Man on Film: Catching up on the backlog

I don't really like to do this because I'd rather have each movie have its own self-contained entry, but I don't have the time for that right now. There's a backlog of entries, most of which are Man on Film entries. I'm just going to dump them all in here because I don't have the time to write up more than 30 movies. Make of them what you will.

Guardians of the Galaxy - Fucking loved it. So much fun. Probably my favorite Marvel movie. Maybe my favorite comic book movie. It was obvious to anyone paying attention beforehand, but Chris Pratt is going to be a fucking star.

Calvary - Just saw it. Brendan Gleeson was great. The supporting cast featuring Chris O'Dowd, Aiden Gillen, Dylan Moran, Kelly Reilly, Isaach de Bankole, and Killian Scott was really great. It's weird to say, but I think I might prefer writer/director John Michael McDonagh's works (this and The Guard) thus far to his brother's (Martin, who directed In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths).

Her - Liked it. Probably short of loving it.

22 Jump Street - Really funny. Not quite as good as the first one, but still a ton of fun.

The Lego Movie - Loved it.

Veronica Mars - Stayed true to the series. Great to have old friends back. It's been on the heavy rotation on HBO, and I watch it pretty much every time I see that it's on.

12 O'Clock Boys - Went to this months and months ago. Great little documentary about kids on motorcycles in Baltimore.

Joe - David Gordon Green getting the good stuff out of Nicolas Cage. Strong turns by the supporting cast. Weird seeing people from around town in the flick.

Prince Avalanche - See, I told you I was way behind. David Gordon Green's modern homage to Waiting for Godot. I dug it. Last time I checked it was available on Netflix Instant.

Don Jon - I thought Joseph Gordon-Levitt's first foray into the world of directing was a strong one. Not perfect, but worth the watch on Netflix if you haven't seen it.

To the Wonder - It took me well over a year to write a word about it. I think I liked it more than most, though it's definitely Malick's worst film. Interesting thematic notes on modern man and his inability to adequately address the needs of woman. Not great, but with Malick, the beauty of the cinematography make it worth at least a cursory glance. A Sonic has never looked so beautiful.

This is the End - No idea why I never got around to writing about this one. I fucking loved it. Really funny. Loved each character's send up of the celebrity therein.

Before Midnight - Hard to watch those two in the throes of such an argument, but it was the real world version of what their lives would have been ten years after Before Sunset. Three films that work superbly together.

Boyhood - While we're on the subject of Richard Linklater, Boyhood seemed to me to be a film that's impossible not to like and admire. I don't know that it's the masterpiece that the reviews would have you believe. Conceptually it's brilliant and completely unique. The experience of seeing the film is powerful. Some of the philosophical wanking that Mason gets into in his teenage years borders on being irritating, though this could be because it hit closer to home than I'd like to have hit. We all have our baggage.

The Expendables 3 - I really liked Antonio Banderas in it. He was surprisingly funny. Ronda Rousey worked as well. Of the three, it's the least memorable. It was what it was trying to be, though.

Much Ado About Nothing - Totally pleasant movie-going experience.

Inside Llewyn Davis - A lot denser than I thought it was going to be. Had to go back and watch it a second time because the ending threw me for a complete loop. Mythology was playing a much larger part than I ever expected. Oscar Isaac was great. Hardly the best film of last year, but really damn good.

Upstream Color - Not for everyone by any means, but Shane Carruth is a director with VISION. Beautiful. Mad. Pig fetuses.

Chef - Nice passion project for Jon Favreau. It was refreshing to see him get back to his more independent roots.

Begin Again - I do like seeing music being made in a film. Obviously, it feels very similar to Once, which I loved but felt more organic than Begin Again did.

The Fault in Our Stars - Now I see what TSLF dug so much about the book. Very good. Very sad.

Edge of Tomorrow - You get to watch Tom Cruise die like 100 times.

Snowpiercer - Liked it. Didn't love it. Solid action flick.

The Great Beauty (La Grande Belleza) - Winner of this past year's best foreign film. Beautiful film-making. Cannot recommend this highly enough.

Only Lovers Left Alive - Liked it. Didn't love it.

X-Men: Days of Future Past - I wish Disney/Marvel could get these books back. Not terrible, but not that good either.

Captain America: Winter Soldier - Liked it significantly more than the first one. Of the standalone Avengers movies, it was better than all but maybe Iron Man and Iron Man 3 (which I think I'm in the minority on, but whatever).

Neighbors - Funny. Expected a bit more. Really liked Rose Byrne in it. Dave Franco and Zac Efron were funny.

The Grand Budapest Hotel - The most I've liked a Wes Anderson movie since Tenenbaums. The first time since then that it didn't seem like he was desperately seeking his father's approval. Wonderful.

Mistaken for Strangers - What, I'm not going to love a documentary about The National?

Walk of Shame - I like Elizabeth Banks. It was totally watchable though not entirely memorable.

The Act of Killing - Haunting. Powerful. Amazing.

Man on Film: The Wolf of Wall Street

Much like fellow Best Picture nominee American Hustle, The Wolf of Wall Street is a helluva fun ride that ultimately lacks the staying power that some of the other more serious Oscar contenders have. In other words, 12 Years a Slave The Wolf of Wall Street is not.

While much of the negative response to The Wolf of Wall Street has centered around the perception that the film celebrates greed, it seems like much of the point of the film was lost on those people. Martin Scorcese masterfully captures the grotesque excess by indulging in it. A lesser director would have maintained a measured detachment from the greed, using the distance to preach--I'm looking at you Steven Spielberg--against the actions of the characters.

In The Wolf of Wall Street, Scorcese lets the audience get taken in by Jordan Belfort only to crank up the excess leading to a repulsion to contrast more meaningfully against that urge to like the charismatic lead. In the role of rich asshole, Leonardo DiCaprio once again kills it for Scorcese. While one could certainly wonder if Leo is actually having to stretch much to play a role like Belfort, the fact remains that he excels in this immorality tale.

That isn't to say DiCaprio is alone in his greatness. Predictably, Scorsese gets great turns from the supporting cast. Kyle Chandler and Matthew McConaughey are both fantastic is smaller roles, as Jordan's foil and mentor, respectively. In addition to being stunning, Australian Pan-Am and Neighbours alum Margot Robbie is wonderful as the other half in a very mercurial relationship. Rob Reiner, Jon Bernthal, Shea Whigham, Cristin Milioti, and Jean Dujardin round out the rest of the strong supporting cast; but it is Jonah Hill who gets the most screen time of the rest of the cast, and he absolutely earns his second Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor with a blisteringly hilarious and debaucherous turn as Donnie Azoff, Jordan's right hand and enthusiastic co-conspirator.

Now one could levy claims that Scorcese and screenwriter Terence Winter--Boardwalk Empire in the house--don't punish Belfort enough, but do any of the Wall Street bilkers get any significant punishment? His life is in shambles after his self-destruction, but anyone hoping for Scorcese to do a morality tale is barking up the wrong tree.

The real issues with the film lie with the fact that despite its three-hour runtime--a runtime usually reserved for historical epics or dramas with grave import--The Wolf of Wall Street falls a bit on the forgettable side of things. It's a full-blown debaucherous ride, but somehow a three-hour Martin Scorcese film seems to lack the significance that the rest of his fare has in spades.

Man on Film: Live Action Oscar Shorts

Since this is an atypical subject here, I'll just do a quick breakdown on each of the nominees.

Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn't Me)

Far and away the worst of the nominees. Obvious.

Avant Que De Tout Perdre (Just before Losing Everything)

A little slow to get moving, but ultimately engaging. Ratchets up the tension well. Effective glimpse into a terrible episode of family drama.

Helium

It was a little schmaltzy, but I'll be damned if I didn't tear up. The zeppelin effects were a little weak (an understandable byproduct of a limited budget), but the performances of the three principle cast members, especially Casper Crump, were very strong. A cute, emotionally involving story set against a depressing situation.

Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?)

Very Scandinavian. Very funny. Sure, it was lighter than the rest of these entrants, but it was definitely the most fun.

The Voorman Problem

Martin Freeman and Tom Hollander get to chew on some great dialogue. Clever. Wickedly funny. It's available here. In my mind, this one is the class of the category.

Man on Film: Nebraska

Alexander Payne's follow-up to The Descendants is another film about family, this time returning to his Midwestern roots. An interstate road movie about a senile-leaning father and his reluctant chauffeur son, Nebraska springs forth from the fertile ground of a son trying to do right by his father despite a strained relationship.

It is fantastic.

Perhaps my feelings on the film are too heavily informed by my roots, but Nebraska magnificently captured every nuance of small-town Midwestern life. The stoicism of the pre-Baby Boom male. The tried and true topics of conversation of the peoples of largely agrarian, shrinking small towns of the plains. The simple pleasures. The age old grudges. The general kindness and interest in personal minutiae. Bob Nelson's screenplay felt as though it could have been written directly from afternoons in my childhood. It was equal parts knowingly detached and lovingly attached, dancing brilliantly between the two, striking a wonderful balance.

And Alexander Payne pressed all the right buttons. The tone--from the performances to the black-and-white stock--is pitch perfect. Bob Odenkirk and the sublime June Squibb hit every note, but Will Forte and Bruce Dern play the parts of beleaguered but faithful son and father teetering on the edge of senility with perfection. The support, particularly the cast employed in Hawthorne, is also spot on, with the football watching scene being one of the highlights of the last year in cinema.

Seemingly every decision Payne makes works out wonderfully. The dynamic between Forte and Dern is particularly fruitful, but the casting of the relatively little-known character actress June Squibb really sets the movie apart. Nebraska is wildly funny but retains a poignancy and heart that endear it so much more than nearly every other film of the past year. On the heels of The Descendants, it was hard to imagine Alexander Payne making a film as outstanding as it, but in Nebraska he exceeds expectations.

Man on Film: American Hustle

Coming after The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook in David O. Russell's body of work, it was hard to not have high expectations for American Hustle. As a result (and the subsequent innumerable accolades and nominations heaped upon it cannot help for those who have yet to see American Hustle), American Hustle was at least a little disappointing.

That isn't to say American Hustle wasn't good. It is just a victim of its high expectations.

In essence, American Hustle is an acting showcase. From the principal cast to supporting cast members like Robert DeNiro, Elisabeth Rohm, Michael Pena, Louis C.K., and the Boardwalk Empire cameo crew (Jack Huston and the inimitable Shea Whigham), this was an opportunity for actors to shine, regardless of their line count. And as Russell's films virtually guarantee, shine they do.

And while the supporting cast is rock solid, the principle cast is outstanding. Jeremy Renner gets to shine as a faithful family man and politician who actually wants to provide for his constituents. Bradley Cooper turns in a wonderfully complex role, imbuing Richie DiMaso with every bit of obsessiveness, self-pity, egotism, and volatility that it required. Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence are both fantastic and get to make themselves comfortable in these wildly unpredictable and wholly colorful roles. And Christian Bale? Holy shit. Once again, Bale shows that he belongs in that very short list of actors who turn in must-watch performances every damn time. He is brilliant once again, and his brilliance goes far past his physical commitment to the role. Bale disappears into the role of Irving Rosenfeld. He was given a role wrought with pathos, a duality of supreme confidence and insecurity that is thrilling to behold.

After all of this discussion of the stellar acting, it would be a disservice to those working behind the scenes to fail to talk about the production design, wardrobe, and art direction. The painstaking attention to detail that went into realizing the world of this film was obvious in every frame of the film. The uniformity in style and full realization of late-'70s New York/New Jersey is special.

As usual, David O. Russell has crafted a well-directed film. It is hard to argue with the performances or the mise-en-scene. The narrative, however, was just a little lacking in the oomph that his recent films have had. The story in American Hustle was fun but ultimately insubstantial. The richness of characters goes a long way towards helping to remedy this shortcoming, but American Hustle is not a movie that stays with you for more than an hour or so after you walk out of the theater. With a David O. Russell film, this is sort of something that I had come to expect.

Man on Film: 12 Years A Slave

Once again, we republish this as the Oscars draw nearer.

Before you read any further, see 12 Years A Slave. Drop what you're doing. Cancel your plans. Oh, you're supposed to fly home for Christmas, but haven't seen it? Reschedule your flight.

12 Years A Slave is fucking phenomenal.

This is the time of year that theaters are flooded with Oscar trash. The important film: the stodgy period piece, usually adapted from a classic novel; the adaptation of a heavy-handed, award-winning contemporary novel [preferably the Pulitzer] usually neatly packaged with some larger message about sexual repression or religion, with a careful eye toward production design; or the biopic of someone who overcame some personal struggle to achieve something or lead a people. If the film can prey on liberal white guilt, all the better.

12 Years A Slave is definitely a biopic about someone overcoming a struggle, and any white person who doesn't feel horrible about what happened to Solomon Northup is at least 99% likely to be a horrible racist, but holy shit is it amazing. It is brutal--visually and emotionally. The situation Solomon finds himself in is so awful that it is impossible not to feel his pain. And there is a lot of pain. He is stripped of his dignity, his hope, and his humanity and is powerless to do anything about it.

What makes the film is director Steve McQueen's unwavering dedication to his vision. There are so many bold choices, so many shots that linger for far longer than one would expect, so many that drive key turning points. In a less confident hand, these scenes would feel heavy handed. In 12 Years A Slave, the decisions take your feet out from under you.

Of course, all would be for naught were it not for sterling performances, first and foremost being that of Chiwetel Ejiofor. There are other strong performances--Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, and Brad Pitt are all good, Michael Fassbender and Lupita Nyong'o particularly are great--but Ejoifor's is the performance of a lifetime. Ejiofor is always a captivating performer, but McQueen uses Ejiofor's face as a canvas, his eyes as a channel to the film's emotive center. There is no better example of this than the scene in which they bury Uncle Abram (pretty sure that's the character). While the slaves sing "Roll Jordan Roll" around the fresh grave, McQueen holds a tight shot on Ejiofor's face, as at first he stands there, numb, any hope that this cruel twist of fate will be miraculously reversed draining from his face, the last shred of belief that he was a free man fading. Then he starts in with his brethren. A slave, but hope of a different sort taking root within him. The scene tears at you, and McQueen's choice to hold on Ejiofor's face and let all these emotions play out over the almost uncomfortably long shot proves to be inspired.

In short, 12 Years A Slave is brilliant, bold, soul-crushing, brutal, and vital. It must be seen.

Man on Film: Blue Jasmine

Here is another old entry with Oscar implications.

To say I've been very bad at keeping up with these entries would be a vast understatement. To put it into perspective, I am twenty-three--yes, two-three--entries behind, most of them being Man on Film entries. I hope to catch up on them in the coming weeks, so while there may not seem to be a rhyme or reason to why I choose what I choose, I can tell you right now that I'm choosing Blue Jasmine because it might just be the best film I've seen this year. And yes, I did see Gravity.

To say Blue Jasmine is good Woody Allen would be a gross understatement. Even when he's been great over the past 20 years or so, it hasn't always felt that Allen was working outside of himself very much. Midnight in Paris and Sweet and Lowdown were great films, but they definitely shared quite a few commonalities with his pre-existing body of work. For the first time in decades, Woody Allen has made a film that doesn't feel like a Woody Allen film.

Yes, the dialogue is still strong and snappy, but this isn't the signature--or in worse cases (I'm looking at you, To Rome with Love), self-parodying--dialogue to which we have become accustomed. The narrative is psychologically complex, structurally nimble, and most importantly breaks from the handful of boilerplate stories Allen routinely falls back upon. Quite frankly, Blue Jasmine is far from what we expect to see from a Woody Allen film, and it's shockingly refreshing.

Much has been made of the performances in the film, and that hubbub is largely justified. Cate Blanchett and Sally Hawkins are particularly great with Blanchett's performance being enough to carry the film regardless of what the other actors did, but with the rest of the cast being superlative, Blue Jasmine is simply stunning. Even in light of the recent big hit Midnight in Paris, Blue Jasmine wastes little time distinguishing itself from the rest of Allen's curriculum vitae as a standout achievement, and by the time it gets to its conclusion you're shocked that he was even its auteur.

That's a good thing.

Man on Film: Gravity

With the Oscars coming up this weekend, I'll be putting up the Man on Film entries (both old and new) for this year's big nominees. Here goes.

If there is one thing that Alfonso Cuarón is inarguably capable of doing, it is making a film that must be seen on the big screen. In the case of Gravity, that means IMAX and 3D because no one maximizes the medium of film like Cuarón does. Unlike any film that's come before it, Gravity manages to use the scope and technology at today's filmmaker's disposal to its fullest potential. While I would still posit--even after having seen Gravity--that 3D simply doesn't add enough to the experience, Gravity is definitely worth the price of admission if only for the spectacle of the IMAX presentation.

Yes, Gravity is worth every penny paid to see it. The film is an event that warrants seeing it on the big screen. Unfortunately, the simplicity of the narrative finds a way to wither in the majesty of the presentation. That isn't to say that the film isn't emotionally affective. It is. Over the course of the movie, it is nearly impossible not to feel for Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) and Matt Kowalsky (George Clooney) as they are left adrift in space without contact to the outside world. Cuarón masterfully builds the characters and the suspense to keep you engaged. Both of the film's stars are everything you would want them to be.

It is just strange that the film's story is so intimate when cast against the magnitude of the film itself. It's a brilliantly conceived vision; it's just that the contrast in scopes of narrative and mise-en-scène is so drastic as to almost be distracting. Obviously, this was Cuarón's intent, and really, who am I to question a man as brilliant as he? It just seems that this film was all about the spectacle, emotional as it may have been, while failing to stay with you once you left the theater.

Man on Film: The To Do List

It's been quite a while on this one. I saw The To Do List like three days after it opened. Apparently that means it was July. Jesus. In fact, it's been so long that you can buy it here on Blu-ray or stream it here.

Quick thoughts:

• Aubrey Plaza was very likeable. 
• Scott Porter and Rachel Bilson were both really funny and playing against type. 
• Bill Hader was funny. 
• I liked the period style choices, and the fact that it was a lifeguarding in the 90s movie hit close to home for me. 
• Good first go at things for writer/director Maggie Carey. 
• There need to be more movies about/for women taking ownership of their sexuality. It definitely feels like things have been trending more and more this way, but the stigma attached to women *gasp* enjoying sex can fuck right off. 
• Despite its ribald subject-matter, it's not nearly as bawdy as it could have been. 
• Not spectacular, but a relatively enjoyable way to spend 104 minutes.

Man on Film: The Wolverine

While it is tough to move past wondering what could have been if Darren Aronofsky and Christopher McQuarrie had remained attached as the director and writer, respectively, of this film, measuring The Wolverine (on Blu-ray / DVD + DigitalHD or On Demand) against its lackluster predecessor more than puts those wistful thoughts of a film never made to rest. James Mangold's entrant into the larger X-Men series certainly fares well, incorporating Chris Claremont and Frank Miller's Japanese saga into the film universe while giving the gruff and brooding hero a better, more streamlined platform by which to infuse both the history and the pathos that makes Wolverine a character to whom the audience is drawn.

Much of The Wolverine's success goes back to the initial casting of Hugh Jackman as Logan. For the past 12 years or so, he has embodied what any X-Men fan had always hoped to see on the screen. A lot of the other casting wasn't as successful, but Jackman fits the brooding, brawny Canuck naturally.

Most importantly, though, this installment in the series is much less a slipshod series of vignettes loosely strung together to resemble a film with a plot, which the first Wolverine film sadly was. One shouldn't have to worry about whether or not a movie is going to feel as though it had been haphazardly thrown together, but two of the previous three films in the X-Men universe definitely passed that burden down to The Wolverine. While The Wolverine may not have been as good as some of the Marvel Studios films that have come out in the past few years, it was definitely the second straight step in the right direction and was a much needed salve to the wound left by X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Here's to hoping that the franchise continues down this path.

Man on Film: Homefront

Generally speaking, Sylvester Stallone the screenwriter has a pretty strong grasp as to what his audience wants. This doesn't always result in high art, but it's usually fun. His latest screenplay that made its way to the screen is Homefront, a star vehicle for Stallone's now-frequent collaborator Jason Statham directed by Gary Fleder (Kiss the Girls, The Express). Though Statham has a helluva time sticking with the accent established in the open, he does get to play the part of the one-man wrecking ball. If there's one thing the audience wants in a Jason Statham movie, it is to get to see him kick a whole lot of ass. Homefront delivers that in spades.

What Homefront also has is a fairly strong supporting cast. James Franco plays the country thug with flair. Kate Bosworth is surprisingly good as a meth-head mom. Winona Ryder, Frank Grillo, and Clancy Brown round out the support.

In the end, though, it's all about Statham, and Homefront is one of the better showcases for his skill-set in recent memory. It may not reinvent the wheel, but Statham can use that wheel to beat the fuck out of you.

Man on Film: Star Trek Into Darkness

The caution and hesitancy I had heading into Star Trek proved to be mostly unfounded. Unfortunately, that same caution and hesitancy I had for the first one ended up having been justified on J.J. Abrams's second time around as the man at the helm of the franchise. Star Trek Into Darkness (here on Blu-ray or to rent on demand) wasn't bad, exactly, but it had some major issues, something common in J.J. Abrams's works.

Honestly, the good in retrospect seems far outweighed by the bad. The things that stick out--Karl Urban's tone-deaf turn, the comically terrible opening that was basically a scene that belonged in the bastard step-child of an Avatar/Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls broken marriage, the meandering repurposing of the Wrath of Khan plot, Chris Pine just not quite having the gravitas to pull off Kirk (regardless of your actual feelings about the original Captain)--ring a lot more loudly in my mind than the good--Alice Eve, Zoe Saldana, Zachary Quinto, Benedict Cumberbatch, Peter Weller.

In the end, it just didn't quite work.

Man on Film: Oblivion

After the surprisingly effective and stylized Tron: Legacy, there was reason to be fairly excited for Joseph Kosinski's follow-up, Oblivion (on Blu-ray or streaming to buy). While it didn't break any ground in the dystopian post-apocalyptic sci-fi realm, it wasn't entirely disposable. Kosinski's vision of the dystopian future is fully realized--the contrast of the clean, futuristic tech-driven society against the quasi-stone age survivors plays quite well on screen.

It's been ages since I actually saw the film, but the distant memories tell me I felt like the climax was a bit underwhelming, a bit too much focus on the set and production design--which worked well on an aesthetic level--but too little on the emotional impact of the scene. Its coda worked, tying the film into a nice little bow, but it was far from a perfect film.

Man on Film: Salinger

Here is the first entry in an attempt to catch up on some of these Man on Film entries today and tomorrow. 

Salinger was a fairly engaging look at the titular recluse. Having somewhat embarrassingly written my senior paper on Catcher in the Rye (in part because I could read the book in a few hours), the author was already a pretty well-established subject for me, but the film follows him through the tumult of his life. Director Shane Salerno pieces together a relatively complete picture of his life, though most of the content was more or less public record. 

It may not have broken ground on the J.D. Salinger front, and the praise for the author may have been so glowing as to be comically hyperbolic, but Salinger was relatively entertaining.

It's on Netflix now.

Man on Film: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

There is no denying that the second installment in The Hunger Games series looks better than its predecessor; the fact that second film's budget was nearly twice that of the first is apparent from Catching Fire's onset. When you add the change in directors from Gary Ross (Pleasantville, Seabiscuit) to someone with a résumé that would at least suggest more comfortability in the genre, Francis Lawrence (Constantine--which, for all its flaws, looked good--and I Am Legend), the fact that the film looked better should come as little surprise to anyone. When grouped with the facts that Josh Hutcherson steps up his game (his performance in the first installment was more than a little lacking) and Wes Bentley is traded out for Philip Seymour Hoffman, and that Jennifer Lawrence, Donald Sutherland, Woody Harrelson, and Elizabeth Banks are as good as they were in The Hunger Games, it is not difficult to see how the product on the screen is going to be better than the one trotted out a year ago.

Unfortunately for the film Catching Fire, the source material is lacking in that it is basically just a bridge to the revolution. While one could certainly attempt to draw comparisons between The Empire Strikes Back and Catching Fire, the real reason that Empire was the best of the original Star Wars trilogy was that George Lucas's involvement was more limited than in the other two films. Where Catching Fire was darker (similarly) than the first film, the limitations of the original story hurt the film as a moviegoing experience. The primary shortcoming of Catching Fire is that with a few exceptions the viewer is taken along on Katniss's journey. This obviously makes sense for the most part. Unfortunately, nearly all of the action takes place outside of Katniss's purview, meaning nearly all of the deaths, large- and small-scale, happen off-screen. In other words because of the nature of the narrative, the bulk of the action happens out of frame. This. Is. A. Major. Problem.

When you combine that with a major anticlimax, you've got a film that just doesn't quite work. As a chapter in a longer series, perhaps one can move past the shortcomings inherent in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire; but when isolating the film on its own merits, it falls significantly short of where it could have gone.

Man on Film: Zero Dark Thirty

So I started this entry right after I saw the film last January. The next two paragraphs are what I had started way back then.

Coming off the phenomenally suspenseful 2009 Best Picture winner The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow had some pretty lofty expectations to meet with her next film. Zero Dark Thirty exceeded any of those expectations.

While the two films dealt with the War on Terror, The Hurt Locker just takes place in Iraq and is an agnostic character study of a soldier who has no place in the world but where he is. Zero Dark Thirty is strangely also a very personal story, tracking a single lead for the most part, but its scope is much larger. Thankfully (and as usual), I do not need to delve too much into the plot. We all know where it was going.

Back to the present-day, this film has begun making the rounds on the premium cable movie networks, so that should give you an idea as to how long ago this should have been completed. Rather than extrapolate further on a film that's been out so long, I'll simply say that I remember quite liking the film, and I found the primary point of contention regarding the film doubling as torture-porn care of some mild detractors to be largely unfounded. It may have been rough at times, but at this point aren't most action films? Give me a visceral, graphically violent action film any day of the week, especially when it's as compelling and well-directed as Zero Dark Thirty.

Oh yeah, Jessica Chastain and Jason Clarke were both particularly fantastic.

And this concludes your Friday night Man on Film entry dump.

Here's the Italian trailer:

Six Word Movie Reviews: Part Two

Old Man Duggan is soon to be out of the country for the next couple of weeks and left us in charge, so to honor all hell breaking loose (and the return of misused ellipsis in our Breaking Down posts) Craig and I are releasing another round of six word movie reviews. Saddle up, honkeys.

Dead Man Walking: total bullshit, not one single zombie

Behind the Candelabra: gayer than cum on a mustache

What About Bob?: Who gives a fuck about Bob?

Hoffa: Guess what? They don't find him.

The Big Lebowski: dude, you got the wrong Lebowski

Leaving Las Vegas: drinking, drinking, titties, drinking, drinking, drinking

Drive: Dude gets murdered with a hammer

Dumb and Dumber: John Denver is full of shit

There's Something About Mary: you'll never zip again without looking

The Raid: most bad ass movie ever...  EVER!

Vanilla Sky: you won't see the end coming

Mallrats: kid is back on the escalator

Man on the Moon: Jim Carrey shoulda won an Oscar

Sideways: magnificent shot of flapping man jibbles

Sling Blade: retarded serial killer on the loose

Home Alone: mouse trap: the full house version

American Beauty: it's just a fucking plastic bag

Snatch: last one alive gets the diamond

The Game: it really is just a game.

American Psycho: I've got movies to be returned

  

Battleship: I’d let Rihanna sink my battleship 

Spiderman 3: emo spiderman can go fuck himself

The Break Up: Aniston has a magnificent turd cutter

Justin Bieber’s Never Say Never: I’ll go ahead and say never

Basic Instinct: you will wear out pause button

Glengarry Glen Ross: Glengarry Glen Danzig would be better

Pretty Woman: Watch out for gold digging prostitutes

Cabin in the Woods: there’s a cabin in the woods

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil: honestly, those guys are totally innocent

Killer Joe: suck on that chicken wing baby

The Man Who Wasn’t There: he is actually there all movie

Bullet to the Head: the title could not be truer

What Dreams May Come: disappointment, thought it was a porno

 

Goodfellas: that helicopter is really following you.

The Godfather: it's too fucking long, fell asleep

My Left Foot: big deal, elephants paint with trunks

Field of Dreams: if you build it…ghost invasion!

The Godfather Part II: woke up in middle of it

Big: She fucked a 13 year old

A League of Their Own: there’s no fucking crying in baseball

Cast Away: should have just fucking hung himself

The Godfather Part III: How long is this fucking movie?



Follow Craig Scholes @anaveragegatsby and Stan Earnest @StanEarnest

Man on Film: Iron Man 3

Perhaps it was a blessing that the resounding opinions I had heard about Iron Man 3 were negative ones because I was not nearly as disappointed in the third film in the series as I had anticipated being. Hearing from everyone you know who saw a film that it sucked will do that. Of course, when I first found out that Shane Black had been brought in to write (credited with Drew Pearce) and direct this one, I was excited, so there was only so much tempering of expectations possible by way of negative chatter.

While Iron Man 3 was far from a perfect event flick, it actually achieved a better narrative balance than the previous two installments. It's easy to gloss over these points, but the first two Iron Man flicks sputtered toward their respective conclusions, and the villains were far from well-drawn. Their pacing was sorely lacking, and each narrative lacked a cohesion and direction that inhibited the ultimate success of each film. Iron Man 3 may have been somewhat lacking a bit in the huge action set pieces, but what was lacking in the area of genre-prescribed bombast was compensated for in pathos, snappy dialogue, and a more personally affective narrative. Tony Stark's struggles were at least as much internal and psychological as they were conflict put upon him by antagonists, and Black's entrant into the franchise deftly shifted back and forth between the two, maintaining strong pacing that walked the fine line between being deliberate enough to still tell a nuanced, personal story and moving along just quickly enough to not give cause to look at your watch.

Of the films in the series, this one gave Robert Downey, Jr. the most room to stretch out and exercise his deft acting chops. Tony Stark is run through an emotional gamut in this film, and we get to see Downey knock it all the fuck out of the park. The audience is also treated to a film in which Tony Stark is rarely actually in the suit as Iron Man, a problem for some but frankly those scenes are less compelling to me than if we are treated to Stark himself having to work through problems, at least in part because the Iron Man action scenes are so inorganic. Gwyneth Paltrow, Rebecca Hall, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, and especially Ben Kingsley are all serviceable at the very least, but Iron Man 3 is the Robert Downey, Jr. show, make no mistake of that. Thanks to Black's flair for writing magnetic but struggling action heroes, we get to see Tony Stark and Robert Downey, Jr. at their best in the series.

Man on Film: Red 2

It's weird being the youngest people in the theater by at least 20 years, but when TSLF and I went to Red 2 Friday afternoon, that was definitely the case. This was TSLF's choice, as she really enjoyed the first entrant in the series. That isn't to make like I was an unwilling participant. When I gave threw out the option of going to a movie when she got home from work, I did so under the unspoken assumption that, when I let her choose the movie, she'd choose Red 2.

Red 2 is a far cry from a groundbreaking film, but if you saw the first one and liked it, you're probably going to like this one as well. Bruce Willis miraculously isn't in mailing it in mode, something that has occurred with far too much frequency of late. Anthony Hopkins is surprisingly funny. Helen Mirren and especially John Malkovich are rock-solid. Neal McDonough takes to the role of the villain with the flair that anyone who's been paying attention for the past ten years or so has come to expect. Byung-Hun Lee, Mary-Louise Parker, and Catherine Zeta-Jones fill out the rest of the cast sufficiently, if not spectacularly.

Dean Parisot's direction is serviceable, the action sequences are well choreographed. The script, penned by Jon and Erich Hoeber--who also wrote the first one (and the forgettable Battleship)--strikes the right tone for the action-comedy genre. Of course, the film gets by on the audience's ingrained affection for the its stars, and the bulk of the audience isn't going to take the film back home with them, thinking about it for days afterwards, but this is a perfectly passable movie in the same vein as The Losers that you'll likely end up watching part of more than once while it's making its way around the premium movie channel rotation.

Man on Film: Fast & Furious 6

After the supremely bombastic fifth installment of the Fast & Furious series, Justin Lin had all but predestined himself to let down fans of what he has turned the series into when he took over at Tokyo Drift. Fortunately, if you thought that the action couldn't get any more over the top, you were wrong. Sure, Vin Diesel and Paul Walker aren't laying waste to Rio with a vault that's tethered to their cars, but the action set-pieces are bigger, the stunts are even more insane, and the hand-to-hand combat is much more engaging.

When you consider the humble Point-Break-in-muscle-cars origins of the series, the point that the franchise is at now could not be more surprising. That it's peaking both commercially and creatively five and six films into the series is completely shocking. But here we are, and Fast & Furious 6 is totally insane in the best ways possible.

Now to be totally honest, Fast & Furious 6 doesn't quite measure up to its predecessor, Fast Five. Fast Five was about as good as high-octane action dripping in testosterone gets. Furthermore, the setting (Rio) gives the fifth installment a vibrancy that Fast 6 never quite attains.

Having said that, Fast & Furious 6 does a much better job of using Dwayne Johnson's strengths and strength to its benefit. With the better utilization of Johnson and the addition of Gina Carano, the hand-to-hand combat sequences are much more impressive than in any of the previous films in the series. Some might complain that this film got a bit away from the series' bread and butter in relying a bit more heavily upon fight scenes and less upon car stunts, but these scenes add quite a bit to a film already brimming over with action.

The film isn't without its flaws, sadly. Where the Dom/Letty storyline is supposed to be the heart of the film, it's really hard to give a shit about what happens to Letty as Michelle Rodriguez emotes about as much as a rock. The heart of the film is in the Han/Gisele scenes, though it seems as though that's unintentional. Regardless, Sung Kang and Gal Gadot are the ones who win our affection while Tyrese Gibson carries the film's lighter comedic moments. With a film this large, I suppose it's easier to have scenes stolen.

All in all, Fast & Furious 6 is a helluva ride, delivering pretty much exactly what it is supposed to. Now we just have to cross our fingers and hope James Wan doesn't screw the pooch on Fast & Furious 7.