My Review: Killer Joe (5/10)

¨You ever hear of Joe Copper? He's a cop. A detective actually. He's got a little business on the side.¨

Director William Friedkin is mostly recognized for his work in the 70`s in The Exorcist and The French Connection. He hasn’t had another critically acclaimed movie since then although some of his movies have received a small fan base. Killer Joe is a neo-noir film with some excellent performances from the cast that critics have enjoyed and therefore put Friedkin on the map again. His film was adapted from Tracy Letts play of the same name. Letts worked with Friedkin in 2006 in the film Bug which didn’t receive too much attention. Killer Joe has made the top ten list of many critics favorite film of 2012 and I can see why. It is a very dark film, with some sadistic violence and dark humor as well. Several scenes, especially the ending, will leave you shocked and disgusted. Most critics found this film to be well crafted, but it hasn’t received as much love from audiences. As much as I wanted to like this movie, I was really disappointed with it. It was just too dark and sadistic for my taste. I don’t have a problem with violent films, I am a huge Tarantino fan, but this film is just an example of how difficult it really is to mix dark humor with violence, and although Tarantino makes it look really easy, it isn’t because Killer Joe is proof of that. I can see why many critics liked this movie, but I can`t say that I agree with them. It just wasn’t my taste. What I can agree on is the performance from the cast which is truly great, but I will get to that later.

The film takes place in a small Texas town where we meet a redneck family living in a trailer. Chris (Emile Hirsch), a drug dealer, has got in a fight with his mother after she stole his stash and now he is in a huge debt with some thugs. In order to pay off the debt he comes up with a plan that involves killing his mother and collecting her insurance money. Someone has told him that the insurance money would go to her younger sister, Dottie (Juno Temple) who lives with his father and step mother. Chris shows up at his father`s house one night and shares the plan with him. Ansel (Thomas Haden Church) who`s very naïve agrees to listen to the plan. Chris tells him about the insurance money and that he has heard of a contract killer named Joe (Matthew McConaughey) who he is planning on contacting. Together, Chris and Ansel meet up with Joe who happens to be a police detective during the day and a killer at night. He agrees to kill the mother as long as they pay him 25,000 thousand dollars up front. Since Chris doesn’t have the money and can`t pay him in advance, Joe decides to take innocent Dottie as his retainer. Chris and Ansel agree as well as Ansel`s wife, Sharla (Gina Gershon). The family is completely dysfunctional and they make it really easy for you to believe they would accept and do such a thing. Well of course something goes wrong in the transaction and all hell breaks loose in this pulpy dark film.

As good as Thomas Haden Church, Gina Gershon, Emile Hirsch, and Juno Temple are in this movie they are outshined by Matthew McConaughey`s performance as this sadistic but charming detective. He is that kind of guy who on one side seems really nice and charming but on the other you know he`s dangerous and won`t want to mess with him. This is perhaps one of his strongest performances although I really preferred his work in Magic Mike. There is no doubt this has been a great year for him as he has received a lot of recognition for his work in these films. It was good to see Gina Gershon back in a strong role as well as it had been a long time since she could prove her artistic talents. Emile Hirsh and Thomas Haden Church are always great and have found them pretty much dependable in everything. Juno Temple perhaps gets her best role here as well. The performances were my favorite part of this movie, but I really can`t say I enjoyed the story. I was shocked by several scenes and really found some difficult to watch. This isn’t one of those movies I would like to watch again and I definitely wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. It will not be among my favorite films of the year, and I hope to forget all about it by tomorrow.

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My Review: We Bought a Zoo (9/10)

¨You know, sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it.¨

2011 brought us some surprisingly great family films such as The Muppets and Dolphin Tale, but I think Cameron Crowe just won me over for the best one of the year with We Bought a Zoo. I`m a huge Crowe fan and have loved most of his films (I even loved Elizabethtown and am not ashamed of admitting it despite being hated by nearly every critic), especially Almost Famous and Jerry Maguire. I think this film is up to par with his best work despite being over sentimental at times. I think that what I like best about Crowe`s films are his dialogues. I think he`s a good writer and he creates some interesting characters. He usually writes his own stories for his films, although this time he based it on a true story and adapted the screenplay from Benjamin Mee`s biography, but he still should receive credit for his adaptation. The story isn`t the only thing that works, a lot of credit has to be given to Matt Damon for his performance in the lead role and to the rest of the supporting cast. Scarlett Johansson had strong chemistry with Damon and her performance felt believable, Maggie Elizabeth Jones was cuter than any other character on screen this year, Elle Fanning is almost as amazing as she was in Super 8 (she`s turning into my favorite young actress along with Chloe Grace Moretz), while Thomas Haden Church, John Higgins, and Angus Macfadyen provided most of the laughs in the movie. Colin Ford had to play kind of the rebellious teen son and he did a decent job although he perhaps had the least interesting character. The animals also play a huge part in the overall effectiveness of the film.   

The film is based on a true story about a father named Benjamin Mee (Matt Damon) who after losing his wife has to raise his two children on his own in Southern California. His fourteen year old son, Dylan (Colin Ford, a young Bon Jovi lookalike) is going through a very dark time and is having trouble at school. He ends up being expelled for stealing some money and for painting a very dark mural. His seven year old daughter, Rosie (Maggie Elizabeth Jones) is a lot closer to her father and is cuter than any other girl her age. She is sweet and always smiling, a complete contrast to Dylan. Benjamin becomes tired of the city life and quits his job as a journalist and decides to buy a new home in the countryside. This new home is big, has lots of space, but it comes with one special responsibility: it is a zoo. Benjamin decides it`s time to begin a new adventure and decides to repair the zoo in time to open it for the public in the summer. The zoo is pretty much abandoned, but with the help of a few workers left Benjamin begins putting his life savings into it in order to restore it in time before the next inspection. Kelly Foster (Scarlett Johansson) has worked at the zoo for several years and becomes his right hand helper, along with Peter (Angus Macfadyen), Robin (Patrick Fugit), and her thirteen year old niece Lily (Elle Fanning). Benjamin`s accountant brother Duncan (Thomas Haden Church) warns him about the financial risks involved, but he decides to go with his heart and live a new adventure.

If you`ve seen a Cameron Crowe film before then you know this won`t just be a family film. Crowe loves music and he always includes some really great soundtracks in his stories. He also manages to include one or two dialogues based on music. He makes a reference to Dylan being named after the great Bob Dylan, but later we realize he was really named Dylan for his dog. Just like the Crowe humor isn`t missing here, the romantic stories aren`t left out either. Crowe is a romantic at heart. We`ve seen some of the most famous romantic lines in movies like Jerry Maguire, such as ¨you had me at hello,¨ but here he also includes a few lines that will be memorable like the ¨twenty seconds of insane courage¨ one. The film is really worth a watch, it is for everyone, it has a love story, several funny scenes, an inspiring story, and several cute animals. Adults and children will enjoy this film alike. I was surprised to hear the characters in which this film was based actually had a cameo near the end of the movie. The real Benjamin and his two children were the first in line to climb the fallen tree in order to reach the zoo. Matt Damon is such a reliable actor; he has had a great year, but the true heart of the film here relies on the cuteness of Elle Fanning, Maggie Elizabeth Jones, and the animals. Yes this film might be over sentimental and cheesy at times, but it`s so cute that it`s hard to resist.

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My Review: Easy A (8/10)

¨The rumors of my promiscuity have been greatly exaggerated.¨

I wasn’t surprised as to how much I actually enjoyed this teen comedy because I had seen Emma Stone`s work in the past. She was only a supporting character in Zombieland and Superbad, but she was great in both those films and her career looked promising. Easy A is her first lead role and she proved she can carry a film all on her own. Emma Stone has the right look for a movie star and at the same time has a natural wit that very few young actresses have. Her performance reminded me a little of Lindsay Lohan in Mean Girls (I just hope her career doesn`t follow a similar fate). Stone is a much better actress and seems a lot smarter as well, but let’s not forget that Lohan also started off with a promising career. Easy A is directed by Will Gluck, who actually had only directed one other relatively unknown movie before this (Fired Up). The screenplay was also written by another unknown writer in the film industry: Bert V. Royal (who had worked for TV in the Dave Chappell Show). I really enjoyed the script however, and felt it was written by someone with the comedic genius as Tina Fey for example. Easy A had everything good going for it: Emma Stone and a really funny and smart script. That`s all you need for a comedy to work these days. Will Gluck pulled it off and delivered one of the best comedies of 2010 (even though there weren`t very many good comedies this year).

Olive (Emma Stone) narrates via a video blog how she told her best friend a little white lie about losing her virginity, and how that small lie spread thanks to the High School rumors. The story is told by her and we see what she is saying through flashbacks. It all began when Olive told her best friend, Rhiannon (Alyson Michalka) that she had a date with a college guy so she had an excuse not to go camping with her strange family. After not doing anything all weekend, Olive meets Rhiannon back at school and she asks how the date went. Rhi suspects that Olive had sex with this mysterious guy and insists so much that Olive simply lies so she won’t bother her anymore. Marianne (Amanda Bynes), the religious freak in school, hears the conversation in the bathroom and begins spreading the rumor. All of a sudden Olive begins to be noticed by everyone at school and she kind of likes being the center of attention. That same day Olive is sent to detention and spends the afternoon with Brandon (Dan Byrd) who`s also been detained. Brandon is constantly bullied on by his classmates due to the fact that he`s gay. When Brandon learns from Olive that the rumor is a lie he comes up with the idea to lie about having sex with her in order for the students at school to stop believing he`s gay. All of a sudden Olive`s reputation as a skank begins to grow and she ends up finding herself lying about having relations with several of the students in order to help them out. Olive finds a parallel between herself and the character from The Scarlett Letter (Hester Prynne), the book they are studying in school with professor Griffith (Thomas Haden Church). Everyone seems to judge Olive based on the rumors, except Todd (Penn Badgley), the guy who she`s always had a crush for.

Emma Stone proved she can have a lead role in Hollywood and does it well, but she also had a great cast to back her up. Stanley Tucci played her father and he`s always funny in every scene he`s in. He`s just such a great actor that always makes any movie so much funnier when he`s on screen. Patricia Clarkson is also hilarious in her role as Olive`s mother. These are two of the most unconventional parents I`ve seen in a movie this year. They were great on screen together. Amanda Bynes was also good in her role as a religious freak who was constantly judging Olive. Thomas Haden Church is always funny in every movie that he appears in so Emma Stone had a great cast to work along with. She also counted with a great script (I loved the narration about the 80`s movies and how she wished her life would be directed by John Hughes). The video blog journal also added to the comedy as we got to hear Olive`s witty side notes about what was going on. I really didn`t care too much for Cam Gigandet and Lisa Kudrow`s characters. Their performances were off par with the rest of the cast. Neither of them get much screen time so they don`t affect the movie at all. Easy A is easily one of the best comedies of the year. I really enjoyed it and thought Emma Stone was great in it along with the rest of the supporting cast. I wish they made more comedies like this one.

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