Oscars Roundup
According to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences there are 323 films this year eligible for awards consideration. Throw in another hundred or so independent off-the-grid film and easily there are 400 films that a person could have experienced in 2014.
So should a top ten list include about 40 films? That’s ten percent of the total number of films. No. A top ten is a top ten and that means no baker’s dozen for this engaging inventory.
“Inherent Vice” was twice as nice the second time around. You almost had to immediately want to see this film again after the first time because of its labyrinthine plot. This convoluted mystery based on a Thomas Pynchon novel spins around the cases of constantly stoned private detective Larry Doc Sportello. Everybody has nicknames. Doc’s nemesis, an L.A.P.D. detective (and part time actor), has an oral fixation and likes to be called Bigfoot.
Paul Thomas Anderson directs a large cast that includes Joaquin Phoenix, James Brolin, Eric Roberts, Benicio Del Toro, Owen Wilson, Martin Short, Jena Malone, Reese Witherspoon and Katherine Waterston among others. Inherent Vice opens in Houston in January.
“Whiplash” is the little film that could. Miles Teller plays a jazz drummer in a music conservatory torn between his desire to be the best drummer ever and his fear of his abusive instructor, expertly realized by J. K. Simmons.
“Nightcrawler” stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a freelance videographer who drives around nocturnal Los Angeles crime scenes. Not unlike Weegee from the ‘30s/’40s Gyllenhaal isn’t above rearranging accident victims so that his videos have integral symmetry. Writer/director Dan Gilroy also casts his wife Rene Russo as a television news director who is almost as ruthless as Gyllenhaal.
For “Birdman” director Alejandro González Iñárritu uses digital technology to create invisible edits. Other than some opening and closing shots, the entire film seems to be one continuous take. An actor (Michael Keaton) hopes to redeem his credibility by starring and directing a Broadway play.
Emma Stone, Naomi Watts, Edward Norton, Zach Galifianakis, and Andrea Riseborough co-star. Cinematography by Emmanuel Lubezki deserves special recognition.
I don’t live in a world where Woody Allen films aren’t major cinematic events. “Magic in the Moonlight” pits Emma Stone and Colin Firth as rivals in the art of illusion. Allen probes the struggles of Firth and his sense of agnostic belief in the face of unexplained, and possibly religiously inspired, events. At all times, “Magic in the Moonlight” is a breezy comedy and while questions of doctrine occupy some of the running time and romance is never far behind.
“Blood Ties” played for a solid week at one obscure theater but I have never gotten this film out of my mind since. An English language film from French helmer Guillaume Canet (“Tell No One” ) “Blood Ties” examines the relation between two brothers: one a cop, the other a criminal.
Vintage 1970s settings evoke the atmosphere of Sidney Lumet films. The cast includes Clive Owen, Billy Crudup, Marion Cotillard, Mila Kunis, Zoe Saldana, Matthias Schoenaerts and James Caan.
“Tusk” is a movie about storytelling. We hear many tales throughout the movie, even as genres mix and mash. At times the action is a comic send-up of internet bloggers and at other times the atmosphere is downright terrifying. Writer/director Kevin Smith hits the ball out of the park with “Tusk.” Imagine the surrealist play “Rhinoceros” (Eugène Ionesco) reimagined as a horror film and mix in a lot of pontificating speeches from people keeping other people hostage.
The story is anchored by an incredible performance from Michael Parks, as well as an uncredited performance from a heavily disguised Johnny Depp. Justin Long headlines and the “kid who see dead people,” Haley Joel Osment, is now fully grown.
“The Imitation Game” finds another foreign director (Morten Tyldum, “Headhunters”) breaking new ground with a prestigious English language film. Benedict Cumberbatch headlines as mathematician Alan Turing. Turing led the top secret British team that broke the German enigma code during WWII. Keira Knightley and Mark Strong lend some good supporting performances. In this covert world there are plenty of secrets including being gay or a Soviet spy.
“Top Five” hilariously lampoons the current media culture. Chris Rock writes/directs/stars. Rock and Rosario Dawson walk around NYC, she a NY Times reporter and he obsessed with the opening of his new movie.
Rock’s character has become an Eddie Murphy level star in a series of ham-fisted action films. Only his new film is a serious drama about a slave rebellion in Haiti. He tells reporters at a press junket that the rebellion killed 50,000 white people “but we only kill about two or three thousand on screen.” “Take Five” gently pushes your face up close to the doo.
“Guardians of the Galaxy” introduces Rocket Raccoon, a truly grumpy yet charismatic character who carries a big stick and has a natural mask. Rocket is part of an ensemble that includes Groot a plant based life form, Drax a kind of muscle man, Gamora (Zoe Saldana) a green skinned femme fatale with martial arts skills, and Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) an Earthling who was kidnapped by aliens from his home planet in the 1980s and who fancies himself a mercenary named Starlord.
Direction is by James Gunn whose previous feature length films were distinguished by their no-holds-barred indie chutzpah, particularly the brilliant super hero black comedy merely titled “Super.” Gunn steps up to the Hollywood standard of adhering to a PG-13 sensibility while stuffing the content with innuendo and subtle references to nostalgia.
A more complete list of best films, as well as foreign film and documentary offerings can be found on the Free Press Houston website in the film category.