rmcastaneda

Okay, before anything else, let me list cast members that I have much respect for: Carell, Binoche, Ryan and Blunt. And yet, they were all underused in this bland family centric dramedy. Carell plays a single dad who meets a charming lady (Binoche) at a bookstore who happens to be dating his brother (Cook). That's about the whole synopsis of this movie.

There are a lot of missed opportunities here as Carell tries to be deadpan comedic yet it just fails to make any punches. The dramatic side of things as well fail to make an impression as it seems to venture off into a television show pilot.

I would have to say skip this one unless it was on television. For some reason, Carell seems to be on a miss lately with this film and "Evan Almighty". I hope he redeems himself with "Get Smart".

"La Mome" might just be the best musician based biopic released, as it doesn't even conjure up the idea of miming or impersonation... this is acting, full stop. This is Marion Cotillard's movie, as she portrays the tragic life of Edith Piaf with gusto, rising from the slums of Montmartre to the glittering lights of the stage with a full orchestra. Just from the synopsis itself, it may come off as a generic biopic but Dahan tries to take risks here: he knows that he is limited by the story so he compensates for it through his screenplay, cinematography and amazing long takes. Who could forget that scene when Piaf breaks down upon discovery that her true love is lost? Or that inspiring interview with a writer from Elle magazine? Or when we find out she died on an early age of 40-something? This film doesn't insult its audiences' intelligence, as it dares to jump in chronology, adding to the emphasis of Piaf's unstable reference for reality. A movie that lasts for about 2 hours, filled with heartache, tragedy and misery, the final scene elevates it all into a liminal moment one will be hard pressed to forget. Cotillard definitely deserved her Oscar, and everyone deserves to be treated with a movie like this that is not short of brilliance.

"Iron Man" reminds us how coming book movies are supposed to be before all this graphic-novel-movie seriousness. It is fun, loud, clever without sacrificing an ounce of seriousness anyone can invest in a movie like this. A comic book inspired by Howard Hughes, Iron Man was respectably translated onto the big screen with a modern update refering to the war in the Middle East. It may be a movie with a message, but it doesn't preach (of course, what might be the key demographic of the loud noises might already have enough at home). The more I watch Downey Jr., the more I love him. He's really good here, able to balance his usual schtick with some serious bad-assness. For some reason, on that final fight scene on the motorway, it reminded me of "Transformers", although it also reminded me on what "Transformers" lacked -- character. Anyhow, I am still in awe of that twist at the end (which makes this movie stand out even more from your other comic book based film) and of course, stay after the credits.

"Night and Fog" is undeniably the most important movie ever to be produced about WWII. Free from the pretention of character development conjuring false empathy, it is dead serious as it switches back and forth from footage shot 10 years after the war when concentration camps were abandond and with archaic footage taken during that grim section of history. Lasting only 20 minutes, Resnais' film is free from blemish of commercial aspirations, focusing on facts that finds horror in reality while leaving enough space for imagination to translate the nausiating details. It is curious how some people deny the Holocaust ever existed, as in this film alone, the viewer will definitely be flooded with facts, unaltered to intentionally pull any emotional punches, but presented as they are. Film scholars avoid themselves from labeling this film as a documentary, as they do have a point, the archaic footage weren't recorded to film reality as such, but film the concentration camps as they see them. Just imagine, if it was already *that* grim from theirs, what about the inmates' perspective? This is a film that will be as poignant now, tomorrow and eternity.

Haneke is a cinematic terrorist. Able to find terror from the simplest of situations, he brilliantly derives it from reality, politics and the threat of the home. We follow a well-to-do Parisian family, as they recieve anonymous cassette tapes, initially featuring a 2-hour surveillance of their house which later develops into something more sinister. Here's the dilemma: we never really do find out who films them. It acts as a MacGuffin to unravel Paris' unsavoury political past (as of course, they do prefer to get naked behind the curtains). With the effect of the tapes though, Haneke was able to involve the audience: one is that the people watching the film become the stalkers themselves, effectively breaking the fourth wall. The other effect was that the entire film sort of becomes a version of that mysterious videotape, especially highlighted by the intriguing last scene, where the devoted would be tempted to hit rewind just in case they missed something, like the movie's protagonists. That's basically why this film grabs you by the neck and never lets go... it's because you feel involved in a situation as disturbing as this. A perfectly calculated thriller, Haneke never disappoints.

"Sei felice?". This movie gets richer every time I watch it. Divided into three chapters, the audience is practically presented the life of Salvatore de Vita: growing up as a little kid enchanted with cinema, in his teens allured by a blue-eyed goddess and as a successful professional forced to face a past that he's running away from. The scope of this film is epic, as it tries to condense a whole life into a three hour film but Tornatore does it with ease. The first two chapters were presented as if it was pulled out from a Fellini film, full of caricatures that the audience will eventually fall in love with. I particularly liked that long prologue before Tornatore casts his darker, more sinister purpose on the last chapter. A movie that starts off as romantic, it elevates itself as it focuses on the more complicated aspects of life and certain what-ifs we eventually carry with us as we grow older. Accompanied by the mesmerisingly magnificent score of Ennio Moriconne, Tornatore has created a film that every film lover will love. It is a love story of a boy and his movies. Bellissimo.

I probably will never forget the first time I saw this film. And quite possibly, I won't forget the feeling I had after watching it. "Y Tu Mama Tambien" seems to be like a by the numbers sex comedy but here lies the twist: brilliantly directed by Alfonso Cuaron, it becomes a sociopolitical presentation that is not at all judgmental while depicting an unusual sort of sexual awakening catalyzed by the seductive Maribel Verdu. Accompanied by an amazing soundtrack, the audience was allowed to hop into a road trip like no other: where inhibitions are stripped bare, the finality of death is acknowledged and a friendship tested in more ways than one. Possibly my favorite aspect of the film would be its voice over narrative, as it effectively adds character to every single individual in the film. It prevents itself from being a commentary by simply sticking to the facts, enough to increase gravitas even to characters we only meet for fifteen minutes. I credit this film as the one that woke me up from my affinity towards mainstream films. This is a movie that plays with the idea of sex, death and politics in a seductive, effective, clever package. This is a must see.

"It's time". "United 93" is possibly the closest thing we'll ever get to having a film remember September 11 without being blemished by the commercial and the sentinemtal. A movie that redefines omnipresence, the audience is allowed to hover these brave individuals as they do what they thought was best, faced with the certainty of death and the affect of terror. Paul Greengrass directs a brilliant cast of actors and real-life people, delivering a film driven by facts and some approximate recreation of what happened in that plane based from phone calls made to their families. In cinema verite, it is stripped of politics, opinions, agenda and prejudice. In contrast with other terror driven movies, it doesn't demonize its antagonists but portrays them more as people who were manipulated to think that what they were about to do was for the greater good. "United 93" is a tremendous film. A movie that could have easily been skewed towards the plastic and being contemptous, it is at the end a story of hope and bravery. And it did actually happen.

"The Diving Bell and The Butterfly" is nothing like any movie I have seen before: it is tender, unindulgent, raw and considering the circumstances, it's a movie that makes you want to live. The audience practically inhabit the being of Jean Dominique Bauby, a survivor of locked-in syndrome as he live day by day and persevere through writing an extremely personal memoir with the blink of his eyelash. With the help of his best selling book, Julian Schnabel took artistic liberty without being disrespectful. The effect was remarkable: he was able to break the glass and allow the audience full empathy to the protagonist right from the very first shot. I vividly remember reading this book and I knew there were chapters that would truly shine and Schnabel did not disappoint as even if they were predictable for me, the gravity of the situation was never tarnished. This movie at it's core is a celebration of life. It can't get any more liminal than this. An absolutely perfect film.

"Sei felice?". This movie gets richer every time I watch it. Divided into three chapters, the audience is practically presented the life of Salvatore de Vita: growing up as a little kid enchanted with cinema, in his teens allured by a blue-eyed goddess and as a successful professional forced to face a past that he's running away from. The scope of this film is epic, as it tries to condense a whole life into a three hour film but Tornatore does it with ease. The first two chapters were presented as if it was pulled out from a Fellini film, full of caricatures that the audience will eventually fall in love with. I particularly liked that long prologue before Tornatore casts his darker, more sinister purpose on the last chapter. A movie that starts off as romantic, it elevates itself as it focuses on the more complicated aspects of life and certain what-ifs we eventually carry with us as we grow older. Accompanied by the mesmerisingly magnificent score of Ennio Moriconne, Tornatore has created a film that every film lover will love. It is a love story of a boy and his movies. Bellissimo.