The feel-good movie of the year so far and one that completely flew under the radar (despite its 88% fresh rating and $31 million box office gross) without question is Chef, a movie written, directed, and starring Jon Favreau. Yes, that Jon Favreau. The same guy you’ve seen in character roles in films like Swingers, The Wolf of Wall Street, John Carter, Elf, and the Iron Man franchises for the last 20 years. Unbeknownst to me until a couple of days ago is that he is an accomplished director. He’s directed Iron Man, Iron Man 2, and Elf, among others. All three were satisfying movies that earned well over $150 million at the box office. I enjoyed all three of these movies. And while I would still rank the first Iron Man as his best film, Chef is an absolute gem. It is heartwarming, funny, poignant, and original. It does for 2014 what The Way, Way Back did for 2013. Both movies were lesser known. Each earned about the same amount of money at the box office. And each had about the same rating on Rotten Tomatoes. While I was a big fan of The Way, Way Back, there was something about Chef that has reserved a permanent place in my 2014 Top Ten list.
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Category Archives: Oliver Platt
Kill the Messenger (2014)
After stints in movies that have limited his ability to showcase his range (Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, The Avengers, The Bourne Legacy), the talented Jeremy Renner returns to the type of film that has helped establish him as one of America’s best, under the radar actors. With Academy Award nominations in back-to-back years (The Hurt Locker – Best Actor, The Town – Best Supporting actor), Renner brings his acting prowess back to the big screen for the first time in four years in Michael Cuesta’s (Showtime’s Homeland) Kill the Messenger. While researching this movie, I learned that Renner is signed to continue the Bourne, Mission Impossible, and Avengers franchises. Now while I’m never going to chastise an actor for getting as much money as they can, it would be my wish that he exit two of these three series (the Bourne series is tired and played out, and there is no need for his character in the Mission Impossible franchise) and concentrate on roles that bring out more of the actor in him. Then, of course, he would still have The Avengers movies for name recognition and bigger paydays. I feel like this man has a handful of Academy Award nominations (and hopefully a couple of wins) in his future if he continues tackling these more character-driven movies.
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Love & Other Drugs (2010)
The 2010’s Love & and Other Drugs trailer makes it seem like the movie is a romantic comedy. In actuality, that could not be further from the truth. While there is quite a bit of romance and lots and lots of humor, the movie is far more profound and dramatic than I could have imagined. No purely romantic comedy can take you through the range of emotions that Love & Other Drugs will take you through. This movie slipped under the radar, earning just $32 million at the box office. Referred to more as “that movie that has Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler, Brothers) and Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married, Interstellar) naked the whole time,” it was more than it was anything else. I saw the movie for two reasons. The first was that I was intrigued by the buzz surrounding this movie’s release date.