Taking Woodstock (2009)Directed by: Ang Lee
Written by: Elliot Tyber and Tom Monte; James Schamus
Starring: Demetri Martin, Imelda Staunton, Henry Goodman, Emile Hirsch, Paul Dano, Kelli Garner, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Eugene Levy, Jonathan Groff, Mamie Gummer, Liev Schreiber
A gay jewish guy manages to get the Woodstock festival to take place in his sleepy town in upstate New York, unaware of the cultural significance the event will gain. While dealing with permits, hippies, war vets, and angry locals, he meets various weird characters, the most interesting being a drag queen played by Liev Shreiber. What hurts this film is it's insistence on following a boring character around instead of focusing on more interesting people, and clocking in at two hours, it takes too long to tell its story. Also, the usually great Imelda Staunton plays the grossest, most stereotypical jewish person I've seen on film, who literally cannot control herself around money. The 'Woodstock' documentary remains the best window into this historic concert. C
Dorian Gray (2009)Directed by: Oliver Parker
Written by: Oscar Wilde; Toby Finlay
Starring: Ben Barnes, Colin Firth, Richael Hurd-Wood, Rebecca Hall, Emilia Fox, Ben Chaplin, Caroline Goodall, Fiona Shaw, Maryam d'Abo, Douglas Henshall
A pretty boy (Barnes) gets his portrait painted and it somehow gives him immortality. After getting endlessly talked at by a rich dapper gent (Firth) about morals and beauty, he fucks anything that moves. When sex with women isn't enough he resorts to S&M, gay sex and getting tattoos, and eventually murder, all while his portrait shows the strain all this bad behavior. The film starts off alright, but halfway through it just becomes a hokey, badly acted mess. D
Up In the Air (2009)Directed by: Jason Reitman
Written by: Walter Kim; Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner
Starring: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman, Amy Morton, Melanie Lynskey, J.K. Simmons, Sam Elliott, Danny McBride, Zach Galifianakis
George Clooney plays a guy who flies all over the country to assist companies with the laying off of their employees. He gets assigned an 23 year old ingenue by the company to train, while developing a romance with a fellow traveler he frequently meets at airports. And then nothing very interesting happens. This could possibly be the most overrated movie of 2009. It's not bad, but it's nowhere near as good as the ads and critics would have you believe. The only standout here is Anna Kandrick, who plays the trainee. C+
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