Django Unchained - Review

"Adult supervision is required."

Django Unchained is a bloody, insane, often disturbing film with colorful characters and dialogue... released on Christmas day.  In other words, it's a Tarantino film.  Fans of his will enjoy it, Tarantino haters won't bother seeing it.  I don't think it's the director at his absolute best, but that's not to say that I didn't enjoy the film.  Above all else, Tarantino (like many of his characters) is a brilliant storyteller.  I will always applaud his love for the cinematic medium, which shines through in every frame of his films.  The dinner scene pictured above was the highlight of Django without a doubt.  It recalled the events leading to the "Mexican standoff" in Inglourious Basterds.  With that scene in mind, the question becomes when will a gun go off and who will be the one pulling the trigger?  The theater in which I saw the film was silent during these scenes, filled with a nervous tension.  THAT is Tarantino at his best - sculpting beautifully literate dialogue juxtaposed against graphic, sudden violence.  The standout performances here were Samuel L. Jackson and Leonardo DiCaprio who both portrayed devious, yet hilarious characters right out of the mind of Quentin Tarantino.  Christoph Waltz does a fine job once again and I enjoyed his character quite a lot, but it was a bit reminiscent of his Hans Landa and lost some of its originality as a result.  It probably won't be your favorite from the director's series of bloody masterpieces, but even so it still marks another darkly entertaining entry in the Tarantino canon.

4.5 out of 5

Note: I don't own the rights to any of the photos on this website.  They're copied here from Google images for entertainment purposes only.

Silver Linings Playbook - Review

"Calm down, crazy!"

I loved this movie.  Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence have the best performances of their careers to date.  Cooper's character is erratic and unpredictable but driven by love.  Lawrence's character masquerades a tough exterior protecting a big heart capable of being broken.  Both characters are vibrant in their own right and are even more volatile when they collide.  Their interactions together help shape who they are as individuals.  David O. Russell's energetic direction further emphasizes the characters' mindsets with quick zooms and pans which draw attention to themselves.  He's proven in The Fighter that he can successfully convey the family dynamics of a set of complicated individuals.  There's an urgency in the film that's hard to describe.  It's a palpable energy.  Silver Linings Playbook is an all around good movie that hinges upon the creation of real life drama with real life characters & emotion.

4.5 out of 5

Note: I don't own the rights to any of the photos on this website.  They're copied here from Google images for entertainment purposes only.

Argo - Review

The whole country is watching you.  They just don't know it.

For about 95% of the movie, Argo is a brilliant thriller crafted by one of the surprisingly adept actors-turned-directors Ben Affleck.  However, in the film's final act, the filmmakers drop the ball at the 5-yard line, pick it back up, and eventually score.  But let's talk about the good stuff first.  The stage is set during the wonderfully done opening sequence that establishes the urgency of the situation via rapid cuts and sudden shifts in tone and pacing.  The actors, both lead and supporting, are all pitch perfect in their respective roles.  Affleck is on-point as the bold risk taker who organizes the extraction of the American hostages.  Alan Arkin is probably the most fun and essentially adapts his persona from Little Miss Sunshine as the crass grandpa here as a Hollywood producer.  He and Bryan Cranston provide much of the dark comedy that works in the context of the film and nicely balances the tension.  The actors/actresses portraying the hostages all successfully create believable characters (based on real people) who approach their predicament in differing ways.  Behind the camera, Affleck creates the tension necessary for any good thriller all while blending the facts with the fiction, mixing found footage with cinematic drama.  He established this knack for suspense previously in Gone Baby Gone and The Town, which seemed to me heavily influenced by Hitchcock (but then again, how can you talk about suspense without bringing up Hitch in the conversation).  Now there's that little matter of the third act blunder.  Maybe it wasn't a blunder for some audiences, BUT it seemed to me there were one too many phone calls made during the film's climax.  It was just silly.  The producers go out for a drink, are held up by a ridiculous C movie shoot, and we're left wondering if they'll pick up the phone in time to save the hostages.  It just didn't make sense that all of the film's brilliantly established tension should hinge on what seemed to me to be a contrived happenstance. Up until that point, I legitimately feared for the characters' lives (having intentionally not researched the true story beforehand) and the suspense was there.  Despite the minor fumble in the 4th quarter, Argo represents another winning achievement from Director Ben Affleck that will likely go on to receive the award recognition it deserves.

4.5 out of 5

Note: I don't own the rights to any of the photos on this website.  They're copied here from Google images for entertainment purposes only.

This is 40 - Review

Have you seen my starfish?

I probably should've gathered from the title that This is 40 would be a whiny film.  I love Paul Rudd.  Leslie Mann does a fine job.  But they're trapped by a screenplay that heavily tips the scale towards the negativity of going over the hill.  The film oscillates between moments of hilarity and extended moments of the main couple fighting.  For over 2 hours.  It never quite reaches the level of uncomfortability that Apatow's Funny People reached, thank God, but the jokes are often outweighed by the characters' unease with themselves and their lives.  Even the pop culture references that define Apatow's works don't hit home as well as they have in other films.  The hotel sequence pictured above was brilliant, the Indian doctor was pretty hilarious, and the repartee between Rudd and Mann often entertains.  But the fact of the matter is that This is 40 could've been great, but just came up short.

3 out of 5

Note: I don't own the rights to any of the photos on this website.  They're copied here from Google images for entertainment purposes only.

Fall Movie Wrap-up

Skyfall

5 out of 5

Skyfall is one of the best bond movies in years and perhaps one of the best ever.  It makes for one of the most entertaining and satisfying experiences I've had at the movies in recent years.  The filmmakers have taken Bond back to his roots while simultaneously exploring new story lines - Bond's backstory/childhood, his relationship to M, the introduction of previous MI6 agents, etc.  Skyfall has a fantastic opening credits sequence backed by the perfect Adele.  It's got thrilling set pieces that are shot such that you can actually follow the action; unlike Quantum of Solace, where the editing was so quick and choppy that you couldn't possibly follow it all, Skyfall is paced appropriately and well balanced between plot & action.  Some of my favorites were the Asia sequences (notably, the fight atop a skyscraper shot in silhouette with brief glimpses of light from the gunfire).  I would be remiss not to mention Javier Bardem and his awesome performance as the Bond villain, Raoul Silva.  From his long take introduction with that fantastic "rat" parable, to that helluva mouthpiece, the evil version of William Tell shooting the apple off the head, and that creepy laugh, he's created one of my favorite Bond villains who leaves an indelible impression.  I've seen the film twice already.  It's just so good.

Lincoln 

4.5 out of 5

Under the guise of a biopic about Abraham Lincoln, Spielberg's Lincoln is actually several films in one.  It's first and foremost a story of bravery and conviction on the part of our founding fathers, and the decision-making that led to the revelatory 13th amendment that ended slavery.  It's a story about a quiet man, who often told stories with a smile; a man who didn't have the most extensive educational background, but was a thinker and visionary all the same.  It's about a father/husband and his relationship to his family; as in many of Spielberg's films, the relationship of father to son is at the core of the film.  It's a film about politics and all of the many people that had a hand in making a historical choice that changed the course of history, a choice that necessitated delicacy and making the right moves with the right people at the right time.

Whether you're a history buff or not, Lincoln is fundamentally a good story.  The film reminded me of an extended, feature-length version of the John Adams HBO series.  It's "special effects" are good old fashioned storytelling/writing, confident direction, and stuffed with a surprising number of familiar faces in supporting roles.  My favorites were Tommy Lee Jones as Thaddeus Stevens (who is absolutely going to get an Oscar nod, along with Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln), James Spader, Tim Blake Nelson, John Hawkes, and Jared Harris (who can do no wrong in my mind) as Ulysses S. Grant.  This is a film that's assured Oscar recognition, and for good reason.

Perks of Being a Wallflower

4 out of 5

A surprising, emotional coming of age story backed by performances by actors who are mature beyond their years.  It intimately captures all the awkwardness, the love, the new friendships, the heartache, and the confusion of those pivotal high school years.  It all feels very personal and immediate.  Interestingly, the film is written/directed by the very man who wrote the book the movie is based on - Stephen Chbosky.  I wonder what that will do to those who always argue that books are better than movies-based-on-books.  What happens when author becomes director?  A quick Internet search revealed that this isn't the first time this has happened, and I know writers often co-write movie screenplays of their stories.  Regardless, Perks of Being a Wallflower creates memorable screen characters who you can actually relate to and care about.  And the tunnel scenes are just great.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGjJ12R6B_M

Life of Pi

3.5 out of 5

Visually breathtaking.  This is a film that MUST be seen on the big screen (and in 3D!).  BUT, I think the voice-over narration did make it obvious that Life of Pi is a movie-based-on-a-book and weakened the overall effectiveness of the story.  Why not get rid of the Canadian reporter (whose role is clearly to mirror the audience and ask all the questions we're meant to ask)?  On the other hand, it did mirror the nature of the Indian parable structure it clearly follows.  I just felt it was a little heavy-handed at time.  However, many of the sequences were quite impressive visually, the story is a good one, and the revelation at the end makes multiple viewings worth considering.  

And no, I did not read the book.


Note: I don't own the rights to any of the photos on this website.  They're copied here from Google images for entertainment purposes only.

Cloud Atlas - Review

"Yesterday, I believe I would never have done what I did today."

Cloud Atlas represents colossal filmmaking at its most ambitious.  To pull off a movie of this scale that still retains emotional resonance and doesn't come across as gimmicky is no easy feat.  As evident from the previews (and the book), the story is actually made up of 6 sub-stories or segments.  I use the term "segment" here loosely, meaning that each story combines with the next to effortlessly form the gestalt of the movie.  They're like 6 puzzles that create an even bigger and more beautiful puzzle when combined together.

Each segment has its own unique personality, and it could be inferred that each of the six segments represents a life.  One life's timeline intersects, influences, and alters others.  Meeting new people or even our interactions with loved ones have the ability to elicit dramatic shifts in the course of our lives.  The same is true of Cloud Atlas.  Characters who make poor choices in a given situation might not experience consequences until much further down their life's timeline.  Characters' actions in the 1800's have a ripple effect that extends to the distant future.  The same is true of our lives.  The mistakes or misjudgments in one time period are often reciprocated in subsequent decades; it's a fancy way of saying 'history repeats itself' but also that people are faced with similar emotional and ethical dilemmas, despite differing backgrounds.  The directors definitively use cross-cutting to drive this point home and increase suspense as viewers are forced to be concerned with multiple characters in vastly different (and often dangerous) settings simultaneously.

 "We cross and re-cross our old paths like figure-skaters."

While on the surface Cloud Atlas is about the connection between humanity across millennia, it could also be read as a celebration of various cinematic genres and an argument that "genre" is becoming an increasingly complicated notion as many films fall under multiple cinematic categories.  Each segment reinforces recurrent themes: courage in the face of evil, refusal to "let go" of love past or present, the idea of destiny ("do you ever feel that the universe is against ya?"), etc.  But as mentioned previously, each segment has a distinct personality and is largely grounded in a specific genre:

• 1846 - historical fiction at sea
• 1931 - forbidden, secret love affair expressed via letters 
• 1974 - 70's detective thriller investigating potential government scandal
• 2009 - comedic British story about an aging man aching to regain his youth
• 2144 - futuristic sci-fi story about the line between human and machine
• 2346 - post-apocalytic setting that blends the ancient with the distant future

Blending the six stories together effectively blurs the very idea of genre, suggesting that similar stories can be told under the guise of different costuming, time period, makeup, and setting.  

This shot with Somni-451 behind the fence evokes feelings of helplessness and the sense of being "trapped."  The character is soon compelled to take action after facing the stark brutality before her.

A movie like Cloud Atlas provides much to talk about after the credits roll.  I only present a fraction of that discussion here.  It's a film about fate, chance, reincarnation, love, emotion, and kindness (to name a few) and their impacts on the human experience.  Suffice it to say that I admire such grand vision & collaboration and thoroughly enjoyed this giant piece of cinema.

Note: stick around for the credits, which reveal the 6 characters that the lead actors portray.  Some are sure to surprise.

5 out of 5

The Master - Review

"He's making all this up as he goes along - you don't see that?"

The Master is an enigmatic film that's about the illusion of control.  Director P.T. Anderson has crafted another demanding film that necessitates multiple viewings.  I won't pretend to have picked up on all of his nuances nor do I know enough about Scientology to make the comparisons that other critics have. Regardless, the film seems to be dealing with, among other things, psychology.  The line between manipulation, research, and therapy becomes blurred throughout the film.  Hoffman's character is eloquent and assumes a role of supposed mastery and control, but can also explode with emotion at any moment.  His "program" establishes a following based on a philosophy that is held together by fluctuating principles.  Phoenix's character, too, is a ticking time bomb in his own right - more erratic, almost animalistic, and intermittently sympathetic.  The dynamic between the two is nothing less than compelling and is sure to gather much Academy recognition.

The film is a stylistic wonder and, if nothing else, just plain interesting.  The question could be raised if several scenes are real or imagined.  Even raising that question is an accomplishment in and of itself, and further represents the lines being blurred.  There aren't any absolutes in The Master, but the film's characters seem to be constantly looking for them.  P.T. Anderson once again has created a film that asks big questions, consistently catches viewers off guard, and stands in a category that's all its own.

4.5 out of 5