New Release Review: Gangster Squad (Ruben Fleischer, 2013)

 Gangster Squad, Ruben Fleischer’s (Zombieland, 30 Minutes or Less) Los Angeles gangster noir, has made a much-publicised journey to screens. Following the cinema shooting tragedy in Aurora, trailers were pulled from running before features and there were announced re-shoots to key sequences – one apparently involving the characters shooting at moviegoers with submachine guns. With a dunderheaded cliché-heavy screenplay, and nonsensical stylistic indulgences aplenty, a host of talented actors are unfortunately short-changed by this bland, cartoonish endeavour that sways between being violent and nasty and woefully miscued farce.

Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn), a ruthless Brooklyn-born gangster, will soon have his hand in the entirety of the wire betting west of Chicago, in addition to his Los Angeles gambling, drug and prostitution rackets. He has most of the police force, as well as influential judges and politicians, in his pocket and no one dares to cross him. Following an individual vigilante crackdown of one of Cohen’s rings, Sgt. John O’Mara (Josh Brolin) is approached by his police chief (Nick Nolte) and asked to put together a squad – a ragtag band of trustworthy detectives and uniformed police alike, including O’Mara’s friend and fellow war vet Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling) – that would operate outside of the LAPD jurisdiction in a brash attempt to foil Cohen’s potential financial benefits and take down his gang.

Continue reading at Graffiti With Punctuation. 

85th Academy Award Nomination Predictions

As I have done over the last few years, I have proposed my predictions for the 85th Academy Award nominations. Take note, I have been unable to catch some of the main contenders, so most of these picks are courtesy of 'informed speculation', but as I find the nominations more exciting than the actual awards (the winners have been pretty easy to predict the last few years) it's always a fun project. The nominees can be found in a tab in my blog header and at Graffiti With Punctuation.

New Releases (10/1/13)

Gangster Squad: Los Angeles, 1949. Ruthless, Brooklyn-born mob king Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) runs the show in this town, reaping the ill-gotten gains from the drugs, the guns, the prostitutes and-if he has his way-every wire bet placed west of Chicago. And he does it all with the protection of not only his own paid goons, but also the police and the politicians who are under his control. It's enough to intimidate even the bravest, street-hardened cop...except, perhaps, for the small, secret crew of LAPD outsiders led by Sgt. John O'Mara (Josh Brolin) and Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling), who come together to try to tear Cohen's world apart.

Hitchcock: a love story about one of the most influential filmmakers of the last century, Alfred Hitchcock (Anthony Hopkins) and his wife and partner Alma Reville (Helen Mirren). The film takes place during the making of Hitchcock's seminal movie Psycho.

ParaNorman: The new 3D stop-motion comedy thriller from animation company LAIKA, reteaming the company with Focus Features after the groundbreaking Academy Award-nominated Coraline. ParaNorman is, following Coraline, the company's second stop-motion animated feature to be made in 3D. In ParaNorman, a small town comes under siege by zombies. Who can it call? Only misunderstood local boy Norman (Kodi Smit-McPhee), who is able to speak with the dead. In addition to the zombies, he'll have to take on ghosts, witches and, worst, of all, grown-ups, to save his town from a centuries-old curse. But this young ghoul whisperer may find his paranormal activities pushed to their otherworldly limits.

Weekly Recommendation - ParaNorman and Jack Reacher (Jan. 3)

Hitchcock's reception has been far from flattering. Some have described it as a shallow, mediocre TV movie-esque biopic. Others have praised the performances and thoroughly enjoyed it. The consensus suggests it will please plenty but is not essential viewing. Gangster Squad is not recommended - a cartoonish, woefully scripted LA noir with a conglomeration of genre cliches, and some ludicrous characters. ParaNorman has been well received and is a likely Oscar-nominee for Best Animate Feature. I am looking forward to checking it out this week myself. If you haven't yet seen the new Tom Cruise thriller, Jack Reacher, it is also worth a look. 

2012 Buckle Awards

The Rules: ANY Film released in an Australian cinema in 2012 + any films I have seen at a festival or via screener that have not had a general release. This is a HUGE list of films to select from, but doesn't include some of the U.S 2012 releases (Life of Pi, Django Unchained, Zero Dark Thirty, The Silver Linings Playbook and Lincoln) not yet released in Australian cinemas.

*There are two exceptions: MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE and A SEPARATION - released February 2 and March 1 respectively - were considered in last year's awards because I watched them well prior to their release date and included them amongst my 2011 releases.*

As a result of the large volume of films, there will be six slots for each category and the winner marked in BOLD.

Best American Film

The Master *WINNER*
Margaret
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
The Grey
Argo
The Perks of Being A Wallflower

Best British Film

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Shame *WINNER*
Weekend
This Must Be The Place
Berberian Sound Studio
The Angels' Share

Best Australian Film

The Sapphires
Hail
Not Suitable For Children
Lore *WINNER*
Wish You Were Here

Best Foreign Language Film

Holy Motors *WINNER*
Monsieur Lazhar
Amour
Caesar Must Die
Oslo, August 31st
Bleak Night

Best Film (Overall)

Holy Motors *WINNER*
Shame
The Master
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Monsieur Lazhar
Margaret

Best Director

Leos Carax - Holy Motors *WINNER*
Steve McQueen - Shame
Paul Thomas Anderson - The Master
Tomas Alfredson - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Michael Haneke - Amour
Joachim Trier - Oslo, August 31st

Best Lead Male Performance

Michael Fassbender - Shame *WINNER*
Denis Lavant - Holy Motors
Joaquin Phoenix - The Master
Mads Mikkelsen - The Hunt
Jean-Louis Trintignant - Amour
Matthew McConaughey - Killer Joe

Best Lead Female Performance

Rooney Mara - The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Anna Paquin - Margaret
Emanuelle Riva - Amour *WINNER*
Charlize Theron - Young Adult
Mary Elizabeth Winstead - Smashed
Marion Cotillard - Rust and Bone

Best Supporting Female Performance

Amy Adams - The Master
Carey Mulligan - Shame
Emily Blunt - Your Sister's Sister *WINNER*
Rosemarie DeWitt - Your Sister's Sister *WINNER*
Anne Hathaway - Les Miserables
Gina Gershon - Killer Joe

Best Supporting Male Performance

Matthew McConaughey - Magic Mike/Bernie
Scoot McNairy - Killing Them Softly
Phillip Seymour Hoffman - The Master *WINNER*
Ezra Miller - The Perks of Being A Wallflower
Ben Kingsley - Hugo
Frank Grillo - The Grey

Best Original Screenplay

Leos Carax - Holy Motors
Steve McQueen/Abi Morgan - Shame
Paul Thomas Anderson - The Master
Kenneth Lonergan - Margaret *WINNER*
Michael Haneke - Amour
Joachim Trier/Eskil Vogt - Oslo, August 31st

Best Adapted Screenplay

Bridget O'Connor/Peter Straughan - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy *WINNER*
Chris Terrio - Argo
Steve Zaillian - The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Joe Carnahan/Ian MacKenzie Jeffers - The Grey
Richard Linklater/Skip Hollandsworth - Bernie
Steven Chbosky - The Perks of Being A Wallflower

Best Cinematography

Holy Motors
The Master
This Must Be The Place
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Once Upon A Time In Anatolia *WINNER*

Best Original Score/Soundtrack

The Master
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo *WINNER (Score)*
Moonrise Kingdom
From Up On Poppy Hill
Cafe De Flore
Shame *WINNER (Soundtrack)*
This Must Be The Place
The Perks of Being A Wallflower
Searching For Sugar Man

Best Documentary

Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present
The Imposter *WINNER*
Undefeated
Searching For Sugar Man
Side By Side
Indie Game: The Movie

Best Animated Film

From Up On Poppy Hill *WINNER*
Wrinkles
Brave
Frankenweenie

Best Scene

'Brandon takes a run' - Shame
'Interlude' - Holy Motors *WINNER*
'Processing' - The Master
'I'm done' - The Grey
'This Must Be The Place' - This Must Be The Place
'Hallway Takedown' - The Raid

Now, it is very likely I have forgotten to include some worthy nominees, but when reflecting on an entire year of film it is hard just narrowing the categories down to six. Thoughts?

Mini Review: Life of Pi (Ang Lee, 2012)

After some deliberation I have decided that Ang Lee's Life of Pi is quite an achievement. Astounding CGI/3D visuals from DP Claudio Miranda (some of the cleverest use of 3D I have seen to date), with a resonating balance of weighty themes (science v. religion, primal instinct v. the presence of an animal soul, faith v. rationality) and an endearing against-odds companionship. I took some early issue with the storytelling method, but once Pi (Suraj Sharma, excellent) ends up at sea alone on a lifeboat with a zebra, hyena, orangutan and a Bengal tiger after the ship transporting his family and their zoo sinks, I was immediately immersed into the extraordinary tale. The book-ending, which involves an older Pi telling his story to a young journalist is not as successful as the survival story at the core, but ultimately serve the purpose of introducing us to Pi's interest in religion and his established faith, and his reflection on his experiences with clarified purity. Even the much-debated ending (*tears*) worked for me. Coined an 'unfilmable' book (which I have not read), it is hard to imagine a more universally accessible film stemming from the pages. The 3D creates a stunning canvas of jaw-dropping moments, and Lee continues to prove he is a masterful visual storyteller.  

My Rating: ★★★★ (B+)

Review: Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present (Matthew Akers and Jeff Dupre, 2012)

Having already watched The Imposter, Undefeated and Searching For Sugar Man in 2012 I was pretty content with the year for documentaries, despite having seen very few of the Oscar short list. Then along came Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present, a powerful and inspiring film that many of my friends understandably raved about after the screening at the Melbourne International Film Festival. 

It follows Serbian performance artist Marina Abramovic as she prepares for a retrospective of her work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA). In addition to the presence of stills and projected videos of her life's work, Marina has hired young performance artists to recreate some of her most provocative works. Marina also desires to put herself in the retrospective - an admirably ambitious work described by the curator as a 'self portrait'. For the entire duration of the retrospective (something like three months) and the museum's daily opening hours, Marina will be sitting alone (not moving or talking and barely expressing) at a table with an empty chair opposite her. Visitors can sit opposite her, share her space and experience her vulnerability all for themselves.

Monthly Round-up: December 2012 Viewing

 I hope everybody had a relaxing Christmas Break, and here's to bigger and better things in 2012.

I am going to keep this brief. In December I went back and re-watched a few films I thought highly of throughout the year, but wanted to solidify my thoughts for my End-of-Year lists. Online at Graffiti With Punctuation you can find my Top 25 and Worst 10 Films from 2012. More than half of the films I watched in December were re-watches and apart from Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present, The Crying Game and two surprises (Jack Reacher and This is 40) I didn't see much of note.

Before listing all of the films, here are my 2013 resolutions:

As I am moving in with Sam in a few weeks, we want to take the time to set up a sweet pad.

Make two trips: New Zealand and Japan are the likely destinations.

Be healthier: eat better, drink less and exercise more.

Continue to independently study film and further improve my writing.

Read 10 novels. I hardly ever read novels. This has to change.

Write 2 short film screenplays. Something I have been wanting to try my hand at for a little while now.

Catch up on TV. I have been recommended so many shows and have never got around to watching them. Also, I would love to re-visit Six Feet Under and The Sopranos.

Completing all of this will mean that significantly less time will be spent watching films. It has to be done. As you will see below I watched almost 400 films in 2012. Next year I feel like it will be closer to 250. Making better use of my time and utilising it to be healthier and immersing myself in a few different mediums is something I want to do. I look forward to continuing to share my experiences and opinions - and offer recommendations - with you here, whether it is film, music or otherwise.

New-to-Me Films (In Order of Preference)

Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present (Matthew Akers, 2012)

The Crying Game (Neil Jordan, 1992) 

This is 40 (Judd Apatow, 2012)

Jack Reacher (Christopher McQuarrie, 2012)

Samsara (Ron Fricke, 2012)

Baraka (Ron Fricke, 1992)

Les Miserables (Tom Hooper, 2012)

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Peter Jackson, 2012)

 Pitch Perfect (Jason Moore, 2012)

Sightseers (Ben Wheatley, 2012)

Quartet (Dustin Hoffman, 2012)

The Holy Mountain (Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1973)

Surviving Christmas (Mike Mitchell, 2004)

Re-watches (In Order of Preference)

Monsters Inc. (Pete Docter, 2001)

The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow, 2009)

Three Kings (David O. Russell, 1999)

Finding Nemo (Andrew Stanton, 2003)

The Grey (Joe Carnahan, 2012)

The Raid (Gareth Evans, 2012)

The Perks of Being A Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky, 2012)

500 Days of Summer (Marc Webb, 2009)

Greenberg (Noah Baumbach, 2010)

Bad Santa (Terry Zwigoff, 2003)

Cafe De Flore (Jean-Marc Vallee, 2011)

The Cabin in the Woods (Drew Goddard, 2012)

Magic Mike (Steven Soderbergh, 2012)

Cosmopolis (David Cronenberg, 2012)

My Year in Film - 367 + 27 (Dec.) = 394 Viewings.

Review: Greenberg (Noah Baumbach, 2010)

Greenberg is the sole film I have seen from Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale, Margot at the Wedding) but it is a film that on a re-watch evoked a whole heap of emotions, and drew unexpected admiration not only for Baumbach’s thoughtful writing, but the exemplary performances. It is an observant character study, introducing a pair of troubled souls – a neurotic, apathetic narcissist who has complete disregard for anyone else but himself and is prone to losing his temper, and a whimsical, directionless loser seeking meaning in her life and an equally messed-up shoulder to lean on.

These two are characters are difficult to sympathise with and consistently let us down, but because the performances are so nuanced and their personalities are so well observed, our contempt never stays around for long. It is not just a commentary on middle age crises, but also the bizarre differences between generations, and how social outcasts can turn their lives around in unexpected ways.

The story follows Roger Greenberg (Ben Stiller), who has moved back to L.A to house and dog-sit for his brother, Phillip (Chris Messina), who is vacationing in Vietnam with his family. After a recent psychological breakdown, Roger is recovering by consciously doing absolutely nothing. A former musician, who disgraced himself years previously by botching a record deal, he is now a professional carpenter. He hates birthday songs, doesn’t have a driver’s license (but is a ‘backseat driver’) and he feeds his chronic neuroses by writing complaint letters to large corporations about petty grievances. While in L.A he reconnects with old friends (Rhys Ifans) and ex-girlfriends (Jennifer Jason Lee) and deals with everything from a sick dog to an impromptu house party full of twenty-year olds.