Nightmare Alley

Just like a carny sideshow, this flick is filled with obvious humbug. The story takes its sweet time getting into the meat of the matter, mostly through creating a number of set ups that will have rather clear payoffs in scenes down the line. On the plus side, this film is visually fine to look at, both from a design standpoint and in terms of cinematography (both typical strengths of any Guillermo del Toro movie). Overall, there’s enough entertainment here to let you watch it without feeling like a total mark, but one has to suspect that this could have been a more dazzling show, without resorting to any sideshow tricks.

Hanna

When Eurotrash kills. I suppose one can say this thriller has a certain style, but what stands out the most--perhaps unintentionally--while watching it is the awfulness of the "music" that punctuates much of the score. It really grinds on the senses. I suppose it's supposed to give the film a certain edginess and momentum...which makes certain lingering, actionless interludes that much more difficult to understand and accept. Good thing that the cast principals do solid work, and director Joe Wright's visual style is keen (if not his taste in music). Worth a look when it shows up on a service you're paying for anyway, but not entirely worth admission if there were a price.

Where'd You Go, Bernadette?

It succeeds despite itself. How? Largely based on the tremendous skill of the principal actors, who turn in terrific performances and make you care ultimately about people who are, frankly, not particularly likable on the face of it. This film is clearly meant to be a showcase for Cate Blanchett, and she's good, but without sterling work from Billy Crudup (a vastly underrated actor) and young Emma Nelson--who really binds the whole work together with her marvelous, heartfelt, spot-on performance--you would just have a star turn for an actress presenting a profoundly antiheroical lead character. The ensemble work overcomes the relative mundanity of the slightly-elevated suburban-angst plotline. Thanks to those efforts, when the payoff comes the viewer feels that all that came before it, including the audience's own dubious feelings about the matter, was worth the effort. Good enough.

Notes on a Scandal

I can imagine many viewers seeing this film and thinking its story is almost unbelievable. Hardly. The strength of this movie is its keen perception of the nature of the human animal--we do what we can do, and not in a good, first-responder "we're doing all we can" way. The animal does what it can get away with, mostly, and this story is largely about that, presenting that fact in a way that's searingly honest throughout. The screenplay is smart if not exceptional, and Dench and Blanchett present the kinds of performances you expect as routine from two such fine actresses, while most of the rest of the cast is good but fairly standard. I wouldn't say this is an all-time great, but it's certainly worth a look as a good film, and as a portrait of human nature.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Life is weird; why shouldn't it be backwards? Beyond that pithy observation, we must ask, what lessons are to be learned from this Gumpian journey? Take your pick; ideas and aphorisms abound in the script. How well they mesh with real life, as opposed to the world of fantasy and fable, is hard to say. Your mileage--and chronology--may vary. What is undeniable is the visual wizardry that takes Brad Pitt from little old kid to big young man, as well as the story's strong use of grand scope to tell what is, ultimately, a very intimate tale. Not to mention that the film looks fabulous; there was at least as much thought put into cinematography as into computer graphics and special effects. That mix makes this movie better than average and worth some of your precious, forward moving time.

Thor: Ragnarok

So this is what you get when the MCU drops acid. It's impossible to watch this movie without being very conscious of how weird it is, in many ways, despite the fact that it stays entertaining all the way through. The comedy stands out for sure; this movie is very consciously trying to be funny, which is a real change of pace from so many of the extremely self-serious comic book movies these days. And then you have the weird '80s vibe throughout, expessed through the music (Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo contributed to that) and a number of visual, stylistic choices. Had this movie been in less competent hands, it might have been a disaster. Instead, we got a fun ride that bears an obvious resemblance to the other Marvel flicks, but is also different enough that it makes the case that, yeah, this whole thing can go in different directions and remain vibrant and worth the audience's time. At this point, that's quite an accomplishment. We'll see if future films live up to that promise.

The Monuments Men

Noble ideas should always be winners. Sadly, they often are not, though the ones that aren't are not necessarily losers; sometimes they just fight life to a draw. So it is here with George Clooney's remembrance of a group of non-soldiers who suited up and went into a war not to save a country or each other, but the very culture of the Western world. The unevenness of the film probably reflects the difficulty in capturing this story in a dramatic setting; parts of the film are entertaining and involving, while others seem disjointed and not particularly well fit with the rest of the film. (If a movie had been made strictly about the recovery of the Madonna and Child statue--a major plotline here--one suspects it would have been a tighter, more watchable film.) As it is, this flick stands as a good effort, and its noble idea--that the treasures of our culture were worth saving when monsters wanted to destroy them--surely deserves at least this much attention.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

The map within the frontispiece of this film should read, “Here There Be Bloat.” Again, the tidy little story gets the stretched out treatment. The result might be more impressive for someone completely unaware of the original book. Perhaps. For the long-time fan, the result is much more problematic. The initiated viewer is constantly aware of how much story stretching is going on, of how much of what he’s seeing is not in the original tale. That’s distracting, if nothing else, and negatively impacts the viewer’s experience. Ironically, then, this is probably a movie that one would only recommend to die-hard fans--exactly the people who will be most annoyed by the story manipulations. What’s done is done, but the “three movie arc” decision really was a huge mistake.

Blue Jasmine

I think this is a very good movie, but I’m not really sure. These days it’s tough to tell if Woody Allen is achieving something subtly brilliant, or if he’s just wasting our time with nonsense. I suspect the former here, but I’d be willing to listen to arguments for the latter. This film comes across, beginning from the first scene, as an almost clinical examination of a maximally unlikeable character, set (in flashbacks, at least) in the typical Allen setting of the insular world of New York’s extremely rich, with occasional sojourns into working-class San Francisco. The setting and story make you think that some overarching political statement is being made here...but maybe not. It’s really opaque, and hard to tell what the director really thinks of these people, or even if his main character finally gets the comeuppance she deserves. (The ending is so open-ended that anything thereafter is possible). So it’s hard to say about this movie--yet, I’ve already written a long paragraph about it, and am still thinking about it, so it’s a movie that certainly makes an impression, probably through the excellent performances if nothing else. Watch it and judge for yourself.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Boy is this thing bloated. As if there were any doubt, this shows that this is a story that could easily have been told in one movie; perhaps a long movie, to get every rich detail, but one movie nevertheless. Instead, out of obvious and pure greed, the producers decided to stretch the thing out into three movies, mostly by stuffing into the proceedings every drop of backstory and subtext that could be mined from Tolkien’s original tale. The burdens of that approach are apparent: a great deal of expansion on the tangential concern about the Necromancer (Sauron, for those who only saw the previous movies), none of which matches the tone of the actual, by-the-book story at all. The resulting film is discordant and needlessly uneven. But, then again, there are moments of brilliance here: the Riddles in the Dark episode is flawlessly presented, and the (first) rescue by the eagles is an amazing sequence. There’s no point in denying yourself, if you’re a fan; go ahead and watch this flick (and the upcoming two). Just don’t reward the greed by spending a dime on it; get the disc from the damn library.

Robin Hood

The ghost of Errol Flynn hangs heavily over this movie. It would be bad enough trying to do a standard remake of the Merry Man's adventures; a re-imagination that changes the story in significant ways asks a lot of the audience. Not that this film is bad; there's much to recommend it, including a lot of authenticity and good performances by leads Crowe and Blanchett. But even so, you walk away feeling that something is missing here. A tough call--probably worth a look, but no guarantees.

The Aviator

A technically superior movie, to be sure. But also a strangely disjointed film. It's time and place--Hollywood's Golden Age--has never seemed so alien, almost otherworldly, despite having appeared in countless period pieces. Something seems to be missing, or not captured properly. The film also suffers from a casting faux pas; despite a strong roster overall, DiCaprio seems miscast as Howard Hughes--he's too young through most of the film, even for Hughes's early adventures. And while there is an interesting story element buried within the flash and dazzle--an underdeveloped statement about obsession and achievement that could have been enlightening--the pieces never come together to make the whole truly engaging. A near miss.

The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou

It's weird. It's absurd. It's deadpan. It's frequently hilarious. Not everyone's cup of tea, to be sure, but those who get it will really enjoy an offbeat adventure. Special mention must go to the wonderfully mocking parodies of Cousteau-style nature films and books; the animation is a wry joy, and the artwork and look are spot on (and riotous). If you've liked other Wes Anderson movies, definitely take this plunge.

The Shipping News

When people think about a good time at the movies, the word "somber" rarely comes to mind. You get plenty of that here. The story's thesis--that there's a place where everyone belongs--is not so bad, and it is gratifying when Kevin Spacey's hapless schlub finds some measure of redemption in the end. But that's not enough to lift this movie high enough for most viewers.

The Missing

Half of a good movie. It's most interesting during the scenes between Tommy Lee Jones's "gone native" old man and his estranged rancher daughter, played by Cate Blanchett. That tense dynamic always keeps it interesting. Less successful are the scenes involving the missing daughter/granddaughter and her captors. Rather than add to the drama, the plain presentation of the captors and their evil leader actually detracts from the movie--it's much more intriguing when the girl just vanished into thin air. But it's not a total loss. Call it a toss up--watch if you have the time.

Bandits

It works. It's not something that will change the world, but you can find worse ways to pass the time. The story holds the attention, Billy Bob Thornton is typically excellent, Bruce Willis is in his best mode (when he doesn't try to do too much), and Cate Blanchett is funnier than you'd think.

Charlotte Gray

What did I learn from this movie? That Cate Blanchett is a better looking brunette than blond. Who knew? It's a tenuous PURR endorsement, as the story is fairly run of the mill WWII spy stuff. But good performances and some lovely south of France scenery raise the bar and make it worthwhile.

The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring

Upon a second viewing I conclude that this film is indeed as good as I originally thought. The differences from Tolkien's story don't deviate so much as fill in the blanks. The only negative note: Cate Blanchett is awful as Galadriel.

The Gift

A run-of-the-mill mystery thriller, with a little horror thrown in. Not as good as A Simple Plan, the other Sam Raimi-Billy Bob Thornton collaboration (in this case, B.B. merely wrote the thing). It does reaffirm my position that I will never move to the "deep" South.

The Talented Mr. Ripley

Actually, this movie's full of talent, beyond the title character. The featured players--Damon, Paltrow, Law--are talented actors, and the setting is (mostly) that most talented of cities, Venice. And it's based on a best-selling thriller. With all that, it's hard not to be entertained.