It’s becoming a common refrain with me, and I don’t particularly care for it, “I haven’t seen it yet.” Most of the big films didn’t have that problem, but nearly all of the smaller films did. Once my everyday life changed, so did my movie habits, and life has been so ridiculously busy, playing catch-up isn’t much of an option.
What does that mean for you, the reader? It means my thoughts on films such as “Boyhood,” “The Fault in Our Stars,” “Tammy,” “Jersey Boys,” “Chef,” “A Most Wanted Man,” “Begin Again,” and “Get On Up,” among many others, will have to wait. I wish it wasn’t so, but those are the breaks. Hopefully, if/when life gets less busy, I’ll get back to my moviewatching routine. For now, I hope you enjoy!
Brian Skutle
www.sonic-cinema.com
End-of Summer 2014 Best/Worst/Oscar-Worthy:
Best Film/Entertainment: “How to Train Your Dragon 2” (A+); Nothing else came close this summer. You can read my review at a link below at why Dreamworks’s second film in this thrilling franchise elevated to the very top of my summer, and year, but I can sum it up in one big idea: Hiccup has to grow up, and suddenly, his father can’t help him. I can relate big time, and this film tapped into that in remarkable, beautiful ways.
Worst Film: “Hit Team” (F); You will likely never see this film in theatres, and I’ll be honest, there’s a part of me that is disappointed by that, because I’d be very interested to see this with an audience. One of the few filmmaker “screening request” films I’ve genuinely disliked outright, you can/will be able to find this action-comedy piece of absurd performance art on Amazon and check it out for yourself to see if you feel the same way I do about the film. When I wrote the screenwriter/lead actor to let him know how I felt, he said it seemed like he had a new “Birdemic” in the making. I wouldn’t go that far, because from a technical standpoint, this film is watchable without mood-altering substances, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit there weren’t some common insane pleasures in store.
Worst Disappointment: “Blended” (C); There are moments of this third teaming of Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore that really work, but unfortunately, they are relagated to the third act of a movie that has already displayed the worst of what Sandler and his Happy Madison production crew have to offer. The result is as far from the special chemistry of “The Wedding Singer” and “50 First Dates” as possible.
Biggest Laughs: “Guardians of the Galaxy” (A); Yeah, I missed a lot of movies this summer, as well as most comedies, but when you have a sentient raccoon asking for a guy’s prostetic leg as a prank for a prison break, and that only scratches the surface of the hilarity of Marvel’s latest blockbuster, James Gunn proves to be a special filmmaker indeed.
Biggest Surprise: “Maleficent” (B+); For people who love Disney’s recent riff on their animated classic, “Sleeping Beauty,” this wasn’t much of a surprise. However, the film being one of the biggest hits of the summer (it was 3rd, and beat out “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” “Amazing Spider-Man 2,” and “Godzilla”) was quite a shocker in an otherwise weak summer at the box-office. More than that, though, was how this film grew on me after I left the theatre. Not enough to where I love it now, but I definitely appreciated it more in retrospect.
Biggest Dud: “Sin City: A Dame to Kill For” (D); How is it that Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller’s bold noir vision, nine years after their sharp 2005 original film came out, feels like overstylized parody now, even though many elements have been carried over from the first film? I don’t know, but I do know it’s the second film this year where Eva Green saved an adaptation of Frank Miller’s graphic novel universe from being truly unbearable.
Most Gratuitous Cash-In: “A Million Ways to Die in the West” (B-). Seth McFarland’s follow-up to his smash comedy, “Ted.” Rather than voicing a vulgar bear, though, McFarland is the lead in a western comedy that wants to be “Blazing Saddles,” but is just one, long campfire scene, if you get my meaning.
Favorite Performances: Instead of trying to come up with something to write about each performance/character, I’m just gonna be running them down for you: Chloe Grace Moretz, “If I Stay”; Jay Baruchel, “How to Train Your Dragon 2”; Chris Pratt, “Guardians of the Galaxy”; Scarlett Johansson, “Lucy”; Andy Serkis, “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”; Bradley Cooper, “Guardians of the Galaxy”; Emily Blunt, “Edge of Tomorrow”; Jamie Blackley, “If I Stay”; Dave Bautista, “Guardians of the Galaxy”; Gugu Mbatha-Raw, “Belle”; Hugh Jackman, “X-Men: Days of Future Past”; Angelina Jolie, “Maleficent”; Mel Gibson, “The Expendables 3”; Eva Green, “Sin City: A Dame to Kill For”
Oscar-Worthy Mentions:
Since there’s a lot of films I have yet to see from this summer that would have merited potential Oscar attention, I’m going to hold off on these. Just know that “How to Train Your Dragon 2,” “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” “Godzilla,” and “If I Stay” have my support in many categories.
Summer 2014: The Complete Moviewatching List:
The A’s: “How to Train Your Dragon 2” (A+); “Life Itself” (A+); “X-Men: Days of Future Past” (A+); “Guardians of the Galaxy” (A); “If I Stay” (A); “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” (A); “Godzilla” (A-); “Belle” (A-); “Edge of Tomorrow” (A-)
The B’s: “Maleficent” (B+); “Lucy” (B+); “Million Dollar Arm” (B+); “Into the Storm” (B); “22 Jump Street” (B); “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” (B); “Deliver Us From Evil” (B); “When the Game Stands Tall” (B); “Earth to Echo” (B-); “The Expendables 3” (B-); “A Million Ways to Die in the West” (B-)
The C’s: “Let’s Be Cops” (C+); “Blended” (C)
The D’s: “Transformers: Age of Extinction” (D); “Sin City: A Dame to Kill For” (D)
The F’s: “Hit Team”
Brian’s 8 “Must-See” Movies of Fall 2014
Looking at what’s coming up this Fall, it looks to be a great, diverse Oscar season for movies, so much so that I could fill an entire alternate Top 10 that would be just as worthy. That said, these ten have my interest peaked.
1. “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1” (11/21)- The beginning of the end for Suzanne Collins’s futuristic saga on-screen, as Katniss leads the revolution against the oppressive Capitol and President Snow. Director Francis Lawrence showed that he was plenty capable of bringing the necessary blend of visual and emotional excitement to this story with last year’s “Catching Fire.” Now, it’s time for he and Jennifer Lawrence to bring this series home.
2. “Big Hero 6” (11/7)- Five years after Disney purchased the Marvel empire, and two years after it started to print money for the Mouse House when it began releasing the Marvel Studios movies, the animated branch finally brings a Marvel property to the big screen. Yes, it’s not a big brand title like the ones within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but the trailers for this movie have been nothing short of fantastic, promising another jewel in Disney Animation’s crown after “Tangled,” “Wreck-It-Ralph,” and last winter’s phenomenon “Frozen.”
3. “Rosewater” (11/14)- After 15 years of some of the sharpest political satire on TV with “The Daily Show,” Jon Stewart goes behind the movie camera as writer-director on a labor-of-love project about a journalist who was imprisoned in Iran after an appearance on Stewart’s show made Iran think he was a spy. It sounds too crazy to be true, but if the past few years on “The Daily Show” has proven, nothing is too crazy to be true.
4. “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” (12/19)- Peter Jackson’s final trip to Middle-Earth. Admittedly, “The Hobbit” series hasn’t been as strong in it’s narrative and emotional pull as “The Lord of the Rings” was, but in retrospect, anyone expecting it to be was probably expecting too much from Jackson, and the lighter material. The decision to tell this story in three films will be debated for decades, but I think when all is said and done, Jackson’s Middle-Earth saga will still stand as one of the most ambitious, and resonating, franchises in modern movie history.
5. “Interstellar” (11/7)- Christopher Nolan leaves Batman behind with a piece of hard science-fiction written by his brother about wormholes and travelling the stars with a cast of award-winning actors in tow. Count me in.
6. “Birdman” (10/17)- The newest film from Mexican auteur Alejandro González Iñárritu (“Babel,” “Biutiful”) stars Michael Keaton as an actor who has taken to theatre, but can’t shake his notoriety in a famous superhero role. I can’t possibly imagine why Iñárritu would possibly think the original Batman of the modern age would be a good fit for this role, he said sarcastically. This looks like a great movie. I have to see it in theatres. If not, it’ll be a big disappointment for me.
7. “Inherent Vice” (12/12)- The new film from Paul Thomas Anderson, who’s reversed my initial feelings about him with “Punch-Drunk Love,” “There Will Be Blood,” and “The Master.” Here, he takes a left turn into detective pulp with an adaptation of a novel by Thomas Pynchon. With a cast like Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, and Reese Witherspoon, I’m hoping Anderson keeps this exciting creative streak going.
8. “Tusk” (9/19)- The newest film from Kevin Smith (“Clerks,” “Dogma,” my Dragon*Con cosplay) is a horror film oddity with Justin Long that made an impression on even people who’d sworn off Smith after “Red State” and “Cop Out.” I never stopped being a fan, so now that the film is out, color me intrigued.
