Best of '15: Beasts of No Nation

I saw terrible things... and I did terrible things. So if I'm talking to you, it will make me sad and it will make you too sad. In this life... I just want to be happy in this life. If I'm telling this to you... you will think that... I am some sort of beast... or devil. I am all of these things... but I also having mother... father... brother and sister once. They loved me.

I'm not so sure how I feel about this inevitable shift from the big screen to the small screen as more movies are released on digital formats instead of in theaters. On one hand, I like the universal accessibility (I don't have to drive to Raleigh), but on the other hand I really believe we miss something when we are watching a movie alone huddled over a laptop rather than collectively in a dark theater. This movie was released exclusively on Netflix after a very limited theatrical debut (New York & LA), and I think it probably leans more towards my accepting of our impending shift in movie watching. I'm almost glad I saw this one alone. There aren't many laughs or touching moments to be shared with an audience. It's more of a grinding, painful realization of how good we have it, and how very bad others have it in this life. The young (mostly amateur) actors execute this film with stunning realism, following the lead of Idris Elba who portrays the "Kony-like" leader of their guerrilla troop. This attention to detail gives the film a documentary-esque feel which makes their story all the more painful. 

In our time of plenty and petty conflicts or privilege, Beasts of No Nation is certainly not a fun film by any means but it certainly is a necessary one.

Best of '15: The Good Dinosaur

You have to get through your fear to see the beauty on the other side.

I got a little lazy and a bit behind on my 2015 recap the past couple of days, so I'll try to do a couple tonight.

I usually side with the critics. My tastes in movies seem to coincide with folks like Peter Travers, James Berardinelli, and Todd McCarthy. Pretty much once or twice a year there is a big issue or movie that we disagree on though. This year it was the overwhelming love for Inside Out. I liked it, but I just felt it lacked the normal Pixar simplicity that made Toy Story, Up, and Monsters, Inc. so special. The Good Dinosaur was, by far, my favorite of the Pixar offerings from this year. This movie feels like a classic John Ford western... with dinosaurs. What's wrong with that? One of Pixar's greatest accomplishments is getting you to be emotional invested in things that seem silly (toys, monsters, ants, rats, etc.). If you aren't moved to tears by the scene pictured above, then you just plain don't like Pixar movies.

My Oscar Ballot

Oscar nominations will be announced tomorrow morning. Once again, the Academy forgot to send me my nominations form, so I'll just post my picks here. See you at 8:30am tomorrow!  (note: I don't rank or judge Star Wars movies with other movies, so it won't be listed here or in my top ten of the year... I loved it, it just doesn't get ranked with plain-old movies)

Best Picture:  Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

Best Director: Ridley Scott - The Martian

Best Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio - The Revenant

Best Actress: Carey Mulligan - Suffragette

Best Supporting Actor: Idris Elba - Beasts of No Nation

Best Supporting Actress: Alicia Vikander - Ex Machina

Best Original Screenplay: Dope

Best Adapted Screenplay: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

Best Cinematography: The Revenant

Best Costume Design: Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Editing: Beasts of No Nation

Best Makeup & Hairstyling: The Revenant

Best Production Design: Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Score: The Hateful Eight

Best Song: It's My Turn Now - Dope

Best Sound Editing: Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Sound Mixing: Dope

Best Visual Effects: Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Animated Feature: The Good Dinosaur

Best Documentary: I am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story

Best Animated Short: Sanjay's Super Team

Best of '15: Tangerine

Out here it's all about our hustle, and that's it.

A transgender prostitute gets out of prison on Christmas eve, shares a morning donut with her best friend, finds out her pimp/boyfriend has been cheating on her, turns over every rock in LA until she finds the other girl, beats her up and drags her to a penultimate meeting with her pimp and spurns the advances of a john who thinks he's in love with her. Whew. If you're still with me after that description, then you'll probably dig this movie.

Hollywood was a bit ahead of the game when it came to the marketability of the transgendered lifestyle, but this movie doesn't exploit OR standardize. The biological anatomy of the characters in the film is secondary to their vulnerability and humanity. To go with the refreshing take on telling a story, Tangerine also was shot in a refreshing way (completely on an iPhone) and the editing and soundtrack are both unconventional in a way that seems both groundbreaking and comfortably familiar.

Best of '15: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

One last thing. Hot girls destroy your life. That's just a fact.

This movie is available on DVD. It's in your local redbox. It's probably my favorite film from 2015. It is adorably beautiful. I'm sure I'll talk about it more later, so do yourself a favor and go check it out.

Best of '15: The Martian

I've been thinking about laws on Mars. There's an international treaty saying that no country can lay claim to anything that's not on Earth. By another treaty if you're not in any country's territory, maritime law aplies. So Mars is international waters. Now, NASA is an American non-military organization, it owns the Hab. But the second I walk outside I'm in international waters. So Here's the cool part. I'm about to leave for the Schiaparelli Crater where I'm going to commandeer the Ares IV lander. Nobody explicitly gave me permission to do this, and they can't until I'm on board the Ares IV. So I'm going to be taking a craft over in international waters without permission, which by definition... makes me a pirate. Mark Watney: Space Pirate.

(note: the above quote garnered spontaneous applause during the movie in my Greenville theater. ARRRRGGGHHH!)

I have to begin by thanking Megan Potter for posting on facebook that Andy Weir's book The Martian was one of her recent favorites. She's an English teacher, I trust her judgement, and it was a sci-fi book, so I was hooked. I loved the book and was super-excited about seeing Ridley Scott's take. Although the movie lost a bit of the page-turning stress to fit into a manageable run-time, Scott and Matt Damon nailed it (save for the "Iron Man" change near the end). With the back-to-back space adventures of Interstellar and The Martian, sci-fi, NASA, and my Chemistry class have all gotten a much-deserved boost!

Golden Globe Predicitons

I'm still a little too far behind to provide my own preferences for these categories, but here's my yearly guide to winning your  Golden Globe office pool:

Best Motion Picture - Drama: Spotlight

Best Actress - Drama: Cate Blanchett - Carol

Best Actor - Drama: Leonardo DiCaprio - The Revenant

Best Motion Picture - Musical/Comedy: The Martian (yeah... I don't really understand how it's a comedy either...)

Best Actress - Musical/Comedy: Amy Schumer - Trainwreck

Best Actor - Musical/Comedy: Matt Damon - The Martian

Best Animated Feature: Inside Out

Best Foreign Language Film: Son of Saul

Best Supporting Actress: Jane Fonda - Youth

Best Supporting Actor: Paul Dano - Love & Mercy

Best Director: Ridley Scott - The Martian

Best Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino - The Hateful Eight

Best Original Score: Ennio Morricone - The Hateful Eight

Best Original Song: "One Kind of Love", Brian Wilson - Love & Mercy

Oscar Nominations are announced Thursday, and then the real fun can begin!!!!