Four out of Four Stars
Bennett Miller, the director of Capote and Moneyball, delivers another powerful and fact-based film, Foxcatcher. On January 26, 1996, John E. DuPont murdered Olympic wrestler, David Schultz. Miller's new film chronicles the fatal relationship between John DuPont, David Schultz, and his younger brother, Mark. Miller manages to create a film that is as intensely and remarkably character driven as his previous films.
At the 1984 Summer Olympics, Mark and David Schultz won gold medals in competitive wrestling. Three years later, both brothers are working to make ends meet; for David (Mark Ruffalo), he is content in training for the 1988 Olympics and living the life as a family man. As for Mark (Channing Tatum), he craves to get another gold medal and to step out of his brother's shadow. Fate knocks on Mark's door as he is commissioned by eccentric millionaire, John DuPont (Steve Carrell), to train for the 1988 Olympics and live out on his sprawling Pennsylvania estate known as Foxcatcher. Mark embraces DuPont's warmth and fatherly presence until it turns into an intense and turbulent relationship based on DuPont's eccentricity and their individual desires to be recognized as winners; for Mark, he wants to not just be known as "Dave Schultz's brother" while John wants to win the acceptance of his mother, June (a chilling Vanessa Redgrave), with the grand illusions of trying to make America stand out as a supreme country through his wrestling team, Team Foxcatcher.
Steve Carrell, who has made a successful career with his presence as a comedic leading man, gives one of his most haunting and phenomenal performances as John DuPont by channeling his mannerisms and unpredictable behavior with the same deviousness and eccentricity as Welles did as Charles Foster Kane, whether it be gloating his mother's foxcatching trophies to his guests or doing lines of cocaine while riding in his helicopter. Channing Tatum gives a masterclass in acting with his portrayal of the naive, yet self-destructive, Mark Schultz as his unbridled ambition to be the best is conflicted while under the fatherly embrace of DuPont. Mark Ruffalo gives a remarkable performance as David Schultz as he walks the fine balance of being a relaxed family man and a tenacious coach towards his brother.
Dan Futterman (who wrote the screenplay for Capote) and co-screenwriter, E. Max Frye, deliver a solid script that screams Greek Tragedy such as tapping into the spite-fueled relationship between DuPont and his mother and the Cain and Abel relationship between Mark and David Schultz.
Greig Fraser's cinematography is stunning as in his previous work on Zero Dark Thirty as he captures the stark beauty of the Foxcatcher estate and his use of lighting adds an element of depth into the troubled psyche of DuPont and the mental breakdown of Mark Schultz. Foxcatcher is nothing short of an incredible and harrowing film.
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Friday, November 21, 2014
Rosewater
3 out of 4 Stars
Rosewater, Jon Stewart's directorial debut, is a fascinating adaptation of Maziar Bahari's memoir, "Then They Came For Me." In June of 2009, Bahari, a Canadian-Iranian journalist for Newsweek magazine, covered the build up and aftermath of the Iranian elections in which Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected causing thousands of Iranians to march to the streets in protest over what was considered a rigged election; thousands were arrested by the police and several were killed during the protests. Bahari captured the atrocities on film and was arrested, tortured, and held for 118 days in Tehran's Evin prison. However, he wasn't arrested over his raw footage of the protests, but over an appearance he made on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. In the televised segment, Bahari compared America to Iran despite the misconceptions that Iran was anti-American. What was supposed to be a light television interview led by Daily Show correspondent/comedian, Jason Jones, who joked that he was an American spy, led to Bahari's imprisonment. His arrest made headlines leading to thousands of people to petition for his freedom.
Gael Garcia Bernal stars as Bahari and gives a genuine performance that balances between humor and despair; such as when he reveals fake sexual encounters to appease his arresting officer known only as Rosewater, played by Kim Bodina, or when he his talking to the ghosts of his father and sister who were both arrested during the 1953 coup in Iran and the rise of Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979. Bernal manages to use his solitary confinement to his advantage by having the music of Leonard Cohen and sounds of his family run through his head.
Jon Stewart, the host of the satirical fake news program, The Daily Show, gives an ambitious directorial debut that cuts against the grain of his nightly humor and satirical analysis of current events. That being said, the film does come across as another story of false imprisonment over a conspiracy or overly-paranoid police force as seen in Jim Sheridan's In The Name of The Father or Norman Jewison's Hurricane. Stewart does manage to make the topic relevant in terms of how social media devices, like Twitter and Facebook, have overshadowed the comments of fixed-news organizations since it is the people's perspective that trumps over newspapers and television. The result, a poignant David vs. Goliath story that may have been repeated many times before, but still manages to as relevant today as when the events unfolded in Bahari's life.
Rosewater, Jon Stewart's directorial debut, is a fascinating adaptation of Maziar Bahari's memoir, "Then They Came For Me." In June of 2009, Bahari, a Canadian-Iranian journalist for Newsweek magazine, covered the build up and aftermath of the Iranian elections in which Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected causing thousands of Iranians to march to the streets in protest over what was considered a rigged election; thousands were arrested by the police and several were killed during the protests. Bahari captured the atrocities on film and was arrested, tortured, and held for 118 days in Tehran's Evin prison. However, he wasn't arrested over his raw footage of the protests, but over an appearance he made on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. In the televised segment, Bahari compared America to Iran despite the misconceptions that Iran was anti-American. What was supposed to be a light television interview led by Daily Show correspondent/comedian, Jason Jones, who joked that he was an American spy, led to Bahari's imprisonment. His arrest made headlines leading to thousands of people to petition for his freedom.
Gael Garcia Bernal stars as Bahari and gives a genuine performance that balances between humor and despair; such as when he reveals fake sexual encounters to appease his arresting officer known only as Rosewater, played by Kim Bodina, or when he his talking to the ghosts of his father and sister who were both arrested during the 1953 coup in Iran and the rise of Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979. Bernal manages to use his solitary confinement to his advantage by having the music of Leonard Cohen and sounds of his family run through his head.
Jon Stewart, the host of the satirical fake news program, The Daily Show, gives an ambitious directorial debut that cuts against the grain of his nightly humor and satirical analysis of current events. That being said, the film does come across as another story of false imprisonment over a conspiracy or overly-paranoid police force as seen in Jim Sheridan's In The Name of The Father or Norman Jewison's Hurricane. Stewart does manage to make the topic relevant in terms of how social media devices, like Twitter and Facebook, have overshadowed the comments of fixed-news organizations since it is the people's perspective that trumps over newspapers and television. The result, a poignant David vs. Goliath story that may have been repeated many times before, but still manages to as relevant today as when the events unfolded in Bahari's life.
Mr. Nichols, You Have Seduced Me.
Mike Nichols, one of the most prolific directors of both cinema and the stage, died on Wednesday at the age of 83. Born in Germany and raised in New York after he and his parents fled Nazi-occupied Europe, Nichols developed a passion for theatre and film at an early age. When he attended the University of Chicago, comic gold was struck when he fell into company with Elaine May, in which both of them formed the iconic comic duo, Nichols and May. Both received glowing reviews for their live performances on Broadway in the late-Fifties and early-Sixties before Nichols made his directorial debut with the controversial adaptation of Edward Albee's play, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? The film was a success and led Nichols to his second film in 1967, which earned him his only Academy Award for Best Director, The Graduate. For his work as a director on Broadway, he would be awarded thirteen Tony awards for his productions as diverse as Barefoot in the Park, Spamalot, and Death of a Salesman.
I remember the first time I watched The Graduate when I was 14. I was sitting in my brother's bedroom flipping through the channels until I saw Dustin Hoffman walking through an airport as the sounds of Simon & Garfunkel filled the screen. For the next two hours, I was hooked to the surreal and hilarious story of Benjamin Braddock's sordid affair with Mrs. Robinson. The last shot of the film, in which Benjamin helps Elaine, Mrs. Robinson's daughter, escape her own wedding via bus, left me scratching my head with its anti-climatic ending as both of them go from laughing to just staring aimlessly from the back of the bus as it drove off to wherever it was going. It wasn't until I graduated both high school and college that I felt like Dustin Hoffman in the back of the bus staring aimlessly and wondering what would happen next.
A second revelation I had regarding my connection to Mike Nichols was when I saw his 2003 adaptation of Tony Kushner's play, Angels in America. The story of two HIV/AIDS patients questioning their own mortality struck me at a time when I realized that death was coming close to those near and dear to me. At the time when the film was released, my grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease and she would have another 5 years left to live on this earth. I would watch Angels In America as a form of catharsis as it channelled the anger and frustration of dealing with one of the most inevitable things in our lives, which is death. Rather than observing death in a morbid manner, Mike Nichols and Tony Kushner examined the power of beliefs; not in any religious sense, but in terms of an idea beholden to us that we need to face the day. Last week, after my second grandmother passed away, I retreated back to that film.
Mike Nichols once said, "A movie is like a person; either you trust it or you don't." Nichols' films ranged from the deeply poignant, such as Wit and Regarding Henry, to the deeply funny, like The Graduate or The Birdcage. In the case of his films, they were an extension of who he was as a comic, dramatist, a lover of film, and of the stage. Mike Nichols remains a person anyone can trust as were his films.
I remember the first time I watched The Graduate when I was 14. I was sitting in my brother's bedroom flipping through the channels until I saw Dustin Hoffman walking through an airport as the sounds of Simon & Garfunkel filled the screen. For the next two hours, I was hooked to the surreal and hilarious story of Benjamin Braddock's sordid affair with Mrs. Robinson. The last shot of the film, in which Benjamin helps Elaine, Mrs. Robinson's daughter, escape her own wedding via bus, left me scratching my head with its anti-climatic ending as both of them go from laughing to just staring aimlessly from the back of the bus as it drove off to wherever it was going. It wasn't until I graduated both high school and college that I felt like Dustin Hoffman in the back of the bus staring aimlessly and wondering what would happen next.
A second revelation I had regarding my connection to Mike Nichols was when I saw his 2003 adaptation of Tony Kushner's play, Angels in America. The story of two HIV/AIDS patients questioning their own mortality struck me at a time when I realized that death was coming close to those near and dear to me. At the time when the film was released, my grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease and she would have another 5 years left to live on this earth. I would watch Angels In America as a form of catharsis as it channelled the anger and frustration of dealing with one of the most inevitable things in our lives, which is death. Rather than observing death in a morbid manner, Mike Nichols and Tony Kushner examined the power of beliefs; not in any religious sense, but in terms of an idea beholden to us that we need to face the day. Last week, after my second grandmother passed away, I retreated back to that film.
Mike Nichols once said, "A movie is like a person; either you trust it or you don't." Nichols' films ranged from the deeply poignant, such as Wit and Regarding Henry, to the deeply funny, like The Graduate or The Birdcage. In the case of his films, they were an extension of who he was as a comic, dramatist, a lover of film, and of the stage. Mike Nichols remains a person anyone can trust as were his films.
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Inherent Vice
4 out of 4 Stars
Paul Thomas Anderson’s seventh film, Inherent Vice, is a surreal, kinky, and stoned epic of mammoth proportions. The fact that Anderson decided to be the first director adapt the wild prose of Thomas Pynchon is an achievement in of itself. Set in Los Angeles in the early Seventies, Larry “Doc” Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix) awakens from his stony stupor when his ex-girlfriend (Katherine Waterston) tries to find sanctuary from her real-estate mogul boyfriend, his wife, and her boyfriend. In traditional noir fashion, not all is simple as it sounds as a bigger presence is involved with a cavalcade of characters thrown into Doc’s world; a heroin-addicted sax player from a surf-rock band (Owen Wilson), a coked-up dentist with the libido of a rabbit (Martin Short), and an LAPD officer/failed actor (Josh Brolin) busting anyone with long-hair and forming a strange love/hate bond with Doc.
The film is a hybrid of comedy, romance, and mystery inspired by the major film-noir flicks of the 1940s, such as Howard Hawks' The Big Sleep and Fritz Lang's Ministry of Fear, except that rather than having Sam Spade chain smoke cigarettes and drink gimlets, you have Doc Sportello smoking endless joints and drinking tequila zombies. Anderson's perspective of Los Angeles in the Seventies has been shown before in Boogie Nights in all its hedonistic glory, but in the case of Inherent Vice, he manages to capture the mood of L.A. in an earthy, yet naive glow that mirrors the energy and fear that erupted in the wake of the Manson murders and the rise of Nixon's silent majority. No matter how you slice it, Anderson's film fits in the tapestry of other L.A. noir classics like Chinatown and L.A. Confidential, but with the comedic antics of a Cheech and Chong film or an episode of Gilligan's Island.
Joaquin Phoenix gives a brilliantly-nuanced performance as Pynchon's anti-hero private eye. Unlike his last collaboration with Anderson on The Master, Phoenix reigns in his eccentricity with a relaxed, yet stoned, approach and manages to not make Sportello into a cliched character of the counterculture thanks to the sharp wit and dialogue of Anderson's screenplay. Josh Brolin's performance as Bigfoot Bjornsen is brilliantly comical and tragic as he tries to walk amongst the Indica-smoke streets with the power and authority of Jack Webb from Dragnet. Katherine Waterston gives a remarkable performance as Doc's former flame as she gives a raw and naked performance that is both sympathetic and mysterious. Despite being on film for only ten minutes, Martin Short gives a performance of comedic gold with the eccentricity and insanity as equally as funny as his alter egos like Ed Grimley and Jiminy Glick. Among the other actors who fill out the film, Reese Witherspoon as an assistant D.A. and Doc's part-time love interest, Benecio Del Toro as Doc's confidant and Owen Wilson each give solid performances.
Jonny Greenwood, in his third collaboration with Anderson as composer, creates a score that mirrors the Noir-fashioned sounds of Jerry Goldsmith mixed with the psychedelic sounds of the Laurel Canyon music scene of the early Seventies. Also, the music of Neil Young's Harvest album adds an emotional depth to the romantic interludes between Doc and the women in his life. Robert Elswit's cinematography is as excellent as his previous collaborations with Anderson as he manages to capture the long, strange trip into the underbelly of Los Angeles. Inherent Vice may be at times incoherent and somewhat dense as Pynchon's novel, but it is one hell of a trip!
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Four out of Four Stars
If there is at least one film that I implore you to see and embrace, it is Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's latest barnburner of a movie, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance). The opening shot is like the opening line out of Pynchon's "Gravity's Rainbow" as "a screaming comes across the sky" from above leading to Michael Keaton meditating in midair as he prepares for his first performance on Broadway with his adaptation of Raymond Carver's "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love," in which he stars in and directs. The next two hours is a gripping, funny, and naked look into the world of acting, celebrity, and redemption as Riggan Thomson (Keaton), a former big budget action star from the late-Eighties, tries to get through a hectic three days of preview showings and opening night of his first and maybe last chance of acting. Within the pressure of trying to reclaim his place in the spotlight, Riggan is blindsided by his masochistic, method-acting obsessed co-star (played by Edward Norton) trying to steal his mojo while his daughter/publicist (Emma Stone) and co-star/girlfriend (Andrea Riseborough) try to tame Riggan's ego as he goes through a path of self-reflection and destruction due in part to the voices in his head telling him that "he should have done that reality show" and that "nobody wants to see that talky bullshit" he has sacrificed to put on stage. Birdman is a profound meditation on the age-old fight between art versus commerce while focusing on the desire for affection.
Michael Keaton gives a phenomenally funny and poignant performance as Riggan; many critics have questioned whether life imitates art in regards to Keaton's past success as Batman or Beetlejuice before petering out of top-billing status. Regardless of how close Keaton is compared to Riggan, his intensity, humor, and warmth fit perfectly in what is one of his finest performances in quite a while; his verbal sparring session with a New York Times critic shows he hasn't shown signs of slowing down, just shifting into second gear. Emma Stone gives a raw and powerful performance as he chews out his father hours before going out onstage or contemplating life on the theatre rooftop opposite Edward Norton. With a succession of previous successes on screen, Stone gives her best performance in Birdman.
It would be a travesty to label the rest of the cast as "supporting actors" as each of them give their pound of flesh on screen. Edward Norton is incredible as he satirizes the method-acting approach whether it is appearing drunk onstage to feel like Raymond Carver when he poured sweat and liquor over the typewriter or getting aroused when the stage curtains open up for him. Seeing him and Keaton clash heads and egos is like watching Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton duel on guitars. Zach Galifianakis delivers a perfect balance of humor and neurosis as Riggan's shrewd lawyer and only friend. Amy Ryan, as Riggan's ex-wife, gives a solid and stoic performance as she sees Riggan wrestle with his emotions in his dressing room. Naomi Watts, who plays a naive actress getting her first break on Broadway, savors every minute of her brief time on screen by giving a sympathetic and funny performance.
Alejandro Inarritu continues to raise the bar in his canon of films that focus on the human condition with a supernatural twist as he did with Biutiful and 21 Grams. Birdman is the ultimate film nerd's film as Inarritu manages to create a mesmerizing homage to the auteurs of the past; take the excess and surreal nature of Fellini's 8 1/2, the improvisation and layered characters from Altman's films mixed with the philosophical and supernatural style of Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire, put it in a blender and drink it all up. If there was an Olympic competition for cinematography, Emmanuel Lubezki would reign supreme as his work on the stedicam is fluid and balletic just like his previous work with Alfonso Cuaron. With an incredible cast and a visionary filmmaker at the helm, Birdman stands out as a raw, original, and powerful work of art.
If there is at least one film that I implore you to see and embrace, it is Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's latest barnburner of a movie, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance). The opening shot is like the opening line out of Pynchon's "Gravity's Rainbow" as "a screaming comes across the sky" from above leading to Michael Keaton meditating in midair as he prepares for his first performance on Broadway with his adaptation of Raymond Carver's "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love," in which he stars in and directs. The next two hours is a gripping, funny, and naked look into the world of acting, celebrity, and redemption as Riggan Thomson (Keaton), a former big budget action star from the late-Eighties, tries to get through a hectic three days of preview showings and opening night of his first and maybe last chance of acting. Within the pressure of trying to reclaim his place in the spotlight, Riggan is blindsided by his masochistic, method-acting obsessed co-star (played by Edward Norton) trying to steal his mojo while his daughter/publicist (Emma Stone) and co-star/girlfriend (Andrea Riseborough) try to tame Riggan's ego as he goes through a path of self-reflection and destruction due in part to the voices in his head telling him that "he should have done that reality show" and that "nobody wants to see that talky bullshit" he has sacrificed to put on stage. Birdman is a profound meditation on the age-old fight between art versus commerce while focusing on the desire for affection.
Michael Keaton gives a phenomenally funny and poignant performance as Riggan; many critics have questioned whether life imitates art in regards to Keaton's past success as Batman or Beetlejuice before petering out of top-billing status. Regardless of how close Keaton is compared to Riggan, his intensity, humor, and warmth fit perfectly in what is one of his finest performances in quite a while; his verbal sparring session with a New York Times critic shows he hasn't shown signs of slowing down, just shifting into second gear. Emma Stone gives a raw and powerful performance as he chews out his father hours before going out onstage or contemplating life on the theatre rooftop opposite Edward Norton. With a succession of previous successes on screen, Stone gives her best performance in Birdman.
It would be a travesty to label the rest of the cast as "supporting actors" as each of them give their pound of flesh on screen. Edward Norton is incredible as he satirizes the method-acting approach whether it is appearing drunk onstage to feel like Raymond Carver when he poured sweat and liquor over the typewriter or getting aroused when the stage curtains open up for him. Seeing him and Keaton clash heads and egos is like watching Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton duel on guitars. Zach Galifianakis delivers a perfect balance of humor and neurosis as Riggan's shrewd lawyer and only friend. Amy Ryan, as Riggan's ex-wife, gives a solid and stoic performance as she sees Riggan wrestle with his emotions in his dressing room. Naomi Watts, who plays a naive actress getting her first break on Broadway, savors every minute of her brief time on screen by giving a sympathetic and funny performance.
Alejandro Inarritu continues to raise the bar in his canon of films that focus on the human condition with a supernatural twist as he did with Biutiful and 21 Grams. Birdman is the ultimate film nerd's film as Inarritu manages to create a mesmerizing homage to the auteurs of the past; take the excess and surreal nature of Fellini's 8 1/2, the improvisation and layered characters from Altman's films mixed with the philosophical and supernatural style of Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire, put it in a blender and drink it all up. If there was an Olympic competition for cinematography, Emmanuel Lubezki would reign supreme as his work on the stedicam is fluid and balletic just like his previous work with Alfonso Cuaron. With an incredible cast and a visionary filmmaker at the helm, Birdman stands out as a raw, original, and powerful work of art.
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Whiplash
4 out of 4 Stars
The slow pace of a drum beat fills the screen. Then, it gradually gets louder and faster until you are grabbing the arms of your chair in anticipation as if you were riding to the top of a roller coaster. All of the sudden, the title card comes up and the next hour and forty minutes becomes a hair-standing, wide-eyed look at two people pushing beyond the boundaries of talent and mentorship. The film is Whiplash, the story of an overly-ambitious drum major (Miles Teller) at the Shaffer Conservatory of Music in New York who is chosen to play for the Conservatory band under the leadership of a tyrannical conductor (J.K. Simmons) and will go beyond any ethical code of conduct to turn his student into the next jazz virtuoso.
The performances in this movie are flat-out amazing! Miles Teller was fifteen when he started playing the drums and practiced 4 hours a day to prepare for the movie, which was shot in a period of 19 days. Teller's passion and drive as a drummer and actor are shown in full view in his performance as Andrew, a musician who will sacrifice his blood, sweat, and tears until it pours out over the drums. J.K. Simmons, an actor who has been type-casted for his comedic, yet sympathetic, warmth, gives the performance of his career as Fletcher, an instructor so sadistic that he would make R. Lee Ermey in Full Metal Jacket look like an agony aunt. Both Simmons and Teller clash on the screen like Ali and Foreman in the ring or Ginger Baker and Elvin Jones on the drums.
Witten and directed by Damien Chazelle, he drew from his own experiences as a high school student in a jazz ensemble group, in which his band instructor was a force not to be reckoned with. His static camera catches the energy and emotional swings with such unpredictability you would think it was a documentary. At first glance, you might think of this movie as "Rocky with drums" but, if anything, it draws comparisons to Raging Bull; from soaking a clenched, bloody fist into a bucket of ice after an intense drumming session to the dilemma of how one functions off the drum kit when the band stops playing. If you're looking for a film that pulls sympathetic punches in the style of Fame, Mr. Holland's Opus, or an agonizing episode of Glee, take a hike! Whiplash is a film that cuts deep with an intense and visceral edge that will make your jaw drop with amazement.
Saturday, October 18, 2014
St. Vincent
No Stars
Vincent is a drunk and grumpy war veteran who befriends a scrawny, yet mature, ten year old. Am I watching Gran Torino? Also, the ten year old boy is raised by a single mother trying to make ends meet and trying to gain custody over her son. Doesn’t this sound like Kramer Vs. Kramer? In addition to the curmudgeonly war veteran babysitting the precocious young boy, he is trying to scrape by at either the race track or by selling pharmaceuticals to pay his stripper/hooker girlfriend who just so happens to be pregnant. Now I feel like I’m watching an episode of Shameless.
Vincent is a drunk and grumpy war veteran who befriends a scrawny, yet mature, ten year old. Am I watching Gran Torino? Also, the ten year old boy is raised by a single mother trying to make ends meet and trying to gain custody over her son. Doesn’t this sound like Kramer Vs. Kramer? In addition to the curmudgeonly war veteran babysitting the precocious young boy, he is trying to scrape by at either the race track or by selling pharmaceuticals to pay his stripper/hooker girlfriend who just so happens to be pregnant. Now I feel like I’m watching an episode of Shameless.
The film, or bastardization of the aforementioned films and television shows, is St. Vincent, the flat directorial debut of Theodore Melfi. Marketed as a comedy based on the trailer and publicity, the film only gets a few giggles from the same gags repeated in the trailer. Despite a star-studded cast, the performances are stuck in the quicksand of typical Hollywood claptrap. At first glance, you would think the film would be a quirky, slice-of-life look at the generational gap between Bill Murray and his young protege, played by Jaeden Lieberher, in a manner similar to the writing of Wes Anderson, but the result is a film with cliche piled on after heart-string pulling cliche that it might as well be titled, “Not Another Oscar Movie.” The running time of the film is an hour and forty-two minutes, yet it drags on to the point where I thought my watch stopped.
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Gone Girl
4 out of 4 Stars
One of the most talked about and unhinged date films of the year, Gone Girl is David Fincher's gripping adaptation of Gillian Flynn's best-selling novel about the disappearance and suspected murder of a writer's wife in small town Missouri. On the morning of his five year wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) comes home from the local watering hole, which he owns, and finds that his wife, Amy (Rosamund Pike), has gone missing. Amy's disappearance leads to an investigation led by local law enforcement and fueled by media speculation over whether or not Nick kidnapped or murdered his wife. Standing by Nick's side over the televised grilling from cable news pundits is his twin sister, Margo (Carrie Coon) as she houses Nick during the investigation. Revealing anything else would spoil this white-knuckled thriller that will leave you on the edge of your seat and rethinking of whether or not to clutch your significant others' hand.
David Fincher, one of the masters of neo-noir, delivers a stunning film that ranks up to his previous thrillers like Se7en, The Game, and Zodiac. Fincher manages to find the delicate balance of directing a thriller with the suspense of Hitchcock's North By Northwest and Reed's The Third Man with a style that is vivid and chilling thanks his collaboration with long-time cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth and accompanied with an industrialist score by alternative virtuosos Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor. Gillian Flynn wrote the screenplay to her own novel making the visual experience as memorable and suspenseful as reading the book by focusing on the mass media-obsession and insanity over American crime without resorting to the same soapbox messages preached in Natural Born Killers or Kalifornia.
Ben Affleck gives a great performance as Nick Dunne, but it is Rosamund Pike's performance as Amy that will bowl you over. Known for her previous work in action flicks like Jack Reacher and Die Another Day, Pike delivers an unforgettable performance in Gone Girl that is as full of shock and awe as Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction or Catherine Deneuve in Repulsion. Tyler Perry delivers a surprisingly solid performance as a high profile lawyer involved in Amy's disappearance while Neil Patrick Harris shows his Barney Stintson-esque flair as a flamboyant face from Amy's past.
Gone Girl is one movie that hits at the core over the conventional issues regarding marriage, trust, and fidelity without becoming a Lifetime movie of the week or stalling the plot with cliches resulting in one of David Fincher's finest works so far.
One of the most talked about and unhinged date films of the year, Gone Girl is David Fincher's gripping adaptation of Gillian Flynn's best-selling novel about the disappearance and suspected murder of a writer's wife in small town Missouri. On the morning of his five year wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) comes home from the local watering hole, which he owns, and finds that his wife, Amy (Rosamund Pike), has gone missing. Amy's disappearance leads to an investigation led by local law enforcement and fueled by media speculation over whether or not Nick kidnapped or murdered his wife. Standing by Nick's side over the televised grilling from cable news pundits is his twin sister, Margo (Carrie Coon) as she houses Nick during the investigation. Revealing anything else would spoil this white-knuckled thriller that will leave you on the edge of your seat and rethinking of whether or not to clutch your significant others' hand.
David Fincher, one of the masters of neo-noir, delivers a stunning film that ranks up to his previous thrillers like Se7en, The Game, and Zodiac. Fincher manages to find the delicate balance of directing a thriller with the suspense of Hitchcock's North By Northwest and Reed's The Third Man with a style that is vivid and chilling thanks his collaboration with long-time cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth and accompanied with an industrialist score by alternative virtuosos Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor. Gillian Flynn wrote the screenplay to her own novel making the visual experience as memorable and suspenseful as reading the book by focusing on the mass media-obsession and insanity over American crime without resorting to the same soapbox messages preached in Natural Born Killers or Kalifornia.
Ben Affleck gives a great performance as Nick Dunne, but it is Rosamund Pike's performance as Amy that will bowl you over. Known for her previous work in action flicks like Jack Reacher and Die Another Day, Pike delivers an unforgettable performance in Gone Girl that is as full of shock and awe as Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction or Catherine Deneuve in Repulsion. Tyler Perry delivers a surprisingly solid performance as a high profile lawyer involved in Amy's disappearance while Neil Patrick Harris shows his Barney Stintson-esque flair as a flamboyant face from Amy's past.
Gone Girl is one movie that hits at the core over the conventional issues regarding marriage, trust, and fidelity without becoming a Lifetime movie of the week or stalling the plot with cliches resulting in one of David Fincher's finest works so far.
Friday, September 19, 2014
The Zero Theorem
3 1/2 out of 4 Stars
The Zero Theorem is the latest installment in the dystopian society trilogy from the surreal and philosophical mind of Terry Gilliam. Like Gilliam's previous nightmarish-epics (Brazil and 12 Monkeys), The Zero Theorem is a futuristic look at a society ruled by an Orwellian presence of bureaucracy and corporations. At the center of this hectic society is Qohen (Pronounced "Cohen", not "Quinn"), an introverted data processor who cannot handle the real world outside of his home as he requests Management (Matt Damon emulating Richard Burton with cold reserve) to crunch numbers away from the office. Qohen finds himself to be the head of the Zero Theorem project, in which he tries to compute, day in and day out, an equation in which zero equals 100% leading him into a world in which his sanity and social inequalities are tested by those around him.
Christoph Waltz is amazing as the unhinged and introverted Qohen. Funny and moving, Waltz captures the essence of a man bogged down by a technologically driven society and trying to find solace in his life in the most surreal ways, such as virtual reality dating with Bainsley, played by a vivacious and zesty Melanie Thierry. Assisting Qohen is the optimistic and foolish Joby portrayed by a hilarious David Thewlis and the son of Management played by Lucas Hedges. When not being in the presence of his coworkers and superiors, Qohen is synthesized and deconstructed by a nutty psychotherapist played by an always amazing Tilda Swinton.
The film does steer into some head-scratching hairpin turns in terms of the story, yet that is the beauty of a Terry Gilliam film. Through the dark and humorous mind that has crafted the satirical and surrealist cartoons for Monty Python's Flying Circus, Gilliam manages to make a version of Her that is more visceral and wild mixed with a genuine cautionary tale about how we can nor cannot socialize in an over-saturated world of technology.
The Zero Theorem is the latest installment in the dystopian society trilogy from the surreal and philosophical mind of Terry Gilliam. Like Gilliam's previous nightmarish-epics (Brazil and 12 Monkeys), The Zero Theorem is a futuristic look at a society ruled by an Orwellian presence of bureaucracy and corporations. At the center of this hectic society is Qohen (Pronounced "Cohen", not "Quinn"), an introverted data processor who cannot handle the real world outside of his home as he requests Management (Matt Damon emulating Richard Burton with cold reserve) to crunch numbers away from the office. Qohen finds himself to be the head of the Zero Theorem project, in which he tries to compute, day in and day out, an equation in which zero equals 100% leading him into a world in which his sanity and social inequalities are tested by those around him.
Christoph Waltz is amazing as the unhinged and introverted Qohen. Funny and moving, Waltz captures the essence of a man bogged down by a technologically driven society and trying to find solace in his life in the most surreal ways, such as virtual reality dating with Bainsley, played by a vivacious and zesty Melanie Thierry. Assisting Qohen is the optimistic and foolish Joby portrayed by a hilarious David Thewlis and the son of Management played by Lucas Hedges. When not being in the presence of his coworkers and superiors, Qohen is synthesized and deconstructed by a nutty psychotherapist played by an always amazing Tilda Swinton.
The film does steer into some head-scratching hairpin turns in terms of the story, yet that is the beauty of a Terry Gilliam film. Through the dark and humorous mind that has crafted the satirical and surrealist cartoons for Monty Python's Flying Circus, Gilliam manages to make a version of Her that is more visceral and wild mixed with a genuine cautionary tale about how we can nor cannot socialize in an over-saturated world of technology.
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Frank
3 1/2 out of 4 Stars
Frank is a surreal, hilarious, and moving portrait about the struggle for fame and the struggle with reality. Based on Jon Ronson's semi-autobiographical story, Jon Burroughs (Domhnall Gleeson) is an aspiring singer-songriter who is brought in to play keyboards for a band called the Soronprfbs led by Frank (Michael Fassbender), the lead singer who is unseen by all due to a football-sized head he wears over his own head; think of Daft Punk meets Peter Gabriel during his stint with Genesis. After a five minute gig in a Welsh pub, Jon is recruited by Frank to live in a desolate part of Ireland to record the Soronprfbs debut album. The recording process leads Jon to question his own musical talents whilst working with a band that is as hilariously dysfunctional as Spinal Tap.
Acting as mediator to the band and to Frank's introverted state is Clara (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a shrill Theremin player with a voice as hauntingly sedative as Nico from the Velvet Underground's first album (listen to her rendition of a song from "A Clockwork Orange"). As she despises Jon's attempts to get the band play at the South by Southwest music festival (SXSW), Frank cherishes Jon's promises of the band being recognized for their music as opposed to their comical fights on stage. As the Soronprfbs prepare for their album to be finished and their performance at SXSW, a series of mysterious events occur leaving you guessing what's in Frank's head and who is in Frank's head.
Michael Fassbender gives a comically brilliant and heartfelt performance as Frank; even though he's shrouded in plastic throughout most of the film, Fassbender emphasizes the mystery of Frank with his eccentric behavior leading to a stunning conclusion. Domhnall Gleeson gives a great performance as Jon as he blends ambition with journalistic observations of his life revolved around Frank. Maggie Gyllenhaal is hilariously cold as Clara by walking on the tightrope between obsessive control and the compulsive desire for love.
Directed by Lenny Abrahamson (Adam & Paul, What Richard Did), Frank is a sublime cautionary tale about the quest for fame mixed in with the struggle with self-identity.
Frank is a surreal, hilarious, and moving portrait about the struggle for fame and the struggle with reality. Based on Jon Ronson's semi-autobiographical story, Jon Burroughs (Domhnall Gleeson) is an aspiring singer-songriter who is brought in to play keyboards for a band called the Soronprfbs led by Frank (Michael Fassbender), the lead singer who is unseen by all due to a football-sized head he wears over his own head; think of Daft Punk meets Peter Gabriel during his stint with Genesis. After a five minute gig in a Welsh pub, Jon is recruited by Frank to live in a desolate part of Ireland to record the Soronprfbs debut album. The recording process leads Jon to question his own musical talents whilst working with a band that is as hilariously dysfunctional as Spinal Tap.
Acting as mediator to the band and to Frank's introverted state is Clara (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a shrill Theremin player with a voice as hauntingly sedative as Nico from the Velvet Underground's first album (listen to her rendition of a song from "A Clockwork Orange"). As she despises Jon's attempts to get the band play at the South by Southwest music festival (SXSW), Frank cherishes Jon's promises of the band being recognized for their music as opposed to their comical fights on stage. As the Soronprfbs prepare for their album to be finished and their performance at SXSW, a series of mysterious events occur leaving you guessing what's in Frank's head and who is in Frank's head.
Michael Fassbender gives a comically brilliant and heartfelt performance as Frank; even though he's shrouded in plastic throughout most of the film, Fassbender emphasizes the mystery of Frank with his eccentric behavior leading to a stunning conclusion. Domhnall Gleeson gives a great performance as Jon as he blends ambition with journalistic observations of his life revolved around Frank. Maggie Gyllenhaal is hilariously cold as Clara by walking on the tightrope between obsessive control and the compulsive desire for love.
Directed by Lenny Abrahamson (Adam & Paul, What Richard Did), Frank is a sublime cautionary tale about the quest for fame mixed in with the struggle with self-identity.
Saturday, August 16, 2014
Boyhood
4 out of 4 stars
There are few films this year that have made me both laugh and cry and Richard Linklater's Boyhood is one of those films. Boyhood focuses on the life of Mason and his family over the course of 12 years, which is how long it took Linklater to film, and charting the ebbs and flows of his life: parental separation, his first love, and his first day of college. During the 12 year journey, Linklater chronicles the major events of the last decade (Iraq, the rise in social media, the 2008 election) with subtlety rather than being a major plot point a la Forrest Gump or an episode of The Wonder Years. Combining the wanderlust style of his previous works (Slacker, Dazed and Confused, and Waking Life), Linklater's two hour and forty-five minute epic cuts against the grain of the generic, bloated, coming-of-age films with a visual style and story that is ambitious as it is original.
An unknown actor from Texas who was 7 when he started the film and 19 when he finished, Ellar Coltrane is amazing as Mason as he gives a genuine and authentic performance. Patricia Arquette gives an incredible performance as Mason's mother as she deals with the hardships of being a single mother and her own journey in providing for her two children. Her performance is reminiscent of Ellen Burstyn's leading role in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore as she does what she can to find happiness for herself and her family. Ethan Hawke gives his best performance as Mason's father who acts as a cathartic release for Mason and the tribulations he faces during his ascent into adulthood while Mason's father grows up as well. Richard Linklater's own daughter, Lorelei, gives an incredible performance as Mason's sister, Samantha.
Boyhood is a film that focuses more on the journey than the destination with a freewheeling style of storytelling that will leave you stunned and holding back tears of sorrow and joy. In short, Richard Linklater has created a masterpiece.
There are few films this year that have made me both laugh and cry and Richard Linklater's Boyhood is one of those films. Boyhood focuses on the life of Mason and his family over the course of 12 years, which is how long it took Linklater to film, and charting the ebbs and flows of his life: parental separation, his first love, and his first day of college. During the 12 year journey, Linklater chronicles the major events of the last decade (Iraq, the rise in social media, the 2008 election) with subtlety rather than being a major plot point a la Forrest Gump or an episode of The Wonder Years. Combining the wanderlust style of his previous works (Slacker, Dazed and Confused, and Waking Life), Linklater's two hour and forty-five minute epic cuts against the grain of the generic, bloated, coming-of-age films with a visual style and story that is ambitious as it is original.
An unknown actor from Texas who was 7 when he started the film and 19 when he finished, Ellar Coltrane is amazing as Mason as he gives a genuine and authentic performance. Patricia Arquette gives an incredible performance as Mason's mother as she deals with the hardships of being a single mother and her own journey in providing for her two children. Her performance is reminiscent of Ellen Burstyn's leading role in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore as she does what she can to find happiness for herself and her family. Ethan Hawke gives his best performance as Mason's father who acts as a cathartic release for Mason and the tribulations he faces during his ascent into adulthood while Mason's father grows up as well. Richard Linklater's own daughter, Lorelei, gives an incredible performance as Mason's sister, Samantha.
Boyhood is a film that focuses more on the journey than the destination with a freewheeling style of storytelling that will leave you stunned and holding back tears of sorrow and joy. In short, Richard Linklater has created a masterpiece.
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Robin Williams (1951-2014)
In the past 48 hours, its been hard for me to face the fact that one of the great icons of comedy and cinema has departed from this world. Robin Williams was found dead in his Marin County home on Monday. Since 4pm on Monday afternoon, tributes have been paid on social media networks, late night talk shows, and his stand-up routines have been broadcasted on the radio. The details into Robin's death will be speculated and over-analyzed by the press as is common for anyone famous; hopefully, he will be remembered for his craft and warmth he brought to the world rather than be remembered for his departure.
The constant memory of Robin Williams that's been circling in my head these past two days was my Eighth birthday when my parents took me to see Jumanji. Based on Chis Van Allsberg's children's book, two siblings find a board game which comes to life as they roll the dice and battle with the creatures of the jungle. I remember barreling over in laughs over Williams' bearded presence on the screen and watching in awe as he played a bumbling Errol Flynn fighting crocodiles, running from a heard of rhinos, and acting as a father figure to two lonely children. Since then, I started watching anything he was involved in; from his televised antics on Mork and Mindy to his masterclass performance as a therapist in Good Will Hunting.
I could go on and on over the accolades Robin Williams has received over the years, his personal life, and his generosity with Comic Relief and his USO shows, but the only thing I can say about him was that he quenched our thirst with his presence. Last night, I was watching The Fisher King and during the nude sequence in Central Park, an Au-natural Williams tells Jeff Bridges about the story of the holy grail:
One day a fool wandered into the castle and found the king alone. And being a fool, he was simple minded, he didn't see a king. He only saw a man alone and in pain. And he asked the king, "What ails you friend?" The king replied, "I'm thirsty. I need some water to cool my throat". So the fool took a cup from beside his bed, filled it with water and handed it to the king. As the king began to drink, he realized his wound was healed. He looked in his hands and there was the holy grail, that which he sought all of his life. And he turned to the fool and said with amazement, "How can you find that which my brightest and bravest could not?" And the fool replied, "I don't know. I only knew that you were thirsty."
Robin Williams quenched our thirst and knew we were thirsty for humor, for a sense of warmth, for something to distract us from our problems regardless of how big or small they were. He knew we were thirsty and whenever I see a clip of him doing stand-up or catch a glimpse of him on television, I know who I can rely on to pour another cup.
The constant memory of Robin Williams that's been circling in my head these past two days was my Eighth birthday when my parents took me to see Jumanji. Based on Chis Van Allsberg's children's book, two siblings find a board game which comes to life as they roll the dice and battle with the creatures of the jungle. I remember barreling over in laughs over Williams' bearded presence on the screen and watching in awe as he played a bumbling Errol Flynn fighting crocodiles, running from a heard of rhinos, and acting as a father figure to two lonely children. Since then, I started watching anything he was involved in; from his televised antics on Mork and Mindy to his masterclass performance as a therapist in Good Will Hunting.
I could go on and on over the accolades Robin Williams has received over the years, his personal life, and his generosity with Comic Relief and his USO shows, but the only thing I can say about him was that he quenched our thirst with his presence. Last night, I was watching The Fisher King and during the nude sequence in Central Park, an Au-natural Williams tells Jeff Bridges about the story of the holy grail:
One day a fool wandered into the castle and found the king alone. And being a fool, he was simple minded, he didn't see a king. He only saw a man alone and in pain. And he asked the king, "What ails you friend?" The king replied, "I'm thirsty. I need some water to cool my throat". So the fool took a cup from beside his bed, filled it with water and handed it to the king. As the king began to drink, he realized his wound was healed. He looked in his hands and there was the holy grail, that which he sought all of his life. And he turned to the fool and said with amazement, "How can you find that which my brightest and bravest could not?" And the fool replied, "I don't know. I only knew that you were thirsty."
Robin Williams quenched our thirst and knew we were thirsty for humor, for a sense of warmth, for something to distract us from our problems regardless of how big or small they were. He knew we were thirsty and whenever I see a clip of him doing stand-up or catch a glimpse of him on television, I know who I can rely on to pour another cup.
Friday, April 18, 2014
Only Lovers Left Alive
3 1/2 out of 4 Stars
If you’re a fan of the recent revival of vampire films or a
passionate fan of all things hip and indie, then Only Lovers Left Alive is the film to see. Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston play Adam
and Eve, two blood-thirsty vampires living in a world of zombies (humans). Adam has grown depressed over the recent
century as he lives as a reclusive musician in Detroit while Eve is skipping
the light fandango in Morocco’s clubs along with a fellow bloodsucker, Marlowe
(A sagely John Hurt). As Adam contemplates suicide, Eve flies out to Detroit to
see her estranged husband.
By day, both lovers
sleep. By night, they sip on the finest Type-O blood bought from a surgeon (a
funny, yet underused, Jeffrey Wright), to avoid their old habits of sucking the
life out of any living person. Apart from the blood-drinking, Adam and Eve listen
to jukebox 45s, drive around Detroit touring the abandoned buildings, and
pining for the scientists and great thinkers they once ran in circles with; Eve
believes Adam’s depression came from hobnobbing with that “arrogant ass” Lord
Byron. Their reunion is interrupted by the arrival of Eve’s sister, Eva (Mia
Wasikowska), a freewheeling vampire who flew from L.A. (“zombie city,”
according to Adam) to Adam’s apartment.
The queen of the indie film
scene, Tilda Swinton’s second collaboration with Jim Jarmusch adds to the
seasoned actress’s roster of working with some of the most diverse and
celebrated filmmakers and delivering an ethereal and warm performance as Eve. Tom
Hiddleston is funny and haunting in his portrayal as the cynical Adam. Rather
than going off the deep end and waxing poetic about death as if he were Jim
Morrison, Hiddleston reigns in Adam’s pessimism with Jarmusch’s wit and surreal
observations. Mia Wasikowska’s blithe
spirit and presence in the film brilliantly counteracts with the philosophical
musings of death and the past.
Jim Jarmusch gives the middle finger
to the Twilight series and Vampire Diaries with his cool, sexy, and darkly
funny look at the dead surviving through music, literature, and love. Like his
previous masterpieces like Down By Law, Mystery Train, and Dead Man, Jarmusch focuses on strangers in a strange world as Adam
and Eve wander through the night clubs in Detroit and Tangiers contemplating
what the future holds for themselves and for those around them. Like Scorsese
before him, Jarmusch’s ear for music has helped enhance the cinematic
experience; if you don’t believe me, I defy you to watch Dead Man and not be stunned by Neil Young’s score or Ghost Dog as the Wu-Tang Clan’s music
adds to edginess of the film. In the case of Only Lovers Left Alive, Jarmusch’s personal alt-rock band, Squrl, and
minimalist composer, Jozef Van Wissem, give life to the living dead. Part
vampire tale, part love letter to Detroit, Only
Lovers Left Alive is a cynical, yet optimistic film about love.
Monday, March 24, 2014
Nymphomaniac: Volume One
2 out of 4 Stars
Controversial. Sadistic. Hair-raising. Intense. These are some of the words to describe Lars Von Trier's new film, Nymphomaniac: Volume One. Von Trier's full cut of the movie was so long (four hours) that he had split it into two parts as Tarantino did with Kill Bill. Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg) is found lying on the snow-covered streets and is saved by Seligman (Stellan Skarsgard), a fly-fishing intellectual who listens to Joe tell him how she ended up on the streets.
Joe's story is an intense, no holds bar description of her sex life with tales of having her virginity being taken by Jerome, a moped-driving twenty-something (Shia LaBoeuf, with a terrible British accent), and competing over a bag of chocolates with her friend by seeing which one has the most sex on a train. As she reaches adulthood, Joe's sexual conquests grow from promiscuous to compulsive as she sees the destruction of one man's married life as his wife (An unforgettable Uma Thurman) confronts Joe in her apartment. The film concludes with a chilling cliffhanger that will leave you shocked, yet curious, over how Joe ended up in the warm embrace of Seligman.
Lars Von Trier once said that "films should be like a rock in a shoe." Von Trier's films are like rocks and shards of glass in a shoe with no socks on, whether it is the suspenseful and grueling Antichrist
or his audacious musical, Dancer in the Dark. Von Trier's Nymphomaniac is of no exception; he succeeds in shocking you with intense imagery, yet leaves you scratching your head over the age old question about filmmakers of his caliber: is the film made to shock us for the sake of being shocked, or is there an underlying message that is overshadowed by the grueling imagery?
In the sake of Von Trier's Nymphomania, it is a film that tries to look at the ethical nature of sexual compulsion in the same vein as Steve McQueen's Shame or Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris, yet manages to leave you squirming and turning away from images that make the film anything but sexy. Von Trier's perspective is a heavy handed mix of Freud and Kinsey mixed with a blend of earthy, yet uncomfortable, scenes that are reminiscent of Pasolini. The film is unforgettable, but only from when it is being seen at face value. In terms of the story, it is a feeble attempt of being philosophical as Terrence Malick and overly pretentious as if Von Trier was trying to remake I Am Curious (Yellow).
Controversial. Sadistic. Hair-raising. Intense. These are some of the words to describe Lars Von Trier's new film, Nymphomaniac: Volume One. Von Trier's full cut of the movie was so long (four hours) that he had split it into two parts as Tarantino did with Kill Bill. Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg) is found lying on the snow-covered streets and is saved by Seligman (Stellan Skarsgard), a fly-fishing intellectual who listens to Joe tell him how she ended up on the streets.
Joe's story is an intense, no holds bar description of her sex life with tales of having her virginity being taken by Jerome, a moped-driving twenty-something (Shia LaBoeuf, with a terrible British accent), and competing over a bag of chocolates with her friend by seeing which one has the most sex on a train. As she reaches adulthood, Joe's sexual conquests grow from promiscuous to compulsive as she sees the destruction of one man's married life as his wife (An unforgettable Uma Thurman) confronts Joe in her apartment. The film concludes with a chilling cliffhanger that will leave you shocked, yet curious, over how Joe ended up in the warm embrace of Seligman.
Lars Von Trier once said that "films should be like a rock in a shoe." Von Trier's films are like rocks and shards of glass in a shoe with no socks on, whether it is the suspenseful and grueling Antichrist
or his audacious musical, Dancer in the Dark. Von Trier's Nymphomaniac is of no exception; he succeeds in shocking you with intense imagery, yet leaves you scratching your head over the age old question about filmmakers of his caliber: is the film made to shock us for the sake of being shocked, or is there an underlying message that is overshadowed by the grueling imagery?
In the sake of Von Trier's Nymphomania, it is a film that tries to look at the ethical nature of sexual compulsion in the same vein as Steve McQueen's Shame or Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris, yet manages to leave you squirming and turning away from images that make the film anything but sexy. Von Trier's perspective is a heavy handed mix of Freud and Kinsey mixed with a blend of earthy, yet uncomfortable, scenes that are reminiscent of Pasolini. The film is unforgettable, but only from when it is being seen at face value. In terms of the story, it is a feeble attempt of being philosophical as Terrence Malick and overly pretentious as if Von Trier was trying to remake I Am Curious (Yellow).
Sunday, March 16, 2014
The Grand Budapest Hotel
3 1/2 out of 4 Stars
In his seventh film, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Wes Anderson examines the unconditional need to capture the past with grace and elegance in the face of terror and bewilderment. The result, a delectable and lighthearted journey that secures Anderson's position as one of the great comedic and heartfelt filmmakers in recent memory. His impeccable obsession with detail mixed with the quirkiness of his protagonists is a pleasure to devour with your eyes and ears.
Set in the non-existent European country of Zubrowka, Monsieur Gustave (Ralph Fiennes) is the concierge of the Grand Budapest Hotel; a charming man with a penchant for perfume, poetry, and pleasuring the elderly women that stay at the hotel. While running the hotel, Gustave mentors Zero (Tony Revolori), a beloved lobby boy who is taken under Gustave's heavily-perfumed wing. After one of his flames, Madame D. (Tilda Swinton), dies of a mysterious death, Gustave is named in her will as the owner of her most priceless painting, much to the dismay of her hotheaded son, Dimitri (A hilarious Adrien Brody), and his henchman (A chilling Willem Dafoe). As a result to Gustave's good fortune, murder, adventure, and romance ensue in the tradition of Jean Renoir's The Grand Illusion and Robert Altman's Gosford Park, yet through the kelidoscopic eyes of Wes Anderson.
Charming and funny, Ralph Fiennes gives a stellar performance as the regimented, yet flawed, Gustave. Tony Revolori is unforgettable as the loyal Zero; it would be hard to imagine not seeing Revolori resurface in another Anderson picture, or indeed, in whatever comes his way next. The rest of the cast, which consist of Anderson's regular actors, add to the fun and warmhearted adventure. Based on the writings of Viennese writer, Stefan Zweig, Anderson and Hugo Guinness have crafted a story that fits the mold of Anderson's previous stories about father-son relationships, yet with the intoxicating images of Anna Pinnock's set designs of the hotel and shot with the sharply focused eyes of Anderson's long-time cinematographer, Robert Yeoman.
As repetitious as my praise for The Grand Budapest Hotel is, the only quote I can think up to sum up the experience comes from the immortal lyrics of the Eagles, "You can check out anytime you like, but just can never leave."
In his seventh film, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Wes Anderson examines the unconditional need to capture the past with grace and elegance in the face of terror and bewilderment. The result, a delectable and lighthearted journey that secures Anderson's position as one of the great comedic and heartfelt filmmakers in recent memory. His impeccable obsession with detail mixed with the quirkiness of his protagonists is a pleasure to devour with your eyes and ears.
Set in the non-existent European country of Zubrowka, Monsieur Gustave (Ralph Fiennes) is the concierge of the Grand Budapest Hotel; a charming man with a penchant for perfume, poetry, and pleasuring the elderly women that stay at the hotel. While running the hotel, Gustave mentors Zero (Tony Revolori), a beloved lobby boy who is taken under Gustave's heavily-perfumed wing. After one of his flames, Madame D. (Tilda Swinton), dies of a mysterious death, Gustave is named in her will as the owner of her most priceless painting, much to the dismay of her hotheaded son, Dimitri (A hilarious Adrien Brody), and his henchman (A chilling Willem Dafoe). As a result to Gustave's good fortune, murder, adventure, and romance ensue in the tradition of Jean Renoir's The Grand Illusion and Robert Altman's Gosford Park, yet through the kelidoscopic eyes of Wes Anderson.
Charming and funny, Ralph Fiennes gives a stellar performance as the regimented, yet flawed, Gustave. Tony Revolori is unforgettable as the loyal Zero; it would be hard to imagine not seeing Revolori resurface in another Anderson picture, or indeed, in whatever comes his way next. The rest of the cast, which consist of Anderson's regular actors, add to the fun and warmhearted adventure. Based on the writings of Viennese writer, Stefan Zweig, Anderson and Hugo Guinness have crafted a story that fits the mold of Anderson's previous stories about father-son relationships, yet with the intoxicating images of Anna Pinnock's set designs of the hotel and shot with the sharply focused eyes of Anderson's long-time cinematographer, Robert Yeoman.
As repetitious as my praise for The Grand Budapest Hotel is, the only quote I can think up to sum up the experience comes from the immortal lyrics of the Eagles, "You can check out anytime you like, but just can never leave."
Sunday, March 2, 2014
Alain Resnais 1922-2014
Alain Resnais, one of most thought-provoking filmmakers of last sixty years, died at the age of 91. Resnais, along with fellow filmmakers Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut, formed the vanguard of Cinema Verite which led to a string of films that broke down the conventional styles of studio filmmaking and lit the torch for a new generation of filmmakers to carry by disregarding the norms and status quo of what should be filmed versus what can be filmed. With 50 films to his credit, Resnais crafted some of the most time worthy gems in postmodern cinema, ranging from his harrowing look at the deserted concentration camps of World War II in Night and Fog to the politically conscious views of warfare in Hiroshima, Mon Amour and The War is Over.
If there was one film that cemented his career as being regarded as one of the most inspirational and revered filmmakers of his generation, it would be his surreal 1961 epic, Last Year at Marienbad. His tale of love lost and gained within the confines of a majestic hotel became, arguably, the source of inspiration for many filmmakers that succeeded him. It would be hard to imagine Stanley Kubrick to film The Shining without looking at Last Year at Marienbad and it's subtext involving memory and déjà vu. The same thing can be said for Lars Von Trier's Melancholia and it's opening sequences resembling the shadowed topiary from Resnais' masterpiece.
Resnais had an unflinching eye that would set the standard for other filmmakers to emulate. Actor/director Jean Claude Biette said that both Night and Fog and Pier Paolo Pasolini's Salo, or 120 Days of Sodom were films to be shown to "anyone interested in civics." Years before shocking periods of our time, like the Holocaust or slavery, were presented on film, Resnais was the first to film Night and Fog, a thirty minute documentary about the horrors that occurred at Auschwitz and Majdanek. When I was teaching summer film courses in New Hampshire, this was one of the films that I showed to my students and, suffice to say, it is emotionally draining and still packs a powerful punch about the horrors of World War II in the same sense that Hearts and Minds was an eye-opening documentary about the Vietnam War.
Resnais once said, "Luck, I never looked to make difficult films on purpose. You make the films you can make." For Resnais, he succeeded in making the films he wanted to make and as he is physically gone from this life, his films and philosophy on filmmaking live on for the next wave of curious visionaries struggling to make the films they can make.
If there was one film that cemented his career as being regarded as one of the most inspirational and revered filmmakers of his generation, it would be his surreal 1961 epic, Last Year at Marienbad. His tale of love lost and gained within the confines of a majestic hotel became, arguably, the source of inspiration for many filmmakers that succeeded him. It would be hard to imagine Stanley Kubrick to film The Shining without looking at Last Year at Marienbad and it's subtext involving memory and déjà vu. The same thing can be said for Lars Von Trier's Melancholia and it's opening sequences resembling the shadowed topiary from Resnais' masterpiece.
Resnais had an unflinching eye that would set the standard for other filmmakers to emulate. Actor/director Jean Claude Biette said that both Night and Fog and Pier Paolo Pasolini's Salo, or 120 Days of Sodom were films to be shown to "anyone interested in civics." Years before shocking periods of our time, like the Holocaust or slavery, were presented on film, Resnais was the first to film Night and Fog, a thirty minute documentary about the horrors that occurred at Auschwitz and Majdanek. When I was teaching summer film courses in New Hampshire, this was one of the films that I showed to my students and, suffice to say, it is emotionally draining and still packs a powerful punch about the horrors of World War II in the same sense that Hearts and Minds was an eye-opening documentary about the Vietnam War.
Resnais once said, "Luck, I never looked to make difficult films on purpose. You make the films you can make." For Resnais, he succeeded in making the films he wanted to make and as he is physically gone from this life, his films and philosophy on filmmaking live on for the next wave of curious visionaries struggling to make the films they can make.
Monday, February 24, 2014
Harold Ramis 1944-2014
Harold Ramis, one of the definitive comedic writers and directors of the last 40 years, died on Monday at the age of 69. The Chicago native started his career in comedy when he became a joke editor and reviewer for Playboy magazine in the early-Seventies. Like the Cambridge Footlights Review in England did to shape the career of Monty Python's Flying Circus, it was at Chicago's Second City Improv that Ramis fell into the band of comedic icons like Bill Murray, John Belushi and Gilda Radner leading him to excel his comedic talents on stage and at the typewriter when he became head writer of Canada's version of Saturday Night Live, SCTV.
In 1978, Ramis began a long and fruitful collaboration with director/producer Ivan Reitman writing the screenplays for Animal House (which Reitman produced), Meatballs, Stripes, and Ghostbusters, in which Ramis starred in the latter two films opposite Second City alum, Bill Murray. In 1980, Ramis made his directorial debut by helping one of the great comedies of the last thirty years, Caddyshack. The success of Ramis' goofball golfing film led him to direct a slew of other comedy hits like National Lampoon's Vacation, Groundhog Day and Analyze This. While not behind he camera, Ramis made cameo appearances in films such as As Good As It Gets, Knocked Up, and Walk Hard: the Dewey Cox Story. In the last few years of his life, Ramis directed several episodes of NBC's hit comedy series, The Office.
Ramis will be remembered by his collective achievements in film and television whether it be his nerdy presence as Dr. Eagon Spengler in Ghostbusters, or coming up with gag after gag on some of the most celebrated comedies of the last four decades. Ramis set a standard that many other comedic writers and directors have strived to live up to, such as Seth Rogan, Evan Goldberg and Judd Apatow. I would be hard pressed to believe that no one would think of a Baby Ruth bar floating in a swimming pool or Robert De Niro confiding his fears on the couch opposite Billy Crystal and not think of Harold Ramis.
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Long Live Film
It's 8:30 in the morning and I'm holding back my yawns since I've been up since 4:30. I'm wearing a jean jacket and tie-dye shirt my parents gave me for Christmas as I browse the shelves in a local bookstore once, twice, three times until...."Cut!" The director walks over to the leading actor and goes over the next line of dialogue while the cinematographer is positioning the camera in the right position and making sure the lighting is just right. As for me, I'm still browsing through the books as if the camera was still rolling until the director tells me I can take a break.
My first day as an extra; it may seem like nothing since I had no dialogue, I wasn't hobnobbing with any major actors, and I wasn't looking at the camera waiting for Mr. DeMille to give me my close up, but it was an eye-opening experience as a film critic feeling the pulse of the ever beating heart that is film. I mention my minor venture on the set of an undisclosed film because in the last few weeks, I have heard nothing but the end of film.
As broad as a statement as it has been by several members of the film industry, such as those at the Technical Awards ceremonies in the past month, which have honored the technological and scientific achievements in film, the medium is still thriving yet polarized by those who hold a high regard to celluloid versus digital film. Richard Edlund stated to the Hollywood Reporter that "this year may be the last full year that the movie labs are going to be running." Sure, it might be an end to celluloid as the definitive object for filmmaking versus the abundant use of digital cameras, but let's not think that the filmmaking process is dead. If anything, film is more alive as it has been at the ripe age of 136 since Edweared Muybridge shot "A Horse in Motion." If we're talking about film as an object, it is fading, but as a collective partnership between people with ideas and stories being recorded for all to see, then it continues to grow.
When the director told me to take a break, I pushed myself back into the corner of the store where the film was being shot and watched the monitor as the director pressed forward along with the rest of the crew as they managed to get the film done and my heart expanded as my eyes did by watching great art being made. I felt the same sense of joy and wonder as Cameron Crowe did when he went on tour with Led Zeppelin as a young reporter for Rolling Stone or Norman Mailer watching Muhammad Ali defeat George Forman by the side of the ring. It's not enough to just sit and watch a film as it is to watching the process of a film being made, which is something very special. As the wheels of technology, such as life, keep spinning, so does the process of filmmaking.
Sunday, February 2, 2014
Philip Seymour Hoffman 1967-2014
Philip Seymour Hoffman, one of the defining actors of his generation, was found dead today in his Greenwich Village apartment of an apparent drug overdose, according to law enforcement officials. Born in Fairpoint, New York, Hoffman had a deep infatuation with the theatrics since he was in high school and attended the Tisch School of the Arts, for which he earned a B.F.A. in Drama. His film career began with the small, but memorable roles, in Leap of Faith and Scent of a Woman. While not playing supporting roles in big budget films, he was walking the planks as an off-broadway actor.
In the mid-Nineties, his friendship with a budding writer-director, Paul Thomas Anderson, blossomed into one of the most fruitful collaborations between actor and director in recent memory. Hoffman gained wide acclaim in 1997 as a gay sound engineer for porn films in the modern classic, Boogie Nights and as the caretaker to a dying Jason Robards and the ensemble drama Magnolia. In Punch-Drunk Love, he went head to head with Adam Sandler as a sleazy mattress salesman. His last collaboration with Anderson occurred in 2012 when he played the flamboyant cult leader, Lancaster Dodd, in The Master.
Hoffman was no actor to be thought of as typecast as his roles spanned the spectrum from playing a sexual deviant in Todd Solondz's Happiness to Lester Bangs in Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous. In 2005, Hoffman's portrayal of Truman Capote in Capote earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor as he channelled the iconic writer and his struggle in completing his novel, In Cold Blood. Aside from his only Oscar win, Hoffman was nominated three more times for his performances in Mike Nichols' cold-war satire, Charlie Wilson's War, John Patrick Shanley's Doubt, and in Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master. In 2010, Hoffman made his directorial debut with the independent romantic comedy, Jack Goes Boating.
In the past year, Hoffman has made critically acclaimed performances on Broadway as Willy Lohman in Death of A Salesman and in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. In a recent news announcement on IMDB.Com, he signed Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal to star in his second film as a director, Ezekiel. Sadly, his death struck a blow to the world of film and theatre. He is survived by his three children and his girlfriend, Mimi O' Donnell.
Suffice to say, it's been a tragic year in terms of losing some of the most influential actors of our time, such as Peter O' Toole and Maximilian Schell. Philip Seymour Hoffman was not only one of my favorite actors, but one of the defining actors of my generation as Brando was for his generation or Olivier was for his. Hoffman's ability to immerse himself into a role and delivering such iconic performances will not be forgotten.
In the mid-Nineties, his friendship with a budding writer-director, Paul Thomas Anderson, blossomed into one of the most fruitful collaborations between actor and director in recent memory. Hoffman gained wide acclaim in 1997 as a gay sound engineer for porn films in the modern classic, Boogie Nights and as the caretaker to a dying Jason Robards and the ensemble drama Magnolia. In Punch-Drunk Love, he went head to head with Adam Sandler as a sleazy mattress salesman. His last collaboration with Anderson occurred in 2012 when he played the flamboyant cult leader, Lancaster Dodd, in The Master.
Hoffman was no actor to be thought of as typecast as his roles spanned the spectrum from playing a sexual deviant in Todd Solondz's Happiness to Lester Bangs in Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous. In 2005, Hoffman's portrayal of Truman Capote in Capote earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor as he channelled the iconic writer and his struggle in completing his novel, In Cold Blood. Aside from his only Oscar win, Hoffman was nominated three more times for his performances in Mike Nichols' cold-war satire, Charlie Wilson's War, John Patrick Shanley's Doubt, and in Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master. In 2010, Hoffman made his directorial debut with the independent romantic comedy, Jack Goes Boating.
In the past year, Hoffman has made critically acclaimed performances on Broadway as Willy Lohman in Death of A Salesman and in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. In a recent news announcement on IMDB.Com, he signed Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal to star in his second film as a director, Ezekiel. Sadly, his death struck a blow to the world of film and theatre. He is survived by his three children and his girlfriend, Mimi O' Donnell.
Suffice to say, it's been a tragic year in terms of losing some of the most influential actors of our time, such as Peter O' Toole and Maximilian Schell. Philip Seymour Hoffman was not only one of my favorite actors, but one of the defining actors of my generation as Brando was for his generation or Olivier was for his. Hoffman's ability to immerse himself into a role and delivering such iconic performances will not be forgotten.
Saturday, January 18, 2014
The Wolf of Wall Street
4 out of 4 Stars
In 1987, the phrase “Greed is good” epitomized the
environment of Wall Street. In his new film, The Wolf of Wall Street, Martin Scorsese stretches out Gorden
Gekko’s infamous line into a three hour tale of sex, drugs, and hedonism that
is shameless, corrupt, and brilliant. Based on his bestselling memoir of the
same name, Jordon Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) started off his career on Wall
Street at the age of 22 until Black Monday pulled the rug out of any investor
and stock broker in the country, that is until he decides to sell penny stock
at rake in fifty percent commission on his sales to any clueless investor on
the phone. Soon enough, he creates the infamous Stratton Oakmont brokerage firm
which is nothing more than a playground of excess for any horny businessman in
suspenders and two-thousand dollar suits. As Belfort’s dealings in fraud and a
laundry list of SEC violations soar, so does his addiction to living life in a
manner in which Caligula would approve of until he falls fast like Icarus
getting too close to the sun.
As with any Scorsese film, there are antiheroes, but not in Wolf Of Wall Street. Leonardo DiCaprio’s
unsympathetic portrayal of Belfort is wild and edgy from being given oral sex
in his Lamborghini to having a candle being shoved up where the sun doesn’t
shine by a hooker (and that’s just in the first hour of the film). When he’s
giving his pep talks to his fellow brokers, he channels the clenched teeth of
Kirk Douglas in Spartacus to Al
Pacino’s profanity-laced roars from Any
Given Sunday. DiCaprio is surprisingly funny when he spends a solid three
minutes trying to crawl into his car as soon as he takes high doses of Quaaludes.
Jordan Belfort, he has no moral compass and DiCaprio brings the worse out in
him leading to one of his best performances
in his long-established career of playing rebels and antiheroes in the
last four films he collaborated on with Scorsese.
Jonah Hill gives an unforgettable performance as Belfort’s
right-hand man, Donnie Azoff, a Quaalude-popping, goldfish swallowing
degenerate with a set of teeth as pure white as the mountains of cocaine
consumed in the movie. Hill goes from Superbad
to “Super-badass” giving a performance that fits in with the comedic roles he
portrayed in Judd Apatow’s films in the past with the raw intensity that only
Scorsese can capture on film. The chemistry between Hill and DiCaprio can
easily be comparable to Joe Pesci and Robert Di Niro, except Pesci and Di Niro
never smoked crack together or performed CPR during a drug trip. Australian-born
Margot Robbie’s portrayal of Jordan’s ex-model second wife is full of zest as
she goes along for the turbulent ride of being Joardan’s wife. Her femme-fetale
persona is ironic given the fact that she seems to be the only sane one in this
three-ring circus of sex, drugs, and greed.
The expansive cast includes a stellar 10 minutes of Matthew McConaughey as a Wall Street veteran giving a young Jordan Belfort
the methods leading to his madness over martinis and cocaine. Jean Dujardin,
who won the Oscar for his silent performance in The Artist two years earlier, oozes with charm and shiftiness as a
Swiss banker that comes into Jordan’s life. The Walking Dead’s Jon Bernthal is outstanding
as Brad, one of Jordan’s Long Island goons and the muscle for Stratton Oakmont.
Rounding up the cast is a series of great cameos from directors; Rob Reiner as
Jordan’s hotheaded father, Jon Favreau as Jordan’s eyes and ears on Wall Street
and the SEC, and Spike Jonze as a hapless penny stock broker working out of a
strip mall.
Scorsese’s passion for music blending into the story is irresistible,
such as the case for enlisting his old musical buddy Robbie Robertson and Wes Anderson’s
musical supervisor Randal Poster to pick and choose a wide and wild selection
of music for Scorsese’s corrupt interpretation of the mean streets of Fifth
Avenue. The excess and euphoria of the brokers at Stratton Oakmont is
complimented by the diverse sounds of Howlin’ Wolf, Cypress Hill, and Billy
Joel. In addition to the selected music is the infamous chant Matthew
McConaughey gives that becomes a musical war cry for any stock broker about to
rob anyone blind.
The film has stirred controversy for Scorsese’s hedonistic
portrayal of life on Wall Street, however almost all of his films hit a nerve
at holding a mirror up to society and the rise and fall of opportunists, even
with a dark comedy such as The Wolf of
Wall Street. For example, one secretary shaves her head for ten thousand
dollars while Jordan and his wife have sex on a pile of money. The satirical elements
of Wall Street are as comedic as the heads of state fighting in the War Room in
Dr. Strangelove. If anything, The Wolf of Wall Street is a Fellini-esque
look at modern day America and the pursuit for the most addicting drug known to
man: Money.
Thursday, January 16, 2014
2014 Oscar Picks, Pisses and Moans
This morning, the nominations for the 86th Annual Academy Awards were announced and, as usual, no nomination reading goes without the occasional slap across the face. I wasn't surprised to see Gravity get 10 nominations, but American Hustle getting 10 as well? Then again, this is from the same group of people who gave Bad Grandpa an Oscar nomination, so I'm not that surprised. As usual, I'll give you the list of nominees in the categories of acting, directing, and best picture and my predictions of who will win and who SHOULD win.
Best Supporting Actor
Barkhad Abdi - Captain Phillips
Bradley Cooper - American Hustle
Michael Fassbender - 12 Years A Slave
Jonah Hill - Wolf of Wall Street
Jared Leto - Dallas Buyers Club
Who Will Win: Jared Leto has the odds in his favor with his stellar performance as Rayon, a cross-dressing AIDS patient who works at selling non-FDA approved medicine with Matthew McConaughey. If Leto win the SAG awards on January 18th, then the lead singer of 30 Seconds to Mars could be walking away with the big one.
Who Should Win: As much as I enjoyed Leto's heartfelt performance, Michael Fassbender's role as the sadistic Edwin Epps had me biting my nails and cowering in my chair with fear and excitement. For me, Fassbender should get the Oscar; he was snubbed from being nominated for his harrowing performance in Shame two years ago and he's managed to raise the bar as the vicious slaveowner in 12 Years A Slave.
Best Supporting Actress
Lupita Nyong'o - 12 Years A Slave
Jennifer Lawrence - American Hustle
June Squibb - Nebraska
Julia Roberts - August: Osage County
Sally Hawkins - Blue Jasmine
Who Will Win - I would be surprised if Jennifer Lawrence won the Oscar for the second time in a row; then again, it did happen to Tom Hanks and Spencer Tracy. Given all the praise she has been getting for her performance as Patsy, the long-suffering captive in 12 Years A Slave, Lupita Nyong'o will probably win.
Who Should Win: June Squibb added the laughter and energy to Alexander Payne's bleak comedy, Nebraska, as Bruce Dern's spry and caring wife and it shouldn't go unnoticed. Also, even though she wasn't nominated, Amy Adams should have gotten recognition for her brilliantly nuanced performance in Her or Scarlett Johansson should have gotten a nomination just for her voice as Samantha.
Best Actress
Amy Adams, American Hustle
Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Sandra Bullock, Gravity
Judi Dench, Philomena
Meryl Streep, August: Osage County
Who Will/Should Win: Its a showdown between Cate Blanchett for her performance as a modern Blanche Dubois in Woody Allen's San Francisco love story, Blue Jasmine, and Amy Adams for her portrayal as a sexy con artist amidst the Abscam Scandal in American Hustle. Either way, I would be pleased to see either one win. However, I think Amy Adams should have been nominated for Her instead of American Hustle.
Best Actor
Christian Bale, American Hustle
Bruce Dern, Nebraska
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street
Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
Who Will Win: In this category, its anybody's game. Leonardo DiCaprio and Mathew McConaughey both got Best Actors awards at the Golden Globes last week, Chiwetel Ejiofor has recieved across the board raves for 12 Years A Slave and Bruce Dern received the Best Actor award at Cannes. For the first time in this category, I'm stumped on who I think has the chances of winning since this was a great year in acting.
Who Should Win: Personally, in my heart of hearts, I would love to see Bruce Dern win for his performance as Woody Grant in Nebraska. Not since Coming Home has Bruce Dern given such a profound performance, yet the irony is that his work on Nebraska is most subtle rather than intense as was his work over the last 50 years.
Best Director
David O. Russell, American Hustle
Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity
Alexander Payne, Nebraska
Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street
Who Will/Should Win: It is a neck-to-neck battle between Alfonso Cuaron for Gravity and Steve McQueen for 12 Years A Slave, but my money is on McQueen. McQueen's epic and harrowing vision of slavery before the Civil War is both beautiful and hard to watch. Gravity might be a technological feat for the eyes, but its the storytelling and imagery from McQueen's eyes that makes 12 Years A Slave, if not one of the best films of the year, but one of the best films of the last five years.
Best Picture:
12 Years a Slave
American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Dallas Buyers Club
Gravity
Her
Nebraska
Philomena
The Wolf of Wall Street
Which Film Will Win: 12 Years A Slave. Need I say more?
Which Film Should Win: 12 Years A Slave
What's Wrong With This Picture? Besides the ridiculous 2011 rule that the Academy has of having 9 nominations instead of 10 in the Best Picture Category, The Coen Brothers were royally snubbed for their darkly funny and moving look at the New York folk scene in Inside Llewyn Davis. In addition to being snubbed for Best Directing and Best Original Screenplay, Oscar Issac and John Goodman were tossed aside in the Best Actor and Supporting Actor categories! Then, as I said before, the Academy is the same group of people that had Bad Grandpa get an Oscar nomination, or Ben Affleck get snubbed last year in the Best Director category.
Anyway, at least there's some comfort in that Ellen DeGeneres is hosing this year rather than Seth MacFarlane, who made last year's ceremony into a 3 hour plus crap fest. Am I on the money with this year's choices, or am I way off the mark? Let me know your predictions and tune in on March 2nd to see who garners the gold.
Best Supporting Actor
Barkhad Abdi - Captain Phillips
Bradley Cooper - American Hustle
Michael Fassbender - 12 Years A Slave
Jonah Hill - Wolf of Wall Street
Jared Leto - Dallas Buyers Club
Who Will Win: Jared Leto has the odds in his favor with his stellar performance as Rayon, a cross-dressing AIDS patient who works at selling non-FDA approved medicine with Matthew McConaughey. If Leto win the SAG awards on January 18th, then the lead singer of 30 Seconds to Mars could be walking away with the big one.
Who Should Win: As much as I enjoyed Leto's heartfelt performance, Michael Fassbender's role as the sadistic Edwin Epps had me biting my nails and cowering in my chair with fear and excitement. For me, Fassbender should get the Oscar; he was snubbed from being nominated for his harrowing performance in Shame two years ago and he's managed to raise the bar as the vicious slaveowner in 12 Years A Slave.
Best Supporting Actress
Lupita Nyong'o - 12 Years A Slave
Jennifer Lawrence - American Hustle
June Squibb - Nebraska
Julia Roberts - August: Osage County
Sally Hawkins - Blue Jasmine
Who Will Win - I would be surprised if Jennifer Lawrence won the Oscar for the second time in a row; then again, it did happen to Tom Hanks and Spencer Tracy. Given all the praise she has been getting for her performance as Patsy, the long-suffering captive in 12 Years A Slave, Lupita Nyong'o will probably win.
Who Should Win: June Squibb added the laughter and energy to Alexander Payne's bleak comedy, Nebraska, as Bruce Dern's spry and caring wife and it shouldn't go unnoticed. Also, even though she wasn't nominated, Amy Adams should have gotten recognition for her brilliantly nuanced performance in Her or Scarlett Johansson should have gotten a nomination just for her voice as Samantha.
Best Actress
Amy Adams, American Hustle
Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Sandra Bullock, Gravity
Judi Dench, Philomena
Meryl Streep, August: Osage County
Who Will/Should Win: Its a showdown between Cate Blanchett for her performance as a modern Blanche Dubois in Woody Allen's San Francisco love story, Blue Jasmine, and Amy Adams for her portrayal as a sexy con artist amidst the Abscam Scandal in American Hustle. Either way, I would be pleased to see either one win. However, I think Amy Adams should have been nominated for Her instead of American Hustle.
Best Actor
Christian Bale, American Hustle
Bruce Dern, Nebraska
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street
Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
Who Will Win: In this category, its anybody's game. Leonardo DiCaprio and Mathew McConaughey both got Best Actors awards at the Golden Globes last week, Chiwetel Ejiofor has recieved across the board raves for 12 Years A Slave and Bruce Dern received the Best Actor award at Cannes. For the first time in this category, I'm stumped on who I think has the chances of winning since this was a great year in acting.
Who Should Win: Personally, in my heart of hearts, I would love to see Bruce Dern win for his performance as Woody Grant in Nebraska. Not since Coming Home has Bruce Dern given such a profound performance, yet the irony is that his work on Nebraska is most subtle rather than intense as was his work over the last 50 years.
Best Director
David O. Russell, American Hustle
Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity
Alexander Payne, Nebraska
Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street
Who Will/Should Win: It is a neck-to-neck battle between Alfonso Cuaron for Gravity and Steve McQueen for 12 Years A Slave, but my money is on McQueen. McQueen's epic and harrowing vision of slavery before the Civil War is both beautiful and hard to watch. Gravity might be a technological feat for the eyes, but its the storytelling and imagery from McQueen's eyes that makes 12 Years A Slave, if not one of the best films of the year, but one of the best films of the last five years.
Best Picture:
12 Years a Slave
American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Dallas Buyers Club
Gravity
Her
Nebraska
Philomena
The Wolf of Wall Street
Which Film Will Win: 12 Years A Slave. Need I say more?
Which Film Should Win: 12 Years A Slave
What's Wrong With This Picture? Besides the ridiculous 2011 rule that the Academy has of having 9 nominations instead of 10 in the Best Picture Category, The Coen Brothers were royally snubbed for their darkly funny and moving look at the New York folk scene in Inside Llewyn Davis. In addition to being snubbed for Best Directing and Best Original Screenplay, Oscar Issac and John Goodman were tossed aside in the Best Actor and Supporting Actor categories! Then, as I said before, the Academy is the same group of people that had Bad Grandpa get an Oscar nomination, or Ben Affleck get snubbed last year in the Best Director category.
Anyway, at least there's some comfort in that Ellen DeGeneres is hosing this year rather than Seth MacFarlane, who made last year's ceremony into a 3 hour plus crap fest. Am I on the money with this year's choices, or am I way off the mark? Let me know your predictions and tune in on March 2nd to see who garners the gold.
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Dallas Buyers Club
3 out of 4 stars
There are some films that have a predictable storyline, but it's the performances that bowl you over and The Dallas Buyers Club is one of those films. Set in the mid-1980s as the AIDS epidemic hit a worldwide nerve, Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey), a fast-living electrician and rodeo cowboy, parties one too many times with a harum of Dallas hookers and ends up in a hospital bed being told that he has HIV. Ron, a hard drinking homophobe, thinks that only gay people are afflicted with the virus until he remembers the strung out hookers and countless one night stands. He tries to obtain AZT, before it was approved by the FDA, through anyone that doesn't have a prescription pad or medical license.
After being chastised by his buddies and being looked down upon by the community, Ron heads down to Mexico, through his AZT contact, and is given the whole truth behind the fallacies of AZT and how alternative, non FDA approved medicine, can help him and others with HIV/AIDS. Helping Ron sell the medicine is Rayon (Jared Leto), a drag queen who looks like Marc Bolan, as they from a dysfunctional friendship and partnership by forming the Dallas Buyers Club, an exclusive membership where HIV/AIDS patients can obtain medicine under the nose of the FDA. As the Buyers Club expands it's clientele, Dr. Sevard (Denis O' Hare) of Dallas Mercy Hospital and a no-nonsense FDA agent (Michel O'Neill) try to pull the plug on Ron's operation.
A David and Goliath story of the truest sense of the word regarding the flaws of the pharmaceutical companies and the FDA, Matthew McConaughey gives an unforgettable performance as Ron Woodroof. His lust for life and fight for it makes the film stand out from other films that have dealt with homophobia during the AIDS scare, from Philadelphia to And The Band Played On. Jared Leto, in his first film role in over 7 years, delivers a touching and mesmerizing performance as Rayon that moves you from when he first encounters Ron in a neighboring hospital bed to being alone in his room with T. Rex blaring on the stereo. Along with McConaughey and Leto's performances, Jennifer Garner's performance as a doctor standing on the tightrope of bureaucracy and her hypocritical oath is stunning as is Griffin Dunne as a disbarred doctor trying to spread the word to Ron about the dangers of having high doses of AZT.
Dark, funny and moving, The Dallas Buyers Club is a movie that will leave you jeering and cheering for Ron Woodroof, an antihero trying to hold on to life by any means necessary
There are some films that have a predictable storyline, but it's the performances that bowl you over and The Dallas Buyers Club is one of those films. Set in the mid-1980s as the AIDS epidemic hit a worldwide nerve, Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey), a fast-living electrician and rodeo cowboy, parties one too many times with a harum of Dallas hookers and ends up in a hospital bed being told that he has HIV. Ron, a hard drinking homophobe, thinks that only gay people are afflicted with the virus until he remembers the strung out hookers and countless one night stands. He tries to obtain AZT, before it was approved by the FDA, through anyone that doesn't have a prescription pad or medical license.
After being chastised by his buddies and being looked down upon by the community, Ron heads down to Mexico, through his AZT contact, and is given the whole truth behind the fallacies of AZT and how alternative, non FDA approved medicine, can help him and others with HIV/AIDS. Helping Ron sell the medicine is Rayon (Jared Leto), a drag queen who looks like Marc Bolan, as they from a dysfunctional friendship and partnership by forming the Dallas Buyers Club, an exclusive membership where HIV/AIDS patients can obtain medicine under the nose of the FDA. As the Buyers Club expands it's clientele, Dr. Sevard (Denis O' Hare) of Dallas Mercy Hospital and a no-nonsense FDA agent (Michel O'Neill) try to pull the plug on Ron's operation.
A David and Goliath story of the truest sense of the word regarding the flaws of the pharmaceutical companies and the FDA, Matthew McConaughey gives an unforgettable performance as Ron Woodroof. His lust for life and fight for it makes the film stand out from other films that have dealt with homophobia during the AIDS scare, from Philadelphia to And The Band Played On. Jared Leto, in his first film role in over 7 years, delivers a touching and mesmerizing performance as Rayon that moves you from when he first encounters Ron in a neighboring hospital bed to being alone in his room with T. Rex blaring on the stereo. Along with McConaughey and Leto's performances, Jennifer Garner's performance as a doctor standing on the tightrope of bureaucracy and her hypocritical oath is stunning as is Griffin Dunne as a disbarred doctor trying to spread the word to Ron about the dangers of having high doses of AZT.
Dark, funny and moving, The Dallas Buyers Club is a movie that will leave you jeering and cheering for Ron Woodroof, an antihero trying to hold on to life by any means necessary
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Her
4 out of 4 Stars
In 1968, Stanley Kubrick took cinema to a new level with his philosophical and mind-blowing exploration between man’s relationship with technology in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Now, Spike Jonze has raised the bar with the romantic connection between man and machine with his new film, Her. Set in a futuristic, almost Gilliam-esque Los Angeles, Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) is a newly divorced writer for a letter writing company spending his days of solitude playing interactive video games that would make the Wii feel obsolete and having phone sex with women who have feline fetishes. His lonely days end when he begins to have a romantic relationship with an operating system named Samantha (voiced by Scarlett Johansson).
Aside from Samantha, Theodore finds comfort through his neighbor Amy (Amy Adams), a video game programmer and amateur documentary filmmaker stuck in an anally retentive marriage. As months pass, Theodore and Samantha’s relationship progresses until reality hits Theodore through a heated conversation with his ex-wife (Rooney Mara) when she confronts him with the fact that he is in love with a computer and not a human being. As the film moves into its third act, Theodore questions the validity of his relationship with Samantha and questions what love is; a union between two people or one person and something artificial.
Joaquin Phoenix is amazing as Theodore; his range from being melancholic to warm-hearted and philosophical about romance is a pleasure to see. Although not on screen, Scarlett Johansson’s voice as Samantha is fresh and organic as she tries to give life to an inanimate object. Amy Adams chemistry with Joaquin Phoenix is heartfelt, funny, and poignant adding to the beauty of the film. Plus, Spike Jonze’s cameo as a profanity-fueled video game character is hilarious.
Hoyte Van Hoytema’s cinematography brilliantly captures the beauty of the Californian landscape and the confined setting of Los Angeles. Owen Pallet’s score, along with the music of Arcade Fire, adds another layer to Jonze’s protagonists and their individual quests for love. His first film in over four years, Spike Jonze adds another notch to his belt of stellar and surreal masterpieces with Her. Darkly funny, visually mesmerizing, and deeply touching, Jonze’s romantic satire holds up a mirror to one’s obsession with technology and its effects on human emotions.
In 1968, Stanley Kubrick took cinema to a new level with his philosophical and mind-blowing exploration between man’s relationship with technology in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Now, Spike Jonze has raised the bar with the romantic connection between man and machine with his new film, Her. Set in a futuristic, almost Gilliam-esque Los Angeles, Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) is a newly divorced writer for a letter writing company spending his days of solitude playing interactive video games that would make the Wii feel obsolete and having phone sex with women who have feline fetishes. His lonely days end when he begins to have a romantic relationship with an operating system named Samantha (voiced by Scarlett Johansson).
Aside from Samantha, Theodore finds comfort through his neighbor Amy (Amy Adams), a video game programmer and amateur documentary filmmaker stuck in an anally retentive marriage. As months pass, Theodore and Samantha’s relationship progresses until reality hits Theodore through a heated conversation with his ex-wife (Rooney Mara) when she confronts him with the fact that he is in love with a computer and not a human being. As the film moves into its third act, Theodore questions the validity of his relationship with Samantha and questions what love is; a union between two people or one person and something artificial.
Joaquin Phoenix is amazing as Theodore; his range from being melancholic to warm-hearted and philosophical about romance is a pleasure to see. Although not on screen, Scarlett Johansson’s voice as Samantha is fresh and organic as she tries to give life to an inanimate object. Amy Adams chemistry with Joaquin Phoenix is heartfelt, funny, and poignant adding to the beauty of the film. Plus, Spike Jonze’s cameo as a profanity-fueled video game character is hilarious.
Hoyte Van Hoytema’s cinematography brilliantly captures the beauty of the Californian landscape and the confined setting of Los Angeles. Owen Pallet’s score, along with the music of Arcade Fire, adds another layer to Jonze’s protagonists and their individual quests for love. His first film in over four years, Spike Jonze adds another notch to his belt of stellar and surreal masterpieces with Her. Darkly funny, visually mesmerizing, and deeply touching, Jonze’s romantic satire holds up a mirror to one’s obsession with technology and its effects on human emotions.
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