“Taken”

Dude, just give him back his daughter.

There’s something surprisingly and lovingly familiar about Liam Neeson”s new action vehicle Taken. It’s not that Liam Neeson completely rocks no matter what he does. It’s also not that this film follows in the footsteps  of other lesser genre action films from the “written by Luc Besson” canon by being far better than it’s parts than it has any reason to be. Or that you manage to enjoy the scene that you enjoyed so thuroughly in the trailer. Nope. The real reason why is because it’s in many ways a replica of that wonderful 80’s actioneer Commando starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In Bruges: And the Biggest Oscar Debacle of the Year — Thank you Focus Features

Good times on the set of "In Bruges"...before Focus Features dropped the ball.

In Bruges, written and directed by Martin McDonagh, is by and far the best movie of 2008, certainly better than several of the Best Picture Oscar contenders, and while worthy of a Best Orignal Screenplay nomination, it’s certaily worth more than that. It’s funny, contemplative, sad, hopeful, tragic, meaningful, poetic, bristling with intensity, violence, romance…any positive adjective you can throw at it will probably stick, and it lingers on all of these without diminishing the tone and overall spirit of the film itself. It’s a work of breathtaking genius that has stuck with me since the very beginning of the year. This is a film that’s just as perfect as last years No Country for Old Men, but somehow it’s been almost completely overlooked at the Oscars. Who’s fault is it that a gem like this isn’t as appreciated as it needs to be?

“Saw V”: A Soap Opera of Gore

The advertising for Saw has always been more interesting and resonating than the films themselves.

I first watched Saw V over a month ago at midnight, the night before it’s opening. The room was full of people that cheered during the bloodletting, I wasn’t nearly as thrilled. (You know it’s bad when you were more thrilled watching the Friday the 13th trailer reboot!)

The only way Saw V can properly be reviewed is to compare it to the other Saw films, because as movies they really in no way stand on their own. Where one leaves off the next picks up right from. Only now there’s so little story to tell they have to wrap back around on themselves and fill in the blanks from all of the other movies so the current model can make any sort of sense. And why this loop-de-loop style of storytelling, one because they are very good storytellers. Two, because they killed their title character Jigsaw, played by the wonderful Tobin Bell (who lends an actorly spark to a series that in no way deserves it) two episodes ago. That’s right, Jigsaw is only seen through a number of flashbacks given to us in that Memento style of parallel storytelling.

“Twilight”: Ooooo, Maybe if I keep my head tilted and look out from under my brow I too can loo…hey, this movie isn’t bad.

The jumping and flying effects in Supergirl were more believable...and yes you can see the wires in this picture.

I learned something about women while watching Twilight, or maybe Mormon women that relate to 15 year old girls: they want someone that very badly wants to have sex with them, but won’t! That’s what makes Twilight the dreamy fantasy that it is. Most guys that badly want to have sex with someone, will try to in any way they can. Most, not all. The vampires, at least Edward Cullen, a dreamy sparkly vampire played by Robert Pattinson, is the epitome of this pseudo sexual metaphor that has all the women around the world swooning.

I have no idea what the book reads like, but this metaphor and the movie itself is actually pretty good. Though the metaphor goes a touch too creepy when sparkly Edward admits to having watched his love in her bedroom while she slept for months on end. The director Catherine Hardwicke makes something of what could have been a display case movie, all candy canes and special effects. She lets these characters live and breath the awkwardness and emotional turmoil of their age.

“Australia”: The never never far away land of magic

This tender picture is moments before Darwin isn't bombed.

I saw four movies on Thanksgiving Day: Twilight, Quantum of Solace and Australia. Wait, isn’t that three? You might be asking yourselves. Not only is Australia as long as two movies, Baz Luhrman, the visionary director, couldn’t decide what movie he wanted to make more, so he made both of them.

On one end Australia is a fairy tale, with real and intriguing magic and lore. Full of locations with names that make you feel like you stepped into Peter Pan or The Wizard of Oz, which is referenced in the movie not only through song, a silly retelling of the story and showing the actual movie but also from lifting the general plot out of Oz and grafting it onto the film; that being a group of eccentric characters travel together across a dangerous landscape so they can find themselves and beat the bad guys.

Role Models: Oscar! Oscar! Oscar!

They know how to play innocent.

Okay, wow! I saw Role Models Friday (just after Quantum of Solace, yes a good night) and then a second time the very next day. And get this, I laughed equally as hard both times. Time Magazine recently made a case for comedies getting Oscars based on this movies…I agree.

Paul Rudd over the last 2 years has become one of my favorite actors to go see. There’s so much honesty in his face. He hides nothing from you. That’s where the center of this film lies, in Rudd’s honesty. He plays a man that doesn’t know how much he needs human connection, so he pushes it away. You can see his anger, and sadness and relate to it, and laugh at it.