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Reviewdle 26 – Catchup part 2 – (Mostly) gone but (mostly) not forgotten

November 22nd, 2009

Moon  

Awesome.  Go and see it if you haven’t already.  Sam Rockwell (Galaxy Quest) plays Sam Bell, a mining contractor at the tail end of his solo stint on the moon.  He’s been alone for three years and it’s beginning to show – he rarely shaves or trims his nails and his health is deteriorating.  When a routine remote equipment inspection ends in a near fatal accident, Sam wakes up in the station infirmary.  How did he get there? (Here’s a hint, it’s not aliens.)  Although it is by no means a perfect film (in fact I have some fairly major quibbles with the ending), it’s rare to get stylish direction, a tight script, outstanding performances, wonderful design and an original idea all in one well-executed sci-fi movie package.  Run, don’t walk.

Julie and Julia

I went for Amy Adams, I stayed for, well, everyone except her. Julie (AMY ADAMS, Sunshine Cleaning) attempts to cook her way out of the doldrums using Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  Julie documents her experience in a wildly popular blog that later become a book that was the foundation for this film’s screenplay.  Julie is painted as a naïve and accidental hero, rather than a switched-on aspiring author with a shred of a clue.  It rings hollow and she becomes less and less likeable as the representation becomes more and more forced. Told in parallel is Julia Child’s  (MERYL STREEP) much more interesting story of writing and publishing the cookbook that would revolutionise home cookery in 70s America.  Streep is great and is ably supported by Stanley Tucci (Big Night) as Julia’s husband and Chris Messina (Away We Go) as Julie’s.

Whatever Works  

After three films in England and one in Spain, Woody Allen returns home to New York for Whatever Works.  He also returns to the “Woody Allen” character, this time cranky elderly Jewish academic Boris played by Larry David (Curb Your Enthusiasm).  Boris, carefully wrapped in layers of misanthropy is pretty well alone in the world until a young Southern runaway (EVAN RACHEL WOOD, The Wrestler) lands on his doorstep and turns his world upside down.  Twee?  You betcha.  But charming nonetheless.  Whatever Works is too slight to make too much of an impression, but it is well paced, well acted, well directed and occasionally very funny, so passes the time well enough.

Up  

Utterly charming.  Funny, inventive, and insanely good-looking.  The character design and animation are absolutely top shelf.  I agree with director Pete Doctor (Monsters, Inc.) who said (I’m paraphrasing) that 3D effects are all well and good, but a good Pixar movie is about strong characters, an interesting story and gorgeous animation.  He’s not wrong.

Surrogates  

Surrogates is a spectacularly underwhelming film.  It checks all the boxes for me – confusing and/or lame action sequences, terrible direction, atrocious writing.  The initial concept (people lounge about in their underpants all day hooked up to surrogate robots that do all the walking around and interacting until someone figures out how to kill the operators by killing the surrogate – uh oh! Danger!) and about three minutes of set piece at the end are engaging enough, but all in all this is a seriously flawed, almost completely uninteresting movie.

Paper Heart  

This little Indie gem got such a small release it was gone before anyone even knew it was there.  More’s the pity.  It was absolutely lovely.  Charlyne Yi, a comedian and musician in the indie geek vein, meets and slowly falls for Michael Cera, the quintessential indie geek actor.  Charlyne is unsure if love really exists and sets off on to interview (quirky) Middle America to hear real life love stories.  It’s documentary wrapped in mockumentary and is surprisingly effective at blurring the lines between (until the end which falters disappointingly).  In general though, warm and funny and lovely.

– Jen