links:
- Brittani and Ruth share their thoughts on Golden Globes nominations
- Nika reviews Blue is the Warmest Color
- Vinnieh reviews hugely underrated He Loves me, He Loves me not
- Chris wonders if Gravity's brilliance is actually depressing for us movie goers
- Alex chooses 5 best performances from Samuel L. Jackson
- karamelkinema reviews The Counselor
- Alex Thomas and Anna review American Hustle
- m.brown reviews bitchin'Thor: The Dark World
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For me Christmas sure came early today in the form of 6 second look on new season of Game of Thrones. Yes, 
The first gif shows Tyrion in chains on his way to his trial, which will be awesome and Dinklage is going to kill it.
(spoilers)
One day, while on the street, Adele passes a blue haired girl. The girl gets under Adele's skin and Adele can't stop thinking about her. One night Adele, almost sleepwalking towards what she thinks she wants, wanders into a lesbian bar - her only clue about the blue-haired girl being that she had her arm wrapped around the another woman. Adele finally finds her there - it turns out that mysterious girl is older than her and her name is Emma. Emma takes interest in Adele and is protective of her in the bar. She asks what high school Adele goes to and pretty soon she shows up there to talk to Adele again.
For one thing, I didn't see Adele as a lesbian. I just think she was...young. I don't believe in labeling people when they are this young and they have absolutely no idea who they are. Adele tries dating a boy from her school. We see a sex scene between them. There clearly is some passion there but something is missing. Some time later a girl from Adele's school spontaneously kisses her. Adele enjoys it. This is probably one of the reasons why she went after Emma.
I sympathized with Adele. She was smart, compassionate and she appeared to be a good person. She wanted to give herself to love, even though it wasn't the easiest thing. She had the guts to go after what she wanted and she defended Emma's honor, only after two conversations with her, when her awful friends started yelling homophobic remarks (Adele's friends were one of the most reprehensible morons I've seen in this year's films, they should move to the village from The Hunt and that fucking village should burn down).
The more we saw of Emma the more I detested her. During the party Adele prepares for her Emma ignores her completely, even though Adele posed for her paintings. After the party Emma shows absolutely no interest in Adele, as if she was a husband from the 50's. Then she spends less and less time with her, stops bothering sharing her life with her, pushes her away.
Unfortunately for Adele, this was something she thought was love. I did not see it as love for a second, because of Emma's cold and calculative personality. After the break up, Adele falls into deep depression. After seeing the movie I read the synopsis for the graphic novel which the movie was based on. I'm so happy the film's ending differed from it - in the novel Adele becomes addicted to pills because of Emma breaking up with her and then dies because of her addiction. I found this ending to be overly dramatic and highly unlikely. Adele seemed stronger than that. She had the ability to adapt. She had curiosity. People like that don't give up this easily.
The film's best aspect is how realistic and natural it feels. It's not a fairytale - there are way too many red flags for Adele and Emma from the start. The hostile environment (Adele's friends, Emma's lesbian colleagues in the bar), the difference in lifestyle - Emma has ridiculous fantasy about being an artist, Adele wants to be a teacher - something not glamorous, but something she wants and accomplishes, whereas Emma ends up basically betraying herself and her feelings for Adele just to stay above the water.
I sided with Adele's folks and her and her pragmatism instantly. The group I really hate is the wannabe writers, painters, whatever, who look down on people with real jobs because they are convinced they are so talented they will be able to leave off their 'work' because they are so damn special. Emma got her art show by pushing away someone who loved her. Yes, what a tremendous human being.
Adèle Exarchopoulos is lovely and she does an amazing job. But here is my problem - this is the first movie I saw her in. How much of herself is there and how much of the movie Adele are we seeing? Especially considering all that material of her being herself being used - just how much acting is there? I was blown away with Exarchopoulos' ability to convey the passage of time with the slightest changes of her gestures and little things, but other than that I just don't know how much praise should be given to her talent because I have no idea where real Adele ended and the cinematic one began.
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I like Joseph Godon-Levitt. I wouldn't go as far as to call myself a fan of his, but he is a talented guy and he seems to be a likable, cool person. He has given us a lot of good performances in many great films - just recently in Looper, The Dark Knight Rises and 50/50. And now he is trying his efforts in a new endeavor - writing and directing.
Don Jon is one of those many romantic comedies that tries to wrap itself in realities of our cynical world and say something insightful about it.. Jon is a guy who has a job - never mind what it is, as in most of those movies it doesn't matter - he has money, his own apartment he likes to clean obsessively. He has a family he loves and attends church with every Sunday. He has his buddies he hangs out with and since he is a good looking guy, it's not that hard for him to get chicks. In fact, it's very, very easy.
Joe wants the opposite of that, he just doesn't know it yet. Barbara is stuck in her bubble of romantic comedy fantasy - Joe is stuck in his unhealthy routine. He likes regular sex. But he likes something more - masturbating while watching porn. Hand holding and embraces are Barbara's fantasy. Cum shots and getting blow jobs are the fantasy that Joe has.
However midway, Levitt introduces the character of Esther (Julianne Moore). We first meet Esther as she is weeping in front of the school both of them are taking courses at. Joe wants to have nothing to do with an older woman, who is crying in front of the building. Later Esther comes over to apologize and she notices Joe was watching porn on his phone. Plot twist - instead of being quiet about it Esther asks 'I'm sorry were you just watching two people fucking?"
After disastrous turn in Carrie, Moore provides sweet and understanding performance here. Unfortunately, I felt she was a bit too old for Levitt. It felt like she should be mother figure to him, especially after we find out she had a son and she does all does motherly things for Joe, like drawing him a bath. When they have sex it just felt a bit awkward, even disturbing. I know it's sounds terrible to write there is something off about older women and younger guy - there's not. But the film painted Esther and Joe more like mother/son and mentor/apprentice than possible lovers. The intimate scene between them feels jarring because of that.
The film also provides impressive supporting roles from the members of Joe's family. Glenne Headly - who was the cute pediatrician on ER 20 years ago is charming and funny as Joe's protective and loving mother. Brie Larson plays interesting part of Joe's sister - she is constantly on her phone, she appears detached from the world but in the end she is the one that makes Joe see who Barbara really was. I thought it was very clever how Larson had only one scene in which she spoke but I wish the scene went on a bit longer than that.
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American Hustle, David O. Russell's follow up to hugely successful Silver Linings Playbook is an entertaining mess. It has moments of brilliance, moments of artistic confusion, scenes that are lovely and scenes that are completely misguided. While the cast is excellent, I'm only convinced of the greatness of one performance. Fortunately for the film, this ensemble's efforts are enough to entertain.
The film feels like Scorsese flick wannabe. Goodfellas and Casino vibes are all over it - quick cuts of people getting shot, fiery, unpredictable, sexy women, criminals, casinos, gambling, danger. O. Russell is not Scorsese, though. The film's biggest and occasionally fatal flaw is its wobbly script. According to Christian Bale much of the movie was improvised. He noted to O. Russell, "You realize that this is going to change the plot greatly down track." To which the director replied, "Christian, I hate plots. I am all about characters, that's it."
What the movie works as, though, is light entertainment. I wouldn't call Hustle a comedy - there are several moments during which I laughed, but I laughed more during Silver Linings Playbook and The Fighter. The film at least is never boring, it has some lovely sequences - best of which are the ones with Jennifer Lawrence's character wrecking havoc - and it sure is fun to watch.
Jennifer Lawrence is a good actresses. That said, she is also the most ridiculously overhyped movie star right now. The craze about her, which is even getting to director's heads, is actually starting to hurt her films - David O. Russell wrote the part of Rosalyn specifically for her to play. She is all kinds of wrong for the part - she is too young to be believable as Irving's wife. The fact that she also has a son only adds to how ridiculous that casting is.
While Adams is given more consistent scenes than Lawrence, she is not doing any better. I didn't buy her as this smart girl who uses her sexuality and wits to survive. There was something awfully fake about Adams's performance - even when Sydney was giving us glimpse of her true self, it all rang false. I don't mind Adams not wearing a bra of her bad accent - the worst crime here is how ill suited she is for the part.
But the real star of the show and the biggest reason why this film is worth watching is Christian Bale. I've seen most of this guy's performances and it's his work like here as Irving - someone quiet, someone broken - that flourishes into Bale's best performances. He is a true heart of this whole thing - someone who wants to do the right thing, doesn't want good people to get hurt and ideally, keep the woman he loves in his life.
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There is a fairly new pattern in the world. Every two years Woody Allen makes a good movie. Between that his movies are either really, really bad or truly acquired taste. After an unholy abomination that was From Rome with Love, truly one of Allen's worst, comes delightful, mature, insightful and surprisingly dark Blue Jasmine.
The film is a clever look at a person who fell from grace and now needs to find herself in a mundane world most people live in. Jasmine has a posh accent, refined taste and elegant clothes. She also has a sense of entitlement and contempt for others. Those traits make her situation even more difficult - she won't take just any job because she thinks it's beneath her.
The film is also a homage for A Streetcar Named Desire - we have a delusional heroine, her plain sister and sister's temperamental partner - here named Chili, an ordinary guy who drinks too much but loves Ginger. All those similarities are delightful to watch, especially given that Blanchett played Blanche Dubois on Broadway and Alec Baldwin played Stanley Kowalski in 1995 adaptation.
That said, Blanchett's work as Jasmine is a league on its own. It's like she completely let go of any brakes, lost herself in character and then in that character lost herself yet again. Blanchett completely disappears into Jasmine - she doesn't hit one false note in extraordinarily difficult performance to pull off.
Blanchett is completely fearless - she is not afraid of looking completely haggard or consumed by madness - Jasmine is often drenched in sweat, shaking, with mascara running on her face. Her appearance matches her shaky mental state - Blanchett actually makes Jasmine look so unhinged she appears to be dangerous. And yet she never loses her delusion of being worthy of so much.
Then there is Bobby Cannavale as her boyfriend, who is certainly memorable. Cannavale was really good here, even though his character is slightly one dimensional. Louis C.K. shows up and as excellent as he usually is, I couldn't help but think he was a bit of a miscast here. Peter Skarsgard is really convincing playing a complete asshole, as Jasmine's boyfriend with similar illusion of grandeur. Still, it's Blanchett's show.
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