1. Inside Llewyn Davis - Leave it to the Coen's to make a movie NOT about a musician that makes it big, but about the one who got forgotten. This bleak comedy deals with the soul in the face of failure and of course the Coen's (as usual) do not offer up any sort of definitive answers to the questions they pose; but with strong performances and a haunting folk soundtrack, the film is all the more powerful for it. It's a tough movie to watch at times but in the end it's a satirical tragedy of the finest and most entertaining caliber.
2. Prisoners – No other movie engulfed me with its plot and performances this year quite like this bleak drama. A superbly acted and written thriller that is as heartbreaking to watch as it is engrossing. Enough credit cannot be given to Hugh Jackman here as a father entrenched in a nightmarish dismantling of the American dream.
3. Mud – The most solid child acting performances in a long while as well as strong backup from Matthew McConahany, Sarah Paulson and Sam Sheppard. This drama manages to find power in it’s simplistic storytelling and by steering clear of the usual coming of age movie clichés.
5. The Spectacular Now – While it doesn't reinvent the wheel, this coming of age story embraces it's subject matter with disarmingly enchanting realism. With it's impressive young performances it manages to bottle up that daunting yet invincible feeling that seniors in high School find them selves caught up in as they head out into the world.
6. 12 Years a Slave – Transcending the subject matter, 12 Years became, for me, a film about what it is to be a human. The film unearths the cruelty and backwards thinking of Southern plantation culture as characters navigate through the cruel societal norms of America’s darkest time. Chalked to the brim with intense performances and gorgeous cinematography, this epic is worth every tear.
7. The Act of Killing - A look at the past atrocities of Indonesian death squad leaders through an absurdest challenge of reenacting their acts of murder in a movie within a documentary. This year was full of tough films to sit through. This was the toughest one to watch by far.
8. Gravity
–A thrill ride of a movie that’s as visually stunning as it is
immersing. Easily the scariest film I’ve seen that you couldn’t logically put in the “horror movie” genre, but
I’m terrified of space. At the end of the day when you walk out of
Gravity you have to recognize it’s a one of a kind movie and there
simply isn’t anything like it.9. This Is The End – At it’s core This Is The End is a scathing dark horror-comedy that’s so self deprecating it’s hard to believe as you're watching it. Poking fun at celebrity culture as well as how unnecessary their careers are in the face of Armageddon. It also sports a third act that I dare you to try and forget.
10. Frozen – Containing some of the sharpest (if not "like…totally" hippest) music in modern Disney history, Frozen makes some clever rearranging of the “Disney Princess” formula. The musical fairytale manages continuous charm even through some strange pacing choices.
11. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty – While it gets a bit too heartwarming and gooey for it’s own good sometimes, Ben Stiller’s effort at a more serious tone pays off and balances itself out. It's easy to get swept up by this celebration of living life to the fullest and shows new range for Ben Stiller as a director and an actor.
12. Blue Jasmine – Cate Blanchett is a force of nature in this wickedly sardonic story of a high society woman on her way to poverty. Forget Bullock in space, Blanchett is acting out gold in this darkly hysterical and at times heartbreaking Woody Allen dramedy. While I've enjoyed other Woody Allen movies more, it's reassuring to see he still can challenge his viewers.
13. The Place Beyond the Pines – While tedious in nature, this story of men and their legacies is potent. Giving off a sprawling epic feel while remaining closed off and intimate, it crackles with sturdy performances from Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper and Dane DeHaan. It’s a tough watch, I won’t lie there.
14. The Kings of Summer – It’s certainly more absurd than other coming of age movies this year, but this youth in revolt story has immense heart that never lets up with outstanding youthful performances and one hell of a fun supporting bit for Nick Offerman of Parks and Rec.
15. The Wolf of Wall Street – Did you ever want to see Leo DiCaprio do…..well I don’t know but
16. August: Osage County - Being a fan of playwright Tracy Letts certainly helped my expectations for this movie adaptation of his award winning play. While it's certainly a movie with each actor at full scene chewing capacity, with a cast containing Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Ewan McGregor, Chris Cooper and Benedict Cumberbatch I accepted the theatrics. This country bumpkin Greek tragedy may have been two hours of watching the most vicious family feud ever but I loved every moment.
17. Stories We Tell - A documentary that explores an intimate family secret as told through home movie-like reenactments and unusually intimate interviews with each family member. It explores how the past becomes perspective after time and the nature of re-telling stories. Beautifully executed and warmly intimate and compassionate.
18. Dallas Buyers Club - While Matthew McConaughys' performance is a primary reason this drama succeeds, the story manages to find so many rich layers within it's moral dilemma of committing illegal acts to self treat terminal illness. It's certainly uncomfortable, moving and even darkly comical but mostly the film is strikingly urgent in it's stance on FDA and pharmaceutical companies being bed buddies.
19. Captain Phillips - As Tom Hanks portrays the earnest and heroic Captain Rich Phillips, he reminds us why he has those two Oscars. Paul Greengrass has crafted a tightly wound thriller that chronicles a cargo ship being taken hostage by Somali pirates and it might be his best work. How well Greengrass can hold suspense without pushing audiences' trust is a great talent and with Tom Hanks' earnest portrayal of Phillips this tense action drama is a masterfully paced biopic all the way up until it's fever pitch ending.
20. You're Next - While the budget or acting isn’t up to normal standards for the average moviegoer, You’re Next delivers good old 80’s “slasher” film fun converting the overdone “home invasion” sub genre into a big buttery vat of campy and corny thrills. Even without the acting chops or the budget of bigger horror films, it’s heart is in the right place from square one to the final frame.
Honorable Mentions:
(There's just never enough room on these lists) American Hustle - Okay so yeah I didn't like this movie as much as everyone else. It was fun and I
had a good time watching it but it seemed a bit too set on being structured exactly like Goodfellas. While Christian Bale gives a wondrous transforming performance again and Louis C.K. was perfectly cast as himself (if he were in the FBI) I couldn't get past the feeling that the whole movie was trying too hard. Bravo on the wigs and costumes but it arrives a bit overcooked and relies too much on audiences eating up moments where these lovable actors are dancing around to old 70's hits. It's a lot of fun and I'll be eager to see what David O. Russel directs next but this one didn't hit strike it with me as Silver Linings Playbook, Three Kings or even I Heart Huckabees did.
Pacific Rim - Talk about pure unadulterated Summer movie fun. Leave your expectations of witty dialogue and complex plots at the door. This is after all a movie about giant Gundam wing style robots fighting giant sea monsters and it out to make you "ohh" and "ahh." I'm always a fan of Guillermo Del Toro has cooked up and while Pacific Rim is unlike his previous horror action movies it is solid fun and well worth watching on a big screen.
Frances Ha – As much as I tire very easily watching stories of twenty-something’s in various states of arrested development (I'm staring at you HBO's Girls), this was a charming movie with an even more charming leading lady in Greta Gerwig who co-wrote with Noah Baumbach. While she may frustrate you and even challenge your devotion to her with silly and childish antics, Frances manages to win us over and gain not just our sympathy but our empathy as we recall a time where we may have been just as lost as her.
Evil Dead - You can't exactly re-create the lighting in the bottle that occurred when director Sam Raimi and actor Bruce Campbell accidentally made a quintessential cult horror classic. So how do you remake the king of campy movies? You run the other way and make it as seriously bleak, dark and as vomit inducing as possible. The remake of Evil Dead is for daring moviegoers and horror fanatics alike as it is quite a disturbing and gut wrenching gore fest...but I can't say I was bored one moment throughout.
The Great Gatsby – Sure this Baz Luhrmann circus is overdone, over the top and self-indulgent but isn’t that the very nature of a fella’ like Gatsby and the very nature of the 20’s Fitzgerald was indicting? With a fitting anachronistic soundtrack and pitch perfect casting this overcooked hot mess at times seems to dish out the original themes of the book perfectly…even if it fudges some of the minor details.
Rush - This racing drama may not have the emotional core that binds previous Ron Howard movies like Apollo 13, Cinderella Man or even The Grinch but it's impressive none-the-less. As it tells the story of two dueling Formula 1 racers in the 70's you get a great sense of perspective from both men. I feel a lesser director would have created one of these main characters to be the antagonist and yet Howard tells the true life story from both sides equally which is to say a bold move.
Man of Steel – As unpopular as it is to even say you enjoyed this movie…I don’t care. I've never been a fan of Superman movies (I'm a Batman guy) and this film was the first presentation of his origin story where I understood the emotional journey of Clark Kent. The legendary tale is approached as a coming of age story entangled in science fiction camp. While I credit mostly the David S. Goyer script for the movie's emotional core and not Zak Snyder's direction, I'm proud to say that despite it's Michael Bay-esque third act...I was thoroughly entertained by this popcorn flick and as I felt in 2005 after watching Batman Begins, I am for the first time intrigued and excited to see where they go from here.
Star Trek: Into Darkness - While the first film had so much fun proclaiming itself as the NEW Star Trek, this sequel seemed very quick to take it back as they tread over old villains and even old plot points from previous and lesser Star Trek movies. Despite my frustrations with it's reluctance, I enjoyed this movie immensely <photo id="11" />as it is a thrill ride of a movie and some quality performances for a Summer blockbuster, particularly from Benedict Cumberbatch as...errr...(COUGH)...can we just spoiler it already? This is stupid...make up a new villain and stop re-using old ones. Naw...but I liked the movie, really.
THE WORST:
Here's the fun part. I try to see the best in every movie and then there are some movies that you really
1. Riddick - Imagine Cast Away...but instead of Tom Hanks it's Vin Diesel and instead of Wilson volleyball you get a stupid alien dingo. That's the first act of the third Riddick adventure. After that they pretty much follow the plot of Pitch Black and REALLY hope we don't notice. In addition the movie doesn't go through tone shifts so much as debilitating dementia in forgetting what genre it is or ever who the damn hero is in the story. I enjoyed Pitch Black and felt that Summer movie buzz from the space opera sequel, Chronicles of Riddick but this third adventure that attempts to make "craft" a more intimate story reveals Richard B. Riddick is more engaging when more is going on around him.
2. Scary Movie 5 - You might say..."But Eric, this is just asking for it. You know it's going to be bad!" Well I believed in miracles for a half a second as I picked it off the rental store shelf and then quickly after starting the movie realized miracles are a crock of shit....Now aside from the slap stick opening scene with Charlie Sheen, Lindsay Lohan and the Benny Hill theme (which is pretty fun) this movie can't even make up it's mind on what a scary movie is. Black Swan and the latest Planet of the Apes reboot would not be first on my list of "scary movies" to parody. It's a little too easy to make fun of this one...I feel a little bad, but only a little.
3. The Purge - What a cool concept squandered, suppressed to the lowest common denominator and churned out into a cliche filled home invasion movie.
4. The Internship - I can live with the fact that it's a big old Google ad with a sorta coherent plot stuck in the middle...but this movie had to be PG-13? All that does is make us wish Google could invent a time machine for us to go back to 2005 when Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson made good rated R comedies...like Wedding Crashers.
5. Oz the Great and Powerful - What the what!? This is neither engaging enough for adults or really
Biggest Disappointment:
Nebraska - I love Alexander Payne as a director but oh man I thought this movie was boring. Every scene impressed me with how tedious and banal it was. Certainly Bruce Dern gives an endearing performances I wasn't really buying Will Forte as a credited dramatic actor. I'm sure I'm out of the age range this movie's aiming for and that's fine. The large percentage of senior citizen Academy Awards voters were clearly moved so it has a fan base. Maybe I'll revisit it when I'm a senior citizen and enjoy it then...
No comments:
Post a Comment