Joseph Gordon-Levitt | timotheories

Throwing Glass In Brick Houses (Phantom Thread review)

Posted on April 20, 2018 by Tim Kuefler

Romantic love can last but a moment, but companion love often lasts for a lifetime. And this is important because it’s a much more real feeling then something so fleeting as lust – the desire to be needed, to be important to someone, to be truly understood, it’s just so much more powerful.

Thankfully, dear readers, this film does expresses just that.

Phantom Thread (2017)

Cast: Vicky Krieps, Daniel Day-Lewis, Lesley Manville
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
released on blu-ray April 10, 2018
********* 9/10

IMDB: 7.7
Rotten Tomatoes: 91%, Audience Score 70%
The Guardian: *****

Paul Thomas Anderson is an American filmmaker. He has been nominated for over eight Academy Awards, and his films have generated over 25 nominations for cast and crew. His list of films is fairly short, having made 9 films over a 20+ year career – Hard Eight, Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love, There Will Be Blood, The Master, Inherent Vice, Phantom Thread, and 2018’s Waterlily Jaguar.

Now, I would be willing to argue that There Will Be Blood is one of the best, if not THE best film of the 2000s, so when I learned that Mr. Anderson directed it, I took notice and seriously looked at his portfolio. This is important because Phantom Thread is the second film that Daniel Day-Lewis has starred in with this director, and it’s also the last one before he retires.

Special thanks to Focus Features for the IMDB summary of the film –

Set in the glamour of 1950s post-war London, renowned dressmaker Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis) and his sister Cyril (Lesley Manville) are at the center of British fashion, dressing royalty, movie stars, heiresses, socialites, debutants, and dames with the distinct style of The House of Woodcock. Women come and go through Woodcock’s life, providing the confirmed bachelor with inspiration and companionship, until he comes across a young, strong-willed woman, Alma (Vicky Krieps), who soon becomes a fixture in his life as his muse and lover. Once controlled and planned, he finds his carefully tailored life disrupted by love

Now, I’m going to posit another theory, and you can choose to agree with it or not.

Romance is about a fantasy, whereas companionship is about taking a very real journey together. I originally watched this movie because it was nominated for a Best Picture award, and it registered with me, but didn’t affect me at the time. Then I decided to watch this film for a second time because I was reminded of something a friend of mine had said. He told me that this film was especially compelling because the two leads challenged each other. While I agree that Reynolds and Alma challenge each other, and I’m about to spoil an important part of the movie, so be forewarned, I think that poisoning someone to shift the balance of power in the relationship is pretty dramatic. So it still works as a movie, because movies typically take the highs and lows of life and leave out the majority of in-between moments.

But it’s in the in-between moments that human connection exists, and that’s why the story of the house of Woodcock, and the waitress that threw a brick into the front window, is the real focal point of a real love story. Not Daniel Day-Lewis, and we are all the better for it.

Pros: Vicky Krieps steals the show, and while Daniel Day-Lewis is enigmatic and bold, as he is in all of his roles, Alma is far more powerful in her strong-willed directness. The attention to detail in the sets, costumes, and interactions amongst the cast will hold you in, make you gasp for air for a moment, and finally accept the beauteous new outlook on life.

Cons: It is a very insular world, and because it doesn’t invite the casual viewer in, you might miss the fact that this is a far better telling of Fifty Shades of Grey.

Runtime: 2 hours 10 minutes

Points of Interest: The name Alma means “soul” in Spanish and Portuguese. Daniel Day-Lewis has not seen the finished film, and found the role incredibly emotionally demanding.

It might seem obvious now, but the title Phantom Thread eludes to several things. The role of dressmaking in Reynolds identity, the familial ties between Reynolds, his sister, their mother and their business, Reynolds relationship with his mother, and more importantly, the unseen connection between Alma and Reynolds. And this last thread is what drives the story. It might not seem obvious that there is an unbreakable bond between the two lovers, but try as fate might, their love cannot be broken, only strengthened.

That’s what real love does over time, it continues to define the identities of its partners.

theories Summarized

I love this movie. It grabbed hold of my attention, because it demanded a second viewing. I can see myself watching it multiple times over the years. Paul Thomas Anderson has done something wonderful in creating a period film that is timeless, but is very rich in it’s depictions. It’s a little sad that the only award it won was for Best Costume Design, but ironically enough, that might be the highest compliment it could receive given how intimate a role clothes play in our lives.

The exterior beauty of the dress could only exist with the loving labour of dressmaking.

And so that leads us into the Watch Culture video review I have lined up on Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s directorial debut – Don Jon. It’s a story about sex addiction, and how one man’s addiction to pornography has defined how he views most of his intimate relationships. It’s totally worth a watch, and like Phantom Thread, it has some great insights romantic love VS companion love.

Lastly, please let me know what you thought of both of these reviews on love, like and share the video, and subscribe to the channel (and email) if you haven’t already. Next week I’ll have a review on folk album and a horror-comedy film, and an interview preview with a pretty cool musician.

Tim!

Something Is Leaking (Snowden review)

Posted on January 10, 2017 by Tim Kuefler

There have been dozens of spy films over the years, and the sub-genre is strongly associated with the Jame Bond franchise to be sure, but what do you say to a film that is not your typical gun wielding action hero?

Films like The Lives of Others and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy come to mind, but I bet you wouldn’t expect a biopic to fit the bill, now would you?

Snowden (2016)

Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Melissa Leo, Zachary Quinto, Rhys Ifans, Shailene Woodley, Tom Wilkinson
Director: Oliver Stone
released on blu-ray December 27, 2016
******** 8/10

IMDB: 7.4
Rotten Tomatoes: 61%, Audience Score 73%
The Guardian: ****/*****

Oliver Stone is an academy awarding winning writer, director and producer. Known for his tendency to focus on American political issues, Stone is something of a controversial director. He has directed Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July, Heaven & Earth, Wall Street (and its sequel), The Doors, JFK, Nixon, and W. Snowden is his latest film and maintains the pace for addressing difficult subject material.

Snowden is based on a a series of books called The Snowden Files by Luke Harding and Time of the Octopus by Anatoly Kucherena. It has received mixed reviews and is a box office disappointment, only grossing $34 million worldwide on a budget of $40 million.

Based on the story of Edward Snowden, former computer professional for the CIA and former contractor for the United States government. Snowden is a whistleblower that leaked classified information from the NSA in 2013 without any authorization. He has revealed that the US and European governments had been working with telecommunications companies to run global surveillance and without any knowledge from the general public.

The movie opens with Snowden (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) meeting in Hong Kong with documentarian Laura Poitras (Melissa Leo) and journalist Glenn Greenwald (Zachary Quinto). They discuss releasing the classified NSA information which Snowden has stored in a Rubik’s Cube.

As the movie progresses we see a series of flashbacks of Snowden’s time in the US army, his administrative discharge over a fractured tibia, application for a position with the Central Intelligence Agency, and what he learns working with his employers.

Corbin O’Brian (Rhys Ifans) decides to take him on, and Snowden is educated in the ways of cyber warfare. He learns about the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which circumvents the Fourth Amendment rights of U.S. citizens by allowing warrant requests to be approved by a panel of judges that were appointed by the chief justice. During this time Snowden also meets Lindsay Mills over a dating website (Shailene Woodley), they hit it off, though they have different belief systems. Snowden’s first post is in Geneva Snowden where he begins to question the ethics of what they do. After his superior tries to force a DUI on a target of theirs, Snowden resigns the CIA.

Taking a position with the NSA in Japan, Snowden builds backup program of Middle East data called Epic Shelter. He slowly learns that other countries are employing similar practices, and working together on a global surveillance program. The stress of this knowledge and the job leads to a breakup with Mills.

A few months later, leaves this job and returns to Maryland to reconcile with Mills and he take a position consulting for the CIA. During a hunting trip, O’Brian asks for Snowden’s help counterattacking Chinese hackers. Snowden becomes epileptic, and Mills moves with him to Hawaii for his health, while Snowden works on this new post. Snowden learns that Epic Shelter has been repurposed to assist U.S. drones in launching lethal strikes against terror suspects in Afghanistan.

Snowden reaches his breaking point and smuggles a microSD card out of The Tunnel via the previously mentioned Rubik’s Cube. He asks Mills to fly home and contacts Poitras and Greenwald for a meet. With the help of Ewen MacAskill (Tom Wilkinson), the information is disseminated to the press, and leaked over other channels as well. The three journalists help Snowden to be smuggled out of Hong Kong. However, the U.S. Government revokes his passport, forcing him to remain in Moscow. The Russian government grants him asylum and Mills joins him.

Snowden continues his to fight right now.

Pros: Gordon-Levitt communicates Snowden’s crisis of ethics well, and the supporting cast all aid in the progress of the story. It’s clear that Oliver Stone is in reverence of Edward Snowden.

Cons: The template of the action-thriller takes away from the message, and the way the story unfolds is far to safe for the subject matter at hand.

Runtime: 2 hours 14 minutes

Points of Interest: To ensure the screenplay was not hacked or leaked, Oliver Stone wrote it on single computer without internet connectivity. Oliver Stone also visited the real Edward Snowden after filming to show him a cut of the film.

Did you know that Luke Harding is a Guardian journalist and that former editor Alan Rusbridger makes a cameo in the film? When I first watched this movie in theatres I was worried that The Guardian might come out with a biased review of the film, but I was pleasantly surprised. The highlights of the film definitely came in performances by Gordon-Levitt, Woodley, and Ifans, but this is a story that asks a question we cannot ignore, and it hits the mark.

This biopic is an excellent exploration into the sub-genre and a strong urging to deal with issues of security, secrecy and privacy as they continue to evolve in our globalized world. Snowden might not be for everyone, and it is likely biased towards the viewpoint of its protagonist, but the topic is essential. And that’s all the theories I’ve got for now.

Tim!

One Of These Things Is Not Like The Other Ones (The Night Before review)

Posted on March 15, 2016 by Tim Kuefler

Christmas movies are an interesting topic, because what constitutes a “Christmas” movie can vary by opinion. But the general idea is that a movie has to open no later than November (American Thanksgiving) and the story has to take place inside of the holiday season.

Whether the story is about Christmas itself is where the debate opens up, but fortunately for us, this week’s review is safely within that criteria.

The Night Before (2015)

Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anthony Mackie, Jillian Bell, Lizzy Caplan, Miley Cyrus
Director: Jonathan Levine
released on blu-ray March 1, 2016
****** 6/10

IMDB: 6.6
Rotten Tomatoes: 67%, Audience Score 67%
The Guardian: **/*****

Jonathan A. Levine is an American film director and screenwriter. He has directed 6 feature films to date, and the one you’re most likely to have seen is 50/50, which also happens to star Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen. It’s a great movie about the trials of cancer both from the perspective of the friend with cancer and the friend without.

And that movie wouldn’t exist if The Wackness hadn’t done so well at the Sundance, LA and Melbourne film festivals.

So what is The Night Before about?

Taken from IMDB and edited,

Ethan Miller (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) lost his parents in a car accident on Christmas eve 2001. His best friends Isaac Greenberg (Seth Rogen) and Chris Roberts (Anthony Mackie) start a tradition to hang out every Christmas Eve. In 2008, while at a bar, they learn about the craziest Christmas party ever – The Nutcracker Ball. Each year, the guys try to find the party, but never succeed.

In 2015, Chris is now a famous football player that secretly uses steroids while Isaac is married to Betsy (Jillian Bell) and is expecting their first baby. Ethan is a struggling musician that has recently broken up with his girlfriend Diana (Lizzy Caplan) and works at a hotel. While tending the coats, Ethan finds something in one of the pockets – three tickets to The Nutcracker Ball. He calls the number on the tickets and learns that the location will be announced at 10:00 PM.

Isaac is at a party hosted by Betsy’s sister Cindy (Helene Yorke). Ethan, already a little drunk, shows up before Chris arrives. Isaac and Chris want their yearly tradition to end now, but don’t think Ethan is quite ready. Before heading out, Betsy gives Isaac a box full of every drug known to man.

They take a Red Bull limo (Chris sponsors it) to Rockefeller centre where Ethan reveals the tickets. They kick off the night by going to FAO Schwartz and dancing on the piano like Tom Hanks in “Big” to Kanye West’s “Runaway”. Chris calls teammate Tommy Owens (Aaron Hill), who is attending The Nutcracker Ball and asks for weed. The guys call their dealer Mr. Green (Michael Shannon) who shares some weed with Chris and tells him to go to a party he’s throwing later, and to tell Isaac that he’ll see him later.

Next the guys sing “Christmas in Hollis” at a karaoke bar while wearing three festive sweaters that Ethan wants them to wear. They are met by Diana and friend Sarah (Mindy Kaling). Ethan and Diana make small talk while Isaac is already tripping. He runs into the bathroom to do coke and balance himself out, and then makes a video expressing fears over becoming a dad. He goes back to talk to Sarah, gets them both drinks but his nose starts bleeding and a drop falls into Sarah’s drink, which she drinks unilt Isaac’s nose bleeds harder and he admits he did coke. Outside the bar, Chris talks to a fan named Rebecca (Ilana Glazer), who admittedly hates Christmas. The two have sex in the bathroom.

Afterwards, Ethan call for the party address. Chris then realizes Rebecca stole his weed during sex. They contact Mr. Green again and wait at Chris’s mother’s house. Isaac gets the weed when Mr. Green shows up. He shares weed with Isaac and gives him a glimpse of the future where his daughter is a stripper.

When Isaac goes back inside the house, his phone’s ringtone goes off, waking up Mrs. Roberts (Lorraine Toussant). She feeds the guys while Isaac trips out and looks at his phone to find a dick pic from a guy named James. Confused, Isaac responds and is propositioned by James. Realizing he has Sarah’s phone, Isaac freaks out that Sarah while show Diana his video, which will get to Betsy. Meanwhile, Chris and Mrs. Roberts talk about Ethan and Diana, Mrs. Roberts suggest Ethan take the opportunity on Christmas to make it up to her.

This festive comedy is fun and entertaining, but a little bit mediocre.

Pros: The story is best when the nuances of the three friendships are tested and enjoyed, but the real comedy comes from Seth Rogen and Michael Shannon.

Cons: The scenes change constantly without ever really feeling necessary, and the plot can feel gimmicky, especially at the very end.

Runtime: 101 minutes

Points of Interest: Jonathan Levine admitted that the comedy elements of the story were mostly improvised but the dramatic ones were planned, and served as an outline. All three main actors have portrayed super-heroes.

The movie has its moments, particularly the vision into the past where the two friends become Ethan’s symbolic parents, and joke about James Franco and Seth Rogen’s character is very on point. Where I struggle with it, is that the movie never fully committed to Ethan as the protagonist and the plot had too many threads.

I will say this though, the movie is very entertaining for a Christmas themed one, and I can definitely picture it coming out occasionally for those times when you’ve got the Christmas jones.

The Night Before is definitely a Christmas movie, but whether it can be considered a prestigious one is unlikely. Having said that, that doesn’t mean you should avoid Christmas movies altogether, especially if you like comedy. Christmas Vacation, Elf, A Christmas Story, Scrooged and Home Alone are all excellent choices to consider.

Anyways, I’m all out of theories for today folks. I’ll see you tomorrow with some wisdom. Comment! Subscribe! Email!

Tim!

Walk It Off (The Walk Review)

Posted on January 19, 2016 by Tim Kuefler

Passion Pit is one of those bands that a lot of people really like, and which I can see the value of, but just aren’t for me. I’ll try to out my finger on it dear readers, just for you.

Take for instance, the song Take A Walk. In the music video, the director wants us to feel the experience of a ball on it’s path through the city, country, and various places. They accomplish this to some effect, which is really cool. But the problem is that this couldn’t actually happen, so the band has managed to lie to us.

And it bothers me!

But what if a director could evoke that same feeling of travel synthetically and get a positive response? I might just be into it then.

The Walk (2015)
Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ben Kingsley, Charlotte Le Bon, Clément Sibony, César Domboy
Director: Robert Zemeckis
released on blu-ray January 5, 2016
******** 8/10

IMDB: 7.5
Rotten Tomatoes: 85%, Audience Score 81%
The Guardian: *****/*****

Robert Lee Zemeckis is an American film maker and screenwriter. And he is something of an icon in the American cinema, having directed several blockbusters over the past few decades (Romancing the Stone, Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Forrest Gump, Cast Away, Flight).

The Walk is his first move since the success of Flight in 2012, but does it get the same Zemeckis effects treatment, that is either lauded or loathed?

Let’s read about the story first.

Philippe Petit (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is standing on the highest platform of the Statue of Liberty where he explains his fearless, love of wire walking, and what inspired him to hang wire between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center and walk it.

We go back to Paris, France 1973 and see into his life. He is a street performer who performs illegally and always on the run. One day after biting a jawbreaker candy, Philippe visits the dentist. It is there that he reads a magazine article about the the unfinished Twin Towers. He is inspired to walk across them.

After a flashblack, we learn more about Philippe, his first experience with high-wire walkers at the circurs, his parents disapproval when he practiced everyday, and his eventual break-in to circus owner Rudy “Papa Rudy” Omankowsky’s show (Ben Kingsley). Philippe charms Rudy into teaching him the trade and he finally leaves home.

On a trip through town Philippe sees a young lady named Annie (Charlotte Le Bon), performing her music to a crowd. He sets up shop and steals her audience. Later she comes to rebuke him, but he apologizes while simultaneously defending himself. It begins to rain, and Annie leaves, but Philippe finds an umbrella and wins her affection. He has his first accomplice.

Annie convinces Philippe and her professors to let him practice at her school. This is where he becomes friends with his second accomplice Jean-Louis (Clement Sibony), a photographer. Philippe lands his first performance via Papa Rudy, held over a lake, while a fishing contest takes place. But the fishermen boo him, and he loses concentration, then falls in. After his embarassment, Philippe vows to walk Notre Dame to redeem himself. He prepares at night and performs as tourists arrive in the morning. He succeeds but is arrested.

Jean-Louis introduces to Philippe accomplice #3, Jean-Francois, aka: Jeff (Cesar Domboy), who is afraid of heights and can’t speak English. The team travels to New York City for the first time to inspect the towers. Initially Philippe panics at the scale of the buildings, but once he sneaks in and climbs to the observation deck, his passion returns.

Upon return home, Philippe organizes the “coup” for August 6th 1974, which is just ahead of winter and the tower completion.

Rudy wants Philippe to use a saftey harness, but Philippe refuses and explains it would defeat the purpose of the walk. Rudy changes his mind and he gives Philippe all of his lesson payment money back to allow him to complete the coup.

The team returns to New York, and go under cover to learn all of the technical information about the building. During this process Philippe accidentally steps on a nail which goes through his foot. This does not deter him though, and he continues on, without seeking medical treatment.

Let’s put on the plot brakes now. Otherwise the whole story is ruined, and you need to witness The Walk to experience the full effect of climax.

Pros: The suspense of whether this movie will culminate in what we were all hoping for. When we watch the walk and actually get the sense of dread and freedom expected it. The lead characters all manage to suspend our disbelief that they are in fact not French.

Cons: The New York characters feel a little stale, and as a consequence some of those scenes seem to drag on. Some of the dialogue feels a bit forced and the narration by Philippe is unnecessary in places.

Runtime: 123 minutes

Points of Interest: There have been reports by some film reviewers that the screening of this film in theaters actually caused people to throw up from vertigo. Robert Zemeckis said that while he didn’t believe it, the goal of the film was to evoke that feeling all the same.

As I mentioned earlier, Zemeckis has something of a track record for focusing on special effects, technological tricks, and visually impressing. Whether this has resulted in some bad movies on his part is somewhat subjective.

And the real reason why I take issue with Passion Pit is because I was supposed to see them live one year as part of the Sonic Boom festival in Edmonton and they decided to play a DJ set instead of performing their music! So sometimes seeing isn’t REALLY believing.

Either way I’d take The Walk!

Tim!