12 Years a Slave (2013)

One of the things that have been thrown around for months now is the notion that awards season voting bodies won't respond to it because it's too "difficult" to sit through. Let's define difficult, shall we? Is it difficult to see the first openly gay politician gunned down by his closeted colleague? Is it difficult to see a reformed convict put to death by our country for his crimes? Is it difficult to see a mother choose which one of her children dies during the Holocaust? I'd argue that these answers add up to a resounding yes. Yet, no one threw those phrases of "too difficult" around.

I've watched hundreds of films throughout my short 29-year history and I've seen some difficult cinema. Steven Spielberg's "Schindler's List" can make anyone quiver in shame as it shows the despicable reality of the Holocaust. Paul Greengrass' "United 93", which is almost an emotional biopic of America's darkest hour, makes me want to crawl up into a ball and cry. And finally, Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ", one of the highest grossing films of all-time, shows the labor of our sins fleshed out into the beaten skin of an honest man. And still, no one threw these hyperbolic terms out saying, "it's too hard watch." Is it because this is an American tragedy, done by Americans? Is it the guilt of someone's ancestors manifesting it in your tear ducts? I can't answer that. Only the person who says it can. The structure of this country is built on the backs and blood of slaves. But slavery didn't just exist in America, it was everywhere. It was horrifying what occurred for over 200 years and believe it or not, still exists in some parts of the world TODAY.

Now when approaching the powerful film by McQueen and distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures, there is a resounding honesty that McQueen and screenwriter John Ridley inhabit. There are no tricks or gimmicks, no cheap takes on a side story or character that is put there for time filling or a life-lesson for Solomon to learn. Everything is genuine. Is the film heartbreaking? Oh my God yes. Did I cry for several minutes after the screening? Embarrassingly so. I was enamored the entire time, head to toe, moment to moment.

I have long admired the talent that's been evident in the works of Chiwetel Ejiofor. I've known he was capable of what he has accomplished as Solomon Northup and he hits it out of the park. He has the urgency, worry, and drive to get home to his family and executes every emotion flawlessly even when all hope seems to be lost. Where he shines incredibly are the small nuances that he takes as the story slows down, you notice aspects of Solomon that make him even more believable.

As Edwin Epps, Solomon's last owner, Michael Fassbender digs down deep into some evil territory. Acts as the "Amon Goeth" of our tale, he is exactly what you'd expect a person who believes this should be a way of life to behave. He's vile and strikes fear into not only the people he interacts with but with the viewers who watch. As Mrs. Epps, Sarah Paulson is just as wretched. Abusive, conniving, entitled, and I loved every second of her.

Mark my words; Lupita Nyong'o is the emotional epicenter of the entire film. The heartache, tears, and anger that will grow inside during the feature will have our beautiful "Patsey" at the core. She is the great find of our film year and will surely go on to more dynamic and passionate projects in the future. You're watching the birth of a star.

Hans Zimmer puts forth a very pronounced score, enriched with all the subtle ticks that strike the chords of tone. One thing that cannot be denied is the exquisite camera work of Sean Bobbit. Weaving through the parts of boat and then through the grassroots of a cotton field, he puts himself in the leagues of Roger Deakins and Seamus McGarvey as one of the most innovative and exciting DP's in the business. Especially following his work in "The Place Beyond the Pines" earlier this year. Simply marvelous.

Oscar chances, since I know many of you are wondering. Put the Oscar's in my hands, you have a dozen nominations reap for the taking. Best Picture, Director, Lead Actor, Supporting Actor, dual Supporting Actresses, Adapted Screenplay, Production Design, Cinematography, Costume Design, Film Editing, Makeup and Hairstyling, Original Score. There's also a strong and rich sound scope that is present. The sounds of nature as the slaves walk or as Solomon approaches his master's house is noticed. The big question is, can it win? I haven't seen everything yet so I cannot yet if it deserves it or not. I can say, if critics and audiences can get off this "difficult" watch nonsense and accept the cinematic endeavor as a look into our own history as told from a great auteur, there's no reason it can't top the night. I'm very aware that seeing this film along with Steve McQueen crowned by Oscar is nearly erasing 85 years of history in the Academy. Are they willing and ready to begin looking into new realms and allowing someone not necessarily in their inner circles to make a bold statement as McQueen and Ridley take in "12 Years a Slave?" I remain hopeful.

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American Hustle (2013)

This movie, while containing decent acting performances for the most part, was difficult and just not very enjoyable to watch. It felt as though it was in love with itself and its whole depiction of 70s east coast disco Guido "culture" when in fact it was just an empty, pointless piece of bombast not half as clever as it thought it was. It felt fake, contrived and half-baked from the first scene to the last, and as others have noted you just didn't care one bit about anyone on screen.

The performances were decent except for the lead FBI guy (sorry but neither his screen nor real name is worth looking up) who tended to overact. But ultimately the poor plotting & pacing and the cliché ridden visuals made this one I wish I would have missed; if there was ever a movie that proves how useless so-called professional critics are, this is it.

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Gravity (2013)

The visuals for this movie are impressive. The story line is enjoyable, and it leaves you appreciating your place on Earth. The characters also provide some good laughs.

It was one of the better 'space' movies. However, as a geek (I know, I know it's a movie) the orbits are all wrong for some of the events to even remotely take place. So if you know anything about space travel, as usual suspend disbelief for the moment. It at least stayed largely true to the no sounds in space thing, and provides some good lessons about linear and angular momentum. The fact I even get to bring this up, means I give the film makers some serious props... I wouldn't go so far as some of the reviews where they says the movie is creating a whole "new genre". The reviewers and movie makers just never realized, until now, what us geeks knew all along... space is much more awesome and frightening if you portray it more realistically.

Hopefully the movie also provides a good reminder about how special this little rock is, and how unforgivable the rest of the universe is. Let's try and keep our planet that way! At least I was reminded of this when I left the theater.

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Daniel and Ana (2009)

Movie has an amazing first act---sort of drawing you in with its low key matter of factness to a jaw dropping end of the first act---the big thing that happens to the 2 characters happens almost out of nowhere (the only warning you get that the film is even gonna focus on the 2 siblings is at one point the younger brother's friend says to him yo your sister is hot to which he responds the way a normal kid would--something like "nah she's ugly but at least she doesn't look like a piece of s--t like you.") Hell even the abduction when it comes--happens unexpectedly while the two of them are in the car and she's yelling at him to get a haircut for her wedding. That kidnapping of course and the thing that happens there is quite creepy, uncomfortable, spellbinding, and way too real life which makes it all the scarier (no glossy movie star posturing here.) The rest of the movie is dedicated to the emotional damage this event has on the pair of siblings. While seeing the aftermath of such trauma upend both people's lives is interesting to a point---the movie itself starts to feel more than a little repetitive--and even tho the low key tone of the film is very much an asset--the movie starts to feel a little bit dull as you sit there waiting for something else to happen to either one of the two characters. (which is completely ironic given that something major already happened---something that happened when we weren't expecting it and something that should by all means be more than enough story wise.) Just when it seems like the movie is going to break out of its cycle of scene after scene of the 2 characters moping around their house looking vacant and blank---the film more or less ends. (the sister tries to heal herself by getting therapy and trying to confront what happened to her head on--essentially trying to get her life back together---while the brother just goes deeper and deeper into shell shocked madness....which results in several sequences that make up the pretty startling ending of the film.) The last 2 or 3 scenes are interesting enough in that your sense of suspense picks back up enormously. (i had no idea watching the film that those scenes would end up being the end scenes though which make you realize that the ending is just as low key and out of the blue as the abduction at the beginning of the film was.) I won't say what happens--but its not so much that something happens so much as the sustained tone of menace and creepiness that the director successfully punches up in those last few scenes.

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Close My Eyes (1991)

The film is really haunting and keeps you spellbound. While the film appears to portray sex scenes for nudity's sake, that's not really what is going on.

Okay, okay, this is no Pulitzer Prize winner and Alan Rickman, Clive Owen, and Saskia Reeves can act better than they do in this movie. Butt, I think they each brought so much into the picture that other, less talented, actors would have failed to make this film work as well as it did.

The dynamic between Natalie, her brother Richard, and her husband Sinclair is very strange. If you let yourself go and immerse yourself into the story, then you can enjoy it.

The story is about very taboo subject matter, at the time when AIDS/HIV finally came into the public consciousness. But, I do think the screenplay by Stephen Poliakoff is very well written and the film strongly succeeds because he also directed it.

I can compare the story to that of Jane Campion's "The Piano". It is risqué, bizarre, and seemingly shallow. It is also thoroughly compelling. The characters are otherworldly and mysterious, yet very commonplace. You can almost identify with them and by the end of the movie you will find yourself wanting to know more. It is as if you have been looking into a snow globe at a fantasy world come to life, just on the other side of the looking glass. Everything is madness for this trio....

"Close My Eyes" is a journey into the "What if ? ". The most difficult question is, "Why ? ". Only Natalie and Richard can answer that question, or can they? If you are a fan of Clive Owen, Alan Rickman, and/or Saskia Reeves, check it out.

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Krampus (I) (2015)

I first heard of the story of Krampus from a Christmas episode of American Dad!, and I've been surprised that none of the reviews I watched online for this film mentioned that since it's the one of the only times Krampus is mentioned in pop culture. Perhaps now that this movie is out, we will hear more about him. I sure hope so, because this is the perfect Christmas tale for the kids and families out there. It's a story that we could all benefit from, in fact.

The film starts out by showing us the insanity that we all know as Christmas shopping. It's all about how materialism and family strife can wreak havoc on our emotions during holidays. The problems all trickle down to the children, who should really be enjoying and celebrating the season instead of getting caught up in the stress the adult deal with. So, our main character rips up his letter to Santa, and wishes for all of this to be over with.

Krampus, being the evil side of Christmas, grants the wish. The characters are slowly plunged into a horror story. Their Christmas story becomes a story of survival. Will they be able to get along for the sake of surviving Christmas?

There were only a few things that I really had a problem with. That's why it gets an 8 instead of a 9 or 10. The first reason comes from the fact that I am a serious horror fan, and felt disappointed at the lack of blood and gore in the film. That reason may keep some genre fans away, but also makes the film more accessible to the kid and family audience, whom the film is really for. The other problem I had with the film was with the editing during the scenes with Krampus' helpers, because it was quite jumpy and made it hard to see everything going on the entire time.

Again, this is a good movie. I highly recommend it as one of the best new family Christmas movies. Krampus is exactly what we need to balance out the holiday. This will definitely be remembered as more than just another holiday themed horror movie. It will, hopefully, become a staple for Christmas viewing.

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The Hateful Eight (2015)

This movie has too good of actors and cinematography as well as a beautiful landscape to be as absolutely boring and linear as it was. The movie moves so slow that its hard to pay attention through the whole thing, the only thing that kept me in it was the acting, but great acting in no way makes up for the awful plot. Its almost as if Tarantino tried to remake "Clue: The Western" except it was so boring for 2 hours of the 2 hours and 47 minutes of the movie, that I really didn't care who did what by then of it. If you want to watch the movie but don't have a lot of time, skip to the last 47 minutes and you will know enough and get most of the excitement to enjoy the film. As I said, the only reason I am giving this a 4 out of 10 is because the acting really was done very well and the shots and music were also done very well but it does not make up of an awful plot. This is just my opinion though, if you are into slower, non-gripping (uninteresting or boring) who-dun-it films then this will be for you. P.S. For a Tarantino movie, it was lacking in the violence, excitement and blood for the overall film. But it was classical humorous at times.

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The Summer of Sangaile (2015)

Storyline

17 years old Sangaile is fascinated by stunt planes. She meets a girl her age at a summer aeronautical show. Sangaile allows Auste to discover her most intimate secret and in the process finds the only person that truly encourages her to fly.

Are you looking for place to watch full movies online without downloading? Here you can watch The Summer of Sangaile (2015). You can also stream and download new and old full movies online. Enjoy and relax streaming full The Summer of Sangaile (2015) movie in good quality online.

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Rust and Bone (2012)

Amazing movie! Marion Cotillard is just breathtaking. I still can't believe how beautiful this movie is. The cinematography is just stunning and the score is beautiful. The performances are incredibly powerful and real. Marion Cotillard is able to speak without saying a word and that something extremely rare! She is so expressive you can feel her pain. I think it really touched me because the movie is really real, this story seems to be able to happened to anybody and that's Audiard force. His writing skills are just amazing. Marion should get an Oscar for a performance of this magnitude.I believe she will soon become Hollywood favorite. The way she invest herself in each role she takes is an example for any actress.

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Soul Surfer (2011)

I have watched a lot of surfing movies over the years but nothing as captivating as Soul Surfer. The acting is terrific but the locales make you want to move to Hawaii. In most sports based movies you expect the star of the film to win. It is sort of a given. However, this movie expertly sets the viewer up for another kind of win. Not just a trophy or a magazine cover but a win that takes the viewer done the road in his or her personal struggles. There is a lot of talk about faith based film but this film isn't really about faith it is about how to get up when you are down and make a difference. I have always been a big fan of Dennis Quaid and Helen Hunt especially her performance in Castaway with Tom Hanks but she plays the mom in this film with perfection and although I never though of Dennis as a surfer like Patrick Swayze he does his part as the girls father and couch perfectly. I went to the film expecting something good but I came away from the film having experienced something great.

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