Films of 2022

Full-disclosure: I’m at a pub on a lazy Sunday afternoon and I doubt I’ll stay up late enough to watch the Oscar’s tonight. They don’t start ‘til 1am here and, based on my start this afternoon, that is far too many Guinness’s from now. So if my spelling or grammar struggles, especially deep into these ramblings, blame Arthur. 

I wasn’t going to write these this year, and instead I’ve been working on a pitch to, instead of the current awards season which is mired by recency bias, virtue-signaling and studios putting their thumb on the scale, having a film Hall of Fame with a take on NFL rules (or, more accurately the Rock-and-Roll Hall, but I have a lot of issues with them so I’m using Football), where there is a healthy gap of time before we judge the best and most influential films of a given year. But that’s for another rant. 

Anyway, I actually got around to seeing a lot of films in this past year and people are correctly labeling 2022 as a bounce-back year for film, both in quality and box office. So I wanted to give my thoughts on a handful of them. 

Another quick note: I did not see the Avatar movie. I have spent the last 14 years not understanding the infatuation with the first one and I have zero interest in the second. How these films are two of the top grossing films ever and yet I’ve never met anyone that gives two craps about them is a mystery. 

Loosely based, worst to first… here we go… 

Everything Everywhere all at once

I… didn’t love this film. It’s not great. I know that is probably not currently allowed, but I’m in Dublin and good luck sending the genre film-culture police after me. 

Both Michelle Yeoh and Short Round/Data are both fantastic in this film. I can’t take anything away from them, because they gave great, deep performances in a ridiculous and uneven film. But I can’t pretend this isn’t a messy, often abrasive film where, the scenes that work best are often derivative and predictable, and the scenes that try and be truly original (hotdog fingers I’m looking at you) range from really nothing special, to outright terrible. Normally I might not be so hard on a film like this, because expectations for a comedy/ sci-fi mashup wouldn’t be so high, but this is the current favorite to win Best Picture. And in a strong year too. If it does win, this one will quickly be lumped in with Green Book, The Shape of Water, Slumdog Millionaire and Crash as the recent mulligans the academy wished they could play back.

Top Gun Maverick

The best unintentional satirical comedy of the year. This is a 2+ hour advertisement for a fictional military where defying orders is met with constant reward and promotion, shot in a parody style of the bombastic Bruckheimer action films of the eighties and nineties. They use high pitch guitar riffs and Highway to the Danger-zone un-ironically throughout the soundtrack. The millennial pilots all bully each other and act like they were taught in the William Zabka school of 1980’s performing arts. And they all know every word to the very current classic by Jerry Lee Lewis, Great Balls of Fire. 

The special effects are as good as advertised and I am a sucker for traditional, practical effects. And the film deserves the praise it gets there. But besides that… 

Cruise’s Maverick leads them into Durkadurkastan where there are absolutely no consequences for anyone and no stakes whatsoever. If they had just leaned into this and had a digitally de-aged Zabka play Hangman and maybe the principal from The Breakfast Club play John Hamm’s character, shaking his fist in the air at Maverick’s antics, this one would get the chefs kiss.

The Fabelmans 

Far too many people that I like and respect the opinions of have praised this film, so it cannot just be a self-indulgent, autobiographical ego-stroke attempting to mythologize Spielberg’s own upbringing. 

So I expected some sort of self-deprecating or brilliant twist to come. Something dark and unexpected and affirming of my thought that this couldn’t be a straight forward biopic. 

It never came. It really is just a film about his youth. And it just doesn’t work. His experience and his success is just too unique to make relatable in any way. 

It is beautiful shot and the acting is superb (Paul Dano and Judd Hirsch are particular standouts), and it has an absolutely fantastic surprise cameo that happens in, by far, the best scene in the film. But it isn’t enough. 

This was just not Spielberg’s film to make. In thirty years, if someone came along and wanted to make a biopic about his life and the recipe to what kind of upbringing makes a great director, that would be fine. But this is just an awkward football spike that doesn’t land. 

The Menu

This type of dark, satirical comedy seems tailor made for people like me. And there is a lot to like about this film, like the predictably fantastic performance by Ralph Fiennes and the great set design. But there is an angry unpleasantness to this film that goes beyond dark and satirical. It tries too hard to force the point of the film down the throat of the audience. And the topical identity politics tropes shoehorned into the film only weaken the service-class warfare themes and make them feel less earned. 

I liked this film, don’t get me wrong. It’s just that I should have loved it. 

The Whale 

I think Darren Aronofsky is arguably the most interesting filmmaker working today. I’ll happily see anything he directs. And The Whale is absolutely worth seeing for yourself, if only for the fantastic performance by Brendan Fraser, the insane makeup and prosthetics and the impressive camera work that makes a film where 99% of the setting is the living room of a small Idaho apartment never seem repetitive. 

The biggest criticism I can levy against this film, which is based on a play of the same name, is that it feels more like a play than a film. Aronofsky adds some body-horror elements, the score is great and some of the close-up camera work captures performances that you can’t get on the stage, but this story is made for a theater. Even the structure, where the protagonist has absolutely no character arc, makes it feel less like a film. His journey took place before the film starts, and we get a rare glimpse of a fringe member in our society who is past the point of change. The humanity, which is the focus and why this story is so compelling, is in the changes he creates in the small handful of people in his life. 

The Banshees of Inisherin 

I loved this film but I am definitely surprised by it’s overall success. If you went into this expecting a dark comedy like In Bruges, I’m guessing you were somewhat surprised. The dark is still there, but the comedy is much more nuanced. 

On paper this film is a tough sell: two friends “break-up” in an isolated, quiet community that devolves into junior-high drama and gossip, set adjacent to the Irish civil war. But it is acted and done so well that it is uniquely amazing. Both Farrell and Gleason play their rolls, jumping between comedic timing and high drama so fluidly you can’t believe they are working from a script. They feel so natural. If Martin McDonagh does nothing but this genre and with these actors for his whole career, it would be a life well spent. 

Living

This film surprised me in many ways. I expected a great performance from Nighy and a great script from Ishiguro. That’s what all the buzz around this film was saying clearly, and they were both great. I didn’t expect it to be so close of an adaptation or Kurosawa’s Ikiru (I saw that film 23 years ago but can still confidently say it was very close to the source material). But it was also a very accurate period piece, not just for the setting, 50’s London, but the style of film coming out at the time. The art design and cinematography are phenomenal.

It also manages to lean into some of the ideas Ishiguro is known for, like the dignity of work, regret and memory, which are present in Ikiru and I’m sure is what drew him to want to create this film in the first place. 

It was highly likely that I would enjoy this film. I didn’t expect it to be, arguably, one of the best films I saw all year. And if this year hadn’t been so strong, this would have been the best film. It certainly would have been in the last few years.

 Tár

A couple points to make… This is a film, start to finish, that is about control and the power that comes with it. If someone tries to tell you it is just about #metoo, a complaint about cancel culture, identity politics or anything else then they are missing the plot entirely. The next point is, this is the best performance of the year by far. Maybe in the last 10 years. We’re in Daniel Plainview from There Will Be Blood territory here. If Cate Blanchett (when Cate Blanchett, sadly) doesn’t win an academy award for this film it will be an indictment of these awards and the probable final nail in the coffin for me to ever take them seriously again. 

I… love this film. And it is everything that film used to be able to capture. Deeply flawed, equally admirable (if not more so… again, send the police after me) human characters in a very interesting, human story. And personally, I find it somewhat comforting when great artists are found to be lacking in other areas in life. You should have to sacrifice something for that passion and genius. Maybe the best and ballsiest thing about this film is that it is from Tár’s perspective. The women she “groomed” are shown to have happily excepted the leg(s) up until things turned on them (sorry for the bad pun, I’ve had a few pints). It’s a fascinating and deeply engaging take… a downward spiral that is earned, at times funny, and still heartbreaking because of the gutsy point-of-view. And it is a welcome reminder that the function of a film, and Art in general, is not to pander to the current moral prime-directive, but to show unique and captivating perspectives and to push the boundaries on how we see the world. 

Aftersun

Nothing is told, everything is hinted at, and the story is so devastatingly clear. This is a blueprint for future filmmakers. It is insanely personal and specific, which can sometimes weaken a film if the audience can’t relate to the characters, but through the absolutely fantastic performances from the two leads and through the absolutely brilliant visual cues from the director and DP (a blend of home-video nostalgia and soft-filtered, sun drenched memories) this film completely immerses you in this time and place. I loved this film. It feels honest and earnest. It is everything film can aspire to as an art form and everything that big spectacle blockbusters can never be. 

This may not be the film to fix the theater crisis and to bring audiences back in droves, but sometimes sparking passion in people to want to make their own artwork is just as, or more, valuable. No one sees Top Gun and thinks “hey I can do that!”, sparking a passion for filmmaking. But this film, Aftersun, I believe could spark the next generation of great artists and the next wave of passionate, personal future films. 

Anywho… there they are. You probably disagree completely and that’s fine. Film is somewhat subjective like all art. Let me know what you think, about this list, great films I may have missed, or just about the future of the medium. 

I’m at my fourth pub since I started copy-pasting my manic notes on each film and trying to turn them into something that makes sense (though the majority was done at The Old Storehouse in Temple Bar, a fantastic little pub where I have spent a significant amount of time this weekend. But I digress). Ireland beat the Scots in Six Nations, though there were some losses to injury, but the locals went wild nonetheless. 

Thanks for reading,

Ryan

Top films of the decade

I wasn’t going to write this.

For a great many reasons.

Just to name a handful of them: 

• As other obligations have popped up, I don’t think I have kept up enough with films to rightly judge the crop from each year, which is the main reason I stopped writing reviews. I went from watching 50-100 films a year down to 20 or less. That really isn’t a fair sample size. 

• There are now thousands of lists like these to choose from online. I’ve read dozens of them and for the most part, agree with none. That just cements the subjective nature of film and art. And it makes me realize that anyone reading these reviews are most likely disagreeing with most of my assertions (which has always been apparent from the comments) 

• Film is dying. At least, the form of art we have recognized as film over the last century, is dying and will be reborn as something I can’t quite imagine just yet. If you don’t believe me try and make a list of the best comedies of the last 10 years. The reason I mention comedies is simply because they are probably the most effected by the rise of episodic, bingeable television slowly replacing movies over the last 10-15 years. But really it is every genre across the board. The best, most artful visual storytelling over the past two decades has come in the form of television. So much so, I almost bent the rules to force in what would have easily been my number 1 pick and feels more like an 18 hour movie broken up in parts instead of 18 individual episodes - Twin Peaks: the Return. 

But I did write this, because some of these thoughts wouldn’t stop rattling around in my head. That said, this isn’t going to be the usual drawn-out conversation with myself, and compared with the list I wrote a decade ago, this will be a brief and easy read. As I mentioned above, I missed a lot of good films over the last few years, so it is entirely possible that I just did not see a film you love as opposed to thinking it was lesser than any of the films I am going to mention. 

Just to mention a few films I really loved:

Lady Bird 

Shame 

Inside Llewyn Davis 

The Wolf of Wall Street 

Mad Max Fury Road 

Boyhood 

Molly’s Game

Spotlight 

Steve Jobs 

Ex Machina

Les Miserables

The Revenant

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs 

Blade Runner 2049 (shave 20 minutes of awkward pauses off this film and it might have been top-5)
12 Years a Slave

Anyway, here we go...

The Tree of Life:

I am an unapologetic Terrence Malick fan. When this film first came out I thought it was such a groundbreaking, visionary piece of filmmaking because it felt so personal and unique. And it was. But it is sort of the reverse of how I feel about the Cohen Bros early films like Blood Simple and Miller’s Crossing (which I just watched again for the first time in over 25 years. It really holds up), where having seen the trajectory of where their careers went afterward, I understood the tone and style of those early films better and came to enjoy them more. With Malick, the unique style of The Tree of Life simply became how he made films throughout the decade. I still enjoy them, especially To the Wonder and Knight of Cups, but with each one, it makes The Tree of Life feel somehow less personal and special.

Into the Spider-verse: 

I am late to the game on this one, as I finally saw it far after it had become a phenomenon. But oh boy is this a special film. Just the pacing, look and message of this film are so fantastic, you immediately let go of all your biases that come with watching a cartoon superhero movie. This is a really great achievement and sets an impossibly high bar for sequels and for what films like this can, and should, be.

The Social Network: 

Aaron Sorkin, David Fincher, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross were not going to make a bad film. But somehow, combining these elements that do not seem to be an intuitive mix, made for something really fantastic that seemed to mirror perfectly the dark ironies and hypocrisies that make up social media today. This film felt a little too topical at the time of its release, where I didn’t think it would age very well, but as the world becomes a lot less social, I think society looks more and more like these characters every day.

Beasts of the Southern Wild: 

So, like a lot of people, I’ve read a whole lot of “Best of the Decade” list over the last few months, and this film was consistently absent even though at the time it was released it was widely praised. I’m not sure what happened to make people forget about this great little jewel of a film, but I’m going to prop it up right where it should be, amongst the best films of the last ten years. For me, the comparisons to Days of Heaven certainly don’t hurt this film, as both strive to show the wonder and rollercoaster of emotions that come with seeing the world through the eyes of a young child as they wrestle with confusing and complex adult concepts. And for both films, the unique and specific time and setting magnify the experience. If this film did manage to fall through the cracks, I highly recommend seeking it out and experiencing it for yourself. 

Inception: 

Ten years ago, if you had asked me to bet on what film Christopher Nolan will be most remembered for or what film you immediately think of when the directors name is mentioned, I would have thought that when the dust settles, that film would have been Memento. It is rare that somebody, in a good way and not for some heinous crime, can reinvent the myth of their own celebrity. But, after several heady action set pieces amplified by some really intense Hans Zimmer scores, Inception has come to be the purest example of Christopher Nolan’s genre-defying, epic filmmaking.   

The Grand Budapest Hotel: 

I still think that The Royal Tenenbaums is probably Wes Anderson’s best film, but the Grand Budapest Hotel is the most pure, unfiltered example of his style and my personal favorite. It is short, funny, gorgeously shot and designed and features a few fantastic performances. None more spectacular and hilarious than Ralph Fiennes M. Gustave, easily one of the most underrated and best performances of the decade.

Midnight in Paris: 

One of two films I can’t seem to look away from when they are on, and yet still manage to pop in the Blu-ray far too often for someone who complains about not having time to watch new films. I have seen this film, start to finish, an embarrassing amount of times. It effortlessly captures the myth of Paris and the faults that lie in impersonal nostalgia. Funny, clever and extremely self-aware, I don’t see myself getting sick of this film any time soon. 

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy:

The other film I have watched so many times throughout this past decade. And every time I notice something, often very subtle but brilliant, that I never picked up on before. This is one of the best, most pure adaptations of a great novel that exists in cinema. It has an all-star cast that somehow manages to never overwhelm and features some absolutely fantastic performances. Gary Oldman has completely replaced how I see George Smiley in the novels. This is a film that, for me, represents the best that a spy-thriller can aspire to. It commands your attention and leaves you lost in a fog of confusion if you take your eye off the bouncing ball. Given the star power and rising salaries that came out of this film, I know it would be hard to get the surviving cast back for the sequels, but I am still holding out hope. 

Black Swan: 

Nobody does a tense downward spiral and emotional implosion quiet like Darren Aronofsky and Clint Mansel. A decade later and I still love every aspect of this film. It is a rollercoaster that manages to portray every benign motion as an act of absolute violence. It takes all of our notions of ballet and converts them into a gritty, grimy, industrial world where fierce Darwinism sets the stage for a thrilling and infectious psychological transformation. A film that would make this list in any decade, and thinking about it now, I am surprising myself that it is not my number 1. 

Birdman:

Looking back on this list it is easy to think that I value originality over other aspects of quality. I’ve never been someone who believes in prioritizing the oedipal nature of art, but after decades of great films that follow traditional structures and narratives, it is hard to stand out from the pack without leaning into new and uncharted territory. Birdman certainly is very original. It felt like nothing I had ever experienced. But the structure and story of both Birdman and Black Swan are very similar; they are both very personal, singular viewpoints of an artist spiraling out of control for both their art and for their desperate need of acceptance. So it is not necessarily the originality that drew me to these excellent films, but the very personal perspective into crisis and drama. Where Black Swan was thrilling and tense, Birdman was clever, funny and so insanely immersive. The way it is shot and edited, with long winding, seamless scenes, moving throughout the narrow confines of the backstage of a theater production, along with the jazz drum beat soundtrack, create a very purposeful style and emotion and really showed the range of what can still be achieved in cinema. And hopefully this film will be a beacon for where film can go to and survive for the next decade.

Thanks for reading my nonsensical ramblings. This was fun and helped fill a serious lack in discussion and conversation. Cheers.

   

Films of 2015

Way back in 1994 I got into an argument over the Oscars. It was really the first year I felt invested in the outcomes and realized I cared about the consensus, both public and within the industry, of which films were elevated to the status of art and regarded as the best of that year. That year it was a battle between Forest Gump and Pulp Fiction for most people, with a small, much lesser known film, The Shawshank Redemption, being thrown about in whispers of a possible upset. Looking back, I can objectively state that the Academy got it backwards, with Gump getting the trophy, Fiction coming in second place and Shawshank getting beat by both, as well as Quiz Show and Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Nothing motivates like injustice.

That was 21 years ago, and I have tried my best to see the nominees and form and educated opinion ever since. But this year, 2015, I am sad to say I just couldn’t make the time. I have never been busier in my life and, while I have managed to see a lot of films in the last few weeks to try and feel caught up, I don’t think it is fair to do these lists without seeing a much larger portion of the field.

In other words, this will not be a full review. More of a comment on the films I saw, what stood out to me and where I see the industry going.

2015 was a decent year for film in both quality and returns. The flagship franchises and sequels are very clearly the driving force in the industry and where all the money is. But some original films still managed to get some traction and notoriety. And, as usual, those original films, like last year’s Birdman, rise to the very top for me.

Of the films I didn’t get to see, and there are too many to really list, some of the big surprises had to do with timing and reviews. I like to see a film early and form an opinion without being swayed by reviews, but this year they were hard to avoid.

Like Joy, the latest David O. Russell film collaboration with Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Robert Deniro and the rest of his recurring cast. Joy was panned quickly, and having personally really disliked American Hustle, it was all too easy to put this film at the bottom of the list of priorities.

Sicario, while getting decent reviews, just never gained enough attention or enthusiasm to drive me to see it above so many other deserving films (This is what I usually rally against, because great films often fall through the cracks. I could have easily skipped 2012’s Beasts of the Southern Wild for the same reason and I believe it was the best film of that year).

Charlie Kaufman’s Anomalisa also suffered a similar fate. It looked bizarre, as most of his films can be, but in less of an interesting way. The polarizing reviews, often a sign of genius, for some reason let me off the hook.

The Hateful Eight is one I will see at some point. It didn’t look great and the reviews that said Tarantino is verging into self-parody nudged this one to the back of the list.

Black Mass was a great book, but Johnny Depp in bad make-up and contacts gave me an excuse to see something else.

Concussion looked depressing, wasn’t going to sway me away from watching Football or make me hate Roger Goodell any more than I already do, and Will Smith’s Nigerian accent didn’t sell.

I will see Carol in the next week or so, particularly if it does well at the Oscars. It looks good and both actresses can usually get me to the theatre.

Same goes for The Danish Girl. Tom Hooper is a great director and while the subject matter is uncomfortable, all emotion is fair game in art.

Room will immediately follow those two, as I have heard nothing but fantastic things.

Finally, Creed, which I guess I have to see for myself. I have not seen the last couple Rocky films, and don’t really feel I need to. I love the first film. The next few veer off into 80’s action movie territory and are a lot of fun, but not the type you put on the short list for the Academy.

I will hopefully see these films eventually, but it gets and harder and harder each year to make time.

On to the quick and dirty reviews.

 

Bridge of Spies:

Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg set out to make a nostalgic, Rockwellian Cold War picture that is nothing like the John le Carré-esque thriller it advertises itself to be. The Grandfatherly retelling is as cliché and saccharine sweet as you would expect if you were hearing it told to a 4-year-old. Spielberg wants so badly to be the modern Norman Rockwell, but Rockwell’s architypes worked for a mid-twentieth century audience and their exposure to the world. In a globalized, information-at-your-fingertips society, this type of storytelling comes off at disingenuous and lacking any real depth.

I have to assume it was nominated for Best Picture on Spielberg’s name alone.

 

The Big Short:

I liked this film a lot, like most people according to the reviews. It has a good cast and follows an interesting story.

It is an insanely frustrating event and the specifics of the housing bubble really needed to be told. But all the clever ways of trying to explain and give exposition throughout become somewhat tiresome by the third or fourth time they try the old ‘Pope in the Pool’ trick (Margot Robbie in a bubble bath was a nice touch though).

Most of the cast plays it up and borders on comedic caricature or doubles down on smug hindsight. But Christian Bale plays it straight and absolutely crushes it, giving by far the best performance, and somewhat saving the film for me.

The Martian:

An uplifting and enjoyable movie.

Beyond that, it was far from perfect and suffered from what so many adaptations do, a balance of the source material vs what is transferable to the current medium. The tug-of-war Ridley Scott went through is right there on the screen, wanting to be an isolated, Cast Away tale of a man adrift on a rock in space, but having to maintain the richness and story of the cast on earth and on the ship that is meant to rescue him. Personally, I would have rather they cut the ensemble and went all in on the emotional journey of Matt Damon’s astronaut. Of the side players, only Chiwetel Ejiofor manages to be interesting, while Jeff Daniels plays a NASA version of Will McAvoy and Jessica Chastain stares out a window.

For future notice, if Ridley Scott is going to do a movie with a deep-space, Sci-Fi edge, I want to see more mood and atmosphere and less quips. Think Blade Runner and Alien. But I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy ride.

 

Brooklyn:

A very cute romance film, well-acted and produced, capturing the period aspect of both Ireland and New York in the late 40’s and early 50’s. Underneath some of the crowd pleasing schmaltz, there is a poignant film about immigration and expanding your perception of the world, particularly your concept of “Home”. That, and Saoirse Ronan are the reasons this film works and has gathered so much acclaim.

What surprises me though is the Best Picture nominee. This filmed seemed more targeted to the teen-romance crowd, leaning more towards The Notebook and less so to An Education. This is more a criticism of John Crowley than Nick Hornby, who continues to write great stories.

Mad Max: Fury Road:

Maybe the most metal film ever up on the big screen. All the more so that it is thirty years out from when that genre was anything but a short-lived fashion trend. The cocaine fueled mania of that era is played to perfection here and reminds me of Evil Dead II as much as it does the previous Mad Max entries.

This film is glorious in every visual sense. Loud, sharp, gorgeous and grotesque, it is hard to look away from the screen. But, the reason this film is elevated beyond your regular popcorn sequel is that everyone plays it serious. There is no tongue-in-cheek or self-deprecating camp to be found.

This film was a very pleasant surprise and a huge reboot for the series.

 

Macbeth:

Hail Macbeth, a wonderful visual companion to celebrate the weird and horrific qualities of the Scottish Play, Shakespeare’s dark and violent masterpiece. Between The Revenant, Mad Max: Fury Road and this, it was a good year for masculinity. Like Mad Max, this is a film that is soft spoken but carries a big stick.

It assumes you know the language and smaller moments and panders to the back row from the start. Bloody, moody, violent and weird, this is a feast for the eyes, with Throne of Blood’s influence is felt throughout.

Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard are both fantastic and are able to say more with a glance than with any monologue of exposition.

This one seemed to fall through the cracks for a lot of people, which is a shame.

Spotlight:

Journalism and the ethics surrounding it fascinate me.

From The Newsroom to All the President’s Men, stories about the rights and wrongs within the press are compelling, human stories. And now, at the absolute depths of journalistic integrity, with the reality television slash consumer advertisements we call the 24-hour news cycle, stories like this one are more important than ever. Journalists, standing up and going against the overwhelming majority of their readers and target audience, is a hard thing to expect these days. Today, if you don’t like a particular reality, you can change the channel to one that fits your pre-conceived notion of how things are. This is a story that feels modern and current, but I’m not sure things would have played out the same way now. Now, if you don’t like the alterations climate change could potentially make to your life, you can choose not to believe in it despite all facts to the contrary, because you can find a channel or website with people who will support and agree with you. The earth can be flat if you want it to be.

Maybe this story, about a small group of lapsed Catholics daring to dig into the shadowy and terrible world of the church that means the world to their already shrinking readership in the early days of the internet, is the last breadth of journalism as a significant cause and balance within our society.

Spotlight is a wonderful film, filled with great performances and artistic decisions. It is an onion, peeled back layer after layer, from the awkward gulps of the characters as they first confront, somewhat unwillingly, the horrors that made and make up this systemic atrocity here in Boston as well as the rest of the world, to the eventual cause they are willingly to go to battle for.

There are hard choices in this film, and the empathy that comes with that, putting yourself in those positions and questioning yourself, is what good film making and character development is all about.

Great film and worthy of its place on the shelf right next to All the President’s Men as the gold standard of journalism films.

 

Ex Machina:

Debating about a film is why I like to do these reviews. Most of the time it is about the execution of a film, the acting and visuals, etc.  But every once in a while a film comes along and gives you so much information, or sometimes plays it vague with room to interpret, that you begin to argue the point and story and character motivations and who really wore the black hats. And this is so much more fun.

Many people who have seen Ex-Machina probably didn’t see it this way. From the start, the questions were pouring in much faster than the answers could develop. The anxiety of this film, from the constant feel as if you are the rat the maze, makes the motivations of each character all the more important. The dominos start falling though and it happens so fast, that the divine intervention as promised by the title is hard to understand with just one viewing.

Without delving into too many spoilers, I will just say, pay attention. This is not a film you can half-watch or come in and out of. It is a unique and ponders some really significant questions. And it is a flex of the muscles by many of the talent involved, from Alex Garland to Alicia Vikander and especially Oscar Isaac.

A little bit Frankenstein, a little bit Blade Runner, this is a film that will only grow in its cult following for years to come.

The Revenant:

So, so close to being perfect. This film, simple and focused and daring, could have been one of the best of the decade except for a couple minor flaws. Moments I’m guessing are more studio intrusion than director’s decisions. This film, in a year of visual, violent and masculine films, takes the cake.

If you don’t want to pack a bag and head to Alaska after seeing this, regardless of the unforgiving and brutal nature depicted, then we are very different people.

I loved this film and was frustrated by it at the same time. I can’t tell you my frustration without ruining the film, so just see it if you haven’t already. It is absolutely worth your time.

Part Dances with Wolves, part The Thin Red Line with quite a bit of Unforgiven mixed in, this was an ambitious and wonderful piece of film history.

DiCaprio will most likely win best actor for this, and it is deserving, but the one thing that may hold him back is, really, he is not even the best performance in this film. That belongs to Tom Hardy.

I could go on and on about this on for a while, so I will stop myself here. But I would be happy to discuss this film further if you are curious or have a strong point of view.

 

Steve Jobs:

I am an unapologetic Aaron Sorkin fan. And not a huge fan of Apple. It wasn’t Jobs himself that drew me to this film, but the structure and actors and crew that made it so appealing. But I left with a newfound appreciation for the subject.

And that is why I don’t like biopics.

Here is a powerful, interesting view into a complex person’s life. It shows his strengths, his flaws and defines him as human. And everyone complained about it. Society has decreed: biopics have to be overly complimentary and show the subject as next to Christ. If they had a tough life, it’s because everyone else screwed them along the way. And that is why these films are mostly crap. Especially if they are recently posthumous.

The format of the film, a real-time cut of 3 different product launches over 14 years, shows the famous Apple CEO in his element. It is wonderfully acted, with two of my favorite performances of the year being Fassbender’s and the always phenomenal Kate Winslet’s. Danny Boyle directs Sorkin’s script in a way where his fast paced dialogue seems completely real and natural for the characters.

A great film, and one I am surprised hasn’t gotten more attention.

 

That's it. Sorry for the abridged version this year.

Best Picture
Should Win: The Revenant
Will Win: The Revenant



Best Director
Should Win: Alejandro González Iñárritu for The Revenant
Will Win: Richard Linklater for The Revenant.





Best Actor
Should Win: Leonardo DiCaprio
Will Win: Leonardo DiCaprio





Best Actress
Should Win: I can't say. I did not see enough of the films.
Will Win: Sadly, I have seen so few of these that I should not comment. If I had to guess though, brie Larson.





Supporting Actor
Should Win: By Far the toughest category. Mark Rufalo, Tom Hardy, Christian Bale and Oscar Isaac gave the 4 best performances this year, all in supporting roles. If I had to choose one, I would probably go with Rufalo or Hardy, because Isaac wasn't nominated.
Will Win: I haven't seen Creed, but it looks like Stallone could win this.





Supporting Actress
Should Win: I really hope Kate Winslet wins this one. She was great. But I haven't seen The Danish Girl. I also thought Rachel McAdams was great in Spotlight.
Will Win: Alicia Vikander.





Adapted Screenplay
Should Win: I can't route for The Martian because I think it should have gone another direction. The Revenant or Brooklyn would be good choices. How Steve Jobs wasn't nominated is beyond me.
Will Win: The Big Short





Original Screenplay
Should Win: Ex-Machina

Will Win: It barely fits the category, but Spotlight.

Cinematography

Should Win: The Revenant

Will Win: The Revenant

Editing

Should Win: Spotlight or Mad Max

Will Win: Spotlight

Original Score

Should Win: I haven't seen The Hateful Eight, but I am openly pulling for Ennio Morricone.

Will Win: Ennio Morricone

And again, I could go on to Make-up, costumes etc, but those are secondary in my opinion. And I really hate the Animated film category.


That's all folks. Thanks as always,


Ryan Black
2/27/2016