Movie Review: "Silver Linings Playbook"

Silver Linings Playbook is a joy from start to finish.  It's the kind of film that you feel as if you have actually experienced something, while at the same time you're wildly entertained.

Blurring the lines between drama and comedy, the film tells the story of Pat (Bradley Cooper), a former History teacher who walked in on his wife with another man.  Pat snapped and beat the man to a pulp, being sent to a mental hospital for 8 months, diagnosed with bi-polar disorder.  Once out, Pat moves back in with his parents (Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver), while he tries to get his life back on track and prove to his wife that he's changed.  To say that this film is a comedy, may seem hard for someone to fathom, but believe me, writer/director, David O. Russell makes it work.

Silver Linings Playbook shows these serious situations, but makes them funny by amping up the neuroses of all involved.  In a way, it's as if Russell is saying, everyone is a little bit crazy, as is evidenced by Pat's psychiatrist's obsession with the Philadelphia Eagles, or his dad's obsessive, superstitious beliefs that if Pat doesn't watch the Eagles' games with him, then the Eagles will lose.

The performances by all involved are superb.  Bradley Cooper delivers a career best turn as Pat, being both likable and vulnerable at the same time, and what more can be said for Jennifer Lawrence, who portrays a mentally unstable widower, named Tiffany, who befriends Pat.  Lawrence is having one great year.  From her career best work as Katniss in The Hunger Games, to her work in Silver Linings Playbook, she proves that she is full of spunk, but is not afraid to show emotion or fall apart, and that is why she very well may win the Best Actress Oscar come January.

There is just something special about Silver Linings Playbook.  It's funny and oddly heartwarming.  After a career high with The Fighter, two years back, David O. Russell bests himself again with this film.  This is quite possibly the best directing he has ever done, with his kinetic shot design utilizing a lot of camera movements to show the characters and emotions that he wants us to focus on at that time, by dollying the camera in or whipping it around other actors to get to the core of each scene.

Silver Linings Playbook is an offbeat film, and some might not find its straightforward nature all that funny, because with both Pat and Tiffany, what you see is what you get, and they both say whatever is on their mind.  While they often say socially unacceptable things at the wrong times, that is where the comedy often comes from, and it's why you realize that these two are meant to be together, learning, that no matter how crazy you think you are, there's always someone out there for you who is just as crazy and will love you for who you are.

I give Silver Linings Playbook an A+

(Note:  If you live in the Birmingham, AL, area, the film is now playing at the Carmike 10 - Vestavia Hills' location)

Movie Review: "Django Unchained"

I have never been a Quentin Tarantino fan, so to say that I enjoyed Django Unchained is a huge testament to the film itself.  While Django is not without its flaws, it's an enjoyable film that actually has a little more emotional weight than your typical Tarantino flick.

In the film, Jamie Foxx portrays Django, a Southern slave in 1858, who is freed by a German bounty hunter, Dr. King Schultz, played with charismatic relish by Christoph Waltz.  The two become an unlikely dynamic duo, as they kill bad men for rewards.  Meanwhile, Schultz helps Django find his wife who was sold to a vile plantation owner, Calvin J. Candie, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, with more boyish enthusiasm than I've seen from him in years.

The performances are top notch and the script does a good job of making these characters likable, for the most part.  The two best characters are Candie and Schultz, primarily because they are the most charismatic, but Schultz also turns out to be the most sympathetic and human, in terms of emotional response, than most other characters.  The big thing with the script is it never makes Django likable.  While I'm rooting for his character because of all the injustices that have separated him and his wife, I don't like Django as a person, especially by the end of the film where he seems to be more interested in exacting revenge, than in love, even after he's already saved his wife.  Another misstep in writer/director Tarantino's script, is that he kills off the two most charismatic characters thirty minutes before the end, making the final act feel like a chore to get through.  Not to mention, is there really this much need for blood and guts spewing everywhere?  The amount of gore was over-the-top, even for the genre that Tarantino is mimicking here.

Even through all this, Django Unchained does have its moments, in particular the hilarious scene with an early version of the KKK.  As well, from a technical standpoint, this is one of the more masterful films of the year.  The cinematography is immaculate, with all of the Spaghetti Western zooms Tarantino employs executed to perfection, never losing focus.  As well, this is quite possibly the best edited film of 2012.  Is all of this enough to warrant a second viewing?  No, but I don't regret seeing the film.  I love Christoph Waltz and his character Dr. King Schultz, and I rather enjoyed Leonardo DiCaprio getting to have a little bit of fun as Candie.

I give Django Unchained a C+

Movie Review: "Jack Reacher"

Jack Reacher is a pulp action movie in the vein of 1970's Steve McQueen.  There are car chases, mysteries, and a slightly more gritty view of everyday life.  In Jack Reacher, Tom Cruise portrays the titular character, and while I have never read the books, so I cannot say I agree or disagree with some critical statements that Cruise is far from 6' 5" and blonde, as a moviegoer I felt that this was Cruise's best action performance in years.

I actually buy Cruise as Reacher, an uber-smart drifter who can give Sherlock Holmes a run for his money, with the physicality of a bar brawler.  Reacher lives a life of freedom, no home, debt, or ties to society, he just travels from place-to-place, often using a fake identity wherever he goes to right the wrongs of justice.  A former military police officer, Reacher may be the true supercop, he's almost superhuman, but there and again, that is what makes Jack Reacher pulp.  If you have never enjoyed characters like James Bond or Sherlock Holmes, then you will not enjoy Jack Reacher, but if you do love the aforementioned characters, or at least similar characters, then you'll love this movie.

Based on the ninth novel in Lee Childs' Jack Reacher series, One Shot, Jack Reacher comes to Pittsburgh to clear the name of a former military sniper who was set up for killing five people in cold blood, but Reacher, being the supercop that he is, manages to uncover a conspiracy behind the killings. The mystery behind the sniper and the conspiracy that unravels from that, are the best parts of Jack Reacher.  The movie is suspenseful, almost Hitchcockian at times, in particular the sniping sequence, where we see the crosshairs, we know what will happen, and we're on the edge of our seat just waiting for him to fire.

Writer/director Christopher McQuarrie proves he has great cinematic chops.  In particular, I was in awe of the first ten minutes, where there is no dialogue of any importance, but all visuals moving the story forward.  We learn everything we need to know about the case of the sniper in these shots, gathering all of the evidence and discovering who Reacher is all via the shot design and the exquisite editing.  Though, even for the brilliant piece of pulp entertainment that Jack Reacher is, with the exception of the Jack Reacher character, the majority of the other character's in Jack Reacher are stock lawyers, DAs, gangsters, and corrupt detectives, in particular the villain portrayed creepily by filmmaker, Werner Herzog.  The connection between Herzog's character and the shootings is never fully defined, leaving me confused when Jack Reacher and Herzog's men showdown in the final thirty minutes as to why I should care.  And as for Rosamund Pike's character, Helen, why does she start the film dressed conservatively and suddenly at the midpoint of the movie, she's wearing such low cut clothing it's distracting?  There was no discernible psychological change in her character as to why she'd change the way she dresses everyday?  Perhaps this was a mistake in the costuming department, or maybe McQuarrie just succumbed to the urges of his inner twelve-year-old?  I guess we'll never know.

Still, even though Jack Reacher falls into some of the common trappings that these kind of pulp stories can, I really love the character of Jack Reacher, and enjoyed Tom Cruise in the part.  Featuring one of the most pulse-pounding car chases in recent movie history, and some occasional humor that comes from Reacher's analytical mind often pointing out human flaws, Jack Reacher is a fun movie that any fan of these kinds of stories will enjoy, and I for one would love to see a sequel.

I give Jack Reacher a B-

New: Archive Reviews!

It seems every year I wind up seeing more movies than I actually review.  Previously, I only ever reviewed films if I saw them within the first few weeks of their theatrical releases, but I very often see movies later on at dollar theaters or on DVD or Blu Ray, so I've decided to do something about that.  I am sometimes asked whether or not I've seen this movie or that, or if I have a review of a certain movie, and very often I have seen the movie, but I don't have a review for it, so I'm starting what I call Archive Reviews!

With these Archive Reviews, I review a movie after I see it, no matter when it was released, to share my thoughts on the film and hopefully let people know if they think the movie will be for them or not, after all, that is the true purpose of a film review I believe.  Of course, it would be a daunting task to review every movie I've ever seen in my lifetime, so I've decided to start this initiative with any movie I've seen that was released this year, 2012.  I have spent a lot of time the past few weeks writing up reviews to every single movie I have seen in 2012, and there are now 38 Movie Reviews in the back catalog on the Unicellular Review for you to enjoy, the links to which are in alphabetical order below:

Argo

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Bernie

Brave

Chronicle

Cloud Atlas

Dark Shadows

Flight

Haywire

John Carter

Lawless

Life of Pi

Lincoln

Lockout

Looper

Men in Black 3

Mirror, Mirror

Moonrise Kingdom

Prometheus

Red Tails

Seven Psychopaths

Skyfall

Snow White and the Huntsman

Take This Waltz

The Amazing Spider-Man

The Avengers

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

The Bourne Legacy

The Dark Knight Rises

The Expendables 2

The Grey

The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey

The Hunger Games

The Master

The Odd Life of Timothy Green

The Secret World of Arrietty

The Woman in Black

This Means War

Stay tuned as I will be posting links to more Archive Reviews on a regular basis, as I see more films once they hit DVD or Blu Ray.  My hope is to have a new post highlighting all of my new Archive Reviews at least once a month, and if you're interested in finding a Movie Review in the sidebar, all Movie Reviews from now on will be posted on the day that they hit theaters.

Movie Review: "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"

I have an interesting history with J.R.R. Tolkien's classic, The Hobbit, finally getting the big screen treatment with the first part of a planned trilogy to bring the tome to life, An Unexpected Journey, now in theaters.

When I was in 8th grade, I played Bofur in a stage version of the book, in a joint production between Clay-Chalkville Middle School and Clay-Chalkville High School.  Bofur was one of the thirteen dwarves that came knocking on hobbit, Bilbo Baggins' door, recruiting him as their "burglar" to  sneak into their mountain fortress that is now under rule of a vile dragon, named Smaug.  I've always been very fond of Bofur as a character, and am delighted to see how director Peter Jackson and actor James Nesbitt have expanded his role into the primary form of comic relief in The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey.  To cut to the chase, as a big fan of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and having a sentimental fondness for The Hobbit, I find The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey all the more stirring.

Pretty much the same crew from The Lord of the Rings trilogy returns behind the camera for The Hobbit trilogy, with the first installment not only proving to be as technically impressive as the groundbreaking effects work in The Lord of the Rings, but also surpassing it in many ways.  The visual effects from WETA are better than ever, with their pioneering motion capture technology having taken many significant steps since The Return of the King in 2003, with characters like the despicable, yet lovable, schizophrenic creature, Gollum, now having a wider range of emotion than he was ever able to relay in the previous installments.  Of course, what makes The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey such a joy, is that it feels like coming home after a long time abroad.

From the first moments of the film, we see old places and old faces.  From the first sights of the Shire, to Ian Holm as old Bilbo once more, narrating this story.  There's Elijah Wood as Frodo in a brief cameo, and then we get reintroduced to Ian McKellen's Gandalf, while welcoming Martin Freeman into the role of a Bilbo, 60 years younger, who still manages to make us feel as if we've known his Bilbo as long as we have Ian Holm's.  Even the music, by composer Howard Shore, harks back to The Lord of the Rings, with the Shire theme played as beautifully as ever before.  This film just knows how to stir your memories, and already has you drawn into the story before you even really meet any new characters.  With that said, while The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey does feel like The Lord of the Rings, it becomes it's own thing very quickly.

The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey feels of the same world, but like how a film about the Gulf War will be different from a film about World War II, one is set at a more innocent time, and The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey takes that concept and runs with it.  It's funnier than The Lord of the Rings, with more emphasis on humor and a wider range of traditional fantasy.  Trolls did not talk in the other films, nor did Goblins, but they did in the book, and so they do in this film, often to hilarious results.  Jackson and his cast and crew play up all of the British humor that Tolkien included in the book, and do not shy away from it, just to make it feel like The Lord of the Rings (which coincidentally was written twenty years after The Hobbit).  Not to mention, the relentless sense of adventure from Tolkien's book is here as well.  The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey is an adventure film, it's not a majestic epic like The Lord of the Rings trilogy, but it's like a storybook bedtime story.  Many of the visuals have this golden sheen to them, of sunlight streaming through trees and climbing over mountain tops, creating an inviting aura around the scenes that was not of the prior trilogy.  As well, the fellowship of dwarves, led by the heroic, yet stubborn Thorin Oakenshield, are a camaraderie as lovable as the Fellowship of the Ring, and composer Howard Shore does not sit on his laurels, having composed a score that takes many of the cues from The Lord of the Rings and incorporates them with a new theme based on the dwarf song, "Song of the Lonely Mountain."  It's sweeping and majestic, and brilliantly sung by musician Neil Flynn in the credits.  This film truly is a feat that is equal to what has already come before it.

If you're already a fan of Middle Earth, you will love The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey.  You kind of get the feeling that Peter Jackson is no longer trying to pick up new fans with these films, but rather he's just trying to serve the already fans.  The truth is, the way Tolkien wrote The Hobbit, he wrote it like a children's adventure storybook, and the film does have that feel in terms of the tone and the  visuals that Jackson creates, but Jackson also takes the rare opportunity to expand Middle Earth.  Using details from the appendices of The Lord of the Rings, Jackson and fellow screenwriters, Philippa Boyens, Fran Walsh, and Guillermo del Toro, flesh out areas in The Hobbit that add further depth of character to these often slight characters from the original book, allowing for a far richer, and far more emotional experience.  It's actually kind of like Peter Jackson -- who released an extended version of all three Lord of the Rings' films after they came out -- decided to release the extended version in theaters this time about.  Will it seem too long to someone who is just a passing cinemagoer?  Probably, but to fans, it's a treasure trove of joy.

The film lays the seeds for The Lord of the Rings trilogy, with us seeing, not only how Bilbo found the one ring, but also promising to answer, in the next installment, what happened to ultimate villain, Sauron, between his demise at the beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring, to his rise throughout the rest of The Lord of the Rings trilogy.  The way Peter Jackson has approached the first installment of The Hobbit, promises to not only answer a few questions left lingering from The Lord of the Rings trilogy, but also manages to be a rip-roaring adventure film that can stand on its own for fans of Middle Earth, marking this film as an entertaining and emotional classic of cinema.

I give The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey an A+!