tMF | The Movie-Fanatic

Three of my most anticipated movies have been released already - Brothers, The Lovely Bones and A Single Man. Two of them, A Single Man and Brothers, seem to be getting the kind of attention and raves they deserved while The Lovely Bones is now considered as one of the most divisive in regards to critics' assessment of the said Peter Jackson film. So what's the latest buzz right this minute?

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A Single Man: The recent win as Best Actor for Colin Firth at the Venice Film Fest appears to be a good omen for Tom Ford's directorial debut. I have yet to read anything 'drastically' negative about it.
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Says Karina Longworth, who is now with INDIEWire:

In his boldest visual choice, Ford manipulates the film's palette to match the evolving emotional tone. George's flashbacks are generally crayon-colored and his present desaturated and neutral, but in fleeting moments of pleasure -- a flirtation, a run-in with a precociously honest child, an opportunity to appreciate a sunset or a well-bred dog or any thing of pure beauty -- the color drains back into the image to various degrees. At first this flourish is almost imperceptible but appreciated for its sensory pleasures; eventually, once you become able to anticipate the turn of the color dials, the technique feels a bit on-the-nose. The direction of the film's final scene is similarly overbearingly in hammering home the point that we can control this moment but not the next. A Single Man works best when Ford the stylist sets up a scene and then steps back, allowing Firth and the supporting cast to fall into natural-feeling rhythms of conversation. Firth's Best Actor prize in Venice was well-deserved; still probably best known in the States as Bridget Jones' boring boyfriend, his work here is worthy of Oscar attention. [ read more ]

At Rotten Tomatoes, the movie is currently rated at 83% (Fresh). The upcoming Indie Spirit Awards also recognized the film with 3 nominations - Best First Feature (for Tom Ford and the film's producers), Best First Screenplay (Ford and David Scearce) and Best Male Lead (for Colin Firth).

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Brothers: Newsweek's Ramin Setoodeh compared the film with 2 recently shown similar work, The Hurt Locker and The Messenger and noted that the Jim Sheridan film is the 'most mainstream'. His review also mentioned that:

Based on a 2004 Danish movie by Susanne Bier and directed by Jim Sheridan (My Left Foot), it stars Tobey Maguire as a Marine named Sam who leaves home for Afghanistan just as his brother, Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal), returns home from jail. Sam's wife, Grace (Natalie Portman), and their kids (the excellent Bailee Madison and Taylor Geare) find themselves torn between the two men: hating the father who comes back completely changed, loving the ex-con who stayed with them. The film's most powerful scene is actually set at a child's birthday party, where one of the girls won't stop rubbing a balloon to make a screeching sound. To most parents it's an everyday annoyance. To Sam the noise sounds like gunfire and serves as a reminder of how he can no longer relate to his family's happiness. It's a metaphor for his fragile psyche. [ read more ]

Setoodeh also regarded Brothers as Tobey Maguire's film and added that: Portman has some of the most difficult scenes, and this is her most accomplished work since Closer.

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However, the consensus at Rotten Tomatoes is that ... "it plays more like a traditional melodrama than the Susanne Bier film that inspired it, but Jim Sheridan's Brothers benefits from rock-solid performances by its three leads." Currently the movie is rated at 55% (Rotten).

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The Lovely Bones: Says critic Emanuel Levy:

The best thing to be said about "Lovely Bones," which is set in a typical American suburb, Norristown, Pennsylvania in the 1970s, is that it's a tense, intense, and truly original art film. As such, it can't be compared to any other film about suburban life, family loss, or serial killer, for that matter. The film can't even be compared to "Heavenly Creature," the 1994 film that put Jackson on the map (still my favorite work of his), which also deals with a young girl and a friendship that leads to irrational violence and murder. The script, especially the voice-over narration, penned by Jackson's vet collaborators, Fran Walsh (his companion) and Philippa Boyens, is consistently sharp, precise, and revelatory, grounding the story and characters in its specific context, even when Jackson the helmer indulges in fancy visual and sound effects. [ read more ]

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Harry Knowles at Aint It Cool has this to say:

Then there is Susie. Susie Salmon, like the fish. Saoirse Ronan reminds me of a young Jodie Foster, but less Tomboy. She has those slightly Gelfling / Elf-ish features. Big wide expressive and beautiful eyes. Watching her with her camera, what a wonderful spirit. She is at that age. That age when she's still a girl, but she's flirting with the notion of becoming a lady in the slightest of ways. She's precocious, a bit obsessed with this guy at school named Ray Singh. He's Indian, has the cutest accent and is just kinda dreamy through her eyes. She thinks he's interested in her, but she doesn't quite know. She's interested in him, and only her Grandma knows it. Susie is lovely. Just looking at Saoirse, you want her to grow up, you want to see what she would become had things been different. And the film worships her. If you're watching this film and you don't fall in love with Susie Salmon... there might very well be something dead in you. She's an awesome young girl. And it makes you a bit sick inside. [ read more ]

As usual, Variety's Todd McCarthy likes to differ. Cinematical sums it up for us:

McCarthy's review is perhaps the hardest one to swallow. Essentially his biggest problem with the movie were the effects, claiming Jackson uses them way too much (and too often) for a film (and story) that doesn't really require them. [ read more ]

Currently, The Lovely Bones is rated at 52% (Rotten) at Rotten Tomatoes, the lowest rated movie of the three.

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What's on your mind? What are your reactions to critics' assessments of the three mentioned films? Have you seen any of the three movies already? Let us know what you think!
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