The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - #3 of 2012

Perhaps I’m just an old man at heart.  For some reason, I just love movies about our older generation finding new paths and experiencing new things in their twilight years.  Cocoon, About Schmidt, The Straight Story, RED, and The Visitor.  These are all fantastic films and I highly recommend seeing them.  And now, I have another fantastic film to add to this list:  The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

Now, I will admit.  The title did absolutely nothing for me.  And while stuck on a plane from Frankfurt to Jeddah I almost overlooked it.  However, thankfully, none of the movies featured on the flight excited me much, so I went back and read the synopsis of Marigold Hotel… and the cast alone hooked me right away.  The cast of this movie is a who’s who of Briton’s top veteran actors and actresses:  Judi Dench (Shakespeare in Love), Bill Nighy (Love Actually), Penelope Wilton (Downton Abby), Maggie Smith (Harry Potter series and Downton Abby), Tom Wilkinson (In the Bedroom and Michael Clayton), Ronald Pickup (The Mission and Danny, The Champion of the World), Celia Imrie (Bridget Jones’s Diary series), and Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire).

Beyond the amazing cast, the premise of the movie amused me:  A group of seniors burdened by poor economic times ‘outsource’ their retirement to India, moving to what they thought was a newly renovated luxury hotel, run by the enthusiastic and charming Dev Patel.  However, the reality they find once they arrive is a dilapidated and out-of-date hotel serving food too spicy for their English palates.

Furthermore, the story is masterfully told my director John Madden.  Madden has directed Judi Dench to two Oscar nominations and one win for Mrs. Brown and Shakespeare in Love.  The latter co-starred Tom Wilkinson, who also starred in Madden’s latest film, The Debt.  Madden makes very thoughtful films and his work on The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is no different.

Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, and Tom Wilkinson are fantastic playing characters totally in their wheelhouse; however the standouts, in my opinion, are Bill Nighy and Dev Patel.

Bill Nighy is one of my favorite character actors and I’m always excited when I see him popup in a film.  And back in 2005, Serena and I saw The Girl in the Café which features Bill in a leading role… and he was absolutely brilliant.  For me, seeing an actor, who traditionally takes on supporting roles, deliver such a compelling leading performance was very special.  His performance in The Girl in the Café proved that Bill Nighy is more than an evil vampire.  More than an over domineering step-father turned zombie.  More than an aging rock-star.  Bill Nighy is an extremely talented and thoughtful actor.  And his performance in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is nothing short than brilliant and will give viewers a different side of Bill Nighy to adore.

Equally as fun and compelling is Dev Patel.  Still early in his career, I can only really compare him to his performance in Slumdog Millionaire… but his performance in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is so completely different that I can’t help but describe him as ‘refreshing and remarkable’.

In closing, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is a must see. 

Best Performances of 2010 - Dynamic List

My ‘Best Performances’ dynamic lists are a lot like my Film lists, but slightly different.  For starters, while every film I see makes it onto my Film lists… only the most noteworthy performance make it onto my Best Performances lists.  Also, I only rank order what I consider the Top 5 Performances of the year.  However, I also maintain an Honorable Mentions list for each category, which is populated by performances that have either been bumped from the Top 5 or performances that are particularly noteworthy but not Top 5 worthy.  The honorable mentions are listed in alphabetical order by last name and are not rank ordered. 

That said, my Best Performances lists is just as dynamic and ever changing as my Film lists.

Best Performances of 2010:

Best Actor

1. James Franco – 127 Hours
2. Colin Firth – The King’s Speech
3. Ryan Gosling – Blue Valentine
4. Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network
5. Russell Crowe – The Next Three Days

Honorable Mentions:

• Jeff Bridges – True Grit
• Steve Carell – Date Night
• Michael Cera – Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
• Michael Cera – Youth in Revolt
• George Clooney – The American
• Rob Corddry – Hot Tub Time Machine
• Russell Crowe – Robin Hood
• Leonardo DiCaprio - Inception
• Zach Galifianakis – It’s Kind of a Funny Story
• John C. Reilly - Cyrus
• Mark Wahlberg – The Fighter

Best Actress

1. Natalie Portman – Black Swan
2. Michelle Williams – Blue Valentine
3. Tina Fey – Date Night
4. Annette Bening – The Kids Are All Right
5. Jennifer Lawrence – Winter’s Bone

Honorable Mentions:

• Cate Blanchett – Robin Hood
• Dakota Fanning – The Runaways
• Rebecca Hall – The Town
• Nicole Kidman – Rabbit Hole
• Julianne Moore – The Kids Are All Right
• Ellen Page - Inception
• Mary-Louise Parker - RED
• Emma Stone – Easy A

Best Supporting Actor

1. Christian Bale – The Fighter
2. Michael Shannon – The Runaways
3. Geoffrey Rush – The King’s Speech
4. Joseph Gordon-Levitt - Inception
5. Anthony Hopkins – You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger

Honorable Mentions:

• Russell Brand – Get Him to the Greek
• Josh Brolin – True Grit
• Nicolas Cage – Kick-Ass
• Thomas Haden Church – Easy A
• John Hawkes – Winter’s Bone
• Jonah Hill - Cyrus
• Jon Lovitz – Casino Jack
• John Malkovich – RED
• Liam Neeson – The Next Three Days
• Jeremy Renner – The Town
• Mickey Rourke – Iron Man 2
• Mark Ruffalo – The Kids Are All Right
• Justin Timberlake – The Social Network
• Stanley Tucci – Easy A
• Mark Wahlberg – Date Night

Best Supporting Actress

1. Melissa Leo – The Fighter
2. Jackie Weaver – Animal Kingdom
3. Helena Bonham Carter – The King’s Speech
4. Amy Adams – The Fighter
5. Marisa Tomei - Cyrus

Honorable Mentions:

• Elizabeth Banks – The Next Three Days
• Irina Bjorklund – The American
• Patricia Clarkson – Easy A
• Emily Meade - Twelve
• Helen Mirren - RED
• Chloe Grace Moretz – Kick-Ass
• Lucy Punch – You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger
• Hailee Steinfeld – True Grit

Best Films of 2010 – Dynamic List

The concept of the Dynamic List is pretty simple.  As I see films, they are placed onto the list.  The list is rank ordered from best to worst.  So, films are placed onto the list based on how I liked that film in comparison to others that came out the same year.  Just because a film enters the list at #10 doesn't mean it will stay there… as films enter the list, others will be pushed down to lower rankings, which is why the list is dynamic.  The list is ever changing.  Sure, my focus may be on the films of this year; however that doesn’t mean I’ve stopped watching films from previous years.  And as I do… my previous lists continue to be dynamic!

Films of 2010:

1. 127 Hours
2. Inception
3. The Next Three Days
4. The Social Network
5. The Fighter
6. The King’s Speech
7. Toy Story 3
8. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
9. It’s Kind of a Funny Story
10. Exit Through the Gift Shop
11. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
12. Date Night
13. Catfish
14. The Town
15. Robin Hood
16. Black Swan
17. Easy A
18. Cyrus
19. Winter’s Bone
20. The Kids Are All Right
21. Kick-Ass
22. Rabbit Hole
23. Restrepo
24. Twelve
25. The Tourist
26. Hot Tube Time Machine
27. Red
28. 4.3.2.1
29. The American
30. Animal Kingdom
31. True Grit
32. Due Date
33. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
34. How to Train Your Dragon
35. Salt
36. Megamind
37. You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger
38. Casino Jack
39. Youth in Revolt
40. The Illusionist
41. Despicable Me
42. Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
43. The Runaways
44. Blue Valentine
45. Iron Man 2
46. Conviction
47. The Other Guys
48. Buried
49. Nowhere Boy
50. Dinner for Schmucks
51. Devil
52. Grown Ups
53. The A-Team
54. Get Him to the Greek
55. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
56. The Expendables
57. Little Fockers
58. Tangled
59. Gulliver’s Travels
60. Knight and Day
61. Diary of a Wimpy Kid
62. Morning Glory
63. The Ghost Writer
64. Alice in Wonderland
65. Green Zone
66. Greenberg
67. The Book of Eli
68. Valentine’s Day
69. Shutter Island
70. Unstoppable
71. Yogi Bear
72. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
73. Clash of the Titans
74. Tron Legacy
75. The Twilight Sage: Eclipse
76. Jonah Hex
77. The Last Airbender
78. Alpha and Omega
79. The Spy Next Door
80. Sex and the City 2
81. Eat Pray Love
82. The Wolfman

21 Jump Street - #6 of 2012

I am a little torn. 

I really enjoyed 21 Jump Street, however, I’m not sure if my mood and environment at the time of the screening directly influenced my opinion.  There I was… rocking business class on an overnight flight from Washington, DC to Frankfurt, Germany... it was my second flight of the day, the seat was incredibly comfortable, the three course meal delectable, the Malbec delicious, and my personal LCD screen was triple the size of what I normally get in economy.  In short… I was in a very good mood.

So, to keep my mood soaring, I opted to watch a ridiculous comedy during my dinner:  21 Jump Street.

Perhaps it was my mood… my environment… or perhaps it was the fact that I went into this film with zero expectations… however I really enjoyed it and I would recommend it to anyone, especially if you remember the original 21 Jump Street television series.  That said, you don’t have to be familiar with the show; however, you’ll appreciate the movie even more if you are… especially when Johnny Depp and Peter DeLuise make their cameo… which was fantastically brilliant.

Ultimately, I found 21 Jump Street very fresh and oddly original, even for being a remake… and they hooked me in the first 10 minutes when Hill and Tatum get transferred and their Chief says, “We're reviving a canceled undercover project from the '80s and revamping it for modern times. The people behind this lack creativity and they've run out of ideas, so what they do now is just recycle shit from the past and hope that nobody will notice.”

I predict that Jonah Hill is going to be a household name for a very long time.   Not only did Jonah act in 21 Jump Street, he also wrote and produced the picture as well.  And when a comedy makes money while also getting good reviews (85% freshness from Rotten Tomatoes), the man behind the curtain (Jonah) is going to find his stock rising.  In addition, with an Oscar nomination under his belt, for Moneyball, Jonah is now being tapped to work with the likes of Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese, as well as maintaining a heavy schedule of comedies, which is totally he wheel house.  Jonah’s versatility could make him the next Robin Williams.

I also have to give props to Channing Tatum.  For the most part I’ve always seen Tatum as just another pretty boy pretending to be an action star and romantic leading man… however… my opinion of him started to change a bit after seeing The Vow.  I’ve also heard good things about Haywire, however I haven’t seen it yet.  But as for 21 Jump Street, this pretty boy ‘heartthrob’ has some serious comedy chops.  Tatum was hilarious.  Almost more so than Hill.  I was really surprised.  I was really expecting Tatum to be Hill’s straight man, trying to keep up, however I would completely wrong.  There was no straight man in this film.  Hill and Tatum were a perfectly balanced team.

All and all, it was a very fun comedy and I would totally watch it again.

John Carter - #13 of 2012

Erg… ummm… hmmm… ick.

So… I really wanted to like this movie.  I really did.  I wanted to tell all the naysayers to stick it.  But… erg… for debuting at #9 on my list, John Carter should be thankful for two things:

1.  That I’ve only seen 11 moves, so far, this year, and…

2.  The direct-to-video market stinks the big one.

As anyone who followed Friday Night Lights will tell you, playing a self-destructive alcoholic of a brut is totally in Taylor Kitsch’s wheel house… but this movie makes him look like an amateur. 

I just can’t beat around the bush here… this movie was simply ‘no good’… in any way.

Sadly, I blame director/writer Andrew Stanton.  Sure, he is a true talent.  He’s an amazing part of the Pixar team, having directed A Bug’s Life, Finding Nemo, and WALL-E… and he had a hand in writing all three installments of Toy Story… but John Carter shows the disconnect that can happen when moving from animated films to live-action.  It just didn’t work.

I… I just… I so wanted to like this movie.  But I can’t even begin to explain how much I didn’t care for it.  It just didn’t work.  At all.  Not even in the slightest way.

It is so sad.  The John Carter of Mars source material has so much to offer… but the film left so much to be desired.  I just… I don’t know where to begin.  So I won’t even start.

All I will say is this.  I am still a fan of Andrew’s animated work.  And I still think Taylor is a film actor.  But together… John Carter didn’t work at all.  I don’t know whose fault it was… but perhaps, the story would be more suited for a television series.

‘Contraband’ - #3 of 2012

When I tell people I liked Contraband most respond surprised with a confused face asking, “Really?”

Yes, really!

I thought it was a good movie and despite the negative reviews I’m not afraid to say it.  

Besides, most of the reviews for Contraband are downright lazy … they seem totally phoned in by an uncaring reviewer who is so preoccupied with January’s pre-Oscar fever that he/she can’t be bothered to write an actual review.

Even Leonard Maltin resorts to a mere plot summary (which is the laziest form of review ever, trailers accomplish the same thing) and he only offers three sentences of actual criticism:

1. Virtually all the actors go down with the ship, helpless to rise above a ponderous screenplay by Aaron Guzikowski.

2. A good caper movie should be light on its feet, but this one bears the weight of a heavy tread.

3. Contraband left a bad taste in my mouth, which is not what I’d call a ringing endorsement.

In addition, Maltin wishes the actors of Contraband “brighter prospects in 2012” and closes his review by saying, “But it is what I’ve come to expect from major studio releases in January.”

Now… I’m not going to say that Leonard Maltin is wrong on all accounts.  He is certainly correct about January.  It is a notoriously bad time of year for releasing movies… depending.  

Normally January brings us two kinds of films.  1) Great films that premiered in December, in limited venues, just to qualify for the Oscars and therefore given a wider release in January to keep their name in the media for Oscar voters, and 2) Films the studio don’t have much faith in.

Unfortunately, Contraband clearly falls into the latter category… and I believe reviewers allowed the timing of the film’s release to influence their opinions more than the actual film.

Also, to their credit, even the laziest reviewers took the time to point out one clear fault with the movie: the script.  The script was pretty formulaic, predictable, and at times, way over the top.  

However, unlike Maltin, I think the film’s tone and quality of acting saved the script and the overall film.

“Capers” as Maltin describes them, do not need to be light, like Ocean’s Eleven or The Italian Job, they can be heavy like The Spanish Prisoner or Heist.  Besides… I didn’t really think Contraband was trying to be a caper.  Sure there were elements, but there was a lot more going on.  I think the film was trying to be a gritty crime drama that just happened to have a caper-esque side plot.

In addition, the acting in this film was sublime.  Scripts don’t always have to be amazing for an actor to shine.  At some point a poorly crafted screenplay doesn’t matter anymore, as long as the performances are interesting and nuanced.  Mark Wahlberg was great as always.   This was one of Kate Beckinsale’s finer performances.  Ben Foster was fantastic.  And Giovanni Ribisi was at his best.  

Sure, it’s not a perfect film.  But perfect films are few and far between.  But that doesn’t mean Contraband is a total piece of garbage.  

The Hunger Games - #4 of 2012

Can The Hunger Games film series improve upon the books?  Yes, I think so.  And I will tell you why.

1^st, I read The Hunger Games prior to seeing the film and I found it to be one of the most gripping books I’ve read in a very long time.  I couldn’t but it down.  I was actually halfway through Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, which I was enjoying, when The Hunger Games film was released and my gut told me it was time to make a switch.  So, on a Saturday afternoon while Serena was taking a nap with the boys I started reading the book… and it was amazing.  That evening we had some friends over for karaoke and, quite literally, I just sat in the other room and read.  I hadn’t been that engrossed in a book in ages.

2^nd, after plowing through book one, I immediately started Catching Fire, which I thought was pretty good.  Not nearly as spectacular as the first book, mainly because it followed the exact same formula, but it was still pretty good.  I guess my main complaint is that it was kind of like seeing a really great horror movie only to me mildly disappointed by its all too similar sequel.  That said, I still devoured the book at record pace.

3^rd, to be honest… I’m having a lot of trouble getting through Mockingjay.  I’m about half way though and although it is completely different from the first two books, I don’t find it nearly as gripping or entertaining.

Now, the good news is that I can actually articulate why I feel this way.  And I have had numerous conversations with folks who have read the books about my feelings and most of them agree with my point.

I think the book series, as a whole, suffers from being in Katniss’ perspective.  All three books are told in first-person from her point of view and the problem I have found is that Katniss doesn’t grow enough as a character throughout the saga to keep up with how amazing the overall concept of the story is.  I really wish each book had changed perspectives.  I think Catching Fire would have been much better told from the point of view of Peeta.  And I think Mockingjay could have benefited from being in Haymitch or Gale’s perspective. 

My point is that there is a lot going on in the second two books… and most of the time Katniss isn’t privy to what’s going on.  And she isn’t mature enough to figure it out.

That said, I think The Hunger Games film is a brilliant compliment to the book.  Not better than the book, but a fine compliment.  However, the film was able to accomplish a number of things that the books couldn’t, that I think will benefit the overall film series, ultimately making the films better than the books.

The most important thing the film does is depart from the first-person narrative.  Although it focuses on Katniss, the film departs in a number of ways that benefits the story as a whole.  Like showing the start of the district revolts, how the gamekeepers operate, how Haymitch solicits sponsors, and most importantly, how much control President Snow has over the games.  These glimpses, departing from the books first person narratives, foreshadow how the next films will be handled.  And if the next films follow this format, they could potentially be stronger than the books.

I for one, am very excited to see how the film series expands the amazing source material.

I think The Hunger Games saga has the potential to be a lot like the television series Dexter, which is also based on a book series.  Although the first season of Dexter mirrors the original book, the television series, as a whole, has been to tell a much more compelling story.