The Hangover Part II (2011)

One its own, this would have been a passable comedy. It had equal parts raunch and wit, and could have easily kept audiences happy. But the fact that it's nearly identical to the original makes The Hangover Part II seem exceptionally lazy.

Two years after their experience in Las Vegas, Stu, Phil, Alan and Doug head to Thailand to celebrate Stu's impending nuptials. Almost immediately, the group decides to avoid their Vegas debacle and have a calm bachelor bonfire on the beach the night before the wedding. Cut to the next morning, and it's deja vu for the guys. Phil wakes up still a little smashed, Alan is sporting a new buzzcut, and Stu somehow got a face tattoo mirroring Mike Tyson's. Oh, and there's a monkey. Chaos ensues when the guys realize Stu's fiance's brother is missing in Bangkok. Now, the gang must first figure out what steps they took the night before in order to retrace them. Their misadventures take them to a Buddhist temple, a transsexual strip club and a health clinic. They also had run ins with Russian mobsters and a dangerous crime lord. Twists and turns along the way, of course.

Where to begin. I'll start with the similarities between the two Hangover movies. They're all there. Instead of Doug going missing, it's Stu's fiance's brother. Instead of a tiger, it's a monkey. Instead of the seedy underbelly of Las Vegas, it's the seedy underbelly of the world. Throw in Chow and the supporting cast from the first flick, and there you have it. I'm not sure where the blame lies with getting this movie green lit, but I'm just going to spread it around to all parties involved. Save for some Zach Galifianakis one-liners, this really isn't worth it. Grade: C-

Drive (2011)

Drive is the best movie of 2011. Hands down. This totally stylized and uber-violent film decides to use actions and emotions to lead the audience through the plot. A very gutsy move for a supposed action movie. It pays off.

The unnamed Driver (Ryan Gosling) is a stuntman by day and a rented getaway driver by night. He works his second job anonymously, never for the same client twice and allows them only five minutes of his time. One day, he meets his neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan). They seem to hit it off, but Irene's husband, Standard, soon returns from prison and his past life quickly catches up with him. The Driver decides to help Standard pay off his debt by driving for him on a robbery. But the heist goes bad, and now the Driver must figure out who is trying to kill him. And for what. It all circles back to a Jewish mobster the Driver had met once at his garage. Bernie Rose (Albert Brooks), while covering his tracks, is ultimately the one the Driver is avoiding. But it's not an easy task. The Driver must find out information about Rose, while also trying to avoid him at the same time. All of this while attempting to keep Irene and her son out of harms way. Good luck.

I was just in awe when I watched this movie. The trailer really doesn't do it justice. While there are some car chases in the film, there really is very little driving. The title has two meanings. Gosling was fantastic in a subtle, yet brooding way. But Albert Brooks kicked it up a notch and gave an outstanding performance. Who would have guessed he'd play the badass mobster while Ron Perlman, aka Hellboy, plays the stereotypical neurotic Jew character. Director Nicolas Winding Refn also does a terrific job of keeping your attention throughout. The directing style is very influenced by the likes of Tarantino and Kubrick, while also referencing Taxi Driver and Bullitt. I cannot say enough good things about this movie. But be warned, while there isn't a whole lot of violence, the violence it has is pretty gruesome. Grade: A+

The Descendants (2011)

Director Alexander Payne has always had a talent for combining comedy and drama in such films as Election, Sideways and About Schmidt. But Payne managed to outdo himself with The Descendants, which I consider to be his masterpiece.

Matt King (George Clooney) is a lawyer living in Honolulu with his family. He is also the sole person in charge of a family trust that controls thousands of acres of land on Kaua'i. Matt's always been a career man, putting his family on the backburner. His family moves to the forefront after Matt's wife is knocked into a coma following a boating accident. Now in charge of precocious 10-year-old Scottie and rebellious 17-year-old Alex (Shailene Woodley). Matt has never really connected with his daughters, but must force adult conversations onto Alex, who had a blowout with her mother shortly before being shipped to boarding school. Alex eventually tells Matt the reason for the fight was that her mother was having an affair. Already dealing with his wife's injuries, Matt must now face a question he may never get answered. On top of all that, the rest of Matt's extended family is trying to pull him in different directions on the land deal. There are decisions abound for a career decision-maker. Only now he doesn't know what to do.

George Clooney does a terrific job as a man torn between several possible outcomes. He excels in the scenes that need to delicately tiptoe between comedy and drama. Just as great was Shailene Woodley as the teenager thrust into the maternal role. Woodley deserves every accolade she gets for this movie because she managed to hold her own on-screen opposite Clooney. Every other actor added great performances that left me with the feeling that every single character had a reason to be there. I could just keep going about how great this movie was. From the way Alexander Payne keeps the story flowing at an enticing pace, to how the plot manages to balance several storylines without forgetting its core message. Watch this film because it may very well win Best Picture this year. Grade: A+

The Devil's Double (2011)

Look at that badass poster. Shame the movie didn't live up to it. With all due respect to Dominic Cooper, who valiantly played dual roles in this, The Devil's Double just fell short, plain and simple.

Latif Yahia (Cooper) is an Iraqi soldier who is called off the battlefields of the Iran-Iraq War to become the new body double for Uday Hussein (also Cooper). It's not a role Latif is eager to play but reluctantly takes the job after some persuasion (i.e. torture). Latif undergoes various tests and procedures to make sure he resembles Uday as closely as possible. Once complete, Latif can now witness firsthand the life of a madman. Uday Hussein is a sex-crazed psychopath that will stop at nothing to get what he wants, even if that means leaving his desires dead on the side of the road. And Latif had better help in this manner because there's really no telling how Uday could react. As for official business, Latif does all of that. Uday is too powerful (i.e. lazy) to be seen in public giving official orders or commands. Eventually, one particular order is too much for Latif and his relationship with Uday unravels quickly.

Dominic Cooper really does do a good job playing both parts. It could have easily come off as stunt-casting, but managed to veer away from that pretty soon after the movie began. Unfortunately, the film itself just undid itself. The plot was too quick to really get connected to some of the characters and the graphics were a little choppy at parts. Plus, while you can tell it takes part around the Gulf War, the movie's timeline appears skewed a bit even though it's actually going in chronological order. I really wanted to like this, but it's just too flat. Grade: C

Warrior (2011)

Cliches and predictability be damned, Warrior still manages to pack one hell of an emotional punch. This film is buoyed by great performances from all three of its leads.

Soldier Tommy Riordan (Tom Hardy) returns home from the Iraq War and finds his former drunk of a father Paddy (Nick Nolte). Tommy hates his father, but has no place else to stay. Tommy still blames Paddy for his mother's death. While working out at a local gym, Tommy steps into an MMA ring to make some extra cash and subsequently knocks out the gym's star fighter. Once that happens, he instantly becomes a YouTube sensation. Meanwhile, Paddy's other son Brendan Conlon (Joel Edgerton) is a high school teacher and former UFC fighter. Brendan is struggling financially and starts fighting on the side to earn some extra money. And Tommy hates Brendan, too. Both of those paths eventually lead to a unique NCAA-type MMA tournament called Sparta. Tommy needs his father to train him, while Brendan is forced to give up his teaching job in order to compete. The odds are completely stacked against the brothers, both in and outside the ring.

If you've seen the trailer for this movie, you've basically seen the whole thing. But as I mentioned earlier, the performances from Hardy, Edgerton and Nolte elevated Warrior to another level. Hard to explain, but it's true. Each one of them threw something else on the table to make a very common plotline feel fresher. I also really enjoyed seeing "All-American boy" Kurt Angle in a non-speaking role as a Russian fighter named Koba. This is one film that really needs to be seen in order for you to fully understand where I'm coming from. Tough to say whether this makes my Best of 2011 list, but it will be close. Grade: A-

Good Hair (2009)

My interest in this movie wasn't so much about the history and culture behind the hair of African-Americans, but more so with Chris Rock. The topic of the movie, while somewhat appealing, is a little dull. But Rock's humor and direction helped this move along at an amusing rate.

According to Chris Rock, the idea for the documentary came about after his young daughter asked him, "How come I don't have good hair?" After that, Rock heads to find out what black people go through to style their hair, and more importantly, why they do it. Rock tackles the topics of identity, conformity, attitude and wealth when styling hair. His journey takes him to Atlanta, North Carolina and even India. The latter of which is where most of the world's human hair gets imported from. Rock interviewed several celebrities, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, Ice-T and Nia Long to see when they first started getting their hair styled and how they did it. But the core focus of Rock's documentary is the Bronner Bros. annual hair show in Atlanta. This event features a spectacular display of hair cutting that really needs to be seen to be believed.

Chris Rock is lucky he's a very funny man because without his often hysterical voiceovers, this documentary wouldn't be half the movie it is. That being said, the film chose to highlight certain scenes that perplexed me. They'd spend a lot more time than necessary discussing a certain topic. I thought they should've been out demonstrating what had been talked about, but that wasn't done often. The best parts of the movie involved either Dr. Maya Angelou being questioned about her hair or Rock's trip to India. While good and worthy of a recommendation, this documentary was far from great. Grade: B-

50/50 (2011)

Seth Rogen has written a movie that completely makes up for the fact I sat through The Green Hornet. This was an honest and intimate portrayal of dealing with a disease that could stop anyone in their tracks.

Adam Learner (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a 27-year-old journalist who works at a public radio station with his best friend Kyle (Rogen). Adam has a solid relationship with his girlfriend Rachael (Bryce Dallas Howard) and his family. One day after work, Adam heads to the doctor because of some chronic back pain. It's there that he learns he has a rare form of spinal cancer. Understandably, Adam doesn't believe the diagnosis at first, but then has the unenviable task of coming to grips with it. Rachael and Kyle seem to take the news well, at first, while Adam's mother (Anjelica Huston) isn't as accepting. In order to help deal with the disease, Learner is recommended to take counseling. His case is given to doctoral student Katie McCay (Anna Kendrick). The two of them soon form a bond over the fact they are new to their respective scenarios. Adam's cancer has a 50% survival rate, but he's hoping a good attitude can take him the rest of the way.

I had a great time watching this movie. It took such a devastating topic, one that affects practically every family, and gives looks at it from an emotional and hilarious point of view. Joseph Gordon-Levitt gives a terrific performance, per usual. Anna Kendrick and Seth Rogen also did great in their supporting roles. While at times this film felt like a Wes Anderson knockoff, the engaging plot and characters kept me from losing interest in the style of film making. This almost assuredly has a spot in my year-end Top Ten list. Grade: A-