Category Archives: Movie News and Articles

2015 Blind Spot Lineup

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BLIND SPOT

For a couple of years now I have seen so many of my fellow movie bloggers take part in the Blind Spot series. How does it work? It’s pretty simple. At the beginning of the year I pick twelve films that I have wanted or needed to see. They are usually popular or critically acclaimed movies that I have somehow missed – shameful omissions that need to be dealt with. The Blind Spot series serves as both confessional and encouragement. It’s such a cool idea. I’ve enjoyed many Blind Spot features from some great bloggers. My pal Ruth at Flixchatter inspired me to give it a try so here I go….

2015 Blind Spot List

JANUARY – “Au Hasard Balthazar” (FULL REVIEW)

Anne Wiazemsky as Marie in Robert Bresson’s AU HASARD BALTHAZA

FEBRUARY – “La Dolce Vita” (FULL REVIEW)

La Dolce Vita

MARCH – “Goldfinger” (FULL REVIEW)

GOLDFINGER

APRIL – “L’Avventura” (Full Review)

AVVEN

MAY – “The Champ” (Full Review)

Champ

JUNE – “My Life to Live” (Full Review)

VIVRE

JULY – “The Bicycle Thief” (Full Review)

BICYCLE

AUGUST – “Paris, Texas” (Full Review)

PARIS

SEPTEMBER – “The Pride of the Yankees” (Full Review)

PRIDE

OCTOBER – “Village of the Damned” (Full Review)

VILLAGE

NOVEMBER – “Network”

NETWORK

DECEMBER – “Sweet Smell of Success”

SWEET SMELL

So there is my 2015 Blind Spot lineup. What do you think? Have some thoughts about the movies I have ahead of me? I would love to hear them in the comments section below.

Top 5 Lead Actress Performances of 2014

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2014Lactress

Today I’m continuing my look at 2014’s best performances. I’ve been looking at each of the four major acting categories and today it’s time for the lead actresses. Last year gave us a host of great lead actress performances spanning numerous genres. The awards circuits have embraced a number of popular picks, but I assure you that my list will feature others that deserve equal attention. So here we go:

#5 – Essie Davis (“The Babadook”)

BABA

You’ll have a hard time finding a more heart-wrenching performance than the one we get from Australian actress Essie Davis in “The Babadook”. This gem of a horror film uses its smarts by dabbling in the psychological. Davis shows us a worn-down single mother who desperately loves her troubled son. But the movie shifts and Davis gives us one of the most startling portrayals of a mental breakdown you will see. It’s such a committed and convincing performance that pulls in our sympathies while also completely unsettling us.

#4 – Amy Adams (“Big Eyes”)

ADAMS

Over the years Amy Adams has shown herself to be a tremendous actress. So it shouldn’t surprise anyone to hear that she gives one of 2014’s best performances. Playing the popular American painter Margaret Keane, Adams delivers a quiet and unassuming performance that generates a sympathetic and believable image. She falls beautifully into director Tim Burton’s bright and colorful 1950s world, yet she conveys the timidity of someone who doesn’t quite fit in. This is fine work from Adams.

#3 – Lisa Loven Kongsli (“Force Majeure”)

KONGSLI

“Force Majeure” was a movie that slipped up on me. I knew nothing about it, but it became one of my favorite films of the year. The performance from lead actress Lisa Loven Kongsli is a big reason it works so well. She plays a wife and mother in a seemingly happy family, but events over a five day vacation reveals deep cracks in her relationship with her husband. Kongsli blew me away portraying a woman running the gamut of emotions. She’s brilliant from the quiet moments where her expressions tell her story to the bigger moments where she pours out her emotions.

#2 – Rosamund Pike (“Gone Girl”)

PIKE

One performance that has earned the most buzz from critics and movie fans alike came from Rosamund Pike. The performance is from David Fincher’s “Gone Girl” and Pike shows a side of her that none of us have seen before. Here she dives headfirst into one of the most twisted and complex characters of the year. She’s tough, conniving, and frighteningly unpredictable. Pike brings out every one of these traits with unbridled voracity. Pike is stunningly beautiful but that almost serves as a camouflage for her character’s deeper and more complicated layers. Pike is sensational.

#1 -Marion Cotillard (” The Immigrant”)

IMMIGRANT

I am always amazed by the consistency shown by Marion Cotillard. She is one of those rare actresses who simply never gives a bad performance. Even more, often times her work leaves me speechless. She did it again in 2014. In “The Immigrant” she once again strips off anything artificial and gives us a vulnerable but surprisingly strong character. Cotillard brings out all of the fears and uncertainties weighing down her character, but she also shows a desperate survivalist side that leads her to fight for her and her sister. We never doubt any characteristic or emotion shown by Cotillard. It’s all channeled through her performance with absolute precision.

Random Thoughts on the 2015 Oscar Nominations

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OSCARS

I love this time of the year. It’s awards season which some people like to dismiss and I certainly understand why. Personally I love it because it gives us a chance to talk about movies, to support the movies we loved from the previous years, to debate the merits of certain movies, and to dissect what the Academy got right and what they totally flubbed. This year is no different from the rest. The Academy offered some pleasant surprises. They also had some odd choices and some egregious snubs. As is the norm here at K&M, I’m throwing out some random thoughts on this year’s Academy Awards nominations…

  • Let’s get this out of the way first – How in the world was “The Lego Movie” not at least nominated for Best Animated Feature? This is the one true travesty of this year’s nominations.
  • “The Imitation Game” left with a surprising 8 nominations. I actually passed over it because I thought the reception was positive but nothing tremendous. Was I wrong?
  • Ok Academy, seriously? The Meryl Streep nomination thing had become a fun little joke but honestly it is becoming annoying. Deserving actresses are being left out for these ridiculous token nominations.
  • Dick Poop
  • “Birdman” and “The Grand Budapest Hotel” lead the pack with 9 nominations each. Of the two I like “Grand Budapest” the best, but Wes Anderson has a history of getting a lot of nominations but not that many wins.
  • Am I the only one who was broadsided by the strong showing of “American Sniper”? I knew there was some buzz behind it, but I didn’t think it was a ‘6 Oscar Nominations’ kind of buzz.
  • Many are pointing to “Selma” as Oscar’s biggest snub. Perhaps, but I think the movie is intensely powerful but also needlessly frustrating. I don’t think the movie was snubbed, but I do think David Oyelowo was. He absolutely deserved a nomination.
  • I loved seeing “Ida” nominated for its cinematography. It has absolutely no chance of winning, but I’m glad the Academy recognized its immense beauty.
  • Where is Amy Adams? Fresh off her Golden Globe win for “Big Eyes” I expected to hear her name. This once again proves that the Globes aren’t always the Oscar indicator that some think they are.
  • Do you realize that Bradley Cooper has received Oscar nominations for three straight years?
  • I’m always happy when I see Marion Cotillard’s name mentioned. “Two Days, One Night” still has opened up here, but I’m sure she is brilliant. She could have easily been nominated for “The Immigrant” as well.
  • Dick Poop
  • Do you think it was a good year for Alexandre Desplat? He was nominated twice in the Best Original Score category – for “The Imitation Game” and for “The Grand Budapest Hotel”.
  • It was quite frustrating to see “Force Majeure” left out of the Best Foreign Language Film category. It’s hard to gripe since I haven’t seen all of the nominees, but “Force Majeure” was an incredible movie deserving of recognition.
  • So in the Academy’s eyes Jake Gyllenhaal didn’t deserve a nomination for “Nightcrawler”? I would love to hear the thought process behind that. Gyllenhaal was superb and there is no excuse for leaving him out.
  • Three comic book movies were nominated in the special effects category and all three will lose. I’m rooting for “Captain America” but “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” has it wrapped up.
  • J.K. Simmons will be the biggest sure-thing of the entire show.
  • Actually all for acting categories have really strong frontrunners. Arquette, Simmons, Moore, and Keaton will probably all go home carrying a statue.
  • “Interstellar” is still my favorite film of the year. I would have liked to see it at least grab a Best Picture nomination. At least it was recognized in five other categories.
  • Sorry Jennifer Aniston. Some are pointing at Cotillard as the reason you weren’t nominated for “Cake”. Sorry Aniston fans, Cotillard is fabulous. Maybe you can point in another direction.
  • Interesting to see “Gone Girl” only grab one nomination. It didn’t make my Top 10 of 2014 but I know a lot of people were behind it.
  • Dick Poop

Those are a few random thoughts. Now, in case you missed anything, here is a complete list of this year’s Oscar nominees:

Best Picture
“American Sniper”
“Birdman”
“Boyhood”
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
“The Imitation Game”
“Selma”
“The Theory of Everything”
“Whiplash”

Best Actor
Steve Carell (“Foxcatcher”)
Bradley Cooper (“American Sniper”)
Benedict Cumberbatch (“The Imitation Game”)
Michael Keaton (“Birdman”)
Eddie Redmayne (“The Theory of Everything”)

Best Actress
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 Actress
Patricia Arquette (“Boyhood”)
Laura Dern (“Wild”)
Keira Knightley (“The Imitation Game”)
Emma Stone (“Birdman”)
Meryl Streep (“Into the Woods”)

Best Supporting Actor
Robert Duvall (“The Judge”)
Ethan Hawke (“Boyhood”)
Edward Norton (“Birdman”)
Mark Ruffalo (“Foxcatcher”)
J.K. Simmons (“Whiplash”)

Best Director
Alejandro González Inárritu (“Birdman”)
Richard Linklater (“Boyhood”)
Bennett Miller (“Foxcatcher”)
Wes Anderson (“The Grand Budapest Hotel”)
Morten Tyldum (“The Imitation Game”)

Best Animated Feature Film
“Big Hero 6”
“The Boxtrolls”
“How to Train Your Dragon 2”
“Song of the Sea”
“The Tale of Princess Kaguya”

Best Adapted Screenplay
“American Sniper”
“The Imitation Game”
“Inherent Vice”
“The Theory of Everything”
“Whiplash”

Best Original Screenplay
“Birdman”
“Boyhood”
“Foxcatcher”
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
“Nightcrawler”

Best Cinematography
“Birdman”
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
“Ida”
“Mr. Turner”
“Unbroken”

Best Visual Effects
“Captain America: The Winter Soldier”
“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”
“Guardians of the Galaxy”
“Interstellar”
“X-Men: Days of Future Past”

Best Documentary Feature
“Citizenfour”
“Finding Vivian Maier”
“Last Days in Vietnam”
“The Salt of the Earth”
“Virunga”

Best Documentary Short Subject
“Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1”
“Joanna”
“Our Curse”
“The Reaper”
“White Earth”

Best Film Editing
“American Sniper”
“Boyhood”
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
“The Imitation Game”
“Whiplash”

Best Original Song
“Everything Is Awesome” (“The Lego Movie”)
“Glory” (“Selma”)
“Grateful” (“Beyond the Lights”)
“I’m Not Gonna Miss You” (“Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me”)
“Lost Stars” (“Begin Again

Best Production Design
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
“The Imitation Game”
“Interstellar”
“Into the Woods”
“Mr. Turner”

Best Live Action Short Film
“Aya”
“Boogaloo and Graham”
“Butter Lamp (La Lampe au Beurre de Yak)”
“Parvaneh”
“The Phone Call”

Best Animated Short Film
“The Bigger Picture”
“The Dam Keeper”
“Feast”
“Me and my Moulton”
“A Single Life”

Best Sound Editing
“American Sniper”
“Birdman”
“The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies”
“Interstellar”
“Unbroken”

Best Sound Mixing
“American Sniper”
“Birdman”
“Interstellar”
“Unbroken”
“Whiplash”

Best Costume Design
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
“Inherent Vice”
“Into the Woods”
“Maleficent”
“Mr. Turner”

Best Foreign Language Film
“Ida”
“Leviathan”
“Tangerines”
“Timbuktu”
“Wild Tales”

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
“Foxcatcher”
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
“Guardians of the Galaxy”

Best Original Score
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
“The Imitation Game”
“Interstellar”
“Mr. Turner”
“The Theory of Everything”

The Top 10 Films of 2014

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Top 10 2014

Wow! It’s hard to believe it is time to do this again. The 2014 movie year has come and gone and now it’s time to look back on the year that was. To be more specific it’s time to look at the best films of the year. Personally I love doing these lists and comparing them to those of critics and fellow bloggers. It’s a chance to reflect back on 2014 and champion the movies that meant the most to me. Now doing a list like this is tough and it means leaving out some movies that deserve attention. To remedy that I’ll start by simply listing my #11-20 picks.

(Click on the movie title to read my full review of it)

#20 – “Edge of Tomorrow“
#19 – “Nightcrawler“
#18 – “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies“
#17 – “Snowpiercer“
#16 – “The Railway Man”
#15 – “Godzilla“
#14 – “Magic in the Moonlight“
#13 – “The Grand Budapest Hotel“
#12 – “The Immigrant“
#11 – “The Lego Movie“

Now let me share my Top 10 movies of 2014:

2014 mi=onuments#10 – “The Monuments Men“ – I’m sure I will be the only person in the world with “The Monuments Men” on their Top 10 list. So be it. I had such a good time with this film and it held up nicely after a second viewing. Interestingly enough, I don’t recall hearing a single person talk about what I love most about the film – its sense of nostalgia. In several ways this film is a throwback to the buddy war movies of the 1960s and early 70s right through the closing credits. I loved that. It’s also based on a remarkable true story and it features a fabulous ensemble cast. Could it have utilized these things better? I’m sure it could, but I never got hung up on these things. Instead I sat back and watched this transporting bit of nostalgia and was thoroughly entertained from the start.

2014 big eyes#9 – “Big Eyes“ – It has been enjoyed yet dismissed by many critics, but “Big Eyes” is a film that has really stuck with me. It’s a surprising and refreshing step outside of the box for Tim Burton, a director known for his dark, macabre style. The film is based on the true story of the popular artist Margaret Keane and her husband Walter yet it rarely feels like a biographical piece. It’s such a strange story and Burton tells it by sitting back and allowing his two top level performers to fully form these characters. Christoph Waltz and Amy Adams are tremendous. They give two very different performances, but each are perfectly in tune with who these characters are. It’s such a good movie filled with heart, heartbreak, self-discovery, courage, and of course art.

2014lunch#8 – “The Lunchbox“ – One of my favorite finds of 2014 was the Indian romantic drama “The Lunchbox”. The movie was made in 2012, released in India in 2013, and finally hit American theaters in 2014. The romance genre has been plagued by dopey, schmaltzy junk without an ounce of smarts or heart. “The Lunchbox” has a lot of both and all of it from first time feature film director Ritesh Batra. There are several things I love about the film. Batra gives us real people, not caricatures. He also steps back and gives his actors room to work. And I do love the performances from his two leads Irrfan Khan and Nimrat Kaur. Both are incredibly grounded and genuine. I also loved the deliberate pacing, the subtle humor, and the firm focus of the story. This is a real treat of 2014.

2014 ida#7 – “Ida“ – One of the most penetrating films of 2014 came in a small 80 minute package from director Pawel Pawlikowski. “Ida” has the strength of being both painfully grim and stunningly beautiful. It is a story of self-discovery for a young lady who knows practically nothing about her past. It’s shot in glorious black and white and Pawlikowski tells us so much through his camera. He captures so much emotion from his characters and there are also a number of shots that are simply stunning to look at. Young actress Agata Trzebuchowska is wonderful and perfect for the lead role and she conveys so much through her expressive eyes. Agata Kulesza deserves Oscar consideration for her supporting work. “Ida” was one of 2014’s big surprises. It’s also one of year’s best films.

2014 BLUE#6 – “Blue Ruin“ – I love it when a smaller unknown movie comes out of the blue and blows me away. Last year it was “Upstream Color”. This year it is “Blue Ruin”. Writer and director Jeremy Saulnier took a small cast and a minimal budget and crafted one of the most unpredictable and edge-of-your-seat thrillers of the year. It’s a fairly simple story about an act of revenge and the violent domino effect that follows. Saulnier tells as much of his story through his camera as he does through dialogue and you never know where things are heading. It’s smart and strikingly unconventional. The film is also helped by a brilliant and understated performance from Macon Blair. There were several films in 2014 that deserved a bigger audience, none more than the wonderful “Blue Ruin”.

2014 lovers#5 – “Only Lovers Left Alive“ – At the start of the year if you would have told me that a vampire movie would make my Top 10 list I would have called you insane. Well, that is exactly what happened thanks to independent filmmaker Jim Jarmusch. But as I stated in my review, simplifying this as just a ‘vampire movie’ would be doing it a tremendous disservice. There is so much more to “Only Lovers Left Alive”. Jarmusch uses his vampires to reflect on a number of society’s ills from humanity’s destruction of ourselves and our world to the demise of art and creativity. But this is also a mood piece centered around two fascinating characters played by the great Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton. I loved spending time with these two. It’s cool, romantic, poetic, and hypnotic.

2014rover#4 – “The Rover“ – David Michôd earned a lot of attention in 2010 with his dark crime drama “Animal Kingdom”. In 2014 he brought us a very different but equally striking film “The Rover”. This dystopian survival drama takes place in the rugged Australian outback after a world economic collapse. But Michôd doesn’t spend time talking about how things came to be the way they are. Instead he places us with two different but equally fascinating characters, Eric (Guy Pearce) and Reynolds (Robert Pattinson). Pearce is mesmerizing, violent, and tortured. Pattinson is simple, dependent, and sympathetic. The visual style of storytelling, the gritting cinematography, and two fabulous lead performances drive this bleak but thoroughly compelling piece of cinema.

2014 captain#3 – “Captain America: The Winter Soldier“ – 2014 proved to be a very good year for the big tent pole blockbuster. Several big budget movies delivered spectacle and quality to the masses. For me the very best of the lot was “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”. Through the 2014 movie year I heard several people talk about superhero fatigue. That’s not a problem for me as long as we get films of this quality. This film gets back to the basics of action movies. Yes it has its signature special effects driven finale, but so much of the film relies on traditional stunt work and hand-to-hand combat. There is also the cool spy element to the story and one of my favorite villains of the year. Add all of these things together and you have a blockbuster that really works.

2014boyhood#2 – “Boyhood“ – Richard Linklater’s crazy idea of filming a movie over a 12 year period using the exact same cast was an ambitious undertaking. It could have been a disaster, but it turned out to be a film that has ended up on many ‘Best of 2014’ lists. But there is a good reason for that. “Boyhood” is a coming-of-age story unlike any I have ever seen. It’s a film not focused on the big moments in life but the small ones that over time define who we are. The film is all about the characters particularly a boy named Mason. We literally grow up with him (and actor Ellar Coltrane) on screen. We also grow  with his family and in a sense we feel like family. Most importantly I left feeling the importance of being a dad – of being there for my kids because as Linklater shows us, time goes by fast and we never get those moments back.

2014INTER#1 – “Interstellar“ – I don’t know if any other movie from 2014 was talked about as much as Christopher Nolan’s epic space opera “Interstellar”. There was more discussion and debate over everything from the film’s meaning to the film’s quality. For me “Interstellar” transcended simple cinematic entertainment. It was an experience. It left me deeply touched and I was thinking about it for days. It’s certainly a movie thick with plot and ideas, but these things never tripped me up or hampered my experience. Instead I was caught up in the story, the deeper themes, and the pure emotional pull of a father’s love for his children. I loved “Interstellar”. I loved its ambition, its cast, its visuals, its heart, and its willingness to follow its own rules. In a year filled with good movies, “Interstellar” has been the film that most reminds me of why I love movies.

So what movies did you get for Christmas?

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Movies make great Christmas gifts. Hopefully plenty of you got some good movies during you Christmas gift exchanges. Here’s what I got this year.

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Now show me the movies you got for Christmas this year!

Merry Christmas!

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I just wanted to take a moment to wish each of you a very Merry Christmas. Thank you so much for every visit, every “like”, and every comment you’ve made over the last year. Your time, input, and encouragement has never gone unnoticed. So here’s wishing you a wonderful holiday season and a blessed 2015 filled with great movies that we get to talk about throughout the year!