Selma (8/10): DuVernay delivers a gripping and powerful biopic.

“Our lives are not fully lived if we're not willing to die for those we love, for what we believe.”

Martin Luther King is a very popular figure, so the biggest risk for a biopic like this is simply retelling a familiar story, which is what most directors do turning films like this into history lessons. You are sort of expecting this inspiring and uplifting film that will have its emotional moments once King stands up and delivers his world famous “I Have a Dream” speech, but Ava DuVernay takes an entirely different approach. Instead of following a timeline and going through important dates in King’s life she simply introduces us to an important and defining moment in his life. And by doing this DuVernay allows us to center on the person that King was, learning about his struggles, fears, and so on. King is portrayed in a different and more humane light and isn’t simply a figure we idolize. It is something similar to what Spielberg did with Lincoln, but much more engaging this time. DuVernay is able to avoid falling into biopic genre conventions and centers the narrative on King’s efforts to organize a march in Selma in order to secure equal voting rights for all. In the large context it might just have been a short period in his life, but by focusing on this specific and detailed event we are able to learn who King was and how he was able to face each obstacle. It also reminds us that organizing a march isn’t as simple as one can imagine. In a general biopic about Martin Luther King this would simply take about five minutes, but here we get the specifics which at the same time allows us to learn the importance of what King was fighting for while we also get to finally see him portrayed with some depth. DuVernay was robbed by the Academy from a Best Director nod because she crafted a powerful film avoiding familiar clichés and melodrama.

Selma gets about everything right: the script by Paul Webb is solid and there are some fantastic dialogues and speeches throughout the film, the cinematography by Bradford Young is sharp, and the production design transports us to the 60’s in a very authentic way. But the film wouldn’t have worked without the right actor to play Martin Luther King. David Oyelowo delivers one of my favorite performances of the year as King. His transformation is impressive. Not for a second did I think that this was an actor playing the famous figure. Oyelowo is like a chameleon, able to transform from one movie to the next. This is a completely different person from the actor who played Yardley in The Paperboy. He portrayed King in a very different light from what we are used to seeing him. We’ve all seen and heard King deliver his speeches and Oyelowo personifies him in the same way with similar tones and pauses. But it is in the smaller moments where Oyelowo’s subtle performance stands out as he shines a more humane light on King, reflecting some of his fears and doubts as he second guesses himself at times. There are quiet moments where he doesn’t know what to say or how to react to situations. There is a scene where he has to comfort a family who has lost their son, and he seems to be lost for words. He also shares some great scenes with Carmen Ejogo who plays his wife, and Tom Wilkinson as President Johnson. The supporting performances are also strong as several popular and historical figures pop into the movie. Tim Roth delivers one of my favorite supporting performances as Gov. George Wallace, but many more stand out as well. Selma is a gripping film beautifully directed by DuVernay with a wonderful and memorable performance from Oyelowo.

My Review: A Million Ways to Die in the West (5/10)

"I'm not the hero. I'm the guy in the crowd making fun of the hero's shirt; that's who I am."

A Million Ways to Die in the West is a comedy that fails at so many levels, but since I had gone into it with low expectations I wasn't really disappointed by it and found some of the scenes extremely funny. On paper this should have been the year's best comedy because it had an excellent cast and an interesting premise. MacFarlane proved he could direct a comedy in the big screen after the success he had with Ted (which I liked, but wasn't blown away by). The first major issue I had with the film was that despite its Western setting it never felt like any of the characters belonged to this world. My second issue was with Seth MacFarlane's performance. He is a funny man, but he is good at writing and doing voice work, not acting, and that was a major flaw in this film because he was one of the main characters and the way he delivered some of the jokes fell flat. Perhaps the most disturbing thing about this comedy was that every time they were trying to get the story going and forcing some dialogue scenes they would try to add a poop or fart joke in there somewhere. It was way overdone. I can see how people might have been disappointed with this considering it had so much potential, and despite not liking this film I didn't think it was as terrible as many people claimed because at least it had some funny moments. Still, this is a rotten film and barely enjoyable because it's full of flaws and way too long.

Seth MacFarlane is talented doing voice work and writing some great jokes, but he has some problems with the delivery (something we saw when he hosted the Oscars a couple of years ago). He really hurt this film considering the rest of the cast was pretty funny. Amanda Seyfried, Neil Patrick Harris, Giovanni Ribisi, Sarah Silverman, Charlize Theron, and Liam Neeson all give some funny performances and deliver a few laughs. My favorite moments were definitely the cameos (there were some great ones that had me laughing really hard, but I won't spoil them), and I also enjoyed the surprising death scenes and found them kind of hilarious. Maybe I just have a weird sense of humor, but those scenes worked for me. The rest of the film is just overlong and a bit tedious with several jokes that fall flat, making me feel the same way as the townspeople after hearing MacFarlane trying to deliver jokes and avoid getting killed during the duels: dead silence.

My Review: Gangster Squad (6/10)

¨I always knew I’d die in Burbank¨

Gangster Squad walks a really thin line between being a terrible film and an entertaining one. First of all it has a really great and talented cast; it also has a good production design and is very stylized reminding us of some epic gangster films. On the other hand the film only looks gangster-like on the surface; it is not really a serious neo-noir gangster film but more of a light comedic gangster movie. This is director Ruben Fleisher’s follow up to his hit comedy Zombieland, and in a way it does feel like a satire of sorts of gangster films, but in some strange way it fails to find its own personality. You never know if you’re supposed to take the movie seriously or not because something is missing in the mix between drama and comedy. One critic defined the film better than I could by claiming it is ¨LA Confidential without the script.¨ It has the look and the tone of a serious gangster film, but the script which was loosely adapted by Will Beall from Paul Lieberman’s book just fails and the dialogues seem cartoonish at times. The violence is pretty heavy as there are plenty of glamorized gunfight scenes and a large body count. Sean Penn plays the villain a little over the top, but it works if you view the film as this sort of spoof of the gangster genre. And really in my opinion this approach is what works best because it is entertaining if taken lightly as a spoof. I feel sorry for those who went into this film with high expectations because they will mostly be disappointed, unless they can live with a mindless popcorn action flick with some good performances.

The story takes place in 1949 Los Angeles where Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn), a mob king from Chicago, has taken over the city and is planning on controlling all criminal activities there with the help of corrupt officers and judges. He will eliminate whoever stands in his path. Sgt. John O’Mara (Josh Brolin) on the other hand is a WWII veteran who is determined to do what he can to clean up the city. When Chief Parker (Nick Nolte) hears about O’Mara’s heroics he decides to assign him with a special underground task: to form an elite squad of police officers that will take down the mob King. Thus O’Mara begins his quest to find the right officers for his special team with the help of his wife Connie (Mireille Enos) who is worried about his wellbeing and wants him to be protected as best as possible. O’Mara chooses Officer Coleman Harris (Anthony Mackie), Max Kennard (Robert Patrick) and his partner Navidad Ramirez (Michael Peña), Conway Keeler (Giovanni Ribisi) who’s the brains in the operation, and finally Sgt. Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling) who decides to accept O’Mara’s proposal after a member of the mob kills a kid he knew from the streets. Together these officers begin to try to intercept and disrupt Cohen’s operations working as an underground hit squad. Wooters also happens to be having an affair with Cohen’s love interest, Grace (Emma Stone), which could or could not be a good thing. And so the action begins as the squad tries to disrupt Cohen’s reign and clean up the city.

As I mentioned before this is an entertaining film which sometimes borderlines on the bad side considering it does have some pretty bad writing and underdeveloped characters. But it did work for me as a sort of spoof and light hearted film with a very stylized look to it. It has some fun action sequences with some strong performances, especially from the always reliable Ryan Gosling who continues to reinvent himself in every movie. I absolutely loved him here once again. Josh Brolin gives a pretty solid performance when he is not asked to do the voice over bit (it was a bit annoying at the beginning giving it a sort of fake Sin City vibe to it). The rest of the cast is pretty good although not getting enough screen time or storylines to develop their characters. Sean Penn plays the stereotypical bad guy a little over the top, but I enjoyed his performance as well (it wouldn’t have worked if you were expecting a serious gangster drama film). In the end Gangster Squad did work for me and I was entertained with this shoot-em up gangster film, but I know it isn’t for everyone.

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My Review: Contraband (8/10)

¨You were the best of the best, but the proudest day of my life was when you turned legit.¨

Contraband was one of those surprisingly good action thrillers which I really wasn’t expecting much considering we`ve seen several heist movies like this before and the director was the relatively unknown, Baltasar Kormkakur from Iceland. He might be popular in his country, but this is the first film he`s produced in Hollywood. Mark Wahlberg has proven before that he can make great heist thrillers, and this film is just as surprisingly entertaining as The Italian Job. Wahlberg gives a really great performance in the lead role and I`m guessing by now that he can star in these films blindfolded. He also had a strong supporting cast that made this film even better, but what I enjoyed the most about this film was the script. Yes, some twists were predictable, but it kept my interest and had me at the edge of my seat throughout the entire movie. Contraband was actually a remake of the 2008 Icelandic film, Reykjavik, which starred Kormkakur in the lead role. The script was adapted by Aaron Guzikowski and the action now takes place in between the United States and Panama instead of in Rotterdam. Contraband really worked for me as an entertaining thriller with a couple of twists and surprises (some more predictable than others, but well constructed). I really enjoyed this film.

Chris Farraday (Mark Wahlberg) is happily married to Kate (Kate Beckinsale) and they have two children together. He used to be a very successful smuggler, but turned his life around after meeting Kate. They are very happy together, and Chris`s former smuggling partner, Sebastian (Ben Foster), with whom he is still very close is also getting his life back on track. Everything seems to be going really well until Kate receives a call from her brother, Andy (Caleb Landry Jones), who is at the hospital after having been beat up by a drug dealer named Briggs (Giovanni Ribisi). Andy had been smuggling cocaine on freighters for Briggs and had to dump the last package after the DEA had ambushed them. Briggs will kill Andy, if he doesn’t get his money back from the deal, but Chris promises to repay him before any more harm is done. Chris decides to smuggle counterfeit currency from Panama in order to repay the debt, but in order to do so he will have to form a team in the freighter which will allow him to buy more time, while his family is being threatened by Briggs and his gang.

  

Mark Wahlberg is a true actions tar and he is really entertaining in this movie, but he also had a great secondary cast including Kate Beckinsale who looked lovely as usual, Ben Foster who is always really creepy, Giovanni Ribisi who is always very unpredictable, JK Simmons who has a more serious role despite the fact that he always makes you laugh, and Diego Luna who plays a Panamanian criminal. I really enjoyed Luna`s short performance, his scene was really interesting and one of the highlights of the film. Contraband begins to accumulate the tension as we reach the final climatic scene. I thought it played out perfectly and that the film was really well edited and choreographed. The movie was entertaining from start to finish, it was a well constructed heist thriller (not perfect, but fun nonetheless).

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My Review: Avatar (6/10)

¨They`ve sent us a message...that they can take whatever they want. Well we will send them a message. That this...this is our land¨

(6/10) James Cameron`s Avatar is a film that took 15 years in the making. It was a project that was really close to Cameron and he waited for the right time to be able to release this movie. He payed close attention to every detail and perfected the way we see movies in 3D. The effort was not cheap as this film is reported to be the most expensive movie ever made. Avatar will mark a before and after in film history for special effects and 3D. All the critics agree that this film is visually stunning and there is no doubt it will win several awards for special effects and art direction. I don´t think it will win as much awards as Titanic (Cameron´s last film) did or even match it´s record breaking box office, but it will be remembered for all the technical and visual breakthroughs. One thing is for sure, it will not win any acting awards. James Cameron has proved in Hollywood that he is a great director and that he is on par with Spielberg when it comes to special effects. He has directed several blockbuster movies such as Aliens, Terminator, Titanic, and now Avatar is becoming a hit worldwide. Visually speaking this movie deserves ten stars, but the story is not up to par with the visuals. Moviegoers who enjoy great special effects and visuals will be blown away by this movie, but fans who enjoy good storytelling and writing will leave unimpressed by Cameron`s effort. I am more into the storytelling so for me this movie dragged for long periods of times and the plot was very predictable. I felt like I was at an art museum looking at all these famous masterpieces, but I wasn´t entertained throughout the two and a half hours. I felt good about the visuals and they were truely remarcable, but I didn´t walk out of the theater impressed. I remember when Speilberg´s Jurrasic Park came out and that experience was much more breathtaking than this one. I guess I wasn´t blown away by Avatar and I would find it dificult to sit through two and a half hours to watch this movie again.

As far as the story goes, Avatar takes place in the future (2154 to be exact) in a planet named Pandora. Pandora has a rich and extensive fauna and the natives that inhabit it (known as the Na`vis) are very connected to this nature and even worship the mother tree as their god. Humans have set a military base in the planet because it is rich in a new type of mineral or chemical element, a grey rock which happens to sell for 200 million a kilo. This mineral happens to be under the surface where the Na`vis live so a group of scientists have tried to fit in with the natives by creating avatars which are alien bodies controlled through human minds (an approach we have seen before similar to The Matrix or Surrogates). These avatars are controlled by Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver who has already worked with Cameron in Aliens), Jake Sully (Sam Worthington, the Australian actor who starred in this year`s Terminator film), and Norm Spellman (Joel Moore who is known for his comedic role in Dodgeball). Jake Sully, a paraplegic ex marine, is accepted by the tribe and begins to learn from their culture thanks in most part to the beautiful Neytiri (Zoe Saldana who had a role in this year´s Star Trek) the tribe chief`s daughter who teaches him how to connect with the environment and all he needs to know in order to survive in the jungle`s of Pandora. Jake begins to have mixed feelings towards the natives and towards his commanders, Col. Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang, Public Enemies) who has promised to give him the money for the spinal surgery for the exchange of information, and Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi) the greedy corporate boss in charge of the mission. From this point on one cannot help but compare the plot to Pocahontas. It is just an alien version of the New World. Avatar becomes very predictable and we know what is going to happen, but fans are not into this for the plot, the audience is here for the visual spectacle.

The film might be disapointing plotwise, but the special effects make up for it. As I said before, those film buffs that are into movies for the storytelling will probably be a little unhappy with Avatar like I was, but those who are into the visuals and special effects will leave this film with a huge smile on their faces. There is no doubt James Cameron has spent the money wisely and created an entire new world with a beautiful scenary and some cool creatures. The first hour and a half dragged a little, but once we get to the last hour with the battle scenes the movie really picks up. The final battle is one of the greatest action sequences in film on par with the Star Wars saga, or The Lord of The Ring franchise, or even the Matrix trilogy. However, Avatar took a little too long to get to this point as it had to introduce us to this new planet. Don`t get me wrong, Avatar is a good movie, but I think there are other films that are much better than this one to be considered in my top 10 list of 2009. I was a little dissapointed because all of the hype this movie was receiving.