Titles I happened to check out on Netflix in the month of February 2015 listed from best to worst:
The Player (1992, 124 Minutes, R), is the number one Hollywood satire ever made, and study of greed. It’s also my third favorite Robert Altman film (“McCabe & Mrs. Miller,” “Short Cuts” round out the musts). The long takes are tracking shots are elegantly composed, it’s classically tasteful – unlike the belabored would-be one-shot of “Birdman.” The story is of a snide vice executive played by Tim Robbins who finds himself under investigation for a murder of a writer. Sixty celebrities make impromptu cameo appearances, many of them bring wit to the table. But Robbins brings the snakiest wit with his performance. A
The Ground Truth (2006, 72 Minutes, R) is the essential documentary about veterans with PTSD coming back from the Iraq war. Many subjects talk truthfully about their war experiences and difficulty with adjustment back home, as well as denied claims by the VA. The structure of the film is nearly flawlessly put together. A-
Braveheart (1995, 178 Minutes, R) is an Oscar Best Picture winner that I used to consider good, now I think it’s very good – it has more intellectual content than I once thought. Mel Gibson is the brutal Scots warrior William Wallace who led a rebellion against the bullying, pillaging English in the 14th century. With Patrick McGoohan as the snide King Edward I, Catherine McCormack as Wallace’s first love, Sophie Marceau as the impossible beautiful English princess. B+
Young & Beautiful (2014, 95 Minutes, NR but adults only, France) has a 17-year old beauty experiment with sex, and then experiment with prostituting herself for the 1.) thrills and 2.) money. While she is intelligent and precocious, she seems to not have reconciled her feelings about it by the end. She needs time to realize what she’s done to herself. Directed by Francois Ozon with a keen interest in sexual identity and compulsion. B+
Men, Women & Children (2014, 119 Minutes, R) is the much maligned essay on society’s internet addiction, but I feel it’s just as good as “Disconnect,” maybe better. Jennifer Garner is over-the-top as a mom who monitors her daughter’s online activity to an extreme, but by the end, I found her to be justifiably satiric. Adam Sandler has another role that shows off his hidden dramatic chops, as a porn-addict dad. But the most moving performance is by Elena Kampouris who gets seduced into sex and tries pitifully to make contact with her deflowerer through endless text messages. Directed by Jason Reitman (“Up in the Air”). B
St. Vincent (2014, 102 Minutes, PG-13) has Bill Murray as a cantankerous layabout who drinks too much and sleeps with a Russian whore (Naomi Watts, doing broad stereotype). He takes up a babysitter job with an over-sensitive boy (Jaeden Lieberher) and schools him in manhood. Melissa McCarthy adds pathos as the mom. Formulaic tug the heart stuff, but see it for Murray’s performance. B-
Two Days, One Night (2014, 95 Minutes, PG-13, France) is a fairly decent social problems flick with Marion Cotillard as a French woman, who has just recovered from a nervous breakdown, pleading with sixteen co-workers to refuse a thousand euro monthly paycheck bonus so she can keep her job. Repetitious, but I liked observing the compromise of her character with each employee encounter. Yet the movie showed up on so many other critics’ ten best lists you’d think there was fantastic business dialogue, or rigorous sociology expounded on the working class. Any critic who named this among the year’s best is a douchebag. B-
Round Midnight (1986, 133 Minutes, R) is considered a must-see jazz film, but it’s rather poorly structured and rambles. Yet there are some beautiful moments in it, the Herbie Hancock music is terrific, and Dexter Gordon has some poignancy as the aging musician. A fan inspires him out of a slump in late 1950’s Paris, the place in the world for jazz at that moment. New York doesn’t work out that well when he moves, but it is so dramatically distant it matters none to us. It’s time to pronounce 2014’s “Whiplash” as the best jazz film, period. C+
Before I Go To Sleep (2014, 92 Minutes, R) is very minor and not worth seeking out unless it’s the only thing on cable. Nicole Kidman, using her face wrinkles to act, is an amnesiac who wakes up everyday believing she is 15 years younger than she is. Colin Firth, as her husband, leaves her at home everyday to do chore work (yeah, right! Where’s her caretaker?). Meanwhile, a meddlesome psychiatrist (Mark Strong) calls to convince her that her lost memory all those years ago was not to a car accident but to a brutal attack to the head. The mystery doesn’t really challenge your mind as much as offer sparse diversion. C
If I Stay (2014, 106 Minutes, PG-13) has Chloe Grace Moretz as a girl in limbo following a car crash. As a spirit she has to decide whether she wants to fight to live. There are few movies last year that were more of a waste of time than this one. D
