Men, Women & Children (2014)

5/5

Jason Reitman's latest film is an utterly absorbing, thought-provoking film. It is a movie about kids growing up and couples growing apart, about technology and communication, and about interaction and isolation. An ensemble drama, it follows several threads: a husband (Sandler) and wife (DeWitt) who start cheating on each other, a mother (Garner) who safeguards her daughter (Dever) from the dangers of the Internet, another mother (Greer) who seems to do the opposite, and a high schooler (Elgort) who gives up football for online gaming.

The topic of technology leading to isolation has been done before (the aptly-titled Disconnect tackles the issue exceptionally well). But Men, Women & Children is not about technology. It is about coming of age in modern society. And it teaches us all about that in devastating, funny, touching ways. The title tells you the focus of the film; it is about the individuals that make up society, not the technology. Each story feels heartfelt and true, rich with subtext and hidden meaning. The performances are subtle, with big names playing small roles. Despite restrained acting, the movie does occasionally veer into melodrama. But on the whole, it reflects life accurately in both tone and color.

People will talk about this movie for its depiction of technology, because everything is replicated with precision. The UI is spot-on, whether we're looking at Facebook on a computer or a text message on an iPhone. Even the sounds of notifications ring true to our 21st century ear. But Reitman takes it one step further. The way he shows technology is itself a comment on technology. Screens pop up and overlay the action with every bowed head. They may sit in the background, but they never go away. As audience members, we find our eyes drawn to the neighbors' Twitter feed instead of the protagonists' actions. Is this how we live now, looking down everytime we feel a buzz when something else is going on right in front of our very eyes?

The big problem with being so pixel-perfect is that it securely sets Men, Women & Children in this time and place. User interfaces and interaction metaphors change at an ultrafast pace, which may date this movie just 6 months from now. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I think I'll have a very different perspective watching this movie 20 years from now. Not just because the change in technology will make this movie look and feel old, but because life will have happened to me. I will start to recognize the nuance in characters' motivations; I will be hit harder by the mistakes they make and touched more profoundly by the affection they show. And that's what this movie gets so right. That's why I can't wait to watch this movie again: 20 years from now and hopefully many times in between.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3179568/

Dallas Buyers Club (2013)

4/5

Dallas Buyers Club is a truly phenomenal piece of filmmaking and a truly remarkable work of art. It sets its story in the early AIDS epidemic, when AIDS was stigmatized as a "gay disease" and effective therapy was just starting to hit clinical trials. Matthew McConaughey plays a young homophobic man whose life is turned upside down when he finds out he may die in a month from AIDS. Unable to take part in an AZT trial and concerned that the drug itself may make patients sicker, he goes on a quest to bring non-FDA-approved drugs across the border into the US to sell to people who have no other options. Surprisingly, the medicine feels accurate and true in a way most movies get wrong, from simple turns of phrase to minor background details. And although the specific details of the story are dated, the FDA approval process feels just as frustrating now as it must have been then.

The movie is filled with tour de force performances from McConaughey and Leto. They embody evocative and tender portraits of imperfect humans doing the best they can in an unfair world. It is heartbreaking watching their trials and tribulations, their successes and failures, their joys and their miseries. They give unforgettable (Oscar-winning) performances. The directing undeniably places artistic tendencies first, treating every shot and scene as creative canvases instead of necessary storytelling elements. It has the occasional misstep and hollow ring to it, even bordering on the melodramatic from time to time, but it's so good that it's easy to forget its imperfections. Dallas Buyers Club is a fantastic film

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0790636/

The Odd Life of Timothy Green (2012)

3/5

The Odd Life of Timothy Green is a fairly benign family film. The plot follows Cindy (Garner) and Tim Green (Edgerton), a young infertile couple. The movie starts after another unsuccessful attempt at pregnancy. Distraught, they drive home barely talking to each other. To cheer themselves up, they allow themselves to dream up the perfect child. They write down the six characteristics they would see in their child, put the papers in a box, and bury the box in the yard. Magically, a ten-year-old boy named Timothy (Adams) sprouts out of the ground and into their lives.

All the technical aspects of the film, from acting to shooting to editing, are satisfactory enough not to stand out. The movie is honestly quite silly. But the plot is merely a device to allow the characters to learn about life, love, and parenting. Despite that, there are so many extraneous scenes to explain the plot instead of digging in to meatier thematics. It actually held a lot of potential with its simple metaphor, but the director chose to go for trite tropes rather than intellectually-stimulating concepts. Still, it's a saccharine story with attractive actors and colorful cinematography and is perfectly fine for afternoon filmgoing. It just isn't as good as it could be.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1462769/

Valentine's Day (2010)

3/5

Uhh, I have no idea why Valentine's Day has been getting such terrible reviews, but it is utterly undeserving of such negativity. It was a fine romantic comedy, equal parts predictable (Kutcher and Garner) and equal parts unpredictable (Cooper and Roberts). It had cliches, but it also had surprises. (Perhaps the biggest surprise is that Ashton Kutcher plays a charismatic hero with aplomb and sympathy.) And it made me laugh and smile, which is exactly what it set out to do.

The plot is too complicated to type out here (or maybe I just don't remember all the details), but that doesn't really matter. Just know that it's about a bunch of men and women who get into and out of relationships on Valentine's Day. The technical aspects are nothing to write home about. The characters were simple but the acting was good. Some of the stories were not as good as some of the others, but the ones that were good were very good. There was some repetition and it felt just a tad too long, but all in all it was a solid romantic comedy. Watch this movie if you're interested in it; I don't think you'll be disappointed.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0817230/

The Invention of Lying (2009)

3/5

Ricky Gervais's The Invention of Lying is a fairly entertaining movie that took its clever premise in a direction I had no idea was coming. The plot started off in a contrived world where not only does everyone tell the truth, but they say what's on their mind regardless of other people's company. It made for some good moments in the beginning (for example, what's on the mind of two people on a semi-blind date, what the waitstaff is thinking when they serve you your food, etc.) but it quickly grew old and tired. And just in time, Ricky Gervais's character somehow inexplicably discovers how to lie and takes advantage of it. One day his mother is on her deathbed and he comes up with the idea of heaven to cheer her up. From there on out it becomes a completely different movie that I can't really say I was ready for.

The best part of the movie was its special guest appearances, from Philip Seymour Hoffman to Jason Bateman. They were always completely unexpected and entirely hilarious. The second best part was that the concession stand people accepted my expired coupon for a large popcorn and drink, which was most likely the cause of the single worst part about the moviegoing experience. My bladder filled up to an amount I cannot remember it ever filling up to in my 23 year existence about 30 minutes into the 90 minute movie. I tried holding out for that last hour, squirming in my seat, but after 45 minutes I simply couldn't take it any longer and skipped about 2-3 minutes of the movie to pee. It was glorious. But that middle 45 minutes were the worst. Anyway, the movie's style of humor is pretty close to what it appears in the trailer, but its view on religion may either intrigue or offend you. If you like Ricky Gervais and you're not particularly religious or you're not easily offended, then you may enjoy this movie immensely.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1058017/

Juno (2007)

5/5

Jason Reitman's Juno is the story of a precocious sixteen year old girl who accidentally gets pregnant and decides to give her baby up for adoption. This bittersweet comedy-drama glosses over some harsher realities of the scenario, but what movie doesn't omit aspects it feels are irrelevant to its purpose? This movie leaves out the more obvious, more serious tangents of unplanned pregnancies so it can transcend the specific situation and focus on more universal themes. It deals with love in an uncertain world, growing up and staying young, wanting what we don't have, and having what we don't want. There are no bad guys, only mistakes and regret. And second chances. And that's life.

Ellen Page's Juno is a marvel to behold. Even so, Reitman understands that this story is about more than just one girl, and so he allows all of the characters to breathe and fully develop. Every single one is perfectly offbeat. The complexity and depth and pathos the actors infuse their characters with is absolutely spellbinding. They are given a tender script and truly make the most of it. The editing is impeccably precise, both in terms of comedic timing as well as plot progression and pacing. No joke or scene is lingered on too long. The music is essential to the feel of the movie, and exists almost as another character in the story. Think of it as an omniscient narrator of emotions.

I was a bit disappointed by the cinematography. There was nothing wrong with it, but it just seemed like a step down compared with Thank You for Smoking. Also, I could've done with less voice-over narration and more Rainn Wilson. But honestly, these are not legitimate complaints because they only exist when people look for them so they can put something in the "cons" paragraph of their review.

This movie is a whirlwind experience of emotions; you have to sit and wait a couple minutes after the credits start rolling to fully appreciate what you've just seen. Even now, a day after seeing it, I can't get it out of my mind. Next to It's A Wonderful Life, this is the closest I can remember coming to crying out of pure happiness. For celluloid to lift your spirits to the rafters, what more could you ask for in a movie?

IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0467406/

The Kingdom (2007)

3/5

I got to see a special advanced screening of Peter Berg's The Kingdom with Sameer, Jason, and Jed last night. I was really excited about it because of the director, the producer, and the cast--and it lived up to my expectations as an action movie. But it should have stayed in that realm. It tried too hard to be a serious, Syriana-esque look at the oil situation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. You could sense Berg's insecurity venturing into that area, because every time he strayed from action/comedy, he beat into your head just what exactly was going on and what it meant. Please, trust your audience or they won't trust you.

As an action movie, it's stellar. Most of the time I was engaged and excited, but it was in the last 30 minutes that Berg shows his true colors: that final action scene was almost unbearably tense, on par with Mann's best works. The quality extends to the comedic element as well, thanks mostly to Jason Bateman's character (although the others have their moments too). And I absolutely loved the introductory credit sequence; it is one of the best I've seen in any movie recently.

And yet, everything else is absolutely filthy, like a pungent, noxious odor or being raped to death by a horse. The camerawork was almost as bad as The Bourne Supremacy. I'm all for equal rights, but please stop letting people with Parkinson's operate the camera. Both the thought and actual execution of artificially creating movement made me want to throw up. Another thing that pissed me off was subtitling the name/position of characters, once more adding fictitious complexity and marring an otherwise excellent piece. From the overbearing melodramatic music combined with slow-motion walking so we know we're supposed to feel sad to the back-and-forth finale to make sure we understand the parallelism, everything screams out obvious, blunt, heavy-handed filmmaking.

But don't let that stop you from seeing it. This has some of the best action you will ever see this year and keeps your heart pounding hard throughout. Look past the faults and watch it when it comes out this Friday. That is, if you're interested in any of the things I was excited about when I went in. It's worth the sledgehammer filmmaking techniques.

IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0431197/

Deconstructing Harry (1997)

4/5

Deconstructing Harry is a hilarious foray into a neurotic writer's life and mind. Harry Block travels to upstate New York where he's going to be honored by his old college. On the way, he gets a chance to reflect on the choices he's made, both in his writing and in his life. His stories and the characters that inhabit them stem from real people and real events, which has often caused anger and resentment by those whose secret and personal lives he's put on display through his work. I love this movie because it is both meaningful and entertaining. I found myself laughing the entire time. But it also made me think about this writer's life, how he took advantage of it, and what his creations (or are they merely alterations?) mean to himself and to others. Deconstructing Harry is an absolutely wonderful and delightful fantasy about real life that is witty, nostalgic, and philosophical all at once. I loved the acting by all parties and especially enjoyed spotting soon-to-be-famous actors in small roles (Tobey Maguire, Paul Giamatti, Jennifer Garner, etc.). I am in love with the way he made Robin Williams (and himself, later) blurry and out of focus while the rest of the scene was crisp and sharp. I wish I knew how he did it. You can see Allen's creativity positively brimming and overflowing in this movie (although not as profusely as in Annie Hall).

I fail to understand the purpose of the neurotic editing, except perhaps as a banal and gimmicky way of putting the director's own flightiness and anxiety into his work, as Harry Block replicates his life in his writing. Using this editing style to start the movie was extremely off-putting. Some scenes feel rather pointless, without adding much to the table in terms of plot, humor, or pathos. Also, most of the movie is told from Harry Block's point of view, and as such takes on a cynical and misogynistic quality, which obviously may not be for everyone (take his version of Hell, for example). Otherwise, though, a thoroughly fantastic movie that I enjoyed and appreciated from start to finish.

IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0118954/