Hugo - 2011

Director: Martin Scorsese
Writer: John Logan
Starring: Asa Butterfield, Chloe Grace-Moretz, Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Helen McCrory, Christopher Lee, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jude Law

Hugo (Butterfield) is an orphan living in a train station, continuing the Herculean task of his late father (Law): reconstructing a mysterious automaton. When he meets Isabel (Grace-Moretz), a young girl who somehow has a key to the strange device, the two discover a long-buried secret about her godfather (Kingsley).

I'd be lying if I said I didn't consider Hugo to be a brilliant piece of cinema. Virtually anything Scorsese goes to work on ends up great; while Shutter Island wasn't one of my favorites, it was still far from terrible. The cast he cobbled together is nothing short of wonderful. Between this and Kick-Ass, Grace-Moretz has proven her worth double that of some actresses twice her age. Butterfield, who had his breakout role in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, also shows he's more than your standard child star. Kingsley is tremendous as always, and Cohen is as enjoyable as he was in Sweeney Todd, another script by Logan, rather than his usually intolerable roles in his own pictures. The story is straightforward enough to be enjoyed by all ages, which aids in Scorsese's debut in the realm of non-adult fare. Unfortunately, I think that the reports of Scorsese's skill with the 3D have been greatly exaggerated, despite his great attempt to replicate the response early audiences had when first seeing Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat. The third act plays out more as Scorsese's love letter to the old films moreso than one the audience at large might identify with, and film buffs may enjoy the latter half more than the average moviegoer, but Hugo is a triumph nonetheless. A

The Descendants - 2011

Director: Alexander Payne
Cowriters: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, & Jim Rash
Starring: George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Beau Bridges, Matthew Lillard, Judy Greer

After his wife slips into a coma, Hawaiian native Matt King (Clooney) must become a father to his two daughters with renewed vigor. However, a wrinkle comes into play when one of King's daughters tells him about an affair his wife was having before her accident.

Payne's last film was Sideways all the way back in 2004, and I'm glad as hell to see him back. While the protagonists of the three films of his I've seen could be said to share a basic archetype, that doesn't make them any less enjoyable. This time he's working with Clooney, who's pitch perfect as the haole (white Hawaiian) struggling to keep his life together while tackling a B-plot related to the sale of some family land. It's this secondary storyline that seems a bit excessive, but otherwise it's a spectacular film. The cinematography shows off the natural beauty and Hawaii, and all of the cast is terrific, right on down to the newcomers portraying King's daughters. I hope Payne doesn't wait seven years for his next film. A

A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas 3D - 2011

The Rum Diary - 2011

I've realized that writing about these wide-release films is an exercise in redundancy, so enjoy the videos alone from this point onward!

Martha Marcy May Marlene - 2011

Director: Sean Durkin

Writer: Sean Durkin

Starring: Elizabeth Olsen, John Hawkes, Sarah Paulson, Hugh Dancy

After escaping from a brutal cult in the Catskill Mountains led by the enigmatic Patrick (Hawkes), Martha (Olsen) struggles to reacclimate to society, despite the best efforts of her sister (Paulson) and brother-in-law (Dancy).

Yet another spectacular independent film, and a debut from so many involved on top of that. One caveat: this is going to be a little hard to find; I only saw it because I happened to be in Los Angeles at the time, and its second weekend of release only saw it in four theaters overall. Regardless, I feel the need to spread its gospel. Hawkes, who many recognize from last year's Winter's Bone, gives another stirring performance, capturing the essence of the typical backwoods cult leader figure. Paulson and Dancy are good enough to get by, though we don't really spend enough time with those characters for anything substantial to develop. However, the true shining point of the film is the performance of the youngest Olsen. While this isn't the first time she's been in front of a camera by any means, it's not only her first lead role, but also more substantial than anything her sisters ever did (combined or separately). Her actions are never over-the-top, nor do they seem unrealistic for someone in her character's horrifying circumstances. The writer/director makes excellent use of flashbacks in conjunction with match cuts, and the story of cult experiences unfolds surprisingly naturally alongside the reassimilation. The foley mix is a bit high in certain scenes, and one forest scene isn't lit well enough to see the actors' faces when you need to, but the film suffers little for its technical errors. A-

The Ides of March - 2011

Director: George Clooney
Writers: George Clooney, Grant Heslov, & Beau Willimon
Starring: Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Evan Rachel Wood, Marisa Tomei, Max Minghella, Jeffrey Wright


Stephen Meyers (Gosling) is the much-beloved junior campaign manager for Governor Mike Morris (Clooney). However, when the campaign manager (Giamatti) from the other Democratic candidate sends a job offer his way, his formerly unwavering loyalty is tested, especially when he discovers a bombshell that could bring down Morris's campaign completely.


Ides proves the political drama is far from dead. The source material (a play inspired by the 2004 presidential run of Howard Dean) is strong, especially in the hands of George Clooney. The casting choices are nothing short of superb, either: Ryan "2011 is my year" Gosling, Philip Seymour "I never fail you" Hoffman, Paul "bearded is beautiful" Giamatti, and so many more. It's just one great thing after another, and it all fits together like cogs in a finely-tuned machine. PSH in particular gives a tremendous monologue a little past the one hour mark. Clooney remains a triple threat with this film, which is sure to stand the test of time (despite the set design having a distinct Obama influence). A-

50/50 - 2011

Director: Jonathan Levine
Writer: Will Reiser
Starring: Joseph Gordon-levitt, Seth Rogen, Bryce Dallas Howard, Anna Kendrick, Anjelica Houston, Philip Baker Hall


"A tumor? Me? That's impossible. I don't smoke, I don' t drink...I recycle." 50/50 tells the story of 27-year-old Adam (Gordon-Levitt) who's nothing short of shocked to discover he has a malignant tumor, and how the challenges of his treatment affect him and his close friends and family.

• Denial: "They'd never make a comedy about a guy with cancer."
• Anger: "I still can't believe James McAvoy didn't get the lead role in this!"
• Bargaining: "I'll see What's Your Number instead. That could be funny, right?"
• Depression: "It'll just be Brian's Song all over again. I don't want to cry this weekend."
• Acceptance: "This actually looks pretty good."

See this movie. The cast is superb, with each member fitting into their niches perfectly. Relative newcomers like Gordon-Levitt and Kendrick compliment the seasoned veterans of Houston and Hall surprisingly well. The script is full of laughs while still being serious when it needs to be, and it runs the entire emotional gamut repeatedly. Even if you know as much going into the film as I did, you'll still walk out wholly satisfied. A

Hesher - 2011

Director: Spencer Susser
Writers: Spencer Susser & David Michod
Starring: Devin Brochu, Rainn Wilson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Piper Laurie, Natalie Portman


"Life is like walking in the rain... you can hide and take cover or you can just get wet." TJ (Brochu) and his father (Wilson) are both still recovering from the recent loss of TJ's mother. After this depression reaches significant depths, the self-tattooed pyromaniacal metalhead Hesher (Gordon-Levitt) shows up and everything changes.


Certain movies, while great, couldn't be further from what Hollywood's all about; Hesher is the perfect example of this. Funnyman Rainn Wilson goes wholly serious, prettyboy Gordon-Levitt grows out his hair and forgets to shave, and the lead and writer/director are both unknowns. Hollywood doesn't know what it's missing; the film ends up remarkable. Wilson proves he can be more than Dwight from The Office, Brochu shows great promise (despite sounding uncomfortable cursing at times), and Gordon-Levitt is in the greatest role of his career to date, being nothing short of an unstoppable force of nature. Portman's role seems a little underdeveloped, but it's a small price to pay for a film this good. A

Moneyball - 2011

Director: Bennett Miller
Writers: Aaron Sorkin & Steven Zaillian
Starring: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, & Philip Seymour Hoffman


"There's rich teams, then there's poor teams, then there's fifty feet of crap...and then there's us." The Oakland Atheletics aren't as financially well-endowed as general manager Billy Beane (Pitt) and the team would like. However, thanks to a statistical strategy from Peter Brand (Hill), Beane attempts to get a winning team together in spite of his monetary shortcomings.

If you'll pardon my use of an expression from a sport I don't care for, I thought Moneyball was going to hit it out of the park. I'd heard nothing but good things about the film, notably Brad Pitt's performance (which is great, don't get me wrong); a script reworking by Social Network scribe Aaron Sorkin didn't hurt my expectations either. Unfortunately, it's a bit closer to a double for me. The script runs a little long (there's some bits with Beane's family that don't really tie in with the rest of the story), making this 135 minute film seem more like 180...just like a real baseball game! Hill's just a tad miscast, and some of his lines end up funnier than I think they were intended to be. Something I noticed: the MPAA let them slip by with two uses of the F-word without an R rating, so that seems to be the new standard. If you're a fan of baseball, and Oakland in particular, you'll probably like this film a lot more than I did. B

Drive - 2011

Director: Nicholas Winding Refn
Writer: Hossein Amini
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Albert Brooks, Bryan Cranston, Ron Perlman

"If I drive for you, you give me a time and a place. I give you a five-minute window; anything happens in that five minutes and I'm yours, no matter what. One minute in either direction, and you're on your own. I don't sit in while you're running it down; I don't carry a gun... I drive." A Hollywood stunt driver (Gosling) moonlighting as a getaway driver finds himself in over his head after driving a job for the recently unincarcerated boyfriend of a new neighbor (Mulligan).

This film is what every action movie should aspire to be. It doesn't have to be all mindless action and explosions in lieu of a storyline. Refn proves after all these years that he can direct someone else's script just as well as he can his own, and what a script it is! Not only that, but the cast is dynamite, mostly the ones acting outside their normal range (Brooks playing the heavy, Gosling not being a pretty boy, etc.). About an hour into it, things abruptly get very violent, but in the end it's very much an "arthouse action" film, far from what many typical fans of the genre would expect. A+

Oh, and don't confuse this with Drive Angry. Please.