95- Stir Crazy [5.5]
Down-on-their-luck friends are given 125-year prison sentences after being framed for a bank robbery.
The teaming of Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor is a wonderful thing, but Stir Crazy is not. What starts off as a very funny comedy quickly becomes sillier and sillier as soon as the two enter prison. It’s interesting to watch Pryor be so subdued while Wilder is over the top, but I wish the whole rodeo subplot wasn’t a part of the movie.
94- The Wave [7.0]
During a project week, high school teacher Rainer Wenger comes up with an experiment in order to explain to his students how totalitarian governments work. Within a few days, what began as harmless notions, like discipline and community, builds into a real movement.
In addition to the pressures and uncertainties that come with being a youth, there is a yearning for identification with an ideology. The Wave is an exploration of how fascism can be seductive to young, impressionable minds. It’s an interesting choice to have the film set in Germany, as the historical context of the country frames the potential of an uprising in a fascinating manner. Though some plot developments are easy to telegraph and there is a fair share of generalizations throughout, The Wave succeeds in leaving both the teacher and students accountable for their actions, thereby letting the audience view key scenes without bias.
93- Fish Story [6.5]
A rare single by an obscure rock band makes a strange voyage through time in this witty and original science fiction tale.
Fish Story is an odd movie that, until the last few minutes, seems to not be coherently structured. It is then that director Yoshihiro Nakamura makes me want to re-watch the film over again to have a better appreciation for Fish Story. I really like the emphasis he places on the power of music, but was even more impressed by how well he melded science fiction into the narrative. Fish Story isn’t for everyone (I grew a little restless towards the end) but is an interesting example of how to upend a viewer’s expectations for how a movie can be laid out over three acts.
92- Into the Abyss [6.5]
In his fascinating exploration of a triple homicide case in Conroe, Texas, master filmmaker Werner Herzog probes the human psyche to explore why people kill-and why a state kills. In intimate conversations with those involved, including 28-year-old death row inmate Michael Perry.
Each time I view a documentary, I carry a bit of suspicion with me. Regardless of the topic, a talented filmmaker can easily manipulate you in any number of ways, and I believe it’s worth being aware of when getting swept into one of these films. With that in mind, I was thoroughly impressed with how Werner Herzog largely lets you draw your own conclusions in Into the Abyss.
Having over forty years of documentary-making experience under his belt, Herzog opts to explore capital punishment by showing the facts of one particular crime case, as well as all the people surrounding it. Law officers, families of victims, and the criminals themselves explain how a series of murders went down and the rippling effects the events had on their lives. For a large part of Into the Abyss, capital punishment isn’t directly discussed (though we know at least one of the inmates will die of lethal injection in eight days from them being filmed) but the question of as to whether or not it’s right looms over the entire film.
Into the Abyss is not necessarily an enjoyable experience, nor one you’d likely watch again; however, it’s worth a viewing for how it gets you to think of a difficult subject in a non-manipulative fashion.
91- Catch-22 [8.0]
Haunted by the death of a young gunner, all-too-sane Capt. Yossarian wants out of the rest of his WW II bombing missions, but publicity-obsessed commander Colonel Cathcart and his yes man, Colonel Korn, keep raising the number of missions that Yossarian and his comrades are required to fly.
It’s quite the gargantuan task to adapt Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 into a somewhat sensical narrative, and Mike Nichols succeeds. The sheer insanity of war, the men who seek to profit from it, and the toll taken on a young man’s mind by deadly combat all get explored in this occasionally humorous, but mostly sad film.
Anchored by Alan Arkin’s manic performance as Yossarian, Catch-22 has a big tonal shift in the sobering third act, but it largely works. Though not my favorite cinematic example of war satire (that honor would belong to Dr. Strangelove), I’d like to revisit this adaptation again in the future.
90- Tucker and Dale vs. Evil [3.0]
Tucker and Dale are two best friends on vacation at their dilapidated mountain house, who are mistaken for murderous backwoods hillbillies by a group of obnoxious, preppy college kids.
Tucker and Dale vs. Evil takes a good comedy of errors premise about an hour too long. This film would’ve worked much better as a short, and its only saving grace are Tyler Labine and Alan Tudyk as the titular characters. They’re both better actors than the material they’re working with, but they play Tucker and Dale as if they were involved in a better movie.
89- Win Win [6.0]
Centering on a beleaguered attorney and part-time wrestling coach who schemes to keep his practice from going under by acting as the legal caretaker of an elderly client.
Win Win is a sweet movie that, if you’re willing to be uncynical, makes you believe that people are good at the core. That’s not to say that Win Win is a sappy or melodramatic film, but rather, that it explores the possibility of selflessness and charitably we all potentially possess.
88- Revanche [7.0]
A happily married couple becomes unlikely friends with a man whose life has been marked by chaos and violence.
Revanche is a slow but strong meditation on guilt and grief. Johannes Krisch doesn’t say a lot throughout the film, yet shows so much in the way in which he carries himself. I’d be interested to see more of director Götz Spielmann’s films.
87- Cyrus [4.5]
John, a middle-aged lonely divorced guy who, as the film opens, gets dragged to a party by his remarried ex-wife– who remains his best friend. After a few clumsy, drunken passes at a variety of women, John encounters Molly, an attractive single-mom who finds John’s social awkwardness appealing. They hit it off, and quickly begin a tender new relationship.
John C. Reilly is great at jumping back and forth between drama and comedy choices, and even playing somewhere between the two genres. That’s the kind of role he has as John in Cyrus, and yet, the performance didn’t work me. If anything, the standout for me in the film was Jonah Hill in the titular role. Though he falls into typical Jonah Hill mode later in Cyrus (albeit in a more subtle fashion. The writing required it somewhat anyway), the young actor plays an emotional damaged, if not manipulative character very well.
86- Hanna [9.0]
Hanna is 16 years old. She is bright, inquisitive, and a devoted daughter. Uniquely, she has the strength, the stamina, and the smarts of a soldier; these come from being raised by her widowed father Erik, an ex-CIA man, in the wilds of North Finland. Erik has taught Hanna to hunt, put her through extreme self-defense workouts, and home-schooled her with only an encyclopedia and a book of fairy tales.
This story may have been told in some fashion before, but I doubt it’s been done as well as it is in director Joe Wright’s Hanna. (What a wild departure for a director that has Pride and Prejudice, Atonement and The Soloist on his resume.) Between the astonishing fight scene choreography by Jeff Imada (who worked on the Bourne films) and an incredibly vibrant soundtrack by The Chemical Brothers, Hanna is not your typical revenge film.
I was pleased that Hanna didn’t delve into heavy-handed emotional territory, nor strictly stay in the realm of over the top action movies. Instead, Joe Wright found a middle ground where the audience can become invested in Hanna’s story without questioning if the violence on display is excessive. If anything, the nature of what Erik teaches Hanna are defensive/survival techniques, and the violence is almost an integral part of the overall story.
My only slight issue was with Marissa, as played by Cate Blanchett (who strangely wavers in and out of a Southern twang despite usually pulling off a very believable American accent). All of her scenes with other members of the CIA are performed fairly stilted and cold, but I imagine that’s done on purpose (it also serves as a good parallel to the relationship between Hanna and Erik). Even still, though she isn’t necessarily a two dimensional antagonist, I wish Marissa’s story went a little deeper.
Hanna kept me on the edge of my seat throughout its entire run time and I’d recommend it to anyone who likes a good blend of action, sci-fi and ass kicking female protagonists.
85- Bellflower [4.5]
Follows two friends as they venture out into the world to begin their adult lives. Literally all their free time is spent building flame-throwers and weapons of mass destruction in hopes that a global apocalypse will occur and clear the runway for their imaginary gang “Mother Medusa”.
Bellflower may be one of the first times in which I started off loathing a movie in the first act, then became heavily engrossed in the second, only to throw my hands up in frustration for the third. Director/writer/actor Evan Glodell and his crew are a talented bunch, but Bellflower is all over the place.
Thematically, the fractured narrative works, but the “gotcha” sequence towards the end is downright annoying. I’ll leave it at that as I shy away from big spoilers in my brief reviews, but if you end up loving Bellflower, email me and I can go into depth with what I found problematic.
As a final note: this question doesn’t need to be addressed in the vast majority of movies, but what the heck do any of these people do for a living? I would’ve been satisfied with someone at least mentioning going to work. Considering what occurs throughout Bellflower, I don’t believe the question to be a matter of semantics.
84- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 [6.0]
In the epic finale, the battle between the good and evil forces of the wizarding world escalates into an all-out war. The stakes have never been higher and no one is safe. But it is Harry Potter who may be called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice as he draws closer to the climactic showdown with Lord Voldemort.
Enjoyment of Deathly Hallows, Part 2 is largely contingent on your relationship to the rest of the series. As someone who has seen all of the films but hasn’t read the books, I found Part 2 to be a satisfying conclusion to the Harry Potter series. Light on character development (granted, it’s the eighth film) and heavy on action, the vast majority of Deathly Hallows takes the film into darker territory than its predecessors. This has been the logical progression from one film to the next, and a welcome one due to the stakes that J.K. Rowling set up from the beginning. With the exception of some shoddy CGI (boy, does that dragon scene look bad) and laughable aging in the epilogue, David Yates deserves praise for his work on one of the better Harry Potter films (though I still enjoy Prisoner of Azkaban the most).
83- Sin Nombre [7.0]
A Honduran teenager who reunites with her long-estranged father and attempts to emigrate to America with him in order to start a new life.
I’m not a fan of interconnecting storyline films, ala Crash. More often than not, they hit you over the head thematically or cater to a lowbrow audience by being cute in how stories overlap. Sin Nombre is, thankfully, an exception. A well acted film that hits on immigration and gang culture, I was pleasantly surprised as to how much I enjoyed it.
82- Best Worst Movie [8.5]
Troll 2 star Michael Stephenson steps behind the camera to explore the phenomenon behind the low-budget Italian-produced horror sequel that young movie fanatics have christened “the Rocky Horror of our generation” in this documentary which proves that just because a movie is awful doesn’t mean it won’t find an audience.
Best Worst Movie is such an enjoyable view because director Michael Stephenson (who was the child lead in Troll 2) chose not to approach the subject matter in a cynical fashion. Documentaries are an especially manipulative genre that can distort statements via clever edits, but that doesn’t happen here. Sure, there are few cases of people who have gone off their rocker (or already had when Troll 2 was filmed), but those scenes are fairly sad to watch and you don’t get the feeling that Stephenson is making light of these people’s problems.
At the heart of Best Worst Movie is a fascinating notion that, in some instances, quality doesn’t necessarily dictate a filmviewer’s enjoyment of a movie, but rather, how they emotionally connect to the earnest of what is being created. People recommend Troll 2 not only because it’s an awful film, but because it’s so outrageously odd and out there that it elicits emotions that other comparably bad films may not.
It’s been almost a year since I’ve started this website and having seen eighty-two movies this year, I can say I’ve seen a fair share of poorly made films. There’s something that I remember about having seen Troll 2 after a friend implored me to watch it– there was the joy of the experience, to be so riveted by something truly abysmal. Even after only one viewing, it became a memorable movie and film-viewing experience, and that in itself is why Best Worst Movie reminds me of the amazing joy of cinema– yes, even terrible cinema.
81- Harry Brown [3.5]
A gritty critique on contemporary British society about an elderly shut-in who’s spurred to action by a senseless act of violence.
Michael Caine going all vengeance badass? Sign me up! Or so I thought.
Harry Brown opens with a shocking scene of violence and sets up a movie that gradually enters bad camp territory. The film features one of the most distractingly awful scores I’ve ever heard. The 70s film noir-esque theme is incredibly out of place and the poorly executed social commentary offers no insight whatsoever into youth violence. Instead, it is handled in such broad terms that you’d think the writer didn’t even attempt a second draft of Harry Brown.
Perhaps Michael Caine is better suited in films playing a butler of a man doling out vengeance instead of doing it himself.
