My Blueberry Nights

movie review/analysis
by Gavin Miller

My Score: B
Wong Kar Wai is awesome. He's one of my favorite directors, and I just recently checked out his 2007 flick My Blueberry Nights. This is a good film, not a great one, not as good as Wong Kar Wai's best work, but still pretty good, and in my opinion, very underrated. My favorite Kar Wai film would probably be Chungking Express (In the Mood for Love is a close second!), that movie really is something special, and I think that My Blueberry Nights did a good job of recreating a similar atmosphere, unfortunately, at times My Blueberry Nights feels somewhat thinly written. Chungking's narrative embraced the lack of an in-depth story, and relied on pure style to carry it. Wong Kar Wai really pulled it of with that one, but in Blueberry Nights, there are some scenes where it feels a little forced. However, I do love the premise of Blueberry Nights. It is a very interesting story, and Norah Jones does a surprisingly decent job as the lead. Rachel Weisz is great, and Natalie Portman was also pretty good, though the accent seemed a bit unneeded. Jude Law's character was easily my favorite part of the film, he did a wonderful job. There is some fantastic imagery and beautiful cinematography here, and though the script is a little thin, and as this is Kar Wai's first English language film, the transition of style can seem a bit awkward at times, there's enough good here to save it, and make it a very good film. This is no masterpiece, but it's worth checking out, especially if your a Wong Kar Wai fan like myself.

My top 5 favorite film directors

written by Gavin Miller

These are my five favorite movie directors. These are the filmmakers that tell great stories, and know how to, visually, emotionally, and just personally resonate with me.

But first off, some honorable mentions:  Alfred Hitchcock, the Coen Brothers, Peter Jackson, Woody Allen, Clint Eastwood, Danny Boyle, Ingmar Bergman, and Tim Burton.

5. Wes Anderson
I love Wes Anderson, every movie he's made is just so enjoyable, quirky, beautiful, well made and different. Just watching one of his movies, you get a great, relaxing feeling of excitement and joy. It's like a daydream; fantastical, whimsical, fun. Also, the cast, characters and dialog of a Wes Anderson picture will linger in your mind, leaving you to decipher a possible hidden meaning in a line, or remembering a hilarious facial expression of Bill Murray or maybe Jason Schwartzman.

Favorite Anderson film: The Darjeeling Limited (2007)

4. Ang Lee
As a viewer, I naturally gravitate to visual finesse, and that's one of the main reasons I adore Ang Lee. Take his 2000 masterpiece Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or his latest film, the beautiful and spiritually extravagant Life of PI - amazing work. But Ang Lee's films are more than just amazing to eye. They are deeply affecting and emotional, Brokeback Mountain is a prime example of a marriage of beautiful cinematography and dramatic, poignant storytelling.

My favorite Ang Lee film: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)

3. Darren Aronofsky 
To me, Aronofsky is one of those directors where I always just can't wait to see what they do next. All his work is so immersing, passionate, thrilling; it's like watching a great artist painting a masterpiece. Another great thing about Aronofsky, he can get amazing performances out of actors. Take Natalie Portman in Black Swan, or Mickey Rourke from The Wrestler, both are amazing, ranging from intense to heart-breaking. Aronofsky also has great visual taste. Whether it's the beautiful, breathtaking vistas of his underrated 2006 film The Fountain -- the bleak, surreal landscapes of 2000's Requiem for a Dream -- the frenetic, grainy, black and white look of his debut, Pi, he's one of the great modern-day masters of cinematography.

My favorite Aronofsky film: The Wrestler (2009)

2. Christopher Nolan
Trying hard not to be a complete fan-boy here, but i can't help but just rave about this guy. He's truly a master filmmaker, I feel that each of his movies represents his skills getting more and more mature. He completely resurrected the Batman franchise with his epic Dark Knight trilogy, blew our minds with the complex and mind bending Inception, and in my opinion, what might be his best directorial effort was 2006's The Prestige, easily his most overlooked and underrated film. Also one can not ignore 2000's Memento, the movie that brought Nolan to the attention of the public and critics everywhere, and which still remains a fascinating and thought-provoking mystery. I think Nolan will continue to get better and better with time.

My favorite Nolan film: The Dark Knight trilogy (2005-2012)

1. Steven Spielberg
Ok, I know it's really cliche to say that Spielberg is my all time favorite director, but what can I say - if I were to make a list of my top twenty/thirty favorite films, Spielberg would dominate the list. Yea, not all of his movies are perfect, but when he when he makes a good movie, chances are it's a great movie. His 70's-80's work is very undeniably classic. Indiana Jones (1981-89), Jaws, E.T.... yea you know. His output of the 90's was impressive as well (Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan), and he really has remained consistent in the 21st century. With his early 2000's work, like the dark, thought-provoking sci-fi flick Minority Report (2002), and the brisk, entertaining Catch Me If You Can of 2003. Also, his most recent efforts, 2011's War Horse, and 2012's Lincoln were both hugely impressive to me, and he showed a real knack for animation with his recent debut in the genre, The Adventures of Tintin (2011). What can you say about Steven Spielberg, he's easily one of the most influential, important and versatile filmmakers of all time, and he easily deserves the number one stop on my list.

Favorite Spielberg film: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Stand By Me - quick film review

Stand By Me (1986)

movie reviews/analysis

written by Gavin Miller

Rating: 5/10

Stand By Me is a film that I consider incredibly overrated. I like quite a few of Rob Reiner's films, Spinal Tap and Princess Bride in particular. However, Stand By Me is just so pretentious and unpleasant to me, I can't find much in it to like. For child actors, the cast isn't actually too annoying, but that being said I didn't find any of the characters very likable and couldn't really get attached to them. Another thing I didn't like about this movie is that it's mean spirited. For a film about childhood, it seems to just be interested in countless instances of people hurting, destructing, bullying, etc, other people. Yes, I understand what it's going for/trying to say, but I just can't get in to this overdone, pretentious movie that's not even very entertaining. This film annoys me, and the more I think about it the less I like it. Many people rave about Stand By Me, but I say it's not worth your time. 

Burn After Reading - Movie Review

Burn After Reading (2008)
directed by: Joel & Ethan Coen

movie review/analysis
written by Gavin Miller

Burn After Reading is a movie that I admire for many reasons. It's a black comedy that doesn't follow the rules, features some one-of-a-kind performances, and while it's not perfect, what it does is hilarious, entertaining and fun.
I love the Coen brothers. Their films are always of great quality, with trademark characteristics, fantastic soundtracks, great cinematography... etc. Burn After Reading is no exception. It may be a slightly minor entry into the Coens' body of work, but you can tell they had a lot of fun with this one, never taking itself too seriously and constantly fast paced, genre jumping and quirky -- like a Coen movie should. It's really funny too, maybe not Big Lebowski funny, but it kept me laughing. Again, this is a dark comedy and the film is certainly dark at times, but always with a strong comedic undercurrent. The plot is nothing extremely special; the "highly classified shit" (as Brad Pitt's character gleefully announces) of a recently fired CIA member Osbourn Cox (Malkovich) falls into the hands of two oblivious employees of a gym (McDormant and Pitt), and the mayhem ensues. Anyway, for me it's the characters who make this movie work. George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Francis McDormant, John Malkovich and the rest of the cast are all extremely likable and funny and their roles are very well-written. I liked Brad Pitt the best in the movie. I think that Pitt is an underrated actor that never gets enough credit for his acting talents, and in this he just really stole the movie. This isn't a movie for everyone though; some will be confused about what exactly the movie is trying to do, and could end up being unsatisfied. It's true the film doesn't really have an conclusion. It just kind of ends abruptly, but I don't think it takes away from the movie really. In the end, we have a slightly messy, but never sloppy movie that could have been annoying in another director's hands, but handled expertly by the Coen brothers, its awesome. 

My score: B+

The Wrestler (2008) - Movie Review

The Wrestler 
Directed by Darren Aronofsky 

movie review/analysis
written by Gavin Miller

I absolutely adore Darren Aronofsky. If I were to make a top five favorite directors list, Aronofsky would easily be on it, probably even making the top three. I love every movie he's made, Pi (1998), Requiem for a Dream (2000), The Fountain (2006), his latest, Black Swan (2010), and 2008's The Wrestler. I know I'm getting extremely repetitive, but I love all these films, I find it next to impossible ordering them preference wise; that being said, if I absolutely had to choose my favorite, The Wrestler would most likely come out on top. It's not quite as intense as some of Aronofsky's previous films (Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan in particular), instead, it takes the form of a more honest and touching drama. Not that the end result is "touching" - this is by no means an "uplifting" movie, but some scenes are very emotional and just facial expressions and dialog convey so much, and really make this movie. This is of course due to the absolutely amazing, perfect performances from the whole cast. Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei are so good in this film it's almost unbelievable. Rourke's performance as the aging, beaten and disconnected wrestler, Randy "The Ram" Robinson has to be one of my favorite performances by and actor of all time. Not only is it amazing physical acting, but also just so emotional, at certain points in the movie, the little quiet character moments you just really bring a tear to your eye. The way the film is shot is also one of the best things about it. It takes on a documentary-est feel, slowly following the characters around, I think it's one of the things that works best about this film. 
The Wrestler is as brutal as it is emotional. It gives an honest and uncompromising look into the world of wrestling, I will never watch a "simple" wrestling match again without thinking of this movie. This is not a movie for the faint of heart, all kind of wince inducing violence occurs during the matches, it is not always a pleasant film to watch, but this is not "Rocky". This is a Darren Aronofsky drama that takes risks, it is not afraid. This is an extremely well acted movie, it's honest and sometimes disturbing, but it does not lack in heart. If you liked Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby, I think that you would like this film too. The Wrestler is one of my favorite movies of all time. I could praise it more, everything is just about perfect, and it's actually very entertaining. One of the best. 

A+

The Usual Suspects (1995) - Movie Review

The Usual Suspects (1995)

directed by Bryan Singer 

movie review/analysis
written by Gavin Miller

Before I begin going into this film, I'd like to say a few words about director Bryan Singer. I think that he is an underrated filmmaker. His films are some what hit and miss, and unfortunately people seem to forget that he's made some pretty good movies over the years. I haven't seen all of his work, but I think that one of his biggest feats was bringing the comic book/superhero film genre back into mainstream film making with 2000's X-Men, which he directed. It wasn't perfect, but it's a decent film; and one that he followed up with the superior sequel X2 (2002). Among his other directorial credits where Superman Returns (which I did not see), Valkyrie (which is a somewhat better film than it gets credit for) among a few others. But, the film that truly established Singer, and the film that he will remembered for is The Usual Suspects. It wasn't exactly his debut film (that was Public Access), but let's be honest, no one remembers, or even knows about that movie. Usual Suspects was a brilliant movie on the other hand. It's one of those movies that I could talk about for hours. I love it. Singer really puts personality in his movie. It's quickly paced, entertaining, tightly edited and has an awesome score that really gets you into the movie. The performances are all around good and the all star cast is obviously having fun. Kevin Spacey in particular is amazing and is the film's crowning jewel. He deserved his Oscar. 
In conclusion, The Usual Suspects is fast paced, inventive, and just awesome. The famous twist ending truly is brilliant. With so much goes going on in the first hour and forty minutes (or so), I think it's great how the movie just kinda laughs at itself and at the viewers by completely pulling the rug from beneath your feet, leaves=ing you with a huge grin on your face. This is a now iconic film that has archived classic status. It's an important movie, but never a pretentious one. I love it. Check it out. 

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) - Movie Review

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Wo hu cang long)

movie review/analysis
written by Gavin Miller

It's very difficult for me to order my favorite movies of all time. I've tried and re-tried over and over again. However, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon always either comes out on top, or at least makes the top two or three. And this film truly is a masterpiece. Not only is it lavishly entertaining, fast paced and some what old fashioned, it's also touching, meditative and nothing less than beautiful and visually stunning. The acting is perfect. Chow Yun-Fat gives a stoic performance and you can really tell he's a somewhat trouble man underneath his shell. He does a great job and completely carries the movie. Michelle Yeoh is equally fantastic, she's slightly more unreserved and her character come off as extremely effective and human, especially in the movie's deep yet somewhat nail-biting climax. Ziyi Zhang and Chen Chang shine in their star making roles. 

Another thing I would like to mention is the score. It's possibly my favorite film score of all time. In every scene the music fits perfectly, whether it's the fast drum beat to go along with an amazingly choreographed fight scene, or the slow, mournful cello solo "Farewell" by the master Yo Yo Ma that plays over the end credits, this film's soundtrack is nothing less than amazing, and it won an Oscar to prove it. 

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is so much more than a martial arts action movie. It's an epic drama with great characters, an amazing story, and beautiful scenery. It spawned a whole renaissance in the martial arts genre in the early 2000's; which is responsible for many films, Hero (2002), House of Flying Daggers (2004), and even Kill Bill (ok maybe not so much that one, but I'm sure Tarantino was inspired).

This is a perfect movie to me, in every aspect. The cinematography is gorgeous, Ang Lee's direction is spot on, the emotions run deep and the film is both exciting and affecting. Do not disregard this as a simple action flick, it's a drama, a beautiful romance, an epic, with amazing martial arts thrown in there. Crouching Tiger is quite likely my all time favorite film. There are not many people that love this movie as much as me. I re-watch it quite often and it never gets boring or old. I get more out of it every time. It excites and enthralls me, and also brings a tear to my eye. I could not love this movie more.