Her (2013 , spilling over into 2014)

Her is a great movie.

   I guess it's getting most of its top ten Oscar winning appeal for being different and great at the same time. That's not a bad thing but I suppose at its core being just a good different movie does not make it the best movie I've ever seen. I'm sure it'll  be in my top movies of 2013 but I can't in good conscious give it a number one spot like SOMEEEEE people. Let me try to explain my heinous crime of a less than "OMG THIS MOVIE SO PURRFECT" opinion :

   Her centers around Theodore, played by Joaquin Phoenix , who in a distant future works as a love letter writer in a cubicle style office and is going through a messy divorce that's causing him to curl inward away from his friends. While going from his home to work see's an ad for an artificially intelligent operating system which he picks up and after a few questions seems totally enamored with, her name is Samantha (voiced by Scarlet Johansson). That's pretty much al you need to know , its a somewhat conventional love story told from the perspective of a guy falling in love with his computer. Inter spliced with dealing with his ex-wife and other women looking for exactly what he is, as he falls deeper and deeper in love with Samantha who slowly learns and yearns to be more and more real.

   I can imagine making this movie would have been a challenge, Johansson's voice mixed with Phoenix's awkward loner stammering could have very easily made the whole plot come across as extremely creepy but it never does, and that's probably its greatest triumph. In fact there were points when Samantha comes across as the creepy overly attached type tumbling through her first love and you feel like Phoenix's one big part in this movie is not understanding what he wants on any level, and consistently crushing his own happiness. Its truly worrying how well he plays this manic depressive shut in, and even his OS that's desperately trying to connect with and care for him can't break him out of his shell. It's like he worries so much about all the same things we worry about in relationships but puts moral constraints on himself while the society around him doesn't seem to care. Maybe that's whats the most disconcerting, not knowing how he feels is one thing but constantly worrying about how hes supposed to be is tearing him apart.

   Objectively there's nothing wrong with this movie, its paced well, its filmed well, the whole cast brings there's A game, and I never really lost interest in the movie. It's silent moments are as powerful as its loud ones and every little aspect has just enough meaning to be enjoyed in different ways by different people. While I can certainly see the value in it I never fell in love with the characters, and while I'm not sure I was supposed to I felt very detached in the whole story. Nothing ever seemed to be changing and the characters don't grow a lot but compared to the world around them they seem very bold and daring. Its powerful moments are pulled back by the fact that they are the most unoriginal, the long break up speeches and the fighting the standard relationship ups and downs feel a little formulaic, its doesn't take a way to the movie but I'm never overtaken by the emotions in the scene.

   My most loved times in this movies are when it slows down and tries to show up what it would be like to date a person without a body and going out with other couples AI Based or otherwise. It's really a movie about the conventional idea of relationships and while I can't imagine anyone disliking this movie I will never call it the best moofie eva yo it remains a solidly great movie that will remain in the top 5 percent of all movies for all of time. Not unlike About Time its a very interesting spin on the classic romance of boy meets girl and I really adored it. I don't want to say anything about the closing arc of the film besides the fact that its the most powerful moment of the film so don't lose hope, in a lot of ways it really does shine darkly so to speak, and I highly recommend it.