Tag: OSCAR Watch

Movie Review-12 Years A Slave

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Here I am again folks, to deliver a film-addict review special.  One of my film-addict colleagues, Landon Burris, gave this film the highest rating possible(5/5) and after seeing it, I find it hard to disagree with him.   12 Years a Slave isn’t just a movie.  It’s an experience and one that will haunt your thoughts after you leave the theater.  Any film about slavery is powerful, but director Steve McQueen(remember this brave filmmaker’s name) puts a fresh spin on the tragic period.

PLOT-Based on a true story, this is the story of a free black man named Solomon Northup living in New York with his family and making a fine living who is kidnapped and sold into slavery.  Stripped of his identity as well as his soul, Northup is forced into a life he never saw coming and the rest is tragic history.

Buffa’s Take-This film is as powerful as it gets and will command attention at the Oscars.  I went in with a clear head and loving life as we know it, but when I left the film I felt like holding onto what I have a little tighter.  This story will rock your senses and remind you what is sacred, privileged and not a given in this world.   What if everything you had was suddenly taken from you based on the color of your skin and your placing in society?   McQueen and star Chiwetel Ejiofor team up for this masterpiece and don’t hold any punches when it comes to telling the full story of Northup.

A long time brilliant character actor and occasional leading man, British wonder Ejiofor is outstanding as Northup and gives a performance that asks for nothing in return and doesn’t attempt to manipulate your emotions.  It’s just a plain old great piece of work and a convincing portrayal of an ordinary good man trapped in hell on earth.  Slowly, the strong minded Northup comes undone and Ejiofor doesn’t spare you anything with his performance.   Fighting back tears, hiding his identity through a rugged tyranny overseen by Edwin Epps(the never better Michael Fassbender, holding the hot hand right now) and simply surviving.   Ejiofor takes you for this ride and doesn’t let you go, even when he isn’t in the scene.  His soulful performance looms over the entire film.

Fassbender, who blew my mind in McQueen’s previous film Shame, is also worthy of Oscar attention as Epps, the pure evil slave owner who tests our leading man in every possible way.  The only thing more hated back then than a black human being was a smart brave black human being and the collision of minds of Northup and Epps is mesmerizing.   Fassbender is ridiculously versatile and shows off his menace here.  For a man who played a sex addict, a lawyer, a young Magneto and now this, The Irish-German bred actor is on the heels of Hollywood domination.   In order to play that role right, Fassbender has to reach down to a depth that most actors simply don’t own.  Both actors are more than Oscar worthy.  They are memorable and transcendent.

The rest of the supporting cast makes great use of their minimal screen time.   The white hot British actor Benedict Cumberbatch(Star Trek Into Darkness, BBC’s Sherlock Holmes) carries an aura of broken nobility in his scenes as a slave owner who takes a liking to Solomon.   Paul Giamatti and Paul Dano redefine blunt sinister behavior, with Giamatti displaying a special disdain in a role lasting no more than 5 minutes.   Lupita Nyon’g is sensational as a fellow slave who connects with Solomon.  Sarah Paulson is the feminine batch of evil that soaks up a part of every scene she is in.   Brad Pitt, who co-produced the film, has two scenes that resonate due to the restraint he brings to his role.   The cast is marvelous and easily the best ensemble of the year.

McQueen doesn’t overpower you narrative and lets the simplicity of Northup’s torturous situation play out slowly.  The man is an artist at the grave human details of the hard life and puts his camera to fine use here.  The cinematography is heart wrenching.   Hans Zimmer’s score is eloquent and slow moving instead of overbearing. Everything works so well in this film that it seems like a documentary style history lesson.

After you watch this film, you will leave the theater and appreciate the free air you breathe.   12 Years A Slave reminds you what slavery did to millions and how evil of a head it grew during its reign.  Freedom is the greatest thing in this world and you will be hard pressed to find another film that deals with the subject better.   12 Years A Slave isn’t just one of the best films of the year.  It’s one of the best films I have seen in the last 10 years.  It demands your attention.

Thanks for reading and come back next time for the Dose of Buffa Film-Addict Review special!

Photo Credit-Blogs/Indiewire

A Dose of Buffa Special-PRISONERS review

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There comes a time when I must spotlight a little of my Film-Addict work on the blog because I can’t trust everybody that needs to hear about a certain film to go to the site.  Consider this a Dose of Buffa Special.

PRISONERS

Movie-Prisoners

Rating-R

Running Time-153 minutes

Directed by Denis Villenueve

Cast-Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Maria Bello, Viola Davis, Terrence Howard, Melissa Leo and Paul Dano

Plot-How far would you go to protect your family?  Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) is facing every parent’s worst nightmare.  His six-year-old daughter, Anna, is missing, together with her young friend, Joy, and as minutes turn to hours, panic sets in.  The only lead is a dilapidated RV that had earlier been parked on their street.  Heading the investigation, Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) arrests its driver, Alex Jones (Paul Dano), but a lack of evidence forces his release.  As the police pursue multiple leads and pressure mounts, knowing his child’s life is at stake the frantic Dover decides he has no choice but to take matters into his own hands.  But just how far will this desperate father go to protect his family?

 

 

Buffa’s Take-When I left this movie, the first thing I wanted to do was go home and hug my son.  The second thing I wanted and needed to do was inform everyone within a ten mile radius how important it is for this movie, Prisoners, to be seen.   Easily one of the year’s best films, French Canadian director Denis Villenueve’s spellbinding tale will get inside your bones and stay there a while.  Few movies have the power to be present you with a moral dilemma and take the necessary time to lay out their story while inserting every scene with authentic tension.  Never mind the trailer that some believe gives away too much.  What you get there is a basic setup that covers a third of the film’s running time.  Prisoners is full of juicy compelling moral questions and features the best ensemble cast of 2013.  Let’s dig in.

Hugh Jackman’s work as Keller Dover deserves Oscar attention.  It goes without saying that the actor is as versatile a talent in Hollywood as one can find, but here he puts on display his best screen work to date.  He turns it all up a notch.  Forget his Oscar nominated work in Les Miserables last year.  That is surface imitational work compared to what he does here as Dover, a father who won’t be stopped until he finds out where his daughter is.  A survival specialist who keeps natural selection close to heart, Dover won’t be stopped and Jackman electrifies with his portrayal.   This is the same man who grows claws out of his hands as Marvel’s Wolverine and dances on Broadway.  Jackman is astounding and the emotional glue that holds the film together.

Gyllenhaal is nearly as brilliant, playing a detective who fills his whole life up with police work.   He doesn’t have a home he dares to sleep in nor a vacation to seek.  Detective Loki’s life is consumed by his cases and Gyllenhaal doesn’t fake a second of it.   Concentration as sharp as a knife even though his eyes continue to blink and beg for starvation, the actor becomes this character and doesn’t stop at merely impersonating an officer.  Gyllenhaal’s work in End of Watch must have helped him greatly here.

The rest of the cast is stellar.   Bello, showing loads of despair but never creeping towards manipulation, turns in her best work since The Cooler.  Davis and Howard, parents looking for their child with less hostile maneuvers, turn in solid work.  Dano cranks up his quirky weird vibe on the outside yet slowly reveals a tortured soul beneath as his story line collides with Jackman’s.  Melissa Leo, in a few scenes, creates someone that doesn’t leave your head far after the credits roll.  She is the picture of realism.

Villenueve has only done a handful of films, but one can only hope he trusts the Hollywood system to deliver more of these style of films.   The film is shot beautifully by Roger Deakins, covering the dark tale in perfectly set grey tones.  Editor Joel Cox doesn’t waste a single frame in conveying the director’s message.  The production work here is aces across the board right down to the understated and powerful score by Johann Johannsson.

If art’s goal is to imitate life, this film comes pretty close.  Prisoners is a truly complete cinematic experience. The story is pulverizing and shocking.  It won’t just take a piece of parents, but any soul with warm blood flowing through it.  It’s challenging for moviegoers because it presents lingering questions that begin and end with emotional response.  The end isn’t tied up like a cute little knot.  A very deserving film of your attention, Prisoners may be the best film I have seen in 2013.

 

Buffa Rating-5/5

 

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