Cameraperson
Not often does a movie come along and change the way you think about an entire genre. In editing and framing scenes from many of the documentaries she photographed as a memoir, though, Kirsten Johnson did just that. I never really thought about the people making a documentary outside of maybe the director and the subjects. But there are other people involved, and they too are important to the process of making a great movie. Here Johnson invites us to see the B-roll and unedited (or at least differently edited) scenes she filmed for others as pieces of her. There are a few more obviously personal touches here and there, mostly involving her adorable young twins and her Alzheimer's-patient mother, and they fill out a sense of family nicely. It is the other scenes, though, especially those in Bosnia both documenting the everyday lives of survivors and the brutally painful recollections of a rape victim, that really leave a mark. And the mark is what matters. "These are the images that have marked me and leave me wondering still," the opening paragraph reads. With a simple three-sentence introduction, Johnson has expertly staged a dialogue between herself and her audience. Each new scene had me wondering where the mark would come, and why she might be continuing to think and wonder at it. Some are immediately obvious, such as the long shot of a mid-west plain which is suddenly struck by lighting, eliciting a gasp from Johnson. Others, like a brief glimpse at a pre-fight boxer, doesn't pay off until much later in the film. It delivers. I couldn't tear my eyes away, delighting in the most adorable scene you'll see all year involving a young kid and an axe or welling up at a woman who feels such shame at an accidental pregnancy when she can barely afford to provide for her toddler. Johnson is everpresent, even when she doesn't speak, and it was fascinating to get a small peek into the way she sees the world. The last shot in the film says it all. Everything is interesting if you're paying attention.
Asuperplus
Under the Shadow
Motherhood is scary, y'all. I don't envy those who bear the title, especially when they're also living in a war zone. Such is the case with Under the Shadow, ostensibly a horror story about djinn, but really a horror story about trying to live under an oppressive regime and the constant threat of bombs and missiles. It's the 80s in Iran and a mother is left alone with her daughter. Or at least they think they're alone. In fact, they might be haunted by the local monster, the shapeshifting djinn that come on the wind. This movie sneaks up on you. It isn't until the 20 minute mark that you start to suspect something's up. It's much later in the film that you realize what exactly is going on, and how it relates to the cultural situation it depicts. The creature design, once it is finally revealed, only enhances this connection. I like this film a lot. It has several great scares, including a great jump-scare or two, and it feels very tightly constructed without squeezing the life out of it. I'm not quite ready to call it better than The Babadook, but it's certainly great.
A-
Money Monster
Eh, it's fine. If you watched the trailer twice you'd get most of the important bits. I hope Jack O'Connell keeps getting work, though, because he's really great here in a pretty dumb role.
C+
Deepwater Horizon
Surprisingly good film. I didn't know why this movie existed until shit started to go down. It's one thing to hear about a disaster like this one on the news, it's an entirely different thing to see it happen to real people, even when those real people are Marky Mark and Snake Plisskin. It's an intense film when things go really wrong, and it seems like a valuable piece of docu-drama filmmaking even if it does kind of neglect the environmental damage that resulted from the explosion.
B
Now You See Me 2
Does it help anybody if I say this is marginally better than the first film? Are you enticed by that statement? Me neither, though it is true. Mostly the goodness comes from a more coherent character arc for everybody, and I kinda cared about a few of them, even. Especially new-to-the-series Lizzie Caplan, who is always welcome in my book. She doesn't do much other than crack jokes, but at least they're fun and she's certainly got charisma. I'll watch the next one, I guess.
C
Sully
Love the repeated visions and versions of the event, a formal choice that pays off wonderfully in the film's courtroom scene. It's also always nice to see Tom Hanks on screen, and I think I might nominate Aaron Eckhart's moustache for best supporting actor in the Filmspots.
B+