The Place Beyond the Pines (Derek Cianfrance, 2012)

6.5/10
This is a movie that almost feels like a 3-in-1 package deal, like it's compiled from three intertwined stories. The problem is that the movie divulges all of its secrets and mystery in the first act, and then is left with little else to do but beat you over the head with its raison d'etre for the following two, excluding the occasional plot divergences to pad the running time.
Despite that, though, it's not a particularly boring film...the acting is top notch all around, the movie looks good, and the music is excellent (Mike Patton channelling Angelo Badalamenti?). But after about the first hour, there's not much less to do but wait around while Cianfrance gets exactly to where you knew he was going. The two words that kept coming to mind to think of how best to describe the film would be 'clunky' and 'overbearing'.

Blue Valentine (Derek Cianfrance, 2010)

8/10
I'm still not 100% sure how I feel about this movie. There were a lot of things I liked, some things I didn't, but I've spent quite a while thinking about it and how it made me feel and any movie that achieves that much at least is worth a high enough score.
Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams are both fantastic. The plot is well-worn but the acting is so good as to pull any boring old story through the woods, so it's not much of an issue. In any event, there's at least something in this movie every human on the planet can probably relate to on some level. Also, the soundtrack was fantastic.
On the con side, I did feel at times the tribulations the two went through were overwrought and cartoonish at times. In particular, a pivotal scene late in the movie at a hospital was a disappointment. The movie went a little too over the top when it could have easily pulled off "quiet devastation" instead.
The couple's meet-cute is also mawkish Hollywood romance to a tee but I'd by lying if I said I wasn't totally won over by Gosling and Williams' little 'letting our guards down' song and dance number (literally).
But not many movies were able to make me feel happy and heartbroken at once, almost from scene to scene, so I give it kudos for that. I'd definitely recommend it.