In my opinion, the two best series of trailers for 2014 have been Unbroken and American Sniper. These were two of, if not the, most anticipated movies of the year for more. I apologize to Foxcatcher, which had a fantastic trailer and was a movie I was looking forward to. It not only met but exceeded expectations. These two Christmas Day movies have had me buzzing for months. Unfortunately, as the reviews began pouring in, I realized these movies would probably fall short of expectations. American Sniper is currently in the 70% range on Rotten Tomatoes, while Unbroken was way down at around 50%. I have not yet seen American Sniper, but based on the small reviews I have read, I believe I know where it was going to fall short. I think that if outsiders had screened this movie before its completion, there could have been some influence on the film’s sequencing that would better tell Chris Kyle’s story after his tours of duty. Again, this is my prediction before viewing the movie, but I have a feeling I’m going to say that it was a good movie that could have potentially been in my top ten of all time. Unfortunately, I did not feel the same way about Unbroken. The trailer didn’t live up to the movie, and I’m not sure any editing could have changed that. I found this movie to be very disappointing.
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Category Archives: Academy Award Nominees
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
Sure David Fincher’s (Fight Club, Se7en) The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is Forrest Gump meets Legends of the Fall. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t a great movie. I saw this movie opening weekend six years ago and remember being intrigued by the premise but not exactly sure how I’d react to it. The trailer was superb, and Brad Pitt is excellent in almost everything he does. This movie was screaming Academy Award Nomination for him, and this would prove to be his first Best Actor nod. I’m also very high on Fincher and Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine, Elizabeth: The Golden Age). At nearly three hours, this movie is way much too long, but, at the same time, I’m not exactly sure what I would cut it out. To me, each scene is integral to the story. And while Forrest Gump achieved more critical acclaim (6 Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Actor and six other nominations), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button fared very well (3 wins and ten more nominations). Are the stories similar? They are. And while Brad Pitt’s character in this movie isn’t quite the same as his character in Legends of the Fall, his Benjamin Button character does follow many of the same fight versus flight battles that Tristan faced. If I had to rank these three movies, I think I would still go Forrest Gump first, Legends of the Fall second, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, but that is one heck of a list. All three of these movies currently rank in my All-Time top 125, and I think each of these movies will continue to stand the test of time, meaning I don’t see these movies sliding down as I revise my list yearly.
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Wild (2014)
Wild seems to be the type of movie I am drawn to these days. Recently, I’ve been going for heavy dramas, movies about self-discovery, films with acting performances that are Oscar-worthy, and movies based on true stories. Wild had all four of these things, yet it was a dissatisfying movie. It was not a bad movie, but it was severely flawed. And the idea that it could earn so many award nominations this year (though I’m predicting it will earn none) shows just how weak this year has been for movies.
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Whiplash (2014)
There’s one main reason to see Damien Chazelle’s (Grand Piano) Whiplash. Despite its outstanding 96% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it’s not a movie that offers anything original. It’s a good film, but not a great movie. However, it does deliver one of the finest (if not the finest) supporting performances of the year. We’ve seen this story in books, on television, and the big screen hundreds of times. The content changes, but the story stays the same…a young person trying to do whatever they can to win the approval of someone they are trying to impress. In this case, the young person is Andrew Neyman (Miles Teller – The Spectacular Now, 21 and Over), a first-year drumming major at New York’s Shaffer Conservatory of Music, one of the top music prep school’s in the country. And the person he is unsuccessfully trying to win over is Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons – television’s Oz, television’s The Closer), the school’s most well-known teacher and maestro of the school’s top jazz ensemble. It’s well-known that if you can succeed in Fletcher’s group, you’ve got the potential for a great career as a musician. The movie is good. Continue reading Whiplash (2014)
Foxcatcher (2014)
I’ve finally found the first “award buzzing” movie of 2014 that has lived up to its hype. While there have certainly been a handful of other films that I’ve found to be good, there hasn’t been a movie, except for maybe Nightcrawler, that has lived up to the hope I had for the movie. That has certainly changed with Bennett Miller’s (Moneyball, Capote) methodical and engrossing Foxcatcher. While this movie isn’t for everybody, film purists will love it. This movie will likely garner a Best Director Academy Award and, without a doubt, will land Steve Carell (Crazy, Stupid, Love., Date Night) his first Best Actor nomination. In addition, mark Ruffalo (Reservation Road, Shutter Island) likely will also earn a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award. And not to be lost is the performance of Channing Tatum (21 Jump Street, 22 Jump Street), who gives the performance of his career. This film’s three of the best performances of the year can be viewed alone. Continue reading Foxcatcher (2014)