#3 – Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
Starring: George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson
Director: Wes Anderson
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Family
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 93%
Most family-oriented movies and animated movies in the Pixar mold base movies around their target audience (children) and provide winks and nods to the adults watching so they can follow along.
This movie almost felt the opposite.
Don’t get me wrong, kids will enjoy this movie too, but the excellent performances, witty dialogue, great voice acting and subject matter will likely click more with adults than the kids they might be bringing in tow.
Some have called this Clooney’s best performance of 2009. That’s pretty high praise. It's also easy to see why it could be the case.
If nothing else, give Wes Anderson a nod for venturing into the shaky ground of stop motion animation. It’s as much fun to watch as any of his previous films and includes more Jason Schwartzman awkwardness.
By the way, does any actor on the planet do anything better than Schwartzman does awkward?
Final Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.
#2 - Lucky Number Slevin (2006)
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Bruce Willis, Lucy Liu, Morgan Freeman, Ben Kingsley
Director: Paul McGuigan
Genre: Crime, Thriller, Noir
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 52%
Panned by some critics for being overly-stylized, I found Lucky Number Slevin’s black humor, frantic pace and layered story to actually be very enjoyable.
Josh Hartnett plays Slevin, a character in the wrong place at the wrong time, forced to pay competing mob bosses (Morgan Freeman and Ben Kingsley) outrageous debts. Throughout, the wildcard Smith (Bruce Willis) seems to be working both sides.
If you pay attention, you may be able to decipher some of the movie's impending twists and turns, but that doesn’t make the delivery of these twists any less affective.
In the end, the subject material in the film leaves you wanting more. You want to know more about the mob boss rivalry, the relationship between Slevin and Lindsey (Lucy Liu), and you want to know more about the other developments in the film. That’s not to say the movie’s proceedings weren’t adequately described. It means the characters were well-played and had a mysterious quality to them buried beneath all that stylized gusto.
Some have said this movie wants to be like Pulp Fiction and try to compare the two. There will never be another Pulp Fiction. And, while there will likely be another Lucky Number Slevin (in style/effectiveness, not a sequel), that doesn’t mean this film doesn’t deserve some kudos for taking some risks and delivering a gem.
Final Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars.
#1 - Sherlock Holmes (2009)
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong
Director: Guy Ritchie
Genre: Action, Adventure, Crime, Mystery
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 70% (as of January 2, 2010)
I am still, as I type this one day later, on the fence with this movie. Robert Downey Jr. continues to prove he is one of the best actors on the planet and carries this movie. Jude Law’s performance as Watson was pretty spot on. Rachel McAdams as Irene Adler was distracting at worst. I’m not sure her character added much to the film as Holmes’s outlaw love interest.
Mark Strong was good as Lord Blackwood, Holmes’s foil, but the depth of his character’s “take over the world” plot was a little much. How about we start with England first?
There’s been talk about Guy Ritchie’s direction clashing with the style of the movie a bit, but that didn’t both me. The set direction was amazing, easily the most captivating non-Robert Downey Jr. part of the movie.
The biggest problem was that the movie dragged in the middle. The action scenes, when they were there, were pretty well done, but some of the sleuth work, while important to the story, are a little yawn-inducing.
Ultimately, the film swims because of the performance of Downey Jr. and Law, who aptly display the fragile but loyal friendship experienced by Holmes and Watson. The movie even offers a franchise opportunity, hinting at further involvement from archenemy Professor Moriarty, whose face is never seen.
Holmes, while flawed, is every bit as talented a detective as he was when he was introduced by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in 1887.
The movie provides adequate opportunities for humor, but doesn’t overdo it. While the evil plot is a little overdone, the movie is generally enjoyable.
Final Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars.
So, I haven't posted here in about 7 months. Perhaps not coincidentally, that's when I was on the job search.
Well, I do have a job now, but I'm back to posting because I want to put one of my New Year's resolutions to good use. While I'm not thrilled with the idea of New Year's resolutions (especially considering that the vast majority of them are never accomplished, according to multiple studies), I do like the idea of setting both short and long term goals.
With that, I introduce you to the 100 Movie Project.
One of my resolutions is to watch 100 new movies this year. This may not sounds like much of a task, but that equates to watching a new movie every 3 or 4 days in addition to having a full time job and a life...well, kinda.
I will try to make many of them new releases, but it can be any movie that I simply haven't seen. However, it can't be a movie on TV. It has to be unedited and unsensored. DVDs are OK, but nothing on TBS or the like will count.
When I see a movie, I will then post some of my thought on said movie. This won't be an in-depth review per se, but I'll try to give you some kind of insight.
I'm open to suggestions for which movies to watch. I welcome all of your feedback, especially since I don't talk to you guys nearly as much as I should anymore.
Happy 2010!