Edward Norton needed this film. Yes, Michael Keaton kills it as a once prominent actor who settles into the world of Broadway, but consider Norton to be back among the frame of versatile actors to lose what he had and regain it. Norton was, simply, magnificent as rival of sorts to Keaton's Riggan Thomson. It was like, whose ego could beat-up whose more, as far as dominance goes. Norton was classic Norton in this movie. Birdman sort of plays to that trope rather brilliantly, as Keaton’s Riggan leaves the cluttered world of Hollywood for something more subtle, like plays. Of course, when you leave a character that many identify with, you're never able to leave that identity that people force you to be in. Anytime, Riggan's tried to leave his successful past, he'd be haunted by it, repeatedly. If I had to define Birdman's plot: A lot of people dealing with tons of insecurities.
Props, once again, to the supporting cast, particularly, Emma Stone and her plethora of facial muscle; and, the superb direction by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for relying one whole shot for the entire film. It’s a gimmicky concept to use, but since a portion of the film takes place in a theater, it makes sense, literally and metaphorically. If this was a movie built on the one-shot construct, yet had little depth, this might just be a decent film. Luckily, it's more than that.
9) Top Five
I'm a little upset at myself for not having an official review of Top Five; too many work obligations and late nights, so I was never able to provide a proper review for this film, so, technically, this is my review. Without question, this is easily Chris Rock's best film, ever. Not even joking. Rock could've done Hammy the Bear and I would've been cool with it. Alas, despite his incredible stand-up routines, he's always struggled to translate that success into memorable roles at the Box Office. A simple reason as to why this film work, was because it allowed Rock to be vulnerable. Before, he'd be some caricature attempting comedy. It wasn't that he didn't try, he did. It just wasn't funny. Besides Pootie Tang, a rather ridiculous film, he doesn't do a lot of good comedies.
Top Five works for not relying on tired gimmicks. What makes this work, is that it doesn't have to try hard to be a competent comedy. It allows the dialogue and story to do its work without telling us what's going on. The audience can figure out what's funny and/or what isn't funny. Also, all of the cameos work and even some of them have importance to the story. Rosario Dawson works as the double agent film critic, who follows Andre Allen (Rock) for most of the film. JB Smoove is dope as Allen's assistant. Before this film came out during December, 22 Jump Street & Neighbors (which I thought was OK, at best) held reign as the best comedy of 2014. 22 Jump Street was cool for making fun of sequels and how hard it is to top a predecessor. While Neighbors held weight, for some, was it being a frat-boy comedy. Top Five is just a much a deeper movie than those two. Add that it has more replay value in the long run, it’s hard not to get tired of it.
Now, as for my Top Five? Mine’s more unorthodox than others, so I went in a different direction from most who have their favorite rappers, rockers, jazz, etc. I went towards film composers, because I grew up loving film scores at an early age. This is my list, including an honorable mention:
Top 5 film composers: 1) Hans Zimmer 2) Jerry Goldsmith 3) John Williams 4) Ennio Morricone 5) Eliott Goldenthal HM: Shirley Walker
— Cinematic Wanderer (@HALLS24) December 28, 2014
8) Captain America 2
Just as shocking as my ranking of The Winter Soldier, I almost didn't see it in theaters back in May right before Amazing Spider-Man 2 was premiering nationwide. Initially, I was going to see it in April, albeit, work nights and personal matters kept me from seeing it earlier than I should have. Taking over from director Joe Johnson, The Russo Brothers did a lot to intertwine spy thriller & action-adventure, relate it to current times (i.e. War on Terror, Surveillance, etc) & come away with a fantastic film that has a different feel from other comic book films. It's also a well-balanced film, which allows for a lot of action, plot, character development and shocking twists bound to follow. This could've been another run-of-the-mill action event that would've been improved and tweaked from The First Avenger, yet, it still would've been good, just not an 8th place film for 2014. Besides, who've thought Robert Redford would be in a movie such as this playing a very important villain whose compromises S.H.I.E.L.D as a sleeper cell for Hydra. That man has helmed some of the most important movies for all-time (The President's Men, The Natural, and so on). Chris Evans, gradually, improved as Steve Rogers here. Learning from Joss Whedon and his role from the first film sort of is an evolution for a man who was once Johnny Storm. Scarlett Johansson grew here, too. I'm not saying she became a better actress because of the Marvel property or this movie, let's get that straight. We, as an audience, got the opportunity to see her character's growth as a crucial conduit to the Captain America/Avengers series narrative. She wasn't good in Iron Man 2 (more a fault of the film than her, to be fair), but was better served in the first Avengers film, using her interrogative skills to her benefit, when baiting Loki to confess on any possible intelligence. Unrelated to this list, I don't want to see a Black Widow film. We'll just have to rely on her backstory via dialogue. Take it or leave. A lot of people were so well-developed here, you hardly cared, because the movie flowed. Anthony Mackie (Falcon), Sebastian Shaw (Winter Soldier), Samuel Jackson (Nick Fury) were all magnificent. As the series turns to 2016’s Civil War, after Age of Ultron & Ant-Man, we can only ponder where things go from here.
7) Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
I really struggled to rank this one properly when I planned out this list of films for 2014. Mind y'all, this Dawn was an amazingly, epic movie. But, when the rest of the top-5 spoils you to submission, it's hard to find a place for this and Captain America 2. Unfortunately, I didn't see this in theaters when I had the opportunity too. I just didn't have the context of Rise of the Planet of the Apes during the month of June. So, when I planned out Christmas day, I decided to do a double feature of both films, before I ran out of time for it. What makes this sequel superior to its predecessor, it revels in being a story about the Apes than the humans. Also, it's a better movie, if you focus on the marketed beings here. Developing the Ape characters, as a whole, makes this franchise a better film than the originals were, when they relied on more practicalities. A big reason why past films probably weren't good, WAS, well, too much focus on one human character interacting with humans dressed as apes. It took the mystique away from allowing the idea of "man vs ape" away, since, you saw the imperfections. Andy Serkis, Toby Kebbell, Judy Greer and others used motion capture to create the movement of the Apes. Whatever position you stand on the issue of practical effects or computer generated images, you have to applaud the work made here by capturing their movements, vocals and motivations. It add a different layer when it's aided by mocap. So amazing. The story's more multi-layered, compelling characters and an enriching score by Michael Giacchino. Too many other good things to name here, other than, we have to wait a couple more years until movie 3. Ugh.
6) Selma
Ava Duvernay is a bad-ass. A damn shame by the Academy
Awards for not nominating her for best director or for bowing down to others
because Selma wasn't true to Lyndon B. Johnson. She didn't set out to make a
movie that'll appeal to masses who wanted another homogenized slave or Civil
Rights film that'll sort of skirt away the real problems, she did a movie set
out to tell as true a story of the movement.
This is a much needed film for our times, because of the issues going
on, right now. Shootings of unarmed black people & the diligent work by
protesters bringing to light the tragedies of Mike Brown, Tamir Rice, Ezell
Ford, Renisha McBride and others that were shot wrongfully. Selma didn't
bullshit its way towards doing another one of these films that'll get a
nomination by just being visionary. It proceeded to illustrate black &
white relations and how hard it is for us to come together as a society. Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr., for once, wasn't looked as a "holier than
thou" figure here, too. Even the fight for Civil Rights was a hard thing
to fight for in America. Hell, still is, to this day. Paramount, Harpo Films
(Oprah's film company) & Pathe could've Lee Daniels-ed this project and
you'd have another one of these overwrought movies that don't serve black
people well and over stylizes black people. David Oyelowo's portrayal of MLK is
simply incredible. He doesn't just nail his voice but his intellect, posture
& vulnerability. He nailed all of that. Props to Tom Wilkerson for his portrayal of LBJ as he too portrayed him as a flawed figure and, no, Selma was
not his idea as some would wrongfully proclaim. The cast is properly
well-served here, too; from George Wallace all the way to James Bevel. The sad
part about this film, was, it was going to be picked apart by some, because,
Ava didn't set out to make another wispy-ass film on civil rights and/or
racism. She wanted to make THE story
of the movement without being vilified by some who can't handle historical
accuracy. She didn't set out to make "Kumbaya My Lord" the movie just
to make some feel better, which would simply resolve nothing when it comes to
ending racism, intolerance, ignorance, etc. She presented the movie from
a practical, reasonable perspective, which is what we all want when discussing
this issue. Also, it looks astonishing, thanks to cinematographer Bradford
Young. It has a very 1960’s style to portray it for the era it’s in. I didn't
want to see it, at first, because 2014 was so goddamn exhausting. I turned down
"Dear White People" for that very reason & I might have done the
same with this one. Glad I saw it. Take anyone you know to see it, it's that
important. Shit, if you’re a Democrat or Republican, see this film. There’s no “side”
here, just a rational portrayal of everyone and everything.
No comments:
Post a Comment