Sony Pictures' "The Interview" is finally making its way into Canadian theatres.If you haven't already downloaded it online, you can catch the James Franco/Seth Rogen comedy at the following Canadian theatres, starting the weekend of January 2, 2015.
British Columbia
Quesnel
Williams Lake
Salmon Arm, Salmar Grand Theatre
Surrey, Hollywood 3 Cinemas
Pitt Meadows, Hollywood 3 Cinemas
Vernon, Towne Cinema
Chilliwack, Cottonwood
Alberta
Calgary, Plaza Theatre
Leduc
Wetaskiwin
Peace River, River City Cinemas
Red Deer, Carnival
Regina, Rainbow Cinemas
Lethbridge, Movie Mill
Manitoba
Portage La Prairie
Saskatchewan
Saskatoon, Roxy
Ontario
Barrie, Uptown
Oakville, Oakville Mews
Ottawa, Mayfair
Ottawa, Rainbow St. Laurent
Orleans, CinéStarz
Mississauga, CinéStarz
Pembroke, Algonquin
Toronto, Carlton Cinemas
Windsor, Lakeshore
Quebec
Montreal, Dollar Theatre
New Brunswick
Campbellton, North Shore Cinema
For exact showtimes, consult your local listings.
Gallery | The 46 Best Movies of 2014'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1'
The second-to-last "Hunger Games" installment saw the franchise slowing down, focusing mostly on the political machinations associated with Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and her decision to lead the underground rebellion in earnest. Action was in short supply in this entry; instead it was all about mood, tension, and unspoken sexual anxiety. (This was the first one without any actual, you know, games.) And yet it was just as thrilling, giving an even more rounded view of the dystopian future and the people personally affected by the ruling powers keeping the weak and poor under their boot. It's also a rousing call to arms, saying that those underneath that boot can (and should) rise up. Power to the people y'all. Hopefully everything explodes in the second installment, due next Thanksgiving, but even if it doesn't, another mood piece would be OK with me.
'Unbroken'For some reason, everyone had pegged Angelina Jolie's harrowing true-life story (based on the best-selling book by "Seabiscuit" author Laura Hillenbrand) as the go-to Oscar heavyweight. When early screenings indicated that it might not be up to that standard, spirits sank. But it's not like "Unbroken" is bad. In fact, there's a whole lot to love about the movie, from the terrific lead performance from Jack O'Connell (as an Olympic runner who is shot down during World War II and tortured endlessly at a Japanese POW camp) to the delicate cinematography by Roger Deakins to the eye-popping visual effects by Industrial Light & Magic to the moving score by Alexandre Desplat to Jolie's direction, which doesn't pull any punches but also doesn't linger or feel exploitative. Who cares if it doesn't win any Oscars? This is still an unforgettable tale of survival and the forces of adversity, shot gorgeously and told with verve and wit by Jolie. Also, there's a really cool scene with sharks.
'Big Eyes'For people of a certain age, they will be able to instantly remember the work of Walter and Margaret Keane, artists who popularized the "Big Eyes" paintings featuring a childish waif with huge, alien eyes. But as weird as those paintings were (and the prints of those paintings -- the "Big Eyes" works are pinpointed as being the beginning of mass market art), the story behind them is even weirder. Walter (played in the film by Christoph Waltz) actually had nothing to do with the paintings; they were all produced by his wife, Margaret (Amy Adams), by all accounts the victim of emotional, physical, and psychological abuse. When Margaret took Walter to court, it ended up in one of the most outrageous scenes in the history of the legal system, so much so that the screenwriters recently admitted to having to tone it down. Tim Burton's best, most heartfelt film since "Ed Wood" is also one of the year's very best movies.
'Into the Woods'Yes, "Into the Woods" has problems, particularly when it enters its gummy third act. (It's easy to imagine this going down smoother if the movie were split into two 90-minute chunks instead of an awkward two-hour mishmash.) But it's also undeniably splendid, featuring a handful of unforgettable moments and fine performances all around. The Rob Marhsall film (based on the beloved Stephen Sondheim/James Lapine musical) is dazzling, for sure, combining various fairy tale tropes into one all-singing, all-dancing free-for-all. There is at least one breakout performance (from James Corden, soon to be a late night host on CBS) and a small collection of dynamic performances from already established movie stars (among them: Emily Blunt, Chris Pine, Johnny Depp and, in the movie's best and most showy performance, Meryl Streep). Yes, it's overlong, it's tonally wonky, and the third act could have used some fortifying, but as a representation of the original stage material and as a sing-along good time for the theater nerd in all of us, "Into the Woods" still comes out on top.
'Inherent Vice'There are many who won't be able to make heads or tails of Paul Thomas Anderson's sprawling Thomas Pynchon adaptation, a kind of shaggy dog, end-of-the-'60s detective story starring Joaquin Phoenix as a burnout private eye. And that's OK. Part of me thinks that PTA never intended everyone to understand "Inherent Vice," but he also seems to have been hellbent on making sure everyone who watched it at least enjoyed themselves. Because it's pretty much impossible not to. It's just too zany and fun; you can get high off the fumes from this film. (Keep in mind that the supporting cast includes Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin, Owen Wilson, Jena Malone, Reese Witherspoon, and Martin Short.) So don't worry if you come away from "Inherent Vice" without being able to deduce what actually happened, that won't make the smile on your face go away faster.
'A Most Violent Year'Statistically speaking, 1981 was one of the most violent years in the history of New York City. And in that milieu writer-director J.C. Chandor has chosen to plop his subtle, deeply moving story of an immigrant heating oil baron (Oscar Isaac), his mobbed-up wife (Jessica Chastain) and the shadowy forces conspiring to take him down. This movie's title is misleading, since there's very little actual violence in the film. It's more about the psychic toll that living in such a society takes, and in the ways that you're bloodied and bruised on your way to achieving the American Dream. Isaac and Chastain contribute two of the finest performances of the year, while Chandor once again elevates his game, creating a mood of unrelenting dread from the first frame to the last. This is, as far as I'm concerned, a new crime classic, one that, even if it's not appreciated in its initial release, will grow in stature and prominence as the years go on. This is a chilly, perfect movie, one that resonates today even while being set in the not-too-distant past. Fuggheddaboutit.
'Selma'If ever there was a time for "Selma," it's now. This historical drama, based on Martin Luther King Jr.'s (David Oyelowo) organized 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery, is full of energy and heart, unafraid of portraying MLK Jr. as fallible and real. By choosing such a specific sliver of his life, director Ana DuVernay is given the ability to explore the character of MLK Jr. in more specificity than would have otherwise allowed. This is a guy who is hotheaded, screwed around, and put his family's life in jeopardy more than once, chasing ideals that were only slightly out of reach. But he was also a compassionate visionary whose outlook changed the world. With an unbelievably wonderful supporting cast (including Tom Wilkinson as LBJ, Tim Roth as racist governor George Wallace, and Carmen Ejogo as Coretta Scott king) and peerless cinematography by Bradford Young, "Selma" is one of the few must-see movies of 2014. Everyone needs to watch "Selma." This is not an exaggeration. The world could use more movies like it.
'The Imitation Game'Sorry, Stephen Hawking, you're not alone in the "troubled scientist biopic" subgenre this season. We also have "The Imitation Game," which looks at the noble works of Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch), a British mathematician who, during World War II, helped the Allies break German's seemingly impenetrable Enigma Code and then, years later, in a cruel twist of fate, was tortured to death by British authorities after discovering that he was a homosexual. (Turing, a lifelong fan of Walt Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," killed himself by ingesting a poisoned apple. This is 100% true and somehow not in the movie.) "The Imitation Game" is a terrific biography, toggling back and forth in Turing's life and showing his pseudo-romantic relationship with a colleague (played by Keira Knightley), that maybe could have used slightly more texture and a touch more weirdness. Still, Cumberbatch gives one of the performances of the year and this, like "Theory of Everything," transcends its BBC-level production values to connect on a truly human level.
'Big Hero 6'It was probably an impossible feat for Disney Animation Studios to try and top their blockbuster "Frozen," and they didn't really; "Big Hero 6" is its own beast, every bit as enjoyable as last year's icy phenomenon but with a totally different tempo, style, and mood. Instead of singing princess, "Big Hero 6" is concerned with the citizens of San Fransokyo, a futuristic amalgam of Tokyo and San Francisco. That's where young Hiro (Ryan Potter), dealing with the death of his older brother Tadashi (Daniel Henney), befriends a cuddly robot named Baymax (Scott Adsit) and inadvertently starts a superhero team tasked with saving the city from certain doom. While it's exciting and gorgeous (it was based on an obscure Marvel comic book), "Big Hero 6" is really special because it acts as a feature-length, profoundly emotional exploration of the stages of grief... except, you know, with robots. Maybe we should let go of "Frozen" for a moment, if only to embrace this new Disney classic.
'Interstellar'Yes, "Interstellar" is one of the more problematic big releases of the season, but it's also one of the more awe-inspiring ones. "Dark Knight" director Christopher Nolan shot for the stars, in this ambitious tale of a pilot-turned-farmer (Matthew McConaughey) tasked with saving the human race from oblivion, by steering a crew of astronauts (among them: Wes Bentley and Anne Hathaway) to far away planets, via a space-and-time-bending wormhole. This is Hollywood filmmaking on the grandest scale imaginable (we saw the film in stunning 70 mm IMAX) and you can feel the ambition in nearly every sequence. While the movie deteriorates towards the end, first into a tangle of narrative loop-de-loops and then into pure sentimentality, you can't deny that he was at least attempting to imbibe the spectacle with meaning and heart. Whether or not he succeeded is another story altogether. But this is still, at the very least, one of the most swing-for-the-fences releases of 2014.
'The Theory of Everything'Stephen Hawking is one of the greatest minds the world has ever known, and it's probably silly to think that any two-hour long movie could untangle his tortured genius in a single stroke. But "Theory of Everything" wisely chooses to eschew much of his mathematic genius by instead focusing on the relationship between Hawking (Eddie Redmayne) and his endlessly put-upon wife Jane (Felicity Jones). And since the movie is largely from Jane's point-of-view, you're able to see Hawking not just as a genius and scientific game changer (not to mention a true source of inspiration, especially after his body started to deteriorate, leaving him in a wheelchair) but as an actual human being, prone to bouts of narcissism and cruelty just like anyone else. With a pair of sterling performances at its center, "Theory of Everything" shines like a supernova erupting in the inky blackness of space.
'Wild'From skuzzy motel rooms to wide-open nature, Jean-Marc Vallée translates Cheryl Strayed best-selling memoir (keenly adapted by novelist Nick Hornby) to the big screen with wonderful results. Reese Witherspoon, continuing her stellar season (she produced "Gone Girl" and costars in "Inherent Vice"), plays Cheryl as a knotty ball of contradictions who, in an effort to realign herself, takes off on a thousand mile hike of the Pacific Crest Trail alone. The supporting performers are great (particularly Laura Dern, seen in flashbacks as her mother) and Vallée paints a portrait of the wilderness at times harsh and almost painfully beautiful. This is a movie, like "Unbroken" or "Selma," about perseverance and a struggle against all odds, except one miniaturized to an insanely personal degree. It's a shame that more people aren't talking about "Wild"; one day they will.
'The Tale of the Princess Kaguya'Last year, animation lovers around the world were rocked by the announcement that Hayao Miyazaki would retire from directing films (his last film, "The Wind Rises," was Oscar-nominated but highly controversial). But that doesn't mean that Miyazaki's company, Studio Ghibli, would shut down, and the proof of that is in the delicate, beautiful "The Tale of the Princess Kaguya," directed and co-written by Isao Takahata, the co-founder of Studio Ghibli. (It's his first feature since 1999's "My Neighbors the Yamadas.") The film is based on an old Japanese folktale about a princess found in a stalk of bamboo, and follows the emotional tug-of-war she faces between her life in a small village as an average child and in a much larger city as an anointed princess. The animation is simple and gorgeous, sketchy drawings flashing by on watercolor backdrops; it's unforgettable and unique and unlike any other animated movie you saw this year.
'The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies'Yes, Peter Jackson's "Hobbit" trilogy got off to a shaky start, but it's undeniable that the consummate filmmaker pulled out all of the stops for the third (and final) installment, with thundering armies charging at one another, eagles and bats swooping out of the sky, and genuine emotional stakes (even if we could never sort out which dwarf was which). In this third entry, a young Bilbo (Martin Freeman) is engaged not only in the battle with fiery dragon Smaug (voiced, once again, by Benedict Cumberbatch) but the ensuing, massive skirmish that follows. (Keep in mind that the titular battle goes on for 45 minutes.) Even if you were never engaged with this trilogy, you'll still find yourself getting misty-eyed, since this isn't just the end of the "Hobbit" trilogy but the Tolkien franchise as a whole. And that's incredibly bittersweet.
'Top Five'Chris Rock goes full Woody Allen in this Toronto smash about an actor (played by Rock) who is being interviewed by a New York Times reporter (Rosario Dawson) on the eve of his wedding to a reality television star (Gabrielle Union). The movie goes on a number of narrative tangents, which is OK because Rock is such a wonderful actor and frequently anchors the comedy in genuine emotion. (Dawson is as good, and as underrated, as she's ever been.) While the movie has some issues when it comes to the portrayal of the gay and female characters, and is about the most unrealistic depiction of what journalism is ever, it also has a scene where Jerry Seinfeld makes it rain at an all-black strip club. So you've got to take the good with the bad, as rough-around-the-edges as "Top Five" is, it's also insanely entertaining, satiric, and fun.
'Ida'This unflinching, idea-heavy Polish film (it's currently available on Netflix), follows a young nun (Agata Trzebuchowska) in the '60s who, before she takes her vows, makes a pilgrimage to discover her roots. She meets up with her aunt Wanda (Agata Kulesza) who tells her that she is, in fact, Jewish and that her parents were murdered in World War II. The two go on a strange odyssey of discovery, attempting to uncover the location of her parents' grave and forming an unlikely bond in the process. "Ida" is stark and jaw-dropping, the frame composed of a boxy 4:3 aspect ratio and shot in black-and-white so luscious you could swear that the image is made out of different shades of velvet. In the movie's brief 80-minute runtime, it covers an insane amount of thematic and symbolic ground and will absolutely break your heart in the process. Here's hoping it takes home the Best Foreign Language Feature Oscar next year. Fingers crossed!
'Whiplash'This was the standout sensation of Sundance this year, and now that it's finally coming out nationwide, the acclaim should rise steadily still. "Whiplash" is about a young drumming prodigy (Miles Teller) and the borderline abusive instructor who pushes him towards greatness (J.K. Simmons -- if this man doesn't get an Oscar nomination, we will pout endlessly). "Whiplash" is a whooshing audio/visual assault -- it's edited and scored with ratatat precision and plays like a tense, white-knuckle thriller, even though it's about the relatively low-stakes world of jazz drumming. In short, it's kind of a marvel. And it marks the debut of a genuine talent in the form of filmmaker Damien Chazelle, who made his directorial debut with the film (he also wrote one of our other favorite movies of the year, "Grand Piano"). "Whiplash" establishes that Chazelle is a major creative force to watch in the years ahead.
'Gone Girl'It shouldn't have been a surprise that David Fincher took Gillian Flynn's mega-best-seller and made an instant classic out of it, but hey, we're kind of shocked at just how impeccable "Gone Girl" turned out. The tale of a smarmy husband (Ben Affleck, in his best performance ever) whose wife (Rosamund Pike) goes missing, "Gone Girl" hits all the right notes for a modern thriller while also investing in deep thematic material about the nature of marriage, contemporary gender roles, and the way the media feeds upon tragedy. It wasn't just that Fincher was able to pull off the many, ostensibly "literary" twists the book delivered, but it was that he was able to do it with such a cinematic spin. This is easily one of the most entertaining movies of the year, and one of the best, full of peerless performances, one of the year's best scores (by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross) and impeccable camerawork by Jeff Cronenweth. It was so good that it was worth the uncomfortable conversations with your significant other on the car ride home.
'The Guest'We saw "The Guest" was back at SXSW this past spring, and we love it just as much as we did back then. In "The Guest," former "Downton Abbey" heartthrob Dan Stevens stars as a combat veteran who decides to check in on his fallen comrade's family. Then things get decidedly weirder. It's hard to talk about "The Guest" without giving away some of the surprises, which you don't really want to do because this is a movie comprised almost exclusively of surprises (both big and small). But just know that "You're Next" filmmakers Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett really stepped up their game with their latest genre concoction, something that oscillates between candy-colored camp and genuine terror, in a way that is totally unforgettable. This is the stuff that cult classics are made of.
'The Boxtrolls'As far as mainstream animation goes, 2014 hasn't been a great year (a lackluster slate from DreamWorks Animation, zero Pixar movies, and a lone Disney Animation Studio joint that we can't talk about yet). But leave it to Laika, that lovable group of oddball stop motion animators in Portland, Oregon, to give us a genuine treat in "The Boxtrolls." The titular trolls are a group of subterranean dwellers who live underneath a vaguely Victorian, cheese-worshipping British township. When they become public enemy No. 1, their lone human child, named Eggs (Isaac Hempstead-Wright from "Game of Thrones"), has to return to the surface and stop an evil exterminator (played, deliciously, by Ben Kingsley) from wiping them all out. It's a wonderful ode to the fact that a family can be made from any number of participants and the stop-motion animation of Laika has never looked so wonderfully weird.
'Birdman'Just when you thought you couldn't love Michael Keaton any more comes "Birdman," Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's off-the-wall tragic comedy that concerns a has-been actor, known mostly for his work in a series of big budget superhero movies, who hopes to reinvent himself by putting on a Broadway play. Filmed in a series of uninterrupted takes that make the movie feel like it was captured in one fluid camera movement, "Birdman" features a handful of the year's finest performances (from Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Andrea Riseborough, Emma Stone, and Naomi Watts) and some of the more ambitious filmmaking we've seen all year. If you don't know whether to laugh or to cry, then you're probably watching "Birdman."
'A Walk Among the Tombstones'This is undeniably the best Liam Neeson vehicle since "The Grey," but the marketing made it seem like just another entry in the "Taken" franchise. Far from it -- "A Walk Among the Tombstones" was a deeply meditative and all-around awesome New York-set thriller that saw Neeson's disgraced policeman turned unscrupulous private eye track down a duo of psychopaths at the turn of the millennium. Dark but never oppressively bleak, this feature from writer/director Scott Frank will surely find an appreciative audience down the line, which is good because it was almost wholly ignored upon its initial release. If you're looking for superbly photographed, delicately acted, wonderfully paced, hard-boiled crime fiction, though, look no further than "A Walk Among the Tombstones."
'Citizenfour'Edward Snowden, the whistle-blower who exposed a huge, highly illegal spying operation that saw the American government listening in on countless phone calls of innocent Americans, has always been something of an obscure figure. He lacked the flash of someone like Julian Assange, probably because he had been in hiding since the moment he cracked these secrets wide open. What Laura Poitras' blistering documentary "Citizenfour" does so brilliantly is open up what makes Snowden tick, as a person, and define what motivated his decision to leak all of this sensitive information. (Poitras was one of the first journalists who Snowden made contact with, when he was deciding to do this.) It's a chatty, informal documentary that still plays like the best political thriller since "All the President's Men."
'Nightcrawler'If you've been watching movies with any regularity over the past few years, you know that Jake Gyllenhaal is one of the most exciting actors working today. (Can you imagine another actor this handsome and seemingly groomed for superstardom who would do movies like "Brokeback Mountain," "Source Code," "Zodiac," "Enemy" and "Prisoners"?) But with "Nightcrawler," he takes things to an entirely different level. Gyllenhaal plays a seedy freelance crime journalist who stalks the Los Angeles underworld looking for a scoop; Rene Russo plays his superior at a local television station and Riz Ahmed is his hapless protégé. The movie is pitch black and gleefully perverse. It's probably not for everybody but those who go to see it will be rewarded generously.
'Stretch'One of the best movies of the year never even made it to movie screens. "Stretch" was one of a handful of movies produced by Jason Blum's Blumhouse shingle and locked away in a movie morgue, until they were unceremoniously released on various digital platforms (and on DVD at Walmart). "Stretch" is the best of the bunch, a rollicking, out-of-control R-rated thriller written and directed by "The Grey" filmmaker Joe Carnahan and starring Patrick Wilson as a limo driver having the worst... night... ever. The starry, largely unrecognizable supporting cast includes Chris Pine, Brooklyn Decker, Ed Helms, Jessica Alba, James Badge Dale, and Ray Liotta (as himself). This is Carnahan working with bright colors, larger-than-life characters, and fits of extreme outrageousness, somehow calibrating each so that the over-the-top-ness never topples the movie's central narrative drive. It's a shame that this movie never got in front of an audience; it would be a surefire favorite at places like the Alamo Drafthouse or festivals like Fantastic Fest. Hey, at least we can see it now, even if it is only in the comfort of your own home.
'Force Majeure'This dark Swedish comedy, which debuted at Cannes and went on to play Toronto and Fantastic Fest, is a one-of-a-kind treasure (it's also the country's entry for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar). In the movie, a well-off family (anchored by Johannes Kuhnke and Lis aloven Kongsli) travels to the French Alps to do some skiing and relaxing. While there, a "controlled avalanche" spooks the husband into essentially abandoning his wife and two children. The avalanche was little more than a snowy dust-up, but the repercussions of his implied escape echo throughout the rest of the family's vacation. In a weird way, "Force Majeure" is a great companion piece to "Gone Girl," in so much as both films investigate gender roles, the institution of marriage, and the differing ways marriage can be interpreted. But "Force Majeure" might be even nastier... and even funnier.
'Guardians of the Galaxy'Sure, "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" was a whole lot of fun, especially with its Marvel superhero-sized take on the '70s conspiracy thriller, but what made "Guardians of the Galaxy" such a refreshing blast in this superhero-choked summer, was that it actually had a distinct personality, and that personality was pretty off. Taking place in the farthest reaches of the cosmos meant that even if "Guardians of the Galaxy" bombed (which, as we know now, it didn't), it wouldn't affect the rest of the so-called Marvel Cinematic Universe; it also meant that it could be really weird and fun. Chris Pratt became a bona-fide movie star in his role as Star-Lord, and was supported by a wonderful, totally colorful (literally) cast that included Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, and Karen Gillan, with Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel (voicing a talking raccoon and a tree-creature, respectively). The whole thing was just a blast -- from the candy-colored design aesthetic to the soundtrack full of '70s-era soul staples to the quip-filled screenplay. It might not have been the best big movie to come out this summer but it was the best time at a movie all summer (and maybe all year).
'Boyhood'There was every other movie released in 2014... and then there was "Boyhood," an almost unfathomable achievement that blurs the lines between filmmaking and anthropology, charting 12 years in the life of a young man (played, with patience and grace, by Ellar Coltrane) and all that that entails. Maybe the most shocking thing about a conceit as grandiose as "Boyhood" is how small it is -- scenes begin and end elliptically; time passes, as it does, with limited outrageousness. Things just happen. Parents come together and fall apart; dreams are born and then fizzle; life goes on. Director Richard Linkater, coming off a similarly brilliant exercise in time, last year's "Before Midnight," captures the humility of everyday moments with such subtlety and nuance that the movie doesn't feel like a movie at all, but rather a documentary, unfolding before your very eyes. (Special props also need to be singled out for Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke, not just for their generous donation of time but in their raw, unglamorous performances.) "Boyhood" was a singular experience, one unlike anything else in motion pictures this year (or, perhaps, ever). And it was just as long as "Transformers: Age of Extinction." So think about that. It's all happening right now.
'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes'Part of what made 2011's "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" so much fun was that it was such a surprise. The reboot/prequel to the original series of classic sci-fi films (seriously, watch "Escape from the Planet of the Apes" -- it's the bomb!), combining cutting-edge motion capture effects with a classical "prison escape" plot was riveting and heartfelt and meant that the pressure was on for the sequel to match (or top) what came before it. Luckily, it did. Director Matt Reeves gave us a tale firmly entrenched in the nascent ape society (the first 20 wordless minutes are especially brilliant), showing how the human society, ever on the verge of war, can't leave well enough alone. It was another technological tour de force, of course, with Andy Serkis's Caesar, forced to assume a position of power, as not just the head of a culture but the leader of an army, is again the standout; he breathes soul into the pixels. But it is Reeves who deserves the most credit -- he brings humor, humanity, and soul into a movie that borrows from several previous "Apes" movies but has a distinct mood and energy all its own. Also, for the first time in a few decades, a "Planet of the Apes" movie that was actually scary.
'Edge of Tomorrow'While championed by critics (myself included), "Edge of Tomorrow," the whirligig sci-fi film from "The Bourne Identity" director Doug Liman, was almost universally ignored by audiences despite the fact that it's really, really good. In the film, Tom Cruise plays a PR flak who's drafted into an intergalactic conflict (Earth has found itself invaded by the Mimics, bio-mechanical monsters that are all spinning tentacles and gnashing teeth). He's a coward and he knows it, and on his first day of battle he finds himself infected with the alien's blood -- something that gives him the rare ability to restart the day, but only if he dies. So Cruise teams up with a soldier that has had a similar experience (played by a terrific Emily Blunt) and they go about saving the world. It sounds like a typical sci-fi movie, except with the time travel twist, but it's an absolute joy, thanks mostly to Cruise's willingness to make himself look goofy or foolish and Liman's formal inventiveness. Hopefully, audiences will catch onto the movie when it hits digital platforms and home video, even though it's gone through a confusing title-change. Whatever Warner Bros ends up calling this movie, it's majorly terrific.
'Obvious Child'The transition from a "Sundance favorite" into something that everyday audiences can enjoy is always a shaky one, but "Obvious Child," a winning, utterly real romantic comedy from Gillian Robespierre, did just that, and made it seem easy. The film is basically what would happen if "Knocked Up" happened in real life and not in some fantasy land that Judd Apatow created. Instead of keeping the baby and getting info forced comedic situations with the would-be father, the young girl (in this case, the irrepressible Jenny Slate) would have an abortion. And that's what she does. But the film never gets bogged down in the specifics of the procedure or how much of a bummer it all is; instead, it feels like an act of empowerment. And never, for a moment, does the movie lose its winning sense of humor, which oscillates between bubbly and sardonic. It's a high-wire act that is pulled off with an unfathomable amount of aplomb. This isn't an abortion comedy; it's a comedy about a woman who goes through with an abortion.
'Snowpiercer'In July, there was a showdown of sci-fi behemoths: on one side there was Michael Bay's fourth "Transformers" film (with the ludicrous subtitle "Age of Extinction"), which opened on thousands of screens in eye-piercing 3D; on the other side was "Snowpiercer," by South Korean auteur Bong Joon-ho, which was probably just as epic but not nearly as long and came out on a handful of screens. "Transformers" was barely watchable; "Snowpiercer" is a stone-cold masterpiece, which is appropriate given that the film takes place in a bleak futureworld, where human tampering has brought about a new ice age and all of humanity (including Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton, Octavia Spencer and Jamie Bell) is contained to a single, unstoppable train. As heady as it is fun, "Snowpiercer" is one of those sci-fi classics that people will be talking about for decades to come, complete with its own, highly controversial ending (that, like the conclusion to "Blade Runner," is also open to a fair amount of debate). The fact that so few people have actually seen the movie (even after it debuted, in subsequent weeks, on VOD) is something of a tragedy, but this is clearly the kind of movie that will have a long, long life after theaters.
'Cold in July'If you only known Michael C. Hall as the charming serial killer on his Showtime series "Dexter," then you owe it to yourself to seek out "Cold in July," the profoundly brilliant low-budget revenge movie from up-and-coming genre filmmaker Jim Mickle. This is a very different Michael C. Hall. The film is a period piece and Hall plays a small town frame-store owner who murders an intruder who has broken into his house. When the man's father (Sam Shepard) is released from prison and decides to pay Hall a visit, the movie threatens to zig in a certain direction, before it up and zags in a completely unexpected one. That's part of what makes "Cold in July" so much fun -- it's wildly unpredictable in the best way possible. Even months after its release, we don't want to say too much. Just know that it's a throwback to old thrillers from the '80s (complete with a deliriously amazing synth score by Jeff Grace) and features one of the greatest performances of the year, courtesy of Don Johnson (as a pig farmer/bounty hunter).
'Godzilla'With the memories of the 1998 "Godzilla," which starred a frazzled Matthew Broderick and, for some reason, much of the cast of "The Simpsons," still fresh in our minds, we approached "Godzilla" with excitement but also trepidation. This is one of the most iconic screen monsters of all time; we prayed that they wouldn't mess it up again. Thankfully, they didn't. Director Gareth Edwards instilled actual awe and wonder into the character, and teased his look until the big finale, when the King of the Monsters battled a pair of insect-y monsters that wanted to get busy (and end the world). While Edwards could have probably chosen a more charismatic lead (Aaron Taylor-Johnson didn't emote as much as he "stared blankly"), the movie is still full of terrific little performances (by people like Bryan Cranston and Sally Hawkins) and delivered the goods in a smart, effective way. With this latest incarnation, Godzilla was returned to his former glory. It was cause for celebration... and maybe the destruction of a few major cities.
'Frank'The idea of having Michael Fassbender, proud owner of one of the planet's handsomest faces, in a lead role that requires him to encase his head in a giant papier-mâché sphere for most of the film's running time, might not be the most appetizing to some. But this oddball flourish, one of many that makes up the totally beguiling, charming, and in the end, emotionally engaging "Frank," ends up being one of the biggest draws for the film. It's loosely based on Frank Sidebottom, a persona of British comedian Chris Sievey, but is also something else entirely, and can speak for any constructed musical act, everything from Captain Beefheart to Daft Punk. Domhnall Gleeson, who will soon be setting off for a galaxy far, far away, plays a young musician who is entranced by the titular musician (Fassbender) and his merry band of losers (including Maggie Gyllenhaal and Scoot McNairy). The screenplay, by journalist Jon Ronson and "Tinker Tailer Soldier Spy" writer Peter Straughan, is witty and smart, keeping it just this side of a feature-length exploration of the Muppets' Electric Mayhem band. And we mean that in the best possible way.
'Lucy'There are a lot of claims leveled at big summer movies: there aren't enough female lead characters, they're too long, they're not about anything. Then, along comes "Lucy," starring Scarlett Johansson as a young woman who accidentally overdoses on an experimental drug and starts to utilize unprecedented parts of her brain, that wrestles with knotty existential issues and is also 88 minutes long. What is there not to love her? What makes "Lucy" such an incredible, kicky film, especially in an age of studio-mandated sequels and spin-offs, is how wildly original this is -- it's like if the "Tree of Life" was remade as a direct-to-Cinemax action movie. It's the two halves of "Lucy," the one that thinks that firing a whole lot of bullets is really cool versus the one that is pondering the entangled nature of ourselves and the cosmos, that make it so refreshing. And Scarlett, coming off a truly incredible year that saw her dazzle in small personal projects ("Under the Skin") and large-scale franchises ("Captain America: The Winter Soldier"), is absolutely unstoppable. If you stayed away from "Lucy" because the trailers made it seem formulaic, hopefully you will visit it soon.
'Captain America: The Winter Soldier'Last fall's "Thor: The Dark World" was easily the weakest Marvel movie thus far: it had an iffy story, slack pacing, and groan-worthy dialogue (except for whatever Kat Dennings said). So it was with some trepidation that we approached "Captain America: The Winter Soldier." Thankfully, we didn't just get a terrific popcorn movie, but one of the better films in the Marvel canon. Period. This is largely due to the fact that the movie appropriated the tone and feeling of a '70s conspiracy thriller (for at least the first two-thirds, before the spaceships start coming out), and because the Russo Brothers, making their Marvel debut, actually gave the female characters (like Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow) and African-American characters (including the new hero Falcon, played by Anthony Mackie) something to do. But this movie really belongs to Chris Evans, who plays the title role with a mixture of aw-shucks charm and deep uneasiness about the new time that he's been unthawed into. He's the rare hero you are urging to become more cynical. We hope that this is the start of a new stretch of super-cool Marvel movies, continuing with this summer's "Guardians of the Galaxy" and next year's "Avengers: Age of Ultron" and, of course, (finally!) "Ant-Man."
'The Grand Budapest Hotel'The idea of Wes Anderson tackling the outbreak of World War II in Eastern Europe was always a touchy proposition. After all, does the mass extermination of countless Jews really need to be wrapped inside his patented brand of doily-ready whimsy? But, as it turns out, the movie was much sadder, more violent, and more contemplative than we imagined it would be, featuring a number of fine performances (led by the irrepressible Ralph Fiennes) and some of his more adventurous visuals in quite some time (complete with at least three different aspect ratios). This was the first Anderson movie to break the $100 million mark (worldwide), and with good reason -- it's more universal, wilder, and weirder. We still wish he would loosen up and push things even further (his dollhouse worldview is feeling fairly well-trodden), but this is easily his most complete, emotionally resonant work since 2009's animated fable "Fantastic Mr. Fox."
'The Lego Movie'It's hard not to think about a movie based around the colorful building blocks being a naked act of commercialism run wild. And it is that... sort of. But it's also a wonderfully witty animated film that features some of the more gorgeous visuals you're ever likely to see (niftily blending stop-motion animation and 3D computer animation) and one of the few movies for children where talk about "the limitless power of imagination" doesn't feel like a series of empty platitudes. (It also might be the best use of 3D since "Gravity.") The Lego world, as depicted in the movie, with shades of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and "Wreck-It Ralph," is a world of limitless possibility, where Batman can join forces with a 1980s-something spaceman and a construction worker drone to save the world from certain destruction. There's genuine awe and a profound kind of wonder buried, brick by brick, within "The Lego Movie." It's also easily the funniest movie of 2014 and proof positive that director Phil Lord and Chris Miller ("21 Jump Street") can make you laugh (and, we're not ashamed to admit it, cry) in any dimension.
'Under the Skin'For some, the movie's logline (Scarlett Johansson as a sexually omnivorous alien) was enough to get them into the theater. But once there, they watched something altogether different unfold: a dreamy, technically unparalleled marvel about the fluidity of sexuality and what really makes us human. It sounds like it could have been a direct-to-video "Species" sequel; instead it's something that will be puzzled over and picked apart for years. Johansson, who has long been a cinematic sex icon, knowingly deconstructs her own image, turning the male gaze that's so heavily fixated upon her (even by writers in the New Yorker) into something powerful and dangerous and refracting it back upon those same men. And oh how she destroys those men. Director Jonathan Glazer, a certifiable genius who takes way too long between movies, filmed parts of the movie using tiny hidden cameras, but when he goes big (this was the guy who directed award-winning music videos for Jamiroquai, Radiohead, and UNKLE), his visual sense is almost overpowering. The sequences where Johansson marches sexually aroused young men to their doom (to the strains of Mica Levi's dissonant score) is more than unforgettable; it's the primordial, gooey stuff of nightmares.
'Muppets Most Wanted'The grand Muppet reboot got off to a shaky start with 2011's Jason Segal-led "The Muppets," a film with the most cliché-ridden plot imaginable and an uninspired new Muppet at its center. Thankfully, "Muppets Most Wanted" relegated Walter to the sidelines and introduced a zany, "Great Muppet Caper"-esque plot about an international jewel thief who looks eerily like Kermit the Frog. While "The Muppets" tried to recapture that Muppet mojo, it was "Muppets Most Wanted" that felt more like a real Muppet movie. (We're still pining for them to make the long lost "Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made," but that's unlikely to happen, especially without Frank Oz's involvement.) With celebrity cameos out the wazoo (hey! There's Tom Hiddleston again!) and finely calibrated comic performances by Ty Burell, Ricky Gervais, and Tina Fey, it feels like a much more unhinged (and much funnier) affair, especially with the new batch of songs (look for at least one of them to compete for the Oscar next year!) Somewhere, Jim Henson is smiling.
'Grand Piano'Talk about a surprise: this is a micro-budget indie thriller that stars Elijah Wood as a classical concert pianist who comes out of retirement for a sold out show, only to find himself on the wrong end of an assassin, who is tormenting him from backstage. And it is totally brilliant. Owing an equal debt to "Phantom of the Opera" and "Speed," it's a movie about creative passion and tireless thieves, and is directed, with pinpoint percussion and a playful, sardonic edge by Eugenio Mira (working from a script by Damien Chazelle, whose "Whiplash" took this year's Sundance Film Festival by storm). Overstuffed Hollywood thrillers could learn a thing or two about this economic, utterly entertaining thriller that doesn't waste a single moment in its brief 90-minute runtime.
'Only Lovers Left Alive'Ever wonder what ageless vampires talk about? Well, leave it to "Mystery Train" director Jim Jarmusch to answer that question (it turns out, they talk about everything). "Thor" baddie Tom Hiddleston and the luminous Tilda Swinton play Adam and Eve, immortal bloodsuckers who are hopelessly, desperately in love... despite the fact that they oftentimes can't stand each other. It's a wonderful ode to relationships of any kind, really -- not just the kind that have to take place during the cover of darkness -- and the movie adds nifty flourishes to pre-established vampire mythology (gloves and sunglasses, y'all). This is easily Jarmusch's best movie since 1999's "Ghost Dog," and it might be his most energetically directed movie ever, casting a moody, forlorn spell over anyone who watches it. There might not be any neck-biting or turning-into-bats transformations, but that doesn't keep this from being one of the best vampire movies in recent memory.
'The Raid 2'The first "Raid," released a couple of years ago to enthusiastic response (by anybody who saw it – which maybe wasn't a whole bunch of people), already felt like a next generation classic. It uncannily used the basic framework of "Die Hard," mixing in a whole bunch of Eastern martial arts and the structure of an '80s video game, to create an intoxicating, blood-soaked blast. The sequel expanded the scope and feels even more like an ass-kicking breakthrough -- this is a film that you don't watch, you experience. (And, at a running time of nearly 3 hours, it's an exhausting experience at that.) Writer/Director Gareth Evans clearly knows that overkill is underrated, and piles on the breathless action set pieces (including a "mud fight" and a car chase that will blow your mind), careful to weave in an intricate crime plot that gives just the right amount of pause to the story so it's not just one brutalizing fistfight after another. In a weird way, "The Raid 2" is an ultraviolent crime epic. And a new classic, too.
'Oculus'For some reason, audiences slept on "Oculus," the deeply clever, deeply scary horror movie about a woman (future superstar Karen Gillan), but that is not going to keep us from acknowledging it as one of our favorite films of the year thus far. The movie is incredibly spooky and structurally ambitious, dealing with the mirror's past as it parallels with what is going on in the present. Even if audiences didn't get behind it initially, it should have a long, long life as a cult favorite. This is the kind of movie that kids put on at slumber parties to freak out their friends (the apple scene is a classic in the making). This was one of the rare horror films that could have easily necessitated a long franchise; that will probably never happen now.
'Jodorowsky's Dune'There are a number of unmade movies that exist exclusively in the imagination of freaky film nerds. But none has quite the same power as the version of Frank Herbert's "Dune" that was being planned by surrealist (and midnight movie pioneer) Alejandro Jodorowsky. This documentary, featuring extensive interviews with Jodorowsky and his key creative collaborators on the project, is the closest we'll ever get to actually seeing his version of "Dune" -- a sexy, 10-hour-long space odyssey that was so complicated and unhinged that there was no way it could have ever been completed back then (this was the mid-'70s, before "Star Wars" even). The biggest compliment you can afford "Jodorowsky's Dune" is that it takes the tantalizing possibility of Jodorowksy's failed endeavor somewhat more concrete. After watching this documentary, it becomes something that everyone wants to see, and not just the egghead cinephile faithful.
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