The film of the week this time is SEXY BEAST.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0203119/

Ben Kingsley is terrifying in this. Though the parts without him drag a bit this is still a fantastic british gangster film. Ray Winstone is also great in it.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386117/

When I first heard about this film the idea of it confused me. I love the original book, but it is very short and there isn't much story there. How the hell would a film work? The answer is Amazingly well. First of all the wild things look fantastic, I don't know if they were puppets or CGI or something but they are all very detailed. I never got tired of watching them. This film reminds me of the neverending story in a way mixed with something Terry Gilliam would make. Actually now that I think about it Gilliam would have been a great choice to make this film. Many people complain that this film has no story, and well they are kinda right. Max is a boy who feels alienated and unloved, so he runs away and in his mind he goes to an island where the wild things live. The wild things are all voiced by fantastic actors, some of which I didn't recognize the voices of. James Gandolfini, Paul Dano, Forest Whittaker, Chris Cooper, and the amazing Catherine O'Hara who pops up every now and then in random films like this. They all sound great, but Gandolfini really blew me away. I had no idea that was his voice until the end. I recognized everyone else though, especially Forest Whittaker who has a very soothing yet badass voice. I really fell in love with this film, everything about it worked perfectly for me. Some parents have complained that it is too scary for kids, and while it does have moments that are quite freaky I think kids would love this. Parents really underestimate their kids. The only problem I had with this film, and this is a very slight one, is the music. I am a big fan of Carter Burwell, but Karen O's part was not as impressive. It had a nice whimsical childlike feel to it that fit the film, but the cheery pop sound that was thrown in seemed a bit forced at times.

I think a better choice for a songwriter to compose a few good songs would be someone like Peter Gabriel, Stuart Murdoch or Damon Albarn whose music has a darker tone that mixes with their pop songs much better than karen O. She was good but the music could have been better without her. Heck maybe even Nick Cave if you feel like hearing songs that will haunt children's dreams for a while. This film reminds me of one of my favorite films of the decade, The Fall. That film had a very slight story as well but in a very different way. In this film the wild thing represent Max, who is played by the wonderfully charming Max Records. They all have elements of him in them, whether it is Carol's destructive nature, or Alexander thinking nobody listens to him. They all clash and fight in various ways, which represent how Max feels about his family. How his sister doesn't seem to notice him and how his mother doesn't seem to listen to him when her new boyfriend is around. The wild things are essentially everybody. They are the emotions we choose to hide, and how we can't never really deal with them or hide them. In the end you can't be the king and control everything forever, as Max learns. Eventually you must accept yourself for who you are and learn to love the life you have and the people around you. The ending of this film made me smile and want to give my mom a hug. I think you will either love this film or hate, I personally loved every second of it. The only vague complaint I have is that the opening scene was dragged on a bit long. I know it was meant to establish Max but it could have been done better. I still recommned it, and also I think Bob and Terry are amazing characters despite how random they were.

Overall I give it a 9.5 out of 10.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1201167/

People are really going to disagree with me on this. I have never been a big fan of sex comedies, I thought Knocked up was much better than 40 year old virgin. It is very hard for a film to mix comedy and drama well, but for the most part I thought this did. Adam Sandler, and Seth Rogan are both very good in this. I thought they handled their roles well. Especially Sandler, this is his best film since Reign over me. Many people said this film is too long and plotless, but I disagree. While it did drag a bit in the middle I thought it was a good length. The story may not be amazing, but I don't think it was plotless at all. I liked the idea of the dieing comedian connecting with someone he can talk to for the first time, then finding out he isn't dieing and trying to reconnect with an old love. As someone who had a very serious medical condition and got better after thinking I wouldn't, and an aspiring writer I had much more of a connection with this film than Judd Apatow's others. My condition was not as serious, just a kidney thing that caused me to require a transplant, but I still understood Sandler's character. The characters were all developed well though Hill, and Schwartzman didn't really have much to do.

All the actors in this film are well cast, Jonah hill, and Jason Schwartzman are good as Rogan's friends. Jonah Hill seems better suited for side characters, he was awful when he starred in Superbad but he is good as a side character when he isn't focused on. Now for the downside, this film is not that funny. There are some lines that made me chuckle but as a comedy it falls flat a lot of the time. I was not so disappointed by it as many were. I tried to avoid the trailers for it, but from what I saw it was marketed as a mostly comedy. It does have some good moments though. Rogan and Sandler have good chemistry. This is a tough one to review, it isn't as funny as I would have hoped and it does get a bit monotonous. On the other hand though it works well as a drama film with the occasional funny part. I recommend it, but don't expect it to be hilarious. It does focus a lot on the drama. I really liked Eminem's quick cameo, and the various others like Dave Attell, andy dick, and ray romano. I also liked how Sandler was kinda selfish, his character does not do everything right and the ending is slightly sad in a way. I think Judd Apatow is improving as a director, if he can just balance the comedy and drama better he might make something great. This may not be his funniest film, but it is his best. I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. It is a good poignant sometimes quite funny film about what it means to be a comedian, and who you're friends really are.

Overall I give it a 7.5 out of 10.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1127896/

Ang Lee is an interesting director, he has done everything from family dramas, to gay romance, to martial arts, and of course The Hulk. This is another one of his most unexpected films. Many people will see this thinking it is about woodstock and about the music when it really isnt. It is about the life of the man who made it possible, and the people around him. Woodstock just happens to be the event. The cast of this film is mostly great, Imelda Staunton, Emile Hersch, Eugene Levy, Paul Dano and Dan Fogler are all great. Problem is, Demetri Martin isn't. He is the one weak link in the cast, and when he is the star of the film it is a pretty big problem. I like his comedy, but he cannot cut it when it comes to drama. His face is blank most of the time and when he tries to sound emotional it ends up sounding whiny and forced. I kinda wish Emile Hersch played his role instead since he is a much better actor. Thankfully this film avoids being overly sentimental to hippies, which is good because hippies annoy me and I don't think they were that interesting in the slightest. When the film does stray into brainless hippie nonsense it fits scene, Paul Dano especially plays a great hippie who has makes Demetri Martin take acid. The results are one of the best acid trip scenes I have watched in a while, it was very trippy. One problem this film has is that it doesnt seem to know where it is going, which makes sense because that is what the main character is like. When the film tries to show Martin's family problems it usually works because Imelda Staunton is a fantastic actress and her role as the slightly over the top mom is the best in the film, but again Demetri Martin is the weak link. He is too dull and dry to deliver drama well. The town the film is set in is very against the hippies coming in, and for a while we see scenes of the townfolk protesting and see their reaction to Martin's character. This eventually gets forgotten though and instead we get to see Demetri Martin's slow descent into the hippie life. I personally would have liked to see more of him and the people of the town interacting, but that is not what the film is about so I understand why it was left out.

His new life changes him and makes him see the world in a different way, but it also makes him into an even weaker person who can't confront people. He falls for the hippie life easily, and his parents seem to hate it for most of the film. One of the only characters who is a real person in the sense that he doesn't try to be a hippie to fit into a crowd, is Vilma who is an ex army transvestite who is hired as security. Through his lonliness and isolation from everyone in the film we see that many of these hippies who think they are unique are the exact opposite. Vilma is who he is, doesn't matter if you like it or not. Through him we get a look at demetri martin's character's lonliness and inner struggle to break out and be accepted. He is moving with the flow of the crowd, and It is a mix of bliss, and sadness that Martin changes his life to fit into the hippie one while he ignores the only person who is really unique. I can't tell whether this film is anti hppie or pro hippie. It shows the dirty side of their life and the mud, but it also gets very sentimental at times when it shows them. I think it keep a good balence though, and I would not want to watch a film that is overly sentimental to hippies since they annoy me. Not much happens in this film aside from showing the lives of the people who made woodstock happen. There is no concert footage and minimal use of 60's music. It is apparent what time the film is set in by the music, but it doesn't beat you over the head with it. Another weak link is Emile Hersch's character, he is great in this film and I understand why his character is in the film since the vietnam war has to be in a film like this. His character seemed a bit generic though, and nothing we haven't seen before. I would recommend this film to any ang lee fan, but not to those who want to see a film about just woodstock. This film could have been much better without Demetri Martin.

Overall I give it a 6.5 out of 10.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1049413/

Pixar seem to be trying very hard to appeal more to adults as well as kids, but something always drags their attempts down slightly. Wall-E's second half for example is the least consistant. Thankfully Up doesn't fall for those traps for the most part, it starts off very nice and happy with an introduction of how Carl meets Ellie. They both love the same explorer and they want to go to Paradise falls. Then a nice marrige and the film shows them living together, but then things start to get darker. She wants a baby, and though the film doesn't show it, I could pretty easily tell that her baby died in child birth. Then they get old, she gets sick and dies. This isn't a spoiler though since it happens at the start of the film. Up is one of pixars most mature films, it has elements of aging, child birth, love, death, and many others that surprised me. In terms of maturity this is Pixar's most consistant film, but it still has faults. The little kid, while great most of the time, is still a tad annoying. Also I didn't like how the film threw in a villain character when I dont think it needed one. Sure this is a kids film though and kids love villains, but the guy who went evil seems to turn evil almost too quickly. He also has a lot of dogs who are mostly used for comic relief, this works most of the time but later on they fly airplanes. It seems like Pixar are in a bit of a creature problem, they have great ideas but they cant seem to figure out whether they want to appeal to adults or kids and when they try for both it can be a tad inconsistant. This is easy praise, but I loved the animated. Everything in the film comes to life with colors and images that are astounding.

The humor in this film works mostly too, I especially loved the bird Kevin, and the dog Dug. All the voices are great too, with Christopher Plummer impressing me the most. There is a good chance this will win best animated picture, and I don't actually mind this time since there is less competition. Pixar have almost made magic with this one, and though there are a few silly hiccups along the way they really show off their storytelling abilities. Other films manage to mix adult themes with a kid's story better though in a more consistant way, like Watership Down. Thankfully this one sticks to it's themes and story without going in a direction I didn't like. There may be the occasional part I didn't like as much, but this shows that Pixar are maturing and hopefully they will soon make their masterpiece. If this wins best animated picture I really wouldn't mind, though Coraline is still my main choice:P I highly recommend Up.

Overall I give it an 8.5 out of 10.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0472033/

This film pissed me off. Not because it was bad, well kinda. It just had so much potential to be awesome. As it stands though this is a amazing film to look at, but not much else. The main problem is that everything is under developed, the film needed at least 20 minutes to flesh out it's world. It is a confused mix of WW1 era tanks, WW2 era music, and cyberpunk robots. This was cool at first, but after a while it seemed like the film is just adding these in for pure visuals and nothing else. The characters are the worst part of the film, they are all awful. They barely count as characters, they are all generic archetypes seen before such as Hero person, tough girl, the scared guy who becomes strong later, and large dumb guy. There are other characters too, but they were so poorly written I barely remember them. It is such a shame this film wasted it's potential, the voice actors are all great. John C. Riley, Elija Wood, Christopher plummer, and Jennifer Connely all do quite well. Their characters though are so dull and forgetable than when some die I didn't give a crap. Let me praise something though before I say what else annoyed me, this film looks amazing, the little rag doll people are really unique and they add some charm to charmless characters.

I dont want to sound too harsh, I am just so let down by this film. I only gave a crap about the characters in the last 3rd of the film when things are given some backstory. When that happened I was pumped, i loved the cool scientific and spiritual themes the backstory had. It could have been one of the coolest sci fi films of the decade, instead I was treated to more weird robots attacking and vague explanations and then it ended. I am fine with not being given any explanations, but if the film has no interesting characters then I find it hard to care. Most of the film is wandering a lifeless city, and random rag doll people being captured. When all the characters are introduced the only crisis is "OH GOD 2 IS CAPTURED BY THE THING WITH THE RED EYE!" at this point I thought who is 2? Oh yeah he is the nice old guy as apposed to the grumpy leader who also happens to be old. Then later on the crisis turns into "OH GOD MORE ROBOT THINGS WITH GLOWING RED EYES THAT ARE CAPTURING EVERYONE!" Then when the hero finds out why everyone exists they seem easily convinced, which is fair since it kinda makes sense and they are about to be killed by a giant robot. At that point pretty much any explanation would be accepted. There is so much visual goodness that the film's story is lost. The explanation that explains why the characters exist is really cool, but after that it goes back to the same dull action. Such a disappointment. I suppose I would still recommend it since visually there is nothing like it, but if you want a good story I would look elsewhere. This film is too short and underdeveloped for me to recommend it, but at least it was kinda fun at times despite the crap characters.

Overall I give it a 5.5 out of 10.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0327597/

I am a big fan of Henry Selick, his work on Nightmare before christmas seems to go unnoticed by many. Most people I talk to have never heard of him, yet they all know Tim Burton. This film shows that Selick is much better at animation that burton. Coraline has a fantastic look to it that is unrivaled this year. I have never seen stop motion look so weird and surreal yet strangely beautiful. I want to praise the voice cast of this film, Dakota Fanning really adds a lot of charm and personality to a character who could be annoying and unwatchable. Teri Hatcher also stands out as the mom. My favorite voices though were Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, not only were their characters weird and creepy but their voices added tons of personality to them. Also they had massive breasts, collected dead dogs which they put in angel costumes, and ate lots of taffy for some reason. Keith David also does the voice of a cat. Why? Well well the hell not? I have never read the book, though I want to now. For all I know this film could be nothing like the book. It is one of the darkest fairy tales I have seen on screen. The people with buttons for eyes are just plain disturbing especially the spider mother, and the tragic ghost children she ate.

The plot is pretty thin, little girl moves to new house with parents she doesnt like much and then finds a door into a different world with parents she does like and version of her neighbors she loves. All this has a sinister side though, as the buttons for eyes will probably point out. I am going to praise the animation again, I loved how everything moves in this film and the look it has. Stop motion can look very dull, the corpse bride for example was lifeless in a non ironic way. This film is just wonderfully vibrant, I had to pause it once just to look at the images. Thankfully the story is as good as the images, just in a different way. Think of Alice in wonderland if Alice was younger. Coraline travels between both worlds, finding out that she prefers the world where her parents pay attention to her. This is really not a film for young kids, it has many mature and dark themes like parental neglect, and yes buttons for eyes. There are also creepy dolls, which are never good because they made me hate all the dolls I have in my house even more than before. Damn my weird brother for leaving them in my room so they can spy on me while I sleep:evil: Anyway, I highly recommend this film, it does things with animation I found facinating and the dark fairy tale story just makes it better. The only fault I can think of is that I wanted it to last longer. Another great part was the music, it was sublime and eerie without being overwhelming and monotonous like most scores. This has become my favorite animated film of 2009 next to Ponyo. Well I havent seen Mary and Max yet so that might change.

Overall I give it a 9 out of 10.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1176740/

Sam mendes is a constant surprise. Who would have guessed he would go from Jarhead, to revolutionary road, to this. I'm going to be honest, I thought this would suck. A friend of mine told me the plot, which he summarized as The guy who plays Jim in the US Office, and the girl who played the hooker in Idiocracy play two parents who go searching for a place to live after they find out they having a baby. That sounds awful, but turns out I was wrong. John Krasinski is great in this, I never liked him before, especially in The Office but here he shows off acting like i have never seen him do before. His interactions with Maya make them seem like a real couple, and some of them actually made me laugh out loud. He is constantly upbeat, but knows how to do subtle emotions very well. Maya Rudolph is great too, and she never impressed me before either. I applaud Sam Mendes for his casting of these two. I would never expect them to impress me, but they found a way to. The supporting cast is great too, Jeff Daniels, Paul Schneider, and Jim Gaffigan play really entertaining characters. Maggie Gyllenhaal surprised me in this. I never liked her before and I find her quite odd looking, but here she plays an ultra hippie girl who has very odd rules when it comes to raising her kid. This is not a groundbreaking film, and many will be disappointed by it after Sam Mende's previous films.

He tends to favor very harsh and bleak films, but here he shows a diversity I did not expect. This is a very nice film, it is something you watch when you are with you're girlfriend or under a warm blanket on a couch. It won't change you're view on life, and it won't win any awards probably. When it comes down to it though, this is just a very nice film with great characters, and lots of genuine heart and emotion. I respect Sam Mendes for making this film, he doesn't use visual gimmicks like other indie romantic comedies, he lets the characters express their emotions. He seems to have a knack for getting great performances out of anyone, and here his characters come to life. There is a charming sense of warmth to this film, even though parts are emotional there is always something that warms you. Every rom com cliche could have been applied her and it could have ruined this film. The emotion here never feels fake or forced either despite how predictable it can be. I highly recommend this film because it made me smile like I haven't done in ages. other films make me smile, like A Serious Man but that was more in bleak way. This is just a lovely film about two people trying to find their place in life. It is welcome change to all the downbeat films I have seen recently. It is not like the horrible rom coms like Love Happens though, this one feels like a story about real people not characters.

Overall I give it an 8 out of 10.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1136608/

This has been quite a year for films, 2 good sci fi films in a year. This and Moon are a perfect pair, they balence each other out. Moon being the slow paced sci fi, and District 9 being the more fast paced action flick with a mix of politics. I saw this film a while back and thought it was okay, but now that I watch it again I appreciate it more. First is the cast, Sharlto Copley is perfectly cast here, though he reminded me of a mix between Daniel Day Lewis, and Rhys Darby from Flight of the conchords. Odd mix I know, but it works. Many people have said he is a bad character, that he is annoying and a bad person. Well I will disagree here. He does some bad things in the film, but that just adds to his character. It makes him more flawed and more interesting rather than just a generic hero who did nice things all the time. The film starts out like a documentary, but after a while it drops that pretty quick. In a way I think the documentary part was wasted. It made it look more realistic, but they dropped it pretty quickly. What is annoying though is they drop it and at times add elements of it in the film such as a very shaky camera. While the shaky camera is not as bad as it was in the Bourne films, it did seem odd at first. Almost like the director didn't know where to go with the documentary. The more traditional filming still works well even though the documentary part is brought back at the end of the film. This was weird to me since I pretty much forgot it was a documentary during the film. It looked a bit thrown in and forced at the end. I think they should have either stuck with the documentary look or just done the traditional filming because having only part of it look like a documentary doesn't add much to the film.

On the positive side though, this film looks amazing. I love the look of the aliens and the dirty society they are forced to live in. I am bored of aliens looking nice, these were dirty and kinda gross. There is a of course a smart alien who can think for himself while the others are more like drones. Their society seems like a hive with the smart one Christoper and his son being the leaders. The alien characters are very well done, they really make this film stand out from the crowd. The last part of the film is a bit of a disappointment though. It turns from a thoughtful look at how we treat aliens, into an action film. Many hated this, but I thought it worked. It may not have been as thought provoking as some may have liked, but the action was all very tense and well done so I didn't really mind after a while. This film may be picked to pieces for it's plot, how does the alien ship float in the air? Why is Christopher the only smart one? Why does the weird liquid turn Wikus? I could ask these questions too. Much of the film is unexplained, but you know what? I didn't care. It may have bugged me a bit, but after a while I stopped caring because this is one of the most entertaining sci fi films I have seen in a while. i highly recommend it despite thinking it had potential to be something else. If you want a smart sci fi film, watch Moon. I love that we have 2 sci fi films this year I love, one that is slow and makes you think, and the other fast paced, fun, and ridiculously violent and badass yet still has some intelligence to it. If this is a sign that sci fi films will change then I welcome it. We need more sci fi like this, and Moon:D

Overall I give it an 8.5 out of 10.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1019452/

The Coen brothers are sick, twisted men. This is probably their darkest film yet, and that is one reason I love it. The film is borderline depressing as it beats the crap out of the main character Larry. His wife leaves him for his best friend, His brother is a lazy slob who sleeps on the couch, his kids are spoiled brats, and a pupil of his is trying to blackmail him. Nothing in this poor man's life seems to be going anywhere. Why do all these horrible things happen to him for no explained reason? The film never tells us, it just sits back and casually tortures Larry. All these terrible things happen to him for no apparent reason, heck I'm sure many people would think this is a downbeat drama. The film is similar in many ways to the Book of Job from the bible, and even though I am not religous I have to admit I like that story. This film is not funny in a traditional way, it is very uncomfortable in its humor and it seems to take pleasure in tormenting the characters to a point where you either laugh or cry. Everybody in this film is fantastic and I loved how the Coen Brothers used mostly pretty unknown actors. Michael Stuhlbarg especially stands out with a tormented performance. He isn't a bumbing food who is depressed about his life, he is a hopeful man trying to make the best of life while it beats him to the ground then stomps on his face for the hell of it.

The story is highly symbolic at times and quite metaphorical, which to some might be dull since not a lot happens in the plot for a while As the story progresses you meet various oddball character, a sexy neighbor, a couple of rabbis, and many other strange people. I will keep this review short because i think the film will speak for itself. If you enjoy dark comedies and find pleasure in watching people suffer for almost 2 hours then I highly recommend this film. It has become my favorite Coen Brothers film next to Barton Fink, Fargo, and Raising Arizona. I think the Coen Brothers have made another future classic here. This is a big improvement over Burn after reading, which personally I really liked too. I think the Coen brothers are one of the best directors around. A Serious Man is now my favorite film of the year next to In The Loop:D

Overall I give it a 10 out of 10.