Thursday Movie Picks: Movies Driven Entirely by People Talking

This week's theme from Wandering Through the Shelves' Thursday Movie Picks Meme is daunting for me. There are so many movies that can be considered, some more obvious than others. I worry about to what extent I can go. I keep running this over and over in my mind. This theme lends itself to movies adapted from plays or movies that are staged like plays (few locations, static shots, little visual filler between scenes of dialogue). Then, there is just about any Tarantino movie. Movies that are all about dialogue, yet also all about style. That's what makes Tarantino so special, right? He seamlessly mixes both, where not many others do. Let's go with one of each.

Missed Masterpieces: Frances Ha

Modern Love and the City

An Essay in Words and Images

by Kevin Powers

Noah Baumbach's movies just seem to get better as he gets older. Of course, they aren't far apart from each other in brilliance. I think all of his movies are great, yet I've never seen one...his last and only other one with Greta Gerwig...Greenberg. I will watch that one soon. I blind bought the DVD, and it's on Netflix. There's literally nothing stopping me.

Frances Ha is Noah Baumbach's finest work as a director. I know that.

When I Was Thirty: The Bourne Trilogy

With recent news that Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon might be teaming back up for a fourth installment to the original series, I've found a nice connection to my second post in this series. The Bourne Trilogy is the defining movie franchise of my college years. Doug Liman's first installment was released the summer I graduated from high school. Paul Greengrass took over with the second one, which was released the summer of my second freshmen year of college. Then, Greengrass returned to complete the trilogy just as I was hitting my stride as an English major and future educator.

A couple years ago, Universal decided to release a fourth installment called The Bourne Legacy, which tells a parallel story of an assassin similar to Bourne played by Jeremy Renner. Not a bad movie but certainly not part of the original franchise, nor is it a part of this set.

Honestly, the reason the original Bourne Trilogy is so good is the presence of Matt Damon. He is just so much better at this than any other actor. I seriously can't think of another who could do this role justice. I hope he and Greengrass really come back together and do another one. I know, from the special features and interviews I've read, that both of these men really love making these films.

On Elf: 7 Reasons Why It's My Favorite Christmas Movie

I've never been much of a sucker for holiday themed movies. I never absolutely just had to watch a certain movie at Christmastime, for example. Of course, growing up, there was no shortage of viewings of A Christmas Story, and, like many, I have become accustomed to watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation at least three times per Christmas season, yet never in order.

Then, I met my wife...

Since then, I have come back to two "Christmas movies" every year. On Black Friday, my wife and I avoid the shopping savagery to stay home, put up our tree and Christmas decorations, and watch the same movie: Richard Curtis' Love Actually. It's a great movie. Funny and charming and British. But it still doesn't give me that punch of Christmas spirit I desire. No, that belongs to Jon Favreau's Christmas 2003 mega-hit starring Will Ferrell, Elf.

Thursday Movie Picks: Coming of Age Movies

We live in a time (the last couple of years) that has brought forth some of the most outstanding coming-of-age tales I've encountered (in print and on the screen). I have most recently fallen in love with 2012's The Perks of Being a Wallflower and last year's The Spectacular Now, which will be the running for my favorite of the decade and one of my all-times.

In the world of YA Lit, John Green is spinning witty, sometimes heartbreaking, stories of the pain of growing up with titles like The Fault in Our Stars. I just a few minutes ago, in fact, put down his latest novel-to-be-adapted for the screen, Paper Towns, which tells a story that is just my kind of Bildungsroman. A boy creates the image of a perfect girl in his mind only to learn, to grow enough, to find out that perfection doesn't exist. We get to know people in our minds, and then we are forced to know them for real. Those two things are vastly different.

My Thursday Movie Picks this week hold this notion at their centers. They are about idealistic young men, who learn truths about life and love (among other things) that transform them, plain and simple.

For this week's entry in Wandering Through the Shelves' Thursday Movie Picks series, I have selected a trio of films that totally reveal my age. I was in my mid-teens when the following movies came out, and all three (vastly different in story and style) punched me right in the gut, then filled my heart with pure love and affection.

These are films that are not only about characters coming-of-age but also about my own coming-of-age as a lover of movies and long-time sucker for "That Obscure Object," the beautiful and unattainable.

Trailer Drop: Terrence Malick's Knight of Cups

If there is any American filmmaker more polarizing than Terrence Malick, let me know. You know those bumper stickers where a married couple like two different SEC schools, say one likes Auburn and one likes Bama. They say "House Divided" on them. Well, my wife and I both love Tennessee football. We both love Mexican food. We both love movies.

We are divided on the definition of "movie." My wife seems to think that a movie isn't a movie unless it inherently provides entertainment. I know that a movie is a movie if it is a series of moving images projected onto a white screen.

It is an endless debate. I respect my wife's opinion.

The man who inspired this argument. Yeah. Terrence "effing" Malick. The film: 2011's The Tree of Life. Her one and only experience with Malick. Our fight after our screening was so bad that she has vowed to never see another of his films, even the easier-to-watch early ones (Badlands, Days of Heaven).

Late last night, we watched the trailer for his latest philosophical dreamscape starring Christian Bale known as Knight of Cups. On IMDB, it is written that there was no script. This seems to be a trend with Malick's latest mode of filmmaking. He is literally just letting his mood guide the camera and vice-versa. It doesn't work as well for me as his earlier work, but I like the idea. Like Tree of Life and To the Wonder before it, I am sure to end up seeing a movie that I will most likely not want to watch again, though I know I should.

Here's the trailer. It looks downright gorgeous to me.

So…Golden Globe Nominations

by Kevin Powers

So, the 72nd Golden Globe nominations dropped last week. Some shocks, some surprises, some of this, some of that. As one of the stepping stones to the big Oscar show in early-March, mid-January's Globes provide a glimpse into the possible Oscar lineup. Many of the nominees of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's annual awards go on to Academy glory. With a much more expansive range of big awards among the worlds of both film and television, the Globes are always a blast to watch. Back again to host on January 11th, 2015, are Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. It's gonna be a fun show.

I'm going to focus only on movies here. I am caught up on so few new shows, that I would just end up writing about "True Detective" and "Fargo" and nothing else. I have my own personal 2014 Top Five in TV post in the works, so you can have my TV ramblings then.

Unnecessary Foolishness

Horrible Bosses 2     ★★ 1/2

A review by Kevin Powers

There is absolutely no real purpose behind the existence of the new comedy sequel Horrible Bosses 2. Most sequels are unnecessary anyhow these days, serving to only make money. Despite my feelings on that, I just can’t help it. Horrible Bosses 2 is hilarious and nearly as funny as the original.

            

For those who didn’t see the first installment, it focused on three buddies named Nick, Kurt, and Dale played, respectively, by Jason Bateman (Fox’s “Arrested Development”, the 2007 film Juno), Jason Sudeikis (“Saturday Night Live”), and Charlie Day (FX’s “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”). You see, they had jobs made unbearable by, well, “horrible bosses” played brilliantly by a maniacally evil Kevin Spacey, an idiotic, drug-addled Colin Farrell, and an absolutely sex-crazed Jennifer Aniston, the star of the show. The plot focused on their misguided and failed attempt to whack said bosses. I loved every minute of it, and my wife and I watch it on DVD often when we need some good laughs.

Thursday Movie Picks: Movies that Feature a Family Secret

In my wanderings around the movie blog world recently, I found another gem of an idea after a stop at the really cool blog, Wandering through the Shelves.

Here's the deal:  three movie recommendations every Thursday on a certain theme.

My first go at this is late (Week 22), but I have what I think are some good ideas for this particular theme.

2015 Blind Spot Series

So, in my recent attempt to get myself out there among the incredible movie bloggers out there, I have come across some really interesting ideas for post series. This one, started up a few years ago by Ryan McNeil over at The Matinee, is my favorite so far.

Many of the newest, great blogs I'm reading regularly are in on this one. So, thank you also to the incredible blog Big Screen, Small Words, the wonderful Brittani Burnham at Rambling Film, and my Twice a Best Actress partner, Josh at The Cinematic Spectacle, for making this project really seem worth trying.

The basic idea is to make a list of 12 movies deemed great and that you have never seen, watch one per month, and then post about your thoughts. Not really a review but, my favorite thing, just a responsive musing on what it did for you.

My list is comprised of movies from the late Roger Ebert's essay series The Great Movies. That's a movie list I hope to, at least partially, tackle in my lifetime.

A Different Drummer

“Whiplash”     ★★★★

A Review by Kevin Powers

Writer/director Damien Chazelle’s “Whiplash” is alive and breathing. It bleeds. It sweats. It cries. It is one of the most intense movie experiences I’ve had. I was one of only four audience members at my screening.

            

Miles Teller plays Andrew Neiman, a first year jazz drummer at a prestigious New York music conservatory. His goal is a simple one: “I wanna be one of the greats,” he says. Andrew’s first step towards greatness comes at the beginning of the film as he works out a beat in an empty practice room. The school’s top teacher and conductor, Terence Fletcher, played by a fierce J.K. Simmons, overhears him, comes in, and starts conducting. The stage is set for one of the greatest acting duels I’ve ever seen.

            

Eventually, Fletcher, after interrupting the lowly first year jazz ensemble at rehearsal, asks Andrew, playing second chair, to come in to work with his top band, the Shaffer “Studio Band.” A storm brews. We sit awestruck in the middle of it. We don’t dare move a muscle.