Movies I Watched Last Week Part 10

Carnage (2011, Rating: R, Director: Roman Polanski) (My Rating: 3.5/5) "Carnage" is based on the play God Of Carnage by Yasmina Reza. It is about two married couples, Penelope (Jodie Foster) and Michael (John C. Reilly), and Nancy (Kate Winslet) and Alan (Christoph Waltz) whose children got into a fight. They decide to meet and talk about what happened, but it eventually escalates into an argument about whose child's "fault" it was. "Carnage" has great performances, especially by Jodie Foster and Kate Winslet, and a very entertaining script.

A Better Life (2nd time watching) (2011, Rating: PG-13, Director: Chris Weitz) (My Rating: 3.5/5) "A Better Life" is about an illegal immigrant named Carlos (Demian Bichir) living in Los Angeles with his teenage son Luis (Jose Julian). Carlos works as a gardener and is trying to save money to move him and Luis to a different neighborhood, and is also trying to keep Luis from joining a gang. I thought "A Better Life" was a good movie with an interesting story, and a great performance by Demian Bichir, who was nominated for Best Actor. Out of the nominees for Best Actor this year I've seen (I've seen all of them except for Jean Dujardin's Oscar-winning performance in "The Artist"), Demian Bichir's performance in "A Better Life" is my favorite.

 

The Help (3rd time watching) (2011, Rating: PG-13, Director: Tate Taylor) (My Rating: 3.5/5) I enjoyed the movie "The Help", although I didn't think it was as great as the first time I watched it. "The Help" is based on the novel by Kathryn Stockett. It is about two black maids in 1962 Mississippi named Aibileen (Viola Davis) and Minny (Octavia Spencer) who work with a young white woman named Skeeter (Emma Stone) on a secret writing project about their lives as maids. I liked this movie, and thought it had great performances by Viola Davis (who was nominated for Best Actress) and Octavia Spencer (who won Best Supporting Actress for her performance). I wish that the movie hadn't left out some of the details and storylines that are mentioned in the book, which might have made the movie feel a bit more realistic.

Movies I Watched Last Week 9



The Hunger Games (2012, Rating: PG-13, Director: Gary Ross) (My Rating: 3/5) I enjoyed "The Hunger Games" more than I thought I would. Based on the book series by Suzanne Collins, "The Hunger Games" is about a future world where children and teenagers are forced to fight each other to the death. I thought it was an interesting movie, but I mostly liked it because of Jennifer Lawrence's performance, who played the main character, Katniss.



Shame (2011, Rating: R, Director: Steve McQueen) (My Rating: 5/5) I was totally blown away by this movie. I couldn't stop thinking about it for a while after watching it. "Shame" is about a man named Brandon (Michael Fassbender) who lives alone in New York City. Brandon is a sex addict. One night, his estranged younger sister, Sissy (Carey Mulligan) shows up at his apartment needing a place to stay, which upsets Brandon's life. This movie has a compelling story, as well as an absolutely riveting performance by Michael Fassbender. Along with Michael Parks's performance in "Red State", Michael Fassbender's performance in "Shame" is one of the best by an actor I've seen from 2011 so far. Carey Mulligan was also great and showed a lot of range as Sissy. I'm very surprised that neither of them were nominated for Oscars for their performances. If you watch this movie, be prepared for a lot of nudity and sexual content. In my opinion, the sex scenes are appropriate for the story, and are definitely not glamourized. "Shame" is one of the best movies of last year.





War Horse (2011, Rating: PG-13, Director: Steven Spielberg) (My Rating: 4/5) "War Horse" is a great movie. It's definitely sentimental, but it didn't cross the line to become overly sappy for me. "War Horse" is about a young British boy named Albert who becomes friends with a horse he calls Joey. When WWI begins, Joey is sold by Albert's father to the soldiers. From there, the movie becomes great. "War Horse" shows the different experiences Joey has in the war, and how he is affected by the different people he meets. At the same time, Albert enlists in the army to try to find Joey. "War Horse" is one of my favorite movies of last year.

Movies I Watched Last Week 8

The Iron Lady (2011, Rating: PG-13, Director: Phyllida Lloyd) (My Rating: 2.5/5 The Iron Lady is about former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher's life story. I thought the movie was interesting, because I didn't know very much about Margaret Thatcher before I watched this. I thought the movie was decent. Some of the dialogue was very cliched. Meryl Streep's performance as Margaret Thatcher was amazing, though. When I watched the Oscars in February, I had really wanted Viola Davis to win Best Actress for her performance in The Help. I was very disappointed at the time that Meryl Streep had won Best Actress. However, while I watched The Iron Lady, I was blown away by Meryl Streep's performance, especially in the scenes where Margaret Thatcher is older and struggling with dementia. I wasn't upset that Meryl Streep had won Best Actress after seeing The Iron Lady.



A Dangerous Method (2011, Rating: R, Director: David Cronenberg) (My Rating: 3.5/5) A Dangerous Method is about the friendship between the famous psychologists Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen) and Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender), and about a patient that Jung worked with named Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightly). This movie had a very interesting story and great acting, especially by Keira Knightly, in the best performance I've seen by her.



Melancholia (2011, Rating: R: Director: Lars Von Trier) (My Rating: 3/5) Melancholia is about a woman named Justine (Kirsten Dunst) who has just gotten married and is struggling with depression. While staying with her sister Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg), Justine discovers that a small planet called "Melancholia" is heading towards Earth and may destroy it. This movie was very unique, although not great. However, I thought the last twenty minutes were totally compelling. I thought Kirsten Dunst's performance was the best one I've seen by her.



Tower Heist (2011, Rating: PG-13, Director: Brett Ratner) (My Rating: 2/5) Tower Heist is about employees at a hotel who discover that their boss has taken their life savings in a Ponzi scheme. The employees, Josh (Ben Stiller) Charlie (Casey Affleck), and Enrique (Michael Pena),  hire a thief nicknamed Slide (Eddie Murphy) to help them break into the building and unlock a safe, which has their money. I sort of enjoyed this movie, but Eddie Murphy's character's almost nonstop gay jokes really annoyed me. The best thing about the movie for me was the entertaining performance by Gabourey Sidibe, who played a maid at the hotel who turns out to be an expert safecracker.

Movies I Watched Last Week Part 7

Imitation Of Life (1959, Rating: PG, Director: Douglas Sirk) (My Rating: 5/5) My grandma had been telling me how great this movie was for a long time, so I finally watched it on Tuesday last week. Imitation Of Life is about a struggling white actress named Lora (Lana Turner) who has a young daughter named Susie. One day, she meets a black woman named Annie (Juanita Moore) who has a daughter named Sarah-Jane, who is about Susie's age, and they become friends. The movie is about Lora trying to succeed as an actress through the years, and her relationship with Susie. It is also about Annie and Sarah-Jane's relationship, which is tested when Sarah-Jane, who is light-skinned, starts trying to "pass" as a white woman. This movie has a good story and great acting, especially by Juanita Moore and by Susan Kohner, who plays Sarah-Jane as a teenager and an adult. Both Juanita Moore and Susan Kohner were deservedly nominated for Oscars for their performances.





Elizabeth (1998, Rating: R, Director: Shekhar Kapur) (My Rating: 4/5) Elizabeth is about Queen Elizabeth I when she first became Queen of England. This movie had a very interesting story, and an impressive performance by Cate Blanchett, who played Queen Elizabeth. Cate Blanchett was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar, and I'm surprised that she didn't win. There were other good performances in the movie by Geoffrey Rush, who played Sir Frances Walsingham, one of Elizabeth's advisors, and by Christopher Eccleston, who played the Duke Of Norfolk, who tried to have Elizabeth dethroned.



Shakespeare In Love (2nd time watching) (1998, Rating: R, Director: John Madden) (My Rating: 3.5/5) I watched this again the same day I saw Elizabeth. I still really enjoyed Shakespeare In Love, but I thought Elizabeth was much better, and deserved the Oscar for Best Picture more. I also thought Cate Blanchett's performance in Elizabeth was much more deserving of Best Actress than Gwyneth Paltrow's in Shakespeare In Love, although I did enjoy her performance. Shakespeare In Love is a fictional story about how William Shakespeare was inspired to write the play "Romeo & Juliet" after falling in love with a woman named Viola. The movie was very entertaining, with some clever Shakespeare references, and good performances by Joseph Fiennes as Shakespeare and Gwyneth Paltrow as Viola. Ben Affleck was also enjoyable in a small part as Ned, an egotistical actor performing in Shakespeare's new play.



The Conspirator (2nd time watching) (2011, Rating: PG-13, Director: Robert Redford) (My Rating: 3/5) The Conspirator is based on a true story about a lawyer named Frederick Aiken (James McAvoy) who defends a woman named Mary Surratt (Robin Wright) who was charged in connection with a conspiracy to kill Abraham Lincoln. As the trial goes on, Frederick discovers the corruption involved in the trial, and realizes that Mary may be innocent. This movie has very good acting by James McAvoy, and especially by Robin Wright, who gave one of her best performances, in my opinion.



Match Point (2005, Rating: R, Director: Woody Allen) (My Rating: 3.5/5) I had been wanting to see this movie for a long time, so I was really excited when it was on TV Friday night. Match Point is about a retired professional tennis player named Chris (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), who is working as a tennis instructer when he meets Tom (Matthew Goode), a rich man he becomes friends with. Tom introduces Chris to his sister, Chloe (Emily Mortimer), and his fiancee, a struggling American actress named Nola (Scarlett Johannson). Chris becomes a close friend of Tom's family and starts dating Chloe, although he becomes attracted to Nola. Chris and Nola eventually have an affair, which leads to serious unexpected problems. This was a very interesting movie. It starts out as a good drama, and then becomes a compelling thriller. Match Point has a great script by Woody Allen, and very good performances by Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Scarlett Johansson.



Our Idiot Brother (2011, Rating: R, Director: Jesse Peretz) (My Rating: 3/5) Our Idiot Brother is about a man named Ned (Paul Rudd) who is a nice person, but can be too trusting, and seems unable to lie. After being released from jail after mistakenly selling marijuana to a police officer, Ned has nowhere to go after his girlfriend breaks up with him. He ends up staying with each of his three sisters (Emily Mortimer, Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel) for a few weeks, and unintentionally causes problems in their lives. This movie was an enjoyable comedy/drama. It had a good story, and some very funny scenes. I was especially impressed with Paul Rudd's performance, whose role was very different than the "straight-man in raunchy comedies" type of roles he's been playing recently.

What I Watched Last Week Part 6

Giant (1956, Rating: PG, Director: George Stevens) (My Rating: 5/5) Giant is about a Texas couple, Jordan (Rock Hudson) and Leslie (Elizabeth Taylor), and their family over many years. James Dean plays Jet, a man who works for Jordan, and is in love with Leslie. This is an amazing movie with great performances by Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean, and Rock Hudson.







Young Adult (2011, Rating: R, Director: Jason Reitman) (My Rating: 4/5) Young Adult is an author of young adult books named Mavis (Charlize Theron), who goes back to her hometown after she gets an invitation to a baby shower thrown by her old high school boyfriend, Buddy (Patrick Wilson) and his wife.This is a really good movie with an awesome performance by Charlize Theron, and an excellent screenplay by Diablo Cody.





Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011, Rating: PG-13, Director: Stephen Daldry) (My Rating: 4/5) Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is about a nine-year-old boy named Oskar (Thomas Horn) who loses his father in the September 11th terrorist attacks. Oskar's dad used to make up scavenger hunt games for him, designed to help Oskar with talking to people. After his dad's death, Oskar finds a key in an envelope with the name "Black" written on it, and thinks it is a special mission from his dad to find out who the key belongs to. I was surprised at how great this movie was, and how well it was written. Thomas Horn, who had never acted before, was very good as Oskar.