Movie – The Wind Rises (2013)

The Wind Rises is purportedly legendary writer/director Hayao Miyazaki’s last film.  There are those people (I am among them) who hope that Miyazaki’s retirement announcement is like his previous five and he is inspired to return again.  However, if this is to truly be his final film then he made a great one to cap off a great career.  It has both a moving story and beautiful animation.  If anyone tries to tell you that only cgi animation can be stunning then show them this hand-drawn film.

Movie – Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Let me be honest right up front: I thought this was going to be the film that would break Marvel's winning streak.  A movie about a bunch of strange beings, including a talking raccoon, based on comic book characters that even someone like me, who at one time had read comics for years, knew almost nothing about?  Not a chance.  Marvel had finally reached too far.  Man was I wrong.  Not only was this a massive box office hit for them, it is a hugely entertaining film and it’s my pick for the best movie of 2014.

The Ten Best Films of 2014

Each year that I do this I seem to be a little more reluctant to draw a line and name my Top 10 films of the prior year.  I always want to watch just a few more movies, “knowing” that there’s another one out there that will make my Top 10.  It wasn’t any help getting over that feeling this year when I had not one, but two films that I saw within the last two weeks that are making my Top 10.  I still want to see just a few more, but this is already the latest into a year I’ve waited before posting, so here goes.

I believe I’ve seen most of the big mainstream movies and critically acclaimed films of the year that I felt I might like, including all four Oscar winning films (Picture, Animated Film, Foreign Language Film, and Documentary).  I’ve seen all the Best Picture nominees, all the Best Animated Film nominees, and all the Original and Adapted Screenplay nominees.  I have not seen any of the other Foreign Language Film or Documentary nominees, however.

If you are curious, a complete list of the 65 2014 films that I saw can be found at the bottom of this post.  That’s down from 77 films for 2013 and 101 films for 2012 at the time I posted those Top 10s, so this year’s list may be missing a great one I just haven’t seen yet.

Think the Earth is Big? Think Again.

I was reminded recently that I had saved these images.  They do a great job of illustrating just how big some objects out there in the universe actually are...and by comparison just how small the Earth is when you come right down to it.

Movie – Big Hero 6 (2014)

Big Hero 6 recently won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film.  I have seen four of the five nominated movies, only missing Song of the Sea.  Of the ones I have seen I don’t feel there is a clear best film among them.  The Boxtrolls would be at the bottom for me, but this film, How to Train Your Dragon 2, and The Tale of the Princess Kaguya all have a similar level of quality and entertainment to them.  And all three have characters dealing with a loss at key points.  The other major awards reinforce the parity among the films.  The Annie Awards (ones specific to animation) also picked Big Hero 6, but the Golden Globes selected How to Train Your Dragon 2, and the BAFTA awards picked The LEGO Movie.  Regardless, Big Hero 6 is a good movie that can keep both children and adults entertained.

Movie – Citizenfour (2014)

Citizenfour won the 2015 Oscar for Best Documentary.  Even though I have not seen the other four nominees this did not surprise me.  The subject matter of this film is Edward Snowden – the man who exposed the fact that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) had been spying on millions of Americans with no warrants and without even the broad “preventing terrorism” justification given to it under the Patriot Act.  And this was just the beginning; the revelations continued to come out and had a worldwide impact.  Guess what?  There was actually a person there with Snowden as it was breaking in the news and she captured it all on camera.  The result is an amazing inside look at the few days that shocked millions.

Steve’s Selections #3 – The History of Future Folk (2012)

Watching movies nowadays it sometimes feels like low budget filmmakers have forgotten what the primary point of a movie is – to entertain.  (A studio exec would say it’s to make money, but the best way to make money is to make an entertaining movie that people want to see over and over.)  The days of Robert Rodriguez making El Mariachi (1992) for $7,000 and Kevin Smith making Clerks (1994) for $23,000 are long behind us.  Instead, it seems today’s filmmakers feel that to make up for the lack of budget they have to make their movie “artistic”, which is a polite euphemism for “a film only their mother and some professional film critics could love.”  Then just when it seems like all is lost along comes a film like The History of Future Folk to rekindle hope.  I had a smile on my face for most of the movie, either from the humor, or just from the sheer fun of watching it.

Movie – Ida (2014)

Ida won the 2015 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.  It was streaming on Netflix Instant and only 82 minutes long, so it was easy to check it out.  I have not seen the other four nominees yet, so I cannot say if this movie was worthy of winning the Academy Award.  I will say that I wouldn’t consider it an Oscar-worthy movie.  I have a theory as to why it did win and I’ll go into that a little later.  Despite some flaws it is still a movie worth recommending.

February Movie Status

I watched 33 new movies in February, plus rewatched 1 film.

I spent the month mostly concentrating on 2014 films and new entries from the just released 2015 They Shoot Pictures Don’t They list.  My thanks to Bert in The Netherlands for alerting me to the fact that the new list had been released, and especially for helping me track down the hardest to find new entries.  I also watched single entries from two other lists since the opportunity to see them happened to come up.  Finally, I watched a couple more of the new IMDB Consolidated Top 250 entries, but I still have three Indian films, with a combined running time north of 12 hours, left to finish off all the new additions.

As the month started I had 41 entries left to see in the TSPDT list.  I knew the updated 2015 list was coming very soon, so I didn’t bother watching any until that happened.  I was hoping some of the ones I didn’t want to watch might drop off.  In some cases that did happen (i.e. three Sirk melodramas), but not for all I had hoped.

The 2015 list had a total of 77 new entries added to it, many of them documentaries.  Because of the fact that some of the ones that dropped off were ones I had not seen, and because some of the ones added were ones I had already watched, I ended up with a net result of 45 entries I had left to finish the newest list.  That was only 4 more even though 77 had been added.

That was the good news.  The bad news is that I now had a total of a dozen new entries that were more than two hours long, including three that were over four hours long – one of which was nearly six hours in length.  Another entry was for only part 2 of a three part documentary series, but it didn’t make sense to watch just that, so I watched all three, which made for another lengthy time investment.

It wasn’t a complete waste because for the first time this year a list of “the next 1,000” movies was also released and the other two parts were on it.  These next 1,000 are not ranked, but simply listed in alphabetical order.  I have seen 412 of them already.  I don’t know when or even if I might try to work on this newest list.

I have added this “next 1,000” list to my TSPDT post at my Lists from Chip site.  I’ve also included the newest version of the main 1,000, as well as a list of the 435 former films that have dropped off it.  (I have seen 199 of those.  Combined with the 970 I have seen on the current list, I have watched a total of 1,169 of the 1,435 films that have ever been on a TSPDT main list.)

I’m figuring on completing the current version of the TSPDT list either this month or next month, depending on how much I concentrate on it.  I’ve still got 11 entries left that are more than two hours long, including five of the twelve new additions.  I did knock off the three new 4+ hour entries in February.

Here are the 33 new movies I saw in February.  Highlighted films are ones to which I would give at least three stars out of five.

TSPDT (16): A Diary for Timothy (1945), Taipei Story (1985), Grin without a Cat (1977), Doomed Love (1979), Moi, un Noir (1958), Lessons of Darkness (1992), Elephant (1989), La Commune (Paris 1871) (2000), The Battle of Chile Part 2: The Coup d’Etat (1976), The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On (1987), Harlan County USA (1976), Ashes of Time (1994), The Age of the Earth (1980), Hamlet (1964), Arabian Nights (1974), Pickpocket (1997)

IMDB (2): Interstellar (2014), Gone Girl (2014)

101 Genre (1): The Time Machine (1960)

Ebert (1): The Terrorist (1998)

Other Movies (13): Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014), Foxcatcher (2014), Mr. Peabody & Sherman (2014), Chef (2014), Eight Diagram Pole Fighter (1984), Snowpiercer (2013), Calvary (2014), John Wick (2014), The Battle of Chile Part 1: The Insurrection of the Bourgeousie (1975), The Battle of Chile Part 3: The Power of the People (1979), When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970), Art and Craft (2014), Miss Meadows (2014)

Rewatches (1): Forbidden Planet (1956)

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) – Worthy sequel to first reboot.  The cgi on the apes is still impressive and the story is one that you could see happening.  3.5 stars

Interstellar (2014) – Nolan tries to do 2001: A Space Odyssey and for the most part succeeds.  The ending isn’t quite up to the rest of the film and there is one major section of plot that requires all of these extremely intelligent people to all not realize what time dilation’s impact is, even after they just got done explaining it.  4 stars

Gone Girl (2014) – Pretty good, but not great.  The trailer essentially gave away the reveal in the film, but thankfully that occurred about midway through the movie so the rest was not spoiled.   3.5 stars

Foxcatcher (2014) – Good, but not great.  I can see why it didn’t get a Best Picture nomination.  Carell is good, but Tatum is the real star and he didn’t get enough credit for the job he did on it.  3 stars

Mr. Peabody & Sherman (2014) – I loved the old Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoon show when I was a kid, which included the skits of Sherman and Mr. Peabody time-traveling, so I was pre-disposed to like this movie.  3 stars

Chef (2014) – Jon Favreau writes and directs a thinly veiled cooking metaphor for his Hollywood career – critically acclaimed, but little known; then big budget and critics turned on him; then returning to his roots with this film.  3.5 stars

Eight Diagram Pole Fighter (1984) – The second of Steve’s Selections.  You can read my review here.  3 stars

A Diary for Timothy (1945) – Short done by the British on the hopes for the future now that WWII was winding down.   2.5 stars

Snowpiercer (2013) – Cult film that has good moments in it, but ultimately not one that made me understand the massive amount of fan talk that it has generated.  3 stars

Calvary (2014) – I had heard nothing but good things about this film, so I was very disappointed when it got done.  It had a great opening, a decent middle, and one of the stupidest character endings I have seen in a long, long time.  Yes, I get that it is a Jesus metaphor, but that story plays much better in an ancient world filled with myth and superstition, not our modern world today.   2 stars

Taipei Story (1985) – Slice of life among some Taiwanese people.  Early effort that the director got better at later on.  Watch his film Yi Yi, instead.  2 stars

Grin without a Cat (1977) – Pointless “documentary” that mostly steals clips from other documentaries, and also extols the virtues of communism and how it’s going to be the downfall of capitalism.  In fact, many of the new documentary entries had a very similar message.  1 star

Doomed Love (1979) – 1970s Portuguese TV miniseries loosely based on Romeo and Juliet, whose entry on this list appears to be for no other reason than enough people listing everything this director has ever done on the top-whatever lists and those lists then getting factored into the overall TSPDT list.  2 stars

Moi, un Noir (1958) – Sort of, but not really, documentary on what life was like for young black men in western Africa in the late 1950s.  It chronicles their work lives and then what they do with their free time.  It is actually a fictionalized version of the real thing performed by non-actors who actually did the jobs.  3 stars

Lessons of Darkness (1992) – Werner Herzog’s mostly silent images from after Iraq retreated from Kuwait and set thousands of oil wells on fire.  3 stars

Elephant (1989) – Short in which people randomly go around city streets and locations shooting other random people.  The first few times it is shocking, but then it just becomes tedious.  There is no dialogue and no explanation of why we are seeing this.  I read afterwards that it was a commentary on all the lives lost in Northern Ireland with the Catholics and Protestants killing each other.  The problem is that there is nothing whatsoever in the short with which to understand that so it ends up just being pointless.  Note: Gus van Sant’s film a few years later that is also titled Elephant, and which included a school shooting, had to have been inspired by and/or stolen from this short.  1 star

La Commune (Paris 1871) (2000) – Interesting concept – actors portraying people and journalists in the 1870s, including being in period dress, but with modern news such as TV, microphones, etc and it being done as if it is a newscast or documentary.  Unfortunately, it just didn’t work for me.  It’s also over four hours long.  And the overall message is about how great communism is. 1 star

John Wick (2014) – Better than average action/revenge film starring Keanu Reeves.  The director bucked the trend of using shakycam and instead shot all the action with steadycams, which really allows the viewer to appreciate the skill that went into them.  It also allows them to show that it is actually Reeves doing a lot of his own stunts, including much of the stunt driving.   3.5 stars

The Battle of Chile Part 1: The Insurrection of the Bourgeousie (1975) – Decent introduction to why elected Communist dictator Allende was overthrown by the military in Chile in the late 1960s.  Very biased.  2.5 stars

The Battle of Chile Part 2: The Coup d’Etat (1976) – The events surrounding the actual removal of Communist dictator Allende from power in Chile.  Extremely biased, and something the same director was still bitching about 40 years later when he made his documentary Nostalgia for the Light.  2 stars

The Battle of Chile Part 3: The Power of the People (1979) – Doesn’t really follow the first two parts chronologically, but instead focuses on how wonderful communism is and the nirvana Chile would supposedly have become had Allende not been removed from power.  1 star

When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970) – British attempt to capitalize on the success of Hollywood’s One Million Years B.C.  Other than seeing great looking women and men in what are essentially fur bikinis/trunks, there’s not much reason to watch this.  The stop motion effects on the dinosaurs were considered top notch at the time.  The dozen or so word vocabulary gets really old after a while as they keep repeating the words over and over and over.   2 stars

The Time Machine (1960) – Science fiction film that does a good job of adapting the book.  There were compromises for the time it was made in, of course, but overall it’s worth seeing as one of the classics of the genre.  3.5 stars

The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On (1987) – Documentary ostensibly about a man trying to get the truth about two deserters from the Japanese Imperial Army that were shot three days after WWII ended.  The problem is the main subject. He feels his cause is righteous, so he is therefore allowed to do anything he wants because his actions will be righteous, too. At best this means being an asshole to most everyone he comes into contact with and at worst it means murder.  In retrospect he probably had a serious mental illness and should have been getting treated somewhere, not running around in front of a camera confronting and physically attacking people.  2.5 stars

Harlan County USA (1976) – Documentary about striking coal miners in the 1970s.  It includes the usual stuff with the aggressive tactics of the coal company to break the strike and how the workers valiantly hang on.  It’s easy to see how this was included among so many pro-communism documentaries that got added to the list this year.  3 stars

Art and Craft (2014) – I'm predisposed to like any film that shows just how much bullshit the art world and art "experts" are full of, so I went into this expecting to like it. It turned out to not be what I was expecting, but I still liked it quite a bit.  The main person in the documentary is a forger who is somewhat mentally ill and copies paintings almost without knowing why he's doing it. He doesn't sell them, though; he donates them to museums as the real thing because it makes him feel good.  He was discovered by a man at one museum who while researching the painting he had received found out that the same painting was already hanging in not one, not two, but five other museums. This man essentially made it his life's mission to expose the forger. There's more than a bit of Inspector Javert in him because the forger is actually doing nothing illegal and the only thing he's doing to upset people is making art curators embarrassed that they couldn't tell his forgeries from the real thing. I was reminded of the film F for Fake.  This is definitely worth a watch and it has something happen that made me sit there and think "only in the art world" - one of places fooled by him actually does a show on his work and has him there as a guest of honor.  3.5 stars

Miss Meadows (2014) – I liked the character and the concept of this dark comedy – emotionally childish woman tries to bring manners to everyone while also being a vigilante, but the film is let down by having an easy-out, clichéd ending.  3 stars

Ashes of Time (1994) – Wong Kar-wai period martial arts film that is unfortunately incoherent for much of its running time.  There are a number of beautiful shots in it, though.  2.5 stars

The Age of the Earth (1980) – What a complete waste of time and film.  If I went lower than one star this would receive it.   1 star

Hamlet (1964) – Well-done Soviet version of the Shakespeare story.  It was mostly faithful to the original play.  The setting was impressive.  Strangely, though, they had everyone dressed as if they were in Elizabethan England when the play was written, rather than 12^th century Denmark when the play was set.  3 stars

Arabian Nights (1974) – I will not call this the best Pasolini film I have seen, since that might be misinterpreted.  Instead, I will call it the “least worst” of his films.  If lots of full-frontal male nudity works for you then you will definitely want to check this out.   2 stars

Pickpocket (1997) – Slow moving slice of life in China about a young man who picks pockets and has not become a success like his friends who used to do the same thing.   2 stars

The Terrorist (1998) – Anyone who thinks a movie from India just means big song and dance numbers with a lighthearted plot should check out this film.  In an unspecified place, and during an unspecified conflict, a woman is selected to be a suicide bomber. All she's ever known is the fighting. While preparing for the assassination, though, she learns she is pregnant. The cinematography is great, and if you like water then you will love this movie since there are numerous scenes of waterfalls, raindrops on faces, on leaves, as well as the symbolism of water washing away sins and of giving life.  3.5 stars

Net Neutrality

Today the U.S. FCC five person panel determined that Net Neutrality should be enforced in this country.  This means that under their span of control (i.e. U.S. cable companies and telecommunications providers) that those providers will not be allowed to slow down internet connections to those people and companies who do not pay them extra to prevent it.

Despite the fact that the vast majority of the country supports Net Neutrality (or as you'll see John Oliver refer to it in the video below "Preventing Cable Company F*ckery") this decision by the FCC was far from assured.  Back when this video was originally broadcast in the summer of 2014 it seemed almost certain the decision would fall the other way - that cable companies would be allowed to create slow lanes for people and companies who did not pay higher rates.

Maybe Oliver's humorous, but real, exortations to get people to let the FCC know what they thought about the subject actually played a part in today's decision.  As you'll see in the second video, so many people tried to comment that it crashed the FCC's website for the better part of a day.

Some Observations on the 2015 Oscar Results and How I Did With My Picks

This year I picked 15 of the 24 winners, not quite as good as last year’s 17 for 24, but I’ve had fewer than 15 correct in other years.  I got Best Picture winner Birdman correct.  I’ll review all the winners and my picks below.

First, some observations:

No film dominated the show, or was even a clear frontrunner.  The Grand Budapest Hotel and Birdman tied with four Oscars apiece.  Whiplash, with three wins, was the only other film to receive more than one.  And in what I believe is a first since the Oscars expanded to more than five nominations, every single Best Picture nominee won at least one Oscar.

On the other end of the spectrum, Foxcatcher (5 noms), Mr. Turner (4), Into the Woods (3), Unbroken (3), Inherent Vice (2), Wild (2), and Guardians of the Galaxy (2) were shut out.  Interstellar (5) won only for Best Visual Effects (and it didn’t deserve that.)

Despite tying with four Oscars apiece, Birdman is the “winner” over The Grand Budapest Hotel because it took home Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay among its four wins.  This was a trifecta for director/co-writer/co-producer Alejandro Inarritu.

My 2015 Oscar Predictions

The Academy Awards ceremony is tomorrow night on ABC.  Check your local listings. 

I first tried to pick the Oscar winners four years ago.  I got a respectable 16 out of 24 correct.  The next two years I tried to really do my homework and see as many nominees as possible.  The result?  I dropped to 14 out of 24 then 12 out of 24.  Last year I didn’t really have time to research probable winners, so of course I did my best yet with 17 out of 24 winners picked correctly.

This year I’ve seen most of the major nominees, although several of the acting nominations were in films where that was the only one from the movie.  I haven’t seen some of those yet.  Regardless, I will do my best to make selections for every category.  Good or bad I will do a follow-up post on how I did.

Oscar Quiz: Best Picture Nominee or Adult Film? Can You Tell By Just the Title?

I did this quiz last year and it got a good reaction.  Here are fifty more films for you to try.  If you didn’t do that well last year then hopefully you, um, boned up for it this year.

Here’s a little quiz to see how well you know your Oscar nominees.  I will list a series of real film names, grouped by related titles.  Some of them will be ones nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and others will be on AVN’s list of the Top 101 Adult Videos.  Can you tell which is which?  Score one point for every correct answer.

Religion:

All About Eve

All This and Heaven Too

The Bells of St. Mary’s

The Bishop’s Wife

Body & Soul

Dark Angels

Devil in Miss Jones

The Nun’s Story

The Resurrection of Eve

Seventh Heaven

Splitsville:

Bad Wives

The Divorcee

The Gay Divorcee

An Unmarried Woman

When the Lights Go Out:

In the Heat of the Night

It Happened One Night

Neon Nights

Night Trips

One Night of Love

A Little Naughty:

As Good As It Gets

Conflict

Flirtation Walk

Friendly Persuasion

Love Affair

The Love Parade

Nothing to Hide

One Hour With You

Scent of a Woman

Scoundrels

Secrets & Lies

A Touch of Class

Getting Freaky:

Awakenings

Bound for Glory

Dangerous Liaisons

Dr. Strangelove

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Hidden Obsessions

The More the Merrier

Underworld

Wild Things

Miscellaneous:

Bus Stop Tales

Double Feature

Naked Came the Stranger

Raw Talent

Realities

Reel People

Watchers

West Side

Wild Goose Chase

Zazel

Answers:

There are a total of 27 Best Picture nominees and 23 Adult Films in this quiz.  They break down as follows:

Religion: All About Eve, All This and Heaven Too, The Bells of St. Mary’s, The Bishop’s Wife, The Nun’s Story, and Seventh Heaven are the nominees; Body & Soul, Dark Angels, Devil in Miss Jones, and The Resurrection of Eve are the adult films.

Splitsville: The Divorcee, The Gay Divorcee, and An Unmarried Woman are the nominees; Bad Wives is the adult film.

When the Lights Go Out: In the Heat of the Night, It Happened One Night, and One Night of Love are the nominees; Neon Nights and Night Trips are the adult films.

A Little Naughty: As Good As It Gets, Flirtation Walk, Friendly Persuasion, Love Affair, The Love Parade, One Hour With You, Scent of a Woman, Secrets & Lies, and A Touch of Class are the nominees; Conflict, Nothing to Hide, and Scoundrels are the adult films.

Getting Freaky: Awakenings, Bound for Glory, Dangerous Liaisons, Dr. Strangelove, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and The More the Merrier are the nominees; Hidden Obsessions, Underworld, and Wild Things are the adult films.

Miscellaneous: Bus Stop Tales, Double Feature, Naked Came the Stranger, Raw Talent, Realities, Reel People, Watchers, West Side, Wild Goose Chase, and Zazel are all adult films.  There are no nominees among these miscellaneous movies.  As Bugs Bunny would say, “Ain’t I a stinker?”

How Did You Do?

0	Seriously?  You didn’t even get Dr. Strangelove?
1 – 10	At least you got Dr. Strangelove.
11 – 20	You might want to explore more Oscar nominated films.
21 – 30	Not bad.  You must have seen your share of films.
31 – 40	Damn good.  You really know your stuff.
41 – 49	Very impressive.  You are an expert on Oscar nominees.  (Or adult films.)
50	That IMDB sure is a handy site, isn’t it?

If you are interested, here are my prior Oscar quizzes:

2013 – Match the Oscar winner to their less than Oscarworthy film

2014 – Best Picture Nominee or Adult Film?  Part 1

Ranking the 2015 Best Picture Nominees, Plus Some Observations

I have now posted reviews for all eight films nominated for the Best Picture Oscar. 

Here is where I would normally say that I am not done reviewing Oscar nominated movies; that I am going to do more right up to when the Oscars are handed out.  This year, though, the ceremony is coming earlier than usual.  There’s only a little over a week left and I still need to do posts for this year’s Oscar quiz, and one on my predictions for the winners.  On my “post 2-3 times a week” pace that will fill up the time between now and then.  I may still review other Oscar nominees after the ceremony this year.  I haven’t decided yet.

In regards to ranking the eight nominees, right off the bat I have a tough time picking not only the best film of the year, but what order to put the best three in.  My top three are American Sniper, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and The Imitation Game.  It’s almost impossible to compare them because you could probably not pick three films more unlike each other.  One is an examination of the toll war takes on a person, another is a comedic, quirky tale about the misadventures of a hotel concierge, and the third is an historical drama based on the life of Alan Turing and his code breaking efforts during WWII.

Movie – The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

The Grand Budapest Hotel allowed writer/director Wes Anderson to finally break through and receive Best Picture and Best Director Oscar nominations.  Oh sure, he had received nominations before, but it was almost always in the Best Original Screenplay category, so the Academy was saying, “We like your stories, but the movies aren’t mainstream enough for us.”  You can debate how mainstream The Grand Budapest Hotel is, but one thing is for sure, it’s definitely Anderson’s most popular film.  In addition to tying Birdman for the most Oscar nominations this year with nine, it has also achieved the biggest box office of any film Anderson has done.  And it’s the only true comedy among the eight Best Picture nominees.

Steve’s Selections #2 – Eight Diagram Pole Fighter (1984)

Steve and I each happened to include a martial arts film when we picked movies for each other.  I like these kinds of films, but I think Steve probably likes them slightly more than I do.  Eight Diagram Pole Fighter (don’t bother trying to figure out what the title means) is a traditional genre film from the legendary Shaw Brothers.  Rather than have any number of martial arts skills and weapons on display this one almost exclusively features fighting with lances.  There’s not a lot of plot – it’s a time honored tale of revenge – but there is plenty of fighting to watch.

Movie – Birdman (2014)

The first thing that I noticed about Birdman was that it appeared as if the movie never cut away from a scene.  After a bit it became obvious that while there were long takes going on – some of them several minutes in length – the film was disguising the edits to make it seem as if the entire movie was one long continuous shot (ala Timecode or Russian Ark).  After realizing this I actually was distracted for a while as I was watching to catch the hidden edits, almost as if it was a game.  I finally settled down and started watching it as an overall movie, not just a bunch of clever camera movements.  When I did I discovered a film that works on multiple levels and one that I feel has the greatest chance of winning Best Picture because of what it has to say regarding the performing arts.

Movie – Whiplash (2014)

Whiplash is the kind of movie that will probably polarize some people.  The rating on IMDB is stratospheric, so apparently the young males who predominate on that site are buying into the story in this film.  On the other hand, there’s a really, really bad message that is being presented by the movie – that being on the receiving end of unrelenting abuse is ultimately good for you.

You can tell that writer/director Damien Chazelle wants us to see this as a similar story to An Officer and a Gentleman, where the stern taskmaster is just trying to bring out the best in the raw recruit.  The thing is, this is far closer to Full Metal Jacket where the person with the authority just selects someone to heap abuse on until he destroys him.  In fact, Whiplash is actually worse than Full Metal Jacket in that respect because it’s not a film about the military; it’s set in a music school and the abusive relationship is between a teacher and a student.

January Movie Status

I watched 15 new movies in January, plus rewatched 1 TV show season.

After making a push last month to finish the year with less than 50 entries left on the They Shoot Pictures Don’t They list, I barely watched any this month.  Instead I switched over to trying to see the Oscar nominated films, as well as other 2014 films to prepare for my coming Top 10 of 2014 list.  As a result, I liked almost every movie I saw in January.

I also didn’t try to finish off the new entries to my Consolidated IMDB List, other than the films also on the Oscar list.  In general, I took it easier in January.

There is a new TSPDT list coming in February, so I may not see too many more films from it this month, either.

Here are the 15 new movies I saw in January.  Highlighted films are ones to which I would give at least three stars out of five.

TSPDT (3): Wings (1966), The Woman Next Door (1981), 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007)

Oscar (7): The Imitation Game (2014), The Theory of Everything (2014), Selma (2014), American Sniper (2014), Boyhood (2014), Whiplash (2014), Birdman (2014)

Other Movies (5): Surprised By Love (2015), Life Itself (2014), The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007), Lucy (2014), Citizenfour (2014)

Rewatches (1): Archer Season 5

Surprised By Love (2015) – Generic Hallmark movie that I stumbled upon while flipping channels and got a few laughs from.  Not quite enough to recommend it, though.  2.5 stars

Life Itself (2014) – Great documentary on Roger Ebert by the same man who did Hoop Dreams.  When they started filming no one realized Ebert would succumb to cancer in less than a year.  This is a moving review of his career, as well as a man’s struggle with the illness that ultimately takes his life.  4 stars

Wings (1966) – Soviet film about a female former pilot who now is an administrator at a school.  While respected, she is not liked.  Despite the title there are few aerial shots, but what ones they have are beautifully shot, especially one with two planes that is the best scene in the film.  3 stars

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) – The first of Steve’s Selections.  3 stars  You can read my review here. 

The Woman Next Door (1981) – Lesser Truffaut about a couple moving in next door and the wife is the former lover of the neighbor husband.  It ended badly for them years earlier.  It doesn’t take a crystal ball to see things are going to end badly again.  2 stars

The Imitation Game (2014) – Best Picture nominee about Alan Turing.  4 stars  You can read my review here.

The Theory of Everything (2014) – Best Picture nominee about Stephen and Jane Hawking.  3.5 stars  You can read my review here.

Selma (2014) – Best Picture nominee about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s march on Selma.  3 stars  You can read my review here.

Lucy (2014) – Luc Besson action film with Scarlett Johannson as a woman who accidentally gets injected with a substance that opens up the complete potential of her mind.  The big box office for it probably made Marvel regret the decision not to do a Black Widow film among the dozen or so they have planned through 2020.  3 stars

American Sniper (2014) – Best Picture nominee about Chris Kyle.  4 stars  You can read my review here.

Boyhood (2014) – Best Picture nominee famously filmed over 12 years.  4 stars  You can read my review here.

Whiplash (2014) – Best Picture nominee about one asshole who wants to become a great jazz drummer, being mentored by another asshole who is a psychopath.  3 stars  My review will be posted in a couple days.

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007) – Controversial film with a Romanian woman trying to get an illegal abortion in 1987.  Her roommate helps her and ends up much the worse for wear.   3 stars

Birdman (2014) – Best Picture nominee about a former action star trying to adapt, direct, and star in a serious Broadway play.  4 stars  My review will be posted a couple days after the one for Whiplash.

Citizenfour (2014) – Oscar nominee for Best Documentary.  It is about Edward Snowden, the man who blew the cover off the fact that the NSA was spying on millions of American citizens who had no connection whatsoever to terrorism.  This was filmed in the Hong Kong hotel room with him as the stories were actually breaking in the news and is quite a view into those events.  I haven’t watched the other four nominees, but I can’t imagine how this would not win the Oscar – the subject matter is that important.  4 stars

Movie – Boyhood (2014)

Boyhood is one of the most well known of the 2015 Best Picture nominees.  That is because of how it was made.  Writer/director Richard Linklater filmed it over the course of 12 years, shooting for a week or two each summer.  The result is that we see the characters age throughout the film, especially the main character who goes from six to eighteen during the movie.  The result is a film that requires evaluation on two different levels: as a movie and as a unique undertaking by Linklater.  I’ll start with the latter.

Movie – The Theory of Everything (2014)

The Theory of Everything is the last of the four Best Picture nominees based on real events that I have to review.  In this case it’s about Stephen and Jane Hawking.  People looking for a film delving into the great scientific achievements and discoveries of Dr. Hawking may end up being a little disappointed.  While it does mention some of them, especially early on, this movie is actually a relationship drama about the marriage of the two and how Jane had to deal with Stephen’s deteriorating condition from ALS.  While this wasn’t what I was hoping for when I started to watch the film it nevertheless is worth seeing.

Movie – The Imitation Game (2014)

I was at a bit of a loss on how to review The Imitation Game.  It’s the story of three points in Alan Turing’s life – as a teenager in the late 1920s, as a code breaker during WWII, and as a lone man in the early 1950s.  I was very familiar with Alan Turing’s life since he is one of the key pioneers in the field of computers.  Anyone who works in the computer field, or at least anyone who got a degree in the field, should have no surprises from this film.  The problem is that, as presented, the movie keeps a key secret about Turing until more than halfway through the film.  It’s played as a mystery that is hinted at a few times.  And the consequences to Turing when that secret came out were also well-known to me.  They make up a key part of the ending.

The problem is, some people will never have even heard of Alan Turing, and all the events in this film will be new to them.  Most any review for this movie will spoil it for them, since the filmmakers and actors themselves are talking quite openly about what is revealed.  It’s as if they have decided most everyone already knows the story, too.

I finally decided that I will mark a couple of spoiler sections in this post, with labels as to who they will be spoilers for.  I will still have a regular review for those who just want to get a sense of what the film is about and if they might want to see it.

Movie – American Sniper (2014)

American Sniper received six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay.  It is based on Chris Kyle’s 2012 best selling book American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History.  I confess that I don’t ever remember hearing of Chris Kyle or his book prior to this film coming out.  I didn’t even know this was a movie about a real person until I started looking into the Best Picture nominees for my Oscars observations post six days ago.  Overall, this is a moving film and it is guaranteed to get people talking afterwards.

Movie – Selma (2014)

It seemed appropriate to review Selma – the film about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s protests for voter registration reform – on this day named in his honor.  I only wish I could write a glowing recommendation for this movie.  Don’t get me wrong; it’s a good movie about an important topic.  It’s just that Dr. King deserved better, especially since I’ve now read that this is the first theatrically released film about him.  I have to admit that that surprised me, but when I wracked my brain I could not come up with another movie where he was more than a supporting character in someone else’s story.  If Malcolm X can get a great movie made about him thanks to Spike Lee, then Dr. King should have the same.

Observations on the 2015 Oscar Nominations (with No Bitching About What Didn’t Make It)

The 2015 Oscar nominations were announced today.  Going down through them there are a few eyebrow raisers, but no out and out WTFs like a couple years ago when Ben Affleck didn’t even get nominated for Best Director for the movie that ended up winning Best Picture (Argo).

Here are the eight Best Picture nominees:

American Sniper

Birdman

Boyhood

The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Imitation Game

Selma

The Theory of Everything

Whiplash

I will post reviews for as many of these movies as I can prior to the Oscar telecast on February 22^nd.  At this point I have seen only a few of them.  I will also post my predictions in the days leading up to the ceremony.  And I will have another Oscar quiz like last year’s on the titles of Best Picture nominees.

Click “Read more” for a complete list of the nominees, what got the most nominations, and some other things of interest.

Steve’s Selections #1 – The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)

I had heard good things about the film The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, but I had never happened to get around to seeing it.  When Steve Honeywell at 1001plus put it on his list of 12 films for me to watch and review this year I was glad.  I wasn’t sure what film I would do first.  This one was certainly a front-runner based on my history with it, and also based on the fact that it was one of only three films on the 2014 Empire Top 301 Movies of all time list that I had not yet seen.  What finally cemented it were comments from a couple of fans both on my last post and on a Letterboxd list I created to go along with this.

Announcing: Steve’s Selections

In 2015 I will have a new kind of post.  Oh, it will still be a movie review, but the origin of it will be different.  Instead of just doing reviews for a set of films all having something in common, I will be also be reviewing films suggested to me by Steve Honeywell at 1001plus.  In return he will be reviewing films that I have suggested to him.

Last year I noticed Steve doing this with another blogger and I liked the concept.  Hell, the biggest reason I started and have continued this site is to recommend films, books, hikes, etc. to others.  Unless someone comes back afterwards to leave a comment telling you what they thought of the film, though, you never really know what people’s reactions were.  This way you can read a review of the film from a person whose opinion you respect.

Steve and I will be doing one review a month - posting them on the second Monday.  The first one up will be my next post in three days’ time.

Steve and I each selected films we liked and genuinely hoped the other would like, too.  There is a chance, though, that I might get done watching one of the films Steve selected and I find that it’s not one I would recommend to others.  (“Recommended” means a rating of three stars or higher.)  To date I have only written full reviews for movies I would recommend.  On the chance that I have a selection from Steve that I would not recommend I will still be writing a full review.  This is a change in concept for this site.  (That’s why I only have Labels for 3, 4, and 5 star films.)

Each of us tried to pick a wide range of genres, rather than concentrating on only one or two that we particularly liked.  The only real criteria are that these had to be films that the other had not yet seen.  (Both of us were going to assign 1989’s Dead Again to the other, but each of us had already watched it.) 

Steve additionally asked me to pick films not on one of his Oscar lists since he was going to see those at some point anyway, so he therefore was looking to see great movies he might not otherwise have ever watched.

Without further ado, here are the 12 films Steve has selected for me:

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)

Auto Focus (2002)

The Changeling (1980)
Eight Diagram Pole Fighter (1984)

Elevator to the Gallows (1958)

The History of Future Folk (2012)

I’m a Cyborg, But That’s Okay (2006)

Jesus Camp (2006)

My Favorite Year (1982)

The Orphanage (2007)

Seven Psychopaths (2012)

The Train (1964)

And here are the ones I chose for Steve and his reviews of them:

3 Idiots (2009)

And Then There Were None (1945)

Brick (2005)

Death at a Funeral (2007)

Jean de Florette (1986)/Manon of the Spring (1986)

The Man from Earth (2007)

Mary and Max (2009)

Much Ado About Nothing (2013)

Once Were Warriors (1994)

Ong-bak (2003)

POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (2011)

Safety Not Guaranteed (2012) 

A Look Back at 2014 and a Look Ahead to 2015

Looking Back:

I had some major events in 2014.  I re-entered the work force after a three year sabbatical.  I also published a second book – a 15 year update to a genealogy I did in 1999.  Both of those things severely curtailed the amount of film watching I did in the first half of the year.  It also meant I fell into a pattern of posting only once or twice a week at this site.  I got the book out, but I still have the job, which eats up the majority of the hours in my day.

While the job and book were taking up most of my concentration I mostly put my movie list work on hold.  That’s where I try to see all the films in certain lists.  I was working on several at the same time before I stopped.  When I picked this activity back up I decided to concentrate on the They Shoot Pictures Don’t They list.  I probably surprised myself the most with this, since I tend to think critics sometimes pick obscure movies simply for the sake of trying to appear cool, rather than for their actual quality.  And if there ever were a list of “critics’ films” this is it.  Nevertheless, it’s the one I picked.  I can’t honestly say why, other than it was on the spur of the moment and I simply stuck with it.

For the year that was 2014 I saw a total of 288 films that were new to me.  I also re-watched 14 other films.  Of those 288, 158 of them were for the TSPDT list.  Another 33 were for various other lists.  22 of them were in the month of January before I started my job and put lists on hold.

During 2014 I saw 27 “films” that I would rate at least 4 stars out of 5.  They are:

4.5 stars – Incendies (2010), Cloud Atlas (2012), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), The Fountainhead (1949), Heimat (1984) (TV miniseries), The Wind Rises (2013)

4 stars - His Royal Slyness (1920) (Harold Lloyd short), Sherlock: His Last Vow (2014) (TV movie), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), 21 Up (1977), 49 Up (2005), Mud (2013), Her (2013), The Hunt (2012), Rang De Basanti (2006), Philomena (2013), The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), Stoker (2013), Non-Stop (2014), Wadjda (2012), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Extended Edition (2014), Kwaidan (1964), Ruggles of Red Gap (1935), Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959), Bunraku (2010)

As for 2014 films themselves, I still have yet to see most of the movies that will be nominated for Oscars.  As usual I will not do a Top 10 list for the year until I have had a chance to see most of the likely films, which means late February or early March after the Oscars have been awarded.

I can tell you right now that Guardians of the Galaxy will make my Top 10 unless this is one hell of a great year for Oscar films.  In addition, The Grand Budapest Hotel is quite likely to make my list.

Looking Forward:

My job should continue for at least part of the year.  I’m working as a contract Project Manager, so unless I do something really wrong the job should last until the project is complete.  At that point they may or may not assign me to another project.  I have no new books planned for this year, or any other large, creative endeavors.  This means my movie watching and movie posting frequency will probably stay about where they have been in the latter half of 2014.

I will complete the They Shoot Pictures Don’t They list – at least the main 1,000 films – sometime in the first part of this year.  There will be a new list in February, which may add dozens more films I have not yet seen.  There were 12 new films added to my already completed IMDB Year End Consolidated Top 250 at the 2014 year end.  I have seen six, so I will probably watch the other six films in January and February to once again complete this list.  I will also watch the dozen or so new additions to the already completed 1,001 Movies list when the new volume comes out in the fall.

As for other movie lists I don’t know which one or ones I might work on after finishing TSPDT.  There are the “low hanging fruit” situations where watching only a few more will complete a list: 3 films to finish off the Empire Top 301, 5 films to finish off the Empire Top 100 World Films, 2 films for the Golden Globe Best Dramas, 8 for the Golden Globe Best Comedy/Musicals, 6 for the BFI Top 50 Films for Children, and 11 for the TIFF Best Pictures.

Then there are the ones where some dozens will complete a list, some of which I had already been working on before putting them on hiatus: 64 to complete a consolidated list of Top British films (originally from Top 100 lists from Empire, BFI, and Time Out), 26 for the Cannes Palme d’Or winners, 34 for Roger Ebert’s Great Films, 28 for Empire’s Top 500, 20 for the Independent Spirit Award winners, 58 for Sundance winners, and 54 Oscar Best Picture nominees – plus whatever ones get nominated in 2015.

Then there are the four largest lists where I have hundreds to go: 145 left of the 607 films in the 101 [genre] Films You Must See Before You Die, 251 left of the 625 in the U.S. National Film Registry, 298 left of the 1,003 in the New York Times Top 1,000 Films list, and approximately 230 left of the films that used to be on the TSPDT list.

I suspect after I finish the main TSPDT list I will do some low hanging fruit, then some (but not all) of the middle ones, before finally tackling one of the bigger ones again.  I’m thinking the 101 genre films, since I have worked on it in the past.  And since it’s actually six separate genre lists this would allow me to complete them individually in smaller chunks.  For instance, I have only 19 left to go on the 101 Sci-Fi Movies You Must See Before You Die list.

In case you are wondering about some of the more well-known movie lists that you did not see me mention, here are the ones I have already completed (in chronological order): Consolidated IMDB Year End Top 250; all Oscar Best Picture winners; all AFI movie lists; all films that have been in the 1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die books; the Sight and Sound 2012 Critics’ Top 250; the Sight and Sound 2012 Directors’ Top 100; Entertainment Weekly’s Top 100 Films; and Time Magazine’s Top 100 Films.  If you still haven’t seen me name a list you think is a good one, please let me know.

In regards to posting, I will once again watch and review as many of the films that receive some kind of Oscar nomination as I can before the awards are handed out.  As always, the minimum will be all the Best Picture nominees, and full reviews will only appear for films I would recommend (at least a three star rating).

Finally, I will have an announcement in my next post about a shared endeavor with Steve Honeywell from 1001plus that will run throughout the year. 

I hope you all had a good 2014, and that you’re looking forward to 2015.

Note: all of the lists I mentioned and more can be seen/downloaded at my Lists from Chip site.

December Movie Status

Note: this will be a regular month end post.  I will do a separate post looking back at 2014 and ahead at what I might do in 2015.

I watched 46 new movies in December, plus rewatched 1 movie.  (Hint: “om gotcha gowl gowl gowl”)

I continued to work on the They Shoot Pictures Don’t They list.  I passed 950 of the 1,000 entries.  As of this writing I have 44 left to see.  I have now seen all the films in the Top 750 of the list.  I’ve got only 3 entries remaining in the Top 800, and 15 more from 801-900.  That leaves 26 in the 901-1000 grouping.

I once again worked on completing directors with at least four entries on the list.  In December I finished off the last of: 16 Godard, 16 Ford, 4 Weerasethakul, 6 Polanski, 10 Bresson, 7 Allen, 6 Kazan, 8 Welles, 4 Clair, and 4 De Sica.  I have 7 more directors like this to go (out of 77).  I still need to see 2 of Hou’s six, 3 of Lang’s eleven (all in the 900s), 2 of Ozu’s ten, 1 of Peckinpah’s four, 3 of Sirk’s six (all in the 900s), 3 of Truffaut’s eight, and 2 of Vidor’s five (both in the 900s).

Movie – The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum (1939)

The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum, sometimes translated incorrectly as The Story of the Late Chrysanthemum, is a Japanese film originally titled Zangiku monogatari.  It is based on the Shofu Muramatsu novel of the same name and directed by Kenji Mizoguchi (Sansho the Bailiff, Ugetsu).  It is considered Mizoguchi’s best film made prior to WWII.  In fact, of his seven films on the They Shoot Pictures Don’t They list it’s the only one made prior to 1952.  It tells a simple, but timeless tale of love and achievement.

Movie – Daybreak (1939)

Daybreak (aka Le jour se leve) is the second French film I am reviewing as part of my A Great Year for Movies – 1939 category.  The other was the more famous The Rules of the Game.  Both of them were controversial and both ended up being banned by the French Vichy government during WWII for being either immoral or demoralizing.  Being banned has probably led to both being better remembered today.  Why was Daybreak considered demoralizing and immoral?  Well, it starts right out with one man murdering another…and the murderer is the lead character in the film.

Movie – Ninotchka (1939)

As you can see from the poster to the right this film was marketed as “Garbo Laughs”.  Although popular with audiences she had a reputation for playing stern or melancholy characters in dramas and melodramas.  This marketing plan was quite successful, but also misleading.  Greta Garbo had laughed onscreen in quite a few of her movies – Queen Christina (1933) comes to mind – but she had not been in a big out and out comedy.  With a co-writing credit from Billy Wilder and direction from Ernst Lubitsch Garbo was certainly in good hands.  This is a predictable, but entertaining, movie.

Movie – Only Angels Have Wings (1939)

In the crowded year that was 1939 Only Angels Have Wings still managed to get two Oscar nominations.  It didn’t win either of them, but this isn’t the kind of film that would really win Oscars anyway.  This is far more Adventure Theater than Masterpiece Theater.  It has manly men performing daring feats of flying and the women who love/lust after them.  It is directed by Howard Hawks who had a talent for comedy, drama, and adventure.  This is a film that should certainly entertain you.

Movie – Stagecoach (1939)

Stagecoach was the first of many collaborations between director John Ford and actor John Wayne.  It was very influential both in presentation and plot.  The concept of having a group of people in a hostile situation, some of them with secrets, has been used many times since, in almost every setting.  There’s an adage that says that a villain is the hero of his own story.  Well, the travelers aren’t really villains, but what Stagecoach gets right is that each of them is the lead of their own story.  They just happen to come together on a stagecoach that is traversing hostile territory.

Movie – Gone with the Wind (1939)

Gone with the Wind, based on the Margaret Mitchell novel of the same name, was the pop culture phenomenon of the late 1930s.  The book had created a sensation when it came out, and almost immediately people started talking about making a movie from it.  There was no doubt in people’s minds who should play Rhett Butler – Clark Gable.  On the other hand, the casting of Scarlett O’Hara has become the stuff of legend – so much so, that no one alive today even knows the true story anymore of exactly how Vivien Leigh got the part.

November Movie Status

I watched 32 new movies in November, plus rewatched 1 movie, plus watched a TV miniseries/season. 

I continued to work on the They Shoot Pictures Don’t They list.  I passed 900 of the 1,000 entries.  As of this writing I have 83 left to see.  And after a year of trying to get Heimat from Netflix they moved it to Unavailable status this month.  I appealed for help in getting it to watch and a very kind person was able to do that for me.  I finally knocked off the longest entry on the list – all 16 hours of it.  I now have only one entry longer than 2.5 hours left and only ten longer than 2 hours.

I once again worked on completing directors with at least four entries on the list.  In November I finished off the last of: 7 von Sternberg, 15 Bunuel, 7 Mizoguchi, 5 Melville, 5 McCarey, 8 Huston, and 9 Scorcese.  I still have 17 more directors like this to go (out of 77), including the two with the most entries – Godard and Ford.

Here are the 32 new movies I saw in November.  Highlighted films are ones to which I would give at least three stars out of five.