40 Film Challenge: Week 3 (4-27-2020)

WEEK 3: "THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN'"

Bob Dylan's seminal ode to change has somehow managed to escape the same phenomena it poeticizes. It's a nuclear-grade earworm that hits with the same impact it did in 1964, when America was awash in change it wasn't ready for but desperately needed. Since then, the song has become ubiquitous throughout pop culture, covered by everyone from Nina Simone to The Beach Boys, and famously used (to internet audiences, anyway) as the opening titles for Zack Snyder's "Watchmen". So how come humanity is still so terrible at accepting change when it arrives?

The five movies this week all engage with the promise of change in different ways, whether it's shifting cultural norms, evolving perspectives, or bloody revolution. They're a fitting follow-up to last week's selection of war-themed movies. In the aftermath of armed conflict, is there anything that can happen besides change? And why does that change always breed more conflict? Yes, the times they are a-changin', but our love for the song, and our need to hear its message, remain the same.

CLASSIC:

“The Social Network” (2010)

Written by Aaron Sorkin

Directed by David Fincher

Genre: Drama

Making a compelling film about Facebook seems an impossible task, but “The Social Network” proves it’s hard to go wrong when you combine one of Hollywood’s most beloved writers with one of its most rebellious directors. Aaron Sorkin’s script is exhaustively researched and full of lively characters, and David Fincher shoots it with his singular, precise style to build an unforgettable modern parable about the dangers of wanting to be liked. Human relationships are hard enough, and the dawn of online culture promised to complicate everything and clarify nothing. Also of note: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s moody, industrial score is an instant all-timer for movie soundtracks. NEW CLASSIC:

“Roma” (2018)

Written by Alfonso Cuarón

Directed by Alfonso Cuarón

Genre: Drama, Period

Set against the backdrop of violent, political turmoil in 1960’s Mexico City, Alfonso Cuarón’s “Roma” is about Cleo, the live-in help for a wealthy family, who must deal with both an unexpected pregnancy and the crumbling marriage of her employers. There is a lot of turbulent change in this story, and Cuarón expresses it all with depth and patience. His shots are long and wide to let the frame fill up with details, and Yalitza Aparacio, the movie’s lead actress who had never acted before, installs a core authenticity that anchors the audience’s attention and affection.

DEEP CUT:

“Green Room” (2016)

Written by Jeremy Saulnier

Directed by Jeremy Saulnier

Genre: Thriller

When four college-aged punk rockers accidentally witness a murder at a remote warehouse venue, they’re held against their will and forced into a game of wits against the Neo-Nazi perpetrators. Like the heavy punk music on the soundtrack, Jeremy Saulnier’s movie is tense, visceral, and bleak. But it’s also anti-prejudice; an angry reminder that everyone’s equal in the mosh pit. This is not the type of movie you expect Sir Patrick Stewart to show up in, but once he’s onscreen as the skinheads' stoic, calculating leader, it’s impossible to imagine it being anyone else. OUT THERE:

“Nacho Libre” (2006)

Written by Jared Hess, Jerusha Hess, Mike White

Directed by Jared Hess

Genre: Comedy

When Jack Black became an instant rockstar on YouTube, it felt like a position he was destined to claim. “Nacho Libre” proves that before the attention-hogging, irony-laden humor of meme culture grabbed hold, Jack Black had already perfected it. Just about every line he says as a Mexican orphanage-cook-turned-luchador is delivered with maximum silliness, typically without any regard for whether it’s in character or not. Black’s nakedly playing straight to camera (sometimes while naked), but it feels right at home in the age of selfies. KELLY’S PICK:

“Snowpiercer” (2014)

Written by Bong Joon Ho, Kelly Masterson Directed by Bong Joon Ho Genre: Sci-Fi, Dystopia

Bong Joon Ho had been fusing strident social commentary with viciously weird worlds and characters long before his awards-gobbling “Parasite,” and “Snowpiercer” might still be his most effective creation. The last remnants of humanity have escaped a cataclysmic ice-age by sheltering inside a futuristic train, and a rigid social hierarchy has trapped the tail-end survivors in oppressive poverty. Revolution ensues (of course), and Bong Joon Ho uses this miniature society to enormous effect. The movie is just as streamlined, awe-inducing, and eternal as its titular locomotive, with an ending that’s boldly subversive by daring to ask whether the happy ending we’re rooting for is really a happy ending at all.

BONUS:

“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” (2018)

Written by Phil Lord, Rodney Rothman Directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman Genre: Superhero, Animated

Spider-Man has always been for everyone, and in “Spider-Verse,” Spider-Man could literally be anyone. It’s that shared belief in pop culture’s most iconic superhero that takes what could have been a redundant retread and alchemizes it into one of the superhero genre’s finest. Brought to life by an eclectic mixture of 3D and 2D animation, this multi-dimensional romp is full of unforgettably weird and lovable variations of "classic" Spider-Man. Miles Morales, the movie’s adolescent hero, is a more than worthy heir to the webslinger mantle, and will have you asking “Peter who?” by the time he wins the day.

BONUS “COMMUNITY” EPISODE: 

“Cooperative Calligraphy” (Season 2, Episode 8)

“Community” thrives on its character dynamics. These seven characters are wildly different, and their agitative energy is what fuels the show. No episode better demonstrates that quality more than “Cooperative Calligraphy,” which traps the study group in a single-location and lets their dysfunction transform a minor grievance (Annie’s missing pen) into a major meltdown. Abed explains this single-location concept is called a “bottle episode" (a handy way for sitcoms to save money), but the whole thing is basically an expertly executed riff on “No Exit.” The ending, though, is exceptionally more hopeful. Yes, they’re dysfunctional, but they also love each other, and those two opposites can only coexist when you stop pointing them out.