The last, glorious flight - deciphering Birdman.

Usually when I see a truly great movie that I fell in love with instantly I can review it on the same day, effortlessly. But not with Birdman. It has, quite literally, blown my mind. I was unable to collect my thoughts on it and shape them together into some coherent strain. They just kept bouncing off, running away ....I'm still not exactly clear on how to write this, so perhaps the best way to it is take a clue from the film and let it out in one steady flow.

Respire

I bet most of you had a best friend in high school. Someone whom you always hanged out with, told everything, shared secrets with. Someone who made you feel found. Someone who made you feel like you weren't alone anymore.

Melanie Laurent's second feature film Respire, based on the eponymous French novel, tells the story of quiet, withdrawn Charlie. Her mother is brokenhearted, her father is a cheating asshole. Charlie has friends but no one she really feels connected to. Then one day a new, intriguing girl shows up in her class - Sarah. Sarah and Charlie quickly become best friends. But nothing lasts forever and when Charlie discovers Sarah's secret things take a turn...

The Imitation Game

The subject of greatness comes up during every Oscar season.  It's usually the story of someone who lived in turbulent time and had either a major love affair or contributed to the world in significant way. Those films are usually beautifully shot, scored with great music and feature well known actors who deliver good, often career best work. And they always get criticized for being filled with cliches and that huge Oscar bait sign they should have attached to them.

Foxcatcher

Foxcatcher tells the story based on real events. John du Pont, eccentric millionaire and wresting enthusiast, invited Olympic gold medalist Mark Schultz to stay on his farm and be part of the wrestling team John coaches. The movie details the complicated personalities of two men, their odd relationship and Mark's older brother Dave care for his brother, as well as the inevitable tragedy that occurred on Foxcatcher farm.

The Interview

The thing about me is that I have no problem with crude humor as long as it's funny. And I find Seth Rogen's comedies really funny. This is the End was my favorite comedy last year, while Neighbors tops the list in 2014. Yes, it's vulgar and stupid kind of humor but it works.

Interstellar

(SPOILERS!)

I remember when Inception was released among all that ridiculous praise it got. Then I remember watching the movie and thinking 'Really? That's it? That's the movie people give 10/10 to'? Interstellar is in comparison so boring, dumb and irritating I would have gladly see Inception three times instead of it.

Hell, I'd gladly make that damn spinning top my screen-saver.

Begin Again

Meet Dan (Mark Ruffalo). Dan's life is not going well at the moment - his marriage collapsed, he can't connect with his teenage daughter, he drinks way too much and he hadn't had a professional success - in his job as a music producer - in 5 years. One evening, after a particularly shitty day, Dan goes to a bar to get drunk. As he is drinking he hears a song. A song sang by a girl named Gretta (Keira Knightley) on the stage. Immediately Dan wants to sing Gretta up. But as things don't go as they planned, the two decide to record a live album in different locations in NYC. As they do that, they start getting closer to each other and finding something that they didn't have in their lives in a long time - joy.

Gone Girl

(SPOILERS!)

On the day of their fifth wedding anniversary Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) comes home to find opened front door, shattered glass table and his wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) missing. Once Nick notifies the police the investigation and media circus begins and people quickly come to conclusion that Nick had something to do with Amy's disappearance. What happened to Amy Dunne?

Under the Skin

 (spoilers!)

Let me preface this by saying that I did like the movie a lot. Unfortunately, since I am familiar with book material there's going to be a lot of 'oh, what could have been!' talk here.

It's been a year, more or less, since I read Michel Faber's terrific novel Under the Skin. Since I don't have much time to read fiction, I don't spend my time with books that often. The main reason I usually do is because there is a movie in the works based on the novel and it sounds amazing. So what happens is I read the book, I love it and then I see the movie. And it's not the right way to go. At all.

Maleficent

I was very much looking forward to this movie when I first heard that they are planning on making a film from the perspective of Maleficent, one of the most iconic villains in cinematic history. Unfortunately, after the first trailers showed up it seemed pretty obvious that the film will be yet another cash grab from Disney - just like Alice in Wonderland, Snow White and the Huntsman and Oz - the Great and Powerful filled with useless 3D, atrocious to look at color palette, half assed script and a bunch of random, CGI creatures which are practically indistinguishable from each other when it comes to those four movies.

Neighbors

Mac and Kelly are trying to have sex in their dining room. Mac keeps saying how hot it is that they are having sex on a chair. And then he notices that their little baby Stella is staring at them. Kelly points out it's nothing, she is simply seeing shapes. To which Mac replies 'yeah, the shapes that are fucking!'

Enemy (review + analysis)

(I'm starting  a new series, or to say more accurately, I'm creating a new label for the posts in which I ramble psychotically try to explain movies. It's called DECIPHERED and by clicking on it you can check out my other attempts at analyzing films)
One of the highest compliments I can give to psychological thriller, a gigantic puzzle of a movie is that I read about it extensively after seeing it, trying to put it together. I think it's now been 4 days I read about this one. And I'm still confused about some things.

Only Lovers Left Alive

There seems to be at last few additions to Vampire movies subgenre every year nowadays. There are big, loud, obnoxious blockbusters with vampire mythos thrown in there just to attract more audiences and there are small, contemplative movies that won't make big money and won't win any awards (horror genre and everything connected to it is notoriously overlooked when awards are handed out) but they have a chance of becoming cult classic in the future.