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Whiplash (2014)
I Would Tell The Filmmakers "Good Job", But....
What do you get when you have two of the best performers of their generation, a razor-sharp script, and a director with a passion for music? You get Whiplash - one of the most intense, energetic and enormously entertaining films you will see all year. You will sweat, your heart rate will increase and you won't be able to draw your eyes away from the madness happening on screen.
The story follows Andrew (Miles Teller) a nineteen-year-old drummer who only has one aspiration - to be one of the greats, no matter the costs. He attends a prestigious music in New York, though is subjugated to the sidelines as back-up for the core players. However, he gets the attention of the school's infamous music teacher Terrence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons) and joins his advanced class, where he is exposed to the intensive training/borderline mental torture his ensemble endures for the ultimate pursuit of excellence.
This movie is electrifying. Whether it's Simmon's masterful performance that could have been cartoonish, if it wasn't for the nuance he gives his character, or Teller's restrained portrayal full of loneliness and built up frustration. The real stars of the movie is the phenomenal music and editing, building constant tension and even a small sense of dread up until it's breathtaking finale.
This movie is a roller-coaster ride, bustling with energy scene to scene. It never let's up in it's 100 minute running time, narrative-wise or stylistically, the film is simply one of the best of the year. Damien Chazelle has crafted a kinetic masterpiece that has put his names down as one of the new directors on the block to keep an eye on. Don't miss this one.
The Lunchbox (2013)
A beautifully made film let down by unrealistic relationships.
'Dabba', or it's English title 'The Lunchbox', is the debut feature film of Ritesh Batra. Following the lives of Saajan (Irrfan Khan, Life of Pi), an office worker on the brink of retirement, and Ila (Nimrat Kaur, Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana), a housewife trying to rekindle the romance between her passionless husband. Upon making him a special lunch, her meal is sent to Saajan instead, where an unlikely friendship blossoms.
Batra has done a wonderful job at capturing the lifestyle of modern Indian culture - claustrophobic trains, busy streets and rustic buildings are among the many backdrops this movie has to offer. Colourful without being overwhelming, DOP Michael Simmons has crafted a very beautiful film. Batra has also pulled out some exceptional, low-key performances from Khan and Kaur. The movie is paced pretty well, though the 100 minutes did feel like a bit over 2 hours.
Now, the main issue with the film - this movie is billed as a romance, the tag-line is "Can you fall in love with someone you have never met?" and at no stage did I feel the romance between the two leads were believable at all. The two exchanging notes through titular lunchbox, and are talking about everyday, mundane activities for most of the film, so when the romantic aspect was introduced, I was very surprised. The actual premise of the film is not original at all, (which isn't necessarily a bad thing), however, in this case I felt that the way the plot was introduced and progressed felt really contrived. The film is very much a character study, but Khan definitely gets way more focus than need be in the film, leaving Kaur's character of the lonely lover rather one-note and two-dimensional. The child actors are also rather wooden, but they aren't on screen for a large amount of time, so the movie isn't too grating to watch when they're around. The ending, while bittersweet, is rather unsatisfying, leading the audience to think that Batra himself wasn't sure how to end the picture.
Overall, it's still an enjoyable, well-made flick, but a rather overrated one at that. 6/10.
The Expendables 3 (2014)
Who is this movie even for?
The Expendables series was supposed to be bring back the thrills of the great 80s action films. Nostalgia is the safe go-to for audiences of today, and Stallone knows this. Most of the man's career has revolved around him playing the same roles for over 30 years. The trailer came out and it was extremely promising. Bringing in actors like Schwarzenegger, Dolph Lundgren, Bruce Willis and what do you know? Stallone was even directing, a man who had proved himself a competent action director. Even of recent years, Rambo IV was pretty awesome. Ironically however, these 80s stars created something as dull and humourless as today's modern action films. Where was the fun? Where was the one liners? What should have been a spectacle piece with soul was a shaky-cam filled ride of nauseating proportions. Sure there were some small moments of fun, but they were few and far between. So, has the third iteration in the series any good? Not really.
The movie follows The Expendables on a mission to stop a weapon's trade, they discover an old foe once thought dead (Gibson), takes out one of their own. Their leader, Barney (Stallone), to keep the rest of his Expendables brethren safe, goes on a suicide mission with a new younger team to exact revenge.
Here lies the fundamental problem with the film - the actual Expendables aren't the focus of the movie. There's been an attempt by the filmmakers to attract a younger audience by bringing in fresh, younger 'action stars' and of course the PG-13 rating, the series' first. This could have worked, if they hired ANYBODY who had a star credit in the past three years. Instead, the audience is subjected to a bunch of no-name stars running around, spouting annoying banter at one another. The reason why people come to see these movies are for the nostalgia of the past films these actors have been in, and that they are in a film altogether. So when you disband what the audiences came for and replace them with a bunch of nobodies, you're completely alienating your existing fan base. What people want to see if Rocky and The Terminator killing bad guys together, and when you just replace them with regular mercenaries, it isn't special to the viewers anymore.
That's not to say that's the only problem with the film. For this type of movie, motives of character's aren't entirely clear. Why would Barney abandon his loyal team ready to fight by his side for a bunch of random mercenaries? The action is still largely incoherent, with either way too many cuts during the scene or really poorly executed fight choreography. The visual effects department looks like it had to take a pay cut for the actor's, there is better CGI on Agent's of Shield (every car ride is flat green-screen, one scene with a base jumper just looks completely unfinished). The editing - dear lord - the editing in this movie is some of the worse I have seen in a film in a long time. There are multiple cutaways to things for a minuscule amount of time that the audience has no idea what it is (a scene ends with a guy who the audience hasn't picking up a magazine and leaving), or is completely unintentionally hilarious with how the cut has been executed. The main example that sticks out is a scene that slowly zooms in dramatically on Stallone's face for about thirty seconds, as if the character was about to have a flashback, just to cut straight to the next scene at a hospital. However, the biggest crime this film commits is it's waste of talent. Jet Li is one of the top billed actors, and yet has about 90 seconds of screen time. Wesley Snipes has a fun and humorous introduction to his character, but then is just relegated to the background after the first act. Terry Crews is one of the most charismatic actors in films today and he is COMPLETELY wasted in the movie.
This movie is getting a 4/10 from me, because there are several elements that save this lazily made film. Antonio Banderas is an absolute joy to watch, giving a crazy, over the top performance that would make Nicolas Cage jealous. Mel Gibson, whilst more restrained, gives his all as the crazy bad guy, and although the majority of the visual effects are an eyesore, the stunt work in the third act of the film is quite impressive and even engaging.
Skip this one, go watch Guardians at the cinemas again.
A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014)
A Million Better Ways To Spend Your Time
Seth MacFarlene has always been a mixed bag. No doubt he is an incredible voice actor, but a lot of his own creative projects have been inconsistent, to say the least. His latest outing, A Million Ways to Die in the West is no different, and boy, it's a doozy.
The meandering plot follows Macfarlene as Albert, a loser sheep farmer recently dumped by his girlfriend (Seyfried) for a richer, better looking mustached man. He runs into Anna (Theron), starting a forced romantic plot and then... nothing happens for an hour until the movie remembers Liam Neeson is in the movie for a huge anti-climax.
There may have been a decent movie that could have been saved out of this film in editing. But holy crap, this movie has no sense of pace. It's nearly 2 hours long and feels like an eternity, the main issue that causes this is the stop/start nature of the movie. There will be a small scene, something will happen and then Aeon Flux and Brian will talk about it going "I got to get out of the west, it's crazy!" They wasted so much talent in the movie. Giovanni Ribsi is a one joke character (A virgin? No way!). Amanda Seyfried has been hilarious in the past, but here she is subjected to being extremely one-note and boring. Before you go 'hey, that's the point of the character!', her character is extremely vain and selfish, sure, but she was great playing the same sort of roles with similar characteristics in the past. Here she has no funny lines, or nothing. And Liam Neeson. So much potential for humour and yet the funniest thing that happens to him is that his wife sticks a flower in his ass. Yup.
I guess the only thing I found redeeming were the cameos, but in my opinion, cameos are a desperate form of humour. Sure, there's the brief moment of surprise, you're taken off guard and laugh. Then again, pretty much all the humour desperate - sheep dicks, people farting/shitting for like a minute straight... but I guess the worst thing of all was the movie was just boring. It was a slog to get through, and I could tell the others in the cinema were getting restless constantly checking their watches and phones. It's been a while since I watched a comedy with so little laughter in a packed cinema.
I would not recommend this movie. For point of reference, I really enjoyed both Ted and Neighbors, and I really laugh when crude humour is done right.