Paris
Delightful French film depicting the search for love and connection in the lives of an ensemble of Parisians. Outstanding cast lead by Juliette Binoche and Roland Duris as siblings. Not extremely deep, but meditative, even a little reflective, and pitch perfect in acting, writing and pace. Enjoyed it quite a bit. **

Everything is Illuminated
Quirky, and eventually deeply moving film of Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel. Good acting, and adequate directing by Liev Schreiber. I was deeply saddened by the details, often repeated under the Nazis, of the slaughter of Trachimbrod, and touched by the ongoing need to collect the artifacts of people’s lives. Not a dry eye in the house. Thanks to Josh for giving it to me. **

Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Third film in this series of popular but cinematically lousy movies based on the kids’ toys that my son, like many others his age, played with. This one at least has a narrative that, for the most part, holds together and makes some sense. And the FX are well designed and executed enough to be compelling for a change, though they are derivative of recent movies such as Battle Los Angeles. But Michael Bay is an embarrassingly jingoistic hack, and the overly emotional appeal to patriotism and veneration of the military are the worst of many bad elements of these movies. **

Super 8
Though a pretty well done J. J. Abrams homage to ‘50s monster movies and Steven Spielberg, I found the adolescent characters in this movie too be stereotypes and far too precocious emotionally to be believable, and the two main parental characters to be extremely shallow. I thought the scenes of the military vehicles run amok unnecessary, even indulgent, and the encounter with the alien completely unconvincing. Deeply disappointing. **

3:10 to Yuma
Slick remake of the 1957 movie about a man’s attempt to redeem himself by escorting an outlaw to a train. Watched this as part of a renewed interest in westerns. As you would expect, Bale and Crowe work hard, and the story by Elmore Leonard is good, but the ending and diluted interplay between the main characters is unconvincing, even insulting. Too bad. **

Texas Rangers
Very bad movie about the origins of the Texas Rangers that came bundled on an inexpensive DVD of Dead Man. Most like a Hallmark presentation with very bad writing, made-for-TV production, and dopy acting, though that may be because of the painfully bad writing. Excellent caste just wated. Terrible.

Your Highness
Really disgusting and intentionally gross movie about brothers’ search for credibility in medieval Europe. Neither of which is as bad as the sheer stupidity of every aspect of it. I guess Natalie Portman needed the money.

The Conspirator
Well-enough done Redford film about the trial of John Wilkes Booth’s mother. The narrative seems purposely pointed at our current politics, which politically doesn’t bother me, but weakens the film artistically. Good acting, adequate writing, but the production itself looked strained and amateurish, and Redford’s directing seemed clumsy at times, which was surprising. Not that good, but a silent theatre at the end. **

Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1983
Final installment of this film trilogy, as brilliant as the first two, but this time with a wholly-justified moral and personal redemption that is deeply moving, especially after the utter bleakness of the previous films. Again excellent acting, writing, and production. For me, it is hard to overstate how good this trilogy is in light of the wasteland of contemporary filmmaking. Outstanding.****

The Housemaid
Eerie Korean film about the strange relationship between a housemaid and the psychotic and powerful family she works for. Strong undertone of anti-Americanism, which, though perhaps justified, undermines the narrative. Deeply dissatisfying ending. *

Hanna
Film about a girl designed and raised to be an assassin. The odd fairy tale motif and tone undermine any power the narrative might have had as a thriller, and there is really no characterization to speak of in a movie that was almost solely dependent on it. Disappointing. *

Source Code
Science fiction movie about the use of a soldier’s brain to go back and change history. Perfect example of what the money thugs have done to the film industry. This movie, though not great, could have made a very strong and even beautiful statement about the nature of human existence. Instead, a happy ending is very clumsily pasted on to the end, that destroys any value it had, no doubt in response to focus group evaluations. Disgusting and deeply regrettable. *

Paul
Another absolutely delightful movie from Simon Pegg on a par with Shaun of the Dead. I really enjoyed the lighthearted, geeky tone, the silly but heartwarming characters, and the imaginative sci-fi spoof. Perhaps could have done without the male relationship evaluation, but a lot of fun. **

Limitless
Movie about a drug that allows humans to use the full capacity of their brains, but with some nasty side effects. And what does the protagonist do when he becomes super smart? Find a cure for cancer or AIDS, work on solving social ills or political conflicts? Of course not. He uses his abilities to make tons of money and go into politics so he can have power. And repeatedly lies to the woman he supposedly loves. Nice values. Marginally well done cinematically, but evil in its content. *

The Adjustment Bureau
Perhaps I was hoping for too much, it being based on a Philip K. Dick story about identity and bureaucracy, but I was disappointed by this film. The characters and their relationship were completely unconvincing, and as is usually the case these days, there are way too many chase scenes instead of real narrative. Happy ending was undeserved and unbelievable. Too bad. **

Summer Wars
Absolutely wonderful anime about a technology crisis as a frame for the value of family, an even more important network. Visually stunning, especially Oz, and thematically powerful, even moving, at times. Loved it. ***

Drive Angry
Mildly entertaining grindhouse movie with Nicholas Cage as an escapee from hell trying to save his daughter. Lame narrative and low production values even for grindhouse, and not enough of what makes grindhouse marginally interesting. *

Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1980
Like the first film in the trilogy, this second installment is an incredibly powerful and deeply depressing film about renewed attempts to uncover police corruption surrounding the Yorkshire ripper cases. Perhaps even more tragic. Once again, excellent writing, acting, and re-creation of the period. Extremely well done. Very difficult emotionally. ****

Eden of the East
Visually-wonderful and thematically-interesting anime series about people forced to play a game to save the world. A little adolescent, as most anime are, but pretty good, and over all, I enjoyed it. But not great. **

Still Walking
Kore-eda’s homage to his mother that explores the complex relationship we all have with our parents and their influences on us, apparent or not. Very well done in every way, as I have come to expect from him. Didn’t have the power, for me, of Maborosi or After Life, but excellent nonetheless. ***

Good
Very disappointing film adaptation of a play about a German intellectual who ends up helping the Nazis. Deeply unbelievable character historically, and it never becomes a film, always looks and feels like a play. Thematically reminiscent of Mother Night, but not nearly as powerful. Too bad. *

Sanctum
Visually slightly interesting Australian movie about cave explorers caught in a hurricane. Only went to it because they use James Cameron’s name, though, it turns out, he had nothing to do with it. It didn’t interest me, but it did have one of my favorite film lines for some time. Still, a waste. *

The Eagle
Uninteresting movie about a young centurion’s attempt to recapture an eagle standard that is the symbol of a Roman legion and his father’s defeat and humiliation. Very weak in characterization and narrative, but strong in emotional manipulation and unconvincing meaningfulness. But what’s new?*

Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Woody Allen film about two friends and their searches for love while in Barcelona. Again, Woody has created a very interesting female character, the woman who only knows what she doesn’t want. Too bad he cast Scarlett Johansen in the role. Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz were excellent. His best film in some time, though not up to his standards of the late 70s. **

The Mechanic
Bad action film vehicle for Jason Statham. Huge narrative lacunae, no real characterization, ordinary action, and high levels of stupidity in dialogue and plot. Only redeeming element was Donald Sutherland’s brief performance, which also highlighted how bad everything else was. *

Tron: Legacy in Disney Digital 3D
Saw this primarily to test the new 3-D technology being hyped. Nothing really wrong with the film, though nothing great about it either, but 3-D in its current state is a giant boondoggle. Most of the film is shot in 2-D, and the glasses needed to see the 3-D are pathetic. On a par with the original in terms of quality, but without anything groundbreaking about it. *

Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1974
First of a trilogy based on the David Peace novels, this is an incredibly powerful film about the search for the Yorkshire ripper and the police corruption that hinders it. Excellent writing, acting, and re-creation of the period. Deeply depressing because of the seemingly-impenetrable mire of corruption, murder, and the grief. One of the best films I’ve seen for some time, even though it was difficult to understand the broad and authentic Yorkshire accents. ****

The Way Back
Marginally-interesting film based on a true account of people who escape the Soviet Gulag during World War II. Everything about the film is done well enough, but I found the author’s reason for his unrelenting push to survive and continue the journey, to relieve his wife of her guilt for betraying him, to be a completely unbelievable self justification. Not quite good enough to avoid being a waste of time. *

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Absolutely beautiful, highly imaginative, and wonderfully delightful film by Terry Gilliam about love, identity, the origins of the world, sacrifice, friendship, redemption, … well all the things that make human existence what it is. Still can’t get Lily Cole’s face out of my mind. To my surprise, I really enjoyed it. ***

Green Hornet
Would be on my list of worst films of the year. Had I known Seth Rogin wrote it, I would have skipped it. Turned an interesting superhero comic into a whiny, unfunny gesture in stupidity. Really bad.

Feast III: The Happy Finish
Slightly better than II, but still not up to I. This one at least has some redeeming female nudity and lesbian sexual overtones, but pretty bad, even for grindhouse, though I think the title is wonderfully ironic. *

Feast II: Sloppy Seconds
Poor sequel to the highly original and entertaining Feast. Plenty of shlock without any of the wit or imagination. Could have missed it. *

The Social Network
Very well written film about Mark Zuckerberg’s creation of Facebook. The dialogue races along and is highly intelligent, but I found a lack of meaningful characterization so I eneded up disliking everyone, which very well may have been the intention. Also, who cares? I guess I’m glad I saw it… **

Dead Space: Downfall
Violent animated film about a cargo spaceship that is transporting an artifact to earth. It is the object of worship to a cult who protect it, even though it turns people into vicious flech-eating mutants. Even with the politico-religious commentary, the graphics and narrative are only average, as I guess is to be expected when a video game is made into a movie. *

Blindness
Interesting and well-acted film of Saramago’s book about a plague of blindness that suddenly affects a huge number of people. They are quarantined into camps, allowing Saramago to discuss relationships of all sorts, sexual politics and oppression, social and political oppression, violence, etc. Much too positive an ending. **

True Grit
Another perfectly executed Coen brother’s film based almost exactly on the Charles Portis novel. Absent the usual very dark humor and irony, it didn’t have quite the power of other of their films. Very good, nonetheless. **

The Tourist
Maybe the worst film of the year. Stunningly bad, and a huge waste of acting talent (that does not include Angelina). Avoid it. *

Antichrist
Bizarre, emotionally raw, nightmarish, beautifully filmed, very personal film where Lars von Trier works out his psycho-sexual complexes. Hard to watch, but kind of interesting. **

The Human Condition
Kobayashi Masaki’s 9.5 hour film about a man trying to live a moral and meaningful life during Japan’s war years. Beautifully filmed, extremely well acted, especially by Nakadai Tatsuya, and brilliantly directed. A stunning cinematic achievement. *****

Skyline
Pretty bad film about aliens who come to earth to steal human brains. Everything about the narrative is poorly done, from the opening sequence that is completely unbelievable, to the stilted and clichéd relationships, to conversations that don’t make sense. Some of the effects are visually interesting, but not nearly good enough to rescue the film. Avoid it. *

Monsters
Outstanding film set six years in the future when a space probe has returned and crash landed infecting most of Mexico with “monsters.” Two people try to get back to the U.S. through the infected zone. Great camera work that creates intimacy and tension, simple, powerful narrative, good acting, good special effects, and a tour de force of film making. Really, really liked it. Check out this clip. ***

Agora
Disappointing historical drama about Hypatia of Alexandria. Though historically pretty accurate, the dialogue is stilted and the science/philosophy discussions are completely lame, even embarrassing. Timely message about questioning and questioning and intolerance, but pretentious and sensationalized. Really too bad. *

RED
Surprisingly delightful spy movie about someone trying to kill former CIA operatives who are Retired but Extremely Dangerous. The plot is thin, but the casting was inspired, and everyone plays their parts perfectly. They even made most of the below-average dialogue acceptable. Really had a good time. **

Far Side of the Moon
Odd, self-indulgent French-Canadian film about a guy’s struggles to become himself. Found him very dislikable, even creepy, and since he was in every scene, not very enjoyable. Same guy acted two parts, directed, and wrote it. Could happily have missed it. *

Resident Evil: Afterlife
Maybe the worst of the series. A lot of slow-motion posing rather than combat, though everybody was buff and tough. Lame plot, if you can even call it that. One I wished I had missed. *

Machete
Absolutely entertaining and enjoyable grindhouse flick from Robert Rodriguez about an ex-Mexican cop who gets involved in cross-border corruption. Tone was perfect, cartoonish violence, female nudity, campy acting, and a hilarious climactic battle. Really had fun. **

The American
Kind of odd spy thriller without any thrills. Clooney plays a contract man who decides to get out because he falls in love with an unbelievably good-looking and sweet hooker. Almost embarrassing dialogue at times, and a very predictable ending. Disappointing. *