When the harshness and inevitable monotony of the January winter arrives, I can always count on my local movie theater to entertain me with the arrival of the blockbusters I’ve been waiting for all year: the possible Oscar contenders. I am an avid watcher of these movies and make it a point to try and see every single best picture nominee (I am a bit obsessed!). You can usually find me at a weekday matinee (it’s cheaper!) ready to take in all the cinematic glory that comes with awards season. Here’s four you should watch out for!
Birdman
Directed by: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Starring: Michael Keaton, Emma Stone, Edward Norton
Going into this movie, I truly did not know what to expect. From the limited trailers and marketing promotions I’ve seen, I thought this was just another big-budget action hero movie. Wrong. This is a genius film that is not only extremely entertaining but also a very urgent social commentary on the film industry, show business, and the modern media culture. Michael Keaton plays a washed-out actor who came to fame in the iconic Birdman films and is now looking to make a comeback in a new play he writes and stars in. It is not a preachy and self-important film but rather a nuanced, subtle, and remarkable display of incredible, fresh talent. Keaton is utterly amazing and should strive to do do more films like this! Stone and Norton also craft exceptionally real and believable characters. What’s really a wonder is the directing and cinematography. What other film is shot to make the whole movie look like one continuous take? Overall, this film presents us with something completely new and well-developed in all aspects- acting, cinematography, script. A must see.
Gone Girl
Directed by: David Fincher
Starring: Rosamund Pike, Ben Affleck, Neil Patrick Harris
Wow. Watching this movie- not to sound too cliche- is really just a big rollercoaster ride. This film is grand and you can smell the big-budget elements a mile away. But, despite what may seem gimmicky or inauthentic, this movie is amazing. It is incredibly juicy, eerie, and it may, in fact, raise your blood pressure to a new level. Rosamund Pike who plays Amy Dunne, a woman seemingly stuck in an abusive relationship and later goes missing, is fantastic and serves the role perfectly. You can tell the film also isn’t taking itself too seriously also- it’s campy and darkly satirical- a perfect tone for this wild story adapted from Gillian Flynn’s successful novel of the same name. Also, Ben Affleck is in supreme shape and not too bad to look at. The girl power in the film is really something else too. Look out for the “cool girl” speech- it’s absolutely fantastic. Watch this movie-you may need a couple of days and a martini or two to recover- but it’s certainly worth it.
Boyhood
Directed by: Richard Linklater
Starring: Ellar Coltrane, Ethan Hawke, Patricia Arquette
This movie is quite the masterpiece. It is certainly “epic” as described on the poster and an incredible example of quality film for art’s sake. It has the warm, thought-provoking feel of a independent mumblecore film, without the usual pretentiousness and hard to decipher plot line. Boyhood was filmed over a twelve year span and details the childhood of a young boy and his family, allowing us to watch him and everyone important in his life actually “grow up.” The film has fantastic cultural references and feels real, subtle, and raw, shedding light into the life of a Texas youth and a broken family. There is nothing cliche and over-wrought in the film, no fantastic and direly dramatic plot, but what makes it so powerful is the nuanced performances of everyone involved- there is not one bad or misplaced actor in the entire film. This was my favorite movie of 2014 (and I usually never have a favorite; just too many to choose). It is a true work of art, a movie not to be missed, solely for its sheer impact on the audience and its refreshingly honest rendering of a childhood.
Big Eyes
Directed by: Tim Burton
Starring: Amy Adams, Christoph Waltz
Big Eyes directed by Tim Burton tells the unbelievably wild life story of husband and wife Walter and Margaret Keane. Margaret is a struggling artist who creates these fantastically disturbing portraits of waifs with extremely big eyes (hence the name) but ultimately allows her husband (the amazing and ever-infallible Christoph Waltz) to take credit in order to increase saleability in the male-dominated art world of the 1950s and 1960s. The film is dark and artistically rendered, but ultimately happened to be a little too traditional in plot and ending. What saves it from being just another tepid period drama is the golden performance of its lead characters by Adams and Waltz.