Review: Dallas Buyers Club

Focus Features

Much of this year and reaching back into 2012, film audiences have been stunned by the overhaul that is Matthew McConaughey. The pretty boy actor formerly known for taking his shirt off in every movie he was in and only producing chick flicks and romcoms took a couple years off from acting and came back with the proclamation that he was only going to take roles that "scared him." Many actors have said similar things, but none have had the turn-around we've seen from McConaughey. With Magic Mike, Killer Joe, and Mud, McConaughey has proven that he can handle roles outside of being shirtless including comedic ones but also dark, ruthless killers. With Martin Scorses' star-studded Wolf of Wall Street still to be released this Christmas, McConaughey seems to be putting everything he's got into winning an Oscar this year.

But first, we must consider Dallas Buyers Club, the movie many critics are saying could potentially win McConaughey the Oscar. The film received early attention due to behind-the-scenes shots of a shockingly emaciated McConaughey who underwent extreme weight loss to portray real-life AIDS victim Ron Woodroof. Like Robert De Niro, Christian Bale, and others before him, McConaughey seemed to be going the route of extreme body-makeover to draw even more attention to his new dedication to serious acting. Along with the overwhelmingly positive reviews, I eagerly awaited Dallas Buyers Club to be released in a city near me. I didn't expect too much from the movie as a whole, but I figured it'd be worth seeing for McConaughey's undoubtedly great performance. Because as many Oscar hopefuls have demonstrated in the past, often times a film doesn't have much more to offer other than an impacting protagonist.

Review: 12 Years a Slave

Fox Searchlight Pictures

The picture above is a still frame from a shot in 12 Years a Slave that lasts at least a full minute. The camera remains fixed on Solomon Northup's (Chiwetel Ejiofor) face as he simply stares. This shot occurs late in the film so the audience has already witnessed a host of atrocities committed against Solomon. You half expect the camera to cut away to reveal some horrendous sight or the beginning to a new scene, but it does not. Such a long, lingering shot of his downcast face forces the audience to try and imagine what he is feeling. Solomon was kidnapped from freedom with his family in New York and forced into slavery to suffer at the hands of several, very cruel slave owners. What could he possibly be thinking and feeling, nearly 12 years later?

In the end, we really cannot know. I think director Steve McQueen (Hunger, Shame) had this intention all along. He's mentioned in interviews how he wanted to make a realistic depiction of slavery and felt that Hollywood had not done a sufficient job up to this point. He came across the true story of Solomon, written by the man himself, and figured he'd finally found a story that would do justice to years and years of injustices against an entire race. It was a very ambitious plan, but McQueen's previous films more than demonstrate that he is an expert when it comes to directing highly emotional and intense content.

Review: Captain Phillips

Columbia Pictures

I was hesitant about Captain Phillips at first for a number of reasons. For one, I find many, recent "based on a true story" films unnecessary. Part of the reason being a clear attempt by Hollywood at jumping on the bandwagon of any recent, big news story. They rightly estimate that enough people will be curious enough to pay to see a cinematic rendition of something they saw plastered all over CNN and Fox News for weeks. And they do so out of sheer curiosity or the idea that they'll somehow learn something new from an often largely fictitious reenactment. Or, what I'll never understand, is that so many people actually go to see many movies solely based off of the "based on a true story" tagline because that makes a movie somehow "better" or more "worthwhile." I don't believe a movie, or story for that matter, loses any of its meaning or impact just because it happened once upon a time or it didn't. I don't know about you, but the movies and stories that have impacted me the most have been fiction. After all, most "true" stories aren't that at all. So, obviously, I had my reservations about Captain Phillips' largest claim to fame besides the presence of one of every American's favorite actor, Tom Hanks.

Secondly, I am not the biggest fan of Paul Greengrass' directing style. The Bourne Supremacy was Greengrass' first big hit as a director followed closely by United 93 and The Bourne Ultimatum. Greengrass' shaky-cam, quicking cutting (the average shot in The Bourne Supremacy is something like 1.5 seconds or 2 seconds long, I don't remember exactly but it's crazy short) style thrilled Bourne fans and is an effective, albeit easy, way of creating high tension and forcing the audience to focus as hard as they can on what the hell is going on. In the case of the Bourne films it was usually a matter of keeping track of who was still holding the knife in a very intense, hand-to-hand fight in a dirty hotel room in Berlin or something like that. Suffice to say, Greengrass' style, while definitely effective, is generally uncomfortable to watch. I much prefer smoother, more graceful styles of cinematography and editing. So, Captain Phillips also sounded like a rather unpleasant viewing experience that I'd rather not inflict upon myself.

Before Midnight and Living Life in a Straight Line

Sony Pictures Classics

Almost 20 years ago, we first met Celine (Julie Delpy) and Jesse (Ethan Hawke) in Before Sunrise in Vienna when Jesse runs into Celine on a train. The two begin to talk, there are obvious sparks, and they proceed to spend the whole evening and night together, but part ways in the morning. 10 years later, we see them again in Before Sunset when Jesse (now a successful author) is on a book tour stop in Paris and Celine comes to meet him again. Once again, they talk for the entire duration of the film and the film ends at Celine's apartment as the sun goes down. The ending is a bit ambiguous, but we can guess that the two finally decide to come together as a couple. 

And now, almost 20 years later, Before Midnight confirms where they left off. Jesse and Celine are together, they have twin girls, and Jesse's 14 year old son lives in Chicago with his ex-wife while he lives in Paris. The entire film follows Jesse and Celine as they begin vacation on the beautiful Peloponnese coast in Greece (some seriously beautiful scenery here) with some friends and take the first evening to walk to a hotel in the town nearby where they plan to spend a romantic evening. In true director Richard Linklater fashion and like the other films, Before Midnight consists of nothing but all the characters conversing, but there is never a dry moment. Every conversation is highly interesting, and yet feels very natural and real for all the characters and not just fashioned for the audience's enjoyment. Linklater is in top form in the masterfully handled long shots and directing of Hawke and Delpy who deliver fantastic performances. Linklater is definitely inspired by Woody Allen's unique ability to capture the awkwardness and complexity of human interaction, and he takes it one step further in the meaningful content that can be found in each one of the conversations we witness.

Review: Gravity

Warner Bros.

Ever since 2006's Children of Men, I've been on board with anything director Alfonso Cuaron does. Coupled with Emmanuel Lubezki's (a childhood friend of Cuaron's) amazing cinematography (using some jaw-dropping long-takes and handheld camera), Cuaron proved himself a master of directing suspenseful action but able to keep a hold of the humanity and depth of the characters. The only problem was that was back in 2006. Cuaron didn't make any feature film again till rumor of a project related to space or sci-fi of some sort surfaced back in 2011, and of course, now in 2013 we finally get Cuaron's next film, Gravity.

Early reports said that some serious special effects and 3D work were going to be involved in this project. And then it became known that Sandra Bullock and George Clooney were going to be the only stars of the film as astronauts involved in a space shuttle catastrophe who are launched, adrift, into space (basically a living nightmare for a lot of people right up there with drowning). A couple of things become apparent immediately. One, only two actors means more pressure on the actors and the script to keep the audience emotionally invested in the characters beyond just the action. Two, a whole host of potential factual inaccuracies as far as space stuff goes. Three, will the 3D work?

Review: Prisoners

Warner Bros.

At first, I was hesitant about whether or not Prisoners was going to be good or something I wanted to see. The trailers made it clear that the cast is going for Oscar nominations and promised a lot of intense, dark drama. Basically everything that an Oscar-bait movie tries to encompass which generally turns me off. On top of that, you have a topic like child abduction. A topic like that ranks among very few others in film that tend to try and shock and disturb audiences rather than construct a meaningful reason for delving into such a topic in the first place. Movies like Changeling and Gone Baby Gone have done it before, and even though Gone Baby Gone was a wonderfully directed and written film, it still felt unnecessarily heavy and dark. Other topics such as the Holocaust, war, etc, fall into the same category. Exploring these topics can quickly turn into a sort of exploitation and can be an easy way to create buzz around your film and gives actors a chance to show how distraught they can appear on screen. 

But then again, a cast of Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Terrence Howard, Paul Dano, Viola Davis, Melissa Leo, and Maria Bello is super solid. Not to mention director Denis Villeneuve proved he could handle some very disturbing/intense content in the Oscar nominated foreign film, Incendies. And then Prisoners started getting positive early buzz from festivals, so I figured I better see it.

Review: One Direction: This is Us

TriStar Pictures

OK, so there is definitely a story behind this one. As I have hinted at in many of my reviews this Summer, I have had the wonderful convenience of seeing almost all of these movies for free, and that is all thanks to my friend Hannah (@HannahLovise on Twitter and DJ PunchHandz to her closest friends) who works at the local, giant Regal (she did, however, just recently give her two weeks which is sad for my free movie privileges). As payment for what amounts to probably around $100 in savings, she had one request: to see a movie that wasn't a "boy movie" (her words). I thought that Blue Jasmine counted as a not "boy movie," but apparently not enough. Thus, this is why you see the picture and the headline that you do. I had to see it, but I also had to review it. But wait! There's more to this story that heavily influenced my viewing experience and as a result this review: this is my and Hannah's journey.

A local Mexican restaurant favorite in Bellingham, WA, has an 11 AM - 5 PM happy hour, and wouldn't yah know it, but they have a location just across the street from the theater! So, naturally we decide to partake of such discounts. For seven hours before this I had been working at Starbucks where I had only had a smoothie and croissant of some sort to eat and like 5 shots of espresso, so I was going into this big mama margarita on basically an empty stomach and caffeine. After finishing it rather quickly interspersed with chips and salsa, I decided I wasn't feeling anything and went along with Hannah's decision to order another. Two sips into the second margarita and the first quickly begins to catch up. Let the giggling commence! We could hardly look at each other without laughing, and barely finishing our second drink, we left 5 minutes before the show started and walked (very briskly in the straightest line we could manage) over to the Regal to find an empty theater all to ourselves. And of course, we went for the 3D version. Therefore, we were seeing "1D in 3D" which just happens to sound like some sort of 3D porno. Whatever, we "let the margaritas speak," as Hannah said, and went with it.