Best Films Of The Decade: Numbers 14-13-12

The beat goes on with My Top 20 Favorite Films Of TheDecade (Or the 10's)

14



THE HELP (2011)




Directed and Screenplay by Tate Taylor
Based on the book by Stockett

An aspiring Author Skeeter Phelan (Emma Stone) writes a book in the 1960's detail the struggles of housemaids  in the south.

I mean from book to screen it is a wonderful adaption. The words were there, to make it work, it just needed a cast to fill these personalities. Oh Boy:
Octavia Spencer wins an Oscar as Minnie Jackson. She says soooo much with a look, and her chemistry with Celia Foote is incredible!! Do not eat her chocolate pie however.
Jessica Chastain plays Celia, getting her an Oscar Nomination, with such sweetness and love.
Viola Davis, as Aibileen Clark, another Oscar Nomination,. She plays Aibileen with such a mix of love; passion; and heartache.
Emma Stone already mentioned is perfectly cast as Skeeter. She becomes our eyes, through her we see the struggle on the side of the hard working housemaids and the racist town and housewives.
Lets not forget, to make this work we need a bad guy or woman. The face of racisim, in comes Hilly Holbrook played so wonderfully by Bryce Dallas Howard!!! I mean if you see interviews with her she is nothing like her charachter in real life. You would not think that by watching this film. She is that good.

Enough said. Laughter, tears, shock...The Help is this all rolled up into one.

The Help is available for home viewing.

13



EX MACHINA (2014)
Direction and Screenplay by Alex Garland
Starring Alicia Vikander; Domhnall Gleeson; and Oscar Isaac



A young programming geek Caleb (Gleeson) is selected to visit the lab/house of Nathan (Isaac) an eccentric inventor. While there, Nathan is excited to show off his beautiful AI invention Ava (Vikander) and have Caleb put her(?) through a series of tests.

Different than any film you may have seen (Maybe the film HER?). Using a wonderful screenplay by director Garland; Rob Hardy's grey/dark fantastic Cinematography; and a haunting constant score by Rupert Coulson, brings a very intense feel throughout the film. The film is 110 minutes and it seemed to fly by.
Throw in fantastic performances by all three leads, mainly highlighted by Isaac, in a film that plays out like a stage drama. It is like a cat and mouse and I guess cat game that comes to an interesting conclusion. It simmers to a boil, in a film that asks the questions of how smart or realistic do we want our electronics/AI?! Who or what is playing who?

The almost perfect Ex Machina (Loses it's grip a just a little toward the end).....like I noted...it is definitely different.

Interesting that the two male leads, Gleeson and Isaac are in the new Star Wars film and they did not know this while filming. They could not mention it to each other because of the contracts signed.

Ex Machina is available on Netflix

12



Frozen (2013)
Directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee
Screenplay by Jennifer Lee
Voices by Kristen Bell; Idina Menzel; Jonathan Graff; and Josh Gadd



Stop rolling your eyes. I know the song sung by Menzel as Elsa Let It Go has been played to death. And yes Frozen has been a marketing overkill. However break it down and just step back a bit.

-The time, 2013, Disneys animation department was struggling. Yes, Pixar was doing great, but Disney's animation department (pre-merge) struggled. Then came Frozen. Great characters. Great songs. Great Music. A fantastic look. It may have saved Disney's animation.
-The script is maybe the best script of that year. It is very clean and straight up good vs evil. Love of family. A lost soul who finds love.  Kindness vs greed. And also lets not forget magic. It makes you feel good.
-Music. Let It Go was overplayed, but do not forget...it is a very meaningful song as per the script.
There were other wonderful songs and all relevant to the script. Do You Want To Build A Snowman.... Summer... Fixer Upper. Face it after seeing the film you are singing one of the songs from this film. Speaking of singing...
-Not only great voice work but the same voices are singing. Yes we know Gadd can sing and Menzel can sing.....but how about that Kristen Bell as Anna!!! Who knew she could sing!!!
-The look!!! I think when dealing with Frozen...with all the great music and the wonderful story ...the animation can be overlooked. Most notably: The final showdown....the snow coming down looks so good you can almost feel the cold coming off the screen. Also that wonderful look of Elsa's purple cape providing a wonderful sharp contrast to the white snow.

Again....in all the over marketing...and over playing of Let It Go...do not forget the magic of it all.

Now for fun and not so fun facts:

- The highest grossing film of all time as of 2014 it was at 1.097 billion dollars

-Anna is 18 in the film while Elsa and Kristoff are 21 and Hans is 23

-Based on a Hans Christian Anderson story.

-Menzel tried out for the part of Rapunzel in Tangled. even though she did not get the part they kept her tapes and offered her Elsa two years later.

-Speaking of Rapunzel. Rapunzel and Eugene were at the opening of the gates for the coronation.

Frozen is available on Disney +



From the shadows as always thanks for your time.

New Film Review: The Rhythm Section

THE RHYTHM SECTION

Stephanie Patrick (Blake Lively) is seeking revenge against those who orchestrated a plane crash that killed her family.

MMMM...Blake Lively is raw here. Not the Blake Lively we are used to. This is a dirty, drugged up, seeking revenge Blake Lively. A bold decision and she is pretty good here playing against type.

Other than that...to be blunt..this film is awful.

It is boring.
It goes no where.
The film has a training scene that is plain stupid and silly.
I cant figure out why she is being trained. They had no one else...who is at least partially trained?
Her approach to ..revenge...is unrealistic.
I have to say...Director and Screenwriter Mark Brunell delivered a piece of crap.
Oh by the way ....did I mention this is boring.

1 star out of 5 for The Rhythm Section ...and that is for Blake Lively.

From the shadows as always thanks for your time

New Film Review: Bad Boys For Life

BAD BOYS FOR LIFE

Mike Lowry (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) are back for one last ride.

This movie does a lot right.
It gives you what you want with nostalgia with the boys being back again. Even the captain is back (Joe Pantoliano)!
It gives you the great Martin Lawrence humor.
It gives you the Bad Boys 90's shoot-em-up action.
It adds a group of young tech savvy police officers or special tactics officers, who Mike and Marcus have to adapt to and seek help from.
There is also a really good bad guy played by Jacob Scipio who wants revenge on Mike Lowry.

Sadly there are problems:

The script really needed editing.
The film comes in over 2 hours and it sure felt that way.
The first hour and a half we were getting the same thing over and over....Mike gets shot at he chases but misses bad guy. Shot at...cant find bad guy. Over and over, the film does not move forward at all.
Then the end is really bad where the bad guy who kills a main character...I think we are suppose to feel bad for him. It really ends soft.

Love the characters...the script lacked...so 3 stars out of 5 for Bad Boys For Life. it is fun to see them back together.

From the shadows as always thanks for your time.

My Top 20 Of The Decade: Numbers 17-16-15

And now Numbers 17-16-15...............

17


SPOTLIGHT 2015
Directed by Tom McCarthy
Screenplay by Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer
Starring Rachel McAdams; Mark Ruffalo; Michael Keaton; John Flattery; and Live Schreiber



The true story of how the Boston Globe Spotlight Team uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese, shaking the entire Catholic Church to its core.

"Honey lets go out to the movies and watch the story about priest molesting children". Yeah. That was not going to happen. However I will tell you anyway...it is a very good film.
Why?
It takes you back to All The Presidents Men. When newspapers did not have an agenda. They just worked hard on a story to get the truth out. And, as in this story, you push for the truth despite all the obstacles in front of you. Lets face it. These reporters were not just fighting priests they were fighting the beliefs of most of Boston who were catholic. In the face of all the push back...they worked very hard to get the truth out to the public. These reporters were heroes who opened up a can of worms.
Every single actor in this film gives a fantastic performance. Highlighted by Ruffalo as Rezendes. He pushes and pushes and gets emotionally involved.

I remember going into the theater thinking I really do not want  to watch this, I walked out of the theater thinking..."Shit, that was really good. Those reporters are heroes". It surprised me. Like noted before, this is not just about Catholic Priest, it is about journalist actually working hard to get to the truth and never settling.

Spotlight is available for home viewing.


16



MOONRISE KINGDOM 2012

Directed By Wes Anderson
Screenplay By Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola



Set on an island off the coast of New England in the 1960's, where a young boy and girl runaway, right before a bad storm. This turns the whole town upside down.

Either you get Wes Anderson or you do not. I do not think there is an in-between. I always say Wes Anderson is my favorite Director. I get him.

This is his best of the decade!!
Yes it has the Wes Anderson regular troop involved:
Bill Murray
Bruce Willis
Ed Norton
Frances McDormand
Jason Schwartzman
Tilda Swinton

However the big stars here are our two runaways:
Jared Gilman as Sam
Kara Hayward as Suzy
They are all in and if they were not the film does not work. They are awesome. I imagine half the time they must ask Wes Anderson, "You want what?"! LOL.

There are so many funny lines and funny moments, but also this film has the sweet Wes Anderson ending to close a good story. Wes may be a little off, but damn he can tell a story. Wes got an Oscar Nomination here for the screenplay; and a Golden Globe nomination for best film.

Moonrise Kingdom is available for home viewing.


15



Silver Linings Playbook 2012

Directed and Screenplay by David O Russell
Based on the book by Matthew Quick
Starring Bradley Cooper; Jennifer Lawrence; Robert DeNiro; and Jacki Weaver





Well it did a lot of things right:

-David O Russell took the book by Matthew Quick and created a gem. Think about this, lost in all the romance there is an important sad subject of mental illness. These characters are flawed and are going through tough times. He walks the tightrope of laughter and sadness of not only the main characters Pat and Tiffany but also how families are affected by mental illness. Mental illness...laughter...romance and somehow he makes it work.

-Casting.... Well let us not forget the wonderful chemistry between Lawrence and Cooper in all of their films especially this one. Then throw in DeNiro giving his best performance in years. And the always reliable and underrated Jacki Weaver.

-The city I love. Yes I am biased. And I know it takes a beating in the press but Philadelphia is not only beautiful here but also tough and loving and caring and passionate. The city I love is so true in this film.
 What a wonderful fun film!!

Now for fun and not so fun facts:

-Bradley Cooper is a huuuuge Philadelphia Eagles fan just like his character.

-The movie was shot in just 33 days.

-Lawrence's role was suppose to be more GOTH but it was asked to be more toned down and she was asked to gain weight for the role...a rare thing in Hollywood.

-The title does not appear in the film until the very end

-Jennifer Lawrence auditioned by SKYPE after Anne Hathaway dropped out.

Almost forgot to mention the ridiculous dance competition that is silly but we go with it because we are cheering for Pat and Tiffany. They hooked us from the beginning.

Silver Linings Is available for home viewing.

The count moves on ......


From the shadows as always thanks for your time