The Revenant (2015)

Directed by:  Alejandro González Iñárritu

Written by: Mark L. Smith, Alejandro González Iñárritu, & Michael Punke (part of the novel)

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio & Tom Hardy







(Before I begin my review, I apologize for not having this up sooner, and by sooner I mean before the Golden Globes.  Technically I saw this the day before the Globes and did not have a chance to put this review up.  But at least it is before the Oscars, right?)

Revenant: noun, A person who has returned, especially supposedly from the dead.

The Revenant stars DiCaprio and Hardy as part of a group of men that trade fur during the 1820s.  Their main goal is to avoid the Native Americans and try to get as many pelts as possible.  Unfortunately for Hugh Glass (DiCaprio), he encounters a bear that leaves him injured beyond belief.  So much so that it looks as if he might die.  Luckily, or unluckily, he survives!  But at the cost of losing his son.  In a quest for revenge, Glass tracks down the murderer who left him for dead and killed his son.

There are so many things to love about this film.  Here's a list:

1. The metaphors
2. Leo obviously
3. Will Pouter, a.k.a. eyebrow guy
4. The survival and just the roughness of the film
5. Cinematography beauty
6. And more that I can't list, because it might give the ending away.

So first the metaphors.  I love any movie that has metaphors, being an English major.  But many people seem to miss the metaphors in, well, pretty much any type of film.  The metaphors occur mostly with the Native American aspect of the film and the actors that portray the meaning of karma.

Leo.  Who doesn't love Leo?  I really think with all the effort that was put into this film by his acting and the weather conditions that he will finally win the Academy Award for Best Actor.  He did not talk a lot in the film, which made him an even greater actor because he had to rely on his facial expressions and body language to portray his agony with what was occurring right before his eyes.  Now that's acting.

Will Pouter, if you don't know, he is from one of the Chronicles of Narnia films, the third one.  When I first saw that film, all I thought was who is this kid with the funny eyebrows?  But since then he has appeared in Meet the Millers as well as The Maze Runner films.  Comparing those films to this one, you can see how he's grown as an actor.  He's has had a variety of roles from being the brainy know-it-all to the awkward teen to the bully of the Glade and now as the guilty young man trying to do what's right.  I think he's a great actor and I hope to see more of his funny awesome eyebrows in the future.

The survival and roughness of the film is something I haven't seen, especially the horse scene if you know what I mean.  You can tell it's cold, hard to walk through the snow (imagine the equipment!), and having to deal with mother nature as a whole while in the woods; now that's just crazy.  I'd die.  But that's filmmaking.

The benefit of filming in crazy weather conditions is the beauty.  I admired how between the scenes there were short clips of the scenery to give the audience a view of where they were.  It's beautiful, but also dangerous as we see with what the characters go through.

Iñárritu did a fantastic job with this film and I hope to see more Leo/Alejándro collaborations further on.  I can see why it won for the Golden Globes and I'm sure it will win again for the Oscars, especially with its 12 nominations.  It's a must see.  5 popcorns!

The Hateful Eight (2015)

Directed by: Quentin Tarantino

Written by: Quentin Tarantino

Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, & Jennifer Jason Leigh







Well this is definitely a Tarantino film.  It has all the aspects: gore, language, odd storyline...

The Hateful Eight takes place in Wyoming in the middle of a blizzard.  An unintended blizzard for that matter.  Major Marquis Warren (Jackson), a bounty hunter and veteran, happens upon a carriage filled with John Ruth (Russell), also a bounty hunter, and his catch, Daisy Domergue (Leigh).  Russell decides to let him ride in his carriage as they make their way towards Rockville to cash in their findings.  Unfortunately, a blizzard starts and they get stuck with five others in a cabin.  Let's just say the rest of the film doesn't go well for our characters.

The film was shot beautifully, but for the first hour and a half, I was bored.  Now let me remind you that this film is almost three hours long.  I think the reason I was bored was because there was not enough action at the beginning.  Tarantino was creating the backstory and there was a lot of talking.  But once they get to the cabin, it starts to pick up and then becomes a great film!  I mean, Tarantino does make great films.

It was everything I expected, other than the boring first hour and a half.  But I don't think I can watch it again without some time in between.  I mean I was fidgeting and it's a lot to take in.  As the person I went with said when I asked if they liked it, "It's different."  So I'll leave you with that.  It's different.  4 popcorns.

Concussion (2015)

Directed by: Peter Landesman

Written by:  Peter Landesman & Jeanne Marie Laskas (article)

Starring: Will Smith, Alec Baldwin, & Albert Brooks






Concussion shows how one man can impact the world.  Smith's character Dr. Bennet Omalu has a very impressive resume with lists of educational degrees and careers.  Based on a true story, Omalu has discovered a shocking epidemic in the field of football.  Get it?  Field... Anyway, Omalu brings his finding to the NFL, who, unfortunately for Omalu, wants nothing to do with it, since it jeopardizes their billion dollar operation.  Will Omalu be able to inform the world of this tragedy within the fan filled game or will it just disappear into the crowd?

The best thing about this film is Smith's acting of Omalu.  Before watching this film, I knew football caused concussions, but this goes beyond that.  (If you watch this film, Omalu gives a better explanation as to what than I can.)

Despite being mostly about the medical and business side of Omalu's life, it also goes into his personal life with how he met his wife and what struggles they endured together.

Landesman made great directorial choices, such as integrating actual football footage into the film from NFL games to college, high school, and even child playing this sport.  It made the film that much more impactful and without it, I'm sure this film may have not been nominated.

Even though this film is great, it is missing something.  I cannot put my finger on it, but it didn't reach the height of 5 popcorns.  Maybe 4.5, but I don't rate halves, so 4 it is.

The Big Short (2015)

Directed by: Adam McKay

Written by: Charles Randolph, Adam McKay, & Michael Lewis (novel)

Starring: Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, & Brad Pitt






So remember how in my last post about Joy, I said I was a Business major, well you need to be something for this film.

Now if you don't know, The Big Short is all about the housing crisis in 2007-2008.  The story centers around four...not men, but other stories I guess that all know that the housing market is going to collapse.  Bale's character, Michael Burry's, story was simple enough in the fact that he makes this prediction and unfortunately faces the heat from all those around him. Jared Vennett (Gosling) somehow finds out through the grapevine about Burry's bet and takes a look into the situation himself.  He's more the narrator.  Then Mark Baum (Carell) is approached by Vennett on accident and comes into this information as well.  As for Ben Rickert (Pitt), he comes across the story through his neighbor that asks for his assistance in handling this situation for betting against the market.  (It isn't really Pitt's story at all as it is for his neighbor and neighbor's friend, but he's a big name so he gets on the poster.)

The way the four stories are put together is perfect.  They flowed nicely together and nothing felt out of place.

The whole movie was great, except for the explanation as to what was going on.  Now if you were young during this crisis, didn't pay attention, or didn't have a mortgage, then you might be lost.  If you were in the midst of this crisis, well hopefully you're doing better now, and you will understand the film.  What made the film difficult to understand was the lingo.  I'm not in the real estate profession, and I have yet to get a mortgage, but I got most of it for being a Business major.  You really have to pay attention to get it.  Now apparently this film was a good explanation as to what was going on because they were, for lack of a better term, dumbing it down.  But I must be really dumb, because it took me at least an hour after the film to actually understand it.

Don't get me wrong, I mostly understood everything, except how these men who bet against the housing market (not really a surprise if you watch the trailer) got their money from these companies if they were apparently broke.  (Hopefully none of this is a spoiler since it's history.  If it is, sorry.) But then I got it, the government did a bailout so that is where these companies acquired the funds to pay these men.  Ahhh, that darn government.  It made sense then.  So hopefully this review will help in understanding the film.  (As for the lingo, I already forgot what they were and their meanings.)  If not, well I'd suggest reading the book?

Other than that, I thought everything else was great from the acting to the camera shots to the directing.  I can see why this was nominated.  4 popcorns.

Joy (2015)

Directed by: David O. Russell

Written by: David O. Russell

Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, and Bradley Cooper







Joy is based off the real life story of Joy Mangano, who is the inventor of many products, such as the Miracle Mop.  In the film, Joy is a divorced mother of two who is trying to stay above water.  With paying bills and taking care of her children, her ex-husband, and parents, she's barely making it.  One day, after a sailing trip, Joy gets this idea to create a mop that is easy to use and does not continuously break.  After attempting to sell her products to stores and random people on the street, she finally gets her big break, but does it pay off?

Lawrence and Cooper have so much chemistry, it's surprising they aren't a couple yet.  Anyway, this film is no exception.  Both compliment each other's personalities as does Lawrence with her other co-stars.

The story was slow to get off the ground, but once she found the idea to create this mop, the pacing sped up.  The only problem that came up was the understanding of the patent.  The person I went with to the movies did not understand what was going on there.  I understood it, being a Business major, but I can see how it was confusing.  (If you have questions, feel free to comment below.)  But other than that, everything was great.

My favorite part was any part with Joan Rivers.  Seeing Melissa Rivers play her mother was genius.

There isn't much more to say about the film without giving something away, so I'll stop here.  4 popcorns.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

Directed by: J.J. Abrams

Written by: Lawrence Kasdan, J.J. Abrams, Michael Arndt, & George Lucas (characters)

Starring: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, & Oscar Isaac






Prior to the film release, I had watched all six movies within four days.  I had never watched them in my life and the only thing I knew about them is what I had heard from other films and television shows.

Now since everything is relatively recent in my mind, I was set to watch the seventh one.  I was super excited, and am now a super fan.  R2D2 is my favorite.

(But before I begin my review, I'm sorry for not having it up sooner.  Tickets sold out.  I was doing a cross country road trip.  Crazy past couple of days.)

Anyway, this film starts further in the future than where the last one ended, the last one being episode VI, but the third film to come out in the series.  The film was really well done in the fact that there weren't many looming questions and all the time gaps were mostly filled to where you didn't have any questions about what had happened throughout the years.

What I especially liked about this film is how Disney is introducing a black lead as well as a strong female lead (no offense to Carrie Fisher or Natalie Portman, but Ridley is who I'd want to be when I grow up compared to the royalty), which has yet to be done in the series before.  It breaks away from the stereotypes and introduces an interracial couple, well hopefully anyway.

Besides that difference, another change that Disney made was the editing style.  They seemed to try to stay with the trend of these awkward swipes, but only accomplished about three, while previous films had many more.  But I doubt people notice this.  I only did because I just recently saw the others and have an interest in editing.

But overall this film had everything.  Romance, comedy, drama, adventure, and even a horror moment here and there.  I fell in love with the characters all over again and even loved the new ones. It left me wanting to watch the next one.  The film just made me happy and excited to the point I was hitting the person next to me and tried to predict what would happen next.  My predictions were all wrong by the way.  So that's a good thing.  I'm usually very good at figuring out the next climax or hidden secret is.

Anyway, the last great thing about this film is that you don't have to watch the others to understand it.  As long as you know the basis you can get by and who doesn't know the basis with all the references to the series these days.  If you do want some spoilers from the previous films to get a sense of this one, feel free to comment below and I'll answer any questions you have.  Otherwise enjoy the film.  5 popcorns.

The Danish Girl (2015)

Directed by: Tom Hooper

Written by: Lucinda Coxon & David Ebershoff (novel)

Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Alicia Vikander, & Matthias Schoenaerts







The Danish Girl revolves around a lovely couple that are profound artists in Denmark.  Einar Wegener (Redmayne) mostly does landscapes, but is well known, while his wife Gerda (Vikander) does portraits and is up and coming.  Both fit together like a glove, knowing the other almost too well, until, as a joke, Gerda dresses up Einar as a woman named Lili as they attend the artists' ball.  While at the ball, Einar/Lili begins to prefer being a woman, admiring the attention from men and a woman's style.  But considering that this story takes place in 1926, it is not necessarily the norm to come out as transgender.  Can Einar/Lili handle this transition taking place within him/her?  Can Gerda?

I enjoyed this film very much.  Despite knowing that Einar/Lili was the one going through the transition, I sympathized more with Gerda.  Vikander was the one that made the film more than anything.

The film reminds me of Redmayne's previous film The Theory of Everything, where he played Stephen Hawking.  Of course, not the same in character or story, but the couple's relationship is similar.  But so is Redmayne's acting.  He did a superb job as Hawking and again as Wegener.  For all I know, he might win again for Best Actor.

Even though the story is great, some of the cinematography was too lavish.  The camera shots were wide in the beginning and showed off too much of the scenery in my opinion.  It was as if they wanted to try these excessive shots just for their reels and not to push the story along.  It was starting to get annoying by the middle.

I'd also like to point out Schoenaerts, who played Hans Axgil.  Technically he is important to the film and I just love his acting.  I recently saw him in Far From the Madding Crowd and thought he was great.  It could also be because he looks a little bit like Ryan Gosling, without the cockiness.  Anyway, keep an eye out for him because he seems to be appearing more and more these days.

But back to the film.  The whole storyline was great, but because of the cinematography and that the film didn't make me cry, 4 popcorns.

Spotlight (2015)

Directed by: Tom McCarthy

Written by: Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy

Starring: Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, & Rachel McAdams

Have you ever seen the film Doubt?  It's a fantastic film if you haven't seen it.  But it has the same premise as this film, except that this film is more political than it is personal.

Spotlight revolves around the controversial rumor that priests from various Catholic churches around the world have molested children throughout the years.  In this particular film, they focus on the priests in Boston after the new editor-in-chief, Marty Baron (Liev Schreiber), takes over for The Boston Globe.  

The film starts off pretty quickly and gets to the point of what it is all about.  You get to see how they develop a case around the priests and how the church has been involved with this horrific news.  With this great cast, you can see that they are deeply invested within this story and where it takes them.  It begins affecting their personal lives and you can see it too.  

Despite this being a great film, it didn't make me feel anything.  Everything was great about it, don't get me wrong, but I didn't cry nor laugh really.  It was shocking, but I think it was shocking more to religious people as well as an older audience.  Despite needing to feel something in order to give it 5 popcorns, it was too good not to give 5 popcorns to.  You could feel in the theater that people were disgusted and disturbed by this information as well as the end statistics.  

I recommend this film for everyone, but be wary that if you are religiously Catholic, you may have a change of heart at the end of the film.  5 popcorns.

The Night Before (2015)

Directed by: Jonathan Levine

Written by: Jonathan Levine, Kyle Hunter, Ariel Shaffir, & Evan Goldberg

Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, & Anthony Mackie





This film was hard to pin point.  Some of the parts were 4 popcorns, some were 2, so I'll go with the middle, 3 popcorns.

Here's why:

The whole film was a complete change in tone.  As the characters changed, the tone changed too.  It was weird.  The beginning was comedic filled with drugs, partying, friends, etc, a typical Rogen film.  But as it went on, it began to get more moralistic.  It wasn't as funny and it was more about the meaning of friends and family, Christmas, you know?  Which I liked, but at the same time didn't like.

The Night Before is about three best friends.  Gordon-Levitt plays Ethan who unfortunately has nothing going on in his life.  As for his friends, Isaac (Rogen) is starting a family, and Chris (Mackie) is starting his NFL career.  Because of their new found lives, they make a deal to have their last Christmas tradition.  Unfortunately things do not go as planned.

While I was watching this, I was mostly trying to find the references that were occurring in the film, such as Home Alone, A Christmas Carol, and more, so I didn't pay attention to the technical elements.

It's a stupid funny kind of sweet movie that is typical for Rogen.  Plus James Franco is in it.  Doesn't that say it all?  There's not much else to say other than the film is weird, but I liked it.

3 popcorns.

Brooklyn (2015)

Directed by: John Crowley

Written by: Nick Hornby & Colm Toibin (novel)

Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Emory Cohen, & Domhnall Gleeson







This is my kind of movie.

Brooklyn stars Ronan as Eilis, a young girl from Ireland who moves to America in the 1950s.  When tragedy strikes she has to choose between her new life in America or her past from Ireland.

Okay, so that does not sound so interesting.  But seriously I loved this movie, but I think I was the only one that did in the theater.  I was laughing.  I was crying.  I was smiling like an idiot at the romantic parts.  But like I said, I think I was the only one.

It's definitely a chick flick guys, but not a romantic comedy kind.  It is more sophisticated and heart wrenching than other movies, especially since it is all from an immigrant's point of view.

I suppose I liked the movie so much because it's similar to what I'm going through, not exactly, but there were subtle similarities in terms of emotion.  But that's personal.

Anyway, what made the movie was the editing, the cinematography, and the acting.  And because of all that, it also includes the directing.  Crowley is pretty amazing.  The shots were gorgeous and illuminated the beauty in both countries.  The editing made them flow together perfectly and even made the characters more interesting from the expression that they portrayed, especially Ronan.  From the shots and editing decisions, you can see that she's always thinking even if she doesn't say much, her expression says it all.

I definitely recommend this movie.  But, let it be known that there is no action, not much comedy (a little), and is for sure a drama chick flick.  So if that does not sound appealing, don't watch it.  Also since it occurs in the 1950s, you have to pay much more attention to what the characters are saying in order to understand what's happening, if that makes sense.  5 popcorns!