500 Days of Summer
directed by: Marc Webb
starring: Joseph Gordon Levitt, Zooey Deschanel
Rated: PG-13 for sexual material and language
The most creative and enjoyable movie of the year, 500 Days of Summer takes you through the ups and downs of a relationship that is scarily familiar and realistic, to the point that you feel as if you're re-watching your own past experiences. With some of the best design and artwork in film, 500 Days is a complete and utter triumph that only slips up in having a post-modern view of love, and occasionally getting a little too crude at moments. However, it also pushes you to not see everything through the romanticism that is portrayed in our western culture, but to still capture the beauty and need for relationships; debunking the myths of relationships without slipping into pessimism. Despite it's few flaws, 500 Days of Summer is almost worth watching every day of the week.
The Last King of Scotland
directed by: Kevin Macdonald
starring: Forest Louis Whittacker, James McAvoy
Rated: R for some strong violence and gruesome images, sexual content and language.
The dynamic and self-sacrificing conclusion couldn't save the first two acts of hopelessness and frustration. Whittaker, who won an Oscar for the performance, is terrifying, but so is the jovial stupidity of McAvoy's character, making us feel very little at the end except disgusted at man's inhumanity towards one-another. (That, and a certain disgust at the movie's extremely graphic content.) Movies like Blood Diamond or Hotel Rwanda portrayed hope in the face of inhumanity far better.
Longford
directed by: Tom Hooper
starring: Jim Broadbent, Samantha Morton, Andy Serkis
Rated: This movie is unrated
A well written and performed story of good and evil, and the power of redemption and forgiveness. Lord Longford's friendship with jailed serial killer Myra Hindley made me question how far I would be willing to befriend and present hope to those who are lost. Few films have the caliber to change one's life. Longford has that potential.
directed by: Marc Webb
starring: Joseph Gordon Levitt, Zooey Deschanel
Rated: PG-13 for sexual material and language
The most creative and enjoyable movie of the year, 500 Days of Summer takes you through the ups and downs of a relationship that is scarily familiar and realistic, to the point that you feel as if you're re-watching your own past experiences. With some of the best design and artwork in film, 500 Days is a complete and utter triumph that only slips up in having a post-modern view of love, and occasionally getting a little too crude at moments. However, it also pushes you to not see everything through the romanticism that is portrayed in our western culture, but to still capture the beauty and need for relationships; debunking the myths of relationships without slipping into pessimism. Despite it's few flaws, 500 Days of Summer is almost worth watching every day of the week.
The Last King of Scotland
directed by: Kevin Macdonald
starring: Forest Louis Whittacker, James McAvoy
Rated: R for some strong violence and gruesome images, sexual content and language.
The dynamic and self-sacrificing conclusion couldn't save the first two acts of hopelessness and frustration. Whittaker, who won an Oscar for the performance, is terrifying, but so is the jovial stupidity of McAvoy's character, making us feel very little at the end except disgusted at man's inhumanity towards one-another. (That, and a certain disgust at the movie's extremely graphic content.) Movies like Blood Diamond or Hotel Rwanda portrayed hope in the face of inhumanity far better.
Longford
directed by: Tom Hooper
starring: Jim Broadbent, Samantha Morton, Andy Serkis
Rated: This movie is unrated
A well written and performed story of good and evil, and the power of redemption and forgiveness. Lord Longford's friendship with jailed serial killer Myra Hindley made me question how far I would be willing to befriend and present hope to those who are lost. Few films have the caliber to change one's life. Longford has that potential.
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