I do not have much to say in regards to Cartel Land; one of the documentaries nominated for the 2016 Academy Awards. It was released a few months ago so I am a bit late to the party. It is also a hard piece to talk about because it is a direct representation of real events and footage. What I can critique is how the film is put together and how coherent its thesis is. Keep in mind that my documentary criticism experience is rather low as I do not watch as many documentaries as I do other films, but I will do my best to tell you my quick impressions of the film.
Well, it is finally that time. I have seen enough of the films in 2015 to feel comfortable with compiling my top 10 list for the year. Granted, there are some smaller films and foreign pieces that I have not seen, but I tried to see as many as I can and I feel that my list is a pretty definitive representation of the year.
The most honest and tender cinematic experience of the year comes to us from the creators of Community, Moral Orel, and Rick and Morty and a bunch of Kickstarter supporters. This is a film that rarely ever exists, which is even more reason to go out and see this immediately. This is a special film and it deserves to be seen.
Oh wait. I remember. It costs nothing to make and clueless masses are going to give it money not realizing that they and their children are being taken advantage of.
Norm of the North is one of the laziest major studio releases I have ever seen. When I did research into how this production began, I learned with no surprise that this was originally going to be a straight to video release. It should have been a straight to garbage bin release.
I dare you to find a more mediocre film than Ride Along 2. Granted, I did not hate this film like others (including one I'm about to write about next) but that just adds even more to the mediocrity of it. It did not make me angry to be in the movie theater, but it felt like a tremendous waste of my time watching it or writing about it. The sad truth is that no matter what I write about this movie, a ton of people are going to go see it anyway and it will be a big success for the studio who did not even have to put any effort into it.
Alejandro González Iñárrituhad a great 2014, earning himself best director and best picture for the excellent film Birdman. The success of that film paved the way for a major studio to let him make a big budget art film and boy did he deliver on that front. The Revenant is one of the most brutal and bold Hollywood films in recent memory. It is also an excellent film that is deserving of its 12(!) Academy Award nominations. Most deserving in those nominations is a very powerful Leonardo DiCaprio who may finally have his year of Oscar gold. About damn time.
I do not like Nicholas Sparks adaptations. Save for The Notebook that managed to transcend its material through its assured direction and memorable performances, each one is a copy-paste replica of the other with no emotional investment in the characters or the writing. They are lazy. Nicholas Sparks is to romance as Michael Bay is to action films. Granted, there can be a factor of guilty pleasure found in many of these directors' respective movies, but not in a positive way. I mean in a way that involves lots of heckling friends and a bunch of alcohol.
Nothing hurts more than unquenchable longing, especially when you are told that it is wrong to long so deeply for it. You do not know quite why you yearn for it, but you know that you do. When it comes to a love that society views as taboo, the view of the thing you beg for is often obscured by smoke; by doubt. As Therese does in the film Carol she begs to look through the smoke surrounding her figure of affection Carol. Fear could stop her. Or the excitement of doing something "bad" could hopelessly draw her closer. She hopes that when she is finally to touch, not just look, that there will finally be a sense of sanctuary and purpose. She has to take those steps first. Is the curiosity worth the ridicule and judgement?
Samuel L. Jackson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Kurt Russel in The Hateful Eight
One can always hope for the best. America has definitely made progress in strides in regards to equality and acceptance to all. However, there is still a deep ugliness that is sewn into the foundation of our country that we have yet to shake. Personally, I do not think that is will ever go away completely because of how essential it was in creating the world we live in today. Even with all the good that does exist, we need to be weary of the fact that we can never truly ignore some of the dark intolerance that makes up our society. It seems as though Quentin Tarantino believes this as well. He is the kind of man that stands up for the right thing, whether it is attending rallies about gun violence or he is contributing to charity. His films paint a different image. He indulges in cynicism and violence when he writes his scripts, but it is to prove a point. The Hateful Eight is no different. Here he is telling us that we are no different than these eight poor hateful souls and that is has not gone away with time, even if it is a little less apparent on the surface.
Sadly, I missed the chance to see this one in the IMAX 3D venue that it obviously needed. Robert Zemeckis is one of my favorite filmmakers, having made Cast Away, Forrest Gump, Back to the Future, among others. I have always loved the sentimentality he adds to his films and how he always pushes the technology that he has to work with to create something really special. The Walk continues that trend. It is most definitely one of his lightest films, but it tells a great true story with an earnestness that is missing in cinema at the moment. The first half of the film plays as a romantic biopic and it is sweet and offers a compelling enough character study. The second half of the film is where it gets especially interesting. It finds itself turning into a rather unique heist film, leading up to the final "walk" that is visually amazing. The World Trade Center towers are recreated immaculately and is quite moving to see such a life affirming event occur in a place that is sadly not remembered for that anymore. There is a final line and image at the end that subtly acknowledges the events that eventually happened there for the first time that is absolutely lovely.
The Walk is a great film that is accessible to nearly every film-goer. It is a lot of fun, features a spirited performance from Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and proves to be quite emotional. We don't get too many films about the power of accomplishing dreams like this anymore so it was a breath of fresh air.
Patrick Wilson, Kurt Russel, Richard Jenkins, and Matthew Fox in Bone Tomahawk
I have always been an advocate for genre originality. Don't just do the same old thing over and over again. Make the established genre rules that exist your own. That is why I deeply appreciate the little known Bone Tomahawk, even though I do not think that it is completely successful. For the first two thirds, it finds itself being a sort of western Tarantino-type carbon copy, but it actually works. There is a fantastic cast including Kurt Russel, Patrick Wilson, Richard Jenkins, and Matthew Fox who are all uniformly excellent with the physicality of their roles. The characters are very likable and interesting and their dialogue is witty. For the micro-budget that the movie had to work with, the film has great production value and is shot well; giving it a claustrophobic feel that absolutely works even though the desert seems to stretch on. It represents the feelings of the characters well and the impending doom that is about to meet them.
It is when that impending doom arrives that it sort of loses me a bit. Without spoiling too much, once these characters reach the location that they are traveling to, they meet the enemies that they have been warned about since the beginning and it gets violent, and I mean VERY violent. The film pulls a 180 and suddenly becomes a horror film on the level of something like The Hills Have Eyes. This includes some of the most disturbing death scenes in recent memory. It made sense that this movie had a limited release and no MPAA rating. Surely if it had one, it would get slapped with the NC-17, which cannot be marketed well at all. While the carnage is impressive and terrifying, I do not think that it meshes well with the rest of the film as well as it could have. It tries to be unexpected with its gore and scares but ends up feeling jarring. It abandons character development and deliberate storytelling and just becomes a bloodbath in the end. Normally this is fine if that is the kind of movie that I expect that from, but I found that they left character arcs hanging and opted for a simple "life sucks and you are not prepared for it" message when the first two thirds of the film hinted toward something more nuanced.
I enjoyed Bone Tomahawk and I admire its originality. I wish that it had a little bit more to say after the carnage was done.
Grade: B-.
Bone Tomahawk is now available on DVD and blu-ray.
I'm playing a bit of catch up this week before I write up my big review of The Hateful Eight. First up is Noah Baumbach's Mistress America, which is his latest team up with star Greta Gerwig who previously starred in his very underrated Frances Haa. If that film explored the European indie film genre, this is his attempt at the Woody Allen witty dialogue driven comedy a la Annie Hall. It explores the life of a new college freshman writer played by Lola Kirke who finds out that her soon-to-be 30 year old step sister is living in Manhattan close to her school. She finally meets Greta Gerwig's character and as she starts to learn about this "hot mess", her energy and her representation of the "millennial" generation compels her to write a new short story inspired by her mad adventures. This all culminates in the the last 45 minutes where friends, old friends, and other poor people swept up in their storm, all come together in one really nice fancy house to hash it out with some of the best comedic dialogue of the year.
I found this to be a very enjoyable and light film. I was a bit unsure of it during its set up and I was even a little annoyed by Greta Gerwig this time around with how quirky she was. It wasn't until that last 45 minutes where I finally understood why everything was set up the way that it was. It is a madcap little one-act play that sort of unfolds at the end and I found it completely delightful with just the right amount of melancholy and drama to mix in to the comedy stew.
You may not have heard of this movie, but I think you absolutely should go and find it. It's a fun time with really great female protagonists and a sweet 80's style soundtrack that I think you will really dig.
Grade: B+
Mistress America is now available on DVD and blu-ray.
