REVIEW: Thanks for Sharing

6/10 - Candlelit romance and sex addiction

Based on the title, poster, and leads, I assumed this was a rom com about people in New York falling in love... which isn't wrong. But it's also about sex addiction. With some drugs and alcohol mixed in, too.

There is a bravery about this film that gives it some legs. I appreciate the originality injected into an otherwise cliche backdrop. (I am really starting to hate movies set in New York, there are other cities in the world, filmmakers. Maybe start checking them out.) Regardless, AA has developed its own sets of cliches. I thought none of them were used here, to my great relief.

The main story in Thanks for Sharing is about the relationship between Adam (Mark Ruffalo) and Phoebe (Gwyneth Paltrow) as they navigate their new relationship, having to overcome the hurdles of Adam's sex addiction. I don't know if I have an appreciation for the rom-com spin on an otherwise dramatic film. At the film's opening, Adam has been "clean" for 5 years, and hides his addiction from Phoebe who once dated an alcoholic and swore off dating another addict. Then they have beautiful charming dates. Perhaps Phoebe is too perfect for a film of this nature.

The cast really made this movie. During my brief Jobs review I said Josh Gad was great. In Thanks for Sharing he is outstanding. Truly, I found myself frustrated that his character wasn't the lead. He was both ambitious and self loathing. The best scene in this film is early in the movie with Josh Gad's character Neil is alone in his apartment, wanting to start the 12 steps but just spiraling out of control and into old habits. It's heart wrenching to watch. Tim Robbins and Patrick Fugit spend most of the film pushing and pulling at each other in a strained father-son relationship that's agonizing. Even Alecia Moore is able to get right to the core of hurt and pain.

As a character Adam is introduced as being vigilant, that he cannot go easy on himself. As if he is constantly aware of the monster under the surface. He lives a life of restraint and repetition. This would be extraordinarily fascinating if it was adequately displayed, but I don't get that feeling from Mark Ruffalo. His character is most frequently relaxed, joking around, comfortable, anything but ever-vigilant. Perhaps it's because his performance is overshadowed by Tim Robbins who play's Adam's mentor, and is the definition of a hard ass. I was desperate to see that struggle for self control that the other addict's showed. I wanted to see that intensity early in his relationship to show the depth of it's importance. It all went a little bit wishy washy because it was all too casual. It just stopped short of really hitting home.

Like the critical reviews, this film is a mixed bag. There are some brilliant performances and some mediocre ones. There are some scenes of incredible writing, and some that are tremendously boring. In retrospect it's a quality film that's worth watching all the way to the end, even if it's a bit long. I do have an appreciation for a film that explores some territory that isn't often shown in

IMDb - Thanks for Sharing (6.5)
Wikipedia - Thanks for Sharing
Rotten Tomatoes - Thanks for Sharing (49%)
Amazon.ca - Thanks for Sharing

REVIEW: Iron Man 3

Confession time: I've spent more time and words on this review than many of my college essays. My first draft of this was over 5 pages long. That's insane for a mediocre movie.

5/10 - It's really not very good.

Iron Man 3 was fast paced and enjoyable. It was a lot of fun to watch, something Iron Man 2 was completely missing, and it was very Tony Stark focused. All great things.

This is the biggest mess of a screenplay I've ever seen in action. It starts stories and drops them completely. It forgets about it's own plot and characters. The sentiment is vague and shallow. It has a ton of 80's action movie cliches and expects them to go over super seriously. That's what I get for watching a movie that starts with not one, but two different flashbacks.

WARNING: This is going to be incredibly spoilerific. I will ruin this movie if you haven't seen it.

The moment I turned against Iron Man 3 was after the first major action sequence when his house gets destroyed. There were small problems before, but this was infuriating. Tony Stark's house blows up, and he is presumed dead by the newspapers. Great, except.... Why didn't any of his 'super friends' come to help him? Even if none of the Avengers knew about the attack and no one could stop it, wouldn't Captain America get sent out to help stop the terrorist who already murdered a fellow Avengers? They mention the events of The Avengers every 20 seconds, you would think it was for a tie-in. What about Rhodes, why wasn't he protecting Tony? Furthermore, why didn't he care that Tony was pronounced dead? Tony call him up after "dying" and Rhodes says "Hey buddy, what's new?" Are you kidding me? This is not reality. There are no consequences to actions, this is nonsense.

Pepper Pots also had no purpose or clear story. Which is a shame because it started with such promise. An early moment has the Iron Man suit, on its own, attack Pepper. That's a beautiful setup for Pepper to fear the Iron Man suit and have a touching climactic moment where the suit can't save Pepper, only Tony can. This is particularly poignant after the whole second movie had Tony fighting a guy who created dangerous Iron Man drones. That would be stunningly cohesive. Too bad they fuck it up. Immediately Pepper wears the suit herself to save Tony during the house attack. Now we have a suit that anyone can wear, or can act independently. There are no longer any consequences for Iron Man, he is not fallible he is a pawn. Iron Man and Tony are no longer the same, the myth is over.

I'll restrain myself from nit picking with every single flaw but I'll say this, the whole third act is a disastrous mess. The bad guys have no motive or purpose. Is "Tony didn't give me enough attention when I was a kid" supposed to be motivation? That doesn't explain the totally random actions of the baddies. They just show up and make stupid decisions over and over with no end game or purpose. Maya Hansen shows up to warn Tony, but she also is working for Killian, even though he tried to blow her up. Sounds like a solid business plan to me.

My favorite is when they tie up the president to kill him on television, in the War Machine suit. In a functional suit! They're hanging this guy with some basic rope and they didn't just give him a knife to cut himself down, they gave him a suit with weapons and fire, that can fly him to safety. We know it's functional because ultimately that's what saves him! Did no one use their brains on this movie? How does a $200 million dollar movie make such stupid mistakes.

I really resent the 80's cliches that lead up to the final battle. I don't think lines like "We gotta make a decision. We can either save the President or Pepper. We can't do both." should make it past the first draft of a script, ever. (Spoiler alert: he tries to do both, with a sufficient amount of time to do both. He also fails at both. The President gets captured and Pepper gets infected? injected? whatever. Tony sucks.) There is whole bit about an airplane getting ripped open, and the passengers go flying out! 'Ahh we are losing cabin pressure! Someone save us!' This is so absurd considering The Avengers had an action sequence with Iron Man and Captain America trying to repair the outside of their flying craft, and none of those people went flying out into the sky because there was an open door. Audiences are not this stupid, please stop treating them as so.

By the end of this movie, there is absolutely nothing left to care about. Pepper was a damsel in distress who needed saving, and wasn't saved by Tony. She turned into an x-men mutant and wore the suit to save herself. Then she said the suits should be destroyed. Rhodes took back the Iron Patriot/War Machine suit which Tony immediately set to self destruct? Or not? I have no idea, but an accidental murdering of Rhodes would really improve this movie. Can someone explain why he blew up the suits by the way? The time to fear the drones was early on, especially after the fallout from Hammer. I don't think Pepper using the drones to save Tony twice would make her then turn around and say to ditch them. If anything she would finally sympathize. Weren't they having some sort of "marital miscommunication" at the beginning of this movie, too? What happened to that? Oh nothing. What happened to Happy? Nothing. What happened to Rhodes? Nothing. What happens in this movie? Nothing. Tony Stark is a nobody who has no character growth, makes random choices, screws up a lot, and could have solved everything if he kept his mouth shut and stayed in his basement.

IMDb - Iron Man 3 (7.5)
Wikipedia - Iron Man 3
Rotten Tomatoes - Iron Man 3 (78%)
Amazon.ca - Iron Man 3

REVIEW: Contagion

8/10 - Gravy

Contagion is the story about a contagion that becomes contagious. I actually confused this with Quarantine before I saw the movie. How hilarious. Please don't watch Quarantine.

Really, it's a multi-linear story that uses several points of view to explore the devastation that happens globally during this event. The disease is the main character, no doubt.

I really like Steven Soderbergh and I never realized it until this year. It's a real genuine shame that he is retiring this year because the last batch of movies he has done have been really inspiring, bright, and intelligent. Many of Steve's movies have not been getting the hype they deserve and I think this is one of them.

It takes great skill and restraint to illustrate the widespread effects, with only those characters that appear on the poster. I was deeply invested in these people and had no idea it was happening. Contagion has a cold and calculated feel, from the calculated roll-out of the relief efforts. It's hyper realistic but heartfelt. There are no exaggerated wide camera shots of riots or violence for the sake of violence.

Certainly when there is a star studded cast, some actors don't shine like the others, but I didn't see that in this movie. It was an outstanding cast from clinical Kate Winslet who shines in quiet moments, to the complicated Jude Law who portrays a character you either hate or love. I think the only actor who I was unhappy with was surprisingly Matt Damon. I'm not sure he reached the emotional level to make me believe what was happening at the beginning of the movie. Granted, that's likely a writing or directional choice. I think Matty makes up for it with the rising panic, and he grounds the movie unlike any other character.

I'm not sure I have a whole lot else to say about Contagion. It was great, but maybe a little cold. I want more movies like this, with creative and unique stories. It's thoughtful, scary, fast paced and emotional. Everyone should see it.

IMDB - Contagion (6.7)
Wikipedia - Contagion
Rotten Tomatoes - Contagion (84%)
Amazon.ca - Contagion