2027 - Chef

Swingers remains one of my favourite films.  It came to me when I was a teenager and really fixated on wanting to become a filmmaker, and the story behind how it made, everything about it, was kind of intoxicating.  If you’ve never seen that film it’s absolutely worth hunting for.  The reason I bring up Swingers is because it feels like Chef is the first personal film that Favreau has made since - his career became fixated on blockbusters, so it’s nice to see him return to his roots.  Chef almost feels like Fav’s commentary on the current studio system and the film itself being his own personal food truck.  One can’t help but wonder of the food critic isn’t standing in for a group of film reviewers.

There’s something magical about this film - visually it’s a treat, especially the food porn.  At it’s heart it’s the story of a man finding his way back to his roots and becoming a real father to his son.  Story-wise the film is pretty light - but what it lacks that way it makes up in character and charisma.  It’s the kind of film where heavy-weights like Robert Downey Jr., Scarlet Johanson, and Dustin Hoffman show up to act the hell out of a scene and then let the film take over.  

Only issue was that the backstory of the marriage falling apart with Sofia Vergara seemed random - they never seemed to have any issue with each other and it almost felt forced to give him some kind of hurdle to get over… Her character was a bit too one-note and supportive - it would have been a good way to flesh out his character a bit more.  

All in all it’s a really fun and lovely little film, a nice palette-cleanser from the typical summer-studio-fare.  If you like character based films with a heart - and you’re a bit of a foodie, this one’s right up your alley.

1968 - The Wolf of Wall Street

Every now and then we get to see Scorsese play with one of his favourite themes: abundance.  It’s amazing to think that this is the work of a man in his 70’s, and in his fifth outing with Leonard DiCaprio he pulls out all the stops.  Let’s be clear - DiCaprio is good here - but Jonah Hill comes to this film as a man possessed.  He’s playing a fully fleshed character that lesser actors would turn into a caraciture.  

This film is a case study in amazing scene construction.  Each scene and sequence dazzle and are a shitload of fun.  That said, the parts are stronger than the whole.  The running time bogs it down, and you wonder if the theme of excess hasn’t made Scorsese be a bit excessive with his scenes.  So it’s worth seeing absolutely - but at just under 3 hours it’s a bit of a beast.

1836 - Iron Man 3

Marvel has really done something quite amazing with the Marvel cinematic universe.  If you're a fan of the DC superheroes you can bow in and out of them as you please - like Batman but not Superman - fine - watch one and not the other.  But with Marvel, to get the full experience and all the references, you really need to show up each time - especially to get the benefits of the Avengers when they all team up.  It turns it into a really interesting and integrated series. 
So that brings us to the third (or I suppose 4th) outing for Tony Stark.  Tony easily has the most interesting arc of his entire series here.  The events of the Avengers fucked him up.  Iron Man started off as something very grounded in reality, and so it works nicely that as we expand the Marvel universe we discover other heroes with different powers - Tony is merely a human being, and intelligent one, but just a human.  Up to this point he's truly believed that he needs his armour.  And that's not untrue.  So what's really great about this storyline is that just when Tony needs all his toys the most, he's stripped of them and forced to be enough just as he is.  Much like Thor not being able to use his hammer for the majority of that film, Tony doesn't really get his powers back here until he's worthy of them.  It's great storytelling.  Add to that Shane Black's trademark jaded humour and you've got the kind of summer flick that most should aspire to. 
It's hard to imagine and fan of this franchise didn't run out to see this opening weekend, but if not then do so - this could be the best so far - and if you're new to the Marvel universe - start from the beginning.  It really is a ride worth taking.

1790 - Elf

This is the last of the absolutely essential Christmas films I watch each year (or try to) - there's always a few more that I try to get around to, but this is one of the must-sees.  It's amazing to think it's a decade old at this point, and I absolutely forgot that Zooey Deschanel was a blonde in this film.  I adored her when I first saw this and still do today - it's nice to see things work out for people like this who really deserve it - the film is chock full of great characters but she's an absolute delight through and through.
This film is more gags per minute than most films, but it never feels like it's forcing it or trying too hard.  One liners, visual gags, it's a unique magical thing. 
This film has been out for about a decade so if you haven't seen it then you really really owe it to yourself - it's on Netflix currently so many sure you get around to it over the holiday season - whether you're new to this film or it's an old favorite - I always discover new gems in this one.  Hopefully you do too!

1711 - The Break-Up

Not the best visual reference film for me for Sex After Kids.  Mostly just because this is a studio film that has money to throw at it.  That being said, I still enjoyed revisiting it.  Vaughn is such an amazing asshole the entire film, but you still feel for him when he turns it around at the end.  And just when you're starting to hate Aniston for putting up with his shit, you gain this new respect for her at the end. 
I don't think Jennifer gets enough credit for this film.  Especially the last scene.  She does so much with just a look and a feeling.  You know exactly where her head is at and where this is going to end up.  It's a pretty impressive scene in that regard.
Visually it's pretty standard stuff, no one is re-inventing the wheel here, and I imagine that Vince likes to shoot with two cameras to allow for improv. 
If you've never seen this it really is a great contemporary relationship film that goes for honesty above all else, and doesn't pander.

1603 - Cowboys & Aliens

After a week filled with working on side-projects at night I decided to treat myself to a big-old film.  Like most I thought this title was pretty damn ridiculous, but at the same time I was mighty intrigued - especially as they started assembly the cast - pretty high standard stuff going on here in regards to that.  We need to be reminded that Jon Faveau is the man who wrong and starred in Swingers, one of my all-time favorites, and is now behind a series of this big fun summer films. Not to set the context, I'm going to poach part of Roger Ebert's review:

Here is a movie set in 1873 with cowboys, aliens, Apaches, horses, spaceships, a murdering stagecoach robber, a preacher, bug-eyed monsters, a bartender named Doc, a tyrannical rancher who lives outside a town named Absolution, his worthless son, two sexy women, bandits, a magic bracelet, an ancient Indian cure for amnesia, a symbolic hummingbird, a brave kid with a spyglass, and a plucky dog who follows the good guys for miles and miles through the barren waste and must be plumb tuckered out. This is not a satire. Nor is it a comedy.

Believe it or not but this film is played completely straight - and it's all the better for it.  It's a real story (well...) with real stakes.  The aliens have come and, in spectacular fashion, take away the kin of these here cowboys, and so it's up to this unlikely group to go and get them back.  This is what going to the movies is all about, and it's the kind of film that I can't wait to be able to start taking my son to.  It's big and it's fun - it's smart with how it organically fuses the western and sci-fi genres.  Is it perfect?  No.  If you really want to you can start picking holes into it - but come on - it's called Cowboys & Aliens - are you really looking for the reality-sandwich-of-the-year with this one?  Even though it's a big summer film I'm not sure that this is one that you absolutely have to see in the cinema - but if you're curious you shouldn't hold off.  I quite enjoyed this.
I liked this film a lot, I liked that each character had an investment in the film and that these talent actors had stuff to do, they were just standing around looking good in front of special effects.  I think this film is getting less-than-stellar reviews because it's not as hooky as people would expect - but to me, that's what makes it exceptional. 

1564 - Couples Retreat

It wasn't a hard choice to watch this film given that it's full of so many people that I generally enjoy and it's rare that powerhouse casting equates to a film being a stinker - at the very least you're going to enjoy the performances.  So here we've got an ensemble of forty-year-old men married to thirty-year-old women (mostly) which is not addressed in any way- so be it - moving on :) - as they head to a couples resort with a hidden itinerary of couples therapy.
Part of you wonders when watching this if this wasn't just an excuse for the people involved to go hang out in Bora Bora and make a film.  Don't get me wrong - it's not a bad film - but it's not amazing either.  There is some good strong moments with the characters delving into their relationships, but I never honestly feel like these people are solving any real problems, more like they're putting a bandage on the cancer that is their relationships.  And it all gets wrapped up a little too perfectly.  I suppose I just went into this hoping for a little more emotional honesty and a little less broad comedy.  And they had a moment near the beginning which is beat-for-beat the same scene as something I've written... damnit.
So it sounds like I'm slagging the film.  It's an okay film.  If you like these actors then give it a whirl, it's entertaining, it's just not the kind of film I'd even see myself revisiting or highly recommending.
Couples Retreat  Couples Retreat [Blu-ray]  Couples Retreat (2-Disc Ultimate Vacation Edition)

1500 - Swingers

 

I wanted to re-watch something special for my 1500th entry.  I'll speak more to how I got to 1500 in a separate entry, but it wasn't hard to choose Swingers for this honor.

I really got into films sometime in the mid-nineties when I was a teenager.  I guess that's not true, as a kid I always watched a tonne of films - but it was always pretty mainstream stuff - essentially whatever I could find out the local, tiny video store.  We'd rent two or three films for a Saturday night and the next morning I'd watch some of them again.  What can I say, I was hooked from the start.  However in my teen years that when I started to seek out films that were more than the mainstream, the indie movement with films like this, Tarantino, Kevin Smith, etc... and then that brought me further into it with people that were real hardcore indie filmmakers, foreign filmmakers, etc... but Swingers is one of those original films that I watched so much that I wore out my original VHS tape of it.  I wish I was kidding about that.  

For those who haven't seen it it's reason enough just to see Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau looking fresh faced and ready to take on the world.  It's pretty amazing how many carries flourished out of this film - and rightly so.  If you haven't seen it, it's about a guy who is trying to make it as a comedienne in L.A. while at the same time trying to get over having broken up with his girlfriend back in New York to try and make it out west.  

Vince Vaughn is the unofficial leader of this hipster group and is entertaining and charismatic as hell.  Favreau has such heart in this film.  You want to hug him, be his pal, run around the speakeasies of L.A. with him.  He's that kind of guy.  

Doug Liman did wonders with the visuals of this film given all that they were up against.  If you're young and interested in making your own film then this is a good one to study - in particular the commentary tracks are really quite enlightening into their process.  Two of this film's producers actually teamed up and made a budgeting book using this film a lot for it's template.

This is one of my all time favorite films and it never lets me down, even on repeat viewings.  I can't imagine anyone I wouldn't recommend this film too.  It's pretty damn awesome stuff.

Swingers (1996) (Blu-ray)

 

1379 - Iron Man 2

When I started writing up this blog again the first entry was actually the last Iron Man, so I really wanted to make sure that I saw this one in the theatre. It's only been the last few years that I've gotten into comics, and not really the super-mainstream stuff, so I never knew a whole hell of a lot about Iron Man, but I really enjoyed the first film. It had a real sense of fun to it. Downey was born for this role and it feels really good and interesting on him. I was entertained the entire time, but I don't think I was ever really blown away by anything here, from characters, to story elements, fights, etc... it was all just... enjoyable, but at the same time I don't feel like I'll ever need to re-watch these films, even though I'll always make sure to see them. I guess my biggest critique of this is that it kind of feels a bit like it's all just one big set-up to The Avengers. I'll be happy to see a third Iron Man without them feeling the need to use the film to intro new characters. If you liked the first film there's absolutely no reason to not see this.

1257 - Swingers

More listened to than re-watched this. Doug Liman and the editor give a great commentary in terms of how they made this film for next to nothing. I had listened to it years ago, but wanted to revisit it while doing some paper work for the film this morning. So if you're looking into making an indie film, this commentary is a great resource, as is the producer's book "Independant Filmmaker's Manual" Check them both out!

1049 - Iron Man

I often find that right before or right after I go see a film that has a 'back-story' I'll read up a lot on it. And by back-story I really just mean that has a world outside of the film that it draws on. Obviously the character of Iron Man has been around for quite some time, it's origins being during the Vietnam War, so it's interesting enough for me already to see the modernization that's being done with the character and using the current climate of war as a back-drop.

I like all kinds of movies, and the kid in me loves me some popcorn flicks. As an origin film I enjoyed this. I didn't know much about the character going in and so I wasn't locked in to too much prior to this, but I liked it and I think that it'll be interesting to see where the franchise goes after this film. Seeing how it made 100+ million in it's opening weekend it's safe to say they'll get at least a trilogy out of it. It's almost nice in that they don't have really well known villains like other comic book characters so they can really take the character anywhere they want to go, even though you're gonna piss off the geeks one way or another.

What really surprised me the most about the film was the chemistry between Paltrow and Downey. I look forward to seeing where they take it in the next installment.