Review Round-Up: 1/23/09

It’s been far too long.

The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951): Re-watching the film via a review copy provided to me of the new two-disc special edition, I was struck by just how great this movie is. It’s not epic or intensly personal along the lines of classics like Citizen Kane, Gone With the Wind or others along those lines. But it is just a really, really good movie that captures the feelings of the era it was produced in while still remaining relevant to contemporary audiences.

Horton Hears a Who: But beyond any socio-political subtext Horton Hears a Who is a pretty enjoyable movie for the family. Some parents might not be thrilled with the amount of crotch-based humor (not a lot, but enough that I can think of two or three instances) in the previously gentle story but that’s going to depend on your overall point of view with kid’s films.

The Dark Knight: Many critics are putting The Dark Knight on the year-end best-of lists and it’s completely warranted. The film is filled with stylistic story-telling of the highest caliber. Director Christopher Nolan and his screenwriters have created a super-hero tale that, like the best such stories, serves as a morality play. The characters, all brought to life by actors that do much more than what the script gives them (which is saying something), are all caught up in their own conflicts that come crashing together in the end.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona: To map out the path these characters take would necessarily spoil the plot of the movie. While some moments seem a bit contrived most of the story follows a path that, at least for these characters, seems genuine and that helps the viewer’s enjoyment. Most all of the performances, especially that of Javier Bardem, are great and they all seem to inhabit the characters, something that helps their actions seem very natural. The one glaring exception, as usual, is Scarlett Johansson as Vicky. The poor girl…she really can’t do a single thing.