I was going to review my favorite French film of all-time, but opted for an Oscar special instead. I will do the French film next week.
I’m not gonna get into the nuance awards, like best actor/actress. For the most part, 2014 was a mediocre year in cinema and only a few stood out as classics.
Here are the best picture nominees.
Selma: I didn’t watch this shit because I can’t stand Oprah. More than that, I’m not into racially divisive films. They fucking bore me. Last year’s best picture winner, 12 Years a Slave, was a work of art. It was absolutely deserving of the award–a true tour de force in cinema. But this Selma shit has Oprah in it. Fuck Selma.
Whiplash: Holy shit this was good. JK Simmons should win best actor for his performance as “Shillinger” (Oz), the artsy conductor version. I thought I’d hate this movie, fucking drums and shit. But I ended up loving it, especially its epic finale.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv-uocYREig
Interstellar (not a nominee): This is one long ass film and Matt Damon mailed in yet another fucked up role that further denigrated his downward spiraling career. However, McConahey was amazing. He is one of my favorite actors at the moment. It’s funny because I used to hate his guts, until after True Detective. At any rate, Interstellar was the movie Kubrick wanted to make with his retarded and worst film of all-time, 2001 Space Odyssey. Believe me, I am a huge Kubrick fan and could watch Barry Lyndon every day for the rest of my life. However, Space Odyssey was some trippy ass horse shit. Interstellar should be the Oscar winner, unless that savage animal, Oprah, pays off the housemaids of Hollywood to give her the award.
American Sniper: I was expecting an epic film, save the fake baby, but ended up getting 2 hours of boring headshots. Look, it was a decent film and Bradley Cooper was terrific. I guess you can say I am not a huge fan of Eastwood films. They sort of plod along. Although I did enjoy Letters to Iwo Jima, which was an absolutely stunning war movie. Botton line: this shit isn’t winning.
Birdman: I loved this film and wouldn’t be mad if it won. Michael Keaton played a former Hollywood star, a former super-hero, who was trying to regain fame. In other words, he was playing himself. There are plenty of films along this story line, my favorite being Sunset Boulevard. However, Birdman was unique and should win the award, despite Interstellar being the better movie and not even nominated.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mj_dujWtsgY
The Imitation Game: I’m a huge Benedict Cumberbatch fan for his role as Sherlock, the BBC show. However, this movie was pure bullshit. I mean, another homosexual super-hero? Really? The movie was somewhat entertaining. Although I didn’t like the way Benedict delivered his words, sort of with a speech impediment, unlike in Sherlock, when he is sharp as a tack.
The Theory of Everything: I didn’t see this shit either. Poor Steven Hawking. I don’t have time to watch sappy shit like this.
Grand Budapest Hotel: I’m a huge Ralph Fiennes fan, from the Harry Potter movies to an under the radar gem The Duchess. Plus, this film has Jeff Goldblum in it, “The Fly”. What’s not to like? But this movie was just bizarre. It was thoroughly entertaining, but in no way deserving of a fucking Oscar.
Boyhood: OMG what a fucking waste of three hours. Let me just say, I am a fan of Ethan Hawk and feel his three film epic, spanning over 18 years (Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Before Midnight), are some of the greatest accomplishments in movie history. If you haven’t seen all three, I strongly advise doing it before your life ends on this planet. But Boyhood was nothing like that. It was about some stupid, boring kid, growing up to be a fucking boring ass adult. I could not believe how aimless and retarded this movie was. If this movie wins best picture, I will throw a 10 pound barbell through my teevee.
Glaring Omission: Interstellar (see above), Gone Girl. Gone Girl was easily better than most of the films above and should’ve been nominated for the best picture award. Another one of my favorite films of 2014 was Fury, one of the best war films of all-time, in my humble opinion. However, it wasn’t artsy enough, or gay enough, so Hollywood snubbed it.
Honorable Mention: Nightcrawler. I think David Einhorn did a great job in his role as Lou Bloom. What do you think?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SqifyY9AnU
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Birdman for the win. Loved the drum soundtrack and the long continuous tracking scenes. Also the play within the movie was based on an epic short story from the 50’s when stories were long awaited, appreciated and discussed (What we talk about when we talk about love.) I agree with you on Ethan Hawke (great trilogy) and Matt Damon’s character.
Speaking of oscar winners, watched “The African Queen” the other night. Seemed like it only lasted 30 minutes it flowed so effortlessly.
Bogart was the best
This segment is LAME. Can we please get back to stocks? I liked it better when I believed that you thought of nothing but stocks and murder
It doesn’t matter what you think. le fly is a patron of the arts.
Great reviews!! Agreed re: Fury, great overlooked war film. Good to know boyhood sucked, felt like I needed to watch it because of the raving but I was suspicious, so now – fk it! Had no idea Gone Girl was good, will see it. Birdman, what a messed up awesome movie.
I liked Interstellar quite a bit, but the cast didn’t quite have the great chemistry needed for a truly great piece of film. Still epic though. WTF w/ Matt Damon phoning in that role? He was better in “We bought a f-ing zoo”. I guess he’s paying for a private island somewhere like Nicolas Cage (http://www.funcage.com/blog/celebrity-private-islands/)
Le Fly – not sure if you’ve seen “Spartacus” – the Starz series. It is awesome and happens to be available on Netflix. I’m nearly done with season three. From a book perpsective, i had never read “Dune” so I picked it up a week ago and it is fantastic. They need to do a remake of that movie
Saw one ep of Spartacus and hated it. Nothing compared to Rome
Rome!! Ahh, that was good stuff.
The Sci Fi channel did a remake of Dune as a mini-series, it was OK – works if you are a die hard fan. The best part is that they kept it rolling and followed up with a Children of Dune mini-series which was a bit better and had some better star power. Also an early break out film for James McAvoy. There are rumors of a new remake of Dune – my guess it will hit sometime after the new Star Wars at this point.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/movies/2015/02/18/oscarharvard-side/a24fmMCYN0ot5pZ8ZwAyYP/story.html
50 Shades?
The only film I’ve seen from the above is “Gone Girl”. Loved it. May give “Whiplash” a try. Mr. McConaughey absolutely made True Detective. I’m fearful that season 2 will be horribly lacking without him.
Weekends will be Greek stock alerts.
Hans Zimmer was the star of Interstellar.
Mcconaughey’s character wasn’t completely believeable (writing not acting). That only comes after a few watchings. The spectacle & ride far outspaced, Gravity
Hans zimmer is great
Agreud Gone Girl was epic.
Boyhood is a great movie. There is no bullshit stupid plot lines in that movie, just real life.
Birdman was technically amazing and the actors were fantastic, but it was boring.
The Imitation Game was a good but conventional story. Grand Budapest Hotel was fun but basically a big director wank.
Gone Girl should have definitely been nominated. It is a classic.
Didn’t see the others.
Boyhood sucked. The premise was great, but it just wasn’t that interesting. Perhaps this is because I had my own boyhood that was more interesting than this kid’s, despite me being a pretty regular person, and I just couldn’t relate to that kid.
’12 Years a Slave ‘ over the top and over rated.’ Gone Girl’ excellent. Ralph Fiennes one of my faves, liked ‘ Grand Budapest ‘ his work in ‘ English Patient ‘ ( movie was mucho better than the book) terrific and supporting role as British crime boss in ‘ In Bruges ‘ ab fab. Love the Sunday movie reviews btw.
Gone Girl is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. I went into it knowing nothing about the book or the plot, which contributed to the movie being great.
Selma being nominated for Best Picture is patently absurd. The Hollywood PC crew thinks it deserves a Best Picture award for whatever the flavor of the year is regarding racial divisiveness, which is a bit frightening. I’m all for one of those movies getting the award if it’s well-done. Selma is a piece of shit, though, and it’s been disgusting to see the usual characters acting like it deserves an award and as if a failure to give it one is evidence of racism in Hollywood. Nothing is ever enough for that crew.
Are any of you watching these films in dedicated media rooms, with the details attended to?
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For some it may be the old stereo and living room recliners in the spare bedroom. For others it can be a full-on visual and acoustic space, along with the other high-end stuff in their home.
Loved Gone Girl. Watched it by myself first and then made my wife watch it because it was so damn good. Totally unexpected.