Haywire

imdb   Photos

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. 

 minus

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.

.

The Adventures of TinTin

imdb   Photos

Plot: TinTin, boy reporter, buys a model boat, but suddenly people are trying to buy it, and then steal it. The boat has a secret inside left by Francis Haddock who built it. Soon bad guy Sakharine has the boat, and is sailing across the world to solve the mystery. TinTin and Haddock's son try to find him, and solve the mystery. There are a large number of twists each punctuated by an action scene like a getting ship wrecked, a pirate fight, getting stranded in the desert, climbing on the wings of a plane, and more.

Review: TinTin is a full bore effort at an animated adventure movie that despite its technical competence failed. It failed because I never cared about the hero, who has no backstory, no homelife, no non-canine friends, no motivation to be risking his life in his action-adventure movie death-defying antics. It also failed because of the animation failed to convey emotion. I don't mean that motion-capture technology can't convey emotion, because it can -- it simply does not do so here. We don't have skilled animation providing interesting facial movement, and we don't have functional computerized scanned-in motion capture emotion either. 

Worse, the animation of Tintin is in the uncanny valley, which means its human replicas are   too realistic to be viewed as drawings, and too fake to be real -- the result is disturbing and it repeated disrupts the movie illusion -- at least for me. The term goes back to 1906, and Freud wrote about it. It might be better to use these close CGI human replicas as villains only since the psyche seems quickly creeped out by them. 

The plot is complicated, but not too hard to follow. There is some comic relief. I think the number of drunked sea captain jokes is so high as too be offensive. I don't think kids should be exposed to this much drinking. 

On the bright side the music was good. The 3D was OK. 

The worst part was that it was just no fun. Unlike the best comic book movies, there was no social message or interesting characters. This was the shallowest of comic heros in a poor adaptation. It shows that Steven Spielberg does not always make good movies. 

Cast: (animated)

Directed by: Steven Spielberg

Rating:   1.5 stars: 

More: I would have liked this better in live action.

.

.

My Week With Marilyn

imdb   Photos

Plot: American actress Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams) comes to England to make a movie with the older Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh). Marilyn has emotional and medical problems while making the movie, and assistant director Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne) keeps her company. Marilyn flirts with Colin, and it helps her mood and her acting.

Review: My Life with Marilyn plays with our fascination with fame/celebrity. It shows us a human story about the troubled Marilyn. Many of her problems are caused by her fame, and her story seems more significant because of her fame.

Great acting and directing make this a fun movie despite its simple storyline. Michelle Williams shows us both troubled Marilyn and the showgirl Marilyn, and the transition between the two. Marilyn has these impish flashes of personality that everyone loves, and somehow actress Michelle is able to channel that. 

This is a well crafted movie: I liked the photography and the set design. There are a few good songs; Michelle can sing on key, and she has a great dance sequence.

[Minor Spoiler] True to the title, My Week with Marilyn, only lasts a week, and at the end of the week, it peters out. On one hand, I say I better dramatic conclusion would have pushed the film over the top, and on the other hand, I say director Curtis was brave enough skip aHollywood ending. In any case, the movie does not have the standard dramatic arc, and it ends with Olivier quoting lines from on old play. 

Cast: Michelle Williams, Eddie Redmayne, Kenneth Branagh

Directed by: Simon Curtis

Rating:   3.5+ stars: I really liked this movie, nearly four stars. In the top group for 2011.

More: Marilyn Monroe: "People always see Marilyn Monroe. As soon as they realize i'm not her, they run."

.

War Horse

imdb   Photos

Plot: A old farmer buys an expensive horse, and gives it to his son to train to plough, but then the horse is sold to the British Army as World War I starts. The horse has a series of four owners during the war, and each one has a little adventure.

Review: War Horse is a kid's movie that is completely earnest, and it is a bit of a fairy tale oriented around the heroism of the horse. Some people, like myself, might find this story too obvious and "cheesy," however I am sure that children and horse-lovers will find it wonderful. 

I found certain sequences painfully slow -- so much that I closed my eyes and wished I was somewhere else. Closing the eyes is not recommended generally because the photography was wonderful. All the sets were beautiful, and the shots of the horses were almost poetic. I also liked the music. 

 The acting was straight-forward, which is about all that can be expected from such a story. I did not feel any special emotion coming from the horse -- as in Sea Biscuit, for example. Sea Biscuit was a much better movie.

The best scene was when Joey, the horse, raced in the the "No-Man's-Land" between the trenches pulling up the barbed wire and becoming entangled in them. A highlight was the interesting battle scenes in WWI. There was a section that reminded me of Saving Private Ryan. 

I was pretty disappointed. I wished I would have seen something else. 

Cast: Jeremy Irvine, Peter Mullan, Emily Watson

Directed by: Steven Spielberg

Based on the book by: Michael Morpurgo

Rating:   2.0 stars, which I think is generous. It probably deserves less based on the fact that it is NOT fun-to-watch. However it is really pretty, and might be good for a family with grade school kids except that the battle scenes were violent (though not bloody.)  

More:  I wonder how this movie would have worked without the dialog. I bet I could have followed the story just fine, and it would not have seemed as cheesy.  

..

.

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

imdb   Photos

Plot: Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) gets framed for blowing a up a Russian building, and then gets abandoned by the US government. He and three others work to prevent a crazy man from starting a nuclear war.

Review: Ghost Protocol's strength is that  the super-smart and well-equipped good guys are abandoned and become are the underdogs. Worse, things keep going wrong -- one thing after the next, and Ethan Hunt seems to absorb a lot of physical punishment too. This creates good will, and keeps the movie fresh.

We have seen a million spy movies, and three previous Mission Impossible movies. With such a simple story, and the writers appear to be trying to find new material, and for the most part succeeding. This film is well crafted, and a little bit humorous.

The best scene is the one from the preview where the Secretary of State is explaining how the IMF has been "disavowed." This is a plot thread that Mission Impossible has been setting up since the first TV episode, and it is about time that they played out what happens when you get "disavowed."

Another good scene is the opening scene with an IMF spy falling backwards down a building, and shooting badguys with a pistols in each hand as he falls -- it is a copy of Trinity's fall in Matrix Revolutions, and just as cool here.

The plot is simple and most of the story is told visually, as the film keeps going in the same direction from beginning to end. The characters have small backstories, but seems to be acting out of self-less dedication instead of personal motivation.  The music is good. The special effects are good quality without being too superhero.

Ghost Protocol is a fun movie; the morale is about self-less devotion to country despite the fact that the government betrays you --  not a serious message.

Cast: Tom Cruise, Paula Patton, Michael Nyqvist

Directed by: Brad Bird

Rating:   A strong 2.5 stars, almost made three based on its fun-ness. 

 
More: Paramount is making a new, fifth Mission Impossible.



Even more: Does anyone use the word "disavowed," besides Mission Impossible?

..

.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

imdb   Photos

Plot: Disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) tries to solve a 40 year old murder with the help of young hacker Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara.) Lisbeth is sexually assaulted by her lawyer, but strikes back. Blomkvist uncovers half century old sex crimes enroute to the surprising ending.

Review: It's like a fruit cake -- good parts held together with a not-so-great cakey binder.

There are some powerful scenes in the movie, and maybe that is enough. Only a fan can follow the complex plot which is crammed in and brimming over. I read the books and saw the Swedish version of the movie, and I am sure I missed things. A non-fan would need three viewings.  There are too many villains, too many Vanger Family relatives and too many gray-suited businessmen.

Rooney Mara and the costumer Trish Summerfield gave Lisbeth with a great look. She is detached and damaged, smart and tough. I liked her look, even though the book's Lisbeth is more petite

The best parts are the scenes when she goes crazy and gets revenge. Mara does a great job of coming alive and being psycho. I don't think she is psycho often enough. 

The worst scenes are the crime procedural parts; these are too packed together to be fun. Also we don't see the genius Hacker part of Lisbeth enough.

The sex scenes between Lisbeth and Mikael don't make sense, and they did not make sense in the book either -- hard to believe Lisbeth and Mikael are any kind of couple.

Daniel Craig plays a more thoughtful character than James Bond, and he does well. His well known face does not detract because he is deeply in character.

In summary, some excellent scenes Lisbeth is still a great character, but the complex story is too thin to connect all the cool scenes together. This movie would benefit from Cable News style subtitles to people what is going on. 

Cast: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara

Directed by: David Fincher

Rating:   3.0 stars: I had high expectations, and I was a little disappointed. Lisbeth Salander is still a great character, and you should go see her.

More: I loved the opening credits. The acid distorted version of the Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song is great shown over the drippy black paint and creepy images. Definitely the best opening credits of the year. 

Even more: Love the ending. Go Lisbeth.  

Yet more: Many similarities to the Swedish movie.

Young Adult

imdb   Photos

Plot:  Writer Mavis (Charlize Theron) is supposed to be finishing a pulp romance novel, when she finds her high school boyfriend Buddy (Patrick Wilson) just had a baby with his new wife. She jumps in her Mini Cooper and is off to win him back. When she gets there Matt has a drink with her, and she begins  work on getting him back. In a bar, she meets old high school friend Matt (Patton Oswalt,) who may be gay, and is now disabled.  She puts herself in increasing desperate, and embarrassing situations trying to break up his marriage. 

Review:  Young Adult is a light drama about how Mavis can't never grew up, and is reliving her high school life. She is upset that Buddy is living an adult life when she is still drinking hard and sleeping around.  Hard drinking Mavis keeps pushing until she becomes pathetic, and crashes. A lot of people never resolve their high school issues, just like Mavis. 

Diablo Cody's dialog is the best, and Charlize Theron facial acting is a great combination. Despite the gimmicky plot, most of the fun is the small gestures and intonations between two people. It can be very funny, but you have to like this kind of comic drama. 

Ultimately Mavis decides that she needs to grow up, and that produces a feel good ending. 

Charlize Theron should be considered for an Oscar.

Cast: Charlize Theron, Patrick Wilson and Patton Oswalt

Directed by: Jason Reitman; written by Diablo Cody

Rating:   4.0 stars - fun to watch with a heart too; at first I thought only 3.5, but the more I think about the film, the more I like it. 

More: It looked like a Diablo Cody cameo on the TV in Mavis's hotel room. 

Even More: Mavis's poor neglected dog

.