My Favorite Collection: The Sixth Sense (10/10)

“I see dead people. Walking around like regular people. They don't see each other. They only see what they want to see. They don't know they're dead.”

When asked what my favorite films are, M. Night Shyamalan’s psychological thriller The Sixth Sense tops the list for me every time. I know he hasn’t been on a role lately, but that doesn’t stop me from having high expectations for any of his upcoming projects because I was deeply influenced by this film. Even his following movies, Unbreakable and Signs, rank among my favorites, and I went as far as defending his work in The Happening (which is a guilty pleasure of mine). His latest films have disappointed me, but I still admire his storytelling and the way he builds suspense in his films (he’s heavily influenced by another favorite director of mine: Alfred Hitchcock). I’m looking forward to the release of his new TV series, Wayward Pines, which seems like a return to form for this talented director. But I’m even more excited about his upcoming film, The Visit, which will be released in September. 

I was 18 when this film came out and I had just passed my final High School exam so I decided to treat myself to the movies that night to celebrate. Up to this point I was simply a casual viewer of movies and enjoyed pretty much everything I saw. I had no idea about film criticism, and when I got to the theater I decided on The Sixth Sense simply because it starred Bruce Willis. I didn’t know anything else about the film and was surprised it wasn’t another action vehicle from Willis. The film had a very slow and creepy opening, but I was sucked in by the story and the building atmosphere. I was enjoying the strong chemistry between Willis and Haley Joel Osment as the pair were trying to figure out what was causing these freaky visions. There were several surprisingly scary  scenes that made me jump out of my seat a couple of times. The score was deeply effective as well. I was hooked from the very opening scene, but I was not at all prepared for the surprising and revealing twist at the end that left me completely blown away and speechless in the theater as the credits began rolling. I was in love with The Sixth Sense and from that moment on I have not stopped praising it. 

I can’t believe all the signs that Shyamalan leaves behind for the audience while he is telling the story, and we still couldn’t see the twist coming. He practically has Osment spell it out in his famous scene with Willis. It was a movie I had to rewatch simply because of that twist, and the second viewing allowed me to appreciate the film even more by catching up on all the symbolisms and clues that the director left behind. In my opinion it is the best twist ever because you never feel cheated by it. I credit this movie for getting me interested in film as an art form, although the transition didn’t happen from one moment to the next. The performances from Willis, Olivia Williams, and Toni Collette are all great, but Osment stood out, and it remains one of the best child performances I’ve seen from a Hollywood film.

Seventh Son (5/10): An epic fantasy adventure that wastes an all star cast

“We will meet again.”

Seventh Son is Sergey Bodrov’s (Mongol) latest fantasy epic film starring Jeff Bridges, Julianne Moore, Alicia Vikander, and Ben Barnes. It’s a big budget adaptation of Joseph Delaney’s novel, The Spook’s Apprentice, which failed to make a splash at the box office. It is set in a Tolkien-like fantasy world where supernatural forces live among humans. There are witches, warlocks, boggarts, ghouls, and many other dark morphing creatures, and then there are spooks who protect the people by hunting down these monsters. Bodrov relies heavily on the CGI effects, but the film does look good thanks to its production design. Bridges plays the sole remaining spook, Master Gregory, who is trying to hunt down the extremely dangerous witch, Mother Malkin (Julianne Moore). Malkin plans on using her powers to reunite her followers and unleash evil across the world. After losing his latest apprentice (played by Kit Harrington), Gregory must train the young seventh son of a seventh son named Tom (Ben Barnes) who really doesn’t seem to be an interesting prospect. He only has a week to train him before reaching Malkin and preventing her from fulfilling her evil plan. Along the way, Tom falls for a young witch named Alice (Alicia Vikander) who has been spying on them. She isn’t a dark witch, but is following her mother’s orders.  Seventh Son doesn’t take itself too seriously and Bodrov jumps from one action set piece to the next without spending too much time on the characters and thus not allowing the audience to think too much about the silliness of it all.

The greatest disappointment is of course the weak screenplay that never allows us to engage with the characters despite being played by a fantastic cast. It’s inevitable not to thing about The Big Lebowski when seeing Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore working together again. Moore had a fantastic year, winning the Oscar for her lead performance in Still Alice, but here she doesn’t have anything interesting to do. She plays a typical and cliched villain. Bridges goes extremely overboard with his character, reminding us that we shouldn’t take this adventure film too seriously. It’s hard to understand his drunken mumbling which will remind us of his work in True Grit. Olivia Williams and Djimon Hounsou also have some small roles in this film, so it is a huge disappointment to see such a talented cast wasted in a big budget film like this. Barnes and Vikander are young talented actors that try to do the best with the material they are given. The Swedish actress has taken Hollywood by storm after her performance in the Danish film, A Royal Affair, and she has five films coming out this year. She’s an actress I will be keeping my eyes on. 

Seventh Son has been receiving terrible reviews, but it wasn’t as bad as I had expected. The plot moves along very quickly and in a very predictable manner, but it never tries to take itself too seriously and that is Seventh Son’s greatest strength. The action set pieces are fun and the film is short (under 95 minutes). Of course it isn’t a good film either, but considering it is light for the eyes it’s not a difficult film to watch. If you’re bored you might find the film entertaining and it’s a good way to kill time, but there is nothing memorable about it either. More than anything it’s a huge disappointment for wasting such a talented cast. There’s no character development, but the impressive set designs and quick pace make up for it.    

My Review: Maps to the Stars (5/10)

“On the stairs of Death I write your name, Liberty.”

I don’t consider myself a David Cronenberg fan since some of his recent films didn’t appeal to me and I haven’t had the chance to see his earlier movies, but I do tend to appreciate his work more than I actually enjoy it. This was the case with the incredibly twisted and dark Hollywood satire, Maps to the Stars. It wasn’t a joyful or pleasurable experience for me, but I did admire some aspects of this film. I tend to go for more straightforward narratives than surreal films so that explains why I enjoyed A History of Violence and Eastern Promises much more than his other films. Those two films remain my favorite from Cronenberg. Maps to the Stars was a major improvement from Cosmopolis, but I still had a hard time accepting some of the dark humor and Cronenberg’s hyperrealistic style. I’m sure Cronenberg fans will love this film because he uses plenty of symbols and makes fun of the vein world of celebrities. Using Hollywood itself to establish his familiar dark backgrounds, Cronenberg goes full mode with these messed-up and unpredictable characters. The film has a Greek tragedy structure as well as incorporating familiar ghost story elements to the narrative. Maps to the Stars is as insane as the world of the celebrities it tries to portray. There is also a lot of industry talk going on in this film exploring the Hollywood dynasty and the obsession people have for celebrities. 

Like in most of Cronenberg’s films the characters are difficult to sympathize with and of course it is the case once again with these self centered celebrities who seem to be completely messed up. No one does a better job than Julianne Moore who plays a manic-depressive washed up movie star. She is amazing in this film, but completely annoying at the same time. I wasn’t a huge fan of Evan Bird and John Cusack’s performances. Cusack went over the top with his character and it didn’t really work for me. Mia Wasikowska on the other hand is very subtle in her performance. She seems to pick some strange roles, but she pulls them off. Her character has scars in her body from burns, but they aren’t nearly as disgusting as the souls of these celebrities. Cronenberg seems to be obsessed with disfigured women in his films, but he makes sure we notice that what really is disfigured in Hollywood are the souls of these celebrities. I can give Cronenberg credit for his style, but I can’t say I enjoyed this film. I still don’t understand what was going on with that fire sequence in the film. The CGI was terrible and the scene looked completely fake, but I’m not sure if Cronenberg was intentionally trying to make it so considering he has a twisted sense of humor. 

My Review: Sabotage (5/10)

"Some of us are getting paid, the rest of us are just getting dead."

Two thirds through Sabotage I was actually enjoying this action film thanks to some authentic performances and a decent cast, but the final third act messed up really bad by following generic conventions and feeling a bit too choppy. I was actually enjoying the direction in which this mystery thriller was going, but somehow it lost its way in the end and simply became another familiar action film with conventional characters. The film centers on an elite DEA squad that seems believable at first considering these are undercover agents that have their own unique macho language. They are not sympathetic characters or people we would really like to meet, but somehow their behavior seemed authentic for an underground world in which they were part of. The film seems to be going into an interesting direction and I was engaged with the mystery behind the opening act, but the resolution of the film is incredibly generic and it kind of ruined the entire experience for me. David Ayer is a director whose films I have enjoyed for the most part so I really had some expectations for Sabotage despite the weak word of mouth it was receiving. I believe the failure of this film relies on the studio who decided to cut Ayer's film in order for it to follow basic generic conventions because several scenes do feel forced and chopped. Ayer's version of the film was meant to be almost 3 hours long, but this film is less than two hours long. I can't help but feel there was a much more interesting film underneath the surface despite the fact that these characters aren't people we would like to be around with for too long. End of Watch was one of my favorite films of 2012 so I was really disappointed with Sabotage despite enjoying the first half of the film. I am still looking forward to Fury and hoping the studio doesn't interfere too much with Ayer's work this time. The other thing that hurt this film was the screenplay co-written by Ayer and Skip Woods. Woods hasn't really written a satisfying screenplay, his work in A Good Day to Die Hard being an example of this claim. The film also seems to struggle with its identity whether they want to portray the characters as villains or anti-heroes. 

The film does seem to have its own unique style at first with some gruesome and bloody action sequences and an interesting mystery going on. Unfortunately the mystery doesn't have a good resolution and the twist fails to deliver any surprises. Some of the action scenes do suffer from shaky camera movements and quick edits as well. It is a gritty film, but somehow it loses its identity halfway through and erases that gritty edge Ayer was establishing at the beginning. Ayer has written some interesting films dealing with a similar subject matter in Training Day and End of Watch, but somehow this film never quite reaches that same quality. Arnold Schwarzenegger has made some decent films during his post-governor stage, and this seemed to be another one, but things got out of hand and his performance wasn't enough to save this film. Sam Worthington was almost unrecognizable in this film and the rest of the DEA team including Joe Manganiello, Josh Holloway, Terrence Howard, and Mireille Enos really go out of there way to make these characters unlikable. I actually thought their risk was paying off as I was interested in the mystery involving the stolen money and how they were being eliminated one by one. These weren't your typical characters from an ordinary action film. The film really had potential to go to new places, but it ended up navigating in familiar territory and never managing to come to a satisfying or believable conclusion. This loss of identity ultimately hurt this film which  wasted its potential and gave the violence no sense of purpose whatsoever. It doesn't reward the audience either for sticking with these unlikable characters.

My Review: Rushmore (10/10)

"The secret, I don't know... I guess you've just gotta find something you love to do and then... do it for the rest of your life. For me, it's going to Rushmore."

The Royal Tenenbaums has always been my favorite Wes Anderson movie and I always thought it was because it was the first one of his that I had seen, but it can officially move over now because I have a new favorite: Rushmore. This film was so charming, the soundtrack so cool, and the characters so well developed that I was completely in love with it once the credits started rolling. Not only is it my favorite Wes Anderson film, but it also belongs on my all time favorite list as well. I am a sucker for coming of age stories and this was a great one with perhaps one of Anderson's best developed characters from all his filmography: Max Fischer. All of Anderson's films have a similar style with offbeat and quirky themes and a hyper reality where the characters sometimes resemble those we imagine in our heads when we are reading a fantasy book. At times they are hard to connect with because they seem to belong in another time and place, but Wes manages to draw us into his world kind of like in the same way we are drawn to a theater play. That is why I also loved the special touches from Anderson as he incorporates school plays with wonderful productions into his movies. I think Rushmore is his most complete film with a charming ending, a memorable odd couple pairing, and a weird love triangle that features some of Anderson's most romantic work (similar in that sense to Moonrise Kingdom). As much as I enjoyed his first film, Bottle Rocket, it was Rushmore where he truly defines and finds his style with those production designs that seem taken from a stage play or a colorful children's book (especially seen in the scenes where Max visits the principal's office). I absolutely fell in love with Rushmore and this will be the measuring stick for Wes Anderson's films from now on.

This wonderful and witty screenplay written by Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson begins with a dream sequence where Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) is in math class solving an extremely difficult equation and thus saving his classmates from ever having to open a math book again. His friend, Dirk (Mason Gamble), awakes him just before a millionaire industrialist named Herman Blue (Bill Murray) is about to begin his chapel speech. He has two sons in Rushmore Academy, one of the most expensive and prestigious schools in the country. Max is fascinated by this man's speech and so at the end he introduces himself to Herman and the two form a special bond together. Max is in love with Rushmore and his entire life revolves around the school and he finds in Herman someone who has achieved the success he's aiming for, while Herman is a disillusioned man who has lost his purpose in life and sees in Max someone determined who enjoys life. Up to this point one would think Max is the perfect student, but the school's headmaster, Dr. Guggenheim (Brian Cox) explains to Herman that he actually is the worst scholarly student due to his involvement in dozens of extracurricular activities (such as being the editor of the school newspaper, president of the chess, astronomy, beekeeping, and French clubs, captain of the fencing team, and director of the school play). Unlike the rest of the students, Max isn't a wealthy kid, his father Bert (Seymour Cassel) is a barber, so he's a scholarship student that is about to lose it due to his bad grades. Max and Herman's friendship is tested when they both fall in love with the widowed first grade teacher, Rosemary Cross (Olivia Williams). This is were the thin line between friends and enemies begin as Max and Herman begin a feud over Miss Cross.

What makes Rushmore stand out above other Wes Anderson films (I have liked all of them) is the great pairing of Jason Schwartzman and Bill Murray's characters. Both of them, despite having completely opposite personalities, complete each other because they see in each other what they want to become. Max aspires to be successful in life and doesn't want to become a barber like his father (that is why he always lies about his profession), while Herman despite having it all is completely disillusioned with his marriage and spoiled children. Max's passion for life is what captivates Herman because it is what he has lost. This bond is broken once Rosemary enters the picture and they both become infatuated with winning her love. Max will do anything for her, including building a giant aquarium in the school's baseball diamond or directing a successful play. Max is my favorite character despite not being entirely likable, while Murray's portrayal of Herman is sensational. He delivers one of his best and most memorable performances and shines in each scene he shares with Max or Rosemary. There are several hilarious lines and quirky moments that also balanced out perfectly with the more subtle emotional and romantic ones. This film has a lot of heart and Anderson really delivers here with his unique style (a lot of his trademarks can be found here like the slow-motion and wide angle shots, the inclusion of at least one Rolling Stones song on the soundtrack, the underwater shot, and the influence of the Charlie Brown cartoon). It's an inspired film and Anderson creates a unique world that at times seems distant from reality, but somehow he manages to create these rich characters that are easy to identify with or relate to in such a way that they manage to touch us without being overly sentimental.

My Review: Hanna (8/10)

¨I just missed your heart.¨

Hanna is an action film that really delivers and gives us more than we were expecting without being anything extraordinary. I really enjoyed the freshness of its script and the lead performance from Saoirse Ronan who had already worked with director Joe Wright in the past in Atonement. Wright is also famous for his adaptation of Jane Austen`s novel Pride and Prejudice starring Keira Knightley. Hanna is one of those action films that stands out from the rest of the pack because it feels fresh and original. Seth Lochhead had already written the script way back in 2006 and had received some recognition for his work by being listed in the Black List twice (an annual list that signals out some of the best screenplays that were never produced) until his movie was finally produced and directed by Wright. Yes, the script might have some plot holes here and there, but Ronan`s performance and the action make up for it. The action is almost nonstop and we get to travel across different locations as we experience one chase after another. The fighting scenes are pretty well choreographed and the supporting cast is also interesting. Hanna is not your typical action film, it is different and kind of hard to predict. At first it is difficult to understand what is going on, but as the story develops we get to piece together the mystery and uncover the past. Hanna also works because we have a rather unconventional heroine who can really bring it. Joe Wright found the perfect person in Saoirse Ronan for the role.

I don’t want to give too much of the plot away because this is one of those movies that the less you know about the better. I will only mention some of the characters and general storylines and let the viewer piece the story together as they watch the film on their own. Hanna (Saoirse Ronan) has spent her entire childhood and adolescent life undergoing special training somewhere in the middle of a forest in Finland far from all civilization. Her father has spent his life training and educating her so that she be ready for a very important mission. He has turned Hanna into a perfect killing machine because he claims there is someone who wants to kill her. Hanna`s father, Erik (Eric Bana), decides to train her and prepare her for her encounter with this person named Marissa (Cate Blanchett). When Hanna feels ready Erik lets her go on the mission and the chase begins across various locations beginning in Morocco and ending in Germany. Marissa isn’t the only one after Hanna, she has help from Isaacs (Tom Hollander) and some of his friends. Hanna on the other hand befriends another girl named Sophie (Jessica Barden) and she and her family are the first people she`s ever had a relationship outside of her father. Olivia Williams plays the mother, Rachel, while Jason Flemyng is the father, Sebastian. Hanna discovers she isn`t actually a normal girl and decides to search for answers while facing off with Marissa and Isaacs who are after her.

The soundtrack of the film is by The Chemical Brothers, who aren’t actually among my favorite bands, but they have a very different style of music which worked perfectly with this very different kind of action film. Beside Ronan`s performance which I have already signaled out, I have to say Eric Bana does a pretty decent job playing her father and Blanchett does the same playing the nemesis although we`ve seen them before in better roles. Tom Hollander plays a really weird character in this film and I really wasn’t interested in his character. As for the technical aspect of the film it was beautifully shot and edited. The action was pretty well developed and I enjoyed watching the story unfold as the movie moved on. Joe Wright has directed a very different film from what he has made in the past, but he did a great job with Hanna. By the end of the year I will probably still remember this film because it`s one of those movies that sticks with you for being entertainingly awkward. Midway through the year I can say it is one of the better action movies I`ve seen this year, but not nearly as close to being anything extraordinary. It’s no masterpiece, but it works nonetheless. Saoirse Ronan has an interesting future ahead of her and she`s proven that her excellent work in Atonement was no one-time thing; she can really bring it considering the strong physicality this role required and she delivered. This is one movie you won’t want to miss.

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My Review: The Ghost Writer (9/10)

¨Oh yes, the wall of ego. We all have one, our equivalent of the dentist's fish tank. ¨

The Ghost Writer is an excellent thriller that works mainly because Roman Polanski is at the helm of the project. I don`t think this story would have been so gripping or suspenseful if it was put in any other director`s hands, but Polanski has such a fatalistic view of the world that he knows how to create these dark and tense situations and combines them with the right amount of black humor and paranoia. The performance from the cast was also an important ingredient to the success of this film with Ewan McGregor giving a terrific performance, Pierce Brosnan, Olivia Williams, and Tom Wilkinson also delivering in the supporting roles. The similarities between Brosnan`s character with real life British former prime minister, Tony Blair, can`t be ignored, even more so considering that Polanski`s adapted screenplay was based on Robert Harris`s (a former BBC reporter and political columnist) book The Ghost, which was written shortly after Blair resigned from office. This is Polanski`s first film in 5 years as a director, and only his second one since 2002 when he won the Oscar for The Pianist.  Polanski proves once again why he ranks amongst the best directors in the world showing he is a true master in the craft, creating suspense from the very opening scene, maintaining our full attention throughout the film, and creating several unexpected twists.

The movie opens with a dark scene as a ferry is disembarking on a cold night and one car is left behind with the owner of the vehicle nowhere to be found. The next morning a body is found washed up in the beach and it happens to be that of a ghostwriter who was writing the memoirs for the British former Prime Minister Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan). It seemed to be an apparent suicide or accident since there was a high amount of alcohol level in his blood, and the memoir didn`t seem to be going very well. A new ghost writer (Ewan McGregor) is hired to try to finish the memoir even though he knows nothing of politics, but the paycheck seems worth it. He travels to the United States where Adam is located for a month and begins interviewing him in order to try to bring some heart to the memoir which according to him was ¨the cure for insomnia, ¨ and there was a lot of work to be done.  A lot of suspicious events begin to lead the ghost to do more researching. First of all there is the over protectiveness of the original memoir which can never leave the room and is always locked away in a cabin by Lang`s assistant Amelia Bly (Kim Cattrall), then there is the issue that Lang is being accused of crime wars by a former British minister, and Lang`s wife Ruth (Olivia Williams) is jealous of her husband`s relationship with Amelia. The ghost begins to investigate some of his predecessor`s findings and after a few interviews with some locals discovers that his death might not have been accidental after all. As the ghost gets deeper in his investigation, his life begins to be threatened.

The film is very well crafted by Polanski who does a great job at creating the right mood for a suspenseful political thriller such as this one. I think that any other director could have turned this film into ¨the cure for insomnia, ¨ but Polanski is a master at what he does and was able to combine suspense, thrills, and twists into this film converting it into a successful movie. Ewan McGregor`s character is probably the key to the entire movie as his investigation of the case serves to inform us about what is going on. We are discovering new things about Lang`s life along with him, and we feel completely lost alongside him wondering what is going to happen next.  We can identify and feel the paranoia with him as more and more mysteries become unraveled and his life begins to be threatened. Another key element is Tom Wilkinson`s small role in this film as Paul Emmett, a Harvard graduate that seems to play an important role in Lang`s life although he denies it. Wilkinson is such a great actor and he always adds so much with his performances. He isn`t on screen very much, but those few minutes are memorable nonetheless. McGregor isn`t left behind and he does a great job in the lead role playing one of his best roles in recent memory, as does Pierce Brosnan. Overall this is a great movie and I highly recommend this as one of the year`s best thrillers.

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