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.

The Young Victoria

(105 min, 2009)
Director: Jean-Marc Vallée
Writer: Julian Fellowes
Stars: Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend and Paul Bettany 

The girl, the queen.

I'm in love with this movie. So rarely I get to see moving, touching, fascinating depiction of reign. "Golden Age" was a huge disappointment, "Alexander" sucked immensely. The only two recent good films about monarchy that come to my mind are "The Queen" and "Elizabeth". And this one is better than both of those, in style and emotions presented, at least.

From few years UK has one historical drama they push to Oscar race - "Pride and Prejudice", "The Dutchess", "Atonement". This time there is no Keira in the movie. And perhaps this is why I loved it. Each year I give my own oscars and I was almost sure I will reward Tilda Swinton for Julia. But no, the hell I won't. Emily Blunt's performance in this movie is masterful. I love this actress - she was superb in 'The Devil Wears Prada' and the best thing about 'Sunshine Cleaning'. In this film she reminded me a lot of young Kate Winslet, before she started her epic award-baiting - I mean lovely, lively and unforgettable Winslet from 'Sense and Sensibility' and 'Titanic'. Blunt's role in this movie is just so...beyond words. She plays the queen, but first of all she plays young woman - lively, filled with energy, frolic, proud and joyful. The scene where Victoria finds out about death of the king and the fact she is now the ruler is amazing - Blunt captures so many emotions in such short scene. The movie is worth seeing just to witness her performance, so peaceful and calm and yet complex and filled with passionate emotions.

I had no idea who was in the supporting cast prior to seeing this movie - it turned out to be very impressive ensemble - Jim Broadbent, Miranda Richardson, Mark Strong, Paul Bettany - great performance - and Rupert Friend, young soldier from 'Boy in striped pyjamas' as prince Albert, Victoria's love interest.

I cannot even express how much I loved seeing a royal couple in love. Usually when we see drama like this the princess always hates her husband and whines for 3/4 of the movie about her fate and usually has passionate, tragic romance with other man. Here the queen and prince were in love and Blunt and Friend had awesome chemistry. I cried like an idiot during the proposal scene.

The score for the movie is beautiful, I have to say in top 5 of that paticuliar year. The costumes are amazing. As for accuracy I believe some things - like Albert getting shot - were made more...spectacular than they really were. But the movie is not only beautiful, it is interesting, funny at times, contains wonderful performances and it holds viewer interest throughout the film. Finally a film, that I will definitely see more than once.

91/100

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger

(98 min, 2010)
Director: Woody Allen
Writer: Woody Allen
Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Naomi Watts and Josh Brolin
 

You will see a bland, uninteresting movie.

I consider myself lucky. One of my favorite directors, Woody Allen, makes one movie a year. It's almost a luxury, for fans, to have this guarantee that each year, we will get to see something new. Sadly with “You will meet a tall dark stranger” for the first time, since many years that I've been Allen's fan, I feel his creative productivity and the urge to make new movie every 12 months may be a bad thing. Terrible thing, in fact.

The movie follows a pair of married couples, Alfie (Hopkins) and Helena (Jones), and their daughter Sally (Watts) and husband Roy (Brolin), as their passions, ambitions, and anxieties lead them into trouble and out of their minds. After Alfie leaves Helena to pursue his lost youth and a free-spirited call girl named Charmaine (Punch), Helena abandons rationality and surrenders her life to the loopy advice of a charlatan fortune teller. Unhappy in her marriage, Sally develops a crush on her handsome art gallery owner boss, Greg (Banderas), while Roy, a novelist nervously awaiting the response to his latest manuscript, becomes moonstruck over Dia (Pinto), a mystery woman who catches his gaze through a nearby window.

Despite the critics and audience hating “Cassandra's dream” and “Whatever Works” I enjoyed those movies. That's not everything – universally bashed “Anything Else” is my favorite movie by Woody. But there is not much to enjoy in “You will meet a tall dark stranger” and it's his weakest film since “Celebrity”. There are so many things wrong with this film, I don't know where to start. But the biggest flaw is that almost every story arc is not even remotely interesting nor funny or memorable.