Film Reviews, Interviews and Articles
Taika Waititi‘s oddball Hunt for the Wilderpeople continues the Kiwi director’s aggressive expansion into the mainstream while still maintaining his goofy, grinning, soft-centered tendencies. Coming off the roaring critical success of vampire mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows, Wilderpeople is a more grounded venture (but then again, what isn’t?) that maintains Waititi’s ironic and largely innocent sense of humor while injecting a fair measure of heart into the affair. Read More
Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan‘s (A.K.A. The Daniels) flatulence-fueled, sea-stranded mind trip is a totally bonkers, emotionally decadent spirit quest to the weirdest corners of reality. A man and a corpse test the boundaries of friendship and filmmaking in this boundlessly creative, wildly original tramp sure to shock any lucky enough to cross its odd path. Rich thematic elements of self-discovery and questionable sexuality slam the rocky shoals of excessive farting, boners-that-think-for-themselves and general farcical bombast in this absolutely absurd sketch; one that could only come from the minds of former music video director gurus like The Daniels. Swiss Army Man is uncompromisingly weird and goddamn if I didn’t respect the hell out of that fact. Read More
Wild, or 50 Shades of Grey Wolf, is Germany’s erotic response to Beauty and the Beast. If the beast were a feral wolf and beauty his captor. Like an anarchistic misinterpretation of To Catch a Predator, the German feature from Berlin-native Nicolette Krebitz finds a dissatisfied Ania (Lillith Stangenberg) serendipitously strike up a relationship with a city-dwelling wolf that develops into an obsession after she traps it in her high-rise apartment. Read More
Jason Lew presents a bleak world of second chances and doomed romance in impact drama The Free World. Lew’s feature gives a Bonnie and Clyde twist to the “Romeo and Juliet” story and those willing to overlook some obvious symbolism will find a feature rich in subtext and striking performances. Featuring the always phenomenal Elisabeth Moss and a breakout performance from Boyd Halbrook as a pair of social outcasts who’ve found each other (and themselves) on the wrong side of the law – one an ex-con, the other the (ex-)wife of a violent cop – The Free World explores the spiritual poetry of redemption and religion through the lens of besting your former shadow. To quote Hemingway, “There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility to being superior to your former self.” Again, this idea of self-transcendence isn’t necessarily broached with a fistful of subtlety but the thematic elements are bolstered by the two convincing, whirlwind performances at its center. Read More
Other People sets expectations firmly in place early on for its uneven mix of tragedy and comedy. A family huddles in a dark bedroom, some whimpering, some crying out, others silent, all grasping hands, all seeking tendrils of connection, all weeping over a recently departed body. In the midst of this disruptively bleak opening, the landline erupts, echoing through the empty halls. It rings a number of times, awkwardly interrupting the mourning at hand, before clipping to voicemail. Broadcast through the house, a perky female says something to the effect of, “I heard you’re, like, really sick,” and then goes on to sloppily order tacos and Coke at a drive through. Read More
In Alex Garland’s riveting metaphysical exploration of man’s relationship to machinery Ex Machina, Oscar Isaac’s character Caleb states of his A.I. Ava, “The real test is to show you she is a robot. Then see if you still feel she has consciousness.” A similar theme blooms in Charlie Kaufman’s Anomalisa, a stop-motion animated drama that explores a day in the midst of a customer service man’s midlife crisis. Read More
Michael Bay’s Benghazi movie is predictably terrible; tin-eared, hyper-masculine, loud as can be, excessively brutal, slyly jingoistic and politically tone-deaf. A protracted action film if there ever was one, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi exploits Bay’s worst sensibilities as a director; it showcases his exploitative side, one not in control of tone or mood, blind to any sense of urgency, bombastically working the audience’s patriotic bone until it’s liable to snap. A more preening, hyper-masculine war movie, there may not have been in the 21st century. We’ve seen war as hell a million times. This is war as hoorah and pantie raids. Read More
I feel like Denzel Washington at the Globes. I have a speech prepared but I forgot my reading glasses. I guess I’ll thank my family for giving me the courage to predict the Academy Award nominees. And, of course, I’d like to thank the Academy. But in all seriousness, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences unveiled their glorious Oscar nominees for 2016 and the results were staggeringly close to our predictions. Seriously, someone should employ me full-time to do this or something. There were some surprises in store, such as Carol being shut out of more than a few major categories, and some nice inclusions, like Tom Hardy getting tapped for his aces performance in The Revenant and Lenny Abrahamson for his truly superb direction in Room. I left the Spotlight team out of the spotlight and paid dearly for it as both Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams eeked their way into nods. Over on the script side, frequent favorites Quentin Tarantino and Aaron Sorkin found themselves shut out for The Hateful Eight and Steve Jobs respectively. In the end though, with The Revenant and Mad Max: Fury Road leading the nominees in terms of sheer volume, my two favorite films of 2015, I have to applaud the academy. You’ve done us right boys. Now take us home. Read More
This morning, the Seattle Film Critics’ Survery unleashed their winners and it was Mad Max: Fury Road who took the proverbial cake and ate it too. Curated by Should I See It‘s Mike Ward, the full press release is included below:
“George Miller’s post-apocalyptic epic Mad Max: Fury Road steamrolled the competition, and was named the Best Picture of 2015 by Seattle’s film community. The film nearly swept the competition, earning 10 out of a potential 11 award wins in the third annual Seattle Film Awards survey. Read More
Every year, us adamant movie bloggers have a tradition of predicting not only the winners of the Academy Awards but the actual nominees. Does it sound like sheer insanity? Of course it does! It’s tilting at windmills. Nothing more. Nonetheless, we labor to push the proverbial rock up the hill eternal, shooting blindly into the dark. This year there’s so many variables that predicting the nominations has been more difficult than ever. The only sure things at this point seem to be Spotlight and The Big Short for Best Picture, Leonardo DiCaprio for Best Actor, Brie Larson for Best Actress, Sylvester Stallone for Best Supporting Actor and a handful of technical nods for the likes of Mad Max and The Martian. Read More