MOVIE REVIEW: The Big Short (2015)

The Big Short (2015)

Biography, Drama, Comedy

Directed By: Adam McKay

Most people look at film as a form of pure entertainment, and they aren't wrong. Often times however, this entertainment can be used to educate the general public about things they typically wouldn't give the time of day. The newest film from writer/director Adam McKay (Anchorman) aims to do just that, and in an ambitious way. He uses The Big Short to try and enlighten all of us as to exactly what happened when the banks collapsed back in the mid 2000's and our government was forced to bail them out. McKay has brilliantly found a way to take language that is made intentionally to confuse us and break it down in such simple ways that anyone can understand it, and it won't make you happy.

The film isn't just about the collapse of the banks though, it instead focuses on the select few people who predicted this was going to happen when everyone else thought it impossible. Not only did they know it was going to happen, but they used it as a tool to make money and to punish the banks for knowingly doing this to the American people. The only problem is the big wigs they are betting against may be even worse people than they initially thought. I am no master of finance so I won't try (and fail) to explain what exactly happens to all of you, that was McKay's job and he does it masterfully.

Tackling a subject like this is never easy, trying to break down a language that was invented to confuse us (as is stated in the movie) and make it totally accessible to us is no easy task, McKay figured it out. Using his experience and talent from the comedic world, he blends the serious with the not to serious which allows the story to flow in such a way that it never feels too complicated. The banking crisis happened almost a decade ago and I'm sure most of you, just like me, have no idea what exactly happened to cause this and why exactly our tax dollars had to be used to bail them out. The Big Short will finally answer all the questions about this you never knew you had, and make you completely furious while doing so.

To break this language down and to give it to us in simplistic ways he cleverly uses fourth wall breaking and cut away scenes with famous celebrities to help simplify everything. Need to explain mortgage bonds? no problem, we'll just cut away to Margot Robbie in a bubble bath with a glass of champagne. She then uses simple language to explain the big confusing mess that was just presented to you just minutes prior. Ryan Gosling's character is constantly breaking the fourth wall to turn and tell us, the audience, what is actually going on and why exactly we don't understand it at first glance.

The goal of this film was to educate us to the criminal activities that occurred within the banking industry that led to the collapse in 2007-08, so much so that it feels like a documentary at times. McKay even notes in the movie where he strays a bit from the whole truth to help the story move along slightly more cinematically, it's an absolutely genius move. Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, and Steve Carell all turn in amazing performances but this is McKay's film in the end. It is his writing and direction that make this so accessible and easy to understand for the general public. Without his tough of the "everyday American" this film is just another movie about the 1% that only confuses us even more. Thanks to him we can all finally get a little understanding out of this whole mess, even if it does leave us madder than all hell.

As always, thanks for reading and I am Zach Who Watches Movies. You can find me anytime on twitter @ZachWWMovies, smell ya later!

MOVIE REVIEW: Anomalisa (2015)

Anomalisa (2015)

Animation, Drama, Comedy

Directed By: Charlie Kaufman & Duke Johnson 

For decades, stop-motion animation has been a tool seldomly used within Hollywood. Not because it doesn't work, but because it is extremely difficult and expensive. You have to dedicate immense amounts of time to shoot each and every frame of the film one at a time and there is almost no room for error. So you can see where the intrigue lies with Charlie Kaufman's (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) newest film Anomalisa, a rated R stop-motion animation that tells an unconventional tale for the medium. Rather than use it to tell something wild and fantastical, like it has typically used for in the past, Kaufman uses stop-motion to tell a story that is almost too real in its humanity. 

It is best to go into this film with as little knowledge of the plot as possible so I won't give you much. The story focuses on a successful businessman who has just landed in Cincinnati for a work conference. This man is clearly unhappy from the opening frames and it sets the stage for what's to come over the next ninety minutes. Once he is checked into his hotel another night of his mundane life begins, and we watch as it unfolds as (we can only assume) it has countless times before over the past decade. As far as we are concerned this is just another day in the life of this busy, yet insignificant man's life. 

I had no idea what to expect from this movie going in, all I knew is that it was stop-motion that took three years to film and it had been getting rave reviews. After leaving the theater I didn't know what to think, I definitely loved parts of it, but others I wasn't so sure of. After conversing on the film for a solid hour afterwards with my cousin (who saw the film with me) it was pretty clear that this picture is powerful. We kept digging deeper and deeper into the simplistic idea of the story and how it transfers over to all of our lives, how it is ultimately the human condition and out of our control. 

The stop-motion itself is rather impressive, even though the entire film you know these aren't actually people (as you can see the seams of where the figures are put together throughout the entire film) you often forget this fact due to the reality of the characters. I typically shy away from realistic animation as it often comes off way too creepy, but within this story it all works as it should. These characters need to mimic real life in order to get across what exactly Kaufman is trying to tell us. Once you have seen the film you understand that this was the only option for making this, digital animation would just feel like a cartoon and live-action simply wouldn't work at all.

My adoration for stop-motion drew me to this film, but in the end it is the authenticity of the story and the execution of its characters that I will forever remember. Though it is clear that I enjoyed the film I have a feeling that with each year I grow older this film will hold more and more reverence from me. At only twenty four I feel I still lack a few life experiences to truly appreciate the message of this film, but I understand it and I see how it is relatable to the majority of the people in this country. If you are looking for something unlike anything you have seen before check this one out while it is still in theaters. 

As always, thanks for reading and I am Zach Who Watches Movies. You can find me anytime on twitter @ZachWWMovies, smell ya later! 

MOVIE REVIEW: The Revenant (2015)

The Revenant (2015)

Adventure, Thriller, Western

Directed By: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

Often times it is forgotten that movies are an event, you leave your house and go to the theater in hopes of seeing something spectacular. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu understands this, so much so that it won him an oscar for best picture last year with Birdman. He understands that great storytelling can be mixed with spectacle filmmaking, and that is exactly what The Revenant is. Shot almost entirely with natural light (which any film nerd knows is practically impossible) and on location in below freezing temperatures, this is a film that begs to be seen on as big of a screen as you can find. 

After a group of frontiersman on a fur trade expedition are attacked by a band of natives they are forced to end their work early. Sacrificing much of the payload they are forced onto land to find their way home as the natives will not stop tracking them until they are off their land. WHat is already a seemingly impossible task is made even more difficult when their guide, Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) is attacked by a wild Grizzly. Despite surviving the attack, Glass is eventually left for dead by members of his own crew, but not until one of them kills his son first. With revenge being the only thing on his mind he traverses the frozen landscape to track and kill the men who did him wrong. 

Inarritu takes the classic revenge story to a whole new level with this film giving us a new idea of what a human is capable of when blood is the only thing on the mind. The film is incredibly brutal and never lets up for a second, so much so that it leaves you feeling uncomfortable throughout much of the nearly three hour runtime. You get what these guys were going through because, if you have kept up with the story of this film, you know that the actors and crew were out in this Hell everyday to create this movie, it wasn't made in some warehouse in Hollywood. The only major thing that isn't done practically is the bear attack, and oh boy is that viscously beautiful.  

I mentioned before that this film was shot almost entirely with natural light (I have read that a few of the nighttime campfire scenes needed a small amount of lighting to actually work) which is nearly impossible. That is until Emmanuel Lubezki decided to give it a try and ultimately succeed better than anyone could have ever imagined. This cinematographer has already won two Oscars for his work on Gravity and Inarritu's last film Birdman and the work he did with those left us wondering how he could reach any higher, until he did this. His work in The Revenant is some of the best cinematography we've seen in the modern century and is the exact reason this film needs to be seen in a theater.  

As much spectacle as this film is it would still be nothing without the level of acting present within the frames. Leo has been talked about for the past two months for the insane work he did with this. We've all heard how he ate raw bison liver and nearly got frostbite, but until you actually see why he went through all of that you don't understand the work he really did. This may finally be his Oscar role and deservedly so, but I don't think he is the standout of this film regardless of how much screen time he has. It was Tom Hardy who left me the most dazzled at the end of this movie, what he does as the savage who leaves Glass for dead is incredible. His character is the entire reason we see what we do in this movie and he totally owns the part creating one of the most vile and despicable bad guys in a long time. 

This is one of the few films to properly convey what it was truly like for the men exploring the western frontier, it gave us real insight to the brutality of the times and how quickly life could be taken away from you. Ironically this brutality is what has turned some off to this film and much like with The Hateful Eight, they are missing the point. This isn't a film that revels in death and violence, it is a film that aims to give you as close to a real depiction of that period in time as possible. What Inarritu and Lubezki have done with this film is nothing short of spectacular and is more than deserving of the price of admission. Check this one out before it leaves the big screen. 

As always, thanks for reading and I am Zach Who Watches Movies. You can find me anytime on twitter @ZachWWMovies, smell ya later!

MOVIE REVIEW: Sicario (2015)

Sicario (2015)

Action, Crime, Drama

Directed By: Denis Villeneuve 

If you are at all connected with the current events of this continent than you know we are more or less at war with the Mexican drug cartels. It is a real terror that exists beyond anything we could possibly imagine as the body count grows each and every day. The news channels ignore it and the American people try to hide it like their alcoholic uncle, but Hollywood will gladly throw it right back in our faces, so kudos to them for that. The latest of these films comes from Denis Villenueve (Prisoners) who focuses in on the current state of the war at the border to deliver one of the most intense movies of 2015. Although this is a fictional story it captures what is currently going in the southern region of this country better than almost any other film to come before it. 

After making a large cartel bust in Arizona a rising FBI agent (Emily Blunt) is asked to join a government task force who has plans to make a move on key players in the Mexican drug cartels. After seeing the horrific remains of their work in her latest raid she signs on to the mission in a heartbeat. She quickly realizes the people she has just agreed to work with tell more lies than truth and when she is paired up with a mysterious man named Alejandro (Benicio del Toro) she begins to question the legitimacy and legality of what they are doing. She must face what is in front of her and decide if the results of what they are doing is worth the cost, or if they are just adding more fire to this constant blaze at the border. 

What separates Sicario from the many other films of its nature is that it does not primarily focus on what the cartel is doing, it actually focuses on our side of the fight instead. It is easy to shock audiences with the gruesome and horrific actions of these criminal groups- show a few decapitated heads and a few bloody carcaces and the crowd is "shocked"- but it takes something more to get all of that across while showing the supposed "good guys". This movie is making sure each and everyone of us know that this fight isn't just about the cartels and the drugs, there are more layers to this war than we could ever comprehend and Denis Villenueve makes that crystal clear within these frames. 

As with any truly great film the acting put on display here is one hundred percent A-list. Emily Blunt further proves that she is the most badass actress in the business right now and deserves all the action roles going forward. Josh Brolin once again proves he is the perfect government lackey with his smug demeanor and dry with, but it is Benicio del Toro who stands out the most. His role and the cryptic Alejandro takes the entire movie to another level, his performance in the last half hour alone is some of, if not the best acting I have seen from a movie in all of 2015.  If anything, see this movie just for him and the masterful works he does. 

Sicario isn't the first, and definitely won't be the last movie we will see on this subject matter but it is without a doubt one of the best we have seen so far. Villenueve has proven over the past few years with Prisoners, Enemy, and now this, that he is a master of the craft and makes films that are completely unique to his own style. At this point is is safe to say whatever he does next I will have a ticket for opening weekend as his work has become must-see entertainment. If you missed this one in theaters like I regrettably did you can check it out now on VOD or BluRay/DVD now, I highly suggest you go check that out.  

As always, thanks for reading and I am Zach Who Watches Movies. You can find me anytime on twitter @ZachWWMovies, smell ya later!

MOVIE REVIEW: The Hateful Eight (2015)

The Hateful Eight (2015)

Western, Mystery

Directed By: Quentin Tarantino 

When Quentin Tarantino releases a new film it is a cinematic event, at least for me, and after this film was nearly never made due to a script leak it jumped right to the top of my most anticipated list. The eighth film from the writer/director titled The Hateful Eight aims to remind audiences how despicable our past often was, much like he has done with his previous two films, however this may be the meanest of the bunch. Shot in 70mm the movie has the scope and feel of your favorite classic westerns blended with the in-your-face violence and brilliant dialogue of  Quentin Tarantino. Once again he has made a film that is nothing like you have seen before

Despite how large this movie feels it is actually quite small compared to his previous western Django Unchained, which was on a level much like the classic epics like Leone's The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Hateful operates on a smaller scale telling the story of eight of the worst people you have ever met all stuck together in a cabin during a terrible blizzard. Differing circumstances brought these eight people together in this storm but John Ruth (Kurt Russell) has a hunch it's his prisoner Daisy (Jennifer Jason Leigh) that holds their true attention and from the moment their party arrives in the haberdashery tensions are high. Bringing along former slave and current bounty hunter Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson) doesn't help their case either as half of their party now consists of vicious racists as well, two days in this cabin now seems like an eternity.

What Tarantino has essentially done with his newest film is create a three hour long conversation and it is one of the greatest ones you will ever experience. His films have always boasted incredibly smart dialogue, usually shown best in his "table talk" scenes that bring our core group of characters together around some sort of table where they simply have a conversation, and it is always one of the best moments of his films. This time around however, rather than giving one key scene of that dinner table dialogue he has instead created an entire film that is just that. The Hateful Eight is basically one extra long table talk scene that we get to see in its entirety, this is a film for the die-hard Tarantino fans, not the ones who are just there for the ultra violence and curse words. 

With that being said, this movie is also beautifully violent, as is with most of his movies. Although this film focuses significantly less on this aspect than most of his other work it definitely doesn't abandon it. Instead he uses it much more selectively in this film to give each brutal moment that much more emphasis and power. Each and every time blood is shed throughout the three hours it is in a way that you most definitely will not forget, and it always moves the story forward.  Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger of KNB Effects have once again show how masterful their work is and why they are hands down the best in the business when it comes to practical blood effects. 

Although this movie differs in so many ways from much of previous work it still mirrors much of what he has accomplished in the past and most notably in his casting. Just like with every other one of his films the casting is perfect for his newest one. Tarantino not only writes some of the best characters and dialogue of anyone to ever make films but he brings them to life just as perfectly with his casting. Kurt Russell, Samuel L Jackson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Tim Roth, Bruce Dern, Michael Madsen, and Demian Bichir make up The Hateful Eight and each shine in the respective roles. Of those Jennifer Jason Leigh is the clear standout, her masterful performance in this film puts her back on the map and in a huge way. 

What truly makes this film stand apart from not just anything he has done in the past, but that most any filmmaker has done, is that the entire cast of characters in this film are terrible people. Sure, you may come to like certain characters more than others but when you sit back and look at them all there isn't one resectable soul in the bunch. They are all racist in their own way, bigoted, murdering, mean spirited pieces of human filth and your job as the viewer is to decide which, if any, of these people deserve to leave this cabin alive when the storm clears. It's one wickedly brilliant way to shove our country's dark and terrible history right back in our ignorant faces. This isn't revisionist history in any way, this is the reality so many choose to ignore. 

Only Tarantino can show his audience three hours of the worst people imaginable and have them love every second of it. We are all living while one of the greatest filmmakers of all-time is still working, don't take that for granted. Shot in 70mm this movie is huge in a way that can only be appreciated on a giant screen. So go out and see this as big and as loud as you can, it was made for the cinematic experience. 

As always, thanks for reading and I am Zach Who Watches Movies. You can find me anytime on twitter @ZachWWMovies, smell ya later!