LeapBackBlog 2016 Film Awards

2016 was a wonderful year for film, from fun blockbusters to innovative and engaging independent films. There were so many good films, performances and technical feats that many that I really liked did not make my top 25 in each category. I have put an “*” next to my personal favorite from each category.

Favorite 25 Films of 2016

Arrival, a sci-fi thriller directed by Denis Villeneuve

Captain America: Civil War, an action adventure directed by the Russo Brothers

Captain Fantastic, a comedy directed by Matt Ross

Certain Women, a character drama directed by Kelly Reichardt

The Conjuring 2, a period horror thriller directed by James Wan

Deadpool, an adventure comedy directed by Tim Miller

Everybody Wants Some!!, a comedy directed by Richard Linklater

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a fantasy adventure directed by David Yates

Green Room, a thriller directed by Jeremy Saulnier

Hacksaw Ridge, a war drama directed by Mel Gibson

Hell or High Water, a modern western directed by David Mackenzie

Hunt for the Wilderpeople, a comedy directed by Taika Waititi*

The Jungle Book, a family adventure directed by Jon Favreau

Lion, a character drama directed by Garth Davis

The Lobster, a dystopian romance dramedy directed by Yorgos Lanthimos

Loving, a character drama/romance directed by Jeff Nichols

Manchester by the Sea, a character drama directed by Kenneth Lonergan

Moana, an animated family adventure directed by Ron Clements & John Musker

Moonlight, a character drama directed by Barry Jenkins

The Nice Guys, a mystery comedy directed by Shane Black

Pete’s Dragon, a family adventure directed by David Lowery

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, a sci-fi action adventure directed by Gareth Edwards

Silence, a period character drama directed by Martin Scorsese

Sully, a character drama directed by Clint Eastwood

The Witch, a period horror thriller directed by Robert Eggers

Favorite 25 Performances of 2016

Amy Adams, leading performance in Arrival

Casey Affleck, leading performance in Manchester by the Sea

Mahershala Ali, supporting performance in Moonlight

Jeff Bridges, supporting performance in Hell or High Water

Laura Dern, leading performance in Certain Women

Colin Farrell, leading performance in The Lobster*

Andrew Garfield, leading performance in Hacksaw Ridge

Andrew Garfield, leading performance in Silence

Greta Gerwig, supporting performance in 20^th Century Women

Ryan Gosling, leading performance in The Nice Guys

Tom Hanks, leading performance in Sully

Naomie Harris, supporting performance in Moonlight

Nicole Kidman, supporting performance in Lion

Ruth Negga, leading performance in Loving

Sam Neill, supporting performance in Hunt for the Wilderpeople

Dev Patel, leading performance in Lion

Natalie Portman, leading performance in Jackie*

Daniel Radcliffe, leading performance in Swiss Army Man

Margot Robbie, leading performance in Suicide Squad

Michael Shannon, supporting performance in Nocturnal Animals

Octavia Spencer, supporting performance in Hidden Figures

Hailee Steinfeld, leading performance in The Edge of Seventeen

Emma Stone, leading performance in La La Land

Anya Taylor-Joy, leading performance in The Witch

Michelle Williams, supporting performance in Manchester by the Sea

Favorite 25 Artistic, Technical & Aesthetic Achievements of 2016

Volker Bertelmann & Dustin O’Halloran, composers of Lion

Jarin Blaschke, cinematographer of The Witch

Nicholas Britell, composer of Moonlight

Doug Chiang & Neil Lamont, production designers of Rouge One: A Star Wars Story

Stuart Craig, production designer of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Robert Eggers, director of The Witch

Greig Fraser, cinematographer of Lion

Mel Gibson, director of Hacksaw Ridge

Christopher Glass & Abhijeet Mazumder, production designers of The Jungle Book

Barry Jenkins, director of Moonlight

Johann Johannsson, composer of Arrival*

Mark Korven, composer of The Witch

James Laxton, cinematographer of Moonlight

Mica Levi, composer of Jackie

Mark Mancia, Lin-Manuel Miranda & Opetaia Foa’i, composers of Moana

Seamus McGarvey, cinematographer of Nocturnal Animals

Rodrigo Pieto, cinematographer of Silence

Jeremy Saulnier, director of Green Room

Martin Scorsese, director of Silence

Shane Valentino, production designer of Nocturnal Animals

Patrice Vernette, production designer of Arrival*

Denis Villeneuve, director of Arrival*

Taika Waititi, director of Hunt for the Wilderpeople

David Wasco, production designer of La La Land

Bradford Young, cinematographer of Arrival*

10 Great Under-the-Radar Indie films and Documentaries that are Must-Sees

Don’t Think Twice, a dramedy directed by Mike Birbiglia

The Edge of Seventeen, a comedy directed by Kelly Fremon Craig

Jackie, a period character drama directed by Pablo Larrain

Love & Friendship, a period comedy directed by Whit Stillman

Midnight Special, a sci-fi drama directed by Jeff Nichols

Nocturnal Animals, a character drama/mystery directed by Tom Ford

O.J.: Made in America, a documentary directed by Ezra Edelman

Sing Street, a musical comedy directed by John Carney

Swiss Army Man, a comedy directed by Dan Kwan & Daniel Scheinert

13^th, a documentary directed by Ava DuVernay

Good Films I Have Yet to See (that probably would have factored into the above lists)

Christine, a character drama directed by Antonio Campos

Elle, a character drama/thriller directed by Paul Verhoeven

Fences, a period character drama directed by Denzel Washington

The Handmaiden, a drama directed by Chan-wook Park

Paterson, a character drama directed by Jim Jarmusch

Total Recall (2012) – Review

Review: Total Recall is all action and visual spectacle with no substance or resonance. Ultimately, this new version is not as good as the original, and thus further begs the question of why it was necessary (remakes are fine, I have problem with them, but if you want to tackle a genre classic, might as well make it good, right?). The film is about Douglas Quaid, a factory worker who dreams of something more in his life. Wanting to get away from the day-to-day tedium, he decides to visit Rekall to take a virtual vacation by having new memories implanted into his head. Something goes wrong and Quaid is thrust into the middle of a conspiracy. Suddenly, he is told he is not Quaid but actually a spy named Hauser, who betrayed his government going rogue on his latest mission. Quaid’s world begins to fall apart as he questions his true identity while fleeing from government agents. Director Len Wiseman does do a great job with the aesthetics of the film, as everything has a great sci-fi future utopian/dystopian (depending whether the characters are in the Colony or in the UBF) visual look and feel. His action set-pieces are also mostly well done and feature compelling moments of spectacle. However, Wiseman’s narrative seems to be a very distant second to the visuals and action pieces. The whole story and Quaid’s character arc are merely devices to propel the film forward from one action sequence to the next. The characters are all broadly drawn stereotypes with no personalities or interesting moments. It is as if Wiseman decided that the characters did not matter at all. Quaid’s quest is seemingly to find out who he really is, but the film never gives him any time or dramatic moments to wrestle with this question. Rather, he is thrown into the action and just accepts his role, shifting the focus from ‘who am I’ to stopping Cohaagen’s evil plan, and thus the second act is just a series of action set-pieces occupying space until the final confrontation. The problem is, though, the audience does not care about Quaid, and why should they if the filmmakers do not. In the first act, Wiseman tries to economically fit as much character into Quaid’s scenes to suffice for the rest of the narrative – Quaid is unhappy with the way his life has turned out: he has a crappy job, a crappy house, and no real future (but his wife is good looking and supportive - so how bad for him can we really feel?). But all that groundwork is sort of meaningless when Quaid is not really Quaid but Hauser, and Quaid easily accepts that he is Hauser and it is his mission or responsibility to get wrapped up in this life threatening adventure to stop Cohaagen, who also happens to be the leader of the government. Some hesitance should be expected right? Apparently Quaid wanted a new life so much that likely dying seemed a better alternative. For the audience however, the character just does not resonate, which makes all the action scenes work only on a pure spectacle level, as there are no real stakes for the audience (and the whole film is basically one action scene after the next). To make matters worse, the main supporting characters are terrible as well. Melina, Quaid’s contact in the terrorist organization (and love interest) has no personality at all, she is just sort of there to tell Quaid what to do and get him from one action sequence to the next. Cohaagen and Matthias (the leader of the government and terrorist group respectively) have minimal involvement in the story until late in the second act (and Matthias really has no point at all). Only Lori, who is just a henchman (sort of combining Lori and Richter from Paul Verhoeven’s film), has some good bad guy stuff (though, still nothing that great). Thus, Total Recall is a film with no characters that matter on any level to the audience, and therefore the narrative is meaningless leaving the crux of the whole viewing experience on the action, which is only adequate with a few great and compelling moments (like the initial fight between Lori and Quaid and the fight between Lori and Melina). It is really the visual style and ambiance of the film that is its saving grace. Without good characters to care about, the action, as good as it is in places, still feeling long and even boring, and the visuals only go so far. To say the least, the film is disappointing and forgettable (and completely unneeded).

Technical, aesthetic & acting achievements: Len Wiseman has made a career for himself as an action director who makes entertaining films (but nothing great) like Underworld and Live Free or Die Hard (both of which I enjoyed). But with Total Recall, he has given in to the seemingly predominant feeling in Hollywood action films right now – spectacle over character and narrative. Sadly, it is character and narrative that make the action work, otherwise it is just noisy and inconsequential – clumsy filmmaking that is to no one’s benefit. Visually, as stated in the review section, the film is quite compelling. Paul Cameron’s cinematography and especially Patrick Tatopoulos’s production design does a fabulous job of creating the world and style of the narrative. The overall visual style pays homage while creating its own look. The Colony has a great aesthetic to it – that of a futuristic overcrowded slum. Cameron uses lens flare a bit too much but still effectively to create a sci-fi feel and visual motif (I am not sure, but my guess is that it was added in postproduction), a bit like what J.J Abrams and his D.P. Daniel Mindel did with Star Trek. The crisp lighting mixed with the gritty backgrounds harkens back to the neon style of Blade Runner in the Colony and the clean detached style of the UBF to Minority Report (and many other sci-fi films). Harry Gregson-Williams provides a great score for the film. It punctuates the emotions (and fills in for the missing emotions in many cases), while also completely complementing the overall aesthetic. It is very good work (here is a suite). On paper, the cast is made up of fantastic talent. However, the film gives its actors very little character to work with, and almost no good dramatic moments. Basically, all they do is spout exposition and run around in action set-pieces. John Cho, Bokeem Woodbine and the criminally underused Bill Nighy are good in their small supporting roles. Bryan Cranston and Jessica Biel (both with horribly underwritten characters) still add enough to their characters to make the audience somewhat engaged. Kate Beckinsale has probably the best role in the film. As the main henchman, she gets to just be evil and go after Quaid relentlessly, and she does a good job doing it. Colin Farrell does his utmost to make the audience care about Quaid. But, the majority of the film is spent on action and not character, and so he is unsuccessful (but it is not his fault).

Summary & score: Total Recall is a throwaway genre film, to be seen only by fans of vapid and soulless action spectacle. 4/10 

Movie of the Week – The New World

This week’s movie is The New World (2005).

The drama is about the first English settlers, including John Smith, arriving in Virginia in the 17^th century, and their clash with the natives. It is also a love story between Smith and Pocahontas, and later Pocahontas and John Rolfe. Directed and written by Terrence Malick, the film is more an emotional experience than a true narrative piece (like all his films). I would also contend that it is not only his most underrated work, but also one of his best films. From the stark reality that the natives face with the arrival of the English and all that means to the future of their civilization (poignantly shown in a scene in which Opechancanough stares at a stain-glass window, realizing that his and his people’s whole way of life is over) to the beautiful photography (the juxtaposition between Virginia and London is quite striking). It is the first collaboration between Malick and director of photography Emmanuel Lubezki, garnering some of greatest work of the decade. The pair worked together so well that Lubezki has shot and is shooting Malick’s next four films (The Tree of Life, and the upcoming To the Wonder, Lawless and Knight of Cups). James Horner provides a great score, and long-time Malick collaborator Jack Fisk provides excellent production design. Malick’s cast is also very good with Colin Farrell, Q’orianka Kilcher and Christian Bale starring, and support from Christopher Plummer, August Schellenberg, Wes Studi, David Thewlis, and Yorick van Wageningen. Malick’s film is powerful, exploring the wonder, beauty and naivety of the New World, but also tragic and sad as the viewer sees both the birth of America and the death of the native civilization. The romantic story is also well done. Historically, John Smith’s story has been called into question, but the film is not so much about the facts, rather the experience. It is a must-see for fans of Malick and those looking for an engulfing emotional and visual experience. Check out the trailer.

Available on Blu-ray, DVD and Streaming

Fright Night (2011) – Review

Review: Fright Night is yet another film in which Hollywood (in this case Disney) tries to cash in on the current (and maybe fleeting) vampire craze – and not only that, it is also a remake. But, much like last year’s Let Me In (a remake of Let the Right One In), this version of Fright Night is just as good as the original. Director Craig Gillespie’s film has fun action, a wonderful dark aesthetic and sort of a mix between a dark and light tone (dark in terms of visual, narrative content and the amazing score and light in terms of the Marti Noxon’s jovial spirit of the script and the fun the actors have with their characters), leading to a film that works quite well – being both entertaining and scary. It exists in a grey area between being a comedy adventure and a horror adventure, but seems to focus more on the horror aspects. The comedy works for the most part (mostly centering on two characters: Peter Vincent and Ed), but the film is not nearly funny enough to really be deemed a comedy. It is much more an action horror adventure (that also has funny moments, similar to say Raiders of the Lost Ark, minus the horror genre). Thus, those looking for laughs as the primary reason for seeing it may be left feeling a bit disappointed (and that is really only a critique on the expectations of viewers). Going in cold (as in knowing nothing) or expecting a horror film, it plays much better. To a degree (and I feel this is true about many films with characters that are not quite fleshed out enough or have potential for more – aka the narrative is not tight or strong enough to make the film feel fully complete or sufficient as is), Fright Night may have worked better with everyone involved as a miniseries. The characters have a lot of rich potential and the narrative feels very rushed, having to get through the whole story in less than two hours. Since there is so much plot to get through, the characters do not have enough depth (for my liking). That said, the story is good enough, Gillespie’s narrative does not stall or drag and viewers want to see the resolution and are thus kept interested despite the weaker characters (though, I imagine the film does not work as well on repeat viewings). All in all, Fright Night is a fun and enjoyable horror adventure (in a genre that seldom delivers anything but crap) that is worth seeing.

Technical, aesthetic & acting achievements: Craig Gillespie seemed like a good choice coming into the film from a comedy perspective (having a drama/indie style of comedy), but really what worked the best was the horror aesthetic he created for the film (it is my favorite of his three to date). The great aesthetic look of the film also has a lot to do with the excellent work by cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe (who in a weaker year than this, as this year has featured a lot of really well shot films, his work might be up for a yearend LeapBackBlog award) and production designer Richard Bridgland (Las Vegas and the cookie-cutter residential development made for a great setting). Ramin Djawadi’s score is pitch-perfect. It is menacing, has sort of a classic horror throwback to it and fits the material very well (definitely among my favorite scores of the year, here is a suite). Gillespie (et al.) also did a fantastic job casting the film. Toni Collette, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Imogen Poots (a star to watch) are great in their supporting roles, but David Tennant is brilliant (very funny and charismatic). As good as Tennant is, Colin Farrell steals the movie. Jerry the vampire seems to be a part that is just right for him – brooding good looks, an ironic sense of humor and yet still able to come across as frightening and dangerous. Anton Yelchin is good in the lead, but a bit overshadowed.

Summary & score: Horror films are rarely good these days, but Fright Night is a funny and action packed adventure horror. 7/10

Horrible Bosses (2011) – Review

Review: Horrible Bosses is a hilarious buddy-comedy. What works so well is that director Seth Gordon does not try to do too much with the narrative – he keeps it simple. This is a story about three friends that work for awful crazy strange bosses. Gordon allows for the bosses themselves to be played to an exaggerated level for comedic effect, but still within the realm of reality – thus making them relatable to the audience in terms of their own potentially terrible bosses (or idea of what would be a crap boss). The other thing Gordon understands about comedy is that often the best comedy comes from simply putting average characters on a path and having them make bad decisions that escalate to a somewhat embellished outcome. The characters of Nick, Dale and Kurt are played well and present as different spectrums of the average 30-40 something man. Their reactions to and decision-making as a result of the situations is what makes this film work so well, because everything is relatable (to a degree). Gordon allows them to be a little dumb, inappropriate and un-bashful, but generally nice guys, making them feel not only real and relatable but also like guys most of the audience would hang out with (an important touch for this sort of comedy). This film’s comedy works as well as it does because the viewer can see himself in the same situations probably having similar reactions, but also Gordon injects enough ridiculousness and inflated situations to also appeal to the part of the viewer that wants to be shocked (to an extent – and while I am sure many a comedy did this prior, we can call this the South Park, or for a more recent reference The Hangover or Old School, extreme comedy style where situations, use of langue or characters are heightened to a level that most viewers will never experience and thus are amused because they are to a degree shocked or surprised by what they are seeing or hearing the characters say and go through). Not every comedy needs to have this attribute to work, but this sort of frat-boy/buddy type of comedy comes with an expected amount of rude extreme behavior and situations. Most importantly, the characters must be done right, because if the audience is not with them then nothing else will work or be nearly as funny. Horrible Bosses is very funny because the audience can see themselves in the characters, and Gordon does a great job of escalating the situations and comedy just enough to engage the audience thoroughly without losing them because everything is overblown. He gets the characters and balance right, and thus the film works well and is quite hysterical. However, this is a straightforward comedy – there is not much, if any dramatic or emotional work, and so it is not fulfilling to the same extent that some other comedies (such as Forgetting Sarah Marshall) that are just as funny/crazy but dig deeper into the emotions of their characters.

Technical & acting achievements: Seth Gordon needed a hit comedy with Horrible Bosses, coming off the not too well received feature debut Four Christmases (though, I liked it) amidst all the anticipation following his breakout documentary (and comedy) The King of Kong: A Fistfull of Quarters. This film established Gordon as a comedy director to watch (and maybe competition for Todd Phillips for his demographic, as Horrible Bosses is much better than Phillips’s last two:  Due Date and The Hangover Part II). As stated above, this is a straightforward comedy and shot that way by Gordon, taking on the aesthetic of modern Hollywood films (not completely, but to some extent void of artistic experimentation, rather allowing the performances and comedy to play for the audience). The work thusly of composer Christopher Lennertz and cinematographer David Hennings is adequate for the film, but does not stand out. However, production designer Shepherd Frankel does fantastic work with the sets, especially having fun with Bobby Pellitt’s and Dave Harken’s house. These types of comedies owe a large portion of their success to the cast’s ability to be funny and have the right mix of chemistry. Here, the principal supporting characters are all outlandish and amusing. Jamie Foxx (whose character name is probably the funniest part about his character and performance) and Kevin Spacey (see Swimming with Sharks) do good work but sort of deliver performances and characters we have seen before. Colin Farrell and especially Jennifer Aniston (who practically steals the film from a bunch of great comedians) take their characters to another level, playing characters well outside what they have done before, which works incredibly well given the premise. Each of the leads plays their typical character, but the chemistry between Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day is great. Day is particular is really funny in the movie (and in everything he does). He just has an infectious energy and seems to constantly be on the edge of full on insanity.

Summary & score: Horrible Bosses works really well for what it is and aspires to be, just a straightforward really funny buddy comedy. 7/10