Shotgun Stories [Jeff Nichols, 2008]

• unjustly snubbed by Sundance, probably because of its slow, lethargic pace, Jeff Nichols' directorial debut is nonetheless one of the most mature debuts of the year.
• Michael Shannon stars as Son in a story about two sets of half-brothers whose hostilities are brought to surface when their father dies. the film plays as a sort of double-edged In the Bedroom, focusing on the apparent necessity of revenge and the lack of satisfaction that comes with it.
• while far from perfect or as well-made as Todd Field's picture, Shotgun Stories has a sensible pace and makes its statement in only about 84 minutes. Nichols (who also scripted) would've been better to make the film solely from Son's family's point of view as the brief scenes of their half-brothers fail to characterize any of them beyond archetypes. Nichols is however properly subtle in his economic contrast of the two sets; the superiority can be felt when Son's half-brother shows up to his house, parking his new Ford in front of Son's beat up Mazda.
• landscape is well captured which is to be expected when David Gordon Green is producing, and one gets a fair idea of Arkansas as that's all the camera or the characters seem to know.

7.5/genuine directorial debut with enough nuance to successfully recapitulate its themes

Hunger [Steve McQueen, 2008]

• Steve McQueen surely earned his Camera d'Or for Hunger, a film whose visual audacity is bested only by its content. the picture is carefully divided into three acts: the brutality against the prisoners, Bobby Sands' unthinkably long conversation with an IRA-affiliated priest, and Sands' hunger strike and death.
• first act begins with the morning routine of Ray Lohan, who we are lead to believe is our protagonist until we see him put on prison guard uniform. isn't this a Bobby Sands biopic? McQueen's camera (d.p. Sean Bobbitt) focuses on the nuances of Lohan's routine -- the crumbs he brushes off his lap during breakfast are obviously a juxtaposition of what's to come; we see him washing his hands in the morning and then again at work, except the second time, his knuckles are bloodied.
• then we are introduced to a skinny new inmate who we find is not Bobby Sands? we follow him for a bit before finally getting to Bobby (played admirably by Michael Fassbender). I believe McQueen (with Enda Walsh) designed the film this way so not to glorify Sands as the lone martyr in what was indeed a community suffering. one of the film's few missteps is in this transition, though, as the viewer is left wondering who's Bobby, when's he going to show up, was Bobby the roommate who had his hair cut?
• McQueen makes up for this lack of focus quickly in an unthinkably long static shot (pictured above) of Sands conversing with a priest. Fassbender's chops really show here, as he displays selflessness, doubt and charisma all within the same shot.
• last act is dedicated to Hunger, and Fassbender's grotesque body transformation rivals Bale's infamous weight loss for The Machinist and Rescue Dawn. McQueen pulls quite a few visual and aural tricks to communicate the symptoms of your body slowly shutting down.
• all in all, Hunger is certainly unflinching in its portrayal of IRA prisoners of war in 1987. it's an extremely subjective film, and assumes you know quite a bit of the civil war (I didn't), and is clearly sympathizes with its portrayed side. nonetheless, McQueen's direction is magnificent, and had the world any justice, both he and Fassbender would be receiving Oscar buzz. European Film Awards noms will have to do.
• i suppose that was too much plot for a review, but hey, it's my first since October. give me a break.

9/unflinching, beautifully observant examination of Bobby Sands' last six weeks

Ranking the 25 Films I've Seen This Year

The Signal was the 25th film I've seen in 2008 (going by theatrical release date in the States, not festival or domestic release).

1. The Dark Knight

2. Vicky Cristina Barcelona

3. Frozen River

4. Flight of the Red Balloon

5. Chop Shop

6. In Bruges

7. Pineapple Express

8. 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days

9. Snow Angels

10. [Rec]

11. Forgetting Sarah Marshall

12. My Brother Is an Only Child

13. Iron Man

14. Cloverfield

15. Paranoid Park

16. The Wackness

17. The Bank Job

18. The Signal

19. Funny Games

20. Baby Mama

21. Redbelt

22. Tropic Thunder

23. Married Life

24. The Strangers

25. The Ruins

The Signal [David Bruckner; Jacob Gentry; Dan Bush, 2008]

• The Signal is a rather muddled film, but with ultimately more good ideas than flaws
• broken into three "transmissions," the first and second are nearly exceptional in their own ways while the third breaks off into self-importance and leaves a bad taste in one's mouth by the end
• first transmission does a fair job of explaining the story without beating it through viewers heads, and is shot in a truly scary manner, dimly lit hallways and faces almost always too shadowed to make clear
• second act is a sudden but understandable shift to black comedy, and good comedy at that. everyone is crazy by now, some because of the signal and others because of the people with the signal. they're not that much different
• third bit isn't worth going too far into, it's loaded with dialogue and empty of importance. it's the final stage of delirium but that doesn't mean we want to see incoherent blabber for the last fifteen minutes

6/enough talent to be considered a success

Cloverfield [Matt Reeves, 2008]

• essentially taking the faux-doc subgenre that The Blair Witch Project pioneered and making its subject a monster comparable to Godzilla or the more recent The Host, dir. Matt Reeves and pen Drew Goddard think up and bring to life a hell of a concept
• the monster is effectively scary and realistic. the film's best and worst attributes largely relate to its medium, though. on one hand, pic's dedication to viewers watching a REAL videotape of the destruction is admirable in its switching between monster footage and interaction between the two leads who love each other shot a month before. however, flaws are revealed here as well. during the film, there are several occasions where scenes have obviously been edited together. it uses a good number of Rope tricks to appear continuous but there are still many unexplained stops and starts. and i wasn't looking for them through, hoping to report on it
• is engaging in its entirety, with a running time that is smart enough not to overstay its welcome
• unfortunately, the most sympathetic character in the film is....well, no one. for all the time and professionalism put into the special effects, a rewrite of the actual characters and dialogue could have made the picture absolutely epic. there's an arguably daring choice to make the camera holder a socially awkward character...but he's just annoying and rarely funny. the central love story pulls no emotional strings for me as I was only given about a two minute intro to get to know them and judging by everything afterwards, they aren't very interesting. in essence, i enjoyed the ride, just not who I was sitting next to throughout

6.5/creative, contrived monster movie

Redbelt [David Mamet, 2008]

• from beginning to end, Mamet's latest is implausible, stacking up plot contrivances that are ridiculous not because of implausibility but because of stupidity.
• film is largely a character study, and i understand that, but Chiwitel Ejiofor is the ONLY character among a large cast that gets any kind of development. Ejiofor's wife, played (rather badly) by Alice Braga, is shown only as a whiny bitch. Tim Allen is an action star (stretch!) and mainly just a McGuffin. We're supposed to care about Ejiofor and Emily Mortimer's relationship but we don't because we don't have a clue who she is
• between the stupid opening involving Mortimer and a suicide, the picture is pretty engaging, as Ejiofor is given room to work. everything afterwards is muddled, and the ending is laughably bad...I'm not going to bother going into it
• pic is however more entertaining than it is good, as Ejiofor is fun to watch in anything and the fight scenes are often very cool. easily the worst Mamet pic (script or direction) i've seen to date, though

4/implausible and dumb

Iron Man [Jon Favreau, 2008]

• solid, at times intriguing superhero movie that seems more interested in its characters than in plot, for a change. unfortunately, these characters aren't incredibly deep. this is made up for, though, by the always fantastic Robert Downey Jr. and an optimistic return to big movies for Gwyneth Paltrow. The former is perfect for the role, at times hilarious. Aud can relate to him better than Bale's Batman, and he's a lot cooler than Maguire's Spider-Man. Paltrow looks beautiful and has great chemistry with the much older RDJ
• there is minimal action scenes prior to the inevitable final battle, both impressive and puzzling. the exposition and general plot are an entertaining ride but not particularly ambitious. Terrence Howard is disappointingly restrained but Jeff Bridges chews away as Obediah, intriguing especially because of his high voice and intimidating stature
• aforementioned final battle is worth the wait, not terribly clever, but well edited and technically cool. final few minutes are a great wrap-up but certainly leave one desiring more, especially in regard to the RDJ-Paltrow relationship (and tongue-in-cheek reference to Howard's possibly expanded role).

7/effective popcorn pic w/ great perfs