The Wire (2002-2008)

One of my primary goals involving entertainment in this already fast-moving new year was to catch up on a lot of classic television shows I've never watched before. To kick off a new year also meant to start strong, and what better way to begin that journey with what many people call "the greatest television show of all-time" The Wire. HBO has the well-deserved reputation as the most successful and profitable premium cable network in the entertainment industry, and shows like The Wire are one of many examples to back up that proclamation. Thriving off brisk, gritty realism, supremely well-developed characters, and deep sociopolitical themes of a city that is far more idiosyncratic than it may seem on the outside, this is a show that demands to be seen as both a cultural and learning experience.

But before I really go in-depth with my praising thoughts on this exceptional gem of a television show, I thought I'd do this review in a different format (a format I'll also do for future "series" reviews), because writing a full review on this series would dive into an essay that would cover aspects that could get too far into spoiler territory. Instead, I'm going to lay out the framework of this show in five parts: Summary, Best Season, Best Episodes, Best Characters, and Dear Creator (A letter to the creator(s) of the show reflecting on the series). With that now out of the way, here's my "review" of HBO's The Wire.

Zero Dark Thirty (2012)

Every few years in Hollywood, there is a film that defines a generation. In 2009, “The Hurt Locker” illustrated the intensity and paranoia of scouting for IEDs during the Iraq war. In 2010, “The Social Network” dramatized a new generation of youth that became consumed both positively and negatively by the rapid rise in online social networking. Now in 2012 we have “Zero Dark Thirty,” a film that recounts a ten-year period of time where America was on edge with various nations in the Middle East, and the determined confidence of a young female CIA agent that led to the conclusion of one of the greatest manhunts in world history.

Magic Mike (2012)

The job of both male and female stripping has been an occupation that hasn't had sufficient exploration or showcasing on the big screen. And yes, I'm even saying that in the context with correlation to the fact that the infamous film "Showgirls" happened nearly twenty years ago. However now, both the nature and lifestyle of male stripping has finally been brought to the mainstream big screen with Steven Soderbergh's latest film "Magic Mike," which itself is partly based off of lead star Channing Tatum's experiences as a stripper in Tampa, Florida during his late teenage years. Tatum's acting has gradually impressed me as the year has progressed, so he along with the rest of the cast and crew had a considerable amount of hype built up to see if a movie about male strippers can appeal to the various cinema-going crowds of this generation. Did it at least live up to my expectations? Hit the jump to find out if it did!

The Grey (2012)

Usually when we come to a close on the month of January for movies, there isn't a whole lot that's really worth reflecting upon where we end up saying "oh yeah, that film was really good!" Surprisingly however, Steven Soderbergh managed to make me say that after seeing his stylish action flick "Haywire," and now writer-director Joe Carnahan has made me do the exact same thing with his latest production titled "The Grey," a film about the survival of men in the midst of harsh mother nature and unrelenting, intimidating forces of the wilderness.

Movie Marathon #1: The Films of Wes Anderson

During this past week, I decided to embark on a five day marathon of a famous filmmaker in cinema. To keep it contemporary as well, I chose to watch all of director Wes Anderson's films this week. In order to keep this post short, I have written short one paragraph reviews written for all of his films, and finish them all off with most to least favorite rankings of the movies reviewed below. Enjoy...

Bottle Rocket (1996)

Anderson released his debut film "Bottle Rocket" in 1996 (which is also adapted from his 1994 short film of the same name), which stars Owen Wilson (also co-wrote the script), Luke Wilson and Robert Musgrave as a trio of friends trying to pull off a simple robbery and go on the lam. Even though it may be classified as a crime film, it's also a smart comedy infused with moments of hilarious yet sophisticated moments of humor. The three leads are all terrific, but Owen Wilson is the true scene stealer as the trio's leader Dignan. Beautifully directed by Anderson, in addition to constructing the most hilarious "robbery gone wrong" I've seen so far, "Bottle Rocket" is a very solid debut for both Anderson and the Wilson brothers.

Enter the Void (2010)

What the hell did I just watch? I mean I know I finally watched the infamous 2010 film "Enter the Void," but I'm still stuck between choosing whether I was in more of a state of hallucinatory awe or complete shock from some of the beyond graphic scenes I witnessed. It's a rare occurrence where I'm so conflicted on a film where I don't know whether to rate it average, or just grant it a grade that's slightly above passing. However, I'm going to try my absolute best to pour out my extremely conflicted thoughts on this mindf*ck of a film.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Everyone is aware that the romantic comedy genre has turned into the biggest cliche in Hollywood over the past few years. However once in a while, there's at least one movie a year that attempts to do something new with the fledgling genre, and surprisingly ends up succeeding with it's innovations. The most important example of that kind of film is 2004's "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," which not only added a science fiction/fantasy twist, but also now stands as one of my favorite movies of all-time, too.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)

The classic form of espionage films have withered away in today's generation, and have mostly been portrayed in over-the-top manners in several blockbusters over the years. Leave it to the British film industry though to deliver us a spy film of complexity and class with the newest adaptation of John le Carré's classic spy novel "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy," which was originally a seven part BBC miniseries that starred Alec Guinness as British intelligence officer George Smiley. This adaptation though, takes what is quite possibly the greatest British cast ensemble in quite some time and a director climbing the ranks of the greatest current international filmmakers, which turns into what has to be one of the most overlooked potential award-nominated films of last year, and the perfect kickoff to my awards season catching up marathon.

Being John Malkovich (1999)

In the present day, Charlie Kaufman has become one of the most well-known screenwriters in Hollywood for his brisk originality and high concept themes. Whether it's a satire of Hollywood cinema conventions in "Adaptation," or a scientific study of the human memory and love in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," Kaufman has created some of the most original movies for almost a decade and a half. However, his true introduction into the face of cinema was with the contemporary classic "Being John Malkovich."

Brick (2005)

Looking at today's brand of cinema, we have seen many classic genres wither away over the last decade. However last year, hope was brought to old school film buffs with "The Artist," a silent film that payed tribute to the once famous, but fading genre. Another genre that has faded over the past few decades is the neo-noir hardboiled detective film. Back in 2005 though, a first-time filmmaker and relatively unknown cast made the acclaimed indie "Brick"  that payed tribute to the genre, in addition to partly resurrecting interest in the genre, too.

About Schmidt (2002)

Alexander Payne is a director that has really grown upon me over the past few months since seeing "The Descendants." Lately, I have decided to watch the other films he's won acclaim for in the past decade (except Sideways; Already saw it). "About Schmidt" is one of his lesser known films alongside "Election," but don't let that deter you from experiencing this genuine, heartfelt independent dramedy.

War Horse (2011)

"War Horse" is the second of two Steven Spielberg movies to have been released this year, and it's interesting because the man hasn't released two films in a year since 2005 with "Munich" and "War of the Worlds." If you saw my review of "The Adventures of Tintin," you realized that the film had his action-adventure style written all over it. "War Horse," however, displays Spielberg's grand scale style which usually pulls your heart strings that he has demonstrated in films such as "E.T." and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." And let me tell all of you that "War Horse" is yet another gem in the glorious filmography of Spielberg.

Adapted from the children's book of the same name, in addition to it being adapted into an award-winning Broadway play, the central focus of the film is on a horse named Joey, who is raised by a teenage farm boy (Jeremy Irvine) in the English valley after his father (Peter Mullan). However the dawning of WWI leads to Joey being sold to the British Army, and the horse embarks on an epic journey across a period of four years,as he touches the lives of soldiers on both sides of the war, and also bringing together a more heartwarming relationship between a young girl and her grandfather (Niels Arestrup).

Spielberg and his filmmaking crew used fourteen horses to play the role of Joey, and they all bring a mix of impeccable training and heartwarming appearances to the table. It's been quite a year for "animal acting" during this year for film, but all of the horses manage to nail down the physical emotions in the most authentic way possible.

The human acting in this film is good overall, even though the film does switch in between stories several times in the 146 minute running time. Jeremy Irvine holds his own to a considerable degree as Albert, as he never goes too over-the-top in the "heart string pulling" scenes his character endures. Tom Hiddleston,though in a minor role as a British Army officer, manages to deliver a reserved performance of compassion and grace much like Spielberg's handling of the film.

As far as technicality categories go for this year in film, nothing except for "The Tree of Life" gets much better than this. Janusz Kaminski's cinematography is beyond breathtaking as he and Spielberg create shots of immense scale and great attention to detail. The set pieces, especially for the WWI sequences are established in fantastic detail, whether its the variety of colors in the setting, or wide camera angles which expand the film's scope to a greater degree.

With this film, John Williams continues to show why he's the master in creating some of the most emotionally moving scores in cinema history. With scenes that already deliver on the heartwarming family movie scale, Williams takes them further with his soothing and inspiring opuses. Williams may be 80 years old, but he has continued to show decade by decade since the late 1970s on why he's one of the most masterful composers in Hollywood.

Steven Spielberg directs this film with his classic scope for breathtaking set pieces and sharp attention to detail. Even though many of the scenes attempt to emotionally move you, Spielberg succeeds with them unlike most contemporary filmmakers would, because of his long background working with these themes in the past. In addition, Spielberg makes the WWI battle scenes very intense with the tight camera angles, especially during the scenes depicting trench warfare.

While this may stand as another Spielberg gem, it's not a perfect film, though. For example, there's one short story involving two German brothers and the horse that didn't have an emotional or interesting enough impact compared to the rest of the vignettes the horse goes encounters. Additionally, the fact that this film is based on a children's book ends up highlighting numerous instances of lazily written dialogue between characters.

Despite a few minor nit pickets, "War Horse" highlights the magic of director Steven Spielberg's epic scope, in addition to showcasing the illustrious talent of his longtime technicality collaborators. This film is bound to a be an Oscar contender, but the film's huge amount of "heart string pulling" scenes will divide the overall response. However if you're a devoted fan of Spielberg's movies, there's little doubt that you'll be disappointed.

Final Grade: A-

Red State (2011)

Red State is a film that I have been highly anticipating ever since it was announced several years ago. Add on the Sundance Film Festival fiasco where Kevin Smith purchased the film himself and took it on a nationwide tour, it made me even for excited for the Video-On-Demand release on September 1st. And to top off that anticipation, I was lucky enough to attend his Comic Con panel where he showed the audience a five minute clip of the film in Blu-ray sound and quality. However once the extremely divisive reviews started to pour in, I started to grow a very skeptical and a brooding feeling inside me that I could be wrong that Kevin Smith trying something new in his style would be interesting.

Three horny high school students (Michael Angarano,Kyle Gallner,and Nicholas Braun) receive an online invitation from a woman who invites them for a group orgy. Unbeknownst to them though, the woman is Sarah Cooper (Melissa Leo), the daughter of the cult Five Points Church Pastor Abin Cooper (Michael Parks), who he and his followers are immense opposers on the subject of homophobia. She spikes the beers she gives the three teens and they're transported to the church to be killed for their "sins." However, the ATF and police arrive at the scene which sparks a deadly shootout between the Five Points priest and his followers. Basically, the first half of the film draws heavily upon the real-life religious extremist group Westboro Baptist Church led by the infamous priest Fred Phelps, and the second half derives mostly off of the famous 1993 Waco,Texas, ATF siege on the Branch Davidian ranch which ended in a deadly shootout killing almost 80.

All the performances aren't strong because almost every character in this film is unlikeable in their own way. The three teenage boys are unlikeable from the very beginning, because they are so one-note in their characterization, therefore leading to the fact there isn't one moment where you're going to  feel bad for what they go through. Some people have been raving that Michael Parks deserves some awards contention for his performance, but I'll be one of those few that say all he does is just play extremely over-the-top, but the script simply doesn't allow him to push into the territory of being scary or fun over-the-top. The only actor I feel that did a halfway decent job was John Goodman as ATF Special Agent Keenan. It was cool to see him dive into a more dramatic territory in his acting which is sometimes a rare occurrence in his career. In addition, his character is about the only likeable one in the film. On the reverse end, though, there is a plephora of great actors in the supporting cast including Kevin Alejandro,Kevin Pollak,Matt L. Jones,Anna Gunn,and Stephen Root who are all completely wasted of their potential, because their characters are either completely unlikeable or heavily underutilized, thus preventing them from fulfilling their complete acting potential.

The real blame of this film,though,is unfortunately placed on writer/director Kevin Smith. His choice of departing from his usual directing style of just keeping the camera still and having his characters let loose on the genius witty dialogue he writes is completely abolished for an overload of poorly explored themes,constant hand-held camera work,and an overload of dialogue that just bores you instead of making you laugh. For instance, the movie presents several themes mostly in the categories of homophobia,extremist cult religions,and a possible satire on the kooks of the Westboro Baptist Church. To be truthful, the people of that church are the people I hate the most in America because I'm part of a military family, and the fact that they picket military funerals creates the biggest "F*ck You!" I have towards anybody in the world. However, Smith seems to not have the slightest clue on how to fully utilize all of these themes in a coherent manner as they jump from one to the next every scene, and never revisits them for the rest of the film. There are scenes of dialogue that should be interesting, but instead several conversations occur where I just wanted a new scene to occur because the lines spoken are boring and tedious. And when the second half rolls around to the big standoff, Smith believes that killing off characters by surprise will be a shocker to the audience, but since all of the characters in this film are either unlikeable or barely do anything rational to the plot in their short screen time, you'll figure out that you simply won't care at all. Finally, his attempts at incorporating humor fall so flat that it does no justice to a film that is already deteriorating at a rapid pace from being anything okay. On a brighter note though, I did dig the grimy setting of the film where almost every shot is very gray and grim in its look.

Red State is one of, if not the biggest catastrophic failure of the year. In the end, this film is all hype and nearly nothing redeeming in its content. In addition towards the end, there is a jump cut where the film suddenly shifts from what could be an exciting confrontation to a boring negotiation scene that feels completely out of place compared to the rest of the film's events. I was sorely disappointed by how much of a trite mess Red State was, and the fact that I'm a devoted Kevin Smith fan made this experience even more painful and unforgivable. Please save your $9.99 and avoid renting this movie On-Demand from anywhere it can be bought, because it is one of the biggest calamities in film this year.

Final Grade: D

Drive (2011)

When I attended Comic Con 2011, I managed to catch early screenings for two films: Drive and the 3D remake of Fright Night. The first of those two I saw was Drive, which is definitely the most of all of the films they were showing around downtown San Diego during the four days of the Con. Believe it or not, this was my most anticipated film to see when I was down there, especially for the fact that it won Best Director at this year's Cannes, and that it came very close to winning the Palme d'Or over The Tree of Life. Before the screening began, director Nicolas Winding Refn along with stars Carey Mulligan and Ron Perlman appeared to give a short introduction to the film and then it began. 

Ryan Gosling plays the unnamed protagonist who is a Hollywood stunt driver by day and a getaway driver for criminals at night. His boss Shannon (Bryan Cranston...hell yeah) books him a job with a new shady client named Bernie Rose (Albert Brooks), while in the meantime, Gosling's character strikes up a friendship with his single mother neighbor (Carey Mulligan). But her husband (Oscar Isaac) returns home to disrupt their relationship from reaching further heights. He's in trouble to pull off a final job, though, and he recruits Driver to be his getaway driver. And that's the point where the job gets botched and the rest of the film kicks into major overdrive. 

This is a very daunting challenge for Ryan Gosling's acting because his character is very silent for most of the film and it's his facial expressions that do most of the acting. However, he does a sensational job as his performance pays a brilliant ode to characters of the neo-noir genre who slowly pace their line delivery and don't even say much which makes the viewer feel more weary of what they'll do when they hit their breaking point. Carey Mulligan drives the emotional strength of this film as her performance is similar to Gosling's with the slow line delivery, but she continues to show that she's one of the strongest female actresses of this current generation in the industry. Bryan Cranston (with hair) and Ron Perlman also manage to deliver commendable performances as well, even though their characters aren't utilized as much as I thought they'd be. Albert Brooks on the other hand, is the real scene stealer of this film. He's mostly known for playing neurotic characters for most films he stars in, but here he gets to play a shady businessman that goes completely insane and slimy when things go wrong. And when things go wrong, boy does he become evil! Be on the lookout for his name to pop up during awards season because his performance is nothing short of brilliant in this film.

Nicolas Winding Refn has officially become the new Tarantino (but without the humor) of today's industry as he directs this film masterfully. Refn builds up moments of unbelievable moments of tension to before these bursts of extremely shocking and bloody violence, which really reminded me of Tarantino's style of doing the same thing in Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs. In addition, Refn also uses the sudden tone change in a perfect way, especially involving a scene in an elevator with Gosling and Mulligan that immediately switches the film from a love triangle to a very bloody revenge thriller. And look out American History X, because that scene just about put your curb stomping scene to shame! Newton Thomas Siegel's cinematography is breathtaking, especially within the nighttime shots of downtown Los Angeles which perfectly convey the moody tone the film takes on in the first half of its duration. In addition, the chase sequences are filmed to perfection as the camera angles used for those scenes will remind you of the way car chases were filmed back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, as you can hint that the Steve McQueen classic Bullitt served as an inspiration for both Refn's directing style and Gosling's performance.

Overall, Drive is an unforgettable thriller with lots of odes to the art house and neo-noir genres in tow. Flat out fantastic performances across the board from all of the main actors (especially Gosling and Brooks) along with very stylish direction by Nicolas Winding Refn, Drive is a film that will be either an international box office hit, or one that will only be appreciated by the film geeks who have a passion for the art house or neo-noir genre. Whether or not it will fall into the realms of one of those two, it is sure to be a cult classic in the future because this is definitely one of those films you shouldn't miss because it will talked about a lot come next year's awards season.

Final Grade: A