Jean-Michel Basquiat ; The Radiant Child

B-

2010

I Am Love

As a film goer raised on american cinema I must confess Im not the most well adjusted person to the pleasures of melodrama in the cinema. That being said however I found myself a little surprised by how much I actually got roped into the story. Filled with delicious food, beautiful architecture in beautiful locations, gorgeous clothes, and a strong central performance by the always wonderful Tilda Swinton, I simply surrender myself to the overflow of emotions and for the first time in a long while didn't feel at all guilty about it.

B-

2010

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

Here we are at number 7, the last in the long line of Harry Potter films. Except the journey isn't yet over since the seventh book has been split into two films for the sake of the fans, accuracy, or money? Who can say. One thing is for sure though, the story definitely isn't over yet. Which is really the only problem with part 1 of the Deathly Hallows, in that it never really finds it's stride. It gives great detail to trivial aspects of the book while glazing over monumental ones. Of course that almost always seems to happen when adapting books into films, except with this one given the fact that its broken into two films the excuse doesn't seem to hold up. Still, I can't say I wasn't entertained and am still eagerly awaiting volume 2.

B

2010

Fair Game

Fair Game is a political thriller and educator on the history of the Valarie Plame scandal from a few years back about when an undercover CIA agent was outed by senior officials within the Bush administration for political reasons. Two of Hollywood's best actors share co-lead, Naomi Watts and Sean Penn. Under the sure handed direction of Doug Liman Fair Game turns out to be one of the better adult minded films of the fall season, with a nice little morality lesson to boot.

B

2010

Leaves Of Grass

A fine showcase for the many talents of Edward Norton but all and all the film was a complete waste of time. I was on board until about the midway point when the plot spiral's out of control and into the absurd.

D-

2010

127 Hours

Danny Boyle is the perfect man for a film about the will to live. His movies are filled with bursting images of life that always manage to keep viewers actively engaged no matter what the subject matter, even when that subject matter happens to be a man trapped next to a rock for 127 hours. Of course the star of the film need's to be praised as well, and James Franco does a great job of portraying a man who while choosing to survive by putting himself through an unimaginable horror also must make the choice of shedding some pride in order to see himself for who he really is. Looking back on their career's in thirty or so years, 127 Hours may end up to be one of the clearest examples of both men's exceeding talents at making something one dimensional into something multifaceted. A testament to the extraordinary gifts of both.

A

2010

The Karate Kid

The Karate Kid is the 2010 remake of the 80's classic by the same name. This one stars Jaden Smith in the title role. Being the son of Will Smith I was a little weary going into this that the young lad wasn't going to be able to pull it off. Surprisingly though he's quite good. Being able to pull off a range of emotions as well as a gift for comedic timing that he must of gotten from his father. The karate teacher is played by Jackie Chan, an actor I seem to have forgotten about in the last five or six years. Here he plays the mentoring old man a little dry though, still its a joy to see him kick ass again, if only for a little while.

The Karate Kid is decent old fashioned family entertainment and yet when it was all over I was left with not much feeling at all. A sequel is sure to follow, here's hoping a bit for heart is put into the next one.

C-

2010

Inside Job

Acclaimed filmmaker and political scientist Craig Ferguson has decided next, after his brilliant examination of the Iraq War in the 2007 documentary ' No End In Sight ' to tackle a completely different issue, the 2008 financial crisis. His new documentary titled ' Inside Job ' is crafted much in the same way as his previous film; with a calm, cool, collected, and critical analysis of what really happened to our financial system within the last decade. Ferguson doesn't seem to be interested in making politically charged films filled with provocative language and wild accusations. Instead, he simply gathers and lays out the facts as they are, which is something most experts in almost ever medium rarely seem to do. He also seems to be able to get access to people of incredible power, reach, and knowledge, most of which themselves played crucial and sometimes damaging roles in our current economic crisis. Its through these interviews and the directors persistent desire to expose what really happened that makes Inside Job not only the most frightening film of the year but one of the best as well. 

A

2010

Conviction

Conviction tells the true life story of a woman who ended up putting herself through law school in order to become an attorney so she could prove her brother's innocence. The woman, played a bit over the top by Hillary Swank spends almost two decades on this journey all the while her brother, played by one of my favorite contemporary actors, Sam Rockwell sits in a cell. Swank juggles work, school, kids, her brother, and marriage. It's an incredible example of will power to be sure. Most of the acting come off just fine, particularly Rockwell who manages to play a man who seems totally capable of horrific acts of violence and jovial childishness all with in the space of a minute. It's the work of two time Academy Award winner Swank though who seems to be trying just a bit too hard for sentiment. The script for the most part is decently written besides few little scene's in the beginning that prove to be a little too melodramatic.

Conviction is by no means a bad movie and by no means a good movie. It's the kind of light handed entertainment you'd expect to find on a day time television movie, only with Oscar nominated actors instead of soap stars.

C+

2010

Temple Grandin

Temple Grandin is another film in a long line of quality television movies by HBO films. With no more restrictions than that of the MPAA it's little wonder that the little channel has been able to put out such a strong body of work over the last decade. Some may even argue that premium cable channels like HBO and Showtime are on the edge of a new frontier that is rivaling feature films for quality. Miniseries and long running shows like The Soprano's and The Wire have the distinct benefit of being afforded the opportunity to really give their stories and the characters within them more time and thus depth than a two hour feature would normally allow. But HBO hasn't been content with just those venues of entertainment, feature films seem to be on their minds as well and so here we have Temple Grandin.

Grandin tells the story of a young autistic girl struggling to find her own voice within a society she has trouble identifying with. Temple, played brilliantly here by Claire Danes starts with a remote interest in cattle, an interest that once cared for quickly turns into a life's work of passion. Temple see's the world through photographic images in her mind which thus gives her certain ability's average people don't posses. She decides to harness this power on livestock in a way so that the herding of cattle to slaughter houses will be much less stressful on the cattle themselves which then saves costs in all kinds of places.

Their isn't anything real special here. Just your average tale of a person over coming great adversity only to be shown as an example for those of us willing to watch. A good little film with a career best performance out of Danes.

Casino Jack and the United States of Money

Casino Jack is the new documentary by Academy Award winning filmmaker Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side). Using the wide scope of American corruption as his continuing subject, Gibney puts his focus on Washington and the recent conviction of super lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Through a thorough examination of research Gibney is able to clearly show all the little money schemes and tricks Abramoff and his cohorts were able to pull off through the help of their pals in the legislative and executive branches. That is of course up until they were caught and arrested. For anyone interested in the many problems that face our democracy, Casino Jack and the United States of Money should be well worth your time.

B

2010

Stone

A bit of return to form for the great Robert De Niro, as well as another another showcase for the always riveting Edward Norton. The film dabbles at times a bit too close to absurd melodrama but it also poses questions about existential life that few popular movies these days are willing to ask. A daring a somewhat curious piece of work.

B+

2010

The Secret In Their Eyes

The Secret In Their Eyes is a surprisingly suspenseful and emotional murder mystery that doesn't do anything new for the genre but is still a wonderful exercise of rehashed themes that if done correctly never really gets old.

B

2010