FILM RATINGS & REVIEWS 2016 @Arts & Opinion

2016

FILM RATINGS

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RATING SCALE
2.5 or more for a noteworthy film
3.5 for an exceptional film
4 for a classic.

3.4 -- GONE TOO FAR, Rim Mejdi
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper] A hilarious comedy coming out of Nollywood (Nigeria’s version of Hollywood). Yemi’s older brother from Nigeria comes to live with rebellious Yemi and his mother in London, but both bros are in complete conflict, mainly because Yemi denies his Nigerian origin. Despite the fact they are brothers, they have nothing in common. We find out that Jamaicans hate Africans – at least in the neighbourhood of Peckham where the family lives. Fights, flirtations and an angry mom trying to tame Yemi and teach him to be a good younger brother make up this really funny film. Eventually, the very things that drive them apart cause a climactic event that truns his brother into a kind of hero. Yemi begins to respect his Nigerian brother, while discovering that the girl he liked is bad news. Entertaining with its own important message about racism and family derision and division, Gone too Far is a cute feature that was screened at Montreal's 2016 Vues d'Afrique film festival.

2.4 -- EN DEHORS DE LA VILLE, Rim Mejdi
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper] A Moroccan woman tries to have an abortion in a car dump place, but the woman who is supposed to do it changes her mind. A short but an interesting one – thanks to the acting and irony the characters display. This odd film was screened at Montreal's 2016 Vues d'Afrique film festival.

2.2 -- SAGAR, Rim Mejdi
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper] A Moroccan woman is cradling her baby as it cries. The husband is sick and tired of the crying, drugs his wife with a needle. When she wakes up the baby is gone, and the husband and his mom are complicit in the disappearance. This well acted short was screened at Montreal's 2016 Vues d'Afrique film festival.

3.3 -- LA FORÉT SACRÉE, Camille Sarret
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper] In the villages of the Ivory Coast, and in so many other African countries, clitoral mutilation of young girls is practiced, and the women who carry out this cultural catastrophe are proud of the tradition and occurrence; now the girls have "crossed over." However, Martha Diomandé, a married 30-year-old woman who resides in France, and who was mutilated in her village has returned to her village with a French health professional. Both are intent on trying to teach the irreparable damage the practice causes to women's health and the horrid difficulty and complications during labour. The women who perform the mutilation are trained by an elder, but they gather in a group to receive their lesson and the dangers in the practice. The teaching is sensitively handled. It is an age-old tradition that does not go away easily. This excellent documentary was screened at Montreal's 2016 Vues d'Afrique film festival.

3.7 -- CHOUCHA,UNE INSONDABLE INDIFFÉRENCE, Sophie Bachelier & Djibril Diallo
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper] In Tunisia, Camp Choucha in the desert is without water and food, and those living under tents there -- if lucky enough -- are granted refugee status, and they get money and nourishment. However, most are denied the status. People there come from all over Africa, trying to escape wars and famine. The High Commission for Refugees is a joke, and a shameful one at that. Murders happen, and no one investigates from the organization. The unlucky people trying to survive in Choucha have been there for over two years. Those who got in are held in detention centres in Europe. This film documents the shameful, horrific heartbreak for those stuck there and for those of us watching, unable to rescue them though we desperately want to. Only 49 minutes in length, the film inserts the camera directly into the barren camp as the camp people living there reveal their suffering. This riveting documentary was screened at Montreal's 2016 Vues d'Afrique film festival.

1.9 -- LES FRONTIÉRES DU CIEL, Chabel El Janna
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper] Sami and Sara are a couple in turmoil. The husband leaves Sara; he is grief stricken, and becomes a chronic drinker. Why? Sami was negligent; it seems their little daughter Yasmine drowned; it was his fault for not watching her. We do not see this, but through a series of terrible editing, our own piecing together and flashbacks, we figure it out. This Tunisian film is so long and boring. In the end, we do not care if the couple ever reunites. I dare to say this, as the work has garnered several awards. It was the opened Montreal's 2016 Vues d'Afrique film festival.

2.7 -- THE DARK HORSE, James Napier Robertson
[reviewed by Jordan Adler] On the big screen, New Zealand actor Cliff Curtis is most recognized for dignified character turns in films like Training Day and Three Kings. As real-life Maori chess champion and coach Genesis Potini in The Dark Horse, Curtis pushes into leading man territory. He commands the screen in a nuanced role that explores mental illness without teetering into caricature. Curtis anchors a film that can sometimes be unwieldy. One central plot focuses on Potini’s involvement with the Eastern Knights, a club of underprivileged youths, and his work to prepare them for a chess tournament in Auckland. Another looks at his thorny relationship with brother Ariki (Wayne Hapi, terrific) and Potini’s interest in bonding with Ariki’s son, bruised teen Mana (Boy’s James Rolleston). Then, there are the film’s most imaginative segments, the individual asides with Curtis as his character battles bipolar disorder and tries to keep himself clean and controlled. Director James Napier Robertson excels at trapping us in the protagonist’s head during these languid, or even shocking moments of loneliness. (The most memorable: a nightmare about an almost absurdly gory nosebleed.) The Dark Horse gets many of the character beats right, especially the relationship between the Potinis that provides a surprisingly menacing core to the drama. However, the harrowing family affairs interfere on the scenes of Potini’s mentorship, which often seem like an afterthought. The young actors in the Eastern Knights are all memorable, even if their characters all seem to blend together, and the road to the big tournament is slighted by the other plot elements. That is unfortunate, especially when considers Potini’s work with the children is a large part of his legacy.

3.2 -- SLEEPING GIANT, Andrew Cividino
[reviewed by Jordan Adler] Set on the shores of Lake Superior, Sleeping Giant, a new Canadian drama, is much like its characters. Seen from a distance, the three male protagonists look like children; up close, we see the truth of being stuck between that place between kid and adult. Andrew Cividino’s debut (a festival darling at Cannes and Toronto) resembles an ordinary coming-of-age tale under the scorching summer sun. However, under closer inspection, its examination of the teenage male experience proves to be deeply relatable. The film follows the adventures of three pals: shy Adam (Jackson Martin), squirrely Nate (Nick Serino) and his cousin Riley (Reece Moffett). The high schoolers spend their days in cottage country setting off fireworks, jumping on trampolines and chatting about their ideal sexual conquests. The camera bustles forward as the boys take their part in rites of passage, but remains static at moments of intense contemplation. (Imagine if The 400 Blows looked more like an American Eagle commercial, and you have a taste of Sleeping Giant’s freewheeling aesthetic.) The three young actors give performances that feel effortless, a challenge due to the screenplay’s verbose hangout slang. The standout is Serino, who finds notes of grace underneath Nate’s attention-deficit gusto. While one is aware of the plot mechanics at play – a climactic jump off a steep rock formation is clearly foreshadowed – Cividino (and two co-writers) take this event in an unpredictable direction. Still, some of the episodes are derivative – one involving Adam’s cheating father feels borrowed from The Way, Way Back – and the female characters are, essentially, objects in the protagonists’ eyes. Meanwhile, the time devoted to Adam and Nate’s conflicts interrupt Riley’s story. Still, Sleeping Giant is better than most films at articulating the teenage experience, its powers and pressures, its noises and silences.

4.0 -- THE LOBSTER, Yorgos Lanthimos
[reviewed by Jordan Adler] David, played by Colin Farrell, is a glum forty-something with a bad moustache and even worse beer belly. His wife has left him, which means that he now has 45 days to find a new romantic partner. If he fails to do so, he will be transformed into an animal and released into the wild. (David’s chosen a lobster: they are fertile and live for 100 years. Plus, he likes the water.) This may be one of the strangest synopses ever attached to a new release, but lovers of deadpan comedy should line up for The Lobster immediately. The film’s oddness makes more sense when you realize that its director, Yorgos Lanthimos, made the horrifying, hilarious Dogtooth. Much of the film is set at a seaside resort, where the Loners (capitalized for a reason) are encouraged to look for matches with similar traits. Nevertheless, those supervising the singletons, including an uncommonly bitter Olivia Colman, seem just as jaded and lost as those at risk of a life in the wild. Despite his emotional confusion, David finds some common ground with a near-sighted woman played by Rachel Weisz in the second half. When she enters the scene, the drama becomes more urgent, the emotions more poignant; regardless, the film’s comic dryness is permanent. Daily demonstrations about dating manners and nightly hunting practice in the forest yield big laughs, although the absurdity rarely feels too removed from the conquests of those trying to find love and companionship today. (Imaging if Luis Buñuel discovered Tinder, and you’re close to figuring out the film’s tricky tone.) Embrace the weirdness, and you’ll find a satire of sustained brilliance, which moves from harsh laughs to heartbreak without ever losing its ingenuity.

2.9 -- EYE IN THE SKY, Gavin Hood
[reviewed by Jordan Adler] The new film from Gavin Hood begins with an Aeschylus quote: “In war, truth is the first casualty.” One can say the same thing about the movies. While Eye in the Sky does examine big issues around the ethics of drone warfare, it is, more accurately, a gripping, strap-to-your-seat thriller. The film jumps between the U.K. where an intelligence officer, Col. Powell (a steely Helen Mirren), hopes to lead an operation to take out two wanted al-Shabaab terrorists, and Nairobi, where an agent on the ground (Barkhad Abdi) tries to confirm Powell’s suspicions. We also spend time in Las Vegas, where drone pilot Steve Watts (Aaron Paul, well-cast) may be the one to unleash what he calls “hellfire.” The plot thickens when a young Nairobi girl lingers around the borders of the home Powell wants to be blown away. This sends high-ranking officials into a panic as they debate the rules of engagement. Guy Hibbert’s screenplay is finely plotted, dense with discussion over collateral damage, yet it is never confusing. Still, one wishes the thriller had spent more time in Nairobi, or at least hovering about the targets, giving us a chilly bird’s-eye view of the innocent people caught in the crosshairs. Eye in the Sky is the last live-action film with Alan Rickman, who offers gravitas as lieutenant Frank Benson. When someone tells Benson that he can make these life-or-death calls from the safety of his chair, your first impulse is to squirm. Is that a question we should be asking ourselves, as we munch our popcorn in an air-conditioned cinema, eager for an explosive finish? Here, the theatre of war is more connected to excitement than insight. Aeschylus was right.

3.1 -- KNIGHT OF CUPS, Terrence Malick
[reviewed by Jordan Adler] You don’t quite watch Terrence Malick movies: you swim in them and submit to the power of the director’s current. Once the drift subsides, adventurous moviegoers are often rapt in reverence; meanwhile, those who care deeply about traditional three-act structures, characters and linear storytelling just feel emptily tossed around in the filmmaker’s pretentions. Knight of Cups, Malick’s seventh film, is perhaps his most impenetrable, so buy a ticket at your own risk. It follows Rick (Christian Bale), a Hollywood screenwriter who we never see writing and almost never see speaking. After an exodus for the palm trees and Pacific ocean, his life is overtaken by an incredible numbness. That exile and ennui is only punctuated with visits (both in the present day and flashback, if you can figure out which is which) from secondary characters, including Rick’s brother (Wes Bentley), ex-wife (Cate Blanchett) and father (Brian Dennehy). When not wandering the desert or a glitzy Hollywood party, Rick cannot help but fall for a conflicted collection of women, including ones played by Imogen Poots, Natalie Portman and Freida Pinto. Those unaccustomed with Malick may find his style – classical music, wispy voice-over, non-sequitur images of wide-open spaces – interminable. More seasoned art-house patrons may just sit and gaze, absorbed by Emmanuel Lubezki’s awe-some camerawork, and working to find spurts of meaning in the stream of consciousness. (Los Angeles and its modernist architecture may never have looked quite as heavenly on a movie screen). The film does become wearily repetitive in its last third, as Rick falls in and out of love with another wounded soul we hardly get to know. Yet Malick’s Eastern spirituality finds a sumptuous power and, yes, profundity in a Western setting.

2.5 -- BORN TO BE BLUE, Robert Budreau
[reviewed by Jordan Adler] The opening minutes of Born to Be Blue promise more than the film delivers. Jazz trumpeter Chet Baker (Ethan Hawke) lies on the floor of a prison cell in a detox sweat. Staring down the hollow end of his instrument, a tarantula ominously crawls out of the horn. Seconds later, a movie director arrives at the prison, and the nightmare turns into a fantasy. Baker is whisked onto a Hollywood set, entrusted with playing himself. For several minutes, it seems that writer/director Robert Budreau wants to parody the biopic beats in the autobiographical drama Baker headlines, and then subvert those in the one he directs. However, we rarely return to that fake movie set, and the rest of Born to Be Blue stays almost annoyingly true to the conventions of tales about drug-addled, beaten-down musicians staging a comeback. An injured mouth threatens Baker’s chances of scoring a worthwhile gig. He also tries to curb a heroin addiction through the help of a new girlfriend, Jane (Carmen Ejogo, giving warmth to an underutilized character), and a former producer (Callum Keith Rennie). The Canada-UK co-production makes little effort to hide that it was shot in Northern Ontario. A visit to the Baker farm in Oklahoma (that features a welcome cameo from Stephen McHattie as the musician’s dad) was clearly filmed in chillier climes. Nevertheless, Hawke makes it all gloriously watchable. He is an actor unafraid to go to ugly places; with a raspy voice and tilted smirk, he gives a challenging role tenderness and vitality. Here, the great acting solidifies shaky material.

2.0-- A PERFECT DAY, Fernando Léon de Aranoa
[reviewed by Andrew Hlavacek] Set in the Balkans during the first days of an uneasy ceasefire between Serb and Bosnian forces, a crew of aid workers led by Mambrù (Benicio Del Toro) struggle to remove a corpse from a well. Thus begins A Perfect Day during which Mambrù, his scrappy partner B (Tim Robbins), new arrival Sophie (Mélanie Thierry) and their interpreter Damir (Fedja Stukan), negotiate the rugged landscape and complex and inter-ethnic relations of the Balkan war. Léon de Aranoa’s admirable visual direction gives a breathtaking backdrop to a rather simple and predictable story. Were he to have really concentrated on the relationships between the aid workers and locals, he may have perhaps succeeded in portraying the political and social complexities of aid intervention in zones of conflict. However, A Perfect Day is cluttered by sentimental plot entanglements -- not to mention social stereotypes -- which dilute its potential impact. Macho characterizations greatly diminish del Toro and Robbins’ bad-boy adrenaline junkie characters. While Robbins’ B continuously undermines Sophie under the guise of witty banter, del Toro’s Mambù bogs down the narrative with unresolved romantic complications with his superior Katya (Olga Kurylenko) -- a bureaucrat caught out in the field, who jumps at the sight of a cow at her car window. The clever photography is simply not enough to rescue the narrative, while the complimentary Apocalypse Now-style soundtrack does further injustice to this poorly conceived project.

3.1 -- WHERE TO INVADE NEXT, Michael Moore
[reviewed by Jordan Adler] Michael Moore is still one of the world’s most polarizing filmmakers, considered both a champion for his impassioned, left-wing political stances and a charlatan of the documentary form. Your fondness for the Oscar-winning filmmaker will likely determine your enjoyment of his latest doc, released just in time to prompt discussion in a U.S. election year. In Where to Invade Next, Moore considers himself both an optimist and imperialist. With an American flag draping his back, he jets off to several European countries (and one in Northern Africa) with the hopes of 'stealing' their laws about fair pay, health care, free education and more, and bring them back to America. In France, he marvels that school cafeterias serve a healthy, balanced diet – grade-schoolers nibble on scallops and lamb skewers for lunch and flinch when Moore offers them a Coke. In Finland, he feigns incredulity when realizing that the world’s best education system has done away with homework. (The surprised reactions are too manufactured – there’s a reason Moore brought a camera crew with him.) The filmmaker is still one of cinema’s most adept users of juxtaposition, and he shows little restraint here. In one sequence, he moves between riotous scenes of incarcerated Americans and a whimsical “We are the World” video made by the guards at a laid-back Norwegian prison. The widespread contentment and perpetual sunny weather in all of Moore’s travels is far-fetched, while the stereotypical music, themed to the country he visits, can become annoying. Regardless, although each chapter follows a similar formula, the pacing rarely lags. One can argue with his techniques, but Moore knows how to build and present a convincing argument in a way that informs, galvanizes and entertains – even if a bit more context and counterpoint would make his efforts more complete.

2.0 -- RACE, Stephen Hopkins
[reviewed by Jordan Adler] It doesn’t take long for Race to run into the traps that plague many well-intentioned biopics. The drama continually insists on its protagonist’s triumphant abilities but rarely captures the essence of the person whose life it chronicles. Here, the towering historical figure is Jesse Owens, the African-American runner who snatched multiple gold medals at the contentious 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. Played by Toronto native Stephan James, Owens isn’t as sharply defined as the actor’s physique. Meanwhile, Jason Sudeikis is miscast at the athlete’s trainer, Larry Snyder, who sees a determined Olympic champion when most others cannot get past the colour of Owens’ skin. The path to Berlin is standard sports movie fare, filled with rousing music and awed crowd reactions. That conventionality works against the film, which is at its most interesting during a subplot about Avery Brundage (Jeremy Irons), a U.S. Olympic Committee rep trying to find common ground with the Nazi regime. In Berlin, Brundage spars with documentarian Leni Riefenstahl (Carice van Houten) and slimy propagandist Joseph Goebbels (Barnaby Metschurat). Cue the sinister music. The politics behind those Games deserve its own treatment on film. Instead, screenwriters Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse miss an opportunity to enliven Owens’ central dilemma: choosing whether or not to participate in a competition organized by racists. During this mid-section, they fall back on stock dialogue, draining this pivotal decision of feeling. Director Stephen Hopkins fares better, capturing the excitement of the Olympics, although there aren’t many stylistic flourishes worth mentioning. As for filmmakers capturing the spirit of those Games, Riefenstahl probably got the better footage.

3.5 -- THE WITCH, Robert Eggers
[reviewed by Jordan Adler] Shortly after arriving in New England, circa the 17th century, a Puritan family of six are banished from their plantation and forced to live miles away, in the shadow of woods where an evil witch may or may not lurk. It’s a refreshingly old-fashioned story of the supernatural that abandons newer horror techniques – quick pacing, an abundance of jump scares, post-modern irony – for atmosphere, psychological ambiguity and acting of a high order. While the result isn’t always scary, the debut film of Robert Eggers (who won a Best Directing prize at Sundance last year) is thoroughly unsettling. One can thank the location managers, who found a forest in northern Ontario that is the stuff of nightmares, with tree branches sticking out like arms that one suspects will grab any passersby. But Eggers is just as fascinated with nailing period details, packing ancient terms into the dialogue and lighting many moments with just lanterns and candles. The cast, meanwhile, is uniformly excellent. Character actor Ralph Ineson (as William, the father) captures the bruised masculinity of a farmer trying to provide despite a depleted harvest. Anya Taylor-Joy and Harvey Scrimshaw, as the teenagers fighting with their own temptations, give turns of deep feeling and vulnerability. Shots of their pale faces exploring the dark wilderness are as chilling as anything in the film. As for the score, composer Mark Korven aims for the terrifying simmer that Jonny Greenwood mastered in his work for There Will Be Blood. However, less noise is usually more in a horror film. Eggers could have used a few more harsh silences to seize on the fear of the unknown. More disquieting and thematically rich than regular genre fare, expect The Witch to split horror fans down the middle.

2.2 -- PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES, Burr Steers
[reviewed by Jordan Adler] If you’re excited to see a film titled Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, you probably expect a blend of the subversive and campy. Or, you hope for a few maniacally gory sequences and some feminist re-evaluation of Jane Austen’s source material. Unfortunately, Burr Steers’ adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith’s parody is only fitfully amusing. Few can fault the radiant young ensemble, though, which includes Lily James as the defiant Elizabeth Bennet. The brooding Mr. Darcy (Sam Riley) shows an affinity for Elizabeth, but she is determined never to “relinquish [her] sword for a ring.” The early depiction of Elizabeth and her four sisters, first seen polishing weapons as their father discusses their warrior nature, initially hints at female empowerment. Editor Padriac McKinley cleanly cuts the ultraviolent sequences between the Bennets and the undead bodies terrorizing the English countryside. However, the coherence of the editing in these showdowns doesn’t do much to make up for the lack of gore. The suspense and irreverence is sadly lacking. Had the film received an “R” rating instead of a more palatable “PG-13” in the United States, Steers could have let loose. Meanwhile, the few overt stylistic touches – the glassy perspective of the zombies, an opening credit sequence that recalls a pop-up book – tend to distract more than dazzle. The Bennet sisters try to resist refinement in this re-invention of Austen’s story universe, but the parody is too polite to offer much in the way of naughty, gory kicks. The most memorable work comes from those in the cast who aren’t taking the material as seriously. They include Matt Smith, who plays the quirky, flute-voiced Mr. Collins, and Lena Headey, wearing an eye patch as the seemingly indestructible Lady Catherine.

3.1 -- MUSTANG, Deniz Gamze Ergüven
[reviewed by Jordan Adler] On the last day of school, five sisters, living near the Black Sea in Turkey, head to the beach to frolic with some local boys. A passerby notifies their grandmother (Nihal G. Koldas), and by the end of the sunny day their strict uncle (Ayberk Pekcan) has confined the girls to their hillside home, hoping to save them from perversion and promiscuity. They have to be good wives after all, their grandmother thinks. Of course, locking up pubescent girls doesn’t quell their abandon. While the first feature from Turkish-born, French-raised director Deniz Gamze Ergüven is a story of imprisonment, it is also one of escape and boundless joy. Told from the eyes of the youngest, curious Lale (Günes Sensoy), we watch as her teenage sisters attempt to flee the home before being forced into marriage. By positioning the story from Lale’s eyes, Ergüven and co-writer Alice Winocour use the character’s youth and innocence to examine patriarchal norms, as the pre-teen moves between loyalty to her sisters and the strict rule of the father. The performances from the five girls, mostly newcomers, are exuberant and natural. Unfortunately, apart from Lale, they are an interchangeable lot that mostly swoon at boys and sulk at their uncle’s plans. The commentary about religious and sexual norms in Turkey stings. However, one wishes the five sisters and their sly acts of defiance were more distinct. Still, this is lively, feminist entertainment, its sensations of camaraderie something that could make it stand out in a rather bleak collection of Oscar nominees for foreign language film.

3.9 -- THE REVANANT, Alejandro G. Iñárritu.
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper] The world knew it had been gifted a great actor when it brought us the spellbinding performance of Leonardo DiCaprio in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? In the film, Catch Me If You Can, he played a master conman on the run from the FBI. But the reverse happens in this latest DiCaprio film which is based on true events that occurred in 1824. Here, the 2016 gory suspense thriller of gruesome proportions has the star actor chasing John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy). Glass is a fur trapper and guide for this band of Americans trappers. Their job it is to hunt and sell the pelts back home. The film shows the greed of both the French and the English as they pillage, lie and cheat to get their pelts. Aside from being incredibly mauled by a grisly bear, Glass must face the harshest of climates, stumble upon the Indian who helped save his life hanging from a tree, witness the murder of his son, and then use every ounce of muscle left in his body to find the man who killed his devoted son. This movie is a series of journeys that travels into treacherous territory both physically and emotionally – for actors and viewer. It is a great film, and Di Caprio surely is up to win the Oscar for his astounding performance. He hardly ever articulates clear sentences, which causes some frustration for the viewer. However, talk about gritty realism, the director spared his cast any comfort. The crew spoke of enduring a “living hell,” of being forced to work in -25C temperatures, of travelling for hours to remote locations in Canada and Argentina to film for a mere 90 minutes, the result of Iñárritu’s decision to shoot only in natural light. “If we ended up [using] green screen with coffee and everybody having a good time,” the famed Birdman director told The Hollywood Reporter, “everybody will be happy, but most likely the film would be a piece of s---.“ Truth is, he may have been right. The sacrifice paid off. The film is remarkably savage in all aspects. You could feel the cold right through your bones.

3.4 -- 13 HOURS; SOLDIERS OF BENGHAZI, Michael Bay
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper] A gripping and tragically true series of events that happened on September 11, 2012, in Benghazi, Libya's most dangerous city. A handful of courageous CIA soldiers are left on their own to fend off an ongoing attack on an American compound. The outcome is most disturbing, especially because the house office chief of these soldiers was an autocratic bureaucrat whose bad judgment was responsible for the US ambassador's fate there, and those of the soldiers. No one really cared about them. Medals were gotten but pinned on lapel of the wrong person. The film is formidably confusing in the beginning regarding plot, but perhaps this helped us all empathize how the solders felt as events progressed. A tour de force film whose special effects of firing against the enemy rival any science fiction film.

3.4 -- ANOMALISA, Duke Johnson, Charlie Kaufman
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper] A story of pathos about the human condition -- specifically man's inability to connect to others and himself. The use of puppets fascinates and softens the inherent truth of absolute alienation that humans feel in society as seen in the film's anti-hero, The irony is poignant: though each very real puppet has the same voice and appearance, suggesting we are all conformists -- carbon copies of one another -- no one is able to form lasting connections. Brilliantly co-directed by Charlie Kaufman, who also wrote the script, and Duke Johnson, Anomalisa is understated and disturbingly brilliant.

2.3 -- SON OF SAUL, Lazlo Menez
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper] A claustrophobic setting of Jews in a Hungarian death camp who are in charge of cleaning up the floor full of bodies from the gas chamber and throwing their ashes into the river. One of them men finds his son in the heap of bodies and he is still breathing, but not for long. A Nazi suffocates him, but the father is determined to give him a burial and avoid the autopsy that is ordered. He has about 24 hours to find a Rabbi to do the Kiddush and find a way to get his son out. Unfortunately, the film is a plot mess of confusion, and we really do not care that much about what happens to the dead body. I also found there were grave flaws that weakened credibility. The boy had no rigor mortis, and the ending was not real. So much ambiguity took away from a film that was supposed to be poignant and unforgettable.

3.8 -- THE MARTIAN, Ridley Scott
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper] An excellent film that has your heart pounding and at the same time mourning for astronaut Mark Watley (Matt Damon) who finds himself alone on Mars. The team was hit by a terrible storm and the commander (Jessica Chastain) and her team can't find him. He is thought to be killed during this frightful storm when they were all working outside of their ship. Alas, Watley is not dead and most of the film presents his ingenious survival tactic, including growing his own potatoes and making water. Meanwhile on earth, everyone thinks he is dead, too, but a message from outer space proves it wrong. Most of the film is spent developing ways to rescue him, and the final solution is more exciting and dangerous than being stranded on mars. This is a great film. Jordan's Wadi Rum desert served as the Mars setting, hundreds of special effects companies and folk were used, and one of the world's largest sound stages played its due role -- the one in Budapest. I loved the film, and Damon and the entire cast made you feel this was actually a documentary. I found all the techno explanations that figured in the film fascinating but I was a space head when it came to comprehending it all. Still, it did not come off as pretentious; rather; astrophysics its added great suspense to the story. Matt Damon is fittingly funny during segments of the story, and his understating, utterly convincing acting is remarkable.

3.7 -- JOY, David O. Russell
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper] Joy Mangano creates a fabulous miracle mop that instantly flops on TV when the man selling it on QVC shopping network doesn't know how it works. This is just one set back for Joy whose determination and moxy allows her to mop up every serious debt and crook that puts her into a failure position -- not to mention a bad-ass half-sister who ruins things for her along with callous father whose new love (Isabella Rossellini) is a rick bitch who has no intention of seeing her money investment slide away into Joy's mop when things are going very badly. Joy finds an incredibly clever and courageous way to force her enemies to own up to their wrongs financially. Stealing people's ideas and patents have something to do with these wrongs. Jennifer Lawrence as Joy is remarkable, as is the all-star cast -- except for Robert De Niro who has become a parody of the comic characters he has played. His simpy smile and throw -away emotions diminished the film's impact. A must-see movie.