Friday, February 12, 2016
Monday, December 28, 2015
Thursday, February 5, 2015
Interstellar: 60 Out Of 100 Stars
Damn man, I wanted to like this movie, I really did. But alas It just did not connect with me in any sort of meaningful way.
There's just too much shit going on, too much shit that's way out there, and too many times when it felt like it was starting to draw me in and then it just sort of...didn't. What can I say.
McConaughey was really good, as was Mackzenie Foy. Lithgow felt severely underused and everyone else I could pretty much do without, from Hatthaway to Cain on down and including what felt like a weirdly unnecessary Matt Damon.
The whole thing just felt like it waffled between silly and super serious, never finding the right tone. I loved the ambitiousness of it all, but the explanations and the dumb little love story with Anne, the Cain voice overs, just too much cheesy melodrama and too much scientific reaching.
Obviously a lot of people loved it, and if you did, I'm not gonna argue, but it just left me feeling flat.
Interadaquete is more like it.
There's just too much shit going on, too much shit that's way out there, and too many times when it felt like it was starting to draw me in and then it just sort of...didn't. What can I say.
McConaughey was really good, as was Mackzenie Foy. Lithgow felt severely underused and everyone else I could pretty much do without, from Hatthaway to Cain on down and including what felt like a weirdly unnecessary Matt Damon.
The whole thing just felt like it waffled between silly and super serious, never finding the right tone. I loved the ambitiousness of it all, but the explanations and the dumb little love story with Anne, the Cain voice overs, just too much cheesy melodrama and too much scientific reaching.
Obviously a lot of people loved it, and if you did, I'm not gonna argue, but it just left me feeling flat.
Interadaquete is more like it.
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Birdman: 93 Out Of 100 Stars
Birdman is A movie whose brilliance lies in the fact that as much as you're interested in what happens next, you're more interested in what will be said next. The script is a lightweight boxer, delivering constant verbal sparring sessions that leave you breathless just watching.
Keaton plays a veteran actor, forever linked to the super hero character he played for many years. The premise is insanely intriguing of course, given the real life parallels. So Keaton is attempting to adapt a story for a broadway play and the movie more or less follows the trials and tribulations of getting said play in top shape for opening night.
The entire cast is marvellous, especially Edward Norton as a fellow actor brought in to help save the play when one of the co stars has an unfortunate accident.
All that said, there are themes and suggestions that run much deeper and are expertly handled by the brilliant direction.
In the end, perhaps the only thing lacking in Birdman is accessibility. I could watch it 10 more times and probably not be any closer to really understanding a lot of the undertones or nuances of the film. But if a movies only real flaw is how layered it is, well then I wish more movies were this flawed.
Keaton plays a veteran actor, forever linked to the super hero character he played for many years. The premise is insanely intriguing of course, given the real life parallels. So Keaton is attempting to adapt a story for a broadway play and the movie more or less follows the trials and tribulations of getting said play in top shape for opening night.
The entire cast is marvellous, especially Edward Norton as a fellow actor brought in to help save the play when one of the co stars has an unfortunate accident.
All that said, there are themes and suggestions that run much deeper and are expertly handled by the brilliant direction.
In the end, perhaps the only thing lacking in Birdman is accessibility. I could watch it 10 more times and probably not be any closer to really understanding a lot of the undertones or nuances of the film. But if a movies only real flaw is how layered it is, well then I wish more movies were this flawed.
American Sniper: 84 Out Of 100 Stars
Fierce action expertly directed by Eastwood, solid pacing of a strong script, and a studly, star making performance from Bradley Cooper make American Sniper a must see, Oscar worthy effort.
Monday, January 19, 2015
Still Alice: 73 Out Of 100 Stars
Hard to rate a movie this high when I did not, really did not, enjoy almost the entire first half of the movie. But good god, when this thing gets going it's like am emotional locomotive you can't get out of the way of.
Julliane Moore stars as a linguistics professor who realizes she's starting to forget words, lose place of where she is, and so on. An Alzheimers diagnosis soon follows.
My main issue is that most of the cast, especially Alec Baldwin as the husband, seem like they're sleepwalking through the first half of the movie. There's also this very high and mighty liberal vibe to the whole thing, like hey, we're making a movie about Alzheimers, aren't we grand. The entire setup comes across as a very by the book story that you feel just ought to be a lot better.
But then the script, and the actors, kick things into high gear. Does it go anywhere you aren't expecting? Not really. But the pacing and the story get maximum impact out of Alices mental degradation. Moore is just brilliant, and even Baldwin, who appeared to sleepwalk his way through the first act, comes alive in a very subtle but thunderous way. Kristin Stewart also shines.
Still Alice takes a while to get going, but once it does, it hits on all cylinders and packs every bit the punch that the first half of the movie is intimating, but not delivering on.
Julliane Moore stars as a linguistics professor who realizes she's starting to forget words, lose place of where she is, and so on. An Alzheimers diagnosis soon follows.
My main issue is that most of the cast, especially Alec Baldwin as the husband, seem like they're sleepwalking through the first half of the movie. There's also this very high and mighty liberal vibe to the whole thing, like hey, we're making a movie about Alzheimers, aren't we grand. The entire setup comes across as a very by the book story that you feel just ought to be a lot better.
But then the script, and the actors, kick things into high gear. Does it go anywhere you aren't expecting? Not really. But the pacing and the story get maximum impact out of Alices mental degradation. Moore is just brilliant, and even Baldwin, who appeared to sleepwalk his way through the first act, comes alive in a very subtle but thunderous way. Kristin Stewart also shines.
Still Alice takes a while to get going, but once it does, it hits on all cylinders and packs every bit the punch that the first half of the movie is intimating, but not delivering on.
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Nightcrawler: 71 Out Of 100 Stars
Jake Gyllenhaal is fantastic as a creepy scammer, making his way through life stealing this and grifting that. Where he comes from and why he is the way he is, we can only guess. And therein lies the films main problem, it exists solely for the time it's on the screen and seems to go out of its way to give no reasons or consequences.
Don't get me wrong, what we see is good, and there's a penultimate scene that is about as tense and dramatic as you could hope for, but there are just too many moments when the film takes the easy way out of being a truly deep story and instead settles for being a character study about a character it doesn't want to tell you much about.
And I had to knock off a few points for insinuating we were gonna get to see Renee Russo do some naughty things, and then not delivering. Don't fucking do that to me.
Ironically, Nightcrawler spends too much time above ground, when it seems like the real story is below the surface.
Don't get me wrong, what we see is good, and there's a penultimate scene that is about as tense and dramatic as you could hope for, but there are just too many moments when the film takes the easy way out of being a truly deep story and instead settles for being a character study about a character it doesn't want to tell you much about.
And I had to knock off a few points for insinuating we were gonna get to see Renee Russo do some naughty things, and then not delivering. Don't fucking do that to me.
Ironically, Nightcrawler spends too much time above ground, when it seems like the real story is below the surface.
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