Film

Darker than child sacrifice

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part 1

Things take a darker, more underground, and perhaps more understated turn in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part 1. While the second sequel is a step back overall from the rousing prior chapter, Catching Fire, this is still a sturdy installment. After being rescued at the end of Catching Fire, shortly after destroying the Hunger Games for good, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) is taken underground to join the rebellion. Rebellion President Alma Coin (Julianne Moore) wants to use the reluctant Katniss as a propaganda tool to inspire the masses against the Capitol and its evil leader, President Snow (Donald Sutherland). Katniss is getting a little grouchy at this point, exacerbated by the fact that Snow has imprisoned Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) and is using him as a propaganda tool. Televised interviews with Peeta and Caesar (Stanley Tucci still playing my least favorite character in the series) suggest Peeta wants the resistance to lay down their arms and accept the Capitol. He’s being labeled a traitor in the eyes of the rebels. In exchange for help rescuing Peeta, Katniss agrees to assist with the resistance and be their “Mockingjay.” In what constitutes the film’s best sequence, Katniss is asked to perform in a staged, studio production for what is supposed to be a rousing, call to arms propaganda piece. Alas, Katniss can’t act. It’s decided that a more realistic approach would do, so Katniss goes above ground, where a couple of decent action sequences ensue. A TV crew is embedded with her, and they capture Katniss in real action alongside District 12 friend and semi-love interest Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth, awarded more screen time in this installment).

Mockingjay-Part 1 is obviously the result of taking the final novel in the popular Suzanne Collins series and splitting it in half. Yes, more movies equal more dollars, but I certainly didn’t feel like the material was being stretched out in a detrimental way like, say, what’s happening with the Hobbit movies. This film has plenty moving it forward, and I by Bob Grimm like where it ends. It’s a cliffhanger for sure, but a cliffhanger bgrimm@ with a one-year wait. I’ve cited this before, newsreview.com but in my day, we used to wait over three years for the answer to a nasty cliffhanger. 3 My junior high school grades suffered due to the malaise brought on by The Empire Strikes Back cliffhanger. I think it truly damaged me and is to blame for me hating parties and not being married. Woody Harrelson’s Haymitch, now part of the underground movement, isn't allowed to drink anymore, so he’s grumpier than Katniss. Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks) has also gone underground, where she's no longer adorned with extravagant wigs, gowns and makeup. It's actually a pleasure to really see Banks, who takes the character to new places without a powdered face. Moore is a welcomed presence, as she often is in movies. Sutherland has really progressed with the Snow character, one that I didn’t enjoy all that much in the first movie (Actually, I didn’t enjoy a lot in the first installment). In one of his final performances, Philip Seymour Hoffman is strong as Plutarch, the double agent architect of the Hunger Games now helping the resistance. Hoffman completed the role before his passing, so we will see him in Mockingjay-Part 2. Lawrence doesn’t get to strut her action heroine stuff as much in this installment (Although she does shoot down a plane with an arrow). She’s required to emote more in this one, and a couple of her moments are actually a little overwrought. I’ll blame director Francis Lawrence for the film’s more awkward moments, because I don’t want to blame Jennifer Lawrence for anything. She’s just so damned delightful! Diehard fans, you already know how Mockingjay will end, so buck up and calm down. I heard people actually crying in the audience because they were pissed with the cliffhanger ending. Just go read the book again, or practice a little thing called patience. It’s all going to be finished up in 2015. Everything is going to be OK. Ω

All we can hope for J-Law is that she will eventually marry and grow to love parties.

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4Big Hero 6 Disney and Marvel deliver one of the year’s best animated films in this delightful story of a boy and his big, puffy robot. Hiro (voice of Ryan Potter) is an inventor, as is his brother Tadashi (voice of Daniel Henney). While Hiro likes to win money at robot fights, his brother is concentrating on helping the world with Baymax (voice of Scott Adsit). Circumstances arise that leave Hiro in the company of Baymax, who turns out to be rather adorable and chummy for a robot. Hiro updates Baymax to fly and fight, then enlists his friends to join him in the fight to stop a mysterious masked man from stealing one of Hiro’s inventions. Baymax and Hiro are a touching, fun screen combo, and the animation here is dynamite. The movie is a blast from start to finish, and it actually does well with the heavy emotional stuff. It’s visually inventive with a strong script that makes you care for its characters. I’m quite certain there will be a sequel. It should be noted that the more traditionally animated short that precedes the film, “Feast,” starring a little Boston Terrier-looking pup named Winston, is also a real winner.

5Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) Michael Keaton, Edward Norton and an amazing cast turn this into an instant classic, a film like no other. Pulling out all of the technological stops, director and co-writer Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Babel, 21 Grams) has made the main plot as though it were all one seamless shot. The movie doesn’t happen in real time; it passes through locations, with hours and even days going by between the tricky transitions. So, the camera can track forward from a hallway to a backstage area, and while mere seconds in film time have gone by, 12 hours in the film’s world may’ve passed in those 10 feet. It’s extraordinary. Keaton plays Riggan, an actor on his last legs. In his heyday, Riggan made millions as the title character in the superhero blockbuster Birdman and its sequels. At the height of his popularity, he walked away in hopes of finding more creatively fulfilling projects. His other film pursuits have not panned out, and he finds himself in previews for a Broadway play, a stage adaptation of a Raymond Carver story that he’s financing, directing, and starring in. The stakes are high, and Riggan is showing signs of coming apart in the head. When one of his actors takes a falling stage light to the melon in what may or may not have been an accident, Riggan casts hotshot actor Mike (Norton) in a crucial leading role beside him. This sets the stage for an acting powerhouse between Keaton and Norton that will blow your mind. The movie works on so many levels. It’s an intense drama, but it’s very funny and satiric. It’s also an interesting take on one man going insane, while being a scathing indictment of celebrity culture. It’s even a pitch perfect depiction of the rigors of putting on a play.

2Dumb and Dumber To After a lot of stops and starts, this one finally makes it to the screen 20 years after the original. Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels return as Lloyd and Harry, movie history’s two biggest dumbasses. While Carrey slides right back into the role of mischievous goofball, Daniels seems to be forcing it a bit, so the chemistry is off. Bobby and Peter Farrelly make their two stars labor for laughs with a script that is unfunny with a bunch of hit and miss gags (most miss). The plot involves Harry finding out he has a daughter, and the two going on another road trip in search of her (Harry also needs a kidney, thus the need to find the daughter for donor purposes). There’s a gag involving an old woman under the covers that I can’t believe made it into a PG-13 movie, and a couple of other decent laughs, but the chuckles are far and few between. Diehard fans of the original will be happy to see these characters back in play, but that will be accompanied by the sadness of wasted opportunity. An after credits scene claims there will be another sequel 20 years from now. I’m hoping that’s a joke, because there really is no need to visit these characters again. Also, I can’t believe how nasty this film is to Kathleen Turner, and I’m a little mad at myself for thinking the way she is taunted is the funniest thing in the movie. 4John Wick The latest Keanu Reeves vehicle is a true stunner. It boasts a high body count, and offers cinematic proof that you shouldn’t mess with a man’s best friend. In the film’s opening moments, we learn that the title character (Reeves) has lost his wife, and he’s taking it justifiably hard. After a member of the Russian mob kills his dog and steals his car, we find out that Wick is a former assassin with guns and gold buried in his floor. The loss of his ride and canine friend are enough to make him spring back into action, and he does so in spectacular fashion thanks to Reeves and directors David Leitch and Chad Stahelski, both making their debuts. Stahelski has actually been a Reeves stunt double many times, including the Matrix films, Constantine and Point Break. The familiarity with each other pays off, because the stunt sequences and choreography are flawless. In the pantheon of action movie directing debuts, this one stands very tall. Willem Dafoe makes a nice mark in a few scenes as a double-crossing hitman. Adrianne Palicki, the actress who was supposed to be Wonder Woman until NBC saw the pilot and puked, shows action movie chops as another gun-for-hire that can’t be trusted. This is a great-looking movie that mixes in some strong emotions with its awesome set pieces. It’s nice to see Keanu Reeves back in the saddle. Now, with the success of this film, perhaps somebody will finally greenlight Bill and Ted 3.

5Interstellar The latest from writer-director Christopher Nolan is a triumphant piece of moviemaking, a science fiction film that dares to go outside the lines and actually create things and hypothesize. In the future, Earth is getting swallowed up by dust, all the crops are dying, and the Yankees really suck (wait … that’s true now!). Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), a farmer and former test pilot, is raising his two children after the death of his wife. He and his young daughter Murph (Mackenzie Foy) discover a strange site that just happens to be the remnants of NASA, where an old scientist (Michael Caine) is in the middle of a plan to save the human race. Cooper eventually winds up flying a mission to enter a wormhole and explore distant planets for their ability to sustain life. The major drawback being that time gets all warped during space travel, and the slightest delay can cost him many years back on Earth. The movie gets a little crazy, farfetched, and possesses more than its share of plot holes. I don’t care. It’s a terrific viewing experience that made me think, an all-time great science fiction film, even if it is a little crazy. Nolan wrote the film with his brother Jonathan, and they come up with some ideas that seem quite impossible, perhaps illogical. Yet, within the context of this sprawling, great movie, it all works just fine. The movie offers many great surprises, performances and brain teasing concepts. It’s also weird and insane, and I love it for that.

4Nightcrawler Jake Gyllenhaal is the very definition of serpentine in this scathing look at TV news and the lengths producers and stringers will go to for ratings and a payday. When Louis Bloom (Gyllenhaal), a desperately unemployed man, happens upon a car accident in L.A., he notices men filming the incident and selling the footage to news outlets. He procures his own camera and proceeds to do the same, eventually forming an alliance with a struggling news director (Rene Russo) and proving there is really nothing he won’t do to get his footage on the news. Gyllenhaal lost a bunch of weight to play the greasy Louis, and he achieves a physical creepiness to go with his character’s infected soul. Louis is sinister and deeply scary in a very Travis Bickle/Taxi Driver sort of way. Gyllenhaal is excellent here, his second great 2014 performance after playing twins in Enemy. The guy is really stretching out. According to Nightcrawler, gone are the days of dignified anchormen and heroic news gatherers. The tie-wearing talking heads and scrappy field reporters have been replaced by bloodsuckers and sycophants, with the likes of Louis Bloom leading the sick charge. The baser instincts that may’ve been a small part of an intrepid news reporter’s makeup have taken over and, unfortunately, they appear to be delivering what the people want.