Rock of Ages (2012) Review

Credit: Rotten Tomatoes

Rock of Ages is a messy through-washed affair that has moments of painful cheesiness and glory in such close proximity to one

another that it's hard to take it all in with a straight face. In other words, it's an interesting film to write about.

The film's reason for existing --telling an extremely formulaic love story sprawled among random 80s
power ballads -- seems so tenuous that it makes complete sense that it's adapted from a Broadway
musical where formulaic love and carefully curated songs are more suited to live stage.

Julianne Hough plays ingenue Sherri, who’s fresh off the bus from Tulsa although she's hoping to be a
singer rather than an actress. She arrives at a concert venue on the Sunset Strip that's supposedly
legendary (sorry, this reviewer is a little less hip to 80s music outside popular car commercials and karaoke bars) where she quickly meets her rocker love interest Drew (Diego Boneta). While neither of the two leads are
particularly interesting, but it helps they are surrounded by such a cleverly assembled cast.  

Tom Cruise takes a break from his day job as a stunt man on film to act the hell out of his role as aging
rock God, Stacee Jaxx (that name alone should qualify the screenplay for awards buzz) whose big gig
at the venue could make or break them. Jaxx leans into every stereotype imaginable but displays a
self-consciousness that makes the dialogue crackle when a particularly alluring reporter (Malin
Ackerman) challenges him out of his comfort zone (leading to an extremely hot romance). Screen siren
Catherine Zeta-Jones goes against type as a pent-up politician Patricia acting as rock and roll morality
police. Alec Baldwin (perhaps the only unwise casting decision considering he’s such a good fit as
polished authority figures that it takes a lot to shake that image) plays shaggy-haired club owner
Dennis Dupree with Russell Brand finding his niche as Dennis’s side kick. 

The plot is a lot like the 90s cult classic “Empire Records” whereas there’s a really fun and happening
place that represents the purity of music and all that on one side, and there’s “the man” that wants to
get in the way of all the good fun. The creditors (the actual antagonists in the stage version, here they’re
off-screen) are closing in on the club, a greedy manager (Paul Giamatti) reneges on the proceeds, and
Patricia wants to run a moral crusade against the evils of rock and roll (I imagine this is a crusade that might have worked

around the time of “The Music Man” but the choreography is up to par on "Hit me with Your Best Shot" so I can run with it). 

“Rock of Ages” is populated with a hodgepodge of musical numbers from various 80s ballads. Some are
simply sung by characters walking down the street while a handful (particularly Jefferson Starship’s ”Any
Way You Want It” and Pat Benatar’s “Hit Me With Your Best Shot”) are elaborately choreographed show
stoppers. Director Adam Shankman was able to work some magic with “Hairspray” and does the same
thing here.

Like “Empire Records”, this is a great hang-out movie that drips with a powerful nostalgia. Most people
watching the film won’t be able to relate to the vibe of Los Angeles’s Sunset Strip in its heyday that
inspired the play’s creator. However, most of us have that special hangout of our youth that the film taps

into. With the aging Dennis and Stacee characters finding space in the fictitious realm, the film sends

the affirming message that youth isn’t always wasted on the young.

Like a power ballad, this is a film that rides on raw emotion. It’s a little spotty and non-sensical but it ends
on a clear high. 

Lasse Hallstrom marginally clears the mediocrity bar with Salmon Fishing in Yemen (2012)

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It would be a little harsh to label Lasse Hallstrom the paragon of Oscarbait mediocrity but he's not too far off. His films often are overconfident in their ability to turn a hooky premise -- a free-spirited woman introducing chocolate to a repressed town, a drifter caring for a mentally ill brother, an engineer moving salmon to the desert, a young man raised by an abortion wizard -- into an uplifting narrative. With the exception of Cider Housr Rules, where all the elements came together to make a very solid film, a lot of his films feel overmanufacutred on sentimentality and manipulative with the musical score.

Salmon Fishing in Yemen is not as bad as the most saccharine of the director's offerings at its most predictable moments and its surprisingly pleasant on the whole.

Ewan McGregor plays a doctor, Alfred Jones, who is recruited by a shiekh's emissary (Emily Blunt) for a ridiculous task and McGregor is firmly against the idea. Blunt's character, Hillary, is a woman who comes prepared with the art of persuasion and she slowly wears him down. It's the kind of initial resistance one would see in a screw ball comedy but a nice feature of the film's first act is that Dr. Jones is firmly in the category of married man at the start of the film. It's a purely professional banter and it's a chemistry between two strong personalities that keeps the film interesting.

The film has some major twists in terms of the wants and needs of each of the two characters towards one another. Hillary deals with a tragedy and the film almost gets tonally jarring to the point of distraction but, with the exception of one scene (which carelessly throws around a possible mental illness on the part of Jones), it maintains course.

As the two begin to move past a relationship of colleaguedom and develop romantic feelings for each other, the film takes a slow pace with a development that feels organic. 

With such a strong relationship between the leads, the background can feel superfluous and it doesn't help that little of it is well-developed. There's a terrorist plot that's laughably underdeveloped and a Sheikh character (Amr Waked) who doesn't register on the whole. At least Kristin Scott Thomas makes a strong impression as a foil of sorts who's fast on her feet (although I honestly didn't understand the details of her plot on first viewing).

On the whole, McGregor and Blunt transcend the material and make this one of Hallstrom's  better outings.

2012 Films Ive Seen Ranked from Best to Worst

1. Dark Knight Rises-I had the reaction to it that many people had with Nolan's first two films: profound, definitive for the superhero genre, a story with great dramatic weight, add whatever other superlatives you want. I felt Batman Begins had too much exposition and Dark Knight was too focused on making its villain as grotesque as possible while Dark Knight Rises was primarily about its story.
2. Argo-Not much to say here that hasn't already been said. It's a very solid film that evoked a similar feeling of greatness as the Flight and Dark Knight Rises. It felt slightly less profound than Dark Knight Rises and slightly more broad than Flight.
3. Flight-One great crash scene, a great use of Denzel Washington's star power, and a great balancing out of two or three different story lines that draw from the best of different genres (i.e. disaster films, courtroom films, films with alcoholic characters).
4. Silver Linings Playbook-There were a few moments that didn't work emotionally (Robert DeNiro trying to be sappy comes to mind) that could easily have been discarded, but much of the film worked and the acting by the leads was phenomenal. The film was brave in showing characters who were really mentally ill.
5. Les Miserables-A grand spectacle but didn't have as coherent of a narrative as the top four entries. Hugh Jackman was a big highlight
6. Prometheus-A pretty squicky (read: nausea-inducing) film but one with an immensely imaginative vision and completely immersive narrative. It was also a film that can be described as highly intellectual.
7. Hyde Park on Hudson-Dare I say better than the Kings Speech? Its a quieter film but had quite a bit to say about politics and the illusions of power between all the subtleties. Plus, I've never seen a film that made polyamory seem so wholesomely American.
8. Wreck it Ralph-A film that's a lot of fun for anyone who grew up in the age of Nintendo. The film feels like it takes you deep into a wondrous world because it worked out its infrastructure and plot holes well. Great casting choices and chemistry between the characters.
9. Best Exotic Marigold Hotel-Slightly less memorable than on first viewing, I felt the Altmanesque story structure worked which is a hard task to pull off. Stories like this are often disjointed. The film nicely gave some of its characters a happy ending while leaving others hanging but apologetically gave the Dev Patel character a magical happy ending that felt a little Bollywood to me.
10. Robot and Frank-Not all films about the dangers of robots have to be dystopian sci-fi films. This one feels more like the kind of broody character piece you'd see at Sundance and that's a refreshing twist on the genre. Frank Langella is wonderful and Susan Sarandon shows she should be in more supporting parts. The hipster in charge of revamping the library makes for a great villain. Might have ranked higher if a better actor was cast in place of James Marsden
11. Quartet-Billy Connelly's character doesn't exactly fit but Maggie Smith, Pauline Collins, Sheridan Smith and Tom Courtenay are all terrific. The film can be a bit schmaltzy and sensationalistic but the overall sentiment and its anti-ageist credo are not lost. It's a film that takes us into another fascinating world but not all corners of that world are properly fleshed out.
12. Pirates Band of Misfits-This animated entry had the sort of fun spirit and inventiveness that work well for this genre. With Queen Victoria, the archetypal 19th century pirate, and Charles Darwin all fair play for reimagining (I don't think Queen Victoria was a supreme martial artist though I might be mistaken), there was a playful sense of fun in these historical archetypes. Good pacing as well.
13. Zero Dark Thirty-Less exciting than 80% of the episodes of Homeland. That's the consequence of the Golden Age of TV for you. The final scenes of the raid and the closing shot of Maya's short-lived catharsis before looking to the next challenge were highlights.
14. Pitch Perfect-Anna Kendrick probably shouldn't have done a film like this but she did and elevated the material significantly (and she now has a single that's topping the itunes charts). It successfully immerses the viewer into an interesting subculture, is written with a great sprinkling of humor (a 30 Rock writer penned the script), has great music and a pretty good collection of cast members.
15. Dictator-A great comedic effort on par with Baron Cohen's other comedic works that was still risky without the unpleasant byproduct of knowing that innocent people (who gave up their privacy by signing a misleading waiver) were hurt. I think it says more about our society's voyeuristic tastes that the film didn't come close to the general buzz of Baron Cohen's other efforts.
16. Compliance-Haunting and effective. A little sparser and less cinematic than it should've been. In other words, would it not have made a better play?
17. Paperboy-I read the book and saw the film and thought some good and bad choices were made Director Lee Daniels. At the end of the day, it was an interesting story and its a credit to the acting that these seemingly baffling choices weren't godawful. Nicole Kidman was the biggest snub of the year. 
18. Casa de mi Padre-A noble experiment that had its moments. Didn't take full comedic advantage of its premise leading to the humor not resonating 100% but Ferrell and crew went all out on replicating the world they were parodying.
19. Safety Not Guaranteed-A winningly clever film knocked down a couple pegs by two elements that rubbed me the wrong way: The unnecessary and implausible romantic pairing of two characters and the painting of Jake Johnson's character as more of a jerk than Johnson projects. Other than that, much to like about the film as an inventive indie film.
20. Beasts of the Southern Wild-Yes it's highly imaginative but kind of slow and the dad character is awfully hard to like. I ultimately did come around to appreciating Dwight Henry's character as a tough-love dad and applaud the performance but why did the film make it so hard. 
21. The Master-The film had some great performances and a few scenes that resonates but did the film really have anything important to say? It rode high in critical appreciation on the backs of Paul Thomas Anderson and the love for Phil Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams so I know I'm in the minority but I'm struck more by the anticlimactic ending.
22. Men in Black 3-Looking back, I don't think I've ever been in love with the Men in Black franchise. I've watched all three simply because of a fondness for Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith. The second installment was the one that had the best flow and comic rhythm. This one had a few more bumps and an immensely complex plot (for a series that's not supposed to take itself seriously) but was still enjoyable nonetheless.
24. Trouble with the Curve-It's an adequate popcorn film that alternates between moments that are slightly cheesy and high notes that are genuinely earned. Timberlake gives the first performance I can genuinely see him as an actor in, Amy Adams is great as always although Clint Eastwood's performance seems like a Gran Torino imitation. The main reason it's ranked so low is that the entire premise is just dumb: A man who looks well past retirement age and losing his sight is protesting retirement?
23. Hunger Games-Gary Ross is a great director, but I don't think he gave the film that much of an auteur stamp. It was pretty simply a by-the-numbers adaptation with a few small upgrades: The map room and the fireballs were both pretty impressive, for example. Still, even megastar casting moves like Jennifer Lawrence, Lenny Kravitz, and whatever semi-random hunk of the year they get to play the love interest isn't enough incentive to advise someone to just read the book instead.
25. Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter-Wasn't a disappointment in relation to my expectations. The special effects were pretty up there (even when compared to your average $200 million dollar budget film) and the performances of the supporting actors (Anthony Mackie, Jimmi Simpson, Alan Tyduk) were strong (although those three rarely disappoint). 
26. Bernie-It wasn't necessarily a flawed film and it stayed faithful to the story it was based on. I would simply argue that neither the story nor the lead character (though quite endearing) were never that interesting. In addition, it's a film heavy on a sense of place and I never quite fell in love with Carthage, Texas.
27. The Impossible-On the upside, the film set likely beat Titanic out for most gallons of water taken from the public reservoir for use on a movie set. We can also point to Naomi Watts' Oscar nomination but she is pretty much Oscar-worthy in everything she does. For a film that was about arguably the biggest natural disaster of my lifetime, I found it surprising that the film was devoid of any interpersonal conflict nor did I find very much of an intriguing man vs. the elements through-line like Cast Away or Alive.
28. Seven Psychopaths-A Martin McDonagh shoot-em-up film with a gimmick that I don't even think Martin McDonagh took very seriously. It had some nice moments but I don't think it came off as much of a clever twist of the genre as it meant to be. The end result was less entertaining than a straight-up version of the genre that had a better sense of what it was.
29. Madagascar 3-I enjoyed the first two for their clever humor and interplay between the well-developed characters but this one seemed haphazard and even illogical (a tiger fitting inside a wedding ring? the quartet of zoo animals swimming to Europe from Africa?) by the standards of a cartoon. The set pieces (particularly Monte Carlo) were uneven, the additional characters took away from the interplay of the original quartet, the villainous zookeeper was treated kind of ridiculously and the film felt rushed.
30. Struck by Lightning-Chris Coffer has veered away from his flamboyant diva character on "Glee" (although he admittedly got more likable in later seasons) to an ungrateful brat. How is this considered a good career move? The film lacked enough of a positive pole to counterbalance it's depressing aura. I believe Chris Coffer is talented but it wasn't the right vehicle for him, even if he wrote it.
31. Ted-I was hoping for Seth McFarlane to make a great transition to movies and I'm happy others liked it but I found the film highly disappointing, juvenile and somewhat of a cop out at the end. Mark Wahlberg still gets massive points for bravery with this role.

Capsule reviews of 2012 films: Pitch Perfect, Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Dark Knight Rises, Trouble with the Curve

Pitch Perfect
Pitch Perfect is a surprisingly fun film that goes about as emotionally deep as it needs to without getting overly mushy. The storyline is of a reluctant college student (Anna Kendrick) who learns to open herself up more to people and possibilities through joining an a capella group. Anna Kendrick, who's been nominated for an Academy Award, is probably too good for a film like this, but thank God the producers were able to get her because she gives her all and elevates the film significantly.

The film, adapted from a book wherein the author spent significant amount of time with 3 college a capella groups, delves deep into the a capella world and it's clear that the filmmakers have done their research and this sets this film apart from the typical coming-of-age college film as we're taken deep into the world of this subculture. The music itself is also very entertaining..

Although there's a sort of love-hate romance (wherein the boy's primary method of winning over the girl is annoying her to death), the film is all about girl power and how this loner learns to bond with other females for the first time and (excuse the pun) make beautiful music.

With Rebel Wilson, Brittany Snow, Skylar Astin, Adam Driver, Anna Camp, and Rebel Wilson, the supporting cast has a great chemistry despite the fact that it's difficult to believe some of these people are 18-22 years old (Anna Camp and Rebel Wilson in particular)

The film's screenplay is by Kay Canon (who has written for 30 Rock and is well-known in comedy circles) and while there are some laughs, it's not primarily a comedy. It IS a fun film.

Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

An Altmanesque ensemble piece exploring old age, wistfully weaving in and out of several story lines fluidly. The story centers around seven random British retirees (all feeling various stages of incompleteness with their situations) who get lured by an ad to spend their retirement in a hotel that's not as glamorous as advertised.

Tom Wilkinson shines as Graham: a gay man who grew up in the days of the Empire in India before moving to India. It's true what they say: Bonus points on your acting resume for going gay. Graham's storyline, involving reconnecting with his homeland and a lost lover lies at the heart of the story.

Elsewhere, we have a couple horny seniors looking for love for different reasons (one to feel young, one for financial security), a woman recovering from surgery (Maggie Smith), a hypochondriac, a marriage in flux, and a newly widowed woman taking her first job (Judi Dench). Each of these story lines all provide relatively satisfying layers of richness. 

Trouble with the Curve
An aging scout who looks like Clint Eastwood (who in real life, by the way, is over 80) is being pushed out of his job (hello, it's called retirement) and adopts an attitude of spunky rebelliousness, when in fact he can't do the job anyways because he's losing his vision. A movie premise based on a plot hole a mile wide is on some shaky ground to begin with. It doesn't help matters that every person who disagrees with him about retirement conveniently turns out to be an incompetent a-hole.

The film still has some nice moments and takes us moderately deeply into the universe of baseball scouting and going somewhere new is always interesting. At the same time, a more realistic film might have made us feel like we were actually experiencing the life of a baseball scout.

The film's other strong points are Amy Adams and Justin Timberlake. As someone who is not in the camp that Timberlake has previously displayed any acting skills, this is Timberlake's first role in which he could legitimately be called an actor. Amy Adams, who is always wonderful, showed here that she can actually be sexy on screen on top of all the other great character beats she bought with the character.

Dark Knight Rises
The Dark Knight Rises was the pivotal success of Batman if you consider that Batman Begins had too much exposition and Dark Knight was so focused on the Joker and his omnipotent brand of evil, that it made for more of a horror story than an event film. The Dark Knight Rises really was the optimal blend of ingredients that one would come to expect in a Nolan film. Like Inception and Prestige, it was an epic story with twists that unraveled satisfyingly. More importantly, the film really was about Batman which is a hard chore considering he is usually always upstaged by more interesting and colorful visions in pretty much every auteur's vision of Gotham city.

The story lines are and expertly juggled and the production quality is top notch. It's also fair to say that the emotional content of a Batman film has never resonated so well with me and I even found it more realistic (and slightly amusing) that the facade of Batman wasn't kept sacred and pretty much every character just said "screw it, he's Bruce Wayne." 

Safety Not Guaranteed: An ill-fitted romance for the ages

Hollywood  has come a long way in breaking from the molds of the storytelling conventions strictly imposed upon them in the Golden Age.

You would think that with all the diverse possibilities of  stories to tell, just a few less movies out there would be obliged to go the romantic route between its two main characters. As Todd van der Werff pointed out in this article making the case for more friendships and less romances on TV:

"The world isn’t full of potential romantic partners who constantly dance around each other; it’s full of men and women who navigate complicated friendships and find their way to happiness within those friendships."

If films are to be accurate portrayals of the different colors of life, filmdom collectively has to consider different endings to their stories. More to the point, film's lose a sense of being unpredictable if every time a man and woman make googly eyes at each other, we know where it's heading.

Case in point: Safety Not Guaranteed.

The film, about a trio of journalists who track down a store clerk who thinks he can time travel, had the makings of a good story and was without a doubt a unique tale.

It's an independent film so I would have thought that these guys had more leeway to be unconventional which is why I was baffled that they sealed off their story with a conventional romantic ending that I don't really think was organic of the relationship between the two main characters on screen.

Aubrey Plaza's Darius (why do all quirky indie movies have to give their female characters male names?) and Mark Duplass's Kenneth seemed to me to be people with holes too big to just dive into a relationship right away. Moreover, I think the film would have been just as emotionally satisfying if the two arrived at a point where Darius understood Kenneth as that would have been a long journey as is.

Despite that, the film was punctuated with an effectively pleasant aura, the movie was interesting and there's a lot to say about building a story around a "red herring" that undoubtedly works.

2012 Animation Round-Up: Madagascar III, Wreck-It-Ralph and Internal Consistency

I know it sounds silly to say I want more realism from a film about four talking zoo animals, but Madagascar III was so far removed from any sense of internal logic or consistency that it was just plain stupid.

One might think that internal logic might not matter in a cartoon like the Madagascar series but the first Madagascar was charming because it treated hypothetical questions realistically. A thoughtfully built-out isn't trivial: It's what separates a Saturday Morning Cartoon from a smart animated film that appeals to an adult. Case in point: In the animated X-Men series, Rogue would fly and punch through walls. In The Incredibles, Mr. Incredible would have to deal with a potential lawsuit whenever he punched a wall and his superfast son has to deal with making for an even playing field when he participates in the school track team.

Very little about the first Madagascar falls out of line with reality. They even go so far as to explain why the animals can't talk: When the quartet is nearly apprehended at Grand Central Station and Alex (the lion) tries to reason with the crowd but his speaking comes out as roaring. Likewise, if we could hear the internal monologue of a lion, it would likely be a diva from all the attention it was getting. Similarly, a giraffe would naturally feel awkward and a little scared of the world with his head dangling high above the ground on top of a very thin neck. I'm not sure why a zebra would be so Chris Rockish but what matters is he's consistently Chris Rockish. This all serves the film's fish-out-of-water angle well because when they get stranded in Madagascar and they see their new environment as zoo animals would. 

The third Madagascar got so ridiculous, I eventually tuned its attempts at making sense  like white noise" We have the animals deciding to swim halfway across the planet, a tiger who can jump through a wedding ring, the circus now being run by chimpanzees and selling out to a human audience, and a lion suddenly learning the trapeze.

None of the new plot developments are particularly additive. In one, Sasha Baron Cohen's lemur monkey falls madly in love with a big bear (which by the way, is kind of gross) and the two go to the Vatican to kiss the pope's hand and get his blessing. What?! I'm not sure where the pope stands on monkey-bear unions but at least the first and second installments had a clearly spelled out humans-animals relationship.

The movie also feels rushed. It wasn't just the actual running time of 93 minutes, but the storyline weaved its way from one plot point to another at right angles with no transition. The gang decides to go to Monte Carlo and are suddenly there one scene later. One scene after that, they're being chased out of Monte Carlo and onto the next adventure. There's a weary Russian tiger played by Bryan Cranston who warns against cliches and nearly quits the circus but is talked out of it in 30 seconds by Alex. What do you call a sudden 180 reversal like that again? Oh yes, it's a cliche.

This was such a shame because while neither of the two previous Madagascar installments were groundbreaking, they were both consistently entertaining films.

On the other end of the spectrum is the other animated film I saw this past year in Wreck-It Ralph which borrows heavily from the early days of NES and arcade games from that era.

The film already has a lot going for it before we even get to the actual story: The premise of a video game villain wanting to be a hero is highly clever and the setting promises a  nostalgic trip for anyone who grew up on Nintendo.

Most importantly, the film takes a shaky premise that video game characters are sentient, and sketches out all the hypotheticals out thoroughly. The video game characters reside at an arcade and, due to the fact that all the games are plugged in through the same power strip, they're allowed to leave their games and visit other video game universes (one video game whose objective is serving of root beer serves as a popular gathering spot) after the arcade closes. The biggest fear among the characters are their games being put out of commission which would spell out an end to existence. Therefore, they have to play out their assigned roles during arcade hours, whether hero or villain, or else the arcade player will complain about the game malfunctioning and the game will be shut down.

As for the film, Wreck-It-Ralph delivers thoroughly and I highly recommend it. It's got heart, it's interesting, and the visuals are wonderful. My only two complaints are 1) The cybugs are way too scary for a kid's movie. The 9-year-old version of me would have had nightmares for weeks and the current version of me found them a bit creepy and unsettling even if I was nightmare-free. 2) Jack McBrayer is a bit miscast as the hero character and even more miscast as a suitor to the commando played by Jane Lynch. Can you imagine Kenneth the Page and Sue Sylvester hooking up  with each other in any universe?

Flight

Flight is about a plane crash and it has one spectacular scene in which a commercial airline pilot, Whip Whitaker (Denzel Washington), bravely asserts control over a malfunctioning plane under extreme pressure landing it in a farming pasture in Georgia. His improbable descent echoes that of Chesley Sullenberger's 2009 Miracle on the Hudson although it's loosely based on a 2000 Alaska Airlines crash that led to no survivors.

Because it's hard to stretch a plane crash into a two-hour film, Flight is largely about the aftermath of the crash which makes it a more interesting film. What I find especially topical in this litigious era is that the film's thrust is over culpability and blame. This also ties into the film's main theme of Captain Whitaker coming to terms with his alcoholism. He had three times the legal limit for a driver and traces of cocaine in his system according to the toxicology report taken after the crash, yet he did successfully save the lives of 96 out of 102 people on the plane.

The moral question is posed: What if a hero like Sullenberger did something truly miraculous while he was in violation of the law and dishonest with himself? Would he still be a hero? What punishment does he deserve. 

The plot meanders smoothly between its initial storyline about a plane crash to a legal drama to a portrait of a man coming to terms with himself and weaves in other storyline threads between Whitaker and the people in his life.

The way his support system weaved into and out of his life and how the film showed that from his point of view, they were somewhat invisible to him, was one of the strongest films about the film:

• There's his estranged wife and son who are somewhat of an afterthought to him. 
• There's a drug supplier (John Goodman) who magically brings him back to life and in some ways is his best friend. 
• There's a rep from the pilot's union (Bruce Greenwood) who is his likely his only friend that acts as a healthy influence on him. 
• There's a beautiful storyline about a recovering heroic addict he meets in the hospital (Kelly Reilly) with whom he briefly cohabitates until she concludes he's unhealthy to her attempts at a clean life. 
• There's the stewardess (Tamara Tunie) who survived the crash with him who has known him for 11 years and expresses to him on the morning of the flight that she's praying for him. There's a hint of a deeper mutual respect there. 
• One can also tell there's the ghost of his late father and grandfather, both pilots, on who's farm he's staying to avoid the glare of the media (I liked the thematic hints to the 24/7 news cycle in the story)

Other supporting players in the film I recognized included Don Cheadle as a thorough lawyer who's fighting for him even though he doesn't need help and Nadine Velazquez. Cheadle has a Lead Actor Oscar nomination and an Emmy for lead actor, but I've always liked him in supporting roles like this one (not to mention, After the Sunset, Family Man, Swordfish and Traffic). Nadine Velazquez (from My Name is Earl) has a thankless job as a naked stewardess in the film's opening scene. You'd think starring on a sitcom would you lead you to better roles than this.


Why didn't the film get nominated for Best Picture? The film was topical, well-written, had a strong cast, and great themes? My guess is genre bias: The fact that all of Denzel Washington's films in the past 10 years (Out of Time, Deja Vu, Unstoppable, Taking of Pelham 123) have been seen as action films, and people (whether they be the one's giving out critics' awards or Golden Globes or the Oscars) read it as another action film.

Themes of every 2012 Film I saw

This follows off a thread I last did in 2007 and will be continually updated but here's a sort of first stab at it. Also, I wrote this from a cell phone. So I expect many spelling errors here:

Quartet, Trouble with the Curve, Best Exotic Marigold Hotel:
Antithesis of Ageism/Old People are Rad-All three films are an unabashed celebration of the latter stage of life. I see all three is created out of a reaction to ageism, both metatextually (proudly employing older actors and tailoring to older demographics in an industry where that is not easy) and on screen. Dustin Hoffman, who just turned 75, likely chose to make a film about an old age home for artists for his directorial debut as a way to explore his feelings about old people. He even went so far as to use retired musicians in the background so that our ears are literally filled with the musings of old people. In both BEM and Quarter, major life decisions (which is the reason characters are made the center of storylines) are shown as continuous. Trouble with the Curve, on the other hand is a failure of a movie because it's anti-ageism makes no sense. Why exactly should a guy whose job it is to scout players, be able to continue his job when his eyesight is gone?

Zero Dark Thirty
The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions-The suggestion that torture was necessary to capture Bin Laden is what incited the controversy that moved people to picket the Academy Awards Luncheon today. A good question for discussion would be whether it was the theme that disturbed people or the presentation of that theme. I'd argue that whether it was torture or not, would anyone really debate that it was a road to hell for Maya? She clearly is drained by the process
Unsung Heroism-Read: Maya
In fact, Maya is representative of so many desk jockeys here in DC who shuffle through papers and are one small cog in the machinery of a large bureaucracy (I'm 97% sure I spelled that word wrong, give me a break, I'm blogging from my cell phone) and in a way she's the new everyman blue collar hero that the average worker in America can see themselves as and vicariously live through. Which brings me to..... Changing nature of terrorrism/the world-George W Bush said this was a new kind of war. I think if the new hero is a desk jockey and not a soldier, it signifies that the changing landscape of the world and specifically war is a larger theme of the movie. Therefore, people with knowledge of that changing world are the people who are now most essential in war. This might also be an implied justification of the torture: Yes, torture is inherently wrong but you are also seeing an unfamiliar world on screen you can't fully understand so who's to say whether something like the wrongness of torture is universal?

Bernie
Imperfect nature of the justice system- Bernie was generally a good man who did something wrong at his weakest moment to a woman everyone in the town hated. He would have never been driven mad enough to shoot her if he stayed away from her like everyone in the town. Essentially, he was punished for daring to be kinder then the rest of the town
The power of community-Bernie is the hero of the story and the victim of an imperfect justice system because the community loved him. Serving the community made him morally superior to even the concept of murder
Everyone has a dark side-It either just takes a little longer or more extreme circumstances have to arise for someone like Bernie to reveal his.

The Dictator
Corruption is all relative-Sacha Baron Cohen's films are strongly satirical so its a 99% certainty that if he is making a film, he will use comedy to make his points. Few people know that Cohen is a religious Jew who wrote his thesis on anti-semitism in Oxford. Thus, Borat was a subversive tool to spread the central message of his scholarly studies.
The dictator gives a speech at the end of the movie about how dictatorship is good because of reasons that double as a list of flaws with democracy. Throughout the movie, the lifestyle of a madman is depicted as morally normative.
The power of laughter-Its a story where the hero is a doppelganger for political figures generally considered too reprehensible and offensive to glamorize. Cohen suggests that if funny enough, discourse about these men and the heinous acts of brutality undertaken in their regimes can be successful.

Pitch Perfect
College is good-The protagonist Becca has an already-set end point in her life she knows she wants before she sets foot on campus. Hence, college is irrelevant to her. Although she still has the same end point, she is surprised to find that she has a life changing experience that teaches her how to be a better person. Score one for college! The film has a very pro-college message but ironically, Becca is never shown going to school or learning anything from her classes.
Friendship (particularly same sex friendship) is underrated and important-The practice of blending your voices together to create harmony is (very obviously, I'm not saying anything profound here) symbolic of Becca learning to coexist with other girls which she admits at the end of the film is something she's never done before.

Argo
The need for creativity-Filmmakers write what they know so the joy of filmmaking/art is a theme that pops up everywhere from musicals to biopics of artists to films about films. Argo expands on that a little bit by showing that creativity is curative from individuals like Tony Mendez and the two Hollywood producers, to the organizational health of the CIA. In the case of the two Hollywood execs (Alan Arkin and John Goodman), they make movies yet their creative outlet comes from abetting the CIA. Along this theme, the a-hole hostage who wouldn't initially cooperate among the six could be read as a non-believer of the curative power of creativity. It was also indicative of this theme that the Iranian officials at the airport were mesmerized by the pictures of the movie.

Silver Linings Playbook
Your work is the spoke to which you build the wheel around-I was once listening to two religious Jews in a conversation. One said to the other that he wasn't sure whether he was passionate about taking a job, and the other responded that a job or whatever you decide to pursue as your primary mode of activity isn't necessarily relevant, but everything else falls into place and has more meaning once you adopt some mode of activity. Pat was singularly obsessed with reuniting with his ex-wife Nikki and while it looked like an unhealthy obsession on the surface, it got him focused and organized on rebuilding himself. In the end, Nikki's irrelevance was highlighted by the penultimate scene in which we learned that she was no longer relevant to him on his journey.

Destigmatizing mental illness-Both Robert De Niro and director David O. Russell have a child with some mental illness and both were attached to the project for that reason. Pat scares people around him but as the viewer you also see he means no harm. Through both Pat and Tiffany, the viewers are being exposed to people with mental illness and forced to ask themselves if they're as bad or as repulsive as they seem. Likewise, various characters are forced to reconsider their notions  of craziness when deciding the degree of acceptance they want to have towards the two "ill" characters. Pat is even scared of Tiffany which brings some more complex dynamics and also illustrates that fear of people who are different is universal. Jennifer Lawrence's Oscar interview also further confirms that destigmatizing illness was a focus of the film or played a big role in the characters' minds

The Importance of the Support System-Kind of a no-brainer. It was through connecting and forming better bonds with old friend, his family, his new soulmate, and even his psychiatrist that Pat got better. One comment I'll add here for some depth to this bullet point, is that Pat only started to trust Dr. Patel and take his medicine when they began to bond.

Compliance review

Based on a true story, Compliance stars Dreama Walker (from Don't Trust the B in Apartment 23) and Ann Dowd (who's name was on the shortlist for best supporting actress this year, I didn't see it) in a tense voyeuristic (whew! the spell-check worked overtime correcting that word for me) drama about a prank call that morphed into a case of a sexual assault in the back room of a fast food restaurant.

Compliance is one of the few films I've seen in recent years that could measure up to Hitchcock (the other one that comes to mind is Terrence Young's 1967 film Wait Until Dark) Disturbing and heart-poundingly suspenseful without any excessive dramatic devices, Compliance was a viscerally uncomfortable experience in a way I haven't really experienced lately and in that sense it was a unique and thought-provoking experience. Unique and thought-provoking are two things I hope to get out of every film I see.

On the other hand, the film was flawed structurally with such a heavy overemphasis on the first act. I'm going to guess that 3/4 of the screentime is from Becky's point of view. While it is necessary to show the horrificness from Becky's POV to its full emotional effect, I think that after a while, it started to feel like empty space that could be filled in with other angles like giving us a fuller picture of the villain, the thought-process of the cynical friend Kevin, the psychological aftermath of Becky, and the police investigation. I'm not suggesting that the film would have been better as a Tony Scott (RIP) style thriller, but a little more emphasis on that would have been better. In fact, the more I think about it, the more sure of it I seem.

The Supersappy Quartet Trailer

One of my favorite internet videos is by comedy duo Britannick mocking Oscar movies in one trailer that incorporates everything from Good Will Hunting to Dances with Wolves to Rain Man to Dead Poets Society to Love Story to...hell, even Silver Linings Playbook:

I recently saw the film Quartet and found it very sweet and endearing but it took me a while to overcome the residue of the trailer. Here is the trailer:

Now the film looks kind of exciting in a way and has a lot of feel-good moments. It was through watching the trailer that I decided to watch the actual film so technically the trailer did its job. At the same time, it seems like the trailer through every possible cliche it could. 

Look, there's Tom Courtenay teaching an inner-city black kid to appreciate music! And look, that guy is old but can still be sexually attracted to people. Maybe that old guy will successfully romance that woman half her age! And maybe Maggie Smith will release her tough exterior to show the beauty within! And the film is joyful because both the guy and the girl are kissing Tom Courtenay simultaneously. And grumpy Tom Courtenay is smiling!

The film is actually really good, though. It's a bit cliched and sappy, but generally earns its heartfelt moments and three of the four lead actors are really good in it. The exception is the Billy Connolly character who really is kind of one-note as the horny old man comic relief.