Finally saw Zero Dark Thirty last night and was blown away. What a great, great film. Definitely deserved a best director nod.
3. The Silver Linings Playbook (A-)1. Jack Reacher (C+)
2. The Help (B+)
Saw this last night. I've now seen all the major English-language films of this year apart from Zero Dark Thirty, and it's only January 4th; that's a personal best. David O. Russell's followup to his big comeback movie, The Fighter, has a very similar formula to that: he takes a fairly standard movie formula (boxing movie, in that case; here, the romantic comedy, or perhaps dramedy), doesn't really diverge much from the expected beats on a pure story level, but really delivers on the execution and characterization. That's perhaps a good sign for the genre, because there are only so many ways to be innovative with a genre that has three quarters of a century of cinematic history; breathing life into the formula is what most can hope for. There's a fun twist on the climactic competition, for instance (a dance competition, in this case).
Has a great cast. Most of the buzz has focused on Jennifer Lawrence, currently duking it out with Jessica Chastain for frontrunner status in the Best Actress race, and she's terrific. Bradley Cooper is also very good, while Robert DeNiro is the best he's been in a long time. The rest of the supporting cast, likewise (it's weird to see Julia Stiles now doing such small roles, though she's a really good fit to be Jennifer Lawrence's sister).
Cinema: 2 (+1)
Home Video: 1
Computer: 0
I rather liked this film also. I remember the trailers sold it as kids with powers. My thought was great an X-Men ripoff like PUSH all over again. So I passed till DVD. If they had sold it as what it was, which is a regal alien race in exile it might've done better? Maybe? I can't be the only one who just though 'poor mans X-Men' film.24. I Am Number Four (✩✩½) - DVD - An alien teen with powers is being protected on Earth as he's being chased by other bad aliens. This movie had some good ideas, including an incredible set-up, but it's not a good movie. It's obviously aimed at the Miley Cyrus/Zac Efron crowd with it's dealing with young love and high school. Two standouts though are Teresa Palmer's badass asskicking and Kevin Durand as the leading alien bad guy. The movie is based on the first book in a series of books and as such, could turn into a franchise, but there's no word on a sequel yet.
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