Coriolanus - 2012 - 4 Stars

Actors:  Ralph Fiennes, Gerard Butler
Director:  Ralph Fiennes

It's difficult to rate Shakespeare films - so long as they are not staged ineptly, the scripts are probably gonna be pretty good.  Coriolanus is a 21st century update of the Shakespeare tragedy, and the 21st century nature doesn't seem to take away its power.  Comparing it to the Ethan Hawke Hamlet, for instance - that film plays up its modernity, setting its soliloquies in commercial setting; this one never really revels in its updatedness.

One negative is that it's difficult to properly parse the relationship between Coriolanus and his wife and mother - whether scenes between them were cut out (I doubt this, though alas I've never read the play) or the modern staging takes away from the bond he and his mother have, I'm not sure, but I felt like that central relationship was not fully addressed.  Either that or I was just distracted by Coriolanus's war scenes and tempestuous rows and had no patience for the quieter talking scenes.

Prince Avalanche - 2013 - 3 Stars

Actors:  Paul Rudd, Emile Hirsch
Director:  David Gordon Green

I heard an interview with the leads of this film on NPR when it was released, and one of the reasons for it being set in the 1980s was to ensure that cell phones didn't ruin its central conceit - two guys largely cut off from the trappings of civilization.  Great - but Rudd's character seems like your prototypical film protagonist these days.  He's decidedly not a man-child, but he has other issues with accepting his lot.  His natural daffiness is at odds with his character's emphasis on self-sufficiency.  Overall it's a good little movie, but one unfortunate, obvious montage struck it down to a 3 star film.