Round Up The Usual Suspects

1. The Lord of the Rings - Everything that The Godfather did for crime cinema was what Peter Jackson’s nine-hour (or twelve-hour depending on your personal preference) masterpiece did for fantasy filmmaking. An unprecedented achievement that was only made for about $281 million, this is one of the greatest movies of all time, split into three digestible yet thematically rich pieces of film that were all filmed back-to-back. Sure, there may be twelve endings by the end of Return of the King, but they do nothing to tarnish how amazing, transcendant, and brilliant this saga is. Very comparable to the influential J.R.R. Tolkien books that this franchise was based upon, this is one of the few movies from our generation that will be continued to be adored over fifty years from now.
2. The Princess Bride - The Shrek of its day, this wonderful family film nails all of the important elements of folklore while its brilliantly skewers them thanks to wry wit of filmmaker Rob Reiner (When Harry Met Sally) and legendary screenwriter William Goldman (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Misery). Above all else, it remains a beautiful fairy tale-style story about love, with memorable quotes, awesome characters, and sometimes cynical comedy coming from all angles. It is a film so good that it’s not only one of the best fantasy films ever made, but one of the funniest films ever made.
3. The Dark Crystal - One of the great genre films of 1982, The Dark Crystal is what happened when ubergenius Muppet/Sesame Street creator Jim Henson set out to craft a wholly original work that presented a universe so alien and unique that it could only be told entirely through puppetry. Henson would show this film to a group of studio heads that found him and his film to be insane and asinine, respectively. They said no one would wanna see a serious Muppet film. They were dead wrong. And despite sounding laugh-out-loud bad on text, this is an exceptional family-friendly classic that’s not only Jim Henson’s masterpiece, but forever stands as a true landmark in puppet animation.
4. Pan’s Labyrinth - The wonderful Guillermo del Toro would outdo himself in this half-Spanish Civil War period piece/half-fantasy/all-awesome opus. A modern Spanish movie classic, this thematically complex masterpiece follows a young girl that is forced to complete three tasks in order to seize her destiny as a princess in an another realm and get out of the real world, or the world where she didn’t belong in to begin with. This is the best fantasy film that I’ve seen from the past decade.
5. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - While The Lord of the Rings is one of the defining cinematic works of our day, Harry Potter will be the favorite of many. In fact, it’s this generation’s Star Wars; a phenomenon that has resonated with its fans and will continue to do so. While several of the movies are great, the only truly perfect film is Prisoner of Azkaban. While Chris Columbus did a solid job of setting up the series in the first two installments, Warner Bros. would tap Spanish filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron to make the single greatest Potter film ever made. Having the advantage of a great story that would act as a major turning point for the entire series, Cuaron completely redefined the visual geography and direction of the series and cleaned up the superfluous moments that plagued the Columbus films in order to achieve a surprising accessibility. Forever popular with those of us that never read Harry Potter, this is a dark, weird, and wonderful film that, along with Children of Men, is one of Cuaron’s masterpieces.

To only say that The Avengers is awesome is doing a wonderful superhero film a massive disservice. While this film is simply about Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, and Captain America on their mission to save Earth, the result is an incredible morality tale, helmed by Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), that acts as a phenomenal payoff for the five previous Marvel Universe movies.

Whedon’s script perfectly maintains an epic scope throughout and ties in the actors’ finest qualities with Whedon’s hilariously comical dispositions. Robert Downey Jr. provides his A-game as Iron Man while Chris Hemsworth continues his remarkable portrayal of Thor. In addition, Chris Evans is solid as Captain America while Mark Ruffalo creates a refreshingly new take on the Incredible Hulk.

The great harmony of the direction and jaw-dropping action is what really makes The Avengers so memorable. It is a film so good that it is not only the best Marvel movie ever, but qualifies as one of the greatest superhero movies of all time. This is not only the culmination of everything Marvel began four years ago with Iron Man, but symbolizes a pop storyteller finding his groove as a big-budget filmmaker. While Whedon’s other theatrical film, Serenity, was a lot of fun, it was directed entirely like a television episode. Here, Whedon has found his sense for the celluloid and delivers amazing spectacle that is tailor-made to be seen on the big screen.

The Avengers is both an achievement and an instant classic that will be adored and highly regarded for years to come. I’ve seen this film four times already and will no doubt own it once the DVD hits stores. See this movie as soon, and as often, as possible.

It’s no secret that I’m not the world’s biggest fan of young adult book adaptations. Whether it’s the weaker Harry Potter films or virtually any Twilight movie, adaptating an adolescent-geared book to film requires reaching an entirely new audience for broad appeal while satisfying the hardcore fanbase. While this programming can sometimes create success, or maybe something even classic like Potter, this can unfortunately lead into gratuitious pandering and underdeveloped characters as well.

Such is the case with this season’s The Hunger Games, the first of three movies to be adapted from Suzanne Collins’ trilogy of the same name. In an alternate future, the Capitol of the country of Panem selects two representatives from each of its twelve districts to participate in the annual Hunger Games. Televised for entertainment, the film follows Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and her male counterpart Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) as they are forced to eliminate their stronger competitors in a struggle to survive.

The main problem this film has is its own inaccessibility. While the esoteric fans can easily fill in plot holes that the movie leaves in its tedious wake, the skimps in detail and sudden plot revelations without much explanation will leave others confused. Making the convolutions even worse is the route that director Gary Ross (Pleasantville) has taken to compensate for Katniss’ internal dialogue in the book.

Instead of just making a standard narrative, Ross and Suzanne Collins (who also co-wrote the script) have made the film as almost an introspective drama of sorts from Katniss’ point of view. The camera movements and editing style is designed to capture her emotions and feelings throughout the film. While Jennifer Lawrence certainly does an incredible job at breathing life into the character, this experimental style is grating to watch and entirely guts the character development of several supporting players, most importantly Peeta.

Despite some truly inspired performances from Josh Hutcherson, Woody Harrelson, and the wonderful Stanley Tucci, Ross’ directing of action and pacing leaves alot to be desired. Thanks to the numerous quick cuts and the limits of the PG-13 rating, the last two quarters of the film are hurt by the movie’s need to show all the gruesomer aspects of the violence off-screen.

Furthermore, the action sequences we do see are fairly unimpressive at best and do nothing to mask the inexplicable number of clichés, conveniences, and uses of forced emotion. This is especially the case when 1) it is established early on that Katniss can shoot both a bird in flight and a tree top squirrel with her arrow, and yet she misses twice in a row in combat and 2) we spend around 10 minutes of post-mortem for a character that we’ve only seen twice. Lame.

I hate movies like this. Movies that prompt my friends to say, “You should’ve read the book!”But really, if The Hunger Games was actually a good film, it wouldn’t struggle with trying to be such a good adaptation instead. Much like the beginning of the Harry Potter movies, this series desperately needs its own Alfonso Cuarón to make a Prisoner of Azkaban out of it. I tried with all my heart to love this movie, but unfortunately I was bored to tears.

While watching The Vow, I tried my hardest to enjoy it. With myself being a fan of several romantic movies such as Pretty in Pink and The Notebook, I was holding out hope that a Channing Tatum/Rachel McAdams drama could be better than it had any right to be. Despite that hope, The Vow is a sad case of good elements flying off their rails into mediocrity.

Conceptually, I love what the filmmakers were attempting. In the beginning, we quickly fall in love with Leo (Tatum) and Paige (McAdams) through flashback. Afterwards, Paige is subject to a car accident that erases her memory and it falls on Leo’s shoulders to earn back her love once more. Despite working with trite material, Tatum and McAdams’ chemistry injects some mild amusement into the clichés and even provides some solid humor.

Even so, The Vow lacks what memorable romances have: an emotional punch. Since Paige’s arc comprises of adapting back into her old lifestyle, the void in our emotional investment has to be filled by the other protagonist. Unfortunately, Channing Tatum’s only talent is ad-libbing and in every scene that requires emoting, his Robert Pattinson-esque poker face and limited range completely kills any care we have for his character. In addition, Paige’s anger at her lack of memory is understandable at first, but is soon used by the scriptwriters to cause Leo more issues throughout the film. This is particularly frustrating since the cast can only elevate this boring script so much.

The Vow is completely forgettable. It will be remembered by the niche fanbase of Channing Tatum, but will be ignored by everyone else. This is a perfectly harmless date movie that deserves a rental at the most and nothing more.

“You know something? It hasn’t been that great of a year for movies,” a friend told me weeks ago. “Really? I’ve had so much fun at the movies this year,” I replied. “No,” he rebounded, “I’m not talking about fun entertainment. It hasn’t been that great of a year for fine film.” After that conversation, I was reminded how incredible filmmaking only seems to come once in a blue moon. It’s rare to see a critically-acclaimed film that lives up to the hype, or even one that truly leaves a mark.

Reminding me that incredible filmmaking is alive and well is David Fincher’s The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. A movie that feels less like his classic Se7en and more like his other thriller Zodiac, Fincher has helmed a dense masterpiece that stands as an almost seamless crossbreed of murder mystery, suspense, drama, and buddy movie. Destined to be beloved by the film-loving, critically-minded folk and destined to be detested by everyone else, Tattoo relies on top-notch performances and a relentless pace to make for one of the most meticulous films of last year.

Easily much faster-paced and arguably tighter than the original Swedish film, Tattoo follows Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig), a legally-troubled journalist who is contacted by a man that wants him to find Harriet, a young girl missing for 40 years who is supposedly still sending notes to Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer) when she should be dead. While we see Blomkvist, who is still coping with his relationship with his daughter among other things, taking on the potential murder mystery, we are treated to another fascinating plotline centered around hacker Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara). Before she eventually teams up with Blomkvist on the case, Salander is abused by her caretaker and her shady past is hinted at throughout the narrative.

The movie itself is stunning, fueled by a highly informational narrative and an amazing Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross soundscape. Fincher’s visual techniques are also in top form here, from the brilliantly-devised opening titles setting up the film’s tone to the Hitchcockian ways in which he taps into our imaginations to make the original film’s sexually exploitive scenes even more disturbing than before. Much like Fincher’s previous work, Tattoo is beautifully shot and carries a haunting mood until its final moments.

Above all else, the acting ensemble is wonderful, being led by an appropriately understated Daniel Craig performance. Yet, the real Oscar contender of the cast is The Social Network’s Rooney Mara. A far more effective Lisbeth Salander than Noomi Rapace, Mara portrays her alienistic role in a peculiar way that plays like the warped spawn of Eric Draven and Edward Scissorhands. Her breakout role in this film is the stuff of legend, and even when Mara’s not speaking, her screen presence alone is nothing short of captivating.

By now, you should know if this movie is for you or not. If you’re not the type of person that wants to spend two and a half hours watching a disturbing mystery play out, then this is not for you. For me, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is alot better than a run-of-the-mill serial killer story. It’s a scarring, memorable tale centered on an insane young woman teaming up with someone she identifies with, only to be reminded of how different she is from the world around her. If you’re ready to sign on for that film, this modern David Fincher masterpiece comes with the highest of recommendations.