2014: A Year of Not-So-Bad Fairies and Pointless Monsters

I usually like to divide the year up into several categories: the early-year brush-offs (typically romantic comedies), the mid-year, indie flicks released too early for Oscar consideration (hopefully not the case with The Grand Budapest Hotel which is deserving of some Oscar attention), the summer, popcorn blockbusters that are usually hit or miss (The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises are notable hits, this year's Godzilla is a miss), and the autumnal, Holiday-season money-makers that typically compete for the Academy's attention.

So far, this year has not been great for film. But I typically say this pre-Oscar-contender-season. It is after September that the studios start to put out their best work, and that is when I say "Wow! This year has been great for films" thus contradicting myself. But the truth of the matter is, for me, the films released at the end of the year help define that year in film (occasionally, critically acclaimed summer blockbusters will also help define that year in film). The better the Oscar-contenders, the better the year.

But this year has been particularly bad in terms of film quality. One must look no further than two pre-summer money-makers, Godzilla and Maleficent. Godzilla was a forgettable action movie packed with cliches and a lot of noise. I can't even remember if there was a moral to the story---or even the slightest bit of a point. The filmmakers didn't even seem to try to deliver a message. On the other hand, Maleficent tried too hard to deliver us a message, one that completely demolished Disney's most iconic villain and created an uneven, unfunny, childish take on a classic story. I can't count the number of times I cringed throughout the film. Its feminist tone is admirable, but it failed to justify it with a good story (unlike Frozen whose feminist message was well delivered and much welcomed).

The Grand Budapest Hotel, on the other hand, is one of the year's highlights due to a wonderful cast, inventive storyline, and brilliant Art Direction (that should win the Oscar next year). Also highlights were A Million Ways to Die in the West and Chef. The former was poorly received by critics, but I am a  die-hard fan of Seth MacFarlane; his humor, albeit controversial and shocking, is simply genius. I haven't laughed so hard at a film since his directorial debut Ted. Chef was a wonderful, heart-warming film that will most likely not garner any attention from the Academy, but is well-constructed and well-acted. Usually when a movie has many big names (Robert Downey Jr., Dustin Hoffman, Sofia Vergara, Scarlett Johansson), you can bet it won't be good (i.e. New Year's Eve). However, Chef defies this expectation; each one of these stars contributes marvelously to the plot.

Looking ahead, I am most excited for the new Hunger Games film (Jennifer Lawrence is always reliably great, the storyline is getting more complex, and this is one of Philip Seymour Hoffman's last films). I am also excited for Foxcatcher (which will be released in November). It competed for the top prize at the Cannes film festival and features an apparently stunning and disturbing performance by The Office's Steve Carrell SPOILER ALERT who plays a wealthy schizophrenic who trains an Olympic wrestler and then kills him (all based on a true story). Critics have claimed that Carrell will earn his first Academy Award nomination for his performance; as a big fan of Carrell (and as someone who can't stop watching the trailers for this film) I hope this is true. We all love to see actors redefine themselves, and to receive recognition for this (Hoffman in Capote, Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side, Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting, and, most famously, Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight).

Let's see how the rest of the year pans out. I look forward to all of the Oscar-bait The Weinstein Company and the rest will want to throw at us.