Holiday Films: The Reviews

Time to catch up on the films I checked out over the holiday break. The films were a varied lot, so let's dive right in:

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street was my Christmas Day film this year. It's a masterpiece. The perfect mix of all that is great about Tim Burton and the masterwork of the master Stephen Sondheim. The film strips the stage version, which I've seen in multiple forms, of most of its humor. The result is a dark, stirring horror film that often feels hyperreal.

I think part of the the strength and power of the film is that it's cast with age-appropriate actors. The stage version usually has a Tobias of 25, not 12, and Antonys and Johannas of at least that age, not 16. This change struck me as an essential change in the film. Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter give performances unlike any Todd or Lovett I've seen, but their interpretations are legitimate with great integrity.

The cinematography and art direction are phenomenal, but one would expect nothing less from a Tim Burton film.

National Treasure: Book of Secrets doesn't totally suck. It sucks a little, but not totally. I saw two films over the last year that I ended up seeing simply out of boredom. Live Free or Die Hard was the first, and it far exceeded my expectations. National Treasure met my expectations, but those expectations were pretty low. It's a decent divertissement. And Helen Mirren will elevate anything.

Juno totally charms. Ellen Page gives one of the finest performances of the year, and Michael Cera one of the most charmingly understated (and a major improvement over Superbad, though he was the best thing about that film). Jason Bateman and, particularly, Jennifer Garner give great performances, as well.

The script by Diablo Cody has gotten most of the attention here, and it's really fine. But it is the deft hand of director Jason Reitman and a phenomenal cast that makes it work. It's also really great to have a strong feminist voice in a major film.

One week later I'm still not sure what to make of No Country for Old Men. It is without a doubt the most intense film I've seen all year. In fact, Sweeney Todd is a pale second. The script is always intriguing and the performances are all incredible. Javier Bardem is still terrifying me.

Joel and Ethan Coen make films that unsettle me. I expect that. But No Country for Old Men confused me as much as it unsettled me. I'm not sure it's ultimately successful in its execution. I say that knowing it has received more critics awards than every other film combined.

I like Atonement more this morning that I did last night right after I saw it. It's certainly beautiful and of great pedigree. The structure disoriented me more than engaged me. It shouts "isn't this the most ingenious film you've ever seen" a little too much for me. Is that a whiff of pretension I smell?

Two performances stand out. James McAvoy is amazing, and really makes this his film. The accent, the body movement, the style is so different from anything he's done to this point and yet seems so natural and organic. Vanessa Redgrave does more in her just under 7 minutes of screen time than anyone else in the cast accomplishes. I think its her performance at the end of the film that is making me appreciate more today.

That's it for the moment. I think it means I'm ready to give me thoughts on the best film of the year. Stay tuned.