Winter’s Bone (2010– 100 mins)  J. Lawrence, J. Hawkes

As has been the theme over the last couple of weeks, I have again grabbed ANOTHER best picture nominee to watch this past weekend. It seems like a never ending affair but that’s what happens when they nominate TEN movies for the big award. This time we get “Winter’s Bone”. It had 3 of the big nominations, best picture, leading actress (Lawrence), and supporting actor (Hawkes). My thoughts on them after the synopsis and thoughts on the movie as a whole.

“Winter’s Bone” is a drama about a 17 year old girl Ree (Lawrence), who by default has become the Matriarch of her family. Her mother is in a state of near complete catatonia b/c of depression, and her father is currently missing. It’s because of her missing dad that they are in danger of losing their house and land. Her father had put up the house for bond for getting out of jail and is currently no where to be found. Ree thus must locate the useless morsel of a human being so that the courts won’t cease the property for their own. However, this whole movie takes place in the back woods, with mountain folk. Which means not a lot of money, a lot of drug use, and tight circles with local power like their own mob. Drugs are quite the business up there and everyone circles the wagons when anyone goes poking around. When Ree goes poking around people warn her constantly to watch her back and shut up, her dad won’t be back. But, since the house is up for the bond she naturally can’t just let him go. Her only ally in all of this is her uncle,Teardrop (Hawkes).

I will say the movie is decent but not great, and probably mid of the pack of the best picture nominees. Lawrence however, is excellent in her role. She delivers her lines with a gusto and authority of a girl who has had to come to the hard reality of what her life has become. Taking care of a useless mother and having to give her two younger siblings life lessons in things better left for 10 years down the road. Why? Well, b/c it’s a hard life up there and she constantly fears for her own life and that of the elders in her family. She is so good in the role in fact, that I put her in a veritable tie with Natalie Portman for the leading actress Oscar. I keep going back and forth with who deserved it, but ultimately I think that Portman edges out Lawrence even if Portman’s movie was not as good as this one. Hawkes also was very strong as his portrayal of Ree’s uncle Teardrop. He’s an actor who doesn’t often command this type of presence on screen, usually having smaller supporting roles. He takes this one and runs well with it, delivering his strongest performance that I can remember to date. Unfortunately for him, he’s good for only 3rd by my awards in whom I feel was best supporting actor in this years crop (Behind Geoffrey Rush-1 and C. Bale-2). The movie itself as I said is decent. It keeps you entertained and doesn’t over stay it’s welcome and wraps itself up (fairly) nicely. However, I have a zillion plot questions/holes that it has and that just drives me fricking crazy (a small rant on this after the verdict section to keep it safe from those who don’t want spoilers). That’s why I put it mid pack among the best picture noms but will still say you should watch it for a good entertaining movie.

Verdict–> Another good if a slight bit over-hyped movie. Not over-hyped performances, just an over-hyped movie. I would however, put it in a good recommendation category. It’s a heavier drama and none too happy of a story but it is one that will keep you entertained and you will likely enjoy it. Pair it up as the front end of a double feature with a comedy for a good one two punch.

Some SPOILERS BELOW!

ALERT SPOILERS in this rant.

Ok there are a ton of plot holes and just plain laziness in writing I want to point out. This isn’t minor “WSOD” stuff either, it’s big in your face plot holes. First all we hear about the whole movie is how Ree is bread and butter part of the family. Oh yeah? Well, if you are bread and butter you would know they are all druggies and take their stuff seriously. You would ALSO know that if you poke your head where it’s not supposed to be you are going to stirr the hornets nest and get your ass kicked. Next she would have plain as day tell these people she repeatedly calls kin that if her dad is dead all she needs is his body or part of it to show the cops/courts so she won’t lose her house. She would full well know it’s quite possible that he’s dead either from his own doing or from wronging the drug cartel they have going up there. You can’t portray her as knowing all and naive at the same time, it just doesn’t work. Moving on to Teardrop. Why does everyone fear him so much? Why is he known as such a psycho among the psychos? Do we get the idea he is early only so he can have the whole super hero entrance to save Ree? Not very believable that no one will screw with him, and yet he couldn’t get the final “Yes” that his brother is dead. The relationship between Ree and the sheriff, there was obviously one prior but it’s only hinted at, real poor holes. The story is full of areas that need to be fleshed out and given to the viewer. When you finish watching the movie you have a slight bit of closure but then as you think about it more, a slew of these Q’s and more come up in your mind and it just leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. I expected more, and feel that a lot of the hype for this movie was based on the 2 actors who were good but the script and plot as a whole is poor and hole-y. THAT”S why its mid of the pack of best picture noms. You gotta do better then 3/4 of a story to win it all in my mind.

Ok so that’s only slightly an eggageration. Yes, it’s only 3 or 4 LONG weeks away, but my God Green Lantern is going to kick ass. Here’s another trailer for it. A bunch of it is the same and yet, a bunch of it is new.

June 17th can’t get here soon enough!

Monsters (2010– 94 mins) Scoot McNairy, Whitney Able

Monsters is an interesting little known Indie movie. It appears on the surface to be a low budget sci-fi monster movie in which a NASA probe which has collected alien samples has crashed in Mexico and a new species has emerged on our planet. Sure on the surface it looks to be like this, and the marketing was even swayed to make it seem like the next “District 9”. I am real glad to report that it’s not just a take on District 9. No, it’s more then all of that. It’s a story of heart, of fearing the unknown and what the unknown might actually be.

We follow 2 people on their journey through and around the “infected zone”. Andrew (McNairy) is a photo journalist tasked by his boss to bring home his daughter Samantha (Able) to the states. The movie is their journey and what happens to them throughout. Again the beauty of the movie is the simplicity not so much the effects. The story is what drives it all, and the interactions. The nay-sayers will dismiss this movie as “boring” and “low budget crap”, but I implore you to look past the fact it was made for less then 1 million and look at the plot and the implied metaphors (no nothing about our government or anything– I deplore that crap, so I wouldn’t advocate that like in “The Green Zone”) , as they are both very strong. Sure  I think the 2 main actors could be better, especially since the whole movie rests fairly solidly on their shoulders, but they do an admirable job at carrying it.

Verdict–> I am not sure this will be a movie that will appeal to everyone but if you enjoy a character study, and a good subtle movie, with hey, a bit of sci-fi thrown in there, then this is one for you. Don’t come looking for big budget Michael Bay or Spielberg effects tho, as they are not here. I do recommend this movie, and I would say it makes an excellent lead in for a double feature night at the red box.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008- 166mins ) B. Pitt, C. Blanchett, T. Swinton

So with the supply of new movies a bit low this weekend I decided to get an older (well only 2 years older) movie from ye olde red box. I had never seen Benjamin Button so I figured I would give it a shot. It always seemed a bit chickish kinda like Joe Black but eh it was a bit long at almost 3 hours so I figured it would either be a good way to kill 3 hours or a HUGE mistake. More on that tho in a bit…

So Brad Pitt plays Benjamin Button, a boy who is born as an old man of a baby and progressively gets younger as he gets older. So as a 4 year old he has the body and look of a 80 year old man, frail and unable to walk very well. Yep suspend disbelief for a bit please, which you can do easy b/c you forget its kinda a ridiculous idea and just roll with it. So we follow Benny boy through out his life and see his adventures in the world and some friends and acquaintances he makes. He weaves through different cities and stories, which reminded me a bit of Forrest Gump without the famous historical interactions. Which makes a bit of sense looking into it since the same guy who wrote Benjamin Button wrote Gump (Eric Roth). He has a few love interests in the film including Tilda Swinton and Cate Blanchett, both who bring different types of love to him and have 2 different but equally enjoyable story lines. They are great characters, and both played beautifully by the actresses.

This movie really surprised me at how good it was. Like Gump, it’s a long movie chronicling his whole life, but it flows so well you don’t notice the time dragging at all. I thoroughly enjoyed the different time periods and stories it threw at you and it wrapped up very well at the end. I think it appeals to a wide audience and I am a bit surprised I didn’t notice it more in the red box until recently.

Verdict–> I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this film. A good watch for all and I think if you go to the red box on night and nothing is in stock definitely give this one a shot. Or just go ahead and get it today. It’s good an you will like it. A perfect date or couples movie. Just don’t bother getting a 2nd movie b/c this is long enough that you won’t get to a 2nd movie unless you have 5 hours to burn on 2 movies. Highly recommended.

Black Swan (2010–108mins) N. Portman, M. Kunis, V. Cassel

And so the best picture nom watching continues with “Black Swan”, as well as the winner for Best leading actress for Natalie Portman. First a little about the plot. Portman plays Nina, a ballet dancer who is completely devoted to her craft. So much so that in trying to be perfect and land the lead in Swan Lake for her company she obsesses so much that it literally drives her mad. She has some help of course, with a bat-shit crazy mother who expects nothing short of perfection from her, the director of the company who other then having a reputation for affairs with his stars also pushes them to the point of breaking, and a new rival (Kunis) who is out for the lead of the production as well.

The whole thing is shot in a very spastic and confusing manner. Sure some people can argue its for the whole “artistic” value in the whole thing, but to me it’s just there to throw you off and confuse the hell out of you. Yeah I get it, she’s spiraling downward in her mind, and we learn this quite early as well, that she’s not all there, but enough already. Throw a few winks and nods at this but no need to do it so incessantly as he did. The story is fine as it is but I just never fell in love with the whole flow of it, and at the end I just felt it’s about time. It’s a bit artsy and sure it’s a fine enough story, but it’s waaayyy too over-hyped as a movie. It’s decent but not in the top 5 by far of the best picture nominations from last year. Portman was very good in the role, and I don’t really care one bit if she danced any of the parts or not. It simply doesn’t take away or add anything to her role in my mind. Looking at the best leading actress nominees, I would say she is right up there with Jennifer Lawrence from “Winter’s Bone” as the best. However, I think this could more-so be because of the lack of any real strong nominees rather then how good she really was.

Verdict–> I’m sorry to all the people who hate that I really didn’t LOVE the movie. It’s decent enough but it’s just nothing special.  If you want to see it b/c of the hype meeter on this movie then go for it. If you are a guy don’t even watch it for that. Sure a little sex scene between Kunis and Portman might be good for the price of admission but that’s REAL debatable in here. Either way it’s not worth more then a single watch in my opinion. Medium recommendation for woman and people interested in the oscar noms but for men LOW recommendation.

I wanted to bring some of the trailers I have been geeking out on to the blog here and share some of my thoughts. We will be looking at Transformers 3, the new X-Men and a video blog for “The Hobbit”. Thanks to comingsoon.net and yahoo, and of course Peter Jackson himself, all for posting these and for Mr. Jackson just for doing them. Enjoy!

First up is Transformers 3 (Dark of the Moon). Thoughts on it after the trailer.

Before the good/bad/ugly part here let’s talk about plot. It looks like humans will have stumbled upon some info about transformers who crash landed on the moon in the 60’s and naturally the gov’t has been keeping it a secret. SHOCKING. What is shocking is that even when the whole world was threatened in the last 2 movies they still kept it secret? Even after Optimus Prime was on speaking terms with every high level gov’t agent this STILL was a secret? Eh.. plot hole. More of my thinking is it looks like there will be a sort of space bridge opened. This was a huge story line in the cartoons and I like how this could have been brought to the screen. In the cartoon Megatron uses the bridge to bring some reinforcements from the remains of Cybertron over to help him out. Most importantly Shockwave, who we see in the trailer. I am guessing they are going to make him pretty powerful as he already looks like a bad-ass in the trailer. He had a great voice and pretty cool personality in the cartoon so hopefully this keeps up in the new movie. I am guessing these reinforcements will overpower the humans and the Autobots, leading to this whole “Last Stand” idea that they are hinting towards in the trailer. It’s this last stand that I am guessing Optimus will win somehow and then give part of his speech from the trailer and they will ride off into the sunset to put a “!” on Bay’s statement of this is the last movie.

The Good–> Well, it looks like the often abused Michael Bay has tried to make people happy with this one. Gone is some comic relief, back are the big hitter Autobots and LOTS of robots period. Looks like a ton more action as well, I am really hoping this will kick ass and cannot wait to see it the day it comes out and hopefully more then that on the big screen.
The Bad–> With the reported number of Autobots being pretty low, mostly the usual core we have gotten and a few more spec-ops race cars, it seems we will get some of what I didn’t like in the second movie. A big bunch of fighting with nameless transformers who won’t transform and just run around looking like random robots. I want the majority of what we see on screen to be named robots with a purpose. If that means a sliver of what we will see fighting so be it. The beauty of the old cartoon was every transformer on the screen was SOMEBODY. From the least used car to the bunch of random jets. They all had names and they were all called on even if they didn’t speak. If that means more multi-transformer combiners then who cares. They did the constructicons “ok” in the second one but that sort of thing could be greatly improved.
The Ugly–> Again not enough main Autobots. There are a ton of good ones missing so far in the series (Thundercracker for one, and the autobots own radio-sorry name escapes me right now, been a few months since my son and I watched the old DVD’s of the cartoons), and I think we will be let down by the lack of numbers of the Autobots. Also I hate this will be the last one. I know they are expensive and people might be burned out after this, the third installation, but hell I would be happy watching 10 of these movies if the stories were good. I just love the transformers universe and want to see more. I also think having Optimus angry at the humans is in the “ugly” part as well. You would think by now EVERYONE would trust him and want him to be in the know about everything related to robots good or bad on our planet. Hell, the leader is such a good one and so motivated by justice he should be elected president!

Ok next up on the trailers is the new X-Men First class trailer..

As always I will preface this with the fact I am a HUGE DC Comics guy and not much of a Marvel guy. That only means my knowledge base is a bit lower for Marvel so I don’t know a ton about who “should” be in this movie and other then the obvious ones who ARE in here, the lesser knowns, I have no idea who they are of yet. That being said, this movie also looks great. I love when comic movies and heroes get interjected into real life events. It’s just kinda cool and helps us to further suspend disbelief and get into the story. The trailer looks great and hopefully the movie will be every bit as good. The X-men has always been a franchise I enjoyed and I liked ALL three of the original ones. Yes, I even liked the third one, stop your bitching fellow geeks.

The last video I have here is not a trailer but a video blog for… “The Hobbit”. Peter Jackson has done a 10 min video blog on the setting up and beginning of the shooting of the much anticipated classic. I couldn’t be more excited for this as well. The sort of prequel movie for the best trilogy of all time (sorry to my Star Wars loving brethren and also sorry to the Potterphilles out there but LOTR is simply the best) is more of a grand adventure of sorts and a lot lighter then the tone of the “Lord of The Rings” was. Of course it will be a couple of years away and of course it will be AMAZING so enjoy this little video blog, I am sure it will get you excited for the upcoming film. Until then of course why not go back and read the Tolkien classic?

The King’s Speech (2010–118 mins) C. Firth, G. Rush, H. Bonham Carter

Ah yes, “The King’s Speech”, the movie which was all the hype at the Oscars this year. It took home best picture, best actor, best director and best screenplay. So with all this hype obviously as always I am skeptical. It didn’t look like a movie I would like. A movie about a King who has a stutter, and how he forges a bond with his speech therapist to cope with it. YAWN! Only, wait. WTF. This damn movie IS good. Well crap, that means I can’t give it crap for being over hyped. Well, I kinda can b/c it’s not the best thing since sliced bread. BUT it is a damn good movie.

The whole genius of this movie is in the script, and the interaction between Colin Firth (The King), and Geoffrey Rush (the King’s therapist turned friend). If it had not been for the intelligent dry humored conversations these two had in the film, it would not be a tenth of how good it was. They are the heart and soul of the film. The other factor that goes into a great film, which this one had, is the ability to make 2 hours go by without a clue how much time had passed by. The King’s Speech adds to my count of the movies which were up for and won Oscars this year. So far of the best picture noms. I have seen all but four of them; 127 hours (not a huge desire to see), The Black Swan, True Grit (Can’t wait to see), and Winter’s Bone (will prolly see this one out of obligation to see almost all of these). So of the ones I have seen and ones I am yet to see, and of course only using the films nominated, I would say The King’s Speech gives a good argument for best picture. Of those I have not seen only “True Grit” in my mind has a chance to unseat the ones I already love. I think right now on paper I would rank them as follows; 1. Toy Story 3, 2. The King’s Speech,3. The Fighter, 4. Inception 5. The Social Network.  “Inception” could very well move a notch or two up the ladder with another viewing, one which is not at work so I can pay total attention to the almost too complicated on purpose plot.

So that brings me to my obligation to talk about the other awards that this film won. Did Firth deserve best leading actor? I am going to venture a guess that Jeff Bridges is better then him in “True Grit” but I obviously have to see it to say 100% but, I can say Jesse Eisenberg was better in “The Social Network”. Don’t flame me too fast Firth fans, he WAS good, just not great and not even as good as his co-star. Which brings me to my real beef. Best supporting actor. If you go and read my review of “The Fighter” you will see how much I loved Christian Bale in it. Bale was simply amazing as the drug addicted brother of a pro-boxer and a former pro himself. As much as I loved loved loved Bale, there simply is no supporting actor nominated who was better then Geoffry Rush. The quick wit, amazing timing, and complete perfection in his expressions takes the cake hands down. The academy got one wrong there for sure. The next award that “The Kings Speech” missed out on was best supporting actress. I simply cannot fault the academy for passing over Helena Bonham Carter. Again she was good here but I stand by my point that Amy Adams should have been the real winner, and not Melissa Leo.

I cannot make any claim to say who should have won for  best screenplay, because honestly I have no ideas about that profession, and cannot make an educated guess at all. SURE, we all can say who we think should win, but then aren’t we just really saying which movie we like best? Doesn’t that just bring us back to square one?

Verdict—?  Simply put go see it.

The slightly more complicated version—> Reading everything above though you might say that after all is said and done, I am saying that “The Kings Speech” may not be the greatest movie ever made, like some outlets will have you believe, it still is an amazing movie to see. I would give it a large recommendation to see it asap. Add it to the top of your must see list.

The Next Three Days (2010–122 mins) R. Crowe, El. Banks

During the year I always go to outlets such as IMDB roughly every other week and watch a ton of trailers. I LOVE trailers. So naturally even lesser movies that come out I have at least heard of and have seen the trailer of them. It’s pretty common then, for me to have preconceived notions about both the content and if I think a movie will be good. I would say of these two things I am generally more then 50/50 as to how it will play out or if it will be good. Sometimes I get both right sometimes both wrong, but hey it always evens out in the end. Here, I would have to say, I was fairly close as to knowing it would be pretty good but I was pleasantly surprised to how it got to where it was going. More on that after the plot.

In short, Crowe plays a man who’s wife is arrested abruptly, charged, and found guilty of murdering her boss. I won’t go into the details of those facts b/c the movie does a great job of not hanging up too much on them, just letting us see her get arrested and bam then her appeals seem to be exhausted. So we then get to the crux of the movie. When Crowe figures out that he is losing both his wife for life, and her will to live and love, he decides he has to get desperate. He approaches a man who successfully escaped prison and then begins to formulate a plan. I won’t go too much into it past that point as to not give much away. Initially while I was watching I was going back to my first assumption/notion that I had going into the movie. That it’s going to be a shortish straight forward get a plan and execute it. While it has these elements I was thinking it’s taking an awfully long time for him to get to that point. But there in lies the heart of the movie. It’s not just a smash and grab movie, while it might have some of those parts. It really gets into the heads of both the couple and their family so some end. We see the scattering of the mind and the emotion of Crowe’s character. The ups the downs and the not knowing what life will hand him. It’s here that we are seeing during what normally would be considered a drawn out beginning. So what we end up with is almost 2 movies. One, is an emotional ride and getting into his mind, then the 2nd being the breakout itself. A good job by Crowe to guide us in this movie and really get us on his side. Banks is ok if a bit lethargic throughout, taking a good acting idea for the character and doing it a bit too much in my mind.

Verdict—> This is a good intense movie that keeps you either on the edge of your seat, or sitting there “on edge”. It draws your emotions in as well as keeps your suspense hairs tingling. Just be sure to suspend disbelief about the whole breaking out of jail thing. A good recommendation by me, so grab it for a good watch, or pair it with a good comedy for a nice double feature.

The Tourist (2010– 103 mins) Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie

Interpol is after 2 thieves, Elise (Jolie) and her mysterious counterpart the master thief in disguise Alexander Pierce. However, even tho Elise is an accomplished thief herself the real big fish is Pierce. Not only has he stolen nearly a million dollars that the police want, but the mob is after him for much more then that. In order to elude Interpol Elise uses an American tourist on vacation, Frank (Depp). So not only is Elise trying to find the master thief and his money and keep herself free, she is trying to keep charismatic and likable Frank safe from harm as well. This ends up with some action chases and espionage. It sets up well and should be more exciting, but the chases are short, the espionage has no intrigue longer then 10 mins and the plot twists can be seen coming a mile away. This hurts the movie b/c all we are left with are some chuckles at the action that I don’t think are entirely intended.

The director of “The Tourist” set out to make an actiony/ thief caper with two actors who of late have been in two different genres of film. Normally it doesn’t really matter to the viewer where they come from but when you see Jolie running around in the film it seems normal, almost like you are looking at “Salt” again. However, you get a weird feeling watching Depp run around in chase scenes, b/c  we just gravitate to feeling as if we are watching Jack Sparrow running on rooftops. He even runs in the same manner. There is just a certain feeling when we are watching him speak, it’s just hard to take him too serious as it. It takes a slight bit away from the film, not that he’s a bad actor, I think the script and holey plot take away from his acting, and he is unable to convince us of what he is here.

Verdict–> An “OK” movie at best. Depp is charismatic and likable as always and Jolie has her usual sparkle in her smile, but the movie falls flat. I kept waiting for the obvious twist to not be true and for something more in depth to happen. It never does. Also the obvious twist is so unbelievable and implausible that it’s frankly—> Laughable. Sorry the tourist is one trip I recommend you not take… Yeah that was a bad attempt at a pun. (Wait for it to come on cable, not really worth a rental)

Country Strong (2010–117 mins) G. Paltrow, G. Hedlund, L. Meester, T. McGraw

For the last year or so we have seen Gweneth Paltrow coming more and more out of her comfort zone and shell. Between being on TV a bunch with Cee Lo Green singing, and doing a great job hosting SNL she’s been in the good graces of fans for a while. So why did this movie do zilch at the box office? You would think after “Walk the Line” and “Crazy Heart” that movie goers would be fine welcoming another country music based movie, this one with both male AND females singing in it. Judging by the box office take (20 mil??) they were not.

First before I go to far, let me stress I am NOT a fan of country music at all. However, don’t worry I didn’t have any preconceived notions about the movie. We get a love quadrilateral with Kelly (Paltrow) the fresh out of rehab Country star, her husband James (McGraw), her boyfriend and upcoming country singer Beau (Hedlund), and the beauty queen wanna be country star Chiles (Meester). It sounds like something straight out of daytime television, and well, it is. Yet, it’s fairly enjoyable to watch, and the music is actually pretty good (coming from a country hater). Of course there is a downside. What starts off as the makings of a good comeback story coupled with soap opera is bogged down with tooooo much of the decent music. Every time you think the movie is going to get going, they launch into another 3-4 min country song. You start to get the feeling that they put wayyy to much music into the movie to cover up the lack if writing. Hey, um music dudes? Yeah, we are tired of writing a good story, so we are going to just make it a typical story so throw some decent original songs in there so the viewers won’t notice. Um ok? Yeah guys, we noticed.

As you can tell I think there is a good plot wrapped up in a ton of singing, BUT they take said plot and throw it in the toilet and just figure people will like the singing well enough. See, people loved “Walk the Line” more because of the singing, and loved “Crazy Heart” b/c of the plot and performance of Bridges. “Country Strong” has decent of each but not enough to be a great movie. It’s a good movie, b/c we want to root for Kelly to get back to the Emmy winning form and kick the pills and alcohol. And we really want to see which of the hot chicks Beau will end up with. If they could only flesh out the whole story and not leave James with a short end of story and holes all over the place. Good to see once if you love country music or love the actors but you won’t need to or want to watch it again if you are just in it for a good movie.

Verdict—> Country enthusiasts, and Paltrow and Hedlund lovers will thoroughly enjoy the movie. The rest of us who want to see a complete movie will be left scratching out heads. Too much music not enough plot follow through are the big wholes. As with a lot of movies I review I say it’s pretty good but not a top top recommendation. Put it on second tier if all the movies you REALLY want to see are out. Decent entertainment but not a movie I “loved”.