Nobody Knows Hollywood

Strong. Fast. Funny. Intelligent. Important. This film has the potential to shock, inspire and re-think both military and societal warfare at once, all the while delivering in true British form, a cracking good yarn. From the opening frame, the voice of Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) warns you to pay attention or leave. Though he’s speaking to his interrogator in film reality, the effect of the voice over is to make us lean in. Turing is a mathematical genius and a social idiot. The brilliant individual/oddball against the societal machine/norms is not a new story, but this version of that familiar tale is structured, acted and shot extremely well – and that’s just for starters. Alan Turing is considered by some to be a, if not the, Godfather of computing. While that title rankles some because of the many contributors along the way that made computers what they are today, no one can deny his importance in code breaking, particularly the previously thought unbreakable c...

The first great decision the filmmakers of Selma made was not to make a Martin Luther King Jr. biopic. It’s not that biopics can’t be done well, it’s that there just so often unsatisfying at best (see: this year’s charming but ultimately unsatisfying “Theory of Everything” as reference). Selma is a very contained story – one that takes place in just a few months of screen time. That’s a drop in the bucket, even considering Dr. King’s sadly abbreviated life, but by focusing with greater detail on this particular action he was involved in, more understanding, resonance and meaning are reached. In simpler terms, this is a very, very good film. David Oyelowo plays Dr. King alarmingly well. He opens the pic by staring the audience straight in the eye as he practices his Nobel Peace Prize speech. He is exhausted, dressed in uncomfortably formal clothes and expresses his desire to go home with his wife, Coretta (Carmen Ejogo) and live a simple preacher’s life. As an audience in t...

Robert Duval shits himself in this movie. It’s a proper metaphor for the movie, not Duval's performance. But literally, you get to watch an actor of Duval’s stature and prominence, a man who has given us such towering performances as we’ve seen in The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, MASH (not to mention the lesser-known, but brilliant George Lucas film TXH 1138, which if you haven’t seen you should) shit himself on the screen and see it run down his leg and onto the floor. And that’s right after he’s vomited in the toilet because of his chemotherapy treatment. These actions are in-bounds contextually, but the images stick with me because of the movie as a whole. For good measure, Robert Downey Jr. and Dax Shepard also puke a few times during the film (just nerves). Downey Jr.'s character Hank Palmer also makes out with his niece. The film is in Indiana rather than Arkansas, but the cliché jokes might as well apply since the film is wrought with so many others from the court...

Director: James Marsh Year: 2014 Biopics are difficult animals by nature. How can one tell an accurate story of even the most ordinary life in two hours of screen time? How much of any aspect will the Director focus on? Who was this person? What was his effect on those closest to him and the world at large? To the latter question, Stephen Hawking’s effect on the world, there is no doubt. His ideas on time and our universe, captured first and, perhaps, most famously in his book “A Brief History of Time”, is a classic that is still a hot cornerstone of debate. So, the question becomes, where do we cut in to Hawking’s life? Director James Marsh leads us in to a time both nostalgic and undefined. The opening shot is sepia-toned, out of focus and falls from the sky. We see a few adult and child figures all moving near or around a wheelchair-bound Hawking. This is the Hawking I am most familiar with. The sound of a bicycle chain leads us back to 1963 during Hawking...

Cake and Still Alice are a most uncomfortable and yet, appropriate set of movies to pair together. Both deal with tragedy. Both deal with women who have gone through and are going through tremendous pain and loss. Both edge suicide very closely. And both come out the other side, though in very different ways. I don’t deem any of these as spoilers because neither of these films, in terms of their content, is shockingly new. That’s not a criticism either – a film’s success does not hinge on its freshness, in my opinion, but rather upon its execution of the known through a new lens. Still Alice is, by far, the more successful of these two films in that regard. As I’ve written before, it’s very important in every review or discussion of a film for the reviewer to acknowledge his own biases so the comments are understood through that particular lens. Still Alice punched me in the gut from the get go because of my relationship with my parents, both of whom have diseases that, wh...

If you’ve never desired to be great – not good, but the best – you might not like Whiplash. Let the cries of outrage follow: “I can understand and appreciate from watching!” “I don’t need to do it to feel it!” Sure. Just like one can describe how riding a roller coaster feels by looking at it from the parking lot, right? Or understanding the power of a 15-foot cresting ocean wave bearing down on you while you kick for your life to punch through its collapsing face by standing on the shore. Or what mortal humiliation in the face of your dream delivered by the mentor you begged to serve, while you tear skin, bleed, alienate family and love, sweat, scream, are hit by an 18-wheeler and keep slapping the skins of a drum is like.   Too much? That’s the fascinating water cooler discussion in this film. If you’ve ever wanted greatness, to be the unequivocal best at something, I’ll put my money on the idea that you say the methodology trumps the madness. And that’s where I landed, fasc...

Director: Bennett Miller Year: 2014 Foxcatcher is a cold, class-warfare based mystery. To add gravitas, we are told in the opening that this film is based on a true story. It opens with stock footage that presents the wealth, animals and pomp and circumstance of a traditional, historical British fox hunt. Dignitaries ride horses. Dogs bark, jump and spin wildly, ready for the hunt. The fox just runs for its life. The fox is Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum). He is a gold medal winning Olympic wrestler, two years removed from glory in the 1984 games. After displaying some legitimate skill by wrestling a stuffed dummy, he speaks to an auditorium filled with bored elementary students about what it means to be a champion. Not only is his fee a mere twenty dollars, but he was the second Schultz in line for the gig, with his older brother and fellow gold medalist, Dave (Mark Ruffalo), having passed it down to him. Where there is vulnerability, there is opportunity. Jon DuPont,...