The Fall

Donna Kenny's Thoughts:
The Fall is a story that takes place in a 1915 Los Angeles hospital. Alexandria is a nine year old immigrant girl recovering from a fall. She befriends bedridden Roy Walker a stuntman also recovering from a fall and the loss of his most recent lover.
Roy creates a story to tell Alexandria involving five heroes who are all out to avenge the wrongs by the powerful Governor Odeus. Roy’s imaginative story interweaves Alexandria’s acquaintances at the hospital in order to peak her interest. In order to continue his epic tale, Roy asks Alexandria for a favor.
One would think after viewing this awe-inspiring cinematography that the Indian born director Tarsem used CGI. However, the shooting for this film took place in over 20 locations around the world over a four year period. Tarsem’s film is breathtakingly imaginative. However at times the pacing drags and as one reviewer states “the story is far too thin for adults and far too dark for kids”.
Alexandria played by Romanian Catinca Untaru outshines the acting of Roy Walker played by Lee Pace. Catinca’s English lessons beginning at age four has served her well. Her favorite parts of filming were the costumes and I would have to agree. The costumes were designed by Academy Award winner Eiko Ishioka. Her Oscar was awarded in 1993 for the movie Dracula.

Drew Dahle's Thoughts:
I don’t have much to add, Donna’s thoughts sum things up pretty well, but I felt I should chime in on how beautiful this movie looks. This picture is one of those rare instances where I don’t feel like the screenplay or the acting or the picture as a whole are of the best five of the year but the direction feels like some of the best of the year. The fact that Tarsem Singh not only had the vision but managed to put this whole thing together through such extraordinary means shows a staggering dedication to his work and his vision. He is a man of obvious talent.
Of course the technical elements of this are pretty much flawless, fantastic cinematography by Colin Watkinson (so many shots could just be photographs on your wall) and incredibly beautiful art direction. The costumes were colorful and interesting as well. Very much a visual feast.
The screenplay, while having some problems, did function in an interesting way, considering and evoking (or mirroring) the way people tell stories. I thought that was an interesting subject/concept to explore despite the screenplay not being astonishing on its own.

The Hurt Locker

Drew's Thoughts:
Director Kathryn Bigelow should probably get some special prize for making the first good film about the US's misadventures in the Middle East this past decade. After so many failures I doubted it was even possible until a good 10 or 15 years from now. That said, The Hurt Locker is good movie not a great one. Though it still manages to be one of the better war pictures I've seen, nowhere close to Paths of Glory or The Deer Hunter but still leaps and bounds above the usual Windtalkers/We Were Soldiers fare.
The story focuses on a small team focused on disarming I.E.D.s a.k.a. bombs. After the previous team leader dies, Jeremy Renner (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford) joins as the new leader. Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty play the other two soldiers on the team. The acting in the film is generally pretty good, Renner suits his character embodying a thirst for the madness of war and a put-on informality. Anthony Mackie is nicely understated, finding working with Renner a constant source of frustration. Guy Pearce is also great in his much-too-small role.
The Hurt Locker mostly avoids politics, wisely I think. The film becomes a matter of experience instead of an agenda; furthermore, it deals with the madness of war without being satirical. Renner’s character is talented at his work but far too unprofessional in the wake of such serious circumstances, which continually discomforts Mackie’s character. What’s interesting though, is one doesn’t really get a sense if war has changed Renner into a madman or if he’s there because of a desire for, or addiction to, danger that existed far before he joined the military.
Bigelow's real talent exhibited in the film is her masterful control of intensity. What’s great about The Hurt Locker is the characters don’t necessary act like they’re in extraordinary situations. Even though nearly everyday they’re on the brink of death, it becomes routine. Bigelow and the actors create a sense of naturalness, everydayness, in the midst of terrifying situations. When Renner has difficulty disarming a bomb he expresses his frustration in a fit of swearing, the way someone might if they lock their keys in their car. The important thing is Bigelow never goes too far to show this naturalness. It just is.
In spite of this acclimation to danger, the soldiers are scared and Bigelow directs each military operation with an engaging and tightly wound tenseness—rattling the viewer by a slow application of pressure rather than loud explosions.
The film is at its weakest when it’s not focusing on military operations. A subplot involving one of the soldiers and a military psychiatrist (played by Christian Camargo, who is seriously the bastard child of James Woods and Marc Anthony) is pretty worthless and unnecessary but fortunately only amounts to two short scenes. Furthermore, there's a sequence later in the film that intends to develop Renner's character's hysteria but it ends up pushing the limits of believability that the film did such a good job creating elsewhere.
This year looks to be a fairly weak one cinematically and though it’s far from classic material, The Hurt Locker is a good, worthwhile picture and I imagine it could be one of the main contenders for the Dolphins, at least in the technical and director categories.

Donna's Thoughts:
Before watching this film I didn’t know what the title meant. I now know that sergeants on duty in Iraq speak of explosions as sending you to the “hurt locker”. Sergeant William James played by Jeremy Renner, Sergeant Jt Sanborn played by Anthony Mackie and Sergeant Owen Eldridge played by Ben Geraghty are a team assigned to the Explosive Ordinance Disposal (E.O.D.) Jeremy is the staff sergeant and plays the role extremely well. In 2005 he starred in Neo Ned which received many awards at festivals. His performance in Hurt Locker makes me want to look Neo Ned up. He also starred in The Assas. of Jesse James riding along Affleck and Pitt. I believe he could be nominated for an academy but the subject of the film doesn’t lend itself to a wide audience.
The screen writer Mark Boal was inspired by real events. Watching Sergeant William James remove a bomb purposely placed in a dead body of a boy, a friend who would ask him to play soccer made me look away from the screen.
Anthony Mackie’s performance was okay. Being trained at the Julliard School of Drama and acting in 8 Mile and Million Dollar Baby. I judge his performance in Hurt Locker as mediocre. He was outshined by Ben Geraghty who starred in Bobby a few years back. Ben‘s character is a sergeant not liking being a part of Sergeant William James’ life.
The film has a good beginning. I especially liked the part of a single suicidal bomber who has changed his mind and begs Sergeant William James to dismantle the bomb. The bomb has several padlocks attached to a metal frame around the man’s body and of a course time is running out.
There is some footage of the mother of Sergeant William James’s baby back home that I feel adds another dimension to the story. I would recommend the film, however, many of my friends don’t have the stomach for real war.

Joe's Thoughts:
I was very excited to see the Hurt Locker after my man Colbert kindly invited director/producer Kathryn Bigelow onto his show, in which she discussed her new film, "The Hurt Locker". The film opens with the discussion of how sometimes war can be used as a drug by the soldiers who take part in it. The film does a great job of taking one story and proving its point. But what i really appriciate about this film is that its not trying to make a statement about the iraq war, which i thought it might, it simply focuses on it's story at hand. Which revolves around a young man who needs danger and loves the idea of having many lifes including his own in one hand, and a ticking time bomb in the other.
The film keeps you totally on edge the entire film, as it goes from one adrenline rush to another, which i think is another great tool used by the film. As the lead character is going from one needed rush to another, the audience is as well. Which leads to the movie getting its message across. But what the movie also does really well is showing how this addiction does not mean this characer is evil, as we see him getting the caprie sun and having fun with the dvd kid, Even though this man was putting so many people at risk for a selfish need he was a caring a loving character and not one dementional at all. And its hard to hate him beucase while he is taking uneeded risks, he is diffusing bombs and in a way saving lifes.
The direction from Bigelow is impressive as we defentily feel like all the soldiers who surround the crazy lead, and the script is pretty good as well. I was also really impressed with the acting from three members: Jeremy Renner, gives a great preformence as the big headed sarg who needs his war fix, he was perfect for the role and may get some dolphin love. The African American Anthony Mackie was also very good at playing the frightened but strong soldier, look for him at the joes in the supporting actor category. And of course our beloved Guy Pearce puts on a show, but then dies in two minutes, one may think the movie might go on a downward spiral with the death of guy but thankfully this isnt the case.
With all this praise there is however one big flaw within this film, as before mentioned the movie goes from one adrenline rush to another as its trying to make its statement clear, but to me it almost makes its statement too clear, as the movie beings to get somewhat repetative, there are variation to some of the bomb defusing scenes, and there is the sniper scene and the scene in the back allies in the dark, but to me still to much repetition keeps the film from being very great, but still is a very very solid film.

Nothing but the Truth

Drew's Thoughts:
Filmmaker Rod Lurie (The Contender) is back in political thriller mode with Nothing but the Truth. The film is fictional but based on real events regarding a journalist publishing an article leaking the identity of a CIA operative. After the article is published the reporter, upon refusing to reveal her source, is jailed for aiding a criminal in a matter of national security.
I wasn't sure how the film was going to turn out going in but the film ended up being pretty good. Nothing but the Truth doesn't have the powerhouse cast of The Contender, which had great performances by Joan Allen, Jeff Bridges and particularly Gary Oldman, which limits the overall potential of the film. Nevertheless, the script is pretty solid and engaging throughout and the cast turns in a decent, though far from extraordinary, performance. The central performance by Joe and Phil nominee, Kate Beckinsale, is about as good as her limited talents allow her to be and Alan Alda's vain attorney is probably my favorite performance of the bunch. Vera Farmiga, one of the worst things about The Departed, is miscast though; she's given a character with loads of tough talking dialogue and she can never really sell it. Despite all the swearing she does, you can never actually feel the ferocity that's supposed to be there.
The film plays out like a pseudo-mystery with the continuing question being who was the source of the leak in the first place. When it is finally revealed it left me thinking, confused, which is one of the better compliments I can pay the film. I'm still not sure how I feel about the plausibility of it, but regardless of that once you know who the source is, it causes you to totally reevaluate all of Beckinsale's actions and wonder if it was really a matter of principle after all, and who was it that she tried so hard to protect, the source or herself.

Donna's Thoughts:
I’m not going to give much time to review this film as it was a 2008 drama film that never made it to theatrical release because the Yari Film Group filed for Chapter 11 protection. I was intrigued by the inspiration behind the screenplay, Judith Miller. She was jailed for contempt of court keeping secret the person who revealed a CIA agent. Kate Beckinsale’s performance as Judith is good but Vera Farmiga, the CIA agent, outshines Kate. The ending was surprise. I didn’t put the clues together but does that surprise any of you? The middle drags on as days go by in jail. Since it won’t be up for any nominations, I’ll quit here.

Up

Joe's Thoughts:
“Up”- Made Me Want to Throw “UP”

I’m just kidding, as much as id love to follow in the footsteps of president drew dahles attempts to take reviews on pixar films to an all time minimal, I feel being this my first review of the year I owe our dear readers a great deal more. So here we go. Pixar scorched the silver screen with its debut film Toy Story, which was released in 1995. It depicted the lives of living toys that belonged to a boy named Andy. Before this film was released I felt the same way as director John Lasseter did, that when I indeed shut the door to my room to attend beockman creek primary my toys magically came to life, and as my sister has admitted to feeling the same way I think its safe to assume the majority of people with toys gave them some sort of life. And what happened when they came alive, each toy had a specific personality that somewhat related to who they were. This led to a great tale in which Lasseter utilizes every aspect of every toy, be it size or shape. He takes us into a new world in which we all had been to before, and puts a creative spin on it. Another terrific Pixar movie is one entitled Monsters Incorporated. Now, we all know monsters live in our closets or under our beds, and when the lights go out they groan and moan with lanky teeth and sharp claws in an effort to make us scream. What we didn’t know is why these monsters haunted us into the late evenings of our youth. Thankfully in 2001 pixar explained to us that monsters put us through agonizing pain simply because these monsters needed us to power their buildings and cars and houses. Director Pete Docter (who also directs UP) takes us into a new world in which we all had been to before, and puts a creative spin on it. And we all believe in super heroes, but what do they do at home? Or when the run out of steam? Luckily director Brad Bird introduced us to the domestic life of super heroes in his film The Incredibles. We see elasti-girl station ally vacuuming the entire house, while the Mr. Incredible lifts the couch with one hand. It’s a world we’d already been to, but with a new creative spin. That is when Pixar is at its best. When it takes hold of common old ideas, and brings creative life to them. UP does not do that. The story follows an old man who loses his wife, and when near certain eviction, he hatches a scheme in which millions of balloons turn his house into a flying boat. While this idea is clever, not much comes of it, or at least director/co-writer Docter chooses not to make much of it. Instead his main character lands on an unknown island with a child companion, where they find this magic bird thing that is being hunted, and of course the kid grows to love it and wants to save it. Where was this in my childhood? Or everyone else’s childhood? This wasn’t something that haunted me or took up my afternoons. Without much of a story the laughs for the movie have to rely on one-liners normally delivered by the kid, and they are disastrous. For example, he asks the old man if he should dig a hole before or after he takes a shit, only to reply it was suppose to be before. These awful jokes spew for the kid’s mouth the entire movie. The one clever thing, besides the flying house, was the invention of the device, which allowed dogs to speak. This creative idea had much potential only to prove to be minimal as many stereotypical dog ideas where used, which in turn led to an original idea becoming unoriginal. One can simply guess how exactly the story will end, I would say a half hour into the movie. There are however two things in which I thought were great aspects of the film. The score, though played a billion times, was memorable and maybe if it’s a weak year could be up for a nomination. And the best part of the movie was the cute relationship between the main character and his wife. Near the beginning of the film there’s essentially a 15-minute silent film that documents their lives together, and its really good and promising, and then she craps out and dies, killing the best part of the movie, and essentially murdering the movie all together. When is pixar going to get back to its old ways, in which it takes ideas we all cherished when young, and puts new and creative ideas into them, maybe next summer with Toy Story 3? I guess if I had to I would give UP a D+.

Donna's Thoughts:
Pixar Animation Studios released Up in May of 2009. This story about a grumpy old man named Carl Fredrickson and an overeager wilderness explorer, Russell reminded me of my life in the past and possibly in the future. Ellie, Carl’s wife has a dream about moving to Paradise Falls in South America. Of course many obstacles come in the way of her dream. I can certainly see this. We’re safer in doing “what is right” rather than take a risk to fulfill a dream. Ellie passes away never reaching Paradise Falls. I certainly relate to Ellie seeing myself doing “what is right” and being stuck in the suburbs the rest of my life. Carl isn’t in too much of a predicament. The city is growing around his house and he is unwilling to sell. I don’t see the city of Portland surrounding my house, so Carl should have looked at the bright side. As Shady Oaks Retirement Home sends their greeters to kidnap Carl after an angry mishap, he launches his house into the air with thousands of helium balloons. This is extraordinary, but when they come to hall me off to Shady Oaks, I won’t go willingly. (take note children)
I really enjoy Russell the wilderness explorer. I had a student that epitomizes his character. He is trying to find a way to get his merit badge for “assisting the elderly.” No one considers themselves as “elderly”. I know I never will! It’s a difficult badge to fulfill.
The story then enters a hard to believe point. An antagonist, Charles Muntz, is looking for the “flight less bird”. On their way to Paradise Falls Russell attracts the flight less bird with his candy droppings. Russell reminds me of Jack Black in Tropic Thunder. He just uses a different “candy”. The whole charades of Muntz, the unique bird and his dog pack is only entertaining to dog lovers, but I’m in the minority with dogs. I can see why Pixar went that direction. There are sentimental parts like when Carl looks at the empty journal pages behind Paradise Falls, when Russell returns Kevin to her chicks (the name Russell gives the flight less bird is Kevin which is a typical choice for a 10 year old boy), and of course when Carl takes the place of Russell’s father at the boy scout ceremony pinning the grape soda cap on Russell which earlier in the movie was pinned on Carl by Ellie. I laughed, had tears in my eyes and smiled throughout the movie and the best part is, it whisked me away from reality for 90 minutes.

Drew's Thoughts:
Joe's comment that when the wife dies the movie is murdered was hilarious but also somewhat of an overstatement. I think what amounts to roughly the first half hour of Up is a pretty good movie. The old guy and his wife make a cute couple and they are pretty enjoyable to watch; even after the guy is living by himself, the movie is still kinda funny. I laughed when the old man tells the business man, who looks like one of the agents from The Matrix, to "cut your hair, hippie!" or something like that. The score is pretty good too as Joe mentioned.
So anyway, I liked the first half hour of the movie but then Up self-destructs so immediately and so thoroughly it erased most of the goodwill it had already earned. Once the house lands in Paradise Falls the plot, jokes and characters wear thin instantly. And I'm not sure why we're supposed to care about that fat Asian kid/dumbass or find him to be anything but grating.
The movie starts out heartfelt with some emotional depth, something the viewer can connect with but devolves into unfunny jokes and unexciting action sequences, and any time the film refers back to the emotional moments it chokes on all the surrounding stupidity. I wish Pete Docter would have had the balls to make the whole movie with the same tone as first half hour because I think he would have ended up with a pretty good piece of work.
Still, even with its problems its a vast improvement over Ratatouille and WALL-E. Each year I face a choice on whether to give the new Pixar movie a shot (cause after all they gave me Toy Story and A Bug's Life) and I thought I was at the end of my rope this year but Up gave me just enough good stuff to not give up just yet. I guess I'll wait until Toy Story 3 to see if it's time to start ignoring Pixar altogether.

The 2010 Donnas

Best Picture

The Fighter

Social Network

I Love You Philip Morris

Conviction

Animal Kingdom

Best Actor

Jesse Esinberg Social Network

Jim Carrey Phillip Morris

Jay Baruchel – The Trotsky

Edgar Rameriz Carlos

Mark Wahlberg Fighter

Best Actress

Anette Benning - The Kids Are Alright

Jenny Lawrence - Winters Bone

Hillary Swank - Conviction

Emma Stone - Easy “A”

Natalie Portman – Black Swan

Best Director

Christopher Nolan - Inception

David O’Russell - The Fighter

Ben Afleck - The Town

Animal Kingdom – David Michod

Lee Unkirk - Toy Story 3

Best Supporting Actor

Christian Bale The Fighter

Evil Dude Animal Kingdom

Ewan McGregor Philip Morris

Sam Rockwell Conviction

Jeremy Renner The Town

Best Supporting Actress

Jackie Weaver – Animal Kingdom

Helena Bonahm-Carter King’s Speech

Amy Adams - The Fighter

Melissa Leo - The Fighter

Rebecca Hall – The Town

Original Screen Play

The Fighter

Inception

Conviction

Animal Kingdom

Toy Story 3

Adapted Screen Play

Philip Morris

Social Network

Shutter Island

The Town

Winters Bone

Cinematography

That Evening Sun

The Kids Are Alright

Social Network

Shutter Island

Winter’s Bone

Editing

Toy Story 3

The Fighter

Social Network

Animal Kingdom

Inception

Art Direction

The Fighter

Inception

Toy Story 3

Animal Kingdom

Social network

Costume

The Kings Speech

Shutter Island

Easy A

Inception

The Fighter

Documentary

Mormon Proposal

Mugabe and the

Exit Through the Gift Shop

Animated

Toy Story 3

Tangled

Megamind

Tangled

Book of Kells

Sound

Inception

The Town

Animal Kingdom

Shutter Island

The Fighter

Score

Animal Kingdom

I Love You Philip Morris

Inception

Social Network

Toy Story 3

Make-up

127 Hours

Conviction

The Fighter

Colleen's Thoughts:

I was greatly anticpating the announcements of the Donnas this year. I know she has been on top of seeing everything and takes her nominating very seriously so I was excited to see which movies would come out on top. I guessed that Conviction would make a strong showing as mom loves incredible true stories (Although, they have to be good; they can't be the boring 127 hours variety).

I know she liked it but I was slightly surprised to see Animal Kingdom nominated for best picture. Another surprise was Natalie Portman getting a best picture nom. Her one word reveiw of the film to me after she saw it was, "Bad!" I'm guessing Joe may have had something to do with the Helena and Natalie noms as they weren't particularly strong performances but made appearances at the Joe's. I burst out laughing on a break from work, reading the Dolphins and had to try and contain myself when I saw the nom for "Evil Dude." Classic. I was also glad mom didn't seem to forget about movies, Easy A got a few noms and That Evening Sun picked up a cinematog nom.

All and all I am looking very forward to the announcement of the Donna's this year.