Good Will Hunting (Gus Van Sant, 1997) -
Leaving aside how big it looms in the cultural consciousness, this is a fairly solid sort of underdog movie that plays comic and dramatic elements to strong effect in its tale of a troubled young man who also happens to be a mathematical genius. Props obviously go to Robin Williams' Oscar-winning turn as the protagonist's psychiatrist, who is present for just about every great moment in the whole film.
Interstellar (Christopher Nolan, 2014) -
Over the past few years, I've noticed a pattern emerging where each year has at least one visually arresting sci-fi film set in space that has impressive visuals but falters considerably in terms of developing plot and characters. 2012 had
Prometheus, 2013 had
Gravity and 2014 has...this. The obvious point of comparison is
2001: A Space Odyssey, but I was a bit more inclined to compare it to Danny Boyle's
Sunshine, especially considering the whole "experimental space mission to save the human race from extinction" narrative that:
WARNING: "Interstellar/Sunshine" spoilers below
involves one crew member being killed as a result on a natural disaster mid-mission, plus the remaining crew encountering the sole survivor of a previous mission who has gone insane as a result and attempts to murder the remaining members of the crew - but at least Interstellar has a sort-of-happy ending.
involves one crew member being killed as a result on a natural disaster mid-mission, plus the remaining crew encountering the sole survivor of a previous mission who has gone insane as a result and attempts to murder the remaining members of the crew - but at least Interstellar has a sort-of-happy ending.
The performances are pretty utilitarian and there are some notable gaps in plot logic, but it's not a complete shambles by any means.
Porco Rosso (Hayao Miyazaki, 1992) -
Interesting choice of subject matter for a Ghibli film, focusing on the titular ace pilot turned mercenary as he navigates a variety of conflicts including a vengeful but ineffective gang of pirates, a smug American rival, the feisty young woman who fixes his plane and, oh yeah, the fact that he's apparently been cursed with the face of a pig. It's hard not to think of this as lesser Ghibli due to its lack of fantastic elements (the only being how Porco looks like a pig, which is never truly explained), but there's enough excitement due to the well-made plane sequences (because what's a Miyazaki film without at least
some flying?).
Shutter Island (Martin Scorsese, 2010) -
Yeah, I'm torn on how to feel about this particular film. When I first saw the trailer back when it was about to come out, the premise - Leonardo diCaprio's U.S. Marshal investigates a mental institution on a remote island - just automatically made me assume that it'll turn out that
WARNING: "Shutter Island" spoilers below
he was actually a patient of said mental institution living out an intricate fantasy where he's a marshal.
he was actually a patient of said mental institution living out an intricate fantasy where he's a marshal.
Leaving that aside, it's more competent craftmanship from Scorsese and co., and for a while it was strong enough that I was willing to believe that the film wasn't going to go with the obvious conclusion...but then it did. What does it say about a film when it looks like it's going to build towards a particular twist, then seems to build away from it but ultimately arrives at aforementioned twist anyway? I don't know. It's still an alright film, in any case.
The Muppet Movie (james Frawley, 1979) -
I feel sort of bad for not getting into the Muppets until recently (and not off the back of the recent movies but mainly because of Statler and Waldorf becoming memetic snark-masters), but hey, better late than never. The Muppets' first big-screen outing is a retelling of how the core cast met and ultimately became involved in show business. To complicate things, there's an evil restaurant tycoon trying to chase down Kermit and use him as the mascot for his restaurant chain that specialises infrog's legs (even for a kids' movie, that's a messed-up visual). The songs are fun, the cameos are excellent, the gags are brilliant and break the fourth wall in a charming manner and, well, what can I say? It's just great through and through, though it suffers slightly from the lack of the aforementioned pair of grumpy old bastards.
Hugo (Martin Scorsese, 2011) -
The idea of Scorsese making a family-friendly movie obviously seems bizarre at first, but considering this film it makes perfect sense. The story of an orphan living in a Parisian train station trying to repair a broken automaton while alternately befriending an upper-class girl and avoiding the local constabulary does get a little schmaltzy at times, but there are plenty of moments (such as Ben Kingsley's character divulging his backstory) that recall the simple but effective movie magic of yesteryear to great effect. With a veteran filmmaker like Scorsese at the helm, it's also a technically amazing and vibrant-looking venture.
20,000 Days on Earth (Jane Pollard and Iain Forsyth, 2014) -
Solid docudrama that takes place over the course of legendary Australian musician Nick Cave's 20,000th day on Earth. Rather than address the documentarians, there are all sorts of staged scenarios where Cave can discuss his qualities - a therapy session allows him to discuss his upbringing, visiting an archivist allows him to talk about his early musical career, and so forth. He even has imaginary conversations with erstwhile collaborators such as Kylie Minogue and Ray Winstone. Such creative decisions do come across as more than a little indulgent, but they fit in with Cave's image as a multi-faceted artist and don't clash with more "realistic" footage of him recording, rehearsing and performing music.
Snowpiercer (Bong Joon-ho, 2013) -
Solid (if a little silly at times) post-apocalyptic film about the titular train, which is constantly circumnavigating a frozen Earth in the not-too-distant future. It relies on familiar sci-fi dystopia tropes just a bit too much - the last refuge of humanity as metaphor for class struggle being the most obvious, sympathetic resistance members and love-to-hate enforcers of the regime, etc. - and there are all sorts of plot holes involved with the narrative (some of which can even be seen a mile off), but screw it, it's a good film that has just enough surprises to stay interesting to the end. Plus it looks good.
The Rover (David Michôd, 2014) -
A relatively disappointing follow-up to Michôd's crime drama debut
Animal Kingdom, this film also trades on all-too-familiar post-apocalypse tropes in its tale of Guy Pearce's embittered loner tracking down the gang of bandits who made off with his car, dragging along Robert Pattinson's simple-minded crook in the process. Some nice outback photography and atonal background music doesn't lend that much flair to what can uncharitably be considered a much more artistically-minded reiteration of
Mad Max. Pearce is serviceable in the relatively undemanding lead role, but Pattinson's performance was enough to remind me of "Simple Jack" from
Tropic Thunder. Also include the sheer number of plot-holes, e.g.
WARNING: "The Rover" spoilers below
If Pearce was able to catch up the bandits in their own abandoned truck at the very start of the film, shouldn't they have just traded back each other's vehicles anyway? Leaving that aside, if all Pearce really wanted from his car was the dead dog in the boot, why not simply ask for that? Leaving that aside, why would the bandits holding Pearce at gunpoint and threatening to kill him not just knock him out instead of killing him but also drag his body over to the side of the road as well as the truck? Keep in mind this is their truck. Yeah, I don't know whether or not a plot hole is particularly justified if its existence is necessary to move the plot forward, but then again these aren't particularly smart characters so I don't know.
If Pearce was able to catch up the bandits in their own abandoned truck at the very start of the film, shouldn't they have just traded back each other's vehicles anyway? Leaving that aside, if all Pearce really wanted from his car was the dead dog in the boot, why not simply ask for that? Leaving that aside, why would the bandits holding Pearce at gunpoint and threatening to kill him not just knock him out instead of killing him but also drag his body over to the side of the road as well as the truck? Keep in mind this is their truck. Yeah, I don't know whether or not a plot hole is particularly justified if its existence is necessary to move the plot forward, but then again these aren't particularly smart characters so I don't know.
Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil (Eli Craig, 2010) -
Hilarity ensues when the titular hillbillies (Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine, respectively) head up to their newly-acquired cabin in the woods at the same time that a group of college kids are taking a holiday. A clever enough inversion of the tired old "evil hillbilly" horror sub-genre where the kids constantly mistake the lead duo for sadistic murderers due to a series of unfortunate coincidences that aided by some good performances from Tudyk and Labine while the very black comedy has some great pay-offs, even if the central premise does prove a little thin over the course of its 90-minute running time. Sidenote: given the title, I was kind of disappointed the film didn't actually involve the leads squaring off against some horrible supernatural manifestation of pure evil (as opposed to a bunch of foolish college kids), but that disappointment soon dissipated.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Steven Chbosky, 2012) -
Passable enough young-adult fare about a high-school misfit (Logan Lerman) who eventually ends up falling in with the weird but likeable group of outsiders from his school and all the highs and lows that that entails. The performances are decent even if the characters are alternately over- and under-developed to suit the protagonist's narrative, and it's not exactly
terrible or anything but I guess in my case it didn't leave all that much of an impression. Maybe I was trying too hard to actively resist its effect. Don't take my rating that seriously.
Leaving Las Vegas (Mike Figgis, 1995) -
I watched this with the intention of seeing just what kind of acting Nicolas Cage did to win an Oscar. The narrative is simple enough - Cage is an alcoholic screenwriter who has relocated to Vegas in order to drink himself to death, befriending Elizabeth Shue's call-girl in the process. This narrative proves a bit too simple at times and the emphasis on character over plot doesn't always work. The visual and sonic style of the film also feels a bit like an unintentional parody of what constituted mid-1990s American independent cinema - jazz music all over the soundtrack, a slight case of overcranking, the fact that it's shot on extremely grainy 16mm stock, etc. Even so, the film does have its fair share of moments that cut close to the bone, especially during the film's extremely discomforting conclusion.
Insomnia (Christopher Nolan, 2002) -
Between the low-key success of
Memento and the blockbuster victory of
Batman Begins. Christopher Nolan remade a Norwegian thriller about a detective trying to solve a murder but being confounded by a variety of conflicts both internal and external. While it's entirely possible that the source film handles the severe moral ambiguity a bit better (wouldn't it?), this film works fine on its own. As the lead detective, Al Pacino delivers an appropriately weary performance devoid of his stereotypical theatrics, while Robin Williams steals every scene he's in (or not in, considering his phone calls to Pacino's character) with his darkly charismatic turn as the film's main villain. I personally reckon this film could've benefited from hiding his presence in the film as with Kevin Spacey in
Se7en, but that's just me. The jagged cinematic style also works in the film's favour, even if it does build to a somewhat unsurprising ending.
These Final Hours (Zak Hilditch, 2013) -
Decent yet underweight film where a freak firestorm is slowly engulfing the Earth's surface and will destroy Perth in 12 hours. The plot concerns one man's attempts to reach his friend's huge end-of-the-world party but this is complicated by his encounter with a lost little girl who just wants to find her father. It's got all the usual dark "end is nigh" kind of tropes - violent crime sprees, rampant hedonism, mercy killings, and so forth - and it has a little trouble padding out its eighty-minute running time, ultimately feeling a bit anticlimatic in the process. The same goes for the protagonist's whole redemption arc as he must decide whether or not to spend his last day on Earth partying himself to death or helping this little girl - you can probably tell what he picks by now, don't you? It has its positive qualities, though - the washed-out orange haze that envelops the film looks great in just about every shot, plus the film still maintains a degree of tension despite its foregone conclusion and familiar narrative.
Under the Skin (Jonathon Glazer, 2013) -
Quite possibly the most unsettling film I've seen all year. The central narrative, such as there is one, involves Scarlett Johansson as an alien who uses her attractive external appearance in order to lure unassuming male humans to their demise as part of some unspecified but undoubtedly nefarious alien scheme. Though the artistic vibe of the film means that a lot of important details get lost in the name of keeping the film vague, I don't think that works against the film all that much. The film is constantly jarring in a way that stops you truly getting used to it, evoking all sorts of nightmarish feelings, whether it's the surreal scenes that explicitly reference the film's alien nature or more mundane scenes that are no less troubling (case in point - the beach scenes). Even so, there's not enough to justify the film being about 100 minutes or so - this film could've been at least 10-15 minutes shorter without losing significant effect. Also props to the score, which can make the repetiton of the same four notes sound like the soundtrack to a fever dream.
Birdemic: Shock and Terror (James Nguyen, 2010) -
(Camp value:
)
Good God, so this is
Birdemic, huh? A relatively new entry to the "worst films ever made" canon thanks to its extremely poor quality,
Birdemic spends half its running time being a half-baked romance film about software salesman Rod and aspiring model Nathalie before abruptly shifting into the "killer bird" movie that the title promised. Even considered how a lot of its shortcomings can be attributed to a practically nonexistent budget, this is still an incredibly incompetent film. The acting is awful, the sound quality is terrible (I saw this in a theatre and the sounds of both machine gun fire and bird screeching are hell on the eardrums - that's without mentioning the inconsistent quality of the ambient noise that frequently drops in and out of hearing), the special effects are notoriously ridiculous, the writing is especially terrible...and so on, and so forth. I could list each individual facet of the filmmaking process and the only thing that would change would be the synonym for "bad" that I used to describe each one. Even so, it's borderline-essential. You think you've seen the worst film ever made? watch this and see just how much weight your claim holds. (Just to clarify - the only reason I don't give this a
is because I save those for genuinely despicable films lacking in any redeeming features, and
Birdemic, for its countless flaws, at least manages to make up for some of them by being hilariously awful).
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