People, they love blood. They love action. Not this talky, depressing, philosophical ILX 2014 Film Poll Thread - Voting closes Friday, Feb. 21st at Midnight EST.

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/nC95NXEQruQ/maxresdefault.jpg

After last year's mild controversy there are no rules as to what is eligible, just keep in mind if it's a 40 year old movie you've just seen for the first time, it probably won't get much traction, and if it's a festival film to be released in 2015, then it's unlikely anyone but a select few would see it until later this year. But whatever you feel, have at it.

Each ballot can be up to 25 votes, all weighted, with normal rules applying. Please don't submit a ballot with less than 5 films.

Please send ballots to ilx2014filmpoll @ g ma il. com

No nominations so no official list for copying and pasting, so please use English names of foreign titles.

Voting closes at midnight on Friday, Feb 21st at Midnight EST. Rollout will hopefully begin the day after the Oscars. Sorry for the slightly shorter period, but the week after isn't great for me plus the Oscars are earlier than I thought they'd be - and I don't feel there is any reason to stretch the 2014 Film Year more than a few days beyond that bloody ceremony. So rep for your favs and rep hard.

Just want to remind everyone, there is nearly no dialogue in Stray Dogs, so it's definitely not 'talky'! The people want cabbage-eating! You know you do.

Just up on Netflix too.

there is literally zero dialogue in Shaun The Sheep :D

Will bear that in mind for next year's poll

:x

xx-post: Yeah, but does he eat cabbage?

good work guk

We'll show the Oscars crowd where its at.

When we award Boyhood #1 and Birdman #4.

Lav Diaz a dark horse

Nah. Too much votesplitting between Norte, From What is Before and Storm Children.

haha I doubt that

I intend to vote for only two of them.

i'm sure The Interview, Frank and other facepalmers will "place"

ILE's huge, inchoate Lav Diaz cult.

i voted for the 8 movies i saw this year. pretty sure not a single one grossed under a hundred mil.

^trolly troll troll, so i'm boycotting

Can I just post my list here?

When we award Boyhood #1 and Birdman #4.

― Eric H., Monday, February 9, 2015 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Lav Diaz a dark horse

― touch of a love-starved cobra (Dr Morbius), Monday, February 9, 2015 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

That's the spirit.

voted

that's awfully quick, forks, and you better havce seen Fifi.

i only saw like 6 films this year so i voted for them

― Mordy , Friday, February 28, 2014 2:05 PM (11 months

Hmmm, same "I'm a dick" post 2 years running.

the post is just accurate, and my voting strategy consistent

as carefully selected as your political ideas

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

voted

i voted for "frank" but its down low so dont worry morbz

fifi is on my too-see list yet; if it demolishes me, I will update.

Starter cheat sheets

http://www.filmcomment.com/entry/20-best-films-of-2014

http://www.indiewire.com/survey/indiewire-2014-year-end-critics-poll/best-film/

Thought the point was that we were trying to make a list that was distinctive.

there is no point

Friendly reminder: vote for TOUCH OF SIN, cuz if you don't live in LA or NY, you probably didn't see it in 2013. and if you haven't seen it yet, it's on Netflix instant.

By that rationale, don't vote for The Immigrant til next year?

Move to better cities.

My #1 among debut US releases would easily be A Summer Tale, but I wouldn't vote for something I saw in 1998.

xp no, vote for the fuck you want. like i'm gonna vote for hard to be a god this year, too. and next year maybe. and raiders is still a good movie, righ?

it's a madhouse

A MADHOUSE!!!!

Touch of Sin was on the list last year, right? I saw it in 2014 as well - and it was def one of the best newish films I saw that year - but I don't think I'll vote for something that has already placed once?

Will people vote for Hard to be a God this year or the next? I'm up for both, it's all 2013 for me anyway.

It showed nowhere in the USA til 2015.

(and so far, just New York i think)

Yeah, Touch of Sin placed last year or else I'd vote. Hard to Be a God found its way ~out there~ pretty early on in the year but it didn't get a theatrical US release until two weeks ago so I didn't count it.

move to better countries

yeah, i'm sure i'll stick pretty much to 2014 US releases, but it pisses me off that we all aren't on the same year yet. this seems like an oversight on technology's part. like, a field in england didn't play the US or get a region 1 DVD until 2014, but came in pretty high on the 2013 countdown. it's easily one of the best films i saw last year, but should we now count it out just because a verdict's already been rendered?

life ain't far when you kneel before a calendar

a 1934 poll would solve these issues

Touch of Sin placed last year? That was going to go in my top 5.

Yeah, first saw Touch of Sin in 2014 = eligible for my ballot

I'll vote for it - has to be in there.

If you can get enough support for it it'll turn up again. "year of impact", I think they call it.

Not to say anything, but people outside of US vote for US films with releases next year all the time, it was kinda the reason for waiting until February to make the list - to let all the oscar-pap permeate all over. Hard to be a God is a hardcore stereotypical European festival-film, why not acknowledging it's 'real' window as being the festival tour it took in 2014, even though it came out elsewhere in 2015? Like, I'll put Imitation Game on my 2014 list, even though it only came out in Denmark in 2015, because it's the epitome of oscar-pap from the 2014 season (just kidding, I'll neither see nor vote for Imitation Game in time for this list. Might be a masterpiece, don't have the time. Oh, the abyss of unknowability.)

Anyway this is just for consideration. I accept all behaviour from everyone, except voting for Boyhood.

submitted my vote. quite a few things ive not seen but n/m.

Frederik, US ROOLZ, FESTIVALS DROOL

also about 4 people on this board have seen Hard to Be a God

(and I don't think it would make my top 20 for '14 anyway)

gutted i missed that at the LFF last year. hope it gets a uk release at some point.

You've all seen the Josephine Decker ones, right? I can vote for them?

they've played here for a week, i avoided them

They're good! Especially Thou Wast Mild and Lovely.

I forgot to vote for L is for Leisure. Hope others don't make this heinous mistake.

I'm not going to vote for anything that doesn't have gay sex in it.

Open to suggestions.

Swedish film Something Must Break. It won Saga Becker the Guldbagge for best actress, as the first trans woman in the history of Sweden. There's some pretty explicit gay sex in that.

Eric H - Moebius has no gay sex but has a high cock count.

voted

just lmk when Mordy's open troll is invalidated

my ballot is 100% sincere and represents the finest films i've seen in 2014

eat shit

gosh so hostile

Did anyone see N: the madness of reason? I loved it and it will be high on my ballot; markeresque cine-essay about a French guys attempt to write an encyclopaedia of west Africa

I accept all behaviour from everyone, except voting for Boyhood.

― Frederik B, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 11:52 (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This has made my day. Spent half of 2014 reappraising people based on responses to this film.

Very excited about absorbing some last minute inspiration here. N and Something Must Break added to a (growing) list of nine films I should feasibly be able to make it through before ballot closes.

Did anyone see All This Mayhem? About unlikely Aussie skating stars the Papas brothers and their tumultuous (to put it lightly) passage through early pro skateboarding. It's not an area I know or am at all passionate about, but ended up seeing it at the cinema twice, such was the giddy thrall of its hideousness. I seriously rep it for anyone who enjoys deep character study and the word 'bogun'.

I feel like i post this list everywhere, but here's a bunch of things I loved / things that got inordinate critical acclaim that I still need to see that are readily available streaming on netflix... am i wrong to assume that all us ilxors have this either on their own dime or pirated on someone else's account?

Child's Pose: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70270821
Manakamana: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/80010744
Like Father Like Son: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70275749
The One I Love: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70299863
Watermark: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70293817
Stranger by the Lake: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70285670
Blue Ruin: http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/70278931
Bird People - http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Bird_People/80008461
Gideon's Army: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70267832
Finding Fela: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70299905
Particle Fever: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70296323
We are the Best! : http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70293818
The Unknown Known: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70292939
Exhibition: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70296526
Gloria: http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Gloria/70270790
Ida: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70293721
Memphis: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70301276
Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70274594
Frank: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70299856
The Missing Picture: http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/70285668?
Miele: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70285698
Venus in Fur: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70275370
Violette: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70293814
The Last of the Unjust: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70285696
The Double: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70293645
Virunga: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/80009431
Test: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70288488
The Immigrant: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70275521
The Retrieval: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70272892
Oculus: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70293316
13 Sins : http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70291114
Big Bad Wolves: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70274589
The Taking of Deborah Logan: http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70301341
Stray Dogs - http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70293821
Joe - http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70293723
Last Hijack - http://www.netflix.com/Movie/80014767
Fifi Howls from Happiness - http://www.netflix.com/Movie/80011705
Abuse of Weakness - http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70292975
Dormant Beauty - http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70257739
Norte End of History - http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70285700
What Now? Remind Me - https://www.netflix.com/Movie/70299632

oh and:
It Felt Like Love - http://www.netflix.com/Movie/70268905

lol is Oculus the WWE horror movie?

First I've seen of this list! That's this week written off... Yay!

i don't do Netflix. The library is free.

you could get a free month on Netflix but I'm sure you don't care

Yeah there's loads to watch before voting, including that Aussie skater doc. And Leviathan! Where's flopson to tell us not to watch films immediately before voting, though?

that's the right oculus. it got strong reviews in the horror community! Haven't seen it yet myself.

and i'm otherwise happy to field questions on that list if anyone has them.

i do still need to see Leviathan. And Only Lovers Left Alive. And The Dance of Reality and Night Moves. And The Boxtrolls,
Starred Up, Birdman, Foxcatcher, Big Hero 6, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, The Lunchbox, Nightcrawler, The Strange Little Cat, Mr. Turner, Whiplash, Inherent Vice, Obvious Child, Top Five, Get On Up and Maps to the Stars. And Enemy, Song of the Sea, John Wick, Locke, Force Majeure, A Field in England, The Blue Room, Wild, The Overnighter, Actress, American Sniper, The Tribe, Happy Valley, The Salt of the Earth, The Naked Room, Selma, A Most Violent Year, Maidan, Lucy, Gone Girl, Noah, Interstellar, X-Men Days of Future Past and Nymphomaniac (or as much of it as I can manage).

Can't see everything!

Maps to the Stars isn't out in the US til the end of this month, forks.

I still think my fave line of dialogue this year was Uma Thurman's in Nymphomaniac.

If only we were doing full Oscar categories, I'd be giving Uma all my points.

btw this is how we in NYC keep track of what opened here

http://www.panix.com/~dangelo/nymaster14.html

thanks for the list, forks

no prob.
that page you posted is nutso morbs

"Can't see everything!"

words to live by

My best of list:

Strangers by the Lake
The Immigrant
Norte, The End of History
Abuse of Weakness
Child's Pose
Mr. Turner
Only Lovers Left Alive
Love is Strange
The Wind Rises/The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
The Babadook
National Gallery
Borgman
Young & Beautiful
Test
Happy Christmas
Pride
Vic + Flo Saw a Bear
Boyhood
Inherent Vice
Manakamana
Noah

my antipathy to ozon means i can't pretend to want to try young and beautiful
but our general alignment of tastes means i'm adding Borgman and Vic and Flo to my list
now justify happy christmas

borgman is excellent, you will like

also, forks, of that list of stuff you still need to see, enemy comes highly recommended. stylish, surreal & very creepy. gone girl sucks tho. and i'm dying to see song of the sea, but don't think i'll be able to until march :(

Alfred we share a few in common

There are a couple things I haven't seen from 2014 but there's no way I'd have time to see them in time to make it count on a ballot.

do we have a 2015 thread for movies? because i wanna see if anyone has seen "Wild Tales," which looks like fun. Out of Argentina.

Raymond, we've got many things in common!

Thinking of voting for Wake in Fright, a 2014 re-ish.

2012 re-release in the US

probably going with Vertigo as #1

Lol

we have a board for movies that no one uses.

Yes, that board is definitely for "movies that no one uses."

Useless movies 2015

it's not a M Mann board

Missed Resnais' Life of Riley when it ran here, not AVAILABLE until March 10.

It's finally playing DC for one night next week but I'm working.

Saw Leviathan yesterday and...no.

why no? save me some trouble.

so heavy handed and "let me explain all of these metaphors to you multiple times". reasonably entertaining though. I liked Elena so I was a let down. I might be in the minority on this.

plenty of the cinephile polls have Leviathan nowhere in their top 20/50. (as should've been the case with the last Leviathan)

do we have a 2015 thread for movies? because i wanna see if anyone has seen "Wild Tales," which looks like fun. Out of Argentina.

― RAP GAME SHANI DAVIS (Raymond Cummings), 11. februar 2015 04:21 (12 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah. It's fun

It's only really the last half hour of Leviathan that overdoes the symbolic metaphor type stuff, and there's lots of surprisingly riotous comedy before that. Worth seeing, imho.

probably going with Vertigo as #1

― touch of a love-starved cobra (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, February 11, 2015 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

damn a proper film critic in the thread

so heavy handed and "let me explain all of these metaphors to you multiple times". reasonably entertaining though. I liked Elena so I was a let down. I might be in the minority on this.

― Insane Prince of False Binaries (Gukbe

hi!

not seen elena but I just bumped the zvyagintsev thread to largely concur with gukbe

like we get it, he's Job, and then here comes the local priest "have you heard the story of Job?!" and it's just too much.

ctrl f raid 2
ctrl w

Life of Riley will be in the 2015 list.

no, it got a '14 theatrical US release, its WINDOW is in that year

Its being shown in the UK in a month or so.

Maidan looks great - I suppose you all caught it in 2014?

https://www.ica.org.uk/whats-on/maidan

I did; it's pretty good but not sure it'd crack my top 5 doc/essays

voted

10 votes in so far. Final week.

does that count Mordy's "here are the six I saw" or not?

excuse me, i believe i voted for 8 thank u very much

re: raid 2, i saw it in theaters and had high hopes after the great experience of the first raid. it didn't quite live up.
watched "test" last night and it was great! we tried john wick and my girl freaked out when reek from game of thrones killed a puppy and that sorta put that on ice after fifteen minutes of grumpy keanu

Test is pretty OK for a gay movie, not anything for EOY lists imho.

Borgman is way too fucking vague about its central (non-)metaphor.

i've done some peripheral work with sidra bell, the choreographer on test; i thought the dancing was a+. as a portrait of west coast gay life at the dawn of the post-AIDS era it felt honest but wtf do i know

like i was a ten year old straight kid in the bible belt during the time so maybe it was more like mad max

I seriously rep it for anyone who enjoys deep character study and the word 'bogun'.

"bogan"

I liked Test quite a bit--more so as it went on, which is usually the opposite of how it works with me. The lead was immensely empathetic, the soundtrack was great (queued up Laurie Anderson's "Born, Never Asked" the moment in ended), and it had a strong sense of time and place. I was beginning to worry that Stranger by the Lake had temporary ruined me for new queer-themed movies, so my reaction to this (while nowhere near as good as that film) was something of a relief.

and Visage's "The Anvil" (Steve Strange RIP).

Test outside my top ten.

Watched Goodbye to Language last night phew...Should be putting something together by mid-week.

Bump Bump Bump

Still trying to squeeze a couple more in. I'll vote soon!

Ends tomorrow night, which I just realised is the 20th so I can extend it through to Saturday night if people like.

Oh! The "Feb. 21st" up there threw me off; naturally, I failed to notice the "Friday" beside it. Had my next three days of viewing planned (Vic + Flo Saw a Bear, The Dog, 4 Moons) in the hopes of fleshing out what will still be a paltry ballot.

Take your time. I looked at the dates wrong. I won't even look at it until Sunday morning anyway.

how about March 22

Ballot sent!

Sent!

Will vote this evening.

Voted.

25x films roughly as: Fave films released this year (10) ---> Fave old films caught at one screening this year that have made me a better human (9) ---> best torrents I have watched that have added to my film knowledge and also rocked a bunch (6).

i was thinking about mostly going with fail comps

waiting for ballot minimum to be raised to 10

I didn't vote to include Boyhood do u see.

Just saw the overnighters; would TOTALLY revise to add that to a top twelve

forks you can redo your ballot. just note it so i don't absentmindedly count you twice.

Morbs: I thought starting the thread with a pic of Jake G would be enough for you but I've given up trying to please you.

at his most unattractive? from his second-best film of the year?

minimum 'serious' standard for yet another ilxpoll has to exclude a here's-all-the-movies-i-saw turdballot.

Guk: will look into that when i'm not away from home

Morbius, I really want you to vote! Though, if you're not voting for Himizu, never mind I guess.

Voted! #TeamTsai.

Didn't vote for a single Sion, can't figure out release dates.

Stray Dogs is my number one.

Not in the UK yet :-)

x-post: Mine as well. It will probably never get a theatrical release in the UK, from what I can tell. Certain British writers have been fuming about it for a looong time. Should get out on a dvd, packed with Journey to the West, which is also on my list.

It has screened in the UK as part of the Edinburgh Film Festival, which is where I saw it.

Prob screened at the London film fest too(?), and it had one screening in Dec at a vue cinema in Stratford, which I couldn't attend.

It should get a one week run at the cinema sometime during the year..

Didn't vote for a single Sion, can't figure out release dates.

― Frederik B, Friday, February 20, 2015 2:32 PM (26 minutes ago)

Why Don't You Play in Hell, Guilty of Romance and Himizu ALL got late 2014 theatrical runs in the US (NYC only, but still). So all three are fair game, imo. Will likely vote for the latter two myself. Land of Hope, so far as I know, hasn't ever had a US release. And I expect that Tokyo Tribe will get some kind of showing this year.

Haven't ordered my list, but Stray Dogs will certainly be in the top 5.

Sono's Love Exposure looks like a must watch - anyone seen it?

it's great fun, overwhelmingly ambitious & features a magnificent onscreen love triangle, but i'm not sure you trust my opinion

I trust the tale not the teller.

or the post not the poster

ok cool, well if you fancy a multigenre 4-hour blowout in which the alienation inherent to japanese youth culture is deconstructed to within an inch of its life, go for it

Love Exposure is fantastic.

Love Exposure is fantastic.

i lasted about an hour with Love Exposure; it just was sapping me

No chance of a 12-hour deadline extension, I suppose (not just for me, fwiw)

I'm submitting a 5-film ballot, btw - have seen many more than that, but don't want to give the others points, really

Voted.

my ballot is in.

ballot extension through to tomorrow (Saturday) night because i goofed on the dates.

Bumping as a reminder that voting is still open until tonight and, let's be honest, tomorrow morning at 9am EST when I'll likely get up and have a look at this.

Since we are in the final voting hours, please allow me to rep for this brilliantly terrifying short film

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtkGtXtDlQA

Don't Hug Me I'm Scared 3 is even better, but I'm not voting for a 6-minute internet video (well, not this year)

come on you all lets show Morbs what he is missing show the Oscars where its at.

xpost

DHMIS3 is good too, yes, but it still struck me as a bit too smirky and self-counsciously "ironic," almost verging into Too Many Cooks territory. The difference is hard to explain, I guess, but with 2, I feel it is a little harder to identify what is just so wrong about it. Then again, it may be that as 2 was the first one I watched, it was simply the one that utilized this whole thing's power to blindside me with its creepiness the most effectively.

Ballot sent.

(Speaking of "Too Many Cooks.")

Final bump. 24 ballots in so far. You have until the morning (9am EST, Sunday)

and remember guys, as with all elections, the more people who vote, the worse the results will be.

I fucking voted, goddamn fuck me

There is hope for the world yet..

Voting is now closed. Will roll out all results tomorrow as I have work on Tuesday plus I think Morbs would prefer it fast, like ripping off a band aid.

Voted for 7 in the end, you'll be happy to hear Morbs, and only one of them is a facepalmer, maybe

got my ballot in at 1:00 in the morning, ordering makes no sense, but at least it's done.

Unveiling starts today, no?

Yes. In fact, it will begin shortly and continue throughout the day with breaks here and there based on when I can get to the computer.

40. Maps to the Stars (67 pts, 4 votes)
http://s2.postimg.org/3lhrr9z7t/40_Maps.jpg

Excited for this to come out in the US.

not good

39. Life Itself (68 pts. 3 votes)

http://s18.postimg.org/5h5z5tqhl/39_Life_Itself.jpg

38. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (69 pts. 3 votes)

http://s3.postimg.org/lb0q97qrn/38_Captain_America.jpg

oh good Morbs bait!

I love the Cronenbergs people hate! (I voted for that one.)

well, you are unAmerican bcz it hasn't opened here

since when is Manhattan not a foreign country?

is there a date when map to the stars actually comes out in usa

it did not open here or there
it did not open anywhere

(except Europe)

Friday

(select metropolii)

37. Leviathan (70 pts, 4 votes)
http://s2.postimg.org/b1hyftksp/37_Leviathan.jpg

maybe my fav part in life itself is ramin bahrani telling of roger gifting the Marilyn/hitch puzzle to him, so rad

Leviathan, as said elsewhere, is Big and Worthy but nothing special

It was on my computer, I'm voting for it.

But I'll be happy to vote for it next year too, fwiw.

and yet that didn't work for me last year with the abominable Her

I will be grumpy until Stray Dogs shows up, and then I will undoubtedly be grumpy due to it's low placement. I love lists!

The only one of these I've seen is Cap2: Winter Cap. Did not consider voting for it, but that other Marvel film was on my longlist.

36. Ida (75 pts. 3 votes)

http://s17.postimg.org/o3kemrqm7/36_Ida.jpg

Ok scheduled appointment has been moved up so I'll be back in a bit.

maps to the stars a weird mix of brilliant (jm, mostly) and achingly inept (jerky child star, for ex). better than cosmopolis, though that's the saddest praise of all.

winter soldier was fun, haven't seen the other three.

Ida was pretty good but actually didn't make it onto my 25. Would've done if I remembered.

and yet that didn't work for me last year with the abominable Her

Your hate just shows you still care.

Save us, Gukbe!

maps to the stars a weird mix of brilliant (jm, mostly) and achingly inept (jerky child star, for ex).

speaking of inept, wtf was with the cgi fire? i assume it was intentional or maybe not. its an odd movie, its got something to it for sure and i dont think people would be so harsh on it only that its from cronenberg imo

i didnt vote for it tho

35. Lucy (76 pts, 4 votes)
http://s24.postimg.org/i7dp26ad1/35_Lucy.jpg

CGI fire is showing up in more and more these days.

xp oh yes!

There are three ties in total. Here is the first.

(Tie) 33. The Strange Little Cat (77 pts. 3 votes.)

http://s14.postimg.org/3sqz6otwh/33_Strange_Little_Cat.jpg

(Tie) 33. Gone Girl (77 pts. 4 votes)

http://s3.postimg.org/oz4j6s5dv/33_Gone_Girl.jpg

the strange little tie

Yay Strange Little Cat! First film I voted for, though it was on last years ballot.

Hope that is actually about a cat!

How is Strange Little Cat so low? There's so much (filmmaking) magic in that one.

estimated number of ilxors who saw it: 3

gone, girl

I liked The Strange Little Cat but I forgot to vote for it.

I liked The Strange Little Cat but I forgot to vote for it.

32. Force Majeure (86 pts. 4 votes)

http://s1.postimg.org/nxgla9067/32_Force_Majeure.jpg

The first half hour is the best

Apologies everyone. I just got called into work. I'll post one more then I'll be back in 5 or so hours.

31. Love is Strange (90 pts. 4 votes)

http://s9.postimg.org/5yg6gkosv/31_Loveis_Strange.jpg

a snow job

xxxp

have not seen nearly as many of even these top 10 as i would've liked - v interested in love is strange, force majeure, lucy, leviathan. strange little cat looks potentially hit or miss

aw LIS

i thought Michael Sicinski had a neat, gentle way of letting down the gentility of LiS, which rather bored me.

http://letterboxd.com/msicism/film/love-is-strange/

"But these men will, thankfully, represent one of the last generations of gay men desirous of marriage and yet deprived of it for the majority of their lives."

well put

Molina was great in Prick Up Your Ears as Halliwell, hardly seen him in anything notable since.

really? he's had a rather busy career in the intervening ~30 years.

Yeah he has done a lot movies and tv work, wouldn't want to watch any of it though.

hurrah for you i guess

theatre too but obv that doesnt count, too ephemeral

This movie looked like honest Oscarbait. A shame it didn't take off like The Kids Are Alright.

I don't disagree with anything Sic says there, but think he gives too little credit to the "occupy normalcy" angle.

strange little cat is the only film i voted for to show up so far. deserved better, but i'm happy to see it place, as i figured it a long shot.

otoh, i cannot believe anyone liked or voted for gone girl. among the most dismal and pointless films of the year. shame on all four of you.

lucy's awful damn silly, yet not quite silly enough. forgivable.

i didn't vote for gone girl [bc i didn't see it] but after alfred rended garments over its unpolitical correctness i really wanted to

yeah, the "politics" are annoying, but it's the drab vacancy that really did me in

i get people not liking gone girl for various filmmaking-related reasons, or questions over the plausibility of the plot but do people really think that gillian flynn created a woman psychopath bc she has politics that'd make her like, the fuckin camille lapaglia of crime writers?

NYT: Were you surprised that that was the reaction you got?

Flynn: I had about 24 hours where I hovered under my covers and was like: “I killed feminism. Why did I do that? Rats. I did not mean to do that.” And then I very quickly kind of felt comfortable with what I had written.

i've read flynn's other books (one of which, dark places, is really good, arguably better than gone girl) and i don't see anything in them that points toward her being an anti-feminist woman, especially given the hideously sad way that dark places plays out.

that said, if the main argument is that the dangers of the potential interpretation by the audience - especially the dumber and unenlightened-male portions of the audience, which are certainly sizable - trumps the intent of the writer, i get that.

as an obvious example of such a thing happening, NPH's oscars "joke" that the alternate title of GG should be "bitches be trippin yo" or whatever he said was really NAGL at all

I didn't see enough to vote in this, but I did see enough - an unusual amount for me - to comment.

The best/my favorite things I saw for the first time this year were by Kiarostami (The Wind WIll Carry Us and Where is the Friend's House), Rohmer (A Summer's Tale - quite possibly my favorite thing I saw all year - The Green Ray, and A Tale of Winter), and maybe Marker (Sans Soleil), with honorable mentions to a not-yet-seen Kubrick (The Killing), my first Leos Carax (Les Amants du Pont-Neuf, a visually striking, very well-done example of not quite my thing), and a trio by Les Blank that didn't quite match up to most of the half-dozen others I've mostly loved.

Of new stuff, Exhibition is probably the only great film I saw, but I probably had warmer feelings towards Boyhood, an I-wouldn't-say-great movie that I enjoyed thoroughly and whose sequel I was ready for immediately. The The National doc Mistaken for Strangers functioned in a somewhat similar capacity (to both?) for me given that I've vaguely known one or two of its subjects, though, like Life Itself, which I caught on CNN, I'm not sure I needed to see it in a theater even if I'm glad I did. Mr. Turner was one of the best-made films (or just the most recent?) I saw, and both entertaining and thoughtful, but not as much of either as Topsy-Turvy, perhaps among others of his. Some others similarly didn't quite match high expectations - The Grand Budapest Hotel (which I enjoyed, partly through screening issues, with a quibble or two about subject-matter and star that I've never liked) and Night Moves (quite well-made, but maybe minimalism has been covering difficulty with narrative, and a bit disturbing how good the generally appealing Eisenberg is at the psycho act). Only Lovers Left Alive, otoh, was slightly more enjoyable, in a relatively louche way, than expected, while lacking the intensity of its less enjoyable (or successful?) predecessor. Not that it made any more lasting an impression - probably less - but I loved The Trip to Italy, whose predecessor I'd missed, probably my favorite of the movies I saw in part for the scenery, as I tend to do. Among those, Force Majeure was a better movie than Wild, but its subject and attitude interested me less. Garrel is not necessarily my style either, though I'll probably take French over Scandinavian most days, but I saw and at least appreciated Jealousy, which might have rivaled the last of the Rohmers.

Things I most regret missing, in roughly descending order - National Gallery (with general reservations re Wiseman), Antarctica: A Year on Ice, Unrelated, Double Play: James Benning | Richard Linklater, Manakamana, Snowpiercer, Expedition to the End of the World, The Great Flood (with live music), Archipelago, The Homesman, Gone Girl (with particular reservations that may drop it lower), Get on Up, This Ain't No Mouse Music, Noah, John Wick, Interstellar, Born to Fly: Elizabeth Streb vs. Gravity, Happy Christmas, Under the Skin, Jimi: All Is By My Side. I may still get around to Virunga, Inherent Vice, which I haven't and likely won't read, Goodbye to Language, or Ballet 422, but I doubt it, and I probably got my Cumberbatch fill via tv and the NT's Frankenstein.

also that Everest archival film they had at the Rubin

Out of that batch so far I want to see Leviathan the most

30. Vic + Flo Saw a Bear (91 pts. 4 votes)

http://s17.postimg.org/uafwezji7/30_Vic_Flo_Sawa_Bear.jpg

Back for the night. I'm going to do at least ten more. I'll do the whole lot if you all want me to, though I know that's unfair on the Europeans. Otherwise I can just roll out 10 or 20 tonight and the rest in the morning (before noon EST).

in my top twenty. One of the few surprising twists in a movie this year.

ILX Did Not See Vic + Flo

I feel bad that I had a copy of it but didn't get around to watching it. It was there, though.

well we await the all-space-raccoons and Oscars top 10 in the wake of your watch pile

Easy to mock I know but I'm much more inclined to go to the cinema than I am to sit at home and watch something on a computer.

but speaking of Oscars...

29. CITIZENFOUR (97 pts. 4 votes)

http://s21.postimg.org/6io6c8ffb/29_Citizenfour.jpg

that one barely made my 25 because it does lose intensity once the HK hotel section is over, but obviously it showing up this low is of dark portent.

had V + F top ten as well

Speaking of dark portents...

28. Edge of Tomorrow (99 pts. 4 votes. 1 #1)

http://s11.postimg.org/gw9xv5xlf/28_Edgeof_Tomorrow.jpg

Might actually be Live. Die. Repeat. or something now.

lol i think that was my #1

such a video gamey kind of movie

would recommend going no further than 21 tonight, gubke.

honestly, i'd keep it to 10 a day at this rate, but it's your show...

I feel kind of bad for not liking V+F, especially since I cannot wholly articulate what it is that I didn't like about it, beyond the somewhat trifling, but nonetheless reductive detail of the bisexual character naturally being the promiscuous/unfaithful half of the couple.

saw about half of live.die.repeat. on a plane, switching back and forth between that and maleficent. didn't incline me to track down the rest of either.

doubles yr chances for a date on Saturday night

xp

Did like the character of the parole officer, though.

Problem is that because of unexpected work tonight if I don't finish it before noon tomorrow I'll have to wait until Friday to finish. Might be able to do ten a day but not at reasonable hours.

27. Frank (100 pts. 5 votes)

http://s23.postimg.org/qbl2pvhvv/27_Frank.jpg

v afraid of that one

Still reeling from seeing Vic + Flo a few days ago... Made my top 20 nonetheless.

Ah, Frank! Might be semi-responsible for this placing so high (my number 4). Going into it I had my reservations (namely that I could be assaulted by a vapid quirk-fest for two hours), but ultimately found it great fun and a very sensitive portrayal of extreme dissociative paranoia. Thought the soundtrack was kind of excellently parodic too.

Hooray! Facepalme D'Or forever! (My number 5 - a far, far more agreeable movie about music than I expected - on balance one of the best I've seen, with a genuinely devastating denouement and a genuinely terrifying & repulsive monster, who also happened to be the narrator)

imo 15 then 15 then 10 is a good battle plan

run the table cuz i need to know the other 7 pieces of shit the Multiplex Macher liked

Xxp

High five!

Also, more rollout tomorrow sounds great! I need this excitement in my working days.

Yours Britishly...

^irl 5

what a full life eh

26. Snowpiercer (101 pts. 4 votes)

http://s3.postimg.org/n8jcf1cn7/26_Snowpiercer.jpg

Definitely going to 21 tonight. Will do 10 tomorrow and then maybe 10 on Wednesday if I have a better idea of my schedule.

25. The One I Love (106 pts. 5 votes)

http://s3.postimg.org/n8jcf1cn7/26_Snowpiercer.jpg

whoops!

http://s17.postimg.org/95ag386f3/25_The_One_ILove.jpg

oh damn i could've voted for snowpiercer but i forgot about it

my ballot did not adequately represent all the films i saw this year mea culpa guys my bad

fuck you

i think i've seen 82 new films from '14, and Snowpiercer is among the ten worst.

i'm finding yr rockism oppressive bro

Snowpiercer just about killed my love for Tilda Swinton and thinking about Chris Evans nude.

ilx is really into the Sundance landfill as well as the geekbait, it seems

generaLOLizations itt

/Snowpiercer/ just about killed my love for Tilda Swinton and thinking about Chris Evans nude.
--guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn)

but what about them both simultaneously

One I Love is really good for about 50 minutes. Better than the Sundance landfill I assumed it would be.

so that was in the theater and not on the To Watch pile

Re: Snowpiercer: I'll vouch for a highlight reel of Tilda Swinton hamming it up, but on the whole, too blunt.

1IL looks way too yawn*str8s for me

Yeah, The One I Love came to theaters in DC.

24. The Babadook (110 pts. 6 votes)

http://s7.postimg.org/jx370wffv/24_The_Babadook.jpg

a genuinely terrifying & repulsive monster, who also happened to be the narrator

That's what I liked as well! In the end, it doesn't even matter about motives; the music's what's important. Frank just missed my list.

Final music scene in Frank was all time.

The last five seconds almost killed me with joy

good performances in Babadook, entirely rote last 30 mins when it turns into just a horror film

what I liked best about The Babadook: kids are the scariest monsters

Yeah, didn't shrink at all from how annoying that child was. Felt the frustration.

i get people not liking gone girl for various filmmaking-related reasons, or questions over the plausibility of the plot but do people really think that gillian flynn created a woman psychopath bc she has politics that'd make her like, the fuckin camille lapaglia of crime writers?

...that said, if the main argument is that the dangers of the potential interpretation by the audience - especially the dumber and unenlightened-male portions of the audience, which are certainly sizable - trumps the intent of the writer, i get that.

― slothroprhymes, Monday, February 23, 2015 12:23 PM (4 hours ago)

well we all know that

can't approach Village of the Damned

xxp

Best horror film about bereavement? Didn't quite make my list but enjoyed it a lot and felt like the last thirty minutes was the most relatable part...

It's probably challops to say that the film's depiction of annoying kid driving parent crazy is better than in The Shining, to which it's indebted obv.

23. National Gallery (126 pts. 5 votes)

http://s11.postimg.org/wta51jhar/23_National_Gallery.jpg

yay, dug frank and the babadook, though i only voted for the former. it overdoes the quirk at times (field exercises), but the music & fassbender are excellent. i probably should have voted for the babadook, but i tend to like my horror a bit wilder, and i'm glad the rest of you took up the slack.

I could've watched an eight-hour cut of NG.

I adored it. Maybe could have done with more meetings.

if I have the chance I'd ask students to watch it and F is for Fake for essay assignment.

one of many i missed :(

had NG 17th; a hair less compelling than At Berkeley for me

I listed it pretty high, but three was fine. I liked At Berkeley better.

i think i've seen 82 about new films from '14, and Snowpiercer is among the ten worst.

― touch of a love-starved cobra (Dr Morbius), Monday, February 23, 2015 5:53 PM (17 minutes ago)

count yourself lucky. i've seen just north of 70, and it's among the better half. just barely though.

Alright, realised that there is no 21 because 20 is a two way tie, so I'll hold off on those until tomorrow. Here's the final one for the evening.

22. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (130 pts. 6 votes)

http://s21.postimg.org/k2bhopr13/22_Birdman.jpg

too high

aka the voters

nah, that seems about right. was my #22 on the strength of the camerawork, music & performances.

it's prob not gonna place but i wanna say again how much everyone should see The Overnighters; easily a top film of the year.
Vic and Flo was quite good though it's not a movie you want to watch at midnight with your mother.

Midnight With Your Mother sounds like the title of the next Denis Cote (or perhaps Xavier Dolan) film.

long as it's not louis malle

The Europeans are wide awake now..

enjoying this weird-paced, artsy rollout

Yeah! Wide awake! I've actually had way too much coffee already. I apologize in advance for my behaviour when either Stray Dogs or Boyhood shows up.

Actually, it was probably smart to post Birdman while we snobbish Europeans were asleep. By far the worst film I didn't see this year.

Hello Euros. We'll start in a moment.

(Tie) 20. The Immigrant (134 pts. 5 votes)

http://s15.postimg.org/r2ks9l3m3/20_The_Immigrant.jpg

the immigrant looks crazy predictable and very pearl clutchy, lace rending. i really need to see this?

too low

Cotillard the weakest thing in it, but only because meek passive suffering roles drive me crazy. Otherwise the movie's masterfully paced and photographed. James Gray one of the best American directors.

I wasn't blown away by it but between this and Two Lovers I finally understand the Gray partisans where I couldn't before.

Cotillard looks so much like she has stepped out of a b/w glamour photo of that era.

(Tie) 20. The LEGO Movie (134 pts. 7 votes)

http://s10.postimg.org/inx11imdl/20_The_Lego_Movie.jpg

Oh man, that was my best hope for a passable #1 :(

Third one I voted for, after Force Majeure and National Gallery.

Only thing I voted for to show up at this halfway point is the Ebert film. Only other one I've seen so far is Vic + Flo. The Strange Little Cat, Force Majeure, Love is Strange, The Babadook, The Immigrant and, what the hell, Birdman all on my to-see list though.

19. Calvary (137 pts. 6 votes)

http://s7.postimg.org/470e90m1n/19_Calvary.jpg

Yeah that's about what I thought.

18. Norte, The End of History (139 pts. 4 votes 2 #1)

http://s11.postimg.org/sltrxiq03/18_Norte.jpg

calvary is the movie i wish martin mcdonagh had made after in bruges instead of seven psychopaths, but hey thats what brother directors with similar worldviews are for i suppose

We kinda wanted to watch that but we will need to clear 4 hours. Worth it, I trust (Norte)

Heh, yeah Norte! Voted for the two other Diaz I saw this year - I liked both more - but at least one of those will prob get wider release this year, so it was pretty dumb all in all. Glad to see it made it anyway.

in my top three

I watched in two uneven chunks.

had to watch Winter Sleep in two sessions, long films are tough for late night boozing viewers.

I thought Calvary was ok, a bit flimsy and over-reliant on Gleeson's charm and skills.

Glad to see Calvary here, I didnt expect it to place.

The Lego Movie felt like mainlining Fanta

I'm guessing Morbs isn't around so it's safe to start the next tie.

(Tie) 16. Guardians of the Galaxy (150 pts. 7 votes)

http://s12.postimg.org/haklevjbh/16_Guardiansofthe_Galaxy.jpg

Was gonna make a point about notre outranking Lego, but now never mind.

(Tie) 16. Mr. Turner (150 pts. 8 votes)

http://s21.postimg.org/s7dlr7zvb/16_Mr_Turner.jpg

Calvary was made for the bottom end of my ballot, the clever lines in it are all really stupid & the very worst of them ("that's a startling opening line" "what's that - irony?"; "how's that for a 3rd act revelation" &c) recalls the crimes of the writer's worthless piece of shit brother but there's a lot of funny dialogue in it & gleeson is so good that I'd have felt wrong leaving it out

I saw it with a friend who absolutely hated its portentousness & the cartoonish malevolence of the townsfolk, but I often enjoy that kind of silliness

pretty sure John Michael McDonagh is even more of a worthless piece of shit than Martin

but it's close. Very close

If he's produced anything as shit as slevin psychopaths I'd like to know so I can kill it on sight

It didn't satisfy me like Topsy Turvy but Mr Turner has some of Leigh's best work.

I think I need to go back and watch it without mentally comparing it to Topsy Turvy. Which is a silly thing to do anyway

15. Winter Sleep (155 pts. 6 votes 1 #1)

http://s15.postimg.org/hu8c4f79n/15_Winter_Sleep.jpg

too high.

I'm really looking forward to Mr. Turner.

Only two from my ballot have shown up. Either it's going to be a fun top 14 for me, or I threw a lot of points away...

My #1, absolutely astonishing work, xyzzzzip it

LJ Norte was my #1 for whatever that's worth, here's something I said earlier:

It's good tho imo. To pointlessly compare it with another long film from this year, the descent into abjection doesn't feel cheap, idiotic and insulting the way it does in nymphomaniac

(No longer feel bad about pointless comparison as it's been decided that all long or slow pictures must be compared with each other)

Cool! Really want to see it. Although I can think of someone who might take umbrage at that comparison... (LVT, obv)

(No longer feel bad about pointless comparison as it's been decided that all long or slow pictures must be compared with each other)

Who has done that? Long and slow pictures can be two completely separate things.

I'll be the one to trot out the cliche: Not Anatolia good, but amazing character work.

Winter Sleep is a slow picture. Nymphomaniac is a long one. I think the former wants you to feel its running time.

My opinions on Winter Sleep are on the Nuri Bilge Ceylan thread, on mobile so can't paste, but shit what a movie, need to see Anatolia

My #1, absolutely astonishing work, xyzzzzip it

― bojaxhiu mother derive (imago), Tuesday, 24 February 2015 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

When you watch more than five films I might do that.

Xps just messing, inspired by the daft Zvyagintsev-Ceylon face-off ilx was amusing itself with for a second

Really wanna see winter sleep, adored Anatolia

Ceylan is evidetly thrice the director Zvyagintsev is, but they have different remits so that is ok. I saw over ten 2014 films btw :P

14. Manakamana (158 pts. 7 votes)

http://s22.postimg.org/qutnoe7i9/14_Manakamana.jpg

oh wow that looks amazing. i'll def check it out.

James Gray one of the best American directors.

I really wish that was so. Cotillard w/ a far more original performance than Marlon Brando or Richard Basehart Phoenix or Renner.

I remember you being a big Two Lovers fan, no?

tht's his best that i've seen; but it's just, you know, good thx to a great JP performance above all.

I agree imago, I liked Leviathon but Winter Sleep packed hell of more a punch, jesus that scene where he burns the money was all time.

spoiler! (not really cuz it was obv from the start of the scene; weakest in the film)

Fav scene in Winter Sleep was the almighty dressing down she gave her husband.

It was a great scene, even if you knew exactly what was going to happen ten minutes in advance - you were made to experience all of her bourgie guilt and humiliation

Fav scene? Take your pick from any of the arguments between the 3 central characters.

Or the way his sister went from mild passive aggressiveism to outright hatred over the course of a conversation.

i found myself nodding along with the sister bcz i am a misery-ridden fuck

xp

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/dec/14/manakamana-review-art-installation

Hilarious review from Mark Kermode, he always struggles and says such things would work better 'in an art gallery'

that one might edge it yeah xxp

sister the most likeable character for sure

Manakamana is perfect accompaniment to polishing the tables with Pledge, as I learned last November. I recommend without reservation.

also: the goats

you're actually as bad as Mordy in a way, w/ your movies to do fucking housework by

see films require more attention than that awful pop music

I liked Manakamana's subtle structure. And the ice cream.

they are longer than 3 mins, unless its art gallery work where you just don't know. xp

13. Blue Ruin (166 pts. 9 votes)

http://s17.postimg.org/xp0ltt7tr/13_Blue_Ruin.jpg

12. Inherent Vice (185 pts. 9 votes)

http://s12.postimg.org/552se003x/12_Inherent_Vice.jpg

Manakamana is perfect accompaniment to polishing the tables with Pledge, as I learned last November. I recommend without reservation.

watching this now and it is not what i was expecting. it does have a nice, peaceful rhythm but i can't imagine sitting down in a theater or whatever and just watching it for the 2 hours straight

I felt that way for about 15 minutes but then it took me in.

you're actually as bad as Mordy in a way, w/ your movies to do fucking housework by

― touch of a love-starved cobra (Dr Morbius),

sent you bottle of Windex autographed by Tsai.

I made that up about the Pledge but, yeah, I did fast forward through a couple of sequence.

immersion, unknown to the ADD Generation

Inherent Vice will be in my ballot next year.

Really infuriated that so many will judge Pychon on that

One of the best things with Manakamana is how easy it flows, how easy it is to immerse oneself in.

Do people judge Henry James on the Merchant Ivory adaptations?

the immersion scale

in which I exceed Morbs

immersed in bile and self-congratulation

Morbs likes to rib me about it, but even though I'm blessed by not having kids or pets watching a movie at home isn't as immersive as at a theater, especially movies like Manakamana (which I didn't find difficult but it did make its point after three sequences) and Stray Dog. I'm not tempted by bathroom breaks or ringing telephones in a theater. But I've got enough sense and experience to know when it's a good time to set four hours aside to "immerse in Norte.

God my spelling is a nightmare today

May watch Manakanana soon - may even tonight if the poll doesn't throw up something more tempting

Inherent Vice is gross, pointless and passingly pretty imo - it tries to make elegant points about America but shows off its ego and its hardon far too readily. Cannot believe Pynchon wrote it. Partially saved by some well-executed absurdist humour, and it's a ravishing audiovisual experience, but nah

but what'd you think of the movie?

it did make its point after three sequences

perhaps not

When did the goats happen?

"...shows off its ego and its hardon far too readily. Cannot believe Pynchon wrote it..."

Uhm...

(Pynchon is my favourite writer of all time, I have a Trystero tattooed on my right arm. But he definitely doesn't hide his ego nor his hardon...)

The goats are the middle one. The icecream one is the crucial one to see in a theater, imo. The roars of laughter really sold the film as an aproachable object.

Also, I think I voted for Manakamana last year and Iron Ministry made my list as this years SEL-film instead. I really need to vote more strategically.

roars of laughter in an empty theater?

Why would the theater be empty?

You're blessed. Our art house could manage a literal handful of people for its Straw Dog showing.

Pynchon is my favourite writer too! His hardon is usually tempered with its own futility a bit more - this really lacked any of the nuance or complication of his longer novels imo

Alright, work beckons. Last one for today.

11. Only Lovers Left Alive (189 pts. 9 votes)

http://s21.postimg.org/7hbnqnl93/11_Only_Lovers_Left_Alive.jpg

Top 10 tomorrow. Speculate!

Twilight for hipsters

Exhibition top ten! Wahey!

You're blessed. Our art house could manage a literal handful of people for its Straw Dog showing.

― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), 24. februar 2015 18:54 (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Aw, that's too bad. The two I went to were festival showings, but they were quite well visited. But Journey to the West, on the other hand, that was only a couple handful of people, and more than half left...

OLLA the only Jarmusch I can stand after Mystery Train and bits of Dead Man.

Speaking of Straw Dog(s), either you guys have better taste than I dared to hope for, or no taste at all...

only Peckinpah is straw

God dammit. What on earth is Straw Dog?

And why would you make a dog out of straw?

autofill mistake

Yeah, I'm not doing too well in the top 14 either, ha. I voted for Manakamana, though, so, yay. Still holding out hope for Stray Dogs, Himizu, and Exhibition.

those hopes are definitely without feathers

Exhibition is definitely in.

Under The Skin too :)

With two #1 votes it just seems really weird if Stray Dogs couldn't make the list, right? Also, Stranger by the Lake must be there. And a lot of indie crap.

stray dogs has to show. four people mentioned voting for it (i think?), and i strongly suspect that it placed higher on the lists of those who did vote for it than, say, the strange little cat. which is great, don't get me wrong.

Inherent Vice will not be in my ballot any year.

Blue Ruin was a real 'so what' od a film and I couldn't wait for Inherent Vice to finish.

Vice is my highest-ranking American film of the year (#8). The Homesman is at #10.

Exhibition
Under The Skin
Stranger By The Lake
Boyhood
Stray Dogs
Whiplash

4 more

wes anderson

nightcrawler

American Sniper
Interstellar
Taken 3

I had a crazy hope that The Homesman might make it to Tupelo, but it couldn't muscle its way past hot tubs and hungry games and hobbits and transformers and such.

xpost We are the best!

Only Lovers Left Alive is the most English major-y movie I saw from last year. I voted for it.

blue ruin at least delivered the goods with respect to its genre & ambitions - tense, brutal & forlorn. nicely photographed, too. haunted by the image of the title auto crawling doomward through the fog. didn't vote for it though.

Oh yeah We Are The Best obv! Need to see that, loooooved Fucking Amal

Could Lars make it?

HATE THE SPORT

watched Manakamana. best part are the guys near the end tuning + playing their instruments. ice cream part good too.

morbz will be happy to hear that i watched it on my computer, put it on float-on-top mode, while i worked

35 minutes into Force Majeure and yeah, this has been maybe the best half-hour of cinema I've seen in a very, very long time, hope the rest holds up. The dinner scene!!!

Spoiler: it didn't.

I don't think I could count a film I'd fast forwarded parts of. The experience is the point, right? Not data gathering or passing a test. But, then, I found Manakamana pretty engaging.

35 minutes into Force Majeure and yeah, this has been maybe the best half-hour of cinema I've seen in a very, very long time

Winter Sleep wasn't that long ago.

I don't think I could count a film I'd fast forwarded parts of. The experience is the point, right? Not data gathering or passing a test. But, then, I found Manakamana pretty engaging.

that's why Manakamana wasn't in my top ten. I didn't touch Norte....

Fast forwarding doesn't necessarily = data gathering. If the points the films make can be gained by fast forwarding through its fine. That kind of rarefied experience of slow films is overrated - and I speak as someone who can sit through them religiously and all.

Every now and then if the slowness isn't really doing anything I'll fast fwd.

If a film made me fast forward I consider that enough of a deficiency in the film (or in me) that I wouldn't vote for it in a poll. The real q is voting for films that you'd never want to see again (not bc you're afraid to ruin the magic but bc it would be too tedious and boring).

Obv when you're 100% representing every new film you saw in a year you don't have the luxury of being so picky.

I have less and less interest in owning DVDs, in part because I'm forever watching new movies or catching up with older ones.

Spoiler: it didn't.

― Eric H., Tuesday, February 24, 2015 11:16 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

uh it totally did, in the hypothetical ballot it's a close 2nd behind winter sleep now. extraordinary. redolent even of b****l maybe

If the points the films make can be gained by fast forwarding through its fine.

Wow, I really don't agree. The slowness is always doing something! If it's that painful, it's not the movie for you.

I was one of the "Vic + Flo" voters - weirdly affecting flick.

alltime disgusting savage thread now

but V+F IS weirdly affecting!

xxxp

"Manakamana" is one for the to-see list - hopefully it's either on iTunes or my local theater will get it sometime this year.

If you got Netflix, you can watch it.

The slowness is always doing something! If it's that painful, it's not the movie for you.

― Cherish, Tuesday, February 24, 2015 5:06 PM (1 hour ago)

otm. if you had to ffwd a movie to get through it, you have to admit you didn't like it, maybe didn't "get it".

idea of films as pledge-scented "background music" is interesting, though. i remember putting on linklatter's waking life as endlessly repeating workplace company before i ever sat down to watch it properly. got more out of it in the former context than the latter, but that doesn't make me think less of it.

Using a movie as background vs fast forwarding. What's the difference?

in both cases you didn't feel like playing attention for any number of reasons

background movie on endless repeat = eventual saturation, like over 20 plays. ffwding = throwing in the towel, moving on.

ambient music vs close attention vs needle-dropping to get a feel

Sitting through geometry class all semester is also saturation, but it's still a fucking chore.

Different media with different expectations, but with histories I often skip ahead if the argument I'm reading is otiose and dull. Nine out of ten times I'll go back because I feel more guilt about not reading books in their entirety, but that's the book's fault, not mine. If the book's not holding my attention in places but gripping me in others, it's gonna get a mixed review. Same applies for movies. It's very rare that I don't finish a movie.

The way I look at it, if I have to fast forward through a Tsai or Manakamana sequence in which the only movement in five minutes are eyelids fluttering it's because I'm so damn committed to the movie. If I weren't paying attention, I'd let the thing play.

lol

oh yeah, i'm not saying there's anything wrong w/ ffwding to get through. do what you gotta do. just that if i'm ever forced to such a recourse, i wouldn't claim to like the movie.

Was it Kiarostami who advocated for movies you drift in and out of sleep while watching?

redolent even of b****l maybe

Babbel?

manakamana in the theaters held me rapt. it's great.
and i also vouch highly for films you drift in and out of sleep during! It's the only way i've seen several of my fave films, including most everything by weeraseethakul and half of kurosawa

My friend spent approximately two-thirds of the running time of La Commune dozing off and she counted it among her favorite recent films at the time.

Yes, seeing a film half awake, half asleep can often be a very appropriate response.

Although I 'know' there's nothing wrong with fast-forwarding through a film - cultural products are there to do with as we please -I never actually do it myself. But was pleased to hear Ceylan in a recent interview acknowledging that home viewing is a totally different activity from cinema viewing, and that his audience are free to make use of the pause button, and watch in installments. Sometimes the eyes need to take a break from looking, looking, looking.

Something like that. I put La Commune in my ballot. All-time.

I know Berlin Alexanderplatz was made for TV however it has v cinematic qualities and for most people who have seen a decent amount of Fassbinder its all time. We also know there is no way in which you wouldn't watch it by anothing other than installments. The ICA put a v silly screening of it over two days.

If the points the films make can be gained by fast forwarding through its fine.

Wow, I really don't agree. The slowness is always doing something! If it's that painful, it's not the movie for you.

― Cherish, Wednesday, 25 February 2015 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I think in Zidane and Le Quattro Volte my reaction was this is good; I could see what this was doing. otoh actually I felt that I got as much out of a section - experience exhausted? - and so fast forwarded to what you think is the next bit. Perfectly valid, not a sign of pain.

Similarly we can all skim through a section of a book we like bits of. No need to play a blame game if you haven't dutifully finished.

I find I am paying more attention when I fast fwd. Its a different way of engaging with a film, more active.

that Daft Punk film where it's just two robots walking in slow motion through the desert was only easy to watch if you watched it at 5x speed.

Was it as good as Winter Sleep.

srsly some of you need to go the fuck to hell

or EMP.

are you flexing this tortured logic in prep for voting for Hillary?

http://i.imgur.com/tIIxLi9.jpg

srsly some of you need to go the fuck to hell

― touch of a love-starved cobra (Dr Morbius),

save me a seat!

If I fast forward through Inferno I'll get to Paradiso quicker.

Then again:

The only true paradise is a paradise we have lost

The Lego Movie felt like mainlining Fanta

I watched the first 45 minutes of LEGO last night, and it was like being beaten about the face and neck by a clever 13-year-old the day he learned what satire is.

then you fast-forwarded the rest

/is 13

every zing is awesome

save me a seat!

You can take mine. I won't be needing it.

Of course, we can use the pause button, or watch Berlin Alexanderplatz over several days! I'm not going all Peter-Greenaway-Cinema-Is-Dead here. But if I fast forward (or sleep!) through parts, I haven't really seen the film. Likewise, if I skim sections of a book, I haven't actually read it. I can't even understand thinking otherwise.

I can't imagine fast-forwarding through a film, unless it's, I don't know, Blame It on Rio. (To get to all the masterful comedy from Joseph Bologna.)

SAVE US GUKBE

I have a friend who used to ff thru ozu, I confess idqgi

I can think of one good reason to ff thru films & that's so you can go "I ff thru films, what about that", like I say it's a reason but... I almost feel silly saying this, but, like, guys, what about, you know, sound? I mean you do know there are other elements to film besides what is or isn't happening right

But if I fast forward (or sleep!) through parts, I haven't really seen the film

Dude suppose you are relaxing in the evening after a tough day slugging it out for 'the man' over a slow-cinema classic - heck lets throw it all out there and call it a milestone in human history - such as Ceylan's Winter Sleep - and suppose you doze off through half of one of those classic arguments (not a whole one because that would be proper sleeping)...are you telling me I haven't seen the film?!?!

Be careful - that sounds like some Dr Morbius shit Peter-Greenaway-Cinema-Is-Dead nonsense. xp

It's never occurred to me to FF through films, this thread development is a bit of a revelation. Occasionally I'll go Gong Show on one and turn it off (cf Abuse of Weakness the other night), but I don't even like to start one unless I know I can block out enough time to watch the whole thing in a sitting. Which is why I haven't seen Norte yet...

otoh I voted for several films that I only read the synopses on imdb

Still thinking very hard about Force Majeure, which was great, as above...but the ending - what do others make of it? I think I prefer to read it as a false wresting-back of patriarchal control, whose falseness is revealed in the absurdity of the final tableau - although traditional gender roles are artificially (almost callously) restored, nothing is quite the same - the mask has been lifted once and that is enough.

otoh I voted for several films that I only read skimmed the synopses on imdb

fixed.

this is the worst film discussion i've possibly ever seen on ilx

we are only going to show the academy how wrong they were in preferring Birdman over Boyhood so what's harm just a bit of fun etc.

Boyhood winning this is the only result that would upset me (and I haven't even seen it, so not even that much)

i can't cosign ffwding through films unless they're "cultural event" movies that you just want to get the feel of. everyone's allowed to enjoy what they want as they want but if i hit a point where i want to zoom ahead, that's a primo time to just stop watching. If it's that unenjoyable, why zip forward? Do you skip multiple chapters forward in a grisham novel?

xp i cannot think of a single result to this poll that might upset me unless it ended with death threats

No with Grisham I just luxuriate in the language

unless it ended with death threats

We'll see what Morbs has lined up for us later.

immersion in John Grisham.

i skip around in non-fiction all the time like any normal human being (in fact when i was in grad school the advise they gave for getting through a few thousand pages of reading a week was 'read the intro, read the conclusion, read any chapters relevant to your work'). when i used to read steinbeck in junior high i'd always skip the long, florid paragraphs of picturesque nature. i doubt i'd do that now, but idk, i haven't read fiction in quite a few years now. it's more likely that i'll start reading a piece of fiction make it about half-way through and then get bored and move onto something new.

I start most novels in the middle.

10. Goodbye to Language (190 pts. 8 votes)

http://s21.postimg.org/deomtu47r/10_Goodbyeto_Language.jpg

*hits fast-forward*

Cool film

looks trippy

I booked today off work over a month ago to see it because its website promised it would be playing tonight only at an Alamo Drafthouse in the suburbs somewhere but it never showed up on their website, so I e-mailed the cinema and they said they didn't know anything about it.

I fully admit to watching some foreign films at 1.5x when I realized I wasn't particularly going to be digging on their use of duration/pacing.

Not ones I intend on reviewing, of course.

Do you ever watch things at 0.5x if you find them too frenetic

Gukbe I think we've all been there, commiserations

The one major 2014 release I didn't get to watch/review cuz of the holiday season and 3-D.

Want to see this yeah. Is there a 3D stream on Netflix?

i watched it on amazon instant video

Ha xp!

One of Godard's best. Who the fuck could've forseen he could make such an amazing film at this point in his life!!

See it in 3-D, was saying to a friend over the weekend how I felt like someone from 1900 in that classic train shot where everyone runs away from the cinema. You are just shown things that are new...maybe not as new as experience but there are some disorientating bits al over.

I voted for several films that I only read the synopses on imdb

Hahaha! And, yay, the countdown's back!

The only outcome here that would upset me is if Stray Dogs doesn't show. Death threats would be preferable!

Will have to watch Notre Musique again to see if I think it holds up. If not, I'm definitely fine calling this his best new century movie.

9. Exhibition (194 pts. 8 votes)

http://s13.postimg.org/xorf80a53/9_Exhibition.jpg

My #2, sensational work, everyone needs to see it. One of the great London films, one of the great non-actors-acting films.

xp Did that one get any non-UK votes?

I see Joanna Hogg introduce films made by others about once every few weeks - need to see.

*hits fast-forward*

― johnny crunch, Wednesday, 25 February 2015 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

as it happens JLG would approve of f-f.

final tie of the countdown.

Did that one get any non-UK votes?

I'm one, at least.

(tie) 7. Stray Dogs (210 pts. 6 votes. 3 #1)

http://s10.postimg.org/44y7bthbd/7_Stray_Dogs.jpg

I preferred Archipelago but I agree she's worth the buzz.

cabbage!

Hooray! Still, too low.

That meal scene in Stray Dogs was so tense for me -- I kept thinking the girl's plate was going to fall to the ground.

Also, my #1.

#1

xp Did that [[i]Exhibition] one get any non-UK votes?

― Eric H., Wednesday, February 25, 2015 7:02 AM (20 minutes ago)[/i]

mine, at least. and while stray dogs wasn't my #1, it was damn close. maybe the best performance i've ever seen from a vegetable.

^ went a little funny

(Tie) 7. Two Days One Night (210 pts. 10 votes)

http://s3.postimg.org/7of6g45df/7_Two_Days_One_Night.jpg

also, re prior conversation - if you slept, skipped, drank or wanked you way through a film, you don't get to claim to have (to've?) seen it. rather, "i watched part of it, but something came up."

I don't claim to have seen any film til I've wanked my way through it

Norte was definitely a challenge

6. Nightcrawler (215 pts. 9 votes. 1 #1)

http://s3.postimg.org/wrwpjhjxv/6_Nightcrawler.jpg

:-/

nightcrawlin'

not as clever or cutting as it thinks it is but enjoyable all the same and gyllenhaal certainly elevates it. i voted for it but placed it pretty low.

don't like either of those last two, haven't watched stray dogs yet but im mostly dreading it

nightcrawler was pretty good. not a favorite, but respectably grimy.

I loved Two Days One Night but I feel it's reputation is that of yet another "minor" Dardennes which baffles me.

Granted it's more traditional and maybe Cotillard distracts people but she's really phenomenal in it.

Just felt like the narrative was designed, first and foremost, to deliver a 'knockout performance' (and yeah, Cotillard is incredible - so tired-looking). Much preferred Kid With a Bike, which I think better accomodated this new interest in 'performance' within a more organic, less contrived story.

Last placement without a #1 coming up

Jake wasn't nude in it.

5. We Are The Best! (250 pts. 11 votes)

http://s17.postimg.org/wzyrkmpov/5_We_Are_The_Best.jpg

Cotillard was solid w/out impressing

Most Tired-Looking Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

We Are The Best! Whoop! Love it!

A certain person needs to show me love this, stat :)

Here's hoping Stranger By The Skin makes an indent to the Whiphood hegemony

didnt totally get the fuss over we are the best. it was fun, some nice little moments of parent-child interaction, some enjoyable music workshop thrashing, and i liked how the punk girls and the religious girl came together, but it didnt seem to add up to more than these little isolated moments/observations.

am expecting under the skin to come in at no. 1.

Bit of a point jump coming.

4. The Grand Budapest Hotel (327 pts. 12 votes. 2 #1)

http://s22.postimg.org/ghm8arqpt/4_Grand_Budapest_Hotel.jpg

Hahaha either Whiplash or Boyhood fucked it, presumably the former

anything but Whiplash pl

GBH is the film that finally confirmed that I will never enjoy Wes Anderson as a director.

Whiplash was great.

fiennes should have won something for TGBH. but otherwise, i think it won all the right awards at the oscars. WA/the film didnt deserve anything else.

A production of The Grand Budapest Hotel by the Max Fischer Players, maybe. But they've got better things to do.

As a big WA Stan I was left a little cold by GBH the first time through. Blew me away when I caught it again at home.

didnt totally get the fuss over we are the best. it was fun, some nice little moments of parent-child interaction, some enjoyable music workshop thrashing, and i liked how the punk girls and the religious girl came together, but it didnt seem to add up to more than these little isolated moments/observations.

for me it managed something very tricky: a music film that focused very much on the creative process and how various outside influences affect it, that is, without focusing too much on those outside influences. the perfect antidote to all those interchangeable artist biopics like walk the line where it feels like the music is sidelined in favour of generic drug abuse and relationship stories. it captures that inbetween moment between childhood and teenagedom extremely well and examined the bonds between friends and exactly how far teenage righteousness is prepared to go when it came to, say, the anti-religion thing. and then they're faced with very real misogynistic conflict when they play in a different town. i found it charming, funny and very affecting and a perfect companion piece to Frank and Whiplash. these films work pretty well as a trilogy in some ways, going through a gamut of different considerations about the musical and artistic process.

agree that Fiennes deserved a nod.

Alright, let's do this. Apols if this is NSFW but I didn't think about it.

fiennes gave that film a bit of heart and some actual feeling, without losing the archness.

am oddly more excited to know the winner here than at any awards show.

3. Stranger by the Lake (330 pts. 11 votes. 4 #1)

http://s18.postimg.org/kkfdclm3t/3_Stranger_Bythe_Lake.jpg

best art ever

I hope a confused young straight kid saw this film and said, "Yep, dicks are for me."

Awesome top ten, need to see this too!

still not seen that one, but it prob deserves some award for most diverse range of penises captured on screen from what ive read.

hoping there will be a surprise winner (blackhat)

Penises? Gone are the days of Pink Narcissus eh

Okay, the final two then. The winner was a bit of a runaway.

waiting for the uncut version. *du-dum tish*

2. Boyhood (363 pts. 13 votes. 3 #1)

http://s4.postimg.org/ibiirv18d/2_Boyhood.jpg

1. Under the Skin (551 pts. 16 votes. 6 #1)

http://s29.postimg.org/67i2n43mf/1_Underthe_Skin.jpg

That's huge!

Great, great winner. Only my #3 so maybe some of its prime champions ought to take the stage

Really, there was no doubt in my mind that Skin took this one.

i didnt see nearly enough movies this year - fortunately under the skin was one of them.

Surprised at the wide margin between 1 and 2. No gripe from me at the winner -- thought it was great.

wide margin? its only 3 votes extra!

glad to see these underrated films finally get the attention they deserve.

A 188 point jump is a wide margin in these results.

For comparison's sake, last year's winner was: Frances Ha - 395 pts. 15 votes. 3 #1

i was at chemo, which is more fun if not as long-lasting as ilx film polls.

The one major 2014 release I didn't get to watch/review

Guess again.

Totally underestimated UtS's crossover appeal to wanking hetboys and artfags. Around #31 on my list.

The Reverse Shot roundup said all I had to about UtS.

btw gave Scorsese a call to press him on excommunicating Sotosyn and xyzzzz from the Church of Cinema. He was merciful, and assigns you ten Hail Marys and eleven Helen Twelvetrees.

I'm Henry VIII, which means I make my own church and get laid more often.

my votes, not to be confused with a set-in-stone best list

1. Stranger by the Lake
2. The Naked Room
3. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
4. Himizu
5. Fifi Howls from Happiness
6. Gebo and the Shadow
7. Exhibition
8. Inherent Vice
9. Vic + Flo Saw a Bear
10. The Homesman
11. Goodbye to Language
12. Actress
13. The Grand Budapest Hotel
14. Winter Sleep
15. The Strange Little Cat
16. Two Days, One Night
17. National Gallery
18. Manakamana
19. Memphis
20. What Now? Remind Me

Mine. I'd add Exhibition today:

Strangers by the Lake
The Immigrant
Norte, The End of History
Abuse of Weakness
Child's Pose
Mr. Turner
Only Lovers Left Alive
Love is Strange
The Wind Rises/The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
The Babadook
National Gallery
Borgman
Young & Beautiful
Test
Happy Christmas
Pride
Vic + Flo Saw a Bear
Boyhood
Inherent Vice
Manakamana
Noah

actually that was the one i sent to the Film Comment readers' poll!

This is what I sent to Gukbe 2 weeks later:

1.Stranger by the Lake
2.The Naked Room
3.The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
4.Himizu
5.Fifi Howls from Happiness
6.Gebo and the Shadow
7.Exhibition
8.Inherent Vice
9.Vic+Flo Saw a Bear
10.The Homesman
11.Goodbye to Language
12.Actress
13.The Grand Budapest Hotel
14.Winter Sleep
15.The Strange Little Cat
16.Two Days, One Night
17.National Gallery
18.Boyhood
19.The Last of the Unjust
20.Nymphomaniac
21.Manakamana
22.Memphis
23.What Now? Remind Me
24.Jealousy
25.Citizenfour

Taking Sides in 2014 gaybait: Louis Garrel's mop vs Melvil Poupaud's curls.

list of results plz

MP is 1996 gaybait, tho he looks even better fully grown now

(seriously, counting AST as a 2014 release when it was on New Yorker Video for years is effing ludicrous)

who did -- Brody?

i dunno; it's on polls tho

(and also better than anything i saw last year)