White Bird in a Blizzard (5/10): An uneven film that unsuccessfully mixes genres.

“And just like that, my virginity disappeared. Just like my mother.”

I did not make that quote up; Shailene Woodley’s character (Kat Connors) actually says this while she narrates her life to a psychologist played by Angela Bassett. I wasn’t familiar with director Gregg Araki’s previous work, but I found this mysterious thriller problematic and at odds with itself. On the one hand it focuses on Kat’s sexual awakening, but on the other we are introduced with some cartoonish characters like Eva Green’s Eve Connors who seems to be playing a similar role as she did in 300 and Sin City. She gives a very campy performance, while Woodley is playing an authentic character. I just found the tone of the film very strange and didn’t buy into the mix of styles. Araki is playing with genre conventions here mixing the coming of age tale with other familiar thrillers, but it didn’t work for me because the dialogue at times is unbelievable and Araki seems to be leaving us false hints of what actually happened only to pull the rug under us with a twist at the end of the film. White Bird in a Blizzard is based on Laura Kasischke’s novel of the same name and was adapted by Araki himself. I’ve never read the novel so I don’t know if it has a similar tone, but the film felt surreal at times. There are some great looking scenes during Kat’s dream sequences, but there isn’t much more going on story wise. The narration is awful and it also brings down the film. 

It’s funny because the plot of this film is what I thought The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby would be like. A woman goes missing and the film would revolve around the mystery behind her disappearance. Kat (Shailene Woodley) narrates the events of her mother’s disappearance (Eva Green) claiming she had never been in love with her father, Brock (Christopher Meloni). Kat believes she simply got fed up with Brock and walked out on him. Her relationship with her mother hasn’t been great either so she doesn’t seem to mind her absence. She is comfortable with her current situation and doesn’t think she even needs to talk to a psychologist about it. When she was young her mother treated her like a pet, but once she got older she began to resent her for her youth and beauty. Kat meanwhile is in a relationship with her next door neighbor, Phil (Shiloh Fernandez), who is her first love. Lately he hasn’t seemed too interested in spending time with her, and when her mother goes missing, she and her father file a report with Detective Scieziesciez (Thomas Jane) who she finds attractive despite the age difference. Kat is very open with her two best friends, Beth (Gabourey Sidibe) and  Mickey (Mark Indelicate) about her sexual life. There isn’t very much going on with the plot since Kat doesn’t think much about her mother’s mysterious disappearance and we know how she feels because she is narrating the story to her psychiatrist. Things change when a few years pass and Kat returns home from college. She discovers that her mother’s disappearance has affected her more than she realized and we begin to discover new elements about the mystery. This final act of the film plays out more as a traditional mystery movie and I was actually surprised with the final reveal. It is a shift of tone from what we had seen during the first half of the movie which played out as a coming of age sexual awakening tale. I can’t recommend White Bird in a Blizzard, but it does have its moments. Shailene Woodley delivers a very strong performance (but I still think she was better in The Descendants and The Spectacular Now) and she is a talented young actress. I wasn’t a fan of Eva Green’s campy performance, but I have read some praise. Other than Woodley’s performance I don’t think there is much more worth recommending here.

My Review: Tower Heist (6/10)

¨A robbery can change very quickly. You have to adapt to the situation at any moment. Anything can happen.¨

Tower Heist is the latest Brett Ratner vehicle, and it isn’t as good as the film that made him popular, Rush Hour, but it still has it`s funny moments thanks to Eddie Murphy and Ben Stiller`s performance. I`m barely giving this a fresh rating because I was entertained, but by no means is it memorable and I can understand if many people found this movie stupid because the robbery is beyond ridiculous, but I guess that is alright because they never try to take things seriously. Ratner continues to remind us that he`s just having fun with this film and he can go overboard with the plot if he wants to. The entertaining moments come from the classic Eddie Murphy lines and Ben Stiller always playing his usual self. People who enjoy his comedy will like this movie, but those who don’t like him won`t like this either because it`s your typical Ben Stiller comedy. I just went along with the robbery scene and decided to have fun with it knowing it wasn`t trying to take itself seriously. Screenwriter, Jeff Nathanson, could have used some of the knowledge he gained when adapting the script for Ocean`s Eleven, but I guess it wasn’t that important for him. They focused on the jokes and that was enough for me. The action is ridiculous, but the comedy is present so I had a decent time with Tower Heist.

As for the story goes we are introduced to the main character right away, Josh Kovacs (Ben Stiller), who works as the manager of the Tower, which has the most expensive residential apartments in New York City. He is really dedicated to his job and is dedicated to keeping its residents happy, including wealthy financier Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda) who even manages his and the rest of the employees pensions. Charlie (Casey Affleck) is Josh`s brother in law and he also works at the Tower despite being a terrible worker under his high standards. Some of the other staff members are Lester (Stephen Henderson), Enrique (Michael Peña), Odessa (Gabourey Sidibe from Precious), and Miss Iovenko (Nina Arianda). Together they seem to have everything pretty much in control, but one day the FBI comes to arrest Mr. Shaw for financial fraud and Agent Denham (Tea Leoni) makes the arrest. Shaw pays bail and undergoes house arrest until court date. Lester tries to commit suicide when he hears about Mr. Shaw. When Josh finds out that Lester had given Shaw his entire retirement savings to invest on, he snaps and storms Shaw`s apartment in search for answers. Josh loses his temper and is fired from his job along with Charlie and Enrique who were with him at the moment. The three, along with a former tenant who was evicted from the apartment, Mr. Fitzhugh (Matthew Broderick), and a thief named Slide (Eddie Murphy) decide to commit the perfect crime: steal the 20 million Shaw has hiding in his apartment and give back the money he has stolen to the rest of the apartment staff.

There isn’t really much more I can say about this movie. I liked it enough to give it a fresh grade, but I wouldn’t be recommending it or watching it again. This is no Rush Hour, it doesn’t have that many funny moments, but it still managed to keep me watching it with a smile in my face. I am a Ben Stiller fan so that might be one reason I actually enjoyed this movie because it really doesn’t have many other positive things going for it. Eddie Murphy is funny in this, but he doesn’t have many scenes. Casey Affleck is far from the roles he got back in 2007 with Gone Baby Gone and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, but he`s still a likeable character. Sidibe proved she can also do comedy, and not just dramas. She does have some funny scenes. I also enjoyed Broderick`s performance quite a bit. The cast in this film is really interesting and Ratner has done some good work in the past so I can see why I was entertained with this film despite the plot and the material. It is a decent film with some funny moments and a good way to spend a boring evening at the house, but don’t go expecting much more than that. It`s not a buddy comedy either so don’t go expecting a lot of scenes between Murphy and Stiller because there really aren`t that many.

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My Review: Precious (8/10)

¨Some folks has a lot of things around them that shines for other peoples. I think that maybe some of them was in tunnels. And in that tunnel, the only light they had, was inside of them. And then long after they escape that tunnel, they still be shining for everybody else. ¨

(8/10) Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (yes that is the original title of the film, but we will just abbreviate it to Precious) is a very powerful movie that serves as a social critique on child abuse. This is a very real and raw movie that touches very difficult subject matters that most Hollywood producers would like to stay away from. It shows us another side of life that sometimes we are indifferent towards: those neglected and abused children that only receive hate and abuse from the people that are supposed to care the most for them. The images are really hard to watch and the language is very dirty because the movie deals with rape and verbal abuse. Director and producer, Lee Daniels, recognized he had a very rough childhood himself and received a lot of abuse from his father, so this movie was very personal for him and that is what perhaps gives this a more realistic take on the film. Lee Daniels had already produced other challenging movies such as Monster´s Ball and The Woodsman which both received critical acclaim, although his directorial debut with Shadowboxer didn`t meet the same praise. Geoffrey Fletcher adapted the screenplay after having some success with several short films like the Magic Marker. I really enjoyed this film and it truly opened my eyes on the subject matter. Sometimes we tend to ignore these issues and look the other way so many of the scenes in the movie were really difficult to watch.

The movie begins by introducing us to sixteen year old Precious (played by the newcomer Gabourey Sidibe) who daydreams in school about becoming a famous star and having a hot boyfriend, but the truth of the matter is that she is a very shy, quiet, and overweight girl who sits in the back of the classroom and keeps to herself. She doesn´t know how to read or write, but she is actually quite good at math. The kids at school and in the neighborhood make fun of her and she is constantly teased. When Precious gets home things don`t get better for her since her father sexually abuses her, and her mother Mary (played by Mo`Nique) verbally abuses her as well. Precious already has a two year old daughter named Mongol (short for Mongolic because she has Down syndrome) as a product from the sexual abuse she receives from her father and is pregnant with her second child. Precious has only experienced hurt and pain during her entire life due to the abuse, but someone from school takes an interest for her and convinces her to go to a special school because she shows progress in math. Precious decides to go against her mother`s will. Mary wants her daughter to stay in school for the sole purpose of receiving financial aid since that is her only income because she is too lazy to go find a job. In the meantime at her new school Precious meets Ms. Rain (played by the beautiful Paula Patton (from Mirrors and Déjà Vu) who takes a special interest in her and finally begins to receive something she has never received before, someone that cares for her. One step at a time, Precious begins to learn how to read and write and at the same time finds strength to face her mother.

At first, I found the first few scenes very difficult to watch and didn`t think I would enjoy the movie, but as the movie progressed I really was captivated by the story. I think that by the time Precious gets to the new school and is introduced to her classmates the movie picks up because it mixes humor with drama and it helped the movie tone down a little. Before that point the movie just made you feel depressed and bad for what Precious had to go through. This was Sidibe`s first film and she was great. Her Oscar nomination for best actress was well deserved although I don`t think she will win it. The real star of this film is Mo`Nique, who is absolutely perfect in her role as Mary. She was a true villain every time she was on screen because you really feared for Precious`s life when she was alone with her. Her nomination for best supporting actress was well deserved as well and she is the favorite to win it. Mariah Carey also had a small role as the social worker handling Precious`s case and she also nailed her role. The entire cast was really good and even Lenny Kravitz was believable in his role as a male nurse. What I liked the most about this film is that it didn`t fully rely on the abuse, but it also showed another side of humanity. Ms. Rain really takes an interest in Precious`s life and shows her that there is some good in this world. This might not be a film for everyone, but I absolutely recommend it. I certainly will not complain about my life after seeing everything that Precious had to go through. This film is also nominated for best picture and it probably has an outside chance as Avatar or The Hurt Locker are the heavy favorites. Director Lee Daniels is the first African American director to have his or her film nominated for best picture.