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.
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