While watching Gone Girl, I felt a need to turn to my husband and whisper, "I'll never do that to you." I'm not sure it made him feel any better. David Fincher's latest is shocking, harrowing, and completely unforgettable. I'm not going to spoil anything, but you have got to see this neo-noir of a marriage gone really, really bad.
Starry Eyes feels like a throwback in a most delightfully creepy way. Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer direct Alex Essoe in a phenomenally insane performance fit for the mindfuck that is the entertainment industry and Los Angeles. If you still want to work in film at the end of this movie, there's something very wrong with you. Coincidentally, I saw this film immediately upon my arrival home from my first trip to L.A.
Ooh, the slow burn revenge thriller Blue Ruin. Macon Blair stars in Jeremy Saulnier's masterpiece on what it means to self destruct by way of vengeance. Watch Blair's everyman bumble and rage his way through the ordeal of picking off the family who were responsible for the deaths of his parents. Compelling as hell and immensely recommended.
Ah, Dexter. Of course, this isn't Dexter, but Michael C. Hall in his post-Dexter project, Cold in July. Adapted from a Joe Lansdale novel, Cold in July features Hall and his unfortunate '80s wardrobe and MIT (mullet-in-training) in a Southern-fried mystery of nasty proportions. Sam Shepard and Don Johnson make a welcome comeback in this awesome Jim Mickle film.
Michael Keaton, we've missed you. The actor plays a hell of a role as one of the principles in Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Birdman. Keaton's character is semi-autobiographical: both have played iconic superheroes (Batman), and both haven't been widely seen in a film for awhile. A fantastic cast is rounded out by Edward Norton, Naomi Watts, a very wide-eyed Emma Stone, Zach Galifianakis, and Andrea Riseborough. A poignant, hilarious, and wholeheartedly honest story of a guy on the precipice of both self-destruction and redemption.
Jake Gyllenhaal in Dan Gilroy's Nightcrawler as Louis Bloom proves a worthy successor to Christian Bale's Patrick Bateman and Robert DeNiro's Travis Bickle. Bloom makes his living as a "nightcrawler," a guy who chases ambulances and news in order to make a living by catching it on camera. It's a career that's every bit as unsavory as you think it is. Keep it up, Jake: sociopath looks damn fine on you.
Jennifer Kent busted the doors of horror wide open with The Babadook, a very weird-sounding title that concerns a nasty entity that haunts Essie Davis (as the exhausted Amelia) and her son Samuel, played by Noah Wiseman. The Babadook has captured the attention of moviegoers worldwide, and now has a successfully funded pop-up book in production, just the terror-filled tome that appeared in the film. Davis is on par with Jack Nicholson's maddened caretaker in The Shining in terms of a riveting, extremely well-acted portrayal of mental illness and grief.
Directed by Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement, who also star as Viago and Vladislav respectively, What We Do In The Shadows is what would happen if you crossed reality TV, particularly The Real World with Dark Shadows. Hilarity ensues in this surprising tale of vampires from different eras who try to get along while they live in the same home. Yes, there are arguments over who does the dishes.
Directed by Frank Pavich, Jodorowsky's Dune is a deep look into the sci-fi epic that never got made---and why. Among the talking heads, we hear from Nicholas Winding Refn, Richard Stanley, Brontis Jodorowsky, and Alejandro Jodorowsky himself. Set to star Orson Welles, Mick Jagger, Salvidor Dali, and David Carradine... With music by Pink Floyd, special effects by Dan O'Bannon, concept art by Moebius, and art direction by H.R. Giger. What could possibly go wrong? Beyond the artwork and wistful recollections, the intense passion of a filmmaker and artist is what really makes this doc shine.
Leave it to Martin Scorsese to make a scene about "drug-induced cerebral palsy." And to elicit screams of inappropriate laughter for not only that one scene in The Wolf of Wall Street, but for most of its running time. However long you may laugh, this is, at its underbelly, a horror film about achieving the American Dream at any cost, and what happens when that dream turns into a black, black nightmare.