Easy A

2010

Director: Will Gluck

Distributor: Screen Gems

Key Elements: Story – Lines – Characters – Concept - Symbolism – Music

Review:

Based on Nathaniel Hawthorn’s The Scarlett Letter, Easy A tells the story of a girl with a reputation for promiscuity. The twist? Her reputation is a farce.

Seeking popularity, Olive sells the use of her name to boys desiring fodder for locker room bragging. But the gimmick comes back to bite her. And this movie is cleverly told from the perspective of Olive’s setting-the-record-straight vlog post.

I love how Olive idealizes John Hughs movies. I also love that she helped me realize that one of the most attractive things on a woman is a good vocabulary.

I’ll admit it rubbed me the wrong way that the antagonist in the movie is a caricaturized “Christian.” I’m no stranger to pointing out how often Christians present the worst representations of what it means to be a Christian. But Easy A’s depiction is unfair to say the least. *sigh*

But if I rationalize, the story IS based on The Scarlett Letter – a story in which the antagonists are ALSO judgemental religious types.

Anyway, there’s still a lot I like about this movie. Plus, it introduced me to the music of One Republic.

Trailer:

Quotes:

• The rumors of my promiscuity have been greatly exaggerated.
• A is for Awesome.
• I think I'll lose my virginity to him. Maybe in five minutes, maybe tonight, maybe sixth months from now, or maybe on the night of our wedding. Either way, it's really none of your business.

Stills:

The Social Network

2010

Director: David Fincher

Distributor: Columbia Pictures

Key Elements: Story – Lines – Characters – Music

Review:

When I heard they were making a movie about Facebook, I rolled my eyes. How could that be worth watching?

But this is one of the best written movies I’ve seen in years. The dialogue alone is brilliant, but the story pacing and character delvelopment are also perfect.

I was blown away. Great movie.

Trailer:

Quotes:

• People wanna go online and check out their friends, so why not build a website that offers that. I'm talking about taking the entire social experience of college and putting it online.
• As if every thought that tumbles through your head was so clever it would be a crime for it not to be shared.
• We lived in farms, then we lived in cities, and now we're gonna live on the internet!
• If you guys were the inventors of Facebook, you'd have invented Facebook.
• The internet's not written in pencil, Mark. It's written in ink.
• I like standing next to you, Sean... it makes me look so tough.
• You're not an asshole, Mark. You're just trying so hard to be.
• As for the charges: I believe I deserve some recognition from this board.

Stills:

Inception

2010

Director: Christopher Nolan

Distributor: Warner Brothers Pictures

Key Elements: Story – Concept - Music – Visual

Review:

This movie is fantatic. Completely.

In a time where every movie is a sequel or a remake or simply another take at a tired formual – here, finally, is something new.

The visuals are astounding – but they’re matched by the story! All around an amazing film.

Trailer:

Quotes:

• I can access your mind through your dreams.
• Dreams feel real while we're in them. It's only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange.
• You're asking me for Inception. I hope you do understand the gravity of that request.
• The seed that we planted in this man's mind may change everything.
• I think positive emotion trumps negative emotion every time.
• Wait, whose subconscious are we going through exactly?
• She locked away a secret, deep inside herself, something she once knew to be true... but chose to forget.
• Your world is not real!
• I'll tell you a riddle. You're waiting for a train, a train that will take you far away. You know where you hope this train will take you, but you don't know for sure. But it doesn't matter…

Stills:

Shutter Island

2010

Director: Martin Scorsese

Distributor: Paramount Pictures

Key Elements: Concept - Visual

Review:

Based on the novel by Dennis Lehane, this is the story of a Federal Marshal investigating a disappearance at a high-security prison for the criminally insane – shutter island.

As I expected, there was a twist at the end, but it was bigger than I expected. Along the way we’re left guessing while being dazzled by amazing visual poetry.

I continue to be impressed with the projects DiCaprio selects for himself.

Trailer:

Quotes:

• Yeah fine, I just ah, I just can't, can't stomach the water.
• You'll never leave this island.
• There's no moral order at all. There's just this: can my violence conquer yours?
• We gotta get off this rock, Chuck.
• Which would be worse, to live as a monster, or to die as a good man?
• Why are you all wet, baby?

Stills:

The Book of Eli

2010

Director: The Hughes Brothers

Distributor: Warner Brothers Pictures

Key Elements: Concept – Visuals

Review:

Before the cross, Israel carried the hope of the Gospel.  Because they were the only people in the whole world with that honor, they were justified in using violence to protect it.

In this movie, the hope of the Gospel is carried, not by a nation, but by a single man.  And likewise, he uses violence to protect it.  Think Road Warrior with a Bible.

One thing I appreciated about this movie was that it showed how the Bible CAN be used incorrectly.  Not everyone appealing to its authority can be trusted.  That’s a rare message and an important distinction.

Another thing I like is how the twist at the end confirms that, not only is the Bible valuable, but what it says is true – Because God has been helping Eli.

Then there’s what I didn’t like.

[Spoiler]

At the end, Eli gets to a safe house where the Bible can be preserved.  …Right next to a Koran!

That’s right - After parading as a pro-Bible story this movie ends on a Universalistic note.

Lame.

Still… the premise is an interesting concept.

Trailer:

Quotes:

• People had more than they needed. We had no idea what was precious and what wasn't. We threw away things people kill each other for now.
• In all these years I've been carrying it and reading it every day, I got so caught up in keeping it safe that I forgot to live by what I learned from it.
• Thank you lord for a warm bed to sleep on, thank you for the food we are about to eat, thank you for a roof over our heads on cold nights such as this, thank you for companionship in hard times like these, Amen.
• IT'S NOT A FUCKIN' BOOK! IT'S A WEAPON. A weapon aimed right at the hearts and minds of the weak and the desperate. It will give us control of them. If we want to rule more than one small, fuckin' town, we have to have it. People will come from all over, they'll do exactly what I tell 'em if the words are from the book. It's happened before and it'll happen again. All we need is that book.
• Its like he's protected somehow, nothing can touch him
• They say the war tore a hole in the sky

Stills: