Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. In order to spend some time with family and friends, we are taking today (and probably tomorrow due to hangover) off. Publishing of new content will resume over the weekend and into next week. We’re very excited about December, as it means we’ll get to conduct our annual Year in Review. This means that we’ll be picking apart 2015 in so many wonderful ways that you might become physically ill. It’s not over yet, and we can already safely say that it’s been a good year for movies and TV. We’re thankful for that. From blockbusters to indies, we’ve found a lot to love this year.
So to celebrate Thanksgiving and kick-off our month long look back at the entertainment we consumed in 2015, we’d like to present The Movies We’re Thankful For in 2015:
Tomris Laffly: Brooklyn
It’s difficult for me to single out just one movie I’m thankful for this year. There have been many films — like Room and Carol –– I responded to strongly and revisited multiple times. But if I had to pick one, it would be John Crowley’s lush, profound and altogether beautiful Brooklyn — an immigration story about the idea of home; the one we’re born into vs. the one we make for ourselves. Its deeply textured themes connected with me, an immigrant, on a very personal level, but beyond that, I also found Brooklyn to be a rare kind of film we don’t get to see these days. It’s a story about a young woman with agency, set in an era where female marginalization was just the way things were. As the Irish immigrant Eilis, superbly played by Saoirse Ronan, tries to adapt to her new life in the States, many women fighting the same battle lend a helping hand along to way; from her sacrificing sister, to a stranger on the boat and even the girls of her boarding house who initially look villainous but prove otherwise. I’m thankful that I’ve found a new go-to film for whenever I need a good old-fashioned cry.
Neil Miller: The Martian
I fucking love science. It’s not just a very popular Facebook page and website, it’s a way of life. Since I was a kid, I’ve been in love with science and space travel. The Apollo missions are my greatest historical interest and I’m of the firm belief that even when things here on Earth’s surface feel like they’re going to hell in a handbasket, that there’s potential in the human spirit. We have been and will again someday be called to explore the furthest reaches of our universe. And that’s some of the most important things we can do as a society.
This is why a film like Ridley Scott’s The Martian is so special. It’s not just a great drama about human survival. It’s also the rare kind of movie that is about science, thoughtfulness and ingenuity. It’s a hopeful story brought to life with wonderful special effects, strong performances and the confident hand of one of the best extra-planetary filmmakers of a generation. Great art can be challenging, but it can also be hopeful and fun, even in the face of seemingly impossible odds. There is reason to hope in 2015, and I’m thankful that The Martian was there to show me that.
Matthew Monagle: Bone Tomahawk
The best genre cinema should only be watched in one of two ways: at the midnight portion of a film festival while drunk off your ass or in the biggest possible venue with the least prepared audience. I saw Bone Tomahawk at a 10:00 PM screening in Times Square. The people seated around me consisted of an elderly couple, several European tourists, and a handful of insomniacs. By the time that scene rolled around – you know the one – the audience was a mess of nervous laughter and chatter.
Bone Tomahawk isn’t a perfect film – at least one of the parts is horribly miscast and the movie is, generously, about fifteen minutes too long – but it would rank among my favorite movies of 2015 even without my experience at Times Square. First time writer/director S. Craig Zahler knows these characters well and has all the respect in the world for the actors playing them. Even when the movie is only focused on the male bonding of the rescue party, Zahler and his cast never lose sight of the glorious gore set pieces just around the corner. The result is the rare Western that feels unburdened by its predecessors and free to do its own bold, ridiculous, wonderful thing.
Jack Giroux: Steve Jobs
Most biopics are drags. They’re rarely ever satisfying narratives, just a series of cliff notes with little substance. A biopic that shows a story, not a series of events, is the best kind of bio film — and that’s exactly what director Danny Boyle’s (Trainspotting) Steve Jobs does. Written by Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network), this is a breathlessly paced, intricately crafted drama that tells an audience everything they need to know about Steve Jobs (Michael Fassbender) through three pivotal presentations in his career. Rarely are biopics this exciting. The stakes are huge, both personally and professionally. Sometimes the narrative is a little too convenient, but that’s overshadowed by extremely tight pacing, thrilling dialogue, and a surprising amount of emotion.
Katie Pagnotta: Youth
Anyone who knows me is aware of my obsession with old people. The elderly are endless fountains of information and I couldn’t think of a better way to spend my time than absorbing their energy whether in real life or on film. I often meditate about the span of a life and find myself contemplating how decades pass and how we choose to retell our personal histories. It fascinates me more than anything else. Humans are like trees and as each year passes, new cells form and arrange in concentric circles to tell their story.
The aforementioned is precisely why Paolo Sorrentino’s film Youth was made for me. Sorrentino is a master of spectacle. He presents the life of a ripened man with a manner of ease and all of his films, including this one highlight the inner and external struggle with aging, death, youth, nature and the trickery of memory. Youth is a visceral experience that is worth the investment with unreal performances by Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel, a mesmerising score and cinematography that will leave you spellbound. In 2015 it is films like Youth that I am thankful for as each frame reminds me that although time passes, everything you can touch, see, smell or taste is interconnected.
Nate Saienni: Slow West
I love the history of the American West and the movies about it. The best of them transport me back to that era of savagery, lawlessness, absurdity, and beauty. Sure, many say “they just don’t make em’ like they used to” but every so often we’re gifted with one that hits all the traditional Western notes and captures the intricacies of that time period. It’s even more rare though when one comes along that accomplishes that but creates something entirely new as well. Slow West is that film, and it sure is a doozy.
At its core, Slow West is a traditional Western. It’s got grit, brutal violence, beautiful landscapes and cracking gunfights. But director John Maclean adds a spin. Slow West is rich, colorful, thought-provoking, darkly funny, and raw but layered. It has a beating heart. It’s unusually engaging and at times even serves as an inquiry into the inexplicable absurdity of that period and place. By doing all of these things, Slow West is a rare Western that’s so much more. It not only reminds me why I love the genre to begin with but also of its possibilities, while transporting me back in time, oh so well, to an era I’ve always been so fascinated with.
Alisha Grauso: The Danish Girl
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the nature of relationships and love, namely, the idea of unconditional love. It’s hard for me to imagine, as someone who has not yet experienced it, a kind of for-all-time love that transcends even the most difficult and heartbreaking of situations, that requires the most selfless of sacrifices, that becomes stronger despite it all. Call me a cynic, but lately I’ve doubted I’ll find anything even close to that in the shallow and transient nature of the LA dating scene. Despite that, the romantic optimist in me hopes and believes it still exists.
So watching Tom Hooper’s The Danish Girl was a reminder that it isn’t silly to hope that there’s still unconditional love left in the world, that couples all over might find it for themselves. Yes, it is the story of trans pioneer Lili Elbe’s transition, but more than that, it is the story of the unwavering, supportive love between her and her wife, Gerda. And it is beautiful to watch. We’re immersed in an endless loop of “conflicted people doing bad things” in entertainment now; The Danish Girl is a palate-cleansing reminder that sometimes, there are good people doing brave things, too, and it doesn’t diminish the beauty or strength of their love.
Christopher Campbell: Inside Out
At the very beginning of this year, I took my then two-year-old son to his first movie in a theater. It was a press screening of Paddington, and he only lasted about 20 minutes, trailers included. At first, he loved the experience, even laughed at the silly CGI bear, but then he got scared at something and we had to go. Immediately. I don’t think he could totally comprehend or put up with live-action slapstick.
Five months later, I tried again, this time with an animated feature. A Pixar animated feature. I prepared my now (just turned) three-year-old son by watching trailers and clips for Inside Out to gauge his interest and tolerance for the movie, but I still anticipated having to leave sometime before it reached its 94-minute running time. He wound up engaged the entire time. He loved it. He still likes to impersonate each of the memories. I’ll never forget or cease being thankful for that movie.
I have to add, though, that this has been a pretty great year for animated features, and I say that not yet even having seen the more-grown-up Anomalisa or the acclaimed Japanese film When Marnie Was There. My son has been, over and over and over again, enjoying both Shaun the Sheep and Minions, neither of which is the kind of “colorful garbage” (thanks, Masters of None) I feared I’d have to watch. It’s clever, well-crafted cartoon comedy, and I love seeing the joy they bring to my kid.
I feel certain that these three movies are training my son to be a great cinephile, soon appreciating Buster Keaton, Marx Brothers and Charlie Kaufman movies. I can’t wait.
What is the movie for which you are most thankful in 2015?
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