by Dave Minkus
Dave’s Score: 7.5/10

It’s really nice when I get the chance to see a movie that lets me take off my critic’s hat and just enjoy it for what it is. For me, that kind of movie is a true story that’s well made. It isn’t about the “film”, it’s the story that’s important. Extraordinary Measures is exactly that kind of film. I understand people’s trepidation at the commercials that have been airing on CBS seemingly non-stop for the past few months.

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Even with cold weather, guaranteed snowfall and the temptation to blow $10.00 to see Roland Emmerich destroy the world, audiences still flocked to this year’s Starz Denver Film Festival, and with a line-up of films this great, who could blame them? This is still the best way for movie buffs to get a fix of films they’ve never heard of before but will be raving about for months. You also get a chance to be up close with some excellent filmmakers on the rise and actors and actresses like Rachel Leigh Cook, J.K. Simmons, Hal Holbrook and the fest’s Achievement Award winner, Ed Harris. It also gives film fest junkies a chance to see an acclaimed Oscar hopeful, like Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, which was this year’s SDFF opener.

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By Dave Minkus 
Score:  7/10

It’s been over a week since I saw Precious, and I’ve been dreading writing this review, frankly.  I honestly don’t know what I think about it.  The film definitely has a lot going for it, but it also has a bit working against it.

Precious follows the excruciating life of Clarice Precious Jones.  She’s dark skinned, obese and just got pregnant with her second child by her father.  That’s just the first 5 minutes of the movie.  Her mom abuses her as well, she’s miserable and only remotely happy when escaping into fantasies when real life is just too much.  Actually, too much might just be the perfect description of Precious.

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by Dave Minkus
Score: 8.5/10

I’m going to say it right here and now:  Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is going to BOMB at the box office.  This isn’t because it’s a bad movie.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  The fact is that Bad Lieutenant is TOO good a movie.  The American movie audience doesn’t derserve this surreal masterpiece, and they’re going to turn their backs on it because it’s too wierd.  I had not idea what to expect going into this film, but I was open to whatever ride it was going to take me on.  Nothing could have prepared me for the glory I was in for.

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By Dave Minkus 
Score:  8/10

If you’re anything like me, the name Bill Withers doesn’t mean anything to you.  At least, it didn’t before seeing Damani Baker and Alex Vlack’s film, Still Bill.  It was shocking and I’ll admit that I was ashamed for not knowing the name of the man who brought us musical greats like Ain’t No Sunshine and Lean on Me.  Still Bill sets out to change the fact that Bill Withers is an unknown name to most of the country.

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By Dave Minkus

Dave’s Score:  8/10 

Whether you like or dislike a film made by Joel and Ethan Coen, you have to admit that every film they make is unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.  If you’ve listened to our podcast very long, you know that I have a theory that a Coen Brothers film is going to fit into one of two genres:  we have their gritty noir films like Fargo, Miller’s Crossing and No Country for Old Men, and then we have their absurd films like The Hudsucker Proxy and O Brother, Where Art Thou?  Yes, Barton Fink crosses both quite sublimely, but most of their films fit into one of the two categories.  A Serious Man is gloriously absurd.  As with the crossing of downhome southern Christianity with Homer’s The Odyssey in O Brother, A Serious Man crosses 50’s suburban Jewish culture with the Biblical story of Job.  I know, it’s abstract, but it works!

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Score : 8/10

Often the traditional romance is one that relies on a backdrop of epic scale to entertain viewers. Or one that at least depends on pratfalls, wise-cracking best friends and contrived circumstances. And even if you can get past those, are they really about more than lust? Often it seems like romance is just built upon the sex appeal of the stars. We’re forced to believe that these people are really enamored with each other. But Bright Star, the newest film from Jane Campion concerns entirely the idea of longing. And this is where its power comes from. There is not a single sex scenes. Barely even any of the two leads kissing.

But what is done in this film is that we have atmospheric and visual storytelling. I’m a huge fan of this kind of filmmaking. This movie in fact reminds me a lot of Wong Kar Wai’s masterful In The Mood For Love. In that film we had the backdrop of 60’s Hong Kong and an apartment building. In this we have 1800’s England. The story concerns poet John Keats and his love affair with the rather ordinary Fanny Brawne. At first you’d wonder why they’d be attracted to each other. But they have more in common then you would think. They both have passion for the creation of art. On one hand for John it’s poetry. On the other hand for Fanny it’s fashion. But their love is always tested. In that John’s financial situation often leaves him having to go away with his friend Brown to earn money. Usually something like this is a pretty typical romantic plot mechanic to create tension. But in here it’s different. The idea of longing is splendidly realized through beautiful images set to Keats’ poetry. And when John and Fanny are together, it’s not over-the-top love. It’s two young people realizing who they are and being unsure. The performances by Ben Whishaw and Abby Cornish are wonderful in that they feel completely real. Often period pieces have a reputation for being having stuffy characters and performances to reflect the time period. But Campion makes these characters completely relatable.

I will say that Bright Star is a definite slow burn. Even though it seems like I’m jizzing all over it, my patience was a little tested at times. But I appreciate films that take their time to build an atmosphere. I may have wanted things to pick up the pace a few times, but I loved letting the beautiful images and poetry wash over me.

Now the other film…I’ll save that for next week’s podcast.

Score : 5/10

Alejandro Amenbar’s newest film is ridiculously ambitious. It wants to be a beautiful, splendid epic about the effects of fundamentalism. Before the movie started he even said that the film in particular wasn’t against Christianity, it was against violence. And I admire that he tried to do this. All “epic” films should be admired for their scope. But unfortunately, this film falls shorts. When trying to tackle both the ideas of fundamentalist hysteria and “HOLY CRAP THAT’S IT EPIC” I kind of got a feeling. That feeling being that I had seen this all before.

Agora is by no means bad. It’s just that when you see overhead shots of CGI armies storming through an ancient city you think…I’ve seen this before. When you hear this accompanied by the usual James Horner/Hans Zimmer-esque chorus score featuring a woman going “HAYAYEEEHAAHAAHAHAAAAAAAAAHYEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHYEEEEE” you think…I’ve seen this before. When you see the characters ruminate on religion you think…I’ve seen this before. Agora tries hard but it just doesn’t try hard enough to be different. It expresses its themes in such a heavy-handed way that lacks any real nuance. As a non-believer I’m all for a film that expresses a secular point of view. And maybe that’s the problem. The director maybe should’ve worried less about trying to go the safe, boring route of “violence is bad”. Maybe he should’ve just made a flat-out “religion is evil” film.

Normally I would try to write more but this movie just doesn’t inspire much.

Score : 9/10

When I think of the Coen brothers, I think of people that are smarter than me. That have a deep understanding of the world and how it functions. That may make the occasional mysterious and hard to decipher decisions with their films. And their newest, A Serious Man continues that tradition. But oddly enough, something I had always thought of the Coens brothers as was…secular. But this film is clearly a one where God exists. And he doesn’t mind making the lives of his believers hell just to prove a point. In ways this is almost a Jewish retelling of the story of Job but set in mid-1960’s Minnesota.

In ways this is also a companion piece to No Country For Old Men. It depicts a time of change where more-conservative values folks who are getting old cannot keep up. But instead of drug deals, murder and wacky haircuts, it’s kids who swear, steal and don’t respect their elders. Wives who don’t respect traditional family values. College students who don’t work hard and resort to crime. And in the film’s biggest motif, the radical music of Jefferson Airplane (DON’T YOU NEED SOMEBUDDY TAH LUUUUUUUUHVE). At the center of this is Lawrence Gopnik. A college physics professor who you assume before the horrific events of the movie had a decent family life. But throughout the film he keeps getting shit on. So much that it becomes kind of hard to watch. But he keeps his faith as he searches for answers. But is God picking on him? Or is he just over-analyzing everything that’s going with him? Why is this all happening at the same time? Why can’t his pretty-much retarded brother be happy too? Why can’t his son respect him? Why does he eventually have to take care of everything (including paying for the funeral of…well. I don’t want to spoil it).

His brother may struggle in the foreground, but his son in the film provides a lot of the drama. We see even as how he represents the new generation that torments Larry, he faces his own similar problems. How they parallel each other provides most of the dramatic struggle of the film. We come to learn that everybody is having their faith tested. And some may be puzzled by an opening story that on the surface level seems to have nothing to do with the movie. It concerns Russian Jews in the 19th century. But soon in the film Larry says when talking about his physics lectures that he uses fables to help you understand what’s going on. And that’s what the Coen brothers are doing here. They are telling a story that may be hard to deciper, but it all has deep meaning. A lot of it is wrapped up in zany Jewish-caricatures and surreally hilarious dream sequences. Here they are just also helping you understand what Larry is really going through. How every day is a struggle for him. How he needs to be a serious man but he keeps being undermined.

One last thing I want to address is the ending. Just above I was comparing this to No Country For Old Men. And the ending of this is very similar in that it will turn off a lot of the Joe Popcorn-types. They’ll audibly go “that’s it?”. But the ending is perfect. He represents how we never truly have our faith rewarded. That we’re always challenged. The way that A Serious Man unfolds before your eyes is a thing of beauty. Even though at times you’ll want to cover them from being horrified and embarrassed for Larry. But just like him, you’ll be left interpreting everything that’s been surrounding you and what it means.

By Dave Minkus
Dave’s Score:  8.5/10

Crips and Bloods: Made in America is truly a unique film. Generally, when we see a documentary about a certain time in American history, most of the facts are found in writings. With this film, the history is recent enough that it’s possible to see exactly when these two legendary gangs came into being and the reasons for it. The film goes back as far as World War II for the full story, but this film is a fascinating look into where American society went horribly wrong and why we’re all responsible for the predicament we find ourselves in when it comes to gang violence.

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Dave’s Score: 7/10 

To be honest, I wasn’t really in the frame of mind to give G-Force a fair shot going in. The movie snob in me just KNEW I was going to hate this movie. It was a foregone conclusion that it was going to suck…HARD. It doesn’t help that almost every person I’ve talked to (critic and non-critic alike) has thought that this movie looks idiotic and like a complete waste of time. Fortunately, that was a week or so ago and I’ve since realized how important it is to go into any movie with an open mind. It doesn’t matter if this is a kiddie flick or not, it deserves a fair shot. Imagine my shock and surprise when I came out of the film and realized that I had a good time with G-Force. This movie is proof that Disney, under new leadership, can put out quality family flicks again. It is also proof that Disney has quite the hole to get out of in order to gain audience goodwill back on everything not bearing the Pixar name.

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