Tig Notaro: Boyish Girl Interrupted (2015)

Tig is so funny. In the last few years, I have become a genuine follower of Tig, such that I was already familiar with half the material she did in her stand-up special.  But that did not detract from her brilliance. It's all in her deadpan delivery.  She takes things that are really not that funny and turns them into comedy gold.  No one else can tell her jokes cause they are uniquely Tig. What is so great about this special is that it shows Tig's versatility. She rose to fame after a legendary set at Largo that was heavily improvised in which she talked openly about her cancer diagnosis. But she is a fighter and not a one trick pony.  She has plenty more jokes where that came from, and plenty from other places.  She also performs a portion of her set topless, unashamed of her scars.  She first tried out that stunt at a performance in New York, and she has reportedly been doing it in many of her shows lately.  She has had an excellent year with a Netflix documentary, a Showtime special, and an HBO special. I can't wait to see what next year has in store.

Welcome to Me (2014)

This movie was very strange. Just listen to the premise: a woman with borderline personality disorder wins the lottery and uses her winnings to buy a talk show.  She basically aspires to be Oprah. How do you make a personality disorder funny? Leave that to Kristen Wiig.  This movie has the same feel as The Skeleton Twins--it is sort of slow, has its moments, but drags in the middle. Wiig lives in a casino for some reason, has some weird obsession with swans, and she silently, uncomfortably stares into the camera a lot.  Basically, her character is pretty crazy and Wiig just runs with it. It's so ridiculous that it just barely works. This only works because of her, and Joan Cusack is pretty funny too.  

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

The Avengers seems to get more and more confusing with each film in the series. This is mostly because they keep adding more characters. This is not necessarily a bad thing. The movies are trying to get closer to the source material comic books, which are quite convoluted. There are so many characters in the Marvel universe, and by that standard, the movies actually only feature a small fraction of them. And Gwyneth Paltrow and Natalie Portman weren't even in this one.

The Avengers has always been about action first and comedy second.  Compare that to last year's Guardians of the Galaxy which is just one long joke.  The Avengers does have its comedic moments. The best is Hawkeye acknowledging his uselessness.  That is a brilliant moment of self awareness, and the joke is ongoing.

The central plot of Age of Ultron revolves around artificial intelligence.  Artificial intelligence is interesting because it isn't just a technology/engineering feat, but there are philosophical and ethical issues that are addressed as well.  Avengers doesn't dive very deep into these debates, but it is an interesting plot point that provides for a formidable foe for the Avengers.

Mad Men (2007-15)

Perhaps one of the greatest shows ever on television, Mad Men had excellent writing, phenomenal actors, and glamorous costumes. This is a look inside the rich lifestyles of 1960s-era advertising executives, so called mad men for their Madison Avenue offices. This is a world that I was not very familiar with, but Matthew Weiner painted such a gorgeous and intriguing portrait that you can't help being sucked into this glitzy world of luxury.  Everyone drinks and smokes a ton. They're all having affairs with beautiful people. They eat and drink and stay at the finest restaurants and hotels, fly first class, live on Park Avenue and attend elite schools. The bigwigs show up to work whenever they feel like it and live the life, and yet happiness and satisfaction eludes them.

The sixties was a great era for fashion, and throughout the seven seasons we watch the fashion evolve (that's costumes and hair styling).  The show soars in its use of history as a period drama.  Some of the most memorable depictions are of the milieu of the time, especially when it comes to gender roles, JFK's and MLK's assassinations, and the Vietnam War.  The personal and professional lives of these characters took place in the context of a broader (well-researched) history, a society and culture undergoing change during the Civil Rights Movement and the rise of counterculture.  For many, I suspect this show evokes nostalgia, but for me it is a reminder that we once lived in different times--rotary phones, pay phones, black-and-white television, typewriters--it's actually kind of funny.

Don Draper will go down as one of the best characters ever (and it's a mystery how Jon Hamm, nor any actor from Mad Men, has yet to win an Emmy). He has a very thoroughly fleshed out background that gives reason to his existence as an ad man.  He is complex and brilliant--his Kodak pitch was phenomenal.  Peggy is a lead too, paving the way for herself against the force of sexism as the only female copywriter . She works her way up the ladder and you find yourself always rooting for Peggy.  Amidst all of the affairs, the central relationship in the show is actually Don and Peggy's non-sexual relationship.  It starts out as a mentor-protege relationship, but it evolves as they learn that they are the only ones that really understand each other.  Some of the most important episodes (The Suitcase, The Strategy) thrive with just those two characters in a room together.

The finale provided a very satisfying ending.  The final seven episodes are really one long finale that culminates in the last hour.  All of the main story lines are resolved with room left for some interpretation as to where they will end up in a year's time as they continue their lives.  

True Detective: Season 2 (2015)

I feel like I wasted over 8 hours of my summer watching this. Season 1 was such a revelation, an incredible feat of storytelling. That made Season 2 all the more disappointing.  It lost all the magic, the surprise, and just everything really.  Cary Joji Fukunaga didn't come back to direct or executive produce this season, and maybe that was part of the problem.  But the biggest problem for me was in the writing and story.  The story was severely lacking in anything remotely interesting nor manageable.  The story is impossible to follow and I found myself unsure of anything going on after Episode 1.  It moves slowly and it was just plain boring.

There are four main characters, compared to two from last year. All four of them are extremely messed up and they just keep getting less and less likable with each episode.  Their dialogue is uninspired and unintelligible unlike the brilliant and memorable musings of Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson in the car.  The actors try, but they are not given much to work with.  And as much as I like Vince Vaughn, I don't really like him when he is too serious.

The setting of California isn't nearly as spooky as the Bayou of Louisiana.  There was an atmosphere in the first season that was supplemented by the creepy cults.  California, despite the factories, suburban sprawl, and mansions is just a little too sunny to give us the same feeling.  

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015)

Tom Cruise is the quintessential action star.  In the very first scene, Tom Cruise literally jumps onto a plane and hangs onto it from the outside as it takes off.  And this is just the beginning!  There are chase scenes galore, on foot, on motor bikes, in cars, you name it. There is constant action and non-stop adrenaline to keep this movie going.  There is another formidable action star to complement Cruise's performance.  Rebecca Ferguson kicks ass.  The two of them together are extraordinarily fun to watch.  Fun is the best way to describe this movie.  The plot is easy to follow meaning there are no hindrances to enjoying everything this movie has to offer.

I particularly liked the opera scene, in which a production of Puccini's Turandot is interrupted.  It is beautifully shot at the incredible Vienna State Opera.  I appreciated that motifs from Calaf's aria Nessun Dorma from Turandot reappeared in the score several times amid the famous Mission: Impossible theme.  The best known tenor aria and the best known movie theme all rolled into one.

St. Vincent (2014)

This was a pleasant surprise.  Aside from being funny, it was charming.  There is something that audience's love about unlikely relationships--this time between a schoolboy and his elderly curmudgeon of a neighbor.  And of course the setting is Brooklyn; where else would this happen?  It is not your typical Melissa McCarthy fare.  There is a serious and sentimental side to this comedy.  The cast is outstanding with Bill Murray in the lead in fine form.  The movie is predictable but that doesn't detract from the quality of the movie.  

Cymbeline (The Public Theater) (2015)

Cymbeline is a very strange play--must be why no one ever reads it at school or produces it.  It certainly is not one of Shakespeare's best.  Is it a comedy, a tragedy, a history?  It defies proper categorization.  It is a romance that doesn't end in marriage, a tragedy that ends happily, a history that depends on legend. It seems the director wasn't sure what to do about this.  There are lots of comedic moments that are refreshing and much needed in a three-hour play.  But it has just as many dramatic moments.  And it isn't until the end until the director makes a firm decision.  Because the play ends with a jig, complete with a fiddle and synchronized dancing.  It is seemingly out of place, but then you realize it's actually a perfectly fitting ending to a bizarre piece of theater.

The play is redeemed by good actors.  They interact with the first few rows of the audience and have a jolly good time on stage.  There are a few songs--the best sung by Tony nominee Raul Esparza.  He has a smooth voice that totally destroyed the admittedly out-of-place Vegas-y number.  Hamish Linklater and Lily Rabe have a great chemistry as the two leads that has been proven several times.   Linklater pulls double weight, playing two polar opposite characters.  He puts on silly wig and leaves on just one button of his shirt and puts on a ridiculous voice to play Cloten.  And Cloten is the easiest name to pronounce among the plethora of impossible names.

The plot is also pretty unbelievable.  There is a lot going on and it is all sort of convoluted.  A couple of the characters change clothes and suddenly they are unrecognizable to the other characters.  It is almost comically ridiculous.  The ending is a big reveal where everything magically turns out right and they live happily ever after.  It's a strange ending to a bizarre play.

Paper Towns (2015)

This reminded me a lot of On the Town with a tinge of Gone Girl. It's not a musical, but the premise is similar. The male protagonist is searching for the female lead for nearly the entire movie.  His two buddies help him out and find ladies of their own.  Much like Ivy in On the Town, Cara Delevingne is actually hardly in the movie, just a short bit in the beginning and an even shorter scene at the end. But that is just as well because Delevingne is not a great actress. Maybe she should stick to modeling.

As for the Gone Girl aspect, there is that distinction between being gone and being missing.  And then there's that crazy girl.  This isn't quite Gone Girl-level insane, but this girl is not normal.  She leaves a series of impossible clues that make up the central mystery of the movie.  That even the first clue is solved is a miracle.  And continuing with the crazy theme, she pulls some pranks on her schoolmates, which is a seriously bad and dangerous idea when all of your Floridian neighbors have guns.

22 Jump Street (2014)

This movie is surprisingly good.  The premise of the movie follows the movie's trajectory in the real world.  The first case worked out so well that the team got funding to do another case, "exactly the same."  Ice Cube repeats this line several times, and predictably the case turns out to not go exactly the same way despite their protestations.  What is so refreshing and funny is that everyone is in on the joke.  What is the same is the bromance between Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill that just works so well.  They have a relationship that is almost at a James Franco-Seth Rogen level.

The best part of the film is actually the end credits.  They aren't bloopers but rather we see clips of hypothetical sequels that become more and more ridiculous to the audience's delight.  There are plenty of cameos in the movie, and even some high profile actors who show up in just a couple of seconds of credits for a laugh.       

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013)

Isao Takahata spent many years on this film, allegedly his final film, and it paid off.  Takahata is a master at his craft, proving Studio Ghibli to truly be one of the most prolific studios for bringing the world the works of two legends.  Adapted from an ancient Japanese folktale, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya is a majestic triumph. The artwork is truly stunning.  In an age when most all of the animated films produced are computer animated in the same style, it is refreshing and comforting to see hand-drawn lines, soft edges, and beautiful watercolors.  The scenes with a lot of movement are particularly stunning but the stills allow the viewer to admire the exquisite artwork.  I have never seen a movie that looked quite like this and it is brilliant.

The Congress (2013)

Ari Folman's follow-up to his acclaimed animated documentary once again delves into the world of animation, this time using animation as a plot device.  The latter half of the film is animated in a style that is notably different from the cut-out comic book animation style of Waltz with Bashir.  It starts out sort of psychedelic in a Yellow Submarine-esque feel, preparing the audience for a funky ride through cuckoo town.  This is a seriously wacky movie.  Folman animates recognizable figures in pop culture and art--the animated scenes genuinely look like something straight from Cartoon Network.

The premise of the movie is very interesting, but there is simply too much going on.  The first premise of the film is Robin Wright playing a version of herself, an aging actress who is getting less work, and resorts to selling her image.  Her likeness is captured by computers and the computers make movies starring their manipulation of Robin Wright.  In exchange she promises to quit acting, so the computerized version of her can be used in movies.  The movie is a critique of Hollywood and the studio system.  Folman clearly supports actors and their art, which cannot be replaced by computers.  But this is not just mere theory--recently the Hunger Games director decided to not use a computerized Philip Seymour Hoffman in the final film, opting to simply remove him from their unfinished scenes.  Marlon Brando attempted to preserve his head and emotions digitally for use in performance in the future, as detailed in the documentary Listen to Me Marlon.

But this storyline, which could stand alone to make a formidable movie, is seemingly abandoned in the second half of the movie.  The plot gets more convoluted and the movie moves on to explore other issues about denying reality and living in a fantasy of one's own kooky creation.  There's just so much going on, that it is easy to get confused.  But the movie is very interesting and its a pleasure to watch the animations.  Robin Wright is excellent acting live and voice-acting.  She reveals her mastery of her emotions in the scene in which the computer is capturing her range of facial expressions.  This movie is less personal and less powerful than Waltz with Bashir, but it is a brave foray into narrative film.

The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness (2013)

This documentary takes us behind the scenes of the famed Studio Ghibli in Japan; home to legendary filmmakers Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. The film focuses primarily on Miya-san and his final film The Wind Rises.  It also alludes to Takahata and his final film The Tale of the Princess Kaguya dragging along.  Miyazaki hypothesizes that Takahata had no intention of finishing this movie, though it was released last year to much acclaim.

This documentary is a fitting end to an era of Japanese animated film. I grew up with these films and it is bittersweet; the film is somber hinting at the impending closure of the studio.  This movie is a eulogy of sorts for Studio Ghibli and it is beautiful.  Miyazaki is candid, musing about his art and life.  It is truly special to watch the hand-drawn animation process, an art that is losing steam to computer animation.  In the grand spectrum of cinema, this movie may not be a hallmark in film history, but it documents one of the most important men in one of the most important studios in film history.

Keep On Keepin' On (2014)

This was one of the most enjoyable documentaries I have seen. It made me smile a lot.  This film is about two jazz musicians: the legendary trumpeter Clark Terry, and a prodigious blind pianist Justin Kauflin.  But more than that, this film is about their mentor-mentee relationship. Though born 66 years apart, the two of them bond over a love of jazz, Terry's desire to impart his knowledge upon a protege,  and Terry's failing eyesight in his old age.  The filmmaker gets intimate footage inside the Arkansas home of Terry, filming late-night practice sessions.  Terry teaches Kauflin old riffs and melodies by singing them to him as he lays in bed, and Kauflin plays them back perfectly on his keyboard with his guide dog at his side.  It is a touching story of an unlikely friendship with great music.  

Big Hero 6 (2014)

Believe it or not, this is the first superhero film in the Disney canon. They've done the princess movie to death, but this is the first foray into animated superheroes.  After acquiring Marvel, this is a fitting film for Disney to produce as its main character is a child, and like all Disney films the parents are dead, and the film has a message. Baymax is Disney's answer to minions, a lovable, huggable white Michelin man sort of character; in other words a marketing, merchandising magnet.  The icing on the cake is John Lasseter's magic touch of comedy and emotion.

How to get children interested in science and robotics--more specifically how to get girls interested in STEM?  I understand that the story is based on established material, but I think the protagonist Hiro should have been a girl rather than a boy. At least two of the members of the superhero team are female.  This movie proves to children that science is cool and the limits of technology are endless.  It is important to inspire a new generation of innovators and inventors.


    

My Left Foot (1989)

This true story about Irish writer/artist Christy Brown is an inspiring and emotional vehicle for method actor Daniel Day-Lewis.  He plays a man born with cerebral palsy with limited mobility and speaking ability.  He learns to use his left foot to write and paint, and with some speech therapy he learns to talk.  Reportedly, Day-Lewis had difficulty using his left foot, and so he used his right foot and scenes were filmed in a mirror.  His mannerisms and speech are obviously the product of months of research and practice.  And this performance would earn Day-Lewis his first Oscar.  Brenda Fricker, too, won an Oscar for her performance as Christy's mother. She is strong despite poverty and a drunkard husband and perseveres to care for her many children.  

Penn and Teller on Broadway (Broadway) (2015)

In their 40th anniversary as a duo, Penn and Teller return to New York for a limited engagement at the Marquis Theater.  They present their classic tricks and illusions as a retrospective of sorts on their illustrious career.  Penn brings his signature comedy to magic, while Teller keeps up his mime persona throughout.  Teller conducts his acts in utter silence, commanding the room with nothing but masterful sleight-of-hand.  Penn shows off some of his other talents, singing on Broadway, and playing the double bass.

Their tricks are not big David Copperfield-style stunts.  The act is as much about comedy as it is about magic, and carnival tricks.  This is small magic that is difficult to see if you're not sitting in the first row. They use cameras sparingly, addressing this in one of the acts.  If they use a camera to show a close-up, then you won't pay attention to them, you'll just be watching the screen.  And they make a valid point.

After the show, Penn and Teller stuck around in the lobby of the Mariott Hotel to take pictures and sign autographs.  Teller speaks! and he is a master selfie-taker.  He is funny, approachable and personable. Surprisingly enough, Penn is the more reserved one.  Guess it is all just an act.

A Most Wanted Man (2014)

This is not your James Bond/Jason Bourne kind of spy movie.  There is little-to-no action, just the slow burn of an espionage thriller.  Real spy work is not glamorous, it is unrewarding and requires patience.  This movie requires the same of the audience--but patience is not my strong suit.

Philip Seymour Hoffman is excellent in his final role as a contemplative Gunther, a veteran in the spy game grappling with failure with the best German accent.  Compare this to Rachel McAdam's German accent that almost sounds dubbed. I don't think it sounds like her at all.  Robin Wright perfectly plays a role that is similar in demeanor to her House of Cards character.