Still Alice (2014)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3316960/

Incredibly powerful - if you're not crying several times through this, there's something wrong with you. Julianne Moore as Alice is so moving and affecting - strong and suffering, struggling to understand and stay connected. Her terrific journey is agonizing to watch, as is the impact on her family. So surprising was the strength of the performance by Kristen Stewart - such a long way from Snow White, very impressive. The only flaws for me were 1) Alec Baldwin was unbelievable as the loving, supportive husband and medical researcher - I kept expecting him to tell her that he was leaving her for a younger woman - and 2) the things that they changed from the novel (why move the story to New York?). But watch this films for the scenes with Moore by herself, and with Stewart. Masterful and moving.

Two Days, One Night (2014)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2737050/

A affecting little film about a large drama in small lives. Marion Cottilard is brilliant as the woman at the centre of a difficult choice for her company and her co-workers - choose between her and their annual bonus. Throughout the story, she visits each person in turn, trying to convince them to vote to save her job. Over that weekend, revelations take place about the characters and human nature - self-preservation and altruism, and the struggle to preserve dignity. The ending is not a surprise, but is a delightful affirmation that people can and still do the right thing, sometimes.

American Sniper (2014)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2179136/

I was looking forward to this film, but was disappointed by the lack of likability or empathy from either of the leads. I wanted to like Bradley Cooper in this role, but he seemed to be channelling Billy Bob Thornton's Slingblade style of speech, and forgetting sometimes that he was from Texas. Overall, he was just generally unlikeable - insular, stern, impassive - the very traits needed for an elite sniper, but so then who cares? Similarly, Sienna Miller as Taya fails to be likeable, clingy and bossy and shrill. And there is zero chemistry between them to account for either their instant or their long-standing romance. While the war-time situations are (most likely) based in fact (but are also lacklustre), the at-home stories feel contrived and lame, especially the closing scenes of Chris' departure, which could hardly have had more melodrama. A sad presentation of what could have been an inspiring story of a heroic life.

The Disappeared (2012)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2054817/

Disappointing. Good premise made bad by bad set (boats are brand new?), bad make up (40 days in the sun rowing and no blisters or sunburn?), and silly gaffs that real sailors would never make (you'd at least save the rope from the second boat, and then set it a light to be seen from afar). 

Oscar Picks 2015

Tomorrow night is Oscar night, a formerly sacrosanct day for us that has waned in significance in recent years due to the out-of-this-world cost of seeing a movie in theatres, the ubiquitousness of films available to watch on demand, and the steep decline IMHO in the overall quality of films with major release these days. Gone are those heady days of Schindlers List and its contemporaries, when picking a winner was difficult because there was a surfeit of good films to choose from. Now, even with the list of up to 10 nominees, the choice seems like picking the best of a mediocre lot. 

The waning has also meant that I rarely see all or even most of the nominees, so my rationale for selection has to include things I've read or heard about a film rather than just my own assessment. Still, I've seen and heard enough this year to offer the following speculations. 

Best picture will go to Birdman (with Grand Budapest Hotel being the likely alternate). Birdman benefits from being about actors, and so will be both appealing and relatable for the voting community. It was also a great movie - crisp, sharp dialogue, superb cast and performances, and just enough wierdness to allow for analysis of metaphors till the cows come home. GBH might succeed here, if enough folks finally "get" Wes Anderson (I don't yet...).

Best director will go to Wes Anderson for the audacity and weirdness of his oeuvre to date. Alternate is Richard Linklater, for the audacity and endurance of Boyhood, although from everything I've heard about the movie, it sounds a bit like a Jouquin Phoenix-like art-in-life stunt in film form. 

Best actor in a leading role will go to Bradley Cooper. I haven't seen American Sniper yet (perhaps by tomorrow's big shew I will) but what I have seen and heard tells me that he's even better than Matthew McConnehey. Alternate would be Michale Keaton but I don't know that the Academy voters are ready yet for that, and may even see his characters struggle and madness to be too close to home. The Brits might surprise, but as much as I like Benedict Cumberbatch, I think both films would be hampered by their too-intellectual main characters, neither of which presents the "I want to save you" appeal of John Nash in A Beautiful Mind. 

Best actress in a leading role will go to Julianne Moore. I would give it to her for making watchable a movie that includes Kristen Stewart, but understand that Julianne was just overall brilliant in a story where the lead female character is the key. Alternate would be Marion Cotillard, a great choice as well.

Best supporting actor must be JK Simmons, who kills it in Whiplash. Ed Norton would be a great alternate, as his turn as the demanding and crazy but also human actor in Birdman was riveting. 

Best supporting actress will likely be Patricia Arquette in Boyhood, but I would be impressed to see Emma Stone get it for the daughter-cum-PA to Birdman. 

(I always feel a bit bad in wishing a supporting actor Oscar on anyone, as career purgatory can result for the winner (Mira Sorvino, Cuba Gooding Jr., Jennifer Hudson). Or the award can be used to serve as a quasi-lifetime achievement award, to more mature actors turning in a decent, if perhaps small, performance (what I call the Jack Palance effect), which would put some weight behind Robert Duvall's position on the ballot.

Best original screenplay will go to GBH, as its originality is its appeal (although I just read somewhere that it was "inspired by some previous writings so I'm surprised it's here. Alternate would be Birdman, for that cracking dialogue. 

Best adapted screenplay will be American Sniper, for bringing a gritty life and story so cleanly to the screen. No real alternate here, so anything will be a surprise to me. 

Best foreign language film should go to Timbuktu, with Leviathan as an alternate. I have seen exactly none of these, so these are guesses not choices. 

The rest of the list:

Animated feature: Hpw to Train Your Dragon 2 (although I can't believe there was no better title than that, nor that the fantastic The Lego Movie wasn't here, because It Was Awesome!).

Sound editing: Birdman. 

Sound mixing: American Sniper. 

Visual effects : Guardians of the Galaxy. (Which would also have had a lock on best compilation soundtrack if they would ever get around to offering such a category). 

Film editng: Whiplash. You can feel the music and the tension through those quick and slow cuts. 

Original score: Mr. Turner. 

Original song: The Lego Song (Awesome!). For the aforementioned Palance effect, the Glen Campbell song could take this. 

Production design (the category formerly known as Art Direction, which included art direction and set decoration - it was likely changed to stop people like me misunderstanding the difference between this and cinematography): GBH, but Into the Woods or Mr. Turner could take this one. 

Cinematography: I'd like to see this go to Birdman, where both the closeness of the theatre spaces and the long sweeping scenes of fantasy brought you in to story; I'm especially enamoured of the tracking shots. Mr. Turner is a good but unlikely alternate. 

Make-up: Guardians of the Galaxy - aliens over people any time in this one. 

Costumes: Malificent, or Into the Woods. 

Documentary feature: Citizenfour. Really, it's the only one anyone will have heard of and may have actually seen. 

Documentary short: White Earth (WAG)

Live-action short: Parvenh (WAG)

Animated short: The Dam Keeper (WAG)

Things that should absolutely not happen:

- Keira Knightley, Reese Witherspoon or Rosamind Pike winning anything. 

- GBH making a clean sweep. 

- Selma or Foxcatcher winning anything. 

Let's Kill Ward's Wife (2014)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2980708/

Not bad little creepy comedy. A good cast and interesting story. It's not often that they get away with it. 

The ABCs of Death 2 (2014)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2926810/

As with any anthology like this, some bits are better than others. Best to me were B, C, F, M, N, R, and V. Many of these are creepy and hard to watch (especially D and Z) but most were better than some feature length films. 

Wyrmwoood (2014)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2535470/

Pretty good zombie apocalypse story, in middle of nowhere Australia. Interesting twist with the zombie gas, and the Borg-like collective of the monsters. 

The Atticus Institute (2015)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3280916/

This was a surprisingly good possession movie, in the style of a documentary but with the feel of the found footage as well. 

Grizzly (2014)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1694021/

Also known as Red Machine, also know as Hunt or Be Hunted. 

This movie appears to have been another bet that all of these people lost. This story is a bit like Jaws on land - a pissed off overgrown bear, being hunted in the smallest forest in Alaska (everyone is tripping over each other), with Billy Bob Thornton as Quint, Scott Glenn as the Sherriff, and James Marsden as some amalgam of Richard Dreyfus and I don't know who.  One of the worst scripts of dialogue I've ever endured. 

'Cause even Grizzlies can get lost down there. 

Would you recognize the bear again? Make sure you shoot the right bear. 

Whiplash (2014)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2582802/

Excellent intense film, with FANTASTIC music. The story is very much of the Fame variety, but the music and performances. And the final concert scene - spellbinding. 

Kill the Messenger (2014)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1216491/

A good story and cast but rather badly put together movie. Based on the true story of Gary Webb, the reporter who broke the story of illegal government provision of weapons and drugs to the Contras, the resultant smear campaign could have made for a much more dramatic and compelling story. 

Birdman (2014)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2562232/

Although a part of the "musical or comedy" category at the Golden Globes, this was a serious film about theatre. I saw it as a companion piece to "All About Eve" (although it at all in the same league as that) in which the actor who goes to Hollywood yearns to make it where it really counts - on the stage. Michael Keaton is outstanding, along with every other member of the cast. The blurry line between stage and real life, between character and person, is explored in clever and interesting ways, and the uncertainty for the viewer of fantasy and audience is captivating. 

Inherent Vice (2015)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1791528/

Strange, incoherent but lyrical in its own way, this movie feels long and unresolved. There are great performances and a few funny scenes, but mostly it's confused and unsatisfying. I'm sure this is just another one of those that I don't "get", but if I didn't enjoy it or learn anything or get moved in some way, I can't really call it good. 

Starred Up (2014)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2567712/

A good but violent film, as a son tries to both emulate and break away from his father's influence and reputation. Excellent performances, and a likeable if violent story.