Movie Review: Never Let Me Go

When I saw that this film starred two of my favorite actresses, Keira Knightley (Atonement)and Carey Mulligan (An Education), I knew I could not pass it up and with respects to the acting this was true. Exceptional performances were given by Knightley and Mulligan who play Ruth and Kathy; two young women born into inescapably frightening circumstances. Andrew Garfield (Boy A) who completes the top billing for the film gives his own gravity to it with his character Tommy. Particularly intriguing however are the wonderful performances by the child actors who play the young Ruth, Kathy, and Tommy, with the most being the young Kathy played by Izzy Meikle-Small.

While giving a big applause to the acting in the film, the story line and script leave the audience with a sense that something is missing. That something? I'll have to read the book first to really know. The film is based on the novel by the same title, published in 2005 and in the same year winning the award "Best Novel" by Time Magazine. The story also has an amazing hook...
It is approximately mid-1950s and scientists and doctors have made great leaps in the field of medicine. Organ transplants are now seamlessly completed, leaving people to exceptionally long life expectancies and a high need for healthy organ donations. The film opens in Britain at a boarding school where children (assumed to be orphans) are bred to be the aforementioned organ donors when they reach their full growth period (late twenties). The three main characters Ruth, Tommy and Kathy are pulled together by friendship, jealousy and ultimately love as they come to terms with their perilous inevitable fate.

It is true that I recommend renting this film when it is available. The final scene in itself makes the whole movie worth watching. But I did leave feeling slightly robbed of something that could have been far more powerful, had there been stronger screenwrighting for the talented cast to use.

Comedy on the radar; Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead

This is one is so ridiculously ridiculous it needs no intro or explanation! Checkout the trailer below...the film comes out in select cities on Friday.

Movie Review: Happythankyoumoreplease

You might recognize Josh Radnor from tv's How I Met Your Mother but the screenwriter/director in him has made its debut in the upcoming movie Happythankyoumoreplease. I saw a screening of the film at the GenArt Film Festival occurring over the next week here in New York and was overwhelmingly pleased with the entire evening's film presentations.

In Happythankyoumoreplease you're introduced to the character of Sam Wexler, played by Radnor, who although thinks himself to be a good guy, is slightly selfish outside of his immediate circle of friends. This all changes when Sam meets a young child who is separated from his foster care family on the subway. The film also highlights the lives of Sam's friends who bring alot of layers and poignancy to the storyline. Also starring in the film are Malin Akerman (Watchmen, Couples Retreat), Zoe Kazan (Revolutionary Road, It's Complicated), and Kate Mara (Entourage, Iron Man 2).

Check out an interview with Radnor below from the Sundance Film Festival where the film premiered and acquired distribution and a limited release date of August 27th. This is definitely a New Yorker's movie, as it was shot here, mostly in the downtown areas all in a matter of 5 weeks!

Movie to checkout: Bluebeard

Bluebeard (Barbe Bleue) originially premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival last February and is slowly making its way around the globe. The film, which is directed by Catherine Breillat, takes an intrigueing and dark twist on the classic children's tale. It centers around a rich tyrannic lord who has a habit of making his young wives dissapear. When his newest acquired spouse realizes his habits she must outsmart him to save her skin. No word on regular releases and such but it's saved in my Netflix queue nonetheless. Check out the trailer below:

Anticipated movie: Breaking Upwards

Back from my mini hiatus and ready to continue the updates! A movie that I am excited to catch when it comes to NY is Breaking Upwards which opens in limited release throughout the US tomorrow. The film follows a real life couple in a fictional narrative loosely based on their real life relationship. When monogamy becomes too mundane, the couple decides to try being in an open relationship to spice things up. The trailer definitely peaked my interests and it was shot all around the city, making it a must see for all New Yorkers!

What to see this weekend: Prodigal Sons

Director Kimberly Reed brings you a documentary on her life and relationship with her older brother as they reunite after ten years of estrangement and re-conciliate their brotherly rivalry. After having grown up a man Reed is now a female filmmaker...Marc grew up a man but not a very fortunate one in terms of luck, until his whole perspective on life changes when he learns that his birth parents were Orson Wells and Rita Hayworth.

What to watch...

The Red Riding Trilogy screened at the Telluride and New York film festivals and opened in New York on February 5 at the IFC Center. There is a national release also following but if watching a three part film over the course of five hours is not something you can stomache than watch it on IFC channel's video on demand.

Described by Apple Movie Trailers as "a mesmerizing neo-noir epic based on factual events and adapted for the screen by Tony Grisoni (FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS) from David Peace’s electrifying series of novels revolving around the manhunt for the “Yorkshire Ripper,” a serial killer who terrorized northwest England in the 1970s and ’80s. The three films are directed by three notable filmmakers—Julian Jarrold (BRIDESHEAD REVISITED), James Marsh (MAN ON WIRE) and Anand Tucker (SHOPGIRL)."

Check out the trailers below & make sure to catch the trilogy in theaters or on demand:

Movie Review: Crazy Heart

After watching the film Crazy Heart it is very apparent why Jeff Bridges walked away with Best Actor in a Drama at this weekend's Golden Globes. He appears on the screen as his character Bad Blake and you have no recollection of his past roles, successes and failures (Big Lebowski and Men Who Stare at Goats). Bad is the kind of character that leaves the audience with sadness and hope. Watching Bridges continue to lose himself in a tumbleweed way of life which primarily revolves around an abuse of whiskey, cigarettes, and a lot of women is painful and brings to mind Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler. Maggie Gyllenhaal also gives a beautiful, honest performance as a young mother who begins to care deeply for Bad despite their significance age difference. Ultimately what draws the audience in and makes the film a powerful one is the honesty and rawness of humanity. The complexities which encase each of us and show that we are composed of beautiful melodies as well harsh, deafening, ugly noise.

An area where the film fell short is in the embracing of Bad's past. It touches upon his years of success very quickly and sporadically but does not really open up; perhaps the reason for this is that Bad himself has been living a majority of his life in a blur. Also the rehabilitation of Bad happens so quickly that if you left for a bathroom break you would have completely missed his transformation from degenerate, washed up country artist to dignified song writing legend. In contrast to the slow bloom of the beginning of the film, the end comes crashing quite quickly, which I thought to be a little of a disappointment.

The reasons to not miss Crazy Heart fall mostly in the performances and the soundtrack which is beautiful and sad at the same time and works well throughout the storyline; and if folksy/country music is not something that appeals to you, the vast, majestic scenery of the southwest that soaks the background of much of the film will surely take your breath away.

2010 Golden Globe Winners

The 2010 Golden Globes were a bit of a disappointment for me in terms of who won and who walked away empty handed. Albeit a pretty funny bit by Gervais and a nice ovation to Scorsese, the winners and their speeches were not in my favor. Yes, yes Avatar had amazing special affects and has been in the works so long that James Cameron definitely deserved to be recognized, but I would not have chosen it for picture of the year, and I would definitely not have given him best director which should have gone to Kathryn Bigelow for Hurt Locker. I also would have picked Carey Mulligan for best actress for her amazing performance in An Education and although I would have given it to Morgan Freeman before, after having watched Crazy Heart Jeff Bridges definitely earned his statue.

Overall just like the actual event, I thought the ceremony was a bit of a wash out. One of those televised events that is wonderful while watching and leaves a bad taste in your mouth after the results have come out...and now I see why Gervais was slowly putting away the pints while hosting.

For a full list of winners click here.

Movie Review: Book of Eli

The Book of Eli, which stars Denzel Washington, as a tote bearing "Odysseus" on a quest to go West in a post apocalyptic United States wasteland is not your everyday run of the mill end of days film. Directed by the Hughes brothers, the film lures in the audience from the opening scene with each carefully crafted situation encountered, the desperation and dilapidation of society unfolds. Washington gives an amazing performance as a traveler who is on a mission to bring his book to its home in an unknown western town, on the way he encounters different obstacles which bring his character to the ultimate revelation and binds the film's ending.

Mila Kunis and Gary Oldman also bring an exceptional edge to their roles. The former as Solara, a young woman who seeks more from her destroyed surroundings and reaches out to Washington as he inspires her to realize there is hope for the world; and the latter, a treacherous mayor of a collapsed ghost town in the deserts of the west.

Book of Eli takes its time to unfold, the timing of the picture I found to be especially effective in terms of laying out the absence of structure and time in the world portrayed. The deadened future has no calendar, days blend into cold nights, which run until a blistering sun provides no cheer just blistering heat and another day of bleakness. The cinematography brings to mind the same scarcity of resources that were also apparent in There Will Be Blood. I thought the grayness in the picture really struck a note well to relay a hellish existence where the simple things once taken for granted are now things worth dying over and how happiness is not something the living beings know much about. The metaphorical symbolism in the film is also something to look out for and is extremely well done.

So definitely go see it...and not just once! If you haven't seen it already, check out the trailer below: