Films I have seen in 2015 (So far)

I am often asked by people in both a joking and non-joking manor if I have seen every movie that is out in cinemas at the moment. Sometimes I feel like I do but more often to not, I like to think that I have become much pickier lately.

Don't get me wrong, I still see a lot of movies. So I decided to list all the movies that I have seen this year. Most of them are movies that have come out this year. Some are movies that are from year's past that I saw for one reason or another.

So without further ado, and in the spirit of the list the Steven Soderbergh creates on his website, here is the list of movies that I have seen this year. Presented here in no particular order.

Ex Machina 

2001: A Space Odyssey (Seen this with a live orchestra) 

Mad Max: Fury Road 

Blackhat 

Taken 3

Kingsman: The Secret Service 

It Follows 

Back to the Future Part II 

Inherent Vice 

McFarland, USA

Run All Night 

Wes Craven's New Nightmare 

The Gunman 

Get Hard

John Carpenter's In The Mouth of Madness

Avengers: Age of Ultron 

Ant-Man 

San Andreas 

Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension 

The Big Chill 

Seconds 

Badlands 

Spy 

Jurassic World 

Mission Impossible: Rouge Nation

Dope

Minions

Terminator: Genisys 

Southpaw

Straight Outta Compton 

Black Mass 

Sicario 

The Walk 

The Martian 

Bridge of Spies 

Selma 

Whiplash 

Furious 7 

The Gambler 

Third Person

American Sniper 

John Wick 

Jaws

Foxcatcher 

Hours 

Black Sunday 

Black Sea 

Photos from 2015

2015 has been a great year for me in terms of the photos that I have done. I have a had a chance to do a wide range of photos and I hope to continue to do many more as the year comes to a close. Here are some of my favorite photos that I have taken so far this year. Enjoy!

- Hash

All pictures Copyright Steven Hash 

Songs from Soundtracks That Don't Suck #4: Talk Show Host by Radiohead from the Soundtrack to "Romeo + Juliet"

Today's song comes from Chelsea Gorham, a director at LEX 18. To be honest this is actually a really great pick from her. It comes from the Romeo + Juliet soundtrack. The soundtrack was huge at the time of the film's release in 1996 with a lot of memorable songs coming from it. But for many people, "Talk Show Host" by the band Radiohead, remains their favorite song. 

For one thing, the whole tone of the song just fits the film. Baz Luhrmann's interpretation of the William Shakespeare play is wild and very angsty at times. This song perfectly fits into the angsty part of the equation. 

The part of the film that the song plays in is very appropriate. Leonardo DiCaprio, who plays Romeo, is walking along the fictional Verona Beach. He is in despair. The growing feud between his family (The Capulet family) and another family (The Montauge family) is tearing him apart inside. The scene starts with the family, minus Romeo, looking upon him from their limo as he walks along the beach alone.

We see it in the ruins all around the beach, which clearly has seen better days. The music matches Romeo's mood and the ruins that surround him. "Radiohead" lead singer Thom Yorke's voice sets the tone right from the first line in the lyrics: 

I want to, I want to be someone else or I'll explode

I mean, those lyrics are just spot on for this moment! Not just in mood but in what Romeo is feeling inside his head. You could read those lyrics as exactly what Romeo is thinking about in that moment. 

Luhrmann does a great job directing this scene as well. He lets the camera follow DiCaprio around and also gets some shots of the decaying area around him. It's angsty and moody but it is just the RIGHT amount of angsty and moody. 

Of the film overall, I am not enamored with it. It is too over the top and the characters get lost in the scenery at times. But this scene however is a gem. Most of all it captures the mood of what Luhrmann was trying to go for in the film. It really is attuned to where Romeo is right at the start of the story. 

The last lyrics of the song, (I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready I'm ready) sound like something that Romeo would say if anyone was standing there with him at the moment in time. Considering what is to come Romeo soon in the film, those lyrics are a fitting end to the scene in more ways that one. 

- Hash

2015 Academy Awards Preview (or The Opinion of One Guy Who Has Seen Most of the Movies Nominated) Part Five

After a write up consisting of four different parts, it is time to talk about the one category that is always fun to debate about: Best Picture! 

So who do I think is going to win the big prize? Let's not start with a long paragraph this time. Let's just get right to it! 

BEST PICTURE

American Sniper 

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) 

Boyhood

The Grand Budapest Hotel 

The Imitation Game

Selma 

The Theory of Everything

Whiplash 

The thing that jumps out for me on this list is that frankly, this really is a really great list of films this year. There is no one film that is in here that makes everyone groan. I could make an argument for Foxcatcher being included on this list but other than that. I have no problems with the nominees listed here. 

So to start, who has no chance of winning? I think that honor has to go to The Theory of Everything. It's a fine movie no doubt. Well acted with a great subject matter. But it's the kind of biographic film you see at the Oscars every year and the film just doesn't really scream "BEST PICTURE!" Maybe Best Actor, but not Best Picture. The same I think goes for the other British film on this list, The Imitation Game. It is really odd with this movie because on paper, you think this would be an easy win for Best Picture. It's a prestige British Film. It is on the subject of World War II. You have two big name actors in Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley. It is also about a gay man being persecuted which is a big hot topic issue going on right now. But it seems that many people think that it is one of those movies that is really good, just not best of the year good.

The Grand Budapest Hotel is a movie that a lot of people really do love though. It's hard to find someone that hated it. However it has been put in what I call "the Moulin Rouge spot." It is going to win a good number of technical awards and be a film that many people admire for years, it is just not going to win Best Picture. The same thing can be said for Selma. This film will be remembered for years to come. It is an important historical film. Many people are upset that it will not win Best Picture and they have every right to be that way. But it is also going to join a list of amazing films that have also not won Best Picture. Seriously, go to Google and look up the list of nomintated movies that have lost Best Picture. It's not a bad list to be on. 

Now if I had my pick, Whiplash would win Best Picture no questions asked. It is the first movie that I can think of in years that I had a visceral reaction to. The movie moves you with the story, the acting, and especially the music. But the fact that the movie is such a gut punch at times I think is what's going to scare off the voters. It happens a lot. Why else could you explain why similar gut punch films like Raging Bull and Brokeback Mountain lost out on Best Picture to the more accessible to watch films like Ordinary People and Crash? 

Oddly enough, I think this also will apply to American Sniper. True it is a dark horse pick. It is the most popular film nominated. As of this writing, the film has made $308 Million Dollars at the U.S. box office. That is not a number to sneeze at. Also, it is directed by past Academy Award winner Clint Eastwood. But I have a feeling that even though it is raking in piles of money, the Academy is not going to give it Best Picture. You have a lot of liberal members in the voting branch and they really will not respond to the right leaning ways of the main character of the film. Also, you know they have to worry about a Crash-like backlash happening again if they let the movie win Best picture. 

So that leaves two films. The first one being Boyhood. For awhile, it was the presumed front runner. It has popped up on a slew of best of the year lists. Richard Linklater is a very popular director. It was filmed over a 12 year period, which definitely an interesting story to voters watching the film. It's also well acted which had to be a hard thing to continue to do over the years of filming. But the one thing that I think it is a determent to the movie is that it came out in the summer. Thus, people have had a long time to watch in theaters, watch it on DVD or on their computers. That is enough time for one movie to be picked apart and talked about by many people. So much so, that complaints about the film being gimmicky have started to surface. 

Because of that, I believe that Birdman is going to be the film that wins Best Picture. That is not a bad thing in the least. I love the movie. It's well acted with a career defining performance by Michael Keaton. It is well directed. It also has great camera work by Emmanuel Lubezki, who is hot at the moment coming off of a win for the similar one-take film, Gravity. Also if there is one type of film that the Academy in recent years have loved to honor, it is films that celebrate the world of cinema and the theater and the power they have over people. The Artist and Argo are two recent examples that come to mind. Expect Birdman to soar up into the air and join the list of Best Picture winners. 

Should Win: 

Whiplash 

Will Win: 

 

Enjoy the show this Sunday!

- Hash

2015 Academy Awards Preview (or The Opinion of One Guy Who Has Seen Most of the Movies Nominated) Part Four

Best Director. A controversial category due to who is not nominated.


The fact that Ava Duvernay is not nominated for Best Director is criminal. Selma is an amazing film that was snubbed in many categories but this is where the snubbing of the film hurt the most. The Academy had a chance to make history by giving a directing nomination to a black woman for the first time. Instead, it played it safe with a couple of the choices here.

At least there are other people in this category who deserved to be here for films that are great. Also there is some curve balls being thrown in over who is going to win.

So with that, let's look at the category:

BEST DIRECTOR

Wes Anderson - The Grand Budapest Hotel

 Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu - Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) 

Richard Linklater - Boyhood

Bennett Miller - Foxcatcher 

Morten Tyldum - The Imitation Game 

Odd thing about this category is that you get the feeling of deja vu creeping up this year. In 2010, it was assumed that David Fincher was going to win Best Director for The Social Network. He won all the early critics awards. The movie was popular with critics and audiences. But slowly but surely, The King's Speech started winning major awards. Come Oscar night, it beat Social Network for best picture and director. In 2015, that same thing is going to happen again. This time, it is Richard Linklater who is going to end up losing. For most of the year, he has been the frontrunner to win best director. Boyhood and the way the film was shot over a 12 year period has been discussed at length since the film came out this summer. It is impressive for sure, especially since Linklater was able to keep the performances that good for that length of time. But lately, complaints about the story have popped up. Is it involving enough? Is the movie too slow? Is the movie too gimmicky? The film has been out for so long that people have begun to look for a better, sexier option and that option appears to be Birdman and it's director. Inarritu has been a favorite of the Academy for years. 21 Grams, Babel, and Biutiful have all gotten acclaim over the years but he has yet to win any awards for his work. That ends this Sunday. The competition otherwise doesn't look like it could knock either one of these two gentlemen out. Wes Anderson is finally getting some long overdue acclaim from the Academy for Grand Budapest, but the film seems to be more likely to win the technical awards than any of the major awards. Morten Tyldum is the newcomer in this group but his work on Imitation Game was good but nothing outstanding. (I would have switched his spot out with DuVernay and let her get the nomination over him.) And Bennett Miller continues to impress with his third directing nomination in a row for Foxcatcher but the coldness of the story seems to have turned people off. When it comes down to it, Academy members will give Innarritu the Oscar for the way he guided Birdman and got the great performances out of the film. It doesn't speak bad to Linklater, he is just losing to the sexier option at the moment. As it showed before in 2010, it happens sometimes. 

Should Win and Will Win: 

2015 Academy Awards Preview (or The Opinion of One Guy Who Has Seen Most of the Movies Nominated) Part Three

For part three of my look at the Academy Awards, I am looking the at the races for Best Actor and Actress. One of these races has become very predictable while the other one seemed predictable for awhile but has now become a two person race.

It's funny with both of these categories you kinda get a microcosm of how the Oscars categories go most years. It's either a fun, unpredictable race that could go either way or it becomes a race where the winner is predictable and we get to watch as they act super surprise that they won the award.

But both the races this year feature actors that audiences have loved and respected over the years. You get the sense from both of these categories that whoever wins their respective awards that it is going to be long overdue for them.

So with that in mind, let's look at the categories:

BEST ACTRESS

Marion Cotillard - Two Days, One Night

Felicity Jones - The Theory of Everything

Julianne Moore - Still Alice 

Rosamund Pike - Gone Girl 

Reese Witherspoon - Wild 

For awhile, this category looked like it could be one of the most unpredictable ones to pick in a long while. Then Julianne Moore started winning every major acting award this season and slowly it has started to feel like it is Moore's to lose. To be honest, it would not be a bad thing at all. Moore is a very respected actor. The list of classic film's she has been in is endless. She also has been nominated four times and has not won yet. This very much is in her favor. Marion Cotillard's nomination was a nice surprise for her work in Two Days, One Night but she is the film's only nomination. Felicity Jones really did great work in The Theory of Everything. It is the kind of performance that announces that someone has arrived on the scene. But her co-star Eddie Redmayne is getting most of the awards  attention, so she will have to settle for the nomination. Early in the year, it seemed like Rosamund Pike would be a contender for her stellar work in Gone Girl. But she is the film's only nomination and as noted before, some members of the academy really hated the movie. Reese Witherspoon on the other hand gave her best performance in years in Wild. Any other year, she would win this easily. It is just a subtle, brilliant performance. But two things stop her. One, the movie has not really caught on with the public in the way a lot of people thought it would. And she has won an Oscar before in 2005 for Walk the Line. Take that into account, and becomes clear that Julianne Moore is going to be walking up to the podium for her first Oscar trophy.

Should Win and Will Win: 

BEST ACTOR

Steve Carell - Foxcatcher

Bradley Cooper - American Sniper 

Benedict Cumberbatch - The Imitation Game 

Michael Keaton - Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Eddie Redmayne - The Theory of Everything 

This is the fun category of the night. Everyone in this category is very much liked by audiences and critics alike. With that being said, I am going to admit to a personal preference here: I want Michael Keaton to win this. I have been a big fan of Keaton's for years. Not just Batman, but with his work in Beetlejuice, Clean and Sober, Pacific Heights, Night Shift, The Nice Guys, etc. He has been an actor who for years as been able to go between comedy and drama very easily. That is not an easy thing to do at all and to see him get noticed finally is a great thing. Is it enough to win though? Well the competition is stiff. Bradley Cooper has the advantage of being in the most popular film in the category, American Sniper. His portrayal of military sniper Chris Kyle is a heartfelt and emotional performance. It is also impressive that this is Cooper's third year in a row of getting an Oscar nomination. But for as huge as the film as been, so has been the controversy over the facts and the politics of the film. Academy voters will probably be too scared of giving Cooper an Oscar here. Steve Carell was also impressive in Foxcatcher as John Du Pont. But the character is very unlikable and considering who Carell is up against in this category, that hurts. Benedict Cumberbatch is the superstar of this category for sure. Ladies love him and he has been in several popular movies and television shows over the past couple of years. His work in The Imitation Game as the gay mathematician Alan Turning is usually the type of part that wins Oscars easily. But for some reason, the film has not caught on in a way that one would think that it would. And then there is Eddie Redmayne. The performance he gives in The Theory of Everything is an extraordinarily physical one. He really makes you feel the effects that ALS has on Professor Stephen Hawking. It is not cheesy in the slightest bit. Redmayne has a good chance to win, but there is also a feeling that his performance is the type that we have seen from past winners before. Keaton has the benefit of being in a movie that lived or died on his performance. Birdman was a unique film in that it went from comedy to drama and back in the blink of an eye. Keaton handled all of this with ease at times. Because he has the harder part to play, Keaton will win Best Actor. Let's just hope we can get a Beettlejuice sequel because of this now! 

Should Win and Will Win: 

That is it for the post. Tomorrow, I will have a look at Best Director and then Friday, a look at the Best Picture race. 

- Hash 

2015 Academy Awards Preview (or The Opinion of One Guy Who Has Seen Most of the Movies Nominated) Part Two

For part two of my Academy Award predictions, I am going to be looking at the Supporting Actor and Actress categories. Two categories that have the reputation for being the weakest fields in the Oscar race, Albeit for different reasons.

I think this is a misconception in some ways. True it is not a super strong year for supporting performances. But that doesn't mean that we didn't get any great performances. I can think of about three actors nominated throughout both of these categories that truly deserve to be remembered long after the awards season is over. Also most of these performances came from actors who the audience has always relied on to give us great performances over the years, no matter the quality of the film.

So without further ado, here is a look at the nominees for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress:

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Robert Duvall - The Judge

 Ethan Hawke - Boyhood

Edward Norton - Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Mark Ruffalo - Foxcatcher

J.K. Simmons - Whiplash 

Of any category of the night, this one is a shoo-in for J.K. Simmons. Simmons is just that good in Whiplash. Simmons is very much unlikeable in the film, but he makes you feel the passion for music that his music teacher character Terrence Fletcher has. The character is very much an asshole, no doubt. But you see a beating heart behind it all and that is no easy feat to pull off for Simmons at all. As for the other nominees, each one of them can enjoy the night and the nomination. If anyone has any hope to upset Simmons it might be Mark Ruffalo in Foxcatcher. As Dave Schultz, the famed former Olympic wrestler who meets a very tragic end, Ruffalo brought a level head and heart to the film that helped balance out the mental issues in the story between Steve Carell and Channing Tatum. Edward Norton is great in Birdman and it was great to see him back in a good film like that since he has not done much in the last few years. But you get the sense that he really is kinda playing a version of his reputation in the movie and not much more. Same for Ethan Hawke in Boyhood. Hawke has had a great couple of years of success but the movie is more memorable for other aspects than his performance. And Robert Duvall is an American Treasure of acting and gives an impressive performance in The Judge. Unfortunate for Duvall though, reviews on the film were really mixed and he is film's only nomination. So if Simmons loses this category, expect a huge gasp in the audience as well as some Fletcher like cursing from a few people as well. 

Should Win and Will Win: 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Patricia Arquette - Boyhood

Lauren Dern - Wild

Keira Knightley - The Imitation Game

Emma Stone - Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Meryl Streep - Into The Woods

First off, Meryl Streep has no business being nominated. She is fine in Into The Woods, but if anyone from that movie was going to be nominated, it should have been Emily Blunt. So with Streep thankfully not winning, this race becomes more interesting. It was a great surprise seeing Lauren Dern nominated for her heartfelt work in Wild. But she has not really been nominated or won any other acting race so a win here is unlikely.  Keira Knightley is great as usual in The Imitation Game but it is the kind of performance we have seen from her before. Emma Stone I think gives the best performance in this category for Birdman. She never really overacted too much and I thought she stood toe to toe quite well with Michael Keaton in that film. But in the end, I think Patricia Arquette takes home the trophy for her work in Boyhood. She gives maybe the most heartfelt performance in the film and the scene at the end where her character's son gets ready to go to college is a heart breaker for any mother who has watched their kid go to school. A lot of older women voting in this category might relate to that. So while it would be good to see Stone win here, Arquette winning would be just as deserved.

Should Win: Emma Stone

Will Win: 

That is it for this post. Next time we will look at the Best Actor and Best Actress races. Best Actress is up in the air for any number of the women in that category. Best Actor seems to be going for Michael Keaton but is an upset inevitable in that race? 

- Hash

2015 Academy Awards Preview (or The Opinion of One Guy Who Has Seen Most of the Movies Nominated) Part One

Last week, The Academy Award Nominations were announced and did the controversy fly or what? It has been a long time since we have seen this much grumbling over what was not nominated. In past years, you usually would see chatter like that die down after a week or so, but this year, the snub of films like Selma and The Lego Movie might end up having a real impact on the races this year.

This year's collection of films is very good even with all the grumbling over what was or was not nominated. A lot of films that were deemed sure things early on (Gone Girl, Inherent Vice,) didn't even get a best picture nomination. It seems the Academy this year went for films that favored strong storytelling WITH strong acting. All of the best picture nominees this year seemed to have performances that many people were talking about afterwards. In the case of some movies, like The Imitation Game, the performances is what got people to the movies in the first place.

Whatever turns out of all the controversy, this year's slate of films at least promises to at least give us a few surprises or so. I now give you my take on all the categories in the coming days and who wins the Oscar in each category this year. This will be a series and I will conclude it closer to the actual awards show.


First up, the screenplay races:

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY


American Sniper - Jason Hall 

The Imitation Game - Graham Moore

Inherent Vice - Paul Thomas Anderson

The Theory of Everything - Anthony McCarten 

Whiplash - Damien Chazelle

We start with one of the toughest categories of the night. There really is no clear favorite right out of the gate. Most of these movies come with controversy and baggage of some sort. Let's start with Inherent Vice from the great Paul Thomas Anderson. He probably was the biggest surprise nominee in this category. Popular opinion says that he took the spot that Gillian Flynn was going to have for adapting her own book Gone Girl. Anderson is a very well respected filmmaker but he doesn't have much of a chance of wining this category. The film only went up for one other award (Best Costume) and the few people who saw the film are still trying to figure out what the heck the film was about. American Sniper is a mega hit at the theaters right now. Audiences love the film but other people hate it with a passion it seems. Whether it has to do with how much of the story is fabricated or whether the film is really some sort or right wing propaganda machine, you just don't get the sense that the film hasn't got much momentum here for a win. As for both The Imitation Game and The Theory of Everything, both are very highly regarded British films. But both films seem to be highly regarded for other areas but the writing. Both films have great lead performances and both are very technically sound. But Theory has been accused by some for being inert and uninvolved in spots of the story while Imitation has had some questions over whether the film glossed over certain facts of it's real life story. That leaves Whiplash. It's one of the most well received critical hits of the year and the fact that it comes from a short film is a surprise for most people. Since that film's chances of winning best picture do seem slim at best, this and Best Supporting Actor might be where the film gets it's due. 

Should Win and Will Win: 

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) - 

Alejandro González Iñárritu,  Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. and Armando Bo

 Boyhood - Richard Linklater

Foxcatcher - E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman 

The Grand Budapest Hotel - Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness

Nightcrawler - Dan Gilroy

Another tough category to pick. All of these films have been very well received by audiences and critics. Two films on this list though have tough chances of winning. Foxcatcher has been nominated in other categories but the lack of a best picture nomination really sinks it's chances here. Same goes for Nightcrawler. It's chances were probably damaged the moment Jake Gyllenhaal failed to get a Best Actor nomination. Boyhood may end up winning Best Picture and a few other awards during the evening. But considering that many people are talking about the movie's directing and how good the acting is and how there never really was much of a set script over the years, one is not getting a strong sense of a win here. So that leaves Birdman and Grand Budapest and this is where it gets hard. Both films are inventive and both show off wonderful storytelling. What makes the difference? In the case of Birdman, the discussion has been on Michael Keaton. Keaton is truly the anchor of the film and the film would really have been lost without him. However, ask anyone why Grand Budapest worked and the answer you would get the most is Wes Anderson. He has been very well regarded filmmaker for years by both audiences and critics. For reasons unknown, the Academy has not given him much in the way of nominations to Anderson over the years. This is the year I think he finally gets some recognition and this is the category where he finally wins an Oscar. While it would not be a shock to see Birdman win, it looks to be a Grand night for Wes Anderson at last. 

Should Win and Will Win: 

That is it for this post. Next time, we will look at the Best Supporting Actor and Actress races. Both of these races look like easy wins for actors in both categories. Or are they? We will look at that next time.

- Hash