Review: ‘Black Book’

Zac:

The newest film by Paul Verhoeven, of 80’s action movie fame, is a great WWII thriller revolving around a rich Jewish girl on the run and her eventual role in the resistance. Carice van Houten stars as Rachel/Ellis and is a wonderful find for the film fans (American producers have taken notice and have gobbled her up in a number of upcoming films). We are introduced to Rachel in hiding in a Christian family’s wine cellar in Holland
but is quickly forced back on the run. She eventually finds herself as part of the Dutch resistance and is asked how far she is willing to go for the cause. Dying her hair and changing her name to Ellis she finds her self deep behind enemy lines.
The movie’s twist and turns are what make this movie great so I will not share any more of the plot, but the film moves along, never slowing down as we move with Ellis on her dangerous path. The acting throughout is very good with a great turn by Sebastian Koch who some might recognize from “The Lives of Others,” as the Dutch Gestapo leader who has a direct relationship with Ellis. Thom Hoffman is also great as the right hand man to the resistance that helps to lead the group that Ellis falls into.
The film’s production value is also very high for an foreign film, selling the time period nicely and gives you a glimpse of the Nazi way of life for some of the higher officers. The film does divulge into the Holocaust or really preach the atrocities of the Nazi’s the war just serves as a great historical background for this taught thriller. I think this helps the films enjoyment and entertainment factors as it does beat you over the head with depressing material of the era and is more focused just telling a thrilling story of the time.
Anyone up for a good spy/espionage/period thriller should check this one out as it never really disappoints. It never lifts itself into the upper-echelon of films released this year, but is an entertaining ride that will engage you throughout.

[rating: 4.25/5]

Review: ‘The Golden Compass’

Zac:

Chris Weitz first foray into the fantasy realm is one that is inspiring, and is almost something great, but I can’t help like feeling there was so much more to know. The film looks fantastic, with top notch CGI throughout, doing an exceptional job with the dà ¦mon’s (pronounced demons), the animal manifestation of ones soul that never leaves your side, prowling about everywhere in this fantasy world. We are quickly introduced to Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig) and we know he is important and is doing important things but we never really find out why and who he really is. This is par for the course in this movie, always feel like we are just skimming the surface of what is really going on. Anyways, Asriel has a niece Lyra (Dakota Blue Richards) who lives under his and the college that he works at protection who are under pressure from the evil Magisterium. The Magisterium is a Christian-like organization that is, gasp, the bad guy. The organization is accused of blinding the people from the truth, destroying evidence that proves other wise, and abusing its power to make sure anybody that might go against them is silenced; even if they might be right. Anyways, one of Lyra’s friends is abducted by “the gobblers” while she is whisked away by an important woman, Miss. Coulter (Nicole Kidman) to the North as part of some experiment Coulter has going on there.
Either way, to say more would ruin the story, but I promise the actual film isn’t as all over the place as that last paragraph makes it sound. The film is quick paced and well structured, it is just all a bit to convenient sometimes with things happening just because to move things forward, instead of the characters keeping things going. Along the way we will meet the Gyptians (or Gypsy’s), armored bears, including the awesome Iorek Byrnison, an exiled prince voiced by Ian Mckellan, and witches like Serafina Pekkala (Eva Green); Even Sam Elliot show up as Lee Scoresby, an air ship pilot. All the characters have these fun names and seem really interesting but we just skim over who they really are, getting only peeks into their back story, as the movie moves forward.
All in all the movie is very well done, with good acting all around but no one really standing out or doing anything extraordinary. The world is very fun and interesting to dive into, but as i said before, we just feel like that the film is only a narrow looking glass into that world. The ending will also leave people feeling a bit under whelmed as it is very abrupt and sets up the potential sequel. And also one another note, there is a pretty grisly kill in this movie that I didn’t think would be doable in what is essentially a kids movie, so fair notice if you have a youngling, though they might not realize what happened.
A solid fantasy movie, better than Narnia but paling in comparison to Potter or Lord of the Rings, it is a fun way to spend a couple of hours, if only they would have let us into the world a bit more. Oh well, I guess there is always the Extended Edition DVD that is reportedly in the works.

[rating: 4/5]

Review: ‘Bee Movie’

Zac:

What we have here is Dreamworks newest piece of animation that continues on a healthy run of quality, outside the atrocious Shrek 3, following Over the Hedge and Flushed Away. Bee Movie is equally as ridiculous as Flushed Away with the whole, Bee World, and it is just impossible to believe that the animals that exist in our world have this secret under lying society no one knows about.
(It’s just ridiculous to think that rats, or bees, or whatever animal they use have this world with tools and inventions and cars and stuff, it’s just silly. This is where Pixar excels over everyone else; it creates worlds that we can believe might actually exist and are not completely incomprehensible. Now I know Ratatouille might stretch this a bit, but the rats aren’t building cities, and the Remy and Linguine angle is believable because it is simple fantasy; and Pixar are superb story tellers. Enough ranting)
Luckily Bee Movie has one really great thing going for it and that is Jerry Seinfeld. His brand of humor is liked by most and it works great even in this kid environment. His humor keeps the movie going along and is almost constantly funny with some great one liners sprinkled throughout the film. Seinfeld also does some admirable voice work as Barry and the rest of the group is good as well.(special shout out to the great Patrick Warburton)
The story itself is at least mixed up and tries to be a lot of things, but sadly doesn’t do all those things well. There are about 5 acts to this movie and while it’s nice that it doesn’t really drag its feet in repetitive material, one of the acts really falls flat do to its inconceivableness. Luckily Seinfeld’s comedy saves the act in question from ruining a solid comedy family film. The final act is also appreciated for sending an environmental message without beating it over our heads; I’m looking at you Happy Feet.
All in all, this is fun family fair, and if you like Seinfeld at all there is plenty to enjoy. But I would really love to see Dreamworks make movies that don’t make the animals do human things (they did this to best effect with Over the Hedge and that is their best work outside the first Shrek). Anyways, if you got some youngling’s take them out and enjoy the show as there is plenty for both of you to enjoy, even if it is all quite ridiculous.

[rating: 3.5/5]

Review: ‘The Mist’

Zac:

The Mist, the third Stephen King adaptation by Frank Darabont, is a pretty good suspense horror film that is constantly engaging and remains pretty much unpredictable; which is a good quality for horror suspense fair.
Thomas Jane plays David Drayton, a successful movie poster painter living in a small Maine town that is hit by a violent thunderstorm. The storm does some significant damage to the town and knocks out the electricity so Drayton along with his son and neighbor, the stubborn as hell Andre Braugher, head into town, leaving his wife behind looking upon a strange mist rolling out over the lake there house sits on. The trio heads to the grocery store to pick up supplies to find it full of people with the same idea of stocking up supplies when Dan Miller, played well by Jeffrey DeMunn comes screaming into the store, “Something in the mist!” As the mist rolls over the parking lot the supermarket patrons hear screams and the shop violently shakes as it is engulfed in the mysterious haze.
Now to tell you much else would rob the movie of it’s entertainment value in “what’s going to happen next?” Just know it keeps you tensed up and engaged, be it from the terrors outside or the insanity fear brings to some of the people in the supermarket. And that leads me to another point, if you are expecting a balls to the wall creature flick with gory grisly deaths, which there are some, you will be disappointed a bit. There is some of that but the real drama revolves around the people inside the shop and how they react to one another in this desperate time.
A few of the actors deserve some deserving credit for there work in this film. Toby Jones is just great as the smart and witty Ollie who works in the store. Jane is good as always and is criminally under used in Hollywood; he could be a mega star if given a big break. Frances Sternhagen plays is great as an elderly woman who is fighting for her life as hard as anyone in the movie. Sam Witwer is a nice find as a homegrown military boy that just misses getting out of town, while Alexa Davalos is solid as the cute girl next door cashier. Laurie Holden is also pretty good as the mother figure for Drayton’s son during the crisis and has some great back and forth with Marcia Gay Harden who is phenomenal in this film.
Harden owns every scene she is in as the fire and brimstone bible beater and you will love to hate her as the film goes by. Her character’s arc in the film is the most interesting and compelling and sadly is probably fairly accurate if people were in a similar life or death situation. She spouts off to people and just raises everybody’s blood temperature throughout the film and you just dread, in a good way, every time she comes on screen.
Also to note, this film is quite funny at times with some good lines through out. Also the film does a good job of making sure you feel nobody is safe and they aren’t. The special effects at times left a bit to be desired, but Darabont was working with a smaller budget and considering that they are more than good enough most of the time. The mist is also extremely well done but it must have been a pain in the ass to work with.
All in all, this is a solid effort from Darabont and crew and while it isn’t the best thing in the world, it is a fun way to spend a couple hours if you are up for some scares and human drama.

[rating: 4/5]

Review: ‘August Rush’

Zac:

Unfortunately for this film, I wish I had the two hours of my life back. This movie is just flat out terrible. **SPOILERS THROUGH OUT** Now, before anyone writes me off as someone who can’t enjoy a sappy family film, that is wrong, I can usually find enjoyment out of anything on watch, but I only enjoyed about 5min of this movie.
First off the movie just beats things into are head. From the get go we are shown that everyone thinks that August Rush(Freddie Highmore) is a “freak” and we have to listen to everyone call him one for 5 min, enough we get it. We don’t need to feel more sympathetic for a kid who was orphaned but actually has parents somewhere, we are already sold. A second and major issue is believability. Ok, Highmore’s character would not be allowed to be walking around doing anything, they seriously would lock a kid up for talking like he does, he is certifiable. Next, Robin Williams holds all of these homeless musical prodigies that he finds on the street hostage and forces them to work for him and none of these kids runs away, or gets picked up by the authorities, yeah right. Next, Highmore can feel the music, and I am supposed to be inspired by a random gibberish sounding smattering of NY noises when he enters the city on a bus that he some how was able to afford a ticket on while also sneaking out of the Boy’s Town he lives in, I don’t think so. And then I am supposed to believe he is a musical prodigy just because he can wave his hand like a conductor while the camera sweeps around him trying to make it look whimsical and magical, come on.
The next major issue is consistency. Every character makes decisions they would never make, simply because they have to create this ridiculous story and move it along. The parents both drop both of their successful lives and just move to NY on a whim, because they feel inspired by the music in the air. Robin Williams is holding kids hostage, then acting as a mentor father figure, then throwing kids into chain link barriers, then kidnapping children, he is all over the place. Or Highmore’s character who gets the dream opportunity he has waited for to spread his music, and he just follows Robin Williams away back to the streets like a lost puppy, what!?!?! The movie just doesn’t work on just about every level, with only one redeeming seen, towards the end between father and son in the park.
Acting wise, everyone but Highmore does an alright job, it’s the material that is weak, Russell, Howard, and Rhys Meyers have a terrible script to work with. Highmore is just bad. He is all wide eyed and babbles about his dreams like an idiot, remaining incredibly positive for being in such a shitty situation and then he shows that he can cry occasionally; which the director must think will make us emotional because he is crying for no reason. Oh yeah, and it all works out perfectly in the end.
Anyways, I would never ever recommend this movie to anyone, but then again, everyone else I saw it with that it was “good” “cute” and thought I was crazy. So what do I know?

[rating: 1.5/5]

Review: ‘Enchanted’

Zac:

First off, Amy Adams is magnificent, cute, brilliant, and adorable, any positive adjective for performing could be filled in here. She is just a sweet little Disney princess lost in the real world and plays it to perfection. She carries the comedy and makes the fantastical plot believable and all the more real.
The movie itself is a mixed bag, remaining pretty safe and PG fair, it is quite funny at times especially in the early goings of the real world scenes. After having some fun with applying the Disney formula to a big live action movie the movie falls into predictable romantic drama and issues sprinkled with good bits of humor.
Patrick Dempsey is good as the single dad about to make the new mommy leap, but his story arc and the girl he is dating is just so ridiculous and unbelievable by the end it really hurts the movie.
James Marsden is fantastic as Prince Edward and the movie could have done itself a good service by putting him on screen as mush as possible. Unfortunately he is a supporting role, but is a blast every time he comes on screen.
Timothy Spall (Wormtail from Harry Potter) plays the wicked queens right hand mad and has fun torturing an animated chipmunk, but other than that doesn’t have much to do, and by the end of the movie makes the obvious turn by the unappreciated but over used simpleton slave.
Susan Sarandon also pops up as Narissa and is kind of a mixed bag. She is fun and over the top one minute, then silly tounge flicking the next, very odd either way.
All in all, little girls will love it, most women will find it cute, and most guys should be even able to find some enjoyment out of it. In the end, a decent way to waste two-hours of your life.

[rating: 3.25/5]

Review: ‘American Gangster’

Zac:

Keys to a great movie? Ridley Scott, check. Denzel Washington, check. Russell Crowe, check. Larger than life and wouldn’t believe it if it wasn’t true story, check. Now all of these are thrown into one movie, and what comes out is absolutely fantastic. I do not have a single complaint about this movie and can not recommend to you enough to see it. But it was missing just that little something to make it special and absolutely amazing.
Ridley Scott is usually always solid as a director and occasionally pumps out pristine pieces of work like this film. The movie moves right along never slowing down and never losing our interest. It looks great and everyone turns in top notch performances but everyone involved here has done something better, it’s no one’s best work, and maybe that’s what holds it back in the end.
Denzel is Denzel and that equals a badass as Frank Lucas. The opening scene of the movie sets up Frank Lucas for the rest of the movie; he is not someone to be trifled with and will do anything that he needs to. The rise of Frank Lucas is incredible and amazing, especially in the time and era that he did it in, and Denzel does a perfect job of selling us on the fact that he is capable of doing everything that he does. The story of heroin smuggling and drug selling has been done before, but this definitely at the top of the list for those types of epics.
Russell Crowe plays Richie Roberts, the honest cop that is frowned upon by his peers for being just that, honest. Crowe has more to do here in this movie and isn’t just the intimidating bad ass that Denzel is most of the time. Roberts has an impending custody battle, friendship with gangsters, and the New Jersey Bar Exam to deal with and Crowe plays the part magnificently as he shows us how he deals with juggling it all. Crowe has the deepest role in the film, which really never cuts that deep into the characters lives as there is a lot of good story to tell, so good we can forgive for the lack of character depth.
The supporting cast is great here as well with no one getting any significant screen time over one another. This is pretty much a two horse race with every scene dealing with either Roberts or Lucas, as it should be.
Another minor complaint with the movie is the weak soundtrack. While meaning nothing to most, I think it could have really added something to the movie with some great music choices, ala what Scorsese, Tarantino, and Wes Anderson bring to their movies with their choices.
Any minor gripes aside, this is the movie to see this winter that pretty much anyone can enjoy. If you like any of the big three involved in this movie, and if you don’t you don’t like movies, than you have no reason to not go see this movie.

[rating: 4.5/5]

Review: ‘Reservation Road’

Zac:

This Oscar hopeful unfortunately falls short. Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Ruffalo star in this serious drama about the effect of a hit and run can have on the two parties involved; the grieving family and the runner. Ruffalo plays the runner and i good as always. Playing the tortured soul to a great effect, we can buy into his pain and struggle with carrying on with the guilt or facing the music and turning himself in. The major hitch in his dilemma is that he loves his son and wants to be the good father to him that he never had; he also wants to watch the Red Sox win the World Series. Phoenix also plays his part well with the obsessed father doing anything to seek “justice” for the loss of his son. Phoenix’s wife in the movie is played by Jenifer Connelly who turns in some great work as the grieving mother that is trying to move on with life without losing her husband.
As for the story, everything is there. Grief filled family, check. Fighting parents, check. Tortured soul, check. It’s the other elements that make things kind of fishy. The fact that Ruffalo ends up working on the case for Phoenix is a bit of a stretch, even for a small town, and is a bit convenient. Ruffalo is also able to doop everyone fairly easily by renting a car as well. The arc’s for the Connelly and Phoenix are also a bit amiss. Phoenix falls into revenge mode in a hurry and isn’t very deep beyond a couple shades of change. While Connelly goes through the grieving process a bit fast for my tastes, especially since the movie takes place over the course of the Red Sox 04 playoff run, which in itself is an interesting backdrop.(How can we make this great moment wrapped in sadness to stick it to Boston)
Overall it is a very heavy movie, that has solid performances all around. The movie’s logic might be a bit off at times but there are some great scenes sprinkled through out, usually with Ruffalo dealing with his guilt, but in the end the movie fails to take it to that next level of being anything more than, ‘it was good’.

[rating: 3/5]

Review: ‘Gone Baby Gone’

Zac:

Another movie dealing with the loss of a child, this one excels on pretty much every level. Gone Baby Gone is an adaptation of the Dennis Lehane(Mystic River) novel by Ben Affleck in his directorial debut. I have always been a fan of Affleck and I am glad that he does a great job here which is supported by his great cast.
Leading the cast is Ben’s brother Casey who, along with Jesse James, is having a breakthrough year. Casey is just as good here as he is in Jesse James but is playing a completely different animal. As a private investigator contracted to help with the “neighborhood” investigation of the disappearance of a little girl he is a great as the evolving investigator gaining experience on the job. Affleck is accompanied by his girlfriend, Michelle Monaghan who helps with the detective work; though Affleck is usually figuring out most of the turns. As Affleck moves through his investigation we find twists and turns and fall onto some unexpected paths with some amazing tense scenes that get the blood rushing and wont let up.
The rest of the cast is rounded out by a couple of legends, Morgan Freeman as a police captain and Ed Harris as the cases detective. Freeman is more in the background, but good as always, while Ed Harris is fantastic as the rough detective willing to do anything to get the girl. He gets so intense and so scary with some of the investigated sometimes you are glad you don’t have to deal with his tactics.
Another great turn is by, Amy Ryan, as the mother of the missing girl. You completely forget she is some actor and totally buy into her as this horrible druggie mother that is lost in the trash and underworld of Boston. You just don’t really like her, might even hate her, yet she maintains some sympathy. But when you really hate a character, you know the actor is doing a pretty damn good job.
Ben Affleck does a great job at making this movie feel real as well, which makes it easy to buy into the world. No one is really attractive in this, its gritty and dirty, and it’s a place I wouldn’t want to be in. Even Amy Ryan and Michelle Monaghan some how manage to be not very appealing for being beautiful women. As the rest of the directing duties go, Affleck has some great moody scenes and shoots tension incredibly well and crafted a story that for the most part stays entertaining; rarely slowing up at all.
The movie is carried by a good story with great actors doing what they are supposed to do for a fantastic debut for Ben Affleck as a director. I hope he gets behind and in front of the camera a lot more in the future and that is brother becomes the star that he deserves to be sooner, rather than later.

[rating: 4.5/5]

Review: ‘The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford’

Zac:

What we have here is an amazing, gripping, and fantastically produced piece of cinema, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is one of, if not the best, film I have seen all year. Now there is a lot of time left in the year, and a lot of good looking movies on the horizon, but this one will be tough to beat in my eyes.
The film looks at the life of Jesse James (Brad Pitt) after his last heist and his interaction with a new gang member Robert Ford (Casey Affleck) and the people that surround their two lives. The long title is more than appropriate for this film which looks into each of these men’s souls as we follow them toward there infamous last meeting.
The production on this movie is superb; there are countless beautiful shots through out this film with some menacing gun shots piercing the eerie silence that fills this movie with tension. From scene to scene the quality of this film rarely drops, and is usually besting the previous as it goes along. Director Andrew Dominik has set himself as a potential great of the future with this being only his second film, and his American Debut.
Dominik’s second effort is fueled by the incredible acting troupe he has on hand. The supporting players are just wonderful, Jeremy Renner, Sam Shepard, Garret Dillahunt, do great work as the supporting gang members with Paul Schneider getting special mention for some charismatic and best work of the supporting roles as Dick Liddil.
Rounding out the supporting roles, Sam Rockwell is magnificent right in the middle of the happenings of the story, and adds a bit of lightness to the proceedings while also playing the drama as good as he ever does. It’s nice to see such a great actor like Rockwell get out of the goof ball role, mostly, he tends to fall into often and just turn in a great performance as the older brother Ford, Charlie.
Next we have Casey Affleck who comes out of left field and smacks you in the face with how good he can be. We feel him wrestling with his emotions towards Jesse and feel the struggle he’s has gaining approval from anyone. Affleck is so convincing with the moodiness and cockiness of Ford that makes us feeling sorry for him to hate him over the course of a scene. Ford, a truly tragic character, is just as big a star here as James, and their two paths are wholly connected and intertwine and their fates are both in the hands of each other. Pitt and Affleck, and the rest of the cast as well, play off each other so well and work so great together which I think wouldn’t be possible without these guys being friends from the Ocean’ films before hand.
And let’s let that poor transition bring us to Pitt. Amazing work here, he hasn’t been this good sense Fight Club, and this might top Tyler Durden. I won’t have that argument here because that would take time, but all that matters is that he is great. Jesse James was a bad man, but not seem evil devil spinning his mustache, he fits in, he has a family he loves, enjoys being with friends, but he is always on guard and menacing when he needs to be. Pitt is terrifying at times but you trust him all the same, you almost half to, because to cross him, is a death sentence. I could go on about how great he is here, but just know that Pitt and Affleck are worth the price of admission alone and that there is a great story for them to work around.
A magnificent and beautiful movie, this will be one of the year’s best when it’s all said and done. Fair warning though, the movie’s length might be an issue for some, 2 hours and 40 min, but if you know going in that this about the men in the story, and the story will engage, you will not disappointed.

[rating: 5/5]