Monday, December 29, 2014

Jonah’s Best Films of 2014





If you read other film writers’ Best Films of the Year lists, they usually start with an apology about 2014 not being a particularly good year in film. I disagree with this immensely, even though the usual crop of late year Oscar-hopeful releases have been a bit lackluster, there are still quite a few great films that came out earlier in the year.

For my list, I included any films that I felt like writing a sentence or two about, so my list forgoes the monolithic top 10, and is a top 13 instead.

Also, putting these films in any order according to quality, taste or personal preference turned into a Sisyphean task, where the list would self-destruct once a new entry was made, and I was forced to start over. For this reason, the films are in alphabetical order.

One caveat, I have not seen every film that has been released this year, and being located in a relatively small film market, I will most likely have to catch up with many titles after the beginning of 2015. 

This horror film injected pure emotion into a genre that has become so focused on lame jump scares and shallow characters. Jennifer Kent directed a scary film in the vein of “The Exorcist” and “Rosemary’s Baby,” where the real horror is what has been lurking within a family the whole time.

Remember the name Jeremy Saulnier because it is going to be everywhere soon. Saulnier directed a revenge film that transforms into a family drama, and back again, more than a few times. Comparisons to early Coen brothers’ films are spot on and accurate. On its own, this film is just as exciting as the new talent it showcases.

Call it a stunt, a gimmick or anything else you want, the truth of the matter is that there has never been a film captured like “Boyhood.” This coming of age story took director Richard Linklater and cast twelve years to realize, allowing audiences to literally watch star Ellar Coltrane grow up before our eyes.

2014 was full of films that explored big themes. In “Calvary”, an Irish priest played by Brendan Gleeson, is told in the opening scene that he will be murdered in one week to atone for the sins of another long-gone priest . Instead of running away from his fate, Gleeson’s character decides to stand up to it, all the while maintaining hope that his future killer will see that murder and vengeance are not going to bring the solace he seeks.

Justin Simien’s debut feature film, based on a Twitter account of the same name, is a satire that is just as calculated in the prejudices and systematic racism it exposes, as it is hilarious. Have that annoying friend who just doesn’t seem to understand white privilege? Make sure they see this film.

The allure of the enigmatic genius Frank (played by Michael Fassbender, covered by a giant paper-mache head) is so strong that Domhnall Gleeson’s Jon quits his job and moves to the country with Frank’s band Soronprfbs (not a misspelling) to record a groundbreaking new album. The band’s final performance of the song “I Love You All” is in a tie for the best scene of the year.

This movie was so much more than the toy commercial I was expecting. To great effect it shows that a world where everything is awesome is not an awesome world, after all. This film plays with alternate dimensions in time and space more effectively than even the labored “Interstellar.”

The life of Tom Hardy’s Ivan Locke falls apart during a car ride. This film resembles a one-person play, but in the best possible way, and director Steven Knight takes every opportunity to make the commute visually interesting. “Locke” demonstrates that Hardy is not the next De Niro, as that is being too generous to De Niro.

Not much can, or should, be said about the plot of this film. Every plot development needs to be experienced with as little knowledge as possible. Suffice it to say, in this film Mark Duplass and Elisabeth Moss play a struggling couple that go to an unusual retreat. This film has stayed with me long after my initial viewing.

Jim Jarmusch directing Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston as two deeply in love, centuries old, vampires living in Detroit, is pretty much just as cool as you would expect it to be. Leaving behind pretty much every vampire film cliché and trapping, Jarmusch uses his immortal couple, named Adam and Eve, to examine how far humanity has come, and their fear the end of the species will arrive all too soon.

What makes a human? Is it something that can be observed and learned? This sci-fi film asks that and many other questions, (remember this is the year of big questions) but provides no answers. Scarlett Johansson plays an alien (maybe) who seduces men in a strange lair where they are used for…something. “Under the Skin,” as a viewing experience, moves over you in waves, first in curiosity, then horror, and eventually, a weird hope. One scene from this film is tied with “Frank’s” ending as being the best of the year, it involves a deformed man, and what his encounter with Johansson suggests about body image, compassion and empathy.





We are the Best!
Three middle school misfits won’t let punk rock die in Sweden. When three friends in 1980s Stockholm decide to start an all-girl punk band they can’t let things get in their way like not being able to play instruments, or even never attempting to write songs. The energy of this film is so infectious the title should have three exclamation marks, and the lessons learned by the characters are applicable far beyond middle school.

Here is another music film that delves into the idea of what makes a genius (another big question), this time in the world of collegiate jazz. J.K. Simmons plays Terence Fletcher, a music instructor at a distinguished performing arts college, who expects nothing less than perfection from his students. Miles Teller’s Andrew Neiman is a freshman drummer, whose life is made miserable by the intense demands from Fletcher, all in the effort to bring out genius. Growing up in Indiana, the parallels in Fletcher and famed coach Bobby Knight are hard to miss, but it is the footage of the musical performances that make this film such a kinetic experience.







The Rest of the Best
Here are some films I greatly enjoyed and almost made my list: “Birdman,” “The Double,” “Gone Girl,” “Grand Budapest Hotel,” “Mistaken for Strangers,” “Obvious Child,” “The Skeleton Twins” and “The Unknown Known.”










Jonah Crismore is Cinema Center’s Executive Director and just plays a man who makes lists on TV.

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Upcoming Cinema Center Films - January 2015


January is shaping up to be an exciting month. We have two foreign-language films slated to open, as well as a gritty crime thriller from down under. Be sure to always check the Future page for additions and changes to the schedule.







A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Ana Lily Amirpour’s debut feature has been marketed as “the first Iranian vampire western ever made”, we are likely to believe that. The gorgeous black and white cinematography is worth the price of admission.

Opens January 2nd, 2015






Force Majeure
This Swedish film became a word-of-mouth darling at last year’s Cannes Film Festival. It tells the story of a family unraveling during an avalanche in the Alps. Words like wicked and funny have been used numerous times to describe this potential Best Foreign Language Film nominee.

Opens January 9th, 2015






Son of a Gun
Ewan McGregor stars in this Australian thriller as a career criminal who takes a recently released young ex-con under his wing. For the past ten years or so, a whole crop of high quality crime films have come from Australia, this film does not look to be an exception.

Opens January 23rd, 2015


Friday, December 12, 2014

FILM NEXUS Vol. 8: The Babadook



Today, Cinema Center opens “The Babadook,” an emotionally complex horror film by Jennifer Kent, who began her career as an assistant to famed director and enfant terrible Lars Von Trier.

Part of the reason the film has faired so well with audiences and critics (it currently has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 98%) is because of its ability to create a connection between the characters, not necessarily jump scares from the titular monster.

Currently, there are several creepy and strange, as well as emotional titles streaming on Netflix. Any of these would be worth watching after catching “The Babadook” at Cinema Center:






Twin Peaks (1990)
Would modern television look the same without “Twin Peaks”? There is an argument to be made that popular serialized TV would be very different without Agent Cooper’s investigation into the death of Laura Palmer. The whole town is full of secrets, some of them manifest in the realm of the absurd, and others only create dread. As Cooper’s case intensifies, so does his love and dedication to the people of Twin Peaks.






The Double (2013)
Richard Ayoade is becoming a director I am really excited to see develop. This film is a dark, uneasy adaptation of the Dostoyevsky novel. Jesse Eisenberg plays Simon, a lonely, shy and awkward office worker who is obsessed with Mia Wasikowska’s Hannah. Chaos enters Simon’s life when his doppelganger, the charming and confident James (also played by Eisenberg), begins working at the same office. Tonally the film is nearly perfect, as are the performances by Eisenberg and Wasikowska.






Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
There is no greater horror film that deals with the relationship between mother and child, just in the case of this movie, the child may be the spawn of Satan. Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes were great as Rosemary and Guy, but it was Ruth Gordon as Minnie Castevet, and Sidney Blackmer as her husband Roman who steal every scene on arrival. The paranoia and ambiguity makes the horror so much more palpable, and is made worse by not relying on jump scares, but focusing on the emotional state of Rosemary.



The Babadook” opens December 12th at 12pm and 9:30.
Jonah Crismore is Cinema Center’s Executive Director and wouldn't mind a vodka blush.