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Reviews
John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)
Good plot, great action
John Wick: Chapter 2 is the 2017 sequel to 2014's John Wick. Now I must admit off the bat, I did not see the original before I saw this film; in fact, as of writing this review I still haven't. There was no problem for me getting into the story, characters, and the world of this movie, without viewing it's predecessor. It stars Keanu Reeves as John Wick, an assassin working for a sort of corporation of killers, and he wants out of it for good. But he is forced to repay a debt and brought in to do a job. What will result is much more than he signed up for, and he will have to kill many, many people if he's to stay alive.
The film is well directed by Chad Stahelski, who also did the original. It has a cast, some known names, others familiar character actors, and a few people that I saw for the first time here, who seem all really well suited for their roles--roles which are dynamic and memorable, if admittedly not very deep (though they don't really need to be). This universe in which these characters exist is committed to by the film in a way that makes you look past its absurdities, and sometimes even feels like it could somehow exist. But it's the action where this movie clearly excels. Gun-play, knife-play, martial arts are intertwined in kinetic, bloody sequences, with some of the better fighting choreography I've seen from movies of recent years. There are certain formula action-movie elements here, like the way it shifts between one-on-one and one-versus-many fights; but they're staged in such a meticulous, clever ways as to hardly ever feel cliched or stale. If John seems a little too invincible, I can kind of forgive that too. The film moves along at a nice pace, with interesting scenes in between the ones with John blowing tons of people away, including a hypnotic sequence of Mr. Wick gathering weapons and protective gear for his forthcoming mission.
Bottom line: this is an action film with heart, style, and wit. It doesn't quite add up to a great action film in my opinion, but in many facets it's bloody brilliant. And I still look forward to one day seeing the original John Wick.
Turist (2014)
Powerful Marriage Drama
Force Majeure is a stunning 2014 drama by Swedish director Ruben Östlund (who did Involuntary and more recently the Academy Award nominated The Square) about a family of four spending a vacation at a resort in the French Alps. The husband Tomas, his wife Ebba, and their young son and daughter are, in the first day-and-a-half or so of the trip, by all appearances quite happy and having a good time in their stay, skiing down the beautiful slopes, having their pictures taken, laughing and so on. Then suddenly something changes everything: an avalanche, done through a controlled ignition, that strays further than intended towards where the four eating, and causes quite a fright among the diners, though as it turns out no one was ever put in any mortal risk. Ebba stays by her kids, while Tomas reacts I think the way many would in the heat of the moment. The next three-and-a-half days of the five day trip--the movie is segmented by day with pretty night ski-slope montages in between--will show the ramifications of that reaction in vivid, often times uncomfortable, detail.
The two lead performances by Lisa Loven Kongsli and Johannes Bah Kuhnke are terrific; they truly inhibit this couple, as their at least outwardly strong marriage and family starts to unravel. At first it seems what transpired might not be that big of a deal, but it's there simmering underneath, and decisions by both in how they handle make it progressively more toxic. Nothing seems deliberately exaggerated, even what might be considered the film's climax: a huge turn quite hard-to-watch turn when Ebba and Tomas are with a few friends in their hotel room. There are other people who come into the scene--friends, casual acquaintances, and one particular stranger--who observe the couple in their conflict, viewing them almost as we the viewers of the movie do; or viewing them while apart from one another, as the two are in much of the movie's second act. The actors playing the daughter and son do good job, and though the film clearly isn't as much about them it's interesting to see how they react to their parents' escalations.
The film ends (don't worry, no spoilers here) with a fascinating sequence. For what the filmmakers tried to do, it could have so easily looked clumsy, forced, or like a cliché. But it's pulled off spectacularly: a revelation which wraps the story up in a striking, arguably brilliant fashion. Few films, in my opinion, have such a near-perfect conclusion as this one, and the journey taking us to that point is never showy and frequently powerful. No one, I believe, can watch this film and help but think "How would I really react?" But this film is about much more than that, strewn with themes like marriage, gender roles in a family, masculinity and others that are analyzed in poignant and perceptive ways. The way characters outside the two main are utilized is also something to behold. Definitely see this movie.
Vi är bäst! (2013)
Love this Swedish Film about Kids and Punk Music.
"We Are the Best" I an exhilarating drama/comedy by Swedish director Lukas Moodysson that tells the story of two outcast, tomboyish 13-year-old girls in 1980's Stockholm who, sick of being told punk is dead, decide to start a punk band. It's a floundering effort in the beginning for best friends Bobo and Clara, neither having any real musical training and owning none of their own equipment, just having their genuine passion to songs like "Hate the Sport." To improve their prospects they enlist in the help of a another girl, an older one names Hedvig who has musical talent but outwardly appears to be opposite of them: an obedient, conservative-dressing, Christian girl. But Hedvig actually has more to relate with Bobo and Clara than it initially seems, being an outcast and wanting more from the staleness of life.
The turns these three characters make together are fun, sometimes heartbreaking, and always a joy to watch. The strong, distinctive performances by Mira Barkhammer, Mira Grosin, and Liv LeMoyne (as Bobo, Clara, and Hedvig respectively), and the fascinating way the film gets them to act against one another in different situations (none of which feel ham-handed or forced) are what really makes this film work. The parents and other authority figures are well-done, and not riddled with the sort of clichés you sometimes get from adult characters in movies centered around youth. But it's all about the kids, these outcasts, who don't pander to fit in while attempting to rock and to have fun, through setbacks and all.
Wildly entertaining, insightful, and true to its creed, "We Are the Best" is a blast with a guitar, bass drums, and yelling, and even better when it comes to the human spirit. It's a story that should leave you smiling.
The Babadook (2014)
One of the Elites of Modern Horror Film
The Babadook, masterfully directed by Jennifer Kent is one of the best horror movies of recent years--possibly of recent decades. In her stunning directorial debut, the Australian Kent shows not merely promise as a filmmaker, but the kind of rare talent that seldom shows through this strongly so soon. Creepy, tension filled, and mostly free of tired horror clichés, it is something special.
The film stars Essie Davis in a terrific emotional turn as Amelia, a widowed mother still years later in a funk of despair over the loss of her husband, in addition to having difficult young child Samuel, played by Noah Wiseman. Samuel talks of dark subjects, makes weapons, and is prone to violent outbursts; he gets suspended from school and causes his devoted-if-emotionally-distant mother barriers with among others her sister and a potential love interest, and society generally. As they become more isolated from society, things get stranger and more distressing in their home, especially when what appears to be a kid's pop-up book, that Amelia can't recall seeing before, called The Babadook—those pages are a terrific artistic creation in themselves—is discovered, and when read is found to be nothing innocent at all. It builds on a spine-chilling atmosphere with events and details, one and then another, very effectively, and hits the viewer with along the way moments of startling fright that add to but never overshadow the main situation. Motivations for certain acts aren't always clear, but that only adds, not detracts, from the overall effect.
This is in the running for my favorite horror film since the turn of the century: a genuinely scary film with a great pacing, two strong lead performances, and enough originality to keep it interesting throughout. Beyond all it is Kent, who wrote the film as well as directed it, who deserves large credit for the success.
About the same time as this film came out another horror film was released, also by a woman directing her first feature film, and that I think also ranks among the best modern examples of the genre: Ana Lily Amirpour's A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night. What Kent and Amirpour prove I think is that if more female talent was given a chance to make the films they are capable of, or the kinds they desire, that many more would shine, and studios are doing a disservice by not considering filmmakers of that gender more often. I can probably count on one hand the number of horror movies since 2000 made by men that I could put alongside either of these two.
Boyhood (2014)
Nothing Quite Like it Ever Made. It's Marvelous!
Boy Hood, directed by Richard Linklater, and staring Patricia Arquette, Ellar Coltrane, Lorelei Linklater, and Ethan Hawke, is the true very rare stand-alone work of cinema. Along with the director, who appears to have made virtually every right choice, these four actors deserve special mention, because of the dedication it took to make this film, one truly unlike anything that's ever be put to film. Filmed over 12 years, shooting a piece each year, telling the story of an evolving family unit, it could have been a mess, or it could have been just a novelty, but it ends up as a masterpiece.
It's called "Boy Hood" but I'm not sure at the beginning of the project they knew that was actually going to be the title. It's starts as Coltrane's Mason is six years old, and we are introduced into a world that's multilayered rich, with his mother and sister Samantha (played by the director's own daughter) being equally important, and by the second year the father also comes in to be quite impactful. It's only as the years pass that Mason gradually solidifies himself as the main star. But as certain minor character come and go the core four, their evolution as people and their relations to one another, remain the core of the film.
The four performances are terrific, we truly believe we see them grow and mature (the adults going through changes nearly as large as the kids) in part because in real life they actually do, in part because the script leads them along with particular moments and events of life that are allowed to develop, and finally in part to their absolute dedication; so they feel really authentic. We don't get clear cutoffs; the movie, rightly so, never tells the viewer "12 months later" or "8 months later", and we might slip into another year without immediately realizing, and that's completely fine—in fact it's better than fine, it's fantastic! The changes are brilliantly subtle, detailed without trying to hard, and there are pop culture, political, and other societal references that sort of guide us, but never lead us with a leash. There have been complaints from a small minority of there being no overarching plot, which really an overarching plot would have really destroyed what this movie so superbly executed. It's about life, the little moments that shape who one is, and some of the larger ones we remember forever. Everyone will be able to relate, and most people will quite a lot.
There a few words that could have described my feeling upon finishing this two-hours-and-forty-five-minute film that doesn't, in my judgment, have a single scene that's unnecessary, nor any one I can think of it lacking. "Brilliant" feels both like it's not enough, and maybe a little presumptuous, at least for now. Given the way it separates itself, how will I feel about this movie in ten or twenty years I really can't say. But of its current standing to me I say firmly it's one of the great achievements of this century.
Barbara (2012)
Nina Hoss Owns It
Barbara is a German film by director Christian Petzold about a woman doctor living in East Berlin, under control of the Soviet allied government before the fall of the Berlin Wall. In a terrific performance by actress Nina Hoss, Barbara is very talented doctor, but is being punished for trying to go to the west. The job she's placed in is quite undesirable, and she live under continual harassment from the Stasi secret police, one officer of which is particularly harsh on her, so it's understandable quite mistrustful of strangers. But even so she dedicates herself to her patients, as much as she can within the societies confines. She wants very much to keep trying to go a freer Europe.
The relationships Barbara has with her new supervisor Andre, who might have more than one motive to be near to her, is truly fascinating and complex, and I would say the best part of film. She wants to distance herself from him and her other colleagues at first, for reasons which are later justified, but also finds she cannot isolate herself either. She has emotional connections with a few patients, she treats, one of which is a particularly disturbing case of a girl who ran away from a work camp who's initially difficult to the other doctors but Barbara finds a way to connect. At home she's usually alone, unless there's a terrifying surprise visit from the Stasi. But she has engagements elsewhere other than home or hospital that show the full range of a woman she is.
If this isn't on the level of the a few other modern masterpieces about east European life behind the Iron Curtain in the last decade of the Soviet Union—I'm thinking of The Lives of Others, and 4 Month 3 Week & 2 Days—it's a extremely admirable and smart one that comes close, which shows human desires in the face of repression and the fear one lives under in such society. It's part thriller with romantic elements, but more so it's a human look the interaction between several different individuals in this society where ones fated role dictated by the society can be very hard to escape.
E-Team (2014)
Well done documentary about those who document what dictators want to hide.
E-Team is a documentary about workers for Human Rights Watch who travel to go hands on to investigate abuses and atrocities of governments inside the countries of Syria and Libya (and in the past Bosnia) and report back to the world what they have seen. There are a number people who undertake work who we see at various stages in the process, highlighting of course the most important and potentially dangerous on-the-ground interviews and collection of data. One of the people featured, Anna Neistat, the only woman of those of the four or five major character we follow, gets clearly the most presence in the film (with her being from Russia a factor given how it's Russian president Putin as the biggest backer of Syrian dictator Assad), but if anyone was to be a central kind of character it was good it was her, and generally we get to see the other rights workers in the different facets of what they're doing, both presently and a little about what they've done in the past.
Do not expect an in depth documentary about any of these brutal and often complex overseas crises. You see snippets about what's going on, but it gives far from a clear picture. The point isn't these events in themselves but how an organization may go about trying to piece together potential criminal violations within them so they can disseminate that information. On that latter basis it's a very well done, if not perfect, documentary.
One thing however I must say, though it's not a major blot on the film, is how it's sort of a missed opportunity. The wars they show here have been huge stories that have gotten much media attention. HRW has been involved all over the world, and the film could have given some welcomed attention to a place that hasn't gotten as much coverage: South Sudan or The Congo for instance. However that doesn't take away anything that is done well, and it's well worth checking out for anyone who believes ruthless dictators and war criminals need to someway and somehow be held accountable for their actions. It's about pessimism and also hope for a more just world.
Fanny och Alexander (1982)
A great Bergman film that is unique for the director.
Any serious film buff has to consider the master Ingmar Bergman one of the greatest movie directors who has ever lived. He has made great film after great film, and I think Fanny and Alexander ranks among his top three finest achievements (along with The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries). It differs interestingly from every other movie of his I've seen in its taking in large part a child's point of view. This wasn't only rare for Bergman but it's rare to see a movie made by anyone that shows children, in their viewing of the adult world around them, in such a realistic and interesting way, involving both trauma and joy in these young lives. Yet the children (Alexander being more prominent than Fanny of the titles characters) don't get in the way of showing the great dynamics and complexities of the adult world as well. And these two worlds—those of children and adults—interact in pleasant and somewhat grim ways.
From the start with Alexander alone in his grandmother's apartment, through an extravagant Christmas party, to the richness of the theater, to the much darker residence of the next chapter of this family's life, the movie is simply an exquisite piece of artistic beauty of early 20th Century Sweden. On a visual level Bergman has always been a master, but here he showed a more lively and ambitious side than he had before. The performances are all terrific, and I'm particularly fond of Bertil Guv as Alexander, Gun Wallgren as his reserved grandmother, and Jarl Kulle as his boisterous uncle.
The movie, in spite of some quite dark elements, is quite a bit more upbeat than typical Bergman film. Those that may have admired his earlier works but felt them a little overbearing and depressing will likely welcome this ride with the great peaks and valleys of this family. Whether Alexander really has some power to see these images or if it's only a child's vivid imagination leaves room for exploration.
My rating here is based primarily on the over five hour version. The two separate versions of the movie are both great experiences, with slightly different moods and emphasis, though I prefer the longer television one and that's the one I will look forward to seeing more times in the future. I understand they wanted to get a reasonable length for the theaters, but for me the shortened version lacks a lot of the richness of the other, removing great scenes especially from the back half of the film. Though either way you view it it's very emotionally involving as a work of art. It's a must see.
Psycho (1960)
Maybe the Greatest of all Horror Films.
Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho was a revolutionary in the horror genre when it shocked audiences back in 1960. Watching it again on blu-ray I can say confidently it has held up extremely well. It stars Janet Leigh, Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles and John Gavin, all in strong performance, especially Perkins whose creepy yet vulnerable Norman Bates led to him being typecast as that character for the rest of his life. But without the touch of the master Hitchcock it would have been nothing more than a very decent thriller. The atmosphere is amazing, tension builds perfectly, and even if you know the outcome the shocking turns will leave those who haven't had the pleasure of seeing it with their hearts racing.
Marion Crane has stolen some money, a lot of money, in the irrational hope she can use it to help her boyfriend. After arousing the suspicion of a cop and a car dealer she arrives at the Bates Motel where she meets the odd but seemingly kind owner, Norman Bates. The rest, well spoiling anything else is either unforgivable because it's so huge or pointless because so many people, even without having seen it, know the major twist going in. I knew the shocker before I first saw the movie, but if it dampened the experience it didn't do it by much. Every scene has a purpose (yes even that ending that some think was unnecessary), every character is meaningful and many shots are unforgettable. This one of Hitchcock's best and arguably the greatest horror film ever made.
Gui tu lie che (2009)
Heartwrenching and Beautiful Documentary
Last Train Home is a beautiful and powerful documentary about the migration of poor peasants for work from the countryside to the cities in China and most significantly its social ramifications on the family. It focuses on one family as the parents travel to the city leaving the children in the countryside with their grandmother.
The sequence well talked about where large crowds grow angry and desperate over delays and confusion in the train system as they try to get home for Chinese New Year (the one time of the year they get to see their family) is one of the most compelling sequences I have seen in any documentary. But the center of the films is about the generational divide—parents verses their children—and how this mass migration has a mostly negative effect on it. Yes it gives the parents ability to make some money for their family, but at what cost to the family structure?
The intensity of the divide leads to a major fight between the parents and one of the two children which really sets everything in stone, heartbreakingly so, for that relationship, probably forever. This is a great documentary.
Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
An Amazing achievement.
Letters From Iwo Jima is nothing short of a remarkable film. It takes the Japanese perspective in the legendary battle for Iwo Jima, that island that was so critically important to both sides of the conflict. It's not for a second ham-handed or preachy in the way it does it. It shows the humanity and flaws of both sides. One side might have had a more righteous cause, but that doesn't mean the other side is any less human.
All the scenes on the island shot in an a very faded greenish-gray hue. It seem very appropriate and gives an emphasize of the darkness, fear, and hell of war. More than anything the contrast gives certain power to flashbacks not shot that way. On all technical levels this film is superb. It has some of the best battle scenes I've seen in a movie since Saving Private Ryan, but it's not the guns and bombs, it's the cinematography and the island itself, that gives the film the biggest visual lift. There's not a poorly shot scene nor an unnecessary one.
Top down Letters has many very good performances. I think appropriately there are four characters that are zeroed in on and humanized. Ken Wantanabe is great as the lead General who is loyal to Japan but also questions his commitment and the way things are done in battle. The major characters are all portrayed with some mixed emotions, and varying levels of fear and determination. It's refreshing to see the Japanese in a World War 2 film not universally portrayed as all out fearless kamikaze soldiers, though obviously there's some of that. It doesn't make a claim the two sides were the same, but does well to emphasize the ways they are alike.
In all I think Letter From Iwo Jima ranks as one of the 10 best war films I have ever seen. Is it perfect history? Well try to find a war movie that is because I don't think it exists. It is a near perfect movie. An emotional, historical, and technical triumph. A movie everyone should see.