There was a crowded field this year, and a fantastic year for movies.
Before I get to my #1 of the year, first here is my list of movies I really wanted to see but didn't get to:
Lee Daniels' The Butler
Blackfish
Only God Forgives
The Act of Killing
Mandela:Long Walk to Freedom
Salinger
Mud
Ender's Game
Out of the Furnace
In a World...
Inside Llewyn Davis
Saving Mr. Banks
Blue is the Warmest Color
Pacific Rim
The World's End
47 Ronin
Short Term 12
Bad Grandpa
Leviathan
Upstream Color
The Great Beauty
Museum Hours
Here is a recap of all the movies I saw this year, worst to first:
Identity Thief
A.C.O.D.
The New Public
The Big Wedding
The Heat
The Internship
Admission
What Maisie Knew
The Bling Ring
We're the Millers
Runner Runner
The to-do List
Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug
Best Man Holiday
Star Trek Into Darkness
Much Ado About Nothing
Anchorman 2
Drinking Buddies
Elysium
Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me
Despicable Me 2
The Spectacular Now
The Great Gatsby
This is the End
American Hustle
Rush
20 Feet From Stardom
Blue Jasmine
Enough Said
Frances Ha
Nebraska
The Way Way Back
Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Stories We Tell
Don Jon
42
Philomena
About Time
The Place Beyond the Pines
Before Midnight
All is Lost
Gravity
Captain Phillips
Dallas Buyers' Club
Fruitvale Station
Prisoners
Wolf of Wall Street
12 Years a Slave
And my #1 movie of 2013:
#1 her
In the not too distant future...
(insert high-waisted pants joke here)
In the not too distant future, Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) is reeling from a recent break from his wife. He pours his lovesick emoting into personalized e-cards at the company he works for. Then, at the end of every work day, he goes home to his high-rise apartment, plays video games and eats takeout. Occasionally, he kicks it with his upstairs neighbors Amy (Amy Adams) and Charles (Matt Letscher), who are trying to get him back in the game. But Theodore's not really interested in any of that (unless you count dirty phone calls gone horribly and hilariously awry).
One day, he sees an ad for a new Operating System that is "geared to fit your every need". Without anything to lose, he buys it and finds his whole life changing as he falls deeply in love with his OS, named Samantha and voiced with a shocking amount of range by ScarJo. There are lots of subtle tricks and shots that writer/director Spike Jonze employs throughout to take Theodore deeper down the rabbit hole. It's shot beautifully, often from high in the heavens.
Is her a social commentary on America's attachment to their devices, our delving into less actual communication with the advent of self-serve grocery store kiosks and the like, our getting set up with our future partners by computer algorithms? Of course it is. But it doesn't really feel that way. It feels like an oddball love story, and Joaquin Phoenix (also in my #1 of last year, The Master) sells what's considered crazy in society as what could eventually be the new normal. And damn, I really don't know what that says about us.
That'll do it for this year! What an awesome year for movies!
Til next time, amigos-
Mulhern.
title
Sunday, March 2, 2014
2103 Films: #3 and 2
# 3 The Wolf of Wall Street
I was out for a cocktail with a couple of friends after a play last weekend, and one of them said "I'm getting sick of people saying it's just like Goodfellas. That's the whole point Scorcese is trying to make. These guys are the new gangsters!"
Preach. It's got many of the same stylistic touches as Goodfellas: Plenty of cursing (the new record for 'f' bombs with 563), the voiceover narration throughout by DiCaprio, and the quick cut/spinning camera work from shot to shot. But it's not the same film. Leo gives his best performance in years as the cocksure Jordan Belfort, a predator on the rich peddling dummy stocks through pump and dump schemes. His right-hand man Donnie Azoff (Jonah Hill) engineers the debauchery train as the money piles up in laughable amounts, with wild parties, innumerable hookers, tons of cocaine, booze and drugs. He eventually leaves his wife for the drop-dead gorgeous Naomi (Margot Robbie) and brings her along on his wild ride. Quite obviously, the higher the rise, the harder the fall, and the fall for Belfort begins with a riotous sequence in which he and Azoff are all kinds of high on rare Quaaludes. Considering the weak-ass prison sentence the real Belfort received for his actions, I'm not exactly sure what kind of message it is supposed to convey. Wolf is over three hours, but it's so frenetic that you hardly even notice. I had a blast. Thank goodness for all of us that Marty found Leo.
#2 12 years a Slave
We got to this movie about 3 minutes before it started and the only seats left together for the four of us were in the very front row. What a movie to see in the front row.
The story of free northerner Solomon Northrup (Chiwetel Ejiafor), kidnapped and sold into slavery in the late 1800s, was the bravest thing put on screen this year by a mile. Gravity may have been more innovative, but nothing touched the no-holds-barred look at the worst institution in American history in terms of it just straight-up going for it. While at times it was incredibly hard to watch (there were 3 or 4 times in which the entire audience gasped at the same time), it was also beautifully shot and very moving. The Hans Zimmer score was beautiful too, but I got distracted at times by the fact that it was the exact same main theme used in Inception. Alongside Ejiafor, it boasts the best ensemble cast of the year in Michael K. Williams (a fellow slave), Paul Giamatti (a slave trader), Benedict Cumberbatch (Solomon's first slaveowner, Ford) Paul Dano (a dimwitted slave driver), Michael Fassbender (Solomon's tyrannical, sociopath second slaveowner, Epps) newcomer and best supporting favorite Lupita Nyongo (a fellow slave on Epps' plantation) and Brad Pitt (an abolitionist who, as producer, picked the only redeemable white person role in the bunch). An absolute knockout, in every way. Bravo to director Steve McQueen for taking such a bold shot.
Up soon with #1 and some other stuff!!
I was out for a cocktail with a couple of friends after a play last weekend, and one of them said "I'm getting sick of people saying it's just like Goodfellas. That's the whole point Scorcese is trying to make. These guys are the new gangsters!"
Preach. It's got many of the same stylistic touches as Goodfellas: Plenty of cursing (the new record for 'f' bombs with 563), the voiceover narration throughout by DiCaprio, and the quick cut/spinning camera work from shot to shot. But it's not the same film. Leo gives his best performance in years as the cocksure Jordan Belfort, a predator on the rich peddling dummy stocks through pump and dump schemes. His right-hand man Donnie Azoff (Jonah Hill) engineers the debauchery train as the money piles up in laughable amounts, with wild parties, innumerable hookers, tons of cocaine, booze and drugs. He eventually leaves his wife for the drop-dead gorgeous Naomi (Margot Robbie) and brings her along on his wild ride. Quite obviously, the higher the rise, the harder the fall, and the fall for Belfort begins with a riotous sequence in which he and Azoff are all kinds of high on rare Quaaludes. Considering the weak-ass prison sentence the real Belfort received for his actions, I'm not exactly sure what kind of message it is supposed to convey. Wolf is over three hours, but it's so frenetic that you hardly even notice. I had a blast. Thank goodness for all of us that Marty found Leo.
#2 12 years a Slave
We got to this movie about 3 minutes before it started and the only seats left together for the four of us were in the very front row. What a movie to see in the front row.
The story of free northerner Solomon Northrup (Chiwetel Ejiafor), kidnapped and sold into slavery in the late 1800s, was the bravest thing put on screen this year by a mile. Gravity may have been more innovative, but nothing touched the no-holds-barred look at the worst institution in American history in terms of it just straight-up going for it. While at times it was incredibly hard to watch (there were 3 or 4 times in which the entire audience gasped at the same time), it was also beautifully shot and very moving. The Hans Zimmer score was beautiful too, but I got distracted at times by the fact that it was the exact same main theme used in Inception. Alongside Ejiafor, it boasts the best ensemble cast of the year in Michael K. Williams (a fellow slave), Paul Giamatti (a slave trader), Benedict Cumberbatch (Solomon's first slaveowner, Ford) Paul Dano (a dimwitted slave driver), Michael Fassbender (Solomon's tyrannical, sociopath second slaveowner, Epps) newcomer and best supporting favorite Lupita Nyongo (a fellow slave on Epps' plantation) and Brad Pitt (an abolitionist who, as producer, picked the only redeemable white person role in the bunch). An absolute knockout, in every way. Bravo to director Steve McQueen for taking such a bold shot.
Up soon with #1 and some other stuff!!
2013 Films: #5 & 4
#5 Fruitvale Station
The most glaring omission in the best actor category is Michael B. Jordan in this true story (lots of those this year) as Oscar Grant, an ex-con trying to reform himself on New Year's Eve in the Bay Area. It isn't ruining anything to tell to you that he's dead by the end; the movie begins with real cell phone footage of real Oscar Grant getting a real gun fired into his back on the platform of Fruitvale Station, a stop along the BART line on the outskirts of Oakland. It's kind of like Milk in that regard--you know exactly how it ends, but you want to see it play out anyway. The story itself is told over about a 48 hour period with a few flashbacks thrown in to fill in the story. The rest of the supporting group is solid, particularly Octavia Spencer as his mother, trying hard to rein in her son and find a way to believe in him as a provider and a father. However, no one matches the gravitas of Jordan as Grant, the man desperate to fix his life before it's too late.
#4 Prisoners
What an intense movie. Holy smokes. Hugh Jackman is Keller Dover, a carpenter who, during a Thanksgiving celebration at the Birch's house (Terrence Howard as Franklin and Viola Davis as Nancy), has his 6-year old (and their 7-year old) kidnapped. Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) pulls over a suspicious RV driven by Alex (Paul Dano) and lets him go with a lack of evidence but not without paying a visit to Alex's aunt Holly (Melissa Leo). Keller won't settle for that, so he decides to pay Alex a visit of his own. As the days drag on, things get worse for Alex and Keller, subsequently, drags in Franklin and Nancy into his interrogation sessions. There are red herrings, copycat criminals, twists, turns, tension, the whole schabang. Nerve-wracking and unpredictable, Prisoners had me captivated for all of it's 2.5 hour run time. And that last shot? Unreal.
More soon...
The most glaring omission in the best actor category is Michael B. Jordan in this true story (lots of those this year) as Oscar Grant, an ex-con trying to reform himself on New Year's Eve in the Bay Area. It isn't ruining anything to tell to you that he's dead by the end; the movie begins with real cell phone footage of real Oscar Grant getting a real gun fired into his back on the platform of Fruitvale Station, a stop along the BART line on the outskirts of Oakland. It's kind of like Milk in that regard--you know exactly how it ends, but you want to see it play out anyway. The story itself is told over about a 48 hour period with a few flashbacks thrown in to fill in the story. The rest of the supporting group is solid, particularly Octavia Spencer as his mother, trying hard to rein in her son and find a way to believe in him as a provider and a father. However, no one matches the gravitas of Jordan as Grant, the man desperate to fix his life before it's too late.
#4 Prisoners
What an intense movie. Holy smokes. Hugh Jackman is Keller Dover, a carpenter who, during a Thanksgiving celebration at the Birch's house (Terrence Howard as Franklin and Viola Davis as Nancy), has his 6-year old (and their 7-year old) kidnapped. Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) pulls over a suspicious RV driven by Alex (Paul Dano) and lets him go with a lack of evidence but not without paying a visit to Alex's aunt Holly (Melissa Leo). Keller won't settle for that, so he decides to pay Alex a visit of his own. As the days drag on, things get worse for Alex and Keller, subsequently, drags in Franklin and Nancy into his interrogation sessions. There are red herrings, copycat criminals, twists, turns, tension, the whole schabang. Nerve-wracking and unpredictable, Prisoners had me captivated for all of it's 2.5 hour run time. And that last shot? Unreal.
More soon...
2013 Films: #10-6
#10 Before Midnight
The Before... series, considered by some circles as the best trilogy ever, has had the luxury of time to gather a cult following. Between Sunrise (1995), Sunset (2004), and Midnight (2013) were 9 years apiece. The chemistry between Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) is indeed still palpable 18 years later, but a lot has changed since that train ride to Vienna. They have twin daughters together, live in Paris, and see Jesse's son Hank only in the summer (he lives with Jesse's ex in Chicago). On holiday in Greece, their friends give them a much needed night of child care as they attempt to rekindle the fire with a hotel room and spa set up. Unfortunately, life weighs on them both, so it's harder than they imagine.
The duo, along with Richard Linklater, created a script that feels improvised but is actually very rehearsed. It never feels forced, and the dialogue is both outstanding and very real. A fantastic performance turned in by both, and fans who are sad to put the trilogy to bed can rest easy that they went out the right way.
#9 All is Lost
"Our man", played courageously by Robert Redford, wakes up in his sailboat looking down at 3 feet of water. He goes out onto the deck and realizes he has collided with a floating shipping container. From there, it's every minute counts as his boat is starting to go down and weather is on its way. With the exception of the narration at the beginning, Redford utters less than 20 words throughout, but his actions and his looks bring everything you need to know to the story. It is a travesty that he did not get nominated for an Oscar considering his age (77) and the fact that it is an incredibly ballsy role to take on. Written and directed by J.C. Chandor (Margin Call), it's a completely original, completely breathtaking movie with a last two minutes that will knock you on your ass.
#8 Gravity
By now you know the drill--it's Sandra Bullock as Ryan Stone, an engineer in space doing everything she possibly can to survive after flying debris collides with her space station. Along for the ride is Matt Kowalski (George Clooney), a veteran astronaut who talks her down from her gasping and grasping in order to get her to safety. The story is thin and the crisis after crisis thing gets a little tiresome, but good lord, is it incredible to look at and to hear. Sandra Bullock was a trooper-reportedly in antigravity sequences suspended for 12-14 hours at a time. Where this movie will suffer is on home televisions, but Mr. Cuaron, the master of the long take (opening sequence was one 13 minute shot), made the kind of movie that makes you need to go to the movies.
#7 Captain Phillips
We here in Minneapolis are rooting hard for Barkhad Abdi, as the ruthless leader of the Somali pirates, to take home the statue for best supporting actor; before his excellent turn in Captain Phillips, he was a limousine driver here in the Twin Cities (and I believe a couple of the other Somalis in the film are Minneapolis raised as well). He deserves it--he was a terrifying villain with nothing to lose. This one was incredibly exciting throughout, and Tom Hanks is, as per usual, amazing as the ice-in-his-veins, quick-thinking boat captain who will do anything he can to get his people to safety, even if it means sacrificing his own.
#6 Dallas Buyer's Club
As we found out via Eddie Murphy's "Delirious" opening and other dated musings from the early to mid 1980s, AIDS was considered entirely a homosexual disease. So when rodeo cowboy Ron Woodruff (Matthew McConaughey) founds out he is HIV positive, his first reaction is "I ain't gay." He sure isn't--he's as hetero as they come--but he's the exact kind of promiscuous party guy whose reckless behavior leads him in that direction. Shortly after his diagnosis, he meets Rayon (a fantastic Jared Leto), a cross-dressing escort who is also living with the disease. In Rayon, he finds a top salesman/woman when they set up a business smuggling and selling experimental HIV drug cocktails. The story is totally true. Sometimes it comes across as formulaic and the ending is abrupt (as if the directors realized they had only 10 minutes left to wrap everything up), but it's a great underdog story and both performances are out of this world good. If Leto and McConaughey both win, it would certainly be deserved.
More to come!
The Before... series, considered by some circles as the best trilogy ever, has had the luxury of time to gather a cult following. Between Sunrise (1995), Sunset (2004), and Midnight (2013) were 9 years apiece. The chemistry between Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) is indeed still palpable 18 years later, but a lot has changed since that train ride to Vienna. They have twin daughters together, live in Paris, and see Jesse's son Hank only in the summer (he lives with Jesse's ex in Chicago). On holiday in Greece, their friends give them a much needed night of child care as they attempt to rekindle the fire with a hotel room and spa set up. Unfortunately, life weighs on them both, so it's harder than they imagine.
The duo, along with Richard Linklater, created a script that feels improvised but is actually very rehearsed. It never feels forced, and the dialogue is both outstanding and very real. A fantastic performance turned in by both, and fans who are sad to put the trilogy to bed can rest easy that they went out the right way.
#9 All is Lost
"Our man", played courageously by Robert Redford, wakes up in his sailboat looking down at 3 feet of water. He goes out onto the deck and realizes he has collided with a floating shipping container. From there, it's every minute counts as his boat is starting to go down and weather is on its way. With the exception of the narration at the beginning, Redford utters less than 20 words throughout, but his actions and his looks bring everything you need to know to the story. It is a travesty that he did not get nominated for an Oscar considering his age (77) and the fact that it is an incredibly ballsy role to take on. Written and directed by J.C. Chandor (Margin Call), it's a completely original, completely breathtaking movie with a last two minutes that will knock you on your ass.
#8 Gravity
By now you know the drill--it's Sandra Bullock as Ryan Stone, an engineer in space doing everything she possibly can to survive after flying debris collides with her space station. Along for the ride is Matt Kowalski (George Clooney), a veteran astronaut who talks her down from her gasping and grasping in order to get her to safety. The story is thin and the crisis after crisis thing gets a little tiresome, but good lord, is it incredible to look at and to hear. Sandra Bullock was a trooper-reportedly in antigravity sequences suspended for 12-14 hours at a time. Where this movie will suffer is on home televisions, but Mr. Cuaron, the master of the long take (opening sequence was one 13 minute shot), made the kind of movie that makes you need to go to the movies.
#7 Captain Phillips
We here in Minneapolis are rooting hard for Barkhad Abdi, as the ruthless leader of the Somali pirates, to take home the statue for best supporting actor; before his excellent turn in Captain Phillips, he was a limousine driver here in the Twin Cities (and I believe a couple of the other Somalis in the film are Minneapolis raised as well). He deserves it--he was a terrifying villain with nothing to lose. This one was incredibly exciting throughout, and Tom Hanks is, as per usual, amazing as the ice-in-his-veins, quick-thinking boat captain who will do anything he can to get his people to safety, even if it means sacrificing his own.
#6 Dallas Buyer's Club
As we found out via Eddie Murphy's "Delirious" opening and other dated musings from the early to mid 1980s, AIDS was considered entirely a homosexual disease. So when rodeo cowboy Ron Woodruff (Matthew McConaughey) founds out he is HIV positive, his first reaction is "I ain't gay." He sure isn't--he's as hetero as they come--but he's the exact kind of promiscuous party guy whose reckless behavior leads him in that direction. Shortly after his diagnosis, he meets Rayon (a fantastic Jared Leto), a cross-dressing escort who is also living with the disease. In Rayon, he finds a top salesman/woman when they set up a business smuggling and selling experimental HIV drug cocktails. The story is totally true. Sometimes it comes across as formulaic and the ending is abrupt (as if the directors realized they had only 10 minutes left to wrap everything up), but it's a great underdog story and both performances are out of this world good. If Leto and McConaughey both win, it would certainly be deserved.
More to come!
2013 Films: #12-11
#12 About Time
Expectations were blown completely out of the water with this one. I thought I'd be getting traditional rom-com sludge, but this one was much more layered than that. The premise itself is where you as the viewer has to suspend your disbelief: Tim (Dubliner Domnhall Gleeson, best known previously as the eldest Weasley brother, Bill) is a young man when his father, played the always dependable Bill Nighy, pulls him into his study and tells him that all men in the family have the ability to time travel. To do so, they must go into a small, enclosed dark place, like a closet, close their eyes tight and imagine the place and time. I realize how stupid that sounds after writing it, but sometimes you just have to go with it. I mean, the beloved LOST had a principal character that was a pillar of smoke, did it not?
Early on in the movie, Charlotte (Margot Robbie), a friend of Tim's sister, comes to live at there house for the summer. He falls for her, hard, and uses his time traveling ability to go back, sometimes even minutes at a time, to fix something stupid he said or did. Eventually he comes to realize that no matter how many times this scenario plays out, she won't go for him. But soon after, he and his mate go to a London restaurant whose whole schtick is that you are paired with blind dates of the opposite sex while the lights are off (continue to suspend your disbelief, people!). There, he meets Mary (Rachel McAdams), and they hit it off. He gets her number at the end of the night. When his playwright roommate gets a lackluster review, he goes back to make the actor not screw up his lines. And lo and behold, when he goes to check for her number, it's no longer there.
From there, the movie focuses on how he can find her and win her back, using his ability. But it's also largely about his relationship with his father. When something happens to the father (won't tell you), Tim has to figure out what his ability is really for. I unabashedly really liked this movie, and I think you will too.
#11 The Place Beyond the Pines
Early in '13, I was wanting to see this movie and then came across this marquee:
And I knew I had to go.
We are a couple of years removed from 2011, the Y.O.G. (Ides of March, Crazy Stupid Love, Drive), but there is still a certain national obsession with the mysterious Mr. Gosling. He stars as Luke, a stunt driver in upstate New York who does performs dangerous motorcycle stunts at a local carnival. When he comes to realize former flame Romina (real life sweetheart Eva Mendes) has had his baby, he demands to be involved in his life and begins to rob banks with the help of pal Robin (Ben Mendelsohn) to provide for them. Tasked with taking down the robbery squad is fresh-faced detective Avery Cross (Bradley Cooper), working for corrupt-ass police chief DeLuca (Ray Liotta) who will stop at nothing to get his hands on the money. 15 years after the events unfold, we meet two high school boys (Emory Cohen and Dane Dehaan) whose lives come to be directly affected by Luke and Avery's legacy.
This marks the second pairing of Gosling with writer/director Derek Cianfrance. Their first was Blue Valentine, which was also just as intense and even a touch better. Place Beyond the Pines, with it's stellar action sequences and multilayered plotline, is much more than simply Gosling on a motorcycle.
I'll be coming at you with the top 10 split in 3 ways real soon!
-Mulhern
2013 Films: #16-13
#16 Stories We Tell
This absolutely fascinating documentary by Sarah Polley (Away From Her) is a family history--hers--told by juxtaposing dramatized versions of her family shot on super 8 footage, and interviews shot in normal digital film. The story revolves mostly around her mother, Diane (who died when she was 11), her relationship with her children, and the men in her life, which included her first husband, her second husband (Polley's father Michael), and her acting buddies. When an astonishing family secret comes to light, the storytelling ramps up and the real sparks fly. It is a wonderful commentary on how different events are perceived even by the closest to you, and how feelings and yes, stories, can change over time. A must-see.
#15 Don Jon
With widespread worldwide access to the internet, the porn industry these days is eclipsing the billion dollar mark and then some. It is a difficult topic to address for many reasons. One major issue, tackled head-on in Joseph Gordon Levitt's debut as a writer and director, is how pornography damages the notion of intimacy. It tends to, for men anyhow, idealize sex as an act of power and not an act of love. The first cut of the movie struggled to even get down to a R-rating, but with some careful editing, it became a hard "R".
Joseph Gordon Levitt stars as Jon, a Mike "the Situation" Sorrentino clone who covets his pad, his ride, his boys (Rob Brown and Jeremy Luke), his girls and his porn. He watches porn multiple times a day, each sequence shown ending with him throwing a balled-up kleenex into a little trash bin with a clamoring sound effect. He's a good ol' Roman Catholic boy who eats Sunday dinners with his crazy family (fronted by tank-top sporting Tony Danza), goes to church, and hits confession at least once a week; these sequences are always hilarious as the "hail mary's" and "our fathers" are doled out depending upon how much porn he's watching and how much sex out of wedlock. But for Jon, it's just sex. Thanks to his porn addiction, he can't feel a real connection with anyone.
Enter Barbara Sugarman (Scarlet Johanssen), a woman he sees out at a club and begins to target. As their relationship blossoms, she convinces him to go back to college and get his life back on track. Enter Esther (Julianne Moore), a woman he meets in college courses who catches him watching porno on his smartphone. She is different, an older woman who challenges him and his very notion of intimacy. This movie didn't work for everyone. He uses sequences in a repetitive fashion, which bothered people, but I took it as a means of expressing how devoted to routine Jon is. Both ScarJo and JuMo are great as his muses, but the show belongs to Gordon-Levitt, who brilliantly manages triple duty as actor, writer and director.
#14 42
I am nuts about baseball. Always have been. For years, I thought would be the one to finally write the Jackie Robinson biopic. I even bought his autobiography used at a bookstore and cranked through it. And yes, I was dumb enough to think I was the only who had wanted to do this. There have been dozens of cracks at this-even Spike Lee almost got a Robinson project off the ground in the 90s with Denzell Washington as the hero. This one, written and directed by Brian Helgeland, was a very good crack at it, so to speak.
It's anchored by Chadwick Boseman as young Jackie, who is scouted aggressively by the eccentric and revolutionary general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford; in my perfect version it would have been Gandolfini as Branch Rickey, who had the same imposing body type). The story is zoomed in on just a 4 year period of his life, which in hindsight, was a good choice. We see Jackie work his way up through the Negro Leagues by utter domination, we see him have the famous meeting with Rickey in which he tells Robinson "I want someone with the guts not to fight back," we see him get taunted and threatened by fans, thrown at by pitchers, screamed at by managers and players alike. And the whole way, he keeps his composure in public, only losing it in private moments. Helgeland intentionally ended the arc before his circumstances changed and he was given license to fight back. Things inevitably got more interesting, but less heroic. The performances, especially by Boseman and Ford and Christopher Merloni as Dodgers manager Leo Durocher, are top-notch, and there is plenty of great cinematic and highly orchestrated baseball to watch. You won't hear me complaining.
#13 Philomena
Dame Judi Dench, in a true story , stars as Philomena Lee, an Irish school girl who gets pregnant and loses her son when she is raised by, and subsequently sold off by, the nuns at her school. In the present, she is now much older and has never quite come to terms with the situation. Journalist Martin Sixsmith (Steve Coogan), in a period of flux, takes on Philomena as a human interest story. What starts as a road trip with two opposites getting used to each other turns into an air trip to the United States as the search for her son gets more and more complex. It is a blast to watch Dench and Coogan spar and ultimately come to understand each other. They're both brilliant, and if it wasn't for Cate Blanchett, the statue would end up in Dench's capable hands. Who knows? It still might.
This absolutely fascinating documentary by Sarah Polley (Away From Her) is a family history--hers--told by juxtaposing dramatized versions of her family shot on super 8 footage, and interviews shot in normal digital film. The story revolves mostly around her mother, Diane (who died when she was 11), her relationship with her children, and the men in her life, which included her first husband, her second husband (Polley's father Michael), and her acting buddies. When an astonishing family secret comes to light, the storytelling ramps up and the real sparks fly. It is a wonderful commentary on how different events are perceived even by the closest to you, and how feelings and yes, stories, can change over time. A must-see.
#15 Don Jon
With widespread worldwide access to the internet, the porn industry these days is eclipsing the billion dollar mark and then some. It is a difficult topic to address for many reasons. One major issue, tackled head-on in Joseph Gordon Levitt's debut as a writer and director, is how pornography damages the notion of intimacy. It tends to, for men anyhow, idealize sex as an act of power and not an act of love. The first cut of the movie struggled to even get down to a R-rating, but with some careful editing, it became a hard "R".
Joseph Gordon Levitt stars as Jon, a Mike "the Situation" Sorrentino clone who covets his pad, his ride, his boys (Rob Brown and Jeremy Luke), his girls and his porn. He watches porn multiple times a day, each sequence shown ending with him throwing a balled-up kleenex into a little trash bin with a clamoring sound effect. He's a good ol' Roman Catholic boy who eats Sunday dinners with his crazy family (fronted by tank-top sporting Tony Danza), goes to church, and hits confession at least once a week; these sequences are always hilarious as the "hail mary's" and "our fathers" are doled out depending upon how much porn he's watching and how much sex out of wedlock. But for Jon, it's just sex. Thanks to his porn addiction, he can't feel a real connection with anyone.
Enter Barbara Sugarman (Scarlet Johanssen), a woman he sees out at a club and begins to target. As their relationship blossoms, she convinces him to go back to college and get his life back on track. Enter Esther (Julianne Moore), a woman he meets in college courses who catches him watching porno on his smartphone. She is different, an older woman who challenges him and his very notion of intimacy. This movie didn't work for everyone. He uses sequences in a repetitive fashion, which bothered people, but I took it as a means of expressing how devoted to routine Jon is. Both ScarJo and JuMo are great as his muses, but the show belongs to Gordon-Levitt, who brilliantly manages triple duty as actor, writer and director.
#14 42
I am nuts about baseball. Always have been. For years, I thought would be the one to finally write the Jackie Robinson biopic. I even bought his autobiography used at a bookstore and cranked through it. And yes, I was dumb enough to think I was the only who had wanted to do this. There have been dozens of cracks at this-even Spike Lee almost got a Robinson project off the ground in the 90s with Denzell Washington as the hero. This one, written and directed by Brian Helgeland, was a very good crack at it, so to speak.
It's anchored by Chadwick Boseman as young Jackie, who is scouted aggressively by the eccentric and revolutionary general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford; in my perfect version it would have been Gandolfini as Branch Rickey, who had the same imposing body type). The story is zoomed in on just a 4 year period of his life, which in hindsight, was a good choice. We see Jackie work his way up through the Negro Leagues by utter domination, we see him have the famous meeting with Rickey in which he tells Robinson "I want someone with the guts not to fight back," we see him get taunted and threatened by fans, thrown at by pitchers, screamed at by managers and players alike. And the whole way, he keeps his composure in public, only losing it in private moments. Helgeland intentionally ended the arc before his circumstances changed and he was given license to fight back. Things inevitably got more interesting, but less heroic. The performances, especially by Boseman and Ford and Christopher Merloni as Dodgers manager Leo Durocher, are top-notch, and there is plenty of great cinematic and highly orchestrated baseball to watch. You won't hear me complaining.
#13 Philomena
Dame Judi Dench, in a true story , stars as Philomena Lee, an Irish school girl who gets pregnant and loses her son when she is raised by, and subsequently sold off by, the nuns at her school. In the present, she is now much older and has never quite come to terms with the situation. Journalist Martin Sixsmith (Steve Coogan), in a period of flux, takes on Philomena as a human interest story. What starts as a road trip with two opposites getting used to each other turns into an air trip to the United States as the search for her son gets more and more complex. It is a blast to watch Dench and Coogan spar and ultimately come to understand each other. They're both brilliant, and if it wasn't for Cate Blanchett, the statue would end up in Dench's capable hands. Who knows? It still might.
2013 Films: #20 (19)-17 and bonus #36
#36 The Best Man Holiday
Also, in my old age I appear to have miscounted. I think I actually saw 49 movies this year. So we have to move everything up one, and when I do the last post of the day, I will display the re-calibrated list.
Therefore, instead of a top 20, I will present the beginnings of the top 19:
#19 Nebraska
Alexander Payne is probably best known for two pleasant-climate films, both nominated for best picture--the wine-country bachelor romp Sideways ('04) and the family expose' The Descendants ('11), both of which made my top 5 of those respective years. But most of his other notable work (About Schmidt, Election, Citizen Ruth and now Nebraska) take place in his home state. Nebraska was the last of the 9 best picture nominees I got around to seeing.
The story opens with Woody Grant (Bruce Dern) walking down the side of a busy road in Billings, Montana. This is not the first time he has behaved like this; Woody, a heavy drinker who's a few sandwiches short as the saying goes, is fully convinced he has won a million dollars in a Publisher's Clearinghouse-like sweepstakes. It turns out that he had been trying to walk from Billings to Lincoln, Nebraska to claim it. His wife Kate (an outstanding June Squibb) has had enough, so tasked with continuing to pick him up each time is their youngest son, David (Will Forte). In an effort to placate him and get Woody out of his mother's hair, David finally succumbs to Woody's constant requests to drive him to Nebraska. From there, the majority of the action takes place in Woody and Kate's Nebraska hometown, where we meet David's uncles and aunts, his hilarious cousins (Tim Driscoll and Devin Ratray, who played Buzz McCallister in Home Alone), and Woody's devious ex-business partner (they owned a car garage together) Ed (Stacy Keach). The legend of Woody's million dollars grows, and it's 50-50 whether or not the interested parties are actually interested or just mocking him. Woody and David eventually do make the trip to Lincoln, but I won't give away how that plays out.
I think Bruce Dern is great in this movie, but I would bump him out of the best actor nominees list for one of two people coming up on the countdown because I didn't really feel like he was the lead most of the time. As the doting son, he quietly keeps his family together.
#18 The Way Way Back
Bradley Cooper is good in American Hustle, but the fifth supporting actor nod should have gone to Sam Rockwell for his hilarious, heartfelt turn as the water park manager Owen who takes shy teenager Duncan (Liam James) under his wing for a summer. Duncan, his mother Pam (Toni Collette), her controlling new boyfriend Trent (Steve Carrell) and his daughter Steph (Zoe Levin) go for an extended vacation to his beach house. Living next door are wacky, party-hearty Betty (Alison Janney) and her daughter Susanna (Anna Sophia Robb), and constantly dropping in are Trent's buddies Kip (Rob Corddry) and Joan (Amanda Peet). Duncan, feeling constantly embarrassed by/ashamed of Trent and his oppressive management style, finds refuge in the local water park, where he befriends Owen and his band of merry troublemakers. It's a great coming of age story that takes legitimizes how hard it can be to accept changing family dynamics.
#17 The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
The cinematic return to Panem is just as or more satisfying than the first, as we pick up right where we left off. Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) have effectively pissed off president Snow (Donald Sutherland) and the capitol for their unorthodox double victory. As a result, their families and well-being are threatened unless they stick to the script and enter the Quarter Quell, a special-event version of the Hunger Games, sort of an all-star game of sorts. The action-packed Q.Q. is awesome on screen, the supporting cast (Hutcherson, Sutherland, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Liam Hemsworth) add flair, and Lawrence, as usual is beyond reliable.
Til next time, amigos-
Mulhern
Saturday, March 1, 2014
2013 Films: 22-21
# 22 Enough Said
Most people would say that the biggest loss of the year, actor death-wise, would no question be Philip Seymour Hoffman. Not me, though. I was devastated when, on June 19th, I found out that James Gandolfini had died of a heart attack on a trip to Italy with his son. Of course I was then prompted to revisit basically the entire Sopranos catalog, and there was a specific scene I watched over and over again: the famous scene in which the crew stages an intervention for Christopher "Chrissy" Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli) for his heroin addiction. One thing that struck me was when, after Christopher goes on the defensive:
Christopher: There he goes, Mr. type-A personality!
Tony: We are here to talk about you killing yourself with drugs, not my f***in' personality!
Christopher: I'm killin' myself? The way you f***in' eat, you're gonna have a heart attack by the time you're 50!
Tony's weight was brought up plenty of times throughout the series, but I still couldn't believe that the fictional Christopher Moltisanti would become a harbinger for the real James Gandolfini's tragic end.
By all accounts, Gandolfini was an incredibly kind and generous human being. There were multiple reports of him taking a major pay cut during the last couple of seasons of the show so that HBO could afford to retain the cast. He would buy elaborate, expensive sushi lunches for all the members of the crew. And many actors who worked with him said that he was a great teacher and completely genuine.
Playing a character like Tony Soprano for so long wore him out and took him to some very dark places emotionally. Now that the world has embraced Breaking Bad and unabashedly declared it the best drama of all time, it is important for people to realize that there would be no Walter White without Tony Soprano. Period. Or Vic Mackey, or Don Draper, or, more recently, Frank Underwood. He set the bar extremely high as the antihero, and in my opinion, no one has given a finer performance in that capacity (though, to be fair-Bryan Cranston came pretty close.).
And now, onto Enough Said. Another HBO star, Julia Louis Dreyfuss (Veep) stars as Eva, an amicably divorced masseuse who meets Albert (Gandolfini) at a party. They hit it off and start falling for each other. At around the same time, she takes on a new client named Marianne (Catherine Keener), a new-agey woman who herself is reeling from a recent divorce. As the movie pushes forward, Eva start's to realize that the ex-husband Marianne has been kvetching about is, in fact, Albert. Against the wishes of her best friend Sarah (Toni Colette), she tries to keep both her blossoming relationship with Albert and her friendship with Marianne going strong. The problem is, Marianne's complaints about Albert are starting to get inside her head.
Both the leads in this film were great, and the mess that Eva created played out in a much more real way than I expected. Obviously for me, the appeal was seeing Gandolfini's second to last performance, and it was refreshing to see him be so normal, so scaled back, so non-Jersey. As two of the best in the game, Gandolfini and Dreyfuss made for a good couple.
#21 Frances Ha
"I can't tell if I think Greta Gerwig looks good or not. She's like the lady Jerry Seinfeld dates who only looks good in certain lighting," I told a friend not too long ago.
The rest of the indie world is smitten with Miss Gerwig. Rightfully so-she's got the right amount of awkwardness to match the perfect amount of cute. She co-wrote this movie with Noah Baumbach, who was in desperate need of a good flick; neither Margot at the Wedding or Greenberg struck the same emotional chord as '05's The Squid and the Whale. The movie follows Frances, a New Yorker who crashes with friends at an apartment (Adam Driver and Michael Zegen) and interns at a dance company. Her and her best friend Sophie (Mickey Sumner, daughter of Gordon Sumner, known to the world as Sting) talk boys, play fight, and have a good time, until they don't. Frances is spontaneous almost to the point of obnoxiousness and at times comes off as an unrealistic character, but mostly she's just a joy to watch as she tries to figure out what she wants, where she's going and who she is.
Most people would say that the biggest loss of the year, actor death-wise, would no question be Philip Seymour Hoffman. Not me, though. I was devastated when, on June 19th, I found out that James Gandolfini had died of a heart attack on a trip to Italy with his son. Of course I was then prompted to revisit basically the entire Sopranos catalog, and there was a specific scene I watched over and over again: the famous scene in which the crew stages an intervention for Christopher "Chrissy" Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli) for his heroin addiction. One thing that struck me was when, after Christopher goes on the defensive:
Christopher: There he goes, Mr. type-A personality!
Tony: We are here to talk about you killing yourself with drugs, not my f***in' personality!
Christopher: I'm killin' myself? The way you f***in' eat, you're gonna have a heart attack by the time you're 50!
Tony's weight was brought up plenty of times throughout the series, but I still couldn't believe that the fictional Christopher Moltisanti would become a harbinger for the real James Gandolfini's tragic end.
By all accounts, Gandolfini was an incredibly kind and generous human being. There were multiple reports of him taking a major pay cut during the last couple of seasons of the show so that HBO could afford to retain the cast. He would buy elaborate, expensive sushi lunches for all the members of the crew. And many actors who worked with him said that he was a great teacher and completely genuine.
Playing a character like Tony Soprano for so long wore him out and took him to some very dark places emotionally. Now that the world has embraced Breaking Bad and unabashedly declared it the best drama of all time, it is important for people to realize that there would be no Walter White without Tony Soprano. Period. Or Vic Mackey, or Don Draper, or, more recently, Frank Underwood. He set the bar extremely high as the antihero, and in my opinion, no one has given a finer performance in that capacity (though, to be fair-Bryan Cranston came pretty close.).
And now, onto Enough Said. Another HBO star, Julia Louis Dreyfuss (Veep) stars as Eva, an amicably divorced masseuse who meets Albert (Gandolfini) at a party. They hit it off and start falling for each other. At around the same time, she takes on a new client named Marianne (Catherine Keener), a new-agey woman who herself is reeling from a recent divorce. As the movie pushes forward, Eva start's to realize that the ex-husband Marianne has been kvetching about is, in fact, Albert. Against the wishes of her best friend Sarah (Toni Colette), she tries to keep both her blossoming relationship with Albert and her friendship with Marianne going strong. The problem is, Marianne's complaints about Albert are starting to get inside her head.
Both the leads in this film were great, and the mess that Eva created played out in a much more real way than I expected. Obviously for me, the appeal was seeing Gandolfini's second to last performance, and it was refreshing to see him be so normal, so scaled back, so non-Jersey. As two of the best in the game, Gandolfini and Dreyfuss made for a good couple.
#21 Frances Ha
"I can't tell if I think Greta Gerwig looks good or not. She's like the lady Jerry Seinfeld dates who only looks good in certain lighting," I told a friend not too long ago.
The rest of the indie world is smitten with Miss Gerwig. Rightfully so-she's got the right amount of awkwardness to match the perfect amount of cute. She co-wrote this movie with Noah Baumbach, who was in desperate need of a good flick; neither Margot at the Wedding or Greenberg struck the same emotional chord as '05's The Squid and the Whale. The movie follows Frances, a New Yorker who crashes with friends at an apartment (Adam Driver and Michael Zegen) and interns at a dance company. Her and her best friend Sophie (Mickey Sumner, daughter of Gordon Sumner, known to the world as Sting) talk boys, play fight, and have a good time, until they don't. Frances is spontaneous almost to the point of obnoxiousness and at times comes off as an unrealistic character, but mostly she's just a joy to watch as she tries to figure out what she wants, where she's going and who she is.
2013 Films: #24 & #23
#24 Twenty Feet from Stardom
The 1960s were flush with Motown female talent such as the Supremes, the Ronettes, and Gladys Knight the Pips. But there was plenty of talent waiting in the wings, waiting for their shot to hit it big with the rest of them. They never got their chance; instead, they made lucrative careers as backup singers for famous acts throughout the motown era and beyond. This fascinating documentary follows some of those women as they tell their stories of singing back up Vocals. Perhaps the most entertaining of all is Mary Clayton, the African-American soul singer who recalls the story of being woken up at 3 AM, 6 months pregnant with curlers in her hair, to go sing the now iconic hook to the Rolling Stones "Gimme Shelter". "Whatchu mean rape, murder? That's what you're trying to get me to sing on this hook?" She recalls with a laugh. I happened to see this documentary during the Minneapolis-St. Paul film Festival in Mary Clayton gave a live talk and performance afterwards. The movie theater in Minneapolis is no Palladium, but it's a good start, and hopefully it leads to more exposure for these talented women who deserve their shot at the spotlight.
#23 Blue Jasmine
Woody Allen's 49th film (!) follows Jasmine, a wealthy socialite whose husband is caught up in fraudulent business and ends up with all of his assets frozen. With nothing left and nowhere to go, Jasmine Jets off (on coach class for the first time), to San Francisco to spend some time living with her sister, Ginger. Jasmine is completely breaking down – physically, spiritually and mentally- as she tries desperately to figure out her next steps. The movie throws in flashbacks to her former life, in which you can see the empire start to fall piece by piece. I have seen much better Woody Allen films, but it is been a long time since I've seen a performance is astonishing as Cate Blanchett's in the titular role. She absolutely, positively knocked it out of the park. The supporting cast – Alec Baldwin as the estranged husband, Sally Hawkins as the freewheeling sister, Andrew Dice Clay as her former brother in law and Peter Sarsgaard as the love interest – do a nice job of balancing out her extremes. With the Dame (coming up soon in the countdown) as her only competition, the statue is hers to lose, and it would be a travesty if she did.
TNT, amigos-
Mulhern
The 1960s were flush with Motown female talent such as the Supremes, the Ronettes, and Gladys Knight the Pips. But there was plenty of talent waiting in the wings, waiting for their shot to hit it big with the rest of them. They never got their chance; instead, they made lucrative careers as backup singers for famous acts throughout the motown era and beyond. This fascinating documentary follows some of those women as they tell their stories of singing back up Vocals. Perhaps the most entertaining of all is Mary Clayton, the African-American soul singer who recalls the story of being woken up at 3 AM, 6 months pregnant with curlers in her hair, to go sing the now iconic hook to the Rolling Stones "Gimme Shelter". "Whatchu mean rape, murder? That's what you're trying to get me to sing on this hook?" She recalls with a laugh. I happened to see this documentary during the Minneapolis-St. Paul film Festival in Mary Clayton gave a live talk and performance afterwards. The movie theater in Minneapolis is no Palladium, but it's a good start, and hopefully it leads to more exposure for these talented women who deserve their shot at the spotlight.
#23 Blue Jasmine
Woody Allen's 49th film (!) follows Jasmine, a wealthy socialite whose husband is caught up in fraudulent business and ends up with all of his assets frozen. With nothing left and nowhere to go, Jasmine Jets off (on coach class for the first time), to San Francisco to spend some time living with her sister, Ginger. Jasmine is completely breaking down – physically, spiritually and mentally- as she tries desperately to figure out her next steps. The movie throws in flashbacks to her former life, in which you can see the empire start to fall piece by piece. I have seen much better Woody Allen films, but it is been a long time since I've seen a performance is astonishing as Cate Blanchett's in the titular role. She absolutely, positively knocked it out of the park. The supporting cast – Alec Baldwin as the estranged husband, Sally Hawkins as the freewheeling sister, Andrew Dice Clay as her former brother in law and Peter Sarsgaard as the love interest – do a nice job of balancing out her extremes. With the Dame (coming up soon in the countdown) as her only competition, the statue is hers to lose, and it would be a travesty if she did.
TNT, amigos-
Mulhern
Friday, February 28, 2014
2013 Films: #35-25
Let us continue.
#35 Star Trek into Darkness*
Full disclosure to the fact that this wasn't the best circumstances for me to be seeing the film. I had volunteered my services the night before to a YMCA lock in with a bunch of my seventh and eighth-grade boys. When the popcorn and pizza cleared, I had gotten roughly 2 hours of sleep on a makeshift bed of blankets. Later that night I was seeing Star Trek and a comfortable dark atmosphere. You do the math.
I owe it another spin soon. It will probably be better than I remember.
#34 Much Ado About Nothing
When Joss Whedon and his wife were getting ready to celebrate the 20th anniversary, his wife suggested rather than them jetting off to Zanzibar, he finally get his passion project done: a modern-day retelling of the Bards tale set in a nice Hollywood mansion. So he grabbed everybody that he could from his buffy/firefly/dollhouse camp and brought them to his house for a 12 day stint (glaringly omitted: Neil Patrick Harris and Alyson Hannigan). As Benedick and Beatrice are Alexis Denisov, best-known as Sandy the smarmy news anchor on How I Met your Mother, and Amy Acker, from Angel & Dollhouse. The film was shot in black and white and uses some great and witty modern gags to help it hit its mark. The cast is pretty good and they seem to have a lot of fun working together, and it is no big surprise that Nathan Filion steals basically every scene that he's in which is far too few. I found myself asking why is Nathan Filion not the lead? Denisov was good, for sure, but Filion would've taken this adaptation to a whole new level.
#33 Anchorman 2
Very funny to see the news team back together, but they ran the same jokes out of the gate again, from Ron spitting out absurd tongue twisters as a pre-show ritual to the news channels melee with ridiculous weapons and anecdotes. Both Koechner and Rudd felt like one trick ponies, and with a few exceptions, Carell was a shadow of his former Brick. When they did use new material, like a perilous RV trip and an ode to a baby shark, I busted a gut.
#32 Drinking Buddies
Joe Swanberg is known in some circles is the king of mumblecore. What in the hell does that mean? It's a style of movie that is known for low talking dialogue, low-budget aesthetic, largely improvised scripts, and realistic characterization. This is Mr. Swanberg's first foray into the mainstream, the results are pretty satisfying.
The buddies in question are Luke (Jake Johnson) and Kate (Olivia Wilde) who work together at a brewery in Chicago. There is an undeniable chemistry there, but both are in committed relationships. Johnson's better half is played by the always adorable Anna Kendrick, and Wilde's is played by Ron Livingston. Without giving too much away, something happens between Livingston and Kendrick that sets the wheels in motion. Before too long, wild finds yourself being dumped and this is single lifestyle. Luke becomes protective and jealous when the Kate begins spending time with other male members of the brewery.
All four actors all do a really nice job of bringing realism to a tough romantic situation. I really felt like the story could happen and the flow was nice.
#31 Elysium
Just a few years ago, South African newcomer Neil Blomkamp created my favorite movie of the year in District 9. District nine had basically everything going for it. We had scathing sociopolitical commentary dressed up as a sci-fi flick dressed up as a documentary. With the cast lead by newcomer Sharlto Copely, it totally worked.
In Elysium, we have a pretty cool concept that is only partially executed. In the future age, the one percenters live on a space colony orbiting earth while basically everybody else suffers on an earth that is beginning to rot out like a peach. Matt Damon is a blue-collar factory worker who suffers an accident and becomes partially machine.
In order to fix himself, he makes a deal with a black-market cargo runner to crash the party on Rich folks Island. Mr. Blomkamp certainly's tries to re-create the tension and make a grand political statement (with some slick effects and shots along the way), and certainly considering the advent of Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, it doesn't feel too far off. It just happens to lack the balls in the originality of his first effort.
#30 Despicable Me 2
Steve Carell returns Gru, the Affable villain hell bent on world domination. Things have changed with Gru since the last time we last checked up on him: he's a full fledged father now who has somewhat retired from the game.
Enter Lucy, play by Kristin Wiig, an agent who needs Gru's particular skill set to help catch a new villain "El Macho". Hiding out undercover at the mall with this front as a bakery store, They gather Intel on El Macho and learned that he is creating something that can turn Gru's beloved minions against him. Despicable me Two is cute and nearly as fun as the first, but it lacks a little bit of the panache.
#29 The Spectacular Now
The biggest take away from this coming-of-age film is the performance Of Miles Teller as Sutter, The southern jock with the heart of gold. He'll be great for years to come. He falls hard for the awkward socially inapt beauty played by Shailene Woodley of the Descendants and now Divergent fame. It's a little bit hard to buy his attraction to her but ultimately it starts to work. It's a well-done movie that feels real, from the social considerations to the in-depth conversations to the father issues Sutter faces when dealing with his alcoholic deadbeat dad played by the ubiquitous Kyle Chandler.
#28 The Great Gatsby
Dir. Baz Luhrman tends to favor flash over substance in his films, and if there is one downfall of the great Gatsby it was that very notion. The classic F. Scott Fitzgerald novelization Looks incredible from the fireworks to the chlorine in the pool. Leo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan put a very believable forbidden love on screen. The problem is it sometimes slogs into sluggish, soap opera territory.
#27 This is the End
Did you know that the very last film rented in a Blockbuster video store was this is the end? Quite telling, don't you think?
Hysterical. As you probably already know the premises that a giant bash at actor James Franco's house (playing himself) is interrupted by the apocalypse. When the fiery pit clears and actors such as Michael Cera, David Katzenberg, Rihanna, Aziz and Paul Rudd have all perished, we are left with the fabulous six: Jay Baruchel, Seth Rogan, Craig Robinson, James Franco, Jonah Hill and Danny McBride, all of whom are playing themselves. Only they are bitchy, played–up, whiny versions of themselves. As they band together to beat the fire and brimstone and giant devils working outside, they squabble over rations, pick fights about disgusting habits, and polka hell of a lot of fun of themselves. As a plot, it falters at times and takes things way too far, but it sure is a hell of a ride.
#26 American Hustle
Over-rated
(Clap, clap clapclapclap)
Over-rated
(Clap, clap, clapclapclap)
I like David O Russell's movies. Three Kings, the Fighter, and Silver Linings Playbook are all outstanding. But this one? I guess I just didn't get the hype. Without the scene stealing Jennifer Lawrence and the consistently great Christian Bale, there isn't much there. It's slow, it's too long, it's less exciting than advertised, and I was sick of Amy Adams a half-hour in. Pluses include the costumes, the hair and a great Louis C.K. cameo. You won't get me to say Russell has made a bad movie, but I was thoroughly underwhelmed.
#25 Rush
Before the sexiness that is NASCAR, the world focused on Formula One racing is the premier version of watching cars go around in a circle. In the mid-70s the most important rivalry in the sport was Between British playboy James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and skilled driver Nikki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl). Narration from the film is told from the present by a somewhat reflective Lauda, delivered with tinges of both wistfulness and regret. The tiny cars they drive barely house their giant egos. the film takes us through the glamorous lifestyles of the mid 1970s, as greats like the Afro mentioned hunt and Mario Andretti were coming into the picture. A well-made film with loads of exciting sequences that would have been better in theaters.
'Til next time amigos-
Mulhern
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
2013 Films: #39-37
#39: Runner Runner
Justin Timberlake stars as Richie Furst, a young online poker stud who loses all of his earnings to the head of a giant online gambling regime. He has proof that the CEO cheated him out of the money, so he decides to go down to Costa Rica and confront this man himself. The man in question? Ivan Block, a shrewd businessmen played by Ben Affleck, in full-on-sleaze mode. Essentially, Block runs the whole resort town via shady payoffs and a whole lot of muscle. He is impressed with the moxie brought by young Richie Furst, and he hires him on to take care of the online part of his business.
Ivan razzle dazzles young Richie with flashy promises. You want surf and turf on a regular basis? Why not. Would you like to have intercourse with my beautiful ex-girlfriend? Go for it. Just as long as you're on my side, right? From that point forward, folks, every cliché applies: Richie realizes Ivan may not be the best person to cross, an FBI agent (Anthony Mackie) tries to flip Richie to take down Ivan Block with him,people are thrown in the back of vans, people are roughed up, guns are flashed. You know the drill. Both Affleck and Timberlake are serviceable in their roles, but this whole thing has been done before. Still, it was a pretty fun ride.
#38 The To-Do List Aubrey Plaza has already stepped into feature film world with her work in the strange, quirky indie sci-fi freak fest Safety Not Guaranteed. The whole crew from Parks and Recreation is pretty ubiquitous these days and it is always a little bit of a stretch trying to see them play against type. I think disenchanted April Ludgate is so infused and everyone psyche by this point at Aubrey will always, on some level, have to worry about being typecast. With The To Do List, at least she's attempting to break away a little bit.It's the early 90s, and Aubrey Plaza is Brandy Clark, a valedictorian/class president of her high school, desperate to get laid before she heads off to college the following year. Her target is Rusty(Scott Porter), a chiseled stud who plays guitar and works at the local pool as a lifeguard. Drunk for the first time at a kegger, she passes out in a bunk bed; Rusty comes into the bedroom to bed someone else and begins to make out with her in the dark. After the embarrassment subsides, she decides that he wants her to be her first. Before she gets there, she has to do all of the other acts on a sexual "checklist" that she creates. Helping her along the way are her friends(Arrested Development's Ali Shakwat and Sarah Steele), her engaged and morally loose sister, played by Rachel Bilson, a couple of lifeguards (Donald Glover and Adam Pally), her summer boss (the always fantastic Bill Hader), and her 'platonic" pal Cameron (Johnny Simmons). Most of the humor comes from the raunchy acts being pondered by and explained to Brandy. Unfortunately, too often the script goes for the easy laugh via gross-out and mean-spirited wisecracks, and it doesn't work so well. Kudos to Plaza for trying.
#37: The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug
As we found ourselves returning to middle earth for the fifth time, the Tolkien purists came out in droves to protest all of this adaptation's screw ups and idiosyncrasies. Why is the spider battle only five lousy minutes? Why is there a made-up female elf who makes the dwarves look like punks in terms of her orc skull-cracking? Why is Legolas around so much, and why is he jumping from head to head and skewering villains with perfect headshots, even though his feet aren't set? I've read the Hobbit, sure, but not enough to debate the accuracy or lack thereof. That said, I know people who have, and they thought Desolation was awful.
The first Hobbit film, with it's controversial high frame rate that I didn't even notice, had a good flow to it and as an adaptation, seemed to play true. This one, on the other hand, seemed to drag and drag. Plenty has been made about the fact that The Hobbit, which is shorter than any of the Lord of the Rings titles, is substituting potential dollar quantity for quality. And I had to wonder myself: how is Peter Jackson making three movies out of one book? Easy--by adding characters and slowing down the tempo. This installment could have been at least a half an hour shorter and still kept it's flashy fantasy Spectacle mojo. The scene in which he finally arrives at Smaug's lair goes on for roughly 3 hours, while the Dragon bobs and weaves over treasure and tries to distract young Bilbo with riddles and wanton verbosity. Like basically every sequence in the movie, I liked it at first and then kept asking: why isn't this over yet? Martin Freeman is again delightful as Bilbo Baggins, Benedict Cumberbatch eases into the voice of Smaug like a slimy con artist, and the dwarf supporting cast always keep things interesting. On the other end of the spectrum, the Orlando Bloom and Evangeline Lilly (as a character that doesn't actually exist in literary form) eye candy team got far too much screen time. And in the case of Smaug, there was screen time to go around.
'Til next time, amigos-
Mulhern
Sunday, February 23, 2014
2013 Films: #41 & #40
We are one week away from the Oscars. As I type this blog post, the LeBron James of Twin Cities Animal Control specialists is working in our utility room, trying to free the squirrel who has been living in our furnace for the last 8 days.
Excitement is at an all-time high.
#41 The Bling Ring
As a director, Sofia Coppola's schtick has always been to pull captivating moments and performances out of isolation and ennui. Sometimes, it works; Lost in Translation is one of my favorite movies of the aughts. Marie Antoinette, which at times felt like one long music video, failed to really hit the mark, and Somewhere finds Stephen Dorff, via sometimes painfully long takes, attempting to connect with his daughter in the once-glamorous-now-desolate landscape of movie stardom. Coppola's latest, The Bling Ring, is probably her weakest effort. Not that it was bad--it was only okay.
The Bling Ring, based entirely on a true to life Vanity Fair article called "The Suspect Wore Louboutins" is about a group of teenage fame obsessives who determine where celebrities live so that they can case their houses to break in and steal shit. Rebecca (Katie Chang) and Marc (Israel Broussard) start small, jacking credit cards and cash from parked cars before they graduate to full on burglaries. Along the way, they rope in Nicki (Emma Watson), Sam (Taissa Farmiga) and Chloe (Claire Julien). Soon it becomes a game of thrills.
The movie is set in 2009, which makes sense because the supposed A-listers that they target are far from relevant: Audrina Partridge, Rachel Bilson, Lindsay Lohan. The holy grail, though, is Paris Hilton (also now lacking relevance). The fact that a group of teenagers manage to crack the security systems of a hotel heiress three different times is simultaneously funny and depressing. Chang does a nice job of pushing her cronies along despite the consequences, and it is fun to see Watson distance herself further and further from Hermione Granger with vapid cursing and getting bombed. The main problem here is that the rise and fall of the bling ring was extremely anti-climactic, and this time when nothing happens, there's not much to fall back on--just rich kids trying on even richer people's clothes.
#40 We're the Millers
Jason Sudekis is a weed dealer named David who finds himself jacked by street toughs and coming to his boss, Brad Gurdlinger (Ed Helms, looking/acting/sounding like Jason Sudekis), with hat in hand, trying to fix his situation. Well, Gurdlinger says, just so happens I have giant shipment of weed I have to get across the Mexican border. Get it for me and you're off the hook. So what does David do? He recruits angry stripper Rose (Jennifer Aniston), awkward wallflower Kenny (Will Poulter) from his apartment building and homeless 'hood rat Casey (Emma Roberts) to be his family on an RV trip down Mexico way by offering to pay them handsomely. The logic here being, of course, that no border patrol is going to pop a wholesome looking family.
As they work toward completing the mission, they become somewhat of a family unit (the promise of money certainly helps) and encounter strangers both menacing (fully-strapped Mexican drug dealers) and creepy (a family of swingers, played by Nick Offerman and Kathryn Hahn). The jokes are effective when they hit, but it's only sometimes. When it attempts to go over the top, Millers often falls flat. Otherwise we have exactly what you expect: Sudekis being smarmy, Aniston using her girl next door sex appeal to get them out of tight situations, the kids trying to find themselves, Ed Helms being smarmy. Rental territory, folks.
Til next time, Amigos-
Mulhern
Saturday, February 22, 2014
2013 Films: #44-42
#44 The Internship
I'll get it out of the way right now: we do not have Google Crashers on our hands here, no matter how much we wish it were. The once dynamic Vaughn and Wilson duo have played the schtick about as far as they can take it. Billy (Vaughn) and Nick (Wilson) are watch salesmen who can't quite adapt to the new way of the world and find themselves out of a job. Then they turn on their Vaughn and Wilson charm, talking their way into a renowned internship in silicon valley, where they will compete against a whole bunch of college kids.
There were funny parts, and I've always loved a comedy-driven competition (the quidditch match was particularly solid). But man, I couldn't believe how many stereotypes they managed to pack into 2 hours! The Indian boss with the Indian accent? The Asian computer programming whizzes? The "team of rejects" that Wilson and Vaughn end up on that features an angry loner, a Mindy Kaling-lite party girl, and nerds with social anxieties? The team that has to overcome their differences and work together toward the ultimate goal?
Of course. Seen it a million times. Usually it's less borderline offensive.
#43 Admission
The first post-Oscars movie I saw in 2013 was Admission. Tina Fey stars as Portia Nathan, an unbearably uptight admissions counselor at Princeton University. You've certainly seen this formula before: protagonist finds self loosening up because of someone's freewheeling influence, protagonist has to learn life lessons along the way, etc. The freewheeling influence, in this case, comes in the form of everyone's favorite cute dopey schlub, Paul Rudd, playing her ex-college classmate John Pressman, and acting in the exact same way that Paul Rudd always does. Pressman runs an alternative high school and has a couple of kids--one in particular--that he is pitching to the admissions team. The student, Jeremiah (Nat Wolff), is one of those classic Will Hunting types- lousy grades, lots of smarts. He's unconventional in another way too, but I won't spoil it.
Admission certainly wasn't bad. But like A.C.O.D. a few slots ago, it's a lot of talent that could be better utilized, including Wallace "Never bet against a Sicilian when death is on the line!" Shawn as Fey's boss and Lily Tomlin as Fey's wacky mother. In terms of meet-cute, girl-can't-stand-boy-at-first territory, it does not veer too far off the road. And how many times is Rudd going to play the same character? Worth renting if you're in the mood for something cute and predictable.
#42 What Maisie Knew
When the Henry James novel What Maisie Knew was published in 1897, it was considered revolutionary. The book is written from the perspective of a young girl shuttled between her mother and father and treated more as a chess piece than a human being. Divorce and marital strife was kind of a new thing back then, and coupled with the child narrator aspect, we had the late 19th century controversial equivalent of Kanye charging at TMZ photographers.
Flash forward to the present. Maisie (Onata Aprile) tiptoes in her jammies out of her bedroom to watch her parents Susanna (Julianne Moore) and Beale (Steve Coogan) spar. Susanna is a touring rock star, and Beale is an art dealer. We as the viewer begin at the end and get to see, through Maisie's eyes, the dissolution of the marriage. Both Beale and Susanna are terrible in their own right, and as such, immediately take on younger lovers. Susanna's is hunky male model Lincoln (True Blood's Alexander Skarsgaard) and Beale begins sleeping with Margo the nanny (Joanna Vanderham). Maisie is constantly, even at times literally, being pulled in different directions by the people that are supposed to be her caretakers in order to get the last word. As Beale and Susanna become more and more absentee and non-redeemable, the young ones kind of find themselves taking over as the de facto parents.
This movie is tough to watch. You feel terrible for the little girl. That said, aspects of it are very well made. It's shot in a style that feels like you're seeing it through a child's eyes. By that, I mean that the lenses are set up in a way that lets light flood in which makes it sometimes feel like everything is new and exciting. Also, the performances are good and fairly believable, despite how much you are forced to dislike basically everybody. If the characters weren't so one-dimensional, we would have had a better project on our hands.
Til next time, amigos-
Mulhern
I'll get it out of the way right now: we do not have Google Crashers on our hands here, no matter how much we wish it were. The once dynamic Vaughn and Wilson duo have played the schtick about as far as they can take it. Billy (Vaughn) and Nick (Wilson) are watch salesmen who can't quite adapt to the new way of the world and find themselves out of a job. Then they turn on their Vaughn and Wilson charm, talking their way into a renowned internship in silicon valley, where they will compete against a whole bunch of college kids.
There were funny parts, and I've always loved a comedy-driven competition (the quidditch match was particularly solid). But man, I couldn't believe how many stereotypes they managed to pack into 2 hours! The Indian boss with the Indian accent? The Asian computer programming whizzes? The "team of rejects" that Wilson and Vaughn end up on that features an angry loner, a Mindy Kaling-lite party girl, and nerds with social anxieties? The team that has to overcome their differences and work together toward the ultimate goal?
Of course. Seen it a million times. Usually it's less borderline offensive.
#43 Admission
The first post-Oscars movie I saw in 2013 was Admission. Tina Fey stars as Portia Nathan, an unbearably uptight admissions counselor at Princeton University. You've certainly seen this formula before: protagonist finds self loosening up because of someone's freewheeling influence, protagonist has to learn life lessons along the way, etc. The freewheeling influence, in this case, comes in the form of everyone's favorite cute dopey schlub, Paul Rudd, playing her ex-college classmate John Pressman, and acting in the exact same way that Paul Rudd always does. Pressman runs an alternative high school and has a couple of kids--one in particular--that he is pitching to the admissions team. The student, Jeremiah (Nat Wolff), is one of those classic Will Hunting types- lousy grades, lots of smarts. He's unconventional in another way too, but I won't spoil it.
Admission certainly wasn't bad. But like A.C.O.D. a few slots ago, it's a lot of talent that could be better utilized, including Wallace "Never bet against a Sicilian when death is on the line!" Shawn as Fey's boss and Lily Tomlin as Fey's wacky mother. In terms of meet-cute, girl-can't-stand-boy-at-first territory, it does not veer too far off the road. And how many times is Rudd going to play the same character? Worth renting if you're in the mood for something cute and predictable.
#42 What Maisie Knew
When the Henry James novel What Maisie Knew was published in 1897, it was considered revolutionary. The book is written from the perspective of a young girl shuttled between her mother and father and treated more as a chess piece than a human being. Divorce and marital strife was kind of a new thing back then, and coupled with the child narrator aspect, we had the late 19th century controversial equivalent of Kanye charging at TMZ photographers.
Flash forward to the present. Maisie (Onata Aprile) tiptoes in her jammies out of her bedroom to watch her parents Susanna (Julianne Moore) and Beale (Steve Coogan) spar. Susanna is a touring rock star, and Beale is an art dealer. We as the viewer begin at the end and get to see, through Maisie's eyes, the dissolution of the marriage. Both Beale and Susanna are terrible in their own right, and as such, immediately take on younger lovers. Susanna's is hunky male model Lincoln (True Blood's Alexander Skarsgaard) and Beale begins sleeping with Margo the nanny (Joanna Vanderham). Maisie is constantly, even at times literally, being pulled in different directions by the people that are supposed to be her caretakers in order to get the last word. As Beale and Susanna become more and more absentee and non-redeemable, the young ones kind of find themselves taking over as the de facto parents.
This movie is tough to watch. You feel terrible for the little girl. That said, aspects of it are very well made. It's shot in a style that feels like you're seeing it through a child's eyes. By that, I mean that the lenses are set up in a way that lets light flood in which makes it sometimes feel like everything is new and exciting. Also, the performances are good and fairly believable, despite how much you are forced to dislike basically everybody. If the characters weren't so one-dimensional, we would have had a better project on our hands.
Til next time, amigos-
Mulhern
Friday, February 21, 2014
2013 Films: #50-45
Welcome, welcome, welcome to another year of amateurish, completely subjective, slightly witty film criticism with your old pal Mulhern! As my favorite Onion correspondent Jim Anchower used to say in his column The Cruise, "It's been awhile since I've last rapped at ya."
Last year, I had to pack writing about 27 movies into my Oscar day post, which was not ideal. The gameplan is to spread out about 5-6 a day until Oscar Sunday this time around. Every year I say it: "This is the year I write reviews after I see movies, like a movie critic does." Unfortunately, I'm not a film critic--I'm a 4th grade teacher. Sometimes when I want to kick back and write about how I thought Smaug the dragon talked too damn much, or how Jared Leto would have made for a pretty decent looking chick, I instead have to kick back and write about how to get my kids to understand the difference between mixed numbers and improper fractions. I'm certainly not complaining; I love what I do. Thems just the breaks is all.
As it turns out, I was a recipient of an unexpected day off today, the 6th school cancellation of this Winter. This is unheard of for Minneapolis Public Schools. I am more than half of the way done with my 8th school year working for the district, and before this year, we had been canceled once, for a period of two days in December 2010. That snowstorm had collapsed the roof of the Metrodome (go Packers). This Winter has been cold enough to shut us down 6 times. Which is pretty crazy, but is freeing me up a little bit to do things like get my hair cut, take in my dry cleaning, and write inane stuff about movies I saw.
Before we begin, I'd be amiss not to mention the sudden and awful passing of one of the best actors any of us will ever see, ever. Philip Seymour Hoffman had a good 20 years ahead of him and it sucks that heroin and addiction in general has taken another one from us. PSH was far from your standard leading man, both in the roles he took, and the utter lack of the Gosling factor. As a supporting man he stole every scene he was in and gave us rockin' Lester Bangs, sycophantic Brandt, tight clothes Scotty J., patient Phil Parma, and, my favorite, the enigmatic, terrifying Lancaster Dodd from my #1 of last year, The Master. Then you have his leading roles. He carried The Savages and Before the Devil Knows Your Dead on his back. He brought equal parts pain and humor to a man defeated in Love Liza. He confidently guided us through the irrational in the wildly confusing Charlie Kaufman vehicle Synecdoche, New York. And as Truman Capote, he made us all feel for people who, for better or worse, didn't deserve to be alive. He threw himself into every role he took on, regardless of the anguish it caused him, and never, ever settled for mediocre, even if the movie itself was. May he rest in peace.
And speaking of mediocre movies...
(see what I did there?)
#50 Identity Thief
It's not as if I had high expectations for this one, but with Jason Bateman steadily making his way into permanent leading-man territory and the always entertaining Melissa McCarthy, I thought it would be worth a shot. Sometimes when I go to the Redbox, I want to pick out something that doesn't cause me to think very hard. This one, I'm happy to say, required very few firing of synapses.
It's no shock growing up as a child of experimental theater that I am not a prude when it comes to colorful language. That said, there is a difference between cursing that works and curses that are thrown in just because. Identity Thief could very well be the poster child for gratuitous swearing. The story, especially considering what recnetly happened with Minnesota's benevolent overlords the Target Corporation, is very timely: Bateman is Sandy Patterson, a corporate schmo with a wife and kids who finds himself getting charged for a string of treat yo'self charges at spas and boutiques in Florida. He decides to leave home and track down the perpetrator, con-artist Diana (McCarthy). There is plenty of cat-and-mouse, crude insults and physical gaggery along the way as Bateman is unwillingly dragged along while Diana is pursued by bounty hunters.
There were little funny one-liners here and there, but mostly it was just kind of mean-spirited. The trick would have worked if I were rooting for the McCarthy character to, you know, realize the error of her ways and redeem herself, but I couldn't sympathize.
#49 A.C.O.D.
A.C.O.D. stands for "Adult Children of Divorce". Carter, played by Adam Scott, is a guy living out his normal life with his normal job until his brother Trey (the always affable Clark Gregg) decides to get married. This is a problem because it means his divorced parents (Richard Jenkins & Katherine O'Hara) have to start being in the same room again. They had a rough and nasty divorce that has scarred Carter for life, with plenty of mudslinging and cheating and other ridiculous behaviors. To make matters stranger, a psychologist named Dr. Judith (Jane Lynch) asks him to be part of her research book on the effects of divorce on adults.
First of all, Adam Scott can't carry a movie. Yet, anyway. He's great as a side player (see: Parks and Recreation, Step Brothers). I like Adam Scott, but I can only take so much Adam Scott, and in this one he is, for lack of proper terminology, kind of a whiny bitch. Jessica Alba's bit part doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and most of the obvious talent is wasted on a script that is only okay. It's slow and about as formulaic as it gets.
#48 The New Public
Way back in Spring of 2012, I volunteered for the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival (MNSPIFF) in large part because my friend Eric was running it and told me to get involved. I had just gotten back from a couple of months in Africa and the only real thing I had going was substitute teaching. My job was to take tickets and help with the people in line for the movies. For every 3.5 hours I clocked as a volunteer, I got a free movie pass. So I got to see something like 7 or 8 movies. Which was rad. However, in Spring of 2013, I had a full time job and no time to volunteer, but I still wanted to support. I only saw 2 movies at that festival, and one of them was The New Public.
This documentary follows the creation of a public charter school in Brooklyn that, due to poor financial planning and recruitment, faces a tough situation. The high school in question focused on both core curriculum and arts integration. These should be things that I care about, right? Well, right and wrong. The movie was heavy-handed, to say the least, and it painted a picture of educational reform that was bleak and somewhat unrealistic. The filmmaker, much like Waiting for Superman, seemed to posit that the only way to fix things was to create more charters like this one. I enjoyed some of the teacher and student interviews because it was obvious, especially in the case of the teachers, that they were incredibly passionate about what they were trying to do. I'm a public school teacher, and I don't plan on boring you with my opinions on public vs. charter/private schools, but I will say this: If you are going to argue for more charter creation, at least make it compelling to the viewer.
#47: The Big Wedding
An all-star cast (Robert DeNiro, Diane Keaton, Susan Sarandon, Amanda Seyfried, Topher Grace, Katherine Heigl, and annoying, annoying Robin Williams) come together to help Seyfried and her Spanish-speaking fiancee' Alejandro (Ben Barnes) come together to get married. Don (DeNiro) and Ellie (Keaton) used to be married; he is now with free-spirit Bebe (Sarandon). Only trouble is, Alejandro's parents are strict Catholics, and don't believe in any kind of divorce. So what do you suppose Don and Ellie are forced to do? Do you think that, just maybe, as they get to pretending, they might get to reminiscing and realize there are still some unanswered questions and some unabated feelings? Do you think that lessons are learned along the way? Do you think that Robin Williams, as marriage counselor/priest Father Monighan gets in some ribald one-liners?
Right on all accounts. Like A.C.O.D., older lovers rediscover themselves in a movie that seems geared toward the Viagra set. A few funny moments. A few cute things. Mostly kinda ugh.
#46 The Heat
Melissa McCarthy, stop doing lousy movies!
Here we have Ashburn (Sandra Bullock) and Mullins (McCarthy) paired up as cops. Ashburn is straight-laced and by the books. Mullins is the opposite. She flies, foul-mouthed and jean-jacketed into interrogation scenes while Ashburn desperately tries to talk her down. They infiltrate a drug ring and go after bad guys. Ashburn learns to loosen up a little bit, while Mullins tries to act more positively toward others.
The end.
#45: Thor: The Dark World
Like many of the films coming out of the Marvel Comics camp, this one was too long, and unlike the films coming out of the Marvel Comics camp, it wasn't all that exciting. What made the first Thor movie interesting was the way that Chris Hemsworth portrayed him: A barbaric, crass, confused fish out of water who found life on earth to be a playground of sorts. This resulted in lots of funny moments and interactions.
In The Dark World, we pick up a couple years after Thor rode his multi-dimensional hammer back to Asgard. On earth, Jane (Natalie Portman) is moping around and missing her muscular Norseman. He can't get back to earth because dad (Anthony Hopkins) tells him his job is to defend the 9 realms. When she ends up in trouble, he returns to earth to save her and bring her back to Asgard. Turns out as she was snooping around, she crossed path with some dark matter type stuff that the dark elves (angry creatures that are fighting Thor's people) want to get their hands on.
Convoluted, right? Meanwhile, Thor's nasty brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston), last seen falling off the bifrost bridge in the direction of the abyss of no return, is living in jail on Asgard. Thor needs to enlist his help to fight off the elves. Should he let him out, or will he get up to his old tricks? Who knows? Who cares? There was far too much Asgard, far too much pointless exposition, far too much seriousness in this disappointing sequel.
'Til next time, amigos-
Mulhern
Last year, I had to pack writing about 27 movies into my Oscar day post, which was not ideal. The gameplan is to spread out about 5-6 a day until Oscar Sunday this time around. Every year I say it: "This is the year I write reviews after I see movies, like a movie critic does." Unfortunately, I'm not a film critic--I'm a 4th grade teacher. Sometimes when I want to kick back and write about how I thought Smaug the dragon talked too damn much, or how Jared Leto would have made for a pretty decent looking chick, I instead have to kick back and write about how to get my kids to understand the difference between mixed numbers and improper fractions. I'm certainly not complaining; I love what I do. Thems just the breaks is all.
As it turns out, I was a recipient of an unexpected day off today, the 6th school cancellation of this Winter. This is unheard of for Minneapolis Public Schools. I am more than half of the way done with my 8th school year working for the district, and before this year, we had been canceled once, for a period of two days in December 2010. That snowstorm had collapsed the roof of the Metrodome (go Packers). This Winter has been cold enough to shut us down 6 times. Which is pretty crazy, but is freeing me up a little bit to do things like get my hair cut, take in my dry cleaning, and write inane stuff about movies I saw.
Before we begin, I'd be amiss not to mention the sudden and awful passing of one of the best actors any of us will ever see, ever. Philip Seymour Hoffman had a good 20 years ahead of him and it sucks that heroin and addiction in general has taken another one from us. PSH was far from your standard leading man, both in the roles he took, and the utter lack of the Gosling factor. As a supporting man he stole every scene he was in and gave us rockin' Lester Bangs, sycophantic Brandt, tight clothes Scotty J., patient Phil Parma, and, my favorite, the enigmatic, terrifying Lancaster Dodd from my #1 of last year, The Master. Then you have his leading roles. He carried The Savages and Before the Devil Knows Your Dead on his back. He brought equal parts pain and humor to a man defeated in Love Liza. He confidently guided us through the irrational in the wildly confusing Charlie Kaufman vehicle Synecdoche, New York. And as Truman Capote, he made us all feel for people who, for better or worse, didn't deserve to be alive. He threw himself into every role he took on, regardless of the anguish it caused him, and never, ever settled for mediocre, even if the movie itself was. May he rest in peace.
And speaking of mediocre movies...
(see what I did there?)
#50 Identity Thief
It's not as if I had high expectations for this one, but with Jason Bateman steadily making his way into permanent leading-man territory and the always entertaining Melissa McCarthy, I thought it would be worth a shot. Sometimes when I go to the Redbox, I want to pick out something that doesn't cause me to think very hard. This one, I'm happy to say, required very few firing of synapses.
It's no shock growing up as a child of experimental theater that I am not a prude when it comes to colorful language. That said, there is a difference between cursing that works and curses that are thrown in just because. Identity Thief could very well be the poster child for gratuitous swearing. The story, especially considering what recnetly happened with Minnesota's benevolent overlords the Target Corporation, is very timely: Bateman is Sandy Patterson, a corporate schmo with a wife and kids who finds himself getting charged for a string of treat yo'self charges at spas and boutiques in Florida. He decides to leave home and track down the perpetrator, con-artist Diana (McCarthy). There is plenty of cat-and-mouse, crude insults and physical gaggery along the way as Bateman is unwillingly dragged along while Diana is pursued by bounty hunters.
There were little funny one-liners here and there, but mostly it was just kind of mean-spirited. The trick would have worked if I were rooting for the McCarthy character to, you know, realize the error of her ways and redeem herself, but I couldn't sympathize.
#49 A.C.O.D.
A.C.O.D. stands for "Adult Children of Divorce". Carter, played by Adam Scott, is a guy living out his normal life with his normal job until his brother Trey (the always affable Clark Gregg) decides to get married. This is a problem because it means his divorced parents (Richard Jenkins & Katherine O'Hara) have to start being in the same room again. They had a rough and nasty divorce that has scarred Carter for life, with plenty of mudslinging and cheating and other ridiculous behaviors. To make matters stranger, a psychologist named Dr. Judith (Jane Lynch) asks him to be part of her research book on the effects of divorce on adults.
First of all, Adam Scott can't carry a movie. Yet, anyway. He's great as a side player (see: Parks and Recreation, Step Brothers). I like Adam Scott, but I can only take so much Adam Scott, and in this one he is, for lack of proper terminology, kind of a whiny bitch. Jessica Alba's bit part doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and most of the obvious talent is wasted on a script that is only okay. It's slow and about as formulaic as it gets.
#48 The New Public
Way back in Spring of 2012, I volunteered for the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival (MNSPIFF) in large part because my friend Eric was running it and told me to get involved. I had just gotten back from a couple of months in Africa and the only real thing I had going was substitute teaching. My job was to take tickets and help with the people in line for the movies. For every 3.5 hours I clocked as a volunteer, I got a free movie pass. So I got to see something like 7 or 8 movies. Which was rad. However, in Spring of 2013, I had a full time job and no time to volunteer, but I still wanted to support. I only saw 2 movies at that festival, and one of them was The New Public.
This documentary follows the creation of a public charter school in Brooklyn that, due to poor financial planning and recruitment, faces a tough situation. The high school in question focused on both core curriculum and arts integration. These should be things that I care about, right? Well, right and wrong. The movie was heavy-handed, to say the least, and it painted a picture of educational reform that was bleak and somewhat unrealistic. The filmmaker, much like Waiting for Superman, seemed to posit that the only way to fix things was to create more charters like this one. I enjoyed some of the teacher and student interviews because it was obvious, especially in the case of the teachers, that they were incredibly passionate about what they were trying to do. I'm a public school teacher, and I don't plan on boring you with my opinions on public vs. charter/private schools, but I will say this: If you are going to argue for more charter creation, at least make it compelling to the viewer.
#47: The Big Wedding
An all-star cast (Robert DeNiro, Diane Keaton, Susan Sarandon, Amanda Seyfried, Topher Grace, Katherine Heigl, and annoying, annoying Robin Williams) come together to help Seyfried and her Spanish-speaking fiancee' Alejandro (Ben Barnes) come together to get married. Don (DeNiro) and Ellie (Keaton) used to be married; he is now with free-spirit Bebe (Sarandon). Only trouble is, Alejandro's parents are strict Catholics, and don't believe in any kind of divorce. So what do you suppose Don and Ellie are forced to do? Do you think that, just maybe, as they get to pretending, they might get to reminiscing and realize there are still some unanswered questions and some unabated feelings? Do you think that lessons are learned along the way? Do you think that Robin Williams, as marriage counselor/priest Father Monighan gets in some ribald one-liners?
Right on all accounts. Like A.C.O.D., older lovers rediscover themselves in a movie that seems geared toward the Viagra set. A few funny moments. A few cute things. Mostly kinda ugh.
#46 The Heat
Melissa McCarthy, stop doing lousy movies!
Here we have Ashburn (Sandra Bullock) and Mullins (McCarthy) paired up as cops. Ashburn is straight-laced and by the books. Mullins is the opposite. She flies, foul-mouthed and jean-jacketed into interrogation scenes while Ashburn desperately tries to talk her down. They infiltrate a drug ring and go after bad guys. Ashburn learns to loosen up a little bit, while Mullins tries to act more positively toward others.
The end.
#45: Thor: The Dark World
Like many of the films coming out of the Marvel Comics camp, this one was too long, and unlike the films coming out of the Marvel Comics camp, it wasn't all that exciting. What made the first Thor movie interesting was the way that Chris Hemsworth portrayed him: A barbaric, crass, confused fish out of water who found life on earth to be a playground of sorts. This resulted in lots of funny moments and interactions.
In The Dark World, we pick up a couple years after Thor rode his multi-dimensional hammer back to Asgard. On earth, Jane (Natalie Portman) is moping around and missing her muscular Norseman. He can't get back to earth because dad (Anthony Hopkins) tells him his job is to defend the 9 realms. When she ends up in trouble, he returns to earth to save her and bring her back to Asgard. Turns out as she was snooping around, she crossed path with some dark matter type stuff that the dark elves (angry creatures that are fighting Thor's people) want to get their hands on.
Convoluted, right? Meanwhile, Thor's nasty brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston), last seen falling off the bifrost bridge in the direction of the abyss of no return, is living in jail on Asgard. Thor needs to enlist his help to fight off the elves. Should he let him out, or will he get up to his old tricks? Who knows? Who cares? There was far too much Asgard, far too much pointless exposition, far too much seriousness in this disappointing sequel.
'Til next time, amigos-
Mulhern
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)