Coco Before Chanel

Drew's Thoughts:
My least favorite part of biopics is the first 5-20 minutes where you see the subject before they actually did what he or she is considered important for. Coco Before Chanel's writer/director Anne Fontaine must savor those 5-20 minutes when she watches biopics however, because she made a film entirely about Coco Chanel before she did anything notable. This really is a shame because, considering how much interesting stuff did happen in Chanel's life and that she was a person of more than questionable moral character, I think there would have been a good film here had Fontaine pointed her camera beyond Chanel's "first 5-20 minutes."

Tyson

Drew's Thoughts:
Mike Tyson is weird. But he's a weird human being. At least that's what I got from James Toback's (Bugsy) humanizing documentary. The film, consisting mostly of Tyson's rambling, near-gibberish, retelling of his life, reveals that Tyson, while strange, has some good qualities. My image of Tyson growing up was mainly a crazy person who bit off pieces of Evander Holyfield's ears. That image still holds somewhat true but what I didn't realize is that Mike Tyson was one of the greatest boxers to ever fight. He was an immensely talented athlete, coming from a really rough childhood, who quickly clawed to the top of the world and completely self-destructed, and was never able to recover the lost ground. Tyson is an interesting entry into the Dolphin Doc race.

Precious

Colleen's Thoughts:
This movie has been difficult for me to process. My English professor sent us a NY Times article where critical race scholars were going back and forth on the merit of this film. Not being from a black community or a poor community for that matter, I have little background in how I should place this movie.
I talked to my friend Reva who really enjoyed the film. She said she felt like it was an updated version of “The Color Purple” and many other critics agree with her. I also thought she made an interesting point. She said that looking at everything that happens to Precious may make the movie unbelievable for some, but she prefers to see the character Precious as a pastiche, who embodies the plight of many black women.
Do I think that this movie is as great as so many other critics? No. Do I think it is incredibly original and will blow people’s minds? Not really. Do I think it raises interesting questions and gets people to talk about race? Yes. All and all the buzz Precious has accrued is far more interesting than the movie itself. It is a typical American tale in which someone against all odds finds a way to overcome. However, incest, obesity, HIV, and domestic violence are not mainstays of this genre.
For everything this movie had going against it: Mariah Carey, Lenny Kravitz and a nod from Oprah and Tyler Perry I thought Precious, against all odds, was fine.

Drew's Thoughts:
With everything I heard about this movie, I fought hard to keep an open mind going in and I came out with the film being a little better than I anticipated.
I thought it was a decent movie with the strengths (Gabby Sidibe's performance as the title character and the screenplay) usually overcoming the often poor direction by Lee Daniels. I liked the character of Precious, I thought she was developed pretty well through some funny, well-written interior monologue and the expressive cadence that Sidibe used for the film. She certainly gave the best performance in the movie though the supporting cast is generally decent if sometimes lacking subtlety.
I was, however, underwhelmed by comedian Mo'Nique's performance who has been picking up Best Supporting Actress awards left and right. It's a decent performance, not bad, but I didn't feel like she added anything special to the character she was given. I feel you could have gotten any large, African-American actress who fit the profile and told her to shout every line of dialogue and you would have ended up with roughly the same performance. There isn't much nuance there.
A side note, there were times when Mo'Nique's verbal, and sometimes physical, abuse seemed somewhat comic or cartoonish to me. Maybe I'm just a terrible heartless person (though I definitely felt for Precious so I don't think this is the case) but I found myself laughing a few times and I'm confused whether that was supposed be intentional or not. Because if it is intentional it was a bad decision and if it wasn't it's a fault in execution.
Back to Mo'Nique though, she's a bit better in the final scene, which I found to be similar to Viola Davis's scene in Doubt last year (crying black mothers discussing the difficult, questionable choices of their parenthood,) but where Davis was electrifying and affecting, Mo'Nique is merely serviceable at delivering the interesting dialogue she is given. She definitely doesn't do anything extraordinary with it the way Davis did, and Davis only had one scene to establish herself and develop her character!
Overall though, I was invested in the story and Sidibe's performance as Precious, and I do think it's great that a film like this has been fairly successful in the mainstream. Also, unlike the other recent film about the life of struggling black youth, Precious gives its character a voice instead of Sandra Bullock to speak on its behalf which is definitely worthy of respect whether you care for the movie or not.

The Informant!

Drew's Thoughts:
Though I once had an aquaintance earnestly, and without a trace of irony, assert that Ocean's 11 is Steven Soderbergh's masterpiece and his immortalizing entry into the cinematic history books, I think it's safe to say The Informant! is Steven Soderbergh's best movie since Erin Brockovich and really his best movie period (though I haven't yet seen Out of Sight or The Limey.)
Sporting a hairpiece and a bitchin' mustache, Matt Damon's performance as Mark Whitacre (his best as well) is the bedrock on which the film is built. Damon is a talented actor but takes too many straight man roles in my opinion, but here given plenty of freedom with this character he goes for broke. He plays a total moron but a believable moron. He garners the audience's sympathy and its scorn in all the right places.
Soderbergh, under his cinematographer alter-ego Peter Andrews, bathes the film in the amazing glow of a early 90s occupational training video, situating the film and the characters' mentalities permanately in that epoch in history. Scott Z. Burns's screenplay, adapted from Kurt Eichenwald's book from which the film takes its name, introduces the film with a titlecard stating that what happens in the film is mainly true. Similar to Fargo, how I understand it is that the events are true but the filmmakers give themselves plenty of room to create the characters though they're based on real people. That was definitely a smart choice as Mark Whitacre's idiot/savant buffoonery would come off as purely incomprehensible if played with a strictly serious tone. Whitacre's character arc is really unexpected but well-written, eliciting the gamut of emotion from the audience towards Whitacre.
It was another wise move of Soderbergh's to surround Damon with various character actors whose faces you'll recognize but whose names you will probably not know. Tony Hale (Arrested Development) is particularly great in a brief role.
It's not nearly good enough to be among the five best of the year but it looks solid on Best Actor and Adapted Screenplay noms.

Colleen's Thoughts:
My one word review of this movie is “mediocre.” However, having now spoken my peace, I will say that it had some rather interesting less mediocre aspects to it. As Drew pointed out Matt Damon really carries this movie but he is nowhere near someone like say P.S. Hoffman. Also, the cinematography and set design really do a lot for the mood and atmosphere of the film. I think Melanie Lynskey who portrays Ginger Whitacre has a good shot at getting a supporting actress nom at the Colleen’s. All an all an enjoyable film but nothing too memorable.

Terribly Happy

Drew's Thoughts:
I heard many awesome things regarding Denmark's entry into the Oscar foreign film race this year including comparisons to David Lynch, Hitchcock and the Coen Bros. in thriller mode. Furthermore, the filmmaker Henrik Ruben Genz discussed how the film was conceived to be a modern day western which you know gets me excited.
All those things are true, and Terribly Happy (Frygtelig Lykkelig in Danish) is a pretty good movie. It chronicles a Copenhagen police officer's transfer to a small Danish village after a brief stay in a mental hospital. The officer enters the village, replacing its former marshal, intending to be strict and by-the-book so he can be transferred back to Copenhagen as quickly as possible but, as you might expect, some things go awry. Supposedly some of the events in the film are based on happenings in the small village that the filmmaker and his friend, who wrote the novel Terribly Happy is based on, grew up in.
The film features a good score by Kåre Bjerkø, and some good camerawork as well. It's a solid contender for Foreign Film Dolphin nom and maybe another thing or two.

Harry Brown

Drew's Thoughts:
Ever wanted to see Michael Caine play Dirty Harry? Well now you can. Harry Brown takes the same basic premise of Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino and manages, unlike that movie, to not totally suck balls.
It's not any more subtle or accurate than Gran Torino but it's actually a pretty well made movie, tightly edited/fast paced (the film flies by in what feels like a half-hour) and is also quite violent and bleak.
Instead of puttering around barking inane racist/sexist/classist/homophobic comments as Eastwood loved doing in Torino (you know he did), Caine gives a good performance of as an elderly man not without morality, but pushed to a point where he starts administering his own justice a.k.a. violence on the young criminals causing the deterioration of his neighborhood. Who knew Alfred wanted to be a dark knight so badly?
This film isn't great and probably isn't even good, but it's a testament to what a pulpy story, a great actor and sharp filmmaking prowess can achieve. Plus, there's also some awesome chav accents.