Tag Archives: Oscar nominee

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Interstellar – Review

interstellar poster

The Matthew McConoughey renaissance continues!

Interstellar is definitely a movie to see on the biggest screen available. If you can find an IMAX still showing it, by all means, see this movie on the IMAX, and in 70mm if possible. You will not regret it. But if you watching Interstellar at home, please do yourself a favor and watch it on the biggest TV you can find. If you own a 40” and your friend owns a 70”, maybe it’s time to pay that friend a visit. Treat that friend to a Redbox night and spring for a box of microwavable popcorn while you’re at it. Side note: I wonder how many times owners of bigger than big screen TVs are having to sit through yet another viewing of Interstellar thanks to yet another friend who owns a small TV.

I feel like Matthew McConaughey and Ben Affleck are having similar career trajectories. Both started out in the same indie movie, Dazed and Confused. Both went on to work on movies of varying quality. And now, both have recently found themselves getting pickier with their choices and putting out quality project after quality project. People point to True Detective as the start of the McConoughey renaissance. Those people clearly never saw Mud.

I expected Interstellar to be good. I’ve found that to be a good rule of thumb to apply to any Christopher Nolan movie. However, I didn’t expect it to be this good. I don’t know why I thought Nolan would only deliver a better than usual outer space movie. But he doesn’t just deliver that. Instead, he gives us a movie that transcends the genre. A sizeable part of the movie takes place on Earth before McConoughey and his team head to space, but it didn’t just feel like lengthy build-up. Instead it was a great story about the relationship between a father and a daughter, a relationship that underpins the rest of the movie.

Some spoilers follow. If you haven’t seen the film yet, come back when you have.

Matthew McConaughey

The effects in the movie are, pun completely intended, out of this world. When that ocean sized tidal wave is bearing down on the away team, man, the whole theater seemed to be filled with water. It was almost vertigo-inducing, watching that wave get ready to splash down the hapless scientist.

The biggest surprise in the movie definitely has to be Matt Damon being such an asshole. Sure, Matt Damon has played less than scrupulous people before, but has he ever played the villain like he plays here? Most of the movie can be described at man-against-nature, but when Damon shows his true colors, there is a definite shift to man vs. man. He is one legitimately bad guy in this movie. And he plays the part so well. Matt Damon’s Mann is a sympathetic villain, you definitely get where he is coming from, but he’s still a ruthless asshole.

I’ve heard people complain about the ending of the movie, the most common complaint being “that’s not what happens when you go through a black hole.” But that complaint is like complaining “that’s not what happens after you die,” because while science can infer what happens when you near or enter a black hole, until we send something or someone actually through one, it’s up to the imaginations of writers and artists and decide that.

interstellar_voyage-wide

Is Interstellar the best outer space movie of 2014? I think I would have to give that honor to Guardians of the Galaxy, but even comparing the two seems to be a folly. There needs to be a subdivision in outer space movies putting films like Gravity and Interstellar in one, and films like Guardians of the Galaxy and Star Wars in the other. What’s the dividing line? Whether or not the heroes are fighting aliens with laser guns? Maybe. But there’s no doubt that both categories of outer space movies produce gems, one of which is Interstellar.

Interstellar is a definitely-see.

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Captain Phillips – Review

captain phillips poster

Out of all the movies nominated for Best Picture at this year’s Academy Awards, Captain Phillips was the one that I had the least interest in seeing, and I can’t quite put my finger on why. It’s not because it’s based on a true story, or that I knew that Richard Phillips survives the movie. That doesn’t need a spoiler alert, right? The man’s walking around living his life. But I digress…plenty of the other Best Picture nominees are based on true stories, and I made a priority of seeing all of them.

The Captains Phillips

The Captains Phillips

I think it’s Tom Hanks. Don’t get me wrong, I love Tom Hanks and think he’s easily one of the best actors of his generation. But something, and I’m not sure what to call it, kept me from needing to see this movie. The best I can call it is Tom Hanks fatigue. A Tom Hanks movie is one of the closest things we have to a blue-chip stock in film. I’m confident it’s going to be good. But I think I’m burned out on Tom Hanks war movies. And this is close enough to a war movie to let that burn out take over. All that said, having now seen Captain Phillips, I can definitely say that if you’re feeling any kine of Tom Hanks fatigue, get over it and go watch Captain Phillips. It’s awesome.

Captain Phillips surprised me in the same way that Gravity surprised me. I had no idea how thrilling each of these movies would be. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that if you want to watch a thriller, you’d be better off renting Captain Phillips than heading to the theater to see Liam Neeson in Taken on a Plane (Note: I haven’t actually seen Taken on a Plane Non-Stop, but come on, Liam Neeson has certain skills blah blah blah). From the moment the Somali pirates first attempt to hijack Captain Phillips’s ship to the climax at the end of the movie, Captain Phillips thrills.

captain phillips pirates

One thing that Captain Phillips does so well is show us the pirates’ point of view. These aren’t just video game villains. They’re given as much, if not more back story than Captain Phillips and his crew are. You see their living conditions. You see their daily struggle to survive. In this way, Captain Phillips reminded of The Wire, in that we’re seeing things from both points of view, not just the hero’s, but the villain’s as well. It makes for a stronger viewing experience.

Captain Phillips is nominated for 6 Oscars in this weekend’s Academy Awards. I definitely recommend watching it before the Oscars broadcast, especially if you want to see a movie that will both engage you and keep you on the edge of your seat.

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Dallas Buyers Club – Review

dallas-buyers-club-poster

Like almost every other Best Picture nominee this year, Dallas Buyers club is a very dark movie. Also like many of the other of this year’s Best Picture nominees, this movie is based on true events.

Dallas Buyers Club tells the story of Ron Woodroof, a good ole boy from Texas. Ron is one hard partying homophobe. When he’s not hustling at the rodeo, he’s busy having sex, drinking and doing drugs. Unfortunately, his party boy lifestyle lands him with HIV.

Ron contracted HIV at a time when it was still widely misunderstood to be a disease that only infected homosexuals. Ron even flies off on his doctor, taking his HIV diagnosis as an affront to his manhood, which Ron really ties with his heterosexuality.

Given a 30 day death prediction from his doctor, Ron’s hustler instinct takes over, as he bribes his way into stolen AZT, a then experimental drug. When his AZT supply dries up, Ron makes a trip to Mexico that alters his life and sets him on a new direction of supplying medication to HIV patients (for a tidy profit, of course).

dallas buyers club ron woodroof

It’s amazing how much weight Matthew McConoughey lost to play Ron Woodruff. The man is gaunt! It’s jarring to see McConoughey this skinny. McConoughey really disappears into the role of Woodruff. McConoughey was fantastic in The Wolf of Wall Street, but that was McConoughey being McConoughey being someone else. But here, he seems like a completely different person. I know McConoughey seems to be the favorite for Best Actor heading into the Oscars, but after watching Dallas Buyers Club, I’d give the award to Chiwetel Ejiofor for 12 Years a Slave. That”s not a knock against McConoughey at all. I just liked Ejiofor so much in 12 Years a Slave.

Likewise, while Jared Leto is amazing as Rayon, but I’d give the Best Supporting Actor Oscar to Michael Fassbender for 12 Years a Slave.

jared-leto-dallas-buyers-club1

My favorite scene in Dallas Buyers Club is when Ron, while shopping with Rayon, runs into Tucker, his former best friend, in the supermarket. Tucker pretty much abandoned Ron when Ron was diagnosed, and is shocked to see Ron still alive. Tucker’s nice enough here to Ron, but then makes a disparaging homophobic comment about Rayon that sets Ron off. Ron grapples Tucker and forces him to apologize to Rayon. This scene was great because who doesn’t like to see a bigot gets his comeuppance, and also it showed Ron’s growth. The Ron a the beginning of the movie would have been making the same homophobic digs at Rayon that Tucker did. But Ron’s grown. Rayon’s not just his business partner. Rayon’s his friend, which is awesome when you think about who Ron was at the start of the film.

Overall, Dallas Buyers Club is a very good movie, but for me, Mud remains the 2013 Matthew McConoughey movie to watch.

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The Wolf of Wall Street – Review

the wolf of wall street poster

In my review for American Hustle, I said that it seemed like David O. Russell was attempting to do his best Martin Scorsese. The Wolf of Wall Street almost feels like this is Martin Scorsese’s answer back. “No, this is how you do Martin Scorsese.” Mr. Scorsese does Martin Scorsese to 11 with The Wolf of Wall Street. This movie is the most over the top project directed by Mr. Scorsese since the video for Michael Jackson’s Bad.

It’s The Wolf of Wall Street’s over the top tone that keeps it so entertaining for it’s exactly three hour running time. Yes, that’s right, 180 minutes. The Wolf of Wall Street is two minutes longer than the theatrical release of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.  Thankfully, Terrence Winter’s screenplay combined with Scorsese’s directing made for a much faster moving movie than it’s three hour run time would suggest. At no point was I looking at my watch, wondering how much more we had to go.

This is NOT the size soda you want to order for a 3 hour movie.

This is NOT the size soda you want to order for a 3 hour movie.

Following what I would call the classic Martin Scorsese story arc, Jordan Belfort gets really good at doing something bad, is handsomely rewarded for it and then comes crashing down to earth in the end. It’s almost like Goodfellas on steroids. The money that Jordan Belfort makes in The Wolf of Wall Street puts Henry Hill’s biggest heist to shame. Though when the rug gets pulled out from under him, Jordan has a much easier fall than Henry did. They both lose the lives they had, but Jordan’s bounce into his new life seems to have bounced a lot higher than Hill’s, at least in the way that the ending of The Wolf of Wall Street depicts it.

The acting in The Wolf of Wall Street is top notch. Leonardo DiCaprio shows again why he is this author’s favorite actor of his generation. Best Leading Actor Oscar worthy? Not this year, when your competition is Matthew McConoughey in Dallas Buyers Club and Chiwetel Ejiofor in 12 Years a Slave. That said, this continues the streak of Leonardo DiCaprio films being films you should see.

Jonah Hill is great as Belfort’s right hand man, Donnie Azoff. Hill has the most entertaining line in the whole movie when he lets out, “I want…to smoke crack…with youuu!” shortly after meeting Belfort. This will be the line I quote most from the movie.

According to IMDB, Matthew McConoughey’s chest thumping at lunch was McConoughey’s idea, and not something that happened that lunch in real life. This makes sense, as that scene is pure McConoughey. That chest thumping is a warming ritual McConoughey does before acting.

We caught The Wolf of Wall Street at the excellent 84th and Broadway AMC. Dear New York City, why would you go to any other movie theater? This one rocks. Barcaloungers, reserved seats, a well stocked snack bar, what more could I want? If a movie I want to see is playing in this theater, I want to see it in this theater.

tommy popcorn

This size popcorn is 100% the right size popcorn for a 3 hour movie.

Yes, The Wolf of Wall Street is three hours long. Yes, the f-bomb is dropped over 500 times in the movie. Yes, there’s a lot of drug use, nudity and unsavory characters. And also…yes, you should definitely see it.

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Life Of Pi – Review

4/5 – Ang Lee earned his Best Director Oscar

With less than eight hours to go before the start of the Oscars, I upped the number of Best Picture nominees I had seen by one by catching an early afternoon showing of Life of Pi. It’s good we showed up early, because it looked like everyone in the vicinity of Brooklyn’s Cobble Hill Cinemas had the same idea.

Before the movie began, the old lady sitting behind me decided to walk her husband through the entire story of the movie in her loud old lady voice. Thanks, lady, you rock. I haven’t read the book, so I thought about turning around and yelling “Dobby dies in book 7!” at Madame de Spoiler. Instead, headphones went in, Foo Fighters came on, and spoilers were avoided. I have to admit, I considered keeping Foo Fighters going a little longer when I saw the first trailer was for the latest  Fast and Furious movie.

Life of Pi started, and despite the constant running commentary from the old lady behind me (She loves meer cats! Tigers are scary!), it was a really good movie. First off, it’s beautifully shot, and the 3D looks awesome. This is the best 3D I’ve seen in a live action movie since Avatar. But unlike Avatar, everything doesn’t look like it’s CGI. Oh, a lot of this movie is CGI, but it doesn’t have that telltale fake look that CGI usually has. I was surprised to find out that the tiger in Life of Pi, Richard Parker, was a CG creature throughout the entire movie. I thought they used an actual tiger for at least some of the scenes.

Cesi n’est pas un tigre.

Life of Pi walks the line between endearing and tragic so well, and that’s what I think is the main reason why I liked it so much. Pi goes through an experience that rivals Job’s, but the movie never turns into maudlin naval gazing. Instead, it’s lifted by by its heartwarming and humorous parts.

I’m glad Ang Lee won the Best Director Oscar for Life of Pi. With Kathryn Bigelow and Ben Affleck both snubbed for Zero Dark Thirty and Argo, I was happy to see it go to Ang Lee for Life of Pi over Steven Spielberg for Lincoln.

See Life of Pi in the theater, and see it in 3D. The shots of the movie during the Oscars didn’t look quite as magical in 2D on my home TV as they did in 3D in the theater.

Parting thought: Gerard Depardieu is a jerk.

Jerk.