Thanks to bold direction and actual intellectual stimulation, The Big Short surpasses last year's The Wolf of Wall Street, a film to which The Big Short unabashedly begs to be compared. Where Wolf was happy to pander to the audience and bombard us with nudity and substances, The Big Short actually explains the economic machinations that form its narrative foundation. The result is an exhilarating, bold, informative, and extremely enjoyable movie. Be warned: while the film does a very fine job of explaining the complex economic concepts, it demands you keep up lest you be left in the dust. However, if you've the good sense to like this page, you're clearly a very smart person and will thus likely do just fine!
Charlie Kaufman's stop motion film Anomalisa is nothing short of a masterpiece. Haunting and beautiful, it expertly examines what it means to be a human, causing the viewer's soul to ache in a fashion only achieved by exquisite storytelling. Without doubt one of the best films of the year, Anomalisa should be considered essential viewing for mature audiences.
45 Years seems to subvert expectations, opting to examine the darker side of holy matrimony. While it has it's moments of nostalgic reminiscence, they are overwhelmed by an unflinching examination of the doubt, jealousy, and secrets that permeate the foundation of every marriage. Devoid of action and cynical to the core, 45 Years is not your standard popcorn fare nor will it appeal to most moviegoers. But those looking for an intimate and honest character study could certainly do worse than 45 Years.
With a broken narrative, atrocious pacing, and uninteresting characters, Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight is baffling in its ineptitude. Falsely marketed as a mystery, The Hateful Eight is, in fact, just a whole lot of talking done by nine people snowed into a cabin. Yes, you read correctly. There are nine people in the cabin leaving the viewer to wonder who didn't count as part of the "Hateful Eight." If anyone could make a dialogue driven mystery work, it would Tarantino... Well, I guess not. It's tone is beyond inconsistent, leaving me confused and causing me to cringe more often than I think I was supposed to. Unlike the rest of Tarantino's work, by the time the over the top violence begins, the lack of a strong narrative foundation makes the gore feel gratuitous and the film, as a whole, feel unnecessary. Were it not for Jennifer Jason Leigh's stellar performance as the despicable Daisy Domergue, I would have left the 3 hour train wreck of a movie even more incensed, an outcome I can scarcely imagine.
Whatever Brooklyn lacks in originality, it makes up for in its strong performances. The chemistry between Ronan and Cohen can only be described as effervescent, their playful dialogue able to warm even the most cold of hearts and captivate even the most masculine of viewers. Beguiling if formulaic, Brooklyn is one of the best love stories of 2015.
Lacking cohesion, substance, and stylistic panache, Hail, Caesar! is a toothless and wildly mediocre installment into the Cohen Brother's filmography. Squandering an all-star ensemble cast, this love letter to 1950's Hollywood is destined to be a forgotten February theatrical release.
That's right! You can now go a get pitch slapped by all your favorite Bellas, Becca, Fat Amy, and even this one... Anyone know her name?
See the trailer here:
I was a fan of the first film. Walking in to this one, I expected the same movie with all the trappings of a sequel, sacrificing originality for more elaborate sets, abusing its big budget. Pitch Perfect was a surprise hit, boasting enough toe-tapping tunes to cover its uninspired and predictable plot.
The music is still here and is as toe-tapping as ever. As I write this review, I am listening to the soundtrack of the movie... So that's a plus.
When it comes to the humor in the movie, it's largely hit or miss. When it's funny, its hilarious. Elizabeth Banks and John Micheal Higgins continue to mine deadpan comedy gold as the a capella commentators with their deliciously off-color commentary during the performances. The movie pushes the envelope in a lot of way, employing racism, misogyny, and lowbrow humor to shock. And for the most part, it works.
However, the self-aware commentary on privileged millennial culture that made the original so cutting now feels trite and doesn't work as well. It was a bold move to market a movie at teenage girls and then satirize their culture. This time around, it fails to earn laughs, instead eliciting nothing but eye rolls. When the hipster exclaims, "I can't run! I'm in skinny jeans," I feel nothing but embarrassment for the movie. When the movie falls flat, it falls flat on its face. Seriously the silence in the theater made me cringe. But worry not, the moments of uproarious laughter are present as well.
Also, the movie really needs to adding "aca" in front of words. It was a joke from the first movie that wasn't funny then and refuses to die. Let's face it, it's aca-annoying.
I was admittedly worried that the movie would go overboard with the sequel trappings. However, the movie addressed the sensory overload that often comes with sequels from a unique angle. The Bellas begin the movie with elaborate performances with props and lighting tricks. The movie goes on to stress the need to returns to basics, almost self-satirizing. It was well played.
In an attempt to up the ante from its predecessor, the movie is full of guest stars. Some of them are very funny, for example Barack Obama. To see my homie Barack in a movie and jamming out to the musical stylings of the Bellas tickled me. However, when the Green Packers show up as an a capella group without explanation and begin singing, I felt nothing but intense confusion. In that sense, the movie occasionally gets lost in itself, overdoing the absurdity.
The performances were passable and Elizabeth Banks proved herself as a competent director. Let's face it, none of us are expecting to be captivated by any performances in this movie. Everyone satisfies their one dimensional character's role with relative ease.
The story arc of the movie is a little flawed. Instead of building up to the finals with a series of performances, the movie seems to wander. In fact, I probably couldn't give you a summary of the movie, the plot drifts too much. Becca and Jesse's relationship is beyond boring. We spend the first movie rooting for them to get together, and they do... and then nothing happens between them. No drama. No intimacy. Aside from a few displays of PDA, it's kind of just assumed that they are together in this movie, their relationship serving absolutely no purpose.
There also seems to be an issue with sound mixing... which is a big, big problem. All the music was perfectly audible. Dialogue not so much. I missed a lot of lines because the sound was not properly balanced, a frustrating oversight.
While I moderately enjoyed this movie, I fear for the series' future. With a door wide open to sequels, we could be looking at a Bring It On franchise repeat with numerous straight-to-DVD sequels marring the original's good name. Let's all hope the Pitch Perfect series knows when to call it quits.
Overall, Pitch Perfect 2 uses a lot of the original's strengths to produce another teen smash hit. If you don't think you'll like this movie, you're probably right. This movie is for a specific audience and probably won't win many new converts.
Pitch Perfect 2 is rated PG-13 for for innuendo and language.
