Sunday, January 4, 2015

December 2014 Film Wrap-Up

DECEMBER 7
An Honest Liar (Tyler Measom & Justin Weinstein, 2014) = 3.5/5

"Magicians are the most honest people in the world; they tell you they're gonna fool you, and then they do it."

These words are spoken by James Randi early on in An Honest Liar, and they form the conceit of this documentary about the magician-cum-scientific sceptic’s storied life. The 86-year-old Randi regaled Thinkers following a screening of the film at the Metro Theatre last month, and he was nothing but candid on the night. But the documentary sheds a more scrutinising light on Randi’s professional and personal life. Through the medium of film, we are reminded that the mise-en-scène of a particular movie (even a documentary) is merely a director’s subjective interpretation of a given subject. Cuts, dissolves, and wipes are all a form of trickery. Filmmaking is fundamentally an act of tomfoolery, and An Honest Liar is in itself one elaborate, honest lie.

You can read my full review here.

DECEMBER 10
Wet Hot American Summer (David Wain, 2001) = 3.5/5

Unabashed madness from start to finish. Boosted by a likeable cast, many of whom would go on to bigger, greater things. Crude without being nasty.

DECEMBER 14
Natural Born Killers (Oliver Stone, 1994) = 1/5

It's not offensive, just excessive...like sugar poured on Froot Loops, or pop-up ads on MySpace. An ugly mess. I couldn't wait for those end credits to roll.

DECEMBER 18
Bad Words (Jaon Bateman, 2013) = 3.5/5

I just had to watch this because I'm a spelling geek and I'll watch anything where a spelling bee is the focal plot point. (Akeelah and the Bee, anyone?) It's crass and a bit predictable, but Bateman owns his role as the foul-mouthed protagonist. 

DECEMBER 20
The Babadook (Jennifer Kent, 2014) = 4/5

An unsettling film cloaked in a brooding atmosphere. The polished production undercuts some of the scares, but this is the calibre of cinema Australia needs to be churning out on a regular basis if the local industry is to be taken seriously.

DECEMBER 21
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (Dwight H. Little, 1988) = 3/5

If you can disregard the laughable mask worn by Myers (see above), you'll notice this movie tries harder than the third sequel in a horror franchise is expected to. I was often impressed by the cinematography, and the ending is unabashedly morbid.

Shame (Steve McQueen, 2011) = 4.5/5

Pulses with a raw, cathartic resonance. In turns a sexy and tragic meditation on power dynamics. Fassbender is phenomenal.

This was my second viewing and my rating has dropped by half a star. Nonetheless, this is still one of the best films of the post-2000 era.

DECEMBER 25
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (Chris Columbus, 1992) = 5/5

Look, I'm not even gonna list the reasons this film gets 5 stars from me, because I've mentioned them before on this blog. Just do a search for Home Alone 2

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky, 2012) = 4.5/5

There are certain movies you watch at pivotal moments in your life that shape your outlook on the future and perhaps even change you as a human being. I imagine The Perks of Being a Wallflowerwill be that type of film for many adolescents (and maybe some adults) around the world. Over the years, Hollywood has bombarded us with countless movies about teenage lives. Some have worked, but plenty have dismally failed due to lazy writing and threadbare characters. Perks is very well-written, and the characters are almost painfully authentic. Chbosky achieves the sincerity that John Hughes mastered in the 1980s. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that Chbosky adapted his own novel. He has had a relationship with these characters ever since he concocted them for the page. With full creative control and nurturing hands, he has successfully transitioned them to the screen. 

You can read my full review here.

DECEMBER 26
Metropolitan (Whit Stillman, 1990) = 4/5

Its characters are pretentious, but writer/director Stillman knows this and makes us care for them. Underneath the biting witticisms and banal dissections of essays lie the same anxieties harboured by people not lucky enough to be born into their elite circle. A forgotten gem.

DECEMBER 28
A Scanner Darkly (Richard Linklater, 2006) = 3.5/5

An ethereal visual style and convoluted plot make it difficult to follow, but it's fiercely original with engaging characters. It's the type of film that is made to be seen more than once.

DECEMBER 30
Shadow of a Doubt (Alfred Hitchcock, 1943) = 4.5/5

It's enshrouded in an unsettling atmosphere of foreboding, and it's absorbing from start to finish thanks to a sense of moral ambiguity and some well-crafted, enthralling characters. Hitchcock suggests that, even when the most threatening danger presents itself, the desire to maintain order may hold sway over the desire to rebel, and this can be extremely detrimental.

In Summary - The Must-See Films (4.5 or 5 Stars)
* Shame
* Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
* The Perks of Being a Wallflower 
* Shadow of a Doubt

Review: An Honest Liar (2014)


Directors: Tyler Measom & Justin Weinstein 
Writers: Tyler Measom, Justin Weinstein, Greg O'Toole
Stars: James Randi, Deyvi Peña, Banachek

“Magicians are the most honest people in the world; they tell you they're gonna fool you, and then they do it.” 

These words are spoken by James Randi early on in An Honest Liar, and they form the conceit of this documentary about the magician-cum-scientific sceptic’s storied life. The 86-year-old Randi regaled Thinkers following a screening of the film at the Metro Theatre last month, and he was nothing but candid on the night. But the documentary sheds a more scrutinising light on Randi’s professional and personal life. Through the medium of film, we are reminded that the mise-en-scène of a particular movie (even a documentary) is merely a director’s subjective interpretation of a given subject. Cuts, dissolves, and wipes are all a form of trickery. Filmmaking is fundamentally an act of tomfoolery, and An Honest Liar is in itself one elaborate, honest lie.    

Any magician can pull a rabbit out of a hat, but James Randi is not just any magician. Inspired in great part by Harry Houdini, Randi dedicated his early years to feats of escapology. Reckless stunts such as dangling upside down in a straitjacket above Niagara Falls were all part and parcel of the gig. But the human body can only withstand so much, and so Randi would retire as an escape artist and see the industry of deception through a more critical lens. Randi accepts that many people in the world are mentally vulnerable and can easily be swindled by those with a grand public persona, and he considers this a breach of morality. Throughout the film, we are introduced to the cunning tricksters whom Randi has debunked over the years, and we learn how Randi sullied their reputations. The archival footage of Randi stripping Uri Geller’s spoon-bending antics of any “psychic” phenomena is riveting to watch. There are also intense scenes of self-proclaimed faith healer Peter Popoff “exorcising” illnesses from his afflicted followers, which call to mind another documentary in Jesus Camp. These scenes are genuinely disturbing and entrench Randi as a true altruist who doesn’t do what he does for the accolades, but rather to uphold the faculty of reason and the virtue of honesty.

Of course, the film is more than a highlight reel showcasing Randi’s impressive bag of tricks. We are invited to pry into Randi’s personal life, with a fair portion of the film devoted to the 25-year relationship between Randi and José Alvarez. While it’s essential this dimension of the great sceptic’s life is given screen-time, directors Tyler Measom and Justin Weinstein fail to exercise any sleight-of-hand in their revelation of the climactic twist, and the irony of a renowned illusionist being the accomplice to a major ruse with legal implications comes off as heavy-handed. The very idea of including a twist in a documentary film is artistically dubious, as it hints at a desire to fictionalise reality. In a film that grapples with notions of truth, fantasy, and whether seeing is believing, it’s no surprise the filmmakers would be tempted to meddle with real-life narratives in such a manner.

Apart from this misstep, An Honest Liar is a mostly engaging celebration of James Randi which champions the pursuit of knowledge, scientific empiricism, and not bullshitting your fellow citizens. If you support any of these things, you should make an effort to see it. Honestly...would I lie to you?

3.5/5 stars.