Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)

From the Pompous Thomas 2010 Review Backlog!

Exit Through the Gift Shop: Fun and games with the street art underground or revenge documentary? How about both! This movie has two distinct halves. The first half of this super-low budget documentary is pure fun and games with our POV into the thrilling world of street art; the one and only Theirry.

Theirry films everything he does. EVERYTHING. Cooking, sleeping, walking, talking, working, playing. He's a goofy and lovable guy and the artists he meets through his street artist cousin are like Robin Hood and coolest kids in school rolled into one. The time we spend marveling at their cleverness and laughing at their hijinks is some of the most fun I've had watching a movie. The second half is a lot different.

In the second half, Theirry stops hanging out with famous street artists like Banksy and Shepard Fairey and becomes the engineer of an elaborate industrial/commercial street art machine. Theirry stops being the goofy guy holding the camera and becomes an object of scorn. It's hard to see the movie and street artists like Banksy turn on our hero like this, even if he does seem to deserve it. But then you remember that Banksy directed this movie. You have to wonder if we're really getting both sides of the story or if this is just Banksy's way of getting back at Theirry for being such a huge sell-out, man.

Cost/Benefit Analysis: I saw this movie for free, but I was planning on paying full price to see it. The movie's truthiness is a bit suspect, but it's still a good story, no matter what actually happened.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)

When you think of Sweden you think of large, bulky people; the bland, colorless food they eat; and the flat, frozen expanse of barren wasteland that they call home. But I ask you, when a man takes the time to ruminate on this land of golden-haired giants, how often does he think of taut mystery/thrillers starring petite bisexual goth computer hackers? Probably never. Truly I say to you, maybe this ruminating man should pull his head out of the sand and watch The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Not just because it is made by Swedish people and they speak a funny language, because it is an awesome movie

I like seeing movies that I know next to nothing about. In the worst case scenario I see something new without the burden of my preconceptions; In the best case scenario I am completely blown away by the reality that such an amazing thing exists in the world. I imagine it's much the same way Christopher Columbus felt when he discovered America. The greatest discovery made in Dragon is the girl with the dragon tatoo herself. as a bisexual goth computer hacker, she is about as unique a character as I've ever seen. She makes her co-star seem about as exciting as a boiled potato. The character could have turned into a miserable Matrix-parody if it hadn't been played by an actor as capable as Noomi Rapace, who is surely destined to be remembered as one the greatest movie hackers in Swedish, if not world, history.

Dragon starts with two disconnected story lines that twist and turn unpredictably, even though I did manage to guess one of the mysteries. At times the movie is hard to watch and I'm not talking about the numerous computer research montages. It gets into subject matter that I don't think American movies touch on much. I was definitely uncomfortable, but that added to the experience rather than taking away.

Cost/Benefit Analysis: I paid full price and don't regret a thing about it. I positively recommend this movie. Special bonus: It's part of a trilogy! That means more to love. Extra-special bonus: there will probably be an American remake. That means that if you see this movie, you can be all pretentious and tell people that the remake could NEVER be as good as the original Swedish version. "Didn't you see it? Oh, you simply must. It's DIVINE!"

Green Zone (2010)

Green Zone is not Jason Bourne movie it was advertised as, so forget about that right away. Yeah, it's directed by Paul Greengrass and stars Matt Damon and Matt Damon plays a military action guy but that's where the similarities end. See, where Bourne was a gritty espionage action thriller, Green Zone is a gritty military political espionage action thriller. It's TOTALLY DIFFERENT. In Bourne, Matt Damon saves the day by beating a guy up with a rolled-up magazine. In Green Zone, he saves the day by sending a girl an email.

It's a good movie, and it challenges your assumptions quite a bit. It's the first Middle Eastern war movie that actually portrays the Middle Eastern-ers as real people (see Black Hawk Down for the opposite). A person could probably conduct an interesting study with this movie, examining the effects a person's political orientation has on their reaction to the movie and who they find sympathetic: the Iraqis, the members of the Bush Administration, or the CIA agents and journalists stuck somewhere in the middle of everything.

It's a complicated movie and a complicated subject that the cast and script do a great job of making accessible. Particularly excellent is Brenden Gleeson as the CIA agent in charge of Iraq or whatever. It's clear that he's playing a part here; his worn-in, rough at the edges character contrasts a little too easily with the slick Bushie character played by Greg Kinnear but dang it all if I care one bit. Also impressive: Amy Ryan is as Wall Street Journal writer and Khalid Abdalla as the one-legged Freddie.

Cost/Benefit analysis: Go see it, or maybe just rent it. It's good and might reopen a few old wounds. Personally it brought me back to the third hour art class I was in in 2003 when the war started. It might also spark and make you want to learn more about this war we're in, so watch at your own risk.

Crazy Heart (2009)

When life gets so bad that the only thing you can do to make yourself feel better is violently puke into your toilet, the way to turn everything around is to write a nice country song about it; so says Crazy Heart. Despite being an obvious Oscar-grab on Jeff Bridges's part, this flick about a down-and-out country singer is another that manages to be pretty good despite having not having the most original story ever; thanks to good acting and a few catchy tunes.

It's a story that could make for a darn good country song itself:

I lost my wife
and flipped my truck
Broke up my ankle
I don't give a fuck

Cause I got this cra-aa-zy heart
Oh darlin', it burns when we're apart
Oh yeah, this cra-aa-zy heart
It beats and bumps and turns deep in the dark

I drink all day
and all night too
I lost my son
and yours! Boo-hoo!

But I still got this cra-aa-zy heart
I wish I had the bite to match your bark
Instead I got this cra-aa-zy heart
Oh darn this cra-aa-zy heart

(harmonica solo that transitions into a slide guitar solo with a big finish)

So you get standard drama/music bio-pic stuff: drugs, alcohol, romances that start hot and burn out quickly, neglect due to chemical abuse, etc, etc, etc. But you know what? It doesn't really matter. Jeff Bridges can make anything watchable and the supporting cast of Robert Duvall, Colin Farrel and Maggie Gyllenhaal is great. I was never sold on the relationship between Bridges and Gyllenhaal (It was totally gross), but that was only a mild creepiness that I managed to overlook just like I do with the make up in a Star Trek movie.

Cost/Benefit analysis: Saw it for free with my family. I wouldn't pay full price for it though. Worth a rental or a ticket in the cheap theaters. I'm going to wait for Tron Legacy and True Grit later this year to pay up for the Dude.

Sherlock Holmes (2009)

Now, Sherlock Holmes was a sweet movie. Guy Ritchie's film has a great cast, a solid story and an utterly fantastic setting I seriously cannot emphasize that enough. If I could travel back in time and slightly to the left to live in this grungily-elegant London, I would probably vacation there at least. To say nothing else, this is a polished and attractive movie. Don't worry though, I've got a lot more to say. Look down a bit. See? There it is!

Turning Holmes and Watson comic book action heroes is a move that mirrors the badassening of Star Trek and Batman, but it is also a return to badassery for a pair of classic badasses that have long been ninny-fied by stuffy slope-nosed men in tweed suits. True, Holmes taking on a fight with three men, armed only with a electric cattle prod is a bit over the top. After all, Arthur Conan Doyle's original version of the detective, was only an expert of singlestick, pistolry and "baritsu." And yes, Holmes' film love interest Irene Adler only shows up in one of the original stories. The liberties taken only take the movie into the realm of action-greats like Raiders of the Lost Ark (while actually staying closer to reality in some respects).

Cost/benefit analysis: I think I paid matinee for this one, but I would totally see it again and pay full price. If you want to be entertained, see this movie. Just don't think that they're not setting up a sequel. That would be immensely silly of you.

Avatar

Avatar is interesting because of all of hype surrounding it and the ten years it spent in development hell while James Cameron waited for technology to catch up with his vision. It's hard to talk about this movie without getting into crazy 3D technology or the motion capture technology that turned a Sigorney Weaver into a crazy blue alien, so I'm not going to.

In some ways the movie feels like a demonstration of Cameron's mo-cap and 3D technology. There are rumors that the movie's original script was more complicated with heavier Sci Fi concepts that were scaled back to turn it into a more accessible action flick. While this isn't necessarily a bad thing, it seems like they over-did it. The story is almost exactly the same as Pocahontas or Dances with Wolves with black and white morality that makes all blue people good and all white people outside of the hero group bad. Other than that, it's a slick action flick some some exciting moments and cool stuff to ooh and ahh at; exactly what one expects from the director of The Terminator.

The supposedly ground-breaking 3D didn't really do much for me other than put an ache in my bad eye, but I'll admit that I saw it on a standard-size screen and sat to the far left of the screen. From my experience there wasn't much that the 3D made better, but the computer animation and motion capture was impressive. There were times when I forgot that I was watching computer creatures all together, something that I never got over with Gollum.

Cost/Benefit analysis: I was lucky to have a coupon that brought my movie ticket down to 3 bucks from 13. The 3 dollar "3D handling fee" the theaters throw on is stupid. Now that I've seen a 3D movie, I never want to pay it again. That said, if I could go back in time and see the movie again for the first time, I would go all out and pay 15 at a true Imax theater. I wonder how much my experience would have been different, but I'll never know.

An Education (2009)

I think that a movie's quality is like a bridge supported by three pillars: cast, direction and script. When one of the pillars is weaker than the others, the bridge stands if they others are strong enough. When all of the pillars are weak, the bridge is washed away and no one misses it.

An Education is very nearly washed away; the plot is unsurprising and direction is unnoticeable. However, the cast is so strong that it turns An Education into a bridge that is so strong that you can jump up and down on it and yell to your friends, "HEY! THIS IS AN AWESOME BRIDGE, COME AND SEE IT FOR YOURSELVES!"

While old standbys like Alfred Molina and Emma Thompson are excellent in their roles as an upwardly ambitious father and an uptight schoolmaster, the movie belongs to Peter Sarsgaard and especially Carey Mulligan. As a bright young student, groomed for success at Oxford, she feels incredibly authentic in a way that characters in coming-of-age stories rarely do. As the English gentleman that seduces Mulligan and her family, Peter Sarsgaard turns the charm up so high that the audience, like the characters in play, can ignore the fact that hey, he's a total creep.

Cost/Benefit Analysis: I payed a full $10 for this one and regret nothing. It is definitely worth a rent at least.