"Mean Creek" Review

We've all been bullied at one point in our lives. Didn't that make you feel really angry? Wouldn't it feel great to get back at that awful jerk? Yeah! Surely you loved to imagine humiliating the soulless freak, hurting them so badly they'd never even THINK of touching you ever again! Wouldn't that be great?

Well, in your head, it is. But if you ever went over the edge and tried to do it for real, you'd likely end up getting something very different than what you expected- and often something less than joyous.

Sam, a young boy in middle school, has just been beaten senseless by George, the widely-disliked school bully. When Sam tell his older brother about it, the two and a few friends formulate a scheme to he back at George: take a boat out to a local creek, then force him to strip and walk home naked.

Yet, once they're already out in the woods, Sam discovers something: George isn't really that bad. He clearly has some sort of social disorder, and just wants to be accepted. But it's too late to back out now- and the so-called prank ends in a far more horrible fashion than anyone could have expected.

The child actors of Mean Creek are uniformly fantastic. Sam, the lead, is played by Rory Culkin, Macaulay's younger brother- is it in the blood? The standout of the entire cast of standouts would have to be Josh Peck, who plays the bully, George. Peck, previously known for his lighthearted roles in Nickelodeon's The Amanda Show and Drake and Josh (the latter of which was still airing at the time of Mean Creek's release), initially plays George as a fairly similar character to his usual typecasting: a shy, awkward kid. But when George discovers, suddenly Peck becomes a frightening, raging terror, screaming in anger at his would-be pranksters, in a rag that leads to his demise.

The fate of George should not be too difficult to discern to those who have not yet seen the film, since the marketing materials give you all the clues you need, but that doesn't make Mean Creek any less shocking or disturbing. We'd all like to get back at our bullies- but if we ever actually tried, it's unlikely things would turn out as well as they do in our daydreams.

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"The Avengers" Review

Superhero worlds are far larger in their comic books of origin than in the film adaptations of them. In the DC "Universe", Batman
Is not alone- he can call upon Superman, Wonder Woman, or the Flash for assistance if he needs to. Spider-man is close china with the Human Torch, Superman and Aquaman team up every other week, and the Hulk loves sparring with Wolverine.

For the most part, movie studios have shied away from those aspects of the mythology, believing them to be too complicated... Until now. The epic Marvel crossover that's been 5 years in the making is at last upon us, and guess what? It's amazing!

The evil god Loki, fresh from his defeat in last year's Thor, is back. This time, he's harnessed the power of a mystical force called the Tesseract to summon an army of aliens, which he'll use to conquer Earth. It'll take more than one hero to stop him, so Nick Fury, leader of the secret agency called SHIELD, calls upon Earth's Mightiest: Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, the Hulk, Black Widow, and Hawkeye- the Avengers.

The Avengers was helmed by nerd icon Joss Whedon, and his signature style is all over the film. Bizarre slang abounds- the Hulk is at one point referred to as a "green-skinned rage monster"- and Whedon, as usual, relishes in the interpersonal conflicts between each of the Avengers. In his words, "The Avengers don't belong in the same movie together, let alone the same room"- and with the way they endlessly bicker with each other, it's easy to see why.

It's impossible to acclaim just one member of the cast because they are universally fantastic. The Avengers are Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), Chris Evans (Captain America), Scarlet Johansson (Black Widow), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), and Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), and they feel like both real individuals and a real team, and are heroes everyone wants to root for. The standout, If there could be any, would have to be Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. I'd elaborate, but it's Sam Jackson- what more do you need to know?

The Avengers will stand as one of the best superhero movies of all time. The action is just as good as the drama, and vice versa. There is absolutely no reason not to go see it- 1 Billion dollar's worth of people can't be wrong, can they?

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"Lost in Translation" Review

Not every movie has to have a real plot structure, with a beginning, middle, and end. Sometimes, all you need is an interesting setup, likable characters, and an excuse to follow them around. Sofia Coppola went this route with Lost in Translation, and the characters are all that she needed to tell a fantastic story that's really hardly a story at all.

Bob Harris (Bill Murray) is a Hollywood actor that's fallen out of the limelight, who has come to Tokyo, Japan to film a series of whiskey commercials. Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) is the wife of a photographer, who's also travelled to Tokyo. Both feel confused and lost in the alien Japanese culture, and are bored and unsatisfied in their marriages, and by chance, they meet up one day. The rest of the film follows their developing, and increasingly close, relationship.

Not much happens in Lost in Translation, but nothing really needs to. The characters wander around, baffled by the often-incomprehensible culture they are surrounded by- as does the audience. Viewers who speak Japanese are, interestingly, more likely to take away less from this film than those who do not. One memorable scene is the point where Bob is filming one of the advertisements, and the director enthusiastically gives long-winded instructions in Japanese. But when his interpreter (who clearly barely speaks English herself) tries to translate his instructions for Bob, all she can tell him is "he wants you to turn around and look at the camera, okay?"

I wouldn't go as far to say that this is a comedy film, even though it is very funny at times and it stars the beloved comedian, Bill Murray. The humor always has a sense of bitterness, it's always dry, and is always overshadowed by the unhappiness of the characters. Even as Bob and Charlotte grow closer together, and share more of their lives with each other, both still seem lonely and distant, and never really grow comfortable with themselves. Lost in Translation is funny, but the laughs are very, very sad.

It's rather impressive that Sofia Coppola would turn out to be such a great director, given that prior to her shift to behind the camera, she was best known for her wretched performance in The Godfather Part III, where her horribly stilted, awkward performance nearly ruined an otherwise stellar film. Those who can't do, teach, I guess. Or perhaps it's just the great-director genes of her dad, Francis Ford, rubbing off on her.

It helps that Coppola has two great actors to work with. Murray needs no introduction, and Johansson's turn as Charlotte helped lead her to a great career. They may be different roles, but Bob and Charlotte feel almost like the same character: snarky, sad, lonely, distant, and confused. Murray, especially, is perfect in the role of a former star who fell on hard times and had to turn to insignificant, lousy, yet well-paying jobs. Wonder where he got the inspiration?

There are other actors in the film, obviously, and they're all good too, but they're just background dressing. Excuses to bring Charlotte and Bob together again. The two lead characters are the only real characters.

And a movie like this doesn't need any more.

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"World Trade Center" Review

The September 11 Terrorist attacks were a horrible, tragic event. They were one of the darkest moments in our national history. I will never deny that. But the emotional impact of the real-life events that a film is based on does not automatically make the film good, and World Trade Center is not a good film.

The film follows a group of police officers as they enter the South Tower of the World Trade Center to attempt to rescues trapped civilians. Just as they enter the building, it collapses on them- killing all but two, and leaving those two, officers Jimeno and McLoughlin, trapped underneath the rubble.

The film cuts between conversations between McLoughlin (Nicolas Cage) & Jimeno (Michael Peña) and the reactions of their families to the attacks, as well as a group of marines participating in the recovery effort. The cops are, or course, rescued, and the film ends on a shiny happy note of two guys reunited with their families with nary a mention of the other 2,996 people who weren't so lucky.

The first half hour or so of World Trade Center is fantastic. These are the moments when the world first sees the attacks, and director Oliver Stone wrings the emotions of the audience for all it's worth. There's really no denying the sheer horror of the real events, and no director could diminish that even if they tried. It's a shame then, that once the attacks are over, the film devolves into meandering melodrama.

When Nicolas Cage is in a movie, you can expect one of two, bizarrely contrasting things: either he will be remarkably subdued, and the film will be great, or he will play it ludicrously over the top, and the film will be terrible. There are some exceptions where he is over-the-top and it does work (such as in Face/Off or Bad Lieutenant 2), but this is the only film of his that I can think of where being subdued is to his detriment. He is far too bland, quiet, and uncaring in the role of John McLoughlin; surely the real McLoughlin, who participated in the film, could have given him a few tips on how terrified he actually was on that day. The rest of the cast is just as boring, but they're so "simply there" that criticizing them isn't even worth the trouble.

Maybe a film that truly understands 9/11 could never be made. There are so many conundrums surrounding it that it would be very hard to turn out anything more meaningful than this turd. But regardless- the victims deserve a better memorial than Stone's. Maybe some day.

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"The Help" Review

It's often hard to think about just how hard African-Americans had it in the Southern United States of the early 20th century. Mostly working menial jobs, treated poorly by upper-class whites and almost ubiquitously dirt-poor, African-Americans more than earned the rights granted to them by the Civil Rights Movement. But as The Help shows us, the battle for those rights was long, hard, and fraught with danger.

Aibileen Clark is a black maid living in Mississippi in the 1960s, where she looks after the children of rich white Southern mothers, whilst they are off doing whatever it is that rich white Southern mothers do instead of caring for their offspring. Aibileen is downtrodden and blatantly discriminated against in the racist South society, but seems quietly resigned to her fate until a young journalist named Skeeter comes along.

Skeeter wants to write a book about "The Help", and is hungry for interviewees. Unfortunately, if understandably, most of the maids in town are unwilling to speak with her, and initially, only Aibileen takes the plunge- but as the film goes on an the Civil Rights Movement grows and grows, more and more of The Help comes to Skeeter to tell her thee stories.

The central dynamic of The Help is between Skeeter and Aibileen, played respectively by Emma Stone and Viola Davis. Stone and Davis are fine apart but fantastic together, with the personalities bouncing off each other in a remarkably real way. Davis more than earned her Oscar nomination, giving Aibileen a rebellious soul, while at the same time never wavering from her sad, quiet nature. Aibileen is the source of many of the film's most poetic moments.

An criminally underused side character in The Help is Minny Jackson, played by Octavia Spencer. Minny is everything that Aibileen is not- outspoken, strong-willed, and entirely unwilling to speak to Skeeter- at least, at first. Minny is a joy to watch whenever she's on screen, and is the source of a great scene where she gets back at her racist former boss (Bryce Dallas Howard) in the most hilariously vulgar way possible.

For all that The Help does right, there are also many things unfortunately wrong with it. As some critics from black community circles have pointed out, the film seems to have a bit of a "white people solve racism" mentality, with the maids mostly being portrayed as oddly uninterested in fighting for their rights until Skeeter introduces the idea. It also seems rather cartoonish in its portrayal of the 1960s South- sure, racist beliefs and people were common in that place and time, but some of the silliness that Skeeter's one-dimensional foils spew is rather hard to swallow.

The Help is a good movie that wants to be great. Racial issues are often difficult to portray on the screen without running into some unfortunate implications, and this film is unable to overcome that hurdle, ultimately to its detriment. There are still some fine performances and writing to be found, though, so I'd still give it a light recommendation.

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"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" Review

There are two types of science fiction: one where the futuristic elements are overt and obvious, and the kind where the world is our own, save for one small change.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind falls into the latter category.

The future element in question is Lacuna, Inc., a service that has the ability to selectively erase memories. Clementine (Kate Winslet) has impulsively used the service to remove her memories of her boyfriend, Joel (Jim Carrey), after a nasty argument. Upon hearing the news, Joel decides to use the service himself to remove his own memories of Clementine- only to realize, once the procedure is already underway, that he wants to remember her after all.

Spotless Mind is a very visual film, as is characteristic of director Michel Gondry. Certain colors help denote when the film is currently set (the non-linear narrative would likely get confusing otherwise); other colors define the mood of the scene; and as Joel's memories disappear, the world appears to dissolve in various unsettling ways- all to great effect.

The central relationship between Joel and Clementine is crucial to the plot, and Winslet & Carrey are perfect for it. As we watch them meet, and go through their good and bad times, they both have moments where they gain or lose the audience's sympathy- but they never stop being understandable or relatable. And, for what it's worth, Winslet does a great American accent.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a complex movie, difficult to describe in a single review, and definitely encourages repeat viewings. It's far from inaccessible, though- you should definitely check it out.

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"Bridesmaids" Review

Why are there so few female-driven comedies out there these days? Women can be just as funny as men, and sometimes even funnier- as proven in the hysterical Bridesmaids.


Poor Annie is going through some hard times. Her bakery's been shut down, her roommates are irritating and inept, she's forced to work a low-paying job at a jewelry store, and her only sex life to speak of is with a disrespectful jerk named Ted. Needless to say, she's a little jealous when her best friend Lillian announces that she's engaged, but is quite flattered when Lillian asks her to be her maid of honor. Annie wants to do a good job at organizing the festivities, but she's seemingly blocked at every turn by Lillian's new friend, Helen- friendly, wealthy, polite... seemingly perfect in every way.


Lest you think for a minute that Bridesmaids is "frilly" or "girly" thanks to its premise, well, think again. Bridesmaids is dirtier than dirty dirt, and flaunts it- a scene where the girls all get food poisoning and suffer for it while wearing gowns is uproarious in its raunchiness. There's room for more tender stuff, like a cute romantic subplot and a nice, genuine moral, but this is definitely no "chick flick".

A comedy is all in the casting, and Bridesmaids has a fantastic cast. Annie, played by Kristen Wiig (also co-writer), is adorably awkward and nervous, and is as relatable as she is funny. Helen, played by Rose Byrne, is recognizable as the villain, yet still has enough decent qualities to be sympathetic. And, as many others have noted, the absolute standout of the film is Melissa McCarthy as Megan- crass, rude, and utterly hilarious, she steals every scene she's in. McCarthy was justly nominated for a full-blown Oscar for her role.

Dirty, crowd-pleasing, lovable, and sometimes surprisingly poignant, Bridesmaids is one riot of a movie.

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