​Alexander Payne movies have always been a mixed bag for me. I love his work in "The Descendants" and "Nebraska," but could care less for "Election" and "Sideways." What I do admire most about his films is the focus on unique characters and the struggles they're working through. "The Holdovers" is an exceptional example of this story arc.

Payne zeroes in on three people at a boarding school during Christmas of 1970. The main character is a reclusive and arrogant ancient civilization's professor (Paul Giamatti), whose sole purpose is to make his students lives' a living hell. The second main character is a grieving mother (Da'Vine Joy Randolph), who serves as the school's head lunch lady. And finally, there's an intelligent but brash student, who gets left behind by his selfish parents during the holidays (Dominic Sessa). Starting out, we aren't particularly fond of any of the characters. They come off as brazen, rude, and aloof. But as the film progresses, we get to learn about them, layer by layer, who they really are, why they act the way they do, and by the story's climax, evolve into something more and better.

"The Holdovers" is packed with humor, drama, ambivalent characters, snappy dialog, brilliant directing, and a surprisingly fast pace for its' two hours and 13 minutes. The performances are some of the best I've seen this year. Giamatti delivers top-notched work as Paul Hunham. He hits every note with perfection. He's my pick for 2024's Best Actor Oscar. Da'Vine Joy Randolph gives a quiet yet stoic performance as Mary Lamb. She never overacts, nor does she slip into the stereotypes Hollywood often utilizes for grieving mothers. She's a definite frontrunner for the supporting actress category. Dominic Sessa's breakout performance is truly a breath of fresh air. I can see a long, successful career ahead of him.

I went in to see this movie as a pure recommendation from a friend and am glad I saw it. This is now my favorite Alexander Payne movie and it's officially added to my holiday movie rotation. As of now, I will go so far as to say that this is the best movie of 2023, although I do have a lot of catching up to do. See it on the big screen if you can. It's worth watching, even just to see how people react to some of the zaniness that happens in the movie. 10/10.

​Blue. A color? A mood? A person’s name? The film does not address the title. It is about a Helen (Callie Shuttera), a young woman who has no luck. She loses her job, her ailing grandmother dies, and she faces insurmountable debt. Helen tries to take the easy route via suicide. At first, it seems fate has a cruel sense of humor, allowing her to survive with no family and a mountain high bill pile. As Helen continues her journey, she meets a small group of people who cheer her on toward success: a wealthy but pleasant business named Robert (Shaw Jones), a chirpy nurse (Laura Nicole Harrison), and a cold doctor (Judith Scott). The question we wonder through the film is whether Helen will persevere or relapse. A particularly poignant scene depicts a group therapy session where real live attempted suicide victims share their stories. These moments are gut-wrenching, but also cathartic and a little bit refreshing. They are real, captured with a cinema verite quality. The harsh reality is enough to move any sensible person.

​While the themes of suicide and self-injury are prominent factors in “Blue,” the film does not fall into the traps of predictable plot devices or clichés (although there is a point in the story that feels rushed). Nor does this movie come off as being overly pretentious. Rather the movie’s central focus is on Helen and her relationships with meeting new people. There are several well-written scenes between Helen and Robert, which evoke both subtle brilliance and clever wittiness. Not to spoil too much, but my personal favorite is a moment where the two main characters visit a laser tag, have fun, and then share a joint afterwards. I mean, who hasn’t done this?

As a character-driven film, “Blue” relies heavily on the cast’s performances. There are no weaknesses here. Callie Shuttera brings a burning passion to the lead character, delivering a strong and heartfelt performance. Shaw Jones offers a gentler performance as the quirky Robert, which works very well for his character. The other performers are superb in their respective roles. Chelsea Lopez as “Crazy” Ruby is a real screen stealer. 

For an independent movie, “Blue” looks like a million-dollar picture. The cinematography is beautiful and stunning. The sets are clean and polished. And the editing is crisp and seamless. The score is minimalistic, primarily solo piano with light percussion. However, the “Zimmer” factor is a bit heavy in one key scene. This is a movie that proves what a group of talented filmmakers can make with a shoe-string budget. Most great movies are about people trying to resolve an issue. “Blue” is one of those films. This is a picture that demands our surrender to its’ acting, writing, filmmaking and above all its’ exploration of an issue that the media and society glaringly overlooks.

The year is 1640. The Catholic Church has spread all over the world, yet one nation has been labeled a danger. That is Japan. Two Jesuit Priests, Father Rodriguez (Andrew Garfield) and Father Garupe (Adam Driver) receive word that their former master Ferrerira (Liam Neeson) has apostatized. Believing this a lie, the two priests embark on a journey to the foreign land, hoping to discover the truth of their teacher. The Priests’ quest proves more burdensome than they had expected, putting their lives in danger and faith to the test.
 
Dubbed as his passion project, Scorsese explores many deep, philosophical questions in Silence. Is there a God? If so, why does he permit so much suffering? Is it mere arrogance and selfishness to hold onto one’s faith at the expense of other people’s lives? There is much to meditate and reflect upon in this film. At times, Silence is very hard to watch. While not particularly bloody, unlike some of Scorsese’s other movies, the brutal acts depicted feel very real.

Aside from the controversial subject matter, Silence is an excellent character study on Father Rodriguez and Garupe. We get to see how they change and ultimately follow two different paths. Andrew Garfield turns in his best work as Father Rodriguez. Adam Driver is equally brilliant. Liam Neeson has minimal screen time, but delivers one of his finest performances. He can convey so much emotion without speaking. There is more to his acting capability than Bryan Mills from Taken. Isse Ogata is evil and manipulative as the Japanese Inquisitor. He can be charming one moment and vile the next, a sort of Doctor Jekyll/Mr. Hyde personality. The rest of the supporting cast are also great in their respective roles.

​Like most other movies by Scorsese, the production values are top-notched. Rodrigo Prieto’s cinematography is simply stunning. Each shot is a work of exceptional art, whether it is a close-up on an actor’s face or a beautiful landscape image. Prieto has a phenomenal eye for composition and lighting, proving himself as one of Hollywood’s best DP’s. The production and costume designs are exquisite, capturing a lost era. The make-up design accommodates the ugliness and lack of personal hygiene people had centuries ago. We don’t see actors with pearly white teeth or unblemished skin.
 
The use of sound or rather lack thereof is particularly unique. There are moments where it is completely silent. The visuals take priority, allowing the audience a chance to absorb the character’s emotions. This technique works very well. The fact Silence does not have a music soundtrack makes it even powerful. So many films rely on music to convey an emotional response in the viewer. The visuals, performances, and story do this for the movie.
 
The only criticism I have is the pace. The first two hours move steadily but the ending drags a bit. It is almost as if the screenwriters wanted to add more to the story than it needed. In my opinion, a shorter ending would have given the film a much stronger resolution.
 
With such a huge filmmaking career that Scorsese has developed over the years, it is hard for me to rank this as one of his best. He has made so many excellent movies. Silence is a great one. That’s for sure – one of 2016’s best.

​While most modern-day sci-fi flicks focus on extravagant CG set pieces and mindless destruction, Denis Villeneuve’s film “Arrival” offers the viewer something much more profound and thought-provoking. As twelve canoe-shaped spaceships touch down on earth, linguistics professor Louise Banks (Amy Adams) and scientist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) are recruited by the US government to investigate the purpose of the newly arrived extraterrestrials. 

​The plot focuses on how Banks and Donnelly attempt to communicate with the aliens and understand their mission. Rather than this process being tedious or even boring, screenwriter Eric Heisserer constructs an interesting and well-crafted story, built on mystery, tension and intrigue. As a viewer, I wanted to know about the aliens identity, their mission, and whether humanity will go to war or if a compromise could be made. The tension is astronomically well done. I kept guessing till the end and was pleasantly surprised with the final outcome. The creativity of the alien language and the use of linguistics help make the film even more plausible. Without giving too much away, it is amazing how a simple set of words could easily be misinterpreted or construed. That’s one of the several underlying themes of this movie, how people make quick judgments without fully comprehending the meaning of another individual’s, or in this case, an aliens’ perspective. Language can be a powerful weapon.

​The visuals and aesthetics of “Arrival” are simply astounding. The sheer scale of the alien spacecrafts is terrifying and unique. Even though the aliens resemble large cephalopods, they pose as a powerful and foreboding force. Bradford Young’s cinematography consists of dimly lit interior rooms, sometimes only lit with computer screens, and overexposed exterior shots. His choice of lighting and camera angles makes the movie feel real, almost like a documentary versus a studio lit scene from a soundstage. But the component I enjoyed the most was the sound design. Some scenes are deathly quiet and then bang, something loud happens. This technique made me feel like I was part of the movie. Johann Johannson’s score takes the film’s sound to a new level. He conveys something intense, magical, and above out of this world (I hope he wins an Oscar). Max Richter’s piece “On the Nature of Daylight” adds an additional layer of emotion to this great film.

​The final highlights of what makes “Arrival” an excellent alien contact movie are the performances. Renner is solid as Donnelly, determined to a find scientific way to communicate with the aliens. It is nice to see him take more dramatic roles rather than playing Hawkeye from “Marvel’s: The Avenger’s.” Amy Adams as Dr. Banks could easily receive her sixth Oscar nomination. Her performance is based on subtlety, particularly with her movements and facial expressions. She can express so much emotion without uttering a single word. Instances like these are what can make an actor either really good or bad. Adams is simply wonderful. 

2016 still has quite a few movies left to hit the theaters. So far, “Arrival” is the best one I have seen.

Since 2006, I have predicted the winners at the Oscars. I admit, my accuracy has been hit-or-miss. This is the second year I have posted my predictions. In addition to my predictions, I have also added who I think should win. My predictions do not always correlate with my preference winners.

​Best Picture of the Year
Probably Will Win: The Revenant                 
Prefer to Win: Spotlight

Best Actor in a Lead Role
Probably Will Win: Leo Dicaprio for The Revenant     
Prefer to Win: Leo Dicaprio for The Revenant

Best Actress in a Lead Role
Probably Will Win: Brie Larson for Room   
Prefer to Win: Brie Larson for Room

Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Probably Will Win: Sylvester Stallone for Creed
Prefer to Win: Tom Hardy for The Revenant

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Probably Will Win: Alicia Vikander for The Danish Girl
Prefer to Win: Alicia Vikander for The Danish Girl

Best Director
Probably Will Win: Alejandro G. for The Revenant
Prefer to Win: Tom McCarthy for Spotlight

Best Original Screenplay
Probably Will Win: Spotlight
Prefer to Win: Spotlight

Best Adapted Screenplay
Probably Will Win: The Big Short
Prefer to Win: The Big Short

Best Cinematography
Probably Will Win: The Revenant
Prefer to Win: The Revenant

Best Costume Design
Probably Will Win: Mad Max: Fury Road
Prefer to Win: Carol

Best Production/Set Design
Probably Will Win: Mad Max: Fury Road
Prefer to Win: The Martian

Best Editing
Probably Will Win: Mad Max: Fury Road
Prefer to Win: The Big Short

Best Sound Mixing
Probably Will Win: The Revenant
Prefer to Win: The Revenant

Best Sound Editing
Probably Will Win: Mad Max: Fury Road
Prefer to Win: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

Best Visual Effects
Probably Will Win: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens
Prefer to Win: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

Best Make-Up & Hairstyling
Probably Will Win: Mad Max: Fury Road
Prefer to Win: The Revenant

Best Original Music Score
Probably Will Win: The Hateful Eight
Prefer to Win: The Hateful Eight

Best Song
Probably Will Win: Spectre “The Writings on the Wall”
Prefer to Win: Spectre “The Writings on the Wall” 

Best Animated Film
Probably Will Win: Inside Out
Prefer to Win: Inside Out

Best Documentary Film
Probably Will Win: Amy
Prefer to Win: Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom

Best Foreign Film
Probably Will Win: Son of Saul
Prefer to Win: Son of Saul

In conclusion, I think The Revenant will set Oscar history. Leo will finally win his first Academy Award. Emmanuel Lubezki will win his third Oscar consecutively, and Alejandro G. will take home his second Best Director Award in a row.

Most importantly, I hope Ennio Morricone receives his long overdue Oscar for the chilling music he composed for The Hateful Eight. This marks his sixth nomination. It's about time he wins. While loved by fans and critics, I think Mad Max: Fury Road will mainly clean out the technical awards. Hopefully, the academy will be nice and give Star Wars 7 a well-earned and much needed Oscar for VFX. As an aside, I base most of my predictions off of the BAFTAs and Guild Awards.

My final prediction tally.

The Revenant: 5
Mad Max: Fury Road: 5
Star Wars 7: 1
Spotlight: 1
The Big Short: 1
Room: 1
Creed: 1
The Danish Girl: 1
The Hateful Eight: 1
Inside Out: 1
Spectre: 1
Son of Saul: 1
Amy: 1

I have not listed any of my predictions for the documentary and animation shorts. This is because I often don't predict them; I never get a chance to view them anyway, which defeats the purpose.

​A winter storm sweeps through the mountainous Wyoming valley as eight individuals shelter in a log cabin. Each person seems upfront and friendly, but not all of them are who they claim to be. The characters include John Ruth (Kurt Russell), a bounty hunter bringing in Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh) a crazy little minx, to hang; Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson), also a bounty hunter collecting some reward money, a town sheriff (Walter Goggins), the town’s hangman (Tim Roth), a former colonel (Bruce Dern), and the cabin’s caretaker (Damien Bicher). In a “who done it” storytelling fashion, the characters figures out the hidden truths and turn on another one.

Writer and director Quentin Tarantino approaches his eighth film like a play. He takes his time unraveling the story as the characters engage in idle conversations through the blustery storm. QT is a master of witty dialog and has a talent where he can have his characters talk endlessly about irrelevant matters to the movie’s plot, yet remain entertaining and enthralling. While this worked flawlessly in “Inglourious Basterds” and “Django Unchained,” in “The Hateful Eight” it drags the story out longer than necessary. After awhile, the dialog feels very long-winded. If Tarantino wanted to emphasize the boredom of being secluded in a cabin during a storm, he certainly achieves that. There are still some very well written scenes though, such as a reoccurring gag where each character asks John Ruth why he is bringing Daisy in alive when it is just simpler to shoot her in the back. The punch line, “It’s too much work to bring ‘em in alive” will go down as a classic Tarantino movie line.
​
Without giving too much more away, the “surprise” twist is very predictable. In Tarantino style, people die gruesomely. Shot, stabbed, hanged, poisoned, bled to death, take your pick. Unlike other QT movies where the violence seems justified, “The Hateful Eight” depicts violence just for the sake of it. The last on-camera death specifically displays a disturbing act of pure sadism. I never really felt uncomfortable watching a Tarantino movie. This one actually bothered me a little.

There are some more worthwhile factors that “The Hateful Eight” offers. Shot in 70mm film, the landscape shots pay homage to the old Westerns. Cinematographer Robert Richardson has once again shown his talent as one of Hollywood’s greatest DPs. Ennio Morricone’s score is haunting to say the least, but also has the soul he created from the Spaghetti Westerns. Both are probably in luck for some Oscar nominations this year.
​
To sum up, “The Hateful Eight” is merely decent. The acting is good. The technical skills are phenomenal. But the story is weak, but fortunately has some of the flare QT that audiences have seen before, just not enough to make another masterpiece.

​This is the movie that made me join Netflix. The trailers looked very promising, and the film does not disappoint. The plot is told from the perspective of Agu (Abraham Attah), a child growing up in an unnamed African country. The first fifteen minutes provides a sense of calm and general happiness, emphasizing the childhood innocence of this boy. He has a loving family and a wild imagination. The story takes a dramatic turn when war breaks out in Agu’s homeland, resulting in the separation from his family. Agu is forced into the army as a child soldier. While films like “Blood Diamond” and “Lord of War” scratch the surface on child soldiers in Africa, “Beasts of No Nation” takes you down to its core level. It is brutal, dark, and inhumane. As viewers, we watch as Agu transforms from an innocent boy to a brainwashed killer, under the manipulative powers of the Commandant (Idris Elba).

Director Cary Joji Fukunaga does not sugercoat the barbarity. There are several moments intended to make the viewer uncomfortable, including a harsh scene where a young girl is stomped to death while a group of child soldiers laugh. Despite the graphic violence, Fukunaga does not demonize the children. The director provides us moments where the child soldiers are simply children. They play games and question what their futures will bring. It cannot be said that we necessarily like them, but given their circumstances and the lifestyle that has been forced onto them, they are understandable characters.

While Idris Elba has been receiving nominations (including a Golden Globe & SAG) for his role, it is Abraham Attah’s performance that makes the movie. He has a talent that most child actors, and many adult-aged actors lack, the ability to convey powerful emotion without uttering a single word. Though unlikely, I hope he secures an Oscar nom for his performance. Idris Elba is convincing as the manipulative and despicable Commandant, but his British accent breaks through on several occasions, pulling me out of several key scenes. 

The technical skills and Fakunaga’s direction are nothing short of remarkable. Fakunaga acted as his own cinematographer for this movie and he does an incredible job. In some instances, he seemed to shadow Terrence Malick’s work from “The Thin Red Line” with his selection of beautiful landscape shots, close-ups of nature, high saturation and natural lighting. The voice-over by Agu adds another layer to this compelling film as he reflects on his past experiences as a soldier.

While this is a very good movie, it is not without faults. The last act feels drawn out, making it longer than necessary. The conclusion is particularly weak and withholds any catharsis from the character. A more glaring problem was the thick African accents. They made the English dialogue very hard to understand. It would have been more appropriate if all the characters spoke in their native language and then subtitles were added after the fact. The first fifteen minutes were mostly subtitled, as the rest of the film should have been.

2016 has not been the best year of movies. However, December is the month where the greatest films are usually released. “Beasts of No Nation” is a compelling and powerful film, and marks one of this year’s best. But I would not rank it as one of the best of all time.