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Last movie reviews for the year! (Including the one [JUST ONE THIS YEAR] I forgot to review when I saw it.)
16.2.1010
I Love You Too
Uh, what I remember about this movie: Yvonne Strahovski is utterly and completely gorgeous and the idea that she would fall for a wet blanket like Brendan Cowell's character is kind of ridiculous. He's childish and a bit boring. Peter Dinklage is faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaantastic. I mean, really, so good in this. Peter Helliar makes me want to punch him. I thought the ending was a little unnecessary, but not too bad. I actually don't remember most of the movie when Peter Dinklage wasn't in it. Oh, and his house in it was GORGEOUS. WOW. I wanted to live there.
2.5 out of 5
29.12.2010
Nowhere Boy
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melissajane14 informed me that Aaron Johnson is now engaged to the director of this and they have a child together and it's all I can think of now.I also read up on the accuracy of the movie before reviewing it, which was stupid, because it makes it harder to take the movie on its own merits.
I liked it. I like Aaron Johnson anyway, and his bruising version of John Lennon is different to what we've seen of him before. (That applies to Johnson and Lennon, actually.) Both Kristen Scott-Thomas and Anne-Marie Duff do wonderful jobs as his two very different mother figures - Duff is all the flighty freedom that Scott-Thomas represses in herself and everyone around her. It's a good-looking movie. Thomas Brodie Sangster (that gymnastics kid from Love Actually) almost seems too young and fragile to be Paul at first, but he shows real strength by the end of the film. There's something a little off about the feel of this movie, though. It doesn't feel like it captures anything of The Beatles. Maybe it wasn't supposed to, as it's pre-Beatles, but it doesn't feel like this could be the John Lennon we know, y'know?
3 out of 5
30.10.2010
Somewhere
Pretty with good acting but fairly pretentious. I actually preferred Marie Antoinette, to be honest. I liked Sofia Coppola's reinterpretation of her. Somewhere just doesn't seem to want to do anything, much like its protagonist (I swear, I spent the whole movie feeling like yelling at him, JUST DO SOMETHING. WATCH A MOVIE. TAKE A CLASS IN SOMETHING. PLAY SOME MUSIC. ANYTHING! FUCK.) I mean, I get it, he was aimless and idle and rich. There's only so far your patience will take you, though. It does show an interesting and depressing side of Hollywood, particularly in all the women who just turn themselves into objects to try to get ahead. Stephen Dorff (oh hey, where've you been?) does a good job, and Elle Fanning is lovely and engaging (and looks older than 11), but whenever they're not together the movie just drags and drags. I like Coppola's style in some things, but this was just...boring, mostly. There are some lovely little scenes (the daughter ice-skating, eating gelato and watching Friends in Italian) and the car and location shooting are nice.
3 out of 5
The Time Traveler's Wife
You would think this would be pretty good - it's fairly good casting from the book (although not really the way I saw Henry) and it's based on such a cinematic book - but it's fairly average. It's not a narrative, it's a collection of scenes. There's no urgency, which is weird considering Henry's particular "condition". Any interesting peripheral characters are completely dumped in favour of unnecessary scenes between Claire and Henry, while a lot of things I remember as being particularly interesting from the book are dumped, so I just didn't care for most of the movie. There are a few lovely little bits, particularly anything involving Eric Bana and kids. The casting of sisters as the mini-Albas works beautifully because those kids look really alike, but the older one's not very good tbh. I just didn't care very much.
(Third movie I've seen this year starring a mini Sam Winchester, fyi.)
2.5 out of 5
The Darjeeling Limited
Apparently I'm going through an Adrien Brody thing right now - third movie starring him this month (then again, I've seen 19 movies this month). I do really like him. Wes Anderson, for all his quirkly failings, really understands the mechanics of families - I really got the sense that these three guys could be brothers. They bicker and fight and argue and know each other really well. It's a bit meandering, but holds back a little on the quirk factor, so that the bizarre stuff they do is more comical and actually seems to represent something. Anjelica Houston feels kind of shoehorned in, I would have liked to see more of her. There's an unexpected emotional punch a little over halfway through, and after that the movie doesn't quite restore equilibrium. Still, I really enjoyed watching this one.
3.5 out of 5
31.12.2010
Little Fockers
Much like Star Wars only without the impact, the middle movie of this trilogy is easily the best part. I would rather watch a whole movie about Barbra Streisand and Dustin Hoffman as Ben Stiller's parents than sit through more of the Robert DeNiro/Ben Stiller uncomfortable double act, and Owen Wilson was just annoying by the end of this. There are some really funny parts, and I liked Teri Polo better in this than in the others, but the older Fockers were still very easily my favourite part. They just shine in those roles. It makes me forget that Ben Stiller has, you know, real parents that aren't them. I love them. I love that the two mothers kind of love each other, too, and would like to see more of them and less of the men. Jessica Alba was actually pretty funny in this. Also, holy crap but Ben Stiller got BUFF. WOW. I couldn't stop noticing, which is weird, because it's Ben Stiller. The kids were pretty good, particularly the girl. "Early humans" is a pretty hilarious term.
Worst thing about this one is how damned predictable it is. I mean, every SINGLE scene is telegraphed by a mile, and it just gets old and annoying.
2.5 out of 5
Sunshine Cleaning
Woohoo, another female director!
Okay, I have to be honest, I'm pretty burnt out on movies. I may not have been paying too much attention in this one, and it isn't exactly attention-grabbing on its own merit. I love Amy Adams and Emily Blunt (the latter is particularly good in this), but their relationship didn't feel lived-in like the brothers in Darjeeling Limited. Alan Arkin doesn't manage the awesome grandkid relationship he gets in Little Miss Sunshine, either. I still enjoyed this movie for the most part, though. I always like Mary-Lynn Rajskub, and the sisters are played with gusto, particularly in the lovely cleaning scenes. Clifton Collins (AYEL!) does a good job, and the movie has a good feel to it - a little bit dark but with a light at the end of the tunnel, and it feels real.
3 out of 5
Green Queen
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I felt the same way. I remember feeling queasy when they announced this film, as I thought the premise would make a really great movie if they just removed all the names of the characters and made it not about John Lennon. This movie is definitely not about the Beatles and doesn't pretend to be, but that made it far less interesting because it felt like just a bunch of characters who happened to share the names of Lennon and his famous friends and family. Which is an incredibly weird thing to do in a movie.
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So a) was it depressing? b) should I watch it?
What about The Darjeeling Limited?
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I liked Darjeeling Limited! (Why don't you just read the reviews?!)
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