Blue Valentine

Title: Blue Valentine

Director: Derek Cianfrance

Year: 2010

Country: USA

Studio: The Weinstein Company

Rating: **** (4/5)

A project nearly a dozen years in the making, Derek Cianfrance's sophomore directorial effort Blue Valentine is obviously an intense labor of love. Brilliantly cast, fantastically edited, and marvelously directed, it's a near-flawless depiction of emotional turmoil. Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams are both perfect for their roles, and their dedication to every aspect of their characters is evident throughout this two-hour obstacle course of life, love, and all the things that manage to screw it up in unimaginable and unforgiving ways.

The film is told through a series of fragmented events with a timeline that jumps back and forth between the past and the present, which gives the viewer the ability to view the contrasts between how the couple feels about each other at both the end of their relationship and the beginning. While it's not exactly a new or inventive technique, the way Cianfrance edits the film gives it a very emotionally affecting appeal, and he does a much better job of doing it than others have done in the past. The camera-work is a little shaky at times and at others very steady, but the changing of the filming technique goes hand in hand with the changing of the story. It almost has a documentary-type feel during certain scenes, which makes viewing the on-screen issues of the characters seem even more lifelike and realistic.

The plot isn't overly convoluted, but it isn't overly simplistic either. While viewers will go into watching the film knowing the outcome of the characters, that sort of thing doesn't matter. It's the journey these people go through and watching it unfold that's the most interesting, and most important, part of the experience. It centers on Dean (Ryan Gosling), a man who makes up for what he lacks in intelligence and ambition with his romantic notions and dedication to what he feels to be most important in life -- providing for his wife and family. His wife, Cindy (Michelle Williams) is a woman who obviously struggles with the decisions she's made in her life and constantly questions whether or not she made the right ones. She obviously wants to be in love and be loved, but her inner demons stemming from a tumultuous family upbringing keep getting in the way and she never truly allows herself the chance to be happy. Bring a child into the mix (Frankie, played by an adorable Faith Wladyka), and you have a situation that's bound to explode.

Getting too much into the plot would take away from the pleasure of seeing the events fold out on screen. It's so well-done and thought-provoking that it's something that needs to be seen by everyone to fully understand and appreciate. Much like the film Closer, it's not a movie that you should take a date to see. Its bleak view of love and depictions of its futility are bound to cause a bunch of unnecessary arguments and over-assessments. But really, the fact that this is one of the view films to really take such an un-Hollywood approach to romance makes it all that much more worthy of your time. The characters on screen could be any American family struggling through any relationship, and viewers can learn a lot by watching them. Overall, this is a terrific film, and one of the few "Oscar Buzz" films of the year that actually delivers on all fronts. Highly recommended.

Alice in Wonderland

Title: Alice in Wonderland

Director: Tim Burton

Year: 2010

Country: USA

Studio: Walt Disney Pictures

Rating: **** (4/5)

It's pretty impossible to argue with the fact that if anyone was going to do a reworking of Alice in Wonderland, it should be Tim Burton. His genius in the field of making the dark and sadistic so gleefully accessible and brilliant is absolutely unparalleled by anyone, past or present. Tinkering with a classic story, though, is usually a pretty dangerous prospect for any director, no matter how skilled they are at what they do. But, considering Disney's original animated version of the film left out a huge chunk of the story and invented some things in order to make it more 'family friendly', the notion of trying to top the original isn't an out of this world one.

Tim Burton has been re-imagining and re-creating films for years, and his experience in the art of fusing his own twisted imagination with the likes of classic tales seem to be where his talent shines the best. In the film, his colorful representation of the world the younger Alice referred to as "wonderland" is so well done, that it would almost be acceptable if the story that it was based on was less than stellar. But since the story is equally as fascinating and well-executed, it makes for a non-stop carnival of moodscapes and funny dialogue that end up making an altogether fascinating film.

Though the film does feature more than a few Burton mainstays -- Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter have been in pretty much every one of his films -- it does introduce some wonderful new faces. Mia Wasikowska is great as a post-teenage Alice, Crispin Glover is fantastic as the Knave of Hearts, and Anne Hathaway puts all of her Disney Princess training to good use for her role of the White Queen. The acting is superb overall, as everyone brings their own personalities and idiosyncrasies to the table. The voice contributions of the animated characters are just as perfect. Stephen Fry and Alan Rickman use their small screen time to make their characters unforgettable, and even Matt Lucas is hilarious as the voices of both TweedleDee and TweedleDum.

It's not really necessary to analyze the plot line of a movie like this, so it won't be done. What matters is if the film lives up to all the hype and potential surrounding it, and the answer to that is a resounding yes. Even the cheesy fight scene at the end when Alice finally takes up her destined cause and fights the blasted Jabberwocky is enjoyable, despite the fact that it's probably the most predictable thing Tim Burton has ever put on screen in his career. The world he creates is far superior to even the beautiful depictions of decay that made Batman and Sweeney Todd the gothic masterpieces they are, mostly because each color matches the symbolism and contrasting moods of the film perfectly.

Overall, Alice in Wonderland fares much better than many of the flurry of remakes hitting the cinemas as of late. It's thoroughly watchable, and like the best movies for children features many bits and pieces that are tailor-made for the adults in the audience. Chances are, anyone under the age of 15 will probably miss out on a lot of the jokes, but that makes it all the more special. Disney has been known for putting out some racy stuff in its day, and this ranks with the best of them. The bottom line is that this movie is definitely worth seeing, and definitely worth owning.

The Road

Title: The Road

Director: John Hillcoat

Year: 2009

Country: USA

Studio: Chockstone Pictures

Rating: **** (4/5)

Post-apocalyptic pictures can be the best kind of movies if they're done right. Never mind popcorn drivel like The Day After Tomorrow and other films that are more concerned with aesthetics than storylines, but films like The Quiet Earth and The Day After, where not just the visual representations of the apocalypse were shown to us, but its after-effects and how the ends were just as important as the means to the survival of its characters.

The Road is a film that's done right. It takes our deepest fears and puts them on screen for us not only to see, but experience. We're thrust into a world where savage is the norm and survival is a minute-by-minute struggle that is only very briefly won before an entire new battle begins. This would be an impossible scenario to deal with on your own, let alone with a child in tow -- especially a child who with every second reminds you of what you used to have and lost.

Viggo Mortensen plays an unnamed father to an unnamed boy (played by Kodi Smit-McPhee) whose age is never truly known. What we do know is that he was born very shortly after the world as we know it came to an end, and that his mother (Charlize Theron) began to lose her mind almost immediately afterward. In her brief time on screen, she lets the viewers know just how against she was bringing her son into this world, especially in its current state, and how badly she wants to die and take her son with her. The father, in various flashbacks, is shown trying to convince the mother that life is worth living and that they will survive, but in the end she runs off, never to be seen again and presumed dead.

It's not exactly clear how much time had passed between the mother running out and how long the father and son stayed in their house, but it's really not relevant. What we are shown is that the boy is just a few years shy of puberty, which means father and son have been fighting off the perils of this dead world for quite some time. They're both malnourished, as is everyone that they encounter. The event that caused the apocalypse is never really established, although there are sequences of earthquakes that come about every so often, which along with the dust and overall lack of sunlight, gives credence to the notion that every source of food on the planet is dead. They're both weary of the road they travel on because they've encountered cannibalistic tribes who are known to rape and murder women and children. It's obvious to the viewer how arduous a journey this really is pretty early on, especially after the father is forced to kill someone whom he believes to be a member of these tribes.

Whether or not they reach the coast after their long journey is another irrelevant fact, because all hope is lost from the beginning. The reason they travel is because they know no other way and the only thing they can really do is keep going from place to place in search of temporary food and shelter.

The film is a visual representation of years of hell, all edited down to just under two hours. But in that time, it offers us a tale of sentiment in a world where attachments are just an easy way of getting yourself killed, as well as the plight of a father who would do anything to anyone in order to assure his son's safety. It may disturb you, make you cry, and/or make you reassess your own relationships -- but that's what most good movies do.

An Education

Title: An Education

Director: Lone Scherfig

Year: 2009

Country: UK

Studio: BBC Films/Sony Pictures Classics

Rating: **** (4/5)

Based on the true story of a teenage girl growing up in 1960s London, An Education is exactly what its title implies -- a coming-of-age film in which the naive, but intelligent, main character has her life turned upside down by a whirlwind romance with a man twice her age. Of course this kind of film has been made plenty of times before, but what separates this one from the pack is that it's not necessarily a romantic picture, but one that is a cautionary tale for young women everywhere.

The story focuses on Jenny (Carey Mulligan), a 16-year-old girl from the outskirts of London who when we first meet her is attending Catholic school, studying feverishly hard in hopes of getting into Oxford. She spends most of her free time studying or playing the cello in her school orchestra, which is where we meet her boyfriend, a shy, unassuming teenager named Graham (Matthew Beard). Jenny brings Graham home to meet her parents, but her father (Alfred Molina) is put off by Graham's decision to take a year break before university in hopes of seeing the world. The dinner is full of awkward tension, and once it's over, Jenny seems a little embarrassed of Graham.

Enter David (Peter Sarsgaard), an older man who upon meeting Jenny as she walks home in the rain wastes no time charming her with his worldly knowledge and eloquent, sophisticated ways. He offers to take her to see a classical concert in London so she can be exposed to the real thing, and while at first she seems hesitant, she accepts under the condition that David must convince her parents to let her go. David meets her parents and makes quite the impression; her father is an intelligent man, but next to David he seems boring and ordinary. Reluctantly, he allows her to go, and Jenny is enthralled by this exciting new world. She's introduced to some friends of David -- the equally sophisticated and charming Danny (Dominic Cooper) and his girlfriend Helen (Rosamund Pike), a girl who at first mocks Jenny's youthful and strange ways but over time grows to accept her as a part of the group.

David continues to expose Jenny to all sorts of new things, including art, fancy restaurants, and eventually, his seedy way of life. While we're led to believe that Danny and David are art dealers, we actually learn that they're essentially thieves who use their charm to con older, scared Brits into giving them their artwork or selling them their real estate properties. At first Jenny has her reservations about this and seems to want out, but David uses his charm once again to lure her back in -- this time with a trip to Paris, a city Jenny has dreamed about going to for as long as she can remember. David shows her everything in Paris and the two eventually consummate their relationship, which leads to an eventual marriage proposal from David.

While Jenny is smitten with her ever-evolving relationship, she begins to lose interest in her schooling and begins taking it out on her teachers. She makes a few rash decisions based on the impending marriage proposal to David only to find out that he is hiding something from her, devastating their relationship and causing it to end. With her life in ruins, she must decide whether or not she has the courage to mend all of the fences she had destroyed, a feat that proves to be all but impossible.

Though the film has its quirks (and like all films, mistakes), it makes up for them with its clear storytelling path and non-judgmental delivery. While any other actress would have made the role of Jenny into an unlikeable brat, Carey Mulligan is a sheer delight to watch on screen. The audience is deeply invested in her, despite the fact that they know she's making awful mistakes throughout the movie. Comparisons to a young Audrey Hepburn are inevitable, as she really takes the role and nails it -- she's a little too smart for her own good when it comes to school, but her naivety is evident as she's thrown into more sophisticated situations. At the end, what we have is a character that solidifies the whole film and makes it an enjoyable one, despite some of the upsetting scenes located within. An Education is just that.

Fish Tank

Title: Fish Tank

Director: Andrea Arnold

Year: 2009

Country: UK

Studio: BBC Films

Rating: **** (4/5)

Movies with a lot of hype are a dangerous breed. They can either rise to the occasion and sweep the Oscars like Slumdog Millionaire, or all of that positive praise can backfire, leaving you with a disgruntled batch of movie fanatics and a film that isn't worth its own weight in celluloid. If you're an American judging the film solely from the previews, the newest film by British director Andrea Arnold (Red Road) would seem more likely to end up in the latter category -- but after careful consideration and attentive viewing, it's clear that Fish Tank has a lot more to offer than just your usual film festival trite.

Newcomer Katie Jarvis is absolutely fascinating as Mia, a 15-year old girl living in Essex whom often gets in her own way with her attitude and dysfunction. Her character is intensely troubled, full of both bitterness and love, cynicism and curiosity. Recently expelled from school, she spends her days drinking by herself, dancing to old school hip-hop in an abandoned flat near her own, and fighting with her apathetic mother Joanne who seems more interested in her own appearance than making sure her daughter is doing something productive. Mia and Joanne often clash over typical mother-daughter things, but once Joanne's new boyfriend Connor comes into the picture, it becomes clear that things are about to get interesting.

As a viewer, it's hard to make up your mind about Connor. At first, he seems like another scumbag boyfriend content on mooching off of Joanne, but as the film goes on we begin to see his softer, more nurturing side. He takes genuine interest in both Mia and her sister, Tyler, and although Joanne would much rather Connor's attention be all on her, they begin to function a little bit like a family. Mia is instantly attracted to her mother's new flame, but it's not really all that clear if she is just sexually attracted to him or if she sees him more as the father figure she's so obviously been lacking.

Connor seems to be the only person who notices that Mia is more than just a temperamental firecracker. While he acknowledges that she is troubled, instead of ragging on her he uses her own issues as a way of bonding with her. He encourages her amateur dancing, although it's pretty clear to the viewer that she's not very good at it. But what matters is that he believes in her, and it helps fuel her attraction toward him. After one drunken night, Mia and Connor have sex while Joanne is passed out upstairs -- an event that seems to almost traumatize them both as soon as it's over. Connor assures her that they will discuss it in the morning, but come morning Mia wakes up to find him gone and her mother crying.

Though other reviews and plot synopses bill this movie as something that becomes almost a battle between mother and daughter over the same man, it's not at all. In fact, nothing is ever really mentioned about it. Joanne is a selfish woman and appears to take interest in men over her children, but barely is it even implied that she would take Connor's side over her daughter when sex is involved. In fact, because the movie goes the other way with the subplot, it makes it that much more of a triumph. Fish Tank lacks all of the cliches that could possibly sink a film of its kind. It's a refreshing look through the eyes of a lost youth without all that Hollywood crap piled on top. It features a realness not found in a lot of films, and because it's not at all what the previews and reviews told you it would be, it's an absolute treasure.

Introduction

My name is Vera. I'm a 26 year old music/movie buff from New Jersey. I've been critiquing music "professionally" since 2002, when I was 19 years old, but have always wanted to expand my writing to cover the movie medium. So, I started this blog to help with my desire to write about the films I care about or want the world NOT to care about. I'm not the 'negative nancy' reviewer who bashes movies for the sake of bashing them; I do have the ability to recognize merit despite a lackluster execution. You won't be seeing any 0 star reviews from me -- I think they're unprofessional. The movies I will be covering will be both old and new. If you're into it, good. If not, go read somebody else's blog. I don't really care. -V