This week on the podcast, Glenn and Daniel venture into the Alaskan wilderness into a harrowing (and possibly overrated) tale of survival and wolf-punching. If the film’s trailer is any indication, that is. Which it isn’t. (25:35)

May contain NSFW language.

FilmWonk rating: 4/10 (Glenn), 3/10 (Daniel)

Show notes:

• We refer to the famous line, “Once more unto the breach, dear friends”, which is indeed from Henry V.
• It’s Ottway, not Ottman. Get it right, dudes.
• With apologies to Bob Ducca, stick around at the end for a list of movie title mashups.

Listen above, or download: The Grey (right-click, save as).

Best Supporting Actor

#5: Oscar Isaac – Blue Jones, Sucker Punch

Let it never be said that I hold a mean grudge… I hated virtually everything about this film, including the character of Blue Jones, but this will be one of the few awards where I enforce the nebulous distinction between “the best” and “my favorite” (David Chen posted a great discussion with IFC’s Matt Singer on this topic). Every moment of screen time with villainous burlesque magnate (or possibly psych ward attendant) Blue Jones made me physically uncomfortable. All of the male characters in this film are deplorable predators, but Isaac’s performance brought this one to life in a disturbingly memorable way. Every one of his line readings made my skin crawl, and that is certainly what the villain of such an overwhelmingly fetishistic comic farce needed. I would sooner rewatch Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones than ever revisit this performance, but it was undeniably one of the best of the year.

Honorable mention: He also gave a solid supporting turn in Drive.

#4: Albert Brooks – Bernie Rose, Drive

Now that’s more like it – here’s a villainous performance I would gladly revisit. Albert Brooks demonstrates an alarming vicious streak in this film, which would be brilliant even if I didn’t know him primarily as a comic actor.

#3: Ben Kingsley – Papa Georges, Hugo

There is a solid ensemble cast at work in Hugo, but Ben Kingsley certainly does the heavy lifting. Insofar as this film is primarily about the burden of a forgotten artist, Kingsley manages to elevate even the more cookie-cutter moments surrounding the revelation of his true identity. From my review:

Kingsley’s performance is marvelous, delivering just the right blend of sadness and intrigue. This is a bitter and ancient soul, but his bitterness is richly layered enough to suggest that it is the product of having lived too much rather than too little. This is a man who had everything and lost it; not a man who regrets what he failed to achieve.

#2: Kenneth Branagh – Sir Laurence Olivier, My Week with Marilyn

This is basically an actor’s dream role, getting to simultaneously ham it up as a beloved cinematic mainstay, and portray him in his prime as a director. If I were a bit more cynical, I might think that Branagh was exorcising some of his own directorial frustration into this performance, but watching him butt heads with Michelle Williams is entertaining regardless of its source. While Olivier’s relationship with Marilyn Monroe is actually one of the less developed aspects of the film, Branagh plays up Olivier’s confrontationalism and dismay to brilliant comedic effect.

#1: Christopher Plummer – Hal Fields, Beginners

Beginners failed to crack my Top 10 for one simple reason… It wasn’t primarily about Hal Fields. Writer/director Mike Mills based this film loosely on the story of his own father coming out as gay following the death of his wife, and just a few years before his own death, and Plummer’s performance succeeds because he treats a genuinely fascinating character with an overwhelming degree of affection. His chemistry with Ewan McGregor (who plays his son, the Mike Mills surrogate) is stellar, and helps to elevate the less interesting material that McGregor has to work with. Even as the film gets just a little bit bogged down in its own quirkiness, Plummer remains the heart of it, portraying an old man who is exploring his new life with all the fervor and enthusiasm of a much younger man. His portrayal feels entirely authentic, and derives all of its comic effect from the character’s inherent sweetness and earnestness.

Honorable Mentions:

• Ryan Gosling as Jacob Palmer in Crazy, Stupid, Love.
• Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons, and Paul Bettany as a trio of ruthless financiers in Margin Call
• Seth Rogen as Kyle in 50/50
• Michael Parks as Abin Cooper in Red State
• Colin Farrell as Jerry in Fright Night

Best Supporting Actress

#5: Emma Stone – Hannah, Crazy, Stupid, Love.

Crazy, Stupid, Love. was a surprisingly enjoyable film, taking a fairly conventional romantic comedy premise and amping it up with a masterful sense of humor and charm. And one of the biggest charmers was surely Emma Stone, who is quickly becoming one of my favorite comic actresses (she also had an amusing minor role in Friends With Benefits this year). She plays nicely with co-star Ryan Gosling (who just barely missed out on my list above) both in terms of chemistry and comedic timing, and manages to shine despite her limited screentime.

#4: Chloë Grace Moretz – Isabelle, Hugo

“Don’t you like books?!”

Chloe Moretz’s reading of this line clinched this as one of my favorite performances of the year. Moretz brought such a sense of joy and adventure to the character that she managed to set herself apart from similarly bookish heroines (such as Hermione Granger) without crossing the well-trod line of irritation that such characters often stumble into. She is, to a large extent, the heart of this film, lighting up the screen with enthusiasm in her every scene, and making an excellent foil for Asa Butterfield and Ben Kingsley’s more somber and subdued roles.

#3: Jodie Foster – Meredith Black, The Beaver

This film didn’t work as a whole for me, but if there’s one thing that both Foster and co-star Mel Gibson demonstrate, it’s that they understand depression and self-destruction. And this understanding comes through despite the film’s darkly comedic (and frankly absurd) premise of a man talking exclusively through a Cockney-voiced beaver puppet. Gibson’s performance is agonizing to behold, but is made doubly so by how credibly Foster plays his steadfast and equally tormented spouse. Meredith clearly still cares for Walter, even as he makes it harder and harder for her to interact with him in any meaningful way – a theme that plays out marvelously in the restaurant scene pictured above, which was a tour de force for Foster in both acting and direction.

#2: Rose Byrne – Helen Harris, Bridesmaids

This was a film chock full of memorable and fully realized characters, but none quite so effective as Rose Byrne’s villainous would-be maid-of-honor, Helen Harris. Byrne plays up the various conflicts between Helen’s wealth, insecurity, and inherently scheming nature, leading to one of the film’s most memorable confrontations in which (I’ll be vague here) she offers Kristen Wiig a friendly snack. It’s all smiles, and yet both actresses play up the tension brilliantly – a dynamic that persists throughout the film. This villain is the antithesis of Oscar Isaac above – an absolute delight in every scene, and a performance I will happily revisit.

#1: Marion Cotillard – Adriana, Midnight in Paris

I had to excise the word “irresistible” from my description of Emma Stone above, lest I squander it in advance of my favorite performance of the year. Marion Cotillard plays Adriana, and without being too specific, let’s just say she has an active social life, chock full of fascinating suitors. Cotillard could have played this character simply as an object of desire, but her charm and vivaciousness are merely the initial layer of a delightfully rich characterization. While this allure nearly puts her out of the league of Owen Wilson’s “Aw shucks” demeanor, as the film goes on, the two characters complement each other nicely, and Adriana’s various interests play well into the film’s exploration of the dangers of nostalgia. While the film itself is a love letter to Paris, Cotillard’s performance seems to encapsulate all of the romance and intrigue that the city itself has to offer. And both the city and the lady are irresistible.

Honorable Mentions:

• Maya Rudolph as Lillian in Bridesmaids
• Carey Mulligan as Irene in Drive
• Evan Rachel Wood as Molly Stearns in The Ides of March
• Anna Kendrick as Katherine in 50/50

#11: The Big, Dumb, Occasionally Smart Action Movie

I know I’m cheating a bit here, but I must say – this was a solid year for the action blockbuster. Fast Five, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol were all impressive contenders (the latter just barely missing out on this list). Even after Michael Bay descended into robotic madness, directors Justin Lin, Rupert Wyatt, and illustrious Pixar veteran Brad Bird have come along to challenge his throne as actioneer-in-chief. While these are very different films (with highly variable calibers of acting and character work), what they have in common is a sense of pace and coherence that was unmatched in action cinema this year, and deserves to be recognized for the talented filmmaking that it represents.

#10: X-Men: First Class

Directed by Matthew Vaughn, screenplay by Ashley Miller, Zack Stentz, Jane Goldman, and Matthew Vaughn, story by Bryan Singer and Sheldon Turner

Rewatching this film in the past week, I was reminded of a few things. First, Henry Jackman‘s musical score is distractingly bad at times, and bothered me even more on repeat viewing. When the X-Men swept over the final naval showdown in their supersonic jet, and the guitars, choir, and drums swelled to an absurdly bombastic theme, I felt more like I was watching a 80s laser rock opera than a 60s Cold War reimagining. But I didn’t mention that in my original review, because there was just so much else to love about this film. Michael Fassbender‘s performance and physicality as Erik Lehnsherr (“Magneto”) is nothing short of magnificent, and James McAvoy gives a fascinating rendition of the sage and reliable Charles Xavier as a young man. Indeed, nearly every one of the myriad of characters in this film feels well cast and written, with each of the young mutants getting their own small piece of the story to carry. Lucas Till (“Havok”) and Edi Gathegi (“Darwin”) both have particularly effective screen presence in their small roles.

But the biggest triumph of this film is how much every piece of the action is motivated by plot and character. Every major development in this film, from the villain’s inevitable undoing to the final epic showdown, has multiple, fascinating dimensions affected by the complex relationships between Xavier, Erik, Raven (“Mystique”), Sebastian Shaw, and others. While the finale didn’t feel completely earned, it did so many things well that it is still one of the finest scenes of the year.

#9: Hot Coffee

Directed by Susan Saladoff

Susan Saladoff is a trial lawyer-turned-filmmaker, and Hot Coffee is a documentary that not only argues against “tort reform”, but questions the very definition of the phrase. I’ll admit, the mere premise of this film both intrigued me and put me on guard. I already knew that the infamous “McDonald’s Hot Coffee” case (of an elderly woman who spilled coffee on her lap and received millions in damages) is more complex than the majority of the public believes, despite its continuing status as the poster child for frivolous litigation. The most important details – that the coffee was served at a temperature that would cause instant second-degree burns if consumed immediately, as well as the fact that Mrs. Liebeck suffered third-degree burns to her pelvic region (resulting in skin grafts and multiple surgeries) – are equally obscure pieces of trivia.

I expected all of this to be brought forth in this film. What I did not expect was to see a graphic photo of Liebeck’s injuries. This is a film whose opening salvo is strong, and it continues unrelentingly on a single premise: the state of American civil litigation is broken, and many tort reform measures, both current and proposed, exist solely to prevent American consumers from seeing justice when they are wronged by corporations. The film examines a variety of these tactics, including caps on damages, campaigning for business-friendly judges, as well as some of the less than savory tactics used to end opposing judiciary careers. In the last act, the film examines the increasing prevalence of binding arbitration clauses (if you have a cell phone contract, you’ve agreed to one!), by way of a woman who was forced to arbitrate her case against KBR/Halliburton using binding arbitration – a case that included charges of gangrape and unlawful imprisonment.

Needless to say, this is complex, emotionally-charged material, the effectiveness of which will depend a great deal on your individual politics. I remained guarded throughout, as these felt like the tactics of a Michael Moore film, albeit much less emotionally manipulative and fast and easy with the facts. This film has a provocative perspective to offer, but gives you plenty of room to decide how much you agree with it. It is a rare film that comes along and upends your worldview in a lasting way, but Hot Coffee might be one such film.

#8: Attack the Block

Written and directed by Joe Cornish

This film, which depicted an alien invasion fended off by a gang of thuggish London street kids, was an unrelenting delight with an immaculate sense of pace. From the opening scene, in which the gang robs an innocent woman at knife-point, these kids, as well as their leader Moses (John Boyega) are far from sympathetic, but go through an impressive and believable transformation over the course of the film. These kids may be the products of apathetic parenting, ineffectual law enforcement, and urban decay – but the movie makes it clear that they’re exactly the ones you’d want in your corner during an alien invasion. And despite the self-indulgent and anti-social behavior they exhibit at the beginning of the film, the overwhelming theme is this: actions have consequences. And what’s more, that message felt completely earned by the film’s end.

Head for Boyega’s IMDb page, and you will see just a single TV credit preceding this film. But damned if I wasn’t utterly riveted by his every line of dialogue. Even if he weren’t a newcomer, Boyega would be the standout performance in this film. He brings the brooding action screen presence of a much older and more seasoned actor, lending additional weight to all the action and chaos that ensues. This is an absolutely starmaking performance, and I look forward to whatever he does next (even if it’s an HBO boxing drama).

#7: Contagion

Directed by Steven Soderbergh, screenplay by Scott Z. Burns

First, a rare shout-out to the marketing department… This was one of the most riveting and effective trailers I saw this year (the cheesy tagline notwithstanding). Soderbergh delivered a sprawling epic with a global scale that seems disturbingly plausible as you watch it. The all-star cast seems to have been chosen in order to facilitate an audience connection despite the relatively short screentimes of each character (“You like Gwyneth Paltrow, right? Well you won’t believe what happens to her face in the first act!”), but a few of them (Kate Winslet and Laurence Fishburne in particular) present fascinating characters in their own right.

But this film wasn’t really about a single character or storyline. It was about the viral spread of information and fear at a pace that dwarfed that of the actual infection. Jude Law‘s role as a sensationalist blogger, easily the film’s sloppiest character choice, was nonetheless a fascinating (and mostly credible) peek into the kind of hysteria that would ensue with such a deadly pandemic. When I saw this film, I saw our very own world and civilization pushed to the brink of self-destruction, and I found it far more frightening than succumbing to a deadly illness. This is a film that sticks with you, even when you go right back to touching doorknobs and bar pretzels the next day.

#6: Drive

Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, screenplay by Hossein Amini, novel by James Sallist

Ryan Gosling may have only a couple dozen lines of dialogue in this film, but it’s still one of his finest lead performances. He plays the unnamed “Driver”, a movie stunt performer who moonlights as a criminal for hire driving getaway vehicles. This is The Transporter as a brooding drama, prone to a surprising amount of emotional heft and some unexpectedly graphic violence. This film is a slow burn, and it’s not for everyone, but I was completely enthralled by it. It boasts one of the strongest casts I saw this year, featuring deft supporting work from Carey Mulligan, Oscar Isaacs, and Bryan Cranston, as well as an outstanding dramatic performance comic mainstay Albert Brooks as an utterly vicious villain.

Drive is one beautifully constructed sequence after another, from its initial 10-minute vehicular chess match with the LAPD, to an elevator scene featuring one of the most operatic and bizarre romantic moments ever put to screen.

#5: The Artist

The Weinsteins have spoken… This is 2011′s big awards contender. But screw it, I am completely on board with this silent, black-and-white film made this year in Hollywood. Michel Hazanavicius‘ silent storytelling works not only because it demonstrates the effectiveness and charm of the medium, but because it tells a story that seemingly could only have been told this way – the demise of silent film. We – the audience – know that the career of dashing silent performer George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) is doomed, and yet his struggle to stay true to his art seems both foolish and noble in equal measure.

From my review…

The Artist crafts a complex character’s journey without overly relying on title cards, and conveying a great deal of story via background set design – a technique that has remained effective to this day. In the present day, we have no choice but to regard silent film as an anachronistic technical limitation. But in its day, it was the engine that propelled innovative storytelling, and Hazanavicius clearly understands how it succeeded. This film could have been a baseless technical exercise, but with this execution, it’s nothing short of a modern classic.

#4: Littlerock

Written/directed by Mike Ott

This film offers a groundbreaking depiction of cultural interaction, by way of a pair of Japanese adult siblings stranded in a rural California town. The sister, Atsuko (Atsuko Okatsuka) speaks no English, and the brother, Rintaro (Rintaro Sawamoto) speaks a little bit – but whenever they’re split apart, we don’t get a single subtitle for their lines of Japanese dialogue. But this is not an inaccessible piece of indie cinema – it’s an uproarious comedy about how people interact at the most basic level, even when they don’t share the same language. It also features one of the most fascinating self-deluded characters of the year, Cory Lawler (Cory Zacharia), whose interactions with Atsuko make up the bulk of the film. The dialogue and interactions felt completely naturalistic, and demonstrated a great deal of talent on the part of the Japanese actors – fluent English speakers in real life – who were quite convincing in their inability to understand the specifics of what the Americans were saying to them.

Zacharia also gives an outstanding performance, although I have to mention – one of the actors present at the Q&A said that Zacharia is very much like his fictitious counterpart in real life, much like Jason Mewes in the films of Kevin Smith. Zacharia’s characterization is actually quite similar to that of Mewes, but his naïveté definitely sets him apart.

Listen to me, Daniel, and my fiancée Megan (who is fluent in Japanese!) discuss the film in depth:
FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #11: “Littlerock” (SIFF review)

As an aside:
This film stands quite well on its own (or it wouldn’t have made my Top 10), but Cory Lawler is nonetheless a character I wouldn’t mind revisiting. And now it appears I’ll get my chance… In a recent episode of The Tobolowsky Files, storyteller and character actor Stephen Tobolowsky confirmed that Mike Ott is shooting a sequel/spinoff to this film, in which (according to the film’s IMDb page) Tobolowsky seems to play Cory’s father. Both Cory and Atsuko reappear, although one dubious note, which I’ll try not to read too much into, is that “Atsuko” is now “Anna”.

#3: Young Adult

Directed by Jason Reitman, screenplay by Diablo Cody

Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron) and Matt Freehauf (Patton Oswalt), former high school classmates who reunite when Gary returns to her tiny, franchise-laden Minnesota town determined to break up the happy marriage of her ex-boyfriend, are as bizarre and unlikely a pairing as I’ve ever seen this year. Former popular kids who couldn’t get on with their lives are amusing narrative punching bags, but they seldom transcend their status as stock characters. Mavis Gary is certainly the most richly layered version of this character I’ve seen, equal parts alcoholic and Diet Coke fiend, determined to keep reliving the glory days, even via her profession – ghostwriter of trashy teen fiction. Theron’s performance is brave and effective, keeping the character utterly unsympathetic for most of the film’s runtime, and yet inspiring sympathy when she has to. Oswalt’s performance is remarkable – every bit the awkward former nerd (who paid a serious price for his lack of popularity), but much more self-aware, hiding behind a fortress of adept sarcasm and other tidbits of verbal sparring. To watch these two thoroughly damaged people butt up against each other (to their own mutually increasing frustration) is remarkable and hilarious. And what’s more (in typical Jason Reitman vein), this is not a story about damaged people growing and changing and getting on with their lives – quite the opposite, in fact. Several late scenes are immaculately constructed – equal parts devastating and hilarious (and one featuring an outstanding supporting turn from Collette Wolfe).

Diablo Cody has certainly matured as a screenwriter since Juno, and this latest collaboration with Reitman is another fascinating dark comedy character piece. These characters still have a bit of the quirk and banter we’ve come to expect from her screenwriting, but they feel much more grounded in reality. Dark, hilarious reality.

Listen to me and Daniel discuss the film in-depth:
FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #15: “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”, “Young Adult”

#2: 50/50

Directed by Jonathan Levine, screenplay by Will Reiser

There’s nothing funny about a young man getting cancer. But screenwriter Will Reiser‘s semi-autobiographical tale of getting cancer at a young age not only tackles this serious material with an incredible degree of levity, but feels authentic and intensely personal in the process.

Shortly after Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) has received his diagnosis, a random coworker gives him an emphatic hug at a party, tearfully announcing, “I’m gonna miss you!” At his friend Kyle (Seth Rogen)’s insistence, he walks up to a girl at a bar and attempts to pick her up by announcing that he has cancer, shortly after shaving his head with Kyle’s electric “body-groomer”.

So many of the scenes in this film felt as if they could only have been taken from real life, not only because fiction wouldn’t dare tread on such ground, but because fiction rarely has the slightest idea of what dying is actually like. As I write this, I’m a healthy young man (my penchant for whiskey and kielbasa notwithstanding), so I can’t say whether this superlative film got it right. But I can say this… I saw myself in Adam, and his plight feels genuine and heartbreaking. Gordon-Levitt gives a remarkable performance here, and his chemistry with Rogen is pitch-perfect. I found myself laughing throughout this film, and tearful at several points – and I never once felt like the film had manipulated me into either reaction.

Take some notes, Patch Adams. This is how it’s done.

Listen to me and Daniel discuss the film in depth:
FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #13: Jonathan Levine’s “50/50″

#1: Hugo

Directed by Martin Scorsese, screenplay by John Logan, book by Brian Selznick

This has definitely been a year of fascination with the techniques of prototypical filmmaking, between this film, The Artist, and My Week With Marilyn. And yet, this film stands apart not just as a celebration of the magic of cinema, but as an argument for the preservation of any creative endeavor. This film is gorgeous and utterly immersive, rich with memorable characters to bring you along for the ride.

From my review:

Hugo strives to be both a children’s adventure film and a poignant drama about the burden of a forgotten artist, and it largely succeeds as both. What’s more, for any auteurists out there, it certainly feels like a personal project for Martin Scorsese, whose marvelous body of work is fortunate enough to exist in a century with both the technology and inclination to preserve it. No one quite knows how their creative efforts might be remembered in future generations, but this film deftly argues that such efforts ought to be remembered and cherished. What truly makes this is a great family film is not just the zany and inoffensive hijinks that it shares with so many other blockbusters, but also this message, subtly woven throughout a story that is quite worth telling.

Honorable Mentions:

• War Horse (directed by Steven Spielberg, screenplay by Lee Hall and Richard Curtis, book by Michael Morpurgo)
• Bridesmaids (directed by Paul Fieg, screenplay by Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo)
• Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (directed by Brad Bird, screenplay by Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec, TV series by Bruce Geller)
• Shame (directed by Steve McQueen, screenplay by Steve McQueen and Abi Morgan)
• Beginners (written and directed by Mike Mills)
• I Saw the Devil (directed by Jee-woon Kim, written by Hoon-jung Park)
• The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (directed by David Fincher, screenplay by Steven Zaillian, novel by Stieg Larsson)
• Midnight in Paris (written and directed by Woody Allen)
• Kosmos (written and directed by Reha Erdem)
• Jane Eyre (directed by Cary Fukunaga, screenplay by Moira Buffini, novel by Charlotte Brontë)
• Double-honorable mention: Certified Copy (written and directed by Abbas Kiarostami – just saw it last night, too late to be eligible for this list!)

This week, we took a cue from the movie studios and decided to cram one too many films into the same day. First, we delve into the dark and depraved world of David Fincher’s fresh adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Then, we’ll examine the maturation of Diablo Cody in her new collaboration with director Jason Reitman, Young Adult. (44:42)

Please note that per usual, this podcast may contain NSFW language. Additionally, due to the subject matter of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, our review contains some rather frank discussion of rape and associated social issues. We understand these matters are delicate, and we recommend that any sensitive listeners skip past the spoiler section of this review (see the show notes for timing).

FilmWonk rating (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo): 7/10
FilmWonk rating (Young Adult): 8.5/10

Show notes:

• (0:00) Review: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
• (11:55) Spoilers: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (warning: disturbing content)
• (24:07) Review: Young Adult
• (36:21) Spoilers: Young Adult
• Minor spoiler: Near the end of the Dragon Tattoo review, we allude to a certain character stealing a substantial amount of money. From the book, the actual amount was around $260 million USD, which was worth about 2.5 billion Swedish kronor when the book was written. In the film (according to Wikipedia), the amount is 32 billion Euros (~$41 billion USD).
• We mention the actor who plays Lisbeth Salander’s guardian. This actor is Yorick van Wageningen, whom we may have recognized from his small part as “The Guv” in The Chronicles of Riddick.
• For the record, there is no Mercury, MN.
• Music for tonight’s episode is Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ version of “Immigrant Song” (performed by Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs), from the soundtrack to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

Listen above, or download: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Young Adult (right-click, save as).

The relationship between man and horse has always been a complicated one. It’s simple to find inspiration in a story of humans and pets, since pets are generally treated well and have little expected but love in return. Horses, like all other beasts of burden, are the subject of greater expectations, and highly variable levels of respect. Cards on the table: I don’t find horse-racing films inspiring in the slightest. On the surface, it’s basically the same as watching NASCAR – full of souped-up, highly disposal means of transportation, barely deserving of the moniker of “sport”. The only noticeable difference is that these speedy conveyances are capable of feeling pain, making the activity that much more appalling. But beasts of burden have their place, to be sure, and there may be inspiration to be found in their stories, provided they’re enriching our lives in some meaningful way (gamblers, alcoholics, and gluemakers notwithstanding).

War is an equally mixed bag for storytelling, particularly World War I. It was known ever so briefly as “the war to end all wars”, and was a study in contradictions – an absurd mix of both ancient and groundbreaking mechanisms of battle. This war featured swords, cannons, trench and chemical warfare, tanks, metallic armor, and yes – even horses. War Horse effectively broaches the question of whether a horse is capable of demonstrating valor or loyalty, and regardless of the answer to this question, we do see a great many horses lying broken and discarded on the battlefield. This exploration of the First World War is certainly the most interesting part of this film, and simultaneously the most muddled.

This film plays like a fairy tale, with a soft glow blanketing the characters’ initial idyllic existence. Albert (Jeremy Irvine) is a farmboy in Devon, England, whose father wrecklessly splurges on a thoroughbred horse to plow his field. The horse, Joey, may well be a gorgeous specimen, but he’s not big, ugly, or strong enough for the farm work to be set before him. As Albert desperately tries to train Joey to work the plow, his landlord (David Thewlis) twirls his mustache and delivers an absurd (but well-spoken) monologue about Albert’s almost certain failure. This tale of boy and horse is entertaining, to be sure, and demonstrates the horse’s personality to an impressive degree. Even as we learn that these two will soon be torn from each other by the impending war, this sequence masterfully sets up their affection for one another, with Spielberg somehow wrangling as convincing a performance from the animal as from Irvine himself.

But from this point on, the film is basically just a series of vignettes, and actually becomes rather confusing. A staggering number of minor characters are introduced, each with a slightly different flavor of randomly accented English-language dialogue. Unless you happen to be an expert in WWI military insignia, it’s difficult to tell where Joey is, where he’s going, or how likely Albert is to find him. While this certainly causes the film to lose momentum, it somehow makes Joey’s story even more tragic, placing the audience in the same confused position he’s in. Horses may well be capable of loyalty, but this horse has very little choice in where he goes or what he does. While horses aren’t capable of understanding the full scope and consequence of their actions in warfare, this film certainly demonstrates their capacity to be swept up as either victims or reluctant participants.

Most of the human cast – whom I would struggle to call anything more than supporting players – are effective. As Joey strikes out on his journey, the film intently focuses on each of the lives he touches along the way. Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hiddleston both give strong turns as military officers. Newcomer Celine Buckens gives perhaps the worst accent performance in the film as a young [French?] farm girl who briefly and affectionately takes possession of Joey when he wanders onto her family farm. The story of the girl and her father had the potential to be quite poignant, but it is undercut by Buckens’ uneven performance and some rather irritating dialogue.

The film’s climactic scene, which I won’t spoil here, continues Spielberg’s tradition (begun in Saving Private Ryan) of depicting both sides of a historical war as potentially sympathetic. In their own way, each side recognizes Joey’s innocence and unwilling participation in this conflict, and seem determined to spare him any further harm. Over the course of this film, we see war horses treated as brutally as any other materiel, but it is in this final moment that the film hammers home the point that they’re a category unto themselves. I’m not sure if “inspiring” would be the right word for this message – the contribution of Joey and warhorses like him was meaningful, but it came on the eve of their obsolescence as a tool of human warfare. If Joey had been born a mere decade later, he could have lived out his life happily in peace. Then again, the same could be said for Albert and the young men who fight and die beside him. Like all war films, War Horse is a tragic tale at heart – but the friendship, valor, and loyalty demonstrated here is no less meaningful for it. War may well be a natural human condition, and as such it affects those beasts we hold most dear just as surely as it affects us all. To turn a historical eye to their contributions and sacrifices, whether or not they can truly be considered noble, does not go amiss.

FilmWonk rating: 6 out of 10

Martin Scorsese’s Hugo is a delightful family film and an outright visual treat, but it is definitely trying to be two distinct types of film. The antagonism between the orphaned, precocious tinkerer Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) and the unforgiving (and unnamed) 1930s Paris train station inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen) is surely the zaniest plotline in the film – and yet, like every interaction here, it is checkered with a surprising depth of emotion. Nearly everyone in this film has a bit of a tortured past, but some of their harrowing backstories are downplayed to such a degree as to be unintentionally hilarious. When Hugo’s erstwhile father (Jude Law) is incinerated in an unmotivated blaze of CG fire, there was audible laughter in my audience… And when the station inspector’s leg-brace (a source of his ample bitterness) gets caught on the outside door of a departing train, I assumed he would meet a similarly horrific offscreen fate, but it was not to be.

The film begins with a masterful sequence of silent-cinema world-building (easily the strongest since WALL-E), then jumps right into this rather jarring combination of tones. But despite my initial qualms, I quickly found myself entranced by it. The film’s strongest relationship, which it establishes with remarkable speed, is between Hugo and Isabelle (Chloë Grace Moretz). Isabelle is bookish and adventurous, and fits right into that Hermione Granger zone of “probably should be annoying, but isn’t.” Moretz’ performance is nothing short of brilliant, lighting up the screen with enthusiasm everytime she makes an appearance. Asa Butterfield, a relative newcomer, is adept as Hugo Cabret, but the character himself is not nearly as fascinating as those surrounding him, and his relationship with Isabelle owes far more to Moretz’ performance than anything else. This young actress is just starting to demonstrate her versatility (starting with such films as Kick-Ass and Let Me In), and is certainly a talent to watch out for in the next few years.

The film’s locale – a 1930s Paris train station – is also a rich character, particularly with the film’s luxurious 3D visuals to support it. Hugo lives on the fringes, climbing through the walls, rafters, and numerous clocks of the station, stealing what he can to support (and feed) himself. He also strives to repair a mysterious clockwork man (“automaton”) – a museum castoff that his father acquired before he died, and promised his son he would repair. When enigmatic toy vendor Papa Georges (Ben Kingsley) simultaneously catches Hugo thieving and discovers his secret mechanical project, he turns immediately hostile, vowing to burn Hugo’s notebook and have him arrested if he sees him again. It is at this point that Hugo and Isabelle embark on their adventure – to find out why Georges (Isabelle’s godfather) is so miserable in his old age. Kingsley’s performance is marvelous, delivering just the right blend of sadness and intrigue. This is a bitter and ancient soul, but his bitterness is richly layered enough to suggest that it is the product of having lived too much rather than too little. This is a man who had everything and lost it; not a man who regrets what he failed to achieve.

Much of the second half relies on flashbacks, and without getting into too many specifics, Hugo is the latest of several films (along with The Artist and My Week With Marilyn) to turn a nostalgic eye toward filmmaking techniques of old. Of those films, this one certainly goes back the furthest, presenting some truly innovative in-camera stop motion and lighting effects. With this sequence, Scorsese affectionately showcases the earliest days of film production, when a film studio was a glass warehouse full of sets and costumes blanketed in natural light. Along with the train station’s many clocks and gears and levers – which are strongly evocative of silent films such as Modern Times, this entire production feels like Martin Scorsese’s love letter to prototypical filmmaking.

Hugo’s conception of the world is as a wondrous machine full of mutually dependent and wholly necessary components- human and otherwise. For this conception to have survived even as he is relegated to the fringes of society is a fascinating theme, even if it gets stated aloud a few too many times during the film. Even as Hugo and Isabelle learn the dangers involved in dredging up the past, they seem as much in pursuit of their own purpose in life, and it’s all profoundly affecting. Even if not every moment rings perfectly true, the performances more than make up for it (a scene in which Papa Georges appears as the children examine an artifact from his past felt a little too pat, but Kingsley’s performance and ensuing monologue completely sold the moment). The supporting cast is strong, from Helen McCrory and Christopher Lee right down to Sacha Baren Cohen, who succeeds despite his rather thankless role.

Hugo strives to be both a children’s adventure film and a poignant drama about the burden of a forgotten artist, and it largely succeeds as both. What’s more, for any auteurists out there, it certainly feels like a personal project for Martin Scorsese, whose marvelous body of work is fortunate enough to exist in a century with both the technology and inclination to preserve it. No one quite knows how their creative efforts might be remembered in future generations, but this film deftly argues that such efforts ought to be remembered and cherished. What truly makes this is a great family film is not just the zany and inoffensive hijinks that it shares with so many other blockbusters, but also this message, subtly woven throughout a story that is quite worth telling.

FilmWonk rating: 8.5 out of 10

A note on 3D: The film boasts some stunning visual design, although I must say, seeing it in Dolby 3D (high-tech stereoscopic, basically) gave me a bit of a headache, and had far too many on-screen artifacts and reflections to avoid being a distraction. But this is certainly not the fault of the film, whose 3D is easily the best I’ve seen this year. As much as I hate to be a brand partisan, you’d do well to catch it in RealD 3D screening if you can.

Glenn and Daniel stare at the screen for 90 minutes waiting for something to move, reviewing “Paranormal Activity 3″. Will invisible demons and makeshift camera pans strike a memorable horror chord? Tune in and find out (30:11).

May contain NSFW language.

FilmWonk ratings: 5/10 (Glenn), 6/10 (Daniel)

Show notes:

• Correction: we erroneously state that this film made $80 million in its opening weekend. Its actual opening gross was $52 million.
• Today’s show music consists of the themes from Psycho (Bernard Herrmann, 1960) and Halloween (John Carpenter, 1978).


• Why? Well…let’s just say found footage films aren’t known for their innovative scores.
• Happy Halloween!

Listen above, or download: Paranormal Activity 3 (right-click, save as).

There’s a curious trend in modern cinema to slavishly replicate film techniques from years gone by. In some cases, the decision seems purely stylistic – in David O. Russell’s The Fighter, for instance, contemporaneous TV cameras were used to recreate the period look and feel of HBO boxing matches. This deliberate reduction in visual quality seems meant to provoke nostalgia, as well as ground the film in some kind of documentary-style reality as a recent period piece. But never before have I see such deliberate eschewing of modern cinematic technology – in a way that works entirely in favor of style – as in Michel Hazanavicius’ The Artist, which is a genuine black-and-white, silent film, made this year in Hollywood. Given that the film depicts the transition from silent to talking pictures, this format not only feels appropriate for the subject matter, but is seemingly the only format in which this story could have been told.

George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) is a popular silent film star who has just been told rather tactlessly by his studio head (John Goodman) that the future of cinema is in talking pictures. If this is the future, [a title card informs us he says], “They can have it!” Valentin’s career immediately begins to fade into silent obscurity, even as he inadvertently launches the career of rising star Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo), whose voice (we’re told) is exquisite enough to attract patrons of the new cinema.

This film is a bit paradoxical, since it could be construed just as easily as a love letter to silent film or a self-aware satire of its constraints. We are “told” a number of silent film’s shortcomings, and “hear” all about old actors mugging for the camera instead of giving fully realized performances. Valentin is a curmudgeonly figure, and a great deal of the character’s sympathy lies in the outside knowledge that his career was doomed from the outset of the film. There’s the obvious point that talking pictures were indeed the future of cinema. The film’s audience knows it, even if the characters do not. There’s also some “Inside Baseball” type context: the rise of talking pictures also marked the beginnings of the studio system, in which actors were contractually beholden to the powerful studios that had discovered them. They owned the actors, as well as every level of production and distribution. Given that Valentin is unwilling to play ball with the new method of film production, his career is unquestionably at an end. Back then, they could say “you’ll never work in this town again”, and it actually meant something.

Jean Dujardin is forced to convey a great deal of emotional nuance through Valentin’s slightest glance or gesture, and the film resorts to techniques and shots that, in any other film, would have seemed incredibly manipulative. There’s a scene late in the film when Valentin confronts a room full of his old belongings, covered in sheets. As the music swells, he dramatically rips down every sheet, revealing the vestiges of his former success, finally staring heartbroken at a prized full-body portrait of himself in a tuxedo. His tears come forth, and Ludovic Bource’s score swells to overpowering heights, just as it does in many other scenes. But somehow, the tense crescendos of music that punctuate this film manage to craft a believable emotional arc of their own, even lacking the additional tones of a wailing, tormented man’s voice. The score supplements the visible emotion and physicality of Dujardin’s performance. These scenes worked, and in this medium, they seemed entirely appropriate.

This is not to say the film was entirely believable – the romance was a hard sell, despite the impressive standalone performances of the two leads – it’s hard to buy them as anything but old friends as the film goes on. The first half was a bit too slow, getting bogged down with history instead of advancing the story. Even so, the tone of the film feels more like a fairy-tale than an accurate depiction of the demise of silent film. But at this point, I must admit – my knowledge of silent film is rather limited. At the time of this writing, I could recall seeing exactly one other silent film – Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times. While I can’t comment on the parallels (if any) between the fictitious George Valentin and any real-life silent film stars, I do know that all art should stand on its own, and George Valentin is indeed an artist. His obstinate refusal to conform to a new method of artistry could be seen as either noble or foolish, depending on your perspective – but the parallels to modern franchise films and 3D are readily apparent. The future of cinema may or may not lie under the cape of the most popular superhero of the present year, but there are plenty of beloved and respected actors who have made the transition into big-budget comic-book cinema. And while I won’t presume to know the minds of Sirs Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, Ben Kingsley, and others – I imagine they would have a great deal to say about the nobility of eschewing one’s own pride in favor of elevating a new form of cinema. Or perhaps they just did it for the money. Who knows.

It is not for us to judge Valentin too harshly, but the film certainly sells the nobility of his struggle. The Artist crafts a complex character’s journey without overly relying on title cards, and conveying a great deal of story via background set design – a technique that has remained effective to this day (Children of Men is a recent example). In the present day, we have no choice but to regard silent film as an anachronistic technical limitation. But in its day, it was the engine that propelled innovative storytelling, and Hazanavicius clearly understands how it succeeded. This film could have been a baseless technical exercise, but with this execution, it’s nothing short of a modern classic.

FilmWonk rating: 8 out of 10

Our friends over at City of Films will be closing out their podcast season this Tuesday, October 18th. Head on over to find out how you can get involved in their final episode! Not only is there an easter egg hidden throughout the first five episodes, but also…

From City of Films:

Also, on the last show we will have a feature called “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner?” and you can be involved!

So you’re throwing a dinner party and inviting 5 guests of your choosing (living, dead, real or fictional) , who are you inviting? I will toss one of my potential invites out to you so you get an idea…Homer Simpson. I can imagine the laughs and lack of leftovers already.

For details and contact info, check out the post at City of Films.

Update:

The episode has posted, and you can find it right here!

This week, Glenn stumbles forth from a weekend of short film madness to join Daniel and review 50/50, a new comedic drama from director Jonathan Levine and screenwriter Will Reiser, loosely based on Reiser’s own experiences getting cancer at a young age. Can such dour subject matter succeed as a comedy? Tune in and find out (28:54).

[may contain some NSFW language]

FilmWonk rating: 8/10

Show notes:

• 50/50 is out in theaters this Friday, September 30th.
• Music for this episode is “Carries On“, from Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, which appears in the film’s trailer.
• In the podcast, we refer to Adam’s two “chemo buddies”, who are played by Philip Baker Hall and another actor we weren’t familiar with. The other actor was Matt Frewer.
• Stick around for a blooper if you’re game.

Listen above, or download: 50/50 (right-click, save as).

A note on NSFW… Suffice to say, I saw a lot of films this weekend. The ones that I specifically remember containing adult content, I’ve marked as Not Safe For Work, but I can’t guarantee that the others will be entirely appropriate. Viewer discretion is advised.

Click here for Saturday’s films

Cupid Attack

1. Connect (Director: Samuel Abrahams, UK, 5 minutes)
   
   A brief peek inside the head of a romantic young lady on a bus. Her various imaginative scenarios for the other passengers range from amusing (an upbeat dance number) to fairly dark (a man shooting an old lady in the head for her seat). Finally, she tries to grasp a complete stranger’s hand – a scenario that might be just the teensiest bit creepy, if not for the fact that everyone involved is so young and attractive. But it’s all very sweet. More info and trailer here.

2. Want to spend the rest of my life with you (Director: Manuela Moreno, Spain, 3 minutes)
   
   This is an even quicker imaginative jaunt, very much in the same vein as Connect, and with an even darker twist. Fun stuff. Watch it here.

3. Sign Language (Director: Oscar Sharp, UK, 5 minutes)
   
   This chipper mockumentary about an advertising signholder on a street corner is utterly enjoyable. Ben (Jethro Skinner) loves the job, the ambiance, the office politics, and the historical street nearly as much as he likes the non-union flyer girl on the corner. This absurd premise and quaintly implausible world works because Skinner plays it completely straight, even as the audience is unsure whether his enthusiasm borders on delusion. Given that this is a quickie romance, it’s pretty obvious which way the ending will go, but the film revels in its premise nonetheless. Watch it in HD here.

4. Love & Other Unstable States of Matter* (Director: David Marmor, USA, 24 minutes)
   

   A tinkerer has an amicable breakup with his girlfriend, then accidentally creates a world-ending black hole in his parents’ garage. The family dynamics are hilarious, and seem to come from the Hogwarts School of heightened reality- they talk about universe-bending forces and the end of the world like it ain’t no thang. As for the titular love, the main couple and their breakup are convincing, and their chemistry nicely telegraphs their continuing feelings for each other. I almost got a Shaun of the Dead vibe as they approached their imminent apocalypse together… “You don’t want to die single, do you?”

   Also – did I see the xkcd webcomic’s faux-Unix-terminal at the beginning? [Update: Yep, the director confirmed this] In fact, the film’s tone and treatment of romance felt rather similar to xkcd – science and romance were interspersed and discussed with equal matter-of-factness, with a vein of credible sentiment running underneath it all. This film was a dark comic delight, and the absolute gem of the segment. More info here.

5. Blog Off (Director: Matthew Butler, USA, 5 minutes)
   
   An online love story for our sad, cynical age. It depicts two Londoners videoblogging before their blind date. They Facebook-stalk each other, and given that they have at least one mutual friend (who set them up), it seems likely that they’ll end up seeing each other’s respective cynical, self-hating rants… But of course, in the end, they ooze matching lovestruck grins as they record a final blog entry after actually meeting each other. And of course, it’s meant to feel satisfying. But as a portrait of online dating, it’s still just a bit depressing. More info here.

6. Super. Full. (Director: Niam Itani, Qatar, 13 minutes)
   
   A poor newlywed couple in Qatar struggles financially as the husband promises to take the wife to a fancy restaurant on her birthday. There seem to be some deliberate nods to Ladri di Bicyclette here, but the film’s message seems limited to, “Man, it sucks to be poor.” The couple is also deaf, so a lot must be conveyed through their facial expressions as they communicate through sign language – and that may just be where this movie shines a bit, despite being a bit meandering and overlong. More info here.

Tasveer Presents (tasveer.org)

1. Chaukaith (Threshold) (Director: Deepak Rauniyar, India/Nepal, 18 minutes)
   

   One of the most difficult tasks for any foreign film is to establish a context for outsiders who might have zero familiarity with the culture. This film, set in a Nepalese village, takes that ambition a step further, and tries to establish two distinct cultural contexts – what’s “normal” for women of this culture, and how “normal” it might be considered by members of a different class or subset of the same. We get this cultural back-and-forth by way of a shut-in (and, it seems, religious-conservative) housewife who gets visited by a pair of government census-takers (a man and a woman). The man quickly leaves, noting that the women in this village seem reluctant to speak to men when their husbands are away at work. The film’s feminist dialogue is quite resonant, since absent any religious or cultural factors, this is basically the same perceived dichotomy between family and career that women face in Western culture, played out in the form of an extended dialogue scene. The housewife initially seems content with her existence and lifestyle, and despite the husband’s slightly domineering and patriarchal manner when he gets home, he still appears to be doing everything out of love for his wife and children (bringing them special foods they like, hugging and laughing with his kids, etc).

   This ambiguity plays out visually in a brilliant camera shot of both the smiling husband and the disapproving census-taker watching the housewife help the children with their food, with their subdued facial expressions nicely conveying their contrasting views on the situation. When the census-taker leaves immediately after, I thought the film might end with a satisfying stroke of moral ambiguity. Then, in the final scene, the husband becomes a predatory, emotionally abusive monster. I’m not sure what to make of this ending, except that it definitely had an axe to grind, and the earlier, subtler material made this point a bit less abruptly. This is undeniably an effective film, but its ending, while viscerally satisfying, had the potential to be a lot more interesting.

   Sidenote: I know this might be difficult for an independent film out of Nepal, but I would have liked some more thorough subtitles. It’s hard to say for sure without knowing the language, but many lines in the film seemed to be shortened or even omitted entirely. Watch it here.

2. Theke Pe Kya Karte Ho? (What business here?) (Director: Spandan Banerjee, India, 6 minutes)
   
   A documentary about some adorable kids selling their beer-bottle-opening services in front of a New Delhi liquor store. Business is good, even if the production values are significantly less so. A cute little slice of life, but not much else. Watch it here.

3. Little Miss Eyeflap (Director: Iram Haq, Pakistan/Norway, 9 minutes)
   
   A hilariously over-the-top cross-cultural rendition of the Little Red Riding Hood story, by way of an Pakistani girl in Norway whose parents are trying to stop her from integrating into Norwegian culture. The big bad wolf drives a taxi that says “Respekt” on the side, trying to steer Miss Eyeflap away from a gallant young hunter named Normann Norsk, who literally burns a bridge behind them as he galavants off with his “exotic” new girlfriend. Suffice to say, the imagery in this film is not subtle in the least. But that’s fine. The fairytale visuals strive for a Van Helsing or Alice in Wonderland (2009) level of absurdity, and achieve it masterfully. Yes, I just compared this to two fairly crappy millenial blockbusters. And yes, I mean that as a compliment. Deal with it. Watch it here (non-English site, but video has English subtitles).

4. Manoj* (Director: Zia Mohajerjasbi, India, 14 minutes)
   
   Manoj Krishnamurthy is a funny dude. His standup comedy and on-camera banter are hilarious. But when he kept getting interrupted by a bunch of useless “Behind the Music”-style interstitial talking heads, I expected to get bored with this film. But was I ever wrong… Manoj gradually shows its hand as a mockumentary, and watching various college-educated, totally-not-racist white people fumble over themselves while talking about Manoj’s comedy is nearly as hilarious as Manoj himself. Also amusing is the film’s screenwriter, Hari Kondabolu, who makes an excellent foil as he facetiously complains about being unable to tell “serious jokes” about immigration or genocide, or being mistaken for Manoj himself (who is different from him by exactly one huge beard). The tone reminded me of Louis C.K.’s biting FX series, “Louie” – dark and extremely witty. Watch it here.

   PS: You know those totally-not-racist white people making asses of themselves talking about Manoj? I’m officially one of them, since, this being my 40th film of the weekend, I managed to completely miss that Manoj is actually a fictional character played by Hari Kondabolu himself. Well done, Mr. Kondabolu – that is one hypnotic beard you had. And this yesteryear (and in retrospect, pretty damned obvious) revelation only makes me like the film more.

Best of SIFF 2011 Audience Award Winners

1. North Atlantic* (Director: Bernardo Nascimento, Portugal, 15 minutes)
   

   A sad, quiet conversation between the doomed pilot of a fuel-starved Beech 18 over the North Atlantic and a night-shift control tower operator in the Azores. Well-acted and rather haunting, with some brilliantly atmospheric sound design. The night feels bleak and hopeless, but these two total strangers reach out through the darkness to provide some comfort to one another. Simple and effective. More info and trailer here.

2. The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (Director: William Joyce & Brandon Oldenburg, USA, 16 minutes)
   

   Butterfly in the sky… I can go twice as high… This film carries on an unabashed love affair with reading, books, authors, and the pursuit of knowledge. It equates them with a rich and full life, and there’s nothing wrong with that. The animation is delightful, and has one particularly clever piece of character design, in the form of a Humpty Dumpty book that flips his pages to change his illustrated facial expression from moment to moment. The film is actually available as an interactive storybook app on the iPad, which seems appropriate. More info, trailer, and iTunes link here.

3. Amazonia (Director: Sam Chen, USA, 5 minutes)
   

   The bubbly, Nickelodeon-style animation belies just how delightfully mean-spirited and terrifying this film is. The protagonist is a scrawny tree frog who’s learning all the tough lessons that the jungle has to offer. Don’t you hate it when your prey tries to stop you from eating it? Just attack while it’s asleep! Or mating! Also, your mentor will steal your food, and everything else in the jungle is trying to eat you. Good luck, little guy! This film plays completely like a labor of love (and indeed, Sam Chen holds nearly every one of the film’s credits himself) – everything about it, from the physical movements of the characters to their precise facial expressions, feels meticulously crafted. More info and trailer/excerpt here.

4. Cataplexy (Director: John Salcido, USA, 8 minutes)
   

   Stop me if you’ve heard this one before… A prostitute walks into her john’s house, only to realize the pair of them are old high school friends. Awkward!

   The main character’s titular condition – instant paralysis if he ever experiences the feeling of love – feels as much like a silly conceit as it feels like an excuse for the main character to remain sympathetic whilst routinely summoning hookers to his door. Independent, sober, adult-aged, English-speaking, non-human-trafficked prostitutes don’t typically need such protective narrative framing (all Richard Gere needed in Pretty Woman was loneliness!), but the point isn’t belabored here in any case. The sheer novelty of reconnecting with your high school sweetheart when she randomly shows up as your high-class hooker is comedy gold, and very well executed. More info and trailer here.

5. New Digs (Director: Martin Sen, South Africa, 2 minutes)
   

   Hamster wants a new cage. [spoilers follow] Hamster gets a new cage.

   Simple and forcibly cute, but rather insubstantial. Official site here.

Astonishing Tales

1. Interview (Director: Sebastian Marka, Germany, 20 minutes)
   

   The titular interview is between a journalist and a wanted serial killer… And frankly, I wonder what I would have thought of this film if I hadn’t spent 90% of its runtime thinking it was a complete ripoff of Se7en (mystery box and all). In the end… It is most definitely a ripoff of Se7en, but it plays on the audience’s expectations quite nicely, throwing several unexpected twists on the concept. More info here.

2. The Legend of Beaver Dam* (Director: Jerome Sable, Canada, 12 minutes)
   

   An ultraviolent campfire ghost story. That’s also a jaunty musical. Fuck. Yes. The closest analogue that comes to mind is Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s Cannibal: The Musical, but unlike that college project, this feels nothing like an amateur production. The music and lyrics are brilliant and dark, the editing is tight, and the practical effects are thoroughly convincing. Beg or borrow, steal or donate, but see this movie. More info/awesome trailer here.

3. Waiting for Gorgo (Director: Ben Craig, UK, 10 minutes)
   

   A British government department is created to battle Godzilla (er…excuse me, Gorgo), and remains open for several decades until a nice, young auditor shows up to find out why it exists. The department consists of two old men (Geoffrey Davies and Nicolas Amer) with some brilliant chemistry and comedic timing between the two – and while the whole thing has a Monty Python meets Brazil level of absurdity, it all seems eerily plausible. It ends rather abruptly, letting the final punchline hang in the air, and leaving the audience to ponder the confluence of faith and self-propagating bureaucracy they’ve just beheld. Not bad. More info/trailer here.

4. All Flowers in Time (Director: Jonathan Caouette, Canada (Québec), 14 minutes)
   

   This is an abstract, barely-narrative mess about frightening faces and red-eyed photos, which I found more tedious than horrifying. This film doesn’t seem to understand the concept that when your effects budget (or expertise) is limited, less is more. And the reverse is also true- the more you show a cheesy visual effect, the less it evokes the intended response. This film was genuinely unsettling, but a combination of bizarre graphics and cacophonous sound design will do that – I took away very little from this experience. More info/trailers here.

5. Car Jack (Director: Jeremiah Jones, USA, 16 minutes)
   

   Ostensibly, this is the tale of a businessman carjacked in a seedy part of San Francisco. The true nature of the film, as well as the true meaning of the title, becomes apparent only in the final moments, and it’s a thoroughly satisfying reveal. This is an undeniably effective thriller that thoroughly understands its genre, and the acting is solid throughout (particularly Mo McRae as Charlie the carjacker). More info and featurettes here.
   
   

6. The Burning Wigs of Sedition (Director: Anna Fitch, USA, 10 minutes)
   

   This film has everything, and that’s not a turn of phrase I use lightly. Fire-dancing. A stormy pirate ship at sea. A slave revolt. A massive brass band. A randy rooster. A multitude of muscular, gender-bending ass shots. And lots and lots of swordplay. Basically, it’s an extended Gunther video on steroids (perhaps by way of Moulin Rouge), with some fantastic costume design. As the Libertine might say- it’s a fine way to cap off the evening. Click here for a live performance by the brass band, which very much illustrates the flavor of this film. More info here.

Quick List: All of the films that are available online:

• I want to spend the rest of my life with you
  
• Sign Language
  
• Chaukaith (Threshold)
  
• What Business Here?
  
• Little Miss Eyeflap (non-English site, but video has English subtitles)
  
• Manoj
  

A note on NSFW… Suffice to say, I saw a lot of films this weekend. The ones that I specifically remember containing adult content, I’ve marked as Not Safe For Work. However, outside of the “Films4Families” block, I can’t guarantee that the others will be entirely appropriate. Viewer discretion is advised.

Click here for Sunday’s films

Films4Families: The International Family Passport

1. Temple Rider (Director: Miles Cheng & Joe Kwun, Hong Kong, 12 minutes)
   
   A fascinating mix of 3D animation and watercolor/pencil textures. A lonely, bullied girl rides her bike through the park before getting spirited away into a labyrinth of madness. It reminded me of several films (some of which I obliquely referenced in the last sentence), but strongly evokes Henry Selick’s Coraline (albeit with a completely different visual style) as the girl descends into a nightmarish monkey circus ruled over by a horrifying and chaotically pencil-drawn baboon. The ensuing chase takes us through several impressive action setpieces, retaining the gorgeous handpainted textures even as the simplistic 3D animation becomes more elaborate. A clever and imaginative journey. Watch it in HD here.

2. Trevor (Director: Matthieu Saghezchi, France, 4 minutes)
   
   Bright and colorful existential crisis of a boy trying to fall asleep at night amid a strange, echoing adult voiceover. Explores some interesting ideas, but they ultimately seem more like the concerns of a grownup than a child (does a kid really worry about CCTV cameras?). Forcibly quirky, kinda boring. Rent it here ($2) or watch the trailer (free).

3. Walkin’ On Snow Grass (Director: Makiko Sukikara, Japan, 7 minutes)
   
   A squirrel dormouse wakes up from hibernation and heads warily out into the winter snow. The main character is as adorable as he is seizure-inducing, with his constantly oscillating watercolor texture. It’s unfortunate, because the twinkling stars and sparkling snow create utterly gorgeous backdrops that feel like illustrations in a children’s book. Combined with some slightly improved sound design – the slightest wind and echo, perhaps – these environments could have been truly immersive and inviting, but we never quite see them as anything beyond pretty paintings. Watch it here.

4. Loser Leg* (Director: Francesco Filippi, Italy, 9 minutes)
   
   A well-executed high concept about a boy born with no bones in his legs who is constantly getting them tied to things (by bullies). The animation is simple and/or low-budget, but effective nonetheless. Its low frame rate (which sometimes drops to still images) is balanced nicely by the narration, staying as hilarious and engaging as a well-drawn comic strip. More info and trailer here.

5. Mobile (Director: Verena Fels, Germany, 7 minutes)
   
   A manic cartoon-physics puzzle involving adorable cloth barnyard animals hanging from either side of a mobile. They slide back and forth as a lonely cow tries desperately to get to the mouse hanging on the other side- his only friend in the world. The character design is top notch, and this film has a manic energy worthy of “Looney Tunes”. Watch it here.

6. Precise Peter (Director: Martin Schmidt, Germany, 6 minutes)
   
   An amusing 2.5D rough polygon-y animation about a family sitting down to dinner in utter lockstep with the precise beat set by their patriarch, Peter. His metronome of audible grunts controls every one of their actions, right down to cutting and eating each bite of their fish in unison. All except for the youngest child, that is. The more he tries to conform, the more everything goes wrong, and the angrier Papa Peter gets. If this weren’t so amusing, it might be horrifying and abusive – but suffice to say, the moral of the story doesn’t end well for Peter. Watch it here, and play an awesome interactive game by the same director here.

Why Aren’t These People Famous?

1. Kevin (Director: Jay Duplass, USA, 35 minutes)
   
   A very personal musical biopic by Jay Duplass (of the Duplass brothers) about Kevin Gant, a singer/songwriter who enjoyed modest LA success in the early 90s with his unique blend of Spanish guitar and imaginative, New-Agey lyrics delivered in a very talky (almost Bob Dylan) style. In 1995, he disappeared from the music scene. Fast forward to 2009, when filmmaker Jay Duplass tracks Gant down working for UPS in Dallas, and asks him why he stopped playing. The answer, like Gant himself, is complicated (and long-winded). Much of this film is Gant monologuing as he drives through Dallas, so it understandably lives or dies based on how well Gant can perform, whether musically or vocally. Luckily, Gant is quite the character, and his wide-eyed enthusiasm and quixotic imagination doesn’t seem to have abated in the ensuing decade. To hear him talk about his creative process, it’s clear that he has an impressive visual mind and a flare for poetic lyrics. This film takes him on a bit of a journey, owing a great deal to Jay Duplass, who freely admits that he overstepped his bounds as a journalist and documentarian in his involvement in Gant’s potential comeback. But despite this ethical quandry, the film might have seemed a bit of a waste if it had ended with Gant finishing his sad recollection and staying put in Dallas with his delivery job. In the end, this is a triumphant tale, and feels like it deserves to be. More info and featurette here.

2. Who is Duffy Bishop? And Why is She Not World Famous?* (Director: Bryan Johnston, USA, 28 minutes)
   
   “I’ll take a voice rich with character over a perfect voice, every time.”

   So says and embodies Duffy Bishop, a little-known Seattle blues singer with an intensely powerful voice and a brilliant eye for performing. My shameful admission is this: I preferred this film to Kevin simply because I enjoyed the musician’s performances far more. The director, Brian Johnston, informed us at the screening that this film was made for $150, via equipment and students borrowed from Ballard High School. But even absent this information, the film is still fairly impressive on a technical level. It relies heavily on a smattering of archival concert footage, and despite the highly variable quality of the image, the sound came through remarkably well, and conveyed all the richness and power of Duffy’s performances that could possibly shine through without seeing and hearing them in person. It’s not only clear that Duffy has a towering vocal presence, but she is also an enthusiastic stage performer, shimmying through the audience with a wireless mic and unabashed enthusiasm. The rest of the film is an exploration of the elusive nature of widespread fame, via interviews and phone calls to record stores around the world to see if they have any Duffy Bishop CDs in stock (this venture doesn’t go well). The editing between the interviews and concert footage is tight, overlapping the performance soundtracks nicely whenever appropriate, without letting them wear out their welcome.

   If there’s one criticism I can raise about this film, it’s that it feels like a relic of the pre-MySpace era. While phoning record stores around the world is an amusing stunt, it doesn’t feel nearly as effective when I consider that I haven’t purchased an album in a record store in ages. I would have liked to see this film address the questions of digital distribution. If a 27-year-old pulp vampire romance writer can make millions on the Kindle Marketplace, surely the parameters of fame have shifted a bit. A quick perusal of Amazon shows five Duffy albums for sale and in stock, with 4/5 available as MP3 downloads. Duffy’s own website lists them for sale as well.

   But you know what? My first inclination leaving this film was to run right out and buy a Duffy album – so if the true message of this film is “Duffy Bishop is an amazing musician”, then it conveyed it quite nicely. More info and featurette.

48 Hour Film Project

1. Painted Love (Director: John Polnick, USA, 8 minutes)
   
   A love story between a paint can and a paintbrush, torn apart when a cheap old man buys the paintbrush and a different can from the store. Shot with brilliant color and a nice, bright atmosphere, mostly with shallow depth of field. Great musical score. More info, including how to watch it online for free here.

2. Battle: Seattle (Director: Aaron Sutherland, USA, 5 minutes)
   
   A fun little alien invasion romp that riffs as much on Seattleite iPhone users as aliens. As these three gents stand within view of flying saucers demolishing downtown Seattle, but prefer to watch the footage on “Yootoob” and make sarcastic quips, it was more of a crackup than I expected. Goofy as all getup, but fun for a few minutes. Watch it here.

3. Humpty (Director: Dmitriy Levanchuk, USA, 5 minutes)
   
   An argument between a drunken, paint-huffing, anthropomorphic egg on a wall and a poorly acted strumpet/wedding planner below. But really, I was sold on just the egg. He’s got the self-hating pre-wedding jitters something fierce, and he conveys it quite nicely as a human face overlaid (Steve Oedekerk style) on an egg held in a hand. He bitches most elegantly. Watch it here.

4. Mein Cupcake* (Director: Deirdre Timmons, USA, 7 minutes)
   
   Easily the most polished of the 48-hour films. A little girl is denied cupcakes by her fascist, S&M-loving parents, and heads to the attic to play out this violent feud with her dolls. As we descend into her fantasy world, twisted versions of her mother and father appear with a vengeance, all determined to deny her that sweet, frosty goodness. The costume design is impeccable, and this film has both the best fight choreography and largest number of Hitlers of any film I saw today. Watch it here (NSFW).

5. So Many Options (Director: Jeremy Cavner, USA, 6 minutes)
   
   This film owes a great deal to actor Steven Gerard, as well as the writing of his gleeful serial killer. This character is so vocally and physically pitch-perfect, it makes this film a dark comedy delight. Also, given the short timeframe, the cinematography and lighting are top-notch. Watch it here.

6. Séance Anything (Director: David Jolosky, USA, 5 minutes)
   
   The bearded, slurpee-sucking séance artist was entertaining… The rest fell prey to a decent sketch concept played out by actors who really didn’t play to any sort of reality. Whether you’re happy or sad that your fiancée is dead on the eve of your wedding, at least make me believe it matters to you on some level. Watch it here.

Nerds Unite!

1. The Dungeon Master (Director: Rider Strong & Shiloh Strong, USA, 14 minutes)
   
   A group of skeptical hipsters play D&D for the first time in years. One of them makes a rookie mistake of pointlessly murdering an innocent goblin, then transforms into a ridiculous villain in real life, chastising their thoroughly capable dungeon master for his commitment to his [thoroughly nerdy] craft. The film’s tone (and indeed, its attitude about role-playing games) is a bit inconsistent, but the Evil Hipster is certainly meant to be the bad guy. And the film takes a bit of a magical turn at the end with some unexpectedly strong production values. And hey, it’s co-directed by this guy. More info, trailer, and featurette here.

2. Monster Flu (Director: Brian Wiebe, USA, 7 minutes)
   
   A germaphobe shut-in (Vincent) and his best friend, an unlicensed Muppet named Toby, are forced to venture outside the apartment for the first time in 4 years. This film is strange, but semi-enjoyable – although it cuts off before making much of a point about either character. But at least we get to see Vincent masturbate with rubber gloves. So there’s that. More info here.

3. A Comic Author X-Ray (Director: Marcos Nine, Spain, 20 minutes)
   
   David Rubin is no good in front of the camera. Or with people. As a camera-shy comic book artist, he seems a risky choice for a documentary film subject. The film ultimately becomes a mix of live camera footage in which Rubin comes off as a bit of a self-important douche, and comic book cells (drawn by Rubin) in which he freely admits as much, and comments on the film being made. Like Adaptation before it, this film becomes an elegant, making-of-itself documentary. It goes on a bit too long, and there’s far too much overwrought meta-text literally written across the screen, but I came away more fascinated by Rubin than I thought I would be. And whether or not I liked the documentary, there’s no denying that Rubin is a talented artist. Watch the trailer.

4. King Chicken* (Director: Nicolas Bolduc, Canada/Québec, 7 minutes)
   
   King Chicken is a socially awkward man who walks around with headphones on, introduces himself with a business card (that says King Chicken), and gets romantic advice from a language-learning tape that schools him in real-time how to win the girl of his dreams, who’s sitting directly behind him. This was a delightful film with a rousing soundtrack, and Patrice Beauchesne gives a hilarious physical performance as the title character. Trailer here.

Best of SIFF 2011 Jury Winners

1. The Eagleman Stag* (Director: Mikey Please, UK, 9 minutes)
   

   The visual style of this BAFTA-award-winning film is colorless stop-motion animation, using materials made of paper, plaster, and/or styrofoam – like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Our narrator begins as a fetus in the womb, and proceeds to walk us through his entire life, family, and career as a naturalist, as well as his evolving perceptions of time. If time is perceived as a fraction of your total lifespan, he explains, that’s why a moment seems much longer when you’re a child than when you’re an adult. This film spells out its high-minded point by way of a sardonic voiceover narration- something that could have seemed didactic and annoying – but it did so with a brilliant, sharp wit. Trailer and official site here.

2. Library of Dust (Director: Robert James/Ondi Timoner, USA, 15 minutes)
   

   From director Ondi Timoner (We Live In Public) comes a documentary about unclaimed “cremains” (cremated ashes) of deceased patients from Oregon State Hospital (formerly Oregon State Insane Asylum). This film attempts to raise some points regarding the conditions of the mentally ill, but really only succeeds in saying that things used to be pretty bad. The only present-day patients we see are in clean, vibrant, brightly-lit surroundings, and are the fresh recipients of a brand new $500 million facility, courtesy of the State Legislature.

   The film spends far too much time talking about the “terrible” conditions of these ash canisters. These carefully catalogued and differentiated canisters. These canisters which were sealed and stored using the best methods available at the time. These canisters which were only damaged when the area was hit with a natural disaster. Frankly, given the number of unmarked and mass graves that have existed throughout history, I’d say these unclaimed ashes were in remarkably good condition. The film attempts to attribute metallurgical decay to spiritual turbulence [read: angry ghosts] rather than time and unintended moisture, but the only real “villain” it manages to latch onto is the families who haven’t claimed these ashes – the families who almost certainly don’t know they exist.

   I’m not entirely sure why this film was made. It definitely has a point to make, but I found it utterly self-deluding and unconvincing. Yes, it’s sad to be forgotten. But it’s the fate that awaits us all. Rather than obsess about our own mortality and legacy, it’s better to make the world a nicer place for the ones who are still here. And by the time this film was made, this had already occurred for the mentally ill of Oregon. More info and trailer here.

3. Deeper Than Yesterday (Director: Ariel Kleiman, Australia, 20 minutes)
   
   A harrowing tale of men left to their own devices aboard a Russian submarine for 3 months. I don’t envy the parents of the little girl to the front left of me who will have to explain to her what interest these sailors might have in a waterlogged female corpse. And this is not the only untoward tendency we see indulged during this film. These men are lonely, angry, and on the brink of losing their humanity. This film makes its point well, albeit disturbingly. More info and trailer here.

4. Time Freak (Director: Andrew Bowler, USA, 11 minutes)
   
   An amusing twist on a Groundhog Day-like concept, wherein the inventor of a time machine goes back in time one day to correct every little mistake he made…on that day. Forget Ancient Rome; he hasn’t even made it to the afternoon yet. Despite the presence of Primer-like timeline charts and equations, this film isn’t striving for a mind-bending time travel story, but rather a simple buddy comedy in an elegant sci-fi wrapper. Very well executed. More info and trailer here.

Animation for Adults

1. Loom (Director: Jan Bitzer/Ilija Brunck/Csaba Letay, Germany, 7 minutes)
   
   Astonishing macro view of a moth caught in a spider’s web, attacked, and devoured. The scene then slows way down and zooms to the molecular level, as we see venom and silk forming within the spider’s body. This is an utterly terrifying film – depicting a spider as a perfect, mechanized killing machine. Watch it in HD here.

2. Vicenta (Director: Samuel Orti Marti, Spain, 23 minutes)
   
   This is a very, very adult claymation film, and that appears to be all it set out to be. It’s chock full of explicit language, sex, violence, no less than three Matrix references, and an abundance of juvenile humor. I can now remove “doggy-style sex” from my dwindling list of things I’ve never seen stop-motion animated. That said, what starts as a man mistreating his wife takes a turn for the macabre halfway through, as he dies before revealing the whereabouts of his lottery winnings. It’s all a bit lurid, but undeniably fun. And the subtitles are hilariously, inexcusably bad. Surely there are enough Spanish/English translators available that something like this should never see the light of day, but it only adds to the film’s pulp appeal. More info, trailer.

3. flesh color (Director: Masahiko Adachi, Japan, 5 minutes)
   
   Combination of Japanese animated koi (and other pond imagery) swimming turbulently around the skin of still or stop animated nude models. An elegant piece of mixed media. Watch it here (NSFW).

4. Paths of Hate* (Director: Damian Nenow, Poland, 10 minutes)
   
   Two prop planes dogfight through a gorgeous skyscape of monstrous clouds and towering mountains. They are the well-sketched comic-book face of rage – determined at any cost to do each other harm. This is glorious and kinetic violence, appropriately jarring to behold. More info and trailer here.

5. Stanley Pickle* (Director: Vicky Mather, UK, 12 minutes)
   
   I love, love, love stop motion that makes use of real live humans. It’s not just the jerky, unsettling motion that sells it- it’s the visual tricks and flourishes that would be impossible in any other medium. Among the multitude of brilliant shots is a girl seemingly ice-skating around a forest floor, and the title character’s parents recreated as malfunctioning windup toys. The time-lapse nature of these shots is apparent at times, as we see Stanley watching the girl dance through a meadow from his window, as clouds and trees alike show that hours are actually passing as these shots are culled. It’s all terribly gorgeous, and its simple theme – about life, death, and letting go – is conveyed nicely. More info and trailer here.

6. Visitation (Director: Suzan Pitt, USA, 9 minutes)
   
   There has been at least one world of grotesque, non-narrative madness in every festival, and this year is no exception. I suppose it was just a matter of time before one came along that I enjoyed. The imagery in this film is disturbing, but well-conceived – evoking the Platonic “Allegory of the Cave” among other things. I can’t say it was a pleasant experience, but it was a fascinating one. More info here.

7. Eye of the Storm (Director: Christopher Alender, USA, 6 minutes)
   
   This would seem to be a music video from the Zack Snyder school of heightened reality. The animation of this lone airship pilot drifting through an endless sky is utterly gorgeous and nearly photorealistic (in that video-gamey, HDR sorta way). That said, I think Zack Snyder did this film a disservice, since I’ve seen animation this true-to-life before, which, by itself, is no longer sufficient to impress. The film has no dialogue and almost no narrative, and the only thing I remember distinctly about it is an oddly simplistic-looking dragon (which flew in the face of every other piece of animation). For a purely technical exercise, 6 minutes was a bit too long, but perhaps fans of the band would disagree. Watch it here.
   
   
8. Rosa (Director: Jesús Orellana, Spain, 9 minutes)
   
   I felt at several points like I was going to vomit while watching this. As a cyborg girl awakens and runs for her life, a series of violent clashes ensue, each more horrific and pointless than the last. The entire thing felt like an unadulterated mashup of every video game cutscene I’ve ever been unable to skip through. The girls all look like buxom, pouty-lipped dominatrixes, the blood-splatter is worthy of a bukkake film, and the dingy, grey-brown world is vomited forth in a sickening soft glow and jarring, schizophrenic cuts. As if this world wasn’t unpleasant enough, we also get a relentless series of interstitial POV shots of the girl’s blurry, green-hued cyborg-vision. None of this is to say the film looked cheap (with the exception of some dubious motion whenever the characters jumped through the air and landed). On the contrary, a great deal of money, artistry, and animation man-hours were clearly spent on this derivative monstrosity. What a waste. More info and trailer here.

Quick List: All of the films that are available online

• Temple Rider
  
• Walkin’ On Snow Grass
  
• Mobile
  
• Battle: Seattle
  
• Humpty
  
• Mein Cupcake (NSFW)
  
• So Many Options
  
• Séance Anything
  
• Loom
  
• flesh color (NSFW)

Spoiler warning: This review will reveal plot details that appear in the film’s trailer.

It’s easy to overlook just how smart and well-executed this film is, given that Rise of the Planet of the Apes nearly drowns in its rush to saturate itself with big-budget blockbuster stupidity. Ostensibly, this film is a prequel/reboot of the original Planet of the Apes, but it feels – with the exception of some slightly obnoxious callbacks – like a standalone film. The premise is rather similar to the film adaptation of I Am Legend. In his arrogant rush to cure a debilitating disease (in this case Alzheimers), [Dr?] Will Rodman (James Franco) develops a drug that triggers neurogenesis – the repair and creation of brand new neurons in the brain. When this drug is tested on our closest genetic relative, the chimpanzee, a slew of Unforeseen Consequences™ ensue.

The majority of the film is told from the perspective of Caesar, another brilliant simian team-up from motion-capture dynamo Andy Serkis and Peter Jackson’s team at Weta Digital. This is the same actor and effects team behind King Kong in 2005, and Gollum in Lord of the Rings before him. If there is a measuring stick that indicates where the performance ends and the effects begin, it is certainly inconclusive here. While Zoe Saldana’s Avatar alter ego at least had some emoted lines of dialogue to work with, Serkis must work almost entirely through facial expressions and miscellaneous noises. So much of Caesar’s apparent intelligence is due to his ability to simply sit and react quietly to what goes on around him. The slightest glance – the recognition that occurs when the audience gazes into the character’s green-flecked eyes – this is how Caesar conveys his inner consciousness and unmistakeable intelligence – and it is a work of absolute visual brilliance.

In addition to the facial capture, Caesar’s motion and physicality are nothing short of fantastic. The opening shot of the second act fast-forwards a few years to an extended tracking shot of Caesar swinging through Will’s house in order to follow some children playing out in the street. The shot lasts maybe 30 seconds, but it manages to convey both Caesar’s acrobatic capabilities as well as his burgeoning intellect with absolutely no dialogue or explanation. The film definitely strains its economy of dialogue at times – some brief moments of subtitled ape sign language were perhaps a bit of a stretch. But as a means of telling a coherent story in which significant portions of the screen-time are occupied by nothing but a smattering of apes – both alone and interacting with one other, it is an effective storytelling device.

In fact, I would take it a step further – the almost silent-movie story of the apes is easily the most compelling part of this film. The more talented members of the human cast are barely utilized. Brian Cox and Tom Felton appear as John and Dodge Landon, a father-son team running a primate sanctuary. Cox barely has five minutes of screentime in which to twirl his evil mustache before Felton usurps his position as ape-hater-in-chief. While it’s believable that a sociopath like Dodge might have trouble finding outside employment, it’s never entirely clear why he agrees to work at his father’s sanctuary when he clearly detests apes and everything about their care. But…sure, why not. Every good prison flick needs a sadistic screw on the cell block, and Felton proves that he can chew the scenery just as effectively without a British accent or magic wand.

Outside of Caesar’s storyline, Franco and his supporting cast are downright tedious. John Lithgow plays Will’s senile father, Charles, and gives a frankly cartoonish depiction of advanced Alzheimer’s. Equally cartoonish was Will’s next door neighbor (David Hewlett), whom we’re meant to despise because he has a problem with vicious, man-sized apes threatening his children, or senile old men trying to steal his car. Does he have some rage issues? Sure. But is he wrong?

Speaking of generic ethical subtext, Freida Pinto is a complete non-entity as Will’s love interest, seemingly present only to pose some of the more obvious bits of rhetorical dialogue about the situation: “What about Caesar?” “How does he fit into this?” “Some things are just wrong, Will!” But in spite of its boring cadre of homo sapiens, this film manages to tackle the ethics of raising a creature with near-human intelligence about as effectively (and with less lurid sensationalism) as last year’s Splice.

The film’s last act is pretty much non-stop action as the apes rampage through San Francisco. This entire sequence is brilliantly executed, both in terms of visual effects and action staging, and its more implausible elements are balanced out by a mix of effective character moments and a taut, exhilarating pace. Sure, the apes probably shouldn’t understand the importance of smashing security cameras. Sure, the military and police could probably take down an unarmed ape rebellion with relative ease. And sure, we’d probably see a lot more blood if this weren’t rated PG-13. But between the element of surprise (no one really expects a simian army wielding fence-posts) and the apes’ relatively benign intentions, they come off as surprisingly sympathetic even as they’re smashing cars and tossing cops. The whole sequence is purposeful and utterly thrilling, and left me eager to see the next chapter in this story.

Unfortunately, the next chapter is spelled out in a brief scene and infographic after the credits have rolled for a minute or so. I’ll chalk that up to the same marketing wisdom that led to the film’s nonsensical title change from the much more fitting Rise of the Apes. This additional bit of superfluous, Avengers-esque storytelling doesn’t ruin the film, but you’re probably better off leaving your seat as soon as the names start to roll.

FilmWonk rating: 7.5 out of 10

Friends With Benefits is not the first R-rated comedy (this year) to try and tackle the subject of friends having casual sex, but it is certainly the most successful. Ivan Reitman’s No Strings Attached, which was surprisingly schmaltzy and un-raunchy for a film whose inception was a script called “Fuckbuddies”*, managed to fall prey to a host of rom-com clichés, and became quite tonally bizarre by its end. “I’m the guy she marries. You’re just the guy she used to fuck a few times.” Does a line like this (easily that film’s most memorable and disturbing) really belong in a comedy? But for all of that film’s romantic and tonal shortcomings, it might have still been a successful sex comedy if it hadn’t fallen prey to the double death knell of uninteresting characters having uninspiring sex.

Friends With Benefits, from Easy A director Will Gluck, seems as aware of romantic comedy clichés as it is determined to avoid them. Executive head-hunter Jamie (Mila Kunis) and magazine art director Dylan (Justin Timberlake) speak quite frankly of their views on love and relationships, but always through the filter of cinema (by way of an atrocious film-within-a-film starring Jason Segel and Rashida Jones). The strength of Friends With Benefits lies as much in the captivating chemistry between its leads as the bold choices in its screenplay. The film doesn’t tell us that Dylan and Jamie are friends, by way of some shared off-screen history or common acquaintances. It shows them becoming friends from the outset, and the two completely pull it off. Kunis and Timberlake’s delivery feels a bit theatrical in the first act, but for a pair of complete strangers who are believably hitting it off, a bit of heightened, first-date performance doesn’t go amiss. As their friendship develops, they are as believable confiding in each other emotionally as they are at giving each other a bit of good-natured shit-talking, and that’s really all this friendship needed.

Oh, and did I mention that they have a whole lot of hot, dirty sex? The first half of this film is a delightful and unrelenting sex romp, and that’s exactly what it needed to be. With the exception of some awkwardly drawn sheets and obvious body doubles, this film’s depiction of sex feels as authentic as the majority of its dialogue.

Woody Harrelson may be the glaring exception. His gay sportswriter, Tommy (who commutes from Jersey by boat, and whose first line includes the phrase “trolling for cock”) is about as cartoonish a character as there is in the film, but is saved entirely by Harrelson’s commitment and delivery. In fact, Tommy is a fine example of the tenuous relationship with reality that is at play in this film. Friends With Benefits will be trifling and silly when it feels the need to (a completely unnecessary sequence atop the Hollywood sign comes to mind) but it will always return to a place of credible emotional resonance.

Dylan and Jamie’s relationship evolves nicely as we learn more about their respective families, and this is where Jamie may have been a bit short-changed. Jamie’s mother Lorna is a nice comedic turn from Patricia Clarkson, but the character feels just a little bit slight when compared to Dylan’s family, whose storyline takes an unexpectedly serious turn (which featured some brilliant supporting work from Richard Jenkins). To see Dylan and Jamie struggle with something a bit less pleasant was both unexpected and welcome, and only served to make them more believable as friends. And what’s more, it reinforced their credibility as characters with emotional lives outside of what we see on screen.

Friends With Benefits is both a fun, sexy romp and a capable romance, but it is also surprisingly emotionally resonant. Rather than forcibly building toward some insipid romantic climax, we simply get to see these two exist as friends for a while. And as this slice of their collective life went on, I found myself rooting for the duo to work out, but not particularly caring how they managed it. While the likability of these characters demands a certain Hollywood ending, this film almost feels as if it could just as easily end with them staying friends or staying in love. But more importantly, either outcome would have felt completely earned and satisfying.

FilmWonk rating: 7 out of 10

*Thanks to Peter Sciretta from /Film for making sense of the convoluted title history of these two films.

This week, Glenn and Daniel short-circuit their brains to review Transformers: Dark of the Moon (32:21).

[may contain some NSFW language]

FilmWonk rating: 5/10

Show notes:

• Music for this episode is from Steve Jablonsky’s original score for the film (track: “Dark Side of the Moon”).

Listen above, or download: Transformers: Dark of the Moon (right-click, save as).

X-Men: First Class had a tall order to fill. We’ve already had two solid films examining the fantastic mutant powers, conflicting ideologies, and disillusioned friendship of Charles Xavier (“Professor X”) and Erik Lehnsherr (“Magneto”). To return to that friendship at its inception could have seemed little more than a cynical cash-grab – a storytelling dead-end whose fan-service ending was a foregone conclusion. Instead, Matthew Vaughn has delivered a film that proves he is as adept at delivering an earnest, character-driven superhero film as he was at superhero parody. This film may or may not be the best in the franchise, but it certainly belongs in the same conversation as X2, and perhaps even The Dark Knight, if not quite ascending to the standalone appeal of those films.

The highest praise I can give to James McAvoy’s take on Charles Xavier is that at no point did I doubt that this man grows up to Patrick Stewart’s version of the character. Tackling a role that has been so completely defined by another actor is a difficult undertaking, and the result is no mere imitation of Stewart’s Xavier, but neither is it a complete reimagining (à la Chris Pine in Star Trek). This Xavier is reserved and wise, but hardly unafraid to use his powers in the reckless milieu of a younger man. In fact, this Xavier is downright arrogant, using his powers to convincingly sweet-talk coeds and other mutants alike, all while playing fast and easy with the most intimate details of their minds and memories. This Xavier might make a fair psychologist, but his approach to friendship is downright invasive. His banter with Erik (Michael Fassbender) ends up striking a note somewhere between therapist and Yoda, trying simultaneously to make the other man come to terms with his most painful experiences and unlock the full potential of his mutant powers. It’s a fascinating interaction, to be sure, and it certainly drives the second half of this film despite being established through a rather hasty montage. I wasn’t sure how much I would buy this friendship, but it cascaded into a brilliant finale. More on this later.

First, I must touch on the villainous Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), which is certainly one of the reasons this film belongs in the same conversation as The Dark Knight. Not only is Shaw a thoroughly memorable and well-written nemesis, but he also represents an achievement that few films have managed to accomplish in recent years – an utterly terrifying villain (or set of villains, in this case). Shaw expresses his affinity for Nazi tactics early in the film, and the reason quickly becomes evident. Scene: A tornado spontaneously erupts outside a building, and a guard vanishes in a puff of crimson smoke. He reappears 100 feet in the air, instantly falling to his death. The attrition continues as buildings rip to shreds and it literally starts raining men (hallelujah!).

This is just a snippet of one of the many brilliant action set-pieces, but it demonstrates two of the great strengths of this film. First, it makes full and clever use of the array of mutant powers at its disposal (from heroes and villains alike). And second, Shaw and his associates carry out their malicious plans with such brutal and relentless efficiency that it’s simultaneously horrifying and captivating to behold.

Also terrifying is the man-who-would-be-villain, Magneto. After narrowly escaping the Holocaust (and the brutal experimentation of Shaw), Erik passes a brief stint as a Nazi hunter, ruthlessly pursuing the worst offenders who have fled to Argentina. This plays almost like a sequence from Fassbender’s other best known film, Inglourious Basterds – and the parallels seem fairly deliberate. Fassbender speaks several languages and visits unflinching brutality upon his malefactors. Given that Xavier’s central conflict with Erik is the extent to which they should wage war upon humanity, this makes for a compelling backdrop for their burgeoning friendship later in the film. Xavier’s other relationship – a childhood friendship with Raven, AKA “Mystique” (Jennifer Lawrence), is quite fascinating at the beginning of the film, but gets short shrift as soon as Magneto enters the picture. Given Raven’s character arc, this seems somewhat deliberate on the filmmakers’ part, but it is unfortunate, given that these early scenes are the best opportunity for Lawrence to show off her acting prowess. Her later interactions with Hank “Beast” McCoy (Nicholas Hoult) are less interesting, even though Beast’s Jekyll-and-Hyde story turns out to be a compelling subplot (or at least a showcase for a brilliant bit of first-person camerawork).

There is a host of other characters in this film, which may leave prospective audience members questioning the extent to which this film is just for the fans – suffering from character and villain overload like so many other late entries to a superhero franchise. To that, I would simply say that this film is an achievement in both casting and storytelling. It brings a great many disparate characters together and manages to tell us a little something about each one without leaving the film feeling bloated. And in the end, the mutants – heroes and villains alike – do their dance as the humans look on in terrified awe. The American and Russian observers are then forced to act in a way that doesn’t feel entirely believable, but nonetheless forces Erik Lehnsherr to become the villain that he needs to be. In the blink of an eye, he is Magneto.

And indeed, this is the problem with origin stories. If you’re explaining the origins of something simple, like radioactive spider powers, your explanation can be equally rudimentary. To explain something as complex and multifaceted as Magneto’s decades-long disillusionment with mankind is a bit more difficult. But while such a protracted explanation may have been slightly more believable, I’ll grant that it’s not particularly cinematic. And all of these elements, along with McAvoy and Fassbender’s performances, brought together an action-packed and thematically pitch-perfect finale that felt almost completely earned.

FilmWonk rating: 7.5 out of 10

This week on the podcast, Glenn and Daniel head for the Seattle International Film Festival to review Littlerock, the story of a pair of Japanese siblings finding their way through a desert town in California. Glenn’s lovely fiancee Megan jumps in to expound on the nature of a “nice guy” and offer her unique perspective as a fluent Japanese speaker. Click below to listen to our discussion of this surprise cross-cultural gem [may contain some NSFW language] (19:09).

FilmWonk ratings: 8.5/10 (Glenn), 9/10 (Megan), 8.5/10 (Daniel)

Show notes:

• The actor in attendance at the screening was Ryan Dillon, who plays Brody in the film.
• Music for this episode is the track “Bramble“, by The Cave Singers, from the film’s original soundtrack.

Listen above, or download: Littlerock (right-click, save as).

Another Earth is an ambitious film, to be sure. It depicts the sudden appearance of another planet, seemingly identical to our own, in perfect view in the skies above New Haven, CT. The planet appears in nearly every outdoor shot of the film, which made me momentarily wonder if a planet that is visibly larger and closer than the moon in geostationary orbit might be catastrophic for our planet’s tides, tectonic plates, continued human existence, and so forth.

While the film doesn’t directly address these issues, it’s possible that similar worries are flowing through the head of Rhoda Williams (Brit Marling), a 17-year-old student who has recently been accepted to MIT. On the night that Earth Two appears, she is driving under the influence and gazing up at the new planet, and the distraction is sufficient to send her careening into the family station wagon of music professor John Burroughs (William Mapother from “Lost”), putting him into a coma and instantly killing his wife and son. At this point, the film skips ahead 4 years, as Rhoda emerges from prison and gets it into her head to reconnect with John (who has since awoken) to apologize, and because she was a minor at the time of the accident, her name was sealed in the court records, and he has no idea who she is. At this point, the film effectively ditches its sci-fi premise and becomes an exploration of an extremely ill-advised relationship between the two, as well as a study of grief and regret. Earth Two becomes a cipher – an ever-present reminder of what Rhoda has done that could have been replaced with virtually anything else – a photograph? A roadside memorial?

It was in that sense that the film was disappointing. As Rhoda enters a contest with a private space agency (in a nice bit of worldbuilding) for the first commercial flight to Earth Two, we’re meant to believe it’s something she desperately wants for herself, but the film never quite sells this idea. Instead, it just ends up comparing unfavorably to a film like Gattaca, in which the romance of spaceflight and the unrelenting desire to achieve it make up an ever-present and thoroughly convincing backdrop. This film gives us Rhoda’s prior interest in astronomy, as well as the occasional gaze through a telescope (in broad daylight, through a window), but we’re never sure if she really wants to go to Earth Two, or if she simply no longer wishes to live on Earth One, where she’s caused so much pain and suffering.

The film has an undeniably effective sci-fi premise (on-the-nose metaphors notwithstanding), but it never quite succeeded in portraying a world in which such a mindbending event has occurred. All the fascinating bits of hard sci-fi are relegated to momentary snippets from talking heads on radio and TV, and the few everyday people that we meet never quite seem like their lives have been altered significantly. A sudden third-act revelation about the occupants of Earth Two is also not explored in sufficient detail, particularly by those who are considering making the trip.

Nonetheless, Marling and Mapother’s performances are convincing, and effectively sell the increasing stakes of their relationship as Rhoda continues to hide her true identity. While Another Earth doesn’t succeed as a piece of science fiction, it is at least somewhat effective as an exploration of grief and regret.

FilmWonk rating: 5.5 out of 10

Written/directed by Reha Erdem

As a general rule, I will not seek out writer/director interviews in order to increase my understanding of a film that I intend to write about. Since this film was followed by a director Q&A, I was not expecting to write a review – but for Kosmos, I will make an exception. First, because there is enough inexplicable weirdness in this film to make David Lynch blush. And second, because the Q&A only illuminated the extent to which a shit-eating grin transcends language barriers, as Erdem’s good-natured amusement at the audience’s befuddled response (and refusal to answer any questions in detail) was apparent even via translator.

The film begins with the titular Kosmos (Sermet Yasil) appearing outside a Turkish mountain village and immediately saving the life of a boy drowning in the river. The boy is ostensibly frozen to death when Kosmos plucks him from the water, but walks away nonetheless, the first of many to be aided by Kosmos’ ability to cure all manner of ailments, both physical and mental. He also speaks in very formal, almost scriptural language, expounding in broad strokes about the nature of God, man, good and evil, and so forth. He also breaks into a cheese shop and steals money from the cash drawer. And he also courts the girl of his dreams, Neptün (Türkü Turan), via a giddy, animalistic call-and-response game, in which the two chase each other around the village while blasting high-pitched, ornithic love-screams.

While Kosmos is a bizarrely fascinating character – equal parts Doctor Who, Jesus Christ, and psychotic hobo – he is but a small component of this densely packed film. Old men in a tea shop debate a petition to open up the border to trade, even as their wary attitudes about outsiders become readily apparent. The army conducts some kind of exercise nearby, giving the town a constant rumble of distant munitions explosions. A satellite is also poised to crash, and we hear snippets of its failing radio signal throughout the film. And what’s more, the townsfolk complain about this as if it’s a common occurrence.

I don’t dare summarize any more plot (I’ve omitted a story lifted wholesale from Weekend at Bernie’s), but suffice to say, there’s a lot going on in this film, and I was completely taken in by it. Kosmos is an incredibly rich (and beautifully shot) experience that I suspect will become even richer on subsequent viewings. While its weirdness for weirdness’ sake wore on my patience a bit by the third act, I’ve still found myself pondering the lives and interactions of this small-town slice of life every day since I saw the film. From the politicos in the tea shop to the random flocks of geese, I would gladly spend more time with all of them – even Kosmos with his migraine-inducing bird calls.

FilmWonk rating: 7.5 out of 10

This week, Nick returns to throw down the gauntlet and help Glenn review Kenneth Branagh’s Thor, the latest entry in the Avengers saga. Will it be a worthy standalone film, or merely a S.H.I.E.L.D.-infused trailer for what’s to come? Listen below to find out [may will contain some NSFW language] (24:21).

FilmWonk ratings: 5/10 (Glenn), 4/10 (Nick)

Show notes:

• Music for this episode is from Patrick Doyle’s original score for the film (track: “Sons of Odin”).

Listen above, or download: Thor Part 1, Part 2 (right-click, save as).

Walter Black (Mel Gibson) is a severely depressed, self-hating individual who pulls himself back from the brink of suicide and starts talking through a stuffed beaver puppet he finds in a dumpster. This performance may be hard to write about, but it was even harder to watch. The beaver persona strikes a comedic note at first, but these beats seem increasingly out of place as the film descends further and further into Walter’s insanity. Whenever Walter is forced to speak in his own voice (without the jaunty British accent), Gibson conveys such intractable discomfort and crippling hopelessness with every syllable that you wonder how Walter has managed to stave off suicide thusfar. His mere existence is a punishing chore. At the beginning of the film, I wondered if I would be able to judge this film without pondering Gibson’s real-life persona. By the end, I forgot Gibson entirely and found myself nearly weeping for the increasingly pitiful creature that is Walter Black. This performance may be unpleasant to watch, but it is certainly one of Gibson’s finest.

Did I mention Walter has a teenage son? When Porter Black (Anton Yelchin) isn’t selling term papers to his high school classmates or romancing one of his clients (Jennifer Lawrence), he spends his time writing down Post-Its of every one of his similarities to his father, no matter how minute (“Rubs eyebrows”), in staunch determination to eliminate every last one of them before he heads off to college. To this end, he is also planning a contrived roadtrip worthy of Elizabethtown, wherein he will visit locations around the country where “everything changed forever” (such as the balcony where Martin Luther King was shot), in a desperate effort to find himself.

I’ll be blunt – I hated this character. He felt like the worst sort of indie cliché, and I found every moment of his screentime excruciating. By the end of the film, we’re seemingly meant to draw parallels between Porter and his father, but they never quite landed. Apart from some apparent OCD, Porter seems a great deal more high-functioning, intelligent, and capable than Walter. While it’s certainly possible that he might slip into a depressed and self-destructive state, the film never really shakes the feeling that no matter what happens, this kid will be just fine. Yelchin’s performance is acceptable, but the character just feels sloppily and unbelievably written.

In fact, suspension of disbelief is one of the hardest things about watching The Beaver – this story never quite feels like it could take place in the real world. Porter’s subplot took up nearly half of the film and felt like a complete distraction, and Walter’s story also felt unfocused. While I could accept the absurd degree to which Walter’s family and colleagues accepted his newfound puppetry, his rapid ascendence to fame over a nationwide craze of…children’s woodchopping kits (?) was just too much of a stretch, and felt completely out of place amid the dark family drama that was brewing.

Jodie Foster (also the film’s director) gives a heartbreaking performance as Walter’s wife Meredith – she and Gibson have always had impressive chemistry together, and this film tests it to destruction. In one of the film’s best scenes, the couple goes out to dinner for their 20th anniversary – without spoiling how it ends, I will say that it was physically uncomfortable to watch, and that it was an impressive showcase of both acting and direction.

Porter’s love interest, Norah (Lawrence) gives a rather unsettling speech near the end of the film, ostensibly spelling out its message – maybe everything’s not going to be okay, but at least we’ve got each other. The tone of this speech was as dark as the rest of the film, but as a moral of this somber tale, it somehow works. The Beaver is a deeply flawed, but profoundly affecting film. I can’t say I especially welcomed its effects, but it may be a fascinating character piece for those who have suffered from depression (or their loved ones) – those who know the loneliness that can engulf these individuals even when they’re surrounded by people who desperately want to help.

The Beaver may strain credulity, but its raw sentiment feels real and tragic. That said, it’s not a film I would comfortably recommend to anyone.

FilmWonk rating: 4 out of 10

This week, Glenn and Daniel get in touch with their feminine side and have their minds and eyeballs assaulted in equal measure by Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch. YOU are in control. YOU have all the weapons you need to survive this discussion. Click Play below to find out what this level has in store for you (22:53).

[may contain some NSFW language]
(Part 1 – 13:23)

FilmWonk ratings: 1/10 (Glenn), 6/10 (Daniel)

Show notes:

• Music for this episode is an cover arrangement of “White Rabbit” from the Sucker Punch soundtrack.
  
• In this episode, I refer to my review of Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones, which I hold in slightly higher regard after seeing this film.
  
• You might notice I’m out of breath at one point – we had to pause recording to deal with a noisy kitty, which involved running up and down a couple flights of stairs. Unprofessional, I know. But the cat has been fired.
  

Listen above, or download: Sucker Punch Part 1, Part 2 (right-click, save as).

For some, Paul might provoke a sense of nostalgia. It is chock full of so many elaborate and perfectly executed pop culture references that you’ll spend far more time knowingly chuckling than actually laughing. It has all the ingredients of a solid road-trip comedy – Graeme (Simon Pegg) and Clive (Nick Frost) are a pair of unabashed nerds who take an RV across the American Southwest in search of gorgeous scenery and all things UFO. Halfway to Roswell, they run into an honest-to-goodness alien named Paul (voiced by Seth Rogen). Oh, and did I mention that Pegg and Frost, the beloved comedic duo from Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, also wrote the screenplay? And that they secured director Greg Mottola, whose last film made my Top 10 of 2009?

With all of these players involved, I am baffled as to why Paul is staggeringly unfunny for most of its runtime. The first 15 minutes, in which we get to know Graeme and Clive, are downright tedious. Pegg and Frost have their usual rapport, but their naturalistic banter is saddled with an overabundance of scatological humor and enough gay jokes to overwhelm Adam Sandler. Pegg and Frost’s relationship definitely got stronger as the film went on, but this first act was bad enough that I found myself wondering if, in a world where I hadn’t seen their prior collaborations, I would have bought them as friends at all.

Nonetheless, the film becomes truly enjoyable as soon as Rogen enters the picture. Rogen’s voice performance is hilarious and raunchy (like Rogen himself), and the repartee between Pegg, Frost, and Rogen (which allegedly contained a great deal of improv) is definitely where Paul is at its strongest. And that’s just what this film needed! Bring these giants of geek comedy together, and just let them be funny with each other. Instead, there were far too many scenes that dragged on for just a bit too long in the service of gags that aren’t nearly as funny as the movie thinks they are. When Paul brings a bird back to life with his E.T. mind-magic and then eats it, I chuckled (at least, I chuckled when I saw it in the trailer). But did it merit such an awkward pause in both story and comedic timing? Not at all. And there were a dozen other gags that felt just as expendable.

I’ve omitted some characters thusfar. Jason Bateman plays Agent Zoil, the ruthless man-in-black who is doggedly pursuing Paul. And I must say – this is one of Bateman’s finest performances. Bateman is the consummate straight man in every comedic project, and to see a straight-man who is heavily armed and committed to tracking down and killing every comedic character in the bunch is frightening and hilarious. Kristen Wiig is also in the mix as Ruth, the daughter of a Christian fundamentalist, and quasi love interest for Graeme. I don’t have much to say about this character – mocking religious nuts is pretty passé (and a bit too easy), and Ruth and her dad were perhaps the most extreme indications that this script was written by a pair of Brits who only had an eye for American caricature. The film simply felt overstuffed with both one-note characters and underused comedic talents (including Bill Hader, Joe Lo Truglio, Jeffrey Tambor, Jane Lynch, David Koechner, and one more I won’t spoil), who had very little to do with their brief screen-time except make the audience wonder why they showed up.

The most frustrating thing about Paul is that there seems to be a truly great road-trip adventure film at the center of it. Pegg, Frost, and Rogen (and eventually Wiig) are an affable group, and the wide open spaces and scenery look gorgeous (can’t go wrong with the American Southwest). Blythe Danner shows up as Tara Walton, the adult version of the little girl who first discovered Paul’s crash site, and I must say – this is a backstory that deserved more screen time. This film teases the kinds of strong relationships found in E.T. and Close Encounters, but seems too timid to actually embrace them. Every time it comes close, it wastes time on a throwaway line or shot-for-shot scene remake of one of those films instead. Comedy cannot survive on referential gags alone, and Paul‘s focus on them is entirely to its detriment.

FilmWonk rating: 4.5 out of 10

Sidenote: Kudos to the effects team that designed the alien Paul. This was a perfect fusion of reality and CG character design, on the same level of realism as District 9, but with a much more cartoonishly designed alien (which makes it even more impressive).

When I saw the trailer for this latest Phillip K. Dick adaptation, I was intrigued, but mostly disappointed. To see the film squander its high-minded concepts of fate, free will, and strangers in suits in the service of what seemed to be just another “us against the world” romance seemed like a profound waste of time. We see Matt Damon, an able presence in any film, once again showcasing his four-minute mile, this time with an out-of-breath Emily Blunt in tow, and the film seemed like little more than a chase thriller saddled with superficial overtones of meant-to-be amour.

It’s the story of New York State Congressman David Morris (Damon), who meets the girl of his dreams in ballet dancer Elise (Blunt), but never gets her last name or phone number. The besuited members of the Adjustment Bureau, guardians of fate the world over, go out of their way to ensure that the two never meet again. And why? Because “the Plan” says they’re not supposed to be together. But when Adjuster Harry Mitchell (Anthony Mackie) dozes off on the job, the two star-crossed lovers meet and form an instant and irrevocable attraction, prompting higher-ups Richardson (Mad Men‘s John Slattery) and Thompson (Terence Stamp) to come in and set the world back on track.

David’s inadvertant glimpse at the Adjusters in action has cosmic consequences, leading to a multitude of lengthy deliberations about fate and free-will. These discussions are probably where Dick and Nolfi’s carefully-crafted dialogue is at its strongest, striking just the right balance between existential technobabble (“We’re seeing some shifting confluence tides!”) and adept worldbuilding. In addition to the discussions, there are plenty of foot-chases wherein the Adjusters show off their uncanny ability to flit between any two locations via doorways. This is a mechanic we’ve seen before, in both Pixar’s Monster’s, Inc, as well as The Matrix Reloaded. I regret to invoke that first Matrix sequel, but The Adjustment Bureau feels in many ways like a spiritual successor to that film. It has a similarly controlled and constructed reality (complete with its very own Agents), but unlike Reloaded, manages to philosophize without becoming overly self-indulgent. The foot-chases increased in length and complexity, and I actually found myself getting bored with them as the film went on. Its parallels to Reloaded became so striking at this point that I thought the only way the film could end was with David and Elise pleading their romantic case in front of the Architect (or “The Chairman”, as he’s known in this film).

I won’t spoil how the film ends, but I will say I found it mildly satisfying. It was a brave choice to focus on such a seemingly conventional romance (and give us not one, but three meet-cute scenes), but the undeniable chemistry between Damon and Blunt managed to justify it even as each leap forward in time made it less and less coherent. Blunt’s performance is striking, but her character exists as little more than an object of beauty and desire, her appeal explained solely as a product of her masterful skill in the art of ballet. Damon, meanwhile, is given a great deal more to work with as a would-be politician as well as a romantic. He delivers a speech that the film’s fictitious journalists rightfully refer to as “electrifying”, and has a number of fantastic scenes debating fate and free-will with the always enjoyable Terence Stamp. If the film’s romance offers one great disappointment, it’s that Elise is never given any say in the matter- indeed, she’s never even given a chance to understand what’s going on, and pays a great emotional price for it. While David knows he’s risking his life and defying his fate to be with her, Elise is simply caught in an on-again, off-again romance with an unreliable politician, and comes along for the ride simply because it feels right.

The romance aside, the film’s most fascinating character might just be Harry (Mackie), the Adjuster who’s had just about enough of manipulating people’s lives. Mackie gives an adeptly understated performance. Even as he delivers the bulk of the film’s exposition, he remains aloof and otherworldly while clearly feeling a measure of compassion for the people he’s manipulating.

In the end, The Adjustment Bureau is an adept rendition of unoriginal ideas, and that might just make it worth watching. Its grand questions about fate vs. free will are doled out at about the right pace – just as I began to wonder how the present world (or indeed, the past century) can be explained as a delicate web of clockwork predestination, the film offered what can at least be deemed a plausible excuse. In this world, God (or “The Chairman”) appears to be quite fallible, or at least willing to indulge in the kind of experimentation that inadvertently brings about the Dark Ages or the Holocaust. The film sidesteps the contradiction between omnipotence and omnibenevolence by never quite presuming either. The Adjusters aren’t all-seeing or all-knowing (despite their frequent claims to the contrary), and film’s resulting deity is neither a hands-off Deist type nor an ever-present micromanager that makes everyone’s dreams come true. The Bureau’s specific interest in David is never quite explained, but any success he might achieve will come at a significant personal cost.

FilmWonk rating: 6 out of 10

This week, Glenn, Daniel, and guest Nick don their most dapper suits and get stoked for Oscar gold as they review The King’s Speech, starring Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter, Guy Pearce, and Michael Gambon. (20:00)

[may contain some NSFW language]

FilmWonk rating: 8 out of 10

Show notes:

• Music for this episode comes from Alexandre Desplat’s original score.
  
• At the beginning of this episode, we refer to a blooper from our last podcast which riffed on a scene from the film’s theatrical trailer (scene begins at 1:22).
  
• Special thanks to guest reviewer Nick for joining us for this review!
  

Listen above, or download: The King’s Speech (right-click, save as).

#11: Splice

#10: Inception

In 2008, when I named Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight my #3 film of the year, I simply (and lazily) wrote, “You either already know why, or you probably don’t care. See this film. If you already have, see it again.”

Nolan’s latest film, Inception, seems to provoke the opposite reaction on both counts. Its fans and detractors alike have written volumes on the subject, and most casual viewers are compelled to see it again if only to make sense of the entire mind-bending spectacle. I can’t praise the film quite as dismissively as I did The Dark Knight, but while Inception is not a perfect film, it is certainly one of the most complex visual and technical spectacles ever put to screen, and for that much alone, it must be recognized. While the film’s action descends into slightly shallower video-game territory by the end, it still manages to offer one of the finest deconstructions of reality and consciousness since The Matrix.

#9: Never Let Me Go

The appeal of this film is difficult to describe without spoiling its intriguing alternate-reality premise and fantastic worldbuilding, but this is a film that succeeds masterfully at building an atmosphere that makes the audience care deeply about its characters. The film was not without its hiccups – the resolution of the love triangle seemed almost deliberately anti-cathartic – but the performances of the core cast (Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley, and Andrew Garfield) are more than enough to make up for any of the film’s relational shortcomings.

Adam Kimmel’s cinematography makes every frame of this film look gorgeous, even with an utterly bleak color pallette (à la Children of Men), and Rachel Portman’s atmospheric score struck just the right balance to resonate with the film’s emotional beats without overwhelming them. I was not prepared for how this film would affect me, not sure exactly how to feel when it was over, and still haunted by it several days later.

#8: Winter’s Bone

“You’ve always scared me,” says Ree (Jennifer Lawrence), a tough-as-nails 17-year-old girl who searches desperately for her meth-cooking, bail-jumping father in the Missouri Ozarks.

“That’s because you’re smart,” retorts Teardrop, in a stunningly intimidating performance from John Hawkes. Apart from a pair of brilliant performances (and an impressive supporting cast), this film’s success is in its simple, high-stakes premise – an unlikely detective story in a masterfully realized Southern Goth environment. What’s more, this is a film that keeps the audience fearing for its characters at every turn – a surprisingly rare achievement for modern cinema.

(Debra Granik’s “Winter’s Bone” – A masterful dose of guns, guts, and gloom)

#7: The Fighter

This is a crowd-pleaser, plain and simple. A formulaic film can still be an effective one, and I can offer no better evidence than The Fighter. While Mark Wahlberg’s performance as boxer “Irish” Micky Ward is perfectly solid for the subject matter, the real star of this film is Christian Bale, who gives his best performance in years as the boxer’s crackhead brother, Dicky Eklund. This is a film I can safely recommend to anyone (even, surprisingly, those who don’t care about boxing).

(FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #7: David O’Russell’s “The Fighter”)

#6: How to Train Your Dragon

This is, hands down, the most impressive and immersive 3D animation experience that I’ve had in theaters since Avatar, and its dragon flight sequences were even more impressive than the latter film. This 3D managed to not only convey a well-defined sense of scale and distance, but also the sheer speed at which its characters were ripping through the air. As a silent, but nonetheless fully realized character, Toothless the Dragon far surpasses Stitch (DeBlois and Sanders’ last such creation) – the character falls somewhere between pet and trusted companion, but the facial animation and voice work manage to convey an impressive degree of personality.

While the film still falls prey to some of Dreamworks’ usual casting largesse (did Jonah Hill and Christopher Mintz-Plasse really need to be in this movie?), the core cast – Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, America Ferrera, and Craig Ferguson – all give impressive voice work. And finally… John Powell’s score is easily one of my favorites of all time.

#5: Exit Through the Gift Shop

Banksy is a force of nature, and I mean that in a good way. This is one of the most informative, engaging, and hilarious documentaries I’ve had the pleasure of seeing. Right from its masterful opening credits sequence, it managed to immediately rope me into the heretofore unknown world of street art – a world in which I had absolutely no interest prior to this film.

Regardless of the veracity of the film’s premise and events, it raises some very real questions about the nature of art and its relationship to commerce, and explores them through both the wry wit of Bansky and the bizarre life and outlook of subject Thierry Guetta, a fascinating character unto himself. If you have a Netflix streaming subscription, you can watch this film right now.

#4: Animal Kingdom

This Australian gangster film is a slow burn, but a complete pleasure, and boasts a cast of strong performances (including Jacki Weaver as the most stunningly creepy and effective villain since Heath Ledger’s Joker). Daniel and I couldn’t stop raving about this film – hear more below.

(FilmWonk Podcast – David Michôd’s “Animal Kingdom”)

#3: Mother

In the past few years, Korean cinema has excelled in producing films that defy categorization, at least in Western terms of genre. At its core, Mother is about a relationship between a mother (Kim Hye-Ja) and her mentally disabled adult son (Won Bin), with a murder mystery thrown in for good measure. I’ve already raved at length about Kim’s masterful performance, but I must also praise the film for its effectiveness and innovation. This film had me from the very beginning, and I was happy to come along for the ride, even as I had no idea where it was going.

#2: The Social Network

I know Mark Zuckerberg. Every time I start to write about this film, I keep coming back to this simple sentence. Certainly, I can’t be sure I’ve seen an accurate rendition of his life based on the events of this film. As I subsequently read both Ben Mezrich’s “The Accidental Billionaires” and David Kirkpatrick’s “The Facebook Effect”, I slowly began to get a picture of the man through wildly divergent (and self-serving) accounts of his life, and I was forced to the same conclusion I had when the film ended.

The film’s accuracy with regard to Mark Zuckerberg is irrelevant. We all know Mark Zuckerberg, or at least recognize the character. This film proffers an astounding look at a period of substantial change to society and internet culture, and it does so by crafting one of the most fascinating characters in cinema history and running him through the paces of age-old themes – friendship, desire, and betrayal. As expected with a David Fincher film, The Social Network is technically perfect filmmaking, and brings Sorkin’s rapid-fire script and dialogue to stunning life while showing remarkable restraint with many of Fincher’s typical visual flourishes (although there was still the obligatory “camera passes through balcony rails” shot).

This is a film that everyone will take away something from, even if it’s completely different from person to person. And for a film about the disputed origins of a website, it manages to be completely engaging from start to finish. I’ve said plenty about the performances, but I have to also mention Trent Reznor’s score, which builds a intense and ominous atmosphere from the film’s first scene.

#1: Toy Story 3

From my 10/10 review:
In the 15 years since the first Toy Story, Pixar’s animation has progressed immeasurably, but time and again, they have proven that their greatest strength is their understanding of character and story. Pixar has crafted an absolutely gorgeous film here, but it is not about plastic toys – the soulless, lifeless, disposable pleasures of youth. It is a film about life, love, friendship, and loss; hope, despair, and finding one’s purpose. It is funny, exciting, surprisingly poignant, and easily Pixar’s finest film. I’m a little wary of giving this film a perfect score, since I may well have handicapped myself by revisiting the first two films immediately beforehand. This might better be considered a rating for the entire trilogy, and not just its brilliant send-off – but I can’t help it. I’ve seen this movie twice and I wouldn’t change a thing.

Honorable Mentions:

• 127 Hours (directed by Danny Boyle, screenplay by Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy, book by Aron Ralston)

• Kick-Ass (directed by Matthew Vaughn, screenplay by Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman, comic by Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr.)
• Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (directed by Edgar Wright, screenplay by Edgar Wright and Michael Bacall, graphic novel by Bryan Lee O’Malley)
• Buried (directed by Rodrigo Cortés, written by Chris Sparling)
• True Grit (directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, screenplay by Joel and Ethan Coen, novel by Charles Portis)
• Catfish (documentary, directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman)
• Black Swan (directed by Darren Aronofsky, screenplay by Mark Heyman, Andrés Heinz, and John J. McLaughlin)
• Shutter Island (directed by Martin Scorsese, screenplay by Laeta Kalogridis, novel by Dennis Lehane)
• The Town (directed by Ben Affleck, screenplay by Peter Craig, Ben Affleck, and Aaron Stockard, novel by Chuck Hogan)
• Restrepo (documentary, directed by Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger)
• Greenberg (written/directed by Noah Baumbach, story by Noah Baumbach and Jennifer Jason Leigh)
• Get Him to the Greek (written/directed by Nicholas Stoller, characters by Jason Segel)

Click here to see the rest of the 2010 Glennies.

This film didn’t quite do it for me, and reminded me that I sometimes have to catch myself from thinking that the best performances of the year will invariably fall within the best films. But while Lisa Cholodenko’s sex comedy/family drama was not without its flaws (particularly in the second half), Annette Bening’s performance as the conservative “patriarch” of this surprisingly* conventional family was immaculate. She completely sold her ever-changing reactions to the introduction of her kids’ birth-father (Mark Ruffalo), treating him first like a looming threat to her primacy, then laughing and drinking wine with him and the family. This is a completely authentic character, and Bening’s delivery of dramatic outbursts and comedic barbs alike was spot-on. Her chemistry with Julianne Moore felt mostly believable – it had a kind of comfort and ease, just like an old married couple.

She also completely nails the best two lines in the film, which I won’t spoil here.

*By the standards of quirky indie film, that is.

#4: Carey Mulligan – Kathy, Never Let Me Go

I’ve seen Carey Mulligan play cheerful, but I’ve seen her play somber much more frequently. While I may eventually reach a point of wanting to see a wider range from this actress, I found every dour moment of her screentime in Mark Romanek’s Never Let Me Go to be completely compelling. This film relied heavily on tone, and Mulligan’s performance and chemistry with her fellow leads (Keira Knightley in particular) helped maintain the film’s bleak and somber atmosphere without ever letting the audience lose emotional touch with the characters. These are wretched and pitiable creatures, and it is Mulligan’s heart and compassion that keeps the audience caring for them right to the end.

#3: Hailee Steinfeld – Mattie Ross, True Grit

An early scene in True Grit features Mattie Ross in hardball negotiations with a stable owner over her late father’s horses. Her unrelenting performance amid rapid-fire dialogue in this scene would have been enough to get 13-year-old newcomer Hailee Steinfeld a supporting nod from me, but the Academy be damned – this is unquestionably a lead performance. Steinfeld is in every scene of True Grit, and the film could not have succeeded without such a mature and charismatic take on this character. Mattie Ross is articulate, intimidating, and a bit of a gadfly, and has to keep up with powerful characters three times her age without ever overstaying her welcome with the audience. It’s a tall order, but Steinfeld completely pulls it off. Her rapport with Jeff Bridges was admirable, treading some fascinating ground between road-trip comedy and an intense father-daughter bond. This film is a delight, and it owes much of its appeal to Steinfeld.

#2: Natalie Portman – Nina Sayers, Black Swan

The effectiveness of Nina Sayers is in both her initial state- the pure and fragile “sweet girl”- and her incredible mental and physical transformation. Natalie Portman not only sold both aspects of the character, but fearlessly committed to all the pain and revulsion – bordering on body horror – that she must experience. Portman’s chemistry and frightful interactions with her fellow players (Barbara Hershey in particular) become increasingly fascinating as Nina descends into full-blown schizophrenic madness. Along with Aronofsky’s direction, this was a performance that would make or break the film, occasionally even compensating for deficits in the screenwriting.

“I’M the Swan Queen!” screams Nina as she embarks on the film’s final performance. And indeed she is. Embodying both the white and black swans, Portman’s performance is complete and unmatched.

#1: Kim Hye-ja – Mother, Mother

It is a rare movie tagline that so adequately captures the tone of a film. For Bong Joon-Ho’s Mother, it was this: “She’ll stop at nothing.” Simple and straight to the point. Kim Hye-ja, an actress primarily from Korean television, gives a tour de force performance as the unnamed titular matriarch. Every one of her character beats rang completely true, from her constant worry about her mentally disabled adult son (Won Bin) to her utter desperation to clear his name for murder. She goes to some alarming lengths as the film goes on, and Kim’s performance completely sold each one of her increasingly heartbreaking decisions. The gorgeous opening scene features Kim breaking into an uneasy dance in the middle of the field, with a very pained expression in her face and body language. The full meaning of this scene becomes apparent later in the film, but from the outset, it is clear that Kim Hye-Ja can convey a great deal of emotion in completely unspoken terms. This is a character that the audience wants the best for at all times, no matter what she becomes.

Honorable Mentions:

• Jennifer Lawrence as Ree in Winter’s Bone
• Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
• Emma Stone as Olive Pendergast in Easy A
• Marisa Tomei as Molly in Cyrus
• Julianne Moore as Jules in The Kids Are All Right (Honorable, honorable mention: as Catherine Stewart in Chloe)

Click here to see the rest of the 2010 Glennies.

I was worried when I heard that 2008′s Forgetting Sarah Marshall would be getting a spinoff featuring supporting rockstar Aldous Snow. Brand’s performance was certainly a highlight of one of my favorite films of that year, but it was a very broad, drugged-out lothario of a character. Could the rockstar (and Brand) carry his own film?

Somehow, the answer was yes. Nicholas Stoller’s comedy is a significant departure in both tone and content from Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and Brand’s performance gives some surprising depth to the rockstar Aldous Snow. The film is a broad and scatological comedy with the dark undertone of Snow’s various addictions. It’s also a wild sex romp that relies heavily on Snow’s on-again, off-again one-true-love. The film’s appeal is in its sincerity, and Brand completely commits to this character, warts and all.

#4: Jeff Bridges – Rooster Cogburn, True Grit

I don’t have a lot to say about True Grit, except that it’s a brilliantly written genre exercise. It is a legitimate western as surely as the works of Ford or Leone, and Jeff Bridges’ take on the one-eyed marshal Rooster Cogburn feels right at home. His dialogue is slurred to the point of incomprehensibility, and his appearance is utterly unglamorous. This character is a slobbering, drunken mess, and I mean that as a compliment. I can safely say I’ll never forget this performance, and Bridges deserves every bit of the credit he’s getting for it.

#3: Ryan Reynolds – Paul Conroy, Buried

From my review: “This may be the most electrifying performance yet from Ryan Reynolds. Like Tom Hanks in Cast Away before him, Reynolds has crafted a masterful one-man show, and he never lets up on the stakes. Paul is dying alone, and Reynolds deftly conveys his ratcheting hopelessness and frustration.”

It’s Ryan Reynolds kidnapped and buried in a coffin for 90 minutes. That’s the entire film. But the above description may make Buried sound a good deal more serious than it actually plays for much of its runtime. This film is lurid and hopeless, to be sure, but it is also a pulp masterpiece. Its tone and editing style is reminiscent of Hitchcock, and Reynolds plays just the right blend of realistic terror and anger while preventing the character from becoming overly bleak. One scene, in which Paul solicits help (via cell phone) from one of his wife’s loathsome friends, ends with such a pitch-perfect delivery of its final line that my entire theater erupted in laughter. This is a film whose tone lives and dies by the performance of its lead actor, and Reynolds completely pulls it off.

On a related note…

#2: James Franco – Aron Ralston, 127 Hours

Aron Ralston leads a charmed life. He’s a brilliant stuntman – completely in control, but clearly a little unbalanced. Franco had to take this reckless and cocksure character on a physically and emotionally heart-wrenching journey, without any other actors to share the burden for most of the film’s runtime. 127 Hours has a similar premise to Buried – a man gets trapped under a rock for 90 minutes – but it is a very different film in both tone and characterization. Unlike Reynolds’ character above, Ralston doesn’t have access to a cell phone, so he spends the majority of the film talking aloud to himself, or saying nothing at all. The film utilizes various storytelling devices (including one involving a handheld camera that I wouldn’t dream of spoiling), and Franco’s performance played into all of them nicely.

I’m not sure if it’s even possible to spoil this film, since its title, premise, and the fact that it’s based on a true story should be enough to tell you how it ends. But suffice to say, this film takes a brutal and unflinching look at one of the most difficult physical tests ever imposed on a human being, and somehow comes out of it with a heartwarming message about how much life is worth living. It does all of this while wrapped in an unconventional character study, and never once lets Ralston off the hook for getting himself into the situation in the first place. Insofar as this is an exercise in filming the unfilmable, Franco’s performance seems equally improbable. It carries this film, and I know of no other actor who could have pulled this off.

#1: Jesse Eisenberg – Mark Zuckerberg, The Social Network

I know Mark Zuckerberg. I don’t know the man, but I recognize the character. Each viewer will likely take away a different interpretation of this performance, depending on their feelings on the real-life Zuckerberg, but this performance stands alone in a film that’s virtually impossible to separate from its real-life context. As a reflection of my time and generation, I found Eisenberg’s captivating and enigmatic portrayal to be utterly unmatched this year. For a character who seems almost defined by a lack of chemistry with the people in his life (reminiscent of Dr. House, perhaps), he also plays brilliantly alongside Andrew Garfield in the film’s most crucial relationship.

This Zuckerberg is hard to read, but conveys a great deal through his glowering stare, or the slightest twitch of a smile. This Zuckerberg is insightful, determined, perhaps even ingenious. And on some level, he knows the effect his actions have had. This Zuckerberg may or may not bear any resemblance to the real one, but Eisenberg’s performance and Sorkin’s script make him the most fascinating and well-realized characters of this year.

Honorable Mentions:

• Ben Stiller as Roger Greenberg in Greenberg
• Mark Wahlberg as Micky Ward in The Fighter
• Michael Cera as Nick Twisp/François Dillinger in Youth in Revolt (Honorable, honorable mention: as Scott Pilgrim in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World)
• Leonardo DiCaprio as Teddy Daniels in Shutter Island
• Michael Nyqvist as Mikael Blomqvist in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Click here to see the rest of the 2010 Glennies.

In this film from Jay and Mark DuPlass, most of the film’s dialogue was improvised by the actors, and I can only imagine what kind of direction the brothers gave to Jonah Hill as the title character. Creepier… Wider eyes… Like you’re boring into my soul with a searing fireplace poker… This film presents an utterly bizarre, almost marriage-like relationship between Cyrus and his mother (Marisa Tomei), and an instant antagonism for her budding romantic interest, played surprisingly straight by John C. Reilly. All three actors boast a fantastic chemistry, but it’s Jonah Hill’s performance that is easily the most memorable and comedically disturbing.

#4: Armie Hammer – Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, The Social Network

I don’t generally give credit to an actor simply because of the likely-difficult circumstances of production (I’m sure Sam Worthington’s Avatar shoot was no picnic), but Armie Hammer managed to navigate the movie-magic vagaries of playing composited crew-rowing twins while simultaneously imbuing each of them with a distinct and memorable personality. The level of sympathy for these characters will likely depend on your feelings on the Facebook/Harvard Connection litigation (ongoing as of this writing), but Hammer’s take on the brothers Winklevi never waivers from portraying them as consummate and forthright “gentlemen of Harvard”. Even as they seem determined to bring down the ostensible antihero of the tale, they never quite seem like true villains – they are honest, self-conscious, and perhaps a little naive. Hammer manages to convey all of the dimensionality and noticeably distinct personalities amid Sorkin’s signature rapid-fire dialogue, turning in two of the most memorable performances in an equally impressive cast.

#3: Andrew Garfield – Eduardo Saverin, The Social Network

Minor spoilers for the film, and to a lesser extent, real life, will follow.
The effectiveness of The Social Network hinged on a great many things, but easily the most important aspect of the film is the erstwhile friendship of Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) and Eduardo Saverin. Without Zuckerberg, there’s no Facebook. Without the relationship with Saverin, there’s no movie. Garfield and Eisenberg had a great comedic chemistry (a scene in which Saverin explains to Zuckerberg his treatment of a pet chicken is easily one of the funniest in the film), but Garfield also played the character with such earnestness and emotionality that this relationship and its inevitable dissolution were utterly captivating to behold. What happens to Saverin is business, to be sure, but the film manages to also sell it as a significant personal betrayal. While this owes a great deal to Sorkin’s writing, it is Garfield’s heartbreaking final scenes that make it succeed so masterfully.

While Garfield is receiving this award for The Social Network, I was also impressed by his turn in Mark Romanek’s Never Let Me Go. I can’t imagine what sort of Spider-Man he’ll be, but I’m a lot more interested in finding out after such a remarkable year of introductory performances.

#2: John Hawkes – Teardrop, Winter’s Bone

While Jacki Weaver may have played my favorite villain this year, it is John Hawkes who beats her out for the most terrifying screen presence. Given his unassuming and light comedic performance in 2005′s Me and You and Everyone We Know, and his thoroughly likeable run on HBO’s Deadwood, I was completely blown away by Hawkes’ transformation into the heroine’s wiry meth-addict uncle. From my original review:

His physique was more or less unchanged (except for a slightly graying beard), but his demeanor was something new and thoroughly intimidating. Every word Teardrop says seems to carry a simmering threat of violence, and although the character actually perpetrates very little, Hawkes brings a fiery intensity that makes him downright terrifying to watch.

He and Jennifer Lawrence match each other’s grit quite nicely, and their unlikely alliance was crucial to the film’s effectiveness.

#1: Christian Bale – Dicky Eklund, The Fighter

As I noted in the podcast review, Christian Bale has mostly approached his last few years’ worth of roles in a gruff and humorless fashion, and the resulting performances have not been too impressive. The moment Dicky Eklund steps into frame in the film’s opening street scene, I forgot all of that. This character is such a firecracker. As Eklund saunters down the streets of Lowell, Mass. greeting every inhabitant he comes across, Bale utterly oozes with charisma. His physical and verbal commitment to this character is unparalleled in this cast or any other film this year.

This is the self-destructive crackhead you’d love to be friends with. At the outset, he’s wiry, twitchy and completely high in every scene, but just a load of fun to be around. He plays the most dysfunctional member of a severely dysfunctional family, and yet every one of his early scenes is an absolute pleasure. Minor spoiler, revealed in the trailer: When the character detoxes in the second half of the film, Bale manages to make the personality change believable, and yet still keeps the character completely engaging even without hopping uncontrollably as he did in the first half. This is the best Bale performance in several years, and easily boasted enough screentime to rightfully be considered for Best Actor. But the Academy has spoken…

Honorable Mentions:

• Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker in The Social Network
• Ewan McGregor as Phillip Morris in I Love You, Phillip Morris
• Jeremy Renner as James Coughlin in The Town
• Matt Damon as LaBoeuf in True Grit
• Mark Ruffalo as Paul in The Kids Are All Right

Click here to see the rest of the 2010 Glennies.

Seth Rogen might just have found his niche playing detestable heroes. He gave a thoroughly entertaining performance as a psychopathic mall cop in Jody Hill’s pitch-black 2008 comedy Observe and Report, and indeed, his performance in Michel Gondry’s The Green Hornet bears some similarity. Both would-be heroes are infantile, petty, helpless around women, and prone to occasional bouts of alarmingly skillful violence. But while Observe was an unapologetic celebration of terrible people doing terrible things, The Green Hornet is ostensibly a light-hearted comic tale about a self-styled hero that’s meant to be worthy of our admiration.

Tonally, the film falls somewhere between Kick-Ass and Iron Man. Like the former, Britt Reid (Rogen) is delusional and borderline incompetent, but like the latter, he has all the physics-defying gadgetry he needs to keep himself alive for longer than 30 seconds. In the place of a mellifluous holographic A.I. to build his gadgets, Reid has a Q-ish tech wizard, kung-fu master, and expert barista named Kato (Jay Chou). Kato’s relationship with Reid fluctuates wildly between buddy comedy and guardian for a special needs child – a scene in which Kato explains to Reid why he might need a gas-slinging sidearm is one of the most painfully funny in the film. The audience is left wondering why Kato puts up with his boss’ constant abuse and mockery, but it might have something to do with his seemingly unlimited budget for high-tech toys. In any case, this is not a film for believable (or even comprehensible) relationships.

If The Green Hornet is about anything, it’s narcissistic image-obsession. Over and over again, the characters speak at length about how they look, how they are perceived by others in the story, and what the characters in a violent comic farce should do. Nearly all of the scenes featuring the villainous Chudnofsky (Christoph Waltz) play like cringe-inducing, metafictional peeks into the writers’ room. “Do I look scary? Is my gun scary? What do you think of my costume? Do you know how many different suits I’ve tried?” Chudnofsky may come with Waltz’s adeptly intimidating presence, but he has no real identity of his own, and feels almost like he is trying to conceive one in front of the cameras. But he’s not half as self-conscious and directionless as our heroes. In a line seemingly tailor-made for the film’s trailer, Reid explains to Kato, “Here’s what will make us different!”

Their grand plan is essentially to start a gang war and kill every criminal in the city. Brilliant in its simplicity, I suppose. But while Black Beauty, the tank-like super car, may allow the Hornet and Kato to viciously slaughter any evildoers with all the subtlety of Depression-era gangsters, it basically just feels like an old-timey and borderline magical version of the Batmobile. What’s more, their grand plan seems as likely to ensnare police and innocent bystanders as rival gangsters. This is Iron Man without a conscience. And strangely, that’s where the film started to appeal to me.

If there is one attribute that has defined nearly all modern superhero films, it’s self-importance. Even in the most schlocky and unwatchable incarnations of the genre (I’m looking at you, Fantastic Four), there are always ponderous questions about what it means to be a hero and how much is at stake if the hero fails. The Green Hornet has no such lofty ambitions, and I was surprised to find its sadistic playfulness and dark humor to be a refreshing change of pace. Nearly every scene in this film is simultaneously exhilarating and painful to watch on some level, from its farcical attempts at romance (for which I give a great deal of credit to Cameron Diaz) to its utterly balls-out action sequences, which are at least impressive on a technical level. They don’t all land perfectly, but I’m happy to see that director Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) remains as skillful as ever, even with a blockbuster budget. What’s more, he even managed to shoehorn in a dream sequence chock full of practical effects and camera trickery – a skillful display which felt mostly out of place, but by the time it appeared, I was past caring about the film’s lack of consistency.

The Green Hornet is an oddity, to be sure. I didn’t emerge from it without a laundry list of complaints, but I still found the sum of the experience enjoyable. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s script feels like it’s trying to be the buddy-comedy spiritual successor to Superbad, and it at least partially succeeds. The writing is very jokey and surprisingly dark, but exhibits a clear understanding of comic book tropes. In a genre that’s gradually starting to wear out its welcome, this bizarre spectacle of a film feels far more like a labor of love than a cynical cashgrab, and that might just be what makes it watchable.

FilmWonk rating: 5.5 out of 10

Spoiler warning: In order to discuss this performance, I must reveal the premise of this film, which some might consider a spoiler.
Mark Romanek’s Never Let Me Go was an absolutely haunting experience. The alternate-world tale of three friends who grow up to be harvested for their organs, this film doesn’t feel overtly like science fiction, but instead relies on a triumvirate of strong performances to convey the somber and limited lives these three must experience. Keira Knightley gives easily her strongest performance in years, conveying every bit of the jealousy, longing, and regret that this tragic character demanded. While the film’s love triangle was one of its weakest aspects, Ruth’s relationship with Kathy (Carey Mulligan) worked masterfully, and owes just much to Knightley’s supporting turn as to Mulligan’s strong lead.

#4: Delphine Chanéac – Dren, Splice

Dren, the human-animal hybrid from Splice, certainly owes some of its effectiveness to makeup and visual effects, but I must nonetheless applaud this utterly fearless portrayal from French model/actress Delphine Chanéac. This creature must convey a huge range of emotions and instincts through expressions, tics, and growls, often during some pretty harrowing and horrific sequences. Like the residents of the uncanny valley, Dren seems irrevocably human, and yet even when her animal parts aren’t visible, she just seems…wrong. Chanéac lends just the right amount of humanity and intelligence while never failing to remind the audience, whether through a jerk of the head or a high-pitched whine, that this character is not and cannot be human. As a bioethical thought experiment, this film’s ideas are effective. With this performance, the film approaches disturbing near-realism.

#3: Chloë Grace Moretz – Mindy Macready/Hit-Girl, Kick-Ass

As I said in the second FilmWonk podcast, I found Chloe Moretz’s performance as the psychopathic superheroine Hit-Girl to be downright unsettling. Not when she was hopping down a hallway dispatching gangsters with the same eerie speed and dexterity as Prequel Yoda, but when she was having sweet father-daughter moments with an utterly ridiculous Nicolas Cage. Through no fault or will of her own, Hit-Girl has been saddled with an upbringing not unlike that of a Rwandan child soldier, and the cringe-inducing warmth of these family scenes lends nicely to the film’s pitch-black satirical tone. Hopefully, Moretz won’t get saddled with the child-actor typecasting curse, as this is the second film in which she’s played a wildly unrealistic child prodigy. Physically and emotionally, this performance is nothing short of mind-boggling in its scope and commitment to the role, and firmly cements her as one of the finest young actresses working today.

#2: Amy Adams – Charlene Fleming, The Fighter

Oh, what to say about Amy Adams? This is a fantastic performance in a mostly impressive filmography, made even more so by what a radical departure it is from her usual “sweet girl” persona. Charlene is, and I mean this with the utmost respect, a tough bitch. Her strong, confident demeanor proved a fascinating counterpoint to Mark Wahlberg’s understated performance of an overshadowed character, and the chemistry between the two was undeniable. But even outside the romance, Charlene is a fascinating character, and Adams gives just the right balance of confidence and vulnerability to what could have been a very one-note love interest.

#1: Jacki Weaver – Janine Cody, Animal Kingdom

Not since Heath Ledger’s Joker have I seen such an delightfully creepy villain as this. Jacki Weaver’s appearance as the Aussie gangster matriarch Janine Cody quite deliberately evokes a lioness dutifully guarding her cubs, but at the same time, Weaver’s intensity muddles the metaphor a bit as she seems poised to devour any family member that gets in her way. This performance is utterly magnificent, from her every little interaction with her sons and grandson to her dismissive taunts to law enforcement (“but I’m not afraid of you, sweetie!”). As I said in the podcast, this film is a slow burn, but it’s Weaver, the standout in a cast of strong performances, that makes this film such a compelling watch.

Honorable Mentions:

• Dale Dickey as Merab in Winter’s Bone
• Rebecca Hall as Claire Keesey in The Town
• Michelle Williams as Dolores in Shutter Island
• Mia Wasikowska as Joni in The Kids Are All Right
• Rooney Mara as Erica Albright in The Social Network

Click here to see the rest of the 2010 Glennies.