SILENCE IS UNFORGETTABLE

17th century Japan was not a nice place to live. The ones in charge were strictly enforcing a complete shut out of Christianity/Catholicism and anyone discovered to be practicing that faith or attempting to spread it were arrested, told to denounce their faith (by stepping on a picture of Jesus), and if they refused they were tortured and eventually killed. Silence is based on a 1966 book by Japanese author Tanizaki Prize. This is a passion project for director Scorcese, and has been in development since 1990. Passion projects don't always pan out well, but for Scorsese the effort pays off beautifully.

In 1639, priests Rodrigues (Andrew Garfield) and Garupe (Adam Driver) travel to Japan in search of their mentor Ferriera (Liam Neeson), who was there spreading Catholicism and is rumored to have publicly denounced his faith after being captured and tortured. Their mission is to find Ferriera, discover if he is still faithful to the cause, and spread Catholicism there if possible. While in Japan, Rodrigues undergoes his own crisis of faith as he witnesses unspeakable acts of suffering and torture, and is ultimately tested himself.

Adam Driver is pretty great as Garupe, though he doesn't play as important of a role as I expected him to. A big surprise was Shin'ya Tsukamoto as Mokichi, a Japanese practitioner of Catholicism who befriends both Rodrigues and Garupe. Mokichi has some of the most affecting scenes in the whole film. Liam Neeson is superb as Ferriera, although he doesn't appear until well into the third act, and has little screen time. He still manages to make a strong impression, and this is easily his best modern day role.

All this said, Silence is mostly a one man show. That one man would be Andrew Garfield, who tackles his meaty role with gusto. He is our main character, and we spend 100% of the running time following him and his journey. His struggles throughout the film are deeply affecting, and there were a few scenes where I choked up a bit watching his and others' suffering and abuse. Garfield's Rodrigues continually prays to God throughout the film, and after a while it starts to feel like he is praying to the audience watching the film. This alone brings up questions and will be sure to ignite discussions. Andrew Garfield continues to prove himself a stunning, magnificent talent and this is easily his best role so far. He manages to make his character relatable and personal, but also vulnerable and all too human. It did bother me a bit that the film kept relating his trials to that of Christ's, but luckily this is brought up and discussed later on in a satisfying way. I have no qualms saying that Andrew Garfield as Rodrigues is easily the performance of the year. I'm happy to see him get a nod for Best actor at the Oscars, although it was for the wrong role.

Silence is a film that is expertly crafted from beginning to end. The direction, script (by Scorsese and Jay Cocks), the editing (Thelma Schoonmaker), and the cinematography (by Rodrigo Prieto) are all fantastic.  It's interesting to note that the film itself is pretty silent as there isn't much of a score to accompany the scenes. At two hours and forty one minutes, it does run a bit on the long side. That said, every single frame in this film is important. It's all a part of the deeply personal journey Scorsese is taking us on. Yes, this is a very tough film to watch. There is a lot of torture, and every scene of it is deeply affecting and disturbing. Don't walk in expecting a feel-good film, this is a challenging cinematic experience. Silence is about religion, faith, the personal resolve of men, and how all this can be tested (the audience is tested as well).

There should be no doubt by now that Scorsese is a master at his craft. His modern films have all been masterpieces in their own right, and Silence is no exception. After two hours plus of nasty, disturbing stuff going on, Scorsese offers the audience a meditative, calming credits score consisting of crickets and ambient noise (which fits in perfectly with 1600s Japan). It's a nice, welcome reprieve that allows us a chance to finally catch our breaths and reflect on what we just watched. It's not often I want to stay for the whole credits, but this was one of those rare occasions. This alone demonstrates how in tune Scorsese is with his craft. He was able to sense what audiences would need after such a grueling, relentless experience.

Silence acts as a history lesson (some of the proceedings are fictionalized, but it is historically accurate to that era in Japan, and Rodrigues is based on real life historical figure Giuseppe Chiara), a deep character study, and an examination of faith during trying times. It never condones or condemns one religion or another. It takes us on a deeply personal journey (I'm not a religious person, but this affected more than I expected it to. I look at it as more about faith than religion). This is a film that is impossible to ignore, and I know it will be swimming around in my mind for a long time to come. Silence is powerful, moving, complex, and meaningful. It is the crown jewel and defining masterpiece of Scorsese's modern film career.

SMALL'S WORST FILMS OF 2016

I thunk we can all agree that 2016 sucked...HARD! We lost many beloved icons, a shameless demagogue was elected into the top position in the U.S, and the U.K. voted to leave the E.U. (among other tragedies). I suppose now is as good a time as any to say farewell to 2016 by giving the finger to these 10 terrible films which I consider to be THE WORST FILMS OF 2016!

First, a few dishonorable mentions:

Ghostbusters- A remake that no one wanted or was looking forward to. It wasn't funny enough, relied too heavily on nostalgia, and failed to come up with a reason for existing. Worth a watch only for Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones

Assassin's Creed- Not a good movie, but also not a bad video game adaptation. The color palette is dark, grey, brown and murky. The world inside the Animus is given very little plot, characters or development (we only spend a maximum of 30 minutes in the Animus, probably less) while the real world (mostly inside an Abstergo facility) is given most of the film's plot, character and development (in other words, the exact opposite of an Assassin's Creed game). That said, this film does manage to accurately depict the world, backstory and some of the action of the games. The actors all do pretty decent jobs, with the best one being Marion Cotillard as the kind hearted head of The Animus project and the daughter of Abstergo CEO Alan Rikkin (Jeremy Irons). I actually gave a shit about her character. Fassbender and Irons both are fine, but ultimately not super memorable. Assassin's Creed doesn't offer much for those who aren't already familiar with the world of the games, it seems to be made for hardcore fans (and even then I've read reviews from fans who didn't particularly enjoy the film). Assassin's Creed doesn't offer much plot, character development or world building. I thought the Animus arm, some of the action, and Abstergo were cool and I was interested in learning more about Abstergo and what they were really up to....unfortunately, there aren't really any surprises (you are told everything you need to know in an opening text scrawl) and the film never really goes anywhere in the end. While there are certainly some cool things inside Assassin's Creed, it moves at a slow pace and isn't as exciting as it should be. It's not a terrible film (or even really bad), it ends up being just ok. It shouldn't provoke any kind of emotion from audience members. Honestly, I'd say you'd probably get more if you just played one of the games.

Now, onto the top 10

10.  Independence Day: Resurgence- Man, this film looked fun. Man, it really wasn't. There wasn't all that much action, the script was pretty bad (as was most of the acting), and it ended on a sequel-bait of an ending. I really wanted this film not to suck, but suck it did. 

9.  The Girl on the Train- A film that was advertised as if it was going to be the next Gone Girl. Spoiler Alert: It wasn't. The first two acts were actually fairly interesting, and the film had a good mystery at its core. Too bad the last act became your typical lifetime movie where men are evil and women have to team up to defeat them and blah blah blah. No amount of good acting from Emily Blunt and the beautiful Haley Bennett could save this turd. Don't buy a ticket to this train to shitsville. 

8.  Yoga Hosers- I was not quite as harsh on this one as other critics, that still didn't save Yoga Hosers from making it onto this list though. Kevin Smith once again displays a total lack of self control. Johnny Depp gets slightly more mileage out of his tired Guy Lapointe character than he did in Tusk, but this film is still mostly annoying and makes the mistake of attempting to trash critics. We get it Smith, you're butt-hurt because critics don't like your films anymore....maybe you should just retire. 

7.  Carnage Park- Mickey Keating (who wrote and directed this turd) clearly wants to be the next Tarantino. He's not. His writing is awful, as is his directing and  LOKK AT ME LOOK AT ME editing style. I couldn't even make it all the way through this one. Pat Healy is trying here, but it's a wasted effort.

6. Gods of Egypt- A bad film that mixes together Prince of Persia, Aladdin, and Egyptian mythology to poor results. The CGI is bad, there are lots of video-game levels, the action scenes are confusing and hard to follow, the dialogue is awful, the humor doesn't work, and the "Egyptians" tend to speak with a non-Egyptian accent (and are white). This film is every bit as bad as you have heard....that said, it's kind of hard not to enjoy your time with it.

5. Nine Lives- Starring Cat-vin Spacey. There is a lot of annoying fake cat noises and lots of fake cat CGI (which looks bad). The film itself is fairly dull, boring and filled with silly, unrealistic cat hijinx. Kevin Spacey is clearly trying in what is mostly a voice-over role (and to his credit, he does make for a good voice-over actor), but he can't save this piece of cinema cat poop.

4. Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice (Theatrical Cut)- I wrote a lengthy rant on this stinker, and my original rating still stands (though the Director's Cut is significantly better). Where do I start with this one? The film lacks focus, tries to tell five different stories at once (and tells each one poorly), fails to understand these characters and why audiences love them, there's no plot, the editing is atrocious, and the whole film is a nonsensical nightmare. I'm officially done with giving Zach Snyder my money, you should be too. We deserve a better class of hero(s), and a better class of directors too. 

3. Zoolander 2- Unfunny crap that does nothing but attempt to re-tell beloved jokes from the original while throwing in a butt-load of unneeded celebrity cameos that add absolutely nothing to the film. It's pretty bad when a sequel makes you question your love of the original. Mark this one up as yet another I just couldn't finish.

2. Passengers- What could have been a perfectly decent piece of sci-fi fluff is turned into something far more harmful by a terrible, BAD decision by our male lead. What's worse is that I can easily see how this issue could have been fixed by a simple script re-write. It also doesn't help that the film winds up being fairly predictable and bland as well. Unfortunately, the blame for Passenger's failure falls squarely at scriptwriter's Jon Spaihts' feet. 

1. Meet The Blacks- Damn my love of The Purge! This film isn't morally reprehensible or disgusting (like Passengers), but it is still my pick for worst film of 2016 for a multitude of reasons. This atrocious attempt at a Purge spoof (specifically, the first Purge film. Think A Haunted House, Meet The Spartans, or the Scary Movie films) falls flat at every single step of the way. It's unfunny, painful, needlessly loud, poorly written (almost every character is constantly talking/shouting over each other), and just plain BAD. I only made it to the hour mark before I realized this wasn't going to get any better and quickly shut it off. You'd have more fun banging your head face-first into a wall for an hour thirty-four minutes. You'd also likely lose less brain cells too. 

So there you have it, my worst films of 2016. It was a tough year, let's hope 2017 takes it easier on us. Hang in there, I'm still compiling my BEST FILMS of 2016 list, so until then....keep it classy!