For 2014 (Top Ten)

 

    10. The Two Faces of January
 

UK Release: (16 May 2014)
Director: Hossein Amini
Writers: Hossein Amini (screenplay), Patricia Highsmith (novel)
Stars: Viggo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst, Oscar Isaac

In the Two Faces of January Chester (Mortenson) and Rydal (Isaac) are as if engaged in a rather elongated and over-elaborate game of poker. Both are conmen in each their own way, each is unsure and untrusting of the others motives or true natures, however in this game the first to flinch might pay a heavy price. Set in Athens 1962 which serves as a glorious back drop to this thriller ‘Faces’ has more than just a little sense of reverence to a past and more glamorous era both in cinematic and stylistic sense.

    9. The Fault In Our Stars

UK Release:  (19 June 2014)
Director: Josh Boone
Writers: ScottNeustadter, Michael H. Weber, 
Stars: Shailene Woodley, AnselElgort, Nat Wolff

You would be hard pressed to find two better performances in the same film than those on offer from Shailene Woodley and AnselElgort in The Fault In Our Stars. It’s not only impressive that they are able to cope with the harshness of the subject matter concerning itself with teenage cancer and  mortality; but there is a genuine chemistry found between the pair which pulls you into their world, their plight, their romance. The set-up is simple the shy and unsuspecting Hazel (Woodley) meets the brash and confident Gus (Elgort) at a cancer support meeting for teenagers, despite initial differences the couple come to realise that they each make up what is missing from the other and hence make a whole as a pair. The film is tinged with enough emotion, insight and pain to leave you a weeping wailing mess by the end.   

 

8. Tracks

UK Release: (25 April 2014)
Director: John Curran
Writer: Marion Nelson (screenplay), Robyn Davidson (book)
Stars: Mia Wasikowska, Adam Driver, Lily Pearl

Tracks is tantamount to a bludgeoning of mind, body and soul as a misanthropic Mia Wasikowska braves 1700 miles of  punishing yet beautiful Australian terrain. Bringing to Robyn Davidson’s true life Camel driven odyssey to the screen Director John Curran makes this journey an internalised exploration of one’s self, the tangible threats greatly overshadowed by the enormity of task at hand and the manifestation of loneliness, doubt and fear.

7. Interstellar

UK Release: (7 November 2014)
Director: Christopher Nolan
Writers: Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan
Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain

Christopher Nolan’s epic space adventure is gargantuan in every conceivable way, ideas, visuals, sound and concept. Nolan has proven time and time again that his films are made with substance at the forefront and Interstellar is no exception. Science Fiction is as much about reflecting our past as it is about projecting the future, here the Earth is doomed; not by aliens or an impending asteroid collision but by the subtleties of famine and failing ecosystems of which we have suffered in recent and not so recent times.  To save the Earth or mankind Coop (McConaughey) leads a group of scientist to another galaxy to find new home for humanity. The dangers are not hostile life forms with ray guns, but are entities humanity has fought all of its existence such as space, time and gravity.

 

6. Blue Ruin

UK Release: (2 May 2014)
Director: Jeremy Saulnier
Writer: Jeremy Saulnier
Stars: Macon Blair, Devin Ratray, Amy Hargreaves

Blue Ruin is a film which starts where most others end, Jeremy Saulnier’s masterfully tense thriller is amongst other things an examination of the cyclical nature of vengeance and violence in American society. Macon Blair provides a superb central as the lead character Dwight who we find living a transitive and survivalist existence out of his eponymous shabby Blue vehicle. Dwight seeks out somebody from his past who has caused him harm but the question the film asks is after he finds what he is looking for.. What Then?

5. '71

UK Release: (10 October 2014)
Director: Yann Demange
Writer: Gregory Burke
Stars: Jack O'Connell, Sam Reid, Sean Harris

2014’s best kept secret came in the shape of Northern Ireland set Thriller ’71. French Director Yann Demange’s feature length debut is a blistering effort, filled with nerve shredding tension and heart pumping action. A young soldier (O’Connell)who is abandoned after his unit is ambushed must survive a night traversing the deadly Belfast streets where both the IRA and his unit race against each other to track him down.  The subtext of the piece is drawing parallels between each side of the conflict, both sides must deal with insubordination, underhanded tactics and internal conflict; all the time the film doesn’t preach or take sides but certainly pulls you into the furious action.

4. Pride

UK Release: (12 September 2014)
Director: Matthew Warchus
Writer: Stephen Beresford
Stars: Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton, Dominic West

Pride is a film about two tribes going to war on the same side against different opponents. The result is the year’s most life affirming and heart-warming film. The undeniable strength of Pride is a wonderful cast led by the Paddy Consadine whose character Dai may not have the most prominent role but certainly embodies the spirit of the movie as well as any other. Dai is the human bridge between his own Welsh mining community who are enduring the strikes of the films 1984 setting and the LGBT community who continue to endure hatred and bigotry. The result is  a larger than life odd couple story and the audience is left take in the blossoming friendships and discoveries both individually and collectively.

3. The Raid 2

UK Release: (11 April 2014)
Director:  Gareth Evans
Writer: Gareth Evans
Stars: Iko Uwais, Yayan Ruhian, Arifin Putra

Anyone wanting to watch the year’s best pure action extravaganza should look no further than Gareth Evans’ epic martial arts feast the Raid 2. Whilst the stunning first instalment was a sprint this is a comparative marathon. Sequels can fall apart because they resort to having to up the ante on its predecessor, this sequel works such escalation to perfection with everything from the writing, to the acting to the cinematography is amped up to perfection. The fight sequences couldn’t get any better so Evans gives us more of the same just buried within the guise of a Scorcese/departed-esque crime drama, Iko Uwais our returning hero is plunged into an undercover operation to infiltrate a pan-Asian crime syndicate which may have been responsible for his brother’s murder.

2. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

UK Release: (17 July 2014)
Director: Matt Reeves
Writers: Mark Bomback, Rick Jaffa,
Stars: Gary Oldman, Keri Russell, Andy Serkis

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes both embraces and defies the conventional summer Blockbuster cocktail, the film is the perfect blend of insight, art and social commentary. On the other hand the film ticks the necessary boxes by having an adhesive hero, a corrosive villain and  breath taking visuals; culminating in terrific spectacle. In a post-apocalyptic set-up Humans and Apes are forced to co-exist in order for them to both exists, however acceptance, peace and trust once again become elusive virtues for humanity and both species are doomed to fail themselves and each other in order to survive.

1. The Grand Budapest Hotel

UK Release: (7 March 2014)
Director: Wes Anderson
Writers: Stefan Zweig, Wes Anderson
Stars: Ralph Fiennes, F. Murray Abraham, Mathieu Amalric

Wes Anderson’s follow up to the joyous shenanigans of 2012’s Moonrise Kingdom is a crafty, crooked and crazy little caper. Ralph Fiennes dastardly hotelier Gustave H with a string of over aged lovers is bequeathed a priceless painting when one of them kicks the bucket. What ensues is a madcap game of cat and mouse captured with the usual Anderson off kilter gusto and verve. Aided by a superbly eclectic ensemble cast you won’t ever forget your stay at the Grand Budapest hotel.

April: Film Of The Month

The Raid 2 (2014)

Director: Gareth Evans
Writer: Gareth Evans
Stars: Iko Uwais, Yayan Ruhian, Arifin Putra

Can you imagine a movie co-directed by Martin Scorcese, Akira Kurosawa and Bruce Lee? If so the end product might, just might match the staggering achievement of Gareth Evans’ The Departed meets Ran meets Enter The Dragon epic crime roller coaster.

Where the startling 2011 predecessor at 90 minutes was a quick dash down the road to pick up some munchies from a 24 hour garage, The Raid 2 by comparison is a Sunday afternoon drive which plots its course combining the slowly winding a – roads and blasting down motorways at high speed. The Joy of this sequel is in its stunning sense of spectacle and less is more approach, the action is just as creatively brutal, the martial arts on display just as savagely graceful, yet each action sequences has something unique and memorable to that of the next.

The narrative is a mesh of revenge thriller with undercover cop conventions and mechanics, Rama (Iko Uwais) our hero from The Raid is coerced into infiltrating the Jakartan underworld via some initial jail time. Rama then haplessly falls into the cross fire of a 3 way gang war and is left to kick and flick his way to survival whilst attempting not to blow his cover.


9/10

New: Starred Up (2013)

Starred Up (2013)

Director: David Mackenzie
Writer: Jonathan Asser
Stars: Jack O'Connell, Rupert Friend, Ben Mendelsohn

Starred Up is a film very much aware of the threat of cliché, you’d be hard push to find any prison genre films which don’t feature or at least reference hierarchal violence, racial tensions and captive homosexuality. David Mackenzie’s prison drama in referencing such components is a clash of grounded character study and boisterous narrative elements which allows the film a fire and ice quality.

The fire is that present in lead Jack O’Connell’s impressive display as young Eric, whose explosive propensity for violence has landed him with a premature graduation from Youth Offending status to big boy jail time. Making Eric’s plight all the more difficult is the somewhat contrived presence of his father (Ben Mendelsohn) in the same block, where some seemingly late life lessons are attempted to be passed on with the aim of keeping his stray pup in line.

Where Starred Up finds conflict within itself is the gritty style of its tone, at times we peer voyeur like at the cold light of day procedurals our subjects must endure as well as their emotional and psychological frame of mind, reflected in times of personal and collective solace. Whilst it is difficult not think back to Scum (1979) as an inevitable comparison, Mackenzie’s film copes skilfully with unavoidable platitude so much so that Starred Up is able to sustain a pleasant feeling of freshness throughout.

8/10

My Top Prison Movies

5. A Prophet (2009)

Epic French crime drama about an young Arab man whose incarceration sets him on the path to becoming the hea of an organised crime syndicate.   

4. Lions Den (2008)

Argentine drama about a young woman’s struggle to cope with life in prison with added complication of being pregnant and the subsequent struggle for custody.

3. Cool Hand Luke (1967)

Hollywood Legend Paul Newman is the renegade inmate at a Rural prison trying to win the respect of fellow prisoners.

2. Midnight Express (1978)

True Story of an American drug mule who after being caught must endure life in a Turkish prison.

1. Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Staggering tale of friendship between a veteran Con and a falsely imprisoned man who battle against the institutionalisation of their fellow inmates and those running the prison.

To Borrow:The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2012)

The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2012)

Director: Mira Nair
Stars: Riz Ahmed, Kate Hudson, Kiefer Sutherland

The Reluctant Fundamentalist tells the story of a young and ambitious Pakistani man whose one time love for the American dream serves only to betray him and fuels his subsequent quest to destroy it.

Played with consummate ease by the immensely talented and underrated Riz Ahmed,  we follow his portrayal of Changez born of an understated fire and calculating passion. Climbing the lofty heights of the New York City Skylines utilising his Princeton Education in order to enter money spinning sphere of Wall Street, where Changez finds love (Kate Hudson) and success (Through boss Sutherland) in equal measure.

Director Mira Nair’s tri-linear restructures layer the joyous rise, the crushing fall and the ambivalent levelling out of Changez’s puzzled journey which is reassembled into a narrative similar to that of American History X (1998), with poisoned minds, reflecting the eternal battle of bigotry, racial tension and hatred.

If there is any criticism it is that Nair perhaps crams in too much, case in point is a rather superfluous hostage storyline which opens proceedings but adds little to the more fascinating character study and social commentary.

8/10

January: Film Of The Month

12 Years A Slave (2013)

Director: Steve McQueen

Writers: John Ridley, Solomon Northup

Stars: Chiwetel Ejiofor,Michael Fassbender

 

12 Years A Slave tells the extraordinary tale of Solomon Northup’s hapless descent into the murky depths of slavery and serfdom from the comparative utopia of his previously free north. Northup’s world collapses into the punishing nightmare of an oppressive South where his education and wits are reduced to mere survivalist virtues, whilst his liberties turn to labour, all that he has loved has been lost and life languishes in the cotton fields where only the soulful sound of negro spirituals offer any evidence that the condemned have anything to live for.

Charged with bringing Northup’s tale to a cinematic life is Chiwetel Ejiofor whose performance is nothing less than gigantic, his face is a constant state of perplexed anger that serves to mask his inner fear at the terror unfolding around him, as he is tricked by an ostensive pair of newly acquainted business partners into his impending oblivion. Ejiofor’s voice, a towering blend of majesty and verse like delivery in an obscure way offers faintest of hope to not only him but those around him and we who watch on helplessly at the horror.

Director Steve McQueen’s fragmentation of the narrative reflects Northup’s state of mind continuingly finding poignancies in his free past as in his stricken future where we encounter the likes of Michael Fassbender’s colossally cruel slave owner Epps. Epps is a puzzling, paradox of a man  who becomes Northup’s would be nemesis, lusting for negro flesh be it on the tip of his punitive whipping sessions or his furtive desire fuelled endeavours with his favourite cotton picker Patsey played by Lupita Nyong'o who only exists it seems to be broken, either by Epps or the unbearable heft of despair.

12 Years’ has the power, sense of enormity and personal involvement of Spielberg’s Schindler’s List, is equally painful to watch yet necessary to see, which in itself gives McQueen and all involved the high praise it deserves.

10/10      

Somethink Old Somethink New

Old:Europa Europa (1990)

Director: Agnieszka Holland

Writers: Solomon Perel, Agnieszka Holland,

Stars: Marco Hofschneider, René Hofschneider
 

Solomon Perel (upon who’s written account the film is based) is part of a German Jewish family about to incur the hateful sphere of Nazi Germany’s Nuremburg Laws, despite escaping to Polish refuge in Lodz the danger follows and the family is divided. Solomon subsequently via a ricocheting collective of fate and fortune finds his way into a Bolshevik orphanage, part of a German army unit and enrollment at a Hitler Youth school.

At each stop we suffer a juxtaposing set of belief systems, and are told “Communism is Beautiful” by a Russian Teacher, a German educator waxes lyrical of the Fuhrer’s lust for the purity of Nordic faced Aryan race, whilst a German School girl and would be love interest reveals her poisoned longing to see his people eradicated. Solomon absorbing all this hate and bluster must also ingests a grimly symbolic Grave of Jewish Graves Stones and the pain of his gruesome attempts to reverse his now clandestine circumcision; the only way his true ethnic identity can be revealed.

Europa Europa takes a particularly nuanced look at this survivalist true story of a Jewish boy manoeuvring his way through World War 2, the film has a rather assumptive stance on the graphic horrors of the war which are implied but not widely shown, instad there is a focus on the intense ideological backdrop of the conflict which manifests itself through religion, political propaganda and imposing institutionalism.

 

8/10

New:Last Vegas (2013)

Director: Jon Turteltaub

Writer: Dan Fogelman

Stars: Robert De Niro, Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman

Imagine Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney, David Bowie and the lead singer from Shed Seven getting together for a knees-up in Blackpool to which you are invited, what might sound like it has all the ingredients for a great night soon declines into the group ogling young girls they are old enough to grandparent. If you can imagine this then you are at least half the way to the attempted joys of Last Vegas, a film that promises you 3 legends for the price of 4 and proceeds to patronise its audience with some uninspired life messages with only a few mildly funny gags to act as compensation.

In what could be dubbed the “The Expendables for serious actors”, Michael Douglas assembles his old pals Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman and last and least Kevin Kline for a Bachelor Party in Sin City as he battles to fight off father time by marrying a woman half his age, in the process his friends are drawn into a similar battle against the other purported lethargies of later life such as stale sexless marriages, loneliness and ill health.

In the end Last Vegas resembles that night out you probably could do without, but couldn't help feeling like you'd be missing out so you pop along for the heck of it, only to return home somewhat underwhelmed by your own sobriety.

6/10

For 2013

10. Byzantium

Director: Neil Jordan
Writer:Moira Buffini (play)
Stars:Saoirse Ronan, Gemma Arterton, Sam Riley

Nearly 20 years after his star power fuelled Vampire Romp Interview With The Vampire (1994) Director Neil Jordan returns to the genre with one of the years more underrated films.  Byzantium brings together a pair of contrasting beauties with Arterton’s spitefully seductive good looks and Ronan’s laser blue eyed innocence both preserved in eternal life as Soucriants (Vampires) living a transient lifestyle in order to both survive and escape the darkness of their origins. The Seaside setting which becomes our subjects adopted home transcends the vampirism they exhibit, with its transformational qualities of day and night, light and dark with the coming and going like the tide making it a less than ideal place to hide in the plain sight of normality. Sexy, dark and loaded with expositional back story Byzantium is a must see for Vampire fans.

9.Don Jon

Director:Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Writer:Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Stars:Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore

The personal nature of debut movie making has never been more evident than in Joseph Gordon Levitt’s razor sharp writing and directorial effort Don Jon. There is the imposing presence of the film that arguably made his name in (500) Days of Summer, Levitt for at least half of the movie sets out to recreate a similar style of reoccurring motifs and busy camera tricks which catch the eye and draw the audience in. Jon is an oily haired lothario obsessed with his six pack, sin, casual sex and internet pornography but somehow managing to conjoin them all into a lifestyle in which he is overly content. When love interest Barbara (Johansson) arrives on the scene her own obsessions of outwardly projecting success and romantic movies mix like oil and water with Jon’s and in this we have the films key dynamic.

8.Spring Breakers

Director:Harmony Korine
Writer:Harmony Korine
Stars:Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez, Ashley Benson

The year’s most controversial and outrageous movie was without doubt this tale of 4 girls turned bad in the pursuit of the ultimate spring break. Spring Breakers directed by Harmony Korine boasts an orgy of flesh and violence but also delves deep within the psyche of his characters to find what makes them tick. When a group of Friends are left behind due to financial constraints they embark on an odyssey of crime to satisfy their hedonistic hunger. In the process they form an incongruous alliance with James Franco’s gangster which threatens to destroy their friendship. Detractors will argue the film is dripping with male fantasy and only exists for that purpose, but in actual fact the Spring Breakers is a far more inclusive experience expressing strong feminine thoughts, feelings and actions.
 
7.Arbitrage

Director:Nicholas Jarecki
Writer:Nicholas Jarecki
Stars:Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Brit Marling

When a seemingly successful Investment Specialist (Gere) seeks to sell off his firm and live off the proceeds, his private, family and business lives begin to unravel in the most unimaginable way. Arbitrage explores the narrow path which divides everyday dishonesty with that of corporate corruption and overt criminality, doing so with a small measure voyeurism we peer into these sets of lives watching on whilst the subjects ride each dramatic wave with ignorance of the cross each other has to bare.

6.The Butler

Director:Lee Daniels
Writers:Danny Strong, Wil Haygood
Stars:Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, David Oyelowo

The Butler can and will be criticised for its sprawling tale of revisionist history, but revisionist history rarely felt this poignant and heartfelt. The Butler reflects on a 40 year chunk of the American civil rights movement through a triumvirate of souls, Forest Whittaker’s Cecil Gaines represents the subservient African American who journeys from farm house to Whitehouse soaking in the political and personal quirks of each passing administration. Louis Gaines, Cecil’s eldest son fights from the front and is implanted into every major civil rights event throughout the period in an attempt to take the audience into the heart of those moments and offer insight. Thirdly Cecil’s wife Gloria played beautifully by Oprah Winfrey reflects the inner struggler, places where at times the heft of freedom fighting and pain of the times strike deepest, whilst at other times barely at all instead the creating a loving family environment take precedent. 

5.Blue Jasmine

Director:Woody Allen
Writer:Woody Allen
Stars:Cate Blanchett, Alec Baldwin, Peter Sarsgaard

The year’s best performance came courtesy of Cate Blanchett’s not so blissfully ignorant socialite looking to rebound from the despair of her personal oblivion. Through Blanchett’s stunning performance we start with the recovery and work back, landing at her sisters San Francisco pad escaping her documented New York Heaven turned Hell of shady husband (Baldwin) whose bout of financial and fidelitous indiscretions have plunged all connected into a sea of hardship and heartache. Blue Jasmine is a film about opposites; blonde and brunette, rich and poor, east and west, past and present; Woody Allen of course brings his obsession with cheating partners and elusive romances to this most poisoned of dinner parties.

4.Prisoners

Director:Denis Villeneuve
Writer:Aaron Guzikowski
Stars:Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis

Possibly the highest praise one could heap upon Canadian Director Denis Villeneuve’s Prisoners is to suggest that it really is the closest thing anyone has really come to emulating David Fincher’s classic Thriller Se7en (1995). What begins as an ostensive cat and mouse kidnap narrative turns into something far more profound and metaphoric. Keller’s (Jackman) young daughter and her friend go missing under mysterious circumstances he grows frustrated with the pace of the investigation led by an unconventional detective (Gyllenhaal) and takes matters into his own hands.
Villenueve fills the screen with visual puzzles and recurring patterns, whilst the psyche of those on screen are challenged by moralistic dilemmas and deeply buried emotions.   

3.Kick Ass 2

Director:Jeff Wadlow
Writers:Jeff Wadlow (screenplay), Mark Millar (comic book),
Stars:Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chloë Grace Moretz,

Even with Iron Man and Superman being amongst the year’s many superhero releases somehow a purple clad teenage girl managed to kick both their asses and claim the crown as the year’s best Comic book hero.  Kick Ass 2 in many ways is a typical sequel doubling up on new characters, gags, action and profanity but what it does do is find a narrative to support the extra baggage, whilst holding onto the unique cross genre chemistry of its predecessor dipping in between spoof, satire, comedy and thriller. Mindy Macready aka Hit Girl is still reeling from the effects of the first chapter and as a result decides to forsake the purple wig in order restore what is left of her childhood. Kick Ass meanwhile is left to join a band of

 masked crime fighters lead by Colonel Stars and Stripes (Jim

Carey), however when a deadly rival gang emerges will they be up for the challenge?

2.Behind the Candelabra

Director:Steven Soderbergh
Writers:Richard LaGravenese (screenplay), Scott Thorson (book),
Stars:Matt Damon, Scott Bakula, Michael Douglas

There is a real sense of tragedy and sadness which tinges the riotous offerings of Behind The Candelabra. Matt Damon plays Scott Thorson who whirlpool like is sucked into the flamboyant, extrovert but also lonely heart of his lover; the great pianist Liberace. Few would have contemplated Michael Douglas taking on such a role when for much of his career he has been entrenched as the snarling alpha male, here his performance is full of the camp zest required to effectively and convincingly don the plethora of sequin attire.  Tucked beneath the extravagant exterior Director Steven Soderbergh creates a spiteful, controlling and disingenuous world born of an emptiness created by the shallow entities of fame and fortune.

1.Rush

Director: Ron Howard
Writer: Peter Morgan (screenplay)
Stars: Daniel Brühl, Chris Hemsworth,


Ron Howard’s Rush is towering success of a movie, creating and immersive experience which binds thought with pure thrill in this tale of sporting rivalry which transcends its own deeply philosophical intentions through its character’s lives. Centred around a pair of juxtaposing heroes who through their intense personal battle within the F1 arena find a piece of themselves within each other. Austrian Niki Lauda played meticulously by Daniel Bruhl is coldly and calculating whose driving reflects all that he is and does, Lauda is adverse to risk and weighs up each pro and con in order to seek his advantage. James Hunt (Hemsworth) is the fire to the Austrian's Ice, his brash cocky persona is absorbed into his driving style where he embraces the dangers of his vocation.  Both sets of idiosyncrasies’ can’t escape the added strain brought about by relationships Lauda lacks passion and emotional intelligence, whilst Hunt’s reckless pursuit of opposite sex leads to added and messy tabloid attention.
Rush has a something in it for everyone even those not enamoured with motorsport or sport in general, a truly must see gripping drama.