When the new weekend releases are irrevocably stodgy to even think about, my mind goes in a funny haze and starts thinking about the weekends I'm going to look forward to all year. And from those dreamy thoughts births a list such as this, a list of quixotic and bewitching beauty that peps me up when I look at it.
I'm here to tell you which films I am looking forward to this year. So, I talk, you listen, okay?
Since we've all agreed that 2013 was an unusually strong year for cinema of all kinds, the tantalizing roll-call for the 2014 talkies sure looks like a delectable meal to dig in. We had a few great films last year, beginning with the three films I'm dead sure will make the list of the defining films of this generation three decades after. You want to know which ones? Alright. Gravity, 12 Years A Slave and The Wolf Of Wall Street are my humble predictions. Haters of the last movie I named : I know you laughed. But I still think it'll make the list. Go on, laugh some more.
Before we begin, I have to say that I haven't named Interstellar or Transcendence in this list. Why? Because those are obvious. And I'm not here to feed you the obvious.
Alright, here I go :
Now, this is very, very interesting, compadres. This seems surreal. Inarritu, the Inarritu, master of gloomy tragedies, is making a comedy? Did I hear that right? Well, what do I expect from this film? A facade, most probably. Believe you me, this'll be a lot darker than you'd expect. The plot sounds disappointingly hackneyed, but I think Inarritu has something up his sleeve here. He doesn't fiddle with cliches. I doubt he ever has. And when you have the excellent Michael Keaton playing the lead role, I expect something great. Mark my rant, this'll be one the year's strangest films. I look forward to it.
You don't know who Miller is, do you, you riffraff? I do, because I've seen and loved Capote. And I knew nada about baseball but still found myself cheering at the end of it, and I mean loud. Like his past two films, Miller has based his new one on a true event, delicately dissecting and exploring the bowels of human emotion, and the beauty of it. And though he spends a lot of time messing with your mind, he'll hit you in the heart. At least he did with Capote and Moneyball. I have no reason to suspect that he won't with this one.
Why? 'Cause it's David Fincher, that's why. How does he whip up an immaculate career in the arts? That's a seemingly impossible job, chums, and yet, there he is, adding weight and glory to his name, augmented by my newest addiction, House Of Cards. New filmmaking aficionado Ben Affleck joins him in the quest to adapt author Gillian Flynn's thriller novel, and knowing Fincher's polished skills when it comes to making thrillers, this'll make one hell of a movie.
You don't need a reason to watch PTA's films. I mean, the guy's a walking, breathing reason for you. His films are unlike anything you'll ever see, like those artsy films Terence Malick loves to swamp us with. One of a kind odysseys, everyone calls them. I agree, albeit a bit grudgingly.
So, he's okayed Joaquin Pheonix again for this crime-drama about a private detectibe investigating a disappearance. Ah! If this is even remotely Altman-esque, like The Long Goodbye, we are sure to have a ball at the movies. Till then, I'll delve into his Punch-Drunk Love again. Some films get better with each viewing.
For some obsessive suckers of independent cinema, like me, Jarmusch is a figure to revere. A connoisseur of cinema who mainly makes experimental films, there's no question that he's one of the most exciting filmmakers around. And if we're lucky, he'll be making films for many more years to come. This vampire romance - don't groan, you boor! - got the critics raving last year at its Cannes Film Festival premiere, and I can only wait breathlessly. Ugh, waiting is harder than life, I philosophize.
dir. : Wes Anderson
Two words for you, amigo : Wes Anderson. What else, the first trailer of this film had me wondering if my imagination was really that puny in comparison to Anderson's. I envisaged myself standing in a queue on the first day when it hits the screens later this year. It received a positive response from the critics and the audience on the other side of the world. Some called it Anderson's best. It has the best cast I've seen in a movie in eons. The usually dour Ralph Fiennes is trying his hand at comedy. Oh, oh, this is too much! Could this be any more perfect?
I'm here to tell you which films I am looking forward to this year. So, I talk, you listen, okay?
Since we've all agreed that 2013 was an unusually strong year for cinema of all kinds, the tantalizing roll-call for the 2014 talkies sure looks like a delectable meal to dig in. We had a few great films last year, beginning with the three films I'm dead sure will make the list of the defining films of this generation three decades after. You want to know which ones? Alright. Gravity, 12 Years A Slave and The Wolf Of Wall Street are my humble predictions. Haters of the last movie I named : I know you laughed. But I still think it'll make the list. Go on, laugh some more.
Before we begin, I have to say that I haven't named Interstellar or Transcendence in this list. Why? Because those are obvious. And I'm not here to feed you the obvious.
Alright, here I go :
- Boyhood
dir. : Richard Linklater
Oh, give Linklater the Oscar, please! The brains and the bravura behind the Before trilogy pops back up with this intensely fascinating look at puberty. What makes it special, you ask? Linklater and actor Ethan Hawke began the project in early 2002, and shot it, little by little, over twelve years, allowing the actors to age and encapsulated their natural acting ability to narrate a story about a boy's relationship with his parents over the period.
Linklater has long been one of the strongest voices in American cinema, doling out great independent films and occasionally flirting with the experimental side of cinema. And anyone who watches a lot of films would know how significant Linklater's contribution to American cinema is. He needs to be acknowledged. And - forgive the brief profanity here - this project is ambitious as fuck.
- Big Eyes
dir. : Tim Burton
I admit, I enjoy Burton's films more than any other auteur's. Often dealing in the outlandish and the fantastical, Burton's command over the camera is indubitably masterful. Bringing visual beauty to his quirky films is his forte, and the cast, consisting of Christoph Waltz and Amy Adams, looks spiffy. A biographical drama based on the life of artist Walter Keane, known for his kitschy paintings, and the heated divorce with his wife, I doubt this'll be the Burton we always knew. This seems different. And Burton's excels in the different.
- Birdman
Now, this is very, very interesting, compadres. This seems surreal. Inarritu, the Inarritu, master of gloomy tragedies, is making a comedy? Did I hear that right? Well, what do I expect from this film? A facade, most probably. Believe you me, this'll be a lot darker than you'd expect. The plot sounds disappointingly hackneyed, but I think Inarritu has something up his sleeve here. He doesn't fiddle with cliches. I doubt he ever has. And when you have the excellent Michael Keaton playing the lead role, I expect something great. Mark my rant, this'll be one the year's strangest films. I look forward to it.
- Enemy
dir. : Denis Villeneuve
Villeneuve tore apart and took gleeful potshots at the human conscience in his pessimistic and riveting Prisoners last year, and he's up again early this year. Lucky bastards, us. Now, now. Villeneuve is relatively new in the hotshot arena, and I haven't seen his only other film, his debut that is, so I don't know how this'll fare. But seeing as he had made one of my favorite films of last year, how bad will this be? No, wait - how good will this be? I'm an optimistic klutz. And I'll point something out : the premise is wonderfully baffling. I dig those kind of films, you know.
Villeneuve tore apart and took gleeful potshots at the human conscience in his pessimistic and riveting Prisoners last year, and he's up again early this year. Lucky bastards, us. Now, now. Villeneuve is relatively new in the hotshot arena, and I haven't seen his only other film, his debut that is, so I don't know how this'll fare. But seeing as he had made one of my favorite films of last year, how bad will this be? No, wait - how good will this be? I'm an optimistic klutz. And I'll point something out : the premise is wonderfully baffling. I dig those kind of films, you know.
- Foxcatcher
You don't know who Miller is, do you, you riffraff? I do, because I've seen and loved Capote. And I knew nada about baseball but still found myself cheering at the end of it, and I mean loud. Like his past two films, Miller has based his new one on a true event, delicately dissecting and exploring the bowels of human emotion, and the beauty of it. And though he spends a lot of time messing with your mind, he'll hit you in the heart. At least he did with Capote and Moneyball. I have no reason to suspect that he won't with this one.
- Gone Girl
Why? 'Cause it's David Fincher, that's why. How does he whip up an immaculate career in the arts? That's a seemingly impossible job, chums, and yet, there he is, adding weight and glory to his name, augmented by my newest addiction, House Of Cards. New filmmaking aficionado Ben Affleck joins him in the quest to adapt author Gillian Flynn's thriller novel, and knowing Fincher's polished skills when it comes to making thrillers, this'll make one hell of a movie.
- Inherent Vice
You don't need a reason to watch PTA's films. I mean, the guy's a walking, breathing reason for you. His films are unlike anything you'll ever see, like those artsy films Terence Malick loves to swamp us with. One of a kind odysseys, everyone calls them. I agree, albeit a bit grudgingly.
So, he's okayed Joaquin Pheonix again for this crime-drama about a private detectibe investigating a disappearance. Ah! If this is even remotely Altman-esque, like The Long Goodbye, we are sure to have a ball at the movies. Till then, I'll delve into his Punch-Drunk Love again. Some films get better with each viewing.
- Only Lovers Left Alive
For some obsessive suckers of independent cinema, like me, Jarmusch is a figure to revere. A connoisseur of cinema who mainly makes experimental films, there's no question that he's one of the most exciting filmmakers around. And if we're lucky, he'll be making films for many more years to come. This vampire romance - don't groan, you boor! - got the critics raving last year at its Cannes Film Festival premiere, and I can only wait breathlessly. Ugh, waiting is harder than life, I philosophize.
- Snowpiercer
dir. : Bong Joon-ho
Ah, Joon-ho. The Korean filmmaker got me hooked on his films after I saw Memories Of Murder and Mother. His deft blend of horror, comedy, crime and drama is something filmmakers can rarely pull off, but he does. Every single time. This ambitious sci-fi saga is impossibly intricate, but that comes with every film Joon-ho makes, doesn't it? I mean, sometimes you got to do the thinking for yourself. Looks like a typical sci-fi epic spray painted with The Matrix, we could guess what element of this will make it a Joon-ho film. Let's see.
Ah, Joon-ho. The Korean filmmaker got me hooked on his films after I saw Memories Of Murder and Mother. His deft blend of horror, comedy, crime and drama is something filmmakers can rarely pull off, but he does. Every single time. This ambitious sci-fi saga is impossibly intricate, but that comes with every film Joon-ho makes, doesn't it? I mean, sometimes you got to do the thinking for yourself. Looks like a typical sci-fi epic spray painted with The Matrix, we could guess what element of this will make it a Joon-ho film. Let's see.
- The Grand Budapest Hotel
Two words for you, amigo : Wes Anderson. What else, the first trailer of this film had me wondering if my imagination was really that puny in comparison to Anderson's. I envisaged myself standing in a queue on the first day when it hits the screens later this year. It received a positive response from the critics and the audience on the other side of the world. Some called it Anderson's best. It has the best cast I've seen in a movie in eons. The usually dour Ralph Fiennes is trying his hand at comedy. Oh, oh, this is too much! Could this be any more perfect?
Boyhood got me so excited that I could read no more.
ReplyDeleteI landed up telling my Mom about it. :D