My pal Glenn Kenny has up a list of 47 Noteworthy Films in 2015. Links to his reviews when applicable. Glenn is one of my favorite writers (and thinkers) out there. He’s one of the regular reviewers at Rogerebert.com, but he’s also started reviewing for The New York Times, and comes from a print background (I remember reading his stuff in Premiere when he was an editor there, long before I knew him.) But his personal site is also a goldmine. (His paragraph on Mistress America is especially beautiful, but the whole list is well worth checking out.)
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oh man, what he wrote about Spotlight made me get that great feeling of realising something that you don’t know you already know — I love it when critics can do that. His words clicked me in to the fact that it was the neatness, the tidiness of that film that really held it back for me. Thanks for the link!
Jessie – interesting!!
I agree with him that the style was uninspired – and also that each scene had a beginning/middle/end which made it rather prosaic.
On the flip-side: another movie about a huge conspiracy/secret that just came out (The Big Short) makes none of those mistakes. It plays like a bat out of hell, and the momentum of the film is one of absolute confusion. Nobody knows what the hell is going on. Scenes are ripped away from you in the middle, and you are transported across the country to another atmosphere where someone is wrestling with the same problem. Sometimes scenes are ripped away in mid-SENTENCE – which I thought was so bold – and ended up giving a sense of the sheer chaos of the housing market – and how nobody (even the bankers, who were supposedly in charge) really knew what was going on. It was stumbling in the dark. The Big Short is messy in its approach, but it’s mess with purpose. Everything is planned although it all LOOKS un-planned. I absolutely loved it.
I love it when a good writer can put your feelings into words for you. Glenn is one of my favorite “eyes” out there because of that. AND you honestly can’t tell what he’s going to like. There are so many writers where I know exactly what they will like/dislike because their only interest is CONTENT, not form. It could be the ugliest schlockiest most obvious movie but if it espouses a cause the critic loves, the critic will love it. But Glenn’s taste is idiosyncratic. and he’s able to talk about why he likes something that makes you go: “Huh. Yeah, I can see that.”
OR, if you disagree with him, he makes you think more deeply about your own choices. At least that’s true with me. I didn’t really like The Hateful Eight – and knew Glenn had loved it, and was eagerly awaiting his comments on it. It helped me frame my own response – or, my response was already framed in my own way – but it’s always good to engage with those who disagree, just to see how your own feelings hold up. It’s a rare writer who can do that without bludgeoning you with “You’re stupid for feeling the way you do.”
On his strong recommendation, I finally saw “The Mend,” with Josh Lucas, and it’s as good as Glenn says it is – and as weird, and as disturbing. It was so uncomfortable I almost wanted to take breaks. It’s about two messed-up brothers – kind of like what the Winchesters might be if they didn’t have the organizing factor of monster-killing.
Wow. All I’ve really known about The Big Short is that I HATE THE POSTER. It’s like, we know you hate movies about serious subjects but THIS one has STARS in BAD WIGS! But that sounds exciting and invigorating and I am a huuuuge sucker for McKay’s early Farrell movies so you’ve turned me completely around. Did you see Margin Call? I loved that one, too. The progression of board meetings, the increasing dearth of specialised knowledge. It’s interesting the way these movies dramatise not-knowing and panic.
The Mend sounds a little bit terrifying, I’ll have to keep an eye out for it.
Oh my God, I know, the poster is the WORST.
WHY. I beg of the heavens. WHY do people think floating heads is a good idea. It says nothing about the movie – and honestly none of those stars (except Pitt) is a draw in and of themselves.
Dumb dumb dumb.
Ignore the poster. It’s super good – and all about that thing we were discussing in re: Spotlight: the digging into a certain kind of system/culture. The tidiness of Spotlight (weren’t we discussing Rachel McAdams poring over church directories and how you felt that was truncated – that you wanted more of that – I know just what you mean) is not at all there in The Big Short. The thing never ever stops – and yet somehow you do end up getting a glimmering of what the hell really went wrong with these bankers/mortgage firms, etc. Ie: corruption, and financial incentives to be corrupt. Perhaps not a revelation but come on, these douchebags lost over a trillion dollars and ruined the world economy – so obviously they were on some whole other level!!
I’m friends with Adam McKay on Facebook because we have so many friends in common from Chicago days – and he mainly posts about financial corruption. He barely posts about his own projects, never posts anything personal about himself. He is obsessed with finance, and has clearly immersed himself in this unbelievably complex topic – The film is very very angry, but also really funny.
I had no expectations going in but I loved it!
The Mend made me so uncomfortable I could barely get through each scene without pausing it. Very strange movie!
Yeah! Gordon Willis said about shooting ATPM that he didn’t do anything fancy, that he just shot the meaning of the scene: they’re looking for a needle in a haystack so he zooms out to the Library of Congress roof and just shows that. But he’s underselling himself. It takes imagination to come up with stuff like that. A little more imagination in how it made its meaning or a little more obsession would have served Spotlight well I think. Sounds like The Big Short has it in spades.
// It takes imagination to come up with stuff like that. //
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:
You have a gift for criticism of this nature. You see things clearly and you understand story and how it operates. AND you can put it into words.
Just throwing that out there. I so appreciate your observations.
Gosh, thank you so much! That really means a lot!