moviegourmet

Updated Movies To See Right Now

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Black Swan: Natalie Portman is under a little too much pressure

It’s the Holidays – this is your best chance to see a few excellent films.   I strongly recommend Rabbit Hole, an exquisite exploration of the grieving process with great performances by Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhardt, Diane Wiest, Sandra Oh and Miles Tenner. True Grit is the Coen Brothers’ splendid Old West story of Mattie Ross, a girl of unrelenting resolve and moxie played by 14-year-old Hailee Steinfeld in a breakthrough performance, and Jeff Bridges is perfect as the hilarious, oft-besotted and frequently lethal Rooster Cogburn. The King’s Speech is the  crowd pleasing story of a good man (Colin Firth) overcoming his stammer to inspire his nation in wartime with the help of a brassy commoner (Geoffrey Rush).   Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan is a rip roaring thriller and a showcase for Natalie Portman and Barbara Hershey. The Fighter is an excellent drama, starring Mark Wahlberg as a boxer trying to succeed despite his crack addict brother (Christian Bale) and trashy mom (Melissa Leo). Fair Game, the Valerie Plame/Joe Wilson story with Naomi Watts and Sean Penn, is also excellent. I Love You, Phillip Morris is an entertaining offbeat combo of the con man, prison and romantic comedy genres. For some delectable food porn, see Kings of Pastry.

Love and Other Drugs is a passable comedy.

There are some Must See films still kicking around in theaters this week: Inside Job and The Social Network. Both are on my list of Best Movies of 2010 – So Far.

For trailers and other choices, see Movies to See Right Now.

I didn’t pick a new DVD of the Week.  This is the time to catch up on the year’s best, such as Winter’s Bone, Toy Story 3, Inception, The Secrets in Their Eyes, A Prophet, Mademoiselle Chambon, Ajami, The Girl on the Train, The Ghost Writer and Joan River: A Piece of Work, all available on DVD.   For my recent DVD choices (including trailers), see DVDs of the Week.

Movies on TV include Arsenic and Old Lace, My Darling Clementine and The Producers on TCM.

2010 in Review: The Year of Lousy Comedies

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It’s not that weren’t ANY good comedies in 2010 – just not many.  And none made my list of the best films of the year.  The funniest movie was Iron Man 2, a comedy masquerading as a super hero movie.

Going the Distance and I Love You, Phillip Morris were good romantic comedies – a particularly meager genre this year.  Going the Distance was a rarity – a sweet, smart, funny and successful romantic comedy for adults.  Screenwriter Geoff LaTulippe tried a novel approach that respected the audience – creating characters like the ones we know in real life, who talk and act like real people do.  Instead of an implausible set-up, the conflict was the real problem of a bi-coastal romance.  The offbeat I Love You, Phillip Morris was a gay version of the con man, prison and rom com genres, and the risk paid off.

Once, we get past the three best comedies, there were the passable (but not especially noteworthy) Get Him to the Greek, Morning Glory, It’s Kind of a Funny Story, Please Give, Get Low, Love and Other Drugs, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, Youth in Revolt, Cyrus and Death at a Funeral.

The Locksmith, a funny little movie which won the low-budget award at Sundance, didn’t even get a theatrical release.

It was disappointing, because even the good 2010 comedies didn’t match up with 2009’s really funny and original movies:  (500) Days of Summer, Away We Go, Zombieland, The Hangover, In the Loop, Funny People and I Love You, Man.

This year, we had crappy comedies like Pirate Radio, Date Night and Soul Kitchen.   The worst movies that I saw this year were so-called comedies Tooth Fairy and Leap Year – two films that no one thought were good (but that I was stuck with on a long airline flight).   Not to mention that the most reviled movies of the year included the alleged comedies Sex in the City 2, Valentine’s Day, The Back-up Plan, Due Date, How Do You Know, Yogi Bear and Little Fockers.

So here’s the trailer for a non-lousy comedy (a romantic comedy, even), the original and funny Going the Distance.

The King's Speech

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The King’s Speech is the crowd pleasing story of a good man overcoming his stammer to inspire his nation in wartime with the help of a brassy commoner.  As you would expect, Colin Firth gives a stellar performance as the stuttering king.  It’s a well executed film that establishes itself as major Oscar bait.

It’s a very good cast, featuring Geoffrey Rush as the Aussie speech therapist. Helena Bonham Carter is especially good as Firth’s Queen.   Guy Pearce and Eve Best capture the shallow, selfish essence of Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson.

2010 in Movies: The Year of Adult Relationships

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This was the most welcome trend of 2010 – movies that centered on relationships between mature adults.  Hollywood tends to avoid such movies because teen audiences prefer not to imagine that their parents’ peers have thoughts of love and lust (let alone act on them).  And 2010 had films that understand that love doesn’t happen in a vacuum –  people may have pre-existing commitments and actions have consequences.

There was an all-too-rare second chance at love in The Secrets in Their Eyes.  There was the impulsive midlife lust of I Am Love and Leaving.  there was the affair that is NOT rekindled in The Girl on the Train.  We saw the depth and messiness of real marriages Fair Game, Rabbit Hole, Please Give and Another Year.

The year’s best romance was Mademoiselle Chambon. Finding one’s soul mate in middle age, when one may have serious commitments, can be heartbreaking.  Here, the two people are not looking for romance or even for a fling.  He is a happily married construction worker.  She is his son’s teacher.  They meet (not cute) and do not fall in love (or lust) at first sight. He is unexpectedly touched by something she does, and she is touched that he is touched.  Despite their wariness, they fall in love.

The lovers are beautifully acted by Vincent Lindon and Sandrine Kiberlaine in two of the very finest performances of the year.

True Grit

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Joel and Ethan Coen (Fargo, Blood Simple, No Country for Old Men) have brought us the splendid Old West story of Mattie Ross, a girl of unrelenting resolve and moxie played by 14-year-old Hailee Steinfeld in a breakthrough performance.   Without her performance, the movie could not have been the success that it is, and Steinfeld has no problem standing up to the likes of Jeff Bridges, Josh Brolin and Matt Damon.  Mattie’s merciless smarts and resourcefulness become clear in her negotiations with prairie mogul Col. Stonehill (magnificently played by Dakin Matthews).

Jeff Bridges is perfect as the hilarious, oft-besotted and frequently lethal Rooster Cogburn.  Damon, Brolin and the rest of the cast are excellent, especially Matthews and Barry Pepper.

This film is made from the same source material as, but is not a remake of, the 1969 John Wayne oater (a movie that I particularly dislike).  The 1969 film is burdened by a hammy effort by Wayne and the miscast and untalented Kim Darby (playing a 14-year-old at 22) and Glenn Campbell.

The film opens (without title credits) with the old hymn Leaning on the Everlasting Arms, signaling that the Coen Brothers will play True Grit absolutely straight within the traditional Western genre – no ironic winks at the audience.

2010 in Movies: Documentaries

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As usual several documentaries made my list of  Best Movies of 2010:  Inside Job, The Tillman Story, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, and Sweetgrass.

And there were still more excellent documentaries.  Ken Burns augmented his brilliant Baseball with The Tenth Inning.  PBS’s Earth Days told the story of the modern environmental movement through the voices of key players.  The Most Dangerous Man in America brought new texture to the story of Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers.   The fine PBS series Independent Lens brought us Lost Souls (Animas Perdidas), in which filmmaker Monika Navarro trailed an uncle deported to Mexico and discovered secrets in her own family.

Here’s the trailer for the magical Sweetgrass.

2010 in Review: Foreign Films

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It was another year in which foreign cinema was essential.  Three of the nominees for the 2009  Best Foreign Language Oscar were released in the US this year:  Ajami (Israel/Palestine), A Prophet (France) and the Oscar winning The Secrets in Their Eyes (Argentina).   Those three made my list of Best Movies of 2010, along with Mademoiselle Chambon, The Girl on the Train, and The Ghost Writer from France, Carlos from France/Germany, Fish Tank from the UK, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo from Sweden.  If I couldn’t see foreign films, I wouldn’t have a Best Movie list.

France also gave us the Mesrine films.  Ireland offered Kisses.  Italy had the food-centric  I Am Love and Mid-August Lunch.  In a tremendous year for crime drama, the Aussies added Animal Kingdom and the Koreans contributed Mother. Police, Adjective was another bleak, cynical drama from Rumania.

Here’s the trailer for Kisses.

Movies I'm Looking Forward To: Late December Edition

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Now we’re at the time of year when the award-aspiring movies are released just in time for Oscar eligibility.  Trailers and descriptions are on my Movies I’m Looking Forward To page.

We’ll start on December 22 with  Sofia Coppola’s (Lost in Translation) semiautographical Somewhere.  On Christmas Day, the Coen Brothers open their version of True Grit.  The King’s Speech, with Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham-Carter,  will finally get its wide release.

On the 29th, I’ll be awaiting Another Year, a potential masterpiece by one of my favorite directors, Mike Leigh.  We’ll also have a flashy performance by Javier Bardem in a contemporary Job story – Biutiful. Kevin Spacey will star in a real life story of political corruption in Casino Jack.   Peter Weir (Master and Commander, Picnic at Hanging Rock) will showcase The Way Back.

The year’s final release will be the offbeat un-romance Blue Valentine, with Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams.  Festival critics loved and hated this film.  The trailer, which depicts the beginning of a relationship that falls apart during the movie, is quite charming.

See my Movies I’m Looking Forward To page for descriptions, image and trailers.

Here’s the trailer for True Grit.

Movies to See Right Now – Updated

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The Fighter: For better or worse, Mark Wahlberg has Christian Bale in his corner

This is the time of year that I live for –  lots of great choices in the theaters.  I strongly recommend Rabbit Hole, an exquisite exploration of the grieving process with great performances by Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhardt, Diane Wiest, Sandra Oh and Miles Tenner.  Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan is a rip roaring thriller and a showcase for Natalie Portman and Barbara Hershey. The Fighter is an excellent drama, starring Mark Wahlberg as a boxer trying to succeed despite his crack addict brother (Christian Bale) and trashy mom (Melissa Leo).  Fair Game, the Valerie Plame/Joe Wilson story with Naomi Watts and Sean Penn, is also excellent.  I Love You, Phillip Morris is an entertaining offbeat combo of the con man, prison and romantic comedy genres.  For some delectable food porn, see Kings of Pastry.

Morning Glory is a passable comedy, as is Love and Other Drugs.

There are some Must See films still kicking around in theaters this week: Inside Job and The Social Network. Both are on my list of Best Movies of 2010 – So Far.

For trailers and other choices, see Movies to See Right Now.

I have not yet seen Somewhere, True Grit or The King’s Speech, opening this weekend.  You can see the trailers at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

My DVD of the Week is the surprising Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work. For my recent DVD choices (including trailers), see DVDs of the Week.

Movies on TV include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Anatomy of a Murder, Requiem for a Heavyweight and Arsenic and Old Lace on TCM.

I Love You, Phillip Morris

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I Love You, Phillip Morris is an entertaining offbeat combo of the con man, prison and romantic comedy genres – and it’s based on actual people and events.  Jim Carrey stars as the real life con man who perpetrates astonishing cons and  audacious escapes.  Carrey captures both the relentless audacity and the damaged neediness of his character.   Ewan McGregor plays his lover.  Although it’s admittedly a very bad year for the genre, this gay prison love romp is probably the year’s best romantic comedy.