#29 - Far From Heaven

Directed by Todd Haynes
2002 Romantic Drama
Rated PG-13

****

Great performances, cinematography, and a quirky score highlight Todd Haynes (I'm Not There) ode to the melodramas of the 1950s. Julianne Moore stars as a seemingly perfect southern housewife whose world is shattered when she discovers her husbands homosexuality. Faces some problems when it tries to deal with that issue as well as a racism plot line featuring Dennis Haysbert, but this is overall a beautiful film that brings back memories of the great studio films of half a century ago.

#28 - Half Nelson*

Directed by Ryan Fleck
2006 Drama
Rated R

*****

Ryan Gosling gives one of the most brilliant performances of the past twenty years in Ryan Fleck's pitch-perfect study of an inner-city schoolteacher (Gosling), struggling with a crack addiction who is discovered by one of his students (Shareeka Epps), and the friendship that is formed as a cause of it. The film (which was largely improvised) is anchored by its brilliant performances, great direction and perfectly appropriate score (provided mainly by Broken Social Scene). This is a film for the ages.

Just an FYI - A * next to a movie's title means that I am reviewing a film I have previously seen. This doesn't mean I just decided I wanted to post a review of it; I did just watch it, it's just the first time i've watched it this year.

#27 - Gerry

Directed by Gus Van Sant
2002 Drama
Rated R

** 1/2

Gus Van Sant's Gerry, the first in his recent string of experimental docu-drama's (followed by Elephant, Last Days, and the upcoming Paranoid Park) about outbursts of violence in seemingly normal situations, has many of the problems associated with a director experimenting with a new style. The film (which is largely improvised by its two stars, Matt Damon and Casey Affleck) follows to friends, both named "Gerry," who get lost on a hiking trip, and their struggle to survive in the unforgiving terrain of the southwest. Gerry suffers from the thing that made the later films great; minutia. The brilliance of Elephant and Last Days wasn't so much the story, or where the story was going, but the little things that pushed the story along. Here, despite the best efforts of the leads (and pretty much only actors in the film), Van Sant is too determined in letting the story play itself out. Thus the minutia (seemingly pointless conversations, long walks, etc.) make the film more boring than anything else. Still worth seeing for fans of the director.

#26 - Kiss Kiss Bang Bang*

Directed by Shane Black
2005 Crime Comedy
Rated R

**** 1/2

Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer star in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, a throwback to the fast-talking screwball comedies of the 1940s. The twist? It's also a throwback to the fast-talking film noirs of the 1940s. Aided by the lightning fast script of Shane Black (the Lethal Weapon series), Downey Jr. and Kilmer's great performances make this murder mystery one of the most fun movie experiences of recent memory. Get ready to quote some lines, people.