While Chris excels as a SEAL and is constantly driven to succeed, every time he comes home from a deployment more and more of his humanity seems to be missing. Made jumpy by loud noises, prone to zoning out and unable to talk about his experiences to Taya, the film manifests PTSD in a powerful, sympathetic way.
Gabriel Ricard, Film Editor: It’s not perfect, and it probably never will be, but I don’t think I’ve ever been this pleased overall with the Oscar nominees. I’m tempted to focus on things like Selma being almost completely shut out, Lego Movie being ignored for Best Animated Feature, or the fact that certain great performances were completely ignored (Renee Russo making a huge comeback in Nightcrawler, or John Goodman making it look easy in The Gambler).
I feel like I’m kind of repeating myself, but I seem to be pathologically incapable of not doing that, so here we go. In terms of movies, we have a long year ahead of us. Awards season, as it will do, is going to make things feel even longer for a little while. The blockbusters and reboots are waiting, as well, and all the speculation in the world isn’t going to get us to them any faster.
In 2008 Liam Neeson showed the world that he still had plenty of gas left in the tank as the star of Taken. Written by Luc Besson, it was an dumb but entertaining romp of an action thriller. Since it did really well we have of course been subjected to the sequels of diminishing return.
I cannot stress enough how overcomplicated the plot is. They tried so hard to make this a genuine murder/mystery and in doing so they shoved so many people and elements into it that the entire movie toppled under its own weight.
Welcome to 2015! One of my resolutions is to stop procrastinating, even if it means inevitable disappointment. That makes it fitting that my first film of the year be within my favorite genre: horror.
The worst sin a horror film can be is predictable. Every step, every scare, and every plot point can be seen a mile away.
If 2012 showed promise, and 2013 failed to live up to that promise, then 2014 was the year that the movies finally came back. There were interesting films released all year long, but there was an especially impressive explosion of challenging, fascinating films after the summer blockbuster season died down.
Biopics are quite tricky to pull off. It’s nearly impossible to distill one person’s life neatly into two hours, and the end result is often cliché-ridden and full of glaring omissions. Director Ava Duvernay doesn’t fall into those traps, here. She tells one story in Dr. Martin Luther King’s life, and we’re expected to know enough about the man and his prior accomplishments to not be lost. And of course, we do.
What’s most fascinating is seeing the various black leaders of the day argue about strategy and who’s right and who’s wrong and who should lead. We watch comfortably from the future and it’s easy to forget that for all these people knew, it could’ve blown up in their faces.