I have broken my rule about piracy

I have seen illegal versions of movies I had actually intended to pay to see,
but this is the nature of pre-Oscar season. We end up finding some good copies of screeners that have been uploaded by thoughtful criminals.

Here are the titles I have seen as pirated versions on-line this year:


Black Swan is stylish and in love with itself. This movie is indeed well acted and might engage people who have no interest in ballet and backstage rivalries real or imagined. But those cultural trappings won’t hurt it with people who do have a keen interest in all things artsy. Comparisons to Dario Argento are a bit overstated, since there is very little horror and only some pain. A few stabs to reflect upon, but for me it felt forced and engineered so that a character’s journeys become pathologies . I think people are prepared to impose deep meaning on unfortunate outcomes.

True Grit The Dude assumes a signature role of The Duke in this remake about a Marshall and a Ranger both engaged by a 14 year old girl to track her father’s killer. Hardship, infighting and frontier justice are brought to life with natural bits of humour that play to a modern audience without creating distance. I still want to see Jeff Bridges play stoner Lebowski again, but at least he is back with the Cohens and enveloped in the world of True Grit. Of special note is James Brolin’s characterization of the villain.

The Fighter Meddling family members highlight this boxing drama. Mark Wahlberg is committed as a labourer who is also pursuing his vocation as a boxer, in the shadow of his one-time promising brother played with note perfection by Christian Bale who has ended up spending more time in a crack house than functioning as a manager.

Get Low Reflective and slow-starting, the movie is more accessible once it introduces Bill Murray as a funeral director in a town where there isn’t enough death. Robert Duvall’s hermit with a guilty conscience plays his cards so close to his vest that some viewers may at first become restless although his back-story proves to be engaging and moving. The rustic setting feels like a western, though it is the nineteen-thirties or thereabouts.

The Town is an entertaining crime thriller directed by Ben Affleck within the world of Boston he had previously explored in Gone Baby Gone and as co-writer of Good Will Hunting. The nature of friendship and loyalty are explored as well as justice and corruption in their many guises. Sam Hamm has amusing moments as the antagonist who should be the protagonist. Top notch cast even for small parts give them respect relative to their position in the main guy’s mind. Chris Cooper is the father behind bars and Pete Postlethwaite is the flower-keeping crime boss who is determined to clip the balls of others. On the other hand, it helps that I didn’t recognize the leading lady Rebecca Hall centers the movie for non-criminal and non-FBI viewers. In fact, her character is an outsider to Charlestown itself.