Viewing Journal: 7/16/2010

122) INCEPTION
(2010 dir. Christopher Nolan) Date Seen: July 16 2010

Showcases many of Christopher Nolan's strengths and weaknesses as a filmmaker. It's aesthetically pleasing to look at and a structural beast for sure, but also lacking somewhat in emotional depth. It starts out pretty slow too. You have to sit through a lot of dull exposition before it really goes anywhere, but thankfully most of that stuff is broken up by fancy set pieces and his usual brand of dynamic action. I almost feel like Nolan dumbed the film down too much at parts. I love puzzle narratives as much as the next movie geek, but I can't stand when things are explained so easily. Heaven forbid you confuse a mainstream audience. All nitpicking aside though, I found INCEPTION to be an ambitious and entertaining ride for the most part. I'm willing to overlook most of its shortcomings. After all - for a big studio film it's got a pretty smart concept it's at least trying to do stuff with. And the final 30 minutes of action alone are worth the price of admission. I was glued to the screen during the big payoff where we finally got to watch all the dominoes fall over. I just wish I wasn't so mixed on the rest of the movie where said dominoes were being put into place.

121) HAPPY-GO-LUCKY
(2008 dir. Mike Leigh) 3rd Viewing: July 16 2010

Sally Hawkins was by far the best lead performance of 2008. Her character "Poppy" in this genuinely makes me feel positive about life when I watch. Such a warm and hilarious human being while mercifully never becoming a caricature. In a lesser director & performer's hands, the character could have easily devolved into a b.s. manic pixie archetype. For a cisgender white dude, Leigh still has a knack for writing female characters that feel human. The AMPAS must be sexist against women doing comedy or something, 'cause Sally wasn't even nominated for this.

120) 21 GRAMS
(2003 dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu) 3rd Viewing: July 16 2010

The last decent collaboration between director Alejandro Iñárritu and screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga. And I think that was due to the near perfect cast. Naomi Watts is perfection as always & Benicio Del Toro is alive here in a way few actors have been post Brando. Still, I can't help but feel team Iñárritu/Arriaga were running out of creative steam in the narrative department around this time. Shame, seeing how I once described them (after viewing AMORES PERROS) as being like the Spanish-language cinema reincarnations of Kieslowski.