The Iran Job (2012)

Director: Till Schauder. 90 min. Not Rated. USA/Iran/Germany. Documentary.

It's the basketball version of The Bad News Bears, about an African-American, playing the Walter Matthau role, who goes to Iran, ... and it's a documentary. The story of NBA-hopeful Kevin Sheppard, who was contracted to play in Iran for a year to lead a junior upstart team into the playoffs. Of course, this American who fears Iran and sees himself as a savior to these poor Middle-Easterners will change and be humbled, and learn that life is not all about basketball. That part is obvious. But again, it's not about the destination - it's about the journey. Watch, and be inspired.

From IMDb: "One can't help feeling that the world would be a much more peaceful place if ordinary people simply got to know one another."

PS: This is streaming on Netflix.

Mo says:

MoMagic!

Out of the Furnace (2013)

Director: Scott Cooper. Cast: Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, Woody Harrelson, Zoe Saldana, Sam Shepard, Willem Dafoe, Forest Whitaker. 116 min. Rated R. USA/UK. Drama/Crime.

Simplistic small town revenge story of two brothers (Bale and Affleck) and a low-life (Harrelson), who are clearly the good guys and bad guys, respectively, from the very first seconds they enter the screen. Slow-paced predictable story with no subtleties and without a satisfying payoff - just people making life decisions based on vague motives, and bad people who are just bad for unclear reasons. If it weren't for the great performances of the incredible ensemble cast, this would've been a major disappointment.

PS: Look at Sam Shepherd's resume. Doesn't this great ever-supporting actor deserve more than just one Oscar nomination?

Mo says:

Wadjda (2012)

Director: Haifaa Al-Mansour. Cast: Waad Mohammed, Reem Abdullah, Abdullrahman Al Gohani. 98 min. Rated PG. Saudi Arabia/Germany. Drama.

Every country has their own local movie industry, but when you watch a "foreign" movie, you're expecting a universal message; something that applies to you too, even though you carry no relation to that country. Wadjda tells an engaging story of a teenage Saudi Arabian girl and her struggle ... to ride a bike in public, while her mother worries about her father's plans for a second wife. It's probably based on scattered true events, and does a fine job at picturing the current status of Saudi women, but at the end, I felt I'd just watched some personal anti-Saudi propaganda.

PS: The film has been awarded with up to 35 wins and nominations at international film festivals.

PSS: Nice perspective by Omar Mozaffar on Roger Ebert's website here, especially:

"... it is interesting that all the voices of compulsion are women. The principal and the unseen grandmother wield unchecked power; one asserts her authority through her office, imposing restrictions through a religious hue, while the other asserts her authority through cultural demands. Perhaps they aspire to nurture and rear their students and children; instead, they disempower them. This is a powerful statement on the nature of oppression: at some point, subjugation breeds subjugation. Perhaps al-Mansour places the source of the oppression on God, Islam, the Qur'an, Saudi culture or men. But in this film, women enact the coercion, and suffer from it. If the problem is patriarchy, it gets internalized, embodied and perpetuated."

Mo says:

The Silence (Das letzte Schweigen) (2010)

Director: Baran bo Odar. Cast: Ulrich Thomsen, Claudia Michelsen, Wotan Wilke, Katrin Saß, Burghart Klaußner. 118 min. Not Rated. Germany. Crime/Drama.

An 11-year-old is brutally murdered by a pedophile (and his passive accomplice), and the crime is repeated 23 years later. Following the European style of film-making (but also inspired by Silence of the Lambs' parallel editing), the film does not divulge much into story, but rather into characters: how the victim's family, the criminal's family, and the criminal himself, are destroyed by the crime for decades, regardless of whether the criminal is caught or not. How the pain never subsides, and just becomes a chronic part of life. This is a movie that hurts, but also helps to understand.

Mo says:

The Counselor (2013)

Director: Ridley Scott. Cast: Michael Fassbender, Penélope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Javier Bardem, Brad Pitt, Bruno Ganz, Rosie Perez, Dean Norris, Rubén Blades, Édgar Ramírez, Goran Visnjic, John Leguizamo. 117 min. Rated R. USA/Uk. Crime/Drama.

A naive lawyer thinks he can make his way into the drug world, and boy, is he wrong. Written by the famously nihilistic Cormac McCarthy, this is a good example of how great novel-writers are not necessarily great screenwriters. It's beautifully directed and acted, but no matter how glamorous you make people look, seriously, this is not how people talk; quite hard to imagine drug lords going into philosophical rants on the meaning of life and grief and death. When it comes to cinema, great words should be translated into great images, sounds, and moments - not just great words.

PS: The movie contains one of the most memorably gruesome death scenes of a famous actor in recent years. Considering Anton Chigurh's oxygen tank in No Country for Old Men, apparently McCarthy has a knack for implementing weird murder weapons in his stories.

Mo says:

Dracula 3D (2012)

Director: Dario Argento. Cast: Thomas Kretschmann, Marta Gastini, Asia Argento, Rutger Hauer. 110 min. Not Rated. Italy/France/Spain. Horror.

Prehistoric digital effects, terrible acting (the worst coming from Argento's daughter, Asia), and confusing "soap opera"-like lighting makes this one of the corniest Draculas in recent memory. And Argento's own liberties on Bram Stoker's original story (Dracula can change into any animal, ... and I mean any animal) don't help much. Still, I found an (ex-) master of horror's take on the story with all its B-movie charm somewhat amusing. Coppola's and Herzog's versions are still the best, and similarities between the actress playing Mina to Winona Ryder proves Argento agrees. Only recommended if you've previously followed the director's career.

Mo says:

300: Rise of an Empire (2014)

Director: Noam Murro. Cast: Sullivan Stapleton, Eva Green, Lena Headey, Rodrigo Santoro. 102 min. Rated R. Action/War.

If a good movie is one that satisfies what it's "destined" to be, then the 300 sequel may be called a good movie. We were expecting outlandish historical inspirations in CGI background of men with six-pack abdomens filled with cranberry juice-like fluids that burst upon impact in slow-motion, and that's exactly what we're offered here - except that last time the battles happened on the ground, and this time they're at sea (expect air combat in the third episode). Eva Green makes an interesting villain as Artemesia, the Greek naval commander who joined the Persians, but she's in the wrong movie.

Mo says:

In Fear (2013)

Director: Jeremy Lovering. Cast: Iain De Caestecker, Alice Englert, Allen Leech. 85 min. Rated R. UK. Thriller.

A young couple drive on a first date looking for an obscure "paradise" hotel, and get lost in a maze of roads. Similar to Buried, this is an exercise in creating a horror/thriller in a confined space; this time predominantly happening in a car. But the motivations of the stalkers (and "stalkees") are vague till the very end. This may have been an intentional gimmick to create an unknown, suspenseful atmosphere, but having so many loose ends without a sense of closure (including quasi-metaphysical moments like the girl's hair pulled from outside the car), leads to an unsatisfactory conclusion.

Mo says:

My 2014 Oscars Predictions

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I don't know. It's just weird. This was the first year I actually avoided watching some of the nominees. The Lone Ranger? Bad Grandpa? I know, I haven't seen the movies, so who am I to judge. It's just weird.

Anyway, here are my predictions for Sunday night's show:


Best Picture:

(American Hustle, Captain Phillips, Dallas Buyers Club, Gravity, Her, Nebraska, Philomena, 12 Years a Slave, The Wolf of Wall Street)

American Hustle and Gravity are nominated for 10 awards each, and 12 Years a Slave for 9. Unless they pull an Argo on us like last year, Hustle won't win the grand award. So the competition is between Gravity and 12 Years. No space movie in Oscar history has received the award for Best Picture, and if it wins, then the pain of Star Wars losing to Annie Hall will come back. Even though Entertainment Weekly has estimated that Gravity has a feeble 1% margin of chance over 12 Years at winning, and even though it's the lovelier movie, 12 Years is pure Oscar material, and is destined to win.

Should win:  Gravity

Will win:  12 Years a Slave


Best Director:

(((9   
(David O. Russell for American Hustle, Alfonso Cuarón for Gravity, Alexander Payne for Nebraska, Steve McQueen for 12 Years a Slave, Martin Scorsese for The Wolf of Wall Street.)

Not much competition here. Just watch Gravity. Only a master can pull that off.

Should win:  Alfonso Cuarón

Will win:  Alfonso Cuarón


Best Actor:
(

(Christian Bale for American Hustle, Bruce Dern for Nebraska, Leonardo DiCaprio for The Wolf of Wall Street, Chiwetel Ejiofor for 12 Years a Slave, Matthew McConaughey for Dallas Buyers Club.)

Okay ... so this will be the biggest moment of the night. It's all between Leo and McConaughey. Both have won Golden Globes. DiCaprio has been nominated four times, never won, and there's a huge amount of sympathy out there for him (including this blogger). It's McConaughey's first nomination ever, and he's risen from a decade of playing in junk movies. But boy ... has he risen. He's suddenly become giant, changing the entire spectrum by great roles in Killer Joe, Mud, Magic Mike, Dallas Buyers Club, and The Wolf of Wall Street. Leo has resorted to attracting voters' affection during the past months by giving "I never get any awards" speeches; McConaughey has gone on to take the dizzying role of a rogue cop in  TV's "True Detective". The man is just unstoppable.

Should win:  Leonardo DiCaprio

Will win:  Matthew McConaughey


Best Actress:


(Amy Adams for American Hustle, Cate Blanchett for Blue Jasmine, Sandra Bullock for Gravity, Judi Dench for Philomena, Meryl Streep for August: Osage County.)

Cate Blanchett is (deservedly) this year's Oscar darling. Her turn in Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine was a career event, and she will go home with the statue. But to me, I don't care how many Oscars Streep has won. She did it again with the little seen August: Osage County, and if anybody asked me (they usually don't), she should win her fourth Oscar.

Should win:  Meryl Streep

Will win:  Cate Blanchett


Best Supporting Actor:

(Barkhad Abdi for Captain Phillips, Bradley Cooper for American Hustle, Michael Fassbender for 12 Years a Slave, Jonah Hill for The Wolf of Wall Street, Jared Leto for Dallas Buyers Club.)

Again, I wouldn't get too excited about this one. Jared Leto has been in the business for quite some time, and his transgender act in Dallas Buyers Club was far better than his other competitors.

Should win:  Jared Leto

Will win:  Jared Leto


Best Supporting Actress:

(Sally Hawkins for Blue Jasmine, Jennifer Lawrence for American Hustle, Lupita Nyong'o for 12 Years a Slave, Julia Roberts for August: Osage County, June Squibb for Nebraska.)

The night might get weird again here. Everybody says Lupita Nyong'o (in her first movie ever!) will win, and even taking into account all her merits, if we consider the (self-written) rule that the Best Supporting role winner is the one whose impact in the film rises to the level of the leading actor/actress, Julia Roberts was the only one who reached that status compared to the rest. And if you've seen August: Osage County, I hope you'll agree she did better than her turn in Erin Brockovich.

Should win:  Julia Roberts  

Will win:  Lupita Nyong'o


Best Original Screenplay:

(American Hustle, Blue Jasmine, Dallas Buyers Club, Her, Nebraska)

Spike Jonze's Oscar is long overdue. Her all the way.

Should win:  Her

Will win:  Her


Best Adapted Screenplay:

(Before Midnight, Captain Phillips, Philomena, 12 Years a Slave, The Wolf of Wall Street)

Take a hike, Gone With the Wind. Linklater, Hawke and Delpy should get Oscars for writing the best romance trilogy ever. But it's hard to see 12 Years a Slave in the mix and not winning.

Should win:  Before Midnight

Will win:  12 Years a Slave


Best Documentary Feature Film:

(The Act of Killing, Cutie and the Boxer, Dirty Wars, The Square, 20 Feet from Stardom)

By critical acclaim, this should be a slam-dunk win for The Act of Killing. But will this year be like last year, when The Gatekeepers, the clearly deeper (political) documentary, lost to the entertaining but lesser (musical) documentary, Searching for Sugar Man? If that's the case, 20 Feet from Stardom has a chance.

Should win:  The Act of Killing

Will win:  The Act of Killing



And for predictions in other categories:

- Best Foreign Language Film:  The Great Beauty


- Best Animated Feature Film:  Frozen

- Best Animated Short Film:  Get a Horse!

- Best Documentary Short Film:  The Lady in Number 6

- Best Live Action Short Film:  That Wasn't Me

- Best Editing:  Gravity  (Just hand over all the technical awards to Gravity and call it a day.)

- Best Production Design:  The Great Gatsby

- Best Cinematography:  Gravity  

- Best Makeup:  Dallas Buyers Club

- Best Original Score:  Gravity

- Best Original Song:  Frozen  (Everybody on the planet is singing 'Let it Go".)

- Best Costume Design:  American Hustle

- Best Sound Editing:  Gravity


- Best Sound Mixing:  Gravity

- Best Visual Effects:  Gravity

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013)

Director: Justin Chadwick. Cast: Idris Elba, Naomie Harris, Terry Pheto. 141 min. Rated PG-13. UK/South Africa. Biography/History.

Gandhi and Mandela were the two greatest non-violence revolutionaries of our time. The filmmakers saw the success of Gandhi (the movie), and thought they'll use the exact same formula for a biopic on Mandela - notwithstanding, movie-making has slightly evolved during the past 30 years. So we have a 2-hour-plus year-by-year life story, with only the half hour offering some insight into the great man's thought processes. Very uplifting ending, and Elba does a tremendous job (even though he looks quite different from Mandela), but the figure was so much larger than this, and more is expected from cinema.

Mo says:

Don Jon (2013)

Director: Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore, Tony Danza, Brie Larson. 90 min. Rated R. Comedy/Drama/Romance.

In his directorial debut, Gordon-Levitt tries to mitigate his boyish charm, and adapts a fake see-through manly gruff voice to play a porn addict, who (surprise!) realizes there's more to life than that. I don't find the subject matter funny, so I felt the whole perspective of dealing with it as a comedy was somewhat annoying. Strangely, Brie Larson is the most interesting character of the whole movie, and she rarely even says a word - a testament to her acting skills. For a much more in-depth view on the same subject, watch Oscar-nominated Steve McQueen's movie, Shame.

Mo says:

The Armstrong Lie (2013)

Director: Alex Gibney. 124 min. Rated R. Documentary.

This is what I think happened: Alex Gibney set out to make a documentary about Lance Armstrong's 2009 Tour de France comeback, and his struggle with doping accusations. But then halfway through, in January 2013 Armstrong admitted to doping on all 7 prior championships, so that messed up the documentary's entire perspective. Gibney tried to salvage the documentary by making it about the lie, but that didn't help, because now you're not sure which of the film interviews are before the guilty admission, and which are after. So Gibney is added to the long list of people Armstrong screwed over.

Mo says: