dead47548 Reviews

Wendy and Lucy (2008)

A shattering, quiet film.

[9/10 · 29 January 2009]

This is minimalist film-making at it's finest. A message film in the most subtle of ways. On the surface it's a simple, beautifully told story of a young woman falling apart due to economic crisis as she is looking for her lost dog. But writer/director Kelly Reichardt imbues her film with this underlying look at the self-centeredness at America. She's not saying that every single person is worthless (there's a wonderful subplot with an old man who helps Wendy), but that the average American is just too focused on their own selves to not even notice this innocent, decent young woman who is falling apart. People walk by and see her sleeping in her car but instead of thinking of what they can do to help, they just laugh and keep walking. Even a seemingly decent person like the mechanic Wendy takes her car to when it brakes down, doesn't notice how far down she is. Or maybe he just doesn't really care.

Maybe it would be different if Wendy was openly looking for help, but she isn't. On the inside she is completely falling apart, but she puts on this front of indifference as if everything is alright with her. She tries to reach out to her sister and her husband, but they immediately act as if calling them is begging for a handout so she falls back on the lie that everything is fine in her life. But if you look at her for more than five minutes, you can tell that things are far from decent. Stories like this happen every day and no one bothers to realize it. Throughout the film you can hear, or see a few times, a train rolling through the scene and passing on. Reichardt uses this to symbolize the fact that America just rolls on by people like Wendy who are in such a state of decay, but they are moving too fast to stop and notice that she exists, let alone what a poor state she's in. It's a remarkably intelligent film under the veil of a beautiful story of a woman losing her dog.

Reichardt's remarkably subtle, intuitive direction leads this film but it would have been nothing without Michelle Williams' revelatory performance. She brings all of these emotions of anger, depression and even joy at the end right underneath the surface, but then holds them just below. It takes a highly skilled actor to make you instantly realize what's going on inside of them, without allowing themself to pour all of that out. So in the moment where she does breakdown externally, it makes for a much more severe impact than if she had been crying the entire film.

I personally found Wendy to be a very relatable character. She's an isolated, lonely person but she's that way because she chose to be. It's not that she thinks all people are worthless, but the people she meets are just so self-centered and uninteresting that she doesn't bother taking the time to try and become friends with them. And likewise, they don't take the time to notice anything about her. Instead she has friendship in her one true companion, her dog Lucy. So at the beginning of the film when she loses Lucy, I wept in sadness. And at the end, when they are finally reunited, I wept with joy.

Kings & Queen (2004)

A perfect film in every single way.

[10/10 · 26 January 2009]

Kings & Queen is the first film I've seen from writer/director Arnaud Desplechin, but I can already tell that he is a master director and, perhaps even moreso, a master storyteller. This is a film filled with an ensemble of highly complex, emotional, tragic, comedic, realistic, compelling and human characters. As an outsider into the universe that Desplechin creates these people seem normal in most ways, but what makes them so real is that in each character's head they are the focal point of their universe. Which is an obvious thing to say since that's true about every human being, but it's rarely demonstrated in films. Most films feel like they are their own universe and the characters are just people in that universe, moving along as characters and not necessarily their own personal worlds. That isn't the case here, though, as all of these people maneuver as their own individual universes inside of the overall scope that Desplechin as masterfully created. They aren't just one-note characters; they are their own kings and queens of their world, if you will.

This film focuses on two very different characters going through two very different stories. Nora (Emmanuelle Devos) is a woman who is faced with many grueling dilemmas. She is living with a history of loss and pain, and only gets more of this as she learns that her father has bowel cancer and only a few more days to live. Along with this she has to try and manage her son from her first marriage and her upcoming third marriage to a new man who her son doesn't like. There is so much on her plate, yet she always tries to keep her emotions in check and tries to keep a joy in her life. This bleak, emotional melodrama is split with the character of Ismaël (Mathieu Amalric) who is her polar opposite. Ismaël, Nora's second husband, is someone with no harshness in his life. He has a sort of magic around him at all times, no matter what state his life is in. He too is facing hard times. The IRS is attacking him and we are introduced to the character as two men from a psychiatric hospital show up at his doorstep and drag him away to their hospital. This story is filled with immense life and highly absurd comedy, which is a perfect mix for the painful melodrama of Nora's journey.

One of the many geniuses of Kings & Queen is how Desplechin weaves these two different stories together so seamlessly. Not only do the characters feel remarkably real, but they feel as if they belong to the same universe. It's so rare these days to find an ensemble film where everything fits into the same world, instead of these big chunks of different characters that feel as if they are just mashed together from completely separate films but the writer/director tries to put them all together. Films like that always feel bloated and awkward as they transition from one entirely different universe to another. Kings & Queen features two highly unique types of journeys, but the transitions are never awkward and the film is never bloated. Whenever we are watching Nora, in the back of our minds we are still thinking about where Ismaël is on his journey through the film. And likewise, whenever we are watching Ismaël, we are thinking about Nora as well. This is a huge compliment to Desplechin as it is the perfect example for how he puts these people in the same universe, instead of entirely different films.

Devos and Amalric lead a highly impressive ensemble cast through this epic journey of tragedy and comedy. Everyone helps Desplechin in making their characters so rich and alive. You can tell that each actor has put a long history inside of their roles that we only get to see a portion of throughout the course of the film. Mathieu Amalric is an absolute revelation a, and easily the most remarkable of the cast. I wouldn't hesitate to go so far as to say that it's one of the best performances I've ever seen. He is filled with charisma and life, but also with a hint of insanity just below the surface. His Ismaël is an extremely bipolar narcissist who greatly impacts everyone that comes across. I can safely say that I've never seen a performance like it and that he dazzled me for every moment he was on screen. Emmanuelle Devos is almost as impressive, bringing so much emotion to a point just below the surface where you can tell how much everything is affecting the character but she holds it down for most of the film, so that the scenes where she lets that emotion pour out are much more compelling and say a lot more about her character at that time in the story.

La question humaine (2007)

I wish more people would see this.

[8/10 · 25 January 2009]

A highly intelligent, interesting film that does a great job of showing the impact that the ripples of Nazi Germany still have on the modern world. It's half a study of that, half a character study of Mathieu Amalric's character, a psychologist for a large, anonymous company. This character is completely breaking down throughout the film as a result of living in such a shady, paranoia filled society. I have to admit that there is some stuff that went over my head. There's a subplot involving an almost underground society of these business types who take these boats to a place where they pop drugs and rave. I'm sure that the whole thing has a symbolic meaning but for me it just provided a stunning catharsis and more depth into Amarlic's character. His performance in the film is absolutely stunning. It's a very quiet, subtle portrayal that is one of the most...calculated performances I've seen in quite a while. You can tell that he put so much thought into every move that the character makes. Every turn of the body, slight movement of the eyes, it's all important for the performance. But the genius of him as an actor is that you realize he is putting importance into all of those moments, but he is so great at putting himself into the character that you just think it's important for the character and don't think about the man acting as the character until after the film is over. A very intelligent, complex performance in an intelligent, complex film.

Revolutionary Road (2008)

An absolute masterpiece.

[10/10 · 24 January 2009]

Sam Mendes' masterpiece Revolutionary Road doesn't take any time to introduce us to it's characters or show us how they met and fell in love. From the very first scene, we know who Frank and April Wheeler are and why they are so tragically unhappy. The Wheelers thought that they were special, somehow superior to the drones of classic suburban America that they began living among. Perhaps it was the realization that they were living such a dull, unimpressive life that made them feel superior, but in the opening stages of the film they slowly realize that they have stopped being outsiders and instead have become just another uninteresting couple in this uninteresting world. To open themselves back up to life and that superiority, April creates a dream fantasy to move to Paris and they both buy into it for as long as they can.

This dream of Paris, however, is just a band-aid for a wound that won't stop bleeding. For a little while they live on a high, basking in the glow that this fantasy has brought them. But soon they realize that they can never escape this disaster of an existence that they accidentally slipped into too long ago for them to even remember what made them so interesting in the first place. Their despondency with life quickly turns into aggressive hatred towards each other as they fall further and further apart in a series of brutal arguments that only get worse and worse. The tragedy of this film, and these characters, is that in the end they don't hate each other. Frank and April Wheeler love each other deeply, but that love is so strong that the only way to distract themselves from a life they never dreamed of living is to turn such a strong emotion into unimaginable hatred towards each other. They are in love and want to be happy together, but everything in their lives succeeds in driving them further and further apart into an ending that shook me to the core.

Of course, when it comes down to it, this tragic tale of suburban misery is an actor's showcase. And boy, what a showcase it is. I've seen a few people express hate for the film and it's performances because they feel that it was all too melodramatic and scenery chewing. But I personally think that's the genius behind these performances. Not because the actors are melodramatic, but because the characters themselves make their own arguments melodramatic and explosive just so that they can feel something. These people are craving for something that they can never have, a kind of life you would see in the movies. And if they can't have a happy life where they travel around Paris having fun, they can at least feel alive in the most tragic way possible by taking out their aggression on each other at every turn. All of the shouting and flailing of the arms, I think that was all in the realism of the characters and their need to shout louder and be more theatric than the other person. They used this explosiveness to establish dominance in the argument and relationship and in that respect, the performances were flawless.

Leonardo DiCaprio has really impressed me a few times this decade, but his performance in this picture makes his past work look like child's play. Hell, he makes the rest of the actors in this piece seem like amateurs. He steals every second of this film with an explosive, emotionally powerful performance that served to devastate, terrify and move me all at the same time. A brutal portrayal of an ultimately sympathetic and tragic character and without a doubt one of the best performances of the year. Even though DiCaprio completely steals the film, that's not to say that the rest of the performances are anything but sensational. Kate Winslet is the perfect match for his talent in the arguments of these characters and each of them provide their own level of internal fear and external explosiveness. Michael Shannon has been an actor who I've admired quite a bit over the past few years, stealing scenes in all of his films while he went unnoticed and underrated by the world at large. Needless to say, when I found out that he had a performance with Oscar buzz in a prestige picture like this (a performance that would eventually earn him an actual Oscar nomination), my expectations were pretty high off the bat. He took those expectations, ran with them, and then shattered anything I could have expected from him. His performance is absolutely frightening and I couldn't be more pleased that his talent is getting recognized all over the place, especially by the Academy themselves. His explosive argument with DiCaprio's character unsettled me in a way that few films ever have, and that was based entirely on the flawless performances from the two actors.

Love Songs (2007)

Beautiful in every way.

[9/10 · 22 January 2009]

A perfect blend of playfulness, joy, sexuality and complete and utter tragedy. All of this is weaved in through the story and, more importantly, the songs themselves. The actors expertly portray every moment of it all, pouring their hearts into the songs whether it's a bouncy battle between two lovers with another lover in between or a lonely sister wishing for just one more hour of hope. I don't want to spoil a really big moment that provides all of that tragedy, but something happens relatively early on that floored me. Louis Garrel is an excellent lead and portal into all of these different people, and the supporting cast rounds everything off without missing a beat. The beautiful Ludivine Sagnier, the heartfelt Chiara Mastroianni and one of the most gorgeous women I've ever seen, Clotilde Hesme, are all brilliant. It swept me off my feet practically right off the bat and kept me floating throughout the whole thing. A fantastic movie, one of my favorites of '08 and of all time, for that matter.

Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)

Tremendous. Hawkins is to die for.

[9/10 · 20 January 2009]

Sally Hawkins owns every second of this movie with what is easily the best female performance I've seen from 2008 so far. Her Poppy is a character that I can definitely understand why people find so gratingly annoying, but I loved to death. She is a goofy, exuberant, wildly alive person who sees no problem in enjoying life to the fullest. Sure she has setbacks (in the first scene of the film, her bike is stolen) but she doesn't see the point of living life with a sour face and as a result she does whatever she can to embrace everything, and try to help other people embrace life as well. As someone who goes through life looking mostly at the negative, I really admired Poppy and wish that I could live like she does. And Sally Hawkins didn't hold back on that brightness for a second, breathing so much joy into every moment she was on screen. She brought immense life to the character, to the story and to the film.

It's a wildly hilarious story that put a smile on my face through most of it, but definitely tapped into Mike Leigh's ability to devastate from time to time. This is most prominent when it comes to the Eddie Marsan's character, Scott, Poppy's driving instructor and polar opposite. Whereas she is an optimist in every sense of the word, he is an absolute pessimist. Their back and forth starts off incredibly humorous and provided an insane amount of laughs for me throughout most of their scenes. But then we start to understand his character a bit more, as Poppy probes into his childhood and home life and we see that he begins having an attraction to her. But his bleak outlook on life means that he can't approach her like one normally would, and instead is ashamed when she sees him standing across the street from her flat, just watching it. Their final scene is incredibly poignant for both characters, as Poppy sees what kind of impact her approach to life can have on other people that she doesn't even realize. Marsan's performance began as aggressive and charismatically hilarious, but ended up being absolutely tragic.

A wonderful, very well-acted and directed film that is one of my favorites of '08.

Defiance (I) (2008)

Zwick's best film; extraordinary.

[9/10 · 18 January 2009]

Defiance succeeds where most Holocaust films crash and burn. In most films of this nature, they try to force tragedy down the viewer's throat by depicting everything cinematically so you can say "Oh, look how well they shot that scene with the the four Nazis raping and killing that girl". It has a habit of coming off as exploitative to me, instead of just depicting the true events. They put so much effort into showing just how awful everything was, and as a result it feels artificial. I personally don't think a film can ever depict a real life tragedy as despicable as that, and Defiance succeeds because it doesn't try to. Zwick puts the focus onto the characters and their experience, instead of attempting to show the overall brutality of the event. He makes it a character film instead of a Holocaust one.

On the surface, this is a relatively simple story of men rising up and protecting people who were in trouble. But at it's heart, there is much more. As I said, it's definitely a character drama and most of the film focuses on the relationships between these people in crisis. Each of the three main brothers (there is a fourth brother who doesn't get much attention) get a significant amount of screen time and their own individual stories of love, tragedy and emotional extremes. Tuvia (Daniel Craig) is the oldest brother and as a result he takes the position as the leader of the group. Craig portrays him wonderfully as a flawed hero, rising to protect so many people but being unable to handle the pressure that comes with it when he's saved them all but now has no idea what to do with them. Zus (Liev Schreiber) is a brute of a man who wants to help these people, but is more focused on getting revenge for the loss of his family. Asael (Jamie Bell) is a boy who develops into a young, experienced man over the course of the film.

At it's core, Defiance is a story of three men who rise up out of their tragic circumstances to become something more than just Jews who persevered. They became heroes because they survived while helping others to do the same. But no hero is perfect and that's where the film really drew me in. The drama that was stirred up between these men, whether they were fighting against the Nazis, against the people they saved, or even against each other, absolutely fascinated me. Tuvia has to live with the pressure of trying to provide a decent state of living for all of the people he saved. About halfway through the film, Zus lets his need for violent revenge get in the way of what is truly important and he leaves the woodland society the Bielskis built to go and fight for a group of Russians who are busy killing Nazis. And Asael's transformation is actually what fascinated me the most. In the beginning he is too overwhelmed with sadness to be of much help to anyone, but as Tuvia gets sicker and sicker near the end, Asael rises up and becomes a leader for the group in the time when they need a leader the most. He becomes what Tuvia was in the beginning to these people; a shining light in a time of unimaginable darkness.

The characters definitely make this film the brilliant work that it is, and that is in no small part thanks to the actors who portray them. Daniel Craig finally has the chance to lead a big, widely seen epic like this, thanks to his fantastic work as the new James Bond. And he doesn't take his new status lightly, seen here in a tremendous performance. He brings so much quiet pain to Tuvia throughout the film, but he is most impressive when he lets the rage building inside him out into the open. He is mostly seen as a peaceful person who just wants to protect people, but when he lets that aggression out he is truly terrifying. Liev Schreiber's performance is the exact opposite. Although he doesn't express it in a theatric manner, for most of the film his Zus is looking for blood. It's in those quiet moments, like a relationship with a woman they saved or his breakdown after learning that his wife and child are dead, that his performance is the most impressive and is why he was the highlight of the cast. Jamie Bell is one of the best young actors working today and he proves that again with what I believe is his best performance yet. Of course they aren't the only actors in the project and everyone else, from their three love interests to all of the other unique characters living in the society they built, gives solid supporting work.

Being a Zwick epic, Defiance is not only filled with layered, tragic characters but also contains a bounty of massively entertaining, beautifully orchestrated action scenes. The technical aspects, from the cinematography and score down to the sound and costume design, are all tremendous and come together to create a believable, authentic setting for these characters to make this emotional journey.

Brideshead Revisited (2008)

Unengaging.

[4/10 · 14 January 2009]

Technically, it's a marvel. The cinematography, costume design and score are all absolutely gorgeous. But I couldn't get into the story. Usually stuff like this interests me quite a lot, but the characters all felt so wooden and stale that I could never invest myself in what was happening in the story. There are moments that are clearly supposed to be emotionally powerful, but I felt nothing. The acting was disappointing. Matthew Goode was very stiff and uninteresting. I could say the same for Emma Thompson. Hayley Atwell, however, added another strong supporting turn to her impressive year. With this, The Duchess and Cassandra's Dream she really came into her own this year. I can't wait to see more from her. Ben Whishaw managed to rise a notch above the rest of the film, giving an interesting, unique portrayal. I wish there could have been more focus on him and he hadn't just disappeared with half an hour left. Overall a visually impressive work with two solid performances that couldn't draw me in no matter how hard it tried.

Gran Torino (2008)

The best performance of Eastwood's career.

[8/10 · 14 January 2009]

I've never been a fan of Clint Eastwood, as a writer or director. In fact I've hated almost every single film he's directed or starred in. When I first saw the trailer for Gran Torino, I couldn't stop laughing. I thought it looked absolutely ridiculous and full to the brim with clichés and stupidity. So all things were pointing to this being one of my least favorite films of the year. Much to my surprise, it turned out to be quite the opposite. Gran Torino is one of the best films of the year, Eastwood's best directorial work since Mystic River and it contains the greatest performance of his career.

That's not to say it's without flaws, of course. As a whole, the film is very clichéd (the angry old man mentors the naive, fatherless boy, the angry old war veteran is haunted by his past, etc.) but that's easy to look past because it's not a film about the story; not really. It's about this character and his transition throughout. Walt Kowalski (Eastwood) is a bitter, angry old man. He spends his days drinking beer on his porch with his dog, admiring his beautiful lawn and the 1972 Gran Torino he has sitting in his garage. When he's not on his porch, he's growling to himself, talking to his dog about his disgust for the Koreans who have moved into his neighborhood. Walt is a traditional man, and it's easy to see why things in his life make him hate his family (his grandchildren where football jerseys and shirts revealing their bellies to his wife's funeral, for instance) and isolate himself to his home.

His disgust for the world is put to the test when a group of Hmong gangbangers attack the young boy who lives next door to him, and Walt steps in with a rifle when they cross over onto his lawn. He saves the young boy, Thao (Bee Vang) and as a result the Hmongs in the neighborhood start to worship Walt and consider him a savior to the people living there. At first Walt turns away their love and admiration, but slowly they beat it into him to the point where he accepts their gifts and starts to associate with his neighbors. They bring down the wall of anger that Walt has built up around him over the years, and when they start to move into his life he realizes that he has more in common with these people he detested than he does with his own family. He finds a common understanding with the Hmong family next door, and accepts Thao's request to help him with chores around the house. What results from this is your typical story of an old man mentoring the young, fatherless boy, but Eastwood has a way of making it all feel fresh. Nick Schenk's screenplay definitely helps in making it feel more original than one would expect. To my knowledge there has never been a scene in a story like this where the old man takes the young boy to his barber to show him how to talk like a man, by insulting everyone your friends and doing nothing but complaining about how much life breaks your balls. Something I didn't expect from this film was just how intentionally hilarious it was. The scenes with the barber (the always under-appreciated John Carroll Lynch) are some of the funniest stuff of the year.

Walt invests himself into the Hmongs life and when the gangbangers come back and start harassing Thao and his sister Sue (Ahney Her), he feels a responsibility to step in and protect them. Walt wants to do something meaningful at the end of his life, something to repay for the sins he committed in the war and defend the few people who he feels are good in this world. It's all a little typical, but as I said earlier, Gran Torino isn't really about the story. It's a character study of a haunted old man who opens his door and finds that the people he despised are actually more akin to himself than his own family, and the fact that he'll do anything to protect the people he's come to care for throughout the film. Clint Eastwood directs this all with that old Hollywood feel he's been pouring into his films this decade which makes it feel very cinematic, which is a good thing in the context of the film.

The real shining aspect of this film, however, is his performance which is astonishing. He imbues Kowalski with an air of Dirty Harry and it works so well for the character, because this all feels like it could be the final installment of the Dirty Harry franchise and it would be the best film in that solid series. Eastwood doesn't hold anything back, slurring off every racist remark in the book within the first half hour and making it all feel so believable. And despite all of the racism and bitter resentment for everything in the world, Kowalski remains an insanely likable character (the fact that I found a lot to relate to in him definitely helps, but it mostly comes entirely from Eastwood's brilliant portrayal). I enjoyed watching him for every second he was on screen and as his heart warmed to the Hmongs (without ever getting sentimental or anything close), so did mine. The Hmong actors all give pretty terrible performances (especially Her), but it's easy to look past that when the film is anchored by such a tremendous lead. On the surface, Gran Torino seems like something typical and potentially ridiculous. But don't let that deceive you. This is a subtle, powerful film with an ending as devastating as it is moving.

Towelhead (2007)

Breaks stereotypes while remaining mostly realistic.

[7/10 · 2 January 2009]

Towelhead's themes of racism, sexual development and the horrors that lie in the dark abyss of suburbia basically come down to one thing: stereotyping. The film goes through many different lives and stories, all through the eyes of 13-year old Jasira (played with great bravery and intelligence by Summer Bishil). Through her eyes we see how everyone around her is just stereotyped immediately by the people living in this world and even by the audience. The aggressive Arab-American, the ignorant redneck pedophile, the horny black teenager, the pregnant hippie, etc. All of these typical characters are alive in this world and while they do have some of the characteristics that you would expect from the stereotypes of the character, Alan Ball does a good job of making them more diverse, complex and simply human than you would expect.

There were some things I really liked and some that I really didn't like. It all felt kind of awkward to me, but I think that helped the themes of the story in a way. Either way, Aaron Eckhart gave a really fantastic performance. He uses that boyish charm and those unimaginably handsome looks to make a horrifically despicable character borderline likable until his final scenes. One of those performances where you know that he's only going to bring horrible things to the main character's life and he makes you so uneasy when he's in a room alone with her, but you can't take your eyes off of him. A truly fascinating performance. I really think he's one of the very best actors working today. Peter Macdissi and Summer Bishil were also great, just a little less-so than Eckhart.

Valkyrie (2008)

Intense, but a lack of dimension in the characters.

[31 December 2008]

Valkryie is a relatively intense thriller with an ending that we all know going into it, but that doesn't make it any less suspenseful. Well...maybe a little less suspenseful, but not significantly. The film has one fatal flaw though and that's it's complete lack of focus on it's characters. Bryan Singer made a decision to focus almost entirely on the attempted assassination on Hitler to the point where by the end we don't even know who these characters, aside from Stauffenberg, were that conspired to bring down Hitler. As far as I'm concerned, they were just a bunch of strangers in a room. The performances were good, giving each character a certain amount of presence, but after it all I still don't know who these men were. Tom Cruise definitely commanded the film with a driven performance that made him the high point of the picture, for me. And in the end, despite the lack of layers or exploration into the characters, the story still managed to be very suspenseful which made it fun to watch. And that ending was devastating.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

Lifeless.

[1/10 · 30 December 2008]

Hated it. A lot. From the trailer it looked like Button was going to be an epic, self-indulgent way too overly sensationalized mess of a film. Now I don't go into a film expecting anything good or bad, so don't think that I went into it determined to hate it. And even if I had, it wouldn't be for those reasons. Although there are a few moments of the film that fit that description (the Mr. Gateau story, for example), most of the film was more low-key. However what the film did turn out to be was unbearably dull. There was no emotion, no intrigue, no life. It's a shame that a story which is fascinating on paper could turn into a picture that is so absolutely lifeless. The performances, the characters themselves, the direction, the screenplay. All of it contributed to a completely comatose picture. The visuals weren't even impressive. Sure they weren't bad, but they sure as hell weren't anything above average. And thus Button is just another highly-praised film that's making a dent in the awards season that I simply don't understand the praise for, at all. Three hours of my life I wish I could get back.

Yes Man (2008)

Say yes!

[8/10 · 20 December 2008]

Yes Man follows the same basic genre comedy structure that we've seen an endless amount of times in the past few years. The main character has a big problem, they work to solve that problem, the problem is solved and happy times are had. Then another problem arises as a result to the solution to the original problem. So everyone is sad. But then that problem is solved and everyone lives happily ever after. And there's a message about how to live your life sprinkled in there. For every single comedy in the past few years with that structure, I've gotten so bored by the time it's over because I just lose interest when the drama comes in during the third act. I either don't care about the characters or I don't care about the message.

Every comedy except for this one. Not only did I care about the characters so much (thanks mostly to the performances from Jim Carrey and Zooey Deschanel who put a beautiful, free-spirited romance at the core of this seemingly typical comedy) that I was emotionally impacted during that predictable turn for the worse near the end, but the message of the film was actually something that I found relatable to my own life which is something I've never experience during these kind of comedies. I'm definitely a man who doesn't really live his life (as cheesy as that sounds) because I isolate myself by making excuses to just be alone and not be with anyone. As a result, I was definitely more invested in this film than I have been with other comedies of the same vein.

Add to all this the fact that it's completely hilarious throughout to the point where I have no hesitation in calling it the funniest movie of the year and easily the best straight comedy (not that there have been many good ones; three by my count). Plus, of course, Zooey Deschanel is absolutely infectious in every moment she's on screen (especially her lovely singing). I love her more than air, and this is just another example of why that love is justified. Call it fanboyism if you must, but she's my #2 of the year in supporting actress right now falling second only to the Cruz. In summation, do yourself a favor and say yes to this great comedy.

I'm so sorry, I had to say it.

Milk (I) (2008)

Believe the hype.

[10/10 · 18 December 2008]

Pretty much perfect. I do have one complaint with the film though; we should have seen more Dan White. It felt like they just spaced out scenes for him where he showed up every ten minutes after his first appearance and each scene of his was a big block of character development. It did a good job of demonstrating what led him to kill Harvey Milk, but didn't give us a chance to sympathize with him or even really understand why he did it beyond the basics. I felt like there was a lot more depth to him beneath the surface and while Josh Brolin did a great job of showing the insecurities and anger of the character internally, I wanted to see his flaws fleshed out more in the actual story instead of just in Brolin's performance. Aside from that, I have no complaints with the film.

I've seen a lot of people call it an unconventional biopic, and while I can't really agree with that, it's definitely the pinnacle of a biopic. I'm tempted to say that Sean Penn has never been better than he is here and I'm struggling to think of a reason why that wouldn't be true. People say it about performances all of the time, but it's really true here; Sean Penn became Harvey Milk. He embodied the life and soul of Milk and completely disappears into the character. It's one of those cases where you think he's not really doing anything impressive...but that's what makes it so impressive. He lives and breathes the character so much that it just becomes his natural persona for the duration of the film and you don't realize just how brilliant he was until it's all over and you think 'That was Sean Penn that entire time.' An impeccable performance if I ever saw one. No one can beat Sam Rockwell (in Snow Angels) for me this year, but since he's not a contender I'm throwing my hat in the 'Give Sean Penn another Oscar.' ring as of now.

Gus Van Sant's direction was superb; he used the technique of bleeding real footage into the movie footage that we've seen before, but something about the way he did it made it all feel very organic which I loved. He made everything lively and fresh while not getting in the way of the actors doing their jobs and that's pretty hard to find. The screenplay incorporated all of these big, epic moments of Milk's history into the story of his personal and political life without missing a beat or making anything feel like 'Oh, this is just building up to that big speech.' which is a problem that occurs with a lot of biopics. Danny Elfman's score ranges from emotionally powerful to beautiful to quietly haunting without getting in the way of the rest of the story. It's my favorite of the year so far. The cinematography gave a very intimate feel to everything from the first love scene between Milk and James Franco's character Scott Smith to those big speeches and marches unlike most films where they make those moments seem grand and out-of-this-world. But here everything is very 'in the moment' throughout.

And finally, the acting from the entire cast is brilliant. Penn leads the front with an Oscar-worthy portrayal. Josh Brolin is emotional and painfully insecure in his own body. James Franco goes from being the gorgeous, flirty young boy to a brooding man who just wants to be with the man he loves but that man is too busy focusing on much grander things. Emile Hirsch is adorable, driven and wildly charismatic. And the rest of the campaign cast did a great job of blending organically into their roles.

Quantum of Solace (2008)

Almost as good as the flawless Casino Royale.

[10/10 · 17 November 2008]

In 2006, James Bond was reinvented. After four decades of him being displayed as a suave, cheesy and one-dimensional spy, we finally saw a darker side of the man. In Casino Royale Bond was a brutal, vicious bastard with a heart colder than ice. But that changed when Vesper Lynd came into the mix and melted this man's heart. For the first time in history, we saw a Bond in love, and were then witness to the tragedy that came when he found out that she betrayed him and he had to watch her die.

For the first time in the franchise, Quantum of Solace is a direct sequel to it's predecessor. In fact, it begins almost immediately after Royale as Bond is in the midst of escaping with the man he found and captured at the end of the previous film. It's clear from the beginning that he is even more ruthless now and he's going to bring down anyone who stands in the way of his revenge. He's not 'out for blood' in the classic sense, but he won't think twice about tossing a man through a window and bleeding him out on his patio if the man attacks him. He wants to find whoever is ultimately responsible for the death of the woman he loved and, in the end, the person who allowed him to feel and then ripped that love away. Once again, this newly reinvented Bond goes beyond the rest of the franchise by pouring a strong amount of true emotion into this story.

A lot of the emotion on this new Bond comes with the help of Daniel Craig, who gives another flawless performance in the lead role. Last time he went through a range of emotions, but now he is just a wrecking ball of rage driving towards the people who hurt him. It's a visceral portrayal that, just like in Royale, shook me to the core. However the most surprising display of internal pain and heartache in this film didn't come from Bond himself, but from the woman who commands him. M usually takes a huge backseat to the action in the series and only pops in once or twice throughout the film to say 'Oh, Bond, you silly boy.' and then disappear. But she's given a lot more depth this time around and Judi Dench takes full advantage of this opportunity to pour emotion into a mostly underused character. At the beginning of the film, one of her men turns out to be a mole for QUANTUM, the organization that they are hunting but have no knowledge of, and he tries to kill her and Bond. This results in a phenomenal chase sequence as Bond chases after the man, but the even more interesting result of the scene is the impact it has on M. We get to see her as a fragile woman who has spent years putting her heart and soul into her job who is shattered when she is almost murdered by a man she trusted to be her own bodyguard. I loved getting the chance to see what's been boiling underneath M's surface all of these years.

Of course with every Bond film comes a Bond villain and here we get the cunning, malicious and intelligent Dominic Greene played with a quiet fury by Mathieu Amalric. I loved this character as, like everything else with the new Bond, he isn't typical to the series. He's not a recycled psychopath with a scar or a cat, to try and make him more menacing than he needs to be. Amalric embodies this man brilliantly by showing from the start that he will do anything to get what he wants and anyone who stands in his way will catch a bullet. His subtle nature and refusal to ever be extravagant or go over-the-top made him all the more frightening as a villain.

In Casino Royale, Eva Green's Vesper Lynd evolved the standard Bond girl that we get to see every film. She was different because she actually got Bond to fall in love with her. She wasn't just a tramp who fell for his charm and was tossed out of his room in the morning. In Quantum of Solace we see another evolution of this usually one-dimensional character with Olga Kurylenko's excellent portrayal of Camille, a woman out for vengeance of her own. Unlike the majority of Bond girls, Camille is a fully developed character with her own story of revenge that is displayed throughout the course of the film. Kurylenko's pure rage and desperate need for revenge against a man who killed her family and burned her house down around her as a child, is a surprisingly interesting subplot to this story and seeing how her and Bond relate to one another while trying to use Greene to get to the people they want is one of the most compelling aspects of this story.

As with every Bond film, there is beautiful scenery and masterfully extensive action scenes all the way through and they've never been better than they are in Solace. All of the action is brutal and whether it's a fistfight, a chase in the sea or in the sky, or a fight with an axe while a hotel is burning down around them, every scene is wildly commanding and had me on the edge of my seat. Daniel Craig's Bond is a much more compelling character than Bond has ever been and this tragically vicious story is what has made both of these films among my favorites of the decade. Quantum of Solace is a film that, while not being as epically flawless as Casino Royale, is still a masterpiece according to this viewer.

The Duchess (2008)

One of the best period dramas in ages.

[9/10 · 24 October 2008]

A brilliant ensemble highlights this period drama about one of history's most interesting members of royalty. Director Saul Dibb does an excellent job of creating this extensive, intricate universe and the cinematography and score are the best of the year, but it's really Keira Knightley's performance that drives the film to the level of greatness it has achieved. She is absolutely phenomenal. She's never had a performance with this much fury, both external and internal, and she nails the delicacies of this without a second of hesitation. She knows exactly when to bottle up the pain and express it through her eyes and when to let all of the pent-up aggression out without ever going over the top. A shatteringly emotional performance that remains impressive all the way to the end. I'm tempted to call it her best performance, but I can't manage to say it's better than her work in Pride & Prejudice. Still, it's a close number two in her career. Of course she's not the only member of the cast, and the rest of the ensemble all does a great job of supporting her. The most impressive of that supporting cast would be Ralph Fiennes, whose piercing eyes shook me to the core whenever he came on screen. Two perfect performances in the best period film about royalty in quite some time.

Cool Hand Luke (1967)

A powerful metaphor for Christ.

[9/10 · 23 October 2008]

This expertly written story of a rebel playing by his own rules, no matter what anyone else says, was a lot different than what I had expected but definitely worthy of the classic status it has come to receive in the forty years since it's release. The story is timeless, incredibly powerful and ultimately uplifting and the cast does a great job at putting it all together. Most impressive, of course, is Paul Newman who gives a very likable, well-rounded performance that exceeded my high expectations that I had built up. I'm kind of surprised that it wasn't nominated for Best Picture.

The most interesting aspect of the film for me was the metaphor for the life of Christ that was displayed throughout. At the beginning of the film we see Luke engage in a boxing match where he is badly beaten, but he refuses to lay down and give up. As a result of this, his fellow prisoners in the camp become his followers. They praise him and look towards him as a leader for the rest of the film. He leads them up against the guards; not in an act of rebellion in order to overthrow the camp, but rebellion just for the sake of rebellion. Luke doesn't ever ask to become the leader of this group or to be anything more than himself. He just does things in order to pass the time, in order to entertain himself, and as a result everyone else in the camp projects these Christ-like qualities upon him. The film itself makes direct references to him being a religious symbol; his camp number 37, is a reference to the bible and after the scene where he eats fifty eggs he lays on the table in the form of a crucifix. Most interesting for me, though, was the story of his resurrection. After his second botched escape attempt, he comes back and the guards begin to beat him over and over again. They torture him for no reason other than to break him and when they finally do, they push him down into his grave, literally. But then the warden, as god, lifts him back up out of the grave and puts him back into the camp. His fellow prisoners think he is broken and that he has abandoned them, but instead he rises back up and escapes once again. I'm not a religious man by any means, but the metaphor for Luke as Christ throughout was something that I found very intriguing.

The ending itself was great. Luke was finally killed but the impact of his life lived on through Dragline. The most powerful moment of the film for me was when he rose up and attacked the man with no eyes, who had served as this haunting figure looming over the prisoners for the entire film. Seeing those ominous get crushed under the tire was such a powerful anti-establishment statement. The final montage of Newman's beautiful smile could have come across as overly sentimental, but instead further served the uplifting message that the film carries all the way through. A great story highlighted by a sensational performance.

Appaloosa (2008)

It's a shame this brilliant film has gone so unnoticed.

[9/10 · 23 October 2008]

When I first heard about the film it instantly became one of my most anticipated, but then when it came out and everyone had the same 'meh' reaction to it, I let that anticipation drop. Well, it turned out to be just as good as I originally thought it would be. Ed Harris' direction is top-notch and he uses every aspect of the film to create this extraordinarily authentic western universe that enables these interesting characters to interact in a very immersive environment. The cinematography and score are both astounding and help tremendously in crafting this world. Harris plays Virgil Cole, who rides into the town of Appaloosa with his right-hand man Everett Hitch (Viggo Mortensen) to become the new Marshall and protect the town from the villainous Randall Bragg (Jeremy Irons).

I saw Cole and Bragg as the same person on different sides of the law; they are both sophisticated, quiet men who settle their disputes quickly with violence instead of words. Neither man is extravagant or particularly dangerous on the surface, but their sole presence adds a certain suspense to the scene and you can always feel an evil lurking just beneath the exterior. Early on in the film, we see Cole snap and beat the hell out of a drunk at a bar for no particular reason. This darkness is what made him such an interesting character for me; behind those steely blue eyes there is always something mysterious burning that I found terrifying.

However it's Mortensen's Hitch who turns out to be the most intriguing character of the film. In his opening narration we find out that he met Cole by chance when he rode up on him in the middle of a fight with some men, and Hitch protected him. Through that random encounter they became best friends and their loyalty to each other is thicker than blood. Throughout most of the film Hitch seems to be just Cole's badass sidekick, but we slowly begin to learn that he has more depth than anyone else in this story. A little over halfway through, Cole tells Everett that 'feelings get you killed' and everyone seems to live by that little motto throughout the story, while Everett tries to figure out his place in a world with that mentality. In the final act he realizes that everyone is turning a blind eye to the evil of Bragg and what he has done, letting this town and the relationships in it slowly fall apart instead of confronting the man; so he decides to do something about it. His transition throughout the film from Cole's sidekick to the only man who lets his feelings determine his actions was striking. He sacrifices his own place in the town in order to better everyone else, and then he rides off into the dwindling sun.

In the end we realize that the film isn't focusing on Cole's time in Appaloosa but is instead focusing on the time that Hitch and Cole spent working side-by-side. We begin with them strolling into the town and end with Hitch riding away while Cole stays in town. Hitch is somewhat of a classic western drifter, who comes upon Cole by chance and protects him from danger so the two work together and then he rides away at the end to an undetermined future. An incredibly interesting character that Mortensen brings to life with a phenomenal performance. He's definitely the most impressive of the cast (and I wouldn't be surprised if he remains in my Lead Actor lineup at the end of the year) but Irons and especially Harris shine as well. It really was a fantastic story with very interesting characters set in a perfectly realized western universe. Loved it. It's a shame that the majority of people have had such a mediocre reaction to it. Oh and for the record I didn't mention Zellweger's performance or character because they were both so uninteresting that they didn't really warrant mention.

Blindness (2008)

A mess of a film.

[3/10 · 4 October 2008]

Another large disappointment of '08 for me. What looked like it could have been a visceral, original and extraordinarily acted story of human decay ended up being a clichéd and relatively typical story of...well, human decay. As a study of how we deteriorate as a study given a pandemic that disables one of our vital senses, it works on quite a few levels. It shows how quick we are to snap and break apart from our normal routine of living and fall into our basic needs for survival; in terms of both those infected and those who aren't. Then within the quarantine building set up for those infected, we see how some work hard to keep things in order and preserve the living conditions for the group as a whole, while others resort to absolute anarchy in their own greedy quest for a better living for themselves with no concern for anyone else. I also thought that seeing how the marriage between the uninfected Julianne Moore and the infected Mark Ruffalo progressed throughout the course of the film was quite interesting.

That's about where it stops working for me, though. The film takes far too long to really get going, with needless scenes showing various people discovering that they have gone blind and then the final act drags on for what seemed like an eternity. Ultimately, everything is just too obvious for me to be impressed and not wait for the next typical scene to happen. Everyone starts to go blind, people don't understand, chaos ensues, more people are infected, they're quarantined and treated poorly, madness breaks out within the quarantined, etc. It's like they just took out the pandemic movie handbook, changed the disease to blindness and played out every step like they were just reading out of the book. It was depressing, really.

Another thing the film did that annoyed me quite a bit was how they left so many things unanswered. How was the infection started? Why were some, particularly Moore's character, immune? Why was Moore the only immune person with the decency to stay with the blind while everyone else in the world abandoned them? Surely there were other husbands and wives that were immune and would have stayed with their lover? Why couldn't Moore have taken the gun from Bernal's character the second he got it? Why did they just go along with him being in charge just because he had a gun, when they had someone who could see? And the most infuriating question that was unanswered and served as the basic reason for all of the chaos that broke down within the quarantine ward: Where the hell did Gael Garcia Bernal's character get the gun? They never explain it and just expect us to go along with it. It's practically insulting how little is explained while they go through such a typical routine. And then it runs through so many gratuitous and unnecessary scenes to show us this decay of human nature that they are so persistent upon, even though it's quite obvious that it has happened. I don't need to see closeups of people walking through piles of feces in a hallway or an attempt at showing nine women being basically raped in an artistic manner, and then one of them getting killed for it.

Though most frustrating of all has to be the ending. The entire film had me sitting and waiting for the scene at the end when everyone suddenly sees again for no apparent reason, and there it was slapping me right in the face like an idiot. Disease comes out of nowhere and infects people with no explanation, society falls apart, disease ends and everyone is happy. What a waste of time. I do have to admit though that the art direction is extraordinary. I'll be surprised if that isn't in my lineup at the end of the year.

Acting-wise, Ruffalo is the only one who was fantastic for me. He gives a shatteringly devastating performance that kept me intent on watching all the way through. Alice Braga was also quite good, but that's about where the talent ends. Julianne Moore is god awful. I've always considered her a bad actress because she seems so unnatural and forced all of the time, and this is the perfect example of that. It's a real shame that something so promising ended up being so bad, but I've come to expect it from this year.

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008)

A fun little love story.

[7/10 · 4 October 2008]

It's pretty typical, but still quite a lot of fun to watch. The scenes just between Nick and Norah are where the film shines the brightest. Cera and Dennings have a great chemistry in both comedic and romantic moments, and they are just a joy to watch all the way through. The film should have just been all about them, but it got bogged down with pretty pointless subplots that got tedious after a while. The entire story with Triss trying to get Nick back was boring and didn't add anything to the film, and while everything with Nick's gay band members was kind of funny it wasn't vital to the story and took screen time away from Nick and Norah which is where it should have been. However there is one subplot that was absolutely hilarious and always made a for a lot of fun and that was Norah's friend Caroline who gets ridiculously wasted at the beginning and spends the entire night lost in the city completely out of her mind. Ari Graynor steals the film away from the two leads in a big way. She dominates every scene with some of the best comedic work of the year. Her scene with Kevin Corrigan (who is dressed as a chef, doesn't say a word and just looks at a sandwich in his lap with a scarily depressed face) is far and away the best scene in the film and probably the funniest of the entire year. It had me dying. Overall, it's a cute little love story about finding your true soul mate in the midst of one chaotic night. A good watch.

The Lucky Ones (2008)

A very well-acted study of three fragile souls.

[9/10 · 3 October 2008]

Three soldiers are home from Iraq; a 40-ish Tim Robbins out for good and the young Michael Pena and Rachel McAdams on a thirty day leave. Each has their own problem that they are faced with at the beginning of the film. Robbins comes home to a wife who wants a divorce and a son who needs $20,000 for college, Pena suffered a wound that has made him impotent and McAdams lost her friend and wants to find his family in order to return his guitar and live with them since she's lost any ties with her own. Think every problem is going to be solved in a little bow by the end? Well, you'd be right. Think that it's going to really typical and schmaltzy? Not so much on that one. It seems like a film that's made for the obvious ups and downs throughout but it actually manages to be quite original and refreshing. Instead of feeling like a film that's just about resolving the individual situations, it's a lot more carefree and a lot more about these three people simply enjoying life together and keeping one another joyful.

Of course there are many different stops on the way to their ultimate destinations in order to give us some situations of them interacting in the real world, but each one is a lot of fun and we gain a little more depth to the characters at each stop. All of the characters are well-fleshed out and don't feel like just another retread of stereotypes we've seen over and over again. One of the things that really surprised me is that when a little romance starts to bloom between Pena and McAdams, I didn't roll my eyes like I would have expected but instead I smiled and enjoyed watching this flirtation grow between the two of them in a non-typical way. And all the way through we are treated to three strong performances from three solid actors.

The real star is Rachel McAdams, who I'd say is Oscar-worthy. She keeps the laughs coming all the way through and steals every single scene with her bright eyes and southern drawl, but you can tell that there is real emotion brimming just under the surface. She's a girl who has every reason to hate life with a fury, but she remains optimistic and tries to get those around her to enjoy living just as much as she does. One scene in particular, when she finally meets the family of her fallen friend, is a showcase for what an extraordinary actress she is. This is her best performance by a long shot, and definitely one of the best of the year. The Lucky Ones is something that could have been obvious and clichéd, but ended up being just the opposite; a refreshing and very well-acted story that I wish wasn't destined to be forgotten come awards season.

Damages (2007–2012)

You have to see it to believe how perfect it is.

[10/10 · 28 September 2008]

I expected it to be great, but not this perfect. It takes 'riveting' to a whole new level. The show manages to have so much going on but always kept me involved and wondering what these people were hiding, how they are connected, what twist was coming my way and most importantly, how the events we were seeing happen in the present were going to lead to the ominous and frightening glimpses we get to see of the not so distant future. There's a lot happening and a lot of mystery around every corner, but it never feels like it's wandering too far into an unknown direction or getting too far ahead of the viewer. It's clear that every scene has a purpose and the writers now exactly where they're going and how they're getting there. So whenever something happens that's a little bit over the viewer's head at that moment, you know that it's going to be explained all the way soon. Everything that happens comes together in the final picture. And the journey to that final picture is one of the most compelling I've ever taken. Each of the thirteen episodes brings a remarkable amount of believable character development that looking back to the first episode after finishing the finale, it seems like I began by watching completely different people. There is so much information, so much mystery, so many twists and turns that are so comfortably displayed with such raw intensity throughout. My eyes were glued to the screen the entire time, and every episode just had me aching for the next one. Genius stuff.

The acting more than deserved all of the immense praise that it received. Glenn Close gives a shatteringly intense performance that is frighteningly commanding. Rose Byrne is perfect as the one character who makes a huge change throughout the first season. She plays this transition from the gullible, naive new attorney to a hardened, revenge-driven women as if she were born to do it. I've loved her as an actress since I first laid eyes on her, but she still managed to impress me in a way I couldn't have imagined. She's never had a role this dark, this adult...gone through so many different levels of maturity and emotion without hesitating for a second. She holds her own against Close, and that is no easy task. We see her go from being a tool in Patty Hewes (Close's character) end game to being an almost mirror image of Hewes herself. Zeljko Ivanek is the cast member who surprised me the most, though. I've seen him in shows before (24, Oz) but he was never given the room to really display his immense talent like he was given in this one. He has a quiet intelligence to him that always drew my attention towards him on screen, and his character probably faces the most tragic journey throughout the first season. And he makes the southern drawl his character has seem as if it's been his voice since the day he came out of the womb. He deserved that Emmy and then some. Ted Danson, Noah Bean and Tate Donovan round out the main cast of this perfectly acted thriller.

Street Kings (2008)

Surprisingly quite good.

[8/10 · 26 September 2008]

A pleasant surprise; I really dug it. Definitely felt like an Ellroy story and while it has a lot of twists and turns and a very intricate structure of all the corruption throughout the police force, it never got too confusing and never got so unrealistic that it distracted from the great time it was. Reeves was surprisingly very likable in the lead role and even had a few scenes that proved he can be emotional if needed, unlike the 'most wooden actor alive' persona that so many have pegged him of having. Forest Whitaker was definitely the best of the cast with an almost psychotic intensity that reminded me a little bit of his Idi Amin, especially in his final scene. A lot of people say he goes too over-the-top but I thought his theatrics were necessary for the character. The rest of the supporting cast is solid, but none of them shine too bright. I really wish Hugh Laurie had more screen time. I'd like to give a special mention to Chris Evans who had this excellent groove with Reeves once the two of them teamed up. That's pretty much it. An entertaining, gritty cop thriller that I found highly enjoyable.

Eagle Eye (2008)

Very fun, not very original.

[7/10 · 26 September 2008]

It was entertaining enough. Pretty typical really. The whole computer made for ultimate protection or whatever, that is way too smart and turns evil and starts killing us made me roll my eyes pretty hard. But it was still fun because it definitely added a little bit of a spin on that type of backstory by focusing more on innocent people who have no idea what's going on. I've always enjoyed watching LaBeouf act and this is no exception. I've also always enjoyed watching Michelle Monaghan be ridiculous attractive, so the fact that she's a good actress is just gravy for me. The two of them had great chemistry together and made for a really enjoyable ride throughout. I wish Michael Chiklis was given more to do, because he was great in his scenes; very commanding.

P2 (2007)

Campy excellence.

[7/10 · 19 September 2008]

Very entertaining. Wes Bentley really embraced the campy villainy in his role and made it a lot of fun to watch. Of course Rachel Nichols heaving, bouncing, wet cleavage was also quite pleasing to the eye throughout. Alexandre Aja really knows how to make a horror film, whether he's writing, producing or directing it or any combination of the three. He does a great job of taking scenarios never really done before that have always been in my mind and put them on screen in the best fashion (like the beheading via dresser in High Tension or in this one when Bentley takes a car and slams it over and over into a businessman against a wall). So much fun.