The Imitation Game

While thousands of allied troops were storming Omaha beach, a small group of mathematicians were breaking the Nazi codes and quietly winning World War 2. It’s an amazing story; well-directed, beautifully acted, and historically reverential. It’s also heartbreaking how the British government treated Alan Turing, the genius cryptographer who built the machine that solved the Nazi puzzle. So while this is a superb and inspiring biography, it’s not a very uplifting one. But it’s a must see. Keira Knightly and Benedict Cumberbatch will earn lots of nominations and statues and stuff for this. You can bet on it.

Birdman

Unfortunately, the “hype” of this movie sabotaged it for me. I had so many people tell me how cool and wonderful it was. I had so many friends appalled that I hadn’t seen it yet. When I finally saw it, I was annoyed the whole time. It doesn’t help that I’ve never been a fan of Iñárritu. 21 Grams, Babel, and Biutiful were all style and histrionics, and felt inauthentic. Birdman feels like its trying way too hard to be cool; to be meta. Everything feels affected, precious, and forced. Yes, there are a couple of laughs, but they tend to get smothered by the inside-jokes and jerkoffiness of it all. The filmmakers seem so pleased with themselves, sticking it to the critics. I was not impressed or entertained.

The Shawshank Redemption

Always nice to see this on the big screen. A classic.

Dumb and Dumber To

The original Dumb and Dumber was not only really funny, but it was also really fresh. The Farrellys dared to go to some taboo places for laughs that most movies wouldn’t dare venture. This new iteration is still funny, but it isn’t really "fresh." It’s nice to see Jeff Daniels and Jim Carrey together again, and the commitment of everyone involved is pure, but some of the gags feel a bit well-travelled.

Whiplash

It’s not like a movie about the relationship between a music student and a music teacher is so original. Student-teacher relationships are archetypal and have been explored in drama for centuries. But what’s different here is: Whiplash explodes with technique. The editor must have been freebasing “Five Hour Energy” drinks to make some of these cuts. The music scenes are frenetic, but also hyper-controlled – a lot like jazz itself, and a lot like the dick-ish band conductor skillfully played by J.K. Simmons. But I questioned his character’s motives occasionally. He seemed to cut off his nose to spite his face more than a reasonable person would deem practical. Nevertheless, his performance is electric. As is Miles Teller as the artist who is so eager to please his mentor that he’s willing to self-destruct. This is an extremely entertaining and technically superb movie, even if the exploration of the artistic dilemma hits uncomfortably close to home.

Marriage Italian Style

So, do you want to listen to people argue in Italian for two hours? Here's how:

Faults

An interesting, low-budget thriller about deprogramming a cult survivor. There are plenty of twists and turns, even though much of the movie takes place in a cramped hotel room. The money-saving techniques here are admirable. Performances are also strong, including Mary Elizabeth Winstead as the mysterious central figure. At times, the tone strays too far into slapstick comedy, which I think hurts the overall suspense. But that’s a minor qualm in an otherwise taut and suspenseful no-budget yarn.

The Homesman

What’s with all the sad movies at AFI Fest this year? Director and star Tommy Lee Jones turns in this very sad, bleak tale about an ugly, old maid(?), Hilary Swank (all-in), who agrees to transport three mentally ill women across the prairie to get help. She hires a tough old cowboy to protect her and hilarity ensues. Besides being so depressing, what this movie lacks is relationships between Swank and the ill woman. They stay quiet for the most part, which feels like a missed opportunity for some interesting drama. Falling somewhere between True Grit and Little House on the Prairie, I’m not sure who this movie is for. Western genre fans will be bored by all of the camping. Woman will be devastated by the awfulness of Swank’s situation. It’s not that it’s bad, it just lacks any hope.

The Gambler

What stands out in this remake of an old James Caan movie is that the gambler is so addicted to gambling and gets himself in so deep that you never believe he’s going to make it out of this jam alive. It becomes almost depressing to predict how much he’ll fuck up even more. Mark Wahlberg, looking scrawny and pale, delivers an unusually affecting performance. Brie Larson takes a token “girl-next-door” part and manages to make it compelling. The rest of the cast is good, too. Each loan shark and bookie more ominous than the last. While it's sometimes nauseating to watch this guy’s self-destruction, the resolution is surprisingly complete and satisfying.

Happy Valley

This is probably one of the saddest movies I’ve ever seen. It’s sadder than Schindler’s List. While it’s initially sold as a documentary about the Penn State/Jerry Sandusky scandal, it becomes more about football culture and hero worship. The culture that makes football coaches into religious leaders is bound to be rocked by a scandal that mirrors the Catholic Church. When people pursue one reality too much for too long, they tend to lock-out other realities. Great movie about strong and worthy themes, but SAD. Oh, and not a date movie.

Interstellar

In the film geek world, there’s a lot of jibber-jabber about the 70mm format. Christopher Nolan is one of the filmmakers who has sworn to save film vs. video. So much of the discussion is about the format. But how’s the story? An amalgam of 2001, Contact, and the various time-travel paradoxes, it’s not very original, but it is thought-provoking. The idea of relativity plays into the plot, which makes for some exciting, imaginative hypotheticals. It’s thematically ambitious. But the science of it all keeps an arms length from the emotion. There are some boo-hoo, tissue moments, but they don’t really resonate. So while I can say it’s “cool” I can’t really say I loved it. It’s more format than function, I guess.

Inherent Vice

Sometimes a movie is a little too weird for its own good. It starts out pretty straightforward. Joaquin Phoenix is a P.I. and a woman in trouble comes looking for help. The detours from the case are numerous and nonsensical. Some of them are hilarious, some of them are just out of left field. It’s beautifully shot and the period costumes are cool, but you’re not sure what you just saw at the end of it all. Josh Brolin as an angry, broke cop is the most memorable thing about this. Otherwise, the case doesn’t make sense. Even in the masterpiece of unsolvable puzzles, “the Dude” just wanted his rug back.