Compilation: Part I

Hello, blog readers. 

The thing is, sometimes it's really hard for me to write. Obviously, when I have something to say - a lot of it, usually - and when I feel passionately about something, I will write. I'll write about it twice. (About Time.) Y'all are lucky I've only written about Frank once...

That being said, I do like to use this blog as a record of sorts, and so I'd like to chronicle some of the things I've been watching lately. Netflix has been a huge help in catching up on some things, and the snowstorms we've been having in the northeast have really helped assuage any of the guilt I typically feel about spending so much time on my butt, at home, indoors. 

I have organized the list of films by subject/theme, not by the date on which they were viewed. 

Three films that were watched weeks or months apart, and for different reasons, Big Eyes, In a World..., and Short Term 12 all earned a tremendous amount of respect from me for the way they treated the female characters. 

With Big Eyes, the latest from Tim Burton is the least Tim-Burton of all, and I loved it. No Johnny Depp in sight, no Helena Bonham Carter... refreshing, to see Burton apply his considerable skill and unique vision to a lesser known art scandal. Divorcee Margaret Keane married con artist Walter Keane in 1950s San Francisco to get a new start. Both painters, the couple showed their work together, until Walter saw the profit in taking credit for Margaret's large-eyed, sad-looking, plaintive children. Walter's criminal need for self-preservation made him emotionally abusive, and controlling. His manipulative ways allowed the ruse to go on for decades, until Margaret's need for the truth brought them both to trial. Amy Adams held her own, opposite the ever-charismatic Christoph Waltz, and with the Burton touch, the story maintains the art at its core, while exploring the artist(s) behind it. 

In some ways, not much has changed since the 50s and 60s - at least, not in the world of Hollywood voice acting. Lake Bell's In a World... is a phenomenally entertaining comedy and an important commentary on the boys' club that is Hollywood. Bell wrote, directed, and starred in the film - brilliantly. Bell's character Carol was a vocal coach looking to break into the world of voice over acting when a chance gig put her in the running to voice a movie trailer - not just any trailer, but one that sought to revive the infamous "In a world" phrase made famous by Don LaFontaine, and which was retired with his passing. Such important gigs were still going to men like her father Sam, the powerful, masculine sound of Hollywood patriarchy. The prospect of such an important role has a profound impact on Carol and her family. While not a documentary (as the trailer had many believe), In a World... feels authentic. Something about it reminded me of Easy, starring Marguerite Moreau and Naveen Andrews. Perhaps it was the three dimensional female characters, and the earnestness with which they are portrayed. I'd like to see more like this from Bell; Last time I saw her was Million Dollar Arm, playing the token love interest, no less. Here, Bell has shown us complicated characters with obstacles new and old, using an excellent supporting cast of Rob Cordry, Demetri Martin, Ken Marino, and Michaela Watkins. 

Short Term 12 crossed my radar as many films do - because of its leading man. John Gallagher Jr. was my pick for the male lead in The Last 5 Years, but of course, it's not up to me. Gallagher Jr. might be familiar to you from Newsroom, or Spring Awakening, or American Idiot, depending on whether you're a screen person or a Broadway person. While he's very good in Short Term 12, it's not his film. Brie Larson (United States of Tara, 21 Jump Street) carried most of the movie, a short, independent drama centered around a residential treatment facility for youth, at which Grace (Larson) and Mason (Gallagher Jr.) are on staff. 

Since I mentioned it earlier, let's talk about The Last 5 Years. Well, crap. I hate having to admit I was wrong, but Jeremy Jordan is charming as hell, a really likable Jamie. Anna Kendrick's popularity and her own persona are the only things going for Cathy, however. Jason Robert Brown worked closely with Richard LaGravanesse to adapt the two-person musical for the screen, and it's certainly different. Most of the lyric changes are delightful, but it's a shame that they eliminated the profanity for a PG-13 rating, since the film didn't get a wide release, anyway. For those who don't know, The Last 5 Years broke on to the theatre scene in 2001, and made Jason Robert Brown the It Guy, writer of Joni-Mitchell-pop-Broadway-contemporary songs that were fun to sing. (Trust me, they are.) It was never meant to be the mega-popular show that it has become - it was a coping mechanism. Loosely based on his own life, The Last 5 Years uses story songs to illuminate Jamie and Cathy's five-year relationship. Cathy starts at the end of the relationship, whereas Jamie's first song is about the start. It made sense to turn to Richard LaGravanesse as the director - his [500] Days of Summer had a jumbled but effective timeline all its own. One problem that may have carried over from [500] Days: bias toward the male character. The beauty of The Last 5 Years lies in its ambiguity, the manner in which we slowly glean what happened, the way each song changes our opinion of each character. I didn't expect much from the film, so I was pleasantly surprised by Jordan's performance. I would have liked a clearer timeline. [500 Days] used title cards with numbers on them to indicate how many days into the relationship the scene was. I had hoped for an equally effective delineation from LaGravenesse on this project. Still, worth the watch.

Then, like I do, I went through a performer's back-catalog. Scoot McNairy was so brilliant as the band's manager in Frank, I sought out his other films, itching to see another performance I could enjoy so thoroughly. I don't think I would have chosen any of the three films I watched for Scoot... Monsters, Killing Them Softly, and Non-Stop. What's funny is that I had seen McNairy before, 2007's In Search of a Midnight Kiss - which I hated. I found McNairy's character abrasive and unlikeable, and I was impatient for it to end. Which is what I should have expected from a film whose main characters were brought together by a Craigslist ad, aka: desperation. Monsters was made a mere three years later, but it's an entirely different role, and a world away from Midnight Kiss. Photographer Andrew Kaulder (McNairy) went to Central America to capture the devastation wrought by the gigantic squid-like robots that plagued the area. After the boss's daughter (Whitney Able) was wounded in an alien attack on a hotel, he makes a dangerous journey with her through the 'infected zone' toward the US border. McNairy was very good in the film, and his on-screen chemistry with his now-wife Able is palpable. Really good survival adventure. With aliens. So maybe Six Days, Seven Nights, on a shorter timeline, with aliens, and more Jurassic Park than rom-com. Follow that up with Non-Stop, the airplane thriller with Liam Neeson. Oh, Liam Neeson. I wonder how much of his career is now spent in roles where he is acting with a cellphone. Of course, Non-Stop is one of those roles. This time, Neeson's a US Marshall being threatened via text message during a flight to London. Among the onboard suspects: Scoot McNairy, Julianne Moore, Lupita Nyong'o, Corey Stoll, and Lady Mary Crawley - I mean, Michelle Dockery. Anyway, the last airplane thriller I watched was Con-Air, back before 9/11 and terror threats. It's a scary prospect, and I say that as someone who frequently has to travel for work. Maybe I'm just a gullible audience member, but Non-Stop did succeed in making me doubt myself in terms of predictions. I changed my mind as to who the threat was coming from several times. Still, Non-Stop was more engaging than Killing Them Softly. Based on a book from the 70s, Killing Them Softly is a crime movie that's also political commentary. It's almost got the feel of a gritty disco-era crime flick, but the 2012 election audio grounds it. Frankly, it's not to my taste, and I'm not sure I can adequately gauge its quality. It's exactly what you expect of a Boston-based mob movie with Ray Liotta and Brad Pitt. (What?) It's full of characters, sprinkled with a few allegorical and soapbox monologues. McNairy's got the likeable factor in effect again here, even as a grungy, low-level crook. His accent amused me. 

I'm not done yet, kids! There's seven or eight more things I want to talk about. Whole lotta drama in the A side of this compilation... but don't worry, there's a bit more comedy on the B. Compilation: Part II coming soon.