All Good Things

75/100 (101 min, 2010)
Plot: Mr. David Marks was suspected but never tried for killing his wife Katie who disappeared in 1982, but the truth is eventually revealed.
Director:Andrew Jarecki
Writers: Marcus Hinchey, Marc Smerling
Stars: Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst and Frank Langella

The Disappearance of Katie Marks

Ironically entitled "All Good Things" is a fascinating and peculiar movie - inspired by true events it begins as if it was a standard romantic comedy, then it becomes family drama only to transform into thriller and then changes into something that would probably be one of Norman Bates's favorite movies. This transformation never feels too bizarre because the film does good job in immersing the story with odd feelings and nuances throughout, but the real story the film revolves around at the very least deserved much better script.

David is a young man, who comes from a wealthy home and he wants nothing to do with family business or becoming his father's heir. One day,during a "meet cute" he meets Katie, lively, lovely and sweet girl who isn't a match for his social or financial status. Nonetheless, or perhaps because of that since it fits into his quiet rebellion against his father, he immediately asks her out and brings her to his house. The girl, though astonished, can totally hold her own, while David remains very shy and puzzlingly quiet as his father throws disapproving looks and scathing remarks his way.

The Debt

82/100 (113 min, 2010)
Plot: 1965, three Mossad agents cross into East Berlin to apprehend a notorious Nazi war criminal. Thirty years later, the secrets the agents share come back to haunt them.
Director: John Madden
Writers: Matthew Vaughn (screenplay), Jane Goldman (screenplay), Peter Straughan (screenplay), Assaf Bernstein (film "Ha-Hov") & Ido Rosenblum (film "Ha-Hov")
Stars: Helen Mirren, Jessica Chastain, Sam Worthington and Tom Wilkinson

The cost of lies

"The Debt" is a skillfully and elegantly shot film about the mission to apprehend "the surgeon of Birkenau"- Doktor Bernhardt, criminal responsible for the deaths of thousands of people. The mission is a task ensured to three people - Stephan (Marton Csokas and Tom Wilkinson), David (Sam Worthington and Ciarán Hinds) and Rachel (Jessica Chastain and Helen Mirren). We see the story of how their mission turns out and then we jump ahead 30 years to the moment Rachel's and Stephan's daughter writes a book about her parents heroic mission. From the very first moments we sense there is more to the story, something that remained unsaid for three decades. Now Rachel, David and Stephan will have to pay the prize for what they did.

What makes the movie very interesting is that it shows more then your usual "catch the bad guy" movie. Yes, a good portion of the film is spent on agents' efforts to apprehend their target, but once they have him the best part of the movie begins - the part where the criminal tries to manipulate and break his captors. Since the three assigned to the task are so young and mostly inexperienced it's very easy for him to do. The best part comes when while being forced fed by David the prisoner tells him that the reason he thought Jews deserved to die was because it only took four guards to line them up and lead them to death, nobody resisted, not even when they took their children. The film is filled with strong moments like that, but the unimaginable cruelty of those words and the amazing ability Jesper Christensen has to stole the movie with just one scene really made the movie memorable for me.

Don't be Afraid of the Dark

37/100 (99 min, 2010)
Plot: A young girl sent to live with her father and his new girlfriend discovers creatures in her new home who want to claim her as one of their own.
Director: Troy Nixey
Writers: Guillermo del Toro (screenplay), Matthew Robbins (screenplay)
Stars: Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce and Bailee Madison

I have a strange feeling the ghost of Lovecraft is following me. I go on trivia site for this one and it says "Appropriately set in Providence, RI as that was the home of H.P. Lovecraft who wrote the story "The Rats in the Walls" which apparently inspired this film.". I start watching "Masters of Horror" and the second episode is based on his story. I read a little about Alien design by Giger and guess what? He had an artwork published in...book called "Necronomicon". That's all on the side note but I assure you - this is way more scary than the film I'm reviewing here.

It's 2012. You don't expect cheesy CGI anymore. But the CGI in "Don't be Afraid of the Dark" is so bad and laughable it actually manages to ruin the movie. Things aren't perfect before we actually see the monsters as Pearce, Holmes and Madison are just horribly miscast as ensemble and have no chemistry together, despite efforts on Holmes's part. But there is climate, suspense, potential for a good movie here. And then when we finally see what it is that endangers protagonists...it all goes to hell.

True Grit

93/100 (110 min, 2010)
Plot: A tough U.S. Marshal helps a stubborn young woman track down her father's murderer.
Directors: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Writers: Joel Coen (screenplay), Ethan Coen (screenplay)
Stars: Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon and Hailee Steinfeld

“You must pay for everything in this world, one way and another. There is nothing free except the grace of God. “

I don't like westerns. All the gun fights, saloons, sand, cowboy hats and rangers piss me off for some reason. In fact, the only western I like and I don't think it covers it, since it's one of the very few movies I've rated 10/10 is “The Assassination of Jesse James by Coward Robert Ford”. I also loved "Deadwood" but that was mostly to amazing characters and performances. So why watch “True Grit”? Each year I watch all movies nominated for best picture. And Coen bros. flick had total of ten nominations in 2010 plus a nomination for 14-year old girl, which I found interesting.

TRON: Legacy

90/100 (125 min, 2010)
Plot: The son of a virtual world designer goes looking for his father and ends up inside the digital world that his father designed. He meets his father's creation turned bad and a unique ally who was born inside the digital domain of The Grid.
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Writers: Edward Kitsis (screenplay), Adam Horowitz (screenplay)
Stars: Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund and Olivia Wilde

Enter the game

I saw this movie because of Michael Sheen and Olivia Wilde, I was expecting dumb action movie with tons of unnecessary CGI. Instead I saw wonderful science fiction film, with meticulously executed universe, great performances and genuine adventure. I never saw first “Tron” movie, so I had a little bit of difficulty understanding the world of Tron but on the other hand I felt like Sam, experiencing this universe for the very first time. We don't know where to go, we don't know what is going on. We discover everything for the very first time.

The biggest asset of the film are visual effects and unique world of technology we are thrown into – I haven't seen something like this since the first “Matrix” movie. As much as I don't find the idea of human beings being sucked into cyber system were they can interact with computer programs very logical, once you buy it and just focus on watching the movie, you are going to have a great time doing that. CGI is one of the best I've ever seen – the creation of it took 68 weeks and apart from occasional fake looking younger version of Jeff Bridges everything is just mind blowing. It puts tacky looking “Avatar” to shame. From wonderful costumes with glowing stripes, through exciting disc wars to dark city under the reign of CLU, the film is just gorgeous. It's not tacky as most of action movies nowadays – the combination of black, white and glowing colors creates very elegant, minimalistic images.

Love and Other Drugs

(112 min, 2010)
Director: Edward Zwick
Writers: Charles Randolph (screenplay), Edward Zwick (screenplay),
Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway and Judy Greer

Sex over substance

Maggie (Anne Hathaway) is an alluring free spirit who won't let anyone - or anything - tie her down. But she meets her match in Jamie (Jake Gyllenhaal), whose relentless and nearly infallible charm serve him well with the ladies and in the cutthroat world of pharmaceutical sales. Maggie and Jamie's evolving relationship takes them both by surprise, as they find themselves under the influence of the ultimate drug: love.

Ah, how I loved the 90s. The time when MTV actually played good music, when Johnny Depp wasn't the object of incisive salivation of 13 year-old girls, when actual good singers were considered to be good singers, not plastic platinum blondes and when “Friends” were on TV. So the beginning of “Love and other drugs”, set in 1996 when we hear “"Two Princes" in the background started off promising. Unfortunately, it was all downhill from that moment.

There are two things that annoy the living hell out of me when I watch comedies – when it's not funny and you can clearly see when director wanted you too laugh, it was just too lame of attempt to succeed and when you are bored so much you split your focus and start doing something else. During this particular movie I actually started feeding my virtual cat slash dog on Facebook. That's how bored I was.

Alice in Wonderland

(108 min, 2010)
Director: Tim Burton
Writers: Linda Woolverton (screenplay), Lewis Carroll (books)
Stars: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter

Rescued by rabbits, cats and queens. 

What a disappointment. I've always said "Alice in Wonderland" is a dream material for Burton. Lately it seems that balls are falling off the great directors - first Jackson did "The Lovely Bones", so sweet it made me want tovomit with candies and pink ponies and now this. Burton clearly was not thinking a lot about his own movie or he suffered some major head trauma because his Alice bounces from usual grotesque and morbid scenes to completely childish resolutions and cartoonish, silly sequences. In the effect it is a movie....for nobody. Adults will find it too silly, kids will find it too scary, Burton's fans won't like the art direction which is so tacky and vulgar my eyes were hurting - and since it was in 3D used maybe in 5 scenes, my eyes were REALLY hurting.

There is no atmosphere - nothing is fascinating, everything is just...fake. Jabberwocky was embarrassingly poorly done, the creatures were animated in a very rookie way and the whole thing was just...painful to witness.

Having said that, the dialogues are sublime and the tea party sequence is the most insane and fantastic thing since 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'. The entire audience went nuts along with the characters - nobody could comprehend what the characters are talking about and what is going on.

The actors were great too - Rickman made fantastic caterpillar, Michael Sheen was absolutely adorable as the white rabbit - god, I could just hold him and never let go, Depp was fine, but the whole weird romantic tension between Mad Hatter and Alice - Burton was never good in portraying chemistry - even in 'Big Fish' we sorta have to believe the words the characters are saying - we don't see their love, Depp on the other hand never has chemistry with women - maybe this will change next year when we see him alongside Angelina dynamite Jolie in 'The Tourist'. However he is very suggestive and there was something incredibly eerie and disturbing in Alice/Hatter relation. But apart from that his make up is awesome, but by the end of the film...well clearly Disney holds Depp very close to money chest and he will do anything for the studio. That dance reminded me of Slumdog's ending and that's never a good thing. Mia Wasikowski was good as Alice, but there is not a single drop of passion, energy or charisma in that girl. But her looks were ok and she did interesting job.

The best ones in the show are the queens - Red one, played with a lot of force by director's muse and always lovely Helena Bonham Carter and the best one in the whole movie - Anne Hathaway as the white one. She stole the show, she was absolutely fantastic and hilarious. She played crazy vegetarian, not so much walkiing as floating, dealing with disgusting things and showing her disgust but underneath all of that her love and compasion for all things on Earth. She looked incredible and created one of the most memorable characters to appear in Burton's film. I also loved Stephen Fry as the floating, disappearing Cheshire Cat.
The music by the always terrific Danny Elfman is memorable and main theme is very good. The movie is lovely, but it could have been so much more. But the actors...ah, it's a real treat to see their performances here.

 68/100

Sex and the City 2

(146 min, 2010)
Director: Michael Patrick King
Writers: Michael Patrick King, Candace Bushnell (characters from the book by)
Stars: Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall and Kristin Davis

Shiny shallow people 

 

I like the series, I like the first theatrical movie. So I figured, despite alarmingly bad reviews, I will go see the sequel. And thank God, I didn't pay for the ticket on this one. It's as bad as you read.

The movie begins with the most flamboyant wedding I've seen – there are swans there, freaking boy choir, even Liza Minelli. The beginning was rather bad, but then movie started progressing towards fun – there were few funny jokes by, as usual the most hilarious in the cast Kim Cattrall, the plot was not insanely stupid (at least at that point) and even Penelope Cruz made an appearance. But when the gals go to Abu Dhabi...now that was just bad on so many levels – I''m gonna pretend I didn't see all the potentially offensive jokes and stereotypes used in the movie. The series was always rather outrageous and used vivid and courageous wording, but this time they went too far. I can laugh at distasteful joke as long as it's funny. Here the jokes are not funny – they are just vulgar and disgusting. And movie becomes more stupid with each second – the high point being Islamic women wearing Louis Vatton under their black clothes.

There isn't much of the 'sex' in 'Sex in the City 2” unless what is considered sex are extreme shots of erect penises (I'm all for it, but they went too far) or boring humping on the hood of the car. Sex is supposed to be passionate, sensual or at least hot. Apart from the brief appearance by Mrs Cruz nothing in this movie was hot. And keep in mind I don't find Penelope particularity breathtaking in the first place.

Eat Pray Love

(133 min, 2010)
Director: Ryan Murphy
Writers: Ryan Murphy (screenplay), Jennifer Salt (screenplay), Elizabeth Gilbert (book)
Stars: Julia Roberts, Javier Bardem and Richard Jenkins

Real problems? Banish!

A married woman (Julia Roberts) realizes how unhappy her marriage really is, and that her life needs to go in a different direction. After a painful divorce, she takes off on a round-the-world journey to "find herself".

"Eat Pray Love" is a boring version of "Under the Tuscan Sun" - here, same as in the movie with Diane Lane after emotional turmoil and personal drama a woman leaves everything she knows and starts her journey through strange land. Except this time, the main character is not interesting nor nice enough for the audience to sympathize with her. I never liked Julia Roberts, the only movie she didn't annoy me in was "Notting Hill" and that was probably thanks to how good the movie was, not to her. This time her character is already irritating, so casting Roberts didn't help.

Here is a woman who is successful, has nice husband and then hot lover, yet she still doesn't have enough. I don't have half of that and I'm content. And what about people who are sick, who have actual problems, not a bunch of high school meaningless crap? Well, I guess this is the kind of movie where real problems are forbidden. Roberts makes feeble attempts at acting and her prayer scene has got to be the most embarrassing moment of her career. Surprisingly, her character and performance aren't the biggest fails of the movie - that honor goes to many failed attempts of making the audience laugh, usually involving Liz's ex husband (Billy Crudup, for whom I felt genuinely sorry when he had to say all those pathetic lines).

Shutter Island

(138 min, 2010)
Plot: Drama set in 1954, U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels is investigating the disappearance of a murderess who escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane and is presumed to be hiding nearby.
Director: Martin Scorsese
Writers: Laeta Kalogridis (screenplay), Dennis Lehane (novel)
Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Emily Mortimer and Mark Ruffalo

Rat in a maze, audience in despair.

 
I really wanted to like this movie, but I can't. I was so hyped to see this – I love Scorsese's work – Goodfellas, Casino, The Departed – the guy is a legend. I like Leonardo Dicaprio a lot – he created mind blowing performance in “Revolutionary Road” and he is a very decent actor – I haven't seen him screw up a performance once. He makes great choices, he always delivers and he is very charismatic – that man is pure anger – he yells like insane in every single movie of his and that's gotta come out of somewhere – he is too good at it. I love actors like this – passionate, memorable, driven.But here, there is simply no connection between his acting style and the movie. The casting was first thing that went wrong.

„Shutter Island” is not engaging, boring and has terrible, terrible editing - few days ago I stumbled upon porn movie on tv - God knows it had better editing. I know Thelma Schoonmaker
who is responsible for this, has 3 Academy Awards and it only makes me more surprised – what happened? Nobody can defend such horrid editing – it was awful, it took the focus away from the movie. And what's even worse – it was splendid and exceptionally well done in flashbacks scenes. Very uneven work, but mostly just plain bad.

And that's the problem with this movie – it's uneven and nobody knows what's going on and what should be done. Scorsese doesn't know how to show the story, the scene were Dolores appears in cell next to insane criminal was truly awful, I have no idea how a director of such fame and class could do something like this, actors are generally confused as if they didn't read a script at all, the editor and music supervisors, were, I assume, high during making of this film.

The music is obnoxious, chaotic and inflicts actual pain. I don't know, maybe it was intentional. Some of the pieces fit the movie quite nicely and create very dense, creepy atmosphere. But as a whole it's impossible to listen to the soundtrack album before taking a massive amount of pain killers. I tried to do that – I couldn't. And for the love of God, I listen to Slipknot sometimes.

Never let me go

(103 min, 2010)
Director: Mark Romanek
Writers: Kazuo Ishiguro (novel), Alex Garland (screenplay)
Stars: Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan and Andrew Garfield  

(spoilers)

Unseen tides keep us apart.

“Never let me go
Love me much too much
If you let me go
Life will loseits touch
What woul I be without you?
There's no place for me without you
- Jane Monheit, Never let me go

As children, Ruth (Keira Knightley), Kathy (Carey Mulligan) and Tommy (Andrew Garfield), spend their childhood at a seemingly idyllic English boarding school. As they grow into young adults, they find that they have to come to terms with the strength of the love they feel for each other, while preparing themselves for the haunting reality that awaits them.

That reality is reveled to them when they are kids by their teacher miss Lucy (Sally Hawkings in brief but powerful appearance). They are clones and when they grow up their organs will be harvested to save lives of the people from “the outside world”.These kids have been bred to save lives, kept apart from the society and they were already told certain things about their fates. The only life they know is what was presented to them, contained, orchestrated, carefully planned. Their organs will not be harvested all at once, but in stages. They will be kept alive, until most vital organs are taken in the stage called “completion” after which their short life will end.

Black Swan

(108 min, 2010)
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Writers: Mark Heyman (screenplay), Andres Heinz (screenplay)
Stars: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis and Vincent Cassel
 

Demons laugh within.

“As I lie here and stare
The fabric starts to tear
It's far beyond repair
And I don't really care
As far as I have gone
I knew what side I'm on
But now I'm not so sure
The line begins to blur”
- Nine Inch Nails, “The Line Begins to Blur”

In my many years of being a movie fan I have never waited that eagerly for a movie. Having read both versions of the script I was sure that this idea can't fail, especially in the hands of Darren Aronofsky, who has never made a bad film. The movie mixes many fantastic films within itself, but the core of it and the reason why it's Aronofsky's best film is that apart form fascinating characters the story takes us deep into the protagonist's state of mind. We travel down the rabbit hole of insanity along with Nina, we are scared, happy and exhilarated when she is and we can't never guess what will happen next.

The movie follows the story of extremely ambitious and dedicated ballet dancer Nina Seyers (Natalie Portman in a performance sure to win Oscar). Nina is very hard working, unfortunately she lacks true talent and passion. She lives in apartment with her overprotective mother, former ballerina (Barbara Hershey). After persuading the director of the new version of “Swan Lake” Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) Nina surprisingly gets the lead role of Swan Queen. The role consists of playing both shy and fearful White Swan (which is essentially the personality of Nina) and sexual and malicious Black Swan (which Nina has no idea how to dance). As Nina struggles with her role, new dancer, free spirited Lily (Mila Kunis) appears in the group and seems to be perfect for the role of Black Swan. To make matters worse, the ballerina of great fame, Beth, retires and blames Nina for her downfall...

There is so much drama going on in this story, it would be sufficient for few separate movies. The core of this film lies in the rivalry and physical similarity between Nina and Lily. Nina, most likely a virgin is a good girl – she lives with her mother, I suspect because there is no reason for her to move out. Her entire life is her dancing. There is a strong possibility she became a ballet dancer because her mother wanted her to, but regardless of the reason, this is her life now and her dancing and success are the only things that matter to her. Nina is very much like an innocent child, although being in her late twenties – her room is pink, it's filled with stuffed animals, her mother tucks her in every evening and turns on music box with a ballerina's figurine turning around to the theme of “Swan Lake”, sounding like a creepy lullaby. Nina is working way too hard – her body is ruined, she has eating disorder, she is freakishly skinny, her nails break and she has a nervous tick – she unconsciously scratches her back till it bleeds.

Blue Valentine

(112 min, 2010)
Director: Derek Cianfrance
Writers: Derek Cianfrance, Cami Delavigne
Stars: Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams and John Doman

Is this love?

“I feel like men are more romantic than women. When we get married we marry, like, one girl, 'cause we're resistant the whole way until we meet one girl and we think I'd be an idiot if I didn't marry this girl she's so great. But it seems like girls get to a place where they just kinda pick the best option... 'Oh he's got a good job.' I mean they spend their whole life looking for Prince Charming and then they marry the guy who's got a good job and is gonna stick around.”

“Blue Valentine” is a hard movie to watch because it treats love as it probably is in reality – as something very unsure, difficult and elusive. Unfortunately, despite the great subject matter and fantastic performances the film itself is boring and for most of it we ask ourselves “why should we care?”. We watch these two people, we see their interactions, but the film lacks heart and the story of love lacks...love.

Dean is a simple guy, without decent job, without plans and education. But he is a good person and helpless romantic. One day he sees Cindy and he falls in love with her, without even knowing her. He thinks she is the one for him and he wants to spend his life with her. Cindy wants to be a doctor, she changes boys as gloves, although she takes care her of grandmother, showing which is obviously useless attempt for the audience to get to care about her, she doesn't really get attached to guys, having seen the bitterness and hatred between her parents. Could there be two more different people?

The King's Speech

(118 min, 2010)
Director: Tom Hooper
Writer: David Seidler (screenplay)
Stars: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter
 

Finding your voice.

“If I am King, where is my power? Can I declare war? Form a government? Levy a tax? No! And yet I am the seat of all authority because they think that when I speak, I speak for them.”

“The King's Speech” tells the story of the man who became King George VI, the father of Queen Elizabeth II. After his brother abdicates, George ('Bertie') reluctantly assumes the throne. Plagued by a dreaded stammer and considered unfit to be king, following his wife's (Helena Bonham Carter) advice Bertie (Colin Firth) engages the help of an unorthodox speech therapist named Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). Through a set of unexpected techniques, and as a result of an unlikely friendship, Bertie is able to find his voice and boldly lead the country through war.

What does king do? He sits on a throne, one may answer. He rules the country, answers another. But the most correct answer is – he leads the nation. And how does he do that? By speaking to them. But what if the king couldn't express his words and his thoughts would never reach his people? What if the king's had an awful stammer, preventing him from speaking almost all the time?

That story actually happened and as seemingly little as the issue may be, the movie shows how serious it was in reality. England is declaring the war on Germany and it's King's duty to inform his people about it, with proper reassurance, comfort and plead for courage and strength. But first “Bertie”, shy and limited by his own skill to speak must find his own strength. The film focuses on how, gradually, Bertie, thanks to the support of his loving wife (Bonham Carter stars in a shockingly delicate and subtle role, comparing to her usual work that is) and his talented speech therapist, finds his own voice. The techniques Logue uses to diminish the stammer are often amusing and always creative and the collision of the Royal Highness and simple Australian man is thrilling to watch, mostly thanks to David Seidler's witty and smart dialogue.

“King's Speech” also portrays the monarchy as often strict, emotionless and highly honorable institution, but with exceptions – Bertie and his brother Edward are firstly human beings and only then royal sons.. The film shows what happens when one prince falls in love with someone who most certainly cannot become the Queen, what happens when the royal son disappoints his father and that even though those people have to be perfect and reserved in public's eye, they have very strong need for affection. I liked how it shows us the background of all the official meetings and ceremonies – Bertie's daughters greet him when he becomes the king with proper respect but he, as a very loving person and their father, responds by tenderly hugging them.

As with most British dramas about royalty, the movie is deliciously subtle. There are so many tender and beautiful moments – the one that got imprinted in my memory the most is when Bertie plays the record Logue gave him and he discovers, that indeed, when he didn't hear himself he read flawlessly. His wife hears it too and she just stands there quietly, right behind him, overwhelmed with happiness and being proud of her husband. We're observing the family life of Bertie and Logue – they both love their wives and their kids immensely, we see private family moments and we marvel at those ordinary man, who in one case were born into extraordinary situation and with another born with amazing skill to help people overcome their weaknesses.

Colin Firth delivered the best performance of the year in 2009 with his heartbreaking portrait of a man on the verge of suicide in “A Single Man” and he is best in 2010 as well. I didn't think he can act better than he did in Tom Ford's directorial debut, but to my surprise – he can. His stammer is incredibly realistic – very annoying and devastating at the same time. Firth manages to be both moving and funny, strong and weak, lost and determined throughout the movie. He shows incredible range of emotions and skills – his Bertie is a very proud man, very respectful of his duties but also capable of admitting to himself that he really doesn't want them. He has a bad temper and he often declines offers of help, but he is the man enough to admit he was wrong afterward. Far from flawless, but also such an astonishing person, who is able to learn from his mistakes and be brave enough to face his own fears.

Logue is played by Geoffrey Rush, who is perfect for the part. Funny, whimsical and sympathetic Logue respects his student, even though his world is completely unknown to him. Their friendship is very beautiful – it doesn't matter how their lives look and what their duties are, what matters is that they are good people and in the end they found mutual respect and admiration, that as we found out in the end of the film, in reality lasted between them their entire lives.

I was stunned at the beautiful cinematography in the film – it looks ordinary at first glance, apart from making the film stunning, but it's quite clever and creative – notice how insecure Bertie is often only in the corner of the frame, looking very small and helpless. The fog, the cold colors, the hostility of the world and situation – the impending war, the inability to speak, the loneliness and feeling misunderstood is mostly shown in “The king's speech” in the images we see. They help us feel what Bertie feels.

It's not the movie as good and shocking as “Black Swan” or as flawlessly executed as “The Social Network”. But “The King's Speech” has so much heart and warmth in it, it is very hard not to marvel at that.

93/100

The Tourist

(103 min, 2010)
Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Writers: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (screenplay), Christopher McQuarrie (screenplay)
Stars: Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie and Paul Bettany

Catch them if you can.

Elise (Angelina Jolie) sits next to an American tourist, Frank (Johnny Depp), on a train going to Venice. She has chosen him as a decoy, making believe that he is her lover who is wanted for police. Not only will they need to evade the police, but also the mobster whose money her lover stole.

“The Tourist” is one of the most criticized movies of last year. When it received three Golden Globe nominations – for best motion picture – comedy, Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp it also got a tremendous amount of backlash from the public. The movie failed in box office and many reviewers complained that the film is boring and that it contains Johnny Depp's worst performance. Was it all deserved? After watching the movie I have to say no.

I had very low expectations – in fact I just wanted to watch this film to check if it's as bad as everyone keeps saying and to stare at lovely Jolie, who in my mind is one of the most strikingly beautiful actresses to ever grace cinema screen with their presence. What I saw was not a bad movie – it was fun, entertaining and despite quite a weak script, very watchable and far from being boring.

127 hours

(94 min, 2010)
Director: Danny Boyle
Writers: Danny Boyle (screenplay), Simon Beaufoy (screenplay)
Stars: James Franco, Amber Tamblyn and Kate Mara

“One pound of flesh, no more no less. No cartilage, no bone, but only flesh. This task done... and he would go free."

“127 Hours” is the true story of mountain climber Aron Ralston's (played by James Franco) remarkable adventure to save himself after a fallen boulder crashes on his arm and traps him in an isolated canyon in Utah. Over the next five days Ralston examines his life .Throughout his journey, Ralston recalls friends, lovers, family, and the two hikers he met before his accident.

The human being will do anything to survive. It's our primary instinct – to live, to go on. Every single one of us would do anything to keep going. But Aron Ralston actually ended up in a situation where he literally got stuck between rock and the the hard place. He got on a trip one day, without telling anyone where he was going and he got stuck, in the middle of nowhere, with his arm crashed by giant rock. There was no one around, nobody heard his screams for help. He was all alone.

There are two reasons for which “127 Hours” is an extremely powerful movie – first, it forces us to think what would we do in such situation. Aron figures out what may be his only way to live very early, but he waits till last moment to do it. In order to live he will have to abandon part of himself and that will make his life considerably worse, not to mention the excruciating pain that comes along with his final decision. That scene is overwhelming to witness. In my life of movie fan I saw hundreds of gruesome, horrifying scenes but I'm absolutely certain that the rumors of people fainting during that sequence are true. I felt not so much sick as dizzy – the content of the scene and the way it is shot is nauseating and I myself experience vertigo during watching it. It's one of the best scenes of the year, it captures the horror and the gore of the unimaginable situation without tiptoeing around the terrible subject matter. And we watch it in astonishment – how much strength and bravery must one have to do something like that?

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 1

(146 min, 2010)

Director: David Yates
Writers: Steve Kloves (screenplay), J.K. Rowling (novel)
Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint

Eclipse.

Voldemort's power is growing stronger. He now has control over the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts. Harry, Ron, and Hermione decide to finish Dumbledore's work and find the rest of the Horcruxes to defeat the Dark Lord. But little hope remains for the Trio, and the rest of the Wizarding World, so everything they do must go as planned.

I've never been much of Harry Potter series fan. I only read one book and as enjoyable as it was, it's simply not my cup of tea. I found whole thing to be very childish and predictable. Having said that, there are some splendid ideas in the books and the world of magic, existing right next to ordinary one, is very interesting. I saw all of the movies, my favorite one being “Harry Potter and the Goblet of fire” thanks to easy to follow narration, lots of great scenes and the birth of the darkness that will define later movies.

As the series progressed and directors changed, beginning with “Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban” the movies became a little bit more dark. After very disappointing “Order of Phoenix” came my second favorite “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” with haunting musical score and beautiful sequences, especially interesting flashbacks. With each movie the formula changed a little and the unnerving habit of ending movie with a twist about one of the teachers being a villain stopped occurring. The improvement also came with terrific actors being involved in the series, with great Imelda Staunton and always deliciously creepy Helena Bonham Carter. Even the young actors showed more and more talent and feature my favorite performance form all the movies – lovely Evanna Lynch as fascinatingly strange Luna Lovegood.

The Kids Are All Right

(106 min, 2010)
Director: Lisa Cholodenko
Writers: Lisa Cholodenko, Stuart Blumberg
Stars: Annette Bening, Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo

 

Lovely mess.

Two children, Joni and Laser (Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson) conceived by artificial insemination bring their birth father (Mark Ruffalo) into their family life to their mothers' (Annette Bening and Julianne Moore) disapproval. 

This movie left me angry because it made me care for the characters and left things in a very cruel way. But it is only a sign of how amazing the film is – it actually made me mad, made me think and surprised me in many ways. The film portrays unconventional family – Nic (Bening) is a doctor and has very controlling personality, Jules (Julianne Moore) is her life long partner, who is more of a careless person, constantly changing job and feeling insecure about herself. They have been together for many years, yet they still love each other and raise two kids – Joni and Laser. Joni is about to leave home for college and Laser is eager to find out who was the sperm donor for their moms, when the opportunity arises.

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger

(98 min, 2010)
Director: Woody Allen
Writer: Woody Allen
Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Naomi Watts and Josh Brolin
 

You will see a bland, uninteresting movie.

I consider myself lucky. One of my favorite directors, Woody Allen, makes one movie a year. It's almost a luxury, for fans, to have this guarantee that each year, we will get to see something new. Sadly with “You will meet a tall dark stranger” for the first time, since many years that I've been Allen's fan, I feel his creative productivity and the urge to make new movie every 12 months may be a bad thing. Terrible thing, in fact.

The movie follows a pair of married couples, Alfie (Hopkins) and Helena (Jones), and their daughter Sally (Watts) and husband Roy (Brolin), as their passions, ambitions, and anxieties lead them into trouble and out of their minds. After Alfie leaves Helena to pursue his lost youth and a free-spirited call girl named Charmaine (Punch), Helena abandons rationality and surrenders her life to the loopy advice of a charlatan fortune teller. Unhappy in her marriage, Sally develops a crush on her handsome art gallery owner boss, Greg (Banderas), while Roy, a novelist nervously awaiting the response to his latest manuscript, becomes moonstruck over Dia (Pinto), a mystery woman who catches his gaze through a nearby window.

Despite the critics and audience hating “Cassandra's dream” and “Whatever Works” I enjoyed those movies. That's not everything – universally bashed “Anything Else” is my favorite movie by Woody. But there is not much to enjoy in “You will meet a tall dark stranger” and it's his weakest film since “Celebrity”. There are so many things wrong with this film, I don't know where to start. But the biggest flaw is that almost every story arc is not even remotely interesting nor funny or memorable.

The Town

(125 min, 2010)
Director: Ben Affleck
Writers: Peter Craig (screenplay), Ben Affleck (screenplay)
Stars: Ben Affleck, Rebecca Hall and Jon Hamm
 

Sunny day marks trouble.

There are over 300 bank robberies in Boston every year. And most of the professionals live in a one-square-mile neighborhood called Charlestown. One of them is Doug MacRay. The only family Doug has are his partners in crime, especially Jem, who is the closest thing Doug ever had to a brother. However, everything changed on the gang's last job when Jem briefly took a hostage: bank manager Claire Keesey. When they discover Claire lives in Charlestown, Jem gets nervous and wants to check out what she might have seen. Knowing what Jem is capable of, Doug takes charge. He seeks out Claire, who has no idea that their encounter is not by chance or that this charming stranger is one of the men who terrorized her only days before. As his relationship with Claire deepens into a passionate romance, Doug wants out of this life and the town.

The movie is very effective crime thriller but sadly nothing more. It's wonderfully executed, contains fantastic cast and the most impressive heist/shootout scenes since “Heat” (to which it's almost strikingly similar at times). In fact those scenes, long, thrilling and engaging make the rest of the movie, especially love story look a bit silly. I felt that the inclusion of cliché romance arc actually cheapened what could have been a truly great film.