As Larry David would say, pret-ty, pret-ty good. But way too long. Lots of battles, special effects, gadgets, and the return of some regulars from the six other chapters. I wrote my first ever movie review in 1977 of Episode IV in a newsletter for Film Women of Boston. Before I moved this summer I knew exactly where the hard copy was but now I don't. If it turns up I'll transcribe it and paste onto the bottom of this one. I skipped the next three episodes. Advice circulating on the world wide web advises in what order to watch the series: IV, V, II, III, and VI. Episode I is optional. Having seen IV, V, and VI (I think) I prepared by looking at the wikipedia entries for some of them and then my eyes glazed over. Don't worry, you should be able to follow this one without advance preparation.
Harrison Ford (last blogged in 42) is dashing as ever as Han Solo. Carrie Fisher made much of her being required to lose weight to reprise her role as Princess Leia. My favorite line was, "They might as well say 'Get younger,' because that's how easy it is" That said, even though she seemed quite slimmed down from the last time I saw her on screen (in the serieses Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce and Catastrophe), her wooden manner tells me she's a way better writer than actress. The most striking new kid is Daisy Ridley as Rey, a kick-ass girl who can run like the wind. Another relative unknown, John Boyega, stars as Finn. They are joined by, among many, the immensely talented Oscar Isaac as Poe and Adam Driver as Kylo Ren (most recently in Ex Machina and While We're Young, respectively). Nice that Isaac finally gets to play someone optimistic instead of his usual angry, sinister, or depressed. Domhnall Gleeson (last in The Revenant, another two hour 36 minute extravaganza, which we saw the next day a week ago) shows his range by playing a Hitler-type general. The rest of the cast and the trivia are too long to list here, although it's noteworthy that Lupita Nyong'o, who won the Oscar as a newcomer in 12 Years a Slave, voices the character of Maz.
Director/co-writer J.J. Abrams (last blogged for Star Trek Into Darkness) wrote the script with Lawrence Kasdan (covered in Darling Companion, in which I noted that he wrote Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)) and Michael Arndt (he wrote Little Miss Sunshine (2006) which won him his Oscar, Toy Story 3, as well also one of the earlier Hunger Games and A Walk in the Woods (2015) under pseudonyms, but I didn't see the latter two, though I wanted to see A Walk in the Woods).
John Williams (last blogged in The Book Thief) earns his 31st Oscar nomination (he has won five times) for the classic score. One of his Oscar wins was for Episode IV and he was nominated for V and VI (further incentive to skip the other three?). If you want to hear the current score, go to this link, pause it, click the settings gear, change the speed to 0.5, and click play. Or ditch John Williams and just listen to Bill Murray sing it. The movie has earned four other Oscar nominations and one each from the Art Directors' Guild and Costume Designers' Guild.
Fan-kids and movie buffs won't miss it and, due to Disney's having bought Lucasfilm, no one could escape the ads and tie-ins for months before its opening. We saw it in 3-D IMAX because we knew the technology would be top-notch, and it certainly was.
93% from critics and 90 from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes keeps this chugging along. You already know if you'll like it or not.
Sunday, January 24, 2016
Anomalisa (2015)
Ann, Carolyn, Jack, and I liked this crazy animated feature about a depressed (and crazy) guy who meets an insecure (and crazy) woman on a business trip. I knew going in that there were only three voice actors: the man, the woman, and another man did everyone else's voice. That's good to know because you might think you are going crazy when people of all ages and both sexes sound the same.
David Thewlis (last blogged for The Theory of Everything) and Jennifer Jason Leigh (most recently in The Hateful Eight) are masterful in their roles as is Tom Noonan (part of the ensemble of co-director/co-writer Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York) who puts mood and feeling into each part he voices.
Kaufman won a writing Oscar for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2005), and was nominated for the original script of Being John Malkovich (1999) and adapting Adaptation (2002). All of them, and particularly Synecdoche, play fast and loose with reality and sanity. He also wrote the excellent Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), about the not-terribly sane Chuck Barris. This is Kaufman's second time directing and here he shares that duty and writing with Duke Johnson (new to me, he's an animator). The movie is nominated for the Best Animated Feature Oscar (awarded to the producers) and more. See my running list of nominations and awards.
The animation technique is stop-motion, in which the characters are photographed still, then moved in tiny increments, and all the photos are pieced together, such as in The Fantastic Mr. Fox or all the Wallace & Gromit movies. Some have been confused by the term "puppets," so maybe "dolls" would be more descriptive, because, like Pinocchio, they've got no strings. They're not realistic, with shortened arms, stubby fingers on big hands, and seams across their faces that make them look as if they're wearing glasses. Here are a production still and a close-up.
Do NOT bring the kids--they'd be bored before the onset of full nudity and sex anyway. Two separate stories on NPR said that the movement of naked bodies was a challenge for the animators and the sex scene was a challenge for Leigh.
During the movie you will be told the meaning and pronunciation of the title and will probably figure out why everyone else is voiced by Noonan. Or you can look up this term, used as a name early on. Because some might find it a spoiler, I won't print it. There's only one trivia item: that Lisa calls the freeway in Ohio "the 71," which is not likely to be used for a freeway in Ohio. I know that's how it's said in California. Imdb says it's also used in western New York.
The music, by Carter Burwell (Carol) is very pretty and you can listen to the first track on the album here.
Rotten Tomatoes' critics are averaging 92% and its audiences 76. Not for the impatient, it takes a while to get going, but worth it for serious movie lovers.
David Thewlis (last blogged for The Theory of Everything) and Jennifer Jason Leigh (most recently in The Hateful Eight) are masterful in their roles as is Tom Noonan (part of the ensemble of co-director/co-writer Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York) who puts mood and feeling into each part he voices.
Kaufman won a writing Oscar for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2005), and was nominated for the original script of Being John Malkovich (1999) and adapting Adaptation (2002). All of them, and particularly Synecdoche, play fast and loose with reality and sanity. He also wrote the excellent Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), about the not-terribly sane Chuck Barris. This is Kaufman's second time directing and here he shares that duty and writing with Duke Johnson (new to me, he's an animator). The movie is nominated for the Best Animated Feature Oscar (awarded to the producers) and more. See my running list of nominations and awards.
The animation technique is stop-motion, in which the characters are photographed still, then moved in tiny increments, and all the photos are pieced together, such as in The Fantastic Mr. Fox or all the Wallace & Gromit movies. Some have been confused by the term "puppets," so maybe "dolls" would be more descriptive, because, like Pinocchio, they've got no strings. They're not realistic, with shortened arms, stubby fingers on big hands, and seams across their faces that make them look as if they're wearing glasses. Here are a production still and a close-up.
Do NOT bring the kids--they'd be bored before the onset of full nudity and sex anyway. Two separate stories on NPR said that the movement of naked bodies was a challenge for the animators and the sex scene was a challenge for Leigh.
During the movie you will be told the meaning and pronunciation of the title and will probably figure out why everyone else is voiced by Noonan. Or you can look up this term, used as a name early on. Because some might find it a spoiler, I won't print it. There's only one trivia item: that Lisa calls the freeway in Ohio "the 71," which is not likely to be used for a freeway in Ohio. I know that's how it's said in California. Imdb says it's also used in western New York.
The music, by Carter Burwell (Carol) is very pretty and you can listen to the first track on the album here.
Rotten Tomatoes' critics are averaging 92% and its audiences 76. Not for the impatient, it takes a while to get going, but worth it for serious movie lovers.
Thursday, January 21, 2016
Carol (2015)
This beautiful drama about a married lesbian and a bi-curious younger woman who fall in love at first sight in the intolerant 1950s has earned many nominations and wins but not enough. The intolerant Oscars, Screen Actors Guild, and Critics Choice awards insisted on making Cate Blanchett (last blogged in Truth) the lead actress and Rooney Mara (most recently in Her) supporting actress, while the Golden Globes and Spirit Awards nominated them both as lead actresses. If it had been a love story between a man and a woman, each would have been nominated for a leading role. Just sayin'. Of course, the Oscars have proven to be intolerant in other ways, as Neil Patrick Harris put it so well last year, "...the best and whitest." I can't wait to hear what Oscar host Chris Rock will have to say on February 28.
The acting is sublime and the actual supporting roles are capably filled in part by Kyle Chandler (after I wrote about him in The Spectacular Now he was in The Wolf of Wall Street), Jake Lacy (he had a series arc in Girls after Obvious Child), Sarah Paulson (last in 12 Years a Slave), and John Magaro (one of the young traders in The Big Short after I wrote about him in Liberal Arts).
Todd Haynes (Oscar-nominated for writing Far from Heaven (2002), which he directed, he also directed and co-wrote the Bob Dylan meditation I'm Not There. (2007) and some others I wish I had seen) was snubbed at the Oscars but recognized elsewhere for his fine work here. See this link for my running list of awards sorted by title.
Phyllis Nagy, a playwright making her feature debut after one teleplay in 2005, adapted the 1952 novel The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith. It's said that a young Highsmith sold toys in a classy department store and, after a brief encounter with a beautiful matron in mink, went home and wrote the novel but published it under the pseudonym Claire Morgan to keep the author's sexuality closeted. Highsmith's first novel was Strangers on a Train (1950), adapted the following year by Alfred Hitchcock. Among her many books were The Talented Mr. Ripley (1955) and its sequels in 1970, 1974, and 1991, and three of the four were made into movies.
Cinematographer Edward Lachman's (his first Oscar nomination was for Far from Heaven (2002), his second for this, and among his other wonderful work are The Lords of Flatbush (1974) when he was 26, Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), True Stories (1986), Making Mr. Right (1987), Less Than Zero (1987), Mississippi Masala (1991), Selena (1997), The Limey (1999), The Virgin Suicides (1999), Erin Brockovich (2000), S1m0ne (2002), A Prairie Home Companion (2006), Life During Wartime, and Howl) dreamy images are often shot through rain-spattered windows. Also recognized by their peers are costume designer Sandy Powell (I correctly predicted her nomination for Cinderella back in June and this gives her two this year alone) and composer Carter Burwell (last blogged for Seven Psychopaths). Here's a link to listen to Burwell's soundtrack interspersed with catchy tunes of the day. Oh yeah, don't forget those spectacular picture cars and the fantastic locations, shot almost exclusively in Cincinnati standing in for Manhattan, the New Jersey suburbs, and a few other places.
Jack, the former history teacher, spotted an anachronism: there's a mention of "the interstate," but the movie is supposed to be set in 1952-53, and the interstate freeway system was built a few years after that.
Like Rotten Tomatoes' critics, who are averaging 94%, Jack and I highly recommend this to my tolerant readers and friends (do I have any other kind??). RT's audiences, coming in at 77, are clearly mistaken. Be sure to see this one on a big screen.
The acting is sublime and the actual supporting roles are capably filled in part by Kyle Chandler (after I wrote about him in The Spectacular Now he was in The Wolf of Wall Street), Jake Lacy (he had a series arc in Girls after Obvious Child), Sarah Paulson (last in 12 Years a Slave), and John Magaro (one of the young traders in The Big Short after I wrote about him in Liberal Arts).
Todd Haynes (Oscar-nominated for writing Far from Heaven (2002), which he directed, he also directed and co-wrote the Bob Dylan meditation I'm Not There. (2007) and some others I wish I had seen) was snubbed at the Oscars but recognized elsewhere for his fine work here. See this link for my running list of awards sorted by title.
Phyllis Nagy, a playwright making her feature debut after one teleplay in 2005, adapted the 1952 novel The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith. It's said that a young Highsmith sold toys in a classy department store and, after a brief encounter with a beautiful matron in mink, went home and wrote the novel but published it under the pseudonym Claire Morgan to keep the author's sexuality closeted. Highsmith's first novel was Strangers on a Train (1950), adapted the following year by Alfred Hitchcock. Among her many books were The Talented Mr. Ripley (1955) and its sequels in 1970, 1974, and 1991, and three of the four were made into movies.
Cinematographer Edward Lachman's (his first Oscar nomination was for Far from Heaven (2002), his second for this, and among his other wonderful work are The Lords of Flatbush (1974) when he was 26, Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), True Stories (1986), Making Mr. Right (1987), Less Than Zero (1987), Mississippi Masala (1991), Selena (1997), The Limey (1999), The Virgin Suicides (1999), Erin Brockovich (2000), S1m0ne (2002), A Prairie Home Companion (2006), Life During Wartime, and Howl) dreamy images are often shot through rain-spattered windows. Also recognized by their peers are costume designer Sandy Powell (I correctly predicted her nomination for Cinderella back in June and this gives her two this year alone) and composer Carter Burwell (last blogged for Seven Psychopaths). Here's a link to listen to Burwell's soundtrack interspersed with catchy tunes of the day. Oh yeah, don't forget those spectacular picture cars and the fantastic locations, shot almost exclusively in Cincinnati standing in for Manhattan, the New Jersey suburbs, and a few other places.
Jack, the former history teacher, spotted an anachronism: there's a mention of "the interstate," but the movie is supposed to be set in 1952-53, and the interstate freeway system was built a few years after that.
Like Rotten Tomatoes' critics, who are averaging 94%, Jack and I highly recommend this to my tolerant readers and friends (do I have any other kind??). RT's audiences, coming in at 77, are clearly mistaken. Be sure to see this one on a big screen.
Sunday, January 17, 2016
The Revenant (2015)
Grisly yet transcendent, gruesome yet ethereal, this story of a man's struggle to survive unthinkable tortures is difficult to watch but impossible to ignore. Jack loved it. I had a hard time but stayed in my seat with my hands shielding my eyes at the worst sections, e.g. when our hero Hugh Glass is mauled by a bear (grisly, er, grizzly) or the battles with the Arikari (pronounced a-REE-ka-ree) Indians.
Twelve Oscar nominations isn't a record (fourteen is the best so far), but it's pretty darn good--Best Picture, Leading Actor, Supporting Actor, Directing, Cinematography, Editing, Production Design, Costume Design, Makeup/Hair, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, and Special Effects. See how it's doing in my alphabetical list of awards and nominations.
As the leading actor, Leonardo DiCaprio (last blogged in The Wolf of Wall Street) expresses much with only his eyes and wordless grunts. Tom Hardy (most recently in Mad Max: Fury Road) is a great supporting actor as the mercenary Fitzgerald we love to hate. Domhnall Gleeson (last in Brooklyn) gives us an upstanding Captain Henry and Will Poulter (profiled in We're the Millers) a young and idealistic member, Bridger, of the trapper company.
I've long been a fan of director/co-writer Alejandro G. Iñárritu (he's dropped his middle name González since winning three Oscars for Birdman--Best Picture, Directing, Original Screenplay) and his usual cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki won for Birdman and is nominated here for his magnificent camera work, including extensive use of birdseye lenses (scroll down to the fifth picture in this link for an example) and almost exclusive use of natural light only. Here's a fascinating clip of Iñárritu narrating a scene in the movie (mild spoiler alert--you might want to wait until you've seen the movie). The production was grueling due in part to shooting in the freezing cold in Canada and Argentina, among other locations.
The script by Iñárritu and Mark L. Smith (new to me) is "based in part on the novel by" Michael Punke, which is based in part on the life of the real Hugh Glass in 1820s America. The title is derived from the French verb revenir, to return, and means a person who returns or a ghost.
Even with twelve nominations, one is glaringly missing: for the composers Ryuichi Sakamoto (I loved The Last Emperor (1987) and The Sheltering Sky (1990); he also had songs in Iñárritu's Babel (2006)) and Alva Noto (AKA Carsten Nicolai--I've not heard of him with either name). It's very different from Antonio Sanchez' drumming in Birdman. You can listen to the whole hour plus soundtrack on this link. I'm enjoying it immensely as I write. Over an hour of soundtrack in a movie that's two hours thirty-six minutes long.
Don't drink (because you'll have to leave to relieve yourself) nor eat (because you might lose your lunch at the visceral images) before going in. Then meet with friends afterwards in a nice warm place and have some laughs (I did that and had nightmares anyway). For the record, when I saw Reservoir Dogs in 1982, I knew about the torture scene, and walked out when it began, listening outside the door to the screams and music, and then returned to my seat when the noise died down. I might have done that when we saw this Friday, but 1. there were lots of people between me and the door, 2. there were many violent sequences, and 3. I remembered that in Iñárritu's Amores Perros (2000) the dogfighting dogs looked like stuffed animals and it wasn't so bad, so I hoped this would be like that. Not so much.
Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are averaging 81 and 87% as it maintains its number two place in its fourth week at the box office. Like I said, impossible to ignore. Serious movie buffs need to see this before the Oscars on February 28.
Twelve Oscar nominations isn't a record (fourteen is the best so far), but it's pretty darn good--Best Picture, Leading Actor, Supporting Actor, Directing, Cinematography, Editing, Production Design, Costume Design, Makeup/Hair, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, and Special Effects. See how it's doing in my alphabetical list of awards and nominations.
As the leading actor, Leonardo DiCaprio (last blogged in The Wolf of Wall Street) expresses much with only his eyes and wordless grunts. Tom Hardy (most recently in Mad Max: Fury Road) is a great supporting actor as the mercenary Fitzgerald we love to hate. Domhnall Gleeson (last in Brooklyn) gives us an upstanding Captain Henry and Will Poulter (profiled in We're the Millers) a young and idealistic member, Bridger, of the trapper company.
I've long been a fan of director/co-writer Alejandro G. Iñárritu (he's dropped his middle name González since winning three Oscars for Birdman--Best Picture, Directing, Original Screenplay) and his usual cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki won for Birdman and is nominated here for his magnificent camera work, including extensive use of birdseye lenses (scroll down to the fifth picture in this link for an example) and almost exclusive use of natural light only. Here's a fascinating clip of Iñárritu narrating a scene in the movie (mild spoiler alert--you might want to wait until you've seen the movie). The production was grueling due in part to shooting in the freezing cold in Canada and Argentina, among other locations.
The script by Iñárritu and Mark L. Smith (new to me) is "based in part on the novel by" Michael Punke, which is based in part on the life of the real Hugh Glass in 1820s America. The title is derived from the French verb revenir, to return, and means a person who returns or a ghost.
Even with twelve nominations, one is glaringly missing: for the composers Ryuichi Sakamoto (I loved The Last Emperor (1987) and The Sheltering Sky (1990); he also had songs in Iñárritu's Babel (2006)) and Alva Noto (AKA Carsten Nicolai--I've not heard of him with either name). It's very different from Antonio Sanchez' drumming in Birdman. You can listen to the whole hour plus soundtrack on this link. I'm enjoying it immensely as I write. Over an hour of soundtrack in a movie that's two hours thirty-six minutes long.
Don't drink (because you'll have to leave to relieve yourself) nor eat (because you might lose your lunch at the visceral images) before going in. Then meet with friends afterwards in a nice warm place and have some laughs (I did that and had nightmares anyway). For the record, when I saw Reservoir Dogs in 1982, I knew about the torture scene, and walked out when it began, listening outside the door to the screams and music, and then returned to my seat when the noise died down. I might have done that when we saw this Friday, but 1. there were lots of people between me and the door, 2. there were many violent sequences, and 3. I remembered that in Iñárritu's Amores Perros (2000) the dogfighting dogs looked like stuffed animals and it wasn't so bad, so I hoped this would be like that. Not so much.
Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are averaging 81 and 87% as it maintains its number two place in its fourth week at the box office. Like I said, impossible to ignore. Serious movie buffs need to see this before the Oscars on February 28.
Sunday, January 10, 2016
Welcome to Me (2014)
Jack and I cringed but liked the ever-dependable Kristen Wiig in this story of a narcissist who uses her lottery winnings to finance a TV show that's all about herself. Wiig's Best Actress nomination from the Gotham Awards and the movie's win for Top Ten Independents from the National Board of Review are what drew us to it and it's certainly quirky. Wiig (last blogged for The Martian) is joined by Linda Cardellini (I had quit watching ER when she joined the cast, but enjoyed her work on Freaks and Geeks (1999-2000), nine episodes of Mad Men, and three of New Girl), Joan Cusack (after I wrote about her in The Perks of Being a Wallflower she's been a force and a farce on the Showtime series Shameless--the new season is starting up any day now, maybe even tonight!), James Marsden (most recently in The Butler), Wes Bentley (the star of American Beauty (1999), he was also in Interstellar but I didn't mention him), and Tim Robbins (won an Oscar for Mystic River (2003) and I liked him in Bull Durham (1998), The Player (1992), Bob Roberts (1992), Short Cuts (1993), The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Prêt-à-Porter (1994), The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), I.Q. (1994), Dead Man Walking (1995), Cradle Will Rock (1999), High Fidelity (2000), Human Nature (2001), among others) as her psychiatrist. Narcissism may have been her diagnosis, unless it was borderline personality disorder.
This is the second feature for director Shira Piven, who is the sister of Jeremy and the wife of Adam McKay. She works here from a script by Eliot Laurence, in his feature debut after writing 14 episodes of The Big Gay Sketch Show (2006-08).
The original score is by Tim's brother David Robbins (covered in Buck) but I don't remember it because we streamed it three weeks ago on Netflix. There are a lot of songs on this youtube playlist, if you like.
The critics at 72% liked it a lot better than the audiences at 46 on Rotten Tomatoes. It's a must-see for Wiig fans and those with patience for cringe. The rest of you can skip it.
This is the second feature for director Shira Piven, who is the sister of Jeremy and the wife of Adam McKay. She works here from a script by Eliot Laurence, in his feature debut after writing 14 episodes of The Big Gay Sketch Show (2006-08).
The original score is by Tim's brother David Robbins (covered in Buck) but I don't remember it because we streamed it three weeks ago on Netflix. There are a lot of songs on this youtube playlist, if you like.
The critics at 72% liked it a lot better than the audiences at 46 on Rotten Tomatoes. It's a must-see for Wiig fans and those with patience for cringe. The rest of you can skip it.
Concussion (2015)
Jack loves football. I like the running, catching, and halftime music, but I hate the hitting. We both liked this story of the Nigerian forensic pathologist who studied head trauma suffered in those hits -- CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Jack found for me a controversy, that the term CTE has been around for decades before the movie's time frame (2002 and beyond), but the real man, Dr. Bennet Omalu, stands by his assertion that he named it.
Will Smith (last blogged in Focus) is terrific as Omalu, with hairline and accent adjustments. We saw the trailer many times and my favorite part is when he says, urgently, "Tell the truth!" David Morse (after I covered him in The Hurt Locker he was in Mother and Child) is also wonderful as ex-Steeler center Mike Webster, who begins Omalu's study. Gugu Mbatha-Raw (most recently in Beyond the Lights) is a beautiful Englishwoman with an African name and heritage, and she's good, as usual, as a Kenyan immigrant befriended by Omalu. Working with the doctor we have Alec Baldwin and Albert Brooks (last in Still Alice and A Most Violent Year, respectively) and the latter has my second favorite line in the trailer: "The NFL owns a day of the week. The same day the Church used to own. Now it's theirs."
Director Peter Landesman adapted Jeanne Marie Laskas' 2009 GQ article Game Brain and her subsequent book Concussion for this, his second feature and third script. Before becoming a filmmaker, he was an investigative journalist (and a painter and novelist!).
The aerial photography of Pittsburgh is gorgeous. It's time I credit the work of aerial director of photography Dylan Goss, who's shot dozens of other movies from the sky.
Besides some songs listed here, there's a gripping soundtrack by James Newton Howard (most recently scored Nightcrawler) and you can stream it from this link.
Bear in mind that this movie has nothing in common with the 2013 picture Concussion, about a high class call girl. For this year's Concussion, Rotten Tomatoes' audiences are more in agreement with us at 78% than its critics at 62, keeping it at #10 at the box office this weekend. If that scares you off, wait until the DVD release, estimated for March, and stream it on your favorite service for free.
Will Smith (last blogged in Focus) is terrific as Omalu, with hairline and accent adjustments. We saw the trailer many times and my favorite part is when he says, urgently, "Tell the truth!" David Morse (after I covered him in The Hurt Locker he was in Mother and Child) is also wonderful as ex-Steeler center Mike Webster, who begins Omalu's study. Gugu Mbatha-Raw (most recently in Beyond the Lights) is a beautiful Englishwoman with an African name and heritage, and she's good, as usual, as a Kenyan immigrant befriended by Omalu. Working with the doctor we have Alec Baldwin and Albert Brooks (last in Still Alice and A Most Violent Year, respectively) and the latter has my second favorite line in the trailer: "The NFL owns a day of the week. The same day the Church used to own. Now it's theirs."
Director Peter Landesman adapted Jeanne Marie Laskas' 2009 GQ article Game Brain and her subsequent book Concussion for this, his second feature and third script. Before becoming a filmmaker, he was an investigative journalist (and a painter and novelist!).
The aerial photography of Pittsburgh is gorgeous. It's time I credit the work of aerial director of photography Dylan Goss, who's shot dozens of other movies from the sky.
Besides some songs listed here, there's a gripping soundtrack by James Newton Howard (most recently scored Nightcrawler) and you can stream it from this link.
Bear in mind that this movie has nothing in common with the 2013 picture Concussion, about a high class call girl. For this year's Concussion, Rotten Tomatoes' audiences are more in agreement with us at 78% than its critics at 62, keeping it at #10 at the box office this weekend. If that scares you off, wait until the DVD release, estimated for March, and stream it on your favorite service for free.
Saturday, January 9, 2016
The Hateful Eight (2015)
Director/writer Quentin Tarantino exercises his expertise in showing man's inhumanity to man in this story of a bounty hunter meeting some mysterious strangers in a Wyoming blizzard on his way to collect his payoff in the mid 1800s. QT is a quintessential film student and, as such, shot the movie in 70mm film, which is wider with higher resolution than the old standard 35mm or the new standard digital. Jack and I combined another road trip and went last weekend to the only theatre in our state showing the movie in that format last weekend, although a local theatre will be getting it here soon. Oh well. Here's a list of the original fifty theatres with the special prints. Our sold-out house was polite and quiet, and the bigger print featured an intermission halfway through its 187 minutes. The digital version is 167 minutes long with no intermission, and, in both versions, the first bloodbath isn't for twenty minutes or so, but they come fast and furious after that. QT fans all know there will be blood. And terrible language. And people behaving badly.
As the bounty hunter, Kurt Russell (he began working at age 10 and is now 64--his earliest big hit was Escape from New York (1981), then Silkwood (1983), Swing Shift (1984), Big Trouble in Little China (1986), Overboard (1987) where he met his now-wife Goldie Hawn, Tequila Sunrise (1988), Vanilla Sky (2001), to name some that I've seen, and he was in Tarantino's Grindhouse (2007) but we didn't see that one) is appropriately grizzled and Samuel L. Jackson (last blogged in Chi-Raq) is dependably scary and profane as the recipient of countless N-words. Oh look, someone counted them, 47, but that was in a script leaked pre-production. I think it's low.
Jennifer Jason Leigh (most recently in Kill Your Darlings) has already won the National Board of Review Best Supporting Actress plus a Golden Globe nomination for playing the bounty. Then we have Tim Roth (last in Selma as George Wallace, and in Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (1994) he was Honey-Bunny's Pumpkin) and Damián Bichir (most recently in A Better Life) using their native accents, English and Mexican, respectively. Chatterbox Walton Goggins (Jack knew him from the series Justified and I knew him from Miracle at St. Anna, Cowboys & Aliens, and Django Unchained, though I neglected to credit him) is quite funny. Michael Madsen had been working for a while before QT cast him in his first movie Reservoir Dogs (1992) and some of my favorites include The Natural (1984), Thelma & Louise (1991), Reservoir Dogs (1992), Tombstone (1993), Mulholland Falls (1996), Donnie Brasco (1997), Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) and 2 (2004), among my favorites of his 245 credits. His character is a strong silent type, as is Bruce Dern's (last in Nebraska which earned him an Oscar nomination).
Some of the trailers call this The H8ful Eight, Quentin Tarantino's (most recently in these pages for Django Unchained) eighth movie. Here are the seven: Reservoir Dogs (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), Inglourious Basterds, and Django, and today I heard Sam Jackson say QT intends to stop at ten. I somehow doubt it. The reason the above-mentioned Grindhouse isn't on the list is that it was one of several collaborations with others.
Oscar-winning (for JFK (1991), The Aviator (2005), and Hugo) and -nominated (for Platoon (1986), Born on the Fourth of July (1989), Snow Falling on Cedars (2000)--the one I didn't see, Basterds, and Django) cinematographer Robert Richardson (also shot Talk Radio (1988), A Few Good Men (1992), The Horse Whisperer (1998), both Kill Bills, The Good Shepherd (2006), Inglorious, Shutter Island, Beasts of the Southern Wild, and more) gives us magnificent images both inside and out in the West.
Composer Ennio Morricone is 87 years old and has yet to win an Oscar. This may be his year. He won an honorary award in 2007 and was nominated for Days of Heaven (1978), The Mission (1986), The Untouchables (1987), Bugsy (1991), and Malèna (2000), and is also known for his good work on A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), 1900 (1976), La cage aux Folles (1978), The Professional (1981), Once Upon a Time in America (1984), Cinema Paradiso (1988), Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1989), In the Line of Fire (1993), Wolf (1994), Lolita (1997), Bulworth (1998), among those I've seen of his 528(!) credits. You can stream the whole soundtrack on youtube here or on spotify here but they are peppered with dialogue so you might be better off looking for individual tracks on youtube. I don't know if the digital version also has an overture but it is awesome. He is surely one of QT's idols and wrote the music we think of when we think of western movies.
As the bounty hunter, Kurt Russell (he began working at age 10 and is now 64--his earliest big hit was Escape from New York (1981), then Silkwood (1983), Swing Shift (1984), Big Trouble in Little China (1986), Overboard (1987) where he met his now-wife Goldie Hawn, Tequila Sunrise (1988), Vanilla Sky (2001), to name some that I've seen, and he was in Tarantino's Grindhouse (2007) but we didn't see that one) is appropriately grizzled and Samuel L. Jackson (last blogged in Chi-Raq) is dependably scary and profane as the recipient of countless N-words. Oh look, someone counted them, 47, but that was in a script leaked pre-production. I think it's low.
Jennifer Jason Leigh (most recently in Kill Your Darlings) has already won the National Board of Review Best Supporting Actress plus a Golden Globe nomination for playing the bounty. Then we have Tim Roth (last in Selma as George Wallace, and in Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (1994) he was Honey-Bunny's Pumpkin) and Damián Bichir (most recently in A Better Life) using their native accents, English and Mexican, respectively. Chatterbox Walton Goggins (Jack knew him from the series Justified and I knew him from Miracle at St. Anna, Cowboys & Aliens, and Django Unchained, though I neglected to credit him) is quite funny. Michael Madsen had been working for a while before QT cast him in his first movie Reservoir Dogs (1992) and some of my favorites include The Natural (1984), Thelma & Louise (1991), Reservoir Dogs (1992), Tombstone (1993), Mulholland Falls (1996), Donnie Brasco (1997), Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) and 2 (2004), among my favorites of his 245 credits. His character is a strong silent type, as is Bruce Dern's (last in Nebraska which earned him an Oscar nomination).
Some of the trailers call this The H8ful Eight, Quentin Tarantino's (most recently in these pages for Django Unchained) eighth movie. Here are the seven: Reservoir Dogs (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), Inglourious Basterds, and Django, and today I heard Sam Jackson say QT intends to stop at ten. I somehow doubt it. The reason the above-mentioned Grindhouse isn't on the list is that it was one of several collaborations with others.
Oscar-winning (for JFK (1991), The Aviator (2005), and Hugo) and -nominated (for Platoon (1986), Born on the Fourth of July (1989), Snow Falling on Cedars (2000)--the one I didn't see, Basterds, and Django) cinematographer Robert Richardson (also shot Talk Radio (1988), A Few Good Men (1992), The Horse Whisperer (1998), both Kill Bills, The Good Shepherd (2006), Inglorious, Shutter Island, Beasts of the Southern Wild, and more) gives us magnificent images both inside and out in the West.
Composer Ennio Morricone is 87 years old and has yet to win an Oscar. This may be his year. He won an honorary award in 2007 and was nominated for Days of Heaven (1978), The Mission (1986), The Untouchables (1987), Bugsy (1991), and Malèna (2000), and is also known for his good work on A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), 1900 (1976), La cage aux Folles (1978), The Professional (1981), Once Upon a Time in America (1984), Cinema Paradiso (1988), Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1989), In the Line of Fire (1993), Wolf (1994), Lolita (1997), Bulworth (1998), among those I've seen of his 528(!) credits. You can stream the whole soundtrack on youtube here or on spotify here but they are peppered with dialogue so you might be better off looking for individual tracks on youtube. I don't know if the digital version also has an overture but it is awesome. He is surely one of QT's idols and wrote the music we think of when we think of western movies.
Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are averaging 75 and 79%. This is for fans, who will love it. Check out its nominations and wins so far.
The Big Short (2015)
This wonderful ensemble piece about smart people predicting and betting on the housing crisis in 2008 is funny but sorry, Golden Globes, it's not a comedy (nor is The Martian). Jack, Ann, and I liked it very much. The huge cast is headed by Christian Bale, Steve Carell, and Ryan Gosling (last blogged for American Hustle, Freeheld, and The Place Beyond the Pines, respectively).
Perhaps one reason the Globes deemed it a comedy is that director/co-writer Adam McKay, Will Ferrell's writing partner, who was last in these pages for co-writing Ant-Man and directing Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, has never before directed a drama (nor has he directed a movie without Ferrell before this) and they couldn't wrap their heads around it. They should. It's tight, with the help of co-writer Charles Randolph (last blogged for Love and Other Drugs), and based on the 2010 book The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis, who also wrote Moneyball.
A montage in this movie includes a still of a short video of Ferrell with McKay's toddler daughter Pearl called The Landlord. It's a hilarious classic. McKay is the guy with the short dark hair and glasses. Pearl retired from acting by the time she could understand the words they had her say but after she made Good Cop Baby Cop. Another of the many nice touches in The Big Short is that, instead of talking heads explaining some of the technical economic details, there are fun celebrities doing it.
The soundtrack features tons of songs, some listed here, plus original music by Nicholas Britell (not his first but he's new to me, other than a few tracks in 12 Years a Slave), which I'm streaming as I write.
This movie has already been named among the National Board of Review's Top Ten of 2015, among other awards listed in my sister blog.
Rotten Tomatoes' critics at 87 and audiences at 90% agree with us. Go see it. It's going to win more awards.
Perhaps one reason the Globes deemed it a comedy is that director/co-writer Adam McKay, Will Ferrell's writing partner, who was last in these pages for co-writing Ant-Man and directing Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, has never before directed a drama (nor has he directed a movie without Ferrell before this) and they couldn't wrap their heads around it. They should. It's tight, with the help of co-writer Charles Randolph (last blogged for Love and Other Drugs), and based on the 2010 book The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis, who also wrote Moneyball.
A montage in this movie includes a still of a short video of Ferrell with McKay's toddler daughter Pearl called The Landlord. It's a hilarious classic. McKay is the guy with the short dark hair and glasses. Pearl retired from acting by the time she could understand the words they had her say but after she made Good Cop Baby Cop. Another of the many nice touches in The Big Short is that, instead of talking heads explaining some of the technical economic details, there are fun celebrities doing it.
The soundtrack features tons of songs, some listed here, plus original music by Nicholas Britell (not his first but he's new to me, other than a few tracks in 12 Years a Slave), which I'm streaming as I write.
This movie has already been named among the National Board of Review's Top Ten of 2015, among other awards listed in my sister blog.
Rotten Tomatoes' critics at 87 and audiences at 90% agree with us. Go see it. It's going to win more awards.
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
Youth (2015)
I thoroughly enjoyed this ironically titled, beautifully photographed and scored, dreamy meditation on age, about a retired composer/conductor, an aging film director, and some other people in a resort in the Swiss alps. Michael Caine (last blogged for Kingsmen: The Secret Service) and Harvey Keitel (most recently in The Congress) have a lovely camaraderie as the old friends. Rachel Weisz (last in Oz the Great and Powerful) is great as Caine's daughter and manager, Paul Dano (most recently in Love & Mercy) is wonderfully thoughtful as a young actor hanging out getting notes for his next role, and Jane Fonda (last in This Is Where I Leave You) has a terrific Golden-Globe-nominated scene that's about ten minutes long (her only appearance) about two-thirds through the movie.
I didn't mention the name of director/writer Paolo Sorrentino when I wrote up his last picture, The Great Beauty, and this has much in common with that. Cinematographer Luca Bigazzi was, however, blogged in Certified Copy five years ago. Most of the movie was, in fact, shot in Switzerland.
David Lang, who won a 2008 Pulitzer Prize for The Little Match Girl Passion (listen here) provides marvelous music, especially the twelve+ minute vocal trio over the closing credits. I'm happy to have found it, entitled Just (After Song of Songs), to hear on youtube and a link to purchase it as a single. There are other songs on the soundtrack, not all of them classical.
One of the interesting trivia notes is that the actress playing Miss Universe was 26 at the time of shooting and her character is supposed to symbolize youth, but 26 is the age of the oldest ever winner of Miss Universe (American winner Brook Lee in 1997).
David Lang, who won a 2008 Pulitzer Prize for The Little Match Girl Passion (listen here) provides marvelous music, especially the twelve+ minute vocal trio over the closing credits. I'm happy to have found it, entitled Just (After Song of Songs), to hear on youtube and a link to purchase it as a single. There are other songs on the soundtrack, not all of them classical.
Best seen on a big screen, it's not for the impatient. The rest of us will be rewarded well beyond the mid-70s averages of Rotten Tomatoes.
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