Reviews by Matt

Almost forgot:


I make a lot of movie recommendations. It just comes with the territory of being know as the movie guy. I do not get many movies recommended to me, so when I do I take it seriously. A few weeks ago, a friend of mine, told me I had to see “The Town.” I had that Friday free so I took her recommendation.

“The Town” takes place in Charlestown Mass. It is known for its high occurrence of bank robberies. Doug MacRay (Ben Affleck) is a man who makes his living doing just that—robbing banks. During one such robbery, he and crew take Claire (Rebecca Hall) hostage. After they let her go, Doug keeps an eye on her to make sure that she doesn’t know anything that could get them caught. He “bumps into” her one day and they strike up a relationship. When Doug’s best friend James (Jeremy Renner) discovers the relationship he confronts Doug and the relationship between the two friends becomes strained.
Meanwhile FBI Special Agent Adam Frawley (Jon Hamm) is determined to catch them and hopes that Claire can give him anything to use to catch them.

For a long time Ben Affleck Hollywood’s whipping boy. I even used him in an April Fool’s article for the school paper. In the past few years he has been anything but that. He made is directorial debut with “Gone Baby Gone” a few years ago. It got nominated for a few Oscars and Ben was back in the good graces of Hollywood. Now he is back as writer, director and this time, star of “The Town.” Affleck gives a really good performance here. He shows that he is a great actor and those movies he made for a few years were just flukes.

There is a lot to like about this movie. Renner and Hamm deliver some pretty good performances too. Even Blake Lively (of “Gossip Girl” fame) is actually impressive. All around, the movie is strong. There are some pretty intense car chases and the final robbery takes place in an unlikely and iconic Boston setting.
It would appear my friends don’t have such bad taste in movies. I will take future recommendations with a grin of salt though because my friend also told me she was going to watch “Twilight” that night too.

8 out of 10
Rated R for strong violence, pervasive language, some sexuality and drug use
125 min

Some of the best stories to make movies out of are those that showcase the resiliency of the human spirit. When all the chips are down and there is no hope, it is amazing at what we will do to survive.

“127 Hours” is based on the real life events of Aaron Ralston who spent five days trapped with his arm beneath a bolder. Ralston (James Franco) is a man who craves adventure. One day he sets out on a hike in a canyon near Motab, Utah. He tells no one where is his going and no one really knows when to expect him back. When he slips and gets his arm pinned beneath a bolder and a rock wall, he must do whatever he can to get free and get out alive.

Wow. Plain and simple. Wow. This is a movie that stays with you. It was simply amazing. Sometimes when I say things like that I worry that I might be overselling the movie. Not this time. I absolutely love this movie on so many levels.

James Franco delivers an Oscar worthy performance. When Ralston is trapped he has nothing but time to think. He thinks about how to escape, he thinks about what he should have done differently, what items he should have brought with him and he thinks about his life—the things he has done, what he should have done and what he has yet to do. It is in these moments of reflection that Franco shines. He does carry the movie and there is such a wide range of emotions he has to go through that it is important to have an actor of Franco’s talents in this role.

SPOILERS FOR REAL LIFE.

If you followed the story, you know that Ralston had to cut off his own arm to get free. This scene is brutal, but not as graphic as it could have been. For me the only time I cringed was when he broke his arm. That sound still makes me cringe. The actual cutting, you never see. I think what is making people faint and feel sick is the implied action. If you know the story, you know what he is doing. This is the mark of a great movie. What you envision is worse that what you could ever be shown.

END SPOILERS

Director Danny Boyle does a stellar job of showing the isolation and desperation of Ralston’s situation. Boyle is a director who keeps changing. He got a lot of clout with “Slumdog Millionaire.” He could have made any movie he wanted and he chose this. As far as I am concerned, this man can do no wrong. He is a master storyteller and I am looking forward to what he has next on his to do list.

See this movie. It is worth it. I love this movie. Plain and simple, it is an amazing movie. Franco is fantastic and carries the movie like no one else could. Boyle adds another notch to his directing bedpost and should get a nomination for his direction in this movie. I recently (just two posts down) reviewed “Buried” which was about a man trapped in a box. Now I have the chance to do another review about a man trapped. This time though I left speechless and not because I wanted more, but because I was truly at a loss for words.

10 out of 10
Rated R for language and some disturbing violent content/bloody images
93 minutes

This one is going to be short and sweet for two reasons. The first being that since the full title of the newest Harry Potter movie is “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1,” It just seems unfair to grade an unfinished movie…and believe me, it is unfinished. The second reason is that I fell asleep a few times at the midnight showing—which had nothing to do with the movie.

I will address the second reason first. As many of you know I am in graduate school for elementary education. On Tuesdays and Thursdays this past semester, I have been in a classroom doing some teaching. Well the Thursday of the premiere was one of those. I was up at 6:30 and in the classroom until 2:30. Then I had class from 4:45 to 7. I should have gone back to my apartment and taken a nap before the movie, I did not. My friends and I went out for a few drinks after class. So by the time 12:01 Friday morning rolled around, I was on a long day with very little sleep plus a few beers. I tried my damnedest to stay awake. I took the toothpick out of my swiss army knife and poked it into my thumb to stay awake—it does not work by the way. Needless to say I missed large chunks of the movie. Not that I was lost, I had recently reread the book and knew enough to fill in the sleepy breaks.

Now to address the first reason. The movie literally just ends. It gets to a point and the credits roll. It is because of that that I cannot review it properly until July when part 2 comes out.

What I saw I liked and I am looking forward to the second part.

8 out of 10
Rated PG-13 for some sequences of intense action violence, frightening images and brief sensuality
146 minutes

Did you know that your cell phone battery lasts longer when it is on a ringer than it does on vibrate? Neither did I. If I took anything away from “Buried” that would be it.
After is truck is attacked, Paul Conroy (Ryan Renyolds), a truck driver in Iraq, wakes up in the dark. It soon becomes clear that he is buried somewhere in the Iraqi desert. All he has is a cell phone, a flashlight that barely works and his lighter. He gets a call from his kidnapper telling him that if they do not get money soon, Paul will die in that box.

And that is all I am going to tell you.

I do not want to give much of the plot away because the less you know, the better.

Movies like “Buried” rely heavily on the performance of the leading character. In 2000, “Cast Away” was banked purely on the talents of Tom Hanks—a very bankable star. “Buried” has Ryan Renyolds, an actor who has had some hits but is by no means a big box office draw. He is really best known for his comedic chops (See “Van Wilder”). When I heard the casting, I was intrigued. When I saw the movie I was impressed. He is able to carry a movie. It is just him, alone and in a box for 95 minutes. No flashbacks and no back story with other characters to help the story along. Just Ryan Renyolds in a box with a cell phone and a flashlight for an hour and a half. He carries this movie and does it with so little that I feel this is a career defining performance from Renyolds.

I am not surprised that this movie has not been doing well in the theaters. It is not for everyone. I am a certified film nerd so movies that do something different are right up my ally. A movie that takes place in a box buried in the desert with one actor is something that piques my interest. The general public might not like that idea as much.

My only issue is that I feel like I was expecting more. Its not that I left unsatisfied or disliking the movie, I just was hoping it would be more. More of what, I could not tell you. There was just something I did not get that I needed by the time the credits rolled.

8 out of 10
Rated R for language and some violent content
95 minutes

I had an interesting experience this past weekend. It started on Saturday. I went to a friend’s house and watched “Let The Right One In,” the Swedish vampire movie that was released a few years ago. I had seen it before and one of my other friends had not. We wanted to go see the American remake, “Let Me In,” but he insisted on watching the original first. So on Sunday we went to see “Let Me In” with the original very fresh in mind.

“Let Me In” takes place in New Mexico in the winter of 1987. Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is a bullied 12-year old who lives with his mother in an apartment complex. One night he meets Abby (Chloe Moretz) who has just moved in to the apartment next to Owen. The two strike up a friendship and meet nightly out in the courtyard and talk. Abby, though, has a horrible secret and it may be connected to the murders that have been happening in the town recently.

There are things that were in “Let The Right One In” that were taken out of “Let Me In” that made it better. Then again there were some things that “Let Me In” added that made it not so good. Overall though, I really enjoyed it.

I thought that Chloe Moretz did a great job, she was not as creepy as Lina Leandersson’s Eli was in the Swedish version, but Moretz still brought something to the character. She made Abby more sweet than creepy, which made the scenes of her attacking people all the more horrific.

I am not sure how I feel about Kodi Smit-McPhee’s Owen. Much like Kåre Hedebrant’s Oskar, Owen is picked on at school, his home life is hard because his parents are not together and he finds himself very lonely most of the time. It is through is relationship with Abby that he finds the strength to stand up to the bully. I think Smit-McPhee does a pretty good job playing this character, but I am not sure I am totally sold on it.

So back to my story. It was weird sitting in the theater and seeing a movie I had not seen before, but know so well. There are a lot of lines and scenes taken right from the original version. It was so similar to the original that the only real difference between the two versions was the subtitles. It is kind of surreal to sit in a theater and know a movie so well. I knew what was going to happen in each scene and even some of the lines. One thing I did notice was that this version was bloodier. I know why too, Americans as stupid and need things spelled out for us, even in blood. There was a subtly to the Swedish version that I liked. There was no need for the blood or the violence, it was implied and that was almost better than seeing Abby tear into someone’s neck to get the blood she needs to survive.

8/10
Rated R for strong bloody horror violence, language and a brief sexual situation
Runtime 116 min