Flimmaker's reviews

Charlie Bartlett: and a half


You know how in Juno how Juno told Paulie that he was so cool with out trying? And then Paulie told her that he actually tries really hard to be cool. Well the magic with that character Paulie that if he was truly trying hard to be cool that he wasn't showing it. And that should have been what all other teen movies strive to be like. But the title character in Charlie Bartlett tries too hard to be cool. And that is one o the downfalls that affected this film.

Charlie Bartlett (Anton Yelchin) has just gotten kicked out of another private school. This time for making fake IDs. His depressed, but willful mother (Hope Davis) who's husband in in jail for tax evasion decides to enroll Charlie in a public school now to see if that helps him. The principal is Nathan Gardner (Robert Downey Jr) who is a new principal who is struggling to gain any respect.

At first Charlie does not fit in well with the other kids. And gets beat up by Murphy Bivens (Tyler Hilton). He does see a girl that he likes though. Her name is Susan (Kat Dennings). But he is currently such a loser that he can't imagine asking her out. After seeing a psychiatrist he gets Ritalin. He takes more of a dose one night per to his psychiatrist's instructions and gets really high off of them. I will admit those scenes were funny.

Then the police shows up after he makes an ass out of himself, the police officer and his mother begin to talk about how teens do these drugs to get high. The idea strikes into his head to sell these drugs. He decides to strike up a partnership with Murphy and sell these drugs. Charlie obtains other drugs such as xanx by faking other symptoms.

This has made him the most popular kid in school. And he begins to give people advice after Kip Crombell (Mark Rendall) a depressed kid comes to him asking for drugs. He actually starts to make a difference and becomes more than just a drug dealer. He and Susan even have sex and become boyfriend and girlfriend. But at the same time he has friction with principal Nathan who just happens to be Susan's father.

Charlie Bartlett is not a bad movie. Maybe if I were in a funnier mood I might have liked it. But I couldn't bring myself to like it. It is probably because I have seen films in the teenage genre so much better than this. And the talent is squandered so much in this movie. Kat Dennings is an attractive and very talented actress. But her character isn't given enough of a chance to really shine. Robert Downey Jr could be the best actor of this generation. He gives a great performance. But his character could have had more juicer scenes.

I think if they had gone and made this movie a satire kind of like the Assassination of a high school president, the movie might have been better. It would have been an interesting look at high school, been easier to laugh with, and probably far more entertaining. Even if they had gone the American Pie route it probably would have been better. It would have made us feel ad care about Charlie more. Instead I don't care about him and see him just trying to be cool.

I mentioned Juno at the start of this review. That is a great movie and a great example of what teen movies can be with great detail. Charlie Bartlett is far from the worst teen movie. But it is a step backwards. It could have been better with a few adjustments. But instead falls short.

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Going 18600 miles per second.

Tinker Tailor Solider Spy:


Tinker Tailor Solider Spy starts out in October 1973 when Control (John Hurt) the head of the British Intelligence ("The Circus") has agent Jim Prideaux (Mark Strong) to Communist Hungry to meet a Hungarian general who had promised to sell information.

However Jim is shot ad captured by Soviet agents. During the international incident that follows this Control and his right hand man George Smiley (Gary Oldman) are forced into retirement. Control who is already ill soon dies after their retirement. Percy Alleline (Toby Jones) gets the job as the new Chief of the Circus. He has Bill Haydon (Colin Firth) is his deputy and Roy Bland and Toby Esterhase (Ciaran Hinds, and David Denick).

These three have somehow have been successfully in getting new high grade Soviet intelligence material from a project that they are partaking in called "Witchcraft". Control and Smiley don't trust the project. Witchcraft material is currently being shared with the Americans. But in exchange for this, the Americans are giving valuable U.S intelligence.

George is then brought out of retirement by Oliver Lacon (Simon McBurney). Oliver is the civil servant in charge of intelligence. He is to investigate a claim by Ricki Tarr (Tom Hardy) who is an MI6 agent that there has been a long-term mole who is in a senior role in British intelligence. Before Control has passed he too had held this fear. George all the while working outside of Circus decides to get a few men and start to interview people who have left Circus the same time that he did.

Tinker Tailor Solider is a slow pace french espionage film that uses every ounce of the genre to it's advantage. It makes it feel a bit more dragged out. But it works well because the story is so intriguing that we can't help but watch. That is what makes it entertaining. It's paces fits in well too because we get to sense the feel going on and the seriousness of it as well. This is something that the film really focused on clearly and achieves.

The performances were a big part of this movie. The acting is great. Colin Firth as always gives a great performance. Giving his character an edge about him and maintaining something interesting about him. Tom Hardy has become one of the best working actors out there right now. Every role he plays he makes the character so believable and something so honest about him. But this movie belongs to Gary Oldman. What an actor. He is once again able to go into a character and make it his. He owns it. And gives this electrifying performance. Could be the best of his career.

It is a film that is beautifully. Shots and camera angles all look amazing. Director Tomas Alfredson makes sure that the film doesn't only have the pace and feeling right. But that it looks it too. And that is all apart of this movie experience. It feels like we are transformed into this world where we get to see something that we would never get to see. It feels like a treat in a way. Like secret information is being handed out. And that was the goal.

To watch Tinker Tailor Solider you must suspend yourself in a way of where things are not as they seem and live in the moment that the film is currently in. That is how you have to watch it in order to enjoy it. Each scene is done with such grace and such detail to the standard of truth that the film is trying to convey. It is that which makes this film interesting. Not just the story. But how it is being told. The script was written so well. It is the realization of novel's daunting complexity.

Tinker Tailor Solider is a movie that is pieced together with great skill by Alfredson. AHe directs a movie that is such a puzzle and is filled with anxiety and paranoia. It is a movie that filmed with such grace that I don't see quite a lot.

RED:


RED starts off relatively normal. We see Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) in his humble abode. He is a lonely guy so he often will go and call up Sarah (Mary Louise Parker) who is a customer service agent that works at Frank's pension office in Kansas City. To have an excuse to talk to her he will rip up the pension checks and just tell her that they never arrived.

But one night a hit squad comes in and tries to kill him. He masterfully kills the three people that have invaded his home. Here is when we really start to know what kind of business he was in before he retired. He realizes that his phone calls have been taped. He goes to Kansas City to go and save Sarah. Sarah as you can expect is a bit freaked out when Frank just shows up at her apartment. As he starts to explain himself and that he is in the CIA she still doesn't believe him.

He has to duct tape her mouth and and ties her hands and feet together and sticks her in a car as another hit squad comes along to attack Sarah and him. He takes her to New Orleans where he goes to see his terminally ill mentor Joe Matheson (Morgan Freeman). He is 80 years old and has cancer. Joe informs Frank that the same hit squad that went after him are the same one that went and killed a New York Times reporter.

William Cooper (Karl Urban) is the CIA agent who is assigned to hunt down and kill Frank. After saving Sarah who broke out of the motel that he tied her to, Sarah and him while avoiding William, go and seek clues that have been left behind by the late New York Times reporter. This leads them to a hit list. They then decide to track down Marvin Boggs (John Malkovich) who is like Frank a former Black Ops agent. He is also a paranoid conspirator. This is probably due to the government feeding him LSD every day for 11 years. Marvin informs them that all the names on the list are all connected to a 1981 secret mission in Guatemala that Frank and Marvin both were involved in.

RED has a great star studded cast. Helen Mirren and Richard Dreyfuss are also in the film. RED is a good action comedy movie because it has a singular plot that is interesting enough to sustain all the way to the end. It is quite the popcorn movie. There is never a dull moment and action is everywhere. There is no over the top stuff in this movie. They use the talented cast to their advantage, create an interesting plot, and lets them run wild.

To watch and enjoy this movie you have to suspend yourself from reality and then enter into a world that instead is filled with craziness. If you do that then you will like the film. It becomes a quest into something that we will probably never experience. Something that we see talked about though. We all know what the CIA is. We all also wonder what it is exactly that they do. This movie gives their look at with great pacing and style.

One reason to admire this movie is the craftsmanship. The explosions look wonderful. The style is a big part of this movie. It goes for the normal violent action film thing. But at the same time there is so much wit to this movie that gets itself from under that and turns into something more entertaining to watch than your average action film. It becomes something that is really fun to watch every moment that it is on and allows us to indulge as an audience.

RED is a good action comedy. The chemistry between Bruce Willis and Mary Louise Parker is a big key to that. Kind of like how in Knight and Day Tom Cruise's and Cameron Diaz's chemistry was a big part of the movie. It may have a few things that shows it flaws. But the action, the cast, and the plot are too good to ignore.

Match Point:

Match Point is a very interesting thriller. Also it is a movie that is different from a lot of things that Woody Allen has made. One thing that is in a lot of his films that is in this one though. There aren't many characters in Match Point that are good people. In fact the two stars of it are bad people. So it isn't good versus bad. But instead it is two bad people and ones shows that they are worse than the other.

Chris Milton (Johnathan Rhys Meyers) has just retired from playing professional Tennis. He becomes a Tennis instructor at an upmarket club in London. This is where he meets Tom Hewett (Matthew Goode) who is a wealthy pupil and quickly strikes a friendship with him. After finding out that each other is quite a fan of opera, Tom invites Chris to come to the opera with him.

At the opera he meets Tom's older sister Chloe (Emily Mortimer). Chloe quickly becomes interested in Chris and the two start to go out with each other. Chris meets Tom's fiancee Nola Rice (Scarlett Johansson). Very quickly, nearly instantly they are attracted to each other. Tom's mother Eleanor (Penelope Wilton) does not approve of Tom's relationship with Nola. Nola is a struggling American actress and Eleanor is not impressed. This is the cause of tension in the family.

Chloe convinces her father Alec (Brian Cox) to give Chris a job as an executive at his law firm. He has now been accepted into their family and even goes on to marry Chloe. But not before he starts to get Nola more. They wonderfully hook up in a wheat filed in the rain. But Nola does not want to rock the boat. Eventually though Nola and Tom do however break up.

Tom tells this to Chris while playing Tennis. He tells him that he fell in love with another woman. While at a art gallery, Chris sees Nola. Nola has just returned to town. Much has changed and Tom is now married to the woman that he left Nola for. This ramps up their new affair. And what a passionate affair it is. Chris does all the while he is trying to have a baby with his wife.

I mentioned how Match Point is different from a lot of Allen's previous films. It is written differently and just goes in such a different direction. Perhaps that is why I enjoyed it so much. He decides to show something that is rather dark and something that real people do experience and make it into art. He puts all these bad people together who are normal. But his point is that a lot of normal people are bad.

His writing is a pleasure. He doesn't have a scene out of place. The pacing is just perfect. Not to fast nor too slow. These characters are written to seem to be normal in everyday life. But one is capable of something that we totally didn't see coming. There is a bit of a twist. It is sudden. But very satisfying. Which is a big part of why this movie works.

Scarlett Johansson's performance is wonderful. She plays such a bad person. She cheats on her ex fiancee. Then has an affair with a married man. But we still feel sorry for her. She is a struggling actress who seems to not be able to catch a break. She hasn't had a life that she wanted to have. Johansson is able to play her hard, tough, sexy and cool. But at the same time show a lot of vulnerability.

Allen is such a wonderful director. All his actors and actresses have hailed him. Here he gets the best of all of his cast. He allows them to give these characters a certain edge and mystique about them. And at the same time he can go with his own vision and create his own art.

Match Point is one of Allen's best films to be honest. It is so pure, natural and stunning to watch. I loved watching every second of it. It allows the audience to be engaged by feeding of a storyline that has such bad intentions. It makes for a horrible fascination that keeps us going all the way to the end and after it ends we want more.

The Grifters:


The Grifters has that Martin Scorsese feel to it. Perhaps it is because he produced the film. Nope he didn't direct it. He hired on Stephen Frears to direct the film. The Grifters is a movie that thrives on it style and its setting. All the while creating a really great story with really great characters. All of which are actually rather complex.

Lilly Dillon (Angelica Houston) is a a con artist or "grifter". She has been all her life. Might I add that she does it rather well. Well she begins to rethink this lifestyle when her son Roy (John Cusack) suffer a near fatal injury. He was hit from the blunt end of a baseball bat after failing at a scam.

Roy is a small time grifter who is not fully into the game. His girlfriend Myra Langtry (Anette Benning) is a bit more experience. She uses her body a lot in her cons and it works out very well for her. They are though at first not really aware of what each other does and thinks that the other is legit. Lilly does not approve of Myra. And she does not want Roy to be a grifter. She clearly knows the lifestyle all too well and doesn't think that her son literally has the stomach for it.

Lilly works for a bookmaker. Bobo Justus (Pat Hingle). She handles playback at the horse racing tracks. What she does exactly is make large cash bets that will lower the odds of longshots. After she goes and sees Roy in the hospital (that was the first time by the way that they have seen each other in eight years) she misses a race where the winner pays 70-1. This causes Bobo to be very mad. He burns her hand with a cigar.

After Roy gets out of the hospital he takes Myra for a weekend down to La Jolla. On the way there in a train as she is doing her thing she notices Roy conning some sailors. She then confronts him during a dinner that she knows. He first tries to play it off. But she says that she is not square. She wants them to be working together on jobs. She even explains her past. It is tempting. But his mother doesn't approve. And it is starting to get more dangerous.

The Grifters is a great movie. The pacing, the acting, the way it was filmed, the writing. Everything in this movie is wonderful. It flows so swift with such ease to it that it makes sense. Scorsese could have directed it himself. But he intrusts Frears and Frears does not disappoint. He is able to direct with such style and allow some great performances to come out.

Cusack is probably the most natural actor out there. He hgave a great performance that got snubbed. His character is a complex one. He seems like a good guy who has had a strained relationship with his mother. Someone who has struggled throughout life and just trying to take care of himself. But he is also this guy who does these bad things. Someone who seems a bit cold. This makes him interesting to watch enough. But Cusack adds something to him to make us understand more.

Angleica Houston and Anette Benning also gave great performances. Both were nominated for academy awards. These two woman were both so strong in their own right. Houston has a mother who wants to do the right thing. But she is not capable of that. And Benning who is beautiful. But is fully into the way of life that she is currently tangled in.

The Writing in a big part of this. Having each and every scene flow the way it did was no easy task. And the dialogue being able to sound authentic in a way is a great feat. Accompanied by great direction it is put together and turned into a film that not only expresses what the point they are trying to get across is. But also what kind of people they are.

The Grifters is a great stylish film. It is riveting film with riveting performances. From start to finish it is engaging and even though it is nearly two hours you really don't feel it. One of Cusack's best movies.

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story:


I played dodgeball in school. Mostly elementary school. But nonetheless I played it in school. It is a fun, yet very competitive game. I was pretty good at it. I could knock out a player pretty easily. Not sure if I could have played in a dodgeball tournament though. In Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story we see this happen. It is a movie with the same goals a lot of sports movie have with a cool kind of humor.

Peter LaFelur (Vince Vaughan) is the owner of Average Joe's. Average Joe's is a gymnasium that is failing. After he defaults on the gym's mortgage payments, the gym is purchased by his rival White Goodman (Ben Stiller). White owns Global-Gym which is an ultra successful gym which is worth way more money than Peter's gym. White is planning to close down Average Joe's and turning it into a Global-Gym.

Attorney Kate Veatch (Christine Taylor) is working on closing the foreclosure for White. White has been smitten by Kate. But she does not want anything to do with him. He is a creepy work out freak who has apparently lost 600 pounds and is very health conscious. Kate meets up with Peter in his office and tells him the only way to save his gym to pay off the debt of $50,000.

Peter and his employees Dwight (Chris Williams), and Owen (Joel David Moore). Along with members Steve "the Pirate" (Alan Tudyk), Justin (Justin Long), and Gordon (Stephen Root) decide to come up with a way to raise the $50,00. After a failed car wash they are about to give up. But then after seeing an ad for a dodgeball tournament with the prize being $50,000. They decide to give it a shot.

They begin to train for dodgeball. They watched an old dodgeball training video from Justin's high school. They have to play a regional dodgeball game to get into the national in Las Vegas. They play against girl scouts. And they loose very, very badly. But after one of the girl scouts fails a drug test they are in. Patches O Houlihan (Rip Torn) sees them and decides to train them. Kate even decides to join the team after White gets into the tournament.

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story is a movie where the jokes land really well. But at the same time it is a rather feel good story. The story is nice and pure. We end up rooting for these characters to be successful at what they are trying to achieve. And that is a big credit to the movie That we actually care about these people and want to see them succeed.

It uses two comic stars Vaughan and Stiller together and both work very well together. Vaughan more as the straight man who seems like a rather calm guy. Stiller usually plays a straight man. But this time here he shows like he did in movies like heavy weight how much he can disappear into a character and make a character be truly crazy.

Dodgeball A True Underdog story is a funny and nice movie. It is fun to watch because we like these characters. Like I said we want these guys to win the game and be successful. It is a truly an underdog story.

Rampart:

Rampart is memorizing and brutal film. It is a ruthless with what goes on and is ruthless with what it tries to get across. Things that go on in Rampart go on a lot where the movie is set: the LAPD. And it has happened many, many times. I think that is one of the aspects that made this film so interesting. The other is of course Woody Harrelson. But I will sing his praises later.

Officer Dave Brown (Woody Harrelson) is an interesting person. He has been on the force for several years. He may or may not have killed a rapist. He also has two ex wives who get this are sisters and he cheated on both. And there is even more to add on to this. He has a daughter from each marriage. And on top of that they all live together. Now you can only imagine the friction that causes.

Dave is a police officer some would consider dirty. He does not consider himself to be a dirty cop though. But instead just someone who gets it. He feels that he is probably more fair than other police officers. He drinks on the job quite a bit. And he is an interesting drunk. He plays by his own rules to to himself they are effective. But not to everyone else.

After getting rammed into while driving one day, he brutally beats a Spanish man. This is caught on camera and becomes one of those police brutality things that we see on the news from time to time. The station clearly does not like the bad publicity. And with his checkered past it is understandable. He just kind of starts to pile on to himself more and more.

He is also involved into a suspicious shooting. All of this puts him a very bad position. He tries to talk to the assistant District Attorney (Sigourney Weaver). But she isn't really willing to help him. He starts to see that the station really doesn't care about him. But they care about their reputation. They want to get away from what name that he is giving them. And his personal life is tumbling as his ex wives want him to move out and his relationship with his children are strained.

Rampart is a movie that is all about character study. We get to watch and study Dave. Someone who is an alcoholic, someone who has done bad things while on the job. Someone who has cheated on his wife, someone who just does what he wants to do. I never really started to like the character. But I never started to dislike the character too. Which is a credit to Harrelson.

Harrelson's performance here is one of the best of his career. He is able to submerge himself into the role of Dave. He allows us to follow this man through his struggles and get to know him more and more throughout the movie. Harrelson is just an interesting person. And he puts that into his character. He makes Dave someone who has something that is more than meets the eye. I don't think another actor other than Harrelson could have played this character. He just was this character.

The LAPD has had issues like these. Which is another credit to this movie. They take something that could have happened in real life and they turn it into art. That is the beauty of movies. Take something that happens, and then bring more attention to it. And that is what makes it a great movie as well. It is done so well with this real and gritty feel to it.

Oren Moverman's direction and co writing with James Ellroy is the back bone of the movie. He gets these beautiful camera shots and camera angles to show L.A in such an interesting light. He wants to show L.A for what he thinks it really is. And that is a great goal.

Rampart is a 2012 movie that should not go un notice. What a great movie. Great craftsmanship and writing. If there is only one reason to watch this movie it is to get to see what real great character acting is from Harrelson. Ice Cube being in it doesn't hurt either.

Rampart on my to see list and would like to give The Grifters another watch.

Love the variety in the films you review!

End of Watch:


End of Watch is perhaps the best movie of 2012 so far. It is a brutal film with brutal details and an amazing look inside what the LAPD might be. It has action from the start to the finish of the film. Yet has at times great humor. But at the same time, it is a rather personal film. It shows the human aspects of these characters. It is a one of a kind movie in this genre. Probably one of the best Buddy Cop movies of all time.

Brian Taylor (Jake Gyllenhall) and Mike Zavala (Michael Pena) are both police officers for the LAPD. They also happen to be life long best friends. They work really well together patrolling the streets. No they are not detectives. But they are the cops that come to domestic violence things and drug busts. Drugs and Guns are the LAPD's top two money makers. And those two are great at collecting those. But they do go by an interesting set of roles.

We get to see some of the things that they do in a documentary style at times. This is because Brian is recording with his camera for his class. This gives the film an even cooler look. It is not like we are just watching a movie. It becomes at times like we are watching real life. And that becomes stunning. Mike is somewhat gangster. He fights and beats up an ex con after they assaulted a mailman. He took him in. But he let him go.

Brian and Mike are both romantically linked. Mike has a wife named Gabby (Natalie Martinez) who he has been married to since he was 18 years old. Brian hasn't as a much fortunate in the love department as Mike. That is until he meets Janet (Anna Kendrick). He and Janet start to take a liking to each other. It is interesting to watch these characters and their relationships. This is what I meant by personal. It just gives them more a human aspect.

Things get more intense in the police force. They start making some serious busts. These serious busts are not exactly what they are looking for. Or maybe rather what they should be looking for. They are seen as the king of the streets by their fellow police officers. This leads to so many dangers. Some real crazy dangers. And it gets more and more exciting.

End of watch is a fantastic movie. Great craftsmanship, great writing, and great acting. David Ayer writes and directs a movie that never holds back, never runs out of steam, and never holds back any punches. That is kind of what makes this movie the experience that it really is. Fun the start it gets up on to this idea and it keeps on going. It doesn't fall into any of the cliches that other movies in this genre. But instead becomes original.

The acting is phenomenal. Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena are on top of their game. Both give these really full and detailed performances. We become so invested into these characters and it feels like we know these characters. And says something about their performances. They were both just stunning. Anna Kendrick and Natalie Martinez both also gave great performances. They were what they needed to be for the movie and it works to perfection.

Gylllenhaal and Pena trained for five months with the LAPD for this movie. They would go on 12 hour ride alongs for up to three times a week. That is amazing commitment to their roles. They are able to portray a good look at the LAPD. And what they have to go through on a daily basis. The photographic look and feel to it is great too. These different styles used in the film only add to the intensity of the movie in every way possible.

Ayer wrote Training Day. Training Day is a good movie. End of Watch is a great movie in every way possible. Here we see his writing coexist with his vision and not someone else. He creates something so different, so brutal and so real and so engaging. It is an amazing work of filmmaking.

End of Watch should get consideration for best picture. The wiring flows like water. Not only is it gritty. But it has humor too. The actor is a tour de force. The craftsmanship is wonderful. So many other movies like this don't work. But this one avoids those pitfalls and goes into a world where the revolutionize the genre.