Best Documentary Film Nominees Mini-Reviews

Oscar season can be a frustrating time for the average movie fan.  Trying to see all the best picture nominees can be nearly impossible (a friend of mine was able to do it) with work and day to day life getting in the way.  Fortunately streaming video has made it a lot easier to catch up.  Although I’m woefully behind on my best picture viewing and won’t get there in time for Sunday night, I have been able to see all five nominees for best documentary.  All but one of these (20 Feet from Stardom) are available on Netflix (it is available for rental via disc or from other digital rental sites) (UPDATE: 20 Feet, as of March 21st, is available on Netflix Instant), so it’s pretty easy to catch at least one of these before the big ceremony.  As to which one you should watch, here are my quick reviews of the five nominees:

20 Feet from Stardom

First up is a look at African American back-up singers from the early 60s through today, profiling legends like Darlene Love and up and comers like Judith Hill.  It’s the lightest of the five, but it still goes in depth into how they helped artists like The Rolling Stones, David Bowie and Sting.  They also talk about how the role of back-up singer has changed with the business and their attempts at taking center stage, as well as why so few of them achieved big success.  I’ve always been a fan of the supporting people who help the superstars be as great as they can be, but never get the glory.  Thankfully this film gives these talented ladies their due.

Grade: A-

The Act of Killing

My.  God.  This documentary follows two men who set about reenacting the murders of suspected communists they committed for the Indonesian government in the 60s.  It also goes into how the actions of these men—who never received any punishment for their actions, but rather became national heroes—shaped a country that openly discusses its brutality and corruption without any belief that it’s wrong.  Joshua Oppenheimer doesn’t resort to cheap tricks to demonize the subjects (it’d be pretty easy to).  Rather he lets them speak for themselves, and what they say is shocking both in its content and how casually it is said.  Unbelievable and unforgettable, The Act of Killing is easily one of the year’s best films.

Grade: A

Cutie and the Boxer

Zachary Heinzerling’s look into the lives of eccentric Japanese artists Ushio and Noriko Shinohara is my least favorite of the bunch, but still worth checking out.  Ushio is an established Dadaist while Noriko is trying to make a name for herself as Ushio’s work becomes the subject of an art show.  There isn’t much more to it than they are from Japan, living in New York and have struggled for decades on art that usually doesn’t sell, but they are interesting characters to follow and Heinzerling takes what they do seriously.  After some of the more serious contenders, this would be a good way to break the tension.

                                                         

Grade: B

Dirty Wars

Dirty Wars, Richard Rowley’s film about Jeremy Scahill’s investigation into covert operations the United States have undertaken, specifically raids that have left a lot of civilian casualties.  His argument that the US is finding itself plunged into a state of perpetual warfare, is well made and non-sensationalistic, which makes it all the more chilling.  If you want to feel really bad about American foreign policy, this is the one to watch.

Grade: B+

The Square

Jehane Noujaim’s street eye view of the Egyptian Revolution that unseated President Mubarak in 2011 is a compelling portrait of a revolution and the struggles that come with non-violet protest.  Focusing on a small group, including a charismatic and passionate young man named Ahmed Hassan, as well as Kite Runner actor Khalid Abdalla, The Square manages to show a lot about Egypt so even those of us who didn’t follow this story can follow what’s happening.  It’s hard not to be rooting for them as they seek reform in their country.

Grade: A-

It should be safe to say my should win is The Act of Killing.  As to what I think will, I’m more split.  Killing is innovative in how it tells its story and has a good chance of bringing home the trophy, but there is also a chance 20 Feet from Stardom will take it, as it is lighter fare and more crowd pleasing.  Regardless, this is a pretty solid batch of films and I think whatever you pick will be at least interesting.

The Lego Movie Review

There was no reason this movie was going to be good.  It was based on a toy in what could be considered a cynical move by a creatively bankrupt Hollywood.  To make it worse, it comes out in February, recently uncovered as the worst month for wide releases.  On top of that the last film based on a game, Battleship, was a huge bomb both critically and commercially.  Of course we often make these prejudgments because we only have so much time to watch movies, so why waste it with one that’s likely to be bad?  So it’s always nice to see a film defy those low expectations and completely surprise you, like The Lego Movie.  Not only is this film watchable, it is one of the most purely fun films I’ve seen recently.

The film centers on everyman Emmet (voiced perfectly by Parks and Rec’s Chris Pratt), who lives his life according the instructions in an idyllic Lego world.  Only problem is things aren’t as perfect as they seem: President Business (Will Ferrell) runs Legoland as a dictatorship, with lackey Bad Cop (Liam Neeson) making sure the piece of resistance—which would threaten Business’ master weapon the Kragle—isn’t uncovered.  Emmet finds the piece after encountering Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks), and Emmet’s by the books existence is shattered forever.  It is a classic hero’s journey story, but doesn’t at all feel stale.

The world of The Lego Movie covers several different types of worlds with incredible detail.  It’s this year’s Wreck-It Ralph as far as cameos from established properties are concerned.  However, the painstaking detail of the worlds, trying to represent everything on screen by its Lego equivalent, never ceases to impress.  Where stop motion ends and live action begins feels very blurry, another testament to how well made the film is.  This will likely be a really fun film to watch on bluray.

As mentioned in the opening paragraph, when this was announced it was easy to write it off as a cynical cash in, but it is far from cynical as they could be.  The film is continually inventive and clever, from the reveal of what Business’ weapon really is to something in the third act I won’t get into here that opens up a whole new world to the film.  Writer/Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and the beloved cult TV show Clone High fame, have developed a film with layers no one could’ve expected.  The film is certainly silly, but it embraces that silliness in a way that respects its audience.  Clearly you can tell this film was made by fans of Legos and no doubt played with them a lot as kids and/or with their kids today.  It makes sense a film about toys is all about celebrating fun, creativity and playing.  With growing criticism of kids spending too much time on smartphones, game consoles and tablets, it’s good to have The Lego Movie encourage kids of all ages to think outside of the toy box.

Grade: A-

Miscellaneous (Spoilers):

-It is pretty brilliant that they put this out in February.  It could easily be seen as someone put this in the dead zone by accident, but considering this time of year is bereft of worthwhile choices, I imagine The Lego Movie is just going to steam roll the next couple weeks of new releases.  It’s the new Frozen.

-This will probably be the better movie with Batman and Superman in it.

-I love the title cards that show up to denote the passage of time.  My favorite is when Emmet yells how he could sing the insanely catchy “Everything Is Awesome” all day, cut to a time card reading “5 ½ hours later” and it cuts back to them still singing.

-Really the real world twist could’ve sunk the movie, but luckily it just reinforces a lot of what the movie is about (nonconformity, playing).

-Lando!  C-3P0!

-Will Arnett’s performance as Batman is basically Gob from Arrested Development, but a bit smarter and more competent.

-If you really think this movie is anti-business, you’re dumb.  Or you really want businesses run by sociopaths.

-EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!

... 30 ...

To commemorate the 10^th anniversary of Facebook, the website launched a retrospective “Look Back” feature.  Being a sucker for nostalgia, I’ve watched every one that’s popped up on my feed.  I don’t want to say they triggered an existential crisis, but right after I got an invitation to play chess with the ghost of Bengt Ekerot.  Many of my friends’ videos had major milestones under their most liked posts like marriages, babies, houses and new jobs.  Mine had pictures of my Nanowrimo wins (I’ve never shared what I’ve written with anyone) and two posts that could be boiled down to “Breaking Bad is awesome”.  Don’t get me wrong, Breaking Bad is awesome, but it’s hard—even when you try not to sum up your life in likes and retweets—to see that sum up how you spent your twenties on Facebook as you are about to hit 30.

The day this posts, I hit the big 3-0.  Since I don’t drink, 30 is the first age I’ve had any interest in since 18.  It is pretty much the last major post where you can consider yourself young.  I am still younger comparatively speaking to a good chunk of the population, but I don’t associate being in your 30s as a decade of youth.  Your 30s are generally the decade you settle down: you figured out what you’re going to do with your life in your 20s and now it’s time to move from there.  Well, my 20s weren’t like that.  There were a lot of things that I won’t get into here, but suffice to say I didn’t expect to be where I am now and I didn’t expect to have made as little progress as I did.

It hasn’t helped that I had a series of difficult years through most of my 20s.  It culminated last year, which was defined as the year I lost my dad.  While it isn’t as intense as it was when it started, the death of my father is still often in my thoughts, and the grieving process has affected those thoughts more than any other problem I’ve been dealing with lately.  Then there were two of my high school classmates who died this past fall.  I wasn’t close to them (I don’t think I spoke to either of them after graduation), but the reality check was still powerful.  With these reminders of mortality, it’d be hard for it not to affect how I think about what I’m doing right now.

However, I don’t want this post to be a pity party.  I’m reminded of Conan O’Brien’s monologue at the end of his last show as host of The Tonight Show.  “Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get,” he said.  “But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen.”  I still believe that’s true.  Even the people whose Plan A worked out for them, it’s unlikely it played out exactly as they expected.  Not to mention sometimes failing can be the best thing to happen to somebody.  So while most of my 20s was unsatisfying, it could pave the way for a better 30s.

Those who know journalistic terms (or just fans of HBO’s The Wire, whose last episode is called “- 30 -“) will know journalists have used “-30-“ to denote the end of a story.  30 could be considered the end of a story, but as Dr. Manhattan said in Watchmen, “Nothing ever ends.”  This isn’t Logan’s Run where life literally ends at 30.  30 is a beginning.  There’s still a lot for me to experience in this life and things for me to do: I hope 30 is the year I finally finish a draft of my book that I could show my beta readers to list an example.  It is hard not to get hung up on other people’s progress compared to our own, especially as time goes on and we hit these milestone numbers, and social media makes it easier to see everyone else’s achievements.  All we can hope to do is play the game as best as we can, because ultimately that checkmate will come for us all.