Movie Review: "The Help"

The Help

Directed by: Tate Taylor
Starring: Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard
Octavia Spencer, Jessica Chastain
Rated: PG-13 for thematic material

Based on Kathryn Stockart’s popular novel, the film The Help captures the struggle of the civil rights movement in the early 1960s from the perspective of the house maids in the southern town of Jackson, Mississippi. There, a young woman named Skeeter comes face-to-face with the injustice of her community’s treatment of African Americans after interviewing two of her friends’ housemaids. Like most literary movies, the film has far too many characters and subplots to really convey in a synopsis, nevertheless for it’s two and a half hour run-time, but really that’s probably the worst thing you can say about the movie. The acting is stellar, especially Oscar front-runner Viola Davis, who proves that her heart-stopping performance in the movie Doubt wasn’t a fluke. Right behind her is Victoria Spencer, who easily has the most dynamic character of the film, but still plays it with precision. But even some of the lesser-known roles are terrific, from the infuriating Bryce Dallas Howard to the ditzy Jessica Chastain, who continues to prove my theory that she deserves an Oscar nomination for every film she’s performed in this year. In fact, the weakest link of the movie is the lead character, Emma Stone’s Skeeter, who is unfairly paired with Davis and Spencer for most of the film, exposing her inabilities. But the power and emotion of the film doesn't come from it's performances but from it’s understanding of humanity; that more important then one’s skin color is one’s character and integrity, and that love for humanity is the most important trait a person can have.

Watch the awful trailer for this wonderful movie here

Movie Review: "The Artist"

The Artist

Directed by: Michel Hazanavicius
Starring: Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo, John Goodman, James Cromwell
Rated: PG-13 for a disturbing image and a crude gesture

Despite it’s course as the Oscar front-runner, the pseudo-silent film The Artist maybe more hype and glitz than substance. This isn’t taking anything away from film, which is still and enjoyable and entertaining, but much like the film The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, the reason people are heralding it is the success of the gimmick, and not the success of the film or story, itself. It does boast two dynamic performances from Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo, and there are some truly terrific scenes and segments. But it’s odd story structure makes the film drag a little, and the allegory-over-story emphasis, while entertaining, I think will hurt the longevity of the film. Again, I really did enjoy the film, but as the music swelled and the credits rolled, I realized that, as entertaining as the film was, it was only a reminder of the great films of the silent era who didn’t use their limitations as ploy.

Movie Reviews: "Beginners"

Beginners
Directed by: Mike Mills
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer, Melaine Laurent
Rated: R for language and some sexual content
Designer Mike Mills' latest feature film Beginners is visionary in it's scope and tone, which alone may make it worth watching, but is actually more like a crash-course in melancholy existential philosophy than a movie. Based loosely on Mill's on life, the film follows Oliver (Ewan McGregor), a sad and lonely man whom seemingly feels like life and experiences have restricted him; his art is too bold for the public's liking, his relationships have failed, and his father (a brilliant Christopher Plummer) has recently died of cancer. This depression grabs the attention of a beautiful French actress, whom seems drawn to the honesty of Oliver. While they form a romantic relationship, it turns into yet another restriction of his life, and causes him to look back at how his mother dealt with the restrictions of her Judaism and how his father dealt with his own homosexuality. The answer Mills comes to is the hope of finding those things that bring you happiness and joy and embracing them as long as you can, whether it's a free-spirit French actress, finding an affectionate gay lover, or simply acting ridiculous in art galleries and driving on sidewalks. As honest as this is, there is a degree of sadness that one can search his entire life and experience so little, if any, of this happiness. What the film, as well as director Mike Mills, fail to see is that true freedom in life is not trying to find something that brings us happiness but embracing a relationship with the only One who satisfies the human soul.

Movie Review: "Melancholia"

Melancholia
Directed by: Lars Von Trier
Starring: Kristen Dunst, Charollette Gainsbourg, Stellan Skarsgaard, Keifer Sutherland
Rated: R for some graphic nudity and sexual content and language

The opening of Lars Von Trier's Melancholia depicts the destruction of the Earth in stoically dramatic super slow-motion. The imagery is a powerful and striking, but says very little. The next two hours follow suit. Von Trier tries to compare the depression of the human soul to that of the actual destruction of the world. He tries to craft it in this realistic-allegorical settings that legendary filmmaker's like Ingmar Bergman used, which are both symbolic and narrative in form. But Von Trier's film is so painstakingly odd and disconnected, one can never be for sure exactly what is happening, nevertheless what meaning is supposed to be derived. Is the characters' odd behavior due to their knowledge that the world is ending, or just because it's a room full of moronic swine? By the middle of the second "chapter" of the film, I was cheering for the planet Melancholia to collide and destroy the Earth, simply to rid us of these pesky characters. If you are trying to avoid depression, then simply avoid Melancholia.

Movie Review: "The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn"

The Adventures of Tintin:
The Secret of the Unicorn
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost
Rated: PG for adventure action violence, some drunkenness and brief smoking

As a disclaimer, I am a huge Tintin fan; as a kid, I both read Herge's terrific comic book adventures (which were written from the 1930s through the 1970s) and watched the Nickelodeon adaptations, chronicling the adventures of the boy reporter, who is almost a kids' version of Indiana Jones. Because of this, I've been eagerly following this film since they announced that Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg were directing some Tintin adaptations back in 2007. And the first film, The Secret of the Unicorn, has easily lived up to it's hype. While one should expect Spielberg to deliver the best blockbusters one can watch, you can almost sense that, in Tintin, the legendary director is at the height of his powers; with an animated film, his vision is now completely unrestrained and his action is completely untamed. Because of it, the film is incredibly exciting, especially a terrific one-shot motorcycle chase that is as crazy and ridiculous as the filmmaker's imagination. Despite the scale of the film, Spielberg and Jackson (as well as writer Edgar Wright) nail the characters of the film, making sure everything reflects Herge's books: the casting, from Jamie Bell as Tintin to Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as Thomson and Thompson, is spot-on and the motion capture quality is marvelous, yet it stays true to Herge's characterizations. Overall, it's a near flawless Tintin adventure (despite not following the book very closely); avid fans (like myself) will be mesmerized by it, but really any kid or kid-at-heart will likewise be completely captured by The Adventures of Tintin. Thanks to Herge and Spielberg, we are reminded of the adventure and excitement of the world, which is waiting around every corner.

Movie Review: "The Debt"

The Debt
Directed by: John Madden
Starring: Helen Mirren, Sam Worthington, Jessica Chastain, Tom Wilkinson
Rated: R for some violence and language

Director John Madden's thriller The Debt is a bold and intriguing piece that does what every good thriller should do: keep you guessing the entire movie. The movie is about three Israeli operatives (Jessica Chastain, Sam Worthington, and Marton Csokas) who, in the 1960s, were on a mission to capture a Nazi war-criminal and how, thirty years later, these three (now played by Helen Mirren, Cirian Hinds, and Tom Wilkinson) must deal with a secret discovered during that mission. With a cast of incredible talent, it may be shocking to some that the heart and soul of the film is breakout-star Jessica Chastain, who is generating some Oscar buzz for multiple roles this year. It's little surprise then that, once again, Chastain out performs her older and more legendary costars and delivers yet another terrific performance, balancing her character's strength and fragility with near perfect clarity. Due to the film's odd plot structure, the film does have some pacing issues, but overall the film is solid. That is, up until the last five minutes of the film, when it breaks into the ridiculous and leaves the believability and tone of the last two hours to try to become some sort of suspense thriller at the last five minutes, which completely ruins the film. While I traditionally believe in watching the entire movie, perhaps missing the last five minutes of The Debt is the best thing you could do; if so, you're a better editor than Oscar-winning director John Madden.