Trumbo (****1/2)

There's a small but funny moment in "Trumbo" when the title author, blacklisted for being a Communist, is found nominated for an Oscar for a screenplay penned under a false name: Robert Rich. Dalton Trumbo sits around with some others and discuss who would even go up to accept the award should he win. "Don't worry," a producer says, "it's not that good of a script anyways." The moment finally comes, and Trumbo along with his family watch as his screenplay for "The Brave One" in fact wins the award. A producer goes to the stage to accept it on the writer's behalf, and it disappears. Will he ever get his hands on the prize at all?

So goes "Trumbo," a wildly fun and intriguing movie about a group of screenwriters billed as the 'Hollywood 10,' movie makers deemed unable to work in Hollywood due to their involvement with the Communist Party. Does that stop them from working? Of course not! Through schemes and pen names and various means, the authors develop a literal black market of smuggling and drafting movie scripts for production at various studios. Most everyone in Hollywood knows it's them, but since the pictures are good, who's to care?

Bryan Cranston delivers in perhaps his first major leading role. Moustached, wise, witty, and engulfed in a constant cloud of cigarette smoke, Trumbo is presented as an unassuming hero that cares more about supporting his family then winning name recognition and prizes. The challenges build as his work load increases and the threat of losing a job become more hazardous. Locked away in his office or typing away in his tub (18 hour work days, at one point), Trumbo goes gray and frail but never loses his passion for the movies.

Hedda Hopper (Helen Mirren), on the other hand, is presented as the one consistent 'villain' through it all. A former actress turned gossip columnist, she pokes around attempting to uncover the truth if only to boost her readership. She's not one to stand by convictions, but since anti-Communism is all the rage, naturally she must hop on board. Mirren's is a fun, quick, and memorable performance, but does little to upstage Cranston, whose presence on screen we take for granted for being so absolutely believable.

There has been a surge of 'movies about movies,' and the one I most vividly recall is "Argo," another story of the power of Hollywood to save the day in the end. While that film was without doubt a bit more optimistic in it's message, I found "Trumbo" to be even a bit more inventive; more grounded in the reality of such a situation. We all knew Ben Affleck would get the hostages on the plane in the end, but I felt genuinely concerned that Dalton Trumbo was on a track to die penniless and forgotten.

From 'Roman Holiday' to 'Spartacus,' Trumbo's career seemed to be on a never-ending incline after his return to public graces, and yet until the day he died he certainly carried around a bit of controversy. Drastically underpraised in his time and still an icon today, "Trumbo" succeeds at creating entertainment from a dark subject matter, and (though a fairly predictable screenplay in itself) delivers as a solid movie about a little known time in Hollywood history.

Straight Outta Compton (****)

It's kind of amazing watching a movie like "Straight Outta Compton," a music biopic of a group of men who revolutionized music in the late 1980's and continue to influence culture to this day. The end credits do little to gloss over this fact, and clips of Ice Cube and Dr Dre now are all the more amazing considering their roots and the singular idea of a dream to be heard.

F Gary Gray's directorial effort is an incredibly impressive epic spanning nearly 10 years. It covers a large ensemble cast and so many points, ideas, and cultural events, it's a wonder the film didn't wind up double its run time of nearly 3 hours. What we have is a fast-paced and exciting look into the world of music: the inspiration, writing, and collaboration of it. N.W.A. is the group ("No Whites Allowed?"), and they're using music to voice their anger. While other musicians saw songs as an abstract way to tell a story, Easy-E and Ice Cube were performing "Fuck The Police" to sold out arenas. Reporters and even FBI saw their work as a potential threat to the safety of armed officers; terrorism in a way. NWA saw it as giving a voice to the voiceless.

The cast is nearly beyond belief, not just in physical looks (it's great that Ice Cube's son inherited his father's role, but everyone down to the uncanny transformation of Jason Mitchell into Easy-E is eerie to say the least). The cast works together to present the creation of this rap ensemble with a great passion and honesty. There is love behind this film, and seeing the original artists as producers on the film only confirm this.

Storywise we follow a fairly traditional plot: the rise to power and the struggle to adapt to a life of wealth, etc, etc. I think the more interesting aspects focused on the influence of their founding manager, Jerry Heller (Paul Giamati), and the stake that it drove into the group over time. I'm no expert on rap music and especially not on music of the time, but seeing the unique impact such records could have was eye-opening to say the least. With Ice Cube leaving the group over salary issues and recording music against NWA and his former boss (right down to anti-Semitism), Heller responds with anger. It's defamation of character, perhaps he should sue. Easy-E simply steps back into the recording studio to retaliate through music.

In a way, music is the most powerful weapon.

The Big Short (*****)

I won't claim to understand fully the reasons for the Stock Market Crash of 2008, nor after seeing this film could I speak to it with great fluency. What I can say, however, is that I have a clear picture of the consequences of such a fiasco, as well as the brains (and lack thereof) of the people involved on both sides of the line of guilt. "The Big Short" is billed as a comedy, and in fact it whizzes past so quickly that you can't help but laugh at the absurdity. It's funny until it's simply not, and then it becomes quite a disturbing concept (and quite quickly, too).

There are several key players in the ensemble, and firstly is the talented and yet quirky Michael Burry (Christian Bale), a manager of a hedge fund with self-declared Asperger's Syndrome and a glass eye. He discovers a slight bubble in the widely regarded "stable" housing market that could lead to a total collapse. He decides to bet against the banks at stake, much to their amusement. His research gets out, and surprisingly only a handful of people realize the money that is at stake. From a compulsive trader named Mark Baum (Steve Carell), to a banker from within named Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling), they probe deeper into the market of mortgages and loans to see just how clueless everyone really is.

The first half of the film introduces our cast, one by one, with backstories and cutaways and flashbacks. The film moves with a kinetic energy that is just simply miraculous, and on more than one occasion a character breaks the fourth wall and speaks directly to us. It's an odd and yet perfect choice in terms of structuring the film. Just as the economy is on unstable grounds, so is the style of the film: disjointed, frenetic, and dizzying.

It's so beyond belief that something as catastrophic as this could happen, and yet it's no wonder why given the CEO's and bankers and 'officials' they meet along the way. Asking lenders about why they would approve a loan without the person having any sort of credit score, Baum is told that the repayment doesn't matter, that they make money regardless. Frustrated, Baum asks his team "why are they admitting all this?" only to realize that they are simply bragging about their wealth and greed.

You would think the film would end triumphantly with the "cha-ching" of large checks falling into the laps of our heroes, and yet it feels even more so like a loss. By betting against the banks, these men made literally billions of dollars, and yet one moment in the film reminds us of the disturbing reality: that for every 1% unemployment goes up, 40,000 people die. By profiting off of a collapsing market, so many more millions of people are out of a job and a home.

For being a first-time dramatic film for director Adam McKay, he navigates the territory with the ease of a master filmmaker. Through exposition and hilariously-random cutaways (here's Selena Gomez to explain the financial meltdown), the extremely dense plot and several interwoven stories are presented with a clarity that I don't think many filmmakers could manage.

Christian Bale as the one-eyed discoverer deserves much praise for his zany and focused performance, as does Brad Pitt, playing a retired banker who feels very much like a conservative family man simply trying to do the right thing. The film belongs to Steve Carell, in an intensely layered performance that borders on genius at every given moment. With a glottal tone in his voice and a dark past, the film is that much better for his tremendous work, and I don't see any scenario that doesn't end with his second consecutive Oscar nomination. As a moral compass through the film, Carell's acting is pitch perfect at capturing the absurdity of the entire story, slowly coming to terms with the evil and corruption that is modern society.

I didn't expect much from "The Big Short," but having seen it I am all the better for it. It has reinvigorated the wonder of moviemaking in an otherwise typical Holiday season Oscar-bait lineup. Out of all the films playing in theaters, this is the movie I would immediately return to see once more.

Carol (***)

CAROL attempts to be profound with the help of visual beauty and two terrific performances. There is so much to admire about director Todd Haynes' production, but in the end the movie left me feeling cold, unmoved, and perhaps more questioning of these characters' motivations than understanding.

It's 1950's New York, and we are introduced to our two leading characters. Therese, a quiet and oftentimes boyish girl who works selling dolls at a department store and drinks beers with the guys after a long day. It's a curiously similar role to the one Rooney Mara also played in "Girl With The Dragon Tattoo": she is fragile behind a strong facade, timid and yet confident. In many ways the movie is her story and perspective on meeting Carol, a high-class woman who wears furs and lives in a New Jersey mansion. Where Therese lacks confidence, Carol is bathed in it, ordering at a restaurant without so much a glance at the menu, inviting Therese to her house for the weekend without even knowing her.

The fascination comes from the underbelly of their beings and their reactions behind closed doors. Carol is anything but strong in her own home, as she fights a bitter divorce and custody of her only child. She clings to Therese if only for companionship during the holidays when otherwise she is alone. Therese explains her passion for photography, and Carol surprises her with an expensive trunk full of the newest technology and film. Therese accepts these gifts, this friendship, without hesitation. Her relationship with her boyfriend is crumbling, and her need for drastic change or perhaps a new life is with welcome arms at her meeting of Carol.

Like I previously said, the real beauty in this movie is the visuals. From costumes to cinematography, the look of the film rings true to a time gone by (as we know Todd Haynes is capable of, especially looking at another of his 'gay' themed melodramas "Far From Heaven"). Haynes has a control of the camera as though in a dream, with many shots through car windows or in the reflection on wet glass. Soft edges and moody lighting, one sequence in particular still stays with me in which Therese and Carol drive through a tunnel. Tell me that isn't one of the most astounding sequences in a film this year, one that captures the feeling of love with barely a word spoken.

The film opens and closes with a scene at a dinner table, where Carol and Therese talk (and we come to find later much time has passed). From first viewing to second, it's remarkable how much these characters have changed, and how my first impression of the dominant character was entirely wrong. The marvel of someone like Cate Blanchett (one of the great actresses today) is that she demands a presence on screen and so fully understands the emotion of any given scene. Rooney Mara has an equal (but nearly opposite) effect, but no less powerful.

I was not put off by the depiction of romance and love, but perhaps thrown off by the lack of understanding of these two women who progress against the grain of their society. The slow pace gave me time to soak up the look of the film, and yet it didn't help my appreciation of the grandeur of the story. Like the character, Carol is a beautiful thing to look at, and yet just below the surface are flaws and questions and mystery. Perhaps that's just the heart of a woman.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (****1/2)

There are some spoilers here, so if you don’t want to have the film ruined, turn back now. 


JJ Abrams was notoriously going to be called “Jar Jar Abrams” by fans if he were to ruin the seventh installment, but thankfully that will not be necessary. How funny that the last Star Wars film was released only 10 years ago, and yet it feels like “The Force Awakens” has been hotly anticipated since “Return of the Jedi” 32 years ago. Gone are the days of the Senate and confusing dialogue and green screened sets (in the prequels, of course), Abrams’ installment is a return to form in more ways than one.

Thinking about it now, I think “The Force Awakens” is in many ways a remake of the 1977 original film. It follows roughly the same plot, as we meet our hero (Rey in this film, but more on her later) living in a sandy, desolate planet. Here she finds a cute little droid (BB-8) containing restricted information to use against the galactic forces (The New Order). Recruiting the help of some colorful characters, our hero learns the ways of the force, flies a spaceship, and helps destroy a planet-sized weapon originally designed to crush the rebels once and for all.

The first success is undoubtedly the casting. Like Lucas with his original film, Abrams recruited two relatively unknown actors to play our heroine, Rey (Daisy Ridley), and Finn (John Boyega), a young man who deserts his job as a storm trooper to fight alongside the rebels instead. The trailers were fairly vague as to their purposes in the story, but Rey is a dreamer in many of the same ways Luke Skywalker was. She teams with Finn (in a refreshingly non-romantic way) to travel to rebel headquarters to deliver BB-8 to the hands of General Leia.

Star Wars has proven to be a story more about characters than setting, and getting to see the return of people like Han Solo and Princess Leia is a feeling of warmth and overwhelming nostalgia. In a worse film, the returning characters might have been given some wise words to say and nothing more. Here, Han Solo is fighting and charming the socks off aliens at every step – but is that any surprise for a man of such charisma and style?

The villains are more or less carbon copies of the original trilogy, down to the costumes and hairstyles. Their leader is Kylo Ren, a helmet-wearing cloaked figure who possesses powers of the force and a red lightsaber to instigate his menacing presence. We learn that Luke Skywalker has gone missing for quite some time, and that all of the Jedi are long gone. In fact, his last pupil was Ren, and seeing his turn to the dark side sent him into exile never to return. Unlike Vader in the first couple films, Ren is a divided character, torn between the light and the dark, and his inner battle will surely come into sharper focus given some of his unspeakable actions and family ties to both his father and grandfather.

The scope of the Empire’s weapon in this film is nearly unimaginable, and it makes the Death Star look like a spare tire in comparison. With the power to destroy multiple planets at once, it’s a wonder the entirely of it can be brought down by destroying a bunker no bigger than a football field. Thinking too much about plot holes or the reality of such situations can become overbearing, but then again, this is Star Wars, not a documentary.

Overall, there’s very little to dislike about the film. The action scenes are thrilling and oftentimes beautiful to watch (remember that shot in the first teaser trailer of the Millenium Falcon upside down in the desert? There’s plenty more where that came from). The new characters are sharp and compelling, and the smart script is littered with some of the original trilogy's humor and playfulness. It’s a fresh perspective that makes us realize even more so how misguided the prequels were to begin with.

The ending is nearly perfect and sets up the sequel with so many questions left unanswered. At last, we find Luke Skywalker in his seclusion, and light saber in hand, Rey stands in front of him ready to learn the ways of the force. The buildup to such a quiet moment was well worth it, and even if the sequel is nothing more than these two characters talking for two hours, there’s a whole lot more I would like to hear about. As a passing of the torch to the next generation, Star Wars has been reborn.

The Danish Girl (***1/2)

"The Danish Girl" is two parts "A Beautiful Mind" and one part "The Theory of Everything." Good news for the filmmakers, as both films went on to reap buckets of awards in their respective year. Bad for the typical movie-goer, who will watch this film feeling a sense of deja vu, disappointed that the story is in many ways a retreading of the classic "Oscar biopic" which follows the following the following plotline:


1. Introduce the main character and their lover/partner. Establish they have a healthy relationship
2. Reveal the main character's ailment that will challenge their romance
3. Watch as the characters learn to adapt to said ailment and work through difficult emotional turmoil
4. With love and support, the main character goes on to achieve the impossible (complete with a rousing musical accompaniment)


I'm being too hard on the film, aren't I? Afterall, the director Tom Hooper has won an Oscar for dealing with an historical story in "The King's Speech." He must know how to make a good movie, right? (Oh, we can add "The King's Speech" to that list, too).

Overall, yes. The story, a beautiful and heartbreaking story of a husband and wife (Gerda and Einar), painters, and the discovery that Einar feels as though a woman trapped in a man's body. He feels a tickling sensation when he brushes against lace. His wife plays along and suggests he goes by the name Lili. They go to a party and test a disguise. It's all fun and games until it's not - when Lili feels compelled to fulfill a deep need to transition to a female through and through.

The story is fascinating in the way it shows the dual personalities of husband and wife. Eddie Redmayne (last year's Oscar winner as Stephen Hawking) is simply transformative playing a man who is coming to terms with a new life. He's shy, fearful, and deeply curious - fascinated by a newfound male gaze and the process of daily makeup. His wife, Gerda (Alicia Vikander) is a strong-willed woman who is simultaneously broken-hearted at losing her husband and yet compelled to work on becoming a better professional on her own. It's one of the better female performances of the year - all the better for being a standout in a script that could have given her a few more liberties. At the end of the film, isn't she still a bit too dependent on a man's guidance?

The score is absolutely brilliant (again, last year's Oscar winner Alexandre Desplat), the photography memorable, the costumes unique and the sets convincing. On the basis of an Oscar-contender, we have a sure-fire winner. As I felt with last year's "Theory of Everything," and even more so here, it feels too much like a Hollywood romance presented with no loose ends and pretty bow on top. It's too bad the story took such a drastic departure from the truth, and yet with all the ups and downs, perhaps the movie would have never been made otherwise.

Beasts of No Nation (****1/2)

William Tecumseh Sherman once said "war is hell." Indeed, it's a phrase that has rolled into pop culture, and has been a focus of many films dating back as far as films go. Beasts of No Nation, an independent film released in conjunction with Netflix, is a marvelous and oftentimes dark movie that works to explore just that: that war is an attack on the soul.

It's an African civil war (and I don't even remember what country was setting to the story). Villages are falling apart, people are fleeing as refuges. The story is focused around a young boy named Agu. We first meet him carrying around a TV frame and using his friends to act out "stories" for the amusement of spectators. He is close with his brother, his mother... How much is lost when their entire town is executed and Agu narrowly escapes into the jungle.

He soon finds a militia of guerilla soldiers. Led by a powerful and intimidating Commander (the recognizable Idris Elba), Agu is taken in and sheltered, though in exchange he is developed into a child soldier who must kill the enemy without fear. The psychological breakdown of the child features some of the more disturbing moments in the film, and our first introduction to death comes when Agu's leader gives him a machete, a prisoner, and an order to kill him at this very moment.

Abraham Attah is the boy, a brilliant young actor who just about steals the movie at every turn and oversteps Jacob Tremblay from "Room" to be perhaps the most incredible performance by a youth in a film this year. From his initial requests to simply find his mother again, we trek Agu's descent into the underbellies of war, of sin, all the while we hear his prayers to God to understand that there is no other way. There's a final moment with him where he tries to justify his actions during the war and realizing that he will have to cope with these memories the rest of his life. There's a real weight on his shoulders. It's hard for me to believe that it's anything but the truth coming from this boy's mouth.

The violence in the film is truly brutal, and I was more shocked perhaps to see the majority of the bloodshed coming from these young children's hands. We have heard stories of child warriors and the horrors that come with such a robbery of innocence, but seeing it in the flesh makes it no less a difficult concept to grasp.

And yet I found beauty in the story, the potential for redemption and the gorgeous camerawork that makes this a story worthy of art and discussion. With current events the way they are and the amount of death in the news on a daily basis, "Beasts" was not a film I looked forward to watching with eagerness. I'm still glad I did.