The Big Short Review

"Truth is like poetry. And most people hate fucking poetry."

The global economic collapse that took place in 2007 and '08 was a dark time for so many people, and frankly there is nothing funny about it. Homes taken away, families devastated, lives ruined.

So why was I laughing so much during The Big Short?

The tonal shifts during this film were a bit jarring, but I have taken some time to think it over and what initially seemed a bit off may just be the movie's greatest achievement. This is a damn funny comedy, which both makes it an entertaining thrill to watch the film unfold and it also makes the gut punches sting that much more. 

In a way, it almost feels like director Adam McKay is speaking to the audience and their reaction to the material at times, especially one specific quote that comes from Brad Pitt's character Ben Rickert. While others are celebrating their personal success off of the massive economic destruction of millions of others, he delivers this line:

"If we're right, people lose homes. People lose jobs. People lose retirement savings, people lose pensions. You know what I hate about fucking banking? It reduces people to numbers. Here's a number - every 1% unemployment goes up, 40,000 people die, did you know that?"

Just like that, a sobering kick in the ass after a lot of laughs and a lot of fun, and as a person who has worked for over a decade in the banking industry, what he says is so true it hurts. I don't know people and I don't know their stories, but when a person has a vastly negative account they are judged for being delinquent. They are a red number. There isn't time for compassion or understanding when the work is moving fast and deadlines need to be met. They are just a number when in reality they are a person who might be truly struggling to get through each day.

Some minor issues with the film still bug me days after viewing it. For example, while the comedic tone was not only entertaining but also important to balance with the drama, McKay took it a little over-the-top for my tastes at times like when they use celebrity cameos to explain complicated banking procedures. Sure, it is entertaining and clever to see the beautiful Margot Robbie in a bubble bath simplifying some economics for the audience, but I felt like the breaking the fourth wall communication may have gone just a few steps too far along the way.

On a performance level, The Big Short is an ensemble piece that nails it across the board with Ryan Gosling, Steve Carell, Christian Bale, Brad Pitt and many others doing a fantastic job working off the Oscar nominated script from McKay and Charles Randolph, who adapted the novel of the same name by Michael Lewis. Bale and Carell are probably the strongest of the bunch but everyone here seemed to fit right in with what this film and the style of the material needed.

Maybe the genius of this film is that in order to find an audience willing to take a look at just how much big banking fucked us over and got away with it, we needed the comedy. Perhaps a doom and gloom approach just wouldn't latch on to our interests and fail to sell tickets. McKay delivers a strong, important message within the context of this fast paced, humorous picture and the more I sit here thinking about it, the more it works.

Margot Robbie in a bubble bath to make an economics lesson more interesting. Pretty smart indeed.

4/5

My 5 Favorite Documentaries from 2015

The calendar may say 2016, but the cinematic year of 2015 is finally starting to wind down. Only a few more films to see before I can finalize my top 50 films of the year list, but I am officially caught up in terms of documentaries. Therefore, a list can be made. 

All told, I watched 25 docs that were released in 2015. Here are the 5 best of the bunch.

5. Tig

A Netflix Original documentary, I was touched by the story of comedian Tig Notaro and her ability to move forward after the terrifying diagnosis of breast cancer. When she got the news, she did what she loved to do most: she performed and made people laugh, and the set she did at a Los Angeles comedy club named Largo is truly one of the bravest and most inspired moments in stand-up history.

Tons of heart, a few tears shed and a lot of laughs. I fell in love with Tig.

4. Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom

Another winner from Netflix, and this one is nominated by the Academy (and for good reason). Be warned, this is not a documentary to be taken lightly. The content is hard to stomach but impossible to ignore. The cameras are right there in the middle of things during the unrest in Ukraine in 2013 and 2014 when what started as a student demonstration sparked a revolution. There is blood flowing through the streets and it is all too real, and while that may not sound fun to watch, Winter on Fire is a film that deserves to be seen.

3. The Hunting Ground

If you don't recognize the real and devastating problem going on across the United States on college campuses, you aren't paying attention. A single rape would be one too many, so the staggering numbers of such crimes is devastating and what makes matters worse is that the goal of many institutions is to sweep these cases under the rug to avoid bad publicity or to protect an athlete making a lot of money for the school. The Hunting Ground is a CNN documentary that covers this topic and allows some of the victims and/or their families to tell a story that school officials chose to ignore. 

The rape culture is horrifying, and parents deserve to know what is going on when they send their children away for an education. This is a terrific documentary that should be seen by everyone.

2. The Look of Silence

In 2013, director Joshua Oppenheimer delivered a documentary that was haunting and disturbing called The Act of Killing, a film about the Indonesian genocide that took place during the 1960's. What was completely fascinating about this documentary was that it didn't cover this topic in a traditional sense. Instead, Oppenheimer meets up with those that were responsible for so much murder at the time and asks them to reenact their mass killings in the form of mini films using whichever genre they desired. Watching these men who did such horrible things have to face their demons by "witnessing" the atrocities, even if this time it is faked, is difficult to watch but also quite eye opening. 

In 2015 Oppenheimer delivered a sequel of sorts with The Look of Silence, this time focusing on members of one specific family that survived the genocide, a family that is short one because a son/brother was among the murdered. The brother of the victim meets with the killers and their families and confronts them about what they did despite knowing doing so would put himself and his loved ones in harms way. 

It's another brilliant picture from Oppenheimer, and most years it would top my list of documentaries, but in 2015 there was one non-fiction masterpiece...

1. Amy

The Oscar front runner in the category and it deserves the award, Amy is the best documentary of 2015. The film depicts the life and unfortunately way too soon death of British singer Amy Winehouse, and before you go thinking that my list might be biased because of being a fan of her music, let me dispel those notions quickly. It isn't that I dislike her music either, I just didn't know it all that well besides the songs they played on the radio.

So powerful, so real, so honest, I couldn't look away from the screen from start to finish while watching Amy. The amount of actual footage they had of her during her life is remarkable to the point that it almost feels impossible, like I was falling for some sort of perfectly executed found footage horror film rather than non-fiction. I only wish that were the case and such an amazing talent didn't fall victim to the powers of celebrity and addiction at such a young age.

By using that massive amounts of raw, unfiltered footage of her life and having others speak over what we are seeing, Amy never feels stale and run of the mill like so many docs do with the constant talking heads filling the screen to tell a story. Much of her life is right there in front of us, and it's beautiful and heartbreaking.

Brooklyn Review

Recently I overheard a man complaining that his wife made him watch some "romantic bullshit" and his buddies laughed as if he had just told the greatest joke ever told. Now, granted, it is extremely possible that whatever he did watch was complete and utter bullshit, he may not be wrong. He never elaborated as to what it was so I wouldn't have the slightest idea as to the quality of the film or show. What really stuck with me in this moment though was that his friends never asked. It was inherently funny because of the word "romantic", and I could practically hear the stereotypes of dudes and their action film fantasies blasting off in the background. 

So my question is, why is romance a negative? Why is it a punch line? 

I was reminded of this as I watched the new film Brooklyn, directed by John Crowley and starring a glowing, perfect Saoirse Ronan. This is a syrupy melodrama, the type of film my late grandmother would have loved and young me would have rolled my eyes at, but adult me knows better than that. While syrupy melodrama sure sounds like a negative, I was captivated and smitten with every damn second of it. It is covered in just enough of the sweet stuff to taste delicious without going overboard. 

Brooklyn is a historical period romantic drama that actually feels pulled from the era it takes place in thanks to a consistently stunning aesthetic. The usage of color delighted my eyes in every frame, and the warmth of the performance of Ronan in the lead as young Ellis Lacey didn't hurt either. I found it impossible not to be charmed by her and the chemistry she shared with both Tony (Emory Cohen) during her time in Brooklyn and Jim (Domhnall Gleeson, who seems to be in EVERYTHING in 2015) in Ireland. This is a story about immigration and the fear that can come with picking up everything and trying to start over in a strange new world, the type of bravery I admire deeply when I consider what my ancestors must have went through that lead to me ending up where I am today. This is a story about being torn not just between two lovers but also two completely different worlds, one that feels familiar and one that is huge and new and exciting. The question is, which is home?

It's also and perhaps most importantly a love story, and a beautifully told one at that. I kept waiting for a cliche to pop up somewhere, one that bothers me repeatedly in films and ends up feeling so predictable and tired: the moment when one of the two people the main character loves does something egregious. The urge to write in a "jerk" moment in a screenplay to manipulate the audience into preferring the final choice. It never happens in Brooklyn. Ellis has to decide between Ireland and Brooklyn and between Jim and Tony, two completely different places, two seemingly wonderful men who care for her deeply and want to spend their lives with her.

To be fair, the moment that does end up pushing her towards her final decision comes together a little too conveniently for me, requiring a belief in small world coincidences at a time when a lack of technology and communication made everything feel huge, but at that point I didn't care in the least. Even now as I think of it, I shrug my shoulders and wonder when I can watch Brooklyn again, because I don't find the warm cinematic hug of a gorgeous, sweeping romance to be negative or a punch line.

Perhaps I should have asked the guy I overheard what his wife forced him to watch, even if it was none of my business. Had he answered Brooklyn, I wouldn't be laughing.

4.5/5

Spotlight Review

Typically when I use the phrase "by the numbers" it is meant as a negative. For anyone who has been paying attention to my taste in cinema, I am easily wowed by style. The reason I believe Mad Max: Fury Road should dominate the Oscars this year is not that I was blown away by the story, it's that every tiny detail of the movie paints an epic, unforgettable picture for me. The photography, the frenetic brilliance of the editing, the costumes, the performance of Charlize Theron, the set pieces and the inventive genius of so many moments. All of it adds up to perfection.

Spotlight is, essentially, by the numbers. Thank god, because you know what seems to be nearly impossible for films revolving around journalism? Getting those numbers right.

With a work like Spotlight, it isn't about style of flash and it shouldn't be. The key is making sure the numbers add up, conveying an authenticity and professionalism that makes us believe in the characters and their goals. When we don't believe in those trying to break a story, why would we ever give a shit about the end result?

Directed by Tom McCarthy whom had one of the strangest years in 2015 when you consider he was also responsible for one of the absolute worst movies as well, The Cobbler (we will consider this an aberration from his usual quality work), Spotlight tells the true story of a specific team of journalists working for the Boston Globe in 2001. A new editor is hired named Marty Baron (Liev Schreiber) and he asks the "Spotlight" team to focus their attention on a single pedophile priest named John Geoghan and whether or not the local Archbisop knew of his terrible actions yet did nothing to try and stop it. The deeper they look into it, the more they discover how horrifically widespread the actual problem had spread, far beyond a single priest. So many victims and the church simply tried to sweep it under the rug.

This is a special film that stands out because ironically it doesn't ever try to stand out. Everything about Spotlight just comes so naturally, with the wonderful ensemble cast always precisely on point working with a screenplay that not only knows journalism but also knows how to tell a true story of a very sensitive subject. It doesn't pull any punches nor does it throw too many. It is a film that demonstrates power through grace and honesty. 

No, Spotlight isn't my personal choice for Best Picture this year, but I also won't complain for a moment if it wins. It deserves recognition for knowing exactly when to be by the numbers. Tom McCarthy tells this unfortunately real story with intelligence and maturity, and it is an important film that deserves to be seen.

4.5/5 

Joy Review

So, so many biopics. They're everywhere, and I fear them. Cinema can take us literally anywhere, a medium in which the only limitations to storytelling are what the human mind can concoct and yet week after week, year after year the moviegoing public is inundated with the words "Based on a true story" with a focus on a single person that left an indelible mark. I fear these films because they so often fall victim to relying on the same tired tropes. A life can be absolutely fascinating but the fatigue of familiarity can wipe all of that away in a hurry.

I don't recall every detail of the trailers and television commercials that were trying to sell the world on the new film Joy, so I can't remember if it was made clear that this was a picture derived from a non-fiction story. All I remember thinking was, based on this you would have no idea that the character being played by Jennifer Lawrence was the real life inventor Joy Mangano, the woman behind the Miracle Mop. Now I don't know nearly enough to be able to determine which pieces of this film are true and which are total bullshit meant to entertain, but I feel pretty confident in assuming there is far more of the latter than the former in Joy. 

Honestly, that's probably a good thing, because while far from perfect and at times quite phony, this is a pretty good and really entertaining movie.

I have only ever really loved one David O. Russell film and that remains true today, as Silver Linings Playbook stole my heart instantly and after multiple revisits it still has it. I admire him greatly though for the ability to take a story that doesn't sound all that intriguing on the face of it and making it unique and compelling. Try explaining the premise of Joy to someone without telling them that Jennifer Lawrence or Bradley Cooper are in it, see if you can sell them on it. The true story of the lady who invented a mop. Good luck. Yet, thanks to some fun storytelling and a terrific lead performance from the aforementioned Lawrence, it works.

I used the word phony before and I should probably elaborate on that a bit. At times O. Russell takes his gift for making the mundane a bit more magnificent and goes a little too far and the film strays a bit towards the ridiculous. Early in the film when approaching her fathers girlfriend for financial assistance to get her business off and running, Joy is asked to answer what she would do in a scenario involving a gun on the table in front of her, which is then handled in a very on the nose fashion later when she walks straight up to a gentleman with a shotgun and asks permission to fire away. The scene takes her strong, independent identity and takes it a bit too far and in the end just feels out of place. 

Another example of this, and the most egregious of anything is towards the very end of the picture when a young couple approach Joy with an invention idea. The entire vibe of the sequence makes it impossible not to roll your eyes, with an emotional young woman much like she once was over her hopes of finding the american dream and the forced dialogue from Joy to announce her willingness to help. Perhaps this actually happened, and maybe the real Joy Mangano used her success as a means to assist many others struggling like she did, but this scene is impossible to take as seriously as it wants you to.

Despite its issues, Joy is a biopic that at least tries to be different and for that I am appreciative. I will always take ambitions going a bit too far over playing it too safe.

3.5/5

Anomalisa Review

It's almost unsettling how soulful and tender Anomalisa is. It's truly hard to believe. A work of stop-motion animation involving puppets and during the first few minutes of the film it was a little jarring to watch. I think part of the problem at the start was the fact that so much of any given frame looked remarkably real and yet here we have characters that certainly are not.

It doesn't take long to get over this issue. In fact, it's one of the aspects that makes the picture so wonderfully brilliant and unique. Human or not, the emotional depth of this script makes it impossible not to relate to the characters, even if you aren't literally suffering from similar issues. Perhaps you once did and you can never fully shake the haunting loneliness of the past. Maybe you fear this fiction becoming a personal reality, with a current companionship or connection that feels potentially far too fleeting. It could be that you don't see yourself or your circumstances while watching Anomalisa but you know someone like Michael. Everyone does.

Whatever it is, by the time any early jitters settle down and you begin to understand the entire picture that directors Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson were trying to paint, it becomes quite clear: Anomalisa is a layered, fascinating masterwork, and one of the finest films from 2015. Some may find the storytelling device of having every single character except for the two leads be voiced by the same actor, regardless of gender, to be distracting. That job is relegated to Tom Noonan, best known for playing the vicious serial killer Francis Dolarhyde in Michael Mann's Manhunter, and the choice of him is inspired. Of course it sounds strange, to have multiple different people both male and female share the exact same voice throughout the entire film, but it all makes sense the more we get to know Michael (David Thewlis). He is married and has a child waiting for him at home, yet something is clearly missing from his life. There is an emptiness, a loneliness in play and even on the face of a puppet we can see it in his eyes. Everyone sounds exactly the same because it is the way he views the world, as if he is surrounded by the same boring people who aren't capable of striking a meaningful chord within him. That is, until he meets Lisa (Jennifer Jason Leigh). She is everything Michael needs and more.

While an animated feature, Anomalisa is not for children, and this mostly boils down to a truly beautiful sex scene. Yes, a lovemaking sequence between two puppets. Sounds creepy and a bit funny, right? Wrong. It's understandable to assume this but the actual result couldn't be further from those expectations. What Johnson and Kaufman achieve here is extraordinary, as they execute the type of scene that often times doesn't even work when shared between two gorgeous people filmed as live action, yet here we have animation and puppetry and the passion on display is palpable.

Anomalisa is bold, beautiful cinema that is also riddled with heartbreak. It's a richly raw and stunningly original work, one that demands to be seen and taken seriously. 

5/5

The Danish Girl Review

I once worked with a man who walked around the office with an anti-gay marriage petition, asking everyone to sign it. Many did. I refused. At the time, my daughter was less than a year old and the man with a clipboard decided to try to convince me to sign my name on the dotted line by bringing her into the conversation.

"What would you say to your daughter if she saw two men kissing?" he asked.

Talk to her. Explain to her how beautiful love is. Hope she is lucky enough to find it. Remind her that regardless of who she chooses to spend her life with, I will always love her back. Teach her to open her eyes and her heart to the fact that this world is full of vastly different people, each on their own journey to find happiness. Be proud if she values empathy so she will care that they do. 

I hope as she gets older and is able to experience and digest more mature content and themes, she finds a lot of beauty in terrific, progressive art that serves as a window through which we are able to view a human experience that differs from our own. I have met so many wonderful people, both real and fictional, thanks to cinema. Thanks to great storytelling I have felt real pain and shed real tears over others who are nothing like me. Because I see them as people. Because my eyes and my heart have been opened. 

I really thought The Danish Girl might be a work to be proud of. The story of Einar Wegener who during the 1920's began the transition to become Lili Elbe, the woman whom she was born to be but was unfortunately given a body that didn't match it. An inspiring story of being honest with yourself and living the life that makes you feel whole. A story of unconditional love as a marriage survived the transition and a wife was able to look her husband in the eyes and accept her for who she now was. 

After I finished watching the film, I sat there stunned. I was speechless. Disbelief.

The Danish Girl is absolute horseshit, and if not for a stunning, award worthy performance by the amazingly talented Alicia Vikander, would have forced me to amend my worst films of the year list. It is offensive, insufferable, shamelessly manipulative garbage. Every scene feels like it is so desperate to win an Oscar by forcing you to feel something. anything, that in the end the entire experience feels like it is slathered in artifice with no genuine emotion attached to it at all. 

The worst offense of this picture is the way director Tom Hooper frames his main subject, Lili (Eddie Redmayne). A film that seemed destined to be progressive and inspiring instead portrays Lili in a way that is more demeaning than accepting. The lingering camera displays a polished, classy frame in every way except for the demonstration of femininity in Lili. I was disgusted by the portrayal of a trans lifestyle, as it felt like Hooper wanted to shock the audience with each passing moment rather than move the conversation forward with the notion of equality. The Danish Girl plays like Hooper originally had titled the film "The Danish Girl: Freak Show", and the hope for terrific, progressive art quickly vanished. No other female characters are treated like Lili despite the call for transgender normalcy. This movie is an embarrassment.

Flat, uninspired and mostly offensive direction from Hooper. A cartoonish, ridiculous performance from Redmayne that is constantly trying so hard to move us that ironically it ends up feeling like cold, poorly conceived satire. I found myself laughing at parts that were never intended and should never have intended to be funny, and it wasn't that I found the plight of Lili or her search for happiness comical. It's that it is such a tremendous failure to tell a story or convey a message that as a result my only choice was to either laugh at its shortcomings or walk out of the room and bang my head against the wall.

The final scene involving a scarf and a strong gust of wind is the second most unintentionally humorous cinematic sequence of 2015. The only thing that managed to rise above this awful final shot that was so desperate to pathetically force tears out of my eyes was the chubby kid sticking his hand in a blender in Unfriended. If only I could just watch the kid pull his hand out of the blender, walk outside and have his scarf blow away in the wind, we might just have a masterpiece.

The story of Lili Elbe and her amazing journey is worthy of being told, but perhaps Tom Hooper and his heavy, harmful hand has ruined any chance of a good film being released in the future. God bless the beautiful and believable Vikander for finding a way to elevate such dreadful material. She is a revelation in a film that is unfortunately regressive for the transgender movement. 

I want my daughter to experience so much art and become an empathetic, loving person. I will do my best to ensure she never feels compelled to waste two hours on The Danish Girl. 

1/5