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!