Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium: 100 Films of 2014 (50-36)

Bottom Ten | 90-71 | 70-51

We've passed the half way point in the hundred movies of 2014, and from here the groups get a bit smaller. Instead of 20 at a time, we'll go through 15 on the next two lists. Now that we're done with that piece of housecleaning, on to the next batch!

Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium: 100 Films of 2014 (70-51)

To see the Bottom Ten, click here.

For 90-71, click here.

No need for any sort of introduction, here are the next twenty movies on the list.

Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium: 100 Films of 2014 (90-71)

This next set of twenty films is kind of a transition zone between the ten movies at the bottom of this list, which I didn't really care for, and the top 70% of the list, which on the whole I liked a good deal.  Up first is a film that kind of is the divider line between the Bottom Ten, and this transitional group.

Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium: 2014 Films, The Bottom Ten

Ayyy! Where's a jukebox I can pound?

Every list has to have an end to it. While the movies at the bottom of my list are not that good of movies, each one still had some elements which made them better than a complete waste of time. No, the movies that were complete wastes of time were not films that I happened to see. These were the ones that stunk from afar and needed no viewing to confirm their lack of quality. Instead, most of these movies sitting here at the bottom of my 2014 in film suffer from a lack of proper execution, little reason to exist beyond the potential for franchise dollars, or just a wild mismatch in tone. Without further adieu, here's the infamous ten.

Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium: 2014 in Review

San Fransokyo, winner of the Best Fictional City Award for 2014.

One hundred films.

During my "2014 Film Year"* I saw 100 films from 2014**. Most were in the theater, but many were through Netflix, Amazon Streaming, and even a couple via iTunes. I never intended to watch this many films, it just kind of happened because of a few reasons.

Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium: Wild

Because Wild focuses on a long distance hiker, we felt that this would be a good opportunity for a cross-posted review on our hiking blog Red Faces, White Blazes. We liked the film, and (SPOILER ALERT) it will certainly make another appearance when Andrew's favorites of the year. Where? You'll just have to wait and see.

Verdict: Strongly Recommend

Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium: Guardians of the Galaxy

Guardians of the Galaxy was one of the few movies I've had the luxury of seeing on opening night - the theater was only half full, despite the hype built up around the movie, and the advanced screening worked well with my schedule. It's a shame more people didn't turn out (not that the movie needed any help making money elsewhere, mind you) because for every empty seat, someone missed one heck of a movie.

Image property of Marvel Studios

Guardians, written and directed by St. Louis' own James Gunn, is a somewhat obscure property of Marvel's that frankly a lot of fans are surprised even made it past development hell and into full production, let alone ranking a 92% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. I mean, a talking raccoon? Come on guys, you can't be serious.

Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium: Snowpiercer

Note: The bulk of this post will be fashioned after one of my favorite scenes from the film. It won't really be a spoiler per se, but it might be too close for comfort for some people. Also, it might make very little sense to you. Therefore, the first paragraph will be a very boring but concise review of the film.

In short, Snowpiercer is one of my favorite experiences at a movie theater ever. The action is taut and exciting, the sharp contrast in colors between the rebelling people from the end of the train and the vibrant colors displayed by those farther up the train is impressive. The story is fairly crisp and fun to follow. Best of all are the performances. Chris Evans, John Hurt, Octavia Spencer, Song Kang-ho, Go Ah-sung, Jamie Bell, and others do a wonderful job in their roles. Tilda Swinton is great as the "Great Engineer" Wilford's chief stooge, and Allison Pill damn near steals the show. See this film, preferably in a theater if you can.

OK NOW ON TO THE "REAL POST". DON'T CONTINUE UNLESS YOU HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE, OR AREN'T BOTHERED BY KNOWING DETAILS ABOUT WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN IN A MOVIE.

Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium: The Grand Budapest Hotel

The general understanding about Wes Anderson films tend to focus on the precise nature of his scenes. There is rarely any prop, any background, or any actor in the wrong place. The dialogue is written precisely, the music is perfectly chosen, and even the text on the screen is rendered in just the right font. The "Wes Anderson style" is distinct and instantly recognizable, as can be seen in this fake movie trailer from Saturday Night Live.

Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium: Bad Words

First there was Bad Santa, and it was a pretty great film. Then came Bad Teacher, which had its moments, but wasn't anywhere as good as Bad Santa. Finally, there is Bad Words, a movie starring, directed, produced, and catered* by Bateman. It's his directing debut, but is far from the debut of the typical Jason Bateman "smarm" character, even if he's more of a potty mouth than Michel Bluth ever was. While I only enjoyed parts of the film, I would like to see how Director Jason Bateman does going forward, as I think he has some promise.

Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium: The Wind Rises

I must admit that I am a late-comer to the Miyazaki appreciation club. You have to look at the other writer on this blog for a more in depth and well thought out overview of his work, as she has seen many more of his movies than I have. I suppose it is fitting that The Wind Rises is supposedly his last work, as it is the first one I've had an opportunity to see in a theater. And let me tell you, it was well worth it.

Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium: The Lego Movie

It finally happened. After 65 years of being in our homes, garages, various heating units, and expanding even into theme parks and video games, LEGO released a feature film. While many would be ready to dismiss this February release as one star-studded commercial, I decided to give it a chance and see how it fared trailing the coat-tails of the truly spectacular 2013 Oscar nominees.

Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium: Nebraska

Some people say that Alexander Payne tends to treat his Midwestern characters condescendingly. Whether it is Election, About Schmidt, or his latest film, Nebraska. They lament that he laughs at, and not with, the good, simple folk of the Heartland.

Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium: Philomena

Every country has something in its past it isn't proud of. For the United States, it's the eradication of the Native Americans. For the United Kingdom, it would be the centuries of mistreatment of Ireland. And for Ireland, it would certainly have to be the Magdalene Laundries. Although not the only country to have these institutions, Ireland is the one most associated with them. The places were known for the cruelty of the nuns that ran them towards the women who lived and worked there, even going so far as to not administer pain killers or really do much to help if a birthing went wrong. Far too many women (many of which were barely older than children themselves) and their children died because of cruelty and apathy of these institutions. Amazingly, the last Irish one stayed open until 1996.

Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium: Blue is the Warmest Color

Blue is the Warmest Color* is a very good film. It is a heartbreaking coming of age story about a young woman who finds her soul mate, and what happens after that. It's a beautiful film, and it features great performances by two young actresses. It's a film that I strongly recommend, although one of those that might be a bit awkward to watch with your family during the holidays.

Assuming you can find it near you. It's a three hour long film in French with English subtitles, so that's already two strikes against it. On top of that, it's rated NC-17, which means some theater chains won't even consider showing it.

OK, here is where I discuss the elephant in the room.

The Week Ahead; Movies, Movies, and Movies

As this blog moves towards it's first year, it's time to take a quick look back, while also looking forward. It would be accurate to say the frequency of posts has been inconsistent. We started quick out the gate, but lost steam, primarily because the contributors and administrators took new jobs and moved to new places. This was a mixed blessing, as Andrew gained easier access to movies (and the resources to watch them), but lost much of the time to keep up the blog. Beyond a few posts saying goodbye to The Office and 30 Rock, some summer recaps, and a few random posts here and there, the blog was mostly dormant through the spring and summer. As the fall movie season warmed up, the posts have picked back up, although not regularly, with Andrew's "Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium". There are many more coming, and expect to usually get one or two of these a week, provided Andrew is not on vacation or too busy to watch new movies.

In addition to the continued editions of "Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium", we'll be attempting to keep up several other weekly features, starting with this one. Each week we'll be sharing a quick preview of what will be showing up during the rest of the week.

Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Confession time: I did not see The Hunger Games in theaters when it came out. Having graduated high school in the previous century, I am not the target age demographic for most of the YA titles that seem to be making their way to the theaters these days. This, combined with the mixed reviews for the first film, pretty much kept me away. It wasn't until this month that I even bothered to watch it, and only then because I had heard some good buzz about Catching Fire, and because it was streaming on Netflix.

I liked the first one well enough, although it wasn't without its problems. The sequel, while still with some flaws, is much better. Like all sequels, everything seems to be bigger. The contrast between the privation and misery of the districts and the oblivious extravagance of the Capitol is greater, the stakes are higher, and the obstacles found in the arena more terrifying. Too often this can lead to a franchise getting overblown and creatively empty. In this case, however, it helps the movie.

Also helping the movie is the introduction of Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the new game master, a character who is all about "moves and countermoves". His icy gamesmanship plays well with Donald Sutherland's wrathful dictator President Snow, so much that I would have probably enjoyed a version of the movie that was just them sitting around a table, watching monitors and discussing what to do as the rebellion started by Peeta and Katniss' defiance in the previous Hunger Games slowly builds.

Alas, that is not how the movie actually is, but there is still plenty of good things going on. I like the twist of the Quarter Quell, bringing previous winners of various ages into the mix. Not only does it reduce some of the squickiness of teenagers fighting each other to the death, it also creates a situation where more excellent ringers (such as Jeffrey Wright, Amanda Plummer, and Jena Malone) can be plugged in. It also creates a way to return our main characters to the arena of the games that actually works in the context of the story.

The biggest problem I had with the movie is the "love triangle" that seems tacked on just because it's expected of YA series, particularly those with a female protagonist. While nowhere near the awfulness of the Twilight series*, it just feels tacked on and unearned. It somewhat distracts from the performance of Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson as Katniss and Peeta.

That being said, it's just one part of a film that is pretty entertaining. Like many middle segments of franchises, it doesn't really have an independent beginning or end. This isn't really a detriment to the movie. However, I would recommend watching the first one before seeing this if you've never seen or read anything from the series, otherwise you may get lost. Haters of cliffhangers beware, as this one ends on a cliffhanger that sets up the next two films based upon Mockingjay, the third and final book in the series.

Verdict: Strong Recommendation, if you liked the first one or the book series. If you've never seen the first one, watch it and then watch this.

*Very few things reach the awfulness of the Twilight series

Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium: All is Lost

The cast list of All is Lost makes Gravity look like Cleopatra*. There is only one character, known as "Our man", played by Robert Redford. We don't know why he is out on a yacht in the middle of the Indian Ocean, or what he regrets so much in the note he is writing at the beginning. We don't even know the events that led to a floating modal container full of shoes crashing into his boat, which is the start of his mostly continuous problems. Beyond a few garbled voices over the radio that he temporarily gets working, we don't meet anybody else. The film is a stripped down story of a man and his boat, a story boiled down to the age old conflict of man versus his environment.

Given Robert Redford's notorious history as a person that is difficult to work with, it seems fitting that his latest role is one where he is the only character, and as such the focus of the entire film. Also, given Redford's reputation as pretty damn good actor, he gives a great performance. As he faces each obstacle, from the relatively small to the absolutely terrifying and life threatening, he mostly keeps his cool, using ingenuity and a strong will to survive to keep moving forward. Whether it is patching up the hole in his hull, making it through a gut wrenching storm, learning celestial navigation on the fly, or coming up with a way to use condensation to get fresh water, he is bound and determined to survive as long as he has air in his lungs.

This is not a film for those looking for a light-hearted escape from the hustle and bustle of the holidays. Things just keep getting worse as the movie goes along, even as "our man" overcomes everything in front of him. Some of the obstacles are scary, others are absolutely heartbreaking. By the end of the film it is skirting close to survivalist "porn", but thankfully never goes over that line. The visual effects, primarily the storm that tumbled the yacht around, are mostly flawless, a mixture of practical effects with CG where necessary. The trend of returning to more practical effects, while still improving CG and using it to support real effects, is very welcome to me.

Some people may get angry at the ending. I'm pretty sure the two other people in the large theater I watched it in did not like it. However, I can't think of any other way it could have ended. If this is playing near you, go see it and make up your own mind.

Verdict: Strongly Recommend, unless you are incredibly sensitive to watching movies that take place on the ocean or tense survivalist situations.

*This might be a bit of an exaggeration

Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium: Dallas Buyers Club

Dallas Buyers Club is not one of my favorite movies of the year. It is a good movie, certainly, but not quite up to par with the best I've seen. Like many biographical films, it tries to apply a formula to a true story, and the result is mixed at best. However, what isn't in dispute is the acting, as both Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto give excellent performances.

It isn't just because they went through great pains to be as thin and haggard as people in their situation (Aids sufferers in the mid 80s) would be. Just because they lose a lot (or gain) a lot of weight does not guarantee a memorable performance or a quality film. Leto already has experience with this, bulking up to play Mark David Chapman in the already forgotten Chapter 27. Commitment to "suffering" for their craft is but one part of acting, and isn't always a requirement*. If that performance isn't also worth watching, or the film around is god-awful, all you've really done is put your health at risk for damn near nothing.

The best thing about Leto's performance as Rayon, the business partner of McConaughey's Ron Woodroof in the titular Dallas Buyers Club, is that the characters is played (or written) as some transgendered saint. Far too often these types of movies like to make the marginalized characters that support (never lead) the good fight above reproach. Rayon, however, is purely human.  She fights back against her drug addiction, which is always dangerous, but down right suicidal for an AIDS patient, but ultimately fails.

Likewise, McConaughey is (mostly) not a "white savior", a white male who leads a successful crusade to help the suffering marginalized population. Sure, he moves a long way from his homophobic shit-kicking, rodeo loving electrician ways by the end of the film, but he's not exactly Harvey Milk. At first he begins distributing the drugs to AIDS patients as a way to make money, but eventually he takes it on more as a cause, going so far as to keep it going even when the money stops flowing. He may have warmed up to the afflicted, but he isn't necessarily successful, losing his fight to distribute the unapproved drugs in court, although still retaining the ability to self-medicate.

I am too young to remember the fear, paranoia, and bigotry related to the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. By the time I became conscious of the disease, Ryan White and Magic Johnson were the faces of the disease, and the homophobic "gay cancer" was fading slowly into the dark recesses of history. To a certain extent the movie conveys the vast amount of disinformation and complexity that surrounded the crisis. Unfortunately is doesn't go as far as contextualizing that as it does in establishing its two main characters. Also, a post movie title card kind of undercuts how the story is told. Had the movie taken a bit more nuanced approach about the complexity and necessarily dispassionate work of scientific medicine and regulations, perhaps it would have been a much better movie.

That being said, it is well worth checking out at some point, if only just for McConaughey and Leto's performance. I recommend this film, so go see it in theaters if you see 1-2 movies a week, and definitely check it out once its out for home video. There is a pretty good chance both of these actors will be winning awards for their performances.

Verdict: Recommend

Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium: About Time

Let me tell you a little story about a man named Tim (ugh, that sucked, excuse me a sec, I have to find a closet)

Shut it, Love Actually. The cupboard door, that is, so we can travel back to enjoy this movie again. (That was even worse. Excuse me again.)

I have to admit I was skeptical about this film when I watched the trailer about sixty times this summer and fall*, as it looked like a kind of by-the-book romcom with a little twist. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to find it much closer to Groundhog Day, although it didn't quite get there. Perhaps it could have used more Bill Murr...what? Oh god, I went too far back and stepped on a bullfrog when I was ten. Somehow Groundhog Day became a movie where Paulie Shore fought an army of animatronic groundhogs on the International Space Station. Excuse me, I have to right this grievous wrong.