Category: Stu’s Reviews

Genre: Film

Grade: A-/B+
Notable People: Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, Reece Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, Benicio del Toro, Katherine Waterston, Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
Title: Inherent Vice

Review – Quite a ride this one. Anderson is a totally whacked out director, who has taken a pretty complicated novel by Thomas Pynchon (most people believe you can’ t make films from his esoteric books) and given us a film that seems to mate Sam Spade with The Big Lebowski with Quentin Tarentino. It’s a lot of fun and Phoenix is wonderful…Brolin is a great match too. The movie is 2 ½ hours long and I did find myself glancing at my watch, but still what’s not to like from a tripped out story of a stoned private detective living the life in a 1970s San Francisco beach town? The spirit of the times is well represented and the story has every crazy character you could imagine…..with some absolutely great lines of dialog. Good winter’s afternoon diversion.

Genre: Film

Grade: B+
Notable People: Amy Adams, Christoph Waltz, Directed by Tim Burton
Title: Big Eyes

Review – Well this one is interesting. It has couple of themes I’ve had a lot of lately: the story is better than the film and you’ll like it better if you are of an age. This is the story of the Keanes- the folks who brought the ubiquitous “Big Eyes” paintings to the world consciousness in the 60’s… these works of art were EVERYWHERE- a background to the times. The story is fascinating. She painted them all, he took the credit….a 15 year massive deceit. It’s really a great untold story. The movie is pretty good- but after a while – it’s kind of predictable and drags a bit. Adams is good. Waltz is fast becoming one of the top actors of his generation though I found it a bit of a stretch to have the early parts with him as a 30 year old. And of course, Tim Burton is always pretty interesting in his approach. Lots of well portrayed early 60s San Francisco and North Beach (“is expresso a kind of reefer?”. All said, worth seeing. And if you remember this stuff –there is a lot of memories here of a time.

Genre: Film

Grade: NR
Notable People: Emmanuelle Seigner, Matthieu Almaric, Directed by Roman Polanski
Title: Venus in Fur

Review – oh boy…this is a challenging one. My son sent me this film on Blue Ray for Christmas-which may be some kind of message that I can’t quite decipher. We watched it last night, and I have tried to assess its value since, but am stumped. Polanski is just short of insane, but maybe a genius. The actors- there are only two of them…..are peerless. The film is based on an 1870 Austrian novel of the same name by Leopold von Sacher Mosoch. It apparently was the book that led to the origin of the term sado-masochism (see the author’s name). The film is really slow and spellbinding at the same time. Not much happens except a pretty tenuous, sensuous and extremely edgy dialog between a director and would be actress in an empty haunting theater. After it was over, I was really not sure exactly what happened, but the time went quickly and I thought I must be watching a work of some degree of high art since I was pretty confused…but riveted. The actors are great, the plot is obtuse, the staging is minimal…intense Polanski at his best. Mon dieu…je ne sais quoi (French sub tiles- by the way). This is certainly not everyone’s cup of tea- but if you see yourself as somewhat a student of film…then will you please rate it for me

Genre: Film

Grade: A-
Notable People: Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern. Directed by Jean- Marc Valee
Title: Wild

Review –Moving and dramatic film about a young woman hiking the entire Pacific Crest Trail (Arizona to Oregon) to unwind her demons. Pretty reminiscent of “The Way” with Emilio Estevez from a few years ago- but not any less for it. The cinematography is spectacular- will make you want to go do the Trial. Witherspoon is wonderful in this role, Dern is her usual appealing self, and a nice supporting cast of cameo payers. A pretty emotional story- well told.

Genre: Film

Grade: B
Notable People: Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris, Tyler Perry, Directed by David Fincher
Title: Gone Girl

Review –I think this movie has been made before…probably better. Pretty suspenseful take on marriage and betrayal…and sociopathy…but way long and ran on with a bit too many twists. Pike is pretty disturbed and diabolical- but it just became kind of not believable after a while. I had seen some really good reviews of this film- so was pretty disappointed. Not bad for at home but not worth a trip to the movies. Better to rent a copy of Fatal Attraction and get the idea presented the way it should be.