Calvary Review

Forgive me Father, for I have threatened---Brendan Gleeson as a well meaning priest who received an anonymous death threat and Aidan Gillen as one of many suspects in Calvary
                                                   Now that Phillip Seymour Hoffman has unfortunately left this earth, there are very few actors who stand out to me as being able to match his acting ability. Hoffman had a special knack for making even the most ordinary characters fascinating. The only actors that come to mind that still have that level of skill are Christopher Walken, Paul Giamatti and Brendan Gleeson. There has never been a film that displays Gleeson's great ability to carry an entire film and then some than the dark comedy Calvary. His performance is magnificent and, although there are many other interest characters and ideas in the film, he makes this film as wonderful as it is. If writer-director John Michael McDonagh (who also work with Gleeson in the criminally underrated The Guard,) were to have picked a lesser actor for the lead, the whole project would have most likely gone to shambles.

                                                   In the film, Gleeson plays Father James, a nice and caring priest who receives an anonymous death threat in the confessional booth. Once this threat gets out, Father James starts to look at everyone in the town a different way. The head doctor (Aidan Gillen) suddenly becomes a slimy man. The goofy butcher (Chris O'Dowd) becomes someone who seems suspiciously silly. Even that guy who hangs out at the bar all the time (Killan Scott) becomes a crazy drunk. In fact, the only two people Father James can seem to trust are daughter Fiona (Kelly Reilly) and an old man (M. Emmet Walsh, who is always a delight to watch) with a special habit for writing. The film is told as a whodunit but McDonagh was clever enough to not make the film all about that. This is not to say that's not a lot of what grasps the audience. The whole idea of who this potential killer is and why he wants to kill Father James of all people sticks in the audience's mind throughout. Although the potential killer does give an explanation of his motivation in the confessional, the audience still wants to know more and who.

                                                     The film's location is beautiful, giving the film a very quaint and voluptuous feel. This is also one of those films I love that's set in its own world. As with Fargo or the overlooked Cedar Rapids, this is set in a town where everyone seems to know everyone. For a mystery such as this one, that is particularly effective because it gives everyone equal suspicion. There are no characters who are hidden in the background and thus anyone could be the potential killer.

                                                     As I previously mentioned, Gleeson is wonderful here. He plays Father James as a kind, sympathetic man but also can brilliant pull off the moments in which he has no choice but to put his foot down and be aggressive. The audience feels his pain as everyone starts to quickly turn against him and the audience feels the weight of the threat that he feels. Everyone else from Gillen to O'Dowd to Scott to Reilly are excellent but Gleeson makes this film. He is a truly palpable presence and this is Oscar-worthy stuff. I'm disappointed about the fact that The Academy is probably going to ignore a film as small as this come Oscar season because Gleeson definitely deserves a nomination.

                                                    The film becomes increasingly more suspenseful as the reveal gets more and more questionable. There are multiple people attacking Father James in plain sight for seemingly no reason but who did it out of sight? This question is gripping from the first second of the film to the reveal. Calvary has a wonderfully old fashioned feel to it and is damn delightful. Unfortunately, it probably won't find any kind of audience due to its religious subtext, which does admittedly become a bit too much for the last half hour or so. While the film is sometimes unnecessarily poky and the plot starts to take a back seat to the mystery when things become a bit bogged down, this is still definitely worth seeing. Gleeson's unbelievably impressive work alone makes this worth the price of admission.
(4 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated R for sexual references, language, brief strong violence and some drug use)

Boyhood Review

The world is all around----Ellar Coltrane as Mason, who grows up from 5 years old to 18 years old for the audience in Boyhood
                                 Theodor Geisel, better known as legendary author Dr. Seuss said “Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.”  Boyhood is a rare film about what life is that completely follows that quote. There may never be another film that is more true to life, or more beautiful about the wonder of existing than writer-director Richard Linklater's groundbreaking drama. This is a stunning, breathtaking, marvelous film from the first frame to the last. The film also has a daring premise, which gives the fact that the overall outcome is so wonderful that much more weight. This is a film that should be seen at least once by everybody. Although it deals with a lot of mature themes, I think the best audience to experience this film are young people. I'm talking 4-12 years old here. This is the kind of film that will open up the mind of young ones and will allow them to get an early start on figuring out what their life may become. 

                                  The film stars newcomer Ellar Coltrane in a breakthrough performance as Mason, a normal kid who goes through the ups and downs of everyday life as he attempts to find out what his purpose is. These include a bothersome sister (Lorelei Linklater,) his messed up and resentful to one another parents (Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette,) and even an abusive step dad (Marco Perella.) The great thing about all of these events is that all of them are universal and none are done in the fashion one would expect from a film. 

                                 The script proves to be much more than just a series of events from a childhood. By gathering all of these seemingly insignificant pieces of a life together, Linklater has brilliantly shown what growing up is like. It's not fun, as much as most people like to think so at a young age. It involves more and more work as time goes on and one's perspective of the world changes as they grow up. As a youngster, people see the world as a series of events that they are simply observing. However, once people get older, they realize that, unfortunately, a lot of those events, even the terrible ones have a direct correlation to them. This stringing together of these moments brilliant portray what it's like to be young and ambitious only to discover it takes a lot more than simply trying. It takes time, energy, dedication, self motivation and even a lot of luck.

                                The film works as a time capsule as well. It's cool to see a film in 2014 where kids are riding skateboards and bikes to the long gone rap hit "Soulja Boy Tell 'Em." Also, the acting is phenomenal. Coltrane plays the character of Mason incredibly well, giving him depth and heart that the audience  never could have imagined such a normal person could have. He transcends the normality of Mason and turns him into someone extremely fascinating and very special. Hawke and Arquette give nomination worthy work as the parents who can't seem to get their own lives straight. Linklater's daughter, Lorelei is wonderful as the sister who cares a lot about Mason, even if she doesn't have the best way of showing it. Perella is especially nomination worthy, giving a creepy performance as Mason's abusive step dad. Perella makes the audience believe that the character is in the theater with them. 

                                Many other characters pop up through Mason's journey and none of them are looked down upon by Linklater. Even when the audience is under the impression that Linklater is going to point his finger at them and laugh, he does no such thing. For example, Mason's boss at a fast food restaurant is goofy but also genuinely sweet and caring. Another good example are two older teens that Mason and his friend hang out with. At first, it seems these teens will be mean and abusive to Mason and his pal. However, they turn out to be teens who just like joking around with the two to make them feel welcome. This kind of underplaying and remarkable insignificance is what makes Boyhood the most beautiful film anyone is likely to see all year, if not for the rest of the decade.
(5 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated R for language including sexual references, and for teen drug and alcohol use)
**Note: As with the recently released documentary Life Itself, the MPAA has continued to stupidly make films that deal with mature themes rated R while shoot em up action films and mind numbing thrillers get the PG-13 treatment. As with Life Itself and as previously mentioned, Boyhood is a film that will inspire all ages to want to do a lot with their lives and be better people. Apparently, all the MPAA cares about is whether or not it will affect box office scores, or so it seems given their track record. Shame on you, MPAA.

Get On Up Review

Say it loud...I'm James Brown and I'm proud---Chadwick Boseman as musical legend James Brown, through his best (and worst) days in Get On Up
                                                        It's always odd to watch a film that has only two or three genuinely great things about it that make the rest of the film look terrible. It's even more odd to watch when the rest of the film beyond these few things is actually kind of terrible. Such is the case with the James Brown biopic, Get On Up. Chadwick Boseman and Nelsan Ellis as so fantastic as Brown and Bobby Byrd...two musical giants that they reveal how dull and messy the rest of the film is. These two performances are among the best biopic performances of all time. I'm talking Daniel Day Lewis in Lincoln or Jim Carrey in Man On The Moon level work here. However, I started to wish that the performances be less than they were. If the leads weren't so great, it would have been much less likely that I reflect on everything that's so wrong about the film. Boseman and Ellis embody these men with great passion, still smartly underplaying them. Too bad the film couldn't do the same.

                                                      The film is directed by Tate Taylor, who between this film, The Help and Pretty Ugly People, has established himself as a man who takes not just realistic but downright true stories and has a way of turning them into fantasies. This wouldn't be that bad of a thing if Taylor weren't so heavy handed about it. The screenplay is written by the Butterworth twins (Jez and John-Henry,) who wrote the under appreciated Edge Of Tomorrow from earlier this year and decided to write this film in that same world. If it sounds like I'm being too harsh about how much of a fantasy this films across as, consider this. There is a scene at the very beginning of this film in which Brown, a much older and loony man, goes into an insurance office. Brown has a private restroom there because the insurance office is "Man's World Insurance." When he discovers someone has done their business in his private restroom, he runs out to his truck, gets a shotgun and demands to know who.

                                                      There is a way to do that type of scene that would have been extremely effective. However, that scene turns Brown into a cartoon character. Boseman manages to get over that hurdle to some degree with his amazing portrayal but the film keeps weighing him down. One can see the strains on his face as he tries to make that scene anything more than laughable. I digress. Ellis is also fantastic as Bobby Byrd, Brown's right hand man who manages to stick by him through all the highs and all the lows, no matter how low the lows get. He gives significantly more depth and heart to the character of Byrd than there had any right to be and Ellis makes me want to see what he's going to do next with his film career.

                                                      This film also has a non-linear structure in which it will bounce from one part of Brown's life (his childhood, let's say) to another part (towards the end of his life, where he became crazy, let's say) without ever having a set path. While this does lend a somewhat unpredictable feeling to the film, it also comes across as desperate. Non-linear structure is fine if it doesn't feel so much like it's just there to add some substance. That's the feeling it has here and it ironically takes away a lot of the potential substance. Also, the film has that whole Jersey Boys talking directly to the camera concept going on. I'm not completely opposed to this concept but as with Jersey Boys, it feels out of place here and gives the film a bit of a non-cinematic feeling.

                                                      There is a scene towards the end of the film involving Brown and his estranged mother (Viola Davis) after one of his concerts. I do not want to give anything away but I do want to point out it is an extremely heartbreaking scene. This scene, as well as Boseman and Ellis's jaw dropping performances are so great that they made me realize just how great the film also could have been and ultimately wasn't.
(2 and 1/2 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated PG-13 for sexual content, drug use, some strong language and violent situations)

Wish I Was Here Review

Expression through lessons---Zach Braff as a struggling actor and Pierce Gagnon and Joey King as his two recently home schooled children in Wish I Was Here
                                            A film about discovering yourself is always a tricky path to go down, especially when you're talking about midlife. Thomas Haden Church and Paul Giamatti made it work wonders in the 2004 dramedy Sideways while Ben Stiller made me and several other people cringe last year by making The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty. The newest midlife crises/discovering your purpose in life film is a project that was funded through Kickstarter by Zach Braff of the long running, highly syndicated television hospital comedy "Scrubs," much to many people's chagrin (he does supposedly get a ludicrous amount of royalties from that show after all.)

                                            The film is Wish I Was Here, a dramedy in which Braff plays Aidan, a struggling but hopeful actor whose father, Gabe (Mandy "You killed my father. Prepare to die." Patinkin) has been paying for his children, Tucker (Pierce Gagnon) and Grace (Joey King) to go to private Jewish school. However, Gabe comes with an overload of bad news when he tells Aidan he not only can no longer pay for their education but he's also dying of severe cancer. All the while, Aidan's supportive wife, Sarah (Kate Hudson) is miserably working a day job to support the family and Aidan must convince his estranged brother Noah (Josh Gad) to actually take time and see their dying father.

                                            While I will admit that the film features a lot of manipulation on director-co-writer Braff's part (he wrote the script with brother Adam,) the film still managed to get to me fairly often. I was surprised at how beautiful and touching the film was and how universal the issues it dealt with were. Everyone has dealt with death and the film knows that so it's not fast and loose with the subject nor is it overly preachy.

                                              The acting is pretty exceptional here, with everyone turning in an excellent performance. The biggest standout to me, however, was Gad. Having been a fan of his for quite some time now, I have always found him to be a superior comic talent. Here, he proves that he also has an abundance of dramatic skills. He gives the character of Noah, who easily could have been played as too much of a bumbling idiot, a large amount of depth and sympathy. He shows that Noah is not a character who just wants to be separated from the world. Rather, he wants to become someone and cares about everyone but can't seem to find the exact way to show it. There is also excellent supporting work from Jim Parsons as a fellow struggling actor who Aidan seems to have a knack of running into. Alexander Chaplin (the nervous looking speech writer for the mayor on TV's "Spin City" and an incredibly underrated actor) also turns in a wonderfully underplayed comedic performance as a sympathetic Rabbi with whom Aidan turns to for help temporarily.

                                             While Wish I Was Here is not a perfect film (like I said...it is somewhat deceiving in its own way and there are some overly gooey moments, in particular a metaphor about wanting to be "the hero of a story,") this is still a fairly wonderful film that I enjoyed from the first frame to the last. In a summer of explosions, gun play and raunchy comedies that seem intent on playing it safe, this is a delightful way to spend two hours in an air conditioned theater.
(4 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated R for language and some sexual content)

(More Than) Halfway 2014 Report---The Best And Worst (So Far)

                                Here we are, more than halfway through 2014. I have decided to establish a list of my ten favorite and least favorite films that I have seen so far. This is due to the fact that 2014 has been a very strong year for film but also has had a lot of clunkers to go along with the greats. These are definitely prior to change come December 31st but right now, these are the films that reassured my love for film as well as the ones that made me consider finding a different passions. There are also a few honorable and dishonorable mentions thrown in for good measure. Also, please note that I have yet to see films such as Boyhood and A Most Wanted Man and I have avoided films such as Blended and Transformers: Age Of Extinction that have to be terrible so my list is what I have seen so far.
The best------(10) They Came Together  
                    I know many people were disappointed by this parody of the conventions of romantic comedies but what made a lot of people hate it is what I found so hysterical. The film is deliberate in the way it skewers the predictable nature of the romantic comedy and thus the broad humor works because it shows why these films starring Katherine Heigl and/or Gerald Butler among others have been hard to stomach over the years.

(9) 22 Jump Street

                     Yes...this film is fantastic and had me laughing hysterically the entire time. It just shows how fantastic 2014 has been when this manages to only sneak in at number 9. I loved everything about this film and the palpable chemistry between Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum as well as the obviously massive amounts of fun that they're having are nothing short of fabulous. 

(8) Chef

                     Jon Favreau proves yet again to be a genuinely great filmmaker with a heart of gold by making this delicious treat of a film. He plays a passionate chef who works for an unappreciative boss (Dustin Hoffman) and decides to open up a food truck business and work for himself after a humiliating fight with a snobby food critic (Oliver Platt) circles the internet. The film has a great message about doing what you love and an excellent young performance in Emjay Anthony as Carl (Favreau)'s son, Percy as well as a dynamite performance by John Leguizamo as Carl's buddy and old co-worker who decides to join him. Also, Favreau is fantastic in this and reassures audiences that there is a reason he is so highly regarded as an actor, writer and director.

(7) Snowpiercer  

                      Chris Evans' fantastic performance playing a different kind of superhero is only one of the many reasons to see this inventive, thrilling, daring and downright fantastic motion picture. Co-written and directed by Joon-Ho Bong, this is a wild ride from start to finish that is also a tough and timely metaphor. Not always easy to watch, this is the type of film where it's impossible to take your eyes off the screen even for a second.

(6) Locke

                      This film finds the audience watching Tom Hardy drive a car while talking on the phone for 85 minutes and works due to Hardy's performance. He pulls off the excitement and thrill that the of the moment phone calls bring in a way that most actors could never pull off. Captivating from start to finish, this film relies on the idea that no one in the audience knows what's going to happen next and are dying to figure it out.

(5) The Grand Budapest Hotel

                               Perhaps the greatest film that the brilliant Wes Anderson has done, this film not only features a stellar performance from the always reliable Ralph Fiennes but is also in equal parts funny, thrilling and even touching. Newcomer Tony Revolori as an anxious and charming lobby boy as well as a cavalcade of hilarious cameos and an abundance of the most visually pleasing set pieces I have seen add to this comedy's wonderfulness and beauty.

(4) The Double

                                     Richard Ayoade (who many people may know as that funny British guy from the otherwise disappointing The Watch) writes and directs this creative and massively entertaining comedy about a lonely office worked named Simon James (Jesse Eisenberg) who sees his doppleganger in the newest employee at his office named James Simon (also Eisenberg.) James Simon proves to be significantly smoother and much more popular than Simon James is and that drives Simon James up a wall. With excellent supporting work from Mia Wasikowska as a crush of Simon James and the always great Wallace Shawn as the lookalikes' boss, this is a film for anyone who loves film 

(3) Blue Ruin

                               Films don't get more intense and cinematic than writer-director Jeremy Saulnier's Blue Ruin, a revenge picture that ends up being much more than it seems. Following an outcast named Dwight (Macon Blair) whose presence is ghostly (which can be seen by the fact that he sneaks into other people's houses to take a shower and never gets caught,) this is a tense, edge of your seat ride with more depth than anyone could expect. Dwight plans to carry out an act of revenge but gets more than he bargained for. However, more than he bargained for does not refer to the cliche revenge picture tropes but something much cooler and way more intense. Blair is excellent as the quiet loner who just wants to get back at the people who ruined his life and Saulnier gives the film an extremely cool and creepy vibe without ever going over the top. Sadly, this film was not at all a success in theaters but hopefully will find its way into cult status on home video.

(2) Enemy       

                               The other doppleganger film this year, Denis Villeneuve's down and dirty, creepy thriller features a show stopping performance by Jake Gyllenhall who plays a wimpy college professor slowly going down the rabbit hole after he spots a struggling actor (also Gyllenhaal) who looks scarily like him in a film. With a twist ending that will never legitimately be explained and will most definitely anger most people but that I completely dug, this is a film that has soon to be classic written all over it.

(1) Life Itself 

                             Fine, I'm admittedly a bit bias about picking this as my number one because I owe my passion for film and I would go so far as to say my purpose in life to Roger Ebert. However, this is an unforgettable film that is extraordinarily made by Steve James, a director who also owes a lot to Ebert. James lets this be the film that Ebert wanted everyone to see and wisely does not sugarcoat anything. He shows all the hardships that Roger and wife Chaz had to go through and by the end of this beautiful and endearing motion picture, I had too many tears rolling down my face to count.

Honorable Mentions---Neighbors, Begin Again, The Raid 2, X-Men: Days Of Future Past, The Grand Seduction, The Lego Movie, Cold In July

The worst----(10) A Haunted House 2 

                         I am ashamed to admit that I even paid to see this. While it is in no way as aggressively bad and unpleasant as the first one (I even laughed twice,) this is still a terrible piece of film making (if you can even call it that) and further proof that Marlon Wayans is most likely just an escaped mental patient who has no connection at all to THE Wayans family.

(9) Labor Day  

                            Writer-director Jason Reitman takes a huge step back with this creepy, uncomfortable and just plain excruciatingly dull drama about a depressed woman (Kate Winslet) who takes in an escaped convict (Josh Brolin) and eventually falls in love with him. Winslet, Brolin and co-stars Clark Gregg, Tobey Maguire, JK Simmons and James Van Der Beek as well as Reitman are all extremely talented people. What any of them were doing appearing in this garbage is beyond me.

(8) That Awkward Moment 

                            Let's face it---no one on earth liked this film. I was even perhaps the only person looking forward to it and I despised it. With three talented actors at the helm (Michael B Jordan, Zac Efron and Miles Teller,) this is a depressing and utterly desperate comedy that manages to be in turns creepy, lazy and just downright stupid. This was a good date film only if you want to break up with the person you're seeing it with.

(7) Pompeii

                             I couldn't even write a review on this film because I didn't remember anything about it the second I left the theater. The only thing I have recalled since is that Kiefer Sutherland was in it for some reason. Enough said.

(6) I, Frankenstein

                              If you want to know why this is on my list, see my description for the film above and just replace Kiefer Sutherland with Aaron Eckhart and Bill Nighy. Good god, what are these two incredible talents doing with themselves?

(5) The Amazing Spider Man 2  

                        Sony pictures has decided to push the third film in this seemingly endless franchise back to 2016, perhaps to fix their mistakes. I vote that just not making another sequel and thus not wasting talent is a better idea.

(4) A Million Ways To Die In The West 

                             I'm as loyal  of a "Family Guy" fan as you can find and this film even made me hate Seth MacFarlane. The creator of the long running animated sitcom has crafted an extremely boring comedy that only he thinks is hilarious and seems intent on telling the same two jokes hundreds of times. He also foolishly put himself in the leading man role that he was born to never play. I think he just made this film to make out with Charlize Theron. At least I can't really blame him for that part. 

(3) Transcendence 

                             This film seemed destined for success and somehow failed miserably. The only way I kept myself engaged in this overlong, preachy, unforgivably boring science fiction tale was by counting the number of people who had fallen asleep in the theater due to boredom one by one. I barely made it all the way through without becoming one of them.

(2) Deliver Us From Evil 

                              This horror film-cop drama mixture is even more dumb, hokey and boring than its title suggests. Eric Bana, usually a very reliable actor gives one of the most all time boring performances in film history as a street smart cop who discovers the paranormal. Nothing about this film is redeeming and the only thing I can say to the usually talented writer-director Scott Derrickson is that you got me to pay money to see your garbage so touche.

(1) The Other Woman 

                            When a film about three women who plan to get back at a man who's cheating on all of them and many others at once makes me sympathize with the man, you know the film has a lot of problems. Sad thing is that's the least of its issues. With a totally misogynistic and immature screenplay shockingly written by a woman, Melissa Stack and a talented cast (Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Don Johnson) all giving it their nothing, watching this insulting garbage is the closest thing to being killed by pure boredom in a theater I have ever had. 

Dishonorable mentions---The Nut Job, Ride Along, Sex Tape, Divergent, Noah, Third Person, Sabotage

They Came Together Review

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's a cliche---Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler as love interests stuck in a typical romantic comedy setting in They Came Together

                                                   How do you spoof something that is already making fun of itself (albeit inadvertently) and make it completely hysterical and on target? The newest spoof film, They Came Together has an excellent answer to that question. This is a film that spoofs romantic comedies, alright inadvertent satire in its own right to a tee and has more memorable moments than any comedy in recent history. Not surprising since this comes from the makers of Wet Hot American Summer, a spoof of summer camp films such as Meatballs and Gorp, another genre that is seemingly hard to spoof. As written by the team of Michael Showalter and David Wain, who also worked on the hysterical TV show "Stella" together, this is a spoof film that revitalizes the genre just when it seems to have been completely dead.

                                                  The film stars Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler as Joel and Molly, two nice people living in New York who accidentally end up at a party both dressed as Benjamin Franklin after a disastrous fight on the street. While having dinner with friends Kyle and Karen (Bill Hader and Ellie Kemper,) they discuss their story in hilarious, beautifully cliched detail. 

                                                  It's amazing to see just how many romantic comedy cliches Showalter and Wain (also the director) have managed to come up with here. Joel works for a mega candy corporation that will run Molly's store out of business. Molly is an unbelievable klutz who knocks everything she touches over. Joel is competing for a promotion at work but must stop the competitive and manipulative Trevor (Michael Ian Black) who has slept with Joel's ex-girlfriend (Cobie Smulders) multiple times. Molly's accountant Eggbert (Ed Helms and whether or not you think that name is inherently funny is a testament to how much you will laugh at this film) has an incredible crush on her but she's not interested. Joel even has a younger brother named Jake (Max Greenfield) who isn't as successful as him. All these tired bits are done in hilarious bashing as characters even explain that they are acting out a cliche right that second. For example, Jake consistently argues with Joel about his greater success with lines such as "why can't I be exactly like you, big brother..it makes me mad." 

                                                 There is one scene in particular that is worth the price of admission alone. I will only say that it involves Roland (Christopher Meloni,) Joel's boss and a Halloween costume. I don't think I've ever laughed harder in my life at an individual scene than I did that one. However, the film is filled with about 50 more huge laughs and 25 smaller laughs. The film knows that the romantic comedy genre is worn and takes it on with full force, bashing every little detail that have made people want to gouge their eyes out over the years.

                                                  They Came Together is a massively funny comedy that had me laughing out loud more times than I could even count. My only complaint is that when the 80 minutes was up, I wanted to see more of this film. It even got to the point where I was laughing so hard at such a constant rate I was afraid one of the other 50 or so people in the theater were going to complain to management. Good thing they were laughing just as hard as I was. 

(5 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated R for language and sexual content)

Third Person Review

Nothing to write home about---Liam Neeson as a washed up novelist and Olivia Wilde as his current fling in Third Person
                                              Ever since Crash *somehow* won the Oscar for Best Picture in 2006, writer-director Paul Haggis has been on a brutal, fortunately sporadic streak of making bland dramas that feature events that purely happen due to circumstances that are so far off reality they make The Matrix look like a documentary. His latest, Third Person continues his maniacal quest to make the worst dramas of all time. Haggis, after this, The Next Three Days and In The Valley Of Elah can officially be deemed as a man who is doing for dramas what Adam Sandler is doing for comedies and Michael Bay is doing for action films. This is an intensely dull film that thinks leaving the mystery open for interpretation is an excuse to not have anything happen on screen. All three stories are full of non-events that all intersect only because Haggis needed them to in order to have some hint of a plot.

                                              The three stories are as follows---Michael (Liam Neeson) is a washed up, formerly great novelist whose latest fling, Anna (Olivia Wilde) has a strong suspicion that his writing has become too personal of an entity. Julia (Mila Kunis) is an irresponsible mess whose ex-husband Rick (James Franco won't let her see their son, Jesse (Oliver Crouch.) Finally, Scott (Adrien Brody) is a businessman in the midst of a depressing part of his life who helps a woman named Monika (Moran Atias) out, not realizing the entanglements of trouble he's about to get himself into. All three of these stories somehow correlate with one another, the Adrien Brody story correlation being so forced it borders on parody.

                                                While I find the interlocking story set up generally dull and being run on pretensions, I have nothing wrong with it per say. In theory, this type of film is actually a really good idea because it shows three perspectives from three different events leading up to one meaning, thus it should make all three stories a more significant whole. However, as Haggis and many others (because I don't want to come across as if I'm just dishing on Haggis for no reason) present this idea, there are too many moments in which disbelief has to be totally suspended in order to believe these evens would ever happen in the manner that they do. While it is possible for me to suspend my disbelief under these circumstances, it automatically makes the ideas presented significantly less effective. If these events and their respective correlations were presented in a more realistic light, I would be able to observe the overall meaning with a much more perspective and engaged eye. Also, the talented actors do nothing special here. They all play their parts as they need to but I watched the film knowing they're better actors than just the type of actors who play the part how they need to. I didn't even mention Maria Bello as Julia's lawyer or Kim Basinger as Michael's ex-wife.

                                                  Yet on top of all these flaws, the main problem is still that the film is just plain dull. I never even came close to caring enough about these characters to be interested in what happens to them or what the meaning of all their stories is. Also, when the film does get to the overall meaning of these stories, it's hard to believe that Haggis couldn't come up with a better twist than the obvious and tired one that is presented. Perhaps Haggis should think about his twist for a minute instead of 15 seconds next time.

                                                    I don't want to come across as if I'm calling Third Person one of the worst films of the year or anything. I am certainly not. Every film that came out in January of this year and most that came out in February are enough to hold those honors. This is not a cringe-worthy, awful piece of film making or anything. It's simply that Third Person is far too boring, lazy and predictable to work. In other words, this film is not terribly made because as with Michael's newest writings, it really hasn't been completed enough.
(1 and 1/2 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated R for language and some sexuality/nudity)