Silver Linings Playbook is a solid, well done romantic comedy. I think the Academy's love for it has a great deal to do with solid, well done romantic comedies being so incredibly rare lately. Cooper gives a breakthrough delightful performance. Lawrence is good but has given stronger performances and will again. B+
(As Russell comedies goes, though, Flirting with Disaster is more fun, smart, touching and original; and far wittier.)
Zero Dark Thirty - for all its proficiency - is not a great film. The movie goes for journalistic economy while depersonalizing its characters - Jennifer Ehle in a small role is an exception as she brings, as always, a personal connection and passion, she jumps off the screen as a recognizable human being - particularly its protagonist. Chastain does what she can but its hard for a movie like this to be carried by a heroine whom the audience identifies solely as a monomaniac. (Foster worked hard to bring vulnerability to a similarly distant G-sleuth role in Silence of the Lambs; there was a human fear beneath her resolve; as a result it was easy to care about her). If the movie was saying we lost our soul looking for Bin Laden it might or might not have been persuasive, it could have been ridiculous; at least it would have had a grounding point of view. But the movie only hints at that - barely - in the final scene when we see Maya alone wondering what's next.
As a historical record film (in the tradition of Battle of Algiers and United 93), which is how it needs to be judged, it fails to completely succeed because its treatment of torture (which, commendably it neither endorses nor condemns) is dubious and therefore sensationalizing; torture pervades the first third of the movie not to show how we succeeded in finding Bin Laden but to keep us awake. B-
Beasts is an odd likable fable. Its strength is in marrying myth to the simple facts of one little girl's traumatic and joyous life. It is no easy trick for Zeitlin to pull that off, or for Wallis to carry it. They both succeed. A-
Argo gets so much right from its funny dialogue to its tension to its consistent insistence on character. It's a rich, taut, fun movie. As historical record it may be as dubious as Zero Dark Thirty. Fortunately, its purpose isn't to provide a historical record but to respectfully turn history into flesh and blood narrative. A
Les Mis has a few moments that soar like the best musicals do. Unfortunately, it's mostly inept. Twenty minutes of A, two and half hours of F = C
Amour is a masterpiece. The hermetically sealed lives of Anne and Georges and Haneke's image system of physical and often brutal intrusion into that apartment and, by definition, their lives, profoundly reveal a story of genteel isolation and genuine dignity. Trintignant and Riva give performances which already prove legendary. The best movie of the year (of those I've scene). A+
Lincoln is so good, so intelligent, and has such a well hone and topical point of view, that it would be among Spielberg's finest achievements if he didn't let us down by falling into drivel (with predictably Spielbergian bad taste, a tragic flaw in this great filmmaker) in the final ten minutes. Day-Lewis will and should win the oscar. I'd give Field the oscar too but will not be unhappy with a Hathaway win. Two and half hours of A, ten minutes of F = B+.
Have yet to see Pi and Django.
Updated On: 1/29/13 at 10:43 AM
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