OW11: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

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Read the book... found the first half interminably slow, but a strong second half mostly made up for it.

Saw the original Swedish film... thought mostly the same thing, plus a truly fantastic performance from Noomi Repace.

This new US version... solves the problem. The adaptation by Steven Zaillian is nothing short of masterful, giving all the pertinent exposition without the book's plodding, meandering subplots. That, coupled with David Fincher's typically sparkling direction, moves the movie along at a breakneck pace (though slower when it needs to be). Outside of Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara (who give spectacular performances) in the lead roles, the movie didnt look quiet as I expected, which oddly added to the experience.

As you can tell, I enjoyed this film immensely. It was absolutely everything I wanted as I read the book, which helps. Ideally, truly hope the sequels get made, as I'll be right there to see them.

OW11: J. Edgar

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J. Edgar is a rather peculiar little film with big aspirations. It is filled with some great imagery, a wonderful stylistic choices by director Clint Eastwood, a stunning performance by Leonardo DiCaprio, a very well done love story, a solid screenplay… but it ultimately comes off as somewhat slight, rather boring and, frankly, kind of pointless.

The screenplay by Dustin Lance Black is both a strong point of the film and a source of many of the film's problems for me (if that makes any sense at all). The dialogue is quick and appropriate, telling the story wonderfully. The problem is that the film doesn't really give any information about J. Edgar Hoover I didn't already know, and it didn't delve into the why; why was Hoover so insecure, why did he do the things he did, why was he so obsessed? Beyond that, most of the action of the plot wasn't all that engaging to me, so there were times in the film where I felt bored. Though I must say that the love story between Hoover and his protege Clyde Tolson was handled very well, not once taking over the film or being 'over the top', if you will. 

In all, J. Edgar is a film that could have been much better for me. I do highly recommend it if you like the whole biopic genre, as it's definitely worth a watch - the direction and lead performance see to that. 

 

OW11: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II

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As an adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s novel, HP7.5 is wonderful, right in line with the 3 previous Yates films. My problems with the film largely extend from my problems with the novel itself, and the decision to break the novel into two films. In essence, director David Yates made one giant film based on the seventh book and split it into two pieces, exactly as the full title of the film indicates: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II. The result is a movie that struggles to build as a well-made movie should, culminating in a disappointing, largely predictable ending and an absolutely wretched and unnecessary epilogue.

The performances in the cast are wonderful, some of the best of the series. Looking back on the whole Harry Potter octalogy, it’s been an absolute pleasure to watch the young trio of actors, Daniel Radcliffe especially, grow alongside such celebrated actors, seemingly acting as mentors for the young actors. The visual effects are superb, as expected, with the visual feel to the movie right in line with the other Yates Potter films. The overall structure of the film is also a bit lacking, since the first half of the film is missing, as previously noted. It is tough to fully judge this film without the first part, but since the films were packaged as thus, that is how they are judged. It is truly disappointing, as this film could have been, and should have been, an epic finale to an epic series.

I’m including this in my Oscar Watch 2011 series not because of the quality of the film being worthy of inclusion, but because it is the finale of such a landmark film series. As discussed last year with Toy Story 3, the Academy likes to honor landmark finales, so this bears keeping an eye on. I only wish David Yates could go back and re-make the relatively lackluster first four films in the series....

 

Oscar Watch 2011

It's come time for a decision, re: "Oscar Watch 2011". Last year, I'd seen 4 of the films named to the American Film Institute's Top 10 list. The AFI announced their awards recently, and I've seen a grand total of.... zero. #timmfail. There are a couple on the list that I absolutely plan on seeing (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, War Horse), a few that I planned on seeing just never got around to (Moneyball, J. Edgar, The Help), a couple that certainly intrigued me (Hugo, The Descendants), one I wouldn't mind seeing (The Tree of Life), one I absolutely avoided seeing (Bridgesmaids) and one I've only vaguely heard of (Midnight in Paris). Plus this list is only a starting point, as there are a bunch of movies this year that I've heard wonderful things about, but aren't on the list (Drive, Ides of March, 50/50... to name a few). 

So I'm putting together a list of the big buzzworthy movies, culled from various best-of lists and such... fortunately, all seem to be available for me to see (or, in some cases, will be available within the next month or so). Here's what I'm going to strive to see:

My list

• The Adventures of Tintin - out 12/21


• Bridesmaids - out currently on blu-ray, added to my Netflix queue.


• Carnage - out 12/16


• The Descendants - out in theaters now


• Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close - out 12/25


• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - out 12/18


• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - already seen, full review to follow


• The Help - out currently on blu-ray, added to my Netflix queue


• Hugo - out in theaters now


• Ides of March - out in theaters now


• The Iron Lady - out 1/13


• J. Edgar - out in theaters now


• Midnight in Paris - blu-ray comes out 12/20


• Moneyball - blu-ray comes out 1/10


• The Tree of Life - out currently on blu-ray, added to my Netflix queue


• War Horse - out 12/25 (though I won't be seeing it until I see the play in January)


• We Bought a Zoo - out 12/23


• 50/50 - out in theaters now, though may be difficult to find

Of course, as I generate this list, I think of a slew of others... but this is what I will begin with. This will be a vaunting task... but I will try my best. Hell, I may even start tonight. Stay tuned for updates!

Could these movie posters be any more awesome?

See the full gallery on Posterous

'Amazing Spider-Man' and 'The Dark Knight Rises'.

Is it next summer yet?