Friday, January 22, 2016

2016 Oscar season movies review

Inside Out - My favorite movie of the year. Oh my, nobody can imagine like Pixar. Probably the best animation film made for adults, competing with Studio Ghibli. The concept of giving a shape to different emotions and how they interact within your mind has been implemented to perfection. Worth a second watch and a third, just to appreciate the various nuances in the story-telling. In a way, if you appreciate the way emotions work, the message of the movie can in fact help everyone react to real life situations in a better way.

Spotlight - A real life story on a sensitive subject of a religious scandal. Well-executed and keeps you engrossed all through. Investigative journalism movies such as "All the president's men", "Frost/Nixon" have a special sort of charm. And this movie too doesn't fail in that regard.

Mad Max: Fury Road - Absolutely loved everything about this film, from the visuals, the direction, the acting, and best of all the background music. The shot of the masked guitarist ripping music amidst a wall of speakers on a mean machine moving through the desert - one of the most legendary scenes in cinema. Pretty disappointed that the composer, Junkie XL didn't get the recognition due for his score on this movie. Hans Zimmer has called the score "absolutely phenomenal and mind-blowingly brilliant." That's god-level.

Ex Machina - One of the best Artificial Intelligence-themed movies for sure, tying for honors with last year's Her. Though the concepts presented are not new, the way the philosophical themes of AI are discussed, this is a movie that makes you think hard for the most part while watching and after as well. The interactions between Ava(the humanoid robot) and Caleb(the Turing tester) are beautifully executed. Alicia Vikander as Ava and Oscar Isaac as the scientist are both splendid in the film.

Room - A story of a young woman and her child held captive in a room, and how they deal through the situation. Powerful emotionally, to say the least. Jacob Tremblay as Jack has provided a performance that is highly deserving of Best Actor in a supporting role. But unfortunately the Oscars don't recognize performances by child actors. High time they started a category for this, as so many performances go unrewarded every year. Though Brie Larson has done justice to her role, there is nothing exceptional about her acting. But I believe she should be the favorite for this year's top acting honor.

The Revenant  - Movie-making at its finest. Inarritu stuns with this raw movie on themes of survival and betrayal. Though di Caprio has done a great job as the lead actor in the film, it is Tom Hardy's performance as Fitzgerald that steals the show. Emmanuel Lubezki has great chances for a record third consecutive cinematography win.

The Big Short - An adaptation of Michael Lewis's novel on the 2008 housing crisis and the collapse of big financial institutions. The style is slick, the way the director Adam Mckay has simplified a complex subject for the average film-goer is appreciable. A movie I enjoyed for the humor more than the story or the brilliant star cast, Steve Carrell and Ryan Gosling being the best of the lot.

Steve Jobs - A great character study of Steve Jobs, delving into his personal life more than the professional. Though it largely portrays him in a negative light, I wouldn't call it completely negative. It was realistic and Michael Fassbender packs a punch by becoming Jobs himself. Though it was a little disappointing to not have enough coverage of the charisma of Jobs in the product launch events, I guess it was a conscious choice, as we have all those videos in the public domain itself.

Carol - A poignant tale of an intimate relationship between two women, but the only thing I enjoyed in the film was how much Rooney Mara resembles Audrey Hepburn in the film. Breathtaking likeliness, and perhaps deliberately so. Cate Blanchett is her usual self, but not a performance worth an Oscar. Rooney Mara has a better chance.

The Martian - Realistic science fiction, probably loyal to the book. But due to this, the movie isn't really an enjoyable watch. Though not a drag, the plot is just about good to carry through. Effectively tells the story of the potential consequences of an astronaut stranded in Mars, and provided he is a smart zoologist, how he manages to survive. The science of the movie is probably debatable, but that is beyond my comprehension.

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