Drama

Zero Dark Thirty

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Zero Dark Thirty
  • IMDB: link

zero-dark-thirty-poster
The Best Movie of 2012
Three years ago director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Marc Boal collaborated on The Hurt Locker which won them both individual Academy Awards as well as taking home the coveted Oscar for Best Picture. With Zero Dark Thirty the pair reunite to examine the decade-long search for Osama bin Laden.

The project was not with pitfalls or controversy. Bigelow and Boal were about to start filming an entirely different script when news hit that American forces had found and killed the man responsible for the attacks on 9/11. Scrapping their initial project, Bigelow and Boal refocused to examine the work that went in to finding America’s most wanted.

The film’s detractors (almost none of whom have seen the film) attack it for what some believe is a pro-torture stance, the filmmakers access to classified information surrounding the search for bin Laden, and some have even argued against what they (wrongfully) believe is a pro-Obama propaganda piece. None of these allegations are true. What is true, however, is Zero Dark Thirty is the best movie of 2012.

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Gangster Squad

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  • Title: Gangster Squad
  • IMDB: link

gangster-squad-posterGangster Squad is an average straight-to-DVD action flick that happens to be set in the 1950’s and boast a cast of actors all of whom are slumming here. Adapted from Paul Lieberman’s book, the film centers around real events in Los Angeles when a select group of cops worked to take down gangster Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) by any means necessary. And by “adapted” I mean any relation to the events covered in Lieberman’s book (such as who survives and how Cohen was eventually taken down) to screenwriter Will Beall‘s script are likely accidental.

I can only guess director Ruben Fleischer lured the likes of Penn, Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Nick Nolte, and Robert Patrick to the project with the proposal of making something akin to The Untouchables (which this film desperately wants to be compared to). With poorly cast actors, dreadful dialogue, costumes and sets that feel more like costumes and sets than period locations and attire, Gangster Squad couldn’t be further from Brian De Palma‘s terrific film. It’s actually closer to something as completely forgettable as Takers.

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Promised Land

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  • Title: Promised Land
  • IMDB: link

promised-land-posterHow far will you go for your job even when you know what you are doing is wrong? That’s the question at the center of director Gus Van Sant‘s Promised Land. Matt Damon (who co-wrote the screenplay with costar John Krasinski) stars as Steve Bulter, a rising star for a natural gas company sent in to a small town with his partner (Frances McDormand) to get his company an initial foothold in the state.

Butler is a closer, known for his ability to use his own small town upbringing to close communities far faster than anyone else. His last trip in the field before his big promotion leads him to a small town hit by hard economic times looking for just the kind of relief his company can offer.

What starts out as a simple sale is complicated by a variety of factors including a local science teacher (Hal Holbrook) against the dangers of natural gas, a possible love interest (Rosemarie DeWitt), and the arrival of a do-gooder (Krasinski) who scares off potential buyers with horror stories of how fracking has destroyed similar farming towns.

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How Rich White People Survived The Impossible Tsunami

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  • Title: The Impossible
  • IMDB: link

the-impossible-posterThere are really only three types of disaster movies. The first are those focused on preventing a disaster (Armageddon, The Core). The second are movies solely concerned with the immediate problem of surviving the disaster (The Day After Tomorrow, 2012). And the last are focused more on living in the aftermath of a disaster (Blindness) than the disaster itself. The Impossible is the later.

Based on real events, Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor, Tom Holland, Samuel Joslin, and Oaklee Pendergast take the place of a Spanish family who survived the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami while on Christmas vacation in Thailand. Sergio G. Sánchez‘s retelling of Maria Belon‘s story is a visceral tale of raw emotion, loss, and the chaos following the disaster which is almost as traumatic as the events of the tsunami itself.

Only six minutes of the near two-hour film are devoted to the actual disaster. That means the crux of the story isn’t the disaster itself but the emotional separation of family, the level of devastation, and the search for survivors.

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Hyde Park on Hudson

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  • Title: Hyde Park on Hudson
  • IMDB: link

hyde-park-on-hudson-posterHyde Park on Hudson has two main focal points, which is at least one too many for a movie unsure of whether or not it wants to be taken seriously. The film examines both the relationship between President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Bill Murray) and his distant cousin Margaret “Daisy” Suckley (Laura Linney) as well as the momentous meeting between the President and the King (Samuel West) and Queen (Olivia Colman) of England on the eve of World War II at Roosevelt’s childhood home in Hyde Park, New York.

Either would make for a fine focus of a small independent film, but attempting to do both simultaneously leaves Richard Nelson‘s script without a split focus that serves neither storyline. The result is a pet project that spirals completely out the control of director Roger Michell and ultimately fails to impress.

Murray is an odd choice for the role of FDR and one of the main obstacles with taking the story seriously. (Several over-the-top supporting performances don’t do the film any favors, either.)

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