Theory Thursday: Adam Sandler is Doing Some of His Career-Best Work Right Now (2015-Present)

Scene from Hubie Halloween

Welcome to a sporadic column called Theory Thursdays, which will be released every Thursday and discuss my "controversial opinion" related to something relative to the week of release. Sometimes it will be birthdays while others is current events or a new film release. Whatever the case may be, this is a personal defense for why I disagree with the general opinion and hope to convince you of the same. While I don't expect you to be on my side, I do hope for a rational argument. After all, film is a subjective medium and this is merely just a theory that can be proven either way. 

Review: "Uncut Gems" Bets Big with Exciting Results

Scene from Uncut Gems

It's safe to say that Howard "Bling" Ratner (Adam Sandler) hasn't done anything with his life. It may not seem that way because he is one of the most respected jewelry salesmen in New York, managing to have a personal connection to NBA star Kevin Garnett. He is capable of making a profit with simple negotiation tactics and high-risk betting. One would assume that Howard is a very lucky man, but over the course of co-directors, Josh and Benny Safdie's neurotic masterpiece Uncut Gems, his life begins to unwind as one bad deal leads to a downward spiral of choices that puts him further in debt with mobsters that want him dead. Still, with no actual skill except negotiation, how does he stand any chance of making it out alive? It's the type of radical survival skills that makes Sandler's performance so electric, serving as one of his best. For a man who doesn't have much to show for himself that he personally earned, it's a story of desperation that shows the problem with the American dream when all you want is to get rich.

Failed Oscar Campaigns: "The Meyerowitz Stories" (2017)

Scene from The Meyerowtiz Stories

As awards seasons pick up, so do the campaigns to make your film have the best chances at the Best Picture race. However, like a drunken stupor, sometimes these efforts come off as trying too hard and leave behind a trailer of ridiculous flamboyance. Join me on every other Saturday for a highlight of the failed campaigns that make this season as much about prestige as it does about train wrecks. Come for the Harvey Weinstein comments and stay for the history. It's going to be a fun time as I explore cinema's rich history of attempting to matter.

The First "Uncut Gems" Trailer Finds Adam Sandler Stealing Our Hearts in Exciting New Ways

Scene from Uncut Gems

In 2017, co-directors Josh and Benny Safdie made a splash with the visceral and manic Good Time: a film that helped Robert Pattinson be taken more seriously. Many are hoping that their follow-up, Uncut Gems, will do the same for Adam Sandler. The comedian has had a reputation for lowbrow films that leave a notorious aura around him. In recent years, he has made more of a concerted effort to take dramatic turns such as The Meyerowitz Stories that prove he's capable of so much more. Given the reviews out of recent film festivals, Sandler is looking at one of his best roles yet. The real question is that with a New Academy where nominees are more unpredictable than ever, can almost 30 years of wacky comedies continue to hold back Sandler from an Oscar nomination? If the trailer for Uncut Gems has anything to say about it we may be looking at one of the most enlightening turning points of his career yet.

Review: "The Meyerowitz Stories" is a Great Family Drama That Finds Humanity in Humor

Scene from The Meyerowitz Stories

In 2005, director Noah Baumbach received critical acclaim for his dysfunctional family drama The Squid and the Whale. While he has continued to evolve as an artist, there's something painful in the drama's nuance. It's human and real in ways that only cinema can capture. After 12 years and several fascinating character studies, Baumbach returns to the family drama with Netflix's The Meyerowitz Stories, which pits Jewish comedians in a story that is funny and uncomfortable in the best ways possible. What follows is a film that captures the complicated relationship of a family torn apart by egos and neuroses. The film creates an authentic experience that will remind audiences of their own complicated and personal relationship to their parents and siblings. It may not be his best film since The Squid and the Whale, but it's proof that he still knows how to do ensemble films.

"The Meyerowitz Stories" Trailer Promises a Serious Adam Sandler Performance... *sigh* Again

Scene from The Meyerowitz Stories

If there's one general agreement, it's that Adam Sandler's glory days as a bankable actor are behind him, at least on the big screen. His work with Netflix has produced an odd range of comedies that have varying degrees of reviews. Still, nobody would mistake what he does for Oscar caliber material. Considering that Netflix is a company that wants to get in on the awards racket, it makes sense then that their latest film, director Noah Baumbach's The Meyerowitz Story at least has an appetizing supporting cast, featuring Ben Stiller, Dustin Hoffman, and Emma Thompson. The first trailer has dropped, and... it's time to talk about his bizarre relationship with prestige movie season yet again. 

Theory Thursday: "Funny People" is Underrated

Scene from Funny People

Welcome to a weekly column called Theory Thursdays, which will be released every Thursday and discuss my "controversial opinion" related to something relative to the week of release. Sometimes it will be birthdays while others is current events or a new film release. Whatever the case may be, this is a personal defense for why I disagree with the general opinion and hope to convince you of the same. While I don't expect you to be on my side, I do hope for a rational argument. After all, film is a subjective medium and this is merely just a theory that can be proven either way. 

What Happened to Jason Reitman?

Left to right: Rosemarie DeWitt and Adam Sandler

How did it come to this? After making an impressive career with films like Juno and Up in the Air, director Jason Reitman has done something disappointing. He has become somewhat of a shell of his former self. Where his past few films all had a sense of urgency that made me call him the contemporary Frank Capra, he hasn't quite captured the magic since Young Adult. In 2014 alone, he has released two films that have failed in one way or another. After Labor Day saw him attempt to do a straight-up drama in ways that were stilted, there was hope that it was a misguided effort. However, when Men, Women & Children matched the rating on critics aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes at 33%, the dreams of this being a potential Oscar nominee became shattered. What happened to Jason Reitman? He used to be so perfect.

Reitman Returns to Thought Provoking Drama with the First Trailer for "Men, Women & Children"

Left to right: Ansel Egort and Kaitlyn Dever

One of the great things about the end of summer is that it marks the beginning of Oscar season. While films like Inherent Vice, Interstellar, and Foxcatcher have their positions planned out, there is still the actual race. Despite what prognosticators will say, there are very few instances where predictions in July will be the same in January. There's way too much that comes out that takes surprising turns. For instance, did anyone see Gravity as a Best Director winner from the first trailer? Alfonso Cuaron fans maybe did, but all of the attention was on 12 Years a Slave. With the first trailer for director Jason Reitman's Men, Women & Children, he looks to be back and ready to surprise the world not only with a film about technology and how it isolates as well as potentially surprising performances. Is this going to be Adam Sandler's foray into the Oscar race? Knowing Reitman's abilities, it just might.