We can all be glad the Grand Budapest Hotel is there because without it we’d have a lot of solemn nominees. I mean has the academy forgotten how to laugh? Gone are the days when movies like It’s a Mad Mad Mad World could get nominated for Best Picture. Kind of sad really.
Anyway, here’s how I would personally rank the nominees.
1. Boyhood- It’s a movie that really moved me and made me think about my life in a new way. It’s not a movie to entertain you but to remind you about the small moments with people that make up your life. I loved it. To me it is significantly better than any of the other nominees.
2. Selma– A movie that helped me get to know all sides of a great American. It wasn’t all the grand moments but soft, even shameful moments where you saw that anybody can make a difference. It was a part of the Civil Rights movement I wasn’t as familiar with and I was really moved by it. Amazing performance by David Oyelowo.
3. Whiplash- Mesmerizing film that builds tension so well with an insane performance by JK Simmons. It asks the question ‘what is the price to be paid for greatness?’ I wish it had shown more of the motivations behind the characters but still very gripping movie.
4. American Sniper- Gripping account of the most successful sniper in US Navy Seals history, Chris Kyle. The movie gets you down with the soldiers a lot for a sniper movie and it feels gritty and very intense. The narrative at home and on his tour of duties flow well together and are brought together in the story of a very complex man. It is a movie that tells his story and leaves the judging for God and others. I was really moved by. 5. Grand Budapest Hotel- The one comedy nominated! I think I give this a little bit of a pass because it is Wes Anderson’s best and most mainstream film. I’d have to watch it again to decide if I really like it better than the other nominees but I did like it. It’s not over-quirky like a lot of Anderson’s films. It is witty and the world creation is strong with more likable characters than many of his other films. Very good engaging cast as always.
6. Imitation Game- A solid biopic about Alan Turing, the man behind the computer which decoded the enigma machine. I liked the stuff about the decoding better than the more predictable personal portions but it was all strong and very well acted. The big mean boss who is constantly after Turing felt like such a cliche and the cop narration felt a little phony but I liked it.
7. Birdman- I know I’m not as high on this as everyone else but I’ve got to tell you what I really think not what is popular. I really hated the way this movie treated its female characters. I’m shocked that nobody else in criticism seems to be saying this? It will probably win tomorrow when Boyhood a movie featuring complex woman will not (although hopefully she will win). I have thought about it and I know it is an allegory for popularity and fame but why does the movie assume women are so much more fragile and judgmental than men? Is there not a Chris Farley, River Phoenix for every Lindsay Lohan and Judy Garland? The critic and the near rape especially bother me. But that said, it isn’t at the bottom because I do think they tried to do something different, the cinematography is very good and I thought Michael Keaton was great. I just don’t think it was anywhere near the best picture of the year. Oh well.
8. Theory of Everything– This is a good movie. I enjoyed watching it much more than Birdman. And Eddie Redmayne was unforgettable as Stephen Hawking. You forget it is an actor after a while. That’s pretty amazing especially since he doesn’t have a voice for a good chunk of the movie. However, it is pretty predictable biopic and large sections drag a bit. I didn’t think Felicity Jones was very good and the dewy sepia toned cinematography and constant twirling (even in the coffee) got on my nerves. Still a very good movie just bottom of the 8 for me.
As I said in my American Sniper review I saw it and Imitation Game on the same day and they are more similar than you might at first think. They are both about unusual men who saved lives in time of war.
The Imitation Game is about the mathematician Alan Turing who invented an early computer that helped the British to solve the enigma coding machine the Germans used.
At the end of the movie they say Christopher (Turing’s machine) saved 14 million lives and helped end the war 2 years sooner. That is pretty amazing especially for someone I’ve never heard of before this year.
The reason why we haven’t heard of Alan Turing is his untimely death in 1954 and the fact the entire code breaking enterprise was kept secret for 50 years.
In a lot of ways The Imitation Game is a lot like The Theory of Everything. Both about geniuses who aren’t appreciated at first but end up making great contributions. Both have personal struggles that make it even harder for them to be accepted- Stephen Hawking his disability and Alan Turing being gay at a time where it was illegal to do so.
Both are good movies but I would say The Imitation Game is better although it falls into some of the same standard biopic formulas we’ve seen before.
Of the 4 biopics nominated for best picture I’d rate them- Selma, American Sniper, Imitation Game and Theory of Everything. And they are all good movies just Game and Everything are a little predictable and formulaic.
Benedict Cumberbatch is very good as Alan Turing and I thought Keira Knightley was pretty good as his fiance and friend. The rest of the cast is good with the exception of Charles Dance playing the obligatory stick in the mud boss who doesn’t recognize genius we’ve seen in a million other movies. I could have also done without the cop interviewing Turing narration throughout that felt extremely phony. I don’t think anyone had to tell a gay man in 40’s England to keep quiet about their homosexuality. This is a genius we are talking about.
Matthew Goode and Allen Leach (from Downton Abbey) take small parts as members of the code breakers and all the sets and costuming is very well done. Alexandre Desplat’s music is also very moving and not over the top like so many biopics.
The movie ends on a very sad note that is necessary as it is the real events but I couldn’t help but wish the movie had been a little less formulaic to help absorb that sadness- it kind of came out of left field. But it was tragic for sure.
Cumberbatch is great as Turing. He is basically playing the same role as he is in Sherlock so if you like him there you will like him here. He is vulnerable and awkward yet still likable in a way few actors could pull off. The parts with the codebreaking were new and I learned something. And like I said the rest of the performances are great. Overall a very entertaining enlightening film.
It is also nice that it tells the story of a gay man without an agenda or vulgarity being shoved at the screen. It’s just his story. I love that and think it is perhaps more impactful than some films that are more blatant and heavy-handed in their messaging. I certainly was moved by it.
As far as content it is pretty clean. There is a little bit of PG-13 level profanity and one sexually explicit joke I’m surprised they could slip by with but other than that a film appropriate for middle school and up and a worthwhile message and story to learn about.
So I just saw American Sniper and Imitation Game so will post both reviews in the next little bit. It was quite the downer of a double header I must admit but they actually have more in common than you might think. Both movies are about men in times of war who’s unusual excellence saved soldiers lives.
American Sniper is the story of Chris Kyle played by Bradley Cooper, the greatest sniper in Navy Seals history who was referred to as ‘The Legend’ by other seals. There is lots of controversy over the wars overseas, Chris Kyle, his book, and some of his statements. I’m really not going to get into all of that. I am just judging the movie. It is God’s place to judge Chris Kyle and any others who had the guts to do something I could never do for a cause they believed in.
To those that feel American Sniper is a propaganda piece for a war that is a mistake, I would make this counter argument. Imagine if you had a movie about a German WWII soldier. The soldier may do great and admirable things for what most believe is a wrong cause but that doesn’t make the actions themselves and the way HE see’s them any different than any other soldier. Chris Kyle is a man who did what he was told to do and saved many of his Navy Seal brethren lives and far be it for me or anybody else to put the condemnation of a cause on the shoulders of one man.
I happen to believe there was value in the cause and what we did over there but that is a conversation for another day on another blog. American Sniper does not really turn Chris Kyle into a hero. It is clear he is very uncomfortable with such recognition. He is a man who did his job and that job was saving Navy Seals and Marines.
The movie is brutal. It’s a tough sit through, and I had many a moment where I had to look away or close my eyes because it was too intense. That’s not a mark against it. War and its horrors are the one type of violence that I think is important and worth seeing. Director Clint Eastwood does a great job helping you feel like you are there with Chris Kyle and the other soldiers in Chris’ four tours of duty. For a man famous for being a sniper you feel on the ground with the troops a lot.
Al-qaeda has their own sniper called Mustafa which kind of puts both sides on equal playing field (if you can call it that) in the movie. It is clear the conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq is one of individual houses and skirmishes with neighborhoods. Not the rows of cavalry or the mass of soldiers we see in other war movies. It makes sense why a sniper would be needed because it’s such an individual version of warfare.
The only other movie I can think of which has shown this type of conflict was the Hurt Locker and I personally think American Sniper is much better. I certainly felt way more invested in Chris Kyle’s story than anyone in that movie.
I thought that Clint Eastwood does a good job keeping a narrative throughout each tour and Chris’ time at home. At each intense period of fighting there will be a call to his wife played by Sienna Miller, thus bringing the family into the action and then at home he will have flashbacks bringing the action to the home. I thought it was interesting how both times seemed equally intense but in different ways. In war Chris seemed to wish he could save more men and at home Chris wished he could save more men.
Like I said it is a brutal movie. It is graphic, violent and disturbing but it is war people. I would have been more bothered if it wasn’t all of those things. Again it felt like you were there with Chris on the ground and Clint Eastwood does a great job of building a comradery with Chris and his men quickly so that way when things happen you as a viewer feel the loss or fear along with Chris. It’s pretty remarkable the way he does that sometimes in just one conversation or smile you feel bonded to a soldier.
The movie doesn’t really make Chris Kyle into a hero. If it was a Stephen Spielberg movie there would have been soaring music and dramatic speeches. There isn’t any of that. Just a man who did what he had to do in his worldview.
The language is very bad but what you might expect out of a bunch of soldiers risking their life everyday. American Sniper is the kind of movie I won’t ever want to watch again but I am very glad I saw once. I feel I got a tiny bit of insight into what our brave men and women do over there. I know it is still a movie but it’s at least more insight than I had this morning before seeing it.
The ending when you’ve just seen Chris Kyle growing and changing is devastating. It just doesn’t seem right with all he went through for it to have come to that.
Again it is not our place to judge a man like Chris Kyle. He did what he had to do and he saved many lives. That is the story of American Sniper and it tells that story well. The rest of Chris Kyle or the value of the war itself is for another movie, another discussion. I was very moved by American Sniper and I’m glad I saw it. It’s brutal but I’m glad I saw it.
Bradley Cooper is terrific as Kyle. He’s proud, stoic, vulnerable.
Overall Grade- A Content Grade- F (although I don’t think it is Adults only. It’s war! Teens should be able to appreciate that).
The Oscars are coming up this weekend and I have seen every animated film that came out in 2014. I’ve seen all the big, medium and tiny films I could get my hands on. 20 in total. Needless to say I love animation. It is my favorite medium of film because it literally is art on the page and for the most part it is family friendly and well rounded (comedies, dramas, comic book movies, the whole 9 yards).
So, I’m going to give some of my own awards for animation this year. Here goes…
There you have it! All the animated films of 2014. What tremendous variety and what a great experience I had watching them all. It will definitely go down as one of my favorite years ever. Happy time to be an animation buff.
I thought I might help you out and share with you my Oscar ballot. We will see how I do come Oscar night but if Boyhood doesn’t walk away with a lot I will be very disappointed (well as disappointed as you can be with a stupid awards show…).
I still think Boyhood will win. Birdman is too independent in feel for older academy voters and Boyhood has universal themes and was so groundbreaking I think it will win. I think it will be like when the academy went with King Speech over Social Network (a decision I actually agree with as I think SN is majorly overrated). I could see The Theory of Everything coming in as dark horse as the academy loves those ‘real life’ portrayals. I have seen all but 2 but hopefully will get to the rest in the next few days.
Will Win: Boyhood My Vote:Boyhood
My review of Boyhood
Best Director
Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel)
Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu (Birdman)
Richard Linklater (Boyhood)
Bennett Miller (Foxcatcher)
Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game)
I know Inarritu has won some leading up to awards but Linklater is due a statue and what he did in Boyhood is astonishing. It’s certainly one of the most profound movie going experiences I’ve ever had. For him to direct a film over 12 years how can you not give him the directing award and to make something so beautiful to boot. Come on!
Will Win: Richard Linklater My Vote: Richard Linklater
Best Lead Actor
Steve Carell (Foxcatcher)
Bradley Cooper (American Sniper)
Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game)
Michael Keaton (Birdman)
Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything)
I have actually only seen 2 of these movies! I am going to try to get to American Sniper and Imitation Game this week but we will see. It looks like Eddie Redmayne is going to win and I think it is deserved. Cumberbatch love could come into play and the academy always does have soft spot for veterans like Keaton. I actually think he deserves to win even though I have issues with Birdman. His performance was very good. Redmayne is great as well. You forget he isn’t Stephen Hawking in the performance.
Will Win: Eddie Redmayne My Vote: Michael Keaton (If I could give it to anyone it would be to Tom Hardy in Locke which was unforgettable)
Best lead actress
Marion Cotillard (Two Days, One Night)
Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything)
Julianne Moore (Still Alice)
Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl)
Reese Witherspoon (Wild)
I have actually only seen 2 of these movies and to be honest wasn’t that crazy with either Rosamund Pike or Felicity Jones performances. Julianne Moore will win. It’s her 5th nomination I believe and she is evidently great in Still Alice.
Will Win: Julianne Moore My Vote: Weak year for female performances. I guess my favorite was Emily Blunt in Edge of Tomorrow. I can’t pick either of the 2 I’ve seen because I didn’t think they were good.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Robert Duvall (The Judge)
Ethan Hawke (Boyhood)
Edward Norton (Birdman)
Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher)
J.K. Simmons (Whiplash)
Whiplash was a very engrossing movie . I had some problems with the character motivations but it was great. JK Simmon is unforgettable and should and will win. I wish Andy Serkis had been nominated for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. His ACTING blew me away.
Will Win: J.K. Simmons My Vote: J.K. Simmons
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)
Laura Dern (Wild)
Keira Knightley (The Imitation Game)
Emma Stone (Birdman)
Meryl Streep (Into the Woods)
This award should and will go to Patricia Arquette for Boyhood. She did something that no other female actress has done in showing how a woman ages. We don’t talk about that. We hide it away but there she was at 28 and there she was at 40. She is the reason I loved the movie so much because she never really gets a chance to commit to her life and family. She just lives and makes some bad choices along the way. When Mason is leaving for college and she realizes her life in a sense is over it is completely devastating. I will never forget it. I would also have nominated Jessica Chastain for Interstellar.
Will Win: Patricia Arquette My Vote: Patricia Arquette
Best Original Screenplay
Birdman(Alejandro G Iñarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo) Boyhood(Richard Linklater) Foxcatcher(E. Max Frye, Dan Futterman) The Grand Budapest Hotel(Wes Anderson) Nightcrawler (Dan Gilroy)
I think will be where they award Grand Budapest Hotel. It really is Wes Anderson’s most approachable movie I’ve ever seen. It’s funny and mellows down the ‘quirky factor’ which many of us find annoying in his movies.
Will Win: The Grand Budapest Hotel My Vote: The Grand Budapest Hotel
best adapted screenplay
American Sniper(Jason Hall) The Imitation Game(Graham Moore) Inherent Vice(Paul Thomas Anderson) The Theory of Everything (Anthony McCarten) Whiplash(Damien Chazelle)
This is a race between Imitation Game and The Theory of Everything, which is silly because the script in Theory was really quite weak. The only other one I’ve seen is Whiplash which would probably be my pick. If I could pick any script I would go with Dawn of the Planet of the Apes because it was the script that moved me the most. It made me think and I loved it.
Will Win: The ImitationGame My Vote: Whiplash (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes if I could pick)
best cinematography
Birdman(Emmanuel Lubezki) The Grand Budapest Hotel (Robert Yeoman) Ida (Ryszard Lenczewski, Lukasz Zal) Mr. Turner (Dick Pope) Unbroken (Roger Deakins)
I would be stunned if Emmanuel Lubezki didn’t win for Birdman and he deserves to win; although I want to give it to Dick Pope just because of how cool he was when his name was slaughtered during his big moment. (Seriously you think they’d go over that with that lady?)
Will Win: Birdman My Vote: Birdman
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Grand Budapest Hotel(Adam Stockhausen) The Imitation Game (Maria Djurkovic) Interstellar (Nathan Crowley)
Into the Woods (Dennis Gassner) Mr. Turner(Suzie Davis)
The Grand Budapest Hotel will win and it deserves to win. I wish Paddington had been nominated as I loved the sets of that movie but oh well!
Will Win: The Grand BudapestHotel My Vote: The Grand Budapest Hotel
best costume design
The Grand Budapest Hotel(Milena Canonero) Inherent Vice (Mark Bridges) Into the Woods(Colleen Atwood) Maleficent(Anna B. Sheppard) Mr. Turner(Jacqueline Durran)
I am going to go out on a limb on this one and say that Colleen Atwood will win for Into the Woods. It was the best costumes I saw all year. She’s has name recognition (nominated 11 times and won 3) and I think if in doubt people will vote for her and the great costumes in a fairytale movie. But I admit it is my out on a limb so you may want to put Grand Budapest Hotel on there because Milena Canoero has also won 3 times (quite the club of costume designers!). The costumes were great in GBH. I just think a little better in Into the Woods.
Will Win: Into the Woods Should Win: Into the Woods
BEST FILM EDITING
American Sniper (Joel Cox) Boyhood (Sandra Adair) The Grand Budapest Hotel (Barney Pilling) The Imitation Game (William Goldenberg) Whiplash (Tom Cross)
Boyhood will win with American Sniper being the next most likely. Whiplash is probably the best editing I saw all year with those drum sequences put together so seamlessly.
Another going out on a limb and going to pick Guardians of the Galaxy because that makeup made those characters not CG. Foxcatcher could also come in because of the prosthetics (haven’t seen it). Grand Budapest Hotel is probably the odds on favorite but you have to take a few chances in your ballot because there are always a few surprises.
Will Win: Guardians of the Galaxy My Vote: Guardians of the Galaxy
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
The Grand Budapest Hotel(Alexandre Desplat) The Imitation Game(Alexandre Desplat) Interstellar(Hans Zimmer) Mr. Turner(Gary Yershon)
The Theory of Everything (Johann Johannsson)
It does seem time for Alexandre Desplat to win but Johann Johannsson has won early awards and they are all pleasant scores. I actually didn’t care for the loud overbearing score in Interstellar so I hope that doesn’t win. I wish Joe Hisaishi had been nominated for The Tale of Princess Kaguya. It was one of the best scores I’ve ever heard.
Will Win: Theory of Everything My Vote: Out of those I’d pick Grand Budapest Hotel but I would have given it to Joe Hisaishi Tale of Princess Kaguya
best original song
“Everything is Awesome” (The LEGO Movie)
“Glory” (Selma)
“Grateful” (Beyond the Lights)
“I’m Not Gonna Miss You” (Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me)
“Lost Stars” (Begin Again)
It will either be Everything is Awesome or Glory and I think Glory is a solid hip hop anthem. Both movies should be honored. Lost Stars is probably the best written song of the group but Everything is Awesome is my favorite.
Will Win: “Glory” My Vote: “Everything is Awesome”
best sound mixing
American Sniper
Birdman
Interstellar
Unbroken
Whiplash
I think this will and should go to Whiplash. My understanding of sound mixing is rather limited but what I do know it is putting together different sounds to make a scene work and nowhere was better than that than Whiplash.
Will Win: Whiplash My Vote: Whiplash
best sound editing
American Sniper
Birdman
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Interstellar
Unbroken
American Sniper will win this award. It’s a lock. Only seen one on this list. (All the movies come out at the same time so it takes me most of the next year to see them all!).
Will Win: AmericanSniper My Vote: Only seen Birdman and I wouldn’t give it to that. I would give it to Whiplash
best visual effects
Captain America: The Winter Soldier Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Guardians of the Galaxy Interstellar X-Men: Days of Future Past
My review of Apes
All of these movies have amazing visual effects. I would be happy if any of them win. I wish that every last one of them was nominated for best picture. It was such a strong year for comic book movies and I’m normally not a huge fan. These movies were immersive experiences with well written characters and story arcs you don’t normally see in big budget movies. It was awesome. I think Dawn of the Planet of the Apes will win for best visual effects and I think it should win.
Will Win: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes My Vote: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
I like all of these movies and I’ve seen all of them. I actually gave A’s to all of them. I think How to Train Your Dragon 2 will win and it is a great movie. It is a rare sequel that is better than the original. It had an epic feel to it and I loved the heart of the mother character and the flying sequences were amazing. However, I think both Dragon and The Boxtrolls are weaker than Lego Movie even though I loved them. My favorite would be Song of the Sea but I loved Big Hero 6 and Kaguya. I would be happy with any of them winning. The one thing that makes me pull for Dragon is DreamWorks really needs a win right now. They’ve had huge layoffs, closed their major studio and there upcoming releases do not look promising. The strangest thing is that all 3 of their films last year made a healthy profit so I don’t know what is going on?
For me 2014 had only 2 theatrically released animated stinkers. It was such a great year. The diversity of the characters, scope of animation and heart-felt topics covered I will never forget. 2015 looks pretty sad in comparison.
Will Win: How to Train Your Dragon 2 My Vote: Song of the Sea
I haven’t seen any of them but Ida is nominated for best cinematography so I would go with that. Why is it that animated films never get nominated for best foreign film? Tale of Princess Kaguya or the Latvian Rocks in My Pockets would have been worthy entries.
Will Win: Ida My Vote: Haven’t seen any but I’d give it to Rocks in My Pockets
Best Documentary
Citizenfour Finding Vivian Mayer Last Days in Vietnam The Salt of the Earth
Virunga
Pour sad Life Itself is not nominated. Baffling. I haven’t seen any of these but I will be disgusted if Citzenfour wins and we reward anything to do with the scumbag Edward Snowden but I wouldn’t put it past leftist Hollywood.
The animated shorts are actually really strong. The other one’s I haven’t seen but I am going with the major predictions
Animated Short: Feast Documentary Short: Joanna Live Action Short: The Phone Call
There’s my ballot. Hope that helps you out when getting ready for your office polls and the like. Occasionally they do give the right movie the award (Slumdog Millionaire for example) so let’s all hope for Boyhood! But if it goes to Birdman than cheers for Hollywood’s misogyny in full force!
And here are my best and worst of the year videos. I have seen some I would have included but it’s still movies I love.
I just finally got back from seeing Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi space movie Interstellar and my response is WOW! In a way my experience with this movie was kind of unique when compared with other bloggers and reviews you might see. Most people were extremely excited for this movie and then when it was different and more challenging than they expected they were disappointed (at least most people I know). I on the other hand because I had waited had the opposite situation. I was expecting to be bored and was totally engrossed. So perhaps chalk it up to low expectations but I thought it was great! I am also not a Christopher Nolan fangirl. I love Inception but his other very popular movies I am more mixed on because I do not like scary or violent movies.
I also am a huge fan of 2013’s Gravity and I wondered if I could tolerate another space movie since that one was done so well. Well in my opinion Interstellar is an entirely different experience from Gravity. It is like a combination of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Wrinkle in Time (wrap your brain around that). Gravity is more of a thriller in space where this is a sci-fi drama.
I will try and tell you the plot but I actually don’t think the plot matters that much. It’s about the experience of characters more than the intricacies of black holes and tesseracts. It’s kind of like in Star Wars we didn’t need to know all the mumbo jumbo about midi-chlorians and how the force works. We just need to see that it is working. We didn’t need to know about trade alliances and intergalactic treaties. We just needed to know these are the good guys, this is the obstacle and these are the bad guys. That’s the difference between the prequels which fail and the originals that succeed (and terrible acting, special effects and writing…)
With Interstellar I do not need one more minutia explained to me. I just need to see it happen and how the characters react as they face challenges. That’s it and it does it very well with stunning imagery and relationships that feel genuine and sincere. Some have said it is boring. I honestly did not feel that way. I was engrossed the whole way. To me Interstellar checks every box of a great sci-fi film. It has characters I like, cool setting, action, mounting tension and strong allegorical or teaching plot elements. Again, I do not need to know anything about the science. It could be complete hokum and it wouldn’t matter because within the world of the movie it works. A lot of people hate the ending but I found it emotionally moving and again right what I wanted in a good sci-fi movie.
The heart of the movie is a man named Cooper played by Matthew McConaughey. He is an engineer/farmer who lives in Texas with his 2 children and father in-law (Mackenzie Foy, Timothee Chalamet and John Lithgow respectively). It feels like a real family and the movie does a good job building up their relationships in the early sections.
They are living in a dust-bowl world where crops are dying and the human race is in danger. It is unclear what the timeframe for the world’s destruction is but again that doesn’t matter. All that matters is we have an ending and a reason to go into space. Cooper had been a skilled pilot and through various means he and his daughter named Murphy meet a man named Prof Brand played by Michael Cain and his daughter Dr Amelia Brand played by Anne Hathaway. They have been operating NASA under secret with a plan to dive into a wormhole to find 3 potentially habitable planets. The hope is they can move the human race to these planets as earth is dying.
Cooper is recruited to lead the mission but he knows going into the wormhole will likely mean his family will age ahead of him because of the theory of relativity. His daughter Murphy tries to get him to stay but he goes and she is very bitter for some time. Eventually she grows up to be both Jessica Chastain and Ellen Burystyn who actually all look a lot like little Mackenzie Foy so it works. Casey Affleck plays the son Tom as an adult. He stays hopeful longer but eventually is forced to give up on his father but he stays in the old home running the farm.
Amelia, Cooper, 2 other astronauts and 2 robots (who I loved. They have different comedy and truth telling settings. I kept waiting for them to be creepy robots but they weren’t) are on the mission. Fairly quickly they get through the wormhole and must decide what planet to try and visit first (astronauts had been sent to all the planets previously). They end up meeting up with another astronaut played by Matt Damon and have one challenge and adventure after another. Their relationships are tested and they have to make difficult decisions to save themselves, their family and the human race. Now that is drama! I don’t want to give much more away about the plot. But again I really thought the ending worked for this kind of story and movie.
The robots
It hopefully goes without saying that the special effects are astonishing and they feel palatable and real not like a green screen world. There is humor mixed in with tense scenes where I honestly did not know what was going to happen. That’s a real accomplishment in 2014 to make a sci-fi movie that surprises people. There are very few character tropes and contrivances needed. Just a story about relationships, family and exploration in space! It’s like the Lewis and Clark of space movies.
Most movie fans that I know look back at 1969 Oscars and wonder ‘how the heck did 2001: A Space Odyssey not get nominated for Best Picture?”. I mean it might not be everyone’s cup of tea but to not even get nominated is ridiculous. After all, how many people are still talking about Oliver! these days! I have a funny feeling we will have the same experience in 2061 with Interstellar. We will wonder what the heck were they thinking nominating a forgettable movie like The Theory of Everything over Interstellar? It’s kind of sad actually. I only wish I had waited to do my best of 2014 because this and several other recent views would certainly have made the list.
The only problem I had with the movie was I did not care for the score. Hanz Zimmer is great but I found the music to be overbearing, too loud and at times distracting. I would have gone with a more soft, subtle score like they had in Gravity which had long stretches with no music at all.
But that is a very small complaint. I loved it! A great sci-fi movie.
As far as content there isn’t much to offend. It does have tension and maybe one swear that I noticed but it’s pretty clean. Kids might find it hard to follow but it just depends on the kid. If they like sci-fi movies than they may love it. It’s certainly always good for kids to see movies that challenge them and make them think in new ways. Interstellar will totally do that.
Recently I had the chance to watch the Oscar nominated film Birdman: or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance and I’m afraid, like with Gone Girl ,my opinion is not as positive as the public at large….It has many strengths but some problems I have a hard time ignoring.
Let’s start with the positives. Birdman is about a man named Riggan Thomson played my Michael Keaton who used to be a superhero action star for a franchise called ‘Birdman’. Evidently at one point he could have done Birdman 3 but stepped away from the franchise out of artistic integrity and his career never recovered. Now years later he is trying to make a comeback in a broadway play based on a Raymond Carver short story.
Edward Norton also stars as a young, high strung method actor who thinks he’s better than Riggan and condescends to be in the show because of his friendship with a first time actress Lesley played by Naomi Watts. Emma Stone plays Riggan’s daughter who is recently out of rehab, Andrea Risenborough is his girlfriend and Zach Galifianakis is his lawyer and best friend.
Birdman has very good performances especially from Keaton. He is great, vulnerable, believable, authentic and tragic. The whole rest of the cast is great and nuanced in their roles (although actors playing actors may not be that much of a stretch…).
Birdman’s cinematography is also a huge accomplishment. It is edited to look like the whole film is done in one take so there are very few cuts from one person shot, to 2 person shot like in a normal movie. The camera just moves fluidly from a scene to another scene as if someone was walking from one area of the hallway to another hearing different gossip along the way.
Here’s my issue with the film. It really bothered me the way women are treated. Now before you roll your eyes at another feminist movie review hear me out. I don’t care if a movie has weak, shallow women. That’s fine and certainly the strong empowered woman can be equally clichéd. However, I do have a problem when every female in a picture is weak, shallow, mean, petty and shrill.
Let’s go over quickly the women we get in Birdman.
1. Andrea Risenborough as Riggan’s girlfriend Laura who pretends to be pregnant in order to manipulate him into committing to their relationship. She is shrill and judgmental and a real jerk
2. Next we get Lesley played by Naomi Watts who has always dreamed of being on Broadway. The movie seems to judge her for this dream as if Riggan’s is the realist and Lesley is the naive simpleton. We see so little of her acting that it is hard to say one way or another. What really upset me is in an early scene Edward Norton tries to force himself on Lesley in an attempted rape on stage so that he can be “in the moment” and then the movie forgets about this far too quickly. It was extremely distasteful. I’m not saying the movie endorses Norton’s choice but it doesn’t take it seriously enough.
3. There is a lesbian kiss between Lesley and Laura which I felt was only there to titillate men not for any plot device or importance. To be clear I am not offended by the kiss but haven’t we moved on from when gay/lesbian kisses and relationships were included to sensationalize or for comic relief? Apparently not. There is no relationship between them and it means nothing. I saw no reason to include it and it was never discussed again.
4. Emma Stone playing Sam, Riggan’s daughter, is probably the best female character in the movie but she is still very judgmental and preachy to her father. Can’t she see that he is trying to do something important and good? You would think she would appreciate that but instead she lectures him about how he is worthless and nobody cares.
5. Amy Ryan has a few scenes with Riggans as his ex-wife who hates Riggan but is still attracted to him. She’s very shrill with a couple softer moments. (not in the movie much).
5. The worst of it all is a woman named Tabitha Dickinson who is a famous theater critic from the New York Times. She knows she can make or break a Broadway show by her review and she tells Riggan she is going to destroy him and his play before even seeing it. She feels this way because she resents celebrities infringing on the Broadway scene. This was outrageous. Maybe I’m naive but I don’t think there is a critic worth their ticket stub who would decide on a review before seeing the play. And if they did they certainly wouldn’t admit it to the show creator and star. That sounds like a good way to lose your job. There is a little redemption for her character but still she was unbelievable from the start. And why did she have to be a woman? Couldn’t the movie have made one judgmental jerk a man?
Again, it’s just another example of the shrill, judgmental, mean-spirited women the movie seems to think are the rule.
The men on the other hand are more positively portrayed. Zach Galifianakis is the good friend who still believes in Riggans despite all the junk he does. Edward Norton is a pig but has softer moments with Emma Stone. Riggans is a sympathetic character surrounded by all these maniacs. He is depressed and mentally ill, hallucinating and running around in his underwear in Times Square but is still likable.
I don’t know. I just couldn’t get passed these depictions of women throughout the film- especially Lesley’s near rape and Tabitha’s condescending review threats. It made the movie unpleasant and frustrating.
It also has lots of profanity, some nudity, and mature content. Adults only. It took me two go-arounds to watch the whole thing because I wasn’t invested in it.
I know many love it and it may win Best Picture (a travesty if it does IMO) but I didn’t care for it. Sorry!
Overall Grade- C- (only because of the strong performances and cinematography). Content Grade- F
When I saw the trailer to Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day I was very annoyed. The reason is I love the book by Judith Viorst it is based on so much.
What’s special about the book is it validates a child’s feelings. That Alexander can have a bad day full of negative emotions and that’s ok. I feel like too often we silence children and want them to stop pouting or crying instead of listening to their concerns and feelings. It’s the same reason I love Charlie Brown because Shultz allowed his child character to be down and depressed on occasion.
The book Alexander ends saying “Today has been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. My Mom says some days are like that…even in Australia”
What a perfect and lovely message for kids.
The trailer for the movie version of Alex seemed to forget the message by promising silly slapstick and a family having a ‘cursed’ day instead of an ordinary child having an ordinary bad day.
Now I have seen the movie and I have to give it some props. It is not as bad as I thought it would be. (If you’ve been reading the blog it is a total Shoney’s moment). In fact, I can even admit it is a decent live action family comedy- something not made all that often any more.
Alexander has his terrible day where everything is going wrong- nobody is going to come to his birthday because a cool kid is throwing a party, he gets gum in his hair, doesn’t get to work on Australia for the big report and more.
Alexander is played by the likable child actor Ed Oxenbould. The whole cast is very likable including Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner as Alexander’s parents. It feels like a real family and they have a lovely chemistry together.
While Alexander’s day is rotten and nobody seems to understand him (that did call back to the book), everything is going great for the rest of the family. Frustrated Alexander wishes on a candle that his family would know what it feels like to have a terrible day.
Then the next day comes and it is a horrible day for the family and of course everything seems to be happening on that day including a book unveiling involving Dick Van Dyke that goes wrong, a job interview for Carrel, prom for the oldest boy, a play for the girl and Alexander’s birthday. That’s a lot for one day but you go with it.
I guess what makes all of hijinks on day 2 palatable is they do feel semi-realistic- Carell can’t find a sitter, baby eats a marker, girl gets sick, boy fails driving test ect. And like I said there is a chemistry and love between the cast which forgives a lot of silly slapstick.
The funniest scene is by far Jennifer Coolidge as a driver inspector who gives Alexander’s brother Anthony his driving test. It reminded me of the scene in Clueless when Dion goes on the freeway for the first time.
The movie ends with a sincere and sweet moment for the family which feels earned and not as sentimental as you might think.
I wish they had been bolder like Where the Wild Things Are and really told the darker tale hidden in the book. It would have been so refreshing and exciting but as a pleasant family comedy it’s not half bad.
They are smart to not have a villain which would have dragged the whole thing down. (I was worried Garner’s boss played by Megan Mullally was going to be the villain but she’s just part of the overall bad day). The bad day is the villain with perhaps a bratty high school prom girl thrown in for laughs.
If you are wondering the humor is kind of juvenile but aside from a kangaroo scene it is all grounded in reality and not painful to watch like a Home Alone movie. I chuckled on a number of occasions and I think kids will really find it funny. There aren’t that many comedies outside of animation you can go to as a family and Alexander is such a film.
There is some cartoon style violence but not much and some vomit and other gross scenes. The Thunder from Down Under dancers appear as a joke but do not strip which is a little strange for a Disney film. The word penis is also used 4 times in a scene but aside from that it is a pretty tame PG.
So, I have to give them some credit. A movie I was sure I would hate I enjoyed. It’s not as funny or as clever as Spongebob or Penguins but it’s still entertaining and worth a rental. I’m not trying to oversell it but it was just better than I expected it to be.
I’d say give it a shot especially if you are having one of those days…
And remember “some days are just like that. Even in Australia”
That said the book is better. I recommend all parents have it and read it regularly to their kids.
I have to admit when writing this review I’m a bit stumped. This is a really hard movie to write about without spoiling the movie. It’s just such a strange movie but I will do my best!
Let me start off with a couple of asides to this review- Spongebob Squarepants started in 1999 when I was a freshman in college, so I was definitely too old to like it as a child, and I didn’t have a TV at that time to like it as a young adult. So, I kind of missed the Spongebob wave but had a lot of cousins and friends that loved it. Over the years I have caught episodes and even watched the first season in its entirety and really enjoyed it, but I do not have any emotional attachment like those who grew up with it.
The other thing I want to point out is the trailers totally undersell the movie. When I first saw the trailer my eyes rolled and I thought ‘oh boy here is another Smurf movie’. Smurfs is one of my personal worst movies I’ve ever seen. I hate Smurfs because they are crass, unfunny, stupid and full of constant product placement. The trailer makes Spongebob look like it is going to be such a CG live action monstrosity like we’ve gotten over the last few years. And the trailer is WRONG!!!!
Even the title is WRONG!!!!
It should read The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water For 1/3rd of Movie (maybe only 15-20 minutes of the movie!). Yes, believe it or not it is only the last act that the characters are in the human world as 3D characters. The rest looks great in hand drawn animation! It is definitely the most hand drawn animation in a mainstream movie in a long time.
I loved the 2D hand drawn segment and when they do get to 3D it looks pretty cute, certainly better than the Smurfs.
The plot is completely wacko. And it is one that will either entertain you or make you nuts. It’s just so weird it will not please everyone. I’ll do my best to explain it without spoilers but I really did laugh my head off.
Basically we are back at Bikini Bottom with our old absorbent, yellow, and porous friend, Spongebob (voiced by Tom Kenny of course). As any fan of the show knows he works at the Krusty Krab flipping their famous krabby patties to the addicted patrons. His boss is Eugene H Krabs (the great Clancy Brown) who is the type of greedy capitalist who is usually the villain in movies. Their rival Sheldon J Plankton (Doug Lawrence) tries to steal the secret recipe for the krabby patties and is kind of successful but he’s not. There is also a live action pirate mostly narrating played by Antonio Banderas.
Squidward (Rodger Bumpass) works at the restaurant to his chagrin, Sandy (Carolyn Lawrence) the squirrel lives in a dome of air and Spongebob’s best friend Patrick (Bill Fagerbakke) is ruled by his gut.
Apocalyptic Bikini Bottoms.
They then have to go on a crazy journey to find the secret formula which involves time travel, land travel, turning into super heroes, a near sacrifice to the Krabby Patty Gods, a hilarious dolphin and more madness.
There is a cameo voice that was bizarre but hilarious I won’t give away. It is just an anything goes approach to storytelling and I was thoroughly entertained. The script is funny and it kept surprising me along the way.
All the voice performers were great and it was just so creative I had to smile. It is definitely not for everyone and it was out there but I was charmed by it and it kept me engaged.
I loved the animation throughout especially the 2D and made me laugh a lot which is what I look for in a comedy. It’s definitely trippy and strange but I feel like that is appropriate homage to the original show. In fact, I think some of the original team from the show worked on the movie and it shows. It is also quickly paced so you never go more than a few seconds without some kind of gag and it looks great at the same time. Very well done!
I hope that gives you some idea of what the movie is like. One minute you are in the future, next Spongebob is being offered up as a sacrifice, then there are battles with potatoes , a prophetic dolphin, plankton torture, and finally the live action events with Banderas. You will just have to ask yourself if you like things that are strange and off-kelter and if you do than you will enjoy it.
If that sounds like your cup of tea give it a shot . I would love it to be successful because I think it could show Hollywood that kids still like 2D animation. That everything doesn’t have to be CG.
It and Paddington certainly show with a good script and the right creative team anything can be good. Even a time traveling sponge with square pants. :). This is a bright, colorful, fun, and creative movie.
At one point all of the characters are superheroes and that is charming for just long enough and then they are off to the next phase. They get some good jabs at Marvel and other franchises out there.
I think fans of the original show will especially like it. Seems like it hits all the nostalgia buttons while still providing something current in the 3D.
As far as content a guy on twitter told me he banned the show for innuendo so I paid attention and honestly didn’t hear anything like that. There are some definite trippy moments that don’t make complete sense but other than that it is bright, cheerful and has a nice message about teamwork.
To all my parent friends I really don’t think you will have a terrible time at this movie with your kids. There is definitely enough to entertain adults and kids without it being tawdry but just know it is kind of out there.
5. Grand Budapest Hotel- The one comedy nominated! I think I give this a little bit of a pass because it is Wes Anderson’s best and most mainstream film. I’d have to watch it again to decide if I really like it better than the other nominees but I did like it. It’s not over-quirky like a lot of Anderson’s films. It is witty and the world creation is strong with more likable characters than many of his other films. Very good engaging cast as always.
