Multi-Review Two!!

Still Alice

For the most part: quality drama with solid acting. However, three MAJOR missteps in storytelling weaken the film beyond repair, and some of the directing choices are more distracting than interesting. Could have been so much better in the right hands. Wonderful music, though.

This Is Where I Leave You

Well made with a good cast, but spends too much time with the leads while not developing their characters, and introduces many supporting players without involving them in enough of the story. I’d comment further but there isn’t much more to say, and what there is I’ve tied in with the following review...

The Judge

Rather than say too much about this movie - which is also well made and acted but rather clichéd and predictable - I will simply list the similarities it shares with This Is Where I Leave You:

• adult male protagonist (over 40) returning to his hometown following the death of a parent
• he has a wife who’s cheating on him
• he must deal with the possibility of a daughter who may or may not be his
• his eldest sibling is a brother who still lives in their hometown and operates a retail store
• his youngest sibling (brother again) is treated, perhaps rightly so, as someone who can’t properly take care of himself
• he has a former girlfriend who also still lives in their hometown, and rekindles their relationship
• many years earlier there was a car accident resulting in permanent physical damage to a loved one
• the living parent is difficult, obstinate, and constantly ignoring the requests of the adult children
• Dax Shepard plays a supporting role in both movies

That’s all I can remember; there may be others. Some of this is necessary as the two films share elements in their basic premise, but clearly it goes beyond simple plot points...though I’m not saying either of these are ripping off the other, only that it seems to show a distinct lack of creativity between two separate teams of filmmakers in regards to conflict and drama. I think we can do better.

American Hustle

This? This is not doing better. First it’s merely a fashion show, because nothing is presented in terms of plot or character, only a bunch of people swearing at each other without context while draped in various costumes and hairstyles - then it wants to be Goodfellas, with its narration and backstory and tone and style, and fails completely to be anything like that magnificent film in all but the most superficial manner - then it LITERALLY becomes a fashion show as Amy Adams tries on dresses in front of Christian Bale, while the story goes nowhere. This was almost fifteen minutes in. At that point I turned it off and eventually went back to watch the rest - all but a few bits and pieces of which is equally vacuous, needlessly convoluted, and hopelessly off the mark. Ten Oscar nominations my ass; it’s rich people playing dress-up. And not all of them are talented.

The Hobbit: Battle Of The Five Armies

No, it didn’t need three movies, and they are definitely more drawn out than necessary, but they’re still exceptionally entertaining to watch and genuinely gorgeous to look at. This chapter is no different than the first two in that regard, plus the scope is just epic, and the creatures are awesome. Though it’s far from perfect, with many minor faults in the storytelling, it does present a satisfying end to the series. One thing which stands out for me in each film: a seriously badass dragon. If Peter Jackson decides to dive into the prequel pool again, for something along the lines of The Adventures Of Smaug? I say go for it. With a better title, of course...and maybe just one movie this time.

Foxcatcher

Another set of strong performances in a finely made film, which unfortunately doesn’t quite succeed - because it fails in small yet crucial ways. There is definitely a distinction between making a story’s elements clear and dumbing them down; this movie never does the latter but occasionally founders in its effort toward the former. For example: DuPont says Mark doesn’t need his brother Dave in order to be a great wrestler, but later, DuPont says he wants Dave there to help coach. There’s no reason to believe he didn’t mean what he said in either instance, but there is also not enough motivation presented to comprehend his change of mind.

Now I can, if I want to, determine what may have caused this shift by coming up with my own explanation based on the details available - and on the opposite end, I certainly don’t want the movie spelling it out for me or spoonfeeding its audience the intricacies of its characters - but the best way to tell a story, in a movie, is to present the information as visually as possible. Show me what happens, show me why he changed his mind. It just isn’t there, on the screen. I’m glad it didn’t go too far and make everything obvious, but if it withholds too much, it’s still lacking in entertainment.

Multi-Review!

I’ve recently been able to catch up on relatively newer and/or bigger movies - which I often don’t manage to see until they’ve been around a while, and usually not so many within so few days of each other - but rather than put together a sizable review for each, I figured I’d keep it short and drop them into the world wide web as a collective bunch. Not only because I simply don’t have the energy to write that much in-depth for all this, but who’d want to read it? So here are the few new(ish) films now viewed and a reaction to each.

Interstellar

Great look & sound for a dull story, poorly told. And don’t try telling me I have to see it in IMAX to get the full effect; I already said it looks good...but if the story doesn’t work as a whole, I can’t care how pretty it is. If it doesn’t follow through on the issues it raises, drags on for long stretches (time dilation indeed) without progressing, and major events are brushed off without a word while insignificant details are mulled over repeatedly...all I’m left with is an ordinary “meh.”

Whiplash

One terrific performance from one always terrific performer, amidst an abundance of directorial inexperience and lackluster proceedings. Plus there were a couple major story elements done exactly the wrong way, which lessened their dramatic impact. Still a decent movie, just not worth raving about.

Birdman

Excellent acting & technical artistry applied to a pretentious, predictable & otherwise pointless effort. That’s overall, but one small detail indicative of the film’s creative failures: a movie which makes great effort to hide its transitions and edits shouldn’t be using the same lame gimmick twice, as it did tilting up to frame a building as night turns to day (or vice versa). 

Gone Girl

Looks as nice as any Fincher film but misses the mark in most every other way, aside from Rosamund Pike’s pleasant presence. The story structure is full of holes, half-assedness, and bad choices, plus none of the characters present a compelling portrait of an actual person. Please, people...let’s not encourage them.

The Imitation Game

Nothing terribly wrong with this, but not sure why it was up for so many big awards - full of unlikely and unbelievable motivations, mostly in small ways...unexplained or unnecessary shifts in character attitudes, unneeded framing devices...it’s decent enough, but nothing special or impressive.

The Giver

Nothing has anything to do with anything, most of what happens is unmotivated and stupid, some of what happens is ridiculous magical bullshit, and Jeff Bridges doesn’t open his mouth to speak for the third film in the last few years. I never read the book, and can only hope it isn’t such a horrible clump of dumbness.

Maleficent

As terrific as Angelina Jolie is, even her tremendous strengths as a performer (and movie star) are nowhere near enough to support this weak, silly, occasionally melodramatic mess. Oh yeah it’s also startlingly and unnecessarily violent at times; yay Disney! It does have a few good ideas, but without the ability to properly dramatize them using decent story structure and character motivation, they don’t add up to much.

Big Eyes 

While the two leads give absolutely outstanding performances, and Tim Burton applies his particular style in a classier, more realistic manner than his typical weirdness (both of which I like, by the way), the end result is an ultimately forgettable portrait (no pun intended) of a family drama that need never have occurred in the first place. The fact that these things did actually happen to real people doesn’t excuse the film from creating a sense that everything could have played out so much better, with much of the conflict being so easily avoidable.

I'll be back soon with slightly longer reviews & reactions to a few more movies!

Big Hero 6

Whenever I become aware of an overwhelmingly positive response to a movie I hadn't intended to see - from critics, the public in general, friends I care for and respect - I’m not dumb enough to begin watching it thinking “This is gonna be so great I won’t even believe it!” It may have been something I just wasn't interested in, hadn’t gotten around to, or concluded was not worth seeing, but whatever the delay, the good vibes from those who’ve enjoyed it convince me there’s worthwhile viewing to be had. My initial assessment may have been that it was most likely awful, or perhaps simply okay but not impressive - though when sitting down to watch it, I’m thinking that with all the happy folks full of praise, it certainly won’t be terrible...may even be pretty good! And I think this because of the excitement people have shown about it.

Too bad so many people can somehow be so wrong.

Big Hero 6 is nothing more than beautifully animated garbage...not even good enough to call junk, but actual refuse. Because - to extend the metaphor - junk is useless, and takes up space, but is essentially harmless. If it’s junk food, then it’s tasty but not healthy, and still harmless in moderation. Garbage, however, is a nasty, smelly, rotting, health hazard requiring immediate disposal and/or destruction. You certainly wouldn’t want to consume it. You want it gone, you want it disappeared, you don’t even want to know what happens to it as long as it remains elsewhere.

So, the movie: when the story here isn’t clichéd, it’s stupid. When it isn’t stupid, it’s predictable. When it isn’t predictable, it’s over (finally). Often it’s all three at once. There is no motivation for many things each of the active characters does, or just a weak/simple motivation...sometimes there’s no reason for what they don’t do; for failing to act. There is no sense and no explanation for basic aspects of the setting and various situations. Here are some randomly-recalled examples (with a few spoilers, if that actually matters) of various stupidities:

Why is this city the bastard child of San Francisco and Tokyo? After viewing, I read the filmmakers had a history all figured out as to how this came to be - so why wouldn’t they incorporate any of their ideas into the movie? Why do they just show it as if it makes any sense by itself? It couldn’t be because they don’t manage to specify anything else without dull spoken exposition, could it? Like they realized they wouldn’t be able to think up an interesting way to reveal this information other than having one of their characters awkwardly talk about it so they left it out? I don’t think they’re that aware...if they were, they wouldn’t have included so much poor storytelling in exactly that manner.

Why did the filmmakers start the movie with the protagonist kid’s parents being dead only to kill off his brother in act one? Couldn’t live parents have served just as much of a non-purpose as his aunt, who doesn’t do anything or affect the plot in even the tiniest way? Do we need to double up on the so-aloneness of the kid? Not that I’m sympathizing with the obnoxious little punk, just that it’s a repeated state of being for the character, and unnecessary. Superfluous backstory/set-up. Set the stage and get the ball rolling!

How does a fourteen (?) year-old kid with no money or resources manage to manufacture billions of tiny robots in a matter of days (or even weeks)? I’m all for suspension of disbelief, but a movie - any movie - needs to establish the rules of the world presented then abide by said rules. This movie is about scientific genius kids, so I’m wholly willing to buy his theoretical wherewithal to dream up this idea in the first place, as well as his possessing the technical and scientific knowledge to carry it out...but in general, the movie takes place in a world very similar to our own. So how did he actually DO all this? How did he acquire the materials and a production site? Uh, he didn’t. He just has his billion bitty-bots, because this is an animated film and anything is possible, even if it’s horribly unrealistic. But hey, the entire school here is only made up of about six students and one professor, apparently, so maybe the rest of the building is a you-can-make-anything-you-wish factory, and a bottom line-less lending institution.

Where in the holy hell did the cloud-covered limbo land generate from? With both teleporters (let’s face it, stargates) active, the hat enters one and exits the other, because that’s the whole point of teleportation - instant traversal of any physical separation - so when there’s only one switched on it leads to a parallel dimension? And some broad in a ship bubble can simply exist there indefinitely in hypersleep? And in operation it serves to counter the effects of gravity and suck up everything in its vicinity, even though nothing inside it is moving at all? What in the freewheeling fuck is happening here?

Why did no one question or investigate how the fire started, how it created such a sudden and encompassing explosion? Why did Hiro assume his microbots had been destroyed, while the guy who stole them assumed they would protect him? Hiro built the damn things and doesn’t know their full capability, but this guy who just saw a basic demonstration five minutes earlier bets his life on their resiliency?

Speaking of microbots and the bad guy: how stupid are the characters to assume who the guy was who stole them and has nefarious motives for doing so? And how stupid is that guy, and the other guy, to assume without further analysis the results of their failed teleporter test thus creating the center of their shared hostility? And how dumb do the filmmakers think their audience is for going ahead with these assumptions and not expecting anyone to realize how dumb (and wrong) these assumptions are?

Why does Hiro think he has to hide Baymax from his aunt? Why do the filmmakers think it’s funny for Baymax to act drunk when his battery’s low? Why does everyone in the movie keep saying “gone” instead of “dead” over and over and over and over and over? Do they not want to say the word in what they intend to be a kids movie? Or is it because some of these people are not actually dead in some sense and they don’t want to make a false statement?

Why can’t they just make a good movie that isn’t full of stupid shit like this?!?!?

I’m not a fan of The Lego Movie - in fact, I rather hate it - but that animated film only has two major problems; the action moves so fast it’s impossible to follow and the overall tone is too silly to carry any real dramatic weight. It’s still miles better than this reekingly offensive turd bomb.

This is why I no longer watch or care about the Oscars. Because I just don’t get how or why such head-smackingly awful filmmaking can be awarded best animated feature, above four other nominations and plenty more not even nominated, including Lego...which I heard some people were upset about. Now that I’ve seen Big Hero 6, I support those zealots in their fervor, despite not even respecting their choice. Unless the animation itself - not the story, characters, sound, music, or any aspect of the movie except the execution of the images alone - is what’s being awarded, I don’t see how this could even compete. It’s that bad. But kids and parents seem to like it, so, hooray for Disney!

Apologies to any friends and family members who are kids/parents/people and also somehow fans of this movie. I still like and respect you, and am oddly pleased - envious, even - you are able to possess such standards of viewership as to not be bothered by the horrible sludgestorm presented here as if it were an acceptably accomplished animated film. You have a gift, dear ones, to see the good and block out the bad. I’m all for silver linings, but if Big Hero 6 is the dark cloud inside, I myself would rather get out of the way of that storm and wait for it to pass, thank you very much.

In the meantime, maybe I’ll just watch WALL-E for the 27th time.