2008

A harrowing cinematic experience that will take your breath away in the first five minutes, and leave you chilled in it's final frames. Waltz with Bashir makes brilliant use of it's animation style to paint us a portrait of the invasion of Lebanon in 1982, and while it is ineffective at being very informative the film stands as a very important piece if only to enlighten a North American audience to an alien conflict. Unlike Pixar's glossy images, the vividly stylized but imperfect look of Waltz with Bashir feels like an appropriately chosen language to tell the story in, rather than a aesthetic choice. It's the dreamy colourizations and impressive three dimensional artwork and camera movements inside it that express the director's feelings as he reflects on his personal experience in the war, and they are cinematic techniques that feel just as powerful as any of the conventional live-action ones we are more familiar with. The screenplay smartly brushes the surface of a number of important historical aspects, but never gets bogged down in details that might distract the audience from the overall emotional impression that the filmmakers are hoping for. And while the movie struggles to climax properly, and some of the pseu-documentary style interviews feel too slow, the film is not very largely effected by either of these problems.

Attests to the victimization of America's lower classes, to the struggle of the poorest among us to carve a niche for themselves and improve their lives.

A continually surprising, unique, and ultimately very effective thriller. The film is cast very well, and we get great performances all around, particularly from Emily Mortimer. Brad Anderson has really got to work on the conclusion to his movies though. In the Machinist he left us feeling empty and cheated, and again in Transsiberian we leave feeling like we deserved better. Especially given the quality of the writing in the rest of the picture.

I probably enjoyed this a little more than I should have. The film meanders around pretty lazily, and specific character motivations often seem unclear. But I did like the intelligent banter and Dennis Quaid's extremely dislikable pompous asshole who by the end of the film has a predictable but pleasant revelation of sorts. And who can watch Ellen Page and not enjoy her every move as an actress, always so interesting to watch. Thomas Haden Church sparked most of the laughs, and Sarah Jessica Parker... well she was in the movie too.

A disarmingly clever action flick, with a much needed sense of fun that's often missing from so many of it's predecessors. Robert Downey Jr is of course fantastic, but the real forgotten gem in this movie is the conniving Jeff Bridges.

Doesn't have the enthusiasm or energy of some of Carrey's earlier similar work, but I still really enjoyed this one thanks largely to the supporting cast. Zooey Deschanel is so wonderful she makes my ears moan, and the buddy boss Aussie character was a hoot too.