This is a ranking of everything I watched in 2013. If you're looking for something new to watch, hopefully my list can provide some inspiration, or at least steer you away from what not to watch.
Monday, December 30, 2013
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Equilibrium
DuPont: And you, Preston, the supposed savior of the
resistance, are now its destroyer, and, along with them, you've given me
yourself... calmly... coolly... entirely without incident.
John Preston: [Polygraph machine scribbling rapidly] No.
[Polygraph suddenly registers Preston completely in control]
Polygraph Technician: Oh... Shit.
John Preston: Not without incident.
This is one of my all time favorite movies, yet I have a hard time defending it now as a serious piece of cinema, and I’m not sure why. It gets low ratings on all the major film sites despite tons of great actions scenes, a huge overarching story line, great attention to detail, and a terrific performance by Christian Bale.
John Preston: [Polygraph machine scribbling rapidly] No.
[Polygraph suddenly registers Preston completely in control]
Polygraph Technician: Oh... Shit.
John Preston: Not without incident.
This is one of my all time favorite movies, yet I have a hard time defending it now as a serious piece of cinema, and I’m not sure why. It gets low ratings on all the major film sites despite tons of great actions scenes, a huge overarching story line, great attention to detail, and a terrific performance by Christian Bale.
The Story: The dictator ruled state of Libria force-feeds its citizens drugs
to suppress their emotions, and in fact, feeling emotion is entirely illegal.
Punishment is death.
Overactive emotions have been known to cause many of humanity’s
previous atrocities and wars, so to vanquish emotion is to therefore benefit
humankind. There is a method to the madness; this film is set right after world
war III, and emotion suppression is modern humanity’s solution for preventing world
war IV.
Of course there are those that do not see this repression as a
benefit and so an underground resistance forms. Although the plot is
excellently executed, the dystopian theme comes across as just a little bit too
close (for some, not for me) to an exact replica of an Orwellian model. Equilibrium has been accused
of being unoriginal, a mere mishmash of well-known various Sci-Fi stories.
I was never bothered by this mishmash. Examining the film shows
there are more than enough original features, features that people must be
overlooking when judging, because the originality more than counter balances
the borrowed material.
The top ranking law enforcement officials are (I think very
cleverly) called Clerics. They employ the use a fictitious fighting style
called the Gun Kata. The Gun Kata a major part of the film and makes for some amazing
scenes. The details about the world are so specific that it really is an
amazing accomplishment on writer/director Kurt Whimmer’s part. Whimmer makes a
living mainly as a writer, Equilibrium being
one of only two major features he’s directed.
As I said earlier, Christian Bale gives a great performance,
handling almost all the fight scenes himself, and due to budget constraints, only
being allowed a handful of takes to get each set of complex choreography right.
Director Whimmer makes excellent use of light and space, pleading his case for
humanity's right to “feel” as light peeks through the drab gray tones of the
photography, rarely, but just enough.
Equilibrium is the biggest box office flop of a film I can think of. For how
epic it is, the 20 million dollar budget seems miniscule, but its
total to-date gross is $1.2 million, a totally pathetic ratio. Equilibrium appeared
around the same time as the Matrix was
doing its thing and so Equilibrium got very little press. The two films share a
similar vibe and since Equilibrium came
out second, it loses points for originality, and even though The Matrix is undoubtedly a great achievement, Christina Bale is hands-down
the better lead (I'm not too fond of Keanu Reeves). Just based on that fact alone Equilibrium is worth checking
out.
9/10
9/10
Monday, December 16, 2013
All is Lost
Another film about the human spirit’s ability to persevere we do not need, yet here we are again.
In the straights on Sumatra off the coast of Indonesia a lone
sailor (Robert Redford) awakens to find his sailboat's cabin filling fast with sea water. A
massive whole has been torn through the side after a freak,
overnight collision with a rogue shipping container. In the vastness of the
Indian Ocean the spectacular odds of this collision’s happening seem
staggering, and yet this is only the beginning of the misadventure.
After patching up the side of the boat, even despite the total loss of
all modern navigation equipment, the danger seems to cease. For a moment
it seems like all that’s left is for the lone sailor to venture into the nearest port and
seek repairs, but of course we know this is not the story.
Before we start the film, just from the title alone, we know
what the outcome will be, yet despite the unoriginal plot and standard
shipwreck story conventions, the film succeeds. Fantastically succeeds.
Almost completely devoid of dialogue, Robert Redford exudes a
stolid, matter-of-fact persona in the face of catastrophe. He toils steadily,
remaining steadfast in his manner. It is exhausting just watching him labor
endlessly and even though he is performing, this performance cannot really be
considered acting. Simply going through the motions of this role is enough to
exude awe, especially when he is being thrown around wildly by the untamed, open ocean;
the work that it must have taken to play this role is obvious and seems to
strip away acting practices; what we really see is a man just trying not to
die.
9/10
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