November 29, 2014
Wknd Box Office: Foxcatcher (Anti-American), Annie (Anniecide via Jay-Z), Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
By Debbie SchlusselTwo okay new movies in theaters, this weekend, but nothin’ to write home about.
“Based on true events,” the film is supposed to portray the relationships and events that led up to du Pont’s real-life murder of Olympic wrestling coach David Schultz. But it’s hard to tell what is accurate and what isn’t, regardless of the participation of brother Mark Schultz in the making of the movie. There is a clear agenda to attack conservatives, patriots, and gun owners, so blatant that it’s over the top. There is also more than a sub rosa indication that du Pont was gay, with several very homoerotic scenes. You know the typical narrative: “patriotic, rich conservatives are really closet flaming gays.” And the filmmakers also want you to know that patriots are hypocrites in other ways, too, as du Pont is shown as a regular coke snorter, including on his private plane on the way to a conservative banquet event.
* “Annie“: More like Annie-cide via Jay-Z. The hip-hop-izing of Annie stinks like fresh dunk. Will Smith and Jay-Z murdered Annie. They bought the rights to make the second movie version of the Broadway musical as a star vehicle for Smith’s daughter, Willow. But Willow decided against it, so they recruited Quvenzhané Wallis to play “the first Black Annie.” They also hired Jamie Foxx to play the Daddy Warbucks character, called “Will Stacks,” in this version. But don’t worry, all of the villains in the movie are still White. That’s the only thing they didn’t change. Though, they did create an additional, new White villain, in case kids in the audience don’t already get the message that “White people are bad!”
When I was a kid growing up in the ’70s and ’80s, I was an Annie-phile. My parents took me to see the music multiple times. I collected Annie memorabilia. I played the soundtrack record over and over again and sang along, probably to the rest of my family’s chagrin. I even auditioned for the traveling company of the Broadway musical (read about that here). I loved the catchy songs and the story of an orphan girl with red curly hair who charms a billionaire (maybe in those days it was just millionaire?) capitalist during the Depression (though I later realized the musical is actually about capitalists like Warbucks being cold and gruff and how the orphan charms FDR into signing the disastrous New Deal). And, so, I was doubly and triply sickened by how much they ruined this once-charming story, all in the name of “updating” and “urbanizing” it.
Every single song from the musical is changed and ruined (and several, such as “NYC” and “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile” have been omitted completely). They keep a few of the key lyrics and then change the rest. They keep a few of the original musical notes and change the rest into some treacly, blah-sounding muzak (which annoyingly plays throughout the movie).
Instead of the movie taking place during the Depression, this version takes place today. And to make that clear, we are hit over the head repeatedly with social media two-by-fours. Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, viral videos, etc. are a big part of this movie, clearly to make up for its weak script. And instead of innocent, hopeful “Little Orphan Annie,” the current Annie is a cynical foster kid with more jade and shade than spunk. Wallis is synthetically, saccharin “sweet” and cloying. Miss Hannigan is a foster care provider (lackluster and horribly-acted by Cameron Diaz). Jamie Foxx’s tech billionaire Stacks is very flashy yet dull and way too ghetto. There are repeated, stupid scenes of him and Annie spewing out their bad food. The only good White person in the movie is Stacks’ assistant, Grace (Rose Byrne), but she actually lacks grace and tells Annie about all of her (Grace’s) career and family neuroses. Huh? But she’s a “good” White person because, at the end, she enters into an interracial relationship with Stacks. So she’s “down wit da struggle.”
The story: foster girl Annie looks for her parents who left her at a police station with a note from an Italian restaurant. In the meantime, she lives with other foster kids in the foster home of a former member of the C&C Music Factory pop group (Diaz), who treats the girls horribly. One day, Annie is trying to help a dog when she is nearly hit by a car. Billionaire Stacks saves her live and the video goes viral online. Stacks is running for New York Mayor, and goes to meet Annie and include her in his life, when he sees that this will help him in the polls. Involved in all kinds of evil machinations against Annie are foster mother Miss Hannigan (Diaz) and Stacks’ right-hand man (Bobby Cannavale).
Like I said, this movie stinks, and it’s a mess. If you want to do your kids a favor, take them to see the musical, which was recently made its Broadway revival and is performed on stages all over the country.
This isn’t just “Not Annie.” It’s crap.
FOUR MARXES PLUS FOUR OBAMAS PLUS FOUR MICHELLE LAVAUGHN ROBINSON HUSSEIN OBAMA IDI AMIN DADAS PLUS FOUR JAY-ZS PLUS TWO ISIS BEHEADINGS
Watch the trailer . . .
* “Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb a/k/a Night at the Museum 3“: While there is nothing objectionable about this third installment of the “Night at the Museum” movies, it’s far inferior to the vastly more charming first and second installments. In fact, while it’s fine for families and kids, I found this movie kind of silly, convoluted, and a mess.
The story: an Egyptian gold tablet on display in the museum is turning green and disappearing. Along with it, so are the powers of the exhibits to come alive at night. Museum official Ben Stiller travels to London with the Egyptian prince and some other exhibits in order to consult with the Egyptian prince’s parents, who are exhibits at the London museum, and find out how to restore the gold tablet and the museum exhibits powers’ to come alive at night. At the London museum, they engage in new action and adventures with exhibits that come to life at night there, including Sir Lancelot (the talented Dan Stevens), and a new museum security guard (Rebel Wilson).
The movie is okay, but kind of dull, and I could have done without the many scenes of historical museum exhibits engaging in social media on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc., and dancing to hip-hop music. Um, no thanks. Takes a lot away from the “historical” magic of this movie series.
This was, by the way, the late Robin Williams’ last movie. Once again, he portrays Teddy Roosevelt.
* “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies“: This latest–and supposedly last–installment of the Hobbit movies is like all Hobbit movies in that it is long and slow. I took a bathroom break and didn’t miss much. Like many of the Hobbit movies I’ve seen and reviewed, the plot is messy, confusing, and somewhat convoluted. That said, I liked this better than the Hobbit movies I’ve seen (I’ve only seen the two installments that came before this). It has a nice finishing touch to all the movies I saw, and I liked the warm, touching conclusion. I did think, though, as I have with other Hobbit movies, that the movie was a bit violent for kids–lots of killing and death. The story: in this one, Bilbo Baggins, the dwarves, the elves, and the others fight off more than one army of evil enemies.
Watch the trailer . . .
24 Movies You Probably Missed This Year, But Should Totally See
Just because these 2014 movies flew under the radar — and each
grossed less than $10 million at the U.S. box office this year — that
doesn’t mean they aren’t so very worth your time.
posted on Dec. 26, 2014, at 12:24 p.m.
1. Actress
Cinema Guild
Playing Theresa D’Agostino in Seasons 3 and 4 of The Wire
was a major break for Brandy Burre, the biggest role of her career. But
she retired not long after to move to upstate New York to raise her two
children with her then-partner Tim Reinke. Filmmaker Robert Greene was
her neighbor in the small town of Beacon, and made this fascinating
portrait of Burre keeping house, trying to get back into acting, and
navigating the end of her relationship. It’s a documentary, but it’s
also a dreamily subjective peek into the mind-set of someone who’s
always performing, and always aware of the camera. Burre is constantly
trying to reshape the movie of her life — she’s been playing the role of
a Douglas Sirk housewife for a while, and now she’s trying to find
herself a new one. Greene’s film is small, but so worth seeking out — it
reshapes what you think docs can be like, and what they can do. —Alison
Willmore
Where you can see it: In theaters2. Blue Ruin
Anchor Bay Entertainment
The stealthily brilliant premise of Jeremy
Saulnier’s lo-fi thriller is that sad-eyed hero Dwight (Macon Blair)
approaches his quest for revenge like he’s the hero of a much slicker
movie than the one he’s actually in. When the man who murdered his
parents is released from prison, Dwight’s attempt to kill the guy ends
up being a sloppy, wince-inducing mess, and things only escalate from
there until he’s in a standoff with a whole family, battling over wrongs
that will never be righted. Dwight’s not stupid — like most humans,
he’s not a natural killing machine. Blue Ruin’s well-staged action pile-up ends up being as believable, surprising, and occasionally as funny as it is tragic. —A.W.
Where you can see it: On DVD and Blu-ray, digital rental, and Netflix streaming3. Calvary
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Brendan Gleeson stars in what is legitimately the role of a lifetime in Calvary,
writer-director John Michael McDonagh’s second film and also his second
to star Irish actor Gleeson. As Father James, a priest who received his
calling late in life after the death of his wife, Gleeson’s wisdom and
solidity is balanced out by wry, salty years of secular experience. His
indisputable goodness exists in a realm of abuse, despair, infidelity,
anger, and vice for which he can only give his counsel. Over the course
of a week, he deals with his daughter’s (Kelly Reilly) recent suicide
attempt, his parishioners’ individual miseries, and the man who’s vowed
to kill him as retaliation for childhood molestation at the hands of
another priest. Calvary sketches out a world in which pain is unavoidable, but forgiveness is divine. —A.W.
Where you can see it: On DVD and Blu-ray, and for digital rental and purchase4. Citizenfour
RADiUS-TWC
The thing about filmmaker Laura Poitras’
documentary-as-cyberthriller is that, even if you think you know subject
Edward Snowden’s story, Citizenfour
drops you into his surveillance-state existence, making you feel that
every bit of paranoia he displays is earned. As Poitras and journalist
Gleen Greenwald hole up with the whistleblower–traitor–mild-mannered
29-year-old former National Security Agency contractor, the world swirls
outside their Hong Kong hotel room in a way that makes the present look
terrifyingly like a dystopian future. —A.W.
Where you can see it: In theaters5. Dear White People
Roadside Attractions
The secret of Justin Simien’s acidly funny directorial debut
is that, despite the title, it’s not about white people at all — it’s
about the experiences of being black in a mostly white population, as
lived by four students at a high-end college. Some are militant, some
are model students, and some linger at the edges of different groups,
trying to figure out where they belong. Simien’s smartly observed movie
combines normal college identity angst with the hundreds of unintended
slights, misunderstandings, and generalizations you have to deal with as
a minority, deftly exploring how they can sting and alienate even when
there’s no malice meant. —A.W.
Where you can see it: In theaters6. Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me
Sundance Selects
Elaine Stritch, who died this year, was a goddamn national treasure, full stop. It would take much more than one feature documentary to capture the breadth of her talent and legacy,
so this one doesn’t try. Instead, it simply follows this Broadway
fixture and singular performer as she lives her life while rehearsing
and performing a one-woman cabaret show — at 89 years old. You see
Stritch at her best and worst, and it is abundantly clear she would not
have wanted it any other way. —Adam B. Vary
Where you can see it: DVD, digital rental and purchase, and Netflix streaming7. Enemy
Caitlin Cronenberg/A24
Adam (Jake Gyllenhaal),
a downbeat college instructor, rents a silly comedy on a lark, and for a
brief, fleeting moment, he notices that a bellhop in the background
looks exactly like him. He tracks down the actor, Anthony (also
Gyllenhaal), and learns he’s a cocky jerk with a pregnant wife. They
meet and things get even weirder. Spiders are involved somehow, and
possibly some kind of oppressive government conspiracy. Or not! Enemy is a challenging film, with very little spelled out, but Gyllenhaal is wildly compelling in both roles, and the movie has one of scariest endings of any film I’ve ever seen. You’ve been warned. —A.B.V.
Where you can see it: Blu-ray, DVD, and digital rental and purchase8. Force Majeure
Magnolia Pictures
A Swedish family on vacation in the Alps has
an alarming encounter with an avalanche. It’s the result of a controlled
explosion, but for a moment, it looks like it’s real and going to take
out the café where they’re having lunch. How patriarch Tomas (Johannes
Kuhnke) instinctively reacts to the danger — by running away and
abandoning his wife Ebba (Lisa Loven Kongsli) as she tries to protect
their two children — starts slowly fracturing his marriage once the snow
has cleared. Ruben Östlund’s droll movie is a dry send-up of modern
masculinity and gender expectations that plays out against the
pitilessly magnificent backdrop of a mountain ski resort. —A.W.
Where you can see it: On DVD and Blu-ray on Feb. 109. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Kino Lorber
In one of this year’s two impossibly hip
vampire movies (see No. 17), writer-director Ana Lily Amirpour doesn’t
just offer up an avenging feminist bloodsucker; she places her heroine
in a surreal Iranian city with other outcasts, criminals, and
streetwalkers. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
is a ferocious genre-buster that feels like an ’80s indie and something
indescribably new at the same time, with Sheila Vand playing the title
“Girl” as a slinky, scary, lonely creation, in her eyeliner and chador.
Her budding romance with the gentle Arash (Arash Marandi) manages to be
ominous and intensely sweet. And the immortal creature of the night
becoming a shy girl bonding over records with a boy in one of the year’s most luscious scenes. —A.W.
Where you can see it: In theaters10. The Guest
Ursula Coyote/Picturehouse
With The Guest, director Adam Wingard and writer Simon Barrett set out to make a movie with the feel of an ’80s thriller like The Terminator or Halloween. The result is so much fun, it’s a crime the movie didn’t perform as well as the pair’s previous slasher hit You’re Next. Dan Stevens leaves Downton Abbey
in the dust as David, a soldier home from war who looks up the Peterson
family and claims to have served with their son, who was killed in
action. His blond-haired, blue-eyed, all-American faultlessness hides
some secrets, and part of the movie’s many pleasures is in figuring out
how sinister his agenda actually is. —A.W.
Where you can see it: For digital purchase now and on DVD and Blu-ray on Jan. 611. The Immigrant
Weinstein Company
If there were any justice in awards season,
Marion Cotillard would win her second Academy Award in February for her
tremendous performance in The Immigrant (or for her equally good one in the even better, but less flashy, Two Days, One Night).
But James Gray’s movie got unceremoniously dumped in theaters in May
and is receiving no Oscar push, so I’ll stump for it here: As Ewa Cybulska,
a Polish woman arriving in New York in 1921, Cotillard embodies the
hope and the dark realities of the American dream, plucked from Ellis
Island and swept up into the untrustworthy embrace of shady entrepreneur
Bruno Weiss (Joaquin Phoenix), targeted for her beauty and her
vulnerability. Ewa learns quickly that there’s no counting on being
rescued when she’s caught up between Bruno and his dashing cousin Emil
(Jeremy Renner), but she develops her own leverage in refusing to let
Bruno rationalize away what he’s doing. It’s a role unusual in its
power. —A.W.
Where you can see it: For streaming on Netflix12. Jodorowsky’s Dune
Chris Foss/Sony Pictures Classics
In the mid-’70s, Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky — who had made art film sensations El Topo and The Holy Mountain — got it in his head that he was destined to adapt Frank Herbert’s seminal sci-fi novel Dune into not only an epic feature film, but the movie to end all movies. “For me, Dune
will be the coming of a god” is how he puts it in this hypnotic
documentary about his efforts, and, indeed, his ambition was as
limitless as his collaborators (including artists H.R. Giger and Jean
“Moebius” Giraud) were talented. Alas, the movie never came to be, but
at least we have this film to capture Jodorowsky’s infectious manic spirit. —A.B.V.
Where you can see it: Blu-ray, DVD, and digital purchase13. Locke
A24
Locke
is one big test case for how compelling Tom Hardy can be, and the
answer turns out to be very. The whole movie consists only of Hardy in a
car, driving down to London on a featureless stretch of the M1 motorway
at night while having conversations on the phone. And it’s utterly
absorbing, thanks to Hardy’s performance and to writer-director Steven
Knight’s script, which captures a man knowingly, regretfully imploding
his stable, happy existence. Construction foreman and family man Ivan
Locke (Hardy) has been principled and restrained all his life, but one
uncharacteristic moment is having immense consequences for him. The film
is cunning in how it allows these moments to unfold, while fleshing out
a character study of a man determined to do right, no matter the
personal cost. —A.W.
Where you can see it: On DVD and Blu-ray, via digital rental and purchase, and streaming on Amazon Prime14. Love Is Strange
Sony Pictures Classics
One of the more satisfying developments of our
post-Prop 8 culture is how many different stories about same-sex
couples are being told, like this one
about an artist named Ben (John Lithgow) and a music instructor named
George (Alfred Molina) who have been together for 39 years, with most of
that time spent in their own lovely New York apartment. But when they
are finally legally married, George loses his job at the Catholic school
where he teaches, and they are forced, suddenly, to live apart: Ben
with his grown nephew (Darren Burrows), his nephew’s wife (Marisa
Tomei), and their teenage son (Charlie Tahan), and George with two young
gay cop friends (Cheyenne Jackson and Manny Perez) who live in Ben and
George’s old building. Co-writer–director Ira Sachs
understands the subtle strains this time apart places not just on Ben
and George, but also on the people around them, with a specificity born
of decades spent in the cramped living spaces of New York. You feel like
you know these people to their marrow — and that is the most you could
wish from any film, really. —A.B.V.
Where you can see it: Blu-ray and DVD starting Jan. 1315. Obvious Child
A24
Abortion seems like the last possible subject
for a successful romantic comedy, and yet, that is precisely what
co-writer–director Gillian Robespierre has pulled off with Obvious Child. Donna (Jenny Slate)
is a twentysomething confessional stand-up comedian with a perpetually
arrested life that is made much more complicated after a drunken
one-night stand with a handsome, kind-of-square dude from Vermont (Jake
Lacy) results in an unwanted pregnancy. Robespierre and Slate make for a
terrific partnership, as they walk the precarious tightrope of playing
Donna’s situation for comedy and drama without ever tipping into
crassness or after-school–special schmaltz. This was another Sundance
hit that made a miniscule impact at the box office ($3.1 million!
Argh!), but this was easily one of the most thoughtful and gratifying
comedies of the year. —A.B.V.
Where you can see it: Blu-ray, DVD, and digital rental and purchase16. The One I Love
Radius/TWC
A married couple in crisis (Elisabeth Moss and
Mark Duplass) is sent by their therapist (Ted Danson) to an idyllic
mansion to work out their issues. What they discover there is odd and
fascinating, capturing perfectly how we can project and idealize our
significant others in small and large ways. To say any more would be to
ruin this movie’s twisting fun, so I won’t. Suffice it to say, Moss proves again what a nimble and effortless actor she is, and Duplass continues his exploration of the charming hypocrisies of the modern heterosexual man. —A.B.V.
Where you can see it: Blu-ray, DVD, digital rental and purchase, and Netflix streaming17. Only Lovers Left Alive
Sandro Kopp/SODA Pictures
You might think there is no possible way to tell a vampire story that feels in any way new or original. And then you see Tilda Swinton
as a 3,000-year-old vampire named Eve with a massive regal mane of
animal-like hair, swanning through Tangiers with an inscrutable grin,
thinking about her beloved husband Adam (played by Tom Hiddleston with equal languorous glamor), a mere 500-year-old living like a goth rock recluse in Detroit. And then you realize, Oh, right, never seen anything like this before. Writer-director Jim Jarmusch (Broken Flowers, Down by Law, Stranger Than Paradise) has rarely found subjects that fit his deliberate sense of pacing and wry fits of humor as perfectly as Only Lovers Left Behind’s Eve and Adam. Drink them in and marvel. —A.B.V.
Where you can see it: Blu-ray, DVD, and digital purchase18. Pride
Nicola Dove / CBS Films
In the mid-’80s, the U.K. was rocked by a
confrontation between striking coal miners and Prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher that still reverberates in that country today. But one aspect
of that period that has been unknown to even those who followed the
strike closely is the group of gay and lesbian activists who saw their
own oppression in the plight of the miners, and chose to come to their
aid. That story has been transformed into a spectacularly rousing film about how the political really is personal, with a fabulous ensemble cast including Imelda Staunton, Bill Nighy,
Ben Schnetzer, Dominic West, Paddy Considine, and Andrew Scott. And it
barely made a blip in theaters. Rectify that situations in your homes!
—A.B.V.
Where you can see it: Blu-ray and DVD starting Dec. 2319. The Skeleton Twins
Roadside Attractions
A hit at Sundance, The Skeleton Twins stars Saturday Night Live alumni Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig
as estranged twin siblings Milo and Maggie, who reunite after news of
Milo’s failed suicide attempt interrupts Maggie’s impending suicide
attempt. I know, a laff riot, right? And yet, this film is indeed funny —
and moving and dark and sublime — with a performance by Hader
that makes clear he’s just as rigorously talented as his co-star. The
tricky storyline apparently kept audiences at bay — it’s only grossed
$5.3 million at the box office since opening in September — but between Mark Heyman and Craig Johnson’s humane script, Johnson’s easeful direction, and a killer lip sync to Starship’s “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now,” this was one of the most satisfying crowdpleasers of the year. Treat yourself to it. —A.B.V.
Where you can see it: Blu-ray, DVD, and digital rental and purchase20. Snowpiercer
Radius/TWC
The very premise of co-writer–director Bong Joon-ho’s post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller
sounds like an Occupy activist’s fevered nightmare come to life: After
an attempt to stop global warming plunged the planet into a perpetual
frigid winter, what is left of humanity lives on a massive train that
takes 365 days to circumnavigate the globe. The wealthy live in comfort
in the front cars. The huddled masses live in squalor in the rear.
As a parable for our 1 percent age, that may be a bit on the nose.
But as a movie, it is always a wildly inventive and engrossing
experience, as a steerage revolt led by Chris Evans’
reluctant Curtis fights all the way to the mysterious conductor (Ed
Harris) living in the engine at the front of the train. Things just get
increasingly gonzo as they move forward, with Tilda Swinton delivering
an outrageously entertaining performance as the conductor’s passionate
(and unhinged) deputy. It’s unlike anything you will have seen, with an
ending so dark and twisted you’ll likely be thinking about it long after
the film is over. I know I have. —A.B.V.Where you can see it: Blu-ray, DVD, digital rental and purchase, and Netflix streaming
21. Starred Up
Tribeca Film
You can currently see Jack O’Connell in Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken,
where he plays a real person and suffers terribly at war and loses
weight, all tried and true signals of actorly seriousness. But O’Connell
is a million times more interesting and vital in this scrappy British
prison drama from director David Mackenzie, in which he plays a
19-year-old whose violent behavior earns him an early transfer to adult
prison, where, for the first time, he ends up in the company of his
father (Ben Mendelsohn). Eric Love (O’Connell) hasn’t quite polished
himself into the type of hard man who’ll forever be in and out of
lockup, but he’s getting there, and Starred Up
presents a gripping dilemma: The behavior that makes someone a good
prisoner in the behind-bars world of macho posturing can also doom him
from ever having a normal life. —A.W.
Where you can see it: For digital purchase and rental now, and will be on DVD on Feb. 322. We Are the Best!
Magnolia Pictures
Sorry, The Fault in Our Stars
— the best bittersweet on-screen portrait of adolescence was this
kick-ass punk rock saga from director Lukas Moodysson. It’s no surprise
that a charmingly humble Swedish movie about Stockholm middle-schoolers
went so grossly under-seen, but We Are the Best! shouldn’t be
allowed to slip by — it’s funny, tender, and painfully recognizable in
its portrayal of youthful joys, awkwardness, and angst. Friends Bobo
(Mira Barkhammar), Klara (Mira Grosin), and Hedvig (Liv LeMoyne) attempt
to start a punk band despite that fact that, in 1982, the movement’s
heyday has already passed them by, and two out of the three of them
can’t play instruments. But punk rock spirit won’t be so easily held
back, though cute boys and disapproving parents provide bigger dramas
that have to be overcome. —A.W.
Where you can see it: On DVD and Blu-ray, via digital rental, and streaming on Netflix23. What If
CBS Films
The fine art of romantic comedies is
underappreciated, and, judging from Hollywood’s output over the last
decade, criminally undernourished. Which makes this tale of Wallace
(Daniel Radcliffe), a romantically challenged ex-med student, and
Chantry (Zoe Kazan), a hopelessly romantic animator, that much more
charming and delightful. Wallace and Chantry meet at a party and hit it
off so well, it is obvious they are meant for each other. The obstacle
in their way — Chantry’s strapping, totally fine boyfriend Ben (Rafe
Spall) — is far less high concept than so many recent rom-coms. What
sets the film apart is the crackling dialogue from Elan Mastai’s
screenplay (based on the play Toothpaste and Cigars), as Wallace,
Chantry, and their friends Allan (Adam Driver) and Nicole (Mackenzie
Davis) bounce off one another about love and commitment. This film is so
fun, and Radcliffe and Kazan carry it with such winning charm and
chemistry. Yet, it inexplicably made a pittance at the domestic box
office — just $3.5 million! What are you waiting for? Life is short!
Watch this film! —A.B.V.
Where you can see it: Blu-ray, DVD, and digital rental and purchase24. Whiplash
Daniel McFadden/Sony Pictures Classics
With J.K. Simmons’ performance as Fletcher, a
rabid, abusive jazz band instructor, earning him front-runner status for
Best Supporting Actor in this year’s awards season, chances are high
that interest in this movie will continue to spike in the run up to the
Oscars. That’s as it should be; writer-director Damien Chazelle has
crafted a stunning, singular film about just what lengths we will push ourselves to reach perfection, and what we sacrifice when we do. In another year, Miles Teller (The Spectacular Now)
— as the aspiring drummer who falls under Fletcher’s thrall, and lash —
would also be earning awards buzz for his immersive performance. He’ll
have to be content with delivering his strongest performance to date.
—A.B.V.
Where you can see it: In theaters
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