November 2013- Best & Worst

This month I thought I wouldn’t watch that many films considering it’s pretty much the end-of-semester crunch and all, but I ended up watching about my average number 20 (21 to be exact) films for the first time in addition to seven re-watches.

Overall it wasn’t a particularly strong month of film watching but there was a lot of quality stuff in there, including a few of the very best film I’ve seen all year, such as Moonstruck and Blancanieves. I also watch what’s as of now my least favorite film of the year.

I don’t have much else to say, so read-on to find out what my top 10 first-time viewings of the month are, as well as other stuff, like always.

Weekly Mini-reviews: “The East,” “Moonstruck” & More

November 24-30, 2013

The East | Zal Batmanglij | 2013 | ★

After hearing so much about how she is the next big thing in cinema, I finally decided to give a Brit Marling-penned film a chance. I didn’t see Another Earth or Sound of My Voice because they just didn’t appeal to me. Well, from the trailers neither did this one but I just thought I’d give it a fair chance. If this film is any indication, then I did the right thing by skipping those other films because this was an excruciating viewing experience. I’m not going to put the blame entirely on Marling’s script as there are some interesting ideas in there about a spy working for a big company infiltrating a group or rebels but over time finding that they are the ones doing the right thing despite being labeled as “terrorists.” Even so, the script only touches on this briefly and with the exception of “Doc,” the characters aren’t more than what they are on the surface. With this, and the director’s attempt to stay 100% true to the script, the film just feels like it’s about a bunch of stereotypical hipsters with daddy issues and half-baked ideologies. In the last minute or so, the film starts taking a different approach to the subject of bringing down these companies that hurt the environment. I would much rather see a film based on those ideas.