What's Eating Gilbert Grape (8/10): A classic family drama with touching performances.

“I want Momma to take aerobics classes. I want Ellen to grow up. I want a new brain for Arnie. I want…”

Looking back at Leonardo DiCaprio’s filmography I’m constantly reminded what a great actor he is. In What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, he plays a seventeen year old mentally ill kid in such a natural way that if I didn’t know this was Leo I would’ve believed the actor playing Arnie was really mentally ill. This is probably one of his standout performances and is one of the highlights of this emotionally gripping family drama. However he is just a supporting character in this film as the title character is played by Johnny Depp, Arnie’s older brother who is always taking care of him and the rest of the family. Gilbert’s father has abandoned them and ever since he has been the male role model for the family in the small community where they live. He not only takes care of Arnie, he also has to provide for the family by working in a small local supermarket. He is ashamed of his obese mother (Darlene Cates), who simply stopped caring about her beautiful body after her husband abandoned her. Gilbert also has two sisters who help out with the family chores, Amy (Laura Harrington) and Ellen (Mary Kate Schellhardt). The responsibility Gilbert feels towards his family has taken its toll on him and explains why he seems to be half asleep all the time. He has no time for accomplishing any personal goals or dreams and spends his few free minutes with his local friends, Tucker (John C. Reilly) and Bobby (Crispin Glover). Things take an unexpected turn when Becky (Juliette Lewis) arrives in town and the two form a special bond together. What’s Eating Gilbert Grape is an emotionally gripping family drama that works thanks to the strong performances from the cast and a fantastically well written script by Peter Hedges. The film avoids feeling cliche or melodramatic and I found it to be an honest story. Lasse Hallstrom has been accused of being overly melodramatic at times, but I think that the director avoided much of those moments here thanks in most part to a well written script.

Leonardo DiCaprio gives the best performance of the film, but Johnny Depp also delivers in a very subtle way. His character doesn’t seem to say much, but the way he simply moves and speaks says a lot about him. He knows he isn’t getting anywhere in life and feels stuck in this small town, but at the same time he has responsibilities and knows that his family relies on him to survive. He is trapped in a prison he can’t get out of. He cares deeply for his family, but at the same time he resents them and it seems they have become a burden for him. The way he approaches the character is fascinating because he doesn’t have to say or do anything for us to understand how he feels. We can easily identify and sympathize for his character. The chemistry he shares with Lewis is also strong. She is in some ways the opposite of him. She is free spirited and has travelled across several states. She doesn’t have many responsibilities, and the two end up complementing each other quite well. Their relationship might not be the central theme of the movie, but it does lighten up the mood a bit. Reilly is always funny on screen and despite playing a more serious character he still delivers his usual quirky silliness to the role. All these small relationships are the central theme of the movie and the brotherhood between Depp and DiCaprio stands out above them all. I enjoyed this family drama and I’m glad I finally got a chance to watch it.  

My Review: Wreck-It Ralph (9/10)

¨My name's Ralph and I'm a Bad Guy. I'm 9 feet tall. I weigh 643 pounds. Got a little bit of a temper on me.¨

Wreck-It Ralph is my favorite animated film from 2012. It reminded me a lot of Toy Story, only this time the characters that come to life aren’t toys, but video game heroes and villains. The characters are really well developed and everyone who enjoys playing video games will love this movie. Adults will also enjoy it as the film gives us a sense of nostalgia and love for some of the older games. The graphics of the movie are all really cool; especially the scenes that take place in the ¨Sugar Rush¨ game. The Sugar Rush game has some similarities with Mario Kart and the Wreck-it Ralph game with the original Donkey Kong game. It’s really hard not to fall in love with these characters, especially with Ralph and Vanellope who shared a wonderful connection together. I think that it was a plus that the actors’ recorded their characters´ voices together in the studio because you could really feel the connection between them, unlike in most other animated films. This led to some extremely funny dialogues which were probably mostly improvised. The flow of the movie was much better this way and I really enjoyed it. I hope it wins the Oscar for best animated film because it was much better than the competition. I also loved the short film, Paperman, that was released with this film. A wonderful short story that helped set the nostalgic mood for Wreck-It Ralph.

Ralph (voiced by John C. Reilly) is the villain of his arcade game Wreck-it Ralph. His mission in the game is to wreck an apartment complex which Fix-it Felix Jr. (Jack McBrayer from 30 Rock) tries to fix, therefore making Felix the hero and beloved character. When the arcade game shuts down at night, these characters come to life inside their games and they can travel to other games inside the arcade through the machine´s electrical plug. There is a ¨Game Central Station¨ where the characters can travel from one game to another and therefore Ralph decides to go to a meeting with other villains from other known video games to express his feelings. He is tired of being the bad guy and wants everyone to like him so he doesn’t have to be on his own. In order to become a hero, he decides to enter another game and try to win a medal so he can prove to the rest of the characters that he can be a hero. He suffers an accident inside one of the video games and ends up in Sugar Rush where he meets Vanellope (Sarah Silverman) who happens to be a glitch inside her game. They discover they share a lot of things in common like being an outcast so they become friends and decide to help each other out on their mission to be accepted.

I thought the plot was pretty ingenious and I loved the world that was created by director Rich Moore and his team. Moore is mostly known for directing some Futurama and The Simpsons TV episodes. He made some really memorable characters and I think the improvising between the actors added more funny moments and heart to the film. I really loved this story and the world they created through these videogames - some invented and others authentic like Pac Man, Sonic the Hedgehog, Zangief from Street Fighter, Bowser from Mario Bros, Q´Bert, Paperboy, and Tapper who all have some cameo appearances that fans will enjoy. I also have to give a lot of credit to Sarah Silverman who did an excellent job with her character. I loved the way she delivered each line and made her character so loveable. I think her performance was the highlight of the movie. The chemistry with John C. Reilly was incredible as they shared a lot of lines together. I also thought McBrayer was really good voicing Felix, and Jane Lynch the same with Calhoun, the general from another videogame called Hero´s Duty. Overall I have to say I really loved this movie and found it entertaining. I absolutely recommend it.

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My Review: The Dictator (5/10)

¨I love it when women go to school. It's like seeing a monkey on roller-skates. It means nothing to them, but it's so adorable for us. ¨

Like all of Sacha Baron Cohen`s comedies, The Dictator is irreverent, offensive, and makes fun of pretty much every stereotype out there. He had huge success with Borat, a film I found extremely funny and smart, but the joke has gotten repetitive in his next films Bruno and this one. There are some hilarious moments in The Dictator, but there is also a lot of stupid and gross out jokes that made me want to stop watching at times. Cohen has gotten to the point where he needs to explore new themes and stop being so repetitive. He has proven he can make smart comedies with a sharp satirical tone; he makes fun of the crazy stereotypes our society has and despite making us laugh he also pulled our ears and made us think about our own conduct and behavior. In Borat he used this satire to the extreme, but it kind of has got lost in his latest films which try to entertain with cheaper and dirtier laughs. There are some great moments that work really well in The Dictator and had me laughing really hard so this movie wasn’t terrible either; it did have some genuinely funny moments. Like in Borat and Bruno, Cohen got Larry Charles to direct his latest film. I really was hoping this film would be funnier because the trailers looked great and the publicity behind it by Cohen was quite funny as well (who can forget the Ryan Seacrest incident during the Oscars where Cohen showed up in character as the dictator and dumped ashes on his suit?). I think it`s time for Sacha Baron Cohen to explore new themes because he has proven in the past to be a great comedian.

Hafez Aladeen (Sacha Baron Cohen) is the oppressive and wealthy dictator of the Republic of Wadiya (a made up Middle Eastern country). He rules the country with a very fierce hand and oppresses everyone. The film works as a satire of some of the Middle Eastern dictators we`ve all heard about in the news and Cohen got his inspiration for his character from all of them. But Cohen also makes fun of Americans and the stereotypes they have of the Arabs as well; this is best expressed in John C. Reilly`s character. Aladeen is forced to travel to the United States after being threatened by the United Nations for having a nuclear program. Along with his advisor and uncle Tamir (Ben Kingsley) they arrive in New York the day before the meeting, but what Aladeen doesn’t know is that Tamir has other plans for him. He has brought a Dictator look alike and is planning on killing Aladeen and having the imitator take his place and announce that he will change the constitution of his nation and bring back democracy to the people of Wadiya. Meanwhile Aladeen is taken hostage by Reilly`s character who begins to torture him. The first thing he does is cut off his supreme beard, but Aladeen manages to escape after a freak accident. Aladeen arrives outside of the building but no one recognizes him as his imitator has already taken his place. He is surrounded by protestors and one of them, Zoey (Anna Faris), decides to help him and take him in. For the first time in his life, Aladeen can`t have things his way and a series of comedic events ensue.

There are several funny moments in this film and some great lines, but for the most part the film goes way too far with several gross out jokes. I really enjoyed the helicopter scene where Cohen`s character is talking to his friend in his own language while two senior Americans are sitting in front of them worried about what they are saying since all they can make out are words like 911, Osama, Empire State Building, and Statue of Liberty. This scene was hilarious and had me laughing really hard, but it is about the only memorable moment I can rescue from the movie. There are some funny lines like when the dictator is helping a woman give birth and tells her the terrible news that the baby is a girl. The film makes fun of a lot of these stereotypes where women aren`t considered very important in Arab culture. Sacha Baron Cohen is very irreverent and offensive; he has no problem in expressing what he thinks. He doesn’t hold back anything and says things how they are. In my opinion this is what made him such a successful comedian, but at the same time he can also take things to an extreme and gross fans out due to the crude and explicitness of his jokes. I`d recommend this only to fans of Cohen who aren't scared off by his humor.

      

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My Review: We Need to Talk About Kevin (8/10)

¨There is no point. That's the point. ¨

Before we begin talking about Kevin, let’s talk about some of the technical aspect of this film which was directed by relatively unknown Scottish director, Lynne Ramsay. She got some recognition in Britain for her short film Gasman, and was later nominated for a BAFTA award for her first feature film, Ratcatcher, in 1999. We Need to Talk About Kevin is more of a breakout film for her because it did get a lot more recognition than her previous films. It even landed among many critic`s favorite movies of 2011 lists. The screenplay was adapted by first time screenwriter Rory Kinnear from the controversial 2005 novel of the same name by Lionel Shriver. The adaptation is pretty good although the film does lack a bit of pacing and it is very silent at times. Ramsay puts a little too much emphasis on style and sometimes forgets to tell the story. She bombards us with similar images over and over again, and with the color red. It`s a good exercise in style, but sometimes it could feel a bit empty if the narration doesn`t flow along with it. Malick was able to play with imagery and style much better in The Tree of Life, but here I just felt many of the things were being forced and over emphasized. I did enjoy this film a lot, but it did take me a while to get into the story. I think I enjoyed the second half of the film much more than the first. Many people walked out of the theater so I know this isn’t a movie for everyone. It is a small independent film which focuses a little more on style and art than on trying to be entertaining or just telling a story. It`s a bizarre rare film that is worth the watch if you pay close attention to the details and the performances.

The film is non-linear as it jumps back in forth in time as the protagonist, Eva Khatchadourian (Tilda Swinton), recalls her life. Her son has done something terrible, he is in prison, and she has to live with the guilt of what he`s done. The neighbors have thrown red paint all over her house and car for some reason, while we see a memory of Eva recalling one of her trips to Spain. She was having the time of her life as we see her during a famous tomato festival (the film opens with this emphasize on the color red), but her travels and adventures seem to be put on hold when her boyfriend, Franklin (John C. Reilly) leaves her pregnant. The film continues to jump back and forth as we see Eva adapting to her new life after the terrible act his son has committed and while she is pregnant and depressed with trying to adapt to her new life. We see images of her really unhappy during her pregnancy, and when her son is born she can`t seem to connect with him. Eva does all she can to raise her son Kevin (Played by Jasper Newell during his toddler years and by Ezra Miller when he`s a teen), but he seems to make her life impossible. Kevin hates his mother and defies her in every aspect. Her father seems to think he is normal, but her mother knows there is something wrong with her kid. Eva may not be the perfect loving mother, but she does try her best and is patient with the kid. She even has a second child named Celia (Ashley Gerasimovich) who turns out to be love, sweet, and innocent, everything Kevin isn`t.

We`ve seen many Hollywood films that deal with this evil born child premise. Usually they explain it by saying he is some sort of a devil spawn or something spiritual like that. This film is nothing like that. This kid, Kevin, is pure evil and we really don’t know why. Perhaps he felt the depression his mother had when he was in her womb. He never felt loved by his mother although she did try to connect with him. It`s easy to blame the mother for his behavior, but in the film we can`t see anything she might of done to him that would lead him to hate her. The only time Kevin could have felt rejected was during Eva`s pregnancy. Is it possible that the kid could`ve felt this unhappiness and depression from his mother`s womb? From the moment Kevin was born the purpose of his existence was to make his mother`s life miserable. She did care and love Kevin and tried to do her best by being forgiving, but Kevin was really incorrigible. What could her mother have done? The answer is pretty simple. Try to get help, send her kid to a psychiatrist or something. The worse thing she could`ve done was continue as if everything were normal. Her husband should`ve supported her and helped her. The real problem was that there was no communication in the family and that might be a reason the film is so silent. The performances are really terrific, especially from Tilda Swinton and Ezra Miller. Swinton makes you sympathize with her at times, while Miller is just terrifying. This film worked really well as a horror film and I really enjoyed the originality of it, although I do agree it has several flaws. Still, it is a movie that haunts you and leaves you thinking about it long after the film is over.

   

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