Eller Coltrane, Ethan Hawke and Lorelei Linklater in BOYHOOD
Visit my Best Movies of 2014 for my list of the year’s best films, complete with images, trailers and my comments on each movies. My top nine for 2014 are:
Boyhood
Ida
Dear White People
Birdman
Gone Girl
Locke
Force Majeure
Calvary
Alive Inside
The other best films of the year are: True Detective (the HBO mini-series), A Coffee in Berlin, Borgman and The Grand Seduction.
I’m saving space for these promising films that I haven’t seen yet: A Most Violent Year, Inherent Vice, Selma, American Sniper, The Overnighters and Two Days, One Night.
Talk about “overlooked” – there were some great movies this year that didn’t even get a meaningful theatrical release. Let’s start with Blue Ruin – a completely fresh take on the revenge thriller.
Then there’s the romantic drama a la Twilight Zone, The One I Love, with brilliant performances by Elisabeth Moss and Mark Duplass.
The year’s best documentary – Alive Inside – didn’t even get shortlisted for the best Documentary Oscar. I dare you to watch this movie without tearing up.
I thought that the Canadian comedy The Grand Seductionwould become a long running art house hit like The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel or The Full Monty. But, despite being the year’s funniest and most audience-friendly comedy, it came and went quickly.
I loved the darkly droll German slacker comedy A Coffee in Berlin, but only a few other folks saw it in this country. It was a big hit in Europe – for a reason.
Fortunately, Blue Ruin, The One I Love, The Grand Seduction and A Coffee in Berlin are all available on DVD and/or streaming. Follow the links above to find out how to watch them. But two wonderful films that I saw at Cinequest – the outrageously dark Hungarian comedy Heavenly Shift and the provocative Slovenian classroom dramaClass Enemy are not currently available to US audiences. When they are, I’ll let you know.
This year we’ve seen an unusual number of actors playing multiple roles in the same movie. Jesse Eisenberg in The Double and Jake Gyllenhaal in Enemy play guys who encounter their dopplegangers – and the fun is in the contrasting personalities of the lookalikes.
In The Face of Love, a grieving widow falls for the exact double of her late husband (but she doesn’t tell the new boyfriend about the resemblance). Ed Harris plays both roles.
In the The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby, Jessica Chastain and James McAvoy plays a couple who have experiences a tragedy. In a Rashomon-like manner, part of the movie is told from her perspective and part from his, so McAvoy and Chastain are playing the same character, but shaded by the differing viewpoints.
And here’s my favorite. In The One I Love, Elisabeth Moss and Mark Duplass each play two characters, but I’m not going to spoil,the movie by telling you who they are. It’s a superb Twilight Zone-like experience. Just watch the movie.
I do this for fun. This year, my most fun at the movies happened at film festivals (Cinequest, San Francisco International Film Festival, Mill Valley Film Festival, Noir City), the SFFS French Cinema Now film series and my movie club, the Camera Cinema Club.
These gave me an early look at some of the Best Movies of 2014 – Ida at Cinequest, Dear White Peopleand Calvaryat SFIFF and Alive Inside at Camera Cinema Club. The screening of Dear White People, with a packed, appreciative audience and a Q&A with writer-director Justin Simien, was a howl! And I hope that two foreign films from Cinequest, Heavenly Shiftand Class Enemy, will become available – on DVD or VOD – to US audiences.
And I always value my steady companion Turner Classic Movies. TCM always turns me on to new favorites in film noir; this year TCM introduced me to Pitfall with Dick Powell and I Wake Up Screaming with Victor Mature and the irreplaceable Laird Cregar.
Eller Coltrane, Ethan Hawke and Lorelei Linklater in BOYHOOD
Instead of waiting for my year end Top Ten list, I keep a running list throughout the year: Best Movies of 2014 – So Far. That list is shaping up, though, and my recommendations are getting validated by the early critics awards.In the last two weeks, both the New York Film Critics Circle and the San Francisco Film Critics Circle recognized my #1 film, Boyhood, as the top film of the year and my #2 film, Ida, as the top foreign film. And the New York Times’ A.O. Scott picked Boyhood and Ida #1 and #2 on his top ten list.
Boyhood is pretty much out of theaters, awaiting a DVD release in January. So is Dear White People, out on DVD in February. But you can see almost all the rest right now:
Birdman, Gone Girl and Force Majeure are in theaters right now. And Ida, Locke, Calvary, Alive Inside, A Coffee in Berlin, Borgman, True Detective and The Grand Seduction are available on DVD and/or streaming. Check my Best Movies of 2014 for DVD/streaming availability.
To get on my list, a movie has to be one that I’m still thinking about them a couple of days later. I’m still mulling over whether to add A Most Wanted Man, The One I Love or Whiplash.
I’m still waiting to see several contenders for my year-end list: A Most Violent Year, Big Eyes, Inherent Vice, Selma, American Sniper, The Overnighters and Two Days, One Night. From what I read, any or all of these might end up on my final list. [Although it’s likely to be nominated for a Foreign Language Oscar this year, most of us won’t get a chance to see the Russian Leviathan until well into 2015, so I’ll leave it for next year’s list.]
For some reason, Under the Skin,Snowpiercer, Grand Budapest Hotel, The Lego Movie and Love Is Strangeare all showing up on some top ten lists. I really can’t understand why. At least Under the Skin and Snowpiercer were entertaining, but none of these were great.
I didn’t get a chance to weigh last week on the passing of the seminal filmmaker Mike Nichols, but on this Saturday Turner Classic Movies is airing three of Nichol’s movies: The Graduate, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Carnal Knowledge. The superb Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was Nichol’s directing debut. Imagine, as a rookie director, handling the world’s two biggest movie stars, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, at the height of their media circus celebrity, tempetuous relationship and individual willfulness. Three quick reflections on Mike Nichols:
1. It’s easy to recognize the greatness of The Graduate today, but it’s hard to appreciate how groundbreaking it was – all because of Nichol’s directorial choices. Dustin Hoffman’s performance was central to the success of the film, yet he was a nobody at the time and Nichols had to fight for him – the studio preferred a conventionally handsome leading man. Nichols sure wasn’t copying anybody else when he put the Simon and Garfunkle songs in the soundtrack. And the final shot – where Nichols kept his camera lingering on Hoffman and Katherine Ross until the actors became uncomfortable – is one of cinema’s best.
2. Nichols was still at the top of his form in 1998 with the Bill Clinton story Primary Colors. We can see his continuing comedic mastery when Allison Janney’s teacher union president emerges in a Walk of Shame from the candidate’s hotel room. And when the Hillary character explains the “momma” phenomenon where the Bill and Carville characters are weeping about their mommas. Primary Colors is available on DVD from Netflix and streaming from Amazon Instant, Vudu and Xbox Video.
3. And this precedes his movie career, but it occurs to me that Mike Nichols’ comedy sketch collaboration with Elaine May was really the precursor of the 50’s becoming the 60’s in America. Just search on YouTube for “Mike Nichols Elaine May” and watch some clips – you’ll see why.
One of the absolute gems in the Bay Area’s cinema scene is the San Francisco Film Society’s French Cinema Now series. Every year at French Cinema Now, SFFS presents the best and most interesting movies contemporary French movies.
This year’s offerings include early looks at two Big Movies – as in potential Oscar bait or, at least, art house hits.
Two Days, One Night: The latest urgent drama from the Dardennes brothers (The Kid with a Bike, The Son). Their movies always make my annual top ten list – and this one features Marion Cotillard.
Clouds of Sils Maria: Juliette Binoche and Kristen Stewart in an All About Eve-type rivalry, directed by Olivier Assayas (Carlos). Stewart has gotten great reviews.
Other tempting treats include:
Paris Follies: the always compelling actors Isabelle Huppert and Jean-Pierre Darroussin as old marrieds.
Love Is the Perfect Crime: a great cast (Mathieu Amalric, Karen Viard, Maïwenn, Sara Forestier) in a sly story of crime and sex.
The Mill Valley Film Festivalalways showcases many of the most promising prestige films that are scheduled for release during Award Season. It’s the best opportunity for Bay Area film goers to catch an early look at the Big Movies. This year, the film fest is especially rich with Oscar bait:
Mr. Turner: A period biopic by Mike Leigh (Secrets & Lies, Vera Drake, Another Year). Lots of Oscar buzz for lead actor Timothy Spall. Most of us won’t be able to see this in theaters until January.
Foxcatcher: Ripped from the headlines psychological drama with possible acting Oscar nods for Steve Carell AND Channing Tatum AND Mark Ruffalo.
The Homesman: Writer/director/star Tommy Lee Jones takes Hilary Swank on a pioneer road trip.
Whiplash: J.K. Simmons (Juno) plays the tough love music instructor for drummer Miles Teller (The Spectacular Now). Huge hit at Sundance promises to be one of the Fall’s top audience-pleasers.
Wild: Reese Witherspoon backpacks solo across the Pacific coast for emotional closure.
Force Majeure: This Swedish satirical disaster thriller won the Un Certain Regard jury prize at Cannes.
The Imitation Game: Lots of buzz for Benedict Cumberbatch’s performance as gay WWII code-breaking genius Kenneth Turing.
St. Vincent: Big crowd pleaser here: Single mom (Melissa McCarthy) leave young son with boozy, lecherous babysitter (Bill Murray). The kid actor is getting raves, too.
Two Days, One Night: The latest urgent drama from the Dardennes brothers (The Kid with a Bike, The Son). Their movies always make my annual top ten list – and this one features Marion Cotillard.
The Judge: Mixed reviews so far at Toronto for courtroom drama with Robert Downey, Jr. and Robert Duvall.
Those are the Big Movies, but there’s also a promising assortment of the indies, foreign flicks and documentaries that I usually cover. Here’s the schedule.
The fest runs October 2-11 in Mill Valley, San Rafael and Corte Madera. Tickets are now available to members and will go on sale to the public on September 14.
Steve Carell (yes – that’s really him) and Channing Tatum in FOXCATCHER
You know you don’t have to act with me, Steve. You don’t have to say anything, and you don’t have to do anything. Not a thing. Oh, maybe just whistle. You know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve? You just put your lips together and… blow.
That’s how Lauren Bacall broke into the movies – getting Humphrey Bogart’s attention in To Have and Have Not and rendering him speechless. Her chemistry with Bogie sparked a run of classic cinema: To Have and Have Not (1944), The Big Sleep (1946), Dark Passage (1947) and Key Largo (1948). Because of her, these are the sexiest Bogart movies. She was a 19-year-old supermodel when it started, and by Key Largo, was the 23-year-old Mrs. Bogart. Today, stars of the 30s and 40s often seem older than their ages (maybe all those cigarettes?), and, to me, she looks 19 goin’ on 30 in To Have and Have Not.
That on-screen chemistry was for real, and Bacall remained Bogart’s partner for fourteen years until his death. Her later films, without Bogart, never had the same power, but in 1976 she was an effective and poignant choice to match with the dying John Wayne in The Shootist.
Bacall had a gift for delivering sexy dialogue in hardboiled movies. (Maybe only since matched by Sharon Stone, Kathleen Turner and a few others.) Here Bacall’s Vivian Sternwood banters with Bogie’s Philip Marlowe.
Vivian: Speaking of horses, I like to play them myself. But I like to see them workout a little first, see if they’re front runners or come from behind, find out what their whole card is, what makes them run.
Marlowe: Find out mine?
Vivian: I think so.
Marlowe: Go ahead.
Vivian: I’d say you don’t like to be rated. You like to get out in front, open up a little lead, take a little breather in the backstretch, and then come home free.
Marlowe: You don’t like to be rated yourself.
Vivian: I haven’t met anyone yet that can do it. Any suggestions?
Marlowe: Well, I can’t tell till I’ve seen you over a distance of ground. You’ve got a touch of class, but I don’t know how, how far you can go.
This brilliant scene (above) from Aladdin (mostly improvised) showcases Robin Williams’ comic genius – irrepressible until yesterday. Taking in Williams’ rapid fire torrents of creativity was often like standing in front of a fire hose, but in a good way.
Williams was in a bunch of fine movies – Moscow on the Hudson, Good Morning Vietnam, Aladdin, Deconstructing Harry, Good Will Hunting, Insomnia and The Face of Love. Even though he won an acting Oscar for Good Will Hunting, his best performance was as a character very much unlike Robin Williams – the frighteningly contained Sy Parrish in One Hour Photo. Nothing seems more ordinary and harmless than this guy in a drugstore vest at the photo stand, but Sy’s building obsession with a family of customers – a family completely oblivious to his preoccupation with them – goes from uneasy to chilling to terrifying. One Hour Photo is available on DVD from Netflix and streaming on Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, Xbox Video and on FHEsearchlightconnect on YouTube.
