“Manchester by the Sea” Devastates through Inescapable Tragedy

by

“But there are dreams that cannot be, and there are storms we cannot weather”

— Fantine, Les Miserables

Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester by the Sea is a gut-punch of a film dressed up in the doldrums of everyday life.  On the surface, the plot is universal and relatable:  a man returns back to his hometown on account of the sudden death of his older brother, and must make the arrangements and look after his nephew in the aftermath.  There is surprising wit and humor in the story, heavily sarcastic and ball-busting, and it helps to offset at least some of the sadness.  Because a darker and sadder mystery bubbles up through off-hand comments, whispers, and flashbacks.  This non-linear storytelling method is used intelligently and sparingly, and suffices to wrench maximal emotional devastation from the audience.  The result is a wonderful but sad film that can count itself as one of the best of the year.

Read more

The Tell-All Trailer Ruins Robert Zemeckis’s Lukewarm “Allied”

by

Sometime in the near future, someone is going to stumble upon Allied in a Redbox or on a premium cable channel, have no idea what it is about, and end up liking the movie just fine.  Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard turn in reasonable performances, there is a surprising amount of detail to the plotting, and the ending is reasonable (if a little slap-dash; endings are hard).  Unfortunately, this movie is absolutely ruined by its trailer.  Of course, explaining why means delving into some pretty serious spoilers myself, which will also ruin the movie, but Allied isn’t so great to begin with, so it is no real crime there.  In fact, I can think of at least two spy movies starring Brad Pitt that are better than Allied (Spy Game and Inglourious Basterds; and yes it is).

Read more

“Loving” is a Restrained and Triumphant Challenge of True Institutional Racism

by

In Loving, Writer-director Jeff Nichols expertly relays the real-life story of Mildred and Richard Loving, the couple who were prosecuted under Virginia’s interracial marriage laws which and led to the watershed case in the Supreme Court Loving v. Virginia in 1967.  In a story fraught with such racial tensions and the potential for ugly subject matter, the major triumph of Nichols’s film is in how it remains reserved and above any kind of melodrama.  There is a patient, quiet quality to this story, and Nichols and his actors positively revel in it.  From the tone and themes of the film, to the pacing and muted performances, Loving takes its cue from the seriousness and maturity of its eponymous main characters.  The result is a grown-up historical drama revealing the more subtle horrors of institutional racism and the power that love and freedom have to combat it.

Read more

“Moana” is a Powerful Departure from Disney’s Princess Formula

by

As the very best animated Disney films often do, Moana marries mythology and musical to depict a princess struggling to find her place.  However, Moana blasts beyond this tried-and-true method by introducing a transformative detail:  Moana is more concerned with following her own values than she is on cozying up to a love interest and ruling as a princess.  The film sports wonderful songs that are used in crucial bits of storytelling, the voice-acting is incredibly strong, and the plot features some interesting beats and develops a potent theme.  There are interesting tweaks to the humor and animation styles as well, which keeps the film looking and feeling fresh throughout.  Moana herself practically overflows with heroism, and she is perhaps the most complete and realistic Disney princess to date.

Read more

State of the Blog – December 2016

by

In the Northern Hemisphere, darkness insists upon our waking hours earlier each day.  The country is full of crybabies and fascists, and nothing in between.  It’s cold.  But at least there’s a new Star Wars movie to over-appreciate.

Read more

“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” – a Chimera of Whimsy and Banality

by

Like many of the wondrous animals that inhabit its world, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is an amalgamation.  Except, unlike the hippogriff, which capitalizes on the strengths of both the eagle and the horse, David Yates’s film compromises the adventures of Newt Scamander with a plodding police procedural.  The result is less like the streamlined elegance of the hippogriff, and more like whatever happened to Jeff Goldblum at the very end of The Fly.  Every time Newt and his compatriots are on screen, the film is an absolute delight that reminds us why we fell in love with the wizarding world in the first place.  And every time they’re not, we’re reminded that David Yates is responsible for two of the three worst Harry Potter films to date.  Fantastic Beasts ends up somewhere in the middle, with no time-turner available to right the wrong and spare the life of this innocent little hippogriff.

Read more

Despite “Out There” Visuals, Marvel’s “Doctor Strange” Is as Safe as They Come

by

For a film meant to expand the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) into the novel territory of alternate dimensions and mind-bending magic, Doctor Strange sure does play it safe.  Though many of the visuals are fascinating, some are overly show-offy, like an elaborate ornament on an otherwise bland facade.  The acting talent and the performances that they deliver are impressive, but they are relied upon to prop up a flimsy story that inadequately introduces us to this new facet of the MCU.  Similarly, most of the characters are unbalanced, uneven, and inconsistent – as though the filmmakers were afraid of allowing Dr. Strange to be too much of an asshole.  Finally, aside from an innovative and interesting climactic sequence, the plot is about as by-the-numbers as one can imagine.  Overall, this is the disquieting flaw of Doctor Strange:  the eye-popping visuals are in direct aesthetic conflict with the safeness of the narrative and thematic choices.  The result is a reasonable entry into the MCU, but a film which isn’t appreciably better than the average origin story.

Read more

In “Arrival”, Denis Villeneuve Delivers a New Hard Science Fiction Touchstone

by

In Denis Villeneuve’s high-concept science fiction film Arrival, the expert director deftly explores a profoundly different view of reality – all in the guise of an alien invasion story.  Based on the novella Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang, the story is hard science fiction at its greatest, and ponders the challenge and ramifications of communicating with an alien species during first contact.  In what has become a hallmark of Villeneuve’s style, the film boasts a fascinating non-linear storytelling technique that factors heavily into the plot.  Though there are really only four characters of note, each is ably performed by an outstanding actor, with Amy Adams’s performance shining through as something special.  This film takes advantage of its genre perfectly, altering a single idea about language and contemplating the potential ramifications.  It seems as though Denis Villeneuve has been working in science fiction for his entire career; his treatment of Arrival is a deft exploration of the nature of time, language, and communication – both between humans and aliens, and humans and each other.

Read more

“Moonlight” is a Masterpiece of the Romantic Art School

by

Barry Jenkins’s film Moonlight is a Romantic masterpiece of the highest order.  It is a comprehensive exultation of self-discovery told in three sections, each detailing the events in the life of Chiron, a black gay boy growing up in the Liberty Square projects of Miami, Florida.  The three parts show Chiron at different ages:  as a young boy in part one (“Little”), a teenager in part two (“Chiron”), and a young man in part three (“Black”), and each version of Chiron is portrayed by a different actor.  Chiron’s life is full of hardship, as he is forced to deal with growing up poor, navigating the minefield of his mother’s drug abuse problem, and his burgeoning homosexuality.  The chapters of Moonlight add up to a magnificent and timeless whole:  a complex elucidation of a man and the choices he makes in effort to learn about himself, the world, and his place in it.

Read more

“American Honey” – A Strong and Sweet Hybrid Stuffed with Singular Style

by

In American Honey, writer-director Andrea Arnold crafts a coming-of-age story about teenage wanderlust that practically feels like a documentary.  The film is a peculiar slice of life, both immersive and engrossing, and while watching it you feel as though you are just another member of the rag-tag crew.  The camerawork and a score driven by pop music enhance the realism of the film.  The story focuses around a group of young people who sell magazine subscriptions door-to-door.  Full of an ensemble cast of mostly non-actors, American Honey wanders through life with dubious morals, sexual and emotional exploration, and the pace of a buddy road trip movie – just with about a dozen buddies.

Read more