Up in the Air (2009)

George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham - or he's playing George Clooney. It's really hard to tell. But more about that later. Anyway, Ryan Bingham's job is to fly around the country firing people for companies that don't want to fire their own employees. Ryan enjoys the perks of his job - namely frequent flyer miles. What he doesn't enjoy is the threat brought by newcomer Natalie Keener's (also relative newcomer Anna Kendrick) ideas for change.

The layoff element of the plot is very topical, painfully so for some people. It was an interesting choice to use actual recently laid off people in the firing scenes. It was nice of the production to give these people a job for a day and it gave a real voice to the feelings of the situation. But after they say their piece, they get put by the film in the out-of-sight-out-of-mind files. And the amount of screen time they had to give so that these people could really say something made the movie drift into the borderlands of documentary. That just doesn't mesh so well with the sarcastic comedic drama stylings of writer/director Jason Reitman.

George Clooney does seem like he'd be a good Reitman fit - except instead he comes off as if he'd play his part the same way no matter who the director was. George Clooney's Ryan Bingham is also his Danny Ocean from Ocean's 11 involved in more legal but still questionable ventures, his slightly less goofy Jimmy Connelly from Leatherheads as well as a slightly toned down Harry Pfarrer from Burn After Reading. It's all charm, leadership, and conviction. He plays it well, but it's also not that far off from his public persona. So how many times can you watch it? For some the number is much lower than others.

Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick on the other hand pull their weight with the freshness that Clooney lacks. Farmiga is smooth as Alex Goran, an also-seasoned traveler who meets up with Bingham whenever they're in the same town. And Kendrick is eager without becoming a caricature. Although I don't recall thinking Oscar! Oscar! while watching them, I was impressed with their work and didn't mind them being nominated.

But even with the great female leads and the topicality, Up in the Air isn't very grounded. It's lacking the gravity to seem substantial enough to really care while watching it. People firing your loved ones and living fancy lives aren't so easy to connect with. It misses on the emotions that could really strike home for the masses.

Rating: 3/5
Recommended for: People who haven't been laid off and will watch George Clooney in anything.

Alice in Wonderland (2010)

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has been directly adapted in no less than 24 movies and television shows. It's inspired premises and episodes of 13 additional TV shows and 22 more films. Tim Burton's 2010 Alice in Wonderland is listed as one of those 22 inspired pieces.

I read somewhere that Burton didn't consider his Alice a sequel to the original story. Maybe he meant the term "sequel" didn't explain it enough. Perhaps he meant it's a sequel of sorts that take elements of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and mixes it all together into a story where most of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland took place before this one, but they're calling it by the name they use for most movies that directly adapt the first story only.

Yes, that must be it.

Alice is now 18 and finds herself at a surprise engagement party for the surprise proposal she's about to get in front of a crowd of around 100 people. Taken aback, she runs off to think about her situation and ends up falling down a hole that, you guessed it, leads to Wonderland. She's been there before but doesn't remember it and so she goes through the whole "Eat me." "Drink me." bit before we get to the newer stuff.

The Queen of Hearts (Helena Bonham Carter), who is really an amalgamation of The Queen of Hearts and the Red Queen from the original stories, has taken over Wonderland, turning it into a grisly place where everyone lives in constant fear of death and/or harm to their loved ones. The Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) is there to guide Alice because she can save them all from this miserable existence, but only if she's the "right Alice".

And while Depp adds depth to a character that doesn't seem to have much, it should be noted that if he played any other character, that character would have been Alice's guide and he'd have been able to squeeze some sort of depth out of that character too.

The screenplay was written by Linda Woolverton, who has been marked by the media as a "girl-power specialist" due to her work on Disney's Beauty and the Beast. In an interview with The New York Times, Woolverton mentioned that she “did a lot of research on Victorian mores, on how young girls were supposed to behave, and then did exactly the opposite.” That's all fine and dandy even if it's becoming pretty commonplace - the heroine who doesn't follow all of society's rules and finds happiness.

The problem with it in this movie is that Alice is supposed to become a strong, brave, independent woman in order to save the "good guys" in Wonderland, but she's already that person from the beginning. There's not much room for her character to grow and since that's the whole point of her journey... her journey seems almost pointless. Before she gets to Wonderland we already see her eschewing proper clothing, plainly stating her beliefs, questioning others, refusing to conform, doing whatever she thinks is best in the moment, etc. I guess you could say her time in Wonderland reminded her of who she is so she could make a choice in real life that she wouldn't regret. Except that I don't get "reminder" out of this story. It's clearly supposed to be "journey".

So between that and this story being done so many times, this whole movie came off as unnecessary. And that's too bad because the acting was all done well enough, and the visuals are intriguing (even though I thoroughly dislike the concept of shooting in 2D and converting it to 3D in post).

Burton usually brings an interesting spin on things. I hope to see more of his Edward Scissorhands/Corpse Bride/Big Fish side and less of this Planet of the Apes/Alice in Wonderland. If his next project isn't something we've seen 58 other variations on, we're already stepping in the right direction.

Rating: 2/5
Recommended for:People who enjoy talking animals.

The Hurt Locker (2009)

Within the first ten minutes of The Hurt Locker you know you're watching a wonderfully crafted film. You may think from the poster and the critics' quotes that pepper the advertisements that it's going to be an ultra-violent, non-stop adventure. But it's not. The nerve-wrecking, explosive episodes are delicately balanced with moments of quiet and reflection. It's so well thought out. And with fantastic cinematography, there is so much to see.

With her trusty team of handheld cameras and a psuedo-documentary style director Kathryn Bigelow provides a realistic (although I have no idea at how accurate) look at three men's approaches to modern war. She doesn't give us action heroes. She gives us regular men who specialize in certain activities just doing their job. Each time this Explosive Ordnance Disposal team goes out to do that there's an element that makes it different from the last even though it's essentially the same job. And each time has it's own tension, despite the monotony that also exists in their task being never-ending. The main actors (Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, and Brian Geraghty) flow along with this balance. Their lines are brief but they show you everything they're thinking and feeling.

The whole film is definitely show more than tell. Bigelow presents a story and in doing so raises questions and lets you take what you want from the film. The most poignant question seems to be how do men and women live in those tense conditions eventually come back to their regular lives back home? How do they reconcile those two lives?

If this doesn't at least get the Oscars for cinematography and directing, I'll be disappointed.

Rating: 5/5
Recommended for: its real feel and suspense appeal

Grey Gardens (2009)

HBO's Grey Gardens follows the lives of Jackie O.'s cousins, Edith Bouvier Beale (aka Little Edie) and her mother Edith Ewing Bouvier (aka Big Edie), from Little Edie's premiere as a debutante in 1936 through the filming of the documentary Grey Gardens circa 1975 - where this movie got a fair amount of it's source material.

Drew Barrymore is Little Edie and Jessica Lange is Big Eddie. And I use "is" because if you've ever seen the documentary, you'll know that these two are the embodiments of the Edies. Barrymore and Lange earned their awards. And I don't think it's going too far to say that had his been released in theaters, they could have been up for Oscars (although it might not do as well at the box office due to the Beale's modern day obscurity).

It's this possessive, co-dependent, passive-aggressive relationship that sits at the heart of the film. They're each captivating characters. Big Edie lives in her own world, refusing to bend to anyone or anything. Little Edie feels compelled to bend to her mother's will, even at the cost of forgoing having her own life. Both women stand on their own but recreate the interaction between mother and daughter beautifully. The crew did a great job aging them 40 years over the course of their story but the actresses don't rely on their hair (or lack there-of) and make-up as a crutch. It's all there in their voices, their posture, the way they seem to carry this lifetime of memories. Little Edie says that it's hard to keep a line between the past and the present and it's shows so true. They play the society-mavens craving attention and they play the recluses living in a house that is literally crumbling around them. It's amazing juxtaposition further enhanced by the fact that it's all true.

To the audience, the Beale women's circumstances don't seem normal, but it's all business as usual for the Beales - and that's part of the fascinating charm this movie provides.

One of my favorite instances of that charm comes from Little Edie. She wore rather unconventional ensembles in her later years that she referred to as "the costume for the day". When the Maysles brothers come to film their documentary she tells them about that day's costume explaining her choices and ending with "Mother wanted me to come out in a kimono, so we had quite a fight."

Rating: 5/5
Recommended for:People who really understand the phrase "a beautiful train wreck".

Moon (2009)

Moon centers around Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell), who is two weeks away from the end of his 3-year contract running mining operations on the moon. He's desperately looking forward to seeing his daughter and wife in person again after not being able to get a live connection to them his entire term. He gets in an accident while out checking on broken down equipment. He wakes up back at his station and is taken care of by the station's robot Gerty (Kevin Spacey). Sam discovers things he's not supposed to and then it starts to get weird.

There's so much to like about this film, but in the end it's ever-so-slightly off balance. This is Duncan Jones' first full-length feature film. His background is more so in commercial work and he and his crew are very good at using models to make things seem realistic and do more effects in camera without having a huge budget. While the story is interesting and Sam Rockwell deserves major props for all the acting he did in the film (where was his due at awards time?), there's an imbalance between the love and attention to detail put into fantastic lunar sequences and the story itself. The good news is the imbalance isn't so large it ruins the film.

I won't say much more regarding the plot because I could easily dive into spoiler territory and I think, if you're going to watch this film, you should learn all the info as you go. Knowing the ins and outs will definitely ruin the allure.

So here's what I will say... With such obvious allusions to 2001, this film manages to still be fresh. The plot raises questions about general human behavior even in the most unusual of situations. And the film-making itself is rugged and hands-on. It makes me look forward to what else Jones has up his sleeve.

Rating: 4/5
Recommended for: Anyone who'd like to see some good sci-fi that doesn't involve people in alien masks or rely on CGI

Revolutionary Road (2008)

Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio play April and Frank Wheeler in this depressing drama about a dissolving marriage in the 1950s. The film is dedicated to Joe and Mia, the children of Kate Winslet and this movie's director Sam Mendes. I realize it's because it's Winslet and Mendes' first film collaboration, but if I were them, I'd rather dedicate something much more uplifting to my children. I'd also like to chose one where we don't see at least eighty cigarettes being smoked.

Within the first ten minutes you can see what kind of trouble we're in for - not only with the words but with the visuals. As they walk down that long hall to exit the building, the overhead lights hit Frank while April is in the dark, and then April while Frank is in the dark over and over again until it's clearly evident these two are not on the same wavelength. After their argument on the side of the road, the interior shot of the car makes it look like they're so far away they're not even traveling in the same vehicle.

Mendes had the production rehearse for three and a half weeks before filming and it shows. Every line sounds like it's come out of the moment, every character is clearly thinking something even when they're saying nothing. More of the aforementioned visual metaphors abound and the whole production is beautifully shot. But it's such a tough story to digest as a helpless audience member.

Rating: 3/5
Recommended for: if you're not feeling crappy enough and really want to take yourself down a peg.

The Brothers Bloom (2009)

It's not often that I'm beguiled by a trailer. I usually see through the marketing ploys and am keenly aware when one month the trailer is presented as a drama and the next it's been recut as a comedy. But then along came Brothers Bloom with its Wes Anderson-esque whimsy in camera shots and characters and smaller, yet acclaimed Ocean's 11-ful cast and plot.

Point to you for that one, The Brothers Bloom. Too bad you won't be scoring much more than that. First let's start with the title. The brothers in it are lifelong con artists Stephen (Mark Ruffalo) and Bloom (Adrien Brody). They do not appear to have a last name. So why is the film titled after one of the two brothers? If anything it should be called "Brothers, Bloom."

Then there's the mess of a plot. We're constantly out of the loop because more than one character is out of the loop but they are all out to varying degrees. And even when you think you've been let in, you're usually still left out. Us audiences tend to like to be in on things from the beginning, or left totally out and surprised at the end, or slowly have things revealed to us over time. None of this see-sawing crap, please. Some sort of flow or balance is missing. Ironically, towards the end a character essentially promises the story will be better next time.

At least some of the characters are fun. Rachel Weisz's Penelope Stamp is a reclusive heiress who collects hobbies. Weisz seems to be having a blast in this comedic role. She actually tried to learn every hobby her character has. I kept thinking if only Wes Anderson could scoop up Penelope and the brothers' mute associate Bang Bang (Rinko Kikuchi) and give them a better story in which to play... if only.

An alluring trailer and two fun female characters just aren't enough though.

Rating: 2/5
Recommended for: Penelope's hobby montage.

Bottle Shock (2008)

I've never had a movie make me want to own an old beat-up pickup truck before. Although I guess it's not really the pickup truck itself. It's the whole atmosphere of this movie: the California sunshine, the vast fields of grape vine, and of course the wine.

Bottle Shock is based on the real-life 1976 competition to see which wines were better - the classics of France or the up and coming Napa Valley, CA.

It's not the most fantastic movie and there's not really any suspense despite the competition but it's a sweet little film. The poster makes it look like it's going to be a little quirky. It's not. The characters aren't weird. They're just in bellbottoms and messy haircuts - Chris Pine being the worst offender.

Seriously though, they present as pepole who are really devoted to making wine and it's that devotion that makes them somewhat lovable. It adds to the idyllic quality wafting off the screen too. And best of all, they don't lull you to sleep like Sideways.

Rating: 3/5
Recommended for:If you've never been to Napa and really want to go.

Star Trek (2009)

I guess I should start with a warning that I watched this movie without immense amounts of Star Trek knowledge. In fact, a large amount of my Star Trek knowledge comes from an episode of Futurama. I think I've seen a part of an episode or two but never a movie. And somehow in my life I became familiar with phrases like "I'm giving her all she's got, Captain." and "Dammit, man! I'm a doctor, not a physicist!" Add to that the facts that director J. J. Abrams said this was made so anyone could watch it regardless of Star Trek background, and writer Roberto Orci has mentioned Star Wars influence and I couldn't help but be curious.

Ironically in a feature on the DVD, they discuss that they felt Star Trek was always like classical music while Star Wars was rock and roll and they wanted to bring some of that rock and roll to this film. Abrams specifically cites that he felt the Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back pace was what modern audiences needed.

So that makes it very interesting that the movie has such a stunted start. While it provides background on some of our main characters, most of it is also relayed later through dialogue that does just fine letting us know what we need to know. So instead of editing that early stuff out, it jarringly skips to a few minutes of one character's life here and another's there. Before you know it, it feels like five false starts and we're already nearly fifty minutes in before the film really gets going. The pacing gets better but the injections of comedy soon fade away and we're thrown into summer blockbuster-style action and it's just not quite as fun.

There are some great filmmaking techniques at play here though. Abrams actually followed the camera around tapping on it and shaking it to get a more organic shudder to action sequences. It's one of those things that you don't give much thought to but really helps make a sequence. ILM did the CGI work on this film and they actually had to find a way to replicate that shaking for consistency. They ended up putting a motion sensor on their desks and tapping it like Abrams did and voila... seamless style.

Abrams also hired kids to walk and run through certain sets to make them seem bigger than there were. It's a pretty brilliant shortcut to saving materials. In another sequence the characters are supposed to be quickly falling down towards a planet's surface so instead of hanging them upside down on wires, the production team built a platform and shot down at the actors standing on mirrors. The mirrors reflect the sky, it really looks like they're falling on film, and no one had to have all their blood rush to their head.

It's this kind of innovation and creativity that makes me curious as to what Abrams and his team have up their sleeve next. This effort was cooled by a story that could have used some more editing and more of a challenge for the characters. It was fun to watch and the acting was fine, but it wasn't anything fantastic.

Rating: 3/5
Recommended for: if you're bored and you like space but you're not a scientist

Avatar (2009)

James Cameron revived himself to bring us another movie people will see in theaters six times each, supplementing his bank account for another twelve years. This time it's Avatar, a really pretty video game complete with abrupt dialogue, running, and plenty of weaponry.

The concept is Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a paraplegic ex-marine, is taking his dead twin brother's place, in an operation focused on mining the ridiculously-name unobtanium on the planet Pandora. He's now part of a scientific team lead by Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) which uses avatars of the native population, the Navi, to learn about them and the biology of their planet.

Jake becomes the driver of his brother's avatar and the aforementioned running ensues. While the concept is complex, the story beyond that is practically nonexistent. And what is there feels very recycled. Some have been saying it's Fern Gully, Pocohantas, and Dances with Wolves rolled in one. I'm inclined to agree.

Luckily the actors bring serious gravitas to some ridiculous dialogue. They try their best to make lines that are clearly there just to inform the audience or to hit you over the head with a message seem like something their character might naturally say.

This movie's strongpoint is definitely its visuals. Cameron and his team have made advancements in CGI but since the focus was definitely on that, I couldn't help but be reminded a bit of The Phantom Menace fiasco. And many of the vehicles created look like they've been lifted from the Halo series as well as other video games (although one vehicle is clearly a retooled piece from Aliens). On top of the CGI though, Team Cameron uses 3D to their advantage. There were no cheap "Hey, look this thing is pointing at/reaching out to get you." shots.

Part of the problem with 3D in this movie (and probably others to come) is that like any other live action film, selective focus is used. While this technique is employed to draw your attention to a specific place in a scene, in 3D the issue comes up where something appears physically closer to you but is out of focus. Sometimes the out of focus item isn't closer to you but since it still pops out from the background, it can still be distracting. And that messes with your brain. The headache the whole thing gave me eventually passed as my eyes were worn down and beaten into submission.

Avatar runs nearly 3 hours. It appears since Cameron was also the editor (in addition to the director/producer/writer), there was very little left on the digital cutting room floor. When you see a slow-motion screaming/running/things exploding sequence, don't be surprised when yet another one comes five minutes later. If you didn't get enough of a soaring sequence, don't worry you'll get another one soon enough.

Rating: 3/5

Recommended for: People who enjoy the color blue and small children with long attention spans.

Extended Review: Dr. Augustine's group goes through all the trouble of growing these incredibly expensive Navi avatars so they can infiltrate the native population. And yet, the avatars wear human clothing which looks nothing like the very distinct Navi garments. It seems like a lot of trouble to go through just to announce that you're not really one of them without even saying a word. The Navi are quite large (about twice as big as humans) so I guess it'd take longer to walk through the forest if you weren't using your avatar. Also, I guess this way the humans can talk to the Navi eye-to-eye. But there seems to be no reasoning behind making the Navi so tall except to and yet another element of different-ness. When the humans and Navi are in the same scene, it just looks ridiculous.

District 9 (2009)

District 9 is not only a sci-fi movie; it's a smart movie. And it's intense - really really intense. Around ten minutes in it grabs you and won't let go, building momentum along the way until it's time to roll credits.

In the film, twenty-some years ago a massive alien ship stopped over Johannesburg, South Africa. An exploratory team found many unhealthy extraterrestrials inside and brought them down to live in a camp - District 9. Eventually it's a highly-secured slum and several "prawns" (as they're sometimes called derogatorily) are involved in violent protests and crimes.

So in 2010 Multinational United (MNU) is contracted to relocate the aliens to District 10, 200 km outside the city. In documentary style, the audience follows Wikus Van De Merwe (Sharlto Copely), a bureaucrat on the team serving eviction notices. After an accident, Van De Merwe learns what it's like to be on the other side of MNU's armored vehicles. Don't let what happens to Van De Merwe turn you off, and you'll be glad you stayed.

We get to see the district through a blend of filming styles that also includes security camera footage and traditional Hollywood style filming. Eventually it totally gives way completely to that last style. That transition is just one of the many smooth, thought-out aspects from Neill Blomkamp and his team in this movie. This is not mindless entertainment.

There is never just action for action's sake. There are motion-capture CGI aliens and violent explosions but they are used sparingly. It's clear the film isn't about how well they can make alien special effects - it's about the story. But the sparse use also helps make it all seem more realistic. There's this gritty, dirty feel to the whole thing. The production filmed in an impoverished neighborhood where residents had actually been relocated to a government-run housing district.

District 9 deals with many of the same issues in South Africa during the Apartheid - such as racism (rather speciesism here) and forced relocation. The treatment of refugees is another embedded element. These layers are woven in thanks to Blomkamp's own experience growing up in South Africa, but it's not a parable. You could be entertained by this film without knowing about the history in which it's entrenched.

Neil Blomkamp had the opportunity of a lifetime in making this movie. It was his first time directing a feature-length film and Peter Jackson as his producer just let him run with it. The finished product is fantastically made and very interesting to see.

Rating: 4/5

Recommended for: Those who don't mind a shot of world history with their sci-fi

(not recommended for small children)

THX 1138 (1971)

Before the incredibly well-known Star Wars series, George Lucas made THX 1138. Based on a short-film he'd made in college, THX 1138 is set in the 25th century in a strict underground society where daily sedative consumption is required and everyone has been assigned a function. Cameras and computers monitor every move. It's not too far outside the vein of books like The Giver or 1984.

When THX 1138 and his roommate LUH 3417 stop taking their medication, they start to have feelings - like attraction. This new awakening leads to actions that throw them in the spotlight, where they are deemed unfit for regular existence and arrested.

It's difficult to say too much more without giving the whole story away because there's not too much more of the story. In fact, throughout the film it feels like you're circling outside a story, never really getting into details or why things are the way they are, just hanging in space as things happen in front of you. It's borderline trippy.

Weirdly enough, it sort of works. The vague, lost quality of it all lets the audience feel what it's like to live in THX's society. Also, it's very apt for Lucas, who's known for only speaking minimally to his actors while directing. He's always seemed to have a strong vision for his films but not always the best success of fully sharing it with everyone else. Here the visuals do a lot of the speaking for him.

Time spent in quiet, all white, endless rooms contrasts with that spent in loud, crowded, grittier transportation areas. In fact those transportation areas are the most fantastic of the visual sequences. They seem to be paving the way for running down the trenches of the Death Star in Star Wars: A New Hope. In reality it was clever use of places like the San Francisco International Airport, Caldecott Tunnel, and the (at the time) unfinished BART subway system.

Robert Duvall also helps with his commitment to the character of THX 1138. Without saying much, he's easy to latch onto and take seriously.

This movie might not be for those who thrive on a great story, but it's definitely something different than what you can see any given day.

Rating: 3/5

Recommended for: Adults who'd like to see pre-stormtroopers