Marielaperezsimons.com - Film Reviews

At the top of my list of favorite films of 2011 stands The Artist, which is getting my vote for Best Picture at the Academy Awards this Sunday for the rare and rewarding cinematic experience it allows its viewers.

Suppose your best friend is about to marry the wrong guy, but she has convinced herself that she's happy with him. What do you do? You call the Heartbreakers, a company in the business of seduction, the best when it comes to breaking up ill-fitting relationships.

"There are two ways through life: the way of nature and the way of grace. You have to choose which one you'll follow. Grace doesn't try to please itself. Accepts being slighted, forgotten, disliked. Accepts insults and injuries. Nature only wants to please itself. Get others to please it too. Likes to lord it over them. To have its own way. It finds reasons to be unhappy when all the world is shining around it. And love is smiling through all things,” writer/director Terrence Malick.

Fans of Alfred Hitchcock and followers of the more recent “Girl with a Dragon Tattoo” series, would likely be pleased with this nail-biting psychological thriller from Italy, which delivers many unexpected twists during its 96 minutes of running time.

“All men fear death. It's a natural fear that consumes us all,” says a character in “Midnight in Paris”… “However, when you make love with a truly great woman, one that deserves the utmost respect in this world and one that makes you feel truly powerful, that fear of death completely disappears.”

Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu is known for his signature multi-protagonist plots introduced in his death trilogy, which included "Amores Perros," "21 Grams," and "Babel." In "Biutiful," however, he zooms in on one character, Uxbal, a single father from Barcelona, facing terminal cancer.