Who Loves the Sun

This is a good enough film here by Matt Bissonnette. A good cast led by Molly Parker, Lukas Haas and an underrated Adam Scott give this film some life. I thought that the plot shift at the end(with the revlation of a past love affair turned into pregnancy) was not executed well, but i thought that the cast saved it at times. It's nothing to write home about, but it did have some good moments.

Grade: C+

Eastern Promises

Eastern Promises is a well-crafted exhibit of the Russian mob world. Director David Cronenberg shows once again, his great talent in this "genre" of film. The film stars Viggo Mortensen and Naomi Watts in a very bizarre tale of events set in Russian-Community London. The film battles communal pride, motherly instinct and the "information-gathering" similar to last year's The Departed and my grade for both films are similar. I do feel that this film has some weakness: Why would the two co-stars kiss at the end. That boggled me. It didnt work for me. The film however creates a great pace and is edited very, very well. Viggo Mortensen shines as an informant-undertaker-chauffeur with a very mysterious tone. His performance is the best part of the film. A very good work here by returning duo, Mortensen and Cronenberg, which has created its own style of film. Other than a few odd choices, i thought the filmmakers did a magnificent job. I wanted a different ending. I never felt forced during the film, which is a great credit to the film. I would rate this movie with a similar grade to "A Mighty Heart" and "Zodiac" and a little bit behind "Into the Wild", "American Gangster", "Once" and "La Vie en Rose" as my best so far this year.

Grade: A-/B+

Once

Once is a marvel and a truly great modern piece of work by writer-director John Carney. The film is a story of a street performer(singer and guitarist), played by Glen Hansard and his newfound friend and piano player, played by Marketa Irglova. This is a very simple story of two people meeting and forming a relationship, but the heart of this story is the beautiful passion of the music. One of the best scenes this year is when the band is recording a song and the passion of these performers is as intense as can be filmed. The film makes the audience feel like these two people will fall in love and romance will ensue but instead they help each other find their way with different people. This is a truly great relationship because its not exaggerated or pampered. It is an organic relationship which an audience can clearly understand. The performances by Hansard and Irglova are simply spectacular and John Carney has really made his mark in this originally crafted modern day musical. This is one of my favorite films so far this year.

Grade: A-

Oscar Nominations 12/21

Best Picture
*The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
*Into the Wild
*Juno
*No Country For Old Men
*There Will Be Blood

Best Director
*Paul Thomas Anderson, “There Will Be Blood”
*Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, “No Country For Old Men”
*Sean Penn, “Into the Wild”
*Jason Reitman, “Juno”
*Julian Schnabel, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”

Best Actor
*George Clooney, “Michael Clayton”
*Daniel Day-Lewis, “There Will Be Blood”
*Johnny Depp, “Sweeney Todd”
*Emile Hirsch, “Into the Wild”
*Denzel Washington, “American Gangster”

Best Actress
*Julie Christie, “Away From Her”
*Marion Cotillard, “La Vie en Rose”
*Angelina Jolie, “A Mighty Heart”
*Laura Linney, “The Savages”
*Ellen Page, “Juno”

Best Supporting Actor
*Casey Affleck, “Assassination of Jesse James”
*Javier Bardem, “No Country For Old Men”
*Hal Holbrook, “Into the Wild”
*Philip Seymour Hoffman, “Charlie Wilson’s War”
*Tom Wilkinson, “Michael Clayton”

Best Supporting Actress
*Cate Blanchett, “I’m Not There”
*Ruby Dee, “American Gangster”
*Catherine Keener, “Into the Wild”
*Saiorse Ronan, “Atonement”
*Amy Ryan, “Gone Baby Gone”

Interview

Interview is a very interesting film by Steve Buscemi. Buscemi and Sienna Miller really work well in this story of a slightly unfortunate journalist and his interviewee, a "snobbish", yet clever and sly, "actress". Buscemi's character goes into a worlwind of personal chaos to get a story from this beautiful actress, but he gets taken and fascinated and worried about this poor "actress" who treats this interviewer as a character in one of her terrible movies. This film, directed by Steve Buscemi is anything but terrible. It is a very good piece of narrative and acting, which clearly shows the merit of both Miller and Buscemi. I enjoyed it. Interview and Lonesome Jim have been good indie works by Buscemi.

Grade: B+

Death Proof

Girls Kick Ass! And so does Quentin Tarrantino, who is one of the greatest filmmakers of our current generation. He rewrites film history once again here, in true Tarrantino-esque style. This film really satirizes, yet embraces genre, in the best way possible. This is one of the most original pieces of this year. Tarrantino knows his audience, but he will now get even more female lovers, as he might have changed femininity in film forever. What a talent.

Grade: B+

Evening

Evening does a lot of good things but i wasn't too impressed with this film. Claire Danes looked in unfamiliar territories and i kept of felt forced to feel in too many occasions. It felt like they were trying to get us sad and weepy but i didn't feel anything. The best part of the film for me was Hugh Dancy's effort as a man wanting love. It was a character very different than everyone else, as he was flawed and humane. A huge cast with Danes, Streep, Collette, Redgrave and company didn't connect as well as i though. Dancy and Collette were the best in this film.

Grade: C+

The Namesake

This is a mediocre film with some bright spots but the film fails in many aspects. Their are some very awkward moments, which could have made it a real bust but some scenes really capture Indian American culture very well and Irfan Khan does good work here. The result is a decent attempt, which ultimately fails. It is trying to do too much here. Kal Penn shows some real weakness here.

Grade: C+