ENOUGH SAID

ENOUGH SAID Review

By Darin Skaggs

     In the average romantic comedy it begins with a girl and a guy meeting.  Then they form a connection and have a great time together.  One of the two does something wrong and the other gets angry.  Then they break up, they’re both sad and eventually decide whether or not to get back together.  These are all the tropes of ridiculous films that follow a cliché list of bad filmmaking.  Nicole Holofcener’s Enough Said follows all these tropes but does them in a very realistic way.  She makes a great film with some great performances.

     The film stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus who plays Eva.  She is a mid-aged woman, she is a traveling masseuse, and she is divorced and kind of cynical.  At a party she meets Albert, played by James Gandolfini.  He asks a friend to give him her number.  At first she does not want to but then she gives in.  They go out and form a good bond.  At the same time Eva is giving massages to Marianne, who spends most of their time together complaining about her ex-husband.  It turns out that her ex is Albert.  Eva is conflicted with continuing her relationship or giving in to just being with Albert.

     The film story is not that great.  It is filled with moments that are pure coincidence, but has just enough to not feel realistic.  A lot of the moments do feel realistic, but there is just enough non-realistic to hurt the film.  The thing that makes this film great is the performances and most of the dialogue.  Dreyfus is amazing as Eva.  At times she is funny and likable and at other times you are debating if you would ever hang out with her.  Gandolfini does amazing, it is truly sad that he is gone because he clearly had a lot more different roles to perfect.  His character is constantly trying to be funny and at the same time you can see that he is sad.

     The story is very simple and does a lot of stuff other movies already have.  The film does it so well that it is a breath of fresh air.  The film is full of emotion.  There is sadness, glee and dread.  It makes bold moves to make the lead not so likeable at times, but then makes you realize that this is how people act at times.  It is an honest look at human relationship and a great romantic comedy.

DARIN'S TOP TEN FAVORITE FILMS OF 2013

 

     This year saw many different running themes of film.  There was the big one of people living the American Dream and earning it any sleazy way possible.  This was explored in films like Pain & Gain, American Hustle, The Bling Ring, ect.  Others themes include survival films like Gravity and 12 Years a Slave.  A big theme I saw and responded to was the fact that many characters could not get home.  Some films explore this in a literal way like Gravity and some in more of personal ways like The World’s End.  My top ten, I feel reflexes that theme.  While my top ten, plus, are amazing films this year was a bit of a letdown compared to 2011 and especially 2012.

Before we get to my list here are some films I missed out on: Labor Day, Cutie and the Boxer, The Way, Way Back, Drinking Buddies and The Wind Rises.

Just because I don’t want to leave them out here are some honorable mentions.

PRINCE AVALANCHE

     This is one of the greatest films about male bonding.  Rudd and Hiersh give amazing performances as Alvin and Lance.  It’s a good exploration of what it is like to be a man.  They work hard and they are full of pride.  They argue and eventually earn each other’s respect.  The film doesn’t fall into the usually male comedy of two guys just trying to get laid.  What they have to say about women ends up being touching and at times heartbreaking.  It is a wonderful comedy with just the right amount of drama.

THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES

     A film told in three parts, all focusing on different characters that in some way or another have run into each other.  Each story is gripping and the anti-climactic aspect of the film just makes it more gritty and dark.  The film is filled with great performances.  The film is one of the bigger surprises of the year.

ENOUGH SAID

     A brave romantic comedy that doesn’t have the most amazing story, but the characters in the film are some of the best.  Julia Louis-Dreyfus gives an amazing performance and makes the character of a middle aged, skeptical, divorced woman one of the best of the year.  It’s a shame Gandolfini is no longer with us.  His performance made me forget his unfortunate passing and made me believe that his character existed.  It’s a skeptical romantic comedy with a skeptical lead.  It falls into the most of the clichés of the genre but uses them in a refreshing way.

THE WORLD’S END

     Edgar Wright is one of the greatest filmmakers of his time and all time.  His fourth film The World’s End might be his worst, but that is just a qualification.  This film is a wild achievement.  Like all his other films this has so many editing jokes, running gags, hidden jokes and surprisingly touching character moments.  The characters are going on a twelve count pub run.  It explores alcoholism, depression and our obsession with technology all in one film.

CAPTAIN PHILIPS

     This film is kind of odd.  It goes slow and does not have much to say.  That is until the very end.  It is a real life event but director Paul Greengrass is just using that to have it be an= exploration of action films and how we take real life events not seriously enough.  Tom Hanks gives the best performance of the year and his career, if I may be so bold. 

And now my Top Ten films of 2013. Enjoy.

10. MUD

     Jeff Nichols made one of the greatest films of all time in 2011, Take Shelter.  It was a great exploration of male pride and an amazing psychological thriller.  His new film Mud tells the tale of Ellis a young kid who discovers a boat in a tree with his weird friend Neckbone.  They find a man is living in the boat, a man named Mud played by Matthew McConahay.  It’s a great story about innocence, as well as a great film about the young finding out what love means.  The film falls apart around the end but not in any way that ruins the experience.  This is a heartbreaking, breathtaking and all around amazing film.

9. THE WOLF OF WALL STREET

     Scorsese has made some great films.  Unfortunately lately those were all pre 2000’s.  He hasn’t made an amazing film for a while.  That is until this year with The Wolf of Wall Street.  It is the story of the real life jerk Jordan Belfort played by the great Leonardo DiCaprio.  The film spends 150 minutes of its 180 minute run time living out the male fantasy.  Any one in their right mind would know that this way of living is wrong and probably emotionally unsatisfying.  The great part of the film is that Belfort doesn’t really care about being emotionally satisfied.  He doesn’t really learn anything or get his comeuppance.  He does lose everything.  Then he brushes it off.  It is Scorsese’s boldest film and one of the craziest.  It is also one of the funniest of the year.

8. DON JON

     My favorite aspects of Don Jon are not that this is a great first directorial debut from Joseph Gordin-Levitt.  Oh yeah, he wrote it too.  Nor is it that Scarlett Johansson gives one of her best performances.  It’s the fact that the film has a dark sense of honesty.  Don, played by Levitt, is addicted to porn.  His character is too stubborn to admit it but his narration in the film is honest with himself.  He puts porn in the same category as his car, church and family.  No one would ever put that in the same category as the others but the narration is honest with addiction.  It is also a great film about dating, taking two film genres porn and cheesy romantic comedy and makes these two characters want those very thing explored in the genres.

7. THE ACT OF KILLING

     If I were to explain this documentary to someone I would not blame them if they didn’t believe me.  It is about Indonesian gangsters that are responsible for thousands of deaths back in the 1960’s.  They are not looked down for these crimes nor were they charged for their actions.  The documentary tries and gets to the bottom of what that kind of power would do to a person.  While being hard to watch full of uncomfortable moments the film also finds an odd sense of humor which you mostly just choke on.  While the documentary is being made a “film” about the life these gangsters went through is being made as well.  The men are playing themselves.  For every scene that’s being filmed one man, who is lager, is playing the woman.  There aren’t many laughs but there are enough to not make you entirely sad to be watching this.

6. UPSTREAM COLOR

     This is the most pretentious of my picks and one of the most beautiful.  This is an odd film about so many things at once.  It could be seen as a creepy science fiction film or it could be seen as a film as one big metaphor.  Or it could be something in between.  There is so much going on in this film that describing why it means so much to me would be near impossible.

5. GRAVITY 

     This movie is basically about Ryan Stone played by Sandra Bullock trying to survive out in space and get back home with the help of Matt Kowaiski played George Clooney.  This is a film that has something for everybody.   There is action, suspense, visual metaphors as well as some in the script, melodrama, good 3D, disturbing violence and two good looking actors for both genders.  This is one of the most suspenseful moments in film this year and any year.

4. HER 

     This film had one of the silliest premises of the year.  A lonely man falls in love with his Operating System.  That was mostly all we knew about the film going in.  One of the other aspects we knew about is what made me feel that this film would be handled well.  The director Spike Jonze, who wrote the film as well, has made several amazing films that I knew his touch on the film would make it all okay.  The film is beautiful, exploring love in all its forms.  It also explores our look on technology.  It builds the not so distant future so well, even in ways that are not necessary but still very entertaining.  

3. FRANCES HA

     Being twenty-something the world seems like it cannot be figured out.  You probably don’t know where your life is heading and you feel you never will.  In Frances Ha, the title character tries to figure out all that.  She knows what she likes, dancing and her best friend Sophie.  When we join her both parts of her life are spiraling out of control.  Sophie is moves in to a better apartment and is not living with Frances anymore.  Frances’ dance studio has to cut her hours because of budget cuts.  Frances is never sad and never gives up but she is not at all happy with where her life is going.  Greta Gerwig plays her so well as an awkward person that doesn’t really know how to act around a certain class.  She also is sometimes embarrassed with her life so she does not tell others the specifics of her life.

2. ALL IS LOST

     This film sounds like a gimmick type film.  The film has almost no dialogue, it only stars Robert Redford and takes place out on the ocean for the whole duration of the film.  I was interested in it but skeptical when I went into the film.  When I came out of the film I was overwhelmed with so many types of emotion.  The film is a good survival film but what makes it great is the symbolism of religious themes.  It is called All is Lost and people go to God when that is the case.  In many scenes visual clues to that God is there and also not interfering with his survival.  There is a moment some could say when he is baptized by a storm.  The ending if you look deep is one of the most powerful of the year.

1.  INSIDE LLYWEN DAVIS

The Coen brothers are amazing filmmakers.  There last film True Grit was great but not on caliber with Fargo or Barton Fink, where many different interpretations can come through.  Fortunately for us, Inside Llywen Davis is in that category of films.  The film is about Llywen Davis, a musician trying to make it as a folk singer going from gig to gig and bumming from couch to couch.  He recently had just lost his singing partner Mike, who threw himself off a bridge. This film is the most I got out of any other film this year.  It could be a look at the grieving process, a look at mediocre artist accepting there mediocrity or it could just be about not shutting yourself out from the world.  It looks grimy, dark and strangely beautiful.  It’s the film I thought about most of this year and the one that means most to me.

RUSH

RUSH Review

By Darin Skaggs

     Ron Howard is a hit or miss director.  Unfortunately, he is mostly miss.  He has classics such as Apollo 13 and Cinderella Man.  His misses are too many to count.  Sadly his new film Rush can be included in the not so good Howard films.

     The film is about the real life tale of Formula One racers and rivals James Hunt and Niki Lauda, who are played by Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Bruhl.  They spend most of their career as rivals and also forming an odd friendship.  The film focuses on an accident that Lauda is a part of and how it affects both racers.

     The positive aspects of the film are when the races occur.  The shots are beautiful and incredibly entertaining.  You will be on the edge of your seat.  Howard makes the races interesting even if you care nothing about the sport.  When a crash happens you really feel the impact.  The car design looks authentic.  The film is set in the 1970’s so the cars are older looking and the game is more dangerous which comes across real well.

     The most important part and least convincing is the relationship between Hunt and Lauda.  These parts move slow and are not all that interesting.  At the end of the film real life footage is shown of the two hanging out.  They look relaxed and friendly.  The film does not show that at all.

     The third half of the film is the most meaningful and entertaining.  Lauda crashes during a race and goes through extensive therapy.  These moments are hard to watch and really reflect what the film is trying to get across.  We get the physical toll on these men but do not get a sense of what they feel.  That is the whole problem with the film.  We get no sense of these men’s emotions.  We only get the physical aspect of what these men go through which is not enough to carry this film.

     This film is full of entertaining races and not so fun conversations.  The performances are worth a look but the script and direction is below average.  The film’s point, the relationship between these two men, is not in focus.