Joshua Marston’s (The Forgiveness of Blood) Maria Full of Grace is one of the best foreign-language films I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately, I watched this movie on the heels of another foreign language film (A Girl Walks Home At Night), which, despite the 95% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, I thought was an incredibly dull film and one I had no interest in reviewing. So I was a little uncertain about watching another subtitled movie the next day, but I am happy I gave it a fair chance. It’s a great movie that tells a heart-wrenching and believable story.
Continue reading Maria Full of Grace (2004)
Category Archives: Academy Award Nominees
Still Alice (2014)
Still Alice is a slightly above-average movie with the best lead performance you will see by an actress all year. I think there are only a couple of shoo-ins at this year’s Academy Awards. I believe that most categories are predictable, but there will be a couple of surprises. The big ones that will not be surprising are Patricia Arquette (Best Supporting Actress – Boyhood) and Julian Moore for her performance as a 50-year-old woman suffering from Early Onset Alzheimer’s Disease in this Still Alice. Each year there seems to be a movie that earns a significant award but is not recognized in any other category. This year, that movie is Still Alice. I’m not a huge fan of Moore. I think she’s good, but she’s slightly overrated. Nonetheless, she is due to be recognized, and this is the lead performance that is head and shoulders above the other contenders.
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The Judge (2014)
The Judge was exactly what I thought it would be: an average fictional movie released in the heart of better films based on true stories. There was a lot of hype around this movie, but I felt it would do nothing for me. And that was what happened. Audiences seemed to like this movie while critics slammed it. I’m in favor of the critics. At best, this was an average movie. At worst, it was a movie that tried every trick to get you to think it was a great movie. The fact that Robert Duvall (Apocalypse Now, The Apostle) got a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination is a bit of a joke. His performance is a bit of an embarrassment when you compare it to the four other nominees. The highlight of this movie is not the story. Nor is it Duvall. If you are going to see this movie at all (which I would recommend you don’t), you would see it for Robert Downey Jr.’s (Iron Man, Chaplin) outstanding performance.
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American Sniper (2014)
In a year that hasn’t had that many must-see movies, American Sniper has proved that there is at least one reason to head out to the theaters. 2014 has been the most disappointing year overall for movies since 2008. Yet despite its horrendous start and some incredibly overrated movies (Birdman, Unbroken, Mr. Turner, Snowpiercer, Godzilla, even Boyhood to an extent), some films did manage to live up to their expectations (Foxcatcher, The Theory of Everything, The Imitation Game). In addition, some movies exceeded my hopes for them (The Drop, Nightcrawler, Kill the Messenger, and the surprise, feel-good movie of the year, Chef). But the film that had the most pressure on its shoulders to perform was American Sniper, the final released movie of the year. And while the movie did not exceed my expectations, it certainly met them in every single way. So before I review the film, I want to refer to a couple of observations.
Selma (2014)
Selma has a movie that will leave many audience members clapping as the film concludes. It’s a feel-good movie and an important one for all generations to see. Older generations maybe we have forgotten some of the critical details over the years. Younger generations may be being exposed to this for the first time, or at least the first time outside of maybe a textbook or one of those dry 45-minute, made-for-education documentaries. I am happy this movie received a PG-13 rating rather than an R one. It is an essential movie for everyone to see. I am not one who will ever cheer or hoot and holler at the end of a movie. That isn’t my style. I was talking with my mom the other day, and she said people stood and clapped at the end of Unbroken. I found Unbroken to be one of the most overrated, bland movies. Selma certainly isn’t that, and I was happy there were some cheers at the end of this movie. I think I’m just seeing it at a time in my life where, outside of a select few movies (including none in 2014…still some hope for American Sniper, though) where I am just not going to be moved in the same things that a typical audience might be. My favorite movies these days are dark, psychological thrillers (Foxcatcher) or movies about either wrecked relationships/less than perfect relationships (Blue Valentine, Take This Waltz, Revolutionary Road, All the Real Girls) overcome diversity to find a way (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Painted Veil). So just where I was with my mental state, I had sort of had a mental block going in. I was confident I would like the movie, but I was by no means ready to see it was going to win all of these Academy Awards for which it will likely receive nominations. The nominations it will receive. The wins, I think, could become hard to find.
Continue reading Selma (2014)