Originally posted 11/28/14 on Silver Screen Serenade - NOOOOvember: Dell on Movies.
Dell slaves over a hot Blu-ray player for the good of mankind.
Sunday, November 30, 2014
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Tuesday, November 18, 2014
August: Osage County
Directed by John Wells.
2013. Rated R, 121 minutes.
Cast:
Meryl Streep
Julia Roberts
Ewan McGregor
Benedict Cumberbatch
Chris Cooper
Abigail Breslin
Juliette Lewis
Margo Martindale
Dermot Mulroney
Julianne Nicholson
Sam Shepard
Misty Upham
Beverly (Shepard) is a man at the end of his wits. He's been married to Violet (Streep) forever and ever. She's a mean old biddy who has been stricken with mouth cancer, but keeps sucking down cigarettes. She medicates herself with as many pain killers as she can get her hands on. He prefers to drink away his pain. One day, Beverly goes out and doesn't come home. After a few days, Violet calls everyone in the family she can get a hold of to help her solve the mystery and the whole dysfunctional clan shows up. Her daughter Ivy (Nicholson) appears first, since she lives in the area. Then, in some order I can't exactly recall, the house fills up with up with people. There's daughter Barbara (Roberts), along with her husband Bill (McGregor), and their daughter Jean (Breslin). Daughter Karen (Lewis) arrives with "this year's man," Steve (Mulroney). Violet's loud sister Mattie Fae (Martindale) rumbles in, dragging her hubby Charles (Casper) with her. At some point, later on, Mattie Fae's and Charles' son Little Charles (Cumberbatch) joins the fray. Every one of these people has serious issues with themselves and each other. You know what that means. Oscar baiting ensues.
In seemingly trying to garner accolades for its cast, August: Osage County comes off more as a collection of clips worthy of awards ceremonies than the gripping drama it impersonates. The actors take turns showcasing their chops. More accurately, headliners Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts take lots of turns while the others get a scene or two apiece. Luckily, it's an amazing cast. Just about everyone is at their fiery best. Every line is delivered with passion and conviction.
Playing our main protagonist, Streep inhabits her role so fully, it's scary. She makes the cigarette between her fingers and the cloud of smoke swirling around her head while puffs of it punctuate her speech integral parts of Violet's persona. She's clearly a fire-breathing dragon once she gets riled up. While Streep is constantly on the attack, Roberts is busy counter-punching. A strong presence in her own right, she never withers beneath her co-star's massive light. Instead, she fires back in verbally violent fashion, commanding the screen as she does.
As stated, the rest of the players all knock it out the park when they step up to the plate. Margo Martindale provides the thunder to Streep's lightning. she is appropriately loud and angry. The difference is where Streep is sinking her fangs into everyone in sight, Martindale is usually trying to make someone do something. As her husband, Cooper fares best amongst the men in the cast. It's not that anyone is bad. Even the weakest links in the cast, either Nicholson or Breslin, are both very good. Ladies and gentlemen, when the masters decide to chew scenery, this is how they do it.
That I've spent most of my review to this point gushing over the acting begs the question 'why don't I love this movie?' The answer lies in something I snuck in a little earlier. It plays like a collection of clips. Due to the talent on display, they are immensely watchable. However, what links them just feels like a writer purposely throwing fuel on various fires to create melodrama. Between every rant, another problem is added to the mix until it all becomes too much for the movie to bear. Eventually, I just rolled my eyes as the next thing always and inevitably happens. In that way, it's very Tyler Perry-esque. We get one earth-shattering revelation after another until the film collapses beneath its own weight. What we're left with is a movie that is much less than the sum of its parts.
Monday, November 17, 2014
Blog Announcement: No More Numbers
Posting my best and worst movies of 2013 made me re-think a certain aspect of my reviewing process. More accurately, those were the straws that broke the bull's back. From this point forward, I will no longer include "MY SCORE" as part of my reviews.
Over the last few months, I've become disenchanted with finishing off my reviews by trying to sum it all up in one number, or a score. The score serves as a hindrance to lists like the two mentioned above which I do enjoy making. The problem is I start to beat myself up over ranking one movie over another even though the scores I've assigned to them suggests that it should be the other way around. After all, what if someone actually went back to those reviews and called me on it?
The fact of the matter is that the score is actually the least reliable part of my review. Instead of being a true representation of how I feel about a movie, it becomes how I think I feel about it at a particular moment in time in comparison to other movies I've recently seen. For instance, I rated Blue is the Warmest Color as my third best movie of '13. My initial score for it was 8.5/10. A number of movies I ranked behind it had better scores, including 12 Years a Slave which I initially gave a perfect ten. For Blue I saw it at a time when I knew I would still see many more movies from that year and had already seen a number of its better movies. Most of them I had given an 8.5/10. I loved Blue, but wasn't sure it was head and shoulders above any of the others, so that score felt justified. By the time I watched 12 Years, the tide had changed a little. My initial viewing of The Place Beyond the Pines blew me away, so I immediately gave that one a 9/10. I thought 12 Years was clearly better, so 10 it was. As the weeks and months passed, my opinion of Pines started to wane a bit while that of Blue elevated. See how complicated this became?
It's an unnecessary and silly stress, too.
My true opinion of a movie is much better summed up in the actual reviews themselves. That's why I write them. The reasons I like or dislike a movie are far more stable than a number I slap on after the last paragraph. Those things are hard-wired into my feelings on what I've just watched. They're less likely to change since each review is a self-contained examination of an individual film. Of course, exceptions are made for sequels, prequels, and remakes when I often refer to their predecessors. Still, they aren't comparisons to other movies released within a given time period.
Not including scores is beneficial to you, the reader, too. It's too easy to forget what's been written about a movie because whatever score it's given carries its own connotations which overwhelms everything else. I might give a movie a glowing review, but give it a score higher or lower than someone thinks it should be and that's where the focus is. I've done it myself on a number of sites, perhaps even yours. It's a pretty natural thing to do, really. We've been doing it ever since that very first time a paper we turned in didn't get the 'A' we think it deserved. Without having that tidy little summation, the reader is forced to deal with the reasoning laid out and then decide whether they agree, or not. That's really all I want for my blog. Well, that, and to not fret over my own grading system when trying to decide if one movie is better than another.
Saturday, November 15, 2014
Best Movies of 2013
A few days ago, I shared with you what I think the worst movies of 2013 were. Now, it's time to turn that frown upside down and give you my opinion on last year's best. Just to get this out of the way, there are some critically acclaimed movies that I haven't had the pleasure of viewing just yet. Some of these include:
All is Lost, Before Midnight, Filth, Frances Ha, The Hunt, Kill Your Darlings, The Kings of Summer, Much Ado About Nothing, Philomena, Upstream Color.
With that all taken care of, let's move on. When we did the worst, we listed 20 movies. Since I like being positive more than negative, we're listing out 25 movies that I think are well worth your time. Click on the titles below to read my full reviews. One other thing, I never rank documentaries on these lists. Just doesn't feel right lumping them in with the rest. Silly quirk, I know, but it is what it is. Okay, I lied, there is one other thing. The order I rank these movies now does not necessarily reflect the scores I gave them in my initial reviews. Oh, well. Things change. And with no further adieu, here are...
The Best Movies of 2013
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20. Stoker
Famed Korean director Park Chan-wook's American debut is a visually arresting and psychologically twisted tale. Much meaning and emotion is conveyed in every shot. All of them would make fantastic still photos.
If you want to take a trip to the dark side, check out:
Thursday, November 13, 2014
Thursday Movie Picks: Movies About Making Movies
Lights, camera, action!
That was my very lame, and cliched way of starting this week's entry for the Thursday Movie Picks meme hosted by Wanderer of Wandering Through the Shelves. The reason I started that way is because this week's theme is "Movies About Making Movies." There have been lots of great films on the subject. These include one of the best musicals ever made, Singin' in the Rain. Another considered a classic by many is Sunset Boulevard. Of more recent vintage, there are such acclaimed films as Ed Wood, Boogie Nights, The Aviator, The Artist, Tropic Thunder, My Week with Marilyn, Hugo, and even horror flick The Cabin in the Woods. We've even had not so acclaimed fare such as Hitchcock.
But, you should know me by now. I'm not going down those paths. I've dug through the bargain bin that is my movie watching experience and come up with some hidden gems. Chronologically, they are...
Hollywood Shuffle
(1987)
Produced, directed, starring, and co-written by Robert Townsend (Keenen Ivory Wayans and Dom Irrera also helped write), this is a smart satire dealing with the relationship between Hollywood and actors of color. Our main character is one such actor trying to get his big break. He has to deal with the ethical dilemma posed by the roles he, and most African-American actors are offered, or not offered. It is very funny, has a lot to say, and unfortunately, is not as dated as a nearly thirty year old satire should be. By the way, the story of how Hollywood Shuffle came to be made is also fascinating. For starters, Townsend financed much of it himself using his personal credit cards when he wasn't exactly rolling in the dough.
Bowfinger
(1999)
Of my three picks, this is probably the least "hidden." However, it is definitely on topic. Steve Martin plays Bobby Bowfinger, a super-low budget movie director who wants to film his next project using superstar Kit Ramsey played by Eddie Murphy. Of course, he can't afford Ramsey so Bowfinger does what any enterprising director would, films Ramsey on the streets of Hollywood without the star's knowledge. When this backfires, Bowfinger then hires a clueless guy named Jiff, who happens to look just like the movie star. Why wouldn't he? Jiff is also played by Murphy. A very fun, underrated movie ensues.
Baadasssss!
(2003)
If you've been hanging around here for a while, or have browsed around the place, you may have figured out that I have an affinity for Blaxploitation. What a lot of people don't realize is that the reason it's considered exploitation is that even though the movies were made with black audiences in mind, they were often created by and benefitted white filmmakers. However, the entire genre is really birthed from a little movie called Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song by black director Melvin Van Peebles who wrote, produced, directed, and starred in it. Remember what I said about Townsend financing Hollywood Shuffle? Van Peebles did that and more, including securing a loan from none other than Bill Cosby, to get his movie into theaters way back in 1971. This movie is all about that process. Since the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, Baadasssss! was written, produced, directed by, and stars Melvin's son Mario.
Other topics covered on Thursday Movie Picks:
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Worst Movies of 2013
The other day, I rolled out the 2013 Dellies. If you checked them out, you might recall me mentioning that I've seen approximately 130 of the movies that were released during last year. Of those, let me tell you, there were a number of duds. I've managed to miss some that have been deemed terrible by everyone else, such as:
The Big Wedding, The Canyons, Getaway, A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, The Last Exorcism Part 2, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, Movie 43, Paranoia, Safe Haven, Scary Movie 5
Now, on to the crap that I did see. Most of them I've already reviewed. Click on the titles for my full two cents. Now, here's about one cent on each of
The Worst Movies of 2013
It's better than another Wayans Brothers horror spoof, the Scary Movie franchise.
Unfortunately, the breadth and scope of the damage being done is all there is. Sure, there’s the bit about who is betraying who, but it’s nothing that couldn't have been written out, in full, on the back of a napkin.
With the formula pretty much set in stone, The Heat dutifully goes down the checklist of buddy flick tropes.
Unfortunately, the positives aren't nearly as weighty as the negatives. The good things amount to a few empty thrills.
Similarly to the blandness of most of the characters, the plot unfolds in not-so-thrilling fashion.
Pretty pictures do not a movie make. In this case, it's lipstick on a pig. That might make it a great looking pig, but I still don't want to kiss it.
Since what it tries to be and what it is don’t line up it all becomes laughable. It’s also heavy-handed with an over-simplified conclusion.
The best way for me to describe what happens without spoiling it is to say "oops." It's the type of finale a movie can get away with if it passes itself off as a slice of life story, or maybe if it's a Coen Brothers flick. Here, it just makes me want to grab a wooden stake and hunt down the director.
After a funny sex scene, and the inclusion of some gangsters that never fully makes sense, we arrive at the point where we've heard all the jokes and seen all the gags this movie has to offer...Identity Thief just keeps repeating itself until it mercifully decides to end.
For me, it didn't quite come together like it did the first time. Almost all of the focus has been removed in the name of making the sequel a "bigger" movie than its predecessor.
It is ambitious, pretty to look at, but overly derivative and utterly contrived.
Unfortunately, the bad far outweighs the good. You may not agree if you delight in seeing just how strange things can get. If that's your deal then you should have already watched this.
What tears it for me is how aggressively bizarre the whole thing is. And not in a good way, either. It's an off putting kind of strange that gets worse as it goes along.
I'm guessing Channing Tatum, or Columbus Short were both busy...or got a look at the script and chose wisely. I wish I had.
To blame for this atrocity we have writer/director David E. Talbert, or Tyler Perry 2.0, as I like to call him.
The end result of all this is that the movie just drones on and on and on for its entire run time. In other words, its 107 minutes feel like they are multiplying as they slowly pass.
Fish out of water tales can be wonderful. They usually focus on one fish trying to gain his/her footing in a new environment. In this case, all of the fish are out of water and we just watch them flop around for an hour and a half.
Everything feels bland and rehashed. It's like they've just been slipped into a ready-made plot.
It’s all just a misogynistic and nihilistic fantasy that makes a dated referendum on people with tattoos.
The Big Wedding, The Canyons, Getaway, A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, The Last Exorcism Part 2, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, Movie 43, Paranoia, Safe Haven, Scary Movie 5
Now, on to the crap that I did see. Most of them I've already reviewed. Click on the titles for my full two cents. Now, here's about one cent on each of
The Worst Movies of 2013
5. Black Nativity
Put bluntly, Black Nativity is a frustrating watch. The cast isn't nearly as good as one would expect while the story vacillates between spouting cliches and flying completely off the rails.
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