesses. Perhaps what the misleading advertisements for "Young Adult" should have shown is that this is a not a dark comedy about happiness, but rather a bleak one that shows that when people sugar-coat misery and loneliness, it only makes them feel worse. In a world where reality is processed into such simple comfort fantasies as a young adult novel, "Young Adult" is the jolt of reality that isn't just for that kid who thought they were so loved in high school, but for a world of filmmakers who feel everything must have a happy ending...

6. 50/50- ...but that doesn't mean a happy ending is a bad thing. Great stories run on hope. "50/50" is a cancer comedy about living. Writer Will Reiser turned his struggle with cancer at a young age into an unlikely story about beating the odds. The mark of change is letting a negative life experience influence change for the better, and there is no better way to reflect on the past than to find the humor in it. Everyone in the cast is totally in their element, most notably Angelica Huston, Seth Rogen, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The scene in which Gordon-Levitt shaves his head is the bravest thing I've seen an actor do on camera this year aside from what Lisabeth Salender does to get revenge on her tormentor. Funny, thoughtful, and spontaneous, "50/50" is all the better for examining life through a comedic point of view.

7. The Artist- "The Artist" is more than just that silent movie: it is the year's most indelibly entertaining film. The clever sound and image play throughout bring "The Artist" to a whole different level of inventiveness. This is both a cinephile's and a nostalgic's paradise. This film is essentially timeless in scope and story. Its characters are broad yet so memorable. Leads Jean Dujardin (as George Valentin) and Berence Bejo (as Pepe Miller) have the best chemistry I've seen this year. Chemistry is when two actors play off each other naturally and even when the two aren't together, there seems to be an electrifying force between them that will eventually bring them together. The third act might be a little overlong, but it is worth it for the ending, in which the true reason for Valentin's refusal to speak is revealed.

8. Terri- One of the most overlooked movies of the year that is also one of the year's best, "Terri" is a weird (in the best sense of the word) little story that is also weirdly inspired. Maybe no one wanted to see it because the idea of a protagonist who gets excited by watching a hawk catch its prey isn't exactly enticing. Yet the always pajama-clad Terri (Jacob Wysocki) is funny and sincere in an unexpected way. The friendship he forms with the principal (John C. Reilly) feels the exact same way, which is why it was the most believable bond seen on screen this year. "Terri" in general doesn't seem like the kind of movie that was ever after major awards or box office success. That's why it feels so pure, and why the relationships it portrays feel so real.

9. Bridesmaids- Most critics put "Bridesmaids" on a ridiculous pedestal as the greatest achievement in feminism since women's suffrage. Now that the buzz has subsided, "Bridesmaids" can finely step down and be recognized for what it is: an insanely hilarious and even touching big studio comedy. It took me a second viewing to realize that this is not a movie concerned about getting a story across, but rather about stretching a bunch of strange characters and awkward situations to their possible limits, an experiment just to see how long an audience can laugh for. This is why it is even better that they chose to let Kristen Wiig's drunken airplane tirade go on instead of letting the girls go to Vegas. The astounding success of this movie is a triumph in many ways, especially because it fast-tracked the career of director Paul Feig ("Freaks and Geeks") and showed that a raunchy but honest movie about friendship could connect with audiences. Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy, welcome to stardom.

10. The Tree of Life- Long after its release, "The Tree of Life" is still the most ambitious movie of the year. Even though I am still struggling to figure it all out, I continue to admire the beauty and subtle simplicity of Terrence Malick's vision. As Malick's career has advanced, his films have gotten bigger in scope, yet more obscure in message. By setting this story of a Texas family coming of age in the 1950s against the backdrop of dinosaurs and the creation of the Earth, the characters are not just products of that era in American history, but struggling, clashing creatures trying to find the answers to everything and only being able to guess as to where are the right places to look. If Malick is God of this film, then the camera is his non-judging lens looking onto all of humanity. "The Tree of Life" is neither a pretty Windows screensaver nor "The Tale of Scrotie McBoogerballs", but rather the work of a famously private director who will only shares himself through his one-of-a-kind films.

Just Missed the List: Source Code, The Descendants, The Muppets, Crazy, Stupid, Love, The Guard, The Ides of March, Super 8

Worst: Cowboys & Aliens- This epically dull sci-fi blockbuster included an alien spaceship that resembled Squidward's house. That is all.

Most Overrated: A Dangerous Method, Drive, Moneyball

Most Disappointing: The Rum Diary, Your Highness, 30 Minutes or Less

Still Need to See: Melancholia, A Seperation, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Shame, Like Crazy, Take Shelter

All movie title card images were found on this awesome website.

Movie Review: The Artist

2012-01-08T09:22:00.001-05:00

Who would have thought that a modern black and white silent film could be funnier and more entertaining than most films made with sound and color nowadays? Sound might have been improved film, but "The Artist" proves that a step back into silence every once in a while isn't such a bad thing.

For anyone resistant to seeing a silent film, "The Artist" is only partly one. It incorporates the orchestra that would usually play live alongside a silent film as well as a few incredibly clever sound tricks. "The Artist" is an "I'm big, it's the pictures that got small" story about silent star George Valentin (Jean Dujardin), with a last name evoking Rudolph Valentino and a mustache and toothy grin evoking Clark Gable. In 1927, Valentin's Hollywood career is soaring. He stars mainly in action and romantic pictures which usually boast names such as "A Russian Affair" and "A Chinese Affair." His dog, who is always on his side in both movies and in life, probably plays dead better than most dogs.

Movies are all about those little coincidences that, like a butterfly effect, later have a huge impact. After leaving one of his premieres, Valentin bumps into a fan (Berence Bejo) with a made-for-Hollywood name: Peppy Miller. Her name, and pictures of the glance that the two exchange, is all over the tabloids the next day. In order to get closer to George, Peppy auditions to be a dancer in his next movie. As she gets her start, George teaches Peppy the most important rule in being a successful actor: look distinct.

Around the same time that Peppy becomes a household name, the cigar wielding studio head (John Goodman, perfect for the role) decides that silent movies are out, and talkies are in. George wants absolutely no part in the talkies, and he pays the price for his arrogance. The inside of the studio is shown in one scene as a never-ending staircase in which people constantly walk up, but rarely down, like the Hollywood machine that mass produces movies and stars. Valentin becomes just another piece of unnecessary inventory.

"The Artist" is both a satire of the way movies are made and a movie with the broadest of plots and characters. Archetypes are usually unacceptable to me but here, they are just so lovingly that they actually work. As a movie star, George Valentin has no singular appeal, as he can play both a swashbuckling action hero and a dazzling romantic. These roles only seem to suit him in silent movies, and his fear of speaking makes his attempted comeback all the more difficult.

When the new form of motion picture medium first developed, the early filmmakers were like magicians constantly trying to play tricks on audiences. "The Artist" revives that spirit of visual trickery that is so often missing from today's movies. Some see 3D as a new form of this. What "The Artist" shows is that the image of a woman putting her arm through a man's jacket and moving it around can give off the appearance that it is actually someone else's arm. That didn't even require a pair of 3D glasses.

"The Artist" plays many more tricks with sound, both silent and audible. With one very subtle yet shocking clank, sound is brought to a silent world. A title card that reads "Why won't you talk?" could be considered hilarious despite the dramatic nature of the scene that it is placed in. Another card that appears at the movie's most thrilling moment, which I will not spoil here, will leave you relieved and stunned. You'll be relieved at what it really means, and stunned as to how easy it is to play with words.

Watching a silent movie is a totally different viewing experience. A silent movie will make even the most casual viewer pay more attention, as actions and gestures are the only things guiding the way. Audiences in the 1920s must have been some of the most engaged moviegoers there were. By bringing together silence and sound, "The Artist" ties the past and present together. Silence might enhance viewing in several ways but in a way, movies were never meant to be silent. After all, every silent movie was accompanied by a live orchestra. A moving image can only go so far.

"The Artist" also uses the silence as a sense of humor. The cue cards, perfect in their font, display dialogue that is both hilarious and thoughtful, and not just plot focused. Writer-director Michel Hazanavicius makes the style fit into every ounce of the overall theme.

Anyone can make a silent movie. The true achievement of "The Artist" is how it gives this old technology a raison d'etre. Some characters were just meant to be seen as silent. Looking past the silent element of "The Artist" is a movie that is funny and entertaining in the most timeless sense possible. The mark of most great movies is that you never want them to end. "The Artist" may be one of the year's best movies, but its biggest problem is that it begins to lag on in its third act. The darkest portion of the film begins to feel contrived and repetitive after a while, basically bringing down everything the movie had so beautifully built up.

But then, "The Artist" miraculously saves itself in its closing minutes with a few final lines that basically define the entire movie: clever, but not at all snarky. Just as seen in "The Artist," the Hollywood studio machine churns out an uncountable amount of movies every year. Few rarely stick. Every once in a while, a movie like "The Artist" comes along in which you wish the characters would dance off the screen and into your own lives. Maybe it helps when that machine is French.

If you liked this movie, you'll also like: Singin' in the Rain, Sunset Boulevard, Barton Fink, Modern Times, Citizen Kane, Hugo, Midnight in Paris

Movie Review: War Horse

2012-01-07T13:08:00.002-05:00

The Magic Hour.

Many have remarked that the ending shots of "War Horse" evoke the feelings and beauty captured in the landscape of classic Hollywood films, from "Gone with the Wind" to just about any John Ford western. And rightfully so, as this feels like a movie straight out of another era, the kind that isn't made so often nowadays. It has the power to move any viewer, but it might just bring the biggest film admirer to tears.

Based on a play which was based on a book (I have not seen or read either), the cinematic version of "War Horse" could not have been brought to life by anyone except for Steven Spielberg. It might seem predictable from start to finish, but there is simply no other way to tell this story.

"War Horse" gets off to a slow start, but even the most impatient moviegoer will want to stick it through. In rural Devon, England just before the outbreak of the first World War, a farmer (Peter Mullan) buys a horse for a price more than it appears to be worth. While his wife disapproves, his son Albert (Jeremy Irvine) is infatuated with the horse, but not in an "Equus" kind of way. The horse, whom Albert names Joey, is small but distinctively beautiful, marked by four white socks on his legs and a large white spot on his face. At first, Joey can barely carry a plough but by the end of the movie's lengthy first hour, he has plowed an entire field. Joey may be smaller than the others, but he is fast and persistent.

Then comes The Great War and like most men in the area, Joey is enlisted into battle. He comes into the care of Captain Nicholls (Tom Hiddleston, or F. Scott Fitzgerald in "Midnight in Paris"). After losing Nicholls in battle, Joey ends up in the care of the British, the Germans, and at one point, a young French girl. Albert enlists in the war, in hopes of being reunited with his beloved horse.

When it comes to depicting the horrors of war, no one does it better than Spielberg. It is stark realism to the highest, most detailed degree. If "Raiders of the Lost Ark" evoked a young boy playing with action figures in his backyard (as a critic once said), then "War Horse" evokes that young boy who is all grown up, knows history too well, and has sat through every action and adventure movie there is.

There have been few notable movies made about World War I, and the scenes in "War Horse" which take place in No Man's Land and the trenches could definitely give "Paths of Glory" a run for its money. It looks exactly like the post apocalyptic hell that it should be depicted as. When it comes to unflinching historical accuracy, no one beats Spielberg.

Even when Spielberg fails (and he has before), he never loses his uncanny eye for what elements truly complete a movie. In "War Horse," every little thing ends up having some sort of payoff. He knows what the viewers wants, but he also knows they shouldn't have to be cheated in order to get it.

Despite having a lot of plain human characters, "War Horse" makes an indelible impact. It is Joey the horse who truly makes it special. If there was an Oscar for animals, he would surely win it. Having Joey as the main character of this movie is something of a small relief, as it is nice to have a totally silent lead character sometimes, and I don't mean like Ryan Gosling in "Drive" kind of silent. Since horses can't speak, they use the purest form of acting: the emotions generated by their facial expressions and body language. You can tell when the horse is in physical pain but the more time you spend with Joey, the more you can see emotions that go below the surface. From Joey it is apparent that every living creature feels the effect of war and loss. Think of it as a minor "Consider the Lobster" effect.

"War Horse" is many things. It is an underdog story, a tragedy, and a love story in one. It displays Spielberg's great gift of always being able to shine the beacon of hope into the darkest of times. Spielberg gets to end "War Horse" with the big happy reunion he so often likes to conclude with. But here, it doesn't feel like schmaltz as it did at the conclusion of "War of the Worlds." It felt much deeper than that, and totally in place.

As many before me have pointed out, shades of "The Searchers," no doubt a huge influence on Spielberg's career, can be seen here. As Ethan Edwards stood outside the open doors of the house, feeling isolated and overwhelmed by the burdens of both the atrocities he's seen and the bigotry he feels, is an outsider not just to normal society but even to his own family. As Joey stands just outside the open gate of the loving family's estate, he probably can't help but feel the same way. He is loved and many strangers go to great lengths to save him but he is still an animal who has seen more than any can imagine, and in an instant could be traded from one owner to the next. Even if Albert raised him, he will never have one true master. "War Horse" in a sense, is a western, and Joey is its outlaw.

"War Horse" is also the best looking movie to come out this year. From the red sunset to a shot in which an entire army emerges from a field of tall grass, "War Horse" is like looking at a constantly morphing painting. Despite the horrors of war, the beauty of the natural world does not cease to exist.

"War Horse" is especially different because of the unique perspective it is told from. It shows that when war breaks out, everybody feels the consequences. It takes a series of contrived coincidences and two and a half very speedy hours to arrive at this point, but when a movie is able to suspend you from disbelief during its entire running time and keep you in that state, it has ultimately done exactly what its supposed to do. I cannot justify the poignance I felt once the movie ended, but the fact that this emotional state stuck with me long after the ending credits rolled shows the subtle and outstanding power of this movie. Just as Joey is not some dumb horse, just as "War Horse" is not some war movie.

Movie Review: A Dangerous Method

2012-01-04T11:39:00.000-05:00

Psychoanalyzing the Psychologists

Scorsese has one. Kubrick has one. Cronenberg now has one. The Croneberg stare; in which a character looks into the camera, realizing what they lost is really what they wanted and all they have left to feel is remorse and self-hatred. This happens just seconds before the dramatic cut to black. This is repeated once again in "A Dangerous Method."

Movies have a funny way of dealing with history. Some praise those movies that remain completely accurate to the facts, and others prefer those that deviate into historical fiction territory. "A Dangerous Method" is a restrained drama that wants to be an intense one and a piece that strives to be totally historically accurate yet deep down, it wants to be an insane piece of historical fiction.

"A Dangerous Method" begins at the turn of the 20th century as Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender), a budding star in the psychoanalysis movement, attempts to cure a seemingly incurable patient named Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley). Jung's personality is one that is cold and impersonal, and he doesn't even look at his patients when he speaks to them. The deeper Jung digs into Sabrina's child issues, the closer the two become, and the more dangerous their relationship ultimately turns out to be. Let's just say a touch of S&M is involved.

While Jung studies and beds Sabina (unbeknownst to his wife), he makes frequent trips to Vienna to visit his friend and mentor, the cigar-chomping Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen). The two construct the foundations of early psychoanalysis but they have differing opinions on it. Freud is purely scientific and Jung is quite spiritual. They clash and talk but mostly, they just talk.

"A Dangerous Method" is not necessarily a bad movie. It is more like a good movie that missed the mark of greatness that it had the potential for. Oftentimes, this is even worse than a movie that is just bad. Cronenberg is an immensely talented director, especially when it comes to dealing with the darkest depths of human behavior. However, he never really makes movies on a larger scale, and a larger scale is exactly what "A Dangerous Method" could have used.

I walked into "A Dangerous Method" as a stranger to psychology. The many dialogues between Jung and Freud made me more interested in further exploring the subject on my own. However, it is the subject matter, and not the story created about it, that is so interesting here. It tries to tell too many different stories at once and therefore never effectively completes any of them. Cronenberg seems like he wants to focus more on Sabina, and while she has a twisted and interesting mind, there is much more fertile ground that needs to be explored in the rivalry between Freud and Jung. The movie sometimes feels like a vehicle for Knightley's turn in a dramatic role. She is effective when she's not hamming it up and being reminiscent of nothing more than a pirate princess.

But let's back up to the rivalry between Freud and Jung, and the fact that it doesn't even seem to exist. In the movie, it is less of a rivalry and more like an extended heated argument that leads to nothing once the steam cools. In one brief sentence, it is revealed that Sabina's findings go against Freud's findings on sex and the ego. It is addressed once, and then never brought up again. In another similar incident, Freud tells Jung he will reveal nothing of his thoughts to him as a way of remaining powerful over him. It is a strong moment that should have paved the way for an entirely different movie. Why wasn't Jung more angry at Freud for this, when Jung knew that some of Freud's findings were wrong?

"A Dangerous Method" should have taken a cue from a much better film about a rivalry during the birth of the new discoveries during the beginning of the 1900s: "There Will Be Blood." The rivalry of that movie culminated into something much more horrific and tragic; a boom rather than a whimper. Maybe this story would have benefitted in the hands of a different director and a different writer.

"A Dangerous Method" is saved mostly by the outstanding performances of Fassbender and Mortensen. Fassbender rises to the occasion even with some of the flat dialogue he is given and Mortensen, meanwhile, depicts a tone and voice that are reminiscent of Alex DeLarge, who ironically could have used a serious couch session with Freud. The real star of the movie however, is cinematographer Peter Suschitzky. His stunning camerawork is romantic yet haunting; a mood that most perfectly captures the era. I could see myself watching this movie with the volume off and just being carried away by the imagery.

All of those great parts just feel like fragments. Occasional lines are thrown in here and there to show their importance but then are never brought back to their full extent. "A Dangerous Method" is like watching a very monotonous professor in a very crowded Psych 101 lecture. That is why that stare at the end feels blake rather than thoughtful at the end, as Cronenberg's previous features ("A History of Violence", "Eastern Promises") left so much more to ponder. "A Dangerous Method" consists of many great parts searching for a much better movie to be a part of.

My Most Anticipated Movies of 2012

2011-12-31T19:19:00.000-05:00

A fan poster for "Django Unchained".

Will 2012 be a better year for movies than 2011. So far, the amount of trailers for 3D re-releases is not promising. However, we live in a world where content is king, and a few amazing filmmakers, and some great actors, as well as some who are on the rise, will make 2012 a noteworthy year. Assuming the world doesn't end (I still doubt you, Mayans), here are the 2012 movie releases that I am most looking forward to:

1. Django Unchained- It's Quentin Tarantino's next movie, what else would you expect me to put as number one? It is not for that mere fact alone, however, as a lot of good directors can make bad movies (Tarantino's own "Death Proof" was far from a masterpiece). However, what also looks promising is the film's amazing cast, which includes Samuel L. Jackson, Christoph Waltz, and The RZA. It is Tarantino's next attempt to relocate the Western. It started in Los Angeles, traveled to East Asia, and ended up in Nazi-Occupied France. "Django Unchained" will put the Spaghetti-Western into the slavery era South. Expect scenes that go on longer than they should, but you wish could continue, and some amazing dialogue on Civil War politics and slave culture.
Coming to Theaters December 25

2. The Dark Knight Rises- When Christopher Nolan first made "Batman Begins," he not only revived a franchise, but also an entire genre. When he made "The Dark Knight" in 2008, he had created the best comic book movie ever. Not only that, but one of the greatest action movies of our time. Can "The Dark Knight Rises" not only equal, but surpass, its predecessor. From the looks of the previews, it can. It is unfortunate that we don't have The Joker, but Tom Hardy will put on quite a show as Bane, and be more true to the character from the original comics than "Batman & Robin" was. Nolan has just gotten better and better as a director, and "The Dark Knight Rises" looks like one hell of a way to end this amazing story.
Coming to Theaters July 20

3. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey- I have a soft spot for "The Lord of the Rings" movies: they helped to fuel my very hyperactive mind around the age of 10. Given the 3D and digital technology Peter Jackson is using, this chapter of Tolkien's books will look better than ever. While this probably won't top "Return of the King" in scope, it will stand in its own right as a superior example of how to make a blockbuster movie, and will complete the full arc of one of the greatest fantasies ever told.
Coming to Theaters December 14

4. Chronicle- I have never been a fan of the incorporation of shaky cam movies. It makes action movies more nauseating, and is a poor excuse for creating supposed "horror" (I'm looking at you, "Blair Witch Project"). But it should work for "Chronicle," a homegrown superhero fable that made a splash on the internet with its intriguing trailer. The fact that "Chronicle is not based on a comic book gives it more creative freedom, and based on the plot I've seen from the trailer (kids causing chaos) with their own powers, this will probably be one of the most realistic superhero movies we'll get.
Coming to Theaters February 3

5. Lincoln- Here's the movie with the second best cast of 2012. It is something of a shocker that there hasn't been a decent Lincoln movie to date, but it's no surprise that the first one will be directed by Steven Spielberg and star Daniel Day-Lewis as Honest Abe. I am always curious to see what Mr. Day-Lewis will add to a performance, and how Spielberg will tell a story. I expect nothing but the best.
Release Date Currently Unknown

6. The Amazing Spider-Man- America might be all Spider-Maned out, thanks to the poorly received third movie and the even more poorly received play that involved the world's most overrated musician. It might be too soon to do a "Spider-Man" reboot ("Spider-Man 3" is only four years old), but "The Amazing Spider-Man" shows great promise. It is directed by Marc Webb ("500 Days of Summer") and it stars Andrew Garfield ("The Social Network") as Peter Parker. Some young energy could do good for the franchise. Plus, this will go back to the roots of the original "Spider-Man" comics, when Parker had to construct his own web blasters. In the original "Spider-Man" movies, Parker could launch webs from his arms. This change brings Spider-Man back to what he always was: a nerd, and a genius.
Coming to Theaters July 3

7. This is 40- I am still on the fence about Judd Apatow's last movie, "Funny People" (it had brilliant moments, but it would've benefitted from being 45 minutes shorter). However, "This is 40" brings back Apatow's greatest couple, Pete (Paul Rudd) and Debby (Leslie Mann) from "Knocked Up." Jason Segel will be reprising his role as Jason, and Melissa McCarthy ("Bridesmaids") will join the ensemble. I'm already laughing.
Coming to Theaters December 21

8. Gravity- I know very little about "Gravity" besides the fact that it was directed by Alfonso Cuaron, and that it is a science fiction movie. The last movie Cuaron directed, "Children of Men," was a sci-fi masterpiece and one of the greatest movies I've ever seen. Each time I watch it is always as exhilarating as the first. I expect some amazingly long takes of outer space.
Coming to Theaters November 21

9. Casa de mi Padre- This is one of the more peculiar projects of the coming year. It is a comedy about a Hispanic drug dealer starring Will Ferrell that is entirely in Spanish. It also stars two of Latin America's best (and usually, most serious) actors: Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna. Once Ferrell turned Luna into a running joke during his George Bush one man show, it was kismet that they would make a movie together.
Coming to Theaters March 16

10. Jeff Who Lives At Home- The Duplass brothers make some of the quietest, strangest dark comedies of the day. Just look at 2010's "Cyrus" for proof. Jason Segel steps into the slacker role this time, as Jeff, a man who is finally forced to leave his mother's basement in order to help his brother (Ed Helms) catch his possibly adulterous wife. Awkward laughs and awkward silences to ensue. The fact that it comes out in March will help make the early part of the year a better time for movies than it usually is.
Coming to Theaters March 2

Eight Nights of Hanukkah, Eight Nights of Movies: Night #8

2011-12-27T15:13:00.000-05:00

Spaceballs

Unfortunately, the end of Hanukkah has arrived. But even as you prepare to put the menorah away, there is still one more night worth of a movie left. And what better way to end Hanukkah than with a movie by Mel Brooks, the master of Jewish humor, and of randomly inserting Yiddish jokes into his work.

"Spaceballs" isn't even the funniest Mel Brooks movie; that honor goes to "Blazing Saddles." It isn't the even the smartest; that honor goes to "The Producers." It doesn't even have the best Jewish joke; that honor goes to the Jews with Space joke in "History of the World: Part 1." However, "Spaceballs" just seems like the perfect movie to recommend, maybe because for some time, it was the funniest movie I had ever seen.

"Spaceballs" satirizes both the "Star Wars" movies, and the general way movies were made in the 1980s. Darth Helmet's (Rick Moranis) ridiculously gigantic helmet is hilarious enough, but the self-referential nature of "Spaceballs" is what helps to make it a minor work of genius. There is one scene where the characters watch themselves watching "Spaceballs." Most notably though is the scene where the Yoda-spinoff Yogurt (Brooks) explains the concept of merchandising. Its a hilarious and spot-on scene that should be shown in every film business or marketing class. As a kid, I would really have loved to have Spaceballs the Lunchbox, though.

"Spaceballs" remains a standout, and could teach those supposed movie satires made nowadays (I'm looking at you, Seltzer-Friedberg) a thing or two. My only problem with this movie is that if Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga) is a Druish princess, who once had a huge nose pre-plastic surgery, then why do her and Lone Star (Bill Pullman) get married in a Church? I guess it's just as Barf (John Candy) says: "funny, she doesn't look Druish."

Watch this clip, and learn a thing or two about merchandising: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvmZ9SPcTzU

Movie Review: Heavenly Creatures

2011-12-27T14:36:00.000-05:00

Peter Jackson's "Heavenly Creatures," the breakthrough film from the director of "The Lord of the Rings," might as well be in a genre of its own. Call it fantastical nonfiction. That is, it bridges the great divide between fantasy and a frightening reality that actually occurred.

In 1954, quite, rural New Zealand was shaken by murder. Two teenage girls had murdered one of their mothers in what one could describe as "a crime of friendship." The two were caught, imprisoned, and later paroled on the condition that they would never see each other again. Jackson did not make a story about the trial but rather about the events that led up to the murder, based on what is true, what is thought to be true, and what can't be true under any circumstance.

The events of "Heavenly Creatures" take place in and around the small town of Christchurch on New Zealand's southern island. The two teenage girls, Pauline Parker (Melanie Lynskey) and Juliet Hulme (Kate Winslet) meet in Catholic school. The introverted Pauline is immediately transfixed by Juliet, and how Juliet will talk back to the French teacher without even thinking about it. The two soon become inseparable best friends. They frequently escape into a fantasy world that they created, one that brings them away from their dull, suppressed lives. The fantasy starts to become too real and while the girls are present physically in reality, they are mentally gone.

After feeling that their friendship is becoming unhealthy, Pauline and Juliet's parents make the decision to separate the two of them. The separation does no good and instead drives the pair into bouts of insanity. They ultimately hatch a sinister plan to be together forever, one that, even they admit, could only end in tragedy.

"Heavenly Creatures" is a movie of many questions, and many frightening possibilities. The whole story is one giant question about who the driving force of insanity here is. Were Pauline and Juliet naturally troubled, or were their descents into insanity caused by their separation? In a society that stressed conformity and deemphasized creativity, perhaps madness and fantasy were the only means of escape. However, this in no way justifies the terrible actions carried out in the film's terrifying finale.

A driving force in the narrative of "Heavenly Creatures" is the widely circulated rumor that the two girls in question were lesbians. This is not played for an exploitative purpose, or to create controversy, but rather it serves as a lens into the psyche of these two teenage killers. Could physical love have explained why they were so inseparable, and why they so despised both the religion and the adults who raised them?

"Heavenly Creatures" is one of the great underappreciated gems of the 1990s. Jackson showed the ability of a director who would soon be able to make great movies on a much larger scale. The fantasy world created in "Heavenly Creatures" is one that seems fake, yet so tangible. The creatures the girls create look like a cross between Play-Doh and those little green toy soldiers. The special effects, while dated by today's standards, still look impressive for something made outside of Hollywood, and without a blockbuster budget. I can't wait to see what else the other filmmakers of New Zealand can offer in the years to come.

"Heavenly Creatures" begot not only a great director, but also two great actresses. This was Winslet's debut role, and from her performance one could see why she would later become an international star and an Oscar winner. She gets so into this role, and she is so sinister yet so innocent at the same time. Lynskey unfortunately has not achieved the same level of success as Winslet. She has had bit roles in a few very good movies ("Up in the Air") and a few very good TV shows ("It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia"), but she never achieved real stardom. Her performance here is as subdued and creepy as her character. She acts mostly through her narration and her disgruntled facial expressions and most of the time, you can never tell whether she is about to scream or about to kill someone. Hopefully, Lynskey makes a comeback one of these days.

There have been a lot of scenes of violent cruelty in movies, but few have effected me as deeply as the ending scene of "Heavenly Creatures" did, despite being so quick and so sudden. What creates the impact is that there is 90 minutes of dread building up to it. Like in the ending of movies such as "The Conversation," making an entire movie based off dread until the very final minutes is ultimately more rewarding. The more you wait, the more horrifying the crime feels. Peter Jackson is a master of suspense in disguise.

"Heavenly Creatures" should be seen for all of the reasons that people watch movies in the first place: to be transferred off to a place they normally wouldn't be able to go to, to feel sympathy for people we shouldn't feel sympathy for, and to simply be thrilled. We see both a foreign country in a time few of us would've known it in, and a world that exists entirely inside of two girls' heads. Juliet and Pauline might be murderers, but they are also angst-ridden, isolated teenagers that anyone could relate to. It also shows a director's admirable mission to painstakingly tell a difficult story right. And tell it right he did.

Eight Nights of Hanukkah, Eight Nights of Movies: Night #7

2011-12-26T18:16:00.000-05:00

Munich

Spielberg had to appear on this list one of these nights. So why didn't I include "Schindler's List," cinema's most thoughtful portrayal of the Holocaust, or "Saving Private Ryan" which I learned in Hebrew school has something to do with Jewish values? It wouldn't take a post from me to get you to watch either of those. However, six years after being released, no one seems to want to watch "Munich." It's a depressing subject for sure, but it its also as captivating a political allegory as it is a thrilling and suspenseful film.

"Munich" is based on the tragic events surrounding the 1972 Munich Olympics, in which members of the Israeli Olympic team were kidnapped and subsequently murdered by Palestinian terrorists. Spielberg recaptures the terrifying image of a hooded kidnapper standing on a terrace, and the chilling line said by a news anchor, "they're all gone." In response, the Israeli government assembles a team of Mossad agents to target and kill the terrorists. The team includes Eric Bana as the conscience-ridden Avner, as well as Daniel Craig and Ciaran Hinds.

When "Munich" was first released, it was greeted with much controversy. Many claimed the film, a work of historical fiction, to be anti-Israel. To believe that such a devoted, charitable Jew as Spielberg would ever make a film against his spiritual homeland is as ridiculous as the alien spaceship emerging out of the ground at the end of "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."

While "Munich" does suggest that perhaps some of the people killed might not have been involved in the kidnapping, and at one point it does allow one of the terrorists to speak, this is not saying that Israel should not exist. It is rather a universal statement as old as time about the dangerous tole that revenge takes on the individual and that in the terrible Israeli-Palestinian conflict, both sides forget that we both bleed the same blood. In today's polarized political environment, saying that both sides could be at fault is a small miracle.

Politics aside, "Munich" is something that few acknowledge it to be: an extremely well-made thriller based on the principles of film in the era that Spielberg first began working in (1970s) and the filmmakers of the past that inspired him (Hitchcock). One scene involving a phone, a bomb, and a little girl, will have you at the edge of your seat, begging you to wonder how it could possibly end.

One of Spielberg's greatest pitfalls throughout his career is how easily he can fall into the trap of sentimentality. "Munich" is another one of his film's about the importance of family, but it never falls into the trap of sentimentality. The ending is hardened, but also very thoughtful. "Munich" will evoke an intense political and theological discussion on this seventh night of Hanukkah but above all, everyone will enjoy the fact that for once, the Jews are the ones who are doing the ass kicking.

Eight Nights of Hanukkah, Eight Nights of Movies: Night #6

2011-12-25T18:38:00.000-05:00

A Night at the Opera

As today is Christmas, I almost considered making this a cheat day and recommending multiple Christmas classics. However, "A Christmas Story" runs for 24 hours straight, and almost everyone has seen "Elf" at this point. Instead, I decided to dig back really far and pull out a Marx Brothers classic from 1935.

Any Marx Brothers movie could have made this spot, but "A Night at the Opera" manages to stand out. "Duck Soup" could have made for the mirror scene alone and "A Day at the Races" for the scene in which they try and be doctors. However, nothing beats "A Night at the Opera" in both its wit and its slapstick. The four Jewish brothers from New York City got their start in vaudeville before hitting the big screen and bringing their crazed theatrical antics along with them. Comedy would never be the same.

The end of the silent era allowed comedians to make movies that portrayed humor not just through bodily movements but also through dialogue. The Marx Brothers were masters at wordplay, and Groucho was truly Hollywood's first smart ass. The scene in which Groucho and Chico start tearing up the parts of a contract they don't agree with ("there ain't no sainty clause!") is masterful at both types of comedy.

Of course, the highlight of this movie is a miracle of slapstick: the stateroom scene. Characters keep piling and piling on into a tiny room as they keep ordering more and more hard boiled eggs, until someone opens a door and everyone falls out. It is not necessarily the part where everyone falls out that is so funny, but the ensuing madness, and the question of how many people can possibly fit into this room before the inevitable collapse. Sometimes, it is the telling of a joke, and not the eventual punchline, that can be funniest.

"A Night at the Opera" is a comedy that is truly timeless. To entertain people for over seven decades for is a rare gift that only the greatest of comedies can provide. Here is something that both you and your grandparents can laugh at together.

Movie Review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

2011-12-25T17:40:00.005-05:00

Most filmmakers forget the importance of opening credits. They usually serve to say who made the movie, but they never tell a story of their own. David Fincher never fails to make mind blowing openings. Think of the neurons and brain passages at the beginning of "Fight Club." When the opening credits for "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" finish rolling, you'll have learned everything you need to know about Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara) without even knowing it. It is the intersection of a brilliant filmmaker with a brilliant technological mind, just as Lisbeth is the intersection of a brilliant investigator with a brilliant hacker mind. Welcome to a Sweden without rules.

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" is a thriller that utilizes everything a movie has at its disposal (camera, lighting, music, etc.) to the fullest extent, and thus pulls off the year's most fully realized motion picture. "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" is a triumph of everything. Like its incredibly complex narrative, one piece of the production would not fit in without another.

To outline the entire mystery would take up too much time. To simplify it all would be too hard. However, I'll do my best to sum it all up. The movie begins after Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig), a journalist from Stockholm, is convicted for ethics violations based on his story on banker Wennerstrom (Ulf Frieberg, who looks eerily similar to Julian Assange). The trial costs him both his reputation and his life savings. Escape comes in the form of wealthy patriarch Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer) who wants to hire Mikael to investigate his own family.

Vanger brings Mikael to his home, which is chillier and more isolated than even The Overlook Hotel. Vanger asks Mikael to find his missing niece Harriet, whom he believes was murdered 40 years prior. In his long, tedious investigation, Mikael finds a family that is even more deranged than the average dysfunctional family. Neo-Nazis may be the least of his problems.

Mikael has a great researcher's mind, but there is something about him, he is submissive and subdued; he can find pieces of the puzzle but he can't fit them all together. That's where Lisbeth comes in. Lisbeth is the wunderkind hacker who performed Mikael's background check for Henrik, and she is hired again to aid in the case. While Lisbeth has a brilliant mind, she is deemed a sociopath by society. While she is an outsider, like God's lonely woman, she can find out any bit of information on any person by simply clicking a button on her computer. If all of a director's movies and characters are supposed to exist in the same universe, then she would single handily destroy Mark Zuckerberg of "The Social Network" in a hacking contest, and then probably try and kill him for that comment about comparing women to farm animals.

There is something about being considered the lowest common denominator in society that makes someone able to get away with anything, which is what makes Lisbeth such an effective detective. Thanks to all of her piercings, her distinctive hairstyle, and the tattoo on her back that gives the movie its title, Lisbeth Salander is the year's most unforgettable movie character.

Mikael and Lisbeth make a great team, as they both serve as each other's foils. Mikael is a very safe and journalistic detective, while Lisbeth, who already lives above the law, is not afraid to break the rules in order to crack a case. She is the Jake Gittes to his Bob Woodward. As an abused woman herself, and through her actions, Lisbeth serves almost as both a protector and a crusader of the independence of all women. It is no wonder this case takes on special interest to her, as it involves catching a killer of women.

Craig delivers a stone-faced performance as Mikael Blomkvist. However, he is not quite an action hero here, he is more of a civilian, and his fear in the face of danger is not like the Bond we've seen him as. While I sometimes had trouble believing that he was Swedish, his timing in certain situations makes me believe that he would make a great comedic actor.

Mara, meanwhile, delivers a flawless performance that will merit her an Oscar nomination, if not a win. It is a stunning transformation from her role as sweet Erica Albright in "The Social Network." Here, she creates an indelible performance using silence and actions over words. For what she goes through at the beginning of the film and everything she must bare, this is a brave performance. The way she responds to her rapes is that of someone who is both hardened and incredibly emotionally scarred. Mara brings out both features in the character throughout, making Lisbeth feel more heroic than sociopathic to me.

The movie's final shot, showing her riding off on her motorcycle alone while everyone else around her is warm in the Swedish winter with company, evoked the endings of so many great westerns to me. In this day and age, the hacker is America's new outlaw, and she is the queen of the new age isolated cowboy. The ending is not so much a plot cliffhanger as a character one. I cannot wait to see the next movie not just because of the story, but because I will get to see more of these characters, learn more about them, and spend more time a part of their lives.

It is hard to take a novel that is already so popular on its own and make it a unique movie. I admit I have yet to read any of Stieg Larson's Millenium Trilogy, but I plan to pick up the novel version of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" as soon as possible. Fincher shows that there was a reason to adapt this novel to the screen. It is not just some regurgitation. While the movie perhaps moves a little too fast towards the end, it is only for the reason of fitting in as much of Larson's original story into the first movie as possible.

The atmosphere created by the film is a master class example of how to turn setting into a character, and how to use it to build suspense that holds for over two and a half hours. The snowy landscapes, combined with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross's mood building score, which begins with Karen O's shrieking cover of Led Zeppelin's "The Immigrant Song," will leave you a state of panic and thrill for the entire running time. Hitchcock would have been proud.

The team behind this movie, Fincher, Reznor, Ross, writer Steve Zallian, and producer Scott Rudin, is the best new team of mainstream movies in Hollywood. All of their efforts makes "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" come together so spectacularly. It is always a great team, and not just one mind, that can make a truly great movie complete. And the series can only get better from here. Few movies nowadays have the ability to be shocking and controversial. However, "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" steps it up another level, and earns its R-rating. And it wears that badge with pride.

If you liked this movie, you'll also like: Fight Club, The Ghost Writer, Se7en, The Searchers, The Social Network, Chinatown, Memento, No Country for Old Men, Casino Royale, The Shining, Vertigo, Any Ingmar Bergman movie about sad Swedish people in the snow

Eight Nights of Hanukkah, Eight Nights of Movies: Night #5

2011-12-24T17:47:00.000-05:00

Wet Hot American Summer

Every summer, hundreds of thousands of Jewish children from the Northeast (mainly Long Island, Westchester County, New Jersey, and Southwestern Connecticut) are taken from their homes. The food is poor, and the conditions are less than sanitary. They are isolated far away from society, with barely a cell tower in sight. They are forced to leave their friends, families, and even their iPhones behind. God forbid they must go without Words with Friends for eight weeks.

I am talking about summer camp, of course.

I can say this is all true firsthand as I am a Jewish summer camp survivor. I am a veteran of five summers at Camp Island Lake. I can't quite pinpoint what draws Jews in particular to summer camps. Perhaps it is the need to be around Jews, congregate with them, breed with them, and eventually create future generations of nice Jewish doctors and lawyers who will marry your daughter.

But I digress. "Wet Hot American Summer" best captures the summer camp experience. Usually, a movie that I believe perfectly captures something I have experienced in my life does so because it is totally realistic. In this case, "Wet Hot" brings back this previous part of my life because it is utterly ridiculous. It takes place at the fictional Camp Firewood in the 80s, but it was filmed at Camp Towanda, which is basically down the road from my old summertime stomping grounds.

"Wet Hot American Summer" came from the comedy group behind MTV's "The State," who would also later go on to make Comedy Central's eccentrically brilliant "Stella." "Wet Hot" was largely panned and ignored at the time of its release. Ten years later, it has become an unlikely cult classic. The humor of "Wet Hot" is as bizarre as anything you'd expect from the minds of Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter, and David Wain. Some of the major comedy set pieces include a raft that doesn't move down raging rapids, a falling satellite, and a talking can of vegetables. All of these scenes made me feel nostalgic for a decade I didn't even grow up in.

The ensemble is just as funny as the absurdist situations, and many actors in this movie went on to become superstars (a young Bradley Cooper makes one of the boldest moves of his career here). There is also a scene where a few of the characters go into town for the day, become drug addicts, and then return back to campus totally fine. This is funny not just because the transformation occurs over such a short period of time, but these seem like the kind of people that this would happen to. I also always wondered what my counselors would do when they went into town for the day. They might as well have been doing this every single day.

"Wet Hot" might not go over too well with your older relatives (they will probably use words like "stupid" and whatever the opposite of "clever" is), but it is close to the modern day equivalent of the Marx Brothers, the other Jewish absurdist comedians. More on them tomorrow night.

Eight Nights of Hanukkah, Eight Nights of Movies: Night #4

2011-12-23T18:16:00.000-05:00

A Serious Man

This is a ser- I'm a ser- I'm, uh, I've tried to be a serious man, you know? Tried to do right, be a member of the community, raise the- Danny, Sarah, they both go to school, Hebrew school, a good breakfast...

"A Serious Man" begins with the blast of Jefferson Airplane's "Somebody to Love," linking the past to the present, and drowning out a dull Hebrew school lesson. In this day and age, what does it mean for a Jewish man to be a serious man? If you are looking for a movie that is both religiously faithful and an existential mind trip for the halfway point of Hanukkah, then look no further. This is the first and probably the last movie you'll ever see that's based on both the Talmud and Schrodinger's Cat.

Who else could have made a movie like this than Joel and Ethan Coen. It is based partly on their own childhood growing up in a Jewish family in a mostly Jewish suburb of Minneapolis, and the rest is a lot of things that could have happened, but probably didn't. "A Serious Man" begins with a short parable that takes place in a shtetl. It might explain every one of the following events we see, or none of them. Maybe it is what the Coen Brothers say it is: their attempt to create their own Jewish fable. The rest of the movie focuses on Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg), a father who goes through a crisis of faith after his wife leaves him and he begins to lose his children to the 60s. No one, not even a string of rabbis, can provide him with guidance.

"A Serious Man" is funny not in a haha kind of way, but more in the kind of way that if you watch it multiple times, the ultimate mind f**k of it all is kind of hilarious. This is the Thinking Man Jew's kind of movie. And that is not to say that anyone can't like this movie. However, some people might not appreciate "The Goy's Teeth" quite as much. For those who are passionate people watchers, especially of the Jewish kind, this movie gives a prototype of every Jew you can think of. Some will find stereotypes, others will find hilarious objects of affection.

"A Serious Man" definitely will not inspire as much joy and laughter after a candle lighting as say, a Woody Allen or a Marx Brothers movie, but it will definitely inspire fervent debate and conversation. If you are really curious about what that cut to black at the end means, I only have so many answers. Instead, I would refresh on your Bar Mitzvah torah portions. And then pick up some physics textbooks. Philosophy might work, too.

If this movie makes you crave for from the Coen Brothers tonight, I would check out "The Big Lebowski" immediately afterwards. It's a great movie but that's just like, my opinion, man.

Movie Review: Young Adult

2011-12-23T10:38:00.000-05:00

Upon associating the name Diablo Cody and Young Adult Fiction together, the first things that come to mind are words like "yoseph" and phrases like "shut you freakin' nard, Bard!". I am not a "Juno" hater like many are, but phrases like these make being hip seem a little bit square. However, upon viewing her latest collaboration with director Jason Reitman, "Young Adult," I found a writer who is starting to come into her own with her words, and a director who can bring those words to life.

"Young Adult," like "Crazy, Stupid, Love," is a victim of bad marketing. It seems the only way to sell a semi-romantic dramedy nowadays is to make it look bright and predictable. "Young Adult" is two things you'd never expect it to be: ambiguous and unpredictable.

The anti-hero of "Young Adult," Mavis Gray (Charlize Theron), is introduced in a position that we find her in during various parts of the movie: sprawled out face down on a bed, hungover, and watching the Kardashians. There is something about watching the miserable lives of people on reality TV shows that makes a people feel better about their own rotten lives. Gray has become a semi-successful writer of a young adult book series. The peak of her book's popularity has waned. Despite being 37-years-old, she is more like a girl than a woman (if you want to understand the difference watch this).

Mavis comes from the small town of Mercury, Minnesota. She is living the dream of everyone in Mercury, as she has now moved to the big city (Minneapolis that is, or as Mercurians call it, "The Mini Apple"). Maybe it's because she's feeling alone, or maybe because she was still a little drunk from the night before, but an email spreading the news about the newborn baby of her high school boyfriend Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson) sends her packing her bags (including her Paris Hilton-sized dog) back to Mercury. On her journey back, Mavis has thoughts of returning back to her glory days, of being queen of high school again, and winning the happily-married Buddy back.

It turns out that Mavis is now more of a Queen Bitch and Mercury is a cookie cutter of small town USA. The town she once knew now includes a Staples and a Kentucky Fried Taco Hut. This is how the Canadian Reitman likes to portray America: a land of excessive brand name dross.

Mavis is now the late 30s loser who used to be cool in high school. Pity, the loser usually isn't supposed to be the protagonist. That is what makes this story more challenging and ultimately more rewarding: the audience must get over their inhibitions and realize that they must find a shred of humaness inside of a character who seems to totally lack it. Cheers to "Young Adult" for making us stick with a character who is unlikable from start to finish.

The more time spent in Mercury, the less this feels like the happy conclusion to a teen fantasy and more like a horror movie in which wounds are opened and then repeatedly stabbed at. While at her favorite bar, Mavis forms an unlikely friendship with Matt (Patton Oswalt), the former high school loser who became partially crippled after falling victim to a vicious hate crime. Matt now spends his days holed up in house, making action figures in his bedroom and distilling bourbon in his garage. He is the kind of person who should've gone farther in life than he did. Oswalt's Matt is the perfect foil to Theron's Mavis. This is the performance that will earn him the Oscar nomination he should've received for "Big Fan." Not that he isn't equally deserving of it here. Comedians can be great actors because they tend to wear their emotions on their sleeves.

But was Mavis's life so bad, or was she just looking for more problems to have? As she says at one point, her looks made people think she was perfect and impervious to problems. Everyone has baggage and what really matters is how we handle it. This message is simple and old as time. But Theron's nuanced, sometimes funny, and sometimes heartbreaking performance, adds a new dimension to it. Living in the best moments of the past is simply a device to obscure something painful. It is the most powerful form of denial there is. And when a few truths are revealed during the painful yet ingeniously written baby naming scene, it feels like Mavis is learning everything at the same time that the audience is.

Earlier this year, I saw "Bad Teacher" and pondered what a better version of that movie would look like. Well, "Young Adult" is what "Bad Teacher" would've been if it actually tried. Making a despicable character the protagonist isn't necessarily about making them likable enough to give them a pass for their wrongdoings, but rather to make them interesting and three dimensional enough for anyone to want to see what they will do next. It is kind of like watching a train wreck. However, this time, I didn't want to see the train go off the rails.

Jason Reitman has always made off-kilter films about characters who make questionable decisions. Whether that be sticking up for tobacco companies, getting pregnant as a teenager, or firing people for a living, Reitman's four-film winning streak ends not with someone who is bad in what they do for a living, but rather the way they act. With "Young Adult" and his previous feature "Up in the Air," Reitman begins to turn toward more ambiguous territory; and the more ambiguous he gets, the better his movies become.

"Young Adult" could have gone the cliche way and portrayed a montage of Mavis turning her life around, probably by working out, walking her dog, and going to an AA meeting, but five minutes is not enough time to fully take in somebody turning their life around. The important thing is not how she turns her life around, if she ever does, but that she has learned the lesson she needed to learn. She was a beautiful fish in an ugly pond. That didn't earn her love, but rather sorrow.

"Young Adult" won't put anyone in the cheeriest mood this holiday season. However, there is nothing more reassuring in the holiday season than someone realizing what they should be holding dearest in their life. "Young Adult" is a gift of tough love.

Eight Nights of Hanukkah, Eight Nights of Movies: Night #3

2011-12-22T12:28:00.000-05:00

Radio Days

"Annie Hall." "Manhattan." "Hannah and Her Sisters." I could have gone with any of these timeless Woody Allen classics, so why did I choose "Radio Days"? It wasn't an attempt to be original ("Annie Hall" is an easy choice, but it is a deserving one at that), but rather that "Radio Days" may just be the ultimate Jewish family comedy, and both a heartwarming and heartbreaking nostalgia trip.

Set during the 1930s and 40s, "Radio Days" is told in a series of vignettes that all connect back to the audio device that once ruled the world. Allen himself is never present onscreen, although he is the story's narrator. A very young Seth Green is Allen's stand-in onscreen under the name Joe. Joe obsesses over the radio so much that it starts to concern everyone in his family, especially his father (Michael Tucker). Joe is the youngest in a loud and rowdy household that includes an aunt and uncle and grandparents, as well as a family of Communists that live next door. His Uncle Abe (Josh Mostel, perhaps better known as Principal Anderson in "Billy Madison") brings home a huge bag of fish everyday and eats them. Raw.

Allen so lively brings about an era in which imagination was king. It's funny to hear Joe's parents complain that he's rotting his brain away by sitting in front of the radio all day, and think that parents said the exact same thing about television decades later.

"Radio Days" is as much about the stars of radio as it is about the listeners. One in particular is Sally White (Mia Farrow) who has a difficult time making it as first, as listeners couldn't see beautiful face but could hear her voice, which sounds exactly like Lina Lamont's fingernails-on-a-chalkboard voice in "Singin' in the Rain." Luckily, one of these two people was actually able to make it.

Joe's family, who spends all their time in Rockaway, and the radio stars, who spend all of their time at fancy parties, never come together. However, the idea Allen wants to bring about is that the radio brought these stars, these stories, into Joe's living room, and they never left. That is the beauty of radio, of television, and of film: they make the unreal become a very real part of our lives. In that sense, Joe's family came to life for me and almost felt like my own. However, arguments, while frequent for us, never amount to debating whether or not the Atlantic is a greater ocean than the Pacific.

While the movie's end is sad in one sense, as the stars of radio realize they will not shine forever, it is also optimistic in that sense. When one star flickers and dims, another one shines, and a new opportunity comes about. Celebrities might not be famous forever, but the art they create makes them immortal.

"Radio Days" is that lasting artifact of Allen's self-deprecating humor and a prime example of why the king of neuroticism can never be dethroned. While it is funny, it is also so realistic. If you've ever had more family members piled into your house than you can count, and you remember it as a terrifying yet hilarious experience, then you should pile every single one of those family members back together in one room and watch "Radio Days."

Eight Nights of Hanukkah, Eight Nights of Movies: Night #2

2011-12-21T17:34:00.000-05:00

Eight Nights of Hanukkah, Eight Nights of Movies is a new series in which for each night of Hanukkah I will recommend a new movie to watch. Each movie might have been made by a prominent Jewish filmmaker, or embodies a prominent part of Jewish culture. Because I missed the first night, as I was embarking on a great Florida migration, I will recommend two for the second night.

Inglourious Basterds

Here is a movie that needs no introduction, as I can barely go a day (or a blog post) without talking about it. With "Inglourious Basterds," Quentin Tarantino earned the title of Honorary Jew for fulfilling any little Jewish boy's childhood fantasy of getting vengeance on the Nazis. But it is not just a violent, one-dimensional revenge fantasy but rather a morality tale that dares us to ask whether or not our enemies can actually be human. This might be the only movie of its kind that will actually make you feel like a more enlightened human being. The movie also includes moments of gripping suspense and utterly insane hilarity. Despite the newfound enlightenment you may have found, it will not stop you from standing up and cheering after the movie's history-bending twist (most people probably know what it is at this point but if not, I will spare the spoiler). No movie will make you feel prouder to light the menorah tonight.

Leaves of Grass

I didn't really think "Leaves of Grass" was as brilliant as some believed (Ebert called it a "masterpiece"). It is flawed and its narrative probably made more sense in novel form, but it is certainly "whacky" and inventive enough for me to recommend to the more adventurous cinephile. Edward Norton is brilliant as always, this time giving two performances in one movie, one as a philosophy professor and the other as a drug dealer. Most shocking about "Leaves of Grass" is that it reveals that there is indeed a Jewish community in Tulsa, Oklahoma. That is, in case you were the kind of person who likes to track down Jews in random parts of America. It is partly based on writer-director Tim Blake Nelson's life growing up in a Jewish family in Tulsa. "Leaves of Grass" is not just a crime-thriller-satire but an examination on Jewish identity. I can't say I "get" the whole thing but if one of you does, please feel free to explain it to me.

Everyone Has to Start Somewhere: Who's That Knocking at My Door

2011-12-21T16:33:00.000-05:00

It is a rarity for even the greatest director to strike gold at the very beginning of their career. Few and far between have broken the amateur barrier (Quentin Tarantino, Sam Mendes, and The Coen Brothers are rare exceptions), but even when they don't, future greatness can be seen in a scrappy debut effort. "Who's That Knocking at My Door," the very first movie made by Martin Scorsese, is not the kind of seamless masterpiece he would late go on to make, but it foreshadows a career steeped in Italian-American culture, New York City, and crushing Catholic guilt.

"Who's That Knocking at My Door" has all of the signs of a film school effort: blatant symbolism, aimless dialogue, and rough cuts. Indeed, Scorsese began making this movie while he was a student at NYU, and he continued working on it even after he graduated. The then unknown Harvey Keitel stars as J.R., a young Italian-American hoodlum who hangs out with a pretty volatile group of guys, yet that doesn't stop him from going to church to pay penance.

J.R. is the embodiment of what Scorsese must have been like in those days: he seems to only know what he sees in the movies and what he learns in Church. This basically entails knowledge of every John Wayne movie. To him, "The Searchers" is like another kind of gospel. His dialogue about Wayne is some of the finest, most naturalistic writing in any Scorsese film.

The girl in the movie (Zina Bethune), simply named The Girl, becomes J.R.'s new object of affection, and his love with her ends up testing everything else he holds dear. After their relationship buds, Girl reveals that she was once raped in a chilling flashback sequence that resembles what a filmed version of Joyce Carol Oates's "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" would look like. As a man loyal to his Catholic background, this makes him question his own faith, and what is really most important to him in his life.

This revelation does not come until very late in this film's short running time. "Who's That Knocking at My Door" does not contain the typical kind of plot. Rather than an event inspiring a series of actions that effects everyone, it is instead about an event inspiring a series of emotions that effects just two characters.

"Who's That Knocking at My Door" might feel inconsistent and messy because it seems less like an attempt to capture a fully realized story on screen but more like someone trying to capture the mixed emotions that make up their life on film. The irony of the sunny, happy-go-lucky music that plays in the credit sequence against footage of a man being beaten shows that this type of aggression was just a way of life where Scorsese grew up. The casual attitude of this scene is still shocking to watch. Meanwhile, playing "Who's That Knocking?" during the end sequence in the Church as the camera pans around all of the different representations of Jesus makes it feel less like a solemn walk through a holy place and more like a ride at Disney World.

Watching Scorsese's work on "Who's That Knocking at My Door" is like watching a diamond in the rough that would soon become one of the f***ing brightest gems in the history of cinema. From it, you can see where the basis of "Mean Streets," "Taxi Driver," and "Raging Bull" amongst many others came from. Even "Hugo," which is about a child who is much more eccentric than J.R. can draw its obsessive conversation about film back to Scorsese's debut.

Film can be one's attempt to show what they believe matters most in life and with "Who's That Knocking at My Door" Scorsese was establishing everything he loves and everything he values. And while his big debut certainly isn't flawless, we haven't been able to leave his side since.