Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Gareth Edwards' 2014's Godzilla was one of the most forgettable big budget movies I've seen. Nothing memorable came out of it, other than hilarious Honest Trailer highlighting Ken Watanabe's stares and the meme of Bryan Cranston saying "Godzilla, we need to cook" and shot of Godzilla going "bitch". Somehow it got good reviews and made enough money to jump start the Monsterverse.

At WB.

So you knew shit will get dicey fast.

Ghost in the Shell

 (spoilers !!!)

The studio executives these days are becoming progressively dumber. I think we can all agree that the lead role in this movie went to Scarlett Johansson because the studio thought it needed star power to make the movie successful. Unless international box office saves it, Ghost in the Shell is a bomb. Scarlett, who is largely the most profitable actress on the planet due to her involvement in Marvel cinematic universe (where she really doesn't do much) is not the person who people go to see in the movies. I really, really love it that's it's Melissa McCarthy who is probably the biggest draw out of female actresses right now.

Gone Girl

(SPOILERS!)

On the day of their fifth wedding anniversary Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) comes home to find opened front door, shattered glass table and his wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) missing. Once Nick notifies the police the investigation and media circus begins and people quickly come to conclusion that Nick had something to do with Amy's disappearance. What happened to Amy Dunne?

Gravity

(spoilers!)

If you told me that one day I'll be grateful Avatar existed, I wouldn't believe you. But I am now. Why? Because if it wasn't for Avatar and the advancement of technology it carried with it, we wouldn't have Gravity. And unlike the boring, empty and ridiculous spawn of James Cameron, Gravity is a beautiful, emotionally affecting cinematic masterpiece.

The Grey

46/100 (117 min, 2011)
Plot: After their plane crashes in Alaska, six oil workers are led by a skilled huntsman to survival, but a pack of merciless wolves haunts their every step.
Director: Joe Carnahan
Writers: Joe Carnahan (screenplay), Ian Mackenzie Jeffers (screenplay)
Stars: Liam Neeson, Dermot Mulroney and Frank Grillo

Fifty shades of mediocrity

The thing I hate the most in the cinema is a mediocre movie. When the film is bad at least you can bitch about it in your review, point out the flaws, laugh at the lack of talent of those who made it and ultimately feel better having warned the others about the colossal waste of time watching the film was. With good movies you can always marvel at something, analyze, think about the film long after you watched it. But with mediocre films - well, not only do they feel like a wasted potential, but also you forget about them as soon as the movie is over. The Grey belongs in the last category.

The film follows John Ottway (Liam Neeson), who is a huntsman that kills wolves to protect the workers with whom he travels on the plane to Alaska. The plane crashes and the remaining survivors find themselves stranded in the middle of nowhere, surrounded only by snow, cold and pack of wolves that are very hostile to them and appear to have every intention of killing them.

Game Change

82/100 (117 min, 2012)
Plot: Follows John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign, from his selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate to their ultimate defeat in the general election.
Director:Jay Roach
Writers: Mark Halperin (book), Danny Strong (adaptation)
Stars: Ed Harris, Julianne Moore and Woody Harrelson

"I am NOT your puppet!"

Sarah Palin. If like me you don't live in USA what you know about her is probably only that she wears glasses, that she doesn't have much knowledge even you posses and you probably remember those horrible Fey/Pohler parodies (embarrassing for them too, since they were completely not funny). HBO's Game Change shows us a sympathetic look at her and with it comes one of the most outstanding performances from amazing Julianne Moore, who is long overdue for an Oscar, but at least with this film she is sure to win Emmy this year.

The movie begins in the midst of the presidential campaign when Obama is leading in the polls and McCain desperately needs something to win, he needs a game change. With the help of his advisers - Steve Schmidt (Woody Harrelson) and Rick Davis (Peter MacNicol) he decides he needs to find a woman in the party, that would, if he wins, become vice president. Davis finds Palin - attractive, feisty and energetic governor of Alaska. And she is more than happy to help the campaign.

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.

Great Expectations (1998)

85/100 (1998, 118 min)
Plot: Modernization of Charles Dickens classic story finds the hapless Finn as a painter in New York pursuing his unrequited and haughty childhood love.
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Writers: Charles Dickens (novel), Mitch Glazer (screenplay)
Stars: Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow and Hank Azaria

Let desire be your destiny

“She'll only break your heart, it's a fact. And even though I warn you, even though I guarantee you that the girl will only hurt you terribly, you'll still pursue her. Ain't love grand?”

Loosely based on the novel by the same title by Charles Dickens, “Great Expectations” is one of the most underrated movies I've ever seen. It's an absolutely spellbinding love story between poor artist Finn and fascinating and rich Estella. Both of them come from different worlds, but its their inner freedom and innocence that will ultimately bring them together.

Estella and Finn meet when they are little kids. He lives with his sister and her boyfriend, he is poor, simple, uneducated. But he has great talent – he paints wonderful, extremely unique pictures. Estella is being raised by her bizarre aunt Norma (in the novel it's Mrs. Havisham), who was left at the alter years ago and since then has progressively descended into madness. Norma raises Estella as a weapon against men. Cold, calculated and manipulative, ready to do anything to bring them suffering.

Grey Gardens

(104 min, 2009)
Director: Michael Sucsy
Writers: Michael Sucsy (teleplay), Patricia Rozema (teleplay)
Stars: Drew Barrymore, Jessica Lange and Jeanne Tripplehorn

Freedom in the prison of memories

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.”
― Oscar Wilde

Based on the life stories of the eccentric aunt and first cousin of Jackie Onassis (both named Edith Bouvier Beale aka "Big and Little Edie") raised as Park Avenue débutantes but who withdrew from New York society, taking shelter at their Long Island summer home, "Grey Gardens." As their wealth and contact with the outside world dwindled, so did their grasp on reality. They were reintroduced to the world when international tabloids learned of a health department raid on their home, and Jackie swooped in to save her relatives. 
- imdb.com

Had "Grey Gardens" been cinematic release instead of HBO movie, the history of the awards season in 2010 would be so much different.. This is a very unique, character driven film with two fabulous performances - Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore, both in career best turns. The story alone is fascinating - two women, mother and daughter, relatives of Jaqueline Bouvier, refusing to leave decaying estate, living among the filth and stray animals. That story actually happened - in 1975 a documentary was made about the Beales and it was even screened in Cannes.

We meet Beales as Edith senior is still married, little Eddie is objecting to finding a husband and Grey gardens are in their prime. Both women were always very eccentric - Edith loved singing and threw extravagant parties, openly showing affection to her kids' music teacher, even in front of her husband. Little Eddie didn't want to get married, wanted to be an actress and a singer. Both women had incredible joie de vivre, one thing they would never lose. They were warned many times - that the money will run out, that they have to think about their future - but they insisted on living in the present, with no worries, only joy.

Get Him to the Greek

(109 min, 2010)
Director: Nicholas Stoller
Writers: Nicholas Stoller, Jason Segel (characters)
Stars: Jonah Hill, Russell Brand and Elisabeth Moss
 

Anarchy in LA.

A record company intern (Jonah Hill) is hired to accompany out-of-control British rock star Aldous Snow (Russell Brand) to a concert at L.A.'s Greek Theater.

If you want to laugh uncontrollably for a good amount of time, just go to youtube and type either “Jonah Hill + Letterman” or “Russell Brand + Letterman”. Those two are wonderful comedians, even when you watch talk show with them you can't stop laughing. So as soon as I heard they are doing movie together I couldn't wait to see it.

I know there are many people who are against this new trend in comedy – that trend includes tons of drugs, swearing and vomiting but also promotes true values like love, friendship, loyalty. I have absolutely no problem with crude humor as long as it is funny – one of my favorite comedies of all time is “Superbad” including Hill, too many f words to count, period blood and drunk chicks. And it's OK, because it's actually close to real life – anyone who was under aged and wanted to buy booze will understand – and it's amazingly funny. “Get him to the Greek” fits the trend perfectly – it has a happy ending and very bumpy, f-word decorated road to it.

The movie is a spin-off of “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”, it features the same character Aldous Snow, British rock star. Brand is playing himself here – always with shockingly open shirt, impressive vocabulary and colorful terms and metaphors, completely out of control behavior and a history of drug abuse. Even if he's not even required to put much effort, apart from few scenes near the end, he's fantastic in the movie – it makes you kinda sad we don't really have such rock stars anymore. Hill plays charming loser, as always, and as always – he's hilarious. The moment when he tried to pull off British accent was so funny it brought me to tears. The power of those movies, as with “Knocked up”, “The Hangover” and others is the fact that you genuinely like the characters, you care about them, because even if they are not perfect, glamorous and more often then not so ordinary, they are just insanely likeable.

Ghost World

(111 min, 2001)
Director: Terry Zwigoff
Writers: Daniel Clowes (comic book), Daniel Clowes
Stars: Steve Buscemi, Thora Birch and Scarlett Johansson

 

“Some people are ok, mostly I just feel like poisoning everybody. “

There is a list of films I have to see before I die, just because I want to find out what all the fuss is about. “Ghost World” was on that list until yesterday, but I finally managed to watch it. I saw some interesting photos from it, I noticed how excellent reviews were and that it has Scarlett Johansson in it. I also noticed it is labeled as “comedy” on imdb and I could use some laughter right now. Boy, did I end up disappointed.

Set in the summer after graduation, Enid (Thora Birch from “American Beauty” )and Rebecca (Johansson) are both outsiders in a world slowly being engulfed by fake 50's diners and Starbucks. Enid must attend an art class to officially graduate high school as Rebecca gets a job. When the two play a mean joke on a much older, geeky record collector (the one and only Steve Buscemi), Enid finds a fellow soul and begins to discover the complexities of becoming an adult in the modern world.

Don't get me wrong – the movie is funny. But it's not my kind of humor – I don't like dry humor and when I type “don't like” I'm using big euphemism. I could never fall in love with Wes Anderson's movies because of that and it's because of the same reason I can't like “Ghost World”. For me, if dry humor is involved there should be a huge warning on DVD box.

However, the movie has very smart and original script and creates fantastic, complex characters. It's also something I'm sure most of us relate too – we had best friend in high school and we promised to her/him nothing will change, but as our lives go on we slowly drift apart from each other. It's inevitable, it's the way it is. It's also only after high school that our life, just ours and nobody else's, begins. We are often lost, confused, scared, doing stupid things – just like Enid. The movie shows us three kinds of people – Enid, who isn't sure what she wants, except for the fact she wants to be different but doesn't know she's an opportunist, Rebecca, who despite being a social outsider does all the things she is supposed to do – graduates from college, finds a job, looks for her own apartament and Seymour who never really grew up and only now starts too.

Enid is a main heroine of the story and Birch does an amazing job – the girl could be described as pathetic easily – she is fake conformist and opportunist. She lies to everybody, makes immature, stupid jokes, has no respect for anyone and anything. But that's just a horrible exterior – inside she is so helplessly lost, confused about every single thing in her world – her future, her friend, Seymour, her family, everyone around her. She is like a little kid – jealous about Seymour's girlfriend when they are just friends, careless about her actions and promises she makes. But comparing to all the other people, who don't even try to fight the fact that is obvious – how big of losers they are - she is kinda brave, in her own, flawed way.

Buscemi is very good as Seymour and it is a performance hailed by many as one of his best. He creates a memorable character, one you feel sorry for from the very beginning – the kind of man who you would never date but you wish someone will. He's a lot like Enid, lost, although living in his own reality, deeply unhappy and staying alive only because of this world he created for himself. “You think it's healthy to obsessively collect things? You can't relate to other people, so you fill your life with stuff... I'm just like all these other collector losers.” - Seymour's problem is actually that barely anyone can relate to him, he is stuck in the world of parties with guys like him, without girlfriends, meaningful jobs, were every day is exactly like previous one. In Enid he finds a true soul mate, but given that she is still in the process of evolving and growing up, it's only temporary.

Rebecca's character is not very well developed, except for the fact she is genuinely sad that she and Enid are drifting apart. Their friendship worked out in high school were two of them stood against entire world, but now in adult life, the little problems don't matter anymore and when responsibility is necessary there is no time for silly games.

The movie is based on graphic novel and it's the first film to be nominated for Oscar for adapted screenplay based on such work. The script is witty, funny and interesting, but the movie was a bit too pretentious and boring for me. Especially the ending – it's so far out and weird for the sake of being weird, I was disgusted. The movie should have ended when Enid leaves the hospital and says bye to Rebecca.

The film is definitely not worthy of the praise it is getting, except for the script and the performances. If you are not a fan of dry humor it will most likely bore you. But it's still worth watching because there aren't many movies like this, subtle and very sympathetic towards its characters.

63/100

The Ghost Writer

(128 min, 2010)
Director: Roman Polanski
Writers: Robert Harris (screenplay), Roman Polanski (screenplay)
Stars: Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan and Olivia Williams

I'm your Ghost.

An unremarkable ghost-writer (Ewan McGregor) has landed a lucrative contract to redact the memoirs of Adam Lang (Pierce Brosman), the former UK Prime Minister. After dominating British politics for years, Lang has retired with his wife (Olivia Williams) to the USA. He lives on an island, in luxurious, isolated premises complete with a security detail and a secretarial staff. Soon, Adam Lang gets embroiled in a major scandal with international ramifications that reveals how far he was ready to go in order to nurture UK's "special relationship" with the USA.
- imdb.com


This is the latest movie by Roman Polanski, so I guess it's getting a lot of attention because of director's personal matters. Now, as much I'd love to see him in jail, this is a very good movie despite the incredibly contrived script filled with holes so big, I'm not even attempting to figure out the entire story. It's based on a novel and Adam Lang's character is based on Tony Blair – there are a lot of similarities and I had a lot of fun watching this, remembering such a different take on Blair Michael Sheen presented in “The Queen”.

The characters are well developed – despite the fact we don't know much about the writer, we don't even know his name, we sympathize with him, because from the very beginning we sense something is not right with entire case and Prime Minister is hiding something. The previous ghost writer turns out dead on the shore, facts don't add up and Lang is under investigation for giving alleged orders of torture. The intrigue circles around four characters – The Ghost, Lang, his wife Ruth and his mistress and assistant Amelia. I liked how all the events were contained on the island, it helped to build up a suspense.

The story is easy to follow, because the events are shown from the Ghost perspective. However the details put together are incredibly confusing The story lacks consequence, the characters lack motives and by the end of the movie we don't really know what happened and why. But because of the great atmosphere, built mostly out of hostile, stormy weather, gray surroundings and suspenseful but as always magical score by Alexandre Desplat, the movie is very entertaining and the mystery keeps you watching. You keep waiting for big reveal and great ending, and whilst the movie has great ending the reveal....well it is big, but you don't really know what to make out of all of this.

Despite the fact the last actions by the Ghost and entire ending scene didn't make a lot of sense for me and were left annoyingly ambiguous, the last two sequences are brilliantly executed – the cinematography, acting and as much as I hate to write this, director's job made it one of the best endings I've seen so far this year. It was chilling and impressive.

The actors do good job with one exception – Amelia is played by Kim Cattrall from “Sex and the City” - I have no idea why Polanski chose her, her fake British accent was absolutely awful and she kept distracting me from the plot only with her presence. McGregor is good and was a great choice for the part, I read it was originally meant for Hugh Grant, so it's a good thing Ewan got it. Brosman is excellent, although he was less in the movie than I thought he would be, but the best performance is given by Olivia Williams (from “The Sixth Sense” and “An Education” ) as Lang's wife Ruth, brilliantly written character – she is perfect in the role and steals the show every time she's on screen. The movie also features small appearance by Tom Wilkson.

This is a rare thing when movie has a weak script and still manages to be a great one. There are good twists, mysteries and suspenseful scenes in “The Ghost Writer” but if you will attempt to figure out the whole thing you will either see this cannot be done or you'll be left with “So what?” question. But the movie is still one of the best thrillers I saw this year and it was certainly much better than “Shutter Island” (both movies take place on the island, both are made by famous directors, both portray man surrounded by menacing people) - you don't need visually stunning sequences, soundtrack written as if it was Armageddon not a thriller and aggressive editing (Polanski edited “The Ghost Writer” in prison cell and it's still million times better!) to create thrilling movie. Scorsese doesn't know it – Polanski does.

78/100