The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Of all the criticisms that have been leveled against M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender, the most frequent seems to be that it was impossible to condense an entire season of a TV show into a two hour running time, and that Shyamalan was foolish to try it.  The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo stands as a shining counterexample.  Had director Niels Arden Oplev filmed every page and every sentence of Stieg Larsson's bestselling novel, he probably would've ended up with a seven hour miniseries.  But somehow Oplev and his team of screenwriters managed to condense the story into a feature length film while still retaining all of the details that made the book so mesmerizing.  Even more remarkable: Oplev found someone to play Lisabeth Salander, a role which works well on paper (she's a bisexual goth detective), but is nearly impossible to cast.  Noomi Rapace is nearly perfect in the role, and sets the bar very high for whoever takes her place (according to most accounts, Carey Mulligan) in the inevitable American remake.  An early contender for best film of 2010.


extra features:
-Interview with Noomi Rapace
-Trailers

Ratings:  IMDb - 7.7/10 Metacritic - 76 Rotten Tomatoes - 86%

 

A Single Man

If fashion designer Tom Ford ever decides to give up making men's suits, he could easily fall back on a second career as a film director.  A Single Man, his directorial debut, is one of the most promising of recent memory.  90% of the film's success hinges on the casting of the lead role, and Colin Firth delivers the best performance of his career (any doubt about this is quickly stifled in an early scene where his character -- a gay middle-aged English professor -- receives a phone call informing him that his longtime partner has died in a car crash; he breaks down in front of the camera, but since this is 1962, he can't betray the slightest sign of emotion to the person on the other end).  At the time of its theatrical release, Ford received a bit of flack for the stylishness of his direction, which most reviewers likened to a Calvin Klein ad.  In retrospect, this seems like nitpicking.  In an age where most movies look identical, an individual style -- no matter how glossy -- is a thing to be commended.   
   

extra features:
-Commentary with Producer/Director Tom Ford
-The Making of A Single Man

Ratings:  IMDb - 7.7/10 Metacritic - 77 Rotten Tomatoes - 86%

 

Brooklyn's Finest

Nearly everything about Brooklyn's Finest is perfect -- except for the script, which is terrible.  Director Antoine Fuqua seems intent on making the next Departed, but the screenplay by Michael C. Martin is just a bunch of cop movie clichés which have been assembled into one package for no discernible reason.  It would be tempting to dismiss the movie as having a made-for-TV quality, but most TV cop shows are actually far, far superior (The Wire, The Shield).  Rent them instead.   


extra features:
-Audio Commentary with Director Antoine Fuqua
-Chaos & Conflict: The Life Of A New York Cop
-Boyz N The Real Hood
-An Eye For Detail: Director Featurette
-From The MTA To The WGA: Writer Featurette
-Deleted Scenes

Ratings:  IMDb - 7.1/10 Metacritic - 43 Rotten Tomatoes - 43%