The Fink 50 of 2015

In retrospect, 2015 was a good year for film. I had been cynical last year reflecting on the year end as few films really “wow-ed” me: some of this, perhaps is my fault. Despite 2015 becoming a record year for consumption fueled by amongst more access including a healthy dose of the film festivals like Tribeca, Montclair and TIFF - and my very own - the Buffalo International Film Festival. (On a side note: programing a festival is an entirely different beast - I did however, exhausted and perhaps a little hung over, get to watch an hour of Rouzbeh Noori’s beautiful The Philosopher King on a Sunday morning at the North Park with a popcorn and soda - it was pure cinematic bliss).

Making this list is a difficult undertaking primarily because I admit I haven’t seen EVERYTHING. I closed out this year having recorded 306 films in theaters - including private screenings and a whole host of other screenings of course on VOD and via screener links. My system surely is flawed and has changed from my posting in the Film Stage’s top 50 calculus a bit (mainly because I caught up with Anomalisa, The Look of Silence and Heaven Knows What after the fact). Another admission is that the 306 count includes carryovers (on January 1st of last year I started with Force Majore and American Sniper - this year includes some repertory pictures in the mix)

There’s of course films I’m on the fence about - does Mommy, a film that opened in the US earlier this year after it opened elsewhere in the world count? Yes - although I had the chance to see it a few times in Toronto, the last during its theatrical run in November 2014 and I skipped it to see Map to the Stars, which was on my runners up last year. For this reason I’m withholding Cemetery of Splendor till next year, when Strand Releasing will open it in the US.

So many difficult decisions went into this list. Overall what kind of thesis should be read into 2015 - what have we learned from this years? I’m not sure what we can politically read into quite an epic year - bursting with great ideas. Perhaps in the spirit of Black Lives Matter, an overarching theme of holding institutional accountable can be read between Spotlight, In Jackson Heights, Killing Them Safely, The Big Short and Chi-Raq? Even that’s a stretch.

I’m not sure what historians will say - perhaps, like I tell my film students - it takes time to diagnose a movement. The cinema has, and always will be a place for filmmakers to take us on psychological and emotional journeys - last year it was Boyhood (a film I saw twice - and after suffering the loss of grandmother in the months between the film’s opening weekend in New York City and a screening at a second run movie theater in Buffalo - I found the picture to be all the more profound and moving - - Boyhood to me remains the great masterpiece of the 2010s). The films of this year’s Fink 50 - again not everything out - represent a personal bias. These are the films have struck me in the moment and in the case of the Hateful Eight upon a second viewing. The Hateful Eight is like a rich meal - full of deep flavors and nuance - I very much want to see it a third time, an absolute rarity for me.

Largely this list is top heavy with the masters - Haynes, Wiseman, Tarantino, and Lee - along with new masters, filmmakers who have made work that I’ve enjoyed but they’ve now arrived at that next level - in my book, 2015 was a breakout year for Lenny Abrahmason, Tom McCarthy, and Xavier Dolan.

Here’s the best of my journeys - including links to my full reviews, where available:

10.- Shaun the Sheep (Mark Burton and Richard Starzak) - It’s been a great year for stop motion animation - between Shaun The Sheep and the beautiful Anomalisa. Shaun The Sheep is simply the most delightful film you’ll find on this list, really the most delightful film of the year with a wonderful and simple story told largely with no dialogue (or shall I say no intelligible dialogue). For what it’s worth, it holds up next to any of the classics of the silent era: masterfully crafted and very funny - it offers a gentle societal critique as a flock of sheep rush to the city to save their caretaker from his role as a hipster hair stylist. 

9.- What Happened Miss Simone? (Liz Garbus)

Constructing a moving portrait of Nina Simone, her triumphs, strengths, and weaknesses - filmmaker Liz Garbus constructs a frank, honest and soulful tribute with the participation of her estate. Employing archival materials with a few talking head interviews, the film is largely told though Simone’s own words highlighting interviews from her early performances to her more political period and eventually to her self-imposed exile in Liberia. Riveting and heartbreaking, What Happened Miss Simone is as informative and as comprehensive as its dense 100-minute running time can allow for. 

8.- Carol (Todd Haynes) 

Like his Far From Heaven, Todd Haynes’ latest harkens back to the work of Douglas Sirk. Set in the 1950s - Carol is a masterful work of subtly with flawless performances and truly beautiful cinematography by Edward Lachman (working on Super 16MM). A tender, sweet and heartbreaking romance as Carol (Cate Blanchett) struggles to keep her family together while Rooney Mara’s Terese struggles in a way to find her voice. Told in letters, subtle looks and not-so-subtle showdown with heterosexual lovers - Carol is a powerful melodrama.

7.- Room (Lenny Abrahmson) 

Free from the manipulation that a Hollywood picture might offer, Room is a masterfully crafted and wrenching portrait of Ma (Brie Larson) and Jack (Jacob Tremblay), both giving affecting performances as a mother and son imprisoned in a small room. Carefully constructed by director Lenny Abrahamson, the room is the entire world for Ma and Jack until they are (spoilers!) liberated in a stunning escape. What follows is just as brilliant. Adapted by Emma Donohue from her novel, Room is a triumph and a tearjerker, confidently directed and masterfully acted.

6.- In Jackson Heights (Frederick Wiseman) 

Mapping citizen engagement on film is - shall we say - not quite a sexy issue. In Jackson Heights, the latest from master documentarian Fredrick Wiseman is a sweeping, engaging three hour picture: chronicling macro details of a largely immigrant community from the local councilman’s call center to the struggle of independent business owners in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood (as they stand up to the BID), to other civic engagements. A study of time and place (I’m a sucker for these movies, obviously) - In Jackson Heights is a beautifully optimistic and privileged look, masterfully crafted by Wiseman - it’s more a meditation than hard a call to action.   

5.- The Hateful Eight (Quentin Tarantino)

Having seen the 70MM roadshow version twice - I can’t wait to go again: QT has crafted a dense chess game, using Ultra Pannavision (a format that’s going to look awful truth be told, on those new unmasked screens AMC and Regal are installing in their new locations). Still, I’m guessing (and shutter to think) that The Hateful Eight will hold up on pan-and-scan VHS. Samuel L. Jackson is worth the price of admission alone. QT fans won’t be let down by the mix of violence and irony - coupled with an unprecedented craftsmanship, The Hateful Eight is one of the entertaining nights at the movies you’ll have this year.

4.- Son of Saul (Laszlo Nemes) 

Just when you think there’s little else to say about the Holocaust comes a film that approaches the material from a new direction: Son of Saul allows us to walk in the shoes of a prisoner, living the horror, drama, camaraderie, and moral ambiguity first hand. A stunning debut feature (currently screening in 35MM), Nemes resurrects the academy ratio - shooting at a single focal length, providing the kind of tunnel vision used to go about one’s day in this terror. 

3.- Spotlight (Tom McCarthy)

Moving with the precision of a swiss timepiece, rarely do we see a film that’s so effective. Spotlight is a journalism thriller that plays it straight, avoiding self-righteous speeches and subplots - it’s about solid boots on the ground, investigative journalism from the Spotlight team (played by Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, Brian d’Arcy and led by Michael Keaton) and their fearless editors (John Slattery and Live Schreiber). A brilliant picture that works almost flawlessly on every single level, Spotlight is an engaging investigation celebrating the difficult work that must be done when our institutions fail us.

2.- Mommy (Xavier Dolan)

Xavier Dolan’s Mommy is a curious picture, one arriving in the U.S. in the typically dead zone of early winter, yet no other film has stayed with me in the same way. An emotional gut punch, Mommy continually breaks all of the cinematic rules, challenging its audience with a square frame similar to that of an iPhone held vertically while shooting. Dolan employs frequent collaborator Anne Dorval as Diana, a mother who breaks her son (Antoine-Oliver Pilon) free after he’s committed in light of the passage of a fictional Canadian law. The road ahead is painful, bittersweet, and powerful as the mother dreams of a future for her son, only to have those dreams crushed. Dolan is simultaneously in and out of control of his narrative, a frantic call to action mashing up pop culture, desire, youth obnoxiousness, and mental illness. With a constantly moving camera by André Turpin, Mommy is unforgettable experience

1.- Chi-Raq (Spike Lee) 

Spike Lee’s best picture in years, Chi-Raq is a timely call to action. Opening to a Chicago embroiled in controversy, Lee’s stated objective is to save lives on Chicago’s Southside, a fiery cry against gun violence and a system that protects gang members while women and children are caught in the cross fire. A modern-day adaption of Lysistrata, Chi-Raq is lively and often hilarious; it has the spunk of some of his best and most political work, such as Do the Right Thing. With a cast that includes Nick Cannon, Wesley Snipes, Angela Bassett, Samuel L. Jackson, John Cusack, Jennifer Hudson, and Teyonah Parris in a break-out role as the story’s heroine, its lively performances are as transcendent as the film is ambitious. Rarely does a work achieve so much, and its stakes couldn’t be higher.

The Fink 50:

11.- The Look of Silence

12.- Anomalisa 

13.- The Big Short

14.- Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief

15.- The Russian Woodpecker

16.- Tangerine

17.- Black Panthers: Vangaurd of a Revolution

18.- Brooklyn

19.- The End of the Tour

20.- Clouds of Sils Maria

21.- Transfatty Lives

22 - Sicario

23.- Miss You Already

24.- The Martian

25.- Listen to Me Marlon

26.- Killing Them Safely (aka Tom Swift & His Electric Rifle)

27.- Diary of a Teenage Girl

28.- Trumbo

29.-This Changes Everything

30.-Welcome to Leith

31.- Steve Jobs

32.- The Best of Enemies 

33.- Goodnight Mommy

34.- Inside Out

35.-Call Me Lucky

36.-The Connection

38.-Mad Max: Fury Road

39.-Da Sweet Blood of Jesus

40.-Trainwreck

41.-99 Homes

42.-Youth

43.-Democrats

44.-Irrational Man

45.-3 1/2 Minutes, 10 Bullets

46.-The Gift

48.-Ex Machina

49.-Paddington

50.-Girlhood

Runners up (in alphabetical order): All Things Must Pass, Amy, Bridge of Spies, Broken Horses, A Courtship, Cartel Land, Casa Grande, Creed, Dope, The Duke of Burgundy, Far From The Maddening Crowd, Gett: The Trail of Vivian Anslem, Hitchcock/Truffaut, How to Dance in Ohio, The Hunting Ground, In My Father’s House,  I’ll See You In My Dreams, Infinity Polar Bear, Iris, It Follows, Jafar Panahi’s Taxi, La Ultima Pelicula, Love & Mercy, Love 3D, Man From Reno, Merchants of Doubt, Mistress America, Mustang, Peace Officer, She’s Lost Control, Southpaw, Spy, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Tu Dors Nichole, The Walk, The Wolfpack, Wild Tales

The Bottom 20: FINK ON FILMS worst films of 2015

Bad movies ought to be avoided at all costs - one typically doesn’t seek them out despite the obvious (hey how bad can Fantastic Four really be?). As I always caution, it’s disingenuous to think any movie started off with the intention to be bad - perhaps all of these movies should inspire some kind of documentary about creative visions, egos, and intervention gone awry. Perhaps the only filmmaker to have claimed he hoped to make a truly awful movie (and succeeded) was Tommy Wiseau. Making a film requires an abundance of ambition, sometimes it requires more than the budget or mental bandwidth of the filmmakers allows.

With that said - here’s 20 films that left me scratching my head (links to full reviews included for select films) - bad movies do happen to go people, one I critically left off this list -  The Adderall Diaries, an awful James Franco vehicle that A24 will release next year. You’ve been warned.

20 - The Fantastic Four (Josh Trank)

My theory is Josh Trank’s ambition - to create a character driven action film like his debut feature Chronicle (for the record I enjoyed that one) wasn’t matched by his producers. For every  Colin Trevorrow and Ryan Coolgler (filmmakers that cut their teeth on smaller budgets and have found studio success) there’s a Josh Trank. But he alone shouldn’t be blamed, circumstances of the production aside - what remains is a bland affair. A rare dialogue driven action film, the material seems to devoid of any kind of edge down the cheese special effects that follow in its underwhelming third act. It’s a shame - here’s a film that I would be curious to see a director’s cut of.

19.-  Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (Alfonso Gomez-Rejon)

Something about this movie just rubbed me the wrong way - a teen comedy that attempts to have it both ways, the film is the story of Greg (Thomas Mann) - the “Me” of the title and frankly the least interesting one in the bunch. Suffering from the same issue another that Paper Towns suffered from - Me and Earl and the Dying Girl ultimately has less going for it despite a decent premise and a few laughs. It’s heart simply put doesn’t seem to be in the right place.

18.- Truth (James Vanderbilt)

Overshadowed (and rightfully so) by Spotlight, Truth, in 20 years might be misremembered as that cheap knock-off that was out around the same time. (Truth actually dropped first, although both were at TIFF this year). Here’s a film that will provide fuel for those wackos that believe all non-secular media is too liberal - all while trying to vindicate a Mary Mapes (who provides the source material for Vanderbilt’s screenplay - she’s played here by Cate Blanchett). Unauthorized by CBS - Robert Redford has no choice but to impersonate Dan Rather, in a film that feels like its impersonating a better journalistic thriller. Bland and unnecessary, Truth is an odd beast, watching it I didn’t feel sympathy for those whose careers were ruined by shoddy reporting - I felt embarrassed - especially when Topher Grace’s Mike Smith blasts Viacom in a self-righteous speech. Full of big, artificial moments, Truth, truth be told, is a train wreck.

17.- The Boy Next Door (Rob Cohen)

If only this picture didn’t take itself so seriously - Rob Cohen is the wrong man to tackle Barbara Curry’s script - they should have hired Tommy Wiseau. If anything it could have offered some unique product placement for his brand of underwear. What would be cringe enduring had its lead Ryan Guzman looked like he was of high school age is pretty much one of those erotic thrillers you’d find on HBO at 3AM back in the day. Elevated slightly by Jennifer Lopez, this low budget affair (complete with digital grain from a bumped ISO - they saved some money on lighting!) at least knows what it is. A $4 million dollar film that could have gone theatrical or to VOD (part of the Bloomhouse model) it’s at least unintentionally funny - imagine what would have happened with low stakes and increased freedom - why not hire Tommy Wiseau to make it glorious?

16.-Max (Boaz Yakin)

Far be it for me to take aim at a film about a hero dog, suffering from PTSD after returning from Afghanistan. Given to the little brother of a Marine killed in a bomb blast (Josh Wiggins) - the two learn to heal after the tragedy in this important, patriotic coming of age drama. Yeah, but that’s not this movie. Throw in a bizarre plot point about drug dealing and a kidnapping, Max left me thinking “WTF”. A bait-and-switch of a family picture - Max is not at all what it promises to be, it’s far weirder and less genuine. It’s a shame, really, given what the film had been advertised to be and what it ultimately became, given the harrowing premise, Max was not the sensitive character study I was expecting at all.

15.-The Loft (Erik Van Looy)

Apart from Michael Haneke’s Funny Games, I’ll never understand what the exact motivation (besides a paycheck and of course the chance to prove yourself) of a filmmaker wishing to remake their film in the US. Perhaps one day I’ll get to interview Erik Van Looy and I’ll ask him. Based on his 2008 picture - The Loft (shot in 2011 and dropped by Universal Pictures) is actually the SECOND remake of his original - you’d think they’d get it right. Awfully sexist with little redemption the film forgets to given us someone to root for - everyone is unlikable. That doesn’t necessarily make a bad movie - Hateful Eight is a great one and everyone is..um…hateful. Visually quite stylish, The Loft is a morality tale wrapped in a non-linear who-done-it thriller that never quite gave us a reason to care - I hated every one of these sexist pigs.

14.- Welcome to Me (Shira Piven)

An odd film that tries to have it both ways, Shira Piven and screenwriter Eliot Laurence never quite hit the right rhythm or tone: a drama with a few laughs or a comedy with a lot of drama - it never quite commits or decides where to go. Quirky, sure - but it provides no pleasure watching the destruction of Kristin Wiig’s Alice - an unstable women who overnight wins the Mega-Millions and proceeds to bankroll her empire. This particular film is painful - with some refinement this picture could have been quite brilliant - with no shortage of talent here (the film co-stars Tim Robins, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Loretta Devine, Joan Cusack, and Wes Bentley) - the lackluster direction just didn’t work for me.

13.- Get Hard (Etan Cohen)

Lackluster - although one knows what they’re expecting walking in. I chuckled a few times, surely - but the thing I recall the most, rather interestingly is how proper projection really does matter. The exhibitor started the film in the wrong aspect ratio and switched it over to a stretched image without rebooting the projector (rather than incurring the wrath of a theatre full of patrons). The results were disastrous - comedy, like drama is all about framing and one-off element like aspect ratio really matters. Technical issues aside - Get Hard is a vulgar affair lacking the kind of refinement of frequent Will Ferrell collaborator Adam McKay who would have infused the material with more interesting politics than director Etan Cohen does. Kevin Hart - when he works for me, he works for me - here and in a film we’ll get to in a bit - he didn’t.

12.- Mortdecai (David Koepp)

Directed by David Koepp, this globe trotting stashed detective (played by Johnny Depp) never has enough fun as it thinks its having - a fish out of water and past his prime this misfire never delivers the goods. Jeff Goldbloom, Olivia Munn and Paul Bethany co-star along with Gwyneth Paltrow as Mrs. Mordecai. 

(review)

11- Live From New York (Bao Nguyen)

A slight exploration of the Saturday Night Live dynasty - Boa Nguyen’s Live From New York is about as effective as an SNL compilation DVD found in the bargain bin at Target. We visit with failure faces and talking heads - each is more nostalgic than insightful as the material is presented to us in “chapters”. Pop culture observers and the socially aware will be bored out of their mind.

(review) 

10.- The Lazarus Effect (David Gelb)

A contained horror film using the failure trope of containing researchers playing God in a lab while awful stuff happens - The Lazarus Effect is a minor entry into this genre. Mark Duplass, Oliva Wild and Sarah Bolger star in this unremarkable effort from director David Gelb - known best for his masterful documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi.    

9.- Hitman: Agent 47 (Aleksander Bach)

A sequel no one asked for filled with frenetic action that looks slick but there’s little else going on under the surface. Worse than Fantastic Four, Hitman: Agent 47 is a disposable, globally focused-group consumer product.   

8.- Freeheld (Peter Sollett)

Timely if painfully vanilla - good intentions and a bland pain-by-numbers script fail to connect despite the presence of Julianne Moore and Ellen Page as Laurel Hester and Stacie Andree - civil rights pioneers. The mechanism of social advocacy (even if Hester and Andree were reluctant advocates) is explored via a performance that’s way over the top - Steve Carell plays Steven Goldstein, founder of Garden State Equality. Freehold could have been a great film - surely the story is inspirational but the material never quite transcends the beyond the quality of a made for TV movie.

7.-The D-Train (Jarred Paul and Andrew Mogel)

A baffling recipient of a wide release this summer via IFC Films (the byproduct of a bidding war gone horribly wrong in Park City, I suppose), The D-Train stars Jack Black, the chairman of his high school’s alumni committee who convinces commercial TV actor Oliver Lawless (James Marsden) to come back to a reunion following a drug filled sexually explicit evening. The premise isn’t so bad - in fact it made me nostalgic for the earlier work of black (School of Rock and Orange County come to mind first). The D-Train is quite a train wreck - often we can’t help but look at it even in its most absurd moments. Goodwill and nostalgia do not a movie make. 

6.-Thought Crimes (Erin Lee Carr)

Running thin even at 82 minutes, this portrait of Gilberto Valle aka the NYPD’s Cannibal Cop, the material never seems to justify a feature length treatment - nor is Valle all that interesting. A sick bastard, sure - Carr immaturely continues to juxtapose the sorted details of Valle’s imagination with shots of him cooking and eating. Chalking it up to being one of those wacky “only in New York” stories - this documentary about a man who fantasies about cannibalism left a bad taste in my mouth.

(review)  

5.-Green Inferno (Eli Roth)

Eli Roth would likely be proud to end up on this list (not that he cares) - he’s a tough nut to crack. Often his film are by their nature repulsive and sexist (yet he seem personable in interviews) filled with gruesome toucher imagery. I knew what I was getting into here - yet the heart is missing. What strikes me as false isn’t the cannibalism so much as it is the relationships at the core of this film. We need a reason to care or we need to have fun - as a horror flick this one is quite light on both.

4.-Bleeding Heart (Diane Bell)

Suffering from performances, direction and writing that each lack nuance, Bleeding Heart takes subject matter deserving of mature, thoughtful treatment and distorts reality into a series of soap opera clichés. Written and directed by Diane Bell, this lifetime original movie-style drama stars Jessica Biel as May, a yoga instructor living with boyfriend Dex (Edi Gathegi). Biel seeks to find her biological sister which leads her to Shiva (Zosia Mamet), a rather fitting name for a sex worker pimped out by boyfriend Cody (Joe Anderson). Bell’s heavy handed screenplay constrains the material, devoid of raw emotion, Bleeding Heart is full of predictable moments and conventions.

(review)

3.-Rock the Kasbah (Barry Levinson) 

Sleezy and unlikable - a departure from Bill Murray’s lovable performance in last year’s St. Vincnet, Rock the Kasbah finds Murray as a down on his luck talent agent  roaming around Afghanistan. The third act finds him producing (for his own self-interests) the career of a young Pasture girl Saliam (Leem Lubany) who finds her way onto Afghan Star and finds her voice. If only the film could find it’s voice:  Barry Levinson’s film is never clear as to what it’s intentions are; an interesting film can and has been made of unlikable characters, but any chance of that is squandered at every time here. Played for laughs it simply doesn’t work, and it’s never coherent enough to explore the economies of war. Also baffling is Merci (Kate Hudson) – why would such a smart actress allow herself to play such a one-dimensional role as part of a sexist fantasy?

(review) 

2.- The Wedding Ringer (Jay Lavender)

A comedy existing in its own upper-middle class bubble, The Wedding Ringer is a pathetic and doll comedy that’s DOA - Kevin Hart plays Bic Mitchum, a kind of friend for hire - I won’t call him a whore, but he’s a whore. Hired to play best man to Doug (Josh Gad), a workaholic with no friends marrying the spoiled, bitch and one-dimensional Gretchen (Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting) the film offers of redeeming values with comedy that shows verses tells. A failing grade in screenwriting class and a failing grade at your multiplex - the film is simply an intellectual human rights violation, unfit for consumption.

(review)

1.- Digging for Fire (Joe Swanberg)

Life is too short, although apparently not short enough for Joe Swanberg. Digging For Fire is a miserable experience - 85 minutes quite frankly with idiots whom I don’t care very much about. Arrested Development (also an acquired taste) gave us a reason to care - here Swanberg’s lackluster direction bends and winds its way through conversations that go nowhere. This would be fine if the film actually had some direction - Swanberg has made this kind of film before (often on a shoestring budget). You’d think he would have gotten it out of his system (Drinking Buddies showed promise that he could transcend the kind of film he kept remaking) but this painfully bland picture inserts a lame McGuffin that grows into an even lamer metaphor for growing up. Not only did I stop caring about 30 minutes in, at around the 55 minutes mark I decided I had enough and that my evening would be better spent elsewhere. Regal’s first look pre-show ad program is more engaging and interesting than this picture. What the hell were Jake Johnson (the film’s co-writer), Brie Larson(!), Sam Rockwell, Mike Birbiglia, Sam Elliott, Anna Kendrick, Chris Messina, Jane Adams, Ron Livingston, Melanie Lynskey and Jenny Slade thinking?