I thought I’d start things off with a series of quick capsule reviews / bullet points of my favorite 10 films of the year. Bryan will also post his as well following my comments. First of all, I have to admit there are some films I haven’t seen this year. These include: Once, Spider Man 3, The Bourne Ultimatum, Ratatouille, Waitress, 3:10 To Yuma and The Assasination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford. Yes, I know, many of you are saying “How can you call yourself a critic if you left out (fill in movie title here)??” Well, those movies came out before I was a critic. And I was busy filming my own movie this summer, so, deal with it. I’ll see them sometime, and then I shall revise. Until then, feel free to cry blasphemy all you want. Who needs ya’.

Sam’s Top 10 (So Far)

10. Gone Baby Gone – Taught mystery/drama with crackling dialog, great performances, very disturbing and intense action sequences and myriad plot twists. Read Bryan’s review here.

9. American Gangster – Not as passionate or funny as “The Godfather” or “Goodfellas”, but Denzel Washington is menacing, and the fact that they’re examining black gangsterdom during the racially tense mid-1900’s makes it very original.

8. Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead – A pitch black morality tale of two loser brothers (Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke) who try to rob their parents’ jewlery store and manage to screw it up royally. Read my review here.

7. Eastern Promises – A fantastically gritty, disturbing and entertaining tale of Russian gangsters and illegal prostitution in London, brought to you courtesy of resident nerve-tingler David Cronenberg.

6. Zodiac – A brilliant murder mystery by David Fincher. Astounding performances by Jake Gyllenhall, Robert Downey Jr. and Mark Ruffalo. This film will get the shaft at Oscar time. A damn shame. Go rent it and then flagellate yourself for not seeing it in the theater.

5. Sunshine – Hands down one of the best sci-fi movies in the last 20 years, and the best since “Minority Report”. Combines the existentialism of “2001: A Space Odessey” with the claustrophobic tension of “Alien” with a healthy does of spirituality and hope. Again, this shall receive a shafting at Oscar time.

4. No Country For Old Men – Great Coen Bros. dialog, haunting spareness, Javier Bardem is scary, a thematic ending rather than a typical action movie ending is at first baffling and then very rewarding. See Bryan’s review here.

3. Juno – A hip, hilarious and moving movie about a spunky 16-year-old who accidentally gets pregnant. Ellen Page deserves a Best Actress statuette, but Big Lips Jolie is gonna’ rob her of it.

2. Michael Clayton – Epic, passionate monologues in the Paddy Chayefsky school (think Network), a labyrinthine, non-chronological structure, Clooney’s best performance and just the right amount of pensive, haunting moments between the fireworks. See my review here.

1. There Will Be Blood – P.T. Anderson channels Orson Welles and Stanley Kubrick to create an epic, disturbing and fascinating look at a morally bankrupt oil man (Daniel-Day Lewis).

And that’s the way it is. Bryan, the floor is yours.

- Sam

Sam:

Hey all,

The Movie Geeks is a collaboration between Bryan Hickman, law student and avid blogger (this has to be his thirteenth or so) and myself, Sam Potter. As to my credentials, I am a published film critic, currently writing for the University of Utah Chronicle. I also work for a production company, Kokopelli Entertainment LLC, as an editor and cameraman. I also make independent films.

The Movie Geeks is our stab at “Ebert and Roeper” style cinematic journalism. As we are often privy to advanced screenings, look here for the skinny on anything in the cinematic world that’s worth (or not worth) your hard earned dollar.

And I pass the mike to my homie, B-Hick…

Bryan:

Thank you, Sam, and may I say…you’re great.  Have you lost weight or something?  Seriously,  folks, let’s have another round of applause for Samson H. Pottlearama (that’s what I call him).

Anyway, I don’t have a ton to add to Sam’s introduction of the blog.  We both love movies…we both consider ourselves experts on movies…this is now our forum through which we’ll pontificate.

My hope is that it will be informative, interesting and fun for the whole family.  We’re planning a few different features to include on the blog.  It’ll have movie reviews, geeky Top 5 lists, and random links to breaking movie-related news.

It’s gonna be weird.  It’s gonna be geeky.  It’s gonna be the time of your life.

Peace!

“The Mist”
Dimension Films
Written and directed by Frank Darabont (“The Shawshank Redemption”, “The Green Mile”), based on the short story by Stephen King

Starring Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurie Holden and Toby Jones
Rated R/127 minutes
Two out of four stars

Of all the authors whose books have been transformed for the silver screen, Stephen King has to be one of the most tapped resources. From “Carrie” to this year’s fantastic sleeper “1408,” King has supplied us with numerous stories of the extreme ends of the human condition and has given movie-goers some respite from “gore-no” slashers, such as “Hostel” or the dreadfully stupid and interminable “Saw” franchise. Granted, the films based on King’s stories vary in quality, but at heart there is always the gesture toward plot and story over visual excess.

For many, no director has managed to channel King’s vision as well as director Frank Darabont. Darabont’s feature debut “The Shawshank Redemption” and sophomore effort “The Green Mile” (both King adaptations) were rich stories about characters who, when faced with overwhelming adversity, found new levels of perseverance, humanity and kindness.

In other words, the characters had heart.

With his latest film, “The Mist,” Darabont has taken one huge leap backward. Although “The Mist” maintains a strong visual sense and precise pacing, Darabont’s knack for dialogue, directing actors and crafting believable characters is glaringly absent. Instead, he has replaced them with leaden performances from his leads, laughably clichéd lines and events and a cold, heartless center that leaves one wondering exactly what to take from the whole experience.

David Drayton (Thomas Jane) is a statuesque painter living in a quiet fishing town in Maine. A nasty storm hits, making a mess of Drayton’s neighborhood and bringing with it an ominous fog that begins to cover the town. In need of supplies to fix his damaged house, Drayton takes his young son and curmudgeon neighbor (Andre Braugher) into town. No sooner have they begun to peruse the aisles of the town grocery store, when an elderly townsman bursts in, drenched in blood, screaming, “There’s something in the mist.”

Perplexed, the townspeople are slow to believe until they themselves are attacked by giant tentacled monsters and overgrown bugs. Several of the townspeople hole up in the store and factions begin to form, one led by the level-headed Drayton and the other by Mrs. Carmody (Marcia Gay Harden), a fanatical, hypocritical bible-thumper who is quick to anoint herself as the mouthpiece for God’s will. The citizens ultimately must decide to either venture out and attempt escape or see if they can stay put long enough without driving one another mad.

Darabont does his best to breathe depth into a clichéd premise: He wants us to see that the real terror doesn’t come from supernatural threats, but from human nature. Unfortunately, this theme has been done before and in much better films, such as Danny Boyle’s “28 Days Later.”

One of Darabont’s problems is that his characters read as cartoons rather than archetypes. Harden’s Mrs. Carmody is forged from every right-wing, fanatical Christian stereotype in an attempt to say what, exactly? That anyone practicing Christianity is a bigoted, hypocritical, blood-sucking, judgmental and cultish freak?

Those whom she “converts” seem to be more full of some crazed disease than of hope and faith. Equally ridiculous is Drayton, who glares, looks tough, says a few smart-ass remarks, makes promises to his son that he knows he can’t keep and becomes the leader for no visible reason other than he is the best looking of the bunch. He’s an action hero, not a person. He has no visible belief system to combat the lunatic Christians. In all of these instances, Darabont sidesteps opportunities to examine humanity, existence and moral systems, something that made his earlier films so memorable and hard-hitting.

The one thing that almost redeems Darabont, however, is an ending more shocking, ironic and disturbing than I have seen in years. Suffice it to say that when I called the film cold and heartless, I meant it. It’s a chiller.

Poor Laurie Holden…such a talent, such a beauty. When will she get a decent vehicle?

In the end, “The Mist” ultimately misses an opportunity to bring something original to the warmed-over survival horror genre. Take your ticket money and go rent “1408″ instead.

“Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead”
ThinkFilm
Directed by Sidney Lumet
Written by Kelly Masterson

Starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Albert Finney, Rosemary Harris and Marisa Tomei

Rated R/117 minutes
Three-and-a-half out of four stars

In an age when many young directors seem to equate narrative competence with flashy editing, bravura camera moves, pop culture aesthetics and cooler-than-thou dialogue, it’s comforting to know there is someone like Sidney Lumet still behind the camera. The guy hardly needs to make any more movies: the 83-year-old veteran has given the cinematic world some of its finest dramatic works, with classics such as “12 Angry Men,” “Serpico,” “Dog Day Afternoon,” “Network,” and “The Verdict” — all pillars of excellence at balancing suspense, moral ambiguity, action and humanity, while proving to be highly influential.

Like any true artist, Lumet needs to create, and we’re lucky he does. His latest film, “Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead,” is a gut-wrenching, dark morality tale in the classic film noir fashion. It’s a nerve-wracking downward spiral that, like a car accident or YouTube video of a nasty skateboard wipe out, is hard to watch but impossible to take one’s eyes off of.

The story is refreshingly lean and economical. Andy (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) is a hard-working bookkeeper for a wealthy real estate investment firm. He has clawed his way up the ladder only to find himself still unsatisfied. He’s hard up for cash, and his relationship with his wife Gina (Marisa Tomei) has lost its luster. While vacationing in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the sparks start to rekindle. When they return from vacation, things return to the doldrums. Gina tells Andy she was happy in Rio and wishes they could live there. Desperate to acquiesce to her wish, Andy concocts a plan to rob his parents’ (Albert Finney and Rosemary Harris) jewelry store and enlists his washed-up younger brother, Hank (Ethan Hawke), to pull it off.

The plan seems easy enough: both brothers worked in the store as kids. They know the combinations, the codes to the security system, even who works what shift. No guns are to be involved, and it should be a clean sweep. When an accomplice’s actions cause everything to go wrong, it sets off a chain reaction that drags the brothers further and further into desperation.

Lumet’s movies have always featured rich characters, and this film is no exception. Andy and Hank are equally pathetic but in fascinatingly different ways. Andy, the older brother, has worked hard for everything in life. Not gifted with looks, he had to make up for it with tenacity, ferocity and dedication. Hoffman succeeds in striking the difficult balance of playing a man who in front of people is indestructible, yet crumbling and vulnerable in private. Andy’s a despicable person, yet in Hoffman’s hands, you still feel sorry for him. Ethan Hawke gives his finest performance to date of a bumbling loser who has a good heart yet lacks the requisite backbone to let his good points shine through. Albery Finney, brilliant as always, is heartbreaking as their hard-working father who is forced to face the fact that he might not have been that great of a dad after all.

Lumet directs the film with simplicity, grace and economy. No hip, flashy montages between scenes, no non sequiturs about some obscure comic book or kung fu movie — just an honest story about desperate people callous to the harm they could do to others. If there is any noticeable quirk in Lumet’s directorial style, it’s the deadpan way he stages some of his film’s most shocking moments. In places where some directors might attempt to evoke mood with music, editing or sound effect stabs, Lumet is confident enough in the story he’s telling to let it speak for itself.

If there is any weakness in the film, it’s that the plot is a bit far-fetched when compared to Lumet’s classics, but his assured direction and the believable performances overcome any hesitancy we might feel. Screenwriter Kelly Masterson employs a non-chronological structure, but it makes sense. He gives us a “bang” moment, then shows us the events and situations leading up to it. It’s not necessarily the end results that have the biggest impact. The joy in watching the film comes from seeing what makes these people tick, and what lead them to do the horrible things they did.

“Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead” might not quite reach the heights of Lumet’s greatest works, but it’s an undoubtedly solid and riveting piece of cinema.