Rachel Getting Married

This is really one of the brightest spots of this season. This is a terrific film and Jonathan Demme really smacks one out of the park. I really believe that this film can compete for best film of the year. This film is about family, its relationships and the "flaws" that challenge those bonds, while making them more real. I have so much to say about this film that i cant find the words. Anne Hathaway is a revelation and should have won more best actress this season. She is astounding. This is the type of film that i love and admire because it doesnt push us any way and it doesnt conform to anything. I believe this family and the actors that portray them. I really believe this film and in my eyes, that is an outstanding and very important complement. Rosemarie DeWitt and Debra Winger are great and the script by Jenny Lumet may be the best of the year. This film joins The Wrestler and Doubt as my top 3 of this season, so far.

Grade: A

Milk

This is another great film of 2008. Gus Van Sant really knows how to handle his subject matter. I did feel that it felt like a biopic. The most intriguing character of this film is Dan White played by Josh Brolin. It is quite a condrary and it was interesting how the audience is so perplexed and so unaware of himself. I think that it will have to take me a while to really understand this character and Brolin's interpretation. Sean Penn is miraculous, powerful and everything else Penn usually is. I definately think that this film needs a second viewing. This film is really about fighting the small battles because the big battles can sometimes bury you away. It is hard to really analyze this film because it seems like a prototypical biopic, which i didnt really expect and in some points, underappreciate. Great work by everyone involved.

Grade: A-

Doubt

This is a great, great film which deals with many themes of values and morality and love and obiously;Doubt. JP Shanley really seems to connect with his subject matter and knows how to balance what to tell the audience and what not to tell. It is about the safety of knowing and the safety of doubting. Amy Adams is wonderful as the nun who doesnt seem to know what is going on(someone who is easily maniplated and very naive about people's intentions). Philip Seymour Hoffman plays the role perfectly, as a priest who seemingly confuses love with control. Meryl Streep's character is the most doubtful person in the film and she seems to have her head attached to her shoulders. Viola Davis is doubtless and afraid to doubt or to "care" as she has no power whatsoever. I want to emphasize that this is one of the best films that i've seen this year, joining The Wrestler, Slumdog Millionaire and The Visitor as my top's so far. I am angry that this film didnt get a best picture nomination because it deserved it. Officially, this film is number two behind The Wrestler and ahead of Slumdog Millionaire so far this season. Great, amazing, complete. Thanks to John Patrick Shanley. This is the best acted film in a while.

Grade: A

Revolutionary Road

This was a dissapointment. I do not feel that this was succesful at all. This was too much of a melodrama without a point. It's scene after scene of a broken marriage, an angered, bored coupled screaming and tearing the walls of their home. The point is that the audience should not care. This is a story that could have been told in a spanish soap opera. The acting is good at points and they seem to make the best out of it. Is it crazy to think of a different life, or is it just as crazy to care? This is a bust, in my opinion.

Grade: C-