The Wrestler

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Plot The Wrestler is a dramatic tragedy about an aging pro wrestler who is alienated from his daughter and whose only friend is an aging stripper. Randy "The Ram" (Mickey Rourke) is a tragic figure who was a popular entertainer when he was young, but now is old and washed up. He has no close friends or family, and when he gets heart disease, it all seems bleak. He decides to wrestle one more big match even though he is really too sick.

Review: The Wrestler is a lonely, tragic American. The movie plays on the duplicity between the entertainer as a role model/hero and as a real person with real problems. Both Randy and Cassidy (Marisa Tomei) the stripper had entertainment personalities and real life problems. We are sympathetic with Randy the Ram, and I kept waiting for the introductions to end, and the real movie to start. There was little delivery for all the set-up. It is not that entertaining watching someone being lonely.

Cast and crew:
Micky Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood; directed by Darren Aronofsky




Rating
2.5
1/2

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Mickey Rourke gives a very good performance, but movie is not as good as that.

Coraline

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Plot Coraline 3D is the story of a girl who moves into a new house, that happens to be the doorway to a parallel world. At night she journeys to a parallel house with a parallel "Other Mother" and "Other Father" who are better and nicer than the real ones. She likes it there at first, but slowly she realizes that the "Other" world is an evil trap, and the movie becomes a horror movie where she must rescue other children and save her parents.

Review: The beginning of the movie is dark and creepy. All the characters are unlikeable and the scenes were dreary. This is the main reason that I dislike the film. It is not until her second trip to the "Other" world that the movie gets better. The plot turns more into a traditional horror movie, and the creepy cat becomes the first friendly character. The 3D animation is serviceable, but not outstanding. The dancing mice were fun. The dreary art direction is the biggest limitation. It is a derivative of the Nightmare Before Christmas and the Corpse Bride -- we have seen all this before -- though not in 3D.

Miss Forcible, the treacle-sweet, but soon grotesque and topless claymation lady, is disturbing and original. She embodied the different, better, creepy feeling of the "Other" world.

Rating: 2.0

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Teenage girls wrestle in their heads with good and evil versions of their mothers. Coraline plays that out literally.

Revolutionary Road

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Plot:   Revolutionary Road is about a couple (Leonardo DiCapri and Kate Winslet) who get married, have kids, move to the suburbs, and feel "hopeless emptiness." They toy with moving to Paris, and in the end they crash under the weight of societal pressure and their own foibles. There is an insane neighborhood man (Michael Shannon) who enters the story and unburies the truth of their lives.

Review: The couple, who felt young and special, find themselves middle-aged and wonder "What happened?" The movie draws this theme out so well. The trip to Europe is the symbol of a new life, and when (MAJOR SPOILER) they don't go, their hopeless empty life eventually kills them. Kate and Leo have wonderful dialogues -- well acted and well written. The scenes with Michael Shannon are delightful. 

I can understand why the movie ended the way that it did. I would have liked some clever twist -- the movie ended predictably and with a political morale that didn't belong. Two-thirds of this movie were great, but the end dropped the ball. It did not need a happy ending, but it could have been smarter.

Extended Review:  The movie deals with meaty ideas about the meaning of life, and many young people deal with these issues. I can remember feeling that way. It is similar to the way I felt when I was getting out of high school. I felt like everything is possible -- isn't that the American Way to be. At some point we lose our idealism, and this movie probes that. It is not unlike Vicky, Christina, Barcelona, in that movie, two women have already gone to Europe and they wrestle with idealism -- staying in Europe or married realism.

Cast and crew:
Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Michael Shannon; directed by Sam Mendes

Rating
3.5
1/2

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"Most people know the emptiness, it takes real guts to see the hopelessness."

Frost/Nixon

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Plot Frost/Nixon is the story of the David Frost's (Michael Sheen) interview with Richard Nixon (Frank Langella) in the aftermath of his presidential resignation. It begins with David Frost striving to make a living in the entertainment world, and then buying the rights to an interview with Richard Nixon. Frost is playboy who does not take preparation as seriously as Nixon does. The early interviews go poorly, but in the end, Frost achieves a very human emotional interview with Nixon.

Review: The dialogue is great during this movie. It runs like a play with verbally driven story, told in an interesting way. I learned to care about both Frost and Nixon. Both Michael Sheen and Frank Langella had top performances. This movie had some interesting parts with Frost's personal life, and I suppose this was a serious movie on a serious topic, but a movie needs to be more than the sum of its parts. It was not that fun to watch, and it just is not Best Movie of the Year caliber.

Cast and crew:
Michael Sheen, Frank Langella, Rebecca Hall; written by Peter Morgan; directed by Ron Howard

Rating
3.0+


More Talented dialogue, interesting performances, on a serious topic -- I just didn't like it that much.

Gran Torino

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Plot Gran Torino is the story of a crusty, bigoted old man (Clint Eastwood) who befriends a Hmong family in his neighborhood, and then battles a local gang. The man, Walt Kowalski, is bitter, sour, profane and rigid. However, by the power of movie magic, he becomes deeply-caring and sacrifices for the good of the young neighbor kids.


Review: The best part about this movie is the dialog. Walt is so unlikeable in the first half hour that I disliked the movie. As he warms up, the movie picks up steam. Sue Lor (Ahney Her) provides a likeable bridge character between the old man and the Hmong neighbors.

Cast and crew:
Clint Eastwood, Ahney Her, Bee Vang; directed by Clint Eastwood

Rating
2.5
1/2

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This movie is like a 2009 version of All in the Family.

Hancock

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Plot Hancock is a story about a sleazy, super hero, who gets an image-makeover by an unemployed publicist. Hancock is drunk and rude and disagreeable -- or as the movie says repeatedly an "asshole." The worst part of the movie is the beginning where he is so disagreeable. There is a major surprise, plot-twist near the end. It surprised me, and it was funny -- however everything that happens after that has no motivation at all. Why are these characters doing what they do? I don't know. I don't think anyone knows. On the other hand, if you wanted realism, you should have seen a documentary.


Review: The best part about this movie is Will Smith, but even he cannot make Hancock a likeable character. The other basic problem is that the bad guys are just some nameless prison escapees. A hero needs a good supervillian as a foil. This is not a bad movie, but 2008 superhero movies have been so good, that it suffers in comparison. This is nothing compared to Iron Man, Spiderman 3, or Dark Knight.

Cast and crew:
Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Charlize Theron; directed by Peter Berg

Rating
2.0


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Probably would have been cooler on the big screen.

Valkyrie

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Plot Valkyrie is a war story about a coup against Hitler in 1944. It follows the conspirators making preparations, and shows the scheme unfolding and then collapsing. Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise) leads the coup and there are many other generals involved in the political plot twists. Stauffenberg's wife (Carice van Houten) and kids are in the story, but not enough. The movie focuses on setting up the conspiracy, and not on war-movie action.

Review: Valkyrie is a serious and suspenseful movie, and it is about a serious subject -- that it takes on with grim determination. The film would have been better with a deeper understanding of von Stauffenberg's motivation. It is not enough for Singer to invoke 20-20 hindsight; why were these people ready to sacrifice all they held dear? It is the style of war movies to feature tough guys with wooden delivery, but this great story was ruined by the weak script and stylized acting.

Cast and crew:
Tom Cruise, Kenneth Branagh; directed by Bryan Singer

Rating
2.0

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Very suspenseful -- for a movie where you know the ending in advance.