CinemaFunk

2011 has been a busy year for Steven Spielberg, specifically December. Super 8 was a collaboration with director J.J. Abrams that commingled much of the themes and styles of both filmmakers. For The Adventures of Tintin, Spielberg turned to Peter Jackson to assist with the motion-capture process in order to successfully adapt the colorful world of Hergé's Tintin.

Tintin (Jamie Bell) purchases an antique model of a sailing ship called The Unicorn just prior to two other men asking for the same item, a mysterious man named Barnaby and Ivan Ivanovitch Sakharine (Daniel Craig) and mysterious man named Barnaby. After Tintin and his White Fox Terrier Snowy arrive home and find The Unicorn model missing, the two find that the model clearly has more importance than they had originally assumed. Along with detectives Thomson and Thompson (Simon Pegg and Nick Frost) and the boozed Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis), Tintin sets out on an international adventure.

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Remembering the loves of our school days is a nostalgic pastime that typically does not go beyond reunions and occasional glances of the yearbook pages. Young Adult explores a woman struggling during her mid-life crisis and her delusional attempt to return to her high school sweetheart's arms. Screenwriter Diablo Cody and Director Jason Reitman have teamed up again since their commercial and critical hit, Juno. Where Juno followed the gestation of a sassy teenager, Young Adult is much harsher to endure as it reveals the destructive behavior of a woman moving into a new phase of her life.

Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron) is about to begin ghost writing the last book in a young adult book series targeted toward teenage females. After receiving a birth announcement for the son of her former high school sweetheart Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson), she is unable to concentrate on writing. She impulsively travels to her home town of Mercury to win him back, even though he is happily married and committed to his new role as a father. Mavis was one of the cool kids back in the day, but her return to town reveals her inability to mature. She finds some solace when she befriends an old classmate Matt (Patton Oswalt) who is permanently injured from being targeted in a hate crime during his and Mavis' senior year.

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Long before the film industry commodified editing and created an cinema of obviousness, cinema was short and static. Edison and the Lumiere Brothers had invented machines that could only capture life as it were for only small, intimate moments. Their inventions allowed for only short moments of life to be captured on static cameras and exhibited to a world both scared and joyful of this new modern discovery. We have become so reliant on film editing and specific narratives to understand certain films that most theater fare is designed to keep you content. Film students are suffocated with three act structures, inciting incidents, and pay offs, thinking that all films are formulaic, and must be so forever and ever.

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The discussion of director David Gordon Green's career in the past five years has already been discussed before with the release of Your Highness. Green's first several films had a sincere style that portrayed the American working class in local spheres that were low-middle-class at best. Since Pineapple Express Green's films have been more and more raunchy, scatological, and targeted toward more mainstream demographics. Watching the decline of a promising artist become a cog in the Hollywood machine is too much to bear anymore. The Sitter is a forgettable foray into uninspired territory.

Noah's (Jonah Hill) passive-aggressive lease on life has gotten the best of him. His romantic interest refuses to return sexual favors and his mother pleads with him to get a job. In order for his mother to enjoy her hot date, Noah agrees to babysit for a family friend. Slater Pedulla (Max Records) is a loyal high school GAP customer who suffers from heavy anxiety attacks and wonders why his high school friend refuses to answer his text messages. Blithe Pedulla (Landry Bender) is ready for the glamorous life as a celebrity and yearns to grow up before her time. Then there is Rodrigo. Adopted by the Pedullas, Rodrigo is a firecracker who is not afraid to fight or drop a cherry bomb into a toilet. Noah's love interest Marisa (Ari Graynor) promises intercourse if he can deliver cocaine to her, and Noah decides to take the kids along for the ride.

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Alexander Payne returns to exploring the quirky moments that life throws at the unsuspecting. The Descendants is a comedy-drama that is difficult to laugh at because the issues at hand are so delicate and heavy, but it does not help that more conflicts arise without warning. This 2011 Indiewood film plays with mixed emotions as a male in the midst of a mid-life crisis dives deeper into new,y formed crises.

After Matt King's (George Clooney) wife is critically injured in a boating accident, leaving her in a coma, he must assemble his two daughters and extended family during this difficult time. Both daughters are rebelling in their own way; Scottie (Amara Miller) has been acting out at school and towards other children and Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) has been irresponsible at her boarding school and has not spoken to her mother in months. Matt and his family descended from a long line of Hawaiian royalty and is the sole trustee of the family's Trust. In a few years the Trust will expire and Matt is responsible for choosing which developer will be sold an untouched plot of land.

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Martin Scorsese is not one to make family films, let alone produce films on anything but celluloid. Yet, Hugo is just that, a family film shot on digital and available in 3D. However, the film’s content is about the love of cinema and an early case of the necessity of film preservation. These oppositions allow this 2011 fantasy to muster up all sorts of issues and topics, even if it not about the main character’s struggle.

After his father (Jude Law) dies in a museum fire, Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) is taking in by his uncle who is responsible for maintaining the station’s clock. Both Hugo’s father and uncle are expert watchmakers and mechanics, and their talents have been passed down to Hugo. Hugo is puzzled by the automaton that his father was working on prior to his death, of which Hugo believes has a message to him from his father. After a chance meeting with George Méliès (Ben Kingsley) who owns a toy store in the station, Hugo befriends Méliès’ god daughter (Chloë Grace Moretz). Together, the two collaborate to fix the automaton while circumventing the station’s Inspector Gustlav (Sacha Baron Cohen).

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Modeled after the 2008 economic meltdown, Margin Call is a fictional account of a large investment bank realizing that by morning their company will have failed several times over. This independent film features many major talents portraying characters who represent those who are responsible for our country's economic collapse, yet never saw it coming.

A large investment bank has laid off a large portion of its staff, including a high-level risk management employee, Eric Dale (Stanley Tucci). Dale hands off a USB flash drive to his protege, Peter Sullivan (Zachary Quinto), asking him to finish the work and warning him to be careful with the data. Peter indeed finishes the data, calling over his co-worker Seth Bregman (Penn Badgley) and his superior Will Emerson (Paul Bettany) to glance over what appears to be a model of the financial collapse that has already begun to take place. This event creates an overnight crisis for the company, requiring trading floor manager Sam Rogers (Kevin Spacey), Chief risk manager Sarah Robertson (Demi Moore), and CEO John Tuld (Jeremy Irons) to consider all possible scenarios before sunrise.

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Ever since I first read of the tragic and brutal death of Ayrton Senna I had interest in one day producing a narrative motion picture. No need. Senna is a comprehensive documentary that commingles footage from Senna's decade-long career in F1. No new interviews were conducted, Senna's life is told as it happened using the media that pre-existed. No shoulda, woulda, couldas; as Senna would have liked it.

Ayrton Senna, like many drivers, began in go karts, often times vicariously supported by their fathers. Most auto racing stories begin this way, but Senna breezes past this fact quickly in order to get to Senna's entrance into F1. During his formative year he drove for a low-tier team, yet he showed a highly competitive nature and methodology where there was first place or nothing. For the rest of his career he found himself as an immediate competitor to Alain Prost, who would later become a teammate, and would remain a rival for the rest of Senna's career. Although successful, Senna found that politics within F1 would dictate many of the important decisions that would alter the championship on many occasions. Senna continuously pressed for more safety measures in the face of stubborn F1 executives who barely acknowledged or admitted any inferior safety practices in their series.

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Butter is a farce placed in high gear and aimed directly at breadbasket America's conservative hypocrisy. This 2011 film with an ensemble cast never says sorry and attempts to blasts many of the political and religious sentiments that exist throughout America's current media outlets. Using what would typically be a banal competitive hobby, butter sculpting, this film constantly pokes fun at a barrage of characters who never seem to realize how ridiculous their actions are.

Destiny (Yara Shahidi) has shuffled from foster home to foster home with little hope until she finally lands in the hands of Jack and Jill Emmet (Rob Corddry and Alicia Silverstone respectively) who are ready to provide the unconditional love Destiny always needed, and even supports Destiny's interest in competitive butter sculpting. Her hero, Bob Pickler (Ty Burrell) is a champion butter sculptor who has been pressured to hang up his carving tools just as his wife, Laura (Jennifer Garner), chooses to pick up where Bob left off after she catches him with a prostitute Brooke (Olivia Wilde) who was stiffed by Bob. Destiny, Laura, Brooke and a fanatic butter sculpting fan (Kristen Schaal) compete in a regional butter sculpting contest, each with their own goal in mind.

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The Duplass brothers have slowly but surely moved their way into the American indepdent sphere, first with films that made use of the DIY sentiments, and now with higher budgeted Indiewood releases. Jeff Who Lives at Home has many similarities to the Duplass' previous effort Cyrus, but shows growth not only in the directors choice of material, but also how they execute the film.

Jeff (Jason Segel) lives in the basement of his mother's home. After taking a bong hit, he answers a phone call where someone is looking for Kevin. He then recieves a phone call from his mother, Sharon (Susan Sarandon), who asks him to perform one simple errand or risk being kicked out of the house. As Jeff begins his errand, he sees the name Kevin and meets people named Kevin nearly everywhere. Jeff's brother, Pat (Ed Helms), is struggling through a failing marriage, and coincedentally, joins Jeff in a search for Kevin, or something.

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The millennial transition found America with several high-profile massacres at high schools and colleges around the country; Columbine and Virgina Tech being prime examples. The film industry has portrayed such phenomenons several few times, with Gus Van Sant's Elephant being the most well known. Now we have We Need to Talk About Kevin, which offers a more cognitive depiction of how a manipulative monster grows and then explodes. This 2011 independent film is one of few to show that these teenagers are often times deranged from the beginning, and their manipulative ways are ghastly and unpredictable.

After Kevin (Ezra Miller) is arrested for performing a massacre at his high school, his mother Eva (Tilda Swinton) looks back on the formative moments and childhood of her son, and struggles to assimilate back into society. Kevin's manipulative relationship with Eva, and later his sister, is contrasted with his relationship with his father (John C. Reilly).

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Chaplin famously said that life is a tragedy in close-up and a comedy in a long shot. Roman Polanski's Carnage flips this saying on its ass and takes a page from Mike Nichols' typical four-person character stories. This is the first film Polanski has made after his arrest in Switzerland and subsequent release, and the claustrophobic themes from Polanski's life and previous films have returned.

Penelope and Michael Longstreet (Jodie Foster and John C. Reilly respectively) invite Nancy and Alan Cowan (Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz respectively) to their house to discuss a physical altercation between their sons that resulted in the Longstreet's son losing a tooth. At first, the four agree to a statement, but the Cowans never seem to leave and the Longstreets never seem push them out the door. For nearly 80 minutes, Polanski offers a hysterical roller coaster ride of emotions that is essentially a lovely train wreck that neither you or the characters can look away from.

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Franchise reboots today most often have egregious profit motives that reduce the films to a mere product. Then then are reboots that augment yesterday's traditions and focus on what the product is about. The Muppets falls into the second category and returns for a self-aware reboot that looks to the past and points to the future of the beloved franchise. Written by Jason Segal (who also stars) and Nicholas Stoller, The Muppets offers both long-time and new fans a chance to reconnect with an American classic that typically makes its way back to the silver screen every-so-often. It also does not hurt that the film is well produced and is a fantastic musical to boot.

Walter is a muppet who is unable to acknowledge his own muppet ancestry and inadvertently discovers The Muppets and becomes their biggest fan. Along with his brother, Gary (Jason Segel) and Gary's girlfriend, Mary (Amy Adams), the three take a pilgrimage to The Muppet studio for a tour. Walter eavesdrops on a conversation where Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) plans to exploit a loophole in The Muppets' contract, allowing him to take advantage of an oil reserve beneath the studio.

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Another Happy Day was a darling at this year's Sundance, and for good reason. Filled with drama that often turns to comedy faster than you can realize, there is a accuracy and realism to the dysfunctions that exists between a large family that reunites for a wedding. This 2011 independent film has one of the most perfect and dynamic casts in a long while, and the performances are stellar.

Lynn (Ellen Barkin) is a mother who struggles with raising her children and having to navigate through the gossip and fingerpointing her extended family places on her. Her teenage son, Elliot (Ezra Miller), abuses both all forms of drugs an alcohol, fueling his aggressive behavior. Her youngest son, Ben, has mild Asperger's syndrome and has taken filming his family through his video camera. Lynn is excited to be reunited with her two children raised by her ex-husband (Thomas Haden Church) and his bimbo wife (Demi Moore). Alice (Kate Bosworth) is recovering from deliberate self-harm through cutting, and Dylan (Michael Nardelli) who is getting married, the reason for Lynn's return home. Lynn's arrival at her parents home is turbulent from the beginning. Her father's health (George Kennedy) is deteriorating gradually, enough to spark near-nightly ambulance visits. Lastly, Lynn's mother (Ellen Burstyn), continuously blames Lynn for the family's problems on Lynn's ego.

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• The Ghost Writer
  [caption align=right] The Ghost Writer Ain't 'fraid of no ghost.[/caption] It rare for a major motion picture to be released while the director remains in custody; this custody may have added to the political strife that is featured in The Ghost Writer.

• Pandorum
  Can great acting keep a film from being an ultimate failure? With a inspiration-less plot, Pandorum is a sci-fi thriller that is able to overcome predictable plot twists to be an effective science fiction film.

• Prog Rock Britannia: An Observation in Three Movements
  Prog Rock Britannia: An Observation in Three Movements is a BBC4 documentary that chronicles the rise and fall of progressive rock in the early 1970s.
• The Parallax View
  The Parallax View directed by Alan J. Pakula is a forgotten conspiracy thriller from the mid-1970s.

• Demains – Mute � ProgSnobs
  Review of the sophomore effort from Demians.

• The Most Basic Form of Mind Control is Repetition
  The Most Basic Form of Mind Control is Repetition is a short video that includes a multi-layered narrative essay.

• The Lovely Bones
  The Lovely Bones is a film adaptation of the 2002 novel directed by Peter Jackson. Starring Saoirse Ronan, Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci, and Michael Imperioli.
• Film Criticism Is Not Dead. Primitive Media Outlets are Dyin
  The decrease in paid film critic positions and increase in amateur bloggers was unmistakeably predictable. Once again, few are willing to adapt, holding on to their days of glory as a famous film critics.