Kudos to the Coolidge Corner Theatre

I just want to take a second to say how impressed I have been with the Coolidge Corner Theatre's movie lineup recently and coming soon. They currently have Milk and Slumdog Millionaire and now they have Happy Go Lucky and, as far as I know, The Wrestler and Waltz With Bashir are coming. For such a small theater this is an impressive end of the year and beginning of the year lineup. Everyone in the community is lucky to have such a high quality theater with such a firm commitment to great movies.

In the next week or so I intend to write an Oscar prediction/commentary thread. Many of the predictions will be pure speculation and trend noticing but much of it will be my personal takes.

MIT: Gran Torino

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars

This was vintage Clint Eastwood and anyone who appreciates the body of work of Clint Eastwood will especially love this film.

It was reminiscent of Unforgiven in several ways. The entire movie set Clint Eastwood up as a gruff, uncaring individual who is a hardened killer (in this case, he was in the Korean War) who warms up over the course of the film. The ending is the kind of Unforgiven-esque poetic character change that make Eastwood as relevant in modern film as he is. Eastwood's performance isn't strong enough, imo, to warrant any sort of award. It's not the type of movie that gets, or really deserves, a best picture nomination (it does lack an Unforgiven, Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby gravitas during the entire movie). I doubt the song Gran Torino stands a chance against Peter Gabriel (Wall-E) and Bruce Springsteen (The Wrestler) so Gran Torino may go largely awardless but it is worth seeing for it's character tale and interesting story.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Rating: 4.0 out of 10 stars
I saw this on 1/10/09 at Entertainment Cinemas in Leominster, Massachusetts

I cannot fathom why this movie is getting so much credit. I guess it must be because it's an "oscar-style" movie. In my opinion is cheap knockoff of other (good) movies and a poor man's drama.

Here are the cliche/knockoff moments that I find too stupid/obvious:
Old lady telling the story of her life framework for a movie is way too "Titanic"
The entire relationship seems to be a Forrest Gump/Jenny knockoff
Placing a love story uselessly near a known tragedy is very "Titanic" but at least the titanic had something to use because there was the urgency of being out at sea and there was the whole "class" issue
The reverse disease is overplayed and was reminiscent of "Phenomenon"

In addition to these, I found that his aging wasn't entirely consistent (or people around him didn't age consistently) and the whole process was inconsistent. What characeristics was he supposed to take from his disorder and which ones from his age? He has arthritis and bad hearing and vision when he's born but gets dementia when he's old too? He is born baby size but old and wrinkly so why does he shrink to baby size before he dies?

Overall, a poor showing. A knockoff, uninventive, poorly thought out movie.

Milk

Rating: 8.5 (almost 9) out of 10 stars
I saw this on January 7th at Coolidge Corner

This was a pretty good movie. It was touching at times and I liked the setup of Harvey dictated a memoir in case of his death.

Didn't much care for the love interest story (at least Rick, Scott was pretty good) but then again it was based on a true story so you can't really do much with that.

Haven't seen all the movies to make a completely informed judgment but I would think that Sean Penn deserves a nomination for best actor. Milk should be in the conversation for best picture but it wouldn't be outrageous if it got snubbed. I also think Josh Brolin should get some consideration for supporting actor. His part wasn't that big but I thought he played Dan White excellently.

This is definitely worth seeing.

Slumdog Millionaire

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars
I saw this on January 5 at Coolidge Corner

This was an excellent movie. I loved the story and they used the flow between game show and life very well. A well crafted plot that tugs at your heart strings and some very tense moments.

There was no outstanding performance in my opinion but it was extremely well done and solid all around. The Indian backdrop was excellent and the story arc reminded me of an Indian Scarface.

The end seemed predictable but I think the movie overall gave you reason enough to doubt a happy ending so the suspense was still there.

This should be in high contention for some oscars and get serious mention for best picture.

MIT: Iron Man

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars
I saw this on December 26th

I'm actually sorry I missed this one in theaters because I'm sure it would've been better on a big screen but it was still pretty good.

Action sequences were good, Tony Stark was a fairly interesting character and the story itself was decent. Should make way for some sequels with more interesting villains (this was really just the origin story and original bad guy fighting).

Worth seeing for action fans and it's nice to see Robert Downey string a few good ones together but other than that, eh, it's ok

MIT: The Fall (yes, I finally watched it)

Rating: 8.5 out of 10 stars
I watched this on 1/2/09

This movie was quite interesting. I thought the visuals were breathtaking and inventive and I really enjoyed the storytelling aspect.

I also applaud the movie for a nice balance of story telling and real life. I think there could have been a more well thought out and/or longer story even if it meant a longer movie but overall it was well done.

I found the movie hard to follow at times and there could have been more character development but the last scene(s) are excellent.

Should win some oscars for visuals and such but I don't think this is a best picture candidate and I'm not sure if any of the performances were strong enough to warrant consideration either.