How Do You Know

First Hit: This is one of those “this isn’t a good film” films, but I enjoyed it.

I’m could find lots of reasons to pick on this film, from the lack of authenticity of Lisa (played by Reese Witherspoon) being an Olympic softball player.

To the jocular lines by Matty (played by Owen Wilson) “I only like to sleep with athletes.” Or even the unevenness and lackluster performance by Jack Nicholson (Charles) as a business owner who has set up his son George (played by Paul Rudd) to take the fall in a government kick-back scandal.

The story line is highly improbable and I never got the feeling that these characters could actually exist as portrayed. Lisa gets booted of the team because she’s .7 seconds slower than she was when she was younger (she is in her mid-thirties in this film). She doesn’t know what to do. She dates Matty who is a pro baseball pitcher who has plenty of women, money, and a carefree lifestyle.

Matty actually believes he might be falling for her and knows he is in love because “he wears condoms when he is with other women”. However, Lisa meets George, who is simply a kind, caring nice guy who listens to her and is interested in her.

Yes, the ending is what you think it is, but there are some funny bits and lines and overall the main actors are good enough to make it fun to watch.

Witherspoon is only slightly believable as an Olympic softball player but she is believable as a woman who doesn’t know what it is like to be in a loving relationship. Wilson is his same character he always is; a smiling, laid-back man who is barely awake to the realities of a life other than his own. Rudd is strong in his role; however the whole business scandal didn’t fit him very well. Nicholson was moderately amusing but lacking a soul in his role. James L. Brooks wrote and directed the film, and it was his script that let it down. The direction to the script was good.

Overall: Despite the poorness of the plot, it was overall enjoyable.

True Grit

First Hit: A different and powerful version of a wonderful western story.

Jeff Bridges plays Rooster Cogburn a rundown US Marshall who drinks way too much, is a great shot and is not afraid of any man.

He is hired by Mattie Ross (played by Hailee Steinfeld) a 14 year old girl whose father was shot by Tom Chaney (played by Josh Brolin). Chaney has run off into an Indian reservation. Mattie is headstrong and from the moment the film opens I was amazed at her character, her presence and the ability of Steinfeld to make Mattie her own.

Matt Damon has the third important part is this saga as Texas Ranger LaBoeuf. He joins the search for Chaney because Chaney is wanted for killing a judge in Texas. LaBoeuf and Cogburn don’t see eye-to-eye on how to track Chaney so Cogburn and Ross split up from LaBoeuf. As they are about to give up because the trail has gone cold, Ross stumbles on to Cheney. Well you can imagine what happens next.

Bridges is fantastic in bringing to life a different Rooster Cogburn than the one John Wayne brought forth. What was wonderful is that Bridges performance did nothing to diminish Wayne’s portrayal and added his own unique version with some real character and depth. This is an Oscar contending performance. Steinfeld, was phenomenal and nothing short of great. Poise, character and immediately mesmerized me into fully believing her every action and word. She did not falter or lose character in any way. She could garner an Oscar nomination. Damon was very good, and as the third character fully rounded this film. Joel and Ethan Coen wrote the screenplay and directed this without the tendency to make it more twisted or impactful. This film is shot straight-up and it is good.

Overall: Truly a wonderful western that doesn’t feel out of date or out of character.

The Kings Speech

First Hit: Great acting, wonderful story, and well worth the time.

This is a story about a man who had a stutter and was also King of England. Sound a boring? This is what I originally thought until I saw the film.

This film is an excellent drama about a man overcoming his inner demons because he was crowned to lead his nation during the beginning of WWII. His father, King George V, began using radio broadcasts to speak to the nation about the important issues of the day and also his annual Christmas address.

He implored his sons to use the radio to speak to the nation as well. The film begins with Prince Albert (played by Colin Firth), is supposed to give an opening speech to a large group of people. However, he couldn’t get the words out of his mouth and the disappointment of the listeners and the Prince himself is heartbreaking. 

He and his wife, Lady Elizabeth, (played by Helena Bonham Carter) try to find a speech therapist to assist the Prince in his public speaking. She comes across Lionel Logue (played by Geoffrey Rush) a peculiar man who tells her no matter who the client is, he only treats them in his barren office and in his way. When he finds out it is Prince Albert, he tells them both, he will not address Albert as “Prince” and he will not require or ask for any special compensation to treat him.

In fact Logue calls the Prince “Bertie” the name his family calls him. The dynamics and the power of this film lies in the fine acting. The ability of these actors to give this excellent script life is amazing.

Firth is extraordinary as Albert and watching him evolve to King George VI was absolutely amazing. This is an Oscar Nomination performance. Rush gives an amazing performance as Logue. He pushes, prods in a way that provides humor, openness and questions which evoke deep feelings in every audience member. Bonham-Carter is fabulous as Queen Elizabeth. David Seidler wrote an excellent script. Tom Hooper directed these actors with a masterful hand evoking the most from the script.

Overall: A truly Oscar worthy film and set of performances.

The Fighter

First Hit: A very good adaptation of a true story.

Often times the adaptation of a true story heads off the rails and almost makes the story/film unbelievable.

However in The Fighter you’ve got a good solid cast creating a believable and interesting story. Mark Wahlberg plays Micky Ward a boxer who has promise and is managed by his mother Alice Ward (played by Melissa Leo) and trained by his brother Dicky (played by Christian Bale).

Alice believes she is a great manager and is doing what is best for her son but the reality is she is using Micky to keep some money coming into the family and to support her motley crew of daughters who don’t do anything but bitch. D

icky was once a promising boxer and stood over Sugar Ray Leonard in a boxing match. However, the early fame and lack of an internal compass Dicky is now a crack addict and occasionally gets it together enough to help his younger brother Micky train.

All of this falls apart when a fighter Micky is supposed to fight gets sick and his mother and brother coax him into fighting someone weighing 20 more pounds than him. He gets slaughtered in the ring. After the defeat Micky starts to date Charlene Fleming (played by Amy Adams) who is a bartender and dropped out of college because she drank too much and partied too much.

She falls for Micky and also sees the sickness in Micky’s family and gets him to change managers and trainers which allow him to win fights. After his brother gets out of jail he and his mother try to get back into Micky’s good graces. In the end there is compromise between the two factions and Micky goes on to win the welterweight championship.

Wahlberg is wonderful as the quiet brother who tries to do the best for his family and himself. Wahlberg is physical enough to make the boxer’s life real on the screen. Bale is the true wonder of this picture. He has to get an academy nominee for this performance. When he is on the screen there is virtually no one else to watch. He eats, drinks, and lives Dicky Ward. One of the more interesting revelations is during the credits watching the real life Dicky and Micky interact. Bale is Dicky. Leo is perfect as the victimized, controlling, passive aggressive mother who really only wants what she wants and has no consciousness about others. Adams is very strong as Charlene. Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy wrote a very strong and engaging script while David O. Russell directed this great cast to perfection.

Overall: This is a very strong film if one can get over some of the difficult scenes in the boxing ring.

Black Swan

First Hit: Natalie Portman captures the character and is mesmerizing although the film is a bit excessive in its representation.

I really left the theater with two main thoughts: Portman was outstanding as Nina Sayers (Swan Queen) and is my pick for Best Actress for this year. Secondly, why did the director (Darren Aronofsky) over do the visualizations. Why did he feel he needed an overtly hammer the audience in expressing the internal pain of an obsessed ballerina?

Portman brought everything that was needed to this part. An example of this overt visualization was when Nina was getting ready to dance she removes one shoe. Her toes are stuck together because she spends so much time in her tight ballet slippers. With some pain she pulls her toes apart. Then she takes off the other shoe and Aronofsky shows us a fully webbed foot.

I didn’t need that overkill because I got the point with the first foot. This is the downside of the film; overkilling points. The amount of blood (real and perceived) in this film along with an Exorcist kind of leg breaking in one bedroom scene was also excessive. However I’m clear that the journey we take with Nina from living the life of an obsessed ballerina trying to please everyone but herself, was extraordinary.

I’ve enjoyed ballet as a season ticket holder to both the American Ballet Theater and the San Francisco Ballet. I’ve seen all forms of dance from Joe Goode to Baryshnikov’s White Oak Project. The practice it takes to perform at these levels borders on being fanatically possessed at times. The result when a performer lets the feeling and the art of the story come through them with their technical abilities can be phenomenal.

Portman captures all this but to her overall demise. She is living with her fanatical mother Erica Sayers (played by Barbara Hershey – The Queen) who wants and doesn’t want her daughter to succeed. Erica was also a dancer and at age 28 got pregnant with Nina which ended her dancing career.

Resentful yet supportive, Erica is living through, for and against her daughter’s success. She has created such an insulated world for Nina that this 20 year old girl lives in a room full of stuff animals and ballet musical boxes. But because of her relentless devotion, Artistic Director Thomas Leroy (played by Vincent Cassel – The Gentleman) selects Nina to dance his new version of Swan Lake.

The Swan Queen will dance both the white swan and black swan parts. Thomas sees Nina as the perfect white swan but says she must let go of everything inside that she uses to control her life so that she can also become the Black Swan.

Lily (played by Mila Kunis – Black Swan) a young dancer from San Francisco joins this company is the prime competition for the part because she dances the Black Swan part perfectly. She is an intuitive dancer who seduces and is not seduced.

With all the players in place we have the ballet being danced in real life as real characters while also in the performance of Swan Lake.

Portman is the best woman actress on the screen this year. The brief moments that she breaks out of her afraid obsessed filled life and gives us the Black Swan within her is perfect. It is believable, powerful and the type of range one rarely sees in a single part for an actress in a single film. There are just a few glimpses of this extraordinary movement, but sitting in the audience, I felt it. That is the mark of this performance – I felt her fully. Hershey was equally great to watch as the mother who wanted her daughter to both fail and succeed where she herself didn’t. Kunis is wonderful to watch as the free spirited Lily. Cassel was perfect Artistic Director pushing things to the limit with his cast. Mark Heyman and Andres Heinz wrote a very good screen play. Director Darren Aronofsky over did his job in some aspects of the film as previously explained, however he was masterful at getting strong performances from his cast and the mood of the film, dark, not slick, and glaring at times was very good.

Overall: I cannot forget Portman’s performance and that makes it worthwhile.