Rambling Film

I first heard of 'Fish Tank' while reading Entertainment Weekly's website. Then it was nominated (and won) a BAFTA for Best British Film, so when it showed up on IFC On Demand (I love IFCOD..except for that time I bought 'Antichrist') I immediately wanted to see what this was all about. Staring mostly British unknowns, the film follows 15 year old Mia (Katie Jarvis) a moody, unruly teen living in low income housing with her equally moody and unruly mother and little sister. She has a passion for dance, she sneaks into abandoned buildings to practice. When her mother gets a new boyfriend, Conner (Michael Flassbender) his obvious advances towards her are hard to ignore. Conner inspires her to go after her dancing dream, but he also brings out the worst of her. The film borderlines on whats right and wrong. At first you want something good for Mia, but we're quickly reminded that she is 15 and this man is dating her mother. It isn't healthy. The way the fi...

When I was leaving the theater, a woman muttered "Well that was very British". I laughed, she said it like it was a bad thing. I think the Brit actors in this film were powerful and engaging. I'll never know why she said something like that. 'The Last Station' is about a Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy (Christopher Plummer) He's at the point where people are more fascinated with him then they are his writing. His friend Vladimir Chertkov (Paul Giamatti) pressures him to change his will to leave out his wife Sofya (Helen Mirren) after their 40+ years of marriage. He isn't healthy, and they've been at odds with each other for quite some time. Tolstoy hires a secretary Valentin (James McAvoy) to basically learn all of Sofya's crazy ways so that they can use them against her. I wasn't to aware of the "Tolstoya movement" so to speak, and I thought this film was going to be more about that. It's not. I expected it to be an intense c...

I should really just call this the "Starz on Demand" review. Because that's how I ended up seeing this. With the Winter Games done and an early flight to catch in the morning. What could I do to pass the time on my all nighter? Pick a flick from Starz. 'Year One' follows Zed (Jack Black) a hunter and Oh (Michael Cera) a gatherer that are banished from their village. After a few run-ins with some familiar faces, Zed and Oh end up in Sodom, trying to free the women of their dreams, Maya (June Diane Raphael) and Eema (Juno Temple) who were captured and made slaves after they left the village. Oh, the reason they left was because Zed ate the 'Forbidden Fruit" so he thinks he's the chosen one. Why didn't I mention that at the beginning? Well, like this film, I felt like being "all over the place." This movie obviously didn't take itself seriously, which is fine. It's meant to be a dumb comedy. It's meant to live just on one-liner...

It's been far too long since I've done one of these. I've been slacking, which I do around Oscar seasons because that's all I think about. 'Down in the Valley' was a small film that was shot for about $8 million. It shows, there's not not a lot of background music or crafty shots. The film looks as if it was shot an a hand held camera, but there is nothing wrong with that. It helps this little modern day western. Harlan (Edward Norton) is a wannabe cowboy living in the San Fernando Valley. He works at a gas station, although he doesn't have a car. He has no family or friends nearby to turn to. He meets Tobe (Evan Rachel Wood) when he fills up gas for her and her friends on their way to the beach. Tobe takes a chance and invites him to join, he quits his job and goes with her. The start of a whirlwind romance has began. Tobe is only 17, so of course her step-father Wayne (David Morse) isn't thrilled with his daughter hanging out with a man that...

I thought this would be a fun idea. I'm going to run down with what I thought were the best moments of the Oscars, and what I thought were the worst. Who should've been nominated, who should've won, who had the best acceptance speech. All through the past decade. 2000 The Best 1) American Beauty wins best picture, actor, director, screenplay, and cinematography. American Beauty is my all time favorite movie and it deserved everything it won. Some thing the film is overrated, I don't. I was young when it came out in 99 and I loved it back then. As a grew up, I grew to love it for different reasons. This film definitely means something to me. The Worst 1)Michael Caine (The Cider House Rules) beats Michael Clarke Duncan (The Green Mile) for best supporting actor. Caine was good, but Duncan was heart-wrenching. Tell me you did not cry like a little bitch with a skinned knee at some point during 'The Green Mile'. 2)Tarzan edges out South Park for best song...

Fun fact: There was a 'Clash of the Titans' trailer attached to this film and gentleman sitting next to me politely (and loudly) pointed out somewhere near the 2 hour mark that if Liam Neeson were in this movie he wouldve already killed everyone on this island, saved who he needed to save and hijacked a ferry back to the mainland. I laughed. 'Shutter Island' follows Teddy Daniels (Leonardo Dicaprio) a US Marshall sent to an isolated island off the coast of Boston, MA that houses the criminally insane. He's there to investigate a missing patient with his newly appointed partner Chuck Alue (Mark Ruffalo). Teddy is very damaged, he lost his wife (played by Michelle Williams in flashbacks) in a fire. He's a WWII vet who is still haunted by seeing dead bodies at a concentration camp. Once he gets to Shutter Island and visits with the doctors (Ben Kingsley and Max Von Sydow) he begins to grow suspicious. Something just doesn't feel right about that place. Ther...

I've always enjoyed the BAFTA awards (British version of the Oscars) because their generally full of surprises, and they nominate people that the academy sometimes misses. (ie James McAvoy for Last King of Scotland, Paul Dano for There Will Be Blood) This year's telecast was no different. Front runners Jeff Bridges and Meryl Streep took a backseat to Colin Firth and Carey Mulligan in the lead actor/actress categories. And The Hurt Locker surprisingly nearly swept all the categories! Here is a list of the winners: Best Film WINNERThe Hurt Locker (2008) Other Nominees:Avatar (2009) An Education (2009) Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009) Up in the Air (2009/I) Alexander Korda Award for Outstanding British Film of the Year WINNERFish Tank (2009) Other Nominees:An Education (2009) In the Loop (2009) Moon (2009) Nowhere Boy (2009) Best Actor WINNERColin Firth for A Single Man (2009) Other Nominees:Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart (2009) George Clooney for Up in the Air (...