Boyhood - Review

Boyhood. 

Boyhood is a 2014 film directed by Richard Linklater (Before Midnight, School of Rock) simply about a boy, Mason, growing up. It's a coming of age tale that was filmed over the course of 12 years with sections of each year of Mason's life being shown in the film. 

We watch Mason, played by Ellar Coltrane, grow from the age of 5 to 18 in the span of 2 hours and 45 minutes. The plot is simple, almost so simple that it sounds boring but this film isn't about the plot, it's about the characters. Ethan Hawke (The Purge, Sinister) and Patricia Arquette (Boardwalk Empire) play Mason's parents with Linklater's own daughter Lorelei playing his sister. 

Boyhood is truly a cinematic experience as we get to watch the entire cast grow older and once the film is ending you start to feel like these characters are a part of your family too. It sounds cheesy but being able to watch him and his sister interact when they're and when they're 16 gives you the feeling that you watched these kids grow up. Even Arquette and Hawke grow 12 years older and what makes this special is the true ageing of the characters. 

I truly hope Richard Linklater wins the Best Director Oscar for this film because of the immense dedication this took to make. He even had a plan for how to finish the movie if he were to die over this 12 year production (Ethan Hawke would've taken over directorial duties). 

The best part of this movie is its relatability, watching Mason grow up is like watching home videos of yourself growing as he goes through the same trials and tribulations that most of us have. What's surprising about this movie is how much I wanted to watch it again, I thought this would be more like Unbroken where I loved the movie but couldn't see myself watching it much more. This isn't the case with Boyhood, I watched the movie last night and threw it on again today, with how heavy and emotionally investing this movie gets, the fact that I wanted to watch it again so quickly is something special.

Replay Value: 4/5, like I said I'm watching the film a second time in a little under 24 hours, this may because I'm on somewhat of a high from how much I enjoyed the film the first time but I can see myself watching it again, quite a few times. 

Rating: 4.5/5, a fantastic film that had I seen it before I made my Top 10 Movies of 2014 list, definitely would've made the list and possibly pretty high. 

My Top 10 Most Anticipated Movies of 2015

This list was actually a bit harder to compile than my top 10 movies of 2014 was. I tried to use some sort of criteria for this such as I only picked movies that have a current release date for sometime in 2015. Some of the films on this list have little information about them out yet but do have release dates for this year but I'll expand on these movies in the list itself. I also didn't use movies that are coming out within the next couple of weeks such as, Project Almanac, which I'm pretty excited for (even though it's coming out in January). So without further adieu, here are my top 10 most anticipated films of 2015.

HONORABLE MENTIONS: Kingsman: The Secret Service, Child 44, Minions, Ant-Man, Straight Outta Compton and Black Mass. These six films are films that I am excited for but not just enough to make it onto this list, Kingsman because it's coming out in the next month, Child 44 because we have no trailer and the April release date worries me as it looks more like an Oscar season movie. Minions looks good but I think it may suffer with the lack of Gru and his daughters, Ant-Man's trailer was mildly underwhelming yet I'll still see it. Straight Outta Compton and Black Mass are movies with interesting plots and good actors but without a trailer for either or even an official movie poster for either, I couldn't put them on my list.

10. In the Heart of the Sea - This film is based on the book of the same name by author Nathaniel Philbrick about the true story that inspired the infamous tale Moby Dick. I'm currently in the middle of the book and so far it's fantastic, if director Ron Howard who I have massive faith in can translate this book into film then I have no doubts that it will be a great movie. Outside of Chris Hemsworth (Thor), there isn't much star power in terms of acting but with Ron Howard at the helm, I don't think that will matter much.
Release Date: December 11

9. Chappie - My excitement for this film is my faith in director Neill Blomkamp (District 9, Elysium). Chappie is a film about artificial intelligence in robots and stars Hugh Jackman and Dev Patel (The Newsroom) and looks to continue Blomkamp's films dealing with high levels of social commentary. If he was not the one directing this, I can't say my level of excitement would be this high but he and the trailer restored my faith.
Release Date: March 6

8. Mad Max: Fury Road - This movie is the prime example of an extremely effective trailer; I had zero interest in this movie when it was announced, despite Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises, Warrior) being cast in the main role. Fury Road is the fourth film in the Mad Max series all directed by George Miller just as this installment is. This film has the potential to be the Guardians of the Galaxy of 2015 for me, a fun, don't take it so seriously film. Go watch the trailer, it'll pump you up.
Release Date: May 15

7. The Hateful Eight - The biggest reason this film isn't higher on this list is because not much is known about it outside of it's basic plot, director and a few cast members. The eighth film by Quentin Tarantino stars Channing Tatum (22 Jump Street), Samuel L. Jackson (Django Unchained) and quite a few frequent collaborators of Tarantino. The plot seems similar to that of his last film, Django Unchained with it revolving around post-Civil War bounty hunters in Wyoming. If we had a trailer or anything else to go on, this would be higher up on the list, but we don't.
Release Date: November 13

6. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part II - Even though third books in trilogies being split into two movies are the bane of my existence, I can't deny that I'm incredibly excited for the conclusion of this series. While The Hunger Games series doesn't mean as much to me as the Harry Potter series, I am anxiously awaiting its end. Each film in the series has been better than the one before it and I'm sure once we get a trailer for the film I'll want to re-watch Mockingjay, Part I, if not the entire series.
Release Date: November 20

5. Spectre - Spectre is the 24th James Bond movie and fourth to with star Daniel Craig. What truly excites me about this installment is the villain being played by none other than Christoph Waltz (Inglorious Basterds, Horrible Bosses 2). Waltz has quickly become one of my favorite actors in Hollywood and is at the point where I'm up to see anything that he's in. Spectre is being directed by Sam Mendes, director of Skyfall; so like The Hateful Eight, we don't have a trailer for the film yet but all of the pieces are here for another great Bond film.
Release Date: November 6

4. Jurassic World - While many are skeptical about this movie, and maybe rightfully so, I am very excited for this movie. I loved dinosaurs as a kid and the Jurassic Park series is a definite favorite of mine and with the addition of Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy) in a starring role, this movie has the potential to be one of the best of 2015. Director Colin Trevorrow has only one feature length film to his credit (this being the 2012 romantic comedy, Safety Not Guaranteed) Jurassic World is near the top of my anticipated list but it also has a reasonably high possibility of being a disappointment; with only one trailer out, it's hard to tell how this movie truly will turn out.
Release Date: June 12

3. Inside Out - Our first Pixar film since 2013's Monster's University has the potential to be Toy Story or Finding Nemo good; don't believe me? Watch the trailer, preferably the teaser first and then the full trailer to get the best idea of the story. The film deals with the five emotions in our heads and how the interact with each other, similar to 2001's Osmosis Jones, a film who's title I never thought I'd say again. The film has a pretty impressive voice cast and is being done by a team who's previous credits include Monster's Inc., Finding Nemo and Up. The amount of faith I have in this film is outrageous and could possible steal my spot for favorite movie of 2015 by the end of next year.
Release Date: June 19

2. Avengers: Age of Ultron - The sequel to the record shattering The Avengers sets the stakes even higher with one of the more destructive trailers I've seen in a while; imagine almost a cross between the 2014 Godzilla and Iron Man 3 trailers. Ultron, voiced by James Spader (The Blacklist) has the possibility of being the next Loki in terms of a villain being adored by fans. Watch the trailer and tell me you don't get goosebumps, this will be a fantastic movie and a worthy sequel to one of the greatest superhero movies ever made.
Release Date: May 1

1. Star Wars, Episode VII: The Force Awakens - Raise your hand if you were surprised at this being at the top spot, no one? Didn't think so. If anyone tells you that this is the most anticipated movie of 2015, they're lying, everyone wants a new Star Wars movie, with or without George Lucas. J.J. Abrams taking over at director may be the best thing for the franchise after the mostly bad prequel trilogy. All that's known about the plot is that it takes place 30 years after Return of the Jedi and even with a short trailer, still no more than that is known. I'm hopeful for a full length trailer after Age of Ultron has been released as Disney wouldn't want to step on their own shoes because even if you get a Star Wars trailer in the previews during Age of Ultron, the world and internet will explode about the trailer and not the film. I could know literally nothing about this movie and it would still take my top spot and I will most likely be doing a full Star Wars marathon right before the movie comes out, partially to pump me up more for Episode VII and partially because I'll take any reason to watch six movies consecutively.
Release Date: December 18

FINAL THOUGHTS: These 10 films are the 10 films that all have the potential to be on my top 10 films of 2015 and I for my sake I hope they do. I also hope that there's a movie that I overlooked that I end up seeing that is a real surprise and knocks one of these 10 off. Since it's only January, not all of the films of 2015 have been announced yet, most Christmas Day and Oscar season movies don't get announced until later in the year and those are always films to consider once the year picks up steam.

So here's to 2015, hopefully we'll get great films, good ones and hopefully not too many stinkers, the latter is inevitable though.

The Top 10 Movies of 2014

2014 overall was a pretty solid year for film. When looked back on I think 2014 will be a year that people look at to see when the indie film industry struck back against the mainstream. Just look at the Best Picture nominations and you can see that the indie/art-house really hit hard this year. This is my top 10 list and admittedly there are some movies that I missed. Boyhood, Birdman, Selma and Whiplash were movies that earned high praise and that I wanted to see but unfortunately I was unable to see these films.

Before we get to the best of list, I wanted to a quick shout out, or in this case a dishonorable mention. What I mean by this is that I want to tell you my least favorite movie of 2014.

Annabelle. Seriously this movie is awful. It took everything about the original film (The Conjuring) that was good and threw it all out the window and made a by the numbers horror movie that wasn't scary in the least nor was it in interesting. For these reasons, Annabelle is my worst film of 2014.

...and now, the real list, my top 10 films of 2014, enjoy!

10. Unbroken – I reviewed this a few weeks back and I loved it. It’s a well-executed movie that is powerful and moving, all that being said, it’s not a movie you watch many times; it’s near 3 hours and incredibly draining just from the magnitude of the story. It’s well acted and looks gorgeous and I really think Angelina Jolie should’ve been nominated for Best Director.

9. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – 2014 was a hell of a year for Marvel movies and the Captain America sequel kicked it off. The movie straight up kicks ass and is my favorite phase 2 movies of the characters from The Avengers. This movie stepped up the intensity and the magnitude of the stand-alone Marvel movies and is all the better for it.

8. Fury – I didn’t get a chance to review this after I saw it but it was a great movie that was one of the most intense movies out there. Certain scenes in the tank were not only fun to watch but seriously raised my blood pressure. I would consider this to be the Saving Private Ryan of this decade, it’s gritty, gruesome and takes all of the romanticization out of war; plus Brad Pitt kicks ass.

7. As Above, So Below – The only horror movie to crack my top ten in one of the worst year for horror movies in recent memory. There really were only a few good horror movies this year and this was the best of the best. The movie is not only scary but it challenges your mind and goes in directions you wouldn’t think it ever would. It’s definitely a movie that makes you say/think “WTF” quite a few times and somehow, the ending does the whole movie justice.

6. Big Hero 6 – This was the last movie to make the list as it was the last movie I saw. While not a Marvel movie, it’s a Disney-made movie based off of a Marvel comic. This was not only the best family movie of the year it’s the best animated movie of the year (sorry The Lego Movie). This film has great animation and voice work but more importantly, it’s hysterical and has a lot of heart. This is a movie that I actually hope they make a sequel or two because as long as they keep the original cast and hopefully director, this could become a very good series; but as it sits now, it’s a fantastic stand-alone film.

5. 22 Jump Street – Speaking of sequels. Rarely does a sequel do its predecessor justice and even more rare does that happen with sequels. 22 Jump Street somehow manages to capture what was so great about the first movie and capitalizes on it and even surpasses the original. It’s the funniest movie of the year by far partially because it’s a very self-aware movie that knows what it is and doesn’t try to hide it at all.

4. X-Men: Days of Future Past - As said earlier, 2014 was a huge year for Marvel, X-Men, while not under the Marvel license a fantastic movie that attempted to combine the two timelines of X-Men movies we have through time travel while being able to erase the wretched third installment in the original trilogy, X-Men: The Last Stand. This movie was incredibly good and for a little while was able to hold down my pick for best movie of the year.

3. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - Good god is this movie good. I wasn't sure they'd be able to top Rise of the Planet of the Apes especially with the departure of star James Franco but I was proven wrong. This film focuses much more on the apes, especially the political relationship and struggle between Caesar and and Koba. The movie was a fantastic sequel that surpassed the original film and really excites you for the third and possibly final installment in the Planet of the Apes reboot.

2. Interstellar - This movie. This movie is near 3 hours and the entire time in the theater I was not only on the edge of my seat but I was so beyond interested in the film and where it was going, it was crazy. As a kid I always loved outer space and the universe so to see a movie take what we know about outer space and push through the limits of it was the perfect film for me, especially since it was directed by Christopher Nolan who, if his next movie is just as good as the rest of his resume, may start to creep into my favorite director conversation along with Scorsese and Tarantino. What's truly great about this movie is that in channels your inner child and wonder yet still seems to be grounded in reality which is an incredibly thin line to walk.

1. Guardians of the Galaxy - Like you thought it'd be anything else. This film marks Marvel's fourth appearance on this list which may seem like a lot but this truly was one of their best years in a long time. Guardians was their most ambitious film yet as they chose a comic that not many people read that lacked name recognition with most people. This is also incredibly different from any other Marvel film out there, it's hysterical and most importantly it doesn't take itself too seriously and that's part of what makes this movie great. Another part is that the film really distinguishes itself from every other Marvel movie and brings a freshness to the cinematic universe which is very welcome. If you know me personally, this being my favorite movie of the year should come as no surprise as I couldn't stop talking about it.