The Damned United (2009) – Biography, Drama, Sport Solid performances and engaging story, but a bit morally confused. The Last Station (2009) – Biography, Drama Top shelf acting, surprisingly interesting premise but slow to start. The Sensation of Sight (2006) – Drama Not bad, but has been done better.
Every once in awhile, a melodrama manages to incorporate the typical themes of the genre yet elevate itself above the cliches that go along with those themes. Genuinely moving without falling back on the stereotypes that could easily be expected of it, The Greatest is an excellent example of how melodrama can and should be done.
Ninja Assassin is simply blood and guts for the sake of it.
I’ve been meditating on this film all day today, trying to determine the reasons why it didn’t sit quite right with me. I read some bits and pieces of reviews in an effort to suss out why it left me feeling so adrift and vaguely discomfited, but all I found was praise, mostly for Jim Carrey’s return to more serious fare. Carrey does give a solid performance, I can’t deny that, but still there’s a prevailing sense of ickiness I can’t shake about I Love You Phillip Morris.
I don’t know that I’ve ever gotten into it here, but I’ve never made my distaste for Kristin Stewart a secret. Not counting child acting, I’ve previously only seen her in one film not in the Twilight franchise, and in it she annoyed me nearly as much as she does as Bella. I assumed, not unreasonably, that rather than actually act, she’d prefer to blink and twitch her way through scenes. Apparently I was very wrong, and The Runaways is proof.
I’m not entirely sure Nowhere Boy is a movie that needed to be made in the first place, but I can give it this much: It was well-acted and very pretty to look at.
I had gotten the impression from the designated genre and quirky, derivative movie poster that Accidents Happen was a comedy. I suppose it is if having some humor in your movie qualifies it for being as much, but in actuality, this film is not the light and eccentric indie fare I expected. It was instead quite dark and rather unsettling in many places.
There are a lot of good things happening, but little to gel them together, leaving a meandering mess of preening hipster theology.
Despite the overt moral and period setting, this is a film that feels entirely personal.
Possibly iconic simply from being by Kubrick and definitely iconic for being itself, Full Metal Jacket it is the quintessential social commentary about Vietnam and the military experience of the time.
