This week I'm recommending an independent film from earlier in the year that came out and was almost completely overlooked, but it's worth seeing, because it was one of the most unique movies of the year. Brendan Gleeson stars as a Catholic priest in a small town in Ireland, dealing with the changing role of the church and its effects on the various townspeople he counsels. It was a thought-provoking, well-acted film and deserves to be seen by a wider audience. You should check it out.
Trailer:
Mockingjay easily led one of the worst weekends of the year for box office- the dreaded post-Thanksgiving week. With no new wide releases to speak of, the top five consisted of all holdovers, and that leaves not a whole lot to talk about, except the cumulative grosses of films that have been in theaters for weeks now. Mockingjay's $21 million brought its total to $258 million, leading its final prediction gross to be around $330 million (if it follows Catching Fire's trajectory from here on in). Worldwide it's done about $560 million so far...and yet the Hunger Games story this year feels incredibly redundant and unexciting. I've got to say something here- will anyone be watching any of these movies in five year's time? Will anyone remember what they were about? This is one of the dullest, most pointless franchises to exist in movie history.
The rest of the top five included Penguins of Madagascar (which fell off huge from last week), Horrible Bosses 2, which held decent but won't outgross the first one, Big Hero 6 (looking on track to end with $200 million) and Interstellar, which now seems likely to close with close to $175 million.
Top 5:
In limited release, Wild opened in 21 locations for a per screen average of $28k, pretty good for the Fox Searchlight film looking to score Reese Witherspoon her second Best Actress nomination, while The Imitation Game continued to impress at just 8 theaters, earning a $48k PTA and bringing in over $1 million already before major expansion. Next week it's Chris Rock's Top Five and the limited opening of PT Anderson's Inherent Vice. See you then!
More critics groups! It's critics galore all month, as the DC critics went with the dull consensus pretty much down the line:
Best Foreign Language Film: Force Majeure
Best Art Direction: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Best Cinematography: Birdman
Best Editing: Birdman
Best Original Score: Under the Skin
Joe Barber Award for Best Portrayal of Washington, DC: Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Best Acting Ensemble: Birdman
Best Youth Performance: Ellar Coltrane, Boyhood
Best Adapted Screenplay: Gone Girl
Best Original Screenplay: Birdman
Best Animated Feature: The LEGO Movie
Best Documentary: Life Itself
Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Best Supporting Actor: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
Best Actress: Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Best Actor: Michael Keaton, Birdman
Best Director: Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Best Film: Boyhood
Not too exciting is it? Meanwhile, the African-American Film Critics Association thankfully reveals a totally different lineup of winners, including a top ten of their own:
Best Actor – David Oyelowo, Selma
Best Actress – Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Belle
Best Supporting Actress – Octavia Spencer, Black or White
Best Supporting Actor – Tyler Perry, Gone Girl (Fox) / J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
Best World Cinema – Timbuktu
Breakout Performance – Tessa Thompson, Dear White People
Best Director – Ava Duvernay, Selma
Best Screenplay – Gina Prince-Bythewood, Beyond the Lights
Best Music – John Legend/Common, “Glory”
Best Ensemble – Get On Up
Best Independent Film – Dear White People
Best Animation – The Boxtrolls
Best Documentary – Life Itself
Top 10 of 2014
1. Selma
2. The Imitation Game
3. Theory of Everything
4. Birdman
5. Belle
6. Top Five
7. Unbroken
8. Dear White People
9. Get On Up
10. Black or White
Looks like Life Itself is going to be Citizenfour's major rival for Best Documentary this year- which is actually going to be a very close contest, because with the entire Academy voting on Documentary now, the category that used to almost always go to a political/socially important film, now tends to go with the heartugging,most sentimental option. That means the heartfelt tribute to the world's most famous film critic Roger Ebert, is probably in a very good position to win that award, should it get nominated.
The American Film Institute awards a top ten list every year, and this year their list speaks to what may be a disconnect between the critic's consensus and the coming guild/industry groups. Check out this top eleven they just bestowed:
American Sniper
Birdman
Boyhood
Foxcatcher
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Into the Woods
Nightcrawler
Selma
Unbroken
Whiplash
The AFI list is usually more important than the various critics awards for predicting the Oscars- this jury actually includes some Academy members, so we can see here that their taste includes not well received titles like American Sniper, Unbroken, Into the Woods and Interstellar (which was more mixed than negative), as well as the crowdpleasing Imitation Game (which I could have sworn was a British production, so I don't know how that got in here) and Selma- two movies that are heavily predicted to be Oscar favorites but that critics don't seem to be embracing in their year end awards so far. The two crossover films are Boyhood and Birdman, while tiny indie darlings Foxcatcher, Nightcrawler and Whiplash also get a boost here. Based on this list it's going to be interesting to see what actually makes up the Oscar BP nominees- they could be drawn from a very wide range of films this year, and right now it looks like the only locks are Boyhood, Birdman, Imitation Game and Selma, which leaves at least five slots open that could be filled with any of up to ten other contenders. I'm pretty shocked that Gone Girl missed out here, as one of the biggest American hits of the year, from a respected director and studio. We'll see what the SAG and Golden Globe nominees reveal later this week.
In non-Oscar related news, the BIFAS overseas chose to honor the truly independent films made in Britain this year by choosing Pride as the best of 2014. You'll notice however, that even they honored Boyhood as the best foreign indie of the year, and Richard Linklater was actually at the ceremony to pick up the trophy in this instance:
Picture - Pride
Director - Yann Demange – '71
Actor - Brendan Gleeson - Calvary
Actress - Gugu Mbatha-Raw - Belle
S. Actor - Andrew Scott - Pride
S. Actress - Imelda Staunton - Pride
Revelation - Iain Forsyth, Jane Pollard – 20,000 Days on Earth
Screenplay - Frank
Production - The Goob
Documentary - Next Goal Wins
Foreign Film - Boyhood
So much for my hopes for a non-sweep year. This was right down the line and I think clinches Boyhood as the pick for the vast majority of critics to come. The Los Angeles Film Critics Association is known for being quirky and purposely contrarian in their choices, and they rarely agree with New York, but that was not the case this year. Boyhood is simply too big of a filmmaking achievement (for the critics) to ignore. We'll see what happens with the industry and guild awards, but this could very well be the default winner of 2014.
LA FILM CRITICS
BEST PICTURE: Boyhood
BEST DIRECTOR: Richard Linklater, Boyhood
BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM: Ida
NEW GENERATION: Ava DuVernay, Selma
BEST SCREENPLAY: The Grand Budapest Hotel
BEST ACTRESS: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
BEST DOCUMENTARY/NONFICTION FILM: Citizenfour
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Emmanuel Lubezki, Birdman
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Agata Kulesza, Ida
BEST MUSIC SCORE (tie): Inherent Vice and Under the Skin
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN: The Grand Budapest Hotel
BEST EDITING: Boyhood
As you can see, their quirky no-chance-in-hell for an Oscar nom pick this year was Tom Hardy for Locke. What that really means is that Best Actor is a wide open race, with Michael Keaton not quite dominating the critics awards the way he was predicted to. And Patricia Arquette is not a lead for Boyhood, but they rewarded her there anyway.
BOSTON SOCIETY OF FILM CRITICS
Animated Film: THE TALE OF PRINCESS KAGUYA
Runner up: LEGO MOVIE
Best Cinematography: BIRDMAN
Runner up: MR. TURNER
Best Editing: BOYHOOD
Runner up: AMERICAN SNIPER
Best Use of Music: INHERENT VICE
Runner up: WHIPLASH
Best New Filmmaker: DAN GILROY, NIGHTCRAWLER
Runner up: GILLIAN ROBESPIERRE, OBVIOUS CHILD
Best Documentary: CITIZENFOUR
Runer up: JORODOWSKY'S DUNE
Best Screenplay: BIRDMAN & BOYHOOD (TIE)
Runner up: MR. TURNER
Best Foreign Language Film: TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT
Runner up: IDA
Best Supporting Actress: EMMA STONE, BIRDMAN
Runner up: LAURA DERN, WILD
Best Supporting Actor: JK SIMMONS, WHIPLASH
Runner up: EDWARD NORTON, BIRDMAN
Best Actress: MARION COTILLARD, THE IMMIGRANT & TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT
Runner up: HILARY SWANK, THE HOMESMAN
Best Actor: MICHAEL KEATON, BIRDMAN
Runner up: TIMOTHY SPALL, MR. TURNER
Best Ensemble: BOYHOOD
Runner up: BIRDMAN
Best Director: RICHARD LINKLATER, BOYHOOD
Runner up: CLINT EASTWOOD, AMERICAN SNIPER
Best Film: BOYHOOD
Runner up: BIRDMAN
More Boyhood and Birdman love here (I don't know what that Emma Stone win is about though), and after what the NYCC did the other day, other critics seemed to want to jump on the bandwagon in resisting Julianne Moore, instead banding together to try an get Marion Cotillard nominated (still a long shot at best).
NEW YORK CRITICS ONLINE
BEST BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE: Jack O'Connell, Starred Up & Unbroken
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
BEST SCREENPLAY: Birdman
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Birdman
BEST USE OF MUSIC: Get On Up
BEST DEBUT DIRECTOR: Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler
BEST DIRECTOR: Richard Linklater, Boyhood
BEST ACTRESS: Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night
BEST ACTOR: Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
BEST ENSEMBLE: Birdman
BEST PICTURE: Boyhood
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: Two Days, One Night
BEST DOCUMENTARY: Life Itself
BEST ANIMATED FILM: The Lego Movie
Top 10:
Birdman
Boyhood
Guardians of the Galaxy
The Imitation Game
A Most Violent Year
Mr. Turner
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Under the Skin
Whiplash
These guys are a little more mainstream in their choices, but still Boyhood prevails. Linklater is starting to look to me like a shoo-in for the "directorial achievement" aspect of the movie alone. And if he's winning Director no contest, than the movie is likely going with it, although we'll what happens.
Over the next month there's going to be an awful lot of critics weighing in with their picks for the year, and most of them will be minor regional groups, of which this is the first. Nevertheless, their choices here are so outside the box and inspired that it makes me especially glad this doesn't seem to be a year in which one movie will sweep everything (although I'm sure Boyhood still has the edge- it seems to be making just about everyone's top ten list). But yay for Snowpiercer, one of my absolute favorite movies of the year!
Best Picture: Snowpiercer
Director: Alejandro G. Inarritu, Birdman
Actor: Brendan Gleeson, Calvary
Actress: Marion Cotillard, Two Days One Night
S. Actor: Edward Norton, Birdman
S. Actress: Tilda Swinton, Snowpiercer
Screenplay: Calvary
Foreign Film: Two Days, One Night
Documentary: Life Itself
Animated: The Lego Movie
Cinematography: Birdman
Editing: Edge of Tomorrow
Score: Under the Skin
Ensemble: Birdman
THE TEN BEST FILMS OF THE YEAR:
1. SNOWPIERCER
2. UNDER THE SKIN
3. BOYHOOD
4. ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE
5. THE BABADOOK
6. TWO DAYS ONE NIGHT
7. BIRDMAN
8. CALVARY
9. INHERENT VICE
10. SELMA
Ten films have qualified for the Academy Award for visual effects, and the five nominees will come from this list:
Well, Maleficent's inclusion on this list makes me want to vomit. Fingers crossed it won't actually get into the nominees, but couldn't they have snubbed it like they did Man of Steel last year? I think the five will be Dawn of the Apes, Godzilla, The Hobbit, Interstellar, and maybe Guardians? Transformers has also been nodded before. Honestly, I'll take anything as long as Maleficent doesn't get included- and it's not because I hate the movie, the visual effects were genuinely atrocious.
Still Alice is meant to be a devastating portrait of a woman whose entire life comes crashing down when she realizes she's suffering from early onset Alzheimer's disease. Unfortunately, what it feels like is a made for TV movie only slightly elevated by Julianne Moore's naturalistic performance in the title role.
Alice is a fifty-something college professor of linguistics with three grown children, a supportive husband, and seemingly relative wealth and comfort, when she suddenly starts to experience troubling memory loss and fleeting incoherence. She starts seeing a neurologist, then confides in her husband, is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's, and must tell her kids the truth, which includes the devastating fact that at least one of them probably possesses the gene for the disease that she inherited from her late father. Alice then goes into further and further deterioration over the course of a year, as her kids and husband attempt to deal with her increasing mental failings.
All of this plays out exactly how it sounds, with no embellishments, drama or character arc for anyone in the movie. It's almost as if the film was made as an acting showcase for Moore, which it is to some extent, but without much depth to her character (a former intellectual who must deal now with her debilitating intellect is as far as it goes) she can only elevate this movie so much. Alice goes from bad to worse, and that's about all that happens. Yes, it's sad to watch, but everything feels surface level, which pushes the experience of the audience to simply being an observer of someone trying to act like they have Alzheimer's. The fact that the filmmakers tried to keep events from going too over the top might be a realistic approach, but tends to make the film feel a bit monotonous as it goes on.
The supporting cast is mostly fine, which includes Alec Baldwin as the husband, Kate Bosworth as the oldest daughter, and Kristen Stewart as the youngest- but I can't help but be distracted by Stewart's utter lack of talent and inability to change her facial expressions and physical mannerisms in every movie she appears in. How does this girl keep getting work? Still Alice is a glossy, unmemorable film that would have played more at home on the Hallmark Channel than in a theater.
* *
I have to confess I nearly forgot this was happening. The latest attempt to reboot the Terminator franchise stars Jason Clarke and Danaerys from Game of Thrones (Emilia Clarke) in what looks like another version of the original Terminator but with the genders switched. Oh, and Arnold is back again too. I don't know- the fact that the only other movie director Alan Taylor's made was Thor: The Dark World does not leave optimistic. It's coming out July 1st of next year.
Poster:
Noah Baumbach's latest film reunites him with Ben Stiller after Greenberg, and seems to be a semi-autobiographical look at his own life versus those of the younger kids he sees around him. The movie got some pretty positive reception at Toronto and is coming out on March 27th- I kinda love Adam Driver in everything he's in, so I'll probably see it.
Chris Rock's new comedy is coming out on December 12th, and is said to be a sharp take on Hollywood and fame, largely from his own perspective (he wrote and directed). It got great reviews back at Toronto, so keep a an eye out for it:
The Movie Seasons
Use this site for movie and television recommendations throughout the year- we have picks for the changing seasons, holidays, and moods, along with new releases and recaps of the best shows on TV
