
THE ADVENTURES OF TINTINMy Flickchart Ranking: #380
Directed By: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Jamie Bell • Andy Serkis • Daniel Craig • Simon Pegg • Nick Frost
Genres: Adventure • Adventure Comedy • Animation • Based-on-Comics • Comedy • Family-Oriented Adventure • Family-Oriented Comedy
I’m at a bit of a loss here. The Adventures of Tintin continues a trend that I don’t much like in the industry today: the use of 3D and Motion Capture to tell the story. Personally, I don’t see what the big deal is with the technology and why it’s such a selling point. It’s not like the technology really transcends its status as a gimmick or does much in the way of assisting the storytelling process. But then this film comes along and makes me re-think the whole thing.
For those not in the loop, The Adventures of Tintin is a series of comic books created by Georges Rémi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé. The film is adapted primarily from the 11th title in the series, The Secret of the Unicorn, combining elements from The Crab with the Golden Claws and Red Rackham’s Treasure to flesh out the world. We’re introduced to the title character as he comes into possession of a model of the ship The Unicorn. Soon he’s accosted by Ivanovich Sakharine (Daniel Craig), which sets him on an adventure to find the sunken Unicorn. He’s joined by Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis) and the Thompson brothers (Nick Frost and Simon Pegg).

BEYOND THE BLACK RAINBOWMy Flickchart Ranking: #912
Directed By: Panos Cosmatos
Starring: Michael Rogers • Eva Allan • Scott Hylands • Marilyn Norry • Rondel Reynoldson
Genres: Psychological Sci-Fi • Science Fiction
Every year at AFI Fest Presented By Audi there are a few films that get showcased at the midnight hour, films that are a little bit more edgy and challenging than what plays throughout the day. Last year the favorite was Julia’s Eyes, an homage to Giallo film. Going into Beyond the Black Rainbow I half expected to get some kind of homage to Kubrick, and what I got instead was kind of a confused mess.

LARRY CROWNE(Blu-ray & DVD | PG13 | 2011)
Flickchart Ranking: #7584
Win Percentage: 35%
Times Ranked: 1092
Top-20 Rankings: 6
Directed By: Tom Hanks
Starring: Tom Hanks • Julia Roberts • Bryan Cranston • Cedric the Entertainer
Genres: Comedy Drama • Drama • Romance • Romantic Comedy

RAMPARTMy Flickchart Ranking: #934
Directed By: Oren Moverman
Starring: Woody Harrelson • Steve Buscemi • Sigourney Weaver • Robin Wright • Ben Foster
Genres: Drama • Police Drama
[disclaimer: I had to cut out of the last 20 minutes of the film to get in line for the next screening. My review only reflects up until that point. It might have gotten better.]
I can count the number of Police Dramas I’ve seen on one hand, and for good reason. The genre just doesn’t interest me all that much. Some of it has to do with the trappings of the genre – the rogue cop with aviator shades, the hardened chief ready to kick ass and the sarcastic detective who is more or less a jerk – but a majority of it is just that the plots are never all that engaging. And this film is no exception.
Rampart is the story of Dave Brown (Woody Harrelson), a hard-boiled police officer caught in the middle of a scandal involving the LA Rampart division. As his career deteriorates, so does his personal life. His wife and ex-wife kick him out of their homes, and his estranged daughter defies him every chance she gets. The only means he has to cope are through his job and his evening trysts with Linda, played by Robin Wright. Eventually, even those come under fire.

THIS IS NOT A FILMDirected By: Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, Jafar Panahi
Starring: Jafar Panahi
Genres: Culture and Society • Documentary
Foreign Language Film
Imagine that you have this one thing that you love to do more than anything in the world. Now imagine that you have been banned from doing that one thing for the remainder of your life. How would you deal with that? Would you fight against those who banned you, or would you give up and wallow in misery? Would you take up a new hobby? For Jafar Panahi, the answer is quite simple: fight the system.
This is Not A Film is a documentary about Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, sentenced to house arrest and banned for twenty years from filmmaking. The ban doesn’t seem to have that much of an effect on him considering he’s taken to filming his activity throughout the day. He calls friend and colleague Mojtaba Mirtahmasb over to run the camera while he dictates his newest “script,” citing that “reading” a script doesn’t constitute filmmaking.