W.E.

50/100 (119 min, 2011)
Plot: The affair between King Edward VIII and American divorcée Wallis Simpson, and a contemporary romance between a married woman and a Russian security guard.
Director: Madonna
Writers: Madonna (screenplay), Alek Keshishian (screenplay)
Stars: Abbie Cornish, James D'Arcy and Andrea Riseborough

Pretty Vacant

W.E. is not a good film. But it is one of this films that have so many fantastic elements in it that you can't really call it bad either. It's not good, it's not bad, but it's definitely not mediocre. It's a film you have to endure in order to see those great parts of it - it's like a trip to the museum where you are wandering around for hours, bored, unimpressed, puzzled, only occasionally seeing a gorgeous piece of art.

I imagine that while Madonna was working on that movie she spent her time reading history books about the affair between King Edward and Wallis Simpson, while listening to Sex Pistols and surrounding herself with the objects from the era. Too bad in her research she actually forgot to read about how to make a movie. W.E. has many things in it but the one thing that is always absent is the focus - the film is scattered and messy and Madonna makes a lot of puzzling choices when it comes both to the plot and the narrative of the picture.

The Moth Diaries

62/100 (81 min, 2011)
Plot: Rebecca is suspicious of Ernessa, the new arrival at her boarding school. But is Rebecca just jealous of Ernessa's bond with Lucie, or does the new girl truly possess a dark secret?
Director: Mary Harron
Writer: Rachel Klein (novel)
Stars: Sarah Bolger, Sarah Gadon and Lily Cole

Sex, blood, Lily Cole

The Moth Diaries is not yet another teenage take on vampire/monsters legends. It has something movies rarely have anymore - genuine style and atmosphere. Mary Harron who directed American Psycho and captured the essence of the novel without even showing off most of the events is again on the director's seat here. It's bizarre how her career went from being very close to success to approaching the oblivion. Whilst American Psycho was not the masterpiece of directorial work, it was better than most movies out there yet Harron only went on to make TV movie The Notorious Bettie Page (as lovely as the film was it didn't get much acclaim) and then pretty much disappeared.

While a lot of bad things can be said about The Moth Diaries and its story, which is its weakest link of the film, it tells a tale many of people will relate to - the roots of the protagonist's fragility lie in the loss of a parent, here in quite dramatic events. Her father was a famous writer who committed suicide. The main heroine Rebecca, asks interesting questions in her search for her own self - does it mean she is prone to taking her own life too?

Haywire

79/100 (93 min, 2011)
Plot: A black ops super soldier seeks payback after she is betrayed and set up during a mission.
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Writer: Lem Dobbs
Stars: Gina Carano, Ewan McGregor and Michael Fassbender

They gave her no choice. 

"Haywire" is all you can expect from the movie Steven Soderbergh does during considering retirement from film making - I see that he isn't going to do that after all from the trailer for "Magic Mike" which is a peculiar choice of a story for this director - it's entertaining and quit simple, but it still has distinctive style known from Soderbergh's films - slick cinematography, smooth editing and jazzy, elegant score. Another thing that will hint at this being his movie is the presence of many well known actors, who while still used in too big quantities than it is necessary aren't as underused as in "Contagion".

When it comes to Soderbergh's movies I often complain about that - there are so many well known people in his films and yet we never get to focus on each of them enough. In the effect his films are usually a classic case of style over substance - yes, it's all cleverly executed but who cares if all those stars are wandering around without getting a chance to shine? In "Haywire" we finally have a clear protagonist - Mallory Kane, ironically played by someone unknown to the average movie goer - Gina Carano.

This Must Be the Place

71/100 (118 min, 2011)
Plot: A bored, retired rock star sets out to find his father's executioner, an ex-Nazi war criminal who is a refugee in the U.S.
Director: Paolo Sorrentino
Writers: Umberto Contarello (screenplay), Paolo Sorrentino (screenplay)
Stars: Sean Penn, Frances McDormand and Judd Hirsch

Head in the clouds

"This Must be the Place" is a quirky story about a man respecting his father's wishes and going for a journey and in the process of it - growing up. It's yet another of the movies we saw in recent time - much like Mavis Gary in "Young Adult" and Matt in "The Descendants" the protagonist of "This must be the place" is searching for one thing and finds something else along the way. But that protagonist is not an ordinary person - he is a middle aged rock star, whose band was famous 20 years ago, named Cheyenne.

The film is very peculiar - we only know what Cheyenne knows, sometimes even less. He is alone in his journey so for most of it we simply follow him, not knowing exactly where he is going or why does he question people he visits. He travels around United States visiting different people - an elder teacher, a waitress and a single mother among others and he interacts with the people he meets along his way, which brings along a lot of quirky moments such as the scene where Cheyenne plays ping pong or gives the group of girls tips about how to apply lipstick.

Shame

97/100 (2011, 101 min)
Plot: In New York City, Brandon's carefully cultivated private life -- which allows him to indulge his sexual addiction -- is disrupted when his sister Sissy arrives unannounced for an indefinite stay.
Director: Steve McQueen
Writers: Abi Morgan (screenplay), Steve McQueen (screenplay)
Stars: Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan and James Badge Dale

“Life is loneliness, despite all the opiates, despite the shrill tinsel gaiety of "parties" with no purpose, despite the false grinning faces we all wear. And when at last you find someone to whom you feel you can pour out your soul, you stop in shock at the words you utter - they are so rusty, so ugly, so meaningless and feeble from being kept in the small cramped dark inside you so long. Yes, there is joy, fulfillment and companionship - but the loneliness of the soul in its appalling self-consciousness is horrible and overpowering.”

― Sylvia Plath

When I love the movie I usually review it right away. But with "Shame" which is one of the very few movies I give the highest rating to, I just couldn't. I knew I won't be able to review it properly after one viewing and I knew I needed time to see it again. So now that is out on DVD I could finally gather strength to watch the film again and I'm finally able to properly write about it. Because "Shame" is one of the heaviest and emotionally draining films I've ever seen. For me to cry during a movie I need to feel connected to the character or at least be incredibly moved by the story. With Steve McQueen's films "Hunger" and now "Shame" it's difficult to feel the connection - both Bobby Sands and Brandon aren't the kind of characters you can easily relate to. Yet I couldn't hold back tears during "Hunger" and for the last 20 minutes of "Shame" I basically wept uncontrollably.

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

79/100 (2011, 133 min)
Plot: The IMF is shut down when it's implicated in the bombing of the Kremlin, causing Ethan Hunt and his new team to go rogue to clear their organization's name.
Director: Brad Bird
Writers: Josh Appelbaum, André Nemec
Stars: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner and Simon Pegg

Mission accomplished

I'm not a fan of "Mission Impossible" movies. Not that they are not entertaining and the visual effects aren't stunning, but for some reason they aren't particularly memorable. With James Bond series I remember a lot from the movies - icy Rosamund Pike in "Die Another Day", funny geek from "Goldeneye", The scene where Sophie Marceau tortures Pierce Brosman in "The World is not Enough" and Sean Connery, lots of him, because he is well, Sean Connery. With "Mission Impossible" series apart from the famous scene from the first movie where Tom Cruise hangs from the ceiling and the fact how shocked I was Philip Seymour Hoffman appeared in 3rd one, I don't remember that much. But "Ghost Protocol" is a well made movie with fun characters and for me, the best one in the series.

The film opens with impressive sequence where a man (Josh Holloway) runs out with a bag on his shoulder, escaping two guys chasing him. Then a delicate looking woman (Lea Seydoux) appears in front of him, on the empty street and mercilessly shoots him. As he falls on his knees, the woman embraces him and takes the bag. After that she walks away and leaves him there to die.

Drive

89/100 (100 min, 2011)
Plot: A mysterious Hollywood stuntman, mechanic and getaway driver lands himself in trouble when he helps out his neighbour.
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Writers: Hossein Amini (screenplay), James Sallis (book)
Stars: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan and Bryan Cranston

"There is always some madness in love. 

But there is also always some reason in madness."

— Friedrich Nietzsche 

 "Whatever is left of me, whatever is left of me...I'm yours."

"Drive", the movie sensation of 2011, has swept away most of the people who have seen it. Why? Stylistically the movie is just amazing - from the very first minutes the pictures just flow into the night, with shining, blurred lights in the distance and you get the feeling as if you were driving along with the main hero. The film never loses its dreamy, evanescent quality - the camera movements are steady and the takes are long, the images just flow before our eyes creating one breezy atmosphere which is curiously contrasted with the violence and the gore that we occasionally see in the movie.

What adds to the film is another reason for its popularity - the amazing soundtrack consisting of original score by Cliff Martinez, which for some reason brings to mind driving on the empty streets during night. The album also contains great synthpop pieces that feel very old school and may as well be something which Quentin Tarantino would love to use in certain scenes in Kill Bill Volume 2. From the beginning to the very end, the movie never betrays the amazing climate it established, pulling as deep into the story as if it was a dream.

J. Edgar

33/100 (137 min, 2011)
Plot: As the face of law enforcement in America for almost 50 years, J. Edgar Hoover was feared and admired, reviled and revered. But behind closed doors, he held secrets that would have destroyed his image, his career and his life.
Director: Clint Eastwood
Writer: Dustin Lance Black
Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Armie Hammer and Naomi Watts

Iron Man

What the hell happened to Clint Eastwood? He used make great films - "Mystic River", "Million Dollar Baby", "Changeling" and "Letters to Iwo Jima". Then came "Gran Torino" which while still being a decent film featured absolutely awful supporting cast which I can only assume was chose by someone blindfolded and drunk. And then last year there was misguided "Hereafter". But "J. Edgar" is so horribly bland, chaotic and messy which leads me to the one conclusion - it is definitely Eastwood's worst directing effort in years. I mean it's so bad it managed to make JFK assassination-related scenes look boring on screen, quite possibly for the first time in movie history.

I can't decide what was worst - the script or the execution of the story. The plot of the film focuses on way too many things without really telling us anything relevant and jumps around much like in "The Iron Lady" - 2011 was definitely not a good year for biopics. Much as with a misfire about Margaret Thatcher we observe Edgar looking back at his life, frequently not in chronological order. Most of the interesting things that happened during his days as the chef of FBI are omitted, in fact we don't learn that much from watching this movie. It's 2,5 hours long but I can't remember anything especially interesting happening in it or even anything actually happening in the film. The movie drags on mercilessly, the characters are never fully established on screen, sometimes they even disappear from the picture never to be seen again. It's especially baffling since Eastwood always had such a good hand to chose scripts he directs.

Screaming Sunday: The Thing (2011)

Sati's movie rating - 62/100
Plot: Paleontologist Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) has traveled to the desolate region of Antarctica for the expedition of her lifetime. Joining a Norwegian scientific team that has stumbled across an extraterrestrial ship buried in the ice, she discovers an organism that seems to have died in the crash eons ago. But it is about to wake up. When a simple experiment frees the alien from its frozen prison, Kate must join the crew's pilot, Carter (Joel Edgerton), to keep it from killing them off one at a time. And in this vast, intense land, a parasite that can mimic anything it touches will pit human against human as it tries to survive and flourish. "The Thing" serves as a prelude to John Carpenter's classic 1982 film of the same name.
The heroes: The team of scientists and Kate Lloyd, played by lovely Winstead, who is actually quite strong and admirable horror movie heroine. I have not noticed her doing anything idiotic during the course of the film which is admirable. I'm omitting the fact that when the expedition stumbles across the alien organism that was frozen for 100,000 years instead of just leaving this in the ice and getting the hell away from there, which is what I would do, they can't wait for examine it. Oh, by all freaking means do so.
The antagonists: The Thing, creature from space that is able to imitate all the organic tissues and make itself look like anyone in the research team. It can't however replicate non-organic materials, like for example teeth fillings, which will be a basis for one suspense filled scene.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

59/100 (129 min, 2011)
Plot: A nine-year-old amateur inventor, Francophile, and pacifist searches New York City for the lock that matches a mysterious key left behind by his father, who died in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
Director: Stephen Daldry
Writers: Eric Roth (screenplay), Jonathan Safran Foer (novel)
Stars: Thomas Horn, Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock

If things were easy to find, they wouldn't be worth finding. 

"Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" deals with a subject that so far was a misfire when it comes to movies - 9/11 did not prove to be a material for good films. With the exception of "United 93" Oliver Stone's "World Trade Center" and "Remember me" were disappointing. The success of Daldry's picture, which despite mixed reviews went on to score two Oscar nominations including the one for Best Picture may soon bring in a lot of movies based on the most shocking attack of last years. Is it a good thing? "Extremely loud and incredibly close" while being better than most movies on that subject still remains at many moments, a bad film.

Daldry is a very good director, but even he can't make a miracle happen. The story based on a novel by the same title is the main problem with the film. It unsuccessfully tries to mix what is real with what appears to be a fairytale - young boy finds a mysterious key in his father's closet. Before his father died in WTC he was the closest person to him - the boy, Oscar, is peculiar to say the least and his father was the only person in the world who knew how to communicate with him. He planned curious trips for Oscar, treasure hunts and elaborate expeditions, during which Oscar was going around New York trying to find out what his father hid for him. After his death when Oscar finds the key he is certain that this is one of his father's gifts for him and he is determined to find out what key opens.

A Separation (Jodaeiye Nader az Simin)

84/100 (123 min, 2011)
Plot: A married couple are faced with a difficult decision - to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimers.
Director: Asghar Farhadi
Writer: Asghar Farhadi
Stars: Peyman Maadi, Leila Hatami and Sareh Bayat

Unable to stay, unable to go.

"A Separation", the movie that is probably going to win Best Foreign Picture Oscar this Sunday, is a compelling and extremely dynamic story of two families - one consists of Nader, Simin and their daughter Razieh. Simin wants to leave the country in order to have a better life. Nader wants to stay in Iran with his family and with his ill father. Both of them have their reasons for their decisions and the inability to compromise will lead them to the titular separation, when despite their bonds and feelings because of the choices they made they will have to follow different paths. Right in the middle of family crisis is 11-year old Razieh who loves both of her parents and must decide which one of them she wants to live with.

The second family is Termeh and Hodjat and their little daughter. Termeh is hired to take care of Nader's father but because of many personal problems and different occurrences she is unable to perform her job as well as Nader expects her to. That leads to the chain of events that eventually will lead two families to the court, forcing them to confront each other and in doing so, confronting their deepest feelings and sense of morality, and seek answers for what's right and what is wrong.

My Week with Marilyn

53/100 (99 min, 2011)
Plot: Colin Clark, an employee of Sir Laurence Olivier's, documents the tense interaction between Olivier and Marilyn Monroe during production of The Prince and the Showgirl.
Director: Simon Curtis
Writers: Adrian Hodges, Colin Clark (books)
Stars: Michelle Williams, Eddie Redmayne and Kenneth Branagh

"What it must be like to be the most famous woman in the world?"

"My Week with Marilyn" is a dull movie with very good performance, but apart from Michelle Williams's work there is really not much to admire here. Marilyn Monroe's life - and death - are the things that fascinate people to this day. Out of all the events in her life Simon Curtis chose her time during shooting of "The Prince and the Showgirl" to be the subject of his film. While the movie shows many interesting events, its the storytelling - from the perspective of a young man who desperately wants to be a part of a movie business - is one of its biggest problems.

Colin is a rich boy who loves films - all he wants is to get inside this fascinating world of motion pictures and because of his parents' connections and money he gets a job as a third assistant to the director in Laurence Olivier's movie studio. The problem is that Colin is the dullest character in the film yet he is the main hero here, not Monroe, not Olivier, not Olivier's wife - fascinating Vivien Leigh.

The Artist

99/100 (100 min, 2011)
Plot: Hollywood, 1927: As silent movie star George Valentin wonders if the arrival of talking pictures will cause him to fade into oblivion, he sparks with Peppy Miller, a young dancer set for a big break.
Director: Michel Hazanavicius
Writer: Michel Hazanavicius (scenario and dialogue)
Stars: Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo and John Goodman

The Golden Silence

If you told me few weeks ago that I will see a movie from 2011 that will be my number 1 of the year and it's not going to be "Shame" I would not believe it. The more plausible thing to happen would be for Charlie Sheen to admit that he has a problem or for David Lynch to stop meditating and announce he is making season 3 of "Twin Peaks". And yet it happened.

I forgot about a certain enchanting kind of films. My favorite movies usually deal with dark and tragic things, they tell stories of insanity, psychosis, suffering and solitude. They are filled with screaming, crying, despair and happy endings occur there very rarely. But sometimes a movie comes along that doesn't need cracks suddenly appearing on the walls and feathers being pulled out of heroine's arms. The kind of movie that instead of messing with your head, shoots straight to your heart. No matter how cheesy I'm always moved by "Big Fish". "Amelie" always makes me feel happy. And now there is "The Artist".

The Rum Diary

70/100 (120 min, 2011)
Plot: American journalist Paul Kemp takes on a freelance job in Puerto Rico for a local newspaper during the 1950s and struggles to find a balance between island culture and the expatriates who live there.
Director: Bruce Robinson
Writers: Bruce Robinson (screenplay), Hunter S. Thompson (novel)
Stars: Johnny Depp, Giovanni Ribisi and Aaron Eckhart

Love and Inspiration in Puerto Rico

"Do not confuse love with lust, nor drunkenness with judgment."

When "The Rum Diary" opened in theatres last year it got terrible reviews and ended up being a box office failure. It's a real shame, because the movie contrary to what many critics written about it, is quirky, funny and entertaining. It is also the first good movie Depp did since..."Parnassus" where he appeared for few minutes. I'm excluding his voice work for "Rango" this year - "Rango" was tons of fun and as "The Rum Diary" has references to cult classic "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas". In "The Rum Diary" case it is to be expected - it has ties to Hunter S. Thompson - the movie is based on his long lost novel of the same title.

"The Rum Diary" was written by Hunter S. Thompson in the late fifties. However, it was not released until 1998, when Johnny Depp discovered the unpublished manuscript in the basement of Thompson's house, Owl Farm, in Woody Creek, Colorado. Depp was living with Thompson at the time in preparation for his role as Raoul Duke in "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas". It was Depp who proved to be instrumental in getting "The Rum Diary" published and everntually getting the movie based on it made.

The Iron Lady

25/100 (105 min, 2011)
Plot: A look at the life of Margaret Thatcher, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, with a focus on the price she paid for power.
Director: Phyllida Lloyd
Writer: Abi Morgan (screenplay)
Stars: Meryl Streep, Jim Broadbent and Richard E. Grant

Blue lady and the high price of milk

I'm going to say this upfront - "The Iron Lady" is not only among the worst movies of the last year it has the script and editing so horrid, it's even worse than what was the worst part of last year so far - Keira Knightley's horrible performance in "A Dangerous Method" which was so bad it nullified everything decent she did in her career to this point. I can't watch "Atonement" anymore without fearing Knithley's jaw will start its freaky break dance any second.. Getting back to "The Iron Lady" - I'm not even sure what  I hated more - the awful script or the editing which prevented Meryl Streep to turn her acting efforts into actual performance.

I have never held a movie camera in my hands nor I ever edited a film but I believe even I would made "The Iron Lady" better. Instead of spending more than half of the movie on pointless Oscar-bait moments with older Thatcher which apparently worked since the movie's sole two nominations are for leading actress and make up. I would just keep the scene where she talks with her husband, who isn't there. If the director focused on linear narrative, showing first young Thatcher, then her time as Prime Minister and then just this one scene, where suddenly her husband is not there, making it the ending, the movie would not only be coherent, but also it would have a shot at being moving. Instead it's insufferable, dull, scattered and completely unengaging.

Take Shelter

94/100 (120 min, 2011)
Plot: Plagued by a series of apocalyptic visions, a young husband and father questions whether to shelter his family from a coming storm, or from himself.
Director: Jeff Nichols
Writer: Jeff Nichols
Stars: Michael Shannon, Jessica Chastain and Shea Whigham

"Is anyone seeing this?"

I love watching movies without knowing anything about them. I thought "Take Shelter" will be a story of frantically religious man since I heard he is having "apocalyptic visions". But religion is not a factor in this story. The fact this man's visions are apocalyptic comes from the fact they are paralyzingly scary. They depict things that would frighten every single one of us - beloved pet attacking you, your child in peril, stranger outside your window who then tries to enter your house. Curtis, the main character of the story, suffers those visions through his nightmares and begins to question his sanity.

The best thing about "Take Shelter" aside from its incredible atmosphere is that as Curtis himself, we do not know the reason for his visions. His mother is schizophrenic so he thinks that he is too. When he takes pills the doctor gave him to calm him down he becomes  a little bit better. But then the visions come back, being more and more insane. There are evidence for both reasons - either he is indeed crazy or something terrible is happening. Curtis decides to build a shelter, to protect his family which causes a tension between him and his wife Samantha. But he is determined - if what he is seeing are the signs of what is to come, he wants to do everything to keep his loved ones safe.

One Day

26/100 (107 min, 2011)
Plot: After spending the night together on the night of their college graduation Dexter and Em are shown each year on the same date to see where they are in their lives. They are sometimes together, sometimes not, on that day.
Director: Lone Scherfig
Writers: David Nicholls (screenplay), David Nicholls (book)
Stars: Anne Hathaway, Jim Sturgess and Patricia Clarkson

The not so charming union of bad accent and bad acting

How hard can it be to make a fine romantic movie? I'm starting to think that it may be the hardest thing in the movie business. Why? Because the amount of crappy romantic comedies and other pseudo romance movies we are flooded with lately is scary. Say what you want about Hugh Grant, but at least when he was starring in those things they were proper movies with lots of laugh and romanticism. Now we get products like "One Day".

How do you make a successful movie? You have to have a good script. How do you make a good romantic film? You have to have two strong leads with chemistry. Does "One Day" has either one of those? Oh no, it doesn't. I can see the producers' reasoning - the story is quite romantic - the idea of two people meeting for one day each year, Jim Sturgess is good looking enough and Anne Hathaway is cute. But the story is horribly undeveloped, Sturgess has the screen charisma of a potato and Hathaway's accent is one of the most atrocious things I've heard in a long time. It could even challenge what Swank sounded like in "Black Dahlia". On the side note - why is an American playing a British girl? I'm pretty sure they could have found much prettier and talented girl than Hathaway in any given pub in London.

Carnage

74/100 (79 min, 2011)
Plot: Two pairs of parents hold a cordial meeting after their sons are involved in a fight, though as their time together progresses, increasingly childish behavior throws the evening into chaos.
Director: Roman Polanski
Writers: Yasmina Reza (based on the play by: "Le Dieu du carnage"), Yasmina Reza (screenplay)
Stars: Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz

...and the hamster runs free

"Carnage" is one of the most unusual movies Roman Polanski ever made - it's far from being his best, but as his previous movie "The Ghost Writer" there are only few key players here and they are all that matters. The world in "Carnage" is hermetic as well - almost entire film takes place in one apartment, during one conversation. Despite that the film is engaging - the four people talking in that apartment are so different that they are bound to explode. It's the fact that this explosion never really leads anywhere is the film's biggest flaw.

Two couples played by Jodie Foster, John c. Reilly, Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz meet to write a statement - first couple's- Penny and Michael - son was struck with a stick by mischievous son of Nancy and Alan. First things are polite - Penny, although very uptight and shocked by an event pretends to be all right. Michael acts like a supportive husband and kind guy. Nancy is nice to the hostess, acts reasonable while her husband Alan continuous to talk via his phone, ignoring everyone, occasionally using sarcasm and clearly not being very interested by the whole thing.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

94/100 (158 min, 2011)
Plot: Journalist Mikael Blomkvist is aided in his search for a woman who has been missing for forty years by Lisbeth Salander, a young computer hacker.
Director: David Fincher
Writers: Steven Zaillian (screenplay), Stieg Larsson (novel)
Stars: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara and Christopher Plummer

Men who hate women. Women who punish men.

David Fincher's take on Stieg Larsson's novel - which is and it must be stressed again not a remake of the Swedish film - is superior to the first cinematic version of the story  in every way. I do not know if all those purists saying this movie was unnecessary are blind, but there is not one thing in Fincher's film that wouldn't be better than in Noomi Rapace's version. It is so good in fact, that I will wait to know the rest of the story until new movies get made and just ignore straight to TV efforts from Old Continent. Because the heart of this stories is Lisbeth Salander. And in Noomi Rapace's interpretation she lacks just that - a heart.

The intricate story is flawlessly told - this is Fincher's strength - he knows how to orchestrate all the elements in his movies - while the stories he tells are always complex, they are never too hard to follow. Because of the editing and clever timing there is so much happening in the film - but Fincher knows when to slow down to built appropriate tension. When I was watching the Swedish film I thought how great the story was - too bad the movie is so average. Now we finally have a movie worthy of that story.

Young Adult

97/100, (94 min, 2011)
Plot: Soon after her divorce, a fiction writer returns to her home in small-town Minnesota, looking to rekindle a romance with her ex-boyfriend, who is now married with kids.
Director: Jason Reitman
Writer: Diablo Cody
Stars: Charlize Theron, Patrick Wilson and Patton Oswalt

The Defense of Mavis Gary

"Young Adult" is an amazing movie - although advertised as a comedy, it is profound and moving character study. I enjoy Reitman's films and I like Diablo Cody's writing, however none of their films every hit me that hard and stunned me - in "Young Adult" both the script and Charlize Theron's fearless and flawless performance are just pure gold.

When I read opinions about the movie it struck me how many people call Theron's character monster. The only thing more shallow than some of Mavis's actions in the film is calling her that. We see a deeply hurt, damaged woman, who desperately needs help and worst of all - she didn't realize it. How can anyone can call person like that a monster? I wanted to hate her before seeing the film - we all know these Prom Queen types, who could get any guy they wanted in high school, had best birthday parties etc. I thought how fun it would be to see a movie where a person like that is a complete mess. But it wasn't fun - instead of hating Mavis, I felt sympathy for her.