If 2012 showed promise, and 2013 failed to live up to that promise, then 2014 was the year that the movies finally came back. There were interesting films released all year long, but there was an especially impressive explosion of challenging, fascinating films after the summer blockbuster season died down.
Biopics are quite tricky to pull off. It’s nearly impossible to distill one person’s life neatly into two hours, and the end result is often cliché-ridden and full of glaring omissions. Director Ava Duvernay doesn’t fall into those traps, here. She tells one story in Dr. Martin Luther King’s life, and we’re expected to know enough about the man and his prior accomplishments to not be lost. And of course, we do.
What’s most fascinating is seeing the various black leaders of the day argue about strategy and who’s right and who’s wrong and who should lead. We watch comfortably from the future and it’s easy to forget that for all these people knew, it could’ve blown up in their faces.
For those of you who have somehow avoided seeing the trailers that have been playing on repeat since May, Into the Woods is loosely based on multiple fairy tales and is an adaptation of a musical that premiered in 1986. It is also a giant, sprawling mess of a story but one that is mostly saved by being a musical.
Roughly 800 movies were released on Christmas Day and I was determined to see the only one that really, truly interested me. Unfortunately American Sniper wasn’t playing anywhere in my city so here’s a review of Into the Woods. (Yes, I am bitter but no I will not be taking it out on another movie just because it wasn’t what I wanted.)
Honestly, I thought people would be a lot more upset with those leaked Sony memos. We’re learning all kinds of neat things because of them. We know we’re not getting The Interview anytime soon, which is thus far sparked far more outrage than anything else connected to the memos. Fair enough. No one likes to see an entire country that supposedly doesn’t negotiate with terrorist groups cave in to a hacker group that may or may not (sources say they do) have ties to North Korea. Sony is clearly terrified at whatever else the hackers might have. Judging by what we’ve seen so far, perhaps Sony should be afraid.
Thanks to the first Fact or Fiction column, certain members of the Drunk Monkeys staff will now only speak to certain other members of the Drunk Monkeys staff through an impenetrable wall of sadomasochistic attorneys. Our staff pot lucks/capture the flag marathon weekends will never be the same.
So much fun was had with giving a FACT or FICTION response to three talking points related to cinema, we’ve decided to do it again. We’re not sure how this one is going to go over, but bets are being taken on who is going to wind up sobbing first.
If you can get over the so-so special effects, you can then be disappointed by the acting. Thorin’s insanity is shown through strange slow motions and vocal changes, as well as a scene in which his psychosis manifests hilariously. The unemotional elves, including Orlando Bloom, are way too unemotional except for Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly) who overcompensates for everyone else. Bilbo (Martin Freeman) and Gandalf (Ian McKellen) are barely in it. Nobody else is worth mentioning.
So here’s the rundown of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (which will be referred to as Hobbit 3 from here on out).