Rocky Balboa

Rocky Balboa was apparently made by Stallone to essentially fix the mistake that was Rocky V, which did not leave the series on a high note. That is a most understandable endeavor and continues the Stallone/Rocky narrative as both Rocky and Stallone attempt to make a later in life comeback through this film. Now this film is the far more successful return to the style of the original Rocky than was Rocky V. It has a lot more honesty, a lot more heart, and a lot more proper affection for the original than was found in that film. This film though on the whole very much feels like just a tender epilogue to the other films. Everything about it is very quiet, subdued and to the point. Fitting to age I suppose as even the traditional montage and training sequence is pretty low key. It is all more than effective though in this rather calm approach right down to the emotional beats, which again are pretty subdued yet entirely work for an aged man who has come to terms with his life. This approach I will say limits the film from ever becoming anything too notable, but it also keeps it on solid ground throughout. This to the point that even the pro boxer who plays the opponent is just fine, since Stallone purposefully doesn't stress his acting abilities much. Nothing about the film is up to the best of Rocky, but it works as just a fond trip down memory lane.
3.5/5

Pan's Labyrinth

Pan's Labyrinth is Guillermo Del Toro's film about a little girl Ofelia who discovers a mysterious world during the Spanish civil war. Del Toro is a visionary director in terms of the visually fascinating worlds he creates and his attention to detail in creating notable visual effects. What he's not very capable of though is even an ounce of subtlety. He prefer his archetypes in general making something a little problematic in using the Spanish Civil War as a staging for his film, as that war was anything but a good vs evil affair. This approach though is more problematic than simplicity of history though through his realization of the character of Captain Vidal the merciless step father of the little girl. The character has little to no nuance with his opening scene of greeting his new family begins with him admonishing Ofelia for merely trying to shake with the wrong hand. Having this pure evil force could not be a terrible problem for a fantastical film however the real problem for Del Toro is his failure in when he attempts nuance. With the Captain we have the story of his father's watch that stopped when his father died. This is given much importance, and time within the film yet only ever feels like a vague attempt to offer some substance to the broad stroke character. Del Toro is frankly best when he just embraces his broad strokes since he struggles with anything else. In turn his best scenes are of the fantasy world with the dark monstrous creatures Ofelia must face in order to claim her place on an otherworldly throne. These scenes are the best within the film as they are always imaginative in their staging and direction by Del Toro. That is not to say they are completely without some minor frustrations, namely Ofelia tasting a forbidden grape only in order to awaken a girl eating monster and the only reason she seems to this is to make the scene happen. The scenes in "reality" have a certain visceral effectiveness as the Captain hunts down the men on the opposing side in the woods however they are rather repetitive in this. The reason for the repetition though being the failure to find any nuance by Del Toro. This side somewhat works still through his broader style, but there is something lacking in the combination of two as Del Toro presents both in the same simple fashion. This in no way leads to a bad film at any point really, however its ambition seems greater than its achievement in the end.
4/5

The Lives of Others

The Lives Of Others received a little bit of criticism due to the fictional nature of its story, although this of course ignores the fact that the film never claims to be anything other than historical fiction. A historical fiction that strives to find an emotional truth within its tale of a German Stasi agent and the artist he is spying on. The film succeeds in this venture in granting such a life through every facet of the story. This includes the overarching detail it grants to the chilling world of the Stasi where they mark down the name of a student even attempting to state a philosophical objection to the modus operandi of the state. The film's masterstroke though is to take the potentially tragic story of the writer, attempting even a minor form rebellion due to the ignored suicide of his friend, living in the repressive state though through the lens of the Stasi agent secretly listening the man's life in order to discover something in order to arrest the man. The film keeps a closer focus upon the agent and there is the greatness of the film particularly as realized through Ulrich Muhe's outstanding portrayal of the agent. His depiction of the man slowly changing and becoming involved in the man's story on the he only knows through spying on him embodies the greatness of the film. This power of this central idea is never wasted as it orchestrates such a compelling journey of one man. A story that could have been rife with sentimentalism however the film carefully avoids this as it just as bluntly reveals the potential harshness of the world in the story of the writer's actress girlfriend, wholly earning the central deeply moving and in the end rather inspiring tale of the spy who gives into his humanity rather than his state's mandate.
5/5

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Dead Man's Chest is the immediate follow up, and although the best of the sequels its problems are readily apparent. Now there is some good to be had in the expansion of the lore with the introduction of an effective villain in Billy Nighy's Davy Jones, and his giant kraken. That's about it though as the film struggles with its overly expansive yet never particularly compelling plot where it sets so many characters with so motivations, yet they are never earned in creating a real connection to any of their stories. This is secondary to spectacle, yet the spectacle is oddly underwhelming, or comedy which is never particularly funny this time around. Depp's whose Jack Sparrow seemed such an original and unique character here begins to become a tired parody version of his character from the first one. There is still a bit of substance here yet for the most part his mannerisms feel just like an act, and his performance feels like on autopilot of just a general weirdness most of the time. This in turn makes everything else that he made work in the first film fall flat here. There are some fun moments here though, a giant wheel, the kraken attack, yet they are not as successful in naturally serving the story as similar moments in the first film. Of course all of this is only exacerbated through excessive runtime and horrendous pacing. The film attempts complexity merely for the sake of it, and in doing so diminishes any sense of fun needed for any pirate romp.
2.5/5

X-Men: The Last Stand

X-Men: The Last Stand took the noticeable improvements of X-2 over the original, and immediately set fire to them. The film is curiosity as you see what appears to be a director without passion for the material in anyway make a film anyways. Bree Ratner treats the previously established character more of a series of action figures for him to bash together. Any developments are dropped and instead we get a two dimensional showdown between good and evil. This is a film the trudges along without a care in the world. Characters are killed without care, or their character's assassinated without a reason. New characters are introduced and it is basically up to the actors for any development. For example we are introduced to Angel, played by the best American actor of his age group Ben Foster, who is there just to fulfill one requirement of a later action scene. There is no purpose to his plot. That is the case of most plots which are underdeveloped. The Dark Phoenix subplot is ridiculous reducing the character into a one note villain who glitters away her foes for no real reason. There technically could be a conflict for Wolverine, who probably got the least harmed by appearing in this film, but that is wasted by the fact that Phoenix barely plays into the central plot involving Magneto. She's often just there to the side for no real reason. Now as basically a series of sequences to bash action figures together the film even falls short. The action is most often clunky, with awkward special effects, as the fight sequences look ridiculously staged. Although there are technically a few okay elements, a few of the performances, the film is a waste and so disposable that the series itself did not mind erasing it from existence.
1/5

The Prestige

The Prestige stands along with Memento as one of Christopher Nolan's strongest films, for once again a fairly similar reason. Both films work brilliantly in their mind bending tricks, and the twists both contain are incredibly effective. The Prestige, as with, Memento is more than just trick despite being about magicians. The film stands well on its portrayal of a the rivalry between the two magicians, Borden, the one fueled by a professional motivation to strive for something new, the other, Angier, having a personal motivation to get some sort of revenge. Both are so well cast with Christian Bale as the brooding yet daring magician, and Hugh Jackman as the charismatic showman but safer individual. Their relationship is always maintained as paramount and the film explores both men's lives even in elements outside the rivalry. The film, as one would expect, is visually striking in capturing the visual detail, but also the magic of well magic. One of my favorite elements though is when it goes beyond a bit in the use of Nicholas Tesla that adds an extra bit of subtext given his own rivalry with Thomas Edison. The film succeeds in pulling the strings together to find a captivating conclusion but what I love most about it is that is not all there is to it. The twists only makes subsequent viewings all the more engaging as it earns it, and fitting for a film about magicians is it's  there in plain sight, you just don't notice it.
5/5

Babel

Babel is basically a film of telling four separate manipulative stories. Now all films technically are manipulative, or at least try to be, however this film seems particularly obvious in intentions with every story focusing on extreme emotions. The only thing that can really save it are some performances to provide at least a bit of nuance making their characters into people rather than just puppets to be wrong through a wringer. Well they don't all pull it off, some do very well, but that even can go only so far, and the film's whole attempt in finding some sort of understanding of a troubled connected world feels wholly inadequate and simplistic. It's not a terrible film, but it's not a very good one. Also it won best score for a song from the Last Emperor since that's the only part of the score that stands out.
2.5/5