The Top Ten Films of 2014 (rough draft): Of course, we went with "Boyhood"

It is a bit premature perhaps to be doing this as I have yet to see many of the top films of 2014 as many of them will of course as always be released on or after Christmas Day, but since everyone else is posting their top 10 films of 2014 list, I may as well go for it.

This was an exceptional year for film in every capacity.

For those of you new to this blog, I always go with an image referring to something about the film rather than an image of the film itself.

We are also using the word 'Rough Draft' in the title as a joke, everyone feels the urge to change these lists when they have seen more films from the year of release (here in the United States).

Here is the list:

1) Boyhood (dir. Richard Linklater, image #1 is of the 1969 children's show "H.R. Pufnstuf)

2) Gone Girl (dir. David Fincher, the middle image is the universal symbol for women)

3) Birdman (dir. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, the bottom image is of the early anime cartoon "Battle of the Planets")

4) The Grand Hotel Budapest (dir: Wes Anderson)

5) Life Itself (documentary. dir: Steve James. Will air on CNN in January)

6) The Unknown Known (doc. dir: Errol Morris)

7) Blue Ruin (dir: Jeremy Sauhier)

8) Begin Again (dir: John Carney)

9) Interstellar (dir: Christopher Nolan)

10) "A Most Wanted Man" (dir: Anton Corbijn)

Worst Movie of the Year: "Wrong" (appropriately titled, dir: Quentin Dupieux)

Most Underrated: "The Skeleton Twins"

Most Overrated: "Snowpiercer"

Most Disappointing: "Only Lovers Left Alive"

A Most Impressive Debut: "A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night"

Most Interesting Mediocre Movie: "Life After Beth"

http://www.filmcomment.com

A Top Ten Random List of English-Language Films I've Seen Multiple Times.........(except "The Godfather")

Here in America, National Public Radio (NPR) has had an interesting series of interviews with film directors, actors and other celebrities have talked about films they can watch over and over again.

Among the surprises is that David Fincher ("Zodiac," "Fight Club") loves "Mary Poppins"!

There aren't that many films I've watched more than five times. As someone with a wide interest in films, it is simply challenging to watch every film of social or historical merit over and over again.

There are also many world and European films like Jean-Luc Godard's "Breathless," which I've seen multiple times, but for the sake of 'making it simple,' we are just going to focus on English-language films here.

I have also not decided to list films I watched often as a child, like "The Absent Minded Professor" or films I watched once too often as a teenager, such as "Bachelor Party."

And, this is not in order of preference:

1. "The Graduate" (1967)

2. "Planet of the Apes" (1968)

3. "Stagecoach" (1939)

4. "Psycho" (1960)

5. "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex........." (1972)

6. "Dr. Strangelove........." (1964)

7. "Pulp Fiction" (1994)

8. "Taxi Driver" (1975)

9. "Chinatown" (pictured, 1974)

10. "Life of Brian" (1979)

http://www.npr.org


SIDEBAR: I have an article in a national Washington-DC based blog regarding the politically charged events happening in Turkey:

http://www.dcmiccheck.org/2013/06/06/gezi-park/

The Last 10 Films I've Seen on the Big Screen

When we faced complications getting a decent image of Albert Brooks, the comedic actor, who gives a stunning, chilling performance as a ruthless gangster in "Drive," we figured we'd go with a book cover for the Stieg Larsson novel "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," which is now in its second cinematic incarnation.

We are still amused that a Fox News commentator called "The Muppets" communist propaganda hence we developed the tag Kermit the Kommunist (for Kermit the Frog), which is seemingly very popular.

Here are the last ten films we've seen on the big screen:

1. "Drive" (dir. Nicolas Winding Refn) with Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan and Albert Brooks.

2. "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" (dir. David Fincher) with Daniel Craig

3. "My Week with Marilyn" (dir. Simon Curtis) with Michelle Williams

4. "Young Adult" (dir. Jason Reitman) with Charlize Theron

5. "The Descendants" (dir. Alexander Payne) with George Clooney

6. "The Adventures of Tintin" (dir. Steven Spielberg)

7. "The Skin I Live In" (Spain, dir. Pedro Almodovar) with Antonio Banderas

8. "Hugo" (dir. Martin Scorsese)

9. "Melancholia" (Denmark/Sweden, dir. Lars von Trier) with Kristen Dunst

10. "The Muppets" (dir. James Bobin)

Happy Oscar Hangover Day

For starters, let me go ahead and congratulate Natalie Portman, Colin Firth, Melissa Leo, Christian Bale and David Fincher (just kidding, we know Tom Hooper won for directing "The King's Speech," but we couldn't resist, especially since most of us Gen-Xers were rooting for Fincher's film "The Social Network") for their Oscar wins last night.

Even if we disagree with the Academy's decisions (Fincher was robbed!), we respect the great work that went into what they did to win each of their respective Oscars.

Of course, for film fanatics, such as myself, there is nothing worse than the day after the Oscars.

I was up until 1:05 eastern time, USA, (also known as New York time), watching the Jimmy Kimmel special with Tom Hanks last night. Kimmel's show featured a hilarious spoof of "The King's Speech" with Mike Tyson (yes, it was really the former boxer himself) was coaching a George W. Bush impersonator who just couldn't help mess up verbally each and every time he came to the podium.

So, I felt like I did as a 19-year-old kid (my age in 1989) who had just drunk way too much raki in Istanbul, Turkey.

For those who don't know much about the alcoholic spirit, we will give a brief cultural and historical synopsis (with help from Wikipedia), especially for those of you in Eugene, Ore.

Since, those of you in that time zone might well still behind a computer as we are typing this (it's now about 6:30 p.m., New York time) and can't wait to go home to your wife, kid and orange goldfish:


"Raki pronounced rakuu is a non-sweet arise-flavored alcoholic drink popularly consumed in Turkey, Greece, Albania, Bosnia and Bulgaria alongside seafood and mezze. Raki is also known as 'the Lion's milk.' It became popular from 1839-1876 during the 'liberal' period of the Ottoman Empire."

So, if you were wondering how a strong alcoholic drink that can knock you out like a punch from Mike Tyson became hip in a Muslim country, there you have it (we changed some of the wording from raki's Wikipedia entry to make it easier to read and more humorous).

More Oscar Projections....

We literally looked all afternoon for a good image to go with this blog, and then (voila!) we found this one of the late, great Japanese director Akira Kurosawa getting a lifetime achievement Oscar.

Here are the rest of our projections (some will be listed on our other blog):

Best Director:

Will win: Tom Hooper ("The King's Speech)

Should win: Darren Aronofsky ("The Black Swan")

Would vote for: David Fincher ("The Social Network"). Fincher has a better chance of winning that Aronofsky, and I essentially like the two films almost the same with a just a slight preference for "The Black Swan."

Best Screenplay (Adapted):

Will/Should: "The Social Network"

Best Screenplay (Original):

Will: "The King's Speech"

Should: "The Fighter"

Cinematography (to be honest your guess is as good as mine here!):

Will: "The Social Network"

Should: "The Black Swan" (yes, I would vote for the film here!)

Visual Effects:

Will/should: "Inception"

Sound Editing:

Will/should "Inception"

Sound Mixing:

Will/should: "Inception"

Film Editing:

Will: "The King's Speech"

Should: "The Social Network"

Makeup:

Will: "Barney's Version" (hmm...yes, we are pulling this one from thin air)

Score:

Will/should: Inception (Hans Zimmer)

Costume:

Projection: "The King's Speech"

Original Song:

"We Belong Together" by Randy Newman from "Toy Story 3"

For the short film categories, go to our other blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time."