"Shutter Island" (2010)

Much like its opening moments and looming atmosphere, "Shutter Island" is a film that comes enshrouded in mist, wound tightly, patiently waiting to be uncovered by its viewers. The island, as briefed to us by U.S. Marshall Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a prison for the criminally insane. As we take in the surroundings past its entry gates, we gaze at the rocky esteem of Ashcliffe, a magnificent chunk of land that photographs on its own. Ashcliffe, protruding in its bouldery brawn, is the kind of place that just might eat its occupants alive.

Martin Scorsese's venture into more genre territory was at times risky. The pace at which Teddy's narrative deliberates requires that its cerebral dimensions possess a rapidly changing style, and Scorsese and DiCaprio's adoration for film noir incorporates just the right amount of finesse. Wonderfully intertwined threads of film noir and "B" movie type angles first divert from Teddy's record, then entertain our imagination, and finally explain his journey, all while twisting each and every nerve. Jolting rainstorms are the backdrop for a surmounting darkness throughout. Scorsese's use of the diagetic sound of insects and birds chirping on Ashcliffe was a subtlety that became effective and disquieting. Such elements enliven us when watching the scene in which a creepy old woman motions to Teddy during his introductory walk on the island, a bit which I didn't expect to look at twice after viewing it several times in the film's trailer. I guessed wrong. "Shutter Island" plays on us that way, even in relation to how the film holds up against its marketing ploys; it unravels in layers.

From there, the film is not uncannily shocking, although it is on the contrary, utterly haunting. Teddy's horrific hallucinations harken back to the quiet but alarming power of Kubrik's "The Shining". We are navigating a dark, tortured soul here.

I will try to refrain from revealing too much of the depth of character scenes. Each role develops significantly, and the film demands that you recirculate the more mystifying observations after its ending. By the culmination of the film's third act, Ben Kingsley as Dr. John Cawley is among the raw delights. His performance is first suspiciously eccentric and diabolical, conveyed as about as heinous as Teddy's visions and the jigsawed existence surrounding him. Later, in the film's most revealing scenes, his deadpan delivery and focus on his character's function in the larger workings of an unfolding yarn of psychosis. Dr. Jeremiah Naehring (Max Von Sydow) is also a performance that hits the right notes, with an ability to evoke the uneasiness Teddy feels from his presence, while grounding it back to reality in the film's final moments. These strong supports of the film all lead up to one last, imprinting line, one that is truly is a beauty.

Walking out of "Shutter Island", I relished in the ideal of reviewing the film on a relative "Scorsese scale". After all, wouldn't living in a world in which we could nitpick the greatest American director of the last 40 some odd years' work in order that he flourish and perfect an already masterful work be ideal? Many, I'm sure will read mixed or even negative reviews, responses drawn from frustration caused by the more jaunting devices of its narrative. I myself, perplexed temporarily in the midst of my first screening, can understand these vexations. "Why the booming score before anything happens?", "Why the exploitative use of smoke and mirrors?" I asked myself. Well, I calmed those nagging cynical voices in my pedantic head and stopped putting it up to this phony test of reality, because our look into Teddy's mind is what is so compelling and what matters most.

As the film unfurled, so did each calculated layer of DiCaprio's painstaking performance and the true heart of the film's dark and depraved yet truthful commentary on the twisting of morality. Scorsese and writer Laeta Kalogridis' take on paranoia becomes so fresh and so renewed with each and every discovery that it literally evolves as a full bodied work and transcends your conventional suspense thriller. "People tell the world you're crazy", laments Rachel Salondo (Patricia Clarkson), "and all your protests to the contrary just confirm what they're saying".

This troubled woman tried to warn us, we were doomed from the start.

Essentially, "Shutter Island" drove me to sadistically interrogate my inner critic. Call it partisan Scorsese loyalty, (er-herm, A.O. Scott) but the picture does, in fact, come full circle. Very few films, or filmmakers for that matter, still possess the consistent ability to challenge us with every shot, each scene building on the next in delicate yet exciting and surprising ways. "Shutter Island" works on us from the very beginning, and doesn't stop working, even after its end credits. I'm still feeling it.

★★★★☆ (4/5)

Cast & Credits
Teddy Daniels: Leonardo DiCaprio
Chuck Aule: Mark Ruffalo
Dr. Cawley: Ben Kingsley
Dr. Naehring: Max von Sydow
Dolores: Michelle Williams
Rachel 1: Emily Mortimer
Rachel 2: Patricia Clarkson
George: Jackie Earle Haley
Warden: Ted Levine

Paramount Pictures presents a film directed by Martin Scorsese. Written by Laeta Kalogridis, based on the novel by Dennis Lehane. Running time: 138 minutes. Rated R (for disturbing violent content, language and some nudity).

Oscar 2010 Predictions

BEST PICTURE


Overview: In a category that has been woefully cheapened by the Academy with ten nominee slots, only few stand in contention for the win.

"The Hurt Locker", though back in July around its release may have been considered a sleeper, is now garnering snowballing recognition with the surmounting of each award show and its wins up to this point. Its relevance for our times is certainly a factor I doubt the Academy will neglect.

In a more commercial sense, James Cameron's "Avatar" proved to be this year's most innovative technical attainment and a fantastic entertainment, but best film of the year? Not so sure. It will certainly be in the running, as one of its successes was its box office surpassing of Cameron's "Titanic" a film whose Best Picture win in 1997 was an embodiment of overrated over-the-top ballyhoo. Highest grossing does not mean highest value, however, let's hope the Academy agrees.

"Up In The Air" has been an on and off favorite for some time, territory that director Jason Reitman and his respective ensemble are not at all strangers to - HOWEVER - "Inglourious Basterds", Quentin Tarantino's World War II revisionist epic is an emerging dark horse that I particularly like as a possible steal for the win. Tarantino's screenplay is a beautifully crafted revenge fantasy that possesses everything this honor is worthy of, in a film that bests "Pulp Fiction", his only other previously Oscar-acknowledged effort.

BEST DIRECTOR



Projected Winner: Kathryn Bigelow

The precision and force of each and every adrenalized shot translates the film's idea of war as a "drug". Bigelow is poised to become the first female director to take the honor.

BEST ACTOR



Projected Winner: Jeff Bridges in "Crazy Heart"

Bridges has been overlooked by the Academy, this "Bridges-esque" role and shining moment in an already tremendous collection of work could and should be his first win.

BEST ACTRESS


Projected Winner: Sandra Bullock in "The Blind Side"

This year brought hardly any weight to the caliber of lead female performances, and Bullock's was quite good among the rest. Her chances will only be rivaled by Meryl Streep as Julia Child, though still unlikely given all circumstances; Streep's 16th nomination and potential 3rd win is unlikely to beat out Bullock in a performance that is outdone by others in her catalogue and featured in a project that was a warm, feel-good movie at best.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR



Projected Winner: Christoph Waltz in "Inglourious Basterds"

Tarantino once stated this film wouldn't have been made if he never found his ideal Hans Landa. Well, he found him. Waltz forged a performance so charismatic, chilling and commanding, the air thickens in the time he is on screen. Lock it down.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS



Projected Winner: Mo'Nique in "Precious"

A powerful and breakthrough performance for Mo'Nique (whose previous roles included a beer recipe thief in "Beerfest") in a largely important film. She's unrivaled in this category.


BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY



Projected Winner: Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds"

The film's dialogue, arch of revenge, and wild re-imagining of history are simply what great films are made of. Tarantino's own signature on these elements and his loving attention to character details will garner his second Oscar win, hands down.


BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Projected Winner: Jason Reitman's "Up In The Air"

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY



Projected Winner: "Avatar"

BEST FOREIGN FILM



Projected Winner: "The White Ribbon"

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE



Projected Winner: "Up"

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Projected Winner: "The Cove"

Although "The Cove" is my own final prediction, don't leave "Food, Inc." out of the question either. A toss up.

BEST FILM EDITING

Projected Winner: "The Hurt Locker"

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Projected Winner: "The Young Victoria"

Those King/Queen movies always win, don't they?

BEST SOUND MIXING

Projected Winner: "Avatar"

BEST SOUND EDITING

Projected Winner: "The Hurt Locker"

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Projected Winner: "Avatar"

BEST ART DIRECTION

Projected Winner: "Avatar"

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Projected Winner: Up

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

Projected Winner: "The Weary Kind" from "Crazy Heart"

BEST MAKEUP

Projected Winner: "Star Trek"

"Revolutionary Road" (2009)

There is an air of desperation about the American dream. Frank and April Wheeler know this, yet they don't seem to care. Was this the closeted attitude of many married couples in the 1950's? Was the illusion of harmony, settlement, assimilation, even happiness, simply that - an illusion? It certainly seems the novel "Revolutionary Road"'s writer, Richard Yates, would think so. Yate's characters inhabit an era defined by a tragic perception of how married life should play out, or at least what it should "fill up" until something bigger and better comes along, if in fact it ever does.

"Revolutionary Road", for better or worse, is a period piece, and Frank Wheeler, like many other complex and nuanced male archetypes, is a character practically written with no one else in mind but DiCaprio. He seethes at time wasted and laments the reality that he may never get it back. DiCaprio's character choices never shy away from the intricate and the layered, even with material that peeps into the lives of two painfully everyday people. Frank Wheeler's journey and life becomes a dismal game of sink or swim, and this is the element that elevates the Wheeler's story from a simple period piece to a level of functioning as an effective and nightmarish cautionary tale. One of the most potent shots in the film is one that looks on as Frank succumbs to an ultimate pitfall of the mundane: He walks to work amidst an endless sea of grey suits and colorless faces.

Opposite Leo is Kate Winslet, who is equally powerful as a spouse thrust into the traditional trappings of married life, and into a role she cannot bear to maintain. April asks Frank with bewilderment: "Don't you miss the city?" to which he replies, "Nothing's permanent". The couple schemes to escape their mundane, "settled down" existence with a grand and clean getaway to Paris. Regrettably, that won't happen. The dream will die. "Revolutionary Road" warns those married men and women who forge on through unhappiness of their futility and foolishness time and again with the "plans" they lay out in attempts to salvage their miserable lives together. A looming fate of the Wheelers' unhappiness steers them forcefully to the brink of madness and fuels contempt for one another, yet they ignore it at their own peril, and isn't that the greatest nightmare of all?

Sam Mendes, a director familiar to themes of marital infidelity and American dissatisfaction in 1999's "American Beauty", explores this notion with a sensibility that's ironic given his British background. Perhaps there is something we Yanks in the states have yet to grasp that can be better understood from a foreign perspective. The iconography of white picket fences, neatly cut green grass and a quaint small town are the backdrop for raw, riveting performances channeled by nothing short of reality. Michael Shannon is highly substantial of "Road"'s tragic motif, providing commentary through the eyes of a mentally unstable man directed at the Wheelers' insufferable quarreling that rattles us to our core. Justin Haythe's writing is superb, each performance is emotionally upsetting but never overstated, and "Revolutionary Road" is a throbbing portrait of unsatisfied American hunger.

★★★☆☆ (3.5/5)

Cast/Credits

Frank Wheeler: Leonardo DiCaprio
April Wheeler: Kate Winslet
Helen Givings: Kathy Bates
John Givings: Michael Shannon
Milly Campbell: Kathryn Hahn
Shep Campbell: David Harbour
Jack Ordway: Dylan Baker
Howard Givings: Richard Easton
Maureen Grube: Zoe Kazan
Bart Pollock: Jay O. Sanders
Ed Small: Max Casella

DreamWorks and Paramount present a film directed by Sam Mendes. Screenplay by Justin Haythe, based on the novel by Richard Yates. Running time: 119 minutes. MPAA Rating: R (for language and some sexual content/nudity).

Follow Max Weinstein & "The Reel Deal" on Twitter!

Check out my Twitter page (found in the link below or by clicking Max Weinstein's "The Reel Deal" on Twitter under Recommended Links to the right) for material I am posting, including foresight and updates in entertainment for your enjoyment. More reviews to come!

http://twitter.com/reeldealmw

"The Book Of Eli" (2010)

"Some will kill to have it. He will kill to protect it". This is the tag line for "The Book Of Eli", a film in which protection seems indeed to be the recurring motif. Eli, (a grisly, weathered Denzel Washington) treads through an apocalyptic wasteland that represents itself as haunting as any other of its kind; it's something akin to the harrowing quality of The Wachowski Brothers' "The Matrix", only with even less civilization. His faith, although at times nonsensical and mysterious to him (as all faiths go), is his protection from aggressors and adversity on his dark journey. Eli's cocoon of blind belief both figuratively - and literally - strengthen his spirit and allow him to carry on as he does.

Washington is not one to shy away from roles with authority and vigor, and the character of Eli is positively no exception. He chews the scenery with an understated self-assurance. He chops, slices, dices, and shoots up crews of amoral scum bags. Apparently once the world comes to an end via devastating war, almost everyone becomes either a filthy disgusting rapist or a goon for hire at one slightly clever and sinister man's disposal; in this case that man is Carnegie (Gary Oldman). Eli's ceaseless mission throughout each act of the film is to transport and protect the ruthlessly sought-after book in his possession, believing that its safety and purpose is for him and him only to decide. His plans for the book (which I will not reveal in my review) as opposed to Carnegie's are, by nature, worlds apart.

We meet Solara (Mila Kunis), and her battered mother Claudia (Jennifer Beals), who live in constant dread for their lives and at the complete mercy of Carnegie's reign over the small town upon which Eli and his book stumble. In true Western fashion, Eli is offered some hospitality (and initially a little bit more) during his stay, a gesture that leads to a companionship between Eli and Solara and a search for the knowledge and truth needed to rebuild whatever hopes there may be left for saving their doomed planet. The Hughes Brothers' harrowing foresight into an armageddon-type world does employ more than one cliche. Books are worth a man's life, water, as Eli says, is "precious". People resort to cannibalism, rape, murder, and corrupted treaties as accepted forms of lifestyle. Brown, looming and cloudy skies move with an unearthly relentlessness. Eli's world is one of roughness and stark desperation, as the atmosphere supports the tone of the film, and again leaves both the audience and characters in search of escape and protection from the bad. In this sense, it is a solid directorial achievement.

Carnegie wants the book to acquire power and influence, to be master of his domain. Eli protects it for that very reason; he has been heading west for 30 years after the "old world"'s end in search of its rightful resting place. "The Book of Eli" has a compelling finish, packaged (although partially with a gimmicky feel) in good taste and fitting expression of the film's larger, more philosophical concerns. Eli's character holds a legacy that prefaces the responsibility of a nation. Ultimately, the story entertains and surprises, though it doesn't excel entirely. For Eli, it's the journey that matters.

★★★☆☆ (3/5)

Cast/Credits

Eli: Denzel Washington
Carnegie: Gary Oldman
Solara: Mila Kunis
Redridge: Ray Stevenson
Claudia: Jennifer Beals
Engineer: Tom Waits
George: Michael Gambon

Warner Bros. presents a film directed by Albert and Allen Hughes. Written by Gary Whitta. Running time: 118 minutes. Rated R (for brutal violence and language).

"Avatar" (2009)

For the record, the widespread acclaim of James  Cameron's name as a result of the tremendous success of "Titanic" (in lieu of the visionary bravado of "Aliens") had previously signified nothing more to me than America's vain and shallow obsession with tediously drawn out epics - pretentiousness on a phenomenally mass-marketed scale. "Avatar", for lack of a better word, has stunned me, and succeeds in marrying the sensibilities of both. Now the name stands as properly represented. Cameron's film isn't simply an exercise in the boundary pushing of sci-fi technology and a freakishly obsessive attention to an air of authenticity in a fictional world, although it is both those things. It holds a message for coexistence over brutality that is both provocative and strikingly reminiscent of a post-9/11 generation.

Through the narrative of Jake Sully - a hard-edged Marine played with a solid sense of grounded gravitas by Australian actor Sam Worthington - we enter Pandora, a lush and thoroughly inhabited planet that is now the envy of the human race. Its surface contains Unobtanium, a highly coveted material that proves to be the sole reason for a human effort to contact and engage with the natives, known as Na'vi, in order that they may mine the material for personal gain. "This pays for the whole party", explains Parker Selfridge (played charismatically by Giovanni Ribisi), leader of the operation, "This is why we are here". Selfridge's bleak and matter of fact commentary on the reason for invading and threatening foreign land brought to my mind the war overseas quite clearly, and defines with precision where the heart of "Avatar" lies. Cameron's screenplay characterizes the human race with an attitude of selfishness, greed, and ignorance that upon reflection makes one ask exactly what it is we're fighting for. Certain sequences evoke an American sense of identity that regrets historical atrocities such as our invasion of Native American soil and the eventual leading up to the "trail of tears", and more pressing, a highly debatable war in Iraq with the shameless involvement of oil, the world's most coveted resource.

The film is riddled in metaphorical and fictional device that could - if not examined thoroughly - be mistaken for sci-fi fanboy fare. Cameron's self-imagined world of Pandora could have its own Wikipedia (and surely will), filled with extensive lists of the thousands of plants within a forest developed entirely by botanists, along with a detailed guide on how to speak Na'vi, the linguistics of the scrupulous director's conceived native tribe. The defining edge to this mirroring of a "Trekkie" and cult-like appeal, however, lies in Cameron's conviction to make it all legitimate. "Avatar"'s special effects cut into bold and refreshing new artistic territory, giving life to absurd creatures, military weapons, and aircrafts that assume a nature that is almost casually realistic. Underneath the animation, audiences are still rightfully exposed to the intricacies and emotion of the film's ensemble, particularly Zoe Saldana's performance as Neytiri, a Navi princess with whom Jake cultivates a universally touching romance. The empathy and sense of human emotion inside even the most seemingly un-relatable of characters - an imagined alien tribe member of fantasy - displays weightiness in a role that should not be overlooked.

"Avatar" most certainly lives up to its hype. Its heart is pure, its imagination and aesthetic beauty spoils viewers, and it possesses an intelligence and undercurrent that may even catch you off guard. In the words of Sam Worthington's Jake Sully, James Cameron has finally turned out an "outstanding" effort.

★★★★☆ (4/5)

Cast/Credits

Jake Sully: Sam Worthington
Neytiri: Zoe Saldana
Grace: Sigourney Weaver
Col. Miles Quaritch: Stephen Lang
Trudy Chacon: Michelle Rodriguez
Parker Selfridge: Giovanni Ribisi
Norm Spellman: Joel David Moore
Moat: CCH Pounder
Eytukan: Wes Studi
Tsu'tey: Laz Alonso
Dr. Max Patel: Dileep Rao
Corporal Lyle: Wainfleet Matt Gerald

20th Century Fox presents film written and directed by James Cameron. Running time: 163 minutes. MPAA rating: PG-13 (for intense epic battle sequences and warfare, sensuality, language and some smoking).