Contagion (2011)

A very well-done disease outbreak movie. Admittedly, these usually work for me because I have a fairly healthy sense of paranoia already, so they can play into that easily. This one has a pretty impressive celebrity cast, some of which are only on screen for a few minutes before their story is over. I liked the ensemble drama feel of this, however - I liked getting the sense of how all these different people in slightly different areas were affected by the outbreak. And it was certainly a tense movie, as well - right from the very beginning, with all those scenes showing several clearly sick people. Meep. Well done. 4 stars.

Best Part: All the little quick shots of people on the subway, or touching their cups, or coughing... they built up an extremely effective atmosphere of paranoia.

Worst Part: I would have liked a little more resolution of some of those individual plotlines. I say that but it's quite possible that if that had happened,

Flickchart: #372, below Easy A and above Blazing Saddles.

Beetlejuice (1988)

(This review is a little longer, as it's being cross-posted over at my not-just-reviews blog. Some spoilers ahead.)

This was one of the movies on my Blind Spot list for 2012 - a list of 12 movies I knew I needed to see but had never actually gotten around to it. I added this one to the list for a few reasons: 1) I wanted to have a few popular favorites on the list, not just super-artsy ones, 2) I love Tim Burton, and 3) my boyfriend is a huge fan of this movie and kept telling me I should see it. So now we're in mid-March and this is the first Blind Spot 2012 movie I've gotten around to actually watching.

He was right. I loved it.

I went into this movie knowing very little about its plot. I knew it had something to do with ghosts, but I had no idea that it was a reverse haunted house movie about a pair of ghosts trying to chase humans out of their house. The moment where Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis find out they're dead took me completely by surprise. I don't get surprised by movies all that often, so that was great fun.

As the story unfolded, I loved the mix of silly and dark humor throughout the whole movie. I was somewhat expecting that - Tim Burton's movies always have this offbeat, morbid sense of humor - but I had forgotten how much I love good dark humor. Sometimes, depending on the movie, it's something that takes me a little while to get into, but not here. I loved that tone throughout.

Sometimes you sit down to watch a movie and just end up thoroughly enjoying yourself the whole way through. It doesn't impact you emotionally or connect you with the characters, but it's just solidly good fun. That's what Beetlejuice was for me. I'm definitely glad I saw it, and I'm sure I'll enjoy watching it again someday. 4 stars.

Best Part: I absolutely love the morbid sense of humor running throughout this movie. I don't know if I can pick a specific favorite moment.

Worst Part: I think in the wrong mood, I'd have been annoyed by Michael Keaton in this movie rather than amused by him... but that didn't apply this time around.

Flickchart: #366, below Enchanted and above Juno.

The Artist (2011)

When I saw this, it played right before Midnight in Paris, which was a wonderful double feature - both movies about preferring the past to the future. The Artist is not quite as charming as Midnight in Paris, but it does come pretty close. It tells a very dynamic story in a silent medium. It looks and sounds beautiful, bringing the idea of silent films into a new era. (I don't remember who, but I heard someone muse that The Artist might regenerate the silent film in Hollywood, much the way Unforgiven did for westerns. We shall see. If they all are as well-done as this one, I'd be completely okay with that.) 4 stars.

Best Part: That wonderful scene in the dressing room where sound suddenly invades his life.

Worst Part: The long section around the 3/4 mark featuring George's depression lagged quite a bit for me. I loved the first half and the ending, but that section didn't work for me.

Flickchart: #350, below A Night at the Opera and above Super 8.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011)

Walking into this movie, I did NOT expect to respond to it the way I did. I didn't know much about it, but the little I knew made it sound like something I wouldn't particularly like. What makes it something special is the main character, Oskar, one of the most sympathetic child characters I have ever seen on screen. His journey is interesting because *he* is interesting. I have always identified with characters struggling with their fears, especially social fears, so Oskar was incredibly relatable for me, and made the movie what it was. 4 stars.

Best Part: The moment where Oskar tells the Renter his story. It's just... good.

Worst Part: It is rather a ludicrous plot. I would probably have rolled my eyes at the ending if I hadn't been so emotionally invested by that point.

Flickchart: #272, below The Fountain and above Sense and Sensibility.

The Help (2011)

This is a fine little movie. I enjoyed it while I was watching it, although it's really hard to shake the feeling that I'm watching something on Lifetime. It certainly wasn't anything that blew me away. Writing this review a week after watching it, I remember it as being acceptably entertaining, but nothing that grabbed my attention and held it beyond the closing credits.

(Incidentally, I think all the questions people have raised about the way it deals with racism are valid ones. I haven't ever been a victim of that kind of thinking so I'm not really allowed to make the call on whether or not this movie is offensive, but I think it's probably good that people are discussing that.) 2.5 stars.

Best Part: The acting was indeed really good. It was what made this movie enjoyable for me.

Worst Part: I'm still just bored by femalecentric films. I hardly ever relate to any of the characters, and that is certainly true here. Women like me just don't really exist in the movie world.

Flickchart: #596, below Million Dollar Baby and above The Dresser.

Hugo (2011)

(These next couple are predated. They've been written March 3, but I saw the movies in February, and I want them to be counted with the February films. So that's what's up.)

Hugo impressed me more as a technical masterpiece than as an emotional piece of filmmaking. There are a few very nice moments, but overall I never really connected with the story or the characters. However, it LOOKS gorgeous, and I'm always a sucker for beautiful-looking movies. It's unlikely to stick in my memory for very long, but if I think about it, I definitely enjoyed it while I was watching it. 3.5 stars.

Best Part: There are a lot of really nice scenes, but I think my very favorite was the first one where the Station Inspector is trying to approach the flower seller. It's a beautifully shot moment that captures without words that feeling of not being good enough for someone.

Worst Part: The whole 3D thing was used well here, but it made me pretty headachey during some of the quick-moving parts.

Flickchart: #474, below Closer and above Spider-Man 2.

The Descendants (2011)

Last year's Best Picture nominees included The Kids Are All Right, a perfectly acceptable drama with good acting and good dialogue that I forgot within a week of leaving the theater. The Descendants fills that role this year. It's a solid little flick that never goes beyond that to be great. There's not much to be said about it - everything is pretty good, nothing is REALLY good. 2.5 stars.

Best Part: The overall story was a good one, and the Hawaiian setting made for a very interesting, strong sense of atmosphere.

Worst Part: That younger daughter was kind of an obnoxious character. I tired of her very quickly.

Flickchart: #803, below Being John Malkovich and above Sherlock Holmes.