#6
THE RAID 2
DIR. GARETH EVANS
I was pretty speechless walking out of The Raid 2 at SXSW last year. When people talk about stuff they have never seen before in a film, usually, that is not true. Here, almost every action scene had something I had never seen before… And there are A LOT of action scenes. The car chase had camera movements I did not think were possible. The prison fight had ways of killing and inuring people I did not even think you could do to someone. All of these phenomenal set pieces of real people doing real stunts (a rarity) is also lifted up by this thoughtful, engaging gangster story. So, the people who complained about the first Raid movie not having a story (I was not one of those people) now have no excuse to not like the sequel. This is two and a half hours or exhilaration and adrenaline, and it is awesome.
#5
LOCKE
DIR. STEVEN KNIGHT
A movie about a guy talking on the phone in a car for ninety minutes? That’s it? Yeah, that’s it, and it is so much more gripping than the biggest CGI buildings you could destroy. The film rests almost entirely on the shoulders of its one on screen actor, Tom Hardy, and he is more than capable of making every second of Locke interesting and intense. The dichotomy of someone so sure of himself and what he does atoning for a huge mistake he made makes for great drama. Conflict, people, conflict. That is what a story is based on. Here, there are mountains of it, and Hardy conveys it all beautifully. Steven Knight is now a filmmaker I am extremely interested in what he makes next.
#4
DEAR WHITE PEOPLE
DIR. JUSTIN SIMIEN
Guys, there were other films that came out last year besides Selma with a predominantly black cast, and better films. One of these films was Justin Simien‘s look at racism and identity in college with Dear White People. Simien decides to take the route I find most effective when making a movie about issues: satire. Far too often, films dealing with political, sociological, and ideological ideas and questions are too heavy-handed with their messages. I feel like I am being beaten in the face with a point of view, which is bad even if I agree with the sentiment. Satire allows these questions to be explored in both an entertaining way and a more subtle way. I think it is a much better way to communicate these rather serious topics. And what is great about Dear White People is it does not present any easy solutions, which if there were any, we would not be dealing with racism in the first place. The film features a terrific ensemble cast, led by the outstanding Tessa Thompson, all of whom we should look forward to seeing in the future. Simien has crafted a smart, biting film here, and it needs to be seen.
