My Favorite Movie Experiences of 2014…and other guilty pleasures

The Grand Budapest Hotel—Possibly my favorite of the year, this beautifully Wes Anderson-crafted gem is an offbeat, zany, imaginatively zippy caper film following the saga of a legendary concierge, M. Gustave H. (Ralph Fiennes), his faithful lobby boy, and the pursuit of a priceless painting bequeathed by a dowager guest.  Also features a wonderful array of pre-WWII mustaches. 

Boyhood—Twelve years in the making, Richard Linklater’s gamble pays off big time as you watch Ellar Coltrane miraculously grow up before your eyes without digital trickery.  What could have been one big gimmick is simply a captivating, groundbreaking portrayal of an everyday/ordinary journey from boy to young adulthood with all its requisite bumps and joys. 

Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) —A dazzling, exhilarating, audacious tour de force of a black comedy featuring Michael Keaton as Riggan Thomson, a washed-up superhero star making a comeback via a pet Broadway project based on a Raymond Carver short story.  Driven by a percussive Antonio Sanchez score, Thomson careens toward a disastrous opening night while his fresh from rehab daughter (Emma Stone) and majestically self-absorbed ass of a last minute stand-in (a terrific Edward Norton) challenge the fragile psyche of the fading megastar.  The film pokes fun at celebrity/stardom, Hollywood vs. Broadway, art vs. commerce.  While Keaton is terrific, the real stars are director Alejandro G. Iñárritu and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki whose camera zooms and swoops through Broadway’s St. James Theatre in what seems like one continuous 2-hour take. 

Documentaries

Jodorowsky’s Dune—Fascinating doc about the most influential film never made—avant garde filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky’s passion project to bring the classic sci-fi novel Dune to the big screen, convincing people like Orson Welles, Salvador Dali, Mick Jagger to star and Pink Floyd to score. Legendary cartoonist Moebius, f/x expert Dan O’Bannon, and artist H. R. Giger’s visual designs and story boards would go on to influence seminal films like Star Wars, Alien, Terminator, Blade Runner and The Matrix, forever changing the language of the sci-fi genre. 

The Case Against 8—Fascinating and emotional journey of the California Prop. 8 gay marriage ban case on its five year journey to the Supreme Court with its two plaintiff couples plus the extraordinary coupling of the conservative legal star Ted Olson and liberal David Boies (rivals in Bush v. Gore).  A riveting & moving opportunity to see history unfold before your eyes. 

Spinning Plates—As a foodie who grew up in a small family restaurant, this is a decidedly personal favorite which resonated with me—an interwoven story of 3 very different restaurants, from Michelin star chef Grant Achatz’s Alinea in Chicago to 150 year old community institution Breitbach’s in Iowa to a fledgling Mexican restaurant in Arizona bound together by passion for food as a way of building community as well as survival and overcoming adversity. 

Crazy People

Nightcrawler—“If it bleeds, it leads.”  Creepy and mesmerizing performance by Jake Gyllenhaal as Lou Bloom, a loner on the sociopathic fringe of society scraping his way toward his version of the American dream.  A black, black comedy/character study that explores the underbelly of exploitative news journalism while taking a walk on the seedy, dark side of Los Angeles at night. Will make you think, do you know where your news comes from? 

Whiplash—Ambitious young drummer + tyrannical, sadistic music teacher at Julliard-like music school  = a powerful, brutal, and adrenaline-driven jazz thriller.  An impressive feat by writer-director Damien Chazelle with terrific performances by Miles Teller and JK Simmons; poses (without answering) the question, what does it take to achieve greatness?  A 2014 Sundance sensation. 

Two Cantabrigian Geniuses

The Imitation Game—The tragically true story of wrongly dishonored math genius and social misfit Alan Turing, the father of modern computing whose prototype defeated the Nazi’s Enigma code and saved millions of lives in WWII.  Benedict Cumberbatch’s incredible performance captures Turing’s oddly endearing, socially awkward, and ultimately repressively tragic persona in a time when homosexuality was a crime.  Terrifically entertaining tale told via jumps between the code-breaking war years at Bletchley Park, his formative boarding school years, and the 1951 post-war interrogation for “acts of indecency.” 

The Theory of Everything—While the film is a bit glossy and conventional, Eddie Redmayne is soulfully phenomenal as he totally embodies the real-life genius astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, now 72 years old.  Felicity Jones is also terrific as his wife Jane who married him when he was 21 and given two years to live. 

The Animated Ones

Big Hero 6—I had no idea what to expect.  Was that the Michelin Man crossed with the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man?  No, it’s Baymax.  What is that?  Trust me—just go see it.  This was a truly delightful and poignant film—visually stunning and fun. 

How To Train Your Dragon 2—I’m a big fan of the original and the sequel didn’t disappoint, taking the main characters to new and deeper emotional territory and maintaining the visually stunning animation. 

The LEGO Movie –“Everything is Awesome,” the aptly catchy theme song says everything.  This is just pure fun for all ages. 

Others worth mentioning

Into the Woods—Despite the absence of a critical song, this is a highly entertaining adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s musical fairy tale mashup that translates remarkably well onto the big screen. Wonderful performances by the entire cast including Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, and James Corden.   

The Voices—I don’t know if this movie has a distributor yet, but I saw this at Sundance and can’t forget it.  It’s as dark, funny, psychotically loopy and demented as anything I’ve ever seen, starring a great Ryan Reynolds (in a clearly risky role) as low-level factory worker with a pets who talk to him, including an abusive, foul-mouthed, Scottish-accented cat Mr. Whiskers who convinces him to kill.  Directed by Marjane Satrapi, the Persian woman who directed Persepolis, and also starring Anna Kendrick, Jacki Weaver and Gemma Arterton.  Not for everyone. 

Honorable mention films:  Gone Girl, Guardians of the Galaxy, Snowpiercer, Edge of Tomorrow, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Interstellar, Inherent Vice, Pride, Life Itself.

In the queue to see:  Selma, Big Eyes, American Sniper, A Most Violent Year, Unbroken. 

Other Guilty Pleasures:  TV & Stage

I can’t say enough about the new series Transparent, starring Jeffrey Tambor as a 70-something patriarch who makes the transition from man to woman.  Incredibly good writing and character development dominate this sensitive and poignant story steeped in authenticity, warmth, and dysfunction.  I took in the whole series in under 24 hours.  Another binge-watching revelation was BBC America’s genre-defying Orphan Black with a terrific Tatiana Maslany portraying the main character and her many clones.  On stage, I was blown away by the Broadway production of The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night-Time, a hyperkinetic, powerful portrayal of a spectrum-y teen and his singular pursuit of the truth about the death of a neighbor’s dog.  Other treats included seeing Neil Patrick Harris in Hedwig and the AngryInch and Bryan Cranston as LBJ in All the Way.