American Sniper (2014) by Clint Eastwood. U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper) takes his sole mission — protect his comrades — to heart and becomes one of the most lethal snipers in American history. His pinpoint accuracy not only saves countless lives but also makes him a prime target of insurgents. Despite grave danger and his struggle to be a good husband and father to his family back in the States, Kyle serves four tours of duty in Iraq. However, when he finally returns home, he finds that he can’t leave the war behind. Sure-footed, powerful direction by Eastwood and a surpise tour-de-force serious performance by Cooper. Co-stars Sienna Miller.
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014) by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. Former cinema superhero Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) is mounting an ambitious Broadway production that he hopes will breathe new life into his stagnant career. It’s risky, but he hopes that his creative gamble will prove that he’s a real artist and not just a washed-up movie star. As opening night approaches, a castmate is injured, forcing Riggan to hire an actor (Edward Norton) who is guaranteed to shake things up. Meanwhile, Riggan must deal with his girlfriend, daughter and ex-wife. A cinematic display of technical expertise, with great acting by Keaton and Norton. Co-stars Zach Galifianakis, Andrea Riseborough, Amy Ryan, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts, and Lindsay Duncan.
Citizenfour (2014) Real-life international thriller that unfolds by the minute. With unprecedented access, this behind-the-scenes documentary follows award-winning director Laura Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald’s remarkable encounters with whistleblower Edward Snowden in a Hong Kong hotel room as he hands over classified documents that provide evidence of mass indiscriminate and illegal invasions of privacy by the National Security Agency (NSA).
Coherence (2013) Strange things begin to happen when a group of friends gather for a dinner party on an evening when a comet is passing overhead and they experience a troubling chain of reality bending events and doppelgangers. A great low-budget debut by James Ward Byrkit. Stars Emily Baldoni, Maury Sterling, Nicholas Brendon, Lorene Scafaria.
Ex Machina (2015) by Alex Garland (screenwriter for “28 Days Later,” “Sunshine” and “Never Let Me Go”). Caleb Smith (Domhnall Gleeson), a programmer at an internet-search giant, wins a competition to spend a week at the private mountain estate of the company’s brilliant and reclusive CEO, Nathan Bateman (Oscar Isaac), where he will be the human component in a Turing Test — charged with evaluating the capabilities of Ava (Alicia Vikander), a breathtaking A.I. whose emotional intelligence proves more sophisticated — and more deceptive — than the two men could have imagined. A sci-fi thriller of ideas.
Inherent Vice (2014) directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. A fairly ambitious and faihful adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s novel. In a California beach community, private detective Larry “Doc” Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix) tends to work his cases through a smoky haze of marijuana. One day, Shasta, a former lover, arrives out of the blue to plead for Doc’s help; it seems that Shasta’s current beau, rich real-estate tycoon Mickey Wolfmann, has a wife who may be plotting to commit him to a mental hospital. When Mickey and Shasta both disappear, Doc navigates a psychedelic world of surfers, stoners and cops to solve the case. Co-stars Josh Brolin, Owen Wilson, Katherine Waterston, Reese Witherspoon, Benicio Del Toro, Martin Short, Jena Malone, Joanna Newsom.
John Wick (2014) Got to hand it to Keanu Reeves: he’s successfully traveled the cinematic road from teen goofball to melodramatic heartthrob to sci-fi hero to action star. He’s at his murderous best in this reveenge thriller that has spawned two sequels — this is the best of the lot. Legendary assassin John Wick (Reeves) retired from his violent career after marrying the love of his life. Her sudden death leaves John in deep mourning. When sadistic mobster Iosef Tarasov (Alfie Allen) and his thugs steal John’s prized car and kill the puppy that was a last gift from his wife, John unleashes the remorseless killing machine within and seeks vengeance. Meanwhile, Iosef’s father (Michael Nyqvist) — John’s former colleague — puts a huge bounty on John’s head. Co-stars Adrianne Palicki, Bridget Moynahan, Dean Winters, Ian McShane, John Leguizamo and Willem Dafoe.
Kumiko: The Treasure Hunter (2014) Kumiko (Rinko Kikuchi) is a lonely Japanese woman who discovers a hidden copy of “Fargo” (1996) on VHS and mistakes it for a documentary. In particular she’s fixated on the scene where a suitcase of stolen cash has been buried in North Dakota’s bleak landscape. Believing this treasure to be real and waiting to be discovered, Kumiko leaves Tokyo and her beloved rabbit Bunzo behind to recover it — and finds herself on a dangerous adventure unlike anything she’s seen in the movies. Inspired by an urban legend, “Kumiko” is a beguiling journey of determination and delusion. Sean Porter’s cinematography has created scenes of stark, cold beauty as we follow Kumiko’s dogged, misguided journey through the snowy countryside.
La Grande Bouffe (1973 — France/Italy) The most famous film by Italian provocateur Marco Ferreri (“Dillinger is Dead”), “La Grande Bouffe” was reviled on its release for its perversity, decadence and attack on the bourgeoisie — yet it won the prestigious FIPRESCI prize after its controversial screening at the Cannes Film Festival. Four friends, played by international superstars Marcello Mastroianni, Michel Piccoli, Ugo Tognazzi and Philippe Noiret, retreat to a country mansion where they are determined to eat themselves to death whilst engaging in group sex with prostitutes and a local school teacher (Andrea Ferreol), who seems to be up for anything. At once jovial and sinister, the film’s jet-black humor has a further twist as the reputed actors (whose characters use their own names) buck their respectable trend for a descent into fart-filled chaos that delivers a feast for the eyes and mind.
Leviathan (2014 — Russia) In a small coastal town in Russia an ordinary family lives quietly: Kolya (Aleksey Serebryakov), his wife Lilya, and their teenage son Roma. The family is haunted by a local corrupt mayor who’s trying to take away Kolya’s business, house, and precious land. But Kolya calls in an old friend, now an authoritative attorney, for help, and together they fight back and collect dirt on the mayor … but fate does not seem to be on Kolya’s side. A strange social satire.
Lucy (2014) by Luc Besson. When a boyfriend tricks Lucy (Scarlett Johansson) into delivering a briefcase to a supposed business contact, the once-carefree student is abducted by thugs who intend to turn her into a drug mule. She is surgically implanted with a package containing a powerful chemical, but it leaks into her system, giving her superhuman abilities, including telekinesis and telepathy. With her former captors in pursuit, Lucy seeks out a neurologist (Morgan Freeman), who she hopes will be able to help her. A bit silly at times but hey, it’s Luc Besson and Scarlett Johansson.
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) by George Miller, returning to the franchise he created in 1979, this time with a cast of females that take the Max Max mantle to a new level. Years after the collapse of civilization, the tyrannical Immortan Joe enslaves apocalypse survivors inside the desert fortress the Citadel. When the warrior Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) leads the despot’s five wives in a daring escape, she forges an alliance with Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy), a loner and former captive. Fortified in the massive, armored truck the War Rig, they try to outrun the ruthless warlord and his henchmen in a deadly high-speed chase through the Wasteland.
Miami Blues (1990) A great cult favorite. Veteran criminal Frederick Frenger, Jr. (Alec Baldwin) has moved to Miami to get a fresh start … at robbing a whole new set of people. But when his streetwalker-gone-straight wife (Jennifer Jason Leigh) begins to suspect his criminal behavior, and an obsessed cop (Fred Ward) begins to close in, he’ll need a lot more than luck and a bogus badge to escape a crossfire hotter than the barrel of a smoking gun. In a Blu-ray debut.
10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) After surviving a car accident, Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) wakes up to find herself in an underground bunker with two men. Howard (John Goodman) tells her that a massive chemical attack has rendered the air unbreathable, and their only hope of survival is to remain inside. Despite the comforts of home, Howard’s controlling and menacing nature makes Michelle want to escape. But if you know anything about “Cloverfield,” you know that there’s more to that than meets the eye. After taking matters into her own hands, the young woman finally discovers the truth about the outside world. Claustrophobic thriller has Winstead steal the show as she fights back against her captor.
What We Do in the Shadows (2015 — New Zealand) was definitely the sleeper hit of the year, crossing over from horror cultists to mainstream moviegoers. The wacky film — imagine, if you will, a cross between “Borak” and “The Adams Family,” only much, much better — is a New Zealand indie outing by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi, creators of the HBO hit series “Flight of the Conchords.” It’s at once a very, very funny send-up of vampire films as well as a self-referential satire of the whole horror cult genre. The film — a mockumentary (in which the camera crew wear garlic and crucifixes) follows an unhip quartet of vampire friends as they go about their nightly routines — paying bills, doing the dishes, hunting for fresh blood. Though they’re centuries old, none of them have kept up with the latest trends in technology or fashion, and the gags mount as the ageless vampires have difficulty maneuvering through 21st Century Wellington. And problems arise when they “turn” a young hipster, who has his own views on how a vampire should live. It’s all outrageous and hilarious.
Wild Tales (2014 — Argentina) Six short stories involving distressed people, outrgeously written and directed. Inequality, injustice and the demands of the world we live in cause stress and depression for many people. Some of them, however, explode. This is a movie about those people, a fresco of rage, fury, deception and revenge. A lover’s betrayal, a return to a repressed past and the violence woven into everyday encounters drive the characters to madness as they cede to the undeniable pleasure of losing control.
And don’t forget the following Criterion releases:
Code Unknown (2000) One of the world’s most influential and provocative filmmakers, the Academy Award–winning Austrian director Michael Haneke (“Amour”) diagnoses the social maladies of contemporary Europe with devastating precision and staggering artistry. This drama, the first of his many films made in France, may be his most inspired work. Composed almost entirely of brilliantly shot, single-take vignettes focusing on characters connected to one seemingly minor incident on a Paris street, Haneke’s film — with an outstanding international cast headlined by Juliette Binoche — is a revelatory take on racial inequality and the failure of communication in today’s increasingly diverse European landscape.
A Day in the Country (1936) This bittersweet work from Jean Renoir, based on a story by Guy de Maupassant, is a tenderly comic idyll about a city family’s picnic in the French countryside and the romancing of the mother and grown daughter by two local men. Conceived as part of a larger project that was never completed, shot in 1936, and released 10 years later, this warmly humanist vignette ranks among Renoir’s most lyrical films, with a love for nature imbuing its every beautiful frame.
The Killers (1946, 1964) Ernest Hemingway’s simple but gripping short tale “The Killers” is a model of economical storytelling. Two directors adapted it into unforgettably virile features: Robert Siodmak (“Criss Cross”), in a 1946 film that helped define the noir style and launch the acting careers of Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner; and Don Siegel (“Dirty Harry”), in a brutal 1964 version, starring Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson and John Cassavetes, that was intended for television but deemed too violent for home audiences and released theatrically instead. The first is poetic and shadowy, the second direct and harsh as daylight, but both get at the heart of Hemingway’s existential classic.
The Merchant of Four Seasons (1971) New German Cinema icon Rainer Werner Fassbinder kicked off a new phase of his young career when he made the startling “The Merchant of Four Seasons.” In this despairing yet mordantly funny film, Fassbinder charts the decline of a self-destructive former policeman and war veteran struggling to make ends meet for his family by working as a fruit vendor. Fassbinder had skyrocketed to renown on the acclaim of a series of trenchant, quickly made early films, but for this one he took more time and forged a new style — featuring a more complexly woven script and narrative structure and more sophisticated use of the camera, and influenced by the work of his recently discovered idol, Douglas Sirk. The result is a meticulously made, unforgiving social satire
Ride the Pink Horse (1947) Hollywood actor turned idiosyncratic auteur Robert Montgomery (“Here Comes Mr. Jordan”) directs and stars in this striking crime drama based on a novel by Dorothy B. Hughes. He plays a tough-talking former GI who comes to a small New Mexico town to shake down a gangster who killed his best friend; things quickly turn nasty. “Ride the Pink Horse” features standout supporting performances from Fred Clark, Wanda Hendrix, and especially Thomas Gomez, who became the first Hispanic actor to receive an Academy Award nomination for his role here. With its relentless pace, expressive cinematography by the great Russell Metty (“All That Heaven Allows)”, and punchy, clever script by Charles Lederer (“His Girl Friday”) and Ben Hecht (“Spellbound”), this is an overlooked treasure from the heyday of 1940s film noir.
The Best DVDs and Blu-rays of 2011
The Best DVDs and Blu-rays of 2012
The Best DVDs and Blu-rays of 2013
The Best DVDs and Blu-rays of 2014
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