DVD Roundup: The Millennium Trilogy (aka The Girl who...)

** If you haven't seen the first movie or read any of the books, this will have some spoilers.  However, the shock value of some of the surprises isn't worth it, so read on.**


The first half is a repost of my reviews of the first two movies, with an addition now that I've finished the Trilogy


I feel like I've discussed this series a lot with quite a few different movie geeks, and I haven't actually written a review of anything.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire are the first two films based on books in The Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larrson.  The third Swedish film was just released in theaters here in the States (though I'll have to wait until Netflix gets it).  The first two movies are intense drama/thrillers with many murders and violence thrown in.  They're definitely some of the best story-telling to have come out recently.  
Noomi Rapace plays Lisbeth Salander, a petite bad ass computer hacker who had an epically terrible childhood.  She's required to check in with a "Guardian" (kind of like a probation officer here in the States), and when her former Guardian has a stroke, she's stuck with a terrible guy who does unspeakable things to her (one of the most violent scenes on screen I've ever seen).  She does get her revenge, thankfully.  But you can't unring a bell.  So that's the understory.  The overarching story involves Mikael Blomkvist, a journalist who has been found guilty of libeling a megamogul.  Since he's heading for jail, he gets hired by a wealthy guy, Martin Vanger, to investigate a family mystery - the disappearance of his niece.  Salander and Blomkvist cross paths after she investigates him for Vanger before he hires him.  

Salander hacks into Blomkvist's computer and watches as he tries to find the niece.  Eventually, she has to join him to try to find the truth.  Again, they find some unbearably disgusting facts from decades ago and the whole mystery does get solved, but man is it way out in left field.  At the end, Salander does her computer genius thing to prove that the megamogul actually did the things Blomkvist said he did, clearing him.  She steals a ton of the guy's money -secretly of course.  And this leads us to the next film.  Brilliant first entry - amazing acting by Rapace, and terrific thriller action sequences.  Once I got around the extremely violent scene, it's a wonderful movie all around.  5 of 5 stars/lambs

Blomkvist coming to the rescue, but Salander has it in hand

In The Girl Who Played with Fire Blomkvist is back at his magazine and a fellow journalist and his assistant are killed.  Also dead is Salander's "Guardian".  She is accused of the crime, but since she has tons of money now, she moved and can't be found.  Blomkvist, who has a soft spot for Salander, knows she didn't do it and goes about trying to figure out who might have.  He stumbles upon a den of human trafficking, prostitution and murders going back a long time, with links to Salander's terrible childhood.  Not nearly as thrilling as the original, but still a brilliant story told with great acting and an interesting plot that will keep you on the edge of your seat.  Less violent, but more mystery and a few gory scenes that almost make you want to look away.  Less edgy, but an excellent return to terrific characters.  4 of 5 lambs/stars


And finally, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - finally available on Netflix streaming.  This film picks up almost exactly where the previous one left off - Salander is in the hospital after the brutal attack by her half-brother and father.  Oh, and her dad is in the hospital too and Lisbeth is charged with trying to kill him. The movie follows Salander trying to figure out how to defend herself and prove she's not crazy and must not be committed again.  The psychiatrist who originally locked her up and molested her has shown up for the prosecution.  And Blomkvist and his colleagues at the magazine Millenium have decided to expose all of Salander's story and its bad guys - from her father all the way up to the government conspiracy that sent her to the mental institution and want to keep her there.  Thankfully, Blomkvist is still willing to risk his life (and his friends) to save Lisbeth - and his interest is somehow still not creepy.  

I think I liked this movie the best of the trilogy.  The violence was much more toned down - if nailing someone's feet to the floor so they can't chase you can be considered toned down.   Now that we finally know all of the details of Lisbeth's story, she becomes an even more remarkable character, and watching her soften just a bit to related to Blomkvist as a friend and his sister as he attorney, her bad-ass-ness is amazing.  The complexity of the story builds really well on both the first and second movies in the trilogy, and really should be viewed as a group - at least as much as the Star Wars films.  If you gave the first one a shot, definitely finish the series - it's absolutely worth it.  5 of 5 stars/lambs.

New Release (Kind of): Winter's Bone

Jennifer Lawrence - keep an eye on her.

Every Monday, a theater about an hour away shows very second run indie or foreign flicks.  It's usually the only way those kinds of movies make an appearance in theaters.  However, they pay no attention to the DVD release date, so I've often already seen the movie by the time it appears on the big screen.  Winter's Bone was released on DVD recently, but thanks to the encouraging comments by Scott and Whitney at Frankly, My Dear and The Mad Hatter during our podcasting this weekend, I trekked to the theater to see it on the big screen.  They were right - this is a movie that was meant to be seen in a dark theater with no distractions. 

The story is simple: Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence) takes care of her younger brother, sister, and infirm mother.  Her absentee father has been arrested and in order to get bonded out of jail, put up their house and land for collateral.  Now he's missed his court appearance and the bail bondsman wants his due.  Ree decides she needs to find her father to be sure she doesn't lose the house.  Basically, this was what I knew when I went into the theater, and was the better for it.  The only reference in the movie to where it takes place is near and Arkansas border, so the Ozark mountains likely.  Ree is related, in some fashion, to all the people she goes to to try to find her dad, but that doesn't mean they won't kill her if she crosses them.  There are obviously family feud's going on, and since they're all part of illegal meth operations, it's not surprising they fight to the death (either by blowing up their houses, or actually dumping them in a 'holler').  Lawrence is amazingly bad-ass trying to stay strong.  The gender roles among the families are strong - only women can beat up other women, men shoot other men.  They govern their own, and at least at a minimum level take care of their own.  There are moments of levity from the tension building as we find out the level of difficulties Ree faces, but mostly they continue to build tension throughout the film, with a few OMG moments, a few "jump in your seat, this is going to end badly" moments.  One thing that struck me in particular is the relatively unknown status of the actors.  There were a few I recognized, but only in a very general sense, and it added to the tension of who would survive or help our heroine.  Overall, the pacing, cinematography, and design of the movie are terrific - award worthy in almost every aspect.  5 of 5 lambs/stars

DVD Roundup: Sleepers and That Evening Sun

I went back in my Netflix queue and decided to watch a movie I'd always meant to see and had never gotten around to it.  There's a gap of movies rated R that came out before I was old enough to see them that have mostly slipped by me.  Sleepers was one I got mixed up with Sneakers for a long time and thought I'd already seen it, but now I know I have and that there's a huge difference. 

Sleepers is the story of 4 teenagers from Hell's Kitchen (the west side of Manhattan kind of between Times Square and Lincoln Center) in the 1950s.  They have tough upbringings, abusive/absent parents, lots of Catholic guilt, and actually a good relationship with Father Bobby (Robert DeNiro).  They plan a prank to steal hot dogs, and end up sending the hot dog cart down subway stairs hurting someone.  They're sentenced to a year in a boys juvenile facility, Wilkenson.  The movie is narrated by Jason Patrick, he's one of the boys grown-up, and he tells about the horrors the boys faced at Wilkenson at the hands of Kevin Bacon's guard, Nokes.  They're horribly abused, beaten, and traumatized, but survive. 

Ten years later, two of the boys, now mob hit men (played by Ron Eldard and Billy Crudup) run into an aging Dokes in a bar, and do what they do best - put 5 bullets in him, in front of witnesses.  Patrick is now a newspaper reporter and the last boy, Brad Pitt has grown up to be a district attorney.  They've drifted apart, but Pitt has been planning something like this - he wants to use Eldard and Crudup's trial to expose all the abuse at Wilkenson.  The movie plays out following their trial.  They tap into their roots in Hells Kitchen and the mob boss and his attorneys who are willing to be manipulated to do exactly what Pitt wants to ensure other former guards get called to testify and expose the abuse.  Overall, the acting is pretty terrific by an amazing cast.  The story is difficult to watch at times, and Kevin Bacon is so over the top leering and looking so disgusting, but you hate him as much as the boys do.  Since the story is told through their eyes, there isn't any back story on the other characters, but it makes for great story-telling.  Overall, I'm glad I caught up with this one.  4 of 5 stars/lambs

That Evening Sun is an indie flick starring Hal Holbrook.  From the trailer it seemed to be a movie similar to The Straight Story with Richard Farnsworth about an older man taking back a little control of his life.  That Evening Sun is not as good, either from a cinematic or story perspective.  Holbrook decides he's had enough time in the old-folks home and starts walking back to his farm in Tennessee.  He arrives to find his son has rented the farm to the son of a man he hates.  He fights it for a while, hurling insults at the guy, Choate, to get him to leave.  Since Holbrook is just an old man, Choate (played by "that guy" Ray McKinnon) knows he's harmless and lets him stay in the shed.  Holbrook has designs on getting his home back and attempts to get Choate arrested, which he does when he catches Choate beating his daughter and wife.  The movie overall is uneven and it's hard to really like Holbrook's character.  He has dreams about his deceased wife (played by real-life wife, Dixie Carter, also now deceased) and feels guilt over her death that isn't explained much, but given as the reason he's a mean old coot.  The movie builds to a climax that doesn't deliver and you don't really care about them when it's over.  2.5 of 5 stars/lambs

New Release: The Kids Are All Right

One of the things I miss most about living in New York City (other than friends and family and City Bakery) is the availability of limited release movies.  A quick trip for work gave me the chance to catch The Kids Are Alright, which was the basis of the Reel Insight podcast a few weeks ago on Julianne Moore, so I was pretty excited.  That and word of mouth and reviews were stellar, and I'm very happy to say it totally lived up to the hype.  A perfect combination of comedy and drama, this movie defies a single genre category.  I'll give you a good description and perhaps someone can give me the best category.  Two women, Nic (Annette Benning) and Jules (Julianne Moore) are in a committed relationship, and have raised two children, Joni (Mia Wasikowska) and Laser (John Hutcherson).  Each mom gave birth to one of the kids, using the same sperm donor, so the kids are half-siblings.  Now Joni is 18, about to head off to college, and Laser convinces her to contact the sperm bank to find out about their biological dad.  It starts off with Laser sort of needing a better male role model, like the dad of his loser friend Clay.  However, once they decide to meet Paul (Mark Ruffalo), it's Joni and Jules who realize they might have been missing something.   Nic is a doctor and supports the family, but is a bit of a control freak.  Jules is more of a free spirit and wants to start her own landscaping business.  Paul, too, is a free spirit who didn't finish college, but now runs his own restaurant and organic farm.  There are 3 major story lines through the movie: Laser's relationship with Clay (which Nic and Jules suspect might be more than friends), Joni's relationship with Paul, blossoming with someone who might be a good role model outside of the rigid life she's led so far, and finally Jules relationship with Paul after he hires her to landscape his yard.  Then the overarching story is what does it mean to be kids in a family with two moms.  Each relationship is filled with humor and drama, as all relationships can be.  I won't describe everything that happens, but will say that there aren't really any spoilers.  It's the kind of movie where the details don't actually spoil the overall story, which can only be experienced as a whole.  One of the funniest moments is when Laser walks in on his parents having sex and watching gay MALE porn.  They sit him down to talk and the only question he has is why they were watching guys.  Nic starts with it's a private thing, but Jules is more practical and says something along the lines of "Lesbian porn tends to be two straight acttresses pretending to be gay, and it's just not realistic."  This is hysterical because Nic is trying to shush Jules and Laser doesn't want that much detail, but it's also a nod to the people watching the film acknowledging that Annette Bening and Julianne Moore are not in fact gay women, but actresses pretending to be gay.  The whole movie is sophisticated enough in the dialogue and acting skills of the whole cast to be able to interact with the audience just a little bit like that.  Yes, there is some commentary on what it means to be gay, definitely lots of commentary on relationships.  When Paul turns out not be a good father figure and Joni confronts him with the simple "I wish you'd been better."  It sums up his character just about perfectly.  And he's the perfect person to play it - not too earnest, not too needy, not too cute (just right in my opinion) and not too together.  Overall, the five major players in this movie were perfectly cast and gave funny, dramatic performances.  It was the subtle differences that made you momentarily aware this was just a standard family, like when the kids would say "The moms are going to freak out" rather than Mom and Dad are going to freak out.  I think the fact that it was just so smooth made it really easy to relate to the family unit even if it's a kind of family unit with which some might not be intimately familiar.  I left loving the movie and wanting to see it again.  Easily the best movie I've seen in 2010.  I'd be surprised if this movie doesn't have some awards buzz.  5 of 5 stars/lambs

One last thing, the title is "All Right" rather than "Alright", which I think is the idea that kids are figuring things out about gay marriage, parents, relationships, etc. and that things are moving in the right direction, but that's just my own opinion. 

A Serious Man: Review

I was raised Catholic, and have a strong understanding of my own faith (if not a belief in it all). Similarly, I have a Jewish godmother, many Jewish friends, and dated a Jewish guy for a long time. So I didn't have the same problems with all the Jewish inside jokes that many reviewers seem to have had with the movie. Many assumed that if they understood all the inside references, they would have liked the movie better. I doubt it. Perhaps they were saying all the jokes in Hebrew or Yiddish, so I didn't get any of those, but I doubt that too. As a movie, it has certain good qualities, the story has many different characters that are likeable and unlikeable. I liked the antihero - Larry Gropnik, and thought the actor did a terrific job avoiding falling into the insane depths of despair his character had the right to do given the hardships he's going through. The story doesn't actually tell a very interesting story, though it has some themes that resonated with me. The story is basically, Gropnik's wife wants a divorce, his daughter's stealing from him, his son's a moron about to be bar mitzfahed, one of his student's is bribing him, one of his neighbor's a jerk, the other is a sexpot. Basically, nothing particularly original or interesting. The theme that I liked was the idea of "doing nothing". His marriage fell apart because he didn't do anything. He won't get tenure because he didn't do anything. He is slowly losing his land to his neighbor because he doesn't do anything. Basically, the movie seems to be saying that it's important to take an interest in your life and that just coasting through won't get you the life you'd like. As with most Coen Brothers movies, they don't hit you in the face with anything in particular, and this movie does very little as well. I didn't like it, and think the people who thought it was hilarious are crazy. Okay, there were a few moments when Gropnik is seeking advice from an odd assortment of rabbis that were humorous. Hardly redeeming. 2 of 5 stars/lambs
However, if you'd like to read a funny review of this movie, check out Fletch's at Blog Cabins

A Single Man: A nod to Colin Firth

I don't have a lot that I liked about the Tom Ford-directed film A Single Man, but I have to say I liked Colin Firth. He did a good job as the newly single 1960s gay professor of literature in LA by showing melancholy, terrible depression, impatience, longing, determination and of course he swam around naked (was it just me, or was that a nod to his famous scene in Pride and Prejudice?). I also liked Ginnifer Goodwin as his neighbor trying to be PC (before it was necessary and was just called manners) and Matthew Goode as his deceased partner who wanted to throw caution to the wind, but knew in the 60s that might not be the easiest thing to do. As for the things I didn't like: the affected color changes characterizing Firth's connection to another person, too much literal "swimming" through his depression, and Julianne Moore's ridiculous over-the-top character. The other thing that bothered me, particularly when someone else pointed it out was how often they told the gorgeous Colin Firth how awful he looked, when we were given no reason to think he didn't look wonderful. It is a terrific story that probably makes a very good book, but the things I liked just barely outweighed the things I didn't. 2.5 of 5 lambs/stars

Funny People...not so funny, but still good

Adam Sandler has had mixed success with his movie career. Definitely a big movie star with huge grossing movies, he's rarely taken seriously as an actor. He's tried several times to do more serious roles (Spanglish, Punch Drunk Love) with mixed reviews. My favorite movie of his is hands down 50 First Dates with Drew Barrymore. This past summer he teamed up with Judd Apatow's team to make Funny People a look at what happens when a comedian gets everything he always wanted and has no idea how to enjoy it. Then he gets sick and doesn't have anyone to help him through the problems he's facing. Then he meets Ira Weiner (Seth Rogan) and his roommates (Jonah Hill and my least favorite actor Jason Schwartzman). Seth and Jonah are comedians and he hires Seth to be his assistant. The problem is that Seth is basically a good person with morals, which Sandler seems to have lost along with any friends or family. We watch Sandler get sick, then better, and meeting up with an old love, Leslie Mann (and her kids again!) and screwing up her life. Overall, it's definitely a drama, with the career of a comedian as the back-drop to offer some comic relief. Good movie, but not great. 3 of 5 stars/lambs

Public Enemies: Review

I don't have a lot of say about the new Johnny Depp movie, Public Enemies. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't particularly exciting either. Johnny Depp expertly plays former FBI's most wanted criminal John Dillinger, who robbed banks in the midwest during the early thirties. He escaped from prison and police repeatedly, and based on a Wikipedia search, most of the movie seems remarkably accurate. As any reader of this blog will know, I enjoy learning little historical things from movies, and this movie was chock full of those. First, the FDIC was created in 1933 to protect money people put in banks, and John Dillinger started robbing banks in 1933 so even though his legend says that he gave back their money to anyone who was in the bank when he robbed it, the money was probably insured anyway. Second, the FBI had very little part in national crime solving beyond the mafia at the time, but thanks to Dillinger robbing banks in many states and confounding local law enforcement, and J. Edgar Hoover of course, the FBI's authority grew to stop interstate crime waves.

Okay, so back to the movie. Johnny Depp was terrific, both chilling and charming. He was loyal to his gang of criminals and his love, Marion Cotillard. I didn't think she had any sort of consistent southern American accent. Her acting was good, but she couldn't really escape the french accent problem to me. Also, my other gripe with the movie was the sound. They played A LOT of music in the background and I often had trouble understanding the dialogue behind the ambient noise or music. The supporting cast was good, the G-men trying to capture him, and the sets and props were awesome - it really felt very 1930s in all the costumes, hair, dialogue etc. Overall, not a bad movie, but not great either. 3 of 5 stars/lambs

Vacation catch-up: Brideshead Revisited

This is the final movie I saw on my vacation last week, and I'll start reviewing newer movies I've seen. I haven't read the book upon which Brideshead Revisited is based, nor seen the 1981 mini-series that included every detail of the book. The new movie, with Emma Thompson as the matriarch, Lady Marchmain, married to Michael Gambon's Lord Marchmain and parents of Sebastian and Julia, brings to life a very troubled family. Our main character is an observer who gets too involved. Charles Ryder (Matthew Goode), a member of the middle class in England between the wars who is accepted to a good school and meets our dear Sebastian, the younger, gay son of the Marchmains. He falls for Charles and brings him home to Brideshead, an enormous palatial estate that is the home of the Lords Marchmain. Charles is enchanted by the house, and the wealth, and especially by Sebastian's sister Julia. The whole movie is very much of the style of Merchant/Ivory productions, evenly paced, with inuendo rather than explicit descriptions of relationships. We follow Charles Ryder as he makes a career and name for himself as an artist, tries to rescue Sebastian from his own destruction, and then try to create a life with Julia. We can never quite understand all of Charles' motivations. Does he actually love Sebastian or Julia or just Brideshead and the wealth? It's a very good movie if the genre and style appeal to you. 3.5 Lambs/Stars

Seven Pounds review

Ruining the plot of Seven Pounds wouldn't be fair, so this will be a short review. It's a sad movie, which I'm sure you can guess from the previews and yes it contains a love story (Rosario Dawson is good at being sick). Will Smith is terrific. He plays an IRS agent, and puts on the happiest, trustworthy face when he arrives to "audit" people, and yet his inner struggle pervades the rest of the film. It's beautiful, but by showing the different pieces out of order, it takes a long time to understand the mystery and my mom and I were discussing it in the car afterward trying to clarify all the pieces we didn't quite understand. Barry Pepper has a small role as Will's friend and attorney and is the only person who actually understands the whole movie, and his emotion made me cry. Good movie, probably best on DVD. 3 Stars/Lambs

The Secret Life of Bees

There are many, many books that have become movies, and some books that have become plays, and even some movies that have becomes plays and plays become movies, but The Secret Life of Bees is the only story I know that I first read the book, saw it performed as a one-woman play, and now have seen the movie. I'm also happy to say that the story holds up to the various media. Lily Owes (Dakota Fanning) lost her mother as a child and now lives with her father, T-Ray (Paul Bettany in a scary yet sympathetic role) on a peach farm in South Carolina during the 1960s. President Johnson has just signed the Civil Rights act, and Lily's housekeeper, Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson, proving she deserved her Supporting Actress Oscar) is going to register to vote. She runs into racists idiots who won't let her register and beat her up. This is the impetus Lily needs to run away, helping Rosaleen escape the hospital and heading to Tiburon, SC. Lily has just a few items from her mother, an image of a black virgin Mary, white kid gloves, and a photo. It's the Mary that sends her to Tiberon where she finds the Mary as the label for a brand of honey. This brings her to the pepto-bismol pink home of the Boatwrights, August (Queen Latifah), June (Alicia Keys) and May (Sophie Okonedo). Lily lies about why they are in Tiberon, but the Boatwrights take them in and teach Lily about beekeeping and Rosaleen helps May in the kitchen. There are quirks about each of the women, and the story resolves itself with the sad conflicts you might expect in a story about black women in South Carolina in the '60s. Overall, I really liked the movie, but found that without the tidbits about bees and beekeeping the book weaves through, the story is mostly sad. 3 stars/Lambs. In case you've missed the trailers, books, or plays, here's the trailer to remind you.

W. Reliving the present

Oliver Stone's new movie W. probably won't win any awards (though a nomination for Josh Brolin wouldn't be out of place), and it probably won't change anyone's mind about our out-going President, but it did remind me that we should make a bigger fuss about who surrounds our President, who the advisers are should make almost as big a difference to the American people as the President himself. W. runs along two time periods. The first follows George W. Bush from his early days at Yale, through several jobs, drinking, meeting Laura, working for his dad's election campaign, to running a baseball team in Texas and finally becoming Governor of Texas. The second timeline follows President George W. Bush through his decisions following 9/11 and going to war in Iraq. You see all the people who advised him, most played by terrific actors who gave solid performances that emulated real people, rather than tried to map them exactly. The lone caricature was Thandie Newton's performance of Condalezza Rice, it was much more of a mockery than any of the other performances (including staunch democrat Richard Dreyfus playing VP Dick Cheney). The movie itself isn't anything like a mockery. It feels at times critical of the topic, but at others sympathetic. I don't know how much of the dialogue came from first-hand accounts or reports (since the President's day is mapped to the minute, it wouldn't be hard to verify certain meetings, but actual conversations probably not), but all the conversations map carefully to what actually happened later and who towed the line after actions were carried out. I would love to find out any argument the actual people had with the movie. The main theme carrying through the whole movie, which may be more or less true is George W. Bush's attempt to please his father and gain his respect. That was the only storyline that seems to be based on innuendo and assumption, rather than known fights or disagreements. Overall, I really liked it, both as a story told well, and a movie creatively put together. Rarely do I notice a movie's lighting scheme, but the lighting in the situation room, and in most of the White House scenes was always just a little dark and treacherous seeming, creating a mood. Ranked 4 of 5 LAMB/stars.

I just read the Mahnola Dargis review of the film in the NYTimes on October 17, and I loved this line, it does describe the overall feel of the film: "History is said to repeat itself as tragedy and farce, but here it registers as a full-blown burlesque."

TV season start up week

Many of the TV shows premiered this week and there's a noticeable lack of new shows so far. The returning shows were split in their quality. How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, House, and Grey's Anatomy all returned with excellent premieres. Good fun, excellent stories, and continued quality. Two and a half men, CSI: Miami, and Ugly Betty were all disappointing. Bones started out really disappointing (the whole British story was dumb) but has really picked up . And there have been two new shows that have good pilots and have promising plots - Fringe and The Mentalist. Fringe I already wrote about, and it's gotten better since. It's definitely the worthy successor to The X-files, but it's funnier and by being a little silly is easier to believe their unbelievable stories. The other new show, The Mentalist is a drama, the story of a former fake psychic (like Psych) who goes to work for the cops after a serial killer takes his family for using him as a publicity stunt. Our cop (Something New's Simon Baker) can look at all the things in a family's house and figure out who killed the victim. He's funny, irreverent, and almost the cliche for cop dramas, but still pretty good. Robin Tunney also adds a little bit of the straight man to his loose cannon. We'll keep watching for a bit. Haven't seen Heroes yet, but I'm very hopeful.

Addendum: Oh yeah, I also watched and loved The Office and ER (yes, I'm still watching - I took a break for about 6 years, but I've been watching for a few seasons now). Both had really terrific season openers. Surprising, satisfying, and made me cry.