#best films of 2015

[mikimeiko]

Spotlight (Tom McCarthy, 2015)

[nastasya--filippovna]

everything

comes

full

circle

[the-physicality]

what i need is a link to admin at the mercury and admin at the wnba. set me up a special account so i can see all the old videos from the old website. and get me a computer with all 19000+ minutes of dt games and a strong video editor. really i'd like all the old footage too.

[jimhowickfan1]

Christopher Marlowe >>

[bluehairedspidey]

putting off homework until the last minute as a film major is so funny. watching an hour long movie 45 minutes before class on 2x speed

[aidansplaguewind]

Aidan accepts award for Best Actor in a Drama at the 2015 IFTA Awards for his performance in Charlie

x

[marxonculture]

Spotlight: My Weirdest Comfort Film

As of a few days ago, Tom McCarthy's best picture winning film, Spotlight (2015), became my most-watched film on Letterboxd. On its surface, the investigative journalism drama is a dour story based on the real investigation which exposed the horrific, systemic paedophilia within the Catholic church. This shouldn't be such a comforting watch, given its subject matter, so here I intend to determine what it is about this movie that keeps reeling me back in... or maybe there's just something wrong with me.

Let's start with the elephant in the room: am I just really odd? Honestly, probably, but I don't think that's why I keep coming back to Spotlight. While the film is mindful of the crimes being investigated, and particularly sensitive and alert to the pain and extreme trauma experienced by the victims, it's primary focus isn't on the scandal itself - it's very necessarily not torture porn. If I wanted to torture myself via repeated exposure to the pain of others, this wouldn't be the film to achieve that.

Instead, the focus of Spotlight is on the process of uncovering the Chruch's crimes, and the systemic issues that kept such an open secret covered up for so long. In other words, this is a film about people who are really good at their jobs, deconstructing all the ways the church in environments like Boston has its claws in every major institution, including the press.

For a long time, I wanted to be an investigative journalist. The idealism that drives exposing difficult truths in order to ensure that the electorate be informed, is an incredibly compelling reason for pursuing a career. Now that I'm older and I know that the demands of such a profession are not for me, my love of proper, idealistic journalism is channelled into films about the people who can hack it. Think Broadcast News, The Post, The Insider, Goodnight and Good Luck, and Zodiac; I'm even one of those sickos who loved The Newsroom.

I really do believe in the power and responsibility of the so-called Fourth Estate. So, one of the most compelling things about Spotlight is that it is a true story - a period piece even - about a time when the press served their intended function properly and really made a difference. A story about that kind of thing set today would almost feel like science fiction.

Tom McCarthy's filmmaking, which some have dismissed as bland or overly procedural, is genuinely inspired because of the reality it is showing. The aesthetic and tone of Spotlight is intentionally mundane and perfunctory, portraying a job that needs to be done well, but not one that needs glorifying or mythologising. The one member of the Spotlight team (Mark Ruffalo's Mike Rezendes) who is more theatrical and performative is chastised by his colleagues for his over-the-topness - it's very telling that he is the one who ends up writing the article.

I am especially drawn to the ostensible B-plot of the film: Liev Schreiber's Marty Baron stepping in as the new editor of the Boston Globe and having to contend with the extent of the Catholic church's influence on Boston life. Baron is Jewish, and immediately identified as an outsider in the majority Catholic city. His performance is, in my view, miraculous in the way it so accurately communicates the ways in which Jews in majority Christian environments have to restrain our frustration with a cultural majority that so consistently dehumanises and others us.

One scene in particular is often reason enough for me to revisit Spotlight. It involves Baron being called in for a meeting with Cardinal Law (the most senior figure at the time in the Boston archdiocese). Schreiber deftly communicates Baron's skillfully maintained composure and professionalism despite his clear discomfort at Law's blatant attempts to both bring him under the church's sketchy umbrella of influence and prostelytise at him. It is a frightening reminder of how deeply embedded Christianity is in Western institutions, and of how difficult it is to exist as a non-christian in those environments. Spotlight does not exonerate lapsed, cultural or non-practicing Catholics, but exposes how every day people will look the other way when their own community and institutions are implicated in something horrible. Like I said, science fiction.

Despite being based on a true story, Spotlight is a brilliantly crafted wish-fulfillment fantasy about a time when the press served its function and held vile, corrupt institutions to account. It's tempting to look back on its Best Picture win at the Oscars as a mistake, especially given how totemic Mad Max: Fury Road is as the last bastion of visually inventive, gonzo blockbuster filmmaking, but I really do believe that Spotlight's win was both deserved and has stood the test of time as a reminder of how we should act in the face of the systemic nightmares of our society. Every time I'm in a place of extreme pessimism about the state of the world, this film is a warm, if strange, comfort blanket.

[eddieredmayneargentinablog]

📸 26th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival - Portraits - January 3, 2015.

[lilydvoratrelundar]

the thing about loki 2021 is that its really fuckin good but not in any of the ways that the loki comics are really fuckin good. and the loki comics are better. go read the loki comics.

[jacquelinemerritt]

Dragonball Z: Abridged Episode 6 Review

Originally posted August 13th, 2015

A failed experiment, but an experiment nonetheless.

“No One Ever Listens to The Magical Dragon” is the obligatory training episode of any shounen anime, where the characters push themselves to their limits and become even stronger than they were before. So naturally, you’d expect it to be pretty boring. And it could have been. But Team Four Star recognized the creative freedom they had with such an episode, and made the wise decision to relegate all of the training mumbo jumbo to throwaway lines and gags, while taking the opportunity to experiment with the form of their storytelling.

Most of the experimentation takes place with Krillin, Tien, Yamcha, and Chaotzu, as they train under the delightfully creepy Mr. Popo, who takes them to a rather satanic looking portal and transports them to where they’ll be training: the ruins of an epic space battle. Chaotzu and Krillin quickly get lost, and Yamcha and Krillin are left to defend themselves from two powerful, unknown assailants.

All of this happens while the atmosphere is set through sound design, as KaiserNeko, their lead editor, attempts to give this place an eerie feel, and when the entire team is overwhelmed by the unknown assailants, he allows it to quickly devolve into a cacophony of agonizing screams. Unfortunately, the elements of the sound design don’t fully come together, but this experiment shows their ambition, as they attempt to move past the minimum expectations of an abridged series and do something great on its own.

Let’s talk about abridged series, for a moment. Most abridged series are designed with a singular purpose: to be a parody of the original. Their amateur production and the inexperience of those involved lead to very low expectations; it’s not very often they are expected to be anything more than funny, and since the audience is usually exclusively fans of the source material, there’s no pressure to be inclusive of viewers outside of the fans.

This means that most jokes end up being based upon ideas the show hasn’t established yet, or being related to drama or debates present in the fan community. And Dragonball Z: Abridged certainly shares these weaknesses in its first few episodes, as I’ve already been over. But the difference between DBZA and other abridged series is that its creators choose to push themselves constantly, experimenting with sound design, comedic timing, and storytelling constantly to find what works, and what doesn’t. These first few episodes of DBZA may lean towards what doesn’t work more than what does, sure, but eventually, Team Four Star will find their creative niche (but we’ll get to that).

Rating: 3/5

If you liked this review, please consider supporting me on Patreon.

Stray Observations

That Goku’s training session focuses on his questions about his father and people and relegates him learning the Kaio-ken and Spirit Bomb to a throwaway line is evidence that Team Four Star understand what truly matters in a story better than Toriyama, and you can fight me if you disagree.

It’s truly unfortunate that Team Four Star missed a great opportunity to actually define the relationship between Kami and Piccolo, especially given how well it is developed later on.

Shenron’s complaints are entirely valid. Too bad they’ve not really been established in DBZA itself.

Mr. Popo: “I’ll tell you where they’re not: safe.”

The Krillin Owned count is now up to four.

[dykemom]

movies I've watched with friends this year so far that we've enjoyed

-the menu (2022)

-wild zero (1999)

-behind the mask: the rise of leslie vernon (2006)

-willy's wonderland (2021)

[lesbiancolumbo]

jeanne dielman voted #1 movie by sight and sound, upsetting vertigo, thought you outta know!

[sunkissedfawn]

Cinderella (2015) | Dir. Kenneth Branagh

[courseyoulovemeyoudontknowme]

The Big Short (2015, Adam McKay)

01/09/2024

[milliondollarbaby87]

Let's Go To The Movies - 15 Films for 15 Years!