Viewing recap January

Mr Turner (2014)
Beautifully photographed, the images echoing Turners paintings, and with an excellent lead performance by Timothy Spall. Turner is a man you both loathe and admire. The weakness is the story, the first hour or more is dull and tedious to sit through. We’ve seen many times before an artist struggling between remaining true to his cause and simultaneously having emotional responsibilities and sexual needs. My attention was constantly wandering off, there was little to latch on to in terms of plot development. The only character I liked is the woman he rents a room from. It does get better in the second half though.
I love a number of Mike Leigh’s previous films, especially Secret & Lies, Another Year, and Happy-Go-Lucky. Mr Turner just wasn’t for me, and I hope the director goes back to his usual style next time.
Rating 5/10

Birdman (2014)

A self-aware showbiz satire about big-headed actors and critics. Why are people giving this film such high praise?  Don’t get what the big deal is. Overhyped and not as amazing as the reviews indicate. The uninterrupted camera work is impressive, and Edward Norton plays the asshole well, but there isn’t any story, just people preparing for a play and chatting in a basement. The first 30 minutes is a complete bore and I had little interest in any of the characters.
The last 20 minutes are admittedly intriguing, but cannot save the film. Nearly every scene feels like a “performance”. The washed up actor trying to remain relevant is only moderately interesting. I didn’t have an emotional connection to the situations I didn’t feel much about Michael Keaton’s character. The problem is I feel Riggan's desire for recognition, but why he loved the theater is absent.
I like how Iñárritu suggests that the artists are the ones putting their lives on the line every night, while the critics can hate something so easily.
The self-centered artist looking for acclaim is basically what Iñárritu is doing, promoting himself.

Favorite quotes: “Why do I always have to beg people to love me”

”A man becomes a critic when he cannot become an artist, just as a man becomes an informer when he can’t become a soldier”

Rating 6/10

Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)

Holly Golightly has a charm that you forget her self-centered ways. Worth seeing for Audrey Hepburn's performance, the iconic fashion aspect, and the memorable song Moon River. The stand out scenes involve a party, and shop lifting, the latter has a questionable message. 

I wonder how much money Tiffany’s paid to have their name associated with the movie, while watching you don’t feel like it’s product placement, even though it’s actually in the title.

Rating 7/10

Palo Alto (2013)

Directed by Gia Coppola, who is granddaughter of Francis Ford Coppola, The screenplay is based on stories written by James Franco, and he also has a role in the movie.
There’s a distinct feeling he is playing a character that is close to the real James Franco, someone who is attracted to teenage girls (it’s a condition called Ephebophilia).  There was a case recently on the news when 34 year old Franco was hitting on a 17 year old. It was noticed and he had to publically apologize. 

So while I find Franco’s character creepy, he also plays a person who the girls feel drawn to and are attracted to. Some girls are attracted to their teacher and I think it’s the same kind of thing here. However the age difference is just one aspect of the story, which also deals with teenager issues such as parties, boredom, fitting in, figuring out your boundaries and who you are, etc. We've seen films with these themes before, so it's not that groundbreaking, but the soundtrack, good performances, and loose narrative creates an atmosphere so you feel you are stepping into that world.

Rating 7/10

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Full review here.
Rating 9/10

Risky Business (1983)
A believable coming of age drama starring a young Tom Cruise. The only part that was slightly unrealistic was the Princeton guy showing up at night during the party.  I mainly watched because Tangerine Dream Founder Edgar Froese died recently, which I wrote about here. Having watched the movie, now I know why the song is called Love on a Real Train.
Rating 8/10

Stranger Than Paradise (1984)
A low budget absurdist/deadpan comedy that might grow on me on rewatch, which is often the case with Jarmusch. I liked how the two male leads had different personalities, one of them with more empathy than the other.
Quirky like we know the director, but to me not as good as his next film Down By Law (1986).
Favorite quote: “It’s funny, you come to some place new, and everything looks just the same”
Rating 7/10

Down By Law (1986)

Rewatch. The sequence with the three guys in jail is the highlight. Perhaps Jarmusch’s most quotable film. The last act feels contrived though, so that's why I gave the film an 8 and not a 9.

Favorite quote: "If looks can kill, I am dead now"
Rating 8/10

To Have and Have Not (1944)
Excellent performances by Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, and Walter Brennan. While I really liked the chemistry, the dialogue at times is too over-explanatory, fewer words could have been used. A film that would hold up to rewatching, even though the setting feels similar to Casablanca (1942)
Rating 7.5/10

Tracks (2013)

The film is not bad, yet a bit forgettable. Based on a true story. Always reliable Mia Wasikowska gives a strong performance as woman who goes on a long and daring journey across the Australian desert. Robyn Davidson seeks to escape the patronizing gaze of a humanity that tries to fetishise her. To quote Lisa Thatcher in her review: 

"So while Tracks does its level best to stay out of Robyn Davidson’s way in her great event of self definition, by the very nature of the cameras gaze, we include ourselves in the act she is running from."

Rating 6.5/10

Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
A few of the story elements I have seen before in films such as Aliens, Groundhog Day, and the Matrix, yet it’s still a really good action/sci-fi movie, didn’t matter about the repetitiveness, which I thought might be tiresome.
Rating 8/10

Like Father, Like Son (2013)
Interesting dilemma of two families whose children were switched at birth. A very tricky situation to deal with. Especially the two fathers are memorable. The father-son ”doesn’t matter” conversation about why they are father and mother is quietly powerful.
Of the directors other work, Maborosi (1995) I found dull and putt me to sleep. I Wish (2011) I only liked the second half. Like Father, Like Son is a story I think that will appeal to a wider audience.
I haven’t seen Hirokazu Koreeda’s Nobody Knows (2004) or Still Walking (2008). 

Rating 7.5/10

Goodbye to Language (2014) 
For me, the most pretentious film of 2014, if you can even call it a fully formed film. Jean-Luc Godard's name gives the non-story extra importance.
Perhaps as a homage to the donkey in Bresson’s Au hasard Balthazar (1966), a dog wanders around, and over the course of some seasons observes a married woman and a single man as they meet, love, argue and fight. Many scenes of them naked, but the relationship is too vague for me to care what happens to them.
A collection of moments and images the viewer has to make sense of. Some beautiful, some ugly. TV screens in the background but the characters look the other way. Perhaps the constantly changing focus and fleetingness of the film is a comment on the human condition, our days contain random moments with and without meaning. But I didn’t need Godard to tell me that.
I’m sure others will extract deep, philosophical meanings from the film, it’s made in such a way that you can read anything in to it if you want. It follows no rules and cares not for plot. Props that Godard used 3D at the age of 84. I can only comment on the dvd, which wasn’t the theatrical version Godard intended for me to see. I’d love to read a defense of why this film is great and awards worthy.
Favorite quote: “Everyone can stop God from existing, but no one does”
Rating 4/10

Starred Up (2013)

A love it or hate it kind of film, the main characters are quite vile and foul-mouthed. I’ve always loved prison dramas and thought this one was powerful and moving. These characters I would never want to meet in person(scary!), so fascinating for me to get a chance to hang out with them through the medium of film.
Jack O'Connell shines in the lead role as the troubled and violent teenager. The father (Ben Mendelsohn) also gave a great supporting performance, and the relationship with his son is the most memorable aspect. For me, the realism of the story and British prison slang was new, and I read somewhere that it’s more of a prison of the mind as the boy acts a similar way on the outside. 

Of course we’ve seen realism before(Steve McQueen's Hunger), group therapy(1999’s Girl Interrupted) and father/son relationships, with inmates and prison personnel doing bad things(In The Name of The Father), but Starred Up was different to me.

Rating 8/10

Camp X-Ray (2014)

Prison drama. A soldier (played by Kristen Stewart) is assigned to Guantanamo Bay and befriends a man who has been imprisoned there for three years. Better than I expected, I was emotionally involved. Deserves to be seen by a wider audience.

Rating 7.5/10

Leviathan (2014)
Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. For me, the audience laughter in the cinema actually was a plus, and helped me enjoy Leviathan more than I might have done by myself. It is a serious drama, but the Russian humour is not something I see every day and was fun to watch.
I'd label Leviathan a drama where the director wanted to have some amusing moments(which an audience may not know how to respond to). Even though I'm not familiar with Russian culture, I compare the film to real life, we joke around, drink or no drink, to keep our spirits up, so we can get through the day.
The last act is too spelled out, which for me prevented it from becoming a great film.
Rating 7.5/10

Foxcatcher (2014)

Overpraised oscar-baity film, the performances are the main attraction. The characters are quite dull, I never sensed they had a life outside of what we see on screen. 

There are maybe 3-4 memorable sequences(breaks the mirror, overeats, and has to lose weight on the bike), (John du Pont and the horses) (the awkward interview with Ruffalo), (the ending).
The tension between Mark Schultz and John du Pont kept me watching, but the film is too long, and with too many boring parts.
“We were his newest trophies. If you didn’t want to be displayed on his wall, he threatened to ruin you,” Schultz writes in his autobiography, also called Foxcatcher.

Rating 6/10

The Lunchbox (2013)

Heartwarming film set in India, I liked and cared about the characters. Could easily rewatch in future.

Rating 8/10

Seen any of these? Agree or disagree? Watched anything great in January? As always, comments are welcome