A pretty even split for March. There were a few really hyped new releases that I did not fancy at all whilst most of the ones I dug were older films I was catching up with. Perhaps the dud month of new releases explains my lack of motivation to get out to the cinema over the last few weeks.

Worth Watching

• The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974), Joseph Sargent – A very 70s, very stylish thriller. Plenty of the style comes from the excellence of the soundtrack. The plot builds up wordlessly driven by that. The film also reflects the social make-up of the time. African American issues and the Vietnam War play a role in attitudes held and choices made. Not in a forced way though, these issues are just part of the fabric of the film. It is a little slow, but really well acted and scripted. Walter Matthau brings a cool laconic intensity to his role. An action film about process, focused on the inner city, with some truly dark violence. Occasionally feels like a procession of clichés, but perhaps that is because it has become so very influential.

• Pet Sematary (1989), Mary Lambert – A horror that comes out of universal terrors – death of a pet or child. The score is great, over the top, spooky and kitchsy. In fact the whole film is like that. You’ve seen the domestic bliss vs supernatural shenanigans structure countless times before. But this feels fresh, in turn fun, scary then really quite intense. The characters are good, with Jed feeling like a fresh take on the horror movie ol man. Plus that creepy kid is creepy.

• White Material (2009), Claire Denis – Denis is an intriguing stylist. Sound design is initially disorientating, strange levels and abrasive soundtrack. This is all combined with the visuals in a really interesting way. Film takes place in an unnamed African country, a former French colony, in the midst of civil war. It’s relatively freeform, to be consumed on a sensory rather than intricate narrative level. An examination of colonialism with glimpses of plot. Focuses on the fragility of white power both on an individual and broader level. Also the way in which priorities and what needs to be done to survive are often different. A civil war film where no group are the goodies. Which is kinda the point.

• Red State (2011), Kevin Smith – There is so much excellent here that it is a shame Smith can’t help but be both obvious and juvenile. Both his worst attributes that he just cannot seem to suppress for an entire movie. Basically a direct attack on Westboro Baptist Church, skewering a very particular fundamentalist brand of Christianity. Michael Parks’ preacher is shot in an almost drunken, intoxicating way which is clever. A strange little film that gets both very silly and a little intense. There’s a flippancy toward death that really does not sit well with the subject matter.

• Far From Men (2014), David Oelhoffen – Feels almost like a neo-western set in the incredible scenery of Algeria. With an incredible Nick Cave & Warren Ellis soundtrack. Viggo Mortensen plays a schoolteacher of utmost principle. A slow film, low in action. Has that festival film, languid vibe goin on, though eased by the gentle humour throughout. Interesting to see a man with very little interest in violence forced into situations where it is occasionally necessary. Also about engrained societal honour systems and the almost farcical notions of ‘fairness’ in war.

• Child’s Play (1988), Tom Holland – This is a middling piece of kitschy 80s schlock. But that doll is still so motherfuckin creepy. It is a stock standard horror setup (single parent, kid gets attached to a creepy possessed doll) with some awkwardly bad dialogue. But the kills are great, some of them smile inducing their own way. The kills, like the movie, are best when the silliness is wholly embraced. Some of the practical effects are great too. Is a little slow for this kind of affair and the whole thing is overall more good-bad rather than simply good. But if you are a fan of franchise style horror and haven’t seen this one like me, it is still worth your time. Mainly just because that doll is still so utterly terrifying. They pull off a great, iconic villain where it could so easily have been laughable.

• Broad City Season 1 (2014), Ilana Glazer & Abbi Jacobson – This has been so hugely hyped and early it struggled to live up to that for me. It’s a little awkward and the characters take time to settle. The two leads are great though, they have an excellent presence and interact well with each other. Gets excellent towards the back of the season. Writing becomes more assured and the style of comedy gets downpat. Cool social commentary and feminism weaved in. A great spirit to the show. Feels like people are having fun making it.

Not Worth Watching

• Cloverfield (2008), Matt Reeves – rough. Feels a little try-hard with the found footage stuff. And is the definition of nauseating in its use of shaky cam. Frustratingly constructed, a contrived vibe. Some of the dialogue reasonably realistic, but the broader storylines are badly written and there is no levity to the script as a whole. Kind of an annoying film, with forced Godzilla and 9/11 allusions and references. Though the glimpses of the monster are pretty cool. Not a good film at all.

• Friends with Kids (2011), Jennifer Westfeldt – The arc of this film is 100% clear from literally minute one, and nothing makes that predictable journey worthwhile. The leads are ok, especially Jennifer Westfeldt, whilst Chris O’Dowd is nicely laconic. But they are all heavily constrained by middling material. The attempts to balance overwhelming cliché with moderately edgy comedy do not come off. It’s like an annoying show stringing out a will they or won’t they relationship. Everything lays out exactly as telegraphed. All the characters being so hateable doesn’t help. Neither does a very montagey feel that seems like a failure of storytelling.

• Zootopia (2016), Byron Howard & Rich Moore – I’m very much in the minority here, but I found this to be a totally flat experience. Some of the social commentary stuff is good, if shallow. We are talking quips rather than thematic or storytelling depth. But the story hits no particular heights, while there is nothing at all particularly revolutionary on display or even interesting about the visuals or voicework. Plus the female lead disappointingly continually relies on her male companion to solve the case, whilst the late twist is so tired. And that song is fuckin woeful. A disappointing effort from Disney who have been red hot over recent films.

• Hot Pursuit (2015), Anne Fletcher – Probably one of the worst films I’ve seen in quite some time. For starters, it’s disappointingly sexist and transphobic. But outside of that, it’s also really not funny, exciting, competent or interesting on any level whatsoever. I am a huge fan of Reese Witherspoon. But not so sure she has a great comedic presence. Sophia Vergara has that. But the script is totally devoid of humour so she has little to work with. The story is just a procession of comedic plot points you’ve seen a million times before getting ticked off, straight-laced character getting high and all.

• Hail Caesar (2016), The Coen Bros – Starts strong and absurd. But quickly just becomes a succession of boring, barely connected skits. There’s some nice characterisation. But most of the actors are reduced to mere cameos. Josh Brolin’s studio problem solver is an interesting, though underdeveloped, centrepiece. Writing certainly not as funny as it could be. The commentary, both on social mores and the filmmaking biz, are quite silly. I continue to feel like I’m missing something with the Coen Brothers.

• Grimsby (2016), Louis Leterrier – Simply by having some really astute things to say on class, this film takes a more interesting approach to comedy than the contemporary norm. And this has gained the film love in some quarters. Personally I quite liked the patter between Baron Cohen and Mark Strong too. But this is still not a good film at all. Overly crass and not all that funny. It’s also a very flat experience. Also, unlike something like Spy (2015), it does not work as a spy flick outside of the silliness.
  

If you only have time to watch one White Material

Avoid at all costs Hot Pursuit

Related beermovie.net articles for you to check out: Worth Watching March 2015 and Worth Watching March 2013.

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February was a rare perfect month for me, including a pretty wide variety of new releases and some older films too. Carol was the standout and I can’t imagine it not being on my top 10 of the year when I come to write it. Everything else, whilst good, totally pales in comparison.

 Worth Watching

• Goosebumps (2015), Rob Letterman – I used to devour these books as a kid and this captures the spirit of them pretty well. It takes too long to get into it and the male protagonist is the blandest character in the film. But once it gets going it’s a pretty creepy load of meta-fun helped by effects that suit the film perfectly. The character of R.L. Stine inserted into the film is a pretty inspired way into the adaptation, even if Jack Black never entirely lands that performance. It’s Odeya Rush in the female lead who gives the standout turn. A throwback to when they still made good family adventure films in the 90’s.

• Inside Man (2006), Spike Lee – All the technical elements are here. A really well written heist film that is snappily shot, full of cool angles and cuts. Not to mention how good the cast is. A young Chiwetel Ejiofor sizzles alongside Denzel, Jodie Foster, Clive Owen etc etc etc. But the toying with structure detracts a little from the intrigue of the narrative. Overall it descends a little into standard bank robber territory, in part cause the experimental flourishes don’t work so well. But even as a standard genre flick, it’s an above average, exceptionally acted one.

• Jack Irish: Dead Point (2014), Jeffrey Walker – As far as crime on TV goes, these telemovies are pretty slick. Irish is a good character well brought to life by Guy Pearce. The writing helps. Balancing him being just the right of down on his luck with clear, believable motivations. It’s well shot and makes especially good use of the Melbourne locations. And of course Aaron Pederson is the absolute best. So watchable.

• 1971 (2014), Johanna Hamilton – Knew nothing about this doco going in. Chronicles a radical group’s file theft from a small FBI office through the words of those involve. Concerned with govt surveillance and shows how nothing has really changed. Great historical document of very ordinary folks disrupting the Vietnam War. Also shows the pretty seismic historical actions their actions set off. The presentation is a touch flat but the passion of those involved shines through.

• Carol (2015), Todd Haynes – A love story captured so perfectly, in a wholly unmanufactured way. Exquisitely shot on 16mm, the grain perfectly suiting the film and the photo-like composition. Performances are all wonderful. Chandler is good in a tough role, but Blanchett and Mara could not be better. Love is so hard to capture onscreen cause it’s intangible, hard to pin down. But somehow this quite simple film does just that. A familiarity to how their love grows. The film travels along and then all of a sudden by they end you’re utterly invested. Sorta perfect.

• Deadpool (2016), Tim Miller – It’s not revolutionary, but at least it’s a comic book film that feels a little different. Plus I laughed a whole heap at the idiocy of it. A good use of Reynolds charm and talents. It’s a nothing story but it looks decent and the leads are all good too. The little team-up is played for fun, rather than as yearning for shared universe potential. Is cool to see a legit hard R, stylistically fuckin violent comic book film.

• American Mary (2012), The Soska Sisters – A pretty provocative title when you think about it. The film succeeds in large part because of the cool aesthetic – grimy underground surgery table, stark costuming. It’s hard to buy Mary’s initial casual jumping into body-modification surgery for a quick buck. Not so much the later jump where the film veers into rape-revenge territory. It’s a tough watch. Visceral. Perhaps too much so, as that element finds it hard to ponder the interesting ideas. Katherine Isabelle is great in this with realistic charm and bravado.

• The Intern (2015), Nancy Meyers – This is slow to get going. De Niro, whilst seemingly more engaged than usual, does not go down smooth as a blundering old dude. Whilst the business-speak laden early scenes with Hathaway are awkward. But as soon as those two get together everything pops a little more. It’s a gentle film, with a pretty patchy script that rocks a range of tones and some surprisingly crass moments. But the leads have a great, totally platonic chemistry between the two of them and their patter shines. There’s’ some good gender stuff too.

• Seventh Son (2014), Sergey Bodrov – Has a real 80s throwback vibe. More of a rollicking adventure film than a fantasy one. Looks kind of decent when they are not bothering with crappy CGI. A great cast bringing the awesome silliness. Awfully plotted, though in an endearingly bad way. Much like Jeff Bridges’ on-point quip game.

• Obvious Child (2014), Gillian Robespierre – Jenny Slate is awesome. She is really good at the emotional stuff and at conveying that late 20’s point in life. Not a huge amount of substance to the film. But it’s really well acted and good supports help to maintain the tone. Not really the ‘abortion rom-com’ as advertised, rather it makes a couple of nice, very valid points but aside from that it’s just part of the story. Endearing.

If you only have time to watch one Carol

If you only have time to watch two Obvious Child

Related beermovie.net articles for you to check out: Worth Watching February 2015 and Worth Watching February 2013.

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Always a busy time of year, January was a big month for me. Catching up with films I missed from last year, along with starting my 2016 on some selected directors. Some of the not worth watching films were really quite dire, but despite that this was a pretty good month. I really liked a lot of films I’d not seen before from big name directors and there was some fun genre stuff mixed in there too.

Worth Watching

• Backcountry (2014), Adam Macdonald – This, somewhat conventionally plotted film, falls into the ‘why you should never under any circumstances go camping horror subgenre. The foreshadowing of the eventual bear attack is cleverly done and indeed there are a lot of good moments amongst the conventional story. The sound design is a really striking focus at the start of the film and cleverly creates tension too. Film is sharply shot  as well, making good use of shot length and differing focus. There’s some great use of that same conceit as The Reef (2010) where real footage of animals is cut in to the narrative to make the tension a whole lot greater. If you’re into well-acted, intense creature horror, with a healthy lashing of leg-snappin, then you can do much worse than this.

• Advantageous (2015), Jennifer Phang – If stylish, female driven sci-fi sounds like your kind of jam (it should) then this is worth checking out. It’s a subtly done near-future where the worldbuilding is interesting in that not everything has changed. There are a couple of very good female lead performances and it is very much a female centric film. Thematically It focuses on the dynamic of a struggling family, how living pressures impact heaviest on females, aging, women in the workplace and the value of humanity in the face of exceptional technological developments. That sounds like a lot, and occasionally the film does feel a little overburdened with thematic concerns and the budget shows through at times too. But for the most part, the feminist and racial issues are weaved in well  to a quite heartbreaking and oft chilling film.

• Somewhere (2010), Sofia Coppola – Films about aimless hollywood party brats finding themselves are not usually my deal. But then again they are not usually directed like this. Stephen Dorff gives a good performance as the aimless party dude spinning his wheels in a sea of booze, strippers and so on. His daughter comes into his life in a way that could be trite, but instead she helps him to recognise the sea of artifice in which he is drowning in a quite genuine feeling way. Coppola shoots this interestingly, people filling up large parts of the frame and action dropping out of it. This is a very quiet film, too quiet for some. Much of the early going is just Dorff alone with his loneliness. It is this quietness that helps the film avoid becoming cliché though. And Dorff and Elle Fanning strike a really substantial onscreen relationship. This is a really beautiful film to me.

• A Very Murray Christmas (2015), Sofia Coppola – I didn’t really have that much expectation for this, being only a moderate fan of Murray and no real fan of Christmas specials. But this is great. Songs are used to some nice storytelling effect and a little of Coppola’s visual style finds its way in too. It’s really bloody funny, with a mild mockumentary vibe early on. Everyone is great in it and having a lot of fun. I thought Miley Cyrus was excellent, even if I didn’t love the dreamscape conclusion. But majorly adored everything in the bar.

• Ricki and the Flash (2015), Jonathan Demme – Unfortunately ignored on initial release, perhaps due to having a monumentally awful trailer. This has a glut of interesting ideas including a central character in Streep’s failure of a mum, the likes of which we don’t really see on screen. Also a rumination on when a quest for greatness falls massively short. It’s well performed from all, Kline, Streep and all the supports. Very well written, a funny script that amusingly captures those disastrous family moments whilst also going some dark places. A quite emotive experience. Both the main character and the film are a willing shout of authenticity into the void of  pretension.

I guarantee you, the film is approximately a trillion times better than this abomination of a poster

• The Hateful Eight (2015), Quentin Tarantino – was lucky enough to catch this on 70mm and I loved the pomp of seeing it that way. The intermission, snow swept widescreens, the program, the intermission and an incredible Morricone score blasting. But for all that it’s only an ok film, and one that exhibits all of the issues of late career Tarantino. I preferred it to Django, but the tonal unevenness suggests he needs someone to reign in some of his ideas. The cartoony schlock of the violence takes you out of the film, as does the inexplicable voiceover that suddenly appears after two hours. He’s also not assured as a comedic writer. He puts really horrific stuff next to his brand of humour in a way that does not work. In my crowd people also laughed a lot at the violence toward women, a problematic response, but one that it felt like Tarantino was angling towards. That, and his teenage obsession with the ‘N-word’ mimic the tired and unincisive provocation for provocation’s sake of Ricky Gervais. But the  performances are great, especially from Walton Goggins and Channing Tatum and it is fun to see the chamber mystery playing out buried beneath the Western iconography. Just wish Tarantinos ego, trying to create some notion of the auteur, didn’t continually get in the road.

• She’s Gotta Have It (1986), Spike Lee – Lee’s first film is also a relatively unconventionally constructed one. Characters talk straight to the camera and the scene is set through black and white still photos of Brooklyn. Struck me a little as a more self-aware, schooled in film iteration of a Cassavetes film. He has a great eye for shots – a profile close-up of two characters in profile experiencing sexual ecstasy. The acting is on occasions distractingly rough, but also very god at times, especially from Tracey Camilla Johns who nails the main character the film revolves around. Spike Lee is decent too actually and brings patter and comedy to the script with his performance. It focuses very much on sexual perceptions of women, and the construction of it all swirling around one woman draws this theme out well.

• Far From the Madding Crowd (2015), Thomas Vinterberg – This Thomas Hardy film is an adaptation like many that have come before, but it is a bloody beautiful and well acted one. The quality of the filmmaking, especially the classical and nuanced acting, mean what could feel like yet another bland adaptation instead manages to pop off the screen. Carey Mulligan totally inhabits and creates her character, mainly through the cheekiness. It’s a film almost solely concerned with love, which mean some choices in that regard are a little hard to reconcile in one subplot, especially how the main character had been established prior to that. The core relationship between Mulligan’s Bathsheba and Gabriel is really smartly and gently drawn though. And It features and ending that is wholly and totally satisfying. One the film totally earns.

• Everything or Nothing (2012), Stevan Riley – this making of doc focusing on the James Bond series is above average, but still probably just for fans. Great trivia nuggets abound – Christopher Lee was Ian Fleming’s distant cousin! It is more focused on the personalities behind the film than deconstructing the films’ production. But that’s not so bad as it does a good job of examining the flaws of Broccoli, Fleming and others. There are a bunch of great talking heads including the aforementioned Lee, the larrikin George Lazenby, Roger Moore who seems to have a great attitude toward the films and Ken Adams in particular.

• An Old Mistress (2007), Catherine Breillat – This is an interesting film, made all the more so by the sorta-theatrical manner in which it is performed. Part of that comes from the lush period trimmings. Asia Argento has a great presence to her onscreen, strangely both formal and laconic in a strange way. The script is very talky but still quite intelligent. The flashback structure does rob the narrative of an intensity it could have used. A portrait of passion that bothers to present both sides of that passion. Passion that cannot be escaped, no matter how much you want to. Also a surprisingly great portrait of grief.

• The Dressmaker (2015), Jocelyn Moorhouse – A stylish and eccentric extension of Australian film culture and a reinterpretation of ocker culture more broadly. Refreshingly driven by females in front of and behind the camera. It’s all wildly original and uniquely, overtly Australian too. Kate Winslet is as good as she’s ever been here, delivering an artful and passionate performance and handling an array of tones supremely well. The writing and performance of Hugo Weaving’s character turns something that should have been a caricature into something with both poignancy and humour. Which is a cipher for the whole film really. A film that is crushing, devastating and cerebral. Winslet’s Clint Eastwood-esque intro is probably my favourite 2015 film moment.

• Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry (2012), Alison Klayman – What an incredible person. The film gives great insight into his process initially. Then shifts to focus more on his social activism. A lot of pretty confronting stuff here about the horrific 2008 Sichuan earthquake and Weiwei’s attempts to expose the government’s cover-up attempts. Also a terrifying insight into contemporary Chinese surveillance and oppression. Illuminates the man as well, his family history and relationships. Shows his bravery and passionate streak. But also his imperfections and at times uncaring nature.  The film looks brilliant too, an appropriately artistic approach. As great as all the examination of his social causes is, I would have liked to see more focus on his art throughout the film.

Not Worth Watching

• Dumb and Dumber To (2014), The Farrelly Brothers – A strange film. The timing is off in that the original was so beloved, but even that had faded by the time this was made, and it bombed massively. A suspicion that this style of comedy and delivery doesn’t work these days is supported by the final product. There are a couple of moderately inspired moments – the explanation for the long delay in making a sequel for example – and Daniels and Carrey are talented enough to draw the odd laugh out of you. But most of the jokes are eye rolling levels of shithouse.  Along with a massive helping of real crassness, particularly directed at the female characters. Close to unwatchable, and distasteful.

• The Voices (2014), Marjan Satrapi – The basic pitch – man hears the voices of his pets when off his meds – sounds original and ripe for horror goodness. The execution though, despite the occasional piece of inspired design work and some excellent female performances from Weaver, Arteton and Kendrick; leaves much to be desired. A lot of that is due to the writing, which has a wildly inconsistent main character seeping into a wildly inconsistent story in general. It’s quite disturbing, with a take on mental illness that is interesting in theory but quite distasteful in practice.

• Christine (1983), John Carpenter – Carpenter adapting Stephen King turns out out be kinda goofy, especially the teen film elements. It’s set up in car-making 1957 Detroit with “Bad to the Bone” on the soundtrack.  Anything with the car is good fun, indeed it works a lt better than any murderous car plot really deserves to. That’s thanks to Carpenter’s craft which always shines through. The film looks great too, the car repairing itself scene is especially arresting. In the end though, it’s a little too much goofy teen flick, not enough killer car.

• The Ridiculous Six (2015), Frank Coraci – There was a fair bit of intrigue when Sandler signed a multi-picture deal with Netflix. Well any thought that deal would be used for good has been felled in one decidedly unfunny, not to mention racist, swoop. Even in the moments it is not being offensive, the film is utterly and awkwardly unfunny. It is seriously denigrating to Native Americans in a way that makes you wonder why Netflix signed off on this. Boring and even more lacking in intellect than the standard modern day comedy. None of the exceptionally talented cast come out of this well. Rob Schneider clunks as a half Mexican and Taylor Lautner would be the most embarrassing thing about one of the most embarrassing films ever made if it were not for the presence of Vanilla Ice as a slang slinging Mark Twain. Just awful.

• The Revenant (2015), Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu  – Yeah sure it looks like it was a tough shoot. That’s not what makes a good film though is it? And constant, unrelenting brutalism does not give a story thematic depth in and of itself. Nor does said brutalism inherently make any statement on what it means to be human. At times, it veers almost into the comic  – the Hoth moment for example. Visually it’s a mixed bag. The widescreen landscapes are undeniably arresting while the canted close-ups feel unique but overused. But it often felt like it had an over-digitised sheen to me. Nowhere near worth the huge swathes of time it takes.

So much Leo bro

• Looking for Grace (2015), Sue Brooks – A strange film. Overwhelmingly quaint, until it veers sharply into heavier territory in a way the script hadn’t earned at all. Totally unnecessary fractured narrative structure too. There are some good performances, but the film also manages to over-direct a number of really talented performers like Radha Mitchell and Richard Roxborough into rough, tonally ill-suited performances. One of the main issue is that any potential for stakes is removed immediately, leaving the rest of the film listless. An unsatisfying hodgepodge of comedy and drama.

• Self/Less (2015), Tarsem Singh – I’ve always been a fan of Tarsem’s films, but that’s been based on his phenomenal visual inventiveness. This very basic and overfamiliar sci-fi story features none of that, making it a slog. Minimal effort is taken to set up the logic of this body-swapping search for immortality enterprise. The filmmaking is lazy too, relying on montages too much and showing nothing out of the ordinary. Script is bad as well, especially the human motivations and interactions, which are at times comically off the mark.

If you only have time to watch one The Dressmaker

Avoid at all costs Dumb and Dumber To

Related beermovie.net articles for you to check out: Worth Watching January 2015 and Worth Watching January 2013.

Like what you read? Then please like Beermovie.net on facebook here and follow me on twitter @beer_movie

Hey look at this. I’m sorta almost back up to date. December was a pretty big viewing month, as it always is for me. And there was some great stuff, with a couple of the best films of the past few years here. As well as some rubbish.

Worth Watching

• Turbo Kid (2015), Francois Simard, Anouk Whissell & Yoann-Karl Whissell – Takes place in an apocalyptic ‘future’ 1997. Lovingly crafted fun with one of the very best soundtracks of 2015. Like the 80s aesthetic, and it only on very rare instances grates or lets quaintness overwhelm the story. The minor script issues may keep you from 100% engaging with it. But the performances are swell, lead Munro Chambers is good whilst Laurence Lebouef and Aaron Jeffery are even better, having great presences for this environment.  Lebouef is the real find, her performance is silly and over the top, but it never annoys. The action is kinda great too. They get the grindhouse splatter down pat as the film goes on.

• Selma (2014), Ava DuVernay – A film of jaw-dropping power through style. Shows terror wrought with bombs and terror wrought with administrative oppression. DuVernay is such a smart director and coupled with an out of this world performance from David Oyelowo, brings us one of the best films of recent times The script is evocative and authentic, ringing so true. In addition to Oyelowo, the performances across the board from Common, Oprah and Dylan Baker among others are all very good. Uses historical biopic conventions and does something revelatory with them. Also contains a couple of set pieces as engaging and full of stakes as any action film. Terrifying, strident, inflammatory and prescient.

• Shaun the Sheep (2015), Mark Burton & Richard Starzak – So damn cute right from the start, full of minutiae and visual jokes filling up the screen. Made me laugh a lot with its cleverness. The minutiae of daily life is skewered. It’s never really anything but lightweight visual jokiness. But that is done very well. Struggles to maintain momentum for the full length though. Tough to tell a story this long with zero dialogue. Impossible to not be appreciative of just how damn good it looks though. Guaranteed to induce smiles.

• Return of the Jedi (1983), Richard Marquand – Almost feels like fantasy as much as sci-fi. Might be all the puppets. A little heavy on the exposition, but this is a big improvement on the second film. However Lucas’ flaws are starting to come to the fore. Jabba’s lair a weird combo of very kiddie and very adult imagery that doesn’t really work. He is good at story beats but not so much character moments, relationships and dialogue. Plus the Ewoks suck majorly. Thankfully though there are enough big monster battlin moments and atmosphere that the flaws in this one are bearable. Perhaps the best score of the series too.

Ugh

• Love is Strange (2014), Ira Sachs – A unique love story. A newly married older gay couple are forced to live apart when one is fired. Chronicles that separation, how much of them is tied up in the other after living together for 20 years. A relationship examined through the longing they have for one another when wrenched apart. Can’t remember such an effective love story where the couple were apart for so much of the film. John Lithgow and Alfred both give really excellent performances too. A really nice, effective film.

• Best of Enemies (2015), Robert Gordon & Morgan Neville –  a fiercely uncinematic documentary focusing on the TV debates between Gore Vidal and conservative caricature William F. Buckley. A coming together of two monumental egos. Vidal the arch-intellectual egomaniac liberal other to Buckley’s privileged stoicism. There is some serious malice between the two of them. It’s distracting enough, but I would have liked more of the actual debates themselves. Does a good job in the sidelines of establishing Vidal’s role in bringing the ‘normality’ of homosexuality to mainstream American discourse. The ideological strains set up here persist to this day as do the tactics of TV ‘news’ services.

• Creed (2015), Ryan Coogler – Coogler and Jordan once again combine for phenomenal effect. Surprisingly emotionally resonant, powerfully so actually. There is a deep vein of authenticity running through the film thanks to Coogler’s excellent script. Perhaps the biggest surprise is that Sly Stallone could hold his own with the incredible Michael B. Jordan. I don’t think that Stallone has ever been this good. Tessa Thompson in the lead female role is also quite brilliant. It’s a great way to sorta revitalise a franchise and good on Stallone for being so humbly on-board. It’s reverential to the films that precede it, but happy to depart radically. The boxing sequences are beautifully shot, artistic but you can always see what’s going on. The cinematography throughout is really wonderful

• The Guest (2014), Adam Wingard – An extended ode to John Carpenter by way of vintage James Cameron. Simultaneously authentic and stylised though as it heads in a stranger direction in the second half, it becomes a little too self aware. Maika Monroe is a star whilst Dan Stevens in the lead is charismatic. The soundtrack is good, but I would have liked it to intrude more, which is a rare thing for me to say. It’s a complex thing they are going for and it works for the most part. For me it got a touch silly toward the end and the character motivations were a little unclear. But this is a really unique slow burn melding of tones, styles and genres.

• The Final Girls (2015), Todd Strauss-Schulson – Brilliantly sets up its pastiche approach. It’s a funny script, really switched on and quite inspired. I literally fistpumped with how awesome this film is on two separate occasions. I usually hate the Groundhog Day style structure but this does it in an interesting and fantastical way. It slows down a bit after a powerhouse start. But some sci-fi elements and the fact it is just really well performed get you through. As do the genuine laughs. It’s a meta-slasher that focuses on being loads of fun rather than insightful. Which is fine by me.

• The Flash Season 1 (2014), Greg Berlanti, Geoff Johns and Andrew Kreisberg – Fits beautifully into this CW comic book TV universe. A traditional style superhero origin story. Grant Gustin’s Barry Allen working out how the hell to use his new powers. They do a really good job in conveying Barry’s speed. Much more effects heavy than most shows, but thankfully the effects are also a lot better than most shows. Recalls, but also has a separate identity to Arrow, the two shows crossover really nicely. The key relationship here between Joe and his adopted son Barry is really sweetly drawn. It’s cheesy, and dispenses with deep mythology so some moments don’t carry the weight they could. Very much heightened comic book storytelling with time travel, multiple Flashes and more. If a comic show with a giant psychic gorilla is your thing, you’ve come to the right place.

• Arrow Season 3 (2014), Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg and Marc Guggenheim – Oliver Queen has grown into a super interesting character. The flashbacks have fleshed out his character well. The show is by this point basically a team show and the audience is emotionally invested in the whole lot of them. This season perhaps struggles without the long arc of the one prior. But in terms of storytelling, this has evolved from pulp into something more high quality in terms of dramatic storytelling. I also love how basically every woman ends up turning into a total action packed badass. There are a couple of great antagonistic presences, including Aussie Matt Nable doing a pretty good Ra’s Al Ghul. Can’t believe how there are now so many, really satisfying and complex relationships in this show, both romantic and otherwise.

Not Worth Watching

• Tusk (2014), Kevin Smith – Kind of an in-joke for listeners of Smith’s podcast (which I’m not one of). I actually liked a reasonable amount of this. Some of Smith’s comedic writing early on is genuinely funny. There is also a nice focus on, and engagement with, the theory and practice of storytelling. But that fades over the second half. Justin Long is a good comedic performer whilst Michael Parks is chilling as a brutally sadistic villain. But the film turns when Johnny Depp turns up in an extended, unwatchable, cameo. His stupid performance totally ruins the tone, importing a silliness that belongs to a different film. Sucks all the atmosphere right out of it.

• Ruben Guthrie (2015), Brendan Cowell – Opened the Sydney Film Fest this year, which is frankly a mind-boggling choice. And given this film is laden with Lexus product placement, a company that is a major sponsor of that festival, it’s a pretty questionable one too. From the first, the critique of Aussie drinking culture (which needs critiquing) is blah, with a sneering bent to it. The film is unfunny too. It’s better to make an issues film about characters who resonate with us. The more interesting, but totally ignored, aspect of this film is the effect of a substance (or lack of it) on a creative. They don’t touch on this in any interesting way though. A lumbering script, it looks ugly and there’s a mean-spirited way that the film treats it’s characters and their foibles, especially disparaging to the main female characters. Cowell has something much better in him than this.

• Paper Towns (2015), Jake Schreier – This film features two very interestingly constructed and performed main characters. And basically nothing else of note. Doesn’t bother trying to hide it’s teen film conventions. But there is some kinda bold plotting when we are just hanging with the leads. Carla Delevingne and Nat Wolff bring to life two characters that feel fresh, though the film unnecessarily is from the perspective of the male character. She does not have a typical teen star vibe or gravitas, bringing a unique presence lacking elsewhere. The film crawls along with totally contrived and not particularly creative adventure film construction. Plus the supporting characters are badly written and averagely acted which brings the leads down.

• Aloha (2015), Cameron Crowe – Probably the worst script of 2015. Attempts to be generate depth through the Hawaiian setting and mainly fails. It’s a great cast, but most of them are bad. Emma Stone is miscast to the point of offensiveness. Not to mention her performance is distractingly manic, recalling a bad Jim Carrey impersonator. Bradley Cooper proves himself totally unable to elevate awful material. Actually that’s a universal criticism with the notable exception of Rachel McAdams who convinces, despite a horribly written character.  It’s a really awkward film. Motivations jump all over the  place, to the point where it seems like on a few occasions they forgot to shoot pages of the script. A monument of awfulness.

• Tomorrowland (2015), Brad Bird – Has a very classical Disney feel and look to it. So much so it often feels like an average midday movie. The design elements, a mix of handmade and computer generated stylings, impress early. But it’s pretty slow going with a labouriously unnecessary flashback. Even the world building quickly becomes beset by huge gaps in logic. Not really sure about the philosophical stance it is taking either. Clooney is wasted, but Britt Robertson has a lot of charisma. She is hamstrung by the horrid material. Hugh Laurie cops it worst on that front though, forced to deliver a horrid, jarring soliloquy. It just doesn’t have any weight to it. Middling.

• Big Eyes (2014), Tim Burton – With no Johnny Depp on offer, Burton turns to Christoph Waltz for a distractingly shit performance, and boy does he deliver. There is some fun filmmaking in parts, playing with the colour palette and Amy Adams is wonderful. It’s just really clunky. Writing just does not feel sharp at all and Burton’s usual unsubtly it front and centre. Tis a shame, because it’s a wonderful true story and there are some interesting, if underexplored, notions of domestic control and its insidious nature. Interminable.

• The Good Dinosaur (2015), Peter Sohn – Really quite bad. Overly cutesy vibe immediately makes plain we are not watching top shelf Pixar. Animation style is innovative but the phenomenal and realistic backgrounds often jar with the cartoony characters in front. On both story and thematic levels, we’ve seen all of this before a million times, most notably in The Lion King (1994). The score, ranging from bland to distractingly schmaltzy, characterises the difference between this and Pixar’s other, exceptional, 2015 effort.  A concerning low point for Pixar, with their template journey storyline feeling much more unoriginal this time out.

If you only have time to watch one Selma

Avoid at all costs Aloha

Related beermovie.net articles for you to check out: Worth Watching December 2014 and Worth Watching December 2012.

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Reaching back into last year to reflect on my November viewing. Overall a really good month, catching up with some genre classics I had never seen and also some of my most anticipated cinema releases of 2015. Plus two excellent TV series.

Worth Watching

• Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012), Lorene Scafaria – A farce that embraces that genre, with people still working in an insurance office with 21 days til the apocalypse. Simple world building – comet, no mobile phones, no flights. Rules established early. Steve Carrell is a good fit for this as a homely fuck-up approaching the apocalypse. He is aided by plenty of cool little cameos including Adam Brody doing silly stapstick, Connie Britten and Gillian Jacobs. Keira Knightley and Carrell have a good rapport. Quite gentle storywise, even with the impending doom. A delightfully small film. You beg for it not to go in a love story direction, but then it’s totally delightful when it goes there. A  quiet, ungimmicky film that is about as charming as a film about the apocalypse could be.

• Escape From New York (1981), John Carpenter – In an alternate 1988, Manhattan functions as a maximum security prison. Smoothly sets up the ultimate inescapable prison. Awesome, simple storytelling continues as Air Force One crashes on the island and badass Kurt Russell, about to be imprisoned, goes in to save the day. Russell’s Snake Plissken is rightfully hugely iconic – that voice, that hair, that singlet! Carpenter’s soundtrack is a thing of beauty as absolutely always. The world of the film is tense, tough and lawless. Carpenter and Russell form a close to perfect one-two punch in this. The former’s score and simple, clean shooting with the latter’s gravitas and presence.

• Black Sea (2014), Kevin MacDonald – This feels like a decidedly old fashioned heist gone wrong thing. Which I love. Stakes are naturally escalated because when things go wrong on a submarine, they go really friggin wrong. Throwback of getting the crew back together and going on a treasure hunt. It’s a good script which is able to generate a believable camaraderie amongst the men and articulate why in the world people are attracted to a lifestyle like this. Plenty of good performances from the excellent cast. Though Ben Mendelsohn’s character is a little silly whilst Scoot McNairy is underutilised. It’s a unique film that is able to maintain tension on both the human psychological and sub fronts.

• Arrow Season 2 (2013), Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim & Andrew Kreisberg – Starts in a really intriguing place following the events of season 1 and continues that by totally switching up the mindset of the main character. There is a very interesting pseudo-addition to his crew in the form of his former adversary, the newly demoted, Officer Lance. The action is really well done, with a weight to it rarely seen on TV. For the most part the storytelling is delirious fun, though the motivations in the overarching arc of the season do stretch belief a touch. The show gets very dark and more than a little gruesome. Classical comic themes like the nature of heroism and dealing with great loss are done really well, with the last few episodes being genuinely emotionally affecting.

• Wonder Woman (2013), Sam Balcomb – This short looks  absolutely incredible. As in better than most blockbusters. It’s basically plotless, almost like a music video. I like the two settings, really well done. Action is a little weightless. But the idea and execution, for what this is aiming for, are exceptional. Take a look:

• Trainwreck (2015), Judd Apatow – I know plenty of Schumer fans were let down by this. But I found it definitely one of the funniest comedies of the year. No wonder it’s so damn long though. Falls into that Apatow hallmark of having 10 punchlines when 1 would suffice. The cast is great. There is something very warm and engaging about Schumer’s screen presence. Tilda Swinton is ace and of course Brie Larson is amazing. This film should be taught as the gold standard of how to do cameos. Both Lebron James and especially John Cena totally slay in this. They are hilarious and poke fun at their public persona. The film is hilarious, but the conventional rom-com stuff is definitely too long.

• Knight of Cups (2015), Terrence Malick –  The early going can be awkward and Malick occasionally loses the fight with self-parody that is a constant battle for him. But the auteur doing a character study is a unique & singular cinematic experience. Starts with nothing, then slowly builds as each episode reveals a little more of Bale’s central figure through his interactions with others. Malick reveals a truth in beauty in a way totally unlike anyone else working.

• The Nightmare (2015), Rodney Ascher – A chilling hybrid documentary that truly does belong in the horror genre. Part of the genuine terror definitely flows from the fact this actually does happen to people. The stories related by the participants are terrifying. I had heard criticisms of the re-enactments, but they are great. Creatively constructed and convey the horror perfectly. So weird, not to mention creepy, how people worldwide experience the same sleep paralysis visions. Probably the most purely terrifying film of 2015.

• Hunger Games: Mockinjay Part II (2015), Francis Lawrence – What a series! The script struggles through the first act and there’s a coda which is (understandably) tacked on. Franchise has created a great cast of characters which is perhaps unnecessarily expanded a little here. Despite the minor quibbles though, I really think these films will be talked about in 10 or 20 years time. The film is a brutal and truthful depiction of the terror of war with a masterful third act. A perfect ending to a series that has introduced scores of people to some really incendiary ideas. People who otherwise probably wouldn’t have been exposed to them. I feel like the last two films combined are one of the best war films of this generation.

• Robocop (1987), Paul Verhoeven – So 80s. Attacks rampant privatisation. Frighteningly prescient still. And also still eye poppingly violent. It’s plays sorta lo-fi in an endearing way. Clarence is a great villain. It’s very stylish, a mixture of 80s camp and brutality. It is this camp/brutal brew that really sets it apart. Also bonus points for a tank that is literally marked “toxic waste”.

• Vampire in Brooklyn (1995), Wes Craven – Actually invokes Stoker’s novel and vampire mythology a reasonable amount. Eddie Murphy creates a great character from the start. Brings a manic energy to the storytelling in a not altogether bad way. Angela Bassett is a good foil and has a great screen presence. It’s more of a comedy than a genuine horror-comedy. Which is fine, because though it’s very light on plot, it’s quite funny. Feels the least Craven influenced of all his films.

• Masters of None (2015), Aziz Ansari & Alan Yang – I didn’t like this early on. Felt it was trying way too hard to be current and was populated by the same privileged douches we’d find in a Baumbach film. But then the show finds its identity. There is interesting comedy about the migrant experience and the episodes display really good, relatively standalone, storytelling. By mid-season, the characters, whilst not weighed down with depth, don’t feel like ciphers either. And the show has some really good messaging, around issues such as rape culture and racism. Ansari really stands out as a performer here too.

• Public Enemies (2009), Michael Mann – Overall it looks better than its reputation suggests. Though it’s shitty any time there’s fast movement. Immediately establishes a mythic quality to these men. An American myth. Soundtrack helps to really build that as do the performances. Depp is excellent. Caricature creeps in occasionally but mainly he nails it. Bale’s smouldering FBI agent presence balances that well. Cotillard is obviously exceptional but used too sparingly. Good ol cops and robbers story construction, though it’s too languid. It’s decent rather than revelatory. Story is a little anemic. Even though it’s way too bloody long, but parts still feel under-explained.

Not Worth Watching

• Cliffhanger (1993), Renny Harlin – Watching it now, this is a real shaggy dog of a movie. The story could have excelled on a simple, high concept action front. But it really just clunks along. Really violent but there is no style to the presentation of that violence. Nor does the violence provide any real narrative impetus. Some ok scenery, but again, probably not as good as it should be. Stallone is kinda crappy too. The decent moments of spectacle are separated by far too many flat sections.

• The Program (2015), Stephen Frears – First Alex Gibney, now Frears. Folks are really struggling to bring the inherently dramatic story of Lance Armstrong to the screen. This is pretty dire. A totally thin, expository experience. We never get to know the key players, aside from Armstrong a little. Chris O’Dowd’s dogged David Walsh should have felt a much larger presence. The fleeting occasions the Lance mythos are examined are far and away the best. But much too fleeting. Neither excites as a sports film or engages as a chronicle of Lance’s downfall.

If you only have time to watch one Hunger Games: Mockinjay Part II

Avoid at all costs The Program

Related beermovie.net articles for you to check out: Worth Watching November 2014 and  Worth Watching November 2012.

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I’m continuing to try and get a little more up to date with these Worth Watching posts. And continuing to fail. This was a pretty mixed month. Plenty of stuff I liked, though not really anything I would say are totally unmissable. But plenty of real rubbish amongst the not worth watchings. Let me know your thoughts on any of these in the comments below. I’m also trying to do a lot better at engaging with people on here.

Worth Watching

• The Wolverine Director’s Cut (2013), James Mangold – I missed the theatrical release of this one, but heard this director’s cut is superior in any case. Boldest possible start for a comic book film – atomic bombing of Japan from the Japanese side. Overall it’s an interesting choice of Wolverine story to adapt. Him being mortal an interesting spin on the superhero losing their powers trope. At its strongest when the Japanese setting & culture permeate the film. Jackman is perfect in this antihero role. Film features some very cool action sequences, not CG focused, just long physical back and forth. Even the CG moments are nicely drawn. A very different comic book film.

• A Most Violent Year (2014), J.C. Chandor – Real sense of place. Soundtrack and Oscar Isaac running the NY streets. I liked this a lot. Machinations of business on the street, Isaac attempting to rise above that. Chastain a total badass. Right from the start, she is the one who seems to have the power, control of the situation. An interesting dynamic. These two give such great performances and their to-and-fro is the reason to watch. It’s quiet, but builds the tension and menace, ably assisted by a great score and excellent supporting performances.

• The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet (2013), Jean-Pierre Jeanet – A sorta family film about the intersection of imagination/idealism with science. Stark and creative visually, which I understand matches the approach of the book. The eccentricity is grounded in a realistic family dynamic. Thankfully doesn’t slip into over the top try-hardiness where everything is totally eccentric and unbelievable. A jauntiness overall, along with a balance of eccentricity and a generic family heart that is the film’s greatest asset.

• Utopia Season 1 (2014), Rob Stich, Santo Cilauro and Tom Gleisner – Had this on in the background for a few days on paternity leave and smashed through it. As an Aussie public servant, this is just too frightening. Workplace language is hilariously spot on. Has that mixture of sharp satire and silliness that all the best Working Dog stuff has. Well acted, especially from Rob Stich in the lead role who is in essentially every scene.

• Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006), Scott Glosserman – Generally a fan of meta-horror and this is a top addition to the sub-genre. Adore how they reference other slasher villains in the world of the film. Digs wonderfully into horror film mythos. Funny too, though the surreal aspects do work against the film a little in the end. Makes it feel too light. A slow burn that would have potentially been better as a short form thing. Features a nicely layered dynamic between the villain (hero?) Leslie and the doco crew following him. Despite a heavily forecast twist and the low budget trimmings showing through on occasion, this is an ace flick.

• San Andreas (2015), Brad Peyton – How you feel about this film depends on how you feel about a The Rock saving his family from natural disaster plotline. Earthquakes are fuckin frightening aye. There’s some pretty good big screen destruction to go along with your Rock. Hoover Dam getting mashed is a particular highlight. Paul Giamatti’s character is essentially just a scientific exposition spouting machine. Deeply silly popcorn fluff that makes no attempt to deal with the weight of death and destruction it depicts.

• Digging up the Marrow (2014), Adam Green – There’s a certain innocence to this film. Essentially involves around a childlike search to prove monsters are real. Employs very straight doco stylings. It’s pretty clever and really quite scary. The practical monsters are a very cool throwback. Nicely constructed, with Green appearing onscreen and showing raw footage to others around the production office. There is a reasonable amount of charm to his onscreen persona. A good dramatic dynamic to his relationship with his co-workers, their doubts of him.

• The Martian (2015), Ridley Scott – Would not have picked ’15 Ridley Scott to deliver popcorn sci-fi this fun. It’s so light with nary a weighty theme in sight that it barely qualifies as an entry in the genre. Damon’s wise-cracking character that jarred so heavily in the trailers, is a sassy and frequently funny anchor for the film. Stakes never feel very high, the writing eliciting minimal tension from the situations at hand. But this is a different kind of film. A damn pretty one for sure, with both the Martian landscapes and spaceship sets looking great. Performances are uniformly good, Ejiofer gets the best of the supporting roles. But it’s Damon’s film and he handles tones both dramatic and more comedic with aplomb.

• The Good Wife Season 5 (2013), Robert King & Michelle King – Starts off literally the moment the last one ended which I like. The whole series is populated with excellent supporting performers – Jeffrey Tambor being symptomatic of that. Not sure about some of the characterisation, Alicia gets very smug for a while which takes away her likeability. But the relationship between Will and Alicia remains the best thing in the show. It should have been focused on more because there’s a complexity there that is rare. There are some tonally missteps when things get too silly and there is a big overreliance on flashbacks. Performances are excellent, especially from Alan Cumming and Josh Charles. But everything in this season is totally overshadowed by a death in the middle of the season of a massive character that totally comes out of nowhere story wise. It promises to totally change the direction of the show, and I’m not sure that is necessary.

Not Worth Watching:

• Everly (2014), Joe Lynch – A high concept action flick starring an ass-kickin Selma Hayek raises expectations. It starts promisingly, dripping in style, with simple & unobtrusive exposition setting the scene. But the action looks cheap in a way that detracts from the story. The cast is nicely diverse, though performances are patchy to the extent some of them disrupt the flow of the film. I like the simplicity of the story but it’s a little underdeveloped. Its funny moments are mainly just awkward. It’s all a shame really, because the creative moments such as a wide-shot elevator fight are great. All just a little melodramatic and shit, not to mention unnecessarily sadistic at times.

• While We’re Young (2014), Noah Baumbach – After this one, I have decided that Baumbach is just not for me. He seemingly has such derision for so many people. A lot of the runtime is spent ridiculing various folks. There’s a sheen of hipster insincerity and self-awareness that is utterly overwhelming. Especially on the script front. The message of this film boils down to basically duh some people are old, some people are young. And the exploration of the professed themes of artistic integrity and documentary authenticity is totally shallow. Another insufferable effort from a director who excels at them.

• Arbitrage (2012), Nicholas Jarecki – Totally nothin start and it never really improves from there. Bland and underwhelming. A film will have to be a lot better to make me care about a rich, fraudulent, adulterous prick who I’m supposedly meant to be empathising with. Ill advised in the extreme to expect an audience to give a shit about him. An even bigger issue is there’s just nothing bloody happening in this film. There’s some moderately interesting stuff about power. But it’s barely there. Also, there’s basic gaps in logic throughout.

• Into the Woods (2014), Rob Marshall – I have a natural aversion to musicals and the early going here backs that up. There is nothing interesting or entertaining about people just singing what they are doing. But then the combination of fairytales idea and excellent performances shine through for a fair while. Corden, Blunt, Pine, Streep and especially Lilla Crawford are all really great. The film looks relatively good too in terms of costuming, effects, design and sets, though it is all a little uncreative. All in all it’s a decent enough jaunt… until a monumentally awful 50 minute coda to finish the film. The storytelling just falls off a cliff and it’s so overwhelmingly crap that it effects the whole film, going as far as not bothering to wrap up the arcs of important characters.

If you only have time to watch one A Most Violent Year

Avoid at all costs While We’re Young

Related beermovie.net articles for you to check out: Worth Watching October 2014 and  Worth Watching October 2012.

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July started out pretty slow on the viewing front. But I suffered a concussion and blew out my back, which meant I couldn’t do much for the last couple of weeks of the month aside from watch movies (unfortunately including any writing, which is why things have been quiet). So it turned into a massive one, with a couple of my favourite new releases of the year, some classics of the highbrow & silly variety and one of my absolute least favourites of the year. Read on and share your thoughts below.

Worth Watching:

• Ant-Man (2015), Peyton Reed – So refreshing. A real different tone and scale to anything Marvel have done in an age. They do some really different things with the action too, embracing the possibilities Ant-Man’s powers bring. It’s very creative. Also one of the funniest films I’ve seen this year. Full of top performances. Fab to see Michael Douglas in a big role, peak Paul Rudd while Lily & Pena are as good as anyone. Not much of a villain, but I didn’t really care. Was too busy having a blast with this heist caper at the fringe of the Marvel universe. Let’s hope they put their Avengers-building obsessions on hold a little more often.

• The Trouble with Harry (1955), Alfred Hitchcock – Set in a sharply coloured English countryside, this is a gentle Hitch film. A quietly amusing farce based around a dead body with a touch of silliness. Shirley MacLaine shines as a mad sassy single mum. A strange film. Almost feels more like an Agatha Christie play than a Hitchcock film. Lifted by a jaunty Bernard Hermann score that really reflects the mood and a deceptively well crafted script, especially in terms of characters. Minor, but frothy, Hitchcock.

• Beyond the Reach (2014), Jean-Baptiste Leonetti – A grindhousey B-movie vibe manages to overcome a script that’s at times awkwardly bad. Doesn’t hurt that Michael Douglas is chewing scenery as an ultra-rich modern cowboy with a slight psychotic/egomaniacal streak. Jeremy Irvine’s physical presence is a good foil for Douglas’s psychological one. The basic set-up – rich dude hunting salt of the earth dude through the desert – is good fun and they vaguely try and take a psychological angle on it. You can feel the physicality of both the action and the setting. Delightfully silly.

• Insidious Chapter 2 (2013), James Wan – There is a great shared style and atmosphere to the Waniverse. He really is a master and this is utterly frightening at times. Wan uses sound so well too. Rose Byrne excels as the frazzled horror wife. The script incorporates humour much more seamlessly than you would expect. Like the best of Wan’s work, it trades in familiar horror tropes, but feels like a homage rather than derivative. Though can’t help feeling the cross-dressing killer trope is played out by now. This is a step-down from the first, especially the jumbled storytelling of the final act. But it’s still well above average.

• The Lodger (1927), Alfred Hitchcock – There is a great flow to the storytelling in Hitch’s first feature. The genesis of his style is here, fisheye shots and close-ups on reaction faces. The great, but not distracting, visual creativity is there from the start. Much of this is stark, otherworldly and almost plays like a horror film rather than a thriller. Pulls no punches with the intense ending either.

• Drug War (2012), Johnnie To – A good ol fashioned cops and robbers (drug dealers) tale. The set-up is strong, the story spinning out from drug trafficking gone wrong. Quickly gets into the meat of the story and the cop procedural aspects are excellent. The gangster elements get a little convoluted but the storytelling never loses its clarity. It is a little slight on the tension front and in building the ambivalence in the characters that it needed. But the ending is bloody intense and there is some excellent gunplay in the action.

• 71 (2014), Yann Demange – Had pretty low expectations for anything original here. But it’s pretty unique, due in part to the conflict being one not generally presented onscreen. Such a small city to be so harshly divided. Portrays effectively a volatile situation, stark and confronting in conveying a city ready to blow. The pulsing score is excellent, as is the camerawork which boosts the claustrophobia. Both of these also combine to convey the main character’s disorientation as well. The intrigue over who is good, who is bad, adds a lot.

• The Transporter (2002), Louis Leterrier & Corey Yuen – Flawed, but pretty much peak The Stath. For the most part, pretty light and funny with some cool self-awareness. Kicks off with and awesomely fun and creative car chase. Occasionally the action level slips a little, exposing the rather awful storytelling and dustier performances. But it’s shot quite nicely and The Stath is so delightfully Stathy. Some nice martial arts sequences too.

• Sinister (2012), Scott Derrickson – Pretty much everything Blumhouse are behind is worth checking out these days. Starts with a terrifying mass-hanging. Ethan Hawke is a true-crime author who moves his family to where the horrific event he is writing about took place. Hawke, as he does most of the time, brings some real gravitas to this kind of genre fare. Creepy as hell, with the use of old super-8 films being really creative and atmospheric. It’s not particularly nicely shot and occasionally feels too familiar. But it picks up and is worth a look if you’re in the market for a good bogey man story.

• Magic Mike XXL (2015), Gregory Jacobs – This film is rather awful in many respects. The script is bad, most of the bits where dudes aren’t dancing are rubbish and there’s some dodgy acting. But we need more films like this. A slapdash celebration of life and sexuality. One where every body type is included in the fun & celebrated. Really is a joy of a film. Tatum and his cohort are all great, but Jada Pinkett-Smith may be the pick of the cast. Great example of how a soundtrack can drive a film just as well as an original score. More money thrown at similar fare please.

• Wet Hot American Summer (2001), David Wain – Exceptionally cast, silly 80s nostalgia. Nails the awkwardness of those late teen years. So much of the casting is perfect – Bradley Cooper, Amy Poehler, Janeane Garofalo and Christopher Meloni are all excellent. It’s utter, stilly fluff that whilst delightfully stupid does throw in some cool commentary about sexuality and embracing one’s true self. I chuckled a lot.

• Downloaded (2013), Alex Winter – Even though it’s not that long ago, Napster feels like a thousand years in internet terms. Bill S. Preston Esq himself reminds you just how revolutionary it was. The film is not a total success. It’s mad wordy, which both works and doesn’t. It also doesn’t manage to give a full side of even one side of the story and the compelling founders could have had more screen time. But it reminds you of the importance of Napster as a forerunner of iTunes and even Netflix. Situates the brand well in the history of record companies and booming corporatisation. The first time technology has been on the side of the consumer not the suits. Innovation rarely comes from those embedded up top of the power status quo. The film’s greatest success is sketching this power struggle at the heart of the story.

• Step Brothers (2008), Adam McKay – Thought I’d matured beyond standard Ferrell fare. But this is a pretty funny sctipt. Richard Jenkins and Mary Steenburgen are great casting additions too. Giggle factor was definitely higher than average. Has quite an improv feel to it. Adam Scott does smarmy very well whilst Ferrel and John C. Reilly bounce off each other.

• Blitz (2011), Elliott Lester – Can’t go wrong with The Stath bashing delinquents… with a hurley no less. Especially when it’s a buddy cop film with him alongside Paddy Considine. Why oh why didn’t this kick off a franchise? Pretty old school, rocking unlikeable anti-heroes above all. There are narrative flaws you could drive a Dwayne Johnson through, but it’s too much fun to really care. Though there are some moderately successful attempts to build more depth into the plot than your standard Stath effort.

• Inside Out (2015), Pete Doctor & Ronaldo Del Carmen – Not just the best Pixar film in an age, one of their best ever. Probably their smartest. Love the creative way psychological concepts are presented, neuroscience and memory processing spring to life. It’s all so bloody beautiful. Presents some great lessons as well, particularly regarding the relationship between sadness and joy. Phyllis Smith gives a great voice performance as Sadness too. The adventure style story aspect was more successful than expected. And the editing, cutting between the spaces inside and outside the head, is exquisitely done. It’s actually a pretty dense film. Not in a way that makes it hard to watch, but in a way that makes me want to go out and watch it a bunch of times. Emotionally assured and hard hitting. Also so great to have a film with a female protagonist (well three actually). Totally focused in on that character and the minutiae of their experience.

• Ted 2 (2015), Seth MacFarlane – I sorta feel dirty liking this. Totally nothing storyline. But these films seem to blunt the worst of MacFarlane’s instincts. Plenty of laughs, some of them even surprisingly clever. The cast are all good. Amanda Seyfried, Marky Mark and Jessica Barth especially. Ted looks incredible too, and MacFarlane is much better as a voice performer. Though Alan Scherstul of the Village Voice did remind me there is a pretty terrible transphobic joke in here.

• Friday Night Lights Season 3 (2008), Peter Berg – Starts with a much lighter touch than the awful previous season, which is a good omen that mainly carries through. Taylor Kitsch is so good as Tim Riggins. They handle the abrupt, writer’s strike imposed ending to the last season well with a few flashbacks and then moving right on. At times, the season is almost a little too highly-strung, just needing to chill out a little. There is barely any focus on the on-field action this season, but the relationships between characters, especially that of Julie and Matt, are built to nicely. And the season finishes at the perfect point, with all the characters left in really interesting places.

• Friday Night Lights Season 4 (2009), Peter Berg – Hard to think of a more seismic shift between seasons. Coach Taylor takes over at a new, highly inept school. It’s a bold move with potential to emphasise sport as a vehicle for social change. And despite some concerns, it does so without being too condescending or twee about it. This season fills in the supporting cast with some interesting new faces, especially Madison Burge as Becky. Her platonic relationship with Kitsch’s Riggins feels really original. It’s a sharply written season. One of the strengths of the show as a whole is the interesting arcs for the lesser characters. Buddy Garrity’s comes to the fore this time. The acting is far better than average, Kitsch, Zach Gilford, Kyle Chandler and Connie Britten continue to be ace, and are joined by Michael B. Jordan, who is a simply exceptional performer.

Not Worth Watching:

• Splice (2009), Vincenzo Natali – There’s a lot of good elements here, but overall it’s a bummer. Sarah Polley and Adrien Brody impress as the leads. Design is interesting and it opens nicely with a real science focus. Plus technically the use of music and montage is very creative. And the thematic concern around the overlap between the natural and synthetic spheres is interesting. But, it gets really bland storytelling-wise. The focus on Polley’s maternal instincts never hooked me and felt too obvious a place to take it. In the end, that aspect of the story overwhelms the interesting beginnings.

• Don Jon (2013), Joseph Gordon-Levitt – Another where the reasonable amount of positives are outweighed by the negatives. Very much concerned early on with the male gaze, as Gordon-Levitt’s douchebag watches a shit ton of porn and picks up a different woman every night. The film makes some astute points through all of this, but that doesn’t necessarily translate to a good watch. It’s narratively weak and a little boring overall, with the characterisation being slightly off too.

• The Gallows (2015), Travis Cluff and Chris Lofing – I praised Blumhouse earlier, but this is arse. A cool title, cool opening and decent premise lead absolutely nowhere. Desperately unscary, this is a film that fails to deliver on any level. Worst kind of found footage film, both in conceit and execution. Barely even manages to muster the cheapest of scares. Zero characterisation and no story. The nature of the threat, its malevolence, never established at all. One good performance (Pfeifer Brown) and the fact it’s short are the only positives.

• Finding Fela (2014), Alex Gibney – Gibney has been hugely prolific of late, with little promoted biographical docos sitting alongside his heavily promoted ‘A’ material. Half of this is essentially an advertisement for a Broadway musical you have no reason to care about. This is a shame, because the in-depth analysis of Fela Kuti’s music is a definite highlight. It’s far too rare though. Despite some warts being on display, it’s also hard to escape the feeling that a lot of Kuti’s major character flaws have been sidestepped here.

If you only have time to watch one Inside Out

Avoid at all costs The Gallows

Related beermovie.net articles for you to check out: Worth Watching July 2014 and  Worth Watching July 2012.

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Viewing (and writing) for June was dominated by the weekend dash to the Sydney Film Festival. Despite that, and a busy day job/personal schedule (hence this being so late into July), I still managed to cram a reasonable amount into the month, especially on the TV front. It was a pretty good one quality-wise too, with only a couple of minor duds. Share your thoughts below on these ones.

Worth Watching:

• The Mule (2014), Tony Mahony & Angus Sampson – Leigh Whannell and Angus Sampson write and star in this pretty surprising film. Surprising in the sense that my expectations were low for a film basically about a guy who can’t take a dump. It was sold that way, but the reality is that this is a really cleverly written and well acted crime film. An 80s period piece in which the drama is convincing and, with a few gross exceptions, the humour wry. Worth it just for Whannell, Sampson, Hugo Weaving and Noni Hazelhurst’s performances.

• Whiplash (2014). Damien Chazelle – This is all about the sound. Music shot like a thriller, jazz heavy soundtrack used in a major way, sound design that pops and rehearsals edited to feel like big sporting matches. It is prettily shot and constructed, even if the central conflict is perhaps not enchanting enough to carry the entire film. The film loses its kinetic freneticism for much of the third act too. J.K. Simmons is as good as advertised though and the thematic interest in the notion of artistic perfection, and the contrasting ways to get there is really well drawn.

• Esio Trot (2014), Dearbhla Walsh – This is a breezy, sharp adaptation of one of Roald Dahl’s lesser known, but most charming works that nicely emphasises his more absurd tendencies. The narration could be a lazy approach, but James Corden brings a fair bit of charisma to it. There is nothing too substantial here, but it’s hard to go wrong with a light, sweetly romantic tale starring Dustin Hoffman and Judy Dench.

• Killer’s Kiss (1955), Stanley Kubrick – Super early Kubrick is pretty creative noir focusing on a down and out boxer. Feels very hardboiled, both in look, dialogue and voiceover. It’s structurally funky with a good score too. The shooting is fun as well, first person shots and creative close-ups peppered throughout. A small feeling story that builds both its sense of dread and societal commentary (on rape culture no less) really well.

• Jurassic World (2015), Colin Trevorrow – The original film was a formative movie experience for me. This is a massively flawed effort, but it invokes the original enough to get a pass. Basically just anytime there are massive dinosaurs running rampant to a really good score, I’m on board. Anything else is pretty much rubbish. Pratt’s character is written to suck out basically all of his natural charisma, the story is overly complex with a woeful militarisation subplot, the character building throughout is super weak and the gender politics are bad. But did I mention dinosaurs? They look great and chomp numerous things. When they’re onscreen, this is pure joy. The rest is a poor man’s Spielberg homage.

• Dinosaur 13 (2014), Todd Douglas Miller – Another to feed my inner dinosaur nerd. Starts nicely with the beauty of the surrounds and the scarcity of T-Rex skeletons. Flips to an incredibly emotional tale of the government essentially stealing one of the greatest paleontological finds in history. Some of the interviews are really striking in their emotion. Initially the film reaches for a grand government conspiracy. But it actually finds it in the end. Really well edited, with a score that is surprisingly effective for a doco.

• Friday Night Lights Season 1 (2006), Peter Berg – The concept of high school sports, with the vibe of the whole town so wrapped up in how the team performs, is so foreign to someone from Australia. But this is a supremely well written soapy. At times the game is barely a focus, but the matches are shot really well. You can almost feel the physicality as the camera places you at ground level. The characters are rewardingly written and there’s a great portrait of a marriage at the centre. Kyle Chandler, Connie Britten, Zach Gilford and Taylor Kitsch provide the best of the performances. It’s all very silly and melodramatic, wearing its overt sentimentality on its sleeve. But damn it’s good at it.

• Orphan Black Season 3 (2015), Graeme Manson & John Fawcett – This season feels like it dials everything up –tension and narrative complexity in particular. The dense plotting is hard to follow. Or perhaps it’s because it’s been so long since I watched a show in the traditional manner of an episode a week. But it doesn’t detract from this being really watchable sci-fi, due in large part to Tatiana Maslany giving five or so of the best performances currently on TV. Very little downtime, they really ramp shit up here. I’m talking fingers in wounds, digging up baby corpses and exposed brains. Some really cool and violent action beats too.

Not Worth Watching:

• Friday Night Lights Season 2 (2007), Peter Berg – Starts off with one of the worst episodes of TV I’ve ever sat through. Basically trashes everything you loved in the first season and then goes with a huge plot point that does not jive with the show’s vibe. Overblown drama not fitting the tenor of the show. There’s some decent stuff throughout – Landry & Tyra’s relationship and Kitsch’s good performance as Tim Riggins, a character with a great arc. But the bad outweighs the good. Show just randomly forgets characters entirely, with no resolution. Which is apt in a way because that’s how this season ends, with the writer’s strike just stopping it abruptly. Daft.

• Camp X-Ray (2014), Peter Sattler – Starts promisingly. Silent impactful shot of a burning twin tower, quickly plunging us straight into Gitmo. But from there, the film cannot overcome the cloying premise– Kirsten Stewart’s rookie guard befriending an inmate. The script is clunky and the illogicalities in process & procedure distractingly huge. Stewart’s performance is excellent, she feels more genuine that on occasions. The film also does a good job of establishing the daily grind of working life at Guantanamo. But these good elements are undercut by the poor story.

If you only have time to watch one Friday Night Lights Season 1

Avoid at all costs Friday Night Lights Season 2

Related beermovie.net articles for you to check out: Worth Watching June 2014 and Worth Watching June 2012.

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Worth Watching:

• A Bug’s Life (1998), John Lasseter & Andrew Stanton – Feels like sort of a forgotten Pixar film. Yet another example of how damn clever their scripts are. In terms of world-building, this is one of their stronger films. Detail of the miniature world around and below us. Storywise, despite being original material, it sets up a very old fashioned adventure story vibe. Quite a funny film too, with the silly band of circus bugs running rampant. It is a level below the very best of Pixar, too saccharine in comparison, especially through the second half. But good Pixar is still great animation filmmaking.

• In Order of Disappearance (2014), Hans Petter Moland – Seriously, where is all the hype for this awesome film. A clever, genre/B-movie revenge script. Something so cool and simplistic as Stellan Skarsgard’s character moves from minion to minion to find out who killed his son. Bashing the snot out of one, to get the name of the next. The soundtrack is tops too, perfectly complimenting and elevating what is onscreen. The occasional silly moment is well and truly overwhelmed by one of the best genre films I’ve seen in a while. Some violent, well made and stylish shit.

• Chappie (2015), Neil Blomkamp – Freaking loved it. Found it utterly hilarious and the action sequences are excellent. So often robot action is impossible to follow. But Blomkamp nailed it. I’ve never felt an emotional connection with a robot character like I did with Chappie. Thematically and symbolically, there is so much to pull apart here, from the notions around AI to the invocation of religion. Can’t help feel that the presence of Die Antwoord turned a lot of people off. But for me, they added a uniqueness and definite authenticity. I think this is such a rich film when it’s being dismissed as the opposite.

• I Love You Phillip Morris (2009), Glenn Ficara & John Requa – Jim Carrey is such a talented guy when the material isn’t utter shite. This is a really stylish and distinctive film. At times that style’s a little overwrought, but only rarely. In the end it’s a strange mix which is a exceptionally dark comedy that’s light in filmmaking tone. Deals with suicide, homosexuality and gay sex in a frank and thoughtful way. There’s a lot of shading to the moral black and white to the film too. Ewan McGregor is good in this, but Carrey is the real star. It’s a pretty complex character study in the end and that succeeds in a major part due to Carrey’s timing, of both the comedic and dramatic varieties.

• Nas: Time is Illmatic (2014), One9 – Nas’s album is a true hip-hop classic and this film breaks down in great detail what led to it. The film is the history lesson of an album that is an unsurpassed portrait of the streets. So great to see Nas,  precocious talent and very deep thinking & perceptive dude, telling these stories in his own words. This is a much watch for any fan of hip-hop. My only slight criticism is that it could have broken down the album itself a little more. Part of that is the laudable desire to not simply tell a ‘doco 101’ type story.  And as a background document, it’s more than thorough.

• Stephen Fry: Today’s Russia a Literary Landscape (2014), Sarah Wallis & Paul Mitchell –  Fry has gotten to the point where anything that interests him in the slightest, he can get a show made about it, no matter how niche. And this, focusing on contemporary Russian authors, is pretty niche. But really, Fry is little more than a figurehead for this hour long film.  It’s the characters of the authors that hold sway, weaving in some great stories and illuminating what are some somewhat hidden pieces of Russian literature. If nothing else, it will give you some cool books to track down, though there is little broad appeal here.

Not Worth Watching:

• Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), Matthew Vaughn – Well the one thing I was not expecting was for this to be so exceedingly boring. Can see the Kick Ass (2010) vibe and sensibility that Vaughn is trying to bring to the spy genre. But this film does not actually function as a spy film, and it’s lacking the wit and kineticism that made his earlier film such a delight. There’s also no tension, and for me a majority of the comedic sensibility fails. Samual L. Jackson’s lisping villain sums that up well. Underlying story is so neglected that even if all the loving parody trimmings landed (which they don’t) this still would not satisfy.

If you only have time to watch one In Order of Disappearance

Avoid at all costs  Kingsman: The Secret Service

Related beermovie.net articles for you to check out: Worth Watching March 2014 and Worth Watching March 2012.

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