The Revenant

“Pain is temporary, film is forever”. These are Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s words when receiving the Golden Globe for Best director for his fourth film The Revenant. Shot under rough weather conditions, The Revenant was a total immersion into nature. The film was shot in the depths of the wilderness and no cell phones were allowed.

Inspired by true events, The Revenant stars Leonard DiCaprio (Titanic) and Tom Hardy (Mad Max: Fury Road) as leadings actors. The duo deliver brilliant performances. DiCaprio, in particular, is incredibly present, focused and in character as he crawls and pushes his body and spirit across a vicious American terrain. With great turmoil, DiCaprio plays Hugh Glass, a frontiersman on a fur trading expedition in the 1820s, who fights for survival after being mauled by a bear and left for dead by his own hunting team.

The Revenant speaks about hunters living and working in the 1800’s under harsh conditions. The Revenant was shot under changing climate. Every single day there were massive rehearsals before the hour and a half of natural light would arrive to capture. Physically demanding, the film was shot under sub-zero temperatures which was a constant struggle for the crew and the actors.

This is Leonardo DiCaprio’s fifth Academy Award nomination. He was previously nominated for What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), The Aviator (2004), Blood Diamond (2006) and The Wolf of Wall Street (2013). In The Revenant, Leonardo literally eats a bison liver, sleeps inside a horse carcass, fights with a bear, helplessly watches the murder of his son and of course, gets his revenge.

 

Shaun the Sheep Movie

Directed and written by Mark Burton and Richard Starzak, Shaun the Sheep Movie is a 2015 British animated adventure comedy film based on the television series Shaun the Sheep that first aired on CBBC in 2007. Shot in Aardman’s distinctive stop-motion animation style, Shaun the Sheep is the story of an unusually bright sheep, the leader of his flock at a small northern British farm. Shaun’s attemps to add excitement to his mundane life at the farm always gets him into mischief. While trying to stear the flock from harm’s way, Shaun often teams up with Bitzer, the farm sheepdog  and a real life saver, when trying to keep the flock in check.

Shaun the Sheep Movie is a silent funny film where sheeps communicate through bleating, (baaaaah). It’s the barn-animal noises mixed with goofy sounds effects that propels this story in a comedic tone that is a combination of slapstick and classic silent comedy. Like Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit, this adorable tale about sheep is amusing and creative. Shaun the Sheep Movie is another stop-motion jewel that stands up to the Aardman Animations collection and it certainly stands out as one of 2015’s best animated films.

Sicario

After the blockbuster success of Prisoners, French Canadian director Denis Villeneuve continues his foray into the American mainstream with Sicario, one of 2015’s best films thus far.

After climbing the ranks of her increasingly dangerous profession, idealistic FBI agent Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) receives a new assignment. Recruited by an elite and mysterious government task force official (Josh Brolin), Kate is to aid in the escalating war against an impenetrable cartel boss. Led by the intense and shadowy Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro), the team travels back-and-forth across the U.S.-Mexican border.

Sicario is a tightly knit 2 hour thriller led by the outstanding performances from Emily Blun and Benicio Del Toro. Emily Blunt (Edge of Tomorrow, The Devil Wears Prada) is simple yet evocative as the wearisome FBI agent. As for Benicio Del Toro, the subject matter is far from uncharted (Traffic), and he delivers a memorable performance that leans heavily on his uncanny ability to put the chill on. Known for his intensity and idiosyncratic performances, Benicio Del Toro is still one of Hollywood’s most unique actors and his performance could very well earn him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Sicario is certainly worth the ride. Accompanied by Jóhann Jóhannsson’s low rumbles, that also permeated Villeneuve’s lesser known Enemy, Sicario provides many nail-biting highlights without leaving the audience feeling as though he sacrificed the film’s mood and tone for big budget studio demands. Slow though intense, Sicario is further validation of Villeneuve’s ability to create a film for the masses without compromising his signature style.

Cutie and the Boxer

Art documentaries are not that common. There are quite a few out there but for some reason, probably for money reasons, they are not that accessible. They mostly appear in art and film festivals. It’s actually rare to catch one on a big screen. Today, art documentaries can be reached more easily through providers of on-demand Internet streaming media like Netflix. Art documentaries share unique stories and nowadays artists use more and more film to present their work. This is the case of boxing painter Ushio Shinohara and wife Noriko in the beautifully-made documentary Cutie and the Boxer. 

Rising star in the 70’s New York art scene, Ushio Shinohara is an 80-year-old painter who uses boxing to paint. Noriko, his wife, seeks her own recognition through ‘Cutie’ illustrations which depict her 40-year marriage to Ushio. Cutie and the Boxer is Ushio Shinohara prepping his latest show while Noriko unravels Cutie’s ups and downs.

Aside the story, it is impressive to see how the two artists are being filmed. Director and writer Zachary Heinzerling happens to film them pretty easily. It seems that between the three, there is an actual bonding. Maybe the artists have been filmed over a year. In any case, the couple seem so at ease in front of the camera, it’s as if sometimes the camera isn’t even there. The documentary opens up with Noriko waking-up Ushio early in the morning for his 80th birthday cake. Having his first coffee of the day, Ushio talks about going out of the country to sell work to pay the rent.

Capturing the lives of two artists united by a dedication for art-making, Cutie and the Boxer is a unique take on love, marriage and sacrifices.

Whiplash

It’s always a struggle. Whether at home by yourself or with a friend, there is always a certain amount of time reserved to find the best film for the night. People spend time in order to find the best film to watch. Sometimes a great film happens to fall in your hands and then boom! It changes your life. Most of the time, films can be pretty disappointing when you don’t actually spend time searching for them. Here is one that caught people’s attention in 2014.

Unless perseverance and music isn’t inspiring to you, Whiplash is a beauty in terms of sound mixing, visuals, storytelling and acting. Directed by Damien Chazelle (Grand Piano), Whiplash is the story of a promising young drummer (Miles Teller) who enrolls at a cut-throat music conservatory where his dreams of greatness are mentored by an instructor (J.K. Simmons) who will stop at nothing to realize a student’s potential.

Miles Teller (Divergent, The Spectacular Now) and J.K. Simmons (Juno) are particularly good. Both intense, the two surprisingly pair up in this love and hate relationship. More interesting, the two play outside of their usual range. This is one of 2014’s best films.

Ida

This is one of 2014’s best foreign films, or should we say 2013. Ida is a 2013 Polish drama film directed by Pawel Pawlikowski (My Summer of Love) that has won prestigious Polish and European industry awards, including Best Film awarded by the Polish Film Academy, and Best Film awarded by the European Film Academy.

Poland, 1962. Orphan brought up by nuns in the convent, Anna is a novice on the verge of taking her vows when she discovers a dark family secret dating back to the years of the Nazi occupation. Anna is told by her prioress that before she takes her vows, she should visit her only living relative, Wanda.

This is Pawel Pawlikowski’s own background. Learning late in life that his grandmother had died in Auschwitz, Pawlikowski revisits his roots with Ida. He returns to his native Poland for the first time in his career and confronts issues in the history of his birthplace.

Ida will probably loose the vast majority of viewers along the way, but the film surely offers a highly visual experience. Black and white, the film delivers great visual scenes and interesting framings. Eloquently shot, Ida is one 2014’s greatest films.

This is an excellent performance from Polish born actress Agata Trzebuchowska, a student with no prior acting experience. Playing Anna, Trzebuchowska is garnering international accolades for her debut performance and gained recognition from critics all over the world. The film itself secured a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Language Film and is Poland’s entry for the 2014 Oscars as well.

 

 

Frank

Funny, dark, weird and eccentric. Frank is a story about a band with an enigmatic and mysterious lead singer named Frank. His friend Jon, a wanna-be musician, discovers he’s bitten off more than he can chew when he joins Frank‘s pop band.

Here is Michael Fassbender (Fish Tank, A Dangerous Method) playing a leading singer based on Chris Sievey’s iconic comedy character Frank Sidebottom. Can’t see why someone wouldn’t be interested in this film. Inspired by the American singer, songwriter, musician and artist Daniel Dale Johnston, Frank suffers from a mental illness. His only way of living is through music making and singing. He shares his needs with his band, Jon (Domhnall Gleeson), Don (Scoot McNairy), Baraque (François Civil), Nana (Carla Azar) and Clara (Maggie Gyllenhaal).

If compared with many of the franchises outthere who seems to produce films just for the sake of money, Frank is an example of those tiny films who has something else to share. Not film of the year,  but creative and timid, Frank is a drama comedy that has this little something different. The music performed live in the film is actually played by the actors themselves! This is how little and different it is.

On top of that, Maggie Gyllenhaal is perfect in it. She couldn’t be better. The way she plays is so right. She goes from being impolite to totally annoying and mean. This might be one of her best supporting role ever and there’s nothing wrong with the fact that its a comedy.

Wondering if Fassbender actually wore the big spheroidal head the whole film? Indeed he did. He had peripheral vision when wearing Frank‘s head. It might of affected his acting. Still this is clearly a different project for the actor and definitely a good one.

Gone Girl

One of October’s major entries, Gone Girl is David Fincher’s latest film.  After making The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), The Social Network (2010), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), Zodiac (2007) and Fight Club (1999), it is difficult to avoid Fincher’s work. In 2014, the highly skilled director puts into images an adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s novel Gone Girl, a story about a man who sees the spotlight turned on him when he’s suspected of the disappearance of his wife. Starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike, Gone girl is a quite interesting drama-thriller that will intrigue everyone.

Known for his visually stricking films, Fincher is particularly fervent of  dark violent scenes. Tense, clever and popular, his films illustrate Fincher’s strong interest for esthetics. Since the making of Seven, Fincher has been working with Jeff Cronenweth. Then he has been collaborating with great cinematographers such as Darius Khondji, who worked with Polanski and Wong Kar Wai, and Harris Savides, who worked with Gus Van Sant and Sofia Coppola. He is a visual director and a perfectionist. Fincher did 99 takes for a single Social Network scene. 

In Gone Girl, Fincher’s cinematography is as good but not as surprising. Gone Girl has a blue-grey dark tone and mood that stands the entire film. Only one scene breaks this linear trajectory. It’s something similar to Takashi Miike’s Audition. From this precise moment, the film cannot be the same. It undeniably leads to few possibilites of endings. 

Lots of contention for the readers with Gone Girl’s ending. People went strongly about weather they loved it or hated it. Writer Gillian Flynn has had a giant critical and commercial success with Gone Girl. She was actually quite surprised by people’s reactions. Having Rosemary’s Baby and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf as two of her all-time favorite works, Flynn finds nothing wrong in fishtail endings. She explains that she never really needed a hero narrative. She’s not the type. Open endings can be very interesting but definitely a matter of personal taste. Oscars coming up, Gone Girl will probably be nominated for best Cinematography, director or Writing-adapted Screenplay. It wouldn’t be David Fincher’s first Oscar nomination, and let’s hope not the last.

Boyhood

Richard Linklater’s last film Boyhood has been brought up so far as one of 2014’s best films. After making Slacker (1991), Dazed and Confused (1993), Before Sunrise (1995) and Waking Life (2001), Richard Linklater brings the story of Mason, a young man’s life from age 5 to age 18. Where lots of his films take place within a single day, Boyhood is a fictional project expanded over 12 years.

Mason, played by Ellar Coltrane, and his sister Samantha, played by Lorelei Linklater (Richard Linklater’s daughter), are both literally growing up on-screen in Boyhood. Separated since several years, Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette appear as their parents and in reconstructed families. From family dinners to graduations and drug experiences, Boyhood depicts the stages of Mason’s contemporary life. Spanning the years over Coldplay and Arcade Fire, Boyhood is a nostalgic, transcendent ode to growing up and parenting.

Self-taught writer-director Richard Linklater is among the successful talents to emerge during the American independent film period in the 90s. Linklater is known to explore what he calls “the youth rebellion continuum“. Nuanced and elaborated, clearly Boyhood deserves attention. Linklater’s intention and idea behind the project is creative and original. The process is deeply interesting but it does not make it film of the year. The story is great, Coltrane delivers a great performance as a kid and teenager. Arquette and Hawke are both fine but there are lengths. Although, it should be nominated for an Oscars in the writing and original screenplay category.

21 Years: Richard Linklater is also coming out in 2014. This is a documentary about the godfather of indie, the style and skills of Richard Linklater. Through candid conversations with Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Keanu Reeves, Jack Black and others, see what the legendary director brings to the film establishment. It is been said that the 21 first years of an artist’s career defines it. Richard Linklater is an artist to know in the cinema industry. 

How to Train Your Dragon 2

DreamWorks Animation finally released one of the most anticipated film of 2014, How to Train your Dragon 2. The long-awaited sequel to the 2010’s excellent How to Train your Dragon builds on its predecessor’s successes just as it should. Don’t know what the movies are about? They are new animation films in the genre since its story is mostly about vikings and dragons.

It’s been five years since Hiccup and Toothless united dragons and vikings on the island of Berk. While Astrid, Snotlout and the rest of the gang are challenging each other to dragon races, Hiccup and Toothless discover an ice cave filled with hundreds of new wild dragons that will lead them at the center of a battle.

Best known for having written and co-directed Disney’s Lilo & Stitch, Canadian writer and director Dean DeBlois teams up again with Cressida Cowell for How to Train your Dragon 2. The two did find a way to keep it fresh and entertaining. While marking his passage into manhood and his worthiness amongst the tribe, Hiccup faces new challenges including his friendship with Toothless. Exciting, the film shows the inseparable pair journey through the skies and exploring new worlds. In order to save the future of men and dragons, the two will have to face the power-hungry Drago.

The thrilling second chapter of the How to Train Your Dragon triology – yes, there will be another one – clearly meets the expectations. The story emotionally resonates with the high and lows of life while being beautifully animated. The film’s story naturally unfolds and open up to new horizons. 

Featuring voices of Jay Baruchel, Cate Blanchette, Kristen Wiig, Jonah Hill and Kit Harington, the film will please the whole family. Along Toy Story 2, Up, Finding Nemo, Ratatouille and Spirited Away, How to Train Your Dragon and its sequel are definitely musts in the animation film history.