A MOST VIOLENT YEAR

GRADE: A+
Starring Oscar Isaac, Jessica Chastain, Albert Brooks
Written and Directed by J.C . Chandor
Rated R (profanity, violence, adult themes)
Reviewed by Paul Gibbs

To start with, A Most Violent Year is not the film the title will likely invoke in your mind. It sounds like a Scorsese or even Tarrantino style epic with people getting shot in the head and splattering brains all over the landscape every 5 minutes. But in this case, "violent" is meant by real world standards, not movie standards, and it refers to something much more low key, primarily intimidation. There's not much in the way of gunplay or mayhem. If that disappoints you, this probably isn't your kind of film. In fact, it's so low key that it's easy to imagine many audiences getting bored. But Writer/director J.C. Candor (Margin Call, All Is Lost) has created a film that evokes the best works of the late, great Sidney Lumet (Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon) through its measured, disciplined and real-life resonant portrayal of a had-working immigrant businessman struggling to maintain his success and integrity in a world where his competition will stop at nothing.

Oscar Isaac (if you don't know him now from Inside Llewyn Davis, you'll know him soon from Star Wars: The Force Awakens) stars as Abel Morales, owner of a small, family-operated oil shipyard in New York, 1981. Abel's trucks have been getting hijacked, and he suspects that his corrupt competition is trying to force him out of business. He has only 30 days to make a payment or he loses everything. Abel's wife Anna (Jessica Chastain) is as tough and determined as he is, though as the daughter of a mobster, her moral code may be a little more flexible than his. Isaac, Chastain and Albert Brooks (as abel's attorney) give performers which were unfairly over looked for Oscar nominations, as was Chandor for his writing and directing (I personally found this film more honest and compelling than current star of the moment American Sniper). This is a film that overcomes the indulgent, over-the-top and formulaic tendencies which are, sadly, just as common in today's indie films as they are in Hollywood fare (these days either self-consciously quirky comedy/dramas or Tarrantino imitators seem to make up 90% of what is offered). Chandor stubbornly refuses to give in to unnecessary showiness or excess, keeping it real from beginning to end. While it may not fit everyone's taste, A Most Violent Year was the sort of movie that left me feeling electrified by it's sheer skill, subtlety and filmmaking disciple. It's a film that left me excited about the independent film world in a way I very rarely am.

A Most Violent Year is rated R for profanity and violence, but again, nowhere near as much as you probably would expect.

AMERICAN SNIPER

Reviewed by Patrick Gibbs

GRADE: B +
Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Keir O'Donnell, Elise Robertson 
Based on the book by Chris Kyle
Directed by Clint Eastwood

Rated R (violence, profanity, disturbing images) I'm a big fan of Clint Eastwood the director, in particular Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby, Mystic River, and even the wildly underrated Invictus, which I found to be one of Eastwood's most entertaining films. But any time you have a director who's this prolific, and has had a career that has spanned decades, you're going to have some misfires. There's no doubt that Clint has slumped down a bit in his director's chair in recent years (when he's not having arguments with it), and sometimes his movies tend to resemble an old man telling a story and suddenly losing track of what the point was two thirds of the way through (the wildly uneven J. Edgar and Hereafter are great examples of this analogy.). American Sniper is Eastwood's best film in a few years, without a doubt, but it's not up there with his very best work, and honestly, that's more a failing of the material than of the direction.
Chris Kyle (Cooper) works as a rodeo cowboy but wants more and signs up to become a Navy SEAL. He completes his training and meets his future wife (Sienna Miller.). As it did with many people, September 11, 2001 changed things for Chris Kyle. From there on out, he was a man on a mission. He is deployed to Iraq as a sniper. He makes many kills, and is given the nickname "The Legend" but agonizes over the soldiers he could not save. At home his wife is pregnant and anxious. Chris comes home, but finds his thoughts are back in Iraq and he enlists for a second tour. Cooper gives a very strong central performance, and Eastwood handles the character oriented sequences nicely, especially those involving the struggle with PTSD. He fares even better with some very suspenseful scenes or the war, including a spectacular sandstorm sequence and harrowing moments where Chris the sniper is literally faced with life and death decisions, some times involving women and children.
For me, the flaw to this movie is the lack of ability to connect with Chris Kyle. He may have been the deadliest sniper in U.S. History, but that doesn't inherently make him an interesting person.  The movie is more successful when it's capturing the overall experience of the American soldier or the veteran suffering from PTSD than when it is trying to follow Kyle's life specifically, though Chris himself is at his most interesting and likable when we see him volunteering to help other veterans to work through their emotional problems, which ultimately lead to tragedy. Producer/Star Bradley Cooper, who has nurtured this project for a while now and was really the driving force behind it, felt very strongly about staying true to the point of view of the late Chris Kyle, the title character and author of the book on which the film was based, and to make the movie he would have wanted. This is a laudable goal, but it's also the primary reason the film failed to really connect with me. On the upside, the film is very non judgmental: we see Chris railing against the "savages" he has killed in the Middle East and his wife being upset by his callous attitude, but it neither vilifies him for his views, nor tries too hard to support them. It merely portrays them, and there's a lot to be said for that choice. The ending of the film is abrupt and awkward, and I felt that it was trying to hard to avoid the obvious ironies that exist in the story of Chris Kyle.  This is definitely a good film, but it's not an inspired or great film.

BLACKHAT

Reviewed by Patrick Gibbs

GRADE:  C
Chris Hemsworth, Viola Davis, Wei Tang, Leehom Wang, Holt McCallanay, Yorick van Wagenigen, John Ortiz, Richie Coster, 
Written by Morgan Davis Foehl 
Directed by Michael Mann
Rated R (violence and some profanity)

Two of the most stylistically iconic directors working today are Ridley Scott and Michael Mann, and their influence on other filmmakers has been noticeable over the years. So it's not surprising that in the past two months we would see blatant tributes to both filmmakers. What is surprising is that the tributes have been made by Scottt and Mann.

In much the same way that Exodus: Gods and Kings so clearly set out to evoke the kind of epics Scott has been celebrated for (right down to multiple lines of dialogue referencing Gladiator), Michael Mann's new thriller Blackhat plays like an homage to his own filmography, so much so that in scenes when Chris Hemsworth and Leehom Wang were driving around at night I had to remind myself that their names were not actually Crockett and Tubbs.

Nicholas Hathaway (Hemsworth) is doing 15 years in prison for cyber crimes. Four years into his sentence, he catches a bit of a break: it seems that a cyber terrorist is using an algorithm designed by Hathaway. and his old college roommate Chen Dawai (Wang), a Chinese government agent involved in a joint operation with the FBI, suggest that the best person to track down this criminal is Hathaway himself.  Hathaway seizes on the opportunity and negotiates what starts as a proposed furlough into having his sentence commuted if he succeeds.The chase leads them through Chicago, Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Jakarta (although they never do find Carmen Sandiego.). Chen enlists the aid of his sister, Lien (Wei Tang) because he needs a computer expert he can really trust, and Hathaway needs a love interest.    

Blackhat never rises above being a routine thriller, and the script by Morgan Davis Foehl is serviceable but bland. In addition, Hemsworth's character is awfully tough and multi talented for a computer hacker (at what point exactly did he learn to be crack shot firing a gun one handed?) and there are moments when I couldn't help but add my own RiffTrack ("The man we need is my former roommate, Nick Hathaway. We were underwear models together at MIT" and "So, this is a Michael Mann movie. I have long hair, and you're Asian, so we should probably have sex."),  and the love story between Hemsworth and his hair care stylist is more convincing than the love story being Hathaway and Lien.

That being said, Hemsworth once again proves himself more than capable of carrying a film, and Mann's stylish visuals and clever staging  go a long a way, and the movie is completely watchable. As a long time fan of the director, I couldn't help but enjoy the film.  As has been the case with every film he has made since Collateral, Mann embraces digital movie making to the extreme, not trying to disguise digital video for film. At times this can be an effective choice in bringing you into the reality of the story (though it works a lot better when the movie has a great sense of reality, or a story) but what I do take issue with in this film and others is the growing trend toward using a GoPro for shots in a major motion picture. I get it: the Go Pro gets shots that you otherwise never could. But a large percentage of the time, they are gimmick shots that I'd rather not see passed off as filmmaking in the first place.

As January releases go, Blackhat really isn't bad. It's just not that good, either.

The Most Offpissing (Unless there is no such word) Oscar Snubs of 2015

By Patrick Gibbs

First off, let's define the difference between "I wanted this person to get a nomination" and a genuine snub. This morning, I heard some one complain that James Marsden did not receive an nomination for  The Best Of Me. Seriously. I like Marsden, but it was a Nicholas Sparks movie.  That's like complaining that Mark Wahlberg wasn't nominated for Transformers: Age of Extinction.

Now, obviously, I am annoyed that Andy Serkis wasn't nominated for Dawn Of The Planet The Apes, and I will always consider it to be the best performance of the year, but there hasn't been any serious talk of a nomination. While I believe that the Academy needs to start recognizing performance capture performances, and the studio submitted him for Best Supporting Actor, it wasn't something anyone really expected.

To qualify as a genuine snub, it has to be highly acclaimed, including nominations in any of the Awards leading up to the Oscar nominations, or to be a notable absence in a major category for a movie that has received a number of other nominations (such as Ben Affleck for Argo or Ron Howard for Apollo 13.).

Here are, in my opinion, some of the most glaring legitimate snubs of 2015.

Gone Girl
While it did grab a much deserved nomination for Rosamund Pike,  no Best Picture, Best Director (David Fincher), Adapted Screenplay (Gillian Flynn) and not even an editing nomination.







Selma
No Best Actor Nomination for David Oyelowo, despite comparisons to Daniel ay Lewis in Lincoln, and no best director for Ava DuVernay. Now, these are competitive categories, and especially DuVernay was never considered a front runner to win, but it's still a snub, and not just because they are black.

                                                                                     


The LEGO Movie

Genuinely one of the most acclaimed films of 2014, the lack of a Best Animated Feature nomination is utterly dumfounding, but betrays a bias against movies based on established, iconic properties like comic books or toys (in fairness to the Academy, I can count the number of these movies based on established iconic properties that actually deserved major nominations but didn't get them on one hand and still have at least one finger left over, but still . . .)




Big Eyes
Amy Adams just won a Golden Globe but didn't even get a nominator for the Oscar. Now, it's important to point out that she won in the Musical or Comedy category, and the Winner in the Drama category is much more likely to be the frontrunner, but this was a great performance by an actress that is overdue.

American Sniper
No nomination for director Clint Eastwood, a longtime Academy favorite.  Some people are going to say that this is because of Eastwood's endorsement of Mitt Romney, but they are wrong. In actuality, American Sniper may have received more attention than it actually deserved, and the Academy smartly recognized that this was a producer and star driven project and as such, Bradley Cooper's nomination was much more important.

A Most Violent Year                                          
Nothing? Not one single nomination? Come on!

This was arguably last year's most unsung classic. Part of me is really excited to see Oscar Isaac in Star Wars and another part of me is terrified we'll stop getting to see him in classics like this and Inside Llewyn Davis. Ultimately, this movie just wasn't violent enough for most people.






The Grand Budapest Hotel
Yes, the film received a richly deserved 9 nominations, including Best Picture and Directing and Schindler's List and further cements him as one of the all-time greats. Admittedly, Best Actor was a competitive category, but come on.
Screenwriting nods for Wes Anderson. But it still manages to qualify because they left out the heart and soul of the film, Ralph Fiennes, as Best Actor. Fiennes comic work here is in its own way as inspired as his celebrated, chilling turn in Schindler's List. 

10 FILMS TO BE EXCITED FOR IN 2015

by Paul Gibbs

2015 is looking like a potentially good year for movies (though thankfully not quite the overstuffed smorgasbord of franchises it first appeared to be). Here are some of the films I'm most eagerly anticipating.


1. STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS
This one is likely at the top of most lists, even if many people are as apprehensive as they are excited. Will director J.J. Abrams bring us a new classic or just take more luster off of the venerable franchise? No matter what you expect, it's arguably 2015's most intriguing prospect.

2. UNTITLED COLD WAR THRILLER
This reunion between director Steven Spielberg and star Tom Hanks almost made my #1 spot, because I'm more certain of being fully satisfied with it than I am with The Force Awakens, especially when you add the Coen brothers writing the script which tells the story of attorney James Donovan (Hanks) negotiating with the Soviet Union for the release of downed U2 pilot Francis Gary Powers. SPIELBERG AND THE COENS TOGETHER  is a prospect so exciting to me that I had to put in bold, underlined italic caps. And that's not something I take lightly.

3. JURASSIC WORLD
Admittedly the previous Jurassic Park sequels haven't been entirely satisfying, but the original is one of my favorite films, and director Colin Trevorrow impressed with his debut film Safety Not Guaranteed. A strong teaser trailer increases anticipation.


4. IN THE HEART OF THE SEA
Director Ron Howard re-teams with Rush star Chris Hemsworth for what promises to be a spectacular epic based on the voyage which inspired Moby Dick.  I'm excited to see Howard directing a big adventure epic like Apollo 13 again.

5. THE WALK
Director Robert Zemeckis Back to the Future, Forrest Gump) brings us the story of Phillipe Petit's high wire walk between the twin towers of the World Trade Center, with a cast that includes Joseph Gordon Levitt and Ben Kingsley. In IMAX 3D this promises be an eye-popping and dizzying ride, but in his best films Zemeckis has shown a gift for using technology in service of story and character.

6. MR. HOLMES
Ian McKellan plays a 93-year old Sherlock Holmes dealing with the decline of his amazing intellectual powers. If that doesn't excite you, you are dead to me.

7. MACBETH
Michael Fassbender and Marion Cottilard star a Lord and Lady the Scottish Play in a new version of Shakespeare's tragedy which is said to actually play up the Scottish angle (a huge plus for a former babgpipe player with Scottish ancestry, like me)

8. THE AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON
Marvel and Whedon fans will be angry I didn't rank this higher, but as good as the Marvel films tend to be they just come too frequently to miss them. Still, this one is likely to be great fun, with Whedon's gift for dialogue adding a lot to the pyrotechnics.

9. INSIDE OUT/THE GOOD DINOSAUR
Two new Pixar films, and neither one is a sequel. Okay, Inside Out looks like Herman's Head, but actually funny.

10. SPECTRE
The same creative team behind Skyfall brings James Bond back, with Daniel Craig facing off against the same organization that plagued Sean Connery's 007. With a supporting cast that includes Cristoph Waltz and Ralph Fiennes, and Sam Mendes back at the helm, my expectations are high.

Patrick's Picks: The Best Films of 2014

by Patrick Gibbs

This past year saw the release of a lot of movies (though the most press went to the one that almost wasn't released.). As usual, these films ran the gamut from those trying to help us face reality to those trying to help us escape it. It saw a surge in low budget, poorly made religious based films that very jumped on by an eager niche audiences, and two big budget Biblical epics that the very same people were dismissing as blasphemy before even seeing them.

What it did not see was one, or two to three, universally accepted "this is it" movies that were universally the frontrunners for best picture. There was no 12 Years A Slave, or even a Gravity. That is not to say there were not great films, opinion was just very divided and there was no clear standout that everyone seems to agree on.

But that's ok: this article isn't about what other people thought were the best films of 2014, it's about the ones that I thought were the best.In fact, it's not even meant to be definitive; it's a personal perspective on the a year at the movies as whole, and the selections that best represent how art effected me. I may change my mind about some of these over time (I still have not had a chance to see Foxcatcher or Selma), but that's the nature of art, and of the passage of time.

 So those that want to tell me I'm wrong, please try to remember that you are an idiot. I cannot be wrong about what I liked the best. If it doesn't mesh with what you liked, make your own list, baring in mind that you probably didn't see half of what I did last year. Still, I only speak for myself, but in the end, that works out fine, because above all others, my own opinion has earned my most sincere and everlasting respect.


1. DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES

Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's.

In all honesty, the mere presence of chimpanzees on horseback firing machine guns is enough to make this a contender for Best Picture of 2014, but on top of that, the film is a brilliantly crafted and profound socio-political commentary on the polarizing devision in America today, and drama worthy of comparison to Shakespeare, particularly in the powerful portrayal of the tragic villain, Koba, a former lab animal who has every reason to distrust humans and want them driven away, even if his methods go way too far.

It is at once beautifully simple in its storytelling and intricately complex, resisting the urge to play anyone as 100 percent right or wrong. The humans and apes alike are  acting out of a desire to preserve their own survival and that of their society, and ignorance and fear from extremists on both sides keeps getting in the way. But even the extremists are portrayed with a sense of sympathy. Dawn of the Planet of The Apes does its 1960's predecessor proud, using a science fiction premise to mirror the problems facing society today. Andy Serkis gives a mesmerizing performance: if you think this all comes down to the effects, watch the special features. If Gravity and Avatar can win Oscars for Best Cinematography despite the fact that most of the work was done in post production and involved the addition of visual effects, then there is no reason that Serkis and Tobey Kebbell can not and should get well deserved acting nods for their work here. I would like to see any of the acting front runners get as much out of an entire monologue as Kebbell did out of the words "human work."
Inspiring, disturbing, moving and exciting, this has everything a great movie needs, and director Matt Reeves expertly mixes all of the ingredients until the result is nothing short of perfection.

Also, there are chimpanzees on horseback firing machine guns.



2. NOAH

I can see clearly now, the rain is gone.

I know what you're thinking: he chose NOAH? But . . . but . . . it didn't follow the book! Which book? The King James Bible does not have exclusive claim to the story of Noah (though I understand he will be a theme park character now that Disney has purchased the rights to the King James Bible.).  This is a story that has been passed down in many, wildly different forms in many, wildly different religions for generations since stories were first told. Every religions has a different idea of angels: why can't they be portrayed like The Fallen, seen here (who are referenced in the non canonical Book of Noah.). Yes,  the filmmaker has put his own spin on the story. That's what art is!  Most importantly, this isn't just a movie about Noah's journey on the ark: it's about our journey through life.

Darren Arronofsky's edgy and daring epic may have ruffled some feathers, but it gave me wings. For me, it was a profound spiritual experience that made me look inside myself in way few movies  have ever done. It dared to delve into subject matter deeply relevento those today who try to follow a God that they often don't understand and sometimes become angry with, and to say that faith and open mind and an open heart must go hand in hand, or you may end up doing the wrong thing for the right reason.

Russell Crowe's Noah is at once broodingly distant and lovably paternal, and he is matched by the raw emotion of Jennifer Connelly, both of whom give their best performances in years (though one has to wonder when she is going to learn that she's got to stop marrying this guy because he always ends up hearing voices.). But the performance and characterization that resonated most with me was Logan Lerman as Ham, Noah's dissillusioned son who is suddenly losing everything he has been raised to believe he should want and asked to not only accept but embrace that fact.

The movie is filled with breathtaking visual imagery (the Cain and Abel sequence is pure artistic brilliance) and heavy themes and emotions.  I readily acknowledge that it is not a film for everyone. But it was film for ME, and it's become a part of me, and I make no apologies or qualifiers for putting it on my list.




3. UNBROKEN

Making it to the finish line is always a victory.

Angelina Jolie may have underwhelmed me in the tepid and uninspired Maleficient, but my longtime crush was rekindled to the brightest it has been in many years with this spectacular directorial triumph that echoes David Lean and Spielberg's Empire Of The Sun.


Louis Zamperini (Jack O'Connell), a young Italian American runner, competes in the Berlin Olympics, knowing he won't medal, but looking ahead four years to the next Olympics, set for Tokyo. And he does find himself in Japan at that time, but not as an athlete, but as a prisoner of war.

The inspiring true story of a young man's survival under almost unbearably brutal circumstances, Unbroken is sincere, unflinching, old fashioned filmmaking with a Norman Rockwell like love of Americana mixed with modern liberal sensibility, and not in terms of adding profanity (the movie stays within PG-13 boundaries, and the lack of F- words surprisingly takes away nothing from the sense of reality.  Rather, it comes in asking the question of how torture and starvation of prisoners can possibly be justified, and the idea that forgiveness and peace can lift us up through difficult times better than revenge.

4. (tie) THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL and MUPPETS MOST WANTED

Dying is easy. Comedy is hard.

I am not easily pleased when it comes to comedy on the big screen.

Wes Anderson's latest is eccentric and goofy even for him, but is delightfully unique and combines French farce with bold, indie filmmaking, and classic Blake Edwards. Ralph Fiennes is cast gloriously against type and definitively proves that The Avengers (not to be confused with Marvel's The Avengers) did not fail because he can't do comedy. This is the most entranced and transported I have been by a comedy since The Hudsucker Proxy.

Muppets Most Wanted had a tough act to follow after the last film, but it does so but being its own
movie and going for its own style, its own songs, and its own brand new addition to the Muppet cast, in the form of Constantine, the "Evillen Froggen" who masquerades as Kermit. I can watch this film again and again and never stop laughing, enjoying the story, and feeling a very real sense of joy. And that is what I call comedy.




5. A MOST VIOLENT YEAR

The art of our necessities is strange,
And can make vile things precious.

If you are the kind of person who left There Will be Blood feeling ripped off because it wasn't Gangs of New York, you won't like this movie. Writer/director J.C. Chandor is not trying to channel Tarantino here: he's going more for Sidney Lumet by way of King Lear. There is no endless parade of exploding heads; this movie takes place in a world where hijacking trucks and beating up the drivers, breaking into a house with a baseball bat or purchasing a gun for self defense is considered violence. It's a little place I like to call "the actual planet we live on," circa 1981. The endlessly underrated Oscar Isaac stars as Abel Morales, an immigrant businessman who is far from totally legit, but isn't Michael Corleone, either. As he tries to expand his business, he faces obstacle after obstacle, including attacks by competitors and criminal investigators dying to find evidence against him. His wife (Jessica Chastain) is the daughter of a man who basically was a Corleone, and the two of them are living in that shadow. The threat of violence, and the temptation to use it as a solution, loom over Abel as tries to dig himself out of his hole and just gets deeper and deeper. In an age when the terms "in your face" and "over the top" are worn as a badge of honor, this beautifully understated and subtle, but always involving film, is a welcome change of pace.

6. GONE GIRL

Take my wife. Please.

David Fincher and writer Gillian Flynn  weave an intricate and disturbing tale in the finest tradition of Alfred Hitchcock. Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) is trapped in an unhappy marriage, but find himself even more trapped when his wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) vanishes, and everyone suspects that he is the man responsible. As layer after layer is peeled away, new secrets are revealed, and neither Nick or Amy are who they seem to be. If you don't know the twist by now, I'm assuming that you don't care, but while
 I am trying to avoid stating it outright, read on at your own risk. Gone Girl can be seen as misogonystic, or empoweringly feministic, depending on who you talk to, but it's really a story about marriage and relationships, and the methods and weapons we used to control one another. It's the dark side of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and much like that film, it doesn't take place in the real world, it takes place inside a movie, where people do the kinds of things they would only do in a movie. The mistake being made by detractors is to assume that it is trying to do more than this when it is actually embracing that very concept: as Nick sits on the stage of a TV talk show hosted by Sela Ward, a.k.a. Helen Kimble from The Fugitive, and declares "I didn't kill my wife", if you can't recognize that this is a story about storytelling, it's not the failing of the director or of the movie.


7. CHEF

Too many cooks spoil the superhero.

15 years ago, I was working in theatre, teaching acting to kids and putting on small productions. It was a great job when I started, but by the end, no matter how I wanted to try new things and push myself and the students to create original works of art, the mandate was clear: play it safe, follow the routine.  I couldn't do that, and I left. The same thing happened again six years after that running the entertainment in a spectacular theme restaurant. Don't progress, don't excel, give them the same old crap.

Jon Favreau's return to smaller, less commercial fare after two Iron Man films and Cowboy & Aliens
certainly appeals most to artistic types who have been in this position, but it's a great movie nonetheless, and a wondering coming of age story for a father and son who discover themselves by discovering each other. Favreau the actor hasn't been this good since Swingers, and Favreau the director, who blazed new trails and helped create the MARVEL mold with the first Iron Man and was unfortunately stifled into making the second one a two hour commercial for The Avengers (and not a even a particular good one) is clearly having a blast doing his own thing. A little bit of sincerity goes a long way, and all the ingredients come together to create a wonderful feel good film that sends the clear message: be true to yourself, even if you have to take some time to find out exactly who that is first.
                                                         

8. THE HOMESMAN

I've got friends in low places.

Not since Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven have I been more disappointed that I did not get the western I went to the theater expecting to see. And not since Unforgiven have I found myself realizing after giving it some thought that what I got was far better, and hauntingly profound.

Tomm Lee Jones excels both in front of the camera and behind it in this bleak and painfully honestly look at life on the plains, examining the issue of mental illness in a manner that is as shockingly forthright as it is is likely to be lost on much of its audience. This movie raises some fascinating questions on just what exactly it means to be sane, who gets to decide what meets that standard, and most memorably, who, if anyone, will be there to show compassion to the compassionate.


9.  THE EQUALIZER

A man can be destroyed but not defeated.

Taxi Driver meets The A-Team.

Just when I havecompletely written off director Antione Fuqua for the cookie cutter Olympus Has Fallen, he reteams with Training Day star and Hollywood legend Denzel Washington to make quite possibly the best TV based movie since The Fugitive.  

Washintgton takes over the role of McCall, made famous by Edward Woodward. McCall is a man with a mysterious past who knows how to get things done when no one else can, but these days he's trying to play nice, working at a thinly disguised version of Home Depot and reading books. But when a young prostitute (played by Chloe Grace Moretz) ends up in the hospital, he decides somebody has to do something, and the gloves come off. Extremely brutal but thoroughly involving, a big past of why this film work so well is that the script is fiercely intelligent and not a single character is wasted. Another reason is Washington himself, who is at the top of his game.



10. THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING 
Is this seat taken?

A romantic account of the relationship between Stephen and Jane Hawking seemed like a great piece idea, as long as they didn't do anything stupid like tell the truth. But The Theory of Everything is a warts and all love story that is surprisingly fair to both sides. Those who are giving all of the credit to Eddie Redmayne, who gives an undeniably brilliant performance, are discounting not only the script and direction but the equally strong performance by Felicty Jones, who provides the heart and soul of the piece.  We cheer for Stephen but we love Jane. Sure, this is Oscar bait, but if your bait is this good, who can blame you if you catch something?

Honorable Mentions: American Sniper, Belle, Big Eyes, Big Hero 6, Edge of Tomorrow, Fury, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Hobbit: The Battle of The Five Armies, How To Train Your Dragon 2, Insterllar, X-Men: Days of Future Past

PAUL'S PICKS: THE 10 BEST FILMS OF 2014

by Paul Gibbs

I come to praise 2014, not to bury it. I'm reading a lot of critics and other commentators review to this past year in films as disappointing or depressing, and I can't agree. Certainly the summer of 2014 was a substantial improvement over 2013 (Is there anyone out there who really doesn't think that, for example, Guardians of the Galaxy, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and X-Men: Days of Future Past weren't better than Man of Steel and Iron Man 3?). While Oscar season didn't produce one film as extraordinary as 12 Years a Slave,  I wasn't expecting one (I consider that arguably the best film since Schindler's List and don't expect to see its equal for quite some time), and the overall output of serious dramatic films was a strong as last year. And even without a Pixar release we had a strong year for animated and family films, such as The Lego Movie, Muppets Most Wanted, Big Hero 6 and Mr. Peabody and Sherman.

So, as is the custom, I now present my picks for the 10 best films of 2014. As always, this list is entirely subjective to my own personal tastes and prejudices. There  are far more films I wasn't able to see than I would like, including critics darlings like Boyhood, Selma  and Birdman, and if there's a film you loved that didn't make the cut, there are 3 possible explanations: 1, I didn't see 2. I didn't like it 3. I saw and liked but there were 10 films I liked better. So don't take it personally if my list is different from what yours would be. The worst case scenario is just that it means you have atrocious taste.



1 .THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
Hilarious, visually gorgeous and utterly unique, for me this ranks behind only Fantastic Mr. Fox in the pantheon of Wes Anderson films.  Ralph Fiennes M. Gustave ranks among the best performances of the brillaint actor's career, and shows that he's every bit as good a comic as he is a villain. Bizarre, profane, and sublime.








2. DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
As complex and multi-layered a film as we've seen come out of Hollywood this century, it's the kind of sequel that instantly justifies every the whole idea of sequels. Amazing performances from Andy Serkis and Toby Kebell, and a rich, compelling story make this an absolute triumph on every level.










3. GONE GIRL
Director David Fincher makes up for the misfire of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo with a smart, sophisticated, twisted and superbly acted thriller. Career best work from almost the entire cast, from Ben Affleck to Rosamund Pike to (gasp) Tyler Perry.















4. A MOST VIOLENT YEAR
Despite the title (which brings Tarrantino imagery to mind), J.C. Chandor's crime drama is remarkably low key and realistic, channeling the late Sidney Lumet to create one of the most disciplined, compelling and unpretentious indie films I've seen in years. Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain are outstanding.















5. X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST
Director Bryan Singer redeems the mistakes of the X-Men sequels he didn't make and restores the franchise to the glory days of X2 with a smart, funny and exciting blockbuster which ranks among the best superhero movies I've ever seen.

6.  INTERSTELLAR
Christopher Nolan's sci-fi epic may not have entirely lived up to its ambitions, but only because it aimed so much higher than any other film this year. Visually stunning, thoughtful and intelligent, with great central performances from Matthew McConaughey, Mackenzie Foy and Jessica Chastain.

7. THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING

Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones shine in this sensitive and compelling look at the marriage of Jane and Stephen Hawking, a film that has the courage not to whitewash or villify either of its subjects and to tell a love story about a couple that didn't stay together.

8. . UNBROKEN
Angelina Jolie's 2nd film as a director as an accomplished and stirring old fashioned epic which heralds her arrival as a major talent behind the camera, and Jack O'Connell's an up and coming star to be reckoned with.

9. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
Funny, exciting, spectacular, everything a summer blockbuster should be.

10.  BIG HERO 6
Inventive, exciting, funny and surprisingly touching, Disney continues its recent winning streak with this delightful surprise.















Runners up: Edge of Tomorrow, Mr. Peabody and Sherman, Muppets Most Wanted, How to Train Your Dragon 2, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Noah, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, The Equalizer, The Homesman