There are moments in Gravity that truly remind you of the power of movies as a medium. Alfonso Cuaron’s space survival epic was built to just wow and the big screen and wow it does, bringing the kind of intensity and wonder that you hope every movie would. But for all of that intensity and virtuoso filmmaking, there’s something that just doesn’t quite connect. It makes for an interesting contrast that the film doesn’t quite manage to make work.
Y’all…like what in the world has happened to the Oscar race? I mean everything seemed so clear just a week ago and now it’s like the world has gone to hell. I feel like these movies studios came and said fuck your couch and I couldn’t do anything about it. So with all this, I thought I #minuswell update my Oscar predictions. Check them out.
Don Jon, Joseph Gordon-Levitt‘s directorial debut, certainly means well. However just because a film means well doesn’t mean that it’s guaranteed to be a good film and unfortunately for audiences, Don Jon isn’t one. Despite its sterling supporting performances and interesting subject matter, the film feels like little more than an exercise for a man
Looking forward into the film year, it’s going to be tough for any film to match the kinetic energy that Rush, the biographical racing drama arriving in theaters nationwide this weekend, manages to conjure up. Moving with purpose but never hesitating to show off stylistic flourishes, Ron Howard’s forray into Formula 1 racing history is anchored by two great performances, a solid script and awesome action.
There’s a war going on in Mother of George, not just among family obligations and societal pressures, but against the very film itself. On the one hand this is movie that tells an engaging story of a couple facing struggles when they can’t conceive a baby. Yet, on the other hand, this is a film so concerned with its visuals and being stylistic that it often gets in its own way. So then how does Mother of George fare in this war? Not well, I’m afraid. Though I want to recommend and champion this movie, the film left me so frustrated and robbed of a good experience that even on the nicest of days it’d be tough for me to give it my blessing.
If you have been following any movie news, you know that 12 Years a Slave, the new Steven McQueen film starring Chiwetel Ejiofer, Michael Fassbender and Lupita N’yongo, is tearing up the festival circuit, inspire all sorts of praise and talk of Oscars. It’s been interesting to see a film made by someone of a dark hue winning raves, but there’s another facet to the conversation surrounding the film that has been confounding me. It all started when Brad Pitt made a comment during a press conference about Americans not asking about why there aren’t more films about slavery and eventually saying that it took an outsider to be able to tell this tale.