A Beautiful Mind Review

I find the concept of expectations and whether or not they are met to be fascinating, especially in regards to film criticism. Last night I finally saw the 2002 Best Picture winner A Beautiful Mind for the first time, a mere 12 years after its release, and without a doubt it is a very good film, one that was elevated to that level through pretty great performances throughout but especially from the two leads. Russell Crowe is John Forbes Nash Jr. and Jennifer Connelly is Alicia, a student in his class that stuns Nash not just with her beauty but also the bold move she makes to solve a noise/temperature problem on his first day as her teacher. I truly did enjoy the film, yet the tone of this review will sometimes be negative because in the end, when a film wins Best Picture it is bound to be held to a higher standard.

Because of the lengthy amount of time since its release and the numerous viewings I have had of its competition at the 2002 awards,  it was virtually impossible for me to avoid comparisons to other, not even remotely similar works, but I tried really damn hard to block those thoughts from my mind and enjoy what was being presented in front of me. I really did try, but I failed. I have absolutely nothing against Ron Howard, in fact I am a fan, but I can't wrap my mind around how his directorial efforts here were awarded the highest honor over the work of other nominees like Peter Jackson and his handling of the first Lord of the Rings film, The Fellowship of the Ring, or especially the truly brilliant achievement by David Lynch with Mulholland Drive. I thought I would never be shocked again by this specific category after I was practically catatonic when Tom Hooper stole the award from David Fincher in 2011, but despite it being a trophy handed out nine years prior to that, I am almost just as baffled yet again.

Howard does a fine job handling the material, but for the most part it is a film that does nothing exceptional beyond the performances. Crowe plays the awkward role with fantastic presence and authenticity, especially during the first two acts when he is younger and is forced to deal with the balancing act of what plagues his mind and the progression towards some sense of normalcy through love and various friendships. Connelly truly is captivating in the film even when she is doing nothing at all, which is one thing that I did think Howard excelled at, allowing his performers to steal the scenes and stand out amongst a crowd. During the scene in which we are first introduced to Alicia, I normally try to observe every aspect of a frame and quickly appreciate the placement of everything included so I can better understand the importance of mise en scene in the moment, but I don't remember a single thing inside that classroom aside from Connelly, as she brought genuine beauty and warmth to a moment that changed the course of Nash's life. 

What stood out for me on the negative side was the third act of the film, which felt absurdly cookie cutter and sappy to the point of making the entire conclusion of the work feel downright phony, and this is coming from a person who doesn't fully know the true story of Nash and what really transpired during the more recent years being portrayed. After an intense examination into both aspects of his beautiful mind during most of the film, the utter brilliance and also the demons he battled, everything challenging and gritty and real seemed to be swept under the rug in order to present an "Aw shucks, so glad everything turned out great for those lovebirds!" happy ending, and I just didn't buy into it like I did the rest of the story. It felt like an ending that a test audience told them to go with to avoid any sort of hard truths and consequences because people love to exit a theater smiling and feeling warm, but what works for me is cinema that pulls me in during its entire running time and makes me feel like I am witnessing an honest depiction of actual events, not just 66 percent of it before turning on the schmaltz. 

A Beautiful Mind is a film I really liked that I expected to love, so in the end my expectations failed me, yet I have seen far worse works that left me feeling positive about the experience because I anticipated dread and yet discovered some delight. Whether it is fair to come down so negatively on a film for falling short of its Best Picture level status while praising a lesser film for surprisingly me with some fun, I'm not sure, but when you give a film a trophy for being the absolute best achievement from an entire calendar year I expect an incredible, moving and unflinching example of how cinema is meant to be, not just another addition to the massive pile of the very good.

3.5/5

Prometheus Review

I have been experiencing all sorts of new and fascinating cinema lately and it has been wonderful, but today while I was sitting at work daydreaming about being anywhere but there, I started feeling guilty about how much I have ignored my beloved Blu-ray collection lately. Since 2008 I have pieced together this amazing collection of films and television series, a total of over 330 things to watch placed into alphabetical order, and yet in the past month I believe I have only giving two or three of those discs a spin. A tear practically fell from my eye when I pictured my beautiful blu babies gathering dust, a profound moment that made me realize that this pattern of cinematic abuse must end.

After apologizing profusely to my wall of visually spectacular film options, I scanned it quickly to decide where I would begin on this journey of revisits and reanalysis, and I landed on Prometheus. Now, I know some of you are thinking, what the fuck is wrong with you? You own 300 damn films and the one you excitedly grab off the shelf is Prometheus? If you are thinking that, you are likely the other end of the spectrum, those that were filled with anger and disappointment after seeing the sorta prequel to Alien that made this film so polarizing. While I will admit to a very slight feeling of being let down initially when I exited the theater during opening weekend, that was only because I entered expecting a new masterpiece of science fiction cinema and that this is not. Once I could clear my mind and process how the much anticipated new journey actually did play out, I fell in love with it and that admiration actually grows with each revisit, tonight included.

See, if cinema is a drug, then I get friggin' high off of both the science fiction genre and a dark, brooding and ominous atmosphere, so in that sense Prometheus hit my god damn G-spot. Based solely off of technical aspects alone, it was impossible for me to truly hate this film, but what elevates it to something I cherish are the sense of wonder achieved from visiting a new, fictional world, the unsettling curiosity of what lurks in the darkness, and an inspired performance by the always stunning Michael Fassbender. I am not foolish to believe this is a perfect film, it is far from it, and a few specific portions of the story don't quite sit right with me and the script is occasionally lackluster. In the end none of that matters though, and I can't quite explain why. Everything I appreciate about Prometheus lifts the entire film so far above the flaws that I barely even notice them anymore, allowing me to get lost in Ridley's world and abandon the ability to nitpick.

You could literally list every single thing you hate about the film, and that is fine. You have the right to do that and feel the way you want, and trust me when I say I have heard every possible complaint before, but just accept that nothing you can say will tarnish this work even remotely for me. Prometheus is an intoxicating slice of Sci-fi, one that is somehow immune to my eye for careful analysis and judgement, and I will continue to grab it off the wall and turn the lights down low for this beauty time and time again.



4.5/5

I Killed My Mother Review

I couldn't really make a connection to the content of the film I Killed My Mother because honestly, I never had a relationship that strained with either of my parents. Sure, we had our issues and our ridiculous arguments and I sometimes would get too hyperbolic and announce my hatred for them, but isn't that essentially how every single teenager-parental relationship goes at some point? This lack of personal connection doesn't diminish a thing though, and instead of relating the events of the narrative to my life, I couldn't stop thinking about what I was like when I was 19 years old.

I was 19 years old in 2003, and I may have legally been an adult but without a doubt I was still a stupid kid. I never got in much trouble or anything, it wasn't as if I was a problem child, but I spent my time working part time and spending my money on illegally obtained alcohol, pornographic magazines, gambling, and the occasional stash of marijuana, all of which I hid from my parents. I was attending college courses, but attending is a loose term in this circumstance because I ended up walking away from the curriculum when I decided that taking a nap in my car was far more enjoyable than sitting in a lecture. Luckily for me I am really good at mathematics and accounting and acquired a job that said "College Degree Required" despite not being in possession of one, but I digress. 

When I was 19 years old, I didn't truly understand the depth of human relationships. Hell, I didn't even understand myself. When Xavier Dolan was 19, he was crafting this near masterpiece of a film with precision and maturity that even today I can barely comprehend. I am humbled by this level of talent at such a young age.

Despite the amount of angst and intensity portrayed on screen, not to mention a rather dark title, I Killed My Mother is a beautiful film filled with raw, genuine emotion, and the fact that Dolan himself admits the work is semi-autobiographical as it is based on his adolescence dealing with being a homosexual teenager probably adds to the depth of believable feelings being unleashed throughout the film. Dolan also plays the lead role in the film, which sometimes can backfire with such an unseasoned amateur filmmaker and yet I saw no issues with the double duty here. 

When watching the work of a young filmmaker I am always curious to see who may have inspired them, what films may have been playing in their minds when they realized their dream was to follow in the footsteps of past auteurs, and it is no secret than Dolan was heavily inspired by the work of Wong Kar-Wai, specifically the stunning masterpiece In the Mood for Love, his repeated use of one musical composition combined with slow motion sequences are too jarringly similar to ignore. Also the title of the film and where it is derived from is clearly borrowed from Truffaut's The 400 Blows, and while some may criticize these things as being some form of cinematic plagiarism, I admire the fact that a 19 year old kid is so familiar with such true artists that he can directly reference their work and do so with class. I walked away from the film feeling like Dolan was showing his respect for the cinema that motivated and captivated him, not that he was passing off a style or a storytelling device as his own.

The only aspect in which Dolan may have went a little overboard and overstepped his limits considering it was his first ever feature was with his usage of symbolic imagery, like he may have been trying a little too hard, but still, only once maybe twice at the most did any sequence feel out of place and make the flow of the story feel uncomfortable. Otherwise this really is a masterful work, and I found it exciting to watch something so brilliantly crafted come from a person that legally couldn't even buy a beer in the United States. To say I am impressed is an understatement. Do yourself a favor and watch I Killed My Mother for yourself, see just what I mean. 

4.5/5

A Million Ways to Die in the West Review

I understand comedy is subjective, and normally I can appreciate the concept of to each their own, what I may love others may loathe and vice versa...but seriously, fuck this movie, this awful, painfully unfunny nonsense. Everything Seth MacFarlane has done prior to this garbage is now rendered meaningless. He doesn't earn a pass for this pile of shit because he made Family Guy and a decently funny movie about a talking teddy bear. It may be difficult to watch anything associated with the man again, past or future work, because at this moment even hearing his voice makes me feel ashamed of what passes as comedic material these days.

Is it possible this was done intentionally as a joke? Like, perhaps MacFarlane knows this is offensively terrible and is just trolling the film industry to see if people would actually pay to watch such a cringe worthy 105 or so minutes. At one point he actually questions why what a character is doing is funny, and he turns towards the camera and asks someone near them why they are laughing? Is it possible that this was a breaking the fourth wall moment and he was actually asking the people in the theater, why are you laughing and how is this funny, referring to his own film? This moment comes immediately after they play a carnival game titled Runaway Slave, where they shoot...you get the idea. This is a perfect example of everything that is wrong with this level of "comedy". There is nothing funny about this, and if you laughed at it you should feel some level of shame for it. No I am not being overly sensitive, this is a fact. The inclusion of a shooting slaves joke is literally just MacFarlane trying to be shocking and controversial, hoping they write articles about how edgy he is, how much he is willing to push the limits, when in reality he is just an uninspired asshole.

I am writing this with the film paused and still twenty some odd minutes to go, and you know what? I'm not going to finish it. I am not going to waste another second of my life watching something this horrible and boring and cynical and trying to find some decency in it. There is nothing redeeming or interesting about this gross attempt at humor.

I laughed more while at the hospital with my daughter while she was treated for a serious injury last week. The nurse that was helping to reattach her finger had a better grasp on comedy than Seth MacFarlane. Seriously, fuck that guy.

0.5/5

How to Train Your Dragon 2 Review

I entered the cinema today to see How to Train Your Dragon 2 with seemingly impossible expectations, holding the first installment in my heart as one of the finest achievements in animation, and anything less than the same level of storytelling, emotional resonance and fun would have been a disappointment. In fact, its fair to say I expected an even better film than the first because as Hiccup and Toothless get older, I wanted the films to mature along with them, much like the progression of the Harry Potter series.

Typically when I sit down in a theater expecting this level of greatness, I inevitably exit feeling a tad disappointed because what I envisioned in my mind isn't fully realized to that level in reality. This was not the case with the absolutely sublime film I witnessed today. How to Train Your Dragon 2 not only met my expectations, it exceeded them. It is a film filled with heart and yet it is shrouded in far more darkness than the first. It is a film that understands that the characters were fully developed already, yet they should never stop growing. It is a film that does everything it needs to do to ensure that the kids in the audience will have a blast watching it, yet I was not the only adult in my general area wiping tears from their eyes towards the end. In a world filled with disappointing sequels, I can understand now why I saw so many mentions of The Empire Strikes Back from reviews I encountered recently, and before anyone acts like this comparison is sacrilegious and absurd, trust me, you are reading the words of a person who considers Empire to be the second greatest film of all time. I am not saying the films are on the same level by any means, but in terms of taking an already great first film and actually managing to make a stronger, darker, more mature work with the sequel, this film very much follows in those footsteps.

I laughed, I cried, I basked in the warmth and yet also loved the shocking dark turn DeBlois was willing to take with this film. If you have seen the film you will know what scene I am referring to, and I wanted to applaud the balls it took to go in that direction, not just what happens but HOW it happens. When I was in Target yesterday shopping, I went down an aisle filled with different types of toys and merchandise from this film, and any time you paint a popular character in a negative light it is taking a risk, a sign that creativity and artistic integrity rose above simply being concerned about the bottom line. I had to explain why it happened to my child, and I doubt I was the only parent forced into this situation, but rather than shy away from it I embraced it. I'm proud to show a film to my child that forces her to examine character motivations and the repercussions of their actions rather than just blindly making the world feel good and pure and absurdly blissful.

I have used the word animated repeatedly in this review, but I want to be clear that this work should not be relegated to the top of a genre heap and disregarded, shamefully not treated as a truly extraordinary film. I have witnessed some special cinema in 2014 thus far, and How to Train Your Dragon 2 shines brighter than the rest, my new favorite film as we approach the halfway point on the calendar. I entered the theater today with massive expectations and yet still I was blown away.

Every single day I learn of a newly announced sequel and I roll my eyes, criticize the lack of ideas in Hollywood and the fact that decisions are only made with the goal of making money and not producing influential, exciting art. That being said, bring on How to Train Your Dragon 3. As long as the same dedication to making exceptional films sticks around, I could revisit a world populated by these characters over and over and over again.



5/5

Willow Creek Review

I just don't understand why found footage films continue to be made. The Blair Witch Project fascinated audiences, myself included, with this innovative concept of making the viewer believe what they were seeing was real, but besides the occasional interesting film to come alone in the sub-genre since then, it mostly has lost its luster. Just recently this year the new Ti West film The Sacrament was released and while it was an enjoyable enough experience, the found footage aspect of it made it feel phony, and I walked away from it feeling as if it was a pretty good but not great missed opportunity. (My review for that film can be found here).

Willow Creek is the newest film by filmmaker Bobcat Goldthwait, a man who I never believed I could take seriously until he delighted my dark comedy senses with his amazing 2009 film World's Greatest Dad, and then to a lesser but still enjoyable extent in 2011 with God Bless America. Here Goldthwait steps away from the depraved humor he presented in those two previous films to bring the world yet another found footage horror film, this one very much in the same vein as The Blair Witch Project as the story revolves around a young couple entering the woods together in search of the supernatural, in this case specifically looking for Bigfoot.

Much to my surprise, I actually really admire this film for having the balls to build the tension at such a slow pace that it honestly was borderline boring eventually, but it paid off. The final twenty minutes of Willow Creek are wonderfully realized, the most effective feeling of being terrified of what lurks outside in the darkness since a strikingly similar scene from The Blair Witch, both of which involve the characters residing inside a tent and the viewers never being allowed access to what approaches them. I felt my skin crawl and jumped on multiple occasions during this sequence, so credit is absolutely due to Goldthwait for keeping my eyes glued to a film like this for the first time in a while.

Another important aspect to note that made this film work was the brilliant editing and usage of sound to heighten the sense of realism that is so often missing in the world of found footage. The two main characters are constantly turning off the camera, so when it comes back on in the midst of something happening it feels very believable that what we are seeing is authentic, that it is at least possible that real people occupy the frame and they went hours without filming until they felt compelled to acquire more footage. Also, the way the dialogue sounds and the array of various noises that occur in the woods made me feel strangely paranoid despite knowing I clearly wasn't with them in nature, forcing me to look around the room quickly at least twice in response to the sounds before reminding myself how silly that was.

Despite all the praise that Willow Creek deserves, I still didn't love the film, and that makes me wonder if I will ever love a found footage work again. Goldthwait managed to pull off one of the better efforts I have seen here, and it still fell short of being something awesome because my mind simply will not allow myself to love a film like this ever again. The best compliment I can give it, one that I very rarely would say about a film of this nature, is that I will watch it again when I get the chance.


3.5/5

10 Most Anticipated Films Remaining of 2014 - #5 - #1

The second half of my list of the most anticipated films yet to be released in 2014.

#5 - How to Train Your Dragon 2
Director: Dean DeBlois
Screenwriter: Dean DeBlois
Starring: Jay Baruchel, Cate Blanchett, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera

Alright, so yet to be released might not apply here as it has officially opened and plenty of people are screening this film as we speak, but as I have yet to see it (will be doing so over the weekend) I feel it must be included. I have never held Dreamworks Animation to a very high standard, and because of this I was floored by the 2010 animated masterpiece (that's right, masterpiece) How to Train Your Dragon. The original film filled me with joy, dazzled me at every turn, and appealed to both my inner child and also the adult I am today. After multiple wondrous viewings, I elevated the story of young Hiccup and his beautiful friendship with a dragon named Toothless to one of my three favorite animated films ever made, behind only the original Toy Story and the breathtaking Miyazaki feature My Neighbor Totoro.

With the intense love I feel for the first film, its impossible not to walk into the cinema this weekend with massive, potentially unreachable expectations. Who knows, perhaps DeBlois can deliver the Empire Strikes Back of animated films, a sequel that somehow manages to rise above the lofty standards set by the first. Regardless, even if it falls short, I can't wait to soar through the air with these wonderful characters again.

#4 - Boyhood
Director: Richard Linklater
Screenwriter: Richard Linklater
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Patricia Arquette, Ellar Coltrane

Boyhood ranks as my number four most anticipated film, but I have this gut feeling it could end up being my favorite work of the year. The ultimate passion project, a film that redefines the idea of a coming of age story, Linklater wanted to do a story about the life of a boy, following him from the age of 6 through the age of 18 but he didn't want to follow a normal brief filming timeline and recast different kids to represent different ages. He wanted authenticity unlike anything seen in cinema before, so Boyhood literally took twelve years to film before completion, allowing us to watch the same boy grow up before our very eyes. That alone could be looked at as merely a gimmick, but the film is getting absolutely rave reviews after playing at various festivals, currently holding an absurdly high Metacritic score of 96/100 with the reviews of 8 critics posted thus far, not to mention recently winning the Best Film award at the Seattle International Film Festival.

Linklater might be best known for the iconic comedy Dazed and Confused, and for good reason considering what a fantastic and memorable film that is, but if you need proof that he can handle human relationships and emotions beautifully go check out his sublime Before trilogy, the love story of Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) beginning with Before Sunrise in 1995, followed by Before Sunset in 2004, and concluding with Before Midnight in 2013. Much like the release dates, the story picks up every nine years as well and we are updated on the status of their relationship, and no trilogy has felt more honest and real. I cannot wait to see how Linklater handles the entire adolescence of a child. Check out the trailer above.

#3 - Inherent Vice
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Screenwriter: Paul Thomas Anderson
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, Owen Wilson, Reese Witherspoon, Jena Malone, Benecio del Toro

There is a simple reason Inherent Vice ranks so highly on my most anticipated list: Paul Thomas Anderson. When he makes a film, I am seeing it, plain and simple. His last work was the flawless masterpiece The Master, and he returns here with an adaptation of the psychedelic noir work of fiction sharing the same title by Thomas Pynchon. When I read the book, I couldn't help but notice the striking similarities between its content and the film The Big Lebowski, which is never, ever a bad thing seeing as that is my all time favorite comedy. Inherent Vice follows a private detective named Larry "Doc" Sportello as he investigates the mysterious disappearance of his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend, and the farther he digs for the truth the more bizarre the story gets.

After watching the fantastic 2007 film There Will Be Blood by PT Anderson, I immediately started considering him a modern day Kubrick mainly because it seems like no matter what genre or subject matter Anderson attempts to tackle, he nails it. I am intrigued to see what he does with this Pynchon material as it is highly comedic, a total change of pace from The Master. Inherent Vice is due out in December, right during awards season, and don't be surprised to see quite a few Oscar nominations rolling in for this film when the time comes.

#2 - Gone Girl
Director: David Fincher
Screenwriter: Gillian Flynn
Starring: Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris, Tyler Perry

Much like the previous film Inherent Vice, look no further for a reason to see Gone Girl than the man listed as the director of the project. David friggin' Fincher, a man whose work I truly admire starting with the way he kept me up at night with Se7en when I saw it at an age far too young and he is still knocking them out of the park as of 2011 with his American adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. In my opinion his finest work came in 2010 when he released The Social Network, a film so perfectly crafted that it finds itself comfortably sitting in my top ten films of all time. Don't even get me started on the fact that it lost out on Best Picture to The King's Speech. Absolutely criminal.

The film is an adaptation of a pretty darn good but not great source material, the novel of the same name by Gillian Flynn who is also handling screenwriting duties for the film. The reason to be optimistic that a pretty good source material can become something brilliant with transitioning to the big screen is that the man in charge will know exactly how to handle such a dark concept, a story of a missing wife and the lead suspect being an innocent husband with plenty of twists and turns along the way. Dragon Tattoo felt similar in terms of quality, a good but not great novel, and what Fincher did in terms of atmosphere along with the perfect Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross score (also returning here) was spectacular entertainment.

#1 - Interstellar
Director: Christopher Nolan
Screenwriters: Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Ellen Burstyn, Michael Caine

We have arrived at number one, the film I can am so excited about I can barely contain it. Interstellar is the first original work by Christopher Nolan since he blew away audiences worldwide with Inception, and everything about this massive in scope release seems to indicate it will garner very much the same reaction. Featuring an all star cast and a fascinating story based on real life scientific possibilities, the trailer (posted above) is stunning and Nolan's love for using IMAX cameras should produce a grand, majestic picture.

My expectations were always going to be high with a auteur like Nolan sitting in the directors chair, but they went through the roof when the release date was announced as November 7th. This may seem like no big deal to some, but with Nolan stuck in the summer tent-pole slot multiple films in a row prior to this, the move to November is a telling sign that Warner Bros. has high hopes for this one both financially speaking and in terms of award possibilities.