The Joneses (2009)

67.

★★★

Directed by: Derrick Borte
Written by: Randy T. Dinzler (story), Derrick Borte
Starring: Demi Moore, David Duchovny and Amber Heard

The dysfunctional family movie with a bit of a twist – The Joneses – is clever in its premise, but slow and ineffective in its execution. While the effects of consumerism and product placement are an interesting and original touch to the film, The Joneses gets lost in trying to cover too many big themes, losing its potential satirical bite and comedic wit.

Welcome to the neighborhood!

Steve (Duchovny) and Kate (Moore) Jones are the perfect married couple. They have two stunning teens and have just moved into a swanky new house in a well-to-do neighborhood, driving the latest cars and wearing fashionable clothing wherever they go. What the neighbors don’t realize though, is what the family does for a living. And how the entire neighborhood is a goldmine for this good-lookin’ Brady Bunch.

Slowly trickling it’s bigger concepts of consumerism, the ethics behind viral marketing, and real life vs. fake life into a simple love story, The Joneses tries to involve all the characters in conflict and find a human message amongst it all. As each of the characters have tangents of their own in dealing with the real society around them and what they’ve been trained to do, The Joneses has to bring the separate stories all together with the simplest and smoothest resolution that fails to be as exciting or thought-provoking as it could have been.

Having said that, The Joneses sells its premise well with the charm of Duchovny and Moore. It’s entertaining, fun, and wraps everything up pretty neatly for a satisfactory daytime movie.

Sherrybaby (2006)

66.

★★★

Directed by: Laurie Collyer
Written by: Laurie Collyer
Starring: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Ryan Simpkins and Sam Bottoms

Trying to pick up the pieces

Sherry Swanson (Gyllenhaal) – a recovering heroin addict and young mother – returns home after serving three years in prison. Having left her daughter, Alexis (Simpkins), with her brother and his wife, Sherry tries to re-enter society by finding a job and sticking to a rehabilitation program that will determine whether she can stay out of prison or go back to her old habits. The hope and optimism that Sherry projects, however, is thrown into question as her history, and the difficulty of starting anew spark her desire to use again.

The premise ofSherrybaby is not an entirely original one. Addiction, and one’s desire to find redemption and recovery in a world of judgement have been portrayed in far more compelling and creative ways than Sherry’s story. While the film’s scenes are strung together with Sherry’s driving motivation to win Alexis back, the progression of events lack focus and structure as they give more weight to painting a character portrait rather than letting events build on themselves. Put it this way: you get the feeling nothing is really happening.

On the flip side,A LOT is going on in Sherry’s head and heart. And what ultimately saves the film is attaching Maggie Gyllenhaal to the role of a flawed character that embodies child-like innocence, ignorance, passion and love. With so many dimensions and qualities to Sherry’s personality and history, the depth with which Collyer has created her central character not only keeps us engaged throughout the film, but also overshadows its other narrative qualities – making it both an asset and disservice to the film.

This is not to say that character-driven films always betray more structured and plot-driven stories. Instead, the balance needs to be found by allowing events and action to comment on both the external and internal experiences of a character, whilst also taking the time to flesh out characters as something more than flat, two dimensional beings we don’t care about. Sherrybaby leans too heavily on revolving the entire story around a character. And rather than using well-constructed events to concisely and effectively show us her flaws and vulnerabilities, the film uses its entire screentime to do what it could have done in just a few strong scenes.

Sidewalls (2011)

65.

★★★★

Directed by: Gustavo Taretto
Written by: Gustavo Taretto
Starring: Javier Drolas, Pilar López de Ayala and Inés Efron

True love is a lot closer than you think

Kooky romances often find it difficult to be balanced in their quirkiness and their meaningful qualities. More often than not, they get carried away with being cute and different, rather than thought-provoking and original. The Argentinian romantic comedy, Sidewalls, however, manages to find that perfect balance in the most unexpected and heartwarming ways.

Martin (Drolas) and Mariana (Lopez de Ayala) are soul-mates. There’s no doubt about it. They listen to the same music from time to time, put off swimming, and strive towards getting back out into the world despite their damaged lives. Martin has several neuroses. Mariana suffers from the heartbreak of a past love. They also live in corresponding apartment blocks, facing out of “sidewalls” – the ugliest and most unappreciated side of a building, according to architect and shop-window designer, Mariana. But while they are so close, and destined for each other, their contact is infrequent and fleeting. And it is in this very quality that Sidewalls finds its beauty.

Written with a sense of humor and an observant approach to finding love and trying to see beauty in the ugliest of situations, Sidewalls is a witty and feel-good film that has the brains and creativity to win the hearts of those seeking something different in the rom-com genre.

Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

64.

★★★★★

Directed by: Sidney Lumet
Written by: Frank Pierson
Starring: Al Pacino, John Cazale and Sully Boyar

Based on the true events of a bank robbery carried out by a couple of amateurs in Brooklyn, Dog Day Afternoon stands as one of the greatest crime films of the 70s. Featuring an electric performance by Al Pacino (the role having been written especially forThe Godfather star), this deftly written and directed film gives multiple angles to a small-time bank robbery that speaks volumes on crime as portrayed through the lens of the media and the public eye.

Stand back ladies…

Sonny (Pacino) is robbing the bank for the first time in his life. Botching it within the first few minutes of the heist, Sonny is forced to keep the petrified female tellers at bay, the manager under his thumb, and the police that surround the building under his control. With the help of his unstable partner, Sal (Cazale), Sonny must go to desperate lengths to get out of his failed robbery alive.

Unlike a straight crime film, this is one where everything goes wrong. We’ve seen it in films like Reservoir Dogs, Snatch, and The Usual Suspects pick up on the same genre conventions in later years, but as a stand out in its time and genre, Dog Day Afternoon combines a quirky and absurd sense of humor with a story that is both compelling in its character motivations as well as its contextual background.

With Pacino giving one of the best performances of his career, and a narrative structure that keeps you laughing and tense through to the end, Dog Day Afternoon makes the best of a sticky situation that seems impossible to get out of.

Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (2010)

63.

★

Directed by: Troy Nixey
Written by: Guillermo del Toro, Matthew Robbins
Starring: Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce and Bailee Madison

Nixey and del Toro’s horror flick warns us ironically in its title – “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark.” And we sure as hell won’t be, as this twist on the classic tale of the tooth fairy rots into a bore-fest that fails to follow any logic or deal real screams – getting too carried away in its magical and mythical foundations to be genuinely scary.

There seriously is nothing to be afraid of

When Sally (Madison) is forced to move in with her father, Alex (Pearce), and his partner/interior decorator, Kim (Holmes), she immediately wants to return home to her mother for two very good reasons: 1. no one told her living with Katie Holmes was going to be a long term set up and 2. there are creepy creatures living in the basement of her father’s remodeled Gothic mansion. As these creatures (who look like the super-aged, crack-addicted versions of characters from 9) have been eating children’s teeth and bones since the horse and carriage days, Sally’s arrival awakens their evil appetite as they come up to the surface for blood and mayhem.

While Bailee Madison does a great job as a surly little girl, who doesn’t enjoy being patronized into adaptation, much of her frightening experiences are met with the same reactions so that no matter which way the evil beings come, her fear and our fear will always remain at the same low level of crying for mommy. But perhaps the fear factor remains at this level because of how un-scary the creatures of evil are themselves. When they weren’t open to our view, the malicious whispering and pain inflicting tricks of these child-eating freaks tickled our interest in the hopes that something gory or horrifying would happen soon. But such rises in tension disappointingly plummet to the depths of a dusty old furnace as the creatures turn out to be as frightening as a rat infestation.

Surrounded by a Gothic setting of both natural and man-made structures, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark had all the right tools to bring a rather preposterous plot to spine-tingling and absurdly original heights. No amount of brooding, screaming, and scuttling around a big house, however, could bring this hope to reality. Flat, tedious and tense at best, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark has nothing to worry about when it comes to keeping audiences unafraid of what lurks in dark corners.

Kissing Jessica Stein (2001)

62.

★★★

Directed by: Charles Herman-Wurmfeld
Written by: Heather Juergensen, Jennifer Westfeldt
Starring: Jennifer Westfeldt, Heather Juergensen and Tovah Feldshuh

SINGLE CHICK FLICK, looking for audience with open mind to sexuality, smart sense of humor, and a love for quick, chatty New Yorker types. A love for Sex and the City and jokes associated with the brutal, yet comical dating scene for Jewish women is a must. If this sounds like you, meet with Kissing Jessica Stein at your nearest video rental store, or online. If this doesn’t sound like you,you might find yourself sitting through an experience similar to a bad blind date.

Jessica Stein (Westfeldt) has been around the block a few times when it comes to blind dates and lackluster relationships. With her Jewish mother on her back, her brother soon to be wed, and her boss/ex-boyfriend always interested in her love life, Jessica begins to wonder if the perfect man for her is simply non-existent. Unwilling to stoop beneath her standards, Jessica remains without a man – and instead, picks herself a woman. While she claims that lesbianism is not in her personality, and that it is far too radical for such a conservative person as herself, Jessica is drawn to Helen (Juergensen), who is also a straight woman trying out lesbianism like a shirt to see if it fits.

Please don’t try and watch this movie, to see if it “fits.” While the Kissing Jessica Stein is original in its approach to the romantic comedy/chick flick genre by taking on sexual deviancy (if it can be even called that anymore) as subject matter, this dialogue-driven, character-driven film skims the surface of how complex a change of sexuality can be. While the film itself seems like its trying on lesbianism for kicks, Kissing Jessica Stein does have its moments of light comedy and gets away with annoying female characters because of the situation that they find themselves in. Women who are jaded by the dating scene and are stimulated by a change of pace and ideas within the rom-com genre will be sure to appreciate Westfeldt’s observations on relationships, love and sex. But for those who find Sex and the City whiny, women’s issues exhausting, and chatty women unbearable, this flick will not be a match for you.

The moment you realize you’re a lesbian.

The Avengers (2012)

61.

★★★★

Directed by: Joss Whedon
Written by: Joss Whedon
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson

If Joss Whedon ordered his Avengers audience to kneel before him, as the supervillain Loki does to a group of innocent Germans, I would be down on the ground in a heartbeat. That’s not to say The Avengers was jaw-breakingly perfect in every green shape and form, but considering a darker Spiderman and an even darker Batman are fast approaching, Whedon has pulled off something close to heroism in giving the highly anticipated, and highly risky Avengers film a successful head start.

Six years ago “there was an idea” from Marvel Studios to assemble an all-star superhero team by joining the forces of each separate hero’s franchise into one big blockbuster mash up. With movie deals that promised actors such as Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner and Samuel L. Jackson a role in 4 to 9 films, The Avengers has been titled one of the greatest investment gambles in movie history.

What a real hero looks like…

But with genre expertise tucked under his belt, Serenity attached to his name, Whedon has come to the rescue. Combining comedy with action, visual thrills with snappy dialogue, and individual superhero strengths with engaging back stories, Whedon saves The Avengers from looking like Manhattan after an alien invasion.

All the mayhem, and much of the impressive acting comes from Loki (played by Tom Hiddleston) – a banished Asgardian prince who strikes a bargain with a Sith-looking alien lord to steal a cube of pure energy, called the Tesseract, and use it to take over Earth mwhahahahaha. While it’s an old-fashioned strategy, Nick Fury (Jackson) bands together a group of superheroes with a grain of optimism that they will co-operate to save the world despite their differences and issues. What ensues is a battle of egos and personal histories, which may prove to be even more challenging than fighting off evil.

Just as the heroes have more pressing issues within their group, rather than the looming invasion on the horizon, the script and the execution of The Avengers shows its strengths in the dialogue and the comic moments that punctuate the more serious and rather over-exaggerated external conflicts. While these strengths definitely make up for scenes that lag a bit in pace, and come dangerously close to mismanaging the weight given to different ideas and themes scattered throughout the film, they don’t seem to make up for the fact that the final climax of the film is actually quite flat. With one or two scenes that look like a cut and paste job in the post production process, The Avengers seemed too preoccupied in dealing with character arcs than considering something a little more exciting than aliens whizzing through New York and getting blown up or smacked down every now and then.

Nevertheless, there is always something to be gained and lost when trying to please everybody – Comic Con fans and newbies alike. And with the expectations flying high, and competition coming from all sides, Whedon’s job on The Avengers is definitely something to bow down to.

2 Days in Paris (2007)

60.

★★★★

Directed by: Julie Delpy
Written by: Julie Delpy
Starring: Julie Delpy, Adam Goldberg and Daniel Brühl

After two years, two days can change everything.

In Julie Delpy’s directorial debut, 2 Days in Paris, a couple who are two years into their relationship reach breaking point over the course of two days in . Turning the city of love into a “petri dish” of bacteria, jealousies, sex-crazed Frenchmen and animal-cruelty cuisine, Julie Delpy brings back the comedy into the rom-com genre whilst simultaneously raising interesting issues and insecurities that exist in any perfect match.

For anyone who thinks romance is unrealistic, or are simply single and bitter, watching couples who love each other is not so fun. But with convincing performances delivered by Delpy herself as the Parisian Marion, and Adam Goldberg as the sharp but sensitive New Yorker Jack, couple-watching becomes a funny, feel-good experience – even if most of their interactions involve noisy bickering, awkward insecurities and unspoken tension. While Marion is returning to her hometown, filled with old friends, family and her overfed cat, Jack is far from his comfort zone, paranoid about his hygiene, the language barriers and potential terrorist attacks. As the dynamics of Marion and Jack’s relationship bend and break under such circumstances, concerns that have lain dormant over the two year span of their relationship begin to surface.

While the characters are portrayed with depth and emotion that is both touching and realistic (or at least more realistic than other rom-coms) the small tests of confidence that slowly accumulate into a climax lack the clarity and direction that would have made this film airtight from criticism. Instead, 2 Days in Paris boils down to events that are tenuously linked and unconvincingly structured. Nevertheless, 2 Days in Paris is intelligent and delightful – something we’re not used to seeing in Hollywood’s treatment of couples.

 

The Red Violin (1998)

59.

★★

Directed by: François Girard
Written by: Don McKellar, François Girard
Starring: Carlo Cecchi, Jean-Luc Bideau and Christoph Koncz

In The Red Violin, a beautifully crafted violin from Italy (guess what color) goes on a world tour, falling into the hands of various players who are entranced by the power of its sound and its effect on their audience. Like a series of linked short films that traverse different countries, languages and actors, The Red Violinis punctuated with moments of powerful drama, but fails to be a crowd-pleaser in its holistic plot and (quite literally) weak characters.

Still got a long way to go ...

In the present time, the widely traveled, 3 centuries old violin is up for auction. Who are its competitive bidders, and why do they want it so badly? Rewind to its creation and we meet Nicolo Buscotti – a renown craftsman who is preparing one of the finest violins he’s made for his unborn son. But when tragedy strikes, the violin is donated to an orphanage, and is given to a young prodigy whose weak heart cannot handle the passion he has for the instrument. The violin then travels with gypsies, an over-sexed composer… and so on and so forth.

While the surprising randomness of the violin’s fate is central to the array of places, people and stories we encounter, The Red Violin’s constant movement and investment in themes rather than characters renders the plot directionless and well… unexciting. I mean, we are following the life of an inanimate object after all. Never with any character long enough to see depth or significance in their experience of the violin, The Red Violin centers its entire premise around an object that no amount of beautiful, stirring classical music can make compelling.

Ghost in the Shell (1995)

58.

★★★★

Directed by: Mamoru Oshii
Written by: Kazunori Itô, Masamune Shirow (comic)
Starring: Atsuko Tanaka, Iemasa Kayumi and Richard Epcar

Based on the manga by Masamune Shirow, Ghost in the Shell is a sci-fi anime classic that combines exciting visuals with a beautifully paced story that draws on the more human ideas of identity and memory, despite its cool techy tricks and cyborg characters.

Kusanagi (Tanaka) is a cop living in a time where technology has enabled humans to strengthen and reshape their bodies with titanium and telepathic communication. When a hacker by the name of ‘Puppetmaster’ enters the scene, Kusanagi must work with her team of anti-terrorist cops to stop the hacker from gathering illegal information, engineering political movements and commit terrorist activities using innocent cyborgs who have their memories wiped clean with simulated experiences and thoughts.

Trinity?

With no limits on the imaginative and creative visual direction, Ghost in the Shell is no doubt a major influence in the cyberpunk movement that can be seen in both anime and Hollywood action greats such as The Matrix. While much of the dialogue feels as robotic and unnatural as its characters (it may have worked for manga, but could have been a lot more dramatically engaging as a script), Ghost in a Shell touches on thought-provoking ideas about what defines living organisms as individuals and the role of technology in dehumanizing society.

Thrilling, broodingly dark and packed with powerful concepts, Ghost in the Shell delivers riveting anime action with flare – making it one of the must-see animes of all time.