The Imitation Game

Benedict Cumberbatch's Oscar worthy performance in this true historical drama about Alan Turing, who broke the German Enigma code during World War II and accelerated the defeat of Hitler, is fascinating to behold. All the more fascinating, is the life of Turing, a homosexual, mathematical genius, an original pioneer of the computer, and the author the book The Imitation Game.  This movie adaptation does justice in uncovering one of the great important historical moments about a forerunner in computer technology that greatly effected the lives of others and is a commentary about the victims of social inequality.

A Most Violent Year

Written, directed, and produced by J.C. Chandor and starring Oscar Isaac as the owner of an oil company trying to make it big in New York, A Most Violent Year.  This was an unexpected kind of movie for it's title with a gritty 70's kind of feel to it. It challenges the assumptions we have of violence in the films we watch, the obtainment of the American dream, and all the while also being a story about immigration and class.  Isaac's performance was stellar and he has the same controlled and ambiguous kind of cool with a nod to Pacino's performance in The Godfather. Jessica Chastain and David Oyelowo, as usual, are at their very best.  It's a really taut kind of film with a slow pacing that is riveting to watch and with a tension that's kind of captivating to watch.

The Gambler

Mark Wahlberg stars as an English professor who moonlights as a hopeless gambler who gets into high stakes debts with 3 ruthless loan sharks. The Gambler has a nice script and is played with conviction by Wahlberg, but it fails to impress in the long run.

Furious Seven

I didn't think this franchise could get any better, especially on the wake of Paul Walker's untimely death, but boy was I wrong.  Furious 7 delivers and then some. With the addition of Jason Statham as the villain.....  Like the Fast & Furious just landed the Transporter guy, as if they needed to pump up the action star power any more. The fights, the action choreography and stunts, and locations are all mind blowing, but the obvious thing is not just the best thing. The way that Walker's character went out, was truly moving and an amazing tribute.  He will be sorely missed and he was great in this film. Ludacris and Tyrese are crazy hilarious and their humor certainly lightens the load. Other notables that really contributed in amazing ways were Tony Jaa Rhonda Rousey, Kurt Russell, and Djimon Hounsou.  One thing about the Fast & Furious movies that is undeniable and gets better with each installation, is that the films have an undeniable charisma.

Top Five

Chris Rock stars as a a famous comedian in the middle of a career crisis struggling to reinvent himself in the face of personal and professional struggles and the blazing glare of media taking it all in. Rosario Dawson is the reporter that helps him face it.  In addition to Rock, Top Five is also unbelievably peppered throughout with the most amazing comedians working today.  Part comedy, social commentary, and satire; it's an interesting look into the world of entertainment and media and the ideas and realities that shape it and our perception of it. The film is also directed by Rock and marks an interesting shift with a refreshing and honest boldness to the comedy genre.  Where Top Five falls short, is in not sufficiently exploring the darkness and struggle enough. Also, the sheer comedic star power  combined with a rather short running time, inevitably detracts from the story's scope.  That said, it still was a huge delight to watch.

Through A Lens Darkly: Black Photographers And The Emergence Of A People

This is a wonderful film that thoughtfully showcases the photographic images of Black America from the beginning of photography to the present.  How these images have shaped how we view a people and what it means to be Black in all it's complexities and social implications, are all explored in this documentary, as told through the words of Black photographers of both gender throughout the history of photography.  Something so powerful as image, that shapes every facet of our society, is given great justice in this multi-narrative film, that even this one film only scratches the surface. What I found lacking in this exposition, however, was how modern technology has drastically changed the narrative of Black photography even further and all the implications of that left un-examined. 

Kill The Messenger

Jeremy Renner stars in Kill The Messenger, a story about journalist Gary Webb who broke the story about the CIA's involvement in funding the war in Nicaragua with funds from the drug trade. It's a pretty compelling film and probably one of the best pieces of acting from Renner. Despite the great acting from a very nice cast, the film itself unfortunately seems to fall far short of the magnitude of it's subject matter.  It lacks in pacing and what should have been a more suspenseful buildup of the material.

Horrible Bosses 2

Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, and Jason Sudeikis are back again for another installment in Horrible Bosses 2.  The good news is that these guys still have that great chemistry and that it quite apparent that these guys are having fun making these films.  Movies about White guys who find themselves disenfranchised are funny, but like it's counterpart in the subsequent Hangover movies, it suffers from an overkill of the trio in nearly every scene that begins to get a bit stale with an overkill of Day and Sudeikis to Bateman's straight man.  It certainly helps to have the recurring characters of Jamie Fox, Jennifer Aniston, and Kevin Spacey to round out the cast, and newcomers Christoph Waltz and Chris Pine are a great addition. Yet Horrible Bosses 2 does nothing to develop these 3 guy's characters individually and seems to get away from what the original concept of what the films are suppose to be about all about with a preposterous kidnapping plot that never really feels real.

A Walk Among The Tombstones

Liam Neeson stars in this hardboiled thriller of an ex cop seeking retribution as private investigator who stumbles into a series of grisly murders.  Neeson, of course is a very good actor, but this films pacing drags and drags and drags on and on.  It's a sleeper without the hit.

John Wick

Yes, it's the age old action tale of a former hit man going for revenge, but it is refreshing in it's execution for an American film. Those who appreciate Asian action and martial arts films and the way that this genre of action is shot and stylishly choreographed, will give a much deserved nod to John Wick.  At the director's helm, are David Leitch and Chad Stahelski, whose background as stunt guys including work on The Matrix films, really injected a lot of umph into the film.  So with that said, Keanu Reeves is back in fine form racking up bodies, blowing up shit, and looking very cool doing it.  After all, Reeves has been away for a while insofar as action, so playing a former hitman out for revenge was just right for him. With the look and feel of a modern day crime noir with it's own set of rules, including homages to Hong Kong style notables like John Woo, John Wick is off to a great start with a sequel already in the works. 

Nightcrawler

As the name may imply, Nightcrawler is a modern film noir thriller that examines the state of today's journalistic business of sensationalism.  It is also a great character study of a man who grew up with those influences, and how he ambitiously and at all moral and ethical cost, rose up in the frantic and high paced world of video journalism.  Jake Gyllenhaal's performance is pretty electric in how he morphed into the character and I certainly put it on par with other films of a more satirical nature. Think Robert Deniro in Taxi Driver,  Edward Norton in Fight Club, or Christian Bale in American Psycho.  Like these films, Nightcrawler has the makings of a classic and I think it has been sadly overlooked by the mainstream thus far. 

Gone Girl

David Fincher's twisty Gone Girl is a delight to watch. Not since Basic Instinct had I seen psychological thriller of this sort, so entertaining.  It Stars Ben Affleck as Nick Dunne, who is charged with killing his wife Amy, played by Rosamund Pike.  What ensues in this deceptive cat and mouse game, is a well crafted story that is candy in the hands of Fincher.  Not to overlook the rest of the stellar performances, but Rosamund Pike  really rises to the occasion on this one. What Gone Girl does suffer from, however, is a long overwrought last third of the movie that seems to unbalance the buildup of the first part despite it lending further clarification to the ambiguity of the title itself.

The Homesman

The Homesman,  starring Tommy Lee Jones and Hilary Swank is a beautiful western  that centers on an unmarried woman (Swank) in the 1850's Nebraska territory who is tasked with transporting three mentally ill young women to the shelter of a church back east with the help of claim jumper (Jones) It's a straightforward story of simple life with the cinematic backdrop and vastness of the outdoors, that lend lots of contrast to the subtlety of the wonderful acting performances throughout the journey.  It's a large movie in the tradition of the old westerns, that focuses on how the ordinary deeds of others and the unforeseen events of life affect the very existence and character of people. The natural elements and passage of time, play to these points very well. Swank is so reminiscent of Katherine Hepburn and the obvious comparison to her in The African Queen, was not lost on me.

Interstellar

Christopher Nolan's Interstellar is a mind blowing science fiction film with a superb cast  (Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Michael Caine, Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, and Casey Affleck). What makes Interstellar so great, is how the philosophical and technical merge together with the laws of the universe like gravity and time, in McConaughey's race to find a way to save the survival of mankind.  This race is punctuated perhaps too long in running time and albeit a bit heavy handed at times by a great building and tension driven soundtrack from Hans Zimmer.  Like Gravity, Inception, or The Trea Of Life, it tackles themes of humanity brilliantly with great performances, particularly Jessica Chastain.   The visuals and effects are superb, so no surprise there. Interstellar is wildly imaginative food for thought that manages to pull at your heartstrings, challenge philosophical and technical ideas with imagination, and still leave a satisfying cinematic experience that delivers.

Sabatoge

Sabotage stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as a leader of a group of special operations undercover DEA agents being targeted one by one after a raid.  I won't say much  about this, because it's not even worth the extra typing. Sabotage sabotaged itself with a shitty built up of overdone action, feebly attempting to morph into not much of a thriller horribly mismanaged, and ultimately turn into a selfish Schwarzenegger farce that makes no fucking sense at all to the rest of the film or characters.  I hate to see director David Ayer blemish his resume with this mess, but that's exactly what he did. Now if you just want to see Arnold back with bullets and bravado and couldn't give two shits about plot, then push play and enjoy.