The DVD, Blu Ray, and TVD releases for February 21, 2012

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

** (out of ****)

Having the title of worst reviewed best picture nominee of the past 40 years, I couldn’t help but watch Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011). It’s such an intriguing premise, not the film’s premise, rather the idea that a “bad” movie could be nominated for “best picture.” It’s almost an oxymoron… if you will.

Now, I can see why the film didn’t do well, however, I also can see why it was still nominated. The film is about a young boy who is… um… strange, and how he deals with life after the death of his father. Sounds simple enough, but, then we add in a little Aspergers, a missing key, and a mute to come up with some Oscar bate. Oh, and lets put, like a delectable red cherry, the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks on top of it all and we get one big sad mix of a film.

With all of that, I get why the film didn’t do well, but I also get why it was nominated. For the academy you merely need to hit a few buzz words, like ‘sad,’ ‘tragic event,’ and ‘troubled kid,’ and they will practically hand you an Oscar nod.

Now, with all that said, the movie wasn’t horrible, and the performances were far from it. The kid, Thomas Horn, did a good job for what the character needed. You truly feel he is annoying as hell, but can’t help it. In a good way, I think. Sandra Bullock has fewer scenes then you would think, but rocks all the ones she’s in. Tom Hanks is, well… Tom Hanks. Which I always find at least great. John Goodman was even fun as Stan the Doorman. However, by far, my favorite roll was Max von Sydow as The Renter. Sydow brought so much life to a roll which required no speaking.



As I began to touch on, the main kid, named Oskar, was extremely irritating. I do understand this is what the roll called for, however, it does get hard at times to keep watching this kid as he forces the people around him. It’s hard to sympathize for someone like that. Going into the film I had no idea it was based off a novel, yet, 10 minutes in I was cretin it was. The narration of the film doesn’t come near what a first person telling would capture in a book. The entire time I was watching this film I couldn’t help but think,“Man, this would make a much better book.” Turns out I was probably right.



The director, Stephen Daldry does have some amazing shots and visual story telling techniques/skills. His reputation also precedes him.  Three out of his four films have been nominated for best picture, and the other was Billy Elliot (2000), which he was nominated for best director. Everything this man touches seems to turn to gold. Well, not quite, but at least nominated for gold!

A major problem I had with this film was a large chunk of it was told in one screaming monologue by the main kid in about 2 minutes. The scene just seemed lazy and covered everything they didn’t know how to fit into the story properly. Also, if the kid got all the names he scoured the city for looking for from the phone book, why didn’t he just call everyone? I know that wouldn’t leave room for a movie, but it would have saved a lot of time.



Overall, I did somewhat enjoy the film. However, the second after I type my last word in this review will be the last time I ever think about Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. The film has no staying power, and falls short. Awesome performances don’t make up for a lackluster film.-KM

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