My Two Cents

Movie Reviews

A Single Man

A Single ManA Single Man (2009)
A day in the life of a depressed man recovering from the loss of his partner – the day he has decided to commit suicide.

The whole film is an expression of the gentle main character. You can feel the hollow silence he shifts back and forth between memories of his partner and his mundane duties of living. He is a professor living in a beautiful house on the ocean, in southern California in the 60’s. It is interesting to experience the trappings of that era. It is interesting to experience the qualities of his former relationship through the eye of his memories.

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Talk to Her

Talk to HErTalk to Her (2002)
The caregiver of a woman in a coma befriends the spouse of another woman in a coma. The caregiver challenges the spouse to keep talking to his partner even though she can’t respond.

The landscape of this film is stark and spare. The story is revealed in little vignettes, as if being recalled by the main character. Some interesting surprises toward the end. I especially like how much off-scene drama was indicated by on-scene drama.

 

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To Rome with Love

To Rome With LoveTo Rome with Love (2012)
This film follows four independent stories unfolding on the streets of Rome at the same time. They are all interesting, quirky and thought-provoking in entirely different ways. The interaction between the parallel stories is really fun. The degree of camp really worked for me. The performances are stunning. I keep recalling vignettes and then remembering that was another piece of this film. I was entirely charmed.

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The Time Traveler’s Wife

The Time Traveler’s Wife

The Time Traveler’s Wife (2009)
A man discovers he has the ability to skip around in time, but can only loosely control the experience. He can’t prevent his untimely death, but seeing it coming he develops some other strategies to keep connecting with the love of his life.

This was a beautiful, beautiful love story that really got under my skin. I could really empathize with the characters and the plot really worked. Just when I got used to the reality they created, they added something fresh that kept me wondering what was next. I was left in a lovely state of wonder how the story carried on outside the frame of what was filmed. It struck me as an admirable job of storytelling in many ways. 

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Pitch Black

Pitch BlackPitch Black (2000)
A criminal transportation spaceship crash lands on a planet that turns out to be inhabited by blood thirsty creatures. Who is a bigger menace – the sociopath prisoner inside or the bloodsuckers outside? The prisoner and crew forge an uneasy alliance in order to make the best of their chances to survive.

This is a really good quality, low budget, scifi flick. I thought the story hung together rather well and its characters were rather interesting.

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The Rum Diary

The Rum Diary

The Rum Diary (2011)
A young journalist on his first newspaper job follows his heart to expose bad guys rather than covering stories that will sell papers. It is based on a novel by Hunter S. Thompson and populated by characters taken from his experiences working in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Johnny Depp is captivating in his portrayal of the main character.

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Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Kiss Kiss Bang BangKiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
Criminal Robert Downey, Jr. bursts into an audition room fleeing from a crime scene nearby. To elude cops he auditions and unexpectedly wins the role. He likes his new life as an actor but his old life as a crook keeps coming back to haunt him.

This is a very clever, comic story with a lot of unexpected twists and turns.

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Stray Dog

Stray Dog

Stray Dog (1949)
A young cop gets his sidearm lifted while riding the trolley. Ashamed of the incident, he takes great pains to recover the firearm. His quest takes him on an unsavory tour of society’s seedier side and shows him many harsh realities he’d prefer not to know about.

This is one of Kurosawa’s earlier films. It is an interesting sketch of Japanese society and offers some candid shots of Tokyo streets shortly after the close of WWII.

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Synecdoche

Synecdoche

Synecdoche, New York (2008)
Award winning playwrite is set up with a grant so large that he is able to fund a theatre project that mimics real life. Reality and play roles get confused.

An interesting concept. Unsettling story. Left me considering parallels to real life for days.

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In Bruges

In Bruges

In Bruges (2008)
The boss sets up one of his hit men to be taken out by another hit man, asking them to meet in the totally touristy and prosaic town of Bruges, Belgium.

A great, quirky, comical story about underworld characters chasing each other around a famous tourist destination. The characters are enough to carry the story by themselves. But this movie is special treat for anyone who has walked the beautiful old town byways in which it was filmed.

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