Life During Wartime

Drew's Thoughts:
Todd Solondz's latest film is an odd one for a number or reasons, not least of which is that it's a sequel to 1998's Happiness that he entirely re-casted with different actors. Apparently, Solondz wanted to see what different actors would bring to the characters; it's a risky move but it works and the film feels coherent with Happiness while also offering a fresh, more-or-less stand alone film for those unfamiliar with Solondz's previous work.
Solondz is known for challenging his audience with uncomfortable topics and this film is no different. Life During Wartime is a much funnier film than Happiness (it won best screenplay at the Venice Film Festival last year) and doesn't shred your nerves as much. Those who haven't seen Happiness will have to be patient and observant as Solondz does fill in all necessary back story but never in an overly expository, this-is-everything-that-happened way. The film is entirely character-driven and I think the cast, including Michael K. Williams (Omar from The Wire), Ally Sheedy (The Breakfast Club) and Ciaran Hinds (There Will Be Blood, Margot at the Wedding), did a uniformly good job with Paul Reubens and Allison Janney giving my favorite two performances.
There are a lot themes going on in the film: forgiveness, memory, masculinity, normalcy, guilt and responsibility (among many others) with Solondz using some of the tactics Colleen discusses in her Mrs. Dalloway thesis such as shared language and heteroglossia. Solondz seems to be particularly interested in our current time and place as both the "war" on "terror" and the internet now consistently permeate the characters' lives. I won't get into them here but there are many dilemmas here, Donna should be all over this!
Though overall I prefer this film to Happiness, there was nothing in it that matched Dylan Baker's incredible performance as Bill in the first film. Leaving me to ponder is it better to make a mixed film with an unforgettable, stand-out performance or a better film without one? I guess Solondz just side-stepped the question by making both.

Cyrus

Drew's Thoughts:
Cyrus is the third feature from the Duplass brothers, following The Puffy Chair much-lauded-by-Joe and the unfortunately Dolphin-nominated Baghead. It's no secret that I didn't care much for The Puffy Chair or Baghead but I liked Cyrus. With this film, the Duplass brothers benefit immensely from having a quality cast at their disposal including John C. Reilly, Marisa Tomei, Catherine Keener and, in a rare bit of thoughtful acting, Jonah Hill.
The film is simple. Reilly and Tomei meet at a party and hit it off and then Reilly meets her creepily obsessive son (whom Tomei creepily enables as Colleen rightly pointed out after the film) and we watch what unfolds. The film is refreshingly mellow, it doesn't devolve into an escalating war of hi-jinx between Reilly and Hill as it could have and the characters are much more well-developed than the previous Duplass films. This is due to both the performances and a script that makes even the ridiculous characters pretty believable.
The film is pretty funny too, with master craftsman Reilly, and his numerous interactions with Hill, garnering the most laughs in the theater. The cast has a good chemistry and the small amount of characters in film allows the central trio of Reilly, Tomei and Hill a lot space to develop their relationship. I'd say the actors' work is really the strong point of the movie, and though things will most likely change by the end of the year, at this point all the actors are in the running for some love at the Drews.
I still don't care for the Duplass' directorial style (they gotta take their finger off of the zoom control!) but they've done good work directing the actors and I'd say Cyrus is enjoyable and a modest but
definite success.

Colleen's Thoughts:
For the most part, I would agree with Drew. I would say a moderate success is an adequate description of Cyrus. It was nice to see Marissa Tomei out of her typecast role as slutty/stripper/skank. All of the performances were enjoyable and the movie was cast impeccably. (I also applaud whoever was doing the outfitting /costuming). It was also nice that the movie didn’t devolve into a kooky comedy about Reilly and Hill pulling pranks non-stop. I thought it was a sweet entertaining movie. However, I would say that Tomei's character should be reamed more in the movie for her own terrible parenting skills. The movie had hints of what made Puffy Chair so special. For example, I like the whole running shoes bit. However, it was missing a little bit of the originality that set Puffy Chair apart from other movies. (For example the one person per hotel room bit that was oh-so-Kenny). I thought it was a cute movie that will appeal to a wide audience. I am looking forward to the next Duplass film which I hope will stay the course and not feel too “inde” but have a little more of the Puffy Chair flair.

Shutter Island

Drew's Thoughts:
It's not often you get a Scorsese movie within the first two months of a new year and I was justifiably concerned. February, the month in which this was released, is notorious as a dumping ground for studios to unload their crappiest productions since the heat of Oscar season is still on and a lot of people are just going to see Oscar movies anyway. As things turned out Shutter Island is a decent film so its release was more of a money-making strategy to be a big fish in a small pond of crappy fish.
Shutter Island is one of those twisty thrillers (like The Sixth Sense and all the other M. Night Shyamalan flicks) and the downside is that the film definitely doesn't transcend its genre or do anything especially interesting with it. However, Marty is behind the camera making the film about as good as can be within the genre limitations.
The film centers on Leonardo Dicaprio as a Federal Marshall investigating a mysterious asylum for the criminally insane on an isolated island along the northeastern seaboard and when Leo arrives he finds that something strange is going on. The less I tell you about the plot, the more fun it will be so I'll leave it there.
It's probably a good 20 minutes too long, but it was pretty fun to watch even with the obligatory "unexpected" final twist. (For once, I just want the twist to be that there isn't a twist!)
There's solid work by a strong cast, Leo D. and Ruffalo were good and Jackie Earle Haley (Little Children) and the always welcome presence of Patricia Clarkson (Good Night and Good Luck.) were fun in their single scenes, but the script doesn't provide a lot for the cast to really sink their teeth into.
The art direction was good, if a little overly CGI'd, and it could potentially make it to the Dolphin ceremony next year depending on what competition materializes. I also liked the score which has a cold, hard and very sinister presence.
This is no Raging Bull (obviously!) or even The Aviator, but it's more or less the quality level of The Departed, though Departed has some great scenes intermingled with some pretty bad ones and Shutter Island just maintains being pretty good throughout. I did enjoy it more than Cape Fear, Scorsese's other genre thriller, which may be the most apt comparison.
All in all though, Shutter Island is a slick mainstream thriller that benefits from actual craftsmanship and care behind the camera.

Colleen's Thoughts:
Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island has the stamp of entertaining approval from this Kenny. While the movie was no Taxi Driver or even Aviator (as Drew mentioned) it was entertaining and, I felt, well directed. I would like to watch the film again now knowing the twist to see what details I can pull out or see the clues I should have seen before. I am not that great at guessing twists so this one, of course, got me. It was plain to see beginning to end that the movie had a heavy dose of suspenseful psycho-thriller Hitchcock influence which, for the most part, served Marty well. The cinematography and art direction are worth remembering for this Dolphin Season. While I did thoroughly enjoy this film sometimes I can’t stop myself from wishing Marty would return to his 70s and 80s style and throw a bit more grit on the screen.