laggies (2014) directed by lynn shelton.

speaking of the sorry life of single fathers (which i am sure is not so bad as most often portrayed in films), i quite like this movie starring sam rockwell as a lonely single father raising his teenage daughter when a teen-dult (OK i'm inventing a new word, but you get it) in the form of keira knightley crashed into his house to escape, well, adulting. the plot about teen-dult struggling to adult is not that interesting, at least to me, but i like how sam rockwell owned the single father part, and the rest of the teenage characters in the movie. 

we are never too old to have angst, especially when we don't get what we want. 

jersey girl (2004). directed by kevin smith.

i get it why critics lambasted this film, it is sentimental, and at times, too saccharine sweet you think you are going to get diabetes. i like it though, apart from the overdone bits. it's actually quite good, and sweet in a good way in (certain) right places. the cast is strong, and it's a heartwarming story about a single father raising his daughter, about the truth on parenting that you do give up your dreams for the life of your kid. 

even jennifer lopez wasn't so bad in the movie.  

the lincoln lawyer (2011). directed by brad furman.

i have faith in brad furman. contrary to the previous film, this is highly watchable. it's fun, smart and engaging. actually, a lot of matthew mcconaughey come back films circa 2011 are good stuff to watch. 

runner runner (2013). directed by brad furman.

for someone who directed the lincoln lawyer (2011), i expect something better than this. the story is flat. i actually have time fantasizing how this movie would be a lot more watchable had it been directed by micheal mann. and please, justin timberlake should go back to making albums. he is a shit actor. 

high-rise (2015). directed by ben wheatley.

speaking of dystopian futures, though this story feels like the 70s (j.g. ballard wrote the book in 1975). depicting class wars taking place in an apartment building, like literally, at times i feel like the film is a disjointed. perhaps it wants to convey the claustrophobic feeling of being boxed in a class where you can't move, laterally or vertically (in this case, absurdly trapped in a building). the upper class partied like there is no tomorrow, oblivious to the destruction around them, as they often are (why is that not surprising?). the lower class suffered, because that's all they can do. 

i don't enjoy it too much, the feel of the film is too detached. but i get the point.  

the lobster (2015). directed by yorgos lanthimos.

is the word dystopian? stretch the idea a bit more, when being single is seen pathetic and a loser. and in any society that craves conformity, disregarding individual struggles, we will see power and violence being disproportionately used to force people to conform. director lanthimos is greek, i don't know if this is a meditation about the country being forced to submit under the heels of stronger, richer neighbours in the eurozone. 

maybe. do we need to be helpless? no. 

ondine (2009). directed by neil jordan.

i like how this story weaves the reality of being a drug mule where women are often trafficked into the trade, with the myth of a mermaid, something that a child can digest, and distract adults from the incessant  worries of the world. it is also a story of second chances, both for the mermaid, and the fisherman who rescued her. it is so dreamy at times, in a good way. 

and you root for these people to get a happy ending, because we all need second chances. 

choke (2008). directed by clark gregg.

one of the funniest movies i watched this year, is this film. very indie, but so deliciously funny if you like something freudian. it's a story about our baser instincts, ahem, that it is human nature to repress desires that they feel forbidden and project them in, hmm, how should i say, interesting forms. we are taken through the lives of sex addicts trying to be functional people, where sam rockwell and angelica huston are just delightful. as the main protagonist puts it, 

victor mancini: we are not born equal sinners, or perfect knock-offs of god. the world tells us whether we're heroes or victims. but, we can decide for ourselves.

moon (2009). directed by duncan jones.

actually, one of the best movies i watched this year is this film. it's a story about a lone worker manning a moon station, carried the whole way through in the capable hands of sam rockwell, as he soon found out that he is not so alone, in the company of a person who looks exactly like him. this film needs to be watched. i will not divulged further because it needs to be experienced. i have no complaints about this film, duncan jones directed it with expert hands and sam rockwell is such a pleasure to watch. going beyond a story about loneliness, it is also a metaphor of the cruelness of capitalism, when people are just as replaceable as machines. 

needless to say, a must watch. 

foxcatcher (2014). directed bennett miller.

it's always a pleasure seeing steve carell and mark ruffalo in action, and i think channing tatum is pretty good too in this movie. but i find the movie flat despite tensions between the central characters which could have been more dramatic, apart from the defeat that tatum's character suffered in one of the wresting trials and then getting straightened up by his brother, the conflicts were not exploited for effects. perhaps this is done on purpose to portray life at john du pont's farm, where du pont's unstable behaviours and its impact on others are insignificant due to du pont's role as the patron of the wrestling academy. the like the story, but i dislike the people i see on screen, especially is john du pont. steve carell did a good job, but it is also a testament of athletes at that time having to rely on patronage even from someone as deranged as du pont.