Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

Directed by: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Country: USA

Movie Review: Finally here is a “Captain America” who unexpectedly rocks, being smarter in terms of plot and much more interesting in terms of battles and physical confronts than its predecessor from 2011, “The First Avenger”. Marvel comic-books spirit was truly invoked this time, and Russo brothers were able to offer much more than mere standardized action scenes and unbridled explosions made to impress in 3D, so characteristic of the majority films of the genre. Steve Rogers, the super soldier known by Captain America, forms his own alliance with Falcon, Black Widow, and Agent 13, to avenge the supposedly death of Nick Fury after a mysterious attack by Winter Soldier, a powerful assassin with a metal arm who happens to be an old lost friend, now working for Hydra under the orders of the senior SHIELD official, Pierce, and the Nazi scientist Zola whose evil brain was saved to a computer when his body was proclaimed dead. Some of the reserved surprises didn’t really work as a surprise, yet fantasy and action were treated decently in order to provide a vigorous experience. Only in terms of wittiness, it couldn’t get close to the great “Iron Man” from 2008. The film stars Chris Evans, Samuel L. Jackson, and Sebastian Stan as recurrent choices, here very well reinforced by a sly Robert Redford, a winged Anthony Mackie, and the marvelous and outstanding Scarlett Johansson as Russian agent Natasha Romanoff. I suppose that, like me, you must be tired of repetitive exercises of this kind, but in case you’re a devoted Marvel fan give yourself a chance and watch this one.

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The Lunchbox (2013)

Directed by: Ritesh Batra
Country: India

Movie Review: “The Lunchbox” is a generous drama about life and its problems, presented in a light and sporadically funny atmosphere of a long-distance romance, and marking a promising debut by Ritesh Batra on direction. Ila is going through a big crisis in her marriage, passing her days alone and only speaking through the window, to an elderly aunt who lives right above her flat. Every day she makes a lunchbox that a carrier was supposed to deliver at her husband’s office, but instead he was delivering at a wrong address and the beneficiary was Saajan, a solitary and taciturn widower who is about to retire and lives unhappy since his wife died. Both of them start a strange correspondence by letter (hidden inside the lunchbox) where they speak about their lives and concerns, making them better tolerate the difficult situations they were going through – she didn’t feel so lonely and anguished, while he became more cheerful and open at work, helping his future substitute, Sheikh, a friendly and smiling orphan who turned out to be his friend. I took some time to really enter in this letter game, but the more the film moved forward, the more I got involved, becoming curious about what these two common and grieving souls had to say. Even though, I expected some more from “The Lunchbox”, which being unable to utterly enchant or shake my emotions in its plenitude, certainly did it with my stomach, every time I imagined the smell and taste of Indian food. Simple, warm, and direct, it leaves us with an open ending and provides us with a few pensive reflections on life.

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Dom Hemingway (2013)

Directed by: Richard Shepard
Country: UK

Movie Review: American film director Richard Shepard, committed to TV series in the last six years, brings us a comedy-crime drama (a more vulgar version of Guy Ritchie’s old flicks) focused on the brash character of Dom Hemingway, a deranged safecracker looking for an opportunity after coming out of prison, where for 12 years he didn't snitch on his mates. Dom goes to his boss’ French villa to demand a good compensation but his plans are thwarted by a car accident and a greedy femme fatale. Penniless and angered, he returns to London to reconnect with his long-lost daughter, later realizing that she must be his priority. In the meantime, the vain Dom will have to come to terms with Lester, an old acquainted who hates him since he killed a cat called Bernard. The film is episodically demarcated through explanatory sentences in the beginning of each adventure, and intends to be a feast of dirty jokes and savage behavior from its unrestrained, petulant and defiant main character whose anger and vitality can make you love him or hate him. The plot is somewhat overdone in many aspects and sometimes loses track of balance and consistency, remaining watchable till the end only due to Jude Law’s great performance. In all his craziness, Dom just needs a deep breath to calm down and admit he’s a charmless monster, but inevitably and gradually, Shepard shows us that all he needs is love. Production values are good and score includes Motorhead, Pixies, and a sweet version of Waterboys’ “Fisherman’s Blues” by the actress Emilia Clarke.

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For Those in Peril (2013)

Directed by: Paul Wright
Country: UK

Movie Review: From Scotland, arrives another valuable drama that starts with an impressive chilling mood accompanied by tenebrous images of an agitated sea. Aaron (George MacKay) is the only survivor of an unexplained boat accident that victimized his older brother and four other young men from his small fishing village. In a state of shock and without recalling what happened in that fatidic day at sea, Aaron keeps looking for his brother, being blamed by the superstitious villagers and getting more and more isolated in his own tortuous thoughts and deliriums. I felt sorry for the hopeless Aaron, realizing that sooner or later, the tiredness of body and mind he is subjected to, might end in another tragedy. Scenes of the brothers’ childhood are depicted under the form of ghostly flashbacks, helping to frame a chant of despair and loneliness that brings us a very sad awareness of loss. Erik Enocksson’s score was fundamental to create the low-spirited and fearsome atmosphere chosen by newcomer Paul Wright whose writing/direction was simply triumphant. George MacKay and Kate Dickie’s performances were worthy and co-responsible for turning “For Those in Peril” in a creepy experience. The surreal finale, recalling “The Tree of Life” or “Werckmeister Harmonies”, can be a letdown for many, but didn’t affect the pleasure of watching its enthralling images, or the curiosity of following Aaron’s somber mind.

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The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet (2013)

Directed by: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Country: France / Canada

Movie Review: Based on Reif Larsen’s novel “The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet”, the new film from the acclaimed French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet is a family-adventure film focused on a bright 10-year-old kid named Tecumseh Sparrow Spivet, who flees from his parents’ ranch in Montana to enter triumphantly in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC, in order to receive the award of scientific excellence. Son of a cowboy and a peculiar scientist, T.S. will travel alone and in secret across the US, narrating his adventurous journey (almost totally spent onboard of a freight train) which will serve not only to recognize him as a little genius but also make him closer to his family and finally put aside the trauma he’s suffering since childhood due to an accident that victimized his younger brother. The pic doesn’t have the aura of “Amelie” or the vibrancy of “Delicatessen”, but is definitely more attractive in concept than Jeunet’s last film “Micmacs” whose humor didn’t please me. Visually, the film gives continuity to the rigor of color treatment and image composition evinced in previous works, with cinematographer Thomas Hardmeier being awarded with a French César. Some situations created in the final moments touched the pathetic, especially when T.S. is retrieved by his parents during a TV interview, but Jeunet still achieves some sustainability through the dramatic side of the story, providing the minimum amusement required to entertain all family.

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The Meteor (2013)

Directed by: François Delisle
Country: Canada

Movie Review: “The Meteor” is a Canadian dialogue-free drama that uses solely voice-overs to express the thoughts and feelings of its characters, all part of the same broken family. Like reading a book with melancholic images passing in front of our eyes, François Delisle’s fifth feature succeeds in its elegiac tones by creating a whole story without interaction. 40 year-old Pierre is arrested and condemned to 14 years in prison for the murder of a woman, in a desperate act related with drugs. This fact motivated a great shake and suffering in his direct relatives, including his father who died shortly after. His old and tired mother, in turn, recalls the happy childhood of his son, while prepare herself for another visit to prison, the only occasion that her lone son get out of his cell. Death frequently comes to her head, boosted by the news of her older sister’s cancer, and with a sad assurance that she won’t be with her son again in the outside world. Pierre’s ex-wife, Suzanne, explains her gradual, prolonged, and deeply felt separation, regretting not to have children of him, but admitting to be totally ready for a new life. We also have the opportunity to know what’s in Pierre’s head. Every single day, he regrets what he did and revives the trauma of being raped by a cellmate in the night he arrived. Words of anguish, regret, and painful resignation echo constantly, in a depressing film that didn’t become limitative by its unusual communication option, which exposes openly the deplorable psychological state of its protagonists.

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Hide Your Smiling Faces (2013)

Directed by: Daniel Patrick Carbone
Country: USA

Movie Review: Although not totally gratifying, there’s a lot going on in “Hide Your Smiling Faces”, a dissimilar coming-of-age drama from debutant Daniel Patrick Carbone. After a terrible and mysterious accident that took their neighbor friend’s life, two adolescent brothers become deeply affected, suspecting the victim’s father. Wandering aimlessly throughout the fields, these young boys try to continue with their wrestling games and pranks, but their heads are occupied with the idea of death, a consciousness very present not only on the human side but also in the animal, which represents an important part in the narrative. Youth in rural America is portrayed with sobriety, giving the exact sad sense of non-supportiveness from the family, but in the other hand is clear some apathy in diverse occasions along with narrative breaches that hamper its ambitions to become more fruitful. The performances by the young actors Ryan Jones and Nathan Varnson were solid enough to transmit a concealed anguish that no person can notice but is always there, ruminating their minds and souls. Other relevant aspect in the film is the constant presence of guns, a grave problem faced in our societies, especially in US. Creating a particular mood that comes pretty close to the works of David Gordon Green, “Hide Your Smiling Faces” is penetrating and occasionally haunting, keeping the line that divides life and death so close, that nature itself becomes more suffocating than the harsh summer humidity. Carbone’s resolute direction gives good indications for the future while dialogues and narrative sequence have a bit more to be improved.

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