The
Loneliest Planet: 2011 drama written
and directed by Julia Loktev and starring Gael Garcia Bernal, Hani Furstenberg,
and Bidzina Gujabidze. Alex and Nica are
young, seasoned travelers, very much in love and trekking through Georgia (country,
not state) on a bright new adventure.
They hire a local guide to take them backpacking through the Caucasus
Mountains. Nica is spirited, vivacious,
and keen to learn and do things on her own!
Needs no help! And then Alex
fails her in a split-second moment of weakness and their relationship is
suddenly thrown into question.
I hated this movie. I knew from the synopsis that something
terrible would happen to change their relationship but when that scene FINALLY
arrives it doesn’t seem as earth-shattering as I’d been expecting. Especially after all that build up. It’s insufferably slow – they could have
accomplished the exact same thing in 30 minutes, so it’s strikes me as
masturbatory. A poor excuse to use the
word “meditative.” Fuck meditative, it
was boring as hell. And REALLY with that
ending?
Red
Dawn: 2012 action movie
directed by Dan Bradley and starring Chris Hemsworth, Josh Peck, Josh
Hutcherson, Adrianne Palicki, Isabel Lucas, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. A group of young adults in Spokane,
Washington wake up one morning to find that their town has been invaded by
North Korea. As the grown-ups around
them begin to either cooperate with their new overlords or die fighting, they
scatter into the woods and decide to start a rebellion. Jed, a U.S. Marine on leave when the invasion
occurred, starts training his brother and their friends in guerilla warfare,
and they call themselves The Wolverines.
After some successes and setbacks they hook up with other Marines –
what, are they just like everywhere? – and learn that only the coasts have been
hit, leaving a huge stretch of unconquered land now called Free America. Their plan is to find the enemy’s secret
weapon, which would allow the crippled U.S. command to rally their remaining
forces and launch a counteroffensive from the Midwest.
I
really liked it! Sure, the plot is
ludicrous and I find Josh Peck obnoxious and it got a little maudlin at
times. But it has The Hemsworth. And Hutcherson in his small role is proving
he can handle movies beyond the Hunger
Games franchise. It was
chock-a-block with action sequences, it wasn’t afraid to kill off major
characters, and it didn’t get too
wrapped up in its own patriotic fervor.
If you’re looking for something fluffy, give it a shot. I’m totally going to watch the original now,
how have I not seen it yet?
The
Boys From Brazil: 1978
British-American thriller directed by Franklin J. Schaffner and starring
Gregory Peck, Laurence Olivier, James Mason, Lilli Palmer and Jeremy
Black. Elderly Nazi hunter Ezra
Lieberman learns that former SS Officer Josef Mengele, the infamous Auschwitz Angel
of Death, has been holding top-secret meetings In Paraguay where he lives in
exile. Lieberman follows up on a related
tip and begins investigating the mysterious deaths of civil servants in the
U.S. and Europe – all of whom have adopted children that look remarkably
alike. What is Mengele up to, and can
his mysterious plan be stopped in time?
It’s a little preposterous,
but I still liked it. Peck and Olivier
are both amazing, even if they do lay it on too thick at times. It was tense and interesting and kept me
guessing until the very last scene.
Butter: 2011 comedy directed by Jim Field Smith and
starring Jennifer Garner, Yara Shahidi, Ty Burrell, Olivia Wilde, Rob Corddry,
Ashley Greene, Alicia Silverstone, and Hugh Jackman. When 10 year-old Destiny visits the Iowa
State Fair with her new foster parents and sees the butter sculptures, she
falls in love with the craft and they encourage her to give it a try. Turns out she’s a natural. Meanwhile, the reigning butter champ has been
pushed into “retirement,” much to his wife Laura’s displeasure. Destiny and Laura enter the county prelims
and it is on like Donkey Kong. But how
could Laura ever hope to defeat the tiny phenom? Especially when Destiny is being helped by a
stripper looking to humiliate Laura’s husband into paying the money he owes
her.
It’s like Election but not as good and without the
bite. Corddry is hysterical as the
foster dad, and his rapport with Shahidi is adorable. And it’s nice to see Silverstone. The cast all around was pretty solid. It was a good effort, but far too
predictable.
Heartburn: 1986 drama directed by Mike Nichols, written
by Nora Ephron, and starring Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson, Stockard Channing,
Jeff Daniels, and Milos Forman. Rachel
is a food writer, Mark is a political columnist, and after they meet at a
mutual friend’s wedding and have a speedy courtship they marry and buy a
fixer-upper. Their relationship seems
solid, if a little rocky due to travel for work and the endless renovations on
the house. Then during her second
pregnancy Rachel discovers evidence of an affair and must decide whether to
stay with her husband and try to make things work or leave with her children.
I
am not doing this movie any service whatsoever with that plot summary. It is so quietly, heartbreakingly good. The acting is phenomenal, of course. It’s funny and dotted with little devastating
moments and it’s all too real. It is
definitely a movie that will appeal primarily to women, but it is not a Chick
Flick in the least. It makes me miss
Ephron.
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