Nightcrawler Review

The media can be relentless. Journalists out looking for stories at night will stick their cameras into any accident scene or cross a police line to get a shot to sell to a news channel for a paycheck. this is what the film Nightcrawler is about, a relentless journalist who will do anything to get a juicy news story. Written and directed by first timer Dan Gilroy, and starring Jake Gyllenhaal, this film was one of the most surprisingly good cinematic experiences I have had all year and am disappointed it was only in theaters for a short time.

One of the first things that came to mind while watching this was the 2007 film There Will be Blood. Like Daniel Day Lewis' cunning yet deep down pychopathic Daniel Plainview, Gyllenhaal portrays a sociopathic journalist willing to kill to get ahead in his business. Interestingly enough, Nightcrawler was shot by Robert Elswit, the same cinematographer of There Will be Blood.

Comparisons aside, this was a film that delivered on so many levels yet remained reserved when it came to violence and the characterizations of madness. This was surprising as the trailers played the film as a Drive-esque action flick. Yet there was a level of realism and shock value to the action scenes that deserves praise as well as the fact these sequences were not overused.

This is a film I would highly recommend to anyone, especially filmmakers due to the questions raised in the film about the function of documentary film and the validity of the sensationalist  media.

Nightcrawler open in theaters October 31st.

On a side note, here are some photos I took at the theater

 

Gone Girl Review

Every time a beautiful white woman goes missing, Nancy Grace or one of those gossip show "journalists" is on the story and ready to accuse the husband of murder. This is not always the case, but it is a common media occurrence. The scenario is usually a beautiful woman going missing or is murdered, and the husband is the first suspect and the object of media speculation and condemnation. The film acts as an excellent satire on the media and post-recession America in general. Due to the twisty nature of the film's plot, this review will remain spoiler-free.

Photo courtesy of screenrant.com

Earlier this fall, the film Gone Girl was released in theaters. The film is based on the award winning 2012 novel by Gillian Flynn (the film was also adapted by her), The film stars Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Carrie Coon, Tyler Perry and Neil Patrick Harris. The film is directed by David Fincher, with music by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.

The film tells the story of Nick Dunne (Affleck), a former New York column writer born and raised in rural Missouri (the home state of author Flynn) and his beautiful wife Amy (Pike), another writer from a very wealthy family who's mother wrote a popular children's book series about her titled "Amazing Amy". After being forced to move back to Nick's hometown in the wake of the 2008 recession, Nick and his sister (Coon) manage a bar in the economically-dying town while Amy leads a strange reclusive life at home. On the day of their fifth anniversary, Amy disappears from the house and an apparent crime scene is present. Slowly, Nick becomes a suspect as more details of their unhappy marriage come to light, and Nick must seek the help celebrity lawyer Tanner Bolt (Perry) to defend him against the media crusade led by Nancy Grace-esque gossip show hostess Ellen Abbot (Missi Pyle). At this point I will discontinue discussing plot details, as anymore will spoil the rest of the film's complex plot.

Courtesy of Rolling Stone

The performances of the cast were overall quite good, Affleck was able to effectively portray a simple Midwest man struggling with his public and at-home image in the face of tragedy. While Pike... well, I'll just let you see the film to judge for yourself, as giving too much information about her performance will spoil the plot. Surprisingly strong is Tyler Perry as the flashy yet brilliant attorney who genuinely wants to protect Nick from the possibility of the death penalty. With the strong leading cast, expect to see these names mentioned come awards season.

As a longtime fan of David Fincher, I was not surprised by his decision to direct this film. It has all the tenements he touches on, disturbing crimes, social satire, and a series of twists that are meant to shock the audience. After his last foray into the genre, 2011's Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, a film that was visually gorgeous, and headed by a strong cast, but lacking in story and the way the book material was adapted. This time he has almost corrected these missteps in Gone Girl, working directly with the author and creating from an American based story that feels more at home instead of foreign Sweden were somehow everyone speaks perfect English with poor imitations of Swedish accents.

Here is a link to Empire writer Ian Freer's review
http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/review.asp?FID=138307

Two more strong points of the film would be the performances of relative unknowns Carrie Coon and Kim Dickens. Coon as the snarky/protective twin sister of Nick, and Dickens as the intuitive and witty homicide detective investigating Amy's disappearance. Both these performances stood out, as i have never seen these actors in films before, and would actually like to see both nominated for awards. Second would be the haunting and yet driving score by Reznor and Ross, two composers becoming welcomed staples of the Fincher-verse. Both soundtracks for The Social Network, and Dragon Tattoo are home runs to me, and seeing them knock another score out of the park makes them 3 for 3.

Another interesting note on the production aspect of the film would be the editing. The film was edited using the Adobe Cloud and its apps like Final Cut, and After Effects, two pieces of software I have used as a film student. According to SlashFilm.com, this is the first time this software has been utilized to fully to edit and visualize a film, were before it was only used for small touch up.

Although the ending is somewhat drawn out and a little flat, I would highly recommend this film, and cannot wait to see how it fares come awards season.

Gone Girl was released in theaters on October 3rd.

Going Further

In the past two years, Christopher Nolan has disappointed me. Now before you tie me to a stake and burn me alive, or make a pencil disappear into my head (chuckle chuckle), just hear me out.

Photo Courtesy of RancidRainbow.com

I think most of us can admit that The Dark Knight Rises was a bit of a misstep for Nolan, and not a terrific ending to one of the best superhero film adaptations of our time. Although it looked gorgeous, delivered good performances, and had Anne Hathaway in a leather body suit, it was a film that fell flat and left more questions than it promised to answer. this was followed by Man of Steel and Transcendence, both produced by Nolan that failed to live up to there hype.

I spite of these misguided endeavors, when I heard that Nolan was to co write and direct a space exploration epic in the vein of Kubrick and Tarkovsky, I knew this would be a step in the right direction. As production details emerged over the course of the year, like the use of practical special effects and limited CGI, I only became more and more excited. With the addition of Matthew McConaughey, I found myself content with the casting choice due to his True Detective performance, and was not the least bit surprised that Michael Caine would play a role (In a Chris Nolan film, SHOCKER!).

About a month before the film's release, my friend and I pre-ordered IMAX tickets for the Minneapolis Zoo IMAX to be screened a week before the film's release. After the film was over, I felt like the 18 dollars and 25 cents I spent were totally worth it.

I think I can safely say that Interstellar was one of the most enjoyable cinema experiences I've had all year, and coming off the heals of Guardians of the Galaxy that is saying quite a lot.

Photo courtesy of wired.com

The film stars McConaughey as "Cooper", a former NASA pilot now living as a corn farmer in a dystopic agrarian future ravaged by a global dust bowl that threatens to end humanity's existence. With no governments, space travel is obsolete, but series of events leads Cooper and his genius daughter (Mackenzie Foy, and Jessica Chastain as an adult) to a secret NASA facility headed by his former boss (Michael Caine) and his astronaut daughter (Anne Hathaway) who have discovered a mysterious worm hole and intend to travel through it where there are possibly inhabitable planets that could save humanity.

Travelling on the space station/ship hybrid Endurance, they are accompanied by two Artificial Intelligence droids called TARS and KIPP. The AI's really stood out in terms of technology and character presence, much like HAL from 2001, these AI's are crucial to the ship's functions. I was expecting at one point for them to go haywire and try to kill the crew members, but this never happened, and was a surprisingly original element to the film.

The only real complaints I have would be some points of the script and the acting of Jessica Chastain and Anne Hathaway. Chastain seemed robotic and un-coached, and did not deliver the same heart breaking performance of Mackenzie Foy as her younger self. Hathaway was a rather forgetable character who complained a lot a seemed to be the cause of several problems with the mission. despite this, the other cast performances were quite good.
     
Overall, this was a very well done film that managed to capture my imagination and redeem Christoper Nolan as a filmmaker to me, one more strong point would be the mesmerizing Hans Zimmer soundtrack, a piece of music I would like to argue is his best work.

Interstellar opened in IMAX on November 5th and had a wide release on November 7th