Out in Theaters: DALLAS BUYERS CLUB

November 6, 2013 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Dallas Buyers Club, Jared Leto, Jean-Marc Vallee, Martin Pensa, Matthew McConaughey, Out in Theaters, Reviews

“Dallas Buyers Club”
Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée
Starring Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto, Jennifer Garner, Dallas Roberts, Denis O’Hare, Steve Zahn, Kevin Rankin, Jane McNeill
Drama
117 Mins
R

Imagine being sat down and told that you’ve just tested positive for HIV. Now imagine that you’ve only ever been told that this is a “gay disease” – an impossible horror reserved only for the darkest corner of “queerness.” Then picture this whopper: you’ve got six weeks to live. Six weeks. 42 days. 1000 hours…and that’s not accounting for time spent sleeping. The rest of your life needs to fit within the confines of a 1000-hour window. Welcome to AIDS in the 80s.

This true life horror story is a too commonly known in 2013, a time when we have a semi-solution to the problem – even though the living stigma attached to the HIV-positive is as lecherous and potent as ever – but in the live-free-die-young time of Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey), doctors couldn’t finger transmission causes, barely knew the symptoms, and failed to charter a road to recovery just as they failed to grasp the desperation of those afflicted.

It was a time of widespread panic, a near-modernization of the Black Plague that ripped apart communities and savaged its victims. If there was anything that HIV wasn’t, it was good. That is, except for Woodroof. His disease catalyzed him to become a man of action, a fighter with a rock-solid purpose, and most of all, a business juggernaut who built a small empire.

For a small town electrician with a seventh grade education, Woodroof essentially transformed himself into an amateur scientist and one of the leading experts on HIV/AIDS treatments. While hanging on for his life in Mexico after blasting his body with an unregulated trial version of AZT, Ron becomes a champion of the “cocktail” – a pill regiment that has become a regular staple of modern HIV treatment. Transfixed with saving his own life while making a few bucks, he soon starts smuggling boxes of the non-FDA approved medicine into the US for sale.

Never a man seeking a Nobel Prize, Woodroof was in drug business for himself and himself alone. He saw demand and a gross lack of supply and tactfully worked out a marketplace in the periphery of the drug administration’s reach. His actions couldn’t have been further from philanthropy and this is what makes the tale so entirely captivating. This is no hero’s story, this is the ballad of a charismatic anti-hero; a man profiteering off of his deadly disease, who just so happens to have made a positive mark in his community.

Amazingly, this is not the sob story that it so easily could have been. The absolute restraint on full display elevates Dallas Buyers Club from a powerful biopic into an elegant stunner. On many occasions, director Jean-Marc Vallée brings you to the brink of tears and quickly yanks away, allowing the melodramatic teat to go un-milked. In such, Dallas is the anti Nick Sparks. While this tragedy could have easily been swaddled in a waterfall of tears, Vallée and McConaughey harvest the comic aspects while maintaining a strong foothold in respectful execution. Like any true story, there is no black-and-white, just various shades of gray.

For the past two years, Matthew McConaughey has pushed against his former image – a shiftless Southerner, the heartthrob focal point of many a failed rom-com – and embraced his career like a man reborn. His work in Dallas Buyers Club is entirely stunning – unquestionably the greatest work of his career – the final stage of a prodigious transformation. Bubbling behind his eyes is a well of emotion, a characteristic that gives layers of depth to what he says, inferring that the true meaning of his homophobic, brash choice of words are always hidden behind a few layers of his callous former self. For as much of a strong-headed bastard as he is, Ron is as scared as a kid at a clown convention. But he’d rather die than ever say it.

Coming out of a semi-retirement, Jared Leto offers strong evidence that he should have never been allowed to step out of the spotlight. As Ron’s transvestite business partner, also stricken with HIV, Leto is gold and nearly threatens in upstage McConaughey in a number of scenes. Brimming with heart, Rayon offers a softer-edge to balance out Ron’s calculated apathy. Underneath the layers of overindulgent makeup, fire-red wig, and shabby drag garb, there is a real person – one who has suffered being the butt of countless gay jokes and has crawled nail-by-manicured-nail out of the disapproval of a conservative, waspy family. He isn’t some wacky transvestite; he is a human of hardship whose only reward for free expression is a case of full-blown AIDS. Ron may be the centerpiece of the film but Rayon is the timely beating heart.

As a piece of cultural import, Dallas Buyers Club works so well because it is just as poignant look at drug administration as corporate bully and the monumental failings of the U.S. health care system today as it was then. Just look at the similar origin story of Walter White in Breaking Bad – another tale of a man with a clinical death sentence forced to function outside the law to pay for treatment – to upend parallels between the 80s and now. We may have waged unpopular wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and yet the U.S. government continues to wage an invisible war on the sick with their defunct health care policies. Canadian Vallée wrangles the issue close and holds it up to the camera. “Is this acceptable America?” he asks. Of course not. And yet, around and around we go.

For the swing-for-the-fences success, major credit is due to the editing department under Vallée and Martin Pensa‘s guidance, making the most difficult calls of all – not overstaying. Debunking the belief that over-dramatization leads to more emotional impact, Vallée guides Dallas into near-perfect territory with the craft of someone who’s been doing this his whole life. Lingering long after the lights draw up, Dallas passes on an invaluable lesson: everything we have can be taken from us in an instant and, as life deteriorates around you, you can be footed with the bill. As an American living without health care, what can be more terrifying than that?

A+

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Character Posters for ANCHORMAN: THE LEGEND CONTINUES

November 5, 2013 by Matt Oakes Posted in Movie Posters Tagged Adam McKay, Anchorman: The Legend Continues, Harrison Ford, Movie Posters, Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, Will Ferrell

Playing up the epic element and riffing on monster movie posters, the cast of Anchorman: The Legend Continues takes over New York City in the macro. Towering above skyscrapers, stomping on cars, and lounging on buildings Ron Burgandy is joined by his faithful news crew as they trudge closer to their Christmas Day release.

“With the 70’s behind him, San Diego’s top rated newsman, Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell), returns to the news desk in Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues. Also back for more are Ron’s co-anchor and wife, Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate), weather man Brick Tamland (Steve Carell), man on the street Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd) and sports guy Champ Kind (David Koechner) – All of whom won’t make it easy to stay classy…while taking the country’s first 24-hour news channel by storm.”

Paul Rudd as Brian Fantana

Steve Carrell as Brick Tamland

David Koechner as Champ Kind

Will Ferrell as Ron Burgandy

Anchorman: The Legend Continues is directed by Adam McKay and stars Will Ferrell, Steve Carrell, Paul Rudd, David Koechner, Kristen Wiig, Sacha Baron Cohen, Tina Fey, Greg Kinnear, Kayne West, James Marsden, Nicole Kidman, Harrison Ford, Liam Neeson, Amy Poehler, Jim Carrey. It hits theaters on December 20, 2013.

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Hugh Jackman to Return for WOLVERINE 3

November 5, 2013 by Matt Oakes Posted in Movie Announcements Tagged Hugh Jackman, James Mangold, The Wolverine, Wolverine 3

I enjoyed The Wolverine, even though I had no delusions that it was a great movie, but now it looks like it will be the middle child of a trilogy of Wolverine movies. James Mangold, director of The Wolverine and 3:10 to Yuma, will return to direct Hugh Jackman for his eighth, yes eighth, run as the eponymous Wolverine. This news comes as a bit of a surprise since The Wolverine saw lackluster box office return and mild reaction from fans and critics.

Although little details have yet emerged as to where this tale will fall within the X-Men timeline, especially since this release will fall after X-Men: Days of Future Past, old Wolfy boy seems like he won’t ever die. Now Oscar nominated and a massive international superstar, Jackman seems to really be limiting his options continuing down the X-Men route. Unless you finally get Darren Aronofsky onboard and an R-rating, the propects of yet another Wolverine movie seem limited by what we’ve already seen.

Fox’s executive decisions up to this point suggest that so long as Jackman is willing, they’ll throw a Wolverine role at him every other year until he dies. Jackman though seems headstrong to continue his superhero path and has recently made comments suggesting that he would love to join up with the Avengers at some point. Slow down Jackman, I think eight superhero movies might be enough for one man.

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Sherlock Lives in Teaser Photo for Season 3

November 5, 2013 by Matt Oakes Posted in Pictures

Anyone up to date with BBC‘s Sherlock (turn away now if not) saw Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch) jump to his death at the hands of arch-nemesis Moriarty. While he may be a magician of the intellect, Sherlock is still a human and a 60-foot jump onto concrete has a tendency to kill humans. Nevertheless, Sherlock continues to live – a fact made clear by this first official from season three.

While the writers certainly have a hole to dig themselves out of – especially if they don’t want to be seen as “jumping the shark” – there is no shortage of internet theories as to how Sherlock could have faked his death in the moment for them to pursue through and pull from. While probably not a common tactic for show runners, it will be interesting to see how closely their solution to Sherlock’s death hems to the heft of fan theories. One way or another, they’re really gonna need to pull something brilliant to win the trust and confidence of fans.

As evident by the opening scene in the final episode of season two, Martin Freeman‘s Watson has become a man broken by Sherlock’s death. We can expect some fierce butting of heads when Sherlock reveals his latest stunt to just be yet another rouse but could it potentially lead to the end of Watson and Sherlock’s odd friendship?

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Taking a Second Swing at the 2014 Oscar Predictions

November 4, 2013 by Matt Oakes Posted in Awards Tagged 2014 Oscars, All is Lost, American Hustle, Captain Phillips, Dallas Buyers Club, Gravity, Inside Llewyn Davis, Nebraska, Saving Mr. Banks, The Wolf of Wall Street

A lot has changed in the weeks since my first Oscar prediction post. A big contender is now out of the running with Monuments Men unexpected move to a 2014 release, while Saving Mr. Banks debuted to soaring reviews, and The Wolf of Wall Street secured its chance in this year’s Oscar after solidifying a Christmas release date.

Although buzz has Gravity and 12 Years a Slave going head-to-head for the title, that conversation is nothing more than preemptive positioning, as there’s just so much more to see before the we start setting things in stone. One thing is for sure though, Gravity’s continued praise and high box office numbers make it a stronger contender than expected and it’s pretty much locked in nominations across the board. Nonetheless, expect it to pull an Inception/Life of Pi manuever and mostly walk away with technical accolades. Although unlikely, a director-picture split could potentially see Alfonso Cuaron taking home his first Oscar but after last year’s Affleck, Argo drama, don’t cross your fingers.

After seeing 12 Years a Slave, Blue is the Warmest Color, and Nebraska, I had to shake up a few categories, first and foremost, the Best Actor category, as I can’t imagine Bruce Dern not seeing some recognition. As for Chiwetel Ejifor‘s lead role in 12 Years, it’s beyond powerful, and he’s very likely to take home the gold. Nipping at his heels, Robert Redford continues to climb the charts for his near silent role in All is Lost and could just end up playing a legacy trump card when it comes voting time.

Another black man playing a role tailor man for the Oscars, Forest Whitaker got pushed out of the top five for now but it wouldn’t be unlikely for him to step back in sooner or later. Perhaps the biggest unknown quality in this category though is Leonardo DiCaprio, who leads Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street. Criminally undernominated, DiCaprio was pegged for an Oscar for this role early on but now his odds are shakier with the knowledge that Wolf is a nearly three hour long dark comedy. Now that the film will definitely see the light of day in 2013, there’s still a chance he can pull some last minute punches. For once, it’s a rather interesting race for Best Actor with some massive talent pining for those top five spots.

The Best Director category seems pretty firmed up as none of the top five spots managed to budge. Expect further momentum in that category in December when Saving Mr. Banks, American Hustle, and Inside Llewyn Davis play for a wider audience. For now, it’s a race between McQueen and Cuaron but if American Hustle is the success story that so many people expect, a win for David O. Russell would be more than understandable.

Glancing through the list for now, you’ll notice a bit of a 12 Years a Slave domination. Does that mean I expect 12 Years a Slave to clean up at the Oscars? Not necessarily, but all current momentum does have it as an early frontrunner, making it the one to beat at the moment. Gravity is currently perceived as its biggest competition but that’s little more than hogwash, as Gravity, no matter how well received, just doesn’t stand a chance at the top.

The closet thing we have as a lock for now is Cate Blanchett‘s stronghold on Best Actress. Although Judi Dench will give her a run for her money with her titular role in Philomena, Bullock is assured a nomination, and Streep is never someone to be scoffed at, this category is all but signed, sealed, and delivered for Blanchett.

Best Picture:

1. “12 Years a Slave” (No change)

2. “Gravity” +1
3. “Saving Mr. Banks” +1
4. “American Hustle” -2
5. “The Wolf of Wall Street” +4
6. “Inside Llewyn Davis” (No change)
7. “Captain Phillips” -2
8. “Nebraska” +4
9. “Dallas Buyers Club” -2
10. “All is Lost” +1

Fringe:
11. “August: Osage County” -1
12. “Rush” +1
13. “Before Midnight” +1
14. “Blue is the Warmest Color” (New)
15. “Prisoners” (New)

Best Director:

1. Steve McQueen “12 Years a Slave” (No change)

2. Alfonso Cuaron “Gravity” (No change)
3. David O. Russell “American Hustle” (No change)
4. John Lee Hancock “Saving Mr. Banks” (No change)
5. The Coen Bros “Inside Llewyn Davis” (No change)

Fringe:
6. Martin Scorsese “The Wolf of Wall Street” +2
7. Paul Greengrass “Captain Phillips” -1
8. JC Chandor “All is Lost” +1
9. Alexander Payne “Nebraska” +1
10. Jean-Marc Vallee “Dallas Buyers Club” (New)

Best Actor:

1. Chiwetel Ejifor “12 Years a Slave” +1

2. Robert Redford “All is Lost” +2
3. Matthew McConaughey “Dallas Buyers Club” -2
4. Tom Hanks “Captain Phillips” -1
5. Bruce Dern “Nebraska” +3

Fringe:
6. Leonardo DiCaprio “The Wolf of Wall Street” (No change)
7. Forest Whitaker “Lee Daniel’s The Butler” -2
8. Christain Bale “American Hustle” -1
9. Joaquin Phoenix “Her” (No change)
10. Oscar Isaac “Inside Llewyn Davis” (No change)

Best Actress:

1. Cate Blanchett “Blue Jasmine” (No change)

2. Judi Dench “Philomena” (No change)
3. Sandra Bullock “Gravity” +1
4. Meryl Streep “August: Osage County” -1
5. Emma Thompson “Saving Mr. Banks” (No change)

Fringe:
6.Amy Adams “American Hustle” (No change)
7. Adèle Exarchopoulos “Blue is the Warmest Color” +2
8. Julie Delpy “Before Midnight” -1
9. Brie Larson “Short Term 12” -1
10. Berenice Bejo “The Past” (No change)

Best Supporting Actor:

1. Jared Leto “Dallas Buyers Club” (No change)

2. Michael Fassbender “12 Years a Slave” +1
2. Daniel Bruhl “Rush” -1
4. Tom Hanks “Saving Mr. Banks” (No change)
5. Barkhad Abdi “Captain Phillips” +3

Fringe:
6. Bradley Cooper “American Hustle” (No change)
7. Jake Gllyenhaal “Prisoners” (No change)
8. Jonah Hill “The Wolf of Wall Street” (New)
9. John Goodman “Inside Llewyn Davis” -4
10. James Gandolfini “Enough Said” (New)

Best Supporting Actress:

1. Lupita Nyong’o “12 Years a Slave” (No change)

2. Oprah Winfrey “Lee Daniel’s The Butler” (No change)
3. June Squibb “Nebraska” +4
4. Julia Roberts “August: Osage County” -1
5. Octavia Spencer “Fruitvale Station” -1

Fringe:
6. Lea Seydoux “Blue is the Warmest Color” (New)
7. Margo Martindale “August: Osage County” -1
8. Melissa Leo “Prisoners” (No change)
9. Jennifer Lawrence “American Hustle” (No change)
10. Carey Mulligan “Inside Llewyn Davis” (No change)

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Weekly Review 31: SLEEPAWAY CAMP, FRIDAY THE 13TH, THE OMEN, BOYS DON'T CRY, THE GIRL NEXT DOOR

November 4, 2013 by Matt Oakes Posted in Weekly Review Tagged Boys Don't Cry, Friday the 13th, Sleepaway Camp, The Girl Next Door, The Omen

As Halloween ticked closer, I continued my streak of horror movies, getting a little tied up with mental horror as a pit stop on the road to woodland slashers. Both The Girl Next Door and Boys Don’t Cry aren’t really horrors but they are in many, many ways the most horrifying of the bunch, as both involve woman stripped of their feminine freedom and, ultimately, their lives.Otherwise, I got a taste for the true Halloween horror with the likes of the aptly campy Sleepaway Camp, the always spooky The Omen, and a revisit of the one that started it all, Friday the 13th.

My theatrical screenings this week also had their high and lows with About Time and Man of Tai Chi far exceeding my expectations, 12 Years a Slave absolutely knocking it out of the park, and Last Vegas and Ender’s Game not quite offering the enjoyment that they should have. But enough of that, let’s weekly review.

SLEEPAWAY CAMP (1983)

With the “camp” factor cranked up past 11, Sleepaway Camp thrives on elementary school-level acting, bubbling gross out gags, and a wacky knack for sending up the horror genre. As you may have ventured from the name, this schlocky horror follows the basic cabin in the woods premise: killer running a muck, teens splitting up to cover more ground, and the occasional breast or two, all for good measure. For all of its creative inadequacies though, Sleepaway Camp takes itself as seriously as a clown on April Fool’s day, making the stupidity of the film part and parcel of the experience. Also, it packs a twist ending that is sure to leave your mouth agape and your intellect stinging. Although clearly not for all, Sleepaway Camp is a fine little camp fest for horror enthusiasts.

C

THE OMEN (1976)

You’ve got to hand it to Gregory Peck, he knows how to choose ’em. However out of his comfort zone he might be with The Omen, he leads the film with the golden bravado he’s so known for, conjuring up a chilling experience more in key with Rosemary’s Baby than Paranormal Activity. Peck plays an American ambassador who discovers that his son is the spawn of the devil and trots around the globe trying to piece together what the hell is going on. Directed by adventure legend Richard Donner, The Omen is gleefully self-serious with its material. When topped with orchestral chantings and child death stares, it’s a hell of a creeper.

B

THE GIRL NEXT DOOR (2007)

Not every headline story deserves a movie adaptation. Perhaps a result of our generational knack for gritty, the most inspiring stories often never receive the Hollywood treatment. Others are horrifying enough to burn their place in the public spotlight and make any movie adaptation little more than an exercise in masochism. This film is the later. Inspired by the true story of Sylvia Likens‘s brutal torture and murder at the hands of Gertrude Baniszewski, The Girl Next Door is a horrifying film to watch. No matter how important the cautionary tale of lost innocence and degraded humanity laced throughout this suburban hell, The Girl Next Door presents material you just would rather not have floating around in your subconscious. It’s far from poorly made and the acting, especially from Blanche Baker, is often notable but there’s little underneath this torture porn endurance test to substantiate a viewing.

C-

FRIDAY THE 13^th(1980)

It might have been there first and inspired a trove of a dozen sequels but there’s little to nothing interesting about this cabin bound slasher 30-odd years on. It’s hard to knock Friday the 13^thfor sticking so closely to the formula – because in many ways it helped invent the formula – and yet, the “been there, done that” qualities of the film outweigh all other feeling involved. Easily the most interesting aspect of Friday the 13^this the lack of Jason – who doesn’t actually appear until the second film – but even without that hulking menace, the film feels flat and uninspired.

D

BOYS DON’T CRY (1999)

Another addition to the list graphing the torment of a tortured girl, Boys Don’t Cry is so wildly effective because of the film’s balanced tone and willingness to step outside of the horror. Hilary Swank gives a knock out performance as Brandon, a natural born woman undergoing a sexual identity crisis and masquerading as a man. But Kimberly Peirce‘s film doesn’t show Swank’s Brandon as a transvestite or a lesbian or whatever she chooses to call herself. No, she’s (he’s) a person just like you or me. But regardless of how much Brandon just wants to be left to his own devices, society just can’t accept something they don’t understand. Anyone wo knows the true story knows that it doesn’t end well but Peirce actually builds a character that we can relate to and understanding before tearing them down, making it all the most difficult and poignant to behold.

B

How about you? Did you see anything worthy of mention?

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HORRIBLE BOSSES 2 Nabs Chris Pine and Christoph Waltz

November 4, 2013 by Jill Landon Posted in Casting News Tagged Charlie Day, Chris Pine, Christoph Waltz, Horrible Bosses, Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis

Is Hollywood so unimaginative that it has to rehash an idea as simple as Horrible Bosses? Even after lackluster numbers, it appears that the 2011 comedy will attempt to flower into a franchise after all. Confirmed to play a new horrible boss/father-son duo are Chris Pine and Christoph Waltz. Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, and Jason Sudeikis will reprise their roles as the extremely unlucky guys who just can’t seem to find a good boss, a feat proven tricky when you’ve attempted to murder your last bosses.

What else is there to say about Christoph Waltz? He can do no wrong. One can imagine that he is swimming in scripts for better movies than this, so it must be okay. Right? Chris Pine has also proven to be pretty solid talent lately and it will be interesting to see how he handles a comedic role. The few comedic moments in the new Star Trek films were well executed by him.

Hopefully they don’t go the route taken by Hangover 2 and do the exact plot again. However, it’s difficult to imagine a much broader scope when the film is called Horrible Bosses. You pretty much know what you are in for.

I am currently working on the third film in the series, where the protagonists work in a Chinese factory and commit suicide after 2 hours of existential pondering and hopelessness. At least that’d be something new.

Horrible Bosses 2 is directed by Sean Anders and stars Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, Charlie Day, Chris Pine and Christoph Waltz. It hits theaters on November 28, 2014.

CHARLIE COUNTRYMAN Trailer Means Make or Break Time For Shia LaBeouf

November 3, 2013 by Jill Landon Posted in Trailers Tagged Charlie Countryman, Evan Rachel Wood, Fredrik Bond, Mads Mikkelsen, Rupert Grint, Shia LaBeouf, Trailers

Charlie Countryman’s newly released red band trailer looks very… adult? Shia LaBeouf is trying hard to break into more artistic filmmaking, but he’s still Shia LeBeouf. He still hasn’t risen to the occasion and brought a stand out performance to the table. He will always be the Even Stevens kid who was in that Indiana Jones movie that no one likes. Watching him in a red band trailer is akin to watching your 13 year old sister smoke a cigarette. It feels as inauthentic and try-hard as the beard and slick hair LaBeouf wears in this trailer.

From what the trailer gives us, it seems LaBeouf has been fooling around with the wrong lady, getting on the wrong side of the always badass Mads Mikkelsen. Not much else is revealed, which is an amazing quality for a trailer to have. It looks surreal, violent, intense, and kind of awesome. Still, the trailer gives a feeling in the pit of the stomach, as if it’s saying “Look how gritty and independent I am.” Hopefully that’s not the case. But all too often films like this fall into the style-over-substance category. What we’ve learned from Shia LeBeouf is that he usually joins projects that have neither.

Perhaps the cynicism is unwarranted. Perhaps LaBeouf is as brilliant as the trailer claims him to be. It remains to be seen. Labeouf’s other new film is Lars Von Trier’s Nymphomanic. If Von Trier saw something in him, perhaps he has potential.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdBtipsAsD8&hd=1

Charlie Countryman is directed by Fredrik Bond and stars Shia LaBeouf, Evan Rachel Wood, Mads Mikkelsen, and Rupert Grint. There is no no official theatrical release date yet.

Out in Theaters: 12 YEARS A SLAVE

November 2, 2013 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged 2014 Oscars, Benedict Cumberbatch, Brad Pitt, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Paul Dano, Steve McQueen

“12 Years a Slave”
Directed by Steve McQueen
Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Lupita Nyong’o, Brad Pitt, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti, Quvenzhane Wallis, Sarah Paulson
Biography, Drama, History
132 Mins
R

12 Years a Slave opens somewhere around a decade into Solomon Northup’s enslavement. He’s mushing blackberries to a paste, attempting to write a letter home using a whittled mulberry stick. Scribbling like a fugitive to the crackle of candlelight, this is the first time he’s put pen to paper in years, and must do so under the cover of night. For all the horrors he’s suffered and witnessed, the most impossible task is keeping his true identity, and intelligence, under wraps. For a learned slave is a troubling slave and a troubling slave is a marked man – a truth he’s seen manifested many times before.

More than a decade gone for something as simple as not being allowed to produce his “free papers,” Solomon’s journey draws empathy from the audience like water from a well. More than just a story of the horrors of slavery, this is the story of a man who knew a better life – he abided the law, owned a house, had a family, and was a respected part of his Saratoga, New York community – and yet, down in the bowels of the hellish South, was stripped of his humanity like tattered clothes from his back.

Director Steve McQueen is a particular type of dark visionary. Employing patience and human degradation as a litmus test of how much we can emotionally bear, McQueen peels back all the curtains of our collective American history, revealing the inky black turmoil stirring in the human soul. But torture is no new game for McQueen.

In his first film, Hunger, McQueen explored a prison-bound hunger strike but his craft was not yet refined, too raw, cold, and indulgent to raise the welt he was hoping for. In Shame, he arm wrestled sex addiction out of romanticized glamor and into a pit of emptiness and human despair. Although fantastic acting and gruesome body horror prevailed, it continued the same dour tendencies that make his films so hard to sit through. In his third go around, he’s perfected his art, making a film that’s both impossible to watch and impossible to look away from.

However difficult 12 Years a Slave may be to watch, it’s absolutely necessary watching. It’s long been positioned that it’s our American duty to process, or at least understand, slavery. As a means to sift the political hand of slavery from those participating in it, McQueen demands you to think long and hard about what you would do in a similar situation. Even the good men in this film, such as Benedict Cumberbatch‘s Ford are stained by the cultural pollution manifest in slavery. It may just be impossible to be a moral man in a land drained of morality, McQueen’s film says.

As Solomon adopts his new name and role as Platt, he holds onto hope – however tucked away in a dark corner it must remain; hope that someday he’ll be reunited with his family, hope that one day he’ll meet a white man who wants more for his than a closed mouth and fast working hands, hope for freedom. In a Kafkaesque metamorphosis, Solomon becomes Platt, his days transformed from living to surviving.

Despite the barbarity of Solomon’s unlawful enslavement, the mentality intact in the age is a scourge most difficult to stomach. Packaged in caravans like sardines, sold stripped nude, and man handled at every turn, there is little to distinguish slaves from live stock.

Chiwetel Ejiofor leads a sensational cast that brings Solomon’s true story to the screen with deadly seriousness. As our guardian through this hellish descent, Ejiofor is stunning from start to finish. His decision to play Solomon as a stone gradually pared by the tide of slavery rather than a thistle bending at the first breeze will cement an Oscar nomination. His final heart-rending scene will secure the win. Michael Fassbender is similarly committed to his role as devilish plantation fiend Edwin Epps. Despite his character’s despicable traits, he’s an equally complex man, torn by his own sinful passion for Lupita Nyong’o‘s Patsey. Expect Oscar nominations, if not wins, all around.

Wowing cinematography from Sean Bobbitt (Shame, The Place Beyond the Pines) is haunting yet beautiful. Gorgeous waterfront properties impose their menacing statue – demonic in their association with America’s great shame. Captured under Bobbitt’s lens, the land itself takes on a stifling quality. No matter how scenic the willows peppering the plantation are, they always seem to weep – graves of the crushed souls haunting the confederate flag-totting South.

12 Years a Slave will make you want to run the retributive justice of Django Unchained but the sad truth is, this is more fact than fiction. Even when freed, American blacks were paid the respect of subhumans. You want Solomon to strap dynamite to his prison, to rip it down to the studs and burn it but you know that it’s not that type of movie. No, it’s too gravely serious for that, for this is an epitaph to American slaves, penned centuries late.

A+

Playing locally at the Regal Meridian 16 and Guild 45th Landmark Theater

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Jim Jarmusch Does Vampires in ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE Trailer

November 2, 2013 by Matt Oakes Posted in Trailers Tagged Anton Yelchin, Jim Jarmusch, John Hurt, Mia Wasikowska, Only Lovers Left Alive, Tilda Swinton, Tom Hiddleston, Trailers

From indie director Jim Jarmusch (Broken Flowers, Ghost Dog) comes a vampire feature geared towards adults. While hardly the stuff of True Blood, Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive tells the tale of a musician vampire who reconnects with an old flame, also vampiric. Starring Tom Hiddleston (The Avengers) and Tilda Swinton (Moonrise Kingdom), Only Lovers Left Alive screened to favorable reviews at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

The synopsis, per Wikipedia, is as follows:

After being around for centuries and now living in the modern age, vampire Adam (Tom Hiddleston) is a rockstar who cannot grow accustomed to the new modern world with all of its new technology. While he lives in Detroit, his wife Eve (Tilda Swinton) lives in Tangier, flourishing in the new world. But when she senses Adam’s depression with society, she gets on a plane and goes to see him. Shortly after Eve gets there, her little sister, Ava (Mia Wasikowska), shows up after 87 years and disrupts the couple’s idyll reunion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BN6jVUW2XZM

Only Lovers Left Alive is directed by Jim Jarmusch and stars Tom Hindleston, Tilda Swinton, Mia Wasikowska, John Hurt, and Anton Yelchin. There is no official release date yet.

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