The Nice Guys (Shane Black, 2016)

8/10
I wasn't expecting much but this was actually a pretty funny movie. Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe are both very good, the script has a lot of good gags (physical and verbal), and it really nails the late 1970's feel. At times the plot of the film feels overly scripted. Writer/director Shane Black seems to be going for something like a Coen Brothers take on Inherent Vice (without the weirdness of either the Coens or Pynchon) and doesn't quite get there, but it's a credible stab and at least manages to remain funny throughout.
As good as Gosling and Crowe are, Angourie Rice arguably steals the show as their 13-year old sidekick. It's nice to see a young female character given room to actually be funny, as opposed to the precocious, insufferably quippy types they're usually cast as in movies like this. It felt like the "buddy movie" genre was dead and buried with all of those awful buddy cop movies that were such a big trend in the early 2010's, so The Nice Guys is a welcome breath of fresh air in that field too.

Sicario (Denis Villeneuve, 2015)

8/10
It is hard not to be slightly disappointed at the end of Sicario, but this is clearly not a movie designed to send audiences home happy, so I'll try not to hold that against it. It's so unrelentingly bleak and so devoid of any kind of comeuppance you'll say "well that's the point", but it doesn't exactly make for a fun film-watching experience. It almost feels like there should be an extra half-hour tacked on to tie up loose ends. But, of course, that's not how real life works. Sometimes we have to swallow the ugly truths presented to us and we don't ever get closure.
Nevertheless, it's extremely well done and well-plotted. Benicio del Toro is great, and Josh Brolin plays his part so well it's hard to stop hating him when the movie's over. A Rotten Tomatoes review commented that they felt Emily Blunt was miscast, because she so often looks like the smartest person in the room, and in this movie, she so rarely ever is. That's a pretty on-point complaint, and the movie does kind of stretch the bounds of believability with her character.
That aside, everything else was top-notch, and a particular set piece involving a tunnel near the end of the film is eye-popping in how well it's crafted and how tense it is.

The Hateful Eight (Quentin Tarantino, 2015)

8/10
I stewed on this one for a while before finally bringing it up to an 8 from the 7.5 or so I had in mind when I saw it. It is certainly the most interesting movie Tarantino has made in almost a decade, since Death Proof I would say. Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained were cartoony throwaways. The Hateful Eight isn't perfect, and it probably riffs on Reservoir Dogs a little too much to stand on its own as a dazzlingly unique Tarantino creation. But it did feel, at the very least, like QT was challenging himself with this script. These are some of the most interesting characters he's written in a long time, and his knack for storytelling is as sharp as ever. As a theatre-style, locked-room mystery, it's very interesting. As a movie, well you probably could have shaved 20-30 minutes from the runtime, and I don't think it really says much despite the presence of the superficial racial politics that Tarantino is eternally obsessed with, but I liked it more than I thought I would. I was expecting a big action movie and it's quite a different beast indeed. So, not "perfect" but I'll happily settle for "interesting" at this point in Tarantino's career.

Ex Machina (Alex Garland, 2015)

8/10
I don't have too much to say except that it's a really good story, really well-acted that constantly keeps you guessing and has everyone's motives properly kept in the dark. A good soundtrack and fantastic location and set design. Very cleverly written and I enjoyed it well enough.

The Martian (Ridley Scott, 2015)

8/10
I enjoyed it. The first two-thirds were a little by-the-numbers "good but not great" territory but the third act definitely gives it a big hand in terms of making it a movie worth your time. The acting is fine, the script is a little banal but it does the job and the SFX are great. I could have done with maybe one or two fewer sassy Matt Damon quips and the intentionally campy soundtrack trope a la Guardians of the Galaxy was kind of irritating and unnecessary. Similarly, the "young wacky genius who comes up with a theory that no one else thought of to save the day" trope should be taken out back and shot. Ignoring the movie's reliance on these well-worn devices (which isn't that hard to do, really) it's a very fun experience. Like Gravity and Interstellar before it, it's definitely one to see in the biggest theatre possible.

Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller, 2015)

8/10
Watching it on Blu-Ray, I do wish I had made a bigger effort to see it in theatres. But what can you do. It starts a little slower than expected and I feel the claims of the movie being "non-stop action" or "breathless" are a little overhyped. The action certainly stops at times and you can certainly catch your breath. It's for the best that the action doesn't stop that often because the dialogue is definitely clunky, although it gets the job done. The movie is a bit like a rollercoaster and, of course, the last drop is the best, a truly gripping and jaw-dropping sequence. I have no earthly idea how George Miller came up with 99% of the stuff in here (or how he found a studio to bankroll it) but he deserves all the credit in the world for bringing an insane vision to screen and making it work so well.

The Babadook (Jennifer Kent, 2014)

8/10
As far as horror movies go I found this did a really job of embracing certain conventions while subverting others (the mother/son relationship, to say no more for fear of spoilers). Like It Follows, it mostly disposes of cheap jump scares and ends up creeping its way under your skin, although I can understand some feeling let down that there's no major "payoff scare". The story is compelling and a pleasingly new twist on an age old monster movie story and the acting is exceptional, in particular Essie Davis as the mother. I liked the throwback-ness of the Babadook itself, it has a kind of charming lo-fi aesthetic that brought me back to the days when horror movies weren't all CGI and makeup. Overall it was smart, well-crafted, respectful of genre conventions but innovative as well, and delivered on the scares. Very little not to like.

Winter Light (Ingmar Bergman, 1963)

8/10
Short Ingmar Bergman movie about an ailing priest losing his faith and how it affects, in particular, a woman desperately in love with him and a suicidal fisherman seeking his advice. I really liked it, it actually reminded me a little of Winter Sleep (or vice versa, more like). The priest's dilemma is moving, as are the reactions of those around him. The movie doesn't ask easy questions or offer easy answers. It's probably a "minor" Bergman masterpiece in his legendary filmography but it's worth watching.

Interstellar (Christopher Nolan, 2014)

8/10
I enjoyed this more than I expected to, based on the little I had read about it, and ultimately I found myself agreeing with both the general chorus of praises and criticisms it received. Like Inception, it's not a perfect movie by any means, but I certainly am impressed with Nolan's vision and his willingness to make grand, ambitious movies...even if they stumble along the way.
This blurb from John Beifuss (in a favorable review) says it best: "The sentimentality and Hollywoodized convenience of the storytelling prevent this mostly admirable film from achieving the escape velocities of Kubrick or Tarkovsky." That's exactly what I felt. Nolan, for whatever reason, just couldn't shake off those niggling Hollywood annoyances that weighed down his movie in ways that 2001 or Solaris (or even Gravity) were not. From casting McConaughey as the ultimate Hollywood hero (the Single Dad Doing His Best) to the worst offender of all, Matt Damon's awful performance as a horribly cliché character in a horrible cliché act that threatens to sink the entire movie. Thankfully it recovers, but these and other scenes left a bad taste in my mouth in a movie with otherwise great ideas, storytelling, special effects, music, acting, etc.
Okay, so Interstellar probably isn't as mind-melting and high-minded as it wants you to believe it is, but it's pure cinema and I mostly enjoyed myself. I feel like there's a rush to take down Nolan at every possible turn (just as much as there's a rush from the other side to prop him up at every turn) and I don't think as highly of him as a lot of others do but I'm still glad he's around and making movies like these, imperfect as they may be.

Force Majeure (Ruben Ostlund, 2014)

8/10
What a great title for this movie. Force majeure is legally defined as a "chance occurrence, unavoidable accident" (Wiki). Perhaps more relevant to the film, force majeure "[does] not excuse a party's non-performance entirely, but only suspends it for the duration of the force majeure" (Wiki again).
A near-miss avalanche that sees husband and father Tomas running for cover leaving his wife and 2 young children behind is the central concern of the film. For Tomas, the episode is little more than a story to tell at dinner; for his wife, it's a minor annoyance that slowly grows into a major impasse (a metaphorical avalanche so to speak): her perception of Tomas is permanently altered. The way this event is treated among the movie's characters was one of my favorite aspects of the movie. It's almost like an horror movie epidemic (underlined by the score's Hitchcockian string stabs), slowly infecting almost everyone who comes into contact with it: Tomas, his wife, their kids, their friends, and, more indirectly, an entire busload of people. Eventually Tomas is forced to confront his own actions, both to himself and to his children, pathetically staging a perilous situation on the ski hills where he can "rescue" their mother in front of them, an attempt to restore some kind of balance to their now-skewed family unit.
The movie makes for an interesting commentary on the fragility of not only our relationships but ourselves as people and who we are, or who we think we are. I found it very interesting to learn afterward that writer/director Ruben Ostlund came up with the movie after reading about a dramatically high rate of divorce among couples who survive major catastrophes.
The movie is beautifully shot, both in its ski resort interiors and mountain exteriors. I found it suffered from a similar "problem" as Ostlund's 2011 film Play - it presents a really interesting dilemma and asks some difficult questions that don't have easy answers, but ultimately there are niggling feelings of...incompleteness? Both movies were like reading a thought-provoking op-ed piece. I appreciate the questions they asked but I might have hoped for a little more closure and, once the questions are out there, it's hard to see much value in returning to the essay or film again. As much as I liked Force Majeure, I don't see a whole ton of value in repeated viewings, which maybe knocks its score down a notch for me.

Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer, 2013)

8/10
I felt especially compelled to finally watch this after someone reviewed it here and said it reminded them of David Lynch and after seeing all those okayish Oscar movies I needed a blast of something weird. Well it didn't remind me too much of Lynch but I enjoyed it and it was certifiably weird at times, although ultimately told an interesting and rather depressingly tragic story. The "feeding" scenes, I guess you could call them, are monumentally impressive and hypnotic, and I found myself wishing the movie was made of more of those and less of Scotland (although the visuals are pretty impressive all around).
The movie felt like it lost a little steam at about the 3/4 mark and had a hard time transitioning from the middle to the end. It's not the masterpiece certain indie film websites keep telling me it is but it's a very cool and very original movie and I dig it.

The Theory of Everything (James Marsh, 2014)

8/10
I really liked this. Comparing it to other Best Picture nominees, it is not tier 1 (Boyhood) or tier 2 (Budapest) but fits snugly with Whiplash and Birdman in tier 3 as movies that were not life-alteringly brilliant but ones that I can definitely say I enjoyed on most levels. On the face of it its closest comparable is The Imitation Game but I found TToE had a lot of warmth and heart that Imitation Game lacked.
I will say one thing with respect to Tkachuk4MVP's review a couple of posts ago - this is definitely a movie that knows it has a tremendous amount of ground to cover and at times it's easy to become conscious of that as a viewer. Often, especially at the beginning, it feels like it's racing along, cramming in necessary scenes and info, but not really taking as much time as it should to dwell on them (gotta stay inside that Academy friendly 2 hour running time!).
But on the other hand, I liked how it took the focus off of Hawking's genius (mostly). We all know he's a genius, we don't need the movie to go to the necessary lengths to tell us that again. And frankly I assume what would be needed to establish just why Hawking is a genius would go over a lot of the audience's heads, myself included. So I give the movie credit for dodging that battle and instead mostly focusing on a (not so) simple love story that does plenty of credit to the subject himself while remaining engaging, interesting, and heartfelt. Not to mention beautifully shot, extremely well acted, and featuring a really good score. Plainly put if you take it for what it is, it makes virtually no missteps. No pun intended.
I also thought Eddie Redmayne was exceptional and deserving of every accolade he should get for his performance including (if I had my way) the Oscar.

Whiplash (Damien Chazelle, 2014)

8/10
Whiplash isn't a particularly brilliant movie - for the first hour plus it's actually pretty by-the-numbers. It's not that it turns into a brilliant movie after that point either, just that it finally gets to where you knew it was going and it still turns out to have been totally worth the wait. It's also helped along by two great performances by Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons. Simmons' performance doesn't exactly have a lot of depth but for a supporting role it's hard to ask for much else. In fact Simmons' character Fletcher teeters so often on the brink of being cartoony that he deserves a lot of credit for keeping him monstrous instead.
(Some spoiler talk below)
I read some conversation (here and elsewhere) condemning the movie for appearing to condone bullying. I'm not totally sure I agree. I think some viewers were left disappointed that we never really got to see Fletcher's real comeuppance despite him being a jerk for 100% of the film's running time, but just because we're denied seeing that doesn't mean the movie condones what Fletcher does. I mean, if the movie had shown Fletcher and Andrew having a laugh and sharing an iced tea after the final performance I might agree, but the movie smartly ends onstage, leaving any inference of right or wrong up to the viewer alone. So I don't think the movie was condoning or condemning, just portraying, which is OK too.

All is Lost (J.C. Chandor, 2013)

8/10
I was surprised at just how much I liked this. It's Robert Redford stranded at sea once his boat and communications equipment are damaged. He's the only actor in the movie (credited as "our man" in the credits, which I enjoyed) and there's barely any dialogue at all. It's a really strong performance, and Redford was a good choice for it - he has a natural believability in the role.
There's just something in his weathered face that suggests that Redford absolutely could have endured something like this at some point. I liked how there was very little grandstanding - no dramatic physical transformation, no "I have fire!!!!!" moment like in Cast Away. I could have even done without the few "will he or won't he be saved?" moments (the rote scenes you would expect - the radio starts to work then dies, the ships pass by but don't see him). I get they're there for dramatic tension, but I want to see a movie do away with those and just deal with one guy working with what he has in front of him and nothing more - no tawdry flickering hopes for survival. Is that misanthropic?
Anyway my strong feelings about those points made me think I would hate the ending all the more, but I really didn't. I liked how it was done, the way it pleasantly subverted my expectations made me like the film as a whole even more.
I also liked the decision to keep the character almost ultra anonymous. Outside of his opening speech (which is really his farewell, and the movie then rewinds to the events of the preceding 8 days), we don't know anything about the character. Who has he left behind? Who, in his speech, is he apologizing to? And for what? Is anybody waiting for him? Did he leave on good or bad terms with whatever life he had back on land? I'm glad the movie didn't shove those questions in our faces but instead made us pose them ourselves. All the more effective.

Nightcrawler (Dan Gilroy, 2014)

8/10
It was enjoyable. L.A. was as grimy as Jake Gyllenhaal looked. Gyllenhaal himself was good but maybe not as fantastic as I was expecting (i.e. I'm fine with the Oscar snub). I'm curious to see what writer/debut director Dan Gilroy comes up with next, this was quite an interesting movie for a debut feature. I think in a few decades time we'll look back on movies like Nightcrawler, Drive, Spring Breakers and Killing Them Softly (those were the ones that came to mind) as some kind of loose Americana movement or socio-political statement or something that I'm not qualified to put together...but they all seem to be from the same cloth.
One thing I really liked was how the "relationship" between Lou and Nina took place almost entirely off-screen. Hallelujah, a movie that didn't try to shove its two characters getting together (I can't in good conscience call it a "romance") in our faces.

Prisoners (Denis Villeneuve, 2013)

8/10
I thought it was really good. I put it on at midnight thinking I'd probably fall asleep watching it and I ended up staying up until 2:30am to see the whole thing play out. The kind of movie that grabs you from the first second. I didn't love the way the mystery ended up playing out but it was still satisfactory to me. Really liked the cinematography, Gyllenhaal and Jackman were both great, and the plot was twisty enough without being convoluted or predictable (although a little unbelievable at times).

Frank (Lenny Abrahamson, 2014)

8/10
I am usually averse to what I call "Sundance movies", those quirky little comedy/dramedies with characters just weird enough to be cloyingly likeable instead of interesting or challenging. Frank is very much a "Sundance movie". Its central buzz is behind the fact that it stars Michael Fassbender, who spends the entire movie under a bizarre papier mache head despite being the lead singer of a band.
The movie's main focus is on Jon, a geeky keyboard player who gets recruited into this band of weirdos. Jon is a would-be songwriter and is both in awe of and jealous of Frank's almost nonchalant musical genius. Much of the movie focuses on the band's isolation in an cottage in Dublin, cooped up together to seek musical inspiration to record the album that will (Frank believes) launch them to superstardom. Jon tracks the band's progress via updates on his Twitter, Youtube channel and blog, eventually gaining enough interest to get a small showing at the SXSW festival in America.
The movie has some good laughs, and the music is genuinely cool, although there's definitely a little fun being poked at the creative process of young, hip, indie musicians. The ending packs something of a startling emotional punch. I could see it coming across as a little forced for some, but it really worked for me. The movie slows down as the band heads to America and the story gets a little messy but it recovers nicely in the last 10 minutes or so. I wish, like most of these quirky/cute movies, it was a little more unafraid to take a stand or make a statement instead of just being kind of glib and irreverent at times, but there's still enough charm, humor and genuine heart to make it more likeable than most movies of its ilk.

The Saragossa Manuscript (Wojciech Has, 1965)

8/10
Wojciech Has directed two notoriously bonkers movies that have been on my list to see for a long time - this one and The Hourglass Sanatorium. A local theatre was showing the former on the weekend so I checked it out. Released in 1965, it's certainly a strange beast. It takes place during the Napoleonic Wars and sees a Polish officer finding the manuscript, and a Spanish officer helping him translate it, only to realize the book is telling the story of the Spanish officer's grandfather. The grandfather's story is the subject of the film, and the tribulations he goes through over the 3 hour running time are too much to get into here, but they are certainly...bizarre. Has (adapting the novel of the same time) often nests a story within a story within a story within a story to the point where it's tough to remember who's relating what and to whom. It doesn't add up to a great deal in the end, and I think Has is more having fun with what most of the tales are centered around - evil spirits and how the affect the lives of men. Indeed, the movie is pretty funny at times, and never takes itself too seriously.
The surrealistic "feel" is similar to some of Alejandro Jodorowsky's movies, although the overall tone is not nearly as silly or scatological. I do wonder if he saw it prior to making his Fando y Lis in 1968, however.

Distant (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2002)

8/10
I've only seen one Nuri Bilge Ceylan movie, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, which I enjoyed very much. This one is very good too, about a man who loses his job and stays with his wealthier relative. The focus of the film is on both men's aimlessness. Yusuf, put out of a job by the economic climate, has an aimlessness that's a little more "real" - he has no education, no skills and no money. Mahmut, his relative, has more money and some skills (he's a photographer) but is equally unmotivated - in the career he hates, with his ex-wife, and with his lover.
Their relationship comes to a "head" (as much as anything can come to a head in this movie) in a particularly brilliant sequence. Mahmut can't find a missing watch. Yusuf claims he hasn't seen it. Mahmut finds the watch, but doesn't tell Yusuf - in fact, he makes it apparent that he's gone through Yusuf's stuff "looking" for it. Mahmut is so emotionless he can't even bring himself to accuse Yusuf to his face of the theft he knows Yusuf didn't commit. So he dishevels Yusuf's bag hoping to draw him into a confrontation. Yusuf instead departs without saying a word to Mahmut, apparently unperturbed.
What the movie shows is two men more or less crushed to nothingness by factors both external and internal. It ends on an ambiguous note but there's no mistaking the sadness that runs through the whole movie and both its main characters.

The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014)

8/10
Pretty much as advertised, but I mean that in a good way. If you've seen the trailer, you know well what to expect. In fact I wish I hadn't seen the trailer (or hadn't seen it as many times as I did) because I felt a lot of the movie's funnier parts were already shown. But it was still very enjoyable, lots of fun, light fare. All the cameos from Wes Anderson regulars are fun, the movie is very stylish and always a pleasure to look at, and the plotting is surprisingly clever and intricate. My only complaints are for a slow beginning and an abrupt ending. And I would have enjoyed an even longer middle section, as it felt like the fun was over too fast. But better than overstaying its welcome, I guess. Anyway it was a good time, and every one in our group of 7 enjoyed themselves which is a rarity, so I can't imagine who this wouldn't appeal to.