The Woman in Black (2012)

Director: James Watkins. Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Janet McTeer, Ciarán Hinds. 95 min. Rated PG-13. UK/Canada/Sweden. Horror.

In a Dracula-like opening, a young lawyer goes to a far-off English village to manage the sale of a mansion, where numerous child deaths have occurred. This is a textbook for horror movie cliches, from the once-you-see-'em-once-you-don't ghostly characters, to the "it's just a cat" sequences, to the obligatory shock shots. But wait. This movie also has appropriately beautiful sepia-colored cinematography, an actor who successfully escapes his own Harry Potter shadow, but most importantly, a story that takes itself seriously, with a memorable ending. So don't just blame the Mojo rating on my soft spot for old-fashioned haunted house movies.

Mo says:

Haywire (2011)

Director: Steven Soderbergh. Cast: Gina Carano, Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender, Channing Tatum, Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas, Bill Paxton. 93 min. Rated R. USA/Ireland. Action/Thriller.

Always fun when experts like Soderberg divert from their own art house projects, and venture into mainstream Hollywood territory; because the result is always a great little exercise in the genre. He gave thrillers a shot in the Ocean's 11-12-13 trilogy, and now he's on to the action genre, making MMA athlete Gina Carano the heroine of an old-fashioned spy thriller, surrounded by well-established movie stars. I don't think there's much of a future for Carano, but Soderberg's own beautifully choreographed action sequences and mastery of soundtrack (especially during an incredible hostage-rescue sequence), make this movie a pure delight.

Mo says: 

We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)

Director: Lynne Ramsay. Cast: Tilda Swinton, John C. Reilly, Ezra Miller. 112 min. Rated R. UK/USA. Drama.

When tragedies such as the Columbine massacre occur, the question arises: are some people natural-born murdering psychopaths, or is this related to their upbringing? This movie lays the two possibilities on the table, and forces you to think, because it shows the hell the mother (Swinton, in another crushing performance) goes through up until the moment she hears the devastating news - and how she lives with its aftermaths. Although I had difficulty believing how a boy can plan his life around torturing his mother, I believe after watching this, you'll refer to it whenever you see a spoiled child.

Mo says:

Chronicle (2012)

Director: Josh Trank. Cast: Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell, Michael B. Jordan. 84 min. Rated PG-13. Sci-fi/Thriller.

Three high-school students encounter an alien entity deep in the Seattle forests, and suddenly gain telekinetic powers, which exponentially increase in magnitude as time goes by. Seemed like a mixture of Cronenberg's Scanners, one of the first Star Trek episodes ("Where No Man Has Gone Before"), and of course, Star Wars, where the more powerful you become, the more propensity you have to use your power for evil means. Told in a "found footage" handicam style, and entertaining throughout with great visual effects. But there's nothing profoundly new here.

Mo says:

La Strada (The Road) (1954)

Director: Federico Fellini. Cast: Anthony Quinn, Giulietta Masina, Richard Basehart. 108 min. Rated PG. Italy. Drama.

The abstract strangeness of 8 1/2 and La Dolce Vita prevented me from experimenting more in Fellini territory and watching such a classic for so long. But how wrong I was. La Strada is a beautiful, heartbreaking story of pure innocence struggling in brutal poverty. The movie pivots on Masina (Fellini's wife) as Gelsomina, the semi-retarded clown in a Chaplinesque performance, who jumps on every opportunity to enjoy life, until she's exposed to frank violence, and goes mad. Even Quinn as the cruel strongman is good at heart, but a victim of circumstance. A film to be watched many times.

Mo says:

The Avengers (2012)

Director: Joss Whedon. Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Gwyneth Paltrow, Paul Bettany (voice), Lou Ferrigno (voice), Powers Boothe, Jenny Agutter, Harry Dean Stanton, Stan Lee. 142 min. Rated PG-13. Action/Sci-fi.

I wasn't expecting much; multiple protagonists in one movie mandates dividing screen time between them, leaving no room for character development. But boy ... was I impressed. Whedon solves the problem by a show of in-fighting among the four superheroes during the first half, then blowing you away by mind-boggling action-packed scenes during the second, sprinkled by comedic moments. Expected more focus on Hawkeye, the cool never-before-introduced Avenger, but then like always, the narcissistic Robert Downey Jr./Iron Man steals the show. Even Loki the villain God was cool, calm and intimidating. Then again, is there anything here that's not cool?

WARNING!: If you don't stay till the end of the end credits, you're nuts. No! I'm not talking about the 1 minute midway through the credits where they introduce "Thanos", the Asgard villain from outer space. I'm talking about the 30 seconds at the very end of the end credits, which is by far the best post-credits sequence of all Marvel movies.

Mo says:

Project Nim (2011)

Director: James Marsh. 93 min. Rated PG-13. UK/USA. Documentary.

A chimp is taken from her mother at birth, and raised among humans in a project to teach him sign language. No, this isn't a prequel to Planet of the Apes. It's an unsettling documentation of how we selfishly impose our theories about nature (or anything), and test them to reach the conclusions we want, without the slightest regard to emotions - including humans'. And when our theories fail, we easily ignore the damage we've caused and go on to the next test. Result: the chimp gradually evolves from a cute baby, to a vicious animal. Just because we could.

PS: Quite evident from the style that this is made by filmmakers of the 2008 documentary, Man on Wire. The remarkable fact is how some filmmakers can create the most engrossing documentaries out of the most seemingly bland and innocuous film footage.

Mo says:

Le Samouraï (1967)

Director: Jean-Pierre Melville. Cast: Alain Delon, Nathalie Delon, François Périer. 105 min. Rated PG. France/Italy. Crime/Drama.

Delon plays a hitman with a heart, who is witnessed by a lounge singer during one of his hits, and then double-crossed by the people who hired him. It's a film that will make you long for the good old days, when movies were character-driven and meditative, when you weren't constantly being bombarded by fast editing and special effects, when you had time to absorb the scenes and pay attention to detail. Another Frenchman's more recent The Profesional/Leon (1994) must have definitely been inspired by this, and if I hadn't seen the latter first, I'd have given this a Mojo.

Mo says:

Bully (2011)

Director: Lee Hirsch. 98 min. Rated PG-13. Documentary.

A film that will hook onto you from the very first minute. The concept of bullying that is so severe at school, victimized children are committing suicide, or taking it out on people through extremely rash actions. How do we solve such a devastation? Two problems: (1) No clear-cut definition for what is called bullying; (2) Is a child who kills himself for being bullied considered ... weak? Solutions aside, this is one of those movies that  kids and parents alike owe it to themselves to watch, even though it's one of the saddest films you'll ever see.

PS: I hope you already know the story of how Harvey Weinstein fought the MPAA to switch the committee's original R-rating judgment on the film to a PG-13, just so kids could watch it. Here's a rundown.

Mo says:

MoMagic!

Kagemusha (The Shadow Warrior) (1980)

Director: Akira Kurosawa. Cast: Tatsuya Nakadai, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Ken'ichi Hagiwara. 180 min. Rated PG. Japan/USA. War/Epic.

A revered Japanese warlord appoints a double for his protection, but when he's suddenly killed in battle himself, his clueless "shadow" must take his place to avoid the chance of enemies discovering he's already dead. Similar to Kurosawa's Rashomon (1950), there's a grander concept here: the masses' perception of a leader's power defines how powerful he is, not his physical power per se. And similar to his later Ran (1985), this is a movie of stunning visual brilliance, especially during a hypnotizing dream sequence. Produced by Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas, this is one of The Emperor's greatest epics.

Mo says:

The Silent House (La casa muda) (2010)

Director: Gustavo Hernández. Cast: Florencia Colucci, Abel Tripaldi, Gustavo Alonso. 86 min. Uruguay. Horror/Thriller.

Remade last year in the US, so obviously, I watched the original. A teenager stays with her father in a dilapidated house in the middle of nowhere, and as weird things start to happen, she realizes there's no way out. The beauty is in the technicalities: similar to Hitchcock's The Rope, almost the entire film is one single shot. There are some true horror moments here, but there's a sudden twist at the end, and the last 10 minutes become extremely sadistic, and psychotic. Despite plausibility problems, it's not a bad movie - just that I wouldn't recommend it.

Mo says:

Into the Abyss (2011)

Director: Werner Herzog. 107 min. Rated PG-13. USA/UK/Germany. Documentary.

Capital punishment. Which side are you on? Herzog's latest compelling documentary will force you to take a side. From the very beginning he makes it clear he's against the death penalty, but then through documented police footage and numerous interviews, narrates how two teenagers brutally killed three family members to steal their red Camaro, how one was condemned to death in 2010, and how this affected the lives of all involved. Beware: some aspects people provide here will haunt you for some time. If I had seen this earlier, it would have taken a spot in my top 10 of 2011.

Mo says:

MoMagic!