I write screenplays and rarely watch TV, but I love to go to the movies, where great films take me places and bad ones teach me what not to do.
Since filmmaking is a team puzzle with a thousand pieces, I am ever vigilant for masterful performances in front of the camera or behind.
Below are one-sentence reviews of 8 films, many of which you’ll recognize from hype and award season buzz.
I use a five finger rating system. Five is a superb film, four is excellent, three is “just a movie,” two is not worth seeing at retail price, and — since dignity prohibits giving a super-bad film 1-finger — the worst of the worst scores a 0, the Dreaded Fist of Badness. Films that rate a 0 are so bad we should get our money back and use the Dreaded Fist to thump-whump everyone responsible.
This month’s best films are both French films, the controversial Blue is the Warmest Color and The Past.
If you want to watch two actors work perfectly as a team, go see Dallas Buyers Club. Given its subject matter, scope, and budget, this film should not be half as superb as it is. What makes it that way is the flawless partnership work of its star and supporting actor, performances that will be talked about for years.
Here you go, January’s one-sentence movie reviews:
Dallas Buyers Club – 4 fingers. A terrific performance by the 1-2 acting tandem of Oscar-worthy star Mathew McConaghey and Oscar-worthy supporting actor Jared Leto deliver a grim but fine film about the helpless frustration of a long courageous man struggling to get medicine for fellow AIDS patients during the disease’s early, misunderstood years.
Blue is the Warmest Color – 5 fingers. France’s Palm D’Or winner at 2013’s Cannes Film Festival, this great film tightropes the danger of its length – 3 hours – by creating a visceral journey that pulls the audience into the simple but confusing life of a young woman struggling to first to find, and then embrace, her happiest sexuality.
Her – 4 fingers. Clever in concept and beautifully made, this futuristic social commentary looks inside a divorced, introverted man’s social detachment (excellently played by Joaquin Phoenix) who falls in love with his computer’s operation system rather than a lonely woman friend right down the hall.
August: Osage County – 2 fingers. Despite its all-star cast and noble efforts by Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep, this dreary and overwritten, on-the-nose script about a worthless, bitter, and dysfunctional Oklahoma family proves yet again that a good stage play often translates into a disappointing, forgettable film.
Lone Survivor – 3 fingers. At times preposterous yet other times poignant, this shoot ‘em up, blow ‘em up film about four Navy SEALS trapped on an Afghan mountain after being outed by a goat farmer is based on a true incident — with exaggerated Hollywood liberties added for patriotic schmaltz.
The Great Beauty – 4 fingers. This sprawling, ambitious Italian film about a 65-year-old party animal who ponders his mortality is unlike any film you’ve ever seen; and that’s a good thing.
Labor Day – 2 fingers. This yawner is a Kate Winslet – Josh Brolin pairing about an escaped con who takes a mother and son hostage, teaches them how to make a pie, and then “falls in love” with the mother; and, with zero chemistry trapped in the sap of a preposterous premise that could never possibly happen, Labor Day proves to be more a laborious exercise in what can go wrong with a film than right.
The Past – 5 fingers. This outstanding French film starring Berenice Bejo (The Artist) is a gripping slice of blue-collar life set on the outskirts of Paris, as an ex-husband and new boyfriend are caught in an emotional tug-of-war caused by a pretty, manipulative woman who creates a world of guilt in the lives of around her.