We Bought A Zoo

Plot: Benjamin's (Matt Damon) wife just died, and he and his two kids move to the country and buy a private zoo. The zoo has a staff of eight including zookeeper Kelly (Scarlett Johansson.) Soon Kelly's daughter Lilly (Elle Fanning) is flirting with Benjamin's son Dylan (Colin Ford), and Benjamin's excessively cute daughter Rosie (Maggie Elizabeth Jones) is smiling and saying cute things.  The Zoo needs a lot of money and work to reopen it, and Benjamin climb hurdles to do that.  imdb   Photos

Review: We Bought a Zoo is a cute movie with several interesting and well-developed characters played by competent actors. The story is very simple and the poor performances by the child actors plus poor editing made some of the movie unnatural and saccharin sweet. 

There are some good scenes like the lock scene with the lion or the drawing scenes with Dylan. 

Cast: Matt Damon, Scarlett Johnasson 

Directed by: Cameron Crowe based on the autobiography by Benjamin Mee

Rating:   2.0 stars:  Some kids might like this move, but some may be bored by the dialog. 

More: The real zoo is called Dartmoor Zoo, and it is in England not California. They specialize in large cats. Before Mees bought the zoo it had been shut down for illegally breeding tigers and for poor conditions. 

The real and fictional Benjamin Mee.

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The Artist

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Plot: The Artist is a novelty comedy done in black and white with no dialog and dramatic music instead of sound effects. It tells a simple story of the end of silent movies and a love story between a pretty young actress, Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo,) and an older self-involved silent actor , George Valentin (Jean Dujardin,) who called himself, "The Artist," because he made only silent movies. 

Review: Once again the art movie world has pushed a 2nd rate film and larded it with awards.  How can we take "serious" movies seriously? (See my reviews for Melancholia and Tree of Life.)

The Artist  is a romantic comedy -- with the b/w silent movie gimmick on top. For a few minutes it was interesting that I could see the whole story from lip reading and the overacting of the actors to convey emotions silently.

There were some charming and funny parts. In the early movie, George Valentin, is likable because he is so cheerful and laughs so heartily. Later he becomes brooding, overly-serious, and unlikeable. 

There are several scenes that are clever from a directing point of view, especially the early dance scene on either side of the screen, and the drink spilled on the mirror.

Art Movies often have a serious purpose or an interesting character study, but The Artist has none of that.  It is novelty and film school exercise. It is only occasionally fun-to-watch.

Cast: Berenice Bejo, Jean Dujardin

Directed by: Michel Hazanavicius 

Rating:   2.5 + stars -- I don't recommend it, and it does not have anything to say, but it is made with a lot of craft. It is also memorable. 

More: I saw all nine Best Picture nominees. This was the poorest.  

More: I was unimpressed, but my wife nearly walked out. She hated it. 

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Secret House of Arrietty

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Plot: Arrietty is three inches tall, and she lives with her family under the floorboards of a house in Japan. A teen boy, Shawn, comes to visit to rest before heart surgery, but he spots Arrietty in the garden, and they become friends, kind of.

Review: The great parts of Secret House are the childish purity and the colorful nature scenes. It has a sincerity and purity that you never find in the movies, even kid's movies.

An example is the lyric to "Arrietty's Song," which is more sincere and happier than any American pop song, with floating butterflies, picking flowers, summer rain, and a dreamed-of boyfriend. American music does not do sincerity: not since the Hippy's of the '60s.

Unfortunately there are slow parts inside the house after the novelty of the little people wears off. There are also parts that are a little creepy like the father's odd stoicism and the cat. I know films need dramatic tension, but creepy is not an effect I want to feel.

Arrietty is classically animated, and that creates the opportunity for the purity of color and artistic scenes. A good story does not need great animation, but sometimes the animation is noticeable.

The music is a highlight. Some songs are on iTunes including some from the Japanese soundtrack.

The end is not typical Hollywood style, and I hope I am not grading it down since it has a realistic ending.

Be sure to stay for the animated credits which are as cool as the rest of the movie.

Directed by: Hiromasa Yonebayahi, based on the book by Mary Norton. Written by famous Japanese animation director Hayao Miyazaki

Rating:   2.5 stars: Worth seeing.

More: The cool parts are very cool.  Perhaps the film is targeted to kids a little too much.

Even more: My daughter is a Studio Ghibli fan, and so I feel bad giving a middling review to Arrietty, but I call them like I see them. 

Exceptionally Loud and Incredibly Close

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Plot: Nine year old Oscar (Thomas Horn) was very close to his Dad, Thomas (Tom Hanks), and they played scavenger hunt games in New York City. Thomas was killed in 9-11, and had left heart rending messages on the answering machine for Oscar. One day Oscar finds a key hidden in his Dad's closet, and Oscar begins to search for whatever lock the key fit. He visits hundreds of people in New York looking. At one point he is helped by an older mute man (Max von Sydow.) 

Review: Exceptionally Loud and Incredibly Close is an ambitious movie because it takes on the meaning of 9-11 from the point of view of the survivors. Of course, the movie works hard to make us experience the senselessness of this, and to experience the horror, guilt and loneliness the families experienced.  It is only a film, and so it takes some melodramatic turns and plot twists designed to comfort the audience from the bleak, existential message.

Many have found solace in God after 9-11, but EL&IC does not. The approach to 9-11 is notable for its absence of faith. It stares emptiness and doubt right in the face. There are outstanding scenes including one where child actor Horn rants for 2 minutes about the hopelessness of his search for more clues from his father. The recognition that the search is hopeless is like accepting that his father is irrevocably dead. 

The film takes a while to get going, the plot lacks believability, and Tom Hanks is like a cartoon of a good Dad. A more believable plot might have been too bleak for audiences to sit through. It has a series of great scenes that make the movie worth seeing mixed with scenes of lesser quality.

I liked young Thomas Horn throughout. Sandra Bullock underacts the whole time, and only has a few good scenes. Tom Hanks is likeable enough, but is not a realistic character -- probably by design.

Finally, EL&IC generally avoids trading on the horror of 9-11 for entertainment value. Aside for 15 seconds at the end of the movie, the film is not offensive because it is about survivors  not the disaster itself. It avoids gallows humor about the towers falling -- which would have been very offensive. There is no humor in the movie at all.

Cast: Thomas Horn, Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock

Directed by: Stephen Daldry, based on the book by Jonathan Safran Foer

Rating:   3.5 stars: The good parts are good, and it takes on tough issues. It is imperfect though.

More: Lots of great pictures of New York City


Even more: I want to see it again. Maybe even buy a copy.

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Chronicle

The French poster captures the sentiment of the movie
unlike English one. 

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Plot: High School Senior Andrew (Dane DeHaan) is chronicling his life on video like a "lifeblogger," and after he explores an artifact in a cave with friends Matt (Alex Russell) and Steve (Michael B. Jordan) they all develop telekinesis -- the ability to move things with their minds. This starts small, and they have fun exploring what they can do in a realistic way. Andrew's anti-social tendencies come out, and he begins to act out in a big way. The film is supposed to be video from Andrew's video Chronicle.

Review: Wow, Chronicle was a fun movie. Much more fun that expected, and way better than the preview led me to believe. The movie revolves around believable characters and is buttressed by good writing and a clever story idea. The film builds the supernatural powers slowly, and that makes the movie more fun.

I liked the acting of Michael B. Jordan the most. He was dynamic and interesting. Dane DeHaan and Alex Russell were good, but not great. Beginning director Josh Trank does a great job with the hand-held video premise. Unlike other hand-held video this did not cause motion-sickness related nausea.

Chronicle but it is not in the same league as Oscar favorite The Descendants, which I saw last week. More people will see Chronicle than The Descendants, and twenty years from now people will still be watching Chronicle since it has a timelessness.

Chronicle is a not four star picture because the final scenes are not well connected to the well developed characters in the middle of the movie. This is because Trank is really making a superhero origin story, not a character based drama. One place we see that is that essentially shy Andrew suddenly doesn't care that he has become the greatest spectacle in Seattle at the end of the move. We know his Dad is a jerk, but Andrew was a Master at keeping the anger under control at home. It is out of character that he'd break out like he does.  A few phrases about being a "Climax Predator," is not enough.  In a top movie, there would have been more dialog at the end, as in Spiderman 2.

Cast: Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell, Michael B. Jordan. 

Directed by: Josh Trank

Rating:   3.25 stars: By Popular Demand! Quarter Stars have arrived at DOP: Movies for 2012. 

  

More: This movie should have been made in 3D!

Even More: I saw this at a theater full of kids, and when someone gets impaled on a statue -- the 3rd grader next to me goes "that's so cool." Movies are more fun with an audience. 

The Descendants

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Plot: Elizabeth King gets in a boating accident, and the doctors are ready to pull the plug. Husband Matt (George Clooney) has to tell daughters Alex (Shailene Woodley) and Scottie (Amara) that Mom is going to die. Scottie and Alex are both acting out, and give Dad a hard time. Alex drags friend Sid (Nick Krause) along on visits to the hospitals and relatives as they let people know of Elizabeth's impending death. In the meantime, the King family is working with their cousins to sell multi-million dollar beach front property they inherited; creating yet another layer of family dynamics.

Review: The Descendants is a well-written movie with substantive characters having one serious conversation after another. All the action is in the minds of the characters, but the family dynamics is realistic and the characters are engaging. The plot twist in the middle turns up the volume on the tension.

I liked George Clooney throughout. Even though he is so familiar, he inhabits the character and does not seem too famous for the role. He takes in all the tumult and depicts in naturally -- if a little understated. He never seems to get mad, but frustrated.

Actress Woodley most fun scenes are when she is hostile at the beginning, but she changes to being helpful later, and becomes more likable. She has some good reaction shots. Her scenes are also a little more understated that realistic, and I think that is the hand of director Payne.

The soundtrack was unremarkable. Although there are beautiful vistas of Hawaii, the photography is not awe-inspiring.

The real star of The Descendants is the writing. I liked the movie a lot. It was substantive and it was a real movie with feelings, emotions, and a moral direction. I am not sure if its quality makes up for its basic lack of fun-ness. It is a lot of dialog with only a little levity.

The pacing of the movie is fine, but it is dominated our knowledge that the whole enterprise ends with a death, crying and a funeral. I suppose life is like that too.

Cast: George Clooney, Shailene Woodley

Directed by: Alexander Payne, who shares credit for the writing.

Rating:   4.0 - stars.  It is not as good as Moneyball or Young Adult, but it is better than Marilyn. Better than Hugo, Bridesmaids, Super 8 or Harry Potter. 

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More: The character of Sid was pretty clever; he provides some comic relief, and makes the movie 100 times less stuffy. 

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Haywire

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Plot: Mallory (Gina Carano) is a free-agent spy who works for a Blackwater-type spy contractor run by Kenneth (Ewan McGregor). She and Aaron (Channing Tatum) go to Barcelona to free a kidnapped journalist, and soon bad guys are trying to frame her for murdering the journalist. Mallory has to figure out what is going on, stay alive, and get revenge.  

Review: Haywire is a thriller with secret agents, and in a twist they work for private contractors rather than governments. In Haywire, like all modern spy stories, it is not clear who the bad guys are, and as the plot twists the loyalties of the characters become clear.  

The movie is well-made with good visual story telling, a fairly easy to follow plot, interesting characters that seem to actual motivations. 

I liked Haywire especially the on-foot chase scene in the middle. Toward the end, the climatic scenes did not build tension as they should, because Malloy becomes an aggressive killer as she gets revenge. The change from victim to killer reduced the suspense. 

Most action movie heroes can beat up a roomful of thugs easily, and Mallory is no different. It is refreshing that she actually looks tired after punching out people, and looked hurt after she fell off a building. Former American Gladiator Gina Carano looks like she can really fight,  but it seems like a stretch that she can beat up all these tough guys in a row.  

Part of Haywire is the empty morality of the characters. All this fighting is for more money for these contractor corporations --at least James Bond is trying to save the free-world.  I expect the lack of moral code is one of the themes the writer Lem Dobbs had in mind. 

Good soundtrack.

Cast: Gina Carano, Ewan McGregor, Channing Tatum

Directed by: Steven Soderberg

Rating:   3.0 - stars: fairly fun to watch, interesting characters, but it is just for fun, no morale. 

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More:  Why is it called Haywire?

Even more: Haywire is rated "R," but there is no blood, no swearing, and no nudity, but there are a lot of guys getting kicked in the face.

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