July | 2015 | The Movie Rat

2015 BAM Award Considerations – July

Posted on July 31, 2015 by bernardovillela

It seems that awards season on this blog just ended, however, assembling those nominees is a year-long process. So the cycle begins anew with posts at the end of the month and master lists offline in preparation for the big dates of the award’s calendar year. A collection of most, if not all titles viewed, can be seen on my Letterboxd.

Eligible Titles

Creep
Vacation
We Are Still Here
The Stranger
Paper Towns
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
Father’s Chair
Ant-Man
Aferim!
13 Minutes
Self/less
Minions
7 Days in Hell
The Culling
Human Capital
Reckless
Terminator Genisys
Big Game

Best Picture

13 Minutes
Human Capital
Reckless

Best Foreign Film

Father’s Chair
Aferim!
13 Minutes
Human Capital
Reckless
Big Game

Best Documentary

Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief

Most Overlooked Picture

As intimated in my Most Underrated announcement this year, I’ve decided to make a change here. Rather than get caught up in me vs. the world nonsense and what a film’s rating is on an aggregate site, the IMDb or anywhere else, I want to champion smaller, lesser-known films. In 2011 with the selection of Toast this move was really in the offing. The nominees from this past year echo that fact. So here, regardless of how well-received something is by those who’ve seen it, I’ll be championing indies and foreign films, and the occasional financial flop from a bigger entity.

We Are Still Here
Father’s Chair
Aferim!
13 Minutes
Human Capital
Reckless
Big Game

Best Director

Aferim!
13 Minutes
7 Days in Hell
Human Capital
Reckless
Big Game

Best Actress

Sarah Chronis Reckless
Barbara Crampton We Are Stil Here
Valeria Bruni Tedeschi Human Capital
Cara Delevigne Paper Towns
Christina Applegate Vacation

Best Actor

Jay Duplass Creep
Ed Helms Vacation
Andrew Sensenig We Are Still Here
Nat Wolff Paper Towns
Wagner Moura Father’s Chair
Teodor Corban Aferim!
Christian Friedel 13 Minutes
Fabrizio Bentivoglio Human Capital
Marwan Kenzari Reckless
Samuel L. Jackson Big Game

Best Supporting Actress

Connie Neer We Are Still Here
Cara Delevigne Paper Towns
Mariana Lima Father’s Chair
Katarina Schüttler 13 Minutes
Natalie Martinez Self/less
Matilde Gioli Human Capital
Jaz Sinclair Paper Towns

Best Supporting Actor

Skyler Gisondo Vacation
Monte Markham We Are Still Here
Austin Abrams Paper Towns
Justice Smith Paper Towns
Michael Douglas Ant-Man
Burghart Klaußner 13 Minutes
Ben Kingsley Self/less
Kit Harington 7 Days in Hell
Fabrizio Gifuni Human Capital
Tygo Gernandt Reckless
Arnold Schwarzenneger Terminator Genisys

Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Leading Role

Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Leading Role

Onni Tommila Big Game

Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Supporting Role

Catherine Missal Vacation
Meg Crosbie Paper Towns
Jayne-Lynne Kinchen Self/less
Abby Ryder Forston Ant-Man

Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Supporting Role

Steele Stebbins Vacation

Best Cast

Vacation
We Are Still Here
Paper Towns
Ant-Man
Aferim!
13 Minutes
Human Capital
Reckless

Best Youth Ensemble

Vacation

Best Original Screenplay

We Are Still Here
13 Minutes
7 Days in Hell
Big Game

Best Adapted Screenplay

Vacation
Paper Towns
Aferim!
Human Capital
Reckless

Best Score

13 Minutes
Human Capital
Reckless
Big Game
Ant-Man

Best Editing

13 Minutes
Self/less
Human Capital
Reckless
Big Game

Best Sound Editing/Mixing

Ant-Man
13 Minutes
Human Capital
Reckless
Terminator Genisys
Big Game

Best Cinematography

We Are Still Here
Aferim!
13 Minutes
Human Capital
Reckless

Best Art Direction

We Are Still Here
Paper Towns
Aferim!
13 Minutes
Human Capital
Reckless

Best Costume Design

We Are Still Here
Ant-Man
Aferim!
13 Minutes
7 Days in Hell
Human Capital
Reckless
Big Game

Best Makeup

We Are Still Here
7 Days in Hell
Human Capital
Big Game

Best Visual Effects

We Are Still Here
Ant-Man

Best (Original) Song

“Kiss from a Rose” Vacation
“Look Outside” Paper Towns
“Summer Breeze”Vacation
“Walley World Theme” Vacation
“Universal Fanfare” Minions

I commented last year that there was a film that had me reconsidering the soundtrack as a potential category. It’s happened again so I will be tracking it and seeing if it’s worth re-including this year.

Best Soundtrack

Vacation
Paper Towns

Review: Vorstadtkrokodile 2 and 3

Posted on July 31, 2015 by bernardovillela

Introduction

This is a post that is a repurposing of an old-school Mini-Review Round-Up post. As stated here I am essentially done with running multi-film review posts. Each film deserves its own review. Therefore I will repost, and at times add to, old reviews periodically. Enjoy!

Vorstadtkrokodile 2 and Vorstadtkrokodile 3: Freunde Fur Immer

Perhaps one of the most interesting things that one can start learning or realizing when you obtain films from other regions is that various film industries world-wide are not too different from Hollywood, for better and worse. What we in the US get in art houses are the more erudite, obviously artistic films from overseas. If you look at trades when they report on international bureaucratic/business-related controversies art versus commerce comes up. Essentially, we get the independents from overseas. Next time you watch a foreign film pay attention to the credits and see how many production companies, governmental agency logos and other corporate logos pop up in the opening credits. But the major studios have presences overseas, and even without that each country has its own brand of genre cinema, which is generally made for domestic consumption. Subtitles aren’t found on all foreign-made DVDs and many times only languages of neighboring nations apply.

However, globalization is here and many films are seeking to attain some popularity in the home video market abroad by including more and more subtitles.

Which brings me around to the Vorstadtkrokodile movies. Or as they’re called in English The Crocodiles.

This version is a recent German trilogy based on a popular children’s novel, which I believe was even translated to English at one point. Not unlike American trilogies this series raced to the multiplexes with releases in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Such that the second installment feels a little flimsy and all over the place. There’s some cool fantasy elements, some good jokes but the characters seem to be in stasis. Also similar to American movies, a musician-turned-actor is in the mix; Fabi Halbig drummer from the popular band Killerpilze was recruited to play one of the main roles. Also, not unlike American films Nick Romeo Reimann, one of the latter additions to Die Wilden Kerle (The Wild Soccer Bunch) goes immediately from that series and takes the lead in this film.

Now, all that commentary may sound cynical but they’re just facts. What occurs in the third film is a very pleasant surprise. The story is far more unified. It starts light and frivolous and gets serious. There’s great comic relief and it connects back to the first film. It closes a circle and consciously concludes the series. Just taking a few series by example at the very least these series come fast and furious and know when it’s time to close. It’s a warm and heartfelt conclusion that takes some outlandish plotlines to real and honest places emotionally and give the trilogy great closure.

Reimann, now moving on to other projects, seems destined to continue finding work and may even transition seamlessly into adult roles. It’s a bit early yet, but considering his steady participation in two series, totaling six films, with increased emotional demands in each successive film; drawing a parallel between him and Daniel Radcliffe is not far-fetched.

4/10 and 8/10

Mini-Review: Hick

Posted on July 30, 2015 by bernardovillela

Introduction

Hick

Hick is a resoundingly disappointing experience on a number of levels. One reason this is so is that Derick Martini, the director of this film, crafted a wonderful film a few years back entitled Lymelife. It was one of my favorite films of the year in question, while some of those same motifs and actors that made that film work are back in this film there’s little else that binds the two. Part of the issue with this film is it’s a case of novelist acting as screenwriter backfiring, it can be a wonderful thing, but here it’s a detriment. The film does not move well; the denouement is massive; the amount of coincidence; the lack of clear motivation on the part of certain characters; seemingly extraneous elements, and awkwardly staged situations are some of those reasons. The lead in the film is Chloë Grace Moretz, who as previous honors have indicated is very talented, yet even her excellent performance cannot salvage this film.

What it reminded me of was Léolo gone wrong. You have a very strange home life and an adolescent seeking to escape. The world isn’t very firmly established neither is the protagonist’s desire, not at first. She clearly is haunted by the loss of a sibling but that’s not clear immediately. She has a goal but it quickly becomes clear she’ll need a new one, and how she finds it and why is underdeveloped and is a tremendous example of deus ex machina. The pace of the film is also off and it feels a lot longer than it is. Hick is one worth avoiding.

4/10

Review – Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

Posted on July 29, 2015 by bernardovillela

Introduction

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

Anchorman 2 has been perhaps one of the more unrealistically anticipated sequels in recent years. What I mean by that, and I don’t claim to be not among them; is that over the years the reputation of Anchorman grew such that perhaps the bar started being raised a bit much.

My own experience with the first Anchorman was not love-at-first-sight. Sure, I laughed. I laughed a lot. However, I felt that the feminist theme while appreciated was handled clumsily and overtly. Yes, it’s a silly movie but the rest of it felt far more assured. My appreciation of it grew over time.

Fast-forward to this Anchorman and one thing that stood out before I saw it was the extra running time. Then you see Judd Apatow’s name attached and you wonder if it might be tremendously bloated. At nearly two hours as opposed to just scraping past 90 minutes last time. I don’t think it did feel extraneous, just a touch too much perhaps. I also think the commentary on corporate synergy and news media, while very on the head is more neatly folded in. Thankfully, there were also many new gags, and a lot more weirdness, as the riffs on the old jokes that worked because they were new didn’t really hit it.

To be brief, I didn’t expect a second coming of Ron Burgundy, he’s a character so perfectly buffoonish you can’t manufacture the surprise of first meeting him all over again; but I did think I’d be glad to see him again in a new story. I was and the fact that this story had point to make loudly that had more do with the modern day than the era it was set in is fine by me too.

8/10

Mini-Review: Black Bread (Pan Negro)

Posted on July 28, 2015 by bernardovillela

Introduction

Black Bread (Pan Negro)

This was a film that featured previously on The Movie Rat during last year’s post about the Oscar Foreign Film Submission Process. It was a gutsy choice to submit this film over the likes of Almodovar’s The Skin I Live In, but I applaud gutsy choices such as Dogtooth. That and the fact that Villaronga is a director I’ve seen and like previously made me intrigued by this film.

One thing that’s a double-edged sword about it being Spain’s submission last year is its indigenous nature. It’s a film set in the the Catalan region and deals greatly with the Spanish Civil War and the aftermath thereof. It layers in horror elements, legend, drama, politics, and coming-of-age with deft and not much bluntness. One’s familiarity with the vaguest aspects of the conflict will be aided greatly in viewing it.

The story divides itself neatly and the section whose title alludes to a later scene is the strongest.

7/10

Short Film: Headlong

Posted on July 27, 2015 by bernardovillela

Introduction

Quite a few notes before this one.

First, since this post I’ve shaken up the schedule a bit so it’s a rare non-Saturday short film.

Second, this is a post that is a repurposing of an old-school Mini-Review Round-Up post. As stated here I am essentially done with running multi-film review posts. Each film deserves its own review. Therefore I will repost, and at times add to, old reviews periodically.

Lastly, it’s also the rare occasion on a Short Film Saturday where I will not link directly to an upload of the short film, but you can rent it for $0.99 for three days, link at the very bottom (below the trailer). Enjoy!

Headlong (a.k.a Corps perdu)

Typically in January when the release calendar is light of things really worth taking too long and hard a look at I get to browsing the IMDb for upcoming releases from the previous year’s standouts. That’s how I came to learn of the existence of this short film which stars Young Actor nominee Jelle Florizoone and co-stars Thomas Coumans, who worked with him in North Sea Texas.

Now being a short of about 17 minute I don’t want to discuss it too closely, but I can share two thoughts; one of my own and one from the film’s director. My biggest takeaway from Headlong is that it’s a lovely portrait not just of a fleeting encounter, but also of how a souvenir earns significance in a person’s life. The second is from the film’s director, Lukas Dhont, in an interview:

The main thing I tried was to make a film that could be interpreted as a love story but just as easily as something else. This tension between characters and openness in interpretation is the thing I’m still most happy with. I don’t really like gay shorts that evolve just around the gay eroticism.

8/10

You can rent it here:

Boys on Film X from Peccadillo Pictures on Vimeo.

Mini-Review: Asterix and the Vikings

Posted on July 27, 2015 by bernardovillela

Introduction

Asterix and the Vikings

This is a movie that I have a rather unusual relationship with. I actually didn’t know about this fairly recent animated rendition of Asterix until I was in Orlando earlier this year. In Epcot, there was a book of the film and I got it. The book renders the movie fairly well and considering that I as a fan of Asterix was fairly disappointed in the live-action version I was excited. What it really goes to show is that putting production elements in place: music, dialogue, voice actors, the different animation techniques and effects employed made the movie so much more immersive than I imagined. From the book it seemed like standard fare: fun bordering on cute. The film that the book represents is a very fully realized version of the tale and is highly recommended to fans of this beloved character.

10/10

Mini-Review: First Position

Posted on July 26, 2015 by bernardovillela

Introduction

First Position

I can’t claim to be an aficionado but I am a fan of dance. Through my production company I sponsor a dance competition, so while not an insider I do know my fair share about the world this film describes. What I was somewhat fearful of was that this film would serve as a glorified infomercial for YAGP (Youth America Grand Prix), which is the world’s largest youth dance competition.

All those fears are soon allayed. The necessary information is divulged such that the layman understands the enormity and the gravity of the competition and the controversy regarding any competition is vaguely hinted at, but mostly the film is an introduction to just how competitive the world of dance is, and also a glimpse into how dedicated these artists must be from a very young age.

Yet any film can only get so far on the facts alone. Where First Position succeeds is that it profiles dancers from diverse ethnic and economic backgrounds and also with varying aesthetic philosophies. The film is structured very dramatically such that the performances with the highest stakes appear latest in the cut and the flow from performer to performer is just right and well-ordered.

What starts as an informative, introductory doc soon turns quite the emotional experience that gets you very invested in the outcome. It’s a great film sure to please fans of film and dance alike.

10/10

Mini-Review: In The Name Of

Posted on July 25, 2015 by bernardovillela

Introduction

In the Name Of

Whenever a film is dealing with the topic of clerical celibacy there is always the concern about whether or not the film will handle said topic in a sensationalistic way. This is a concern not because of any religious or politically correct hypersensitivity, but a concern over the artistry of the piece. A sensationalistic piece that exists only to shock and push the envelope, and do nothing more, is of little worth. This is a sensitive character study of a man torn between his sexual and religious identity.

With regards to how the film portrays its protagonist I don’t really take an issue with the film. Where the film has struggles is in terms of its narrative flow and progression and its conclusion. It seems for a vast majority of its running time a film that seems to want to avoid making a “statement” but rather paint a picture of a person rather than a hot-button issue, and that is admirable. The end of the film seems to be more towards the statement realm and in a dichotomous way that is the the detriment of the whole. Any number of resolutions including even being bereft of one may have been preferable.

However, it’s not a twist in the narrative that has the whole film implode upon itself, but rather salt in the wound of a film that was already on a downward spiral to its finale.

4/10

Mini-Review: Runner

Posted on July 24, 2015 by bernardovillela

Introduction

Runner

As I’ve previously noted, one of the great things about ESPN’s films is that they can put into greater perspective events and athletes whose story was either at the periphery or, or outside my understanding due to my age when they were at their zenith. Mary Slaney would fall into that category. By the time I became aware of an interested in the Olympics, the collision at the 1984 games that caused: Slaney to lose, get injured, her last/best chance at a medal and cost the racing world an epic race; was but a snippet in a “thrill of victory, agony of defeat” kind of montage. You really couldn’t get the full sense of the unfortunateness of the event without a closer examination both of Slaney and the race.

There is an writing axiom that states: some characters insist on being in a story despite the author’s best laid plans. Zola Budd is just such a character in this real life drama and her backstory, intrigue and involvement would be scoffed at as unrealistic in scripted entertainment. Furthermore, the fair portrait both athletes get in this telling make the story all the more compelling.

Moreover, the tale highlights better than most in the series the uneasy existence with the Olympics many American athletes have. Yes, it matters to them, and they want to win, but the entirety of their career and achieving an Olympic appearance matters too. The fragile nature of Slaney’s health underscores the fact that going to the olympics and medaling are two separate goals.

This is a tautly-rendered tale of a life and career through the prism of one unforgettable event and how it affected its participants.

10/10

The Movie Rat

Bernardo Villela is like a mallrat except at the movies. He is a writer, director, editor and film enthusiast who seeks to continue to explore and learn about cinema, chronicle the journey and share his findings.

Month: July 2015

2015 BAM Award Considerations – July

Review: Vorstadtkrokodile 2 and 3

Mini-Review: Hick

Review – Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

Mini-Review: Black Bread (Pan Negro)

Short Film: Headlong

Mini-Review: Asterix and the Vikings

Mini-Review: First Position

Mini-Review: In The Name Of

Mini-Review: Runner