Science fiction Love Story where the love comes first - a review of Never Let Me Go

Ah Childhood love. It was a growing trend last year in 2010. Okay, so two films really don't count as a trend but whatever. Now a man whose opinion I generally always agree with(DAMN YOU ABOUT SUCKER PUNCH), and who even when we disagree I still respect the opinion he establishes, called this his favorite movie of last year. And thus I HAD to buy it and watch it. Was it worth it? Absolutely. Is it the best movie of the year? That's arguable because I was and as I learned tuesday night, still am, in love with Scott Pilgrim vs The world. So let us start with what works because it far out weighs the little problems this movie had. The first and foremost is the fact that this is a science fiction movie about clones bred for the sole purpose of organ harvesting to keep people from dying who are raised to adulthood. They are done this so that they can still live a full life. It is this really fantastic premise. And I'm labeling this spoilers but I don't think it needs the spoiler tag because it's part of the synopsis. But here's the real kicked to the story, they don't dwell to much on this fact. It really is a coming of age story that happens to be about clones. Yes we get some fantastic story work done involving morality and humanity but that isn't what is at the core of this story. The core is the acting. Oh wow, is it ever amazing here. Andrew Garfield should have won an Oscar for his work here. He shows such a dynamic range of acting that I knew as soon as I watched it that this kid could not only pull off Peter Parker in the upcoming Amazing Spider-Man, but that he is going to go on to be a star. Keira Knightly delivers in her non-POTC skills where she is fantastic. But the heart, the soul, and really the real gem of this movie is Carey Mulligan. Your heart will break for some of the absolute real emotion she brings to the table. Fully dynamic, and an absolute delight to watch, she will defy your expectations. So the only real downfalls in this film is that the score doesn't do a whole lot and the plot is a little simplistic, never rising above the basic premise. But when you see this twisted three dimensional love story, you'll be swept away. I can completely and whole heartily say that this is an amazing movie that you owe it to yourself to see. This is an A.

Soulless War Movies Seek Characters inquire inside - a review of Battle Los Angeles

Straight up, I’m very meh about this movie. It didn’t grab me, didn’t distract me, and had me looking at my phone on a regular basis for what time it was and how long it’d take to get to a good action scene. The flaws in this movie are fairly glaring, not the least of which were the script. This script sucks, the dialogue is stilted and only made passable by some decent actors. But even good, some great, actors can’t save these characters. The main character played by Aaron Eckheart of The Dark Knight, gives a rather uninspired performance here. His character’s arc literally is at the beginning of the movie he is the stereotypical one week (or in this case, one day) from retirement cop(Marine) who gets pulled into one last case(war). And at the end he is gung ho to keep fighting. Which as far as bad clichés go, it’s not the worst, but it is never earned. And that is ultimately the problem here. None of these characters earn the end result of their stories and I never once cared that anyone died. In fact, I only cared when by the end a character DIDN’T die. And it made me cranky. The characters are all bland, two dimensional caricatures that belong in a Roland Emerich movie. And that isn’t a bad way to compare this. All you have here is big sequences that look cool but don’t amount to much. There are clearly some cool ideas going on with these aliens, but the story is so vague and unspecific about them that they come down to the role of Invaders! And we never get to know what they really want or why they are here or who any of them are. In a post District 9 world where we clearly can be told the motivations and desires of alien forces, we shouldn’t be forced to live with faceless enemies especially in a movie that clocks in at under two hours. In many ways this is the movie form of a game called Resistance: Fall of Man. Which takes a similar aesthetic to an alien invasion, but in that you get better characters and story, so I’d say go check that one out. There even is a fantastic moment of product placement for Resistance 2 on one of the billboards, so I’d say the creators knew it too. I can’t in good conscience recommend this movie, but I also can’t claim it to be good. It’ll likely go down in my mind as one of those films that failed spectacularly to live up its potential. So is this movie Black Hawk Down with Aliens? Yeah if you want to boil it down to that, but you have to foot note that there is not character here. None. So this is without a doubt, a D movie. Not worth your time, not a complete failure, but ultimately just a footnote towards some better set pieces to come.

Some of Them want to be used - A review of Sucker Punch

“If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.”
Okay so before I get into spoilers, here’s the thing. SEE THIS MOVIE. I can’t sing it enough praise, but if you do yourself one favor, see this movie. It is this year’s Scott Pilgrim and Kick Ass.
So
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
So the plot of this movie is some bad, traumatic events happen to this young girl. She is then wrongfully placed into an asylum and has five days to figure out how to get out or be lobotomized because her stepfather paid the right guy off. So what does she do? She supplants a fantasy world into her view and begins a cunning plan by some old man in her imagination.
Sounds weird right? Gets weirder. See in this fantasy world, whenever she dances she creates a new fantasy world where she(Baby Doll) and her allies form a team of ass kicking women and fight in various fantasy realities including an alternate World War II, a horde of Orcs sieging a castle with a dragon in its heart, and feudal Japan fused with modern day guns. It’s an amalgamation of everything awesome and as such it creates a wildly visual movie. Now there isn’t a whole lot to say plot wise going on here. There aren’t too many deep levels to it, frankly, and it’s ambiguous when it comes to the stuff you can analyze. It is in many ways the girl equivalent of 300 in that it is a group of five young women fighting for survival.
The acting ranges from fantastically emotive to kind of dull and predictable. The “villains” are fairly one note and don’t have a lot to offer to the plate. Only four of the characters have any development, and two of them are entwined by being Sisters. Baby Doll gets the most story out of this and her backstory visual montage is quite the spectacle. And yet, I can’t call this movie shallow. Yes, it is a bunch of girls in skimpy outfits being bad ass and gun toting and at time there is homoerotic subtext going on between them. But it is in every way about empowerment and improving the esteem of these young women.
The best parts are absolutely the visuals, but even more so is those visuals combind with an amazing soundtrack. Zach Snyder has a habit of releasing movies with killer soundtracks and this is no different. But what is different is that in a large handful of action scenes or scenes without dialogue you have music and their lyrics telling the story for you. So much so that I would call this a new genre of musical. It is in every way an action movie, but it follows so many tropes of a musical that it blows my mind away.
My biggest complaint is A) the third act isn’t as strong as the first two and feels kind of rushed. Sure, it is exactly what the film told us and telegraphed to us via the five items she has to collect in her fantasy world. And B) it wasn’t in 3D. I know, that sounds stupid but when you see this movie, it was clearly a film that could have gained from being in 3D rather than in simple 2D.
So in all, no the film isn’t perfect, but it is absolutely an A-. I might amend this on further viewings to be an A, but this is such a fun adventure that everyone really needs to see it. So get out there and do it now!

A Super Bowl Glee Half time Show - a review of Glee

So I just finished watching the super bowl Glee and the Valentine Glee so this will be in two chunks.

chunk A I loved, Chunk B I hated.

So the Super Bowl episode of glee was...A total tease, it sets up the idea of Glee going back to the days of old. Aka episode 1-13. Those first few episodes were a great series, but where the show has gone has been nothing but good. So when I say this episode is a tease, I mean that in the sense that the episode is good, the season sucks. Good character moments, good strong development that makes sense for characters. Characters who have no right being in the episode aren't present, an almost bittersweet end to a fun adventure. The only downside is the music was pretty terrible, who ever at the studio said "these kids won't know classic rock, why use it" were retarded and are teh same people who think we need a Justin Beiber song. Fuck. You. Fox.

And the other episode. Well, everything that the super bowl episode got wrong, this episode got worse. Everything SBGS got right,wrong. There wasn't a whole lot here that was right. It makes most of the characters downright unlikable, piss poor musical numbers. Music that doesn't even make sense.

This series has a problem where it wants to give the fans more of what they want. Except they don't get what they want and give them a bastardized version of it. Every inch of this show oozes with execs don't know what they are doing. Likely it is working something like this: Studio does polls, surveys and what nots(asking the wrong questions of course) and figure out roughly what some fans want. Then they look at their advertisers and who they want to reach. So they find a middle ground and tell the shows creative team here is what you should do. The creative team, being morally, creatively, and intelligently bankrupt think it's a great idea and in their heads they think it is a great way out of not knowing what to do.
The show reacts much like a show run by internet fan boys meet studio execs. It doesn't work out for anyone. So what we the audience get is a series of never ending reused storylines, (seriously, we get it, everyone is in a love triangle, square, or pentagon and it plays out exactly the way it's expected). The show likes to default to a handful of couples, I.E. Shue/Emma, Finn/Rachel, Finn/Quinn. And such any status changes are very clearly temporary and have no emotional weight. It's like someone saw Dawson's Creek. Saw the epic Joey/Dawson/Pacey Love triangle that was developed and played out over six seasons and said, you know what would be better? Doing it over the course of six episodes. And someone was like FUCK YEAH. And it all went to hell. So this series pretty much blows. In the first season they showed logic and reason behind each characters knowledge of songs, they weren't just random and they served purpose and feeling. Instead the show has become a shell of something that was once good. Much like Heroes, I hope they figure out how to tell a good story again before it all falls apart and they are canceled.


A note, unless I'm really angry(which I'm not) I usually try to avoid the F-bombs. Today I am sick and offer no inhibition about the quality. This show sucks and it really needs to fire it's entire writing team, hire a new team composed of Tehater people and Television writers(maybe some of the guys that used to work on Dawson's creek) and figure this out. Oh and if they give us that bullshit no one ever grows up nonsense where they are in high shcool for eight seasons I'm going to punch someone...

Because what would 2011 be without me giving you expectations I can't live up to

Because what would 2011 be without me giving you expectations I can't live up to.
I feel like this is a running joke, like I say I'll eventually cover YYZ and never get around to it. What can I say, I'm human. As I depart from a film or book or movie I'm less invested to care. So instead I vote that we continue the tradition of me mentioning things I want to review but don't get around to.
The Town
Never Let Me Go
Monsters
Epic Mickey for the Wii
Assassin's Creed(ps3)
Killzone 2(ps3)
Resistance(ps3)
FalloutNewVegas(ps3)
MetalGearSolid4(ps3)
BioShock(ps3)

Some of this I really will review, some of it I don't have any intent to. I guess that's up to you to decide what's what. The only thing in 2011 I am gurenteeing is that in September or November you will see the 2011 edition of the top 100 film list. And maybe like 50(?) ish percent more hookers this year. I like to keep it classy here.

And these are your 2011 oscar nominations for the year two thousand and Eleven

for each of these catagories I will be ranking the choices.


Actor in a Leading Role


3.* Javier Bardem in “Biutiful”
1.* Jeff Bridges in “True Grit”
5.* Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network”
2.* Colin Firth in “The King's Speech”
4.* James Franco in “127 Hours”


Actor in a Supporting Role


1.* Christian Bale in “The Fighter”
6.* John Hawkes in “Winter's Bone”
4.* Jeremy Renner in “The Town”
5.* Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right”
3.* Geoffrey Rush in “The King's Speech”

Actress in a Leading Role


5.* Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right”
3.* Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole”
4.* Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter's Bone”
1.* Natalie Portman in “Black Swan”
2.* Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”

Actress in a Supporting Role


4.* Amy Adams in “The Fighter”
3.* Helena Bonham Carter in “The King's Speech”
2.* Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”
1.* Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”
5.* Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”

Animated Feature Film


1.* “How to Train Your Dragon” Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
No.* “The Illusionist” Sylvain Chomet
2.* “Toy Story 3” Lee Unkrich

Art Direction


4.* “Alice in Wonderland”
Production Design: Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Karen O'Hara
5.* “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1”
Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
3.* “Inception”
Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat
1.* “The King's Speech”
Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Judy Farr
2.* “True Grit”
Production Design: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh

Cinematography


2.* “Black Swan” Matthew Libatique
3.* “Inception” Wally Pfister
4.* “The King's Speech” Danny Cohen
5.* “The Social Network” Jeff Cronenweth
1.* “True Grit” Roger Deakins

Costume Design


1.* “Alice in Wonderland” Colleen Atwood
4.* “I Am Love” Antonella Cannarozzi
3.* “The King's Speech” Jenny Beavan
5.* “The Tempest” Sandy Powell
2.* “True Grit” Mary Zophres

Directing


1.* “Black Swan” Darren Aronofsky
3.* “The Fighter” David O. Russell
5.* “The King's Speech” Tom Hooper
4.* “The Social Network” David Fincher
2.* “True Grit” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Documentary (Feature)


* “Exit through the Gift Shop” Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz
* “Gasland” Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
* “Inside Job” Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
* “Restrepo” Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
* “Waste Land” Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley

Documentary (Short Subject)


* “Killing in the Name” Nominees to be determined
* “Poster Girl” Nominees to be determined
* “Strangers No More” Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon
* “Sun Come Up” Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger
* “The Warriors of Qiugang” Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon

Film Editing


1.* “Black Swan” Andrew Weisblum
4.* “The Fighter” Pamela Martin
3.* “The King's Speech” Tariq Anwar
2.* “127 Hours” Jon Harris
5.* “The Social Network” Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

Foreign Language Film


1.* “Biutiful” Mexico
2.* “Dogtooth” Greece
* “In a Better World” Denmark
* “Incendies” Canada
* “Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)” Algeria

Makeup


2.* “Barney's Version” Adrien Morot
3.* “The Way Back” Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
1.* “The Wolfman” Rick Baker and Dave Elsey

Music (Original Score)


3.* “How to Train Your Dragon” John Powell
4.* “Inception” Hans Zimmer
2.* “The King's Speech” Alexandre Desplat
5.* “127 Hours” A.R. Rahman
1.* “The Social Network” Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Music (Original Song)


* “Coming Home” from “Country Strong” Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
* “I See the Light” from “Tangled” Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
* “If I Rise” from “127 Hours” Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
* “We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3" Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

Best Picture


2* “Black Swan” Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers
3.* “The Fighter” David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers
6.* “Inception” Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers
10.* “The Kids Are All Right” Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers
1.* “The King's Speech” Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers
7.* “127 Hours” Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers
5.* “The Social Network” Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
8.* “Toy Story 3” Darla K. Anderson, Producer
4.* “True Grit” Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
9.* “Winter's Bone" Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers

Short Film (Animated)


1.* “Day & Night” Teddy Newton
* “The Gruffalo” Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
* “Let's Pollute” Geefwee Boedoe
* “The Lost Thing” Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
* “Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)” Bastien Dubois

\Short Film (Live Action)


* “The Confession” Tanel Toom
* “The Crush” Michael Creagh
* “God of Love” Luke Matheny
* “Na Wewe” Ivan Goldschmidt
* “Wish 143” Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite

\Sound Editing


2.* “Inception” Richard King
3.* “Toy Story 3” Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
1.* “Tron: Legacy” Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
4.* “True Grit” Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
5.* “Unstoppable” Mark P. Stoeckinger

Sound Mixing


1.* “Inception” Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
3.* “The King's Speech” Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
5.* “Salt” Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
2.* “The Social Network” Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
4.* “True Grit” Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

A triumphant celebration of Humanity - a review of The King's Speech

As the days roll closer to and pass oscar season, you'll hear more about this film. It is a film that is going to be leading the charge and for good reason. The King's Speech is the story of the Duke of York, his rise to the status of King and dealing with his Speech impedement. This is one of those great experiences where you want to talk about it about the end of time and yet you don't want to spoil the experience for anyone else. Let's be frank though, I should likely qualify the experience I had so that I can give some kind of credence to calling myself a reviewer. The music is quite good. It has such poise and grace that it sets up the entire experience without trying. It is one of those great soundtracks where the first time you watch you might not notice it, but by the end of the second you will be in love. I know, that's a lot of hyperbole to say that it was great, but whatever. If you didn't get it by now this isn't a review so much as a love letter explaining why I love this movie. The acting is simply sublime. Colin Firth out does himself here and is quite moving and personable. Geofrey Rush does a great job here as well and really reminds us why he is so brilliant. And then there is Helena Carter who is the true gem here with her most understated performance, ever. I wasn't overly impressed by the directing but I can't say I was anywhere near disapointed by it either.
This is an absolute A. Easily one of the two best films of the year.

You know you're in good company with this cast - a review of The Company Men

It seems like I'm doing this more often lately, walking into movies blind based on a poster and a convienent time. I'm not complaining, I've just found it odd. So when you enter a movie like Company Men, you have certain expectations. By you, I of course mean me. But hey, I could be you. Ya neva' know. Comapny Men is a strange little event. It's good, don't get me wrong, but it was so quiet and so submerged by big ticket oscar winners like Social Network, King's Speech, and True Grit that no one really focused on it. For those of you who don't know, and frankly, why would you, this is a movie about our current economic hardship. It is about the second great recession and it is a fairly human and humbling experience. It follows, primarily, three men. Chris Cooper, Ben Afleck, and Tommy Lee Jones. The Majority of time is spent with Ben Afleck. Ben represents our everyman in this situation even though he isn't. He's a fairly well respected and high ranking employee so he is understanbly suprised when they let him go. He goes through the culture shock of not knowing what to do when you can't find a job. He is humbled by his experience. Next we have Tommy Lee Jones, now it is about an hour into the movie before both he and Chris Cooper loose their jobs. But once they do they each take a different path on figuring out what to do with their lives. Chris takes a darker path that i don't want to spoil. And Tommy takes a brighter path, using the events to empower himself. It is an uplifting movie about hope and about rising above your situation and not surendering to it. Then there is the supporting cast that just adds a great level of sub plots to the piece. Maria Bello, Craig T Nelson, and Kevin Costner all do their parts to match the bar set by our three leads. And really the acting here is what will keep you coming back. The story is fairly predictable and not at all unexpected response, a far better effort than Wall Street:we need more money, but it is this uninspired story that never allows it to leap above the pack. Further, the music doesn't stand out. So when your main draw is your actors, you've certainly got a fine piece. And in many ways this film succeeds for that matter, but in the same vein as the Expendables, it just doesn't go that extra mile to prove it's worth.
Overall this is a B experience. Certainly not a disapointment, just not as great as it could have been.

A good Actor can't fix this movie - a Mechanic Review

Have you ever walked into a movie 99 percent blind? Literally the only things I knew about this movie were that Jason Statham was in it and that I’d heard zero reviews or comments about it. And that it was an action movie. Having that information I had an interesting experience.
The Mechanic is your standard Jason Statham movie. He’s a hitman and he has a job he doesn’t want to do. Then some boohoo’s and then he picks up a teen sidekick played to perfection by Ben Foster. Now for the spoilers.
Yes Spoilers.
Turn back now.
Too Late.
So the first act consists of Jason killing a dude, meeting up with his friend who is one of the partners in a company that sends out hitmen. This friend is played by Donald Sutherland. Or as I call him Exposition Man. Because he really serves no purpose other than exposition and isn’t interesting until he’s dead.
Yeah he dies. See you know how I mentioned he was a partner in this operation? Well the other guy shows Statham some info that says he’s a traitor (News flash, he was lying) so Statham makes it look like a normal mugging. Now this set up scene is one of the two best moments in the whole movie.
Now Statham is all sad because he killed his friend. So he goes and visits his hooker friend and his alcoholic boat friend. They are Zero consequence. But then he goes to the cemetery and finds Donald’s son, played by Ben Foster. Ben is awesome as he often is, and plays this almost an asshat guy who is looking for revenge. So he goes out and tries to kill some carjackers(thinking his dad was murdered by carjackers) and Statham stops him and then quickly ends up taking him on as an apprentice hitman. It is at this point that Statham becomes completely unimportant and every character arc and development is put on Ben’s character. They do a couple jobs and eventually because of some Deus Ex Machina intervention from the writer, the plot moves to taking out the guy that betrayed Statham. As they get most of the way through the steps to find the guy, Ben discovers that his mentor killed his father. And so he starts plotting. He doesn’t take immediate vengeance. He builds it up. He plans. And in the meantime we as an audience get some delightfully delectable moments where Statham and Ben have awkward conversations. Leading up to some very heavy handed dialogue followed by what seems like a great scene at the time. We see Ben pump gas onto the car and into it, walk away and then fire a gun at the gas can. It is an explosion. Wheeeeeee. And it looks like Statham died. And had it ended there and this had all been about handing the torch off this would have been a GREAT film. But the good guy, aka the lead, had to win so we find out from security footage Statham rolled out of the car, and that he left some explosives on a car and actually blows Ben up thus negating any possible good moments. The real sad part about all of this is this could have been a really good drama had they put a capable actor who has some kind of depth of emotions in the part of Statham. It isn’t a perfect fix, but a different actor in that part would have solved some problems. The rest are just the clichés that bog down most action movies. This is the kind of movie where it throws around cool ideas but never fully executes them. Now when it comes to action, it is on par with say The Expendables and Machete. But the best parts, the soul has been frankensteined back into a shell that probably didn’t need it. I wish I could take this plot and build a good drama out of it. And I bet I could too. Oh and the title really doesn’t mean a lot. It’s a term mentioned once or twice as another name for a hitman but really feels forced like they needed to justify the title to a movie going audience who is deaf, dumb and blind. Unless you are Ben Foster the acting is mediocre at best. The directing is okay, but there are a few times, especially early, where the director isn’t clear with the editing to give us a sense of what is going on. And also it looks bad. Like the picture itself looks Last Airbender with 3D glasses bad. I don’t recommend watching this film, you know, ever. But if you have to, it does work as a pop corn flick and will get you through the hour and a half run time perfectly sound.
All in all, I think foreknowledge only really affects your expectations and not the film going experience as a whole. All in all, this film wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t good either. Grade is a C.

Coming Soon: The Weekly Release

Hey folks, I'm going to start doing a little write up on what I bought in a given week, at what price(or the price I am allowed to reveal), and my thoughts if it is something I haven't discussed.
This week I bought Buried and Bioshock for the PS3.
This Upcoming week I am buying Red and How to Train Your Dragon.


Often the movies will be a mix of new releases and older releases on sale.
Games will almost always be ps3 and will likely be older.
Graphic Novels will be from who knows where, but since I buy them off ebay it'll likely be a comment on the quality of the book. Also 99 times out of a hundred it'll be Hardcover.

Alright, I'll have reviews up at the end of the week for stuff and this week, baring weather and work, I have at least two different films I'm reviewing.

What genre is this movie? That's the real dilemma - a review of The Dilemma

Every so often I, on a whim, pay to see a movie I have never seen nor heard anything positive nor negative about. In fact, these excursions are often on the kind of projects that I have heard no buzz about. Occasionally I discover true gem's using this process. Occasionally I see crap like Awake, and spend the next twelve months warning people off the movie. Well congratulations, this isn't a warn people off it movie. But it wasn't a memorable film either. You see, I saw this movie some eight or nine days ago. And I had all intentions to write a review of the movie. But I forgot the movie existed. Hell I forgot I even saw it. That's not a good sign. But I do remember walking out of the theater thinking if the film had made a decision it would have been stronger. Instead the film was half comedy, half drama. And the drama elements were all better than the comedy elements. in fact the film told me flat out that Kevin James is an actor who flat out needs more work as a dramatic actor. He steals this show, almost as much as Chantum Tanning(name correction later). Chantum does a fantastic job playing an asshole. And as the opposite end of the spectrum you have Kevin James who knocks it out of the park as a best friend. And here's the thing about this movie, it is one hundred perfect feels real. These aren't caricatures, these are people. They have reasons and dreams and logic and it is really fantastic the way it works out. I would love to look at the script because the four leads(Winona, Jennifer, Kevin, and Vince) really feel like a tightknit group of friends and so when someone feels betrayed you really see it and really see the pain these people go through. There is also some really dark issues at work here, some underplayed, some overplayed. But Ron Howard works his directing magic and pulls out something that wants to be so much more. For every element that works, there are three to four things that feel, not nessisarily wrong but, almost off. There are elements that feel under utilized or like they went in the wrong direction. And again,this movie makes you feel like Kevin James isn't used to the best of his abilities. Now on Vince Vaughn, he is very Vince here. But he is the least Vince he's been in a movie since Jurassic Park:The Lost World. And it's one of those things where he and Kevin both fall under the Joss Whedon law of Comedy. "If you can do comedy, usually you can do the other thing". or as Smallville put it "German Philosophy is easy, Comedy is hard." This is a movie that isn't bad, but it isn't great. It is just shy of recomended. Finally Queen Latifa will scare the pants off you with talk about her "Lady Wood." It's creepy.

So should you avoid this movie? No. Should you hunt it down? Not really. Is it worth a rental? Certainly. Some people will love this movie, but like me, most will forget the movie ever existed. So I give it a C.

Don't be fooled by the trailer, the film is awesome - a review of Fighter

In every way the trailer doesn't depict this film well enough. This is a film that will defy your expectations with something a little more grounded than most boxing movies. Now of course this film is based on a little history, but unlike a few other based on history films, this one doesn't force you into needing to believe the unbelievable. This is a film that doesn't pull punches. This is the kind of movie you walk out of knowing that you just watched something special. I know I did. This is a movie about two men, brothers from a very large family. One Brother, Christian Bale, thinks he's on his comeback tour. Mark Wahlberg is just trying to do what he does. And this movie is about these two characters journeys. One spiraling out of control until his life explodes, the other on the rise to something greater. Our three leads, Mark, Christian, and Amy Adams, do wonderful jobs and they really show you things you don't see out of them, with a more sexual and adult Amy Adams than is typical typecast for her. The writing and the directing are both spot on. Where this movie really shines though is that its story doesn't ever shy away from the hard truthes. This is a movie about Drug addiction and about being torn between love and family and in many ways it deals with them in a very real manner. You can relate to the need to be honest and relate to the hard choices that you have to make in the name of family.
This movie is an A. This is an absolutely solid film and in every way deserving of your time.

A movie that didn't know what it had going for it - a review of the Social Network

I want to start by saying I didn't fall in love with this movie. It is well done, it is strong, it is filled to the brim with amazing performances and fantastic dialouge. However, it is also a little blind as to what the story is about and doesn't seem to know where to focus. This is a movie about the creators of Facebook.
But instead it focuses pretty specificly on Mark Zuckerberg. But for me the real star and the only really likable character with a good storyarc is his best friend Edwardo. And I understand that Aaron Soarkin was likely focusing on Mark either because he had to because that was the story that was licensed or because he was the character he could most relate to, however to much of the movie starts to fall apart in the last third for me to be able to champion the writing. But again, the dialogue is spot on.
The director, David Fincher, is of course a genius at what he does and other than a few exploitive shots his work was expertly crafted.
Okay, now that I've gotten my unremarkable critiques out of the way I want to talk about the part that I agree with everyone on. The acting is phenomenal. There are some incredibly well performed performances here and the film is fantastic for it. Andrew Garfield is subtle and loveable. Justin Timberlake is cruel and the man you love to hate. Jesse Eisenberg falls in the middle of the two types of characters and really feels a bit like Orson Welles at times. The supporting cast works well with what they are given but outside of those three, none of the actors are really given a chance to show something resembling good, emotional acting.
This movie for me is an A-. It really is a great film, but in a sea of great films for me to choose from, all boasting great acting, this movie didn't live up to the hype for me.

A parable about how to make a classic scifi film - A review of Tron:Legacy

If 2008 was the year of the comic movie, and 2009 was the year of the underdog, then 2010 was the year of the nostalgia. In every way Tron:Legacy is following the trend and trying to appeal to the original fans without pushing away the newcomers. The movie is fun and often very true to science fiction. And the whole thing screams eighties. But that's the point. Here we are, twenty five years later and it looks like that era but with better graphics. But it is such a love letter to Tron that it is hard to not look on in awe.

And the graphics are very pretty. Yeah it's superficial, but they are pretty in a lighting kind of way. Because of the very nature of the Tron universe, everything is all about light and shadow. And because it is about light and shadow the visuals reflect this. This is the kind of movie you watch in hi-def with the very best quality screen/projector possible. True Imax given the chance. It will own your very soul. But the movie does something else, it gives you something that is enjoyable to watch. It isn't Avatar where everything is so dull that the only thing you have to enjoy is the pretty, here the pretty is icing on the cake.

The story is a continuation of what came before. It in every way honors it but it in no way hides from it. We get a full view of this world and the movie works wonders because of it. It is not without flaws. There is some pretty heavy handed christian symbology and alegory that in the last half hour becomes nearly distracting. I don't want to say too much but I will say that it honors its predecesor and builds on it in a way that the star wars prequels and the Abrams Star Trek didn't.

The acting is good. Yes. no. Well. Kinda? Okay, some of the performances are a little hokey. But again, that's the point. Jeff bridges and his CGI body are pulling double duty again and it works great. The idea of deaging someone with graphics has finally reached the level of the technology we have. Olivia Wilde does a better job here than she does anywhere else in that she's playing a different character. For once she wasn't type cast and she actually gets some oppertunity to shine and show subtlty. The main actor does a capable job. He never overplays it, but he never underplays it either. He never defies expectations. He also reminds me considerably of Jensen Ackles every second he is on screen. Only I keep wishing he was Jensen Ackles.

I would be doing a disservice if I didn't recomend the soundtrack composed by Daft Punk. Everyone whose seen it knows what I'm talking about, it's sold out at Best Buy RIGHT NOW. Two weeks later. That's impressive. It is an amazing soundtrack whose full musical quallity is worth it's weight in gold and then some.

Overall I would say that this movie is an absolute A-. It's not perfect, it is actually a really enjoyable flick. Go check it out.

Tron
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breathe out 2010, breath in 2011

So in honor of the end of the year I give you three top 11 lists detailing some of the events I want to make sure everyone remembers. And yes two of these lists are kind of the same.



11 biggest moments of 2010

1. Heavy Rain DLC: Canceled.

2. Conan: Fired.

3. Joss Whedon to direct The Avengers

4. Twilight’s Identity: Revealed via solicits

5. Greg Rucka leaves Batwoman L

6. Four important characters die during Siege.

7. Shadowland falls below the Daredevil bar

8. Let Me In didn’t suck

9. Indie comic movies rule critically, but fail commercially

10. Nolan proves The Dark Knight wasn’t a fluke in Inception

11. Rich George leaves IGN comics.

11 biggest disappointing movies in 2010

1. The Expendables

2. Iron Man 2

3. The Last Airbender

4. The Tourist

5. Wallstreet: Money Never Sleeps

6. Alice in Wonderland

7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows part one

8. The Losers

9. (reserved for Prince Of Persia)

10. Clash of the Titans

11. Knight and Day

11 Biggest surprises of 2010

1. Scott Pilgrim Vs the World

2. The A-team was…was…good!

3. Kick-Ass lived up to its name

4. Boardwalk Empire came out swinging

5. The Walking Dead

6. Chloe Moretz

7. Coen brothers strike back with True Grit

8. Toy Story 3 reminded us to trust the Pixar

9. Bruce Wayne and Steve Rogers returned and did it with grace

10. Terriers was canceled
11. Dexter season 5 was a let down

Top 11 games of 2010

1. heavy Rain
2. Red Dead Redemption
3. Fallout: New Vegas
4.SCott Pilgrim The Game
5. minecraft alpha
6.Kirby's Epic Yarn
7. Metal Gear Solid peace walker
8. God of War 3
9. Limbo
10. Prince Of Persia:The Forgotten Sands
11.Epic mickey
honorable mention: Mass Effect 2, Dead Rising 2. Undead Redemption.

Boringist list of the year - 2010 edition

A tradition I've held for many years is that the last week of the year is always the boringist, as such each day I watch at least one movie. I'm not sure on the order but I've included the list of potential films for this week. Traditionally I include 1-4 in theater films along with a handful of films on blu,
This list will be updated as I go along with links to reviews for each film.


1.The Box
2. The Town
3.Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
4.True Grit
5.Iron Man 2
6. Inglorious Basterds
7.A Serious Man
8. 30 Days of Night
9.


Silence of the Lambs

2001

The Orphanage

Tron:Legacy


Lovely Bones

Sunshine Cleaning

The Departed

Toy Story 3

Golden Compass

Low expecatations make this an easy to digest batman parody - a review of Green Hornet

The Green Hornet is a better film than the trailers will make it seem. More than that, it is at times both clever and funny. That said it is not without flaws, and boy are they big ones. For the majority of the acting is tolerable, even Seth Rogan plays his part with a little less Seth Rogan than usual. But only a little. There are four actors(Tom Wilkensen as Seth;s father, James Franco as a brief throwaway villain, and the gentlemen who plays Kato, and Edward James Olmos) who are all way better in this movie and honestly should be off in movies more to their stature. And then there are a few random so terrible this almost ruins the movie. Cameron Diaz. She's normally terrible, she has more than once this year ruined what could have been otherwise good movies, but this..this was bad. She stuck out like a sore thumb especially since she is supposed to be treated like this great beauty when she doesn't even match the random sluts that the Green Hornet spends his time with. Now there is also one super fantastic performance in Christoph Waltz. Yes the Jew Hunter himself finds himself playing a bad guy again but this time he gets to chew the scenery. And when you let him loose, he is a beast. He puts subtlety in his insanity and it is fantastic.
The direction has it's moments of brilliance but ultimately this is no where near his previous works of Be kind Rewind and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
The plot is an amusing parody of Batman and it is clear this is designed as a reaction to Batman. I really like the story elements here, but the movie, much like the Spirit, decided we wouldn't be able to take it seriously so it made itself a comedy. And because it did that, it is a lesser film. I can't really recommend this movie, but I can't Unrecomend it either...It is the kind of movie you shouldn't go out of your way to see, but don't turn down seeing it if offered. I'd give it a C.

And the conselation prize goes to... - The Golden Globe Nods are out

And so the 2010 year, for the show in 2011 Golden Globes nods and oversights are here!My choices are bolded.


BEST MOTION PICTURE - DRAMA
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The King's Speech
The Social Network

What the hell golden globes. You were the awards I expected Buried to show up in. So Buried wins in my eyes, but otherwise it's a tie between Inception and Black Swan, both of which require another viewing on my part to decide who deserves it more here. Other films that seem to have gotten snubbed include True Grit and the Town.



BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE - DRAMA

Halle Berry (Frankie and Alice)
Nicole Kidman (The Rabbit Hole)
Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone)
Natalie Portman (The Black Swan)
Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine)


This wasn't really a choice for me on this list.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE - DRAMA

Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network)
Colin Firth (The King's Speech)
James Franco (127 Hours)
Ryan Gosling (Blue Valentine)
Mark Wahlberg (The Fighter)

I don't see this changing, but I still have a couple months to see if Mark and Jesse are any good, but for now I'm on James.


BEST MOTION PICTURE - COMEDY OR MUSICAL

Alice In Wonderland
Burlesque
The Kids Are All Right
Red
The Tourist


(the following is from ain't it cool news where I pulled this list from but I completely agree, also Isn't The Tourist a drama?)
Wait, this is a joke, right? Red is good fun, but we have Alice and Burlesque nominated in this category? Really? I guess there weren't a lot of musicals this year and they had to have one in there to justify the title of the award... Burlesque, really? Looking below and seeing that they give a nom to Emma Stone, why isn't Easy A on the above list? Or Love and Other Drugs? Or Casino Jack? Bur-fucking-lesque?


BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS - MUSICAL OR COMEDY

Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right)
Anne Hathaway (Love and Other Drugs)
Angelina Jolie (The Tourist)
Julianne Moore (The Kids Are All Right)
Emma Stone (Easy A)


If you've read my reviews this wasn't that surprising.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR - MUSICAL OR COMEDY


Johnny Depp (Alice in Wonderland)
Johnny Depp (The Tourist)
Paul Giamatti (Barney's Version)
Jake Gyllenhaal (Love and Other Drugs)

Kevin Spacey (Casino Jack)

BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS - DRAMA

Amy Adams (The Fighter)
Helena Bonham Carter (The King's Speech)
Mila Kunis (Black Swan)
Melissa Leo (The Fighter)
Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom)

A voice I trust quite a bit says I'll love Amy Adams in Fighter so when I see that film later this month we shall see if this changes.

BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR - DRAMA

Christian Bale (The Fighter)
Michael Douglas (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps)
Andrew Garfield (The Social Network)
Jeremy Renner (The Town)
Geoffrey Rush (The King's Speech)

The three choices here are films I haven't seen yet so to be decided.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

Despicable Me
How to Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Tangled
Toy Story 3



I really, Really want Tangled to just surprise everyone and win this, but it's TS3's to win all the way.

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Biutiful
The Concert
The Edge
I Am Love
In A Better World


I haven't seen a film on this list, boo on me.

BEST DIRECTOR - MOTION PICTURE

Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan)
David Fincher (The Social Network)
Tom Hooper (The King's Speech)
Christopher Nolan (Inception)
David O. Russell (The Fighter)


(again, I pulled this from AICN)
Strong competition this year. Still, Hooper over the Coens? No Boyle for 127 Hours? If any of the others win I'm happy, but I'm leaning towards Aronofsky for what he pulled off visually with Black Swan.


BEST SCREENPLAY - MOTION PICTURE

Simon Beaufoy, Danny Boyle (127 Hours)
Christopher Nolan (Inception)
Stuart Blumberg, Lisa Cholodenko (The Kids Are All Right)
David Seidler (The King's Speech)
Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network)



BEST ORIGINAL SCORE - MOTION PICTURE


Alexandre Desplat (The King's Speech)
Danny Elfman (Alice In Wonderland)
A.R. Rahman (127 Hours)
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (The Social Network)
Hans Zimmer (Inception)





BEST ORIGINAL SONG - MOTION PICTURE


"Bound to You" - Burlesque
"Coming Home" - Country Strong
"I See The Light" - Tangled
"There's A Place For Us" - Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader






BEST TELEVISION SERIES - DRAMA


Boardwalk Empire
Dexter
The Good Wife
Mad Men
The Walking Dead

Love Walking Dead and Dexter but man, Boardwalk Empire is so my bread and butter.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES - DRAMA

Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife)
Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men)
Piper Perabo (Covert Affairs)
Katey Sagal (Sons of Anarchy)
Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer)


I don't watch any of those shows(I know, shame on me for not seeing Mad Men yet), but if I had to give it to any of them based on the little of each I have, I'd say Kyra most likely deserves it.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES - DRAMA

Steve Buscemi (Boardwalk Empire)
Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad)
Michael C. Hall (Dexter)
Jon Hamm (Mad Men)
Hugh Laurie (House)


This wasn't a choice for me.

BEST TELEVISION SERIES - COMEDY OR MUSICAL


30 Rock
The Big Bang Theory
The Big C
Glee
Modern Family
Nurse Jackie


(aicn original comment:)
This list is nullified by the exclusion of Community. Fail.


BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES - MUSICAL OR COMEDY


Toni Collette (United States of Tara)
Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie)
Tina Fey (30 Rock)
Laura Linney (The Big C)
Lea Michele (Glee)


(ditto)
Again, exclusion of Community doesn't make a lick of sense. In absense of a superior TV comedy, I like me my Tina Fey.


BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES - MUSICAL OR COMEDY


Alec Baldwin (30 Rock)
Steve Carell (The Office)
Thomas Jane (Hung)
Matthew Morrison (Glee)
Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory)




BEST MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION


Carlos
The Pacific
Pillars of the Earth
Temple Grandin
You Don't Know Jack


BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

Hayley Atwell (Pillars of the Earth)
Claire Danes (Temple Grandin)
Judi Dench (Return to Cranford)
Romola Garai (Emma)
Jennifer Love Hewitt (The Client List)



BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

Idris Elba (Luther)
Ian McShane (Pillars of the Earth)
Al Pacino (You Don't Know Jack)
Dennis Quaid (The Special Relationship)
Edgar Ramirez (Carlos)



BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

Hope Davis (The Special Relationship)
Jane Lynch (Glee)
Kelly MacDonald (Boardwalk Empire)
Julia Stiles (Dexter)
Sofia Vergara (Modern Family)


(again stealing his line)
Hey, there's Kelly MacDonald. I was wondering when she'd pop up. She's great on Boardwalk, one of my favorite performances in the series.


BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

Scott Caan (Hawaii Five-O)
Chris Colfer (Glee)
Chris Noth (The Good Wife)
Eric Stonestreet (Modern Family)
David Strathairn (Temple Grandin)

Adaptation: What's the Deal?

This comes up fairly frequently so I think it needs to be clarified.
Change is good. It's strange, it's harsh, and at the time you go.."I'm not sure about this", but more often than not it is for the better. If you look at some of the most faithful adaptations, they tend to be pretty boring. Sure if the original was good they are fantastic, but they end up feeling pretty boring. And the truly amazing and most beloved adaptations (The Dark Knight, Kick-Ass, Scott Pilgrim), go off from their source material to create something new, exciting and fresh.
This came up for me for 4 reasons. Number one, Walking Dead just ended and I'm pissed I didn't get the awesome ending from book 1. Pissed. But at the same time, I understand their reasoning and I can see that the changes may change my favorite characters but they add sucha new dynamic that I have no idea where the story is going to go. Number two someone being pissed that C.S. Lewis' "Masterpieces" (I know there is so much wrong with that statement) being changed to be a movie. Um, Duh? It would just end up Last Airbender all over again. Lost and lonely having been stripped of all character to maintain the plot. Number 3; Black Swan. A movie about a new interpretation of Swan Lake that is not only what they are doing as a Ballet but is also reflective of the plot of the movie. And lastly the new Buffy movie's existence.
Obviously the first and foremost question is does this movie work? If it doesn't, of course you are going to blame the writer and the film makers for screwing up your book. But they aren't. Most books inherently shouldn't be film. They are books. So to become film they need to be changed. The best translation I try to offer is that it's like trying to take Lord of the Rings and adapt it into poetry(but something with hard and fast rules like Iambic Pentameter). It isn't going to work out so well. Sure, some things are very visual and translate easily. The fights in Scott Pilgrim bam, take a very visual things and give it movement. So it has to be a good script or the movie will suck. Look at last Airbender. M night didn't understand why this show was so beloved wasn't the plot(though that wasn't bad either), and instead it was about the characters. So when he striped the characters of who they are and their idiosyncrasy, it starts to fall apart. We the audience would never have minded the plot changes they had made if they just made the characters work. If the characters work, and that is what it was all about(and let's be honest, most of the time that's all any of this is ever about), then the changes don't matter. It is about the feel and the emotion of it. A friend of mine asked me after I saw Flipped, how it was. Because she had read the book she knew that it was deeply rooted in emotion and that if it wasn't true to emotion it would never work. Luckily it did, and I'm told they took material out, added material, but it was still good.
Consider this Dexter fans, in the novels Dexter is driven to kill by some dark demi-god, but just because he's fucked up. And no it isn't Harry.
Speaking of Harry, I've spoken about the changes thus far, let's talk about when you are too faithful. These are your Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows where in the event to prove to your fans that you can do it without changes results in two weaker films instead of one fantastic film. This should have been the best in the series and instead it's only half a movie. Lord of the Rings. Oh boy. it's a movie, 9 hours long, about walking. And in many ways the original animation adaptation is better(except that god awful Return of the King). It did what should have been done which was streamline it and still pay tribute to the rich deep world that was created.

So the places where these things go horribly wrong tend to be when you don't get the feel of the original right, or you get the feel right but you forget that its a movie your making, not a novel. I can't stop midway through a screening and flip backa few scenes now that I know this new info. A book and a movie are two inherently different things so changes must be made. Film is a very specific type of media. So if you take away anything, please take away the fact that they aren't the same. And a translation should never be exact.

One last note, adaptations should include change. It is giving the material to someone else to see how they do it. Its much like how in the world of Theater that your director can interpret the story and script in many different ways. He has the skeleton, and he fills in the meat and the flesh and the goey bits with actors and stages and lights and suggestive meanings. Myself and a large handful of other writers are of the mind that, "I've done this work already, let's see what this other person can do with my material". Sometimes it's better, sometimes it's worse. But often it is different. We don't change Peter Parker's origin, but we sometimes change Peter Parker and his life. Iron Man was born in the jungles of Vietnam, we updated him to be in the middle east. Don't assume that because it's different it'd be bad just because you love that original so much. The original isn't going any where. You still have it. It's still your baby. You can still breastfeed it 12 years later(I know, creepy ain't it?), the movie doesn't ruin it. And actually, a bad adaptation often gives your original a little more spotlight. So wait and see before you hate of something, and don't hate on it for change unless that change strips any thing that was good about it away.

The beautiful baby made of the drunken one night stand between Requiem for a Dream and Swan Lake - a review of Black Swan

A quick sum up before I possibly venture into spoilers: Great movie, one of the best of the year, but it isn't without its flaws.


spoilers
Spoilers
spoilers


This is a noir mixed with a drug trip mixed with ballet. It is the kind of movie that Bends genres while still being it's own thing. What do I mean? Well at its heart its the story of a girl who wants to be the best. Her life spirals out of control because of choices she has made that result in her doing some bad things. By the way, thats also the same vague plot as Psycho. It is, without a doubt, a noir by that sense. But for more specific plot condescension it is this:
Natalie Portman wants to be the lead in Swan Lake, but to do so she needs to be both her Dark half the Black Swan and the light half, the Swan Queen(The Queen portion being the easy part with her being this almost pure character). I say almost because she does allude to having had a life. The movie uses a bare bones version of swan Lake as its structure for her to act and as a template for the movie. Woman is turned intoa swan, in order to change back she needs to find true love. But once she does that her evil twin sweeps in a sleeps with her prince and the swan kills her self. This is the metaphorical plot of the movie. but where, what how, and who are the variables here. And in general the plot functions on two levels, it works as a cautionary tale of a girl who works too hard and pushes her self too much and is pressured to be the best and how that affects her. And as such she also develops an eating disorder which causes her perception of reality(which is our the audiences perception) to be radically affected. It is a great metaphor for how the media projects onto young women and projects what they want you to believe is the ideal and how trying to reach that ideal can harm you irreversibly. The other level it works on, and this is the part I really am displeased with is that it displays Homosexuality as being the dark part of the self and heterosexuality as the light part of the self. And defining either as either applies a value to these concepts that they shouldn't have nor need.
The directing and acting are both strong here andthe writing services both.
This movie is half noir half psychological thriller half horror movie(it does has some creepy turn your stomach moments) and half ballet. The beauty is that the director and the cast all manage to make this work and by the time you are done, you are left with a really great piece about what it is like to be a woman raised in American media perception of women. This movie is an A-. Many of you may give it an A but that part of it where it makes a judgment on sexuality sub consciously cost it some points.