Category Archives: Features

Eleven movies to watch for in ’11

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Sure, there will be plenty of crap released this year just like any other.  We all have another delightful Transformers installment to look forward to in the summer, and the coming winter months are when Hollywood dumps its crap that wouldn’t make money during prime Christmas season.  So, while the award contenders from last year and the buzz-kills duke it out in January and February, here are our picks for what to watch for the rest of the year.

The Tree of Life (May 27)– Terrence Malick has made some of the most visually stunning movies ever to grace the screen.  Film-wise, he hasn’t made as many as other auteurs his age, but his mark is no less indelible.  With The Tree of Life, he will most likely twist audience expectation for what a “summer blockbuster” with A-list stars is.  Brad Pitt and Sean Penn are headlining in this tale about a young boy in the 50s who “witnesses the loss of innocence.”  The hypnotic trailer is almost as vague as that description, but infinitely more beautiful.  It draws you in without ruining it.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (December 21)- Fresh off his hot streak with The Social Network, David Fincher attempts to Americanize the already explosively popular book series and its Swedish film adaptations.  It will be hard for him to do worse than the original Dragon Tattoo movie, which captured the atmosphere but gutted the story of Stieg Larssonn’s original.  The story, about a hacker and a disgraced journalist teaming up to hunt down a serial killer, is the perfect fit for Fincher.  Here’s hoping Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara are also up for the dark twists and brooding revelations.

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SPOTLIGHT: Nicole Kidman

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Few actresses have matched Nicole Kidman’s hot streak in the early 2000s.  Not that she set the box office on fire, more our imaginations.  People watch this accidental movie star fully embody a variety of characters with not only ease, but technical perfection.  She is a consummate professional when it comes to characterization and the emotional control she displays over her characters.  This perfection draws the audience to her even when she shares the screen with others more famous.  Although now she is a household name, that is only because she snatched it away from those who couldn’t hold onto audiences quite like her.

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The Best Performances of 2010

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1. Annette Bening- The Kids Are All Right– The kids might just be all right, but Annette Bening as a modern lesbian mother seeing her family spin out of control no matter how tightly wound her controlling character may be is more than all right, she’s fantastic. Her ability to play the character with such effortlessness and ease makes the audience forget they are watching film and instead submerse themselves into the troubles, anxieties and and love that her character Nic feels as she undergoes a common, but crucial stage in life. Key Scene: Even with so many to choose from, one scene one can’t forget after watching the film is the humorous yet explosive scene of seeing her daughter come home on a motorcycle with “donor-Dad” and finally releasing her feelings about his unwanted parenting.

2. Christian Bale- The Fighter– Bale steals scenes left and right in The Fighter, much like they were stolen from him in The Dark Knight. As the crack-addicted former boxing star of Lowell, Mass., he must now watch as his brother Micky chases after the dream with a clearer head.  Adding in humor only makes his character the sad clown, one that, unlike The Joker, you really feel for.  Key Scene: Bale singing a song with his mother (Melissa Leo) in the car after the two had just had a big argument.  The full spectrum of these two characters’ relationship comes to light thanks to this explosive and charming scene.

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The Best Movies of 2010

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Communication and identity were big themes in 2010 (and every other year), right alongside isolationism on top and kids (and their toys) growing up to mounting uncertainty.  The films, as they always do, reflect that.  The best ones had none of the problems that their characters often face, and though there are thousands of tireless idiosyncrasies among this year’s releases, it’s the bigger connections that are important, and we’ve left one out.  All of the films on this list are wonderful, if each in their own way.  So here’s a toast to the great, the weird, the insightful, the funny, and the heartbreaking, and here’s hoping Transformers 3 doesn’t prevent 2011 from being just as good if not better.

1. Black Swan- Taking lessons from classics like The Red Shoes and Repulsion and then adding in more frantic body horror, Darren Aronofsky has us follow Nina the ballerina on her nightmarish journey toward perfection in her preparation for the leads in Swan Lake. In this unlikely companion piece to 2008’s The Wrestler, we dive deeper into the depths of an athlete’s mind and body at war with itself while Nina tries to find her inner dark side to play the Black Swan.  The battle is projected onto the environment with hallucinations and onto Nina’s weary body in the form of scratches, bruises, and emerging feathers.  Aronofsky himself wages a successful battle between perfect technique and dark, brooding instinct.  He, along with a never-better Natalie Portman, creates a new masterpiece full of feverish dance sequences, controlling mothers, and fierce competition for his catalog.  Like his protagonist, he flies past the competition and lands atop the pile of 2010’s best films.  Read Full Review Continue reading →

It’s the Most Wonderful Posts of the Year

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It hasn’t been a full year quite yet here at CyniCritics. With only ten and a half months of existence recorded, it’s still been one hell of a year for us. Our own domain name, a feature on IMDb’s Hit List, increasing viewership, some new friends and a growing appreciation for the art of cinema all make the cut of our accomplishments this year.

To celebrate the New Year and kick off the end of the year goodie posts, Matt and I would like to thank everyone for stopping by, reading our work and taking part in the discussion. Here is a list of a few of our favorite posts from CyniCritics over the past year and ones from other sites that caught our eyes and wracked our brains. Happy New Year, everyone!!!

Favorite Posts on Friend Sites


Are Hollywood Actors Overpaid? by Anomalous Materials– The brilliance of Castor is his ability to create an amazing dialogue among film enthusiasts. The tagline on his site summarizes it all, “where movie lovers come to mingle.” In this post, as with many, he starts by asking us a question, seeking our answer, not seeking us to learn his. The question is great and so is his exploration of it. Continue reading →

SPOTLIGHT: Santa Claus

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The man that would do it all and do it without earning a cent. Without landing a cover on Esquire or GQ he lands on the homes of billions to deliver presents at night and lands repetitive roles in December family films.

Similar to a crossover career path of greats like Ronald Reagan, Arnold Schwarzenegger or Angelina Jolie, making it big in show business and then moving to politics and philanthropy, Santa moved from centuries of being toy tycoon and children’s moral police to the entertainment industry in the past century. A lesser Sarah Palin, but certainly exceeding the trials of Donald Trump.

He is a household name, even if that has little to do with his ability as a performer, which has never been more than mediocre. Only one Oscar win for this thespian, but that might be because he tends to replay the same role over and over again.  That’s no excuse; however, actors have often found great creative success in playing themselves over and over- Humphrey Bogart, George Clooney, Katherine Heigl. Continue reading →

Our (Belated) List of Favorite Movie Directors

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1. Martin Scorsese- It may seem unimaginable that nearly three years ago director Martin Scorsese had yet to hold an Academy Award in his hands, but it is the disappointing truth. The once would-be Catholic priest entered the film making world with hits like Boxcar Bertha and Mean Streets which put him at the forefront of New Hollywood with his violent, audience-specific films. Though Francis Ford Coppola felt he was unfit to helm The Godfather: Part III, Scorsese quickly overshadowed Coppola to become an icon of his own, creating films filled with themes related to violence, machismo, Italian-American identity, immigration, Catholicism and New York City. Five decades of classics like Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas and The Departed, Scorsese set a style of quick editing, rock and roll soundtrack and frequent collaboration with actors and editors who claim Scorsese to be a living encyclopedia of film history. The film that did it for us: Though he’s created modern epics including a personal favorite, Gangs of New York, Scorsese’s talents are most apparent in Taxi Driver, a film with some of the most carefully constructed technical detail and powerful themes of isolation, violence, sex and how they are related and lead to destruction.

2. Stanley Kubrick– One of the unprecedented visual artists in all of cinema, it’s hard to not love movies when Stanley Kubrick makes them.  His gift for telling a compelling story is aided by those infamous distant shots, able to encompass the idiocy in The War Room (Dr. Strangelove) or gravity-defying in the great beyond (2001: A Space Odyssey).  He never told the same story twice, but each film carries with it his distinct visual flair,  helping him to create some of the most fully realized worlds the movies have ever seen.  Kubrick is one of the biggest influences on American cinema not only because of his artistic genius, though.  His ruthless dedication to his vision of the material led to feuds with his actors and the writers of the source material (both on The Shining.)  Perfectionism is costly, but with it he created many things that are, in fact, perfect.  The film that did it for us: There’s never been a more beautifully filmed comedy than Dr. Strangelove, and there are few as horrific.

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SPOTLIGHT: Viggo Mortensen

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It’s kind of ironic that Viggo Mortensen has become somewhat of a symbol of rugged masculinity on the screen, because his best characters often undo that image.  Like Michael Douglas before him, Mortensen frequently does movies that put the modern American male through some kind of brutal morality test.  He finds the bruised souls of these characters, and shines even when he’s part of a large ensemble (Lord of the Rings.) However, he is at his best when he is front in center, paired with a director like David Cronenberg who has some mischief cooked up to counter his archetypal characters.

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Five movies to watch alone

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To coincide with our “Five movies to watch with a group,” post from the summer, it’s time for the foil.  Here are movies that we think you’ll get a deeper understanding from if you kick out the guests and block out the rest of the world.  While the group movies offer visceral thrills and outlandish humor, these movies use a sometimes understated, subtle way of telling the story that can’t be appreciated with a loud group of people.

There Will Be Blood- We both named Paul Thomas Anderson’s epic the best movie of the 2000s, but we’ve never watched it together.  Something primal about Anderson’s direction and Daniel Day-Lewis’ performance (also topping our best male performances list) leaps off the screen and speaks right to you.  If you’re in a crowded room, you won’t hear it as well.

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Five Movies to Celebrate Family

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If there was anything I noticed missing on the dinner table this Thanksgiving, I could tell you it is nothing I would put salt or pepper on. All the years of Thanksgiving I have had in the past, I celebrated by sitting around with my family appreciating the things we had, like a big turkey dinner, a home over our heads, time off from school and friends to see movies with later that night. But when I sat around with those people I called my family, I didn’t realize the things we thankful for weren’t any of those things combined. Instead it was just the fact that we were all in the same room, mood and had the company and joy of each other for a single afternoon. Comfort is the only word I can put on it.

It seems like a simple concept that we are told all the time, but cannot truly grasp until we’ve had to spend Thanksgiving thousands of miles away from the memories and people we so badly long to be with.

In honor of my little revelation I offer a handful of films that give me a great warmth and sense of family, the sweetest Thanksgiving treat, as a theme.

Up in the Air– Sure Ryan Bingham, the corporate executioner fighting to save the old school ways of his job, is known for flying solo. Without friends at work, without family in his empty apartment, and without the company of a lover, Bingham may seem like quite the loner when in fact he couldn’t feel more confident and content with his ways. However, after two women enter his life and take him for a life changing ride, Bingham reconsiders his philosophy on family and people in general. It is a beautifully endearing film and a story for the ages.  Continue reading →