Charlie Bartlett

Director: Jon Poll
Year: 2007
My Rating: ****

I. Loved. This. Movie. It’s funny, sweet, intelligent, witty, well-paced, and cohesively written. The banter could be compared to that which won Juno its Oscar, but scaled down to a believable level and with a male protagonist.

The scope of the movie is relatively small, I suppose; set in a Connecticut suburb, it focuses on a few months in the life of Charlie Bartlett, freshly expelled from his umpteenth private school and starting to make his way for the first time through the throes of public high school. In his quest to be popular, Charlie turns the fact that his family has a psychiatrist on retainer to his advantage and starts doling out advice and pills to his peers, backed up with the muscle of the school bully – played by Tyler Hilton, only vaguely recognizable from his stint as Elvis in Walk the Line.

It deftly maneuvers the line between predictable and innovative, creating an interesting teen/adult dynamic between Charlie and his elders. It endows its teen characters with honest and plausible maturity without turning them into caustic non-innocents, and allows its adults their mistakes without making them into buffoons.

Anton Yelchin is fantastic as Charlie, making his way through the awkward, joyous, loving, and conflicted moments of the movie with a believable, steady, and likeable demeanor. It is slightly weird to watch Robert Downey Jr. deal with the flaws of his character knowing what he has been through personally, but ultimately he makes for more of a credible parent figure than those in many teen flicks. Hope Davis is perfectly wacky as Charlie’s loopy mom, and Kat Dennings makes it easy to understand why a high school boy might be in love with her – despite (or including?) the fact that she kind of looks like she could be 35.

I really shouldn’t call this a teen flick, by the way. It’s just easier to do so, as I’m not sure what other category could be more apt. Sure, it’s about teens, but I spent most of the movie grinning and identifying.

Definitely see this. I loved it!

Across the Universe

Director: Julie Taymor
Year: 2007
My Rating: ***

I have an interesting relationship with this movie, I think. While I was watching it, I loved and hated very specific parts. (Fine. To generalize, I loved the beginning, the end, and the male cast members. Hated the middle and Evan Rachel Wood.) Therefore, my initial judgement on it as a whole was that it was merely alright. However, since seeing it back in November, the songs and particularly the images have stayed with me very vibrantly and my thoughts have frequently returned to it. So I think I have to amend that initial judgement and say that I actually really loved it. It's been easy to forget Ms. Wood's lackluster performance and easy to remember the haunting version of "Because" and the images of "Strawberry Fields..." and "Let It Be." So that's that.

It's a trippy movie, for sure. Set entirely to Beatles music sung en scène by the cast, it follows the love story of Jude and Lucy (and their friend group) through the tumultuous late 50s and 60s. While some character names and actions are cringeworthy in their blatant referencing (Prudence, who comes in through the bathroom window, for example), the integration of Beatlemania is mostly palatable. Bono makes an interesting cameo singing "I Am the Walrus," Eddie Izzard is a perfect Mr. Kite, and Jim Sturgess charmed his way into my heart in an instant with his adorable Limey accent, luscious brown eyes and impressive set of pipes.

I've heard the studios intervened with Ms. Taymor's product to make it less weird, and the more mainstream version is the one that made it to theaters... I'd be almost scared to see the original, if that's really the case, but can't help but wonder if it ultimately might fit together more cohesively. Regardless, I'll definitely be purchasing this version and highly recommend you see it as well.

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

Director: Sidney Lumet
Year: 2007
My Rating: *

Don't get me wrong, this movie was well acted and directed -- I just hated it anyway, mostly because it was devastatingly dark and depressing. The constant, accelerating downward spiral of the main characters was overwhelming and hard to watch.

Philip Seymour Hoffman is, of course, incredible, and Ethan Hawke, in addition to being pleasant to look at, is actually one of my favorite actors as well. Albert Finney turns in a great performance as their dad -- perhaps it's to all of their credit that I was writhing in my seat at their plight. They play two brothers who, in an act of desperation due to dire circumstances in each of their lives, decide to rob their own parents' jewelry store; of course it goes drastically wrong, and things continue to unravel from there. It felt about 30 minutes too long, as after the first hour I already felt like we were being assaulted with more demoralizing plot twists whose only purpose was to prove they could destroy the entire world established in the first few moments.

If you're either a big devotee of any of the aforementioned actors, who are truly great, or have an aching desire to see Marisa Tomei play the same character she plays in every film ever, see this. Otherwise...