The Imitation Game

The Imitation Game has a rich history in the man of Alan Turing. Turing being a brilliant computer scientist essential in the creation of a decoder computer that helped to break the Nazi code during World War II. He was also a homosexual at a time where it was illegal in England which lead to his tragic downfall shortly after the war. An atypical life lead to an atypical film, not in actual execution but through its process of attempting to tell the story of Turing as a mainstream crowd pleaser. The film attempts to tell both stories however these stories are so different it is hard to wholly capture both. The film does not succeed in naturally streamlining this due to mostly its ending which is too much of challenge to cohere to the overarching approach. Now I will say that overarching approach is effective in granting an old fashioned biopic to Turing. It doesn't ignore his homosexual life however it downplays it towards focusing instead on his introverted eccentricity. This does work, largely due to Benedict Cumberbatch's dedicated performance, and the story of the code breaking is potent enough to carry much of the film. It however even in this aspect loses its grip somewhat with its choice to introduce as espionage subplot that adds essentially enough style of film into the overarching one. When it is the streamlined biopic it works, when it falls into the tragic story of Turing it suffers since it doesn't devote enough time to it. The scenes of the past do work but again these naturally fit into the biopic structure. The tragedy is undercut because of the rush to include which sadly feels forced within the rest of the film especially when the film leaves on uplifting note despite the fact our central lead commits suicide.
3.5/5

Fargo Season 1

Fargo Season 1 attempts to create a good television show out of adapting a great movie, the idea behind this is commonly attempted yet most often leads to failure, in fact there was even already an unsuccessful Fargo television series pilot before this one. Of course that earlier series and most commonly go oh here's the movie character, played by someone else, going on a different adventure every week. Well this Fargo series tosses all that out instead taking the tropes of the show and playing with them. This season takes the idea of a hapless salesman, a dogged atypical police officer, and a vicious killer then does what it pleases. Their paths being highly divergent from the original film with but a final scene. The series continues to mess with the ideas by throwing a few other killers, worthy of their own story into the mix, along with bumbling FBI agents, dark crime syndicates, and black mail scheme on top of the overarching criminal investigation. The series goes as it pleases never confined by the series instead it offers it more material and the overarching style found in the series' direction worthy of a feature film.
5/5

True Detective Season 1 and Season 2

It is best to look at both season of True Detective together as that is the easiest way to see how season 2 could go so wrong after season 1 went so right. Both seasons are written with thick philosophical dialogue within in its long convoluted plot. Season 1 thrives in this regard as it importantly grants the dialogue to characters marked around death that being Matthew McConaughey's Rust and the killers they find deep in the swamps of Louisiana. The dialogue seems fitting to the minds of those men and also all the performers, particularly McConaughey make it natural in spoken form. Season 2 is less careful giving often to random characters such as Vince Vaughn's gangster who is only strangely poetic and it does not help that Vaughn struggles with the lines. They never seem natural to those who speak it and little sense is given to how odd they all sound. Now in neither season does the plot flow as smoothly as say a L.A. Confidential or a Chinatown. Season 1 though you can follow it fairly well, maybe only lost a point here or there. Season 2 the whole plot is thick yet wholly unengaging so even though the information is said it is hard to care. Both focus on the character's personal lives yet the first season has two characters of contrasting values, and though Woody Harrelson's Marty is also troubled he outwardly seems happy. In season 2 the series bluntly hits you with four main characters all desperate in one way or another that comes off as almost a parody of a gritty cop show. One of the most damning elements of season 2, and one of the strongest elements of season 1 is the directorial vision. In season one there was the singular vision of Cary Joy Fukunaga which created such a vivid and captivating horror atmosphere out of its setting. The direction amplified the writing and even helped to overcome some of it weak points. There is no cohesive direction in season 2 leaving it often a lifeless affair and making nothing out of its urban world, after making such a rich one during season 1. Another unfortunate loss was in that otherworldly horror hinted at in season 1 that helped make the series unique, while this is almost wholly dropped in season 2 for an often rote story about corrupt cops trying to cover their tracks. Season 1 was not a flawless series but it was series that was able to even wear its flaws well. Season 2 is a deeply flawed series that has the occasional inspired moments muted by those flaws.
5/5 - Season 1
2/5 - Season 2

The Homesman

The Homesman is Jones's theatrically released followup to Three Burials, and it follows a somewhat similar formula, though now a "legitimate" western. In that it follows two people as they go upon a journey to deliver something, this time three mad women, in which one imagine they'll have some sort of personal discovery along the way. It also features similar vignettes where we come across some strange western sorts as well. The film is major step down from that film. Jones still has eye for the west, and is well suited as an actor for the genre, but that's all that carries over from his first film. The film seems wholly unaware of what tone it should be and when it shifts to heavy drama or comedy it is excessively jarring. It doesn't help that the film takes so long to reveal the roots of the women's madness even if they are basically props once the journey begins. One would imagine it could at least get by on its main characters. It does not. We are given the seemingly tough old maid played by Hillary Swank whose personal journey that ends with a twist I'll admit I did not see coming. A parallel to the mad women at the end apparently, but her arc seems oddly stilted. We get Jones whose entertaining as the gruff Homesman, also the only vignettes worth mentioning are a couple of sleazy turns by James Spader and Tim Blake Nelson. It is not enough to make this film compelling. It is a mess that thematically could be summed up "the west sure was cuhraaazy".
2/5

X-Men: Days of Future Past

If First Class gave the X-Men series the shot in the arm it needed then Days Of Future Past proceeded to perform corrective surgery on its failing parts. This is almost close to being literal being that the film purged itself of the terror that was X-Men The Last Stand from ever existing. Now within this janitorial work it managed to actually create one of the best entries in the series. There are few problems. The villain Trask, despite having the reliable Peter Dinklage, seems wasted, and the majority of the characters in the future have absolutely no development. Luckily this is basically made for the arresting visuals in those sequences and particularly devoted performances from Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart. The past sequences though are the central focus, which have a proper sense of urgency due to the Terminator style plot around Wolverine being sent back to correct the future. Although it is perhaps a bit obvious why Mystique became so important suddenly, I will say it works in this film, as they successfully used her to be the proper focal point between the philosophies of Professor X and Magneto. The film uses this well to bring about a natural conclusion that is compelling both in terms of spectacle and emotion. This is in large part due to James McAvoy's portrayal as a broken Professor X, as he gives the best performance in any X-Men film. Now in all of this though there is a real sense of fun, particularly when Evan Peter's Quicksilver shows up, and manages a proper balance of tone to craft an emotionally engaging and properly entertaining blockbuster.
4.5/5

Inherent Vice

Well if the Master was too weird or hard to follow for a viewer, Paul Thomas Anderson does nothing to ease that pain with his follow up Inherent Vice. It's a strange switch up though as this film is technically a comedy about a stoner P.I. trying to find out what happened to his ex-girlfriend who is related to a bizarre plot that involves all sorts of odd-balls. The plot itself, though you can decipher it, is purposefully left to be hard to follow through the often strange way various characters speak when delivering pivotal exposition. The film though is more about experiencing the plot than following it, which might aggravate some, but not me. This film is a concise mess of a film, in that it is all over the place yet every moment of it seem intentional in terms of Anderson's vision for the piece. We follow the PI Doc (Joaquin Phoenix) again as he goes through a strange world of drugs, murders, and a sense of strange paranoia while attempting to get to the bottom of this neo-noir. This film seems particularly true to the stoner cause, as the film itself in this one seems to be a bit high, and one just needs to enjoy the trip even if it all doesn't make sense at first.
5/5

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

The Battle Of The Five Armies stands as the grand finale but it is in fact the imploding of the trilogy. Now the unfortunate part is it starts strong with what should have been the finale of the previous film in a thrilling yet emotionally captivating scene of Bard versus the Dragon Smaug. This is a successful pay off of the wise decision to expand on the character of Bard, who is nothing in the novel. Unfortunately the film gets painted into a corner by the novel itself, which is really doesn't end well. It's messy and the only way to have pulled it off would have to swollen the medicine and just have the battle skipped over like in the book. It's a let down to be sure, but the battle is flawed to begin with since our main hero is barely involved and the battle itself is too poorly realized. The third act of the novel is a mess, in that it only works if it stayed as lighthearted as the book is. That's not the case though so the film forces to realize the whole battle which takes up the whole film. It's odd how thin it all is as it stretches out about a page of writing to more than an hour of screen time. All of the expansions come crashing down for the most part, as there is no vision to unite them properly within the battle. It becomes just a mess as the characters are too frequently lost amidst it all. It still has the occasionally strong moments, Thorin in the last act of the film, but even that is diminished by the consistently poor choices made throughout. The most egregious being the focus on an unfunny comic relief whose payoff was eliminated through editing. All the flaws of the trilogy are most easily seen here, which makes for a truly unsatisfying conclusion.
2/5

Interstellar

Interstellar unfortunately continues the trend of The Dark Knight Rises in Nolan's filmography, which is allowing for a sizable bloat. Once again he does not allow for simplicity when it would be more suitable for the story. The thing is here he does have a very strong center through Matthew McConaughey's portrayal of the father just trying to save the Earth for his daughter which forces him to leave her. That story works and gives the film the emotional core it needs, and I even think it makes the film's twist work. To back that up there once again are incredible visuals, and Nolan even manages to find a bit of humor again through an unusual robot. The writing again though seems to be from the same writers as Dark Knight Rises, which is not a good thing. There once again are downright bizarre lines, particularly those about love's ability to transcend all, and extra plot for the sake of it such as Matt Damon's whole character's connection to Michael Caine's along with the extra bit of sibling conflict thrown into the climax which feels unneeded. The film is uneven luckily though the high points include some of Nolan's best as a director, even if the low points include some of his worst as writer.
3.5/5

Game of Thrones Season 4

Now for Season four which still continues to excel as a series. The Far North story line culminates, at least for the moment, in a single episode battle spectacular that is indeed spectacular. The North story line perhaps is somewhat repetitive of the previous season, but it really does not matter due to just how good Alfie Allen is in his portrayal of Theon/Reek. Also I probably would not really question that story line at all if I did not know where it was headed next season. We get Sansa finally out of King's Landing and we get a fascinating development of her into a shrewd survivor. Again though next season, alright alright I'll get to that in a bit. Again the show really is strong enough at this point that even the Stannis/Davos, story line is interesting to follow despite mostly being build up. Old Daenerys Targaryen continues to be not great, though not every element involved is terrible just most elements are lackluster. Again the good and the great is more than enough to make up for it. The greatness following Arya and the Hound road trip which is amazing and King's Landing which is particularly potent through some deaths and trial. It's terrific and once again it builds so nicely to a satisfying continuation.
5/5