Movie Review: Clooney and Farmiga lift ‘Up’ into the air

 

 Ryan Bingham lives like a man in transition–he has no wife, no home, or familial trappings. His work consists of visiting employees at their workplace and firing them on behalf of their employer, a big firm who doesn’t want to handle the unpleasantries.

In some sense, he’s a corporate ’sin eater’–carrying a mantle others would rather pass on, and becoming a kind of social pariah as a result. But Bingham flourishes at his work and  and even gives inspirational speeches about how to thrive in the industry. He’s the heartbeat of Jason Reitman’s Up In The Air, a charming pic about a less than charming man that wants to position itself as the new ‘American movie’ but instead ends up being simply a good one.

Top 20 Horror Movies of the Decade Part 2

December 22nd, 2009–

Here we go. These are my choices for the top ten best horror films of the decade. As I said before, once I really examined the decade I realized that it did give me some of my all time favorite thrillers. It just took some sifting. The ten movies below are, in my opinion, all excellent films that are working at the top of their game and genre. In this instance all have been out long enough that I’ve seen them a few times each (including Pontypool). They represent a quality of work and artistic exploration that isn’t typically associated with the genre. In the coming decade we can only hope to have horror pictures as absorbing and effective.

Brittany Murphy is dead at 32

Another young performer gone far too early.

Brittany Murphy, who may be best known for films like Uptown Girls, 8 Mile, and Just Married, died earlier this morning of cardiac arrest. There are few other details at the moment, but a call went out to 911 from her L.A. home sometime around 8 a.m. Although paramedics attempted to revive her, she was pronounced dead at Cedar Sinai Hospital upon arrival.

I’m not sure what will follow this information, but I’m sad to hear of her death and my prayers go out to her family.

Murphy had not yet found a role she could totally shine in, but she was starting to do some darn decent work in smaller films that were flying under the radar. In fact, I’ve got a finished review for her DTV thriller Deadline sitting in my review queue and the thing I liked most about the film was her performance.

Movie Review: Cameron’s ‘Avatar’ is a Titanic Achievement

The lights turn down, the 3-D glasses go on, and what follows is one of the most basic and honest reasons to go the cinema; pure delight. James Cameron finally unveils  his Avatar and it is one of the most entertaining and visually accomplished works of his entire career. This is the pulp sci-fi feast fans thought they were getting some ten years ago when they went walking into The Phantom Menace hoping for magic to strike. When it happens, you can hear the thunder and feel the electricity. This is why I love the movies.

Top 20 Horror Movies of the Decade-Part 1

 

December 16th, 2009–

When I think back over the last decade in regards to horror, it seems like a relatively barren landscape. However, when I sat down to prepare the list, I realized there has been some quite excellent work done in the past ten years. Granted, we have suffered through such irritating trends as the J-horror ghost flicks, the pathetic ‘torture porn’ genre, and the done-to-death supernatural thriller.

I’ve tried to limit the list to proper horror films—i.e. they try at some level to thrill or unnerve you—and have left off comedies like Shaun of the Dead or Zombieland. In addition, I’m not a fan of the overly violent exploitative trash like Chaos or the Hostel films, so you won’t find any of those here (including stuff like Inside or Martyrs, which I was unfortunate enough to have seen). Like the last round-up for animation, we will start with five runners-up”, followed by slots 20-11.

Top 25 Animated Movies of the Decade: Part 2

December 10th, 2009–

Ok, here we go. The top ten animated films of the last decade. There’s not much to say here that I didn’t mention in the first installment of this article. Honestly, this was such a great 10 years for animation in general, that even limiting the choices and ranking them has been a fool’s errand. But, I guess I’m that fool and the following represent what I think are the finest accomplishments of the form. Each and every one of these could be competing for number 1. Here goes…

Top 25 Animated Films of the Decade: Part 1

 December 8th, 2009–

The list-athon continues here at Cinematropolis, as we get closer and closer to year’s end. Last week I took a look at the top 15 Asian films of the decade, and today I’ve got animation on the roster. One of the things I learned from the last list, is that 15 is just too brief a number to really capture some of the decade’s best in a given category. I’m a HUGE animation fan and to even suggest that the achievements of the last decade can be distilled into even just 25 choices, let alone 15, is difficult. As it has to be limited, I have settled for a two-part list: one for the first ten, and one for the second, with 5 choices for honorable mention. Altogether that’s 25, and the honorable mentions and numbers 20-11 are up first. Enjoy!

Movie Review: Sheridan bears ‘Brothers’ burden

December 5th, 2009–

 I’m not sure why Hollywood is still stuck in the trend of churning out near carbon-copies of foreign films, but I think it’s time to lay that tradition down. Sure, a few of them manage to establish themselves as individual work (Insomnia, Departed, The Fall) but mostly it seems like studios suspect that American audiences won’t accept something until its been transferred to their language with actors they recognize. The result is usually a watered down facsimile of the original.

15 Best Asian Films of the Decade

 December 2nd, 2009–

With  2010 looming before us, it feels a little surprising to realize a decade has come and gone. And in that time we have had quite a run at the movies. For every week until New Year’s Day, I’ll be putting up a 15 best of the Decade, culminating with an overall ‘Best of’ list. Before that, I’ve picked a few categories that are specialized enough that I felt they were short-changed by one overarching list. Today, we begin with a venue near and dear to my heart: Asian cinema.

Movie Review: ‘Ninja Assassin’ masters the art of gore

November 25th, 2009–

American Ninja, where art though? Pray for Death, you have gone…never to return. Even Ninja III: Domination moved away and forgot to write. The over-the-top kill happy martial-arts fantasies of the mid 1980s have all abandoned us, and nothing ever came to take their place. With the exception of a occassional, errant nugget like 1995’s The Hunted (yea, it sucked…surprise) a genre I so loved as a child has all dried up.

Yes, I’m talking about the ninja film. Sure, Japan produced a few half-hearted attempts over the years, including the recent Shinobi:Heart Under Blade, but it had a decidedly wuxia feel to its ninjary (TM), and it played like a feverish video game. Then, hope briefly surfaced in the form of an announcement; the brothers Wachowski were making a big budget ninja film with their acolyte James McTeigue (V for Vendetta) behind the camera and Korean pop star Rain in front of it. Now that it’s here, Ninja Assassin turns out to be one more glittering chunk of fool’s gold. Outside of a killer opening sequence and a rather lively final battle, this one proves a tedious disappointment.