It’s been a while since I have weighed in on the flics.
Frankly, there has been a dearth of what I consider commendable films. I will therefore start with the most recent
of the very very few that I have actually seen.
OBVIOUSLY, there are bound to be many films that were I to see them I
would heartily recommend. I put them in
the category of “I will always have something to look forward to!”
CHEF
If a movie is not bad, it is generally watchable, meaning I
am okay spending the $6-$9 for the ticket and another $7.50 for the
popcorn. I may not see it a second time,
but hey, it wasn’t bad. The vast
majority of films are either bad, or not bad.
But sometimes on a rare occasion—just once or twice a year—a
movie transcends this categorization and is truly good. Some are even GREAT!
Chef is such a
movie. It has it all: story, humor, drama, music—FANTASTIC latin
music—setting, cinematography, acting, and a fabulous surprise ending. The movie establishes Jon Favreau who WROTE,
DIRECTED AND STARS as today’s premiere Hollywood talent. In short, this film is a masterpiece.
A word about music in movies:
it can either make or break a film.
As an example—the music in Chef enhances the emotions you are supposed
to feel at whatever point in the movie it plays. It does this so PERFECTLY that you can’t wait
go buy the soundtrack.
By comparison, I sat halfway
through a really bad film (Grown ups 2) earlier this year that is
typical of most bad films in that the music is forced, as if putting a popular
song in a terrible movie will somehow save it.
This was very amusing to me—way more than this horrible film (thus my
early exit).
A HUNDRED YARD
JOURNEY
Quite a coincidence that the two best movies this year
involve chefs and food! Helen Mirren is
the owner (Madame Mallory) of a one-star Michelin restaurant in a French
village near the Swiss border. She is obsessed with getting another star.
A family from India, led by “Papa”—whose wife was killed in the fire that destroyed his Bombay restaurant—stops in this village because their car broke down. Papa determines to open his new restaurant in a vacant building right across the street from Helen Mirren’s classic French establishment.
A family from India, led by “Papa”—whose wife was killed in the fire that destroyed his Bombay restaurant—stops in this village because their car broke down. Papa determines to open his new restaurant in a vacant building right across the street from Helen Mirren’s classic French establishment.
His son is an expert Indian chef, who turns out utterly
delicious food. Madame Mallory can’t
stand this new competition and fights back.
Her and “Papa” go at it and the hilarity begins!
Without giving the plot away, all I can say is that this is
a deliciously satisfying movie.
Everything works, no wasted words, scenes, music, or dialogue. Rich colors, superb acting, fitting musical
score and a tight script. Oh, and
everything Helen Mirren is in is outstanding!
This is one great movie! GREAT!
GUARDIANS OF THE
GALAXY
Another “MARVEL-ous” entry, perhaps the best of the Marvel Comics
collection of movies. This movie is
shockingly great! It works best for me
as a COMEDY and MORALITY play, but of course there is action and special
effects galore. Chris Platt is the
hero. Glen Close, John C. Reilly, Vin
Diesel, Zoe Saldana and Dave Bautista are all outstanding. Platt plays Peter Quill aka “Star Lord”, who
leads a crew of intergalactic misfits on a hunt for a mysterious all-powerful
orb. The music, as in the other films on
this list, fits p-e-r-f-e-c-t-l-y!
I tell you, this is what movies should be all about: humor, creativity, action, messaging—and in
this case, a high moral message that leaves you feeling great at the end!! GREAT.
BAD WORDS
You may not have heard of it—it only stayed in the local
theater a week or so, but this is one of the best, most entertaining, funny
movies of the year!! Jason Bateman is a
40 year old who finds a loophole in a middle school spelling bee and competes
for the championship. Nearly everything
he’s in is good , especially THE CHANGE
UP—see it if you have not—so I knew this would probably be good. It is GREAT!
LUCY
Scarlett Johansson is a college student in Taiwan who is
kidnapped and force to be a mule of for a Chinese drug lord, who sews a bag of
a new drug—CPH4—that causes the human brain to increase its capacity (humans
only use 10% of it—this new drug can get it to 100%). She gets kicked in her just opened stomach
and some of the drug enters her bloodstream.
Then look out!
This is a French-made sci-fi film shot in Taipei, Paris and
New York. It’s a really good movie. Though
the end is a little weird, it’s well worth watching. Not bad.
THE GIVER
You know…it’s okay! In
2048, after “the big war” leaders create futuristic world designed to maintain
peace by taking all humanity, all emotion and all color away. There is no romance, no love, no kissing, no
competition, no nothing, except a contented community. The
apparent utopian society starts to unravel as we learn more about it. A young man, under the tutelage of Jeff
Bridges, escapes and strives to return the world to its former humanity. Watchable, not bad.
2012-2013 MOVIES: (listed simply as “GREAT” “GOOD TO GREAT” “NOT
BAD” or “BAD”
GREAT: Philomena, 42, Lincoln,
Silver Linings Playbook, Side Effects,
GOOD TO GREAT:
Argo, Walter Mitty, The Grand Budapest Hotel,
Draft Day
NOT BAD:
The Avengers, Moonrise Kingdom, Life
of Pi. The Great Gatsby, Die Hard 5, Safe Haven, Emporer, Olympus has Fallen,
Place Beyond the Pines, Mud, We’re the Millers, Rush, Gravity, Her, American
Hustle, 12 Years a Slave, Captain Phillips, Divergent, 50 to 1, Captain
America, Bears
BAD:
Skyfall, Les Miserables, Looper, The
Cabin in the Woods, Django Unchained,
The Master, Zero Dark Thirty, Cloud
Atlas, Burt Wonderstone, Pain and Gain, The End, The Way Way Back, Two Guns,
Elysium, Insidious, The Wolf of Wall Street, Anchorman 2, The Monument Men,
Robocop, Son of God, Heaven is Real, God is not dead, Noah, Neighbors.
SPECIAL NOTE—all the “religious”
movies were really, really bad. Truly sinful!
