Lee Daniels' The Butler: Competent yet completely unspectacular filmmaking. Screenwriter Danny Strong and director Lee Daniels were far too ambitious in trying to capture so many time periods in such a short period of time. The story is far too
scattered and contains about 12,000 subplots that don't really go anywhere. The fact that this film also carries "a based on true story" label yet contains pretty much no actual truth in it is a pretty big buzzkill for its quality. The film essentially inserts Cecil Gaines (Forest Whitaker) into the background of every single major moment in American politics from the late 50's to the early 80's. It makes for a nice story in theory, but everyone know that the real-life butler that served for 7 presidents was not on-hand for every single major decision that the likes of Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon and Ronald Regan ever made in office. The depiction of the civil rights movement further detracts from the film's message. I can not think of another film that offers up a more watered-down take on the civil rights movement than this. Even with Gaines's son (David Oyelowo) being involved with the Black Panthers, the film glosses over so many horrors of the discrimination African-Americans faced in the 50's and 60's that it just doesn't feel real. When authenticity is thrown out the window, so is empathy and lack of empathy in a film like this kills the potential to impact you emotionally after the credits roll. Despite its flaws,
there are enough good performances and a handful of genuinely powerful scenes to
make this worth watching. Though it's not the awards-caliber film it was advertised to be, Lee Daniels' The Butler is a crowd-pleasing film that displays the talent of a number of the finest actors working today.
3/5 Stars
Captain Phillips: Captain Phillips is a tense and well-made thriller anchored by a strong performance by Tom
Hanks.The initial sequence where the pirates board the ship and the
finale are nail-bitingly intense. The suspense is heightened by
director Paul Greengrass's use of shaky cam and interesting camera
angles to capture the claustrophobic setting of being trapped at sea in a tiny lifeboat with a group of armed men that could kill you at any moment. The
Somali Pirates (Faysal Ahmed, Mahat M. Ali, Barkhad Abdirahmen and Academy Award-nominee Barkhad Abdi) make for appropriately menacing villains that you
also sympathize for at times. The fact that that all of the men that portrayed the pirates had no prior experience in acting is absolutely incredible. They possess a natural talent and feel for acting and have the skills to continue on in Hollywood. As others have said before me, Hanks is
what makes this film special. He hasn't been this dialed into a
performance since at least Cast Away, maybe even The Green Mile. His
character is completely selfless, putting his own life in danger to protect his
crew and the final scene is so powerful that it will be
permanently embedded in my brain. Captain Phillips wouldn't get my vote for any major
Oscar category, but it certainly is worthy of its nominations.
4/5 Stars
Jackass Presents Bad Grandpa: Johnny Knoxville proudly continues the Jackass legacy with Bad Grandpa, a film solely focused on the Irving Zisman character Knoxville has played over the years. The traditional Jackass stunts are thrown to the side in favor of Borat-esque hidden camera pranking with an actual plot holding the film together. For the most part, this formula works swimmingly. The stunts are consistently amusing with a few (the scenes at the bingo hall, male strip club and diner) that left me in tears from laughing so hard. Amidst all the low-brow humor, there is actually a fair amount of heart thanks to the storyline between Zisman and his 8-year old grandson Billy (Jackson Nicol, who perfectly compliments Knoxville with his comedic timing and ability to make it through every insane scenario with a straight face). I don't think anyone expected even a single heartfelt scene in a film with the Jackass brand attached to it, but against all odds, it has happened. It just goes to show that even a guy like Knoxville is starting to soften up now that he's in his 40's. Bad Grandpa is another fitting showcase for Knoxville as one of the most gifted comedians of his generation and I wouldn't be opposed to seeing another chapter of this hard-drinking, horndog geriatric's misadventures in the near future.
4/5 Stars
Short Term 12: Short Term 12 is the epitome of an under-appreciated gem. I had heard not even an ounce of buzz about this film until a couple of weeks ago and I decided to give it a whirl based on the insanely positive reception it had: I'm beyond glad that I did. Short Term 12 takes what could've been a heavy-handed melodrama with its storyline involving a short-term foster home and the people who work/live there and makes it one of the emotionally-challenging films of the year thanks to a multi-layered script by newcomer Destin Cretton and powerhouse performances from Brie Larson and Kaitlyn Dever. Stories that deal with mental illness and abuse without diving head-on into Lifetime Original Movie levels of overacting and schmaltz are rare, which makes Short Term 12 that much more of an accomplishment. The raw emotional impact sticks with you.
4.5/5 Stars
Blue Jasmine: Woody Allen's character may be questionable at the moment amidst his accusations of molestation by his estranged daughter. What's not questionable is his ability to make a movie. After almost 50 years of directing films, Allen hasn't a lost touch of his ambition or knack for storytelling. Blue Jasmine is an enthralling character study about wealth and the toll it takes on a person when they lose everything. Cate Blanchett portrays Jasmine, an uptown New York yuppie housewife who is forced to move in with her sister (Sally Hawkins) in San Fransisco after her husband (Alec Baldwin) is indicted for fraud and loses all his money and possessions. Blanchett give the performance of her career as the delusional Jasmine. Jasmine has a full-blown mental breakdown when the money goes away. She yearns for her old life and simply can not assimilate back to the real world after being catered to in high society for so long. Blanchett perfectly captures the desperation, deception and insanity of a character that is completely lost in the real world. Allen's screenplay only amplifies the scope of Jasmine's insanity. Allen's technique of using words and situations in Jasmine's present to trigger a memory from past was brilliantly implored and gives another layer of depth to this already wildly complex character. Allen also deserves a lot of credit for the bold casting choices he made with the supporting roles here. Sally Hawkins successfully goes against type as Jasmine's trashy but good-intentioned sister Ginger who gets caught up in Jasmine's web of psychosis and Andrew Dice Clay rises from the realms of obscurity to give an incredibly powerful performance in brief screen time as Ginger's ex-husband who got screwed over by Jasmine's ex-husband. It's beyond me how Blue Jasmine didn't pick up more than 3 Oscar nominations. This is one of the most daring, original and effective pieces of cinema to grace the screen in 2013 and it deserves the proper recognition.
4.5/5 Stars
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