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Jupiter Ascending

Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski

Watched this because of the word Jupiter and promises of a strong female lead, but it was mostly about how annoying paperwork can be (???), and the female lead was a complete joke UUUUGGGGHHH, so really wish I hadn’t watched this and (I don’t usually do this but) would highly recommend never to watch this film, it was the absolute worst boring crap and should not even be called a film 0/10

Sense and Sensibility

Ang Lee, 1995

This is great! Very nicely shot and cast, and just getting the tone right for a period drama. Like sitting down to a trusted family recipe, lamb stew with very tender meat 8/10

A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence

Roy Andersson, 2014

One filmmaker’s study of humans, shot in undernourished flesh tones, with sneering winks to the audience regarding the humour and tragedy of existence. Each vignette is meticulously detailed with a carefully constructed set featuring demented caricatures in absurd situations, redeemable only because of their pitiful stupidity. I think this was supposed to be a black/bleak comedy regarding life (my life, your life, EXISTENCE), but it just didn’t get there for me. I completely hated it, but don’t take my word for it. Off the scale because I disliked it too much. Originality doesn’t give it any bonus points, unfortunately (if it did, then 9/10)

Hard Eight

Paul Thomas Anderson, 1996

There’s something about the casino, painfully lit, jarring colours, plastic glacé cherries, tack and floating wads of money that really appeals to me as a film setting. I definitely have a soft spot for poker movies, which this is not really. It was interesting to watch as a comparison piece to Inherent Vice - the unhinged storytelling and solid character sketches (solid in that they remain not-quite fathomable). I can’t really remember exactly how I felt about it - probably liked it and would rewatch in five years, 6/10?

It Follows

David Robert Mitchell, 2014

The gang from Scooby Doo meet Heidegger in the seedy suburbs and face their doom. This is a really good horror film, but don’t watch if you already live with the constant dread of inevitable death 8/10

Force Majeure

Ruben Östlund, 2014

We watched this over a month ago. It’s been on my mind since then, and I'm looking forward to some sort of closure by getting this over with. This is a study of the family unit, and it’s brutal, funny, awful. The setting is a ski resort, soundscaped by the clanking of lifts and grinding cables, high-powered vacuum cleaners roaming past one hundred identical apartment complex doors. Strangely, my sister and her boyfriend have stayed there and skied there - their photos look normal and happy. Looking through them made it apparent that the film did a great job at framing and recording this place to serve its sinister ends. From the opening shots, we know this is a family with problems. They pose awkwardly, their children are sullen and bossy. There’s no love and it’s obvious. What provides the drama when there’s no love? A controlled avalanche, gender roles, obligation, clingy children, embarrassed friends. The post-avalanche discussions are uncomfortable and inevitable, and some devilishly absurd things happen. Everyone pathetically struggles to understand and reassert their (shit) roles. A note on the excellent bathroom scenes; the twice-daily symphony of electric toothbrushes. I am of a big family, and can’t remember ever being alone in the bathroom growing up. Closing the door on Pierce while I brush my teeth is a sacred luxury, which is possibly why I found their shared bathroom scenes almost unbearably claustrophobic. The wife gets a day to herself, one chance to pee alone in the woods, and then lo and behold! her family appears through the trees. It won’t make you want to ski, and it certainly isn’t selling marriage either. You should see this film and talk to your friends and lovers about it 8/10

Boyhood

Richard Linklater, 2014

It was lovely to watch everyone growing up and changing their hair. The story itself, not so much. However, I probably liked this one more than any of his previous ones (which is not saying a lot! I’m sorry Matt and everyone else on the internet who loves his films). All of the talking and philosophising annoys the hell out of me, especially from the mouths of men. It’s an achievement and a great failure that he both manages to bring Patricia Arquette to the screen, utterly amazing and human, and then to give all of the life-explaining scenes to the terrible Ethan Hawke. And don’t argue that Linklater is doing women a favour by allowing likeable women-characters to be in his films! Because in the end she holds her head in her hands and despairs ‘I just thought there would be more’ and that’s the scene that we’re left with. At times it felt like the director was really trying to beat Patricia Arquette up - the rounds of husbands who inexplicably turn into abusive alcoholics, the constant uprooting, the implication that she is impossible. But she prevailed! Through all of that shit. And then that last scene is the one we’re left with. It undermines the character, because she shines through everything else, stoic. She protects her children, never complains, is cool. To really hammer the nail in, in the previous scene Hawke gets to say that if only she hadn’t given up on him everything would have been fine and dandy! And in the same breath, ‘Here’s the truth. Women are never satisfied’. SHOOT ME. So it seems I got a little emotionally invested. The boy of the movie and his inevitable string of model girlfriends = completely forgettable character. 10/10 for the idea 2/10 for the execution.

Nightcrawler

Dan Gilroy, 2014

I watched this way back in February, so now only have vague memories of my guttural reactions (agh, why, no, make it stop) to this tense film that was not enjoyable to watch at all. Gyllenhaal makes a great, gaunt, sociopath. Bloom’s sinister drive and the unrelenting bad nature of events seem impossible and out of time, not a grounded commentary on media bloodthirst. I liked it most when it veered into black comedy, especially in the unlikely relationships that develop with the naive intern and fishy producer. The nighttime is not my time. A shuddery 5/10

Birdman

Alejandro G. Iñárritu, 2014

My recollections of this film are confused because I'm extremely relieved that it's over, similar to high feelings post exam/interview/public speaking. I get stage fright just by watching other people get on stage, and it seems this extends to watching actors in a film about actors preparing for the stage, so this whole film was pretty harrowing and I was nervous throughout. I'm not sure about whether I liked it or not in the same way that I wouldn't be able to say whether or not I enjoyed sitting through a difficult exam. Challenging, but constructed. Impossible to sit back and take it in as it moves towards a climax that we predict will be bad. Is it a coincidence that many of the lead actors have played multiple personality disorder characters before? For fear of ruining things for the unlikely few of my 24 followers who haven't seen the films I won't name any names. The scenario felt outdated (the nods to Twitter didn't really work in its favour), but then I don't really know much about this scene (Broadway/Hollywood/America), so the point of it all was most likely lost on me. I enjoyed the supernatural lapses, and could probably have done without the appearing soundtrack and rollicking camera (but maybe not? I might have relaxed, which would probably miss the point even further), which made me feel sicker. Did the camera angles on the daughter purposefully make it look like she was taking selfies all the time? Her eyes looked weird and enlarged. 4/10

Frank

Lenny Abrahamson, 2014

This film made me very sad. I have a grudge against Domhnall Gleeson since About Time, which I'm trying to get over because I'd like to see Ex Machina and feel bad for despising actors for their roles. Unfortunately his character in this film is the most awful, unempathetic, monster of a person. I'm not sure how alone I am in this assessment. This is not in any way a subtle film, and his villainy is similarly delivered as too much of an absolute, unlike the villains I prefer - relatable because they know on some level that they are bad, the smart schemers who can't help their awful natures. I found it hard to believe and frustrating to watch his lack of self-awareness and inability to understand or empathise with other people. I suppose, since this is based on the screenplay by the real Jon, it may have been written with a certain degree of exaggerated self-loathing. I feel like the real Jon can't possibly have been this bad. Frank, on the other hand, is extremely likeable. I wasn't sure about the oversimplification of talent - that some people just have it and some don't. For a large part of the film we see Frank working obsessively to perfect the music, but he's also presented as someone who is born with the knack. And Jon is not, despite the fact that they grew up in identical suburbia (not subtle). I was reminded of the line from The Incredibles [Everyone's special, Dash/Which is another way of saying no one is] - not everyone can be anyone, but it's difficult to draw a line between innate ability and very hard work over time. The similarity between Jon and Syndrome is pretty uncanny here in that they are both very ill suited to their passion and they both ruin everything (but at least Syndrome knows he's a baddie). The strangest thing about this film is that it's presented as a comedy, which strikes me as very Irish. I liked the music. 6/10

Inherent Vice

Paul Thomas Anderson, 2014

Returned home and drank a tall cold glass of orange juice. There are films and then there are films, 9/10

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

James Cameron, 1991

Ok, you're in a bookshop and you go to the counter to buy this book that you've wanted to read for ages, and the guy behind the counter takes the book, looks at it, and in 30 seconds proceeds to tell you the main twist and ending. Unacceptable! I really feel bad for everyone who saw the trailer to this. Being generally ignorant and out of the loop I had no idea about anything and had a great time guessing and exclaiming out loud. 7/10

Capote

Bennet Miller, 2005

Tricky to write about a biopic/true crime film. I mostly regret knowing personal details about a writer or artist. Fascinating and often revealing, but these facts (as presented) are now there, to be called forth when reading or remembering the work. In school, my English teacher liked to ask whether it was possible to separate the dancer from the dance. We might have been studying Sylvia Plath - an extreme case of life becoming inextricably bound, by the narrative of the whole world, to the work. As to the true crime aspect - maybe, like personal history, we feel it’s good to be informed, to know what it is we’re reading. I was reminded of Serial, how I was gripped by the story, sickened by my interest. These are real people, presented as a measure for our morality, for our contemplation. In this film, Capote is the cold-blooded man. A writer about whom I knew very little when I read the perfect ‘A Christmas Memory'. Capote is dead now, yes. Philip Seymour Hoffman is also dead. I found myself thinking about this while watching the film, knowing too much. Everyone is curious about these things, we can't help it, we feel bad afterwards. 6/10

Leviathan

Andrey Zvyagintsev, 2014

A grim tale with a messy plot and a scrappy pace. The camera is often at rest, or slowly panning, slowly zooming. A stage is set and developed in the house - we grow accustomed to the breakfast table, the years of cluttered history in the corners and on the walls, gradually recognise the shape of it from across the bridge. In opposition to the place and its inhabitants, the lack of subtlety when it comes to the mayor and the grip of political/religious power is almost comical in its grotesqueness. The brewing tension in the first half is a picnic once the sky starts falling, one sad star after another. His son weeps to the massive bones of a whale, he is desperate in the old church ruins. The face of Lilya on the cliffs is a nightmare. It's out of control, 7/10

Blue Jasmine

Woody Allen, 2013

This was a re-watch and definitely my favourite of Woody Allen's films from the last decade or so. Cate Blanchett's facial transformations are so wonderful and terrible. That scene with the boys in the diner. Sheesh. I really approved of the changes that Allen made to Chili as Streetcar's Stanley character, and thought this was a a great reimagining overall, so good that you almost wouldn't recognise it as such. Much Ado, 2012 - look and weep. There's a quality to all of the characters that tiptoes into caricature, but that's just to be expected and adds to the momentum. Mad colourful too. 7/10.

Whiplash

Damien Chazelle, 2014

The disturbing relationship between tyrannical teacher and compulsive student. Films like this are my cup of tea. Teller and Simmons are excellent and perfectly paired. I also really enjoyed the supporting cast as a whole - father, girlfriend, other drummers. The unanswerable questions on the tip of everyone's tongue leaving the cinema - should a mentor abuse or encourage? do the results dictate the method? should life be enjoyed or should we try to be the best, at the expense of all else? Any film that reminds me of The Red Shoes gets at least 8/10. Chazelle and I were born the same year - he obviously had a better teacher.

Wild

Jean-Marc Vallée, 2014

This is a film about a life-changing journey, but it doesn't feel like a journey is happening. Maybe because of all the patchy flashbacks? It always surprises me that these walking films don't show more of the actual walking. I never got a good sense of the terrain, the extreme distance covered, or time passing. The voiceover was annoying and that was a bad move on the fake-looking fox who reappears at opportune times. 2/10.

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