Quick & Dirty Reviews

Big Hero 6 (4 out of 5)

For being yet another predictable super hero origin story, Big Hero 6 manages to pack enough heart and inventive action to make it one of the best animated films of the year. The film celebrates science like I've never seen in a children's movie, our heroes are self described nerds, and proud of that fact. They are inventors, engineers and chemists. The film also explores oft-ignored qualities like creativity and passion for learning. For these facts alone Big Hero 6 shoots way up my recommendations list. But thankfully the film is also unequivocally great; performances from the entire cast are fantastic and characters animate beautifully. Even the robot Baymax who never displays a single facial expression still manages to pull off the highly emotional finale, a credit to the fantastic performances and strong writing. This is a children's films that you can be happy to see and take children to go see, it treats it's audience with respect and never panders. No matter your age Big Hero 6 is an exciting super hero film that will inspire you and melt your heart.

Whiplash (5 out of 5)

For a movie based in the music world this film has little do with that particular artistic expression. Instead Whiplash is a phenomenal character study that delves deep into the psyche of two characters desperate to fill holes in their lives. A young aspiring jazz musician who wants nothing more than to be remembered and achieve recognition for his presumed talent. And a ruthless perennially unimpressed jazz teacher who despises anything less than utter perfection yearns to assist the birth of musical greatness. He pushes his students past the breaking point not dissimilar to the way the army breaks down recruits to build them back up as soldiers. An apt comparison as the first half of the film feels very much like Full Metal Jacket in music school. J,K. Simmons is an absolute animal in this film, and I mean that with all due respect, a quick glance from him with eyes filled with fury and it'll make you wince. His mere presence exudes intimidation, but his brutal treatment of his students earns every ounce of it. Miles Teller's performance starts off meek and slowly falls away to reveal a cutthroat ambition and drive that finds little happiness outside of achieving his teachers unreasonable expectations. The films gloriously intense climax is both blood soaked and triumphant, encapsulating both characters and their tragic psyches perfectly.

Kingsman: The Secret Service (3 out of 5)

A spy film that harkens back to the more campy era of Bond films, Kingsman: The Secret Service brings back the outlandish and fun spy genre. What's great about Kingsman is that it pokes fun of old school spy films while simultaneously crafting a fairly decent spy romp of it's own. Similar to Edgar Wright's Cornetto trilogy, Matthew Vaughn clearly loves the campier spy films of yesteryear and thus Kingsman's take on the genre feels more like a loving homage than cutting satire. The films plot is predictable and forgettable and you'll likely not add the film to your collection but it's a well executed action film. Colin Firth is enjoyably out of character as a badass gentleman spy mentoring a former colleagues wayward son. The action is kinetic, filled with inventive and infectiously paced scenes that'll have you tapping your foot along to the action and editing like a catchy song. Kingsman is an enjoyable two hours at the theater even if it isn't going to set the world on fire.

The Imitation Game (4 out of 5)

A wonderfully executed biopic of one of the most brilliant minds of the 20th century and a criminally unthanked contributor to the Allies successful defeat of  the Nazi's in World War II, Alan Turing. The Imitation Game is brilliantly acted, with Benedict Cumberbatch giving the most riveting performance of his career yet. Unfortunately this film feels very, Hollywoodized, the facts are true to life and the performances aren't melodramatic but everyone is a bit too clever, every scene a bit too important. I very much dislike films that come off as trying to hard to impress critics, to me it's distractingly obvious. But despite that fairly significant complaint this is still a great film, it's just trying too hard to be a prestigious one. I'm happy Alan Turing has finally received such a fine portrayal of his monumental contribution to the war efforts while also never diminishing what made the man other than his accomplishments. The Imitation Game is a great biopic led by a greater performance and it'll likely win big during award season, just as it was designed to do. 

Selma (3 out of 5)

Selma marks the very first time the story of Martin Luther King Jr.'s fight for civil rights has been told on film. Focusing around the intense three month period in Alabama, wherein peaceful protests were meet with viscous assaults which would later become known as Bloody Sunday as well as the eventual successful march from Selma to the capitol in Montgomery. While an unbelievable fact that King's monumental impact have never been committed to celluloid it may be because it was destined to have David Oyelowo in the lead role. Oyelowo gives a rousing performance as the man behind the myth, as the depiction of MLK in this film is of a man both fed up and tired. His rousing speeches are punctuated by quite moments where doubt, fear, regret and exhaustion eat away at his conscience as he struggles with how to lead his devote followers who he is putting in potential harms way. Oyelowo makes this movie, the story is fairly one sided and too many character come across as villains in what purports itself to be a biopic comes across outlandish at points. Selma contains a great performance of an astounding man but is surrounded by amateur storytelling that falls prey to often to lazy cliches.

Foxcatcher (5 out of 5)

Foxcatcher stars two unrecognizable stars, Steve Carell and Channing Tatum who not only disappear via prosthetics but through unnerving portrayals of two very unstable men. The direction feels very detached, Bennett Miller is more interested in letting scenes go on a couple of seconds longer then they normally would, which allows emotions to set in and the messy awkwardness to simmer. There is a rule to writing, "show, don't tell" and this film exemplifies that technique, the films most memorable or tense moments are completely silent but the actors performances portray more than any dialogue ever could. This isn't a plot heavy film, the characters and their personal journeys are the focus here and it makes these true events all the more tragic. What transpired at the Foxcatcher estate is surreal, at least as it's depicted here, with the things that fueled these men; greed, vanity, jealousy, loneliness, earning for respect, overcoming inadequacies, it's not surprise things ended such as they did. Foxcatcher is immensely unnerving and not entertaining in the least, it crawled deep under my skin and I'm counting the days till it crawls back out. Supported by two career defining performances by Carell and Tatum and an unsettling detached direction that unnerves in every silent moment, Foxcatcher is one of the best films of the year.

Boyhood (2 out of 5)

Boyhood is a technical achievement to be sure but the timescale it was filmed on proved to unwieldy for this director as the aimless story and odd pacing drag the film to a crawl. Boyhood is a nearly three hour home movie, with no core story to speak of the film relies on periodic segments in the life of one family, covering 14 real world years the characters age and grow on screen in the one truly astounding aspect of this movie. Otherwise this is a film that has nothing new to say about the adolescent experience and haphazardly leaps through time causing an odd sense of reliving key moments instead of the forward passage of time. The performances from the adults in the film are believably grounded and the most compelling part of the movie by far, it's a shame then that they are not the focus. I don't have many good things to say about Boyhood as I found it immensely boring and lacking in any substance or true vision. The filmmaker seemed content on just rolling the cameras on whatever new dramatic family moment he could think of next with years passing by in the interim.

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