Everest (6/10) The Magnificent mountain imposes over the characters.

“Human beings simply aren't built to function at the cruising altitudes of a seven-forty-seven.”

Based on the true events that took place in Mount Everest on May 1996 during a climbing expedition to reach the summit of the mountain, this disaster movie directed by Baltasar Kormakur stands out for its fantastic and impressive visuals. However what it has in its visual department, it lacks in character development. The only strong character here is Jason Clarke’s Rob Hall who is the heart and soul of a story that is a bit overpopulated with characters who don’t get enough screen time for us to really identify with them. The narrative could’ve worked better with fewer characters, but the magnificent mountain does end up taking center stage and the visual style makes up for all its flaws. Some patience is required as we are introduced to each character at the beginning of the film, but once the preparation for the climbing begins its hard not to fall in love with all the beauty surrounding them and the passion these climbers had for reaching the summit. Kormakur does manage to establish the harsh conditions these men would have to endure to reach the top while they acclimatize to the region, which makes the approaching menacing storm during the second half of the film even more dreadful. Including so many characters and trying to remain true as possible to the real life events may have hurt the narrative arc of the film, but the scenery more than makes up for it.

By 1996 the climbing expeditions to reach the peak of Mount Everest had become a sought out tourist attraction. The nearly impossible task wasn’t only achieved by professional climbers, but now amateurs could achieve their dream by paying for the service of well trained expedition companies that facilitated the acclimatizing process. One company is being led by experienced climber, Rob Hall (Jason Clarke) who is preparing his new crew for the upcoming adventure. He leaves his pregnant wife, Jan (Keira Knightley) at home and heads off to Nepal to meet the team. This year the clients are Doug (John Hawkes), a returning customer who hadn’t been able to reach the summit the previous year, Yasuko (Naoko Mori) who has climbed 6 of the 7 highest peaks of the planet and is hoping to complete her adventure, Beck Weathers (Josh Brolin) who is so immersed in the experience that he’s forgotten to call his wife, Peach (Robin Wright) for their anniversary, among many others. Rob is worried about the growing amount of expeditions that are heading to the summit around the same time so he asks other experienced leaders like Scott Fischer (Jake Gyllenhaal) to team up with his people. Other employees working at the mountain include Helen (Emily Watson) who is in charge of communications from the base camp and Guy Cotter (Sam Worthington) another experienced crew member who is a friend of Rob’s. As hard as they were working to give their clients a memorable experience, there was nothing they could do to anticipate the storm that was heading their way. 

Kormakur had previously directed two very different action flicks starring Mark Wahlberg (Contraband and 2 Guns), but this is more of an epic disaster film with some tense moments of human drama. The cast is brilliant, but as I mentioned before there isn’t enough time to get to know them all. Jason Clarke is the actor who is given more depth and he is allowed to flesh his character, but the rest are simply there as recognizable names: Worthington, Gyllenhaal, Knightley, Hawkes, and Watson don’t have much moments to shine which is a shame because they are talented actors. Perhaps the only other actor we truly get to know beside Clarke is Josh Brolin who gets some more screen time as well. But despite all the big names, the truly breathtaking character here is the Mountain which imposes an immense threat for everyone, even for the professionals who think they are part of it. I was a bit underwhelmed with the movie because I wanted to care more for these characters, but I did enjoy the breathtaking visuals and the marvelous landscape.    

The Imitation Game (8/10): Another Biopic powered by a strong lead performance from Cumberbatch

“Sometimes it is the people who no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine.”

It is easy to fall in love with The Imitation Game because it is a fact-based film about a man who in Winston Churchill’s words “made the single biggest contribution to Allied victory in the war against Nazi Germany.” Alan Turing’s story is one worth being portrayed on film because he played a huge role in shaping our history as one of the pioneers of modern-day computing. In school we are all taught what a huge factor the soldiers and allied forces played in winning the war after the Normandy landings, but little is known about these code breakers that were able to crack the unbreakable Enigma machine that the Germans used during the War. From the opening scene, Norwegian director Morten Tyldum (Headhunters), catches our attention and delivers a powerful (although by the books) biopic. The film isn’t groundbreaking and it follows most of the genre conventions biopics do, but it does so through some great performances and a solid production design that immerses us into the decades of the 40’s and 50’s. The film is told in non-linear fashion beginning with how Alan began being investigated by the Brtish authorities for indecent behavior. It later goes back 10 years to when Britain was at war with Nazi Germany and where Alan Turing began working with other scholars trying to crack the enemy’s communication codes. The film jumps back and forth as we also get some background information of Alan’s youth where he was introduced to the world of codes and cyphering. Alan’s story is fascinating and deserves a big screen adaptation as strong as this one because despite being a genius and having saved thousands of lives by shortening the war, he was disgraced and shamed for his homosexual behavior when he should’ve been hailed as a war hero. The film’s greatest strength is the inspiring fact-based story itself.

Benedict Cumberbatch has delivered several groundbreaking performances over his career, but I doubt he’s been as great as he is in The Imitation Game. Cumberbatch transforms himself completely and becomes Alan Turing. He invested himself for this role and it completely payed off. He portrays the conflicting emotions and inner turmoil of his character in an authentic and realistic way. Cumberbatch and Tyldum do an amazing job of honoring a man who never received the credit he deserved during his lifetime. Cumberbatch’s performance and Tyldum’s attention to detail in this period drama is what stands out other than the inspiring story adapted by Graham Moore. Keira Knightley and Mark Strong both deliver solid supporting performances as well. Knightley has received a lot of praise for her role here and deservedly so, but I was most pleased with Strong’s strong performance as the MI6 director, Stewart Menzies. It’s hard not to enjoy this film considering its story alone is fascinating, but Tyldum does deliver a solid biopic by working with a talented cast, having an eye for period detail, and hiring Alexandre Desplat as the composer giving the already emotional and touching story more depth.

Laggies (6/10): A talented and funny cast, but a predictable coming of age tale.

“Treat somebody badly enough you just assume they'll be happy to let you go.”

Laggies was one of my most anticipated films from 2014 for several reasons. First of all, Lynn Shelton directed one of my favorite romantic comedies from 2011, Your Sister’s Sister, with clever and witty dialogues and an interesting premise. The other reasons for my high expectations for Laggies revolves around the fantastic cast. Sam Rockwell is an actor who I could watch in any movie, but he is especially fantastic in comedies and coming of age movies (The Way Way Back being one of my favorite performances of his). Ever since Kick-Ass, Chloe Grace Moretz has been one of my favorite child actors and she has grown into a talented and charismatic teen actress. Keira Knightley has delivered in the past as well despite not being one of my favorites, and Kaitlyn Dever gave a refreshing performance in Short Term 12. The director and the cast of Laggies elevated my expectations for this film because I am a fan of everyone involved, but I wasn’t blown away by it the way I thought I would be. Laggies is still a solid coming of age film starring a talented cast with plenty of laughs focusing on a woman who is struggling to live up to her potential and going through some sort of quarter-life crisis.

In Laggies, Keira Knightley plays Megan, a 28 year old well educated woman who can’t find her vocation in life. She lives with her High School boyfriend, Anthony (Mark Webber), and keeps in close contact with her High School friend circle. They have all seemed to move on, some are getting married, others are having their first baby, and they are succeeding in the professional lives. Megan on the other hand is still working for her father and is content with holding up signs in the streets for his company. She is an adolescent trapped in the body of a 28 year old, so in a sense this is a film about adulthood. When her boyfriend proposes, she panics and decides to hide out for a week. After buying some alcohol for a group of teens she befriends them and asks if she can hang low at one of their homes for a week. Annika (Chloe Grace Moretz) who lives with her single father, Craig (Sam Rockwell), offers to let her stay at their place. Jeff Garlin plays the role of Megan’s father and Kaitlyn Dever plays one of Annika’s High School friends.

Laggies balances the difficult transition that Megan’s character has to make with comedic and light humor. There is something a bit uncomfortable with the relation between Megan and the young teenagers she befriends, and when Craig confronts her about it, we feel a bit at unease. But the comedy helps lighten the mood and Sam Rockwell is so good that he makes these scenes believable. Keira Knightley gives a strong performance as well and you can feel her uneasiness and inner conflict. The true surprise of the film for me however was Kaitlyn Dever who delivers most laughs. She doesn’t get many scenes, but the few she’s in she is hilarious. Like in most of Shelton’s films she throws some curve balls along the way with some subplots we aren’t expecting, but the end is rather predictable and generic making Laggies feel like another cliched romantic comedy. I may have over-hyped this film and despite not enjoying it half as much as I anticipated I still consider Laggies a solid film that entertains despite not being groundbreaking or memorable. The thing that is fresh about Laggies is that it centers around a female character with a screenplay written by a woman so there is definitely a female voice, but the fact that Shelton didn’t write the screenplay this time was a bit of a disappointment.  

My Review: Begin Again (8/10)

“I just think you have let your troubles get in the way of your entire life.”

There is no doubt that music has a deep influence in our lives, and there is no one who expresses this better in movies than director John Carney, who has returned to the musical drama genre after his success in 2006 with Once. Begin Again is sort of a love letter for musicians and aspiring musicians as well, reminding them about the importance of not selling out and remaining authentic. This is a big part of the dramatic narrative and Carney, a former musician himself, reminds audiences that music is personal and has a different meaning for everyone. This isn’t your standard rom-com because the screenplay is written in such a way that you never can fully anticipate what direction it’s heading. Rather than centering on a love relationship it focuses on a work collaboration between people who are passionate for music. Somewhere along the way they got their hearts broken and lost their motivation, but a coincidental encounter brought these two characters together and set them in the right path once again. I fell in love with these characters and found it hard to resist this feel good film. The chemistry between Mark Ruffalo and Keira Knightley was special and charming. This film may have flown under many people’s radar, but it is one that is worth checking out. There are plenty of authentic and funny moments while the dramatic elements are also engaging. The cinematography might not be the best we’ve seen, but the rich characters and charming score make up for it. Begin Again is a joyful and genuine film that pulls at your heart strings without ever feeling manipulative or clichéd.    

The performances are a huge part of the success of this uplifting and cheerful musical film. Mark Ruffalo has been on quite a role lately and once again he plays a rather flawed character in such a way that he still manages to remain likable for the audience. This lost musical producer seems to find his way when he encounters Keria Knightley’s character in a bar one night. Knightley is fantastic as well and I felt her performance to be impressively genuine and authentic. Every scene she shared with Ruffalo felt real and the dialogue was never forced. The natural chemistry between these two is something you don’t run into very often. I would go as far as saying that Knightley’s performance is one of my favorite of the year. Adam Levine gives a solid performance playing this self absorbed rising star. He is a better singer, but that doesn’t mean he can’t act. Hailee Steinfeld has grown as a mature actress, but she has always been a force to reckon with ever since her outstanding performance in True Grit. Most Def and Catherine Keener also have solid supporting roles. Everything about this film is charming and hard to resist despite the fact that it remains small and unimportant. It’s simply a feel good movie that pays homage to the influence of music in our lives, and lets us in on the creative process while at it. 

My Review: Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (7/10)

"You're not just an analyst anymore, you're operational now."

The most famous and beloved CIA analyst, Jack Ryan, is back for the fifth time although now it's Chris Pine's turn to interpret the hero Tom Clancy first made famous in his novels. Pine brings a fresh and charismatic presence to his character's reboot. By no means is Shadow Recruit groundbreaking or memorable, but it still is a lot of fun and engaging. I was actually surprised I enjoyed it so much considering January releases are usually weak, but knowing that Kenneth Branagh was behind the camera did give me some hope. Jack Ryan slowly builds the tension and ends with a thrilling and gripping 30 minutes. There are many weak and cliched moments, but for the most part I was entertained. The supporting cast was also strong and Branagh played a decent villain, but my favorite performance was Kevin Costner's. The film's major flaws have to do with the way the plot was developed since there were many scenes where two characters are explaining the situation going on to each other and it's evident the scenes were only included so the audience could understand what was going on. But beside those forced scenes, this thriller managed to keep me entertained and I thought Pine was a convincing Jack Ryan.

We are introduced to Jack Ryan (Chris Pine) while he's studying at London School of Economics, but after the 9/11 attacks he decides to enlist and serve in Afghanistan as a Marine. During a routine mission his helicopter gets shot down and he's critically injured. As he undergoes rehab he meets Dr. Cathy Muller (Keira Knightley) and the two begin a relationship. Jack also attracts the attention of CIA agent Thomas Harper (Kevin Costner) who decides to recruit Jack for his ability to recognize complex patterns. Harper convinces Jack to return to school and complete his Ph. D so he can become a broker in Wall Street and work undercover as a compliance officer looking for suspect financial transactions. Ryan discovers some suspicious activity involving a Russian organization through a fund controlled by Viktor Cheverin (Kenneth Branagh). For this reason Ryan travels to Moscow to investigate Cheverin's company and upon his arrival he isn't greeted too well. This is where the action and espionage games begin.

Chris Pine is a very charismatic actor; he proved it during the Star Trek reboot, and now he has done the same thing with Jack Ryan. He's also starred in other entertaining action films like Unstoppable alongside Denzel Washington holding up his own. Here he delivers once again playing a very convincing Jack Ryan. I actually enjoyed him more than Ben Affleck who played the same character, and despite not reaching the high standard set by Harrison Ford, I still thought he was great. Branagh is also a pretty bankable director and I enjoyed what he brought to this film. Jack Ryan may be a forgettable film, but one that manages to entertain you while you're at it.

My Review: Anna Karenina (7/10)

¨Anna isn’t a criminal, but she broke the rules! ¨

After the success Joe Wright had last year with his thriller Hannah, he now returns to doing what made him famous: adapting well known romantic period pieces. His collaboration with Keira Knightley in Pride and Prejudice put him in the map. They teamed up again for Atonement with equal success, and now they got together for the third time for the adaptation of Leo Tolstoy´s famous novel. They say that the third time is the charm, but I found this to be their weakest collaboration together despite its four Oscar nominations (Cinematography, Costume Design, Original Score, and Production Design). Wright has had success in the past with these period pieces always receiving nominations for his work in the technical department. This film is a triumph visually with a great production and costume design representing 19^th century Imperialistic Russia. The performances are pretty much alright but no one really stands out here. The film is shot in an experimental way as the narrative seems to be taking place in a theater where actors come in and out of different sets through the stage. It strikes you odd at first, but later you get used to this approach which in a way works because the characters in this story are viewed through a lens in society in a similar way as we view actors performing plays on stage. It was an interesting and original way to make the film in my opinion, but I don’t know if it worked for everyone. The main issue I had with this film is that it was so focused on the beautiful exterior designs that the narrative and characters seemed to lack depth and humanity. Several issues were left out of Tolstoy´s novel, but it’s understandable considering Wright put more emphasis on the relationships than on socio-political ideologies.

The story is set in Imperialistic Russia during the late 19^th century focusing on aristocratic families. Anna Karenina (Keira Knightley), an aristocrat who is married to a senior government official named Alexei Karenin (Jude Law) who is twenty years older than her, decides to travel from St. Petersburg to Moscow to visit her brother, Stiva (Matthew MacFadyen) and convince his wife Dolly (Kelly Macdonald) to forgive him for being unfaithful to her in order to calm the turmoil that his affair stirred up in Moscow society. Stiva is a womanizer, but Anna convinces Dolly to forgive him and stay with him. Dolly´s beautiful sister, Princess Kitty (Alicia Vikander), invites Anna to a ball where she expects Vronsky (Aaron Johnson), a cavalry officer to propose to her. In the meantime a childhood friend of Stiva´s, Levin (Domhnall Gleeson) a passionate but shy landowner who lives in the country, has come to propose to Kitty as well. Kitty is in love with Vronsky so she politely refuses to marry Levin and he returns to the countryside. During the ball, Vronsky and Anna seem to instantly feel attracted towards each other and Vronsky completely ignores Kitty by choosing Anna as his dance partner instead of her. This is when Kitty realizes that Vronsky has never been in love with her, and Anna having such a strong attraction for Vronsky decides to return home to her husband and son before more damage is done. This is just the beginning for Anna´s moral troubles as, Vronsky takes the same train back to Petersburg and confesses his love to her. The two soon share a passionate affair, which Russian society will not forgive.

It must be hard to adapt what is considered to be one of the best novels of all time into a screenplay; and that difficult task was left to Tom Stoppard (Shakespeare in Love). I think that several elements from the novel didn’t translate very well, especially if the viewer wasn’t familiar with the novel. However the story is still so rich and powerful that the film works, although the characters don’t have enough depth as in the novel. Despite the difficulty in adapting the novel I feel the movie did succeed in some ways and makes this film worth the watch. Fans of period pieces will be delighted with the exquisite attention to the costume and production designs. They will also fall for this love affair, a story that has transcended time and space. Despite living in a very different society now, I feel that through paparazzi and gossip magazines we still kind of remain obsessed and judgmental towards Hollywood stars private lives in a similar way as ancient societies gossiped about aristocratic life. I do have to admit that as beautiful as the film might look, it does feel like it is missing a beat to it and will leave you a bit indifferent towards the end.

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My Review: Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (5/10)

¨ I just can't spend the last month of my life getting to know someone. It's ridiculous.¨

Love is a strange thing; it can happen in unexpected places and with very poor timing sometimes, but it also is a very beautiful thing. In Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, the new apocalyptic comedy starring Steve Carell and Keira Knightley, we have such a romantic story evolve in the unlikeliest of situations. As much as I wanted to like this film I wasn´t able to due to the pacing of the film and the absurdity of some situations. I really liked the two main characters; it was just everything else that seemed out of place. The film is very different from other movies so I have to give it some credit for trying to stay clear of the usual Hollywood conventions for the genre. The supporting cast really didn’t help the film, but Carell and Knightley were pretty strong and convincing together. This was Lorene Scaforia´s directorial debut; she had written the screenplay for Nick and Norah´s Infinite Playlist, a film I really enjoyed that also dealt with discovering love in unexpected places and had a similar premise with both characters searching for love in different places before falling for each other. Scaforia also wrote the screenplay for this film, but it wasn’t as strong as her previous work. There were some funny moments here and there, but for the most part I really felt bored with the story. The last 15 minutes of the film are probably the best part of the movie so I must say it did end in a positive note, but just not enough to make me recommend it. I still liked this better than last year´s apocalyptic melodrama Melancholia.  

The movie begins with a radio announcement stating that an asteroid is heading towards Earth and that in three weeks the world will end. The latest mission to try to destroy the asteroid named ¨Matilda¨ was unsuccessful and now all there is left is to wait for the end. As soon as the announcement is over we see Dodge (Steve Carell) commenting to his wife about it in their car when all of a sudden she gets off and runs away from him. Dodge discovers that his wife never loved him and has no idea what to do with the few weeks he has left. His life takes an unexpected turn when he runs into his neighbor Penny (Keira Knightley) and talks with her for the first time. Her family is in England and she missed the last flight so she´s having an emotional breakdown. Dodge tries to consol her best he can although the sight of him alone would make anyone sadder. Penny realizes she has collected a bunch of mail from his apartment that the mailmen has accidently been leaving in her mailbox and gives it to him. Among those letters he finds one from an ex girlfriend named Olivia who he considers to have been the love of his life. The letter had been sent three months ago saying how much she missed him and acknowledging that he too was the love of his life. Dodge realizes that he must reunite with Olivia before the end of the world and at the same time tells Penny that he knows someone who can fly her to England. So they decide to help each other out in their journey running into some unfortunate situations along the way as the countdown begins.

Someone mentioned how Steve Carell reminded them of Charlie Brown because of the way he attracts others with his sadness. He has this sort of puppy face and in this film it works perfectly along with his deadpan humor. He is great in this film and so is Keira Knightley (although a bit over the top in her performance), but I really didn’t like the rest of the cast in this film. There are some strange and bizarre situations that don’t work really well, but I must admit I did enjoy the soundtrack. The film has its comedic moments, but it also gets emotional at times. It reminds us that life isn’t all about surviving, but rather discovering love in unexpected places. We might be heading in one direction, but all of a sudden something unexpected happens that makes us change our plans and that is exactly what life is all about. We shouldn’t be so busy trying to plan out our lives because sometimes the best things in life are what is happening around us right now. That is the message the film got across to me, but that is the beauty of films it speaks to us all differently. I wish I would have liked this film as much as others did, but I just was left a little disappointed and expected more. Nick and Norah´s Infinite Playlist is a similar but much better film than this one so go see that instead.

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My Review: A Dangerous Method (5/10)

¨Experiences like this, however painful, unnecessary and inevitable, without them, how can we know life? ¨

David Cronenberg`s A Dangerous Method was one of my most anticipated films of 2011 for several reasons: First of all I loved Cronenberg and Viggo Mortensen`s first two collaborations together in A History of Violence and Eastern Promises. Those two films were among my favorite when they were released. Mortensen has always worked really well with Cronenberg and I had high expectations for his role as Sigmund Freud in this film. Add Micheal Fassbender, who has turned everything he touches into gold this year; to the mix and you have yourself one of the most anticipated films of the year. I was really looking forward to what these three men could do together alongside the beautiful Keira Knightley. I`m not familiar with psychoanalysis, but I do tend to enjoy the subject matter somewhat so I was really looking forward to this movie. Perhaps those high expectations were my downfall because this was a completely different movie from the previous two that Cronenberg had directed. This was more focused on the dialogue and relationship between the characters. This isn’t an action film with shocking scenes; it is more of a reflective film that analyzes the relationship between Freud, Jung, and Spielrein. I just felt the pace of the movie was too slow and that there wasn’t enough time between the transitions to further develop each character and their relationship together. I felt like I had seen an incomplete film, or that several scenes were missing. The film focuses more on the relationship between Jung and his Russian patient Spielrein, and not so much on Freud, so that was something else I wish would`ve been different.

The film is based on John Kerr`s book of the same name, and from Hampton`s play ¨The Talking Cure.¨ Hampton himself adapted the screenplay for this movie. The story takes place during the early 1900`s in Europe. Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) is a psychiatrist and firm believer in Freud`s recent theories. When a young Russian patient named Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley) is sent to him at his office in Switzerland, he finds the opportunity to apply Freud`s methods on her. Jung has amazing results and ends up helping Spielrein and bringing her back to normal society life. Spielrein suffered from some sort of dementia, but thanks to Jung she is able to return to her medical studies. Despite her rehabilitation, Jung continues to treat her, and he writes to Freud (Viggo Mortensen) telling him about his amazing results. Jung is invited to Vienna by Freud and together they have an interesting thirteen hour conversation about their discoveries and theories. They begin an interesting friendship and write to each other over the years about their new findings. They do have their discrepancies in some areas since Freud only is willing to point out the problem, but Jung wants to go further and try to help the patients recover and not just single out their problems. The movie also focuses on Jung`s relationship with Spielrein as she becomes his lover presenting him with an internal conflict since she is his patient, and there is also the fact that he is married to Emma (Sarah Gadon).

The main problem I had with this movie was the pacing the film had. Despite being only 100 minutes long, the movie does feel much longer and it seems to be missing something. I felt like I was seeing an incomplete picture. After a while the dialogues and conversations got boring, despite the fact that the performances were all incredible. Michael Fassbender and Viggo Mortensen are both terrific actors and they shone in the scenes in which they were together, but the problem was that they didn’t share too much screen time together. They spent most of the time corresponding through letters. The main protagonists were Fassbender and Knightley and unfortunately her character wasn’t very fascinating. She did give a good performance, but I just felt at first her dementia was really distracting and exaggerated. It was weird to see her rehabilitated so quickly. I wanted to see more of Viggo Mortensen and less of the others. Vincent Cassel had a small but great supporting role and it was he who mostly influenced Jung into wanting to have an affair with his patient. My expectations were set way to high for this movie and by the end I was disappointed. I hope Mortensen and Cronenberg return to their previous work and continue to collaborate together in a similar project. One that will be more climactic than this film which at moments felt like nothing really interesting was happening.

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