MovieChat Forums > A Most Violent Year (2015) Discussion > Chandor dropped the ball on this film

Chandor dropped the ball on this film

posted 10 years ago by mpboylanjr-54038
9 replies | jump to latest

I had high hopes for this film and with a very good up and comer director in Chandor and Chastain and Issac I though this would be really good.
This movie dropped the ball by first losing Javier Bardem to OSCAR Issac and the plot. Now this was supposed to be a film about morals and all that in the worst year in NYC With the murder and rape and overall crime at its peak and the city just going to hell.
The fact that Isaacs part was made to be such and honest and by the book (for the most part) was way over done. Back then theres no way a guy in that buisness was so by the book and the very nature of people in that buisness during those times where oil was super expensive and as it was for years in the present these guys were out to make as much as they could and a guy that honest in that buisness was driven way to hard.
The film dragged on and not much really happened and many plot holes made for a boring and not believable film and it suffered big time. The film ultimately was a huge bomb and they lost a ton of money on it for good reason.. The only bright part was of course Chastain whose Brooklyn accent wasn't that good in the first place was surprising for an actress with so much talent. Every director suffers from one of the bombs and I hope this was J.C Chandors first and last one. I'm sure he will get back on track but with a movie that had so much promise and could have been great was just not!!
The people calling this a masterpiece really need to know what great films that are in masterpiece categories really are about. This really does not deserve to be a 7.1 rating at all !!!

THÈRES NO ROOM IN MY CIRCUS TENT FOR YOU !!!!

[–] le_samourai_delon 10 years ago

Yes, I so agree with this. I just watched the movie today and was consistently baffled by what moral line Abel was supposed to be walking: he's in this corrupt industry, he's being targeted by the D.A., he's apparently worried enough about the criminal charges that he's hiding the books and having his wife "correct" them in some capacity - and yet the movie is supposed to be all about how he has been trying to do things the honest, right way? It felt incredibly muddled and unclear. By the end, I had no real understanding of the journey Abel was supposed to have been on emotionally - had anything changed inside him from the beginning? Did he really do anything wrong (it wasn't his fault Julian decided to arm himself in the truck)? Was there anything to answer for? I just don't get what Abel was supposed to represent thematically.

[–] standrkm 10 years ago

who on Earth didn't think that by the one and a half hour mark that something violent was about to go down? because I sure as heck did

"how's a fella go about gettin' a holt of the police?" -Karl

[–] dbeane 10 years ago

The only bright part was of course Chastain whose Brooklyn accent wasn't that good in the first place was surprising for an actress with so much talent.

Gosh, I hope you're being sarcastic...

[–] Keely 10 years ago

As a native New Yorker I thought Chastain's accent was spot on as a portrayal of the kind of character she was. It wasn't a "Brooklyn" accent or whatever someone else posted. It was the speech pattern of someone who was a wannabe class act who couldn't hide her violent roots when push came to shove.

It is baffling me how much hostility there is toward this film and how so many people think Abel is supposed to represent a good, clean guy. He's the other face of violence - someone who will justify any means as long as it fits into his end. He's ruthless with everybody (less so with his wife). He wants success above all, including his humanity. Nobody seems to think what he did with Julian was violent, but that kind of thinking justifies the reason the movie was made. It wasn't about New York, it was about violence in all its forms and how one form leads to another.

[–] franzkabuki 9 years ago

Chandor has so far made 3 very good films, but this is probably the tops. Such an assured, intelligent, accomplished film in just about every way; only very minor quibbles - maybe it IS a bit underdramatized... and the ending lacks the catharsis of The Godfather's finale it clearly echoes. But that's small stuff. It's the kind of movie Sidney Lumet might have made in the early 1980's (with Pacino and Pfeiffer as the leads - Chastain even has the same hairdo as Pfeiffer did in Scarface).

"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

[–] deRider84 9 years ago

I'm gonna watch this one soon. The one with Robert Redford was an interesting effort, but it annoyed me that he never once talked to himself. That created a barrier between the film and myself. The movie never showed any awareness of the inevitable mental strain other than occasional frustration. Made me think this Chandor and I are very different people, with very different ideas on being lost at sea by yourself...

Himself, myself, yourself. As you can see, I'm preoccupied with the self these days...

[–] franzkabuki 9 years ago

I haven't been posting that much either (or hadn't, until the data burst late last week), so I guess The Self dominates across the map... I don't think your problem with All Is Lost is an unreasonable one though, maybe it would have been realistic to expect ol' Redford to mutter or yell a bit more... but firstly, it almost seemed like a mission statement for Chandor to keep the verbal side to the absolute minimum and secondly, I'm reminded that the hero dropping smart-ass quips to himself a la John McClane is such an annoying action movie staple. Idk. But, yeah, it's quite difficult to think of another director who's started off with a trio of films as assured as this Chandor guy; I wouldn't wanna build things up too much, but I thought Margin Call was really well made as well. And here, for one thing, Oscar Isaac is even better than in Inside Llewyn Davis, which I just so happened to rewatch the other day - with his brooding, calculated, composed ways he IS a lot like Pacino as Michael Corleone.

"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

[–] LTUM 9 years ago

The one with Robert Redford was an interesting effort, but it annoyed me that he never once talked to himself. That created a barrier between the film and myself. The movie never showed any awareness of the inevitable mental strain other than occasional frustration. Made me think this Chandor and I are very different people, with very different ideas on being lost at sea by yourself...

very thoughtful post. and i see what you mean, too. good point.

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Life is not a problem to be solved, it's a mystery to be lived... so live it!

[–] fatpie42 9 years ago

Nah, his best one is still "Margin Call". That was fantastic and very cleverly put together. And actually more exciting than the other two, I feel.

Really not a fan of "All Is Lost". All sorts of dodgy portrayals of sailing. When Redford gets out of the lifeboat to right it in the middle of a storm, that was utterly ridiculous. I could have done with some kind of dialogue or character or genuine stakes.

I got into "A Most Violent Year", but I feel that the ending was a bit flat.