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5 Things, Movies

5 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW: Django Unchained

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When I see a movie in theaters, I will write the five things you need to know about it.

5 Things You Need to Know About… 

DJANGO UNCHAINED

1. Django (pronounced Jango, the “D” is silent) Unchained is a well-paced 165 minutes that rarely drags its feet and is often galloping through scene after scene of memorable character interactions, interesting interpretations of southern hospitality, and  beacoup de (admittedly Leonardo DiCaprio’s Calvin Candie may not appreciate this use of French) blood bursting graphic killing.  The plotted premise, dynamite script, cinematic homaging, and execution thereof of filmmaker Quentin Tarantino are of the highest form.  If you are a Tarantino fan (of which generally I am not), you will love Django.  If you are not a Tarantino fan, Django will shake, rattle, and roll your senses into becoming one over the course of this movie.

2. As is his cinematic want, Tarantino infuses Django with constant graphic (albeit at times artistic) violence (I spent at least a cumulative five minutes turning my head away) and relentless (and thereby, forced desensitized) use of the n-word.  It is part of the tenor of the filmmaker and of the historical (1858-1859) Deep South slavery period that the movie depicts so acutely, but I would be disingenuous to say it didn’t color my cinematic experience just a little bit.  This is tough subject matter and as explicit a telling as I have seen.  Once you buy in, you are sold relatively quickly, but for some, the price may be too much to pay.   

3. Christoph Waltz, as Dr. King Schultz, is a master of his craft and a joy to watch on screen.  His scenes are memorably electric, uncomfortably yet satisfyingly violent (in both the traditional and Anne Bogart meaning), and articulated with a consistency and clarity that bring such joy to the viewer.  It was a pleasure to spend much of the near three hours of Django with Mr. Waltz.  In other successful casting news, both Jamie Foxx and Leonardo DiCaprio so expertly play against what is expected and subsequently flourish.  Mr. Foxx’s stoic yet powerful lead character is precise, deliberate, and nuanced without ever reaching for some of the over the top flamboyance (clothing appropriately excluded) that we often find in his performances.  Django‘s Django is brilliant.  As for Leo (in his first role in sixteen years that did not get top billing), he is almost unrecognizable in his portrayal of Southern plantation owner Calvin Candie.  He delivers a character so reprehensible and villainous yet so playfully enjoyable in way that very few of his peers could.  There may be no bigger movie star working in the industry today (box office receipts do not wholly support this) and it is privilege to see him explore his uninhabited and unchained range here.  Samuel L. Jackson (box office receipts may support his biggest movie star crown), no stranger to the work of Quentin Tarantino, is once again a representative of what greatness is all about.

4. There is a scene in Django involving hoods (and a random appearance from Jonah Hill!) that may be the most clever, hilarious, satirically pleasing, and successfully comedic segment in my cinematic memory.

5. Django Unchained is a movie of grand imagination and excellent execution that is all fun and games until it is not anymore (some of the violence was a bit too violent and slavery is American history’s most horrendous legacy), but nevertheless manages to captivate, cajole, and charm its way through the muddy waters of the Deep South into a most memorable and enjoyable cinematic experience.

David J. Bloom can be reached on twitter @davidbloom7 and writes about pop culture and the NBA for Bishop and Company.  He writes weekly TV columns on Afterbuzztv.com (next up, Fox’s “The Following”) and his weekly THE CHALLENGE: BATTLE OF THE SEASONS Power Rankings can be read on Derek Kosinski’s ultimatechallengeradio.com.

5 Things, Movies

5 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW: SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK

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When I see a movie in theaters, I will write the five things you need to know about it.

5 Things You Need to Know About… 

SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK

1. Silver Linings Playbook, although benefiting from some “once a decade” performances from some supporting actors (more on this later), shines because of its two brightest stars.  Bradley Cooper (a long-time favorite since his early 2000s Alias days as Will Tippin) and Jennifer Lawrence (a revelatory acting performance after already having a breakout 2012) exude old-fashioned silver screen charisma.  Their scenes together sparkle with an undeniable dynamism and energy that at worst is the most memorable scene presentation in an MFA acting class and at best could win them both Academy Award nominations (this a likelihood for Mr. Cooper and a near certainty for Ms. Lawrence after their Golden Globe nominations).

2. Silver Linings Playbook has great bench support.  Robert De Niro, as Bradley Cooper’s sports gambler, Philadelphia Eagles die-hard fan dad, gives his best performance in recent memory and maybe his best of the 21st century (and there have been some seriously bad ones: See Killer Elite or Righteous Kill).  This finally felt like a movie where Sir Bobby cared more about the movie (in content, as exemplified through nuanced acting and general effort) than the paycheck.  Jacki Weaver is a delight as Bradley Cooper’s devoted but enabler of a mom.  In case you missed them and the budding promise that was, Chris Tucker (I am surprisingly happy to say, welcome back!) and Julia Stiles steal scenes (albeit in roles written a little bit too much as caricatures).

3. If you love American football, you will connect with and find much of Silver Linings Playbook quite enjoyable, but may find the football part’s execution a bit unrealistic and inauthentic.  If you don’t love American football and share a home, life, or family with someone who does, you may not get the football fandom (and sports betting for that matter) parts of Silver Linings Playbook (of which there are many), but you will think it was completely authentic and realistic (As a sports fan, some of the “football talk” read as exposition heavy and fake).

4. Unfortunately, Silver Linings Playbook has some tough, late game plotting distractions in the final half hour that seem inconsistent with the rest of the honest, humorous, and emotionally engrossing movie that you have just invested the first ninety minutes in.  There are several such plot struggles, but none are more irksome than when the trusted psychiatrist of Indian descent seems to take “not-on-call” to mean “absolved of any human responsibility.”  Thankfully, Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence fill their screen time with an abundance of audience directed good will.

5. Silver Linings Playbook is an engaging, emotionally provocative, and often satisfying movie that despite some troublesome, unrealistic, and (perhaps) sloppy late movie plot points, leaves a successful game plan for combining talented, hungry actors with a screenplay and characters that warrant our attention.

David J. Bloom can be reached on twitter @davidbloom7 and writes about pop culture and the NBA for Bishop and Company.  His weekly X Factor column appears on Afterbuzztv.com and his weekly THE CHALLENGE: BATTLE OF THE SEASONS Power Rankings can be read on Derek Kosinski’s ultimatechallengeradio.com.

5 Things, Movies

5 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW: THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY

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When I see a movie in theaters, I will write the five things you need to know about it.

5 Things You Need to Know About… 

THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY

1. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey takes us to a reminiscent locale that I did not expect nor, if I had known, would I ever have wanted to indulge in the journey: Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace.  Both are prequels that provide sprinklings of appreciated nostalgia for the original trilogy (its characters, its world, its themes), but often fall flat and pale in comparison to the original work (Gandalf is Obi-Wan Kenobi.  Gollum is Yoda.  Boss Nass is the Great Goblin).  More acutely, both movies rely more heavily on CGI than their predecessors (the great “could/should” debate so eloquently presented in Jurassic Park) and the CGI is often a problem.  Yes, Gollum’s enhanced motion capture technology (we are almost ten years since the Return of the King release) is fantastic, but too many times Peter Jackson relies on character CGI in instances where great makeup in the previous trilogy would have sufficed.  The result is a movie that juxtaposes the lush and beautiful Middle-Earth surroundings (New Zealand should win some kind of film award for its incredible work here, yet again) with the clearly fake (and as a result cheap) artificial creatures and settings that oft inhabit it.  It is just (literally) not a good look.

2. Martin Freeman, as the younger Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm is back in the opening sequence as the older version of Bilbo who we recall with a bit of fear and concern from the Lord of the Rings trilogy), is a perfect fit for the big feet and warm-hearted Hobbiton community of the Shire.  Freeman, whose notable credits include the role of Tim from the British version of The Office (the model for the American version’s Jim) and Dr. Watson on the BBC’s incredible and riveting series Sherlock, has the self-effacing humor, kindness, and gentility to immediately become the Hobbitest of Hobbits.

3. Of the 50,000 camera shots in the movie (a random and hugely inaccurate layman’s estimate), 49,934 are moving.  The movie is in constant motion and sometimes I just which I could see a moving image in a motionless frame.  Maybe this was a mask for the less than CGI (your eyes had limited time to adjust), but it was distracting and did not work as the standard practice for almost the entire movie.  While we’re still on the CGI/direction challenges, the wide shot CGI heavy transitions to closeup real person moments were the opposite of organic and seamless.  Honestly, I am not sure what was going on with Peter Jackson much of the time during this movie.  He was having a tough time.

4. Gollum (played again by the brilliant Andy Serkis) is in only one scene of the movie (as called for by the source material novel) and the movie suffers because of it.  Couldn’t part of the “unexpected journey” of the title been some type of Gollum quest through Middle-Earth?  Mr. Jackson already picked through other Tolkien universe source material to provide padding for three movies.  An original Gollum story couldn’t have fit in as well?

5. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is a simple tale of a movie cloaked in an epic motion picture’s body (splitting this book into three movies seems to have been a wee bit self-indulgent) that, although it hits several points of endearing nostalgia, does not create many lasting memories of its own.

David J. Bloom can be reached on twitter @davidbloom7 and writes about pop culture and the NBA for Bishop and Company.  His weekly X Factor column appears on Afterbuzztv.com and his weekly THE CHALLENGE: BATTLE OF THE SEASONS Power Rankings can be read on Derek Kosinski’s ultimatechallengeradio.com.

5 Things, Blog Posts, Movies

5 Things You Need to Know: LINCOLN

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When I see a movie in theaters, I will write the five things you need to know about it.

5 Things You Need to Know About… 

LINCOLN

1. Steven Spielberg’s transformative and triumphant Lincoln is a film that depicts the innermost inner workings of our nation’s government at perhaps the foremost of historical crossroads.  The question of slavery abolition legislation in January of 1865 (as proposed through the 13th Amendment) is the two hours and twenty nine minutes traffic of our stage.  Despite its essential historical record and human condition exploration, the traffic is slow-moving, dense, and not ready-made for the average filmgoer, but like the challenges faced by President Lincoln and the great legislative and citizen abolitionist pioneers, Lincoln could not be more well worth the struggle.

2. Daniel Day-Lewis’s portrayal of the sixteenth United States President is simply the best performance in the career of the world’s best living film actor.  His full immersion commitment (staying in character throughout filming – on and off set, signing things “A” for Abraham) yields a revelatory cinematic experience.  From his first scene on a Virginia battlefield to his last moments at the White House before his fateful trip to the Ford’s theater on an April night in 1865, Day-Lewis is so believably this behemoth of a man and American icon that he creates the most personal relationship I have ever had with a real-life person on screen.  In one of the surest predictions I have ever had to make, Daniel Day-Lewis will win his third Best Actor Oscar at the 2013 Academy Awards.

3. In a brilliant career that has no equal in the medium, Steven Spielberg has never made a picture like Lincoln before.  Its subtlety, its delicacy, its courageous devotion to the processes that surround its subject as much as the subject itself, its commitment to the human detail in a mosaic of recognizable actors portraying historical figures and legislative players, and its ability to rely on words more than images stand out amongst his pantheon of great works.  This is the achievement of a director who has nothing left to prove, yet Mr. Spielberg has created another incredible journey to assert why he is the greatest living storyteller.

4. Tommy Lee Jones, triumphantly playing abolitionist congressmen Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania, is at the centre of the most moving and inspiring moment of the picture (you will know it when you see it).  It reaffirms how big picture monumental changes and concepts (like the 13th Amendment) yield the most personal of consequences.

5. Lincoln is a motion picture (Spielberg’s first since Saving Private Ryan) that, like its subject matter, will be remembered as an all-time great.

David J. Bloom can be reached on twitter @davidbloom7 and writes about pop culture and the NBA for Bishop and Company.  His weekly X Factor column appears on Afterbuzztv.com and his weekly THE CHALLENGE: BATTLE OF THE SEASONS Power Rankings can be read on Derek Kosinski’s ultimatechallengeradio.com.

5 Things, Movies

5 Things You Need to Know: SKYFALL

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When I see a movie in theaters, I will write the five things you need to know about it.

5 Things You Need to Know About… 

SKYFALL

1. Skyfall is an 143 minute long movie that feels like an 143 minutes long movie.  There are eye-candied sequences of classic action cinema mastery whose shot by shot intricacy, visually stunning stunts, and pulsating pacing are compelling and brilliant, but inevitably exhausting.  There are also too many story elements, unnecessary villain plan complexity (although much of Javier Bardem’s sinister and campy performance is a joy to witness), and questionable character inclusions (let’s just say that Skyfall was not a good platform for the Bond girl) that could have been easily omitted.

2. Metaphorically and often in actuality, Skyfall is set at dusk on a gloomy and raw late November day.  Daniel Craig’s hair color is consistently the brightest thing on screen (the innumerable explosions notwithstanding).  His icy, flatlined, psychologically troubled and sharpshooting deficient, and cold-hearted James Bond isn’t having too much fun here (even his near death inspired beach vacation is curtailed by his devotion to and love of country).  It is quite possible that the events in The Dark Knight Rises, when Gotham City is under Bane’s wintry, bridge destruction filled occupation, occurred concurrently with much of Skyfall‘s third, fourth, fifth, and sixth acts (and yes, it felt like there were that many).  Be sure to pack your scarf and mittens or you may catch a cold.

3. Bond movies are often enhanced by their exotic locales and location shoots.  Beyond a classic, multiple vehicular chase sequence extraordinaire in Turkey to open the picture, Skyfall is all about London (again filled with sunless, cloudy skies) and its United Kingdom environs.  The traditional propensity of foreign locales will often provide a Bond movie distant and less consequential stakes (we are watching the train derailment but we are not wholly experiencing it because it is somewhere far away).  Skyfall takes the opposite approach and intentionally (and in some ways not, some MGM budget issues forced the scrapping of some additional foreign shoots) brings the consequences closer to the pond.

4. Judi Dench, for the sixth time portraying MI6 leader M, earns her Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire title in this movie.  At the remarkable age of 0077, she is very much a sight to behold.  In so many ways, Skyfall is Dame Judi’s picture.

5. Skyfall is a movie (a good James Bond movie at that), but not a transcendent cinematic force as some critics have suggested.  I was stirred, but not shaken.

David J. Bloom can be reached on twitter @davidbloom7 and writes about pop culture and the NBA for Bishop and Company.  His weekly X Factor column appears on Afterbuzztv.com and his weekly THE CHALLENGE: BATTLE OF THE SEASONS Power Rankings can be read on Derek Kosinski’s ultimatechallengeradio.com.

5 Things, Movies

5 Things You Need To Know: FLIGHT

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When I see a movie in theaters, I will write the five things you need to know about it.

5 Things You Need to Know About… 

FLIGHT

1. Despite a trailer that presents the movie as “an action-packed mystery thriller” centering around a plane crash, Flight is not a mystery, is not a thriller, and is not about a plane crash.

2. Director Robert Zemeckis’ last live action picture before Flight was 2000’s Cast Away (since he has exclusively made motion captured movies like The Polar Express and Beowolf).  Like Cast Away (and Forrest Gump for that matter), almost the entire running time of Flight features a commanding (and perhaps career-defining) lead performance by an A-List actor.

3. The aforementioned lead actor, Denzel Washington as Captain Whip Whitaker, carries this picture in a way I am not sure another living actor could. Flight works because of his charisma, his complete stronghold of Captain Whitaker’s inner demons and battles, and through his commitment to the at times harrowing truth of Whitaker’s battle with alcohol and drugs.

4. Besides Mr. Washington, Flight features an array of supporting performances by traditionally strong actors that are either lots of fun but feel completely out of place (John Goodman as a hippy drug fixer), super compelling but come out of nowhere and go just as quickly (James Badge Dale as a cancer patient), or strangely subpar (I am looking at you Don Cheadle, Bruce Greenwood, and Melissa Leo).

5. Flight is a MOVIE that dives deep into the soul of one man, but only inspires because of Denzel’s brilliant craft and not because of story or the telling thereof.  Flight and its mechanical failures kept a distance from my empathy and care and its brutal subject matter may cause many curious audiences to do the same.

David J. Bloom can be reached on twitter @davidbloom7 and writes about pop culture and the NBA for Bishop and Company.  His weekly X Factor column appears on Afterbuzztv.com and his weekly THE CHALLENGE: BATTLE OF THE SEASONS Power Rankings can be read on Derek Kosinski’s ultimatechallengeradio.com.

5 Things, Blog Posts, Movies

5 Things You Need to Know: CLOUD ATLAS

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Tom Hanks and Halle Berry from CLOUD ATLAS

When I see a movie in theaters, I will write the five things you need to know about it.

5 Things You Need to Know About… 

CLOUD ATLAS

1. Cloud Atlas is an ambitious picture that spends almost all of its 172 minute screen symphony as a constant series of crescendos that all never seem to reach full fortissimo.  It is more about the connectivity between movements than about the sanctity of the movements themselves.  As usual, cinemetrician Zach Baron nails it here.

2. If you have read the book, listen to book critic, Kathryn Schulz: “Unlike the book, Cloud Atlas, the movie, is not groundbreaking and dazzling and brilliant and epic and all the rest of those other over-the-top reviewer words. But I also didn’t find it dreadful, or dumb. I’m glad I saw it. I’m inclined to tell other people they should go see it.”  If you have not read the book like me (my Nook Color has been housing the idle e-book of Cloud Atlas for several months now), Schulz contends there is “one massive, all important caveat. You know what that is. Go read the book first.”  Oops.   Prior to reading the book (I am definitely inspired to embark on the journey now), I have a feeling the following will be true: Often thought to be unfilmable, Cloud Atlas is all the better with both mediums in play, the movie would be better without the book as a comparison, and the book is likely even better now that there is a movie.

3. The directing units of Andy and Lana (née Larry) Wachowski (behind The Matrix, it’s troubled sequels, and the catastrophe that was Speed Racer) and Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run, a one-hit wonder), each responsible for independently filming (completely separate crews, cinematographers, production designers) three of the movie’s six time period settings, make significant structural (telling all six stories simultaneously) and casting decisions (a company of actors playing different loosely connected roles in each setting) that will define the movie and it’s subsequent success.  Although I think they do successfully execute these decisions into a viable, beautifully shot and scored cinema experience, by taking this distinctive storytelling path, the final work is condemned to something less than the potential the broad scope of its source material valiantly suggests.

4. Despite some arguable truth to a few of the soul journeys in the actor/character connections (Jim “perhaps the film’s hero” Sturgess and Hugo “the frustratingly clear villain” Weaving’s through lines do succeed), the decision to cast the main cast in multiple roles was a forced convention that acted more as a hindrance, red herring, and distraction to continuity and connectivity than as an asset.  It was more about Tom Hanks (Look he is a cockney murderer from present day England!  Now he speaks an almost indecipherable language as a post-apocalyptic goat herder!) or Halle Berry’s (particularly super swag in her 1973 get-up, mostly forgettable otherwise) journeys as actors than about the journey of the soul.  By making these casting choices, team Wachowski and Tykwer lead the viewer down rabbit holes of inconsequence that are more about the wonders of modern-day makeup than about a well executed character through story.  In a movie in which the tagline is “everything is connected,” it is a cool effect (and do stay a few more minutes for the retrospective actor/character journey in the end credits that is a worthy summation of this convention) that is without real substance.

5. Cloud Atlas is unequivocally a movie (a pretty long one, at that, but worthwhile and enjoyable) that would have worked better as a linear, six part mini-series.

David J. Bloom can be reached on twitter @davidbloom7 and writes about pop culture and the NBA for Bishop and Company.  His weekly X Factor column appears on Afterbuzztv.com and his weekly THE CHALLENGE: BATTLE OF THE SEASONS Power Rankings can be read on Derek Kosinski’s ultimatechallengeradio.com.

5 Things, Blog Posts, Movies

5 Things You Need To Know: ARGO

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When I see a movie in theaters, I will write the five things you need to know about it.

5 Things You Need to Know About… 

ARGO

1. Argo will be adorned with many Oscar nominations including Best Picture and Best Director.

2. Ben Affleck just took THE LEAP as a filmmaker.  After the two Boston/crime-centered definite successes of Gone Baby Gone (slightly underrated) and The Town (it may be slightly overrated), Argo is a high caliber movie that delivers in every scene, every detail, every performance, every nuance, every beat, every 1980s period hair piece and costume, and every shot of original Kenner Star Wars figures.  My fast-becoming go to film purveyor (and rightly self-professed movie cinematrician) Zach Baron, chronicles a career comeback for Mr. Affleck who has been to the bottom of a fiery pit (Gigli, Daredevil) and has come out as a filmmaker of skill, artistry, and unquestionable talent.  Argo is a crowning achievement and, unlike the distance that Paul Thomas Anderson creates between most viewers and The Master, Affleck gives the masses a front row seat to a movie of both unquestionable weight and brilliant execution. 

3. There are a staggering number of great film and television actors in small supporting roles in this movie that amount to consistent scene stealing and unheard of structural support.  The list includes Victor Garber (Alias as Mr. Affleck’s beautiful wife’s television dad), Bryan Cranston (the breath of this man’s ability ceases to amaze), Titus Welliver (who I remember fondly as the Man in Black on Lost), Kyle Chandler (Coach Taylor is a television icon), Zeljko Ivanek (always good for some intense power sneering), Chris Messina (a scene stealer from Fox’s ready for primetime new comedy, The Mindy Project), John Goodman (having a blast), Alan Arkin (having even more of a blast), Christopher Stanley (freed from the marital hell that is Betty Draper), and Bob Gunton (the warden from Shawshank who I have yet to have forgiven).

4. When a movie is “based on a true story” that is both actually worth telling and not so ubiquitous that it feels fresh, I am elated.  Argo is an incredible tale that fits the cinematic medium oh so well.  Declassified by President Clinton in 1997 almost twenty years after the actual events, this lost CIA triumph resonates in 2012 with vitality and ease.  It works for those who lived through the 444 day Iran Hostage Crisis in 1979-1981, or, if you are like me and were not yet born during the late Carter administration, Argo is a most effective way to experience this essential modern American history.

5. Argo is a movie (disguised as a film), but, if the Academy Awards bring more than just nominations for this “based on a true story” work of genius, Argo could become a motion picture by February/March of 2013.

David J. Bloom can be reached on twitter @davidbloom7 and writes about pop culture and the NBA for Bishop and Company.  His weekly X Factor column appears on the Afterblog at Afterbuzztv.com.