“Catching Fire” Leaves Something To Be Desired

“The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” pg-13

Release Date: 22 November 2013

Director: Francis Lawrence

Running Time: 146 min

Grade: B-

Predictable, plain and simple.

Plenty of people who have read the books, like myself, knew how the film was going to end. However, we went to see the film anyways because there was a hope that Francis Lawrence would bring interesting surprises to the big screen.

But that didn’t happen. What happened was a drawn out version of the first film, packed with more stale humor, cheesy romantic moments, and PG-13 violence then I thought was humanly capable.

Part of the problem was the lifeless script, which orchestrated cringe worthy expressions of love between Peeta and Katniss in the most dry, predictable way, time and time again. The other problem was the pace and repetition. Instead of being an interesting, fast-paced movie, full of intense and witty dialogue, the movie seems to lumber on and skirt around moments of sexual tension, intrigue, and violence, which hindered its ability to be taken seriously and lengthened its running time. An R-rated version would have been much more interesting, since the PG-13 censorship was palpable and annoying.

Not to mention that an hour or so of the movie was spent in the Hunger Games Arena, which was practically the entire setting of the previous film. To put it simply: I was NOT at the edge of my seat the entire time wondering if Katniss would get out alive, and hence I got bored.

I also expected more from Jennifer Lawrence. Maybe I can blame the script for this as well, but I felt Katniss was too weak and conformed too closely to traditional female gender roles. She didn’t seem like a warrior who had killed kids her age and who was struggle with serious trauma. When she talks to Peeta about her feelings in the middle of the hunger games, after seeing people die horrible deaths and murdering people herself, the entire story becomes cheesy and loses all sense of reality.  Instead, she came off as an angsty teenage girl who didn’t know which boy she wanted, and in the greater scheme of things, what she was doing in life. To me, that’s not what Katniss and the “Hunger Games” novels are about. The books attempted (successfully) to comment on today’s inequalities between the rich and poor, and the subversion of traditional female gender roles. While these two themes were addressed in the film, they weren’t sufficiently or intriguingly covered.

Happy holidays,

Gabri

Here’s the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4S9a5V9ODuY

Lets drink to “Drinking Buddies”

“Drinking Buddies” R

Release Date: 25 July 2013

Director: Joe Swanberg

Running Time: 90 min

Grade: A+

Hit me right in the gut, it did. Wow. “Drinking Buddies” is so far 2013′s best, um, romantic comedy?

But labeling it as a romantic comedy doesn’t really do this film justice. It’s not some kind of topical story about some people in some brewery, somewhere. It’s an ever-changing, but familiar combination of emotion and feeling that is rarely captured on film.

Somehow, Joe Swanberg (who must be a realist) was able to coax admirable sincerity out of Olivia Wilde and Jake Johnson, most likely a byproduct of the script’s improvisational nature. Actors were given a grand overview of the major plot points, and for each scene were plainly told to make certain things happen; that’s it. They were given bullet points, but no actual script (as far as I know).

Improvisation-based scenes coupled with incredible actors who inhabited their characters resulted in a truly heartfelt, and multifaceted film. Allowing these actors the freedom to play with their characters was an ingenious choice by Swanberg, because instead of watching two pieces of cardboard spit out lines, inevitably leading us down the familiar rom-com path, I was able to watch seemingly real people play out a real relationship. Consequently, a relationship so nuanced I cannot really describe without going into unnecessary detail.

Yes, it has a similar set-up. Both Olivia Wilde and Jake Johnson work together at a brewery, while their significant others do not, which cultivates a sexual tension that the film maddeningly focuses upon. But familiar territory, which at times can be boring, springs to life due to the honesty of the characters, their jobs, their smiles and jokes. It hits home because it feels as though your watching people’s real lives unfold before your eyes. Their characters remind you of your real-life friends or girlfriends, since they have the same attitudes or habits that maybe drive you crazy, but at the same time make you love them more.

I guess I would say that “Drinking Buddies” is less a romantic comedy, and more a snapshot of authentic relationships. Who’d a thunk?

Cheers,

Gabri

 

Here is the trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YYMY4PcmT4

“Jasmin” isn’t in Kansas anymore

“Blue Jasmin” pg-13

Release Date: 1 August 2013

Director: Woody Allen

Running Time: 98 min

Grade: A

I noticed a curious thing maybe 30 minutes into the film. People would laugh whenever Jasmin, played by Cate Blanchett, started to have a mental breakdown.

Isn’t that curious?

As Jasmin begins to cry, her mascara streaking across her face and her hands shaking, she talks about her past with Hal (Alec Baldwin), their chic dinner parties and all around extravagant lifestyle,  before he went to prison for fraud and killed himself. Before Jasmin lost everything.

During these moments, Allen shamelessly focuses on Blanchett’s face as it contorts into expressions of pain, guilt, frustration, fear, and above all, shame. Only with such a combination of superb acting and appropriately neurotic writing do these moments of psychotic babbling become captivating and at the same time uncomfortable. So uncomfortable, I believe, that the audience laughs to release the nervous tension that comes with watching an utterly humiliated woman slowly lose her mind.

The movie begins “in medias res” and follows Jasmin as she goes to San Francisco to stay with her lower middle-class sister. She is forced to adapt to these new circumstances, but continues to drink alcohol in an attempt to numb her pain. As she tries to get by in her sister’s apartment, we get glimpses of her previous luxurious life through flashbacks. Alec Baldwin plays Hal, a refreshingly cool and stylish Wall Street executive who liked to play around, and Jasmin, we start to understand, was his stone-cold, self-absorbed stylish wife.

What truly makes “Blue Jasmin” a masterful film is that it takes a completely unlikeable, disgustingly entitled woman like Jasmin, and humanizes her in such a way that your prejudices disappear. It even makes you interested in her despair, because once her materialistic world falls apart, her fragile, insecure self emerges and is scrutinized.

Thought-provoking and full of amazing performances,Gabri

Here’s the trailer:

“4 months” follows the abortion process in communist Romania

“4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days” NR

Release Date: 14 September 2007

Director: Cristian Mungiu

Running Time: 113 min

Grade: B+

While “4 months, 3 weeks, and 2 days” sometimes tries too hard to impart meaning, it makes up for it with engagingly bleak cinematography and interesting editing. As the camera lingers on the faces of these two poor women, we are able to analyze their pain, guilt, passion, and fear. With very little editing, their situation becomes very real to the audience. We are forced to pay attention to every little detail on screen without any quick editing to distract us.  Their misery is hard to ignore.

This is a brave directorial approach. We are encouraged to look as a college student helps her roommate get an abortion, but at the same time we are given the opportunity to make assumptions, to judge whether it is right or wrong. Nothing is over-dramatized and nothing is truly left to the imagination. And with that, the film lays out each objective scene slowly one by one and then leaves you in peace with your thoughts (and plenty of opinions).
 

The film, with its minimalistic script, colorless communist environment, and even more depressing subject matter, stays alive due to the incredible acting from Anamaria Marinca and Laura Vasiliu. Without these two, the film is un-watchable. Their actions and intonations are what keep us morbidly captivated during those unimaginably long (but focused) un-edited scenes.

As Cristian follows them, sometimes literally with a handheld camera, from their dorm, to the hotel room, to the abortion and beyond, he shows us (as expected with such subject matter) their misery and pain. But the film depicts each and every scene with such refreshing sincerity, that that in itself is what makes it worth watching.

Check it out,

Gabri

Here is the trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZisE16JBUMA

Matt Damon Wants To Get To “Elysium”

“Elysium” R

Release Date: 9 August 2013

Director: Neill Blomkamp

Running Time: 109 min

Grade: B/B+

While not as original as District 9, “Elysium” envelopes you in a believable dystopian future right from the beginning. With its imaginative robots and gadgets, and realistic portrayal of Los Angeles in 2154 as a crime-ridden slum, Mr. Blomkamp places us in his world alongside Max (Matt Damon) as he not only fights for his own survival, but for the future of the unlucky masses who live on earth.

While Secretary Delacourt (Jodie Foster), sits on Elysium, a space-station for the wealthy, and shoots down incoming (illegal) immigrants from Earth (Blomkamp likes playing with the concept of illegal immigration, doesn’t he?),  Max and friends accept a daunting mission to go to Elysium to not only get Max emergency medical help but also brighten Earth’s future.

While Damon brings his own humanity to his character Max, Sharlto Copley, who plays a gleefully insane covert operative by the name of Kruger, and Wagner Moura, who acts as an equally psychotic (good guy?) gang lord/computer scientist named Spider, both craft awesome characters that are truly fun to watch.

I especially enjoyed watching Sharlto Copley as the ruthless Kruger, since I remembered him playing the lead character Wikus in “District 9”, who goes from being a total loser to an awesome hero. In “Elysium”, Copley executes flawlessly an almost complete 180 degree character switch, and that alone makes “Elysium” pretty entertaining.

Just as in District 9, Blomkamp uses handheld crazyness to get us more intimately involved in his environment and characters, which at times is amazing with all the cool weaponry, robots and new-age technology. About halfway through the film, a fantastically orchestrated fight scene uses a combination of slow-motion handheld/Go-Pro camera action to its advantage, making you feel right in the middle of things. On the other hand, the wobbly cinematography can also become distracting, especially when the action becomes so relentless that it’s like you’re watching “Transformers” with all the smashing, rolling, and metal-on-metal clashing.

Mr. Blomkamp, sadly, does utilize violence even when it doesn’t further the story. And that does detract from the sophistication of the film, for example, in one scene the audience knows what’s coming next, but has to suffer through a 3 minute fight scene to get there.

But despite trying to please a younger audience with those excessive bursts of gun/knife-welding mania, regardless of the fact that there are some glaring discrepancies and continuity issues, and even though Max’s love interest is pretty damn forgettable, “Elysium” managed to triumphantly captivate my attention for one hour and forty-nine minutes. With its fast-paced, interesting yet simple plot, awesome special effects and quality acting, it definitely satisfied my science-fiction crave.

It didn’t meet the hype, but it is still entertaining,

Gabri

Here is the trailer:

What is life without “Amour”

“Amour” PG-13

Release Date: 20 September 2012

Director: Michael Haneke

Running Time: 127 min

Grade: A-

I’m very surprised this film is PG-13. This should definitely be an R-rated film considering it depicts what happens when a loved one suffers a stroke, one of the most horrifying circumstances anybody can face any day.

Regardless, out of immense misery and pain Michael Haneke is able to construct something touching and at times even uplifting, but in no way expect to leave this movie in soaring spirits. As I watched “Amour”, I kept asking myself why I was continuing to watch it, especially because of its absolutely dire plot. I realized that I was continually being impressed by its truthful portrayal of real life, an aspect that is rarely seen in film these days, lost amongst all the special effects, explosions, and shallow one-liners. Half of the credit goes to the actors, Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva, who play the old couple and who squeeze as much meaning as possible out of the concisest of dialogue. Much of the film is either silent or has inconsequential dialogue, but these two actors use their faces, their actions, to embellish upon their characters and the story in every scene. The other half of the credit goes to Michael Haneke, who maximizes the thematic utility of only one room, their Parisian flat, by filming the entire film within its walls. We spend approximately two hours in the flat with this couple, as one copes with another’s series of unfortunate events, but not until later on do we realize we’ve never gone outside. This creates an intimacy between the audience and the couple, since we see them from their waking moments to their desperate interactions to their conversations at the dinner table. As their lives slowly tumble downhill, we experience their emotional roller coaster since we’ve been there from the beginning, because we’ve stayed in the room with them, and never left. Long scenes, without any editing or camera movement also allows the audience to feel as though they are an objective spectator, watching these two lives unfold without any outside interference or artificiality. Because of that, we are allowed to see love in its purest form.

One of the more interesting facts about this film is that the couple are both accomplished musicians, and that the woman who suffers a stroke and consequently paralysis was a pianist. Stepping back, one realizes that this woman, who used her body elegantly and creatively to create magnificent works of art, is subjected to her worst fate, slowly having her body fall apart. But one of the more salient points is made by the fact that toward the end this wealthy couple, who lives in this beautiful Parisian flat surrounded by paintings, books, and a grand piano, can easily leave the materialistic world behind. In fact, the flat is never glorified, on the contrary, in the film’s final scenes its grand display of wealth and sophistication becomes a morbid reminder that nobody, even the most privileged in society, can escape the inevitability that is death.

Sincerely,
Gabri

Here is the trailer:

Playing with “Mud” is a complex endeavor

“Mud” PG-13

Release Date: 10 May 2013

Director: Jeff Nichols

Running Time: 130 min

Grade: A-

Superb performances, beautiful direction, but most importantly, its original twist to a simple plot make this movie. It has its obvious odes to Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, but the story stays firmly grounded in reality and in the emotions of Ellis, the 14 year old southern boy who plays the main character. As both Ellis and his buddy Neckbone help a convict (Matthew McConaughey) reunite with his “girl”, we watch as everyone’s selfish interests come to the fore. Whether it be Ellis’ blinding belief in true love, or Mud’s wish to win back the girl who never wanted him, these motives and passions change as the characters evolve and interact, but in a fascinatingly subtle way.

Other story lines run parallel to the main plot and add tangible depth to the motives behind Ellis’ fascination with Mud’s story, one that depends heavily on the idea of true love. Ellis clings onto Mud’s love story as he watches his own parents struggle with divorce. Frustrated and let down, Ellis escapes his crumbling family situation by loosing himself in Mud’s exciting adventure, and that’s what makes “Mud” such a surprisingly complex film given its simple storyline, the way Nichols weaves relationships, hopes, and dreams together into a comprehensible depiction of life’s disappointments, revelations, and unexpected beauty.

With a quaint southern town and its swampy wilderness as a backdrop, the film seems to move along slowly but steadily like the river, which the story revolves around. Specific motifs are foreshadowed rather shamelessly, and in that way Jeff’s direction can be a little too obvious, but those occurrences are rare. Nichols directs almost always in this southern twilight, almost hazy and dreamlike as if the sun is constantly setting. Without much else to drive the story besides the characters, he focuses relentlessly on the portraits of Ellis and Mud, who deliver consistently marvelous performances. In reality, his direction reminds me of Steven Soderbergh’s direction in Magic Mike, which also starred Matthew McConaughey but was a film of a much lower quality. I highly recommend watching Mud, you won’t regret it. The only thing to be aware of his Reese Witherspoon’s rather poor acting. She has such a simple part, but I feel as though she didn’t do a good job at all with her simple default pouty face.

Here is the trailer:

The New “Playbook” For Romantic Comedies

“Silver Linings Playbook” R

Release Date: 25 December 2012

Director: David O. Russell

Running Time: 122 min

Grade: B+

I’m hesitant to give this movie a B+, but for a film whose plot line lies in regularly charted territory, it makes sense. What territory may you ask? Well, the romantic comedy genre of course.

That being said, this movie’s got the superb acting, chemistry, and character development to hoist the rather predictable storyline to an Oscar nomination, which I think might be too much recognition but nonetheless is understandable.

What’s specifically special about this film is Bradley Cooper’s bi-polar, highly dimensional character Pat whose offbeat candor and childlike search for love makes “Playbook” both light and joyful as well as broodingly introspective. Cooper’s fights with his father (played by a very real and emotional Robert De Niro), his depression and his manic episodes at the doctor’s office paint a picture of a man whose life has broken a part. We see a man who fervently holds onto the hope that somehow he’ll get back his ex-wife who’ll make him complete again.

Russell balances perfectly the incredibly dark aspect to Pat’s life with the greater picture of family and romance. Themes from Russell’s previous movie “The Fighter” show up in “Playbook” in how both films involve down-to-earth, flawed but colorful human-beings rising to the occasion and overcoming substantial odds. What makes this movie such a fun ride and what probably got “Silver Linings Playbook” an Oscar nomination for best picture (though it’s a rom-com) is Russell’s flawless adaption of this theme to the romantic comedy genre. Instead of boxing, it’s battling mental illness. Instead of drug addiction (Christian Bale’s key character flaw in “The Fighter” is drug use) and poverty, these characters deal with lying, cheating, and family issues. By layering enough nuances onto a theme Russell had previously mastered, he managed to create an intriguing piece from a simple storyline in a usually uninspiring genre. 

Set it in urban Philadelphia with funny and charming friends makes a wonderful contrast to Cooper’s disruptive but energetic character when he moves back into his parent’s house after having an 8-month stint in a mental institution. For the first hour, you see a good-hearted man who struggles with so much and who acts like a total asshole, but who you can’t help like.

While we see Cooper’s character, Pat, transform thanks to Tiffany (who is played by Jennifer Lawrence) who intervens in his mid-life crisis, I almost began to miss the mentally ill but entertainingly three-dimensional character Pat grows out of. Not to say Cooper’s character is flat in the last scene, but Pat’s eclecticism obviously disappears, which helps conclude the story but is what makes this movie a rom-com. All the same, though Jennifer Lawrence’s involvement might slightly detract from the movie’s fantastically dark, zany beginnings, she also adds a damaged, mentally ill character, Tiffany, which results in amazing chemistry with Pat. In the end, when both characters, Tiffany and Pat, bring their damaged lives to the forefront with refreshingly frank dialogue, you cannot help but get enthralled by the complexities of both their struggles and the way their lives satisfyingly come together.

Lastly, I wanted to talk a little about the interesting direction. Handheld shots mixed in with picturesque close ups of shoes and faces magnify the ethereal realism of this love story without making it seem overly cheesy or fake. Some scenes seem as though they’re moving sequences of photos in a photo album, and it that way Russell makes the story more believable and touching.

Worth a watch for sure,

Gabri
Here is the trailer:

“Django” Blows the Chains Off

“Django: Unchained” R

Release Date: 25 December 2012

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Running Time: 165 min

Grade: A

The blood, explosions, and quick camera zooms are welcomed by an audience who knows what a Quentino film is all about. In no way is this a movie for the faint-of-heart, but neither can I truly dissuade anyone from seeing this film since it is a visual/literary masterpiece. Yes, literary. The dialogue is a-la Tarantino since he wrote the script, so extended banter and witty one-liners are plentiful. This is all alongside dizzying camera zooms, quick editing, yellow-tinted closeups and wide-shots, as well as majestic slow motion and panoramic sweeps.

Jamie Foxx and Christopher Waltz deliver solid performances. Waltz plays a relatively similar character to the Jew-hunter asshole he plays in Inglorious Bastards, another Tarantino film, since he plays a bounty hunter. His charming cheery smiles and tight-lipped way he enunciates every word is captivating and makes his cold-blooded job somewhat benign. One almost wants to be Waltz’s bounty hunting companion. Jamie Foxx is not the star of this film. He is a nice figurehead though, and does a good job acting like he’s on a mission of vengeance while delivering some great lines.

Leonardo Dicaprio and Samuel Jackson are twisted and enthralling. I would have to say Leonardo Dicaprio and Christopher Waltz are probably the most fun actors to watch, but Samuel Jackson’s devilish supporting character (he plays Dicaprio’s servant) is still fantastically predictable. Leonardo plays Calvin Candie, a plantation owner who owns Django’s long-lost wife and consequently is the fulcrum of Django’s rage, receiving a visit from both Django and Dr. Schultz (Waltz) late into the film. The vigor with which Dicaprio charms his guests and cracks skulls is refreshing to see from the Titanic star; the gleeful evil he exerts is fantastic. Considering he is taking on the role of Jay Gatsby relatively soon it’ll be interesting to see how well he does a complete character 180. Simple things make this film a masterpiece, like the way Dicaprio’s rotting teeth glisten when he grins, how Waltz twirls his mustache or the way Samuel Jackson’s droopy eyes glare.

It’s required that I mention it is a long film, running almost 3 hours. But all I can say is plan to make a night of going out to see “Django: Unchained”. It might sag slightly in the middle, or slightly toward the end when the audience is waiting for the final climax (after sitting in their seats for almost 2 hours and 20 minutes) but pushing through is definitely worth it (because the climax is explosive and bloody).

That leads me to the blood. Boy, does Quentin Tarantino like blood, gore, torture, and death. Full warning, it is almost a constant stream of violence just like sex/nudity in Game of Thrones. I, personally, find the blood and gore exciting and satisfying, especially how whenever someone gets shot a swirling, bucket of red dye seems to be thrown in the air. Most of the gunfights are tangibly fake, making the movie more spaghetti western than torture-porn. There are gory, disturbing parts to this film but in the end Tarantino spares the audience from full-face bashing.

The soundtrack is awesome and eclectically mixed together. Great Rick Ross bass, jazzy tunes, opera, Beethoven, swing, and western spindle-weedy songs make great back drop for the scenes they score. But put together into one very long film, each vignette having very starkly contrasting music makes the movie seem somewhat discontinuous. At times I did find the music distracting, but it added flare as well. All I can say is when I heard a blaring bass blast through the surround sound as Jamie Foxx gallops on his horse, I was mildly surprised. 

Django is a film that touches on slavery, and when a film handles the topic well, it deserves a measure of respect. Twistedly, though Django blows away almost every man in the film, Django and his story earns our respect.

Quentin Tarantino seems to try and take  perceived African American rage and let it loose on screen. I definitely think he is commenting on the still racially tense society we live in today. Regardless, the way the anger and vengeance splatters all over the place is fucking awesome.

P.S. Did I mention it’s funny too?
Trailer:

Male Strippers and “Magic Mike”

“Magic Mike” R

Release Date: 29 June 2012

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Running Time: 110 min

Grade: C+

Channing Tatum plays Magic Mike, a male stripper who recruits a kid named Adam, played by Alex Pettyfer, to join the club he works at, which is owned by Matthew McConaughey. Things go sour once Pettyfer gets involved with drugs, but prior to the fiasco the audience gets to see plenty of stripping and a naked Olivia Munn. In a nutshell, this is a contemporary, tamer, and lamer version of the male porn star film-bio Boogie Nights, which I coincidentally saw 3 days before seeing this film.

If you’re a girl who wants to see a lot of men half naked, this is a film for you. If you’re looking for some decent acting by Channing Tatum or breakout performances from nobodies like Alex Pettyfer, then this movie will fulfill your desires. The film has a nice beach-movie feel thanks to Soderbergh’s direction and the Florida location. The camera angles are rarely wide shots, instead they remain relatively restricted and personal giving at times beautiful, real and enjoyable scenes. There are some great shots of the beach/Tampa, FL and there is an interesting scene of Alex Pettyfer all drugged out in the back of a truck. But if you are looking for a witty, sharp script and chemistry between the opposite sexes, then you should look somewhere else. What truly got under my skin were the acting skills of Cody Horn, who plays Pettyfer’s big sister and who annoyed the shit out of me.

She was horrible. At the beginning, before Channing Tatum becomes infatuated with Horn, the movie is actually interesting and funny. Matthew McConaughey’s overly egotistical character can be annoying at times but he sure is entertaining. Alex Pettyfer delivers decent monologues and surprisingly shows talent as an actor as well as a male stripper. But once Tatum involves himself with Horn, the audience has to deal with Horn and her poorly delivered lines and facial expressions. I can’t remember if the script was horrible or if her bad acting ruined it for me. Half of the time, it seemed like she was trying to hold back a smile while she said things that were supposed to be far from funny. Her fake laugh was so bad I wanted to leave the theater.

I see promise in Tatum and Pettyfer, and the directing was good. But boy did Cody Horn ruin what could have potentially been a B movie.

Gabri

Trailer: