Tag: movies

Citizenfour

~ Mark

Citizenfour. There’s this interesting tension where a guy has done something earth-shaking, and he knows it… but he’s watching the effects while hidden in a hotel room far from home. Very cool to see all the planning and diligence they took to keep things mum until they were ready to reveal. So glad they took the time to document this while it was happening.

I’m probably on a watchlist now.

Meru

~ Mark

Meru. I liked it most when they were showing the footage that makes you squirm and makes your palms get sweaty. Wish they’d geeked out on the nitty-gritty climbing details more, and/or cut back on the talking heads. Sometimes the people who were there aren’t the best ones to tell the story?

Tangerine

~ Mark

Tangerine. It kicks your feet out from under you with all this zany energy. I wish it could have sustained it all the way through. The scene at the end where all the threads come together is a bit of a too-long jumble. And some parts are, ah, problematic because the tone feels a bit off. But man, such a fresh and fiery start. I love how they work in the soundtrack, and let the visuals and the music guide you every now and then.

The Assassin

~ Mark

The Assassin. Not going to pretend that I understood the plot in its finest details, but it’s pretty great. We have a heroine who’s had her life planned for her, and now she is wrestling with a choice. Love how the soundtrack often sticks to almost silence, except for a slow drum strike every few seconds. There’s one long scene that’s we watch – just barely, sometimes – through these gauzy curtains that drift back and forth as the camera pans from A to B and back. It’s one of those moments that gets me fired up about what you can do with movies with a little patience. Rare to see something so reflective yet so lively.

The Revenant

~ Mark

The Revenant. I still hold to my first reaction:

I wish THE REVENANT were wilder, of all things. Camera makes you feel not like you’re there, but like you’re on an Arctic ride on rails. Or a videogame cut scene? I liked it though. Looked like the most miserable filming experience one could ask for. Also, Tom Hardy has never lost a staring contest.

A bit of a slog. Doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of meat on those bones. Birdman also felt a bit stifling for me. Amazing that this thing got made, though. I wonder if all the PR talk about the filming conditions was sort of an admission/cover that they didn’t quite get what they wanted out of this one.

See also: The Grey and Grizzly Man.

Carol

~ Mark

Carol. I feel like there’s enough there for me to like it more than I do, but it wasn’t for me. I don’t regret watching Blanchett and Mara for a couple hours, though.

Spotlight

~ Mark

Spotlight. I loved it. Great writing and acting. Teamwork, thinking, putting pieces together. There is some conflict here and there, and most of it doesn’t seem too drummed up for drama, but just real people navigating messy institutions and practical realities. Love the costume design, too. Doesn’t just capture the era but the personalities, too. One of my faves of last year.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

~ Mark

Star Wars: The Force Awakens. I had fun, and quickly forgot it. It mostly felt good to be watching a Star Wars movie again. If you’re pretty sure you don’t care about Star Wars in general, this movie will not convince you otherwise. If you do, you will probably leave feeling satisfied, depending on how you like your ratio of pandering nostalgia vs. breaking new ground. The hat-tips and references to previous movies wore thin pretty quickly and for me slowed down what otherwise has some nice momentum. Definitely some groaners, though (for example, the snowy mountain Nazi castle…). I really like Ridley and Chiyoga as the new faces. Isaac is always reliable. I feel like in a few months or maybe not until VIII we’ll look back and admit “Hey, VII is pretty thin but it’s not a total trainwreck and that’s okay”. Ranking the best episode 7’s in 2015:

  1. Creed, by a landslide.
  2. Furious 7
  3. The Force Awakens

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

~ Mark

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. I don’t know how you could watch the prequels and pick anyone other than Obi-Wan Kenobi as the coolest guy in the galaxy. I also appreciate that it undercuts the Jedi a bit. They are powerful and try to do some good, but they mess up a lot. I really dig the psychological battles and manipulation in this one. Great stuff. While Christensen is not a good actor, I buy into his tortured melodrama because I believe in Darth Vader’s arc. You’ll forgive a lot if the story is worth believing in. Would have loved more of that. Meanwhile, who the hell is General Grievous? (Know what’s cooler than two light sabers? Four light sabers!) Yeesh. Better than the other two prequels, I think, and a good way to close things out.

Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones

~ Mark

Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. One of my major complaints of the prequels is that everything looks so nice, and nothing really feels lived in. Very true in this one. I like that we get to hang out with Obi-Wan so much, doing private eye stuff, chasing down assassins. Overstuffed and scattered, though, and there’s just no way that Anakin & Padme fall in love. Teen Anakin is a nightmare. While I don’t see him in that relationship, I can start to feel for him here, just tragicomically buffeted by his emotions, absolutely at their mercy. The soundtrack is in peak form here, too.

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

~ Mark

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Maybe it’s just that time has washed away the hurt and shattered expectations of 1999, but my thoughts after a second viewing:

If I learned anything from STAR WARS it’s to let go of hate and stuff and I realized episode 1 is kinda campy and charming on second watch?

The story is blah, the writing and acting is blah. But yet, I don’t regret watching it again. I love how every setting is packed with goofy species and local details, every cityscape is full of air traffic. If there is any saving grace, it is the soundtrack – the best part of all of the prequels.

Chi-Raq

~ Mark

Chi-Raq. This one made me wonder if other movies are even trying to be interesting. Some parts I didn’t love, some I actively kinda disliked, but man there’s so much good stuff. So many different moods and shifts. It’s a little bit of a mess but I’d much rather feel that investment, alternately cackling with pleasure and rolling my eyes, than settle for a placid, sated indifference for two hours.

Creed

~ Mark

Creed. Loved it. Loooooooooooved it. I’d put it up there with the original. Jordan and Thompson leads radiate young beautiful blackness. There’s nothing new in the plotting of their story, but I love how they grow together. They each have their own thing cooking, neither one gives it up, and they find a way to show up for each other. Stallone – and I love how these movies can’t help but be autobiographical – is solid, that ideal Balboa mix of tough and noble and vulnerable. Interesting naming of Jordan’s lead. I was thinking Adonis complex, but rather than driven by misperceived appearance, it’s a deeper shame from ancestry, or maybe even just existing in the first place. Also ties in with rebirth pattern you see in the myths: the son and the franchise. Love the camera tracking in the first big fight, and its willingness in calmer scenes to sit back and bit and not shove faces in your, uh, face. Also dig the fun details like the stat cards for rival boxers. Why not? Even the triumphantly corny moment with the biker kids taps into something so local and specific you can’t argue with it. I was ready to fight. One of my favorites this year.