Movies

Captain America: Civil War

Who would win in a fight: Captain America or Iron Man? Such speculation is a hallmark of schoolyard debate and can be a blast to discuss… in isolation. The problem with trying to execute this as part of a larger narrative is that you need to come up with a convincing way to pit two heroes against one another. This often leads to amusing enough sequences that don’t make much sense when seen in context. My least favorite parts of the The Avengers are the scenes where our heroes are bickering or outright fighting. Take the Iron Man versus Thor sequence (with special appearance by Captain America). It’s a lot of fun to watch! But why are they fighting? Mostly so Thor can shoot lightning at Iron Man, which will have the unexpected consequence of supercharging the suit. Or to ponder the age old question of what happens when Thor’s hammer Mjolnir meets Cap’s vibranium shield. It doesn’t really serve the story, but again, it’s fun and even a little clever. It’s certainly a step above anything in Age of Ultron. The scene with the Hulk Buster? I got very little out of that. I gather that my opinion on this isn’t the most common, or at least that most true comic book nerds are much more into the idea, as it’s clearly a time-honored tradition derived from the comic books themselves. It’s just the sort of thing that bounces off of me.

All of which is to say that Marvel’s latest, Captain America: Civil War, has its work cut out for it. Truth be told, I was not enamored with the idea behind this installment in Marvel’s grand shared-universe experiment. But I have to respect their willingness to take chances, and they’ve done a remarkable job thus far, so it’s hard to count them out. I’m pleasantly surprised to report that Marvel’s done it. This movie is a stunning juggling act. Not a perfect one. Like, they dropped a few elements but were able to desperately flail their legs to kick them back up in the air before they fell to the ground. The sort of thing that Olympic judges will tut-tut and say oh, that will cost them a 0.1 score reduction while the rest of us just marvel (pun intended!) that this athlete managed to save an awkward situation. They still end up with a great score and maybe even metal, but it’s not one for the record books. Ok, I think we’ve beaten this metaphor into the ground.

The success is mostly due to the philosophical conflict at the center of the film. It’s a situation where you can empathize with both sides of the argument and indeed, there isn’t really a good answer. It’s confronting one of the core issues with superhero stories in the first place, which is that so many of these characters are essentially vigilantes. Right around the time Marvel was just getting started, there were a bunch of comic book movies that were tackling this problem head-on. For instance, The Dark Knight took a very pragmatic view of Bruce Wayne’s plan. As Harvey Dent opines:

You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain. Look, whoever the Batman is, he’s looking for someone to take his place. He doesn’t want to do it forever.

Because who could do it forever? When you place yourself above the rule of law, you will inevitably yield unfavorable consequences. The Avengers certainly have. Of course, they were initially government sanctioned, which makes some of the complaints in this film a little hypocritical. They talk about New York as if S.H.I.E.L.D. didn’t put together the Avengers in the first place. Then again, Age of Ultron really saddles this film with distinctly unheroic collateral damage that would undoubtedly lead to widespread distrust of these heroes. So Tony Stark’s guilt and plan for some sort of oversight is an understandable perspective (and an interesting evolution of his character since his first appearance). For his part, Steve Rodgers’s hesitation to submit to this constraint is perfectly cromulent when you consider his role in exposing the corruption of S.H.I.E.L.D. The film isn’t perfect in the execution of this debate, but it does actually make room for the discussion. It takes the ideas seriously and doesn’t flinch at the complexity. It does, perhaps, let the fisticuffs fly a bit too quick to be convincing, and the tone gets yanked around quite a bit. Again, Marvel is incredibly good at this, so the tonal inconsistencies are handled deftly enough to escape too much scrutiny.

This movie is stuffed to the gills, something that usually dooms a movie into incomprehensibility. Most superhero franchises fall into this trap at some point, incorporating extra villains and side characters and franchise-service until the entire narrative collapses in on itself. The list of culprits is long and distinguished. Joel Schumacher’s Batman films, Spider-Man 3, X-Men: The Last Stand, and most recently and relevantly, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice*. Civil War has all the elements necessary for its implosion, but has somehow, improbably, made it all work. I don’t know how they did it, but I’m really glad they did.

To be sure, a lot of this movie is not strictly necessary. But most of those extraneous bits are so entertaining that who would ever want to remove it? Take Spider Man. He’s one of the main highlights of the movie! The character is handled perfectly. Distinct from previous filmic incarnations, but from what I can understand, very true to the character on the page. And yet, he’s completely superfluous. Having Tony Stark recruit him is handled well… so long as you don’t start wondering why he invited an unproven teenager to a giant superhero battle. Speaking of which, like, half of the folks involved in that battle don’t have a particularly good reason to be there. Well, not half, but why is Hawkeye there? Why is Ant-Man there? Wait, I get the disagreement, but why are they fighting again? Maybe instead of this infighting, Marvel could just come up with a decent villain for once? But I digress.

Ultimately, the plot of this movie doesn’t quite hold up under the close scrutiny of Hitchcock’s refridgerator. In particular, the plan of the master-manipulator working behind the scenes to foment this conflict is quite obtuse. Then again, who cares? The set piece at the airport is so damn entertaining that it’s hard to fault of the movie for bending over backwards to get us there. The ultimate motivations of this villain are surprising and thematically relevant. The whole movie embraces a smaller-scale battle of wills and fisticuffs rather than powerbeams into the sky, invading armies, or explodey bits (well, alright, there are plenty of explodey bits). This is refreshing and genuinely involving. You don’t want these characters to be fighting, but you can understand why. You might not even particularly agree with either of them, but you can see where they’re coming from and fill in some blanks on your own.

So the movie is overstuffed, but most of this stuffing is still great. We get a nice introduction to Black Panther, a sorta mini-origin story and actually, he’s one of the few characters to really undergo a character arc and where he ends up is more heroic than most of our other heros. As Black Panther, he’s maybe a bit underwhelming, but Chadwick Boseman’s performance, especially when under the T’Challa persona, makes a lot out of a little. He will be served well in his own film. I’ve already mentioned how great Spider Man is, but can we just bask in how great he was during the airport set piece? His nervous quips and clear love of all the Avengers (even the ones he’s fighting) come through strong, and he has some of the best lines in the movie. Speaking of quips, Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man shows up and it speaks to his charisma that we’re so glad we’re watching him that we don’t really question why he’s even there until after the movie. He’s so enamored with all the Avengers, and he gets some really good moments to shine. It’s revealed that Emily VanCamp’s character from the previous film is actually Sharon Carter (niece of Peggy Carter), which leads to a shoehorned romantic subplot for Cap that is simultaneously a long time coming and also a bit rushed and awkward… but totally worth it for the reaction shot of Bucky and Sam. Speaking of which, Bucky and Sam’s interactions are absolutely great. There’s not quite enough of it to really enter Laurel and Hardy slapstick territory, but what we get is great. I’ve mentioned the villain Zemo’s absurd plan, but Daniel Bruhl plays him well enough that we think less about the plan than about his motivation.

Jeeze, I could probably spend a few thousand more words enumerating all of the little moments I loved in this film, Chris Farley Show style, but in the interest of time, I will leave it at that. If you have enjoyed any of the Marvel movies thus far, you will enjoy this one. Certainly a big step up from Age of Ultron (which attempted and failed at many of the things this movie succeeds at), and they managed to take a premise I wasn’t really on board with and make it work to an extent I would have never guessed possible. It is basically an extended playing-in-the-sandbox excuse for pitting superheroes against one another and coming up with clever ways for superpowers to interact, but is so good at it that you can’t help but be won over by the sheer audacity and skillful execution on display. The thematic heft at its core provides depth, but the movie doesn’t quite descend into overly grim and gritty territory. It ends with some things unresolved, but in a totally satisfying way.

When Age of Ultron came out, I mentioned that Marvel was really leaning into the comic-bookeyness of this whole endeavor. It’s one of the reasons we can so easily forgive how overstuffed this movie is. Sure, Black Panther wasn’t given that much to do… but he’ll have plenty to do in his own movie at some point (and with Ryan Coogler at the helm? I think we’re all on board with that!) We’re going to see most of these characters again, and probably sooner rather than later. I also opined that: “The never-ending serialized nature of comic books are coming to the screen, fraught with all the attendant baggage that entails.” With Age of Ultron, I was seeing the strain. With Civil War, I’m seeing the opportunities, even if I still find the whole Civil War concept a bit dubious. In the immortal words of that great philosopher, Axl Rose, what’s so civil about war anyway?**

* This is the actual title of the movie. Someone actually thought that up, and then more people actually approved it and put hundreds of millions dollars behind it.

** Seriously, though***, wouldn’t it be awesome if they played that song at some point?

*** Ok, not seriously, that’s a terrible idea, I’m the worst.

The Movie Queue

There’ve been a string of limited release films in recent (and upcoming) months and I’ve done a poor job actually keeping up with these suckers. In fact, I’m behind on just about everything, including more mainstream releases like 10 Cloverfield Lane and even Captain America: Civil War. Still, here’s a few movies I’m going to have to catch up with soon:

  • Green Room – Jeremy Saulnier’s follow-up to the interesting, small-scale revenge flick, Blue Ruin. This one is something about a band who inadvertently witnesses a murder and tries to survive against a group of skinheads lead by none other than Patrick Stewart. In. Limited release right now, but everyone seems to love it.
  • High Rise – Don’t know a lot about this one except that it apparently played like gangbusters at last year’s Fantastic Fest, which is usually enough for me. Also, it stars Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irons, and Sienna Miller. Not sure when it comes out, but will probably be limited until it hits streaming, etc….
  • The Invitation – Another small, independent film that’s in limited release right now. All the descriptions make it sound kinda like it wouldn’t be my thing, but then, I gather the description is somewhat misleading. Will have to check it out.
  • Everybody Wants Some – Alright, so you don’t need me to tell you about Richard Linklater’s latest, especially since it’s described as the spiritual successor to Dazed and Confused, but Linklater often rubs me the wrong way. This seems like it could work though. We shall see!
  • Tickled – “The Hunt for the Truth in Competitive Tickling” Apparently real, and what else do you need to know about this documentary?
  • Black Mountain Side – I don’t remember where I heard about this little horror film, but hey, the description sounds interesting: “A group of archaeologists uncover a strange structure in Northern Canada, dating over ten thousand years before the present. The team finds themselves isolated when their communication systems fail and it’s not long before they begin to feel the effects of the solitude.” Yes, I will watch this.

As always, there’s interesting stuff out there if you’re willing to dig. What’s on your list?

Dark Knighted

In the wake of the disastrous Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice*, I thought it was time to take a look back at Batman, so I went out and read a bunch of the more famous and lauded comics as well as a few peripheral bits of media. My experience with comic books and graphic novels is limited, to be sure, but I did briefly go through a phase in the early 1990s where I read a bunch of stuff, including some Batman and Superman. These weren’t particularly memorable, though there was that whole Death of Superman thing (and the subsequent return) that was pretty hard to miss. I also read a bunch of them newfangled Image comics, but believe it or not, my focus at the time was more on licensed properties like The Terminator, Aliens, and Predator (and come to think of it, Batman versus Predator was nestled in there somewhere). More recently, friends turned me on to the likes of Locke & Key and Morning Glories, but not so much superhero comics. All of which is to say that you should probably take what follows with the appropriate boulder of salt.

  • The Dark Knight Returns – A 4 issue miniseries set in an alternate, dystopian Gotham City where a 55 year old Batman snaps and comes out of retirement to deal with a growing gang menace as well as some old foes (and while he’s at it, friends). Grim and gritty, this is probably one of the most influential comics of all time. Also, probably one of the most overrated. Coming at this from the outside (and 30 years later), it seems like a dramatic pendulum swing, the polar opposite of the campy 60s Adam West Batman TV series. Perhaps a necessary change, but almost certainly an overcorrection. Written by Frank Miller with art from Miller and Klaus Janson, I found the book to be a bit of a slog. Miller’s writing is pretty text heavy, with a clunky overuse of cross-cutting (or whatever the comic book equivalent to that is) and relying a little too heavily on an extended critique of the news media. The artwork feels kinda sloppy and jumbled, with some exceptions. The use of a 16 panel grid sometimes leads to highly repetitive and awkward visual cues. It sometimes feels like the art isn’t finished. I’m guessing the washed out tone was intentional, but aside from the new Robin character, a lot of this feels a little too muddled. The one visual thing that did work for me are the striking splash pages.

    Splash Page

    Perhaps because of the repetitive grid preceding them, the splash pages have a high impact and the art is usually much more distinctive and focused. They’re doled out sparingly, but that only increases their effectiveness. From what I can tell, this is one of the influential things about this book, though I don’t know enough to say for sure… Storywise, there actually isn’t much going on here. It’s all just an excuse for Miller to indulge in graphic excess, relying too much on the shock value of having, say, Selina Kyle be a hooker or Batman riding up to criminals in a tank or something. It’s not so much that the story is dark that’s the problem (though it does feel excessive), it’s that there isn’t much of a story at all, it’s just a flimsy pretense to go dark. Reading this after seeing Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice*, I’m guessing that Zack Snyder was majorly influenced by this book. His movie has a similar disjointed structure (except that it’s a lot worse on screen that it is on the page). Overall, glad I read this, but I can’t see myself revisiting it much.

  • Batman: The Killing Joke – This short graphic novel, written by Alan Moore with art from Brian Bolland, is more like it. Once again, we’re greeted with stultifying darkness, but here, at least, it works. The art is also quite beautiful and much more appropriate for the story. Speaking of which, there actually is a story. A very dark, very gruesome story, to be sure, but at least something that makes sense. There’s shock value here, but that’s a means to an end, not the end in itself.

    Reveal of the Joker

    What’s more, the art seems singularly focused on moving the story along. It’s not an afterthought or formality, it’s specifically designed. Everything feels deliberate and planned, like Moore and Bolland are actually taking advantage of the medium (imagine that) to, for example, provide a surprise when you turn the page. There is little of this in Miller’s TDKR. There are some strange choices here, notably the idea of showing the Joker’s origin (though I suppose you can retcon it as being another made up story, a la Heath Ledger’s Joker), but it’s all something I’m willing to go with. To continue the pendulum metaphor from above, we’re still on that grim and gritty swing, but we’re starting to fall back down towards the equilibrium. Not by much, but enough. I found out after I read this that apparently there’s some sort of argument about the ending, whether or not someone is killed. In some ways, the book is ambiguous, in others, it’s visually very clear. The artwork is so generally well done that I have to take this as being intentional. Sorry, trying to avoid spoilers here, but this is well worth checking out.

  • Batman: Year One – Another 4 issue run written by Frank Miller, this one is illustrated by David Mazzucchelli, and thus avoids much of the sloppiness I perceived in TDKR. Miller’s script is also toned down a bit here too, retaining the darkness but relying less on shock value and more on actual story, which I appreciated much more. It’s a retelling of Batman’s origin, and his initial forays into crime-fighting. Much of this is focused on Batman’s failures, to be sure, but hey, one scene follows another in a generally logical progression that actually makes sense. Way to go, Miller! The art is generally better than TDKR as well, and some of the imagery does feel quite iconic (if not as great as Killing Joke). It’s clear that some of this inspired Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins, even if it’s not a one-to-one adaptation.
  • Batman: The Animated Series – This is basically my Batman. I had watched some of the 60s show and I’d seen the Tim Burton Batman movie, but this series, more than anything else, is what made me love Batman as a character. I noticed that this was on Amazon Prime streaming, so I threw on a few episodes, hoping it would live up to my memory. I’m happy to report that it has held up incredibly well. This show is fantastic. From the unique German expressionism/Art Deco visuals, to the voice acting, to the well paced and plotted stories, this gets everything just right. One of the many reasons the show works so well is that it, like its source material, is episodic in nature. This causes so much angst in filmic portrayals because the filmmakers are always trying to cram so much into their 2 hour limit that they often have trouble balancing it all together. The series does not need to worry about such things, and manages to stay very focused and on point throughout. The show was created for kids, but it has a surprisingly ambitious streak, such that adults can still get a lot out of this. Take, for instance, the pure visual storytelling on display in the opening credits – a heist is foiled by Batman, no dialogue, just visuals. While the tone is not as dark as the other things in this post, it was a welcome respite, while not descending into ridiculous camp. They struck a perfect balance here, and it’s the sort of thing that I think everyone enjoys, including the hardest of hard-core comic fans and normal people alike. I’m really looking forward to watching more of these…
  • The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture by Glen Weldon – This recently released cultural history of Batman, tracing him from his origins up through current incarnations, was quite enlightening. Weldon (of Pop Culture Happy Hour fame) clearly has a love of the character that runs deep, and he has done his homework. He posits an interesting cycle for the Caped Crusader, from noir detective to kid and family friendly superhero and back again, it seems like my pendulum metapahor earlier in this post is particularly apt for this character. As evidenced by this post, I’m no expert, but it does seem like Weldon has taken a pretty comprehensive look at the character on both the pages of comic books as well as other adaptations. If you’re a fan of Batman, this is well worth checking out.

And that just about covers it. Up next on the Batman front: Batman: The Long Halloween, which seems like something I might want to save for later reading…

* This is the actual title of the movie. Someone actually thought that up, and then more people actually approved it and put hundreds of millions dollars behind it.

The Witch

In popular culture, the witch hunt is a popular trope. Rooted in actual witch hunts in early modern Europe and colonial North America (15th through 18th centuries), it’s a seemingly generic feature of human behavior easily extrapolated into nearly any moral threat. The U.S. roots in Salem were renewed in the 1950s Red Scare, and so on. We’ve all seen such stories in movies and television, but writer/director Robert Eggers’ The Witch is a fascinating take on the matter. Spoilers aho, fun ahoy.

Set in early 17th century New England, it tells the story of a puritan family struggling to survive on their own. Towards the beginning of the film, the youngest member of the family (an infant) is abducted and the family begins to suspect evil forces from the woods next to their farm as the explanation for their woes. It isn’t wrong before members of the family start casting suspicion upon one another. A witch walks among us.

Eggers took care with the historical realities, and his background doing the grunt work of production design, set carpenter, etc… served him well. He apparently spent five years researching the colonial setting, consulting primary source documents on everything from architecture to period language. Indeed, most of the dialog is directly culled from Puritan prayer manuals and period diaries, making the speech a little difficult to follow at first, but the mood of which suits the film perfectly. All of this lends a sense of verisimilitude, except for one key detail: the witches themselves!

It’s clear, even early on in the film, that the witches are real. These days, most witch hunt stories are completely one sided. For instance, I recently watched a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode called The Drumhead, in which a retired admiral investigates and explosion aboard the enterprise, quickly jumping to accusations of conspiracy and treason. It’s a good episode, but it’s one in which there’s never any real doubt as to the outcome. Most examples of a witch hunt in pop culture focus on completely unfounded accusations, but in The Witch, such accusations actually are founded. There really are witches in the woods tormenting the family. One of the insidious things about witches is that they lurk among us, waiting for opportune times to do us harm and often throw suspicion on others. Because of their nature, we tend to abandon our principles and our morals in our desperate attempt to find our foe. The Witch understands this, and because of its staggering period authenticity, we must acknowledge the supernatural’s existence, even as our protagonists have no way of rooting them out and end up turning on one another. This sets the movie apart from the typical witch hunt tale, while not excusing the resultant behavior. Despite the setting of the film, it’s clearly aiming at more contemporary witch hunts than actual historical accounts.

If someone were to make a movie about, say, Joseph McCarthy, much would be made of the near total lack of concrete evidence for his anti-Communist crusade. As it should! But little would be made of the fact that, despite his deplorable methods of intimidation, his rants about “Communists in the State Department” were basically true. Of course, most of the people and organizations that McCarthy accused were unsupported by evidence, making the topic decidedly muddled. Again, a movie attempting to tell this story would probably bypass this complexity to focus more on the lack of evidence and the persecution than the actual communists that were deploying their Gramscian weapons on an unsuspecting public.

Even today, the concept applies to our national obsession with terrorists. At its core, fighting terrorism is a witch hunt. But since we know that terrorists actually exist, it’s not your typical witch hunt narrative. Sonny Bunch sees The Witch as a radicalization narrative:

…I think The Witch has done something far more interesting. Or, at least, more unique. It’s not peddling a traditional witch hunt narrative. It’s offering a radicalization narrative. Thomasin’s tale is the story of how a young person, marginalized by society and her family, comes to join a radical group. It’s a story you see in the news today relatively regularly, one that usually focuses on disaffected young Muslims who, alienated by their perceived mistreatment at the hands of Westerners and languishing in poverty, leave their homes to join ISIS and other terrorist groups. They seek belonging and fellowship. And if they happen to find it amongst killers and psychopaths, well, so be it.

The Witch is a horror film. One in which the witches actually exist, even. But the horror in the film is not derived from cheap jump scares. The environment is creepy on its own and the film does an admirable job of slowly building tension through visual techniques, but the real horror is not that the witches exist. Rather, it’s that we have no way to fight them and that traditionally, we’ve resorted to morally compromised methods that easily lead to our downfall (and potentially strengthening our enemy in the process). I’ll leave the application of this to current events as an exercise for the reader.

The film is deliberately paced and the dialog takes some getting used to, but it never descends into a slog, and once you start thinking through its implications, it becomes more chilling and fascinating. It’s beautiful, well composed, well acted, and more relevant than I ever expected. It’s not an easy sit, but it’s a worthwhile one that has only grown in my estimation as it continues to occupy my thoughts.

The Oscars

The Academy Awards are strange in that it’s extremely popular to whine about them and how they’re so irrelevant, and yet, we all spend time and effort whining about them. I’m including myself. Take my intro to last year’s Oscars post:

The funny thing about the Academy Awards is that your opinion about them is pretty boring. You think the Oscars are just a cynical circle jerk of self-satisfied Hollywood elites? Boring! You’re outraged at [insert snub here]? Super fucking boring! You’re genuinely excited about seeing films receive the recognition they deserve? You are both naive and boring! But the one thing that unites us all is the abject hatred of the short films categories. I think we can all agree on that.

Culture warriors have done their best to liven things up with the whole #OscarsSoWhite thing, and you have to be at least a little interested to see what Chris Rock is going to do as the host this year, but it’s still pretty boring.

Personally, I have a decent enough time because I think it’s fun to mock celebrities and drink alcohol. I also like parsing the weird politics of Hollywood to make pointless predictions (usually scoring in the 80% range). Back in the before time, the long long ago, I used to do this thing called “liveblogging”. For you youngsters out there, back in the dark days before Facebook and Twitter, people would just update their blog every 2 minutes during an event like the Oscars and we’d just sit there hitting F5 to see what people were saying. A few years ago, I finally got with the times and took it all to Twitter. And to be honest, I’m not that funny, so I usually end up just retweeting a bunch of people who are funnier and more incisive than I am. But hey, if you want to chat, I’ll be on Twitter @mciocco saying dumb things. If, for some ungodly reason, you want to see a decade’s worth of previous predictions and commentary on the Oscars, check them out here: [2015 | 2014 | 2013 |2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004]

  • Best Picture: The Revenant. The academy is fickle, but The Revenant seems to have the momentum. Early favorite Spotlight probably deserves the statue, but it’s been sinking under the weight of (unfair, imhbco) complaints about its “workmanlike” nature. Still a chance, but it seems unlikely. The Big Short is probably the only other realistic contender. Mad Max: Fury Road would probably be my choice, but it seems unlikely to tweak the Academy’s fancy. Bridge of Spies seems like a perfunctory nomination, and the indies like Brooklyn and Room are supposed to be happy just getting nominated, and The Martian is probably in the same boat. A bunch of others probably should have been nominated: Creed, The Hateful Eight, Ex Machina, and of course, Bone Tomahawk.
  • Best Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu for The Revenant. Back to back wins? Looks like it. Potential spoilers from Adam McKay or George Miller, but they seem unlikely. Should have been nominated: Ryan Coogler for Creed.
  • Best Actress: Brie Larson in Room. Of the 10 films nominated for Actress/Actor, I’ve only seen 3. I’m not usually one for acting showpieces, I guess, but Larson seems like a lock for this one (and she is indeed excellent!) Charlotte Rampling had a chance, but she’s a racist and the academy is taking a lot of flack for that right now, so I’m guessing she doesn’t have a chance. Maybe Saoirse Ronan, but Brooklyn has a reputation for being slight, and clearly Larson is doing more heavy lifting. Should have been nominated: Charlize Theron for Mad Max: Fury Road.
  • Best Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio in The Revenant. I’m thinking it’s finally Leo’s year, and his competition doesn’t look like it’ll put up much of a fight. Maybe Bryan Cranston for Trumbo, but did anyone see that movie? It’s supposed to be about how awesome and brave Hollywood is, and the Academy certainly has a high opinion of itself, so there’s that, but I don’t think it’ll be enough to overtake The Revenant. Should have been nominated: Michael B. Jordan in Creed.
  • Best Supporting Actress: Alicia Vikander in The Danish Girl. Vikander is the “it” girl right now, and she was in, like, 20 movies last year, all of which adds up to an Oscar win. Personally, I’d go for Jennifer Jason Leigh in The Hateful Eight, and I suppose she could upset Vikander for this one. Should have been nominated: Alicia Vikander in Ex Machina (heh).
  • Best Supporting Actor: Sylvester Stallone in Creed. Because nostalgia. Mark Rylance in Bridge of Spies has a decent chance of spoiling, but I think this is Sly’s to lose. Should have been nominated: Idris Elba in Beasts of No Nation. I mean, come on, I like Christian Bale as much as the next guy, but he has no business being nominated in this category at all, let alone when Idris Elba is giving performances like this. I guess the Netflix aspect of the film’s release doomed it or something, but still.
  • Best Original Screenplay: Spotlight. Compensation for not winning best picture. Inside Out has a chance, I guess, but it’ll also garner the Best Animated Feature and that will probably give the edge to Spotlight.
  • Best Adapted Screenplay: The Big Short. Also compensation for not winning best picture. I’d love to see Drew Goddard get it for The Martian, but that doesn’t seem likely.
  • Editing: Mad Max: Fury Road. I expect Mad Max to clean up on some of the less prestigious technical awards, but you never know, The Revenant might run the night or something.
  • Cinematography: The Revenant. Poor Roger Deakins.
  • Visual Effects: Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens. This tends to go to a blockbuster, but I guess you can’t rule out the bear from The Revenant. And one can hope for Mad Max: Fury Road here too.
  • Makeup: Mad Max: Fury Road. Yup.
  • Costumes: Cinderella. Could also go Mad Max, but this tends to go more historical period than dystopian SF, methinks.
  • Musical Score: The Hateful Eight. Ennio Morricone will take this one down, seems pretty much a lock.
  • Best Song: “Til It Happens To You” by Lady Gaga from The Hunting Ground. This one has all the buzz, I guess. I’m not good at the music categories though.
  • Best Animated Film: Inside Out. Duh. Betting against this is one of the classic blunders: Never go in against Pixar when the Oscars are on the line!
  • Best Documentary: Amy. Maybe The Look of Silence could creep up, but Amy‘s got the momentum.
  • Best Foreign Language Film: Son of Saul. Always a crapshoot, but this has the buzz.

So there you go. Follow me on Twitter @mciocco to see what I’m saying during the show itself.

Favorite Films of 2015

It’s hard to believe, but I’ve reached a decade of top 10 lists. Only a month and a half late! It is, of course, a completely arbitrary exercise, one that has vacillated between a “best of” list and “favorite” list, but I like lists. Lists are American! What are you? A communist? For reference, previous top 10s: [2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006]

Alyssa Rosenberg recently posed a question on twitter: “if you like rankings of movies, or albums, or whatever, what is it that you like about them?” There were a few schools of thought. One was about how fun it is to argue and play petty status signaling games (which is emphatically not my draw). Another was as a means to discovery, finding something obscure that you’ve never heard of, but might love. Then there’s the list-writer’s perspective, where you’re forced to clarify your thinking in order to generate a meaningful list. In terms of my strategy in building a list like this, there’s definitely a bit of the second thing there, I really do try to highlight some movies that don’t get typical love in other year-end lists. Sometimes I’m more successful at that than others (less so this year, actually). Mostly, though, it’s the third one that I struggle with. I try my best not to let my biases dominate the list, but on the other hand, I want to make sure I actually like the movies in the top 10. It’s tricky. You want some variety, but you don’t want to force it. I like to include a documentary, which has the added bonus that my favorite documentaries tend to be less activist focused than the ones most people choose, but again, I don’t want to force something unworthy on the list. Similarly, I have an affinity for SF, horror, action, and other genre fare that tends to get overlooked in most top 10 lists… but I also don’t want to make it purely genre, because there are other, better movies that must be considered too. It’s a balancing act, and it can be extremely difficult to line up a top 10 that is coherent, represents my tastes, but is also filled with worthy movies.

Especially in a year like 2015, which is filled with excellent choices. I’d make this a top 13 list if that was a thing, and I guess nothing’s stopping me, but again, the value in putting together a list like this is to force a decision. This was a genuinely jam-packed year full of wonderful movies, from the lowliest indie film to the biggest Hollywood blockbuster, the great films just kept coming. Identifying emerging themes is always a silly proposition, but there were a couple that struck a chord with me. The more obvious one is the long-gap sequel, or what Matt Singer called Selective Sequels. Two of the best movies of the year, Mad Max: Fury Road and Creed, were clearly of this mold. Ostensibly sequels, kinda reboots, but both were excellent. Less successful attempts happened this year too, like Jurassic World and Terminator: Genysis, even if one of them was a box office behemoth. The other trend I’m spotting is particularly welcome, and that is the rise of serious science fiction. The past decade has seen a marked rise in quality for cinematic SF, but it’s also often used as window dressing rather than embracing the heart of SF. Several movies this year actually dared to engage with their ideas in ways that most cinematic SF does not, which I judge to be a very good thing.

As of this writing, I have seen 80 movies that could be considered a 2015 release. This is about on-par for me, more than your typical moviegoer, but less than your average critic. Not exactly comprehensive, but enough such that a top 10 is actually a meaningful segment. Standard disclaimers apply (as touched on above), so let’s get to it:

Top 10 Movies of 2015

* In roughly reverse order

  • Predestination – This Spierig Brothers’ time-travel flick constitutes the best adaptation of a Heinlein story ever put to film. Of course, there are strangely few Heinlein adaptations, but this one embraces the sense of wonder that SF is known for (which is more than can be said about most SF films). It’s got some flaws for sure, but they’re endearing ones, and worth it for the payoff (which I’m certainly not going to ruin here).

    Predestination

    This is the wildcard on my list, the one you’re not likely to have seen. Go check it out, then head over to a diner with a friend and spend the day making time-travel diagrams with straws. Paradoxes abound, but Heinlein never let that get in the way of a ripping good yarn. In his words: “A Paradox May Be Paradoctored.”

    More Info: [IMDB] [Amazon] [Kaedrin Movie Award Winner]

  • Finders Keepers – Starting with a decidedly macabre premise, this documentary about a mummified leg found in a smoker grill at a storage auction manages to pivot into a surprisingly moving story. The true stories of John Wood and Shannon Whisnant are darkly comic, for sure, but there’s a lot of pathos here. Wood’s struggle with survivor’s guilt and drug addition, Whisnant’s quest to become famous at any cost, both are played against each other, but it’s not exploitative as the initial premise makes it seem. Call it a bait and switch, but in a good way that’s ultimately more satisfying than you’d ever have thought.

    More Info: [IMDB] [Amazon]

  • Room – My heart was literally pounding as I watched a certain sequence in this film, moreso than any horror or suspense film of the year. In a way, I suppose this is a horror film, one that is more grounded and emotionally draining but oddly uplifting in the end. I don’t want to give anything away, but while this will put you through the wringer , even moreso than you think it might as you watch, I found it worth the heartbreak. Exceptional performances all around, but especially from Jacob Tremblay, who plays the child in the story. Not for the faint of heart, but excellent nonetheless.

    More Info: [IMDB] [Amazon]

  • Ex Machina – Movies haven’t quite caught up with the full implications of artificial intelligence, but they’re inching closer, as this film amply demonstrates. It is a bit contrived, but there are enough red herrings and misdirects bolstered by programmer philosophizing to keep you guessing and even surprise you a few times. First time director Alex Garland keeps things ominous and tense, coaxing excellent performances from the three leads. Especially Alicia Vikander’s chilling take on a manipulative AI, one of the year’s best performances.

    More Info: [IMDB] [Amazon] [Kaedrin Movie Award Winner]

  • The Hateful Eight – Tarantino has a way of producing conflicting emotions in me that I feel is somewhat underrated in the general discussion of his work. In particular, I’m frequently struck by the way Tarantino manages to juxtapose horrifying violence with comedic timing or thrilling action that results in a sorta delayed conscience reaction once the action subsides. Most pick one side and rail on Tarantino for that, but I cherish the ambiguity and confusion it produces in me. It’s something I’ve noticed all throughout his work, but it is certainly on display here as well.

    Samuel L. Jackson in The Hateful Eight

    This may very well be Tarantino’s darkest work, a bit of a sucker punch after his previous two historical epics. In some ways, it’s a difficult movie, but it’s hard not to respect what’s going on here. It’s very, very Tarantino, talky and indulgent, and I love it for that.

    More Info: [IMDB] [Amazon] [Kaedrin Arbitrary Award Winner]

  • The Martian – I can’t help but love this movie for bringing my favorite parts of the written SF genre to the screen. It’s one of the few movies that really emphasizes problem solving, competence, can-do attitudes, and genuine cooperation. Such attitudes are often seen as jejune and unsophisticated by our literary betters, but they are the beating heart of the SF genre, and only a few movies have ever really engaged with this core the way The Martian does. Optimistic, inspiring, gorgeous, and even funny, this movie tackles lots of complicated math and science and puts it on display with an uncommon clarity (which, to be fair, is mostly drawn from Andy Weir’s book, but kudos are still due to Drew Goddard for maintaining the tone and clarity in his adapted script). I don’t know that this will usher in a new era of throwback SF optimism, but a man can dream.

    More Info: [IMDB] [Amazon] [Kaedrin Movie Award Winner]

  • Spotlight – The subject matter here, a look at the journalists who broke the story of decades of child abuse by an alarmingly high number of priests, would normally lead to histrionics, but director Tom McCarthy takes a restrained approach. And this is the best kind of restraint. It’s a movie where you could have created a single character who would be an amalgam of all the people working at a newspaper, had him discover perfidy and make grandstanding speeches to oppose it. But McCarthy plays it straight up, like a journalism procedural, highlighting all the little people digging around in cellars with dead rats, looking for obscure evidence. Many of the actors here are known for their scenery chewing, but once again, McCarthy pulls restrained performances out of them, and the movie benefits greatly from this approach. Oddly, this restraint seems to be painting the movie with terms like “unsexy” or “workmanlike”, which is bizarre because that’s exactly what the story needs. If McCarthy sexed it up, it would not be anywhere near as good a movie. I was tremendously impressed by this movie, perhaps because I just wasn’t expecting what it really delivered.

    More Info: [IMDB] [Amazon]

  • Inside Out – After some lackluster sequels and troubled original productions, Pixar had a delightful return to form with this movie. It took a simple premise, personifying various emotions inside a young girl’s brain, and embraced the emotional complexity that life requires. Like the best of Pixar’s efforts, it is fun, imaginative, and deceptively insightful.

    More Info: [IMDB] [Amazon]

  • What We Do in the Shadows – Comedy gets short shrift in these sorts of lists, so it’s always great when I can point to a genuinely hilarious movie that manages more heft than just a few good lines. This mock documentary about four vampire roommates in New Zealand hits the nail on the head. It’s very funny, but it’s also a loving tribute to old-school vampire lore. Most new vampire movies try to subvert the tropes and as a result, vampires are overplayed and boring, but this movie revitalizes the concept by embracing the commonly accepted lore. It’s a spoof, yes, but it’s also an excellent vampire film on its own.

    More Info: [IMDB] [Amazon]

  • Mad Max: Fury Road – This is the most propulsive action film of the year. Visually impressive, it relies primarily on practical effects and communicating more through action and visual cues than dialogue or exposition.

    The Doof Wagon in Mad Max: Fury Road

    Plus, it has something called the Doof Wagon, a giant truck that has a bunch of stacked speakers and a guitarist who is bungie corded to it so that he can provide a diegetic heavy metal soundtrack for the militia’s attacks. Oh, and his guitar doubles as a flame thrower. How can you not love this movie?

    More Info: [IMDB] [Amazon] [Kaedrin Movie Award Winner] [Capsule Review]

Alternate #10s

I had a really hard time with the #10 choice above, and frankly #9 and even #8 were in question, especially when I had three movies like the below to consider. On any given day, one of these may have snuck on the list, depending on how whimsical and capricious I was feeling.

  • Creed – The best movie in the series since the original Rocky, primarily because it is literally reckoning with the idea of living in the shadow of the legends of the past. It’s a clever conceit, and director Ryan Coogler gives the film a visual dynamic that really sets the film apart from its predecessors. Perhaps it leans on its predecessors a bit too much, and there are some Rocky tropes that aren’t quite as effective here because they feel a bit perfunctory, it’s hard to fault it for such reaches because there’s no real way to win that battle. This movie does as good as you could ever expect though, and again, it’s something I could have seen in the top 10 if the mood struck me.

    More Info: [IMDB] [Amazon] [Kaedrin Arbitrary Award Winner]

  • The Big Short – Sharp, incisive, damning portrait of the 2008 economic collapse, as told through the eyes of a bunch of dudes who could see the disaster coming and decided to profit off of it. It’s a bit loose, and yet its focus prevents certain aspects of the story from being told. That being said, it’s still one of the best explanations for the crash that I’ve seen, all while maintaining a darkly comic tone.

    More Info: [IMDB] [Amazon]

  • Bridge of Spies – Sometimes I think we take folks like Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks for granted. This movie was generally well received, but I feel like it’s one of the more underrated movies of the year (the irony of this not making the top 10 is not lost on me, but I take that more as the strength of the year than a reflection on the movie itself). In a year with tons of excellent action-packed spy adventures, this one takes a more grounded, real world approach. It’s all deftly put together, filled with excellent performances, and you can even see the Coen brothers’ influence in a few scenes. Not action packed, but a great movie nonetheless, worth seeking out.

    More Info: [IMDB] [Amazon]

Honorable Mentions

* In alphabetical order

  • Ant-Man – You’ve got to respect Marvel’s commitment to trying new and unexpected things, and while I don’t think this year’s efforts were as good as 2014, they did a few interesting things, like resurrecting this obscure character and producing a well executed little heist film. Tons of fun, lots of nice visual gags, and a decent enough introduction to a new hero. Certainly not perfect, but the stage is set for something I could see working well.

    More Info: [IMDB] [Amazon]

  • Bone Tomahawk – This one was close to an alternate #10, but I figured that I already had a Kurt Russell western where he’s sporting a bitchin’ frontier beard on the list, so this one ends up here in the honorable mentions. It’s a fascinating film though, excellent script, and the gruesome payoff is worth the early deliberate pacing (if, uh, that’s your thing – this is mostly fine, but the violence towards the ending will turn a lot of folks off). I really loved this movie though, and it’s worth checking out for some excellent performances (I mean, Matthew Fox guys, he’s great in this) and dialogue alone.

    More Info: [IMDB] [Amazon] [Kaedrin Arbitrary Award Winner] [Capsule Review]

  • Cartel Land – This documentary depicts two conflicts with Mexican cartels, one of which is utterly fascinating, spellbinding, and in the end heartbreaking. The story of a Mexican citizen uprising against the cartels is enough to make this a riveting watch. The other conflict, on the American side of the border, is much less compelling. It’s still interesting, for sure, but it just pales in comparison to what’s happening in Mexico, such that I’d almost rather see these be separate movies. Still, this is well crafted and heady stuff.

    More Info: [IMDB] [Amazon]

  • The Final Girls – Cheeky self-aware slasher horror has been a thing since Scream, but this movie takes it a clever step farther by not only having its heroes steeped in slasher movie knowledge, but by actually inserting them into the movie (Last Action Hero style). It’s breezy and fun, a bit derivative, but with just enough of a tweak on a played-out theme to give it the honorable mention it deserves.

    More Info: [IMDB] [Amazon] [Capsule Review]

  • It Follows – This movie has the best pure-horror premise of the year, and while it does get presented in a visually interesting and tense way, it later becomes clear that the filmmakers didn’t really have anywhere to go with it. That being said, there’s enough here to highly recommend it, and it features some of the scariest stuff of the year.

    More Info: [IMDB] [Amazon] [Kaedrin Arbitrary Award Winner]

  • Kingsman: The Secret Service – In a year with many (many!) action-packed spy adventures, this one takes the cake. Energetic, propulsive stuff, adventurous filmmaking, and some expertly choreographed action sequences. In particular, the long takes in the Church sequence are truly impressive, filled with conflicting emotions, confusion, slow motion, and an excellent usage of Free Bird. There are some unfortunately juvenile shots that might take this down a peg, but it’s overall quite a fun updating of classic British spy action (certainly moreso than the most recent Bond installment).

    More Info: [IMDB] [Amazon] [Kaedrin Arbitrary Award Winner]

  • Krampus – Delightfully mean spirited take on Christmas lore that really embraces the darker side of these things. It’s clear that writer/director Michael Dougherty just gets the darker side of holidays (his previous film, Trick ‘r Treat is quickly emerging as a Halloween classic). It’s not especially satisfying, of course, but that’s the point, so it’s really hard not to respect the hell out of a movie like this, even if it’s not something I could see myself watching every Christmas…

    More Info: [IMDB] [Amazon]

  • Magic Mike XXL – Take the original movie, remove the obligatory romance and seedy thriller side-plots, and you end up with this episodic road trip movie that basically just treats sexuality as a thing worth celebrating. There’s no real plot or conflict here, just good old-fashioned sexytimes and fun. There’s some overarching themes about finding oneself and whatnot, if you’re willing to look for it. I have a lot of respect for this, but truth be told, it’s not really my kinda movie. Dance, music, no-plot, etc… I can respect what it’s doing, but it’s emphatically not my bag. But that’s cool! That’s why list-making exercises are interesting, because if we all loved the same stuff, that would be pretty darn boring.

    More Info: [IMDB] [Amazon]

  • Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation – This is the little franchise that could, improbably getting better, movie after movie. This is arguably the best in the series so far, thanks to writer/director Christopher McQuarrie (a Kaedrin favorite, for sure), some excellent stunt-work, and the incomparable Rebecca Ferguson. It’s not redefining the spy adventure genre, but it’s a superbly executed version of it for sure.

    More Info: [IMDB] [Amazon]

  • The Nightmare – Director Rodney Ascher’s chilling documentary about sleep paralysis and how terrifying such an experience can be is extremely well done. A little more straightforward and less layered than his previous effort, Room 237, it is nonetheless one of the best documentaries of the year, one that I really connected with (such that it nearly made its way onto the top 10 – in a weaker year, it very well might have).

    More Info: [IMDB] [Amazon]

  • Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens – I have to admit that a large portion of my enjoyment of this film is purely nostalgia, but enjoyment is enjoyment, and while this may have perhaps been a bit too derivative of its predecessors, it’s still a whole boatload of fun, and the new characters are so fun and engaging that I can’t wait to see where they go next.

    More Info: [IMDB] [Amazon] [Full Review]

  • Victoria – It takes its time to get going, but this is nonetheless an incredibly impressive film. It’s over two hours long and it’s shot in one single take. This isn’t one of those cheats like Birdman where the filmmakers use clever cuts and CGI to make it seem like a single take. No cheats, no cuts, just a very, very long single take. And it’s not a boring single-location shoot either, there’s all sorts of machinations going on here that makes the whole thing that much more impressive. The pacing is a bit deliberate and you can quibble with some of the choices, but it’s a worthwhile movie nonetheless.

    More Info: [IMDB] [Amazon] [Full Review] [Kaedrin Arbitrary Award Winner]

Just Missed the Cut:

But still worthwhile, in their own way. Presented without comment and in no particular order:

Should Have Seen:

Despite having seen 8o of this year’s movies (and listing out 30+ of my favorites in this post), there are a few that got away. Or never made themselves available here. Regardless, there are several movies here that I probably should have caught up with:

So there you have it. That’s a pretty damn good year for movies right there. Stay tuned for the Oscars coverage in a couple of weeks. After that, it’s onwards and upwards to 2016 movies…

2015 Kaedrin Movie Awards: The Arbitrary Awards

We announced the official 2015 Kaedrin Movie Award winners last week, but those awards are skewed towards certain types of movies. Sometimes movies are weird or flawed in ways that don’t fit well into a traditional awards setting (let alone the Kaedrin awards!), but they also deserve recognition. The point of the Arbitrary Awards is to highlight these oddities. A few of these “awards” have become an annual tradition, but most are just, well, arbitrary. Let’s roll:

  • The “You know what happens when a toad gets struck by lightning? The same thing that happens to everything else” Award for Worst Dialogue: Chappie. “I’ve got blings?… I’ve got blings!” This award is often difficult because, you know, it’s not like I go out of my way to watch bad movies, and good movies with a particularly bad line of dialog (such as the film this award is named after) aren’t that common. I suppose one could make a case for Mad Max: Fury Road, actually, but there’s so little dialog and during those scenes you’re so busy catching your breath that it never quite registers as bad dialog. Anyway, Chappie is pretty clearly the winner, though I almost gave it to Point Break for the dialog that shows up in the trailer alone (“I believe that like me, the people behind these robberies are extreme athletes, using their skills to disrupt the international financial market.”). Alas, I never actually saw the movie, so it’s hard to really go for it.
  • The Proximity to Jason Vorhees Award for Heroic Stupidity: Jurassic World. This movie has some ok bits, but dear Lord, these characters are all pretty dumb. Honorable mention goes to the dumb toaster plan that is devised in It Follows.
  • Best Villain/Badass (Non-Human Edition): The demon from It Follows. One of the great premises of our time, and the way the demon is used visually in the film makes it the obvious choice for this award.
  • Best Long Take/Tracking Shot: Victoria. In a year with a lot of great long takes, this one really takes the cake. The entire movie is a single take, and this isn’t one of those cheats like Birdman where the filmmakers use clever cuts and CGI to make it seem like a single take. It’s actually one single take. This is incredibly impressive.
  • Most Ostentatious Long Take: The church sequence in Kingsman: The Secret Service. Alright, so I can’t let some of these other long takes go. This is also an impressive long take, involving more action and ornate choreography than Victoria (though I’m sure Victoria‘s choreography was just as impressive, now that I think about it). It’s a really fascinating scene, full of conflicting emotions, confusion, slow motion, and an excellent usage of Free Bird. It’s ostentatious and showy, but that doesn’t make it any less brilliant.
  • Least ostentatious Long Take: The fight in Creed. Not the title bout, the one before that. It’s fabulous filmmaking, but it doesn’t call attention to itself like the Kingsman one does. In fact, you barely even realize it’s a long take while you’re watching it. It’s the sort of thing that sneaks up on you, and that is no less impressive or brilliant.
  • Achievement in the Field of Gratuitous Violence: Bone Tomahawk. Surprising, because the rest of the movie seems kinda restrained, but you know the scene I’m talking about. *shudder*
  • Best Original Score: The Hateful Eight by Ennio Morricone. I’m certainly no expert in this arena, but I love this tense, ominous, grand score from Ennio Morricone.
  • The About Face Award: Maggie. It’s a zombie movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, and yet it’s nothing like you’d expect from such a premise. Certainly an about face for Arnold.
  • Tensest Border Crossing: Sicario. The movie as a whole didn’t quite come together for me, but director Denis Villeneuve sure knows how to create a tense set piece like that border crossing.
  • Best Short Film: The Chickening. I always give short films a hard time when Oscars season rolls around, but this is a must watch short film. You should totally watch it. Runner up would be World of Tomorrow, which sort of lost me at the end, but which was interesting nonetheless.

So there you have it. Look for the top 10 in the next couple weeks (depending on what last minute viewing I can squeeze in), followed by some Oscars roundup.

2015 Kaedrin Movie Award Winners!

The nominations for the 2015 Kaedrin Movie Awards were announced last week. Today, I’ll be announcing the winners of said awards. Next week, I’ll cover less traditional categories in what we like to call the Arbitrary Awards, and not long after that, I’ll post my top 10 of 2015. After that, we’ve got the Oscars (predictions and live-tweeting or something) and then it’s on to 2016. But I digress, let’s get on with the awards:

  • Best Villain/Badass: Immortan Joe, played by Hugh Keays-Byrne in Mad Max: Fury Road. You will ride eternal, shiny and chrome. This was a moderate year for villainy, with only a handful of true standouts. Immortan Joe takes the award and stands tall even amongst the Mad Max legacy villains (though I don’t think he quite takes it from Lord Humungus).

    Immortan Joe

    Kylo Ren is probably the runner-up, but he’s held back by his whiny vulnerability and the fact that he got bested by an untrained and inexperienced hero, which is a shame, because he was initially pretty fantastic (and, truth be told, I imagine him being more menacing in the sequel, so I’m sure we’ll be revisiting this topic then). Also of note, Tom Hardy’s performance in The Revenant put him in the running, but even he couldn’t stand up to Immortan Joe. Krampus might have been a good choice, except that he seemed to rely a little too heavily on his various helpers for the bulk of his work. I think I enjoyed the character of Ultron more than most, but then, the concept of the character is squandered a bit, even if he remains a fun little comic book villain.

  • Best Hero/Badass: Imperator Furiosa, played by Charlize Theron in Mad Max: Fury Road. Despite the title of the film, Charlize Theron owns this movie, and while the Best Hero/Villain awards rarely go to the same movie, they earned it here.

    Imperator Furiosa

    Otherwise, there’s lots of competition, surely an overmatch for the villains (but hey, that’s a good thing, I guess). A few folks who I highlighted more to represent an ensemble than for themselves (i.e. Kurt Russel in The Hateful Eight), and this is something I should probably give its own category for. In terms of runners up, um, I don’t really know, there’s like 5 or 6 folks of roughly equivalent heroic badassery on the list. But Furiosa stands out for sure, so she takes it!

  • Best Comedic Performance: Amy Schumer in Trainwreck. This was a tough category to pick, and truth be told, I’m not totally in love with Trainwreck, but Schumer is great in it, and goes to unexpected places. Runner up goes to Michael Peña in Ant-Man, who totally stole the show, but didn’t quite have enough screen time to take the win. Really, the only one not in that I was able to immediately eliminate was Steve Carell in The Big Short. It’s probably not even that funny of a performance, now that I think about it, but there was something about how exasperated his character is at what’s going on (a feeling mimicked by the audience) that tickled me.
  • Breakthrough Performance: Alicia Vikander in Ex Machina and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.. This was a really tough one, and Daisy Ridley in Star Wars: The Force Awakens was really gunning for the award, but I gave it to Vikander because she had more heavy lifting to do in Ex Machina. I only listed two, but Vikander was also in, like, 500 movies this year, which also helped her case. This was a strong category this year, and I’m looking forward to seeing all of these folks again.
  • Most Visually Stunning: The Revenant. I think the movie is about an hour too long, but that hour is mostly glorious landscape shots, so here we are. This award most often goes to a movie that is showy and indulgent, which The Revenant certainly is.

    The Revenant

    Honorable mentions to Mad Max: Fury Road and The Hateful Eight, which certainly comported themselves well on the visual front (and honestly, had more compelling stories, etc…), though not quite as bombastically as The Revenant.

  • Best Sci-Fi or Horror Film: The Martian. Perhaps a controversial choice. Not sure it’s the best movie on the list, but as Science Fiction? This award simply needs to go to The Martian. You may have noticed that I’m a big fan of written Science Fiction, but if your conception of SF is based on Movies and TV, you’ve probably got a much different conception of the genre. Problem solving, competence, can-do attitudes, genuine cooperation; these things are often seen as jejune and unsophisticated, but they’re the beating heart of SF. Nothing against the angsty, pessimistic dystopias that dominate the genre in film, but I was so happy to see my favorite parts of the genre on screen that I have to give it this award. The category as a whole is unusually strong, actually, and most of the other nominees would comport themselves well in most years. That being said, I hope The Martian ushers in a new era of throwback SF, even if that’s highly unlikely.
  • Best Sequel/Reboot: Mad Max: Fury Road. Another unusually strong set of nominees here, but Mad Max was simply the most astonishing sequel, perhaps partly because I simply couldn’t imagine it being very good at all. Runner up would be Creed, another long-gap sequel to an old, venerated franchise. I gave it a lot of love in the nominations, but I don’t think it’s faring quite as well in the winner’s circle. I will most definitely have to find some Arbitrary Awards to give it, because it was wonderful.
  • Biggest Disappointment: Terminator Genisys. A tough choice, as it’s not like I expected Genisys to be that great, but I didn’t think it would be anywhere near as bad as it was. Maybe I’m more harsh on Terminator sequels because I’m such a huge fan of the original, but I always hold out hope that maybe someone can tell a new story in that universe. Meanwhile, I was super excited for Tomorrowland and it totally did not come close to those expectations. A close call, but I went with Terminator for this “award” because it’s clearly the worse film. A close third would be Jurassic World, a movie that has a few decent moments, but which is ultimately pretty pointless.
  • Best Action Sequences: Mad Max: Fury Road. I mean, the whole movie is an action sequence, and it’s glorious, so it has to win. Honorable mention to Kingsman: The Secret Service for that Church scene alone, Everly for its video-game-esque progression of minions and boss fights, Sicario for the tense border crossing sequence, Creed for that single take fight, and I could probably keep going, but I’ll stop now because none of them really holds a candle to the sustained excellence of Mad Max
  • Best Plot Twist/Surprise: Predestination. Really happy to be able to throw a spotlight, however small, on this little SF film. Of course, I won’t ruin the surprise, but it’s a doozy. Honorable mention to Focus for actually surprising me a couple of times despite being on guard for it (usually the downfall of a con man movie).
  • Best High Concept Film: It Follows. I don’t think the movie could come up with a good resolution for it, but the pure horror conceit at it’s heart is absolutely brilliant, and it’s used to excellent effect. Until, again, you realize it has no idea what to do with the concept. Runner up goes to Victoria for its whole single-take device. I guess that qualifies as high-concept, right?
  • 2015’s 2014 Movie of the Year: Housebound. I could have sworn I saw more 2014 stuff in 2015, but here we are, and I do love this little film, one of my favorite discoveries of the year. Gets the award for Morgana O’Reilly’s delightfully snarky performance. Also because she uses a cheese grater as a gauntlet. Highly innovative. Definitely worth catching up with this movie.

And there you have it! Stay tuned for the Arbitrary Awards and (eventually) a top 10…

2015 Kaedrin Movie Awards

Welcome to the 10th annual Kaedrin Movie Awards. Ten years. A decade! Hard to believe we’ve been doing this for so long, but here we are. As of right now, I’ve seen 69 movies that could be considered a 2015 release. More than your typical moviegoer, less than your typical critic, but enough so that able to commence with the whole awards rigmarole. [Previous Installments here: 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014]

Standard disclaimers apply: Must be a 2015 movie (with the caveat that some 2014 movies were not accessible until 2015, an edge case that seems to be more common these days) and I obviously need to have seen the movie (and while I have seen a lot of movies, I don’t pretend to have seen a comprehensive selection). Blah blah, subjectivity, blah blah, personal preference, blah blah, the world would be incredibly boring if we all liked the same things for the same reasons. Enough preamble, let’s roll:

Best Villain/Badass

This was a moderately good year for villainy. Far from the worst year for this sort of thing, but while I didn’t have any trouble populating the list, the true standouts seemed rare.As usual, my picks in this category are limited to individuals, not groups (i.e. no vampires or zombies as a general menace, etc…) or ideas (sorry It Follows).

Best Hero/Badass

This was a stronger year for heroism though. Lots of memorable heroes to choose from, even from obscure or unlikely sources, and they tend to outweigh their villains heavily. Again limited to individuals and not groups

Best Comedic Performance

This category is often difficult to populate because comedy so often comes in the form of an ensemble, but we had a decent enough year, except that I don’t think I saw that many comedies.

Breakthrough Performance

Always an interesting category to populate. Sometimes, it’s not so much about someone’s industry breakthrough, but a more personal breakthrough. This can happen even with established actors. This year, though, it’s more about young up-and-comers, and it’s dominated by a terrifying flood of girl cooties. Or something. The main criteria for this category was if I watched a movie, then immediately looking up the actor/actress on IMDB to see what else they’ve done (or where they came from). A somewhat vague category, but that’s why these awards are fun.

Most Visually Stunning

Sometimes even bad movies can look really great… and we’ve got a pretty interesting mix of stuff this year.

Best Sci-Fi or Horror Film

I like to give a little love to my favorite genres, hence this category. When I started this category, I always had trouble finding good SF movies, so I had to pad out the category with horror. But we’ve seen an astonishing increase in good SF in recent years, mostly micro-budget independent stuff, but this year we’ve even got some big studio releases.

Best Sequel/Reboot

Usually a difficult category to populate, but Hollywood has stepped up their game in recent years, thus making this a more interesting category than ever. Very strong year for this sort of thing.

Biggest Disappointment

A category usually populated by sequels, this year offered a strong showing of original movies… that were disappointing. Naturally, the sequels came out to play as well, and I should also mention that this category is weird in that I actually enjoy some of these movies quite a bit… but my expectations were just too high when I saw them. Related reading: Joe Posnanski’s Plus-Minus Scale (these movies scored especially poor on that scale)

Best Action Sequences

This award isn’t for individual action sequences, but rather an overall estimation of each film, and this has been a very good year for action.

Best Plot Twist/Surprise

Well, I suppose even listing nominees here constitutes something of a spoiler, but it’s a risk we’ll have to take, right?

Best High Concept Film

A nebulous category, to be sure, but a fun one because these are generally interesting movies. Actually not a ton of these this year, but the ones we did have were great.

2015’s 2014 Movie of the Year

There are always movies I miss out on, whether due to availability or laziness, but when I do catch up with them, I’m often taken with them. Sometimes a very difficult category to populate, maybe because I didn’t see much, or didn’t like it, or just plain forgot that I saw it (which, to be fair, probably says something about the movie’s chances). In this case, I think it’s all of the above. I could have sworn I saw more than the below and that I was thinking it would be a good year for this category, but I’m having trouble finding options here…

So it looks like Mad Max: Fury Road is leading the way with 6 nominations, the highest since 2007 (when Grindhouse nabbed 9 nominations). I’m a little surprised to see The Revenant not far behind with 5 nominations (it’s a fine movie, but I’m not as enthusiastic about it as a lot of the other movies in this post). Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Creed, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens clock in at a respectable 4 nominations apiece, while Ant-Man, The Hateful Eight, It Follows, Kingsman: The Secret Service, and Predestination come in at a solid 3 nominations each. Many others have two or one nomination, with 36 total movies (not including the last category, which would put me at 40). Not too shabby. As usual, you’ll have to wait a week or two to see who wins, followed by the Arbitrary Awards and the traditional top 10, concluding with some Oscars prognostication and live tweeting. Stay tuned!

Update: Steven pointed out the egregious oversight of not including Daisy Ridley in the Breakthrough Performance category. We apologize for the fault in the nominations. Those responsible have been sacked. She has been added. (Steven also mentioned John Boyega, but even though I did not nominate him back in 2011 for Attack the Block, he has been on my radar ever since. So while his Star Wars role is certainly a mainstream breakthrough, he’d already wormed his way into this film nerd’s heart long ago!)

2015 Year End Movie Cramming

The end of each orbital period is usually accompanied by a mountain of best-of-the-year lists and other such reflections. Here at Kaedrin, we watch a lot of movies, but we don’t feel beholden to the timeline and usually end up posting our top 10 list in early/mid February. There are a few reasons for this. As we approach awards season, studios are cramming the final weeks of the year with qualifying runs of prestige pictures. But those movies only play in a handful of theaters and don’t go wider until later in January. Earlier indie titles are just starting to show up on streaming services now. Plus, I’m just a dude who likes movies a lot. I don’t really seek out critic credentials so that I can go to screenings, etc… That being said, January is typically chock-full of movie watching for me, and the grand majority of it is comprised of catching up with movies from the previous year. As of right now, I’ve seen 50 movies that you could consider 2015 releases (are you on Letterboxd? We should be friends.). Interestingly, with the advent of streaming and better availability of obscure movies, the “year of release” is becoming something of a fuzzy line for me. Sure, What We Do in the Shadows came out in 2014… but that was in it’s native country (New Zealand) and the film festival circuit. It wasn’t really available to normal people in the USA until 2015. There are numerous examples of this, so keep that in mind. Anywho, there’s a ton of movies I want to catch up with in the coming weeks, so I figured I should try and nail down some semblance of a list here. As usual, much of this is dependent on availability and timing, and I probably won’t be able to get to all of them. Enough preamble, onto the list:

  • The Hateful Eight – I don’t really need to justify seeing Quentin Tarantino’s latest at all, and if possible, I will try and catch the 70mm roadshow in KOP. Fingers crossed. (In theaters soon)
  • The Revenant – I feel like I’ve been seeing the preview for this forever, and it looks gorgeous. Plus, you know, bear rape (j/k, of course, that was the dumbest controversy ever). (In theaters soon)
  • The Big Short – Is it me, or did this come out of nowhere? It’s got a bizarre pedigree, but has been getting good reviews. I’ll probably take a flier on this one. (In theaters now)
  • Victoria – All I know about this movie is that it’s shot in a single, continuous take. And supposedly no Birdman-esque editing tricks either. Other than that, I’m going in blind, but I’m pretty excited about it. (Amazon streaming and iTunes rental.)
  • The Assassin – I’ve heard good things but know little about this. It may be difficult to get ahold of in time, but it seems interesting enough. (Availability unknown)
  • Room – Another movie I don’t know a lot about, but which is getting lots of buzz in circles I follow. It’s another one I’m not sure I’ll get to due to availability issues, but I am intrigued. (Availability unknown)
  • Kung Fu Killer (aka Kung Fu Jungle) – Rumored to be one of the best action movies of the year, this Hong Kong martial arts flick sounds great. (On DVD/BD/streaming rental)
  • Close Range – Another action flick, this one with less of a good reputation, but which apparently has some great action sequences. Something about a guy protecting his family from a drug cartel. Sounds like it could be fun. (On DVD/BD/streaming rental soon)
  • Joy – I’ve heard many conflicting things about this, and based on my general reaction to David O. Russel movies, I’m betting I’ll think this is a mess. We’ll see if I can squeeze it in, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I don’t get to it. (In theaters now)
  • The Lobster – A frontrunner for Kaedrin’s prestigious Arbitrary Award “Achievement in the Field of Batshit Insanity”. Alas, this may be difficult to track down. (Availability unknown)
  • Cooties – A holdover from this year’s Six Weeks of Halloween, this seems like a fun little horror comedy in which kids at a school become zombies or something. (On DVD/BD/streaming rental)
  • The End of the Tour – This got good reviews and David Foster Wallace is an interesting guy, but I’m not entirely sure how down with this movie I’ll be. Still might give it a shot (on DVD/BD/Streaming rental now)
  • Finders Keepers – Documentary about a guy who finds an amputated leg inside a used grill he bought at an auction. Sold! (DVD)
  • 1971 – Documentary about activists who revealed FBI abuse in 1971 (seems to have many echoes to today’s privacy discussions, etc…) (DVD/BD)
  • Amy – Documentary about Amy Winehouse which has gotten a lot of buzz. (DVD/BD)
  • The Search for General Tso – “Who was General Tso, and why are we eating his chicken? ” These are questions I need answered in documentary form. (Netflix Streaming)
  • The Wolfpack – A documentary about a bunch of kids who grew up never leaving their apartment, and the only thing they know about the outside world are movies. (Netflix streaming)
  • Call Me Lucky – Bobcat Golthwait documentary about an obscure comedian? Sounds good. (Netflix streaming)
  • The Russian Woodpecker – I know very little about this documentary. Something about a Chernobyl survivor and Ukranian war? Has won some awards already… (Amazon streaming rental)
  • Advantageous – One of those low budget SF movies that have peppered the landscape over the past few years. Often interesting, sometimes a bust, I’m probably willing to check this one out. (Netflix streaming)
  • Faults – An interesting premise involving cults and mind control, etc… I’ve heard mixed things, but it’s on Netflix streaming, so I might give it a shot.
  • The Duke of Burgundy – I don’t know what to make of this movie. Everything I’ve heard seems weird, but not so weird that it’d fit the “batshit insanity” realm I usually enjoy. Again, it’s on Netflix streaming, so perhaps I’ll give it a shot.
  • Results – Another Netflix streaming flier, seems kinda like a romantic comedy, or maybe not? I don’t know, we’ll see if I actually get to this…

So there you have it, 20+ movies that I would like to check out, though I probably won’t get to all of them. And I’ll probably watch some other junk instead. Stay tuned for Kaedrin movie awards, coming mid-January!