Silence (2016)

This movie has been Scorsese's passion project that he has literally been trying to get made for over two decades. It is an introspective movie that asks the big questions about religion. I didn't know that Scorsese was so deep into religion. It's no simple praise god kind of movie. It is not so unilateral. It is a huge, challenging movie. You can tell that he must think about spirituality a lot.

The movie is beautiful. Torture and death never looked so stunning. The cinematography is definitely a standout. When you have two and a half excruciatingly painful hours, it better look good. It's a lot to take. It batters you emotionally and mentally. It is not easy to watch, but I couldn't look away.

The acting is very good too. Andrew Garfield plays a Jesuit priest (another religious character in Japan, coincidentally similar to his role in Hacksaw Ridge this year).  He is the protagonist but I actually wish Adam Driver had a bigger role (proportionally), because I think he was very good, even better than Garfield. Issey Ogata plays the grand inquisitor. When you first hear his rather high pitched voice, he sounds like a caricature of a Japanese person speaking English. I don't think that is intentional, that might just be how he talks? I'm not sure, but it's worth drawing attention to at least.

The movie had me thinking a lot about religion naturally. What the Japanese did to the Christians was obviously terrible. And you can't compare tragedies. But I found myself recalling the Spanish Inquisition, in which the violence and torture was reversed. It is terrible, but it is certainly not unique to the Japanese, as the Christians too committed atrocious acts (in the name of God, compared to the logical but perhaps unsound reasoning of the Japanese). They speak in competing metaphors that keep the questions coming. And in the end, there are no answers, just more questions. It is a fascinating movie that will continue to marinate in my mind.  

Hacksaw Ridge (2016)

I wouldn't really say I'm a fan of Mel Gibson and he hasn't really done anything particularly noteworthy in a while. I wasn't expecting much but this movie is his return to form. He went back to what he knows, war movies. The battle scene is very long and the violence is quite gratuitous but all in all the choreography is actually really well done. There is a constant intensity. Is it a little over the top? Sure. But war is over the top, isn't it? There were a couple of scenes that just didn't work. At one point, you see warships that bomb the ridge. And in this day and age, the warships should not have looked so fake. The CGI and special effects in that scene were not up to date. Secondly, the inevitable seppuku scene was unnecessary and in poor taste. We got the idea already, we didn't need to see it.

Andrew Garfield is quite good. His southern accent sounds a little off, but it is charming nonetheless. The first half of the movie perhaps bangs on the bible too much for my taste, but that is the whole point. Garfield plays a conscientious objector (for religious reasons) who volunteers for the army anyways. The film presents an ethical dilemma that is genuinely thought provoking. The movie is emotional in all the right places. The star of the movie, however, is Vince Vaughn. I think he is hilarious in everything he does, and a war movie is no exception. He is an interesting and brilliant (kind of provocative) choice to cast as the army sergeant, providing some comic relief to an otherwise unfunny situation. 

The Amazing Spiderman 2 (2014)

This movie unfortunately will face comparisons.  Marvel had an incredibly strong showing this year with Captain America, X-Men and now Guardians of the Galaxy.  Spiderman is the weak link.  On top of that, I do not think the sequel was as good as the first one.  There were some really great scenes.  The movie really emphasizes Spiderman's  super quick reflexes with slow motion scenes.  The effects are well done in those scenes.  That being said, they are not nearly as entertaining as Quicksilver's shining moment in X-Men.

Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone are excellent.  Spiderman, as a superhero, has always been kind of lame/goofy when it comes to dialogue.  But I think the dialogue throughout the movie was relatively weak (You don't have dim sum at 8, Emma Stone!).  The screenplay was a little all over the place.  I would have been satisfied with just Green Goblin or just Electro, but we unnecessarily get both.