The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
The final instalment of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy is both the greatest visually, but the weakest character and plot-wise, but not by much. Batman is driven to seclusion because he has been vilified in the media and he just wants to hide away anyhow. Enter both Catwoman (a slinky marginalized toughy who just needs someone to love her) and Robin (a young beat cop with a heart for orphans) to draw the Dark Knight from his cave. But the real conjurer is the new supervillain Bane who holds Gotham hostage with bombs developed by Batman's tech corp.
The drama is interesting if you can follow what Bane says through is mask and you can buy the storyline if you cast concerns about timelines aside (especially for Batman's bones to knit in the pit). Not sure why I'm so negative on this all of a sudden, maybe I've grown tired of this genre... I do find the bigger questions asked by Bane compelling and the underground movements to thwart him are inspiring and of course the death and resurrection themes are always sublime.
A teen checks himself into the psych ward at a local hospital due to depression (girl and family problems). He is placed in the adult ward since the youth one is under renovation. There, he encounters real mental patients and gains a healthier perspective on life.
With hilarious self-awareness, the Muppets work to retain their legacy by trying to save their old theatre which is under threat from a caricatured villain real estate developer.
Not a great movie - I wanted to see it since it was about a marathoner (albeit fictional) and it's Canadian - how bad could it be? It is quite contrived, poorly acted, but not without some charms.
I often fear that film interpretations of fact based epics will default towards the emotional rather than take pains to help the viewer enter the pain of the protagonist. The Way Back tackles the incredible trek of gulag escapees from the Soviet north down into northern India. It becomes clear that while they can not spend time on each of the characters, they do not default to a soft retelling. The harsh realities are depicted unfettered by too much orchestral dazzle.
This terribly moving film begins at the edge of sanity where children are raised in an idyllic setting and then harvested for their organs once they reach adulthood. The organ donors live out their purpose without questioning why or without really believing that they have any other purpose. Aside from the heavy sentimental reaction I got from watching their young lives get snuffed out, I was pushed to consider the idea of free will as it was presented in the film - and I always appreciate that opportunity!
Nobody Knows is loosely based on true events of four children who are abandoned by their mother in Japan. The siblings are cared for by the oldest as they manage to elude discovery by the outside world. This is a very sad story, making the plight of abandoned children around the world more accessible as it is set against a first world backdrop.
What a heartbreaking film! A desperate labourer is robbed of his bicycle and spends the next day trying to find his bike and thus save his employment in postwar Italy. The film was a powerful display of what life is currently like in many parts of the world and I was surprised at how similar late 1940s Rome looked to current Guatemala City.
Brilliant animated feature! What could have been a very dark film is light, refreshing and full of hope - especially if those who are quite put off by the murky depths of the grave simply look at it as a parable (I could include myself in this category sometimes).
While I think this is terrific film making, I'm pretty dismayed with the message it promotes: we can hear from the dead. If we believe this, then we open ourselves up to extortion, theological heresy, and a life that can be interfered with by the dead.
Woody Allen offers up another comedy about the insane consequences of participating in serial relationships and the constant hope and openness toward meeting someone more satisfying. We have two couples who become four couples.
Yet another bleak contemplation on violence, hopelessness, and the inexplicable nature of what causes people to give up and how it must be linked to our increasingly secluded society from Michael Haneke.
Empathy confronts free will in this sorrowful tale of hopelessness. A taxi driver, Solo, is contracted to drive a man one-way to a cliff on an upcoming date. Solo recognizes that this is essentially assisting this man's suicide, so he works towards befriending the aging and cranky man.
This movie stays clear of sentimentality as it deals with a couple really broken people. The first is a homeless video store clerk. The other is one of his patrons - a hermit who rents porn. He becomes fascinated with this hardened woman to the point of obsession, but in a good way. Helping her helps him grow out of his slump (plus he can crash at her place).
This biopic of legendary DJ Frankie Wilde is wacky and colourful - like it's subject. Thematic elements about this self-indulgent star only serve to contrast his transformation after he goes deaf and is resurrected by the honest love of a caring woman. It's kind of a disturbing start to what becomes a glorious finish.
This is such a lovely, fresh film that I can't help but give it my full endorsement. The animation is themed after the illuminating art in the Book of Kells - Celtic production of the four Gospels circa 800 AD. The story focuses on an Irish monastery where this special book is being guarded and produced under constant threat of invading clans. A young boy left in the care of the monks is so drawn to the book and also to the forbidden woodlands that his loyalty to the abbot is questioned.
Woody Allen's masterpiece! Here we get a sense of the struggle of man without any moral direction juxtaposed with a man searching for eternal answers (albeit comedically, and perhaps facetiously). A man is attracted to his wife's sister. Another sister laments her loneliness and inability to find success at the level of her sisters (in life and love). And finally, Hannah, who lives a virtuous life is being attacked on all fronts because of her virtue - poor thing!
Part Norweigian myth, part generational commentary, and part romance, Québec filmmaker Denis Villeneuve recounts the downward spiral of a woman's life and what it takes to bring her back to life. The luminous resurrection of a woman who has lost all hope is inspiring. As a film, it is life affirming.
Gut wrenching and superb. The film is a poem and a song. A sad sad poem and a sad sad song.
I was eager to see what Miranda July would give us after Me and You and Everyone We Know. Sadly, this film disappointed me. It tackles some good ideas, but the characters are just too weird and self-interested that I really didn't care what happened to them. And the talking cat was the worst part of the film -and the strange for the sake of being strange dance July does. Why??!
