2012 Beasts of the Southern Wild
Well, this was an interesting exercise in nonsense. It is a movie with no plot, full of condescending dialogue, as well as an indictment of Child Protective Services -where the heck are they while this six year old girl is being left to live in her own little pigsty of a hut next door to her abusive and crazy father who leaves her alone due to an illness to eat dog food and burn down her hut ("If my daddy don't come back soon, I'm gonna have to start eatin' my pets."). They live in a place called the Bathtub, which looks like it's pretty much the absolute dregs of society, full the of the hillbilliest of hillbillies.
A storm floods the Bathtub, and the girl, Hushpuppy (played by Quvenzhane Wallis -try saying that three times fast), and her dad and neighbors decide to stay. It's not very interesting. We get a lot of "gritty" shots of the "raw" way of life in the Bathtub, with people spouting things that are meant to sound profound but don't ("When it all goes quiet behind my eyes, I see everything that made me flying around in invisible pieces."). Just a big old blech. An odd scene where Hushpuppy briefly goes off with some other kids to look for her absentee mom and ends up on some floating brothel (I think, it wasn't exactly clear) is particularly random and weird. I could tell I wouldn't like it within the first couple of minutes, but stuck it out because I heard it might get some Oscar nominations (why??), and the gal that plays Hushpuppy was nominated for Best Actress, which I don't think was deserved, as the "actors" were hardly acting from I've heard: Quvenzhane Wallis in particular just did what felt natural and then they constructed a voiceover narration to fit. Tyler declared that, while he didn't like it, it was still better than Moonrise Kingdom, which I have to definitely disagree with. Not a movie worth seeing.
2012 The Dark Knight Rises
Blind Prisoner: Then make the climb.
Bruce Wayne: How?
Blind Prisoner: As the child did. Without the rope. Then fear will find you again.
I was disappointed in this movie, after going in with high expectations after hearing a lot of good things. Perhaps because of the recent shootings, I found the violence particularly disturbing, and Tyler kept having to mute the movie. Batman has basically been out of action for 8 years, when a new villain named Bane (a guy in a mask who talks like Tyler doing a really bad Sean Connery impersonation) comes to town with plans to take control of the city, which he does with surprising ease. About 40 minutes or so in, Batman finally decides to make his comeback, which was definitely the most exciting part (He appears during a car chase, and one of the experienced police officers tells his young partner: "Oh boy, you are in for a show tonight, son!").
The slow buildup wouldn't have bothered me in the least, except that Batman very quickly has his back broken by Bane, which I found especially upsetting, and then spends most of the rest of the movie out of action once more while he recovers in a prison cell, and doesn't make his second comeback until near the end of the movie. I wanted to watch Batman, not How Much Pain Can We Put Batman Through. If he had stayed in the movie after his first comeback, that would have been good, but he is out of commission for most of the 165 minutes of the movie. I have to disagree with Tyler and say that I did like Anne Hathaway as Catwoman; however, the sudden romance between her and Batman at the end made no sense, as there had been no buildup whatsoever -in fact, he was into another girl the whole movie (she turns out to be a lunatic villain, but that's beside the point). I did really like Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Batman's new protege, Robin John Blake -he was a surprisingly likeable and interesting character. The Dark Knight definitely remains the best of the trilogy.2012 The Hunger Games
"May the odds be ever in your favor."
An awesome movie, based on a riveting book. Probably the movie I have most looked forward to in a long time (aside from Les Miserables), and it lived up to my expectations. A lot was omitted, and some things changed, but it stayed true to the tone of the book, and the actors were spot on. My only qualm was that it was left unclear at the end whether Peeta and Katniss really cared about each other, and this is made clear in the book. I am assuming it was left open-ended because they weren't sure how the movie would do and if there would be a sequel, so presumably this will be addressed at the beginning of the next movie. I liked getting to see the behind the scenes portions included, as in the book everything is from Katniss's perspective, so we don't see what is going on outside of the arena. I won't go into it more, because it's not nominated for anything significant, but I though I would give it a shout out -I'm very excited to see Catching Fire.
2012 The Avengers
World Security Council: I don't think you understand what you've started. Letting the Avengers loose on this world. They're dangerous.
Nick Fury: They surely are. And the whole world knows it. Every world knows it.
World Security Council: Was that the point of all this? A statement?
Nick Fury: A promise.
Another excellent and entertaining movie not nominated for anything important, but deserving of a mention. It pulls together a bunch of superhero franchises (some of which were only so-so), which sounded like a bad idea to me, but Joss Whedon does it perfectly. We get to know all of the characters more (Iron Man, the Hulk -played by Mark Ruffalo instead of Edward Norton, which sounded like a bad idea to me, but worked perfectly -Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, and Hawkeye), the action sequences are exciting, it is funny and unexpected, and it leaves you wanting more. If I'd paid attention and seen that Joss Whedon was the director before watching the movie, I wouldn't have been so surprised by how good it was, but it's always nice to be blown away by a movie you're expecting to be bad. A great movie...but please bring back Agent Coulson!
2012 Trouble with the Curve
Gus: I think maybe, maybe I could change the way I do things.
Mickey: You already have.
After finishing this one, all I could say was: "Well, that was a movie." There's not much to it -it's a very basic story, with workaholic Mickey (Amy Adams) taking time away from her job to help out her somewhat estranged father (Clint Eastwood), a baseball scout, as his eyesight is failing him. Their relationship is strained, so naturally they get a chance to work through their issues. Justin Timberlake is pretty weak as another baseball scout acting as Mickey's love interest, though there is very little (if any) chemistry between them. Everything is predictable and expected. Clint Eastwood plays his typical gruff stereotype of a character, but with less depth than usual. There were some cute parts, but it's really one that's fine to miss.The Impossible
As far as natural disaster movies go, see this one and skip Beasts of the Southern Wild. It's tough to watch, but really an incredible story, and it keeps you riveted throughout. Maria (Naomi Watts) and Henry Bennett (Ewan McGregor) are a husband and wife staying at a resort in Thailand with their 3 sons. In a visually and emotionally powerful scene that will really get your heart pounding, they are hanging out at the pool when they are suddenly hit by a massive tidal wive that destroys everything in its path (the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami). Maria and her eldest son, Lucas, are separated from the other three, and Maria is badly injured. Thanks to their own fortitude and courage, as well as the kindness of strangers, they make it to a hospital.
Henry sets off to try to find Maria and Lucas, leaving his other sons in the care of strangers (a stupid idea, in my opinion, but oh well, it works out). The movie is based on the true story of the survival of the Belon family against all odds, and it is very moving. I think it did a good job of showing the devastation without getting overly graphic (bodies are typically shown in body bags) -it is powerful enough as is, without getting gory. Naomi Watts has been nominated for her performance (though I don't expect her to win -I think it will go to Jessica Chastain or Jennifer Lawrence), and I thought Ewan McGregor was excellent as well (though not nominated).
The Words
"At some point, you have to choose between life and fiction. The two are very close, but they never actually touch."
The Words was an interesting story within a story within a story. Dennis Quaid plays an established writer reading to an audience from his newest book, The Words, which is about an author, Rory Jansen (Bradley Cooper), who discovers a manuscript in an old briefcase in an antique shop, and publishes it as his own -having failed to get his own work published. It is a huge success, and he is able to get his own work published on the coattails of the first novel's success. Eventually he is approached by the true author of the novel (played by Jeremy Irons), who tells him his life story, and the events that spawned the writing of the manuscript and its disappearance.
Chagrined and chastened, Rory tries to make amends, but the old man refuses any efforts to give him credit or money for the book, so he continues to take credit for the work, though he does confess the truth to his wife (played by Zoe Saldana), who is devastated to learn of his lie. We learn only snippets about the Dennis Quaid character (such as that he is separated from his wife), as he discusses his book with a young woman (Megan Fox), after his reading. Certain details fit with those in the novel, and we are left wondering if it really is a novel, or if it's actually a confession. It's definitely a movie that leaves you thinking. Thanks to my dad, Steven Martin, for the recommendation!
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