Justin's Review Thread

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Thought it was about time I made a thread for my reviews.

In a Lonely Place (Nicholas Ray,1950) [rating]4[/rating]



Another great film by Ray. Perhaps one of the best endings I've ever seen. Great performances, as well. Terrific build-up to the devastating finale, which is both bittersweet and inevitable. Not much needs to be said.


Repo Men (Miguel Sapochnik,2010) [rating]0[/rating]



Derivative, derivative, derivative. I'm not sure if the writers were trying to be this deliberate, but there are certainly too many blatantly obvious scenes "borrowed" from other films; e.g. Brazil and Oldboy to name two that come to mind. Good acting talent completely wasted. I thought they could at least compensate for his direction, but I suppose not.


Greenberg (Noah Baumbach,2010) [rating]4[/rating]



Another re-watch. Liked it a lot more the second time around. Baumbach's characters are always compelling and well-written. Although the ending was a little forced, the film works well as a whole.
 
The Crazies (Breck Eisner,2010) [rating]1.5[/rating]



Well-shot and pretty fun (which was surprising). That immediately helps differentiate it from many modern horror films and remakes. It's pretty goofy (most likely intentionally so), so that does add considerably to the fun-factor. Despite both the technical work and b-grade goofiness, it's still pretty bland. Not much here.
 
The Losers (Sylvain White,2010) [rating]1[/rating]



Incredibly dull and uninteresting. All of the jokes and one-liners fell flat, right along with the action. There are certain allowances that I'll make for action films, but the script was downright lazy; when a script is poor and underdeveloped, you can't really ignore it and make excuses. Kick-Ass, however, had a reasonably competent script that maintained a certain level of energy. The Losers was just boring.

Skip it.
 
Glad to see you've started to do this, Justin.

I can't say that reaction to Repo Men is a surprise. One of those, "I didn't need to see it to know that" films.
 
Farewell Falkenberg (Jesper Ganslandt,2006) [rating]4[/rating]



A beautiful, poetic vision of a small town in Sweden. It's often meandering, but it never bores. We learn a lot from these individuals as they move through their days with nothing to do, until disaster strikes and it's as shocking as it is unpredictable. It's difficult to not feel for these people who have nothing going on in their lives, and nothing in the foreseeable future. Wonderfully scored and nice, understated acting.
 
Daddy Longlegs (Ben Safdie and Joshua Safdie,2009) [rating]4.5[/rating]



A very solid film, but is even better on reflection. Each character feels very real and completely unlike any stereotype that we might try to pigeonhole them into. Obviously channeling Cassavetes to a great extent, the film is handled nicely as a very interesting character study (which is very complex) that deals in awkward moments, and occasionally the surreal. Though the film does have a few setbacks here and there, they will likely fade from memory as the credits roll. There is a simplicity to the film that's hard to accomplish, but at the same time, there is a lot going on in the film -- which is difficult not to admire.
 
To be honest, it really wasn't something we wanted to see, either. We had planned on seeing How to Train Your Dragon, then sneaking into Greenberg. But the ticket prices are outrageous for 3-D after Avatar. So that quickly changed our minds.
 
Antichrist (Lars von Trier,2009) [rating]3.5[/rating] (second viewing)



Thought I'd give it a second viewing, and I'm glad I did. There is a lot of heavy symbolism, and terrifying visuals that kept me engaged all throughout the film. On the first viewing, I dismissed the grisly violence towards the end as pure shock tactics, but that might be selling it a little short. Part of that might be true, but Antichrist does have a point to the violence, which all leads to the thematic elements. It isn't perfect, though, and the film does suffer slightly from weak dialogue and clumsy moments in the script. Aside from that, it's terrifying to watch, and carries a lot of weight.
 
Drag Me to Hell (Sam Raimi,2009) [rating]3.5[/rating] (second viewing)



Even on a second viewing, I still love this film. There is a lot to like about Drag Me to Hell, whether it be the stylistic cinematography, the over-the-top acting or the "gross out" scenes - it all leads to a fun ride into Raimi's signature style and genre. It isn't perfect, but it is definitely one of the most entertaining films I've seen in the past few years. I could watch it over and over again.

This is what he should be doing.
 
Looking for Eric (Ken Loach,2009) [rating]2.5[/rating]



Despite the excellent directing by Loach, I couldn't help but notice the flaws. It's mostly the script the hurts the film so much, which is unbalanced and shifts tone too rapidly. For most of the film, the focus is on Eric and his evolution into a person that he would like to become, but then it abruptly transitions into a social drama -- which seems completely out of character for the film. Loach does express a lot of sympathy towards Eric, and there are plenty of hilarious scenes, but the script takes away a lot of the impact by being too scattered.
 
Mary and Max (Adam Elliot,2009) [rating]3[/rating]



Pretty good. Strong story and characters. The animation (clay) was incredibly well-detailed and thought through; nothing was left untouched. But, what hurts the film the most is the pacing. It felt off, at times. A few moments I found myself zoning out and losing interest, thus losing me in the emotional aspect. What also hurt it was the "on-the-noseness" of the narrator, though it worked through most of the film, it made me cringe a few times.

Overall, it's a film that should be seen for the animation, humor (very dark) and strong characters. It is flawed, but enjoyable, nonetheless.
 
Crazy Heart (Scott Cooper,2009) [rating]2[/rating]



Bridges definitely turned in a great performance. I'm not sure how much I liked seeing Colin Farrell as Tommy Sweet, but he wasn't bad. Although the overall product is good, there just isn't much else to say about it, aside from Bridges. Crazy Heart is sadly ultimately forgettable. However, the ending is something slightly different from the norm, but it wasn't enough to make the film memorable.
 
Is Crazy Heart a C&W version of The Wrestler? I know very little about it, but that's what it sounded like to me. It's also the reason I thought it might with the two awards that The Wrestler should've won at last years Oscars. Best Actor and Best Original Song (for which, I think I'm right in saying, Springsteen wasn't even nominated for.)
 
The Innocents (Jack Clayton,1961) [rating]3[/rating]



Superb technical work, that's for sure. If only the rest of the film had been as flawless. The story itself is solid, but, to be truthful, I never felt any of the suspense. Sure, it was there in the lighting and photography, but we need more than that. I felt let down by the ending, which sort of left me with an apathetic feeling about the overall conclusion; not exactly the "thoughtful" ending I had wanted, even if they asked more questions. It's still worth seeing, but the "thrills" and "scares" didn't add up to enough to make the film cohesive (far too inconsistent). There were definitely great moments -- like one particular sequence that used fades very well -- but other scenes sort of fell flat.
 
Valhalla Rising (Nicolas Winding Refn,2009) [rating]3[/rating]



Not a bad effort at all, but it's ultimately only interesting on a thematic and visual level. Refn successfully brings the "feel" of the viking age to life with gritty reality mixed with surrealism. Though Refn's visual style is striking, it does become a little overwhelming and distracting. Valhalla Rising also suffers from poor acting, aside from the protagonist. There are many interesting themes in the film about culture and identity -- and they are certainly subtle -- but the film never quite takes those themes far enough.
 
It pretty much is, yes. I loved The Wrestler, and this one is decent, but it still doesn't come close in terms of quality.

Crazy Heart is enjoyable and reasonably satisfying, albeit forgettable.
 
Harry Brown (Daniel Barber,2010) [rating]1.5[/rating]



Definitely not an easy film to watch. Harry Brown's first act is undeniably solid, however, the film somehow descends into ridiculousness and excess. With the first act in mind, one is led to believe that the film is almost minimalist, but it slowly devolves into a mess. There are several disturbing scenes that could've been cut, and one scene early in the second act that could've easily been shortened. There are some good themes, but they are ultimately lost in the ridiculousness of the entire scenario in the 2nd and 3rd act.

Unfortunately the film doesn't really work. It's not a bad film, but it's not really a good one, either.
 
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