The enchanting, exhilarating opening chapter to one of the classiest film series of this past decade was a wonderment in animation for certain, again demonstrating that entertainment designed for children need not be intelligent, emotional and artful.
To that end, with its prevalent themes of individuality, coming of age, the power of trust, unity and community as well as a tenuous parent/child relationship and all supporting a briskly told adventure which beautifully gave all of the dragons in the film their own individualistic characteristics, making for a magical world to lose yourself inside of, the film even gave the wizards of Pixar a serious run for their money.
Beyond even those achievements, the story of a young Viking and his friendship with a dragon, whom he is supposed to fear and kill, became a transcendent tale of the spiritual relationship between animals and humans via several wordless sequences that recalled nothing less than the likes of Carroll Ballard's "The Black Stallion" (1979) and also Steven Spielberg's "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial" (1982).
And oh yes...how majestic are the sequences of flight!!!!
(Originally reviewed May 21, 2010)
DIRECTED BY ANTHONY & JOE RUSSO (2018/2019)
It is kind of a cheat to have two movies in one spot but it is my list and while they are two films, they both are so inter-connected, it does indeed feel to be one mighty, marvelous epic.
Yes, over the past decade plus, I have long bemoaned the over abundance of the superhero movie, as they are arriving at an amount and frequency, they they are existing at the expense of nearly any other films that could otherwise be made. That being said, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has indeed proven itself to being a continuing series of some quality. Some of the films are better than others. Some do suffer from a certain directorial anonymity as the brand does come first. But with what Directors Anthony and Joe Russo accomplished with their cinematic one-two punch, these two films showed comic book films at their finest.
In addition to fully justifying the existence of the (then) 21 film series, the Russo brothers displays our Marvel heroes and villains as modern day myths come to vibrant life and in the case of these two features, it was mythology of the highest tragedy and triumph. These films showed a feverish inventiveness, tremendous skill, grace and creativity and most importantly, they took tremendous risks, going so far as to end one film with existential annihilation at the finger snap of a monstrous, malevolent mad titan (played brilliantly by Josh Brolin).
Yes, Martin Scorsese has a tremendous point about the art of the movies becoming impersonal theme park rides, and I often agree with him. In regards to these two films, however, I would even urge him to just try them out and he might even be surprised at how much drama, sorrow, victory, sensationalism, spectacle, humor and enormous heart that is not just on display, but overflowing.
(Originally reviewed April 29, 2018 & April 30, 2019)
A tone poem of a movie that views the world and the universe itself through the eyes of a ferociously determined six year old child, "Beasts Of The Southern Wild" was the very rare type of film that feels as if it arrived fully formed from a completely different universe than our own and therefore, almost re-invents the wheel as to what a film can actually be.
Set in nearly forgotten world beyond the outskirts of the New Orleans levees, the story of Hushpuppy (a riveting Quvenzhane Wallis), her ailing Father (Dwight Henry) and the seemingly oncoming apocalypse. In a film this impressionistic, it is actually difficult to recount this film by means of a plot. Yet, even in a film this visually driven, Benh Zeitlin does weave a canvas that explores a powerful examination of poverty in 21st century America combined with a searing Father/daughter relationship, a sense of mythology merged with the intensity of fever dreams, an epic adventure saga, primal connections to the elements and family, the resourcefulness and love between members of a community survivalism and the symbiotic relation we carry with all living things.
Jointly esoteric and accessible, this is a magical, harrowing, profound motion picture that demands to be embraced as it is the definition of a unique film experience.
(Originally reviewed July 29, 2012)
This sumptuous, sublime film found Woody Allen working at the peak of his powers with a romantic fantasia that served as a warning to the pitfalls of nostalgia, and especially a nostalgia for a time you never actually knew firsthand.
Owen Wilson stars as a frustrated screenwriter struggling with the completion of his first novel. While on a family visit to Paris, a beloved location from his own past, and laconically wandering the Parisian streets at midnight, he magically finds himself transported to 1920's Paris, complete with the writers, artists, and philosophers he reveres, plus a potential new lover.
Joyously light as a feather while simultaneously a philosophical, existential journey expressing caution at living a life of illusion, "Midnight In Paris" is wondrously open-hearted, a feat in and of itself especially due to Allen's notoriously well known sense of nihilism. It is also an enchanting ode to the state of wanderlust, the romance of a time and place and the reality that sometimes the inexplicable can occur, still offering surprises and captivation at the elegant mysteries that only surface under a moonlit sky.
(Originally reviewed June 16, 2011)
Out of a decade, where he arrived with one masterful event film after another and another, Christopher Nolan's "Inception" was especially towering.
Part "Mission:Impossible," part James Bond, all of it jaw dropping with invention and awe, this odyssey of a corporate thief (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his crack team who literally enter the dreams (and dreams within dreams) of corporate competitors was a crime thriller, action film, aching love story, a morality tale of regret and redemption all rolled into a amazing and dark psychological drama that kept you guessing, on edge and questioning the nature of time and reality for the entire duration.
The beauty of this film, aside from the staggering visual aesthetics and special effects, was indeed how Nolan possessed the ability to take this labyrinthine structure and psychological baggage and brilliantly distill it all into the clear and understandable vehicle of what is essentially a heist film. He never dumbs down a moment, always signifying that he believes his audience will have the ability to keep up while he continuously discovers ways to blow our minds over and again.
(Originally reviewed July 17, 2010)
With the prevalence of computer animated films throughout the decade, leave it to Wes Anderson to not only go against the grain with a meticulously, miraculously handmade, stop-motion effort, he created one of the very finest, as well as one of the most original, animated films released during this period.
Set within a dystopian Japanese society 20 years in the future, this film follows a pack of wild, abandoned dogs who assist a young boy on the search for his beloved missing dog upon the desolate titular island where they have been all banished due to a dreaded canine disease is truthfully only the beginning of this audacious wonderland of a film. In addition to the painstaking animation, which is superbly equaled by the stellar voice cast and a beautifully literate screenplay, Wes Anderson explores themes of climate change, excessive waste and even canine extinction while combining action, mystery, non-linear narrative structures, journalistic freedom fighters, government conspiracies, complex family histories, and the air of Japanese folktales with outstanding skill and imagination.
If I were to solely judge this film based completely upon its visual aesthetic, it would already be one of the finest films released during this decade anyway as the depth of detail, color and architecture of the landscapes, buildings, plus the human and dog characters is astounding and feels as if every single frame of the film could exist as an individual work of art meant to be framed. But Anderson delves deeper and soars further and higher as this film celebrates the art of storytelling and our sacred relationships with our animal companions.
(Originally reviewed April 8, 2018)
As exhilarating as it is exhausting, this was one of the decades most electrifying, white-knuckle films without question. Damien Chazelle's breakout, fueled by a Scorsese-ian force and featuring two titanic performances from Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons, as a 19 year old jazz drummer and his tyrannical instructor, respectively, caught in a ferocious battle of wills, was profound and pummeling, thrilling and terrifying.
Now, since the release of the film, there has existed considerable criticism within the music circles, most notably with jazz musicians and scholars as to a certain inauthenticity. To all of those who found fault with the film on those levels, I emphatically disagree as "Whiplash" is decidedly not a film about drumming or even jazz. Chazelle has composed a film that is about power and control, the cycle of abuse, the dual nature of inspiration and destruction regarding obsession and the desperate pursuit of genius. And it is through those themes where the music, from the rampaging rehearsals that feel like crime scenes to the dynamic finale, finds an additional heft and meaning.
Overflowing with passion and sweat, Danmien Chazelle's "Whiplash" is a film of fire, brimstone and boiling blood.
(Originally reviewed November 23, 2014)
A film so prescient that it just now feels as if we have caught up to it, and frighteningly so, is Spike Jonze's most personal and easily his best film as it fully transcends its own story to become an examination of precisely who we are and what we are becoming as we plunge deeper into the 21st century.
It may feel silly on paper-the story of a man who falls in love with the voice inside of his computer-- but truly, Jonze's graceful, aching film operated upon a level that truly altered your perceptions of the world the moment it was over the the theater house lights went up...and you noticed your fellow theater patrons immediately opening their smartphones becoming mesmerized by the glowing contents. For where are we as a society, seven years on since the release of this film, even more attached and dependent upon our connections to technology and social media than ever, our emotions either validated or discarded, our continued physical disconnection only advancing. But also, as we are all ensconced in social distancing due to COVID-19, this very same technology is allowing us to remain emotionally connected in a different fashion, therefore muddling up our relationship to technology even further--for imagine if we endured this period without the technology that we have. What might become of us?
That is truly the magic and power of the movies when they do present themselves as elegantly and as poignantly as "Her," a film in which both Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson (in a performance entirely achieved through her voice) elicit two of their most empathetic performances of their respective careers.
(Originally reviewed January 12, 2014)
It is rare for a film this quiet to speak this loudly, yet Barry Jenkins, via a filmmaking palate that combined deceptively mellow atmospherics, often silent eloquence and richly poetic visuals, delivered a modern masterpiece depicting the harrowing realities of inner city life while simultaneously taking a deep dive into a sobering, haunting coming of age drama about a young, Black and gay male caught in an existence of severe displacement.
Through its striking cinematography, esoteric classical music film score and the staggering casting of Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders and Trevante Rhodes, all of whom perform the role of the film's protagonist at three different life stages so internally to perfection that they feel to truly be the exact same person, "Moonlight" so artfully, so humanely explores Black manhood from its expectations, prejudices, challenges, consequences, trappings, and possible transcendence.
Yet, even more powerfully than shining a light upon communities and people so simultaneously ignored and vilified, this is also a film that so painfully yet empathetically reaches out to anyone w ho is desperate to discover the truth of their own identities and posses their inherent right to exist as they wish and to the fullest of their potential. Barry Jenkin's "Moonlight" is an exceptional, essential film of profound trauma and sorrow.
(Originally reviewed November 7, 2016)
Richard Linklater is a time traveler. For so much of his filmography, he has prove himself to being an especially astute storyteller and chronicler of life stages that they so often transcends the characters while also being immersed within those characters.
For "Before Midnight," he returns to the love story of Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy), begun in "Before Sunrise" (1995) and continued nine years later in "Before Sunset" (2004), as the characters were living in their '20s and '30's respectively. Now in their '40's, and at long last in a committed relationship, and with children to boot, Linklater arrives to display middle aged ennui, complete with residual existential longings and building resentments that urgently questions how do we continue to love and remain in love for decades.
Linklater, who also co-wrote the film with both Hawke and Delpy, has constructed an even more free flowing yet edgier narrative as we now realize how much is at stake emotionally and romantically between these two characters that we have undertaken this journey with. He wisely never gets in the way of his own material and seemingly allows the film to unfold as naturally as if it were a documentary occurring in real time thus revealing new layers of passion and truth that consistently surprises, envelops and enraptures.
(Originally reviewed June 22, 2013)
Now the list gets really difficult and so, there are going to be a couple of cheats but as I always say, this is my list and I can do with it what I wish. And with regards to this film, it sits here because I had to make some hard choices and there were other films I loved even more than this one. But that, said this film demands to be represented and it is essential to have a place in my Time Capsule.
George Miller's "Mad Max: Fury Road," the fourth film in his post-apocalyptic wasteland series now starring the reticent (and obscured by a mask for a large portion of the film) Tom Hardy in the titular role. But the film is truly owned by a roaring, volcanic Charlize Theron as the one-armed avenging angel Imperator Furiosa, who unquestionably is the...ahem...driving force in what is essentially a surprisingly feminist narrative in this typically testosterone fueled action genre.
This conceptual twist works brilliantly as it provides this work of ravenous, rampaging momentum with a narrative urgency and moral outrage that makes this film, which is essentially a car chase and then a car race, have a palpable purpose while it assaults the senses with ultra violent sound, blistering vision, restless imagination and punk rock execution.
(Originally reviewed May 24, 2015)
COMING SOON...20-11!!!
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