Tweet
How about Gone Baby Gone...that was my fav movie last year.
-
-
In my other thread, The Decade in Movies I have it ranked as my 2nd best movie of '07 and #17 for the decade. If you want the full review:
Gone Baby Gone
2007. Rated R, 114 minutes.
Directed by Ben Affleck. Starring Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Ed Harris, Morgan Freeman.
Plot: When little Amanda turns up missing her Aunt Bea hires a pair of young private detectives to help find her.
The Good: For starters, the entire cast is terrific. Even Casey Affleck holds his own quite well. True, the flashiest moments belong to Ed Harris and the heaviest stuff is lifted mostly by Michelle Monaghan and Morgan Freeman. Still, Affleck is perfect in his role. With all of the bigger names in the cast its easy to forget Amy Ryan as Amanda's drug-addicted mom Helene. She pulls off her role brilliantly. If she doesn't the whole thing would fall apart. Also, the city of Boston is presented differently than we're used to. It's not a land of ultra-powerful mobsters like in The Departed or the over-the-top Boondock Saints. It's grittier and more urban than it's normally shown to be. The story itself twists and twists, then twists some more. The miraculous thing is all of the twists are believable enough to be realistic and heighten the tension. Finally, what really elevates the movie is an ending that causes a moral dilemma for everyone in the movie AND in the audience. Affleck's character is given the burden of deciding how it ends. I won't say whether he does or doesn't but after it's over viewers can debate whether he should have or shouldn't have for a long time.
The Bad: Black characters get the shaft in this one. Don't get me wrong. I won't go so far as to say it's racist. However, for a movie set in a city with a rep for being racially intolerant, the casting choices are curious. That said, the movie surrounding this is so good it's easy to overlook.
The Ugly: Me, for an ill-advised joke I made at one of the actors' expense (some of you will know what I mean).
Recommendations: See this movie. By the way, to this point I've neglected to note this is the directorial debut of Casey Affleck's better known and more widely hated brother Ben. He did a great job in his first time at the helm.
The Opposite View: Armond White, New York Press
What the Internet Says: 8.0/10 on imdb.com (5/18/08), 93% on rottentomatoes.com, 72/100 on metacritic.com
MY SCORE: 9.5/10Last edited by dell71; 01-13-2010, 07:08 PM.Comment
-
So it's not just my uncle that says Boston is intollerant? And you're both from the NY... Hmph. Coincidence? I think NOT! Haha. Fuck Mass. Good review.
Comment
-
Comment
-
About Gone Baby Gone
Comment
-
Of course he can. He's Morgan God-Damned! Freeman. He's the hardest working man in showbusiness, and he'll do whatever he damned-well pleases, hear it!Comment
-
Comment
-
Comment
-
-
Dude, that's mean to her and all your followers.
And of course he should've given the baby to Morgan - Jesus save us - Freeman, but that's not what Morgan - Motherfuckin - Freeman had chosen for this role. He can play a tragic caharacter. Morgan - Jah Rastafari - Freeman can do whatever he damned well pleases.
(Also, I think the dude who did the Mr. T vs Chuck Norris book - he also did the Chuck Norris book - should do a Morgan - can't stop the funk - Freeman book and a Samuel L. - bad motherfucker - Jackson book... Hopefully with some new jokes.)Comment
-
(500) Days of Summer
Directed by Marc Webb
2009. Rated PG-13, 95 minutes.
Cast:
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Zooey Deschanel
Geoffrey Arend
Chloe Moretz
Matthew Gray Gubler
Clark Gregg
Plot: Hopeless romantic Tom (Gordon-Levitt) falls head over heels for not so romantic Summer (Deschanel).
The Good: In a bit of a role-reversal from most rom-coms, its the guy who believes whole-heartedly in love at first sight, soul mates and other such hocus pocus. He loves hard and wants reciprocity. Summer is his exact opposite and the way they attract is handled wonderfully. The tow of them feel like real people, not the exaggerated stereotypes of slacker masculinity and clingy femininity. It also leaves out another common element in romances, the show-stopping moment of clarity. There is no running through the airport or train station screaming at the top one's lungs or bursting in on a wedding seconds before the "I dos" are said. It just plays like a relationship we really might've had. For this, the movie is less predictable. it also makes us yearn for that moment but fully understand when we don't get it.
The Bad: The recurring bit of Tom's twelve year old (or so) sister Rachel (Moretz) acting as his psychiatrist got old, quick. Her "wise-beyond-her-years" schtick was cute, at first, but became annoying. It also kept pulling me out of a movie that otherwise did a tremendous job getting me immersed. The other problem is it reminded me too much of two other movies. The way it zips back and forth through time (which works well, by the way) and Summer's near unwillingness to love conjures memories of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (some will chuckle at that line). The personality and idiosyncracies of our hero and the way it plays out is similar to Woody Allen's classic Annie Hall.
The Ugly: Just how much money did furniture giant Ikea cough up for this movie?
Recommendation: Like I said, its basically an update of Annie Hall. That said, its an effective update. Its excellently directed and written with really good performances from our leads. It's the latest in what's become a long line of "chick flicks for guys" but its one the ladies will appreciate more than most of the others as it...gasp...favors emotions over raunch. Steer clear if you're looking for something similar to what comes out of the Apatow camp, like Forgetting Sarah Marshall. This leaves out movie wackiness for more subtle, real life crazy.
The Opposite View: Nathan Lee, NPR
What the Internet Says: 8.1/10 on imdb.com (#225 all time as of 1/13/10), 87% on rottentomatoes.com, 76/100 on metacritic.com
MY SCORE: 8.5/10Comment
-
You are absolutely right. I hereby formally apologize to Miss Quigg, should she somehow find herself reading this and to anyone else who enjoys reading my reviews. It seems my pursuit of an e-joke went too far. No sarcasm.
True.
Ummm...okay.(Also, I think the dude who did the Mr. T vs Chuck Norris book - he also did the Chuck Norris book - should do a Morgan - can't stop the funk - Freeman book and a Samuel L. - bad motherfucker - Jackson book... Hopefully with some new jokes.)Comment
-
Dell's Classics Presents...
The Battle of Algiers
AKA La battaglia di Algeri
Directed by Gillo Pontecorvo
1966. Not Rated, 121 minutes.
Cast:
Brahim Hadjadj
Jean Martin
Yacef Saadi
Ugo Paletti
Fusia El Kader
Mohamed Ben Kassen
Native Algierians try to drive French colonialists out of their country. Based on occurences during the Algierian revolution. It's a rather matter-of-fact retelling of events that take place over a decade or so. When watching it for the first time, it feels choppy. There's a conversation or two, then something happens and before it seems to reach a conclusion or what we would think of as a logical transition point, it suddenly skips ahead several months or years in some cases. However, by the end its achieved an odd but meticulous and unbelievably effective continuity. It's also incredibly even-handed as we're not sure who we're supposed to be rooting for. Are the so-called revolutionaries, actively engaging in terrorism our heroes? What about the French colonialists attempting to co-opt a foreign land into their empire, denying a nation of people their independence? There are no easy answers. When the climax comes, we expect for the movie to show its hand, to let us know which side it's on. We think we know, but the outcome is presented more as a victory for one of the two evils, and not necessarily the lesser or greater one. This is an exhausting, powerful and brilliant piece of film that, given the events of the last decade, has gained new relevance. Subtitleophobes beware, we're speaking multiple languages and no English.
MY SCORE: 10/10Last edited by dell71; 01-13-2010, 11:54 PM.Comment
Comment