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What happens when a ritzy, small-time film director takes on a Hollywood blockbuster, especially when the main character is one of the most beloved of classical fiction? You get Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes, which is one part Ritchie’s normal, herky jerky filmmaking, one part studio pandering, and one part Robert Downey Jr., but minus all the character development.

Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes takes Sherlock Holmes and yanks him from his normal, stuffy fare and transplants him into a would-be action flick—I say would be because I’m not quite sure the film has as much action as the trailer would lead you to believe. Oh, sure there are explosions and fights, but it’s not quite as in-your-face as action-starved frat boys might be rooting for. That’s not to say that Sherlock Holmes isn’t fun, because it is, but it feels so disjointed, as if the studio said, “Hey, Ritchie, can you tone down some of your Ritchie-ness?” And then Ritchie proclaimed, “I will cram the most Ritchie-ness I can into each scene.”

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Here's a hint for director/writer Nancy Myers: If you're going to make a movie about love, affairs, middle age, and family, go ahead and try and make at least one of your characters relatable, you know, so we have someone to root for and care about. Oh, and while you're at it, go ahead and develop some dimensions for your characters too!

The latest schlockfest from Myers is this Christmas's release of It's Complicated, which follows around wildly successful baker, Jane, (Meryl Streep) as she prances around her wildly successful bakery, upscale New York hotels, and her Pottery Barn porn house. Jane has been divorced for ten years, and one fateful night falls drunkenly into her ex-husband's, Jake (Alec Baldwin), arms for a one night shag-a-thon. Jake, who is now unhappily remarried, couldn't be more happy and in love with his ex-wife, and Jane couldn't be more guilt stricken. Couple this with the fact that Jane is potentially falling for the architect (Steve Martin) who is redesigning her (already huge) kitchen for more space, and you've got yourself a recipe for complication--and by complication, I mean stereotypical characters and predictable story.
 
 
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When Toy Story was released in 1995 moviegoers clamored to get a look at Disney’s first full-length computer animated film. It was new and exciting--something we hadn’t seen before and didn’t know was possible. What we didn’t realize at the time is that the film’s success signified a definitive end to the golden age of Disney animated films. As audiences fell in love with Buzz, Woody, Nemo, and Sulley, the quality of Disney’s other animated films plummeted. With forgettable titles like Atlantis and Tarzan it became apparent that the current generation of youngsters would grow old with computer animated memories. It didn’t help that nearly every other studio followed suit and jumped on the digital wave. Computers made it easy and cost-efficient to make an animated movie. Throw some money at a couple well-known actors, match their voices up with some talking animals and you’ve got a hit. (How else can you explain Open Season?)  

In a time where absolutely everyone is looking for the next big thing, Disney went back to the basics and proved why they are the worldwide leader in children's entertainment. The Princess and the Frog, Disney’s first hand-drawn animated film since 2003’s Brother Bear, is an instant classic. The magic is back with impressionistic animation that looks cutting edge despite using technology that is decades old. A voodoo sequence is downright psychedelic, and the art deco-inspired restaurant segment offers an explosion of vibrant colors. I didn’t expect the animation to look all that different but it’s been so long since we’ve seen anything like this that it really stands out. 

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Clint Eastwood will always be more than a Gorillaz song to me.  Any man who has with Lee Marvin, been mayor of a California hamlet, flown a spy plane with his Russian thoughts, and done more than one movie with a monkey has nothing to hide from anyone.  As he works on the third act of his career, this time as a director, he seems to certainly be working on his id out in the open.  With the Flags of Our Fathers\Letters from Iwo Jima double feature, his last lukewarm effort that was Gran Torino, and his latest, Invictus, Eastwood seems to be boldly exploring the cultural shifts among racial and generational lines that are occurring at internet speeds.

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Broken Embraces 12/09/2009
 
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We find ourselves in an era of American filmmaking where everything has to blow up, love stories are crammed down viewers’ throats, and minor hiccups are turned into major catastrophes by poor decision-making heroes—all in the interest of creating the largest profit margin possible in the shortest amount of time. The reports of the most recent record-setting Thursday night opening total are pushed to the next line only by the most recent “leaked” photos of next summer’s blockbuster hit. In times like these it’s nice to shift your attention overseas where little-known directors (to the general, movie-going U.S. public, at least) are making films for the sake of art rather than trying to turn a massive profit.

Such is the case in Pedro Almodóvar’sBroken Embraces, a Spanish film that doesn’t make a statement with its characters as much as it simply observes a very intriguing segment of their lives.

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Even though I didn’t really like Juno, it was no fault of its director, Jason Reitman. The movie was well-acted, and the directing was pretty good—it was just that hipper-than-thou dialogue that made me cringe. And, I LOVE Thank You For Smoking, which was a particularly well-crafted directorial debut. So, when you consider the amalgamation of George Clooney, Jason Reitman, and a whole slew of funny cameo appearances, it’s no wonder that critics are going gaga for Up in the Air. I’m just not one of them.

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