All posts by jlang@nafcs.k12.in.us

A&E, Christian DiMartino

Oscar Watch: Columnist reviews the films of 2013

Leave a comment

By Christian DiMartino

When it came to movies, 2013 started out very slow. With only a slew of special films, including Side Effects, Blue Jasmine, and Behind the Candelabra, 2013 had a weak start, but what a finish it had. Beginning with Prisoners, there was a five week marathon of great movies that included Rush, Gravity, Captain Philips, and lastly, 12 Years a Slave.

I usually like to save my “year in review” stories until around the time of the Oscars, this way it gives me a chance to catch up. So now, I have. 2013 had a lot of great movies, but yet there was plenty of bad, and I feel like the bad should not go unpunished. Here are the best movies of 2013, the worst, and then some.

The Best

10. Prisoners: Speaking of snubbed actors, Hugh Jackman gives the best performance of his career in the darkest thriller in years. Prisoners is a very grim thriller about the lengths that people would go to for justice. There is not a lot of love for it, but it might find its footing someday.

9. Dallas Buyers Club: After being practically re-born with a bunch of good career moves, Matthew McConaughey officially wows in a performance that might send him home with an Oscar. Jared Leto is also amazing (and might also win an Oscar). Dallas Buyers Club is a true story that needed to be told, and I’m glad it was.

8. Nebraska: Alexander Payne does not make good movies; instead, he makes great movies. His latest film, Nebraska, is no exception. Nebraska is a film that is mainly enjoyable if you’re a Payne enthusiast, like myself. It is a fascinating love letter to Payne’s home state and an often hilarious comedy. Bruce Dern gives the performance of a lifetime, and as does his on-screen wife June Squibb. This is not Payne’s best film, but it lives up to the greatness of his others.

7. Side Effects: Am I the only one that remembers this amazing movie, or am I the only one that understood the greatness?   Steven Soderbergh’s final theatrical release begins as a fascinating drama that turns into an even more fascinating thriller. This is a wild, sexy, and constantly entertaining film that always throws surprises at you, and has possibly the best ending of any movie this year. Jude Law and Rooney Mara give their best performances yet, and that says a lot. If this is indeed Soderbergh’s final film, he went out with a bang.

6. American Hustle: Critics claim that David O. Russell’s latest film “out-Scorsese’s Martin Scorsese.” Now, I would not go that far, but I will say that I still loved American Hustle. This is Russell’s best movie yet. It is a funny, sexy, and consistently entertaining film that takes a fantastic cast (Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Jeremy Renner, and more) and lets them run wild and act with a capital A.

5. Blue Jasmine: Two years after winning his fourth Oscar for Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen has now delivered something even better. Blue Jasmine is his best work since Vicky Cristina Barcelona. This is a darkly funny, fascinating, and overall brilliant look at mental illness. But the movie may not have worked if it was not for Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett (or, should I say, soon to be two-time Oscar winner) in the title role. Blanchett’s performance will irk you, thrill you, and in the end, like the movie itself, leave you mesmerized.

4. Her: Spike Jonze does not make movies very often, but when he does, he usually makes something special. Her, his latest masterpiece, is strangely beautiful and beautifully strange. The romance between a human and an OS sounds ridiculous, but it really only SOUNDS ridiculous. The way that the romance is delivered is way more believable than one might think, and that is the films main success. Her surely is not your typical romance, and that alone makes it special. Theodore (the amazing Joaquin Phoenix) and Samantha (beautifully voiced by Scarlett Johansson) are the best couple in years, believe it or not.

3. The Wolf of Wall Street: Martin Scorsese’s latest masterpiece is his most controversial since The Last Temptation of Christ and his best since The Departed. Like with Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver and Jake LaMotta from Raging Bull, Scorsese has a gift for making terrible people compelling, and he does so once again with the films anti-hero, Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio). In possibly the performance of his career, DiCaprio is so awesome you almost want this horrendous human being to get away with it. I’ve seen The Wolf of Wall Street twice within the past two months, and could easily see it again. It is the most strange, hilarious, vulgar, and entertaining three hours of the year.

2. Gravity: Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity is filmmaking of the highest quality. Here is a film that looks like it was directed by God. The visual effects and cinematography are so impressive it does not even feel like this was filmed in a studio. In fact, Cuaron and his crew had to invent their own visual effects. Now that is real devotion. Sandra Bullock gives the performance of her career; a performance that makes her Oscar-winning role in The Blind Side look pathetic. Gravity is a gorgeous, thrilling, and undeniably spectacular spectacle that is mainly special in theaters. By some miracle, the 3-D actually helps the film. This is not just a movie that you watch; it is a movie that you experience. It is one of the best experiences I’ve ever had in a theater. It will leave you talking for light years after it’s over.

1. Getaway: Starring three-time Oscar nominee Ethan Hawke and Selena “Come and get it” Gomez. I’m joking, by the way. That movie sucks. It is, according to Rotten Tomatoes, the worst reviewed movie of the year. It belongs on a list, but it is not this one.

And the real best movie of the year is…

1. 12 Years a Slave: Like my #2 pick, 12 Years a Slave is not a movie that you watch; it is a movie that you experience, and what an experience it is. 12 Years a Slave is an extraordinary film. It’s a film that reminds us what great movies are. This is such a powerful, heartbreaking, and intense drama that it actually left me shaking long after it was over. Describing the power that this movie has is impossible. Just watch it, and find out. Chiwetel Ejiofor finally gets his big break, and delivers, and as does Michael Fassbender, Sarah Paulson, and Lupita Nyong’o. When watching this film, it is so obvious that director Steve McQueen and crew knew that they were making the best film of the year. How right they were. Bravo.

The Rest of the Best: Captain Philips, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,  Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, Behind the Candelabra, Philomena, Clear History, Saving Mr. Banks, Rush, Inside Llewyn Davis, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Way Way Back, Spring Breakers, Enough Said, Star Trek Into Darkness, The Great Gatsby

 

The Worst

5. Admission: Tina Fey, Paul Rudd, Wallace Shawn, and Lily Tomlin are funny in any movie, but that movie is not Admission. Admission is a total misfire. It is a romantic comedy (I think) that is neither funny nor romantic. It is simply boring. Watching Fey and Rudd, two extremely lovable actors, fake chemistry is depressing. In the words of Hannah Montana: Everybody makes mistakes, everybody has those days.

4. Getaway: Speaking of mistakes, Ethan Hawke, who had a very successful year with The Purge and the indie-hit Before Midnight topped off the year with this box office flop. Why didn’t anyone see it? Because it’s awful. Basically, Hawke and Selena Gomez crash cars for 80 of the longest minutes of your life, and they continue doing so until the end, which, by the way, is also terrible.

3. Scary Movie V: This pretty much went without saying, but it still needs to be mentioned. As a fan of the original film, it is sad to realize just how dumb the series has become. It does not even mock scary movies. It mocks a few, but also focuses on Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and there is even a reference to 127 Hours, one of the funnier moments. I laughed at the some of the Black Swan moments, but other than that, this is just painfully stupid.

2. Inappropriate Comedy: Once upon a time, Vince “The Sham-wow guy” Offer was an aspiring actor who made a terrible comedy called The Underground Comedy Movie. Now over a decade later, he is back… unfortunately. Offer’s jokes are so uninspired he even uses jokes from his last movie, and they still aren’t funny. He should just stick to infomercials.

1. The Lords of Salem: Nobody, besides die-hard Rob Zombie fans (and myself) know what this is. But after seeing The Lords of Salem, how can he have any fans left? In the hands of a master like Roman Polanski, this movie might have worked. But instead it is in the hands of Rob Zombie. I was never a fan, and now I’m definitely not a fan. Zombie is a moronic gorilla who lets violence and sexuality (and the two combined) get the better of him. The Lords of Salem is a hideous, stupid, unintentionally hilarious and tedious horror thriller that contains some of the ugliest images ever produced on film. The last half hour makes no sense, and it shouldn’t to anyone with sanity. Inappropriate Comedy is probably the worst movie of the year, but TLOS is the most painful.

The Rest of the Worst: Only God Forgives, After Earth, Jobs, The Host, R.I.P.D., The Canyons, Safe Haven, Movie 43, Gangster Squad

Biggest Surprise- Saving Mr. Banks: There was a lot of Oscar buzz surrounding this movie, and it just didn’t seem right, mainly because it didn’t seem that appealing. However, Saving Mr. Banks is just the opposite. It is a wonderful movie. Emma Thompson gives her best performance in years, and though it probably isn’t completely fact-based, it is still too wonderful to ignore. In the end, it didn’t get much Oscar attention, but it was definitely worthy of something.

Biggest Letdown- The Counselor: Judging from the trailer, The Counselor seemed so promising. A thriller directed by Ridley Scott (Alien,Gladiator), written by Pulitzer-prize winner Cormac McCarthy (No Country For Old Men) and starring Michael Fassbender, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Javier Bardem, and Brad Pitt. It sounds too good to be true. As it turns out, it is. The Counselor is not the awful movie that it was declared, but it really is a letdown. A lot of the movie, such as Diaz’s performance, is on the right track, but yet the delivery sort of fails. Fassbender plays a character so underwritten that he doesn’t even have an actual name. There is not much to the other characters either. Everyone and everything in this movie, like its trailer, looks great, but isn’t. I had no idea what was going on the majority of the time. Apparently it had something to do with drugs, but none are present. I think the cast of The Wolf of Wall Street took them all. The conversations ramble on for so long that it is easy to lose track of the story. Overall, there is nothing really terrible about it, but yet there is nothing really good about it. This is one of those movies that simply doesn’t live up to its potential.

2013 had a fair share of negatives, but it more than compensated with its positives. It was such a good year for films that films such as Iron Man 3,Frozen, The Conjuring, Before Midnight, Frances Ha, and The Bling Ring, which I had plenty of admiration for, didn’t even make my top 25. A year so impressive that my least favorite of the Best Picture nominees is Captain Philips. That is a good year to me. 2014 has plenty of greatness in store too. Christopher Nolan is going to blow our minds again with Interstellar (Nov. 7), Wes Anderson, the king of quirk, is back with The Grand Budapest Hotel (Mar. 7), Tim Burton is back with a drama starring Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz called Big Eyes, and sequels galore. I don’t know about you, but I cannot wait.

A&E, Peter Hyle, slide

The Lego Movie builds positive review

Leave a comment

By Peter Hyle

This past Friday, The Lego Movie was released into theatres. I don’t know who planned to see this movie when trailers were first released, but I was not one of them. I thought that it looked stupid and that the only funny parts must have been shown in the trailer, trying to trick everyone into believing that it was actually a hilarious movie. I obviously went and saw it anyways, and was actually surprised by the overall quality and humor of this children’s movie.

From the very start this movie was fast paced and full of color and warmth. The plot revolves around Emmet (Chris Pratt), a seemingly insignificant, unimportant and common LEGO minifigure. In the beginning Emmet does something that leads him to be mistaken for The Special, someone who is supposed to be the most extraordinary and original person alive. On his heartfelt journey to save the world, Emmet is aided by a fellowship of Master Builders to guide his way.

The villain in this movie is known as President Business (Will Ferrell) and he was actually my favorite character. Being the classic, hostile but still ignorantly funny bad guy was expected in this movie, yet somehow it was refreshing to watch President Business in each of his scenes. Though the role was typical for a children’s movie, the character was surprisingly enjoyable and had a lot of character development.

The film is filled with genuine dialogue that feels real and has actual emotions tied behind it. It isn’t all just a bunch of goofy situations that look great on screen but lack actual depth. The writing is witty and thoroughly entertaining, including jokes that make both children and adults crack up laughing.

Attention to detail is one of the best qualities of this movie. The effects are simply stunning, even for an entire film made out of toy blocks and plastic figures. I was blown away with what the movie was able to show, accomplish and produce with only LEGOS. It’s an action packed movie with a shocking amount of imagination thrown in.

In the end, just like most animated movies, it presents a moral to the overall story. In The Lego Movie, I was shocked by the sincerity of the end theme. It wasn’t just a fortune cookie tag line; it is something that you don’t entirely believe until you witness the movie as a whole. In all, it is a heartfelt, energetic comedy that will catch you by surprise.

A&E, Isaac Mathewson, Weekly Playlist

Favorite Film Friday: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

Leave a comment
By Isaac Mathewson
Written and directed by: John Hughes
Starring: Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck, Mia Sara, and Jennifer Grey
Sometimes I come across a movie that just puts me in a good mood. Coming from someone who suffers from chronic depression, I loved this movie when I first saw it. It made me forget about my problems and it was a lot of fun to watch. Today, I consider it not only a great comedy, but somewhat of a suicide prevention film.
 
Ferris Bueller (Broderick) is a popular, wise guy high school senior who decides one spring day to fake being sick from school in order to take his best friend Cameron (Ruck) and his girlfriend Sloane (Sara) on a day out on the city of Chicago. They spend the day going to a baseball game, an art museum, and lip syncing at a parade (one of the most famous scenes in the movie), all the while, they keep Ferris’s parents in the dark, who along with the rest of the town think that he is actually sick and have set up a “Save Ferris” campaign. There are only two people who suspect anything; Ferris’s principal Ed Rooney, played by Jeffrey Jones, who serves as the main antagonist, and Ferris’s sister Jeanie (Grey) who is immensely jealous of her brother’s popularity and the attention that he receives from his parents.
 
The film was directed and written by the late John Hughes, who is famous for classic works such as The Breakfast Club and Home Alone.Often times his movies balance both comedy and drama effectively. That is to say, his movies are generally comedies with dramatic moments to provide a theme for the movie. This film is no exception.
 
It does play as a playful comedy most of the time, but there are also moments in the film that actually make you think. Throughout the course of the film, Ferris tries desperately to make his depressed friend Cameron get up and enjoy life. There is a famous quote said by Ferris in the film that sums up the film’s message. He says; “Life moves pretty fast, and if you don’t stop to look around once in a while, you could miss it.” Ferris, or rather Hughes, is not telling us to ditch school and education for the sake of fun, he is saying that everyone needs to take a break once in a while and just enjoy life for what it is.
 
Scenes like this turn a mere entertainment film into a classic film with a philosophical message. However, that is obviously not the only reason to enjoy this film. It is just great fun. You laugh the whole time and by the end you feel like you know the characters and have spent the day off with them.
 
What makes the film stand out the most is the main character himself. Matthew Broderick, although 23 when he starred in this, is very convincing as a wise guy kid with a great charm in his character. He is the film really and not just because his name is in the title. He also has that sweet, recognizable voice that makes him very innocent.
 
All of the other characters are good too. Ruck is very likable and funny and Sara is very attractive and has a great personality. The principal is also funny in how he will go to ridiculous lengths to stop Ferris from “corrupting his students,” and in the end he gets his comeuppance. Grey is also very good as the sister who is immensely jealous of her brother. Even some of the minor characters such as Ferris’s parents or Charlie Sheen as the criminal that Jeanie meets at a police station are memorable and a ton of fun to watch.
 
While the soundtrack is mediocre and outdated, and some of the actors look far too old for their role (Ruck was 29 when he did this film and he was playing an 18 year old), this film has so much to treasure. It is funny, smart, and a lot of fun. It is one of those films that just leaves you in a good mood after seeing it, like you were with Ferris and his friends the whole time. The film to this day remains a coming-of-age classic, as well as arguably John Hughes’s best work.