The Killer Inside Me (Michael Winterbottom, 2010)

6.5/10
As before, this movie directed by Michael Winterbottom had a pretty impressive cast (Casey Affleck, Jessica Alba, Kate Hudson) but went nowhere, but it wasn't really hard to figure out why - the brutal, unflinching, and frankly horrific physical violence perpetrated on the women in the movie is cause for any distributor to run the other way. The movie is based on the Jim Thompson novel of the same name and stays true to his (apparent) gritty, no-B.S. realism. The story essentially is Affleck playing the role of a deputy sheriff named Lou Ford with a need to kill - or abuse, at least. A persistent D.A. eventually uncovers his secret but Ford stays true to his demons to the end. It's an interesting enough, very well-acted story (is Casey Affleck getting the consistent recognition he deserves yet?), but the whole time you can't shake the feeling something is missing - like its main character, the movie is too robotic, too removed, and you never really get sucked in enough into caring what happens. Too bad because it had a lot of potential.

My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (Werner Herzog, 2009)

8.5/10
Produced by David Lynch, directed by Werner Herzog, starring Michael Shannon, Willem Dafoe, Chloe Sevigny, Udo Kier and Brad Dourif, at first blush it's hard to figure why this one never got any kind of release...then as you watch it and realize it's absolutely insane, it sort of makes sense. For what's seemingly a mainstream film, it must be one of the most unmarketable ones made in recent history. Inspired by true events, Shannon plays Brad, a young man who goes insane after a trip to Peru (a land where Herzog spent a considerable amount of time) and kills his mother. The film opens with her death and tells itself in flashbacks, as told to Dafoe's detective by his fiancee (Sevigny) and friend (Kier). The movie confounds expectations at every turn, and it treads a fine line between genius and self indulgence, or being weird for the sake of it. As a huge Herzog fan I leaned towards the former, but I can't fault anyone for believing the latter true. What really makes the movie is Michael Shannon's over the top, desperately serious portrayal of a man insane. I'd compare this movie to Herzog's Bad Lieutenant, shot around the same time, but with the weirdness turned up to 11 (which is what I felt lacked with that film). A lot of fun.

It's Complicated (Nancy Meyers, 2009)

5/10
Even though I'm not this movie's target audience, I like the three main actors involved and thought it could turn out funny enough. I laughed a couple of times but that was about it. I dunno, it was decent enough entertainment. Though the movie courts it only semi-seriously, it's tough to sympathize with Streep's character - torn between two handsome, successful, charming men, living in a gorgeous house, owning a successful business, three Stepford children...it's a bit much and you find it hard to really care, but I guess that's part of the fun.