The Informant was one of my favorite films from last year, its got way more depth then people initially notice. Plus its funny as hell.
The Girl who Played With Fire is the inferior but still not bad sequel to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Whereas the first film kept its complex plot pretty clear and got astonishingly dark, this movie becomes more of a pleasant muddle, where the characters collide every so often and the broad outlines of why is clear but even the life or death struggles lack a certain emotion. This isn't actually such a terrible thing, as the ending and certain scenes pack a healthy punch just because it so forcefully breaks through the icy mood that seems to build whenever weird shit isn't happening, but the film on the whole just doesn't leave the strong impression that its prequel does, and it makes it look like an even better film in retrospect.
Its still not bad. For the first film an english language remake seems pointless and futile, a Hollywood treatment of this film seems way more plausible, if you catch my drift.
two and three quarter stars
Winter's Bone is a compelling crime story with a few twists, namely, the entire cast of characters are all backstabbing, dangerous, interrelated rednecks/meth dealers/addicts/cookers. Its in this ultra-bleak setting that a teenage girl who's already caring for three looks for her no goo paw who dune skipped bail and put up his/her house to the bank. Faced with the prospect of her horrific extended family taking stewardship of her loved one's, a too-wise teen goes a sleuthing. The quasi-3rd world setting is excellently realized, and the dialog is terrific and often graceful in its delivery, almost poetic at times. Its just a really well done redneck-noir story, if it doesn't garner at least a few end of year best of notices it will only be because its not more widely seen. Seriously, this movie is pretty dang good.
***1/2
Ever hear of Isaac Florentine? He's the guy who's been making a pretty solid career for himself as the guy who makes surprisingly good direct-to-video action movies. Well, here's another one, where the characters are flat, the acting performed with more brio then skill (wise choice), and the fight scenes being awesome and almost performed with a surplus of acrobatics. Its fun to watch, proficient but disposable, but considering how rare even base competence is in action movies these days a film like
Undisputed III where the simple joy of watching men kick each other in the face is undiluted can taste like manna.
***
