Cutting Down Classics: Close Encounters of the Third Kind

With its 4K restoration and theatrical release this Friday, it's pretty clear that film audiences still enjoy and resonate with Steven Spielberg's first forray into science fiction 1977's Close Encounters of the Third Kind. And yet despite making every, essential sci-fi movie list known to man, constant parody and references, and lasting appeal, this movie never resonated with me. Thus, as part of our Cutting Down Classics segment, I thought I would dive into this movie doesn't work for me, despite being a film-making marvel.

Why Its Beloved: Cinematic Wonder & Benevolent Aliens

There's no way I can argue that Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a bad or poorly made film. It's a Steven Spielberg movie, that's almost impossible. And it has all of the halmark's of Spielberg's most iconic works. It's shot majestically. Everyone from the camera to the lead character emphasizes a sense of wonder at life droping in from the stars. And the film's final twenty minutes are simply masterful audio-visual storytelling.

This is also one of the few science fiction movies that emphasizes benevolent aliens. Historically, aliens are presented as an existential threat from the original War of the Worlds to Independence Day. In fact, the film is so aware of this, that the final scene's primary source of tension is about whether or not the government workers and onlookers are about to be vaporized. It's a hopeful story of connection in a genre that typically emphasizes alienation (pun most certainly intended). But I do have gripes.

Way Oversold

I'm a firm believer than the phrase "you have to see it" is one of the easiest ways to kill a future audience members viewing of a classic film. Not only have you portrayed it as an obligation but you've now you're implying that not liking the film isn't an option. Which means the film now has to somehow exceed your colossal expectations to get a positive response. 

And I'm convinced this is what happend to me with Close Encounters. Like I said it's well-crafted movie, and the effects hold up to this day, but if I'm expecting a world changing experience simply seeing a spaceship land with whisical tiny grey aliens isn't gonna cut it.

The Story Lacks Tension

If there's anything that you'll take away from Close Encounters it's the visuals or the score, and that's not just because this a film by Steve Spielberg that's scored by John Williams. It's because the story behind it all, from the characters to the actions leading up to the finale, are forgettable. As an example, I had to check IMDB for the name of Richard Dreyfuss' character in this film.

A lot this has to do with the film's structure which is clearly building to the finale where we're going to see aliens, because how do advertise a movie called Close Encounters of the Third Kind without delivering aliens, so it takes the teeth and interest out of everything else. Bright lights outside the house? I'm guessing that was aliens. Dad's going crazy? I'm going to assume it has something to do with the aliens. What's the government working on? Alien stuff.

The film feels like it's either one set piece or a thirty minute cut away from multi-generational appeal.

The Lead Character's Decision

My biggest beef with Close Encounters is the lead character of Roy Neary played by Richard Dreyfuss. For the majority of the film, I was arguably in his corner. I understood that he was experiencing things no one could understand and behaving irrationally as a result, so the distance between himself and his family made sense.

I was still onboard when he was infatuated with the alien ship landing and the aliens inside, because who wouldn't be drawn in by living proof of life beyond our planet. But the decision to leave with the aliens literally turned me against the film's protagonist and the movie as a whole.

He has a wife and children who depend on him emotionally and fiscally who is about to disappear that cannot be explained in a way to earn anything resembling insurance. He has primed his family for trauma and struggle.

I know this sounds super knit-picky but even Spielberg himself said he would change the ending if he made the film now.

Verdict: It's All Up To Your Personality

As I mentioned before, I don't think Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a bad film. I think it is a slightly flawed film whose minor mistakes are overtaken by Spielberg's technical mastery and sense of wonder. And for plenty of audiences that's why they liked this movie. The wonder of seeing aliens land on earth. However for me, if that comes at the expense of my human connections, count me out.

Read More

Goon (Revisited)

The end of summer and beginning of fall is a notorious dead time for new releases. Any pretisge film interested in Oscar attention is worried about being forgotten, the kiddos have all started school which means the blockbuster crowd has wanted, and major sporting events like boxing and the beginning of the pro and college football seasons pull a lot of the adult crowd away as well. So what better time to drop a sequel to your cult comedy from 2011? But before Goon: The Last of the Enforcers hits theaters this Friday, I'd thought we'd revisit the original cult favorite.

The movie follows Doug, a sweet but dim-witted guy who makes ends meat as a bouncer at a local bar. But when Doug easily dispatches a beligerent hockey player who enters the stands during the game, Doug is brought in as the team's new enforcer. Now if he can only learn to skate...

Goon is one of those rare cult comedies that would easily have a bigger audience if it featured a different sport. That's not to say they're aren't hockey fans out there, there are tons, but it doesn't have the cultural connection that football, baseball, or even basketball has to the American identity. And if you're making a R-rated comedy with immature male humor, non-stop cursing, and bloody fist-fights, that isn't a The Mighty Ducks sequel or Slap Shot, chances are you're going to bear the indie label. Which is a shame because the original Goon is one of my favorite comedies in recent memory. Here's the big reasons why.

The Lead Character is Dumb...and Knows It

A lot of comedies are centered around dumb people. It's half of Will Ferrell's characters. But there's a key element to these characters. They are woefully unaware of how dumb they are. But Goon's Doug isn't. He's fully aware that he's not too bright and doesn't feel a need to put on airs. He's a nice guy who can hit like a freight train and he's okay with that. And it works wonders within the film.

Not only are people blown away by a guy who's seemingly incapable of sarcasm or being inauthentic (a great source of jokes), but it also justifies why Doug throws all of himself into hockey. He knows, seemingly better than everyone else, that this is his best chance to do something special. Doug's slow wits also means that the secondary goofs like his best friend played by the film's writer Jay Baruschel or a rival enforcer played by Liev Schreiber can go as big as they like for the set pieces and games. Of course it certainly helps that... 

Sean William Scott is Perfect

While primarily known as Stifler, Scott's best comedic performances are steeped in easy-going sincerity (see also Role Models and his single episode as Country Mac on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia). Laid back bros, who get really funny when they freak out or turn the volume up.

Doug, in particular, requires a lot of vascilatting between hard-ass and sweet, and Scott sells it every single time. He's also great at being confused. I know this sounds very silly but most dumb characters are so boastful or loud-mouthed that they attempt to cover up their ignorance with lies. Not Doug. He simply gives a nice smile and behaves like he gets everything even though he really doesn't. It's great stuff.

Great Gag Variety Paired With Hockey Sensibilities

It's hard to dissect why a comedy works but Goon works because it's a great combination of absurd premises centered around its lead character. Aka, what does it look like when a sweet but simple guy tries to woo a jaded girl, or do enforcers shake hands before they try to knock each other unconscious? What does it take to motivate an easy-going guy into beating down a total stranger? Add in some immature stuff from the stands, a collection of weirdos for teammates, and a celebration of the "play through the pain hockey" mentality, and you've got yourself a cult classic in the making.

Simple, fast, and anchored by a great premise and central performance, Goon is an easy adult comedy to recommend. Especially if you're a hockey fan.

Read More

Reel Talk: Feminism and Male Creators

When it comes to popularizing action heroines, a lot of credit has been given to Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and James Cameron, creator of Sarah Connor and director of Sigourney Weaver's Oscar nominated turn as Ripley in Aliens. This past week however, both men and their feminist credentials have been under fire. The story surrounding Whedon is easily the most troubling as a piece by his ex-wfe Kai Cole alleged years of cheating and emotionally damaging behavior by the beloved creator using his 'feminist writing' as a shield against critique. On the other end, James Cameron earned a respectful rebuke from Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins, after he said that the praise heaped upon the superhero film was misguided, calling it a step back while invoking his own Sarah Connor as a better example.

So let's get the initial reactions out of the way. With Whedon, it's sincerely disheartening, though not unbelievable, to hear about this behavior. It immediately calls his helming a Batwoman film into question and offers up a new dirty lens with which to view his previous work. Does this remove Buffy's legacy or the glee at watching River ripping through Reavers in Serenity? No. Those are still meaningful to the young men and especially women who were inspired to embrace female heroes and their power. Should you be faulted if you can't watch his creations or view them with a hyper-critical eye? Absolutely not. The only reaction I view as negative is to pass his ex-wife's post as mere gossip and continue to champion Whedon as king feminist (I'm aware of the oxymoron). You can hate the man and his creations or just the man if you like.

Cameron's comments sound like textbook mansplaining about feminism. In critique of a female centric superhero movie with a female director he decided to cut it down as a regressive objectification and invoked one of his own characters as the "right way." Patty Jenkins has long said that being "sexy" is part of being feminine and I thought her response which called for more female characters from the gritty to the pretty was spot-on.

The real question in all of this, in my mind, is less about select comments from two filmmakers, but more about what male creators role is in supporting feminist ideals. Here's some quick suggestions.

Step #1: Write More Female Characters, Period

If you're a man, and perhaps an established screenwriter, and you've yet to make a woman your central character, or notice your work has a token woman, change that. It doesn't matter what kind of role it is. This goes double for traditionally male centric movies. From mentors, to henchpeople, to big bads, or heroines, there's little to no reason why every movie couldn't feature an equal number of bad-ass ladies to men. And make sure it's not just white women. Women of color should be involved as well. "But I don't know how to write women properly!" I hear you saying. Well that's what the second step is for.

Step #2: Collaborate With Women About Everything

Men writing female characters in a vacuum is a bad idea. It's exactly how well-intentioned supposedly empowered characters become vapid sex dolls or another ugly stereotype. A female voice in editing, casting, direction, and beyond can help you flesh out your characters from something one dimensional into something more interesting and complex or at the very least, something positive.

Worried about your female hero having a sexy costume? Ask the actress what she thinks about it. Unsure if your conversation between two women feels authentic? Ask some female writers. It's never weak to expand your input, especially when you're stretching beyond your experience.

Step #3: Promote & Fight For Equality

After Jennifer Lawrence expressed her frustration at making less than her male co-stars, actor Bradley Cooper said he would share his salary information with female co-stars during the contract phase. That's a good start. But if you're a writer/producer/director you can do even more.

Be open about salary figures. Ensure that the women and men on your movie are being paid similarly for similar roles. Avoid loaded or sexist language when delivering critiques. Exercise zero tolerance for sexual harassment. Don't sexually harass anyone. Treat everyone the same.

This can only help your reputation and your retention rate moving forward.

Step #4: Put Your Weight Behind Female-Run Projects & Distribute Credit To The Creators

And finally we come to the most important element: getting women in positions of power. There's no easier way to getting more female roles of all sorts on screen than promoting more female scripts and directors.  If a studio isn't sure about a great script, persuade them or agree to executive produce. If you've got a famous name, they can use it for advertising.

Should this become a hit movie and people ask you abou't your takes on feminism or what drew you to this project you have two options.

1. Re-emphasize the quality of the story and project, complement the filmmakers, and emphasize that it's a story for everyone.
2. See 1.

It's crucial to not pat yourself on the back or offer your stance on what feminist film-making is. Just say you're a feminist, that the women you're working with are awesome and that they need all the credit and more projects in the future. 

If someone asks you about a movie you don't like, don't celebrate your own work. Just say that you're happy to see a project like it reach such a broad audience. Be like Ryan Reynolds and give cute shout-outs on social media. Let women decide a film's feminist credentials on their own, your input is not required.

Read More

Colossal

While primarily known as popcorn entertainment to modern audiences, the grand-daddy of all kaiju (giant monster) movies Godzilla was a metaphorical film about the dangers of destructive science with clear references to nuclear weapons. However, pretty much every incarnation since then has focused on escapism with a lead monster facing off against humans, robots, robots controlled by humans, and other monsters. Which is why Colossal, a movie that uses its leading monster as a metaphor caught my attention.

The film centers around Gloria, an unemployed writer and shameless alcoholic. After one drunken night too many and a fight with her boyfriend, Gloria returns to her childhood home and town to recover and avoid spending money she doesn't have. However, after reconnecting with a friend from her past, Gloria discovers a connection between her blackouts and the appearance of a giant monster in Seoul, South Korea.

First things first, yes this premise does require a bit of fantastical thinking for the audience to get on board. There's little to no explanation for why the giant monsters appeared in the first place, outside of a brief flashback or two that shows the first occurrence, so it's up to the audience to accept the premise going in. If you can't do that, then clearly the film isn't for you. If you can, this movie is a deeper than expected look at destructive behavior and relationships than you might think.

At first glance, Colossal's metaphorical connections between a drunken Gloria and giant Godzilla-styled monster destroying of a bunch of innocent lives in the process, feels as subtle as a slegdehammer to the face. Put another way, it's not a new perspective to say that one individual's addiction and substance dependence leaves a trail of destruction in its wake.

What's clever about Colossal is that Gloria's revelation doesn't signal the story's ending, because while seeing how her actions could affect hundreds of thousands of innocent people initiates change, it doesn't mean that she's free of the circumstances that create destruction around her. Saying much more will give up too many story details, but this goes into far deeper and darker territory than you might think and the movie is better for it.

As you'd expect, the movie is another home run for Anne Hathaway continuing to demonstrate her talent as an actress and willingness to play potentially unlikable characters. It's hard to pick apart a performance like this piece by piece but when your movie is about a single character's emotional journey from a parasitic drunk towards someone more benevolent, especially when they're connected to a giant monster, you need them to nail every step and turn, and Hathaway delivers.

The film's biggest surprise, however, has to be Jason Sedeukis who delivers a key central performance as Gloria's old friend Oscar. While the movie is intentionally being coy about Oscar's intentions, and using his extensive experience as a quip machine in comedies against audience expectations, what will really blow you away is how effective he is once things turn.

Plenty of credit should also be given to writer/director Nacho Vigalondo for a couple of excellent choices. My favorite is the inclusion of sound effects as Gloria stomps around the playground. Since the film is clearly operating with a lower budget than a typical Hollywood project, the scenes with the giant monster are somewhat limited and only show up during crucial points in the story. However, to ensure an audience connection to the carnage as Gloria prances around a park, an inherently funny image, the film filters in sounds of destruction including screams and explosions in time with her actions. It's a small element, but it makes simple things like a stumble towards the ground feel potentially world-shattering.

Most of the films faults are the result of some predictable plot turns and a noticeably slower third act. Unfortunately this does take some weight away from the finale, even if it is a natural resolution to the story.

Decidely unconventional and more thoughtful than you might think, Colossal is much more than a movie with a killer hook. Check this out.

Read More

Free Fire

You know your filmography is an offbeat one when a movie like Free Fire could be considered your most mainstream movie. And yet, that's precisely the case for writer/director Ben Wheatley, the driving force between horrifying headtrips like A Field in England and Kill List or bleak black comedies like Sightseers and last year's High Rise. No unsettling premise or incisive social commentary, just a straight forward single location shootout movie with a cast full of name actors.

Taking place in 1970's Boston, the movie centers around a gun deal between a band of IRA fighters, South African gun runners, and a female intermediary (Brie Larson). Though initially tense, the deal appears to be good to go with smiles all around. That is until a violent connection between an IRA member and one of the gun runners is discovered and a massive fight for survival begins.

Free Fire is a difficult movie to review. Not only because the movie is a brisk single location thriller, but also because too much discussion might give away what plot points we do have. So instead of a regular breakdown I'll highlight what made this movie work for me.

Truly Chaotic Gun-play

If nothing else, Free Fire will standout for highlighting elements that most movie gun battles ignore. Instead of consistent fluid motion with the good guys and bad guys exchanging fire in equal rates, Free Fire's gun-play is all about confusion, non-lethal hits, and moving precariously in and out of cover.

There's still plenty of bullets flying on a regular basis, but this approach means that most of the shots are coming from guys who are still laying on the ground with shoulder wounds instead of barrel-rolling into a combat position and firing.

But that's not to say that everyone is inaccurate. In fact, most everyone in the film clearly has some degree of firearm training and is at least in the ballpark with every shot. No one has action movie hero aim, but you truly get the idea that anyone could be taken down at any moment.

Hell even the surroundings play a part as bullets fly through anything that isn't concrete or ricochet into targets on a regular basis. It's far from slick, but that's the point.

A Great Cast Having Fun

Movies like this are perfect for character actors because there's not a definitive protagonist and everyone is an exaggerated caricature (in the best possible way). The four notable names are Sharlto Copley, Cillian Murphy, Armie Hammer, and Brie Larson. Murphy and Hammer play two sides of the same coin with Murphy acting as the IRA band's most professional member who's over the gun fight as soon as it starts, and Hammer as an agreeable hired gun whose clearly the most competent fighter of the group. It's notably lighter tone for both actors usual roles and I was a big fan.

Though my favorites have to be Shartlo Copley and Brie Larson. Copley has played plenty of roles like this, Hardcore Henry comes to mind, but there's something truly unique and fascinating about his manic screen presence. His buffoonery earns most of the film's biggest laughs. And surprising no one Brie Larson is great as the disbelieving female of the bunch. Considering she's presented as loyal to no one and doesn't engage in gun-play until she's shot herself, her "you have to be kidding me!" attitude not only emphasizes how stupid the violent honor that starts the whole mess is, but also justifies her attitude from a story perspective.

General Absurdity

I feel like a lot of movies like this portray themselves as meaningful dramas where every bullet, death, or action is a world-changing revelation. But even from the get-go Free Fire's tone is rooted in absurdity. This is perfectly demonstrated by the characters who spend most of the gunfight trading barbs, cursing each other out, and trying to figure out who's on who's side. No one spends time moaning about their injuries and a number of deaths are played for laughs. As such the characters and the audience can remain detached and embrace the film's chaos.

Free Fire may be the textbook definition of disposable entertainment, but it's new approach to familiar movie elements gets it a recommendation. Check it out.

Read More

Reel Talk: Bruce Lee's Legacy and Birth of the Dragon

In the modern cultural landscape, Bruce Lee is more myth than man. An icon on par Muhammad Ali, Lee's image, fighting style, and physical feats have been consistently celebrated, embellished, and idolized in everything from t-shirts, video games (i.e. Mortal Kombat and Tekken), and even completely fake videos that we share on social media (no he didn't actually play someone in ping pong using nun-chucks). Hell you could argue that the success of the Ip Man franchise is partially based on the real-life Wing Chun master's connection to Lee. As such, it makes sense that Hollywood would want to develop their own origin story about Lee and his legendary life.

However, even before its hit theaters the latest Bruce Lee inspired film, Birth of the Dragon, has hit roadblocks. Most of the criticism has been heaped upon the film's script which allegedly tells the story of Lee's rise in the martial arts scene from a white man's perspective. As I haven't seen the film I can't verify or deny this claim, but if this is the case that's a gigantic problem. Here's a couple of reasons why.

White Filmmakers Have A Biased Point of View

When Detroit was released early this month there was a pretty stark divide in reception between white critics and critics of color (not all on either side). While many white critics lauded Detroit for its hard-hitting story and emotional impact, many black critics felt the film had a detached perspective by focusing on police abuses and cover-up instead of the emotional impact of such violence and injustice. You could argue this is partially due to director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal's stylistic preferences, usually very procedural, but it's hard to imagine a black director or writer presenting police violence as a horrific outlier in American life.

Generally, I don't think film-makers are ill-intentioned when they make films about people of other races. But it will make plenty of people suspicious before they even see a single frame of your film, if your movie's subject is a person of color and the majority of your team is white. Because try as you might to put yourself in the person's shoes, a white man is ill-equipped to comment on the Asian-American experience in 1960s San Francisco.

Perhaps the team behind Birth of the Dragon took this into account and that's why they included a white character. However, when the subject matter is arguably one of the most iconic Asian-Americans of all time, someone behind the camera or writing the script with a similar background should be weighing in.

It Adds To A Long Cultural History of Colonialism

One of the remnants of European colonial expansion is fiction that features white men discovering things like hidden cities, natives with different customs, or individuals with seemingly inhuman abilities. Anything you can imagine Edgar Rice Burroughs or Rudyard Kipling writing fits this model.

Historically this played out in movies where a white man embraces another culture and becomes its champion or white savior (films as recently as The Last Samurai follow this model). But the white observer model isn't much better.

Not only because of the aforementioned bias in this perspective, but it implies that this story needed to be conveyed by someone else. Put another way, if Lee's martial arts origins are impressive enough the story would find an audience without its white translator.

Bruce Lee Pushed For His Voice and Inclusion

One of the reasons Bruce Lee remains an icon is his originality. There's so much about him and his persona that is instantly iconic. His fighting style, the noises he made when he completed moves, his training regimens, and nun-chucks are all immediately recognizable. And that's not by accident.

Lee left the U.S. to pursue leading roles in Hong Kong. After his two film deal he set up his own production company. Enter the Dragon was made in conjunction with the American Warner Bros. and Hong Kong's Golden Harvest studios. Be it a fight scene or a philosophical musing, Lee's films are full of his identity as a man and martial artist.

Which is why making a movie about him that's not from his perspective is not only bad form in modern cinema, it goes against the legacy of the man it's about.

Read More

Alien: Covenant

There's a part of me that believes Prometheus would've been a better movie if it had no connection to the Alien franchise. You get all of the excitement from Ridley Scott revisiting sci-fi e=horror with modern graphics and film-making techniques, minus the expectations that comes with a prequel to a famous film and nothing that happens becomes a part of the series' mythology. Likewise, you can delve into the film's themes about creating, science, and discovery. But that's not what happened, and unfortunately Alien: Covenant decided the best course to take was to continue Prometheus story, and subsequently add to the Alien mythos.

About ten years after the failed Prometheus mission, a colonization-ship named Covenant, is traveling across the galaxy to habitable planet under the watchful eye of the stoic android Walter. However, when an unexpected accident damages the ships and kills a number of crew members, the remaining crew members stumble across an apparently human distress signal from a nearby planet that looks perfect for colonization. But the planet holds dangers none of the crew could have expected...

After Prometheus I think most people were hoping would Covenant would be a return to the claustrophobic or at least existential horror that made the first two films so engaging. Nameless, skeleton like creatures that can tear you limb from limb and kill you with their blood. And for the first third of the movie it looks like we've got a quality Alien clone. Small crew on a spaceship that's unwoken unexpectedly and examines a distress call and things go haywire from there. There's potential in that.

And then the movie dives headfirst into the mythology from the first film and disappears up its own expositional butt about the origin of the xenomorphs followed by full tilt action scenes instead of the horror film we had been watching for at least 40 minutes. *Some spoilers ahead*

I'm not going to spoil exactly where xenomorphs come from or what the early twist is, but needless to say it completely abandons the tone, themes, and style of the first portion and decides to go full Prometheus. The final thirty minutes is just a collection of set pieces that are all either bigger than anything in Alien or poor recreations of Aliens. As I said, this movie could've been a lot more interesting if it wasn't an Alien film.

But you have a distinctive image in mind where you hear Ridley Scott and Alien and this movie fails to deliver that. There was some scary stuff when the crew encounters small creatures called neomorphs that hop around and attack people's faces like honey badgers on PCP, but that's abandoned so quickly that it fails to build any tension. Tension is kinda important in a sci-fi horror movie.

The other problem is that the movie has no idea what it is about. Is it about creation? Is it about the dangers of curiosity and discovery? Maybe it's about artificial intelligence? The replacement captain talks about being a man faith so much that I thought we were going to meet Jesus....is that a thing? Sadly none of this is fleshed out enough to make any impact. And don't even get me started about all of the so-called plot twists because each one of them is so badly telegraphed I almost stopped watching the movie because I knew how it would end.

And it's all a shame because the bones of a good movie are here. Ridley Scott remains a masterful film technician, the effects are great, and Katherine Waterson and Danny McBride (yes that's Kenny Powers) put in effective performances. But in the confines of this plot, none of it works.

All in all, Alien: Covenant is further proof that monsters are far more frightening and interesting the less we know about them. You can skip this one.

Read More

Top 5: Steven Soderbergh Movies

Director Steven Soderbergh has always done his own thing. After breaking out of the indie scene with Sex,Lies, and Videotape Soderbergh has spent most of the late nineties and 2000s making small stylish films with reasonable budgets and a stable of big name actors while earning enough good will and box office bang with the Ocean's Eleven trilogy. Now after a brief retirement, Soderbergh is back with the critically acclaimed heist comedy Logan Lucky. So as a refresher for Soderbergh's style and sense of humor we've picked five of the director's best.

#5 Side Effects

Twisty thrillers just aren't made by Hollywood studios nowadays unless you have a dedicated director with a killer script and Side Effects has precisely that. The movie centers around Dr. Jonathan Banks (Jude Law), a psychiatrist that attempts to help a young couple Martin and Emily (Channing Tatum and Rooney Mara) with the Emily's ongoing anxiety. What follows is a mystery about hidden intentions, corporate espionage, and physician responsibility that keeps the surprises coming until the film's end.

#4 The Informant!

This film gets a lot of divisive responses for two big reasons. First and foremost, this is an offbeat comedy about understatement and the darkly hilarious knowledge that this is based on a true story. The second reason is because this is actually a comedy about something. Matt Damon stars as the titular character, a lead executive at an agricultural firm, who intends to improve his position by ratting on his company's corrupt employees. Damon is pitch perfect as a man so awkward that people should spot him as a spy, but then again they might not notice a difference in his odd behavior. However the film's true appeal is in demystifying the idea that all whistle blowers are moral crusaders or heroic figures.

#3 Traffic

Soderbergh's style is never "epic" but this sprawling crime drama about the drug trade is as close as it gets. In it, an interconnected group of cops criminals and their families attempt to capture, evade, or simply stay afloat in a world where danger lurks around every corner. Featuring stellar acting from an Academy Award winning Benicio Del Toro to Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, the film does an excellent job at showing the shades of grey that populate drug trafficking and enforcement and the circumstances that create monstrous actions.

#2 Ocean's Eleven

A movie so effortlessly cool and fun it's not even fair. The premise is simply as it gets, a infamous thief is fresh out of prison and wants to pull in the score of a lifetime...and possibly get back his wife. Though the heist itself is beautifully planned and executed the movie's true appeal is in watching the team banter back and forth through all of their preparation with a diverse collection actors including heavy hitters like George Clooney and Brad Pitt, Don Cheadle, Bernie Mac, and the Casey Affleck/Scott Caan duo bringing laughs, and a quietly menacing Andy Garcia.

#1 Out of Sight

Ocean's Eleven may be the Soderbergh's most enjoyable movie but Out of Sight is a pitch perfect version of what it sets out to be: a film-noir romance. After a chance meeting during his escape, a thief (George Clooney) begins a flirtation with a U.S. Marshall (Jennifer Lopez) that quickly blossoms into a forbidden romance. While the plot is driven by an ill-conceived heist involving a sinister Don Cheadle, the movie's driving force is the palpable chemistry between Clooney and Lopez including one of the sexiest scenes ever put on screen...and it doesn't even feature nudity. An underrated gem and a personal favorite.

Read More

Top 5: Nazi Fighting Movies

As you're probably well aware, the American news cycle has been owned by the horrifying events in Charlottesville. And since I don't live in a bubble and can't express all of the rage I have at the Neo-Nazi and White Supremacists existence in this country, the murder of one and maiming of at least a dozen other counter-protestors with a car, and Trump's insistence that there are good people amongst white supremacists, I thought I would compile some movies that are great if you're in the mood to fight Nazis. Some fight with words, others with fists, and some with weapons, but these are all movies about fighting*Spoilers abound*

#5 The Great Dictator

This was Charlie Chaplin's first talkie and it remains one of the most painfully funny and powerful films ever put on screen. In an era where Hollywood was avoided Nazi Germany and promoted isolationism, Chaplin decided to make a movie that openly mocked Hitler, portrayed the dangers to minorities, and delivered one of the best and moving humanist monologues of all time.

#4 Inglourious Basterds

Revenge fantasies don't come much bloodier than this Quentin Tarantino joint about a vengeful Jewish cinema operator and a team of American Jews sent behind enemy lines to kill Nazis and eventually assassinate the entire German high command. Though there's arguably less Nazi fighting than you might like in a movie with this premise, there's something oddly satisfying about watching a pair of Jews overkill Hitler with machine gun fire.

#3 X-Men First Class

This one works exceptionally well because it's all about tracking down Nazis that are trying to hide. Though hiding is a bit hard when you're being tracked by a master of magnetism with a grudge. A great deal of this movie may be about team building, but the driving force for Magneto from beginning to end is revenge against the Nazis that killed his family and that knife scene in Argentina...*whistle*

#2 Raiders of the Lost Ark

I'm sure other people will choose The Last Crusade over the original film but I have to choose Indy's first ride against the Third Reich for the finale. Why? Because a team of arrogant Nazis is melted, blown apart, and electrocuted for disrespecting the Hewbrew God and daring to lay eyes upon the word of God. Hard to beat that...no matter how many nightmares it gave me in my youth.

#1 Captain America: The First Avenger

While you could argue that this movie doesn't feature too many fights against actual Nazis, Cap and friends are fighting H.Y.D.R.A., but the ideal American spirit and what it's willing to fight for is alive and well in this movie. Taking up the allied caused because "I don't like bullies," Steve Rodgers insists that he doesn't want to fight anyone, but he can't stay idle while evil men hurt innocent people. And thankfully for the audience, he gets the strength to stop the Red Skull and his goons from destroying that ideal.

Read More