Another year, another Oscars ceremony. After last year’s #OscarsSoWhite debacle, this year’s nominees include many non-white actors, actresses, directors, and movies. That being said… this year’s movies were sort of under par. Maybe I’m just not enlightened enough for this world, but out of the 9 Best Picture nominees, I can say I’d watch one, maybe 2 of them again. The rest… once was more than enough. Especially La La Land. I didn’t hate the clear frontrunner, but I do hate the hype it’s received. 14 nominations? And a guaranteed 6-8 wins?? Nah.
Here are my picks for tonight’s Oscars.
Best Picture:
“Arrival”
“Fences”
“Hacksaw Ridge”
“Hell or High Water”
“Hidden Figures”
“La La Land”
“Lion”
“Manchester by the Sea”
“Moonlight”
Best Actor:
Casey Affleck, “Manchester by the Sea”
Andrew Garfield, “Hacksaw Ridge”
Ryan Gosling, “La La Land”
Viggo Mortensen, “Captain Fantastic”
Denzel Washington, “Fences”
Best Actress:
Isabelle Huppert, “Elle”
Ruth Negga, “Loving”
Natalie Portman, “Jackie”
Emma Stone, “La La Land”
Meryl Streep, “Florence Foster Jenkins”
Best Supporting Actor:
Mahershala Ali, “Moonlight”
Jeff Bridges, “Hell or High Water”
Lucas Hedges, “Manchester by the Sea”
Dev Patel, “Lion”
Michael Shannon, “Nocturnal Animals”
Best Supporting Actress:
Viola Davis, “Fences”
Naomie Harris, “Moonlight”
Nicole Kidman, “Lion”
Octavia Spencer, “Hidden Figures”
Michelle Williams, “Manchester by the Sea”
Best Director:
“Arrival,” Denis Villeneuve
“Hacksaw Ridge,” Mel Gibson
“La La Land,” Damien Chazelle
“Manchester by the Sea,” Kenneth Lonergan
“Moonlight,” Barry Jenkins
Best Original Screenplay:
“Hell or High Water,” Taylor Sheridan
“La La Land,” Damien Chazelle
“The Lobster,” Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthimis Filippou
“Manchester by the Sea,” Kenneth Lonergan
“20th Century Women,” Mike Mills
Best Adapted Screenplay:
“Arrival”
“Fences”
“Hidden Figures”
“Lion”
“Moonlight”
Best Foreign Language Film:
“Land of Mine”
“A Man Called Ove”
“The Salesman”
“Tanna”
“Toni Erdmann”
Best Cinematography:
“Arrival” “La La Land”
“Lion”
“Moonlight”
“Silence”
Best Costume Design:
“Allied”
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”
“Florence Foster Jenkins”
“Jackie”
“La La Land”
Best Makeup and Hairstyling:
“A Man Called Ove”
“Star Trek Beyond”
“Suicide Squad”
Best Original Score:
”Jackie,” Mica Levi
“La La Land,” Justin Hurwitz
“Lion,” Dustin O’Halloran and Hauschka
“Moonlight,” Nicholas Britell
“Passengers,” Thomas Newman
Best Animated Feature Film:
“Kubo and the Two Strings”
“Moana”
“My Life as a Zucchini”
“The Red Turtle”
“Zootopia”
Best Animated Short Film:
“Blind Vaysha”
“Borrowed Time”
“Pear Cider and Cigarettes”
“Pearl” “Piper”
Best Documentary Feature:
“Fire at Sea”
“I Am Not Your Negro”
“Life Animated”
“O.J.: Made in America”
“13th”
Best Documentary Short Subject:
“Extremis”
“4.1 Miles”
“Joe’s Violin”
“Watani: My Homeland” “The White Helmets”
Best Film Editing:
“Arrival”
“Hacksaw Ridge”
“Hell or High Water” “La La Land”
“Moonlight”
Best Original Song:
“Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” from “La La Land”
“Can’t Stop the Feeling” from “Trolls”
“City of Stars” from “La La Land”
“The Empty Chair” from “Jim: The James Foley Story”
“How Far I’ll Go” from “Moana”
Best Production Design:
“Arrival”
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”
“Hail, Caesar!”
“La La Land”
“Passengers”
Best Live Action Short Film: “Ennemis Interieurs”
“La femme et Le TGV”
“Silent Nights”
“Sing”
“Timecode”
Best Sound Editing:
“Arrival”
“Deepwater Horizon”
“Hacksaw Ridge”
“La La Land”
“Sully”
Best Sound Mixing:
“Arrival”
“Hacksaw Ridge” “La La Land”
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”
“13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi”
Best Visual Effects:
“Deepwater Horizon”
“Doctor Strange”
“The Jungle Book”
“Kubo and the Two Strings”
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”
Tonight is the 74th annual Golden Globe Awards. I haven’t seen too many of the nominees this year (I know, bad cinephile, right? Between transitioning jobs, commuting to work, and diligently following the political cluster-you-know-what since November, my movie/TV intake has been quite low), but I have been following critics and have some inklings as to how tonight will go. My plan is to watch most of the nominees in time for the Oscars in February. As of this writing, I’ve only seen Hacksaw Ridge (great), Arrival (good), and La La Land (good).
The only thing I am certain of about the broadcast is that there will be PLENTY of jokes at the expense of, and much ire directed toward, one Donald J. Trump.
MOVIES
Drama
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
Lion Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight
Comedy or musical
20th Century Women
Deadpool
Florence Foster Jenkins La La Land
Sing Street
Actor, drama Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea
Joel Edgerton, Loving
Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge
Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic
Denzel Washington, Fences
Actress, drama Amy Adams, Arrival
Jessica Chastain, Miss Sloane
Isabelle Huppert, Elle
Ruth Negga, Loving
Natalie Portman, Jackie
Director Damien Chazelle, La La Land
Tom Ford, Nocturnal Animals
Mel Gibson, Hacksaw Ridge
Barry Jenkins, Moonlight
Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea
Actor, comedy or musical
Colin Farrell, The Lobster Ryan Gosling, La La Land
Hugh Grant, Florence Foster Jenkins
Jonah Hill, War Dogs
Ryan Reynolds, Deadpool
Actress, comedy or musical
Annette Bening, 20th Century Women
Lily Collins, Rules Don’t Apply
Hailee Steinfeld, The Edge of Seventeen Emma Stone, La La Land
Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins
Supporting actor Mahershala Ali, Moonlight
Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water
Simon Helberg, Florence Foster Jenkins
Dev Patel, Lion
Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Nocturnal Animals
Supporting actress Viola Davis, Fences
Naomie Harris, Moonlight
Nicole Kidman, Lion
Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures
Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea
Foreign language
Divines
Elle
Neruda
The Salesman Toni Erdmann
Animated film
Kubo and the Two Strings Moana
My Life as A Zucchini
Sing
Zootopia
Screenplay Damien Chazelle, La La Land
Tom Ford, Nocturnal Animals
Barry Jenkins, Moonlight
Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea
Taylor Sheridan, Hell or High Water
Original score
Nicholas Britell, Moonlight Justin Hurwitz, La La Land
Johann Johannsson, Arrival
Dustin O’Halloran and Hauschka, Lion
Hans Zimmer, Pharrell Williams and Benjamin Wallfisch, Hidden Figures
Original song (songwriter’s award)
Can’t Stop the Feeling! (from Trolls) City of Stars (from La La Land)
Faith (from Sing)
Gold (from Gold)
How Far I’ll Go (from Moana)
PRIME-TIME TELEVISION
Drama
The Crown Game of Thrones
Stranger Things
This Is Us
Westworld
Series, comedy or musical
Atlanta
Black-ish
Mozart in the Jungle Transparent
Veep
Actress, drama
Caitriona Balfe, Outlander
Claire Foy, The Crown
Keri Russell, The Americans
Winona Ryder, Stranger Things Evan Rachel Wood, Westworld
Actor, drama Rami Malek, Mr. Robot
Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul
Matthew Rhys, The Americans
Liev Schreiber, Ray Donovan
Billy Bob Thornton, Goliath
Actress, miniseries or TV movie
Felicity Huffman, American Crime
Riley Keough, The Girlfriend Experience Sarah Paulson, The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story
Charlotte Rampling, London Spy
Kerry Washington, Confirmation
Actor, miniseries or TV movie
Riz Ahmed, The Night Of Bryan Cranston, All the Way
Tom Hiddleston, The Night Manager
John Turturro, The Night Of
Courtney B. Vance, The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story
Supporting actor, series, miniseries or TV movie Sterling K. Brown, The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story
Hugh Laurie, The Night Manager
John Lithgow, The Crown
Christian Slater, Mr. Robot
John Travolta, The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story
Supporting actress, series, miniseries or TV movie
Olivia Colman, The Night Manager Lena Headey, Game of Thrones
Chrissy Metz, This Is Us
Mandy Moore, This Is Us
Thandie Newton, Westworld
Miniseries or TV movie
American Crime
The Dresser
The Night Manager
The Night Of The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story
Actress, comedy or musical
Rachel Bloom, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
Sarah Jessica Parker, Divorce
Issa Rae, Insecure
Gina Rodriguez, Jane the Virgin
Tracee Ellis Ross, Black-ish
Actor, comedy or musical
Anthony Anderson, Black-ish
Gael Garcia Bernal, Mozart in the Jungle
Donald Glover, Atlanta
Nick Nolte, Graves Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent
Featured Image: jdeeringdavis, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
The Emmy’s are always so difficult to adequately predict because their categories and rules keep changing year in and year out, but here goes nothing…
Outstanding Drama Series Game of Thrones (HBO)
The Americans (FX)
House of Cards (Netflix)
Downton Abbey (PBS)
Better Call Saul (AMC)
Mr. Robot (USA)
Homeland (Showtime)
Outstanding Comedy Series Veep (HBO)
Transparent (Amazon)
Silicon Valley (HBO)
Modern Family (ABC)
Master of None (Netflix)
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix)
black-ish (ABC)
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series Rami Malek, Mr. Robot (USA)
Kevin Spacey, House of Cards (Netflix)
Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul (AMC)
Liev Schreiber, Ray Donovan (Showtime)
Kyle Chandler, Bloodline (Netflix)
Matthew Rhys, The Americans (FX)
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Viola Davis, How to Get Away With Murder (ABC)
Robin Wright, House of Cards (Netflix)
Claire Danes, Homeland (Showtime)
Taraji P. Henson, Empire (Fox)
Keri Russell, The Americans (FX)
Tatiana Maslany, Orphan Black (BBC America)
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent (Amazon)
Aziz Ansari, Master of None (Netflix)
Anthony Anderson, black-ish (ABC)
William H. Macy, Shameless (Showtime)
Will Forte, The Last Man on Earth (Fox)
Thomas Middleditch, Silicon Valley (HBO)
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep (HBO)
Amy Schumer, Inside Amy Schumer (Comedy Central)
Ellie Kemper, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix)
Tracee Ellis Ross, black-ish (ABC)
Laurie Metcalfe, Getting On (HBO)
Lily Tomlin, Grace and Frankie (Netflix)
Outstanding Limited Series
The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story (FX) Fargo (FX)
American Crime (ABC)
Roots (History)
The Night Manager (AMC)
Outstanding Television Movie All the Way (HBO)
Confirmation (HBO)
Sherlock: The Abominable Bride (PBS)
Luther (BBC One)
A Very Murray Christmas (Netflix)
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or a Movie
Bryan Cranston, All the Way (HBO)
Benedict Cumberbatch, Sherlock: The Abominable Bride (PBS) Courtney B. Vance, The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story (FX)
Cuba Gooding, Jr., The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story (FX)
Idris Elba, Luther (BBC America)
Tom Hiddleston, The Night Manager (AMC)
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or a Movie Sarah Paulson, The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story (FX)
Kirsten Dunst, Fargo (FX)
Kerry Washington, Confirmation (HBO)
Felicity Huffman, American Crime (ABC)
Audra McDonald, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill (HBO)
Lili Taylor, American Crime (ABC)
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy
Louie Anderson, Baskets
Keegan-Michael Key, Key & Peele
Andre Braugher, Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Ty Burrell, Modern Family
Tituss Burgess, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Matt Walsh, Veep Tony Hale, Veep
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy
Niecy Nash, Getting On Allison Janney, Mom
Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live
Judith Light, Transparent
Gaby Hoffmann, Transparent
Anna Chlumsky, Veep
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Jonathan Banks, Better Call Saul
Ben Mendelsohn, Bloodline Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones
Kit Harington, Game of Thrones
Michael Kelly, House of Cards
Jon Voight, Ray Donovan
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey Lena Headey, Game of Thrones
Emilia Clarke, Game of Thrones
Maisie Williams, Game of Thrones
Maura Tierney, The Affair
Constance Zimmer, UnREAL
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie
Jesse Plemons, Fargo Bokeem Woodbine, Fargo
Hugh Laurie, The Night Manager
Sterling K. Brown, People v. O.J. Simpson
David Schwimmer, People v. O.J. Simpson
John Travolta, People v. O.J. Simpson
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie
Melissa Leo, All the Way
Regina King, American Crime
Sarah Paulson, American Horror Story: Hotel
Kathy Bates, American Horror Story: Hotel
Jean Smart, Fargo Olivia Colman, The Night Manager
Guest Actor in a Drama Series
Max von Sydow, Game of Thrones
Reg E. Cathey, House of Cards
Mahershala Ali, House of Cards
Paul Sparks, House of Cards
Hank Azaria, Ray Donovan Michael J. Fox, The Good Wife
Guest Actor in a Comedy Series
Bob Newhart, The Big Bang Theory Tracy Morgan, Saturday Night Live
Larry David, Saturday Night Live
Bradley Whitford, Transparent
Martin Mull, Veep
Peter MacNicol, Veep
Guest Actress in a Comedy Series Tina Fey & Amy Poehler, Saturday Night Live
Melissa McCarthy, Saturday Night Live
Amy Schumer, Saturday Night Live
Christine Baranski, The Big Bang Theory
Laurie Metcalf, The Big Bang Theory
Melora Hardin, Transparent
Guest Actress in a Drama Series
Laurie Metcalf, Horace and Pete
Molly Parker, House of Cards
Ellen Burstyn, House of Cards
Allison Janney, Masters of Sex Margo Martindale, The Americans
Carrie Preston, The Good Wife
Outstanding Variety Talk Series
Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee (Crackle)
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (NBC) Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (HBO)
Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC)
The Late Late Show With James Corden (CBS)
Real Time With Bill Maher (HBO)
Outstanding Variety Sketch Series
Documentary Now! (IFC)
Drunk History (Comedy Central) Inside Amy Schumer (Comedy Central)
Key & Peele (Comedy Central)
Portlandia (IFC)
Saturday Night Live (NBC)
Outstanding Reality Competition Series The Amazing Race (CBS)
The Voice (NBC)
Dancing With the Stars (ABC)
Top Chef (Bravo)
American Ninja Warrior (NBC)
Project Runway (Lifetime)
Outstanding Host for Reality Competition
Ryan Seacrest (American Idol)
Tom Bergeron (Dancing With the Stars)
Jane Lynch (Hollywood Game Night) Steve Harvey (Little Big Shots)
Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn (Project Runway)
RuPaul Charles (RuPaul’s Drag Race)
I’ve refrained from writing this post for months, unsure of what exactly to say and afraid of the backlash. However, with the release of its Blu Ray and DVD, I finally want to publicly say, completely forward and without nuance…
I did not like Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Now, I didn’t hate Star Wars: The Force Awakens. I will gladly admit that I was brought to tears of utter joy by its initial trailers (that music!) and was fairly entertained by many parts of the movie, especially the scenes involving Han Solo. However, I wasn’t swayed emotionally one way or another by the movie as a whole. My one word response to the film as that final compressed, spinning aerial shot of Rey meeting Old Luke in Ireland circle-wiped to “Directed by J.J. Abrams” was…
“Eh.”
But then I let the dust settle. I watched the film again, a few days later, and while I enjoyed myself slightly more, I also hated the parts I disliked the first time upon seeing them again. If anything, my opinion got a little worse. This, combined with the outrageous level of hype and love shown for the movie by practically everyone has made me want to go all Kylo Ren on my computer. I’m all for being excited by a new movie, especially a new Star Wars movie. But once that movie is viewed by millions of people, I would hope and expect legitimate criticism, not blind loyalty and exclamations that because it is Star Wars and because it wasn’t made by George Lucas, therefore it has to be the GREATEST STAR WARS MOVIE SINCE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. (The same crazed, irrational fervor surrounded the most recent Jurassic Park film, which was awful.)
I find that statement (about Force Awakens being the best since Empire) extremely wrong because it begs the question that Return of the Jedi isn’t good. I have also come to like Episodes II and III, and to me, both of these prequel films are worth more than The Force Awakens ever could be. Oops. Did I say that out loud?
The Good.
Han Solo. Harrison Ford was great. His old Han was so much better than his old Indy. This was incredibly surprising because it’s basically a fact that he likes Indiana Jones so much more than Star Wars (hello, Indy 5!!) His interactions with Chewie and Rey were hilarious and sweet, and he got his wish that Han would be killed off, albeit 32 years later…
BB-8 because he was cute and reminded me of my cat.
Finn’s fight with that Stormtrooper (named by the Internet TR-8R), and the Resistance’s surprise attack on the First Order. That was an exhilarating scene, and that is probably the highest praise I have for anything involving the production of the movie.
Rey’s vision when she picks up Luke’s lightsaber because it reminded me of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic…
…and when she uses the Force to get his lightsaber in her fight with Kylo Ren. (Again, just like in the trailers, it’s John Williams’ use of an OLDER theme that sells it for me.)
That final compressed, spinning aerial shot of Rey meeting Old Luke in Ireland that circle-wiped to “Directed by J.J. Abrams.” And I actually liked that Luke was in it for less than 30 seconds and remained speechless. It (and this is the only thing, really) made me want to see Episode VIII.
The Bad.
First and foremost, The Force Awakens was not written well. In fact, I’d say it was written fairly poorly. For all the hype surrounding the knowledge that the writer of Empire and Jedi (and Raiders of the Lost Ark) was returning after three straight George Lucas-penned screenplays, Lawrence Kasden failed to impress me. In fact, some of the dialogue was so wooden and flat at times that I actually missed the nostalgia of the Prequels and their clunkers. The plot of Force Awakens was a reboot/remake of A New Hope with some Empire beats thrown in for good measure. The Snoke scenes should have been mysterious and engrossing but instead seemed like transplanted Thanos scenes from the various Marvel movies; they just didn’t feel like Star Wars to me. And the rules of Star Wars were seemingly thrown out the window… How did Rey manage to use a Jedi mind trick if no one ever taught her what it was, and after the film made it clear that she didn’t even know Jedi were real? Usually, McGuffins are simple and subtle enough where their existence in the story isn’t brought into question… Except the plot device that drives TheForce Awakens made no sense. Why was there a map to find Luke? He’s not an object. He’s a person. Who leaves a map when they don’t want to be found? And how could no one figure out from either piece of the map (in BB-8 and in R2-D2) where it led? Most the the plot points in this movie just seemed like sloppy, lazy writing.
The movie itself started out on a terrible footing. The opening scene was filled with as much exposition-heavy dialogue as anything in Phantom Menace, and was awkwardly staged and awkwardly filmed. The dialogue never got better after that, with constant references to the Resistance and First Order throughout, but without any clarification or history to give the audience a clue as to what was going on. Expositionary dialogue is a necessary evil, especially in a sci-fi world, but it is at its best in small doses. When it consumes a film and also confuses more than it than explains, the movie suffers greatly. I still have no idea what was going on; the only clarity in the film was that we’d all seen the plot and characters and beats before… in the Original Trilogy. Disney played it safe (you could argue killing Han wasn’t safe, but as it was long overdue and foreshadowed heavily, it was also the easiest shock they could go for while not doing anything too controversial), and as they pleased the most Star Wars fans because they went in the opposite direction of the Prequels, they largely succeeded. Two billion dollars is worth a lot more than my petty criticism.
The Ugly.
But the worst two aspects of The Force Awakens weren’t deus ex machina Force tricks or the random CGI bartender who could have easily been a person in a mask or the lack of a noticable original score… it was the characters of General Hux and Kylo Ren. Both villains were clearly based on Grand Moff Tarkin and Darth Vader, but lacking their gravitas or imperious nature, they were laughably bad. It was as if J. J. Abrams REALLY wanted to impress Star Wars fans so he cast the two nerdiest, unassuming fans who came up to him at whatever convention he was attending to play the two villain roles, and then felt bad about his choice after seeing their acting but convinced himself that no one would ever notice because STAR WARS IS SO COOL.
Anyway, Hayden Christensen has been called wooden…out of his league… a terrible actor (among many, many worse things), but Kylo’s temper tantrums and moody attitude made Christensen look like Laurence Olivier. I know for a fact that statement will anger some people, but not once during Awakens did Kylo Ren make me feel anything at all other than annoyance. Even when he killed Han, it was broadcast a mile away because no one in Hollywood knows anything about subtlety, and I was more peeved at the story-telling than at the death of my favorite Original Trilogy character. And then he lost in a fight to a Stormtrooper-dropout who spent the entire movie getting beat up and a girl with no Force training (who obviously has a major connection to the Force, duh, I know!!! but still. Sloppy writing: it happened because the plot needed it to happen). Like I said, laughable.
And then there’s Hux. I don’t know who gave the okay to have the main military leader SCREAM to his troops with the most cliched, unoriginal dialogue imaginable, but I bet they thought they were doing something really friggin’ clever. I hate comparing things to Hitler, but I bet they figured their military general would give off a Hitler vibe if he yelled with the burning hatred of a thousand suns at his troops.
Except they cast a Weasley, so he gave off a Weasley-trying-to-be-Hitler vibe, and it was one of the worst acting performances I’ve seen in a mainstream movie in ages. (To get political for a moment, Hux is the Hitler that everyone thinks Trump is/will be.) Give me Hayden yelling about slaughtering Sand People like animals any day. Where is Dexter Jettster’s buttcrack when you need childish, idiotic filmmaking? Oh, right… It was in a better movie.
I am excited for Episode VIII. I want to know what happens next in the Star Wars universe. I want to see Rey’s journey. I want to see more of BB-8. I want to see Luke speak and be an Obi-Wan Kenobi to our new Jedi hero.
And I want to see LANDO. Please, Disney. At least bring him back in the next go round. He can even drink some Colt 45 on set. It’s gonna be great!
For everyone who loved The Force Awakens, I seriously am happy for you. And slightly envious that I can’t, so enjoy your Blu Ray and deleted scenes for me.
I had some fun with Chris Christie’s facial expressions during Trump’s Super Tuesday speech last week… The editing’s not perfect, but I think the lyrics and tone fit almost perfectly with nuances (or lack there of) in the New Jersey governor’s face.
For the first time in 3 years, I’m heading into the Academy Awards without having seen all of the Best Picture nominees. Luckily, I’ve seen all but one of them (Spotlight), which means I’m not going in totally blind.
Before my predictions, I just want to say that in addition to the 7 Best Picture nominees that I saw, I also watched Spectre, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Inside Out, and Creed, all up for at least one Oscar outside of the Best Picture race. I would rank these 11 films as such:
Creed
The Martian
Mad Max:Fury Road
Brooklyn
Room
Spectre
Inside Out
Bridge of Spies
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
The Revenant
The Big Short
In a perfect world, Mad Max will win all of the undercard awards as well as Best Director and Picture, but we do not live in a perfect world. Instead, these awards will mostly belong to The Revenant, though if there is to be an upset, The Big Short will be walking away with these awards. To both: yuck. The night will be an overall win, however, if Sly Stallone walks away with that Best Supporting Actor Oscar. (Yes, this is more important than Leonardo DiCaprio getting his…)
Anyway, here are my predictions for the 88th Academy Awards:
Best Picture Spotlight The Big Short Bridge of Spies Brooklyn Mad Max: Fury Road The Martian The Revenant Room
Best Actor Bryan Cranston, Trumbo Matt Damon, The Martian Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl
Best Actress Cate Blanchett, Carol Brie Larson, Room Jennifer Lawrence, Joy Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn
Best Director Lenny Abrahamson, Room Alejandro Iñárritu, The Revenant George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road Tom McCarthy, Spotlight Adam McKay, The Big Short
Best Supporting Actor Christian Bale, The Big Short Tom Hardy, The Revenant Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies Sylvester Stallone, Creed
Best Supporting Actress Rooney Mara, Carol Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs Rachel McAdams, Spotlight
Best Animated Film Anomalisa Boy and the World Inside Out Shaun the Sheep Movie When Marnie Was There
Best Foreign Language Film Embrace of the Serpent Mustang Son of Saul Theeb A War
Best Adapted Screenplay The Big Short, Charles Randolph and Adam McKay Brooklyn, Nick Hornby Carol, Phyllis Nagy The Martian, Drew Goddard Room, Emma Donoghue
Best Original Screenplay Spotlight, written by Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy Bridge of Spies, written by Matt Charman and Ethan Coen and Joel Coen Ex Machina, written by Alex Garland Inside Out, screenplay by Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley; original story by Pete Docter, Ronnie del Carmen Straight Outta Compton, screenplay by Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff; story by S. Leigh Savidge and Alan Wenkus and Andrea Berloff
Best Original Score Bridge of Spies, Thomas Newman Carol, Carter Burwell The Hateful Eight, Ennio Morricone Sicario, Jóhann Jóhannsson Star Wars: The Force Awakens, John Williams
Best Cinematography Carol, Ed Lachman The Hateful Eight, Robert Richardson Mad Max: Fury Road, John Seale The Revenant, Emmanuel Lubezki Sicario, Roger Deakins
Best Production Design Bridge of Spies The Danish Girl Mad Max: Fury Road The Martian The Revenant
Best Visual Effects Ex Machina Mad Max: Fury Road The Martian The Revenant Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Best Original Song “Earned It,” Fifty Shades of Grey, Music and Lyric by Abel Tesfaye, Ahmad Balshe, Jason Daheala Quenneville and Stephan Moccio “Manta Ray,” Racing Extinction, Music by J. Ralph; Lyric by Antony Hegarty “Simple Song 3,” Youth, Music and Lyric by David Lang “Til it Happens to You,” The Hunting Ground, Music and Lyric by Diane Warren and Lady Gaga “Writing’s on the Wall,” Spectre, Music and Lyric by Jimmy Napes and Sam Smith
Best Documentary (Feature) Amy Cartel Land The Look of Silence What Happened, Miss Simone? Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom
Best Costume Design Carol Cinderella The Danish Girl Mad Max: Fury Road The Revenant
Best Makeup and Hairstyling Mad Max: Fury Road The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out a Window and Disappeared The Revenant
Best Short Film (Live Action) Ave Maria Day One Everything Will Be Okay Shok Stutterer
Best Short Film (Animated) Bear Story Prologue Sanjay’s Super Team We Can’t Live Without Cosmos World of Tomorrow
Best Documentary (Short Subject) Body Team 12 Chau, beyond the Lines Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness Lasy Day of Freedom
Best Film Editing The Big Short Mad Max: Fury Road The Revenant Spotlight Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Best Sound Mixing Bridge of Spies Mad Max: Fury Road The Martian The Revenant Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Best Sound Editing Mad Max: Fury Road The Martian The Revenant Sicario Star Wars: The Force Awakens
I haven’t blogged in over 10 months… So much for last year’s resolution!! However, I’m posting this to tell you all (whomever that may be) that I am still here. I plan on writing some more soon.
I do what I want Secretive and corrupt That’s what Republicans say That’s what Republicans say I’m attacked, no matter what I do By a vast right wing conspiracy At least that’s what Democrats say That’s what Democrats say But I keep cheating Can’t stop, won’t stop cheating It’s like I got this mantra In my mind, saying “2016’s gonna be mine!”
Cause the GOP’s gonna hate, hate, hate And Liz Warren’s gonna whine, whine, whine I’m just gonna cheat, cheat, cheat Cheat and scoff Joe Biden’s gonna gaffe, gaffe, gaffe And John Kerry’s gonna choke, choke, choke I’m just gonna cheat, cheat, cheat Cheat and scoff, cheat and scoff
I never miss a chance To cheat and get ahead And that’s what the media doesn’t see That’s what voters don’t see I’m laughing to myself I planned it all from the start And that’s what Americans don’t know That’s what Americans don’t know But I keep cheating Can’t stop, won’t stop cheating It’s like I got this mantra In my mind, saying “2016’s gonna be mine”!
Cause the GOP’s gonna hate, hate, hate And Liz Warren’s gonna whine, whine, whine I’m just gonna cheat, cheat, cheat Cheat and scoff Joe Biden’s gonna gaffe, gaffe, gaffe And John Kerry’s gonna choke, choke, choke I’m just gonna cheat, cheat, cheat Cheat and scoff, cheat and scoff
Hey, Barack Obama Just think while you’ve been inept, dumb, and wrong about many Of the difficult problems in the world You could have been cheating to get ahead, like me!
9/11/12, Benghazi was attacked GOP’s like, “oh my God!” But I’m just gonna cheat And to Trey Gowdy over there with his email-finding snare, “Terrorism? Emails? What difference does it make, make?”
Cause the GOP’s gonna hate, hate, hate And Liz Warren’s gonna whine, whine, whine I’m just gonna cheat, cheat, cheat Cheat and scoff Joe Biden’s gonna gaffe, gaffe, gaffe And John Kerry’s gonna choke, choke, choke I’m just gonna cheat, cheat, cheat Cheat and scoff Cheat and scoff Cheat and scoff Cheat and scoff Cheat and scoff
Update: After tallying up everything, I was 17 for 24. In the end, the Academy really didn’t like Boyhood. Thank God.
Here are my predictions for tonight’s 87th Academy Awards:
Documentary Short Subject Perry Films, Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 √ Wajda Studio, Joanna Warsaw Film School, Our Curse Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica, The Reaper (La Parka) Weary Traveler, White Earth
Short Film, Live Action Oded Binnun and Mihal Brezis, Aya Michael Lennox, director, and Ronan Blaney, Boogaloo and Graham Hu Wei and Julien Féret, Butter Lamp (La Lampe au Beurre de Yak) Talkhon Hamzavi and Stefan Eichenberger, Parvaneh Mat Kirkby, director and James Lucas, The Phone Call √
Short Film, Animated Daisy Jacobs and Christopher Hees, The Bigger Picture Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi, The Dam Keeper Patrick Osborne and Kristina Reed, Feast √ Torill Kove, Me and My Moulton Joris Oprins, A Single Life
Best Documentary Feature Citizenfour √ Last Days in Vietnam Virunga Finding Vivian Maier The Salt of the Earth
Best Foreign Film Ida (Poland) √ Leviathan (Russia)
Tangerines (Estonia)
Timbuktu (Mauritania)
Wild Tales (Argentina)
Best Animated Feature Big Hero 6 √ How to Train Your Dragon 2 The Boxtrolls Song of the Sea The Tale of Princess Kaguya
Best Song Gregg Alexander, Danielle Brisebois, Nick Lashley, and Nick Southwood, “Lost Stars” (Begin Again) John Legend and Common, “Glory” (Selma) √ Shawn Patterson, Joshua Bartholomew, Lisa Harriton, and The Lonely Island, “Everything Is Awesome” (The Lego Movie) Diane Warren, “Grateful” (Beyond the Lights) Glen Campbell, “I’m Not Gonna Miss You” (Glen Campbell … I’ll Be Me)
Best Original Score Johann Johannsson, The Theory of Everything Alexandre Desplat, The Imitation Game Alexandre Desplat, The Grand Budapest Hotel √ Hans Zimmer, Interstellar Gary Yershon, Mr. Turner
Costume Design Colleen Atwood, Into the Woods Anna B. Sheppard and Jane Clive, Maleficent Milena Canonero, The Grand Budapest Hotel √ Jacqueline Durran, Mr. Turner Mark Bridges, Inherent Vice
Makeup and Hairstyling Bill Corso and Dennis Liddiard, Foxcatcher Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier, The Grand Budapest Hotel √ Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou and David White, Guardians of the Galaxy
Production Design Adam Stockhausen and Anna Pinnock, The Grand Budapest Hotel √ Suzie Davies and Charlotte Watts, Mr. Turner Dennis Gassner and Anna Pinnock, Into the Woods Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis, and Paul Healy, Interstellar Maria Djurkovic and Tatiana Macdonald, The Imitation Game
Sound Editing Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman, American Sniper √ Martín Hernández and Aaron Glascock, Birdman Brent Burge and Jason Canovas, The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies Richard King, Interstellar Becky Sullivan and Andrew DeCristofaro, Unbroken
Sound Mixing American Sniper Birdman Unbroken Interstellar Whiplash √
Visual Effects Interstellar √ Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Guardians of the Galaxy X Men: Days of Future Past Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Film Editing American Sniper Boyhood The Grand Budapest Hotel The Imitation Game Whiplash √
Best Cinematography Emmanuel Lubezki, Birdman √ Dick Pope, Mr. Turner Robert D. Yeoman, The Grand Budapest Hotel Ryszard Lenczewski and Łukasz Żal, Ida Roger Deakins, Unbroken
Best Adapted Screenplay Graham Moore, The Imitation Game √ Anthony McCarten, The Theory of Everything Damien Chazelle, Whiplash Jason Hall, American Sniper Paul Thomas Anderson, Inherent Vice
Best Original Screenplay Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo, Birdman √ Richard Linklater, Boyhood Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness, The Grand Budapest Hotel Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler Dan Futterman and E. Max Frye, Foxcatcher
Best Supporting Actor J.K. Simmons, Whiplash √ Edward Norton, Birdman Ethan Hawke, Boyhood Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher Robert Duvall, The Judge
Best Supporting Actress Patricia Arquette, Boyhood √ Emma Stone, Birdman Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game Meryl Streep, Into the Woods Laura Dern, Wild
Best Actress Julianne Moore, Still Alice √ Reese Witherspoon, Wild Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night
Best Actor Michael Keaton, Birdman Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything √ Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game Steve Carell, Foxcatcher Bradley Cooper, American Sniper
Best Director Richard Linklater, Boyhood Alejandro González Iñárritu, Birdman √ Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel Morten Tyldum, The Imitation Game Bennett Miller, Foxcatcher
Best Picture Boyhood The Imitation Game Birdman √
The Theory of Everything The Grand Budapest Hotel Whiplash Selma American Sniper
The 8 movies nominated for this year’s Best Picture Oscar make up a curious group of films. They’ve showcased extraordinary feats of cinematography, editing, acting, and perseverance. A few character actors finally got their time to shine, and a few historical figures in science, war, and civil rights were finally given proper representation on the big screen. Some of the films have elicited absurd amounts of controversy, whereas others have received absurd amounts of praise. My opinion on a few of these films is quite high. On others, I am mostly indifferent. One, I outright dislike, and it is certainly NOT one of the best films this century, Mr. A.O. Scott, thank you very much!
Without further adieu, my take on this year’s Best Picture nominees:
Boyhood Okay. I respect the dedication put into this movie. I happen to really like all but one of the other Richard Linlater movies that I’ve seen (that is, the 3 Before movies, School of Rock, and Bernie; I hated A Scanner Darkly), and I went into Boyhood with extremely high expectations. But 2 hours and 45 minues of nothing was NOT worth my full price ticket at a New York City theater, and watching it a second time completely killed any positive inklings I may have had toward the movie from that first viewing. By the end of the film, I absolutely HATE the brooding, moody, confused hipster that main character Mason has become. And since his poor childhood is the product of all the people around him, I hate them all, too. When you look past the gimmick that was shooting the same movie over a 12 year span, you realize that the film’s writing is not too great, and the acting is actually kind of dull; Patricia Arquette will win Best Supporting Actress for her role as Mason’s mother, but it is more of a consolation prize in my opinion for showing up for the same gig for 12 years in a row than for any sort of profound acting chops on her part. As someone has said, if Boyhood had been shot in one year instead of 12, no one would give a flying bleep about the film, especially due to its lack of story and its crappy, unlikeable characters. And yet it’ll probably win Best Picture. This coming after the fact that Linklater’s immensely-better Before Midnight wasnt even nominated for Best Picture last year just proves that there is no justice in the world for a film curmudgeon like me.
American Sniper I already wrote plenty on Sniper (see previous post), but I still don’t see a reason for all of the controversy, let alone all the hype. While the movie was definitely emotional and worth seeing once, Bradley Cooper’s bulked-up physique was honestly the most impressive part of the film. I guess one positive about the movie was that the entire time, I kept thinking, “How the hell did 84-year-old, senile, grumpy Clint Eastwood direct something so intense and big?” The fact that the finished product hit all the right emotional chords can be attributed to the skills of Eastwood as a director.
The Theory of Everything Eddie Redmayne was Oscar-worthy as British ASL-stricken scientist Stephen Hawking, though the movie itself wasn’t anything that special. It told a decent, if certainly unconventional love story, and featured some beautiful music, but it still didn’t do that much for me. It was worth seeing once, but Best Picture worthy? Not having it.
The Imitation Game: I really enjoyed The Imitation Game the first time I saw it. I loved the British World War II setting, the Desplat score, and the way the story was edited together, with its three timelines and its use of WWII-era newsreels and stock footage. However, the second time I watched it, I wanted to go to sleep. While still in no way a bad movie, it just didn’t seem like anything special upon a second viewing. I love Cumberbatch in almost everything he’s done, but I wasn’t THAT impressed by him as Turing, and Charles Dance literally walked off the set of Game of Thrones, took off his armor and removed the crossbow bolts from his chest, and put on a British Naval uniform. How can that be a bad thing, you ask? It shouldn’t have been, but Lord Tywin popping up in the middle of a World War II biopic just seemed out of place to me. Also, upon second viewing, the ending, while sad and emotional, seemed like it was a little too on the nost in its political messaging. The on-screen text that makes up the film’s epilogue focused more on Turing’s sexuality than his impact on WWII, codebreaking, and computers. While not wrong in any way, this text attempted to make a film that tackled so many broad historical and social topics to be a lot more streamlined and political than it actually was.
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) I very much enjoyed Birdman the first time I saw it, though, like with Boyhood and TheImitation Game, my enthusiasm for it lessened quite a bit after seeing it again. The amazing feat of Emmanuel Lubezki to make the film appear to be one long take wore a bit thin the second time through. The use of long takes of course made the superb acting stand out even more, as Keaton and Norton and Stone had to memorize large amounts of lines and blocking at a time, though, again, if the movie were filmed conventionally, would its dialogue and plot hold up? Probably not. Michael Keaton deserves the Oscar for his performance, but the rest of the film is a bit too eclectic and schizofrenic for me to outright love it. The drum score drove me a bit insane (as was the point, I think), and the ending really didn’t make any sense at all, no matter how you looked at it. Unquestionably, my favorite part of such a stylized and wonky film was the fleeting moment (probably a mistake that couldn’t be covered up due to the use of long takes) when Zack Galifianakis forgot what movie he was a part of for a split second and reverted into his Hangover schtick by calling Martin Scorsese “Martin Scorseez.” Simply amazing.
Selma I didn’t expect to like Selma and I wound up loving it. Again, I probably wouldn’t watch it again, but it was worth seeing once and actually left an emotional impact on me, unlike a few of the movies I’ve already mentioned. David Oyelowo was fantastic as Dr. King, and his speech at the end was one of the more inspirational scenes in a movie this past year. I’m extremely happy that the movie remained apolitical for almost the entire time, though the reference of Ferguson in the John Legend/Common song at the end pulled me right out of the historical period of the Civil Rights movement and brought today’s divisive, nasty political maelstrom into a film that, for almost its entire running time, had been above such pettiness. Plus, since the events in Ferguson couldn’t have happened before filming started, it made its inclusion in the film seem even more shoehorned in. Why must everything make a statement, no matter how unnecessary? Why can’t we ever appreciate something in its original context, and not in comparing it to today?
The Grand Budapest Hotel With a film that takes Lord Voldemort himself and makes him into a heroic, comic lead character, uses miniature scale models of majestic hotels and icy mountainsides, features an eclectic group of the quirkiest actors around, such as Jeff Goldblum, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Jason Schwartzman, Adrian Brody, Tilda Swinton, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson, etc., and switches between 3 times periods, each represented by a different aspect ration, all while accompanied by a whimsical Alexandre Desplat score, Wes Anderson has finally become mainstream. The Grand Budapest Hotel was by far one of the best films to come out last year and the first of these eight Best Picture winners that I could easily see myself watching again.
Whiplash As I said in my last post, a movie that can make me angry enough to feel it in my stomach, that can shock me to the point where I’m yelling “Oh my God” out loud, and that can make me jump out of my seat in triumphant joy is really something special. Whiplash is that type of movie. J.K. Simmons, the Yellow M & M and the Farmers Insurance guy, J. Jonah Jameson and Juno’s father, is the band instructor from hell (not to mention an extremely relatable character to terrible people I’ve experienced in real life), and will deservedly walk away with the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Miles Teller is awesome as a drum student worked to the point of exhaustion, with sweat, blood, and tears literally staining his drumsticks and the heads of his drums, and he reportedly did a lot of his own drumming on the film. The climax, a whirlwind of sound and close ups, is one of the best-edited sequences in a movie in a long time. Whiplash is definitely a painful and exhausting movie to get through, but, oh, is it worth it! And it is my favorite Best Picture nominee by a substantial margin from 2014.
With the Oscars coming up this Sunday night, this is my ranking of the 38 movies that came out in 2014 that I watched between January 2014 and February 2015. I still have not seen Still Alice, Wild, or Two Days, One Night, three movies that have actresses up for Best Actress, nor PTA’s Inherent Vice, up for Original Screenwriting, but I’ve watched mostly everything else worth seeing. (Sorry, The Judge).
I wish I had more time to see a few more non-Oscar movies before compiling this list, such as Calvary, Only Lovers Left Alive, Mr. Turner, Under the Skin, and Godzilla, but alas, I ran out of time. I’ll get to them eventually.
I will follow up this post (BEFORE THE OSCARS, I PROMISE) with one focusing just on the 8 Best Picture nominees. I have a lot to say about a few of them, so I’ll keep my comments on them in this post relatively brief.
Anyway, since I like stream of consciousness rants, here we go, from worst to best:
North Korea, why didn’t you bomb us for The Interview?? We certainly deserved it, and not because it showed us killing your leader. It was just an affront to the art of cinema.
I don’t know what Noah‘s production team was smoking. I sort of get that they wanted to make the movie feel like it was both ancient and futuristic/alien at the same time… but could their costumes have been a bit more…um, biblical? And not like they bought them at Target and made them frayed and dirty?
How did Foxcatcher, Into the Woods, and A Most Violent Year get ANY critical praise at all this year?ZzzzzzzzzzzzzZzzzzzZZZZzzzzzzzzzzZZZzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZzzzzz
DID YOU KNOW BOYHOOD TOOK 12 YEARS TO FILM? AND THAT OUR MAIN CHARACTER TOOK 12 YEARS TO BECOME AN ASSHOLE? AND THAT IT TOOK 12 YEARS FOR PATRICIA ARQUETTE TO REALIZE SHE WAS A TERRIBLE MOTHER? AND THAT IT TOOK 12 YEARS FOR ETHAN HAWKE TO REALIZE HE REALLY THREW HIS LIFE AWAY BY SLACKING OFF AND NOT BEING A GOOD FATHER? AND SO ON AND SO FORTH AND ONTO MY NEXT POST…
Here we go. I’m going to get a lot of flack for this. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and X-Men: Days of Future Past were all critically acclaimed blockbusters…and were all completely blown out of proportion by fans and critics alike. While none of them were bad movies, per say, they were in no means that special either.
I was terrified of The Babadook until I actually watched The Babadook. If that makes any sense at all.
I wish I remembered Joe… I liked it and thought it was decent in the moment, but thinking back on it, I can only remember the earlier Matthew McConaughey version called Mud. Hell, the same kid was in both movies!!
I’m sorry, but due to my sister, I… I… (I feel like Squidward being unable to say his apology to Spongebob aloud here) I…oh, hell, I happen to enjoy One Direction’s music (THERE, I SAID IT), and thus, their concert movie, Where We Are, was definitely worth my time. As it was a concert movie, though, and had no plot, it therefore ranks below most of the other movies I saw from 2014.
Jersey Boys and American Sniper, Clint Eastwood’s decent efforts from 2014, were enjoyable and (from what I can tell) faithful adaptations of their source material, while being a bit under par from his normal quality output. Jersey Boys had the perk of being partly shot and set in the town next to mine (though maybe being associated with Belleville, NJ, is really not that much of a perk at all), and who can beat the music of the Four Seasons? American Sniper was certainly emotionally draining, but it was in no way worth all of its hype or derision at all. That being said, Bradley Cooper’s chest deserves its own Oscar category.
Annabelle was a fairly straight-forward horror movie in terms of plot and character archetypes. That being said, it certainly had me on the edge of my seat at times and even caused me to yell out loud in the theater. As a lover of Mad Men, I loved the film’s setting. And after seeing the immensely superior Rosemary’s Baby for the first time a week or so later, I could tell that much of the film’s aesthetic and setting owed itself to Polanski’s seminal film. My only major complaint, which is actually my only complaint with Annabelle‘s 2013’s predecessor, The Conjuring, a movie I absolutely loved, was that the Annabelle doll was just too damn scary – absurdly so – before even getting possessed!! It was laughable to me that no one in either movie questioned why any doll like this should even exist, let alone be allowed to reside in someone’s house – AND IN A BABY’S ROOM, AT THAT!
The music was the best part of The Theory of Everything. Sorry, Eddie. You did a good job, but your movie just felt like an alternate take on A Beautiful Mind.
Ida: beautifully shot, subtly acted, and almost silent. I like when modern films are shot in black and white, and along with The Grand Budapest Hotel, this was the second film I saw that was shot at a 1:33 aspect ratio. And plot-wise, what could be better than a Polish nun-in-training learning that she’s actually Jewish from her Communist official aunt?
Apart from a strange modern coda that didn’t really fit the rest of the movie, Dracula Untold was an exciting, medieval actioner with vampires that actually lived up to their mythological reputation. Is it bad that I enjoyed this box-office flop much more than the “Big Four” blockbusters that I mentioned above. Is there something wrong with me, or everyone else?
I definitely cried at The Fault In Our Stars and thought there was genuine chemistry between Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort, even though I could barely stand a chapter of John Green’s book. I guess that says something about the acting, no?
The Imitation Game: very good World War II biopic the first time, a bit tedious and preachy the second. More on this in my later post.
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies was at times the most entertaining of the three Hobbit monstrosities and also – by FAR – the most offensive. Nothing in the Star Wars prequels, not even Jar Jar Binks, is as absurd as Legolas (might I remind you that Legolas HAS NO RIGHT EVEN BEING IN THESE MOVIES!!) defying gravity in slow motion to run up falling rocks mid-fight as if they were a staircase.
I love James McAvoy normally. I REALLY love James McAvoy as a psycho, vulgar, druggy Nicolas-Cage-in-Bad-Lieutenant police detective. Jim Broadbent and Imogen Poots also make Filth a film that is definitely worth seeing, if for sheer shock value.
Overall, I wasn’t too impressed by the plot of Nightcrawler, BUT Jake Gyllenhaal made up for the script’s shortcomings with a performance for the ages. His gaunt, sunken, wraith-like Leo Bloom is the 2010s’ version of De Niro’s Travis Bickle, except even more reprehensible.
Intersteller was a much longer, mainstream version of Danny Boyle’s superior Sunshine, one of my favorite movies from recent years, though going in, I expected it to be a lot worse than it actually wound up being. I thought most of it was completely preposterous, especially the end, but the acting, visuals, and music sold the movie as a whole for me. And is it just me, or am I the only one who can’t take Matt Damon seriously? I know he was Jason Bourne and all, but all of his Jimmy Kimmel appearances are too much for me to handle. So the big reveal/cameo/twist with Damon made me laugh, not gasp.
Sunshine & Interstellar
Can they make a mid-quel to a film that’s already a prequel, mid-quel, and sequel to another film? Because I think Eva Green’s Artemisia NEEDS her own movie. Most of 300: Rise of an Empire was pretty mediocre, the expected stylized schlock of the first 300, but there’s a reason this was close to being in my top 10 for the year.
Snowpiercer is one of the more bizarre but welcome additions to the science fiction genre, and totally worth downloading late one summer night last year. Tilda Swinton makes the movie, in case you haven’t heard by now. And poor Chris Evans can’t catch a break with cold substances… first Sunshine, then Captain America, now Snowpiercer…
Mitt was a great 22nd birthday present, so thank you, Netflix. For anyone interested in politics, whether you’re a Republican, Democrat, or independent, this documentary was an intimate portrait of a man running for President, and, in stark contrast to how he carried himself outwardly during the 2012 election, it actually showed that Mitt Romney was a man.
A quarter of the way through The Lego Movie, I was seriously confused about all the hype. Halfway through, I was enjoying it but only thought it a cute little Disney knockoff, a Wreck-It Ralph-lite. Three quarters, and I was eating my words, mind completely blown. Please, experience it for yourself. The ending is so worth the time and enduring that annoying song.
If Tom Hardy had simply used the Welsh accent he used in Locke as his voice for Bane in the awful The Dark Knight Rises, then he would have been absolutely terrifying, not the Darth Sean Connery laughing stock he wound up being. Also, to have an entire film set in a car and consist of only close ups of a single actor’s face, his dashboard phone menu, and of the exterior of his car, and STILL be as engaging and as morally profound as Locke says something about Hardy’s acting and the film’s writing.
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virture of Ignorance) is a gimmick. But, unlike Boyhood, it is a gimmick that actually works, though I enjoyed it significantly less the second time viewing it. If the film were not shot as if it were done in a single take, the movie would of course be lessened, but its acting is still superb enough to carry it past its cinematography.
Selma, a movie I expected to be super preachy, would up being one of the best historical dramas I’ve seen in a while, and apart from the mention of Ferguson in the end credits’ song (my one complaint about the movie), it remained pretty apolitical the entire time. Oyelowo, Wilkinson, and Roth were all eerily close to their historical counterparts.
The Grand Budapest Hotel is not my favorite Wes Anderson movie (that probably goes to Rushmore or Moonrise Kingdom), but it is his most lavish and grand and possibly his most zany, and fairly perfect in its composition (literally), and it certainly deserves all the praise it’s been getting.
I miss Roger Ebert. I didn’t agree with him politically really at all, and even disagreed with him on a number of film reviews, but he was my go-to movie critic, as I’m sure he was for millions of others, before a movie came out, and if he didn’t like a movie, he was usually in the majority. Life Itself is a must see doc. It is terribly sad at times but also incredibly life-affirming and uplifting, and overall one of the most wonderful films I’ve seen in a long time.
Very few things have ever made me laugh as much as the end credits sequence of 22 Jump Street. Add in Ice Cube’s explosion during dinner and Channing Tatum’s realization over why Ice Cube was so angry, and you get my favorite comedy of the year. Yes, it was better than the first movie. By a lot.
A movie that can elicit anger that hurts my stomach, shock that makes me yell out loud, and triumphant joy that makes me jump out of my seat is something special. Whiplash is that type of movie.
Gone Girl lived up to its expectations, which was a thriller about bad people in an awful marriage doing twisted things to one another. I read the book after seeing the movie and Fincher and the film’s cast really did do the book justice. And I really hope Oscars host Neil Patrick Harris references how his dalliance with a woman did not exactly end too well here…
I did not have any more fun seeing a movie in 2014 than when I saw Edge of Tomorrow in theaters over the summer. What could have been another crappy, forgettable, video gamey, generic science fiction/alien invasion/action/disaster movie wound up being an emotional, well-acted, and surprisingly hilarious and fresh take on the genre. This Groundhog Day-meets-Starship Troopers-meets-Minority Report mashup reaffirmed that Tom Cruise can be a very good actor when given good material, and that badass female characters are so much cooler than badass male characters. If Eva Green was awesome in the mediocre 300 sequel, Emily Blunt was incredible in a film that will actually be remembered in a few years!
Okay. After watching Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper, I have now seen all 8 of the films nominated for this year’s Best Picture Academy Award. And I wasn’t going to wade in on any of the controversy surrounding it, but this little tweet from The Interview‘s own Seth Rogen set me off just a bit:
American Sniper kind of reminds me of the movie that's showing in the third act of Inglorious Basterds.
He was comparing Sniper to Inglourious Basterds‘ film-within-a-film “Nation’s Pride,” which was about a German sniper’s heroic three day stand in a bell tower against invading American forces. However, commissioned by Joseph Goebbels in the universe of Tarantino’s film, it is first and foremost propaganda, with the German solider Fredrick Zoller (Daniel Brühl) playing himself in the movie, like real-life American soldier Audie Murphy did in To Hell and Back after returning from World War II. Rogen later backtracked, saying he had simply been “reminded” of “Nation’s Pride” while watching Sniper, and that he actually liked Clint Eastwood’s film. Clarification or not, however, his original tweet was one more comment in a maelstrom of controversy surrounding the movie and is still a valid point for discussion.
Fredrick Zoller (Daniel Bruhl) starring in his own film, “Nation’s Pride”
So while, yes, similarities can be made between “Nation’s Pride” and American Sniper, in that they are both about snipers who killed upwards of 150-200 enemy combatants in war and were deemed heroes afterwards, they are in no way the same movie. I simply do not understand the outcry over American Sniper. I happen to be a conservative individual, but apart from (film) Chris Kyle being a Texan who took great pride in serving his country, I cannot – for the life of me – see any sort of conservative slant to the movie. Yes, Kyle killed people in the line of duty, and while many of these deaths are brutally depicted on screen, he never gloats about them. At one point, he clearly has a nervous breakdown after coming seconds away from killing a kid with an RPG (the kid puts the weapon down and runs away), and his demons follow him home. He is distant with his wife and his kids between tours of duty and then when home for good, and prone to violent reactions to seemingly-ordinary things like dogs barking or drilling sounds. The film does not delve too deeply into his PTSD, but it acknowledges its existence, as well as showing other veterans with loss of limb or other forms of psychological problems. Heck, his own brother, also serving in Iraq, curses the sand beneath his feet before heading home after his own tour of duty.
Bradley Cooper as Chris Kyle in American Sniper
If anything, American Sniper showed a horrifying conflict in a horrifying and extremely realistic light. Complaints against it claim that it didn’t show Americans committing war crimes or that it failed to humanize the Iraqi insurgents killed by Kyle, especially the enemy sniper with whom Kyle faces off in an Enemy at the Gates-type snipers’ dual over the years, or the fact that it did not outright condemn the Iraq War itself like many previous Hollywood films had done, but this movie particularly was not meant to show all of that. It was about Chris Kyle, his drive and his dedication to his role as a U.S. soldier, and his role as a husband and father.
Personally, I was not blown away by the movie, just as I was not blown away by 2012’s similarly-themed and -plotted Zero Dark Thirty, though I did like Bradley Cooper’s portrayal and believe the film earned its many Oscar nominations. And I certainly think any outrage over the movie is complete and utter nonsense.
That being said, I also find the other side of the aisle’s (that is, my side’s) complaints against the Martin Luther King, Jr. biopic Selmato be just as unfounded. I actually thought it was one of the better movies nominated for Best Picture this year (I liked it more than Sniper), and apart from the use of “Ferguson” in the Common/John Legend song “Glory” that accompanied the end credits, I believe that it avoided taking political sides and approached the topic of Civil Rights objectively.
David Oyelowo as Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma
Selma, as well as American Sniper, has been charged with historical inaccuracies to the point of mudslinging and uproars on either side of the political spectrum as their respective horse in the race comes under fire from the other side, but The Imitation Gameand The Theory of Everything have somehow seemed to creep by scot-free of any major criticisms, even though liberties have certainly been taken in their adaptations to the screen as well. Is it simply because they aren’t focusing on such volatile subjects as Civil Rights and the Iraq War that people haven’t been outraged over them? Or can people just not put aside their views for two hours and try to watch two fairly objective movies in an objective light?
I’ll admit, that’s a lot easier said than done, as I panned Richard Linklater’s Boyhood, which attempted to tell a fictional story in a realistic way. Even though I appreciated the concept of filming the movie over 12 years and the work put into making it over that time, I did not like the actual movie, mainly because I could not stand the main character and the liberal slant to his worldview. Why would anyone laud how this kid grew up? He went from a cute little kid to a complete asshole, and it took 3 long hours for me to watch it happen… However, I am not outraged by the movie; I just didn’t like it. And I will leave it at that. If anyone wants to see it and love it – and hell, a lot of people have as it will probably win Best Picture – then so be it.
American Sniper and Selmawere the anti-Boyhood. These two films had STORIES. They told actual stories about flawed characters that WE STILL CARED ABOUT, not idealistic impressions of them, and didn’t forgive or gloss over their characters’ flaws for the sake of having a happy “Hollywood” ending. They told historical events realistically and objectively, and for that reason alone, the should be seen by everyone. Many people just can’t seem to wrap their minds around that.
To come full circle, Seth Rogen… shame on you for speaking negatively (consciously or subconsciously) on another film after that train wreck of a…what? – it’s certainly not a movie – you call The Interview. I didn’t think I could like and enjoy a film from 2014 less than I did Noah. And nothing I’ve seen in years is as bad as your buddy James Franco’s Gollum impression.
Edit 3: Overall, 9/25. I should never actually gamble. However, I am happy with most of the outcomes of the evening, although I’d rather Birdman had won for Best Musical or Comedy, and while I didn’t necessarily care for Boyhood, I’ll admit that its feat should definitely be recognized. On the TV end, I really overestimated the love for True Detective, which was all but shut out by Fargo (YES!) and The Normal Heart. And I guess Amazon is the new Netflix, with 2 wins for Transparent vs. 1 win for the latter company (Kevin Spacey for House of Cards’ second season). Also, who has actually seen The Affair?? Yeah, me neither.
Edit 2: NEW CATEGORY!! The “George Clooney Award for Being George Clooney” with the only nomination and winner… George Clooney
Edit 1: With less than half of the show left to go…. my ballot is coooompletely off. More to follow afterwards…
Tonight is the 72 Annual Golden Globe awards! Super comedy duo Tina Fey and Amy Poehler return as co-hosts, and with many close races that will serve as a possible preview of February’s Oscars, it should at least be an interesting night.
MOTION PICTURES
Best Drama
Boyhood √
Foxcatcher
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Best Comedy
Birdman
The Grand Budapest Hotel √
Into the Woods
Pride
St. Vincent
Best Director
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Ava Duvernay, Selma
David Fincher, Gone Girl
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Birdman
Richard Linklater, Boyhood √
Best Actress in a Drama
Jennifer Aniston, Cake
Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore, Still Alice √
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon,Wild
Best Actor in a Drama
Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler
David Oyelowo, Selma
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything √
Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy
Ralph Fiennes, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Michael Keaton, Birdman √
Bill Murray, St. Vincent
Joaquin Phoenix, Inherent Vice
Christoph Waltz, Big Eyes
Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy
Amy Adams, Big Eyes √
Emily Blunt, Into the Woods
Helen Mirren, The Hundred-Foot Journey
Julianne Moore, Map to the Stars
Quvenzhané Wallis, Annie
(Really, HFPA? This is by far the most bizarre category of the night.)
Best Supporting Actress
Patricia Arquette, Boyhood √
Jessica Chastain, A Most Violent Year
Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
Emma Stone, Birdman
Meryl Streep, Into the Woods
Best Supporting Actor
Robert Duvall, The Judge
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
Edward Norton, Birdman
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons, Whiplash √
Best Screenplay
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, and Armando Bo, Birdman √
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Graham Moore, The Imitation Game
Best Foreign Language Film
Force Majeure Turist, Sweden
Gett: The Trial of Viviane Ansalem Gett, Israel
Ida, Poland/Denmark
Leviathan, Russia √
Tangerines Mandariinid, Estonia
Best Animated Feature
Big Hero 6
The Book of Life
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2 √
The Lego Movie
Best Original Song
“Big Eyes” from Big Eyes
“Glory” from Selma √
“Mercy Is” from Noah
“Opportunity” from Annie
“Yellow Flicker Beat” from The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1
Best Score
The Imitation Game
The Theory of Everything √
Gone Girl
Birdman
Interstellar
TELEVISION
Best TV Comedy or Musical
Girls
Jane the Virgin
Orange Is the New Black
Silicon Valley
Transparent √
Best TV Drama
The Affair √
Downton Abbey
Game of Thrones
The Good Wife
House of Cards
Best Actress in a TV Drama
Claire Danes, Homeland
Viola Davis, How to Get Away with Murder
Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife
Ruth Wilson, The Affair √
Robin Wright, House of Cards
Best Actor in a TV Drama
Clive Owen, The Knick
Liev Schreiber, Ray Donovan
Kevin Spacey, House of Cards √
James Spader, The Blacklist
Dominic West, The Affair
Best Actress in a TV Comedy
Lena Dunham, Girls
Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
Gena Rodriguez, Jane the Virgin √
Taylor Schilling, Orange Is the New Black
Best Actor in a TV Comedy
Louis CK, Louie
Don Cheadle, House of Lies
Ricky Gervais, Derek
William H. Macy, Shameless
Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent √
Best Miniseries or TV Movie
Fargo √
The Missing
The Normal Heart
Olive Kitteridge
True Detective
Best Actress in a Miniseries or TV Movie
Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Honorable Woman √
Jessica Lange, American Horror Story: Freak Show
Frances McDormand, Olive Kitteridge
Frances O’Connor, The Missing
Allison Tolman, Fargo
Best Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie
Martin Freeman, Fargo
Woody Harrelson, True Detective
Matthew McConaughey, True Detective
Mark Ruffalo, The Normal Heart
Billy Bob Thornton, Fargo √
Best Supporting Actress in a TV Show, Miniseries or TV Movie
Uzo Aduba, Orange Is the New Black
Kathy Bates, American Horror Story: Freak Show
Joanne Froggatt, Downton Abbey √
Allison Janney, Mom
Michelle Monaghan, True Detective
Best Supporting Actor in a TV Show, Miniseries or TV Movie
Happy New Year, everyone!! My goal for 2015 is to blog more. Seven posts in 5 months is not too great, though I’d say it’s a decent start for someone somewhat lazy like me. So here’s to a year of at least 14-18 posts!!
Anyway, 2014 is over and I consumed a LOT of media throughout the year. Taking a page from Steven Soderbergh, I tried to keep track of everything new that I watched (and, as time went on and I found myself commuting to New York City two days a week, of all the books I read as well) in 2014.
My year in pop culture was as follows:
MOVIES
American Hustle
Hugo
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Braveheart
Don Jon
Her
Frances Ha
Frozen
Inside Llewyn Davis
Saving Mr. Banks
Dallas Buyers Club
Blue Jasmine
Pineapple Express
Raising Arizona
Leaving Las Vegas
Mitt
The People vs. George Lucas
Best Worst Movie
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Lost in Translation
Juno
Oslo August 31
Eyes Wide Shut
Captain Phillips
All Is Lost
(500) Days of Summer
Filth
Friday the 13th Part 3
The Cable Guy
Punch-Drunk Love
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Iron Man 3
Thor: The Dark World
Magnolia
42
Great Expectations
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Philomena
Nebraska
The Pirates! Band of Misfits
Moulin Rouge
Hard Eight
Lolita
Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures
Gods and Monsters
Barry Lyndon
The Master
Bottle Rocket
The Reader
Prisoners
Mud
300: Rise of an Empire
Grand Budapest Hotel
That Guy…Who Was In That Thing
8MM
Snake Eyes
Point Break
The Kids Are All Right
Serpico
Dog Day Afternoon
Noah
The History of the World Part I
Joe
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
X-Men: Days of Future Past
The Fault in Our Stars
Sex Drive
22 Jump Street
Jersey Boys
Arthur Christmas
Edge of Tomorrow
America: Imagine the World Without Her
Legend
Saludos Amigos
The Three Caballeros
Make Mine Music
Fun and Fancy Free
Melody Time
Battle Royale
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mister Toad
Boyhood
Bernie
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
The Family Man
The Lego Movie
The Ides of March
Life Itself
Snowpiercer
Doubt
Guardians of the Galaxy
Good Will Hunting
12 Angry Men
Jackass 3D
Unbreakable
The Serpent and the Rainbow
The Skeleton Key
The Sword in the Stone
The Jungle Book
Robin Hood
Bonnie and Clyde
The Princess Bride
The Last Detail
Bram Stoker’s Dracula
The Horror of Dracula
Shadow of the Vampire
Insidious
M*A*S*H
Exorcist II: The Heretic
The Exorcist III
Cool Runnings
The Last Picture Show
Annabelle
Gone Girl
Rosemary’s Baby
Poltergeist
Trick ‘r Treat
Exorcist: The Beginning
Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist
John Carpenter’s The Thing
All the President’s Men
Nightcrawler
Suspiria
[REC]
Dracula Untold
Interstellar
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Birdman
Deliverance
Antichrist
The Help
One Direction: Where We Are
Ida
The Theory of Everything
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
Foxcatcher
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Home Alone
TV
Doctor Who S4
Sherlock S3
Doctor Who S5
Doctor Who S6
House of Cards S2
Hannibal S1
Mad Men S2
Mad Men S3
Mad Men S4
Mad Men S5
Mad Men S6
30 Rock S5
30 Rock S6
30 Rock S7
Mad Men S7P1
Hannibal S2
Game of Thrones S4
Fargo S1
True Detective S1
Broadchurch S1
The Legend of Korra S2
24 Live Another Day S9
Doctor Who S7
The Legend of Korra S3
The Leftovers S1
Twin Peaks S1
Castle S1
The Legend of Korra S4
BOOKS
Preacher: Book One by Garth Ennis
Difficult Men by Brett Marton
The Man Who Was Thursday by G. K. Chesterton
The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith
The Killing Joke by Alan Moore
Dracula by Bram Stoker
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Atonement by Ian McEwan
The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta
No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle
Legion by William Peter Blatty
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
I will have another post breaking down the 30 or so films released in theaters in 2014 that I saw before the Oscar Nominations come out on January 15. Overall, 2014 was an okay year for new movies (at least, according to this film curmudgeon over here): I liked a few, and hated a few, but most movies fell into a big ol’ MEH category. But I digress. Some notes on the various forms of entertainment I absorbed this year:
I really like Gillian Flynn’s writing style. Gone Girl and Dark Places were both fantastic, and I can only hope her first novel, Sharp Objects, is just as deranged. Did I say that? I meant good.
My last spring break as an undergrad consisted of me binging the HELL out of Mad Men and 30 Rock, and both shows quickly shot up my list of favorite shows ever. Don Draper and Jack Donaghy, you make me regret going into a profession where I can’t wear tuxedos after 6 PM or drink whiskey midday while doing business in my midtown Manhattan skyscraper…
After previously seeing Boogie Nights and There Will Be Blood, I rounded out the Paul Thomas Anderson oeuvre with Punch-Drunk Love, Magnolia, Hard Eight, and The Master. So, for a short while until Inherent Vicecame out, I had a perfect PTA score.
I watched 7 documentaries in 2014, and I can say great things about all of them. Life Itself and Mitt were both extremely charming, and Best Worst Movie made me appreciate the horror that is Troll 2 so much more than I ever did before. The People vs. George Lucas got me angry at George Lucas for messing up Star Wars and then made me feel sad for judging the man who created Star Wars in the first place, which is quite the feat. But Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures takes the cake for my favorite doc and one of my favorite films that I saw all year. I have so much respect for that man, and really wish he made a few more movies before he died.
And speaking of Kubrick, Barry Lyndon may’ve been 3 hours long, but I enjoyed all 3 picturesque hours of it. The same goes for Eyes Wide Shut, about which I can’t help but agree with critic Jeremiah Kipp: “Misunderstood as a psychosexual thriller, Stanley Kubrick’s final film is actually more of an acidic comedy about how Tom Cruise fails to get laid.”
Apart from a two-minute window at the end that involved skeletons in a pool, Poltergeist was a huge, huge letdown. How it makes any “Best Horror Movie” list is totally beyond me. However, the same cannot be said for that other horror film to come out in 1982, John Carpenter’s The Thing. Those special effects, my God… I’ll take that over computer effects ANY day.
The 6 Disney films made during World War II, Saludos Amigos, The Three Caballeros, Make Mine Music, Fun and Fancy Free, Melody Time, and The Adventures of Ichabod and Mister Toad, are all one big blur to me. That’s, what…? about 7 1/2 hours of my life I will never, ever get back. Thank the good Lord for Cinderella, a film that brought Disney back to life.
Carrie Coon wins for my favorite female performer of 2014, as she was great in two of my favorites of the year, as scene-stealing Nora Durst in The Leftovers and as Ben Affleck’s grounded sister in Gone Girl. A close second is Cate Blanchett, winning her Oscar for Blue Jasmine and playing Galadriel in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. I will forever watch whatever they next appear in.
Tom Hanks’ last five minutes in Captain Phillips should’ve won an Oscar in 2013, and he wasn’t even nominated. By far my favorite male performance of the year. In TV, I’d say Peter Dinklage for his rousing speech while on trial in Game of Thrones. Oh, and speaking of Game of Thrones…
…poor, poor Oberyn Martell. Seven months later, and I’m still cringing. (His final words though are quite quotable. “YOU RAPED HER! YOU MURDERED HER! YOU KILLED HER CHILDREN!” served as a good intro for when I FINALLY saw The Princess Bride for the first time later in the year.)
Exorcist II: The Heretic was abysmal, but The Exorcist III was a scarily-good successor to The Exorcist, though it was much more of a religious-themed procedural than an outright horror movie. (Its book version, Legion, was my favorite book of the year, but more on that in a bit…) The two prequels, Exorcist: The Beginning and Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist, were actually not that bad. The former was much more of a modern horror movie with a sillier plot, whereas the latter was much better acted but was much slower and had an awful exorcism as its climax; altogether, they were marred by terrible special effects and felt like two vastly-different, inferior halves of a whole, superior movie.
WHAT happened to The Legend of Korra? After a wonderful first season, seasons 2 through 4 were uneven, silly, and offensive to my senses as someone who enjoyed Avatar: The Last Airbender. That is not to say that the last three didn’t have any great moments (they had plenty, and, overall, 3 was very good), but still. Giant anthropomorphic kites? Jinora, the Deus Air Machina? Meelo in general?? And then the ending of the finale that everyone is praising, but was almost certainly just tacked on for the “Children’s Show Political Statement of the Year” award? And to top that all off, an Avatar in Korra (who had potential, mind you) who couldn’t even Avatar correctly after 4 friggin’ years!!! Ugh. Bad tastes all around.
And while it may not have been the BEST SHOW EVER like previous seasons, it was absolutely wonderful to see Jack Bauer once again grace my television screen in 24: Live Another Day after a 4 year absence. Oh, how I missed him!! Hopefully, it won’t be the last we ever see of him, but if it is, it was a much better send-off than the original finale from 2010, and the image of Jack throwing Evil Catelyn Stark out of a window in cold blood rivals any of the Jack Bauer Moments from 24‘s original run.
Thank God for Good Reads. After having it recommended to me over the summer, I increased my reading output from 2 books through July to 14(!!) by the end of the year. My commute to New York helped, but still. It gave me a purpose to sit down and start reading again. After all, I do love keeping track of movies and books with lists…
My least favorite movie of the year was probably M. Night Shyamalan’s Unbreakable. How anyone can still let this man get behind a word processor, let alone a camera, is totally beyond me. Noah and Her also drove me a little insane inside as well. And let’s not even talk about Jackass 3D (which I was forced to watch at a friend’s house. Pleeease don’t judge me.)
My least favorite TV show had to be the second season of Korra (see three bullets above for reasons why)followed immediately by the second season of House of Cards – how do you squander so much promise, especially after that first episode?? My least favorite book was Tom Perrotta’s day-in-the-life of those dealing with the Rapture novel, The Leftovers, which unfortunately was because I read it shortly after watching and loving its vastly different, superior HBO adaptation…
…which brings me to my final note, my three favorites in their respective mediums: Rosemary’s Baby for movies, The Leftovers for TV, and Legion for books. All three had religious themes (albeit dark, disturbing religious themes) and I guess having that description alone already piques my interest beyond most other premises. It just so happens that their execution and delivery exceeded my expectations in all three cases.
Rosemary’s Baby has quickly becomeone of the more disturbing movies that I have ever seen, and some of its images and dialogue are seared into my brain. I watched it in a college class and there were snickers during the finale when the film’s antagonists proclaimed their love for a certain devil figure, but I was anything but laughing. I was immensely impressed by the acting and Polanski’s direction, and am still surprised by the amount of violence, sex, and nudity in it. Compared to, say, Bonnie and Clyde, another film from the late 60s that was super controversial when it came out, it actually lived up to its reputation for being risqué and ground-breaking. It is certainly a movie I won’t be forgetting anytime soon.
I mentioned above that I enjoyed The Exorcist III, which was William Peter Blatty’s own adaptation of his Exorcistsequel, Legion. As I did with most of the books I read this year, I picked Legion up AFTER having already watched its film adaptation. And while I know the studio insisted Blatty call his film The Exorcist IIIand even tacked on a somewhat pointless exorcism scene to the end of the movie (that still wasn’t that bad to derail quite a scary little flick), Legion was vastly different from its movie version, even though Blatty wrote the screenplay and directed the movie. While the film was a procedural with horror elements and that added exorcism scene, the novel was a procedural with horror elements…and a LOT of philosophical and religious discourse. For a Jewish detective, Lt. Kinderman, certainly did a lot of hanging around with Catholic priests and discussing of the Catholic faith, and spent a lot of time chasing religious murderers and ruminating on the nature of good and evil and man’s purpose in it all… Oh, I loved it. And the actual conflict of the book had a much more low-key, emotional resolution than its bloody, excessive film counterpart. Kinderman is now one of my favorite literary characters. Mr. Blatty, any chance you can add a third Kinderman novel to your works?
And that brings me to The Leftovers… I still honestly can’t put my feelings about the show into words. I’ve wanted to blog about 15 different things regarding the show and the book (more on that in just a second) frequently since July when it premiered, but I couldn’t put any of my thoughts down on paper. I’ve just never been as emotionally affected by a show as I was with The Leftovers. The show’s ability to get into the heads of the characters and to play with structure certainly helped make its depressing and bleak themes and setting radiate beyond what we saw on screen. I loved the pilot, but it was the third episode that followed Christopher Eccleston’s Reverend Matt Jamison around as he fought to save his church from foreclosure that made me realize I was watching something I’d never seen before. And then Carrie Coon, playing Matt’s sister Nora, had her own, solo episode and stole the show out from under what was already an amazing cast. No, not all the questions raised were answered, and a vast conspiracy seemed to be hinted at towards the end of the show, but that’s what Season 2 is for. The main arc featuring Justin Theroux’s family reached an apt conclusion by season’s end and that was fine with me. Its book counterpart never reached the scope of the show and answered even far less questions, which actually begged me to ask, “What was the point of this book?” And apart from the initial premise, a few character names and one or two scenes here and there – including the final scene of both the show and the book, the two forms of The Leftovers were entirely different entities. And the book didn’t have Max Richter’s hypnotizing score or Coon or Eccleston or Amy Brenneman (who is also superb in an almost entirely-silent role) or the sheer violence that opened up episode 5 or the stolen Baby Jesus, or the packs of killer dogs and their mysterious hunter, or Garvey’s crazy father, and so on and so forth… Therefore, I was severely disappointed by Perrotta’s novel and came to love the show even more while reading it. I can’t wait for Season 2 and I hope it’s just as thought-provoking and mysterious as the first.
Oh, and the sleeper hit of the year that probably had a major impact on my subconscious and might have actually changed my life? A crappy little comedy I saw at 3 am one summer night on Spike or FX or something called Sex Drive.
Over the last few blog-less months, I have had numerous ideas for posts, but I haven’t been sold on a compelling-enough idea or subject to actually sit down and write.
Thank you, Jurassic World, for helping me overcome my writer’s block…
If you only need to know one thing about me, it is that Jurassic Park is my favorite movie of all time. I watched it more than any other movie growing up and loved everything about it. I became obsessed with dinosaurs like any other 4- or 5-year-old boy, but it was more than just finding the dinosaurs cool or scary or awe-inspiring; the filmmaking itself attracted me, even as a kid. The acting, the dialogue, the quirkiness of Jeff Goldblum, the Britishness of Richard Attenborough, John Williams’ majestic score, the way Spielberg keeps the audience in the dark by lingering on Sam Neill’s and Laura Dern’s surprised faces rather than the dinosaurs they are seeing for the first time, the kitchen scene…. the movie is etched in my brain. I even blame Jurassic Park for my bigotry towards those in the “blood-sucking” law profession! (Sorry, but you don’t leave two children in a car when a T. Rex is on the loose, no matter how badly you “gotta go”…)
Jurassic Park‘s two sequels, 1997’s The Lost World: Jurassic Park and 2001’s Jurassic Park III, are both…well, they’re both quite bad. I did enjoy them to a point as a child, but over the years any sort of warmth that I had towards them has all but cooled.
What did San Diego ever do to you, Spielberg?
Can “Jurassic World” be worse than this? Probably…
However, both sequels, while sorta-kinda-really sucking, still managed to share some similarities with the first film. From Jeff Goldblum and Sam Neill returning in The Lost World and III, respectively, to the use of John Williams’ music, to similar shot composition and locations, to a reliance on animatronics and models in addition to some(!) computer-generated imagery, the sequels still contained a little bit of what made the first Jurassic Park film so great.
Jurassic World though…
Based SOLELY on Jurassic World‘s first trailer, this third sequel, coming 14 years after III and 22 after the first, looks like an alien trying to assimilate with something that has been familiar to us for decades…
Actually, as a good friend pointed out to me yesterday, it is literallyAlien-in-Jurassic-Park.
A genetically-modified creature (so it’s not even a real dinosaur, just some monster?) escapes from a fully-operational theme park containing dinosaurs. And these dinosaurs include seemingly-trained velociraptors (WHAT?). Add in Chris Pratt (I guess he’s better than Shia LeBeouf), B.D. Wong (the one returning cast member from any of the first threeJurassic Park films, so a silver lining, I guess?), and a TON of crappy CGI (dinosaurs, dinosaur-monsters, dinosaur-shark-monsters, as well as locations, scenery, and backgrounds), and you get….whatever the hell this is.
It’s certainly not a Jurassic Park movie.
It’s as if Hollywood took a page out of John Hammond’s book….
Just because you have the power to do something, DOESN’T MEAN YOU SHOULD DO IT.
Take it away, Ian Malcom:
And I thought I was a bit put out by Star Wars: The Force Awakens… At least that film might not be the most disappointing “unnessesary-sequel-to-a-beloved-movie-from-Flipp’s-childhood” that comes out in 2015 now. Sheesh.
Yesterday, Sunday, September 28, 2014, will be a day forever etched in my mind and the minds of thousands – even millions – of fellow Yankee fans, and a bittersweet day in baseball history: it was the final game in the storied 20-year career of Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter.
What can I say about Derek Jeter that hasn’t already been said about him by countless others, especially over the last few weeks as this season, and thus his career, grew closer to its end? What can be said that hasn’t already been said over the last few days, since he did the unthinkable (except, as it’s Jeter, was it really THAT unthinkable?) and turned his final Yankee Stadium at-bat into a walk-off win.
As one of my best friends wrote on Twitter soon after:
I AM NOT SLEEPING TONIGHT. THANKS DEREK. LITERALLY THE MOST DEREK JETER MOMENT EVER.
The game-winning RBI single to end Jeter’s Yankee home career (not to mention has actual final at-bat 2 games later in Fenway, an RBI infield single), was just one amazing, miraculous, can’t-make-this-crap-up! play in a whole career full of ’em:
The home run for HIT NUMBER 3000; Jeter ends his career with 260 home runs and never hit more than 24 in a season. HOW could he be only the 2nd player out of the 28 to reach the milestone to do this, especially when 4 of them also hit over 500 home runs?
It’s just one of those things…
THE DIVE against the Red Sox in July of 2004, still the greatest game I have ever seen. If I remember correctly, he played the next day against the Mets.
His game-winning home run in the 10th inning of Game 4 of the 2001 World Series, just 2 months after the September 11 attacks, that tied the series at 2 and earned him the name MR. NOVEMBER.
THE FLIP.
The fact that he won 4 WORLD SERIES before the age of 27.
The fact that after being taken out of his final game after his final hit, FENWAY PARK chanted a Yankee player’s name and gave him a standing ovation…
I just got goosebumps writing that sentence.
Derek Jeter, one of the most stoic, most selfless, and classiest players of his generation, and one of the greatest leaders in sports, especially evident when compared to the antics of the Ray Rices, Ray Lewises, Ben Roethlisbergers, and Alex Rodriguezes of the athletic world, will sorely be missed.
Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson in “True Detective”
These are my predictions for tomorrow night’s Emmy Awards. It should be a big night for Breaking Bad, True Detective, and Fargo, to say the least. I am not familiar with some of the shows nominated, such as The Good Wifeor Orange is the New Black, the latter of which is up for a multitude of awards and will probably win for Best Comedy Series. In cases like that, my predictions/thoughts will be based on the general consensus that I have gathered from friends and family who have watched these shows as well as from reviews and thoughts of critics online.
My predicted winners are in red and any additional thoughts of mine will be underneath each category in green.
Writing for a Comedy
David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik, Episodes Louis C.K., Louie Liz Friedman and Jenji Kohan, Orange Is the New Black Alec Berg, Silicon Valley Simon Blackwell, Tony Roche, and Armando Iannucci, Veep
Directing for a Comedy
Iain B. MacDonald, Episodes Paris Barclay, Glee Louis C.K., Louie Gail Mancuso, Modern Family Jodie Foster, Orange Is the New Black Mike Judge, Silicon Valley
Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie
Colin Hanks, Fargo Jim Parsons, The Normal Heart Joe Mantello, The Normal Heart Alfred Molina, The Normal Heart Matt Bomer, The Normal Heart Martin Freeman, Sherlock: His Last Vow
Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie
Frances Conroy, American Horror Story: Coven Kathy Bates, American Horror Story: Coven Angela Bassett, American Horror Story: Coven Allison Tolman, Fargo Ellen Burstyn, Flowers in the Attic Julia Roberts, The Normal Heart
I would really, really, REALLY like Allison Tolman to win for Fargo. She went head-to-head against Billy Bob Thornton and Martin Freeman and was equal to, if not better than them a majority of the time.
Allison Tolman, Fargo
Writing for a Miniseries, Movie, or Dramatic Special
Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, American Horror Story: Coven Noah Hawley, Fargo Neil Cross, Luther Larry Kramer, The Normal Heart Steven Moffat, Sherlock: His Last Vow David Simon and Eric Overmyer, Treme
Hawley wrote all 10 episodes and completed the absurd task of creating a TV series based on one of the most critically-acclaimed movies of all time that can be called a masterpiece in its own right.
Directing for a Miniseries, Movie, or Dramatic Special
Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, American Horror Story: Coven Adam Bernstein, Fargo Colin Bucksey, Fargo Stephen Frears, Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight Ryan Murphy, The Normal Heart Nick Hurran, Sherlock: His Last Vow
Fargo‘s pilot was incredible.
Writing for a Variety Series
The Colbert Report The Daily Show Inside Amy Schumer Key & Peele Portlandia The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Fallon has been absolutely wonderful since taking over for Jay Leno earlier this year. He is a breath of fresh air in the late night talk show universe.
Guest Actress in a Comedy
Natasha Lyonne, Orange Is the New Black Uzo Aduba, Orange Is the New Black Laverne Cox, Orange Is the New Black Tina Fey, Saturday Night Live Melissa McCarthy, Saturday Night Live Joan Cusack, Shameless
Guest Actor in a Comedy
Bob Newhart, The Big Bang Theory Nathan Lane, Modern Family Steve Buscemi, Portlandia Jimmy Fallon, Saturday Night Live Louis C.K., Saturday Night Live Gary Cole, Veep
Supporting Actress in a Comedy
Mayim Bialik, The Big Bang Theory Julie Bowen, Modern Family Allison Janney, Mom Kate Mulgrew, Orange Is the New Black Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live Anna Chlumsky, Veep
Supporting Actor in a Comedy
Andre Braugher, Brooklyn Nine-Nine Adam Driver, Girls Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Modern Family Ty Burrell, Modern Family Fred Armisen, Portlandia Tony Hale, Veep
Directing for a Drama
Tim Van Patten, Boardwalk Empire Vince Gilligan, Breaking Bad David Evans, Downton Abbey Neil Marshall, Game of Thrones Carl Franklin, House of Cards Cary Joji Fukunaga, True Detective
Gilligan and Fukunaga both did amazing jobs on BreakingBad and TrueDetective, respectively, but it is Marshall and his 50-minute Battle of the Wall that served as the penultimate episode of Game of Thrones who deserves this directing award.
Writing for a Drama
Moira Walley-Beckett, Breaking Bad Vince Gilligan, Breaking Bad David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, Game of Thrones Beau Willimon, House of Cards Nic Pizzolatto, True Detective
Walley-Beckett’s “Ozymandias” is one of THE great TV episodes of all time, and this award is a no-brainer, even considering Vince Gilligan’s ability to tie up all loose ends in one of the neatest series finales of all time, “Felina.”
Guest Actress in a Drama
Margo Martindale, The Americans Diana Rigg, Game of Thrones Kate Mara, House of Cards Allison Janney, Masters of Sex Jane Fonda, The Newsroom Kate Burton, Scandal
I mean, she poisoned King Joffrey. Give her ALL the awards.
Guest Actor in a Drama
Paul Giamatti, Downton Abbey Dylan Baker, The Good Wife Reg E. Cathey, House of Cards Robert Morse, Mad Men Beau Bridges, Masters of Sex Joe Morton, Scandal
This.
Supporting Actress in a Drama
Anna Gunn, Breaking Bad Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey Joanne Froggatt, Downton Abbey Lena Headey, Game of Thrones Christine Baranski, The Good Wife Christina Hendricks, Mad Men
Supporting Actor in a Drama
Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad Jim Carter, Downton Abbey Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones Josh Charles, The Good Wife Mandy Patinkin, Homeland Jon Voight, Ray Donovan
Peter Dinklage’s speech at the end of “The Laws of Gods and Men” is one for the ages.
Television Movie
Killing Kennedy Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight The Normal Heart Sherlock: His Last Vow The Trip to Bountiful
Miniseries
American Horror Story: Coven Bonnie & Clyde Fargo Luther Treme The White Queen
Variety Series
The Colbert Report The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Jimmy Kimmel Live Real Time With Bill Maher Saturday Night Live The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Please not SNL. I’d rather Bill Maher won over SNL.
Reality Competition Program
The Amazing Race Dancing With the Stars Project Runway So You Think You Can Dance Top Chef The Voice
Lead Actress in a Comedy
Lena Dunham, Girls Melissa McCarthy, Mike & Molly Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie Taylor Schilling, Orange Is the New Black Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
Lead Actor in a Comedy
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory Ricky Gervais, Derek Matt LeBlanc,, Episodes Don Cheadle, House of Lies Louis C.K., Louie William H. Macy, Shameless
Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie
Jessica Lange, American Horror Story: Coven Sarah Paulson, American Horror Story: Coven Helena Bonham Carter, Burton and Taylor Minnie Driver, Return to Zero Kristen Wiig, The Spoils of Babylon Cicely Tyson, The Trip to Bountiful
Lead Actress in a Drama
Michelle Dockery, Downton Abbey Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife Claire Danes, Homeland Robin Wright, House of Cards Lizzy Caplan, Masters of Sex Kerry Washington, Scandal
Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie
Chiwetel Ejiofor, Dancing on the Edge Martin Freeman, Fargo Billy Bob Thornton, Fargo Idris Elba, Luther Mark Ruffalo, The Normal Heart Benedict Cumberbatch, Sherlock: His Last Vow
Can there be a tie? Martin and Thorton were both exquisite in Fargo, but if I had to pick one, I’d go with the actor who had to show a much greater range, and that was Martin Freeman as the loser insurance salesman-turned-murderous creep.
Lead Actor in a Drama
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad Jeff Daniels, The Newsroom Jon Hamm, Mad Men Woody Harrelson, True Detective Matthew McConaughey, True Detective Kevin Spacey, House of Cards
Hey, if Jeff Daniels won last year, maybe he can upset again this year…right? I think I’d throw my computer at my TV if that happens. While I would love Jon Hamm to FINALLY win an award for playing Don Draper, this race is definitely between Bryan Cranston and Matthew McConaughey. Cranston was perfect in the final 8 episodes of Breaking Bad, especially “Ozymandias,” but McConaughey has the story and the hype and the momentum (AND THE OSCAR) behind him. Purely the fact that Craston already has three Emmys for playing Walter White says that McConaughey will get it this time. And poor Woody. He was great in True Detective too, but not existential meltdown-good.
Comedy Series
The Big Bang Theory Louie Modern Family Orange Is the New Black Silicon Valley Veep
Ah, screw it. I said Orange might win above but I think Louie could manage an upset. Let’s go with that.
Drama Series
Breaking Bad Downton Abbey Game of Thrones House of Cards Mad Men True Detective
The final award of the night is definitely between Breaking Bad and True Detective. Game of Thrones was great (and my personal favorite of all the shows nominated), but it wasn’t as good as past seasons and some rare “off moments” (coughincestrapecough) soured its overall taste in my mouth. MadMan was the same as ever, slow and smoldering with some awesome moments to close out the season, but its time in the Emmy limelight has clearly passed – any chance at another win will have to be next year for its final season. I have not seen DowntonAbbey so I cannot say whether it has a chance or not for myself, but I did see House of Cards, and this season was… well, it was quite bad. (Thanks for taking Hannibal‘s spot, dude…)
Last but not least, I would much rather have had TrueDetective in the Miniseries category as it will not have the same cast next season, just like Fargo and American Horror Story. Also, while I really enjoyed TrueDetective, especially the performances from its two leads and the long take at the end of Episode 5, I felt it was a lot slower than it should have been, and its ending – which I happened to love – divided a lot of people who had been watching the show from the beginning. Breaking Bad had the more perfect eight-episode block, and I personally have never been more engaged by a show than when its final season aired last summer. The time in between episodes seemed insurmountable! From Hank confronting Walt early on, to Jesse’s betrayal, to the cut-to-black in the middle of a climactic gunfight in the desert… those cliffhangers caused me heart problems! The final four episodes, “To’hajilee,” “Ozymandias,” “Granite State,” and “Felina,” will be studied by filmmakers and storytellers alike for years to come. THAT is how you end a television show.
I don’t entirely know what to write on the subject and there has been plenty already written about it over the past two days; all I can say is RobinWilliams was truly one of the funniest and most talented actors and comedians around, able to put a smile on people’s faces even when he could not manage one himself. His suicide is a sad, sad thing, and while countless other, smarter people can write about his depression, past addictions, and other demons, I would just like to say thankyou to the man who played a large role in my childhood with his manically enthusiastic performances in Aladdin, Jumanji, and Flubber, and who taught me the lessons of perseverance, individuality, and sticking up for what is right in one of the most hauntingly beautiful films of all time, Dead Poets Society.
Now, any line from Dead Poets Society is worth quoting, but I will end this very brief post with this monologue (powerfully used in a recent iPad commercial) from one of Mr. Keating’s English classes:
We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, “O me! O life!… of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless… of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?” Answer. That you are here – that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?
I guess, subconsciously, my goal in life is to become as close to New York Post film critic Kyle Smith as possible.
I saw a little movie called Guardians of the Galaxy yesterday morning, and following my recent trend of completely not caring for a movie that almost everyone else – critics, film buffs, and the average moviegoer alike – has loved and praised, I left the theater neither moved nor disappointed by the film that has a 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
There is a point toward the end of the movie where deep-voiced, hooded, staff-wielding supervillain Ronan (which is all I can remember about him) raises his arms mockingly and asks a crowd of scared spectators something along the lines of “This is it? Your guardians of the galaxy?” and I found myself agreeing with him completely.
Really? This is the best blockbuster of the summer? What I’ve seen in headlines referred to as “Marvel’s Most Important Movie”?
I just don’t get it.
Now, I didn’t hate Guardians of the Galaxy. I can’t even say I disliked it. I laughed at some of Rocket’s lines, and generally appreciated Drax the Destroyer and his inability to understand metaphors, and immensely enjoyed that one Jackson Pollock reference…
But I did not care about the plot. About the race of Xandarians or whatever that Ronan was supposedly going to wipe out. I didn’t care about Benicio Del Toro’s cameo as The Collector, which tied into Thor 2 and I’m guessing ties into The Avengers 2 and other upcoming Marvel movies, and I didn’t care about the forced love story between Chris Pratt’s Peter Quill/Star Lord and Zoe Saldana’s Gamora. And then, once the film erupted into an excess of explosions and lasers and CGI ships and dizzying maneuvers in the climactic battle to board Ronan’s ship, my brain kinda-sorta just checked out.
In this regard, Guardians of the Galaxy might as well have been titled Star Trek3, as it felt exactly likeJ. J. Abrams’ reimagined, spectacle-filled, and ultimately soulless Star Trek, only this time with some Star Wars-esque clothing and sets. Chris Pine- I mean, Pratt’s womanizing, goofy scoundrel, Zoe Saldana as a hard-ass with a soft spot for said roguish space adventurers, an alien whose humor comes from not being able to understand human emotions and insinuations, and the growling, brooding, cookie-cutter alien of a supervillain out to disintegrate planets for some unknown or boring reason…need I go on? I can only PRAY Star Wars VII is not this generic.
Overall, Guardians of the Galaxy ties into my slight (and I mean slight) disdain with Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, which, while having a remarkable track record of producing a string of decent-to-good films without any major bombs, is all about the end game rather than the movies being made and released “in the moment.” Because Marvel has mapped out its movies for the next ten or so years, each movie released is somehow meant to tie into one, two, or five movies down the road. While admittedly cool to see coherence and a broad sense of continuity between films, as well as all the character crossovers and inside jokes and references to other films, it gets a little tiresome when you realize that none of the films can really stand on their own, and that when you do watch, say, The Avengers in the objective context that five or six other films had built up to this point, you’re almost guaranteed to think “Wait, that’s it? After ALL that?” Yes, these movies are all enjoyable on a superficial level, but think how much deeper they would be if focus were put on each individual film that together naturally build to a crossover film. This crossover would then serve as a compliment tothe films that preceded it rather than the end goal of the franchise. Maybe DC can do what Marvel has been unable to– Oh wait. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
As for my dwindling taste in movies, let me not stop with Guardians of the Galaxy. Just so people reading this post are even more upset with me, I will admit that this is the third highly-praised film that I have felt “meh” about in the last month alone. Guardians follows in the footsteps ofDawn of the Planet of the Apesand Boyhood (both also over 90% fresh on RT), but I would honestly say that I enjoyed Guardians a lot more than the latter two.
So… Am I just wrong? Or is everyone else wrong? Either way, I feel cursed, like I somehow found a chest full of Aztec gold that makes me indifferent to current universally-acclaimed movies.
All I know is that next time I decide to go to the movies, before I step foot into the theater, I need someone to ask me, ” Is spending $12 or $7 or even $1 worth it for a movie that will most likely disappoint you?” and then hit me if I answer “Yes.” Please and thank you. You will forever have my gratitude.
Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams in 2008’s Doubt
I’ve been debating what my first ACTUAL movie review for this blog should be: I could follow up my Disney Challenge Intro with my promised review of the Disney “Classical Era” films, or I could hold off on that for a little while longer and write about one of this year’s movies, such as Boyhood, The Lego Movie, Snowpiercer, or LifeItself, all of which I’ve seen over the last month.
Instead, I shall do neither.
Instead, I am going to write about a 6-year-old movie that I just saw for the first time last week.
2008’s Doubt, self-adapted from John Patrick Shanley’s 2004 play of the same name, combines two things near and dear to me: great acting and Catholicism. Surprisingly, the Catholic nature of Doubt is treated objectively and respectfully, even amid its heavy subject matter, which is quite rare in a mainstream Hollywood movie. As an added bonus, Doubt features the late, great, and sorely-missed Philip Seymour Hoffman in a supporting role just morally ambiguous enough to leave the audience’s sympathies conflicted, resulting in a very tense and powerful movie experience.
Set at a Bronx Catholic church and school in 1964, Doubt tells the story of an alleged case of sexual abuse, although this serves as a plot point rather than the underlying theme of the film. Crotchety, strict Sister Aloysius (Meryl Streep) warns her younger, more liberal nuns to watch out for any misdoings around the parish or school after warm-hearted Father Brendan Flynn (Hoffman) gives a particularly striking sermon on the nature of doubt. Young, naive Sister James (Amy Adams) notices Father Flynn’s distinct attachment to new student Donald Miller, the only black boy in the school. After catching the boy with alcohol on his breath after a private meeting with the priest, she goes to her superior, who then makes it her “though-I-be-damned-to-hell” mission to find out the truth behind Father Flynn’s relationship with the boy. The battle of wills that ensues between Streep and Hoffman yields results and changes at the church, but not necessarily those one would expect. It also brings into question the film’s main theme, clearly outlined in the film’s opening minutes (oh, yes, and by its title), doubt, as well as the consequences of being resilient to the point of intolerance.
The four main leads, Streep, Hoffman, Adams, and Viola Davis as Mrs. Miller, the alleged victim’s mother, are outstanding, and all deservedly received Oscar nominations at the 2009 Academy Awards. Amy Adams exudes an innocence that struggles with the strictness of her surroundings, especially the overbearing, miserable presence of Sister Aloysius. She loves her students and is optimistic to the point where she cannot believe that Father Flynn would be a pedophile, let alone lie about it, even though she subconsciously must have had misgivings as she brought Flynn’s suspicious activity to the attention of Streep’s character. When she finally breaks under the pressure of the events encircling her and lashes out at a talkative, but innocent, student in her class, we can see the pain in her eyes as she realizes that she has gone too far. She is not ready for a cynical world where pain and suffering are very real.
Viola Davis, in a single 11-minute scene (her only other appearance is a single, silent shot of her face near the film’s end) is devastating as a mother caught between a rock and a hard place, suffering in a marriage to a violent husband who disapproves of his son while holding onto the hope that graduating from a good Catholic school will lead to better high school placement for Donald and a chance at college after that. Streep’s look of incredulousness at Davis’s tear-stained refusal of help is haunting. Streep, in what was her 15th Oscar nominated-role, is formidable, bitter, and stern, but after Adams’ revelation about the possibility of abuse, we as the audience begin to see her human side, and – without spoiling anything – by the film’s end, she is very human. Her quest for the truth is insatiable after this point, and she drives the remainder of the movie as she moves to take down Father Flynn.
Hoffman, especially now, 6 months after his untimely and unfortunate death, is a sight to be seen, even in the subdued, mostly-background role of Father Flynn. The seemingly-boisterous and friendly Father Flynn remains a mystery for most of the movie, only taking the forefront early on in the film in a few brief scenes revolving around his cryptic homilies at Mass; the only instances we gleam of him elsewhere are through the eyes of the two suspicious sisters, and his (admittedly suspicious) actions, such as showing the boys’ basketball team his long fingernails during a practice that he is coaching, or giving Donald a hug of reassurance in the hallway after a bully knocks his books out of his hands, can be construed to be entirely innocent or subtly malevolent. It is during the climactic confrontational scene in which he goes head to head with Streep that Hoffman finally has enough to do and say to warrant his Oscar nomination. His incredulity at Sister Aloysius’ allegations and her refusal to believe in his innocence, contrasted with his look of terror when she claims to have unearthed information regarding his last assignment at another parish, solidifies Father Flynn’s ambiguous nature, and ultimately leads to the fulfillment of the film’s treatise on the idea of doubt.
Is Father Flynn guilty? Does Sister Aloysius have proof of past misconduct? Is it enough to force Father Flynn out of his church? Or is she committing a witch hunt based on personal misgivings for change, the Church’s patriarchy, and Frosty the Snowman? Again, I don’t want to spoil Doubt’s ending because I highly recommend it to anyone who respects a fine Meryl Streep performance, misses Philip Seymour Hoffman, enjoys seeing Amy Adams in a wimple, or has a knack for old-school Catholicism like me. It is definitely worth the watch.
(And thank you, Google, for informing me that wimple is the correct term for “nun hat.” You learn something new every day.)
In June, two friends and I embarked on a journey full of magic and wonder, talking animals and wooden boys, evil queens, bullying elephants, creepy, conniving cats, and two Monstro-us whales.
We had undertaken the lengthy, but rewarding, task of watching all 53 Walt Disney Animated Classics released between 1937 and 2013 in chronological order.
Over the last month and a half, we have watched the first 16 films.
Originally, I was planning on blogging about each film individually, but since this site did not exist during the viewing of these 16 films, I will instead focus on what my friends (hereafter referred to as C and F) and I have dubbed each specific “Era of Disney.” The first 11 films can be split into two full (and quite distinct) eras, and the last 5 comprise a substantial portion of the third.
The first Era we have titled “Disney in Antiquity” or the “Classical Era” (and even jokingly referred to it as Disney’s “Torah” or “Pentateuch”), which is comprised of the five films produced before World War II:
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Pinocchio (1940)
Fantasia (1940)
Dumbo (1941)
Bambi (1942)
The second Era we scathingly called “Disney’s Dark Ages” and consists of the six so-called “package” films (if one can even call them “films,” but I digress…) produced during Disney’s financially- and creatively-hindered World War II years:
Saludos Amigos (1942)
The Three Caballeros (1944)
Make Mine Music (1946)
Fun and Fancy Free (1947)
Melody Time (1948)
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)
And, last but not least, the final 5 are part of what we have deemed the “Golden Age of Disney,” the Disney movies from the 1950s and 1960s:
Cinderella (1950)
Alice in Wonderland (1951)
Peter Pan (1953)
Lady and the Tramp (1955)
Sleeping Beauty (1959)
I will go into much more detail in three separate posts that convey the thoughts, emotions, and other tidbits I felt and experienced while watching these 16 movies, some for the first time in over a decade, and others for the very first time. I then hope to follow up these posts with individual reviews/recaps of the other 37 films in the Disney Animated Classic lexicon.
Enjoy! And bear with me please. This is my first-ever blog. I look forward to writing much, much more in the coming weeks!
