Capote (2005)

There's no denying that Philip Seymour Hoffman is incredibly captivating, completely becoming Truman Capote.  His Oscar was well deserved.  He nails the voice, the mannerisms, and the mindset of the man who captivated America with his true crime novel In Cold Blood.  I admit that sometimes it was a little difficult to understand what he was saying, but that just makes you listen more closely to the well written script.  While In Cold Blood gives us a little insight into the killers while the movie gives us intimate insight into the author at his height.  Capote spent six long years on this book.  Capote regularly expresses his frustration over how long it took. The film genuinely feels like six years, a little slow at times.  

The Square (2013)

How often do we witness history in the moment and have a camera handy to document it?   The Square follows a group of young people who understood the significance of the moment they were living in.  This is a film that will be shown in history classrooms across the world in fifteen years time when journalists and historians can look back at the Arab Spring with hindsight; and this will only have been made possible by the brave, young, revolutionaries of Egypt.  Throughout the film over a span of two years, we observe the passion in their voices and actions in fighting for a cause they truly believed in.

The footage is very intimate, bringing the viewer right in the middle of Tahrir Square, into the tents in peaceful times and fleeing the military in violent times.  The camerawork is fantastic, especially considering the hectic and dangerous circumstances under which it was done.  The shots of the shear number of angry people, with their different ideologies put aside, coming together to sit-in at Tahrir Square were incredibly moving.  Even the graffiti art is extraordinary.  The well-organized structure of the documentary has three distinct parts: protest against Mubarak, against the military, and against the Muslim Brotherhood.  The filmmakers make the effort to show all sides of the revolution from the viewpoints of the military, Brotherhood, and revolutionaries.

The revolution was brought about by the younger generation that was fed up with the Mubarak regime.  This is significant because they are the future.  Change is brought about by the large middle class; today's revolutionaries are just regular people.  Social media outlets like YouTube allowed the messages to disseminate quickly to millions of people.  This very much was a revolution of the people: the film shows what the revolution meant to individual people, from an international foreign-born star to a Muslim Brother.  It shows that revolution is long, tough and complex; it is far beyond just politics.  One of the big concerns of the film is that the revolutionaries were not organized enough.  The brutal truth was that they could not offer an alternative to the regime they sought to topple.  The film never shies away from the truth.    

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013)

This movie is very uniquely Will Ferrell-style comedy.  He assumes the now iconic character of Ron Burgundy and just runs with the ridiculous nonsense.  It is very fast paced, with jokes in rapid succession.  The jokes are not as memorable as those one-liners from the first film,, but many of them hit the nail right on the head thanks to good execution.  The cast has mastered improv techniques and funny-looking facial expressions.  Aside from jokes, the plot is a relevant, clever, and spot-on satire on cable news.   Burgundy finds work at the thinly veiled 24-hour news network.  What do they do when they don't have 24-hours worth of news? He helms the decline of journalism and the rise of car chases and animal videos.  To quote Will Ferrell, "You're welcome, America."             

Need For Speed (2014)

It's like watching a video game, except you're deprived of the joy of holding the controller in your hands.  So actually, it's like watching other people play video games.  Of course, people do that but I just do not get it.  The movie is bound to face comparison to the closest thing to it: Fast and Furious.  But this movie is missing the fun heist element.  Aaron Paul is probably the only redeeming quality in the movie.  I would say that his talents are wasted here on a flat character that is more or less a rip-off of his righteous, conscious-ridden, act-without-thinking Jesse Pinkman.  In the run up to the culminating race, the film actually plays out as a road trip movie across the country in a fancy car.  But much like real road trips, the car ride is boring without laughs or scenery.  

The Intouchables (2011)

This French film is a heartwarming and humorous variation on  Driving Miss Daisy,  though less about race and more about living a full life despite disability.  Philippe is a quadriplegic who hires Driss to be his new caregiver.  He chooses Driss, who is arguably the least qualified candidate,  because he does not want any pity.  The audience learns to not pity Philippe and to even laugh with him.  Driss is not only an employee,  but becomes a close friend.   They confide in each other,  joke with each other and expose each other to their interests.  Both actors do an excellent job and the writing is genuinely funny.

Dead Poets Society (1989)

Robin Williams delivered one of his most memorable roles in his Oscar nominated performance in Dead Poets Society.  Though a brilliant comedian, Williams was excellent in dramatic roles as well.  Full of quotable lines, creative lesson plans and inspirational life lessons, Williams's Mr. Keating is the English teacher everyone wishes they had.  Much of this can be attributed to good acting by Williams as well as a well written Oscar winning screenplay.  The film takes place in an elite boarding school, running the risk of alienating the general audience that cannot relate to the wealthy and privileged.  But this is not the case.  The students are for the most part down-to-earth. They have the same problems associated with growing up that everyone can relate to: academic pressure, family pressure, relationship issues.         

The Wind Rises (2013)

Having grown up with Hayao Miyazaki's films, I was very saddened to hear that he would be retiring.  This was his final film. In the past, Miyazaki has shown a fascination with flight (much like his protagonist), and his films have featured pacifist themes.  It is Miyazaki's only film based on real life, though it retains his signature fantastical elements in lifelike dreams and imagination. The Wind Rises is about Jiro Horikoshi, who designed Japanese war planes during WWII--or rather he designed planes that Japan used for war.  Miyazaki ran into some controversy.  The film does not attempt to glorify a weapons maker, but an engineer and artist whose art was corrupted by war.  Horikoshi sums his feelings up in one line: "All I wanted to do was to make something beautiful."

As always in Studio Ghibli's films, the animation is incredible.  Depicting prewar Japan (which I became very familiar with after taking a class on Modern Japan last semester), Horikoshi experiences the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923.  Watching this animated world shake and the city set ablaze is a feat of animation.  If there is any question as to Miyazaki's pacifist views, all the characters question who the warplanes would be used to attack, surely not America.  After reading John Dower's Embracing Defeat, I learned that most Japanese in the weapons industry were always aware of how behind Japan was technologically.  They knew that western weapons were far superior and figured Japan would not dare bomb America.  Miyazaki does not shy away from the historical facts, but presents it honestly.