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mattbrothersscriptwriter · 4 years

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My Top 20 Films of 2019 - Part Two

I don’t think I’ve had a year where my top ten jostled and shifted as much as this one did - these really are the best of the best and my personal favourites of 2019.

10. Toy Story 4

I think we can all agree that Toy Story 3 was a pretty much perfect conclusion to a perfect trilogy right? About as close as is likely to get, I’m sure. I shared the same trepidation when part four was announced, especially after some underwhelming sequels like Finding Dory and Cars 3 (though I do have a lot of time for Monsters University and Incredibles 2). So maybe it’s because the odds were so stacked against this being good but I thought it was wonderful. A truly existential nightmare of an epilogue that does away with Andy (and mostly kids altogether) to focus on the dreams and desires of the toys themselves - separate from their ‘duties’ as playthings to biological Gods. What is their purpose in life without an owner? Can they be their own person and carve their own path? In the case of breakout new character Forky (Tony Hale), what IS life? Big big questions for a cash grab kids films huh?

The animation is somehow yet another huge leap forward (that opening rainstorm!), Bo Peep’s return is excellently pitched and the series tradition of being unnervingly horrifying is back as well thanks to those creepy ventriloquist dolls! Keanu Reeves continues his ‘Keanuassaince‘ as the hilarious Duke Caboom and this time, hopefully, the ending at least feels finite. This series means so much to me: I think the first movie is possibly the tightest, most perfect script ever written, the third is one of my favourites of the decade and growing up with the franchise (I was 9 when the first came out, 13 for part two, 24 for part three and now 32 for this one), these characters are like old friends so of course it was great to see them again. All this film had to do was be good enough to justify its existence and while there are certainly those out there that don’t believe this one managed it, I think the fact that it went as far as it did showed that Pixar are still capable of pushing boundaries and exploring infinity and beyond when they really put their minds to it.

9. The Nightingale

Hoo boy. Already controversial with talk of mass walkouts (I witnessed a few when this screened at Sundance London), it’s not hard to see why but easy to understand. Jennifer Kent (The Babadook) is a truly fearless filmmaker following up her acclaimed suburban horror movie come grief allegory with a period revenge tale set in the Tasmanian wilderness during British colonial rule in the early 1800s. It’s rare to see the British depicted with the monstrous brutality for which they were known in the distant colonies and this unflinching drama sorely needed an Australian voice behind the camera to do it justice.

The film is front loaded with some genuinely upsetting, nasty scenes of cruel violence but its uncensored brutality and the almost casual nature of its depiction is entirely the point - this was normalised behaviour over there and by treating it so matter of factly, it doesn’t slip into gratuitous ‘movie violence’. It is what it is. And what it is is hard to watch. If anything, as Kent has often stated, it’s still toned down from the actual atrocities that occurred so it’s a delicate balance that I think Kent more than understands. Quoting from an excellent Vanity Fair interview she did about how she directs, Kent said “I think audiences have become very anaesthetised to violence on screen and it’s something I find disturbing... People say ‘these scenes are so shocking and disturbing’. Of course they are. We need to feel that. When we become so removed from violence on screen, this is a very irresponsible thing. So I wanted to put us right within the frame with that person experiencing the loss of everything they hold dear”.

Aisling Franciosi is next level here as a woman who has her whole life torn from her, leaving her as nothing but a raging husk out for vengeance. It would be so easy to fall into odd couple tropes once she teams up with reluctant native tracker Billy (an equally impressive newcomer, Baykali Ganambarr) but the film continues to stay true to the harsh racism of the era, unafraid to depict our heroine - our point of sympathy - as horrendously racist towards her own ally. Their partnership is not easily solidified but that makes it all the stronger when they star to trust each other. Sam Claflin is also career best here, weaponizing his usual charm into dangerous menace and even after cementing himself as the year’s most evil villain, he can still draw out the humanity in such a broken and corrupt man.

Gorgeously shot in the Academy ratio, the forest landscape here is oppressive and claustrophobic. Kent also steps back into her horror roots with some mesmerising, skin crawling dream scenes that amplify the woozy nightmarish tone and overbearing sense of dread. Once seen, never forgotten, this is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea (and that’s fine) but when cinema can affect you on such a visceral level and be this powerful, reflective and honest about our own past, it’s hard to ignore. Stunning.

8. The Irishman

Aka Martin Scorsese’s magnum opus, I did manage to see this one in a cinema before the Netflix drop and absolutely loved it. I’ve watched 85 minute long movies that felt longer than this - Marty’s mastery of pace, energy and knowing when to let things play out in agonising detail is second to none. This epic tale of the life of Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro) really is the cinematic equivalent of having your cake and eating it too, allowing Scorsese to run through a greatest hits victory lap of mobster set pieces, alpha male arguments, a decades spanning life story and one (last?) truly great Joe Pesci performance before simply letting the story... continue... to a natural, depressing and tragic ending, reflecting the emptiness of a life built on violence and crime.

For a film this long, it’s impressive how much the smallest details make the biggest impacts. A stammering phone call from a man emotionally incapable of offering any sort of condolence. The cold refusal of forgiveness from a once loving daughter. A simple mirroring of a bowl of cereal or a door left slightly ajar. These are the parts of life that haunt us all and it’s what we notice the most in a deliberately lengthy biopic that shows how much these things matter when everything else is said and done. The violence explodes in sudden, sharp bursts, often capping off unbearably tense sequences filled with the everyday (a car ride, a conversation about fish, ice cream...) and this contrast between the whizz bang of classic Scorsese and the contemplative nature of Silence era Scorsese is what makes this film feel like such an accomplishment. De Niro is FINALLY back but it’s the memorably against type role for Pesci and an invigorated Al Pacino who steals this one, along with a roll call of fantastic cameos, with perhaps the most screentime given to the wonderfully petty Stephen Graham as Tony Pro, not to mention Anna Paquin’s near silent performance which says more than possibly anyone else.

Yes, the CG de-aging is misguided at best, distracting at worst (I never really knew how old anyone was meant to be at any given time... which is kinda a problem) but like how you get used to it really quickly when it’s used well, here I kinda got past it being bad in an equally fast amount of time and just went with it. Would it have been a different beast had they cast younger actors to play them in the past? Undoubtedly. But if this gives us over three hours of Hollywood’s finest giving it their all for the last real time together, then that’s a compromise I can live with.

7. The Last Black Man in San Francisco

Wow. I was in love with this film from the moving first trailer but then the film itself surpassed all expectations. This is a true indie film success story, with lead actor Jimmie Fails developing the idea with director Joe Talbot for years before Kickstarting a proof of concept and eventually getting into Sundance with short film American Paradise, which led to the backing of this debut feature through Plan B and A24. The deeply personal and poetic drama follows a fictionalised version of Jimmie, trying to buy back an old Victorian town house he claims was built by his grandfather, in an act of rebellion against the increasingly gentrified San Francisco that both he and director Talbot call home.

The film is many things - a story of male friendship, of solidarity within our community, of how our cities can change right from underneath us - it moves to the beat of it’s own drum, with painterly cinematography full of gorgeous autumnal colours and my favourite score of the year from Emile Mosseri. The performances, mostly by newcomers or locals outside of brilliant turns from Jonathan Majors, Danny Glover and Thora Birch, are wonderful and the whole thing is such a beautiful love letter to the city that it makes you ache for a strong sense of place in your own home, even if your relationship with it is fractured or strained. As Jimmie says, “you’re not allowed to hate it unless you love it”.

For me, last year’s Blindspotting (my favourite film of the year) tackled gentrification within California more succinctly but this much more lyrical piece of work ebbs and flows through a number of themes like identity, family, memory and time. It’s a big film living inside a small, personal one and it is not to be overlooked.

6. Little Women

I had neither read the book nor seen any prior adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s 1868 novel so to me, this is by default the definitive telling of this story. If from what I hear, the non linear structure is Greta Gerwig’s addition, then it’s a total slam dunk. It works so well in breaking up the narrative and by jumping from past to present, her screenplay highlights certain moments and decisions with a palpable sense of irony, emotional weight or knowing wink. Getting to see a statement made with sincere conviction and then paid off within seconds, can be both a joy and a surefire recipe for tears. Whether it’s the devastating contrast between scenes centred around Beth’s illness or the juxtaposition of character’s attitudes to one another, it’s a massive triumph. Watching Amy angrily tell Laurie how she’s been in love with him all her life and then cutting back to her childishly making a plaster cast of her foot for him (’to remind him how small her feet are’) is so funny.

Gerwig and her impeccable cast bring an electric energy to the period setting, capturing the big, messy realities of family life with a mix of overwhelming cross-chatter and the smallest of intimate gestures. It’s a testament to the film that every sister feels fully serviced and represented, from Beth’s quiet strength to Amy’s unforgivable sibling rivalry. Chris Cooper’s turn as a stoic man suffering almost imperceptible grief is a personal heartbreaking favourite.

The book’s (I’m assuming) most sweeping romantic statements are wonderfully delivered, full of urgent passion and relatable heartache, from Marmie’s (Laura Dern) “I’m angry nearly every day of my life” moment to Jo’s (Saoirse Ronan) painful defiance of feminine attributes not being enough to cure her loneliness. The sheer amount of heart and warmth in this is just remarkable and I can easily see it being a film I return to again and again.

5. Booksmart

2019 has been a banner year for female directors, making their exclusion from some of the early awards conversations all the more damning. From this list alone, we have Lulu Wang, Jennifer Kent and Greta Gerwig. Not to mention Lorene Scafaria (Hustlers), Melina Matsoukas (Queen & Slim), Jocelyn DeBoer & Dawn Luebbe (Greener Grass), Sophie Hyde (Animals) and Rose Glass (Saint Maud - watch out for THIS one in 2020, it’s brilliant). Perhaps the most natural transition from in front of to behind the camera has been made by Olivia Wilde, who has created a borderline perfect teen comedy that can make you laugh till you cry, cry till you laugh and everything in-between.

Subverting the (usually male focused) ‘one last party before college’ tropes that fuel the likes of Superbad and it’s many inferior imitators, Booksmart follows two overachievers who, rather than go on a coming of age journey to get some booze or get laid, simply want to indulge in an insane night of teenage freedom after realising that all of the ‘cool kids’ who they assumed were dropouts, also managed to get a place in all of the big universities. It’s a subtly clever remix of an old favourite from the get go but the committed performances from Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein put you firmly in their shoes for the whole ride.

It’s a genuine blast, with big laughs and a bigger heart, portraying a supportive female friendship that doesn’t rely on hokey contrivances to tear them apart, meaning that when certain repressed feelings do come to the surface, the fallout is heartbreaking. As I stated in a twitter rave after first seeing it back in May, every single character, no matter how much they might appear to be simply representing a stock role or genre trope, gets their moment to be humanised. This is an impeccably cast ensemble of young unknowns who constantly surprise and the script is a marvel - a watertight structure without a beat out of place, callbacks and payoffs to throwaway gags circle back to be hugely important and most of all, the approach taken to sexuality and representation feels so natural. I really think it is destined to be looked back on and represent 2019 the way Heathers does ‘88, Clueless ‘95 or Easy A 2010. A new high benchmark for crowd pleasing, indie comedy - teen or otherwise.

4. Ad Astra

Brad Pitt is one of my favourite actors and one who, despite still being a huge A-lister even after 30 years in the game, never seems to get enough credit for the choices he makes, the movies he stars in and also the range of stories he helps produce through his company, Plan B. 2019 was something of a comeback year for Pitt as an actor with the insanely measured and controlled lead performance seen here in Ad Astra and the more charismatic and chaotic supporting role in Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood.

I love space movies, especially those that are more about broken people blasting themselves into the unknown to search for answers within themselves... which manages to sum up a lot of recent output in this weirdly specific sub-genre. First Man was a devastating look at grief characterised by a man who would rather go to a desolate rock than have to confront what he lost, all while being packaged as a heroic biopic with a stunning score. Gravity and The Martian both find their protagonists forced to rely on their own cunning and ingenuity to survive and Interstellar looked at the lengths we go to for those we love left behind. Smaller, arty character studies like High Life or Moon are also astounding. All of this is to say that Ad Astra takes these concepts and runs with them, challenging Pitt to cross the solar system to talk some sense into his long thought dead father (Tommy Lee Jones). But within all the ‘sad dad’ stuff, there’s another film in here just daring you to try and second guess it - one that kicks things off with a terrifying free fall from space, gives us a Mad Max style buggy chase on the moon and sidesteps into horror for one particular set-piece involving a rabid baboon in zero G! It manages to feel so completely nuts, so episodic in structure, that I understand why a lot of people were turned off - feeling that the overall film was too scattershot to land the drama or too pondering to have any fun with. I get the criticisms but for me, both elements worked in tandem, propelling Pitt on this (assumed) one way journey at a crazy pace whilst sitting back and languishing in the ‘bigger themes’ more associated with a Malik or Kubrick film. Something that Pitt can sell me on in his sleep by this point.

I loved the visuals from cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema (Interstellar), loved the imagination and flair of the script from director James Gray and Ethan Gross and loved the score by Max Richter (with Lorne Balfe and Nils Frahm) but most of all, loved Pitt, proving that sometimes a lot less, is a lot more. The sting of hearing the one thing he surely knew (but hoped he wouldn’t) be destined to hear from his absent father, acted almost entirely in his eyes during a third act confrontation, summed up the movie’s brilliance for me - so much so that I can forgive some of the more outlandish ‘Mr Hyde’ moments of this thing’s alter ego... like, say, riding a piece of damaged hull like a surfboard through a meteor debris field!

3. Avengers: Endgame

It’s no secret that I think Marvel, the MCU in particular, have been going from strength to strength in recent years, slowly but surely taking bigger risks with filmmakers (the bonkers Taika Waititi, the indie darlings of Ryan Coogler, Cate Shortland and Chloe Zhao) whilst also carefully crafting an entertaining, interconnected universe of characters and stories. But what is the point of building up any movie ‘universe’ if you’re not going to pay it off and Endgame is perhaps the strongest conclusion to eleven years of movie sequels that fans could have possibly hoped for.

Going into this thing, the hype was off the charts (and for good reason, with it now being the highest grossing film of all time) but I remember souring on the first entry of this two-parter, Infinity War, during the time between initial release and Endgame’s premiere. That film had a game-changing climax, killing off half the heroes (and indeed the universe’s population) and letting the credits role on the villain having achieved his ultimate goal. It was daring, especially for a mammoth summer blockbuster but obviously, we all knew the deaths would never be permanent, especially with so many already-announced sequels for now ‘dusted’ characters. However, it wasn’t just the feeling that everything would inevitably be alright in the end. For me, the characters themselves felt hugely under-serviced, with arguably the franchise’s main goody two shoes Captain America being little more than a beardy bloke who showed up to fight a little bit. Basically what I’m getting at is that I felt Endgame, perhaps emboldened by the giant runtime, managed to not only address these character slights but ALSO managed to deliver the most action packed, comic booky, ‘bashing your toys together’ final fight as well.

It’s a film of three parts, each pretty much broken up into one hour sections. There’s the genuinely new and interesting initial section following our heroes dealing with the fact that they lost... and it stuck. Thor angrily kills Thanos within the first fifteen minutes but it’s a meaningless action by this point - empty revenge. Cutting to five years later, we get to see how defeat has affected them, for better or worse, trying to come to terms with grief and acceptance. Cap tries to help the everyman, Black Widow is out leading an intergalactic mop up squad and Thor is wallowing in a depressive black hole. It’s a shocking and vibrantly compelling deconstruction of the whole superhero thing and it gives the actors some real meat to chew on, especially Robert Downy Jr here who goes from being utterly broken to fighting within himself to do the right thing despite now having a daughter he doesn’t want to lose too. Part two is the trip down memory lane, fan service-y time heist which is possibly the most fun section of any of these movies, paying tribute to the franchise’s past whilst teetering on a knife’s edge trying to pull off a genuine ‘mission impossible’. And then it explodes into the extended finale which pays everyone off, demonstrates some brilliantly imaginative action and sticks the landing better than it had any right to. In a year which saw the ending of a handful of massive geek properties, from Game of Thrones to Star Wars, it’s a miracle even one of them got it right at all. That Endgame managed to get it SO right is an extraordinary accomplishment and if anything, I think Marvel may have shot themselves in the foot as it’s hard to imagine anything they can give us in the future having the intense emotional weight and momentum of this huge finale.

2. Knives Out

Rian Johnson has been having a ball leaping into genre sandpits and stirring shit up, from his teen spin on noir in Brick to his quirky con man caper with The Brothers Bloom, his time travel thriller Looper and even his approach to the Star Wars mythos in The Last Jedi. Turning his attention to the relatively dead ‘whodunnit’ genre, Knives Out is a perfect example of how to celebrate everything that excites you about a genre whilst weaponizing it’s tropes against your audience’s baggage and preconceptions.

An impeccable cast have the time of their lives here, revelling in playing self obsessed narcissists who scramble to punt the blame around when the family’s patriarch, a successful crime novelist (Christopher Plummer), winds up dead. Of course there’s something fishy going on so Daniel Craig’s brilliantly dry southern detective Benoit Blanc is called in to investigate.There are plenty of standouts here, from Don Johnson’s ignorant alpha wannabe Richard to Michael Shannon’s ferocious eldest son Walt to Chris Evan’s sweater wearing jock Ransom, full of unchecked, white privilege swagger. But the surprise was the wholly sympathetic, meek, vomit prone Marta, played brilliantly by Ana de Armas, cast against her usual type of sultry bombshell (Knock Knock, Blade Runner 2049), to spearhead the biggest shake up of the genre conventions. To go into more detail would begin to tread into spoiler territory but by flipping the audience’s engagement with the detective, we’re suddenly on the receiving end of the scrutiny and the tension derived from this switcheroo is genius and opens up the second act of the story immensely.

The whole thing is so lovingly crafted and the script is one of the tightest I’ve seen in years. The amount of setup and payoff here is staggering and never not hugely satisfying, especially as it heads into it’s final stretch. It really gives you some hope that you could have such a dense, plotty, character driven idea for a story and that it could survive the transition from page to screen intact and for the finished product to work as well as it does. I really hope Johnson returns to tell another Benoit Blanc mystery and judging by the roaring box office success (currently over $200 million worldwide for a non IP original), I certainly believe he will.

1. Eighth Grade

My film of the year is another example of the power of cinema to put us in other people’s shoes and to discover the traits, fears, joys and insecurities that we all share irregardless. It may shock you to learn this but I have never been a 13 year old teenage girl trying to get by in the modern world of social media peer pressure and ‘influencer’ culture whilst crippled with personal anxiety. My school days almost literally could not have looked more different than this (less Instagram, more POGs) and yet, this is a film about struggling with oneself, with loneliness, with wanting more but not knowing how to get it without changing yourself and the careless way we treat those with our best interests at heart in our selfish attempt to impress peers and fit in. That is understandable. That is universal. And as I’m sure I’ve said a bunch of times in this list, movies that present the most specific worldview whilst tapping into universal themes are the ones that inevitably resonate the most.

Youtuber and comedian Bo Burnham has crafted an impeccable debut feature, somehow portraying a generation of teens at least a couple of generations below his own, with such laser focused insight and intimate detail. It’s no accident that this film has often been called a sort of social-horror, with cringe levels off the charts and recognisable trappings of anxiety and depression in every frame. The film’s style services this feeling at every turn, from it’s long takes and nauseous handheld camerawork to the sensory overload in it’s score (take a bow Anna Meredith) and the naturalistic performances from all involved. Burnham struck gold when he found Elsie Fisher, delivering the most painful and effortlessly real portrayal of a tweenager in crisis as Kayla. The way she glances around skittishly, the way she is completely lost in her phone, the way she talks, even the way she breathes all feeds into the illusion - the film is oftentimes less a studio style teen comedy and more a fly on the wall documentary.

This is a film that could have coasted on being a distant, social media based cousin to more standard fare like Sex Drive or Superbad or even Easy A but it goes much deeper, unafraid to let you lower your guard and suddenly hit you with the most terrifying scene of casually attempted sexual aggression or let you watch this pure, kindhearted girl falter and question herself in ways she shouldn’t even have to worry about. And at it’s core, there is another beautiful father/daughter relationship, with Josh Hamilton stuck on the outside looking in, desperate to help Kayla with every fibre of his being but knowing there are certain things she has to figure out for herself. It absolutely had me and their scene around a backyard campfire is one of the year’s most touching.

This is a truly remarkable film that I think everyone should seek out but I’m especially excited for all the actual teenage girls who will get to watch this and feel seen. This isn’t about the popular kid, it isn’t about the dork who hangs out with his or her own band of misfits. This is about the true loner, that person trying everything to get noticed and still ending up invisible, that person trying to connect through the most disconnected means there is - the internet - and everything that comes with it. Learning that the version of yourself you ‘portray’ on a Youtube channel may act like they have all the answers but if you’re kidding yourself then how do you grow?

When I saw this in the cinema, I watched a mother take her seat with her two daughters, aged probably at around nine and twelve. Possibly a touch young for this, I thought, and I admit I cringed a bit on their behalf during some very adult trailers but in the end, I’m glad their mum decided they were mature enough to see this because a) they had a total blast and b) life simply IS R rated for the most part, especially during our school years, and those girls being able to see someone like Kayla have her story told on the big screen felt like a huge win. I honestly can’t wait to see what Burnham or Fisher decide to do next. 2019 has absolutely been their year... and it’s been a hell of a year.

#top 20 #films of the year #films of 2019 #10-1 #toy story 4 #the nightingale #the irishman #the last black man in san francisco #little women #booksmart #ad astra #avengers endgame #knives out #eighth grade

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mattbrothersscriptwriter · 4 years

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My Top 20 Films of 2019 - Part One

I’m back and prising open this tomb of a blog like I’m Lara bloody Croft, let’s do this thing.

2019 was a huge year for movies and thanks in part to my ever obsessive Letterboxd account, i chalked up 150 total 2019 movies seen, which is... too many. Thanks again in part to the rise of Netflix originals, broader theatrical releases and a handful of festival showings (Sundance London, Edinburgh International Film Festival, Frightfest etc), I saw as much as I could. STILL some I didn’t catch (Rocketman, Shazam... Cats...) but as always, for my full breakdown, jump over to my Letterboxd ranking here - https://letterboxd.com/matt_bro/list/films-of-the-year-2019/

20. The Death of Dick Long

I honestly didn’t know what to expect from this, partly because it’s from one half of the ‘Daniels’ duo, who made the equally expectation-defying Swiss Army Man and also because I saw it at Sundance London back when there was no poster, trailer and barely a logline. Some vague word of mouth from Sundance proper was about it. And that’s how I’d recommend seeing it - as blind as you can - as it’s many surprises are unlike anything I’ve really seen before.

It’s a triumph of carefully balanced tone and pitch perfect black humour. Essentially a Fargo-esque tale of two idiot hillbillys who get involved in the mysterious, titular death of their friend Dick Long (played in a cameo by director Daniel Scheinert), things slowly unravel as they realise that in reality, covering your tracks and getting away with a crime is, actually, pretty damn unlikely. The tension that mounts as hidden truths inevitably begin to come to light can rival any straight thriller and the humour always comes from a place of character. But the genius comes in the film’s ability to maintain said tone with a straight face once a very specific spoiler comes to light. It’s deliberately absurdist but you still find yourself swerving from laughing at it to being wholly invested at the sincere pathos and tragi-comedy on display. The film, for all it’s surreal trappings, never punches down at it’s characters, treating them as flawed and vulnerable as any of us, and the leads Michael Abbott Jr and Andre Hyland remain a wholly tragic and relatable pair - against all odds.

19. The Farewell

Lulu Wang’s immensely crowd pleasing indie sensation manages to be many things - a witty comedy, an ode to family, an examination of another culture’s traditions and a character study of the American-Asian experience. Like most really great movies, it’s universal appeal comes from it’s specificity - telling a unique story based in a human truth that taps into themes we can all relate to: alienation from one’s own family, feeling like you don’t belong, truth and honesty within our closest relationships and our own mortality. Or more specifically still; how we would want to face death should we be fortunate/unfortunate enough to know that is is coming.

Awkwafina really is a revelation here, showing off her dramatic chops with a heartfelt performance that utilises her strengths as a funny everywoman and as a tortured individual trying to understand not only her own relatives but herself as well. The whole cast are equally impressive, especially Chen Han and Aoi Mizuhara as the clueless couple getting married and of course, Zhao Shuzhen as Nai Nai - delivering a touching portrayal of a grandmotherly figure we can all recognise. Definitely one of the most moving films of the year for me, it’s a marvel that never succumbs to easy schmaltz or signposted resolutions.

18. Pain and Glory

I’m a big admirer of Pedro Almodovar’s body of work, having studied him since college but I’d be hard pressed to say I was a proper fan. I went into this off the back of it’s buzz and came out more profoundly moved than I first predicted. This very self reflective piece tackles a lot of Almodovar staples - Spain throughout the decades, the pain of love, film-making, mothers! - but is so strongly rooted in a career best Antonion Banderas, here playing a thinly veiled and somewhat fictionalised version of Almodovar himself.

Like The Farewell, it is deeply personal but incredibly universal, dealing with life long regrets and suppressed trauma and memory. Cruz the Muse is back in magnetic form and the tenderness in both the flashbacks and present day make for a surprisingly comforting watch about an awful lot of self-examination. It also cannot be understated how strong Banderas is here, possibly the most human I’ve ever seen the man known for playing gun toting mariachis, sword wielding masked heroes and... sword wielding, um... cats. It’s possibly his most mature and unflashy role in years but he reminds us why he’s such a consistent and evergreen movie star ten times over here.

17. Dolemite Is My Name

Eddie Murphy is back baby! This was hands down one of the most joyful and life affirming films this year, so much so that I’m gutted I didn’t see it in a packed cinema instead of on Netflix. Still, it’s a huge win for the streamer. Before now, it’s been easy enough to write off a ‘Netflix’ movie as one of three things - the modern equivalent of going ‘straight to video’, a blank check passion project for a headline grabbing filmmaker (Noah Baumbach, the Coen Brothers, Martin Scorsese) or a big blatant push for awards glory (Roma). But this breaks through and hits the sweet spot, being the sort of mid-budget biopic the studios used to put out, a comeback vehicle for one of our most missed stars and as a straight up killer piece of film making all round.

From the writers of Ed Wood and the director of Hustle and Flow, Murphy stars as Rudy Ray Moore, a true over-the-hill underdog who stubbornly chases his dreams of reaching stardom as a middle aged man, who refuses to be put down in the face of mass criticism and overwhelming odds. It’s an empowerment story about pursuing what you believe in and saying fuck you to the haters. It understands that the only judge you need to answer to is yourself. It’s a testament to the power of a minority voice, in finding the unstoppable force who will fight to be seen - not just by his peers but by society at large.

I’m a sucker for films about a group of people stretched outside of their natural talents who strive to create something that wasn’t there before. Whether it’s Ed Wood or The Disaster Artist, Brigbsy Bear or Bowfinger - these movies never fail to strike a chord with me. I think championing a belief in yourself, often in the face of huge pessimism or swarms of naysayers, is so incredibly important and seeing these central figures who probably shouldn’t have succeeded, manage to do so, is so touching. The scene in the limo when they read the shitty reviews of their movie and all take a moment to arrive at the conclusion of ‘fuck them, we made a movie, it’s ours’ is an antidote to everybad review any creative endeavour may end up receiving. If it’s important to you, that’s all that matters but like all art, even if you reach one person and affect their life for the better, then it’s all been worth it.

Shining a light on the rise of Blaxploitation also helps to champion an era of outsider art that reflected the lives of millions and gave many more than chance to see themselves represented on screen as their OWN heroes and not just reductive stereotypes. Plus... Snipes is also back baby! Cripes it’s Snipes!

16. Monos

What a gargantuan feat this film is. Shooting in some of the most inhospitable locations ever seen, this tense, survivalist story of a band of young soldiers slowly imploding whilst they guard an American hostage is elemental and animalistic - a 21st century Lord of the Flies for sure.

Moises Arias is unrecognisable here as the eventual alpha Bigfoot. A former Disney star, he is most fondly remembered by me as the polar opposite Biaggio in one of my other favourite films of the decade, The Kings of Summer. The rest of the cast are fantastic too, from the captured Dr Watson (Julianne Nicholson) to the morally torn Rambo (Sofia Buenaventura). With some of the most breathtaking cinematography of the year to yet another stunning Mica Levi score, this feels like a lost Herzog masterpiece from the 70s. In other words, the kind of impossible thriller that you see all too rarely these days.

15. Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood

Any new Tarantino is a cause for celebration, especially as he approaches his long-threatened ‘final’ 10th movie. I’m a massive western guy so I’d been loving his detour into the genre through both Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight but was definitely looking forward to his depiction of 1960s Hollywood. And Tarantino being Tarantino, the western influences manage to find their way into most, if not all, of his filmography.

OUATIH certainly ended up a divisive piece. Too much of an aimless character hangout for some, not enough dramatic bite for others. I was initially left a bit cold myself, knowing I’d enjoyed what I’d seen but wondering if it would go up or down in my estimations upon a second viewing. While that second viewing still hasn’t taken place yet, I tend to believe it will be even more favourable knowing where it’s all heading. I’m in the camp that loved where this film ended up and thought it stuck the landing wonderfully and in DiCaprio and Pitt, the film found a truly dynamic and compelling central friendship fuelled by two A-listers back on A-list form. The two veterans instantly deliver some of their best work in years (DiCaprio is 10x more alive here than he was in his Oscar winning turn in The Revenant) and 2019 would go on to be Pitt’s year, alongside Ad Astra. Margot Robbie is luminous in her limited screentime and while some were disappointed she wasn’t more of a major player, he Tate is arguably the lynchpin of the whole piece. Perhaps more as a symbol than a person, sure, but the scene where she gets to witness the joy her big screen clowning brings others (complete with tactfully judged real life Tate footage) is magic.

At first glance, this could seem like QT regressing somewhat but there are moments in here that stand out as some of his best work, from DiCaprio’s stroppy meltdown to Pitt’s visit to Spahn Ranch to the whole bloody climax. If it ends up being the odd duck of his filmography (Four Rooms aside) then it will end up all the more interesting and I am already captivated.

14. Stan & Ollie

Easily the most underrated film of the year in my eyes, I sort of understand most people’s dismissal of this charming biopic as grey pound fodder and even I admit that it falls into a sub-genre quickly approaching cliche: ageing Golden Age Hollywood movie stars have one last stab at fame and redemption by reviving a stage act in the UK - see also Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool and Judy. But this is so sweetly put together in every sense and manages to transcend the biopic trappings to create a more loving portrait of two old friends accepting that they love each other. It’s about male, platonic love and that in itself is rare enough.

Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly are incredible as Laurel and Hardy respectively, both disappearing into the roles completely. Shirley Henderson and Nina Arianda provide brilliant comic support as their two very mismatched wives. The decision to focus on the duo’s later years, rather than to speed chronologically through their early days and movie making prime (glimpsed in the opening flashback) means that the film is free to draw pathos from a life long lived. There are mere hints at the history between them; chasms of time that hold so much importance yet are left to us (and to the actors) to speculate about, to draw from and to imagine. The performances are so strong that you can feel the weight of their professional careers in a sideways glance or a barbed retort or an exasperated sigh. It’s so much more interesting and allows practically the whole film to feed off this feeling that their entire lives are about to reach an impasse that we’re about to witness. This is the emotional resolution to the story of Laurel and Hardy and it’s wonderful to know that this is how it went down in real life too - that two lifelong colleagues couldn’t see how much they meant to each other until it was all about to come to an end.

Ultimately, it’s a story of loyalty and friendship in the face of a fast approaching curtain call. It’s bittersweet and truly sad, watching these two iconic titans perform to tiny crowds and hopelessly chase the dream of a comeback they both know, deep down, is long dead. It also contains two of the most tear-jerking scenes of the year: the very public bust up after one of their shows (”You loved Laurel and Hardy... but you never loved me”) and the ‘turn’ in the climax that wrong footed me so suddenly, despite it’s arguable foreshadowing, that I was almost immediately weeping. A truly touching British film of the highest calibre, it’s much more affecting that you might believe.

13. The Favourite

How does it feel like a million years since I saw this? Man, 2019 was long! Yorgos Lanthimos’ biggest hit yet, this is full of wild, punk energy and gives the period piece a real anarchic streak. Easily the best three hander in years, the ever evolving dynamic between Rachel Weisz, Emma Stone (hot off an Oscar win) and QUEEN Olivia Coleman (heading directly into an Oscar win) is a joy to watch. The dialogue is biting, the visuals sumptuous and the debauched attitude running through it makes it a wicked fun time. It’s influence is already being felt too - just check out that teaser trailer for the new Emma!

12. The Art of Self Defense

Unfairly shafted to VOD, I caught Riley Stern’s follow up to the ace Faults on the big screen whilst in Edinburgh, along with a fellow filmmaker and we had an absolute blast. Playing like a capital D dark comedy mash up of Fight Club and The Foot Fist Way if directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, Jesse Eisenberg utilises his weedy, beta male persona into an effective portrayal of a guy sick of being shit on in life, who takes up karate lessons after a traumatic mugging and slowly descends into a cult-like world of aggressive toxic masculinity.

It’s a fantastic satire of perceived manliness, with some of the funniest stuff I’ve seen all year instantly flipping into something completely shocking. It’s another great showcase for Imogen Poots, who seems to be most often caught playing students despite being in her 30s (looking at you, Black Christmas) but it’s Alessandro Nivola who utterly owns this movie as the intimidating dojo leader; a truly twisted creation that, in a just world, would be generating some serious awards buzz. Mark my words now that by the time the Sopranos prequel movie The Many Saints of Newark lands later in 2020, we’ll suddenly all be talking about him.

11. Us

Another one that feels about three years old already, Jordan Peele’s Get Out follow up finds him with free reign to really get crazy (”you wanna get crazy?”) as he uses his blank check on another bitingly original horror social satire. Leaning a bit more heavily into both the straight up genre elements AND the often-times confusing social allegories, Us is a cabin in the woods slasher that evolves into a Twilight Zone ‘what-if’ scenario before going all out with it’s underlying metaphor.

The results can occasionally be mixed but the sheer ambition on display here is invigorating and it’s captivating to sit back and let a writer/director present something to you as unique and multifaceted as this. His love for horror fuels a tense plot that constantly looks to re-shuffle the stakes every twenty minutes, Lupita Nyong’o is mindbogglingly good as two very different versions of ‘one’ character and Elisabeth Moss is the supporting standout of choice, making 2019 her year with this alongside the brilliant Her Smell... (let’s not mention The Kitchen).

COMING UP - a Canadian stuntman, a wheel of knives, space baboons and every superhero ever

#top 20 #films of the year #films of 2019 #20-11 #the death of dick long #the farewell #pain and glory #dolemite is my name #monos #once upon a time in hollywood #stan & ollie #the favourite #the art of self-defense #us

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mattbrothersscriptwriter · 5 years

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My Top 20 Films of 2018 - Part Two

A quick reminder from Part One; my full list of every 2018 film I saw in 2018 is over on my letterboxd here - https://letterboxd.com/matt_bro/list/films-of-the-year-2018-1/

On with the top ten.

10. Creed II

Although Ryan Coogler didn’t direct this second (eighth?) instalment of the Rocky/Creed saga, his influence is certainly felt and as such, that’s basically two appearances for him in my top twenty – three if you count Black Panther’s presence in Infinity War. Taking over the reins this time around is relative newcomer Steven Caple Jr, who crafts a confident follow up to Creed that is equal parts Rocky II, Rocky IV and well, Creed sequel – a move that suits the franchise just fine in my eyes.

The gritty, kitchen sink drama is still present, if glossed over slightly to reflect Adonis’ own return to stardom and riches but unlike the true excess of Rocky’s peak career, this film never quite tips into copy/paste storytelling. The fight sequences are still thrilling to behold and the one element that at first glance seemed the most questionable, actually ends up being the thing I liked the most. Yes, the return of Ivan Drago – the most cartoonish of all of Rocky’s foes (which, considering he fought Hulk Hogan and Mr. T, is saying something) adds an unexpected but most welcome depth to the antagonists. The last three films in the series have all featured genuine boxers, delivering impressive if somewhat template performances, to better ground the drama in the characters, rather than the opponents he faces. Here, the shadow of the past looms large and while having Adonis confront the sins of his father yet again could have dragged, this truly feels like the ‘season finale’ to everything. The humanisation of Drago Snr in particular, shone a sad light on what his life has been since 1985 and like all great villains, his motivation is understandable and full of pathos. The new Drago - the absolute unit Florian Munteanu - is a terrifying puppet of his father, looking like he could punch through walls, but when the emotional walls are the ones that begin to crumble in the final fight, the unexpected outcome becomes the only real way that fight could ever have concluded.

If this is the end for Adonis, he’s gone out on a high note. It certainly feels like the swansong for Rocky himself if nothing else. The Creed movies remain the benchmark for a successful legacy-quel: rebooting whilst maintaining continuity and over 40 years of character development and history.

9. Leave No Trace

Debra Granik’s powerful drama is one that really snuck up on me and probably the film that has managed to lodge itself in my head the most since seeing it for the first time.

A sparse, emotive film, it follows a father and daughter duo living, happily, off the grid until one day they are discovered and forced to attempt to reintegrate into a variety of halfway home/parole-like communities. The bond between a career best Ben Foster and breakout performer of the year, Thomasin McKenzie is fascinating to watch – often saying more with a look or a gesture than words ever could. In fact the emphasis on visual storytelling, through the beautiful cinematography and unhurried pace, allows us time to really look into the eyes of these characters and understand them a bit at a time. Nothing is clear cut from the word go and by the time one character is forced to come of age while the other one hangs onto the way things are, you slowly become aware of the emotional rugpull that is coming. These characters are easily the most realistic pairing I’ve seen this year and I can’t stress enough how that truly is through the filmmakers having the patience and ingenuity to simply let them exist in the world, leaving us as the omnipotent observer. We learn through watching and it’s the smallest details that make the biggest difference.

The inevitable conclusion is both heartbreaking and entirely necessary - and I can’t recommend checking this one out enough.

8. Revenge

A brutal kick in the teeth to the often problematic and mishandled rape-revenge sub-genre, this intense thriller flips the script and presents a story in which we are very much rooted in the heroine’s point of view. Surprise surprise- it’s a tactic that makes a huge difference and shows what a new perspective (in this case, having a female director at the helm) can bring. Who’d have thought it.

Deliberately diving straight into the typical male-gaze aesthetic we’re used to, we first see Jen (an incredibly physical and exhausting performance from Italian born newcomer Matilda Lutz) in the same way as the male characters that have brought her to this isolated villa in the desert - as a sex object. Sucking on a lollipop and being openly promiscuous, director Coralie Fargeat knows that her eventual rise from the ashes (both literal and figurative) will have more impact if our perceptions of her are challenged. The horrendous rape (crucially taking place off-screen without distasteful eroticism) and attempted murder that kick starts her roaring rampage of revenge aren’t just plot points to dwell on and then discard – rather they remain the motivation of the character.

And once the retribution begins, my God is it satisfying. With a sharp underlying humour and incredibly suspenseful editing, Jen’s survival instinct delves openly into allegory and fantasy; crafting a moral fairy tale for the modern damsel in distress. It’s an insane bloodbath of a debut feature, packed with grisly body horror, knowing ultra violence, a wicked sense of humour and a strong feminist leaning. If the next Terminator movie fucks up the franchise yet again, cut the budget back, go back to the tech-noir chase slasher of the original and give it to Coralie - it’ll be immense.

7. Mission: Impossible - Fallout

Quite simply, the best balls to the wall action film this side of Mad Max Fury Road, Fallout feels like a franchise finally realising what it’s strengths are and playing into them x1000.

There is a fun spy plot here involving our old friends, nuclear bombs gone walkabout, but the main draw is of course, Tom Cruise pushing the set pieces to insane new heights. Practically filmed motorbike chases through Paris, helicopter HALO jumps, foot chases across London rooftops and the crunchiest bathroom fight of the year, it’s a miracle anyone is still alive. The recent news of parts 7 & 8 being made back to back is enough to give any insurance company a heart attack, surely? Henry Cavill (and his moustache) is a fine addition, playing into his seemingly natural persona as a blowhard foil. Rebecca Ferguson returns with perhaps less to do that before but her presence is fast becoming an important mainstay and Simon Pegg’s Benji Dunn is always ample support. The score is also potentially a franchise best to, with Lorne Balfe making the old new again.

Ultimately, it really begs the question; where can they honestly go from here but for the time being, that’s future-Cruise’s problem. Oh and writer/director Christopher McQuarrie too.

6. You Were Never Really Here

This restrained, muscular revenge tale, like Revenge, takes the tropes of the genre and hacks away at them until the bones present the truest version of the story possible. It knows what is expected from this Taken style story and denies us almost everything, staying at all times with a mesmerising Joaquin Phoenix, brimming with rage, regret and a sense that he’s barely holding it all together. Many times throughout the film, he simply doesn’t, leading to a number of memorable moments, including an eerily still suicide attempt and a surprisingly tender beat of silent reflection with a dying goon.

Lynne Ramsay is a real master and it’s honestly such a travesty that these incredible female directors continuously keep getting shut out of awards conversations, the public eye and oftentimes, bigger filmmaking opportunities altogether. Three out of my top ten alone are female auteurs and it says something about the industry that I’m excited to mention a number that is actually that low.

Anyway, this is arthouse genre storytelling at it’s finest and one that I imagine discovering many more layers to over time.

5. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

In a film where any (every) single shot could have been my screengrab above, how could I not pick one of the most dazzling compositions of the year, as Miles Morales - finally banishing his imposter syndrome and accepting his fate as his world’s new Spider-Man - takes a leap of faith off a building and appears to ascend into his rightful kingdom.

This is the only film this year I paid to see twice in theatres and, quite honestly, I wish I’d gone a third time. It’s an exuberant coming of age tale, a superhero masterpiece and an animated meta comedy slice of brilliance. The amount it absolutely nails is downright staggering. It never loses sight of simple, clear storytelling practices, even amongst groundbreaking visuals and in doing so, becomes a true work of inspiring diversity, riffing off the idea of multiple dimensions as metaphor for how all walks of life have common dreams, fears and feelings. The dynamite ensemble cast of titular Spider-People takes a while to fully form but they are all perfectly cast, from a gruff Nicholas Cage as Spider-Man Noir to John Mulaney’s Looney Tunes creation, Spider-Ham. But the heart of the story lies with Miles learning to become the hero he never asked to be and a has-been Peter Parker finding something to live for again. Also the soundtrack is goddamn KILLER!

I never thought I’d be this excited for another Spider-Man flick - technically the fourth cinematic rendition of the character in less than twenty years - but suddenly, it’s like we have the one and only at long long last.

4. American Animals

I caught this one as the Surprise Screening at Sundance London back in June and it certainly lived up to it’s billing!

A fascinating blend of slick, cinematic docudrama and actual, documentary talking heads, this bizarre tale of four bored, idiotic college students who decide to attempt to pull off a heist mostly as a way of trying to make their mark on the world, is a compelling morality tale of loyalty, greed, stupidity and teenage angst. It’s amazing watching the grounded drama unfold, complete with revelatory performances from the likes of Evan Peters and BAFTA Rising Star nominee Barry Keoghan, whilst their real life counterparts often tell contradictory versions of the same events; a complication the drama often plays up and reacts to in real time. Seeing the real people occasionally interact with their doppelgangers is played for laughs but also pathos, as the cool sheen of having your story told by Hollywood begins to wear off as they’re slowly forced to deal with the murkier elements of what they did.

The way the film portrays memories and how time and perception can warp them is fascinating but possibly the thing it gets the most dead on is the gut wrenching feeling of approaching a point of no return - that moment when you can still turn back and walk away without repercussions. With genuinely sweaty palms, I watched them teeter on the edge of ‘are we doing this or not’ as they prepared to dive off the deep end and into the heist proper. It was simultaneously thrilling, sickening and questionable all at once and the sudden emotional gut punches hit you like a train.

3. Hereditary

Easily my favourite horror film of the year, this starts creepy and psychologically unnerving and simply cranks up a dial from spooky to outright insane and I absolutely loved it. The turn into full blown pagan madness in the third act took many people by surprise but I think it absolutely makes the movie because it’s so thrillingly earnt. Nothing in this comes out of nowhere, every aspect of the plot is seeded from the very start and the approach to supernatural calamity is much more organic than I think a lot of people realised... or perhaps wanted.

Incredibly layered and psychologically complex, it taps into familial tensions and a weighty sense of inescapable dread. Toni Collette and Alex Wolff are deliriously fantastic and the stealthy, ‘what the fuck is that behind them, do you see it yet??’ approach to the scares is SO much more ingrained, long lasting and nightmare fuel-ish than any loud bang or cheap jump scare could ever be. Get me questioning my own eyes and you’re entering a level of paranoia that film’s like this can thrive on - both during the film itself and long after it’s over.

The decapitation sequence is a masterwork of delayed reveals, queasy realisations and panicked reactions, the lighting uses blank space and dark corners to its full advantage and the integral sound design knows how to make us shit ourselves over a well timed ‘cluck’ of the tongue. The best horror debut of the year bar none.

2. The Shape of Water

I’m as pleased as anyone that Guillermo Del Toro is finally back at it again with another masterpiece. We all hoped he had another film in him that could reach the heights of Pan’s Labyrinth but while Crimson Peak has it’s fans (me included), it fell way short of that sort of greatness. But with The Shape of Water, GDT feels like he got his groove back, went all in on the film he so desperately wanted to make while he still could (least we forget, this is the same visionary filmmaker who couldn’t make Hellboy 3 let alone any one of his many other projects burning in development hell - say hello At The Mountains of Madness) and won big - Oscar glory for an old fashioned B-movie about falling in love with a fish man. Go to hell Crash.

It’s a story that elevates the marginalised - characters who are disabled (deaf), or different (i.e. gay, black or working class in conservative 50s Americana) and positions them as the heroes of their own world. It’s also a concept that inspires me in my own writing - that idea of taking a huge sci-fi conceit (fishman experimented on in secret government facility) but focusing on the janitors instead. There could have been another, more ‘traditional’ movie happening at exactly the same time; one about a handsome 20-something fighting the Michael Shannon villain whilst getting sucked into a love triangle with A-listers at every turn, but here, the lab characters such as Shannon and a wonderful Michael Stuhlbarg, almost seem confused to even be having to deal with the leads we do get - the lovesick deaf cleaner, her sassy co-worker and her shy, quiet neighbour. It’s a beautiful switcheroo of focus and opens up a whole other side to a well trodden aspect of monster movie. Doug Jones is also brilliant, having to do a lot more heavy lifting than usual as the aquatic fish man - thriving under layers of intricate prosthetics in what is surely his defining role with GDT.

Ultimately, it’s a story about true love, which can seem like a dime a dozen, but a flat romcom this ain’t - by giving it this otherworldly turn, we can perhaps begin to see what true love really looks like... someone who accepts you, warts (or scales) and all.

1. Blindspotting

I simply don’t know where to start.

This was one of those experiences where I realised half way through that it might be a five star film. Then by the next scene, I realised that was definitely the case. Then by the next it was clear that it was going to be Film of the Year material. And by the end credits, I couldn’t even breathe.

It’s so rare to see a film that is so perfectly executed by the people behind it. The script, the direction, the performances, the tone. These things can all be great, separately, in a great movie but here, it’s more than that. It’s a homerun on every front, in a way that should be statistically impossible. It’s a mission statement. It’s a mirror to the world today. It’s a buddy comedy. It’s a buddy tragedy. It is life. And it says something to the power of cinema that a story about a black man from Oakland trying to stay out of trouble whilst in the final few days of his probation can affect me this much. That, obviously, is not me or my world. But as Roger Ebert famously said, ‘Movies are the most powerful empathy machine in all the arts’ and I don’t think that statement is more true than with films like Blindspotting.

Daveed Diggs (star, co-writer) is Collin, a good man who made a bad choice. He’s doing everything he can to get back on the right track, working with his best friend Miles (Rafael Casal - co-lead, other co-writer) - a hot headed mischief maker who seems oblivious to the ease at which Collin could get into trouble under his watch. Their dynamic of course speaks to the unfair perceptions of white vs black citizens in America right now, casting Miles as the gangster wannabe wild card and Collin as the sensible, peaceful man. Miles is blind to the fact that he gets away with so much because of his white privilege, something that doesn’t go unnoticed by Collin (and hopefully, us). So while Collin tries to tiptoe around his volatile friend (and co-worker: they get by as removal men and side hustlers) the whole situation is a powder keg waiting for the fuse to be lit. That underlying tension becomes increasingly unbearable - both as Miles flies further off the handle (in one scene, beating a hipster partygoer to a bloody pulp) and as we begin to suspect that a near-literal Chekov’s Gun is bound to come into play before the end. The playful fakeouts and unbearably tense near misses seem only to cement the fact that it is inevitable but when the time comes, it results in maybe my most memorable sequence of the year.

Tackling themes as broad as police brutality to gentrification with the same thoughtful and artistic approach, the film never forgets to be funny too. The opening gun sale scene set in a ridiculous Uber is practically a Key & Peele sketch and the genuine - if tested - friendship between Collin and Miles feels as authentic as any. But it’s the small beats of truth that suddenly pop out at you and stick you directly in Collin’s shoes - whether that’s the moment a young child gleefully throws his hands into the air as he practices what not to do to get shot by a cop or when Collin tearfully asks his ex Val which version of him she thinks of first... the man he was or the man who made a mistake - these are the parts that have you thinking about it days after you’ve seen it.

So much more than another, low budget indie dig at modern, West Coast culture, this film, to me, manages to feel important, timeless, engaging and meaningful. See. It. Now.

#top 20 #films of the year #films of 2018 #10-1 #creed 2 #leave no trace #revenge #mission impossible fallout #fallout #you were never really here #spiderverse #spider-man #into the spider verse #american animals #hereditary #the shape of water #blindspotting

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mattbrothersscriptwriter · 5 years

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My Top 20 Films of 2018 - Part One

Hello people, time to once again resurrect this defunct blog to ramble about some films again. You may notice a trend if you scroll back through.

OK so I saw a BUNCH of movies this year, thanks again in part to some fantastic arts cinemas, film festivals (well, Sundance London and Frightfest) and yet another banner year for Netflix original content. There were many I didn’t catch like A Star is Born, First Reformed, Aquaman, BlackkKlansman etc but for my FULL ranking of all 135 films I did manage to see, as always go to my letterboxd list here - https://letterboxd.com/matt_bro/list/films-of-the-year-2018-1/

Alrighty then, let’s kick things off:

20. A Quiet Place

As a writer who is hugely inspired by high concept ideas with a grounding in genre, it thrilled me no end to see this ‘elevator pitch’ of a thriller do so well, both critically and commercially. Set in a world where making the slightest noise means certain death from these horrifying, Starship Trooper looking motherfucking bug aliens, we follow a desperate family trying to survive and all the hardships that entails when communication is cut down to a bare minimum.

Of course, this film – which in the wrong hands with a lesser script could easily devolve into a Birdemic style mess – has a helping hand right out the gate in both the star power and gravitas of Emily Blunt and the assured (almost TOO assured) direction of co-star John Krasinski. Their performances ground the action superbly (along with the excellent, actually deaf newcomer Millicent Simmonds) and the tension can be cut with a knife for practically the entire runtime. Famously, people’s enjoyment of the film usually came down to how well behaved their cinema audiences were, which is perhaps the most cruellest of circumstances because the irony is that this is a film that simply must be seen with a rapt audience in a huge dark room… but the second anyone breaks the unwritten code of the cinema, the illusion is shattered. Luckily, within the first three minutes, my crowd were practically holding their breath to maintain the silence. And when I felt a sneeze coming on, let me tell you, that was maybe the scariest moment of the lot!

A tense thrill ride with a genuine ‘why didn’t I think of that’ premise, A Quiet Place is another runaway success for modern horror and I truly hope the inevitable sequels don’t fuck with it’s power.

19. Avengers: Infinity War

Inevitable spoilers for the ending of Infinity War below:

The blockbuster to end all blockbusters, this culmination of ten years of the MCU was a huge triumph, somehow managing to juggle a billion characters jostling for screen-time via some savvy scripting and a focus on a core combination of story strands; namely Thor’s personal journey of revenge, the last stand at Wakanda, Tony’s crew misadventures in space and Thanos being ingeniously positioned as the protagonist. For a mainstream Disney movie to essentially end with the villain winning, there were perhaps no bigger statement this year than the words ‘Thanos Will Return’ at the end of the credits, cementing the fact that while we thought we had been watching a fun, superhero greatest hits package, we’d actually been watching the story of an ambitious, driven individual overcome the odds and claim his victory over all those pesky superheroes. Yes, his plan might be insane but you have to hand it to him; he did it. He actually did it.

This being a comic book movie - with at least a further ten years of comic book movies to come - obviously means that what is done can always be undone but still, this climax provided such a stark (pun intended) resolution that it left half of my audience in stunned silence and the other half in tears.

Outside of the game changing finale, the film has a lightning pace and a whole host of fun set pieces, characters colliding (hello Rocket meets Bucky) and a real sense of... at least occasional... intimacy that somehow doesn’t get completely swallowed up by the spectacle.

18. Annihilation

Now here is a fascinatingly original sci-fi movie that I just was utterly transfixed and terrified by. Much like Jonathan Glazer’s mesmerising Under the Skin, this jettisoned much of the source novel (outside of the general premise and characters) in favour of a stronger focus on the things that a visual medium can really excel at, namely atmosphere, tone and deeply disconcerting visuals/sound design. I quite enjoyed Jeff VanderMeer’s book but this feels like a much more authored and singular vision. Book weirdness has been replaced by movie weirdness and it actually ends up feeling like a true adaptation and if any book truthers are upset, believe me it could have been so much worse.

A group of scientists, led by a stoic Jennifer Jason Leigh, including Natalie Portman, Gina Rodriguez and Tessa Thompson, venture into ‘the shimmer’, a baffling electromagnetic field surrounding a crashed alien meteor. Each has their reasons for volunteering for this suicide mission and they are soon faced with the simply unknowable machinations of this particular alien biology, leading to some incredibly memorable encounters, not least of which is a nightmarish mutant bear attack. The practically wordless finale is something I WISH I could have seen for the first time on the big screen.

Eerie, haunting and a miracle of mid-budget, practically distribution-less filmmaking, this is one I can see revisiting many times over and I continue to be obsessed over anything Alex Garland is involved with.

17. Anna and the Apocalypse

Now here’s a surprise. And a delight. And a goddamn joyful burst of sunshine in a bleak bleak world. I went along to see this at the Frightfest Film Festival in August and boy did it deliver. It’s a (*huge breath*) super independent, low budget, Scottish, high school, coming of age, zombie comedy… Christmas… musical! That’s too many things, I hear you say! And normally you may be right but this film has so much heart, so many breakout stars, so many ingenious, human moments, that it transcends the hurdles of it’s genre mashup trappings and actually works dammit.

The film follows Anna (a wonderful, future star in the making Ella Hunt) who falls out with her father (Mark Benton, the heart and soul of the piece) when she tells him that when school finishes, she’d rather go travelling than go to university. Dad being Dad, he’s appalled at the notion and though he clearly has her best interests at heart, their relationship has been strained since Anna’s mother died and this conflict soon gets ugly. Joining her in this teenage angst are her friends; John (Malcolm Cumming), her best friend who is hopelessly in love with her, Steph (Sarah Swire – who pulls double duty as the film’s choreographer) a gay American outcast, Chris (Christopher Leveaux) a struggling filmmaker and Lisa (Marli Siu), Chris’ girlfriend and talented singer. Together, they butt heads with the panto villainy of the hilarious, scene stealing, scenery chewing Paul Kaye as the maniacal headmaster Mr Savage. Then of course, comes the ultimate spanner in the works… a zombie apocalypse.

As the film pivots from charming high school/slice of life melodrama to genuinely threatening zombie horror comedy, we cannot forget about the musical numbers (!), which are all pretty uniformly catchy as hell, singalong ready and really fucking integral to the entire emotional arc. You start out laughing as Anna sings her way to school completely oblivious to the zombie uprising happening behind her but by the time she’s singing a powerful duet with her father during the finale, there won’t be a dry eye in the house either. It’s a credit to the consistent tone and solid performances that the whole thing doesn’t descend into an overlong sketch and it’s the core relationships that make you care and give weight to the heavier moments in the second half.

It’s funny, smart, endlessly rewatchable and bound to be a new Christmas staple but above all else, it earns it’s emotional gut punches, marrying showtunes with real, life or death stakes that the film doesn’t fuck about with or ignore. People die here, sometimes unfairly but that’s the key to a great zombie flick. And if nothing else, you’ve got bad boy Nick (a stand out Ben Wiggins) shepherding his gang of idiot lads lads lads as they gleefully smash zombie heads in whilst singing “when it comes to killing zombies, I’m the top of my class!”.

The year’s best kept secret and a real hidden gem. Seek it out.

16. Black Panther

Ryan Coogler man… Ryan fucking Coogler.

Fruitvale Station and Creed are both five star movies to me and while this foray into the Marvel machine didn’t quite hit those heights, I think he did the best job he could have in blending his own style, ethos and interests with another chapter in the MCU – a production line rather famous for (until recently) stamping out individuality in favour of the bigger, uniformed picture. Sometime around Phase 2, we were getting somewhat bland creative choices like Alan Taylor (Thor: The Dark World) and losing auteurs like Edgar Wright (initially set for Ant Man) but after the success of the nutty, bold and gleefully anarchic Guardians of the Galaxy, it’s like the flood gates opened, Kevin Feige learned the lesson of diversity and taking bold risks in his directors and suddenly we had a mostly improvised Thor movie from idiosyncratic Kiwi Taika Waititi and then Black Panther.

Having introduced the character in Captain America: Civil War, this film was free to dive right in – and what a world we’re introduced to, one full of colour, afro-futurist designs and the grand daddy of Marvel villains (in my eyes) in the form of Coogler’s lucky charm, Michael B. Jordan, as Killmonger. Here was a man who believed himself abandoned and betrayed by his own people - his own family - who had massively different ideas about what Wakanda’s secretive technological advancements could do for other marginalised societies around the world. Of course, this being a comic book, his plan inevitably boils down to arming terror factions but in theory, it did address the imbalance and selfishness of the Wakandan people.

Outside of some dodgy super suit vs super suit CG fight scenes and some rather silly battle scenes involving rhinos, this was the most engaging and confident Marvel movie in some time, with the aforementioned B. Jordan and T’Challa himself Chadwick Boseman being supported by a whos who of incredible performers, from Letitia Wright and Lupita Nyong’o to Daniel Kaluuya and Andy Serkis.

15. The Square

This film killed me. It’s so very very dry in its humour and nearly every scene plays out in these often painfully long takes but it never fails in making every moment that bit funnier as a result, swinging right round from awkward to cringe back to hilarious again. From Christian’s (Claes Bang) repeated encounters with a very angry child to a deliriously off-kilter Elisabeth Moss fighting for control of a used condom, there’s a Curb-like immaturity to many of the sequences here that clash with the high brow, art world characters that populate it.

Not to mention one of the scenes of the year - period - as Terry Notary terrorises an elitist crowd of poshos, descending into performance art hijinks as he embodies a roaming Gorilla. Becoming genuinely threatening as the line between acceptable “art” and full blown menace gets increasingly blurred, the reactions (or lack thereof) from many of the crowd says much more than words maybe ever can.

14. Summer of 84

Another genre hit that I caught at Frightfest, this is the follow up to one of my favourite films of 2015: Turbo Kid. Directed once more by RKSS (the group moniker for François Simard, Anouk Whissell and Yoann-Karl Whissell) the film seems to operate, at first glance, in the same territory as their previous movie (aka as a horror influenced, 80s throwback) but it is treated with a completely different tone. Whereas Turbo Kid is ‘Mad Max on BMXs made like an 18 rated Saturday morning cartoon’, this plays like a much straighter Stephen King style pulp thriller.

The comparisons to Stranger Things are inevitable (group of nerdy teenage boys, suburbia, bikes etc) but unfair. This story doesn’t wallow in nostalgia, rather it is played like a film from the 80s rather than knowingly about the 80s. Yes there are references but they aren’t shoehorned in and it doesn’t take long for the central mystery to take centre stage. A little bit Rear Window, it follows these goofy teenagers (all unknowns to my eyes, all equally brilliant and believable) who begin to suspect that their homely, cop neighbour (Mad Men’s Rich Sommer) is actually a serial killer. It’s to the film’s credit that the outcome of this central question – is he or isn’t he – teeters back and forth so well for so long... that by the time it nosedives into a nasty, pulpy final act - taking the conventions you’ve come to expect and beating you into the ground with them - your heart will be so far in the back of your throat that you won’t notice. And again, another classy retro score from Le Matos helps tie this all together.

A genuine change of pace from RKSS, despite the continued 80s fixation, and further proof that they have many more tricks up their sleeve.

13. First Man

Along with Ryan Coogler, Damian Chazelle is the other wunderkid whose career has been producing nothing but five star films for me (well, Whiplash and La La Land; I haven’t seen his actual debut). And First Man, like Black Panther, is another one that gets really close to perfection but falls slightly short. Having said that, I definitely think I like First Man a lot more than the general audience consensus. People have complained about its insular, intimate focus on a rather dull, introverted lead subject and the nauseating treatment of space travel but I loved both of these elements.

This is less a film about triumphantly going to the moon and waving a flag around and more about a grieving man who is so out of touch with his own emotions that he a) speaks to his own children as if he’s attending a press conference and b) is hurting so internally that rather than talk to anyone about the loss of his daughter, he’d rather make the dangerous, unprecedented, insane mission to a cold, dead rock about as far away from anyone as you can get. That feeling - of wanting to shut yourself away from literally everyone - is universal. The actualisation of it - man goes to moon - is personal. And made history. And having the foresight to connect that emotional journey of Neil Armstrong with the otherwise feel-good true story of astronauts (and America!) winning the space race is genius.

Add to that compelling supporting turns from everyone from Claire Foy, Kyle Chandler, Christopher Abbott and Shea Wigham, another dynamite score from long-time collaborator Justin Hurwitz and some nerve shredding rocket based set pieces and what you have is a fresh direction for Chazelle to take and one that I think we be re-evaluated in the years to come when his filmography expands to much more than just jazz-infused dramas.

12. Phantom Thread

This film is just gorgeous. A riveting character study of a supremely difficult man, Phantom Thread portrays a constant battle for dominance in a troubled yet surprisingly cinematic relationship. Vicky Krieps and Lesley Manville give as good as they get from Daniel ‘this is my last film, I swear’ Day-Lewis, an undeniable acting giant who effortlessly breathes as much life into Reynolds Woodcock here as he did Daniel Plainview before, in his last collaboration with Paul Thomas Anderson.

Beautifully shot with another fantastic score from Johnny Greenwood, this one really feels like old school movie magic, like a lost melodrama from the 50s but with a modern mentality bubbling underneath, ready to blow it’s top at the mere, ear-splitting scrape of butter on toast.

11. Widows

Who’d have imagined the director of Hunger, Shame and 12 Years a Slave would be the one to team up with Gone Girl’s Gillian Flynn to deliver one of the best action thrillers of the year?

Adapted from the 80s TV mini-series and given a modern makeover, this film wastes no time getting right to the important stuff as Liam Neeson’s latest heist takes a deadly turn, leaving the widows of him and his crew to deal with the fallout of the failed money grab. Forced into desperate action to pay off their debts, Viola Davis leads this mismatched group of women into the belly of the beast. The cast in this thing is insane - even outside the main players (Elizabeth Debicki, Michelle Rodriguez, Cynthia Erivo) you have Colin Farrell, Bryan Tyree Henry (having one hell of a year), Daniel Kaluuya, Robert Duvall, Carrie Coon, Jacki Weaver, Garrett Dillahunt... not a weak link amoung them.

It’s clear that McQueen is a master storyteller and this is a supremely exciting and suspenseful thriller that if nothing else, adds fuel to my ‘Jon Bernthal shared universe’ fan-theory, haha. Imagine, if you will, that he plays the same character in this as he does in Baby Driver. In both films, he takes part in an opening heist and then disappears for the rest of the movie. In Baby Driver, as he’s walking off after a job well done, he says that if you don’t see him again, he’s probably dead. Cut to him joining up with Neeson on THIS job and promptly getting blown to pieces.

Boom.

COMING UP - star shaped earrings, reloading biceps, fish sex and a mutant pig

#top 20 #films of the year #films of 2018 #20-11 #a quiet place #avengers #infinity war #annihilation #anna and the apocalypse #black panther #the square #summer of 84 #first man #phantom thread #widows

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mattbrothersscriptwriter · 6 years

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Once Upon A Time

I’d like to have a little ramble and shout into the void about a truly unique, life affirming and heartfelt movie. Not because any of this hasn’t been covered before - I’d bet my guitar case full of coins it has. Not as a review or a hot take or a think piece, though perhaps it’s a little of all of those things. But because I recently rewatched the 2007 musical drama Once (dir: John Carney) and it reminded me how much this movie makes me fucking feel… which is also the hardest thing for me to eloquently put down into words but hey, I’ll try.

Once tells the simple story of Guy (Glen Hansard), a busker in Dublin who lives with his Dad and works in his hoover repair shop. He’s a talented musician but is still living in the shadow of a long since broken relationship, something that evidently both haunts and drives him. This inner conflict has inevitably kept him stranded in the same place – possessing the skills and the ambition to transform his passion into a career but lacking the courage and the heart to truly see it through. That is until he meets Girl (Markéta Irglová), a Czech immigrant who gets by selling flowers and the Big Issue. She’s a keen pianist and the unlikely pair quickly form a unique friendship, bonding over songwriting, heartbreak and Dublin itself.

Shot for next to nothing in three weeks, it’s a film so raw (and perfectly suited to that style) that just a single step in either direction would shatter the illusion. Too glossy and the magic is somehow lost. Any more ramshackle and there probably wouldn’t be a finished film to even worry about. Cillian Murphy was supposed to play Guy but dropped out, making way for director John Carney to convince Hansard, who was already set to write the music, to take the natural next step and just play the role himself.

It’s a story that manages to exist in the moment like nothing else I’ve really seen, thanks in part to the guerrilla style production but also thanks to its immense, bittersweet heart and commitment to bottling the ‘life as it happens’ feeling. It’s how we all experience life after all and it’s only afterwards that we may look back on certain memories as feeling like scenes from a movie: those perfectly captured instances where decisions have huge consequences and it feels like some higher power is writing you into a cruel plot twist or inevitable turning point. Its one thing to physically make a movie feel so grounded but to write and perform it that way too shows a real understanding of the tone they were aiming for – and absolutely nailing in the process.

It’s a joyful movie but an effortlessly melancholy one too. Like I said, it’s bittersweet. Anyone who has ever had a dream, ever been in love or ever wished for something more, you can understand and feel all of that through one look at Hansard’s exhausted face. Avoiding saccharine movie tropes and clichés, he’s simply a bloke who rides the bus with his guitar. Who chases thieves stealing his busking money. Who exists in our world. We probably see him every day, out on the streets or hunkered away in a corner of the tube. His or her music echoing through crowds, ignored by most but probably connecting to more people than we might think.

Guy never seems more vulnerable than when he’s hiding behind a forced smile or his sad, puppy dog eyes and watching this mask of happiness slowly blossom into something genuine is where the film really hits me. It reminds us that we have to seek change – or allow change to happen to us – to move from where we are to where we want to be.

I love how Guy is a thirty something pessimist whilst Girl, despite living with just as much of an uncertain, unstable future as Guy, is a ray of sunshine in comparison. She’s a stubbornly joyful extrovert, happily striking up conversations with strangers - a comically recurring trait that rewards her with casual piano practice in the music shop, helps to secure a bank loan for the recording session AND score a reduced charge for the studio hire later on. It’s the ‘if you don’t ask, you won’t get’ mentality, utilised by someone with no ulterior motives; a real pure soul who finds happiness in what she has, not what she’s lacking.

She speaks her mind, unconcerned with any risk of social awkwardness. Her abrupt “I have to go now” way of announcing she’s leaving becomes something of a catchphrase and it works wonderfully in establishing not just the generational difference between the two characters but the cultural one as well. I really love how we first meet her in the film – when she is drawn to Guy performing his most emotionally raw song (the amazing ‘Say it to Me Now’) all alone, in the middle of the night. This exorcism of his repressed feelings, expressed only through his music, is in fierce contrast to Girl’s happy go lucky outlook and she wastes no time in probing him for the truth.

This film is one of the most genius, underplayed and natural musicals ever – essentially doing the ‘bursting into song’ thing whilst remaining firmly in reality, never quite breaking that thinly veiled fourth wall that all other musicals do. Here, it’s in a beautifully captured song-writing-on-the-fly sequence (‘Falling Slowly’) or a late night jam session between family and acquaintances (‘Gold’) or in a great sequence where Girl sings lyrics to an instrumental track given to her by Guy whilst on a walk back from the corner store to buy batteries (’If You Want Me’). It’s so relatable; from the street kids watching her go past to her fluffy slippers to the clunky portable CD player in her hand. Who hasn’t done something like that? A more traditional musical might have been tempted to convert the pedestrians to background singers, cooing harmonies over her shoulder or snapping their fingers in a dance routine through the street but this film shows that life can be full of ‘movie-adjacent’ moments and not feel cheaply earnt whilst portraying them.

This movie is something of an Irish, folksy Before Sunrise – except Guy is probably in the period of his life where he’s actually living in Before Sunset (jaded, wondering what could have been) whilst Girl is firmly in Sunrise (open to new connections, optimistic about the present). They’re on different paths and perhaps even swap roles throughout, with Guy becoming more enlightened and eager for new experiences whilst we learn that Girl is caring for a small child who is product of her past. These two never really come to any real conflict themselves. The closest they maybe get is when Guy makes an awkward, kinda sad pass at her one night – but it’s practically all forgiven and forgotten by the next day. That’s real life too and I’m glad a moment like that is addressed in the story but promptly resolved. It doesn’t need to be this instance of overly contrived setup/payoff, it’s just a misunderstanding that the characters are aware enough to acknowledge and put aside. In fact, so much of this narrative goes against the grain. Guy never gets ‘the Girl’. He chooses to chase down a woman who is probably bad for him. And Girl ends up giving her husband another shot – a character we’ve never met and have barely heard about. Again, just because we aren’t aware of a person’s backstory doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist or that we’re responsible for making any grand change to the way things pan out. Here, a kind gesture of purchasing a piano for a kindred spirit is more than enough… if a little unpractical.

So much of this movie acts as a mirror to the lives of the people making it. The struggling artist narrative is straight out of Hansard’s life, even recording the demo tape in the same studio as he once did. The ex-girlfriend who moved to London is right out of Carney’s own past. All of this helps blur the line between fact and fiction, The scene where Girl tells Guy that she loves him, unprompted and ingeniously unsubtitled, is perhaps the most quietly powerful moment in the film – because the line between performance and truth is shattered as we, like Guy AND Hansard, perhaps can’t tell who’s saying what anymore – the character or the actor. In reality, it may have been both. And it’s captured right there on screen. Lightning in a bottle.

Arguably, this film is set in the last era of when a story like this could be romantic – or at least romanticised. If it was made today, in 2018, Guy would be recording in his bedroom, uploading to Soundcloud, plugging his Patreon page and filling a Youtube account with cover songs sang directly to his webcam. There’s no doubt that the advancements in technology has added an artifice to the whole struggling artist thing and it means something very different in this day and age. Here, in the far flung days of the mid 00s, there’s no real social media presence (Myspace was sort of at its peak but was more of a Facebook precursor than the platform for music it slowly morphed into) and Guy ends the movie with a handful of CDs to show for his time in the studio. Ah physical media, how I miss thee… sometimes…

This is definitely one of those movies that is firmly lodged in my brain. Despite only having watched it twice, three times at most, I’ve had the soundtrack on rotation for ten years and the time I caught Glen Hansard himself in concert (at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire in 2015, natch) was legitimately one of the most memorable gig experiences I’ve ever been to. Everything from the setlist to the showmanship to the intimacy to the grandeur, it was just incredible. An unplugged encore starting with Say It To Me Now up on a balcony in the crowd through to Falling Slowly on piano? Woop woop!

But I digress… this is a film that is firmly time-stamped in my memory. I watched it on the very same night that I first properly met someone who ended up becoming a huge part of my life. Nearly ten years ago to the day, me and some friends - energised by both the movie and the hazy summer evening - trekked across town to a housewarming party. This was a decision which would inevitably change the very direction of my life, which is insane when you really sit down and think about it… and being able to pinpoint the origin of such a huge personal crossroads is kinda what Once is all about so it really does resonate.

And I think this rewatch really did resonate, because I now saw myself more as the cynical, pessimistic person Guy is at the start of the film – just trying to keep on keeping on and push himself out of his comfort zone. To achieve something special or worthwhile. Without getting too personal, I can be my own worst enemy and while 2008 mostly feels more like a lifetime ago, there are times when it feels like it was just yesterday and I blinked and went from then to now in a flash. And we all have these moments. Be it meeting someone influential, deciding to move house, to travel to a new country, to quit that job and take that risk; they can be scary or freeing or even traumatic but they’re an element of life that movies strive to replicate… and this one just does so by downplaying the weight of these moments rather than draw attention to them in an artificial manner.

John Carney has said that the title of the film is in reference to other talented musicians and artists that he knew, who always said ‘once I do this and once I do that, then I’ll pursue my passion’ etc, referring to the realities (and the safety nets) of life that can sometimes stop people from taking the plunge and chasing their dreams. I’ve definitely felt the same way and have constantly had that conversation inside my own head: that once I get these things sorted then these things lined up then I’ll do such and such and how in the end, time just keeps on moving regardless… so you have to act.

This film is about making that choice to act.

#once #glenhansard #marketa irglova #john carney #ireland #dublin #indie film #musical #falling slowly

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mattbrothersscriptwriter · 6 years

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My Top 20 Films of 2017 - Part Two

Ok, so about ten minutes ago I finished watching my last 2017 film of the year. For my FULL list - all 127 films watched in order of preference - jump on over to my Letterboxd page: https://letterboxd.com/matt_bro/list/films-of-the-year-2017/

Alright, top 10:

10. Logan

In a time when a lot of people still bemoan the existence of so many comic book movies (occasionally, with a point) this has been a stellar year for them. Marvel’s triple whammy of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, Spiderman Homecoming and Thor Ragnarok were all excellent, heartfelt, fun knockouts and Wonder Woman was a terrific showcase for both Gal Gadot and Patty Jenkins (not to mention hugely important in its own right). Only Justice League really fell back on old tired habits and resulted in a bizarre mashup of tone and purpose and featured the single most damning piece of CGI buffoonery ever conceived in Henry Cavill’s ‘we’ll fix it in post’ deleted moustache. That really is one for the ages.

But I could never have foreseen the power and beauty of something like Logan, a near-perfect capper to a spinoff trilogy that began with the God-awful Wolverine Origins. It’s strengths come from it’s convictions – this isn’t an episodic story servicing a franchise, this is a true stand alone character piece, focusing on the rarest of things – an actual ending to a beloved, previously untouchable, immortal superhero. Played out as a tragic western with claws, the film beautifully champions the importance of family and love, seen (at last) through the eyes of those that never dreamed they would experience it, let alone fight for it. With some fantastic action set pieces to boot too, this one really has its cake and its eat and is also a real sight to behold – I saw it for a second time in it’s gorgeous black and white ‘Logan Noir’ cut and every frame is a revelation. Huge props to Patrick Stewart too, delivering a devastating performance of a character is has also lived with for the past SEVENTEEN years.

9. Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool

This film is a heartbreaker. My God. Definitely the most surprising cinema-going experience I had this year. I went with a friend of mine and by the time the credits were rolling, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house – best encapsulated by a burly scouser sat behind us who was openly saying “Fuck me, didn’t expect that for a Sunday afternoon. Jesus! How bloody brilliant was that!? Got any tissues?’.

Focusing on the later years of Hollywood starlet Gloria Grahame (Annette Bening on Oscar sweeping form), it finds her semi-washed up and treading the boards in London where she meets and falls for Peter Gallagher (Jamie Bell – never better than this) another actor, half her age. The tenderness and straight forwardness of their pairing is so refreshing, never making an issue or point about the older woman/younger man dynamic unless directly challenged by other characters (including Gloria’s bratty sister Joy) or themselves. The most effective emotional beats of this film aren’t signposted and drawn out for Oscar clip schmaltzyness but instead hit you in a sudden burst of passionate regret; hurtful words said in anger or defence – truly proving that the most harmful things you can say to someone you love are all too easy to let slip out before you’ve had a chance to think about what you’re saying. But the damage is done.

The film-making here is exceptional too. What could have been a rather dry biopic is given such momentum through brilliantly executed scene transitions and a flashback-enhanced narrative that keeps us embroiled in the present day scenes of Gloria succumbing to cancer whilst we watch their initial courtships and brutal arguments from the months and years leading up to it. The supporting cast that includes Julie Walters, back as Bell’s mother and Stephen Graham as his brother are brilliant but this is Bening/Bell’s movie and they knock it out of the park.

8. Baby Driver

My big birthday blowout screening of the year, following last year’s Aliens 30th anniversary showing, Baby Driver did not let me down. All the usual energy, narrative foreshadowing and tightly controlled construction you’ve come to expect from an Edgar Wright flick blown out onto a much bigger and more confident scale. The genius pairing of getaway driver crime heist flick and vehicular musical allows for some hugely inventive set pieces, from the opening police chase set to Bellbottoms by the John Spencer Blues Explosion to the car-on-car parking lot duel with Queen’s Brighton Rock echoing through the tunnels.

Ansel Elgort delivers a breakout turn and everyone from Jon Hamm, Jamie Foxx and Kevin somebody-or-other are having a ball playing bad. The romance with waitress Lily James initially feels a little under cooked but it all plays into the escapist fairytale of the action and seeing them dance together in a laundromat whilst sharing headphones is one of this year’s purest joys.

7. Get Out

Where It soaked up much of the straight spooky horror acclaim this year, Get Out walked a much more tantalising and complex line between thriller, social drama, satire, comedy and horror – and pulled it all off effortlessly. Jordan Peele has long had grand cinematic aspirations as evidenced in some of the larger scale sketches in his fantastic show Key and Peele but this clearly represents everything he wanted to say and do in a debut feature. I think the odds of so perfectly nailing your voice and intentions in your very first film is astronomical but damn, he must be proud, not only of the film itself but the cultural reach, impact and resonance it has had with audiences.

Daniel Kaluuya is excellent as the everyman battling his own (rational) fears and paranoia before his instincts slowly become the domineering voice in the back of his head. Trust in oneself is the saving grace here and it’s great to see an array of other ‘traditional’ characters for this genre twist the knife and reveal their true colours. The “Rose, where are my keys” turning point is perhaps the tightest I’ve gripped the arm of my chair all year. And the eventual climax is one of the best examples of subverting expected genre tropes. Brilliant.

6. Raw

Speaking of confident debuts, Julia Ducournau’s is equally astounding. Not for the faint hearted, this queasy, cannibalistic coming of age tale is a near perfect slice of fucked up fever dream. It follows a young vegetarian attending veterinary college who is forced to eat rabbit meat in a sick hazing ritual – one that her fellow student and older sister has clearly already experienced. Slowly but surely, a triggering of her animalistic appetite grows, coinciding both with her own first steps into a sexual awakening as well as a growing sense of unease that something isn’t right in her family to begin with.

The plot takes some nutty turns, not least in the last few minutes, but everything works; from the gorgeous imagery to the tonal juggling to the assured performances. This would make an excellent entry in an ‘arthouse does horror subgenre’ triple bill, doing for cannibals what A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night does for vampires and The Witch does for... witches.

5. Jackie

This is a breathtaking biopic - interested less in the broad strokes of history and what we think we know about the aftermath of one of the most infamous events of the 20th century and more in the nuanced, private, personal moments of grief in the public eye. Natalie Portman is astounding as Jackie Kennedy, nailing everything from the look to the voice to the affectations, and its the dreamlike, woozy way that the film unfolds that really draws you in and positions you in the eye of a hurricane. The JFK assassination was a monumental cultural milestone but this story asks you to put yourself in the shoes of a woman who was unavoidably trapped at ground zero - and largely all alone with her memories and emotions, despite the surrounding pressures of aides, the press and the American people.

This is supremely confident filmmaking, incredibly affecting and features another stand out score from Mica Under the Skin Levi.

4. 20th Century Women

The second film on my list for both Annette Bening and Greta Gerwig, this is a wonderful story about the strengths and flaws found in both the family we’re given and the family we choose. With an anecdotal, episodic structure, it is less focused on plot and more on the individual moments that the characters in our lives provide us with; how they affect our own life story and evoke memories of a certain time and place.

It’s highly emotional, with touching asides and rambling voiceovers telling us numerous stories whilst keeping a sense of an anchor through the relationship between Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann) and his mother Dorothea (Bening). The supporting cast is uniformly great, from Elle Fanning as the girl next door to Billy Crudup as a lonely tenant/handyman, this one really hit me hard. The late 70s period details, along with the soundtrack, and the sun bleached cinematography recalls the joy of discovering yourself through questionable music, bad decisions and rebellious behaviour. Check it out.

3. A Ghost Story

I doubt any other film this year left quite a long lasting impression as this one did. I couldn’t stop thinking about it afterwards and became rather obsessed with pretty much everything it accomplishes. It’s a fairly straight forward tale of a couple (Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara) whose relationship begins to feel the strain as they quietly realise they might want different things in life. We’re not privy to many more details, positioned as a voyeur which will continue as things unfold but before long, Affleck is killed in a simple car accident outside his home and seemingly rises from death to haunt his old home, dressed entirely in the hospital bed sheet his corpse was covered in. It’s a genius depiction of the traditional ghost - simultaneously off-putting, amusing, whimsical and ridiculous - and it’s also rooted in logic too. As the ghost continues to watch his Mara grieve for him (mesmerisingly encapsulated in an unbroken take of a depressed Mara eating an entire pie that her neighbour brought round), he (and us) slowly begin to notice time... breaking.

The way the passing of time is visualised here is beautifully simple - rather than the long slow fades that normally indicate transitions, here it is as sudden as the ghost turning around to look over his shoulder, through a series of hard cuts or sometimes, no cuts at all. That feeling of time literally slipping away is brutal and the ghost can do nothing but wander about, seemingly helpless to how fast things change. One moment, Mara packs up and leaves, the next a new family of three have apparently been living there for months. Ultimately, the film becomes a meditation on the importance we embue in places, not so much people. The house is the anchor - the core - of what the ghost latches on to and if you’ve ever had the feeling of wondering who lived in your home before you and who will be there after you’ve gone, this film will dig deep into your mind.

I found this to be a brilliantly low-fi way to tell a huge thematic story and the use of music throughout - including one central track in particular - only adds to it. If you can get past the pie-eating without thinking ‘da hell is this’, you’re in for a treat.

2. Dunkirk

I’m almost scared to put this so high. I’ve no doubt in my mind that it’s a five star film and it’s certainly the most visceral, immediate cinema going experience I’ve perhaps ever had (I caught it at the BFI IMAX, opening night, at a late showing and it truly does fill your entire periphery vision) but a part of me wonders if it will hold up on second viewing - i.e. if seeing it anywhere other than the IMAX will diminish it. Well, I’m sure it won’t be the same but I’m also convinced it won’t matter either because this is clockwork precision film making of the highest order; an exercise in narrative structure as well as simply being the most accurate representation of the event in question as there possibly could be.

Some people have complained that this film does a disservice to its characters but I disagree. The power of this story is that it’s the tale of the everyman - how all of these people, no matter the extent of their involvement or the merits of their bravery, became heroes. I don’t need to see the ‘movie’ version of this - where characters chat about their backstories or show photos of loved ones or do every other cliche around. I KNOW all that is going on within the frame but I don’t need to see it. What we’re seeing is the immediacy of these events, which heightens the terror and the hopelessness felt by everyone on that beach or in those boats or in those planes. The land/sea/sky split is impeccably done and the devotion to practical battle scenes is stunning. The aerial dogfights - in full IMAX - practically made me feel like I was strapped to a wing. But even looking past the spectacle, the performances DO bring out the heart of the characters we’re presented with. From Cillian Murphy’s PTSD riddled soldier to the steely determination of Mark Rylance to the rather genius casting of Harry Styles - the exact kind of kid who would have been swept up in this war - everyone is all in and they all blew me away. Especially Tom Hardy, in perhaps his most restricted role yet (it’s like Bane meets Locke), who garners the biggest cheers.

And Hans Zimmer’s epic score can make me sweat just thinking about it. A perfect compliment to the tightening framework and increasing stakes of the action.

1. La La Land

Where do I even begin with this? Full spoilers ahead, I couldn’t help myself.

Clearly, this isn’t a film for everyone. And I get that. Some people think it’s fine but kinda hate musicals. Others get frustrated with the character’s choices. Others would have preferred it to actually remain a musical throughout. I understand all of these criticisms but for me, it does perfectly what it sets out to do.

First of all, I personally love the musical numbers - from the jaw dropping opening of Another Day of Sun to the kinetic, glamourous rush of Someone in the Crowd to the heartfelt yearning of City of Stars. I think they’re great tunes, wonderfully performed and exceptionally shot. I think of the long one-shot takes of the first, the swimming pool splashdown of the second and the little smack on the shoulder of the third. They’re rooted in feeling, in character and in the tradition of Hollywood. They wear their influences on their sleeve but never feel like a parody. And to me, the sudden shift away from being a flat out musical at the end of the first act is not a misstep but entirely organic - this is the rare love story that has its head in the clouds (romantic dating montages, dreamlike dancing through the stars) as well as being brutally honest about what we want, how we get them and the sacrifices these things cost.

The movie starts out as this fantastical anti-meet-cute before morphing into a romantic fable full of wonderment but the moment the characters get together, it switches gears and becomes more grounded in reality. The music largely stops and the real world catches up. Arguments are had, compromises are made, promises are broken. This is the harsh truth of getting what you want at the cost of losing what you’ve perhaps always wanted. The tension between Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) and Mia (Emma Stone) becomes uncomfortable - he’s lying to himself about doing what he must to achieve his real dream, even despite Mia’s support and she is battling her own demons in chasing hers. It’s only when the film brings them to their lowest points does it slowly turn back into being something more magical. Sebastian returns to Mia with the news of a new audition, which results in the most raw song/anecdote of the film ‘Audition (The Fools Who Dream), and just as we’re swept into the happy ending we were promised from decades of these movies, the pair realise they have to do their own thing. “We’ll just have to wait and see”...

The film’s extended epilogue is where it really doubles down on this idea. As we’re treated to a return of the ‘full blown musical’, we see the true Hollywood version of this entire story, played out in dreamlike fast forward. Sebastian leaping off his piano to kiss Mia the second he meets her, the villainous J.K. Simmons snapping his fingers and stepping aside, Sebastian giving a standing ovation at Mia’s one woman show that he missed entirely before, the two of them travelling to Paris and crafting a life together that Mia actually did alone. On the surface, it’s a joyous, colourful, happy finale but the final curtain reminds you that it’s all been... a daydream. The road not travelled. So while the film ends with them both achieving their own desires, they’ve lost one another. This is the all-too-often-true cost of creative pursuit and fulfilment and it’s so rare to see it held aloft in the final reel of an Oscar winning movie that appears to be the exact opposite on the surface.

It’s daring, brave and imaginative and it hit me like a ton of bricks. Maybe I’m too soppy and maybe I’ve just ruined the entire plot for you (I definitely have) but I just couldn’t see anything topping this the moment I saw it. And I guess I was right. Damien Chazelle is a wizard and I can’t wait to see what comes next.

#top 10 #Films of 2017 #2017 #logan #film stars don't die in liverpool #baby driver #get out #raw #jackie #20th century women #a ghost story #dunkirk #la la land

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mattbrothersscriptwriter · 6 years

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My Top 20 Films of 2017 - Part One

Well it’s evidently been a quiet year for blogging from me but possibly the busiest ever in terms of the amount of new movies watched. I’m proud (and somewhat startled/disgusted with myself) to say that this top 20 is culled from a grand total of 128 films watched this year - through cinema releases, DVD and most notably this year: Netflix. Yes, I’ve watched a fair amount of original shite that’s been streamed into my face these past 12 months and going forward, I think I’ll resist the urge to watch stuff for the sake of statistics. But speaking of, check out my complete Letterboxd list of 2017 movies soon, which I’ll post along with the second part of this write up.

On the whole; a stellar year for cinema. Blockbusters had a bit of a comeback this time around, replacing crap no one asked for (TMNT 2, Alice in Wonderland 2, fucking Suicide Squad) with thoughtful, daringly bleak franchise entries like War for the Planet of the Apes and Logan, art-film IMAX experiences (Dunkirk) and a return to form for DC (Wonder Woman)... at least until Justice League ballsed it up again. Anyway, on with my personal favourites.

20. Wind River

This powerful thriller from writer/director Taylor Sheridan completes his American Frontier trilogy – a thematically linked set of modern day westerns that delve into the corruption of our institutions, the injustice in our civilisation and the violence inherently found in man. Along with Sicario (2015) and Hell or High Water (2016) – both high contenders on my previous best of lists - Wind River is another exceptionally gripping and tightly wound piece of cinema, feeling like a throwback to a grittier, more direct age of film-making.

Jeremy Renner, in a career best performance, investigates the murder of a Native American girl in the Wyoming wilderness with the help of an out-of-her-depth FBI agent (Elizabeth Olsen – also fantastic). It’s stark, brutal and includes the tensest Mexican standoff of the year. An empathetic, human story, it also shines a sobering spotlight on a criminally marginalised crime statistic. Truth really is sadder than fiction.

19. Moonlight

An achingly tender and thoughtful exploration of a life lived in the grip of self-repression and the fear of being true to oneself, this is possibly the most deserving Best Picture winner in years. As much as I adore the other contender to that title (see later in the list), there’s no denying the effectiveness of a tragic story bursting with such dreamlike melancholy - like the memories of someone flashing back through their life at the moment of death. Split across three time periods, it evocatively paints a picture of nature vs nurture – how ones surroundings, influences and upbringing (or lack thereof) forever battle against the feelings we fight to keep within.

Mahershala Ali and Naomie Harris are astonishing here and the cinematography does wonders with both the beauty of a Miami skyline and the personal, silent closeups of a tortured soul.

18. Okja

What a blast. One of the only truly masterful movies to grace Netflix this year (it’s early days, hopefully they’ll get the hang of it), I think it’s in part because it’s a Bong Joon-Ho film first; Netflix original second. As a follow up to Snowpiercer (2013), it fills an equally nutty premise with a likeable cast of characters who fall somewhere between being the sincere heart of the story (Ahn Seo-hyun), cartoonish villains (Tilda Swinton and Jake Gyllenhaal) and complete wildcards - the latter being a gang of animal rights activists (Paul Dano, Steven Yeun, Lily Collins) who invade this film like they’re breaking in from a different one altogether.

But all are brilliant and all somehow contribute to the greater whole. It has insane chase sequences right out of Spielberg's playbook, a fascinatingly handled message about love and compassion in the face of exploitation and consumerism and a touching story of a wordless friendship that will warm even the coldest of hearts.

17. It

OK, here’s a big one. I am a massive Stephen King fan, with The Dark Tower (series) and It probably being my two favourites. If you’d have told me a year ago that not only would we finally be getting a big screen Dark Tower adaptation, something that had forever been in development hell, but a new It as well – and only a month apart at that! – I think I would have dropped to my knees and praised the Crimson King! Thankee sai! But if you’d have then said that I wouldn’t even bring myself to see said Dark Tower adap and that It would actually be the one to blow my mind, well then I’d say you were talking out of your cockadoodie ass! But that’s exactly what happened.

It (2017) is a real winner – a beautifully imagined mix of mainstream horror tendencies and coming of age drama, with a loyal devotion to its R-rating. It’s a concoction that feels like it should be less than the sum of its parts but it’s incredible success, both artistically and commercially, means I’d be very surprised if we don’t see more money being thrown at deserving, ambitious horror stories going forward – and that can only be a good thing. It’s big and bold, with superb performances and a stellar restructuring of the book’s epic story. Bill Skarsgard is a revelation as Pennywise, delivering his own special take on the iconic character made famous by Tim Curry, but this is the kid’s movie. The Loser’s Club is potentially the most perfect, collective spot of casting this year and they capably bring the heart, the laughs and the shocks by the bucket load.

16. Brigsby Bear

A beautiful ode to the power of creativity and friendship, this is the overlooked, feel good gem of the year. Along with The Disaster Artist (more on that soon too), Brigsby Bear details the trials and tribulations of a homegrown movie project, riffing on the DIY joy found in other quirky indies like Be Kind Rewind and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. But this feels so much more sincere than the usual Sundance fare.

Co-writer and star Kyle Mooney is James – a hapless manchild who was stolen as a baby and raised in a bunker by the nicest lunatics around, Mark Hamill and Jane Adams. He is the biggest (and, as it turns out, only) fan of a Saturday morning kids show called ‘Brigsby Bear’ – kind of Barney the Dinosaur meets Power Rangers if made by the Mighty Boosh – a creation made purely for him by his captors. Upon his rescue and release into the real world, he realises that the show technically doesn’t exist and becomes determined to finish the story himself. One of the biggest takeaways from this was how it so passionately makes the case for positivity and forgiveness, even in the face of objectively terrible scenarios or traumas. James is never treated cruelly by anyone – not his well-meaning captors, nor the popular kids from his new sister’s high school. You keep expecting the film to go for some cheap digs at James’ fish-out-of-water character but it subverts expectations at every turn – by not making the jock a sudden asshole and by not making the blunt cop a heartless dick. It should be the death of drama but it’s actually so refreshing and sweet.

It’s a strangely powerful story of a man refusing to let a terrible experience define who he is and it shows that sometimes the best way to move on from the past is to embrace it instead. If something brought you happiness, despite sinister motives behind it doing so, does it really discount the results of that deception? I really love it – and that Brigsby theme tune fits right in with the 80s classics of old!

15. Star Wars: The Last Jedi

I love this saga dearly and I’m very excited for its continued future. The Force Awakens still has the edge for me, displaying the full might of J.J. Abram’s propulsive storytelling sensibilities whilst opening up this galaxy far far away all over again with a wide eyed joy, The Last Jedi ably ups the ante and pushes things into great new territory. Seemingly determined to scrunch up every fan theory on the internet and throw it over its shoulder (and off a cliff), this entry sets out to remind us that it’s the storytellers actually, you know, telling the story and one would hope this would begin to diminish the tiresome trend of over-theorising everything to death on the internet. Fat chance I know.

Despite a few rough patches (hello space-Casablanca), this film finds the legendary Luke Skywalker in a fascinating place, isolated from the world and a prisoner of his own fear of failure – and it’s deadly consequences. The bond between heroine Rey and brick shithouse Kylo Ren anchor a gripping story that increasingly delves into the murky grey waters where once there was only clear cut black and white. The throne room showdown is one for the ages and the brilliant, diverse supporting cast continue to shine.

14. The Florida Project

An intimate epic of everyday life, this moving portrait of the ‘hidden homeless’ (poverty stricken families scraping by in cheap motels) takes its time and initially seems deceptively shallow. At first glance, this is misery porn without a point, potentially inviting us to feel smug and superior to these confrontational, under-educated characters but they very quickly begin to flourish - flaws, warts and all. We live life in their shoes: day by day, challenge by challenge and begin to see parts of ourselves in the innocence of a couple of children spying on an elderly exhibitionist by the pool or sharing a rapidly melting ice cream cone. Brooklynn Prince and Bria Vinaite are both incredible finds and director Sean Baker continues to pursue his mission statement of wanting to shine a light on the under-represented parts of modern American life by inviting us to witness a series of joyful victories and crushing blows. It’s just so damn human.

And by the time Willem Dafoe (that Oscar is his, mark my words) is proving his surrogate father figure chops by throwing a paedophile out on his ass, you’ll be cheering. Seriously, here is a Hollywood actor who simply vanishes into the part, putting in a performance of such quiet dignity and grace. I just wanted to hug him. Him! Willem Dafoe! The Green Goblin! It’s a wonderful success, supremely life affirming and has one of the strongest (yet apparently divisive) finale’s of the year.

13. The Disaster Artist

The second film on my list about movie-making shares some similarities with Brigsby Bear but is a much different beast. This dramatisation of the rise of Tommy Wiseau (oddbod creator of the best worst movie ever The Room) focuses on a misunderstood man with a very unique vision and relatable ambition. What should be an idiosyncratic, in-joke crammed film becomes largely one of the universal experience. Who amoung has hasn’t had dreams? Dreams that perhaps outshine the talent required for them to become real. But Tommy isn’t one to be told no and his dedication to making HIS movie – no matter how stupid, shit and misguided it is – is a testament to the power of believing in oneself. Even when the results seemingly prove everyone else right, does it really matter if you can say you did it your way? Without compromise?

Like Brigsby, this is also a story of friendship. The relationship between Tommy and his best friend Greg Sestero (Dave Franco) doesn’t always make sense but it’s symbiotic - Tommy raises Greg up and gives him the confidence to take a swing at the A-list. Greg talks Tommy out of suicidal thoughts and puts him on the path that would lead them both to infamy. They need each other, even if they don’t always see it, and their belief in each other is both inspiring and painful in equal measure. As a comedy, this film is working from some pretty golden source material - the making of The Room is like a greatest hits of awkward, tense movie-making conflicts, calling to mind everything from Ed Wood to Living in Oblivion to Hail Caesar. The huge supporting cast, all clearly fans and lovers of the very film they are now helping to immortalise, are uniformly excellent, with special shout outs to Paul Scheer and Zac Efron. But James Franco was born to play Wiseau and absolutely disappears into the man.

Hilariously madcap yet also an unflinching, often uncomfortable front row ticket to the harsh reality of film-making, this is a fitting tribute to a movie that has probably launched the aspirations of many more true believers.

12. Blade Runner 2049

How is this film this good? Especially this good. Did anyone expect it? We all hoped but damn. The meteoric rise of director Denis Villeneuve continues as he takes a stab at sequelising an introverted, weird, mood driven cyber-noir by delivering a nuanced, thoughtful, world-expanding, thematic, grown up drama that essentially respects the original in every way whilst bringing in a blockbuster sized budget and a new auteur’s vision. It’s the rare movie we never get to see – a tentpole event movie made for IMAX screens with the sensibilities of an art film. This film feels like it’s for a tiny amount of people (which, box office wise, it was – spoiler) but I’ll happily lose the promise of even further instalments for the genius of this single adventure.

Using Harrison Ford in a somewhat similar way to The Force Awakens, Deckard is more Maguffin than leading man here. This is Ryan Gosling’s movie - playing an android cop tasked with silencing the coming revolution should certain Replicant secrets make it out into the world. It goes without saying (but I still will) that Roger Deakin’s cinematography is the perfect match for this sci-fi world, bringing much more to the table than simple recreations of a rainy L.A, expanding out to apocalyptic dust bowls and hauntingly broken casino floors. The compelling themes of free will amongst the controlled and the right to a human existence drive the story, rather than be a by product of some cheap action set pieces. It’s so much more than we deserved and Gosling proves once again that nobodies face looks better beaten to a pulp in neon lighting than his.

11. The Handmaiden

This is a sumptuous, seductive, suspense romance that unravels like a great magic trick - you think you have it all worked out then it shows its latest hand and gleefully tramples over your assumptions. The tense, forbidden courtship between two women in 1930s Japan - one the almost regal upper crust, the other the titular handmaiden - is at once deeply romantic and seriously insane.

Park Chan Wook, director of Oldboy and Stoker amoung many other winners, makes every moment count and you’ll be so drawn in to even realise. He’s at the top of his game and with this erotic melodrama, he knows it.

COMING UP - car battles, sunken places, cannibal sisters and a bedsheet

#top 20 #films of the year #films of 2017 #20-11 #wind river #moonlight #okja #it #brigsby bear #star wars #the last jedi #the florida project #the disaster artist #blade runner 2049 #the handmaiden

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mattbrothersscriptwriter · 7 years

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My Top 20 Films of 2016 - Part Two

Alright, top ten time, lets get into this.

10. Hunt for the Wilderpeople

There’s something about the Kiwi sense of humour that really tickles me. Absurdist, deadpan and very character based, it helps that director Taika Waititi is knocking them out of the park recently. What We Do In The Shadows was absolutely delightful and here he tackles another of 2016’s most prominent scenarios – isolation in the wilderness (see also Swiss Army Man, Captain Fantastic, The Witch, Pete’s Dragon, The Revenant). Troubled orphan Ricky Baker (Julian Dennison) rather pathetically runs away from his grumpy new foster father (a craggy stand out, Sam Neil), an act of rebellion that soon sparks a deliriously madcap manhunt where the stakes keep growing higher despite everyone’s rather laid back approach to it all. That is, aside from scene stealer Rachel House as the persistent child welfare officer.

Even with mainstay Rhys Darby seemingly walking in from a totally different movie, this charming film is packed full of heart and tenderness too, with the emotional journey of our two leads being one of the year’s highlights.

9. The Nice Guys

Ignoring, if you will, Iron Man 3’s billion dollar box office decimation, it seems Shane Black can’t catch a break. Following in the footsteps of his cult hit Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Nice Guys is already fading into relative obscurity, with chump change in box office returns, rarely a mention when it was released and even now hardly a whisper in the end of year lists - apart from a few vocal die hard fans. Which is a crying shame for such a sharply written and impeccably performed detective comedy, that proves there truly is nothing Ryan Gosling can’t do. Like a cross between The Big Lebowski and The Long Goodbye, this film is downright hilarious and zips along at a frenetic pace.

Black has said he’d love nothing more than to just continually make sequels to this – the further misadventures of Jackson and Holland – and I for one am gutted that this is now a very unlikely prospect.

8. Bone Tomahawk

An incredibly brutal and unforgiving horror-western, Bone Tomahawk featured a brilliant ensemble of underrated character actors doing some of their most rewarding work. From Patrick Wilson and Fred Melemed to Richard Jenkins and Matthew Fox, it’s a cast to die for, lead by the legend that is Kurt Russell – still sporting his Hateful Eight tache of power! Surprisingly funny and unfolding at a deliberate yet suspenseful pace, part of the joy of this story is watching it devolve from a somewhat standard western setup to something approaching a genuine nightmare. Genre blending can be tricky to get right – how much time and effort is spent on laughs over scares in a horror-comedy? Can you avoid watering down both included genres, ending up with an unsatisfying hodgepodge like Cowboys and Aliens? Or do you just go for the full B-movie effect by making an awkward ‘vs’ movie (‘insert here’ vs zombies/Nazis/sharks etc).

Bone Tomahawk is very much a western but the incredibly terrifying turn of events feels both natural to the world being represented and also inevitable. That’s tough.

7. Green Room

From one brutal roller-coaster ride to another, Green Room follows neatly in the footsteps of director Jeremy Saulnier’s last effort (the equally thrilling Blue Ruin) and delivers the most intense siege movie of the year. Punk band The Ain’t Rights (whose members include the tragically departed Anton Yelchin and the always great Alia Shawkat) witness a murder in a backwoods dive bar run by Neo-Nazis and soon find themselves trapped in a rather dire predicament. I love the matter of factness that Saulnier approaches violence and it’s consequences. It’s un-cinematic, in a great way, and he plays off this unnerving approach by making feel as unsafe as the characters. Every action could – and most likely, will be – a definitive mis-step for some unlucky soul. Sir Patrick Stewart also plays against type to chilling effect and as the tension ratchets up and up, it becomes impossible to look away.

Brilliantly scripted and provocatively shot, do not miss out on this one.

6. The Witch

I found The Witch to be one of the most divisive films this year. I absolutely love everything about it but I think your personal enjoyment of it definitely depends on what type of cinema-goer you are. On one of the two occasions I saw it in a cinema, you could practically feel the more casual audience members shrug in confusion as they watched this expertly constructed horror of the mind slowly and patiently unfold, clearly expecting more of a cheap, jump scare fest akin to shit like The Forest. During a Halloween Blu-Ray viewing, my housemate’s boyfriend gazed around the room in boredom, unable to connect with the main thrust of this story – the steady decay of the fragile bonds of trust and faith between a small, isolated family unit.

Despite the title, the titular witch is mostly a catalyst to push this God-fearing family of exiled Puritan settlers to a breaking point of their own making. Lies, deceit, lust, jealously, stress, fear – this is what puts them on an unwavering course to self-destruction (along with a nudge or two from a certain Black Phillip) and it’s all the more terrifying for it. There’s a delicious irony to the eventual conclusion of this heartbreaking story and the final five minutes are unlike anything else I experienced this year. For a directorial debut that recreates the grit and detail of the time period with such scary precision and a breakout performance from Anya Taylor-Joy, this easily joins the ranks of other recent horror films that exude menace and which are handled with certain art-house aspirations like It Follows and The Babadook.

5. Zootropolis

Time for one last animation in this list! And although I truly enjoyed Finding Dory, Pixar got beat at their own game this year by the continued excellence of Disney Animation’s recent winning streak. Moana was a delight with some of the best original songs of recent memory but Zootropolis is a step above even that. While the former is another postmodern rejig of the classic Disney Princess formula, remixed and re-imagined to great results, Zootropolis is the one that really feels like it transcends it’s ‘kids film’ status by telling a story steeped in surprising nuance and social commentary. Raising questions about prejudice, corruption and how the cruel treatment of individuals can both crush their dreams and force them to become the sort of villains they’re unfairly painted as, there is a lot at work here. And that’s not even mentioning the highly entertaining noir-ish mystery, the ace odd couple/buddy cop partnership between Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde (a brilliantly energetic Ginnifer Goodwin and the always hilarious Jason Bateman) and the gorgeous animation and art direction.

With Pixar prepping yet more sequels amongst their original output, I can only hope Disney doesn’t follow suit and get too addicted to printing money - with sequels to both Wreck it Ralph and Frozen already on the way...

4. Swiss Army Man

Yes. The farting corpse movie. But for those who have seen it and loved it as much as I do, you all know how it’s so much more than that. It takes great skill (and lets face it, bravado) to not only attempt to craft a deep, emotional story out of a scenario involving a suicidal guy riding a corpse like a jetski but to succeed too… it’s unreal. Much of that genius comes from the directing duo known as Daniels who, if you check out some of their previous short form work, clearly operate in that fine line between absurd lols and thought provoking art.

This is a story about two people who, through an offbeat and impossible friendship, must learn to live again – one literally because he’s dead and the other because he has lost all faith in what life can gift you. It’s about the things we keep from one another and how sometimes, just like a fart, you have to let it out. Make no mistake, this film is batshit insane but its themes and messages are surprisingly simple and beautifully conveyed. It also terrifically doesn’t lose its nerve in the final act and, without spoiling anything, follows through with everything we’ve come to learn about these characters - for better or worse. And no, I don’t mean it literally follows through, you dirty buggers.

Featuring the most unique premise, execution and soundtrack of the year, along with the best performance of Daniel Radcliffe’s career – trust me, he is so good in this – definitely seek it out.

3. The Hateful Eight

A new Tarantino film is always a time to celebrate but this one really arrived with all the bells and whistles. 70mm revival! New Morricone score! Roth/Madsen Reservoir Dogs reunion! All that plus the fact that it almost never saw the light of day thanks to an early script leak back when it was doing the live-read rounds. But all those hurdles have helped make this one of the most assured, tense and all round entertaining flicks of QT’s canon thus far, with a brilliantly suspenseful standoff inside a claustrophobic cabin.

With all of the Tarantino staples, from ultra violence and enigmatic monologues to chapter based storytelling and a pressure cooker situation, it’s amazing that this feels as fresh and raw as it does. It’s theatrical nature, epic runtime and (for the audiences who caught the Roadshow edition like myself) overture and interval, I can understand why some call it over indulgent and bloated but I personally think that if anyone has earned the right to take his time and craft an Agatha Christie like whodunnnit against the gorgeous backdrop of snowy Wyoming... it’s QT.

With blistering performances from all involved, especially Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins and Samuel L. Jackson, it’s instantly one of my favourite Tarantino efforts and maintains his filmography as continually impossible to rank.

2. Creed

Fact – this is the only film this year that I gave a full five stars on Letterboxd. My top spot however, goes to one that I simply love that little bit more but for me, this is a perfect movie. Think about it. No sixth sequel to a forty year old franchise that also acts as a spinoff AND reboot deserves to be so flawless but in my opinion, it’s as good as it was ever liable to be. And that comes down to the incredible, raw talents of Ryan Coogler. The man is a prodigy. Only 26 years old when his debut (and other five star masterpiece) Fruitvale Station premièred at Sundance, he personally pitched the idea of a Creed spinoff to Stallone, who wisely saw the potential in both the concept and the filmmaker.

In this growing trend of ‘legacy-quels’ – see The Force Awakens (good), Terminator Genysis (horrendous) and also across TV in Ash vs Evil Dead – here we have a story that can stand on it’s own, focus on it’s own hero, yet still operate in the same movie universe as the Italian Stallion himself, Rocky Balboa. It operates as both an epilogue for the franchise we’ve loved for so long and also as a brand new chapter in the ongoing saga. Star Trek possibly has the most flawless excuse, thanks to their timey whimey shenanigans and the ability to literally play in the old sandbox with the existing characters in a new timeline but Creed keeps it grounded, focusing on Apollo Creed’s wayward son and his ultimate journey to reclaim the family name and his destiny.

From the technical marvel of that one shot boxing match to the rousing finale, Creed earns absolutely everything it attempts, with knockout (I’m so sorry) performances from Michael B. Jordan, Tessa Thompson and the never better Stallone.

1. Sing Street

My number one movie of 2016 is so full of joy, so lovingly crafted and so very sincere that no other film has come close to matching its impact. Director John Carney (Once, Begin Again) effortlessly recreates 80s Dublin and the musical landscape of the time as we follow the shy and withdrawn Connor (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo), forced into the harsh, alienating world of public school amid the breakdown of his parent’s marriage. After a chance encounter with the enigmatic Raphina (Lucy Boynton), he finds himself in need of starting a band so that the music video he just got her to agree to star in, actually exists.

The music is certainly one of the main stars of this film. Between classic 80s hits from the likes of The Clash and Duran Duran to all the original songs that Connor’s band – the titular Sing Street – end up making, this is the best original musical treatment since, well, Once. The drama that fuels the creation of each of these songs propel the story forward. Their debut number, Riddle of the Model (with its hilariously charming DIY video) is the product of barely repressed infatuation, while the gloriously fist pumping finale hit of ‘Brown Shoes’ is a thinly veiled fuck you to the abusive villainy of the school’s principal – a real nasty piece of work whose altercations with Connor provide just some of the drama. And just try to get Drive it Like You Stole It out of your head – a show stopper paired with an absolutely brilliant dream sequence that evokes Back to the Future at it’s most colourful.

But looking past the sweet romance, the gritty conflict with the school bully and even the underlying theme of how your youth is best spent chasing your dreams in order to make them real, the true heart and soul of this film is family. Specifically the bond between brothers. Jack Reynor delivers a heart wrenching breakout performance as Connor’s older brother Brendan, a slacker dropout who seems perfectly content to sit back and commentate on the ever changing face of their family unit. My favourite scene, of perhaps the whole year, comes when he finally snaps and lectures Connor on the fact that he only has it so easy because he burned out blazing the trail that Connor has been able to follow. His ‘But once I was a fucking jet engine’ monologue showcases an incredible mix of previously subdued passion as well as his own raw pride and regret.

As a feel good fantasy - a joyous coming of age tale about believing in yourself, recognising your talents and chasing your dreams - it perhaps overreaches, with an ending that for some felt like a step too far but which I loved just as much thanks to it’s thematic parallels and fairy tale quality. I recognise the tonal shift but it earns it in my eyes. The performances, especially coming from a mostly unknown bunch of kids, are uniformly brilliant and quite simply, there’s nothing that will rival the giant smile on your face this film will give you. And in this shit show of a year we call 2016, that is invaluable.

#films of 2016 #top 20 #hunt for the wilderpeople #the nice guys #bone tomahawk #green room #the witch #zootropolis #swiss army man #the hateful eight #creed #sing street

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mattbrothersscriptwriter · 7 years

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My Top 20 Films of 2016 - Part One

Well that was 2016. Quite the shit show but another strong year for movies. So much so that it’s beginning to make my previous yearly lists look down right childish. Thor 2 in my 2013 top 20? Come on!? The best Marvel film in years only just managed to scrape in this time around. In fact, this was a pretty terrible year for the summer blockbuster season. Tentpole sequels (TMNT 2, Alice 2, Batman v Superman, Independence Day Resurgence) and hopeful franchise starters (Ghostbusters, Suicide Squad, Tarzan?) all flopped, either critically or commercially. I only have one summer movie on my list and it’s the aforementioned Marvel effort. But in terms of smart, artistic, inventive indie films, boundary pushing animations and genre offerings, it’s been an embarrassment of riches.

I’ve seen close to (and maybe even dead on by the time the 31st rolls around) 100 movies from this year – counting UK theatrical releases, a handful of festival screenings, VOD/Netflix streaming additions and a cheeky screener or two. The huge boost in original programming coming from Netflix in particular has helped give this year an identity of its own, with the largest amount of original movies being either made for, or acquired for digital distribution by Netflix.

As ever, this is a list of my personal favourites, not a strict ranking of quality. Some edge ahead because they have that little something extra that spoke to me or affected me in some way; others are technically stronger movies that I maybe couldn’t see myself rewatching a bunch – although they mostly exist outside of this top 20.

Anyway, here goes nothing:

20. Captain America: Civil War

Out comic book-ing even the most comic booky previous entry (arguably 2012′s Avengers Assemble), this is the mash up we’ve been promised since the MCU kicked into high gear, coupling extravagant superhero fisticuffs with a surprisingly grounded central conflict, based not on a magical McGuffin hunt but on an inability to compromise on morals and core beliefs. Bringing in Tony Stark as the main foil to the stubbornly good natured Steve Rogers was a no brainer and part of the joy/heartbreak is in seeing these two old friends discover that their world is far from black and white. The energetic action scenes (perhaps a little too frenzied during the opening set piece in Lagos) are toplined by a truly jaw dropping battle royale at an airport that is winningly choreographed and heaps of fun. The trademark humour and a plot more focused on immediate consequences than say, Age of Ultron, this sees Marvel back on the map in a big way - a progression into their third ‘phase’ also championed by the enjoyable Doctor Strange.

19. The Beatles: Eight Days A Week: The Touring Years

A wonderful look behind the curtain of the biggest band ever, you��d think there’s not much more to discover but through incredibly crisp unseen footage and a tight focus on this particular era in their careers, the Beatles once again prove a fascinating subject matter. From the easy going joy of their early shows to the admirable handling of their worldwide fame and responsibility to a changing society, this doc truly makes you feel like you were there – during a period of pop culture hysteria that the world had never seen before and to be honest, probably never will again. Touching testimonials from lifelong celebrity fans like Whoopi Goldberg and Sigourney Weaver (the latter actually glimpsed in some old concert footage from when she was 15) are a charming addition and the sheer amount of musical achievements covered in the runtime will remind you (should you ever need reminding) of the colossal magnificence of the Fab Four.

18. Your Name

I’m not the foremost authority on anime as an animation sub-genre but there’s no denying the power and beauty of this movie. It defies expectations and labels. It’s gorgeous to behold, with stunning photo-real hand drawn animation. But it’s the tale of two body swapping teenagers that starts out as a rom-com farce and morphs into something much heavier (both in terms of it’s themes and execution) that nestles its way into your heart and mind. Laugh out loud funny, constantly surprising and, J-Pop song selections aside, practically flawless. If you a fan of J-Pop, make that actually flawless.

17. Room

My favourite of the early Oscar-baity movies that always brighten up our drab January cinema-going month, this film is an extraordinary story that never loses sight of it’s human connection, foregoing the arguably easier route of telling a bleak kidnap story from beginning to end and instead almost exorcising the captor entirely to focus on the effects of this nightmare existence on a young boy and his mother. Brie Larson (on my radar since way back in The United States of Tara) finally makes right on her Short Term 12 snub and walks away with an impeccable, award winning performance. Her young co-star, breakout Jacob Tremblay, is just as good. The moment when he meets a dog for the first time ever is unbelievable, such is his ability to convey wide-eyed wonder at something that is brand new in a wholly new world. A brutal but hopeful look at the psychological effects of long term, unnatural incarceration and the media circus that inevitably follows.

16. Arrival

Denis Villeneuve is unstoppable. Quickly becoming a recognisable auteur in visually and thematically challenging cinema, his works are both artful and commercial, thought provoking and entertaining. Enemy, Prisoners and Sicario are all visceral, tense movies and Arrival is no different, taking a tropey sci-fi premise (aliens invade Earth) and using it as a launchpad to examine the way we communicate with both the unknown and ourselves. Amy Adams had quite the double bill this year, with Nocturnal Animals releasing in the same month, but here she’s outstanding. Delicate yet strong, loving yet distant, she’s a shoe in for yet another Oscar nomination next year. Johann Johannsson’s score once again sets the dark, brooding tone and even without regular collaborator Roger Deakins, the images here are wonderfully… alien. Basically, give me Blade Runner 2049 right now.

15. Kubo and the Two Strings

In a year that included two Studio Ghibli efforts, one Pixar, two Disney and the aforementioned Your Name, it’s quite a feat to pull off the most magical animated film of the year but that’s what the ever reliable Laika Studios have accomplished. A folklore inspired tale about the power of storytelling itself, this ode to the power of family, love and how memory transforms both is not only touching and artfully designed but also a feast for your senses. Witness a swordfight between a monkey and a witch... taking place on a boat... made out of leaves... in the middle of an ocean... in a freaking thunderstorm... and just try reminding yourself that it’s stop-motion puppetry. A stellar voice cast, a great score and the most Legend of Zelda-ry inclinations this side of Nintendo mean this is one for the ages – and deserves much more than the theatrical flop it had to endure.

14. Everybody Wants Some!!

Richard Linklater, somebody who can really nail sequels to his own films (see the Before Trilogy), does it again with this ‘spiritual’ follow up to Dazed and Confused. Made seemingly super fast following Boyhood, I barely knew it existed before the first trailer dropped but was firmly on my radar after that. Linklater captures moments; able to portray the relaxed pace of the everyday whilst also examining the heart of the past and nostalgia. To me, it’s endlessly watchable – even when it’s just observing a bunch of jocks get to grips with college life and all that entails. A tonally perfect cast of unknowns (all future stars if there’s any justice) and a wonderful attention to period detail, this film has not been without its controversies – accused of glorifying jock culture and marginalising its female characters. While these critiques are hard to argue against (mostly because they hold water), the sheer infectiousness of a director and cast having this much fun with a human story involving literally zero stakes is a welcome reprieve from the glut of world destroying blockbusters or overly syrupy indie dramas.

13. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

The first proper spin off Star Wars movie is the cinematic equivalent of the best Christmas morning you could dream of. Want another new franchise film that more than stands up to the weight of expectation like The Force Awakens did? Done. But do you also want a story set apart from the main Skywalker saga that ushers in a new directorial style and a heavier focus on the ground assaults and gritty battles that exemplifies the whole ‘war’ aspect of this series? Also done. Oh and how about a hint of fan service like a bad ass Vader cameo and more Death Star action? Done and done. Or a prequel film that’s actually decent? Done. It really is another triumph, more than making the case for the effectiveness of these ‘Star Wars Stories’.

Focusing on an intrepid band of anti-heroes, this Dirty Dozen/Mission Impossible-esque beast is compelling and emotionally strong, unfolding in the galaxy far far away that we all know and love. Or thought we did. The overly black and white, good guy/ bad guy line has been muddied a little. Exploring an enticing grey area that the original films tended to shy away from, we see the Rebels killing their own to protect the cause and political in-fighting to ill effect, while the Empire deals with a high price for their new world order and multiple defectors. The retroactive ‘fixing’ of a forty year old plothole could have been a corny subnote but tackling it head on and making it the emotional core of the film is a bold move that gives weight to the central father/daughter relationship whilst simultaneously expanding the lore of the franchise. The climatic space-set dogfight is thrilling whilst the multi-layered plotting of the ground assault and high casualty count cranks up the excitement. A shaky first act not withstanding, this is the Star Wars movie you’ve always wanted – or at least since you got hooked on Rogue Squadron on the N64.

12. Don’t Breathe

Hot damn, this was maybe my favourite viewing experience this entire year, seen with a totally game crowd who, judging from their reactions, had no idea what to expect. I’m a sucker for a tense, tight, contained thriller and the basic premise of cocky thieves vs maniacal blind guy is top shelf B-movie material, executed with aplomb and precision. The decrepit suburban Detroit setting, utilised so brilliantly in last year’s It Follows, gives it such a winningly dirty flavour and the committed cast sell every heart pounding moment with ease. The always wonderful Jane Levy (so very good in the ‘so much better than it deserved to be’ Evil Dead remake – also directed by Fede Alvarez) is the perfect anti-scream queen - quite literally - while Stephen Lang is an absolute monster. Thrilling, brutal and responsible for the most comical dry heave I’ve ever heard from a random cinema-goer, it’s a near-perfect midnight movie, even despite the groan-worthy final few minutes. But even this isn’t the best ‘siege in a building’ movie of this year… more to come.

11. Hell or High Water

Like last year’s exceptionally strong genre outings, this is the first of three westerns in my top 20 – although this entry is really more of a crime drama. A very old fashioned style of movie, reminiscent of 70s thrillers, Hell or High Water has a focus on partnerships, loyalty and the things we’re willing to risk to provide for those we love. Chris Pine and Ben Foster have never been better, with Jeff Bridges reminding us of just how great he is in these grizzly, supporting parts - True Grit voice included! His camaraderie with Gil Birmingham has an easy going familiarity and is downright hilarious at times too. British director David McKenzie nails the dusty, decaying aesthetic of the not so old west, with sublimely shot action set pieces that compliment the grounded stakes. A confident, morality tale of the highest order.

COMING UP - demon goats, farting corpses, neo-nazis and the skuxx life

#top20 #films #movies #films of 2016 #captain america civil war #the beatles #your name #room #arrival #kubo movie #everybody wants some #star wars #rogue one #don't breathe #hell or high water #20-11

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mattbrothersscriptwriter · 8 years

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Where the Wild Things Are: A Ramble

I felt compelled to return to the blogosphere recently after a curious chain of events. Not long ago, I was up late doing some writing (honest!) and I was listening to some of my go-to movie soundtracks to get me in the right mood. I always remembered loving Karen O and Carter Burwell’s score for Where the Wild Things Are and after another listen, it instantly made me order the blu-ray of the movie. I've been meaning to give it a proper re-watch for some time as I hadn't really sat down and took it in since the cinema release. That re-watch happened the other night and I've been reminded of what a treasure this film is and – in particular- how it houses one of the most overlooked performances/casting choices of a true genius. That, of course, being the late great James Gandolfini as Carol, one of the central ‘Wild Things’.

This write up is sort of a mini opinion piece on the movie itself (arriving seven years too late), but it’s also a tribute to a phenomenal actor; an actor whose passing never fails to surprise me when I actually remember that he’s sadly no longer with us. Aside from the obvious, Soprano sized elephant in the room, this voice-only role could well be one of his most compelling, touching and defining parts.

Where the Wild Things Are is a 2009 adaptation of the children’s book by Maurice Sendak, directed by Spike Jonze. It remains a curious project – the source material is little more than a picture book yet it somehow managed to make the journey to the big screen as an artful reflection on childhood and a rumination of the adult burdens we must carry in life. It’s almost jarringly emotional, using the titular monsters as an embodiment of the different aspects of our psyches. It’s really less of a kids film and more a film about kids, for adults. It’s no wonder the studio, Warner Bros, completely balked at what Jonze had delivered. I could easily see an alternate version made as a typical lowest common denominator family film, like The Smurfs or Alvin and the Chipmunks, full of fart jokes, pop song tie-ins, heavy handed exposition, lazy plotting and celebrity cameos.

Luckily, this highly experimental project risked box office exile to speak to our inner child, reminding us what it was like to be young, innocent and angry with the world. How you might (quite literally in this case) retreat to a make believe world of your own design to escape the banality or unfairness of reality. It just so happens this world is populated by creatures that can be young, innocent and angry right back at you. The Wild Things represent the many different shades, moods and personalities of Max, our young runaway. There’s Alexander, the goat who is seen but not heard. Judith, sociable outgoing yet prone to depressive mood swings. And then there’s Carol – a walking time bomb, always one provocation away from a temper tantrum. He just wants everyone to get along but always on his terms. By his rules.

When Max first meets the Wild Things, he pretends to be a Viking slaying king to avoid being eaten, making up stories about having a magical items like a ‘double re-cracker’ (that can get through anything in the universe), installing a head exploding security system in the fort they all build together and having a sadness shield that keeps out all the sadness. It’s pure playground logic, played out on a fascinating scale. It’s also sort of left vague as to how many of the Wild Things know that he’s just kidding around and go along with it because it’s fun and it’s what they do. Carol is that one person who will react violently if he finds out that Max isn’t actually a king at all. Check out the scene where this truth finally comes out:

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The central conflict of the film sees Max clashing with this side of himself, coming to understand empathy only through seeing first hand the error of his own selfish ways, as represented in Carol. When Max screams ‘you’re out of control’ at Carol, it’s an echo of the exact phrase that his mother yells at him during the argument that causes him to run away. Early on, Max is this uncontrollable rage monster, trashing his sister’s room after a playful prank gets out of hand and leaves him feeling embarrassed and ignored. Clearly Carol is the dominant trait within Max and the one he most subconsciously wants to address and change in light of how it’s hurting those he loves. It makes perfect sense that they become best friends yet also have the capacity for hatred, fear and spite too.

The level of betrayal Carol feels in that above scene - that Max has somehow been lying to him over something as obviously goofy as being a king - is all too real and the reaction Carol has shifts the film into darker territory, becoming genuinely threatening and tense. It’s scary stuff and the film continues to wisely tap into the dual personality of Gandolfini’s performance. When he’s jolly and content, he’s a joy – happily pointing out everything that in the kingdom that now belongs to Max - but when he’s crossed, he can be violent and unpredictable. If that description of a fractured male ego sounds familiar, it’s because we've already seen one of the greatest… Tony Soprano. A man adrift in a sea of his own repressed emotions. There, he was a man trying to comprehend his role as the head of the family (both of them). Here, he is a frightened child, lashing out because he fears letting people down or worse – being accepted as he is.

We’re used to seeing Gandolfini as an authority figure who acts all friendly even though you know he could snap your neck in an instant, so when Carol casually starts enquiring – completely straight faced – about why the security system isn't keeping out unwanted guests like it should do, you could easily equate that with the underlying ferocity that Gandolfini so perfectly encapsulates. It’s a genius move to have such a warm hearted, huggable yet equally terrifying ‘teddy bear’ play what is essentially a literal giant teddy bear. When push comes to shove, he could (and will) eat you up or claw you to pieces. He’s so strong at personifying that very specific age where you might resent your family or feel like a loner but revel in the company of another outcast just like yourself, that he could be voicing an actual eleven year old and I’d still buy it. He’s incredible. On the surface, he’s just doing some voice work for a quirky animated monster… but I love that film knows exactly how to use someone like Gandolfini, and the extent of his considerable talent for humanizing sympathetic yet damaged characters. Like many people, I was greatly saddened by his passing but it took revisiting a role that was so out of the box and that focused so much on youth, friendship and even regret, for me to suddenly miss him so much more dearly.

The end of this film seriously chokes me up. Too stubborn to apologize, Carol continues to belittle Max. Realising it’s time to go, Max says his goodbyes and begins to leave, at which point Carol discovers a small token of friendship left behind by Max, despite the shitty way Carol was behaving towards him. Rushing to shore, Carol arrives too late…

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We've all pushed someone away due to our own issues only to be repaid by continued kindness on their part and the race to say sorry, which is moments too late is a beautifully bittersweet pay-off. Max is the one who has grown but Carol gets there too, just a little too late. It would have been so easily to plump for a saccharine moment where Max leaps out the boat as the music swells and runs back to Carol, giving him the chance to vocalise his apology... but I love that they left it wordless. Until the howling. At that point, I am done.

James Gandolfini had a hell of a career – True Romance, Crimson Tide, The Man Who Wasn't There, In the Loop, Killing Them Softly – all fantastic, nuanced performances. He enriched every production he was in and was by all accounts, a gentle soul with a warm sense of humour. And I adore Where the Wild Things Are. I love the dream like sense of time and place, how it so easily reflects the feeling of having the world – your world – as your oyster. But even the most trivial real world anxieties can filter through, as seen in one of my favourite moments where Carol shows equal parts bravado, reassurance, fear and sadness at something as theoretical as the sun dying…

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Until the next wild rumpus…

#where the wild things are #james gandolfini #spikejonze #2009 #filmmaking

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mattbrothersscriptwriter · 8 years

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My Top 20 Films of 2015 - Part Two

20-11 Recap:

20. The Martian

19. The Falling

18. The Gift

17. Steve Jobs

16. The Good Dinosaur

15. Song of the Sea

14. Beasts of No Nation

13. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

12. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation

11. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

10. Ex Machina

A fantastic, tense battle of wits between three, isolated characters, this film is full of ideas and wears it’s theatrical nature with pride. A brilliant directorial debut from Alex Garland (of Dredd/28 Days Later/Sunshine fame), the questions it raises about artificial intelligence - let alone the motives of it’s main trio, including the stand out Alicia Vikander - will really get you thinking.

Great design and effects too - a perfect example of a “low” budget, restricted think piece.

9. Spring

What a gem this is. Much like its... complicated female lead, this is a story that transcends genre to feel truly unique. Essentially a ‘vacation romance’ ala the Before trilogy, it follows an American who travels to Italy on a whim to escape his unraveling life back home. Content with hitchhiking with tourists and working the fields in a small coastal town, he becomes enamored with a local beauty (the mesmerising Nadia Hilker) who is hiding her own monstrous secret. To say much more would spoil the surprises but what follows enters the realm of 80s era Cronenburg and H.P Lovecraft, whilst never abandoning the romanticized, sun baked mood it has established.

A fabulous genre mash up that more than earns both elements in it’s blend.

8. Turbo Kid

I’ve watched this film four times since the end of August, making it a personal mission to take it on tour and introduce it to three different friendship groups up and down the country! Well... London and Brighton. But that should go some way to giving you an idea of how fun, memorable, re-watchable and special this film is.

Originating as a short splatter spoof for horror anthology “The ABCs of Death”, it was excluded from that film and developed into it’s own, low budget, post apocalyptic, superhero sci-fi fantasy. It’s a love letter to a bygone age, but unlike more broad genre spoofs like “Kung Fury”, the focus here is not to produce a checklist of 80s nostalgia and in jokes for the sake of it but to act as a genuine lost film from that era, intended to be seen as being inspired more by the Mad Max knock ofs the late 80s rather than Mad Max itself. Much like the way that “Black Dynamite” felt like a genuine, shoddily made blackspoitation film, Turbo Kid is intended as a real film first and a joke second and that’s partly why it works so well. Everything from the quarry based locations, extras dressed in painted laundry baskets masquerading as futuristic helmets and the genuinely amazing electronic score from Le Matos, add to the effect of a movie full of self awareness, love, hard work and passion. Had that been it, it would still be a fun, gory ride but it’s the story and the core relationship that makes the film really sing.

The chemistry between The Kid (Munro Chambers) and Apple (Laurence Leboeuf - a bizarre and wildly irritating thorn in his side with a surprising hidden depth), is full of charm and childlike glee but it’s their growing friendship, their eventual concern for one another’s safety and their willingness to sacrifice themselves for each other that gives the film it’s proud, beating heart. Sure. it may feature a character having his intestines hooked up to a bicycle wheel and pulled from his guts or another chopped into pieces with a buzzsaw belonging to the scene stealing henchman, Skeletron but amongst the body parts, gnome sticks and buckets of blood, this is a buddy movie through and through... and ultimately a very moving one too.

7. Sicario

I haven’t been as excited about a new(ish) director in a long time as I am about Dennis Villeneuve. I really loved Enemy and still have my Blu Ray of Prisoners to dive into as well but even off the back of Sicario alone, this guy has some real chops. A dark as all hell thriller that puts you in the shoes of super-capable but still way out of her depth Emily Blunt (magnificent) who is tossed around by shady higher powers as the war on drugs takes some fiendish turns.

The road block set piece is the most tense sequence this year and the border crossing via the tunnel showcases Deakin’s superb cinematography. Benecio Del Toro shows what he’s really capable of too, giving his best performance in years, exuding an unspoken menace and danger that he certainly capitalizes on in the final act. An incredibly engaging and thought provoking film, touching on big ideas like whether the devil you know really ever is a preferable option and the true price of the greater good.

6. It Follows

Finally, a horror film that revels in a genuinely creepy concept and milks it for all it’s worth, trading jump scares for consistent dread and cheap tricks for carefully constructed film making. Often looked at as a parable for the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases, I see the threat of ‘it’ (a paranormal force that will never stop walking directing towards you, taking the form of anyone it chooses to better mess with your psyche) as a metaphor for the persistent, inescapable march of death itself - surely the scariest thing we must all face. Here, it is personified as a shuffling demon, one that no matter how many times you outwit it, will ALWAYS be coming for you. In this film, sex is a weapon for those who can use it - sleep with someone else and the curse is passed on - but it’s only ever a brief stay of execution as it will end up back on your trail as soon as it dispatches the person you gave it to.

Like A Nightmare on Elm Street through the eye of David Fincher or Terence Malik, this is artful film making that takes place in a dream-like world, where time is indistinct and any adult presence seems to blur away into the background, adding to the off-putting sense of foreboding and inescapable horror. Maika Monroe is a natural scream queen and the score is the most chilling since Halloween. It will make you afraid to turn your back on anyone - an absolute must see.

5. Slow West

A real, beautiful oddity, this is the best western in years, bucking many staples of the genre and focusing on telling a very straight forward story of a young man attempting to reunite with his lost love, aided by a world weary and capable gunslinger (that man Michael Fassbender again). Shot in New Zealand, the Old West has never looked so magnificent or otherworldly, adding to the ‘Once Upon a Time...’, fairy tale feel of this movie. Directed with confidence by ex Beta Band member John McClean, he adapts his own original screenplay with panache, creating considered visuals akin to Wes Anderson, injected with a sly humour reminiscent of the Coen Brothers at their very best.

But this is no mere homage to classical genres or auteur film makers - the plot has it’s own fair share of twists, turns and poetic charm and the performances (including the always great Ben Mendelsohn) are both supremely charismatic and comfortably laid back. A number of asides - including one old bounty hunter’s retelling of a tragi-comic incident from his past - add to the embedded history of this strange old world that our heroes inhabit. A brilliant (and tight as a button) 80 minutes.

4. Macbeth

Oh, look who it is. My main man Fassbender yet again! Rounding off his trio of entries is this fascinating, bold and poetic adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s very greatest plays.Truly made for the big screen, this cinematic retelling of the tragedy of Macbeth isn’t afraid to play it loose with the source material, which may leave a somewhat sour taste in the mouths of many. Opting to tell much of the story through extensive, often silent visuals and via pained, whispered monologues, this is about as far as you can get from the grandeur of the theatre and that’s partly why I love it so much. If you want your classic Macbeth, it hasn’t gone anywhere, existing on both the page and stage forevermore. For such a visual medium as film, why not take advantage of the format and get in extremely close and epically wide. Entire passages have been internalized into a look or a glance which, when expressed from actors as fantastic as Michael Fassbender or Marion Cotillard (a wonderfully damaged and regretful Lady Macbeth), is a wonder to behold. The harsh Scottish landscape is also as much of a character as the people inhabiting it, offering chilly, cold, dead mountainsides and brooding, ominous, red misted battlefields.

A key change early on also offers a fresh context for the Macbeth’s motivations that could also upset purists but in terms of creating a new (and challenging, complex and human) Macbeth, this feels raw, real and devastating. One of my favourite films of all time is “The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford” - a dreamlike, poetic, mythical biopic with incredible visuals, powerful performances and a mesmerizing score. This Macbeth is the Bard’s equivalent.

3. Mad Max Fury Road

Did anyone really see this coming? Especially after the turbulent production history of this long belated action sequel? More than living up to the promise of some badshit insane early trailers, Mad Max Fury Road lives, dies and lives again as a true anomaly of cinema. The greatest fourth part of a franchise? Check. The best ‘also may as well be a reboot’ ever? Check. The greatest practical stunts in decades? Check. The most impressive film-stealing turn from a female action hero who completely overshadows the franchise’s namesake?? Check! All objective opinions of course but not only is this thing a cinematic beast, prioritizing jaw dropping practical effects over it’s equally impressive CGI flourishes, it really does have it’s cake and eat it with Furiosa (Charlize Theron). Some people complained about Max’s sidelining in his own film but maybe they should check out the original trilogy - Max has always been a sort of drifter, wandering in to another civilization's war and upsetting the balance before heading on his way and he does no different here. Tom Hardy is terrific as the guttural, almost feral Max but Theron’s breathtaking turn as the determined, cunning and wickedly vicious Furiosa deservedly ate up the plaudits.

A fully realized post-apocalyptic world, hugely imaginative war machines (and spectacular crashes to involve them in), an iconic villain and wall to wall action cements Mad Max Fury Road as one for the ages.

2. Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

From the wastelands of Immortan Joe to the deserts of Jakku, this really was the one everyone had their eye on. Would it live up to the absolutely crazy amount of hype or would it go the way of the prequels? I think we all at least hoped it would be a fun throwback to the Star Wars we actually loved and if you were to judge it on that alone, it’s a resounding success. Luckily, the future is surely bright for this franchise as every element of the new blood jumped right out the screen and into our hearts.

There wasn’t a Hayden Christensen in sight as Rey, Finn, Poe and BB-8 bristled with energy, charisma and promise. Their on screen chemistry, whether it was Finn and Poe’s bromance or Rey and Finn’s touching friendship, meant that it wasn’t simply the fantastic creature puppetry or propulsive aerial battles or even the long awaited return of Han Solo that helped the film be a genuine sensation. Director JJ Abrams was surely born for this and while his influence of the originals range from the harmless (visual gags, in jokes) to the slightly more detracting (yet another Death Star, near identical story beats) nothing could derail this train and it ends up being one of the best blockbusters of modern times, let alone Star Wars movies.

All this and I haven’t even mentioned the incredible depth and pathos that Adam Driver brings to Vader wannabe Kylo Ren as the new villain with big shoes to fill. A mesmerizing character from the beginning, he has limitations, flaws, secrets aplenty and, as with all the newbies, room to grow and evolve over the course of this new trilogy. A true rebirth to the epic serial fantasy, the force is most definitely strong with this one.

1. Inside Out

I did warn you. I am a Pixar super fan. But that has nothing to do with Inside Out topping this list. This film stands alone as a hugely emotional, psychologically rich and important story that is not only funny, heart warming/breaking in equal measure and visually sumptuous but one of the best executions of concept I’ve seen.

Set primarily inside the mind of 11 year old Riley, we see how her emotional well-being is run by committee - involving personified emotions such as Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust and Fear. Every idea - from memories being stored (and discarded) as orb like balls and aspects of Riley’s personality taking the form of floating islands that can crumble and fall into disrepair - is brilliantly portrayed and all get moments to shine in a central story that sees Joy and Sadness forced on a road trip back to headquarters. In classic odd couple tradition, they must learn to understand their differences and come to terms with each other’s purpose - namely, Joy needing to realize that a permanently chirpy outlook isn’t always the answer, especially in a developing mind.

It’s a coming of age tale of the grandest scale - both for Riley in the outside world and for the emotions themselves. The question of who controls what (does Riley do what she does because the emotions are literally controlling her or does her actions set the limitations of what the emotions can do etc) is always beautifully balanced.

The star of the show, and keeper of all our tears, is imaginary friend Bing Bong, who, like the toys in Toy Story, excels at making us adults guilty for the natural progression of time. His role as a forgotten imaginary friend brings to light the inherent sadness of growing up - and also it’s necessity.

One of Pixar’s grandest achievements yet and the much needed creative comeback the studio needed, they show once again why they are master storytellers.

Film of the Year.

#films of 2015 #top 10 #ex machina #spring #turbo kid #sicario #it follows #slow west #macbeth #mad max fury road #'star wars: the force awakens'#inside out

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mattbrothersscriptwriter · 8 years

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My Top 20 Films of 2015 - Part One

List time! Oh joyous list time.

2015 has been a mixed bag. Plenty of brilliance, plenty of tat and plenty of missed opportunities. Animated films continue to be absolutely magical, Michael Fassbender has had a stellar year with three of his efforts making my top 20 and the ‘legacy-sequel’ becomes another weird sub-genre all it’s own with the likes of Jurassic World, Terminator Genysis and even Star Wars: The Force Awakens offering the latest installment of a long dormant franchise that also acts as a soft reboot/retcon/reference overload of what came before... to varying results.

I saw a personal record breaking 78 theatrical films this year, thanks in part to a five day Frightfest festival than involved more than 14 films alone.

But even I couldn’t see everything. Absent from my list are the likes of Carol, Bridge of Spies, Amy, Spy, Straight Outta Compton, Son of Saul, Far From the Madding Crowd, 45 Years, Brooklyn, The Look of Silence, The Diary of a Teenage Girl, A Most Violent Year, White God, The Lobster, Queen of Earth, Kumiko the Treasure Hunter and While We’re Young.

Bubbling under just below the top 20 - Inherent Vice, Sisters, Dope, The Peanuts Movie, Krampus, Enemy, Crimson Peak and Big Hero 6. Fantastic stuff but the list isn’t big enough for everyone.

So...

20. The Martian

Ridley Scott’s strongest film in years is aided in many ways. A popular, best selling novel turned into a surprisingly funny and warm lone survivor drama, it’s Cast Away in space with more potatoes. A star studded, A-list cast who all have moments to shine, even if the rest of the crew (including the like of the wonderful Jessica Chastain) are sidelined for most of the run time. And as you’d expect from the director of Prometheus, the visuals are hugely impressive and the larger than life finale gives Gravity a run for it’s money.

19. The Falling

A mesmerizing, timeless film, led by two very strong young performers. You’ll know one as the mighty Ayra Stark from Game of Thrones (Maisie Williams) and while she is fantastic here, it’s the complete unknown Florence Pugh who makes the biggest impact and who cements herself as one to watch for 2016. Everything from her star powered presence on screen to her older-than-her-years husky voice and demanding authority, she just holds you captivated.

This surreal tale of a bout of hysterical fainting overwhelming a small, strict girls school in the 1960s really does feel like it’s a product of that decade, with decadent cinematography and a dreamlike mood that often mirrors another 2015 highlight, The Duke of Burgundy. The soundtrack is also one of my favourites - eight new songs from Tracey Thorn that effortlessly put you under their spell.

18. The Gift

An exceptional thriller, this film really managed to defy my expectations. Coming from horror factory Blumhouse Productions (responsible for genre fare like Insidious and The Purge) and boasting a by-the-numbers trailer that seemed to give away a bleedingly obvious twist (which wasn’t the case), this is a highly logical, tense, emotional story anchored by a career best dramatic performance from Jason Bateman and shines a real spotlight on the multi-talented Joel Edgerton - here on acting, writing and directing duties. A superb debut.

17. Steve Jobs

‘The Year of Fassbender’ begins here, with what is possibly his best (and certainly most Oscar pandering) performance as Apple genius Steve Jobs. Much more than a standard, cradle to grave biopic, writer Aaron Sorkin instead focuses on three defining moments in Job’s career - as a window into his psyche and soul. This literal three act structure allows us to skim past the ups and downs of his career and instead throws us right into their results, their payoffs, their consequences - seeing how the people close to him change and how his reactions to this define himself in the process.

Very talky and considered, it’s an acquired taste but this film, maybe more than any other on this list, is truly a showcase for script and performance.

16. The Good Dinosaur

I’ve made no attempt to hide the fact that I’m very much a Pixar superfan and this entry will do nothing to discourage that opinion but I seem to be one of the few who really appreciate how great 2015′s Pixar double bill has been. Coming off the back of Pixar’s masterful, creative comeback Inside Out (more on than later), The Good Dinosaur got a bad rap, getting so-so write ups and looking like having the distinct (dis)honour of being Pixar’s first bonafide financial flop. People criticized it’s overly simplistic story, demanding more from the boundary pushing, ideas factory of Wall E, Up and more. But I saw it as the perfect double bill, almost a B-movie, to the psychologically rich and unique Inside out. Where the former executed a mind bending concept, a simple ‘odd couple making a perilous journey home’ could apparently only disappoint but I found it to be the ideal partnership.

Cowardly dino Arlo believes himself to be his family’s shame and in a desperate attempt to prove his worth (a recurring theme) by capturing the vermin stealing from their crops (a feral human boy, eventually named as Spot), they both end up washed away downstream. What follows is a rivalry becoming a friendship and a dangerous trek home akin to something like Homeward Bound meets The Land Before Time. The animation is on another level, with photo real backdrops providing sweeping vistas for the deliberately cartoony characters (another complaint that I don’t understand - if EVERYthing was photo real, it would be reaching uncanny valley levels of creepiness... or just be Disney’s Dinosaur (2000)). With minimal dialogue (not quite Wall E levels but not far off), the character animation is given centre stage to bring our heroes to life. The grunting, dog-like Spot is almost certainly the best thing here and possibly one of my all time favourite Pixar creations. This is a film that depends on you buying into their relationship - if you don’t, you probably will be left cold but if you do, you will be reduced to a teary mess like I was. A heartwrenching scene where Arlo and Spot finally start to communicate and come to terms with their respective deaths in the family - completely wordless, told with stick figures in the sand - is up there with anything Pixar has produced.

While I don’t necessarily disagree with a lot of the complaints directed at this film - the other dinosaur characters can be a little weak and distracting, the themes and message can be laid on a little thick at times etc - you’d still need a heart of stone not to fall for these two. And I fell hard.

15. Song of the Sea

Other than the big hitters of Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks and Sony, some smaller indie studios are really carving out of niche in fantastical, fairytale inspired animated features. Laika (Coroline, Paranorman, The Boxtrolls) is one and Irish studio Cartoon Saloon is another, following up The Book of Kells with this gorgeous, bedtime story like tale of a young selkie and her human brother. This is the sort of youthful adventure, told from the perspectives of children, that you rarely see anymore; the sort of fable that is often watered down or patronizing in mainstream narratives. It’s childlike sense of wonder and magic is reminiscent of the very best of Studio Ghibli. The two dimensional, hand drawn style of animation and the spellbinding score from Bruno Coulais (also Coroline) and Irish group Kila are a match made in heaven.

14. Beasts of No Nation

A bold move for Netflix’s first original film (if not directly produced by them), this is a searing look at child soldiers in Ghana, both immensely bleak and fleetingly hopeful, with a reliably strong turn from Idris Elba as well as one of the best, raw child performances of recent times (Abraham Attah). Offering a distressing yet honest look at this world, not seen since the likes of Gomorrah and City of God, director Cary Fukunaga has made a powerhouse of a movie and helped to highlight an important and, sadly, all too real reality of modern life.

13. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

A reliably ‘indie’ indie, this year’s Sundance breakout manages to overcome it’s reliance on quirky storytelling and Wes Anderson-lite filmmaking by being a genuinely touching tale of friendship - both selfish and selfless - and a celebration of the power of movies. A distinctly unlikeable protagonist, used to tailoring himself to appeal to everyone (and in the process, being honest to no one) is slowly chipped down to face his own shortcomings thanks to his reluctant visits to a cancer ridden teenager. Managing to avoid the usual sentimentality and tear jerking cliches of other stories of this ilk by putting uncompromising character first, riding a wave of peppy dialogue and including a great supporting cast (Nick Offerman, Molly Shannon etc), it eventually earns it’s own, genuine moments of heartbreak and makes a star of it’s leading lady Olivia Cooke - to be next seen in Ready Player One from some chap called Spielberg.

12. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation

It might be telling that the image above does not even include Tom Cruise. Long proving himself to be one of the last genuine movie stars around, I’d certainly identify myself as a Cruiser. I think he’s a truly brilliant actor whose sheer enthusiasm for every project he’s involved with is infectious and whose clear love and devotion to this franchise results in him being strapped to the side of a plane! But the real MVP of this movie is Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa Faust - a natural action heroine and wonderful character, making such an impact in a movie series known for ditching it’s (mostly female) characters after one installment to the point where her announced return for M:I:6 (along with writer/director Christopher McQuarrie) makes her feel like the Cruise replacement that poor old Jeremy Renner could only dream of.

Second only to M:I:3 in my books, this entry out Spectre’s Spectre with a near identical plot that is immensely more fun and enjoyable. The cast have such great chemistry and the newcomers (Ferguson, Alec Baldwin etc) fit right in without missing a beat. It’s all silly stuff but the set pieces - ranging from a high speed car-then-motorcycle chase, a claustrophobic dive into an underwater vault-like machine and an outstanding opera house set, three way assassination attempt - are sublime. Miles better than any fifth entry in an action franchise has any right to be.

11. The Tale of The Princess Kaguya

Perhaps the crowning achievement in Studio Ghibli’s long and successful history, this film is absolutely incredible. It’s beautiful animation recalls ancient, water colour-esque paintings, literally drawn directly onto old parchment. Visuals aside though, this is a touching story of parenthood and the unrealised damage that can come from loving too much. When a simple farmer discovers a magical being who quickly grows into a little girl, he mistakenly believes he must do everything in his power to make sure she has the life he believes she is destined for. It’s incredibly tragic and melancholic and all the more powerful for it. Here is a man who is acting under good intentions - a parental love that blinds him from seeing what his daughter truly wants... to be free. All told with the magic and splendour of an old folk tale (on which it’s based) and undoubtedly made for all ages.

Thematically rich, visually gorgeous, wonderfully funny and achingly moving, this is perhaps the most pure piece of film this whole year. Seek it out.

COMING UP - robots, cowboys, war boys and gnome sticks.

To be concluded...

#films of 2015 #best of 2015 #the martian #the falling #the gift #steve jobs #the good dinosaur #song of the sea #beasts of no nation #me and earl and the dying girl #mission impossible rogue nation #the tale of the princess kaguya

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mattbrothersscriptwriter · 9 years

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Jurassic World: A Ramble

OK kids, gather round, it’s ramble time. The following is sort of a review of Jurassic World, sort of a nostalgic look back at Jurassic Park but mostly just a collection of thoughts as to how these two films sum up the state of blockbuster cinema from their respective time periods.

And yes, there are eventually, uh, SPOILERS in this SPOILER talk. You have been warned.

As with every review/blog appearing this month will tell you, Jurassic Park was a monumental piece of cinema for an entire generation. Specifically, my generation. I was seven years old when it came out and I remember it being possibly the first ‘event movie’ that I missed. That’s right, I can’t remember what happened but I didn’t even see it in theatres. Although I would somewhat remedy that near miss by seeing The Lost World on the big screen, aged 11, and eventually watching the original in a packed out, student screening sometime in the mid-noughties (which was amazing), it fell to good old home video for me to experience Jurassic Park. It was the holy grail of my scant video collection - which eventually included such hits as Sleepy Hollow, The Power Rangers Movie and the 1970s Smurfs movie – and it remains a definitive viewing experience, from the majesty of the Brachiosaurus reveal to the terrifying kitchen cat and mouse with the raptors. It was incredible then and it’s incredible now. It’s timeless, despite the chunky, early 90s technology, thanks to Spielberg’s mastery of the craft.

Jurassic World on the other hand, has left me feeling cold and confused. I genuinely can’t tell how many of the problems I have with it are down to script and story rather than mood and tone; over the special effects or the general feeling that it’s a film that exists out of wanting to revisit something awe-inspiring from two decades ago. Yes there have been other sequels and yes, the cyclical nature of franchises often come back around to reboots (Fantastic Four), better late than never new instalments (Mad Max: Fury Road) or quasi-sequel-come-reboot-mashups (Terminator Genysis). But I found JW to be a strange amalgamation - much like it’s central dino-villain, the genetically modified Indominous Rex – that manages to both thrill and entertain and also leave me feeling absolutely no involvement or investment in anything that’s happening, no matter how it tries.

In trying to break it down, I’ve come to the conclusion that both Jurassic Park and Jurassic World are mirrors.

Jurassic Park is, in amongst its many other themes, about awe and wonder. The sheer incredible feat of seeing previously extinct creatures alive once again. This works on both fronts – the characters in the story are wowed by seeing frigging dinosaurs and the movie itself, a new benchmark for special effects and blockbuster filmmaking, meant WE were just as wowed along with them. It worked in tandem and was a perfect marriage of content, execution and timing. We were in their shoes. Flashforward 22 years and one of the main story points driving the narrative in World is that consumers (i.e. us) just aren’t excited by these things anymore. We’re fickle. We’re always demanding more and more. The film makes a point of showing that when something incredible becomes commonplace, it becomes background. We’re de-sensitised. One of the earliest, on-point scenes in World is teenager Zach chatting on his phone rather than witness the King of all the Dinos chomp down on a goat. He literally has his back to the window. We, as a general film going audience, have become Zack – we’re so used to every big blockbuster, whether it be a Marvel film or a Michael Bay shit heap, absolutely smashing us into submission with computer generated inventions that it takes an overload of everything to get us to sit up and take notice. We keep wanting to be impressed but by throwing in everything and the kitchen sink one too many times, and it’s just diminishing returns. We’re numb to it all.

But then I think, how much different would it genuinely have been if they had gone old school and done AS MUCH as possible with animatronics and physical puppet heads. Obviously, there’s a lot more dinosaur action this time around so CG would have to be utilised much more, as looking back at Park, it treats it’s dinos almost like the killer in a horror film. They’re in the shadows, they’re out of focus, they’re heard but not seen… They’re scary! World just absolutely loses that sense of fear, along with the sense of wonderment. It’s been said many times that entirely CG creations are harder to believe in because they lack weight. We know when something is fake and out of context. They are not grounded in the world in the same way. Your actors are clearly going to be more terrified of a T-Rex jaw the size of a small car smashing towards them than they are from looking at a tennis ball on a stick, and the difference shows.

I can understand fully CG creatures for the epic wide shots and huge monster smackdowns but did they really have to computerise everything!? Even the parts where the raptors heads are being held stationary in the little head-cage things are CG – wouldn’t that have looked better with a puppet? It’s no surprise that the best looking effect is, from what I can see but correct me if I’m wrong, the ONLY instance of animatronics, which is when Chris Pratt cradles a dying dinos head in a field. It looked fantastic.Because it was there.

The Raptors in this movie were a source of controversy in the build up to release – what with them now being turned into trained hunters. That was like taking the most sadistic, iconic villains from film history and putting them on a leash. He’s given them names? Bluergh. However, I was generally on board with this part of the film as the plot made it abundantly clear that this whole plan (using the raptors to hunt the I-Rex) was foolish. I’m glad they acknowledged that… because it was. A pretty neat twist of the I-Rex being part Raptor and instantly becoming their alpha turned them back into villains but there’s just no tension. Nothing has really been built up and sustained. There’s very little cause and effect, it’s just this happens then this happens, which is troublesome from a writing standpoint. Anyway, they start killing commandos left and right but I was left unfazed. Compare that to their treatment in Park – we only catch glimpses of them (and hear their horrible screech) as they kill a park guard during transport. Their history of being deadly pack hunters is established firstly through Alan Grant and then through Muldoon. He fears them but he respects them. Their release is teased and dragged out until the moment we see their cage torn to shreds. Then it’s game on.

Jurassic World’s other main problem for me is that there’s no danger. There’s dangerous situations, yes. The whole giant-dino-monster-on-the-loose scenario means there is inherent danger involved. But you don’t feel it. You never worry for anyone and you’re pretty sure certain characters are gonna be just fine. Coming back to the neutered raptor point, one brief moment that really stood out was when the two kids are in the back of the van being driven by Claire, with a raptor running full pelt towards them. One of the kids, almost quite calmly, grabs a Taser and stuns the leaping raptor, sending him sprawling onto the road, before laughing about how they’ll have to tell their mum all about this (in a mini payoff to an earlier comment). Jesus Christ kid, you were just nearly torn to shreds by a Raptor! In Park, just the sight of one’s SHADOW against a wall was enough to send Lex into a near catatonic state of shock before they flee into the kitchen.

It seems I’m conflicted on damn well near enough everything with this film. Regarding callbacks to the original, I thought they were well handled. You could go nuts slipping in an overload of easter eggs here, from holding onto your butts to finger wagging computer screens but they held back. Aside from an old school T-shirt, a shot involving a car’s wing mirror and a hologramatic cameo from the Dilophosaurus, World did a good job honouring where it came from, making it feel like a genuine sequel. A mini side quest to the old park’s visitor’s centre also hit the nostalgia buttons and was the closest it came to feeling shoehorned in but it came about rather organically so it worked. However, the rousing finale left me pretty cold. They started treading overly similar ground, rounding up the characters near the new visitor’s centre and having them surrounded by raptors, just like in Park but where Park knocked you for six with the startling reveal of the T-Rex, here there were no surprises. It was like, ‘hang on let me just run and go get Rexy, two secs.’ The big final fight was cool and all but it never felt like the T-Rex of old – which it apparently is meant to be. The finishing move from the Mosasaur positions that giant crocodile-like water dino as the NEW T-Rex, in terms of being the surprise deus-ex-machinasaur but then the moment when Pratt and the raptor share a look of understanding was so damn cheesy, I was expecting the raptor to nod and wink back at him or something. Yeesh.

So look, this film is fun and throwaway but it could have been so much more. Or could it? It certainly feels like the natural progression, storywise, and if you are having a giant, genetically engineered dino on the loose, that is probably going to be the main driving force for your narrative. But the characters are all so lame and the effects so video-gamey that it’s just hard to care. It’s a good time in the cinema but I’ll have forgotten it by next week. They truly did ‘spare no expense’… but I’m quoting it from the sad, defeated Hammond rather than the exuberant, childlike Hammond.

In paraphrasing a quote from both old and new Jurassic generations, life finds a way… but perhaps progress should lose for once.

#jurassic park #jurassic world #film #ramble

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mattbrothersscriptwriter · 9 years

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Favourite Shots: Wall-E

We all love Wall-E right? You’d have to be crazy not to. It’s long been one of my favourite Pixar films (constantly jostling for the top spot alongside Finding Nemo and Toy Story 3) and is truly an astonishingly brave, confident and dazzling piece of work. But I’d just like to talk briefly about a particular shot in the film, one that jumped out at me right away from the first time I saw it and that has stuck with me ever since. I’ve always been meaning to write something about it too - as far as I know, it’s never been analysed quite like this before. And that might have something to do with it’s deceptive simplicity: it’s not a particularly magical shot, nor an identifiable highlight of the film’s incredible cinematography. It probably slipped past 99% of viewers on every occasion.

This moment, for me, is one I forever associate with the art of visual storytelling and what it reveals about narrative, character and theme. Let me set it up real quick:

The opening of Wall-E is, in itself, a brilliant piece of filmmaking. I love films that tackle exposition cleverly and this film by its very nature has no choice. For nearly half the film, Wall-E is a silent movie, peppered with bleeps, bloops and the scuttle of a cockroach. The opening shows us the state of the Earth, prompting us to ask questions and then reveals more and more details in a linear fashion. We SEE the mountains of trash. Then the gradual expansion of Buy-N-Large (from megastores to ultrastores to gas and food supplies), the corporation behind the fall of humanity. Then we catch a glimpse of a newspaper headline declaring the doomed state of humanity, then the hopeful billboards featuring the Wall-E clean-up initiative and then instantly, a field of dead and destroyed Wall-E bots announcing said scheme’s failure. This is exposition but it’s also telling the story. There was ‘such and such’ which led to ‘this’ therefore ‘this measure’ was introduced but look, ‘this happened instead’. Finally we see the live action commercial filling in the gaps and bringing us up to speed.

Then we see Wall-E doing what Wall-E does - cleaning - which results in this quick shot of him making his trash cube:

He’s been humming along to musical numbers, happily going about his business as it’s all he’s ever known. He’s clearly been doing it for years.

But all that changes upon the arrival of EVE. Suddenly, he’s not the last robot on Earth. He’s enamoured. It’s love at first sight.

His dogged pursuit of this new, mysterious and alluring machine takes over his life. He avoids getting blown to smithereens, gets crushed by shopping trolleys, squished by steel pipes and is constantly rejected. But he doesn’t give up.

They soon open up to one another and Eve is let into Wall-E’s life. He gleefully shows off his bachelor pad, presents to her every knick knack he owns and they soon begin to bond. But then Eve scans the plant and goes into hibernation. Wall-E continues to pine for her, taking her on romantic rowing trips and sheltering her from lightning storms.

However, he soon realises that this might be it. She might not be waking up. So he goes back to work. You know, that thing he’d been doing for centuries for all we know.

But his life isn’t the same anymore. He’s got someone on his mind and suddenly the monotony of a 9-5 job is weighing down on him. Things aren’t this simple anymore.

And thus we get my favourite shot, which in itself, is a callback to the first one I posted, deliberately prompting comparison. Check it out:

Now, what I love about this shot, and what has spoken to me about it for the last seven years is that it says so much by doing so little. There is zero movement involved at all. Not from the camera, not from Wall-E, not from anything else bar a few motes of dust floating past. It’s a completely static shot but what it says about the frame of mind of a robotic cube character in an animated film is incredible. We’ve all felt like this - returning to a status quo after something amazing, surprising and NEW has been dropped into our laps. Suddenly, we don’t feel the same doing something we were perfectly content with doing before - in Wall-E’s case, for potentially hundreds of years. It says that all it takes to wake someone up is for a new element to enter your life, something you could never have predicted. It speaks to our sense of discovery; of living life. Of experiencing new things with new people. Of how you should never be content with what you know because... who knows what’s out there?

And all of this from a single, static shot that probably nobody picks up on. It’s beautifully framed. It’s slightly more distant to the original shot, further highlighting the isolation that this life results in. It’s giving him his space, prompting us to be more of a spectator than ever before. And in terms of telling your story visually, without dialogue, in a way that furthers your understanding of character (whether explicitly or not, intentional or not), I can think of no other instance as affecting as this one. It’s heartbreaking and hopeful all in one.

Well there you go. I never thought I’d speak so much about a single image. I may be crazy but I think you get out of films what you put in - what you’re hoping to find and to understand. It may even be the most obvious thing ever and I’m just embarrassingly late to the party. But if I’m ever able to say so much from so little in my own work, then I know I’ve learnt from the best.

#wall-e #disney #pixar #sci-fi #stanton #doctor #2008

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mattbrothersscriptwriter · 9 years

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The Terminator: A Ramble

In light of the impending return to the Terminator franchise with this summer’s Terminator Genisys, I thought I would re-visit (yet again) the classic that started it all. Now, Terminator 2 is often referred to as one of the prime examples of a sequel being superior to the first instalment and in a lot of ways, I would most certainly agree. But for me, the 1984 original will always come out on top. It’s one of my all-time favourite films so allow me to take a minute to gush – GUSH I say – about this seminal sci-fi landmark.

James Cameron will obviously go down in history as being one of the most influential directors in history – and between Titanic and Avatar, he surely has at least some of your money – but I’m always blown away by his screenwriting craft, especially in his earlier films. He had this incredible mind and skill for lean, exciting storytelling and the way he deals with plot, exposition, propulsion and character is so efficient, it really helps point out just how bloated and lazy a lot of Hollywood writing is today, especially in blockbusters or ‘popcorn’ flicks.

Take the opening of The Terminator. Within a few lines of on-screen text, he tells us what we need to know about the future war. Not everything. Just enough. No rambling, no pontificating. Just information. Then the very next scene is the Terminator arriving. Boom, we’re off. In fact, the first 20 or so minutes of this film is practically a silent movie. And it’s wonderful. All mood. All visual. We meet the young Sarah Connor and witness Kyle Reese appear with a thud, naked, into this strange new world.

His demand to know the date, specifically the year, instantly tells us he is from the future. Then the Connor murders begin to take place and a few quick scenes with the cops aside, the screws are tightened right up until the Tech Noir shootout that finally pushes Reese and Sarah together, having left Sarah in the dark up until this point as to who was actually attempting to kill her.

Watching this again, it made me realise just how streamlined yet suspenseful this first act is. In fact, I’d argue that the most similar thing we have to this film’s structure and pacing today is something like No Country for Old Men – another brilliant, heightened chase movie that uses dialogue sparingly and is one large cat and mouse game. Javier Bardem would make a fantastic Terminator – that haircut is fooling nobody.

The next trick happens all through the initial car chase scene – this is where Reese effectively has one giant exposition dump, coming clean to Sarah about who he is, what the Terminator is and making damn sure she knows the consequences (“it absolutely will not stop, EVER, until you are dead” – badass). Set this type of scene in a diner or somewhere that two characters can casually have a sit down and a conversation and it’s obvious. Boring. Nothing at stake and zero momentum. Set it in the middle of an action scene and you’re killing two birds with one stone. We’re learning new information about the machine AS said machine is demonstrating why he’s so dangerous; literally punching through windscreens and showing no signs of slowing down. Cameron knows you will sit up and listen to the necessary points if it feels like your life depends on it – and we’re feeling so closely connected to Sarah at this point that we will hoover up every word he says.

This technique of keeping us on our toes whilst taking in new information is played out again during Reese’s interrogation – we hear some of it in the room with him but then we cut and hear the rest of it from a distance – watching him on the monitor with the cops and with Dr Silberman, where it takes on a new dimension: we’re seeing how insane his story sounds from the perspective of the dismissive, outsider cops and it almost dares Sarah to join in with them. This is crazy right?

And what better way to instantly abolish that thought by literally having the Terminator smash his way into the police station – a supposed place of safety – and blow away every single person in it! The message, if it wasn’t clear before, sure as shit is now – nowhere is safe. He will find you and kill you. A perfect opportunity to also eliminate essentially the entire supporting cast too including the two cops, Cameron regular Lance Henriksen and Paul Winfield. This puts the story right back on its rails and propels it towards it’s only logical conclusion – a showdown between (wo)man and machine.

There’s an interesting topic of discussion going on right now about how much modern trailers spoil the film, and how much of this is happening due to pressure on the marketing people from the studio. We live in an age where we can instantly connect and converse with anyone online the second something appears, leaks or is released – making for instantaneous feedback from the fans. Interesting, this week has become the perfect case study from three different trailers. On one end of the spectrum was the teaser for a teaser for Batman V Superman – a gimmick everyone seems to be sick of that involves showing a few seconds of footage from a trailer you’ll be getting in a few days’ time. Pointless? Or revving the engines? The latest Star Wars VII teaser seems to have managed to hit just the right balance between revealing new footage to drive people wild yet still keeping the overall structure of the story vague. We see enough cool shit, out of context, to know that we should definitely be getting excited and we’re thankful that no important plot directions have been ruined (we can assume). Ending on such a fan-serving reveal as Han and Chewie sure as hell doesn’t hurt. And then, almost as a complete opposite to that tactic, comes the latest Terminator Genisys trailer – filled to the brim with money shots, callbacks and most crucially, an apparent mid-film twist that I won’t spoil in this post. The very fact that you have to put spoiler warnings on certain trailers these days tells you all you need to know – we’re being shown too much. The new Avengers film has also degenerated into hugely dense montages of new footage and now even a handful of complete clips. So close to release and with buzz at an all-time high, this seems pointless to me.

The point I guess I’m driving at with all this relates to Terminator 2. If you watch that film, without ANY knowledge that Arnie is now a good Terminator, the writing is SO clever and precise in when it shows it’s hand. It’s genius. You’re led under false assumption throughout the first act, with the story mechanics relying on what knowledge you’re bringing in from the first film. And then the slow mo corridor scene is where it all comes to a head and seriously, if you didn’t know who was who, this would blow your mind. You see Arnie pull a shotgun from the rose box, you see the terrified John Connor desperately trying to escape, you see the T-1000 round the corner, then Arnie raises the gun and…. ‘Get down’. BAM. T-1000 sports a new liquid metal gun blast in his shoulder and suddenly all bets are off. Of course, even the trailer back in the day for T-2 revealed this surprise but I guess my laboured point is that there are certain reveals that are best kept unknown to truly appreciate the skill at work with the writing. If it’s one that the very premise doesn’t rely on then for God’s sake don’t spoil it. And I think that’s what the new Genisys trailer has done and that’s a shame as it either shows a lack of faith in the film from the executives or it’s a cheap stunt to get it trending on twitter… for all the wrong reasons. But hey, people are talking now and that’s what they need.

Wrapping up, I realised when the credits rolled on the ’84 Terminator what it can be most aptly compared to.

Alien.

The original Terminator is a stone cold horror movie, wrapped in a sci-fi shell. It deals with cyborgs and time travel and dystopian, nuclear ravaged futures but at its core, it’s a slasher flick. It’s about a big bad monster, of supernatural origins, hunting you down. Take the recent horror masterpiece It Follows for example – another film that deals with an unstoppable force constantly coming right for you, and it’s terrifying. So if The Terminator is Alien, then T-2 is definitely Aliens – same monster in play but turned on its head, with another similar but new foe, everything turned to 11 and a more ballsy and direct approach to the action scenes that make up its DNA. And seeing how Cameron himself was the guy responsible for Aliens (one of my top FIVE movies of all time), I think he knew what he was doing when it came time to sequelise his own story. Turn it into something recognisable but different. Don’t just copy the same story – or mood – of the original. Everything I’m seeing from Genisys has me worried.

Now, can he pull out some of his own magic on Avatar 2? Shouldn't be too hard to improve on that disappointment…

#theterminator #whatyear #i'llbeback #comewithmeifyouwanttolive #you'reterminatedfucker #genisys #trailers

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mattbrothersscriptwriter · 9 years

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My Top 20 Films of 2014: 10-1

I maybe should have mentioned some of my 'bubbling unders' - just missing out of a top 20 spot - include the likes of X Men: Days of Future Past, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Edge of Tomorrow, How to Train Your Dragon 2, Stretch, Veronica Mars, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Salvation, The Wind Rises, Tracks and American Hustle.

Recap of 20-11:

20. The Grand Budapest Hotel

19. Two Days, One Night

18. Snowpiercer

17. The Raid 2

16. Gone Girl

15. Blue Ruin

14. The Double

13. Under the Skin

12. Inside Llewyn Davis

11. 12 Years a Slave

PART TWO:

10. The Lego Movie

Who else saw this coming? I think we all wrote off a film made to sell toys as a cheap cash grab but the ace in the hole was the writing/directing duo of Lord and Miller, who made the chaotically great Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and 21 Jump Street. This film is far greater than it had any right to be and the genius of it is that it uses the cover of a huge corporate product to sneakily deliver a really subversive and hilarious story, all about how in order to make a difference you have to stand out from the pack and trust what makes you special. The strictly controlled 'utopia' that Lord Business thinks is best for everyone - an illusion of freedom - only makes true sense come the 4th wall breaking finale that manages to brilliantly balance emotional resonance with all the comedy stylings of a deluded Lego Batman and a SPACESHIP loving astronaut.

9. Intersteller

When it comes to Nolan movies, they always blow me away but I can always see the points that detractors often make about them. While Inception is still his masterpiece as far as I'm concerned, I was a little underwhelmed by The Dark Knight Rises if only for the insane high standard he's positioned himself against. Intersteller felt like he was both going back to basics and also making his most ambitious piece yet. I love lofty sci-fi and what this film does with space travel, time travel and high stakes drama is brilliant.

The 'heart' that people sometimes say is missing from these films is present and genuinely affecting at times although it still feels cold and calculated, like the science, which keeps me at arms length for some of it. But the sheer ambition and drive behind this story is incredible, it brings some really original ideas to some of the more stereotypical aspects of the genre and the score is boombastic to say the least.

8. Guardians of the Galaxy

On the flip side of the space opera coin is this gem - a ready made cult favourite that is also the biggest moneymaker of the year. Possibly the perfect Marvel marriage between hot, fresh creative talent (in both indie director James Gunn and breakout star Chris Pratt) and inspired source material (space! raccoon! tree!!), this is so much fun and it's great to see a blockbuster finally embracing it's wacky and colourful roots and not be dragged down into 'dirty, gritty, Dark Knight-itus' when there is no need. Rocket steals the show for me, bringing much of the laughs and the pathos and I've already replayed my blu-ray about three times already. While I'm excited for all the upcoming Marvel stuff, Guardians 2 is probably the one I'm giddy for.

7. Godzilla

The big G! Anyone who knows me knows I'm a big Godzilla fan and this newest interpretation didn't let me down. I loved the old school blockbuster feel, harking back to the likes of Jaws and Jurassic Park when it came to the slow build reveal of the King of the Monsters himself. I thought it was a delicate balance - one that you either hate or are thankful for. For me, it worked a charm and every single frame that Godzilla is on screen is a winner. His smackdowns in the final act are so very epic and his finishing moves are off the scale! I also dug how, even though it's now obviously a CGI fest, it retained the feel of 'men in suits' for a lot of the staging. Gareth Edwards really stepped up as a director whilst somehow managing to get away with a lot of his indie quirks in a big studio franchise starter so kudos to him.

While some of the human characters were short changed or little more than plot devices, Brian Cranston brought the intensity early on and passed the baton onto the monsters themselves after he was gone. Seeing this in 3D IMAX at the BFI was a crazy experience, especially hearing the roar for the first time. And the moment his spine starts glowing blue (and the carnage that follows) ranks up there as one of the best cinematic experiences of the year.

6. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Apes. Together. Strong.

Yes indeed. This was a supremely confident sequel that manages to surpass what came before and move the story along organically, rather than retreat the beats of the predecessor. It takes balls to focus the opening fifteen minutes or so of a summer blockbuster on sign language communicating apes and nothing else. This is their movie and rightly so. Andy Serkis does brilliant work once again as Caesar but it's perhaps Toby Kebbel's motion captured turn as the ruthless Koba that steals the show. He's a fantastic villain, always coming from a place of logic and emotion unique to him and his ideals and goals. While we may disagree with his actions, they are easily understood and the ape on ape politics at the heart of the story outshine the human element - we're really only there to show the inevitable decline of our civilisation and... well, the transition to the age of the planet of the apes (sequel title perhaps?) A towering, intelligent tour de force.

5. Her

For me, Her is this decade's Eternal Sunshine. It's a heartfelt look at the relationship between technology and relationships and the possibilities that stem from this - be it beneficial, damaging or enlightening. It's a story about love, pure and simple. 'Samantha' is neither female nor human yet her heightened A.I makes it possible for lovelorn Theo to engage with her, develop real feelings for a fake entity and create memories anew. I love the calm, muted style of this futurescape - the fashions, the styles, the ideals - I love how not that much of a deal is made of the fact that Theo is in love with his computer; how it's an actual thing casually mentioned having happened before. A hint at a world with fewer prejudices and more acceptance. The film could have taken a dramatic turn with everyone finding out and freaking out but his friends (like the always solid Amy Adams) empathise and are there for him. There's incredible world building at work in general but it's often all background. You take from what you can see. Nothing is overly flashy. Except maybe when it comes to the actual hi-tech stuff like that immersive videogame Theo plays! That thing's awesome.

4. Boyhood

It's been quite the year in film to have Boyhood knocked off my number one spot and end up in 4th! What is there to say that hasn't been said a hundred times? There's ambitious filmmaking and then there's this. 12 years in the making, one of the strangest experiences is watching (most noticeably during the first act at least) what is essentially a period film - except not as the footage actually comes from 2002! It's a time capsule of a story, a lost movie. And it takes it's three hour run time to truly get across just how much in life is minute and relatively normal, yet it's only once you're older and changed do you see how every small moment added up to make you who you are. Ellar Coltrane is amazing to watch but is often the passive protagonist, helping to highlight the more dramatic changes in his amazing supporting cast; Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette especially. A true 'event' of a film if ever there was one, I wonder if we'll see it's like again - or even if we should.

3. Birdman

Yes, I was lucky enough to see Birdman with about a week to go before the year was out so it's in! And what a film. A true technical marvel, it's full of whip sharp dialogue, incredible choreography and performances (including a revitalised Keaton) and is a propulsive dissection of the arts; what it means (and takes) to create real art - and just what is real art anyway. The scene in which Keaton's daughter, played by Emma Stone, lays into him about his worthless obsession with being accepted by pretentious peers who couldn't give a shit about a Hollywood hack and the later verbal smackdown between Keaton and a stony, bitter theatre critic played by Lindsay Duncan rank as two of my favourites of the year.

No other film I've seen in recent memory manages to hit the nail on the head quite as much as this one when it comes to the risks and pitfalls all creatives must navigate to emerge with even the smallest shred of respect, value or truth. And having just had my very first play finish it's three week run last month, coming primarily from the teachings and practises of the film world, I could definitely relate! One of the best ensembles of the year, Birdman soars.

2. Nightcrawler

Along with Blue Ruin, this is a film that, from top to bottom, I wish was one of mine. A fascinatingly dark look into the world of 'nightcrawling' (being first on the scene of news in progress to film and sell footage - the bloodier the better) from the point of the view of the most complex and visceral characters of recent times. Gyllenhaal's Lou Bloom isn't so much a performance, than a complete transformation. His malnuriished frame, his polite yet scary ticks, his unwavering belief in himself. There's just something missing behind his eyes. It's so all consuming, it's just amazing to experience. I feel sorry for Michael Keaton cause this just has to be Jake's year for Oscar glory.

Capturing the L.A nightlife like nothing since Collateral, it's a dark, twisted world where sociopaths like Lou Bloom can begin their own pursuit of the American dream - and the genius of this film is that it essentially shows that he's right. With the right attitude (and the requiste amount of emotional detachment), you can achive your dreams. It challenges us to hate Bloom but forces us to admire him too. He knows how to work people, he knows how to get what he wants. The things that would stop you and me - namely, moral repercussions and being a little flexible with the law - are no obstacle to him. He's smart and dedicated and as he puts it, it's not that he doesn't understand people, perhaps he just doesn't like them. Chilling, thrilling and a masterpiece of character study.

1. Whiplash

There was never any doubt where this would end up. I was fortunate enough to attend the UK première, walking the red carpet and seeing this film unfold in front of a sold out audience. It was hands down one of the best cinema experiences I've had and the ten minute standing ovation that instantly filled the theatre the second the credits smashed on screen was unforgettable.

2014 has been the year of naked ambition - this, Birdman, Nightcrawler - and what you would be willing to do to achieve it. Whiplash takes it one step further and asks what you'd be willing to sacrifice - just how far you would be willing to go - to be the very best. To be a genius at your craft. The moral questions raised over the course of Whiplash's blisteringly intense runtime are hard to shake. Just how far IS too far? Do the ends ever justify the means if they turn out to be right? And what are the responsibilities of a teacher - a position of trust - when it comes to getting the best out of your student versus the psychological damage you are inflicting? J.K. Simmons is just incredible as Fletcher - another complex villain who is easy to hate with every fibre of your being, yet whose true motives are always up for debate. Is he simply just a sadistic maniac, revelling in tormenting this poor kid regardless of the outcome? Or does he genuinely believe that this is the only way to make him realise his full potential? There is no easy answer and one of the cleverest parts of this tight, focused script is that the logic behind every one of Fletcher's decisions are rooted in conflict. He does things throughout that you can chalk up to recent events unfolding, leaving the true outcome of his gameplan a consistent question mark. Just when you think you have him pegged, he flips it, leaving you forever wondering if he's acting on impulse or if everything is happening exactly as he planned. He's an incredible character and Simmons deserves every award going.

Miles Teller is another revelation, following up a strong 2013 breakout from The Spectacular Now (which ended up at number 7 in last year's list) with a demanding, highly physical, amazing performance. You'll feel exhausted just from watching his drumming.

This is an expertly crafted thriller, a horror film that subverts the tropes of what we've come to expect from feel good 'underdog sports/music/fighting' movies. There is no Rocky style montage followed by a pat on the back at the end here. For all the mind games, blood, sweat and tears, it reminds us that greatness is not easily achieved and highlights the detrimental effect false or easy praise can have on pushing someone to be better than they are. Maybe we should all try and up our game... just maybe without all the chair throwing, eh?

All said and done, this could be my favourite film of the past seven years and might even make my top 20 of all time. Wow. Now there's a list for another day.

Looking Ahead to 2015

2014 was a proper vintage year for films but 2015 is either going to be one for the ages or the year in which the bubble bursts. I'm optimistic. Out of the biggies, I can't wait for all the obvious picks (Star Wars VII, Jurassic World, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Mad Max Fury Road, Spectre, Ant Man, The Hateful Eight, Tomorrowland, Ex Machina, Inside Out and The Good Dinosaur) but there are also so many new films from some of my favourite (and recently discovered) directors, many of which I've just heard about!

Midnight Special - the new one from Jeff 'Mud, Take Shelter' Nichols

Crimson Peak from Del Toro

Knight of Cups from Terrence Malik

Green Room - from Jeremy 'Blue Ruin' Sauliner

The End of the Tour - from James 'The Spectacular Now' Pondsoldt

La La Land - from Damien 'WHIPLASH' Chazelle

Krampus - from Michael 'Trick R Treat' Dougherty

Joy - from David O'Russell

In a Valley of Violence - from Ti 'The Innkeepers' West

Triple Nine - from John 'The Proposition/The Road' Hillcoat

and

Beasts of No Nation - from Cary 'True Detective' Fukunaga

My God. Could be the best mix of blockbuster fare and awards bait in quite some time. Here's to it!

#top 10 #2014 #the lego movie #interstellar #guardians of the galaxy #godzilla #dawn of the planet of the apes #her #boyhood #birdman #nightcrawler #whiplash

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mattbrothersscriptwriter · 9 years

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My Top 20 Films of 2014: 20-11

Another year down folks and what a year. I bet there are people out there who could fashion their own list made entirely of what I didn't even get to see this year. Stuff like Maps to the Stars, Fruitvale Station, Cold in July, The Babadook, Obvious Child, Frank, Leviathan, Starred Up, Only Lovers Left Alive, Dallas Buyers Club, 71, Pride, The Imitation Game, Locke, The Guest, Calvary and Mr Turner to name but a few.

But to point out the obvious, this list is about the film I HAVE seen, within the year 2014. A couple might not be out on general release in the UK until next year but I gotta go with what I've personally seen within these 12 months. So without further ado, lets be havin' it:

20. The Grand Budapest Hotel

I'm a great admirer of Wes Anderson's work and I think he's going from strength to strength. I love the sweetness of Moonrise Kingdom and The Darjeeling Limited remains my favourite of all his films. This one was a real culmination of all his quirks - as epically 'Anderson' as an Anderson film can surely get. Until the next one anyway. A gleeful caper with a masterful turn from Fiennes, this often had the manic energy and colourful palette of a cartoon yet was grounded by a surprisingly touching friendship between the two leads.

19. Two Days, One Night

I went to catch this based almost entirely on Marion Cotillard's presence. Her performance in Rust and Bone a couple years back blew me away and that film easily made my 2012 list. I'm a total Dardenne brothers newbie but their style instantly hit me as an ultra low key, realist take on 'extraordinary-within-the-ordinary' human issues. Being able to ground as big a star as Cotillard into such a minimalist story was brilliant and she really shines as a factory worker forced to beg her co-stars to choose between her keeping her job over them receiving their yearly bonus. Essentially a collection of initially identical conversations, the emotional fallout is front and centre and it's incredibly engaging.

18. Snowpiercer

Another great surprise was Snowpiercer - criminally buried in release shenanigans, this high concept genre flick manages to feel both dated and fresh, hokey yet relevant. It's brilliantly straightforward plot (fight from the back of the train to the front) gives it breathing room for some fun action set pieces, an array of larger than life characters (Alison Pill as the crazy schoolteacher for one!) and a stab at some strong 'the have and the have nots' thematic subtext. Great cinematography too and a recent career highlight from Captain America himself, Chris Evans.

17. The Raid 2

Speaking of straightforward plots, the original Raid is possibly one of the greatest. Get in, fight to the top, take out the end of level bosses. It has bucketloads of amazing videogame logic in that respect and it rockets along at an incredible pace. The sequel ramps everything up and concerns itself with becoming a genuine crime epic. While some of the dialogue and prolonged character scenes can become a little melodramatic, it's still a hell of a ride, with some memorable characters (including the scene stealing Baseball Bat Man and Hammer Girl) adding to the BEST action scenes of the year - the huge prison yard brawl and nightclub showdown are a blast but it's the one on one fights that showcase the choreography best; capped off by a brutal kitchen set smackdown. Too much fun.

16. Gone Girl

Having never read the book, I didn't quite know what to expect other than another high class Fincher adaptation so the various twists and turns it takes, especially with your perceived allegiances towards the two leads, was very compelling. Another great score from Reznor and some razor sharp visuals make this an impressive - and morally murky - trip into an infected relationship.

15. Blue Ruin

Blue Ruin is very easily the sort of post-modern take on a well worn genre that I'd have loved to have made myself. It's gritty, powerful and constantly surprising, messing with your perceived notions of how these sort of films should go down. Mild spoiler alert: the actual (initial) revenge is successfully carried out before the end of the first act! Where it goes from there is brilliant and the whole thing is anchored by a hell of a breakout role for Macon Blair.

14. The Double

I was a fan of Submarine but this, for my money, is better on every level. It manages to evoke early Lynch as well as being monstrously nightmarish in its own way too. The central concept - of a man's identical double appearing out of nowhere and wrecking his life whilst nobody else seems to give a shit about its weirdness - is wickedly developed and Eisenberg's dual performance is magic. The visuals and art direction help to create a world unto itself and it's almost 1920s fashioned bleakness is very unique. Very (darkly) funny too.

13. Under the Skin

Man is this film hypnotic. From the opening frame to its tragically poetic finish, this thing is a marvel of artistic expression and truly haunting visuals. Johansson finally gets the role she was born to play - excelling as the ultimate outsider, managing to be both instantly iconic and apparently invisible enough to wander through Scottish shopping malls unnoticed by the public. It's a slow burn, dread filled story with moments of true horror (the beach, the woods) that shine a light both on what makes us human and what the worst of us are lacking in our own humanity.

12. Inside Lleywn Davis

I love me some Coen Brothers and this one definitely falls into the 'hard to love' category that some would also put A Simple Man or Barton Fink. It's a largely narrative free look at one particular character's journey through the early 60s folk scene in New York and while the songs are wonderful and the performances excellent, a lot of people have found Llewyn himself to be too unlikeable a character. But I was with him every step of the way and I think the problem some might have is that he's a very unchanging force; he doesn't always learn his lessons and he might even end the film at the beginning of a brand new cycle of (self-fulfilling) shit but there's something in his self hatred, passive aggression and refusal to compromise that I admired. I think he's fascinating and seeing him go on this equal parts mundane and life-affirming odyssey makes this film one of the Coen's best in years. Great rage fuelled turn from Carey Mulligan too.

11. 12 Years a Slave

Jumping all the way back to January for this one. An incredibly uncomfortable yet hope filled true story with some of the best ensemble acting from the likes of Ejiofor, Cumberbatch, Giamatti, Pitt, McNairy and the scene destroying Fassbender. Those scenes between him and Solomon Northup were the real two-handers of the piece and the intensity involved was astounding to behold. Some visuals will stick in the mind for a good long time but it's the bravery and craft behind the tackling of this horrendous part of human history that really made this much more than your usual period biopic.

Join me again soon for my films ranging from the 10-1 spots!

#films of 2014 #grand budapest hotel #two days one night #snowpiercer #raid2 #gone girl #blueruin #thedouble #under the skin #inside llewyn davis #12 years a slave #20-11

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