3.5 Razors

The Theory of Everything

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Theory of Everything
  • IMDb: link

The Theory of EverythingTheoretical physicist Stephen Hawking is undeniably one of the brightest minds of our time, a fact that The Theory of Everything struggles to prove while being far more interested in the man’s personal life than his professional breakthroughs. The result is a strong romantic drama between Hawking (Eddie Redmayne) and his wife Jane (Felicity Jones) that is far less insightful of the man’s work.

Dumbing down Hawking’s theories for the audience, the script by Anthony McCarten based on Jane Hawking‘s book spoon-feeds us extremely basic doses of Hawkings theories without ever examining the work that went into studying or proving them. Instead the ideas seem to come from nowhere, take little effort to prove, and are instantly lauded. Does that sound like the cut-throat world of academia to you?

More concerned with showcasing the effects and unique challenges presented to Stephen and Jane after his diagnosis of motor neuron disease, The Theory of Everything succeeds far better here getting the most of its stars (even if the film, intentionally or not, turns Jane into a martyr).

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Snowpiercer

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Snowpiercer
  • IMDb: link

SnowpiercerI had a very mixed reaction to writer/director Joon-ho Bong‘s Snowpiercer. One one-hand I’m increasingly tired dramas using the trappings of sci-fi to offer up dystopian futures and thinly-veiled class struggle that offer no message other than the fact that such inequality is wrong and ultimately disastrous to the human species. My rebelling against the form isn’t really Snowpiercer‘s fault other than the fact it adds to the glut of similarly-themed films in recent years. On the other hand the film certainly embraces the literal interpretation of rising above your class to offer a bizarre struggle of less fortunate train passengers attempting to climb their way upward.

At its worst Snowpiercer feels preachy and overreaching in its visual style presenting each train car as a bizarely impossible worlds for the voyagers to walk through. It’s also not well served by a performance so over-the-top by Tilda Swinton it’s amazing she doesn’t hit her head on the roof in every scene. At its best the film does serve its message and offer Chris Evans a role as a would-be hero forced to face the deficiencies in both himself and the world he hopes to make more equitable through his struggle.

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A Most Wanted Man

/ / Home Video
  • Title: A Most Wanted Man
  • IMDb: link

A Most Wanted ManNotable for being the final non-Hunger Games role of Philip Seymour Hoffman, A Most Wanted Man is a slow-burning espionage thriller involving a secret German anti-terrorism unit tracking a potential suspect (Grigoriy Dobrygin). Although it’s based on the work of the same author, sadly, it’s not Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (which surprisingly moves at a far better pace than A Wanted Man).

The main takeaway from the film is how little actually happens in surveillance and much of what we do see (including a flailing romantic subplot) isn’t always that interesting. The cast is well chosen, and Hoffman leads a group of talented actors (Robin Wright, Rachel McAdams, Willem Dafoe) each providing strong performances, but the movie lacks the will or motivation to put them to better use than we see here. It’s certainly not a bad film by any means, and is certainly worth viewing for the performances alone, but the end result is less than the sum of its parts.

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The Mentalist – Nothing But Blue Skies

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: The Mentalist – Nothing But Blue Skies
  • wiki: link

The Mentalist - Nothing But Blue Skies

The Mentalist returns for its final season with Jane (Simon Baker) and Lisbon (Robin Tunney) heading back to work for the first time as a couple, a fact they decide to try and keep from the rest of their FBI team which surprisingly doesn’t include Fischer (Emily Swallow) who is replaced in the season premiere with Quantico rookie Michelle Vega (Josie Loren).

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The Newsroom – Contempt

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: The Newsroom – Contempt
  • wiki: link

The Newsroom - Contempt

One wedding and a jail sentence. It’s an eventful week for ACN. Neal Sampat (Dev Patel) has disappeared to a non-extradition country. The team gets blasted for showing up at the White House Correspondents Dinner after previously rebuking the entire affair live on television. Will (Jeff Daniels) has been called in front of a Grand Jury to disclose the name of the source which supplied Neal with thousands of classified documents. The network is about to be sold to a man (B.J. Novak) whose idea of network news makes Charlie (Sam Waterston) want to throttle the bastard. Jim‘s (John Gallagher Jr.) relationship goes up in flames. And Sloan (Olivia Munn) and Don (Thomas Sadoski) are still attempting to hide their relationship from the Human Resources.

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