Actors: Ellar Coltrane, Ethan Hawke
Director: Richard Linklater
Boyhood is a splendid film - it's hard not to give it points for the difficulty of its construction. Requiring over a decade to tell its story in stages, it very easily could've turned out to be an unsalvagable, self-indulgent mess. Instead, it grabs at all sorts of slices of one's childhood - it makes one's heart ache to remember being that young. Regardless, the film doesn't just seize at your memories in an attempt to bring them to your brain and make you feel stuff - it succeeds in being emotionally captivating in its own right.
Chuck Klosterman said that cinema verite is his least favorite style because any attempt to make the film look 'real' only highlights its artificiality. While Boyhood is not shot cinema verite, the film is attempting a kind of realism that can sound and look awfully tin-eared during its few missteps.
Sunday, August 17, 2014
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
American Hustle - 2013 - 3½ Stars
Actors: Christian Bale, Amy Adams
Director: David O. Russell
American Hustle gets a lot right - it's got fun performances from a long list of solid actors. It's a period piece so we get to enjoy the 1970s. It's got some tense scenes. In all though, it's a film about con men, and one of the problems I have with some con men films is that I can't care about the protagonist's happiness. He's a chronic liar driven to do so by whatever drives him. I suppose the title 'American' in this film is supposed to indicate that the characters are microcosmic of America, but I'm not buying it. Fun film but I'd be surprised if I remembered much about it three months from now.
Director: David O. Russell
American Hustle gets a lot right - it's got fun performances from a long list of solid actors. It's a period piece so we get to enjoy the 1970s. It's got some tense scenes. In all though, it's a film about con men, and one of the problems I have with some con men films is that I can't care about the protagonist's happiness. He's a chronic liar driven to do so by whatever drives him. I suppose the title 'American' in this film is supposed to indicate that the characters are microcosmic of America, but I'm not buying it. Fun film but I'd be surprised if I remembered much about it three months from now.
Friday, August 1, 2014
The World's End - 2013 - 4 Stars
Actors: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost
Director: Edgar Wright
The World's End is the conclusion to a trilogy of sorts, and so there is quite a lot of meta stuff about rehashing the past and repeating what you've already done, trying to make it better. The best part about said meta stuff is that it functions perfectly well narratively in the film. Furthermore, it is refreshing to see a comedy that is not just 10 scenes of improv dashed together - this is a legitimate film, with Edgar Wright providing outstanding direction. Even though things flag near the end, it's still an achievement.
Director: Edgar Wright
The World's End is the conclusion to a trilogy of sorts, and so there is quite a lot of meta stuff about rehashing the past and repeating what you've already done, trying to make it better. The best part about said meta stuff is that it functions perfectly well narratively in the film. Furthermore, it is refreshing to see a comedy that is not just 10 scenes of improv dashed together - this is a legitimate film, with Edgar Wright providing outstanding direction. Even though things flag near the end, it's still an achievement.
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