Mini Movie Memo (and then an afterthought...)

Be wary of billionaire heirs 

I have a great reverence for sport movies that focus away from their sport. Of course, Foxcatcher has wrestling in it, but it isn't defined by it. Instead, erupting from the core and spreading to the peripherals, themes of greed verses resentment and power grappling with vulnerability showcase the darkness of this picture. Predominantly, these thematic roots grow on Foxcatcher Farm, and it is this setting, reminiscent of the Bates Motel from Psycho, where the bulk of underlying madness unfurls and exhibits itself. The story follows two Olympic wrestlers and winners of gold meddles, Mark and David Schultz, who become beneficiaries of billionaire heir, John Du Pont, where he allows them to use his farm to train for the next Olympics, and to house a state-of-the-art gym, in return for Du Pont to act as the Head Coach of the USA wrestling team. Things are not all as they seem though, as the character of John, a socially awkward ermine like creature, becomes enveloped my an insane power that inflicts tragedy upon the Schultz brothers and their family. Everything about Foxcatcher is bleakly captivating, from purposefully awkward dialogue to cold, trenchant direction from Bennett Miller who has just been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director. One of his prior films, Capote contained an intrinsic theme of isolation in oneself, which is prevalent to Foxcatcher, and is handled as gracefully as it is bluntly by the helmer. The source of this film's power though exists within the acting. Steve Carell, ripping off his habitual comedy label, performs a chillingly authentic portrayal as John Du Pont, where slowness and restraint are key to exemplify insanity. He is up for Best Actor at the Oscars. Mark Ruffalo is terrific and sincere as David Schultz. He is up for Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars. And then there is Channing Tatum, as David's younger brother Mark Schultz. He is not up for an Oscar, yet for me, this is his film. He is brutally honest and dives into deep cavities of emotions whilst being, for the most part, reticent in allowing them to boil over. The Academy's choosing of backing Carell and Ruffalo is just, as they are both brilliant, though Tatum should be celebrating with them. It is comparable with The Fighter three years ago when Mark Wahlberg was snubbed and Christian Bale and Melissa Leo won the plaudits. No matter. It is right that people remember performances, not awards, and that is why Tatum's show as Mark Schultz here won't be forgotten. People will be exhilerated by Foxcatcher; a stark, dark tapestry of tragedy that demands your attention.

Beyond Clueless: Charlie Lyne's Enduring High School Crush on the Teen Movie Genre

The Cube in Bristol, a tuck-away microplex located in Stokes Croft, played host to a screening of the crowd-funded documentary Beyond Clueless last Friday. I went along to attend the showing, which was followed up with a Q&A with director Charlie Lyne.

Beyond Clueless focusses on teen movies of the 1995-2004 period, starting with Clueless and graduating with Mean Girls. The doc is written up as a film essay, analysing the conventions, paradigms and themes of the teen movie clique, but most imperatively, it illustrates Lyne's enduring high school crush on said genre. Talking heads are exempt from this homage, with a more unorthodox knitting together of scenes, which manufactures into a layered quilt of clips from 250 or so movies. Fairuza Balk, star of The Craft, the subject of the prologue, narrates us through Lyne's script. She conveys through her bewitching tone that the mid-to-late 90's and early-to-mid 2000's engineered a, albeit cliché heavy, teen movie rebellion. Everything on show, from conformity to control to cold-blooded murder, is theorized and scrutinized by Lyne. However, when clips from critically panned movies such as The Rage: Carrie 2 and Josie and The Pussycats turn up to class, it does become difficult to be a constantly earnest student of Lyne's analysis. Having said this, many of his points are both interesting and valid, including his comments on the shifting plates of social hierarchy, present in She's All That and Slap Her, She's French, as well as his observation of the pitfalls of strict parental repression, encapsulated by Bubble Boy. Lyne's expose is nowhere near as tenuous as some of the movies he is exposing, and in being open-minded, I found myself conforming to many of his thoughtfully researched suggestions.

Let us briefly cease the analytical chewing and mark presentation. A dizzying, spell-binding soundtrack by pop duo Summer Camp clicks instantaneously with the subject matter, and powerfully accelerates the film's running time around the track. Doodles drawn by Hattie Stewart act as a whimsical aesthetic, covering Beyond Clueless in graffiti throughout and gratifying Lyne's own teenage nostalgia. Fairuza Baulk narrates with conviction, although once or twice an uncertain intonation creeps in, like when describing Euro Trip's homoerotic subtext, as if she is unsure of its own credibility. Reverting back to the director, his amalgamation of teen movie tragedy with teen movie comedy is very insightful, as it shows us the similarities in imposed character traits. For instance, Elephant, set in the day of a high school shooting, and concentrically a severe rebuke of the lackadaisical gun laws in America, involves body conscious teens, nerds and jocks. This same layout of characters exist in American Pie and 10 Things I Hate About You. This may well be Lyne's criticism of the pseudo-reality structure of these films, which procreates stereotypes from preceding teen movie incarnations. Or then again perhaps it's not a criticism. You see, this is no burn book. Lyne is clearly enamoured with the genre, being respectful of the good and the bad of it, and being mindful of the fact that the good is most definitely outweighed by the bad. He is glorifying a lot of terrible teen movies, and I like so totally don't care.

The Q&A was a revelation. Charlie Lyne, a charming and witty cinephile, is a likeable film critic. They are sparse in number, and it was refreshing to see someone who has reviewed for the BBC Film Programme and his very own Ultra Culture, to swim across the channel to the risky world of film-making, which saw him kick-start his crowd funding campaign on Kickstarter. He was self-deprecating; on answering a question about why he made the movie, 'nostalgia mostly, and also I wasn't the type to go out in my teenage years to get pissed, I lived my social life vicariously at home watching old VHS tapes.' A confession that he was proud of, and that he should be. In addition, his getting hold of Fairuza Balk was a brilliant anecdote, 'Fairuza was top of our list. She owns her own candle company now, and the only way I could contact her was through the complaints section. Luckily she replied three minutes later and was excited by the pitch that I gave her, and she ended up coming aboard.' A very nifty way of getting hold of a narrator. The complaints department. The most intriguing answer came from the question, 'why the unconventional method without talking heads?' Lyne responded with enthusiasm, 'it's a love-letter to the genre, embracing the mad, overwrought aesthetic of that world'. This to me made a lot of sense after watching Lyne's film, as at its nucleus, Beyond Clueless is a celebration of the good, the bad and the ugly of the teen movie from 1995 to 2004. Plus, talking heads could disparage his beloved genre. And he wouldn't want that now would he.

There are a few, casual moments where it needs to tuck its shirt in, yet overall, Beyond Clueless wears its uniform well.

Beyond Clueless is released Friday 23^rd January

Enemy: ‘A Tale Of Identity, Duality And Causality’

Directed by: Dennis Villeneuve. Written by: Javier Gullon. Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Melanié  Laurent, Sarah Gadon and Isabella Rossellini. Released on the 2nd January 2015

I do hope people go see Enemy, Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of José Saramago’s novel O Homem Duplicado, which translates as The Duplicated Man. It follows a Toronto based college professor named Adam (Jake Gyllenhaal), who lives a mundane and repetitive routine, livened up only by his nightly sexual encounters with Mary (Melanié Laurent). His suppressive paradigm of no-pleasure-whatsoever transcends to astonishment when he witnesses his exact look-alike as an extra in a movie. Learning his screen pseudonym to be Daniel St Claire, real name Anthony Claire, Adam tracks him down. Anthony (Yes, Gyllenhaal again) is also Toronto based, and a jobbing actor who has a six-month pregnant wife by the name of Helen (Sarah Gadon). His life is much more active and seemingly more involved than Adam’s is. When Anthony becomes aware of his doppelgänger, and finally meets him, the initial obsession Adam had disintegrates, and in a reversal of misfortunes, a more dangerous obsession ignites inside Anthony.

Enemy first premièred at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2013, though the distributors have been kicking their heels in the mean time as it has only just arrived over here. This might be to do with the film itself having its own doppelgänger in the form of Richard Ayoade’s The Double. If both movies were released simultaneously, it is arguable that they would have both faltered at the British Box Office, plagued by their own parallels. However, it is also arguable that Ayoade’s film would have survived this plague; its vaccination being the refreshing dark comedy that Enemy lacks. This is not to say that the film is not at all versatile; the formula of course is not original, but Villeneuve’s handling of his own puzzle takes us to previously locked levels. There are allegorical references to totalitarianism, which the director admits was purposeful, he says, ‘sometimes you have compulsions that you can’t control coming from the subconscious… they are the dictator inside ourselves’. I have to say, that this perception has some holes, one would think that a history teacher would recognise his own totalitarian state of mind when his individuality is compromised. Enemy also has palpable sexual themes – frustration but predominantly lust, which lie down at the forefront of Villeneuve’s sixth feature. This raw, carnal display reminded me most of Blue Velvet, though perhaps Isabella Rosselini’s role as Adam’s (and possibly Anthony’s) mother, swayed my reminiscence toward Lynch’s classic.

I did say, that I hoped people go see Enemy, and I do, because in spite of certain issues, it is a very well made movie, and Gyllenhaal is, as he has been in his last three performances, fascinating and fantastic in the lead role(s). It is a shame then, that the women in this film are vacuously written, as I feel Helen especially is the key to this intriguing story. Villeneuve’s film is opaque on the surface, though beneath the nebulous ‘double’ concept lies, I believe, a multi-stranded explanation. ‘Chaos is order yet undeciphered’ is a line from Saramago’s novel, and the film’s opening, but the chaos is decipherable. Both Adam and Anthony exist in the subconscious, yet only one of them is of conscious existence. My hypothesis is that Adam was in fact a failed movie actor, who is now a depressed history teacher living with his wife Helen, and both are at very vulnerable stages in their lives. I also feel that the story is being told through Helen’s eyes, which is why it is a shame her character isn’t more well founded. The representation of both Adam and Anthony are how she views her husband on a daily basis, and Mary is Helen’s paranoia of what Adam is seeking; a sexy and successful, no-strings-attached business woman. What we are seeing is in fact a mirage of what is developing in Helen’s psyche. Now my view could be way off the yellow brick road, but with a story that has so many tangled facets to it, there is no reason why this notion mightn’t be viable.

Talking of tangled (no not the Disney film), I must mention the giant spider. Its presence in Enemy is a metaphor for the unfurling events in the film. What is a metaphor of? Well at the beginning it is used in what appears to be a sex dungeon, where a female volunteer slides her foot in front of it, and it also appears in the denouement cowering in the bedroom, in replace of Helen. It could be a metaphor of either Helen being misunderstood; that Adam is being pushed away by her, but in fact she is just being vulnerable, rather than antagonistic. On a wider scale, or a world-wide-web if you like, it could serve as Adam’s position in this dictatorial regime that is his life, which is contextually relevant to Canada’s state at the moment, according to varied opinions. Adam is stuck in this web, unable to express his identity, which is why the failed-actor aspect of Anthony is pertinent, because acting is a freedom of expression.

Enemy holds a well woven narrative hiding inside it, ready to be unravelled by audience guess work. Gyllenhaal is proving to be a ready actor for Oscar consideration, although this film won’t be nominated, as it has been sporadically released over the world for the past year. Here’s hoping he gets a well deserved nod for Nightcrawler. Villeneuve shows his understanding of Toronto with understated class and style. His influences are particularly significant, with Dead Ringers beeping at me for the duration, with shades of Rosemary’s Baby cropping up also. Villenueve made Enemy before he went on to make Prisoners with Gyllenhaal, though in my opinion Enemy runs at a more consistent pace, and is overall my preferred film of the duo. It is a tale of identity, duality and causality, and their conscious existence in a subconscious mind.

For my next posts, I will be submitting The Seven Best Tom Cruise Films and, before that, I shall be gifting you lucky people with another Mini Movie Memo (and then an afterthought...) post. Keep your eyes peeled.

The Seven Most Anticipated Films of 2015

2014 has enveloped us in a vast variety of cinema, producing one of the film's of the decade (Boyhood), yet another melee of Autobots and Decepticons (Transformers: Age of Extinction) and a genuinely frightening horror story (The Babadook). Two of the aforementioned are hard to come by. One is not. Let us not dwell on that though, as overall I feel the epilogue for this year in film should read: a commercially successful showing for critically acclaimed cinema... and Transformers. Now to look forward to 2015. Here are my Seven Most Anticipated Films for the coming year:

7: Blackhat. dr. Michael Mann. st. Chris Hemsworth and Viola Davis. wr. Morgan Davis Foehl and Michael Mann.

Perhaps a surprising entry into my list, but what with the Sony hacking scandal being the topic of the moment, and Michael Mann back in the directors chair of a feature film for the first time in five and a half years, my anticipation for Blackhat has rapidly increased. Blackhat captures the worrying zeitgeist that plagues modern society, cyber criminality, and it follows Nicholas Hathaway (Hemsworth), following a stint in prison, helping American and Chinese authorities pursue a computerized terrorist. Sounds familiar? Die Hard 4.0 attempted to engage us with similar themes. Blackhat might have a better faring though, with Michael Mann at the helm. His last great film was Collateral back in 2004, which came after his two masterpieces, Heat (1995) and The Insider (1999). If Mann manages to inflict us with hefty drama combined with explosive action, cross-examined with thrilling tension, then we're in for a treat.
UK Release Date: 20th February 2015 

6: Jurassic World. dr. Colin Trevorrow. st. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard. wr. Derek Connolly and Colin Trevorrow.  

I'm going to level with you. I quite liked Jurassic Park 3. Yes, it was a perforated script through rushed writing, inducing uneven characters upon the story (can you believe Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor were two of the writers?). The Spielberg touch was vacant from Isla Sorna, I'll give you that. Having said that, it was exciting enough, and Joe Johnstone did a commendable job with what he had to work with! With Jurassic World, from the trailer, it looks the closest to Spielberg's original, both in style and (hopefully) calibre. Chris Pratt has earned his stripes as an action hero with comedy chops (see Guardians of the Galaxy); give him a line and he'll deliver it with wit as razer-sharp as the dinosaur's teeth that he is running after (or from). Talking of, the stars of the show will undoubtedly be the, formerly extinct, antagonists of the piece. The reveal in the trailer was that a hybrid dinosaur is on the loose (my guess is a velociraptor/tyrannosaurus rex), and this makes for a tantalising prospect. This blockbuster will be busting the box office all summer!
UK Release Date: 15th June 2015.

5: Foxcatcher. dr. Bennett Miller. st. Steve Carell and Channing Tatum. wr. E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman. 

Bennett Miller as a director is akin to a classical composer; his previous films exude sophistication, from the acting, to the aesthetics of the set design, the costume design, the sound, the writing. In Capote particularly, there was no false note. With Foxcatcher, he appears to have exelled himself, with his distinguished style emanating from the story of mentally ill billionaire John du Pont (Carell) and his time on Foxcatcher Farm with the wrestling brothers, Mark and Dave Schultz (Tatum, Mark Ruffalo). All three male actors are being tipped for Oscar nominations, though this year in the male categories, competition is fierce. Miller meanwhile won the Best Director award at Cannes, and he will not be oblivious to Academy nominations.
UK Release Date: 8th January 2015

4: Inside Out. dr. Pete Docter and Ronaldo Del Carmen. st. (voices of) Amy Poehler and Bill Hader. wr. Michael Arndt (from a Pete Docter story).

An original Pixar. Not a sequel. With the voice talent of some of Saturday Night Live's greatest former players (Poehler and Hader), and with their latest trailer knocking side-splitting gags out of the park, Inside Out has the potential to be a Pixar classic. The story is told from the perspective of the emotions inside a little girl; Joy (Poehler), Fear (Hader), Disgust (Mindy Kaling), Sadness (Phyllis Smith) and Anger (Lewis Black). The idea of animating disparate emotions into separate living entities inside a cranium didn't have me at hello, however the first full trailer quickly evaporated any sceptical thoughts I previously had.
UK Release Date: 24th July 2015

3: Midnight Special. dr. Jeff Nichols. st. Joel Edgerton and Kirsten Dunst. wr. Jeff Nichols.

Midnight Special will be Jeff Nichols' fourth feature. His filmography thus far reads very well indeed; Shotgun Stories was an assured debut, Take Shelter for me was the best film of 2011, and Mud motivated the McConaissance. Nichols has an undivided understanding to commensurate narrative with cinematography, rather than to capsize one for the importance of the other. There are certain periods in certain films where I find a director can lose himself or herself in presenting an image on screen that has no bearing on the story. Not Nichols. He is a meticulous auteur and a creator of complete cinema. Of what we know so far, Midnight Special lands in the Sci-Fi genre, and follows a father and son going on the run after the dad learns his child possesses special powers (synopsis courtesy of IMDB). Nichols knows how to write relationships, and on this account, I feel safe in recommending this coming film to all our readers.
UK Release Date: Late 2015

2: Spectre. dr. Sam Mendes. st. Daniel Craig and Christoph Waltz. wr. John Logan, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade.

The top two previews on this list are the latest contributions to two long running franchises. Number two is Bond. James Bond. After the success of Skyfall, the momentum and expectation for Spectre has accelerated. With the first draft of the script leaked online, many now understand what the story will involve, although massive changes have surely occurred since. A cryptic message from Bond's (Craig) past sends him on a trail to uncover a sinister organisation. While M (Ralph Fiennes) battles political forces to keep the secret service alive, Bond peels back the layers of deceit to reveal the terrible truth behind Spectre (synopsis courtesy of IMDB). With Waltz winning an Oscar for one of the most despicable villains in recent memory (Hans Landa, Inglorious Basterds), I look forward to his nefarious bad guy portrayal with anticipation.
UK Release Date: 23rd October 2015

1: Star Wars The Force Awakens. dr. J.J. Abrams. st. Harrison Ford and Adam Driver. wr. J.J. Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan.

A foregone conclusion. Star Wars is the film that everyone anticipates the most for 2015. For me, the most intriguing prospect of Episode VII is Lawrence Kasdan, the man who wrote The Empire Strikes Back. Although the expectation is that no galaxy-shattering twist will be present is this particular helping, one would hope that Abrams and Kasdan have established the genesis of which a huge reveal ('I am Your Father' territory) will spawn from.
UK Release Date: 18th December 2015

A Lot of Other Films to watch out for...

- Birdman. dr. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. UK Release Date: 1st January 2015
- The Theory Of Everything. dr. James Marsh. UK Release Date: 1st January 2015
- American Sniper. dr. Clint Eastwood. UK Release Date: 16th January 2015
- Whiplash. dr. Damien Chazelle. UK Release Date: 16th January 2015
- Wild. dr. Jean-Marc Vallee. UK Release Date: 16th January 2015
- A Most Violent Year. dr. J.C. Chandor. UK Release Date: 23rd January 2015
- Inherent Vice. dr. Paul Thomas Anderson. UK Release Date: 30th January 2015
- Selma. dr. Ava DuVernay. UK Release Date: 6th February 2015
- Chappie. dr. Neill Blomkamp. UK Release Date: 6th March 2015
- In The Heart Of The Sea. dr. Ron Howard. UK Release Date: 13th March 2015
- Wild Tales (Relatos Salvajes). dr. Damian Szifron. UK Release Date: 27th March 2015
- Force Majeure. dr. Ruben Ostlund. UK Release Date: 10th April 2015
- Child 44. dr. Daniel Espinosa. UK Release Date: 17th April 2015
- Avengers Age of Ultron. dr. Joss Whedon. UK Release Date: 24th April 2015
- Mad Max: Fury Road. dr, George Miller. UK Release Date: 15th May 2015
- Tomorrowland. dr. Brad Bird. UK Release Date: 22nd May 2015
- Untitled Cameron Crowe Project. dr. Cameron Crowe. UK Release Date: 5th June 2015
- Terminator Genisys. dr. Alan Taylor. UK Release Date: 3rd July 2015
- Ted 2. dr. Seth McFarlane. UK Release Date: 10th July 2015
- Ant-Man. dr. Peyton Reed. UK Release Date: 17th July 2015
- The Fantastic Four. dr. Josh Trank. UK Release Date: 6th August 2015
- Everest. dr. Baltasar Kormakur. UK Release Date: 2nd October 2015
- Spielberg Cold War Project. dr. Stephen Spielberg. UK Release Date: 9th October 2015
- Crimson Peak. dr. Guillermo Del Toro. UK Release Date: 16th October 2015
- The Good Dinosaur. dr. Peter Sohn. UK Release Date. 27th November 2015
- The Martian. dr. Ridley Scott. UK Release Date. 27th November 2015
- Mission: Impossible 5. dr. Christopher McQuarrie. 26th December 2015
- Silence. dr. Martin Scorsese. UK Release Date: TBC, Late 2015
- The Hateful Eight. dr. Quentin Tarantino. UK Release Date: TBC, Late 2015/Early 2016

Mini Movie Memos (and then an afterthought...)

Hobbit's come in small sizes for a reason!

The problem with this harks back to the inception of the idea in extracting a trilogy out of what is a thin volume compared to The Lord of the Rings. Monetarily, Warner Bros. will be giddy beneficiaries of The Hobbit Trilogy's Box Office returns, though I do not believe Peter Jackson did this for financial gain. This finale is the shortest in duration of the Middle Earth saga, yet is the most exhausting, due to the elongated epic proportions Jackson is intent on serving us with. The Battle of Erebor is engaging, though sadly it is not durable to losing focus, and quite frankly it is not as audacious as the battles seen in The Two Towers and Return of the King. It was prolonged and arduous, one cannot command 45 minutes of a movie with one melee of dwarves, elves, men and Uruk-Hai. Maybe there was a reason why it occupied only a few lines of Tolkien's story. There is no doubt that Jackson is a creative dynamo of cgi wizardry and a skilled translator of wonderful story-telling (See Heavenly Creatures). The problem is he tries to tell his own story. It's not all doom and gloom though! The best moments in this film come with Richard Armitage as Thorin, who, walling himself and his party in to the Lonely Mountain to ward off unwelcome guests, shows off a burgeoning contamination to his Kingship. This in no way has dented Jackson's Middle Earth Saga, which as a whole is an outstanding achievement. The final page of the Hobbit trilogy though; a spectacle, but not spectacular. 

Never trust a mystic

To a certain extent, I found myself enjoying Magic in the Moonlight. In terms of quality, all of the Woody Allen films in the past fifteen years have either found it or floundered. And here is a film that floats in between. Emma Stone (potentially the director's new muse) is quite delightful as spiritualist and possible swindle, Sophie. Colin Firth provides us with a cynical Englishman, though his place here is jarring rather than charming. The film is a whispering, whimsical and light-hearted caper. It isn't as challenging, or as good as Blue Jasmine or Midnight in Paris, but it isn't necessarily trying to be. The screenplay isn't humourless, yet there is some idle dialogue that Allen probably transcended from some of his earlier work, and tinkered with only slightly. Like I said in my opening musing though, I found myself enjoying the film. I was content with the ridiculousness of it, and the glorious setting of Southern France, along with Emma Stone (a future Oscar winner, surely) meant that Magic in the Moonlight worked for me. Instead of wondering along with a limp, it whizzed by with a couple of blisters, and I for one was fine with that. Just don't take it too seriously.

The Seven Best Films of 2014

These films are UK releases from 1st January 2014 to the 31st December 2014

First of all, the nearly made its: American Hustle, Babadook, Chef, Dallas Buyers Club, How to Train Your Dragon 2, Ida, Life Itself, Pride, The Homesman, The Imitation Game, The Lego Movie, The Skeleton Twins, Two Days One Night.

The Seven Best

7: Interstellar. dr. Christopher Nolan. st. Matthew McConnaughey and Anne Hathaway.

Christopher Nolan might not have got all the science right. He might have forgotten to pour some cement into some plot holes. But there is no doubting that this space adventure is as epic as they come. See the full review in my Films in Discussion Post.

6: Gone Girl. dr. David Fincher. st. Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike.

This was my film of the week when it was first released and is in my top seven for the year. The twisted Amy Dunne is an Alex Forrest of our generation, though more subdued, more conniving and more psychotic. A villain worth remembering.

5: Guardians of the Galaxy. dr. James Gunn. st. Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana.

Guardians of the Galaxy came second in my Seven Best Marvel Films and is justly deserving of its place in this list. It is a Sci-Fi/Western extravaganza.

4: Nightcrawler. dr. Dan Gilroy. st. Jake Gyllenhaal and Rene Russo.

Nightcrawler has edge; in its cinematography, lead performance and writing. A feature on my Films in Discussion Post, it is a sublimely sadistic satire that thrills and kills!

3: The Grand Budapest Hotel. dr. Wes Anderson. st. Ralph Fiennes and Tony Revolori.

I am a huge Wes Anderson fan; his quirky style is a mainstay of modern cinema. For me, like with Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes has never made a bad film, and with The Grand Budapest Hotel, he hits the heights of The Royal Tenenbaums and The Darjeeling Limited. Deliciously exuberant, with Fiennes delivering comically observed brilliance as M.Gustave, I would throroughly recommend checking in with The Grand Budapest Hotel.

2: The Wolf of Wall Street. dr. Martin Scorsese. st. Leonardo Di Caprio and Jonah Hill.

The greatest director of modern cinema produces his funniest film to date. The Wolf of Wall Street is a wild animal on quaaludes; it is rollicking, roaring, rowdy cinema, which is energised throughout its 172 minute running time. For me, it is closest in comparison to Casino, and it plays the tables just as good!

1: Boyhood. dr. Richard Linklater. st. Ellar Coltrane and Patricia Arquette.

This is one of the great achievements in twenty-first century cinema. There has been nothing like it before. Boyhood sets the bar not only for the year, but for the decade. It deserves every Oscar it gets. Linklater is the definitive backyard director, he should be the inspiration to every aspiring film maker out there. Impeccable.

Mini Movie Memos (and then an afterthought...)

Mustn't mention the conspiracy theories when I go see the re-release of 2001! 

2001: A Space Odyssey relaunched into cinematic orbit last week. Mostly restored in high definition by the BFI, Kubrick's enduring masterpiece is as striking and inspiring as it was in 1968. It was cultivated (as are all of his movies) for the biggest screen possible, and it was a truly magnetic experience to see it up there, as I was drawn to 2001 more than ever before. The classical soundtrack, in particular Gyorgy Ligeti's haunting 'Atmosphere's', will always stay with me. 2001 makes me proud of cinema. 

Must dance to Starship's 'Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now', as it will be the perfect remedy to my horrible day!

The Skeleton Twins is a dark yet comically observed tale of two sardonic siblings who re-establish a bond after ten years apart, due in large to a suicide attempt. This was an undertaking of Milo (Bill Hader), a gay aspiring actor, who suffers from bouts of depression. His twin Maggie (Kristen Wiig) is married, yet takes birth control, cheats on her husband with her scuba instructor, and also suffers from bouts of depression. Suicide attempts bookend the movie, in a well-woven narrative that rivals the best original screenplays of the year. At times Skeleton Twins has unnecessary Apatow esque moments, such as a selfish young boy sticking his middle finger up to his mother, and the mother replying in the exact same manner. This is punch-to-the-gut humour, which frankly does not work here, and is nowhere near as witty as the wry back-and-forth between brother and sister. I expect both Wiig and Hader to receive Golden Globe Nominations this week for Lead Actor and Actress in a Comedy/Musical. Skeleton Twins is funny and slightly twisted, though it is equally as affecting, and its cathartic ending absolutely translates from screen to viewer.

Must give British films a chance (even if they sometimes lack superheroes, ninja turtles and transformers)

The Imitation Game is the story of a code-breaking war hero, Alan Turing, who was later condemned for being gay, and chose chemical castration (oestrogen injections) over prison in 1952. In 1954, he would go on to take his own life. He was later pardoned in 2013. It is a shameful part of our history. A story that is so important, and it is a story that has been given light on screen with meticulous direction and touching performances. Benedict Cumberbatch is a cert for an Oscar Nomination, every tremulous vocal tone and quiver of the hand describes in great depth the personality of Turing. Not just his socially-awkward exterior, but his self-doubt of his inner-self and his determination, which are exemplified in finite detail. Keira Knightley must be mentioned too, she shows Joan Clarke's journey from an uncertain girl to a composed young woman with great care and precision. In every scene she has, there is a progression, a growth, and this comes from someone who I believe is one of our best younger actresses. This is the type of film that could sweep the board at the Academy Awards, though with such a diverse year in cinema, and the plethora of quality that has come out, The Imitation Game might not win all the awards. The espionage elements involving Russian spies might have come from a quill wired up to a membrane with some creative freedom, though this film is an elegiacal outpouring of human rights, underneath the surface of the failure and success at Bletchley Park in World War Two.