L: "The Place Beyond the Pines" 2013

Directed by: Derek Cianfrance

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes, Dane DeHaan

Genre: Drama, Crime, Thriller, Romance

My Rating: ★★★★★★★★★★

   How I can hate one movie from a director and then see his next film and love it puzzles me. I'm talking of course about Derek Cianfrance's "Blue Valentine" and "The Place Beyond the Pines". The oddest thing is though that they aren't all that different. (Though this film didn't have MicHellOnEarth Williams in it. Thank God for that. ) So why is it that I loved this and hated "Blue Valentine"?

   Well, let me start off by naming the similarities. Well aside from the obvious Ryan Gosling starring as a main character in both movies, Cianfrance has only directed two full length movies but already you can see how he tends to divide the movies into little pieces. The difference however being that in this case it worked very well and in "Blue Valentine's" case it didn't. "Blue Valentine" tells the story of a couple falling in love and the collapse of their marriage years later and in that movie the storyline switches between those two different times. This movie though has three parts to it and they move in a chronological order. They're all very different but the transition is always very smooth, very believable and most of all logical. You can barely notice how the previous storyline has ended perfectly and the new one doesn't seem new at all. 

   I feel as if it isn't fair of me two compare this so much to the other movie, but you've got to understand. Very rarely do I come across a situations where I'm amazed at one movie and incredibly frustrated by another from the same director.  And it's even more bizarre that in this case those two are his only movies. 

   Now I don't like Ryan Gosling but unlike MicHellOnEarth Williams, I can't deny that he is a good actor. Good might not even cut it and in this movie he did it again. No surprise there. Bradley Cooper was also very good. Maybe even better. But the person who shocked me most, was Eva Mendes. I mean, I seriously have never liked her. I didn't even know she could act, but she managed to never piss me off. Not once. So that was pretty amazing. Also don't-know-if-I-can-call-him-a-newcomer-anymore Dane DeHaan was amazing as always. So all in all, a very solid cast. No complaint there.

   And then of course there is the cinematographer. What is it with the movies of 2013? I can't remember the last time I saw a movie with very bad cinematography. And this movie was no exception. I read somewhere that Andrij Parekh who shot "Blue Valentine" and was supposed to shoot this dropped out because of a dream he had where he died on set and well... I'm sorry but I'm so glad he had that dream, because Sean Bobbitt, the guy who replaced him did an absolutely phenomenal job. It took me 15 minutes to choose the stills for this review and I still couldn't manage to pick out two. So a gold star to Sean Bobbitt!

   And well the length... Yes, I mean the movie was indeed pretty long. But seeing as you basically get 3 movies in 1, I don't see why you would complain. So if you're not busy and your mind isn't filled with clutter, I don't see why you shouldn't go see this movie.

EDIT: I can now, after seeing this movie 3 times, say that this belongs in my top 10. Go see it. Now.

L: "Iron Man 3" 2013

Directed by: Shane Black

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Guy Pearce, Ben Kingsley, Rebecca Hall

Genre: Sci-fi, Action, Adventure, Thriller

My Rating: ★★★★★★★★★☆

   After the somewhat disappointing "Iron Man 2" (though I can't help it - I still adore Mickey Rourke) and astonishing "Avengers" I couldn't help but feel a little nervous about seeing this. You have to understand though, growing up being a big fan of superheroes you do start to feel a bit over-protective, not to mention become worryingly obsessed about them. So yes, I take these movies very seriously.

  Before I get into the storyline, a big shout-out to Shane Black whom you might all already love without realising it because he is indeed the mastermind behind "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang".

   So. "Iron Man 3" focuses on a more vulnerable Tony Stark and takes place some time after the "Avengers" events. Stark is left feeling empty, anxious and suffering from PTSD which of course is the perfect time for the world needing to be saved. This time from a terrorist (but he prefers to be called a teacher) called the Mandarin (Kingsley). Then we have some ghosts from the past (Hall and Pearce) popping up, some very questionable yet terrifying science/biology (???) invention completed by shitloads of action and explosions. To top that of we also have lots and lots of new Iron Man suits.

   Seems like your typical superhero movie, doesn't it? And I guess it is, but what I most liked about this one, was that this (ironically an Iron Man movie) was somehow more mature. The jokes weren't as cheesy as usual (though yes, it is part of the fun) and the characters were more developed. Even Gwyneth Paltrow somehow managed to not be annoying. 

   The weird thing is that, surprisingly, I haven't got much more to say. I guess this movie really did catch me off-guard. A pleasant surprise nonetheless.

 Oh, I almost forgot! The post-credits scene (if you didn't sit and wait around for this, you need to go see it again just to make up for your ignorance) made me  v e r y  excited  about "Avengers 2" to say the least. But, I am known to be Team Hulk, so I guess that was to be expected. 

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Don't tell me you aren't excited!

L: "Trance" 2013

Directed by: Danny Boyle

Starring: James McAvoy, Vincent Casell, Rosario Dawson

Genre: Thriller, Psychological, Heist

My Rating: ★★★★★★★★☆☆

   "Trance" is the newest film by director Danny Boyle whom most of you probably know for directing "Trainspotting". His other works include "Slumdog Millionaire", "127 Hours" and "28 Days Later". So basically yes, he is a director to watch out for. Which brings me to "Trance", his latest project. Now I was very excited for this film, not only because Danny Boyle directed it, but also because it starred James McAvoy and Vincent Casell. I'm also known to have a liking for thrillers. Especially the psychological mindfuck ones. (And no, I still don't like "Inception".) So basically I can't say that I went in with small expectations.

   The story revolves around a Goya painting heist. Simon (McAvoy) who is part of the heist hides the painting for some reason and then gets hit on the head. When his partner  Franck (Casell) starts asking about the painting he genuinely can't remember where he put it so they book him sessions with hypnotherapist Elizabeth (Dawson) who is hired to find the whereabouts of the painting from inside of Simon's mind.

   Now this plot may appear simple enough and for the first quarter of the movie it pretty much is, I even sat there thinking "Well hmm, this could a tad more intense couldn't it?" But then came the second quarter of the movie and this was my favorite part - it was juicy and intense and more than anything, thrilling. So after that, I was pretty much hooked. The other half of the movie did have some issues for me, but nothing too big. And the ending was definitely... weird. 9 movies out of 10 I would've probably hated it, but to very much my own surprise I indeed did not hate it. I even liked it. Which is very weird.

   Now there obviously were loads, and I mean loads, of plot twists in this movie, some less shocking than others, but I think there was only one point where I thought "Ooh, this is a bit too much, isn't it?" But again, to my surprise , the main (?) or the biggest (?) or perhaps the last (?) plot twist was a bit too expectable but for some reason I wasn't annoyed by that (which again is very weird - I keep being weirded out by this movie) but that might've been because they somehow managed to reveal the biggest plot twist in a way that wasn't as expectable as the plot twist itself. 

   Before I end this pretty lengthy review about a very weird movie that made me use the word "plot twist" more than I think I've ever used before,  I just have to say that Anthony Dod Mantle did an absolutely amazing job with the cinematography. To me, this movie was a visual masterpiece even if it was lacking something in other departments. 

   Which brings me to the conclusion. "Trance" is a thrilling and very entertaining good movie, I obviously don't have many bad things to say about it but I never expected to anyways. The problem for me is that the movie seemed to have a greater idea than execution. Which, again, wasn't at all bad, it just could've been amazing. The weirdest thing though is that I usually get very pissed off and disappointed in movies that could've been better, especially if I go in with high expectations but I believe this didn't happen here because I thought I would like it and I absolutely did, I can just completely neutrally say that there was something missing and I can't quite put my finger on it - for all I know it might've just lacked in intensity but for some reason I don't believe that to be the case. In any way, definitely a good movie but could've been exceptional. But there's nothing wrong with a very good movie is there?

Happy Birthday!

One of the most influential men of our time, Quentin Tarantino celebrates his 50th birthday on March, 27, today. Cinephilia wishes him a happy birthday and a lot of great movies and ideas to come!