Halfway: Top Ten (Thus Far) and Best of Miscellania
Tuesday, July 7, 2015 at 10:07PM
NATHANIEL R in 71, A Pigeon Sat on a Branch, Appropriate Behavior, Cinderella, Clouds of Sils Maria, Ex Machina, Film Bitch Awards, List-Mania, Mad Max, Oscars (15), Tues Top Ten, Year in Review

½way mark - part 7 of 9
It's list time. [cue catchy as yet unwritten TFE jingle here]. We're nearly done with our "halfway mark - year in review" festivities so here is the top ten pictures and a few more Oscar-ish lists for good measure this fine Tuesday.

Top Ten (Thus Far)
in order of official release in 2015

-You know there are people in this world who go on first dates that are perfectly fine and then they wait awhile before they engage sexually.

-That's disgusting."

Appropriate Behavior (USA) d. Desiree Akhavan 
Jan 16th (Screened in January 2014)
Laugh out loud funny and encouragingly specific, it's a shame this Iranian American LGBT romantic comedy didn't break out bigger. It's available for full as a purchase/rental on YouTube.

Shhhh."

'71 (UK) d. Yann Demange.
Feb 27th (Screened in September 2014)
One of the scariest movies I've ever seen, full stop. Jack O'Connell wholly believable as a soldier abandoned in the projects during The Troubles, terrified for his life. 

Of Horses and Men (Iceland) d. Benedikt Erlingsson
Mar 11th (Screened in November 2013 - Iceland's 2013 Oscar Submission) 
It only took a year and half to make it to the States, but this extremely strange tragicomedy (?) about men and their horses is totally memorable. Somehow, despite expert direction and a unique fully formed sensibility, it's a debut feature?!?

7 more pictures after the jump...

Are you looking for this?

Cinderella (UK) d. Kenneth Branagh
Mar 13th 
So ridiculously lux! And since the tale is so familiar the visuals better be eye-popping. On the heels of the often lazy and poorly conceived Maleficent, Disney surprisingly aced their first in a series of attempts to do straight live-action versions of their most famous animated classics. Next up Beauty & The Beast. 

What do I need to do to make you admire me. Do I think too much? Huh? Am I too classical? Not liberated like JoAnn?

Clouds of Sils Maria (France) d. Olivier Assayas.
Apr 10th. (Screened in November 2014)
Like Maria Enders (Juliette Binoche), Sils Maria gets trapped in its own head too often but it's still a riveting actressy duet (until it isn't - damn that Majola Snake!) about time, intimacy, the acting process, cultural relevancy, and more.

 


Ex Machina (USA) d. Alex Garland
Apr 24th. 
I don't want to talk about this one anymore until I have a chance to revisit it -- dvd release on July 14th -- but that still above is a seismic and mysterious moment

HE LOOKED AT ME !!! He looked right at me!"

Mad Max Fury Road (Australia) d. George Miller
May 15th
George Miller, still an exuberant iconoclast at 70, schools nearly all of mainstream Hollywood in how to make an action epic. Non stop invention, iconic visual presentation of characters, insanely-well sustained energy, unexpected character beats, weird sideways humor, breath-taking stunts, and real emotional stakes -- not empty "end of the world" CGI mayhem. Popcorn almost never tastes this good. [Full Review]

I'm happy to hear that you're doing fine."

 

A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (Sweden) d. Roy Andersson
June 3rd (Screened in September 2014)
Those long static shots, which get funnier and funnier the more closely you look at them. The sheer absurdity of the tableaus, the repetitions of human folly. The precision and invention of the brutally funny-sad jokes. Andersson is a one of a kind treasure. I regret to inform that this was my first Andersson so I'll be seeking out the others [More from TIFF]. 

I must have watched this 15 times now because What.The.Fuck?!? I almost put it up on YouTube."

Spy (USA) d. Paul Feig
June 5th
Like most of the key comedy filmmakers of contemporary Hollywood, Feig hasn't yet figured out that comedies should be edited tightly (Bridesmaids, The Heat, Spy all clock in around 2 hours --they're all good and funny but they'd truly ascend with 10-20 minutes shaved off) BUT we're here to celebrate. Feig is three-for-three now with his McCarthy films, which leaves us very excited about what they might do with Ghostbusters. Spy gives all of its actors fun scenes to play, delivers multiple inspired bits, sparks with great co-star chemistry, and manages a genuinely high laugh-per-minute ratio. 

These are Riley's memories and they're mostly happy you'll notice, not to brag."

Inside Out (USA) d. Pete Docter
June 19th
Recently discussed on the podcast -- I'm eager to see it again for so many reasons but isn't it lovely that Pixar finally managed a female driven picture post Brave that everyone is responding to so fully? And isn't it silly that people continually doubt that stories about girls can feel as universal as stories about boys?

 

OTHER LISTS

Consider these starter prep lists for the future Film Bitch Awards (with many more films to threaten their dominance still on the way!) as well as FYCs for awards voters of any stripe. 

Director

Roy Andersson is one of Mike Leigh's favorite directors. If you haven't seen his work, you MUST

 

 

Original Screenplay


 

 

Adapted Screenplay


 

 

Cinematography


Production Design


Costume Design


Editing


Visual Effects


Makeup and Hair


Score


I can't make a full list so I will happily, nay, greedily devour your choices if you have other suggestions. Scoring is still the toughest film art for me to judge. Sometimes I have to will myself into paying attention to so it helps if I have seen the film more than once or give the tracks a spin without the film. 

Sound Mixing


Sound Editing


25 MOVIES I MISSED
Since I've been sharing my favorites in various categories from the 50ish movies I've seen thus far (released this year), it's only fair to tell you what I have NOT seen from the year's releases. You can't see everything but nevertheless I will hear your pleas for which of these I need to catch up with in the comments.

Age of Adaline, The Boy Next Door, Chappie, Child '44, Danny Collins, Da Sweet Blood of Jesus, The Duke of Burgundy, Eastern Boys, Focus, Furious  7, Girlhood, Heaven Knows What, It Follows, Madame Bovary, The Overnight, The Riot Club, Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Slow West, Ted 2, Testament of Youth, Welcome to Me, What We Do In The Shadows, While We're Young, White God, and The Wolfpack 

Previously at the Halfway Mark
pt. 1 Oscar Chart Updates - Acting
pt. 2 10 Best Leading Performances
pt. 3 Best & Worst in Animation 
pt. 4 Most Ubiquitous - Alicia Vikander 
pt. 5 Oscar Chart Updates - Picture 
pt. 6 Best Supporting Performances

Article originally appeared on The Film Experience (http://thefilmexperience.net/).
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