Film Review: Tangerine (2015)

Copyright: Magnolia Pictures

A lot of times, you really need very little to make a decent movie. Tangerine is a type of film that has even less than very little when it comes to the cinematic gear, sets, and props, but it has more than enough in the terms of actors and performances.

Following two transgender prostitutes and an Armenian taxi driver on the streets of LA on Christmas eve, it explores the nature of relationships in a place where desire and utter loneliness go so well together.

As Sin-Dee works tirelessly on finding her pimp/boyfriend, her friend Alexandra tries to provide her with some common sense while she calls on mutual acquaintances to visit her gig taking place on the same evening. As they go about their business, the city remains indifferent to their hopes, fears, and aspirations.

But, in spite of this, the film, just like Dope, manages to be an homage to LA, even when it comes to the parts that are not on the tourist maps.

In a matter of several hours, the two converge, diverge and converge again, trying to stay afloat and stay happy in a world of Los Angeles that is only seen in gangster films that feature drive-by shootings. The film�s director Sean Baker created this comedy drama on less than a shoestring budget. With the absolute minimum of investment, he still managed to pull off some impressive cinematography, accompanied by a perfectly crafted electronic soundtrack.

Here, Sin-Dee and Alexandra work the streets and at the same time, their counterpoint in the form of Razmik, the taxi driver who apparently has all figured out, but is also cursing the same streets looking for compassion and love. In Tangerine, Kitana Kiki Rodriguez, Mya Taylor, and Karren Karagulian perform brilliantly, precisely measuring their acting to suit every situation just right. At a first glance, a film like Tangerine might appear all flash and no bang, but the first 15 minutes are enough to put an end to that theory.

Additionally, Baker managed to infuse it with the right amount of humor, making it in equal measure a dark comedy and an optimistic drama movie. But, it�s this optimism that really pushes the film even when there apparently is not much to be hopeful about. Thanks to it, Tangerine remains upbeat and full of energy even in its dark moments, saying a lot about life in general.

Film Review: The Hateful Eight (2015)

Copyright: The Weinstein Company

With The Hateful Eight, the movie that Quentin Tarantino delivered is for me similar in quality to Django Unchained, which makes it a contender for the worst films he created in his career. Of course, Tarantino�s worse is a lot better than most directors� best, but still, the fact remains. As with the previous western, there are several things which really grind my gears and where the film failed to maintain a connection to both my emotions and attention span.

First and most serious of these is the film�s chapter that rewinds from the cabin fewer atmospheres to a period that took place a few hours earlier, taking the plot into the recent past to explain the protagonists� current predicament.

This big revelation reveals nothing of value and just sabotages the big finale that can only be expected from a neo-western where a bunch of killers ends up spending a night in isolated, blizzard-stricken house miles away from anywhere.

At this unnecessary rewind moment, the flaw of the film is exposed like poorly hidden acne under a white neon light � Hateful Eight uses the well-known fuel of the Tarantino thought processes, but this time, it burns weakly. While one of the many punches of the Inglorious Basterds was the moment when Aldo�s commandos kill Hitler, here, the only punch is the appearance of Channing Tatum�s character which is an undersell of an epic proportion.

The clickety-clack of the endless dialogue is here as well, but just like the many racial insults, it all falls flat and lifeless, at least when compared to the director�s previous films. Other issues are also present in the film's 150-minute runtime, including a few jokes which apparently somebody found hilarious, like the two pieces of wood, nailed to the door, but for me at least, the humor kept on eluding me.

Naturally, all of this is a disappointment coming from a man who expected greatness, but got only a fun and somewhat rambling thriller. The Hateful 8 experience is not particularly bad and the film keeps the viewer interested for 80% of its duration. The rewind segment is its weakest link; however, the rest is good, mainly thanks to the cast and the raw cinematography, to almost completely compensate this fact.

The Hateful 8 is like a film created by an exceedingly gifted ghost director (as in ghost writer) who got the task of making a movie just like Quentin Tarantino does. The result is fine, but I still expected someone to kill Hitler if you know what I mean. At the same time, others are making neo-westerns like the fantastic Bone Tomahawk, which makes The Hateful Eight look like a runner-up.

MFM's Best Movies of 2015

2015 will most likely be remembered as the year when the new Star Wars came out and made more money than any other film before it. But, besides the big toy franchises, the previous year had some nice surprises as well when it comes to movies. In 2015, huge action franchises like the Mission Impossible and Jurassic Park/World showed that they can make fun, unpretentious films, while the documentary domain for feature length pieces seems stronger and more vibrant than ever. Of course, some movies just came out bad, even though all pointed that they should be at least interesting. But, out of all those movies that came out in the last 12 months, here's my pick of the best films of 2015:

The Visit - M. Night Shyamalan triumphant return to small, fun and creepy films provided a comeback story worthy of Hollywood. Let's all hope he keeps it up, at least for a while.

Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief - easily the best documentary of 2015, it took A-grade investigative journalism and placed it in the hands of filmmakers. The result is a terrifying story about an organization straight out of James Bond films that somehow became a religion.

Sicario - best classic thriller of 2015, it showed that Denis Villeneuve should and could direct any genre in the world.

Bone Tomahawk - both have Kurt Russel in it and are neo-westerns, but Hateful 8 can only dream of being as good as this excellent debut. 

Dope - an action comedy that moved the same adventure genre from the 1990's right into the 21st century, adding class divide and institutional racism to some weird nostalgia for an equally bad period. In an alternative world, Spike Lee is making films like Dope.

Love & Mercy - a touching tale about a man from the Beach Boys band and family who only wanted to bring beautiful music to the world, told in a mild but moving manner.

The Film of the Year

Mad Max: Fury Road - a film that provided a virtual reality experience without the VR headset. Sharp and uncompromising, George Miller managed to reinvent a Hollywood blockbuster outside of the large studio mentality and everyone loved it for all the right reason. Maybe, on some level, it is a critique of the entire film industry and us as a dim-witted audience that keeps it alive, but it's still a magnificent film.

Voices From The Mist - A short film by Vladislav Pantic

Vladislav Pantic is a visual artist and animator from Belgrade, Serbia. As a veteran of the gaming industry, Vladislav was included in the game development process for several years before he published his first short animated film called Voices From The Mist.

Featuring a combination of the classic frame by frame animation and CGI element, the short film tells about the relationship between humanity and the hidden world of the fairies.

With a brilliant voice over acting and plenty of atmosphere, the short piece really has that vintage fantasy feel that marked so many fantastic films from the 70's and the 80's. 

I hope the film will provide Vladislav with some of the much needed attention that he could then use to make a bigger project - I have no doubt he has what it takes to make that happen.

Watch Voices From The Mist below.

Film Review - Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

Copyright: Walt Disney Studios

George Lucas was the guy who invented the concept of the Force, and then 30 years later decided that the Force was actually produced by midi-chlorians, a type of microorganism in the blood of a person. After that, he apparently realized that he just doesn�t get these new kids, which is the reason why his last three films in the Star Wars franchise failed so miserably, even when it comes to selling a lot of merchandise (for some reason, not many people bought Hayden Christensen T-shirts).

At that moment, he did something unattainable for most despots through history and released the reins to someone else for the Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Lucas was done and many felt really happy that he was out of the picture.

The guy who filled his shoes was J.J. Abrams, a film industry veteran that must have been Cardinal Richelieu or someone like him in his past life because he continues to swim like a champion in the shark-infested waters of Hollywood. 

Now, the same person revitalized both Star Trek and Star Wars, which is for me a very fitting end to the age of the 1980�s when both franchises found their audience. Back then, these two had hardly anything in common, except the word Star in their title and the appearance of star ships in their plots.

But now, thanks to the Abrams� brilliant but also somehow hellish brewing pot, these two are practically identical space opera stories set in a sci-fi type of setting. I wouldn�t be surprised if he even decided to do a crossover movie where some of the characters from the new Star Wars films end up on the Enterprise.

Is this something that is desirable? Well, no, but strictly from a cinematographic point of view. Abrams is a man devoid of any vision apart from being a craftsman who specializes in refurbishing stuff. A man like him picks up broken things from the past, paints them in a currently very popular color and sells them for a profit. But, this does not make the new Star Wars film an unpleasant viewing experience. In the adventure story that looks like a retelling of the first film (or the 4th one according to the new calendar), there is plenty of fun and excitement.

I didn�t have a problem with plot similarities, while the stars from the original trilogy strangely absent in the films from the early 2000�s now return, looking old, frail and disconnected, especially Harrison Ford, but they were brought in not to do or say anything especially important, but just to be there visually. They are a human equivalent of a light saber and have a similar purpose of popping up at the appropriate moment. I�m pretty sure that when CGI becomes a bit more advanced, the same people will only appear as computer simulations.

Everything else is adequate in the Star Wars: The Force Awakens. New actors are fine, but none of them are Ford in 1977 even by a long shot. The locations are exciting and the action unravels just like Abrams� notebook of action films says it should. All in this film is average and above average, finely crafted and marketed perfectly like a high-quality action figure selection they are planning to sell across the world.

Like an action figure, this film is designed to be consumed and forgotten, while details from it will remain forever in the new apps, games, toys and T-Shirts. Because of this, the visual design of the mask that Kylo Ren wears will outlive the plot of the film or any of its cinematic moments, big or small. Here, the brilliance of Abrams� ability to constantly upgrade the idea of the smart-looking blockbuster is seen in full force. But, for some reason, he forgot all about midi-chlorians which are never even hinted at in this film. I wonder if Lukas is disappointed about that, but at the same time, I also believe that no one bothered to ask him.

Film Review: Sicario (2015)

Copyright: Lionsgate

There�s a lot of justice in the fact that Benicio Del Toro had the opportunity and the privilege of being a part of two seminal films about the War on Drugs, almost exactly 15 years apart. One is Traffic while the other one is Sicario and this review will perceive them both as a single chapter in a bloody and futile endeavor.

Both films are crucial in their presentation of how the US collective subconsciousness is grappling with the issue of drug trafficking in the Americas and the violence it breeds in the ever-widening cracks left by poverty.

In my Sicario review, I have to congratulate the director Denis Villeneuve for continuing his streak of fantastic movies that includes Enemy and Prisoners. As intense as always, Villeneuve in his latest film tells two stories � first covers a driven and honest FBI agent accepting a role in a task force with a semi-secret, semi-legal mission that will include both the US and Mexico territory.

The other one takes place for only a fraction of the film and follows a mysterious adviser to the task force called Alejandro (played by Del Toro) who is seeking for something a lot more personal than a law enforcement victory. With a life filled with unimaginable suffering, felt and caused by him, he is a figure determined to see his goal accomplished, no matter what.

All of this is shot under the beautiful sky of the US-Mexico border region. Villeneuve doesn�t shy away from action sequences, even though the story of the film is so dark and unnerving that Sicario is anything but an action film. As the hunt for a cartel sub-boss descends deeper into the pitch black waters of the War-on-whatever-we�re-making-war-on-currently, so does the FBI agent, played by Emily Blunt, become lost in the violence and depravity of human greed and stupidity.

Del Toro, as a brilliant, hard-working actor that marked many films for two decades, now has a complete body of work that will surely be on the right side of history. While Traffic tried to present the fact that a very ordinary and a very American hunger for narcotics is driving the will of the criminals to sell it (and kill for it), Sicario is placed in a time and place where that idea doesn�t really mean anything anymore.

Now, in 2015, the War on Drugs is exactly that � a real armed conflict fought with special forces, drones, rigged safe-houses, urban US cartel graveyards and seasoned professional killers. Norther Mexico turned into a battleground, which, unlike places in the Middle East, is not grabbing headlines nor shocking the world. Instead, it just festers suffering and mindless confrontations created by the unquenchable thirst for drugs coming from its norther neighbor.

Today, a row of mutilated bodies are strung from a highway bridge in Juarez and it�s just another day. The film ends with sounds of explosions and gunfire erupting in the background of a children�s soccer training in the same city and people only look over their shoulders in a tired fashion. No one runs, no one screams and ducks for cover. There are no police sirens and no TV crews converging on the scene.

The fate of those people is set and there is nothing they can do about it. Now, Sicario tells us, the War on Drugs simply became just a war.

Film Review: Ted 2

Copyright: Universal Pictures

There is a lot to be gained by completely letting go of some cinematic ideas (and ideals). In Ted 2, this is demonstrated by the readiness of its director and writer Seth MacFarlane to disregard the previous installment of the series and everything that happened there.

This way, MacFarlane slithers back into his TV zone of comfort, where he makes one more Family Guy episode that only happens to last two hours and includes live action and not animation.

There�s no doubt that he is a smart and talented guy, but I kind suspect that he sees himself as the golden god of comedy. Unfortunately for him, he isn�t, especially when it comes to feature-length movies.

Ted 2, however, is a project that he approached with a lot less ambition and hunger than A Million Ways to die in the West. Here, this is good news because it allows the film to provide the audience with the thing MacFarlane does best: a barrage of rapid-fire, stream-of-consciousness jokes that include a colorful range of offensive stuff. It is empty of everything else, but no one ever promised anything like that to Ted 2 audience.

The plot, which revolves around Ted being forced to prove that he is not a possession, but a person, isn�t such a big deal and it unravels deep in the background. In the foreground, we have the animated bear that is directed, written and voiced by MacFarlane, cracking jokes with Mark Wahlberg�s character John. There�s nothing more to this film than that, which is oddly enough in its own right. And unlike a similarly self-centered comedy Tusk, this one didn�t get lost in hermetic, obnoxious jokes which drowned the Kevin Smith�s film.

In fact, the entire film with its sets, additional actors and even the plot is simply a sabot used to deliver its true penetrating round: MacFarlane cracking jokes about German Wings cockpit and Charlie Hebdo attack (which are one of the funniest parts of a film). But, in spite of this disregard of all that is cinematic and movie-worthy, Ted 2 is still a funny film and it manages to deliver laughs, especially when it goes into the non-PC waters. All those who liked the previous film will thoroughly enjoy this one as well.

With this mold, MacFarlane can make as many Ted sequels as he likes. We could have Ted: Disneyland, Ted: Islamic State, Ted: Whatever and they would probably all be as good as Ted 2.