2015 In Review

If I left a film off my list it is not necessarily a slight against it. Full disclosure I have not seen all the films hyped for awards this year. I am a film studies major thus I spend an inordinate amount of time screening and studying films that were not produced this year.

Top 10

1.       Mad Max: Fury Road – A brilliant example of visual storytelling. A film that didn’t need nor use excessive exposition.

2.       The Hateful Eight (70mm Road Show) - As opposed to Mad Max a film that flourished because of how literary it was. In a year of sequels and reboots Tarantino pays homage to the epic westerns of yesteryear.

3.       The Martian – Mat Damon portrays the action hero whose weapon is science. The best episode of MacGyver ever produced!

4.       Ex Machina - In a year where a space opera ruled the box office let’s not forget some of the great hard science fiction that’s been coming out lately.

5.       The Revenant - Alejandro González Iñárritu’s first feature since Birdman is proving he is a modern day auteur.

6.       Avengers: Age of Ultron – A few shots in this film are the closest thing to a Jack Kirby splash page I’ve ever seen created in cinema.

7.       The Force Awakens – Not a perfect film by any stretch but it did manage to capture the energy and emotion of Star Wars and that’s a pretty wonderful thing.

8.       Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck – A unique documentary that utilizes the subject’s art work to tell the narrative.

9.       The Death of "Superman Lives": What Happened? – After watching this doc you are left wondering how does any film ever get made and of the ones that get made how are any of them ever good?

10.   Creed – Saying this is now the second best film in the franchise is no slight since Rocky won the 1976 Oscar for best picture.

·         A Most Violent Year *a 2014 film I loved that got a wide theatrical release in January 2015 so I thought I'd squeeze it in.

Most Overrated of 2015

Jurassic World - Much like The Force Awakens it gets by more on the emotions it creates then its paper thin story but not nearly as well.

Spy – This is one of the best comedies of 2015? On the bright side 2015 is almost over.  

Breakout Stars of 2015

Domhnall Gleason (Ex Machina, The Force Awakens, The Revenant)

Daisy Ridley (The Force Awakens)
 

Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck (2015) review

            Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck (2015) has the distinction of being the first Kurt Cobain documentary made with the cooperation of the Cobain family (Cobain’s daughter, widow, and mother). This film stays away from any of the conspiracies or conjecture swirling around Cobain’s suicide. To convey the narrative and prevent any one talking head’s point of view to dominate the narrative the filmmakers rely largely on home videos, Kurt’s own artwork, notebooks, and journals some dating back to Kurt Cobain’s early childhood. Lucky for the film maker it appears Kurt Cobain’s mother kept all his childhood art projects. This choice gives you some very personal insight into the doc’s subject and allows the director/writer Brett Morgen to not make a traditional biography or an over glorified Behind the Music. The film has a sense of honesty and candor that is exemplified in the scenes taken from home videos of Kurt Cobain and his wife bathing their baby daughter.
            Mr. Morgen doesn’t fill in the blanks of Kurt’s life with theory and postulation or give rationalizations or explanations for actions. The films real trick is making you feel satisfied you’ve been told a complete narrative despite the shadowy ambiguous areas. Morgen’s access to archived material and use of journals and artwork is ingenious because it allows the deceased to tell us his own tale posthumously through his artistic expression.  The film uses several interview clips where Kurt himself tells the viewer, “The art speaks for itself”.  Noticeably missing from the documentary is former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl. Mr. Grohl’s absence is ever more conspicuous due to his former band mate Krist Novoselic compelling and charismatic interview intercut and used throughout the film.
            The movie doesn’t attempt to fill in the blanks nor should it. The film is less about the facts and figures of Cobain’s life but how those events made him feel and how it influenced his art. Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck (2015) is a fantastic example of a narrative that shows rather than tells through amazing access to Kurt Cobain’s art work and archives.  If you’re in the mood for a documentary with interesting storytelling choices and devices or a music fan you’ll enjoy this film. 

  4 out of 5 cardigans. RECOMMEND 
By Jake S. Cohen