December 12, 2014

Top 10 Films of 2014

1. "Timbuktu" (Abderrahmane Sissako, Mauretania)

2. "Inherent Vice" (Paul Thomas Anderson, USA)

3. "Ida" (Pawel Pawlikowski, Poland)

4. "Wild" (Jean-Marc Vallee, USA)

5. "Leviathan" (Andrey Zvyagintsev, Russia)

6. "Birdman" (Alejandro González Iñárritu, USA)

7. "The Grand Budapest Hotel" (Wes Anderson, USA)

8. "Boyhood" (Richard Linklater, USA)

9. "Finding Vivian Maier" (John Maloof, Charlie Siskel, USA)

10. "American Sniper" (Clint Eastwood, USA)


Other great films:

1987 (Canada)
Bloedlink (Holland)
Diet Of Sex (Spain)
D'où je viens (Canada)
Force Majeure (Sweden)
Free Fall (Hungary)
Gun Woman (Japan)
Jack (Germany)
Pas son genre (France)
Pride (UK) 
Respire (France)
Saint Laurent (France)
Scarlet Innocence (South Korea)
Tangerines (Estonia)
The Tribe (Ukraine)
Wild Tales (Argentina)
Winter Sleep (Turkey)

Short Top 3:

1. "Mynarski chute mortelle" (Matthew Rankin, Canada)

2. "Wayward" (Kira Richards Hansen, Denmark)

3. ''Naked'' (Laurent Pratlong, France)


Other great shorts:

Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
Les Enfants sauvages (Canada)
Esclava (Mexico)
Khan Khanne (Switzerland)
Lactee (Canada)
Nasza klatwa (Poland)
Petit frère (Canada)
Seagull Eggs (Iran)

Top 3 Music Videos:

1. "Shake It Off" (Mark Romanek, Taylor Swift)

2. "Eleanor Lye" (Allie Avital Tsypin, Young Ejecta)

3. "Anaconda" (Colin Tilley, Nicki Minaj)


Other great music videos:


7. "Ray Donovan: Season 2" (Showtime)





Other great TV shows:

The Cosmopolitans
Downton Abbey: Season 5 (UK)
 
Cartoon Top 3:

1. "Me And My Moulton" (Torill Kove, Norway)

2. "Soif" (Michèle Cournoyer, Canada)

3. "Day 40" (Sol Friedman, Canada)


Other great cartoons:

The Chaperones (Canada)
Dji Death Sails (Moldova)
Jutra (Canada)
A Single Life (Holland)

Top Stand-Up Comedy Show:



Weak films of 2014:

2 temps 3 mouvements (Canada)
3 Histoires d'Indiens (Canada)
Afflicted (Canada)
Aimer boire et chanter (France)
Altman (Canada)
Arwad (Canada)
Bande de filles (France)
Bang Bang Baby (Canada)
Eastern Boys (France)
Unbroken
Uvanga (Canada)
Virunga
X-Men: Days Of Future Past
Yves Saint Laurent (France)

Weak shorts:

Aya (Israel)
Boogaloo And Graham (UK)
Butter Lamp (China)
La Coupe (Canada)
Hole (Canada)
Island Of Lemurs: Madagascar
Joanna (Poland)
La Parka The Reaper (Mexico)
Parvaneh (Switzerland)
The Phone Call (UK)
Sleeping Giant (Canada)
Suivre la piste du renard (Canada)

Weak TV shows:

Top Musical of 2014

"Begin Again" (John Carney, Weinstein)

October 10, 2014

Boyhood (2014) ****

Brilliant film that follows a young boy (and his family) as he grows up from 7 to 18 years of age.

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) ****

Birdman (2014) ****

Leviathan (2014) ****

Wild (2014) ****

Inherent Vice (2014) ****

Ida (2014) ****


Timbuktu (2014) ****

Powerful African film about Islamist extremists terrorizing a town.

The Tribe (2014) ****

Last Days In Vietnam (2014) ****

Superb documentary about the evacuation of the US embassy during the fall of Saigon in 1975.

American Sniper (2014) ****

Superb drama about Iraq War and its consequences. At first it seems like a war drama along the lines of "The Hurt Locker" and "Zero Dark Thirty", but it takes an unexpected turn near the end and becomes almost a remake of "The Gunfighter" (1950).

Finding Vivian Maier (2014) ****

Fascinating documentary about a nanny photographer whose work has been discovered after her death.

September 9, 2014

The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies (2014) ***

The weakest of the six Tolkien adaptations. Uneven, with a superb opening scene and many exciting moments afterwards, but many dull stretches as well.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part I (2014) ***

Dark and depressing, but quite good.

Nightcrawler (2014) ***


Big Hero 6 (2014) ***


Nymphomaniac (2014) ***

Super Duper Alice Cooper (2014) ***

Excellent documentary about the famous musician.

Glen Campbell I'll Be Me (2014) ***


Very touching documentary about the country music legend Glen Campbell and his fight against Alzheimer. A superb Oscar-nominated song, "I'M Not Gonna Miss You".