MAMA - dopey specter

Um... creepy as $&@/!. A ghost story set in the modern day with tentacles to the past and a gloomy future outlook takes center stage in the Guillermo del Toro produced Mama. Yes—dumb title—with equally dumb characters who bound around in the dark woods by themselves—with a spirit on the loose no less!? :)

Jessica Chastain is back. Never really left. She is ubiquitous. This time Chastain shows us yet another side of herself—a struggling, fuck the world bassist? Bravo! She does a good job but since her character is laced with irritating musician cliches she became a bit uninspired and predictable. Still though, it was interesting to view the short black haired, tattooed wannabe rock star make her debut. You may recognize the lead actor, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, from HBO's Game of Thrones. He is relatively new on the scene but can hold his own. The young girls were good and hellish so your attention will hardly be elsewhere when they enter the frame. 

The overall story is quite basic and somewhat boring with the usual—ghost needs to find her physical body because she had unfinished business and now is super pissed kind of thing. Yet, this movie is creepy. I won't say scary, just effing creepy. The ghost is hideous, makes weird sounds and looks retarded. Forgive the insouciance. Nonetheless still viscerally disquieting. Don't expect a great movie but prepare for an hour and a half or so of disembodied detachment. 

PS: some other films I viewed recently

BROKEN CITY - watch the trailer and you will see the whole movie—gloomy, dark and boring

HYDE PARK ON HUDON - just plain amateurish filmmaking—awful  

Recommended Viewing: The Help - Zero Dark Thirty - Lawless - Headhunters

              Bob Scale: The Critic: 5.5   -   The Fan: 5.9

             MetaCritic: 58

 Rotten Tomatoes: 63

                    IMDB: 6.7

ZER DARK THIRTY - the witching hour

Kathryn Bigelow is a very talented director. One of the best female directors for sure, up there with Susanne Bier, Penny Marshall et al. I don't mean this to be a sexist comment, only a statement of objective comparison—men not included but could be. You will probably have seen Bigelow's best picture winner four years back, The Hurt Locker. I believe, her latest, Zero Dark Thirty, surpasses all her former work to emerge as a masterpiece documentary thriller. 

The other contender for best thriller of the year will certainly be Ben Affleck's Argo and although a very well made film and Roger Ebert's pick for best picture of the year, I believe Zero Dark Thirty deserves the title and the praise. It's rather long, about two hours and forty minutes, but it doesn't feel as such. The attention to detail, technical craft, acting, dialogue and direction were marvelous. The torture sequences are hard to view but done with the upmost respect for an intelligent audience—in other words, the right amount of veracity and disquieting action with a modicum of queasyness. There is one political jab toward Obama for lying about torture but it's brief and not the main subject of the film. 

The beauty of the picture lies in the documentary style. It's not quite like United 93, where you are intentionally made to not care about any characters but just to revel and stir in the sheer atrocious act, yet it is similar in vibe. You mainly only care about the lead CIA operative, Jessica Chastain and care you should. She is phenomenal. Her breakout year, 2011 contained no less than five films, many of which were very good. She in no way disappoints as the seemingly fragile but tough, smart, badass intelligence officer whom I happen to be secretly in love with. No doubt there will be some comparisons to Claire Danes character from Homeland. 

The ending sequence is truly special. Watch closely. It feels like your present in a small  Afghanistani town with the soldiers—so well directed. Surely, if it went down, it went down like this. I could be a sucker for believing that but I shall choose to keep my illusions. Stunning film and worthy of your time.

Recommended Viewing: The Conformist - JFK - Black Book - The Lives Of Others

              Bob Scale: The Critic: 9.2   -   The Fan: 8.8

             MetaCritic: 95

 Rotten Tomatoes: 94

                    IMDB: 7.5

LAWLESS - a mythical truth

Lawless was a first-rate movie, better than expected. The cast was pitch perfect and the relative slow pace was well suited to this provincial prohibition drama.

The look and feel of the film was done with meticulous attention to detail of the period with few, if any, unnecessary embellishments. It felt as if I was transported to "the real" 1930's American hinterland. The cars, guns, clothing, primitive housing and even the homemade moonshine were well chosen and summoned a similar ineffable period piece to mind, Days of Heaven.

The actors involved are a mixture of the new, up and coming and well established. A well chosen panoply of talent that worked well together despite some of the usual annoying ticks, especially from Guy Pierce who generally overplays the greasy bad guy.

If you choose to view it in the theater you will also be graced with a trailer of the upcoming film, The Master, which is most likely to be one of the best films of the year.

Recommended Viewing: Once Upon A Time In America - Last Man Standing - The Untouchables

              Bob Scale: The Critic: 7.8   -   The Fan: 8.2

             MetaCritic: 58

 Rotten Tomatoes: 65

                    IMDB: 7.8