1967 - The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Came to this late.  I haven’t read the books, and I only just caught the first film in the series on Netflix - but I dig it.  The world feels a bit heavy handed at times, but it’s sci-fi with a message.  I like that it teased the idea of the first one while ripping open the concept here.  The set-up felt a little long winded - but this story is also the hallway that bridges the first chapter and whatever’s to come next.  I was sad to see Phillip Seymour Hoffman here and felt he was underused quite a bit - hopefully he gets to step it up a notch in the final films.  Jennifer Laurence continues to be a delight to watch on the screen, and I love that she’s using her popularity from this to pick some really awesome and interesting roles otherwise.  As always, Woody Harrelson is a much welcome addition.  I’m excited for the next chapter!

1965 - True Detective: season one

I have to be honest in that I struggled with this series.  I kept up with it more for reasons of pop culture than of any real interest.  It felt a bit like homework for the most part, like the vegetables on the side of the plate that you eat just to get it over with.  I was wow’d by the performances, and it’s visual panache, but I just never really got out of it what a lot of others did, or felt like it was special in any way.  So this will be short and sweet ‘cause you don’t need to read me going on and on about not digging something.  Bottom line - lots of people loved this - I thought it was merely okay.  I’d check out a second season based on what the new story was potentially.  

1915 - Now You See Me

I am a sucker for a big flashy con-film - and throw together a cast like this and I'm all-in.  It's the story of four-magicians brought together - why?  They aren't entirely sure - but they're about to become Robin Hood-esque Magicians on a heist that even they don't understand.
To talk about this film properly requires me to go into SPOILER MODE.  But before that I'll say - I liked it - I will absolutely see a follow-up if they make it (although it felt like this whole con had been someone's life's work) - but I did find that the characters were a little one note - and it was almost entirely plot based - nothing wrong with that - I just think the film could have been a lot richer otherwise.

Okay.  Now SPOILERS...

You know that the film is going to end with the twist of us realizing that one of the characters is going be the mastermind - it's not going to be a new character - films don't do that.  They kept pointing at the French lady (also this film seemed to have a bizarre racist slant agains the French...), so it's too obvious to make it her - she's the assistant - and Morgan Freeman's character is too obvious as well.  Ruffalo seemed like the biggest twist, and so to me it only made sense to make it be him.  That said, I just don't know about this twist - I'd have to re-watch the film to make sure it fit and wasn't just parlour tricks.

All that said, it was good popcorn entertainment and I will, indeed, take second helpings should they come my way.

1872 - Friends With Benefits

It's nothing new, but more romantic comedies aren't really funny.  They aren't heavy dramas, so they get lumped into another category without really having to early the 'comedy' banner.  They're more amusing, and sometimes delightful, but I can probably count on my two hands how many "rom-coms" I've laughed out loud at.  This, sadly, wasn't one.  However - I did like it - because it was entertaining, and amusing - and that's not a bad thing at all.  Kunis is pretty damn delightful and Timberlake is a perfect match for her here.  They spend a good chunk at the beginning mocking the traditional rom-com format before succumbing to it themselves - which is just an odd-meta choice.

If you're in the mood for a decent modern rom-com, this one fits the bill nicely.  If you laugh out loud at it, please let me know.

1798 - The Hunger Games

Okay.  So clearly I'm way late to the party on this one, and I haven't read the books.  I was going into this expecting something a lot more polished and glitzy and I was pleasantly surprised.  The filming style lent itself well to the story and characters.  I found myself engaged - I knew Katniss would make it out just fine given that this is part of a trilogy, but I was still pretty damn invested in seeing how she would do.
So I'm probably not going to say anything that hasn't already been said, but if you were skeptical of all the hype, so was I, and I absolutely enjoyed it and look forward to the next in the series.  I doubt I'll run to the theatre on the first weekend, but I'll probably try to check it out during it's opening run.  For those who haven't seen it, it's on netflix now.

1725 - The Outsider

I stumbled about this randomly on Netflix.  It's a behind-the-scenes doc about director James Toback being given $2M to make a feature film, When Will I Be Loved - but the catch is that he's only for three weeks to do so.  Being that I'm in the midst of making a little film myself (but not nearly at that budget level), I was obviously interested. 
I've liked pretty much everything of Toback's that I've seen.  I can't say that this really gives insight into his creative process, although there's part of that there.  It's more a film about his character and how he interacts with others.  Sometimes wonderfully and sometimes harshly.  It feels more found-footage than carefully planned - although given that the filmmakers are running wild trying to make it work it's no surprise that this is the same kind of feel.  I suppose that I was a little let down in that I didn't feel like I walked away learning something as a filmmaker that I could use and apply to my own work.  No little tidbits, tricks, or techniques.  Shame really since I'm sure this guy is a locker full of tricks.  Alas.  And the film never really played upon the stress and the quickness with which he'd have to make it.  A tad lifeless if I'm being completely honest.  It's got some great interview subjects as you can see in the labels below.  I'd say if you're interested in the guy at all, it's totally worth checking out.  Anyone not already converted can probably let this one guy...

1565 - Defendor

A friend of mine is a reader for several of the different funding agencies here in Canada, and he mentioned having read and liked an early draft of this.  That combined with a bunch of actors, both famous and local, that I love - my only regret was I didn't get a chance to support this while it was still in the theatre. 
It's the story of a mentally challenged man (fetal-alcohol syndrome) who is convinced that a man named Captain Industry killed his prostitute mother when he was a child, and so he's become a vigilante known as the Defendor (NOT Defender!).  What surprised me most about this film was that it would have been so easy to just go with the dark comedy, but there's some goddamn heartbreaking moments here - some real harsh stuff.  It's stylized, but there feels like there's an honesty to how it all transpires throughout.  There's a lot going on but somehow the tone of this film works for it completely.  It's not cheesy, it's not shlocky.  It takes some superhero genre stuff and plays with it in an interesting way that fits emotionally and dramatically as well for a guy that's real.  Woody Harrelson is simply fantastic in this role, funny, endearing, heartbreaking.  It's a film worth seeing regardless, but if absolutely nothing else it's a film worth seeing for his performance.  For anyone who trashes Canadian cinema, give it a check out - if we made more films like this we would certainly be in a better situation with our film industry.  It's dark, yet accessible, dark and yet I think it would play well to a wide audience.  Go.  See.  It.
DefendorDefendor [Blu-ray]Defendor [Blu-ray]  Defendor [Blu-ray]