Sisters: quality fun

As previously stated, I love comedies in all their frivolity and stupidity and pointless glory.  Rarely do you leave a theater (or turn off the computer) after watching one and say “Hmm… I just learned something.”  While you could have a revelation about teenagers truly live these days, that was not the role it needed to play.  However, lately many comedies have missed their true mark of an entertaining story and skidded to over-the-top jokes lacking any substance.  Though on the surface it seems to be in-lock step with these trends, Sisters strikes a good balance between humor and a standalone story.

Though this may come as no surprise given the last Fey-Poehler collaboration, Baby Mama.  Sisters has surprising depth (loosely defined), that explores and tests the roles and responsibilities of family, from teenage rebellion to geriatric parenting, and of course, sisters.

In short:

 

A brief note on diversity

I used to think race and gender didn’t matter; I thought that people were the same and ideas had their own inherent merit, no matter who said them.  What people did, whether how they treated others or their work, spoke for itself and that perception was never distorted.  The problem is that people are  flawed, and we favor people and their ideas based on our perception of them, regardless of reality and often unconsciously.

The question of whether or not there should be minority actors nominated for outstanding performances (the 4 bests: Actors/Actresses and supporting) is the wrong question to me.  These awards are highly subjective and rarely predictable, both in  nominations and winners. And with few actors even in contention (100+ films came out last year, only a handful with minority leads), it is even harder to argue which performances are more deserving– could be a square peg: round hole situation.  My problem is that this lack of representation is a result of either 1 of two causes: 1) either Oscar-worthy roles are not being offered to minority actors or 2) the Academy cannot recognize minority talent.  Given the graph below, we may have a severe selection bias that needs to be corrected #Oscarsbesowhite:

 

Airplane Marathons: Brazil was better

Who doesn’t love a good far-off destination for a few weeks?  When submerging yourself in these new cultures, cuisines, and climates, you want to start as soon as possible and so red-eyes are the perfect solution.  Start the day normally, and wake up in a new world.  HOWEVER, for me, they are the worst: I end up on a movie binge, exhausted when landed, and powering through a bottomless supply of caffeine until I can sleep soundly the following night.

The longest leg of my flight to Sao Paolo was 9h30m.  Between the 2 legs there and back, I watched 5 movies (which is amazing that I slept as long as I did):

Title	Opinion	Blurb
Entourage	It was one too many…	One too many hijinks, cartoonish new characters, storylines … it bordered on silly instead of entertaining, which is how I remember the seasons.  My favorite person this go ‘round was a toss-up btw guest-spot Billy Bob Thornton and 4th wheeler Jerry Ferrera.  I don’t think that’s how that should have went down.
The End of the Tour	Trying too hard	To be fair, I’m not that literary.  But this film felt like a regurgitation of a critically acclaimed book played by characters instead of written down in words.  And though there is a live illustration of the catch 22 of “chasing” fame and the burden the talented and gifted bear (played out by the two main characters),  I didn’t find it particularly enlightening or interesting to watch.
Mistress America	My favorite (of the 5)	I have a perma-soft spot for Greta Gerwig.  Frances Ha was great and this did not disappoint either.  But you have to like slightly-dillusional/asinine/hopeless leads with a quirky humor to them.  In this case, we had a modern-day Holly Golightly contrasted with a not-so-sweet ingénue.  Their interactions and journey are what make the film.
Fantastic Four	Waste of time	I like the actors, and I like the F4 story generally, but this… this was not likeable.  Too much build-up and no real character development.  I don’t think I would have cared if all the Fantastics died.  And unfortunately, it looked expensive.  Somebody may have gotten fired for this.
Sleeping with Other People	A decent rom-com	Very much like When Harry Met Sally, exploring the eternal “can men and women ever only be friends?” question.  But a little crasser for the 2015 palette.  It was one of few recent rom-coms where I didn’t roll my eyes during for being trite.

Bridge of Spies: no love

So, this film is aptly named.  There is a bridge and there are spies.  And there is a mediator of bridges and spies.  Cue Tom Hanks, the non-spy.  This film is interesting because it depicts a moment in history that many are familiar with, but only in a vague way.  The end of the Cold War is rarely depicted in film, especially in East Berlin, and so it leverages the political landscape as the tension. However, that backdrop is far more interesting than the slow negotiation of/with said spies.  In the process of highlighting how values and conviction can move proverbial mountains, the audience is left to see only the glacial pace in which the mountain is actually moved.  Though the actual event was impressive, it reads better as a news headline than unfolding as a film.

Verdict: catch on Netflix…

Room: intensely great

It has been a long time since I’ve left a theater with my chest hurting.  My rationalization of this phenomenon: I stop breathing for multiple periods of time.

This film is…real.  It paints multiple realities that I have never experienced but feel like I can now understand.  At the heart of it, Room is a story of survival, and by extension, adaptation.  Told both from living in “room” and living in “space” (essentially, the world), we see a family attempt to build their lives and adjust to their environments.  What makes this movie great is both seeing these steps– the efforts taken to get to “normal” by both the mother and son– and feeling the unsaid– what is not actually seen or spoken about but weighs on the characters, particularly the mother.  This topic, where you can only imagine how a young mother and child end up in a locked shed, can be a hard one to handle.  But it is somewhat narrated by the 5-year-old, which takes a bit of the sting out of the context.  And that approach to how the story is told ends up just as engaging as what the story is about.  He shares almost a heartbreaking account of how the world works and operates, and watching his views shift as he learns more, is an enthralling sight to see.

Verdict: if you can(as it is by no means a light movie), you should (Buzzworthy)

Steve Jobs: surprisingly unexpected

Who wore it best? No comparison.

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For this to be the third film to be released in 2 years (including the confusingly titled documentary), I expected little new information.  The legend of Steve Jobs is part visionary, part obsessive, and part callous, with one of the best resurgence of greatness stories ever told.  We know how it ends; we have iPhones.  And yet I couldn’t help but watch given the talent on the project as well as the unavoidable hype (though try to avoid the hype).

Therefore, I was not prepared for the story that unfolded and cannot underscore how different this was.  The focal characters I had never heard of (save for Rogen’s Wozniak) and this story was never told on its own– a focus on the man’s character and not his accomplishments.  This is not a biopic, and may be a bit too non-linear for some, but a worthy experience nonetheless.

Verdict: everyone will be talking about it, so join the convo (go for it)

The Martian: Grecian comedy

A happy ending is all that’s required for comedy

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From the onset, this film gives you the impression it will end well.  The tone of this film was always one that said “it’ll be ok. The smartest people on earth will figure out how to do the impossible.”  And so in the meantime, the audience surveys the work of 20-some-odd characters struggling to get to that inevitable answer; we get a very cursory understanding with limited screen-time of a bunch of random people.  And this holds for the true focal point, Matt Damon, though we spend a lot of time skimming the surface of his thoughts. To be frank, he seemed unbelievably brilliant and yet too “down-to-earth”, a seemingly impossible combination.   And so it can be hard to sympathize with the tribulations he endures, even as he is hundreds of millions of miles away from all of humanity. But the imagery is spectacular and in totality, this film can reaffirm your faith in human goodwill.

Verdict: worth the 3-D but not much else is special about it (discount)

A brief note on the “supernova”

A supernova is a stellar explosion that briefly outshines everything before fading from view.

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I hate haggling.  I don’t shop to negotiate; I expect you to tell me the benefits of the item (real leather, limited edition, etc.) and then tell me how much you want for it.  I will then decide if it is worthy of my money.  Films have gotten in a very bad habit of false advertising and the worse offense of late is the supernova effect.  My theory goes like this: you pack a mediocre film with stars (well-known and reputable stars) only to create this beautiful and fleeting explosion, that quickly fades into oblivion.  A perfect example of this was Valentine’s Day.  A gaggle of stars signed on to this story and I was so distracted by the talent that I went out to see it opening weekend, only to publicly bash it for weeks to come (and to be fair: its Rotten Tomatoes score is 18 out of 100).  You’d think I’d learn but I have been dazzled by the “shiny objects” a few more times then I care to admit.  So this is my PSA to you: if it’s shining too brightly with stars, it will probably implode and make you regret spending your hard earned dollars.

A brief note on trailers

yeah… that’s what hype looks like

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I’m an oddity for many reasons.  One of which is my general enjoyment of commercials.  If you don’t tell me something exists, how am I supposed to know I want it?  Granted most of the time I do not want to buy what they are selling, but on the off chance I do, I appreciate it.  So, of course, this extends to trailers.  I get super jazzed when I see glimmers of the final version of a film that up to this point I could only imagine how it turned out.

But I find that this excitement is sometimes being taken advantage of.  Trailers these days leave me more often feeling tricked or disappointed.  The two main reasons are because of mismanaged expectations (e.g. the trailer is positioned as a different genre than it really is) or because it oversold the film (highlighting every key element that make the film worth while instead of a handful).  And this constant inundation of commercials can create this snowball of hype that can only leave you catastrophically disappointed.  Like, swear-off-movies disappointed.  But when done well, a trailer can excite the audience in a way that can’t be replicated in print.  So much of the value of a movie is in its visual appeal that until you see it, you fail to appreciate it as something worth $12 and 2 hours.

In short, I endorse trailers, but I think they shouldn’t really give anything away about the movie but piques the interest.  And until they are used responsibly, I prefer (and recommend) to see movies blind.

The Man from U.N.C.L.E.: fashionably retro

A perfect summary of the film’s juxtaposition

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Because I was not around in the 60s, and it was not in syndication on Nick-at-Nite, I was unfamiliar with the story or the show prior to seeing it.  In that respect, I was unbiased and was watching with a blank slate.  I found it comically charming; every character was tragically flawed but oozed what I would consider a classic 50’s reserved decorum. When pitting cold war enemies against each other, I appreciated how they used their words to insult and one-up each other.  And so the period’s backdrop helped enhance this game of collusion, double-crossing, and other standard spy plots. And it felt simpler than most spy movies, where it was less about a single spy solving a complicated puzzle (like the Bond series), and more like a buddy cop story where they are constantly trying to best each other (which is a lot more intuitive to follow).  The characters were a delight to watch and I have an eternal soft spot for Guy Ritchie.

Verdict: totally worth it… but no rush (Netflix it)