Whiplash- Movie Review

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Damien Chazelle, Drama, J.K. Simmons, Miles Teller, Whiplash

         Whiplash tells a classic story of the pursuit of art, but is told in a unique way of a teacher student relationship and set in the world of music. While Damien Chazelle’s film may not be on everybody’s radar, it is one of the most moving, inspirational, terrifying, and proactive movies of the year.

Chazell does a great job at building up tension throughout the film, which is best showcased in its thrilling score. The film’s soundtrack feels almost like a character in of itself, and constantly represents the plight of the struggling artist. Of course, the scenes in which music is actually played are completely exhilarating as the actors push themselves to their limits. The reality of these scenes are at points brutal, but it all works due to the film’s fantastic lead performances.

Whiplash features some of the year’s best performances in Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons. Both actors have previously flourished only in comedic roles, but here are pushed to give deeper and realistic performances. Teller is perfectly cast as the young, hopeful musician who’s willing to put in the work, and certainly gives the best work of his entire career. As the film slowly builds its tension toward its exhilarating finale, Teller is pushed as an actor, and as a character given an obsessive desire to succeed that eventually threatens his relationships and future.

Matching Teller perfectly is the terrifying, hilarious, and strangely inspiring performance by J.K. Simmons. Simmons delivers such a powerful aura onscreen that at points is incredibly terrifying and completely despicable, but as the film continues his character’s motivations become clearer and clearer. This starts a beautiful clash between Simmons and Teller; Simmons has a disturbingly negative outward persona that slowly gets more relatable, while Teller plays a good intentioned young man who slowly begins to emulate his teacher. Simmons also delivers a career best here and should be considered a lock for an Academy Award nomination (if not win) for Best Supporting Actor.

The brilliantly crafted story is a universal one of the pursuit of art and how far an artist goes to achieve personal achievement. This story is brilliantly set within the world of jazz music, which gives the perfect setting for intense sequences of competition and commitment. A brilliant choice by Chazelle is to have songs performed by the ensemble played several times; getting to see these pieced performed more than once allows the developments of the characters to grow and to evolve.

Whiplash is an utterly brilliant piece of filmmaking that not only tells a universal story but also features some of the most brilliantly composed characters featured in any film this year. The intense sequences of musical performance are not only some of the most intensely directed and brilliantly shots scenes of the year, but they progress the progress of two stellar characters that will long be remembered for cinemagoers everywhere. Grade: A

Birdman- Movie Review

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Birdman, Comedy, Drama, Edward Norton, Emma Stone, Michael Keaton, Zack Galfinackis

          Birdman is a remarkably unique and strikingly visual piece of imaginative filmmaking that features stellar performances from a great cast. While the film’s odd story and strange set pieces may have fallen flat under a lesser director, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu does a breathtaking job at creating one of the year’s best films.

The best part about Inarritu’s work here is how genre-shaping the film is. There are moments of Birdman that form powerful interactions between characters and deliver emotional moments, as well as laugh out loud comedy, visual ingenuity, clever satire, and stylized set pieces. The “one-shot trick” of composing a seamlessly never ending shot is used to the most advantage possible and never comes out as a gimmick. But the cinematography is even better utilized in its extravagant sequences of no dialogue, where the visual sequences that taunt reality and real set pieces are mixed perfectly, giving Inarritu and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki near locks for Academy Award nominations.

The satire of Birdman is also notable; similar to Gone Girl, the satirical elements are purposefully eccentric, but still never feel far from reality. But where Gone Girl was just an exploration of the media, Birdman is an exploration of our modern culture and the phenomenon of theater, film, critics, and media in general. The story here is really the first modern social satire, and is dealt with sharp wit, modern references, and in the words of the film’s subtitles (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) that reflects our modern world.

Similar to many of Innaritu’s films such as Babel and Biutiful, Birdman features many great performances. Headlining the cast is the obvious talent of Michael Keaton, who surprisingly never falls completely into self-parody and pulls off a legitimately great performance as a struggling actor trying to face the pursuit of art and happiness. Keaton is a relatable hero, but he is also a flawed and layered character whose struggles are surprisingly real.

Also great is the performance by Edward Norton, who after having a major comeback earlier this year in The Grand Budapest Hotel, gives a performance here that ranks among his work in Primal Fear, American History X, and Fight Club. Norton’s work here is a comic one, playing off his own persona as the difficult actor who pursues art and realism above all, but still gets scenes in which the emotion is still present. The supporting cast is also remarkable. Zack Galfinackis, who is unlikely cast as the straight man, is fantastic in a more subdued performance. Emma Stone, Naomi Watts, and Andrea Riseborough are also good in smaller performances, but do a great job at playing off Keaton.

          Birdman (or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) is a remarkably original, socially relevant, and visually stunning piece of imaginative filmmaking that rides the line between comedy and drama finely with wit and emotion throughout. Hopefully the Academy Awards will recognize the tremendous work done here with a Best Picture nomination, but regardless it is a real treat for fans of cinema that functions as a relevant satire and an enjoyable film. Grade: A

Gone Girl- Movie Review

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+A Movies, Ben Affleck, David Fincher, Drama, Gone Girl, Neil Patrick Harris, Rosamund Pike, Tyler Perry

In the wake of one of Hollywood’s finest careers, David Fincher delivers one of his best films yet in the masterfully directed Gone Girl. An expert adaptation, the film is paced as a slow burning thriller with some of the best performances of the year in Rosamund Pike and Ben Affleck. Gone Girl is a darkly hilarious satire, a disturbingly accurate take on the media, a character study of a classic couple, and one hell of a thriller.

David Fincher has made a career as a brilliant director with a meticulously keen sense for detail. With Gone Girl, he crafts a thrilling whodunit that slowly evolves into a cross of many genres, including surprising amounts of satire and humor. The way the film uses the media is more than just a form of exposition; it plays a major role in the plot, personified as its own character, as well as being purposefully overemphasized to prove a satirical point. It’s critical and often hilarious without becoming distractingly cynical or melodramatic.

As with many of his films, Fincher delivers a masterwork of editing. Drawing inspiration from his other films, Gone Girl utilizes the multiple storyline and timeline elements of The Social Network and Fight Club’s well-executed and calculated addition of a plot twist, which is added in a way that adds up to the rest of the film’s continuity. Also notable is the screenplay, written by Gillian Flynn, the novel’s author. Flynn’s screenplay inserts the most interesting and core elements of the book, and courageously borrows entire scenes specifically. However, it’s very clear that the novel is adapted in a way that fits the specifications of a film, and is adapted in thus way.

Headlining the cast is Rosamund Pike, who delivers a feverishly complex performance as the titular character in an Academy Award worthy role. The confrontations and conversations throughout the film give Pike room to shine and superbly captures the spirit and complexities of the novel. Additionally, Ben Affleck is given a great role as the man caught unraveling his wife’s disappearance, giving one of the most vulnerable and powerfully “normal” performances of his career. But the most surprisingly great role here is that of Tyler Perry, who is perfectly cast as a hot shot lawyer who teaches Affleck the tricks of the trade. Kim Dickens and Carrie Coon are also strong in supporting roles, both of which are given surprising amounts of development for minor roles. Neil Patrick Harris is also strong, though he’s not given as much development as perhaps he should have.

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross also add to Gone Girl’s suspense through their eerie, haunting score. Unlike the simple composition of their score for The Social Network, this score highlights the chaotic confusion of the film’s events. Jeff Cronenweth, David Fincher’s noted cinematographer since Fight Club, gives the film the complexity and suspense it deserves, as well as the beauty of its domestic setting. The most impressive aspect here is how the film handles exposition; instead of bombarding the audience with needless backstory, Gone Girl uses clever tricks to reveal important information to the audience without becoming unrealistic.

There are no real flaws in terms of Gone Girl’s composition, but there are certain elements that could have used expansion. Certain elements of the novel, namely the relationship that Rosamund Pike and Ben Affleck have with their parents or the enigmatic behavior of Neil Patrick Harris’s character, are touched on in the film, but not fully expanded upon. Granted, these elements hardly detract from the film, but considering the source material there is room for more content. It’s likely that the film was cut to attract a larger audience (the film looms at a brisk 149 minutes), but the endlessly entertaining storylines give the film capabilities to go beyond its initial runtime.

Gone Girl is a masterpiece of modern cinema; a film that dares an audience to think and isn’t afraid to be both disturbing and humorous at the same time. David Fincher takes risks with the film that pay off to create a film that is pokes holes in the truths that hold up modern society. With a killer script, sharp dialogue, and expert performances, Gone Girl is one of the best films of the year. Grade: +A