WAR HORSE! plus a sharp TATTOO, a moving PARIAH, zippy MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 4, THE ARTIST, a kinky SKIN I LIVE IN & a classic CHRISTMAS CAROL (1951)

First out of the gate this holiday season is Steven Speilberg's sentimental, beautifully made story of a World War I WAR HORSE, which is based on a children's novel and later (and currently)a Broadway stage play. The film is similar in some ways to BLACK BEAUTY, in that it follows a horse from owner to owner over the course of several years as it moves from farm horse to war horse to work horse and back again, although the narrative is not from the horses point of view, but rather the varied owners. There is not too much to surprise you plot wise, but it is a sumptuously lovely film with stirring music (by stalwart John Williams) and Thomas Kinkaidian-like settings highlighted with photography by Janusz Kaminski. Speilberg can often make sentiment awfully gooey, and your reaction to the film will depend on whether or not you can "go with it" ---otherwise you may not like it much at all. This time I'm going with it. GRADE---------B+

If not quite as shocking as the Swedish version, the excellent American version of THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO featuring solid characterizations by Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara, and it holds up nicely (with a few minor changes to the ending) when compared together. Fans of the Swedish verson will find this just as engrossing--those unfamiliar with the earlier version should be throughly entertained and thrilled. GRADE---------B+

Tom Cruise is incredibly restrained in the forth installment of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE--GHOST PROTOCOL and perhaps that is why this film works better than the past three, at least as a big budget popcorn film. The film, directed by Brad Bird (THE INCREDIBLES) moves along with a stylish energy that defies logic, until the lights come on, anyway. In spite of some improbable action sequences, the film is highly entertaining. GRADE------B

Call it a minor miracle, but the low budget PARIAH, with help from producer Spike Lee and the Sundance Film Festival carries a big punch in it's tale of a 17 year old girl who is growing up fast and discovering she is a Lesbian. She is more comfortable with her sexuality at school, but quickly changes clothes before coming home to her more traditional, religious middle class family. Some of the themes are familiar, but you've got to be impressed by the truthful sincerity that propells every scene. My biggest complaint----that damned hand held camera is overused again, and the low budget makes many scenes hard to see due to dark photography. A recent film with a similar theme is GUN HILL ROAD (2010) where the father figure comes out of a prison stint to discover that his teen aged son wants to change his sex. In both films, the protagonists must deal with predjudice, family anger, confused sexuality, and self confidence, and Harmony Santana in GUN HILL ROAD and Adepero Oduye in PARIAH are both incredibly charismatic. GRADE------B+

I'm not sure why THE ARTIST has become the critics darling of the year. It is definately a silent film, and there is a good reason why they faded out quickly in the 1930's---actors that mugged to broadly, pacing that slowed down to accomodate printed titles, often symplistic story lines, and a failure to engage the audience's attention. These are all featured in this new novelty film. Perhaps people like it because it recalls the early days of cinema, but I found it a stuggle to stay engaged, and several people around me were struggling to stay awake. It is still charming and clever at times, but so help me, if this gets nominated for any type of story or screenplay award, I'm going to scream. GRADE--------B

It is engrossing, well acted, and has great production values, but the new film by Pedro Almodovar called THE SKIN I LIVE IN is truly the most twisted, perverse story filmed this year. Almodovar is less shrill than normal, and it is to his great credit that this story of a doctor's revenge for his daughter's death is as entertaining as it is. It's sort of a medical thriller with a touch of science fiction as it deals with themes of revenge, sexual idenity, loyalty, rape, torture, and destiny. GRADE-------B-

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DVD choices include----

SCROOGE aka A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1951) is perhaps the best loved of all versions of the Charles Dickens novel. This one features Alister Sim as Scrooge as well as Jack Warner, Hermione Baddeley, Patrick Macnee and others. It feels a lot like the great adaptations that David Lean made of Dicken's GREAT EXPECTATIONS (1946)and GREAT EXPECTATIONS (1948) with lots of atmosphere and great character actors. It holds up well. GRADE-------A

Loretta Young won her Oscar for THE FARMER'S DAUGHTER (1947) and it is easy to see why. She's a naive but smart-thinking maid to a senator (Joseph Cotten) with whom she falls in love, even as she is recruited into running for a congressional seat against his own party. The delightful cast includes the sly Ethel Barrymore, and the prickly Charles Bickford, and the film bubbles along with a great deal of charm. GRADE-------B+

There have been several versions of Oscar Wilde's haunting story of a man whose portrait ages and reflects his decadant lifestyle while he himself stays youthful, but this version of PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY (1945) has to be one of the best. It kept me up way past my bedtime with an intriguing production highlighted by strong preformances by Angela Lansbury and Donna Reed as his would be lovers, and George Sanders and Peter Lawford as his evil friend and cohort, respectively. Filmed in lovely black and white, but it does have some startling color inserts. GRADE-------B+

We started watching JULIE AND JULIA (2009) on TV about half way through, when I suggested we start at the beginning with a new Blu-ray disc I had recently bought. Wow, the Blu-ray was a far superior picture quality than what we watched for 10 minutes on regular TV--what a revelation. Meryl Streep really shines in an intelligent and amusing way as the great Julia Child--she has the mannerisms down as you can attest by renting some of Julia Child's TV preformances in the kitchen. Amy Adams is her adorable self, and the film is solidly entertaining, if not exactly artful. Shot on location in France and New York, it is fun to watch. GRADE------B

A strong cast featuring Barbara Stanwyck, Kirk Douglas (in his first major role), Lizabeth Scott, Van Heflin and Judith Anderson highlight this odd, dubious melodrama about three kids who grow up with the murder of an older woman on their conscious. Stanwyck really gets to chew the scenery on this one, but THE STRANGE LOVE OF MARTHA IVERS is quite fun. GRADE------B

Girl w/the Dragon Tattoo,The Runaways, The Bounty Hunter, Alice in Wonderland

Top opening this week is a well made and acted Swedish thriller based on the international best seller THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO about a disgraced investigative news reporter who teams up with a young woman who is a great computer hacker and investigator herself, but who has a lot of past issues that become clear as the film progresses. Unlikely as it seems, they become a solid team to discover the whereabouts of the niece of a wealthy industrialist who disappeared 40 years ago--is she alive and if not, who killed her and why? They uncover a lot of nasty business, family and otherwise and realize that someone from the past may be trying to stop their future investigation. The film moves quickly and effectively between the "crime discovery" and the tattoo girl's personal issues. The film has powerful and disturbing scenes that involve nudity, torture, sexual abuse, physical mutilations, serial killings, rape and revenge, and is definitely for adult audiences only with strong stomachs. The film is presently scheduled to be remade in English by a major studio next year, so see it before it becomes Americanized. It's a shocking, startling thriller that had me riveted to my seat. (The novel has two follow up stories, and they too have been filmed in Europe, with a release scheduled later this year.) GRADE...A-

THE RUNAWAYS is a new indie film about the early 1970's all girl rock band headed by Cherie Currie and Joan Jett and is filled with energy, sex, rock and roll, drugs, nudity and drama, just what you'd expect from such a film. I especially enjoyed the look of the film: the costumes were spot on 70's, and the sets and design were all appropriate for the time period, including living rooms, seedy hotel rooms, theatres and backstage, etc. It's pretty typical bio-pic stuff at times but the subtle performances won me over--Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart are impressive as Currie and Jett, and Michael Shannon (Oscar nominated for REVOLUTIONARY ROAD last year) nearly steals the movie as their tricked out, over the top manager. This is definitely a film for those who lived during that period and/or have an interest in that time and/or have an interest in 70's music (especially women bands)--all others stay away. The preview audience I saw it with was quite divided, with two dozen or so walk outs, and I think that some girl-on-girl sex scenes may have put some of them off. As for me, I'm happy to give any film I see an extra half grade higher if it includes some quality sex and nudity. GRADE ....B-

From the first scene of THE BOUNTY HUNTER where Gerard Butler is chasing down his ex-wife Jennifer Aniston to haul her off to prison for jumping bail, you know exactly what you are getting into. This romantic-comedy-action sit-com offers little surprise, except the occasionally wasted cameos of some fine comedians such as Christine Baranski, Cathy Moriarty and Carol Kane, and a sporadically funny line or two. It's eye-candy for fans of Butler and Aniston, and they are quite pleasing in that way if that's all you need from a movie. At least it had a (somewhat) logical plot and a few mildly amusing scenes and the happy ending that is telegraphed from that very first scene. GRADE.....C+

Alas, poor ALICE IN WONDERLAND, Tim Burton's remake of the classic British story which has been filmed numerous times before. It is all there--the Mad Hatter, the Red and White Queens, the Jabberwocky, the smiling Cheshire cat, Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, etc, and the special effects are impressive at times, but this film is not worth the $14.50 being charged for the 3-D glasses--there are really no scenes where 3-D is needed or used to any spectacular effect. (So far, only AVATAR is really that impressive in 3-D.) And the story drags on (maybe it is just too familiar) without a strong point of view. It would have been more effective had the film become---political, or comic (it is sadly played very straight), or hallucinogenic, or satiric---something to give it an edge. Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham-Carter and Anne Hathaway do what they can with their roles, but the disappointment stems from the script and director. GRADE.....C-