The Danish Girl (Britain, USA, 2015)

Nine Things About the Film The Danish Girl

1. I have rarely been so conflicted about a movie as I am about this one.

2. If I had to describe the actual movie in one word, it would be "exquisite". If I had eight more words, they would be "one of the best movies of the year". But if I had ten more words, they would be "why did they change so much of the real story?"

3. The movie is a pseudo-biography of Lili Elbe, one of the first known transgender women to undergo sex reassignment surgery.  And that's exactly the problem - it is a pseudo-biography. The movie is not based on Lili's journals or the couple's real story - it's based on a fiction book about Lili.

4. The story is about two married painters, Gerda and Einar Wegener. in 1920's Copenhagen. A series of small, random events slowly leads Einar to realize that he is really a woman. This challenges everything that the two of them know.

5. The movie is amazingly well-balanced in its treatment of the subject of transgender identity. It stays true to what being transgender means, but also respectfully portrays the realistic difficulties that people in the transgender person's life grapple with. Even the people that try to "fix" Lili are not portrayed as villains, just ignorant of a complicated reality.

6. I have come to the conclusion that Eddie Redmayne is one of the best actors on the planet. Not only did he give the best performance of 2014 in The Theory of Everything (he's actually the only reason to watch that movie), he gives the best performance of 2015 in this movie. I understand the criticism that maybe they should have cast an actual transgender woman in the role of Einar/Lili, but I'm not sure I agree with that. Redmayne does a masterful job of reaching the common humanity that exists in everyone.

7. Since both Wegener's were painters, painting is a large element of the movie. And in a work of visual genius, many of the movie's scenes are composed as paintings themselves. Sometimes it's hard to focus on the story because the picture itself is so beautiful.

8.  The ending of the movie is a little overbaked, but the rest of the movie is strong enough to make me overlook that.

9. It's really hard for me to be OK with the fact that they didn't stick to Einar/Lili's real story.  But if you look at the movie as a work of art, and not of history, this is a deeply layered, nuanced meditation on gender roles, identity, love, commitment, loneliness, and confusion. It's about being human.

The Big Short (USA, 2015)

Nine Things About the Film The Big Short

1. This movie is based on the book of the same name, and is about the almost impossible levels of corruption and stupidity that caused the world-crippling financial crisis from 2007-2010.

2. The movie is funny, fascinating, and deeply depressing. If you're not cynical about the world yet, you will be after this movie.

3. The story follows a few different groups of people around 2005 who stumble onto signs that big investment banks are selling bonds made of home mortgages that were trash. They decide to bet that the bonds would eventually fail, which would make them rich. 

4. It's a complicated subject that involves a lot of moving parts, distant connections, and economic black magic. The movie does a really good job of explaining the main parts of what happened, and makes things more understandable to regular people. But if you want to know the details of what happened and why, you will either need to already be an expert on the situation, or else do additional research on your own.

5. One of the themes of the movie is that regular people had no idea what was going to happen because they were too distracted by other things and weren't paying attention to their own circumstances. This theme is illustrated by periodic montages of pop culture and media that interrupt the flow of the ever-deepening sense of dread building up in the main story.

6. The cast is a great mix of unknown actors as well as well-known ones. Christian Bale is amazing once again, playing a socially awkward investment manager that trusts his math over other peoples' advice.  Ryan Gosling plays another version of most of his characters, but he's good at it, so that's fine. And Steve Carell continues to show that he is not just a great comedian, but one of the best actors today.

7. The movie was co-written and directed by Adam McKay, who directed Anchorman, Talladega Nights, and Step Brothers. It's pretty obvious that he has a working partnership with Will Ferrell. The Big Short is his first real shot at making a more dramatic movie - and it's the first movie he directed that didn't star Will Ferrell. McKay does an excellent job here, finding humor in a situation that really isn't very funny.

8. The film has a unique visual and narrative style - the camera kind of freewheels through situations and time periods, making the whole thing very kinetic. The characters often break the fourth wall and talk directly to the audience; sometimes they tell us whether a scene really happened or was made up for the movie.

9. This is a smart movie that requires a lot of concentration. But the talented cast and the careful script make it easier to follow.  This is a socially important movie if you want to keep informed about what's really going on around you. Just remember, this is a true story, and you already know that there is no happy ending.

Magic Mike XXL (USA, 2015)

Nine Things About the Movie Magic Mike XXL

1. The first Magic Mike movie was directed by Steven Soderbergh, so it was actually a real movie. It wasn't so much about strippers as young aimless men lured into a flashy but shallow business, run by a flashy but shady manager.

2. This movie was not directed by Steven Soderbergh. This was not a real movie. It was more like an idea of a movie that they never finished. With key members of the cast gone.

3. The story is basically a less-believable version of The Wizard of Oz. The boys gather to take a road trip to a far-away, famous stripper convention, and they run across various characters along the way. They also learn that what they were really looking for has been with them all along. Seriously.

4. Both movies were written by the same person, but it didn't seem like it. There were flashes of intelligence and humor here, but nothing like the first movie. This movie didn't really have a heart. Or a brain. Or a point.

5. Along the journey, the men go to a drag bar, and they win an amateur dance-Vogue thing. Then they meet Andie McDowell, an aging southern belle who regrets that the only man she ever had sex with was gay. Then they meed Jada Pinkett Smith, who has this "Eyes Wide Shut" mansion where men exist to make women feel like queens. The guys also take molly and make all new dance routines, based on the men that they really feel like inside. Except the new dances are all kinda stupid.

6.   Don't get me wrong. I absolutely love Donald Glover, and I'll watch anything he's in. But he was an awkward fit for this movie, even if he did play a wannabe rapper named Andre.

7.  The actual stripper convention was very anticlimactic. The final routines were short and dumb. Well, except for the very last one with Channing Tatum and Stephen "Twitch" Boss. That mirror routine was cool, I admit.

8. The movie is fun to watch in that "guilty pleasure" kinda way. But it's not actually good or anything.

9. The movie doesn't have an ending. It just stops. Like this review.

Chi-raq (USA, 2015)

Nine Things About the Film Chi-Raq

1. This movie is rude, raw, raunchy, wrong... and right on the money. It's going to be too much for some people, but I personally think it may be the best movie of 2015.

2. It's a retelling of a 2500-year-old Greek play named Lysistrata. Writer/producer/director Spike Lee updates the play and sets it in a gang-run neighborhood of Chicago. Nick Cannon plays Chiraq, who is both a local rapper and the head of the Spartan gang. Wesley Snipes plays Cyclops, the aging leader of their deadly rivals, the Trojan Gang. Samuel L. Jackson plays the narrator Dolmedes (see what they did there?). After a small child is gunned down in the street and nobody wants to come forward to be a witness, the women in the neighborhood have reached their breaking point. They band together and vow not to have sex with any man until the gangs squash their beef for good.

3. The movie is a satire, an indictment, and a plea. It was written by Lee and film professor Kevin Willmot (who lives in Lawrence, KS). They must have dipped their pen in acid to write the script, because this film burns. Beneath the satirical humor, this movie is angry. Very very angry. And everybody is to blame.

4. Lee has been criticized for setting the movie in Chicago (and using the controversial title) when he's not even from there. Some people think the movie makes fun of the gang and violence issues. I understand those criticisms, but I think they are misdirected. The movie starts tightly focused on the street murder of a child in Chicago, but then it spirals outward until it's a glorious mess that sweeps more and more topics into its whirlwind. Chicago is a symbol of a much bigger cluster of issues. Besides, Lee gives a lot of love to Chicago.

5. Artistically, the movie is a masterpiece. It has a rhythm both in movement and speech. As a reference to the original play, most of the dialogue is spoken in rhyme.  You don't have to know the original Lysistrata to see this movie, but if you do, you gain an extra layer of appreciation as you see how Lee translates ancient Greece into modern urban America. In addition, Lee uses colors to great effect, especially the colors of the rival gangs.

6. Nick Cannon blew me away with his portrayal of Chiraq. Before this, everything I'd seen him in made him seem mild and rather family-friendly. But in this movie, he not only leaves his Nickelodeon and "America's Got Talent" fun goofiness behind, he obliterates it.

7. John Cusack's character is based on a real priest in the neighborhood where the movie takes place. His church sermon is not only one of the high points of the film, it gave me a new appreciation of why church and spirituality are so important to the black community.

8. The movie will not be appreciated by everyone. Some people will be turned off by the explicitness of the topic. Some people will not get the satire. Some people will not be prepared for the amount of concentration it takes to understand it. Some people will get overly defensive. The easily offended should find something else to watch.

9. This is the Spike Lee that I love. It's his best and ballsiest movie since his classics Do the Right Thing and Malcolm X. It's confrontational, relevant, smart, funny, and heartbreaking. For a movie with so much absurd comedy, I found myself with tears in my eyes more than once. The movie transcends itself and lights the American powder-keg. People will be talking about this movie for a long time.

Creed (USA, 2015)

Nine Things About the Movie Creed

1. The 2006 film Rocky Balboa brought the saga of the legendary movie boxer to a classy and satisfying ending - nothing else was needed. But nine years later, here comes Creed, the seventh movie in the series. Of course, lots of things could have gone wrong here... but nothing does. This is a movie worthy of the series, while also sending things off into a new direction. As Sylvester Stallone reportedly said, "this is Creed 1, not Rocky 7".

3. The movie is about Adonis Creed, the son of Apollo when Apollo apparently cheated on his wife sometime around Rocky IV (the timeline doesn't quite match up with Adonis's age, but I can run with it). He grows up in a life of privilege, but gives it up to become a boxer because he loves to fight. He convinces Rocky to be his trainer.

4. The movie stands on its own, but fits well into the existing Rocky universe. There are many references to the other films in the series, which gives an extra resonance to things (if you listen closely, you can even hear Rocky say his famous catchphrase.)

5. Michael B. Jordan plays Adonis, and he is just about perfect for the role. I've been a huge fan of him ever since he blew me away in Fruitvale Station, and he's honestly one of the reasons I decided to watch this - I trusted he (as well as the director) wouldn't make a bad movie. And I was right.

6. The movie was written and directed by Ryan Coogler, who also wrote and directed Fruitvale Station. This is only his second movie, but he has already proven himself a talented filmmaker that can bring life to existing material, while remaining respectful to its roots.

7. There are many moments in this film that mirror the original Rocky, and it's interesting to watch from that perspective. The struggle of Adonis to both accept and escape his last name is a compelling story. At the same time, Rocky lives in the shadow of his own fame, and he ends up identifying with his dead wife's struggles, too. There are several emotional moments for each character, and they all ring true.

8. The big fight at the movie's climax brought all the same emotions back to me that I felt way back when I watched the original Rocky. On the other end of the spectrum, there is an extremely bittersweet scene on the famous steps that made me feel the unique pain of passing time.

9. This is a classy, smart, and emotional movie. Fans of the series will be impressed with the way the saga is handled. For people that have never seen the originals, they can jump in on one of the greatest sports movie franchises in history. If Coogler and Jordan can keep this quality up, I'll gladly start watching Creed movies instead of Rocky movies.

Half of a Yellow Sun [Nigeria, 2013]

Nine Things About the Film "Half of a Yellow Sun"

1. This movie is basically two short films with the same characters. The first half is a melodramatic romance. The second half is a historical war drama.

2. It's about two upper class, educated Nigerian sisters in the early 1960's and how they shock their traditional parents by shacking up with men that won't help their careers. These romantic choices help determine the roles they play in the Nigerian Civil War at the end of the 1960's.

3. The plot of the first hour is kind of boring as a story, but it's interesting as a character study. The older sister, Olanna, lives with a professor named Odenigbo that likes to imagine himself as a revolutionary. The younger sister, Kainene, runs the family business while sleeping with an English writer named Richard. There is drama, and cheating, and scandal, in both families.

4. While the first hour is a soap opera, it's also helpful in setting up the second hour. The opening scene of the movie shows Nigeria gaining independence from Britain in 1960, which sets lots of other things in motion. In between the family drama, you learn more about how Nigeria works - the geography, the class system, the prejudice and tribal politics.

5. Almost exactly halfway through the movie, the ethnic, economic, and cultural conflicts brewing in the background suddenly become the main story. Odenigbo's tribe, the Igbo people, don't trust the northern government. They carve out a little piece of the country and attempt to secede, declaring themselves the country of Biafra, independent of Nigeria. Everything comes unglued (in real life, over a million people died in this war that lasted about 30 months).

6. The movie attempts to explore topics such as nationalism, tribalism, identity, and what white Westerners are doing in their country. But since half the movie is spent on cheating spouses and relationship politics, there isn't much time for these more complicated ideas.

7. Thandie Newton is a really good actress that has never landed the big role she deserves (I still remember her from Beloved). She does well in this movie, and I was glad to see her again. Chiwetel Ejiofor is another great actor, and he plays Odenigbo with a good mixture of intelligence, stupidity and dumb loyalty (the same year this movie was made, Ejiofor also starred in 12 Years a Slave).

8. The movie was filmed in Nigeria, which brings an authentic feel to the events portrayed. But it was strangely shot - it's beautiful, but sometimes looks like a stage play.

9. This isn't a great film, but it's a good one. It's entertaining, educational, and is an example of Africans telling their own history. This two-hour movie taught me more about the world's largest continent than I ever learned in school.

Unfriended (USA, 2015)

Nine Things About the Movie Unfriended

1. This is not a great movie, but is much better than I expected. It's an innovative take on the tired "found footage" gimmick so popular in horror films today, and is an impressive attempt at a new type of storytelling.

2.  It was produced by Timur Bekmambetov, who is best known for directing the Russian fantasy/horror classics "Night Watch" and "Day Watch" a decade ago.

3. The entire movie takes place in real time, on one computer screen. All the acting is done through video chats and instant messaging. For people not used to seeing the ability of young people to casually and expertly multi-task using modern technology - or who find it annoying - the movie will be a big turn-off. But that very ability is the ironic hinge of the entire movie.

4.  The story is about five friends talking online one evening, who are joined by a mysterious sixth person connected to the one-year anniversary of the suicide of one of their classmates.

5. The smart thing for the kids to do would be to turn off their computers about 10 minutes into the movie. But of course they won't do that. They can't. Computers and phones are their interface with the world, and they attempt to negotiate the intrusions of the stranger in terms of that reality.

6. In an impressive feat of authenticity, the movie uses real programs like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Skype, Google, and even LiveLeak, instead of generic imitations that you usually find in movies.

7. The supernatural aspects of the film are stupid and boring. But I think this movie is just pretending to be a horror film. It's not actually about a spirit looking for revenge. It's about the horrific ramifications that can follow from careless and thoughtless actions.

8. The movie uses the horror genre as an entrance to explore other issues such as cyber-bullying, technology as an authentic extension of real life, the self-destructive nature of high school relationships, and the self-centered stupidity of the teenage years as a whole. In this context, the movie is actually kind of compelling.

9. If you want an actual horror film, watch something else. If you don't understand modern technology, watch something else. At it's heart, this is a Generation-Y teen movie that explores themes going all the way back to Rebel Without a Cause. But what makes this movie different (and more relevant) than those other teen films is the exploration of how fleeting teenage mood swings are no longer quickly felt and forgotten; they are too easily turned into permanent public records that can literally come back to haunt you.

The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things (USA, 2006)

                     Nine Things About the Film                                  The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things

1. This is the film version of the super-depressing cult novel by J.T. Leroy (the bizarre story of the author is a completely different topic). While the book consists of 10 distinct but connected short stories, the movie sews them all together into a more-or-less coherent story.

2. This low-budget, independent movie follows the childhood of a boy named Jeremiah, and how he is repeatedly abused and dehumanized in just about every way, by just about every adult in his life, as his mentally unstable mother wrecks their world.

3. The movie should come with a trigger warning for child abuse.

4. It was directed by Asia Argento, the daughter of the super-famous Italian movie-maker Dario. Asia stars in the movie as the mother, Sarah (although for most of the movie I thought Uma Thurman was playing the role).

5. The acting in this movie is amazing. Argento is furiously effective as the crazy drug addict prostitute who is unable to stop emotionally abusing her son. And Jimmy Bennett gave a heart-stopping performance as the 7-year-old Jeremiah (Bennett has gone on to have a real acting career, but he deserves more recognition).

6. There are cameos and small roles by a number of actors who are famous in their own circles; Jeremy Sisto, Ben Foster, and Michael Pitt (more hardcore indie film fans will recognize Kip Pardue and John Robinson). Peter Fonda is great as Jimmy's grandfather, the abusive head of a religious cult. Fans of Jeremy Renner may be surprised to know that way before he became a superhero, he was a child molester in this movie. Winona Ryder has a great few minutes playing an insensitive social worker.

7. The movie follows Jeremiah's mental confusion and developmental problems with more guts than most movies about child abuse. One of the emotional climaxes of the movie is a very disturbing encounter with trailer-park-trash Marilyn Manson.

8. By the time the movie spirals into a gender-bending, poison-filled psychological implosion, you see that Jeremiah's dehumanization is a symptom of a more wide-spread sickness of society in general (in a super-meta literary technique, Jeremiah himself is a symbol of the Bible verse that inspired the title of the book and movie).

9. The movie is hard to watch, but it's also almost impossible to turn away. An underground classic with a surprising cast, this is one of the best films I've seen about the mutilation of innocence, and the tragic ways that kids can adapt to almost anything.

Empire of the Sun (USA, 1987)

Nine Things About the Film Empire of the Sun

1. This is perhaps the best representation of the loss of innocence ever put on screen.

2.  It's the story of a British boy named Jim (played by 13-year-old Christian Bale in his very first movie) caught between China and Japan during WWII, and how he goes from being privileged and sheltered to being... somebody else.

3. The movie is epic both externally and internally - huge scenes of wartime China juxtapose with huge shifts in Jim's psyche and emotional development.

4. In some ways, this movie can be seen as a modern, wartime interpretation of the story of Buddha.

5. The screenplay was written by the legendary Tom Stoppard, and the movie was directed by the legendary Steven Spielberg. I feel sorry for people that see Spielberg's name and think it's going to be like Jurassic Park or E.T.. This is not a regular Spielberg movie. The partnership between Stoppard and Spielberg results in a film that is densely packed with ideas, allusions, metaphors, and symbols. You can peel it almost endlessly, and find something else to ponder.

6. To really appreciate the context of the film, you have to know some basic history of World War II and Japanese culture.

7. At certain scenes of the film the dialogue drops to a minimum, or even disappears entirely. These scenes are not breaks from the story. They are the real story. The most important ideas in the film are impossible to explain verbally, but must be communicated visually (and musically). They have to move past your talky-brain and deeper into who you are. The "Cadillac of the Sky/bones in the runway" scene is one of my most favorite scenes in all of cinema.

8. The movie is about childhood, death, overthinking things, pragmatism, and the realization that you are not special. The world owes you nothing. You deal with that, or you die.

9. It's impossible to fully explain in words the multi-layered masterpiece of this movie. It's a visually astonishing, existentially profound examination of the beauty and terror of being alive. From a kid's perspective.

The Tribe (Ukraine, 2014)

Nine Things About the Movie The Tribe

1. OK, so when you think of major contributions to cinema, you may not think of the Ukraine. Until now. The Tribe is a completely unique film that pushes the boundaries of cinema, and serves as an experiment in human communication. It will be taught in film classes until the end of time.

2. The story takes place at a boarding school for kids who are both deaf and mute. Sergey is a teenage boy who has just arrived, and is immediately targeted by a group of boys. They both bully him and accept him, and he becomes part of the group. This ends up not being good for Sergey.

3. What makes the story so amazing is that the movie is "spoken" entirely in Ukranian sign language. There is absolutely no spoken dialogue, no narration, and no subtitles. There isn't even a musical soundtrack. The only sounds in the entire film are peripheral sounds like footsteps and traffic.

4. Unless you are one of the minuscule percentage of people that know Ukranian sign language, this film is the same for everybody in the world, hearing or deaf. You must concentrate and figure out the story entirely from body language, movement, and the way the movie is filmed. I was both surprised and proud that I pretty much understood what was going on.

5. It's pretty odd to watch people fight and have sex without ever saying anything. But it makes sense.

6. This movie could have ended up being a gimmicky stunt, but it's not. It tells a full story like any other movie, except that all the dialogue between the characters is in sign language. Since you don't know what the characters are saying to each other, some scenes don't make sense until a little later, when you get some more context.

7. The actors are actually deaf, and are just regular people - they are not professional actors. This is obvious in a few of the scenes, which feel a little amateur.

8. Though the movie is about teenagers, it's pretty adult, and contains scenes of fairly explicit sex and violence. It's bleak, both visually and emotionally.

9. Because it takes place in almost complete silence, and it's a drama with no special effects or loud noises, this movie is not for everybody. Some people may find it boring, or even fall asleep from a lack of stimulation. And that's too bad. Reflecting on what the movie does and says, I think it's an amazing work of art that opened my ears to parts of life that I didn't realize I could actually hear.

White God (Hungary, 2014)

Nine Things About the Film White God

 1. Not since the 2000 Mexican classic Amores Perros have dogs been used as such an effective allegory for the human experience. 

 2. This remarkable Hungarian film is about a girl named Lili, and her dog, Hagen. They are both misunderstood by the girl's father, and everybody suffers for that. 

 3. When Lili and Hagen are separated, they follow parallel but separate tracks, each learning the cruelties of their own worlds. They learn what it means to be taken advantage of, and what it takes to survive. 

 4. Eventually, the dog and human worlds are inverted, and the dogs have the chance to change their destinies. 

 5. There are scenes of animal cruelty that will bother some sensitive viewers. 

 6. While the highlight of the film is the dog uprising, it's important to note that it doesn't occupy very much of the film. The point of the film is what leads to the uprising. 

7. Hundreds of dogs were used in the filming of this movie - all were rescued from animal shelters to make the movie, and all were given homes afterwards. The main dog, Hagen, was played remarkably well by two sibling dogs. The dogs were given a special acting award at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. 

 8. The ending of the film is kind of mysterious; I'm still trying to figure it out. 

 9. The obvious interpretation of the film is that it is a social commentary on racism, though it can apply equally well to any "out group" of society that reaches its breaking point. But however you interpret it, this is a unique movie with haunting imagery and a relevant message.

Tree of Life (USA, 2011)

Nine Things About the Movie Tree of Life

1. This is a Terrence Malik movie. Those that know who Terrence Malik are know what I'm talking about. In fact, this is probably the most Terrence Malick-y of all his movies.

2. The characters speak cryptically and in whispers. Make sure you have your subtitles on.

3. If you miss the beginning lines of what the nuns taught, you miss one of the main themes of the movie.

4. The movie blurs the line between parents and God -  they can all be glorious, hypocritical, and abusive.

5. There is a suggestion at the beginning of the DVD to turn the volume up loud. Take that advice.

6.  Some people say they don't understand the movie. But there comes a time in everyone's life (which may be a different time for everybody) where if you don't understand this movie, then you're either not paying attention, or you're lying to yourself.

7. Much of the movie is narrated in the first person. Malick once stated that he hoped that the viewer is able to understand that the story is their own - not that of the character in the movie.

8. The movie is about childhood, in all it's horrific glory. And it's about God, in all It's glorified horror.

9. This movie is a work of art from the opening frame to the ending frame. It's one of  the most intimately epic movies ever made. You just might hate it.

Focus (USA, 2015)

Nine Things About the Movie Focus

1. For a movie that's supposed to be about focus, it sure doesn't have much.

2. The movie starts out promising - Will Smith plays Nicky, who leads a small group of con artists. Nicky meets a small-time wannabe named Jess, and he shows her how their world works.

3. What begins as a fun caper movie loses steam - and becomes predictable - as soon as Nicky and Jess start falling in love. Shortly after that (the football scene, to be specific), it comes completely off the rails. The movie gets increasingly ridiculous and unbelievable; by the end, I was laughing at all the wrong parts.

4. The movie itself doesn't suck. There are some nice scenes, good performances, and the camera work is great. The story sucks, though.

5. It's strange to see Will Smith play a dramatic and romantic leading man, but he pulls it off. His charisma carries the whole movie.

6. Jess is the only female character in the movie. She flip-flops between being a strong female and a sexist stereotype.

7. This movie has one of the longest and most pointless "I'm tied to a chair while the bad guy makes speeches" scenes I've watched in awhile.

8. This movie wants to keep you guessing who is on what side. But the story is so full of nonsense and holes that I stopped caring.

9. I know the movie's message is supposed to be how you can lose your focus and then find a new and better one. But the movie loses track of itself so completely that the message doesn't just get blurry, it disappears.

Short Term 12 (USA, 2014)

Nine Things About the Movie Short Term 12


1. This movie hit me right in the feels. It was one of the most overlooked films of 2014.

2. It's about a group of 20-something adults working in a group home for troubled teenagers. One of the workers, Grace, bonds with a new girl, Jayden. Their relationship triggers problems in Grace's past, and she has trouble maintaining the boundaries between Jayden's situation and her own.

3.  It was written and directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, who based it on his own experiences working in a group home.

4. It's a very authentic movie (mostly), and does an excellent job of showing what it's like to work with kids who have slipped between society's cracks, or who have been dealt a terrible situation in life.

5.  While the major focus is on Grace, it is really kind of an ensemble story. The movie follows three adult workers, and several kids. They all are connected in different ways, and the movie does a good job of showing how an incident in one life can reverberate among the others.

6. The acting is superb all around. The characters are believable, realistic, and illustrate life's tragedies without becoming melodramatic. Brie Larson is absolutely amazing as Grace, the adult that's just as traumatized as the kids she works with. She should have won an Academy Award.

7. There is technically a main climax to the movie; but since the story involves several kids in various situations, there are several "mini-climaxes" spread throughout the film as we follow their subplots. The movie swings your emotions from hope to heartbreak several times.

8. This is one of the best illustrations I've ever seen of the difficulty of maintaining a professional perspective in highly emotional situations. It also helps explain why some people are attracted to such a difficult job.

9. Without giving any major spoilers away, I HATED the ending. It betrayed all the realism of the rest of the movie, and it's disrespectful to the troubled kids stuck in the system. The last five minutes should not have been filmed.

Fifty Shades of Grey (USA, 2015)

Nine Things About the Movie Fifty Shades of Grey

1. Screenwriter Kelly Marcel and director Samantha Taylor-Johnson have taken the infamous, almost unreadably bad novel and turned it into a surprisingly watchable movie. The main problem with it is that it tries to be two movies at the same time.

2. The film is structured as a dumb romantic fantasy, with high levels of melodrama and low levels of logic. A pretty but frumpy college senior named Ana interviews a mega-billionaire named Christian, and falls in love. Christian's unusual sexual outlook awakens something in Ana, and they both struggle with what it all means.

3. But crammed into that juvenile story structure is a different movie, one that tries to make some actual statements about women, power, and sex. Unfortunately, those statements don't quite work in the context of the actual plot, so the movie ends up sabotaging itself.

4. I need to make this clear: People that criticize the movie as promoting non-consensual sex or violence against women have absolutely no idea what they are talking about. They either haven't seen it, or their perspective is warped because of their own sexual or gender-role hangups. The entire theme of the movie is about consent and different ways of negotiating a sexual relationship. There is never any doubt who is actually in control in this movie, or who gets the most pleasure. And it's not the man.

5. The movie gets the dominant/submissive thing kind of right, both physically and psychologically. Better than the book does, anyway. However, it's unfortunate that Christian is coming at the BDSM lifestyle for the wrong reasons.

6. There is a sense of humor and playfulness in the movie that is drowned out in the book.

7. Dakota Johnson gives a good, brave performance as Ana. Jamie Dornan wasn't as good as Christian. He was supposed to be brooding and intense, but came off looking mostly constipated.

8. A huge part of the success of this kind of movie depends on the sexual chemistry between the two lead actors. There is about as much sexual chemistry between Johnson and Dornan as there is between a rock and a piece of wood.

9. Like it or not, this movie is a milestone in popular media's depiction of women as full-blooded sexual beings. It describes a new form of female empowerment that clearly hits a nerve in society... and makes many people uncomfortable. There are a lot of important ideas here. I just wish those ideas were expressed in a story that could be taken seriously.

A Most Violent Year (USA, 2014)

Nine Things About the Movie A Most Violent Year

1. Despite the title, this movie is not that violent. And it all takes place in 33 days. The title just means "New York City, 1981" because that's when the movie takes place, and it was one of the most violent years in New York History.

2. You could kind of call this movie "The Anti-Godfather".

3. It's about an immigrant, Abel, running an energy fuel company, slowly building his American Dream. Abel is trying to expand his dream honestly, even though he knows that he has to bend the rules sometimes. Unfortunately, his competitors are willing to bend more rules than he is.

4. When an ambitious district attorney comes after him for suspected illegal activities, Abel finds himself feeling pressure from every imaginable direction. He is forced into a series of decisions that will either chip away at his dream... or his ability to remain uncorrupted.

5. Abel, (played by Oscar Isaac, from "Inside Llewin Davis"), is one of the most interesting characters I've seen in films for quite awhile. He's not a hero, nor is he an anti-hero. He can't commit enough to one side or the other. You never quite know if you're supposed to root for him or not.

6. Jessica Chastain is wonderful as Abel's wife, who provides more support to him than he wants to acknowledge. David Oyelowo (who will forever be known as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in "Selma") is excellent as the district attorney whose loyalty to justice serves his own ambition.

7. Even though this movie is over two hours long, and isn't focused on action, the script and the pacing is strong enough that things don't get boring.

8. There is also a constant, low-boil atmospheric tension throughout the film. As soon as Abel seems to have a plan for the current problem, others pop up. You can almost physically feel Abel's optimism and energy fade away.

9. This is a smart, well-told story. It's a gangster movie about not being a gangster. And it illustrates the idea that sometimes there are no right choices in life, so you have to go with your next-best choice.



 

Foxcatcher (USA, 2014)

Nine Things About the Movie Foxcatcher

[NOTE: I tried very hard not to give away spoilers in this review. If you want to see this movie, see it before you learn the actual story.]

1. Most people (including myself) thought the trailer to this film was kind of vague and hard to remember; you couldn't really tell what it was about. People would say, "'Foxcatcher'? That's that weird movie about wrestling, right? And Steve Carell sure looks strange." But now I understand why. It's almost impossible to summarize the movie.

2. The actual plot is easy to explain - two brothers, Dave and Mark Schultz, are Olympic gold medalists in wrestling. The younger one, Mark, is trying to get out of his brother's shadow and become his own person. Mark meets this really strange millionaire, John du Pont, who invites Mark to start a wrestling team on his ranch, and train for the next Olympics. Things don't go as planned.

3. The plot is not what the movie is actually about, though. This is a subtle movie where some key points are shown through long, non-verbal scenes, or through short, almost throw-away lines of dialogue. Some people think this movie is too long, quiet, and boring. This means they have not been paying attention, and missed all the important stuff.

4. The plot of the movie is basically a true story, but they changed quite a few things to make it fit, and to make the story more complex (there is a lot of controversy over some of the points in the film). The real Mark Schultz has a cameo, as a wrestling official weighing in the movie version of himself.

5. I have only one thing to say about Steve Carell. He deserves Best Actor of the Year. And Mark Ruffalo deserves his Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor.

6. Now let me say something about Channing Tatum. The fact that he was not nominated for an Oscar is one of the most mysterious and outrageous snubs I've ever seen. Tatum gives a performance that rivals Carell's. He inhabits his character physically and emotionally. Together, Tatum and Carell turn what could have been a weird little melodrama into a genuine piece of American tragedy.

7. There is a constant thread of awkwardness and pain through the movie. It's perfectly matched with the muted, sorrowful colors of the film, the minimalist soundtrack, and the cinematography.

8. The movie also sets up a constant, vague sense of unease. You get a feeling in the pit of your stomach that something is going to go very wrong, but you don't know what or when.

9. This movie is a quiet, peaceful, psychological car crash, where morals clash with money, "yes" clashes with "no", family will both support and destroy you, and crushed dreams are painted onto other people. It's open to more than one interpretation, and I don't guarantee that you will like this movie. But I do guarantee that if you can stick with it, it will stick with you.

American Sniper (USA, 2014)

Nine Things About the Movie American Sniper

1. This movie knocked me speechless.

2. Directed by 84-year-old Clint Eastwood, it's based (kind of) on the autobiography of Chris Kyle, who has the reputation of being the deadliest sniper in U.S. military history. In the book, Kyle portrays himself as a stone-cold badass killer. The movie softens that up a great deal. In fact, after the first 30 minutes, the movie has very little to do with the real Chris Kyle. He's a convenient symbol from which Eastwood constructs a rather complicated metaphor, to show that war is both necessary and self-defeating.

3. The movie starts by setting up Kyle's simple, patriotic, God-country-family loyalty. It's a world of black and white, good and evil. Kyle becomes a Navy SEAL to fight evil. But as the movie progresses, Kyle starts to be confronted with situations and ideas that don't mesh with his view of reality. This makes him angry and confused, and he deals with it by suppressing it and focusing on his job of defending America against evil; he returns to Iraq again and again.

4. Kyle does four tours in Iraq, separated by periods back at home with his family. The random violence and constant paranoia in Kyle's military life suddenly switches to the carefree American oblivious family life. This is somewhat disorienting, which helps you to understand what Kyle is experiencing. The movie is an excellent depiction of the development of PTSD without ever mentioning that term.

5. Bradley Cooper is astounding in his portrayal of Kyle. You can tell a great actor by what he does when he's not talking. Cooper nails the body language of a man who feels at home while he's at war, and at war while he's at home. It's not only in his body, it's even in his eyes.

6. A LOT of people miss the entire point of the movie because they immediately move into their respective corners and watch it only through their lens. The hyper patriots that expect the movie to call him a saint are just as lost as the ones that expect the movie to call him a racist sociopath.

7. The movie is pretty violent. And since it is almost entirely urban combat, the violence is more intimate, more intense, than in conventional war movies. There are no epic battle scenes. Every shot, every killed soldier, is shown individually.

8. There is an unwritten rule of filmmaking that if you are going to torture or kill a child, you don't actually show it; the act is committed offscreen. This movie breaks that rule. Twice.

9. The movie embraces the paradoxes of war by showing them through the eyes of a man that doesn't understand paradox. What makes the movie so polarizing (and so impressive to me) is the fact that Clint Eastwood turned the movie itself into a bullet, shooting straight for a deep nerve in American culture. Love it or loathe it, this is something we need to pay attention to.

The Theory of Everything (Britain, 2014)

Nine Things About the Movie The Theory of Everything.

1. This piece of obvious Oscar-bait is about the life of famous physicist Stephen Hawking. And I feel really conflicted about it.

2. There are some great individual things about this movie - some terrific cinematic sequences and emotional moments. The soundtrack is lush and beautiful.

3. But it's mostly a love story. A fake one.

4.  The movie tries to give the audience a taste of what Hawking did to physics. But it ends up feeling very vague, and if you don't already know his theories, then you just end up with the idea that he was really smart. You don't understand how revolutionary he actually was.

5. It's also a "greatest moments" look at the development of his motor-neuron disease, and how he went from a healthy 21-year-old to the famously wheelbound man with a wrecked body and robotic voice.

6. The rest of the movie is a tired, by-the-numbers romance about a woman who stands by her man and together they overcome all odds. A lot of the relationship depicted in the movie never happened in real life, including how it began and ended. Not even close. The film just invents a new relationship for them.

7.  I admit, I couldn't help but spend part of the movie trying to figure out which actors played which characters in the "Harry Potter" movies. It was kind of distracting.

8.  Eddie Redmayne (who isn't very well known in America) plays Hawking. It's easily the best acting I've seen in 2014. The way he slowly contorts his body as the disease progresses is one of the best physical performances I've ever seen in my life. It should be illegal for him not to win some acting awards. He almost single-handedly makes the movie worth seeing.

9.  As a showcase for some cinematography and acting, the movie is great.
 As an inspirational love story, this movie is melodramatic and saccharine. You know, the usual.
As a scientific biography, this movie is terrible, and almost insulting.
If you watch this movie, make sure you know what you're getting.

Birdman (USA, 2014)

Nine Things About the Movie Birdman

1. I admit I almost skipped this movie, because I couldn't figure out from the marketing what I was supposed to be going to see. So the biggest reason I went to see it is because of the director, Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu. I've followed his career ever since Amores Perros.

2.  I'm very glad I took the chance with this movie. This is an acidic, melancholy comedy that takes on serious universal themes, while set almost entirely in a Broadway theater.

3. Michael Keaton stars as Riggan Thomson, a has-been Hollywood actor who, in a kind of pathetic attempt to make himself relevant again, decides to create a Broadway show. As the show gets closer to opening night, his mental stability deteriorates, and everything starts coming unhinged. People around him are forced to face their own insecurities and fears.

4. The movie is very cleverly edited so that it seems like most of it is filmed in one long, continuous camera shot.

5. While the entire cast is great, this might be Michael Keaton's best performance ever. He plays Riggan with just the right mixture of exhaustion, hope, cynicism and defeat.

6. There is a dash of magical realism that pops up from time to time, which may confuse some audience members. And I'm still not sure what to do with the ending.

7.  One of the themes of the movie is coming to the realization that in the grand scheme of things, you don't matter very much, if at all. Even if you do achieve some fame in this world, it's temporary and pointless anyway.

8.  Another theme of the movie is the eternal battle about creativity. Specifically, it illustrates the way that the Hollywood movie culture and the New York theater culture resent each other for having differing ideas about art and importance and relevance.

9. This is a very quirky, dark-hearted comedy that takes stabs all kinds of people. celebrities, and situations. And it's exactly that sharpness, as it slices up the characters, that lets the audience see that inside, we're all pretty much the same.