tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88912362024-03-23T11:16:44.794-07:00The All-New, All-Awesome Adventures of Danny BaramThe opinions, rants, and random thoughts of Danny Baram. Movie + TV Reviews, updates, and news from a small-town kid gone Hollywood. Follow me on Twitter: @DannyBaramDanny Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11154788596179153058noreply@blogger.comBlogger1182125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8891236.post-85147620956914006742013-12-29T16:16:00.001-08:002013-12-31T10:42:05.442-08:00THE BEST OF 2013 - The Best MOVIES Of The Year<br />
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<br />
THE YEAR IN MOVIES - 2013<br />
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- This was, quite simply, a phenomenal year for movies. Rarely has it been so hard for me to put together a Best-of-the-Year list, and rarely has it been so difficult to figure out what would and would not make the Top 10, let alone the Top 25. In any other year, great movies like ALL IS LOST and RUSH would have made the Top 10 list, no question. But this year, the quality level is so high that there were close to 30 movies that I'd call absolute must-sees. 2007 was probably the last real landmark year for film. Years from now, I think people will look back at 2013 and put in a similar category - a year that produced great movie after great movie.<br />
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Not only did 2013 have some incredible films from well-known directors, but it also had a lot of smaller-scale surprises. On one hand, you had arguably Alfonso Cuaron's best film yet in GRAVITY, arguably Alexander Payne's best film yet in NEBRASKA, arguably Spike Jonze's best film yet in HER, Scorsese's best film in several years with THE WOLF OF WALL STREET, another Coen Bros. classic in INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS, and another great action-comedy from Edgar Wright in THE WORLD'S END. <br />
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On the other hand, there were any number of films from up-and-coming talent that sort of blew me away. One of the biggest cinematic highs I had in 2013 was seeing a double-feature of The World's End followed by YOU'RE NEXT. I can't wait for more people to discover this absolutely kick-ass horror film. I love how there's this thriving indie horror movement going on, led by people like You're Next director Adam Wingard. I love that movies like this one are putting a new, clever, witty, self-aware spin on horror, and getting me re-energized about a genre that I've been mostly indifferent to for a long time. I was similarly thrilled with Lake Bell's IN A WORLD. What a cool, interesting, hilarious movie. I hope Lake Bell keeps 'em coming. THE WAY WAY BACK is another one that has me excited about its writer/director team. I can't wait to see what Jim Rash and Nate Faxon do next. The list could go on and on ...<br />
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One interesting trend this year was that some of the best Asian directors made their first American films. The results were surprisingly awesome. Oldboy director Chan<span class="itemprop" itemprop="name">-wook Park did STOKER, which was phenomenal. And I Saw The Devil director Kim Jee-Woon did the Arnold Schwarzenegger action flick THE LAST STAND, which I loved, and which was severely underrated by critics and under-seen at theaters. </span><br />
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<span class="itemprop" itemprop="name">Speaking of action movies, the year's best blockbuster was, to me, PACIFIC RIM. While by no means a perfect film, it was so filled with awe-inspiring visuals and jaw-dropping imagination that it ultimately was, no question, my geek-out movie of the year. The fact that it's the Guillermo Del Toro version of a fetish film kept it from becoming a Star Wars-sized hit at the box office, but the fact that it serves as a love letter to giant robots and giant monsters ensures that it will be a cult classic for all eternity. </span><br />
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<span class="itemprop" itemprop="name">Meanwhile, many movies that I really enjoyed this year either proved very divisive with critics, or just got unanimously trashed by critics. Perhaps the year's two biggest lighting rods were MAN OF STEEL and STAR TREK: INTO DARKNESS. Personally, I get some of the criticisms, but I also think both films work very well as popcorn flicks and as pop-art. Critics and internet geeks alike love to pick on Zack Snyder and JJ Abrams, but I think the fixation on some of their specific directorial tendencies unfairly overshadows the fact that both of these guys are phenomenal action directors. I get it: these kinds of movies are easy targets for nitpicky nerd-rage. Do I wish that Zack Snyder better addressed the wanton destruction that Superman caused in Metropolis in Man of Steel? Yes. Do I wish that JJ Abrams and co. concocted a better way to reveal Khan's true evil than via a Leonard Nimoy spoiler-from-the-future? Yes. But in both cases, I think what works about these films far, far outweighs what doesn't. Man of Steel has its flaws, but it was absolutely cathartic to see this epic, action-packed, sci-fi take on Superman after the dull and toothless Superman Returns. And stubborn Star Trek fans seem to have conveniently forgotten how bad the majority of old Star Trek films really were. Into Darkness had well-drawn characters, impeccably-choreographed set pieces, and was jam-packed with fun moments.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="itemprop" itemprop="name">That brings me to the thing that bugged me the most about film in 2013. As great as the movies themselves were this year, the level of discourse around movies this year, in my mind, hit an all-time low. People call Man of Steel the worst thing ever. Seriously, The AV Club names it the 4th worst movie of 2013. Have they *seen* Superman III or IV?! How is a film with top-to-bottom quality acting, exciting action, and gorgeous visuals the worst of the year? Have the Into Darkness haters ever seen the show Enterprise? *That's* how bad it *could* be, folks. I saw a number of reviews that absolutely buried THE HOBBIT sequel. So it's a bit too long? Really? Guys, circa 1995 any nerd worth his or her salt would have absolutely killed for a high-fantasy epic that was anywhere in the ballpark of the quality of The Hobbit. But you're telling me it's awful? </span><br />
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<span class="itemprop" itemprop="name">The conversation about movies is sometimes so ridiculous - it kills me. I've heard people call everything from Gravity to American Hustle "horrible" in recent weeks. On Facebook, people are posting an inane open letter from the real-life daughter of Jordan Belfort, whose life is the basis for the film The Wolf Of Wall Street. The letter misguidedly denounces all involved in the film for making Belfort out to be a hero, and people seem to be blindly agreeing with her. And I have to wonder if the whole world's gone crazy. Should we only be telling stories about good men from now on? What's more, if you see The Wolf of Wall Street and don't see that the movie is demonizing and condemning Belfort, you need to take off the blinders. </span><br />
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<span class="itemprop" itemprop="name">In this climate of sound-byte social media posts and click-baiting headlines, there's an absolute deluge of knee-jerk reactions, overreactions, and misguided anger towards films. Online and in real life, from critics, film-fans, and casual fans alike, there's people making blanket statements about actors, directors, or genres they purport to hate, people completely dismissing a movie without articulating why they disliked it on a non-superficial level (i.e. "too long" or "too depressing"), and people jumping on a bandwagon of haters just because it's easy. </span><span class="itemprop" itemprop="name"></span><br />
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0453518/?ref_=tt_ov_dr" itemprop="url"><span class="itemprop" itemprop="name"><br /></span></a>
<span class="itemprop" itemprop="name">I suppose that's what makes it so fun to do this blog. More and more, I sometimes feel like I'm in the minority when it comes to advocating for certain movies. I don't set out to be contrary, but I also don't like being a sheep. I don't mind trashing a deservedly bad movie, but if I see something like Kick-Ass 2 - which I loved - I'm going to sing its praises even if I'm the only one. </span><br />
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<span class="itemprop" itemprop="name">There are, of course, always going to be the obvious masterpieces that are universally praised. The indisputable great movies that quickly enter the cannon, and go on to win awards and get taught in film classes. But what I found so cool in the early days of the internet was finding like-minded folks who appreciated stuff on the fringes. People who thought that films like Robocop and Evil Dead belonged on the all-timers list, who were early champions of guys like Guillermo Del Toro, Peter Jackson, and Edgar Wright. I think about the way movies get reviewed and ripped apart now, and wonder if today's cult classics would ever have amassed their cults if they came out now. Imagine the internet reaction to Donner's Superman if it came out today. It would have been eviscerated. And you know what - there are a lot of aspects of beloved movies that make it easy to pick them apart. But what made them beloved was that they had magic. And what I ultimately look for in films is whether or not they have that magic, that spark - whether they have those "wow" moments that feel like a revelation of some kind. A great film can be a crazy comedy, a pulpy action flick, an out-there sci-fi story, or an epic drama. It could be Gravity, or This is the End, or The Last Stand. The problem is that today, when everything is communicated in shorthand, when opinions are based on what's trending, articulating a movie's true quality is too complex of an undertaking. The Lone Ranger must inevitably suck, because ... #JohnnyDeppPlaysTooManyWackyCharactersInMakeup. Gravity must be great because #OMGSandraBullock. And, what's that? Martin Scorsese made a three hour movie about Wall Street? #Ain'tNobodyGotTimeForThat. That's three hours I can't check my cell phone!</span><br />
<span class="itemprop" itemprop="name"><br /></span>
<span class="itemprop" itemprop="name">All I can do is try to fight the good fight, and try to articulate why, exactly a film does or doesn't strike a chord with me. At the same time, I don't want to let outside factors influence my thoughts. Let the movie speak for itself. Let's see if it does or does not have that magic. Luckily, many movies had it in spades in 2013.</span><br />
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As always, I'll mention that though I did see a lot of movies in 2013, I didn't see everything. Some notable films that I have not yet seen at the time of this writing include Before Midnight, Saving Mr. Banks, and August: Osage County.<br />
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DANNY'S BEST MOVIES OF 2013:<br />
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<br />
1.) Gravity<br />
<br />
-Gravity floored me more than any other cinematic experience in 2013. It looked amazing - this was one of the first films in a long while that absolutely *had* to be seen in IMAX 3D. But I also think that the journey that director Alfonso Cuaron takes us on in Gravity is more than just a roller-coaster ride. He achieves a sort of transcendence that goes beyond that: the sensory-overload experience of Gravity is also a powerful reminder of the human spirit. Space travel has always represented the pinnacle of human achievement, and that to me is what Gravity is really about - the will and desire to literally reach for the stars. Sandra Bullock does career-best work here. We are right there with her for every harrowing moment, and for every moment of triumph. For me, Gravity is a visual masterpiece, but it's also thematically rich and poignant. At a time when we as humans often feel powerless against a world that seems hurtling towards apocalypse, Gravity stands as a testament to just how much we can accomplish - to the strength of the human spirit to persist and survive in even the darkest and most hopeless-seeming of times. Gravity is truly next-level filmmaking that should be seen and experienced by as many people as possible.<br />
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2.) 12 Years a Slave<br />
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- Here is a film that is important, Oscar-worthy, and a stark reminder of the horrors of slavery. But man, this is also a cinematic tour de force - an utterly captivating, tension-packed narrative filled with unforgettable moments. What strikes me as so brilliant about Steve McQueen's film is that it tackles the underlying psychology of slavery more so than any other film I've seen. The set-up here is unusual - a smart, highly intelligent African-American man gets kidnapped and forced into slavery. He is then systematically stripped of everything that made him a respected, successful man in his previous life. We watch as he is forced to help perpetuate the lie that enables slavery, and we watch as that lie is reinforced over and over by slave-owners and ordinary people alike in some sort of nightmarish mass-delusion. This is a film packed with astounding performances that make this American nightmare come to life, and it's a must-see reminder of the lies we tell ourselves to justify injustice.<br />
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3.) Her<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">- What could have been a gimmicky film in other hands becomes a mind-melting stunner in the hands of Spike Jonze. </span>Joaquin Phoenix's Theodore - a person, and Scarlett Johansson's Samantha - a computer operating system, have the on-screen romance of the year: a strange, funny, emotional, and all-too human courtship that is, also, a pretty spot-on commentary about the world we live in today. Her is a digital-age romance, but it's also surprisingly thought-provoking sci-fi: a near-future parable about the way that our lives are changing - for good and for bad. Jonze doesn't cast judgement, but he does make us wonder if we can, or even want to, appreciate the real-live people in front of us as we once did.<br />
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4.) The Wolf of Wall Street<br />
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- Perhaps it was the accumulated wisdom of age that allowed director Martin Scorsese to so brilliantly satirize the greedy excess of real-life "Wolf of Wall St." Jordan Belfort. But at age 71, Scorsese has created a film that rockets along with the unbridled rock n' roll energy of a punk kid looking to give a hearty middle-finger to Belfort and his money-grubbing cronies. That's why the criticisms and negative open letters directed at this film are, to me, utterly baffling. Scorsese isn't glamorizing Belfort's drugged-up lifestyle - instead, he's telling this man's story and using it as a parable to show the dark side of the American Dream. We like to tell ourselves that this country was built on the backs of great men doing great things. But through his films, through work on movies like Goodfellas, Casino, and now this, Scorsese - in gripping and darkly hilarious fashion - pointedly reminds us that there is an ugly truth behind the curtain.<br />
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5.) Nebraska<br />
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- Alexander Payne's latest is, I think, his best. Nebraska is a darkly comic, very personal-seeming road trip movie that features some incredibly memorable performances from Bruce Dern, June Squibb, Will Forte, Bob Odenkirk, Stacey Keach, and more. This is a classic father-son tale, a great story about sticking up for one's family, and a story that finds the heart at the center of it all in a way that I found to be moving and poignant. I'm not sure that Payne has ever fully gotten there before, but he hits the bullseye here. As you watch Nebraska, you'll likely be reminded of some quirk of your own family. You'll think about the hidden lives people lived, the things they accomplished, the people they touched. You'll smile and laugh and get misty-eyed and applaud. <br />
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6.) The World's End<br />
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- How does Edgar Wright do it? How are movies this cool, this punk-rock, this level of geeky-awesome also so damn heartfelt and poignant? The World's End is a more than fitting capper to the thematically-linked trilogy that started with Shaun of the Dead and continued with Hot Fuzz. In fact, this may be the best of the three - a film that's at once an all-too-relatable meditation about how you can't go home again, a hilarious comedy about old buddies looking to recapture their wild youth, and oh, right, a crazy-ass sci-fi action flick about invading alien pod-people. Awesome? You'd better believe it. Wright is so good at what he does - part of me can't wait to see him get his hands on more big-budget blockbusters, but part of me just wants him, Pegg, and Frost to keep making these indie genre-benders forever.<br />
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7.) Captain Phillips<br />
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- Perhaps the single best piece of acting I saw in a film all year was Tom Hanks in the final scenes of Captain Phillips. Hanks is so good here that it gave me chills. I knew he was good - one of the best - but here, he totally destroys you. Paul Greengrass' true-life thriller is just that intense, as a whole. So many have tried and failed to imitate his you-are-there directorial style, but only Greengrass pulls it off with anywhere near this level of success. Captain Phillips is packed with white-knuckle intensity, but it's also not afraid to do the character work to show us who these people are and what makes them tick. And to its credit, the movie is not afraid to show us the politics and the social realities behind this situation. It does so smartly, evenhandedly, and soberly. There's nothing ra-ra about this film. Instead, it's a movie that operates on a human level, showing us what drives simple people to do extraordinary things - good, and bad.<br />
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8.) This is the End<br />
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- Great comedies don't ever get enough credit, but they should. This is the End is one of the flat-out funniest movies in years, and it deserves to be lauded for its sheer comedic brilliance. This movie made me laugh hard and often, and I know I'll be re-watching it, quoting it, and laughing still for years to come. There's an art to good comedy that isn't necessarily tied to matching it with world-shaking satire or the usual things that deem comedy awards-worthy in the eyes of critics. The key here is great jokes, great writing, and performers who can deliver those jokes in a way that makes them even funnier than they were on the page. Danny McBride in this movie? A comedic force of nature.The apocalypse has never been this funny.<br />
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9.) Inside Llewyn Davis<br />
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- Inside Llewyn Davis is many things - a story about the New York folk music scene in the 60's, a story about an artist's struggle to remain true to himself, and a metaphysical mind-trip about the way life's great comedy keeps repeating itself despite our best intentions. More so than that, this is a Coen Brothers movie, and it's the Coen Brothers operating at or near their full powers - delivering great dialogue, haunting images, and - bonus - an array of folk songs that range from hilarious to moving. Oscar Isaac is winning in the lead role, and the supporting cast - everyone from John Goodman to Justin Timberlake - is on top of their game. What I love about the Coens is that they never give you just a straightforward story. Inside Llewyn Davis is a strange, funny, layered story brought to you by the best in the biz.<br />
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10.) Frances Ha<br />
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- What a fantastic film from director Noah Baumbach and star/co-writer
Greta Gerwig. In my original review, I called this Woody Allen for the
millennial generation - and I don't think that's an overstatement. As
Frances navigates post-college New York life, there's a mix of
aimlessness, optimism, and self-doubt that I found all too relatable.
Gerwig has been on the rising-star list for a while now, but to me, this
is the movie that solidifies her as a star. She is a perfect match for
this material, and it is a perfect match for her. Baumbach directs her
with rock n' roll style, and the film as a whole - shot in stunning
black and white - has an energy and pulse that seems like a revelation.
Here is the definitive movie for the generation that was told that
"everyone's a winner," now discovering that that may or may not be the
case.<br />
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JUST MISSED THE CUT:<br />
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Like I said, this year was jam-packed with A-grade films that, in any other year would have made my Top 10. And I really struggled to leave these next five out. <br />
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11.) Stoker<br />
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- From the visionary mind that brought us films like Oldboy (the original,
not this year's poorly-received remake) comes this hypnotic,
darkly-gothic coming-of-age tale about a teen girl blossoming into
womanhood. The twist is that Mia Wasikowska's India Stoker has - in
addition to all the usual teen angst and confusion - a growing feeling
that the woman she was meant to be is a violent, vengeful killer. And so
begins a dark descent into the abyss, told in an eye-popping,
gorgeously-shot manner by Chan-wook Park. Wasikowska is amazing here,
and so too are Nicole Kidman as her going-mad mother and Matthew Goode
as her uncle and mentor. If you think your family is messed up, Stoker
shows that you ain't seen nothing yet. <br />
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<br />
12.) Fruitvale Station<br />
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- Talk about a stunner of a debut film - Fruitvale Station instantly puts writer/director Ryan Coogler on the map. This is another true-life story about a young man, Oscar Grant, who was tragically shot by Bay Area cops after a minor scuffle. Michael B. Jordan is one of the year's breakout stars - he brings multiple dimensions to Oscar, showing him at his best and at his worst. We see that Oscar was a complex character who had his flaws, but who also had so much potential that was suddenly cut short. The film avoids heavy-handed sermonizing. Instead, it simply tells this story and shows us this man's life in its final days. It leaves us - powerfully and poignantly - to draw our own conclusions about how and why this young man's life ended the way it did.<br />
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13.) Pacific Rim<br />
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- Guillermo Del Toro has had a lot of false starts in recent years. At one point, he was set to direct The Hobbit, but that fell through. Later, he was set to tackle his dream project - an adaptation of HP Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness ... but that too was a nonstarter. Fans were clamoring for Del Toro to do something, anything. Why? Because the man has an imagination like no other. He has a passionate love for cinema - for sci-fi and horror and fantasy, and a professorial knowledge of movies and literature and art. When Del Toro is on his game, his movies are cinematic love letters, filled with awe-inspiring visuals and geek-out moments aplenty. And man, Pacific Rim is just Guillermo Del Toro unleashed: a kick-ass ode to kaiju and mechs and monster movies and all things awesome. This is a world that I want to go back to, to see more of. This was the year's best blockbuster - brilliantly larger-than-life in all manner of speaking.<br />
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14.) Short Term 12<br />
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- On the opposite end of the spectrum is Short Term 12, an intensely personal and small-scale story that nevertheless feels important and vital and about themes that are big and universal. This is the story of twenty-somethings who work in a short-term care home for troubled kids. The workers are often former residents - in some cases, still trying to get over their own lingering psychological traumas. But here they are - the gatekeepers, the best and possibly last hope that these kids have to turn a corner. Brie Larson is absolutely phenomenal in the lead role here. As one of the counselors at the clinic, we see her struggle to help these kids, even as their issues hit all too close to home. It's an incredible performance - raw and vulnerable and real. <br />
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15.) Blue Jasmine<br />
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-There were a number of great films this year about American greed, but Woody Allen's latest was one of the best. Additionally, this is one of the best Allen films in years - a funny, witty, sharply-pointed satire about one upper-crust, upper-class woman's fall from grace. Cate Blanchett is a tour de force in the lead role, playing a woman who married her way into money - carefully plotting her upward ascent into the 1% - only to see it all come crashing down. Allen's film is a surprisingly timely social critique, and it's great to have Allen back in the here and now, applying his still-sharp observational wit and satirical eye to the modern day. Filled with great performances (who would have ever thought: Andrew Dice Clay is fantastic, a total scene-stealer), Blue Jasmine is something special. <br />
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THE NEXT BEST: <br />
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16.) Mud<br />
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- Another formidable performance from Matthew McConaughey, and another mesmerizing movie from director Jeff Nichols. Mud is a twisty, pulpy, neo-Mark Twain-esque yarn about two boys who discover a small river island, only to learn that an on-the-run fugitive calls it his home. Mud is a great coming-of-age story that mixes adventure, action, and hard lessons about life and love with thick southern-gothic atmosphere. <br />
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17.) You're Next<br />
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- It's hard to talk about why, exactly, You're Next is so badass without giving too much away. But just know that the movie's marketing, which made it look like a run-of-the-mill home invasion horror film, was very, very misleading. And that's a good thing, as this movie turns itself on its head and completely subverts expectation at every turn. This is one of the most fun, funniest, craziest, and most unpredictable horror movies I've ever seen. Get a group of friends together to watch this and prepare to have a blast.<br />
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18.) The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug<br />
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- Peter Jackson ups the ante from the first Hobbit film, delivering a sequel that feels more sure, more confident, and better-paced - with some absolutely phenomenal set-piece action scenes and striking visuals that are among the best we've yet seen in any of the Lord of the Rings films. More importantly, Jackson's love for Middle Earth is on full display - he once again paints a gorgeous picture of this fantasy universe, bringing all of its creatures and landscapes to stunning life. Even more importantly, Jackson again captures the heart and soul of this story, mixing epic moments with more personal tragedy and triumph. Bilbo and company again inspire and entertain.<br />
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19.) Dallas Buyers Club<br />
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- Yes, this was the year of Matthew McConaughey. And while I'm getting sick of typing his name, I'm now excited every time I see his name pop up in association with a new film. This guy has just taken his acting to another level over the last few years, and his work in Dallas Buyers Club is him at his absolute best. As HIV-suffering Ron Woodruff, McConaughey is doing Daniel Day Lewis-level stuff - physically transforming to the point where it's almost uncomfortable to watch him on screen, and just fully inhabiting this character. Jared Leto is also amazing here as an outwardly flamboyant, inwardly hurting drag queen. Moreover, this is a powerful film about the AIDS epidemic of the 80's and the kind of political and financial roadblocks that prevented people from getting the care they needed.<br />
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20.) American Hustle<br />
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- An electric, energetic film from director David O. Russell, American Hustle is an over-the-top, go-big-or-go-home look at 70's-era excess. It's a funny and mesmerizing look at con-men and con-women and the people who love them. The cast here is so good that they could make basically anything great: Christian Bale kills it, Amy Adams is incendiary, Bradley Cooper brings his A-game, Jeremy Renner is fantastic, and Jennifer Lawrence is a scene-stealer. But this cast, matched with Russel's knack for staging escalating scenes of manic energy, help produce one of the year's most entertaining films.<br />
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21.) In A World<br />
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- As a fan of the TV comedy Children's Hospital, I've come to appreciate the sizable comedic acting talent of Lake Bell in recent years. But her big-screen debut as a writer/director - a smart and silly tale about a woman trying to be the next iconic movie-trailer voiceover narrator - made me realize that she just might be a great new voice in comedy. This film is all Bell, and it's funny as hell. And not just that, but it's a smart, pointed commentary on gender equality and gender politics. Think that sounds preachy? Not to worry: you'll be way too busy laughing to care.<br />
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22.) The Way Way Back<br />
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- A funny, heartfelt coming-of-age comedy, The Way Way Back is a nostalgia-tinged look at an angsty teen who learns to come out of his shell one fateful summer. Three things I'll say here: a.) Sam Rockwell is fantastic here, as the man-child owner of a water park who takes said teen under his wing. b.) Toni Colette is also amazing as the teen's stressed-out, trying-to-cope mom. c.) If this is the kind of movie that the writer/director team of Jim Rash and Nate Faxon are capable of producing, then all I can say is "more, please." <br />
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23.) Man of Steel <br />
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- At the end of the day, Man of Steel gave me what I wanted from a Superman movie. It got my adrenaline pumping with its epic action scenes, stretched my imagination with its ultra-cool look at Krypton and Superman's sci-fi origins, and it gave me chills with its inspiring story of Superman's public introduction to the people of earth. Henry Cavill proved to be a more-than-worthy Man of Steel, and Amy Adams was the best big-screen Lois Lane yet - finally, a whip-smart, take-charge Lois who seemed to exist independently of just being Superman's gal-pal. Sure, there is room for improvement in the coming mega-sequel, but I personally am thankful to Zack Snyder for giving us the sort of epic, action-packed big-screen Superman movie that, until now, I'd yet to see in my lifetime.<br />
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24.) Rush<br />
<br />
- Ron Howard's best film in years, Rush is a fantastic sports movie, and
the riveting, true-life story of a rivalry that isn't quite as
simplistic or one-dimensional as you might suspect. Chris Hemsworth does
his best-ever work as rockstar 70's-era Formula One racer James Hunt.
But it's Daniel Bruhl - as rival racer Niki Lauda - who steals the show.
Bruhl's turn as Lauda is one for the record books - making the cold,
calculating Lauda surprisingly sympathetic. The genius of the film is
how it turns Lauda - presumably the villain of the story - into its
ultimate hero.<br />
<br />
<br />
25.) Zero Charisma <br />
<br />
- This indie comedy is a must-watch for anyone who's ever
felt even just a little bit nerdy. It's the story of an old-school geek
who finds his carefully-calibrated man-child existence threatened, when
his D&D-playing friends fall under the spell of a of hipster-cool,
geek-chic dude who seems impossibly stable and social for a guy who
reads comics and blogs about movies. Yep, this one hit slightly close to
home, but it's a credit to the movie's spot-on humor that it works so
well, and never feels pandering. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0255347/?ref_=tt_cl_t2"> </a><br />
<br />
MORE GREAT FILMS OF 2013:<br />
<br />
26.) All Is Lost<br />
<br />
- A harrowing tale of survival at sea, All Is Lost features an amazing lead performance by the great Robert Redford - made all the more impressive by the fact that it's largely wordless. Redford's movie-star charisma makes us think he's got a shot to survive, but his aging body and egoless acting makes us realize that it won't be easy.<br />
<br />
27.) Star Trek: Into Darkness<br />
<br />
- Some couldn't stand this updated take on The Wrath of Khan, but I say give JJ Abrams his props. The guy brought Star Trek back to life, giving us another adrenaline-shot of pure pop filmmaking. Filled with some of the best set-piece action scenes this side of Spielberg, and populated with a cast of characters that we really care about, Into Darkness was, to me, one of the most riveting big popcorn movies of the summer.<br />
<br />
28.) The Last Stand<br />
<br />
- An ultra-badass, insanely fun neo-Western action flick from South Korean director Kim Jee-Woon, The Last Stand was a great comeback vehicle for Arnold Schwarzenegger. This is a high-energy, surprisingly funny, insanely entertaining action film. <br />
<br />
<br />
29.) The Croods<br />
<br />
- My favorite animated film of this year, The Croods featured spectacular animation, a fun story, great voice-acting, and lots of heart. It's yet another great film from the folks at Dreamworks, who once again this year produced a film that rivaled the competition's. The best movie about cavemen ... maybe ever? <br />
<br />
TIE: 30.) Spring Breakers<br />
<br />
- On the surface, this appears to be a candy-colored exploitation film. But dig deeper, and you'll find that Spring Breakers is a pitch-black comedy about misguided youth-gone-wild. On top of that, it has one of the single greatest monologues ever put on film - a hilarious extended riff from Jame's Franco's cornrowed drug dealer, Alien. "Look at all mah $%^&!" indeed. <br />
<br />
TIE: 30.) Kick-Ass 2<br />
<br />
- I'm not sure why critics were so sour towards this uber-fun, uber-funny sequel, but I had an absolute blast with it. Chloe Moretz continues to work wonders as Hit-Girl, and seeing Hit-Girl hit high-school was a gleefully subversive spectacle - a superhero version of Mean Girls on acid.<br />
<br />
HONORABLE MENTIONS - OTHER HIGHLY RECOMMENDED MOVIES FROM THIS YEAR:<br />
<br />
Frozen<br />
The Kings of Summer<br />
Oblivion<br />
The Conjuring<br />
Side Effects<br />
Prisoners<br />
The Spectacular Now<br />
Warm Bodies<br />
The Place Beyond the Pines<br />
Lee Daniel's The Butler<br />
Mama<br />
Thor: The Dark World<br />
Despicable Me 2<br />
Monsters University<br />
Out of the Furnace<br />
Anchorman 2 <br />
<br />
<br />
INDIVIDUAL AWARDS:<br />
<br />
<br />
BEST LEAD ACTOR:<br />
<br />
1.) Tom Hanks - Captain Phillips<br />
2.) Matthew McConaughey - Dallas Buyers Club<br />
3.) Leonardo DiCaprio - The Wolf of Wall Street<br />
4.) <span style="color: black;"><span class="itemprop" itemprop="name">Chiwetel Ejiofor</span></span> - 12 Years a Slave<br />
5.) Tie: Michael B. Jordan - Fruitvale Station, Bruce Dern - Nebraska, Christian Bale - American Hustle<br />
<br />
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:<br />
<br />
1.) Jared Leto -Dallas Buyers Club<br />
2.) Daniel Bruhl - Rush<br />
3.) Michael Fassbender - 12 Years a Slave<br />
4.) Will Forte - Nebraska <br />
5.) Sam Rockwell - The Way Way Back<br />
<br />
BEST LEADING ACTRESS:<br />
<br />
1.) Brie Larson - Short Term 12<br />
2.) Scarlett Johansson - Her<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">3.) Cate Blanchette - Blue Jasmine</span><br />
4.) Sandra Bullock - Gravity<br />
5.) Tie: Mia Wasikowska - Stoker, Great Gerwig - Frances Ha<br />
<br />
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:<br />
<br />
1.) June Squibb - Nebraska<br />
2.) <span style="color: black;"><span class="itemprop" itemprop="name">Lupita Nyong'o</span></span> - 12 Years a Slave<br />
3.) Amy Adams - American Hustle<br />
4.) Toni Colette - The Way Way Back<br />
5.) Nicole Kidman - Stoker<br />
<br />
BEST DIRECTOR:<br />
<br />
1.) Alfonso Cuaron - Gravity<br />
2.) Paul Greengrass - Captain Phillips<br />
3.) Steve McQueen - 12 Years a Slave<br />
4.) Martin Scorsese - The Wolf of Wall Street<br />
5.) Tie: Joel and Ethan Coen - Inside Llewyn Davis, Alexander Payne - Nebraska<br />
<br />
BEST SCREENPLAY:<br />
<br />
1.) The Wolf of Wall Street<br />
2.) Her<br />
3.)12 Years a Slave<br />
4.) Inside Llewyn Davis<br />
5.) Nebraska<br />
6.)This is the End<br />
7.) Frances Ha<br />
8.) Fruitvale Station <br />
9.) The World's End<br />
10.) The Way Way Back<br />
<br />
<br />
- And that's that, another one for the books - my picks for the best films of 2013. Look forward to even more great movie adventures in 2014.Danny Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11154788596179153058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8891236.post-19492374246284900782013-12-29T11:00:00.000-08:002013-12-31T08:40:54.530-08:00THE BEST OF 2013 - The Best GAMES Of The Year<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d3146; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.890625px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTX82EsTx9__qpyIpEgIgg789IjsdTB64LlonelQR8v_A84S0ih1bweBEP0Y4-3ry0_11TJ5Hw5zpyhuUOUlh65PyLraEiYjh5tdyeAIqZLsXVS-JYdMQT2OMr0u71-tBiIAvNCg/s1600/The-Last-of-Us-Games-Wallpaper-HD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTX82EsTx9__qpyIpEgIgg789IjsdTB64LlonelQR8v_A84S0ih1bweBEP0Y4-3ry0_11TJ5Hw5zpyhuUOUlh65PyLraEiYjh5tdyeAIqZLsXVS-JYdMQT2OMr0u71-tBiIAvNCg/s400/The-Last-of-Us-Games-Wallpaper-HD.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d3146; font-size: small; line-height: 16.8906px;">THE BEST GAMES OF 2013:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d3146; font-size: small; line-height: 16.8906px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;">-
It was a strange year for me and videogames. I was more backlogged than
ever when it came to games. Sitting in my bookshelf were games like
Bioshock Infinite and Tomb Raider, just begging to be played. And yet,
due to a combination of factors, I probably played less videogames than
ever before. Am I just getting old? I'm not yet married and don't yet
have kids, but I'm finding it harder and harder to immerse myself in the
kinds of late-night gaming sessions during which I traditionally get in
the bulk of my play time. I'm not any less interested in gaming. I
still love games, and I still am passionate about the industry and the
artform. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;">What
I realized is that games are *hard.* And I'm not talking difficulty
level. I'm talking about hard to fit in within increasingly
compartmentalized lifestyle. Like many of my fellow pop-culture junkies
out there, the only way I can fit in all of the media I'm into in my
life is to very carefully budget my time. If I have 22 minutes to spare,
then great, I can fit in a new episode of Parks and Recreation. If have
44 minutes to spare, then I can squeeze in an episode of Justified or
The Walking Dead. On a Sunday morning, I can allow myself a half-hour to
read through a couple of chapters in a book, or a few new comic books,
before getting out of bed and starting my day. But games? Games don't
quite fit into a neatly-planned routine. To me, they're best enjoyed
when you can set aside a few hours, forget about all outside
distractions, and just play at your own leisure. Unfortunately, those
precious evenings when I've got all the time in the world come few and
far between these days. And when they do come, I (sadly) all too often
find myself asleep on the couch before I've even scratched the surface
of a new game. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;">What's
strange is that games I loved as a kid would actually be much more
amenable to an adult's busy schedule. I could breeze through a level of
Mega Man or a world of Mario before dinner, and within a week I could
play through a whole NES game. But today's games are giant, sprawling,
seemingly never-ending affairs. I've barely got time to get through The
Last of Us, let alone see every nook and cranny of Skyrim. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;">To
that end, I'll more and more find myself gravitating towards quick-play
games like this year's WWE2K14. I can get home from a long day at work,
fire up the game's "30 Years of Wrestlemania" mode, and move on to the
next battle in ten or fifteen minutes. Similarly, fighting games are a
great way to get a sense of accomplishment in a short burst. Especially
when the games have an involving story like this year's Injustice. This
year, I often popped Injustice into my PS3 instead of something like
Tomb Raider, because it was easier and less intimidating to knock out a
couple of quick rounds of superhero fighting than embark on Tomb
Raider's giant-sized quests. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;">And
yet ... big, immersive, cinematic games like Tomb Raider and The Last
of Us are among my favorites. When I think about the possibilities of
the medium, these are the games that seem to be stretching the limits of
what videogames can do. I want games to continue to present us with
multidimensional characters, innovative storylines, and fully
fleshed-out worlds to explore. To me, The Last of Us is the kind of game
that (hopefully) represents where the medium is going, not Angry Birds.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;">But
why can't we have the best of both worlds? I think it's time that game
developers figured out how to deliver these great, involving, epic games
in more manageable portions. Think about a great TV show like Breaking
Bad. It's consumed in 44 minute installments, but it all adds up to a
much larger whole - a long, epic storyline, but told episodically. Games
right now are not designed to be consumed in digestible chunks. We're
starting to see more episodic releases - like Telltale's Walking Dead
game. And man, I loved The Walking Dead and named it 2012's Game of the
Year. But one "episode" of that game was still a multi-hour commitment.
At the movies, we deem a movie too long if it stretches past the
two-hour mark. Games that go for 15, 20, 30 hours just seem
extravagantly lengthy - especially now that we're not kids with whole
weekends to waste away. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;">More
and more, I hear people talk in terms of gamers vs. non-gamers. To me,
that's a little silly, and sort of sad. When I was an eight year old kid
playing Super Mario Bros. on my NES, I didn't go around proclaiming
myself a gamer. I just loved videogames, as did everyone else I knew.
But now, the people who grew up playing games are playing less and less.
Why? Because the games industry has increasingly ghettoized itself,
making gaming into a hobby that can only be kept up with by the hardest
of the hardcore. People who have lives and jobs and families find time
to fit in movies and TV shows, but games tend to take a backseat because
they are, now, more of a commitment than ever. I am case in point - I
love games and have definitely not lost interest with age. But I have
lost a good deal of interest in 20+ hour mega-games that require months
of one's life to complete.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;">What's
interesting is that games are, more than ever, emulating movies and TV
in terms of their presentation. But they are still stuck in the 90's
where there's that mentality of "more=better." I think it may date back
to when CD-based games boasted of the amount of content that was packed
onto the disc. I remember before then, it'd be the rare game like Final
Fantasy or other JRPG's that boasted about length. Now, every game does
it. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;">Mark
my words - when a great game on the level of a Mass Effect or Uncharted
comes along that delivers compelling, immersive content in TV
episode-style, half-hour or hour-long chunks, it will catch on like
wildfire. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;">Anyways
... I thought that 2013 was a really good, really interesting year for
games. The sheer number of great games that came out for the last-gen
consoles was pretty staggering, and it sort of made the shiny new
systems a tough sell. After all, was there really anything this year on
the PS4 or XBOX One that could compete with The Last of Us, Bioshock
Infinite, or Grand Theft Auto V? 2014 is going to be all about the new
consoles, and I think we'll start to see heavy conversion next holiday
season. But for now, a lot of people (like me) are still making their
way through all the games that came out for our several-year-old systems
in 2013. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;">Going
forward, it remains to be seen if Sony or Microsoft will pull away with
a clear edge in the next-gen console race. History has shown us that
the tide can often turn halfway through a product lifecycle, but we'll
see. Since I'm a Sony fan, I wouldn't mind seeing them gain some ground
on the competition this go-round, and it seems like they're doing so, so
far. Again, I think this is a good thing because it means bigger
audiences for Sony-exclusive franchises like Uncharted. And man,
Nintendo is starting to get to a pretty perilous place. They've finally
got a well-reviewed Mario game out for the Wii U, but one game alone
does not sell a system. It feels like the PS4 and XBOX One have just
leapfrogged right over Nintendo in this generation, and Nintendo is
really going to have to pull out something special to avoid falling into
serious trouble. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;">More
so that ever before though, a lot of the best stuff going in gaming is
happening on the fringes. Indie games, digital-only games, retro games,
and more experimental games are making a lot of noise these days, and I
think that will continue to be the case in 2014. Expanding on my earlier
point, I think a lot of gamers are looking for something new and
different beyond the big blockbuster franchises, and have had their fill
of Call of Duty or Assassins Creed. The indie game movement is filling
the void that's there in the retail space - where the offering feels
increasingly homogenized and limited.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;">Perhaps
the most exciting thing in 2014 will be seeing what new franchises
emerge as the next-gen system sellers and must-haves. What will be the
next Mass Effect, the next Uncharted, the next Bioshock? Hopefully, the
next gen brings with it just as many groundbreaking new games as the
last one did.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;">DANNY'S BEST GAMES OF THE YEAR: </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;">I
didn't play anywhere near as many games as I'd like to have this year.
And of those I did play, I often didn't get to play as much as I would
have liked. Much of my gaming time in 2013 was spent still playing some
of the previous year's big titles - The Walking Dead, for example. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;">But my Game of the Year for 2013 is an easy choice: </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;">1.) The Last of Us</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;">-
To me, Naughty Dog is the best development team in the business. They
combine great gameplay with immersive storylines and eye-melting
graphics like no one else. They've done it through three Uncharted
games, and now they upped the ante even more with The Last of Us. The
Last of Us was reminiscent of last year's The Walking Dead in that it
made you deeply care for its characters, and the gameplay became all the
more intense and involving because you were playing not just to succeed
and progress, but because you wanted to do everything in your power to
help the characters on their journey. This game was also just plain
scary and creepy. The zombie-like "clickers" had to be some of the most
pulse-quickening enemies ever in a game, and the game crafted some truly
nightmarish scenarios for you to navigate - made all the more intense
because you - playing as middle-aged Joel, wanted desperately to keep
your teenage charge Ellie out of danger. The post-apocalyptic
environments in the game were gorgeously rendered. There was so much
lived-in detail here that it was almost scary. Ultimately, Naughty Dog -
as with Uncharted - found a way to seamlessly merge cinematic
storytelling into a compelling gameplay environment. The story unfolded
with you playing it, not via static cutscenes. It's an art that most
games have not yet perfected, but Naughty Dog is leading the charge. The
Last of Us may have arrived late in this generation, but it quickly
became one of this era's defining, definitive gaming experiences.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;">2.) Bioshock Infinite</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;">-
Disclaimer: as of this writing, I've still only just scratched the
surface of Bioshock Infinite. But I already feel confident in declaring
it as an all-time great game, on par with the original Bioshock. Like
that game, this one has atmosphere to spare, dropping you into an
alternate-reality city in the clouds that is both visually striking, and
the setting for some fascinating, politically-charged storytelling. The
guys at 2K Games have, again, knocked it out of the park. The way they
make their games into true experiential journeys is truly amazing.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;">3.) Tomb Raider</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;">-
I was a fan of the old-model Tomb Raider games, but this series reboot
really succeeded in taking the storied franchise to the next level.
Borrowing heavily from Uncharted, this new iteration of Tomb Raider gave
us a much more human and relatable version of Lara Croft, and a much
more cinematic experience than in previous games in the series. Whereas
previous games were about exploration laced with hair-pulling puzzles,
this one was much more of a roller-coaster ride. I dug it. And man, it
looked incredible, with some of the best graphics ever on the
current-gen systems.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;">4.) Injustice: Gods Among Us</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;">-
This one-on-one fighting game is a fanboy's dream - pitting a who's who
of DC Comics heroes and villains against each other in Mortal
Kombat-esque battles (and in fact, the game was developed by MK's
Neversoft). The gameplay was sharp and on-point, and the fighting fast
and furious. But what made this something really special was,
surprisingly, the well-written, well-acted storyline - a super-fun yarn
about a Superman who turns to the dark side, leaving only a ragtag band
of revel heroes between him and world-domination. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;">5.) Ducktales: Remastered</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d3146; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 16.8906px;">-
A straight-shot of nostalgia. There were better games this year, I'm
sure, but none brought a goofy grin to my face like this HD remake of
the old Capcom-published NES game. Nothing beats classic Capcom 2D
platforming, and this game delivers it in spades. The crystal-clear
cartoon graphics are a joy to behold, and the redone soundtrack and
voice-acting (with the original cartoon cast!) are also fantastic. The
funny thing is that playing this game was a reminder of just how hard
these old platformers could be (better do pre-play finger stretches -
you're going to need 'em). But in a world of overly complex games that
challenge patience more than reflexes, this reissue is an awesome blast
from the past - a reminder of a simpler time in gaming.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d3146; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 16.890625px;"><br /></span></span>Danny Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11154788596179153058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8891236.post-30691552531208346872013-12-29T08:00:00.000-08:002013-12-30T17:24:28.043-08:00THE BEST OF 2013 - The Best COMICS Of The Year<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSPVp1Srv6RMnAPCcSBbTRuSVhsGcgaR0M-vpkdUpQRDvCm2nXUOsgIJ445Zt0z3pgE1lYJd3_QL5WgaKtlWdUy9FttZ9bHfAjKIZU9aNzNtP6ui48GJJBuLZqoWuq6qZUcST-sQ/s1600/the-wake-background.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSPVp1Srv6RMnAPCcSBbTRuSVhsGcgaR0M-vpkdUpQRDvCm2nXUOsgIJ445Zt0z3pgE1lYJd3_QL5WgaKtlWdUy9FttZ9bHfAjKIZU9aNzNtP6ui48GJJBuLZqoWuq6qZUcST-sQ/s400/the-wake-background.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />
THE BEST COMICS OF 2013:<br />
<br />
- What began in 2012 continued into 2013. Yes, last year I dove knee-deep into the digital comics revolution, and as I predicted, the way that I've enjoyed the medium has continued to evolve. More and more, it's easy to sample less mainstream comics, and more and more, publishers like Image are monopolizing a lot of the best talent and stories in the business. In 2013, creators who once split their time between established superhero books and creator-owned comics went full-blown indie. The best writers in the biz - Rucka, Brubaker, Vaughan, Lemire, Snyder, Hickman, Fraction, and more - were all doing amazing work this year on 100% original books. Sure, guys like Snyder and Lemire and Hickman were still doing some excellent books for DC or Marvel, but it feels to me like the beating heart of the comics industry has officially shifted from the established superheroes to original characters whose stories comprise a variety of genres - sci-fi, romance, noir, horror, Western, and more. These types of books always seem to bring out the best in their creators, and it was a thrill to see new books like The Wake, Lazarus, and Trillium quickly rise to the top of my must-read list this year.<br />
<br />
Interestingly enough though, it was the Big Two that produced some of the most interesting experiments in digital-only comics this year. In 2013, some of the best superhero stories I read were weekly, digital-only, out-of-continuity comics. If you haven't sampled Batman '66, you've got to give it a look. Written and drawn in the style of the old Adam West TV show, the comic is absolutely hilarious - reintroducing classic villains from the old show, and also intermixing some ideas from more modern Batman interpretations. Even cooler, many issues of Batman '66 take advantage of the digital format with semi-animated panels and more digital-friendly storytelling devices. The experience of reading on an iPad is just plain fun. DC scored another weekly digital hit this year with Injustice, based on the videogame of the same name. On paper, I never would have thought that a digital comic based on a game would be anything special. But I was proven wrong - writer Tom Taylor produced the best DC Comics big-event story of the year - an exciting, twist-filled yarn about a world in which a grieving Superman snaps, and decides to rule the earth with an iron fist - crushing any remaining heroes who would dare oppose him. Taylor came out of nowhere to quickly become a writer to watch. More and more, it felt like some of the best superhero stories being told were in the digital format. In addition to Injustice and Batman '66, digital-only comics like Adventures of Superman and Legends of the Dark Knight gave an assortment of top creators the chance to tell one-off Superman or Batman stories free from the constraints of DC's regular continuity. The result was some fantastic stories. Increasingly, I can see these sorts of digital-only comics becoming the norm, and becoming the best place to find great stories.<br />
<br />
Of course, a big discussion point this year among fans was gender politics. With more and more female readers getting into comics, it stands to reason that there is now a lot more scrutiny on the industry as a whole. This isn't a new phenomena, but fans were more vocal than ever in their desire to see strong female characters, as well as to see high-profile books written and drawn by women. The major publishers are getting better at this than before. Many of this year's best books - Lazarus, Trillium, Saga, The Wake, Sex Criminals, and more - featured great, compelling, well-written female protagonists or co-leads. There is still a lot of work to be done - especially with the superhero books - but it does feel like there is starting to be much more diversity in the stories being told, and much more diversity in terms of the top-selling and most buzzed-about books, that reflects a new and more-diverse-than-ever audience. Hopefully things continue to improve to an even larger extent. But, going back to the ongoing theme of how digital comics are changing the industry, the ease by which comics can now be bought and read is going to be, I think, a huge factor in that continued diversification of material and readership. A quick glance at Comixology's current best-seller list shows books like Locke & Key and Saga selling neck-and-neck with Batman and Justice League, so as you can see, the times, they are a-changing.<br />
<br />
<br />
DANNY'S BEST COMICS OF 2013:<br />
<br />
1.) The Wake <br />
<br />
- The Wake has been an awesome read month-in, month out since it kicked off earlier this year. And that's no surprise, as it comes from a comics dream team of writer Scott Snyder and artist Sean Murphy. Snyder has become one of the best and most prolific writers in the biz over the last couple of years, but The Wake might actually be my favorite thing he's done to date. It started out as an ultra-intense, ultra-mysterious sci-fi/horror adventure - a page-turning mix of The Abyss, Alien, The X-Files, and HP Lovecraft. The book, thus far, has been about a team of scientists brought down to a top-secret underwater military base, to study a new species of human-like creatures discovered in the deep. Of course, things begin to go very wrong, as the creatures are not happy about being held captive and studied. What gives the book an extra layer of intrigue though is the brief flashes we've seen to the far future - a post-apocalyptic earth submerged in water. Presumably, the events in the present will result in this strange future, but how we get from Point A to Point B is going to be a hell of a ride. Meanwhile, the art by Sean Murphy is amazing - the guy does gritty, atmospheric drawing like no one else. Act One of The Wake just wrapped up this past month, setting the stage for a new chapter that promises to take the story in a whole new direction. I can't wait.<br />
<br />
<br />
2.) Trillium<br />
<br />
- I was really sad to see writer/artist Jeff Lemire's last book for DC's Vertigo imprint, Sweet Tooth, end at the beginning of the year. Sweet Tooth was one of my favorite comics of the last several years, and its spectacular final issue made it ending all the more bittersweet. But hey, that loss was more than made up for by the launch, a few months later, of Lemire's latest Vertigo book, Trillium. As with Sweet Tooth, it mixes high-concept ideas with a hefty dose of humanity. Trillium is a sci-fi romance, in which two explorers - one from the early 1900's, another from the distant future, meet thanks to a strange portal that traverses time and space. With innovative storytelling and imaginative art, Trillium has already wowed me, but I feel like it's only just revving up. The next year's worth of issues should be something special.<br />
<br />
<br />
3.) Saga<br />
<br />
- Now in its second year, Saga continues to be the gold standard for ongoing comics. Brian K. Vaughan is the master at writing real-world characters in extraordinary settings. Even though Saga is an oftentimes mind-bending story involving intergalactic warfare, sinister robots, feuding bounty hunters, and giant monsters, the dialogue and characters are 100% of this world. Vaughan worked a similar sort of magic with his seminal Y: The Last Man, and as it goes on, Saga keeps inching closer to that high watermark of quality. It doesn't hurt that Fiona Staple's art is amazing and utterly unique in the comics world. Her streamlined, iconic images make Saga consistently one of the most eye-popping comics you'll find.<br />
<br />
<br />
4.) Lazarus<br />
<br />
- This new book from writer Greg Rucka and artist Michael Lark is like Game of Thrones but in a near-future apocalyptic setting. Rucka deftly imagines a world not too far removed from our own, in which the 1% has evolved into a ruling class of five families. All others serve the families, and all others live in poverty and oppression. There's some great, intriguing world-building going on here, and it's all very-much based off of current politics. The hero of the book, however, is a young female soldier known as a Lazarus - a genetically engineered super-soldier designed to protect her "family's" interests. But what happens when this soldier begins to rebel against not just her family, but the whole system? Watching this world get uprooted is going to be a lot of fun in the coming year. Rucka is doing top-notch work on this one, and the gritty pencils of Lark are always appreciated.<br />
<br />
<br />
5.) Fatale<br />
<br />
- Here's another favorite from last year that kept on impressing me in 2013. Ed Brubaker's Fatale reached new film-noir heights this year, as it delved more into the backstory of its cursed protagonist Josephine - an immortal woman caught up in a dangerous conspiracy. A flashback issue taking place in the Old West was a highlight, as has been the current storyline that inserts Jo as a sort of Yoko Ono-like figure in a 90's-era grunge band. Each new chapter of Fatale reveals more about the strange circumstances of Josephine's life, while at the same time furthering the book's mysterious, Lovecraftian mythology. And no other comic is more densely atmospheric - you can practically smell the gin and cigarettes as you read each issue.<br />
<br />
<br />
6.) Animal Man<br />
<br />
- Jeff Lemire's take on the classic DC Comics B-lister has been one of the true highlights of the New 52 DC reboot. The book has been incredibly consistent, and had a great year in 2013. From the epic "Rotworld" saga, to a major death-in-the-family, to the gripping current story-arc involving villain Brother Blood, Lemire has delivered a great mix of Alan Moore-esque heroes and horror that keeps me eagerly awaiting each new issue. Recently, it was announced that Animal Man will be ending in 2014. It's a shame - this has been DC's best ongoing book for the last two years. But when all is said and done, Lemire will have given us one of the all-time classic superhero book runs. <br />
<br />
<br />
7.) Injustice<br />
<br />
- This is, easily, the most unlikely pick on this list. Like I said above, I never imagined that a weekly digital-only comic that also happened to be a videogame tie-in would be among my favorite reads of the year. But I, and a lot of others, jumped on the Injustice bandwagon when it became apparent that this was, believe it or not, the best big, epic, superhero book that DC was putting out. How did that happen? For one thing, writer Tom Taylor took what could have been a throwaway assignment and made it his own. He imbued Injustice with smart dialogue, well-drawn characters, and most of all, epic twists and cliffhangers that often paid tribute to fondly-remembered moments in DC Comics lore. While the main-line New 52 books were trying their hardest not to call back to the pre-reboot storylines, Taylor was clearly having a blast playing in the DC sandbox. I gave the book a try on a whim after enjoying the game, but quickly found myself chomping at the bit to read each new weekly installment.<br />
<br />
<br />
8.) Batman<br />
<br />
- Scott Snyder continues to nail it with his work on Batman. Earlier this year, he wrapped up the dark, ultra-intense Joker story "Death of the Family" in fantastic fashion. Since then, he's done a great job of making "Zero Year" - a reimagined look at Bruce Wayne's first year as Batman - into a must-read storyline. As much as it frustrates me to see origins endlessly retold, I'll give Zero Year a pass simply because it's so darn good. Snyder and artist Greg Capullo simply know how to do the big, cinematic moments to perfection. At the same time, the book has a darkness and a grittiness and intensity that calls to mind the Christopher Nolan movies. With Snyder at the helm, Batman continues to be one of the must-read books in DC's stable.<br />
<br />
<br />
9.) The Walking Dead<br />
<br />
- The Walking Dead hit a bit of a slump for a while, but it's been roaring back thanks to the ongoing "All Out War" story-arc - a multifaceted, unpredictable saga that sees Rick's makeshift community join with other neighboring villages to take down the tyrannical psychopath Negan. Negan is sort of a controversial villain among Walking Dead fans - in some respects, he does feel a bit like a retread of The Governor. But I give Robert Kirkman credit - Negan is his own wholly unique brand of crazy, and he's been built up to be so evil, so horrible, that man, rarely have I ever been so desperate for a villain to get his comeuppance. I'm slightly behind here, as I continue to read The Walking Dead via collected editions, but I can't wait to see how "All Out War" wraps up. Kirkman is the master of the jaw-dropping, holy-$#%& moment, so I have faith he'll deliver yet again.<br />
<br />
<br />
10.) Batman '66<br />
<br />
- Holy comebacks, Batman - in 2013, the 1966 Batman was back with a vengeance! Here's another one that turned out improbably good. New stories set in the universe of the old Adam West Batman TV show? I was skeptical, but curious. As it turned out, this digital weekly is one of the craziest, funniest comics I've read - it takes the old show's psychedelic campiness and cranks it up to eleven. The unlimited budget of the comics format means that the dynamic duo can have more out-there, far bigger adventures than they ever did on the small screen. And writer Jeff Parker masterfully captures the mannerisms and humor of Adam West, Burt Ward, and the rest of the old cast, amping up the ridiculousness to even greater and more hilarious heights.<br />
<br />
THE NEXT BEST:<br />
<br />
11.) The Manhattan Projects<br />
<br />
- Jonathan Hickman's insane alternate history mind-bender - in which real-life scientists like Albert Einstein and Enrico Fermi work in secret on all manner of space-age government projects - continued to entertain this year.<br />
<br />
12.) Sex Criminals<br />
<br />
- Still only a few issues in, but Matt Fraction's oddball book - about a couple who can freeze time whenever they get busy - is one of the best new comic debuts of the year. It sounds strange, sure, but the writing is spot-on and the characters are well-drawn.<br />
<br />
13.) All-Star Western<br />
<br />
- The ongoing adventures of scarred Old West bounty hunter Jonah Hex took a strange turn this year, when Hex was time-warped into the present day. What could have been cheesy has actually turned out sort of awesome, as writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray have used the device to satirize and explore modern society vs. that of Hex's native wild west.<br />
<br />
14.) Time Warp<br />
<br />
- For the last couple of years, Vertigo has been releasing a series of oversized anthology specials, packed with thematically-linked short stories from all manner of top talent. My favorite yet was this year's Time Warp special, a collection of time-travel themed stories from a bevvy of talented writers and artists. My favorite? A fun, twisty time-loop story from Lost showrunner Damon Lindeloff, in which time-travelling hero Rip Hunter must continually save his younger self from certain death, creating a never-ending paradox. Keep these anthologies coming, Vertigo.<br />
<br />
15.) The Adventures of Superman<br />
<br />
- Yet another digital weekly comic that makes the list. Whereas the main-line Superman titles have been a very mixed bag this year, the short story arcs in this weekly series have been by and large fantastic. These are simple, continuity-free tales that give us classic, iconic Superman stories without the baggage of whatever's going on in the main storylines. So far, that includes a wonderful riff on "Flowers For Algernon" starring Bizarro, a harrowing tale about a busy day in the life of Superman, and a fascinating "what-if" about a Superman who decides to get tough on crime by moonlighting as a Punisher-esque vigilante.<br />
<br />
RUNNERS UP:<br />
<br />
FBP: Federal Bureau of Physics <br />
Detective Comics<br />
Judge Dredd<br />
The Phantom Stranger<br />
Batwing<br />
Fables / Fairest<br />
Swamp Thing<br />
Justice League Dark<br />
Batgirl<br />
Green Arrow<br />
Batman & Robin<br />
Earth 2<br />
Kick-Ass 3<br />
Infinity<br />
Jupiter's Legacy<br />
Talon<br />
<br />
SPECIAL MENTIONS:<br />
<br />
- Geoff Johns' final issue of GREEN LANTERN in May capped off a several-year run on the title that marked a modern-day renaissance for the character. While the title had had its ups and downs over the last few years, Johns delivered a memorable finale - tying up years worth of plot threads and character development into an action and emotion-packed send-off. Johns' work on GL, in its prime, was absolute must-read stuff, with story after story that was an instant classic - from the epic Sinestro Corps War to Blackest Night. Johns expanded the GL universe, introducing an entire spectrum of ring-wielders and coalescing decades of continuity into one giant, sprawling mythology. Under Johns, GL was grand space opera - the Star Wars of superhero comics.<br />
<br />
- Similarly, I've also got to note the end of Grant Morrison's several-year long Batman saga in the pages of BATMAN, INC. Morrison first began writing ongoing Batman stories years ago, later making waves by introducing Damian Wayne, the son of Bruce Wayne and Talia Al Ghul, and having him become the latest to assume the name of Robin. While other Bat-books rebooted as part of the New 52, Morrison's increasingly self-contained saga continued, with things coming full-circle. Batman and his allies had to fight a global terrorist network - Leviathan - fronted by Talia, and Damian was caught in the crosshairs. And so, Morrison's story again wove back into the greater DCU, as he penned the tragic death of Damian. Robin, once again, was dead. It's hard to know how to rate this final run on Batman, Inc., because it was so weird, so insular, and so uniquely Morrison. But the legendary writer deserves props for writing a globe-trotting, psychedelic Batman saga in an age where grim n' gritty Batman was par for the course.<br />
<br />
- I continue to follow INVINCIBLE in trade-paperback format, and still count myself as a huge fan of Robert Kirkman's modern spin on classic superhero fiction. I'm behind enough on the current storylines that I didn't feel I should include this one in my Best-of-the-Year list. Suffice it to say, it remains one of my favorite reads.<br />
<br />
- Speaking of which, LOCKE & KEY will undoubtedly go down as one of the best comic book series of this decade. Earlier this year, I read through Volume 5 of the series, and was completely blown away by the story that author Joe Hill had built towards. I've yet to read the series' final issues that came out recently, but I've read the glowing reviews and have seen them atop many year-end lists. I'll be picking up the sixth and final collected volume when it's released in February, but I had to give this book a shout-out now. It really has been the best comic book going for the last few years, and I hope that Hill has something new up his sleeve in the not-too-distant future, because I and many others will surely be going through Locke & Key withdrawal.<br />
<br />
<br />
WRITERS OF THE YEAR:<br />
<br />
1.) Scott Snyder (Batman, The Wake)<br />
2.) Jeff Lemire (Trillium, Animal Man, Green Arrow)<br />
3.) Brian K. Vaughan (Saga)<br />
4.) Ed Bruabaker (Fatale)<br />
5.) Greg Rucka (Lazarus)<br />
6.) Tom Taylor (Injustice, Earth 2)<br />
7.) Robert Kirkman (Walking Dead, Invincible)<br />
8.) Jeff Parker (Batman '66)<br />
9.) Jonathan Hickman (The Manhattan Projects, Infinity)<br />
10.) Matt Fraction (Sex Criminals)<br />
<br />
ARTISTS OF THE YEAR:<br />
<br />
1.) Sean Murphy (The Wake)<br />
2.) Fiona Staples (Saga)<br />
3.) Jeff Lemire (Trillium)<br />
4.) Jason Fabok (Detective Comics)<br />
5.) Greg Capullo (Batman)<br />
6.) Patrick Gleason (Batman & Robin)<br />
7.) Sean Phillips (Fatale)<br />
8.) Nick Pitarra (Manhattan Projects) <br />
9.) Ivan Reiss (Aquaman, Justice League)<br />
10.) Michael Lark (Lazarus)Danny Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11154788596179153058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8891236.post-19329801535745441042013-12-28T01:10:00.003-08:002013-12-28T11:40:45.029-08:00THE BEST OF 2013 - The Best ROCK Of The Year<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3WXfYVHPDmecOJWAvfegwjajbjFRuSDXGmQgMFaNiX8PreYHRWwIH5i8LyQpRYyNgc_IqPHOUP3Zn37eJwEuZ2QKf3tuB9pcz0h0VnXQ04iWp5Q2D2Ns_A2yHJkFRZLCFNelp8Q/s1600/daftpunkgold.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3WXfYVHPDmecOJWAvfegwjajbjFRuSDXGmQgMFaNiX8PreYHRWwIH5i8LyQpRYyNgc_IqPHOUP3Zn37eJwEuZ2QKf3tuB9pcz0h0VnXQ04iWp5Q2D2Ns_A2yHJkFRZLCFNelp8Q/s400/daftpunkgold.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
THE BEST OF 2013 - THE YEAR IN ROCK<br />
<br />
- Last year at this time I declared that rock n' roll was alive and kicking. I felt musically energized by great new music from old favorites and up-and-comers. This year, I'm not so sure. It's a sad state of affairs when LA's world-famous KROQ's entire playlist consists of Mumford and Sons, The Lumineers, and Lorde. And it's even sadder when literally the only place to hear actual rock n' roll on the radio is on your local classic rock station. It's a strange musical landscape when you throw the odd mainstream metal act like Avenged Sevenfold into the mix. Rock radio is now so toned-down for the hipster crowd that I can only imagine what they must think when something with an actual pulse plays over the airwaves. But the heavy stuff is now grappling for air-time against the elevator music of tomorrow. Maybe it was just an off year for new rock music. Maybe so many big rock albums came out last year that there was nothing left for this year. Maybe part of this is just me being decidedly underwhelmed by the new rock music we did get, from acts like Pearl Jam - whose new album made me long for their 90's-era prime, or Arcade Fire - whose latest, in my mind, failed to live up to the promise of their last couple of albums. Maybe the good stuff is out there, and I just haven't found it. Last year, I made a few great musical discoveries, like Foxy Shazam and Dead Sara. This year, not so much. Oddly enough, pop music is where a lot of the best rock-in-disguise can now be found, from the guitar-lick heavy samples on Eminem's Beastie Boys-style "Berzerk" to the Joan Jett-esque, arena style pop-punk of Avril Lavigne's "Rock n' Roll." Meanwhile, folk-pop continues to dominate the rock-radio scene, with no end in sight. It's not that I hate it, but there's too much of it, and it's not what I want rock music to be. I want something that is rebellious, dangerous, and yes, fun. Not music for depressed hobos. There's a distance and a coldness and a lack of authenticity to a lot of the folk stuff that I don't relate to. Where's the fire? I want to give Mumford and Sons a shot of adrenaline.<br />
<br />
Enough negativity though. The group that ruled 2013 in my view were longtime favorites of mine, Daft Punk. "Get Lucky" felt like the perfect pop-song, a throwback to the days when kings-of-pop like Michael Jackson regularly came out with new music that was both innovative and universally-appealing. It's funny, because before Random Access Memories came out, I'd been listening to a lot of Daft Punk's older stuff. So I felt disappointed when I realized just how much of a departure this new album was for the group. But the more I listened, and the more I heard the songs in the context of the album, the more I loved it. Daft Punk are true storytellers, and Random Access Memories tells a quintessentially Daft Punk-ian sci-fi love story. For the purposes of this post, I'm going to call it rock n' roll. To me, Daft Punk is rock through and through. Not just because of the future-sound guitar licks that pop up on many of their songs, but because they embrace the showmanship, the larger-than-lifeness, the spirit of rock in my eyes. They remain thoroughly iconoclastic even with mainstream success.<br />
<br />
2013 also saw some great new music from rock legends. Few thought we'd ever see a new Ozzy Osbourne-fronted Black Sabbath album, but we got one this year - and it rocks. The tunes are vintage Sabbath - sludgy, dark, dreary, driving rock. Meanwhile, Joan Jett released a great new album that I thought was very underappreciated. Top to bottom, the songs on it are excellent - lots of up-tempo, cleverly-written rockers that are a nice reminder of why Jett is true rock n' roll royalty. And hey, I haven't made a habit of paying attention to new Paul McCartney music for as long as I've been alive, but Sir Paul made me sit up and take notice with "New." This seems like McCartney's freshest, most lively, most rocking album in many years, and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed a number of its songs. Oh, and David Bowie came out with his first new album in years. Not my cup of tea, by and large, but there was something undeniably awesome about having Ziggy Stardust back in the pop-cultural conversation.<br />
<br />
I'll also give a shout-out to the Dropkick Murphys. The boys from Boston came out with a great, rocking new album this year that features some of their catchiest, most memorable songs yet. The Murphys were one of the few shining lights this year in terms of modern-rock bands who brought their A-game with great new material.<br />
<br />
It was a relatively quiet year for me in terms of concert-going. The one big rock show I saw was in celebration of my brother's birthday. We saw the legendary Pat Benatar (with Cheap Trick) at the equally legendary Greek Theater, and it was an awesome show. I also have fond memories of seeing classic rock cover band The Wayward Sons this September as part of my birthday celebration. Those guys kicked ass, and really brought the house down. It was a nice rock n' roll reminder to stay young at heart even as I get older. My hope for 2014 is to see more shows on par with some of the epic concerts I caught in 2012. But, I did meet one of my musical idols in 2013, as I snagged a photo with none other than the iconic "Weird" Al Yankovic. It was a pleasure to meet the music and comedy legend at Stan Lee's Comikaze expo. I told him that, along with The Simpsons, he was one of my biggest comedy influences growing up. Al was humble and appreciative - truly a man deserving of "American Hero" status.<br />
<br />
So yeah, rock n' roll did not have a great year in 2013, but there was great rock and rockin' pop music to be heard, if you could find it. Who knows what will happen in the year to come, but here's hoping that we get less fiddles and more electric guitars in popular music, less music that puts you to sleep, and more music that kicks ass. To paraphrase the great Lou Reed, who sadly passed away this year, here's to rock once again taking a walk on the wild side in 2014.<br />
<br />
<br />
DANNY'S TOP ROCK SONGS OF 2013:<br />
<br />
<br />
1.) Daft Punk featuring Pharell Williams - "Get Lucky" / "Lose Yourself to Dance"<br />
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- Get Lucky got most of the accolades, but to me it and Lose Yourself to Dance were the one-two punch of cyber-pop, robot-rock bliss on Random Access Memories. As good as both songs are individually, they're even better when listened to in the larger context of the album - where they serve as infectiously upbeat counterpoints to some of the album's more melancholy tunes. If even robots can learn to lose themselves to dance and stay up all night to get lucky, then so, I suppose, can we.<br />
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2.) Joan Jett - "Any Weather" / "Fragile"<br />
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- Any Weather is just a great rock anthem, and it's one of several great new songs from Joan Jett's latest album release. Fragile is the other one that really stuck out to me from the album - it's rock n' roll personified: taking painful subject matter and turning it around into a foot-stomping barn-burner that channels sadness into rebellious anger. On the to-do list for 2014: finally see Joan Jett live in concert.<br />
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3.) Eminem - "Berzerk"<br />
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- This great track from Eminem's new album calls to mind vintage Beastie Boys-style rock/rap grooves. Sampling 80's rock anthem "The Stroke," the song marks a hard-hitting return to form for Eminem after a couple of lesser albums.<br />
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4.) Paramore - "Still Into You"<br />
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- Look, a big part of me is sad that the latest evolution of Paramore ditched the sort of hard-driving, aggressive rock that originally put them on the map. At the same time, if Haley William's newest iteration of the band is able to channel old-school No Doubt as well as they do here, well, I guess that their new pop-punk sound isn't all bad. Still Into You is just a completely catchy, fun, bouncy song.<br />
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5.) Dropkick Murphys - "The Boys Are Back" / "End of the Night"<br />
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- The Murphys hit back hard with their latest album, and these are two of the standout songs. The Boys Are Back is just a great, simple, shout-it-out-loud, get-you-pumped-up rocker that sort of encapsulates the Dropkick Murphys in miniature. End of the Night is just a great barroom singalong song - you can picture it drunkenly sung with pitchers held high. A great duo. Glad the Dropkick Murphys are still kicking ass and going strong.<br />
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6.) Black Sabbath - "God is Dead?" / "Loner"<br />
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- Who could say if a new Ozzy Osbourne-fronted Black Sabbath album would turn out to be any good? Not only was it good, but it was decidedly heavy, showing that these geezers (and Geezer) could still produce the kind of black-mass metal that made Black Sabbath into legends. God is Dead? and Loner are the two standout tracks - both are bleak, grinding journeys into the abyss. No emo here, this is straight-up darkness, courtesy of the Prince of Darkness himself.<br />
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7.) Avenged Sevenfold - "Hail to the King"<br />
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- Speaking of heavy, here was 2013's token mainstream metal hit. But it's a good one - a fist-pumping battle-cry of a song that mixes metal and melody to great effect. This was the best counter-programming to the folk fluff dominating modern rock radio this year.<br />
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8.) Paul McCartney - "New"<br />
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- It seemed unlikely that an aged Sir Paul could provide such a great, utopian anthem at this stage of his career, but here it is: a Beatles-y song that's singable and hummable and just downright pleasant. It's a return to Beatles-era optimism at a time when a little positivity is sorely, desperately needed. As long as McCartney's around, then hey, he's still our leader should we need someone to guide us into a new age.<br />
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9.) Grouplove - "Ways to Go"<br />
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- Channeling late-90's Savage Garden, Grouplove is one of the few acts in the new wave of hipster rock that I actively enjoy. Mainly because there's a bouncy energy to their music and a cleverness to the lyrics that grabs me. This is a cool tune that made me smile whenever it came on the radio.<br />
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10.) Avril Lavigne - "Rock N Roll"<br />
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- Yes, seriously. Over the years, Avril has showed her rocker side with guitar-heavy songs like "He Wasn't," classic rock cover performances, and, on her latest album, she's even got a collaboration with Marilyn Manson. But I couldn't help but love Rock N Roll - it's a flat-out fun song that channels Joan Jett and 80's hair metal, and even has a killer, Slash-esque guitar solo. Bonus: the music video is one of the weirdest, craziest rock videos seen in many moons. Maybe Avril is a guilty pleasure, but hey, if it rocks, it rocks.<br />
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OTHER TOP ROCK OF 2013:<br />
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11. Queens of the Stone Age - "I Sat By the Ocean"<br />
12. Fall Out Boy - "My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark"<br />
13. David Bowie - "The Stars Are Out Tonight"<br />
14. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Area 52"<br />
15. Orianthi (featuring Steven Tyler) - "Sex E Bizarre"<br />
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OTHER TOP POP SONGS OF 2013:<br />
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1. Eminem (featuring Rihanna) - "The Monster"<br />
2. Lady Gaga - "Gypsy"<br />
3. Idina Menzel / Frozen (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) - "Let It Go"<br />
4. will.i.am (featuring Britney Spears) - "Scream & Shout"<br />
5. Lorde - "Royals"Danny Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11154788596179153058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8891236.post-16852849299573421152013-12-27T15:44:00.001-08:002013-12-28T15:44:43.190-08:00THE BEST OF 2013 - The Best TV Of The Year<div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5QS7anwWzYeIuAECoMpndEB5Oy6T-Lteqy2rNTmWf3L-lDEK5GVnbABLRNR1eDIbgwqkxBumc2x9n4M3zz6cEUNPy02zgHTRVuSlAxFkVV82kCj759zeX9V3Joij761h_STMwWA/s1600/breaking-bad-premiere.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5QS7anwWzYeIuAECoMpndEB5Oy6T-Lteqy2rNTmWf3L-lDEK5GVnbABLRNR1eDIbgwqkxBumc2x9n4M3zz6cEUNPy02zgHTRVuSlAxFkVV82kCj759zeX9V3Joij761h_STMwWA/s400/breaking-bad-premiere.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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THE BEST OF 2013 - The Best TV Shows of The Year</div>
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- What a year for television. There is, as usual over the last few years, a lot to talk about in terms of how the way series are being scheduled, programmed, and watched is changing. This was the year that Netflix became a legitimate TV content programmer, and that Amazon jumped into the fray as well. This was the year that binge-watching went mainstream, and did so in a way that actually helped raise the on-air ratings for current shows, as people caught up on past seasons via streaming and download services. This was the year that cable TV continued to dominate, as The Walking Dead became the most-watched scripted show on all of television, and shows like HBO's Game of Thrones dominated the pop-cultural conversation.<br />
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But all that being said, this was, I think, the year of Breaking Bad. Changes in consumption habits are one thing, but ultimately, what's even more interesting is when a medium reaches a new creative peak. And that happened this year: BREAKING BAD ended in stunning fashion, and in doing so, set a new bar for TV drama. It feels weird to call a show the greatest-anything of all-time when it only just ended -- don't we need the passage of time to declare such things? -- but with Breaking Bad, it seems like a fair call to make. Months after the astounding final season concluded, I'm still going through withdrawal, still wondering what became of characters like Jesse Pinkman and Walter Jr. after the final credits rolled.<br />
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2013 was also the end for some other all-time great shows. One regret I had earlier this year was not finding time to write a lengthy piece about the end of 30 ROCK. 30 Rock somehow became underrated as time went on - perhaps the disconnect between the devotion of critics and hardcore fans, vs. the low on-air ratings, drove some people to dismiss the show as high-brow elitist comedy. Whatever. 30 Rock was TV's best sitcom since they heyday of The Simpsons. It was endlessly quotable, brilliantly written and acted, and mixed random humor with pointed social commentary better than any other comedy in the last decade. I already miss this show greatly. This was the comedy that would have me jotting down quotes to share on social media, that would have me chatting with friends at work about an episode's funniest moments, that would have me pausing and rewinding my DVR to catch jokes I'd missed because I was laughing too hard from something that had happened earlier. 30 Rock had occasional ups and downs over the years, but it was far more consistently great than people give it credit for, and its final season was flat-out brilliant. What's more, each of the final batch of episodes that aired back in January were among the series' best. The series finale was a classic - everything you could have hoped for from this show.<br />
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2013 also marked the end of THE OFFICE. The show was in sort of a weird place ever since Steve Carrel left the cast a few years back, but I do think that the show rebounded a bit for its last couple of episodes, showing signs of what made it, in its early years, one of the best comedies on television. In particular, the series finale was a really well-done send-off. Even though the show had long since lost its spot as one of the elite comedies on the air, that finale was a nice reminder of how great the show had been and could be.<br />
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For a number of reasons - personal, professional, and otherwise - the end of The Office and 30 Rock really did feel like the end of an era for TV comedy and for NBC.<br />
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Another all-time great comedy that ended in 2013 was FUTURAMA. This is a weird one, because we all thought the show was finished years ago when FOX cancelled it. But it got picked up by Comedy Central, and we've been treated to new episodes of the show for the last few years. The quality didn't always match the level of greatness that the show displayed during its original run. But every so often, there'd be an episode like "The Late Philip J. Fry" that was an all-time classic, and a reminder to be thankful that this show was still churning out new episodes. The final season was more hit-or-miss than usual, but the show gave us one last all-timer with its jaw-droppingly amazing finale. The series-ender was an encapsulation of all that made Futurama great - hilarity, imagination, cleverness, fantastic characters, and the uncanny ability to produce episodes that were so full of heart that they made you misty-eyed. How could an animated comedy about robots and lobster-aliens make me more than a little verklempt? It shouldn't, but it did. The finale was a perfect ending for one of my favorite-ever TV shows. And by the way, one of the truly awesome experiences I had at this year's Comic-Con was the Futurama panel, in which I got to see the show's uber-talented voice cast table-read scenes from the series finale, and artists (including Matt Groening himself) live-draw characters from the show. It was a privilege to experience the ongoing adventures of Fry, Leela, Bender, Zoidberg, and the rest of the crew over the years, and I can only express thanks to the creative people behind the show for giving us so many memorable moments and episodes.<br />
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Another finale that I've got to talk about: FRINGE. The show aired its final batch of episodes in January, and this was another one that went out with a bang. The show's final season - set in an apocalyptic future - was a strange and bold leap for the show to take, and at times it did seem like too much of a departure from what made the series work so well originally. That said, the two-part finale was a rip-roaring adventure - a time and universe-spanning epic that, while containing a few head-scratching moments, felt like a fantastic farewell to Olivia Dunham, Peter Bishop, and Walter Bishop. Fringe will forever go down as an underrated cult classic. It never got the attention or awards it deserved, and the fact that the great John Noble never even got a single Emmy nomination is a travesty, given that week in and week out, he was doing the best acting on TV of anyone not named Bryan Cranston. Fringe will be talked about and discussed and rediscovered for many years to come, and it will go down, I think, as one of the great sci-fi shows alongside stalwarts like The X-Files and Lost (and Fringe's ending was better than both). But what I already miss about Fringe is that it was one of the rare sci-fi shows on TV that actually made me think about science. It felt mind-expanding. While I enjoy a good light and fluffy fantasy show on occasion (Sleepy Hollow, anyone?), I've had a serious post-Fringe void of harder sci-fi storytelling on TV. Still waiting to see what new show will rise to the occasion and take the ball from Fringe.<br />
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One final finale I've got to talk about, and that's EASTBOUND & DOWN. Here's another show that had a cult following, but that never really got the proper respect it deserved from most critics. I sort of get it, because Eastbound & Down is pitch-black comedy - it's funny as hell, but also deeply disturbing and boundary-pushing at times. Kenny Powers is not a good person, and the show never pretended that he was. For that reason, the final season of Eastbound made for an interesting companion piece to the final season of Breaking Bad. In its own way, Eastbound was just as epic and dark - with Kenny falling into an ever-expanding black hole of depravity as he once again attempts to reclaim his treasured modicum of fame and fortune. Despite its dark undertones, however, the fact is that no show, maybe ever, has made me laugh harder than Eastbound & Down. Through Kenny, his grotesque sidekick Stevie, and the rest of its oddball cast, the show constantly pushed boundaries, thumbed its nose at good taste, and was one of the last shows on the air that truly shocked me and left my jaw on the floor on a consistent basis. There was always a temptation to just make Kenny awesome - a hero for us to root for. But what made this show great was that yeah, sure, Kenny was sort of awesome in his own ridiculous way - but ultimately, the joke was always on him. Take note, all other shows that have no self-awareness about their own main characters' likability factor: Eastbound & Down never tried to sell us on the idea that Kenny Powers was a great man (far from it). But because the show was so funny, so layered, and so completely unafraid to go where no other comedy dared go, it is, indeed, one of the all-time greats.<br />
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Those were some of the shows that ended in 2013, but not to worry, amigos: the future looks bright. In a matter of week we've got the return of the reliably awesome JUSTIFIED, and the best new show of 2013, THE AMERICANS. There's so much out there now, it's harder than ever to keep up - but the good thing is that there is a lot of quality stuff being made. The Netflix's of the world see the effect that buzzworthy shows like Breaking Bad have on their platform's usage, and so it's now very much in their interest to create similarly buzzworthy shows of their own, that are drivers to their platform. See: ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK. I'll admit that I've yet to check out that show, but there's no denying that it made a huge impact on the pop-cultural landscape this year. It's a brave new world, people.<br />
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So here we go, my top TV shows of 2013. As always, remember: I can't and don't watch everything, so forgive me if I leave out one of your favorites (unless one of your favorites is lame/bad/boring/unworthy, in which case ... not sorry!).</div>
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DANNY'S TOP TV SHOWS OF 2013:</div>
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1. BREAKING BAD</div>
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- Hail to the king of kings. Breaking Bad went out in grand fashion in 2013, and anyone who doesn't just acknowledge that it was not just the best TV of the year, but of any year, needs to get their head checked. Breaking Bad was a triumph of storytelling on TV. So often, TV plotlines are derailed by network interference, budget, time, and the lingering uncertainty of how long, exactly, a show will last. But here, for one of the first times ever on American TV, a story was told exactly as it was meant to be told. And so, finally, here was a TV show that felt as seamless, as confident, as expertly plotted as any great film or novel. Vince Gilligan and the creative team deserve all the credit in the world, as do Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, and the rest of the best-in-the-biz cast. Cranston's work as Walter White was the best-ever acting I've seen on TV - maybe anywhere. Breaking Bad, like I said, set a new bar in 2013.</div>
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2. EASTBOUND & DOWN</div>
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- After an uneven third season that was meant to be the show's last, Eastbound unexpectedly returned for one more swing. And thank god it did. The show course-corrected itself, delivering its best season since the first, once again taking wannabe bad-boy Kenny Powers and his delusions of grandeur on an epic journey into the heart of darkness. This season of Eastbound was absolutely, drop-dead hilarious - the funniest thing on TV in 2013. If you've yet to dive into Eastbound & Down, do so immediately. As long as you're not too shocked and easily offended. Because be warned: this show boldly went to places that no other comedy had gone before. While it may be gone, it won't be forgotten: long live Kenny Powers.</div>
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3. 30 ROCK</div>
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- 30 Rock only aired a handful of episodes in 2013, but here's the thing, nerdz: each of them was a stone-cold classic. 30 Rock deserves to be this high on the list because it was just that good - and Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Jane Krakowski, Tracy Morgan, and the rest of the fantastic ensemble cast did some of their best work in those final episodes. 30 Rock did something that few of the great comedies have ever managed to do - it went out at the top of its game.</div>
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4. JUSTIFIED</div>
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- This year saw the passing of the great writer Elmore Leonard, whose stories serve as the basis for Justified. It's to Leonard's credit that so much of this show - plotlines, dialogue - are lifted straight from the author's novels. Nobody wrote hard-boiled pulp fiction like Leonard, and no show does hard-boiled pulp fiction like Justified. The show's fourth season created yet another sprawling new-Western yarn, that once again pitted Raylan Givens against his sometimes-friend, most-of-the-time nemesis Boyd Crowder. Timothy Olyphant and Walton Goggins really are the perfect yin and yang. As long as these two are involved, you know that Justified will continue to be the most badass show on TV.</div>
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5. THE AMERICANS</div>
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- This show really wowed me in 2013. It took a few episodes to really get going, but soon enough, business picked up bigtime. This cold war-set series mixes the moral gray areas of a Breaking Bad with spy thriller action, and one of the most volatile husband-and-wife relationships ever seen on TV. Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys are phenomenal on the show as a pair of Soviet spies posing as ordinary US citizens, and Noah Emmerich is similarly fantastic as the dogged agent pursuing them (though unaware, so far, that the normal-seeming couple next door are, in fact, who he's after). Gripping and full of surprising twists, The Americans became an absolute must-watch for me in 2013, and I can't wait for Season 2.</div>
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6. GAME OF THRONES</div>
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- In a year full of great TV, no single scripted event was more shocking or talked-about than Game of Thrones' already-infamous "red wedding." Sure, fans of the books may have known it was coming, but for the rest of us - holy $#%&. But weddings-gone-wrong aside, this was just a great season for Game of Thrones - a show with so many great actors and characters that it's hard to pinpoint just a few standouts. But I'll try. This was the season that Emilia Clarke's Daenerys became really, really badass - a true mother of dragons. This was the season that Margaery Tyrell and her scheming family came into the picture, and added a new level of intrigue to the ongoing saga. This was the season that "you know nothing, John Snow" entered the popular lexicon, as Snow made a home for himself beyond the Wall. Great, epic stuff. </div>
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7. CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL</div>
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- Children's Hospital continued to be awesome in 2013, with some of the show's craziest and most ambitious episodes to date. I saw the season premiere over the summer at Comic-Con, and it absolutely killed, leaving the crowd in stitches. This show has still got one of the flat-out funniest casts of anything on TV - Ken Marino, Rob Huebel, Rob Cordry, Lake Bell, Malin Ackermann, Erin Hayes, David Wain, Henry Winkler, Meagan Mullaly, guest appearances from Nick Offermann, and the list goes on ... I hope this show just keeps going and going.</div>
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8. BOARDWALK EMPIRE</div>
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- Boardwalk is one of those shows that sometimes takes a while to build up steam. Sometimes the pace feels a little slow, and the many divergent plotlines a bit all over the place. But when everything comes together, when Boardwalk really nails it, there are few shows better. I was reminded of this while watching the incredible Season 4 finale. I'd been feeling a bit down on S4 as compared to the superb S3 ... but that finale, man, that was Boardwalk at the top of its game. A key character died in a tragic, unsettling, and memorable fashion. The rift between the Thompson brothers grew bigger yet again. And poor Gillian seems to be in the worse shape she's been in since the show began. So many amazing actors on the show - S4 benefited from a spotlight on Michael K. William's ultra-intense Chalky White, and the introduction of Jeffrey Wright, playing Chalky's enigmatic new rival. </div>
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9. AMERICAN HORROR STORY: COVEN</div>
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- What's this show doing on here? In past years, I dismissed American Horror Story as all-style, no-substance shock TV. But Season 3, Coven, has me absolutely hooked. This season's yearly reboot is just clicking on all levels. The show is still wildly over-the-top and crazy, but this year, it feels like there's an actual narrative driving all of the insanity. It feels like a show I can sink my teeth into, rather than just watch to see what crazy $#%# will happen this week. But man, Coven has become an absolute playground for Oscar-caliber actresses to go at it: Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, Gabourey Sidibe, Sarah Paulson, and more are making this season ridiculously fun and entertaining. 'Tis the season of the witch, and I couldn't be happier. If you bailed on the show previously, it's time for a second look.</div>
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10. PARKS AND RECREATION</div>
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- All hail one of the last great network comedies left standing. With 30 Rock and The Office finito, and Community suffering through a Dan Harmon-less season, Parks and Rec assumed the mantle of king-of-comedy at NBC. And Leslie Knope and the rest of the citizenry of Pawnee delivered yet again, with numerous fantastic episodes and more great moments for some of comedy's best characters. With the hsow bouncing around the schedule, and Rashida Jones and Rob Lowe set to leave the cast shortly into 2014, it felt like we had to savor each new episode this year. And savor we did, Ron Swanson-eating-a-raw-steak style.</div>
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The Next Best:</div>
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11. MASTERS OF SEX</div>
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- One of the year's best new shows, this Showtime drama features incredible performances from leads Michael Shannon and Lizzy Caplan. Come for the sizzle, but stay for the steak - namely, an insightful and thought-provoking look at the sexual and social revolutions of mid-century America. </div>
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12. NEW GIRL</div>
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- New Girl was on top of the comedy heap earlier this year, but I'm docking it a few points for an only so-so season since September. Still, New Girl was one of the funniest, most laugh-out-loud comedies on TV this year, and the ensemble cast is second to none. </div>
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13. FRINGE</div>
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- I spoke about Fringe at length up top - only a few episodes aired in 2013, but the episodes that we got provided an epic finish to one of the best sci-fi series of the last ten years. Emmys for everybody, said I. If only people listened. </div>
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14. THE GOLDBERGS</div>
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- This new comedy has been a great surprise so far. I'm loving the mix of wacky humor and heartwarming storylines, many of which feel lifted from tales of the Baram household circa twenty-odd years ago.</div>
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15. BATES MOTEL</div>
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- Go, now, and binge-watch Season 1 of Bates Motel. It gets good, really good, and the high quality of the last few episodes in the season gives me high expectations for Season 2. Vera Farmiga owned it on this show as Norma Bates - a woman both comforting and creepy, heroic and deranged.</div>
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16. FUTURAMA</div>
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- Futurama deserves to be on here for its series finale alone - a masterful close-out to one of the best-ever animated comedies. Futurama will be quoted, re-watched, and made into memes for years and years - possibly up to and beyond the year 3,000 when it will be directly ingested via neural implant. So I'm glad that the show got to give us a couple more classics before all was said and done.</div>
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17. KEY & PEELE</div>
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- This year, Key & Peele became one of my most anticipated weekly shows. The ambition of the sketches is high - you could get anything from a viral video-ready music video parody to a pointed political satire. But what's consistent are how high-quality each sketch is, impeccably shot and directed, impeccably acted by Key and Peele. These guys have just been killing it of late.</div>
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18. HELLO, LADIES</div>
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- I'm a huge fan of what I'll call the Ricky Gervais school of comedy. The original UK version of The Office is one of my all-time favorites, and now, Gervais' partner-in-crime, Stephen Merchant, has an ultra-awkward, ultra-funny comedy to call his own. Hello Ladies grew on me as it went on, and ultimately I'd say it had a great first season. This is cringe-worthy comedy on par with The Office and Extras, but Merchant does this stuff so well - he finds the humor and heart in all the awkwardness to make this show something special.</div>
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19. AN IDIOT ABROAD</div>
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- Speaking of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, I've been a huge, huge fan of their brainchild An Idiot Abroad. I'd probably rank this higher, except there were only three episodes of the show's third season, and man, I wanted more! In S3, reluctant adventurer Karl Pilkington explores various remote destinations, accompanied by Gervais' pal Warwick Davis (of Willow and Harry Potter fame). Davis and Pilkington make an amazing odd-couple, and the two share some amazing, hilarious moments. Please lord, let there be more Idiot Abroad. This show is too great to end now.</div>
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20. ORPHAN BLACK</div>
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- I marathoned through this one on DVD at the recommendation of friends, and I dug it. What makes the show special is the phenomenal work of actress Tatiana Maslaney, who plays several highly distinct characters - all clones. I'm hoping that S2 ups the ante in terms of ongoing plot and overarching mythology, but S1 was a fine start. And Maslaney has crafted not just one, but several, of the most kickass female characters on TV today. For that, she's got to be commended.</div>
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21. WORKAHOLICS</div>
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- Workaholics is a random, goofy comedy series that has a DIY feel. It's clear that its three leads love hanging out and doing this show and putting their unique brand of stoner-bro humor out there into the world. In other hands, it might be grating. But these guys are funny - really funny - and the sharp writing and imaginative plotlines make this series about hapless slackers a must-watch.</div>
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22. SLEEPY HOLLOW</div>
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- I saw the Sleepy Hollow pilot at Comic-Con this past summer. I went in skeptical, but came away very impressed. This was clearly a show that fully embraced its over-the-topness, and it had an earnest, geeky sensibility that was incredibly endearing. Credit star Tom Mison for making it work. As Ichabod Crane, he gives gravitas and humor to a show that you can't help but root for. I'm still waiting for the show to have its first truly great episode, but there's enough good raw material here that I'm optimistic we'll get it soon.</div>
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23. MARON</div>
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- As a huge fan of Marc Maron's WTF podcast, I was curious to see how the comedian's world-weary humor would translate to a Louie-esque TV comedy. Things started out a little rough, but by the end of S1, the show had produced some truly winning, highly funny episodes (my favorite: a hilarious teaming of Maron with Danny Trejo as an ex-con). Can't wait to see more.</div>
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24. PORTLANDIA</div>
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- Season 3 of Portlandia started off on a high note, with a fantasticaly funny sketch about an aging hipster trying to take back MTV, storming the network's NYC offices and recruiting guys like Kurt Loder to help in the cause. It was proof that when it's on its game, Portlandia is capable of doing great sketch comedy. I look forward to new episodes this year.</div>
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25.THE WALKING DEAD (TIE)</div>
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- I know, this show has its share of haters. And occasionally, I'm one of them. But the fact is that The Walking Dead, for all its flaws, remains a must-watch because it's a show capable of producing big, crazy, jaw-dropping moments like few other series can. The latter half of Season 3 early in the year was a high point, as the war between Rick and company and The Governor escalated. Season 4 floundered for a while, but picked up steam when the Governor returned. The mid-season finale in December was a great episode of television, delivering a climactic final showdown with the Governor, and opening up some exciting possibilities for 2014.</div>
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25. BROOKLYN NINE-NINE (TIE)<br />
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- Another funny new comedy with boatloads of potential, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, I feel, is right on the verge of greatness. The ensemble they've assembled is top-notch, episodes so far have shown flashes of brilliance, and the show seems like the spiritual heir to the aging Parks and Recreation: a workplace comedy with both wackiness and heart. </div>
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INDIVIDUAL AWARDS:</div>
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The Best TV Heroes of 2013:</div>
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1.) Daenerys Targaryen - Game of Thrones</div>
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2.) Raylan Givens - Justified</div>
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3.) Ichabod Crane - Sleepy Hollow</div>
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4.) Walter Bishop, Peter Bishop, and Olivia - Fringe</div>
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5.) Sarah Manning, Alison Hendrix, and Cosima Niehaus - Orphan Black</div>
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The Best TV Villains of 2013:</div>
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1.) Todd - Breaking Bad</div>
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2.) Tywin Lanister - Game of Thrones</div>
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3.) King Joffrey - Game of Thrones</div>
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4.) Dr. Valentin Narcisse - Boardwalk Empire</div>
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5.) The Headless Horseman - Sleepy Hollow</div>
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The Best TV Anti-Heroes of 2013:</div>
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1.) Walter White and Jesse Pinkman - Breaking Bad</div>
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2.) Margaery Tyrell - Game of Thrones</div>
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3.) Boyd Crowder - Justified</div>
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4.) Saul Goodman - Breaking Bad</div>
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5.) Chalky White - Boardwalk Empire</div>
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Best Actress in a Comedy:</div>
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1.) Christine Woods - Hello, Ladies</div>
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Runners Up: Amy Poehler - Parks and Recreation, Zooey Daschanel - New Girl</div>
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Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy:</div>
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1.) Katy Mixon - Eastbound & Down</div>
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Runners Up: Lake Bell, Erin Hayes and Malin Ackermann - Children's Hospital</div>
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Best Actor in a Comedy:</div>
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1.) Danny McBride - Eastbound & Down</div>
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Runners Up: Max Greenfield - New Girl, Jake Johnson - New Girl, Stephen Merchant - Hello, Ladies </div>
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Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy:</div>
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1.) Ken Marino - Eastbound & Down</div>
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Runners Up: Nick Offermann - Parks and Recreation, Aziz Ansari - Parks and Recreation, Rob Cordry - Childrens Hospital</div>
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Best Actress in a Drama:</div>
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1.) Keri Russel - The Americans</div>
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Runners Up: Lizzy Caplan - Masters of Sex, Vera Famiga - Bates Motel, Tatiana Maslaney - Orphan Black</div>
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Best Supporting Actress in a Drama:</div>
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1.) Anna Gunn - Breaking Bad</div>
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Runners Up: Natalie Dormer - Game of Thrones, Emilia Clarke - Game of Thrones, Jessica Lange - American Horror Story: Coven, Kathy Bates - American Horror Story: Coven</div>
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Best Actor in a Drama:</div>
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1.) Bryan Cranston - Breaking Bad</div>
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Runners Up: Matthew Rhys - The Americans, Timothy Olyphant - Justified, Michael Sheen - Masters of Sex</div>
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Best Supporting Actor in a Drama:</div>
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1.) Aaron Paul - Breaking Bad</div>
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Runners Up: Dean Norris - Breaking Bad, Walton Goggins - Justified, Jack Huston - Boardwalk Empire, Michael Kenneth Williams - Boardwalk Empire, Noah Emmerich - The Americans</div>
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And that's all, folks - my picks for the best TV of 2013. </div>
Danny Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11154788596179153058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8891236.post-8471812610071386922013-12-27T13:00:00.000-08:002014-02-09T13:50:12.436-08:00THE WOLF OF WALL STREET Is a New Scorsese Classic<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfN61Qtd8ZppbzCHl1fH4RX_A1T_q1Htqmr58ew36JyJO6s7HSLtRycl0JBvGmmv3r634x00scE7-kFTP4BuLasFkzupZj2ESZw5e4f1UZXxSRH7a8N20GXcmiWUxOAr8-QpqR5g/s1600/Wolf-of-Wall-Street-Header.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfN61Qtd8ZppbzCHl1fH4RX_A1T_q1Htqmr58ew36JyJO6s7HSLtRycl0JBvGmmv3r634x00scE7-kFTP4BuLasFkzupZj2ESZw5e4f1UZXxSRH7a8N20GXcmiWUxOAr8-QpqR5g/s400/Wolf-of-Wall-Street-Header.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
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THE WOLF OF WALL STREET Review:<br />
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- There are directors whose legend is, perhaps, overhyped ... and then there's Martin Scorsese. 2013 has been a fantastic year for movies - one of the best - but before all is said and done and the book is closed, here comes the master with a film that shows all of the year's almost-great films how it's done. THE WOLF OF WALL STREET completes a thematic trilogy that started with Goodfellas, continued with Casino, and now ends with a third look at the mainstreaming of crime in America. This movie is stylistically similar to those two previous Scorsese classics, and it's just effortlessly amazing. Others have mentioned this, but what quickly shocked me about the film is that, while it builds on themes and aesthetics that Scorsese has dealt with in the past, it feels like the work of a young, hungry, boundary-pushing director - not a 70-year-old veteran. The Wolf of Wall Street is 100% pure cinematic rock n' roll.<br />
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Early on, the film delivers a scene so good that it's destined to become an instant-classic. In it, Leonardo DiCaprio's Jordan Belfort - at this point a young, just-starting-out Wall St. broker - has lunch with one of the big-shots at his new workplace. The big-shot is played by Matthew McConaughey (who I'm now ready to officially declare as the MVP of the movies in 2013), and the conversation between the two is electric. This might very well be the best one-scene performance in a movie since Alec Baldwin explained the principles of "Always Be Closing" in Glengarry Glen Ross. McConaughey breaks down the world of Wall St. in colorful fashion, but basically, his advice boils down to this: being a stock broker is not about helping others make money, it's about creating the illusion of helping others make money. The real trick is to reel suckers in and keep them in with the on-paper promise of future rewards, while you, the broker, rakes in actual cash at their expense. It's here that we start to see the world that Belfort is about to enter - a world based on lies, a world based on greed, and a world that's fueled by excess - sex, drugs, and an insatiable desire for more money at all costs.<br />
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Belfort soon becomes a skilled broker, but he gets a bad break when his firm goes under. He finds himself back at the bottom, and takes a job at a small-time brokerage that specializes in penny stocks. But Belfort's salesmanship quickly makes him a big fish in a small pond, and soon enough he strikes out on his own - recruiting old friends to help him form his own firm. Known for its slick sales tactics and debauched excesses, the firm quickly recruits an army of employees who worship at Belfort's altar with cult-like fervor. Soon, Belfort and his cohorts are making more money than they know what to do with, even as they increasingly become immersed in a whirlwind of corruption - attracting the attention of the FBI, who become eager to topple the empire that Belfort has built.<br />
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As the film progresses, McConaughey's early advice looms large. Belfort and his cronies don't care about who they're scamming, ripping off, or manipulating to get what they want, and what they want above all else is the all-important sale. That same drive for more, for heightened sensation, is there in Belfort's addictions to drugs and sex. THE WOLF OF WALL STREET is a drug-trip movie, no question. There's more coke snorted, pills swallowed, and crack smoked here than in just about any movie ever. Scorsese shows us this in excess so that we can feel the excess, so that it wears us down in a way where the drugs lose all glamor and we just think "enough is enough, these guys are nuts!". And that's exactly the correct response, the response that Scorsese aims for. This is not a film that overtly moralizes. There's no heavy-handed condemnation of Belfort or his destructive actions. Instead, the condemnation is there between the lines. The repetition of scenes of drug-use tell the tale. In this film, the drugs initially seem exciting, and the early scenes of drug use are energetic and almost triumphant. Later, they become darkly comedic - an extended scene of of Belfort and his right-hand-man Donnie (Jonah Hill) slowed to a cartoonish crawl by an overdose of quaaludes is an absurdly hilarious bit of physical comedy. Eventually, the drugs start to seem pathetic. "He's going to that well again?", we think. And so it goes throughout the film. Sex goes from sexy to comedic (Belfort literally screwing his wife atop a pile of money) to pathetic. Belfort's way with words, his gift for inspiring others and creating a cult of personality around himself, follows a similar downward spiral - from triumph to comedy to tragedy. So for those who will misguidedly denounce this film for glamorizing Belfort, I say watch more carefully. THE WOLF OF WALL STREET, is, ultimately, a rather brilliant takedown of not just Belfort, but of the kind of immoral hucksterism that set the stage for modern Wall Street culture and the modern financial collapse that that culture led to. <br />
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The film goes to very dark and very depraved places, but it's also, largely, a comedy - with numerous over-the-top sequences that are flat-out hilarious in their absurdity. Scorsese's defense-mechanism response to the sheer repulsiveness of Belfort and his Wall St. culture is to send it up in grand fashion. In one of the film's most clever repeated conceits, Belfort, via narration, will often begin to explain some facet of Wall St., only to cut himself off shrug off the lesson as not-that-important. However, he does explain in full the history of the quaalude and the exact nature of the high it provides. And it's in these details that the satirical brilliance of the movie shines through. For Belfort, Wall St. is a fantasyland bacchanalia - a playground for arrested-development adults to live without consequence. Wives are cheated on, kids neglected, and clients scammed all to achieve a neverending high. But the illusion of that high vs. the ugly reality is the source of much of the movie's humor. We see the ridiculous havoc that Belfort wreaks on his mind and body via his drug abuse, contrasted with his belief that the drugs are what give him his power, like spinach for Popeye. We see how these stockbrokers psych themselves up, believing in Belfort's rhetoric that labels them as killers and assassins. And yet, Scorsese depicts them as spineless sheep, as brainwashed losers. This is apparent in Jonah Hill's Donnie - who first appears as a geeky, creepy sort of guy who's widely mocked (and rightfully so) for marrying his cousin. Donnie quickly latches on to Belfort and becomes his Number 2, and as he gains wealth and power, Donnie starts acting like a douche - humiliating young employees and picking fights with others in Belfort's inner circle. Donnie clings to the idea that Wall St. success has made him into something more than he once was. But really, he's still just a sad sack who's married to his first cousin.<br />
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Both Hill and DiCaprio do fantastic work here. Speaking first about DiCaprio, this may be his best-yet collaboration with Scorsese. This is DiCaprio unhinged - he goes big, he goes crazy, and he even delivers scenes of physical comedy that show him to be incredibly gifted in that regard. This is the actor's most fully-inhabited role to date. He nails it. Hill, meanwhile, I really didn't know he had this in him. He hangs with DiCaprio and holds his own. I was shocked by how good he was in this film.<br />
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Hill is a surprise, but another surprise was Margot Robbie as Belfort's second wife, Naomi. When first introduced, I assumed that Robbie was just there to play a small role, to help further the rift between Belfort and his first wife, whom he married young and quickly grew apart from. Soon enough though, I realized that Naomi was a major character in this story, and that - wow - Robbie had some serious acting chops to match her seriously stunning looks. She too goes toe-to-toe with DiCaprio, and she too holds her own and doesn't give an inch. There are some other fine supporting turns in the film: Rob Reiner as Belfort's bemused dad, and Jon Bernthal as an old buddy of Belfort's who becomes their money-man. I also enjoyed seeing The Artist's Jean Dujardin show up as a rule-bending Swiss banker.<br />
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The film is impeccably shot and edited by Scorsese and his team. The stylistic trademarks from Goodfellas and Casino are back - the freeze frames, the slo-mo, the voiceovers, the visual dynamism. Scorsese mixes chaos and precision like no one else. He bobs and weaves through large crowd scenes and visually dense action, but he does so with a care and purposefulness that most directors lack. I've also got to give credit to the sharp script by Terence Winter. The movie is jam-packed with memorable and quotable lines - there's some great dialogue here that's got a lot of snap and a lot of sizzle.<br />
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THE WOLF OF WALL STREET is masterful on many levels. It functions as a biting, razor-sharp attack on the worst aspects of a capitalist society that's lost its way - a society that's built on and feeds off of corruption and false promises. We too are complicit in Belfort's evil, because we as a people willingly buy into what he and his ilk are selling, and enable the system that is ultimately, in many ways, a house of cards. In many respects, Belfort is America. Before his rise to Wall St. power, the old-money guys were, mostly, left alone by law-enforcement. But his story was that of a self-made man. That allowed him to surpass his born-with-a-silver-spoon competition, but it also left him vulnerable. To succeed at the level he hoped to, he had to get dirtier, meaner, and more ruthless than the establishment ever did. To achieve his version of the American Dream, he had to essentially lose his soul. But is it better to dance with the sinners than starve with the saints? THE WOLF OF WALL STREET pointedly asks that question, arching a mocking eyebrow at the pitfalls of unbridled excess.<br />
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My Grade: A<br />
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<br />Danny Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11154788596179153058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8891236.post-83347498999963194402013-12-27T10:54:00.002-08:002013-12-28T12:52:06.412-08:00GRUDGE MATCH Doesn't Rage Or Rock, But It Does Put On a Good Show<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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GRUDGE MATCH Review:<br />
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- Thankfully, GRUDGE MATCH doesn't take itself too seriously. It's very much in on the joke that, here in 2013, Stallone vs. De Niro is not the dream match-up that it once was. What makes the movie work is that it's a breezy sports comedy about two way-past-their-prime ex-boxers who never had their tie-breaking fight, and have a score that's been left unsettled for thirty years. This is a light, fluffy, feel-good crowd-pleaser. It's not going to win any awards - it's a far cry from Raging Bull and a long way from Rocky - but this is a movie that's highly watchable and overall, lots of fun.<br />
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Stallone does not play Rocky Balboa, and De Niro does not play Jake LaMotta, but GRUDGE MATCH clearly plays off the iconography of the two actors' famous roles. In this movie, the two are former champions who had a bitter rivalry - De Niro won their first fight, while Stallone won their second - that never got a real resolution. For reasons that remained a mystery to the public, Stallone's character dropped out before the decisive third bout could take place. As we learn, there's more to the rivalry than simply the in-ring competition, and there were personal motivations that kept Stallone from having that third contest. As the years went on, Stallone loses most of his money and settles into a blue-collar life, working a factory job and taking up an art hobby. De Niro owns a car dealership and a bar, and while he's more financially successful, his life is more of a wreck. He's a drinker and a gambler, and has not aged gracefully. Decades after their last fight, however, the two cross paths once more thanks to a hustling promoter - played by Kevin Hart - trying to make a name for himself. Hart helps sign both boxers to a contract to have themselves motion-captured for an upcoming videogame. But when the two come into contact, old hatreds reignite, and the two get involved in a knock-down, drag-out brawl in the studio. The fight gets captured on cell phone cameras and becomes a YouTube sensation. Suddenly, there is interest from fight fans in seeing - finally - that fabled, never-happened third fight grudge match between the two rivals.<br />
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Stallone and De Niro are both in ham mode here, but ... there are glimpses of them - flashbacks, if you will - at their Oscar-worthy best. There's not the kind of intensity or high drama that you'd find in a Rocky film here, but look, these are two of the greatest movie stars of all time squaring off. There's still some juice left in both Stallone and De Niro, and both have enough charisma to sleepwalk through a scene and still make it interesting. Not that they're sleepwalking. Sure, Stallone is playing a more homogenized version of his usual brooding strong-and-silent persona, but it's a nice contrast to De Niro here, who has a certain, undeniably youthful spark in his eye and bounce in his step. De Niro is perhaps the true surprise here, because though he looks old and flabby in comparison to the still-jacked Stallone, he makes up for it by bringing some humor and heart to the table. Just as we see glimpses in his character of the champ he once was, so too do we see some glimpses in De Niro of the kind of powerhouse, Oscar-worthy fire that made him incendiary in films like Raging Bull.<br />
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Actually though, the true MVP of the film may be Alan Arkin, as Stallone's old trainer who's brought out of the nursing home and back into the fray to once again train his former student. The fact is that a lot of Arkin's lines - and a lot of the script in general - are cheesy and hamfisted. But Arkin sells them with such a sense of good-natured mischief and understated zing that they draw big laughs anyways. Like Stallone and De Niro, Arkin can do this sort of crotchety sourpuss role in his sleep - but the guy is simply the best in the biz, so he makes it work. The Walking Dead's Jon Bernthal, meanwhile, is also quite good as De Niro's estranged son. There's an obvious physical resemblance, but beyond that, the two have a nice chemistry. Adding additional humor to the proceedings is Camden Gray as Bernthal's son (and De Niro's grandson) - a precocious eight year old who, quite amusingly, overhears a lot of child-inappropriate banter from his boozing, womanizing grandfather.<br />
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Less great is Kim Basinger as the woman who, long ago, came between Stallone and De Niro. It's always nice to see Basinger pop up, but she seems sort of out-of-it in this one, and her relationship with both leads feels a little half-hearted. I'm also of mixed minds about Kevin Hart here - Hart is occasionally legitimately funny, but a lot of times he seems to cover for lame dialogue by just yelling and gesticulating a lot. He definitely brings some needed energy to the film though, and he's got an especially fun chemistry with Arkin whenever the two get a chance to go at it.<br />
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Overall, I think the biggest knock against this film is that we've seen this story done much better and more dramatically, as recently as in Stallone's own ROCKY BALBOA. We've seen better training montages, we've seen better big speeches about needing one more shot, and we've seen better from both Stallone and De Niro. There is, overall, a sort of low-stakes feel to this movie that works alright, but that makes the big, climactic fight less epic drama and more amusing curiosity.<br />
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The script and dialogue, meanwhile, is cutesy and full of lines that are groaners. We get a lot of old-guy jokes about Stallone and De Niro not knowing from iPads, viral videos, or cell phone cameras. We also get some cringe-worthy, non-PC jokes that movies in 2013 just shouldn't have, and that feel out-of-place in what is, mostly, a more family-friendly film.<br />
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But mostly, GRUDGE MATCH is a fun, light, entertaining flick that, like its stars, has a bit of a retro feel. But while De Niro's heyday was the 70's, when maverick movies challenged audiences, and Stallone's was the 80's, when ultra-violent actionfests ruled cinemas, Grudge Match feels like a 90's throwback - the kind of ready-for-cable, goes-down-easy schmaltz that will find a long and oft-repeated shelf life on TNT or Spike TV. That means that, no, this movie isn't even in the same weight class as its stars' best films - but, it is the perfect sort of movie for a lazy Sunday afternoon. And really, what more does one need from Grudge Match?<br />
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My Grade: BDanny Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11154788596179153058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8891236.post-68156324739536596792013-12-26T17:54:00.000-08:002014-01-03T17:55:16.915-08:0047 RONIN Slices and Dices <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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47 RONIN Review:<br />
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- 47 Ronin bears the mark of a movie that's been through the proverbial wringer. Like a person who's had obvious plastic surgery, this is a movie that, clearly, has had work done. As you watch it, scenes feel spliced in, mashed together, pulled out, and re-inserted. The fact that this is a film that went through many re-shoots and re-edits over a multi-year period is visible up on screen. And yet, 47 Ronin works pretty darn well in spite of that fact. It tells a fun story, and there's a lot of cool stuff packed into the film. Once it moved past the cut-and-pasted set-up portion, I really started getting into it. At some point, I found myself surprised as I thought, Keanu-like, "whoah ... this got pretty epic, dude."<br />
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The cool thing about 47 Ronin is that it feels like a Japanese film that just so happens to be in English. The pacing, the look, the way the plot unfolds - it all feels very Japanese. This will likely surprise and possibly turn off those expecting a non-stop roller-coaster ride of an action film. But I really dug it. There is a lot of build-up here to the big action scenes, but that means that those action scenes feel more well-earned, more climactic, than in your typical mindless action flick.<br />
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Also, this might just be me, but 47 Ronin has one of those stories that is just inherently sort of awesome, and that lends itself to action-movie gravitas. The plot takes place in feudal Japan, and centers on Keanu Reeves as Kai - an outsider due to his mysterious origins. Kai is dubbed by others as a half-breed, because it is said that he is the offspring of a human woman and a demon. Kai is indeed the progeny of magical demons, but he fled their kingdom and found refuge in a nearby land. There, he fell in love with Mika, the daughter of the local lord. But their love was forbidden, since Kai was considered a lowly outcast. And so Kai lives on the fringes - alone, unable to be with Mika, and unable to fulfill his other ambition - to be a samurai. Eventually, however, events force Kai to step out from the sidelines. During a rare visit from the Shogun, the Shogun's sinister advisers - including a mysterious witch (Pacific Rim's Rinko Kikuchi) - plot to seize control from the lord of the land. Their play for power works - and soon the lord is dead, and evil forces rule the land. What's more, the samurai - numbering 47, and now masterless (thus becoming what is known as "ronin") - are exiled. The movie then picks up years later, when the gruff leader of the former samurai, Oishi (Hiroyuki Sanada), devises a plan to take back his land from the Witch. To do so, he knows that he must recruit Kai - though Kai was never a samurai, he was one of the land's best and bravest fighters, even if few would admit it.<br />
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So yeah, maybe I'm just a sucker for epic revenge flicks. Maybe I've got a soft spot for stories about outcasts realizing their destiny and leading a group of warriors into battle. But regardless, I found myself getting pretty caught up in the increasingly epic story of 47 Ronin. Like I said, the beginning of the movie is a bit of a chore to get through. We're told Kai's origin story in a seemingly endless montage that feels like the infodump to end all infodumps. However, once things finally settle down, and the story begins to unfold more naturally, it becomes pretty involving. Not only is there a simple but deeply-felt impetus behind the quest of the ronin (to seek revenge for their master and take back their land), but so too is there a nicely-developed arc about Kai's slow-but-steady journey towards acceptance with the ronin. The movie doesn't give us anything we haven't seen before, plot-wise, but it develops its key characters well, and delivers all the trappings that make this sort of revenge story work well - rousing speeches, stern vows of vengeance, and love-to-hate-'em villains who seem to seethe evil. As the Witch, Rinko Kikuchi is great - far-removed from the more innocent and lovable character she played in Pacific Rim. Here, she's a true femme fatale - slinky and seductive, but also full of killer intent. I've also got to give huge props to Hiroyuki Sanada as Oishi - most recently seen in The Wolverine. This guy is the real deal, and he brings a huge level of badassery and gravitas to the role of Oishi, leader of the 47 ronin. Many will be surprised to find that this is as much Oishi's story as it is Kai's. But given how great Sanada is, that's a very good thing indeed. Keanu Reeves is quite good here as well. This isn't a part that forces him to stretch too much - he's playing the stoic, sullen zen-master type - but Keanu does these parts well. I enjoyed his turn here as Kai - Keanu makes Kai a natural badass both through his acting and through the ease by which he swings and slices his way through the big action beats.<br />
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Also, this is just a pretty weird movie, in a way that's fun and will be much-appreciated by fanboys of a certain type. It's chock full of the kind of crazy-ass stuff you usually only see in the most whacked-out Japanese videogames: giant mythological beasts that look like the kind of thing you might summon in a Final Fantasy game, creepy-looking rock-demons, and of course, a Witch who turns into a mystical and deadly dragon. The movie takes a lot of left-turns into full-on fantasy, but for those who enjoy a magical, mythical take on Japanese history (and who doesn't?), there's a lot to like here. This is definitely not typical Hollywood blockbuster stuff - the monsters and creatures in this film are very unique, very Japanese.<br />
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The film feels Japanese not just in terms of pacing and visual design, but also in the way that its story doesn't pull punches for an American audience. Okay, it obviously features well-known American actor Keanu Reeves in a lead role, but what I mean is: if you've seen much Asian cinema, you know that it often goes to some dark places, story-wise, and often eschews the happy endings typical of Hollywood films. Without spoiling anything, I'll simply say that while, yes, this may be a big-studio blockbuster, it plays out much more like a Japanese import. Suffice it to say ... expect some seppuku!<br />
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Again, where 47 Ronin suffers is that it quite simply feels majorly disjointed in parts. There's a rough-draft feel to the movie that likely speaks to all of the re-shoots and re-edits. In some ways, it feels like a multi-movie epic was crammed into a single film. And yet, the movie works best when it breathes, takes its time, and lets the story build for maximum drama.When it's cramming in exposition or seemingly rushing through some of its big action scenes, you can only guess at the sorts of band-aids and duct-tape that had to be applied to get this movie completed. That unfinished feel is also noticeable during a few key scenes in which it feels like something is missing or left on the cutting room floor. For example, a key sequence, in which the Witch believes all 47 ronin to be dead by her army's hand, makes little sense based on what we've seen (namely, many of the ronin clearly, well, not dying). It feels like a last-minute plot-insertion to get from Point A to Point B, but it ends up disrupting the flow of the film and taking us out of the movie. Other instances of odd editing are just odd, like the awkward narration that closes out the film. For the life of me, I can't figure out why it's there - it totally saps the power of the real ending that happens moments earlier. Again, it's that feeling that the movie was assembled, in some instances, Frankenstein-style from disparate parts that had to then be glued together.<br />
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Still, 47 Ronin has a lot of charm, and I think it has enough cool-factor to eventually gain a cult following of sorts. Despite its flaws, I admire the movie for clearly having so much passion for its subject matter and the mythology that surrounds it, and for having the guts to go all-in to really feel like a Japanese-style revenge epic. There's badassery and cool visuals aplenty, and I'll say this: the movie got me pretty pumped-up as it went on. This is one that people will forever wonder about, in terms of whether there's a a smoother, cleaner, more coherant director's cut that exists or that could have been. But what we did get, while oddly edited and chopped-up feeling at times, still has enough epicness to be well worth a watch.<br />
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My Grade: B<br />
<br />Danny Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11154788596179153058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8891236.post-76581677516583773762013-12-26T15:22:00.001-08:002013-12-26T23:35:22.346-08:00ANCHORMAN 2 Is I'm Ron Bergundy?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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ANCHORMAN 2 Review:<br />
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- I remember being skeptical going into the first Anchorman. Up until then, I was only mildly a fan of Will Ferrell, and hadn't loved the sorts of cheap-laugh fratboy antics he'd become known for in movies like Old School. But Anchorman - which teamed Ferrell with SNL writer Adam McKay - brought Ferrell back to the style of comedy that had resulted in his funniest moments on Saturday Night Live: big, weird, crazy, out-there. Anchorman was so funny because it dared to ditch frat humor for absurdist humor - lampooning 70's-era alpha-male bravado while also not being afraid to throw in randomness like talking dogs and ultra-violent gang fights between rival teams of newsmen. Anchorman won me over, and it opened up the door for further hilarious Ferrell-McKay collaborations like Talladega Nights and Step Brothers. Suddenly, Anchorman - a movie that felt like Ferrell and McKay were getting away with something - became the template for more, increasingly absurdist comedies. I suspect that the success of Anchorman also opened up the door for guys like Seth Rogen and Adam Goldberg, David Wain, and others to do more over-the-top comedies at big studios, like This Is The End and Role Models. Sort of awesome, in my opinion. But funny in that Anchorman 2, a movie that its studio didn't even want to fund for many years, ended up becoming one of the most hyped and hotly-anticipated comedy sequels of all time. Weird, random humor becoming the norm? I'm okay with that.<br />
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So how is ANCHORMAN 2? It's funny - really funny. And it goes even bigger and broader than Part 1, with numerous bits that are very random and oddball and out there. The crack team of comic actors from Part 1 - Ferrell, Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, David Koechner, and Christina Applegate - are all back, and in fine form. And when you've got such a talented line-up of comedians, it's hard to go wrong. Carell, as loony weatherman Brick, gets a lot of big moments in this one, including a hilariously insane romance with an equally loony Kristin Wiig. Other notables joining the cast include Meagan Goode as Ron Bergundy's tough-customer new boss, and James Marsden as a slick rival reporter.<br />
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Interestingly, just as the first Anchorman tried to tell a story that was sort of socially relevant to its period setting (where Applegate's Veronica Corningstone caused upheaval at the local news station by being its first female anchor), so too does the sequel try to place Ron Bergundy and co. in the context of history. This time, it's 1980, and 24 hour cable news emerges as a competitor to the networks. After getting fired by his boss at the network - passed over for a promotion in favor of Veronica - a distraught Ron gets a second chance, when he's offered a shot at being a cable news anchor. Ron gets his old team back together, and they beat the odds and rack up ratings by inventing the sorts of schlock-tactic "news" coverage (car chases, for one) that is commonplace today.<br />
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Where ANCHORMAN 2 hurts itself is by trying to do too much at once. I feel like Ferrell and McKay are trying to have their cake and eat it too, by indulging in both a lot of media satire and social commentary-comedy, yet still taking extended side-trips into the wacky and absurd. We go from scenes that take not-so-subtle jabs at today's 24-hour news cycle, to scenes where Ron Burgundy nurses a wounded baby shark back to health and sings a song about it. There's interoffice rivalry with James Marsden's character, and romantic rivalry, with Veronica taking up with a new man (an on-point Greg Kinnear) following a falling-out with Ron, and Ron taking up with his new boss, Linda. The result is a long and at times rambling comedy that tries to do a LOT, without necessarily having a single through-line to tie it all together. By the time the movie ends, you start to wonder what the movie was actually *about* to begin with.<br />
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And that's not to say that it had to be about anything. But McKay and Ferrell, as mentioned, squeeze in a ton of plot. Not content to *just* be a riff on the modern era of news, this film packs everything and the kitchen sink into its two hour runtime. This means that when scenes don't elicit big laughs, they tend to really bomb, because they're often disconnected from the rest of the story. One example: when the movie plays the race card and has Ron attend an awkward dinner with Linda's African-American family, the jokes are more cringe-worthy than laugh-worthy. And the fact that the scene mostly bombs, combined with how tangential it is to the main plot, makes you wonder why it didn't get chopped in the editing room.<br />
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That said, when the jokes work, they often work big. From Carell and Wiig's oddball pairing, to a gang-fight scene that rivals the first movie's for sheer audacity and shock-value (and in terms of applause-worthy cameos), the movie gets more than enough belly laughs to make it a worthwhile watch. I'm a fan of the random stuff, so I didn't mind the film indulging in it. Honestly, I think Ferrell and McKay are funnier when they're going broad than when they try to do satire. And to that end, I have mixed feelings about, but ultimately support, the extended sequence in which Ron Bergundy goes blind, and becomes a lighthouse-dwelling hermit. On one hand, it comes so late in the movie that part of you thinks "really? they're doing this *now*?". And yet, the funniest moments of the whole film, I think, come as Ron struggles to adjust to being blind in the most hilariously misguided fashion imaginable. The whole thing comes off as an extended SNL sketch randomly thown into the middle of an Anchorman movie. And yet, it's hilarious, so it's hard to find fault. I guess you sort of wish Ferrell and McKay could just ditch narrative altogether and do a longform sketch film or something. As is, Anchorman 2 zips back and forth between its various plotlines and numerous divergent bits of randomness. So yes, there's a lot of funny packed in, but there's also a feeling that the movie is a bit overstuffed.<br />
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If you dug the first Anchorman, as I did, you can't go wrong in checking out its sequel. It's a funny flick, and I was laughing pretty consistently throughout. If there's to be a third though, I think that it'd wise to go back and re-tool the formula before things go too off the rails. I love seeing movies where it feels like people are getting away with something, but sometimes, more does not always equal better. One equation that does still very much hold up, however, is that Ferrell + McKay = funny. I'm glad that they are out there making weird $#%& like Anchorman.<br />
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My Grade: B+<br />
<br />Danny Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11154788596179153058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8891236.post-52302206438066817072013-12-26T11:45:00.000-08:002013-12-26T11:45:30.165-08:00HER is a Romantic-Comedy-Sci-Fi Stunner<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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HER Review:<br />
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- In the wrong hands, HER could very easily have been a major bust. The premise - in the near future, a lonely man falls in love with his computer's operating system - is both fascinating but also rife with potential to go very wrong, if not handled with care. That, I think, is what's so astonishing about Spike Jonze's film: he never goes where you think he's going to go, never takes the easy or obvious route, and crafts a funny, humanistic story that surprises with its nuance and intelligence. This is, quite simply, a masterfully done film - a surprisingly cerebral sci-fi film that's also a romantic comedy. What's more, HER is one of those rare films that manages to say something profound about the way we live our lives today, all while managing not to hit you over the head with its themes. Jonze seems less set on making a definitive statement about what's right or wrong with the film's unusual central relationship. Instead, he's interested in simply examining it - trying to figure out, in his own head, how this all works, and what that says about us in a world that is not all that far removed from the film's future. To go along with Jonze on that journey is to experience one of the great films of 2013.<br />
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HER is set in the not-too-distant future. Our protagonist is Theodore (<span class="itemprop" itemprop="name">Joaquin Phoenix). Theodore is a gifted writer, who works at a company that creates and sends faux hand-crafted love letters - a sort of novelty gift, like a more elaborate Hallmark greeting card. </span>Theodore's job is an odd one: he dictates meticulously-composed prose to create these highly-personal seeming letters, but the whole thing is a fiction, a rouse. The feeling of loneliness that such a job would seem to foster is doubly apparent with Theodore - he's recently split from his wife, Catherine (Rooney Mara), but still holds off on making the divorce official, unable to fully let go. Unable to shake thoughts of Catherine, he lives a mostly antisocial life, content to play videogames and stay in, reluctant to date or put himself out there. However, Theodore's life unexpectedly changes when, one day, he updates his computer operating system via a popular new OS update. It's a seemingly mundane thing, but Theodore quickly realizes that this new OS is something else, something unique. With an uncannily human-sounding female voice (Scarlett Johansson) - that speaks to Theodore through various devices and earpieces - the OS dubs itself Samantha, and begins a shockingly fast evolution from simple machine to complex being, capable of real emotion and feeling. At least, it seems real. As Theodore becomes closer and closer to Samantha - thinking of her, over time, as a person, a friend, a lover - he, and we, begin to wonder whether Samantha is truly, essentially, human ... or merely a very sophisticated simulation - a clever illusion designed to sucker in lonely guys like Theodore.<br />
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Jonze doesn't just present Samantha as a bit of magical movie-fantasy. To his credit, he really considers her evolution from all angles, and there's a surprising amount of science behind the fiction. What I found really fascinating was the idea that Theodore's relationship with Samantha wasn't unique - he's not just some nutty guy who falls in love with a computer. No, the movie's most brilliant twist might be that this new OS becomes a phenomena, and all over, people begin "dating" or befriending their OS's. And so, thanks to some very crafty plotting, HER becomes about more than just one man's eccentricities, but about something that affects everyone, alters the world at large. The movie morphs into a very eerily accurate extension of the way we live now - glued to our phones and tablets and increasingly shutting off the real world in favor of the digital one. Jonze builds this world so smartly and cleverly that you can't help but be enthralled. What's even better is that Theodore's relationship with Samantha is only the beginning, as Jonze isn't content to end things where you suspect they might end. No, Jonze keeps pushing the story and pushing the world of the movie to see how far he can take things, to what logical extensions of the plot he can get to. And man, that's fun to watch unfold. How rare is it in film to see things push past the usual third-act finale and go even deeper and farther? To me, part of what elevates HER to greatness is that it just keeps defying expectation. It left me constantly confused and delighted as to where it was going and how it would get there.<br />
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The other pretty incredible thing about this film is its triple-threat acting combo of <span class="itemprop" itemprop="name">Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johansson, and Amy Adams (who appears in a somewhat small but absolutely crucial role as Theodore's geeky friend and confidante Amy). </span><br />
<span class="itemprop" itemprop="name"><br />Phoenix has been on a tear of late. Even though I had some issues with The Master, I was floored by his work in it, and he's almost as good here. Phoenix plays the part of Theodore in a manner that feels completely raw and exposed. Theodore is sort of a sad sack in some ways, but he's also very human, very real-seeming, and very empathetic. What's remarkable is that Phoenix gives just the right mix of skepticism and wonderment with regards to Samantha. This is a guy who, on one level, is lonely and wounded and ripe to find solace in an artificial intelligence that essentially evolves to be his perfect (albeit non-corporeal) woman. But on another level, there is an awareness that what he's getting into is strange and in many ways unnatural. Phoenix's Theodore approaches his relationship with Samantha with a similar mix of optimism and doubt that we, today, might approach online dating or long-distance relationships. Phoenix sells it wholly and completely. </span><br />
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<span class="itemprop" itemprop="name">As for Johansson ... going in, I found it hard to believe that a performance as a disembodied voice could truly be Oscar-worthy. But - holy crap - this is an absolutely incredible, very much Oscar-worthy performance from ScarJo, even despite the fact that she never actually appears on screen in any way, shape, or form. She kills it as Samantha, believably evolving her digital persona from human-like to almost-fully-human in a way that's both remarkable and slightly scary. Again, it's amazing just how much we come to buy into the Theodore-Samantha relationship. What seems potentially silly on paper feels genuine, in large part because of how well Johansson makes us believe in this disembodied voice as a real being - not quite human, but naive and curious about the world in a way that's endearing, at times heartbreaking. Samantha's voice is the key to making this movie work, and Scarlett's performance is totally convincing.</span><br />
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Seeing Amy Adams in HER is sort of amazing if you've also recently seen her fantastic performance in American Hustle. There, she's a glamorous, scheming con-artist. Here, she's a mousy, slightly awkward videogame developer. Her character, Amy, is an old friend of Theodore's from college, and she's stuck in a relationship with a stuffy guy who doesn't take an interest in her creative ambitions. Amy - in her own way lonely and struggling - is a fascinating counterpoint to Theodore. I won't spoil the ways in which Amy's story ends up paralleling and intertwining with Theodore's, but again, Jonze never hits you over the head with obvious developments. The way that Adams makes Amy into this vulnerable, and again, all-too-human and relatable character is another reason why the movie succeeds beyond expectation.<br />
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There are some other excellent turns in the film. One standout is Rooney Mara, as Theodore's ex - a woman who Theodore remembers as happy and vibrant, but who, over time, grew colder and more distant. Another is Chris Pratt, as Theodore's jovial co-worker who is probably the movie's least-quirky character. Having a more alpha-male character like Pratt's around is another subtle stroke of genius. It gives us yet another perspective on how the wider world might view an OS like Samantha. In a lesser movie, Pratt would probably have just played the bully who beats up on Theodore. But his character here is actually Theodore's buddy, and their dynamic is a lot of fun.<br />
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HER blends humor, romance, and sci-fi more seamlessly than it's got any right to. There are a lot of really funny moments in the film, like the scenes where we check in on the motion-controlled videogame that sucks up Theodore's time, in which his avatar is led around by a foul-mouthed cartoon character. The movie is also, legitimately, one of the best romances I've seen on film. Like I said, there's a realness and rawness to the Theodore-Samantha relationship that you don't see captured on screen in most stories about two actual people. Finally, the world of this film is just so well thought-out, from fashions (high-waisted pants are in) to tech (pocket-watch style smart phones). I don't think HER was quite sold as a sci-fi film, but it really is. Shot in LA and Shanghai, Jonze creates a fascinating near-future cityscape that is, truly, a reflection of the world we live in now.<br />
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I've tried to be relatively careful with how I talk about this film, because there are so many great little moments that I didn't see coming, but that make for some excellent and thought-provoking post-movie discussion. HER is a film that hits your head and your heart. Its pacing is at times a bit methodical, but soon enough I was absorbed in its narrative, and just when I was sure I knew where and how it would end, a new twist came along that reshaped the whole film. What Jonze has accomplished here is right up there with his other great directorial efforts like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - like that one, this is a film that will provoke discussion for many years to come.<br />
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My Grade: ADanny Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11154788596179153058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8891236.post-85800630890240165732013-12-23T17:35:00.001-08:002013-12-29T11:51:28.493-08:00AMERICAN HUSTLE Captures The Spirit of '78<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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AMERICAN HUSTLE Review:<br />
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- David O. Russell's latest, AMERICAN HUSTLE, is a stylistic exercise in 70's-era excess - packed to the brim with big-name stars, over-the-top moments, and energy to spare. You might call it Scorsese lite. The film pays homage to the twisty, whip-crack narratives of films like Goodfellas and Casino, and borrows heavily from Scorsese's trademark crime-as-rock-n'-roll aesthetic. The "lite" part comes from American Hustle's relatively breezy plotline. Whereas Scorsese's crime films are about dangerous men doing dangerous things, Russell's movie is about con-men, poseurs, and wannabes trying to be something other than what they really are. So the "lite" label isn't a knock - instead, the jokiness and satirical nature of the film is intentional, a mirror of the characters, their rather absurd schemes, and of the era in which they lived. A flip disclaimer at the top of the film claims that it's only partially based on true events. As American Hustle progresses, you can see why: this is a film less about capturing the details of what really happened, and more about capturing the spirit of 1978 - in all of its gaudy glory.<br />
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The film follows small-time partners-in-crime Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) and Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) - two opportunistic con-artists who meet at a party, bond over a shared love of Duke Ellington, fall in love, and quickly go into business together - dealing forged art and handing out fake loans. The film opens with a painfully comic scene in which we see Irv put in place an absurdly elaborate comb-over, and from the get-go, it's clear that he is a man living out any number of lies upon lies. In fact, Irv's marital situation is revealed, at least at first, as merely a casual inconvenience. We soon find out though that Irv is married to a piece-of-work woman, Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence), and has a young son, which further complicates his relationship with Sydney. Sydney, meanwhile, has taken to using an English accent and telling prospective clients that she can get them a large and quick loan through banking connections in London. Soon enough, she all but completely hides her true self from others. Eventually, Irv and Sydney's scams attract the attention of an ambitious FBI agent, Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper). Rather than simply apprehend the pair, DiMaso has plans to use them to achieve a larger goal: utilizing Irv and Sydney's con-artist expertise, he plans to set up and entrap a number of high-profile politicians, convincing them to take political funds from disreputable sources, including the mob. One of the key targets: a well-meaning, much-loved politician - Mayor Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner), who Irv and Sydney must set up to take a big fall. This is all based on the real-life ABSCAM operation that was run by the FBI in the 70's.<br />
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Like I said, AMERICAN HUSTLE is populated by a total all-star cast, and just about every star shines brightly. My pick for MVP of the film is Christian Bale. His Irv feels like the most nuanced, well-rounded character in the movie - a guy who was taught from a young age to succeed at all costs. Irv is a walking contradiction: an outwardly smooth operator who bottles up stress to the point where he frequently collapses and needs emergency heart medication. He's madly in love with Sydney, but can't bring himself to run away with her, for fear of abandoning his son (he'd likely leave his unhinged wife without a second thought). Aside from the character work that Bale puts into Irv, the sheer physical transformation is pretty astonishing. Bale walks with a slight hunch and a hint of pain, he moves deliberately but confidently. He inhabits this character to the last detail.<br />
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Amy Adams is also pretty spectacular as Sydney (aside, even, from her rotating wardrobe of plunging-neckline dresses). It's incredible to me how versatile of an actress she is - she's played everything from Disney princesses to tough Boston broads to Lois Lane - but here, she again knocks it out of the park. Sydney parallels Irv in many ways. Outwardly, she's glamorous and sharp and magnetic. But beneath the surface is a troubled woman harboring a lot of sadness, rage, and a major identity crisis.<br />
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Bradley Cooper emerged as a legit actor in David O. Russell's last film, Silver Linings Playbook - and his hot streak continues here. Cooper is funny and semi-disturbing as DiMaso, who is prone to Pesci-like bouts of violent rage, and whose "good guy" status as an FBI agent is seriously compromised by his propensity for lying and manipulation. He plays DiMaso as a coked-up, hyperactive guy who is semi-blinded by ambition. Despite his denials, he clearly wants to be the guy to find and expose the next Watergate scandal.<br />
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As for Jennifer Lawrence, she's great as Rosalyn, although it's the one part that feels a little like stunt casting. Lawrence is capable of playing older than she is, but it still feels like this boozy, had-it-up-to-here housewife character was meant for an older actress. Even so, Lawrence turns in a typically fantastic performance, and she nails the kind of melodramatic, comedic tone needed to really sell the part.<br />
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The film is also littered with great supporting performances. Some of them are, I think, supposed to be a bit of a surprise, so I won't spoil them all here. But I will say that when you've got even minor roles in a film filled by great actors like Shea Wigham and Jack Huston of Boardwalk Empire, you know you've got a stacked cast.<br />
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What's interesting about the film is how lies bleed into truth and vice versa. Sydney's insistence that she cozy up to DiMaso to get a leg up on him becomes real-life mutual attraction. Irv's dealings with Polito form a genuine friendship between the two that makes Irv question his plans. And Rosalyn ends up getting mixed up in Irv's plans after she becomes a favorite of Polito and his wife. Through it all, Irv and Sydney get pulled apart, played against one another by DiMaso, and see a rift form between them. But they keep circling one another - and the movie posits that, perhaps, their relationship is the one real, true thing in this whole crazy mess.<br />
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AMERICAN HUSTLE suffers a bit from a problem that plagues too many films these days: it's too long. While I normally am a long-film apologist, this one definitely feels dragged out beyond what was needed to tell its story most effectively. Part of the problem is that the movie seems to stumble a bit, in general, to figure out what it's all about. There are some obvious overarching themes - some of which I've talked about above. But sometimes, the movie feels unpredictable in a way that's not necessarily good - meaning, there's a sense that Russell and co-writer Eric Singer are trying to figure out, as they go, where and how things end up for these characters. Whereas the Scorsese films that this emulates tend to play out like clockwork, American Hustle seems messier and less sure of itself. The emphasis is on the style (prepare to be wowed by a psychedelic disco scene) and the big, melodramatic moments. But the plotting ends up taking a back seat.<br />
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Still, as a style exercise, the film is second-to-none. And as I've insinuated, the movie's semi-hollowness is, in a strange way, keeping with its biggest theme. Just as DiMaso's entrapment plan is really a desperate career-advancement move disguised as a noble pursuit of justice, you might argue that AMERICAN HUSTLE is gaudy kitsch disguised as serious cinema. But hey, that's okay, because that's the point. That may, ultimately, prevent this film from being held up alongside the Scorsese classics it's being compared to. But it does not, certainly, prevent it from being one of the most dazzlingly entertaining films of the year.<br />
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My Grade: A-Danny Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11154788596179153058noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8891236.post-16211748062360809432013-12-23T14:08:00.002-08:002013-12-23T22:49:13.723-08:00THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG - An Action-Packed Return to Middle Earth<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG Review:<br />
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- The first HOBBIT film had its share of haters, but when I reviewed it last year I just couldn't bring myself to jump aboard the "I hate Hobbit" bandwagon. The facts are these: a.) no, The Hobbit was not quite on par with Peter Jackson's three Lord of the Rings films, b.) there was a sense that not only was Jackson a bit rusty when it came to crafting tales of Middle Earth, but that he was indulging some of his worst tendencies (overly-long narratives, overreliance on CGI wizardry) at the expense of the good, old-fashioned epic filmmaking that made LOTR great, and c.) these problems were further compounded by the rather unpleasant experience of seeing the movie in 48 frames-per-second, which gave the whole thing an overly-slick, overly-fake visual quality. But STILL ... with all that said, there was that magic in The Hobbit that was there, also, in LOTR. It was there in when the dwarves sang their Misty Mountain song, it was there when Gandalf reassured Bilbo that he could be of value to the group, and it was there when Bilbo encountered Golem for some long-anticipated Riddles in the Dark. You can't wholly quantify that magic, and to me the fact that it was still there in The Hobbit made it a movie that, despite its flaws, was still something special. Now, with the second Hobbit film, The Desolation of Smaug, I'm happy to say that those magical moments come faster and more frequently that in the first film. There's a sure-handedness to Jackson's direction that wasn't always there in Part 1. And there's a feeling that this, again, is something special. Yes, there are flaws. But I still came away with a feeling that these are the movies that Peter Jackson was born to make, and a Jackson-directed film set in Middle Earth is still one of the best things going in the modern era of movies.<br />
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The Desolation of Smaug picks up soon after the end of The Hobbit. Thanks to his ring of power, Bilbo Baggins is now more confident, and has become a more valued member of the group - comprised of himself, Gandalf, and a dozen or so dwarves - led by the increasingly driven Thorin Oakenshield. Thorin is more determined than ever to reclaim his people's now-abandoned homeland. In his way, however, are bands of roving orcs - including their leader (and Thorin's nemesis) Azog. The orcs - gaining numbers thanks to the increasing power and influence of their enigmatic leader (the Necromancer, aka the-once-and-future Sauron) - are an ever-present threat. But Bilbo and company also come across giant spiders, unstable shape-shifters, and not-so-friendly elves on their journey. It is the elves who sort of open up the movie and begin to expand its scope even further. Orlando Bloom's Legolas, of LOTR fame, re-emerges as a major player, along with Evangeline Lily's Tauriel.<br />
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Tauriel is a new, made-for-the-movies character who I have to say, is pretty great. She adds a great, kick-ass female character to what was a completely male-dominated storyline. And she adds an element of romance - as part of a quasi-love triangle with Legolas and dwarf Kili. I can see why some might be wary of this, but I've got to admit that the relationship between Kili and Tauriel actually ended up being one of my favorite parts of the film. There's some great, epic-romance dialogue between them that calls to mind some of the best scenes between Aragorn and Arwen in LOTR. And as for Lily, man, it's about time that she got to play a big blockbuster role like this one. She not only meets expectations as Tauriel, but far exceeds them. I mean, look, the woman was born to play a badass elf. I've also got to think that this will open the door for Lily to take on more high-profile action roles, because she effortlessly makes Tauriel into a strong, intriguing, and pretty-damn-badass character ... that I think even hardcore Tolkien devotees will warm to.<br />
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Overall, this film just seems to handle its characters better than in the first. Some of the dwarves still blend together a bit - but, in addition to Kili's role as love-struck rebel, there are several other standouts. Ken Stott's Balin, for example, really solidifies himself as the heart and soul of the group here, laying claim to numerous memorable moments as the group's elder statesman. And Thorin seems like a better-defined character here - showing shades of LOTR's Boromir - with his resolve to achieve victory slightly corrupting his sense of morality. Because of the film's expanded scope, Bilbo inevitably takes a backseat at times. But I wasn't too distressed about it, as Bilbo is still front and center for the film's biggest moments - including his fairly epic, climactic confrontation with the dragon Smaug. Martin Freeman seems a little more at home as gaining-confidence Bilbo (as opposed to the first film's more whimpering version), and he is, again, really really good in the role.<br />
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Sir Ian McKellan as Gandalf ... I've said a lot about this role and this actor over the years, but the guy is phenomenal and a cinematic treasure. I feel like Gandalf needs special mention here because he's got so many fantastic scenes in this film. Here's the thing: I totally get the complaint that some of Gandalf's side stories in this one may seem to some a bit extraneous and tacked on. And yet, how can you not love them? In The Desolation of Smaug, Peter Jackson gives us some of the coolest-ever Gandalf scenes. Namely, the imagery and epicness that we get during Gandalf's infiltration of the Necromancer's fortress is just off-the-charts. Nothing brings a smile to my face when Jackson gives us larger-than-life imagery that feels right out of a storybook painting ... and Gandalf fending off an orc horde on the crumbling stone walkways of Dol Guldur is exactly that.<br />
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Despite those storybook-like moments, I think that Jackson, overall, does a better job in this film of blending over-the-top action with more grounded moments. Visually, the orcs and other creatures look better than in Part 1. In the first film, Azog and his cohorts looked straight out of a Playstation game. Here, there seems to be a better mix of CG characters with practical FX and old-fashioned costuming and make-up. So, for example, when the elves hold a captive orc at knifepoint and interrogate him, in a crucial scene, it feels more real, more substantial, than most of what we got in the first film. Azog in particular still seems too videogame-ish and unreal for my tastes, but overall, it seems like Jackson better uses the various artistic tools at his disposal this time around.<br />
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Interestingly, the movie takes on a much grittier, more intimate feel when we get to Laketown. Laketown is where much of the action of the film's final third is set, and suddenly, the movie's focus shifts from elves and orcs to very human political drama. It's sort of interesting to see the introduction of Luke Evan's Bard - a smuggler who rebels against Laketown's corrupt and oppressive ruler. Bard brings a similar sort of brooding nobility to the story as Aragorn did in LOTR. But Jackson sets up an interesting juxtaposition of this sleepy, human fishing village that is suddenly beset by the problems of the larger, wider world - even as its own people's rebellion catches fire. Fans of Tolkien's The Hobbit (myself included) may find it a bit odd to have so much of a Hobbit film taken up by this darker, less fantastical Laketown section. But I did find that Laketown helps to give some nice context to all of the more out-there and magical elements of this world - sort of like Rohan did in LOTR. There aren't just dwarves, elves, and wizards who are in danger from Smaug, but also these more regular, everyday sorts of people. There are enough loose ends in Laketown where it and its people still seem only half-explored, but I still found the tonal shift it brings to the table to be welcome and surprising.<br />
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Overall though, I'd still categorize these Hobbit films as lighter, more over-the-top, and more storybook-like than their LOTR predecessors. That is most evident, perhaps, in the movie's big action scenes. And let me say: The Desolation of Smaug has one of the great over-the-top action scenes we've yet seen in a blockbuster film. This is what I will call "the barrel sequence." While some may criticize the barrel sequence as being *too* cartoonish, too silly, too much, I can only say that I found it to be completely enthralling and joyful - along the lines of the best Spielbergian set-piece action sequences to ever grace the screen. Jackson has always had that Spielbergian influence in his action (perhaps even more evident in King Kong than in LOTR), but the barrel sequence is full-on Spielberg - a rip-roaring rollercoaster ride of an action scene that is exciting, hilarious, surprising, and just flat-out amazing on both a creative and technical level. To me, LOTR was an epic, and The Hobbit is an adventure. There's a difference. And I think that difference opens things up for Jackson to be a little more playful with the action here. In LOTR, the barrel sequence may have been too much, and not keeping with the tone of the films. But here, in my view, it works - and works wonderfully, at that.<br />
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The barrel sequence is perhaps the set-piece highlight of the movie, but other scenes show off Jackson's horror-movie chops to great effect. I talked about Gandalf's sequences at Dol Guldur, which definitely have a creepy, creature-feature vibe at times. But the most horror-ish sequence in the film has got to be the spider-attack. The spider sequence is done fantastically, with a mind-melting combo of action, horror, and humor that is vintage Jackson. It's a great character moment, as Bilbo plays the hero and saves his friends with the help of his ring. But it's also an expertly-staged, awesomely-visualized bit of action that is breathtaking to watch unfold.<br />
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There are any number of great little bits in The Desolation of Smaug that work brilliantly. John Bell's shapeshifting Bain is a fun, menacing character - and he has some fantastic dialogue after letting the dwarves take refuge in his remote home. Stephen Fry is excellent, of course, as the slimy Master of Laketown. I do wish that his character got a little more fleshing out, but he does a great job with what's there. Elf king Thranduil is another character whose screentime is relatively brief, but who makes a strong impression thanks to actor Lee Pace. And then there's Smaug, who is voiced so well and so menacingly by Benedict Cumberbatch that it's hard to now imagine anyone else playing the part.<br />
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By the way, the music here continues to be top-notch - with Howard Shore's score an ear-pleasing mix of old and new themes. I really liked the Laketown theme, and think it's up there with previous LOTR classics. The one glaring omission to me was the lack of a reprise of the Misty Mountain song when the dwarves finally arrive at their long-sought after destination.<br />
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The film does, again, get a bit draggy in parts. Part of me does still, inevitably wonder if we needed three films to tell this story, and if all of the setup of LOTR was really necessary. But this is what Jackson and team decided on, and it helps that the additional material he's added or elaborated on has been, mostly, pretty cool. In any case, there's less here that feels tangential than in the first film. The story flows more organically, and there's more a sense of it all building towards something. One other complaint though: Jackson seems to develop an unwelcome habit of occasionally, almost compulsively cutting from the action right before a key beat. The timing of the editing, at times, seems a little off - and once in a while (as with an abrupt cut during a key moment between Kili and Tauriel), it's even a bit jarring.<br />
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But mostly, Jackson seems to more fully find his footing than in the first film. His direction seems more confident, more free. And there is a narrative momentum here that wasn't there in The Hobbit. When The Hobbit ended, there was not that old LOTR feeling of "must see the next one ... right now!" But here, I think Jackson recaptured that. Despite the long running time, I was ready for Part 3 immediately, and so too was the majority of the audience in the theater. Jackson tantalizingly, teasingly ends this one on one hell of a cliffhanger - prompting one young boy in our audience to cry out "aww, come on!" as the credits rolled. And you've got to love that. I don't know that this prequel trilogy will ever be held in the same esteem as the original Lord of the Rings movies, but I do feel that Jackson got some of his mojo back for Part 2, and is poised to deliver a fairly epic Part 3. So yes, there are things about The Desolation of Smaug that bother me. But when a movie is so exciting, so full of magic, that you forget about those flaws and just get caught up in this world and this journey - well, that's something special, and rare in the world of blockbuster filmmaking.<br />
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My Grade: A-Danny Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11154788596179153058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8891236.post-44818266001038945922013-12-23T12:11:00.001-08:002013-12-23T22:55:23.983-08:00OUT OF THE FURNACE Is Badass, Almost-Great <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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OUT OF THE FURNACE Review:<br />
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- I was quite impressed with director Scott Cooper's first film, Crazy Heart. Not only did that film get the deserving Jeff Bridges his first Oscar, but it also signaled the arrival of a potentially great new director in Cooper. Now, Cooper's second film, OUT OF THE FURNACE has arrived after a lengthy wait, and again, Cooper emphasizes atmosphere. OUT OF THE FURNACE is a film that positively radiates a dingy, blue-collar, steel-town vibe. It's appropriate, since the film is, on one level, a gritty crime-caper. But on another level, it's an American tale about a community that's come upon hard times, and the extremes to which they have to go to scrape by. The movie looks amazing, and it's got an all-star cast that's almost unbelievably stacked with big names. I think it's got all the ingredients for greatness, but it falls just short due to a plot that feels a little directionless at times. Still, the sheer thrill of seeing a dream-team of badasses like Christian Bale, Forest Whitaker, Willem Dafoe, Woody Harrelson, and Sam Shepard go at it (plus a spark-plug performance from Casey Affleck), makes this well worth checking out.<br />
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The film is the story of a Rust Belt community that has fallen on hard times. It's also the story of two brothers, Russell (Bale) and Rodney (Affleck), each in very different places. Russell, the older brother, works in a steel mill, a tough, dangerous, and low-paying job that is, nonetheless, an honest day's work - something that Russell takes pride in. Rodney is a recently-returned-from-active-duty veteran, and he's struggling to re-acclimate to civilian life. Instead of taking a job at the mill with his brother, he's fallen in with a small-time crime kingpin, John Petty (Dafoe), who runs a gambling ring centered around underground fighting matches. Rodney, likely suffering from some serious PTSD, seems compelled to be a part of the fights and essentially get beat up (often taking dives) for money. However, Rodney starts getting in way over his head when Petty hooks him up with a psycho drug-dealer named Harlan (Harrelson), who also runs his own fighting circuit. Meanwhile, Russell, normally the more level-headed of the brothers, ends up in jail after a drunk-driving incident. He emerges to find his brother missing - gone off to work for Harlan and never heard from again. And so, Russell, despite repeated warnings from an overly-cautious sheriff (Whitaker), goes off on a shotgun-toting mission to find and save his baby brother.<br />
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If that sounds like one hell of a badass premise for a movie ... well, it is. The issue is just that the movie sets all of this up in a somewhat meandering, roundabout manner. It takes a long time to get to the point where Affleck and Harrelson finally meet, and that means that the film's final act feels a little rushed and underwhelming - lacking that big, final, exclamation point that I was hoping for.<br />
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That said though - there really are some phenomenal moments that are part of the movie's slow-but-steady build-up to it's endgame. The combination of gritty, well-drawn characters and all-star actors is a potent one. In fact, the film's opening scene - showing just how mean and nasty Harrelson's Harlan is - is a jaw-dropper. Harrelson has played his share of scary mother$%^#'ers, but this is right up there as one of his meanest, scariest, most unhinged roles to date. Similarly jaw-dropping are the first few big scenes for Casey Affleck's Rodney. Affleck gives us a hell of a performance in this one - he really drives home the fact that this guy - who is still outwardly a quiet, unassuming kid - now has a monster inside of him, and has demons that he can't fully control. Bale is quietly badass and intense, and there's also an interesting (though sort of left-field) love triangle with him, Zoe Saldana, and Whitaker (she leaves Bale for Whitaker after he's arrested). Whitaker, who seems to oddly be doing a riff on Bale's Batman voice as the gruff sheriff, is also quite good, while Saldana doesn't get a ton to do. Dafoe is strange, because he walks the line here of doing full-on "insane Willem Dafoe" in this film, which is always entertaining, but doesn't fully match the tone that Cooper is going for. But hey, if one character in the film was just going to be weird as hell, it might as well be the slick small-town crime boss who runs an illegal fight-club gambling operation. Oh, I've also got to mention Sam Shepard as Bale and Affleck's super-badass old uncle. As you might expect, he pretty much rules it for every moment he's on screen (and what a year he's had, between this and Mud).<br />
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Cooper makes all of the drama and grit extremely operatic and absorbing. There's a hard-boiled, grimy tone to the film that reminded me of a feature-length episode of Justified - and that's not at all a bad thing. Still, despite how much works here, there does seem to be a slight contrast between the film's sprawling, semi-epic plotline and it's tone. It feels like there's a more streamlined, more ultimately satisfying version of this movie somewhere beneath, that ends up being weighted down by a lot of extra padding. Cooper ends up stuffing a sprawling family drama on top of a gritty revenge flick, and the result is a movie that doesn't quite nail either as effectively as it might have.<br />
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OUT OF THE FURNACE remains, however, a dark, violent, immensely entertaining film, that looks great and has one of the best and most badass casts of any movie this year. Bale, Affleck, and Harrelson in particular bring their A-games, and Cooper shows that he is still very much a director to watch.<br />
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My Grade: B+<br />
<br />Danny Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11154788596179153058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8891236.post-55642362970558568462013-12-16T01:21:00.000-08:002013-12-16T10:51:48.880-08:00INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS Is Cinematic Music and Top-Tier Coen Bros.<br />
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INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS Review:<br />
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- A new Coen Bros. film is, for me, a true movie event. The Coens have made several of my all-time favorite movies, and even their lesser films are more interesting than most filmmaker's best. What's fascinating about the Coens is that, while there are certain themes and signatures that crop up in all of their films, their works are each incredibly unique - covering an wide variety of genres and tones. But no matter the genre, and no matter if the film is a drama, a comedy, or some hybrid of the two, what you can always count on is a brilliant script, mesmerizing and atmosphere-soaked direction, and a thematic sophistication that invites discussion and individual interpretation. INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS is no exception. It's a challenging movie. It's got a lot of dark humor, but it's also not as overtly comedic as The Big Lebowski or Burn After Reading. And there's a real element of nightmarish, existential dread to the film - but it's a much lighter and more humanistic film than, say, No Country For Old Men. What Coen Bros. film is it closest to? I'd say that the closest comparison is, perhaps, A Serious Man - a movie that also mixed black humor with a slightly surrealistic feeling of foreboding. That said, LLEWYN is its own beast - a unique an hard-to-categorize entry in the Coen Bros. cannon that's funny, sad, thought-provoking, and, on top of all that ... it's a musical (sort of). What can certainly be said, however, is that film fans need to rush out and watch this immediately.<br />
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INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS takes place in Greenwich Village, in 1961, set amidst a folk scene that was changing and dying and on the verge of rebirth thanks to a new wave of musicians led by Dylan. Other filmmakers may have simply chosen to dramatize the story of Bob Dylan, but the Coens, as always, like to focus in on those on the fringes. To that end, this is the story not of a great folk-music hero, but of a would-be star who could never quite get his break. That guy is Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac), and when we meet him, he's jumping from couch-to-couch, living off scraps and the kindness of strangers. Llewyn was once part of a folk duo, but his partner died - killed himself - and ever since, Llewyn's been struggling to leave his past behind, and carve his own path as a solo artist. He plays gig after gig at the same assortment of dingy music clubs, rubbing shoulders with a rotating cast of fellow troubadors. Some seek to make it big, some are content living the bohemian life. Some, like Lllewyn, hope for a break, but also pridefully refuse to sell out. How to do both? There may not, in actuality, be a way. And so Llewyn finds himself in an endless causality loop - two steps forward, two steps back - living a lifestyle that's both self-defeating and yet one comprised of patterns that Lllewyn can't seem to break.<br />
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What's so brilliant about the film is how its very structure loops around and circles back in a way that parallels Llewyn's day-to-day existence. We are led to imagine that Lllewyn and his late partner were, perhaps, on a path to commercial and artistic success. But ever since his partner died, Llewyn seems trapped in an inescapable downward spiral. It's all sort of encapsulated by his couch-jumping: he goes from friend to friend, always assuring them that his stay will only be temporary. And yet, there's a permanence to Llewyn's life - a sense of him being doomed, and damned, to simply repeat the same mistakes over and over - just as sure as a few months after having left someone's apartment, he'll inevitably return when he's exhausted his list of couches and starts the rotation anew.<br />
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The film shows various forces pushing and pulling at Llewyn, and him pushing back. But always, inevitably, he finds himself back where he started. When Llewyn's friend Jean (Carey Mulligan) reveals that she's pregnant (possibly with his child), Llewyn immediately starts talking about her having an abortion. When Llewyn gets the opportunity to record an infectiously-catchy novelty song with his friend Jim (Justin Timberlake), he hastily asks for his check without bothering to sign a contract to receive royalties. And when Llewyn decides to journey to Chicago to track down a record company exec who'd been sent his demo, well, it seems to be the hardest that Llewyn has ever pushed against the universe to alter his fate - but again, inevitably, the universe pushes back.<br />
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And so it is that INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS is much more than just a story about a folk musician. It's a story that's packed with larger themes and big questions about life, the universe, and everything. The Coens often seem to enjoy playing the part of cruel gods with their characters, and as they did to their protagonist in A Serious Man, they seem to relish putting Llewyn through the ringer to see what happens. Indeed, there's a very noir-ish bent to the film, in which Llewyn constantly seems to be at the mercy of the cruel hand of fate. And there's a lot of interesting use of recurring imagery and symbols that provide a lot of fodder for post-viewing discussion. Again, if you go in thinking this is *just* a story about folk music, prepare to get more than you bargained for.<br />
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At the same time, this is one hell of a movie about folk music. The Coens expertly capture the mood and ambiance of 1960's New York - dim, dingy, cold, and claustrophobic - and they also capture the folk scene of that time, and pepper the movie with several fantastic musical moments. What's so impressive is that each musical number in the movie tells a story when you read between the lines. Whether it's Llewyn's soulful demo of his song before the record-label exec in Chicago, or the cheesy yet undeniably catchy collaboration between Llewyn and Jim on peppy pop song "Please Mr. Kennedy," (which remained in my head for days), each song gives us insight into Llewyn's headspace.The music, in and of itself, is incredibly well-done and impeccably performed. But what makes it so special is how it's used - as part of this profile of a guy trying to navigate between art and commerce and past and future. Every moment, every song, feels integral to the larger whole.<br />
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The cast is exceptional. Oscar Isaac is a guy who's deserved the spotlight for a long time - he impressed me with his villainous turns in films like Robin Hood and Sucker Punch, but this is, hopefully, a true breakout role for him. As Llewyn Davis, Isaac is sort of a jerk. And yet, there's a haunting sadness and soulfulness behind the snarky veneer that makes you pull for the guy. Isaac also pulls off the film's musical numbers to perfection - an impressive feat given how crucial it is to the movie that the music come off as genuine and genuinely good. Cary Mulligan is also a standout - her exasperated, on-edge portrayal of Jean is funny and forceful. John Goodman, well, he and the Coens always work magic together, and this film is no exception. Goodman's character, a beat-up jazz musician named Roland Turner, is awesome. Self-styled like some sort of huckster pimp, Turner is a cautionary tale about the toll of a long life lived on the road as a career musician. Turner is accompanied by his enigmatic valet, Johnny Five, played as a Marlboro Man-esque man-of-few-words by Garrett Hedlund. Goodman and Hedlund enter the film as part of an extended stretch in which the movie morphs into a surrealistic road-trip - as Llewyn hitches a ride to Chicago with the odd-couple pair and drives straight into the abyss. The tonal shift is a little jarring, but it's classic Coens. It's through this segment of the film that we come to realize the larger themes of the movie - where all the ideas about looping spirals, repeated patterns, and about being trapped in a strange sort of artist's purgatory finally come into full view.<br />
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The movie goes to some dark places, but it's also, at times, hilarious. I was cracking up with laughter during Llewyn's scenes with his ancient manager Mel, and during his strange back-and-forth dialogues with Goodman's Turner, and at many other moments throughout the film. Life as a strange, dark comedy is one of the Coen's pet themes, and they mine humor from the darkest and weirdest of moments. It's like what the Stranger says in The Big Lebowski: <span class="st">"I guess that's the way the whole durned human comedy keeps perpetuatin' itself." </span><br />
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<span class="st">It's funny though, because INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS does have a stronger emotional undercurrent than most Coen Bros. films. The sadness of Llewyn resonates - and we're constantly reminded of the emotional toll that the death of his old partner still takes on him. And so it is slightly difficult to stomach when the Coens don't ultimately give us the catharsis or resolution that we want. Perhaps no surprise to those who've seen the unconventional endings of A Serious Man or No Country For Old Men, but still, if Inside Llewyn Davis has a flaw, it may be that the Coens veer too much, at times, between sincerity and aloofness. They tease us with moments that seem to be building towards send-'em-home-happy payoff, but ultimately, it's clear that that's not what they had in mind for this film.</span><br />
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<span class="st">So what is the point? Some may ask this as the credits roll. And it's a valid question. There's a lot to ponder about this movie, and as always, it's sometimes hard to know what, precisely, the Coens are getting at with the more esoteric aspects of the film (a lot of people, myself included, will likely long be wondering what, exactly, the recurring character of the stray cat means/symbolizes/represents in this movie). But the Coens are smart - brilliant, even - and I think it's all there on the screen, and it's all there in a way that gives me confidence in their ability to tell this type of story that's rich in meaning and subtext. INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS is filled with great performances, best-in-class direction, and on top of all that, numerous, superbly-done musical performances. But this film is more than just the surface elements - it's two master filmmakers giving us yet another deep thought - a meditation on life's great and small cosmic jokes. The film's greatest piece of music is the film itself.</span><br />
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<span class="st">My Grade: A-</span><br />
<br />Danny Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11154788596179153058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8891236.post-31982717790806324502013-12-12T00:38:00.002-08:002013-12-12T00:38:38.599-08:00FROZEN Is Very-Nearly Magical<br />
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FROZEN Review:<br />
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- There's so much to like about Disney's latest animated musical. It has all the trappings of vintage Disney animation, but the characters and story feel fresh and modern. The music is mostly fantastic, and from a visual perspective, the look and feel of the film is positively stunning. This is very nearly a new Disney classic. What's frustrating about Frozen is that it's got all the ingredients to be a home run, but it just misses the mark due to an overall feeling of incompleteness. The movie is packed with fantastic moments, but as a whole, it feels loosely-sketched. Still, Frozen's high points make it a must-see for animation fans young and old. And at it's best, the film summons that old-school Disney magic in a way that reminds you of what put Disney animation on the map in the first place.<br />
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I give Frozen credit for giving us a different sort of story than we're used to in a Disney fairy tale. This is a tale of two sisters - two very strong, well-developed female characters who have full-fledged personalities independent of any star-crossed romances. In a year when there's been a lot of talk about movies failing the so-called Bechdel Test, Frozen passes with flying colors. In princesses Elsa and Anna, Frozen presents two iconic-yet-relatable characters who both radiate personality. Elsa (voiced by Idina Menzel) is the eldest of the two sisters - she was born with magical powers, able to create ice and snow from her hands. But those powers made her a danger, since she could not fully control them. After accidentally injuring her younger sister, Elsa is isolated by her parents - the king and queen of an ice-covered kingdom - and kept away from her sister, and from the rest of the world. Years later, when Elsa comes of age, it's her time to be anointed as Queen - she finally emerges from her isolation and nervously presents herself to her very curious subjects. Over the years, she's become a mystery and object of fascination. However, during the coronation festivities, Elsa's powers go haywire, and the people deem her a monster and a freak. Elsa retreats to an ice-palace far away in the mountains, and blankets the kingdom in a deep, unnatural freeze. It's up to Elsa's plucky sister Anna (voiced by Kristen Bell) to find the Snow Queen and convince her to come home. Anna, too, spent years isolated from the rest of the kingdom. But while Elsa locked herself away with a grim and steadfast determination, Anna yearned to go outside and explore and interact with others (shades of Tangled). Now, Anna is out in the big wide world, on her first adventure, on a quest to find her sister.<br />
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Anna, really, is the star here. Kristen Bell makes her utterly likable - funny, brave, determined, dorky, and just a bit naive about the way the world works. Bell's singing is wonderful, but her overall performance is even more winning. This is probably the best the fan-favorite actress has been since her Veronica Mars heyday, and a reminder of just how talented Bell really is. What's more, the heart and soul of the film is likely Anna's relationship with rough-and-tumble Kristoff (Jonathan Groff). It's a relationship that works so well in part because, like I said, neither character seems defined by it. We spend a lot of time with Anna before she even meets Kristoff, and even then, there's nothing star-crossed about them. Just as Anna is an atypical Disney princess, Kristoff is an atypical Disney male lead. He's shaggy, schlubby, and occasionally prickly. That's what makes the song "Fixer Upper" a true highlight of the movie - it dresses down these characters to make them seem less like fairy-tale heroes and more like just a couple of crazy kids who might just have a certain spark between them, flaws and all. And yet, that ordinariness makes their eventual acts of heroism that much more resonant. Rarely have Disney characters had this much real-feeling personality.<br />
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Elsa, however, is much more of an enigma. And it's with Elsa that the movie seems unsure of what story, exactly, it wants to tell. Elsa's story starts as a familiar one for those who have watched any number of superhero movies in recent years: a child finds out that they're different, a "freak", because they have some sort of strange power, and hides away, keeping their ability a secret - until they eventually learn to control, master, and embrace it. It's a story we've seen before, but also one that is an undeniably effective storytelling device - a perfect metaphor for real issues of identity, individuality, and coming-of-age. And when Elsa does have her big moment where she embraces her true nature - singing the defiantly powerful "Let It Go" as she goes all glam-rock amidst her newly-erected ice-fortress - it's a transcendent moment - absolutely an instant classic and a defining moment for Disney in the modern era. But after the high of "Let It Go," the movie disappointingly seems to drop the ball on Elsa. She is finally comfortable with who she is, and yet ... she remains isolated in her remote palace, and seems to increasingly grow colder and less human. In a weird way, "Let It Go" is both the film's hero song and its villain song. The movie can't seem to decide which Elsa is. We barely get into Elsa's headspace after that moment. But we do see her attack her own sister via a hulking Abominable Snowman construct, and then mortally wound her sister with her powers.<br />
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Elsa is a fascinating character because of how completely she breaks the mold for a Disney animated film. But she's also a problematic character because the movie gives her this tragic - but ultimately inspirational - origin story, only to make her less and less sympathetic as the movie progresses. Instead, our attention increasingly turns to girl-next-door Anna and her sweetly-scripted relationship with Kristoff. All the while, I kept waiting for some kind of twist to occur with Elsa. Would the movie go full-villain with her, and make her into the film's true antagonist? Or would it be revealed that she was being manipulated by some as-yet-unrevealed uber-villain, whispering in her ear and making her turn against her sister? Ultimately, Elsa gets exactly one half of a great story. Frustrating, because the build-up through "Let It Go" is so incredibly well-done.<br />
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Frozen, therefore, ends up conspicuously lacking a great villain. Sure, there's some sleazy scheming from deceptively charming nobleman Hans. And there's some politically-motivated skulduggery from weaselly Duke of Weselton (voiced amusingly by Alan Tudyk). But the movie has no equivalent of an Ursula, or Jafar. Hans is sort of like a wannabe Gaston, I guess. But as a character, he's a bit flimsy and unmemorable. And his true motivations are revealed so late in the film that it all feels a bit rushed. In general, the movie seems to have a number of things mysteriously missing. We get hints of an intriguing origin for Kristoff - raised by Trolls, away from other people - but we never get the full story. Olaf - the wacky Snowman who becomes Anna's companion - is interesting, and thankfully non-annoying, but it feels like a major story beat between him and Elsa is missing from the movie. It definitely feels like we're getting a chopped-up version of what was once a longer and more complete (and presumably more satisfying) story.<br />
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Back to Olaf for a second. As voiced by Josh Gad, he's a funny and fun comedy-relief character. I will say though - Olaf's big song, "In Summer," is a bit weak, in my opinion. Definitely not a classic on the level of other Disney-musical "fun" songs like Hakuna Matata or Under the Sea.<br />
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The music as a whole though is quite good. The high points are really, really good, with the standouts being the aforementioned "Fixer Upper" and "Let It Go." I'm also partial to the mood-setting opening number "Frozen Heart," which has a folk-chant ominous quality that reminded me a bit of The Little Mermaid's "Fathoms Below."<br />
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And visually, it can't be understated just how eye-popping the animation is in Frozen. The majestically ice and snow-covered landscapes give the film a dark-fantasy fairy-tale look that I really dug. And when the movie cranks up its visual fireworks - like during the "Let It Go" number - it really becomes total eye-candy. I also continue to be blown away by just how expressive Disney's CGI characters are these days. Similar to Tangled, Frozen's characters are slick, ultra-fluid computer-animated figures that nonetheless have facial animation deliberately designed to evoke the kind of expressive hand-drawn animation of the older Disney classics. It really does feel like an evolution of the old Disney style. Overall, Frozen's visuals are truly epic - some of the best yet in an animated CGI film.<br />
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Frozen feels like only 3/4 of a classic, but I think that fans will really embrace it despite its faults. For one thing, there's the stunning animation. For another, there's the strong female characters and progressive-seeming storyline - big picture, Frozen rather brilliantly combines classic fairy-tale trappings with very modern themes and characters. On top of that, while the music isn't as consistently great as in some of Disney's best, the movie's best songs are undeniably fantastic, catchy, and bound to be beloved by kids and adults alike. Frozen's complex themes have and will provide a lot of interesting discussion fodder, but I'm also not sure if the movie will hold up as an all-time Disney classic. There's just a lack of coherency to the plot, and a feeling that the movie isn't quite sure what to do with its theoretical lead character, Elsa. For that reason, the movie's lasting impression is that of a film with a handful of magical moments, but one whose parts are stronger than its whole.<br />
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My Grade: B+<br />
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<br />Danny Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11154788596179153058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8891236.post-6469317940686957552013-12-11T22:22:00.001-08:002013-12-11T22:22:27.450-08:00HOMEFRONT Is a Strange Brew<br />
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HOMEFRONT Review:<br />
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- HOMEFRONT isn't amazing, but it is pretty damn entertaining, in a vintage B-movie sort of way. The script was written years ago by none other than Sylvester Stallone, and originally he was set to star in the film. And in many ways, this feels like a vintage 1980's-era action flick, with Stallone's particular sensibilities very much retained in this updated take. But instead of Stallone, Homefront stars his Expendables brother-in-arms, Jason Statham. Meanwhile, James Franco, in what has to be one of the oddest hero/villain pairings in quite some time, plays a sleazy small-time drug dealer who runs afoul of Statham's ex-undercover DEA agent. There's not much nuance to this story, but there's a pleasingly simple, down n' dirty southern-gothic-noir vibe to the whole thing (the Louisiana setting doesn't hurt). If you're down for a 70's/80's-style B-movie that makes up for a flimsy script with a serious vibe of badassery, you could do worse.<br />
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In HOMEFRONT, Statham plays Phil Broker, a guy who once lived on the edge doing undercover work for the DEA, but who now lives a quiet and unassuming life with his young daughter, Maddy, under a new name and identity. As the movie shows in flashback, Broker spent years posing as a member of the Outcasts biker gang (yep), only to get serious heat on himself when he finally pulled the trigger and helped the DEA take down the gang, which ran a high-level drug trade. Not only was Broker exposed as a traitor to the Outcasts, but he became their sworn enemy when the gang-leader's son was killed in the crossfire during the DEA raid. Around that same time, Broker's wife died, leaving him alone with Maddy. The two assume new ID's and move to his wife's hometown in Louisiana, where Broker takes a construction job and tries to live a quiet, small-town life. However, trouble finds him when he runs afoul of local drug dealer Gator (James Franco). Gator stumbles upon Broker's true identity, and sells him out to the Outcasts. Soon enough, the trouble that Broker had hoped wouldn't find him again descends on him with a vengeance.<br />
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The movie follows a predictable arc of "just when I thought I was out ...", but it doesn't overplay that hand and become self-parody. What impressed me about HOMEFRONT was that the film maintained a dark, atmospheric, pulpy tone throughout. Statham is, mostly, in "real actor" mode here, which helps. That said, the movie does have a select few interludes where it becomes pure Statham-style action. These action scenes are fun, but there's a little bit of disconnect between their high-octane style and the rest of the film's lower-key aesthetic. That aesthetic seems more in line with director Gary Fleder's usual style, and Fleder seems to embrace the film's grittier aspects. Fleder helps keep the movie relatively grounded, and seems to reign in the action so that it's never too over-the-top (with perhaps one or two lapses).<br />
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As for Franco, he's good as Gator, delving into the same white-trash vicinity as his celebrated character Alien from this year's Spring Breakers. Franco doesn't take Gator to quite the same iconic heights as Alien, but he still adds some spark to the film and does well as a small-timer who gets in over his head. The real scene-stealer of the movie though is, believe it or not, Kate Bosworth. Playing Gator's trailer-trash, drug-addicted sister, Bosworth turns in a gloriously unhinged performance that I didn't know she had in her. Meanwhile, a few welcome faces turn up in supporting roles: Clancy Brown as a crooked sheriff, Winona Ryder as Gator's street-smart girlfriend, and Frank Grillo as the intimidating heavy of the Outcast gang. I'll also mention that child actor Izabela Vidovic is quite good as Statham's daughter. She really sells her big scenes, and helps us invest in Broker and his quest to shield his daughter from harm.<br />
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Where does HOMEFRONT falter? I think it loses its way in a couple of respects. One is simply that the plotting is only so-so. I like the premise and initial plot set-up, and I like the notion of this small-time drug-dealer exposing Statham's ID and unleashing an angry gang onto this small backwoods town. But the way the movie plays out, it never feels like it's fully taking advantage of its premise's potential for drama. I felt like Broker's transition from unassuming small-town dad to pissed-off ass-kicker on a mission just sort of happens, and it's never quite properly built up to in a satisfying manner. Especially as compared to action movies like Taken, that do a great job of creating that build-up to their heroes going full-badass. I suppose the larger problem here is a movie that is a bit at odds with itself. Is it a Taken-style action flick? A gritty crime noir? Fleder obviously favors the latter, but there are lots of teases of the former. And the movie rarely meshes both in a way that works (unlike, say, this year's Mud, which mixed genres in unexpected and thrilling ways). In any case, an example of this is that on one level, the movie seems to be building towards an epic shoot 'em up climax, but said all-hell-breaks-loose finale never quite comes. From a tonal perspective, I see where that makes sense. From a plot perspective, you feel a bit shortchanged. So again, the two seem at odds.<br />
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The other way in which the movie goes a bit off the rails is, hate to say it, the script. Again, it may be a matter of Stallone's unsubtle style clashing just a bit with a director who likes to go the more subtle route. I mean, how subtle can your movie be when it opens on a gang of 80's hair-metal rejects called "The Outcasts" as the main antagonists? To that end, you sort of wonder if this movie would be better served were it trying to be less No Country For Old Men and more Cobra. In a way, it's fun to see the sorta-weird mash-up of Stallone and Fleder and Statham come together. On the other hand, the end result is a movie that feels a bit schizophrenic.<br />
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Still, there is a definite pleasure in HOMEFRONT's B-movie oddness. It's fun to see all the elements of 80's-style cheese and Statham-style hyper-action pop up amidst Fleder's attempt to make something a little more sober and soulful. And there's a madcap sense of fun in seeing Jason Statham, James Franco, Frank Grillo, Kate Bosworth, Winona Ryder, and Clancy Brown mix it up - an eclectic cast if ever there was one. Perhaps not a must-see, but if you're a certain brand of film-fan, you'll definitely want to give this a look.<br />
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My Grade: BDanny Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11154788596179153058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8891236.post-33524824301759915102013-11-27T14:34:00.002-08:002013-11-27T14:51:26.659-08:00THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE Is Bigger, Better, But Still Lacking Some Spark<br />
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THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE Review:<br />
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- There's a lot to like about THE HUNGER GAMES. Unlike some of its teen-lit inspired peers, this is a franchise that has a beating heart beneath its attractive leads and soap opera love triangles. This is a franchise that actually has an interesting sci-fi narrative, and that isn't afraid to mix in some legitimate social commentary between all the teen drama. On top of that, this is a franchise that has perhaps the single best young actress working today as its lead, and it can't be understated just how much star Jennifer Lawrence brings to these films, and how she shapes Katniss into a true female-empowerment icon, a direct middle finger to all those who say a female action hero can't carry a major Hollywood franchise. Lawrence, with her top-notch action chops, carries the weight of Catching Fire on her shoulders, although here the burden is slightly less than in the first film. Now, she's helped by great new cast additions like Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, and Jena Malone.<br />
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Still, as much as I want to get fully onboard the Hunger Games bandwagon, I just can't fully commit. Why? Because the movies have yet to be great. Lawrence alone gets them halfway there, and Catching Fire director Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend) brings some visual wow-factor to the table that wasn't present previously. A beefed-up supporting cast also helps this sequel feel like a notch above the first film. But a couple of problems prevent Catching Fire from being, in and of itself, an A-level movie.<br />
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One major issue: adaptation-itis. Yep, you heard me. This is yet another book-to-screen translation that feels jumpy, incomplete, and hyper-compressed. The hyper-compression factor is lessened by the fact that actors like Malone and Wright are able to do so much with such relatively miniscule screentime - making their characters feel fully realized by sheer presence and force of will. But what suffers is that, even as the movie seems to want to go big, to show us the larger effect that the Games are having on this world ... it still feels like a very narrowly-focused story, to the detriment of the narrative. THE HUNGER GAMES is all about Katniss' experience in the games - about a teen girl thrust into this kill-or-be-killed gladiatorial scenario. But CATCHING FIRE is about the aftermath - the seeds of revolution being planted. It's about, in theory, Katniss no longer being just a reactive contestant, but a proactive revolutionary. Cool? Yeah, very cool. But between the poorly thought-out plans of President Snow (Donald Sutherland) - whose schemes to make Katniss a symbol of the government's might seem doomed from the start - and the lack of visibility we get into the reactions of the average person-on-the-street in Pan Em, it feels like we're missing something here.<br />
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I'll first touch on the scheming that takes place between Snow and his new gamesmaster, Plutarch Heavensbee (Seymour Hoffman). They plan to create a sort of all-star version of The Hunger Games that would see still-alive past winners of the games compete in yet another every-man-for-himself (and every-woman-for-herself) deathmatch. This is the catalyst that forces Katniss and Peeta back into the fray, cutting short their extended good-will tour after the previous year's Games. While touring the various Districts, the two had to pose as a couple to match the expectations of Snow, and of the adoring populace - who sees them as symbols of a coming revolution. Even though Katniss and Peeta play their roles well, and don't do or say anything too incendiary, they still manage to show glimmers of rebellion, and also don't necessarily do anything to discourage the growing cult of personality developing around them. But here's where things get a little nonsensical ... basically, the movie makes Snow seem like a total moron. First, he keeps Katniss and Peeta in the public eye despite being revolutionary symbols. Then he and Plutarch plan to distract from the politics around the two by making them into tabloid celebrities, using their mouthpiece, talk show host Ceaser Flickerman (Stanley Tucci), to distract the populace. But then, Snow agrees to cut his own plan short in order to go ahead with the all-star Hunger Games, essentially condemning the world's two most popular celebrities to death, in addition to dozens of other past winners who were nearly as beloved. And the point of this is ... what, exactly? Yes, Snow wants to squash the hope of the people and show his strength ... but throwing Katniss and Peeta into another battle royale feels pretty half-baked. And you have to wonder - why doesn't every character follow the example of punk-rock Games entrant Johanna Mason and use the forum of Ceaser's talk show to give a hearty "f-you!" to Snow and his government? <br />
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And that leads me the second point, which is that it feels like we're watching all of this in a vacuum. The first part of the film does a nice job of showing us the rank-and-file residents of Pan Em, and their hopeful reactions towards the touring Katniss and Peeta. But once the Games start, we go dark. To be honest, I wasn't even sure if citizens were watching / were able to watch or follow the Games via Ceaser's show. The movie never really tells us. So all the build-up that's in the first half of the film - about the peoples' march towards revolution, is completely left by the wayside in the second hour.<br />
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As for the Games themselves, they are much more visually exciting this go-round, thanks to Francis Lawrence's more dynamic direction. But the fundamental problem is the same as in Part 1 - the way the Games play out lack the kind of tension and moral ambiguity that a battle-to-the-death should have. The whole point of these Games is to force the combatants to shed humanity and morality and kill in order to survive. But Katniss, and Peeta, and every other "good" character in the film never really does anything objectionable. In Part 1, okay, love conquers all. But the way the Games play out here, it might as well just be Team Good vs. Team Evil. I feel like the real truth at the heart of these Games - that ultimately, in theory at least, someone is going to have to murder many innocent people in order to win - is always sort of avoided. It's like the movie is hiding its own premise in the name of being a blockbuster-movie-for-the-masses.<br />
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All that being said, CATCHING FIRE is still a very entertaining yarn that hits the big, dramatic beats with much more aplomb than its predecessor. Katniss gets to be the badass action hero here thanks to some applause-worthy scenes, where Frances Lawrence really depicts her as a fully-formed action hero. A training sequence that shows off her archery skills against an onslaught of virtual opponents is one of the movie's best scenes. Later, Jennifer Lawrence gets a big hero moment, as she brings the Games to a climactic finish with a desperate arrow-to-the-sky moment that left my theater clapping hysterically. Basically, Lawrence makes this film feel much more effortlessly big and epic than the first. The Districts feel more populated, the sets feel bigger and better, and the stakes, also, feel much more elevated. Even though I complained about the movie often feeling like its story plays out in a vacuum, there's still a pervading sense of bigness to it all (or maybe it's partially just the knowledge that events here will segue directly into a presumably even *more* epic Part 3).<br />
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Again, Jennifer Lawrence is the anchor. The movie isn't Oscar caliber, but her acting is. She sells every moment to perfection, brilliantly depicting the horror and the agony of being forced back into these Games - and she transitions seamlessly from drama to action to romance to levity. Speaking of romance, this is where the movie does fall into some of the same traps as Part 1. Peeta is a little more tolerable here than before, and Josh Hutcherson does a decent job of making him seem a little more worthy of Katniss' affections. But he's still sort of a boring/bland character. Worse is Liam Hemsworth's Gale - devoid of much in the way of personality, he's a forgettable character seemingly only in the picture to give the story its requisite love-triangle.<br />
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But like I said, CATCHING FIRE is pretty stacked with talent, new and old. Jena Malone, as mentioned, is a huge highlight. Her character lends the movie a much-needed dosage of attitude, and the character's gritty, semi-nihilistic nature is a welcome change of pace (and seemingly, much more fitting to the story's violent premise) than the other more cartoonish goofballs who populate Pan Em. Jeffrey Wright is another guy who's always fantastic, and I liked the idea of his character, Beetee (for the love of god, is there any franchise out there with *worse* character names?!), lame name and all, as a man of science who thrives in the games via elaborately-constructed traps. Finally, Phillip Seymour Hoffman is a guy whose mere presence lends gravitas to a film, and he makes Plutarch into probably a way better character than he's got any right to be. The movie doesn't give us much to go on in terms of what makes Plutarch tick, but it's okay, because Hoffman is good enough to fill in the gaps with his acting. Sam Claflin also makes a strong impression as a Games entrant who has more to him than meets the eye. Claflin is an MVP of many of the film's big set-piece action scenes, and is another welcome addition.<br />
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On the action scenes, Francis Lawrence directs some pretty intense sequences - a few in the Districts before the Games begin, and several that are part of the Games themselves. Highlights include killer mist and rabid killer monkeys (that's right) - each a suitably scary threat, and each useful as a way to distinguish these Games from the previous film's. <br />
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CATCHING FIRE, on its own, is entertaining and action-packed. And the talent behind and in front of the camera is (mostly) good enough to elevate the material. But these movies are still just a bit frustrating, because they feel like they approach greatness, but don't quite knock it out of the park. The Hunger Games has a great, iconic hero in Katniss, and a strong central premise. But the details don't feel properly filled-in or thought out, and there's still too much that feels sandwiched into the story so as to properly conform to teen-lit convention (what, really, does Gale add to the story, for example?). CATCHING FIRE touches on some really cool big-ideas, the stuff of great speculative and science-fiction, the kind of stuff that comments and satirizes our own society. And there are glimpses of that social satire here that are actually pretty great (at the giant pre-Games feast in the Capitol, the elite down a drink that causes one to expunge the food in their system, thus allowing them to indulge in even more food - even as people just outside are starving). Perhaps what I'm getting at is that all of the movie's really cool, challenging, or even subversive impulses seem to get drowned out by the need to be a billion-dollar PG blockbuster. There's a dark heart at the core of THE HUNGER GAMES, but these movies seem unwilling or afraid to really go to that place, to go all the way. Maybe some of that is just lost in translation from the books, maybe some is just inevitable in the world of big-budget movies. But there's also a certain irony here. After all, isn't it the film's sinister President Snow who tries to distract the populace from the real issues via soap-opera romance and celebrity tabloid gossip? By this same token, CATCHING FIRE at times seems too distracted to fully explore the real-deal issues at its core.<br />
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My Grade: BDanny Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11154788596179153058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8891236.post-67903199702771660462013-11-18T14:06:00.001-08:002013-11-18T15:01:33.153-08:00NEBRASKA Is A Sad, Sweet, Hilarious Triumph<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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NEBRASKA Review:<br />
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- NEBRASKA takes a while to fully envelop you, but man, by the movie's end, I was all in. Alexander Payne's latest directorial effort, from a script by Bob Nelson, is, perhaps, Payne's best film yet. Shot in mood-setting black and white, Nebraska is a deeply funny, deeply affecting film that is absolutely packed with stunning, career-best performances. What's more, there's an authentic humanity to this film that has, at times, been elusive in Payne's work. On more than one occasion, Payne's films have had, for me, an unsympathetic quality - a feeling that there's a disconnect between what the movies want us to feel about its characters, versus what we actually do. But NEBRASKA is a perfect blend of Coen Bros.-style surrealistic humor with genuine-but-understated sentimentality that, yes, left me a bit misty-eyed as the credits began to roll. I can't help but feel that this will go down as one of the all-time classic movies about fathers-and-sons, and family, and the passing of the torch from one generation to another. In short, I completely loved this movie.<br />
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Bruce Dern, at 77, gives the performance of a lifetime as Woody Grant. Woody is an old, addled, cranky drunk. We can assume that he's always been an ornery sort, but that soft-spoken gruffness is only accentuated by old age. Woody is now hard of hearing, slow to react, has to be helped up stairs, and is not quite all there mentally. But if nothing else, he remains a stubborn bastard. And so, when he receives a standard-issue letter in the mail, one of those "you've been selected for a million-dollar prize" letters sent out as a way to sell magazine subscriptions, Woody gets it in his head that he's actually won a million dollars, and refuses to believe otherwise. Woody wants to go to Lincoln, Nebraska (nearby to the old farming town that he lived in for much of his life) to claim his cash, but he can't drive, and his wife Kate (June Squibb) won't take him. And so, Woody repeatedly sets out to walk his way from his home in Montana to Nebraska, only to be stopped by concerned cops and even more concerned family members. His older son Ross (Bob Odenkirk) thinks these walking trips are a sign that it's finally time to put his dad in a nursing home. But Woody's younger son, David (Will Forte) - dissatisfied with his job and frustrated after a break-up with his longtime girlfriend - sees a trip to Nebraska as a way to appease his dad's stubborn insistence that he's won a million dollars, and as a way to spend some time with his often-distant old man.<br />
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So David and Woody set out for Nebraska on a a trip that includes detours to lonely bars, hospital rooms, and an extended stop in Woody's old neighborhood - where he and David are joined by Kate and Ross for an impromptu family reunion. Hilarity - and tension - ensues, as family members bring up old debts in an attempt to squeeze Woody for a share of his winnings (everyone in the town believes - or wants to believe - that Woody's million-dollar win is legit, with David and Ross' denials interpreted as an attempt to cover up their newly-acquired riches). The biggest bottom-feeder, however, isn't a member of Woody's family but his old business partner, Ed Pegram (Stacy Keach), who gets pretty aggressive about shaking down Woody and his family for what he believes is payment owed.<br />
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The hilarity and poignancy of NEBRASKA is how Woody's immediate family rallies together around its patriarch. At the start of the film, Woody's wife and sons are just about at their wits' ends with him, but they're forced to stand up for him when all the vultures (misguided though they may be about his finances) come to scavenge. But what makes it all hit home is how we discover this whole life that Woody lived - a life that included friends and family, love and death, rivals and wrongdoings, hurt and heartbreak - that David knew little of from his man-of-few-words father. Inadvertently, the trip to Nebraska causes the whole of Woody's previously hidden life story to unfold and unravel before his son's eyes.<br />
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And Bruce Dern, like I said, is phenomenal. There is absolutely no ego in his turn as Woody - he plays him as a man whose thoughts are muddled, but who clings to his few remaining goals with the ferocity of a person who realizes he's nearing the end of the road. Dern brilliantly uses Woody's mental fog to both hilarious comic effect (some of his delayed reactions are priceless), and to make us feel for Woody and his determination to see his quest through to its bitter end. Wispy-haired and glassy-eyed, there's an honesty and rawness to Dern's performance that is incredible. This is awards-worthy stuff, no doubt.<br />
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I have to say though, my favorite performance in the film might actually be June Squibb as Woody's long-suffering bulldog of a wife, Kate. As spare as Woody is with his words, Kate is never lacking for something to say. She nags, no question, but she's also as fiercely stubborn as Woody is, in her own way, and also fiercely protective of her family. Squibb is so good as Kate - she is the heart and soul of the film, because Kate is the character who's had to stand by Woody for all his faults. She gives him a hard time, but is also his most loyal defender. Kate is sassy, sharp, and doesn't take crap from anyone. And Squibb is both tears-streaming-from-the-face hilarious, and also has the movie's biggest moments that will make you flat-out lose it, because she's so real and honest and devoted. I'll be honest, I couldn't help but think of my own grandma as I watched Squibb defiantly tell off anyone who disparaged her husband. If anyone was entitled to disparage him, it would be her. But anyone else? Watch out.<br />
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Will Forte is the actor who will be lauded for his breakthrough performance here. He's fantastic, so the kudos are well-deserved. I guess I'm just not that surprised that he knocks it out of the park. To me, Forte has always been one of those guys who created his comedy characters from a real and at-times dark place, and who was capable of doing more subtle and offbeat humor, when not making us laugh with his more over-the-top characters (and hey, even his comedic performance in MacGruber is sort of brilliant in its own way). Suffice it to say, Forte is great as David. David is the quiet son who was everyone's favorite as a kid, but who now finds himself grown and lacking direction, adrift. You get the sense that David still lives in the shadow of his dad, and part of the theme of NEBRASKA is David learning to be his own man - to toughen up, to stand up for himself.<br />
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There are a number of other great performances in the film, but I'll mention Bob Odenkirk as Ross - the more-accomplished of the two brothers, who works as a local news anchor. Odenkirk is always great, and he's great again here. He and Forte have a great brotherly chemistry, and Odenkirk's city-slicker edge helps provide a nice contrast to the myriad of farmers and country folk we see throughout the film. I've also got to give a shout-out to the great Stacy Keach, who is one of my favorite actors, and who is a lot of fun here as the smarmy, slightly-sinister Ed Pegram. You can't ask for a better antagonist than Keach, and his heated moments with Forte are priceless.<br />
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Now, about all those farmers and country folk. Some seem to be scolding Payne for looking down at the Nebraskans who populate the film. I don't think that's warranted. Payne looks upon these small-town Americans with a bit of a satirical eye, sure, but there's also genuine affection in his portrayal. Some of the characters (particularly Woody's extended family) are sort of cartoonish, but that's par for the course, and in keeping with the film's left-of-center, quirky tone. Mostly, I'd compare the way that Payne looks at the characters that populate his film to the way the Coens crafted the world of Fargo. Yes, the local color is at times played for comedy. But it's also used to great effect to create a sense of place, and to paint a picture of a particular slice of American life. There's satire here, but there's also deep admiration.<br />
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With NEBRASKA, Payne mixes the dry wit, smart satire, and understated minimalism of the Coens with an emotional undercurrent that is hard to deny, even as it sneaks up on you slowly but surely as the movie progresses. The movie plays out like a great folk song - sad, funny, and wise - gaining power from its truisms. Dern, Squibb, and Forte are all Oscar-worthy. Payne's direction has never been more sure or more confident - this, so far, is his masterpiece. And so, in what's shaping up to be a banner year for movies, NEBRASKA is an absolute can't-miss.<br />
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My Grade: A<br />
<br />Danny Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11154788596179153058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8891236.post-64832045106794297402013-11-14T19:58:00.000-08:002013-11-14T19:58:15.203-08:00THOR: THE DARK WORLD Is Cosmic Craziness That Ushers In Marvel's "Phase 2" Era<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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THOR: THE DARK WORLD Review:<br />
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- And now we get to the fun part. I mean, let's face it, we all love superheroes, but I could live without another origin story anytime soon. Especially when said origins tend to be told in such a by-the-book, cut-and-paste manner on the big-screen. But man, Marvel seems to have a lot of ambition these days. They've moved firmly into "Phase 2" of their Marvel Cinematic Universe plan, and they are going boldly into the fringes and not looking back. THOR: THE DARK WORLD has a lot of the familiar elements that have made Marvel movies so popular and accessible: the light and bouncy tone, the mix of epic action with liberal doses of humor, the blending of fantastic fantasy with street-level authenticity. In short, the Marvel movies are emulating the formula that made Marvel comics so successful back in their Stan Lee-written heyday. But now, we're getting to the Jack Kirby of it all. The larger-than-life stuff, the cosmic stuff, the flat-out weird stuff. The kind of stuff that, until now, has still largely been confined to the pages of comic books - a format blissfully unconstrained by budgetary concerns and delightfully conducive to the sorts of mind-melting ideas that emanated from the mind of Kirby, Jim Starlin, Walt Simonson, and the other iconic writer/artists who made superhero comics into cosmic space-opera on an epic scale. So yes, THOR: THE DARK WORLD has quippy dialogue, inventive action, and a much better-developed romance between its leads than we got in Part 1. But I have to confess, what endeared it to me so much was that, above all else, it seemed to be about big and weird and cosmic ideas in a way that most live-action superhero movies have not yet dared to approach.<br />
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All that said, I don't want to act like this movie is the second coming of superhero movies. It's still got a couple of issues that, ultimately, keep it a step behind the best Marvel movies like The Avengers and (in my opinion) Captain America. But before I dive into what doesn't work, let me talk about what does ...<br />
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First and foremost - Chris Hemsworth. Before the first Thor was released, I think I and many others wondered how the character could translate to screen without seeming like a big, goofy joke. I think about 80% of the answer to that question lies with Hemsworth. He pretty much is Thor, and not only that, but he's slowly but surely been developing as an actor (case in point: his excellent turn in this year's Ron Howard film, Rush). His Thor is larger-than-life and Olympian, but also believably human. And he glides rather effortlessly between charged-up superhero action, Shakespearean melodrama, self-deprecating comedy, and more earthbound romance.<br />
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Not far behind Hemsworth in the "Franchise MVP" category is Tom Hiddleston as Loki. You couldn't have THOR without Hemsworth, but THOR would be a lot less awesome without Hiddleston, who simply kills it in this sequel. If anything, you're left wishing that the movie didn't take so long to get Loki involved in the story. Here's the thing about Hiddleston - Marvel movies, and superhero movies in general - have had their share of stars-playing-villains who still, at the end of the day, felt like movie stars playing comic book villains. Hiddleston, to an even greater extent than Hemsworth, pretty much IS Loki in these films, and that full-scale transformation is even more pronounced here than in Part 1. The guy seethes with such otherworldly villainy that he alone helps you buy into THE DARK WORLD's general cosmic craziness. Hiddleston sells it because he's so darn believable as Loki that he, in turn, lends a credibility by osmosis to all of the other gods and monsters in the film. I never would have expected this, but Thor vs. Loki is now the best hero/villain rivalry in the entire Marvel MCU.<br />
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Overall, I think THE DARK WORLD makes better use of its supporting cast than the first film did. Natalie Portman gets a larger and more filled-out role here as Jane Foster. She's much more pivotal to the story than before, and her rleationship with Thor is less the annoying schoolgirl crush of Part 1, and more of a genuine-seeming affection that puts her on more equal footing with the God of Thunder. Sir Anthony Hopkins is once again a lot of fun as Odin, and Rene Russo actually gets some substantive (and, surprisingly kick-ass) moments as Thor's mom Frigga. Meanwhile, Jamie Alexander makes the most of warrior-woman Sif's limited dialogue - in only a few key scenes, she establishes an "it's complicated" status with Thor that lends the character an air of tragic bad-romance. And as for everyone's favorite broke girl, Kat Dennings - she seems less annoying and more funny than in the first movie, working well as genuine comic relief. Stellan Skarsgård is also quite funny this go-round as nutty professor Erik. While it's a shame he doesn't get more dramatic moments (given the actor's chops) it's still fun to see him rant and rave like a crazy person and share a great moment with Stan Lee (appearing in his now-customary cameo, True Believers). Finally, I'll mention the great Idris Elba as Heimdall. It seems odd to have such a fantastic actor in such a minor role, but hey, Elba makes Heimdell super badass in his brief appearances.<br />
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One note on Portman though. Look, I'm a huge fan - she kills it in movies like Black Swan and is a top-notch actress. But one thing about Portman ... I just don't know if she's at her best in these types of comic-booky roles. Her default mode of acting is super-serious and intense. That works well in a dark drama like Black Swan, or even in a comedy that makes fun of her seriousness, like Your Highness. But she doesn't necessarily nail the sort of slightly self-aware quippiness needed to knock it out of the park in a Marvel movie like Thor. And so, as in the first film (and as in other pulpy sci-fi fare like Star Wars), she feels a bit wooden here. Like I said, Jane Foster is written better and has more to do than in Part 1. But if I had to point to one actor who just feels a bit out-of-place amid the epic comic book hamminess of Hemsworth, Hiddleston, Hopkins, etc., it'd be her.<br />
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So Portman's Jane Foster is sort of a mixed bag, but overall, it does feel like this movie is much more chock full of substantial female characters than the previous film, and as compared to most Marvel movies. Less substantial, however, is the movie's big bad - the dark elf (yes, you heard me) named Malekith, played by Christopher Eccleston (unrecognizable behind transformative makeup/costuming). Malekith is a visually-cool villain - a monstrous, otherdimensional creature who leads an army of raygun-wielding evil warriors that look like Kirby drawings come to life. Awesome in concept, for sure. But the problem with Malekith is that he's just sort of there. We know that his realm was destroyed thanks to a magical MacGuffin known as the Aether, and that he now seeks to reclaim the Aether and use it to cause major destruction (to further complicate things, the Aether has been absorbed into Jane's body, making her invulnerable, but also slowly killing her). The thing with Malekith is that all he really needs is an extra scene or two to really sell his appetite for cosmic destruction. And I've heard that these scenes may exist, but were cut for time - in which case I'd be very eager to see them as originally shot. Because, hey, sometimes having an evil dark elf who just wants to %$&@ $%&# up is fine ... 'nuff said (to quote Stan The Man). But just a little something to make this dude pop as a character would have gone a long way.<br />
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Luckily, there's more than enough conflict and intrigue between Thor and Loki - who must forge an uneasy alliance to take on Malekith - to make up for Malekith's lack of personality. Hemsworth and Hiddleston are the engine that makes the movie go, and, by having him in the background for much of the film, THE DARK WORLD builds him up into that much of a greater (and cooler) potential threat.<br />
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Where THOR gets sloppy is in its plotting. There are a metric ton of cool ideas in this movie, but a lot of it feels sort of fast and loose. I talked about Malekith being sort of a nebulous character, and about the Aether being your typical sci-fi movie MacGuffin. But there are lots of other things that stand out as feeling not-fully-thought-out. One example I'll toss out there: the use of Loki's (admittedly cool) illusion-creating powers. While this ability leads to some cool moments, it also feels overused - to the point where something happens, and then you immediately expect it to be revealed as an illusion. Another example is a cliffhanger-y element of the ending that is sorta cool, yet also feels like a bit of a cheat. Who knows if and when the how's and why's of the reveal will be explained, but I was left with a bit of a feeling of the movie not quite playing fair with us. Overall, THE DARK WORLD packs in so many characters and plot points that it's no wonder it elicits the occasional "huh?". The fast pace is a blessing and a curse - giving the film a sugar-rush sensibility, but also a feeling of giving potentially great moments and scenes short shrift.<br />
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At times though, there were moments that truly wowed me. A viking-like Asgardian funeral scene - rife with eye-popping imagery and looking like a fantasy painting brought to life - may actually be my favorite scene of the film. Conversely, the final battle between Thor and Malekith's forces is pretty imaginative - with Portal-esque location-warping hurtling Thor and his adversary from place to place in a flurry of action-packed, dizzying jumps. Director Alan Taylor does a great job with the action, infusing the CGI f/x-fests with a degree of old-school fantasy feel, with moments that evoke the iconography of classic 80's fantasy films. Whereas the first film sometimes felt flat visually, this one has much more comic book grandeur, and the fantasy worlds of Asgard, etc. seem full of life and fully-realized.<br />
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The movie perhaps feels a little more disjointed than it should thanks to some oddly-placed post-credits scenes, with one in particular feeling like it should have simply been the last few minutes of the movie. But the other post-credits scene - a prelude to Guardians of the Galaxy, of sorts - left me giddy from its sheer cosmic weirdness. This scene helped reinforce the sentiment I expressed at the beginning of the review - that Marvel's "Phase 2" was ushering in an era of full-on Kirby comic-book weirdness, an era in which the kinds of things that fans thought they'd never see outside of the comics are actually materializing on screen. Now, I don't just say that from the fanboy perspective of "look, an obscure character from the comics is appearing!" I'm not even enough of a Marvel geek to be able to say that credibly. But I do say it from the perspective of a fan who's been growing weary with superhero films - adapted from stories that tend towards the weird and out-there - becoming increasingly cookie-cutter and generic and bland. What I love about these stories is the imagination, the weirdness, the colorfulness, the subversiveness, and the idea that anything can happen. For Lee, Kirby, Shooter, Simonson, and the like - there were never any limits. The universe itself was the canvass. And to see these movies get to that point, embracing all this stuff (I'm still traumatized from the second Fantastic Four movie's "cloud" Galactus) ... it's incredibly cool.<br />
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So yeah, THOR: THE DARK WORLD's got flaws, and it feels overstuffed at times, and its main villain is undercooked. But its got an infectious sense of fun that won me over. The more I thought about it, the more I liked it, flaws and all. If this is the beginning of the new anything-goes, post-Avengers era of Marvel movies, then hell, alls I can say is "excelsior."<br />
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My Grade: B+Danny Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11154788596179153058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8891236.post-19424174961037201452013-11-13T13:53:00.001-08:002013-11-13T13:53:10.797-08:00ENDER'S GAME Is Entertaining But Bland Sci-Fi<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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ENDER'S GAME Review:<br />
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- Somehow, Ender's Game (the book) was something of a cultural blind spot for me. I'm not sure how or why, but I knew of it only by reputation before going into the movie adaptation. I'm always a little weary of movies like this suffering from compression problems that seem to so often go hand-in-hand with the adaptation process. And I think ENDER'S GAME does indeed suffer from the sort of jumpiness and rushed-feeling narrative that can plague this sort of endeavor. Overall, I found this to be a decently enjoyable film - and in some ways, it's an interesting departure from the kind of story that is typical of a big Hollywood franchise-starter type movie. But at the end of the day, the movie never 100% sold me on its basic premise, never fully made me buy into its world. And for sci-fi, that is an issue.<br />
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ENDER'S GAME tells the story of Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), an outwardly meek but inwardly strong young boy who - in a world that is picking itself up and putting itself back together after a devastating alien invasion - is part of a corps of child-soldiers being trained to decimate earth's enemies. It's believed that only children possess the mental dexterity and intuition to properly wage the space battles of the future. However, not just anyone makes the final cut to actually become an active soldier. Children in the program are put through a rigorous series of tests and challenges (including being separated into teams that compete in various competitions), and only a select few make it past the various stages of training. From the start, the Big Brother-like leaders of the International Army have their eye on Ender. One, Colonel Graff (Harrison Ford) believes Ender to be a messianic figure who will lead the army's fight against the bug-like alien Formecs. And so, the seemingly unassuming Ender moves up from rank to rank - leading his own team, gaining respect, and displaying an increasing amount of cold calculation, tough-but-fair leadership, and knack for military-style strategy on the simulated battlefield. Intrigue also begins to build around the true nature of the war between humans and Formecs, and the real agenda of Graff and his cohorts.<br />
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Before I get to Asa Butterfield, I'll say that one of the clear and geek-out worthy highlights of ENDER'S GAME is the fact that it's got a very game, very engaged-seeming Harrison Ford in one of the lead roles. It's a lot of fun to see Ford in this sort of sci-fi story again, and this is easily one of his more memorable performances in years. We're not talking Oscar-caliber or anything - this is sort of Ford doing the classic Ford gruff-but-lovable thing, at times in semi-cartoonish fashion. But it's a fun performance, and a lot of the movie's best moments arrive when Ford brings the gravitas. One other guy who I'll sort of lump in with Ford in the awesome category is Nonso Anozie, who you will probably recognize from Game of Thrones. Anozie plays one of Graff's top lieutenants, sort of the drill sergeant for Ender and the other kids. And he pretty much rules it, stealing many scenes as a badass hiding a heart of gold.<br />
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As for Butterfield, he's pretty good as Ender, but not mind-blowingly good. Some of that can probably be blamed on the script - Butterfield, as Ender, is forced to make a lot of character leaps that feel like a stretch. The jumpiness of the script demands that Ender evolve from quiet loner to charismatic leader of men in what feels like a very abbreviated timeframe. What Butterfield does bring to Ender is a slightly American Psycho-esque feeling of possible evil intent lurking beneath. I don't know if that's in the book at all, but Butterfield does a nice job of making you wonder if Ender is one of those "could save us all, could destroy us all" types. I suspect Butterfield has got the chops to make a great Ender, but it may be that the script is asking too much of him and sort of undermining his performance with its leaps.<br />
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Moises Arias is an actor who got on my radar this past summer with his scene-stealing comedic turn in The Kings of Summer. Here, he's the Biff to Ender's Marty McFly, the somewhat cartoonishly vile rival kid-soldier named Bonzo. I have mixed feelings about Bonzo in the movie. I like Arias a lot, but his presence sort of reinforces the movie's slightly silly nature. Arias makes Bonzo a memorable villain, but the performance is perhaps a little broad, especially as compared to Butterfield's more serious version of Ender.<br />
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Other excellent actors seem to do the most with what they can, but they're stuck with underwritten parts. This is true of Hailee Steinfeld's Petra. I wanted some more exploration of her character, but she is mostly there to be a friend / crush for Ender. I'm pretty confident that Steinfeld is going to really wow us with her acting in the year's ahead, but this, alas, is not a showpiece role for her. A similar go-nowhere role belongs to Viola Davis, who seems to be slumming it as an army therapist, who is mostly around to challenge Ford's views on Ender and the other kids. One more sort-of-pointless part for a big-name actor goes to Ben Kingsley as Mazer Rackham, a legendary soldier with a mysterious past. Rackham seems randomly thrown into the movie to be yet another Obi-Wan like figure for Ender, but he sadly adds next to nothing to the film.<br />
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I've been talking about the jumpiness of the film, and I'll elaborate a bit. Everything just feels very rushed and hyper-compressed, but in a frustrating, head-scratching sort of way. I don't know if writer/director Gavin Hood was forced to make last-minute cuts or something, but too often it feels like we're watching the Cliff's Notes of the book, and not a story that works on its own. Ender seems to leap from rank to rank, from station to station, from unit to unit. It almost becomes comical as the movie goes on. He goes from army scrub to supreme leader in what feels like half an hour. What this means is that the film sets up certain key plot elements - like the team competition among the kids (a sort of capture-the-flag in zero-gravity game) - as major events, but then seems to rush through them, making us wonder what all the build-up was for in the first place. It's funny, you'd think the movie would do more to denote the passage of time, but things play out in a very linear manner. So again, it feels like the entire movie plays out over a few days' time, when the implication is that we're seeing something that should feel longer, more drawn-out, more epic.<br />
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On the premise itself: again, I'm just not sure that the movie does a great job of selling it. It feels like only brief lip-service is paid to why, exactly, the world has decided that only kids can fight this war. And it's never really shown or reinforced why the experienced adults shouldn't be involved. As the movie presents things, it starts to feel a little absurd. Ender knows next to nothing about real war, and yet the grizzled vet Graff just stands by and lets him fight, without even giving advice or input on tactics? Visually, the movie doesn't do a great job of selling this at all. Okay, sure, I could see why the older Ford might have a tough time competing in the zero-gravity games. But when subsequent battles simply involve kids sitting at manned battlestations and pulling triggers when called upon - why not have experienced sharpshooters in those positions? Finally, without spoiling anything, the end of the movie feels to me like a major cheat. Perhaps it's explained better in the book, but here, the tactic used in the end-game (hmmm ...) of the final battle ... it feels like the sort of thing that *someone* would have thought of before Ender spontaneously decides to go in that direction. And it feels like the kind of thing that wouldn't exactly require a messianic kid to think of / carry out. Am I missing something? Either way, the big finale, to me, feels decidedly undercooked.<br />
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Overall, I still enjoyed ENDER'S GAME in that it's a relatively breezy, sci-fi-lite film with some cool visuals and fun performances. Certain scenes, taken individually, are a lot of fun as eye-candy set-pieces (all the zero-g stuff looks great, and these scenes are shot with immersive fluidity by Gavin Hood). And there are some interesting socio-political elements to the plot that I found intriguing. Still, I was left with a feeling that this could have been something more - a truly thought-provoking and disturbing sci-fi story - if only the adaptation was done with a bit more elegance and with a better eye towards making this work as a standalone story (and less as a calculated, all-things-to-all-people franchise-starter). As it stands, Ender's Game is worth checking out, but not the must-see it might have been.<br />
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My Grade: B<br />
<br />Danny Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11154788596179153058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8891236.post-36860544516224038422013-11-12T22:47:00.001-08:002013-11-13T00:42:32.345-08:0012 YEARS A SLAVE Is Brilliant and Poetic Depiction of the American Nightmare<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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12 YEARS A SLAVE Review:<br />
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- 12 YEARS A SLAVE is such a unique, in some ways unusual film, that I honestly wasn't sure what to make of it, exactly, upon leaving the theater. This sprawling tale of American Slavery doesn't feel at all like what we've come to expect from films dealing with this era or with this narrative. Director Steve McQueen includes absolutely no flourishes of Spielbergian grandiosity in his film. Instead, he uses long, unwavering takes to create a film filled with artfully-depicted brutality, and positively overflowing with a feeling of overpowering, existential dread. The mix of unfiltered ugliness mixed with lyrical, poetic storytelling (and some sprinkling of gallows humor - both literal and figurative) creates a movie that plays out like a waking nightmare for its protagonist, the sold-into-slavery Solomon Northup. The result is a film that's utterly engrossing and endlessly praise-worthy. This is a film that has literary depth and subtext, but that also crackles with memorable visuals and cinematic sweep.<br />
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Solomon is played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, and it's a career-making performance. Ejiofor brings a soulful, restrained dignity to the character that I don't think I fully appreciated until late in the film. I describe the performance in these terms because Solomon starts the movie as a free, educated black man - a man who enjoys a relatively decent and undeniably joyful life - with a loving wife, two young children, and respected in his upstate New York town as a knowledgeable and trustworthy builder. However, it's his hobby that gets him into trouble - his skill as a fiddle-player attracts the attention of two traveling entertainers who convince Solomon to accompany them for a few of their shows. When Solomon is deceived by the musicians, he suddenly wakes up in a dark prison, having been abducted, taken down south, and sold into slavery. And from that point on, he has to hide who he really is. Because all the things that helped him get ahead up North - his smarts, his eloquence, his education - are liabilities as a slave. In order to survive, he has to show restraint, hide his thoughts, hide his intellect, hide his rage. And that is what makes Ejiofor's performance so remarkable. We see hints of what's going on in his head - in Solomon's eyes. But only rarely is he free to say what he really thinks. The dichotomy between who Solomon was and who he is forced to become is absolutely jarring. Because the white slave owners view him as lesser, animalistic, primitive - so too is this how he must act. And Ejiofor pulls off this tricky balance - this performance full of subtle expressions and telling glances - with aplomb. His Solomon never fully loses his dignity or his almost regal-like aura of calm and wisdom. But it's not for lack of trying on the part of the slave-owners who want to strip him of his humanity. What's remarkable about the film is the push and pull in that dynamic. Despite all efforts to break Solomon, to make him the prototypical, subservient slave - it's just impossible. The guy is too smart, too resourceful, too full of life for that sort of reductive psychology to fully take hold.<br />
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As good as Ejiofor is, he's surrounded by a remarkable supporting cast that is filled with equally award-worthy performances. There's two additional turns that really stand out to me though. One is Michael Fassbender as slave-owner Edwin Epps. Epps is the second slave-owner that Solomon is sold to (following a stint with the kinder and more sympathetic Ford, played by Benedict Cumberbatch), and he's a monster. The violence and rage he directs at his slaves is indicative of deep-seated psychological issues. Further complicating Epp's mania is his lustful obsession with one of the female slaves, Patsey. Epps puts Patsey on a pedestal, routinely praising her as his best worker in the fields. He also routinely rapes her, sapping her soul and demoralizing her to the point where she is hopeless and suicidal. Epps' disturbing relationship with Patsey drives his wife (a great turn from Sarah Paulson) off the wall, and Patsey and the other slaves find themselves caught in the volatile couple's tumultuous relationship. Fassbender is riveting as Epps though. He's a thoroughly despicable villain, but also a deeply complex character - a strange brew of madness and rage. But he is also emblematic of the disease of the mind that permeated throughout the antebellum south. How was it, we wonder, that so many could condone slavery, or even sadistically take pleasure in it? Epps', as a psychological profile, is case in point. Fassbender does wonders with the character - scary yet fascinating.<br />
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That leads me to Lupita Nyong'o as Patsey. Similar to Solomon, she must outwardly seem subservient and appreciative of her masters. But in Patsey's eyes, we see the bubbling sadness and hopelessness. We see the remnants of youth and girlhood, which we see all but stripped away by Epps. And when Patsey is pushed to limit, when she can take no more, Nyong'o turns in a gripping, jaw-dropping performance when she, as Patsey, lets the emotions flow freely in a rare moment of open expression. She and Solomon are two sides of the same coin. Solomon's lived the life of a free man, and so knows what it is that he lost as a slave. Patsey has known nothing but slavery, and can't even fathom what life outside of it is like. Suffice it to say, Nyong'o makes Patsey into the film's unlikely star - a supporting character whose horrifying treatment under Epps shows slavery at its worst and most soul-crushing.<br />
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So many other great little performances are scattered throughout the film. I mentioned Cumberbatch and Paulson, who are both excellent. Paul Giamatti shows up briefly but memorably as a sleazy slave-trader. The great Michael K. Williams, of The Wire and Boardwalk Empire, also makes a brief but badass cameo. Another small but crucial role is played by Garret Dillahunt (whose presence reinforces my perception that the film actually has a lot of stylistic and thematic similarities to the HBO series Deadwood). Dillahunt does here what he does best - he plays a slightly crazy and unhinged guy who Solomon takes a big risk in trusting. Alfre Woodard is another iconic actress who shows up for a small but vital role, playing a favored slave who has grown quite comfortable with her status. Now, I've heard some criticism of Bradd Pitt's role as a Canadian journeyman who provides a crucial bit of help to Solomon. I thought that Pitt's freewheeling persona proved a good fit for the part, and he provides a crucial counterpoint to characters like Epps. Pitt's puzzlement at slavery helps to paint the obsession that men like Epps have with it as a sort of infectious disease that had taken root in the minds of the antebellum south. At the same time, what seems like simple sanity to us now was, in that time and place, the very definition of radical and subversive thought. Finally, I've got to mention Paul Dano. Dano is just the best at playing loathsome, weaselly characters who very much deserve the punch-to-the-face that they inevitably receive. He's played that sort of character a lot, but this might be his best overall variation on that theme since There Will Be Blood.<br />
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Thinking about Dano's character, and Fassbender's, and other aspects of the film ... there is something slightly, undeniably pulpy about 12 YEARS A SLAVE. I keep mentioning this when I hear people say they're not sure they can stomach the film. It is violent, it is brutal, and it is at times disturbing. But to McQueen's credit, it's also an incredibly entertaining film. That takes nothing away from the seriousness of the subject matter, or the emotional weight of the movie. But McQueen also doesn't shy away from giving his film style and atmosphere, and even a bit of over-the-topness. I'll say that the movie's best scene is a weird mix of darkly funny and oddly disturbing. In the scene, Solomon is all but left for dead, set to be hung, before the men doing the hanging are stopped before Solomon can be fully strung up. And so Solomon is left with his toes just barely touching the ground, straining to keep himself from strangling to death. Solomon is gasping, panting, flailing. And all around him - as McQueen keeps his camera still and centered - we see others, black and white, simply going about their business - paying absolutely no attention to the guy right there, in front of them, on the very precipice of life and death. It's a scene that goes from scary to funny to scary again, and it's a weird Twilight Zone moment that, in its own way, completely summarizes the entire movie in miniature. Because yes, this is Solomon's story, but it's also the story of a supposedly civilized nation that had become a country of brainwashed zombies, stuck in a purgatory-like state in which, somehow, this sort of atrocity wasn't worth batting an eye over.<br />
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And so the film does have that pulpy aspect, that dark humor, and that slightly skewed aesthetic that makes it more than your typical Hollywood-ized history lesson. There are a lot of layers here. And McQueen proves himself, above all else, a great storyteller - not telling his narrative in a completely linear or traditional sense, but in a way that's incredibly gripping, yet different from what one might expect from this sort of story. He doesn't talk down to the audience, or oversimplify things. He uses flashbacks and flash-forwards to create a sense of disorientation, to reinforce that nightmare feeling. He uses long takes many times - fixing his camera's lens on nature, on faces, on images - to make us pay attention to detail, focus on juxtaposition, and soak in the emotion of a moment. <br />
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I also think that John Ridley's screenplay is worth mentioning. Ridley also wrote Red Tails - a movie that is full on pulp (whereas 12 Years A Slave is only pulp-tinged, I'd say), but also one that I don't think really telegraphed Ridley's full potential. I mentioned the comparison to TV's Deadwood earlier, and that comparison comes to mind when I think of this film's colorful dialogue - a sort of formal prose that lends a certain gravitas to the words that are spoken. The mix of poetry and vulgarity, formality and brutality, is in keeping with the weird dichotomies of the movie's setting.<br />
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The whole film, in fact, is one of dichotomies. Its central story is that of a worldly and well-regarded man suddenly plunged into a hellish life of slavery, in which it is assumed that he is sub-human. In this world of degradation and humiliation, Solomon is surrounded by brutal men who also regard themselves as god-fearing Southern Gentlemen. And then there's the absurdity that always strikes me with stories about slavery - the fact that the slaves that were so looked down upon were, despite that, so ever-present and such a constant and integral part of their owner's lives. <br />
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12 YEARS A SLAVE does not fit the template of what a big Hollywood Oscar-bait movie is supposed to be, and I think that's what makes it so great. This is a film that's genuinely challenging and thought-provoking. At times, I'd even call it an art-film in certain respects for the non-traditional ways that some of its key scenes unfold. At other times, I agree with the sentiment that it plays out almost like a horror film or a Twilight Zone episode - with an ordinary man suddenly thrust into a nightmare scenario that completely turns his world upside down. There's that noir-ish feeling of fate conspiring against him, of being trapped in a dark void from which escape is a near-impossibility. But when you couple that creepy vibe with the fact that this is real history - an adaptation of a real person's autobiography - there is, again, that dichotomy: of real-life-meets-unreality. Life as waking nightmare. A warped, backwards version of the American Dream in which, instead of upward mobility, a man is dragged from the middle class all the way down to the bottom, made a slave, forced to endure hell, as part of some mass delusion about skin color determining one's worth as a human being. 12 YEARS A SLAVE doesn't give you that swell of emotion and triumph when it ends. It's not a crowd-pleaser that sends you home happy, or in tears for that matter. No, the feeling you get at the end of this film is one of waking up from a strange dream. A dream that you pinch yourself to make sure that, yes, it was, in fact, only a dream. But here's the brilliance of the movie - this wasn't just a dream. This happened. That took a while to register with me. It took a few days for the full achievement of this film to fully sink in. But now, I can look back and recognize the unique brilliance at play here, and I can heartily recommend this film as one of the true must-see movies of 2013.<br />
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My Grade: A<br />
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<br />Danny Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11154788596179153058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8891236.post-22432093650774234312013-11-12T16:41:00.002-08:002013-11-12T16:41:53.670-08:00DALLAS BUYERS CLUB Is Difficult But Powerful True-Life Story<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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DALLAS BUYERS CLUB Review:<br />
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- Dallas Buyer's Club is a gut-punch of a film that is hard to get out of your head. I'd call it ugly. Ugly in that this is a film that doesn't shy away from harsh truths. Visually, Matthew McConaughey is almost hard to look at in the film. Playing real-life AIDS activist Ron Woodroof, McConaughey looks like the walking dead - bone thin and emaciated. It's also ugly in that Woodruff is no role model, despite the arc of personal redemption that he goes through over the course of the movie. Ron starts the movie as an ugly human being - a drug abuser and womanizer - crass and vulgar in the worst of ways. Finally, this is an ugly movie in that it sheds a harsh light on HIV, AIDS, and the seemingly futile war to fight it upon its rapid spread in America in the 80's. In no uncertain terms, the film shows how corporate bureaucracy - drug companies and the FDA - slowed the development and availability of effective treatments for the disease. Ron Woodruff starts the film as an ugly character, but his brand of ugliness is one that seems wholly American - the kind that has a strange sort of nobility in this country - the asshole cowboy who does what he wants, when he wants. But soon enough - diagnosed with AIDS and a death sentence - Ron experiences the ugliness of others. Branded an outcast and a virtual leper, he is forced to become the "other" that he always looked down upon.<br />
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This is a fascinating real-life story, and it all starts when Ron realizes that he has contracted the AIDS virus after engaging in unprotected sex with a prostitute. The diagnosis comes when Ron is already beginning to suffer severe symptoms of the illness - symptoms which he had ignored for a long while, before he finally collapses and wakes up in a hospital bed. Ron goes through a period of denial about his condition, but denial turns to frustration when he realizes how ineffective the drugs he's being prescribed are. He hears stories about better treatments in Mexico and other countries that are not approved for distribution in the US, and so he makes it his mission to track down these drugs ... not only for himself, but for the growing community of AIDS patients that he reluctantly finds himself a part of. Selling the drugs without getting caught proves to be difficult, so Ron finds a loophole: creating a buyers' club where members get the drugs for free as part of their membership fees. Soon, Ron is a thriving businessman, and a source of hope for a community that for a long time had no reason for optimism.<br />
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Ron's unlikely business partner is a sassy drag queen named Rayon - brilliantly played by Jared Leto. The two meet in the hospital, and Ron is initially disgusted and repulsed by Rayon, and wants nothing to do with him. The bond and friendship that eventually forms between the two is undoubtedly one of the movie's most emotionally resonant elements. Leto is absolutely fantastic as Rayon. His drag-queen persona is flippant and flamboyant, but Leto also shows us the sad and tormented side to the character. This could easily have been a one-note role, but Leto embodies it so fully that Rayon practically steals the movie. The film does a masterful job of depicting the sense of risk and danger that outsiders like Rayon felt in this not-so-long-ago era (and today, to a large extent). What might be more in-the-open today was, then, part of a fringe movement, a shadowy and hidden world. Rayon may have a flamboyant personality, but he was still a person totally confined to the margins - his suffering, and the suffering of his peers, was very much swept under the rug by most Americans at the time.<br />
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Back to McConaughey for a second ... he too just nails it in this film. While his grotesque physical transformation here threatens to overwhelm his acting, the acting is so good that that never happens. McConaughey has been on an absolute tear recently, in movies like Bernie, Killer Joe, and this year's Mud. But this has to be his crowning career achievement thus far - an acting job that confirms his status in the upper echelon of actors working today. This is full-body, full-commitment acting - the kind that gets down to the micro-level of twitches. And this is not something we've really seen from McConaughey before. Often, he's the cool pulp badass, larger-than-life. Here, he's complicated, grimy, ugly - a firestorm of emotions and motivations.<br />
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Perhaps that's why the one part of the film that drags things down a bit is Ron's unlikely relationship with Jennifer Garner's Eve, a doctor at the local hospital who treats Ron, and who finds herself increasingly sympathetic to his fight against the medical establishment. It makes sense that she might be drawn to Ron the patient and his fight, but it's hard to see why she might have this connection with Ron the person. It's probably the only semi-false note in what is otherwise a note-perfect character study.<br />
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Otherwise, Ron and Rayon's relationship is built to perfection. And there's also a great relationship between Ron and his old buddy Tucker (Steve Zahn), a cop who's always had a some friction with Ron, but who now is forced to reexamine both his friendship and his concept of right and wrong. Similarly, Kevin Rankin - of Breaking Bad and Justified - does a great job, as a pal of Ron's who has a harder time accepting that his partner in crime has now become an AIDS-carrying outcast, who hangs around with folks like Rayon. I also thought that Denis O'Hare of True Blood was excellent, as an antagonistic doctor who doesn't have Ron's best interests in mind.<br />
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Director Jean-Marc Vallée gives the film a gritty, dangerous vibe that captures 80's-era, Southern-noir grime quite effectively. At times, the film has a nightmarish, almost horror-movie quality to it. At the same time, there is surprising heart. The film doesn't go for artificially-inserted Hollywood endings or anything like that. But the organic evolution of Ron - his outlook on life and death, his determination to help others, and - most movingly - his slow but gradual acceptance of Rayon and others like him, makes for several scenes that are genuinely affecting.<br />
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In terms of the movie's politics, I'm sure that particulars of what really happened vs. what's in the film will be picked apart by those looking for an agenda on the part of the filmmakers. But to me, the details are less important than the call-to-action in a broader sense. Ordinarily, I (and most of us, I suspect), don't dwell too much on the inner workings and politics of modern medicine. But the movie is an eye-opener, a reminder that we should be aware and awake to the political and financially-motivated decisions that affect disease research and treatment.<br />
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Separately, the movie is also a stark, powerful reminder that it's easy to keep our backs turned to those who are suffering, until helping them has some sort of meaningful financial or other reward for us. In a strange way, Ron having to work with the same sorts of people that he once shunned may have been a blessing in disguise. Ron was a guy who was used to living within a system that catered to him, that accommodated him. So he had very little tolerance or patience for being an afterthought. And that stubborn egotism is what fueled his fight against AIDS.<br />
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DALLAS BUYERS CLUB is, at times, a hard movie to watch. I had a constant feeling of unease while watching it. But it's also a memorable, powerful film that is well worth experiencing. On one level, it's got amazing performances - a career-best for McConaughey. On another level, it's a searing story of recent American history that still very much resonates in 2013.<br />
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My Grade: A- <br />
<br />Danny Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11154788596179153058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8891236.post-32674628355846925852013-11-12T15:26:00.001-08:002013-11-12T15:26:29.589-08:00ESCAPE PLAN Is Nostalgic, 80's-Style Slice of Cheesy-Awesome<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgABY6Y28ZvHEQn2fKxq8OC6hgfSCaWM7niesp53W9AZs_frm-UvKenIHLggQI7zR-l59QHKG7VDhZ9tx5tndWJv0wvw6CqGq06J0VxmL1NkD6MlTCapbcNHVWGKw0WoKM2UMifPg/s1600/escape-plan.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgABY6Y28ZvHEQn2fKxq8OC6hgfSCaWM7niesp53W9AZs_frm-UvKenIHLggQI7zR-l59QHKG7VDhZ9tx5tndWJv0wvw6CqGq06J0VxmL1NkD6MlTCapbcNHVWGKw0WoKM2UMifPg/s400/escape-plan.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
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ESCAPE PLAN Review:<br />
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- While the most recent efforts from Sylvester Stallone and a back-to-acting Arnold Schwarzenegger have been met with mostly indifference at the box office, I've got to say: I've really been enjoying this recent spate of late-career action flicks from the two titanic stars. And it annoys me to no end that amidst the endless age jokes, and the weary critical eye from reviewers, some of these legitimately enjoyable films are getting overlooked. Maybe it's Expendables fatigue. Stallone's uber team-up movies have been only-okay at best, and have contained an odd mix of old-school stars with mediocre attempts to emulate modern action movie aesthetics. So yeah, the Expendables movies have yet to 100% live up their potential. But that doesn't mean that they haven't indirectly spawned some worthy films from Stallone and Schwarzenegger. This year alone, Arnold's The Last Stand was a badass, uber-enjoyable action/comedy, and Stallone's Bullet to the Head was a decidedly old-school, hard-nosed effort from Walter Hill. And now, there's ESCAPE PLAN. A dream-team team-up of Sly and Ahnold that, yes, would have been more exciting twenty years ago and pre-Expendables, but still ... for anyone who grew up in (or who has an admiration for) the pumped-up era of 80's action films, this particular pairing is one that's been a long, long time coming.<br />
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And you know what? ESCAPE PLAN is cheesy, it's silly, but man, it's entertaining. It's a total throwback film. Yes, Sly and Arnold are older, but the film itself feels right out of 1985. Mostly, that's a good thing. They don't make 'em like this anymore. In the world of Escape Plan, a knockout punch is accompanied by a deadpan one-liner. A handshake between our two stars is filmed, Predator-style, like a meeting of cinematic superheroes. Explosions and gun battles are doled out liberally, with little regard for body count. And when all is said and done, our heroes laugh and walk off into the sunset, freeze-framed into cinematic immortality. What's fun about this film is that it treats the meeting of its two leads as a mega-epic team-up. Sometimes these kinds of movies don't want to overemphasize the pairing of two icons, but that pairing is Escape Plan's raison d'être. The film has no qualms about going big, goofy, and over-the-top. There's absolutely no subtlety in Escape Plan's DNA.<br />
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In the movie, Stallone plays Ray Breslin, a master of escape who makes a living by breaking out of maximum security prisons - thus exposing their vulnerabilities and showing where security needs to be beefed up. However, Breslin is faced with nearly insurmountable odds when he's hired to break out of The Tomb - an off-the-books super-max that's outfitted with high-tech cells, and patrolled by masked, anonymous guards who look like rejects from GI Joe's Cobra. To make matters worse, Breslin realizes that there may be more to his stay in The Tomb than meets the eye - namely, this may be less about him testing the facility, and more about him being set up as a fall-guy by his shady employers. Suddenly, Breslin's need to escape is less about doing a job, and more about his very survival.<br />
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Breslin's one ally in The Tomb is Emil Rottmayer (Schwarzeneger). Rottmayer is a burly German who is of particular interest to The Tomb's sinister warden, Hobbes (an ice-cold Jim Caviezel). Hobbes believes that Rottmayer has valuable intel on a wanted terrorist (Rottmayer calls him a freedom fighter), and is determined to extract said intel by any means necessary. So Breslin and Rottmayer form an alliance: hatching the titular escape plan by combining Breslin's MacGuyver-esque escape skills with Rottmayer's knowledge of the prison, value to the warden, and of course, brute strength.<br />
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Stallone and Schwarzenegger are both a lot of fun here. Stallone is doing a variation on his recent hard-nosed characters in The Expendables and Bullet to the Head, but Schwarzenegger is really doing something interesting. He's got a certain mischievous gleam in his eye that we haven't seen in quite some time, and he plays Rottmayer as funny, almost jovial, despite his dire circumstances. This actually makes for a great chemistry between the two leads - Stallone as the serious one, all business, Schwarzenegger as the quippy troublemaker who will still come through in a jam. What's more, Schwarzenegger actually has some moments where I was flat-out impressed by his acting. One sequence in particular, where he tauntingly screams out German to his captors, in order to avoid revealing sensitive info under duress, is downright awesome. If this is what crazy-old-man Ahnold can offer us in the years ahead, then my god, bring on the crazy old-man roles for Ahnold.<br />
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Caviziel is good and properly loathsome as the warden. Sam Neil also appears, lending some bonus gravitas to a small but crucial role as the morally-conflicted prison doctor. Vinnie Jones surfaces as the warden's sadistic enforcer, though he's actually a bit more restrained than per usual. Finally, Amy Ryan is in the mix as Stallone's colleague/sometimes-love-interest. All do a nice job and lend a lot of personality to the film (less impressive: rapper 50 Cent as another, more bland, slightly more useless associate of Stallone's).<br />
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Where ESCAPE PLAN stumbles is that its sense of fun is, at times, offset by a hamfistedness that inspires unintentional laughs, and the occasional eye-rolling/face-palm. When Stallone attempts to win the loyalty of Sam Neil by reminding him of his Hippocratic Oath, the film then segues into a melodramatic montage where we see Neil literally reading through a book of medical ethics, deliberating over the Oath. That's one example of several in which the movie - which walks a fine line overall between camp and stupidity - veers wildly into the realm of stupidity. Mostly, there's nothing so offensive that you can't just go with it, but I also think the movie could have benefited from a tad more self-awareness of its own ridiculousness (not too much though - wouldn't want to mess around with the gloriously oblivious 80's vibe).<br />
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The other main problem with the movie is that for a movie centered around a high-tech, super-max prison, the design of The Tomb simply isn't all that inspired. Other than a couple of futuristic touches, it feels pretty standard-issue. It feels like a bit of a wasted opportunity for cool visual design. It's funny though, because based on the rather bare-bones design of the prison, I assumed that the entirety of the movie would have sort of a low-budget, B-movie feel. But the producers seem to have saved their dough for the third act, in which we're treated to some surprisingly massive set-piece action scenes that recall 80's-era excess.<br />
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Ultimately, Escape Plan feels like a perfect movie to place on one's bookshelf alongside the likes of endlessly watchable 80's Stallone/Schwarzenegger cheese like Commando or Tango & Cash. There's a certain unapologetic aesthetic here that I just find incredibly refreshing in the world of the postmodern action film. Maybe not a new classic - and this won't win over any new converts - but Escape Plan remains a fine bit of nostalgic action escapism, for those who long for the days when action movies and action heroes were truly larger than life.<br />
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My Grade: B+<br />
<br />Danny Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11154788596179153058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8891236.post-16132571120632796232013-10-28T13:44:00.001-07:002013-10-28T14:57:27.757-07:00ALL IS LOST Is Harrowing Tale of Survival at Sea<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxDJfSd7NFaenM86Eu9zeGom7mA3fdYX-srFUwJgpaTLI69-_1NcuWvFNNLYSdCRMydE7zckr1elK6CMv_ajjqWRNgtT_xBfa_5fl12XI8oWSyXd0_u9Qtmu7cJMCF-7akA2g_ng/s1600/All-is-Lost.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxDJfSd7NFaenM86Eu9zeGom7mA3fdYX-srFUwJgpaTLI69-_1NcuWvFNNLYSdCRMydE7zckr1elK6CMv_ajjqWRNgtT_xBfa_5fl12XI8oWSyXd0_u9Qtmu7cJMCF-7akA2g_ng/s400/All-is-Lost.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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ALL IS LOST Review:<br />
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- Coming only weeks after the game-changing outer space survival story Gravity, the oceanic adventure of indie release ALL IS LOST might, at first, seem underwhelming by comparison. All Is Lost does bear some similarities to Gravity - it's a solitary journey - mixing realism with spiritual subtext - and it's a harrowing tale of survival that puts the viewer through the ringer, immersing you there, in the moment, with its lone protagonist. What's interesting about All Is Lost, however, is its starkness and simplicity. This is a movie all about minimalism. Director J.C. Chandor (Margin Call) doesn't give us anything in the way of backstory. All we know about our main character, a nameless sailor played with gritty determination by Robert Redford, is his moment-to-moment reality. And so, as the film progresses, we become utterly swept up in this character's dogged struggle to stay alive, with no real additional context to muddle the action.<br />
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Chandor shoots the film in a very straightforward, un-flashy, almost documentary-esque manner. It's jarring, at first, because it takes a while to acclimate, and to figure out what exactly is happening. That said, the film opens with a somber bit of narration from Redford, which quickly but effectively sets the stakes for the rest of the largely dialogue-free film. Redford's narration - a reading of a last will and testament (to whom - his wife? - we can't quite be sure), makes it clear that the events we are about to see will lead to very, very dire circumstances. But what's fascinating is seeing how those events come to pass.<br />
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Because the film is so detail-oriented, so grounded ... Redford's plight is worsened less by melodramatic, cinematic occurrences and more by small but crucial twists of fate, and increasingly volatile conditions to his boat. The slow build works well, and it's easy to place ourselves in the shoes of Redford. What's interesting is that Redford doesn't suddenly find himself stranded in the ocean clinging to a floating board, or suddenly without any food or drinkable water. He has supplies, he has a life raft he can utilize if need be ... so it's a slow, steady descent towards the end of the line. Each decision Redford makes becomes more critical as time goes on. You can see from Redford's acting that internal struggle to accept what's actually happening. There is that desire to hole up in his boat's cabin and act like it's not that bad. But that false sense of security ends when water repeatedly begins flowing into all areas of the vessel. Quickly, each scene of the film forms a practical question to us and to our protagonist. How long does Redford stay on the sinking boat? What food can he salvage, and how? What equipment and materials does he have at his disposal that he can use to survive, to find help, to carry on?<br />
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Redford is excellent here. A younger Redford may not have worked in the role, because he wouldn't have seemed like an average-enough guy to relate to. But here, the 77 year old actor's steely determination and experience-derived pragmatism is tempered by the limitations of age. Redford is no superhero in this film. He's remarkably - incredibly - spry and agile for a man his age. We never doubt that he's tough as hell. But the film also doesn't cover up the toll that the physicality of the action takes on the actor or the character he plays. We hear his heavy breathing, we see the pain on his face, we see the effort it takes to do the things that might have come easier to a younger man. That dynamic is key to All Is Lost. Redford still has movie-star charisma at 77, but this film doesn't play it up. Instead, it's a very honest portrayal of a man whose movements have become more deliberate, more labored. Even at 77, this is a guy still tougher than most half his age. And yet ... the actor's age gives the film an added significance - this is to be his last battle, his final test. If nothing else, he's determined to go down fighting.<br />
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Again, give Redford credit for a unique performance that tells us a lot without words. The actor's presence infuses this character with a lot of unspoken baggage, but it's baggage that works in the film's favor. This is a man who is clearly proud, likely highly confident in himself, potentially even a touch aristocratic. That makes it all the more humbling for him when he's completely at the mercy of an unrelenting ocean, increasingly helpless against the harsh mistress that is Mother Nature.<br />
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Moment to moment, shot to shot, the movie feels grounded - scenes are often composed like logic puzzles, with Redford trying but failing at something, and then revising his strategy and figuring out a Plan B. At the same time, there is that spiritual, existential element to the film. The tight, close-in camera work will occasionally be interrupted by wide overhead shots, or long underwater shots looking up at the boat, or the life-raft, showing us the ocean life beneath. It's a reminder of man's smallness in the context of nature - underscored by the film's spare but ominous score. And it's a theme that becomes more apparent as the film goes on, as Redford becomes more desperate and helpless. That other theme - of one man's final battle - is also there as the movie reaches its climax. The ending is left fairly open for interpretation, and is accompanied by some memorable, haunting imagery.<br />
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My complaints are few, but I think there are moments where the film could have used a little more sense of context around the main character's actions. There are times when it's a bit unclear why Redford is or isn't pursuing a specific course of action - with little dialogue, it's understandable that much is left open and not fully explained. At the same time, the movie's grounded, matter-of-fact style occasionally gives way to sudden edits that leave you with a feeling of "but wait, how did ...?". Otherwise, I suppose that the movie's other most obvious failing - that it takes a while to really get going - also plays into its strength as a narrative: all of that build-up creates a real feeling of immersion and realism. When things really get crazy later on, you're all in. The slow build definitely yields a worthy payoff.<br />
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ALL IS LOST is ultimately a hell of a tale of survival. Individual scenes have a rugged, you-are-there, no-frills quality that fully sells you on the on-screen action. The parts, however, add up to a whole that is not just about the practical means of surviving while stranded at sea, but a striking meditation on life, death, and the will to survive.<br />
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My Grade: A-<br />
<br />Danny Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11154788596179153058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8891236.post-9936816909231591912013-10-19T00:47:00.000-07:002013-10-19T15:13:36.408-07:00MACHETE KILLS Is Fun But Overstuffed B-Movie Insanity<br />
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MACHETE KILLS Review:<br />
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- I love that we're still living in a world where postmodern grindhouse films like Machete can be made. There's something to be said for the anything-goes aesthetic of these movies, and the sheer sense of fun to be had with them. In an age when too many action movies seem overly grim, it's refreshing to sit back and watch a movie that at its core is solely about having fun - realism, political correctness, and good taste be damned. That said, MACHETE KILLS worries me just a bit. Because in spite of what I just said, if you look at the original Tarantino/Rodrguez Grindhouse collaboration, there was also a strong sense of creativity and ingenuity at play. Yes, those films were fun, and reveled in exploitation-genre excess. But there was also a real sense that we were getting a chance to see great filmmakers stretch and test their own limits. It felt like Tarantino and Rodriguez were using Grindhouse as an opportunity to really flex their creative muscles, and tell stories that wouldn't necessarily fly in their slightly-more-mainstream films. The first Machete film was an extension of that, with Rodrguez presenting a fully-realized vision of the over-the-top character he first debuted as part of a fan-favorite fake (at the time) Grindhouse trailer. With MACHETE KILLS though, you have to wonder if this is less about Rodriguez really innovating, and more about him just sort of screwing around. I don't mean that in a purely negative way ... but Machete Kills feels like, perhaps, Rodriguez went for the everything-and-the-kitchen-sink approach to the detriment of actually making a great movie.<br />
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MACHETE KILLS very quickly becomes completely insane, and only gets crazier as it goes. I'll say this: the movie begins in rather mind-blowing fashion, kicking off with a "Coming Attractions" trailer for a *third* Machete movie - "Machete Kills Again ... In Space." Yes, you heard me. And yes, this trailer is awesome and just completely whacked out.<br />
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But here's the weird thing ... while that trailer plays out like an extended gag, Rodriguez soon shows that he's actually pretty damn serious about it. Without spoiling too much, Rodriguez legitimately builds towards a Machete-in-space movie with MACHETE KILLS. And he strains and bends over backwards to get there. And maybe that's part of the problem ... Rodriguez seems to think there's nothing funnier or more entertaining than the idea that, yep, this is all actually leading up to a Machete-in-space movie. But he sort of undermines the so-random-its-hilariousness of that scenario by creating a very, very convoluted plot to get there.<br />
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The movie is packed to the brim with characters and plot points, some more memorable than others. First off though, Danny Trejo is once again quite simply badass and awesome as the title character. In fact, I still get a kick out of the fact that the sixty-something, craggy-faced Trejo actually gets to star in an action film and kick ass like he does as Machete. All other factors aside, Rodriguez inherently understands why Danny Trejo is a badass, and understands how best to have him do and say awesome things. Trejo just keeps getting older and more craggy, and it's increasingly obvious when a stuntman is filling in for him in fight scenes. But somehow, the older he gets, the more awesome it is to imagine the man kicking ass and just becoming increasingly badass and invincible with age. The movie's best running gag plays off this very concept - that Machete is impervious to pain and death in a quasi-supernatural manner. When one adversary tries to hang him, the noose simply has no effect on Machete's tree stump-like neck. It's the non-Trejo characters that are more of a mixed bag ...<br />
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My favorite new addition to the cast is probably Amber Heard as the fantastically-named, beauty queen-slash-secret agent Ms. San Antonio. Between this and Drive Angry 3D, I'm convinced that Heard needs to just be in every grindhouse-style action movie made from here on out. She just has a perfect understanding of how to do these kinds of roles - with just the right level of self-aware tongue-in-cheekness. The best is when Heard gets to spar with another B-action queen in Michelle Rodriguez. M-Rod is in the movie for far too short a time, but she definitely spices things up when she becomes more prominently featured in the thirds act - and her back-and-forth banter with Heard is a highlight.<br />
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Meanwhile, Charlie Sheen (or "Emilio Estevez" - his real name that he's billed as here), is entertaining as the by-god President of the United States - a foul-mouthed, womanizing POTUS who is pretty much, well, Charlie Sheen. And it's great to see a small but crucial role from the great Tom Savini.<br />
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On the other hand, MACHETE KILLS is filled with fun and capable actors playing somewhat pointless parts. Demian Bichir feels way too overqualified to play Mendez, a criminal mastermind suffering from multiple personality disorder. I'm a big Bichir fan, and he elevates the character ... but Mendez is a prime example of the movie's tendency to overindulge and try to do too much without enough real payoff. Bichir is entertaining, but by his fifth or sixth personality change, I was over it. Same for the identity-shifting assassin character played in turn by Walton Goggins, Cuba Gooding Jr., Lady Gaga, and Antonio Banderas. I would have rather seen an actor like Goggins really get to sink his teeth into a substantial part than be part of this somewhat wearisome gimmick character. Same for Banderas. And hey, Lady Gaga shows some nice potential. She fits right in as a grindhouse femme fatale. Less natural is Sofia Vergara as masochistic madame Desdemona. Her character feels shoehorned into the film, and Vergara just seems a bit awkward - even if her chest-mounted machine guns are sort of hilarious. And finally, there's Mel Gibson as uber-villain Voz. Gibson gives it the ol' college try, and he's more palatable than usual when playing a villain we're *supposed* to hate. But his villainous monologues get very old very quick, and the scenes in which Gibson gets the spotlight are just plain draggy - a cardinal sin in a movie called Machete Kills.<br />
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Don't get me wrong, MACHETE KILLS has plenty of great, over-the-top moments, and it's mostly a lot of fun. Trejo doesn't say much, but he kills the one-liners as only he can, and he brings the badassery in heaping helpings. Heard and Michelle Rodriguez are worthy supporting players, and along with Sheen are the standouts in an eclectic and overloaded cast. And the Machete-in-space stuff is pretty priceless. Even if Machete Kills dampened my enthusiasm for the franchise just a bit, the idea of one more, balls-to-the-wall intergalactic outing is enough to re-ignite my excitement. The teasers we get in this one are just bat$#%& insane. Still, Machete Kills is proof that it ain't exactly easy to translate five minutes of kickass trailer into an hour-and-a-half of kickass feature film. With a trailer, the more awesome and crazy that's packed in, the better - sensory overload is the goal. But a full-length feature demands a little something more, and in some ways, a little less. Restraint *can* be a good thing, even in an over-the-top grindhouse flick. Machete Kills, while still fun, funny, and highly entertaining, could have benefited from a little more focus. It needed more of a reason to exist beyond just being a bridge towards Machete going sci-fi. Rest assured though, when Machete does rocket up to the stars to lay waste to some cosmic suckas, I'm all in, baby.<br />
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My Grade: B<br />
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<br />Danny Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11154788596179153058noreply@blogger.com0