Christopher Orr’s 2014 Movie Round-Up

Posted on December 31, 2014 at 10:11 am

If I were going to make a top ten list of movie top ten lists, Christopher Orr‘s would be number one. I love reading his end-of-year pieces in The Atlantic. The best of the year list is just the beginning. Then he goes into a brilliant examination of the year through a series of hilarious categories. This year’s best include:

Best Use of a 10cc Song: “I’m Not in Love,” Guardians of the Galaxy
Runner-up: “Dreadlock Holiday,” Life of Crime

Best Batman: Will Arnett, The Lego Movie
Best Alfred: Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, The Trip to Italy

Trends of the Year: Ironically self-conscious sequels (22 Jump Street, Muppets Most Wanted), drum solos (Birdman, Whiplash), Tilda Swinton in terrifying makeup (Snowpiercer, The Grand Budapest Hotel), Jason Reitman making awful movies (Labor Day; Men, Women & Children), final-act defenestrations (Birdman, Ida), tragic marital outcomes for Sienna Miller (Foxcatcher, American Sniper)

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Critics Understanding Media and Pop Culture

2014 in Film: Best, Worst, and More

Posted on December 29, 2014 at 4:20 pm

Copyright 2014 Paramount Pictures
Copyright 2014 Paramount Pictures

Ten is an arbitrary number, a year is an arbitrary span of time, and it makes no sense at all to try to rank movies that are so different in concept, genre, and aspiration. Nevertheless, as I always say when the topic of ten best lists comes up, they are, to quote Jan Struther, “indefensible but irresistible.” So, here I am, and here is my list. As usual, I have one at the top and then every other title on the list is tied for second place.

The best film of the year is “Selma,” brilliant in every category — as history, as drama, as biography, as advocacy. And it could not be more timely.

Runners-up:

Boyhood
Birdman
Guardians of the Galaxy
Life Itself
Belle
Dear White People
The Boxtrolls
The Book of Life
The Theory of Everything

Honorable Mention: Pride, Top Five, Rosewater, The Imitation Game, A Most Violent Year, Tracks, The LEGO Movie, Beyond the Lights, Begin Again, Snowpiercer, Wild, Whiplash, Only Lovers Left Alive, How to Train Your Dragon 2, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Love is Strange, Gone Girl, Coherence, The One I Love, Believe Me, Under the Skin

Deserved a larger audience: Beyond the Lights, Edge of Tomorrow

Outstanding Documentaries: Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me, Finding Vivian Maier, Particle Fever, CitizenFour, 1971, The Unknown Known

A good year for grown-up romance: Words and Pictures, Begin Again, Beyond the Lights, Only Lovers Left Alive, Love is Strange

A great year for movies about food: Luscious meals were the real stars of the delicious Chef, Le Chef, 1000 Foot Journey, The Trip to Italy, and The Lunchbox

belle-posterBreakthrough performers: Chris Pratt, Rosamund Pike, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Ben Schnetzer (two films each), also Nelsan Ellis, Jack O’Connell, Jillian Bell

A great year for heroes who were smart: Big Hero 6, Theory of Everything, Interstellar, Imitation Game

A great year for animation: The LEGO Movie, The Boxtrolls, The Book of Life, How to Train Your Dragon 2, Penguins of Madagascar

Great live-action family films: Dolphin Tale 2, Muppets Most Wanted, and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

And the Hall of Shame, the year’s most excruciatingly, painfully bad films:

Blended, Left Behind, Irreplaceable, A Million Ways to Die in the West, The Other Woman, Transcendence, Sabotage, Tammy, Labor Day, Dumb and Dumber To, The Identical, Neighbors, The Nut Job, Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return, Third Person

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Commentary Critics Understanding Media and Pop Culture

Online Film Critics Awards 2014

Posted on December 15, 2014 at 10:15 am

Copyright 2014 Fox Searchlight
Copyright 2014 Fox Searchlight
I am proud to be a member of the Online Film Critics Society, and very pleased to announce this year’s awards:

Best Picture: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Best Animated Feature: The Lego Movie
Best Film Not in the English Language: Two Days, One Night
Best Documentary: Life Itself
Best Director: Richard Linklater – Boyhood
Best Actor: Michael Keaton – Birdman
Best Actress: Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
Best Supporting Actor: Edward Norton – Birdman
Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
Best Original Screenplay: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Best Adapted Screenplay: Gone Girl
Best Editing: Birdman
Best Cinematography: The Grand Budapest Hotel

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Awards Critics

Critics Choice Award Nominees 2014

Posted on December 15, 2014 at 9:59 am

Copyright 2014 Working Title Films
Copyright 2014 Working Title Films
I am very proud to be a member of the Broadcast Movie Critics Association and very excited about attending this year’s award ceremony on January 15, 2015, hosted by Michael Strahan. I’m thrilled that we will be presenting special awards to Kevin Costner, Ron Howard and Jessica Chastain. Costner will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award, Howard will receive the Louis XIII Critics’ Choice Genius Award and Chastain, who is a Best Supporting Actress nominee for “A Most Violent Year,” will receive the newly-created Critics’ Choice MVP Award.

The nominees:

BEST PICTURE
“Birdman”
“Boyhood”
“Gone Girl”
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
“The Imitation Game”
“Nightcrawler”
“Selma”
“The Theory of Everything”
“Unbroken”
“Whiplash”

BEST ACTOR
Benedict Cumberbatch – “The Imitation Game”
Ralph Fiennes – “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Jake Gyllenhaal – “Nightcrawler”
Michael Keaton – “Birdman”
David Oyelowo – “Selma”
Eddie Redmayne – “The Theory of Everything”

BEST ACTRESS
Jennifer Aniston – “Cake”
Marion Cotillard – “Two Days, One Night”
Felicity Jones – “The Theory of Everything”
Julianne Moore – “Still Alice”
Rosamund Pike – “Gone Girl”
Reese Witherspoon – “Wild”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Josh Brolin – “Inherent Vice”
Robert Duvall – “The Judge”
Ethan Hawke – “Boyhood”
Edward Norton – “Birdman”
Mark Ruffalo – “Foxcatcher”
J.K. Simmons – “Whiplash”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Patricia Arquette – “Boyhood”
Jessica Chastain – “A Most Violent Year”
Keira Knightley – “The Imitation Game”
Emma Stone – “Birdman”
Meryl Streep – “Into the Woods”
Tilda Swinton – Snowpiercer

BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS
Ellar Coltrane – “Boyhood”
Ansel Elgort – “The Fault in Our Stars”
Mackenzie Foy – “Interstellar”
Jaeden Lieberher – “St. Vincent”
Tony Revolori – “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Quvenzhane Wallis – “Annie”
Noah Wiseman – “The Babadook”

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE
“Birdman”
“Boyhood”
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
“The Imitation Game”
“Into the Woods”
“Selma”

BEST DIRECTOR
Wes Anderson – “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Ava DuVernay – “Selma”
David Fincher – “Gone Girl”
Alejandro G. Inarritu – “Birdman”
Angelina Jolie – “Unbroken”
Richard Linklater – “Boyhood”

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
“Birdman” – Alejandro G. Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr., Armando Bo
“Boyhood” – Richard Linklater
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” – Wes Anderson, Hugo Guinness
“Nightcrawler” – Dan Gilroy
“Whiplash” – Damien Chazelle

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
“Gone Girl” – Gillian Flynn
“The Imitation Game” – Graham Moore
“Inherent Vice” – Paul Thomas Anderson
“The Theory of Everything” – Anthony McCarten
“Unbroken” – Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, Richard LaGravenese, William Nicholson
“Wild” – Nick Hornby

BEST CINEMATOGRAPY
“Birdman” – Emmanuel Lubezki
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” – Robert Yeoman
“Interstellar” – Hoyte Van Hoytema
“Mr. Turner” – Dick Pope
“Unbroken” – Roger Deakins

BEST ART DIRECTION
“Birdman” – Kevin Thompson/Production Designer, George DeTitta Jr./Set Decorator
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” – Adam Stockhausen/Production Designer, Anna Pinnock/Set Decorator
“Inherent Vice” – David Crank/Production Designer, Amy Wells/Set Decorator
“Interstellar” – Nathan Crowley/Production Designer, Gary Fettis/Set Decorator
“Into the Woods” – Dennis Gassner/Production Designer, Anna Pinnock/Set Decorator
“Snowpiercer” – Ondrej Nekvasil/Production Designer, Beatrice Brentnerova/Set Decorator

BEST EDITING
“Birdman” – Douglas Crise, Stephen Mirrione
“Boyhood” – Sandra Adair
“Gone Girl” – Kirk Baxter
“Interstellar” – Lee Smith
“Whiplash” – Tom Cross

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” – Milena Canonero
“Inherent Vice” – Mark Bridges
“Into the Woods” – Colleen Atwood
“Maleficent” – Anna B. Sheppard
“Mr. Turner” – Jacqueline Durran

BEST HAIR & MAKEUP
“Foxcatcher”
“Guardians of the Galaxy”
“The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies”
“Into the Woods”
“Maleficent”

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”
“Edge of Tomorrow”
“Guardians of the Galaxy”
“The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies”
“Interstellar”

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
“Big Hero 6”
“The Book of Life”
“The Boxtrolls”
“How to Train Your Dragon 2”
“The Lego Movie”

BEST ACTION MOVIE
“American Sniper”
“Captain America: The Winter Soldier”
“Edge of Tomorrow”
“Fury”
“Guardians of the Galaxy”

BEST ACTOR IN AN ACTION MOVIE
Bradley Cooper – “American Sniper”
Tom Cruise – “Edge of Tomorrow”
Chris Evans – “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”
Brad Pitt – “Fury”
Chris Pratt – “Guardians of the Galaxy”

BEST ACTRESS IN AN ACTION MOVIE
Emily Blunt – “Edge of Tomorrow”
Scarlett Johansson – “Lucy”
Jennifer Lawrence – “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1”
Zoe Saldana – “Guardians of the Galaxy”
Shailene Woodley – “Divergent”

BEST COMEDY
“Birdman”
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
“St. Vincent”
“Top Five”
“22 Jump Street”

BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Jon Favreau – “Chef”
Ralph Fiennes – “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Michael Keaton – “Birdman”
Bill Murray – “St. Vincent”
Chris Rock – “Top Five”
Channing Tatum – “22 Jump Street”

BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
Rose Byrne – “Neighbors”
Rosario Dawson – “Top Five”
Melissa McCarthy – “St. Vincent”
Jenny Slate – “Obvious Child”
Kristen Wiig – “The Skeleton Twins”

BEST SCI-FI/HORROR MOVIE
“The Babadook”
“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”
“Interstellar”
“Snowpiercer”
“Under the Skin”

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
“Force Majeure”
“Ida”
“Leviathan”
“Two Days, One Night”
“Wild Tales”

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
“Citizenfour”
“Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me”
“Jodorowsky’s Dune”
“Last Days in Vietnam”
“Life Itself”
“The Overnighters”

BEST SONG
“Big Eyes” – Lana Del Rey – “Big Eyes”
“Everything Is Awesome” – Jo Li and the Lonely Island – “The Lego Movie”
“Glory” – Common/John Legend – “Selma”
“Lost Stars” – Keira Knightley – “Begin Again”
“Yellow Flicker Beat” – Lorde – “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1”

BEST SCORE
Alexandre Desplat – “The Imitation Game”
Johann Johannsson – “The Theory of Everything”
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross – “Gone Girl”
Antonio Sanchez – “Birdman”
Hans Zimmer – “Interstellar”

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Awards Critics

Lauren Bradshaw’s Terrific New “Before They Were Famous” Column

Posted on October 29, 2014 at 8:00 am

My friend and fellow critic Lauren Bradshaw has a great new series on the very earliest appearances by some of Hollywood’s biggest stars. You can see Emma Stone, Brad Pitt, and Jessica Chastain in their very first roles, and give her suggestions for who she should report on next.

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Critics
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