Her (*****)

“Why do people have to be this lonely? What's the point of it all? Millions of people in this world, all of them yearning, looking to others to satisfy them, yet isolating themselves. Why? Was the earth put here just to nourish human loneliness?”

"Her" is a film unlike any other this year. In a screenwriting debut, Spike Jonze (of "Being John Malkovich" and "Adaptation." fame) single-handedly turns in a story on par with the best of Charlie Kaufman, a story of humans and machines and the crazy world in which we live (and perhaps the world we will soon be experiencing). 

The time is the near-future. The date is not important. Nor is the setting, a massive expanse of high-rises and skyscrapers with lights, images, color, people. It's an entire world, and yet the people in this world inhabit their own, with earpieces that are reminiscent of the smartphone fad. Heads down, focused on reading emails, people pass through the most beautiful settings unaware of any special significance. 

Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) is one such man. He is freshly-single from a divorce, still haunted by memories of their life. He works in an office where he is hired to write love letters to people as though penned by the lover, themself. He is a genius of the craft, able to eloquently ghost write a love note to an elderly couple, but lacks the social skills necessary for anything else, least of all his relationships with women. 

A new software becomes available, an operating system with an artificial intelligence. She names herself Samantha (the gorgeous, scratchy voice of Scarlett Johansson).  She begins to charm Theodore with her knowledge, her insight, her programming. She asks about his life, his past wife, his thoughts.... They fall in love. 

As far as you are concerned, that is the plot of the trailer, cryptic and beautiful, and yet there is an ocean of depth to this film! We discover other people are falling in love with their OS's (operating systems), though it's rare. Theodore begins introducing Samantha to his friends, colleagues. Some are surprised, some are not. All the while while watching, I was aware of my own distaste with the subject matter. So radical, nearly warped, and yet not without the slightest hint of self-reflection. 

Can a man and machine truly love one another? Can an artificial intelligence honestly feel emotions, especially towards a human being? As Theodore's neighbor, Amy (Amy Adams) puts it: how can you decide what's real if you're not actually experiencing it? 

The ending leaves as many questions and puzzles as the film's beginning. Through the gorgeous futuristic settings and against the somber Arcade Fire soundtrack, "Her" was one of my most pleasurable movie experiences this year. This is not to say I was laughing, although it is a comedy. Nor is it to say I was depressed, though it is a hard-hitting drama. Spike Jonze manages the near-impossible, telling a science fiction story with the most humanistic focus possible. That's a rare feat, indeed. 

(Awards potential: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Phoenix), Best Supporting Actress (Adams, Johansson), Best Original Screenplay, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Cinematography, Best Soundtrack)

Philomena (****)

Oh how I adore you, Judi Dench. One of the most remarkable actresses that has ever graced the screen. Can she do no wrong? What seemed like a slight comedy in the trailer comes a powerful and emotionally honest story of a woman looking for her adopted child. Directed by Steven Frears (you know him for directing 'The Queen'), 'Philomena' is as well-rounded as any movie this year and features one of the best leading performances to boot.

As a young girl, Philomena becomes pregnant. Taken in by a group of Irish nuns, she is forced to work off her sins as penance and her son is adopted to an American family against her will. The memories of her son haunt her to this day, and it's the realization that her lying about the truth for all this time is a sin in itself is what sets the story in motion.

Well, not entirely. Martin Sixsmith (Steve Coogan) is a recently-fired as a political advisor and is looking for work. Maybe he'll write a book on Russian history... Maybe not. Like fate, he comes to hear of Philomena and her struggle to find out what happened to her now 50-year-old son, Anthony. Taken by the 'human' element of the story and the appeal of getting work published, they set off to America, where they search for records of the adoption (how convenient that the nunery had a massive fire destroying all records?)

Judi Dench gives such a natural sensibility to Philomena. She is kind, complimentary, worried more about burdening Sixsmith than finding out the truth. She is almost his opposite. Sixsmith is solely concerned with finding the ending to his story and returning to London with Philomena, happy or not. Likewise for Steve Coogan. He is stern, non-religious, interested only in facts. And yet he grows to care for Philomena. They're subtle but great performances, both of them.

The film has a strong conviction against the Catholic Church and its policies regarding children born out of wedlock, but at the same time it does not entirely rule out forgiveness as a final option. For every day in the last 50 years, Philomena has prayed for her son. She hasn't the heart to hate the nuns that brought her pain about. It's not the Christian thing to do.

It's easy to recognize the work of a great director, and Frears effortlessly directs the film. At times I felt too spoon fed, and as an audience member I wished certain aspects of the film weren't spelled out so neatly for me. The film shows flashbacks of Philomena with her son and at the convent, but these contribute next to nothing to the story and are distracting to say the least. The film opens with an extended flashback of her getting pregnant and having her child. My God, the film just started! Sometimes mystery is a good thing.

Nonetheless, the film is joyous and oftentimes powerful. Alexander Desplat lends himself to a beautiful score and the film has some beautiful moments. Yes, filmmaking is a combination of elements, from the screenplay to the editing, but without a great leading actor, your film is finished. Thank God for Judi Dench.

(Awards potential: Best Picture, Best Actress (Dench), Best Supporting Actor (Coogan), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score)

Lee Daniels' The Butler (**)

Like Tyler Perry, Lee Daniels' is learning to create a name for himself in Hollywood. Branding his films in the same fashion, 'The Butler' has proven a box office hit, and we will surely see many more films by the Oscar-nominee in the near future.

Hopefully we can see a bit more focus next time...

'The Butler' is a mess of near-catastrophic proportions. From the script up, the film itself is flawed in nearly every regard. The 'loosely-loosely based on a true story' of Cecil Gaines (in reality a man with a very different story named Eugene Allen), a man who worked in the White House as Lead Butler from Robin Williams to Severus Snape. The facts surrounding his position are astounding, and it's a wonder he didn't run into Forrest Gump at least a few times during his amazing odyssey through life and American History.

I don't want to spend a review bashing the film, because there are some okay (alright, good) performances by Forrest Whitaker and the beloved Oscar-nominee Oprah Winfrey. And heck, the makeup in the end is pretty good, too.... And I also liked when it ended?

The problem is the structure. When you are making a movie about a man's life and the influence of American history upon it and vice versa, we need a plot, we need reliable characters. As far as I can gather, Cecil liked being a butler, his son rebelled against it by joining the Black Panthers, and then Cecil decides to join him for no clear reason? The emotional conclusion to the film is seeing Cecil share a prison cell with his son, Louis. Oh, and the tears of joy with the election of Barack Obama. You know, because it's a race-themed movie and what a great conclusion.

From the cotton fields at the film's start (I didn't actually know Mariah Carey was black until this movie) to the elderly Cecil waiting to meet with the new President at the White House, we see the story unfold, with scene after scene of the most ridiculous-cast Presidents (each more ridiculous than the next, too). It's like a bad month of SNL hosts in a row giving it their best shot. No President is given more than one scene or two, adding to the confusion of their purpose in the film at all. No matter. I guess it's more a story of father and son, anyways.

For the acclaim this film received upon its release, I would be surprised to see it receive more than one Oscar nomination, if that at all. It's a slow-moving film that drudges along at the speed of an elderly Forrest Whitaker. It's like the continuation of 'Forrest Gump,' were they to make a sequel documenting the life and times of Bubba. Yes, it's kind of a true story and there's a general glazing of facts and time, but in the end, is that enough to warrant a full-length movie?

(Awards potential: Best Supporting Actress (Winfrey), Best Makeup)

Dallas Buyers Club (***)

Ron Woodroof is a man of few pleasures. He drinks, he's a rodeo cowboy, he's promiscuous, and he's got a nasty cough that leads him to pass out on more than one occassion. The year is 1985. The diagnosis: AIDS. Faced with the stigmas attached to the surging 'gay disease,' Ron is given a bleak 30-day diagnosis. With a lack of accessible medication, he begins searching outside the country for alternative medicines. Soon, the whole bandwagon is on his side, and he begins an illicit drug trade, dubbed 'The Dallas Buyers Club.'

The film is a legal drama in every sense of the term, based in part on a newspaper article published on the topic over 20 years ago. It was a scary time, and the film presents the viewer with a harsh look at the HIV/AIDS community at the height of its exposure. The Food and Drug Administration begins testing a new drug (AZT) through human trials, and much of the gay community will pay top dollar to have even a portion of the medicine. One such person is Rayon, a trans woman who is selected for the trial period. She is delicate, sassy, and determined, as much on the other side of the spectrum as Ron is homophobic, fearful, and rugged. They join up, creating a business that involves the Dallas community and draws the attention of the FDA.

There is much to admire in this film, notably for Matthew McConaughey's career-best performance (following in the footsteps of Bradley Cooper as second-rate comedians-turned Oscar-nominated actors). He is in no way a likable character, but he follows the appropriate character arc that we come to expect, and by the end you will be cheering. The same goes for Jared Leto, always a solid method actor, bound to finally get a long-deserved Oscar nomination. He's funny, a scene stealer, and carries much of the emotional weight of the story.

It's not that I have problems with this film, but that I've seen it before, and done better. Think 'Erin Brockovich,' thing 'Norma Rae,' think 'Silkwood.' 'Dallas Buyers Club' doesn't take risks in terms of story telling. It merely follows the traditional plot points and arrives at the finish line with Oscar buzz by default. I don't care for Ron's romantic relationship with a hospital doctor (Jennifer Garner), nor do I find myself on the edge of my seat when the FDA comes knocking at their door to seize their drugs. Perhaps you can even guess how the film ends, too! The strengths are in the 2 lead performances. The rest is just white noise.

(Awards potential: Best Actor (McConaughey), Best Supporting Actor (Leto), Best Adapted Screenplay)

Nebraska (*****)

Alexander Payne's latest flick is unquestionably a fine achievement. Quiet, fleeting, beautiful, blink and you may miss it, laugh too hard and you may miss an opportunity to reflect. Almost the pinnacle of his work thus far, incorporating themes from 'About Schmidt' and 'The Descendants' to name a few, Payne creates a road trip movie that is just about as good as anything I've seen in theaters this year. 

Woody Grant is a man of few words, married to his wife (Kate) and father to two awkward sons (David and Bob), he's slowly slipping into a state of unconsciousness. Perhaps its Alzheimer's, perhaps not, all we know is that Woody has won 1 million dollars, and he intends to collect his winnings in Lincoln, Nebraska, even if he has to walk there himself.

What follows is a story of a father (Bruce Dern) and his son (Will Forte), as Woody is humored into taking a trip to prove that it is simply a marketing ploy, not a promise of eternal fortune. 

What a funny film this was! As they travel from Montana to Nebraska, they stop at a relative's home, one of Woody's brothers, where we meet the aunt and cousins, as well as take a peek at the town where Woody was raised. There's the garage he used to own. That woman was who he dated before getting married to Kate. Or maybe not. To Woody, it's all the past, a blur of faces and places, nothing more. He wanders through town like a ghost, a man who has come to use alcohol as a crutch. To his son, his younger years are a mystery. 

Bruce Dern (who I admit, am not well-versed in) is a God-send in the leading role. He is quiet, stubborn, losing grip on reality. He captures a man that is not always likable but is entirely sympathetic. It's a quiet performance but truly one of the great leading roles of the year. In a genius scene with his son in a bar, for example, he summarizes marriage in the most brutally honest ways, so matter-of-fact and surprising to his son, and Dern maneuvers the dialogue like a master. His character has no motives or deception, he does not lie, and he has no agenda. Woody is only truthful, hard of hearing, and stubborn in his quest to collect his money.  

How funny that he finds himself married to the loudest mouth in Montana. In a performance sure to go down in history, June Squibb all but steals the show in every scene, Oscar-worthy in every sense of the term and likely this year's winner for Best Supporting Actress. She is a fiery woman, put up with her husband's antics, and the nail that holds the film together. Visiting the cemetery where Woody's family is buried, for example, Kate goes stone to stone, picking apart her deceased in-laws with insults and commentary. "Here's Woody's sister. What a whore. I liked Rose, but she was a slut..." It's undoubtedly the funniest scene of the film, perfectly encapsulating Kate's character and her relationship with her distanced husband and her ever-uncomfortable son. Squibb is sorely missed any moment she is not on screen, and she's a character just dripping with sass, charisma, and warmth. Give this woman an Oscar, dammit!

The black and white landscapes are remarkable, something we all recognize, as are the characters, so well-written and so Payne-ian in their depictions. The score is unique, simple, yet iconic. Humor isn't found in slapstick or funny visuals, but the way we find a disconnection with the elderly, with different groups of people, the awkwardness that comes from new scenery and change of pace.

Like all Alexander Payne films, we conclude on a masterfully-crafted shot, simple yet so effective, the son and father drive off into the sunset, driving over a hill and disappearing in the distance. What Woody fails to accomplish with his winnings, his son eventually fulfills for him anyways, and the movie concludes with such a sense of completion and love. What more needs to be said? So poignant and fulfilling, the perfect end to a perfect little story, 'Nebraska' had me floored long before the credits were rolling. 

(Awards potential: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Dern), Best Supporting Actress (Squibb), Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score)