The number 1 movie for 44 years

There's a post going around that tells you what the number one movie was the year you were born. Being a movie buff, I simply couldn't stop there, so I did it for each year I've been around. Here are the results with my grades for each:

1970: Tora! Tora! Tora! (B)

1971: The French Connection (A+)

1972: Lady Sings the Blues (NA)

1973: Mean Streets (A+)

1974: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (A)

1975: Let's Do It Again (NA)

1976: Marathon Man (B)

1977: Julia (NA)

1978: The Boys from Brazil (B)

1979: 10 (NA)

1980: Private Benjamin (B+)

1981: Chariots of Fire (A)

1982: E.T. (A+)

1983: Never Say Never Again (B+)

1984: Teachers (NA)

1985: Commando (C)

1986: Crocodile Dundee (A-)

1987: Fatal Attraction (B)

1988: The Accused (A-)

1989: Look Who's Talking (B)

1990: Marked for Death (NA)

1991: The Fisher King (A)

1992: Under Siege (B+)

1993: Demolition Man (C+)

1994: Pulp Fiction (A+)

1995: Seven (A)

1996: The Ghost and the Darkness (NA)

1997: I Know What You Did Last Summer (C+)

1998: Practical Magic (NA)

1999: Fight Club (A-)

2000: Meet the Parents (A-)

2001: Training Day (B+)

2002: Red Dragon (B)

2003: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (NA)

2004: Shark Tale (B)

2005: The Fog (NA)

2006: The Grudge 2 (NA)

2007: Why Did I Get Married (NA)

2008: Max Payne (NA)

2009: Where the Wild Things Are (B)

2010: Jackass 3D (NA)

2011: Real Steel (NA)

2012: Taken 2 (NA)

2013: Gravity (A+)

2014: Fury (C+)

RANKINGS: Star Wars

Since a certain trailer created so much hubbub this week, I thought now would be an idea time to kick off a new feature on this blog called Rankings. And the first films to be ranked will be the Star Wars saga.

In these posts, I will capsule-review every film in a series in chronological order. Then, at the end of the posts, I reveal how I would rank the movies, from best to worst. (Worst occasionally being a relative term,)

That's important to state, for a couple of reasons. First, sometimes a series is good enough that even the "worst" films are pretty good. Nolan's Dark Knight movies come to mind. Yeah, the third one has a few problems, but the overall experience (something too often discounted in an age of nit-picking) is still pretty powerful. 

Second, when it comes to Star Wars, I'm something of a prequel apologist. (Relativity rears its head here.) I recognize the reviled movies have their fair share of problems. Maybe more than their fair share sometimes. That said, I still find more to enjoy than to eviscerate. Again, it's the overall experience that counts. Besides, isn't it more fun to revel in what's good than wallow in what's bad?

(Don't bother quoting  me Red Letter Media. I've seen all those reviews and they make a lot of good points. Doesn't mean they're always right. And the whole serial killer character gets as tiresome as Jar-Jar.)

So that established, in chronological order:

Star Wars: I'm going against the grain here - many people would say Empire, not without justification. But for me, nothing captures the thrill of discovery inherent in that first film. It's especially powerful when you're all of 6.

The Empire Strikes Back: Yes, it probably is the best of the films, in that it has the fewest flaws and the least amount of cheesiness. And the big reveal was spoiled when impatient me just HAD to read the comic adaptation first. Still, the whole "That is why you fail" scene is one of the most powerful statements about belief in all of cinema.

Return of the Jedi: Great fun, as usual, and yet I can't escape the feeling that a lot of the cast are kind of coasting, as if to say, "Let's get this silliness overwith." There's a certain laziness to the movie that ends not so much with suspense as it does with certainty. But it gets there in thrilling fashion.

The Phantom Menace: Yes, a little of Jar-Jar goes a LONG way. Yes, Jake Lloyd's performance is so wooden that Lucas might as well have cast Pinocchio in the part. (Although this is more on Lucas than Lloyd, who I think tried hard, but needed a better actor's director than Lucas to succeed.) And yet, the Ben Hur-inspired pod race (which got applause the first time I saw it) and the final light saber battle (the best in all six movies) are good enough to make it quite enjoyable.

Attack of the Clones: George Lucas can't write romance like trees can't fly. But as was the case with the first movie, snazzy action scenes save it. There's probably no better director than Lucas at cross-cutting between scenes.

Revenge of the Sith: My unpopular opinion here is that I like this better than Jedi. The dialogue still clunks, and Lucas fumbles a couple times in the all-important finale (NOOOOOO) but the intensity of the story still holds sway, as all parties, Lucas included, commit to making a rousing finale (until this December, at least.)

My Rankings:

IV
V
III
VI
II
I

The Best Films of 2014 - At Last

Apologies for taking so long to post this, but in a way, my timing is appropriate. I just spent the weekend at the Ohio Science Fiction Marathon in Columbus, and that's fitting, because my list has a heavy sci-fi presence this year, with no less than four  films having sci-fi elements. It was also quite a year for Chris Evans and Jessica Chastain, who both placed two films in my list. 

1. Interstellar: I head far too many "Yes, buts" regarding this knockout of an experience, which, with a little hindsight, will attain the appreciation it wholly deserves. Other films on this list may be more innovative or more daring, but no movie packed the emotional and visual punch this one did. Mr. Nolan is working on a higher plane than most directors.
2. Boyhood: Like another film on this list, it's nothing less than Life Itself.
3. Birdman: It's not just a navel-gazing movie about actors and their vanity. It's about how we all search for some form of redemption that we can find in ourselves if we only look hard enough. And with its "one take" trick, it's a blast just to watch.
4. Whiplash: This movie rolled and snared its way into my brain, tapping into my nervous system like few other films have recently. The mind games it plays are nefarious, maddening, and richly satisfying.
5. The Grand Budapest Hotel: Beneath the candy-colored sets and the shifting aspect ratios lies an emotional resonance that tells us the past wasn't always as good as we think it was - even while there's something to be said for nostalgia.
6. Life Itself: Roger Ebert once said that the movies are like a giant empathy machine, and one of the main flaws in the world today is that too few people have it. That's the lesson that America's greatest critic left behind in the movie of his life.
7. A Most Violent Year: It reminded me of nothing less than The Godfather II. That's pretty good company.
8. Captain America: The Winter Soldier: Yes, in the top 10. It's right up there with the 70s paranoid thrillers (Three Days of the Condor, The Parallax View) on which this movie modeled itself. I'm willing to bet that if this movie didn't have any spandex or visual effects showcases, it might have made more 10 best lists.
9. Snowpierecer: Chris Evans again, in more of a reluctant hero mode in one of the wilder visual allegories I've ever seen: Civilization is not only on a train, it IS the train.
10. American Sniper: Like The Hurt Locker, but better. And this HAD to resonate with me, consdering my brother is an American sniper.

TIER 2

The Second Ten. I would call this the "Honorable Mention" list, but that would sell these movies short. Each of these movies is well worth seeking out - or revisiting. In alphabetical order:

Chef: Nice to see Jon Favreau go back to his small-film roots. You'd better eat before seeing this, of you'll be munching on furniture.

Citizenfour: Seeing footage of Edward Snowden when he made his revelations is nothing less than astounding.

Gone Girl: Those who treat this strictly as a whodunit miss the point. It gives new meaning to the phrase, "You deserve each other."

Ida: The Holocaust seen at its most personal roots, with haunting black and white photography.

The Imitation Game: A too little-known story only serves as the bedrock for the kind of device I'm using to type this list, to say nothing of the millions of lives saved.

Inherent Vice: Paul Thomas Anderson's stoned detective comedy might be his loopiest film. It's the kind of unique ride that only he can drive.

Into the Woods: Best cast of the year, and simply flat-out entertaining.

Locke: Can you base an entire film around one man's journey that shows nothing but him behind the wheel of a car? You can if it's Tom Hardy.

Nightcrawler: In the news business, they say "If it bleeds, it leads." Jake Gyllenhaal twists that around into something truly macabre.

Selma: Like "Lincoln" before it, this movie decides not to focus not an entire life story, but a key chapter of it - and in so doing, gives us more than the essence of the man at its center.

TIER 3

The list of 10 very entertaining films that I couldn't quite place at the very top, but would gladly see again. In alphabetical order:

Begin Again
Big Hero Six
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
The Fault in Our Stars
Fed Up
Hector and The Search for Happiness
How to Train Your Dragon 2
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1
The Lego Movie
The Railway Man

Oscar Predictions: The rest for 2015

Last time on Sir Critic's Oscar predictions, I forecasted the techs. Today, on a very special Sir Critic, I move up the latter to ... well, to all the others.

Supporting Actor

Robert Duvall in “The Judge”

Ethan Hawke in “Boyhood”

Edward Norton in “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”

Mark Ruffalo in “Foxcatcher”

J.K. Simmons in “Whiplash”

WILL/SHOULD WIN: J.K. Simmons

Actress

Marion Cotillard in “Two Days, One Night”

Felicity Jones in “The Theory of Everything”

Julianne Moore in “Still Alice”

Rosamund Pike in “Gone Girl”

Reese Witherspoon in “Wild”

WILL/SHOULD WIN: Julianne Moore

Supporting Actress

Patricia Arquette in “Boyhood”

Laura Dern in “Wild”

Keira Knightley in “The Imitation Game”

Emma Stone in “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”

Meryl Streep in “Into the Woods”

WILL WIN: Arquette
SHOULD WIN: Stone.

I've bunched three of the four acting categories together because three of the four are all but slam dunks. If Arquette, Moore and Simmons don't win their categories, the stock of oxygen tank manufacturers will rise sharply.

Actor

Steve Carell in “Foxcatcher”

Bradley Cooper in “American Sniper”

Benedict Cumberbatch in “The Imitation Game”

Michael Keaton in “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”

Eddie Redmayne in “The Theory of Everything”

WILL WIN: This is a very, very, very close race between Keaton and Redmaye. Redmayne won the SAG, Keaton is a respected veteran making a hell of a comeback. But I tip to Redmayne, because his is the sort of showy, transformative performance that often wins. 

SHOULD WIN: Keaton.

Animated Feature

“Big Hero 6” Don Hall, Chris Williams and Roy Conli

“The Boxtrolls” Anthony Stacchi, Graham Annable and Travis Knight

“How to Train Your Dragon 2” Dean DeBlois and Bonnie Arnold

“Song of the Sea” Tomm Moore and Paul Young

“The Tale of the Princess Kaguya” Isao Takahata and Yoshiaki Nishimura

WILL/SHOULD WIN: Like the Toy Story sequels, Dragon 2 doesn't just repeat a successful formula but expands and enriches the story. Big Hero 6 could win here too, but Dragon has a stronger emotional core. 

Adapted Screenplay

“American Sniper” Written by Jason Hall

“The Imitation Game” Written by Graham Moore

“Inherent Vice” Written for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson

“The Theory of Everything” Screenplay by Anthony McCarten

“Whiplash” Written by Damien Chazelle

WILL/SHOULD WIN: Whiplash - partly because goofy Academy rules cheated it and called it adapted when it was really original. And partly because it plays mind games that dance inside your head for days. 

Could win: Imitation Game is the only real threat, and I don't sense enough passion behind it. As well done as it is, it's almost too traditional. Whiplash is much more daring. 

Original Screenplay

“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” Written by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. & Armando Bo

“Boyhood” Written by Richard Linklater

“Foxcatcher” Written by E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman

“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Screenplay by Wes Anderson; Story by Wes Anderson & Hugo Guinness

“Nightcrawler” Written by Dan Gilroy

WILL WIN: This is a tight three-way race, but I believe Grand Budapest comes out ahead here because this category has a history of awarding the auteur who probably won't win the Best Director Prize.

COULD WIN: Birdman or Boyhood could easily take it. This one's a tough call.  

SHOULD WIN: Boyhood. If you believe it's only real trick is in how it was assembled, you aren't paying attention. 

Documentary Feature

“CitizenFour” Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy and Dirk Wilutzky

“Finding Vivian Maier” John Maloof and Charlie Siskel

“Last Days in Vietnam” Rory Kennedy and Keven McAlester

“The Salt of the Earth” Wim Wenders, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado and David Rosier

“Virunga” Orlando von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara

WILL WIN: CitzenFour's footage of Edward Snowden, just after he opened Pandora's box of secrets,  is just too startling to be ignored. 

Documentary Short Subject

“Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1” Ellen Goosenberg Kent and Dana Perry

“Joanna” Aneta Kopacz

“Our Curse” Tomasz Sliwinski and Maciej Slesicki

“The Reaper (La Parka)” Gabriel Serra Arguello

“White Earth” J. Christian Jensen

WILL WIN: I'm handicapped on the shorts this year, having only seen the Animated block. So when in doubt, go with HBO. That's Crisis Hotline. 

Foreign Language Film

“Ida” Poland

“Leviathan” Russia

“Tangerines” Estonia

“Timbuktu” Mauritania

“Wild Tales” Argentina

WILL WIN: The film with other nominations tends to win. Ida.  

Animated Short Film

“The Bigger Picture” Daisy Jacobs and Christopher Hees

“The Dam Keeper” Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi

“Feast” Patrick Osborne and Kristina Reed

“Me and My Moulton” Torill Kove

“A Single Life” Joris Oprins

WILL WIN: "The Bigger Picture" seems to be getting most of the attention, though it was actually my least favorite of the batch. 

SHOULD WIN: The charming, poignant, "Dam Keeper," about an unlikely friendship between a pig and a fox. 

Live Action Short Film

“Aya” Oded Binnun and Mihal Brezis

“Boogaloo and Graham” Michael Lennox and Ronan Blaney

“Butter Lamp (La Lampe Au Beurre De Yak)” Hu Wei and Julien Féret

“Parvaneh” Talkhon Hamzavi and Stefan Eichenberger

“The Phone Call” Mat Kirkby and James Lucas

SHOULD WIN: Toss-up. The Phone Call, if only because it has recognizable faces in former winner/nominee Jim Broadbent and Sally Hawkins.  

Director

“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” Alejandro G. Iñárritu

“Boyhood” Richard Linklater

“Foxcatcher” Bennett Miller

“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Wes Anderson

“The Imitation Game” Morten Tyldum

WILL WIN: This is a race between the auteur who pulled off a hell of a visual stunt (Inarritu) and the auteur who pulled off a one-of-a-kind filmmaking feat. The directing category tends toward the strongly visual, e.g. Gravity and Life of Pi. So it shall be with Birdman. 

SHOULD WIN: Linklater

Best Picture

“American Sniper” 

“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” 

“Boyhood” 

“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Jeremy Dawson, Producers

“The Imitation Game” Nora Grossman, Ido Ostrowsky and Teddy Schwarzman, Producers

“Selma” Christian Colson, Oprah Winfrey, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, Producers

“The Theory of Everything” Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce and Anthony McCarten, Producers

“Whiplash” Jason Blum, Helen Estabrook and David Lancaster, Producers

WILL/SHOULD WIN: This is a race between the auteur who pulled off a hell of a visual stunt (Inarritu) and the auteur who pulled off a one-of-a-kind filmmaking feat. But when it comes to the battle between the head and the heart, the heart tends to win. (See The King's Speech vs. The Social Network). Boyhood is all heart. 

Oscar Predictions 2015: The Techs (Sound and Vision)

We'll kick off the predictions this year by doing the limbo and going below the line with the craft categories. And this year, I'll list the dark horse if I think there is one. That way, I look a lot more savvy than I actually am.

Cinematography
“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” Emmanuel Lubezki
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Robert Yeoman
“Ida” Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski
“Mr. Turner” Dick Pope
“Unbroken” Roger Deakins

WILL/SHOULD WIN: Lubezki

This is a frighteningly easy call. Birdman's "One-take" camerawork dominated ever since it was first seen. Perennial beloved nominee Deakins will just have to keep waiting.

Costume Design
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Milena Canonero
“Inherent Vice” Mark Bridges
“Into the Woods” Colleen Atwood
“Maleficent” Anna B. Sheppard and Jane Clive
“Mr. Turner” Jacqueline Durran

Production Design
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
“The Imitation Game” Production Design: Maria Djurkovic; Set Decoration: Tatiana Macdonald
“Interstellar” Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Gary Fettis
“Into the Woods” Production Design: Dennis Gassner; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
“Mr. Turner” Production Design: Suzie Davies; Set Decoration: Charlotte Watts

WILL/SHOULD WIN: Grand Budapest Hotel
DARK HORSE: Into the Woods (costumes)

There's a reason I lumped Costume and Production Design together. Grand Budapest Hotel is easily going to win both. Wes Anderson's movies are always designed to the Nth degre, and Budapest boasts some of the most intricate designs of all.

Film Editing
“American Sniper” Joel Cox and Gary D. Roach
“Boyhood” Sandra Adair
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Barney Pilling
“The Imitation Game” William Goldenberg
“Whiplash” Tom Cross

WILL/SHOULD WIN: Whiplash

DARK HORSE: Boyhood

This one is a fairly close race between Whiplash and Boyhood. Boyhood's elegant weaving of a 12-year story filmed piecemeal is truly impressive for the way it shows the passage of time without any obvious signposts. But when in doubt, go the Best Picture nominee with the most visible editing: That's Whiplash, which so expertly builds tension that watching the movie jangles the nerves, even without J.K. Simmons' formidable presence. 

Makeup and Hairstyling
“Foxcatcher” Bill Corso and Dennis Liddiard
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier
“Guardians of the Galaxy” Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou and David White

WILL WIN: Grand Budpest
SHOULD WIN/DARK HORSE: Guardians of the Galaxy.

This award often goes to the Most Makeup, which would be Guardians of the Galaxy. On the other hand, that didn't exactly help the Hobbit and Harry Potter films when they made this race. So I'm betting Budapest gets this win to go along with its Set and Costume Awards. Again, designed to the Nth degree.

Original Score
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Alexandre Desplat
“The Imitation Game” Alexandre Desplat
“Interstellar” Hans Zimmer
“Mr. Turner” Gary Yershon
“The Theory of Everything” Jóhann Jóhannsson

WILL WIN: Theory of Everything
SHOULD WIN: Grand Budapest Hotel

Conventional wisdom may have it that the prolific Desplat will finally get his due, but lush and melodramatic often tends to win the day here. That's Theory of Everything.

Original Song
“Everything Is Awesome” from “The Lego Movie”
Music and Lyric by Shawn Patterson
“Glory” from “Selma”
Music and Lyric by John Stephens and Lonnie Lynn
“Grateful” from “Beyond the Lights”
Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
“I’m Not Gonna Miss You” from “Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me”
Music and Lyric by Glen Campbell and Julian Raymond
“Lost Stars” from “Begin Again”
Music and Lyric by Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois

WILL WIN: Glory
SHOULD WIN/DARK HORSE:   Everything is Awesome

It's not inconceivable that Everything is Awesome could win here, since many people were aghast that The LEGO Movie didn't score an animated film nomination. And it IS the best use of a song within the actual movie. (I grow weary of slapping a song on the end credits and having that be the nominee, as is the case with Selma's admittedly stirring song.) But since Selma missed out on a lot of big nominations, and because Glory has picked up some precursor awards, that wins.

Sound Editing
“American Sniper” Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman
“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” Martín Hernández and Aaron Glascock
“The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” Brent Burge and Jason Canovas
“Interstellar” Richard King
“Unbroken” Becky Sullivan and Andrew DeCristofaro

Sound Mixing
“American Sniper” John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Walt Martin
“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño and Thomas Varga
“Interstellar” Gary A. Rizzo, Gregg Landaker and Mark Weingarten
“Unbroken” Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño and David Lee
“Whiplash” Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins and Thomas Curley

WILL WIN: American Sniper takes both of these, as war films often do. Helps that the film is a tremendous hit. I imagine most voters will look at their ballots and say, "Sound? American Sniper for both."
SHOULD WIN: Interstellar. I don't buy into the line of a muddled mix drowning out the dialogue. I thought it was an artful mix that amplified the emotions of the scene, and sometimes that entails disorientation and not being quite sure of what you heard.


Visual Effects
“Captain America: The Winter Soldier” Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Bryan Grill and Dan Sudick
“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel Barrett and Erik Winquist
“Guardians of the Galaxy” Stephane Ceretti, Nicolas Aithadi, Jonathan Fawkner and Paul Corbould
“Interstellar” Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter and Scott Fisher
“X-Men: Days of Future Past” Richard Stammers, Lou Pecora, Tim Crosbie and Cameron Waldbauer

WILL/SHOULD WIN: Interstellar is a movie that has gone severely underappreciated in its time - but not when it comes to its effects.

The Movies I Most Want to See in 2015

A lot of sites have listed the most anticipated films of 2015, but honestly, their list doesn't usually match my own. It's a lot of the usual suspects. Avengers, Star Wars, Hunger Games, etc. I'm looking forward to those too, but I usually prefer to go off the beaten path. So I present my list of 12 films I'm most looking forward to seeing, roughly in order of release. 

The Last Five Years: I'm a big fan of Anna Kendrick and her musical chops. I loved Into the Woods, and that's just the first of three musical films she has in the can. Most people know that the Pitch Perfect sequel comes out in May, and I'm all over that too, but I'm even more intrigued by this adaptation of the Jason Robert Brown musical, co-starring Jeremy Jordan. (Feb. 13). 

Mad Max Fury Road - Well, shit. Have you SEEN the trailer? (May 15)

Jurassic World: That trailer works too. (June 12) 

Inside Out - Summer offers its greatest one-two punch with Jurassic World one week, and the film I believe will be Pixar's creative comeback on June 19. 

The Walk: Robert Zemeckis has long been the master of photo-realistic visual effects. With this film, chronicling the incredible tightrope walk between the Twin Towers, he may have accomplished his most impressive feat yet.

Crimson Peak - Jessica Chastain in a Guillermo Del Toro movie? That's all I need to know. (Ocotber 16)

Untitled Cold War Spy Thriller: Steven Spielberg directing a Coens script? That's all I need to know. And on the same weekend as Crimson Peak! (October  16)

Peanuts -I've been a fan of the classic comic for about as long as I can remember. I still have significant chunks of A Charlie Brown Christmas memorized. So when I heard a CGI movie was being made, I cringed. And yet the trailers, including the latest, seem to capture Schulz's spirit well. Five cents, please.   (Nov. 6) 

Spectre: Skyfall was the best Bond movie in EONs. (Bond fans will see what I did there.) The follow-up, also directed by Sam Mendes, is probably THE film I'm most looking forward to seeing in 2015. 

Star Wars - The Force Awakens:  Yeah, it's one of the obvious answers. But I'm excited like everyone else is. Besides, maybe it'll get people to stop bitching about the prequels, which are flawed but still take too much abuse.  (Dec. 18)

Joy: Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence team up for the third time with David O. Russell. After Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle, that's fine by me. (Dec. 25)

Carol: I covered the shoot of this for the Journal-News in Hamilton last year and caught a glimpse of Cate Blanchett. So naturally, I'm curious to see how it turned out. (Fall) 

Silence: A Martin Scorsese picture. Any questions? (TBA, but probably in the fall) 

Sir Critic Lives: Every movie I saw in 2014

MOVIES 2014

Theaters

1. Blue is the Warmest Color A-
2. Inside Llewen Davis B+
3. Her A+
4. August Osage County C+
5. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit C+
6. Lone Survivor A-
7. Labor Day B-
8. The Invisible Woman B-
9. The Lego Movie A-
10. The Armstrong Lie B+
11. Frozen X3  A+
12. Philomena A-
13. Dallas Buyers Club B+
14. Wolf of Wall Street A
15. 12 Years a Slave  A
16. Nebraska A
17. Captain Phillips A
18. Her A+
19. American Hustle A
20. Gravity A+
21. The Monuments Men B
22. Non-Stop B
23. The Grand Budapest Hotel A
24. Muppets Most Wanted B
25. 300: Rise of an Empire B-
26. Noah B
27. Divergent B+
28. Bad Words B
29. Captain America: The Winter Soldier A
30. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 C+
31. The Railway Man A-
32. Under the Skin C-
33. Only Lovers Left Alive C
34. Locke A
35. X-Men Days of Future Past A-
36. Maleficant B
37. Edge of Tomorrow B+
38. The Fault in Our Stars A-
39. Fed Up A
40. Chef A-
41. Draft Day B
42. 22 Jump Street. A-
43. Neighbors B
44. Obvious Child B-
45. Jodowarsky’s Dune B+
46. A Hard Day's Night A+
47. Snowpiercer A
48. Begin Again A-
49. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes A
50. Life Itself A+
51. Guardians of the Galaxy A-
52. It Happened One Night A+
53. Lucy B+
54. Boyhood X2  A+
55. The Big Lebowski B+
56. Jersey Boys C
57. Magic in the Moonlight B+
58. A Most Wanted Man B+
59. Silk Stockings B+
60. Cavalry B+
61. The Drop B+
62. How to Train Your Dragon 2 A
63. Hector and the Search for Happiness A-
64. Gone Girl A-
65. Men, Women and Children C+
66. The Skeleton Twins B
67. Fury C+
68. Birdman A+
69. Kill the Messenger C+
70. Nightcrawler A-
71. Interstellar X3 A+
72. Big Hero 6 A-
73. Whiplash A
74. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1: A=
75. The Boxtrolls B
76. The Theory of Everything B+
77. Citizen Four A
78. Rosewater B
79. Exodus: Gods and Kings C-
80. Top Five B+
81. Wild B+
82. The Hobit: Battle of the Five Armies A-
83. Into the Woods A

On the Small Screen

1. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp  A-
2. Liberal Arts B
3. Last Tango in Paris  B+
4. Stories We Tell A
5. That’s Dancing B
6. A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy B-
7. The Aristocats B
8. The Black Cauldron C+
9. Ben-Hur (1925) B+
10. Harold and Maude: B
11. Millius A-
12. Listen Darling B
13. Miss Pinkerton B
14. Air Force B
15. No B+
16. Straw Dogs (1971) B+
17. Beneath the Planet of the Apes C
18. Escape from the Planet of the Apes
19. Transcendence C
20. Straw Dogs (2011) B
21. The Deadly Tower B+
22. Passage to Marseille B
23. Homefront C
24. Peyton Place B+
25. Sorcerer B+
26. Crazy Love A
27. Macbeth A
28. The Game B
29. All Quiet on the Western Front A-
30. Postcards from the Edge B+
31. Under Capricorn C
32. Airport: B
33. The Black Stallion: A-
34. Dodge City A-
35. Little Women (1949) B
36. Dracula  (1937)  B+
37. Dracula (Spanish) B+
38. The Steel Trap B+
39. Frankenstein (1931)
40. Wee Willie Winkie B
41. The Mummy B+
42. Edward Ullmer documentary B-
43. People Will Talk A-
44. Carnival of Souls B+
45. Altman A-
46. Happy Christmas B-
47. Chaplin C-
48. The Man with the Goden Arm A-
49. Buster Keaton: So Funny It Hurt B
50. It Happened on Fifth Avenue B
51. Remember the Night A-