August: Osage County; Labor Day; Lone Survivor

Alright, I'll be honest with you guys. I saw these movies over a month ago and don't remember enough to give full length review on August: Osage County, Labor Day, and Lone Survivor. So here are a few mini reviews in the interest of burning off the obligation that has been over my head for the past 6 weeks or so.


August: Osage County

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I'm a firm believer that sometimes all a great film needs is a great cast and a great screenplay. Luckily, August: Osage County has both.

In the wake of a loved one's death, the estranged Weston family reunites in their Oklahoma home, where the family matriarch Violet (Meryl Streep) still resides. In almost no time at all, their days quickly shift from getting reacquainted to unraveling all the dirty little secrets they have, ranging from drug addiction to scandalous relationships.

The dialogue here is among the best I've ever seen in a film. Whether it be the family dinner scene where Chris Cooper rambles away a two-minute excuse for a blessing or the lunch scene Julia Roberts verbally force feeds her mother, when the Westons were together, I didn't let a word escape my ears.

It was even better coming from its cast, full of Emmy and Oscar winners and nominees. Meryl Streep was fully deserving of her 18th nomination from the Academy. As for Julia Roberts, not only did she hold her own in the start-studded cast - she stole scenes from Meryl Streep, and that's not an easy thing to do. Chris Cooper, Margo Martindale, and Abigail Breslin also impress - and there are no complaints on my part.

I'm a little sad that this didn't hit theaters sooner, because it would have knocked The Wolf of Wall Street right off of my Top 10. The portrayal of this unconventional family is impeccable - Director John Wells and Writer Tracy Letts have made a masterpiece.

Rating: 5/5


Labor Day

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  In 2013, so many movies led with an impressive start, but ultimately provided a bit of a let down in their latter halves (Inside Llewen Davis, Captain Phillips, Dallas Buyers Club). In Labor Day, the start proved to be slightly shaky. With poorly written dialogue and so many potential directions it never went in, Labor Day wasn't very promising. Fortunately, it got better as it went along, and I know for me, I'd rather a movie gradually gain my interest than suggest to me a good movie was coming, only to let me down.

In 1987, Henry Wheeler (Gattlin Griffith, Changeling) is about to start another school year. He lives with his mother Adele (Kate Winslet) and only sees his father every Sunday when he goes out to eat with his stepmom and stepbrother. On Labor Day weekend, the mother and son go out shopping for school supplies, only to be coerced into bringing fugitive Frank (Josh Brolin) back to their home.

Frank doesn't hurt his inadvertent hosts. Instead, he cooks with them, plays baseball, and fixes up their home. We find out Frank may not be that bad of a guy after all, and eventually he and Adele being to fall in love, but the romance becomes complicated when police and local residents become suspicious when looking for Frank.

As I mentioned earlier, Labor Day lays out a few paths the movie never followed to the end. Frank's past, Henry's budding sexual interests, and even Frank and Adele's love story are subjects that the filmmakers tease us with, but never go anywhere past the surface with. And although the first part of the film leaves you wondering where they're going with this, it leads to a tense climax, and ends with a happily memorable epilogue as a result of getting better every minute. Thus, the final impression Labor Day leaves is positive, even though the first part of the movie doesn't really match the mood.

Rating: 3.5/5


Lone Survivor

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  What's a war movie when everything goes right? Non-existent.

Now, to be fair, Lone Survivor is based on a true story, but as expected, everything goes wrong. The good guys? Navy SEALs on a mission to apprehend a Taliban leader. While trekking through the Afghani mountains, the troops run into two young and one elderly Taliban members. They know that if they execute them on their way to complete their mission, they would be reprimanded and the SEALs would be slandered by every news outlet in the world. So they decide to let the men go, hoping they can return to their camp by the time the Taliban finds them. Shocker: they don't.

Cue the mind-blowing action scene, where the SEALs fight back against a surrounding army of Taliban hiding in the trees. The film and sound editing was superb, making my eyes pop and my body cringe with every gun shot and body drop. The tension was relentless, which made me very angry when the film wasn't nominated for the Academy Award for Best Film Editing.

The lone surviving SEAL finds himself in an Afghani village, where I must say he spent a little too much time. I'd have preferred this part of the film to be shorter, but I appreciate its purpose in the story, especially since, and I reiterate, it's a true story.

The action would have been even better had we gotten to know each of the key SEALs as individuals. The movie lacked characterization, which would have made the death scenes more hard-hitting and emotionally impacting.

Still, the acting is commendable and Berg's direction is gripping. All in all, it's one of the better action films of 2013, although I wouldn't rank it as highly in comparison to some of the other entries in the canon of war films

Rating: 4/5

Her

HitFix

What do you hey when you combine romance, sci-fi and comedy? Her. Spike Jonze's film is essentially a two hour social commentary on our addiction to technology, specifically our smartphones. In Her, a middle-aged divorcee named Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) downloads a new Operating System, whose voice is sensually provided by Scarlett Johansson. After reading a book on naming in less than a second, the operating system tells Theodore it's decided on Samantha.

Samantha's artificial intelligence causes her to want to learn about society, communication, and Theodore at an alarmingly exponential rate. The two become inseparable, which worries his neighbor Amy (Amy Adams) and frustrates his ex-wife Catherine (Rooney Mara) - both of whom are portrayed by talented actresses that bring our focus to them but unfortunately don't appear on screen as much as I would have liked.

Her had enormous potential, and although I enjoyed the film, it could have been better, and by extension more unique. Yes, Mr. Jonze, I get the message of your movie. Technology can't replace human relationships, we see our smartphones as unique while other users "bond" with their mobile devices in the same way, and when we lose our technology, we're left to realize how valuable our human relationships are. That pretty much sums Her up.

While I was intrigued by the developing relationship of Samantha and Theodore, their spats, their sexual encounters and their long sleepless nights together, Jonze could have gotten the valuable underlying messages of the movie across better if he had treated the movie as an experiment, spending equal time comparing the experimental relationships with the placebo relationships.

Consider Theodore's relationship with Samantha as experimental. How can we fully understand Theodore, his past, and why he is so drawn to this technological companion if we can't compare him to the placebo - his natural human relationships. Aside from a few flashbacks, Catherine doesn't share much on-screen time with her ex, so how can we know what he was like before? Also, Theodore spends far too little time with Amy, and Amy Adams' performance will leave you begging for more.

Instead of comparing these relationships, Her is mostly composed of Joaquin Phoenix sitting in an empty room and pausing for where Scarlett Johansson would later dub her dialogue. With a better balance of exposing us to these three different relationships (obviously giving slightly more focus to Samantha), I feel like the movie's messages would came across more clearly and would have made Her worthwhile.

Phoenix conveys Twombly's anti-social vulnerability admirably, while Adams makes the best of her limited screen exposure, and Johansson is truly convincing in her vocal role. They alone are enough to carry the film, and the script helps them out in a lot of places. It could have helped them out much more had Jonze written a more memorable story instead of delivering repetitive scenes to thread out his idea until he was out of string.

Rating: 3.5/5

2014 Oscar Nominations - Snubs and Surprises

As expected, this morning's announcement of the 2014 Oscar nominations raised a few eyebrows in Hollywood. Ranging from the foreseeable snubs for certain movies like Mud and Don Jon to the shocking absences like Tom Hanks in Captain Phillips, several deserving names didn't make the cut for the 2014 Academy Awards ballot in exchange of a few unexpected nods.

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SNUB - Tom Hanks for Captain Phillips

Seriously, Academy?! My love for Captain Phillips wasn't enormous, but I fully agree the biggest and most unexpected snub this year was for Tom Hanks. In the slowest parts of Captain Phillips, it was Hanks who kept me wanting to watch, and his acting in the final moments of the film should've been worthy of a nomination alone, not to mention his distressing character shift throughout the whole film.

SURPRISE - Christian Bale for American Hustle

Didn't see that coming. His last performance in a David O. Russell flick got him an Oscar win, but many thought he didn't stand a chance at a nomination this year due to how tightly packed the Best Actor race was.

SNUB - Joseph Gordon-Levitt for Don Jon

Don Jon didn't pick up much steam for awards season, but in my eyes, Gordon-Levitt gave the best performance of his career, and his screenplay was near-perfect. I had hoped he would've been recognized in one of those categories, but no luck.

SURPRISE - Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill for The Wolf of Wall Street

I was happy when Leo won a Globe the other night because I was almost certain the Academy would overlook him yet again. Thankfully, they didn't. Jonah Hill was another surprise and somehow edged in over predicted nominees like James Gandolfini.

E Online

SNUB - Carey Mulligan

She was the best part of both The Great Gatsby and Inside Llewen Davis, but I guess the Academy didn't agree with me.

SURPRISE - Blue Jasmine for Best Screenplay

So it didn't get its worthy nomination for Best Picture, but thankfully Woody Allen's script shows the Academy at least acknowledged his work.

SNUB - The Way Way Back

In an ideal world, we'd see nominations for its screenplay and for the impressive performances Allison Janney and Sam Rockwell. Very ideally, we'd see one for Best Picture, too.

SURPRISE/SNUB - Sally Hawkins for Blue Jasmine (and the whole mess of the Supporting Actress category)

In the movie, she was just, kind of, there. What the Academy saw in her over Allison Janney, Carey Mulligan, Sarah Paulson in 12 Years a Slave, Oprah in The Butler, and even Chloë Grace Moretz in Kick-Ass 2 or Julianne Moore in Carrie is a bit puzzling.

SNUB - Mud

This isn't the first time you've heard this from me, and it's not the last. I'll keep it short this time. While most hope of Tye Sheridan being recognized for his powerhouse lead performance and for the film itself getting a Best Picture nomination was gone, I was crossing my fingers for a Best Screenplay nomination, a Supporting Actor nod for McConaughey, Best Music, or maybe even Cinematography. Nope. Nothing. Not one nomination for the best film of the year.

The Verge

SNUB - Pacific Rim

There's no way it would have won over Gravity, but Pacific Rim's visuals were definitely worthy of a nomination.

SURPRISE - Dallas Buyers Club

Everyone saw the nominations for McConaughey and Leto coming, but its nominations for Best Original Screenplay, and more importantly, Best Picture, were surprising to say the least, and if you ask me, extremely undeserved.

SNUB - Epic

I've only seen Frozen and Despicable Me 2 on this list and how the latter somehow made it in over Epic is a disappointment.

A Few Words About The 2014 Golden Globes...

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The Golden Globes will be airing in just over a week, and since I'll be abroad starting tomorrow, I figured I'd take this time to share my thoughts on the nominations, who I'd like to see win, and what the night could mean for Oscar expectations.

For Best Picture, I was hoping for a surprise nomination for Mud in the Drama category, but I'm still happy to see Gravity and 12 Years a Slave in the running, and I'm also happy that Philomena snuck into the mix. I haven't seen Rush, but I'm a little disappointed Captain Philips made the cut over some other noteworthy films like Blue Jasmine or even Catching Fire. In the comedy field, I have yet to see Her, but I am livid that Nebraska and Inside Llewen Davis got nominated over Don Jon, The Way Way Back, and even This is The End and About Time. As much as I disagreed with the HFPA when they awarded Best Comedy to The Hangover, at least they gave it to a comedy that year. At the end of the night, I'd expect to see 12 Years a Slave and American Hustle win, though my votes would go to Gravity and The Wolf of Wall Street to take home the awards.

For Best Actor, again I was hoping for a nomination for Tye Sheridan in Mud, though realistically I knew it wouldn't happen. For Drama, I predict Chiwetel Ejiofor will win for 12 Years a Slave, though Matthew McConaughey might've swayed the voters over with his physical and emotional dedication to his role in Dallas Buyers Club. Either would be fine for me. In comedy, Bruce Dern is expected to win, but to be fair, he didn't make me laugh. Isn't that who this award should go to, someone who made me laugh? I'm still bitter about Joseph Gordon-Levitt being snubbed for Don Jon, and I conceivably could've even seen Liam James on the list for The Way Way Back, but I think the most deserving comedic actor in this category would be Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street, though I wouldn't object to Oscar Isaac for Inside Llewen Davis.

Like last year, Best Actress is anybody's guess. The odds slightly favor Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine, though I'd prefer it went to Judi Dench in Philomena (I see Blue Jasmine as more of a comedy anyways). I'm fine with either, or even Sandra Bullock. The HFPA loves Kate Winselt (they gave her 2 Globes in one night), so you never know. For comedy, I really enjoyed Amy Adams in American Hustle, and I'd love to see her finally be recognized at the Globes. Maybe the votes between Julia Louis-Deryfus and Meryl Streep will split and Amy Adams will win her first major acting award.

For supporting performances, Jennifer Lawrence and Lupita Nyong'o are battling it out for Best Supporting Actress. Newcomer Nyong'o gave a more powerful performance, but moviegoers more enjoyed Lawrence. As a result, it's anybody's game, though I'd expect Nyong'o to win. For Best Supporting Actor, Jared Leto will almost definitely be recognized for his transgendered turn in Dallas Buyers Club, though Michael Fassbender might be a surprising win. And I'll interject one final time for Mud and say McConaughey at least deserved a nomination.

Best Director will probably be awarded to Alfonso Cuarón, and it would be deserved for his fast paced and gripping work in Gravity. The award may go to Steve McQueen for 12 Years a Slave or even David O. Russell for American Hustle, as both of their films tied for the most nominations. Paul Greengrass doesn't have that much of a chance for Captain Phillips, and Alexander Payne doesn't even belong there this year. Best Screenplay is another toss-up, and the award could honestly end up in anybody's hand. If I had to guess, I'd play it safe and go with 12 Years a Slave.

Before I go, a few notes on TV. If Breaking Bad doesn't win for Best Drama and Best Actor, something is very, very wrong with the Hollywood Foreign Press. I'm crossing my fingers that The Big Bang Theory finally gets the love it deserves. I'm also hoping Tatiana Maslany surprises with a win for Orphan Black. Although Homeland wasn't it's best this season, there was no need to snub Claire Danes for her work in the show. Also, where's the love for Game of Thrones?

A frontrunner for Best Picture isn't here yet, so pay close attention to see who gets the awards next Sunday. The Academy usually follows suit in a majority of the categories.