Author Archives: matterspamer

BEST PICTURE NOMINEE: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

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Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Directed by: Stephen Daldry
Written by: Eric Roth (screenplay), Jonathan Safran Foer (book)
Starring: Thomas Horn, Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock and Max von Sydow

The opening image of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is of a man falling to his death, with papers behind him that fade into the title; its closing image is of a boy swinging upward on a swing, triumphant.  It freezes on this image, asking the audience to pause and share in that triumph.  This is hard to do for many reasons, but mostly because that man who was falling to his death wasn’t doing so because he wanted to.  He is falling from the Twin Towers, and it is Septermber 11th, as the movie and its director, Stephen Daldry, will remind you of several times.

Oskar (Thomas Horn), the troubled boy at the film’s center, torments himself endlessly with the messages his father (Tom Hanks) left on their answering machine while he was trapped in the World Trade Center on what Oskar calls “The Worst Day.”  After finally working up the courage to enter his father’s room, he searches the top shelf, knocking over a blue vase in the process.  Inside that vase is a key whose mysteries occupy the remainder of the narrative.

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REVIEW: Albert Nobbs

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Albert Nobbs
Directed by: Rodrigo García
Written by: Glenn Close, Jon Banville and Gabriella Prekop (screenplay), George Moore (short story)                                                                                                                Starring: Glenn Close, Janet McTeer, Mia Wasikowska and Aaron Johnson

 

Albert Nobbs is a 10-year passion project for Glenn Close.  Not only does she star in the title role, but she co-wrote the screenplay and penned the lyrics for the end credits song “Lay Your Head Down.”  It is the story of a woman in Ireland who disguises herself as a man to work as a butler in a swank hotel for the upper class.  At least that is the story on the surface of it all.

The movie progresses Albert’s character in surprising ways, but in the end it simply comes to the conclusion that the answer is ultimately out of reach.  Close plays Albert with a deepened voice that shields a vulnerable core.  When her true identity is discovered by the hotel’s hired painter Hubert (Janet McTeer) when they bunk together, Albert nearly unravels.  All the careful planning- the money saved beneath floorboards, the meticulously designed appearance, the perfect job performance- seems like it will collapse in the melodramatic fashion that is typical of Oscar-nominated performances.

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REVIEW: Haywire

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Haywire
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
Written by: Lem Dobbs (screenplay)
Starring: Gina Carano, Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender and Michael Douglas

Like a virus that won’t go away, Mallory (Gina Carano) jumps around the globe, slowing down or killing anything that gets in her path.  That is largely where the narrative similarities between her story and the one from director Steven Soderbergh’s last film, Contagion, end though.

Haywire is curious when placed with the rest of his catalog in that it focuses on a single individual but also contains a large ensemble cast.  Usually his films are one (Erin Brockovich) or the other (Traffic).  At the center of this semi-departure is MMA fighter Gina Carano, who Soderbergh saw fighting on TV and decided to build a movie around.  Carano’s ferociously physical performance as Mallory is by far the movie’s greatest asset.  Soderbergh films most of the action sequences in confined areas, letting her utilize the environment in astonishing and brutal ways.

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12 Movies to Watch For in 2012

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The Dark Knight Rises (July 20)- Ever since the release of the new trailer, anticipation for Christopher Nolan’s final Batman film has is at an all-time high.  2008’s The Dark Knight left a lasting impression with the help of the late Heath Ledger’s iconic portrayal of The Joker, but it was also a masterpiece of big studio filmmaking.  Christian Bale’s Batman is up against Tom Hardy’s Bane in this installment, though uncertainty still surrounds the allegiance of Anne Hathaway’s Selina Kyle.  If Nolan comes anywhere close to where he did with the last two films, this will be a phenomenal success on both a financial and artistic level.

The Master (TBA)– While there are a lot of big budget films coming out this year with a lot of potential, Paul Thomas Anderson’s newest film has more potential than them all.  There Will Be Blood was our pick for the best film of the 2000s, and rumors that the film faced production problems because it attacks Scientology only make the hype greater.  Though the Behind the Scenes photos that have been released feature only extras, they give a feel for the vintage aesthetic Anderson is going for by shooting on 65mm film.  With Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix in the main roles, this film seems preordained to triumph.

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REVIEW: The Iron Lady

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The Iron Lady
Directed by: Phyllida Lloyd
Written by: Abi Morgan (screenplay)
Starring: Meryl Streep, Jim Broadbent, Alexandra Roach and Iain Glen

It’s no surprise at all that Meryl Streep’s portrayal of Margaret Thatcher is amazingly conceived and executed, worthy of any acting trophy that exists.  Everything from the posture to the voice and especially those trademark darting eyes are in full force in a movie that unfortunately fails to capture the true gravity of its subject.

Phyllida Lloyd, whose credentials include the much-maligned screen adaptation of Mamma Mia!, brings a typical biopic aesthetic to The Iron Lady.  Every character fits in its appropriate place and blends in with the environment unless they aren’t supposed to.  Abi Morgan’s screenplay, the biggest thing to blame for this film’s mediocrity, often extenuates Thatcher’s struggle to be taken seriously as a female politician.  Everything else is glossed over.

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REVIEW: Weekend

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Weekend
Directed by: Andrew Haigh
Written by: Andrew Haigh (screenplay)
Starring: Tom Cullen and Chris New

Weekend is a film that many have used to herald the honesty of independent cinema; a film tackling the subject of homosexuality where the characters are no longer grappling with that identity, but arguing about it.  Andrew Haigh’s debut feature is an incessantly political work about being gay in contemporary England whose dueling moralities surface through Russell (Tom Cullen) and Glen (Guy New).

Haigh begins and ends his feature with Russell, who is seen going over to hang out with his friends at a dinner party before going to a gay club.  That dinner scene is important in that it reveals absolutely nothing about Russell’s sexuality.  The camerawork is deliberately grungy, evoking a sense of documentary-like realism in that dinner scene and many of the ones that follow.  On a subway ride, Russell and Glen are filmed conversing as passengers bob and weave in front of the frame while the train hurtles down the tracks.

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REVIEW: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

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Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Directed by: Tomas Alfredson
Written by: Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan (screenplay), John le Carré (novel)
Starring: Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Colin Firth and John Hurt

If you’re not prepared to donate every ounce of your attention to this film, then do not bother watching it.  Tomas Alfredson’s adaptation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is one of the twistiest films to come along in years.

Like he did in adapting the vampire thriller Let the Right One In, though, he takes those narrative thrills and restrains them within his deliberately arranged frames until the tension boils over.  There is only one “action” sequence in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and it’s the rather clumsily constructed assassination of a spy (Mark Strong) sent to Hungary to find out the identity of a mole within MI6 (the British equivalent of the CIA).

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Our Favorite Movies of 2011

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1. The Tree of Life– Terrence Malick’s epic tone poem weaves in and out of the life of a typical American family in 1950s Texas, zig-zagging between the creation of the universe and the afterlife in the process.  By placing the location of his own childhood at the center of these celestial events, he puts a very personal spin on his warring perceptions of creation; the way of nature and the way of grace.  As his camera weaves in and out of the O’Brien family’s lives (a three son household run by Brad Pitt’s nature and Jessica Chastain’s grace), the element of visual improvisation makes their everyday life and afterlife beautiful.  Even if you hated it, you’ll never forget it. Read our review.

2. Certified Copy- Unexpected in every way, the romance film by Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami follows two strangers as they meet up in Tuscany one afternoon and divulge into their passionate opinions on art, originality, philosophy and love. Over the course of a single afternoon, their relationship takes twists and turns, leaving the audience in awe of the puzzle laid out before them and clinging to the aesthetic beauty of its settings and characters to reveal clues. Sophisticated filmmaking technique brilliantly interlaces heavy academic, multilingual conversation with a flowing narrative to sculpt this as one of the most unique and thought-provoking films of the year. Read our review.

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REVIEW: Martha Marcy May Marlene

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Martha Marcy May Marlene
Directed by: Sean Durkin
Written by: Sean Durkin (screenplay)
Starring: Elizabeth Olsen, John Hawkes, Sarah Paulson and Hugh Dancy

Many prominent American indies have started to favor the Before/After plot device.  Blue Valentine and the more recent We Need To Talk About Kevin are both examples of that style being used as a substitution for substance.  Sean Durkin’s debut feature Martha Marcy May Marlene shows that device finally being used in excruciatingly well-done ways.

Along with Margin Call, this film about a young woman traumatized by her time in a cult marks the best American writer/director debut of 2011.  Durkin’s films is decidedly less slick than J.C. Chandor’s drama about the financial collapse in 2008, but they both become unflinchingly honest if very different portraits of American identity.  The point of relation in this film comes from Martha (Elizabeth Olsen), whose strength after escaping the cult seems impossibly strong.

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Our Favorite Performances of 2011

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1. Kirsten Dunst– Melancholia– In Lars von Trier’s apocalyptic new film, Dunst creates one of cinema’s most fully realized portraits of numbing depression.  In all of her performances, Dunst has shown a skill sometimes greater than the films she is in.  Here, she takes the role of Justine, a woman who self-destructs on her wedding night and takes shelter with her sister as the planet Melancholia goes on a collision course with Earth.  Key Scene: In the deepest part of her depression, Justine even needs help getting down to the dinner table.  Her sister Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) made meatloaf, her favorite dish.  When Justine tastes it, her face crumbles, and she says it tastes like ash.  That’s all that will be left of the planet in a couple days, and she can’t wait.

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