NIGHTCRAWLER

By Darin Skaggs

     In this day and age anyone can get famous for only doing a little bit due to social media.  The crazier a post to a website or terrifying moment caught on video will get many views. Our public is obsessed with articles labeled “You won’t believe what happens next!” We find we can’t help but view these awful acts, whatever it may be, maybe because most don’t know what a shooting or car accident looks like.  Dan Gilroy’s directorial debut Nightcrawler is a look at the very idea of those articles and where they come from.

     Jake Gyllenhaal plays Louis Bloom a man who always knows just what to say and is very motivated.  If you were up against him in a job interview you would not stand a chance.  When we first meet him he is collecting fence wire to sell to earn some money.  He runs into a security guard.  Louis is calm, cool and collected.  After a few words Louis attacks the guard, steals his watch and goes about his business.  While selling the wire to a construction site he tries to talk his way into a job.  He says everything right but doesn’t get the job, the reasons are revealed is the man doesn’t want to hire a thief.  Driving along the road, obviously bummed about not getting a job he sees a car wreck.  After checking out the wreck a bit, a couple of men carrying cameras start filming the action.  It turns out this is a job where the men film potential news stories and go sell it to the news stations.  Being the determined man he is Louis jumps right into this line of work.  It turns out he is good at it and he becomes more obsessed with getting better.

      Gyllenhaal gives the best performance of the year so far.  He plays a manipulative guy who always knows what to say.  Gyllenhaal plays it not like a guy who is good at talking, but someone who taught himself how to talk.  For most people talking just comes naturally to them, not even noticing they are doing it anymore like breathing.  Louis though, talks like no one else, almost like a bad actor who knows his lines just not how to make it seem natural.  That doesn’t stop him from getting exactly what he wants like convincing his co-worker that getting paid less is okay or that the news company should buy from him.  Deeper into the film we see the true evil of this man, in the beginning you feel sorry for him, but the joy he gets from getting everything he wants no matter the sin he commits just becomes appalling.

     The film also speaks to how demented we are as a collective public.  The pieces that Louis films are at most points violent, dark and scary.  The head of news station Louis is selling to, Nina who is played by Rene Russo, knows that the public wants to see this dark footage.  No one wants to admit it but with the internet and 24 hour news channels on we have access to all this dark material.  Most people at the news station don’t want to show the violent images, but they are not in charge.  Nina shows all these because it is helping ratings and even shows footage that has evidence of Louis breaking the law, but at times he gets away with it because he made successful television.

     Nightcrawler is a great psychological thriller, the whole film filled with dread with an ending so cold it will leave you haunted.  Gyllenhaal gives his best work of his career so far.  Hopefully this is not a one hit wonder for Gilroy because this film is absolutely brilliant. 

    

NYMPHOMANIAC

By Darin Skaggs

     Lars Von Trier is one of the most pretentious filmmakers of all time.  With that being said some of his work is absolutely brilliant. Breaking the Waves, Melancholia and Dancer in the Dark have gotten many a praise from critics.  Others split the vote when it comes to if they are good or not.  Antichrist is an extremely crazy film and Dogville is long and pompous.  His new film can certainly be put into the pretentious category as well as an almost parody of Trier’s filmography as a whole.  The film is Nymphomaniac, a four hour epic all about Joe, a sex addict. 

     In the beginning Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg) is found beaten, lying on the ground by Seilgman who takes her to his apartment.  There Joe begins to tell her life story of being a nymphomaniac.  She tells about her young self (Stacy Martin) discovering her sexuality and eventually getting to her delving deeper and deeper into darker sexual experiences that lead to her being beaten and left for dead in an alley.

     The reason she is telling her entire story is intentionally clunky, it is only because Seilgman asked “What happen out there?” and she responds with “If you want to know that I have to start from the beginning.”  And while she is telling her tale she is constantly interrupted by Seilgman who compares her experiences to fishing.  He talks about reeling in fish is like Joe reeling in men in her early days.  Throughout the film he compares her story to Greek Gods, fishing and literary figures.  This is all pretty funny; the whole film is surprisingly funny.  The subject matter is fairly dark and Trier does not shy away from that it is dark, but also does not take it too seriously.  There are many instances in the script that seem unlikely and Trier makes Seilgman’s character take it to task.

     It is good that Trier uses comedy to lighten up the darkness of the film or it would be unwatchable.  The films whole theme is about loneliness, this being the third film in Trier’s unofficial loneliness trilogy.  All of Joe’s forty something years alive she has relations with a ton of men just for the search of the cure to loneliness.  At the point we met her she still hasn’t found it, she comes close only a few times, but the vast majority of her time she couldn’t be further from it.  She begins innocent, what she is doing is not, but she still is.  After the years go by she is with more and more men she becomes hollower even at one point becomes numb and unable to feel anything anymore both emotionally and physically.  The second half of this film is very depressing.  Joe goes on a mission to feel something again getting into darker activates that brings harm to her body.

     Much like Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel Trier brings a ton of actors that have been in his previous films to this one like Charlotte Gainsbourg, William DeFoe and Stellan Stargard.  Some new comers include Shia Labouf, Uma Thurman and Stacy Martin who all do very well.  All of them are acting brilliantly and are all brave roles to take especially Gainsbourg and Martin.  This feels like a retelling of a tragic life, not a chance to see an actor in the nude, which is a difficult thing to pull off.  Trier does and makes one of his best films to date.  He gives us a cynical look at the sexual experience and gives us an even more cynical ending.  It is not an easy watch, being about a sex addict and four hours long but ultimately it is satisfying for the patient viewers.

The RoseBuds Ep. 59 - Play All 4

   In this episode The RoseBuds talk everything, you could say they play all.  They talk how the summer was better than most previous and talk some spoilers for THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY PART 1 and INTERSTELLAR near the end.  Enjoy!

Episode 59 - Play All 4

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A MOST WANTED MAN

By Darin Skaggs

     After 9/11 the American public went into paranoia for the country.  Anyone that looked remotely like an Iranian got a suspicious look if not an unneeded confrontation.  Because of the tragedy many people had to find someone to blame, they could not take it out on the people whose fault it actually was so they took it out on look a likes.  Anton Corbijn’s A Most Wanted Man touches on that subject while also making a great nod to the spy thriller genre.

     German spy Gunther Bachmann, played by Philp Seymour Hoffman in his last major role, is good at his job.  He works for an espionage company whose goal is to take down terrorist.  His next target is Issa, who may or may not be part of a terrorist group.  Gunther and an immigration lawyer Annabel Richter work together to take down a bigger terrorist group by using Issa.

     As mentioned before this is an entertaining look at the espionage thriller of days past.  The film is made in a way that you will feel tense the entire way through, scared that something will happen to one of our main characters.  Gunther’s character is one that you can tell will not stop thinking about his job until his mission is over, and then it is time to move to the next one.  And he is not a guy who will show emotion.  He is not going to show fear from being attacked or worried the mission will not go well.  For sure he will feel these things but never show them.  This is all connived wonderfully in Philip Seymour Hoffman’s performance.  It is so subtle and sadly won’t get all the praise it deserves until the years to come. 

     For the first half of the film we wonder if we should trust Issa or not, we and Annabel get a little bit more information on the guy then the spies do, but we still don’t know.  This is a look at our country at the time post-9/11, there is no reason we should not trust Issa but we don’t.  It turns out he has nothing to do with any terrorist attack and just has emotional and physical scars from the actually terrorist making people treat him this way.  There are a few Iranian characters that despise their fathers because of what they have done.  They want nothing to do with that part of their life and want people to look past it.  Also the white characters, they are German but clearly stand in for Americans, are all doing everything they can to catch someone who can be potential harm.  Another post-9/11 act of us as a country desperately trying to catch someone who could cause us more harm. 

     The film is a very interesting look at the world after September 11^th.  It is not a total bummer though it is an entertaining, almost homage to the old spy film.  It is filled with great actors doing great work like Rachel McAdams, William DeFoe and epically Hoffman. 

EDGE OF TOMORROW

By Darin Skaggs

     Doug Liman’s Edge of Tomorrow has been through the ringer and back again.  It bombed at the box office, it has Tom Cruise who is a turn off for some reason and now has been given a completely different title.  This is all very strange because this film is a great action flick with good performances.  It also takes on some interesting sci-fi elements as well as a look at how a bad person can grow up with only the passage of time and a bit of life experience.

     The story begins with Lt. Col. Bill Cage being told he will be forced into battle the next day as the world is in the midst of a war with an alien race.  He fights it but despite all his efforts he is forced into battle.  While there he kills an alien, gets its blood on him and then dies.  Suddenly he wakes up the previous day.  He is understandably confused.  Soon he finds out that the blood that hit him was from an alien that can restart time and now he has this power to restart the day every time he dies.  With the help of Rita Vrataski, someone who has held this power previous and won a big battle because of it, they try and try again to take down the alien race once and for all.

     This film is fantastic; it has been compared to Harold Ramis’ Groundhog Day.  And it is pretty much Groundhog Day with action and aliens.  There are scenes where you know he has pretty much given up on winning the battle, other scenes you realize that this isn’t the first time the day has gone the way it is going.  It mirrors Groundhog Day so much you might question how much of this film is fully original thoughts in the little moments.  Though the film is made so well most of those views will just fade away.  There are scenes that are pretty funny and others that are really touching because you know what Cage has gone through.  There are a few ideas that don’t work like in the third act some people begin to trust Cage that haven’t before because the story needs them too.  The ending is ambiguous because you don’t know if the conclusion is good or bad for the characters.

     Tom Cruise, who does not get enough respect these days, gives a great performance as Cage.  He begins as a man who has a big head but is also weak in the knees at the thought of danger.  And because of his big head will blackmail whoever is making him do what he does want to.  Cage throughout the film grows as a person.  By the climax of the film, even by the middle, he is on a mission every single day to save as many lives as he can.  Other supporting characters do great work, Bill Paxton is very funny and Emily Blunt is a great strong female character.

     Edge of Tomorrow is a wonderful action film.  It is a whole lot of fun, some of the best times you can have with movies.  It further proves to the cynical that Tom Cruise will be forever praised as a brilliant actor.  It borrows from other films but does it so well you can’t help but enjoy yourself.

Ep. 31: GREAT EXPECTATIONS (1946)

   In this episode The Criterionist takes a look at David Lean's GREAT EXPECTATIONS.  He talks about how it may not be for him but he appreciates the filmmaking.

Ep. 31: GREAT EXPECTATIONS (1946)

If this episode is not available anymore just E-mail me at darincriterion14@yahoo.com I'll be glad to send it to you as well as other episodes.

The RoseBuns - Ep 58 - Food

    In this episode the RoseBuns take over for the week and talk all about food.  Some delicious, others not so much.  They also go step by step of what they get at Chipolte.

Episode 58 - Food (The RoseBuns)

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