Movie Thoughts Bundle (2011) #1

In this collection of short reviews, we’ll explore the year 2011 where Martin Scorsese dips his toe in fantasy, JJ Abrams attempts to make a Spielberg movie, and Michael Shannon delivers arguably his greatest performance yet in an Oscar worthy title that not enough people saw.

1. Take Shelter - 10/10

Taking on the title in my opinion as one of the best dramas ever to grace the theater screen comes 2011's Take Shelter starring Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain. From the moment this movie starts all the way to its exceptionally executed thought provoking ending, we're thrown into a visually stunning emotional roller coaster. The entire cast delivers their A-game here with believable performances ensuring that the dialogue felt grounded in relatable human emotions with every word spoken. The highlight here being Michael Shannon in arguably his best role yet and an award worthy performance if I've ever seen one. 

The whole premise of the movie involving a family man having hallucinations of an impending apocalypse resulting in psychological breakdowns causing him to prepare out of paranoia is fascinating. This causes him to become emotionally compromised leading to major rifts in his personal relationships allowing the movie to deliver some truly tear jerking interaction scenes. Just the dream sequences alone are beautifully haunting in parts while feeling grand scaled and tension filled. Couple this with the real-world dramatic outbursts and powerful examples of what could be classified as a mental health tragedy, and you have a viewing experience that keeps you deeply immersed all the way through. 

Take Shelter is one of the rare cases where I felt a movie was complete lacking in no particular areas and using the screen effectively to deliver everything possibly needed to carry its story and characters. This is one that I'd highly recommend and should definitely not be skipped over whatsoever.

2. Super 8 - 8/10

I think if you were to collect a large group of filmgoers all in one room and ask each of them what their biggest pet peeves were regarding a movie, there's a strong chance that at least one of them would mention "child actors".   This has been an issue for many fans dating back several years due to the various potential issues that child actors bring to certain movies. Many times you have a young talent that simply doesn't have the acting chops needed to help carry a scene forward despite their strongly performed onscreen adult counterpart. And in several other situations, you have child characters that are simply just excruciatingly annoying to watch and distracts from the overall viewing experience. This is more so the writing than the acting in this case. 

What's worth noting about Super 8 is the rarity that it offers in presenting central child characters who do indeed have their annoyances but never once takes away from the movie completely. If anything, I actually fully accepted and empathized with them throughout and the performances for the most part are actually pretty decent. As for the storytelling, I thought it was well paced out getting to all of the essential character moments without ever feeling rushed. Things ran rather smoothly and at times would remind me of some of my favorite classic films that knew how long to keep a scene dragged out and when to cut other moments short. Well, that is until we get to the ending where all of the characters' subplots are given closure during the big climactic alien ship departing scene. 

There's a great idea here to emotionally connect the protagonists' own human conflict with letting go of the pain left by a close family member that passed away and the physical departure of this creature that's trying to go home. You can certainly see the classic Speilberg influences being injected here in the concept although the scene itself does drag on a bit and the narrative logic surrounding it certainly demands a notable suspension of disbelief. Last but not least comes the marketing campaign which built up the audience's hype for the creature itself and...it's not worth the hype. 

3. Hugo - 10/10

The idea of making a film that showcases the craftsmanship of classic silent films was something I personally really admired about Hugo. It almost felt like a highly cinematic (due to the overall look of the setting and FX work)  documentary in some cases, and being that I so happen to be a big fan of old classic films, the movie did an excellent job of reminding me why I loved those titles so much growing up. It was nostalgic and quite magical in a sense for me to see these iconic moments in film history being recreated in a sort of "behind the scenes" style and honestly made me wish the whole movie would've been just that. Actually, let's focus on that last part for just a moment because there is one notable flaw that should unfortunately be highlighted. That flaw being the titular character himself, Hugo. 

Although this film is mainly, in my opinion, about the admiration of classic filmmaking, the story in itself involving the main character (Hugo) is quite underwhelming. That's not to say that Hugo's story is necessarily boring, but it is in no way as remotely entertaining as the story of George's filmmaking life. I feel that what the movie should've done is perhaps shine its spotlight towards a different character like George showcasing his struggles and successes in creating these enchanting moments of classic visual storytelling while Hugo could've been a side character. Or...simply just find a way to make Hugo himself more endearing or entertaining of a lead to follow along as our avatar discovering this world of artistic escapism. That being said, I still feel that this movie is a must-watch for film lovers all around looking for something both adventurous and a bit nostalgic depending on your personal connection to cinema.