Lists - Top 10 Films of 2014

It's time again to look back over the year that was and chart the best films of the year.  2014 was another solid year with many contenders for a spot in the year end top 10. Due to my attendance at several film festivals some films make my list that have not yet had a wide release while others on several top 10 lists such as IDA and WE ARE THE BEST were on last years list. Lastly I did not catch SELMA or  INHERENT VICE both of which  ave early January releases and could have made my list.  Without further adieu here are the titles:


10.  Mr. Turner.

9. The Notorious Mr. Bout.

8.    What We Do In The Shadows.

7.  Leviathan.

6.  In The Crosswind.

5.  Boyhood.

4.   Calvary.    

3.  Force Majeure.                

2.  Under The Skin.

1.  Mommy

On the opposite side of the spectrum my worst three movies of the year were Among Ravens,  Impunity and  The Monuments Men.

Cheers and best to everyone for 2015!

Film Review - Mr. Turner

How are you faring Mr. Turner? This is the standard greeting in J.M.W. Turner's world where Lord Nelson's feats at the battle to Trafalgar are a current memory. The Mike Leigh film focuses on the last quarter of the painter's life. Turner is relatively well off, travels to locations all over Europe to find the settings for his paintings and is a leading figure at the Royal Academy of Arts.

The film opens with an exquisite shot of Turner out at a vast field in the Netherlands sketching a windmill. The camera locks in on two woman walking from left to right in the frame with the windmill above them then extends back to show Turner at a higher elevation working on his sketch. of the scene sets the tone for Turner's method of going to, on, in and amongst nature to create his art.

Director Mike Leigh creates a visually stimulating mid-nineteenth century world. The dirt roads, horse drawn carriages, buildings and especially the costume design team contribute to the production in bringing the viewer into the time period. Leigh keeps the camera fixed using wide angles whenever possible to demonstrate the full scope of the settings for Turner's landscapes and naval pieces.

Director of photography Dick Pope plays a major part in creating the world that appears on screen. Pope who has worked with Leigh on many occasions captures the rich array of colours that are prominent in Turner's paintings with his lens. He is especially good at showing several sunrises and sunsets driving home Turner's reverence for the star. In one scene Pope displays a giant valley with bright green mossy areas and a body of water at its base. The shot is astonishing and naturally the spot that after his hike into the area Turner decides to sit down to sketch. Pope's vision is fully displayed at a key moment in the production as Turner is taxied along the Thames as the Temeraire is tugged to it's final resting place inspiring the famous painting of the event.

Timothy Spall is fantastic in the title role of J.M.W.  Turner. Grunting is his main method of communication. Based on the length a pitch of the grunt something is pleasing or annoying to the Artist. His verbal utterances are a cross between an Orc and a large Bear. Spall is very physical in the scenes where he paints throwing everything from brushstrokes to fingers to spit at the canvas to create the pieces.

Paul Jesson who has worked with Spall and Leigh both before in Vera Drake. Turns in a strong performance as Turner's father William. He lives with his son, does all of the paint mixing, buying and canvas construction while Billy goes out on his travels. He is in poor physical heath specifically  his lungs but continues to do all that he can for his son to allow so him to focus on painting. He makes a matching pair with Dorothy Atkinson who plays Hanna Danby Turner's dutiful housekeeper. She is constantly bent over, has trouble walking features an extremely bad complexion that worsens as the film progresses. She is tends house and is always at the door to meet Turner when he returns from his trips. Marion Bailey another Leigh regular is memorable as Turner's companion Sophia Booth. Having already buried one husband when they first meet Sophia starts a relationship with Turner following the death of he second husband. She is usually ready to assist when Turner physically overexerts himself in the name of his art.

Mr. Turner is a well acted biopic that paints a vivid picture spanning parts of three decades. Leigh presents the elements of the art along with the effort required to get the picture. The film is beautifully shot and the reliance on natural sound serves the production well.  It is a film I can recommend.

*** 1/2 Out of 4.

Mr. Turner | Mike Leigh | UK | 2014 | 150 Minutes.

Tags: Biography, Painting, Nineteenth Century, Royal Academy, Romanticism, Landscapes, Watercolours, Maritime Scenes.

Film Review - The Gambler

Jim Bennett ( Mark Wahlberg) is an all or nothing guy. If you can't achieve genius at a task you should just give it up and forget it. Coming from a very well off family; his grandfather Ed (George Kennedy) started a successful and still striving Los Angles bank, Jim's goal is to get to zero and start over.

Bennett is an associate professor at a local University where he teaches English Lit 101. One of his students Amy Phillips (Brie Larson) has that potential to be genius.  Another Lamar (Anthony Kelley) a star basketball player that will go very high in the NBA draft and the rest in his estimation just filling seats for another credit on their ledger. Jim does not bring any conviction to his teaching. He sits amongst his students as he lectures when not confronting them with highly personal questions. It's this direct full on personality and desire to get to the ground that leads him to difficulty in the underground Los Angeles gambling dens.  

Directory Wyatt coming of blockbuster success with Rise of the Planet of the Apes has moved back to direct a character driven story in the vein of his 2008 film The Escapist. Wyatt presents a different L.A. in his film; private casino's up in the rolling hills, abandoned swimming pools in the pawnshop district through back entrances into Korean gambling halls and members sections in downtown steam rooms. There are no obligatory shots of Rodeo Drive, Capitol building or either of the Hollywood or Beverly Hills signs.

Writer William Monahan delivers another script full of rich expression and offbeat characters.  The film features two exceptional monologues. One by Bennett when he spells out his genius theory to his class working around the room challenging individuals until he gets to his Amy. The other by notorious money lender Frank (John Goodman) as he lays out the conditions of a potential loan and FU money philosophy to Jim when he comes looking for cash to pay off his debts.      

Cinematographer Greig Fraiser is instrumental in presenting Wyatt's grittier version of L.A. The film is shot in several dark settings. Fraiser uses outside light from a windows or other rooms to bring the figures on screen in into focus. He was also the co conspirator in Wyatt's determination to have no  palm tress in the film ofter resetting his lens to achieve the goal.

Mark Wahlberg delivers a top notch performance as Bennett leaving no grey areas in his characters soar or crash mentality. In one particular scene right after he pieces together the funds to makes it back to level he proceeds to sink slowly and steadily back into the hole $10,000 at a time is painful to watch. Wahlberg plays it well berating the dealers that look on him with sadness going out of their way to give him the option to stop.

Brie Larson does remarkably well with the supporting part of Amy. She does not have much dialogue but her facial and body expressions bring life to her role. She particularly shines in a scene where she walks across campus ear buds fixed in her own happy world listening to tunes. Her fresh young attitude plays well off of Wahlberg's  negative spiral into depression and self loathing.

The cast is rounded out with superior performances from the above mentioned Goodman plus Jessica Lange's turn as Bennett's up from the working class mother Roberta. Michael Kenneth Williams ( Omar from The Wire) as Neville one of the loan sharks that Bennett owes big and another Wire alum Domenick Lombardozzi as Frank's bodyguard.

The Gambler is a dialogue driven story that does not dishonour the 1974 James Caan version. The film has a strong cast and director Wyatt succeeds with his goal of presenting Los Angeles' dark alleys, basements, nooks and crannies. It's one of the rare studio driven character films that we only seem to get one or two of each year. It is a film that I strongly recommend.

*** 1/2 Out of 4.

The Gambler | Rupert Wyatt | U.S.A. | 2014 | 111 Minutes.

Tags; Drama, Gambling, Professor, Addiction, Loan Shark, Korea Town, English Lit, College Basketball,
 

B.I.T.S. 2014 Film Review - Black Mountain Side

Isolation is a key elements in any good Arctic Thriller. Another is the introduction of a foreign element something to the group. The foreign agent can be alien as in John Carpenter's The Thing or viral as is the case in Nick Szostakiwskyj's Black Mountain Side. 

A group of scientific specialists are stationed at Outpost 291 in the Taiga Cordillera ecozone the most northern outpost in the Yukon. Their link to the South is a radio where they call in their weekly supply needs to Ranger Station 9. The area is so far north that both that supplies and people have to be helicoptered in ever since the last supply plane attempting the trip froze and fell out of the sky. Into this group arrives Dr. Peter Olsen (Michael Dickson) an Archaeological expert from the University of Toronto who has come to investigate an unusual structure the team has begun to excavate. The group are hopeful that the structure will be a significant find confirmed by Dr. Olsen leading to more grant money for the project.

However in the passing days things begin to change. First the base cat is ritualistically dismembered and displayed at the dig site, next the workers from the reserve 90 miles to the South all leave during the middle of the night headed north to certain death, then the crew start showing symptoms of illness, some physical, some psychological but all become paranoid and suspicions of each.  On top of all this they can no longer reach Station 9 cutting them off from the outside world.

Writer Director Nick Szostakiwskyj builds an intense psychological drama moving at a rhythmic slow burning pace. The effects on the individual crew members are quite subtle at first then ratchet up with the first physical manifestation of the virus then slowing to minor irritations amongst the team of each others behaviour before surging quickly past the original shock level to a heightened intensity that's maintained for final stages of the piece.

The ensemble cast looks the part presenting the material well although Carl Toftfelt's (Francis Monroe) did present a challenge picking up all of his dialogue from time to time. The strongest part of the groups performance is how they embrace and carry out their self inflicted or projected acts of madness with an eerie level of calmness.

Black Mountain Side is a well-crafted production. It quickly establishes the conditions at the camp at the outset. The archaeological elements; carbon dating, mesoamerican tagging, Pharaohs revenge are presented in a plain non lecturing manner.  The cast are solid as they battle a mainly invisible or  internal enemy. It is a film that I can recommend.

*** Out of 4.

Black Mountain Side | Nick Szostakiwskyj | Canada | 2014 | 99 Minutes.

Tags: Yukon, Plague, Carbon Dating, Horror, Amputation, Voices, Autopsy, Hieroglyphics, Artifacts, Shrine, Temple.

B.I.T.S. 14 Film Review - Ejecta

Bill Cassidy (Julian Richings) is sitting at his kitchen table telling Joe Sullivan (Adam Seybold) how things go for him on a typical night. Foreign elements meet in his mind causing him pain stemming from an event 39 years ago where he was visited by extra terrestrial beings that left something behind in his head. Bill often wakes up miles from home days or weeks later with no memory of how he got to the location. He just wants the pain, feelings and presence to stop.

Joe Sullivan a documentary filmmaker has come out to visit Bill based on an e-mail invitation. He is out on eve of a coronal mass ejection. A solar wind and magnetic field sent from the sun headed for earth with the potential to knock out all of earth electrical systems at worse or be a pretty light show at best. Also lurking in the area are shadowy government troops tracking events ready to act if the events turn to develop are more on the sinister side. Bill ends up in conflict with an army unit leading to an unwanted trip to their base where he is interrogated by government agent  Dr. Tobin (Lisa Houle) who is both good and bad cop all rolled into one.

Writer Tom Burgess whose credits include another Lisa Houle film Pontypool pens a we are not alone tale with all the key elements. Bill is out on a rural farm spouting alien stories on line seen as a crackpot by all until the visitors return. Joe the green stem documentary film maker who wants to witness something extraordinary but is not remotely ready to handle it when it occurs. Plus the mysterious government agency led by Dr. Tobin who have always know about alien visits, stockpiled their technology for centuries battled to contain every contact with them while tracing anyone and everyone that may have information that they can use.

Directors Chad Archibald and Matt Wiele use a lot of handle held mobile camera for the feature. The film has a large element of found footage recorded by Joe for his film. It's used for the back story before Joe turns up at Bill's place as well as for events on the night of the coronal mass ejection. The bouncy jagged filming theme continues with the army team sending helmet cam footage back to headquarters for Dr. Tobin to view on monitors.

Veteran Actor Julian Richings delivers an intense performance as Bill Cassidy. He appears frail but switches on when Dr. Tobin uses her torture toolbox to obtain information from him about the nights events. Houle brings a schizophrenic element to the Dr. Tobin role. In one moment she is a seasoned tuff interrogator, the next tender and loving to Cassidy in her attempt to gain intel then instantly dismissive of two colleagues who make mistakes that lead to catastrophic consequences for the pair.

Ejecta ticks all of the boxes for an alien visitor story. Clearly lacking a large budget, the production uses lighting, darkness, the forest around Cassidy's home and Joe's panicked shooting to keep the keys elements the nights activities slightly out of view building the suspense. The film will struggle for mainstream appeal but enthusiast of this niche will be entertained.

** 1/2 Out of 4.

Ejecta | Chad Archibald /Matt Wiele | Canada | 2014 | 87 minutes

Tags; Sci-Fi, found footage, conspiracy theory, Aliens, Alien Technology, Cosmic events, interrogation, Secret Government Agencies, Special Ops.

B.I.T.S.14 Film Review - Berkshire County

Kylie Winters (Alysa King) is an outsider at school and her own hardest critic. When a popular boy Marcus (Aaron Chartrand) pays attention to her at a Halloween party she engages in out of character behaviour bringing her unwanted attention amongst her high school peers. Kylie does not have time to reflect on the situation as she has a babysitting job at the Harrison's Halloween night in Berkshire the next county over.

The Harrison's own a huge sprawling home featuring clashing elements of wood, brick and stone. Staircases, landings, closets and crawl spaces are scattered liberally throughout the home. Kylie meets junior grade school charges Phoebe (Madison Ferguson) and Sam (Christophe Gallander) who engage her in repeated games of hide and go seek until day turns to night and their nine p.m. bedtime arrives.  The film reeves up the main plot line 15 minutes later when a young boy in a pig mask appears to trick or treat while an adult sporting a similar mask stands back on the driveway. Kylie goes to give the boy candy starting events in motion.

Director Audrey Cummings presents a story that is a little different to killer comes a knocking stories of the past. There is not a house full of expected targets, the Heroine does not make a series of horror film standard ill fated moves and the goal of the villains is different as well.

The Harrison home is a character itself in the film. The home is highlighted in Kylie initial tour. It's also the driver in the early games of hide and go seek and due to its multiple levels, open concept landings and multiple designs it's a great tool for building visual tension as Kylie can be in the same spaces as her hunters but not be scene. The production, set and art direction teams did notable work on the production.  Jim McGrath takes a different approach with the music for the film.  It is more understated than the normal horror film with quick breezy up tones and lots of elements of natural sound and the main characters hide in the shadows while the stalkers roam the home.

Alysa King is believable as Kylie the naive, self doubting high schooler that could under the right circumstances step forward to handle a big situation. Madison Ferguson is also strong as Phoebe quickly grasping the severity of the situation and reacting very well for someone so young. Samora Smallwood in solid as Roberta the helpful voice on the phone that is uncannily always on the other end of Kylie's frequent calls to the police whenever her iPhone is in reach.

Berkshire County is a fresh take on the teen scream genre.  It has its signatory kills but the targets are much different that the normal booze fuelled hormonal crazed high school set. It features a heroine that you can truly root for plus villains that are not necessarily looking to kill victims on the spot.

*** out of 4.

Berkshire County | Audrey Cummings | Canada| 2014 | 83 Minutes.

Tags: Loner, New Kid, Self Loathe, Cell Phone Video, Bullying, Babysitting, Kidnapping, 911 Call, Pigs, Child Welfare.

European Union Film Festival Review - Vis -A- Vis

"O.K. I'm ready" followed by a punch to the face are the first images on the screen in Nevio Marasovic's Vis-A -Vis. The young director (Rakan Rushaidat) is huddled with his producer (Daria Lorenci) who has set up a meeting with a potential main actor (Janko Volaric Popovic) in between scene on the latter's popular soap.  The Main Actor sporting studio blood on his wardrobe from the above noted punch is happy to do the role but has questions about the actor playing his dad in the script. They agree to do a read as the Main Actor has to return to the set next door for his next scene.

The Director is next off to see the famous actor (Kresimir Mikic) who he had in mind when he wrote the role of the father. Their breakfast meeting does not go well.  The Famous Actor is interested but reports that the script it to long, he is not keen on a soap opera guy playing his son not to mention that they are only about three years apart. The Famous Actor is also not sold on using the island of Vis as a setting. The intimidated director tries to explain his thinking but ends up taking the advise of the famous actor to go to Vis over the new years holiday to work on the script.  As he still has to do the read the Main Actor agrees to go as well.

Writers Marasovic and Rushaidat weave a multi layered tale. The two men head to Vis Island for 3 days staying at the Director's family home on the island. While there both speak of unresolved emotional events in their lives for the first time strangely to a person they just met.  The Main Actor SMS buzzes constantly as he periodically displays his fetish for water as a tool to calm himself. They do some reading, the Director works on the scrip and the men are much closer when the retun to the mainland 4 mornings later.

Rakan Rushaidat is well suited for the Director role. He has to defend himself as this is his first film, the subject matter is personal and his resume consists of a student film and a couple of years of commercials. Janko Volaric Popovic is the surprising driver of the films as the Main Actor. He starts off arrogant yet defensive of his soap opera pedigree, then distracted by the constant SMS messages but continues to grow and evolve as the piece progresses to eventually knowing the intricate nuances of the scrip inside out as an immediate personal relationship unravels. Kresimir Mikic role is supporting as the Famous Actor. He is only in four scenes but commands them all playing the iconic veteran presence well.

Vis- A-Vis is a strongly written spirited film. The dialogue and interaction between the main characters are its strength. The production takes a jagged turn well past the three quarter pole that completely flips the direction of the original narrative but as the new turn plays out its clear that the new path is the correct course correction.  It is a film that I can recommend.

*** out of 4

Vis -A-Vis | Nevio Marasovic | Croatia | 2013 | 81 Minutes.

Tags:  Director, Casting, Script, Actors, Producer, Vis, Re-Write, Funding, Isolation, Tito.