The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

The Nick with Ben on 1/5/12
You all know how much love Swedish cinema, and how much I enjoyed the original Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. This is a very worthy American adaptation of the novel as well. It's tight and tense and stressful to watch, but it's in such a good, gripping way that you almost enjoy how much it keeps your nerves on edge. Rooney Mara totally sold me as Lisbeth Salander, even though I hadn't been convinced from the production stills. I still wonder why exactly they bleached her eyebrows, though. And I don't understand at all why they chose to change the ending - there's nothing wrong with it, but there's nothing wrong with the way the book ended either.
My Netflix rating: 4 stars

New Movies in Year Three: 126

Margin Call (2011)

The Nick on 12/3/11
This was not at all about what I thought it was about. For some reason, I had expected some kind of political election thriller, but it's actually about the scrambling that takes place when the higher-ups discover a financial crisis in the making and can do nothing to stop it. It's actually very interesting to see how they scramble and what heads they are willing to chop off in order to save their own skins. The cast is great, from Zachary Quinto as the rocket scientist/risk analyst who discovers the problem to Kevin Spacey as the boss to Jeremy Irons as the big boss. I didn't hate any of them by the film's end. One thing that I did find a little strange was the mixing of characters as the story progresses. The lines between the levels of the hierarchy get so blurred, with low levels chilling and drinking coffee with their boss's boss's boss.
My Netflix rating: 4 stars

New Movies in Year Three: 108

The Ides of March (2011)

The Nick with Lauren on 11/5/11
I am not a huge fan of political thrillers to begin with. I find them often to be plodding and lacking a lot of the "thriller" elements. That being said, this one was decent. It's definitely something that's going to be nominated come Oscar time, and George Clooney and Ryan Gosling (who I normally don't like) were both very good. My biggest gripe with the film is that it lifts its character development, step by step, from The Godfather. Not much by way of originality, right down to the final shot of the film.
My Netflix rating: 3 stars

New Movies in Year Three: 101

Them! (1954)

Movie Night with Adam, Lauren, Mike, Kat, Anna, and Sadie on 9/11/11
I have a huge soft spot for B horror movies from the 50s. This one in particular is awesome in how awful it is. Giant ants mutated by residual radiation from testing in the New Mexico desert demolish a small town then move on to eat Los Angeles. You all know that the B movie movement was in response to fear over nuclear war and the Cold War - this one is not as overt as Godzilla and not as ridiculous as Plan 9 From Outer Space. Totally a fun movie.
My Netflix rating: 4 stars

New Movies in Year Three: 88

Contagion (2011)

Westbrook Cinemagic with Anna, Kat, Lauren, and Sadie on 9/9/11
Honestly, I'm still trying to sort out all the awesome things about this movie. The cast is great, the direction is spot-on (even though I generally don't like Steven Soderbergh) as a tense thriller, and the story is like Outbreak only not ridiculous. It's great! The MEV-1 virus is terrifying because it is suddenly everywhere and it's not so exotic that it's not scary. It's a respiratory illness that kills you. End of story. Not a hemorrhagic fever or a rare form of cancer. It's like the flu. The movie does a great job of highlighting how fast something like that will spread.
My Netflix rating: 5 stars

New Movies in Year Three: 86

The Ghost Writer (2010)

Showtime on 8/23/11
I am really going to miss having Showtime and HBO when I move! This is a pretty tightly-written political thriller, given that for large portions of the movie, the main character isn't doing much of anything. Olivia Wilde was a nice surprise cast member (Adelle DeWitt from Dollhouse), her performance as the former Prime Minister's neglected and slightly vindictive wife being one of the standouts. I like the idea that the major political events serve only as a backdrop to the thriller. This got a lot of Oscar buzz last year, but no actual love.
My Netflix rating: 4 stars

New Movies in Year Three: 78

The Ghost and the Darkness (1996)

HBO over 8/11/11 and 8/23/11
This was recommended to me way back when I was teaching World History and I'm just getting to it now. At first glance, it seems ridiculous - two male lions would never hunt together and further than that, they would never kill for sport the way it is depicted. I thought it was nothing but a failed attempt at an animal thriller. However, then I found out that the whole thing is based on a true story, which makes it way more interesting! The technical aspects just need work. The voiceover bit at the end makes the whole thing ring much more depressing, though, as it reminds the viewer how few lions there are left in the wild.
My Netflix rating: 3 stars

New Movies in Year Three: 77

Pitch Black (2000)

Movie Night with Kat, Anna, Adam, Justin, and Sadie on 8/7/11
I've seen The Chronicles of Riddick already and hadn't really felt the need to watch this. Except that I own it on VHS and figured someday I should watch it to decide whether to keep it or sell it back to Bull Moose for 10 cents and gain the shelf space. I'm thinking shelf space wins. It certainly wasn't a horrible movie, but it's not one I'll ever watch again. Vin Diesel takes on aliens that look like velociraptors crossed with scorpions crossed with tire irons, since he can see in the dark and it's the middle of an eclipse on this planet. Thank God most of it's in darkness, since the CGI is pretty bad.
My Netflix rating: 3 stars
New Movies in Year Three: 67

The Last House on the Left (1972)

Netflix DVD on 6/2/11
I had to watch this for one of my seminars at my upcoming MFA residency, and I know that for its time it was probably very graphic and disturbing, but in the (unfortunate) age of torture porn, this no longer holds up. The production value is low even for the 70s and the shock value isn't there for modern audiences. It's also usually described as being a revenge story, where the parents of a victimized girl attack her attackers, but that portion of the story takes place very shortly at the end. It's interesting only to see the progression of the genre.
My Netflix rating: 3 stars

New Movies in Year Three: 40

Deliverance (1972)

Netflix DVD with Lauren on 5/28/11
There is a whole lot of expectation built up around watching this for the first time. All anyone seems to know about it is centered around that one scene in the woods that includes the rape and attempted rape of two main characters. But in reality, that's not really what the story's about. It's about surviving in the woods against really stacked odds. The story structure has huge problems - the last third is made up entirely of falling action and there are really only three action scenes in the whole movie. Moments of horrifying and disturbing action are diminished by the long stretches of talking and boredom. Definitely not what I expected.
My Netflix rating: 3 stars

New Movies in Year Three: 39

Hanna (2011)

Westbrook Cinemagic on 4/27/11
This is a very violent, fast-paced spy movie that centers on a little girl who's been trained by her ex-CIA father in the Russian(?) woods. The editing and music choices are sometimes really strange and the writing falters some places (especially with the dialogue - I will never understand screenwriters who don't have the hang of dialogue), but Saoirse Ronan is absolutely amazing. It's no wonder she's been nominated for an Oscar once already. I don't really understand why they gave Cate Blanchett that terrible Texas accent, but I guess it's a CIA agent thing. They're always southern, aren't they?
My Netflix rating: 4 stars

New Movies in Year Three: 26

196. February 2, 2011 - Salt (2010)

This one faithfully follows the International Espionage Thriller Formula: assassination plots, Russian spies, shady pasts, double agents, triple agents, magical disappearing accents, and unresolved open-for-sequels ending. Angelina Jolie doesn't really sell me as a CIA agent, and I'm pretty sure that dying her hair black doesn't disguise her nearly as well as she thinks it does, but it's a decent thriller. Lots of chases and jumping from impossibly high surfaces.
My Netflix rating: 3 stars

193. January 25/30, 2011 - Countdown: The Sky's On Fire (1998)

According to this film, the hypothetical hole in the ozone layer is going to kill us by cooking us to death as we hike in the desert (a valid danger, but not limited to times when there is a hole in the ozone layer) and by driving hoards of bugs into our homes (scarier when it was the Bug Man on Buffy the Vampire Slayer). This is fun to watch as a bad movie and definitely funny to think of as being taken seriously. Bradley Whitford looks a little like a tool with such short hair and John Corbett is sort of adorable as the Scientist Who Saves The Day.
My Netflix rating: 2 stars

190. January 27, 2011 - The Craigslist Killer (2010)

Yep, it's a Lifetime movie. And yes, it's sort of overdramatic. But it also only happened a year or so ago. When real life events get turned into movies (even Lifetime ones) that soon, they're bound to be melodramatic. I will say that I find it hard to believe that his fiancee would be that dumb in real life. Please tell me that they hyped that up for the movie. Also, I'm offended that they put the killer in a BU sweatshirt - I know he was in BU Med School, but do you really have to remind all of us BU grads about that?
My Netflix rating: 3 stars

179. January 8, 2011 - The Tourist (2010)

I understand now why this movie was submitted for the Musical/Comedy category at the Golden Globes - the closest I can come to defining the genre is as a romantic heist caper comedy. One of my friends described it as being like a slapstick thriller from the 40s and I agree with that. I also realized that I just don't get the Angelina Jolie thing. I was super jealous of her hair and wardrobe in this film, but other than that, she's just not a big deal. The movie itself was actually really fun, up until the end, when it falls victim to its own twist ending. I've seen it happen over and over again with novels - where the ridiculousness of the twist negates any good feelings you have about the rest of the narrative - but it's rarer in film. Unfortunate.
My Netflix rating: 3 stars

175. January 1, 2011 - Black Swan (2010)

#95 on my Top 100 List
I know I've said this before, but this is the most disturbing movie I have ever seen. Natalie Portman plays a dancer falling apart onscreen and the audience is drawn into her terrifying hallucinations. Normally I am not a fan of films where the audience can't tell what's real and what's imagined but somehow it worked here. It's incredibly disturbing and chilling but amazing at the same time. Will definitely stay with you for a long time. Happy New Year!
My Netflix rating: 5 stars

166. December 16, 2010 - The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (2009)

This last installment of the original Swedish version of the Millennium Trilogy feels like it's made up entirely of falling action from the second film. Lisbeth Salander recovers from the horrific injuries that she ended the second one with only to find herself in court still suspected of those murders. Plus, she's now suspected of trying to kill her father, Zalachenko. Which, of course, she did, but only because he had his freak son shoot her multiple times and bury her alive. Personally, I think she's totally justified. It's a descent story, but not nearly as exciting or attention-holding as the first two. Plus, the final scene with her and Blomkvist is nothing more than a tease.
My Netflix rating: 4 stars

150. November 15, 2010 - The Town (2010)

Ben Affleck certainly is a better director than actor. That being said, he still has a ways to grow in that respect as well. This was very similar to Gone Baby Gone in tone and style - I get that the stories themselves have a similar vibe, but I'm not impressed by someone just repeating what got him accolades last time. The performances are solid (Jeremy Renner especially) and the story is engaging enough. I don't mean to be harsh - I did enjoy the film. Though, I must say, I'm seriously disappointed that a Red Sox fan like Ben Affleck would make such a huge mistake. You cannot walk by Gate B inside Fenway Park, heading toward the Green Monster, and end up by Gate E walking toward home plate. It is physically impossible. He should have known better.
My Netflix rating: 4 stars

119. September 11, 2010 - The American (2010)

This reminded me of In Bruges, but way less fun. George Clooney is dark and brooding and his relationship with the prostitute Clara is tense and not necessarily healthy, but it's appropriate for the tone of the film. It's a very quiet, sleepy thriller, with bursts of action that appear and disappear just like gunfire. Also curious is that there is very little music except at moments when the audience is supposed to feel some kind of emotional connection. I get what the fimmaker was trying to do with that, but audiences are not that stupid. If they aren't feeling what you want them to feel, then adding some sad music is not going to help. The emotional resonance is either there or it's not.
My Netflix rating: 3 stars

117. September 9, 2010 - The Girl Who Played With Fire (2009)

This is definitely a very different story than the first one. It's less graphic than events in the first, though the story gets more intense and has higher stakes for the main characters. Also, Mikael and Lisbeth spend the majority of this one apart, so the dynamic is completely new. I read in Entertainment Weekly that some people wonder whether author Stieg Larsson had issues with women. After seeing this, I disagree. I think he had major family issues. There is not a single functioning family anywhere in these stories! (At least not the first two - I have yet to read/see the third.) A couple of new characters are introduced (who I've been assured are important in the third installment), but the movie doesn't spend quite enough time establishing them. I guess that will have to come in The Girl Who Kicked the Hornett's Nest. Technically this seemed a little subpar when compared to the first one, but it's certainly not bad. I look forward to seeing the third movie (whenever it makes up to my corner of the country).
My Netflix rating: 4 stars