The Knight of Lists

Feb 18, 2015 11:33:21 GMT -5 IanTheCool said:

I have a feeling Gone Girl will go down in a lot of people's estimations over time

Ian's hate of Rosamund Pike is making him say some craaaaaaaaaaazy things!

2. INTERSTELLAR

With Interstellar, Christopher Nolan -- who has become one of the best modern day film directors -- intends to reawaken a desire for discovery, and his appropriately-themed film does just that in spades. It's experiences like the one I had while watching Interstellar that remind me exactly why I love movies in the first place. It's about wanting to be transported somewhere exciting, to feel like you're going on a journey to somewhere incredible that you don't want to leave, and Interstellar is a film equally powerful enough in both scope and pure, raw feeling that it accomplishes that feat. Three comparisons to other similar science films immediately come to mind: Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Robert Zemeckis's Contact. Interstellar is very much in the tradition of those films, wherein all of the more lavish and extraordinary aspects of the story are firmly in support of the emotional proponents that essentially drive the film, especially as they relate to the characters. For all of the vast and sheer scope on display in this film, Interstellar always remains an intimately personal affair, and as a result, it's all the more engrossing. If the big ideas and ambitions of Kubrick's 2001 were combined with some really emotionally resonant drama -- ideas and ambitions that are fascinating but which I don't consider myself well-read enough on scientific theories to even attempt to try to dissect -- then the end result, I think, would look something like this. Interstellar marks an invigorating accomplishment for Christopher Nolan, whose credits already included The Dark Knight and Inception, and he's certainly proven himself worthy of being among the stars.

1. BIRDMAN

This is such a tour-de-force experience of a movie, both exhilarating and entertaining at the same time. From the moment the camera starts following the characters around (and doesn't stop), Birdman is difficult to look away from in the best way possible. If I had to describe it with one of those "combination comparisons", I'd say it's sort of like Noises Off! meets Black Swan, and the tone is SO well-captured. In fact, and I mean this as a compliment, watching Birdman is almost like watching a stage play, especially since there's no typical movie editing and the film has the appearance of one long, continuous shot. This style is also effective in that it simultaneously serves to put us in the headspace of Riggan Thompson, brilliantly portrayed by Michael Keaton. The performances are all stellar across the board, but Michael Keaton...damn. This really is THE leading performance of 2014. Watching Michael Keaton in this movie is incredible. He makes his way through a wide variety of emotions throughout the film, and not once does he strike a false note. Obviously, a lot of the performance's power - not to mention irony - comes from Keaton's time playing Batman so many years ago, but that fact is never a distraction, because the performance is still strong enough to stand on its own as a tremendous piece of acting. The rest of the cast, which includes the likes of Edward Norton, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts and Zach Galifinakis, are all up to Keaton's high standard, and I'd go so far as to say that Birdman may just be the best-acted film of 2014. It's also one I most can't wait to see again, because ever since I saw it in theaters, Birdman has stayed with me and grown on me in a way that makes its sheer effectiveness crystal-clear. Very few movies ever feel this alive, nor are they often made quite like this, but Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu and his cast and crew have truly pulled off something pretty incredible, and there's no other film from 2014 quite like Birdman.