The Place Beyond the Pines

Derek Cianfrance’s (director of Blue Valentine) latest film, The Place Beyond the Pines, is a tale of two men, and how their personally vices intertwine their families and affect them for years to come. Like Blue Valentine, the story is grounded in a verisimilitude that makes it engaging, from the very first shot of the film which follows Ryan Gosling’s Luke from his trailer, through a carnival, and to his motorcycle, where he and three other bikers proceed to perform their stunts in a confined cage—all in a single shot. There are various strong shots like this throughout the film, thanks to cinematographer Sean Bobbitt.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation

I was naturally hesitant to watch this movie, and for self-explanatory reasons. The original film in this series, G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra was pretty bad, and nothing from this film’s promotional material made it seem like this was going to be anything better than your run-of-the mill action blockbuster. It didn’t help that the movie was delayed nearly an entire year. This is never a good sign. For all of my reservations though, this movie was better than it should have been. This does not mean that it was good.

Oz the Great and Powerful

There is a reason that everyone (or, as I have been horrified to recently discover, almost everyone) loves the classic film, The Wizard of Oz. The timeless themes, memorable characters, archetypical journey, and its classic representation of movie magic. While Oz the Great and Powerful is enjoyable in some regards, and is in nearly every regard better than I expected it to be, it fails to live up to the standard set by its predecessor. This is by new means a surprise, but what I did personally find shocking was how close it was to at least being close.

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Beasts of the Southern Wild from director Benh Zeitlin is a highly visceral film in many regards. From its characters, their questionable actions, the evocative score, and the worthy direction – the movie is vibrant with passion and pronouncement without being pretentious or manipulative. The atmosphere created is akin to that of a fantastic poem, punctuated by the harsh realities that its characters try to avoid, but nonetheless prepare for. The world of the Southern Wild is both rife with magic and tragedy.

Side Effects

Sitting down to watch Side Effects, I wasn’t entirely sure what I was getting into. Based off of the premise I had a vague idea of what to expect, and in some ways, my expectations were fulfilled. However, there is more to the film than what it initially gives off, and after the ball begins rolling, I was kept on the edge of my seat constantly attempting to pinpoint where the movie was taking me, and how we would get there. The path taken was a tight one, albeit bumpy.