The Official Review Thread of 2016

Mister Tee
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Re: The Official Review Thread of 2016

Post by Mister Tee »

Since I didn't share the high opinion many here had of Beginners, I wasn't at all disappointed in 20th Century Women. I didn't think it was outstanding, and I acknowledge the lack of strong narrative spine (it's evidently mostly memoir, and felt like it). But I thought the characters were well-drawn, and the dialogue was lively and textured throughout. I'll probably prefer it as a script to some of the eventual Oscar nominees.

And apparently Annette Bening will continue to be one of the rare things on which BJ and I have significant divergence. I thought this was a very strong performance from her, one I'd nominate over any of her earlier cited efforts except maybe The Grifters. Her line readings are as good as I've ever seen her manage, and she plays the "I don't know how to do this mother thing" believably and movingly. Best actress is a car-wreck this year -- once again, there are more worthies than there are spots -- but Bening would make my top five, definitely over Negga or Streep.
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Re: The Official Review Thread of 2016

Post by anonymous1980 »

SWISS ARMY MAN
Cast: Paul Dano, Daniel Radcliffe, Mary Elizabeth Winstead.
Dirs: Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert.

Lots of Daniels involved in this movie. A young man marooned on a deserted island is about to kill himself then he finds a very flatulent corpse washed up ashore and forms a relationship with it. Regardless of what your opinion on this film will be, you HAVE to give it points for sheer originality and audacity to make such a film. But a concept like this runs the risk of being potentially overly and irritatingly quirky and/or unbearably pretentious (a word I personally try to avoid using as much as possible). Yes, I think borders on those qualities a few times. But I think it largely worked. Paul Dano and Daniel Radcliffe give such beautiful, committed performances that they straight up sold it. It's funny. It's oddly moving at points. It dropped the ball a bit on the ending but overall, it's worth a watch.

Oscar Prospects: None.

Grade: B
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Re: The Official Review Thread of 2016

Post by anonymous1980 »

AMERICAN HONEY
Cast: Sasha Lane, Shia LaBeouf, Riley Keogh, Arielle Holmes, McCaul Lombardi, Crystal B. Ice, Will Patton, Laura Kirk.
Dir: Andrea Arnold.

A young woman at the end of her ropes joins a group of young people who go around selling magazine subscriptions who also get drunk and party hard. People who love this really love this and people who hate this, often really hate it. I consider myself in the former group. This is a superb film from director Andrea Arnold. It's over two and a half hours but, honestly, I didn't feel it much. This is a superb snapshot on the lives of misfit, wayward youth, just going from place to place with very little promise for the future. You find yourself relating to it, oddly enough, no matter where your lot in life would be. It features a superb ensemble, including newcomer Sasha Lane who I hope to see in more stuff soon. Shia LaBeouf probably gives his career-best performance in this film. Color me truly impressed. The soundtrack is pretty great and the cinematography is quite beautiful.

Oscar Prospects: I'd nominate this for Picture, Director, Actress, Supporting Actor, Editing and Cinematography. But it has very little chance at anything.

Grade: A
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Re: The Official Review Thread of 2016

Post by flipp525 »

Quick Elle question:

What was the second text message that Michele got? She is at work and it's nighttime. Someone is taking photographs in another room of the office.
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Re: The Official Review Thread of 2016

Post by anonymous1980 »

SING
Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Seth MacFarlane, Scarlett Johansson, John C. Reilly, Taron Egerton, Tori Kelly, Nick Kroll, Jennifer Saunders, Garth Jennings, Beck Bennett, Jay Pharaoh, Leslie Jones, Nick Offerman, Jennifer Hudson (voices).
Dir: Garth Jennings.

A theater manager/owner at the end of his ropes decides to save his theater by holding a singing competition. It attracts a disparate group of underdogs who just want to make their dreams come true. And they're all animals. This animated feature film's plot is pure formula and almost shamelessly so. In fact, if it weren't a 3D animated feature film where the characters are all animals, it would've been laughed off and dismissed. But the film has a few laughs and it is overall pretty entertaining. You'd think you'd get tired of seeing animals cover well-known pop songs. Well, you do but you'll tolerate it enough since they got actors who can actually sing. It's cute. Kids will love it. Nothing more, nothing less.

Oscar Prospects: I think it has a better shot at Best Original Song than it has Best Animated Feature.

Grade: B-
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Re: The Official Review Thread of 2016

Post by dws1982 »

When I think about the worst movies of a given year, I try not to waste too much effort going after, as Bog called it in another thread, the low-hanging fruit. Sometimes I even find things to like in those movies--I don't think I ever mentioned it here, but I found plenty of worthy things in Ben-Hur (with some major caveats, of course). But sometimes the fruit just hangs too low.

I speak, of course, of Assassin's Creed. It's hard to think of a movie that does more to alienate the very people who it's trying to attract. First, some background: In the games, the main character is forced (or asked) to experience the memories of his ancestors (the Assassins) in order to help some corporation find something or other. If I don't have much to say about those scenes, it's because I never pay attention to them when I've played the games. The games are all about the historical settings; they recreate places like 12th-century Palestine, 15th-century Italy/Rome, Revolution-era France, Victorian England, and several other settings, and those (mostly) open-world recreations are extremely vivid and lots of fun. Anyone I know who has played the games plays it for the historical scenes which make up the overwhelming (as in, at least 90%) amount of the game. For some reason, this movie decides to spend most of its runtime in those cut scenes that no one cares about. I think it has three sequences in the historical setting, and even worse: they're the worst things in the movie. Other than a few parts that evoke the graphics of the game, there's nothing at all of worth in them: they're poorly put-together, they're hatefully anti-Christian, and there's no fun in them. So we're left with an incoherent story about, well, I couldn't exactly tell you. I can respect the fact that it's so consciously, and maybe even intentionally weird, but from the final product I can't begin to fathom why this was such a passion project for Fassbender.
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Re: The Official Review Thread of 2016

Post by anonymous1980 »

TONI ERDMANN
Cast: Peter Simonischek, Sandra Hüller, Michael Wittenborn, Thomas Loibl, Trystan Pütter, Hadewych Minis, Lucy Russell, Ingrid Bisu, Vlad Ivanov, Victoria Cocias.
Dir: Maren Ade.

After losing his dog, a prank-loving music teacher decides to get closer to his ambitious, stuck-up daughter by intruding upon her professional life as a life coach named Toni Erdmann. This film is close to three hours long and I honestly felt it flew by after I got used to the characters. I honestly wasn't sure where this film was gonna go. I've heard so much from so many people about this. It gradually won me over, kind of like the title character. When it is a comedy, it is hysterical. Then the emotional component just sneak up on you in the end. It is one of the best films of the year.

Oscar Prospects: Also deserves an Original Screenplay nomination.

Grade: A-
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Re: The Official Review Thread of 2016

Post by Sabin »

I'm still sorting my thoughts out on Toni Erdmann. I'll write more a little bit later. I am very much a fan of it, though not as much as Maren Ade's previous film, Everyone Else.

I decided to cross Zootopia off my viewing list. No idea why it took me so long. I think those trailers just rubbed me the wrong way. There are elements of Zootopia I admired but I couldn't get past the fact that implying that certain races are predators and certain races are prey is just shitty. I mean, the writers go out of their way to chase after a message of tolerant but I just don't think it's possible when the foundation is so problematic. I really don't like the idea of kids coming out of this movie being taught that it's important to accept all members of society because they haven't been savage for hundreds of years. This movie wants to have it both ways: playing directly analogous to contemporary racial divides but also have an animated movie plot. You can't go from one scene that engages with race (perhaps even in a clever way) and then to another scene involving a government plot to turn predators into savages. I came away a little troubled.
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Re: The Official Review Thread of 2016

Post by anonymous1980 »

EVERYBODY WANTS SOME!!
Cast: Blake Jenner, Zoey Deutch, Glen Powell, Ryan Guzman, Tyler Hoechlin, Wyatt Russell, Temple Baker, J. Quinton Johnson, Will Brittain, Juston Street, Austin Amelio, Forrest Vickery.
Dir: Richard Linklater.

A college freshman playing for his university's baseball team and his fellow teammates spends their last few free days before class begins partying, getting drunk, getting laid and getting high. The plot sounds like just another low-brow R-rated frat comedy but with Richard Linklater writing and directing, it's something a lot more. Though there are laughs, the film is a bit more deeper, sophisticated and complex than your average frat comedy. You really get to know these characters as just more than dumb, horny jocks. They are brought to life by a fine, young ensemble cast with Tyler Hoechlin and Zoey Deutch as the standouts. The film is considered a spiritual sequel to Dazed and Confused. Well, it's not as good as that classic but it's a fine film.

Oscar Prospects: None but this would be a pretty good Original Screenplay nominee.

Grade: B+
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Re: The Official Review Thread of 2016

Post by Mister Tee »

It's no surprise Paul Verhoeven went on to an occasionally successful Hollywood career. Even when he makes a film in art-house territory like Elle, he puts enough audience-friendly stuff in that it plays decently mainstream. There's plot to spare (almost too many threads), and it builds to a conclusion that offers closure. Not to suggest this is a movie your mother's going to like (mine, I'm sure, would be appalled by parts of it). But consider that Isabelle Huppert plays a character not dissimilar to the one she played in The Piano Teacher, and think how much further out on the ledge that film seemed to go. (My mother would have hated ALL of that.) The difference between Verhoeven and Haneke is pretty stark. I'm not advocating for one over the other; just noting how different they are with the same star and somewhat overlapping material.

Huppert, by the way, gives a pretty world-class performance here. I'd got a little worried when I saw Things to Come a few weeks ago -- a far more European film in which she gives a performance I'd summarize as "she's very good, as usual". I wondered if the critics had simply decided this was to be her year based on her volume and accumulated career points, not on her achieving something special. But here I think she's terrific -- at moments I was caught completely off-guard by the way she responded to events. I especially loved her amused detachment at certain moments...as if this whole thing, her whole life, was a bit of a game to her. I don't think she's a real threat to win an Oscar -- the parts that my mother would shrink from will have have the same effect on many Academy voters. But I think she has an excellent chance at the nomination, and it'll be more than a career salute.
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Re: The Official Review Thread of 2016

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ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY
Cast: Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Donnie Yen, Forest Whitaker, Ben Mendelsohn, Jiang Wen, Mads Mikkelsen, Riz Ahmed, Alan Tudyk, Jimmy Smits, Guy Henry, voice of James Earl Jones.
Dir: Gareth Edwards.

During the reign of the Empire, a group of rebels plot to steal the blueprints for the Death Star as a key to destroying it. This precedes Episode IV of the Star Wars series, a standalone spinoff of sorts with largely new characters. You know, as I was watching this, I'm thinking, *this* film is probably what the Star Wars fans were imagining and expecting when George Lucas first announced he was making prequel films. But instead what they got was Anakin as a little kid and cheesy dialogue about trade embargoes. This film will satisfy those fans. For everyone else, well, it's still a fun movie for any casual fan of the series. There's lots of good stuff in it, especially Alan Tudyk as probably the best droid character in this universe and Donnie Yen being a total badass. It's not transcendent. It's a solid entry.

Oscar Prospects: Visual Effects, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing.

Grade: B.

YOUR NAME
Cast: Ryûnosuke Kamiki, Mone Kamishiraishi (voices).
Dir: Makoto Shinkai.

I was surprised this got a theatrical run here. But it is a love story so I can see how it will appeal to the Filipino audience. This is an anime feature film about a teenage boy and a teenage girl who switch bodies. But that's just beginning. I'm not gonna spoil the rest of the story but the way it unfolds and builds is so superb, it's part of the pleasures of watching this film. It's a wildly maginative, funny, sweet and moving science-fiction love story that will definitely surprise and win you over. It's so good, I'm predicting Hollywood is gonna remake it as a live-action movie.

Oscar Prospects: Actually eligible for Animated Feature. It would be a deserving nominee.

Grade: A-
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Re: The Official Review Thread of 2016

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OFFICE CHRISTMAS PARTY
Cast: Jason Bateman, Olivia Munn, Jennifer Aniston, TJ Miller, Courtney B. Vance, Kate McKinnon, Vanessa Bayer, Rob Corddry, Sam Richardson, Jillian Bell, Randall Park, Karan Soni, Matt Walsh, Jimmy Butler.
Dirs: Will Speck, Josh Gordon.

An R-rated comedy about an office Christmas party that goes out of control? Sounds like a good idea. I'm wondering why it didn't happen sooner. i just wish this was better and funnier. That's not to say this film isn't without laughs and its charms. It's all thanks to the funny and talented cast who manage to elevate an otherwise "eh" screenplay which borrows a bit too heavily on The Hangover. (Seriously, modern R-rated comedies should quit doing this already). It was overall fun distracting but ultimately disposable.

Oscar Prospects: None.

Grade: C+
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Re: The Official Review Thread of 2016

Post by Sabin »

I think ‘Florence Foster Jenkins’ makes a mistake by beginning at the dinner club with both Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant, setting up their marriage, his infidelity, her disease, and then moseying over to her desire to sing. It really does set up for an entirely different film and the result is a little schizophrenic. It should begin with Simon Helberg’s character getting the opportunity of a lifetime to work with this extraordinarily unusual woman and we meet them both through his eyes. I think it’s a failure of screenwriting to properly understand the story, but really it’s a failure of confidence in the audience to think we would go along for the ride without having this exposition handed to us at the beginning rather than discovered organically throughout. This is especially relevant because I never felt locked-in to her desire to sing. The rationale they give us is basically “she wants to.” As far as motivation goes, she doesn’t need anything else, but that certainly doesn’t warrant fifteen minutes of telling us everything about her, especially considering it’s hard to laugh at her terrible singing if I know she has cancer. I think we’re meant to both laugh at her yet applaud her desire to do this. I ended up feeling very disconnected from Streep in this role. I’m not sure she’s miscast per se but quite a bit story-wise is stacked against her. The film never decides if she’s a comic figure or a tragic one, and she never quite seems like either. I mean…this is a woman who’s declared the worst singer in the world and she has no idea, and the film can’t decide if she’s brave or hilarious.

Faring better is Hugh Grant, who succeeds in playing her fairly complicated husband. This is a very minor, polite film but he convinces as someone who carries the shades of grey contradictions of the real world. It would be a shame if he got his first nomination for this instead of ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral,’ ‘Bridget Jones’ Diary,’ or ‘About a Boy,’ but this is probably his best chance at a career nomination and I wouldn’t mind seeing that happen. He’s clearly a lead but he might be able to fit into the supporting crowd unless his categorization is already set.

It rebounds a bit as it goes along, but it’s an assortment of wiki-plot elements that resemble a strong enough Miramax house-style confection but they didn’t come together for me. Also, there’s a nice little Four Weddings and a Funeral reunion between Hugh Grant and “Nigel” from whom he hides in a cabinet during his wedding nuptials.
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Re: The Official Review Thread of 2016

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Two films that rate only cursory attention:

I'd like to be able to praise Jeff Nichols for showing restraint in making Loving -- for not giving us snarling, drooling racists in opposition to saintly heroes. The problem is, he doesn't give us anything else, either: the drama is limp from scene to scene, and the characters are bland. One is pretty much forced to conclude that the two people who mounted this momentous court challenge were fundamentally uninteresting people. I suppose there could have been a way to make that contrast, between life-role and personal qualities, dramatic (maybe with a touch of wit, something the film seems to have sworn off), but Nichols simply hasn't found it. Edgerton has at least some semblance of a character arc, but Negga doesn't do much beside stand there and look beatific (her only possible Oscar clip is her call-back from the ACLU). If this film gets major nominations -- which people seem to think is certain -- it's purely on subject matter. Basically, I found this duller than batshit, and waited impatiently for the Supreme Court to do its work.

Moana has some gorgeous visuals, especially ocean-related, and the byplay of Maui's tattoos is pretty amusing. But the framework story is close to generic Disney flavored with island lore; Moana's journey to fulfillment is serviceable at best. Lin-Manuel Miranda has provided a couple of good numbers -- "You're Welcome" and "Shiny" -- but the song they're touting for an Oscar nod, "How Far I'll Go", is indistinguishable from multiple other Disney hero/heroine power ballads (with a few bars heavily recalling Taylor Swift's "All Too Well"). In the battle of big budget cartoon hits likely to Oscar compete, I'm Zootopia all the way.
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Re: The Official Review Thread of 2016

Post by dws1982 »

It was the 2011-12 school year; he was in 8th grade. He had already made the first movie, and was kind of known around the school for that. He was a good student--in terms of both behavior and academics. At one point he claimed that other students picked on him, but I honestly never saw anything that was beyond normal adolescent behavior. (Not making any claims or presumptions about what might have happened outside of my classroom.) When he withdrew, I initially worried that there might have been some real bullying going on, but I later found out that his parents had divorced and his mom planned to relocate.
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