2015 nominees - The Imitation Game, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, The Judge and more

A little less than two weeks to go and I have 21 movies to watch. I'm hoping to get a few more done in the next week. Wish me luck.

1/31/15 The Imitation Game, nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Original Score, Best Production Design, 2014

If you're counting, The Imitation Game is nominated for 8 awards this year, right up there with Birdman. I was reading a little bit about the movie as I do after I watch it and there is some criticism about different historical aspects of the film. I will say the same thing here that I said about Selma, sometimes things are done in a film to make the narrative flow better or film better or able to fit into a 2 to 2 1/2 hour time frame. I am just going to review the movie and let you make up your own mind (I will probably be doing the same thing when I see American Sniper this weekend).

Anyway, The Imitation Game focuses on the British efforts during the Second World War to decrypt "Enigma" the code used by the Germans. There were many people who worked on code-breaking during the war, but Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) may be the most well-known. The movie uses a two-fold flashback format (I just invented that term), starting in the 1950s, after the war, going back to the Second World War and then back to when Alan was in school. I think it's effective, giving a good framework for the narrative. Turing was a mathematical genius, portrayed as socially awkward as a child and adult; he was also homosexual, which in England was a crime. One criticism about the movie was that Turing's homosexuality was hidden or perhaps close to being written out of the story. I appreciated the way Turing's homosexuality was at the edges of the plot, I thought it added to the tension of the coding process as well as the mystery I felt the director was trying to add. If people watch the movie, and don't know he was gay, it gets revealed slowly; if you watch the movie and do know he's gay, then I think it's still taut because you wait to see how others find out. It also lets the code-breaking be part of the story. The film opens in 1950s Manchester where Turing is living and that is where he has an encounter with the police and we begin to learn about Turing and his time at public school (private school in America) which was torturous. His one lifeline was a friendship he formed with a classmate. Turing applies to join the team of code-breakers, but isn't very impressed with the team he has, so he asks to bring on some new blood via a crossword puzzle. One of the new recruits is Joan Clarke (Keira Knightley in an Oscar-nominated role), who by virtue of being a woman is also a bit of an outcast because she is not able to work with the men directly (it would be unseemly; I think this was mainly due to her parents' conservatism). Joan and Alan become friends and she tries to help translate for him when he has difficulties with his co-workers. The team is under a lot of pressure to crack Engima because Germany was winning the war. Cumberbatch is tremendous; he is a chameleon, last year he was in 12 Years a Slave and The Fifth Estate (as Julian Assange), two very different characters, and now a third (many more really, but math isn't my strong suit). He really humanizes this man who was a mathematical genius, social outcast by virtue of being gay and more than a little awkward, but also passionate about breaking the code. Hopefully, like Selma, The Theory of Everything and American Sniper, people will watch The Imitation Game and learn more about the subject at hand: World War II, code-breaking, mathematics and Alan Turing (in this case). It's been tough to pick my favorite movie; I think I either loved them or loathed them, but this is definitely at the top of the list.

1/31/15 Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, nominated Best Visual Effects, 2014

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is set years in the future after Rise of the Planet of the Apes with the only recurring characters being some of the apes, including Caesar (played by Andy Serkis). Humans have been killed off by a deadly virus and are in quarantined off areas. A group of humans goes into an area dominated by apes in order to get the power going again. Malcolm (Jason Clarke) is the leader of this small group, but Dreyfus (Gary Oldman) is the leader of the humans back at the compound. Malcolm is not interested in any confrontation with the apes and tries to form a relationship with Caesar. Caesar is a very knowing leader, understanding the real politick of letting the humans accomplish their task or face all out war. Unfortunately, some of his cadre do not agree with his thinking, including Koba, who leads a treasonous attack on Caesar and those loyal to whom and blames it on the humans. I grew up on the original Planet of the Ape film series and the television series, and I think I like how the newer films have not tried to redo the originals, but have used them as a trellis to build their stories. I think I wrote in my review of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, if I even wrote one, that I would prefer the apes over the people. I enjoyed the movie, it had good action and a good story (the ape-centric story, not human). It's nominated in the Visual Effects category and it's up against Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain America 2, X-Men and Interstellar, and those are pretty heavy duty effects movies. Several people over the years have tried to make the argument that actors like Andy Serkis, who wear the body sensors and then their features are computer enhanced, but the actors actually act, should be eligible for Oscar nominations. Serkis was also Golum from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. It hasn't happened, but it should and at some point Serkis is going to have to be recognized for his contributions to this performance style.

1/31/15 The Judge, nominated Best Supporting Actor 2014

I wanted to see The Judge when it came out in the theaters, but at almost two and a half hours, I just couldn't do it. But, I was going to see it even if it wasn't nominated for an Oscar, however, Robert Duvall snagged a nomination for his role as Judge Joseph Palmer, a tough judge and a tougher father. His strict hand pushed his middle son away, Hank Palmer (Robert Downey, Jr.), a brash defense attorney, who hasn't been home in years. Hank only returns for the funeral of his mother, but is unexpectedly detained when his father is accused of murder. The story is as much about the relationship between the Palmer family (older brother Glen is played by Vincent D'Onofrio and youngest brother Dale is played by Jeremy Strong) as it is about the trial of Judge Palmer. There's a subplot involving Samantha Powell (Vera Farmiga), Hank's ex-girlfriend, that was annoying to me. I think it was the corn pone accent that Farmiga used (the movie is set in a small Indiana town); I don't know if it was an authentic accent, but it did not fit, or maybe it was the blonde hair or the tattoo, something didn't work for me. Duvall was great as the hard-ass judge, still trying to control his adult sons and himself as he undergoes chemo treatment for cancer. As I was writing, I started thinking of another Duvall role where he played the martinet father and Marine as the titled role in The Great Santini. I think Duvall has a chance at the Oscar (certainly over Mark Ruffalo and Ethan Hawke). Overall, I liked the movie, it was nice to see Robert Downey, Jr. do something besides Iron Man (I love Iron Man, but still, it's good to change it up), and he and Duvall go toe to toe. I would love to see D'Onofrio in more roles, he is so great.

2/1/15 How to Train Your Dragon 2, nominated Best Animated Feature, 2014

I remember watching the first How to Train Your Dragon and thinking it was okay, I guess it didn't move my needle the way it did for some people, so I wasn't all that rushed to see the sequel. Curse my list! It wasn't bad, and there were parts where I enjoyed it, but eh, not necessary. Hiccup is back and quite the dragon master. He meets his mother, who left him and his father when he was a baby. I don't know, honestly, I really didn't care enough to pay too much attention. The thing that I kept focusing on was that both Hiccup's parents have Scottish accents and yet Hiccup has none. That bothered me. I'm not sure why this made it and The Lego Movie did not; I thought the The Lego Movie was more creative in its universe and mixing in the human element as well as the story and dialog. I didn't think HTTYD was that inventive. Go see Boxtrolls.

2/1/15 Begin Again, nominated Best Original Song, 2014

Begin Again is a light, no-brainer romantic comedy with a pop music soundtrack. There is nothing wrong with that; I know some people think I'm a snob, and I suppose I am sometimes, but this was a great break after some of the heavy movies I had been watching. Keira Knightley (as Gretta James) and Mark Ruffalo (as Dan Mulligan) star as a songwriter and music producer, respectively. Adam Levine plays Dave Kohl, Gretta's ex-boyfriend. Dave and Gretta go to New York for Dave's burgeoning music career where they become estranged (probably not unpredictably) and Gretta feels homesick. At an open mic night, Gretta is invited by her friend, Steve (James Corden) to sing a song, which she does. This catches Dan's attention and they begin a collaboration. The set up in the movie is a little less direct than that recap just was. The two decide to collaborate on a record using the sounds of the city as well as some non-traditional musicians, or perhaps unexpected is a better word (?). Honestly, those were my favorite parts of the movie; it reminded me of music videos from the 1980s (oh my god, I can't believe I just went down that road; what's next AARP membership?). Gretta has her relationship with Dave and Dan has his complex relationship with his daughter (Hailee Steinfeld) and ex-wife (Catherine Keener). I thought Keira Knightley was pretty good as a singer, I guess she had not sung on stage before. Begin Again was directed by John Carney who also directed Once (a movie about which I am ambivalent at best). "Lost Stars" is nominated for Best Original Song (I wonder if Adam Levine will sing on the Oscars).

 2/7/15 Boyhood nominated Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay, Best Editing, 2014

WHY??????? Why did this have to be nominated? If you have read the blog, you may recall that I was not a big fan of Linklater's trilogy Before the End of Time cannot come soon enough, or something like that. Well, I'll be danged, he came up with another movie that everyone loves, except me. If you have not read or heard anything about the movie, the big draw is the fact that it was filmed over twelve years, so we see the characters age as the actors age. Yep. People getting older - they made a movie. The movie starts with Mason (Eller Coltrane) aged 6, lying on the grass waiting for his mother, Olivia (Patricia Arquette). At home, we also meet Mason's older sister, Samantha (Lorelei Linklater) and learn that Olivia is divorced from the kids' father, Mason Sr. (Ethan Hawke). We follow the family through Olivia's bad marriage decisions (she's three for three), Olivia going back to school to eventually become a college instructor (or professor, I'm not sure) and Mason and Samantha's journeys as the family gets uprooted several times (I will say, having moved once when I was younger, I think I'm still scarred) and Mason's first loves and difficulties with authority. I did not care, I didn't think any of the characters were likable or admirable, and having been a petulant teenager (some would say petulant adult), I know kids aren't cute and precocious all the time and life isn't a bowl of cherries. I did not need an almost three hour movie to tell me that. I don't mind real life being reflected back at me, and I don't mind high-minded art, but I abhor pretentiousness. My pick for Best Supporting Actress is Laura Dern (Wild)and Best Supporting Actor as I mentioned above is Robert Duvall in The Judge, although Birdman may be the night's big winner.