Top 5 Films of 2014

Birdman (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) - directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu

Birdman has everything. It's the one film from 2014 that has all the 'best of the year' bases covered. Great performances from an all star cast, tons of laughs, some dark introspective drama, suspense, a unique and infectious musical score, uncanny cinematography and technical wizardry, there's even random bouts of CGI rendered superhero carnage. By all accounts, this movie should appeal to everyone. It's also one of the most original and refreshingly bizarre films I've seen. Who would have thought that a flick about a washed up movie star trying to make it big on Broadway would prove so damn entertaining? I sure as hell didn't...but love being surprised now and again.

Nightcrawler - directed by Dan Gilroy

Jake Gyllenhaal was robbed. The all knowing Academy might have snubbed him in the best actor category but Gyllenhaal's work in Nightcrawler goes beyond all the best of the year stuff, it's one for the ages. In fact the only other performance that comes close to matching Gyllenhaal's manically intense portrayal of Louis Bloom, is Gyllenhaal's other scene stealing turn in Enemy where he plays two characters. The man's only real competition is himself! Nightcrawler is a dark and morose little movie that manages to titillate and horrify at the same time. Dan Gilroy's script and Robert Elswitt's gorgeous camera work, coupled with Gyllenhaal's performance of a lifetime, make's Nightcrawler one of the best, and most underrated films of the year.

Boyhood - directed by Richard Linklater

Richard Linklater knows how to get you. He perfected the art time lapse cinema with his Before trilogy, seducing audiences into an epic love/romance saga twenty years in the making. Turns out, Linklater was just warming up. He spent the past decade plus secretly working on Boyhood, the definitive millennial coming of age story that films it's young star growing from age six to eighteen. It may seem like a novelty, but Boyhood is really a remarkable, spellbinding piece of cinema that should be seen by everyone at least once in their lives.

Inherent Vice - directed by Paul Thomas Anderson

Joaquin Phoenix is Paul Thomas Anderson's new de facto partner in hi-jinx and I love it. Although the film's setting and comedic tone are light years removed from their previous collaboration, like The Master, Inherent Vice is a hazy, meandering slab of celluloid that focuses more on feelz and atmosphere than plot. There's more dick jokes in Inherent Vice though, that's for sure. Yes, I wish the film was a bit more streamlined and coherent at times [of course that's more a slight at Pynchon's source material than anything] but with Robert Elswitt's dream like visuals [two awesome DP jobs this year and the Academy snubs him why?!] and Josh Brolin's sublimely hammed up performance as Big Foot, I really didn't care that much and just went along with the ride.

Whiplash - directed by Damien Chazelle

Drum sex, the movie. If you have more than a passing interest in music or film then you should try your hardest to see Whiplash in theaters. If you have a deep rooted passion for both, then Damien Chazelle's firebrand debut film is required viewing! As both a drumming and movie geek, I was on the edge of my seat throughout Whiplash. I might have loathed Miles Teller in The Spectacular Now, but he's nothing short of amazing in this one. Then there's J.K. Simmons' terrifyingly brilliant work as the band leader from hell. Simmons' delivery of Chazelle's rapid fire dialogue, is genius plain and simple. There's no doubt that Whiplash is a Rocky or Reservoir Dogs caliber debut film that will be talked about for years to come.


*HONORABLE MENTIONS*

Lots of good flicks came out this past year. I should have posted a top 10 list for all the great stuff I saw, but for the sake of continuity, kept the top 5 tradition going. Anyways, here are the rest of my favorite films from 2014:


Palo Alto
Gia Coppola's debut film is a dreamy ode to the wistless days of high school. The visuals and the soundtrack are intoxicating.

Snowpiercer
Wild and wacky sci-fi that doesn't blatantly insult your intelligence, Snowpiercer is a head scratching thrill ride that makes you think and squirm at the same time.

Gone Girl
The first act drags a bit but once Fincher rolls up his sleeves in the middle, Gone Girl becomes a brilliant thriller.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Marvel turned lame ass Captain America into the coolest Bourne/Bond/Batman crushing badass around. It's a miracle.

John Wick
He's back. John Wi...er, Keanu Reeves is back in the greatest 80's action film since the Reagan administration. The film's body count and classic one liners are phenomenal.

Check my Letterboxd profile for all things film related and reviews of my entire top ten.

Movie Review: Nightcrawler

Jake Gyllenhaal is a fucking mad man. His outstanding, tour de force performance in Nightcrawler will be talked about for ages and will further reinforce this point. We’ve seen traces of brilliance throughout his career [Brokeback Mountain, End of Watch, Prisoners], and we all know Gyllenhaal is at his best playing weirdoes [Donnie Darko, Zodiac, Enemy] and not the pretty boy leading man stuff he’s dabbled with in the past [Prince of Persia…get outta here]. Now we’ve finally been blessed with Jake going full on uber creep/psycho with Nightcrawler, in what is easily the most startling and mesmerizing performance of his career.

Gyllenhaal stars as Louis Bloom, a reclusive conman who roams the streets of Los Angeles trying to scrape out a living, applying for odd jobs here and there, stealing and occasionally assaulting/robbing people. You know, the usual. After witnessing a fiery accident on the freeway one evening and seeing a pair of opportunistic freelance news videographers record the scene, Bloom finally finds his niche in life. Gyllenhaal’s character is a sociopath who lives alone, despises people and but simultaneously yearns for success and validation. Imagine the Grinch with Asperger’s and a violent streak and you’ll start to see the picture. Nightcrawler does two things and does them both rather well, it showcases the seedy seed of the cutthroat local news scene, and is a fascinating character study unlike anything we’ve seen since Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood. Ruthless, greedy, conniving misanthropes who will stop at nothing to achieve their goals, Louis Bloom and Daniel Plainview are veritable peas in a pod, just as Gyllenhaal’s all-encompassing performance is reminiscent of Daniel Day-Lewis’ Oscar winning role.

First time director Dan Gilroy has crafted a wicked character piece about an utterly wicked individual, up there with Taxi Driver and American Psycho. He’s also put together one hell of an ode to Los Angeles. Yes, we’ve got Hollywood in our backyards and all, but very few films seem to capture the LA vibe the way Nightcrawler does [see: Collateral, Training Day, etc]. Gilroy is a longtime screenwriter who also wrote Nightcrawler’s script, and he maneuvers the camera in such way that proves he knows the ins and outs of this story like the back of his hand. There are dozens of knuckle gripping moments in this film, along with a wild chase scene at the end that blows all that overdone Fast And The Furious stuff away, which makes Nightcrawler one of the weirdest and most exciting films of the year. Gyllenhaal’s performance is worth the admission price alone, good thing the rest of the movie is pretty rad itself.

The Fall 2014 Moive Guide

FALL 2014 Movie Guide

Hey Bloggers. It's been a while huh? This two month lapse in posting has been my longest absence...ever. I've been kinda busy this year, trying my hand at legit music journalism, writing for New Noise Magazine and recently, joining up with Metal Injection as well.

I've also added a link to my not so fancy tumblr profile, where ya'll can keep tabs on the concert photography (and other random stuff) I've been shooting lately.

This blog will still be my primary outlet for digesting films and ranting about entertainment, political and lolz-y stuff.  Things have been quiet around here mostly because there hasn't been any decent movies out lately. Of course it's Fall now, which means all the "good" movies are about to flood the theaters just in time for Oscar season. Here's a rundown on the flicks I'm the most hyped about for the end 2014. Some Oscar bait melodramas, some lowbrow action/comedies, and the usual weird stuff I love so much. Enjoy.