31 Days of Horror: Week 1

I'll be honest: I'm not really a horror guy. I've never done well with blood and guts and gore, and when I was a highly nightmare-prone kid I had MAJOR issues with anything even remotely scary.

So I stayed away from horror films for a long time. Creepy, I could deal with okay, but anything really scary was a hard pass, especially if it was a slasher movie. But eventually, I grew up and got smarter about movies and started to enjoy the ones that were good at scaring you. I appreciated the roller coaster ride those films can take you on, the way they build and release tension. I started to "get" the idea of watching them and enjoying the adrenaline rush and the catharsis good horror films can bring about. And I've been trying to watch more of them.

This year, I finally decided to try to commit to the whole "31 Days of Horror" thing that many in the film blogosphere do. My schedule makes it a bit tough, but I'm doing okay so far, and I plan to, if not watch exactly one film a day, then to at least get very close to it. And I plan on doing weekly round-ups of the films I watch, since I REALLY don't have the time for full-length reviews.

Here's what I've been watching in the first week of my 2018 31 Days of Horror, in order of my watching them (titles are linked to trailers where I could find them).

The House With a Clock in its Walls (Eli Roth, 2018) I remember really enjoying this book (illustrated by the famous Edward Gorey) when I was a kid, and this doesn't quite capture the gothic grandeur of it, but it seems to be going for more of the magic/fantasy angle than the horror one. The story takes place in the '50s, where young orphan Lewis Barnavelt is moving in with his estranged uncle, Jonathan. Turns out, Jonathan and his neighbor Florence Zimmerman, are magic users, and Lewis's new home used to belong to a very, very bad warlock, who magically placed a clock somewhere in the walls of the house. That clock is counting down to something not good, and Lewis, Jonathan, and Ms. Zimmerman may be the only ones who can stop it. Aside from the delicious production design, and genial approximation of the feel of great kiddie horror flicks from the '80s, the main reason to see this is the chemistry between Jack Black and Cate Blanchett, who are having an infectious good time with this. It's enjoyable, and has some good kiddie-sized scares, but that's about as far as it goes.

The Invitation (Karyn Kusama, 2016) Eden and her husband David are having a dinner party. Among the invitees are her ex Will and his girlfriend Kira, and their whole former friend group, none of whom have seen much of Eden or Will in the two years since their son died and they split up. Long-simmering resentments and private hang-ups eventually explode as two new people show up, who are Eden and David's friends from some retreat called "The Invitation". And from there, things just get weirder and weirder. The tension simmers for the first three-quarters and boils over spectacularly in the last fifteen minutes or so. The careful character work of the actors (and the vicious screenplay) twists our allegiances to different characters every few minutes, never knowing who is more reasonable or trustworthy. It's not even really horror for most of it, just a taut, twisted character study. But when that last act hits... MAN does it deliver the goods.

Creep (Patrick Brice, 2015) Aaron, in desperate need of cash, answers an online ad for a day-long filming job that only requires him to drive a long way and bring his camera. But when he meets Josef, the man who placed the ad, it slowly becomes clear that something isn't right. Another one where for the majority of the running time it's more of a character study than anything else, Bryce effectively weaponizes the first-person camera to stage some terrific jump scares, and he and Mark Duplass have a great dynamic together. The end is truly horrifying, but the film doesn't utilize the cat-and-mouse games that are its best asset nearly enough. More of that and this would have been truly amazing. As it is, it's just a pretty neat idea, pretty well-executed.

Dressed to Kill (Brian DePalma, 1980) NOW we're talking! The opening sequence of this, featuring Angie Dickinson in a museum, is just stellar - a nearly nine-minute sequence with almost no dialogue. And then that woman with the razor shows up and slashes the movie into high gear. It's all a pretty overt Hitchcock homage (so overt that Hitch himself called it "fromage" instead), but it's a damn good one, updating Hitch's pet themes and tricks to a current setting and going even more dark and twisted. I don't want to give away too much of the film's plot, because it's a really fun ride that is best experienced as cold as possible. It's a nasty piece of work, and isn't exactly good for LGBTQ issues (especially at the time), but as with most of DePalma's films, it's super stylish and a hell of a ride.

Boo! A Madea Halloween (Tyler Perry, 2016) In case it wasn't already clear, yes, I'm working my way up to the scarier stuff. This one is MUCH more of a comedy than I was expecting, focusing mainly on putting the core group of old people together and letting them bounce off of each other. And I'll admit: I laughed. I laughed more than I probably should have. There's more than a hint of minstrelsy to Perry's Madea, but... when they have an extended conversation about literally beating some sense into today's teenagers, their commitment to the bit and how far they go over the top is HILARIOUS. The basic story is that one Halloween night, Madea has been called upon by her nephew to keep an eye on his seventeen year-old daughter Tiffany, to make sure she doesn't go to a local frat party. Naturally, Madea brings along her best friend Bam, her brother Joe, and their friend Hattie. Tiffany sneaks out, but when Madea calls the cops on the frat party, Tiffany enlists her friends and the fraternity brothers to play some good old-fashioned Halloween fright pranks on the old folks. It's not great. The horror elements are well-done but bland, and Madea freaking out and punching the thing that scares her in the face can only save it so many times (although to be fair, it works FAR more often than it should). It's nice to have a horror-comedy that leans more on the comedy side, but a few more legit scares would have gone a long way.

House of Usher (Roger Corman, 1960) The first of eight films Roger Corman made adapting the works of Edgar Allen Poe, this one based on the short story "The Fall of the House of Usher". It is about a brother and sister who are the last of the Usher family. Brother Roderick believes the family bloodline to be cursed, and will not let sister Madeline marry her betrothed, who has come to the Usher estate to bring her home with him. I love a good Gothic, and HOO BOY this is one. Heavy with atmosphere, gorgeous production and costume design, with lies and secrets as thick as the fog that chokes the crumbling house where the action takes place. It's never more deliriously over the top than in a mid-film dream sequence that just knocks everything out of the park. This is the most subdued I've ever seen Vincent Price, and the thing often does feel as airless as that house surely must, but this sort of thing is so right up my alley that I didn't much care.

Hit Me With Your Best Shot - Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens

I have a confession to make: I am not a massive Star Wars fan.

I have said that I am on numerous occasions, and I'm sure I had good reason to, at the time. But the fact is, I am really only a casual fan. The original Star Wars was instantly my favorite film of all time upon seeing it, and it's still comfortably in my Top Five. I was a card-carrying member of the Star Wars Fan Club in my youth, read a few of the Expanded Universe books, and saw each film of the prequel trilogy on opening day. BUT... I wasn't really active in the Fan Club and let my membership lapse after only a couple of years, I still haven't read the Han Solo trilogy even though I've owned those books since middle school, and I never ever saw the need to see any new film at the first midnight screening.

The first shot is the inverse of the original's - BRONZE

I also don't have the sort of emotional attachment to the franchise that leads me to get into heated debate about which of the films is best and whether or not we should even pay attention to the prequels. I read stories of the fan restorations of the original trilogy with great interest but never particularly care to search for or download them. I also - God help me - only own the original trilogy, in the silver DVD box set that came out almost a decade ago now.

The original Star Wars may be a formative text for me - as it no doubt is for many nerds and cinephiles alike - but I have never really been anything more than a casual fan, and I'm okay with that.

It's for this reason that I greeted the announcement of a new trilogy with J.J. Abrams at the helm with a shrug and a Facebook post reading, "If I see so much as ONE lens flare, so help me, J.J....."I knew I would see it, but I saw no point in getting excited about it. Star Wars is a one-time-only thing, an improbable success that forever changes the landscape of what comes after in such a fundamental way that we still aren't quite aware of the full extent of its reach. The fact that Disney was making a new trilogy only served to me as evidence that the snake was now officially eating its tail.

So color me shocked that in the weeks leading up to the arrival of Episode VII - The Force Awakens, I was so excited about seeing it that at one point while buying the tickets, I actually started shaking. And my anticipation as I sat down in the AMC Loews Lincoln Square IMAX with my Mom (from whom I inherited my love of Star Wars) was at such a fever pitch that I was practically squealing with delight. And then the title came up to that blast of John Williams's iconic score, and I was seven years old again, clapping my hands and downright giddy at the prospect of watching another Star Wars movie, this time on the biggest of all screens, in 3-D!

And I never, EVER, get excited about 3-D.

My Best of 2015

I toyed with a million ways of posting this list - charting where I diverged from Oscar, a post of nothing but gifs, Tweet-length opinions - but in the end, nothing seemed to satisfy me as much as a good old-fashioned fully written-up LIST. I'm just sorry it took this long!

I kind of wanted to do the "Top 15 of '15" thing, but then I would feel compelled to do a similar thing every year, and it would just get ridiculous after a while (is anyone going to do the "Top 21 of '21"? Really?) so I decided to keep it at an even 10. But if you're a completist, you can look at my entire list of Best Films of 2015 on my Letterboxd page here.

Yes, there are a few notable exceptions. Despite half a dozen tries, I just could NOT get myself to go see The Revenant. It just wasn't a story that interested me, and reviews generally confirmed that it was not the way that I would most enjoy three hours on any given day. I also didn't see Creed (I haven't even seen Rocky yet - boxing movies just aren't my thing) or Bridge of Spies (again, the subject matter just doesn't interest me enough, despite the presence of Tom Hanks, who I love, and my idol Mark Rylance). I know I SHOULD see them at some point. But time and money are at a premium recently, and I'm very careful how I spend mine.

So with that said, let's get to the runners-up, shall we? Hovering just outside the Top Ten, in ascending order, are Guy Ritchie's easy-breezy-sexy-cool The Man From U.N.C.L.E.; Christopher McQuarrie's stellar entry in the Mission: Impossible series, Rogue Nation; the best sequel in many a year, Magic Mike XXL; Alex Gardner's astonishing debut Ex Machina; and of course the year's biggest blockbuster Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

...and then there were TEN...

10. Tangerine (Sean Baker) Taking indie film back to its punk roots, making it feel alive and vital again, Sean Baker's trans hooker Christmas comedy tears through the screen just like Kitana Kiki Rodriguez's Sin-Dee Rella tears through the streets of Los Angeles looking for her cheating boyfriend/pimp Chester. Which is to say, this is the most raucous, wild, touching comedy of the year. And it was shot entirely on an iPhone with two non-professionals in the leads.

9. Spy (Paul Feig) The Melissa McCarthy-Paul Feig collaboration reaches its apex in hilarious fashion. A note-perfect spy spoof from its first frame (complete with an inspired Bond-ian theme song and credit sequence), Spy is minute for minute the year's funniest film. The script is standard-issue spy stuff (as befitting a spoof), but it's the cast that really makes this great. McCarthy finds the perfect way to make Susan Cooper feel like a complete character, Jude Law makes a case for himself as the next 007, Rose Byrne develops her comic gifts even further (on a second watch she was even funnier than I remembered), and Jason Statham steals the show by leavening his bad-ass persona with a grand sense of comic timing. Spy is a perfect example of the modern style of improv-based comedy and deserves a spot in the annals of great spoofs, as well.

8. The Martian (Ridley Scott) It's easy to write off just how difficult it is to make a film as breezily entertaining as The Martian, especially one with such comparatively tiny stakes as this film has (come on - did you really think they were going to let Matt Damon die?), but director Ridley Scott knows what he's doing, and he had a hell of a helping hand from pop-savvy screenwriter Drew Goddard, who took Andy Weir's very science-heavy novel and turned it into a near-perfect slice of entertainment. Matt Damon gives a central performance good enough to restore your faith in movie star charisma, and the rest of the ensemble perfectly fills each of their stock roles with just enough personality to make you root for them. Is The Martian a bit slight? Maybe. But then again, what was the last mainstream Hollywood blockbuster that valued resourcefulness, intelligence, and our common humanity as much as this?

7. I'll See You in My Dreams (Brett Haley) There is so much in Brett Haley's touching, gentle film that feels anathema to movies today: Senior citizens, late-in-life love, quietness, female friendship, women in general... If that were all it had to offer, we should be grateful. But it also boasts a spectacular turn from Blythe Danner in the lead, a rich, sympathetic, lived-in performance that reminds us that neither talent nor beauty fades with age. I was far more charmed by this than I ever would have thought, given the film's title and subject matter, and I will continue to recommend it to everyone I meet, regardless of age. Because good films know no boundaries.

6. Chi-Raq (Spike Lee) The most boisterous, outright messy film on this list, but also the most potent, important film of the year, from a director whose prime seemed long past. I have been saying for YEARS that the ancient Greek comedy Lysistrata, about women who put an end to war by withholding sex from their husbands, was due a modern retelling, and lo, it turned out to be Spike Lee who gave it to us. The script is as perfect an adaptation as we could hope for, capturing the raunchiness and profundity of the original while updating it to modern-day Chicago, known as Chi-Raq because of the prevalence of guns and shootings there. He even keeps the rhyming poetry of the speech without it feeling put on. Samuel L. Jackson pimps it up as the Greek Chorus narrator, Teyonah Parris and Nick Cannon spit fire as Lysistrata and her gang leader beau, and Angela Bassett gives the film the rage it needs as the leader of the elder generation. Chi-Raq is perhaps the least great of the year's best films, but it's far and away the most important, and a film that is impossible to sweep under the rug.

5. Inside Out (Pete Docter) The most creative, ingenious film of the year. The most colorful film of the year. The most "best scenes" of any film this year. The most surprising film of the year. Pixar's latest triumph is all of these things, and features a perfectly cast ensemble of voices giving indelible performances. Its whole may not be as great as the sum of its parts, but moment to moment it is incredible, and I probably remember more of this movie than any of the others in my Top Ten.

4. Grandma (Paul Weitz) Lily Tomlin is an absolute knock-out as the title character of this film, giving the quirk of Paul Weitz's script (written specifically for her) just the amount of acid-tongued realism it needs to land potently. Tomlin's Elle may have a lot of baggage, and she may have lived a lot of life, but when her granddaughter comes to her needing money for an abortion, the aging lesbian feminist puts all that aside - as much as she can, anyway - to help the cause. And make no mistake, it is a cause, for Elle and Sage and thousands of women across the country, to have the power to make their own decisions about their own bodies without any authority other than their medical professional telling them otherwise. That the film treats the abortion as a mostly not controversial thing is revolutionary in its own right, but Grandma is just as much about one generation passing on its torch to another, and learning from each other. It's about what family means in this day and age, when we're "more connected" but somehow even farther apart. And it also happens to be one of the funniest films of the year, too.

...and now, my holy trinity of 2015.

3. Carol (Todd Haynes) Immaculate, crystalline perfection. Every frame of Todd Haynes's masterpiece is crafted to such brilliant beauty that I almost feel inadequate talking about it. Perfectly cast, deliciously designed, and swoonily scored, Carol had me from its very first frame. Some may call it chilly, but that's only because it so perfectly captures the feeling of New York in the winter. Elsewhere, Carol is full of warmth - watch the ice surrounding Rooney Mara's heart slowly melt, watch the fire spewing forth from Kyle Chandler's and Sarah Paulson's eyes as they battle over Cate Blanchett (who has never looked better thanks to genius costumer Sandy Powell), watch how Haynes makes a simple touch on the shoulder mean the world. Queer desire has never been this fragile, this impactful, this romantic, this... beautiful. Carol is the truth.

2. Room (Lenny Abrahamson) Nothing in 2015 makes you feel as much as this, and nothing was made with such tight constraints of space and perspective. A model of adaptation, Emma Donoghue's script of her own novel retains the unique voice of young Jack, born and raised in an 8'x8' room where his Ma has been held prisoner for years, even without him narrating the whole thing. The actors develop an incredible shorthand when in Room and believably navigate new sensations and relationships in the tricky world outside it. And in between those spaces is the most tense, electrifying scene of the year, as Jack makes a thrilling escape. Lenny Abrahamson had the most difficult job of any director this year and pulled it off with style, aplomb, and lots of heart.

...BUT BEFORE WE GET TO NUMBER ONE!

I must announce the winner of my "Jury Prize". That's a special citation I always give the film that I am in awe of as one of the most well-made films of the year, but that I had trouble actually enjoying all that much, thus making it impossible to properly "rank" the film. For context, previous winners include: Under the Skin, Before Midnight, and Amour. This year's winner is:

Embrace of the Serpent (Ciro Guerra) Completely unlike any film you're ever likely to see, Guerra's trek through the Colombian Amazon in search of a legendary plant follows two white explorers thirty years apart, led by the same man. Utterly mesmerizing and stunningly shot in black and white, this is one of those films that shows you a world you wouldn't be able to see otherwise, and in some cases, maybe shouldn't see. At times equally a ripping adventure tale, a vicious anti-colonialist screed, a squeamish psychological horror film, and a study of the emptiness and loneliness that comes from being the last of one's kind, Embrace of the Serpent is, in many ways, why we go to the cinema.

AND NOW! The moment we've all been waiting for...

1. Brooklyn (John Crowley) I make no bones about it, this one meant more to me personally than any other film this year. It is perhaps inevitable that John Crowley and his team of designers and technicians and craftspeople got little love for this, the most deeply felt film of the year. Brooklyn is a film that practically begs for the label "old-fashioned", but happens to be the rare film for which that descriptor isn't in any way a bad thing. This is solid, old-school Hollywood filmmaking of the first order, in service of a story that only seems slight because it was released in a year full of louder and more overtly Important films. But I ask you: In the current political climate, what is more Important than reminding everyone that ALL of our ancestors were immigrants once, and that it is possible to love your new home even more than your place of birth? Nothing. And Brooklyn is the most beautiful, heartwarming reminder of that.

Obligatory Oscar Reaction Post

...soooooooooooooooo you may have noticed that don't tend to do these things right away. I'm no good at snap judgments - I tend to not know when to stop. I did manage to spit out something over at The Film Experience about the Best Song performances that we got (don't get me started on the ones the fucking producers decided to cut...), but happily my reaction to the show overall was much stronger than that.

Chris Rock did a valiant job as host. The monologue was killer, except for the Stacey Dash bit (it took me a good minute to remember why anyone would think having her do that would be funny, by which point Rock had already moved far beyond it). The Compton cinema bit went on a bit too long but it was pretty funny, and really a good reminder of what the public in general, NOT just black people, think about the Oscars. No one knows most of the films that get nominated for the Oscars. One of my co-workers even said to me on Monday that he had no clue the Oscars were even on this weekend, and when he saw The Revenant recently, he had no idea that it was even nominated.

Oscar watchers have now become an insular, self-selecting group, and I for one am perfectly fine with that.

I'm also perfectly fine with most of the winners from 2015. I was hoping against hope that Todd Haynes's near-perfect Carol wouldn't walk away empty-handed (I predicted it for Costume Design), but I can't get mad at Mad Max's sweep of the tech categories. That fucker is one superbly, often ingeniously, well-crafted film. It's so balls-to-the-wall creative that it's amazing it even got nominated, so I'm thrilled that AMPAS members recognized that great craft can be found anywhere. I was happiest for its wins in Production Design and Editing, the two elements that I thought contributed most to the film's narrative and adrenaline rush.

Weirdly, I correctly predicted ALL of the Short winners this year. That NEVER happens. Of course, my predictions elsewhere kind of sucked the big one. For which I mostly couldn't be happier. I honestly thought they were going to go whole-hog for The Revenant in the techs instead of Mad Max. And though I had Spotlight as my Best Picture prediction for a while, I ended up switching it to The Big Short for some reason. Probably because it won the PGA.

This year's ceremony was actually suspenseful for once, in part because of the seeming three-way race for Best Picture (thank you, guilds!), and in part because the Mad Max sweep really did make it feel early on like that film might be a huge spoiler. But then Lubezki made history by winning his third Best Cinematography Oscar in a row, the acting categories all went as expected (Mark Rylance in Supporting Actor being only a mild surprise, as he was the only person nominated for every single precursor award), and Alejandro Gonzalez Iñàrritu became the third person to win back-to-back directing Oscars.

Wait, so all those Mad Max craftspeople just did everything all on their own then? #Oscars

— Dancin Dan on Film (@dancindanonfilm) February 29, 2016

I dunno. I'm commentaried out. I'm fine with the Best Picture winner, the Acting winners are all deserving (if not all for their winning performance), the crafts winners were entirely on point, and the ceremony itself was fun to watch (although it really is a pity about Stacey Dash, Sam Smith, and that fucking thank you scroll).

Coming soon: Oscar's Ballot vs. My Ballot vs. My Oscar Ballot

A Tale of Two Sequels

The summer of 2015 saw the release of two sequels to films not many people expected to be huge hits, and which couldn't possibly be more different from each other: the a capella comedy Pitch Perfect and the Steven Soderbergh-directed Channing Tatum male stripper flick Magic Mike. It's strange that there was a time when people were worried about these films being successful, especially since both had low budgets and positive word of mouth to go along with the fact that they were both actually great movies, in their own way.

Pitch Perfect is a perfect specimen of an 00s teen comedy - endlessly quotable with a cast of breakout characters/actors, and memorable scene after memorable scene after memorable scene. Plus, a performance element that allows for a pretty stellar soundtrack (and surprise Billboard hit!). Magic Mike, meanwhile, succeeds largely because when you say "Channing Tatum stripper movie", even with the appended "directed by Steven Soderbergh", you would never in a million years think of anything that resembles what the movie actually is: Smart, sophisticated, and relatively low-key, with revelatory performances from Tatum and Matthew McConnaughey.

So I guess it makes perfect sense that their sequels are, respectively, a pale photocopy of the original and a complete and total surprise in how it flips the script on the original.

Does anyone know what film set the template that Pitch Perfect 2 follows? You know, the plot in which our heroes get thrust onto an international stage where they get too big for their britches and are beat down by hardcore European perfection before rallying using good old-fashioned American pluck and ingenuity. It's a well-worn sequel plot by now, and this isn't a particularly good version of it: Due to the arcane a capella competition rules, the Barden Bellas are stripped of their championship promotional tour after a Fat Amy-led wardrobe malfunction happened on a national stage in front of the President and First Lady Barack and Michelle Obama. The tour is filled by the reigning World Champions, a German group named Das Sound Machine. But the Bellas are still able to perform at the World Championships, and if they win, they aren't disgraced former champions anymore. Or something.

Elizabeth Banks directs Pitch Perfect 2 after having produced the first one, and Kay Cannon is back on scripting duties - if you can even call it that. This sequel is slavishly devoted to the original, right down to the placement of plot/character beats and specific jokes. And when brazenly calling for comparison in that way, it comes up severely lacking. BUT, individual moments do land - Rebel Wilson and Hana Mae Lee are still hilarious, the riff-off is still absurdly clever fun, and a mid-film group sing-along to "When I'm Gone" (in the place of the first film's "Party in the USA") is very affecting. But the original Pitch Perfect was a film that was so much fun it practically demanded several viewings. While it's clear that everyone involved in making Pitch Perfect 2 had lots of fun doing so, I can't say that I had much of any fun watching it. Still, the Bellas sound amazing singing Jessie J's "Flashlight", so I guess it was all worth it?

Magic Mike XXL, on the other hand, is a shockingly great sequel in that it makes me want not only another sequel, but a prequel as well. Most of the "Cock-Rockin' Kings of Tampa" were mere sketches in the original Magic Mike, but here they all come into view in ways both small and large that make me want to know more. And that's before we get to the HOT AS FUCK dancing. And Jada Pinkett-Smith as the world's greatest hype (wo)man. And Andie McDowell's one scene wonder. And Matt Bomer singing D'Angelo's "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" (SWOON).

Magically, XXL feels totally of a piece with the original film despite being completely different in tone and overall feel. Nothing here is as brilliant as the sequence in Magic Mike where Cody Horn's Brooke first watches Mike in his element, but well, not many films do. And the sequel more than makes up for it in sheer entertainment value. I certainly laughed much more during this than I ever did in the original. That said, though, when it comes to the sex, Magic Mike XXL was perhaps a misleading title. The film is certainly bigger, but whereas the first film proudly put all the goods out on display, in this one there is a marked decrease in the amount of bare ass. There's much more of a focus on strippers as "male entertainers" that empower women in some way, which feels a bit inauthentic, at least to these characters as we knew them in the first film. But then, the growth of these characters is a big part of the film, and they have always been slightly (self-)delusional about their position within their profession. So why am I complaining? Well, because Magic Mike XXL is good enough where I have to nitpick in order to come up with any criticism.

End-of-Year Glut (Non-Awards Edition) Part One

Every year in the fall, all the good movies open.

I hate to say it, but it's true. From September through December so many more films I'm interested in seeing come to theaters and it's so difficult to see them all. So it's taken a while for me to see all the films I wanted to see. I wanted to get them all in before the Oscar nominations, so I could be appropriately appalled when such-and-such film wasn't nominated in such-and-such category, but that didn't QUITE happen. These are the ones I managed to get in before that point that ended up not factoring into the awards conversation, in rough order from most to least recent viewing.

Tangerine - The trans hooker comedy shot entirely on an iPhone that by now I'm sure you've all heard about, Sean Baker's film demands to be seen. Tangerine is raucous, riotous fun, but also a bit shrill. It immerses itself in a pocket of culture that operates in a register so high-pitched that it's a wonder it isn't only audible to dogs, but plays into it - and against it - perfectly. The undercurrent of loneliness and melancholy (slight but still present) grounds the film and improves it immeasurably. The performers are so natural that it almost feels like a documentary at moments. Ultimately slight, but punk in a way that feels vibrant and necessary - this is completely unlike anything else you're likely to see this year or next. Mya Taylor deserved a slot in that godforsaken Best Supporting Actress category.

Ballet 422 - The thing is, this is basically my jam. A fly-on-the-wall look at the creation of a new ballet for the New York City Ballet choreographed by one of its own dancers. This is so up my alley, how could I not love it? Justin Peck is a brilliant choreographer and a member of the NYCB corps de ballet (or ensemble or chorus or whatever you want to call it), and Jody Lee Lipes had unprecedented access to him and the NYCB during the creation of his first ballet, the 422nd piece of repertory in the company's history. The lack of context for just about everything may make this a bit confusing for non-dancers/arts professionals, but as a (beautifully shot) fly-on-the-wall-style documentary, it just about can't be beat. However, there is a real lack of tension that lets it down a bit, and the lack of interviews leads to a poorly-illuminated creative process. The very last scene, though, brings the difficult life of artists in general, and dancers in particular, to light in a beautiful way.

Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief - As with most Alex Gibney documentaries, you pretty much know going in if this is going to be for you or not. So again, I was sort of predisposed to like this one. It is a bit didactic, perhaps, but it's also illuminating on several levels. Gibney gets to the heart of not only what Scientology's roots are, and what it is currently, but why someone would be drawn in, and why they would leave, which makes for some pretty fascinating viewing in spots. He is of course helped by utterly believable interview subjects and unbelievably, ridiculously crazy/scary footage of the church's big annual gathering. I'm almost surprised this didn't make the Best Documentary nominee list. Almost.

I'll See You In My Dreams - Blythe Danner's lovely performance has gone completely overlooked this awards season, and that is a damn crying shame. Few dramas are this clear-eyed and modest in ambition yet so perfectly executed in that vein - and even less about senior citizens. There's not a thing I didn't like about this engaging, quietly affecting little gem of a film. Even while sort-of half-watching it, it pulled me in and accumulated poignancy all the way through, leaving me misty-eyed and smiling. It's also a damn crying shame that the title song, which fits in so perfectly well with the rest of the movie, at a key moment, isn't an Oscar nominee. That category is always screwed up, but still.

Tom at the Farm - Strange, insinuating little thriller that, despite wearing its influences on its sleeve, constantly goes in surprising directions. The basic story is this: Tom, a city boy in every way, goes to the country for his partner's funeral, only to find that the family doesn't know their dearly departed was gay. Except for his brother, who goes to great lengths to keep up a fantasy for his mother and forces Tom to play along. The brilliance of Xavier Dolan's film adaptation of the stage play by Michael Marc Bouchard is to make the inner dialogue of many gay men external through a menacing force. I have a feeling it would make an interesting double feature with Stranger by the Lake for that reason. It's slightly unsatisfying as a whole - probably because it doesn't really end well - but it's a good ride.

Crimson Peak - How on earth Guillermo del Toro's gorgeous gothic romance didn't get included in the Oscar nominations for Production Design and Costume Design is beyond me. That said, they're pretty much the only things worth seeing Crimson Peak for. Though the film goes to great lengths to remind us that this is a "story with a ghost in it" as opposed to a ghost story, it doesn't ever go far enough with even its most basic conceits for me. I kept wanting more of just about everything the film was giving me, which is sometimes a compliment but not in this case. The idea of a house so old and precarious that it sometimes functions like a living thing is brilliant, and almost nothing is done with it (we don't even get to the title house until the halfway point of the film). The florid camerawork and design elements are certainly worth seeing, but ultimately this did nothing for me, and coming from this creative team, that was disappointing.

Trainwreck - This was my family's choice for pre-Thanksgiving viewing (I tried to get them to watch Inside Out, but the resistance to "cartoons" is strong in some people), and it plays perfectly fine at home, which is totally unsurprising coming from Judd Apatow. Amy Schumer is now a force to be reckoned with in Hollywood, and good for her because she's a funny, funny lady. HOWEVER. This was a perfectly average rom-com in every way. Just because you have a guy doing the chasing doesn't mean you've done something unique or even praise-worthy (it's been done before, and better). I laughed, sure, but most of these jokes have been told before and the sense of diminishing returns was all over this. Needed approximately 72% more Tilda, an absolute hoot as Amy's men's mag boss.

Obligatory Halfway-Through-The-Year Post

I haven't gone to the movies as much as usual this year. When I lived in CT, I went an average of once a week, but I moved to NYC in September and, well, not only is living here more expensive, but movies are, too ($15 per ticket as opposed to $10). Add to that the HUGE increase in movies available to see in theaters, and my indecision combines with my thriftiness to create an immobility on the movie-going front. Sad, but true.

But anyway, these are the movies I've seen in theaters this year, and a capsule-length review, listed in order of preference.

INSIDE OUT - Not quite as magical as Pixar's best films, but the moment-to-moment creativity and voice work are so superb (and occasionally surprising) that it almost makes up for it. Quick throwaway gags work the best (the cat, facts/opinions, déjà vu). Pity about the TERRIBLE short.

SPY - Far and away the funniest movie of the year, and easily McCarthy's best starring vehicle. The supporting cast is KILLER, and more of the jokes land than in any of McCarthy and Paul Feig's other films.

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD - The action is flat-out insane and mostly awe-inspiring. Great performances from Theron and Hoult. Nonetheless, it feels like something is missing. The movie felt a (robotic) arm's-length away the entire time.

THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL - The performers are so appealing in these roles that it doesn't matter that the plot isn't nearly as grabby as that of the first film. Maggie Smith's opening scene monologue on how to properly make tea is AMAZING. Pity about Dev Patel, though.

FIFTY SHADES OF GREY - Probably the best film version of this property we were ever going to get, even if it's utterly mediocre in every conceivable way. Dakota Johnson brings it, though, in a sprightly, slyly funny performance as Ana. Works better as a coming-of-age romance than as an erotic drama. Pity about dullard Jamie Dornan.

AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON - The seams are starting to show on the Marvel formula, but this is still mostly enjoyable. Nice to get some extra time with Hawkeye, even if the new characters turn out to be pretty much duds. Indelible voice work from James Spader as Ultron.

THE BOY NEXT DOOR - Knowing camp trash of the highest order, but still camp trash.

KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE - Terrific fun for the first two-thirds, then the ending blows it all to shit, with an unbelievably reckless disregard for human life that isn't in on the joke in the way the rest of the film is.

...and to make it ten, two holdovers from last year that I was able to catch on Netflix (and are better than any of this year's films so far):

THE WAY HE LOOKS - Touching, funny, heartfelt... I can't recommend this one enough.

LILTING - Very solid, it decidedly low-key. Doesn't quite offer the catharsis I would have liked, but still excellent for what it is. Great lead performances from Whishaw and Pei-Pei.