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Reviews
Melancholia (2011)
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The opening of the film immediately drew me in, and opened the door for so many questions as to what the imagery meant. Now some may think it is simply a slow motion experience of what is going to happen in the story throughout the film. I for one think it is much more complex than that, because I don't think Lars would have left each scene on the screen for as long as he did. The images move at such a slow speed it took me till about the 3rd scene to figure out they were actually moving. In a way they look like paintings or almost foggy pictures, the way the opening sequence was filmed was very unique, and hypnotizing experience. Whether each individual scene had its own meaning, I guess that is for us the viewer to decide, and maybe there is not clear cut answer, but a definite second viewing is a must for this film.
After the spectacular introduction, the story begins and we are at the wedding of Justine. On the surface it seems that Justine is as happy as can be, and should be; after all it is her wedding day. The day all girls dream of, but not long after arriving she starts to struggle to remain happy, and not because she doesn't love her husband anymore, or that she hates the wedding her sister and brother-in-law paid for, it is something much lager than that, Melancholia. Melancholia is a planet that is as scientists call it a "fly-by" planet, as it is orbiting right past us, and is coming close enough that it is going to harm earth, or may even crash into it. Now unlike most apocalyptic films instead of seeing the end of earth from a global perspective, this film solely focuses on how this catastrophe is affecting this family. Looking back it almost seems as if no one else in the world knows about Melancholia, because we see no other reactions from anyone but Justine, Claire, Tim, and Leo.
The rest of the film was just as beautiful as the beginning, and at some points, especially the scenes with Melancholia in view. Those scenes were what made this such a great sci-fi film because it actually brought space to us, much like Another Earth did. In both of the films we have our main characters obsessed with the idea of space, and spends a lot of the their time on set staring up at the sky. What makes this such a fun experience is we get to pretend and imagine what if this happens to us on earth, and in many ways makes science fiction much more real.
Now the only problem I truly had with this film was the script. I don't think it was any of the actors fault in this part because it was not the way they executed their lines but it was what was given to them. For example Alexander Skarsgard's character; he is the wife of the bride in the film and does not play a huge role, but some of what he said was just so cheesy and infantile. I don't know if this was on purpose, I'm assuming it was but I can't figure out why his character was supposed to be like this. Some of the dialogue reminded of the script in Drive, some of the scenes were just so awkward, but unlike Drive that sort of dialogue did not fit well in those scenes. It also happens quite often with the child in the film, and even though he has a little kid, I think it went a little over the top and almost exaggerating the child's language.
Before seeing this film and discussing it with others who had seen it, those who liked and disliked it, but no matter their opinion the majority always mentioned the ending. So of course the build up to the ending pretty suspenseful, even though I knew what was going to happen since it is shown in the first 20 minutes. But I was more curious as to how Lars von Trier was going to execute it. Now if you have not seen the film you may want to stop here because I'm not sure what people may consider spoilers in this film because we know the ending from the beginning. What made the ending so unique though was the way Melancholia crashed into earth. The main focus of the film was how Melancholia was tearing apart this family, so of course we see Melancholia not destroying earth, but it seems as if the planet is crashing solely in their backyard, focusing only on the destruction of this family, as the whole film did up until this point. The ending also resolved the problems between the sisters as best as it could, since the world did just end, and it gave the child a peaceful conclusion, and although in reality this would have been a much more catastrophic event, the last 30 seconds were gorgeous, but at the same time very eerie when thinking about putting yourself in that situation. The whole idea of having this family being the only ones worrying about the end of the earth, makes it easier to imagine how we as individuals would handle this situation. I think when films make view the end of the earth from a bigger picture it takes away the reality of the situation, and makes it simply what it is, a movie.
Moneyball (2011)
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Nominated for 6 Oscars, Moneyball is based on the true story of the General Manager of the Oakland Athletics, and his underdog team that almost made it to the championship in 2002. The General Manager at the time, Billy Beane, played by Brad Pitt, had to make drastic changes to his teams lineup, due to the fact that the A's had no money to pay for their star players. When it came time to scout for new players, the rest of the staff was doing things the old way. Billy Beane and his new Assistant G.M., Peter Brand saw baseball a whole different way. Based on the books by baseball writer and historian, Bill James; Peter had come up with a system based on math, to theoretically draft the best baseball team at a much smaller cost.
Billy Beane himself was an MLB player, and started his career out at the New York Mets. It started his senior year in high school, when he was offered a full ride to Stanford to play baseball, but he chose to go to the New York Mets instead. What the scouts did not realize is that he was not cut out to actually play in the major leagues. Whether it was his confidence level, or just pure luck that he made it that far. It was made clear to him after he had been traded multiple times that he was not cut out for the major leagues.
His story as a teenager is similar in many ways to his career as a General Manager, and that is what Moneyball effectively accomplishes. Since the beginning of baseball, scouts have been using the same techniques and statistics to find the best players, and it does not always work. Billy saw this at a young age, and it affected him the rest of his life. The scouts saw him statistically as the best player to join the major leagues, but what they could not find out is how he was actually going to turn out under pressure, and what type of person Billy was going to become as he grew up. Peter's new way of finding players for the major league still used statistics of course, but it ruled out certain aspects, such as, age, weight, injuries etc. The Oakland A's main focus now was who can make the most runs, because at the most simplistic form, runs are what win the game for the team.
Brad Pitt puts on a superb performance much like he always does, and shows the frustration that Billy must have been going through those rough years as a G.M., as he was reminded of his younger years playing in the MLB. I definitely think Brad Pitt deserves to be up for best Actor, and I hope he does get it. Everyone else in the movie did great playing the supporting roles, and making the experience much more enjoyable. Jonah Hill did a good job playing Peter Brand, but for me I always see him as goofy Jonah Hill. About half way through it I adjusted and he actually turned out to be great for the part. It would be amazing for him if he actually wins his supporting role, so he could break out of his comedic shell and do more serious roles like this one.
Moneyball accomplishes everything it is supposed to. It makes us want the Oakland A's to win the championship, even though we already know the outcome of the game, and we want Billy and Peter's ideas to work out, and for them to be successful. It's a wonderful story of the underdog, and even if they don't come out on top, they still accomplished so much for how small of a team they started out as. All that being said, I still don't think its best film worthy. It is a great story, and is definitely one of the best sports films in a long time, but it was not the most groundbreaking film of the year.
7/10
Chronicle (2012)
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Chronicle is a found footage film that follows the story of three friends, Andrew, Matt, and Steve, and how they gain their supernatural powers. While they are at one of their friends party they discover a deep hole that has a high pitched sounds screeching out of it. When they go to check out where the sounds is coming from they reach the end of the hole and find a strange blue-glowing structure. As the high pitched sound starts to become unbearable, Steve's nose begins to bleed badly, and right than Andrew's camera cuts out. When the camera is turned back on we are witness to the three friends trying to learn their new abilities.
What made the story so unique compared to most supernatural thrillers, is that the whole understanding of the power is completely left up to us. In all super hero stories we always know where the power of the villain and the hero came from, therefore we already know the motive behind both of the there goals, making the story more predictable. In the case of Andrew, Matt, and Steve, they stumble upon the structure and with no other knowledge, gain this power. We as an audience get to see these three individuals minds expand, as they gain godlike powers. Their minds could take them anywhere, and as their power grows stronger, that same power begins to corrupt, and take over their body.
Chronicle adds some fresh new elements to the somewhat dry style of "found-footage" filming. At points when the character Andrew (who did most of the filming) did not have the camera, we as an audience got to see the scenes through a different camera instead. Even some cameras with no sound such as, hospital cameras in hallways, or police dashboard cameras. It was new, and realistic approach to a genre which at times feels duplicated. It has also since improved the quality of how distorted some scenes with lots of action can turn out, which a lot people complained about when watching Cloverfield(2008).
I'm extremely excited to see what comes next from Writer, Max Landis, and Director Josh Trank. For this to be a first full length film for both of them, makes this film even more impressive. They both to seem to have a passion for science fiction, which is a genre that is need of some serious help. I'm curious to see if they continue on with the story of Chronicle, or if either of them have new stories to tell.