Burlesque

The plot is pretty transparent, the jokes are fairly obvious, and if I said the words "the club is in financial trouble", you can most likely guess the majority of rest of the movie.

Vocally, Christina Aguilera and Cher both have amazing voices. But does every song they sing have to be a power-ballad with all those full-out wails and cadenzas? Enough, already!  I understand she's passionate about what she's singing. That's fine. But don't beat me over the head with it. Those songs and vocal gymnastics lose their dramatic power when they're all we ever get to hear.

Oh, and as for the final number… THAT was the song that took so long for the hero to write??? THAT was the song that was so deeply personal that he couldn't share it with anyone until he felt it was perfect???

If you're going to see this movie, just enjoy it for what it is. Don't expect a piece of masterful cinema, don't take it too seriously. Enjoy the music, enjoy the plot for the fluff it is, and if you're a guy seeing it with your wife/girlfriend, enjoy the scantily-clad women.

Black Swan

With Aronofsky (Pi, Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler), you know going in that you are going to get something gritty, raw, and real. You know that, even if it's good, it's going to be hard to process. But when he gets a hold of something, really gets a hold of it, you won't be able to look away, no matter how hard it is to watch. 

"Black Swan" is no exception. In many ways this is the most Aronofsky of his films. His style is spot on and works exquisitely with the world he is presenting. It's surprising because he normally shows the dirty, gritty, and ugly places; where as everything in this film is clean and polished. But don't let that fool you; he saved the dirt and grit for the characters.

Natalie Portman as Nina was incredible. Her transformation through the movie is disturbing and very intense, and Portman handles it incredibly well. She plays a very flawed character, making the role even tougher. Nina is not the greatest ballet dancer in the world by any stretch of the imagination. She has all the technique and is in fact a master at it, yet it is her emotion that she has the problem with. Portman almost had to act her character poorly to capture the multiple layers correctly. The unfitting facial expressions and awkward movements are part of the character of Nina, and Portman somehow makes it all work to a great advantage that makes the film even more fascinating.

The rest of the cast is incredible as well. Mila Kunis takes on a much more serious and more complex role than she is used to. Her character has very many layers, and doesn't fit into one specific archetype, mainly for reasons that would spoil the movie. Vincent Cassel is the sleazy and inappropriate director of this ballet production. He is the driving force behind much of the tragedy of the film, and he is a character you love to hate.

Not everyone will love this movie, actually most people will probably dislike it. 

Movie: A Nightmare on Elm Street

This was never posted about a week before Halloween...

So with Halloween just around the corner we rented A Nightmare on Elm Street and invited a bunch of friends over for a late, late night movie night.

There was a much richer mysterious element to the original film and to my surprise, much more creative. I thought the kills and nightmare sequences would be vastly improved upon, but alas, gigabytes, green screens and CGI can not compete with hands-on creativity.  

You know you have problems when Freddy is revealed five minutes into the film. Not in a silhouette, but in full make-up. Right away we know the writers aren't looking to create suspense. That's what made the first one work. It's never a mystery as to who or what Freddy is. Granted, with all his popularity, it might seem pointless to keep him hidden, but it would've made his character a hell of a lot scarier.

Movie: Life as We Know It.

There is a fairly standard template for the romantic comedy: we are introduced to a couple who appear to be chalk and cheese although we have an inkling that they are ideally suited to each other: they are thrown together by virtue of a maguffin: in the course of resolving the maguffin they discover love for each other: a last minute plot wrinkle drives them apart: various manoeuverings bring them back together, albeit not without an element of panic.

Although the movie storyline and ending are predictable, I felt myself getting caught up in the characters and story in spite of the predictability. I laughed, I cried, I wanted more. The situation at hand was of two opposite people that have nothing in common; are abruptly placed as the legal guardians of their friends child, after the couple perish in an automobile accident. You've seen this type of film too many times, like Three Men and a Baby(1987), and Raising Helen(2004), people living the good life, forced to it on hold, when a child has to come live with them, and there not ready to be parents, you get the drift.

Everybody knows the two main characters will eventually fall in love...that is obvious...it's the ride getting there that is funny, delightful, and very touching at moments.