Vastly improved

Fast Five is a real shot in the arm for the franchise and the best entry since the original. The concept of bringing a big team together works and Justin Lin has evolved as a director. The action is still more outrageous and removed from the laws of our physical reality, but I don't say this to criticize. It is a dumb movie but gloriously so.

Odinson

Thor himself (Chris Hemsworth) was the best part of the entertaining Thor. Natalie Portman was typically good with her small role and Tom Hiddleston pretty good as Loki. Most other Asgardians (and Earth people, for that matter) were kind of one-note characters. Thor's hammer-fu felt weighty and mighty enough for the most powerful warrior of a race once believed gods. The Destroyer looked like a proper Kirby creation. We also got a first look at Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, even though he remained uncredited.

Frost giants were disappointingly small, basically fulfilling the "faceless orc horde" role.

Good time was had by this comics fan.

It's five by five for Darren Aronofsky

I've seen Pi, Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, and The Wrestler, and found them all affecting films. Very different stories and settings, but one could argue that the story is not the point in his work, by which I mean a written version wouldn't feel so stirring. His use of visuals and sound (including faithful composer Clint Mansell) is essential to the whole. Sometimes what he shows is horrifying, sometimes mystifying, sometimes neither, but it always seems to touch a nerve in me.

I'm not saying all movies should be like this - one of my favorites, Howard Hawks, preferred a rather low-key approach and let the characters and dialog carry the story. Both ways, and others, are perfectly valid. But it's really refreshing to see an Aronofsky film every now and then.

This long-winded preamble was just to say that now I've finally seen Black Swan, too. As with The Fountain, it took some time before I was absorbed in the proceedings, possibly in part because I know nothing of ballet. But I don't have to comprehend the artistic side to see it's brutal, body-breaking work that's supposed to look easy, echoing The Wrestler. Things build and build and towards the last third I was completely riveted.

I wasn't as devastated as after watching Requiem (which I still haven't seen again), but most definitely affected. It's a great film about obsession and perfection, even though I don't plan repeating the experience soon.

Every last seat was sold and my neck will feel the suboptimal location tomorrow. Suffering for your art, indeed.

Two Best Picture nominees in as many days

Today it was The King's Speech, which is on the surface very different from Winter's Bone. But both put good actors front and center and let them act. There's no hurried editing and hardly any action.

Playing a person with an impediment is a good bet to secure an Oscar, but this fact doesn't take anything away from Colin Firth's performance. It's great to see him sparring with Geoffrey Rush.

These two and Inception were very good, and there are still interesting Best Picture nominees I haven't seen (at least Black Swan and True Grit). 2010 seems to have been a good year.

Come see the scenic Missouri

Thankfully Winter's Bone got into theaters here - I was afraid it would be strictly DVD fare. Apparently Daniel Woodrell's novel is called country noir, and it isn't a bad label for the film either. A determined protagonist is asking unpleasant questions about a missing person and gets in harm's way - sounds like noir to me. Jennifer Lawrence is great as the 17-year-old Ree Dolly and John Hawkes (Deadwood) backs her up nicely. If they both get an Academy Award I won't be crying foul.

Black Santa of the Woods with the Thousand Elves

Finally got around to watching last year's Rare Exports. It was a pretty successful blend of action, horror and comedy. This was a really bad Santa.

A Lapland odyssey

Napapiirin sankarit is, in fact, called Lapland Odyssey in English. It is Dome Karukoski's fourth full-length film; besides this one I have only seen his first, Tyttö sinä olet tähti, which might be my favorite Finnish film, certainly among the best. The new film was very entertaining and I'm happy I went to see it.

Going country

I went to the local indie movie theater (should do that more often, as it's just around the corner) to watch Crazy Heart, and I'm very happy I did. Jeff Bridges was great, Maggie Gyllenhaal was good, and so was the music by Stephen Bruton and T-Bone Burnett. I don't listen to country much, but this was good stuff.

Mind: off

I went to see The Expendables with some friends. It was what I was looking for: brainless old school action with entertaining stars, although some of the action was cut too fast and close - the bane of many a modern film - and the script was uneven, certainly not on par with the best 80s action movies. Also the loudest film I've seen in a long time.

Back home I felt like some brain cells were still stirring, so I searched my TV recordings for a cure. I found Stealth, which was as dumb as they come. It had lots of CGI dogfights, lots of things blowing up, and Jessica Biel. Director Cohen is the auteur behind The Fast and the Furious, which I love dearly and which is a deep character study compared to Stealth.

All in all, a highly successful mind-numbing exercise on both counts.

Inception

I saw Inception in a theater last Sunday and really liked it. This is as coherent an opinion as I can now express.

This post brings us up to date; my backlog from the moment I got this idea has been exhausted. I planned to watch something today, but decided to start writing this stuff instead.