2011: The Year in Film: Blue Valentine Review

Once again I suck. I saw this one on February 15.. pisspoor turn around on this one. People fall in love.. they fall out of love.. it happens all the time and as a big-picture issue, who really cares? Dumbass kids, right? When the reality is that "love".. whatever it may actually be, is often the defining experience of most of our lives. Lives are defined through relationships.. and the ebbs and flows of a love story are as heart-wrenching as anything. This is a film that focuses on the beginnings and end of a relationship that would become a marriage in a raw, uncompromising and gritty way. This is a small, intimate film that leans entirely on the capable backs of its stars to express the joy and pain of affairs of the heart. Thankfully, Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling are more than up to the challenge. With performances like these.. I have hope for young Hollywood.

Cindy and Dean are a young-ish married couple.. working class, with a school age daughter. The actual narrative of the film occurs over a Friday and Saturday, but through the use of flashbacks intercut with the actual narrative, you're given glimpses of how they got together while seeing how they're falling apart. That narrative device is incredibly effective and all the more heart-breaking. Seeing Dean and Cindy young and happy is all the more glaring after you've seen them struggling and worn down. There's nothing special about these two.. they could be a working class couple in any town in mid-America.. they work, they fight, they try to get on..

This film is tiny in scope. Outside of Dean and Cindy there are about 4 characters.. Cindy's parents and ex boyfriend, a co-worker of Dean's... and that's about it. The film is shot very close to give it a home-video feel and you can't help but to be charmed and drawn in by these two pretty young people and have your heart broken along with theirs. In seeing Cindy and Dean's highest highs and lowest lows you're taken on an emotional roller coaster along with these two kids who once had something special and now don't. We follow them from their first meeting, a chance encounter, to the day it becomes clear their marriage is over.. a period of 6 years or so.. and by skipping back and forth in time we see what they had.. as it's contrasted with what they didn't and don't today.



This film reminds me a lot of Revolutionary Road.. only instead of being more of a parable for our society it's an intimate tale of an individual couple. Ultimately the lesson is the same.. marriage between people who are ultimately wrong for each other is devastating. Here, Dean remains static.. a child of sorts, while Cindy wants more.. she wants better. Who's right depends on your point of view.. but I do know that this one completely broke my heart.. and contained moments of pure joy at the same time.. and there's something magical about a film that can tug on your heartstrings like that. It's not always easy or enjoyable to watch.. but it's a hell of a film. Gosling is a star.
8.4/10.

2011: The Year in Film: Green Hornet Review.

Man, I suck at posting these reviews lately. I think I saw this one on January 21 if my calculations are correct, and here we are more than a month later and I'm finally posting my review, thereby completely eliminating the purpose for reviewing it at all.. but, c'est la vie. The Green Hornet is one of those flicks that's had a tumultuous trip to the screen after existing in various incarnations for something like 75 years via radio, comic books, tv series, movie shorts and so on. Seth Rogen and his writing partner Evan Goldberg wrote this one, and Rogen stars as partyboy heir to a media empire Britt Reid. Indie darling Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine, Science of Sleep) makes his transition into "big" action here, and the result is... interesting. There are some impressive names attached to this one in various supporting roles: Christoph Waltz as the crime lord of LA, Tom Wilkinson as Britt's father, James Reid, Cameron Diaz as Britt's secretary/crush and a personal favorite of mine, Admiral Adama himself, Edward James Olmos as longtime publisher and write hand man of James Reid's media magnate. This is a weird flick that couldn't quite decide what it wanted to be. Is it an action flick? Kind of. Is it a comedy? Kind of. It actually reminds me most of the Joel Schumacher Batman flicks.. and that's not really a compliment. There are some cool action scenes.. I think Gondry has potential there.. and there are some funny bits.. but overall the film feels scattershot and kind of pointless. Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou is interesting in the role made famous by Bruce Lee, as Britt's handyman/genius/badass Kato.

In this day and age when films like Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Iron Man, V for Vendetta and the Ed Norton Hulk have shown that comic book movies can be adult and compelling with actual character development. In this atmosphere, this film seems like something that would have been made in the late 90's.. it's just not rooted in any semblance of reality and despite being rather violent and dark isn't gritty at all. Seth Rogen is pretty much constantly playing shades of Seth Rogen.. and that just doesn't work for a flick that's asking to be taken seriously. Wilkinson, Olmos, Diaz and Waltz try their damndest but ultimately can't hike this one beyond a less-funny Pineapple Express. James Franco does have a hilarious cameo that for me was the highlight of the whole flick. Yes, don't let your impression at the Oscars the other night ruin your impression of Mr. Franco, the dude is pretty damn talented.

Overall, the film looks great and there are some funny scenes and a couple of impressive action sequences, but the film feels like it belongs in 1997, not 2011. Mediocre at best - 6/10.