Batch Reviews

Eat Pray Love
I didn't hate "Eat Pray Love," in spite of this thing I have about chick flicks (a penis.) It was beautifully shot, for one thing, and had a decent storyline. I didn't really care much for the main character, who spent most of the movie rejecting things... which, to be fair, was the point. Richard Jenkins was a definite high point as a sort of Buddhist priest (a low-key Asian-inflected version of Judas Priest with way less leather,) Billy Crudup did his usual quietly amazing job (why isn't that guy a huge rockstar?) and James Franco has turned into a really good actor. Do not be surprised when, sometime in ten or so years, Franco is called "One of the best actors of his generation." Seriously. The kid from Spider-man. (3.5/5)

The Town
I was all ready to dismiss "The Town" as "Heat 2.0," which is still a pretty fair comparison, but it misses the point that "The Town" really is one of the best crime/action movies since Michael Mann sat De Niro and Pacino down in that diner for an all-too-brief conversation. But even with Mann's epic being a clear and heavy influence, Ben Affleck made a strong, assured film that happens to have a lot of similarities to the earlier movie, but stands on its own as a story and as a damn fine movie. The supporting cast was uniformly excellent, from Jeremy Renner to Blake Lively. Between this and "Gone Baby Gone," there really shouldn't be any doubt but that Ben Affleck is a damn good director. Where "Heat" was about responsibility and aging, "The Town" is about growing up and about loyalty, a subject Affleck has been concerned with since "Good Will Hunting." Seriously, see this movie if you didn't already. (5/5)

Vantage Point
I had a good time with this movie. It wasn't a great flick by any stretch, but it was a perfectly acceptable thriller, and had some nice twists and turns to it. Why it got no respect from any quarter for the editing, I'll never understand. And plus, Forest Whitaker is one of my absolute favorite actors. He's almost an elemental force, even when he's playing a somewhat nebbishy tourist with a camera in a B-movie thriller about seemingly superhuman Secret Service agents (Dennis Quaid is in a car wreck that stretches the suspension of belief past what is reasonable.) The score below includes a half point for the presence of Said Taghmoui, another favorite actor. (4/5)

The Brothers Bloom
Holy mother of God, why didn't I see this in theaters? Why didn't everybody see this in theaters? Written and directed by Rian Johnson, the absolute genius behind "Brick" a few years ago, this flick is THE con-man flick of the past decade. Twisty, turny, and full of note-perfect casting, you really are missing out if you haven't seen this one. There's Rachel Weisz playing quirky and adorable, Mark Ruffalo with charm and brains to spare, and Adrian Brody playing vulnerable in such a way as to make it kind of cool. And while those descriptions pretty much match a lot of what you've seen the three leads in, Johnson's script and directing are such that these three absolutely HAD to play those parts. Add in Robbie Coltrane, Maximillian mofuggin' Schell, and Rinko Kikuchi as one of the best sidekick characters I've ever seen, and you've got yourself a flick. A damn near perfect movie. (5.5/5 - extra credit for Kikuchi's Bang Bang.)

The Invention of Lying
Ricky Gervais. I was really only peripherally aware of who Gervais was until this past year or so. I knew of him, but I don't think I'd seen much of anything with him. When "Lying" came out, I saw him on "The Daily Show," and he was cool and funny and interesting, but I still didn't actually watch the movie. Then, on the trip to Florida a couple weeks ago, we caught a few minutes of his new standup special on HBO. He didn't displace Bill Hicks or George Carlin in my pantheon of great standup comedians, but he did floor me a couple of times. Then we saw this movie. Religious people will probably be upset at some aspects of the film, but Gervais puts across a very intelligent, very compassionate case both for and against "The Man in the Sky" (the movie's term, not mine.) Like the rest of the movies in this entry, the supporting cast was terrific... including the hated Jonah Hill, who was doing a toned-down version of his schtick, one that felt more authentic and truthful. There is a massive tonal shift about halfway through the movie, and I get what Gervais was doing, but it didn't click quite as well for me after a point. Overall, though, an excellent movie, and one that's about something - in this case, self-invention, and how to be "good." It appeals strongly to the existentialist in me. (4.5/5)

Paris, Je T'Aime
A lot of people love the hell out of this movie. There were pieces of it that were absolutely beautiful (in particular the Gus Van Sant segment near the beginning) but I'm not a fan of this type of movie. Vignettes are fine, but stringing a bunch of them together tires me out. And this movie had two strikes against it, starting about the halfway point - that fucking mime section, for one, and for two, I started feeling physically ill about the time Ben Gazzarra showed up. I don't THINK it had anything to do with the movie, so much as a couple of beers and some puerco pibil... And to be fair, I didn't finish the movie. But I don't think I will. (?/5, tending to 3/5.)

(Side note: We also got "New York, I Love You." I would have been reviewing it instead of "Paris," but our copy was slightly damaged, and started freezing up five minutes in.)

Kick Ass
Remember when I said I wished I'd seen "The Brothers Bloom" in theaters? Same applies here, but pretty much all my friends were actually recommending "Kick Ass." To those friends, I apologize. This might be the best superhero movie I've seen, and I've seen most of them since probably Burton's Batman. "Kick Ass" might have replaced "The Incredibles" for me for Favorite Superhero Movie (but I'm giving Pixar another chance, just as soon as they get "The Incredibles" out on Blu-ray. Any day now...) Chloe Moretz will one day own the entire city of Hollywood. And she actually wasn't even my favorite character.

Superbad (A brief aside.)
I hated Superbad. I thought it was stupid and pointless and determinedly unfunny. Jonah Hill was a shitty stand-in for Seth Rogen. Michael Cera is a bland, boring, dull dweeb with a black hole where his charisma should be. And Christopher Mintz-Plasse's McLovin... well, the only thing really wrong with Mintz-Plasse's performance in that movie was that everybody loved McLovin, and that's a great way to put me off the character. I hated Superbad SO MUCH that the hatred spilled onto all three of them... until "The Invention of Lying" showed me a more sympathetic Hill. Mintz-Plasse got past the Superbad Curse fully with "Kick Ass." More on Cera in a minute.

Kick Ass (the conclusion.)
In case the preceding didn't make it clear, Mintz-Plasse's Red Mist was a sheer pleasure. I can't wait for the sequel. (5/5)

Scott Pilgrim vs The World
I'm resisting a Scott 0, World 1, joke. Obviously not very well. Edgar Wright has never disappointed me. Shaun of the Dead is one of my favorite zombie movies and one of my favorite comedies. Hot Fuzz is also a brilliant comedy, and works damn well as a buddy cop picture. I heard he was making this movie, and even though I didn't know much about the comics at the time, I was excited. Then he cast that black hole of talent and personality (you know him as Michael Cera) as Scott. I was less excited. Then he started filling in the supporting cast with people like Brandon Routh (who took an unfair kicking from Superman) and Jason Schwartzman (who I tend to like a lot, but I'm not always interested in the movies he makes.) I got a little more excited. Then the movie came out and got reviews that could probably charitably be called "mixed." Friends hated it. So I put it off. Then Blockbuster had it on sale for 3/$20. We were going to watch it NYE, after "Paris," but I was out of commission. So we watched it last night, right after "Kick Ass." I'm actually kind of glad we watched it at home, because that meant the whole screen was easily visible, and Wright put a LOT on the screen - far more than he usually does, and so much more than most filmmakers ever will. From the standpoint of just the pretty pictures, this movie was at least the equal of "The Matrix," or "Kill Bill," or "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," or "Dark City." (There are movies that I think are much better visually - "Pleasantville," pretty much all of Darren Aronofsky's movies, and some classics like "The Searchers." But "Scott" is definitely a recent high-water mark.)

(Cue pretentious amateur critic comment: "Edgar Wright has found new ways to convey information visually, borrowing from sources as diverse as cable news and comic books, to create a new kind of film grammar that perfectly carried this film's style, themes, and tone.")

Brandon Routh was hilariously smug as the super-powered Vegan Ex. Jason Schwartzman tore it up as End Boss Gideon, and hopefully over time, his supervillain character will be remembered as fondly as, say, Nicholson's Joker. Knives Chau (played by Ellen Wong) was, as in the books, the sweet soul of the movie. Kieran Culkin was spot-on with all the snark his character (Scott's roommate) deserved. And Aubrey Plaza is a comedy ninja. I loved her in "Funny People," too, but her Julie Powers was bitchy fun.

And the Black Hole of Charisma, Michael Cera... Well, fuck. Apparently, I just haven't seen the right Michael Cera movies. I kind of think that's because he hasn't made too many that I'd like (but I'm thinking I might try to catch "Youth in Revolt" sometime.) He may not have been the perfect choice for Scott, but Scott was definitely the perfect choice for him, if that makes sense. This part should have been a breakout hit for him - Scott's storyline is basically about growing up and coming into his own after a lifetime of just kind of floating and getting by, nothing at all for me to relate to there - but it probably won't be, because it wasn't the huge success that Superbad was. I actually feel like I owe the guy an apology. But moreso, I feel like I owe thanks to Edgar Wright for putting together such a great, heartfelt movie. It might not be for everyone, but it hit the spot for me. (5/5)

(Final side note, after watching "Kick Ass" and "Scott Pilgrim," we threw on "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog," and as far as these things go, that was a hell of a good triple play.)