This is the thread where we discuss matters pertaining to the detrius that accompanies the "End of the Year in Cinema" -- 2014

i didn't know, have they been bleeding members? (I'm assuming youre not referring to Armond.)

Well, maybe not everyone ... looks like 3biri and Uh1ich and K1awans are still in there. But so is R3x R33d.

And regardless of all else, you could certainly count on 4rmond to not blindly rubber stamp this year's predestined Oscar draws.

I'm semi-sensing a fair amount of resistance to the "predestined" so far, but this is the furthest removed i've been from it in years.

I always say that right about this time of the year. And then by one month from now it's all "what happened to that wide open race?"

All the biopic-type stuff seems received at the same upper level of "meh" so far, which leaves the fake-indie (Birdman) and the indie-indie (Boyhood)? What aura of inevitability do you see coalescing?

(i did get into Turing-Cumberbatch at MoMA for next week)

At this very minute, I do see a clear path opening up for Boyhood to lose to Selma.

We're not nec talking about the Osc*rs, you realize...

I haven't seen any "takes" on Selma yet -- does it matter if it's good? (I like I Will Follow, Ava DuVernay's last, but it was humble, and I don't know if this one can afford to be.)

check that, it was Middle of Nowhere I saw.

oh boy, Tim Roth and Tom Wilkinson play George Wallace and LBJ in Selma. Get-a ready fer some Brit thespian/good ol' boy scenery CHEWIN'!

Oh, yeah, I'ma guess the crix awards are probably gonna be pretty much a Boyhood lovefest.

Nick Davis and N@thaniel think Whiplash is assured of a Best Pic nod. Maybe. Def for Supporting Actor.

you're talking about OSCAR NODS in DETRIUS again...

Pretty vocal minority calling bullshit on Whiplash

I misread the title.

i always forget that tom wilkinson is british, he's a very convincing american

Every alternative to Boyhood has a pretty solid core of detractors (moreso than Boyhood, I mean). I don't think there will be a major rally on behalf of Wes Anderson this time around, but who knows. Still trying to guess which foreign actress no one has heard of LAFCA will select for their prize this year.

Agata Trzebuchowska.

uh god is boyhood gonna win a bunch of prizes?

as sure as Mason grows up

oh boy, Tim Roth and Tom Wilkinson play George Wallace and LBJ in Selma. Get-a ready fer some Brit thespian/good ol' boy scenery CHEWIN'!

― things lose meaning over time (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, November 12, 2014 5:40 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol

http://ww2.hdnux.com/photos/10/36/65/2223429/5/628x471.jpg

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/511D7X3M13L.jpg

more doc love for Poitras

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN NONFICTION FEATURE FILMMAKING

Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard’s 20,000 Days on Earth.

Steve James‘s Life Itself.

Jesse Moss’s The Overnighters.

Laura Poitras‘s Citizenfour.

Orlando von Einsiedel’s Virunga.

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTION

Nick Broomfield for Tales of the Grim Sleeper.

Robert Greene for Actress.

Steve James for Life Itself.

Jesse Moss for The Overnighters.

Laura Poitras for Citizenfour.

https://www.fandor.com/keyframe/daily-cinema-eye-honors-2015-nominations

And more love for Roger Ebert, for that matter.

Just got home from seeing Actress. It's quite good. Both Robert Greene and Brandy Burre were there, talked a lot afterwards, they are pretty talkative people. Ne me Quitte Pas, which has gotten a few nominations, is worth checking out as well.

so did I! Was very wary of the subject matter, and was impressed with the permission it gave you to consider that BB was a huge fucking mess/asshole much of the time. Probably my favorite doc of the year so far along with Naked Room and Fifi.

A pretty fun moment at the Q&A when she talked about her thoughts on when she should tell her documentarian that she was having an affair...

is she using the doc as her "reel"?

He, that was a good scene wasn't it? 'Oh that's the sex scene, don't think we need to see that...' I don't know if she uses it as reel, but she said it changed her life, and apparantly she is working with people in New York. Oh, she was in Listen Up Philip, which Robert Greene also edited, wonder if she thought we would know that.

lol of course i just missed a week of listen up philip at the afi, p sure that wasn't on the calendar a week ago

could see he who gets slapped with live accompaniment tho! if i had $15 to spare!

I saw them in the wrong order, i don't remember her in LUP (which i quite disliked)

oh shit, now i do. one of its worst scenes.

Hong Sang-soo’s Hill of Freedom has been named the best Korean film of the year by the Korean Association of Film Critics’ Awards. “Korean-Chinese director Zhang Lu was named best director for his Gyeongju, with the best actor award going to Choi Min-sik of Roaring Currents, and Chun Woo-hee of Han Gong-ju named best actress.”

http://variety.com/2014/film/news/hill-of-freedom-wins-korean-critics-award-1201355423/

not holding out much hope for Imitation Game tnite, but Matthew Goode will be appearing afterward, hotcha

Independent Spirit Award nominations:
http://variety.com/2014/film/news/birdman-tops-spirit-awards-nominations-full-list-1201364588/

Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (2014) - IMDb
www.imdb.com/title/tt3263614/

A jaded Japanese woman discovers a hidden copy of Fargo (1996) on VHS, believing it to be a treasure map indicating the location of a large case of money.

I just...

yeah, that came to the festival here. it looks dreadful.

Minnesotans loved it, I guess.

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Marion Cotillard, The Immigrant
Rinko Kikuchi, Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter
Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Jenny Slate, Obvious Child
Tilda Swinton, Only Lovers Left Alive

OK, that's a pretty cool slate as far as these things go.

wow – that's an estimable list.

(haven't seen Kumiko or Moore though)

Obvious Child trailer made me kinda sick.

Cotillard, fine....
oh hey Eric, look what's at the top of Sicinski's poll-eligible list now:

http://academichack.net/notasteforaccounting.htm

i just caught up w/ only lovers left alive this past weekend. i enjoyed it, though i think it ran out of a lot of steam after mia wasikowska (sp?) left. not because her character necessarily enlivened the film so much as i think it just ran out of whatever slight narrative momentum it had built up, and the visual inventiveness flagged a bit too. maybe "inventiveness" is too strong a word for jarmusch mostly running through his favored poses.

i do think the idea of ageless vampires as the ultimate hipsters is a really funny and surprisingly rich one, at least as far as ideas in jarmusch films go. the film did about as much with that as i would have hoped in the first half of the film, then it began spinning its wheels. the last sequence was pretty great, though something about the framing of the final image felt off to me.

i really liked the visually disorienting opening shots

even more than his other films the film felt like an amused semi-autobiography. jarmusch is the ultimate hipster gadfly, carefully maintaining his cred through generational and other shifts. he probably feels a little bit like the main characters of his film by now.

It ran out of steam for me too but it was by far the wittiest and most engaged Jarmusch I've seen in years, maybe ever. Ideal fusion of subject + form.

Yeah, it's about record collectors. The damned, truly.

In the Indies' queer ghetto I prefer Test to Ira Sachs' Make Way for Old Married Gays in Sweaters.

yeah – white

Don't bring your Grammys into this thread.

BP? what is this BP? take it away

beep

well now it's time for Last of the Unjust

appparently you and I are the only American fags who liked Pride, Sotosyn.

pride is better than theory of everything and imitation game and should have won more awards.

mais oui

Last of the Unjust a complicated watch whose initial seeming faults mostly turn into assets.

INDIE SPIRITS with mostly a xerox year. Still no idea why ppl are bowled over by Nightcrawler.

Best Feature: Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Producers: Alejandro G. Iñárritu, John Lesher, Arnon Milchan, James W. Skotchdopole

Best Director: Richard Linklater (IFC Films)

Best Screenplay: Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler (Open Road Films)

Best First Feature: Nightcrawler (Open Road Films)
Director: Dan Gilroy, Producers: Jennifer Fox, Tony Gilroy, Jake Gyllenhaal, David Lancaster, Michel Litvak

Best First Screenplay: Justin Simien, Dear White People (Roadside Attractions/ Lionsgate)

John Cassavetes Award (For best feature made under $500,000): Land Ho! (Sony Pictures Classics)
Writers/Directors: Aaron Katz, Martha Stephens, Producers: Christina Jennings, Mynette Louie, Sara Murphy

Best Supporting Female: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood (IFC Films)

Best Supporting Male: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash (Sony Pictures Classics)

Best Female Lead: Julianne Moore, Still Alice (Sony Pictures Classics)

Best Male Lead: Michael Keaton, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Robert Altman Award: Inherent Vice (Warner Bros.)
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson, Casting Director: Cassandra Kulukundis, Ensemble Cast: Josh Brolin, Hong Chau, Martin Donovan, Jena Malone, Joanna Newsom, Joaquin Phoenix, Sasha Pieterse, Eric Roberts, Maya Rudolph, Martin Short, Serena Scott Thomas, Benicio del Toro, Katherine Waterston, Owen Wilson, Reese Witherspoon, Michael Kenneth Williams

Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Best Editing:Tom Cross, Whiplash (Sony Pictures Classics)

Best International Film: Ida (Poland – Music Box Films)
Director: Pawel Pawlikowski

Best Documentary: CITIZENFOUR (RADiUS-TWC / HBO Documentary Films / Participant Media)
Director: Laura Poitras; Producers: Mathilde Bonnefoy, Dirk Wilutzky

Special Distinction Award: Foxcatcher (Sony Pictures Classics)
Director/Producer: Bennett Miller, Producers: Anthony Bregman, Megan Ellison, Jon Kilik, Writers: E. Max Frye, Dan Futterman, Actors: Steve Carell, Mark Ruffalo, Channing Tatum

FC readers poll

http://www.filmcomment.com/entry/film-comment-readers-poll-2014

Should probably have linked here earlier. In the midst of the ILX 2014 Film Poll rollout here: People, they love blood. They love action. Not this talky, depressing, philosophical ILX 2014 Film Poll Thread - Voting closes Friday, Feb. 21st at Midnight EST.

Just saw Imitation Game -- terrible film saved by an inherently interesting story and decent acting. Script is awful. Putting that tagline "Sometimes the individuals you least expect...[or whatever]" in the mouths of characters THREE different times is beyond the ordinary hacky biopic garbage. Way too little time spent actually trying to convey how Engima worked and/or how they solved it. Lots of unbelievable conceits (literally the first attack they have the ability to stop just happens to be on one of the codebreakers' own brother's ship) Director had obviously seen "The Fog Of War" and tried but failed to lend gravitas with similar math/carnage overlays.

I really like Amalric's The Blue Room, esp that blase-like-a-fox magistrate.

I did too. As an exercise in swank economy, The Blue Room is the kind of movie hard to screw up. It’s content to stay on the surface, registering as nothing more than an adaptation of Simenon. I saw only one howler: a cut from a closeup of Esther’s vagina to Julien’s daughter.

I'm too upset by any shot of a vagina to notice what follows.

i've seen many movies "like" that screwed up, if we're talking erotic thrillers. Louis Malle's Damage? Terrible.

(tho phaps that was sold on the sexy more than a Simenon adap wd be)

Oh I love Damage. It's genuinely weird.

"Damaghed peeeple are dahnjerou peeple. That's how we surbive."

Haha

A lovely, winsome Blythe Danner performance and Sam Elliot's sexy rumble are at the heart of I'll See You In My Dreams, a snappier than usual Hallmark Channel movie (and in the eighties James Garner would've starred).

Watched Spotlight: good, with a couple impressive moments. Not as effective as Zodiac cuz visually it's dead (Fincher would have at least shown Boston's insularity by showing how close the Globe building is to Michael Keaton's high school earlier and more gracefully).

oops -- wrong detrius