Daniel has written 49 reviews for films during 2016.
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Elf 2003
I wasn't necessarily looking forward to this re-watch, but the family loves it, and it only took me away from a political autobiography I was reading for a couple hours.
My family is right. Elf is winning and funny and strikes all the right (weird) chords for the holiday season.
A couple things stick out on this viewing:
- Ferrell really is a genius, or maybe he taps into something here. One way or the other, this performance just keeps…
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Elvis & Nixon 2016
Hmm. Not sure what I was expecting coming into this, but a light-as-a-feather dress-up period piece was not it.
No stakes, no real motivation, no emotion at all, and nothing exactly surprising. Treats Elvis with reverence like he's actually helping make the movie, when his staggering hypocrisy regarding becoming a drug agent would really provide some tension and hilarity. Spacey's performance is a terrific example of why some people really don't like Kevin Spacey, and I have no idea what Michael Shannon was fishing for as Elvis.
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The Big Short 2015
This film really blew me away. It's super-smart, really funny, has a real depth of emotion and character... and this stuff all pretty much happened. Everyone involved is great and there's not much I would change about it.
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Edge of Tomorrow 2014
I'm having to try really hard to not look up other folks' opinions of this one because (1) I really liked it a lot and (2) I think there are a number of pretty goofy aspects that other viewers might really hate. So we'll see.
(And I also go into this with the idea that Tom Cruise's involvement represents a guarantee of a certain level of quality, but also an upper bound. Why is that? I'm inherently suspect of mass…
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The Most Dangerous Band In The World: The Story of Guns N’ Roses 2016
For a 2016 documentary, this is pretty light on the new insights into Guns N' Roses, with new interviews of deposed drummers Adler and Sorum, the dude from Hanoi Rocks (?), a few label / management folks, and a childhood friend of Slash's who served as the band's archivist in the early years. Some of his footage is actually really nice, but it gets intercut with three staged elements (an ill-advised Alice in Wonderland framing device, some very unnecessary adult…
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10 Cloverfield Lane 2016
Well, this was mostly fun. For a good chunk of the runtime, the film plays a little game with us as the heroine tries to figure out if she's been kidnapped or actually she was rescued. That stuff works pretty well. Lots else doesn't work, including any sort of character depth for anyone outside of our heroine, and any number of action sequences that rely too much on our fear of close quarters.
But man I like Winstead a lot.
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Ghostbusters 2016
It's a relief to find that this is exactly as satisfying as we all hoped. We grabbed the "extended" edition, which apparently has more improvised weirdness and some easily skippable dance sequences, but we liked the weirdness just fine. (We've been going through Feig's OTHER SPACE over the past year so we understand his vibe.)
I'm sure it's been covered elsewhere (and better) but I think it's worth pointing out that this movie deals centrally with feminist issues like the…
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Labyrinth 1986
I watched this movie a lot growing up, but it's probably been 25 years, so it was a joy to share this with my 13 year-olds. (More about them shortly.) I remember this being fairly dark with plenty of magical / puppety / through-the-looking-glass distractions.
It mostly holds up. The effects are great, even when they're somewhat obviously on a sound stage, with the exception of a pretty gross chromakey segment in the middle that even my wife and children…
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Belladonna of Sadness 1973
Weird and scary, and not necessarily in a good way. You might have heard that this is a lost classic of Japanese animation, but it's a pretty good argument against the cheap / crummy animation that ran rampant in the late 60s / early 70s. A lot of the film is just watercolor stills (even for speaking characters) and some segments just go on forever.
However, some scenes are pretty spellbinding, and there are three or four ideas in here…
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Man vs. Snake 2015
Very similar to King of Kong, but if we're in a world with a lot of nichey classic video game documentaries then that's okay with me.
Inspiring not because I want to have a high score at anything, but because these people have all found meaning and focus in their lives despite, well, everything.
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The Adjuster 1991
Enjoyable, puzzling film about some strange things that happen against a drab background. I am logging this in a hurry because there were some things that I can't exactly explain and I am dying to read some other reviews.
I think this is my first Egoyan film and I will definitely be checking out more.
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Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil 1997
Some friends who had recently been to Savannah GA wanted to watch this together, so I tagged along.
It's OK. Cusack is fine enough, his love interest is serviceable, and Spacey demonstrates why people started to get a little tired of him around this time. The film is intentionally wandering, and doesn't really pick up momentum until a third-act courtroom plot sweeps it away.
I was most compelled by the inclusion and performance of Lady Chablis. Her charm and authenticity…