31. Interstellar

December 24th in Chicago. Since this film is directed by none other than Christopher Nolan, it is a must see. Nolan directed, wrote and produced this nearly 3 hour film. There's a lot of science and physics involved. It's actually based on the theories theoretical physicist Kip Thorne, who served as a scientific consultant to the film and received an executive producer credit. My standing rule about science fiction films is that I try to stay away from the science aspect.  Since the filmmakers went to great length to try to keep the science real, so much so that Neil deGrasse Tyson and Dr. Michio Kaku have said some positive things. There were detractors given but this type of stuff always brings about debate. My goal will be to briefly describe the film without giving too much away. To be honest, I didn't understand the ending. I had to read this blog (I encourage checking it out) to at least say "oh, well that makes sense," but still not completely understand it. Here we go...

In the not to distant future, a worldwide crop blight has put humans in a bit of a pickle. Crops are failing all over the world and in the United States, only corn is growing and it's days are numbered (the blight aspect of the plot was criticized as it would have taken a really long time for this to happen). Enter Coop (McConaughey) a former hot shot pilot for NASA now a reluctant farmer. Coop lives with his father in law (John Lithgow) and his children; 15 y/o Tom and 10 y/o Murph (Mackenzie Foy). Murph thinks that her room is haunted by a ghost. After a dust storm, Coop and Murph deduce that there is "something" communicating with Murph through gravitational waves using a binary code. The binary code turns out to be coordinates to a secret NASA facility. Coop and Murph (who stows away in the truck) go out to investigate.

The facility is run by an old acquaintance of Coop's, Professor John Brand (Michael Caine), who fills Coop in on the fact that there were several Lazarus missions sent into a wormhole near Saturn to try to locate a new planet capable of supporting life. The wormhole was placed there by a mysterious "they." Ideally, Brand would like to see the Earth's population transported to the new planet but as a back-up, there are fertilized embryos for the repopulation of the species. Brand is planning a new mission to send a team for a follow-up on the beacons of 3 Lazarus missions (there were 10) that are sending back positive reviews of planets. It just so happens that Brand needs a pilot so he recruits Coop (here's where one can ponder the probability of a secret NASA facility so close to a former pilot's farm. The former pilot finds the secret facility and they just so happen to need a pilot, think about that one for a minute) and Coop agrees despite the fact that it will take him away from his family. Coop says goodbye to his family and Murph is none to pleased and she tells him so. It doesn't go well and Murph is really bitter.

The crew that's going into the wormhole consists of Coop; Amelia ( Anne Hathaway), also Brand's daughter; Doyle (Wes Bentley) and Romilly (David Gyasi). So here's the group that's been entrusted with the fate of humanity...

Wooderson

Catwoman 

The creepy neighbor kid from American Beauty

The guy most likely to die first because he's black. 

Through the wormhole, there are 3 planets to investigate. For some reason the choose the 1st planet that carries the greatest risk. The planet is very close to a giant black hole affectionately known as gargantua. One hour on this planet will be the equivalent of 7 Earth years. Wooderson, Catwoman and creepy neighbor kid from American Beauty will go to the surface, easy in easy out. No muss no fuss. Bad news, this planet is covered by water and is prone to giant tidal waves which hits the landing craft, kills Doyle and causes a huge delay. When they meet back up with Romily, 23 year Earth years have passed and Romily's old. There are also 23 years of messages from Earth. Coops kids are grown up (Tom is now Casey Affleck and Murph is now Jessica Chastain who now works with Brand back on Earth). After a debate, they decide that they will go to Mann's planet (Mann was considered the best of the Lazarus mission leaders) since his beacon is still emitting positive reviews. Turns out that Mann's planet is not all the great. Think Hoth from Empire Strikes Back. Turns out that Mann (Matt Damon) deliberately sent positive reviews over the beacon in order to get rescued (so much for his reputation) and sabotages his computer to cover it up killing Romilly in the process. While trying to kill Coop, Mann tells him that Brand's Plan A theory was never going to happen and Plan B was humanity's only chance.

Mann is unable to kill Coop (never send a scientist to do the work of a henchman) but does take the landing craft back to the Endurance (that's the craft that took them through the wormhole). Brand gets Coop and they chase after Mann. Not being a pilot Mann botches the docking procedure and damages the Endurance killing himself in the process. Coop is able to bring the Endurance under control. There's only enough fuel to explore the last planet and they'll also send the robot, TARS, across the black hole to transmit crucial data back to Earth that I don't understand. In order to lighten the ship and conserve fuel, Coop sacrifices himself and eventually gets sucked into gargantua. This is the part where you need to read the blog I referenced earlier. Let's just say that Coop is able to manipulate the time stream back on Earth and when the black hole spits him out, over 80 years have passed since his departure. He wakes up onboard Cooper Station, a space station (like the one from Elysium) named after Murph because she solved gravity, which allows for a successful Plan A.

Murph is over 90 years old and in failing health. She and her father have the goodbye they didn't have 80 years ago. Murph forgives him for leaving and tells him that Brand is still out there by herself. Coop, reunited with TARS, steal a ship head back through the wormhole to meet up with Brand, who is getting her colony started. Below is a chart that explains the adventure...

Hopefully that didn't give too much away. Some of the stuff I didn't like too much (like the fact that Coop more or less writes off his son because he's just a farmer) are things that probably didn't matter so much. It's a given that the secret NASA facility was going to be near Coop's home. If the "ghost" didn't tell Coop where the facility was then I'm sure that Brand would've paid him a visit when he was ready for a pilot. Who else was going to become

I liked this film a lot and I enjoy films that make me want to learn something or have discussions about it. This film did that. The visuals, the sound editing were spectacular and the acting was nothing short of excellent, McConaughey continues his run of brilliant performances dating back to 2011's Killer Joe. There's a lot of imagery that's similar to 2001 and that's not an accident. Nolan was noted as saying that Star Wars, Alien, Metropolis, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and even Blade Runner were also influences. I also couldn't help but notice that hope plays a big part in the decision making process. Much like Matrix: Reloaded, "Hope, it is the quintessential human delusion, simultaneously the source of your greatest strength, and your greatest weakness," hope forces rational logical people to make irrational decisions (Coop and Mann's desire to go home and Brand's hope that she'll meet up with Edmunds, a Lazarus mission leader who has a beacon still transmitting and her lover). Gravity came out last year, I liked that a lot but I think I like Interstellar a little bit more. If you're going to see this film, make sure to see it in the theater. We saw it in a theater that had assigned seating with the ass kickers in the seats. It was a cool experience. This is not the best film I've seen this year but it's in the top 5.

30. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

December 18th in St. Charles, MO. To be honest, I was neither hot nor cold on the 3rd installment of this trilogy and I only saw it to bring closure to the series. After the success of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the public wanted more of Middle Earth. Whether Jackson wanted to or not, he obliged by giving us the first installment of The Hobbit in 2012. Now The Hobbit is one book where the Lord of the Rings is three books. Just how (and why) was book stretched into 3 films? Greed (I saw all three pictures so I'm part of the problem). Since the filmmakers had to stretch the story out to 3 films, we got a Legolas backstory (that no one asked for) and a Legolas interest, Evangeline's character does not appear in the novels (someone probably felt that an elvish babe was needed a la Liv Tyler was crucial). There's all kinds of other discrepancies that to me are minor but Legolas is the biggest. It's as if the filmmakers or studios felt he had to be in there in order for box office appeal (there's no denying his ass-kicking abilities).

The plot is pretty straightforward. Smaug is killed after destroying Laketown and the survivors seek refuge in Dale. Thorin is becoming consumed dragon sickness as her searches for the Arkenstone. The survivors of Laketown team up with Thranduil's elves and his army digs in for an assault on the castle. Bilbo ends up with the Arkenstone and decides to give it to Bard and Thranduil to avoid bloodshed. Meanwhile in Dol Guldur, Gandolf gets rescued from the Necromancer and his minions (they're Ringwraiths) by the combined forces of Galadriel, Sauruman and Elrond (another Jackson creation). Legolas and Tauriel find out that there's an orc army led by Bolg heading for Erebor.

Things come to a head at Erebor. Thranduil is ready to storm the castle and Thorin is about to give in to the demands when his cousin Dain shows up with a dwarf army. With reinforcements Thorin tells Thranduil to shove it and the three armies get set to face off against each other. The three armies are the dwarves, the elves and the refugees of Laketown (who are refugees not a military force). Then Azog shows up and sends his orcs into Dale (army number 4) with Bolg's encroaching army rounding out the five armies.

The battle is joined and eventually Thorin decides to stop being a douche and enter the fray when the dwarf army is about to crumble. Legolas and Tauriel show up just ahead of Bolg and there is carnage all over the place. Legolas kills Bolg, Thorin kills Azog but is mortally wounded. Thorin and Bilbo make peace. Gandalf showed up too and killed some orcs as well. Thorin dies, without the Arkenstone and without restoring his kingdom. Legolas is sad because he defied his father Thandruil and no longer wants to go back. Tauriel is said because Kili was killed, which also saddens Legolas because Tauriel had a thing for Kili (love stinks). Gandalf and Bilbo head back to the Shire and the film ends into the beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring (complete with Ian Holm reprising his Bilbo role).

This trilogy did a lot of things wrong. It didn't have the same feel as the LOTR. There was the painstaking detail of the production and there were actors portraying orcs. That's not the case here. It suffers from a lot of the same problems (in my opinion anyway) as George Lucas did when he came of with the Phantom Menace, too much reliance on technology. There's also very little chemistry between Bilbo and the dwarves or any chemistry at all compared to the characters from LOTR. One thing I did notice is how heavily armored people can go into a medieval battle with swords and large war hammers, kill hundreds of orcs and not get tired nor very bloody. Given that elves are bad ass when it comes to combat but dwarves and men are going to tire. With all the up close and personal killing, people (dwarves, men, elves and orc alike) are going to get really bloody. The ground will be soaked with blood and there will be body parts and entrails strewn about as well.

Five Armies is not a bad film, it's probably the best of the three but it cannot compare to Return of the King from the LOTR series. It will do well at the box office but I don't believe it will have the staying power as Return of the King did back in 2003. The acting is good overall and Martin Freeman is a good Bilbo. Richard Armitage (Thorin) also does well but he spends a lot of time brooding, monologuing and giving looks to the camera as if he were in a YA vampire film. I kind of felt that Ian Mckellan was going through the motions as Gandalf. His role did seem smaller in the Hobbit films than LOTR but he seemed bored. Legolas doesn't say much which only seems to strengthen the arguments that Orlando Bloom can't act. Luke Evans (Bard) did a nice job but I think his character wasn't developed at all.

All in all the film wasn't that great. It seemed to me that Jackson just got tired of all the work and cut corners. When he made the LOTR films, he was so consumed by its production that he lost a lot of weight. With the Hobbit trilogy, he let CGI take the forefront and phoned it in. The LOTR films were all great films culminating with Return of the King. The Hobbit films were ok at best and seemed more like a cash grab. 

29. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

December 12th in Chicago, IL. This film was and still is getting a lot of buzz. It currently holds a 93% on RottenTomatoes.com and has received a few Golden Globes. The film is directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu (he also receives a screenwriting credit), who has done some amazing work in the past and sports and all-star cast (Michael Keaton, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts, Edward Norton and ach Galifianakis to name a few). This is considered an independent film that's probably just getting a wide release now.

Keaton is the protagonist, Riggan Thomson. An actor who garnered success and fame as the main character of a superhero film franchise (Birdman) but he stepped down after the first few installments. After he left the cape & cowl, his career kind of took a downward swing. He's now trying to reinvent himself on Broadway by directing, writing and starring in an adaptation of Raymond Carver's "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love." Thomason feels that this is his last chance at a redemption of his career (people only know him as Birdman). The other actors in the play include Mike Shiner (Norton), a douchey Broadway method actor; Laura (Andrea Riseborough), Thomson's girlfriend and Lesley (Watts), Shiner's girlfriend. Sam Thomson (Stone) is Riggan's fresh out of rehab daughter who's helping out around the theater and Jake (Galifiankis), Riggan's partner and attorney, are also spending a lot of time around the theater as they all get ready for opening night.

Thomson is on edge, he is dealing with the responsibility of getting ready for opening night as well as the stress of having a successful (it's his last chance and he's leveraged to the hilt) opening and trying to reconnect with his daughter. He's also got the added problem that his old alter-ego of Birdman is talking to him and occasionally showing up. Birdman tells him throughout the film to just return to the role that made him famous. Things get hectic as opening night approaches; Riggan and Shiner butt heads, Riggan locks himself out of the theater during a preview in his underwear and gets filmed walking around to the front of the theater, he finally has a heart to heart with Sam about what a cruddy father he was and he's informed by the one theater critic (played brilliantly by Lindsay Duncan) who can make his play a success that she despises Hollywood types trying to pass themselves off as real actors and that she will sink his play regardless.

During the opening night performance at the climactic scene, Riggan substitutes the prop gun for a real gun and shoots himself in the head prompting a standing ovation from the audience (the bitchy critic leaves in disgust). At the hospital it turns out that Riggan just shot his nose off. Jack tells him that the review was great and the play is all everyone is talking about. While in the hospital there's a scene where Riggan is in the bathroom checking out his wounds in the mirror and he spots Birdman sitting on the toilet reading a newspaper with a look of contempt on his face (my guess is that he realizes that Riggan no longer needs him so he's relegated to the toilet). Riggan then ventures to the window after hearing birds outside. Sam enters the room seeing that Riggan is gone and the window open. She rushed to the window and looks towards the street for a body and finds none. Puzzled she looks at the sky and smiles. Fade to black.

I thought this was a really good film, maybe not as great as people say but a real good film nonetheless. Excellent acting all-around, especially from Keaton. I felt that Norton's performance was spot on as a Broadway actor (or what I figure to be a Broadway actor). I kind of got the feeling that Duncan's role as the critic is what Broadway critics are really like: the only "true acting" is on the stage. That's probably why Riggan wants to have his career "last stand" on Broadway, to be taken seriously (finally!) as a true thespian.

The main characters are more or less largely unlikeable. Riggan is obsessed with his own success and a bit crazy. Shiner's a jerk. Sam plays the standard rich girl "daddy issues" type. Iñárritu also employed several long shots to give the feel of long continuous shots to make it more like a play (my theory) and it was really cool to see that. There was some stuff that I didn't think was very necessary, like when Riggan would periodically use telekinesis or exhibit other meta-human properties. I get it, he's got a real problem with the Birdman persona. It was not necessary for me to see that, I and I'm sure other, could see the madness trying to creep in. I guess the powers show that the Birdman persona is close to taking him over but what do I know. It would not surprise me if Birdman takes home a couple of Oscars come March. I look forward to seeing what Iñárritu comes out with next (The Revenant in 2015).

28. Blue Ruin

Saturday November 29th on Netflix. This is a good, solid no frills revenge film from Jeremy Saulnier who wrote and directed the picture. This is a minimalist film with a relatively unknown cast and a straight forward plot. The protagonist is Dwight (played by Macon Blair), a man who's living the life of bum out of his car on the beach in Delaware. Dwight lives hand to mouth and is prone to break into a vacationing homeowner's house to get a shower, hot meal and a change of clothes. One day while sleeping in his car, a policewoman rolls up on him and asks him to come into the station. It turns out, the man who killed his parents, Wade Cleland, is getting paroled form a Virginia penitentiary. So Dwight gathers his things and sets off for home.

Dwight drives to the penitentiary and follows Cleland and his family to a roadside bar where they will apparently celebrate Wade's release from the state. Dwight manages to get into the establishment unnoticed and waits for Wade in the bathroom (guy's gotta pee right?). Dwight ambushes Wade in the john and kills him. He then cuts himself while trying to disable the Cleland vehicle only to realize that he lost his own car keys in the bathroom struggle. Dwight's got to get out fast and he opts to take the Cleland vehicle with the flat tire. He doesn't get very far when he realizes theirs a teenage boy in the backseat. He ditches the car on the side of the road and makes his getaway on foot.

Dwight gets cleaned up and manages to get to his sister Sam's (Amy Hargreaves) house. This is where we learn that Dwight more or less just skipped town after his parents murder and trial. Dwight tells Sam that he killed Cleland but when the news of the murder isn't on the news, he realizes that the Clelands never called police and could be looking for him considering they have his vehicle. They may not know where Dwight is but they can find Sam. Dwight gets Sam and her daughters out of town and lies in wait for the Clelands to show up. Which is exactly what they do. In the shoot out, Dwight wounds and captures one of the Clelands but takes a crossbow bolt to the leg.

Dwight enlists the aid of an old high school buddy, now a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Ben (played by Devin Ratray) for the use of a weapon. Dwight questions Wade's brother Teddy at gunpoint (Teddy explains that their mother was having an affair with Dwight's father and it was the senior Cleland who murdered Dwight's parent not Wade. The elder Cleland had cancer and Wade did the time) Teddy turns the table on Dwight and gets the gun only to be shot by Ben. The funny part (in a dark comedic way) is that Ben chides Dwight for being 2 yards away and missing his target.  Ben then tells Dwight that if he's going to kill the Clelands, it's best not to start monologuing.

Dwight tracks down the Cleland residence and hides out until they arrive. The Clelands live like standard stereotypical rednecks. Out in the woods, kind of off the grid or at least on the fringes of it and huge proponents of the 2nd amendment. They've got guns al over the place. When the Clelands arrive home, they're surprised by Dwight. Then Dwight starts to monologue which allows the youngest Cleland to shoot and wound Dwight but Dwight manages to disarm the teenage boy (who was in the back seat when Dwight took the car in an earlier scene). The boy, 15 years old, is Dwight's half brother. The product of his father's affair. Dwight tells the boy to get out. The Cleland matriarch (played by none other than Eve Plumb, that's Jan Brady!) grabs a Mac10 from under a recliner (the Clelands were probably waiting for a ATF raid due to Obama was coming to take their guns away, another redneck myth) and opens up on Dwight. After the dust has settled, the Clelands are dead and Dwight has been severely wounded. That's where the film ends.

As I mentioned above, this is a pretty straight forward story. There's not a lot of dialogue or character development. It's a straight revenge film. Its gritty, dark and gets right to the point. Even when Dwight learns of his father's affair, it doesn't change much, other than sparing his half brother. Dwight knew this probably going to be a no return trip.This is another film that is not for everyone, as it can sometimes move a little slowly and when there's violence, it's really violent. But I think that's where Saulnier capture the reality of situation. Exacting revenge takes time and it can be slow. Death by violence is a bloody mess. Blue Ruin got a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes and I can see why. It never got a wide release but it's out there now and I recommend it though it's not for everyone. I look forward to Saulnier's next project.

27. A Most Wanted Man

This was another On Demand film over the Thanksgiving break that we viewed on Saturday November 29th.

Based on the 2008 novel by John le Carre, directed by Anton Corbijn and boasting a solid cast including; Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright, Willem Dafoe and Rachel McAdams. Hoffman is Gunther, an espionage agent and in charge of a group that is developing intel in the Hamburg Muslim community. His group operates as part of a greater agency (that's never really mentioned but you get the idea that it's the German equivalent of the CIA). Gunther and his team are alerted to the presence of Issa Karpov, a Chechen national who the Russian suspect of having terrorist ties (despite the fact he was in their custody for a lengthy amount of time). Issa is taken in a Muslim family and gets put in touch with Annabel Richter (McAdams), an immigrant lawyer. Issa is in Germany illegally and needs Annabel's help retrieving a family fortune from a bank, a bank run by Tommy Brue (Dafoe).

Meanwhile, German intelligence officials and U.S. attache Martha Sullivan (Wright) begin to take an interest in Gunther's Karpov case. It turns out that Karpov is the son of a Russian general, via the raping of Issa's mother, who worked with Brue's father laundering money. The German officials want to bring Issa in but Gunther want to cultivate him as an asset and feels that bringing him in would leave them in a worse spot as he has his eye on a bigger prize, Muslim philanthropist, Dr. Abdullah. Abdullah is not an extremist and is very Western friendly except that he may be fronting money for Al Qaeda, but Gunther hasn't been able to put the pieces together.

Gunther manages to get everything in place, he's got Richter and Brue working for him. Issa doesn't want the money for his own use but gets convinced by Richter to donate the money to Dr. Abdullah so he can get it to Muslim charities. It's all going to go down at Brue's bank. They get the list of the charities and they all check out. When they deal is going down, Abdullah slips in a new charity, a shipping firm that will help get the aid to those who need. That's the link to Al Qaeda. Gunther has a plan in motion to bring Abdullah in and use him as an asset.

That plan falls apart as Sullivan and the official who was against Gunther ambush Gunther and capture both Issa and Abdullah. Gunther can only just walk away, dejected. He had been sold out by the Americans and you get the feeling this wasn't the first time.

This was pretty good modern day spy thriller. It moves a little quicker than le Carre's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and it's not as long. It's also not quite as intriguing as that film had a whole lot going on. The film gives a good portrayal (not that I would know) of how a person becomes an asset. Gunther is quick to point out to one informant that, he made the choice to inform and he was never forced. Which is true, only Annabel gets a strong arm treatment by being put into isolation for a brief period of time. Other than the redaction, she's never mistreated. She agrees to help Gunther when she's convinced that they're not after Issa.

The acting in this film is nothing short of excellent, even McAdams who I don't like all that much. Corbijn does a nice job with the pace of the film as it never really slowed down too much despite the lack of any real action. I remember seeing the trailer but it seems like this came and went really quickly. Which is too bad because this is a solid film.

26. The Babadook

Friday November 28th On Demand. This is a film has been in more than 1 blog/article about underrated horror films of 2014. It even had a short run at the Music Box in Chicago. My girlfriend digs horror films (mainly the possession genre) and since it was over the Thanksgiving break we decided to give it whirl.

This Australian horror film was written and directed by former actor Jennifer Kent, her 1st feature film. The film is about a single mother and her troubled 6 year old boy. The boy's father died in a car accident on the way to the hospital the day of his birth. Both the mother and father were classical musicians and since her husband's death, she works at a convalescent home to pay the bills. So one night Samuel (Noah Wiseman) wants his mother Amelia (Essie Davis) to read him a bed time story, Samuel is that kid who doesn't quite fit in. So he picks out a book with no information other than the title. The book has got some spooky images and Samuel naturally gets spooked.

It's clearly a creepy book.

Sure enough, weird stuff begins to happen after Amelia reads the book to Samuel. She tries to get rid of the book on several occasions and the book keeps turning up. Meanwhile, Samuel is acting really strange. He has a seizure in the car, gets in trouble at school and brakes the nose of his cousin. All because of the Babadook. Amelia doesn't believe Samuel and takes him to a doctor to get sedatives so both her and Samuel can get some sleep. Amelia's life is falling apart. She's lost her job, been abandon by her sister and when she starts hallucinating some creepy sh*t, she unravels.  The Babadook goes in for the kill by getting Amelia to kill Samuel. Samuel sets a trap for Amelia in the basement and eventually comes to her senses and they make a last stand against the Babadook and win.

Things are apparently back to normal. Samuel is back at school and Amelia is back at her job. They go in the garden and dig up some worms. While in the basement they lay out the worms in front of a dark corner. Like a chained up dog, the Babadook takes it's meal (part of the book says that once the Babadook is let in, you cannot get rid of it, it's written in a real creepy iambic pentameter).

This was a pretty creepy film and it is worth watching. It builds up nicely and never slows down. Noah Wiseman is really creepy as Samuel (if he was British then he'd be off the charts creepy!) and Davis is a great as the overwhelmed and helpless mother. Normally I don't go for these types of films because they're too hit or miss. The Babadook is a hit. It may not be a home run but it's an extra base hit for sure. If you're into scary movies then watch the film, it's worth it.

25. Filth

November 28th on Netflix. Based on the book by Irvine Welsh, author of Trainspotting, James McAvoy is Edinburgh Detective Sergeant Bruce Robertson. To put it mildly, Robertson is a d*ck. He isa coke sniffing, alcoholic, evil misogynistic goon. Robertson is part of a squad of detectives that are up for promotion for the soon to be vacant Detective Inspector position. Robertson sees himself as the only viable candidate (which he probably is) and he will do anything to stack the odds in his favor. He needs to promotion to please his wife for some reason.

He gets tasked with investigating the brutal murder of a Japanese student. While he investigates the murder, he has an affair with a colleague's wife, insinuates that a fellow detective is gay, belittles a fellow detective and befriends a wealth lodge member only to steal money from him and make prank phone calls to his wife. He's a real piece of work. He's also got serious mental issues and probably has a bipolar disorder. We eventually learn that he was responsible for the death of his brother when they were kids. As the film goes on, his descent into madness speeds up.

While running down suspects in the murder he finds out that there was a witness to the crime (the murder takes place in the beginning of the film and the witness appears to be an attractive blonde woman who may or may not be a prostitute) but Robertson always seems to get sidetracked and is unable to follow through. Despite being a sh*theel, Robertson reluctantly helps a heart attack victim only to have him die while administering CPR. The wife of the man thanks him for helping when no one else would. This is the one selfless act he commits in the entire film. Everything he does is to put himself in the best position to get the promotion. Since most of his time is devoted to the theory of better living by chemicals, he hallucinates. The hallucinations get worse and worse over time.

Robertson gets so consumed with sabotaging everyone else's chances at the promotion, his police work suffers (the drinking and the drugs don't help either). He gets a particular bad hallucination with his psychiatrist (Jim Broadbent) its revealed that his wife in fact left him for another man and he has no access to his daughter. He's also started dressing like his wife in order to be closer to her (yeah, it was Robertson that witnessed the murder and that's why he never chased down the lead). When he runs into the the gang leader who killed the student he recognizes Robertson and beats him up (while in drag). He's about to kill him when Robertson throws him out the window. Now the cat is out of the bag and the promotion is out of the question. In fact he's been demoted to walking a beat.

Everything comes out, he was the one prank calling the wife of the wealthy lodge member (he bangs the wife too) and his affair with a colleague's wife leads to the suicide of the colleague. In act of redemption, he videotapes his confession of the prank calling and sends it to his friend (who eventually used the advice Robertson gives him and puts a spark back in his marriage). The film ends with Robertson committing suicide.

 This film reminded me a lot of Trainspotting for obvious reasons. Robertson is a despicable character who few redeeming qualities. I felt that having him dress up as his wife and prostituting himself was a bit strange but I never read the book and maybe that was important. The film was directed by John S, Baird, who has only directed 2 feature films since 2008. It would be easy for people not to like this film because Robertson is so hate-able and you're rooting against him or at least hoping that he doesn't get the promotion. This ins't a film for everyone but I thought it was interesting. It was grimy, very dark and it tried to be humorous at times. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. Filth topped the box office in Scotland it's opening week but saw a very sparse release in the U.S. McAvoy does a very nice job as Robertson. He really did a great job of being unlikable. There was solid supporting roles turned in by Broadbent, Jamie Bell, Imogen Poots, Gary Lewis and Eddie Marsan. I would be interested to see the next film from Baird. I thought the film was interesting but it's not for everyone.

24. Zero Theorem

Wednesday November 26th On Demand. The Thanksgiving break brought some time to try and catch up on some titles. I saw the preview for this film awhile  and was intrigued. What's not to be intrigued about? It's directed by Monty Python legend, Terry Gilliam, and stars Christoph Waltz, Tilda Swinton and a cameo by Matt Damon. The film is set in some kind of ironically Orwellian pseudo-dystopic society (I don't know how else to describe it, but it's similar to Brazil) where Waltz plays Qohen Leth a programmer who "crunches entities" for the corporate conglomerate Mancom. Qohen is a little off but he's the top "entities cruncher" that Mancom has but he no longer wants to come into the office to work and has repeated psych evaluations in an attempt to work at home which fail as he's deemed healthy to work but he gets the use of a Shrink-ROM (Swinton), a digital psychiatrist. You see, Qohen's problem is that he's waiting for a call from a higher power that bring him happiness and validate his existence. He's obsessed with the call.

His boss Joby, David Thewlis, invites him to a party where he can meet "Management." Qohen is socially inept and he runs into Management (Damon) but he botches up the meeting. As he's trying to leave the party he meets Bainsley (played by the lovely Melanie Thierry) who seems to take a shine to Qohen after she saves him from choking on an olive but he's scared off because he's such a social misfit. The next day work, Joby informs him that he has been chosen by Management for a special assignment and he will get to work at home. His assignment will be to solve the Zero Theorem, a mathematical formula of mythic proportions. Joby reveals to Qohen that he himself was tasked to solve the Zero Theorem once but he burnt out and was promoted to supervisor.

Despite his lack of social graces, Qohen strikes up a friendship with Bainsley and Bob (Lucas Hedges), the teenage son of management. Qohen is given an AI suit by Bainsley so that they can get together online. One day Bob shows up and tells Qohen that the Zero Theorem is i supposed to prove that life is meaningless. Upset, Qohen goes online with Bainsley and wants to elope with her but Bainsley disconnects suddenly and the suit is damaged. We learn that Qohen had a regulary type life with a wife and home but his obsession with the call eventually destroyed it. Bob repairs the AI suit and Qohen connects with Bainsley only to find out she's a webcam stripper, leaving Qohen a bit depressed. Eventually Bainsley visits Qohen and tells him that she's in love with him (despite the fact she was hired by Mancom to befriend him) and wants to elope, Bob even encourages him to go but he doesn't.

Not sure I'd agree with that decision.

Qohen finds out the Bob is in declining health and tries to help him when he passes out. Here he learns that Mancom has been under surveillance since he started working at home. In a rage, Qohen smashes the cameras and destroys his computer, prompting Mancom to send employees to remove Bob and Joby stops by to let him know that he got fired as a result of his actions. Qohen puts on the AI suit and is rendered unconscious by an overload. Now Qohen is in the Neural Net Mancive where Management informs him that he was chosen for this assignment because he devoted himself to a call that would give him the meaning of life, thus making his life meaningless. Enraged, Qohen starts destroying the Mancive and jumps into a black hole (???). Qohen now appears on a beach in the same virtual world where he hung out with Bainsley. He hears Bainsley calling him and we are left to wonder if he's going to join her or if this all a dream in his head.

So Terry Gilliam is not for everyone. I did not understand a lot of this but I understood the point of Qohen's quest for meaning left his life meaningless. I'm still not sure that I liked this but I definitely didn't not like it. I kept thinking i should watch it again to see if i missed anything but I think I'd still feel the same way. Zero Theorem is not as dark as Brazil but it's just as bizarre. The color and visuals are pretty spectacular and the acting is brilliant but unless you're a avid fan of Gilliam or you're a film connoisseur, this may not be for you. There's a lot of background stuff that doesn't make sense and I'm still not sure why Bob had to succumb to bad health. Was it supposed to mean something? Was there a metaphor I missed? Did Qohen die from the overload and what happened afterwards were his dying thoughts? Maybe I should've watched Brazil before I watched this. I don't know this but I feel as if this film may have run close to 3 hours but it got cut down to 107 minutes and maybe some of the questions I had were explained. Or maybe not. The thing is, Gilliam's film are usually not very mainstream so he's not making films for the mass audience.