The Beasts of the Southern Wild

When two minds collide, a debate is born. But what if it's one mind divided? That was where I found myself shortly after viewing The Beasts of the Southern Wild, a film I find difficult to critique. On one hand, it is a wonderfully envisioned tale of magic realism, a movie that relishes in its creativity, and relies heavily on its visual aesthetic. However, through an objective lens, the film's visual achievements are marred by, among other things, a thin story lacking narrative flow.

This is, of course, nothing new. Anything that we evaluate will lead us to draw pros and cons, to balance our decisions and arrive at a conclusion. And I'm not even really sure why this film has divided me? There have been many films (and books, and albums) that I can honestly say were, from an objective viewpoint, problematic. But I gave the middle finger to objectivity because subjectively, I absolutely love them: be they a poorly written book with amazing ideas and characters, or a band that lacks musical chops but generates a powerful and raw energy that pulses through your veins.

Perhaps there's the distinction and I've answered my own question. I love those works, but I can't say I love The Beasts of the Southern Wild. I really liked it, but it's harder to disregard the flaws when you only like something. For love, we'll overlook pretty much anything.

The Beasts of the Southern Wild
Score: 75%

Lincoln

This is one of those films that has Best Picture Oscar written all over it, and I don't mean that as a compliment. I just mean the Oscars are predictably boring. Feel free to come back here and point your finger and scream, "HA!" if Lincoln doesn't walk away with Best Film at the Banality Awards.

Don't get me wrong, Lincoln is a good film, a beautifully shot film, it's just not a film worthy of best of the year.

Daniel Day-Lewis embodies the role of Lincoln in a very believable performance that is (and should be) the anchor for this film that is less a biopic of Lincoln and more a film about the passing of the 13th Amendment. The film often veers from historical accuracy in favor of fictional storytelling, but this isn't a hindrance to the overall experience as it mostly creates necessary dramatic tensions; however, there are moments where the fictionalization detracts, mostly in scenes played for comic relief that do more to undermine the serious tone of the film than it does to complement it.   
 


Lincoln
Score: 68%

  

Leolo

Director Lauzon's Leolo is a darkly comic, surreal coming of age story, blurring the boundaries between reality and fantasy. Leolo creates an imaginary world to escape his real life: the insanity of his family (literally) and his own battle to keep the crazy at bay. The film does an excellent job blending the the two worlds until the viewer is no longer sure what is real anymore. There is tremendous beauty in Lauzon's film; it is poetic and disturbing, surreal and painfully real, walking a line between conflicting worlds--visually and symbolically--much like Leolo does as he struggles to maintain his fantasy world as his real life tries to drag him down. The film is expertly directed, gorgeously shot, and has the added bonus of an amazing score by Tom Waits.

Leolo
Score: 85%

  

Secret World of Arrietty and Pirates! Band of Misfits

The Secret World of Arrietty is a Studio Ghibli production penned by the great Hayao Miyazaki and based on the novel, The Borrowers, by Mary Norton. Visually beautiful like everything Studio Ghibli creates, The Secret World of Arrietty is a wonderful film for both children and adults. The artistry and attention to detail is amazing, and it's very easy for the viewer to be transported into this beautiful but dangerous (and secret) world of Arrietty.

Much like Studio Ghibli, Aardman has a strong reputation for excellence when it comes to crafting animated films that appeal to adults and children alike. Although The Pirates! Band of Misfits isn't Aardman's strongest effort, it is a solid film with Monty Python-esque humor, quirky characters, great voice acting and impressive-as-always stop motion animation. 




The Secret World of Arrietty
Score: 80%

The Pirate! Band of Misfits
Score: 69%

The Raid: Redemption

The Raid: Redemption is visceral action at its violent best. There's not much by way of story or characterization, but if you're hungry for some ass-kickery, this film will more than sate your appetite. The movie is well-paced with impressive choreography, and boasts some of the most frenetic and accomplished martial arts fight scenes I've seen in a while.

With that being said, there's little else here to appeal to anyone who doesn't enjoy pure, mindless action; if not all the time, at least once in a while. Sometimes it's just nice to turn your brain off, sink back into a comfy chair, and watch bloody mayhem unfold in an unrelenting swirl of fists, knives and guns. A few good beers wouldn't hurt, either.

The Raid: Redemption
Score: 70%

Juan of the Dead

For starters, this is a zombie movie, so my priority is to be entertained, and my inclination to analyze is somewhat lessened by the minimal expectations I've developed over the years for a genre that tends to produce wretched crap by the truckload. Which is not to say there haven't been some very good zombie movies (and a few great ones) but for every Night of the Living Dead there are 500 mind-numbingly bad Gangs of the Dead. With that being said, Juan of the Dead falls somewhere between the two. I've read reviews suggesting that one needs to be Cuban to understand the sociopolitical satire, which is not the case. Sure, being Cuban will allow one to pick out the more subtle expressions, but most people will get the bigger messages here, which hit you on the head with as much blunt force as Juan's oar.

Story and plotting are not the movie's strengths, and at times the film shuffles along as painfully as the zombies; but it still manages to work, thanks in part to its satirical bent, as well as the newness of the setting. There's just something about the combination of urban decay, a constant stream of jokes about how nothing works, and the mostly immoral cast of characters, that not only complements the movie, but really helps deliver the sociopolitical icepick to the forehead.

And it's those things, as well as some new and interesting kills (e.g. Havana's Revolutionary Square) that separates Juan of the Dead from the average zombie movie. Some critics and reviewers complained about the immoral actions of some of the characters, but I don't share their viewpoint because those moments were played for laughs. It's called dark humor, people! However, I did take issue with the homophobia in the movie, which was too obvious and too vicious to be considered dark humor.     

Like Shaun of the Dead, for which this movie borrows heavily, this is a comedic zombie movie. So for fans of comedy movies that can't handle a lot of horror and gore, this one should fit the bill. Which is not to say it doesn't splatter some blood...it is a zombie movie, after all.




Juan of the Dead
Score: 61%

      

Long Overdue Short Reviews

Hugo 
Overrated Scorsese blockbuster; like most of the films comprising his career since Casino, it leaves me longing for the days of Taxi Driver and Raging Bull. A lot of people love this film, and I have yet to figure out why. With that being said, a lot of people also loved The Departed, which I thought was a mediocre effort and inferior to the original film, Infernal Affairs.
 

Take Shelter 
A well-crafted, haunting film with superb performances, I really felt this movie deserved a larger audience. It's deliberately paced, like the film's slow roiling black clouds on the horizon--ominous and frightening--slowly drawing near. The sense of dread the film conveys is palpable. Intelligent and thought provoking, it's a social allegory for these troubled times. 

Midnight in Paris
Not sure why everyone was cooing with delight when this film arrived in theaters. Which is not to say it's a bad film, it's just that much like Scorsese, Woody has been disappointing me for quite some time. There's just nothing here to really sink your teeth into; it's like a dream filled with wonderfully delicious foods, only to wake with an empty stomach.
 

 
Martha Marcy May Marlene
Excellent performance from Elizabeth Olsen, one that garnered her well-deserved attention and nominations for Best Actress, even though her name was shockingly absent from the ballots for the Globes and the Oscars. As if that should surprise anyone. An unnerving psychological thriller, you will undoubtedly be thinking about the film long after the movie ends.

Hugo

Score: 53%

Take Shelter

Score: 85%

Midnight in Paris

Score: 62%

Martha Marcy May Marlene

Score: 73%

Moonrise Kingdom

Moonrise Kingdom is Wes Anderson's seventh film, and his best since Rushmore. As much as I like Royal Tenenbaums and Fantastic Mr. Fox, it seems Anderson is truly at his best when his cinematic dioramas are inhabited with kids. Probably because Anderson is a Peter Pan-esque man-child who flies around in a world of his own creation: a pastiche universe built from the influences of his usual favorites--Ashby, Salinger, and all things French New Wave--and then mixed with some new flavor (here, a heaping helping of Norman Rockwell). When done right (as is the case here) he creates a world that is equal parts fantastical and real, and one that beautifully melds together the dead pan wit of his scripting, his unique characterizations, the meticulously detailed mise-en-scene, and the careful and deliberate camera work.

Of course, it's his unique style that tends to split people into two camps, the lovers and the haters; and although I am a fan of the films mentioned above, I'm not opposed to pointing out the many problems I have with his inferior works, Life Aquatic and Darjeeling Limited. The thought of those two movies just makes me shrug my shoulders and mumble a quick "meh." I just can't "love" all the works of an artist without considering the merit of the individual works themselves. And let's not discount the role subjectivity plays in all opinion, whether it's coming from a casual moviegoer, a film-loving blogger or a paid film critic. Some people just don't like quirky and whimsical, regardless of how well accomplished a film is...and other people love it, regardless of how inept a production is. 

Moonrise Kingdom is a fairy tale romance of young love set in the 60's, which is all anyone needs to know before seeing the film. It features an impressive cast, with very good performances from Bruce Willis and Edward Norton, as well as solid turns for Bill Murray and Francis McDormand, who aren't really asked to do too much here. And the two young leads, Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward, put together surprisingly impressive performances, conveying emotional depth beneath Anderson's requisite stilted and pause-filled dialogue.

Moonrise Kingdom definitely borrows from past Anderson films, and at times that familiarity detracts from the film's unique experience; I don't want to be reminded of Life Aquatic when I'm  fully engaged in something far superior. But it's a minor complaint and only relevant to those familiar with his previous work and who are also disappointed with Life Aquatic as a whole. I had some other minor issues with the film, particularly with the third act, but none of that lessened my overall experience.

Additionally:

Anderson and Music Supervisor Randall Poster always seem to marry music to their movies in such brilliant ways, combining diverse mixes of styles that, despite how completely different one song is from the next, manage to fit together, like the myriad shapes that form a jigsaw puzzle. Moonrise Kingdom continues that tradition of excellence in yet another unique convolution of styles.

 

Moonrise Kingdom

Score: 80%

Recent Flicks and a Little Rant

I'm really not going to go into too much detail with the reviews, just looking to share some films I've seen recently and let off a little steam about some idiot's comment. And as always, I link the reviewed movies to their trailers, but if you really want a true experience, avoid the trailers. Most trailers lack any creativity and instead are terrible, condensed versions of the films, complete with spoilers.

OK, there are a million reasons to hate the Oscars but really no point bringing it all up here; I just wanted to comment on something that rubbed me wrong. I read on the Onion's AV Club (of all places) that Albert Brooks was snubbed (for a nice turn in Drive) to make room for Max Von Sydow. My problem has nothing to do with Brooks' snubbing and everything to do with the blame Sean O'Neal laid on Max Von Sydow for his role in Extremely Blah Blah Blah, which, by the way, I have absolutely no desire to see. Sure, the movie has been panned, but when has a bad movie kept an actor from being nominated? I assure you, it's happened...a lot. Hell, Streep and Close are nominated this year for Albert Nobbs and The Iron Lady, respectively, and both of these films have received mostly negative reviews. OK, maybe those movies aren't as atrocious as Extremely Blah Blah Blah, but still, bad is bad. So why does O'Neal blame Sydow? I mean, Nolte, Plummer, and Branagh have chops, but I would throw them under the bus before Sydow. And then there's the REALLY OBVIOUS CHOICE of Jonah Hill, the fat kid who plays the fat kid for laughs (look at me, I'm fat and that's funny). Yes, I know he's no longer fat, but that doesn't mean he can act now. I also realize not everyone is saying Sydow stole Brooks' nomination, that it's just one silly writer...because everyone else is as equally and rightfully perplexed at the inclusion of Jonah Hill to the category as I am...but still! Ugh!

Since we're talking about Brooks' snub, let's jump into Drive. This is a great flick that probably could have been given a little love from the Academy, if the Academy wasn't a bunch of old white guys with soggy Depends and a distaste for anything that exists outside their extremely narrow, extremely safe view. Nicolas Winding Refn's excellent direction and the great performances by the cast makes this a joy to watch, even if some of the joy is splattered all over the place in chunks of bloody viscera. Refn is certainly a director that keeps getting better and I'm looking forward to seeing more from him in years to come.



Tell No One is an excellent and suspenseful thriller murder mystery from French director, Guillaume Canet. A very solid film with great performances that does have its missteps and flaws, but they never detract from what ultimately is a thoroughly entertaining film.  
 

I Saw the Devil is a brutal film...and I'm an American viewer! We are raised on violence here; it's as American as apple pie. And yet I cringed several times during this movie. There, I said it. And no, that doesn't make me a wuss, it just means I will always give a wide berth to a Korean filmmaker...I'm not going anyway near those psychopaths! But seriously, this is a pretty good film as a visceral experience, if you can appreciate the direction, visuals, and its uncompromising violent bent. Of course, in doing so you must overlook a script with a repetitive plot, a total lack of characterization, some impossible-to-suspend disbelief, and a good dose of misogyny. So, for those not paying attention, this is not a date movie. I repeat, not a date movie.

Drive

Score: 81%

Tell No One

Score: 79%

I Saw the Devil
Score: 69%