#1 Birdman
What does it mean to be "firing on all cylinders"?
In car terminology, it refers to the engine functioning as a unit. I know this because I recently had to repair a coil pack on my cadillac, because half of the cylinders were not firing correctly. The car would sometimes shake and shudder at stoplights.
When I think of the idea of a movie firing on all cylinders, Birdman comes to the front of my mind. This cast...wow. The cast is so good that Michael Keaton's may not even be the strongest performance. The script? Besides director Alejandro G. Inarritu, its credited to a total of five writers, and they churned out dialogue that was so natural it could have been entirely improvised. The cinematography? Please. Best of the year, no question. The always formidable Emmanuel Lubezki killed it. The direction? Inarritu's vision somehow is executed in a way that the entire movie feels one long take. Part of that is because this backstage movie was rehearsed like a play; it had to be. Actors reportedly had to get to precise marks at precise times or the entire take would be ruined.
It sounded absolutely rigorous to make, but the story of Riggan Thomson (Keaton) was totally worth the work. By now, you probably know that the movie revolves around Thomson, who decades previous had starred as superhero "Birdman" but had since slipped into obscurity. His limelight comeback rests solely on his effort to mount a broadway show based on the Raymond Carver short story "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" is slowly killing him, as he tries to focus and simultaneouslyjuggle the anxiety of star Lesley (Naomi Watts), the wanton ego of the other star, Mike (Ed Norton), the realistic worries of his producer, Jake (Zach Galifinakis) and the behavior of his erratic, fresh-out-of-rehab daughter, Sam (Emma Stone). It doesn't ruin anything to tell you that their preview performance is a total disaster, and we watch, through backstage follow shots, trips to the bar next door, aimless wanderings through New York, and super meta internal voices that we see Thomson unravel even further. How far is too far, and what will he risk to make his play a success?
You have to see it to believe it. If you're a fan of movies, if you're a fan of all things self-reflexive, of all things meta... It's almost intimidating how well-executed Birdman is. I can't wait to see it again.
*****
Thanks a lot for reading this year, you guys. I appreciate it, and I hope you enjoyed it. I'll back tomorrow to wrap up 2014!
title
Sunday, February 22, 2015
2014: #3 and #2
In order to finish this thing out appropriately, I made a decision to write up these last three movies and that's it. Usually, I list out everything I've seen for the year in one list, write up a "movies I wish I had seen" list, and detail the annual best picture-nominee themed dinner we do. Right now, I have 72 minutes, so I'm going to prioritize, and I'll do all that stuff in a wrap-up post tomorrow.
Cool? Good, let's get this show on the road.
I realized a little bit ago that the final three films on this countdown all have a common thread, and that is that they pose a question: How far would you go in order to be the best, and what or who would you sacrifice along the way?
#3 Whiplash
Our first study in this question puts the uber-talented Miles Teller front and center as Andrew Neiman. a student at an ultra competitive, Juliard or Berklee-like music conservatory called Shaffer in New York City. He is a jazz student, who, other than the occasional movie with his dad (Paul Reiser), focuses all of his energy on playing drums. When a spot opens up in conductor Terence Fletcher's (J.K. Simmons) studio band, he sees firsthand just how demanding he is; on the first day of rehearsal, he hurls a chair at him for tempo issues (see link above). From that point forward, it's mindgames galore between the two. The more he builds Andrew up, the more he breaks him back down. What does Andrew Neiman sacrifice, all in all? His girlfriend Nicole (Melissa Benoist), for one, who he dumps while citing "not having enough time". Also, his sanity, his physical well-being (at one point he ends up nearly getting killed, won't spoil how) and his reputation, all to be the golden boy in the eyes of Fletcher. Things spiral a little bit out of control after a performance and things from Fletcher's past come to the forefront, all building toward a totally thrilling confusion.
In terms of style, Whiplash is a movie of "'ics". Frenetic. Hectic. Eccentric. Manic. Cathartic. Damien Chazelle's studio debut is full of incredible musicians and flashy lights and a plenty of anxious suspense. I know people who got physically sick from this movie, and it doesn't surprise me in the least. The back and forth between Teller and Simmons is nothing short of sociopathy on both ends, and I couldn't get enough.
#2 Nightcrawler
I make no bones about the fact that Jake Gyllenhaal had me at Darko. His career has always been about taking chances, and he has never strayed away from the dark and unusual as the suicidal boyfriend ( The Good Girl), the gay cowboy in a straight world (Brokeback Mountain), sleepless cops both paid and amateur (Zodiac, End of Watch, Prisoners) and doppelganger (Enemy). I'm not saying he didn't do Prince of Persia and Bubble Boy, but as a whole, he picks the right projects.
In Nightcrawler, his mentality falls somewhere "on the spectrum" as we say in the education business, meaning the spectrum of autism. With his character, Lou Bloom, it's probably an adult form of asperger's (and trust me, I don't mean to make light of this). We first meet him as a grifter and loner, doing odd jobs like stealing pieces of fence to sell to construction sites. After the sale, he happens to see a car on fire and talks to Joe Loder (Bill Paxton), a cameraman collecting footage for local news stations. He wants to join his team, but Loder says no. Looking to start his own "nightcrawling" enterprise, he steals a bike on the beach and sells it for the money to buy a camera and a police scanner. Lou gets great footage of a man fatally shot, and goes in the wee hours of the morning to channel 6, getting news director Nina (Rene' Russo) to buy the footage. He becomes addicted, hiring an assistant to handle directions around the L.A. metro, Rick (Riz Ahmed, who's criminally underrated), who gets $30 as an "intern". Lou, and by default Rick, will slash and burn everything in their path to become the top nightcrawlers in the city. They catch a big break shortly thereafter, and it comes at a huge price.
Written and directed by Dan Gilroy (real-life husband of Rene' Russo), a veteran screenwriter making his debut behind the camera, the movie's tone is dark, gritty and surreal, with great night shots of the sprawling L.A. landscape. Gyllenhaal takes a twisted role to the next level, keeping his fast-speaking, calculated, emotionless tone from the opening to the credits. An outstanding thriller--I was grinning practically the entire time.
Next...#1!
2014: #6- #4
We arrive at the top 6. The reason it's 6, and not 5, is simple: the more I kept thinking about it, the more I thought you could make an argument for any of these last 6 to be the best movie of the year. I figure that at least one point, each of them were under consideration in my head for the coveted #1 spot. If you have been reading the blog at all, and if you have followed the race this year, you'll know that a couple of obvious ones have not been listed yet. For as much as I try to avoid it and go my own way every year, movies are acclaimed for a reason. Every now and then, generation Y-er that I am, I wish there could be ties at the top.
But there can be only one. Here are my five runners-up:
#6 Selma
Ava Duvernay is no fool. In a recent interview with "Entertainment Weekly", she claimed to have known early on that she'd be a long shot for best director this year. "It's math," she says. To say the director's branch of the Academy has a No Girls Allowed in Our Treehouse vibe to it would be putting it far too gently; 9 out of every 10 of them is a male, and, to make matters worse, 9 out of 10 are white. And white guilt will only take you so far in Hollywood without Brad Pitt attached as a producer (though you would think having Oprah attached might have helped). Only four females ever have been nominated for the prize, and Kathryn Bigelow made history only a few years ago with her win for Zero Dark Thirty. The Academy just simply isn't ready yet, and that's a damn shame. Bennett Miller and Morton Tyldum, who both did fine jobs but nothing groundbreaking, should have been tossed in favor of Duvernay and Fincher, but I guess that's just me.
The Oscar snub that got even more press is David Oyelowo not getting nominated for best actor. I still don't know if any us plebes quite get what went into this ludicrous oversight. Oyelowo, who is British, emulated MLK so precisely that I forgot I wasn't actually watching MLK. Because of the way he is revered by so many in our country, it has been dangerous territory to put any sort of mainstream biopic about him out. Good thing this isn't one. Selma focuses on one major moment in the Civil Rights movement. When Annie Lee Cooper (Oprah Winfrey) is refused the right to vote in Selma, Alabama, Dr. King pays a visit to president LBJ (Tom Wilkinson) to ask for voting rights to be granted. When LBJ says he has bigger fish to fry, he and his wife Coretta (Carmen Ejogo) link up with some of his fellow SCLC clergy members (played by Common and The Wire/Treme's Wendell Pierce, among others) and takes their cause to Selma, After their first attempt to march to slimy Governor George Wallace's (Tim Roth, who does an outstanding job) house in Montgomery is disastrous, the movement becomes national, and bus loads of liberal college students and families of all races come down to help out.
(Side note: I found out recently that my uncle went down to Selma at that time to march with a group from his Chicago area temple. He said it was very eye-opening, and that he had to take night shifts to stand guard outside the church they were staying in, which was awfully nerve-wracking for a teenager. Pretty cool, no?)
Oyelowo is not just a snub, he's a revelation as a vociferous leader who is equal parts commanding and humble and scared. In short, he's human and he carries plenty of doubts and worries along with him, and just as importantly, he recognizes that he makes mistakes.
#5 Top Five
Hands down, the comedy of the year. Not even close. Lego Movie was outwardly clever, We Are the Best! was innocent and naive, but Top Five is gut-busting throughout. Touted occasionally as the black Annie Hall (which has a little bit of truth to it), Top Five has writer/director/star Chris Rock as Andre Allen, and it goes without saying that it's more than a little autobiographical. Allen, who started out as an edgy stand-up comic, has made millions as the face of Hammy the Bear (read: Grown Ups, Madagascar), a gun-toting vigilante bear, who is more Rambo than Ted. He is tired of going out and people shouting "Hammy!" at him on the street (much like Chappelle going into hiding when people yelled "I'm Rick James, b**ch!" at him in front of his kids at theme parks), and he wants people to take him and his new film Uprize, about the Haitian revolution, seriously. To the world, he is Hammy the Bear and the fiancee' of reality TV star Erica Long (Gabrielle Union), who is about to get married on live television, a la' Kim and Kris "72 days" Humphries.
Enter journalist Chelsea Brown (Rosario Dawson), who he reluctantly accepts an interview with. They walk around New York the entire day, talking and visiting some of his old hangouts in Brooklyn, including an impromptu drop-in on his friends and family (Jay Pharaoh, Tracy Morgan, Leslie Jones, Hassan "Wee-Bay Brice" Johnson) and she gets a little more insight into his roots. She asks him the tough questions, like "Why aren't you funny anymore?" and, knowing that he and she are both recovering alcoholics, "When did you know you hit bottom?" Throughout the wild day they are all over the city, promoting Uprize on radio spots, hitting press conferences, walking through parks, dropping in on her mom and daughter at her apartment, and all over. The interview takes a scary turn when he admits his fears about the wedding and they both realize their feelings for one another.
It's as if Rock called in every favor he had for this movie. Beyond the actors I've previously listed, Top Five features (deep breath): Kevin Hart (his agent), JB Smoove (Silk, his bodyguard/driver and best friend), Romany Malco (Erica's manager), UW Alum Anders Holm (Chelsea's beau Brad), Cedric the Entertainer (his friend in Houston), Brian Regan (a radio engineer), and, all playing themselves--Jerry Seinfeld, Whoopi Goldberg, Adam Sandler, Charlie Rose, Taraji P. Henderson, Gabourey Sidibe, Sway and yes, DMX. Everybody adds a little something, but Rock has stated in interviews that he wouldn't have done the movie unless he had landed Dawson, a good friend of his offscreen. Onscreen, their chemistry, bantering and spats feel totally real, so I can see why he waited. The title, by the way, refers to something that is often done in the hip-hop community: Stating and making the case for your top 5 MCs of all time. This starts when Chelsea and Andre visit his old friends and becomes a running theme throughout. Make sure you wait to watch the credits, because about halfway through, Seinfeld delivers his top five, and it's phenomenal. Save a couple of low-brow grossouts, all of the laughs are more than earned, and the dialogue-wise, it may be the best written this year.
#4 Boyhood
"So leeettt me goooooo, I don't wanna be your...hero..."
Get ready to hear the Family of the Year song that has become the award-season theme for Boyhood piping out of the speakers of the Kodak Theater plenty of times tonight. Most importantly, it will probably be the song you hear at the end of the broadcast as Linklater and his producers and actors rush the stage to accept the final award of the night. Boyhood has a very good shot to win best picture this year. I was talking to my mom yesterday, who sees almost as many movies as I do, and we both said that we would be fine with that as an outcome. "Just the dedication alone over a twelve year period makes it seem justified," she said. If Boyhood wins tonight, it will be more about the commitment and the concept than the movie itself. And honestly, I have nothing but respect for Linklater and the job he took on, and like everyone else, I agree: The idea behind it is fascinating, and I have never seen anything quite like it.
But what about the movie itself?
The detractors vs. gushers argument surrounding this Boyhood is always the same--"Well, nothing really happens." against "That's life, you know? Just a series of moments." I see both sides of the coin on this one. The thought that there aren't really any climactic events is more or less true. However, what unfolds on screen is engaging enough to make almost three hours never feel like it drags. Each vignette of Mason's (Ellar Coltrane) life is probably in the neighborhood of 8 to 10 minutes long, so that helps push things forward. He and his sister Samantha (the director's daughter, Lorelai Linklater) are growing up with a single mom (Patricia Arquette) who struggles to find love and herself as she works her way through motherhood. Their dad (Ethan Hawke) pops in and out intermittently as the "fun" parent, taking them bowling and to Astros games on alternating weekends. Maybe a third of the way into the movie, his mom starts dating her professor, Bill (Marco Perella), and they eventually get married and move in with him and his kids, Mindy (Jamie Howard) and Randy (Andy Villareal). After a couple of years, the mixed family dynamic rears its ugly head and things go south in a hurry; Mason, Samantha and mom escaping his abusive clutches may be the only scene in the movie that could be considered a climax.
As Mason gets thinner and taller and longer in the face, he also gets a little more brooding and cynical, wanting to pursue art but not always willing to put in the time. She marries again, this time to Desert Storm vet Jim (Brad Hawkins) and so does Dad, to Annie (Jennie Tooley). Sam and Mason's parents are more grown up, but it doesn't exactly mean they've got it all figured out. Maybe they never do, and both Hawke and Arquette convey this "we're doing the best we can with what we've got" notion wonderfully throughout. The last half of the movie, without really giving anything away, focuses on teenage-to-college-freshman Mason, as he experiences random make-outs, beer, weed, road trips, love and heartbreak and light debauchery for the first time.
When your cast and crew only gets together for a week or two throughout the year, your options are going to be limited, and though there are decently seamless transitions, Boyhood can't help but feel like vignettes. The choices that Linklater makes to connect the story are minimal, and that's a good thing. Much of the time, you only know what year you are in by the song that soundtracking the scene. In a particularly funny section early on, the viewer gets the true time capsule feel when Samantha slaps Mason in his bunk bed and begins singing "Oops, I did it again."
There is a crew of 8 or 9 of us in my grade who all became friends in middle school and stayed friends throughout high school and somewhat in college. I still talk semi-regularly to just about all of them, a couple more than others, certainly, but no love lost--6 of them were in attendance at my wedding. Looking back, more than half of us were living with divorced or separated parents through our formative years. So to me, the strength of Boyhood (and everyone approaches the relative strengths of this film differently) was the ability to see certain aspects of my own upbringing in Mason's. As a filmmaker, that's really all that you can ask for.
But there can be only one. Here are my five runners-up:
#6 Selma
Ava Duvernay is no fool. In a recent interview with "Entertainment Weekly", she claimed to have known early on that she'd be a long shot for best director this year. "It's math," she says. To say the director's branch of the Academy has a No Girls Allowed in Our Treehouse vibe to it would be putting it far too gently; 9 out of every 10 of them is a male, and, to make matters worse, 9 out of 10 are white. And white guilt will only take you so far in Hollywood without Brad Pitt attached as a producer (though you would think having Oprah attached might have helped). Only four females ever have been nominated for the prize, and Kathryn Bigelow made history only a few years ago with her win for Zero Dark Thirty. The Academy just simply isn't ready yet, and that's a damn shame. Bennett Miller and Morton Tyldum, who both did fine jobs but nothing groundbreaking, should have been tossed in favor of Duvernay and Fincher, but I guess that's just me.
The Oscar snub that got even more press is David Oyelowo not getting nominated for best actor. I still don't know if any us plebes quite get what went into this ludicrous oversight. Oyelowo, who is British, emulated MLK so precisely that I forgot I wasn't actually watching MLK. Because of the way he is revered by so many in our country, it has been dangerous territory to put any sort of mainstream biopic about him out. Good thing this isn't one. Selma focuses on one major moment in the Civil Rights movement. When Annie Lee Cooper (Oprah Winfrey) is refused the right to vote in Selma, Alabama, Dr. King pays a visit to president LBJ (Tom Wilkinson) to ask for voting rights to be granted. When LBJ says he has bigger fish to fry, he and his wife Coretta (Carmen Ejogo) link up with some of his fellow SCLC clergy members (played by Common and The Wire/Treme's Wendell Pierce, among others) and takes their cause to Selma, After their first attempt to march to slimy Governor George Wallace's (Tim Roth, who does an outstanding job) house in Montgomery is disastrous, the movement becomes national, and bus loads of liberal college students and families of all races come down to help out.
(Side note: I found out recently that my uncle went down to Selma at that time to march with a group from his Chicago area temple. He said it was very eye-opening, and that he had to take night shifts to stand guard outside the church they were staying in, which was awfully nerve-wracking for a teenager. Pretty cool, no?)
Oyelowo is not just a snub, he's a revelation as a vociferous leader who is equal parts commanding and humble and scared. In short, he's human and he carries plenty of doubts and worries along with him, and just as importantly, he recognizes that he makes mistakes.
#5 Top Five
Hands down, the comedy of the year. Not even close. Lego Movie was outwardly clever, We Are the Best! was innocent and naive, but Top Five is gut-busting throughout. Touted occasionally as the black Annie Hall (which has a little bit of truth to it), Top Five has writer/director/star Chris Rock as Andre Allen, and it goes without saying that it's more than a little autobiographical. Allen, who started out as an edgy stand-up comic, has made millions as the face of Hammy the Bear (read: Grown Ups, Madagascar), a gun-toting vigilante bear, who is more Rambo than Ted. He is tired of going out and people shouting "Hammy!" at him on the street (much like Chappelle going into hiding when people yelled "I'm Rick James, b**ch!" at him in front of his kids at theme parks), and he wants people to take him and his new film Uprize, about the Haitian revolution, seriously. To the world, he is Hammy the Bear and the fiancee' of reality TV star Erica Long (Gabrielle Union), who is about to get married on live television, a la' Kim and Kris "72 days" Humphries.
Enter journalist Chelsea Brown (Rosario Dawson), who he reluctantly accepts an interview with. They walk around New York the entire day, talking and visiting some of his old hangouts in Brooklyn, including an impromptu drop-in on his friends and family (Jay Pharaoh, Tracy Morgan, Leslie Jones, Hassan "Wee-Bay Brice" Johnson) and she gets a little more insight into his roots. She asks him the tough questions, like "Why aren't you funny anymore?" and, knowing that he and she are both recovering alcoholics, "When did you know you hit bottom?" Throughout the wild day they are all over the city, promoting Uprize on radio spots, hitting press conferences, walking through parks, dropping in on her mom and daughter at her apartment, and all over. The interview takes a scary turn when he admits his fears about the wedding and they both realize their feelings for one another.
It's as if Rock called in every favor he had for this movie. Beyond the actors I've previously listed, Top Five features (deep breath): Kevin Hart (his agent), JB Smoove (Silk, his bodyguard/driver and best friend), Romany Malco (Erica's manager), UW Alum Anders Holm (Chelsea's beau Brad), Cedric the Entertainer (his friend in Houston), Brian Regan (a radio engineer), and, all playing themselves--Jerry Seinfeld, Whoopi Goldberg, Adam Sandler, Charlie Rose, Taraji P. Henderson, Gabourey Sidibe, Sway and yes, DMX. Everybody adds a little something, but Rock has stated in interviews that he wouldn't have done the movie unless he had landed Dawson, a good friend of his offscreen. Onscreen, their chemistry, bantering and spats feel totally real, so I can see why he waited. The title, by the way, refers to something that is often done in the hip-hop community: Stating and making the case for your top 5 MCs of all time. This starts when Chelsea and Andre visit his old friends and becomes a running theme throughout. Make sure you wait to watch the credits, because about halfway through, Seinfeld delivers his top five, and it's phenomenal. Save a couple of low-brow grossouts, all of the laughs are more than earned, and the dialogue-wise, it may be the best written this year.
#4 Boyhood
"So leeettt me goooooo, I don't wanna be your...hero..."
Get ready to hear the Family of the Year song that has become the award-season theme for Boyhood piping out of the speakers of the Kodak Theater plenty of times tonight. Most importantly, it will probably be the song you hear at the end of the broadcast as Linklater and his producers and actors rush the stage to accept the final award of the night. Boyhood has a very good shot to win best picture this year. I was talking to my mom yesterday, who sees almost as many movies as I do, and we both said that we would be fine with that as an outcome. "Just the dedication alone over a twelve year period makes it seem justified," she said. If Boyhood wins tonight, it will be more about the commitment and the concept than the movie itself. And honestly, I have nothing but respect for Linklater and the job he took on, and like everyone else, I agree: The idea behind it is fascinating, and I have never seen anything quite like it.
But what about the movie itself?
The detractors vs. gushers argument surrounding this Boyhood is always the same--"Well, nothing really happens." against "That's life, you know? Just a series of moments." I see both sides of the coin on this one. The thought that there aren't really any climactic events is more or less true. However, what unfolds on screen is engaging enough to make almost three hours never feel like it drags. Each vignette of Mason's (Ellar Coltrane) life is probably in the neighborhood of 8 to 10 minutes long, so that helps push things forward. He and his sister Samantha (the director's daughter, Lorelai Linklater) are growing up with a single mom (Patricia Arquette) who struggles to find love and herself as she works her way through motherhood. Their dad (Ethan Hawke) pops in and out intermittently as the "fun" parent, taking them bowling and to Astros games on alternating weekends. Maybe a third of the way into the movie, his mom starts dating her professor, Bill (Marco Perella), and they eventually get married and move in with him and his kids, Mindy (Jamie Howard) and Randy (Andy Villareal). After a couple of years, the mixed family dynamic rears its ugly head and things go south in a hurry; Mason, Samantha and mom escaping his abusive clutches may be the only scene in the movie that could be considered a climax.
As Mason gets thinner and taller and longer in the face, he also gets a little more brooding and cynical, wanting to pursue art but not always willing to put in the time. She marries again, this time to Desert Storm vet Jim (Brad Hawkins) and so does Dad, to Annie (Jennie Tooley). Sam and Mason's parents are more grown up, but it doesn't exactly mean they've got it all figured out. Maybe they never do, and both Hawke and Arquette convey this "we're doing the best we can with what we've got" notion wonderfully throughout. The last half of the movie, without really giving anything away, focuses on teenage-to-college-freshman Mason, as he experiences random make-outs, beer, weed, road trips, love and heartbreak and light debauchery for the first time.
When your cast and crew only gets together for a week or two throughout the year, your options are going to be limited, and though there are decently seamless transitions, Boyhood can't help but feel like vignettes. The choices that Linklater makes to connect the story are minimal, and that's a good thing. Much of the time, you only know what year you are in by the song that soundtracking the scene. In a particularly funny section early on, the viewer gets the true time capsule feel when Samantha slaps Mason in his bunk bed and begins singing "Oops, I did it again."
There is a crew of 8 or 9 of us in my grade who all became friends in middle school and stayed friends throughout high school and somewhat in college. I still talk semi-regularly to just about all of them, a couple more than others, certainly, but no love lost--6 of them were in attendance at my wedding. Looking back, more than half of us were living with divorced or separated parents through our formative years. So to me, the strength of Boyhood (and everyone approaches the relative strengths of this film differently) was the ability to see certain aspects of my own upbringing in Mason's. As a filmmaker, that's really all that you can ask for.
2014: #9, #8, and #7
Oscar day is here! Nine more movies before the broadcast starts. Can it be done?
#9 Locke
#9 Locke
Let me ask you a hypothetical: Suppose I said to you "You've got a chance to watch a movie where one actor drives in a car taking calls on his bluetooth system for eighty-five minutes." You'd probably ponder for a second before returning "Does it lead up to a massive fiery car crash?" "No," I'd say. You'd nod, scratch your chin, look up quizzically. "Is there a big blaze of glory shootout with the cops?" "Nope, not that either." "It's really just one guy, driving and talking on the phone for an hour and a half?" I'd think for a second. "Pretty much, yeah."
Probably wouldn't be knocking the elderly out of the way or cutting lines to get to your movie theater seat in time, would you?
In reality, Locke is so much more than that, and it's a shame not many people saw it because it boasts one of the finest acting performances of the year. Since busting on to the scene as droll con man Eames in Inception, Tom Hardy has showcased his range, turning in performances as a convincing Brooklynite (The Drop), a mixed martial arts champion (Warrior), a rom-com CIA agent (This Means War), and a cheerful Darth Vader (The Dark Knight Rises). Never has he been so good or so multidimensional as he is in Locke. The movie begins with Ivan Locke taking off his bright yellow construction vest and hardhat (he's a site manager) and putting on a suit to get in his car and drive to London. The timing isn't great; he's got a bad cold and the biggest construction project of his career starting tomorrow and he can't be there for the concrete pour. These are the calls he handles first, talking on his car speaker to his right hand man, Donal (voice of Andrew Scott) and his boss Gareth (voice of Ben Daniels), who are both confused and upset at his absence. He works at assuring them that all will work out before hanging up and calling his family. There's a huge football match on, and he has to first break the hearts of sons Sean (voice of Bill Milner) and Eddie (voice of Tom Holland) by telling them he can't be there for it before asking to speak to their mother, Katrina (voice of Golden Globe winner Ruth Wilson). It's at that point, between his conversation with his wife and another mysterious call that the audience is shown why he is ditching his obligations to drive to London, and everyone is gobsmacked about it.
I don't want to say any more because I think you should see it. Hardy and director Stephen Knight are literally given one set piece to work with and within that car they manage to convey tension, loads of suspense, heartbreak and occasional laughter. Ivan Locke's drive to London runs the gamut of human emotion, and I don't know if Hardy could have been any better. In a sense, Locke is like Redford in last year's All is Lost, by himself and captaining a sinking ship, doing everything he can to plug the leaks. Locke, shot entirely at night, also looks beautiful, with streetlights whizzing by and coordinated reflections on the dash and along the window behind his head. Kudos to both Knight and Hardy for taking a chance on the unconventional and pulling it off.
#8 We Are the Best!
The best buddy comedy of the year does not feature Hill and Tatum, nor does it put New Girl stars Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans Jr. on a crash course with police academy, or send Rogen and Franco to North Korea to assassinate its dictator. The leads in the best buddy comedy of the year are two thirteen year old Swedish girls. Introducing: We Are the Best!
It's the early '80s in Stockholm, and Bobo (Mira Barkhammar) is a shy young girl who looks a lot like a young dude--short hair, John Lennon glasses, baggy sweaters. She lives at home with her single mom, who is always having adult parties in their apartment and auditioning new suitors. Bobo's best friend is Klara (Mira Grosin), equally androgynous but with much more punk flair and a haircut that looks like she just walked out of a Dead Kennedys show. They are outcasts in every situation, laughed at in school and feuding with teenage metal band Iron Fist at their rec center. Klara decides they should start a band to piss off their competition, who constantly remind them that "punk is dead." Klara, far more outspoken and political than her counterpart, handles lyrical duties. After an incident in gym class, she comes up with "Hate the Sport", a hilarious and brilliant attack on pervasive sports culture. Around this time, they pick up a third, a quiet girl named Hedvig (Liv LeMoyne) who they see nail a classical guitar performance at their school talent show. Once they are a trio, the movie gains even more steam, tackling theological differences (Klara=atheist, Bobo=agnostic, Hedvig=Christian), style (an unfortunate haircut incident), and romance (Klara and Bobo vying for the attention of the same punk-rock boy) on the way to a gonzo conclusion at their first rock gig in a Stockholm suburb.
Out of the four films I saw at this year's Minneapolis St. Paul Film Fest, this was my favorite, an absolute riot. Just writing about it makes me want to see it again. Do yourself a favor and track it down. It doesn't disappoint. But if it does, make sure to write me a punk rock letter illustrating your disdain for me.
#7 Gone Girl
I know a certain someone who got this book on their kindle and read it in one three-and-a-half hour sitting. You have to give it up for Gillian Flynn, the ex "Entertainment Weekly" columnist who churned out the beach read of the last three years, a propulsive, addictive psychodrama about the pitfalls of marriage. Or, more specifically, the pitfalls of marrying the wrong person.
Gone Girl the movie was, to a degree, critically underrated. I saw it on very few top ten lists this year, and it deserved to be. The David Fincher/Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross machine,now on their third straight collaboration (The Social Network and Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) continues to improve, to fine-tune itself and create a tone that matches its content. The pacing of Gone Girl, with Fincher's seamless movement between scenes and Reznor/Ross's blippy electronica and industrial flourishes of terror, is nearly perfect. Fincher's lighting and framing, going all the way back to Se7en almost 20 years ago, finds a way to coax out the darkness of every interaction. Considering the pitch of the book, I couldn't think of more capable people to take on the adaptation, and the hype surrounding it was well-rewarded.
Of course, it helps to get good performances out of your actors. Nick (Ben Affleck) and Amy Dunne (Rosamund Pike) have a meet-cute in New York City and get married. When Nick's mom gets sick, they pack up the U-Haul and move back to rural Missouri to be there to help out. Amy gets resentful and bored, and their marriage becomes strained. On their fifth wedding anniversary, with Nick all set to go on the annual scavenger hunt that she puts together for him, she disappears. He reports it to the cops, Boney (Kim Dickens) and Gilpin (Fugit), whose distrust for everything he says is practically written on their faces. When it becomes a national story, Nick is in the crosshairs with not much stopping him from being the only suspect. Smack in the middle of the movie is the giant twist that sets the entire second half into motion, and if you've read the book, let me assure you that this section is not only handled masterfully, but probably my favorite part of the film.
Good-to-great performances come from: Carrie Coon, Nick's put-upon twin and co-owner of their bar, Margo; Tyler Perry as lawyer/PR mogul Tanner Bolt; Casey Wilson as Noelle Hawthorne. a concerned neighbor with ambiguous intentions; and Neil Patrick Harris as Desi Collings, an ex-boyfriend of Amy's who wants to get involved. There are others, but mentioning them would give away important plot points. I refuse to be the guy who gives away the 'twistery" of the last half-decade.
Only six more to go. There will be an good explanation for why I chose to save my top 6 instead of my top 5. At least I hope there will be. Stay tuned throughout the day for more!
Probably wouldn't be knocking the elderly out of the way or cutting lines to get to your movie theater seat in time, would you?
In reality, Locke is so much more than that, and it's a shame not many people saw it because it boasts one of the finest acting performances of the year. Since busting on to the scene as droll con man Eames in Inception, Tom Hardy has showcased his range, turning in performances as a convincing Brooklynite (The Drop), a mixed martial arts champion (Warrior), a rom-com CIA agent (This Means War), and a cheerful Darth Vader (The Dark Knight Rises). Never has he been so good or so multidimensional as he is in Locke. The movie begins with Ivan Locke taking off his bright yellow construction vest and hardhat (he's a site manager) and putting on a suit to get in his car and drive to London. The timing isn't great; he's got a bad cold and the biggest construction project of his career starting tomorrow and he can't be there for the concrete pour. These are the calls he handles first, talking on his car speaker to his right hand man, Donal (voice of Andrew Scott) and his boss Gareth (voice of Ben Daniels), who are both confused and upset at his absence. He works at assuring them that all will work out before hanging up and calling his family. There's a huge football match on, and he has to first break the hearts of sons Sean (voice of Bill Milner) and Eddie (voice of Tom Holland) by telling them he can't be there for it before asking to speak to their mother, Katrina (voice of Golden Globe winner Ruth Wilson). It's at that point, between his conversation with his wife and another mysterious call that the audience is shown why he is ditching his obligations to drive to London, and everyone is gobsmacked about it.
I don't want to say any more because I think you should see it. Hardy and director Stephen Knight are literally given one set piece to work with and within that car they manage to convey tension, loads of suspense, heartbreak and occasional laughter. Ivan Locke's drive to London runs the gamut of human emotion, and I don't know if Hardy could have been any better. In a sense, Locke is like Redford in last year's All is Lost, by himself and captaining a sinking ship, doing everything he can to plug the leaks. Locke, shot entirely at night, also looks beautiful, with streetlights whizzing by and coordinated reflections on the dash and along the window behind his head. Kudos to both Knight and Hardy for taking a chance on the unconventional and pulling it off.
#8 We Are the Best!
The best buddy comedy of the year does not feature Hill and Tatum, nor does it put New Girl stars Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans Jr. on a crash course with police academy, or send Rogen and Franco to North Korea to assassinate its dictator. The leads in the best buddy comedy of the year are two thirteen year old Swedish girls. Introducing: We Are the Best!
It's the early '80s in Stockholm, and Bobo (Mira Barkhammar) is a shy young girl who looks a lot like a young dude--short hair, John Lennon glasses, baggy sweaters. She lives at home with her single mom, who is always having adult parties in their apartment and auditioning new suitors. Bobo's best friend is Klara (Mira Grosin), equally androgynous but with much more punk flair and a haircut that looks like she just walked out of a Dead Kennedys show. They are outcasts in every situation, laughed at in school and feuding with teenage metal band Iron Fist at their rec center. Klara decides they should start a band to piss off their competition, who constantly remind them that "punk is dead." Klara, far more outspoken and political than her counterpart, handles lyrical duties. After an incident in gym class, she comes up with "Hate the Sport", a hilarious and brilliant attack on pervasive sports culture. Around this time, they pick up a third, a quiet girl named Hedvig (Liv LeMoyne) who they see nail a classical guitar performance at their school talent show. Once they are a trio, the movie gains even more steam, tackling theological differences (Klara=atheist, Bobo=agnostic, Hedvig=Christian), style (an unfortunate haircut incident), and romance (Klara and Bobo vying for the attention of the same punk-rock boy) on the way to a gonzo conclusion at their first rock gig in a Stockholm suburb.
Out of the four films I saw at this year's Minneapolis St. Paul Film Fest, this was my favorite, an absolute riot. Just writing about it makes me want to see it again. Do yourself a favor and track it down. It doesn't disappoint. But if it does, make sure to write me a punk rock letter illustrating your disdain for me.
#7 Gone Girl
I know a certain someone who got this book on their kindle and read it in one three-and-a-half hour sitting. You have to give it up for Gillian Flynn, the ex "Entertainment Weekly" columnist who churned out the beach read of the last three years, a propulsive, addictive psychodrama about the pitfalls of marriage. Or, more specifically, the pitfalls of marrying the wrong person.
Gone Girl the movie was, to a degree, critically underrated. I saw it on very few top ten lists this year, and it deserved to be. The David Fincher/Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross machine,now on their third straight collaboration (The Social Network and Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) continues to improve, to fine-tune itself and create a tone that matches its content. The pacing of Gone Girl, with Fincher's seamless movement between scenes and Reznor/Ross's blippy electronica and industrial flourishes of terror, is nearly perfect. Fincher's lighting and framing, going all the way back to Se7en almost 20 years ago, finds a way to coax out the darkness of every interaction. Considering the pitch of the book, I couldn't think of more capable people to take on the adaptation, and the hype surrounding it was well-rewarded.
Of course, it helps to get good performances out of your actors. Nick (Ben Affleck) and Amy Dunne (Rosamund Pike) have a meet-cute in New York City and get married. When Nick's mom gets sick, they pack up the U-Haul and move back to rural Missouri to be there to help out. Amy gets resentful and bored, and their marriage becomes strained. On their fifth wedding anniversary, with Nick all set to go on the annual scavenger hunt that she puts together for him, she disappears. He reports it to the cops, Boney (Kim Dickens) and Gilpin (Fugit), whose distrust for everything he says is practically written on their faces. When it becomes a national story, Nick is in the crosshairs with not much stopping him from being the only suspect. Smack in the middle of the movie is the giant twist that sets the entire second half into motion, and if you've read the book, let me assure you that this section is not only handled masterfully, but probably my favorite part of the film.
Good-to-great performances come from: Carrie Coon, Nick's put-upon twin and co-owner of their bar, Margo; Tyler Perry as lawyer/PR mogul Tanner Bolt; Casey Wilson as Noelle Hawthorne. a concerned neighbor with ambiguous intentions; and Neil Patrick Harris as Desi Collings, an ex-boyfriend of Amy's who wants to get involved. There are others, but mentioning them would give away important plot points. I refuse to be the guy who gives away the 'twistery" of the last half-decade.
Only six more to go. There will be an good explanation for why I chose to save my top 6 instead of my top 5. At least I hope there will be. Stay tuned throughout the day for more!
Saturday, February 21, 2015
2014: #10
It's here! The top 10!
(confetti rains down)
(a cheer erupts)
(t-shirt cannons are fired)
Well, that was fun. Let's get to it.
#10 Foxcatcher
One of the moves that the Academy always likes to pull is to nominate an affable, lovable actor that's known for comedy and whimsy and such who then takes a dramatic turn. Bill Murray, Lost in Translation. Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls. Jamie Foxx, Ray. Dan Akroyd, Driving Miss Daisy. Robin Williams, Good Morning Vietnam, and others. Every now and then, they actually win. This year's model: Steve Carell, who won't. Not to take anything from him. He performed his ass off in a challenging role, but if it were my squad, he'd be sixth man, maybe seventh.
The question in Bennett Miller's slow, quiet, eerie film poses is this: How far should you have to go to be a champion?
Not long after taking home the wrestling gold medal in 1984, Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) is already forgotten, being mistaken for his also-a-gold-medalist brother, Dave (Mark Ruffalo), whom he also trains with. One night, while sitting in his empty, depressing apartment eating ramen noodles when gets a phone call out of the blue from the assistant of lonely millionaire John du Pont (Carell). He's invited to his Foxcatcher Farms estate in Pennsylvania, where he's being wooed to train for the 1988 Summer Olympics. He'll take care of the lodging and the food and support him financially, and the only thing he has to do is represent the US of A for team Foxcatcher. He is instructed to entice Dave to join him, but he politely declines, citing wife and kids as reasons to stay in Wisconsin.
It isn't always clear to Mark what du Pont's motivations are, but he decides to roll with it anyhow and ends up taking the world championships in 1987 as a member of Team Foxcatcher. They become closer, sharing buried secrets, giving each other haircuts and doing lines of coke. In a different film, this might veer toward buddy comedy, but that is absolutely not the case here. They're just two lost souls swimming in a fishbowl, finding kindred spirits in each other. That is, until Mark gives his team a day off and makes du Pont feel disrespected. He ups his offer to Dave and the next thing you know, he and his entire family are walking out of a helicopter on the Foxcatcher Farms grounds, shaking hands with du Pont and the rest of the team. Not Mark, though. He's less than thrilled to be replaced by his brother as John's new unhealthy obsession. Mark becomes standoffish toward both parties and begins training on his own. The rift only grows bigger in the months leading up to the '88 games and the months after, which will eventually produce tragic consequences for this bizarre triangle of bromance.
If you're familiar with the story of du Pont and Foxcatcher, than you know how the movie ends, but if you don't, I certainly won't spoil it. For a movie this low and atmospheric, it manages to move at a decent clip without sacrificing its tone. And know this: All three are very good, especially Ruffalo, whose even-keeled decency provides the heart in an otherwise cold space (if it weren't locked up months ago by JK Simmons, you might see him in the mix for a statue tomorrow). You've never seen Tatum show quite this much depth and range, and you've never seen Carell look or act anything quite like this. A week or two later, this one truly registered for me, but once it did, I couldn't shake it.
We're almost there! See you tomorrow and we'll put this thing to bed for the year, yeah?
(confetti rains down)
(a cheer erupts)
(t-shirt cannons are fired)
Well, that was fun. Let's get to it.
#10 Foxcatcher
One of the moves that the Academy always likes to pull is to nominate an affable, lovable actor that's known for comedy and whimsy and such who then takes a dramatic turn. Bill Murray, Lost in Translation. Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls. Jamie Foxx, Ray. Dan Akroyd, Driving Miss Daisy. Robin Williams, Good Morning Vietnam, and others. Every now and then, they actually win. This year's model: Steve Carell, who won't. Not to take anything from him. He performed his ass off in a challenging role, but if it were my squad, he'd be sixth man, maybe seventh.
The question in Bennett Miller's slow, quiet, eerie film poses is this: How far should you have to go to be a champion?
Not long after taking home the wrestling gold medal in 1984, Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) is already forgotten, being mistaken for his also-a-gold-medalist brother, Dave (Mark Ruffalo), whom he also trains with. One night, while sitting in his empty, depressing apartment eating ramen noodles when gets a phone call out of the blue from the assistant of lonely millionaire John du Pont (Carell). He's invited to his Foxcatcher Farms estate in Pennsylvania, where he's being wooed to train for the 1988 Summer Olympics. He'll take care of the lodging and the food and support him financially, and the only thing he has to do is represent the US of A for team Foxcatcher. He is instructed to entice Dave to join him, but he politely declines, citing wife and kids as reasons to stay in Wisconsin.
It isn't always clear to Mark what du Pont's motivations are, but he decides to roll with it anyhow and ends up taking the world championships in 1987 as a member of Team Foxcatcher. They become closer, sharing buried secrets, giving each other haircuts and doing lines of coke. In a different film, this might veer toward buddy comedy, but that is absolutely not the case here. They're just two lost souls swimming in a fishbowl, finding kindred spirits in each other. That is, until Mark gives his team a day off and makes du Pont feel disrespected. He ups his offer to Dave and the next thing you know, he and his entire family are walking out of a helicopter on the Foxcatcher Farms grounds, shaking hands with du Pont and the rest of the team. Not Mark, though. He's less than thrilled to be replaced by his brother as John's new unhealthy obsession. Mark becomes standoffish toward both parties and begins training on his own. The rift only grows bigger in the months leading up to the '88 games and the months after, which will eventually produce tragic consequences for this bizarre triangle of bromance.
If you're familiar with the story of du Pont and Foxcatcher, than you know how the movie ends, but if you don't, I certainly won't spoil it. For a movie this low and atmospheric, it manages to move at a decent clip without sacrificing its tone. And know this: All three are very good, especially Ruffalo, whose even-keeled decency provides the heart in an otherwise cold space (if it weren't locked up months ago by JK Simmons, you might see him in the mix for a statue tomorrow). You've never seen Tatum show quite this much depth and range, and you've never seen Carell look or act anything quite like this. A week or two later, this one truly registered for me, but once it did, I couldn't shake it.
We're almost there! See you tomorrow and we'll put this thing to bed for the year, yeah?
2014: #11
#11 The Lego Movie
Says the Lego universe's most popular song. So simple, and somehow so brilliant. Construction worker and Lego man Emmett Brickowski (Chris Pratt) is a less-than-brilliant simpleton who lives life by the manual, literally. In the morning, he wakes up and his lives his life by the directions in the manual, step-by-step like the ones that come in the boxes for models that kids around the world buy; it's hysterical when he tries on various outfits until he ends up in his construction uniform. One day's on the site and discovers goth chick Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) digging around looking for "the piece of resistance" that will keep evil President Business (Will Ferrell) from using the Kragl (Krazy Glue) to end the world as they know it. After Emmett mistakenly finds it instead, he becomes "the special" that has been prophesied about and is tasked with saving the world, despite the fact that he is anything but, brain-wise (besides his ingenious plans to build a double-decker couch,which come in handy later on), Along for the ride to defeat Business and his right-hand man, Bad Cop (Liam Neeson) are wizard Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman), spaceman Benny (Charlie Day), sunshine-and-rainbows creature Unikitty (Allison Brie) and Batman (Will Arnett).
There were a couple of glaring Oscar snubs this year, and Lego Movie not being nominated for best animated feature just may be the most glaring-est of them all. Phil Lord and Chris Miller (behind the Jumpstreet reboot as well) created an often hilarious movie with heart to spare, and the way that the lego animation is manipulated is also on a virtuouso level. Shame on you, Academy.
The top 10 is coming in an undecided amount of installments to you very soon! Get excited!
There were a couple of glaring Oscar snubs this year, and Lego Movie not being nominated for best animated feature just may be the most glaring-est of them all. Phil Lord and Chris Miller (behind the Jumpstreet reboot as well) created an often hilarious movie with heart to spare, and the way that the lego animation is manipulated is also on a virtuouso level. Shame on you, Academy.
The top 10 is coming in an undecided amount of installments to you very soon! Get excited!
2014: #12
I had a grand plan to write about a bunch more movies for this post, but Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammed are out of cat food, and they eat this special stuff that only my vet carries, and my vet closes at 1 on Saturdays. Pretentious, right? Worry not, more later.
For now...
For now...
#12 The Grand Budapest Hotel
Is there such a thing as too much Wes Anderson? Is it possible to be Wes Anderson'd out?
That was my thought leaving the theater following his latest, I felt like his elaborate set pieces and visual symmetry and quirky dialogue and quick pans and wide-angle lenses had all worked to smack me around and leave my head spinning. And don't get me wrong--Tenenbaums, Fantastic Mr. Fox and Moonrise Kingdom are all top-five finishers. The dichotomy of Anderson fandom is that you hope he pushes the envelope, branches out a little bit, but you ultimately go to see his movies because you know exactly what you're going to get.
In "Zubrowka" lies the Grand Budapest Hotel, a dream set for history-loving Anderson, full of lush carpets and chandeliers and big stairs and wealthy upper-crust socialites on vacation. We are first introduced to it in 1968 through the eyes of Author (Jude Law), who visits the once prominent resort to find it somewhat bleak and empty. There he meets Zero Moustafa (F. Murray Abraham), the owner of the hotel, who he convinces to tell his story about how it all came to be. This takes us back to World War I, where a teenaged, pencil-mustachioed Zero (Tony Revolori) works as the lobby boy for Gustave H (Ralph Fiennes), the sharp-talking concierge who is carrying on a relationship with the elderly Madame D (Tilda Swinton, in makeup and prosthetic). Fiennes' advice and mentoring of Zero are a thing of beauty as he loads him up with more and more responsibility. Shortly thereafter, Madame D has died back at her estate, and they travel there to be present for the reading of her will. In an amendment, her attorney says that her most valuable possession, a painting titled "Boy with Apple" is to be bequeathed to Gustave and not her son Dmitri (Adrien Brody). Refusing to wait for the matter to be investigated. Gustave and Zero take the painting off the wall (the painting they replace it with is the film's funniest sight gag) and run for it. From there the movie turns into a madcap caper, involving Dmitri's evil henchman (Willem Dafoe) and Inspector Henckels (Edward Norton) consistently tailing them, a prison break, vaults and lots of pastries.
This is a pretty great movie that would only be good were it not for the fantastic Ralph Fiennes. He is without a doubt one of my favorite actors working today, and as Gustave H, he carries the movie on his smarmy back, even in the moments when his confidence and charm are humbled. True, Anderson is in his comfort zone, in full auteur mode, but with the rest of the talented bunch (save Revolori) playing paperweight caricatures, it's only a bunch of pretty scenery without Fiennes.
Back with more later!
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