DavidStewart57 Reviews

Sicario (2015)

Sicario

[10/10 · 20 October 2015]

Sicario, the new film by Denis Velleneuve, is a jaw dropping, knuckle-whitening experience. Emily Blunt plays an ambitious, chain- smoking FBI agent assigned to work with the DEA in bringing down drug cartels along the US/Mexico border. As soon as she sees the unorthodox methods used by a swaggering cowboy of a DEA agent (Josh Brolin) and a soft-spoken, yet intense protégé (Benicio Del Toro), her outlook on going by the book falls along the wayside. Meanwhile, the film goes back and forth to the daily routine of a hard-drinking local police officer in Mexico going about his private duties leading to a surprising third act in the film.

Not since Traffic has such a film showed the drug trade in an unflinching and suspenseful manner. At times, the film goes into sensory override as you feel and empathize with the anxiety and pressure Blunt's character faces throughout the film. Velleneuve, who gained strong praise with his 2013 film, Prisoners, ups the ante by keeping you on the edge of your seat thanks to Talyor Sheridan's sharp screenplay and Roger Deakins award-deserving cinematography by showing the gore and fury of a world filled with corruption similar to his work with the Coen brothers, be it through close-circuit television sets or night-vision goggles.

Benicio Del Toro gives one of his most darkest and strongest performances in years as Alejandro. His world-weary presence and soft-spoken demeanor is underestimated by a compulsive drive similar to De Niro's Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver. Emily Blunt is great as she successfully walks the tightrope between being a no B.S. FBI agent and a lonely woman whose only merits she holds dear are loyalty and integrity. Josh Brolin brings out a wild and beautifully crass performance as a DEA agent who thrives on chaos like a stilted flower relying on rain to survive.

Velleneuve's harrowing vision on the war on drugs is complimented by Johann Johannsson's ominous score as you go into this two-hour abyss of action and suspense. Sicario is nothing short of riveting and raw that it stands head and shoulders over previous films that have dealt with geopolitical themes like Zero Dark Thirty. The film is not preachy as previous drug-war films as Velleneuve objectively looks at the thin blue line between honor and corruption.

Junun (2015)

Junun

[10/10 · 20 October 2015]

Junun, the new documentary by Paul Thomas Anderson, is a visual and aural treat for music lovers and film lovers alike. In February of this past year, Anderson went to Rajasthan to film the recording sessions for Jonny Greenwood's new album with Israeli composer, Shye Ben Tzur, and several Indian musicians. Anderson, only armed with a digital camera he managed to get through airport customs, captures the creative and radiant energy of the musicians as they record despite constant electricity problems. During their brief reprieves from recording, the musicians meditate and go into town to tune their instruments while Anderson follows them with his camera.

Although the film is fifty-three minutes long, Anderson brilliantly captures every second of the beauty of Rajasthan and the music with unbridled curiosity. Greenwood, the wunderkind guitarist for Radiohead and composer for Anderson's films, pensively plays with his guitar while Ben Tzur sways and sings getting lost in the music as the audience gets lost in the film. This is Anderson's first documentary and film shot entirely in digital format and he plays with the digital camera and tests the limits of how far he can capture the ethereal aura of Rajasthan whether it be filming a circle of musicians in a 360 degree shot or strapping the camera to a drone and flying it around. Along with the dizzying and stunning cinematography, the film celebrates the union of different musical genres with the same vibrant energy as Wim Wenders did with The Buena Vista Social Club. All and all, Junun is a joyous spectacle of sound and vision.

Black Mass (2015)

Black Mass

[6/10 · 20 October 2015]

Black Mass is a straightforward and faithful adaptation of Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neil's book on the infamous Boston gangster, James "Whitey" Bulger and his partnership with FBI agent, John Connelly. From 1976 to 1994, Bulger and his Winter Hill gang ruled the streets of South Boston with violent intimidation and Irish charm. As Connelly, a childhood chum of Bulger's, takes the credit for taking down the Italian Mafia, Whitey's criminal enterprise grows along with his psychotic tendencies. As the body count grows, so does the suspicion over how deep Bulger has the FBI in his back pocket.

Scott Cooper does a solid job in diverting from the tropes of the Scorsese-styled gangster flick by presenting Boston's criminal underworld with a composed and chilling style similar to Yates' The Friends of Eddie Coyle. However, the film does veer off into domestic, eye-rolling melodrama reminiscent of Donnie Brasco. Fortunately, the melodrama is overshadowed by the documentary-styled narrative penned by Mark Mallouk and Jez Butterworth along with the crisp and steady cinematography of Masanobu Takayanagi.

Johnny Depp gives a good and non-glamorous performance as Whitey Bulger. Apart from a stake dinner scene reminiscent of Jack Nicholson's flamboyant gangster in The Departed, Depp shies away from a Gonzo- esque performance as he invokes fear with his piercing blue eyes and rough exterior. Australian actor Joel Edgerton swaggers onto the screen as John Connelly with a mix of bravado and paranoia as the FBI agent who made a deal with the devilish Bulger. Benedict Cumberbatch is excellent as Whiteys brother and state senator who tries to look the other way when his brother is in the newspapers. Rounding up the cast are some memorable performances by Jesse Plemons, Peter Sarsgaard, and Rory Cochrane as Whitey's crew.

For publicity leading up to the film, Warner Bros. made Black Mass look like a cross between Heat and The Town, yet the film is calm and reserved to some extent. Even though there's nothing that really jumps off the screen, the film is a solid piece that combines journalistic inquiry into Boston 's criminal underground.

Inherent Vice (2014)

A Stoned and Surreal Epic!

[10/10 · 11 November 2014]

Paul Thomas Anderson's seventh film, Inherent Vice, is a surreal, kinky, and stoned epic of mammoth proportions. The fact that Anderson decided to be the first director adapt the wild prose of Thomas Pynchon is an achievement in of itself. Set in Los Angeles in the early Seventies, Larry "Doc" Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix) awakens from his stony stupor when his ex-girlfriend (Katherine Waterston) tries to find sanctuary from her real-estate mogul boyfriend, his wife, and her boyfriend. In traditional noir fashion, not all is simple as it sounds as a bigger presence is involved with a cavalcade of characters thrown into Doc's world; a heroin-addicted sax player from a surf-rock band (Owen Wilson), a coked- up dentist with the libido of a rabbit (Martin Short), and an LAPD officer/failed actor (Josh Brolin) busting anyone with long-hair and forming a strange love/hate bond with Doc.

The film is a hybrid of comedy, romance, and mystery inspired by the major film-noir flicks of the 1940s, such as Howard Hawks' The Big Sleep and Fritz Lang's Ministry of Fear, except that rather than having Sam Spade chain smoke cigarettes and drink gimlets, you have Doc Sportello smoking endless joints and drinking tequila zombies. Anderson's perspective of Los Angeles in the Seventies has been shown before in Boogie Nights in all its hedonistic glory, but in the case of Inherent Vice, he manages to capture the mood of L.A. in an earthy, yet naive glow that mirrors the energy and fear that erupted in the wake of the Manson murders and the rise of Nixon's silent majority. No matter how you slice it, Anderson's film fits in the tapestry of other L.A. noir classics like Chinatown and L.A. Confidential, but with the comedic antics of a Cheech and Chong film or an episode of Gilligan's Island.

Joaquin Phoenix gives a brilliantly-nuanced performance as Pynchon's anti-hero private eye. Unlike his last collaboration with Anderson on The Master, Phoenix reigns in his eccentricity with a relaxed, yet stoned, approach and manages to not make Sportello into a clichéd character of the counterculture thanks to the sharp wit and dialogue of Anderson's screenplay. Josh Brolin's performance as Bigfoot Bjornsen is brilliantly comical and tragic as he tries to walk amongst the Indica-smoke streets with the power and authority of Jack Webb from Dragnet. Katherine Waterston gives a remarkable performance as Doc's former flame as she gives a raw and naked performance that is both sympathetic and mysterious. Despite being on film for only ten minutes, Martin Short gives a performance of comedic gold with the eccentricity and insanity as equally as funny as his alter egos like Ed Grimley and Jiminy Glick. Among the other actors who fill out the film, Reese Witherspoon as an assistant D.A. and Doc's part-time love interest, Benecio Del Toro as Doc's confidant and Owen Wilson each give solid performances.

Jonny Greenwood, in his third collaboration with Anderson as composer, creates a score that mirrors the Noir-fashioned sounds of Jerry Goldsmith mixed with the psychedelic sounds of the Laurel Canyon music scene of the early Seventies. Also, the music of Neil Young's Harvest album adds an emotional depth to the romantic interludes between Doc and the women in his life. Robert Elswit's cinematography is as excellent as his previous collaborations with Anderson as he manages to capture the long, strange trip into the underbelly of Los Angeles. Inherent Vice may be at times incoherent and somewhat dense as Pynchon's novel, but it is one hell of a trip!

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)

A Comedic and Moving Satire on Acting

[10/10 · 11 November 2014]

If there is at least one film that I implore you to see and embrace, it is Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's latest barnburner of a movie, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance). The opening shot is like the opening line out of Pynchon's "Gravity's Rainbow" as "a screaming comes across the sky" from above leading to Michael Keaton meditating in midair as he prepares for his first performance on Broadway with his adaptation of Raymond Carver's "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love," in which he stars in and directs. The next two hours is a gripping, funny, and naked look into the world of acting, celebrity, and redemption as Riggan Thomson (Keaton), a former big budget action star from the late-Eighties, tries to get through a hectic three days of preview showings and opening night of his first and maybe last chance of acting. Within the pressure of trying to reclaim his place in the spotlight, Riggan is blindsided by his masochistic, method-acting obsessed co-star (played by Edward Norton) trying to steal his mojo while his daughter/publicist (Emma Stone) and co-star/girlfriend (Andrea Riseborough) try to tame Riggan's ego as he goes through a path of self-reflection and destruction due in part to the voices in his head telling him that "he should have done that reality show" and that "nobody wants to see that talky bullshit" he has sacrificed to put on stage. Birdman is a profound meditation on the age-old fight between art versus commerce while focusing on the desire for affection.

Michael Keaton gives a phenomenally funny and poignant performance as Riggan; many critics have questioned whether life imitates art in regards to Keaton's past success as Batman or Beetlejuice before petering out of top-billing status. Regardless of how close Keaton is compared to Riggan, his intensity, humor, and warmth fit perfectly in what is one of his finest performances in quite a while; his verbal sparring session with a New York Times critic shows he hasn't shown signs of slowing down, just shifting into second gear. Emma Stone gives a raw and powerful performance as he chews out his father hours before going out onstage or contemplating life on the theatre rooftop opposite Edward Norton. With a succession of previous successes on screen, Stone gives her best performance in Birdman.

It would be a travesty to label the rest of the cast as "supporting actors" as each of them give their pound of flesh on screen. Edward Norton is incredible as he satirizes the method-acting approach whether it is appearing drunk onstage to feel like Raymond Carver when he poured sweat and liquor over the typewriter or getting aroused when the stage curtains open up for him. Seeing him and Keaton clash heads and egos is like watching Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton duel on guitars. Zach Galifianakis delivers a perfect balance of humor and neurosis as Riggan's shrewd lawyer and only friend. Amy Ryan, as Riggan's ex-wife, gives a solid and stoic performance as she sees Riggan wrestle with his emotions in his dressing room. Naomi Watts, who plays a naive actress getting her first break on Broadway, savors every minute of her brief time on screen by giving a sympathetic and funny performance.

Alejandro Inarritu continues to raise the bar in his canon of films that focus on the human condition with a supernatural twist as he did with Biutiful and 21 Grams. Birdman is the ultimate film nerd's film as Inarritu manages to create a mesmerizing homage to the auteurs of the past; take the excess and surreal nature of Fellini's 8 1/2, the improvisation and layered characters from Altman's films mixed with the philosophical and supernatural style of Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire, put it in a blender and drink it all up. If there was an Olympic competition for cinematography, Emmanuel Lubezki would reign supreme as his work on the stedicam is fluid and balletic just like his previous work with Alfonso Cuaron. With an incredible cast and a visionary filmmaker at the helm, Birdman stands out as a raw, original, and powerful work of art.

Whiplash (2014)

Raging Bull on drums!

[8/10 · 11 November 2014]

The slow pace of a drum beat fills the screen. Then, it gradually gets louder and faster until you are grabbing the arms of your chair in anticipation as if you were riding to the top of a roller coaster. All of the sudden, the title card comes up and the next hour and forty minutes becomes a hair-standing, wide-eyed look at two people pushing beyond the boundaries of talent and mentorship. The film is Whiplash, the story of an overly-ambitious drum major (Miles Teller) at the Shaffer Conservatory of Music in New York who is chosen to play for the Conservatory band under the leadership of a tyrannical conductor (J.K. Simmons) and will go beyond any ethical code of conduct to turn his student into the next jazz virtuoso.

The performances in this movie are flat-out amazing! Miles Teller was fifteen when he started playing the drums and practiced 4 hours a day to prepare for the movie, which was shot in a period of 19 days. Teller's passion and drive as a drummer and actor are shown in full view in his performance as Andrew, a musician who will sacrifice his blood, sweat, and tears until it pours out over the drums. J.K. Simmons, an actor who has been type- casted for his comedic, yet sympathetic, warmth, gives the performance of his career as Fletcher, an instructor so sadistic that he would make R. Lee Ermey in Full Metal Jacket look like an agony aunt. Both Simmons and Teller clash on the screen like Ali and Foreman in the ring or Ginger Baker and Elvin Jones on the drums.

Witten and directed by Damien Chazelle, he drew from his own experiences as a high school student in a jazz ensemble group, in which his band instructor was a force not to be reckoned with. His static camera catches the energy and emotional swings with such unpredictability you would think it was a documentary. At first glance, you might think of this movie as "Rocky with drums" but, if anything, it draws comparisons to Raging Bull; from soaking a clenched, bloody fist into a bucket of ice after an intense drumming session to the dilemma of how one functions off the drum kit when the band stops playing. If you're looking for a film that pulls sympathetic punches in the style of Fame, Mr. Holland's Opus, or an agonizing episode of Glee, take a hike! Whiplash is a film that cuts deep with an intense and visceral edge that will make your jaw drop with amazement.

Precious (II) (2009)

A 'Precious' Gift

[10/10 · 27 November 2009]

There are very few films that have me in tears from beginning to end; Precious is one of those films. If you're still complaining about the economy and not being able to go on that holiday vacation, try taking a walk in Precious Jones' shoes. Set in Harlem in the late-Eighties, the film explores the life of Precious Jones, an illiterate, pregnant teenager trying to survive. Physically and emotionally battered by her deadbeat mother, raped by her father, and still in junior high, the sixteen-year old finds solace in her daydreams and at the alternative school she gets reassigned to. Intense and difficult to watch for the first hour, the film shows the bight side of life for a girl living in her own Hell.

Only his second film, Lee Daniels (Shadowboxer) is a marvel behind the camera. Not since Midnight Cowboy has anyone looked at desolation and dreams with such an unflinching eye and carry on a story that echoes the ominous passages of Hubert Selby Jr. One name that is sure to pop up during Oscar time is Gabourey Sidibe. A 26-year-old Psychology major with no experience behind the camera, Sidibe's raw and naked performance as Precious will leave you speechless. Take Joan Crawford, Ike Turner, and Frank Booth and roll it into one role and you have Mo'Nique giving a once-in-a-lifetime performance as Precious' psychotic mother. Mariah Carey not only can break the sound barrier, but give a stunning performance on screen as Precious' social worker. Finally, the blood of Glitter can be wiped clean off her hands! If I were to make a list of the best films of this year, Precious would definitely be up there. If you want to feel inspired and have hope, run (Don't Walk!) to Precious.

A Serious Man (2009)

Seriously Brilliant!

[10/10 · 9 November 2009]

When you're going into a movie theater, you don't know if you're going to be watching gold, or watching pure crap. After watching the first ten minutes of A Serious Man, I knew I had struck gold. The next 95 minutes grabbed me by the throat and didn't let go without laughing or crying. Arguably, the Coen Brothers have topped themselves with this crowning comical achievement. Set in Minnesota in the late Nineteen-Sixties- semi-autobiographical to the Coens- Larry Gopnik, a middle-aged physics professor embodies Job by being pelted with divorce, his job and his enigmatic brother while questioning his Jewish faith. The pain grows with Larry's self-absorbed teenage daughter and his son, who soldiers through Hebrew school with a hand-held radio and a lid of weed.

Playing first-mate aboard the Coen's Cruiser is cinematographer, Roger Deakins. Deakins captures the monotony of Midwestern suburbia that echoes American Beauty with an approach that would make Hitchcock grin, along with towering angle shots and drug-infused sequences that mirror Schlesinger's Sunday Bloody Sunday. Carter Burwell's romantic, yet haunting, blend of piano and strings flows throughout the film's damned protagonist as he cycles around through id and superego. On top of Burwell's score is an unforgettable blend of Jimi Hendrix and, primarily, Jefferson Airplane.

Michael Stuhlbarg has pounded the floorboards of New York reciting Shakespeare for the past decade. After seeing A Serious Man, you will be talking about Stuhlbarg's intense, brooding, and funny performance as Larry Gopnik; this is a performance worthy of speculation and adulation. Richard Kind takes his comedic shtick from "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and gets darker as Larry's deadbeat brother. Amy Landecker adds another weight onto Larry's back as a seductive neighbor who plagues his mind with the sexual energy and gravitas of Anne Bancroft's Mrs. Robinson.

If you want cheep laughs and thrills, this is not the film for you. If you want to be philosophically and theologically mind warped, than get as close to the screen as you can. A Serious Man is, seriously, the best film of the year. The Coen Brothers have created their cinematic Sgt. Pepper that will have the religiously devout or true agnostic reeling with laughter and self-loathing.

Milk (I) (2008)

Milk and Honey

[10/10 · 4 September 2009]

2008; a year that has given us blockbuster fodder and low brow plot lines. One film comes out shining from a year of sporadic thumbs up and down; Gus Van Sant's Milk. After this year's election, you may be sick and tired of the words 'change' and 'maverick', but it is hard not to utter those words without knowing who Harvey Milk was: a Long Island businessman who changed the political climate by becoming the first openly gay man to hold a seat in public office. Finally, someone can cross John McCain out of the definition of maverick.

The film begins in San Francisco, 1978. Harvey Milk recollects his life into a tape recorder days before being assassinated by fellow worker, Dan White. It may seem like an overly dramatic opening to tug at the Oscar crowd, but Milk's love of the theater made him want to give a strong final bow. Thus, begins the odyssey into Milk's life as a businessman, activist, and lover.

Who could be better suited to cover the liberating energy and electricity of 1970s San Francisco than Gus Van Sant? Van Sant's use of stock footage and 16mm cameras brilliantly capture Castro Street at the peak of its civil unrest towards the bigotry and violence that has manifested itself from the likes of Anita Bryant and the local police. Van Sant and cinematographer Harris Savides revive the steady cam shot intensity used in Elephant and is blended with the quick-pace editing reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange.

The driving force behind this brilliant film is the breed of astonishing actors. James Franco casts aside the tangled web of Spiderman films and delivers an incredible performance as Scott Stevens, Milk's lover. You see the vulnerability and fear behind his seductive charm. Emile Hirsh bowled over audiences last year with Into the Wild. He raises the bar with his second collaboration with Sean Penn as Cleve Jones, the street hustler turned political adviser for Harvey Milk, whose flamboyance and liveliness illuminate the screen.

From stoner-surfer Jeff Spicolli to his Oscar award-winning role in Mystic River, Sean Penn has delivered 25 years of astounding and solid performances. Milk is Penn's finest hour as he gives his most powerful performance in his career. He doesn't just emulate Harvey Milk, he is Harvey Milk. The compassion and political rage Penn has been widely known for is channeled into a man, whose voice is as loud as it was thirty years ago from Proposition 6 to Proposition 8. It's a little early to tell who should be snagging an Oscar nomination, but after seeing his performance as Harvey Milk, it is safe to say that Penn will not be cast asunder from the public eye.

Next to Penn, Josh Brolin's performance as Milk's assailant, Dan White, is remarkably intense and stunning. Brolin has given back-to-back stellar performances in No Country For Old Men and W. His portrayal as Dan White is one of great depth and intrigue into the mind of a man who acted out on fear and envy by ending the lives of Milk and Mayor George Moscone. As you get into the heart of the film, you look at the man behind the political mask as he slowly loses his balance, such as getting into a drunken heated argument with Milk or masking his contempt while watching him on TV.

Milk is an important film, not just the fact that it tells the story of a true American hero, but it is a film that looks at the fine line between intolerance and change in American politics. Thirty years after Milk's death, his life and legacy remains as strong as ever, and it takes a devoted group of actors and a brilliant director, like Van Sant, to tell his story.

The Wrestler (2008)

Rourke's Finest Hour

[10/10 · 4 September 2009]

Every decade has at least one sports film that is timeless and original. In the 1960s, it was This Sporting Life. In the '70s, it was Rocky. In the '80s, it was Raging Bull. Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler fits the list as the best sports film of the decade. The film follows Randy "The Ram" Robinson, a burnt-out, broke and downtrodden wrestler who tries to relive the glory days of his success by trying to make the ultimate comeback.

In the ring, Robinson takes down the wrestlers with guts and glory as he jumps from the turnbuckle and onto the mat. Behind the ring, he's either stocking shelves at a grocery store, befriending a middle-aged stripper, or alone in his van with only his memories and painkillers to keep him company. As he heals the wounds that would make a biblical stoning seem like a massage, Randy tries to remain upbeat and ready for anything as if the audience- at least what's left of them- are always there for him.

Aronofsky brilliantly captures the distinction between reality and fiction with a raw and unflinching eye mixed with Robert D. Siegel's original story of the jagged paths of glory Robinson tries to cross. Behind Siegel's script is a stunning cast. Marisa Tomei is stunning as Pam, a sexy and fragile stripper who befriends Rourke. The fragility and isolation Tomei faces while giving a lap dance or working the pole strikes similar chords to Sandra Oh's performance as an artistic exotic dancer in Dancing at the Blue Iguana. Evan Rachel Wood channels the emotional angst of her troubled protagonist in Thirteen in a mature fashion in her portrayal as Randy's estranged daughter.

The word "comeback" has been casually thrown around during awards season in the past when mentioning John Travolta in Pulp Fiction, or James Coburn in Affliction. Calling Mickey Rourke's performance as Randy "The Ram" Robinson a comeback would be an insult; it is watching a phoenix rising from the ashes of seclusion and personal defeat. Richard Harris's tenacity and battered body from This Sporting Life mixed with the self pity and fury of De Niro in Raging Bull equals Rourke's wrestling antihero. Seeing Rourke emotionally and physically battered and beaten to a pulp is like watching Icarus fall from grace; tragic, yet beautiful.

The Wrestler is a cinematic cocktail of Dante's Inferno and Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone"; a profound tale that will leave you emotionally and physically drained as if you spent 105 minutes in the ring.

An American Opera (2007)

American Opera Sings Out The Plight Of Animals

[8/10 · 4 August 2009]

Salman Rushdie once said, "If you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got to find a language." Tom McPhee gives that voice to the animals, who suffered during Hurricane Katrina, in his film, "An American Opera." The film opens with an homage to "Apocalypse Now"; an aid worker looks up at a revolving fan and the camera overlooks the flooded areas of Louisiana. The next eighty-seven minutes takes you on an unforgettable journey through the salvaged areas of New Orleans and the stores of heroism and shock concerning man's best friend.

"An American Opera" is not just a documentary; it is a juxtaposition of different documentaries blended into one. The editing of interviews between the animal rescue workers and members of the American Humane Association mirrors the split screen style used in "Woodstock" and Saul Swimmer's "Concert for Bangladesh." The unflinching eye through the halls of the abandoned St. Bernard's School, in which 33 dogs and cats were killed by the St. Bernard Sheriff's Officers, compares favorably to the shots of Abu Ghraib from Errol Morris's "Standard Operating Procedure."

"An American Opera" is a stunning piece of citizen journalism. Tom McPhee carries on the torch once lit by John Huston during his days as a documentary filmmaker during World War II as he examines a world not so often told by today's 24-hour media circus. Get ready to be shocked and inspired by "An American Opera."