Laggies

First Hit:  Turned out to be a really good film because of excellent acting.

Although I really disliked the title, the film worked. Laggies refers to young adults that are lost and lagging behind their peers in developmental and societal growth.

Here we have Megan (Keira Knightley) who has been living with her boyfriend Anthony (Mark Weber). He wants to marry Megan and begin to follow the path their friends are taking, marriage then children. These long term  friends ("the group") are from high school and they continue to support each other and do everything together.

The setup is that Megan does things with her friends which are viewed as immature, and as she begins to see she is out of step with her group, she begins to wonder what to do with her life and what it means. Although Megan obtained her MFC degree, she found the work unrewarding. The pressure to act like a grown-up, get a job and contribute to society, is growing but she feels like she is floating. Enabling her situation is her father Ed (Jeff Garlin) because he  lets her work for him spinning a directional arrow sign on a sidewalk guiding people to is tax service office.

When Anthony asks her for her hand in marriage, she freaks and splits for a week to “get her head together”. She meets a high school kid Annika (Chloe Grace Moretz) and her friends who take a liking to this older, yet like them, woman. Annika sneaks her home and when her father Craig (Sam Rockwell) finds her in Annika’s room he decides to question her as to why. Throughout this week little lessons begin to appear to Megan and in the end, she finds a way to make steps towards taking charge of her life.

Knightly is absolutely fantastic. She perfectly embodies a young lost woman and then shifts to become a more responsible woman, yet keeping her young enthusiasm in tact. Weber is good as Megan’s fiancé. Garlin is strong as the enabling father. Moretz is sublime. Her intelligent innocence shines through with wisdom and grace. Rockwell is perfect as Moretz’s father. Andrea Seigel wrote a wonderful insightful screenplay. Director Lynn Shelton did an excellent job of letting this story unfold with good acting.

Overall:  I really enjoyed how this film unfolded although I disliked the title.

Before I Go To Sleep

First Hit:  Nicole Kidman was outstanding as a woman who cannot remember one day from the next.

This is not a film that will have a large audience as there is little that is uplifting about the story.

Christine (Kidman) wakes up every day and has no memory of the previous day. She wakes up in a man’s arms, doesn’t know who he is. She goes into the bathroom where there is a wall of pictures showing her and her husband, getting married, kissing, holding each other and they are appropriately labeled. She comes back into the bedroom and her husband Ben (Colin Firth) begins to explain who he is and what has happened to her.

She also is seeing, unbeknownst to Ben, a therapist who calls her every morning and asks her to review a video camera hidden in her closet. She watches the video she has taken of herself over the previous days, which begins her learning process for the day. At the end of each day she has a story, only to forget it by the next morning.

However, is her husband her husband? Is her friend her friend? What was her life before the accident which rendered her with this memory affliction?

Kidman is very believable. I am constantly amazed as how she can take these odd, sometimes dark, and brooding parts and bring them to life in a way that is so engaging. Firth is almost perfect as the guy who shows, remorse, anger, and darkness while being human. Rowan Joffe wrote and directed this film. From a dialogue point of view there were moments of crisp beauty and other times it seem to drag a little. However, the direction was very strong. He got a lot out of the actors, while creating a feeling of brooding darkness with both the sets in the house as well as outside (rarely sunny and the in nondescript home).

Overall:  Strong acting with a difficult non-uplifting subject ended as a good with a limited audience film.

Horns

First Hit:  A rather unrealistic and lousy film.

This film did try to take itself seriously, however how could it? A guy growing horns out of his head? Sure. It tries to make a villain out of Ig Perrish (Daniel Radcliffe) because his girlfriend, Merrin Williams (Juno Temple) is killed near their secret treehouse. It was their hiding spot.

Previously to being found there she was last seen with him in a restaurant fighting. Telling you what they fight about would give too much away but needless to say that they have spent their life (since grade school) together and they were in love. Because Merrin is so loved and Ig vilified, he ends up growing horns which express the town’s hatred.

Radcliffe was OK in a role that really stretches the imagination but not in a way that I would recommend. Temple is devine and is the best thing in the film. Keith Bunin wrote a mostly ridiculous script and director Alexandre Aja tried to make sense of the story.

Overall:  This film was poorly conceived and barely executed better.

Nightcrawler

First Hit:  Amazing performance in a film about a dark undercurrent theme of our society.

We like voyeur’s views of the world. How do I know, watch television news. News programs would not be as popular as they are without having a certain voyeuristic view into other people’s lives, our lives.

Here we have Louis Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) who is trying to make a life for himself. He’s a thief who sells stolen metal at junk yards. He runs up on a freeway accident where he watches a videographer filming the gruesome scene. He finds out that TV news stations buy this kind of video so he decides to become an independent videographer as a way to make an interesting living. It is to the depth in which he dives into this new role that highlights the film and the story.

Louis’ sleazy looks, acts of righteous knowledgeable indignation, slumping posture, while embodying the role of providing gory TV news film for money – that makes this film all-encompassing and watchable. While this film is about Louis’ voyeuristic ways, it is also about the audiences’ engagement with the video Louis shoots as well as viewing Louis’ life.

Gyllenhaal was so immersed and engaged that I believed everything about this character. Rene Russo (playing Nina Romina the News Director who buys Louis’ video) is absolutely fabulous. Her facial expressions at the date/dinner she has with Louis are amazing. Her directness in decision making in the newsroom – perfect. Riz Ahmed as Rick, Louis’ right hand man was extraordinary. Dan Gilroy wrote and directed this film. The writing was superb and his direction of the actors and scenes was, at times, riveting.

Overall:  This film was well done and Gyllenhaal made it this way.

Birdman Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

First Hit:  One of the most amazing films I’ve ever watched.

What struck me and continues to strike me about this film was the way it was filmed. It is filmed like it all came from one camera with no edits.

Although I was amazed from the very beginning, there is a scene, where the camera is on a balcony ledge, looking up at a dark sky with a building in the background, the lights in the building change, the darkness of the sky changes to morning, and then the camera backs off the ledge moves down the building it was on and finally backs into Riggan’s (Michael Keaton) dressing room where the action picks up again.

The shot is phenomenal as are most of the shots in this film. What makes all this better is that the acting is also sublime.

This story about a man who wants to revitalize his acting career on Broadway after becoming famous as a superhero named “Birdman”. Not that the film is suppose to have a similar real life link to Keaton’s own acting life as Batman, - it does. But it is much more and deeper than this. It is about finding a place to be relevant and honest with oneself in some way.

Joining Riggan in the play he is putting on is Lesley (Naomi Watts) who has been striving her whole life to do an opening night on Broadway. Then there’s current girlfriend Laura (Andrea Riseborough) who wants to have a baby but struggles with Riggan’s inattention and is angelic in the play.

Lastly, on stage with him is Mike (Edward Norton) who is Leslie’s boyfriend and New York City stage actor supreme. His method rankles and enhances Riggan’s vision for the play. Although the story interacts with and at times becomes the story, the overall story is about Riggan becoming who he a man he likes and cares about.

Keaton is at his absolute best as Riggan and Birdman. He’s naked on the screen, we can see him. Watts is superb. Her execution of her role is perfect. Riseborough is great. The scene where she tells Riggan that she is pregnant is touchingly wonderful. Norton is beyond amazing. His command of the role is perfect. He shows just the right amount of arrogance and thoughtfulness. Emma Stone is truly a wonder. Her role as Riggan’s daughter is one of the most startling pieces of supporting work on the screen this year. Her hauntingly, desperate, and thoughtful view of the world is perfect. All of these actors gave Oscar worthy consideration performances. Zach Galifianakis as Riggans attorney and co-producer was also very, very strong. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and Nicolas Giacobone wrote this amazing screenplay. Their use of words to make emotional points was spot on. Inarritu’s direction of the cinematographer, actors, and execution of the story will have him considered at Academy Awards time.

Overall:  An amazing piece of art, and that is what this film is, an outstanding and sublime piece of art.