When Hitchcock’s “Psycho” was released, back in 1960, it was such a radical departure from his forty or so prior films it felt like it came from another planet. For one thing the main character, played by Janet Leigh, met a grisly end 43 minutes in. The real identity of the other central role, played by Anthony Perkins, remained in doubt until the last few minutes.
Category: Santa Monica Reporter
Santa Monica Reporter, the entertainment blog for Newslanc.com
Seth Rogen and the overlooked “50/50”
Four years after his breakthrough role in “Knocked Up,” Seth Rogen finally has a project equal to his talents. And though he’s not the lead in “50/50,” the movie would be way less appealing without him, despite its other considerable merits.
Cowboys, Aliens, and the real thing.
“Cowboys and Aliens,” outside of the last Harry Potter, is this summers’ most eagerly anticipated blockbuster. Judging from the casting, it looked like it was intended as much for adults as to the all important teenage demographic.
Woody Allen at “Midnight,” “Beginners,” and an afterthought on “Bridesmaids”
Recently “Sight and Sound,” the world’s foremost English language film journal, boasted a cover story on Woody Allen. The article, timed around the UK release of “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger,” was titled, “In Defense of Woody Allen.”
This Springs’ disappointments, and living “Forever”
It’s been hard to find a couple of decent movies to write about from the first part of this year, especially after the bumper crop of Oscar contenders that played through the early months of 2011.
2010 Oscar Post Mortem, Part 2
by Dan Cohen, Santa Monica Reporter
The 2010 movie year concluded with an unusually dull Academy Awards broadcast, lacking surprises on every possible level. I suppose we should be thankful for the movies they honored, which were so much better than the show. Still, the images from “Titanic,” that flashed numerous times throughout the more than three hour debacle, spoke volumes.
Looking back on 2010, and forward to the Oscars.
I was out of the country most of December, but as I left I did a quick inventory of the years’ noteworthy American theatrical films. It wasn’t much of a list; “The Social Network,” “The Kids Are Alright,” “Cyrus,” “Inception,” “Winter’s Bone,” and Clint Eastwood’s underappreciated, “Hereafter.” Just below that were several others, good enough to keep you out of trouble on a Saturday night; “The Town,” “Unstoppable,” “Easy A,” and, with some reservations, “I Love You Phillip Morris.” But not much else.
Love and Other Drugs, and an outrageous Jim Carrey flick
Anne Hathaway’s spirited performance is the best reason to see “Love and Other Drugs.” Otherwise, the movie, in spite of its multple ambitions, is a mess. Not unlikeable, just unsuccessful. The beginning is promising. Writer/director Ed Zwick, and his co- screenwriter Charles Randolph, capably sketch a complicated family heavily invested in the medical arts. George Segal and the late Jill Clayburgh appear, happily, as the clan elders.
Unstoppable
Unstoppable is a 100 million dollar B movie. Its plot line, and every digression from the device that drives it, a runaway freight train loaded with hazardous chemicals, feels like it was cribbed from an undergraduate screenwriting text. There isn’t a single beat that isn’t telegraphed from miles down the track. And still, the movie is exciting.
The Social Network plus a technical leap forward
Sparks fly in the David Fincher/ Aaron Sorkin adaptation of Ben Mezrich’s book, “The Accidental Billionaires.” And that’s a good thing, because so much marketing energy has been lavished on “The Social Network,” you’d think it was the last word on world peace, as opposed to a story about techno nerds looking to better facilitate hookups.
New School/Old School: “Easy A” and “Never Let Me Go”
Emma Stone, a relative newcomer, who showed she could hold her own opposite Woody Harrelson and Bill Murray in “Zombieland,” plays the lead in “Easy A,” a comic riff on “The Scarlett Letter” set in a California high school. And while Stone is challenged by an array of high power character actors, she quickly takes control of the picture and keeps it running one level above the material.
The Kids Are All Right, and Schmucks
The mediocre performance of several would be blockbusters has made room at the multiplexes for two sharply observed indies, “Cyrus, “and “The Kids Are All Right.” And while part of this can be attributed to the influence of powerful parent companies, in these cases the specialty wings of Fox and Universal, any win for a good film is a win for smart audiences.
The conception of Inception
Although it aspires to more, at its heart Christopher Nolan’s “Inception” is an elaborate caper flick. And while it belongs to a genre as old as moving pictures, it turns the conventions inside out, re-energizing itself with a fresh injection of technical bravado about every 15 minutes.
A human Secret and an inhuman Splice
The Secret in Their Eyes,” the 2009 foreign language Oscar winner, was an interesting choice, especially in light of the other contenders, a group of ambitious, highly stylized dramas, (“Un Prophet,” “Ajami,” “The White Ribbon”) with unique directorial stamps. It is especially interesting, since on its surface this Argentine drama appears so cool and conventional.