Depression and Disaster

Kirsten Dunst gave an award winning performance in the film Melancholia.  This 2011 psychological disaster movie about a planet called Melancholia was hiding behind the Earth's sun and is now on a collision course with Earth to destroy it.  Justine, played by Dunst has everything going for her in life however, she is going through depression.  Her sister Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and her husband John (Keifer Sutherland) start off by throwing a lavish reception for Justine and her new husband Michael (Alexander Skarsgard).  Director Lars von Trier demonstrates two sides of this movie through the eyes of Justine and Claire.  The comparison of how an extremely depressed woman and a woman that's in control of her life deal with the end of the world is ambiguous and fascinating. The still life photography and the cinematography is absolutely brilliant.  You will either love this story for its symbolism and psychology or dislike it because of it.  Either way, its a beautiful and mesmerizing story.

Beauty and the Beast Wannabe!

Beastly is supposed to be an updated version of Beauty and the Beast.  Apparently, Daniel Barnz, the writer and the director of this film forgot the concept and the story.  I saw it is was showing on cable one day and thought, "why not...it can't be that bad!"  Well...

Alex Pettyfer who portrays Kyle/The Beast plays this character much like he acted in the movie "I Am Number Four" as "John Smith", brooding with an attitude and never really learning his lesson until the end.  At least in that movie you have a good soundtrack!  Kyle is a pretentious and mean young man and he humiliates the wrong person.  A young lady named Kendra that unknown to him is a witch played by Mary-Kate Olsen.  She retaliates and puts a hex on him and will not lift the curse until he learns a lesson.  His father who acts no better than he does, leaves him with his housekeeper and a blind tutor played by Neil Patrick Harris.  Lindy, the "beauty" that Kyle falls for brings a little brightness to the story but only a little.  The story becomes too trivial and you start to lose interest in Kyle and his immediate problem.  I can see why this film was forgettable in the theaters and it didn't last that long on the cable stations either.  That is not a good sign.

Rotten Tomatoes

Green Nonsense

O.k., I heard many negative comments about the Green Lantern.  I was still curious to see for myself if what was said was true.  Well, it was.  The story starts by trying to explain the origin of Green Lantern.  Apparently there is 3,600 of them of different species and planetsand are supposed to be smarter than humans.  One of their own seeks revenge because as intelligent beings they are not above wanting control and power over something that cannot be controlled.  Fear!  The Green Lantern are supposed to be fearless but the ring picks a human who is filled with nothing but fear.  This ring comes in the form of a wounded Green Lantern who tried to fight this beast and lost.  This horrible monster is on the way to the Green Lantern world but gets turned around to attack all humans on Earth instead.  Hal, now ( the "Earth" Green Lantern) has to figure out who he really is and how he is supposed to help save his planet.  The story fails because the writing fails.  Superheroes are supposed to be protected of their identity with the mask but Hal is recognized by several people, Green Lantern suit and all.  Green Lanterns are supposed to work collectively and so on and the only thing I saw them do collectively was raise their rings to the sky.  The CGI was fine and costumes nice.  People in the theatre started walking out and when the movie was over, there were more questions than answers.  One being, who are the Green Lanterns?  I'm sure there will be a sequel and hopefully a more cohesive storyline will come a second go round.

Hannah - revenge at it's best

Hannah, played by Saoirse Ronan was wonderful.  I like the fact that not only did she play a foreigner but she looked so European as well.  It just made the movie more authentic in my eyes.  The story about a genetically produced child trained to protect herself because she becomes too dangerous to have around anymore.  Hanna is taught through books and fairy tales and wants to get out and experience all she has learned.  She finds out things that make her more dangerous and sad and gives you a feeling that revenge can be sweet.  Eric Bana, who plays her father surprised me with his acting abilities in this movie.  There wasn't that much in the way of dialogue but he was threatening in stature.  Cate Blanchett played a tough selfish agent bent on keeping what she had done for her country and herself secret.  This story is not an "original" story but the acting and the closeup shots were incredible.  I wish there were more shots showing the scope of the countries they shot in, but you can't have anything.

True Grit

If you like westerns and you loved John Wayne back in the day, you will love this movie. Jeff Bridges did a wonderful job as the character of Rooster Cogburn hired to help a young girl revenge the death of her father. Other great actors under the fantastic direction of the Coen brothers are Matt Damon and Josh Brolin. A newcomer, Hailee Steinfeld was wonderful. Her freshness and grasp on the role of Mattie was refreshing and she fit right in with some very seasoned actors. The story is about a drunk Marshall (Bridges) and a sheriff (Damon) who helps Mattie and decides to come along reluctantly for the ride. Great acting, great story and the cinematography is great. Looking for a great feel good, humorous western then this is the movie to see.