Winter Sleep - Movie Review by Eric Forthun

Winter Sleep  

Starring Haluk Bilginer, Melisa Sozen, Dermet Akbag, Ayberk Pekcan, and Serhat Mustafa Kilic

Directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan

Not Rated

Run Time: 196 minutes

Genre: Drama

Opens January 23rd

By Eric Forthun of Cinematic Shadows

Winter Sleep is a sweeping, universally compelling epic that probes at the heart of its characters' moral and ethical dilemmas. The dialogue stings like a scorpion and pierces like a just-sharpened spear, diving farther and farther into the psyche of these individuals and the way that saying one thing incorrectly can drastically change the tone of both a conversation and friendship. Encompassing 196 minutes, the film is an impressive achievement in absorbing the audience and keeping their attention; that's a wholehearted testament to Anton Chekhov's source material and the Ceylan's sensitivity and perseverance. As director, Nuri Bilge Ceylan has created a world marked by the sad, cold emptiness of winter and a longing for a life not lived nor explored. That sense of hope and, unfortunately, hopelessness makes for wholly compelling, twisty scenes of dialogue. The film loses focus in those long-winded conversations but never strays from acting as a morality fable, and feels like one of the stronger foreign works released in the past year.

The main character is Aydin (Haluk Bilginer), a former actor who runs a small hotel in central Anatolia with his young wife, Nihal (Melisa Sözen), and his sister, Necla (Demet Akbar). He has a fiery relationship with the former, one with its fair share of ups and downs, and the latter is a woman who simultaneously supports his writing endeavors but also wants him to strive for greater things. Her recent divorce has put her in the doldrums and her recovery period leads to some nagging conversations between the siblings. As the snow begins to cover the landscapes and winter takes on its full emotional and physical force, the family begins to disintegrate in front of Aydin's eyes, mostly due to his selfish absorptions and empty-minded actions; he doesn't seem to care about people so much as what good they are to him. The catalyst of the story is simple: a young boy throws a stone through Aydin and his friend's car window, leading them to chase down the boy and take him back to his drunkard of a father. This leads to a distraught relationship between all of them, followed by Aydin's decisions to have the family take care of the car lead to his relationships further growing past their ability to be mended.

Winter Sleep is reminiscent of many cinematic styles, both modern and nostalgic: the influence of Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi is uncanny in Ceylan's approach to human life and the banality of conflict that can become compelling in cinema, while the visual flair (or lack thereof, depending on who you talk to) of French New Wave approaches lead to a calculated visual style. Yet past that influence, the star of the film is not the central actor, Bilginer, who is outstanding, but the film's script. It navigates lengthy, ten-plus minute conversations surrounding ethics, ambition, sympathy, and virtually any other human emotion or conflict that can arise in everyday life. It's so engrossing that each individual scene shines. Their cohesion leaves a bit to be desired, feeling much more like vignettes with a lot of power that do not mesh into a single message. But that's probably intentional, considering the morality fable underlying the central narrative. Even if Winter Sleep leaves the viewer a little bit cold and detached, it mirrors its central character and has the heart grow fonder of these people over such a long duration. It's a rewarding film.

The Boy Next Door - Movie Review by Eric Forthun

The Boy Next Door  

Starring Jennifer Lopez, Ryan Guzman, Kristen Chenoweth, John Corbett, and Ian Nelson

Directed by Rob Cohen

Rated R

Run Time: 91 minutes

Genre: Thriller

Opens January 23rd

By Eric Forthun of Cinematic Shadows

Sleazy, repugnant, misogynistic, and somehow unintentionally hilarious, The Boy Next Door is an unintelligible disaster on all levels. Featuring a self-serious narrative with sexual euphemisms dominating much of its vernacular, the film occupies an ugly territory in the thriller genre. It's not confident enough to be a slasher nor is it exaggerated enough to be a satire of the genre itself; rather, it wallows in sexual violence and aggression toward women while employing a passive, depressing lead character in Jennifer Lopez that seems just as shocked by everything as we are. Hailed as a $4 million success story of micro-budget filmmaking, Lopez and company have crafted a narrative that never employs logic or continuity checks because, well, money can only buy so much. There's no room for caring about the audience or their journey, just in reveling in clichéd notions of obsession, emotional regret, and homoerotic montages of shirtless men punching the air. Wait a second, maybe they're onto something new with that last one...

I digress. The film opens with Claire Peterson (Jennifer Lopez) running through the forest for a morning jog. Naturally, her clothes expose cleavage and show her trying to escape the feelings that torment her past. Those flashbacks include her recent divorce from Garrett (John Corbett), a sleaze ball that cheats on her with his secretary on business trips to San Francisco. Claire teaches at a San Fernando Valley high school that her son, Kevin (Ian Nelson), also attends. Her life is tumultuous with Garrett continuing to be in her life and attempting to reconcile the relationship with family trips to a favorite place of the past, but Claire won't have it. Help indirectly comes in the form of her new neighbor, Noah (Ryan Guzman), a 19-year old boy who lives with  his senile great uncle that's looking for a bone marrow transplant. Noah provides a friendship to Kevin and also helps Claire with her garage and around the house. He also enjoys her cookies, as he repeatedly says. Get it? Cookies.

No surprises come when Noah turns out to be hiding a secret past. That includes being a skilled computer hacker with the ability to forge signatures, quoting Homer's The Iliad off the top of his head, and essentially having the ability to seduce any woman on command. Here's where the film falls from campy romp to grotesquely unsettling romance. Noah effectively coerces Claire into sex in a scene that involves her having a little bit of wine in her system, refusing to have sex with Noah, and having him strip her of her clothes and forcing her to change her mind. It's not seduction, but force. He takes advantage of her as she seems to recoil at first, with pain switching to ecstasy and having the audience forget that the scene started with gross insinuations. The film does linger on her satisfaction, a rarity particularly in as misogynistic of a film as this one. Claire's mistake of sleeping with Noah leads to an obsession that runs rampant, involving him stalking her (but he lives next door, so that joke pops up because it's simply too easy to avoid), writing her name on the wall in the bathroom during Spring Fling, and banging her son's date to said dance. All in what feels like a ten-minute sequence.

Things turn ugly quickly, and the film hits every cliché in the book in an attempt to follow a rote, overdone formula. Repetition escalates matters and the familiarity of the narrative makes every note predictable. I whispered to a friend a few times what I thought would happen and, sure enough, they happened, as did his predictions. Stupidity is a given for characters in a film like this, and Noah is the biggest example, with him keeping criminal actions on his computer from years before and trusting Claire far too much with sensitive information when he already has the upper hand. Claire's passive approach to handling men in the film is perhaps the most frustrating: what could've stood as an empowering narrative for women fighting against men who become obsessed instead devolves into submissive, "damsel-in-distress" material for Lopez. She's better than that. Rob Cohen's film has no semblance of creativity or nuance, even if it does involve some good jokes with a senile old man and an eye-popping closer that brings the film to an abrupt stop. The Boy Next Door is just bad on all levels of filmmaking, as it is both an incompetent and hilarious film for all of the wrong reasons.

King of Herrings - Digital video release review by Monte Yazzie

King of Herrings Dir: Eddie Jemison and Sean Richardson

Starring: Eddie Jemison, Joe Chrest, Laura Lamson, Andrea Frankle, David Jenson, Wayne Pére, John Mese, and Carl Palmer

“King of Herrings” starts in a bar with a group of friends who have known each other for too long. The typical banter and storytelling of these round table revelries ensues, escalating in emotion and culminating in a shouting match that introduces the beginning of the end for the ever-so-thin bonds holding a long friendship together. The situation sounds like the beginning verse of the blues song, the music that identifies the New Orleans streets this ragtag group of men traverse. Written and directed by Eddie Jemison and Sean Richardson, “King of Herrings” is darkly humorous and at times a richly poignant portrayal of friendship and masculinity.

Ditch (Eddie Jemison) is a one of those friends everyone knows; he is loud, egotistical, and brash, that friend that rubs everyone the wrong way. Though Ditch has found his merry men, a group of guys that seem to accept him and all his faults, his attitude has finally exhausted his friends. During a night of poker dissension is created within the group, leading to a split of allegiances between Ditch and The Professor (Joe Chrest), a seemingly self-given moniker by another friend in the group. The situation intensifies with more words cutting deeper rifts into the disagreement leading to destructive threats and unforgivable revenge ploys.

Character plays an integral and important aspect in this film and from the opening moments, the film builds an interesting quality of identifiable people. The leader with a Napoleon complex, the supportive to a fault friend, the peacemaker who keeps everyone calm, the friend who is waiting to take over, the lonely woman on the verge of self-discovery; these characters are all well rendered here. It’s a compliment to the narrative structure, which moves somewhat aimlessly, that these difficult characters remain believable amidst all the underhandedness that transpires. Though it’s easier to accomplish this when you have such a talented cast. Eddie Jemison is in the spotlight and accomplishes the task of becoming a loathsome character in the first few minutes of screen time. This continues throughout as Ditch vehemently muses on aspects of love, sex, marriage, and friendship. It’s comic yet wholly serious, a thin line that displays Jemison’s skill. Joe Chrest does a great job as The Professor, moving from an insufferable smart aleck, to a revenge-seeking degenerate, to a confused suitor; you never know what aspect of the character is genuine if any at all. The best character in the mix comes along unexpectedly in the form of Laura Lamson who plays Ditch’s wife Mary. Her character is mistreated and degraded by Ditch throughout, relinquished to an almost captive state as a lonely woman desperate for escape and the self-esteem to stand up to her husband. Lamson starts off subdued but slowly emerges as the strongest character amidst a group of men whose misguided masculinity in a way becomes their vulnerable limitation.

While the film may linger in spots, taking too much time reiterating a theme already told, it’s never boring, but in fact remains consistently stimulating. The characters are well executed and the black and white aesthetic works charmingly within the New Orleans streets. Whether about the trappings and misunderstandings found in masculinity, the emergence of feminine strength, or the complexities of relationship in different ways, “King of Herrings” explores challenging subject matter and difficult characters with a keen eye and a healthy dose of dark comedy.

Monte’s Rating

4.00 out of 5.00

An interview with Eddie Jemison by Michael Clawson

Eddie Jemison discusses King of Herrings

by Michael Clawson of Terminal Volume

To C-word or not to C-word. When given the choice, Eddie Jemison C-words.

Which is why he spent some time shrugging his shoulders at little old ladies at festival screenings of King of Herrings, a film he wrote, co-directed and starred in that follows four on-again/off-again buddies who are not shy about dropping the taboo word that many American audiences still cringe at.

“The Sex Pistols called each other c**ts. That was just their way. It was their scene and their language,” Jemison says of the word. “But a lot of people are turned off by it. Old ladies, as it turns out, don’t like it. I don’t blame them. I just apologize. On the other side, though, people hear the word and laugh; they aren’t grossed out.”

Jemison admits the word is tempered not by his four male stars, but by the film’s female lead played by the lovely actress Laura Lamson, the actor-director’s real-life wife. Lamson plays Mary, much-better half to Jemison’s Ditch, the wildly offensive leader to his circle of misfits and miscreants. When Ditch pushes his caustic sense of humor a little too far within the group, The Professor (played by Joe Chrest) plans a retaliatory strike by befriending Mary, Ditch’s lonely seamstress wife.

“Whenever people start thinking the movie goes too far, it really centers all back around on Mary. It’s her movie,” Jemison says of King of Herrings, which played at last year’s Phoenix Film Festival and is available digitally Tuesday.

Jemison, as the pig-headed misanthrope, plays against type; he is widely remembered as a dweebish character actor, frequently playing mild-mannered men in technical positions usually involving numbers or computer code. He’s had small parts in Waitress, HBO’s Hung and Bruce Almighty, but he’s most recognizable in fellow Louisiana State University alum Steven Soderbergh’s films, including as sweaty computer expert Livingston Dell in the Ocean’s 11 movies.

“Of course, I’m usually typecast. I’ve always hated that, but what can you do? For this, though, I cast everyone against type. Me more obviously, but also Joe Chrest, who’s easily the most assertive of all of us,” he says. “It was a blast being a big jerk with a Napoleon complex.”

The film came to be during an acting workshop in which Jemison was asked to write a script. “I had this scene I wanted to write where a guy says ‘c**t’ a lot,” he says, adding that the class got involved and the film blossomed in front of him. “Everyone wanted to know the end of the story, so I knew I had something there that was working.”

The film works not only because of its delicate sleight of hand with the star of the film -- as Jemison says it, the film may play like a boys club but it’s really about Mary -- but also because its characters chew the screen. They live in a world that must smell like old cigarettes and cheap beer. Cracked vinyl seats, flickering fluorescent lighting, bowling alleys, dog tracks, laundromats. The world is lived in and worn, and the four characters are in no big rush to leave it. The film was shot in color, but given a high-contrast black-and-white treatment in post-production, a look that solidifies the film’s forgotten time and place. It looks very indie and cheap, but in this case that works quite splendidly.

This is Jemison’s directorial debut, which he shares with co-director Sean Richardson. Much of the cast, and some of the crew, go way back to their LSU days, back to around the time Soderbergh was filming sex, lies, and videotape, and casting many of King of Herrings’ actors in his early movies. Jemison hopes Herrings is enough of a success that he can take the LSU crew down to New Orleans and film a new project “with the exact same actors, like repertory cinema.”

One actor who was easy to work with was Lamson, his wife in and out of the movie. “She’s so good in this movie. I would tell her stuff, but she would really just take over. And as I would be busy directing, she would direct me. She would remind me to give more and to not hold back,” he says, repeating again that Lamson’s Mary calms Herrings’ more sinister verses. “She provides the balance the film needs. When we were showing this movie early on, it was getting really dark responses. But the more people who saw it, the more who started seeing through the film’s more menacing tone. They were finding this sad character in it, and she was cutting through all the rawness.”

“It’s a weird, hard movie,” he admits. “But we’re very proud of it.”

King of Herrings is available on VOD Tuesday.

King of Herrings releases on DVD and VOD by Eric Forthun

Winner of the Breakthrough Filmmakers Award at the 2014 Phoenix Film Festival, King of Herrings releases this Tuesday, January 20th on DVD and VOD platforms.

 

Starring Eddie Jemison, David Jensen, Joe Chrest, John Mese, and Andrea Frankle

Directed by Eddie Jemison, Sean Richardson

MPAA Rating: Not Rated

Run Time: 82 minutes

Genre: Comedy

Releases January 20th on VOD/DVD platforms, including iTunes

 

By Eric Forthun of Cinematic Shadows

King of Herrings characterizes an offbeat friendship with cold compassion and biting retorts. Eddie Jemison's comedy is one that, like the classical structure, falls into tragic elements in its conclusion that underly the nature of these people and their manipulative, backstabbing ways. They're all antiheroes in a world that doesn't craft particularly heartfelt or inherently connectable characters, yet they remain compelling on screen due to the strong performances from the ensemble and the zippy, spontaneous nature of the script. Jemison's work has been described as a mixture of Woody Allen and Tom Waits, which feels fitting considering the former's emphasis on character-driven narrative with the latter's offbeat sensibilities. In using those two artists as his main point of reference, the film feels like a twisted homage to the two with a touch of his own creation, even using black-and-white cinematography to explore the black-and-white arguments that haunt these characters. The film's humor is vulgar, a characteristic I enjoyed, but it'll be off-putting to some, yet the foundation of the film thrives when it relies on the connection to the mostly unlikable, potentially earnest men at the center.

The film focuses on Ditch (Eddie Jemison) and company, including the Professor (Joe Chrest), Gat (David Jensen), and Augie (John Mese). They're a ragtag group of friends that always seem to fight over trivial matters in New Orleans. The catalyst for the story involves a debt of nine dollars that's completely asinine in the grand scheme of things, but to these men means everything. It's a semblance of respect and honor that they cannot seem to fulfill that haunts their decisions and leads to increasingly disrespectful actions: adultery, threatening, violence, and anything else that could possibly destroy friendships. The characters aren't relatable in their actions but in their emotions; I cared for the characters when I could see compassion shining through their tomfoolery. Characters need heart and Jemison's film allows them that, even if there are slight bouts of misogyny that pervade the men's decision-making. King of Herrings meanders in the middle as the characters' actions begin to feel a bit strained, but the conclusion is worthwhile and a reminder that comedies must have notes of tragedy or else, well, what are we laughing at?

A Most Violent Year - Movie Review by Eric Forthun

A Most Violent Year  

Starring Oscar Isaac, Jessica Chastain, David Oyelowo, Albert Brooks, Alessandro Nivola, and Peter Gerety

Directed by J.C. Chandor

Rated R

Run Time: 125 minutes

Genre: Crime Drama

Opens January 16th

By Eric Forthun of Cinematic Shadows

A Most Violent Year bites with confidence and leaves the impression of a master filmmaker telling a story of building one's future in America. Writer-director J.C. Chandor's third directorial feature is a staunchly astute and caustically biting film about an immigrant attempting to accrue a fortune with a gas oil company in 1981 New York. After making two drastically different cinematic worlds with the talkative, socially critical Margin Call and almost wordless, contemplative All is Lost, Chandor makes his most conventional, accessible, and altogether compelling characterizations to date. By hiring the two hottest actors in Hollywood today, Chandor has the benefit of Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain embodying his strong forces on screen as the divided, composed husband to the quiet, ruthless wife, respectively. They each hold their own in a world that makes them feel inconsequential, but the endless devotion to their company and, perhaps more importantly, keeping their pride and family alive, makes the story a universally appealing, beautifully rendered aspiration toward the American Dream.

Abel Morales (Oscar Isaac) runs Standard Heating Oil, a company that largely ships through trucks around New York City but has recently faced some thefts on their routes. The business is already competitive with plenty of other rivals being potential suspects, but Abel has no semblance of who it can be. It's costing his company by the minute, though, and he can't let it keep up. None of his men are armed or prepared for such turbulent drives, and the people taking advantage of them know just that. Abel's weakness is that he hasn't committed to protecting his company at all costs, and his domestic life begins to brew with dissension. His wife, Anna (Jessica Chastain), keeps tallies on the company and knows where they need to make up for discrepancies. She handles the finances, but she's not a glorified secretary; she's a strong woman that holds a much larger grasp on the company than even Abel realizes at times. That makes for a wonderful dichotomy that grows stronger over the film, whether that be through dinners with potential investors or on the domestic front as they dispute the future and potential of the company.

The film opens in the vein of The Godfather and never really lets up tonally or thematically. Alex Ebert's score underlies every scene hauntingly and powerfully. There's a growing sense of unease over the course of Abel's pursuit of happiness in an American landscape that looks down on his immigrant status and aims to benefit those already in power. The film's most powerful scene is one that's been discussed often, rightfully so: Abel's presentation of his business model to future employees not only shows the way he wants his employees to think, but also the way he does his own work. He's slyly manipulative and justifies every reprehensible action with an intelligent reason. Isaac makes him one of the most compelling protagonists of the year, and follows up his amazing work in Inside Llewyn Davis, with an equally complicated, well-drawn figure. Chastain is the more subtly powerful force; her scenes are magnetic. Chandor's film oozes with confidence and is shot excitingly, particularly when the action scenes amp up. A Most Violent Year is confident and aware of its own footing, making for a terrific, thought-provoking feature.

American Sniper - Movie Review by Monte Yazzie

American Sniper  

Director: Clint Eastwood

Starring: Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Kyle Gallner, Luke Grimes, Ben Reed, Keir O’Donnell, Sammy Sheik, and Marnette Patterson

Rated R

132 Minutes

“American Sniper” is a story about Chris Kyle, a Navy Seal sniper who served in four tours of duty in the Iraq war. Based off his memoir the film, directed by Clint Eastwood, displays the harsh realities of combat and the subsequent conflict of choice in a character study of a complicated man tasked with a complicated occupation.  The themes of service, honor, revenge, regret, and justice all take form in some way throughout this film, one which seems tailored to the professional work of Clint Eastwood whose many career characters embodied these same topics. Eastwood guides “American Sniper” with ease, transitioning between war-ridden cities and familiar, albeit affected, homelands while keeping focus on a man struggling to find the balance of both.

We are introduced to Chris Kyle as a child, being taught a life lesson by his father that will form the basis of his ambitions as an adult. Chris (Bradley Cooper) grows into a wayward, hard partying adult until he is motivated by the events of September 11^th to join the military, specifically the elite Navy Seals. Chris excels during boot camp at long distance marksmanship and is moved into a position as a sniper. A hero to his fellow band of brothers, which garnered the nickname “The Legend” for his confirmed enemy kills, Chris struggles with life stateside where his wife (Sienna Miller) and children must put the pieces of their life back together every time he returns home. For Chris the call to service and the responsibility of duty becomes the consuming purpose.

Bradley Cooper offers one of his best performances as Chris Kyle, creating a character that is deeply affected by the choices he has made though never completely vulnerable to those around him. His character is revered, a symbol of heroism and bravery but also hope to the men and women that serve along side him. Cooper shows the split second doubts during life or death decisions, harbors the strain of returning to a life he is unfamiliar with, and demonstrates the steadfast nature towards completing the mission regardless of the outlook. Sienna Miller is also good as Chris’ wife, a woman trying to understand a man who she seldom sees and desperately holding together the semblance of normality at home.

Eastwood is accomplished when handling war and soldiers; take for instance the attitudes of the service people in both “Letters from Iwo Jima” and “Flags of Our Fathers” or the retired veteran in “Gran Torino”. These characters are all different but they all come from the same time honored and respected tradition of military service. Here, Eastwood maneuvers through frenzied action and pauses in the quiet moments, displaying the unexpected nature of violence and the tension that is consistently present. The film transitions back and forth within Chris’ home and service life, and if Eastwood stumbles in any way it’s in the portrayal of the home life where little time is spent. The moments when Chris is home, playing the role of husband and father, are the most interesting but also the most limited. There is a lack of displaying the entire character, especially how influenced he is by the life he leaves on numerous occasions. While this demonstrates the sacrifice of those serving it could have been utilized to add depth and emotion to the character.

“American Sniper” is an interesting character study with an exceptional performance by Bradley Cooper and confidently directed by Clint Eastwood. The film wisely never consolidates politics into the narrative but instead simply displays the difficult decisions made everyday during war by men and women tasked with a job. While the film could have offered more exploration into the influences and struggles of family life for the soldier, “American Sniper” is still a well composed portrayal of a man who served his country with pride.

Monte’s Rating

3.75 out of 5.00

American Sniper - Movie Review by Eric Forthun

American Sniper  

Starring Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Max Charles, Luke Grimes, and Kyle Gallner

Directed by Clint Eastwood

Rated R

Run Time: 132 minutes

Genre: Action/Biography

Opens January 16th

By Eric Forthun of Cinematic Shadows

Bradley Cooper redeems the sporadically affecting, overly manipulative narrative of American Sniper. It's loosely based on the true story of the NAVY Seal Chris Kyle, who has now lived in legend as the most lethal sniper in American history. There's something commendable about a film attempting to explore the atrocities of war and the lengths to which it destroys a soldier's psyche. Yet that element has been explored by other filmmakers to more affecting degrees: Stanley Kubrick tackled it masterfully in Full Metal Jacket almost thirty years ago, and Kathryn Bigelow's extraordinary The Hurt Locker won Best Picture less than a decade ago. Bradley Cooper creates Kyle as a determined individual that wants to make a difference, yet he feels brainwashed by a society that has told him to fight against the evils outside of the United States. If the film stuck more to those core values and the biting social commentary underlying his action, it would be more impactful; instead, we are left admiring his ability to kill and left with little outside of manipulative family melodrama.

Chris Kyle is a rodeo cowboy that aspires to be more after seeing the aftermath of 9/11 on a struggling country. He enlists as a Navy Seal, with his previous credentials more than serving him well, and he is sent on a tour to Iraq as a sniper. He has remarkable pinpoint accuracy, and records the most kills of anyone out on the battlefield. The trailers on television have teased at the film's opening scene, which is undeniably thrilling: Kyle is presented with an outstanding moral dilemma. A child is seemingly holding a bomb but there is no definitive proof; they have just exited a building known for specializing in terroristic acts. If he shoots, he might make a fatal mistake, destroy his life and the child's, and ruin the integrity of the war effort by murdering an innocent boy. But if he's right, he'll save the lives of his fellow soldiers while committing a necessary evil. When the film tackles moral dilemmas like that and make Chris an embattled protagonist, Sniper is captivating.

Yet the film revels in violence and uses it to increasingly grating effect. Take a scene where a terrorist kidnaps a helpless child and not only threatens him in front of his family and soldiers standing in the distance, but he drills holes into the child's hands because, well, he's evil. He has to show that he's evil or else people wouldn't understand! There's a black-and-white nature to exterior evils in the film, with the narrative caring more about the internal struggles of Chris Kyle and the soldiers on hand. Much like last year's Lone Survivor, the story is a testament to the power of an individual rather than the actual cause he is fighting for. There's an indictment of the Iraqi War to be found somewhere and the fact that Kyle has ultimately been brainwashed by the media to believe that all native citizens of those war-torn countries are evil. Yet I have a problem with the film whitewashing such tumultuous issues when they are rarely handled in cinema; instead of giving us the unfamiliar, more compelling story surrounding the extent of America's actions on this native land, we're given another story of an American "hero" who ultimately feels the war tear him apart.

Bradley Cooper's performance is being deservedly praised, since his transformation both physically and emotionally testifies to his career's trajectory. He's become a powerful actor that can embody practically any individual, and here he makes a hard-nosed, passionate individual into a disconnected, ravished soldier who seems like a shell of his former self by the film's conclusion. Sienna Miller is given moments of sincerity and power as a stay-at-home mother waiting for her husband to return, but she's also delegated to the unfortunately stereotypical domestic presence that feels like it's torn out of a 1950s drama. Clint Eastwood's direction, like much of his work, feels calculated and distanced, which lessens the emotional impact of many of his films. Cooper allows those powerful moments to emerge, particularly in his times at home when he is facing thankful citizens and doesn't know how to respond. There's affecting filmmaking to be found in American Sniper, and it's one of the most beloved films of the year by audiences around the nation. Ultimately, though, it left me cold and unconvinced of its importance.

Blackhat - Movie Review by Monte Yazzie

Blackhat  

Director: Michael Mann

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Viola Davis, Wei Tang, Jon Ortiz, Leehom Wang, and Holt McCallany

133 Minutes

Rated R

Technologically driven cybercrime has steadily increased with the advancements of powerful technology easily accessed. Computer hackers are creating havoc on a corporate, governmental, and personal level. The release of information and content that nearly crumbled a major company or the invasion of privacy and identity that is happening this very second, the computer is an avenue of serious crime for some people. The world perspective of this specific crime has offered numerous adaptations and seems fitting for director Michael Mann, known for films like “Collateral” and “The Insider”, to tackle with his distinctive brand of films. “Blackhat”, another term for a computer hacker, has all the stylized flair of a Michael Mann film but unfortunately doesn’t offer much more than clichéd computer rhetoric and run-and-gun action scenes.

A high level organization of cyber criminals creates a catastrophic malfunction in a nuclear facility in Hong Kong. A task force is organized by the Chinese government to hunt and stop the network that perpetrated the attack. Nick Hathaway (Chris Hemsworth) is a highly skilled computer hacker who is serving a prison sentence; a code that he wrote was partially utilized to assist in the attack in China. The Chinese task force gains assistance from America after another attack, this time targeting the stock exchange, and the group releases Nick to assist in the globe trotting investigation.

“Blackhat” is crammed with material; from the shifting and jet setting plot, to numerous subplots and character developments, the film rarely takes the time to slow down to explain much of these matters. Instead the film moves from locale to locale in chase of an unknown subject, watching the chaotic maze of numbers and symbols on a computer screen. Mann handles many of these movements with ease, implementing his patented style of shooting in the natural settings of the night with quick and frenzied action sequences abetted by startling unexpected violence. In one of the films better sequences, shot against the golden glow of the city lights, Mann’s skills are executed with heightened tension and breakneck action. Some of the images utilized by Mann seem to correlate the disconnection promoted by technology, the loneliness of a world dominated by technology wherein the characters are most comfortable in front of a computer screen than sitting across from another person, as one scene obviously points out. Unfortunately these images aren’t supported by the narrative, which suffers from a lack of cohesiveness. Whether the inane, overly complicated motivations of the criminals or the misplaced emotional aspects, the tone consistently feels disorganized.

Michael Mann seems like the perfect choice to tackle the themes proposed in “Blackhat”, the disconnection found in people and the isolation found in society are two elements found in many of his films that are also present here. Many times throughout “Blackhat” Mann’s direction and style elevates the material with assistance from some great performances by Viola Davis, Wei Tang, and Leehom Wang in strong supporting roles. However, there are more moments when the film becomes lost in its own cluttered conceptions rendering “Blackhat” a film with undeniable style misguided by a narrative that doesn’t match the flash.

Monte’s Rating

2.75 out of 5.00

Blackhat - Movie Review by Eric Forthun

Blackhat  

Starring Chris Hemsworth, Viola Davis, Tang Wei, Ritchie Coster, and Holt McCallany

Directed by Michael Mann

Rated R

Run Time: 135 minutes

Genre: Action/Drama

Opens January 16th

By Eric Forthun of Cinematic Shadows

Blackhat's technical problems on screen are one of the most ironic things to consider for a film about computing experts. Michael Mann's latest action thriller is convoluted and overblown, preposterous yet opportune, and it remains oddly thrilling for some of its duration despite its confusing, globe-trotting narrative. The film, though, feels like it was spliced together with no care for the actual material, despite the hacker narrative feeling not only timely but necessary and vital to understanding our ever-changing world. So why, then, is the film such a slog and difficult to follow? I enjoyed the film walking out if only because I found it fun and zippy, yet looking back it feels like a bunch of hobbled ideas cut up, then taped together sloppily. The casting is also off-putting, considering the Chinese actors are often incomprehensible in English or dubbed in other scenes, making the sound of the film structurally (pardon the pun) unsound and the production feel overly calculated for a worldwide success.

The film follows Nick Hathaway (Chris Hemsworth), an extremely talented hacker who has been imprisoned for the past few years as part of a 15-year sentence for a serious offense in hacking banks. The U.S. government, though, along with cooperation from Chinese officials, determine that they need him because his code that was built during his college years has been modified and used in cyberthreats. A nuclear explosion in China has threatened and killed lives after a pump was technologically manipulated to blow. Those cyber hackers are talented and ruthless, and largely faceless for most of the film; their plan is kept under wraps until the film's final act. Hathaway teams up with his old buddy Chen (Leehom Wang) and his sister Lien (Wei Tang), with the latter starting to have a fling with Nick. Cooperation comes from Carol Barrett (Viola Davis), an FBI agent that doesn't necessarily trust Nick, but knows he is needed. The results are a story that navigates virtually the entire globe and follows a cyber trail that is mostly confusing and unnecessarily shrouded in close-up shots and fluffy dialogue.

Blackhat isn't a bad film because it actually has something on its mind that feels socially cognizant and relevant. That's vital for mainstream films in our cinematic landscape, so it's a shame that the writer of the film, Morgan Davis Foehl, doesn't know how to make that narrative cohesive. It feels as if ideas were put on a cork board and then connected by string as an afterthought, without care for how much sense they make. When they can't connect, tonally bad elements like a random character trait surrounding 9/11 feel oddly offensive and out-of-place. Michael Mann is talented when he creates compelling characters in new landscapes (Collateral and Heat come to mind first), so naturally a hacking narrative with strong antiheroes should be intriguing. Unfortunately, though, as I distance myself more and more from the film, I find glaring plot holes that signify a lack of care behind the actual product. The aforementioned technical faults, particularly in sound, make the film overwhelmingly difficult to follow. Blackhat has enjoyable components that will please people looking for an innovative thriller, but it won't leave them thinking about much else.

Selma - Movie Review by Monte Yazzie

Selma  

Dir: Ava DuVerney

Starring: David Oyelowo, Carmen Ejogo, Tim Roth, Lorraine Toussaint, Martin Sheen, Tom Wilkinson, Oprah Winfrey, Alessandro Nivola, Giovanni Ribisi, Wendell Pierce, Common, Keith Stanfield, and Cuba Gooding Jr.

128 Minutes

Rated PG-13

Selma, Alabama is the location of the events in director Ava DuVerney’s exceptional and confident film about a small, in the vast continuing struggle, yet significant moment in the civil rights movement. The film centers on Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the few months leading up to the 50-mile march from Selma to the state capital of Montgomery, an event that influenced the Voting Rights Act. Deadly violence, political obstruction, and nationally televised media exposure defined the protest. “Selma” limits the scope of events, focusing less on the entirety of achievements accomplished by Dr. King during his life and instead emphasizing on the actions during a crucial hour in the mission for civil rights that defined Dr. King’s peaceful, determined character.

The film begins just after Dr. King accepts the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. Still in the midst of the battle for civil rights Dr. King, played eloquently dignified by David Oyelowo, is portrayed as a respected leader but also a stretched husband, joking friend, faith-filled minister, and flawed human being. Whether the quiet moments when doubt weighs heavy on his mind, the intimate moments when the struggles of his fame and ambition create stress in his marriage, or the crowded moments when his overwhelming poise bolsters every strategic step, Ms. DuVerney paints a portrait of a multifaceted man. However, along with the great narrative portrayal of Dr. King, the film excellently handles the challenges of historically depicting the boiling pot sentiments of the time. This is especially accomplished considering the events are so recently remembered and building in the tension, anger, and despair that existed within the societal and political divisions could potential cause the film to lose the emotional stronghold, however that doesn’t happen here. Ms. DuVerney boldly guides these aspects with precision and expertise.

“Selma” is about Dr. King but it is equally about the civil rights movement. Even though the film only displays a few months during the 1960’s in the lives of directly and indirectly influential individuals within the movement, there is still a palpable connection to the lives and struggles of the past and present. It’s impossible to ignore the correlation between the themes in “Selma” and current events involving race issues in America. It was complicated, concerning, and divisive then just as it is now. Ms. DuVerney doesn’t need to reprimand or forcefully imply, instead the events in their succinct and straightforward depiction are enough to fuel the emotional connection for the viewer. It is simply accomplished filmmaking.

“Selma” crafts a compelling portrait of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a man conflicted and motivated by the changes occurring from his leadership. Moreso, Ms. DuVernay displays one of the best portrayals of the civil rights movement through political structures and the democracy of the people that helped promote change. Even in the midst of racially charged events prompting violent debates, “Selma” displays the brutality found in history but it also exhibits the overwhelming presence of peace promoted by Dr. King and the importance of the lives of all people of every race both immediate and for future populations.

Monte’s Rating

4.50 out of 5.00

Selma - Movie Review by Eric Forthun

Selma  

Starring David Oyelowo, Carmen Ejogo, Tom Wilkinson, Tim Roth, Lorraine Toussaint, and Oprah Winfrey

Directed by Ava DuVernay

Rated PG-13

Run Time: 127 minutes

Genre: Biographical Drama

Opens January 9th

By Eric Forthun of Cinematic Shadows

Ava DuVernay's Selma portrays the Civil Rights movement with subtlety, frankness, and compassion. It makes for one of the year's biggest triumphs and one of the most powerful films I've encountered in years. Focusing on the aftermath of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, the story navigates the fight to secure equal voting rights in many southern cities, including the titular Selma, Alabama. The man leading the way is none other than Martin Luther King Jr. (David Oyelowo), who continues to preach and advocate for a peaceful advancement of African American rights. His views are divisive but undeniably effective, particularly in his approach to getting legislation pushed toward Congress and rallying citizens. His biggest threat, though, is the growing opposition toward his efforts, namely whites in the South that do not want their social order disrupted. It's a message that feels mournfully relevant to modern issues as race relations continue to grow tumultuous in certain Midwest and Southern cities, particularly with police brutality.

Martin's personal life comes to the surface in regards to his messy marriage with Coretta Scott King (Carmen Ejogo). Their lives are marked by Martin's public image threatening their security while also creating a private ego that leads to adultery and foolishness on Martin's part. King's struggles with President Lyndon B. Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) also have an impact on his ability to move forward, leading to an increasingly bitter people that must face the violent threats emerging from whites. Murders happen without remorse and many white citizens treat African Americans as undeserving of respect or the ability to exercise their duties as citizens of the United States. George Wallace (Tim Roth) is one of the many ruthless men in power that cannot fathom the idea of whites having to surrender anything in their way of living as a means for equal rights. The film is mostly marked by vignettes that all centralize in Selma, notably with the march toward Montgomery and the support that Dr. King receives from people outside of the South.

Ava DuVernay has crafted a gorgeously rendered, intimate, and deeply triumphant feature. Her work behind the screen is subtle and open; nothing seems to be shrouded behind a manipulative lens. Rather, she lets the actions speak for themselves and mostly observes the world through the eyes of the characters on screen. If injustice is seen, the camera holds and lets the audience ponder, and acts of kindness carry the same emotional weight. There's a scene early in the film revolving around a church bombing with children involved. It's traumatic, brutally affecting, and altogether shocking. The scene needs to strike that chord, though, so the use of conversational, anticlimactic dialogue beforehand underlies the harshness of such a callously unexpected, life-ending action. That's a further testament to Paul Webb's brilliant script and Bradford Young's quietly effective cinematography. What remains so fundamentally impressive about Selma is the way it prefaces every scene with monumental impact; an attempt at voting from an elderly black woman (played by producer Oprah Winfrey) that gets denied sets the tone and atmosphere for the film's drive.

The film moves in between sympathy and idolization by underlying Martin Luther King Jr.'s flaws throughout the narrative. David Oyelowo's turn starts as a man acting like the famous historical figure, only to turn into a wholly realized, nuanced take on a troubled man with too much on his plate and not enough time to accomplish everything he desires. There's heartbreak in Oyelowo's turn, but also bite and gravitas. It's incredible. Carmen Ejogo's turn is equally sublime, with even Tom Wilkinson's standing president feeling like a realized, embattled human being. These performances allow the heated energy and passion to emerge and overpower every emotional layer of the film. Few films carry that aura and power in each frame. Selma, then, is a socially conscious and tragically necessary masterpiece, serving as a reminder that change has not fully come but that a passion for equality is needed from every citizen to be accomplished.

Inherent Vice - Movie Review by Michael Clawson

Inherent Vice

Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Katherine Waterston, Josh Brolin, Eric Roberts and Benecia Del Toro

Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson

From Warner Bros. Pictures

Rated R

148 minutes

by Michael Clawson at Terminal Volume

From deep within an acrid haze of pot smoke and acid trip-outs strides the smirking oddity that is Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice, a slow-burn of noir clichés given a groovy spin not seen since The Big Lebowski or The Long Goodbye, its spiritual successors.

Anderson’s 148-minute spiraling mystery isn’t so much hard-boiled as it is half-baked, although you’ll easily recognize Humphrey Bogart’s Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade in Joaquin Phoenix’s showstopping performance as Larry “Doc” Sportello, a joint-rolling private eye who works out of a doctor’s office and looks like a Vietnam protester — it’s 1970 so his camo-green ensemble with sandals and mutton-chop sideburns makes sense. Doc is visited in the first scene by Shasta Fay Hepworth, an old flame caught in a scheme that’s about to devour her. These types of women — Sin City would call her a “dame” without a wink of irony — usually kick-start movies like this, and Shasta Fay is no exception as Doc is compelled to follow her through hell and back.

Inherent Vice is a labyrinth of vague rumors, half-heard facts and stoned visions. It should come with a road map and a compass. Its convoluted mash of detail and innuendo is told using a small army of characters with names out of a W.C. Fields comedy: Ensenada Slim, Petunia Leeway, Japonica Fenway, Puck Beaverton, Rhus Frothingon, Trillium Fortnight and Sauncho Smilax, Esq. Martin Short — yes, that Martin Short — plays a Dr. R. Blatnoyd, DDS., and his four minutes of screen time are just perfect.

Adapted from Thomas Pynchon’s 2009 novel of the same name, Vice spends much of its early passages obsessed with Michael Wolfmann, a real estate mogul who’s “technically Jewish but wants to be a Nazi.” Wolfmann was involved with Shasta and pretty much everyone else, including sex workers, Nazi biker gangs, crooked cops, Asian smugglers, new-age cults, drug dealers, grifters and federal agents with names like Borderline and Flatweed. As Doc traces Wolfmann’s whereabouts, he’s pushed all around Southern California encountering wild characters who add more puzzle pieces to Shasta’s fractured enigma of a story.

The locations and events Doc walks into are as sensational as the character names. I was especially fond of Wolfmann’s wife, who’s hosting a pool party — with cops in full uniforms, including motorcycle helmets, cannonballing in the pool and manning the grills — yet also mourning her “missing” husband with a black veil to go with her black bikini. You’ll admire the shout-out to Lauren Bacall in her famous “veil scene” in The Big Sleep. There’s a sex club with an erotic menu of offerings I can’t repeat, a mysterious ship called the Golden Fang, biker parties, baseball bat museums, a massive collection of naked-lady ties, and the popsicle-eating habits of Detective Christian “Bigfoot” Bjornsen (Josh Brolin), a character who is endlessly weird, but also lovable and goofy.

The movie is narrated by a female character who we rarely see, and her words are sumptuous and intoxicating as they ooze out in stanzas of beat poetry forever on the cusp of quoting Allen Ginsberg. The rest of the movie plays out like any Anderson stunner: music that is layered over whole movements, long takes, tracking shots, unbroken passages of dialogue, quirky compositions … you’ll see bits of Anderson’s entire filmography here. I especially enjoyed his agonizingly slow camera zooms that begins as medium shots and, over the course of several minutes, creep closer to one face as Doc’s investigation is sent into a new orbit.

Inherent Vice goes to great lengths to convince you of the plausibility of Doc’s case, but I found it easier to surrender to the details. The names, locations, times, dates, events … they all grow more tangled as Vice proceeds, and they’re only there to serve the mood and tension of Anderson’s whirlygig of a noir mystery, which is further proof that the genre will never die.

Inherent Vice - Movie Review by Eric Forthun

Inherent Vice  

Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, Katherine Waterston, Owen Wilson, Reese Witherspoon, Benicio del Toro, and Martin Short

Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson

Rated R

Run Time: 148 minutes

Genre: Comedy/Crime

Opens January 9th

By Eric Forthun of Cinematic Shadows

Paul Thomas Anderson's Inherent Vice is defined by a weed haze that carries through every frame of the film. It's a stoner neo-noir with red herrings galore and a mystery that probably makes sense if under the influence of some mind-altering drug. That being said, it's a fantastic compilation of vignettes that are all viewed through the lens of Doc Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix), a Los Angeles detective in 1970 who seems to be a generally kind man. He enjoys indulging in drugs and alcohol at any given time, but remains an honorable detective that aims to help others however he can. He becomes entangled in a strange web of crimes, some involving kidnapping and murder, but the story remains viewed through his murky mug as his character unfolds in a more logical, nuanced manner than the narrative itself. The strengths of Anderson's films emerge within his compassionate lead characters whenever they arise, and Inherent Vice stays true to that success.

The story opens with Doc's recovery from a relationship with his long-time fling, Shasta (Katherine Waterston). She spouts ideas about her current lover, Michael Z. Wolfmann (Eric Roberts), whose wife might be aiming to commit him to a loony bin. Almost as soon as that long-winded conversation at the beginning ends, the story wanders around many strange locales in Los Angeles, ranging from a random prostitution house to the offices of a high-end business man played by Martin Short. Doc, during all of this craziness, finds great remedies in drugs, naturally, as most did during the tumultuous time of the late 1960s/early 1970s. The hippie movement was running rampant at the time, with free love and acceptance of all being a message pushed forth. Granted, a little indulgence in paraphernalia was a given too, leading to a malignant approach from standard law enforcement. One of those men is Lieutenant "Bigfoot" Bjornsen (Josh Brolin), a man that constantly finds Doc to be a thorn in his side.

Watching Paul Thomas Anderson's latest film isn't meant to be a coherent experience. The plot is foggy and vague, with most conversations full of people speaking in questions or confusion. That's a testament to Thomas Pynchon's insane novel as well as Anderson's equally manic script. It's rare to see a film wander around a familiar city in such unfamiliar ways, looking at the seedy underbelly and unidentifiable wealthy landscapes as if they are commonplace. Not only that, but the story uses all of these different cases that Doc uncovers as a means of delightfully throwing a wrench in the audience's expectations. There are times when I found the film impenetrable or indecipherable, a complaint that many struck with There Will Be Blood and The Master. Those films featured far less identifiable protagonists; Anderson's films that work the strongest showcase likable or sympathetic people, like Magnolia or Punch-Drunk Love. Inherent Vice, shockingly, is one of the latter.

I considered watching the film a second time before reviewing, but I felt that was unfair. It's a deliberately hazy experience that most people will only see once; coming out of a film, I feel that the first impression is usually the best to write about, regardless of the chance that potentially occurs after multiple viewings. I enjoyed the central performances and found the film often hilarious. Phoenix is delightful, as always, in the lead, providing the audience with a central figure that they can like while also seemingly laughing at his woeful encounters. Waterston is terrific in her supporting turn, too; a romantic scene between her Shasta and Doc that lasts as a seven-minute long take is one of the year's best scenes. Yet as I grasp at a larger meaning for the film, my hand falls through empty-handed like a ghost. There's personal tragedy, strong characters, and plenty of humor, which ends up being enough for a terrifically enjoyable PTA experience. Inherent Vice is a cinematic whirlwind.

Mr. Turner - Movie Review by Eric Forthun

Mr. Turner  

Starring Timothy Spall, Dorothy Atkinson, Marion Bailey, Lesley Manville, and Paul Jesson

Directed by Mike Leigh

Rated R

Run Time: 150 minutes

Genre: Biographical Drama

Opens January 9th

By Eric Forthun of Cinematic Shadows

Mike Leigh's Mr. Turner is a fittingly fascinating portrait of the eccentric and talented British painter, J.M.W. Turner. The central role is filled soundly by Timothy Spall, whose depiction of the titular artist starts as an odd assortment of character traits but evolves into a wholly realized, tragic, and sheltered man. The film has a remarkable sense of time and place, grounding itself in early 19th century Britain with an eye for details surrounding difficult travel, life-threatening illnesses, and the narrow viewpoint of many citizens in a world so far from its most important achievements. What emerges as some of the most compelling scenes in the film are not ones of particular substance, but of painterly shots that capture the beauty of the filmic image: the stillness of landscapes and richness of colors, or even the slight movement coming from nature that deepens the film's artistic impression. Dick Pope's cinematography is some of the best of the year, and it infuses grander life into Mike Leigh's thoroughly complex drama.

J.M.W. Turner (Timothy Spall) lives with his father, William (Paul Jesson), and his housekeeper, Hannah Danby (Dorothy Atkinson). The former worries of his son's travels, hearing that he had perished in a shipwreck, but Turner's return is welcomed by both of his companions. Hannah is a woman that is emotionally tormented by her love for Turner, which is never explicitly expressed by either; he uses her for sexual desire but doesn't recognize her emotional attachment. That's one of the many tragic signifiers of these characters, with Turner occupying almost all of them. His past is shrouded by others coming back to haunt him, mainly his ex-lover and her two daughters, both of whom he disowns. Many ask if he has a family or children, and he always lies; he even uses an alias in other towns, presumably to save his public image, or whatever remains of it. As an angry member of the Royal Academy of Arts, his work goes through bouts of being praised and dismissed. The art world is unpredictable.

Mike Leigh's film covers so much ground in Turner's life, encapsulating over a quarter of a century to tell of his final years. While Turner travels, he begins to fall for a twice-widowed innkeeper named Sophia (Marion Bailey). Within that relationship and a few telling scenes where they discuss their past, Turner's tragedy comes to the forefront. He's a profound man full of sorrow and regret. Spall's performance is shockingly felt and keenly aware of its jagged edges, considering Turner's pronounced, repugnant actions toward people close to him throughout the film. He likes to make a mockery out of other artists, often defacing their works or demoralizing them even if they enjoy or support his work. He's concerned about self-image and ultimately cares deeply about not only what others think about him, but what they think about his work. His paintings are full of landscapes, sea wrecks, naval ships, and stark colors, but very rarely use people. That leads to much disconnect with a changing artistic vision by buyers.

Spall's tremendous lead characterization drives the film's dramatic impact. He's in practically every scene in the sprawling, 150-minute running time, and his role grows more fruitful and compelling as it gains traction. The supporting performances, however numerous they may be, are equally affecting, with Lesley Manville having a delightful turn as a progressive Scottish scientist with eclectic ideas. While the film is self-serious at times and has a favorable eye toward tragic drama, there's plenty of humor littered between scenes bookended by serious fare. Mike Leigh's script understands the potential of his characters to not be the most serious citizens alive, a trend in historical dramas that fills their atmospheres with stuffy, self-righteous air. Even the score from Gary Yershon is absorbing and unavoidable, making an impression on every scene. Mr. Turner is one of the most accomplished films of the year, and a compelling character study of a fascinating man.

Best Films of 2014 - Michael Clawson

Michael Clawson’s Best Films of 2014  

I’ll admit that 10 is a better number than 15, especially when the 15 has an asterisk, footnote and appendix. But choosing only 10 top movies of 2014 is just too difficult, and the end result is too neat and tidy. And if a year has more than 10 great movies, then why limit a list that is a reflection on that year?

So yeah, here’s my top 15 movies of the year, which is actually more like my top 16 since one entry has two movies. And then there are two honorable mentions, and a four-movie note about this year’s franchise movies. It’s not as neat as 10, but it’ll do.

15- Cold in July

I had given up on Cold in July, and then it impressed the hell out of me. Jim Mickle’s crime thriller starts with a husband and father killing a burglar in his living room. Then the burglar’s nutty father starts terrorizing the family. Notes of Cape Fear start trickling onto the screen just before you start zoning out. But then — BAM! — Cold in July turns into something else entirely. The film is anchored by strong performances from Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard and Don Johnson as a tough-talkin’ private detective. This movie came out to little fanfare, but I hope viewers discover it.

14- Edge of Tomorrow

“Tom Cruise in a mech-suit doing Groundhog’s Day with alien time-shifters.” If that was the pitch that got this movie the green light, then bravo to the poor soul who had to look a studio executive in the eye and pitch it. Doug Liman’s mind-bending sci-fi shooter is silly and stupid at times, but then it also has an inventive streak that pushes this past mediocrity and into something special. The movie came out in June, but it is still getting thoughtful plot dissection from trip’d-out fans six months later, even after the film was re-branded for DVD and Blu-ray as Live. Die. Repeat. The film reaffirms an old myth: Tom Cruise is always better in science fiction.

13- Gone Girl

David Fincher’s who-dun-it shows the veteran director at his very best. Rarely is a director in perfect synchronization with his editor, cinematographer, screenwriter and cast with such outstanding and fluid results. The film, based on Gillian Flynn’s novel of the same name (she also wrote the screenplay), features Ben Affleck as a husband accused of murdering his seemingly flawless wife, played with a frosty chill by Rosamund Pike. As the mystery unfolds, it’s clear that there are larger things at play, and it’s in these scenes that Fincher really digs in. What could have fallen apart only gets stronger as Flynn’s characters paint themselves into the same corner. Fincher handles it all with exquisite class, proving that he’s earned his spot as one of Hollywood’s elite directors.

Honorable Mention: Chef — I left Chef feeling very hungry. It’s about a disgraced cook who takes his trade mobile with a food truck. Along for the ride is his line cook, his son and a growing army of loyal followers. The film is written, directed and stars Jon Favreau, and also features John Leguizamo, Scarlett Johansson, Dustin Hoffman and many others. The jokes are great, the food looks delicious, the locations are warm and inviting … something tells me that everyone had a great deal of fun making this movie. And it shows, because it’s a lot of fun to watch.

12- Force Majeure

During an afternoon ski outing, a family is nearly overtaken by an avalanche. The mother instinctively reaches for her kids, but the husband runs off with nothing in his hands but his cell phone. During the rest of the ski trip this family is torn apart by the repercussions of the avalanche and what it revealed within the father’s personality. Ruben Östlund’s tightly wound relationship drama is mostly a series of conversation separated by interesting shots of a ski resort coming to life each morning and then resetting at night. It ends with a revelation that changes much of what we just saw, but Östlund is so delicate with the handling of it that the twist is barely noticeable. This Swedish film is a remarkable examination of the nature of married couples, and the way they spool their lives around each other in opposite directions.

11- A Most Violent Year

A Most Violent Year is about a man taking every precaution to do the right thing, even as he edges closer to that which he fears — corruption, crime and violence. J.C. Chandor directs Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain in this gloriously photographed crime drama about a heating oil company trying to expand in New York City. The film has a Godfather vibe, from Isaac’s stone-cold Michael Corleone performance to the warmly lit interiors that act as characters to the film’s carefully written criminal underbelly. The movie took me places I wasn’t expecting, and the ending is underplayed until you stand back and appreciate it for what it says about business, crime, and the intersection where the two often meet.

10- Dom Hemingway

While all eyes are on Michael Keaton’s Birdman performance, I just can’t ignore Jude Law’s gonzo turn as the title character in Richard Shepard’s irreverent crime drama Dom Hemingway, about a man who gets out of prison and slowly unravels amid heists, dinner parties, hooker orgies and a car crash frozen in a tableau of flailing arms and legs. Dom is a vile rascal, but he’s kinda lovable, especially when paired with the great Richard E. Grant as his sidekick. The film has one of the best cold opens of the year, and it deserves to be on every Jude Law highlight reel from here to eternity.

9- The LEGO Movie and Big Hero 6

Besides both being wonderfully animated and perfectly paced family films, the reason these two animated gems are both on this list is the message they send to their younger audiences: The LEGO Movie encouraged youngsters to create and play outside of the rigid structures of life, and Big Hero 6 emphasized science and math as career paths. These ideas weren’t just preachy codas tacked onto each film’s endings; they are ingrained in their respective plots. Long ago kids movies were filled with farts, boogers and groin kicks, but these days they have more to say, even amid forgivable product placement and superhero formulas.

8- Interstellar

Christopher Nolan’s epic sci-fi tale is less movie and more sound-and-light show. Featuring the science of wormholes, Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, time travel, black holes and what can only be described as the control room of the universe, Interstellar’s reach for the stars is beyond ambitious, and Nolan mostly pulls it off aside for some sloppy editing and plot holes, which are forgiven considering the film’s scope across the galaxy. It really becomes something special when Hans Zimmer’s booming score rattles from the screen. Theater owners reported receiving complaints about the film’s volume, but loud and proud was the way it should have been shown.

7- Birdman

Michael Keaton’s brave performance in Birdman as a washed-up actor on Broadway has made him a frontrunner in the Oscar race, a race he will likely win. But more than that, the performance in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s whirlwind of a movie has reminded us all how great Keaton is, and always has been. He’s a singular force in Birdman, in which he staggers and grumbles through a New York City theater where he’s staging a Raymond Carver play that has shades of his own life in it. The editing is all very slick, and the camera work is virtuosic, but mostly this is an actor’s movie, with Keaton, Naomi Watts, Edward Norton, Emma Stone and many others.

6- Ida

Pawell Pawlikowski’s gorgeously photographed character study takes place in 1960s Poland as a nun traces the footsteps of her parents, who were likely killed during the Nazi occupation or the years following World War II. The nun (played exceptionally by Agata Trzebuchowska), with warm eyes and skin the smoothness of elegant porcelain, is immediately out of place as she treks through small Polish villages as she ponders her mysterious past and her convent future. The film is shot in black and white, and it’s just perfect cinematography, with characters shot in poetically odd framings, natural light pouring through windows and mesmerizing compositions. No movie this year was photographed better.

5- Under the Skin

Nothing quite prepares you for Jonathan Glazer’s art-house sci-fi flick Under the Skin, featuring a steely-cold Scarlett Johansson as an alien viper luring unsuspecting men to their doom in an inky black goo that liquefies everything under their skin. It may sound like Aliens, but it’s miles away from an action movie as its ethereal mood and tone allow for hypnotically staged sequences of Johansson pretending to be an alien pretending to be a human. It’s all rather wacky and cerebral, but also oddly mesmerizing.

4- Life Itself

When Roger Ebert passed away in 2013, he wasn’t just the world’s most famous movie critic, he was also one of the most treasured. His reviews exposed hard truths about the films, about himself, and about all of us. They were reflections of who we as a people were, are and will be. They were also quite funny. So when Ebert lost the ability to speak amid a cancer diagnosis, his readers were afraid he would be silenced up on that balcony set where he gave thumbs up and thumbs down. His voice was silenced, but his keyboard clicked and clacked ever louder as he wrote from Facebook, Twitter and his personal blog. Steve James’ lovely documentary follows Ebert as he writes, heals and eventually passes away unexpectedly. It had a fly-on-the-wall vibe to it as the critic lived his life, but Life Itself also serves as an impromptu biography, with chapters on Gene Siskel, their shared TV show, his wife Chaz, his alcoholism, his upbringing and so much more. By the time Ebert had passed, he was no longer just a film critic; he was our collective voice broadcasting as loud as ever.

3- The Grand Budapest Hotel

Wes Anderson continuously astounds me with his quirky diorama-like presentations. His visual style, developed over an entire career, hasn’t yet hit a dead end as he explores braver plots, more intricately layered stories and growing choruses of characters, sometimes enough to fill a small amphitheater. He really outdoes himself with The Grand Budapest Hotel, loosely starring Ralph Fiennes and about 30 other fine actors. I knew I was in for a ride when the film started with a book, an interview and two sets of flashbacks all nested together. This film’s lo-fi special effects and model miniatures are especially noteworthy for their simplicity and quaintness. Anderson has made eight great films and never repeated himself, and I can’t wait for what’s next.

2- Snowpiercer

Science fiction is supposed to be a little ridiculous and Joon-ho Bong’s Snowpiercer does not let you down in that department. It’s about a train containing all of humanity that circles the globe in order to preserve mankind from a nuclear winter. Yeah, that ridiculous. The action thriller, starring Chris Evans and Tilda Swinton, came out in prime blockbuster season and immediately blew the doors off the summer’s usual fares. With glorious music, clever visual compositions, stupidly fun gun and hatchet fights and absurdly simple science fiction mythology, Snowpiercer is a marriage of great ideas.

1 – Whiplash

Damien Chazelle’s sensational musical drama Whiplash is about two characters, a hero and a villain, fighting to the same end. It’s only during the last 15 stupendously bonkers minutes do they finally realize they’re on the same trajectory, just shooting from opposing sides. Whiplash knows what it is, where it’s going and how it’s getting there from the very beginning, and it shows in Chezelle’s confident directing and in the determined performances of stars Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons as master and apprentice at a prestigious music school. (This is the second time Teller has topped my year-end movie list; last year he did it in James Ponsoldt’s Spectacular Now.) I never would have thought so much tension, calamity, violence, hatred, obsession and drama could have come from jazz drumming — Whiplash has it all.

Honorable Mention: St. Vincent — Bill Murray, our national treasure, has done it again: he’s out-Murray’d himself. The comedian once again plays a loser schlub in Theodore Melfi’s charming St. Vincent, about a grumpy old man befriending a lonely kid with a working mom. It’s funny, kinda adorable in parts, devastatingly honest and just all-around earnest in its treatment of Murray’s Vincent. It also features Naomi Watts as a Russian prostitute, Chris O’Dowd as a Catholic school teacher, Terrence Howard as a bookie and Melissa McCarthy as the too-busy-for-her-kid mother. All of this might be too much if it weren’t for the central relationship of Vincent and the kid, played expertly by Jaeden Lieberher. They just click together in all the right places.

Some words on franchise movies: There are too many superhero movies and sequels. And each year there are more. This year there were certainly some major duds, including the new Hunger Games movie, the new Spider-Man and the second Captain America movie. If we never discuss them again that will be too soon. But I want to also commend some of these movies that excelled past the genre in which they live. They were inventive, well-paced, marvelously acted (live, animated or by motion capture) and all-around fantastic. If all superhero movies and sequels were this good, I would be a happy camper. The movies that distinguished themselves are X Men: Days of Future Past, Guardians of the Galaxy, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and How to Train Your Dragon 2. Let’s hope their sequels live up to the hype.

Best Films of 2014 - Monte Yazzie

Monte Yazzie’s Best Movies of 2014  

10  Gone Girl (dir. David Fincher)

David Fincher has made a career taking audiences to dark places with bad people. In the beginning moments of Gillian Flynn’s scripted adaptation of her popular novel, a man is gently caressing the head of a beautiful woman, the way two people in love would, however the voice-over narration concerning the situation is a violent soliloquy of hatred. Fincher meticulously expands the impressions of deceit and hatred seen in the opening and seduces the viewer into a two-hour plus unsettling journey that is also completely mesmerizing.

9  Nightcrawler (dir. Dan Gilroy)

There’s strange and then there’s creepy. That is the best description of Jake Gyllenhaal’s obsessively motivated news chaser, Lou Bloom, in director Dan Gilroy’s exceptional “Nightcrawler”. Photographed in the midnight hour, the film begins, and continues to build upon, the darkness it peers into. Gyllenhaal’s performance is impressive; he is disturbed, arrogant, and controlling yet charming when it benefits him. It’s maddening at times to watch this character, though it’s difficult to look away; just like curiosity draws eyes to flashing lights and sirens, Gilroy utilizes this same quality on the viewer with impressive results.

8  Ida (dir. Pawel Pawlikowski)

At its center “Ida” is about the exploration for truth and the deliberation of faith. At a mere 80 minutes and with a straightforward narrative structure, director Pawel Pawlikowski offers more in this short time than other films twice as long. The two lead actors, on a journey together for truth, display both innocence and experience in a world that is harshly unaccommodating and grossly influenced by history. The quiet and sometimes-haunting landscapes look to consume the characters while also being beautifully composed with monochrome photography that fittingly supports the narrative themes expressed. “Ida” is yet another exceptional example of foreign filmmaking.

7  Snowpiercer (dir. Bong Joon-ho)

Director Bong Joon-ho crafts an exceptional science fiction film, one that displays a profound message about the world by wrapping the thematic significance within individualized compartments of a never-ending train ride. With one group pursuing freedom and another continued oppression, the narrative metaphors for indulgent privilege and abusive power are displayed in the well-composed train compartments while the filmmaking techniques continuously display a right to left framing mechanism that accommodates the struggle between the two factions.  “Snowpiercer” is an action packed and thought provoking film, one that displays all the best qualities of the genre.

6  Inherent Vice (dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)

This California noir displays the many talents of director Paul Thomas Anderson, whose impressive abilities are on constant display here. Whether Anderson’s talent to adapt difficult novels, his always purposeful storytelling style, or nods to film history that influence numerous frames of his films, “Inherent Vice” is better because of them all. The film takes cue from numerous avenues, with noir characteristics that blend with the end of the 1960’s socio-political landscape and the changing identity of those, here Joaquin Phoenix’s private investigator Doc, unwilling to compromise the freewheeling lifestyle of the past. Where the film leads may frustrate some viewers but it is undeniably fascinating to see a master filmmaker at work.

5  Whiplash (dir. Damien Chazelle)

Is a certain amount of unrelenting push needed to reveal potential?  To what lengths should talent be pushed? These two questions play prominent within the narrative, one that is supported by a great lead performance from Miles Teller as an obsessed jazz student and a stunning supportive performance by J.K. Simmons as the profanity spewing, emotionally torturing instructor. Chazelle keeps the narrative predictability unstable by building characters with challenging motivations, leading to a fitting tension filled finale. Chazelle maneuvers the film with skillful guidance accompanied by exceptional performances, making “Whiplash” as bold and confident as the jazz music that supports it.

4  Selma (dir. Ava DuVernay)

The media has correlated much to the connection between “Selma” and current events involving race issues in America. “Selma” crafts a compelling portrait of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., played sublimely by David Oleyowo, as a man conflicted and motivated by the changes occurring from his leadership. Moreso, DuVernay displays one of the best portrayals of the civil rights movement through political structures and the democracy of the people that helped promote change. Even in the midst of racially charged events prompting violent debates, “Selma” shows the brutality but it also exhibits the overwhelming presence of peace promoted by Dr. King and the importance of the lives of all people of every race both immediate and for future populations.

3  Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (dir: Alejandro González Iñárritu)

“Birdman” is a film that just flows together seamlessly. The performances from the actors, the guidance of the director, and the movements of the camera create an unmistakable rhythm. The story accommodates the characters and the locations offer an authenticity for everything to exist harmoniously together. Michael Keaton’s performance is impressive, one of the best of his extensive career. “Birdman” is simply a brilliant film filled with intricacy and idiosyncrasy.

2  Under the Skin (dir. Jonathan Glazer)

Writer/director Jonathan Glazer’s impressive film “Under The Skin” is one of the best genre films of recent memory. With a near silent and purposefully ambiguous narrative, the film moves with a hallucinatory yet naturalistic aesthetic through the streets of Scotland, following Scarlett Johannson’s curious and deadly being. The purpose of the lead character is never fully realized, but it doesn’t matter because the journey is so ambitiously designed that the mystery becomes nothing short of consuming. “Under the Skin” is a brilliant addition to the science fiction genre.

1  Boyhood (dir. Richard Linklater)

Twelve years of commitment to an idea and Richard Linklater accomplished one remarkable feat of filmmaking. “Boyhood” is an audience experience, a series of timepieces that bring you back to a specific time not too long ago. Through a series of normal, insignificant life events a young boy grows into a man amidst the backdrop of a changing world. Mason, played straightforward by Eller Coltrane, is consistently relatable and a reflection of his parents’ influence over time. Perhaps the most compelling and brilliant aspect of this film is the subtle influence seen in Mason’s changing character, from the socioeconomic features, to political climate, and the familial aspects that become unintentionally inherited by us all. It all works in engulfing the viewer into the familiarity of the past and the journey of growing up. “Boyhood” is a delicate and heartfelt coming-of-age work of art.

Other Favorites

Ilo Ilo

Only Lover’s Left Alive

Jodorowsky’s Dune

Babadook

The Raid 2

Obvious Child

Force Majuere

Guardians of the Galaxy

The Imitation Game

Edge of Tomorrow

Best Films of 2014 - Eric Forthun

Eric Forthun’s Best Movies of 2014  

10 - A Most Violent Year

J.C. Chandor has established himself as one of the most talented writer-directors in Hollywood. After making two polar opposites in cinema (the talkative Margin Call and almost wordless All is Lost), he's created a meticulous, slow-burn thriller in A Most Violent Year. He also employs the two hottest actors in the business: Oscar Isaac in another tremendous performance and Jessica Chastain, the endlessly talented powerhouse. The film focuses on a man building a gas business in 1980s New York and plays out like a heist film mixed with a thematically resonant message about the American Dream. Two scenes linger heavily after viewing: Isaac selling his employees on their business model and a car chase that starts light and rivals a great actioner. A Most Violent Year is tremendously skilled filmmaking, and promises a long-lasting, bright career for Chandor.

9 - The Imitation Game

What begins to as a twisty-turny hunt to stop the Germans from winning World War II turns into a tale of tragedy and persecution in the wake of a backwards-thinking world. Benedict Cumberbatch delivers his best performance to date (and one of the year's best) as Alan Turing, one of the mathematicians responsible for decoding the Enigma code, a line of communication that the Germans reset every 24 hours and used to communicate. It's a tense film built on the impact of its supporting roles: the quietness of Matthew Goode and Keira Knightley bring tension and compassion to scenes that feel thematically familiar. Yet the decision to have the story center on Turing's persecution as a homosexual in a post-war England is heartbreaking and necessary. The acceptance of all is a tragic undertone still prevalent in modern culture.

8 - The Grand Budapest Hotel

Wes Anderson remains one of the best visual storytellers in the business, so it's only fitting that he has continued to expand his emotional depth while his artistic splendor runs rampant. He tells one of his most affectionate stories to date, looking at Gustave H. (in a great performance from the always capable Ralph Fiennes) and his work as a concierge in the titular mainstay. The heist narrative surrounding a stolen piece of artwork from a recently deceased guest of the hotel allows for the story to become one of love and longing. This is one of Anderson's biggest ensembles to date, with great performances coming from F. Murray Abraham, Adrien Brody, and newcomer Tony Revolori. As a director, Anderson's film always have a unique storybook look that are undeniably his own vision; as a writer, he crafts characters as eccentric and vivid as any other in the business. He succeeds again with Grand Budapest, a heartfelt, hilarious, and impressively moving feature.

7 - Nightcrawler

Nightcrawler gnaws at the underbelly of media journalism before swallowing it whole and spewing out a demented form of citizen journalism. Jake Gyllenhaal, in one of his most infectiously sociopathic and chilling roles, plays Lou Bloom, a young man with drive who wants to find a career that fits him; he stumbles upon a cameraman filming a car burning on the freeway and thinks, "I could do that." He begins to film crime scenes and sell them to local news outlets, with his main contact being Nina (played wonderfully by Rene Russo), a veteran reporter who will do whatever it takes to get her network back on top. The story goes down a deliriously exciting path, pushing farther and farther until Lou's grasp far exceeds his reach. Yet the ending is brutal and uncompromising, and Dan Gilroy's directorial debut is defiantly confident and biting.

6 - Obvious Child

Ever since being a cast member on Saturday Night Live (and being forced off after an accidental slip-up on live TV), Jenny Slate has proven herself to be an astute, no-holds-barred comedian. She plays Donna Stern, a stand-up comic who, after being dumped by her boyfriend, hooks up with a man and ends up getting pregnant. Far from a traditional romcom, the story tackles the issue of abortion in today's culture and uses the eyes of a twenty-something to demonstrate that, for many, it's a means of learning from one's mistakes and getting one's life in check. But the film is deeply moving and honest, using humor to demonstrate these characters' insecurities and allow Slate and her co-stars to shine with the hilarious set-ups they are given. Gillian Robespierre's film is a subtly subversive romantic comedy that has kept me laughing after multiple viewings, and its shocking approach infuses excitement into a well-worn genre.

5 - Ida

A nun discovers her Jewish heritage in Ida, a tremendously captivating feature that is both visually gorgeous and thematically thoughtful. Taking place after World War II, the story navigates the path of Anna, who finds out that her parents were killed in the Holocaust and she has unknowingly assumed a Catholic identity for most of her life. Pawel Pawlikowski's film is captured in beautiful black-and-white cinematography, using space and darkness to tell a story far grander than the seemingly straight-forward tale. Agatha Kulesza has won multiple supporting actress awards from various critics' groups for her turn as Anna's aunt, a complex, heartfelt woman that strikes at the core of the film's message. The last scene is haunting and powerful. Ida is a quiet film that only last 82 minutes, but its examination of religion will last much longer in the viewer's mind.

4 - Whiplash

J.K. Simmons delivers the fiercest, loudest, and scariest performance all year as a jazz music teacher in Whiplash. The story of a young man, played by Miles Teller, rising in the ranks as a drummer at a music school with aspirations to make a career out of his passion is riveting and impeccably filmed. Damien Chazelle's direction (and, perhaps more impressively, Tom Cross's editing) is staunchly aware of how a scene can be manipulated for maximum effect, particularly when music is involved. The film feels orchestrated much like the music the central characters spend their lives sweating over. Simmons infuses his teacher with horrible qualities that are backed by purpose; the story eventually shines a light on his motivation and I was sold. Teachers want their students to reach perfection, so it's only fitting that the final moments of the film are exciting, perfect filmmaking that filled me with glee.

3 - Selma

The civil rights marches in Selma, Alabama led by Martin Luther King Jr. make for one of the strongest visions of 2014, led by director Ava DuVernay's uncompromising camera. She presents the story through multiple lenses, either viewing the marchers themselves, the civil rights opposition, or the quasi-neutral president of the time, Lyndon B. Johnson. David Oyelowo delivers an impressively subdued performance as the man with a dream, allowing the story to navigate his murky personal life to inform his professional decisions. The supporting performances are equally sublime, particularly from Carmen Ejogo and Tom Wilkinson. A church bombing in the film's opening moments is shocking and permanently etched in my brain, a true signifier of great filmmaking. Yet the film holds extraordinary significance due to its testament that change has not fully come. It's a socially cognizant, timeless film.

2 - Birdman

My top two films are ones largely built on technical conceits, with Birdman using the impression that it all exists within a single take. Legendary cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (Children of Men and Gravity) and director Alejandro G. Iñárritu craft a narrative surrounding a washed-up actor, played by Michael Keaton, best known for his roles in superhero films. In an attempt to change his path, he aims to direct and star in his own Broadway play, battling his hubris and former self in hopes of finding his true identity. Keaton is extraordinary in a self-reflexive turn and Edward Norton and Emma Stone own their supporting roles. The film uses nuanced visual technique with awe-inspiring prowess. It's beyond captivating, narratively astute, and delightfully confident, a tour-de-force built on the ambiguity of an actor's personal and professional life. The line, more often than not, blurs.

1 - Boyhood

Richard Linklater's exploration of a young boy maturing into an adult is the most deeply personal, emotionally pure film I have seen in 2014. My subjectivity is undeniable, and I feel that many my age can connect with Mason and his growth over the film. Yet it's not defined by tunnel vision, but rather of time, place, and permanence, another of Linklater's bold efforts that uses time as a means of developing character and substance. His Before trilogy remains the greatest series in cinema, and here he expounds upon that idea of telling a story in real time by opting for a 12-year narrative over 165 minutes. It's a bold, visionary effort that captures social change, the turmoil of growing up in a divorced home, and the essence of growing up in a constantly evolving 21st century. The performances from Ellar Coltrane, Patricia Arquette, and Ethan Hawke form the finest trio all year, and the film is unforgettable.

And the honorable mentions, in alphabetical order: The Babadook, Calvary, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Foxcatcher, Godzilla, Gone Girl, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Homesman, Interstellar, The Lego Movie, Pride, Rich Hill, Snowpiercer, Two Days, One Night, and Virunga.

Unbroken - Movie Review by Michael Clawson

Unbroken

Starring Jack O'Connell, Finn Wittrock, Jai Courtney, Garrett Hedlund and Takamasa Ishihara

Directed by Angelina Jolie

From Universal Pictures

Rated PG-13

137 minutes

Unbroken is a perfectly adequate movie that I’m glad I saw, but would rather never see again.

by Michael Clawson of TerminalVolume.com

I find it odd that the film is a Christmas release, with all the torture and all. Because nothing says “Happy Holidays” like starvation, canings, public humiliation, beatings, and forced labor. I’m picturing families drunk on cocoa and wearing matching Christmas sweaters recoiling at this frank and forceful level of brutality, and then quietly wishing for those old Rankin/Bass cartoons or maybe Ralphie and his BB gun.

This is not meant as criticism; just a simple observation about the kinds of movies people tend to gravitate toward during the holidays. (Yes yes, Django Unchained came out on the exact same day two years ago.)

Unbroken, directed by Angelina Jolie, is the true story of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic distance runner who was shot down over the Pacific during World War II. Zamperini is played by Jack O’Connell, an actor I was not familiar with before this, though I expect his name to start turning up in many other titles soon.

Zamperini’s remarkable story begins in a bomber high up over the Pacific Theater, but flashes back to his time as a young Olympian including his running in the 1936 Berlin games during the rise of Adolf Hitler. Years later, Zamperini would join the military to fight this man and his treacherous Nazis, but he was instead sent to the Pacific to battle with Japan. As the film returns to the bomber, we now have perspective on who this young man is, and was, so we can plot his trajectory, somewhat unevenly, through the war.

After Zamperini’s plane is shot down, he and two other men spend 47 days in a life raft drifting through the Pacific. They have this continuing joke that they can survive for 24 days because another soldier, Eddie Rickenbacker, had done it a year earlier. The joke isn’t so funny as they eclipse that number and then nearly double it. Eventually they are picked up by the Japanese navy, and then shipped to a POW camp with awful conditions. It’s these scenes that make up the bulk of Unbroken’s 137-minute runtime. And they are brutal.

We are witness to despicable action against American troops because it reinforces the film’s central theme: Louis Zamperini can’t be broken, will never give up and refuses to lose hope. Does that theme require these levels of sustained brutality? I’m not so sure. Men are whacked with wooden canes, withheld food and water, stripped of their dignity, and ordered to do manual labor until they die in exhausted and malnourished heaps. In one scene, Zamperini is told he can have food, a warm bed, and contact with his family if he records propaganda messages for Japanese radio. He refuses, and his punishment for that refusal is a punch to the face from every POW in the camp. The looks on these poor guy’s faces as they’re forced to clobber Zamperini is as horrific as Zamperini’s own face after it’s all over.

The Olympian's story is simply incredible, and altogether riveting, but I’m not sure Jolie ever elevates the film past its role as visual witness. It shows us a lot of the bad things that happened to this man, but Unbroken never really frames them within anything larger or more complex. It simply asks us to appreciate him because he suffered through unbearable treatment at the hands of sadistic jailers. The core of the real story — Zamperini’s eventual forgiveness of these jailers — is confined to a pre-credits title card. How did he embrace forgiveness, why, and to what end? These are questions the film does not answer, and seems too bored to even consider. Oh by the way, here’s 20 more minutes of Zamperini holding a log over his head, or hauling coal up stairs, or sparring with a Japanese camp commander with an evil twinkle in his eye. Is all this overkill? Probably not to the memory of Allied soldiers who died in these camps, but certainly to the emotional center of the film.

All of this punishing torture and degradation immediately brings to mind 12 Years a Slave, another movie that allows violence and hopeless mistreatment to sway a film's central story. Where Steve McQueen's film succeeds, and where Jolie's falters, is that his central character has periods of self discovery, acceptance, denial and ambivalence at his situation. His plight felt more three-dimensional, whereas Jolie's version of Zamperini — heroic and impervious to despair — is so rock-solid and true that his unbroken survival is a forgone conclusion, which means most of the scenes of violence and humiliation are for our benefit. And it becomes tiresome.

Even more curious than the film’s gleeful preoccupation with Zamperini’s most tragic life chapters is the fact that Joel and Ethan Coen have screen credits. I find it hard to believe that Unbroken is this singularly focused on one idea with these great writers contributing to the script. Their own movies bear the hallmarks of better storytelling, so why not this one?

All that aside, Unbroken is still a fascinating movie, albeit too grim and without the emotional payoff that naturally exists in the real story. Jolie’s scenes are photographed beautifully, the effects shots are convincing and used sparingly, and she coaxes some magnificent performances from her cast, including O’Connell and Takamasa Ishihara as the sadistic camp warden.

I just wanted the film to have more purpose than “hey, look at how awful this was.” Zamperini was a fascinating man, but I still find his motives peculiar and mysterious. Why did he choose to remain unbroken for so long, and why did he embrace forgiveness after so much pain? Don’t ask this movie, it doesn’t know.

Unbroken - Movie Review by Eric Forthun

Unbroken  

Starring Jack O'Connell, Domnhall Gleeson, Jai Courtney, Miyavi, Garrett Hedlund, and Alex Russell

Directed by Angelina Jolie

Rated PG-13

Run Time: 137 minutes

Genre: Historical Drama

Opens December 25th

By Eric Forthun of Cinematic Shadows

Unbroken is relentless and uncompromising, which attests to both the film's strengths and significant faults. Director Angelina Jolie makes an undeniably American film for her second feature behind the screen, following up the drastically different In the Land of Blood and Honey with this more commercialized fare. Her subtleties as a filmmaker are unwavering: her desire to capture the essence of humanity in the wake of inhuman actions alongside the brutal nature of war on both the domestic and international fronts. Louis Zamperini's story is one of the most famous to emerge from the war, with his biography continuing to be one of the best-selling and most acclaimed novels of the 21st century. There's no denying the story's power. Yet as a cinematic adventure, the Coen Brothers and Co. fail to infuse their script with much humanity, not elaborating on its protagonist enough while making most of the journey a monotonous, gruesome affair. It doesn't feel urgent or particularly exciting.

Louis (Jack O'Connell) was raised as a boy prone to stealing and living life dangerously. His family loved him dearly and worked hard for him despite his inability to try in school. As immigrants, they faced persecution and found themselves as outsiders. Louis needed to better himself, so he learned how to run efficiently in order to participate in distance running at school and, later on, an Olympic participant for the United States. He wins the gold medal at the 1936 games in Germany and becomes a national hero. He also decides to enroll in the army and serves during World War II, fighting in an airliner over Japan with a ragtag group of pals that he's grown close to. After a crash leaves them stranded in the water with no sign of life, Louis manages to survive for close to two months before being rescued...by Japanese soldiers. Louis and Phil (Domnhall Gleeson) become prisoners of war in an internment camp and attempt to survive in a desolate, continuously brutal landscape.

Louis runs into a harsh Japanese leader, Watanabe (Miyavi, who has strangely garnered Oscar consideration for a fairly cardboard role), who pushes the American through repulsive tests of character and will. They know that he is a former Olympian, therefore his tests include running around the camp with another man despite being malnourished, forcibly holding a gigantic piece of wood for hours on end (a scene that is embodied in the film's poster, and holds power for a short while), and being held as an example to be punched repeatedly by other prisoners. When scenes derive from little substance like these, they don't make for compelling filmmaking. Rather, they amount to an uninvolved narrative that resorts to simplicity and obviousness. There's plenty of social commentary waiting to emerge from these moments, but the scenes don't allow for intriguing supporting characters or other socially relevant issues to come forth. Roger Deakins uses his always stunning cinematography to create a few haunting scenes, yet he only crafts beautiful canvas out of images, not narrative. The script never elevates that visual splendor.

Angelina Jolie's film is excruciating without being graphic, a testament to her desire for emotion over physical torment. A viewer can only take so much of that, though, and the 137-minute running time doesn't let up over its duration. It's a frustrating watch because there doesn't seem to be much past the surface when Louis goes through these human spirit tests. He doesn't seem unbroken, but rather unbreakable. The torments are overwhelmingly abusive and borderline insurmountable, with the final hour being filled to the brim with physically destructive challenges that no man could endure under those conditions. I can't attest to the biography's power, but I'm sure it had to feel more authentic and grounded in reality than the film's telling, which feels mythic and superhuman. Unbroken has compassion and grace, yet the story never scrapes past the admittedly thin presentation of ideas surrounding war and perseverance.