Best of '15: Dope

I don't want to go to jail. I want to go to college!

I will turn 35 this year.... Ugh....  I'm reaching the point where many of my friends, coworkers, and associates are falling into the "kids these days..." trap. This is what I call the common idea that the current generation has it better/worse/different than in "our days". I have vowed to avoid these logical traps like the plague if for the simple reason that every generation has used them. I find it much more plausible that something changes in ones persona as they get older that makes a person think this way than there is actual, significant detrimental generational change occurring. I hope to never generally lament the work ethic, attitude, or respect of "kids these days...", but we also fall into the same trap with pop culture: "Music these days...", "Books these days... (or lack thereof)", "TV these days...", and ultimately "Movies these days...". I was never a huge fan of scripted television, so I feel pretty good about that one. I try to encourage reading regardless of the quality. Music I probably fail on the most (have you heard how terrible Justin Bieber's new stuff is and what passes as Hip-Hop today???), but I blame it on pop music always being bad and not having enough time to devote to the quality stuff which I am sure is out there. As for movies, I immerse myself into each year's offerings and have yet to even take a step towards any understanding of a specific generation's superiority. Movies like DOPE make this easier.

Three teenagers of color from the wrong side of LA unironically love '90s hip-hop style, have their own punk band, make straight A's, and have lofty aspirations of Ivy league university education. They get wrapped up in a drug-deal gone wrong and have to figure out how to unload thousands of dollars worth of meth without getting busted by the cops or worse the local drug kingpins that could have them killed on a whim. Movies like this give me inter-generational hope. True artists have never subscribed to the "kids these days..." trap, they are constantly trying to find originality, beauty, and emotional reflections on the fact that "kids these days" are just the same and just as different as they always have been.

Best of '15: Truth

Our story was about whether the President fulfilled his service, but nobody wants to talk about that.... they want to talk about fonts and forgeries and they hope to God the truth gets lost in the scrum!"

For a large portion of my formative years, my afternoons went kinda like this: Get home, do homework, watch silly cartoons, eat dinner, watch the news, watch Jeopardy. The homework was usually quick or non-existent, the silly cartoons ranged from Tiny-toons to Animaniacs, dinner was always together with my family, Jeopardy was always trying to keep up with my Daddy, and the news was nearly always Dan Rather. With his smooth delivery, sly grin, and empathetic half-wink he guided me through the end of the Cold War, the election of the first Democratic president of my life, the slimy fall from grace that president would have a few years later, and the worst day any of us could imagine in September not long after. More than any other before or after (and with apologies to Jon Stewart), Dan Rather will always be MY newsman.

With the rise of talk radio and cable news, I could tell the CBS evening news and it's magazine edition 60 minutes were struggling to find more provocative and intriguing material. This story was pretty much the demise of the struggle and the surrender of the once mighty news giant. Blanchett and Redford step seamlessly into their respective roles of producer Mary Mapes and Rather. As the viewer is treated to the story behind the story it plays as both a memoriam for the days of hard-hitting no-nonsense reporting and an elegy of its demise. As the quote above alludes to, gone are the days where the real facts matter. The only thing that is left is does the perception of a fact match my preconceived dialogue. If so, run it... If not, who cares....  What has gotten lost in it all though.... Is the reverence for TRUTH.

Best of '15: Tomorrowland

-There are two wolves who are always fighting. One is darkness and despair. The other is light and hope. The question is... which wolf wins?
-The one you feed.

Brad Bird turned down Star Wars because he didn't want to lose the chance to direct this film. Let that sentence sink in..... Bird, the director of The Iron Giant and The Incredibles, preferred the opportunity to create a new universe than play in arguably the greatest fantasy universe of all time. Judging by the response to this movie, both critically and commercially, most would say he made a pretty epic mistake. I'm not so sure though. I admit that this movie is pretty flawed. I admit that The Force Awakens was perfect. But I also respect Brad Bird's vision for what a movie should be. 

He probably should've trimmed about a half hour from the runtime and cut a couple of subplots, but he also created one of the most moving reflections on modern society in recent cinema. This movie doesn't just seek to entertain, but to inspire. It is not just a sci-fi romp through a section of Disney's marketing machine, but hearkens back to what Walt Disney originally envisioned as a Utopian future of peace and knowledge. Between this movie and The Martian, I wasn't just happy to take Abby to the theater, I was truly proud.

Best of '15: Mad Max: Fury Road

Witness me.

I was never a huge fan of the original Mad Max movies (I even admit to skipping the Tina Turner starring third entry, but I saw the "California Love" video a bunch of times... that counts right?). That didn't stop me from getting a little excited when I saw the trailer for this little puppy. I was lucky enough to sneak away and check it out in the theater, and what I was treated with was probably the best pure action film of the '10s (maybe even the new century). 

Since Neo and Jar-Jar signaled the beginning of the CG-age in 1999, Hollywood has been churning out cartoon action faster than Saw sequels. The term "practical effects" was probably coined before this year, but this film brought it to the forefront. Real cars, real crashes, real flips, and real explosions, ultimately led to REAL thrills. Couple this with a shift in focus from Max (a grunty character with little charisma) to Furiosa (one-armed, butt-kicking, big-rig-driving riot grrrl) and you have the perfect recipe for the biggest surprise of 2015 (at both the box office and, most likely, the awards stages).

Best of '15: Ex Machina

One day the AIs are going to look back on us the same way we look at fossil skeletons on the plains of Africa. An upright ape living in dust with crude language and tools, all set for extinction.

"Ex Machina" is a slow burn thriller retelling of the Pygmalion story that strives to ask the questions we have been asking since science fiction authors first dreamed about the implications of artificial intelligence more than one hundred years ago. Can a robot love? Can a robot hate? Can a robot replace a lover? Can a robot murder?

This is certainly not a film for everyone, and could have been near perfect in the hands of a more skilled director, but it is still worth the watch for anyone who prefers their science fiction thinking instead of exploding.

Best of '15: Going Clear

Scientology really is a journey into the mind of L. Ron Hubbard and the further you get into it the more like L. Ron Hubbard you become.

I caught this when it premiered on HBO last Spring. It is an in-depth and pretty scathing examination of the Church of Scientology. Hubbard's faith group has been a near-ubiquitous whipping boy in popular culture over the past ten years or so. Admittedly, picking apart another person's religion is a bit unfair. Faith is a personal journey and, regardless of the ancient nature (or lack thereof) of one's belief system, should rarely be used as a subject for ridicule. The filmmakers here are very effective at showing the dark side of the religion, but I caught my self wondering how many of their criticisms could be used against the Catholic church or the Nation of Islam or the Southern Baptist Convention. Still, this is a powerful look into a secretive organization that should have the viewer questioning their own church, sacraments, and ultimately what faith looks like.

Best of '15: Love and Mercy

Back to the blog!!!  To start, I'll list some of my favorites from 2015, and my unceremonious, super-late top ten of 2014:

10. Top Five
9. Guardians of the Galaxy
8. Pride
7. The Lego Movie
6. Big Hero 6
5. The Imitation Game
4. Chef
3. Selma
2. Boyhood
1. Interstellar

Best of '15: Love and Mercy




God only knows what I'd be without you.

The Beach Boys were probably my favorite band from the ages of 5-10. I knew nothing of the people in the band except that I wanted to get on top of a van and surf to "Surfin' USA" just like Michael J. Fox in "Teen Wolf" (a scene I recreated a multitude of times on top of my Star Wars bedspread). 

This movie tells the story of Brian Wilson. Paul Dano portrays the singer in the mid-1960s as he creates the masterpiece album "Pet Sounds" while simultaneously beginning his descent into depression and schizophrenia. John Cusack plays Wilson during the 1980s and his rescue from mismanagement by the love of his life Melinda Ledbetter (played delicately by Elizabeth Banks).  The movie succeeds much more with Dano's scenes, but that is probably more due to the awkwardness (and unbelievability) of the later scenes.  Blending some of the most beautiful songs ever written (God Only Knows, Good Vibrations, Wouldn't It Be Nice) with the moving and sometimes heartbreaking story of their creation is worth every minute of your time.  

More favorites from 2015 and some award show breakdowns coming soon.