“Violent”: Much ado About Little

 

Like the only guy at a party who doesn’t get the joke, I’m wondering what it is about J.C. Chandor’s A Most Violent Year that I’m missing. Riding a wave of good reviews (the film is trending 90% positive on the Rotten Tomatoes website) as well A24 Studio’s aggressive ad campaign which failed to garner it any Oscar nominations, I’m left scratching my head wondering what all the fuss is about. At best, it’s a competently made movie featuring sound performances that covers familiar territory at a ponderous pace. However, from where I’m sitting, it’s hardly a film worth falling all over yourself about.

While Morales should be seen in a heroic light for striving to maintain his morality amidst a sea of temptation, the actor fails to bring an iota of charisma to the role, leaving us to wonder why Anna would give this rather dull man the time of day and why we should be interested in his fate. As for me, I couldn’t help wondering what else I could be doing instead of waiting for Chadnor to find a sense of urgency with which to tell his tale.

Nolan’s Vision Exceeds his Grasp with “Interstellar”

It’s the near future, and if the movies have taught us anything, it’s that this means our world is in peril. Plant species are dying off, the environment is in revolt and there’s no hope in sight. One-time astronaut and reluctant farmer Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) is an anachronism, and he knows it, a man whose exploits are in the distant past and whose skill set has become obsolete.

However, an odd set of circumstances leads him to a secret division of NASA, led by Professor Brand (Michael Caine) that’s building a spaceship that will take a crew to a black hole that has suddenly appeared near Saturn. Seems they’ve already sent 12 others there and through to other dimensions in an effort to find a planet similar to our own where mankind can survive. Cooper eagerly accepts Brand’s offer to lead a small crew, including the professor’s daughter Amelia (Anne Hathaway) as well as astrophysicists Doyle (Wes Bentley) and Romilly (David Gyasi), to the gateway so that they can go through and explore three different worlds from which they are getting positive feedback from those who have gone before.

2001: A Space Odyssey was purposely ambiguous, not hemmed in by expectations or convention, left open to the audience’s interpretation. Nolan opts for a feel-good happy ending and a third act that goes out of its way to explain the theoretical science it employs, such as it is. As a result, Interstellar ends up being not only far too obvious in its intentions but discernible and plain when it should be challenging and mysterious.

For a full review, go to: http://www.news-gazette.com/arts-entertainment/local/2014-11-06/chuck-koplinski-directors-vision-exceeds-his-grasp-interstellar.