Birdman, The Babadook, Citizenfour, Rosewater Reviews

Birdman
Dir. Alejandro González Iñarritu
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I always leave impressed when I see a movie shot (or seemingly shot) in one take. There's something about it that takes so much skill and dedication to pull off both behind and in front of the camera, it's almost like watching a ballerina dance around a stage, perfectly hitting every twirl and kick or whatever the heck they do, I don't know jack about the ballet. Alejandro González Iñarritu's latest film, Birdman, takes the "single shot" approach made popular from such films as Rope and Russian Ark and crafts a dark comedy/backstage drama/Hollywood satire around it, all while bringing Michael Keaton out of wherever he's been hiding all these years, giving him a solid role to chew on. The film is about washed up superhero actor Riggan Thompson (Keaton), who hopes a new, ambitious Broadway production will be the spark to revitalize his career. But when one of his lead actors is injured by a falling light, he hires the unpredictable, eccentric Mike Shiner (Edward Norton) to take his place, whose behavior could ruin the entire production, all while he has to deal with his resentful daughter (Emma Stone), a crazy girlfriend (Andrea Riseborough), an ex-wife (Amy Ryan), and his personal existential crisis of forever being associated with "Birdman."

Dumb and Dumber To, Big Hero 6, Whiplash Reviews

Dumb and Dumber To

Dir. Bobby & Peter Farrelly

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In second grade, I got in trouble for proclaiming at room volume: “who’s got the wiener schnitzel?” Some girl told the teacher thinking I meant something else, but my young mind only absorbed that line from the funniest movie ever made, Dumb and Dumber. It’s a film I return to over and over again, and remains my all-time favorite movie. When I was but a wee boy, my mom received a VHS double-pack of The Mask and Dumb and Dumber for her birthday. After coercing her to let me watch a PG-13 movie, I would play them so often the video became unwatchably degraded. To this day, I can still recite large chunks of the movie word-for-word, and it no doubt shaped my sense of humor growing up (which inevitably led me on the path to trying stand-up in my undergrad years). It’s a film that means a lot to me, but through the years, it seems like the powers that be in Hollywood want to take that magic away.

First was the god awful prequel Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd, starring two younger actors doing their best Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels impressions, which was the comedy equivalent of watching a close family member succumb to a deadly skin disease. Then came the “unrated” DVD and Blu-Ray re-release. Unless you scour the internet, the only version you can currently buy is this shitty, re-cut version which literally takes out some of the best scenes and ruins some of the funniest moments by adding unnecessary comic beats. So when it was announced just over a year ago that Jim and Jeff would be returning, a full 20 years later, to film Dumb and Dumber To, it seemed like such a cynical cash grab from the Farrelly Brothers.

Both Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels just weren’t the same people anymore. Jeff was off doing respectable work like The Newsroom, and Jim Carrey’s stardom had taken a major toll on him – he was depressed, on meds, writing existential children’s books, and going on whacked out “spiritual journeys.” Like Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, it just seemed their youthful energy would be channeled into forced “old guy” humor to justify this desperate money-making scheme. And looking at the output of the Farrelly Brothers recently - The Three Stooges, Hall Pass, and The Heartbreak Kid - was hardly promising. But here we are anyway, and out of obligation, I lined up and bought my ticket to promised disappointment. After seeing the film however, I have to say, it was a blindsidingly fun (but still unnecessary) swan song to put an end to things.

Interstellar, Nightcrawler, John Wick, Rich Hill Reviews

Interstellar

Dir. Christopher Nolan

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Usually the central argument against space travel and funding programs like NASA is that we have "enough problems on Earth to deal with." Unless we have some sort of cataclysm, we tend to stay grounded, with excuses like world hunger stopping us from exploring the stars.  In Interstellar, Chris Nolan provides a glimpse at a similarly disillusioned near-future, where space travel has taken a back seat while the planet is suffering and turning crops into dustbowls.  Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) is an ex-NASA pilot and father of two, who joins an expedition to leave Earth in a last ditch effort to find another habitable planet for humanity.  What's framed as a simple family drama, with McConaughey going to save the world for his kids, is told in a hard sci-fi/poetic fashion not dissimilar to Kubrick's 2001 (a moniker many films aspire to but rarely earn).  Interstellar is a challenging film to grasp from a scientific perspective and even on a thematic level, but at the heart of it lies a very simple story of a determined father. It features gorgeous depictions of space, and its ambition is huge, but I think when it comes down to it, the emotion was a little too heavy-handed and its endless amount of philosophical and scientific ideas may have overly complicated the film against its favor.

Tusk, Kill the Messenger, St. Vincent, Fed Up Reviews

Tusk
Dir. Kevin Smith
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#WalrusYes. That phrase may mark the first time a twitter hashtag inspired the creation of a film.  Kevin Smith, the writer-director most known for his hit-or-miss catalogue of comedy flicks like Clerks (hit) and Cop Out (a giant miss), is more or less now self-identified as a Podcaster, having created a number of widely successful shows under the banner of his SModco. production company. During a recording of his SModcast with Scott Mosier, Smith became fascinated with an ad he came across where a homeowner offered free housing if the lodger dressed up as a walrus. Inspired by this kooky idea, the two spent an hour spitballing back and forth ideas for a film, and took to Twitter asking fans to post #WalrusYes if they wanted to see this walrus-themed horror film or #WalrusNo if they didn't. And in just over a year's time, the film is released. It's kind of inspirational to me that this film was even made being a huge fan of Smith and his numerous Podcasts, but Tusk just sucks.

Fury, The Boxtrolls, The Skeleton Twins, The Zero Theorem Reviews

Fury

Dir. David Ayer

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Tanks. Giant tanks blowing shit up. That's pretty much what the advertising has been for Fury, the latest film from David Ayer, best known for having written Training Day.  The film is about a "rag tag" group of American soldiers towards the end of WWII, pushing forward into Nazi Germany with their comparatively tiny American tanks.  Among the macho-men riding the dirt and blood-spattered 'fury' is Brad Pitt, who's basically playing his same exact character from Inglourious Basterds, Shia LeBeouf as a moustached bible thumper, Jon Bernthal as a brutish hardball (not far off from Shane in Walking Dead), Michael Peña as the token Mexican, and Logan Lerman  as the wide-eyed "new guy."  The dynamic of this crew is reminiscent of an old school war movie, but the story is ultimately a boring 2.5 hours of mindless shooting and none of the characters go beyond well-acted stereotypes.

Gone Girl, This is Where I Leave You, The Trip to Italy Reviews

Gone Girl

Dir. David Fincher

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Amy is gone.  Her husband, Nick, may or may not be responsible.  That's the basic premise of Gillian Flynn's neo-noir thriller Gone Girl, which became a sensation at airport bookstands everywhere since its 2012 debut.  The book was a biting (literally) and darkly funny take on relationships, and its cold, detached characters seemed like they'd be right at home in a David Fincher movie.  Ben Affleck plays Nick Dunne, co-owner of the bar aptly titled The Bar with his twin sister Margo (Carrie Coon).  When his wife (Rosamund Pike) goes missing, both the police and the media start to suspect he may be involved (not good considering Missouri's stance on the death penalty), and as the mystery spins deeper and more gets revealed, Nick's reputation goes from up, down, side-to-side, and everywhere in between - even within the audience in the theater.  Though I will be "that guy" and say that the book was better in many aspects, as far as I'm concerned, this was a fantastic adaptation of an amazing book.

A Walk Among the Tombstones, Frank, The One I Love, Life After Beth Reviews

A Walk Among the Tombstones

Dir. Scott Frank

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Liam Neeson's career is the reverse of every other big movie star: He starts out starring in mostly serious dramas like Schindler's List and Michael Collins, then as he gets ripe with age, cements himself as an action hero in films like Taken and Unknown.  A Walk Among the Tombstones, based on a crime novel by Lawrence Block, continues Neeson's line of tough guy flicks in a neo-noir about a private detective hired to find out what happened to a man's wife, murdered despite her husband paying the ransom.  An ex-alcoholic turned clean, Neeson eventually decides to take the case, enlisting the help of a random homeless kid he meets in the library.  Yeah, I don't understand it myself, but the kid (played by "Astro" Bradley, a young rapper from the first season of The X-Factor) did a pretty good job bouncing off Neeson, filling him in on all the "street lingo" he needs to know; if only the script was better, it could've been a K and J-type relationship a la Men in Black, but it just ends up feeling pointless. The character solely exists for us to care about him.