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First Half Review : The Best of 2014 So Far

ThoughtsFromTheBooth 3 Comments

So it’s just about the half way point in our year so it’s time to review what I have seen so far. I’ll do a ranked top five list with some honorable mentions and then I’ll do a couple categories that are not ranked such as best performances, biggest disappointments, and favorite scenes. Here’s to a better second half of the year!

TOP FIVE IN DESCENDING ORDER

Honorable Mentions

Edge of Tomorrow – Perfectly fun and exciting sci fi film. Emily Blunt kicked major ass and it was fun to see Tom Cruise be a human being before he turned into his typical badass action hero. The film was also pretty tight for a film that had such a high concept. I would have liked a less Hollywood ending but I left very satisfied.

The Wind Rises – I know this hit the festivals in 2013 but it had a limited release in 2014 so I included it. It was certainly the least fantastical Miyazaki film I’ve ever seen but the love and heart that went into it is unmistakable. Miyazaki wrote a poem about himself and it came out beautifully. I didn’t care for the American voice acting and it ran a tad long but if the genius is truly done directing films I’m satisfied with his last.

Godzilla – Sometimes you just need a cool monster movie and this was it for me. I enjoyed the havoc and the set pieces, especially the halo drop, were cool as shit. I just needed more Bryan Cranston and Godzilla but overall it was an enjoyable film.

NUMBER FIVE – ENEMY

Denis Villenuvue is one of my favorite new film makers right now so naturally I would have a high regard of his doppleganger film staring Jake Gyllenhaal. It was a bit slow but when it picked up it turned into a psychotic piece of mystery with amazing visuals and a key performance from Gyllenhaal. Also, the ending is batshit insane yet so thought provoking. I love good mysteries. I love mysteries even more when I still haven’t figured it out.

NUMBER FOUR – THE LEGO MOVIE

SPACESHIP!!! There isn’t much to say other than that. It’s a fun as hell ride into many a childhoods with a strong message to be yourself. The voice cast was hilarious and the film implied a joke a minute strategy that had me in stitches the whole time. Oh, and SPACESHIP!!!

NUMBER THREE – THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL

The only film this year I have seen multiple times in the theater. I can’t express how much I loved this film. It is up there with the Wes Anderson greats, Tennenbaums and Rushmore, while still being unique and delightfully surprising. The design and story were clever and crafted with such detail and care and the cast was just amazing. We’ll get into Ralph Fiennes later on. It’s just a completely joyous film.

NUMBER TWO – ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE

I love Jim Jarmusch. I’ve been binge watching his films ever seeing Only Lovers in the theater and I firmly believe he makes films just for me know. I love slow movies. I love movies where the clever dialogue is basically another character. I love committed and subtly powerful performances. Only Lovers had all of that. Swinton and Hiddleston were two of the most perfect casting choices I’ve ever seen. They were magnificent. The soundtrack was as dark and brooding as the camera work. It’s just the perfect chill out movie. It was my number one until only recently which brings me too…

NUMBER ONE – THE ROVER

What can I say? I’m obsessed with David Michod. Jim Jarmusch may make films for me, but Michod makes films I want to make. They are unflinching and unapologetic, brutal and beautiful, deep and symbolic, and just as shocking the second time you see it as the first. I may like Animal Kingdom slightly better than this but never has a film grown on me the longer I thought about it than The Rover. I forget what rating I gave it originally but now it’s a firm five out of five. The ending received groans from the audience I was in but it left me speechless. Everything came together for me during the last shot and the significance of it lingered for days. Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson gave career performances and the gorgeous cinematography was the icing on the cake. It’s my number one film of the year so far and will be hard to top.

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Biggest Disappointments

Robocop – One of the worst films I’ve seen in years. Nothing happened. I didn’t care. Not even Michael K. Williams was good in it. Abbie Cornish should stop trying. The only redeeming factor was Gary Oldman. I just hated it.

Monuments Men – What a snoozefest. Did I even write about this one? I can’t remember if I did or not. I may have clocked out halfway and thought a review was wrong which tells you how boring this movie was.

The Raid 2 – I left halfway because I just couldn’t sit in the theater any longer. The fight scenes were great and I’m going to give it another try but I just didn’t care for the story at all. I was pissed all night after this one.

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Best Performances

Ralph Fiennes in The Grand Budapest Hotel – There has not been a more perfectly cast role in comedy in the last ten years that lives up to this role. Hysterical, serious, and outlandishly bizarre, Fiennes brought it all. He’s the reason I had no problem at all seeing this is theaters the same week as when I saw it first. He was amazing.

Guy Pearce/Robert Pattinson in The Rover – This was the performance of Pearce’s career and even though he won’t get it, he deserves recognition for it. His face was heartbreaking and his actions were brutal. He has perfected the thousand yard stare. I combined the two because they complimented each other so well. Pearce was a menace and Pattinson was unpredictable and seemed lost in whatever he was doing. They were a treat to watch.

Bryan Cranston in Godzilla – My favorite part of the film that included gigantic monsters kicking the shit out of each other. I cared so much for his character in such a little time. He broke my heart in half on multiple occasions and may I remind you he did it in a film that is about MONSTERS KICKING THE SHIT OUT OF EACH OTHER. Cranston is just amazing.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Jake Gyllenhaal in Enemy – The guy can act. The guy can also act with himself. The two Jakes (movie reference) were nearly complete opposites yet Gyllenhaal was able to get it done almost effortlessly. He’s turning into a ridiculously good actor.

Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston in Only Lovers Left Alive – Another two that have to be together because they complimented each other so well. I want to hang out with these two and talk about the world so bad. Hiddleston was dark and Swinton was his light. They were a perfect team.

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Favorite scenes/moments (Spoiler free)

The Lego Movie – SPACESHIP!!!!!!!

Godzilla – The Halo Drop. So unnerving with the music and the camera angle.

The Grand Budapest Hotel – The mountain chase in the snow. Just delightful and also hysterical.

Only Lovers Left Alive – Swinton, Hiddleston, and Hurt all drinking their blood. Also, the opening scene was incredible. Perfect song choice with Wendy Jackson.

X-Men : First Class – The Escape. You know what scene I’m talking about. Time Stuck in a Bottle. One of the best action sequences I’ve ever seen.

The Rover/Enemy – The endings.

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Films I saw that didn’t make a list – Night Moves, The Double, Chef, Willow Creek
Film I haven’t seen yet that may have made a list – The Immigrant, Under the Skin, How to Train Your Dragon 2, 22 Jump Street

Film Review : The Rover (2014)

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IMDB Score – 7.3
Rotten Tomato Score – 66%

Directed By – David Michôd
Starring – Guy Pearce, Robert Pattinson, Scoot McNairy, David Field, Tawanda Manyimo, Susan Prior, and Anthony Hayes

10 years after a global economic collapse, a hardened, ruthless ex-soldier tracks down the men who stole his only possession. As he travels through the lawless Australian outback, he takes a damaged young man as his unwitting accomplice.

A while back I wrote about the work of David Michôd. The man is responsible for one of my favorite films in the last ten years, Animal Kingdom, and after delving into his short film work and the movie “Hesher”, which he scripted, it’s safe to say he’s one of my favorite directors working today. Once I found out that The Landmark Sunshine theater in NYC was going to be getting the film a week before it’s widely released, I had to shoot down and see it. The auditorium wasn’t packed, but had a substantial amount of people in it. I made a joke to one of my friends that there were going to be women in there that were only present to see them some Robby Patt (Yes, I just made that up) and fuck me were there actually a group of girls in there that were very keen on making that fact known. I couldn’t believe it. That’s dedication guys. It’s also quite sad. Those girls did not like the movie I’m sure. I however, loved it. All my waiting and anticipation paid off because the film ended up being exactly what I wanted, a challenging and laboring work that will be both loved and hated by audiences. That is my kind of party.

The story is set in the future but there are no flying cars or androids. Without being told what happened, Australia’s economy has collapsed and spun the country into a state of free for all lawlessness with the only form of “police” coming from either rogue military groups or paid mercenaries. It’s a baron wasteland even worse than what the country was before…a baron wasteland (Please don’t hate me Jordan/Eddie). We meet a man who is given no name throughout the film, played by the outright vicious and brutal Guy Pearce. His car is stolen and he is going to get it back. Along his chase of his vehicle he runs across Ray, the brother of one of the men who stole his vehicle, played by an almost unrecognizable Robert Pattinson. Those ladies must have shit a brick when they saw his face because the heartthrob vampire was transformed into a simple, dangerous, broken, and outright ugly kid. What follows next can really only be experienced in the cinema so I’ll leave that to you.

Disregarding my joke before, I have the utmost respect and fascination with the country of Australia when it comes to film. The work coming out of there in the last few years has just been outstanding. David Michôd has stood out among the crowd and with the completion of this film, totally formed a fresh pair of eyes on the way we watch movies. He sculpts his films with meticulous care and attention while also having the skill to leave the audience in a state of utter confusion. I’ll be honest, I fought with this film. I went from loving it, to questioning it, to being shocked, to being underwhelmed, to being overwhelmed, and finally floored by the ending. The crowd I was with seemed to be going through this battle with me. As the credits rolled, groans were heard, sarcasm was spoken, but some butts, including mine, were glued to their seats. The ending was a bow on top of a mystery box that I’m sure was on the laps and minds of everyone in the theater. Why was this man doing this…for a car? Why would he go through such hardship to get his shitty four door sedan back. To be honest, I had given up hope that we would find out but the haunting final shot clued us in to what motivated a man with little to no motivation left in his life. It was a beautiful way to end a film that was so bleak and disturbing.

The film did have some flaws though. For one, the narrative was a bit clumsy in parts. That is, tense moments of horror and violence were often followed up with transition scenes that kind of killed the emotion of what just happened. There is also a terrible, terrible, use of a song in this film that just distracted and confused the entire theater. It may have been used to illustrate the mental capacity of Pattinson’s character, but it just seemed way too out of place.

Speaking of Pattinson, holy shit can that kid act. I have never seen a single Twilight film nor do I have any interest i ever seeing, but this kid is special. I remember seeing Cronenberg’s “Cosmopolis” and being teased in what Pattinson could possible achieve later in his career. This film should be his break. If he was given a supporting actor nomination, I wouldn’t bat an eye. He perfected the thousand yard stare. He nailed an almost unintelligible accent. He stole every scene he was in and that was hard when realizing mostly every scene he was in was with Guy Pearce, who in my opinion gave the performance of his career. The both were powerhouses in a film with both power and unrelenting dread. They should be applauded for their work.

David Michôd crafted a beauty of a film. Each shot is crafted so well with full detail that it’s hard to not find the hell that the film was set in beautiful. The rolling hills played like a second character as we are reminded in nearly every shot that there is something bigger than us and that if we are not careful, we will fall. The score, when not being played on the radio by Pattinson, was eerie and dark as the violence carried out. It kept me glued to the screen waiting for what was going to happen next even though I was sure nothing was around the corner. It was an immersing and unflinching watch in where even if you don’t buy into the film, you can still be entertained.

Overall it was a slightly flawed, but nearly brilliant film by David Michôd. The last twenty minutes or so, including that ending, was some of the best film making I’ve seen in a long time. It’s a film that will be talked about and debated on whether it is too pretentious and whether or not it takes itself too seriously. Much like Animal Kingdom, which is slightly the superior film as of now, The Rover requires multiple viewings to fully digest but it’s a wonderful thing when something can get so much use.

4.5/5




Highlighting the work of David Michôd

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I recently ordered “Animal Kingdom” on Blu Ray and realized how much I loved the film. Below is the trailer…

Australian cinema has released some of the most electrifying films over the last couple of years and “Animal Kingdom” may be the cream of the crop. It’s a family crime story unlike any other, directed by a man who holds nothing back. Dave Michôd, who only has one feature film under his belt, is steadily rising up my ladder of favorite modern day directors. That’s how much I love this film. It’s unflinching and unapologetic, highlighted by incredible performances by Jackie Weaver (Who nabbed her first Oscar nom for the role) and Ben Mendelsohn (who fucking should have nabbed his first Oscar nom for the role). Both actors were phenomenal and added to the overall tension of the film which is full throttle as it is. The film deserves a full review from me which I’m willing to do when it comes in the mail and I give it a 3rd viewing. For now though, check out Michôd’s short film “Crossbow” below…

Strange. Did you watch it? Cause I’m going to talk briefly about it.

Once again, Michôd takes what seems like a run of the mill story line into a unique experience. We think that all the awkward parent sex and the drug use in the house is going to lead the kid to murdering his family but what we get at the end of this film is the exact opposite. He doesn’t want yo live in that shit hole anymore, and at 14 he can’t wait four more years until he’s legally allowed to leave. He did the only thing he could think of and ended his life by having the cops shoot him. The bleakness of Australian cinema is in full force as the female cop who pulled the trigger is left with questions for the rest of her life. And that last piece of narration from our narrator. Creepy shit.

David Michôd has a new film coming out. The trailer is below…

I provided the teaser trailer, which I find to be mesmerizing. There is a full trailer out there but I haven’t seen it and I don’t want to. I’m afraid it’s going to ruin things for me. This looks like it just may be the best thing that I’ll see all year. Yes, I know how silly that sounds but the trailer is that good. Guy Pierce looks like he’s been through some serious shit and Robert Pattinson looks even worse. Hopefully this is the film that shows that the kid can actually act because he showed promise in “Cosmopolis”. The film releases June 20th and I can’t fucking wait.

It’s worth noting that David Michôd also wrote yet did not direct the film “Hesher” which surprised the hell out of me for being both hilarious and powerful. He’s a talent coming out of an entire region of talented film makers. I know I’ve got some friends on WP that are from down under. What do you guys think of Michôd? Is he your countries version of Paul Thomas Anderson? Do you think his work is crap? What have you?