Silver Linings Playbook

Before I begin I must warn you that it is impossible for me to review this movie without spoiling the movie. So much of what I feel towards the movie spawns from what happens towards the end and it is impossible not to talk about it. So, if you do not want the movie spoiled for you let the following be your review and then go away: Silver Linings Playbook has awesome performances and is worth seeing, but should have stuck a better landing in the end.

Pat Solitano(Bradley Cooper)is just getting out of a stint in a mental institution, but only he and his mother think it is time for him to get out. He went in for beating a man to near death after discovering this other man in the shower with Pat's wife. Up until that point Pat had been living his life with an un-diagnosed bi-polar condition. He gets out of the mental institution with one goal: get his wife back. he has this new found positive attitude that he calls "Excelsior." He is always looking for the Silver Lining in every situation. To get his wife back he has to get in shape, calm down, open up and he has to read all of the books she will be teaching to her high school students. Unfortunately for Pat things get complicated. First off, his bi-polar condition refuses to go away and he has these manic fits and because he has a restraining order out against him, a cop is never too far away. Pat has no verbal filter and offends most people, but things get infinitely more complicated when he meets Tiffany(Jennifer Lawrence). Tiffany lost her husband recently and probably suffers from a few mental disorders herself. In order to process her husband's death she slept with a whole bunch of people. pat and Tiffany become friends and Tiffany tells Pat she could pass a letter to his estranged wife, if he helps her enter a dance contest. Pat does not like the idea, but he agrees to it, much to the chagrin of his OCD father (Robert De Niro). Pat's dad, an avid gambler, wants Pat to be home for Eagles' games because he believes Pat is good luck. As the film goes on all of these little worlds collide into one big night.

Silver Linings Playbook fires on all cylinders for 85% to 90% of the film. I found Cooper to be completely mesmerizing and he proved he can absolutely hang with the big boys in terms of A-list actors. I have been saying for years that I felt he was going to cross over into prestige pictures and he really handles his business here. His Pat is all over the place in the right kind of ways and he effortlessly handles Pat's manic episodes, whether they be fits of anger, sadness or both. His interactions with all of the characters are well crafted and he has an easy and sexy chemistry with Lawrence. Lawrence is probably the most solid or complete performance because Tiffany is an endlessly fascinating character. She too is fighting disorders and she is manipulative, but sweet in a way and Lawrence, at the young age of 23 is completely up for the challenge. I found their climatic dance sequence to be utterly charming, funny, whimsical and even sexy. De Niro reminds everyone that he is still an actor to be reckoned with. He is not in your face or scary the way De Niro characters often are, no he is subtle and almost too calm for the most part, but he is all together memorable. The interactions from the whole cast help keep this movie elevated beyond a script that could use to refining.

I have always enjoyed David O. Russell movies because he gets incredible performances out of his actors. I am never sure if I love him as a director because he makes weird story choices, or weird screenplay choices, but he definitely knows how to pull great performances out of actors and this is no different. Who else was going to give Cooper a chance to really prove he could act and not just be that pretty douchebag in every film. However, Russell makes a really bad choice with this movie that basically causes the movie to crumble under the weight of itself. Towards the end of the picture, Pat realizes he loves Tiffany and that he is fine with letting things go with his wife. The minute Pat realizes this, all of his mental disorders vanish and Pat turns into suave Bradley Cooper the Movie Star. Now, I have had conversations with 4 or 5 people about this, some in depth, some which need to be revisited for more depth and it bugs some people and some people do not care. I have issues with it and it really hurts the overall film. Now this is not really about showing mental disorders in a true light, although the movie does that so well for so long, but it just seems completely out of character for Pat to suddenly turn. He was un-diagnosed for so long, but from conversations we gather that he was always dealing with issues, but the minute he realizes he loves Tiffany, he is filled with this calm? I get that love can do many strange and wonderful things, but the realization of this love comes at a time of high stress, and with Pat we learn that high stress only elevates his disorder.

What stress? Well, he has to perform a dance with Tiffany in front of a huge crowd, including professional dancers AND they have to get an average score of 5 because his OCD gambler addict dad bet his entire life's savings on them getting a 5. The Eagles also had to win because of the Parlay bet. Now, if your mental illness was triggered immensely by stress, your entire family fortune being on your shoulders would without question be stressful, but the movie sidesteps that the second Pat puts on a nice suit. Russell completely abandons Pat's character, what made him volatile, but weirdly charming. He becomes the man who sweeps girls off their feet, not the guy who asks inappropriate questions, wears a trash bag over his body for his jogs, and questions everything. Look I get it, if a girl could cure a mental disorder, that girl would be Jennifer Lawrence, but the movie loses a punch at the end by completely succumbing to the Romantic Comedy ideal that love truly can make everything and everyone better.

That being said, the performances are so good it still ended up in my top 10. The 90% of the movie that works, really works. I loved all of the character interactions until the end. I found Cooper and Lawrence to be totally worthy of all of the praise being heaped at them and I did not even mind the story taking off in that cliche "everything happens in the same night" thing, because this family is totally screwed up and they absolutely would bet on insane stuff like a dance competition. I found the movie to be funny, sad, sexy, relatable and down right hard to watch at times because of how the disorder manifested. I thought the music was excellent and the camera work, while basic, to be effective. I enjoyed Chris Tucker and Julia Stiles in supporting type roles and I wanted to just unabashedly love Silver Linings Playbook, but they just messed it up in the end.

MAMA

If you have followed this blog at all over the years, you will know that I love horror movies. I do not even have a favorite sub-genre within horror, I love them all. When I first saw the trailer for this one, I was hooked, right up until the point where they revealed the title. What a stupid title for a horror movie. It felt like the kind of title you give to a spoof of horror, like a fake Grindhouse trailer or something. However, I have infinite trust in anything that is remotely touched by Guillermo Del Toro. And the trailer did look legitimately creepy, even if it cheats because creepy kids always make for creepy movies and this has 2 of them.

In a quick prologue to the film we see a man desperate and panicked. The news tells us a man had killed co-workers and we see that the man has probably killed his wife. He grabs his two kids and heads off to who knows where. In the midst of a storm though, he does not get very far, crashing his car and setting off on foot until he comes to a cabin. The kids are totally freaked out, not knowing what is happening, and the man grabs his gun puts it to the back of his eldest daughter's head and is ready to the pull the trigger when something grabs him and kills him. We are not entirely sure what it is, but it is supernatural. The daughter turns around and tries to see what happened, but her glasses had been broken and she was essentially blind without them, so all we see is blurry action. Opening credit sequence and cut to five years later. Annabel(Jessica Chastain) and Lucas (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) are a reletiveyl normal if broke couple scraping by. Lucas is the brother of the man from the prologue and has spent the last 5 years searching for the missing girls and his brother. Annabel plays in a punk band, has jet black short hair, a wicked tattoo on her arm and is incredibly thankful to not be pregnant. However, one of the men Lucas paid has found the two girls. When Victoria(Megan Charpantier) and Lilly(Issabelle Nillise)are found and brought back to civilization, they are, of course, affected. They crawl on the ground like creatures, do not speak and barely eat. They look dead in the eyes, and unsure of anything. The Psychologist naturally assumes this is just part of the process of having been in the woods for five years, but we know there is more to it. There is something supernatural following/protecting these girls, but this entity gets jealous when the girls start to take to Annabel.

MAMA completely works for me. I understand people who think it goes a little off the rails in the climax, but it is kind of a staple of the genre and, if I am being completely honest, I kind of loved how balls to the wall it got. One of the best ways for a horror movie to be effective is to not show us much of anything. Paranormal Activity completely capitalized on that, but MAMA uses it in such an effective way, that when the story makes it imperative that we see this MAMA creature, it is going to ultimately feel less effective, but I found the effects of MAMA to be genuinely creepy and even when she was out in full force, I was still creeped out by her. That does not mean I did not enjoy it more when she was mostly off screen. The most effective scene is a sort of split screen where we see Annabel changing over laundry on one side and Lilly on the other playing tug of war with someone we cannot see. We assume she and Victoria and playing and Annabel thinks that as well. Lilly can be heard giggling from where Annabel is, but soon Victoria comes into the Annabel side of the screen and we realize Lilly is playing tug of war with an unknown entity. It is genuinely creepy and incredibly off-putting. There is also a very effective death scene that takes place in complete darkness save for the flash from a camera. It shows the director understands how to play with lights and sounds in the most effective of ways.

The performances are great especially for a horror movie. The two girls are excellent. Both are unsettling, but there is a depth to both girls. They are asked to do some pretty gross and weird things, and both are totally game for it. They form a real connection to each other and to this MAMA figure. Chastain, as is becoming the norm, kills it. She could have easily playing Annabel as this tough, uncaring character, as look of the character would suggest. It would have been fine, but instead, she gives Annabel this incredible warmth and resolve. She goes beyond the punk rock thing so many actresses would have clung to and turns Annabel into a fully realized character which raises the stakes immensely. Annabel is still tough, but she is this sweet mother figure and that makes everything that happens way more intense. It cannot be easy acting scared of a green screen, but Chastain makes it look so effortless. The quiet moments with the children become these super unsettling sequences because we know what MAMA will think of the closeness.

The end is going to split people, but knowing Del Toro fought for the original ending and got it, makes me happy. Yes, like most horror movies, once the story gets going, the creepiness is lost in favor of loud jumps and deaths, but even those moments were scary for me because of the design of the MAMA character. I could have done without the weird fever dreams from Lucas, in fact, I could have done without the Lucas character after the first 15 minutes, but I get what he is doing there. I found the climax to be full of tough choices and deep anguish, honestly. I was fully into the film and that helped me let the movie spin completely out of control and still find enjoyment in it. However, I think even if I had not loved the ending, I still would have come out of MAMA with a positive view because it is so effective the rest of the time and Chastain is so great. The overall tone and look really give MAMA an unshakable vibe of unease and that is the best thing a horror movie can have going for it.

Final Grade: B

Zero Dark Thirty

As the Oscars draw near, the controversy of this movie is getting out of hand. Is the movie pro-torture? Does showing torture automatically mean that a movie endorses torture? Blah blah blah. Of course your reading on what is being shown vs what is being endorsed will depend on your political leanings. That feels secondary to me when it comes to fictional retellings of realistic events. Do we want the movie to be exact? Or do we want the movie to entertain/challenge us? Or do we want something compeltely different? I do not really have a straight line answer for that. I do know that reading about this movie before I saw it just exhausted me. I needed to see for myself what all of the hype was about. I have to admit, my excitement for Zero Dark Thirty had many peaks and valleys. I was very excited when I first heard about it, then after the teaser, I was not as excited, but the full length trailer got me excited again. However, that exhaustion had set in around the time I was finally getting to see it, so my expectations were not as high as they once were.

Maya(Jessica Chastain) is a woman on a mission: to find Osama Bin laden. That is her calling and she spends a decade doing everything she can to find him. She enters this mission as someone with not many credits to her name, but some of the other field agents are not really sure she has what it takes to be in the field because being in the field means witnessing some pretty heinous torture. Circa 2002-2008, agents in the field were routinely torturing prisoners to find information and the first 30 minutes of this movie shows some pretty hard to watch torture led by Dan, a long time agent who is so desensitized to everything. After years and years, Maya has been holding onto one lead: a messenger who is thought to go between Osama and the leaders of various sects. This is her link and she is going to follow it until it produces fruit. The problem is, the CIA is moving on from the search because there are other threats, but Maya is not going to budge. This is what she has been working for for nearly a decade and she believes she is closing in on Osama's location. Once she believes she has located where he is hiding, she is met with serious resistance from the higher-ups. They do not want to make a move without 100% proof and they cannot get it, so for over 100 days they sit on this property doing nothing. Maya knows Osama is there, but she can do nothing about it but bug her boss to make a move. We know the history the film portrays, so it is not shocking that the higher-ups finally relent and the house taken and Osama is found and killed.

Zero Dark Thirty feels like 3 movies: The first act is full of torture and has a slower, but not boring pace. Act 2 is this very episodic almost procedural film that really drags and then the third act is this intense, white knuckle chase film shot in near complete night vision. Kathryn Bigelow, who directed one of the most intense movies ever (The Hurt Locker) does not hit it out of the park for me with this film. There is something just so, whatever to me about roughly half of this movie. The pacing feels a bit too sluggish to really get the intensity of the end to feel immediate. That being said, there are some high points. Bigelow does certainly know how to build up to a big moment. There is this super intense sequence involving a possible informant that really leaves you with this mix of on the edge of your seat and burying your face out of concern for what you think may happen and feel powerless to do anything about it. In fact, Bigelow knows how to do action. I am over a week away from seeing it and the things I remember most are the action sequences. There is the hotel explosion, the gun attack on Maya and of course, that great climatic sequence. However, everything else kind of felt lethargic for me.

Now the movie ultimately lives and dies with Jessica Chastain as she is in roughly 90% of the movie and that turns out to work in Zero Dark Thirty's favor because she is mesmerizing. Chastain's Maya is tough, smart, and entirely too composed, which is what makes the few times she falls apart even more memorable. Chastain can do a lot with just her body language and the character has to stand up to some pretty intimidating guys and she holds her own. Kyle Chandler (an absolute favorite of mine) has a nice supporting role, but when he gets usurped by Chastain, the movie takes off on a whole other level because that is when you really start to see the fight in Maya. Chastain has done amazing work in a very short amount of time and is quickly becoming a favorite actress of mine. I remember thinking she was too pretty to pull off something like this, but she is more than up to the challenge. The movie falters a bit, but it is never because of her. All of the acting work is great. It is always nice to see Chris Pratt in pretty much anything. He adds a sense of lightness, even if only momentarily,and Joel Edgerton adds a strong quiet presence. As usual, Mark Strong lends gravitas to a supporting role.

Now the big question: Does the movie endorse torture? Eh, no it does not. It shows what was happening during the that time and it did not prove entirely effective either. The scenes of torture are incredibly tough to watch, and the movie is not out to make apologies for them nor is it saying "Yay torture!" It is merely saying, these things happened in our quest to capture the guy who was behind the 9/11 attacks. Bigelow does a very great job at not exploiting the pain of 9/11 for dramatic effect and I definitely appreciated that. 9/11 is shown very briefly, but mostly in a complete black out with only sound. She knows we do not need those images in our head to remember what happened that day.

The climatic chase/shoot out is as intense as I had hoped more of the movie had been. Quick movements, loud gun shots, shadowy figures, limited scope of vision and loud screams and shouts dominate the finale and it does leave you in a state of intense catharsis. I know that is a bit of an oxymoron but that is how I felt. I believe that the climax is what will follow you when the film ends. it is probably best that way because there is too much that feels like filler, like a super broad episode of Law and Order. People trying to gather evidence, but showing every single bit of it in the middle section. Chastain is does phenomenal work, but the movie itself falls just flat for me.

Final Grade: B

2012 top 10

before I begin, allow me to say that 2012 was a fabulous year for film. I feel like my 11-15 movies of this year, would easily have made my top 10 in many other years. Actually some of the 16-20 of this year might have squeezed into the top 10 of other years. I am not joking. I could easily make a top 20 of this year and not even struggle to come up with the final few movies. My top 10 will be a mix of prestige films and films that were just pure enjoyment. My top movie of the year is easily a contender to enter my top 10 of all time (which admittedly has more than 10 movies). Okay, onto the recap.

I think the only movie that could have made this list that I missed this year is The Master.

First a few movies that just missed the top 10:
The Grey- Seek this out. Worlds better than the trailer
Flight- Denzel is sensational.
Sleepwalk with Me- Quirky and heartfelt. Seek this out!
Chronicle- Might be my favorite hand held film.
Lincoln- Just a little too dry, but very compelling.
Zero Dark Thirty- Jessica Chastain makes this movie tick.
The Hobbit- Suffers from a weak first act, but the riddle scene was worth it all.

10. 21 Jump Street- Honestly, as good as a year for movies as 2012 was, the comedies were not terribly memorable. However, this was one of the funniest movies I have seen in a really long time. Hill and Tatum make an excellent team, but it really is Tatum who blew me away. He went all in and we were rewarded by his efforts. He clearly does not take himself seriously, and this movie gave him a real chance to show it. It has hilarious one-liners, great physical comedy and some pretty killer action. I feel like it is going to be a memorable comedy for me for a long time and there are definitely lines I enjoy quoting still, 9 months later. Also, the cameo might be one of the best cameos in film. I was very unsure I would have any interest in this when I heard about it, but very early on in the movie, I realized this was exactly what I needed.

9. Silver Linings Playbook- This would be in the top 5 if the ending did not frustrate me so incredibly much. It almost knocked it out of my top 10, but the performances were too good for me to ignore. Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence have a seriously sizzling chemistry and the while the screenplay and direction go completely awry in the end of the third act, the dialog is so refreshing for the most part. It was great to see De Niro act again, and I did not even mind the traditional story cliches that the film fell into because I feel like it established a kind of necessary story arc and the characters do such outlandish things, that it did not feel like a stretch for that whole "two big events on the same day thing" that so many movies do. I found it is to be very funny and depressing. It was quick tongued, but also pretty brutal. For years before he hit it big I was saying Cooper was going to be a force to be reckoned with and I am glad to see it happening.

8. Cabin in the Woods- In all honesty, most years this would easily be a top 5 movie for me. No joke, that is how much I loved this movie and this year in movies. It takes everything I love about horror movies, spins them around, squishes them together and creates a world that is hilarious, creepy, violent and 100% full of awesome. A great cast of "typical" horror movie characters, and such a brilliant premise that I worried the film would cave in on itself in the third act, but instead of caving in on itself, it explodes every possible idea you have about horror movies into one of the most unique third acts I have ever seen in the genre. if you are looking for a straight horror movie, pass on this, because it is not a horror movie. It is a smart deconstruction of a genre that people either love or hate. It is no surprise that Joss Whedon has his hands all of this. Also, if there is any justice in the world, Bradley Whitford and Richard Jenkins will do more movies together.

7. The Perks of being a Wallflower- It bums me out that this movie did not get any real traction upon its release. It is that damn good. How Ezra Miller does not have a supporting actor nomination for this movie is beyond me. Everything in this movie works and it should not. Coming of age novels often make meandering, navel gazing films, but this movie has heart and soul and crackles with life and sadness and love and all of the things you thought in high school. Emma Watson sheds the Harry Potter thing beautifully and Logan Lehrman takes an iconic young adult literary character and turns him in this fully fleshed out young man that you are dying to root for. Stephen Chbosky is definitely making a case that authors should write and direct the adaptations of their books, because every move he makes is pitch perfect. I hope this film finds life on DVD. it deserves a real audience.

6. Les Miserables- I know this movie divides people like crazy, and I get it. Personally, I do not love the stage musical and I loathe the story, generally. However, this movie genuinely filled me with emotion at so many times, it was impossible for me to ignore. The direction sucks, but this is another movie where the performances really did everything for me. I think Hugh Jackman gives my favorite performance of the year (although Cooper and Denzel were both brilliant). His Valjean just destroyed me countless times. I loved his voice on film. I am not sure doing it that way would work on staqe, but on film, where I want things more intimate, I just loved him. I cannot say enough about Anne Hathaway's "I Dreamed a Dream." I mean it really is one of the best sequences of the year in any film. Her raw, fragile state just gutted me. No joke, it is a thing of beauty in all of its ugliness. I have complaints about the movie, but the emotional core is there and that is what spoke to me during the film.

5. The Dark Knight Rises- When this movie exploded onto the masses, it was not met with the same universal praise as The Dark Knight. I get it, it is slower and the villain is not as enigmatic as Heath Ledger's Joker, but I totally bought into it. I found Tom Hardy to be a serious force with which to be reckoned. His menacing Bane pummeling Bale's Batman during an otherwise silent scene, was just a work of demented art. I thought the arc of the story was magnetic and I found the new characters to be just be perfect in every way. Hathaway's Catwoman was sexy, sophisticated and strong and Joseph Gordon Levitt's beat cop was the center piece for me. Everyone was wonderful and Nolan's ability to give Batman a sense of gravitas will always fill me with wonder. I did not think the movie was overly long because when you truly love something, can it really be too long? I had incredibly high expectations for this movie and I felt like every single one of them were, at the very least, met and some were exceeded. The action sequences were paced wonderfully and I was never bored during the extended plot oriented moments. People want to whine about the ending, but I actually felt like they did not do the cop out ending, so kudos to everyone.

4. The Avengers- Much like Jurassic Park, the Avengers is pure entertainment and like Jurassic Park, it entertains on every single level. It is hilarious, the action is insane, it has heart and soul and it has the best use of The Hulk I have seen on film. Joss Whedon, having a killer year, really outdid himself with this film. No joke, it works every single minute. Everyone on screen is perfect at what they do, the movie is paced beautifully and it never loses a sense of playfulness, even among the madness of the action. RDJ, of course, does everything right as Tony Stark, but for me, the real jewel in the bunch is Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner. Now the third actor in less than 15 years to play Banner, Ruffalo gets him down exactly. Nothing is wasted in this movie. Every joke worked for me, every moment of action was sharp and awesome. The effects were phenomenal and I just flat out enjoyed myself. There is a lot to be said about movie that is just entertaining as hell.

3. Django Unchained- You know a year in film is excellent if a Tarantino film does not end up in my top 2. Tarantino has probably created his most complete film with Django. It has great dialog, wonderful visual flair, perfectly placed music and 4 outstanding performances. It also has heart, which many of his movies lack. There is something deeper to be found within Django and it does not get lost even when QT does his insane QT thing. It really is a wonderful movie and it was even better a second time, for me. Everything clicks for me here. DiCaprio is menacing to a point I did not think he could be, Foxx and Waltz have a great easy chemistry about them, and Sam Jackson's performance is so daring that I was not sure it was real. Everyone sounds comfortable with the rhythm of QT dialog and the pacing works, even with a new editor. I loved the cinematography and found the locations to be outstanding. I really felt this movie, though, which is why I am excited for the next chapter of QT's career. Imagine if he was always able to inject real human stakes to all of his movies? Hell yes!

2. Argo- This continues to surprise me. With all of the other movies to come out this year, this is still standing at number 2. That is just how much I loved everything about it. Affleck has directed 3 pretty incredible movies, but he upped the ante here. Every single moment of Argo crackles. It is intense on so many levels that I was exhausted when it was over. It has great humor as well, but the humor did not detract from the intensity, it only heightened it in some weird way. Alan Arkin got the nomination, but God bless John Goodman. I mean seriously, can the man get recognized for making every movie he is in better? I thought the script was phenomenal and the little details of the era were remarkable. I found myself completely wrapped up in everything that was going on and having never learned any of this in school, I had no idea what was going to happen and it made the already insane pacing of the third act even more insane. I love how absurd everything is, but how real everything is at the same time. The way those two ideas blend is a testament to just how confident Affleck is as a director. Oh and do no get me wrong, he is solid as an actor in this as well. His steady hand behind the camera shines through for him on camera as well. If you have not seen this movie, I really suggest you see it as soon as possible.

1. Looper- Every so often a movie comes out and it just hits you like nothing else ever has. These are the movies that top top 10 lists for the year and movies that make "All Time" lists. For me, Looper is one of those movies. I cannot fully explain why. In all honesty, something about this movie just clicked. Gordon-Levitt and Willis do great work all throughout the film. There is no denying that. Blunt and Pierce Gagnon are outstanding. All of the supporting/cameo roles are played perfectly. But that happens often in movies. This was about something more. There is a level of creativity working here and a level of cinematic freedom that sings from the opening beats. Rian Johnson has directed 3 movies in 3 different genres and all 3 of them work. He is a visionary writer and director and Looper is already a masterpiece for him. I do not want to hear your nonsense about time travel loop holes. Save it, seriously. It is a movie. It is not meant to be realistic. If it did not work for you, fine. However, when it ended, I just sat there in stunned silence. That does not happen often. I am pretty quick to grab my phone and tweet a quick response. Not here. I needed to just sit and let it all sink in. It is the kind of movie that reminds me why I love movies. I was so filled with emotion, but not really because the movie is emotional (it has a great emotional punch), but because I felt like I just finished watching something that truly transcended me as someone who appreciates the art. When Looper was done I knew I had just seen something that only comes along every so often. It was a magical experience for me. It was a film that I never wanted to end, but when it ended, I was glad because it meant I had experienced it completely.

This is 40

Pete (Paul Rudd), Debbie (Leslie Mann) and their two kids (Maude and iris Apatow) are back! In what is being billed as a sort of sequel to Knocked Up, This is 40 follows that wacky married couple from the aforementioned film. Their birthdays separated by mere days, Pete and Debbie are turning 40! Except Debbie thinks it is the worst thing ever and refuses to admit to it, so she is turning 38, again. Pete started his own record label, but is only signing older musicians with limited fan bases and the nostalgia factor just is not booming. Debbie owns a clothing boutique, but one of her two employees stole $5,000.00 and she has to figure out if it was the weird, quiet girl, Jodi (The always hilarious Charlyne Yi) or the sex pot Desi (the always sexy Megan Fox). Pete and Debbie argue endlessly, their kids, especially Sadie (Maude)yell all of the time and no one ever seems happy. In all honesty, This is 40 could easily be called #richwhitepeopleproblems.

If the description of the movie does not sound appealing, I do not blame you. Seriously, the movie is not terribly appealing in large chunks, but it is also flat out hilarious in large chunks. John Lithgow and Albert Brooks show up as Debbie and Pete's fathers respectively and the movie would be worth it for their scenes together. Both men are legends in acting/comedy and this movie is no different. Brooke has the bigger funnier role as a mooching father, but Lithgow's facial expressions alone are worth watching. The man can say so much with his long face. The two men liven up a sort of puttering second half of the film. I love Paul Rudd in anything and this is no different. He and Mann have a special kind of chemistry. It is uneasy and you are never sure if they want to beat the crap out of each other or love each other. It is that unpredictability that Director Judd Apatow is depending on. Apatow's movies are always a blend of shocking comedy and serious heart and This is 40 is no different, but something just did not click the whole way through for me.

Listening to two people with a giant house, who drive BMW's and Benz's, whine about having no money is tough to do. Both of these people own businesses, and I know that is stressful, but over two hours of listening to these rich people whine is a bit grating. Also, have you seen Leslie Mann in a bikini? hard to listen to a woman gripe about getting older and not being attractive, when she is still rocking that fabulous body. Mann is a funny actress and I have always found her to be endearing, but she went to a seriously whiny place in this movie and it did not work for me. I found Debbie to be the most obnoxious character in the world. It got to the point where I really believed all of these people would be better off if Pete and Debbie got divorced. I know it is supposed to be how real couples fight, but there is a point where it is too much.

That is not to say there are not flat out hilarious moments. Pete self checking his ass for bumps killed me. Jason Segal and Chris O'Dowd trying to get with Megan Fox was a great sequence, and Sadie's obsession with LOST was a great running gag (I get it Sadie, I get it). Also there are those great Apatow conversations that feel so fresh and unrehearsed, but this film, has much less of those. This is 40 felt more conventional in how the story was being told. There was less of those great moments with secondary characters. I know Melissa McCarthy has become quite a crowd pleaser, but I did not find her cameo too appealing. It was kind of obnoxious (her outtakes in the credits were hilarious though). This whole movie just felt one beat wrong. There was something off. The pacing drags and the movie could use some trimming, but typically when Apatow's movies get too long, I do not mind because something hilarious was kept in, even if it did not make total sense. Here it just felt too slow.

This is 40 has more hits than misses, but it has more misses than I am used to from Apatow. I am one of the rare people who loved Funny People. I love the way he mixes sex humor and genuine heart, but here it was like there was not enough of either of them.

Final Grade: B-

Django Unchained

Purchased by Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) with the intent to be set free Django (Jaime Foxx) is a slave with a serious grudge. Schultz needs help tracking down the Brittle Brothers, whom Django can identify and no one else seems to be able to do that. Schultz is a bounty hunter and a very good one at that. He promises to set Django free once he has captured (killed) the Brittle Brothers. Schultz detests slavery, but uses it to his advantage. He gives Django the last name Freeman and together they ride. Django turns out to be a natural in the white man killing business and the two team up for the cold winter with the promise that Schultz would help Django find his lost wife, Brumhilda (Kerry Washington). When the winter clears, the two discover Brumhilda was sold to Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). Candie is a devious, awful man and the second half of the movie is a cat and mouse game between Django and Schultz and Candie.

Told with Tarantino's typical flair, Django moves quickly, dares us to watch extremely uncomfortable scenes and pops off the screen with wit. Django Unchained is a dazzling film pure and simple. Every single moment is rich. From the opening bristling monologue from Waltz, to the unbelievable shoot out to the explosive climax, I was never bored. In the interest of full disclosure, I love Tarantino. I love the way he makes movies as if they were movies. He tells interesting stories, but he never pretends it is not a movie and I love that about him. He is always the star of his movies, but one thing I found unique in Django Unchained is how much he relents to the talent, and the talent is spectacular.

Foxx is surrounded by all of these great over the top masterful performances, but the man holds it down in a big way. His Django transforms a few times through the movie and each one is a smooth transition due to Foxx's general cool attitude. He looks great in these comically awesome costumes and never feels out of place in the western atmosphere. The other actors are getting all of the credit, and rightfully so, but Foxx really grounds the movie. His facial expressions are worthy of the close ups the get. I felt my heart breaking as he was struggling to keep his cool in order to get his wife back. Washington, as Brumhilda, does not have too much to do, but she makes it a memorable cameo like role. Waltz, clearly in his element with the Tarantino dialog and rhythm, shines brightly, as expected. His Schultz is the smartest man in the room, and he has no problems showing it off. Waltz gives Schultz gravitas when needed, but he also keeps it light when needed and no one, as we saw in Inglorious Basterds, can manipulate a prop quite like Waltz. He commands your attention every single second.

The two most surprising performances though go to DiCaprio and Samuel L. Jackson. DiCaprio is clearly playing against type and that kind of performance can be fun and interesting for a while and it is. DiCaprio's introduction is hilarious and weird and quirky, but he quickly turns into a scary sociopath. Clothed in ridiculous velvet and an unusual haircut, DiCaprio starts off like a flamboyant Hugh Hefner characters, but Tarantino quickly reveals a fiendish devil. Dicaprio's Calvin Candie is a very wealthy slave owner, but his favorite trade is Mandingo boxing. In one of the 3 hardest scenes to watch, Candie screams over his slave to beat another man to death. It is a brilliantly scary moment and it gives us everything we need to know about Candie. DiCaprio is typically the good guy after the truth. Here, he takes the idea of a villain and runs with it. He scared me. I did not think DiCaprio could scare me, but he flat out owns the confrontation scene. He gives a brutal, yet somehow charming performance and it soars over the second half of the film. For his part Samuel L. Jackson gives an incredibly daring performance as Stephen, Calvin's favorite house slave. Stephen is the ultimate Uncle Tom and Jackson throws himself completely into the role. His limp, his entire attitude screams self hating black man. I was quite shocked to see how unabashedly he threw himself into it.

The action sequences are brutal, yet over the top enough that they are okay to watch, but there are a few scenes that was incredibly tough to watch. Tarantino is not out to make slavery look cool. He does make the movie look cool, and the action look cool and all of the characters look and sound cool, but slavery is treated with brutality in every way. The costumes and sets all look stunning, especially Calvin's mansion. Wow, what a gorgeous mansion. The score is perfect for the film and Tarantino's decision to include contemporary music in a period piece was jarring at first, but it fit. Tarantino never plays by the rules and because of it, his movies have a unique richness. I know he plays on things that already exist and takes the idea of an homage to a whole other level, but he always makes his movies his own. If we were watching footage from the slavery period, we would not hear Tupac, but Tarantino does not want us to think we are actually watching something from the period of U.S history where we had slaves.

I come away from every Tarantino movie knowing I am going to remember the experience for a long time. They are events. The dialog in this movie is as close to perfect as can possibly be. Every single shot looks like it took hours to get it just right, yet seems so seamless at the same time. There is also this great sense of humor to it. If you are not laughing during the KKK scene, you are probably dead. That is how Tarantino operates. The same movie can have this gut bustingly hilarious scene, and then have a scene so brutal you are not sure you can watch it without covering your eyes. And somehow it all works. Kudos to Fred Raskin for his editing. It was a big point of concern after Tarantino's usual editor, Sally Menke, passed away, that Tarantino's would lose something, but this one is not missing anything. The cinematography is gorgeous, but that is no surprise from Robert Richardson.

Django Unchained will sit towards the top of the year's best for me. For Tarantino, it sit squarely in the middle with some of his other great films. Who knows what time will do to it and I know I will own it and watch it once a year during my girlfriend and mine's TarantinoFest.

Final Grade: A