Category Archives: Movies

Nadine Labaki’s Where Do We Go Now (W Halla2 La Wein) No Longer In Running For Oscars: Not on Foreign-Language Shortlist

The shortlist for Best Foreign-Language movie at the Academy Awards has just been announced and Lebanon’s Where Do We Go Now is not on it.

Therefore, we are no longer in the race for an Oscar nomination.

The nine shortlisted movies, out of which five will be selected for nomination, are:

Belgium, “Bullhead,“

Canada, “Monsieur Lazhar,” 

Denmark, “Superclásico,” 

Germany, “Pina,” 

Iran, “A Separation,” 

Israel, “Footnote,” 

Morocco, “Omar Killed Me,” 

Poland, “In Darkness,” 

Taiwan, “Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale.” 

 

That’s it, fellow Lebanese, I guess we were too foolishly optimistic about our chances. I guess having a movie from Iran, Israel and Lebanon in a shortlist was too much for the region. Till next time, I guess (which means till Nadine Labaki’s third movie). You’d think winning the same prize that the King’s Speech and Slumdog Millionaire won, at one of the world’s top festivals, would be enough to pull an Oscar nomination for a movie. But I guess politics is more important.

 

War Horse – Movie Review

Steven Spielberg’s new movie is a World War I epic that opens with a view of lush green English fields and hills to set the tone for a quiet hometown, full of farms and grasslands. You have the pesky landlords and the people who can barely afford the rent on their farms. You also have Albert Narracott’s dad, Ted (Peter Mullan), who just bought a horse for thirty pounds just to spite his landlord. His intent was to buy a horse to plough the land. The one he bought hadn’t been trained for anything.

So Albert (Jeremy Irvine) convinces his parents to keep the horse and he names him Joey. Soon enough, the family falls to some financial problems as the crops in the land Joey was taught to plough get swamped by torrential rain and Ted, the father, is forced to sell Joey to the British military as World War I breaks. Albert, too young to enroll in the army and be with Joey, is forced to stay home as Joey goes into the battlefield and strays from one owner to the next, all in a quest to go back to Albert, a journey that will take him from Albert, the devon farmboy, to a British cavalry officer, a German soldier, and an old Frenchman and his granddaughter, Emilie.

One cannot speak of War Horse without describing it as an overly sentimental movie. But you embrace that. The rousing emotions in the movie hide away some of the plot holes that many people started to dig up with it such as: how could they focus on the journey of a horse through a war that cost ten million people their lives? The answer is quite simple actually. War Horse is based on a children’s story. And just as other children’s books, also sharing a world war timeframe, do not focus on the war (The Chronicles of Narnia come to mind), War Horse does not dwell on the morbidity of it even though the movie is violent at times. War Horse is a quest for life.

Many British actors and actresses have small roles in War Horse. You have Albert’s mother Rose (Emily Watson) in a brief but strong performance as the woman who’s the counterpart to her husband’s ‘insanity.’ At one point, when her husband asks her if she doesn’t love him anymore, she answers: “I can hate you more. I cannot love you less.”

War Horse is Jeremy Irvine’s, who portrays Albert, first movie ever. And he manages himself remarkably well. You wouldn’t think this is an actor whose career was launched a couple of years ago with a little known TV show and who got the role in War Horse without agency representation.

However, the very interesting thing about War Horse (apart from the aforementioned elements and the ones presented below) is that the movie relies on human actors to a very minimum. In away, the human aspect of the movie is simply a link between the acts where the horse, Joey, takes center stage to tell its story. It’s truly fascinating to think of War Horse as the movie that is really centered and built around this horse and how the actors and actresses simply become, for lack of better words, props.

Apart from the splendid backdrop to which War Horse is filmed is also a brilliant music score composed by Harry Potter’s John Williams, the man responsible for the infamous Hedwig’s Theme. War Horse‘s music is stunning, mesmerizing and enchanting. It is also so present in the movie that few are the moments in War Horse that do not have some form of musical instrument playing in them.

War Horse also looks stunning. I did some research here and apparently the cinematographer Janusz Kamiński (previous works include  Saving Private Ryan & Schindler’s List) shot the movie on film stock, a technology which is apparently becoming an antiquity. I do not know the technicalities of this but I thought it was interesting enough to mention. I decided to research this because there was a beautiful texture to the image of War Horse that persists throughout. One shot towards the end has the Naracott’s farm to the backdrop of a stunning sunset and it’s such a gorgeous scene to look at that your eyes cannot move off the screen.

Steven Spielberg honestly shines in directing War Horse. I can say this is one of his finest works – or at least one of my favorite Steven Spielberg movies. Although some of the elements in the movie are oversugared, it simply doesn’t feel forced. You don’t feel as if Spielberg made them as such to make his movie more family friendly. The whole plot, along with the technical elements employed in the movie, are weaved together into a great texture by the masterful hands of Steven Spielberg.

The bottom line is that War Horse is a movie that, whether you like it or not, will get past your emotional defenses and get you to feel something – anything – at the end of its long run. It is gorgeous to look at, it is mesmerizing to listen to. The story is enchanting (and again keep in mind this is based on a children’s book) even though it’s obviously not made to be Earth shattering. It is the movie about the human-animal relation centered around what the animal human can do. At the end of the day, War Horse is emotional. War Horse is sensational. War Horse is phenomenal.

9/10

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – Movie Review

Based on the bestselling book by Stieg Larsson, which I reviewed last summer (read my review), The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is the second movie based on the aforementioned novel, the first being a critically acclaimed Swedish drama.

Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) is a top Swedish journalist whose world is crashing around him. He just lost a court battle during which he was accused of libel against a top Swedish businessman, his credibility is in ruins and his magazine is struggling. Amid all the chaos, he gets a peculiar job offer from Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer), the head of Vanger corporations, to write a biography about his family as a cover to a journalistic investigation into the disappearance of Vanger’s niece some forty years prior.

As Blomkvist begins to make advances in the case the likes of which he didn’t think he would be able to do, he is faced with the possibility of a Swedish serial killer of women being on the loose. The killings are biblical, based on Leviticus verses. But he needs help, which comes in the form of Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara), an emotionally reclusive, mentally challenging and emotionally unstable hacker.

One cannot talk about The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo as a movie without talking about the reason it has such a title: the character of Lisbeth Salander. To say that girl is one of the most interesting characters to recently grace literature and now cinema would be a gross understatement. There’s just something about the fire in Lisbeth’s eyes, whether you’re reading her off a page or watching her on screen, covering a dark emptiness inside that is very unraveling, very dark and very fascinating. Therefore, the need of great acting skills to be able to interprete such a multi-layered character is in need. To be blunt, Rooney Mara excels.

Not only does she get you to feel compassion with her character’s moments of weakness, she also gets you to root for her in her moments of triumph. Rooney Mara is fascinating, down to the very basic articulations of the Meryl Streep-esque accent she has formulated for her character. She literally doesn’t shy away from giving the viewers of the movie everything she has to offer and she shines doing so.

Daniel Craig is great as Mikael Blomkvist. As I read the book, I didn’t really picture a character in my head for Blomkvist. But Craig manages to fill in the “blanks” I had after three books of reading Blomkvist’s pursuits. His performance is nuanced and is beautifully complemented and elevated by the previously mentioned stellar performance by Rooney Mara. However, what works against Craig in this movie is the fact that his character is nowhere near as interesting as Mara’s Lisbeth. But the biggest evidence to how greatly these two actors’ performances complement each other is the fact that the movie doesn’t really take off until you get both Lisbeth and Mikael in the same frame.

Another brilliant part of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is the superb electronic music present in it, which has sort of become correlated in my head with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, whose previous works include last year’s The Social Network (My review). The darkest scenes in the movie are taken a step further in darkness by the score that Reznor and Ross envisioned for the movie.  Moreover, the cinematography in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is top-notch as well. On top of being very pleasing to listen to, it is a beautiful movie to look at – despite its very violent moments, some of which are among the most brutal I have watched on screen yet.

David Fincher, who also directed on last year’s The Social Network, manages to craft this Swedish noir novel into a movie that is very pleasing to the fans of the book. He manages to preserve the dark essence of the book and transfer it on screen with minimal changes to the material presented in the novel. Stieg Larsson would have been, in my humble opinion, very pleased to see his work presented this way on screen.

On the overall, the crew that worked on this movie managed to a dark and mysterious world full of family secrets, corruption, sexual perversity and redemption. The beautiful thing about The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is that all the pieces fall together in a synchronized manner to deliver a truly brilliant cinematic experience, albeit being a movie of extensive duration, due to the book’s thick spine. At the end of the day, however, this is simply Rooney Mara’s movie. And with books two and three of The Millenium trilogy featuring Salander more and more in the spotlight, I can’t wait to see what she has up her sleeve. But let me tell you, this is epic and the next two will be epic, indeed.

9/10

Top 13 Movies of 2011

Note: This list is tentative and will be constantly updated to be hopefully finalized by March at the latest due to the unavailability of many movies that are garnering critical acclaim and award traction, be it on DVD or in local theaters.

After checking my first “Top of 2011” list which dealt with music, it is time for the second one about another thing that I’m interested in and which I’ve discussed many times throughout this past year: movies.

So without further ado, let us begin.

13 – X-Men: First Class

This reboot of the franchise of which I am a fan was a very needed approach in order to keep these X-Men relevant. Showing how Dr. Xavier became as such and Magneto became, well, Magneto, the movie was really a breath of fresh air for action movies that became more reliant on screen explosions and aerobics than on a decent story to which those special effects come as a complement. (My review of X-Men: First Class)

12 – Stray Bullet

This Lebanese movie may be too short and not a very accurate reflection on the war it is supposedly set in but the acting performances in this are so gut-wrenchingly real, it can’t but be on my list. (My review of Rsasa Tayshe/Stray Bullet)

11 – The Ides of March

This political drama is my favorite of its genre this year. I may not agree with the accolades it’s getting everywhere over more deserving movies but it’s still a great movie in its own merits. It’s riveting, engaging, highly reflective and real. It can happen anytime in any political campaign. The performances are top notch as well. (My review of The Ides of March).

10 – Midnight in Paris

Woody Allen’s back to basics is definitely one of the better movies of the year. This Parisian comedy will make you dream. It will take you beyond the confines of whatever room you’re watching the movie in and take you aboard its own fantastical world in a trip back in time. Marion Cotillard is more than brilliant in this. The plot is very original and the movie is very enjoyable. (My review of Midnight in Paris).

9 – One Day

Many didn’t like this movie. I found it enthralling and enchanting. Telling the story of a couple revisiting each other on the day they met every year over the course of 23 years. The premise is intriguing and while I’m sure it flows more smoothly in the book upon which this is based, the movie doesn’t botch it. In fact, the transitions are very smart at times. (My review of One Day).

8 – A Separation

This Iranian movie is simply stunning. It’s a cross examination of Iranian society through the lives of  a couple getting a divorce. The emotions in this run high, they never relent. The hurt in the characters is examined and not feared. Taboos are approached and at the end of the day, it leaves you with a stereotype-breaking view of Iranian society. (My review of A Separation).


7 – War Horse

Steven Spielberg’s WWI epic is, well, an epic movie as well. Based on the children’s book of the same name, War Horse is emotional and phenomenal. It’s stunning to look at and boasts one of the most pleasurable scores I have heard this year in a movie. It is a sentimental movie that transcends age lines and turns into a story for the ages. A must watch. (My review of War Horse)

6 – Moneyball

Brad Pitt shines as Billy Beane, manager of a struggling baseball team, as he tries to get his team to survive a grueling league with a dismal budget. So he enlists Jonah Hill’s Peter Brand to help him change the whole baseball game and turn it head on heels. Moneyball might be the best sports movie made. (My review of Moneyball)

5 – The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

David Fincher’s take on this Swedish noir novel preserves the book’s essence and turns it into a stellar movie, fueled by a top notch performance by Rooney Mara who embodies the novel’s heroin Lisbeth Salander in spellbinding manner. I loved the book and the movie. (My review of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo)

4 – The Artist

The Artist is a black and white movie which relies on the symphony playing throughout its run for its only auditory input. And it just works. It asks nothing of you as a viewer but to simply watch, not even listen. It relies on the strength of the performances by its cast to communicate the emotions it tries to convey. (My review of The Artist).

 3 – The Help


Based on the book of the same title, The Help is easily one of the best movies this year as well. It is the tale of the quest of three Southern women in a 1960s racially segregated America for racial equality. The movie may be a work of fiction but it feels so real when you watch it, you can’t but be amazed. “You is kind. You is smart. You is important” – that’s a sentence for the ages. (My review of The Help).

2 – Where Do We Go Now? (W Halla2 La Wein?)


The Lebanese movie that could. Nadine Labaki’s latest movie is without a doubt one of the best movies this year. After being robbed of a Golden Globes nomination (Angelina Jolie, I’m looking at you), we find solace in this movie winning at the Toronto International Film Festival. Telling the tale of women who go beyond their means to get the men of their religiously-divided hometown to ease the tension, the movie tugs at your heartstring, activates your tear ducts and makes you laugh uncontrollably – all at the same time, sometimes. (My review of Where Do We Go Now?)

1 – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2

Because there’s no other movie that deserves to be here. Because there’s no other franchise that has had such a thrillingly brilliant finale. Because no other movie has ever gotten me this close to tears and because every single award show is hell-bent on shunning this from the awards it most definitely deserves. Yes, this may be predictable to many but there’s just something about the final installment in the story of Harry Potter that transcends it being just a movie and turns into a cinematic experience that we, as the Harry Potter generation, are very lucky to have experienced. (My review of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2).

– – – – – — – – – – — – – – – –

Notable mentions:

Puss in Boots, previous #13 on the list’s initial version. 

Soul Surfer (check my review) previous #12 on the list’s initial version.

Source Code (check my review) previous #11 on the list’s initial version.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows – Movie Review

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows - Movie Poster

I would be lying if I said I weren’t a big fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. I find the character fascinating and intriguing. I find the cases Holmes investigates riveting. So it was with utmost pleasure that I went to watch the sequel to the original Sherlock Holmes movie, titled: Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.

While the opening was a bit rickety and all over the place, the movie soon finds it sound and sets in. Opening in 1891 London, with Europe on the brink of war, Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) is pursuing professor James Moriarty (Jared Harris), whom he believes is the cause of many explosions around the world, seemingly unrelated to each other. So Holmes sets out with his best friend Watson (Jude Law), along with a gypsy sidekick named Simza (Noomi Rapace), to unravel the mysteries behind Moriarty’s plan.

The movie’s highlight is definitely the chemistry between its two male leads: Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. Their scenes together are always a breath of fresh air, bringing some comical relief to very tense scenes. Acting wise, Downey is as good in the sequel as he was in the first movie. He carries the movie almost all by himself with Jude Law strutting along to provide much needed support at key points in the movie.

Noomi Rapace is never allowed to stretch her wings in this. Her character is never pursued and is kept as such – an unimportant female sidekick, which the first movie also had in the form of the gorgeous Rachel McAdams who also has a very brief appearance at the beginning of Game of Shadows.

When it comes to its plot, Game of Shadows is convoluted, complex and at times difficult to keep track with unless you’re very focused on what’s happening on screen. In a way, it’s not a movie you want to watch if you have nothing better to do. Of course, everything gets answered eventually but it’ll be a much enjoyable experience for you as a viewer if you were very attentive at all the minute details. However, plot-wise, many of the deficiencies in the first movie are also present here: The villain’s intentions are never fully clear, the female sidekick is always left at the sideways.

As in the first movie, the director Guy Richie has a knack for speeding up action scenes and then slowing them down immensely. Sometimes, such as in a chilling forest chase scene, this works brilliantly. Other times, however, it feels useless. He builds the production in his movie with more or less tertiary layers that help somewhat in the buildup of the plot, but at the end of the day, it’s Downey’s character that helps propel the movie forward.

The whole movie, in fact, can be considered as a two-act play. The first act is one of guns, explosions and gymnastics whilst the second one is more of a big chess game. If you’re a fan of action sequences, the excitement of the first part will carry you through the second. If you’re a fan of puzzles, the first part is fast-paced enough for the second part to set it before you know it.

A Game of Shadows has more action sequences than its predecessor and they’re all very well executed, be it the scene involving the gypsy Simza escaping an assassin with the help of Holmes or a chilling train scene that will go on and on without you wanting it to stop. And at the end of the day, the movie – despite its many flaws – remains very entertaining and as engaging as its predecessor. Some might have felt it was a let down but I beg to differ. The movie was just so much fun to watch. You won’t get out of it feeling like your life has changed. After all, which movie does that to you? But it will leave you feeling like you had two hours of your life well-spent as you leave the theater.

You will most definitely enjoy the gorgeous cinematography, the great special effects and the exquisite chemistry between Law and Downey on screen. All of these three together form a combo for a very enjoyable movie you shouldn’t miss.

7.5/10