Richard Linklater’s adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s musical Merrily We Roll Along is not the first time the director has taken on a monumental task of producing a movie over a long period of years. His first effort in this style, Boyhood, was filmed over 12 years. For this latest production, he’s going even longer, as filming is planned to take 20 years, with 15 more years or so to go after production officially began in 2019. Boyhood was a monumental achievement, but I have to wonder if trying it again will work again. There has already been a major issue, which I’ll address.

Two Decades Is A Long Time

I completely appreciate that Linklater pulled this trick off with Boyhood, but there are some differences here. Notably, it’s almost twice as long a shooting schedule. A lot can happen over two decades. Like Boyhood, Merrily We Roll Along has a small cast that includes Paul Mescal, Beanie Feldstein, Ben Platt, Mallory Bechtel, Hannah Cruz and Lin-Manuel Miranda. This works in favor of the director, as there are fewer chances for something to happen to one of the cast members.

However, that very thing has already happened. When filming began in 2019, Blake Jenner, who previously worked with Linklater in Everybody Wants Some!!, was cast to play the lead, Franklin Shepard. After wrapping the initial production, Jenner was accused of domestic abuse by his ex-wife (and Glee co-star) Melissa Benoist. In the fallout from that, Paul Mescal replaced Jenner in the cast, forcing reshoots to happen in 2021. Not to make light of the situation by any means, but it’s a stark example of something happening that is out of Linklater's control.

I don’t expect anything like that to happen again, but that doesn’t mean that something won’t happen to a cast member. People get into disagreements, people’s priorities change, God forbid someone gets sick… There are just so many variables. Think about where you were in 2006 and where you are today. It’s been a long time. This time, it meant reshoots early in the process, so what if something happens at the end of the full production?

If Linklater And Company Pull It Off, It Could Be Epic

If you don’t know the story of Merrily We Roll Along, it’s perfect for this kind of ambitious project. It takes place over 20 years and is presented in reverse chronological order, so presumably, the first part of the production in 2019 and 2021 was covering the end of the movie, when the cast is at their youngest. Shooting it in “real time” is very cool, and it means there won’t be a need for heavy makeup or weird CGI de-aging.

It’s also a well-known property, but it wasn’t an immediate hit. In fact, the original Broadway production, which opened in 1981, flopped almost immediately. It was panned by critics and audiences alike, and though its reputation has been re-examined over the years, it’s still a divisive entry in Sondheim’s canon. The movie, and the production style, could solve the biggest complaint critics have had over the years, that the story is a bit confusing and hard to follow because of the reverse chronology. Having family actors playing the roles across the entire two decades would make it much easier to follow.

I have no idea if Linklater and the cast will pulls this off, but if they do, they will deserve a huge amount of praise for the ambition alone.

Let me just start this off by admitting that I love the 2014 movie, Birdman.

I even—wrongly I might add—called it the best Best Picture winner of the 2010s (I've since seen the error of my ways and now give that title to Parasite). I only bring this up since I definitely wanted Birdman to beat Boyhood back in 2015. However, if it had been any other year, I definitely would have wanted Boyhood to win Best Picture.

Ambitious, excellent, and unlike any other movie ever made, a lot of people believe that Boyhood (which we gave 5 out of 5 stars in our initial review) was robbed when Birdman won. That said, I don't hear anybody talking about the film anymore, and I just find that weird given what a towering achievement this movie is. Don't you? If not, then here's why I, at the very least, find it strange that this masterpiece doesn’t get talked about more these days.

Boyhood Took An Astonishing 12 Years To Make. Who Does That?

Does Boyhood have the longest production cycle of any movie ever? Surprisingly no, as Orson Welles's, The Other Side of the Wind, took a staggering 48 years to finish (and Welles didn't even get to see its completion since it was released in 2018, and Welles perished in 1985).

However, while Wind is thoroughly unique in its elongated production cycle—and you can actually watch it right now on Netflix—it's still arguably not as impressive as the feat performed by Richard Linklater, as he essentially filmed a child's growth from adolescence to adulthood in 12 years.

And honestly, who does this? Most directors would just find a child, a teenager, and an adult to show the passage of time. Just think of the cast of Moonlight, and the three different actors who played Chiron to get a sense of what I mean.

But for Linklater? That's amateur hour (I'm only kidding. I'm sure he respects his fellow directors to the nth degree). Honestly, Boyhood wouldn't really be the masterpiece that it is if Linklater had just filmed it like any other director.

Watching not only the actors age, but also the setting change over the years really does give you a true sense of time. And, filming for 12 straight years should be remembered, don't you think?

Not Only That, But Richard Linklater Didn't Even Work With A Full Script. He Just Let Boyhood Take Its Course

Here's the craziest thing about Boyhood if you ask me. Linklater didn’t even work with a full script. I mean, he knew where he wanted the film to end, but when it came to the rest of the story, he watched the footage he did each year, and then continued to write from there.

Again, who does that? You know how the cast of Stranger Things has grown up so dramatically from Season 1 all the way up to Season 5 that it's almost comical how much they've changed? Well, in this fim that change is recorded in real time, and it’s intentional.

Our protagonist, Mason, played by Ellar Coltrane, starts out at 6-years-old, and by the end of the film, they’re 18. Throughout the movie, we see the character go from house to house as his divorced mother and father (played by Patricia Arquette, who won the Academy Award for her performance, and Ethan Hawke, respectively), go through multiple relationships and move several times.

Along the way, we also get to see the director’s daughter, Lorelei, grow up, as well as various cultural phenomenons, like the midnight release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and Obama’s presidential run, play a part in the film.

Again, Linklater was seemingly writing the screenplay to coincide with events that were both happening in the real world, but could also affect children growing up in this time period. In that way, it almost seems like Linklater was writing a screenplay not only for the characters, but also documenting the zeitgeist itself, and doesn’t that at least deserve to be remembered?

The Adult Actors' Experiences Changed Alongside The Child Actor As Well

As a parent (whose 9-year-old-daughter just started watching The Simpsons), one of the most potent scenes in the entire movie doesn’t even really involve the protagonist. Instead, it involves his mother, Olivia, as she thinks about how fast life has moved as she prepares to send her son off to college.

And, that’s the thing about it. Even though we spend the majority of the film watching a boy become a man, the biggest blow (for me, anyway) is watching his parents grow up, too. Because we didn’t just see young Mason and his sister get older in the span of 12 years. We also watched Arquette and Hawke get older, as well.

Just think about that. When Linklater started filming in 2002, Hawke was just coming off of working with Denzel Washington in 2001’s Training Day, and Arquette had just finished working on a movie from one of Charlie Kaufman’s arguably lesser screenplays, Human Nature.

By the time Boyhood wrapped up its production, Arquette had had a successful run on the TV show, Medium, and Hawke had been in several movies, with some of them being certified bangers, like Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, Sinister, and The Purge, just to name a few. Obviously, both actors changed a great deal over the course of 12 years, both personally and professionally, and you can see it all over their faces throughout the course of the film. It’s quite a thing to see!

And Yet, It's All Still Really Good!

Honestly, one might look at a movie like this and think it’s all just a gimmick, but no! Boyhood is the real deal!

As a child of divorce myself, seeing the very real emotions of a child watching his parents start new lives with different people really impacted me more than I knew until I watched it again a second time. What’s interesting is that I watched the movie when it first came out, but watching it over a decade later has really changed my perspective on things, because I’ve changed as well.

I now have a house, two kids, lost my mother, and deal with my own mortality. In turn, watching the film is strange, because I can understand both the child side, but also the adult side.

My colleague, Phillip Sledge, recently wrote about how watching Malcolm in the Middle as a parent is a whole other experience, and I can say the same about Boyhood. The passage of time to tell this story is not just some flash in the pan experiment. It’s documenting what life actually feels like, both as a child growing up into adulthood, and also as an adult growing into middle age.

The whole experience is unbelievable, and I just find it strange that if I didn’t start talking about it in this article, you might have forgotten that this movie even existed, which is so bizarre to me when a film is of such high quality.

The Fact That It Didn't Win Best Picture Should Have Cemented It As Being A Modern Classic, And Yet It Still Feels Forgotten

Lastly, there’s something to be said for movies that didn’t win Best Picture that most people think should have.

Citizen Kane losing to How Green Was My Valley is probably the most famous example, but there are several others, like Saving Private Ryan losing to Shakespeare in Love, Pulp Fiction losing to Forrest Gump, Star Wars losing to Annie Hall, and Brokeback Mountain losing to Crash (I’m still not quite over that one).

But, in every case, the aforementioned movies’ losses further cemented them as being classics, rather than diminishing their impact.

It’s for this reason that some people might have a Mandela Effect moment and think that Goodfellas or The Shawshank Redemption won Best Picture, when in reality, Dances With Wolves, and (again!) Forrest Gump, respectively, beat them both. Because for the general consensus, Goodfellas SHOULD have won Best Picture; Shawshank SHOULD have beaten Gump.

I’m surprised the same thing hasn’t happened to Boyhood. Because as much as I love Birdman, I know most people don’t see it as the masterpiece that I do. So, the fact that people have pretty much forgotten about both movies really doesn’t make much sense to me. I would think that Boyhood would be recognized as the Goodfellas, or the Shawshank of today, i.e. the movie that SHOULD have won, but didn’t. But no. Instead it’s just mostly forgotten, and that really mystifies me.

Do you also think it’s weird? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Fathers and sons have complicated relationships. Sometimes they can be the sweetest, most wonderful ones, and sometimes they can be dark and sinister. Most of the time, they are somewhere in between. Films throughout history have explored these relationships in every way, from serious dramas like The Godfather to comedies about dads and sons like Elf. Here is a list of our favorite movies exploring the love or hate between sons and their fathers.

Field Of Dreams

Near or at the top of any list of the complicated relationships between fathers and sons has to be the classic Field Of Dreams, a movie that no matter how often you rewatch it, you see something new, and you probably shed a little tear at the end when dad and son finally have that game of catch. It's something almost all kids can relate to, and makes fathers long for childhood again.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Superheros have long had complex relationships with their dads. From Superman to Batman, and even in the MCU. In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, we learn about Star-Lord's father, played by Kurt Russell. Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) never knew his father and lost his mother at a young age and both of those things help mold his personality and his ethos, so when he finally meets his dad, it gets messy.

In The Name Of The Father

One of Daniel Day-Lewis' best roles came as a man accused of a terrorist attack that he didn't commit in In The Name Of The Father. The movie, based on a true story, explores the complicated nature of how a father and son interact when his father is also wrongly implicated in the same plot and both are sent to prison together. It's an amazing movie sure to bring a tear to your eye.

Boyz N The Hood

Furious Styles (Laurence Fishburne) is a single father trying his hardest to keep his son Tre off the streets and raise him the right way in a world working hard against him in Boyz N The Hood. Furious is tough on his son, but it's only because he loves Tre and he knows he has to be tough to survive and avoid all the pitfalls of a teenager in South Central LA.

Road to Perdition

Michael Sullivan (Tom Hanks) is an orphan taken in by a mob boss, John Rooney (Paul Newman) in one of the best examples of a movie based on a comic book that isn't about a superhero, Road to Perdition. Without spoiling too much, the relationship is strained, to say the least, and culminates in a dramatic scene between the two that is the ultimate expression of how difficult the dynamic can get.

Back To The Future

Back To The Future isn't only a movie about the relationship between a father and a son, but Marty's relationship with his father George is one of the pivotal plot points from beginning to end. They clearly love each other, but Marty (Michael J. Fox) doesn't respect George (Crispin Glover), until the very end when his father proves what kind of man he can be.

Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade

At the heart of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is the relationship between father (Sean Connery) and son (Harrison Ford). They pretty much disagree about everything and both think the other is a little silly at times (or all the time), but they show the strength of their relationship when they come together to complete the task that the father started decades ago and it makes for some amazing moments throughout the film.

Catch Me If You Can

Catch Me If You Can is all about the insane life of con artist Frank Abagnale, Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio). That all starts at home when he was a kid and his father, played by Christopher Walken shows that he is quite the con man himself. Frank, Jr idolizes his father and you get the sense that everything he does in life is to please his father and make Frank, Sr. proud.

There Will Be Blood

Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) is a singularly focused man. He is harsh, brutal, and unforgiving in the quest for his fortune. The one aspect of his life where is, at least a little, less harsh and brutal comes in his relationship with his son, whom he cares for deeply and truly and does all he can to help the boy as he raises him. That is, until it all falls apart, as so many relationships like that do, sadly.

The Godfather

In the history of film, there may be no better example of the complicated nature between a father and a son. Not only is The Godfather one of the best gangster movies of all time, but what makes it one of the best films of all time is the way it explores the relationship between Michael (Al Pacino) and his father Vito (Marlon Brando).

The Pursuit Of Happyness

The Pursuit Of Happyness is the true story of Chris Gardner, played by Will Smith, that follows Gardner's struggle to raise his son and make both their lives better. Father and son are homeless in the movie as Gardner works to become a stockbroker. It's a movie that definitely restores your faith in humanity.

The Lion King

Disney may have made some of the best kids' cartoons ever, but they also aren't afraid to explore the death of a parent in their movies. One of the most tragic deaths in Disney's history is the demise of Mufasa in The Lion King. The way it affects Simba is powerful and sets the tone for the movie and for Simba's whole life.

The Iron Claw

2023's The Iron Claw is all about family. The Von Erichs, led by patriarch Fritz are not only one of the most successful families in professional wrestling history, they are also the most tragic. Fritz is a complicated man and that reflects on how he raises his sons.

Elf

There is no doubt that Elf is one of the best Christmas movies of all time, but it's also one of the best father-and-son movies, too. Not only is it about Buddy (Will Ferrell) getting to know his biological father played by James Caan, but it's also about the elf who raised Buddy as his son, played by Bob Newhart. Both are magical relationships.

The Road

How does a father raise his son in a world that has been destroyed by a mysterious event that is never fully explained? The Road, starring Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee as father and son attempt to do it. It's a bleak movie, one that really sticks with you after you see it and the relationship is both brutal and beautiful.

Fences

In Fences, part of the Pittsburgh Cycle by playwright August Wilson, Denzel Washington's character is a bitter man who denied his dream of playing professional baseball, and those around him, especially his son, suffer the consequences. It's not the kind of father/son movie that you'd ever want to use as a sterling example of fatherhood, but that doesn't mean that millions of fathers and sons don't interact in the same way.

Star Wars

Throughout the entire Star Wars saga, the relationships between fathers and sons play out in dramatic ways. The most famous example, of course, is between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, but in the sequels, there is also the relationship between Han Solo and Kylo Ren, which ends as tragically as possible.

American Pie

You have to empathize with Eugene Levy's character in American Pie. It's clear he loves his son very much, but he just doesn't understand his son at all. Or, at least, he kind of understands and just isn't equipped to deal with raising a teenager. It's something all fathers can relate to, without a doubt.

Frequency

Frequency is a vastly underrated movie that doesn't get mentioned enough. It's all about a son's attempts to get to know a father he hardly knew in life. When the supernatural intercedes he has the opportunity to speak directly to his dead father, the movie opens up the emotional floodgates.

Life Is Beautiful

1997's Life Is Beautiful is one of those amazing movies you can only watch once. The relationship between Guido and his son Giosuè is the "beautiful" part of the title because everything else shows just how ugly life can get for some people. It's a tragic movie, but at its heart is the love between father and son,

The Many Saints Of Newark

Tony Soprano is a complicated guy. A guy who spends years in therapy during The Sopranos and it turns out a lot of his emotional baggage traces back to his father Johnny as we learned in the prequel movie The Many Saints Of Newark. Johnny was a man that Tony loved and feared, as many sons do of their father, but maybe not in such dramatic ways.

Ad Astra

Ad Astra isn't the first sci-fi movie to explore the relationship between fathers and sons, but it is one of the most dramatic. Whenever a son loses a father at a young age, it makes for very complicated emotions about their father and this plays out in Ad Astra as the two are reunited many years later in a very distant place.

A River Runs Through It

A River Runs Through It is about family. It's about brotherly love and the complicated relationships that brothers have with each other as much as it is about their relationship with their strict but loving religious father. Neither son turns out much like their father at all, but despite their sometimes harsh upbringing, but love and respect their father.

East Of Eden

East of Eden starring James Dean is based on the John Steinbeck novel of the same, which itself is loosely based on the Biblical story of Cain and Abel. As such, it's all about familial relationships, including Cal and Abel's very complicated with their father, Adam.

Nowhere Special

You may not have heard of the Irish movie Nowhere Special, but if you love to cry at tragic stories on film, you need to check it out. A single father faces the worst nightmare any dad can imagine. He is diagnosed with a terminal illness and must work out plans for the rest of his 4-year-old's life, including who is to raise the child. It's heartbreaking and beautiful.

Tree Of Life

Whatever subject director Terrence Malick chooses to explore in his films is sure to be interesting and worth anyone's time. In Tree Of Life, Malick takes on a father's life with this family, mostly in the seemingly idyllic 1950s. Of course, under the surface, the family is far from ideal.

Billy Madison

Not every movie about the love between a father and son has to be serious. In fact, Billy Madison proves that even the funniest movies can still explore the subject. Billy, played by Adam Sandler, is an idiot. His father, played by Darren McGavin still loves him enough to give Billy one last shot at inheriting the family hotel business. It's also Adam Sander's best movie.

My Life

Michael Keaton has starred in a lot of movies in his long career and some, like Mr. Mom and Batman, are better remembered than others, like My Life. To be sure, My Life is not one of Keaton's best movies, but it does show an incredible relationship between a father and his unborn son as Keaton's character is diagnosed with terminal cancer and spends his remaining days filming videos to teach the son he will never know everything he thinks a son should learn from his father. It's a sad movie, but a worthwhile one.

Boyhood

Director Richard Linklater's Boyhood is one of the most ambitious films ever made as it was shot over 11 years and at the heart of the movie is the complicated, loving, and realistic relationship between a father, played by Ethan Hawke, and his son, played by Ellar Coltrane.

Hook

In Hook, Robin Williams plays a father who grew up too much. He's lost all the sense and wonder he once had as a child and as a result, his son, who still has that sense of wonder, has become alienated from his father. All that it takes to rekindle his love for life, and for his son, is for Williams' character to remember his lost childhood. Thankfully he does.

A Bronx Tale

A Bronx Tale is all about a teenager struggling between choosing the straight-laced, but somewhat boring life his father, played by Robert De Niro, wants for him, and the exciting criminal life a father figure, played by Chazz Palminteri, can offer him. Which will he choose?

Tommy Boy

We don't watch Tommy Boy for a heartfelt movie about a father and his son. We watch Tommy Boy for the hilarious quotes. Still, there is that wonderful relationship between Tommy (Chris Farley) and his father, Big Tom, played by Brian Dennehy. Its just a shame it ended so soon.

To have a father in your life whom you can trust and look up to is a blessing that should not be taken for granted. You can find more than enough men like this in some of our favorite movies and TV shows. Let’s take a closer look at some of the most honorable dads in pop culture and why we love them.

Chris Gardner (The Pursuit Of Happyness)

One of Will Smith’s best performances comes from 2006’s The Pursuit of Happyness, which is inspired by real-life entrepreneur Chris Gardner’s experiences single-handedly raising a child (played by Smith’s real-life son, Jaden Smith) while struggling with poverty in 1980s San Francisco. In addition to the hard work he puts through to provide for his son, also named Christopher, he also guides him with moving words of wisdom, such as refusing to be told he cannot achieve his dreams.

Mike Brady (The Brady Bunch)

One of the most iconic sitcoms of all time is the story of a man named Brady — architect Mike Brady (Robert Reed) — who married the lovely Carol (Florence Henderson) and became the father to three young step-daughters, in addition to his three biological sons. While The Brady Bunch never offered a particularly grounded depiction of life in the 1970s, a man willing to accept the responsibility of six children (seven, if you count the later casting shake-up of Robbie Rist as Cousin Oliver) was refreshing for the time and remains as such today.

Atticus Finch (To Kill A Mockingbird)

Some of the most valuable lessons that a parent can teach their children are the importance of empathy and the evils of prejudice, which Atticus Finch explains to young Scout in Harper Lee’s influential novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. It is no wonder that Gregory Peck’s portrayal of the widowed Southern Lawyer — who comes to the defense of a Black man wrongfully convicted of assault — in the 1962 adaptation was named cinema’s greatest hero by AFI in 2003.

Philip Banks (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air)

While he often seemed irritated by his nephew’s antics, Judge Philip Banks (James Avery) clearly loved Will Smith (Will Smith), as evident by his willingness to let the Philadelphia-raised teen live with his family in California after a dangerous run-in. It is especially clear, however, in one of the most tender scenes from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (and one of the most heartbreaking serious sitcom moments ever) when Uncle Phil confronts Will’s real father after learning he plans to abandon him again.

Gil Buckman (Parenthood)

A major theme of Ron Howard’s Parenthood is the insecurities that parents often face when raising children, and no character from the 1989 comedy better represents that than Gil Buckman (Steve Martin). However, there is no doubt that the St. Louis ad executive is an exceptional father when he dons a cowboy outfit to fill in as the entertainment for his son’s birthday party.

Dan Conner (Roseanne)

Few TV shows represent the blue-collar lifestyle as authentically as Roseanne did in its original run and one of the crucial elements was John Goodman’s performance as Dan Conner. Roseanne’s husband was everything a middle-class family could ask for in a patriarch — a hard-working, optimistic, and lovingly supportive father who was also never afraid to tell it like it is.

Bob Ivanovich (My Life)

In the 1993 tearjerker, My Life, Academy Award nominee Michael Keaton plays Bob Ivanovich — a Los Angeles public relations firm manager who is expecting his first child with his wife, Gail (Nicole Kidman), when he is given a terminal diagnosis. Yet, he is not going to let his impending death prevent him from being there for his son, giving him the idea to film a series of videos in which he explains how to shave, how to cook, how to drive more valuable lessons every parent should be the first to teach their children.

Jason Seaver (Growing Pains)

With a job career in psychology, it seems like raising four children would be impossible to keep up with. However, Alan Thicke’s Dr. Jason Seaver on Growing Pains achieved a decent balance between his professional and personal life beautifully by always keeping his family as the highest priority.

Gomez Addams (The Addams Family)

To the average, everyday individual, Gomez Addams — portrayed by the likes of John Astin in the 1960s-era The Addams Family series and Raul Julia in Barry Sonnenfeld’s ‘90s movies — does not seem like an ideal role model. However, when you consider his creepy and cooky home life, he and Morticia really do seem to be pushing their daughter Wednesday and son Pugsley in a decent direction at the end of the day.

Danny Tanner (Full House)

Following the sudden death of his wife, Danny Tanner (the late Bob Saget) enlists the help of his brother-in-law, Jesse (John Stamos), and best friend, Joey (Dave Coulier), to help him raise his three daughters on Full House. Yet, if not for his job as a TV personality, we imagine the tidy and tenderhearted dad could have handled the job all by himself.

Bryan Mills (Taken)

When his daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace), is kidnapped while vacationing in Paris, retired CIA operative Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) travels to Europe and reignites his “particular set of skills” to find her. The role that made Neeson into a modern action movie icon — from co-writer and producer Luc Besson’s 2008 thriller, Taken — is the rare kind of father who would single-handedly take on an entire human trafficking ring to rescue his child.

Carl Winslow (Family Matters)

Reginald VelJohnson has played quite a few cops in his day, but none more iconic than Carl Winslow as part of the Family Matters cast for nine seasons. When he was not trying to keep society in line patrolling the streets of Chicago, the father of three did a wonderful job keeping his family in line with love and support that his neighbor, Steve Urkel (Jaleel White), must not have received at home, which might explain why he spent so much time at Winslow household.

Guido Orefice (Life Is Beautiful)

Writer and director Roberto Benigni also leads his Oscar-winning 1998 dramedy, Life is Beautiful, as a goofy Jewish-Italian man attempting to protect and shelter his young son (Giorgio Cantarini) from their treacherous surroundings while living at a Holocaust-era concentration camp. While one might say honesty is a more important parental quality, sometimes keeping your child smiling and laughing in the midst of tragedy is the one thing they need most.

Adam Braverman (Parenthood)

Peter Krause told TV Guide that what attracted him to joining the Parenthood cast as Adam Braverman was the character’s goal to be “the best father, the best husband, the best son, the best brother he could be.” Considering the immense dedication he showed for his children — especially toward Max (Max Burkholder), who is a young boy on the Autism spectrum — we would say he succeeded.

Jack Pearson (This Is Us)

There are few modern TV characters who cross off all the boxes of an admirable fatherly portrayal quite like Jack Pearson (Milo Ventimiglia) on This is Us, whose devotion to his wife and three children is stronger than many could claim. His wisdom and wit would even prove to be a large influence in his children’s lives long after his untimely passing.

Eric Taylor (Friday Night Lights)

In addition to being the real father of his teenage daughter, Julie (Aimee Teegarden), Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler) acts as a devoted father figure to the Dillion High School Panthers football team he coaches on Friday Night Lights. Not to mention, what better advice could someone offer on or off the field than, “Clear eyes, full heart, can’t lose”?

Marlin (Finding Nemo)

In one of the saddest openings to a Pixar movie, tragedy makes clownfish Marlin (voiced by Albert Brooks) a single father to a single son, Nemo (voiced by Alexander Gould), whom he coddles to a suffocating degree as he grows up. However, by the end of Finding Nemo, he learns to be a more trusting father, but only after facing his greatest fears searching the ocean for his son after he is taken by a scuba diver.

Burt Hummel (Glee)

Just about any teen on the LGBTQ+ spectrum has gone through the challenging decision to come out to their parents, but they might have found some helpful encouragement after seeing Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer) reveal his true self to his father, Burt (Mike O’Malley). Not only does the United States Congressman accept his son for who he is, but fights for his well-being against anyone who shows him adversity.

Johnathan Kent (Smallville)

Being the adoptive father of super-powered extra-terrestrial sounds like the toughest job imaginable, but John Schneider made it look easy with his portrayal of Johnathan Kent on Smallville. You could say that the farmer’s moral guidance is what led his son, Clark (Tom Welling), to become the crime fighter he needed to be when he accepted his destiny as Superman.

Louis Huang (Fresh Off the Boat)

Inspired by the childhood of celebrity chef Eddie Huang, Fresh Off the Boat follows the challenges of a Taiwanese family trying to make it in the States. The lovingly optimistic patriarch of the family, Louis Huang (Randall Park), is the embodiment of the American dream, working hard to ensure his children the life they deserve.

George Banks (Father Of The Bride)

In 1991’s Father of the Bride, George Banks (Steve Martin) struggles to let go when his daughter, Annie (Kimberly Williams-Paisley), becomes engaged to Bryan (George Newbern). The reaction is certainly a definitive trait of the typical over-protective father, but considering it comes from a place of great love for his daughter and a certain nostalgia for his early days as a parent, we cannot help but feel a heartwarming empathy for his “overreaction.”

Floyd Henderson (Smart Guy)

The underrated WB sitcom Smart Guy followed T.J. Henderson (Taj Mowry) — a young boy of above-average intelligence who still finds himself in need of the kind of guidance a child of his age typically requires. That is where his widowed father, Floyd (John Marshall Jones), would come in — answering his son’s complicated questions and even disciplining him without ever talking down to him, which even he understands would be a strange thing to do to someone with double his I.Q.

Man (The Road)

The 2009 adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road is one of the most frightening depictions of a post-apocalyptic society ever put to celluloid, but that is not what makes it a valuable entry to the genre. At its core, the film is a powerful story about an unnamed man (played by Viggo Mortensen) struggling to do the right thing for his son (played by Kodi Smit-McPhee), which is something any father in the real world can easily relate to.

Phillip Drummond (Diff’rent Strokes)

Before his former housekeeper suddenly passed away, widowed millionaire Phillip Drummond (Conrad Bain) promised to take care of her sons, Arnold (Gary Coleman) and Willis (Todd Bridges). That is the plot of Diff’rent Strokes — a hit sitcom that proved that family is defined by the devotion you have for each other and Mr. Drummond’s devotion to his adopted sons and his biological daughter, Kimberly (Dana Plato), was undeniable.

Mac MacGuff (Juno)

In another story about teen pregnancy, you might expect the father character to fly off the handle after learning his young daughter is with child, but that is not the case in 2007’s Oscar-winning dramedy, Juno. Mac MacGuff (J.K. Simmons) reacts to the news that his titular daughter (played by Elliot Page) is pregnant in a surprisingly calm demeanor and offers strong support to her through every step of the process.

Daniel Hillard (Mrs. Doubtfire)

We cannot deny that Daniel Hillard’s (Robin Williams) actions in the 1993 comedy favorite, Mrs. Doubtfire — posing as an elderly woman to act as his estranged family’s nanny after being denied custody — is a little messed up. However, there is no denying that his extreme decision came from a place of strong commitment for his children, who were actually delighted to learn their father was him in disguise.

Mr. Levenstein (American Pie)

Not too many teens actively seek advice about the more awkward moments of adolescence from their parents, but Jim Levenstein (Jason Biggs) would not have to seek such conversations in the American Pie movies. His father (played by Eugene Levy) had no trouble openly discussing the most uncomfortably “adult” topics with his son, but always had the wherewithal to make the discussions somewhat more comforting with the caveat that these were “perfectly normal things.”

Alan Matthews (Boy Meets World)

If you could not figure it out before, the title of Boy Meets World refers to Cory Matthews’ (Ben Savage) journey to figure out what life is all about, often with help from his teacher, Mr. Feeny (William Daniels). Of course, he also received more than enough guidance from his admirable humble, down-to-earth father, Alan (William Russ), who also served as a father figure to Cory’s best friend, Shawn (Rider Strong), whenever he needed it.

Ted Kramer (Kramer Vs. Kramer)

Director Robert Benton’s Best Picture Oscar winner, 1979’s Kramer vs. Kramer, depicts a marriage that falls apart when Joanna (Meryl Streep) leaves her husband, Ted (Dustin Hoffman), forcing him to finally learn what it really takes to be a parent. By the time Joanna returns to take their son, Billy (Justin Henry), with her, she realizes from the love and devotion he shows that he belongs with Ted after all.

Michael Kyle (My Wife And Kids)

We would consider Tisha Campbell’s Janet “Jay” Kyle from My Wife and Kids a TV wife who often put her husband in his place whenever his more childish and egotistical attributes came out. However, Michael Kyle (series co-creator Damon Wayans) is still a TV dad for the ages because of his unique approach to teaching lessons that sometimes even involve elaborate pranks at his kids’ expense.

Mason Evans Sr. (Boyhood)

When Ethan Hawke first appears as Mason Evans Sr. in 2014’s Boyhood, he seems like the stereotypical irresponsible estranged father you might see in most movies centered on divorced families. However, in retrospect, he offers young Mason (Ellar Coltrane) and his daughter, Samantha (Lorelai Linklater), some very profound advice even then and proves, that by the time Mason reaches manhood, he becomes the dad he was always destined to become, including to his child with his second wife, Olivia.

Sonny Kofax (Big Daddy)

Adam Sandler’s role in 1999’s Big Daddy, Sonny Kofax, is the one character her who is not actually a dad and, in fact, is very irresponsible. However, the love he shows for Julian (the illegitimate son of his friend, played by Dylan and Cole Sprouse) is worth a million fathers combined.

Hopefully, you have or had a father (or father figure) who can hold a candle to any of these movie and TV characters.

Don’t let the fact that it’s free fool you, there are a ton of great movies on Pluto TV. From some of the best 2000s movies to highly decorated documentaries with fresh ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, to an assortment of Best Picture winners, it has it all. If you want to check out classics and hidden gems on one of the best streaming services, all you need to do is use Pluto TV, which is honestly easier than it sounds.

Below is a beefy list of some of the best movies on Pluto TV, but this is just barely scratching the surface of what the streaming platform has to offer. That being said, let’s check out a couple dozen of the best options the service has for you.

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

The Director: Frank Darabont

The Cast: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Clancy Brown

What It’s About: A prison inmate spends years of his life planning a seemingly impossible escape from a heavily fortified prison, making remarkable friendships along the way.

What To Expect: Shawshank Redemption is considered one of the best Stephen King adaptations, and rightfully so. This iconic 1994 movie, with its tremendous performances, empowering story, and unforgettable scenes has been a fan-favorite for 30 years.

• Stream The Shawshank Redemption on Pluto TV.

Interstellar (2014)

The Director: Christopher Nolan

The Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Jessica Chastain, Anne Hathaway

What It’s About: With humanity on the brink of extinction due to blight, a farmer leads a daring mission to space in hopes of finding a new place to call home. But that’s just the beginning (or the end, depending on how you look at the timeline).

What To Expect: One of Christopher Nolan’s best movies, Interstellar is a wonderful sci-fi movie, but deeper than that, it’s an unforgettable saga about the unbreakable bond between father and daughter.

• Stream Interstellar on Pluto TV.

The Fugitive (1993)

The Director: Andrew Davis

The Cast: Harrison Ford, Tommy Lee Jones, Joe Pantoliano

What It’s About: A decorated surgeon, wrongfully convicted of brutally murdering his wife, goes on the run and attempts to clear his name before it’s too late.

What To Expect: One of the best movies based on forgotten TV shows, The Fugitive features some of Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones’ work (the latter received an Oscar for his performance). This thrilling cat-and-mouse chase through Chicago never gets old.

• Stream The Fugitive on Pluto TV.

The Raid Movies (2012, 2014)

The Director: Gareth Evans

The Cast: Iko Uwais, Yayan Ruhian

What They’re About: A young cop’s journey plays out from his time as a member of an elite SWAT team to that as an undercover agent attempting to bring down a ruthless crime syndicate.

What To Expect: Gareth Evans The Raid movies are two of the most impressive and influential action movies of the 21st century. With incredible fight scenes, a gripping story of revenge and redemption, and unforgettable characters, there’s a lot to take in.

• Stream The Raid on Pluto TV.
• Stream The Raid 2 on Pluto TV.

Seven (1995)

The Director: David Fincher

The Cast: Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow

What It’s About: Two detectives – one a hotshot rookie, the other on the eve of retirement – spend a week trying to track down a sadistic killer whose crimes are inspired by the seven deadly sins.

What To Expect: One of the tightest, and most frightening, psychological thrillers of all time, David Fincher’s Seven is full of grisly crime scenes, interesting characters, and one of the most talked about endings of all time.

• Stream Seven on Pluto TV.

The Godfather Trilogy (1972 - 1990)

The Director: Francis Ford Coppola

The Cast: Michael Keaton, Marlon Brando. Robert De Niro

What It’s About: A sprawling epic tracing the Corleone crime family over the course of nearly a century and multiple generations.

What To Expect: Some of the best gangster films of all time, The Godfather trilogy goes deeper than mobsters trying to make a living. With a focus on family, the impact of decisions on a person’s conscience, and attempts to build and maintain an empire, there’s a lot to explore.

• Stream The Godfather on Pluto TV.
• Stream The Godfather Part II on Pluto TV.
• Stream Mario Puzo’s The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone on Pluto TV.

Pulp Fiction (1994)

The Director: Quentin Tarantino

The Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, John Travolta

What It’s About: Four interconnected stories of hitmen, gangsters, boxers, and other unforgettable characters play out over the course of two days.

What To Expect: With its non-linear structure, intertwined stories filled with unforgettable characters, and a general vibe that feels both retro and modern, this is something you have to see.

• Stream Pulp Fiction on Pluto TV.

Catch Me If You Can (2002)

The Director: Steven Spielberg

The Cast: Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio, Christopher Walken

What It’s About: A young yet prolific con-man travels across the world pulling off one scheme after another, but he meets his match when a dedicated FBI agent gets on the pursuit.

What To Expect: With one of the best performances of Leonardo DiCaprio’s career up to that point, a great dynamic between the young star and Tom Hanks, and some wild hijinks, this 2002 biographical drama is all killer, no filler.

• Stream Catch Me If You Can on Pluto TV.

Top Gun (1986)

The Director: Tony Scott

The Cast: Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Anthony Edwards

What It’s About: A talented and cocky fighter pilot is forced to compete with the best and brightest his country has to offer upon being invited to the Top Gun training school.

What To Expect: Tony Scott’s 1986 action movie staple is one of the most intense, exhilarating, and unforgettable cinematic experiences of all time with its daring dogfights, an absurdly stacked cast, an iconic soundtrack, and what is probably the most unforgettable volleyball scene ever put to film.

• Stream Top Gun on Pluto TV.

Clue (1985) 

The Director: Jonathan Lynn

The Cast: Tim Curry, Madeline Kahn, Christopher Lloyd

What It’s About: A group of strangers are invited to dinner at a remote mansion by the man who’s blackmailing each of them. When their host mysteriously dies, they are forced to work together to find the killer.

What To Expect: Based on the popular board game of the same name, this 1985 cult classic is full of twists, turns, revelations, and oh so many endings.

• Stream Clue on Pluto TV.

Tommy Boy (1995)

The Director: Peter Segal

The Cast: Chris Farley, David Spade, Rob Lowe

What It’s About: The unlikely heir to an automobile parts company goes on a road trip with his late father’s sarcastic assistant to save the family business.

What To Expect: On top of having one hilarious quote after another, this 1995 comedy has so much heart, which is one of the reasons it’s so beloved nearly 30 years after its release.

• Stream Tommy Boy on Pluto TV.

Heat (1995)

The Director: Michael Mann

The Cast: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Val Kilmer

What It’s About: A seasoned LAPD detective tries to nab a prolific and elusive bank robber before he can pull off the biggest heist of the century.

What To Expect: Quite possibly the best heist movie of all time, Michael Mann’s Heat created the blueprint for the modern crime thriller back in 1995. This crime epic blurs the lines between good and evil and right and wrong to create an unforgettable and game-changing experience.

• Stream Heat on Pluto TV.

The Master (2012)

The Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

The Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams

What It’s About: A WWII vet struggles to find a place in society until he falls into the orbit of a charismatic cult leader.

What to expect: One of Paul Thomas Anderson’s best movies, The Master, for lack of a better term, is a masterclass in filmmaking, storytelling, and acting (thanks to Joaquin Phoenix and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman). Incredible shots, incredible acting, and a powerful story like no other make this a modern classic.

• Stream The Master on Pluto TV.

Blue Velvet (1985)

The Director: David Lynch

The Cast: Kyle MacLachlan, Dennis Hopper, Isabella Rossellini

What It’s About: A college student returns home to visit his ailing father, finds a severed ear, and finds himself wrapped up in the criminal underworld (with all its seedy players).

What To Expect: One of David Lynch’s best movies, Blue Velvet combines elements of film noir and psychological thrillers to creat a unique and unforgettable experience.

• Stream Blue Velvet on Pluto TV.

Mr. Mom (1983)

The Director: Stan Dragoti

The Cast: Michael Keaton, Teri Garr, Martin Mull

What It’s About: Trading in the workplace for suburbia, Michael Keaton’s Jack Butler takes over the homestead while his wife, Caroline (Teri Garr), finally gets back into the corporate world.

What To Expect: Hilarity, hijinks, and life lessons are aplenty in this fantastic movie about a husband learning just how easy he had it in the workforce.

• Stream Mr. Mom on Pluto TV.

Platoon (1986)

The Director: Oliver Stone

The Cast: Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe

What It’s About: Told through the eyes of a young soldier named Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen), Oliver Stone’s Vietnam War movie, Platoon, explores how the horrors and stresses of combat can turn someone’s brain inside out and leave them not knowing who is a friend and who is a foe on the battlefield.

What To Expect: One of the most realistic war movies ever made, this Academy Award-winning drama is intense, to say the least. It also features the best use of Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings.”

• Stream Platoon on Pluto TV.

Heathers (1988)

The Director: Michael Lehmann

The Cast: Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, Kim Walker

What It’s About: A high school student and her boyfriend accidentally kill the most popular girl in school, kicking off a series of unfortunate and unsettling events.

What To Expect: This 1988 dark comedy may center around high school students, but this doesn’t mean it doesn’t have any bite. Ruthlessly violent, darkly funny, and consequential, this is one of the best movies of the ‘80s.

• Stream Heathers on Pluto TV.

Memento (2001)

The Director: Christopher Nolan

The Cast: Guy Pearce, Joe Pantoliano, Carrie-Anne Moss

What It’s About: A man with a rare and untreatable form of amnesia attempts to track down the man who viciously assaulted and murdered his wife.

What To Expect: One of Christopher Nolan’s best movies, Memento is the one that put him on the map and led to later successes like the Dark Knight trilogy and Oppenheimer. Though hard to follow at times due to its unique narrative structure, this crime thriller is unlike anything else.

• Stream Memento on Pluto TV.

Grizzly Man (2005)

The Director: Werner Herzog

The Cast: Timothy Treadwell, Werner Herzog

What It’s About: This intimate portrait of Timothy Treadwell, a man who spent many years of his life living with bears in Alaska, ends in an unspeakable tragedy, but everything that leads to that fateful moment is beautiful, innocent, and pure.

What To Expect: Though you don’t see or hear the recording of Treadwell’s final agonizing moments, there’s a scene in Grizzly Man where Herzog listens to the fatal attack that is utterly gutting.

• Stream Grizzly Man on Pluto TV.

Nosferatu (1922)

The Director: F.W. Murnau

The Cast: Max Schreck, Gustav von Wangenheim, Greta Schroeder)

What It’s About: One of the greatest horror films of all time, as well as one of the most controversial, Nosferatu is an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula that some would argue is more terrifying than the source material.

What To Expect: The visual of Count Orlock’s (Max Schreck) shadow creeping up the stairs to claim his next victim, or really any image of the grotesque vampire, is pure nightmare fuel. As is the rest of this 1922 silent film.

• Stream Nosferatu on Pluto TV.

12 Angry Men (1957)

The Director: Sidney Lumet

The Cast: Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley

What It’s About: Tasked with deciding the fate of a teenager charged with murder, a group of jurors begins to question everything about the case and their own lives after one of them casts doubt on the whole situation.

What To Expect: When it comes to legal dramas, it doesn’t get much better than Sidney Lumet’s 12 Angry Men. This tense legal drama dives into arguments about morals, ethics, and redemption.

• Stream 12 Angry Men on Pluto TV.

This is just a small sampling from the vast library of great films available on Pluto TV. If you’re looking for even more titles to watch, check out our rundown of the best free movies online.

Whatever kind of movie you like, Texas has one for you. From teen comedies to horror movies to westerns, of course, Texas will provide. Not only do many of our favorite stars hail from Texas, but dozens of movies have been filmed in, or at least set in, the Lone Star State and its many landscapes. Here is a list of our favorites. 

Dazed And Confused

When it comes to teen comedies, Dazed and Confused ranks near the top of the list of the best ones. The hilarious movie was filmed in Austin and takes place there in the 1970s. Not only is high school football one of the most important activities in the movie, but the famous Moon Tower location is a real place, too. 

Friday Night Lights

Texas' passion for high school football is second to none in the United States and there is no better high school football move than Friday Night Lights. Based on a true story, the movie follows the 1988 Permian High School Panthers season, in Odessa, TX.  

The Last Picture Show

Director Peter Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show is one of quite a few movies set in Texas to receive a Best Picture nomination. The coming-of-age movie is set in the small town of Anarene, TX. While the town is fictional, its name is taken from the name of a ghost town in northern Texas. It's based on a book by one of Texas' favorite sons, writer Larry McMurtry. 

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

Who would've guessed in 1974 that the low-budget slasher flick, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre would become one of the most successful and influential movies of all time? It has spawned a franchise with nine entries, inspired countless young filmmakers, and invented tropes that are still leaned on today. As the name implies, it does, of course, take place in Texas. 

No Country For Old Men

One of the best Westerns is the Coen Brothers' No Country For Old Men. Set in dusty West Texas, the movie oozes Texas, just like Fargo oozes Minnesota. It helps that a West Texas native, Tommy Lee Jones, plays the perfect role for him, a Texas sheriff on the hunt for all the bad guys running around his county. 

For A Few Dollars More

It's no surprise that some of the best Westerns of all time have been set in Texas, even the ones that are filmed in Spain, like For a Few Dollars More starring Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef. Set in and around the El Paso area, it's hard to believe it wasn't shot in the Lone Star state. 

The Iron Claw

The Von Erich family was the first family of professional wrestling, and the Dallas-based World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) was the alliance the family is most associated with. Patriarch Fritz was born in Texas, and while his five wrestling sons, Kevin, David, Kerry, Mike, and Chris (who wasn't included in The Iron Claw ) weren't all born in the great state, they were all raised there and it's where most of The Iron Claw takes place.  

Office Space

Office Space feels like it takes place anywhere, or nowhere in particular. The movie is universal, but it actually takes place in Texas, where it was also filmed, mostly in and around Austin. 

Blood Simple

Joel and Ethan Coen were raised in Minnesota, but they've often looked to the southern U.S. for inspiration, including for their first movie, Blood Simple, in 1984. Like others on this list, it was filmed in and around Austin, TX. 

Bonnie And Clyde

Only a state like Texas could birth a legend like Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. The real-life Parker was born in the tiny town of Rowena, TX, while Barrow in the country outside Dallas. The movie Bonnie and Clyde, starring Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty, takes place kind of all over the south, but Texas is a big part of it. 

The 24th

With the ongoing global pandemic at its height in the summer of 2020, The 24th flew under the radar and that's too bad. It tells the true story of Black World War I veterans returning from Europe only to face the racism and bigotry of the Jim Crow south in Houston. The soldiers hit their breaking point and the result is an armed conflict against the Houston police that eventually leads to the execution of some of the soldiers for mutiny. It's an underrated film that more people should see. 

Sicario

Technically only part of Sicario takes place in Texas, more specifically the Texas-Mexico border in El Paso, but it's such an intense scene, and so crucial to the movie, that it belongs on this list. The shootout at the border is the best part of Denis Villeneuve's film. 

Boyhood

Houston, TX is home to the groundbreaking Richard Linklater film Boyhood. Filmed over 12 years, it's a movie like no other as audiences watch Mason grow up, in real time. It's no surprise that Texas native Linklater set another of his films in the great state. 

Reality Bites

Reality Bites may not feel like a Texas movie, but it is. It takes place in Houston, though the city and the state take a backseat to the story. The Ben Stiller-directed flick is a Gen X touchstone that really could have taken place anywhere, but Houston is home. 

Bottle Rocket

Set in Texas, starring Texans, and directed by a Texan, can anything get more Texas? Wes Anderson's debut film is much more straight forward than his later films, after he nailed down his particular style, and plays out more or less like a traditional heist movie, but it's worth watching, especially for Luke and Owen Wilson's film debuts, which they kill. 

True Stories

It's no surprise that Talking Heads frontman David Byrne would make a strange and, frankly, cool movie, even if at times it just feels like a set of weird music videos. True Stories is, however, set in the fictional town of Virgil, TX, not New York City, as you might expect from Byrne. 

Hell Or High Water

Nothing says Texas like a couple of bank robbers being pursued across the state by a Texas Ranger. Hell or High Water, from the mind of writer Taylor Sheridan, might feel the most like Texas of any movie on this list. Jeff Bridges is brilliant, and while Chris Pine might be a little pretty to sell the idea of his character being desperate enough to rob banks, his performance is perfect. 

Ghost Rider

About a year before the Marvel Cinematic Universe was born with the first Iron Man, Marvel Entertainment released Ghost Rider with Nicolas Cage. Set in Texas, its fun to think about how history could have been different if the idea for the MCU had come just a little earlier. 

Happy, Texas

This one is easy, it says it right there in the name, Happy, Texas. This surprisingly funny film takes place in the titular town and features some wonderful performances by Steve Zahn, William H. Macy, and Jeremy Northam. It flies under the radar but comes highly recommended. 

The Highwaymen

The Highwaymen, starring Woody Harrelson and Kevin Costner as Texas Rangers, is the other side of the Bonnie and Clyde story, focusing on the two lawmen pursuing the homicidal bank robbers. While it's a far from perfect movie, the performances are great, and the film oozes "Texas."

The Positively True Adventures Of The Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom

Football may be king in Texas, but only slightly lower on the list of important things is cheerleading. The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom highlights just how crazy people can get, telling the true story of Wanda Holloway (Holly Hunter), who tries to put out a hit on her daughter's high school cheerleading rival. Bring it on. 

Rush

Based on a true story and set in Smith County, TX, Rush is an intriguing movie and a very hard watch. It tells the story of undercover police officers, played by Jason Patric and Jennifer Jason Leigh who get in so deep, they become criminals and addicts themselves. Today, the film is most remembered for its soundtrack written by Eric Clapton and featuring his hit "Tears in Heaven."

The Outlaw Josey Wales

Clint Eastwood starred in, and directed, The Outlaw Josey Wales, which follows a Missouri farmer-turned-outlaw in Texas as he's pursued by just about everyone, including the Texas Rangers. It's one of the best Westerns ever made. 

The Old Man & The Gun

What could very well be Robert Redford's final movie, as he's said in the past, The Old Man & the Gun tells the true story of bank robber and escape artist Forrest Tucker. Tucker was a career criminal whose final arrest, as depicted in the movie, happened in Texas, where he later died in prison. 

Old Yeller

If you didn't tear up a little immediately upon reading the name of this film then you likely haven't seen Old Yeller. It's a cultural touchstone, ingrained in the minds of movie lovers everywhere, and it all takes place in Texas. It's almost 70 years old now, but it's still making kids (and their parents) cry today. 

The Searchers

John Wayne, John Ford, and Texas. It's a trio that defines the Western genre and while there are a few movies that combine the three, the best is probably The Searchers. Set in West Texas about a decade after the end of the Civil War, Wayne defines what it is to be a Western star and John Ford defines what the genre can be at its best. It's natural that the Texas desert be the backdrop. 

Jason's Lyric

Jada Pinkett-Smith was a rising talent when she starred alongside Allen Payne in 1994's Jason's Lyric. Set in an impoverished neighborhood in Houston, Lyric (Pinkett-Smith) and Jason (Payne) fall in love and try to escape their violent families with mixed results. It's not a perfect movie, but it is powerful at times. 

Paris, Texas

Sometimes movies are really more about their setting than anything else, and Paris, Texas is one of those movies. Texas is almost like another character in this Sam Sheppard-penned movie from 1984. Starring Harry Dean Stanton, Dean Stockwell, and Nastassja Kinski, the Palme d'Or winner is set in the panhandle town of Happy.

Miss Congeniality

Who can forget the epic conclusion of Miss Congeniality, when Gracie (Sandra Bullock) almost wins a beauty pageant in San Antonio? The surprise smash, a take on My Fair Lady, has become a beloved film over the years and it's easy to see why, as it's charming and fun and full of classic lines.  

Cloak & Dagger

It seems over the last 40 years, many have forgotten about Cloak & Dagger, starring Dabney Coleman and E.T. star Henry Thomas, and that's too bad. It's a really fun kids movie full of exciting action and intrigue, but with an easy enough story for kids to actually follow. Filmed and set in San Antonio, it's a movie that is ripe for a remake. 

Talk Radio

Oliver Stone has made a lot of hard-hitting movies in his career, not the least of which is JFK, which obviously takes place partly in Texas. One of his more underrated movies, though, is Talk Radio starring Eric Bogosian as a radio shock jock who meets with a tragic end. It's loosely based on the true story of Alan Berg, who was a radio host in Denver, but this film is set in Dallas. 

Rollerball

There are a lot of movies about Texas, but only a few are science-fiction, like Rollerball. James Caan, in one of his best roles, stars in this cult classic set in...2018 Houston (the movie came out in 1975). The dystopian future is ruled by corporations and the sport of Rollerball serves as a bread and butter circus for the masses. Actually, maybe it's not that far off from reality. Yikes. 

Everything is bigger in Texas, as they say, and the Lone Star state definitely has an outsized role in American society and that includes the movies that are set in the state, as this list can attest to. 

At some point in the distant future, Richard Linklater will add to his impressive body of work with Merrily We Roll Along, an ambitious project that’ll make Boyhood, his ambitious 2014 Texas-set epic filmed over the course of 12 years, look like a standard production. The decades-spanning adaptation of the Tony Award-winning musical of the same name, which will be filmed over two decades, sounds like it could be one of the most unique cinematic experiences in some time, and we all have reason to be excited.

If this is the first you’re hearing about this highly anticipated adaptation, worry not, because we’re about to break down everything we know about the project so far. And while we don’t yet know the Merrily We Roll Along release date or even a window for its debut, we do know who’ll be leading the massive project, what it’s about, and how we may get to see the most recent Broadway revival of the timeless and cherished stage production.

What Is The Merrily We Roll Along Release Date?

Unless someone built a time machine, went far into the future, found a copy of Merrily We Roll Along, and brought it back to right now, there’s no way we’re going to see the upcoming Richard Linklater project on the 2024 movie schedule. As of the time of this writing, no one involved with the ambitious musical has said when it will come out, and there’s a good chance no one knows because it’s going to be in production for at least another decade-and-a-half.

What Is Merrily We Roll Along About?

Back in August 2019, when Merrily We Roll Along was first announced, it was reported by The Hollywood Reporter that Richard Linklater’s movie, when finally released, will tell the story of a successful and talented Broadway composer named Frank who grows tired of the experience and decides to leave everything behind (friends and career included) to start anew as a film producer in Hollywood.

Interestingly enough, instead of starting with Frank’s decision to abandon the Big Apple for the City of Angels, the movie will start there and then work its way back in time, revisiting key moments from his career and other important moments from throughout his life. So just imagine the opposite of Linklater’s Oscar-worthy Boyhood.

The Movie Is Based On The Broadway Musical Of The Same Name

We’ve seen quite a few film adaptations of Broadway musicals over the years, including several based on the work of the late Stephen Sondheim, the beloved composer known for his work with West Side Story and Sweeney Tood who passed away at the age of 91 in November 2021. And you can add Merrily We Roll Along to that list. In August 2019, Variety reported that Linklater’s ambitious project will be based on the 1981 musical of the same name.

The musical, which has seen multiple stage productions around the world over the past 40 years, was based on George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart’s 1934 Broadway play of the same name, according to Playbill. The show was brought back for a Broadway revival in 2023 and went on to win multiple Tony Awards the following year, including Best Revival of a Musical, Best Actor in a Musical (Jonathan Groff), Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Daniel Radcliffe), and Best Orchestrations.

The Merrily We Roll Along Cast

It is hard to say where their respective careers will be by the time the movie is released, but the Merrily We Roll Along cast is anchored by some incredibly talented and popular young actors, whose stock continues to be on the rise.

Paul Mescal as Franklin Shepard

In January 2023, Variety reported that Paul Mescal would be taking on the lead role of Franklin Shepard after the Aftersun and All of Us Strangers actor replaced Blake Jenner, who was previously cast to play the Broadway composer. Though Merrily We Roll Along is many years away, we’ll soon see Mescal in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II and Chloe Zhao’s Hamnet book adaptation.

Ben Platt as Charley Kringas

According to the same report, Ben Platt will be taking on the role of Charley Kringas, Franklin Shepard’s creative partner and lyricist. Platt, no stranger to Broadway productions and film adaptations of famous plays, has appeared in everything from Dear Evan Hansen (both the stage and film versions), The People We Hate at the Wedding, and Theater Camp to name a few.

Beanie Feldstein as Mary Flynn

Beanie Feldstein, best known for movies like Lady Bird and Booksmart, will be taking on the role of Mary Flynn, Franklin and Charley’s longtime friend and theater critic Feldstein previously worked on Broadway productions like Hello, Dolly! and Funny Girl.

Mallory Bechtel

In February 2024, Deadline reported that Mallory Bechtel had joined the Merrily We Roll Along cast, though her role has not yet been revealed. Bechtel made her Broadway debut in 2018 after landing the role of Zoe Murphy in Dear Evan Hansen. She has since gone on to appear in everything from Hereditary to Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin.

Merrily We Roll Along’s Production Kicked Off In Summer 2019

Though we won’t likely see Merrily We Roll Along in its final form for a couple more decades, parts of the movie have already been filmed. In fact, Deadline reported in August 2019 that principal photography for the first segment of the film had already been completed, but didn’t provide any details about which portion of the movie that included. The movie is being filmed in this unique manner so that the actors can continue to play their characters as they age without the need for prosthetics and other Hollywood tricks.

Like countless other movie and TV projects, Merrily We Roll Along was impacted by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes in mid-to-late 2023. Shortly before the strikes ended, Richard Linklater spoke at the Venice Film Festival premiere (via ScreenDaily) of Hit Man where he said he and his team would start up “pretty soon, if we can” after the work stoppage came to an end. However, it’s not known if production resumed by the end of the year.

The Tony Award-Winning Merrily We Roll Along Revival Was Filmed In Summer 2024

Though it’s going to be at least another decade-and-a-half before we get to see Richard Linklater’s film adaptation of Merrily We Roll Along, we may get to see a version of the Broadway musical without having to travel to New York City much, much sooner.

In June 2024, Deadline reported that the Tony Award-Winning Merrily We Roll Along was being filmed by RadicalMedia, the company that produced the Hamilton movie for Disney+ back in 2020. At the time, a production insider told the outlet that the production was being filmed for “posterity,” which is something the source said “doesn’t happen very often.” It’s hard to say if it will be released in theaters or end up on one of the best streaming services, but we should know well before 2039.

Expect to hear more about Merrily We Roll Along in the coming months, years, and decades as we look toward the film’s eventual release. If you’re looking for information on everything coming to the big screen before then, check out our rundown of the biggest upcoming 2025 movies.

I am really excited to see Ethan Hawke as the villain of Moon Knight, which will not only mark his debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe but his first-ever role in a comic book adaptation. That fact is actually a bit surprising, considering what a versatile career the Academy Award-nominated actor and filmmaker has had since his youth, which includes a number of horror movies and some intriguing sci-fi dramas, too. 

We will certainly be sure to draw attention to those esteemed genre pictures, as well as some of the actor’s even more grounded work, in the following rundown of our picks for the best Ethan Hawke movies, with a tip on how you can stream them, digitally rent them, or purchase them on physical media. What better way to start things off than with his feature-length acting debut? 

Explorers (1985)

Using a blueprint that came to him in a recurring dream, a young B-movie fan (Ethan Hawke), his brainy friend (River Phoenix), and a third misfit teen they befriend (Jason Presson) construct a working space ship that takes them on the journey of a lifetime.

Why it’s one of the best Ethan Hawke movies: A then 15-year-old Ethan Hawke gives an inspired, star-making performance for his very first gig as the lead of director Joe Dante’s Explorers - a young sci-fi fans’ greatest fantasy come to life in thrilling and thought-provoking ways.

Stream Explorers on Starz.
Buy/rent Explorers digitally on Amazon.
Buy Explorers on Blu-ray/DVD on Amazon.

Dead Poets Society (1989)

The lives of a close-knit group of high school students are changed dramatically by the eccentric personality and unorthodox teachings of their strict Catholic boarding school’s new literature teacher (Robin Williams) in the late 1950s.

Why it’s one of the best Ethan Hawke movies: Fun fact: Ethan Hawke was convinced Robin Williams hated him for his stark reactions to the comedian's on-set jokes while making director Peter Weir’s inspiring, heartbreaking coming-of-age classic Dead Poets Society, but one might say Hawke's earnest approach resulted in one of the all-time best performances of his career, let alone his teen years.

Stream Dead Poets Society on Amazon Prime.
Buy/rent Dead Poets Society digitally on Amazon.
Buy Dead Poets Society on DVD on Amazon.

Gattaca (1997)

In a future in which social class is determined and strictly enforced by one’s genetics, a man deemed inferior (Ethan Hawke) assumes the identity of a “perfect” specimen in the hope of achieving his dream of leaving Earth.

Why it’s one of the best Ethan Hawke movies: Another fun fact: Bill Clinton is apparently a fan of Gattaca (as he told Ethan Hawke while using the urinal next to him), which is likely due to the actor's engaging performance in director Andrew Niccol's inventive dystopian social commentary,

Buy/rent Gattaca digitally on Amazon.
Buy Gattaca on Blu-ray/DVD on Amazon.

Sinister (2012)

A true crime writer (Ethan Hawke), hoping to score his next bestseller, moves his family into a house infamous for a grisly murder that he discovers, upon closer examination, is connected to several other even more disturbing crimes which lead him to wonder if his family is next.

Why it’s one of the best Ethan Hawke movies: Despite kicking off his career with sci-fi thrillers, it would take a while for Ethan Hawke to reach “Scream King” status, which was cemented by his role in Sinister - a terrifying hybrid of mystery crime thrillers with haunted house movies, co-written and directed by future Marvel movie helmer Scott Derrickson.

Stream Sinister on Hulu.
Stream Sinister on Amazon Prime.
Stream Sinister on Tubi.

Buy/rent Sinister digitally on Amazon.

Buy Sinister on Blu-ray/DVD on Amazon.

The Purge (2013)

In a future in which all crime is legal for one night a year, a security system salesman (Ethan Hawke) and his family become taunted by a maniacal group after his son offers refuge to a man they targeted for murder as the annual event began.

Why it’s one of the best Ethan Hawke movies: Ethan Hawke further cemented his reign as one of the top horror movie actors of this generation when he gave a commanding performance as the lead of the first of the Purge movies, which is, arguably, also the best installment of the enduring franchise of socially conscious thrillers it spawned.

Stream The Purge on HBO Max.
Buy/rent The Purge digitally on Amazon.
Buy The Purge on Blu-ray/DVD on Amazon.

The Before Trilogy (1995-2013)

An American man (Ethan Hawke) and a French woman (Julie Delpy) spend an evening together in Vienna, spend an unexpected afternoon together while he promotes his novel in France, and then spend a day pondering the last several years of their relationship in Greece.

Why they are some of the best Ethan Hawke movies: Speaking of franchises, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy first played Jesse and Celine in 1995’s Before Sunrise, reprised the roles nine years later for Before Sunset, and reunited after another nine years for Before Midnight to complete one of director Richard Linklater’s most ambitious experiments with time and one of the most romantic, amazingly authentic, and exquisitely acted movie trilogies ever.

Buy/rent Before Sunrise digitally on Amazon.
Buy/rent Before Sunset digitally on Amazon.

Stream Before Midnight on IMDb TV.
Buy/rent Before Midnight digitally on Amazon.

Buy The Before Trilogy on Blu-ray/DVD on Amazon.

Boyhood (2014)

A young man (Ellar Coltrane) endures various life-changing circumstances and some common issues involved with growing up from age 7 to 18. 

Why it’s one of the best Ethan Hawke movies: Perhaps writer and director Richard Linklater’s most ambitious experiment with time is Boyhood - a collection of chronologically assembled, astonishingly grounded vignettes our own Sean O'Connell called "a stunning work of art." It filmed over the course of 12 years with the same cast members, including Ethan Hawke in the Academy Award nominated role of the central character’s father.

Stream Boyhood on The Criterion Channel.
Buy/rent Boyhood digitally on Amazon.
Buy Boyhood on Blu-ray/DVD on Amazon.

Waking Life (2001)

A man encounters various interesting people engaging in deep, philosophical dialogues while trying determine the distinct difference between what is his dream and what is his reality.

Why it’s one of the best Ethan Hawke movies: Writer and director Richard Linklater introduced an ambitious experiment in visual storytelling with Waking Life - the first feature-length film to use digital rotoscope animation, in which Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy shine together in their first official reprisal as Jesse and Celine.

Buy/rent Waking Life digitally on Amazon.
Buy Waking Life on Blu-ray/DVD on Amazon.

Reality Bites (1994)

A valedictorian college graduate (Winona Ryder) begins to question what she wants for her future after meeting a video executive (Ben Stiller) who helps get her documentary about her friends on TV.

Why it’s one of the best Ethan Hawke movies: Speaking of deep, philosophical dialogues, Ethan Hawke’s slacker character, Troy, is a master of such in Reality Bites - the directorial debut of Ben Stiller that just might be the ultimate examination of Generation X-era identity crises.

Stream Reality Bites on Starz.
Buy/rent Reality Bites digitally on Amazon.
Buy Reality Bites on Blu-ray/DVD on Amazon.

Great Expectations (1998)

An impoverished painter (Ethan Hawke) strives to achieve success, but all for the sake of winning the heart of the rich woman (Academy Award winner Gwyneth Paltrow) whom he fell in love with when he was a boy.

Why it’s one of the best Ethan Hawke movies: Another Ethan Hawke film that offers a thoughtful reflection of ‘90s counterculture, but through the subversive guise of a literary classic from the previous century, is Great Expectations - an inspiring, passionately performed, modernized reinterpretation of Charles Dickens’ epic romance directed by future Academy Award-winning filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón. 

Stream Great Expectations on Starz.
Buy/rent Great Expectations digitally on Amazon.
Buy Great Expectations on Blu-ray/DVD on Amazon.

Training Day (2001)

On his first day as a narcotics officer for the Los Angeles police department, an idealistic rookie (Ethan Hawke) is shown the ropes by a veteran detective (Academy Award winner Denzel Washington) who proves to be the opposite of what he hoped for in a mentor.

Why it’s one of the best Ethan Hawke movies: Ethan Hawke received his first Academy Award nomination for his breath-taking performance in director Antoine Fuqua’s Training Day - an intense anti-thesis to the buddy cop drama dynamic from screenwriter David Ayer.

Stream Training Day on HBO Max.
Buy/rent Training Day digitally on Amazon.
Buy Training Day on Blu-ray/DVD on Amazon.

First Reformed (2017)

Years after suffering a devastating tragedy, a reverend from a sparsely attended church in upstate New York begins to have a crisis of faith and identity. 

Why it’s one of the best Ethan Hawke movies: While he did not receive an Academy Award nomination, many believe he gave the performance of his career in First Reformed - a stark, emotionally brutal psychological thriller from writer and director Paul Schrader, who is also known as the writer of 1976's Taxi Driver.

Stream First Reformed on Showtime.
Buy/rent First Reformed digitally on Amazon.
Buy First Reformed on Blu-ray/DVD on Amazon.

There is plenty to look forward to from Ethan Hawke beyond Moon Knight, such as his reunion with Scott Derrickson for The Black Phone. You can see the quick things we know about The Northman from Robert Eggers’, and what we know about the Knives Out sequel from Rian Johnson, because Hawke is in both of those, as well. He and Ewan McGregor will play half brothers in Rodrigo Garcia’s Ray and Raymond, and his family drama, Leave the World Behind (also starring Mahershala Ali and Julia Roberts), is now in pre-production. 

Richard Linklater famously shot his 2014 film Boyhood, which was nominated for six Oscars, over the course of 12 years. The director’s latest film, Where’d You Go, Bernadette, is now playing in theaters but he’s already working on his next project. Taking a page from his Boyhood playbook, Richard Linklater has another highly ambitious, years-spanning movie on the way.

Collider has learned that Richard Linklater is directing a new multi-year movie that will be an adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s musical Merrily We Roll Along. As if Boyhood wasn’t ambitious enough, this film will be shot over a whopping 20 years. The film will star Pitch Perfect’s Ben Platt, Booksmart’s Beanie Feldstein, and American Animals’ Blake Jenner. Richard Linklater will produce the film alongside his longtime producer Ginger Sledge, as well as Jonathan Marc Sherman and Blumhouse’s Jason Blum.

Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along, which ran on Broadway for 44 previews and 16 performances in 1981, is itself based on a 1934 play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. The play and musical both take place over the course of 20 years and chronicle the lives of three best friends in showbusiness.

At the center of the story is a Broadway composer named Franklin Shepard, who abandons his career in New York, as well as all of his friends, in order to go produce movies in Hollywood. The musical begins with Frank having achieved Hollywood success and fame and the story then moves backwards in time, highlighting important moments in his life that led him to that point.

According to The New York Times, Richard Linklater’s Everybody Wants Some! collaborator Blake Jenner will play Franklin Shepard and Beanie Feldstein will play his best friend, theater critic Mary Flynn, with Ben Platt taking on the role of Charley Kringas, Frank’s lyricist.

Richard Linklater felt that the only way to do the story of Merrily We Roll Along justice was to shoot it over a time period that is true to the story itself. So Merrily We Roll Along will shoot periodically over 20 years to allow the cast to age. The film is being shot in reverse, as the end of the story, at least in the musical, finds the characters in their mid-20s. The first segment of the film has already been shot. So if the movie maintains the musical’s structure, the end of the film is already in the can.

This is an incredibly ambitious project for Richard Linklater and it dwarfs the 12-year Boyhood in terms of pure duration, eclipsing it by eight years. It’s pretty cool that there are filmmakers like Linklater trying stuff like this, especially in an time when technology would theoretically allow for him to just hire older actors and de-age them.

I would tell you the release date for Merrily We Roll Along, but there obviously isn’t one and well, we’ve got a ways to go before you have to worry about it. Merrily We Roll Along should hit theaters sometime in the 2040s I figure, planet pending of course.

If you don’t want to wait two decades to see your next movie, check out our 2019 Release Schedule to keep track of what’s headed to theaters this year.

We have the list of movies and TV shows set to become available streaming on Netflix for the month of October. Check it out to see what's going to be available. Please note that dates and titles are subject to change...

Not a whole lot happening on the movie front in November. Netflix added some interesting titles in October, but it looks like we'll have to make do with that for at least the next month. There are a few randoms from the early aughts, including Alfie and Just Friends. We also get a few Stephen King morsels (Cujo, Thinner). And not to be left out, there's the award-winning Richard Linklater film, Boyhood.

Things aren't looking so bad if you've got little ones looking for new stuff to stream. There's a collection of Thomas & Friends movies on the way early in November, and later in the month, we have Paddington and the new Jungle Book to look forward to.

And on the original content side, Netflix has the new season of Danger Mouse, series debuts of Tales by Light, Case and Estocolmo, and it looks like Dana Carvey is back with a new comedy special. And certainly not least among the originals is the return of Gilmore Girls, which arrives at Netflix on November 25.

See the list of what became available to stream on Netflix in October here.

Because of its time setting, ensemble cast, and story approach, Richard Linklater’s Everybody Wants Some!! i very clearly functions as a spiritual sequel to the great 1993 indie hit Dazed and Confused, but that isn’t the only past work of Linklater’s that had a big hand in the writer/director formulating new period comedy. His last movie,Boyhood, also had a very important role to play, as the two films were not only developed practically simultaneously, but the intimacy of the family story made him want to make something a bit broader with his follow-up.

I had the wonderful opportunity to sit down with Richard Linklater earlier this month down at the SXSW Film Festival (where Everybody Wants Some!! had its world premiere), and it was in discussing the inspirations for the film that the filmmaker explained the importance of Boyhood in the movie’s development. Given that it’s been 23 years since Dazed and Confused, I asked him if he would have made the spiritual sequel without the experience of making his Oscar-winning feature, and he began his answer by noting that thoughts about Everybody Wants Some!! and Boyhood came to him around the same time:

Obviously that’s a long time for a project to be developing, but Richard Linklater also credits the completion and success of Boyhood to getting Everybody Wants Some!! made. Not only did it surely put him in a better spot in terms of getting money and distribution, but the completion of the project also helped put him in the perfect mental space. Said Linklater,

You can watch Richard Linklater talk about the link between Everybody Wants Some!! and Boyhood in the video below:

Everybody Wants Some!! is now out in limited release, and will be in theaters nationwide on April 8th.

Conventional thinking dictates that for a film which experienced bountiful buzz and awesome accolades like Boyhood, a sequel of some kind would be inevitable. Of course, the Richard Linklater drama was anything but conventional, so that mode of thinking may not be applicable in this case. Or is it? In a recent interview, star Ethan Hawke gave his thoughts to the idea of sequel.

Sitting down with Collider, Ethan Hawke weighed in on the notion of a sequel film; especially after director, Richard Linklater recently wavered on his initial reservations towards the idea. At the moment, nothing is in the works, and as far as Hawke is concerned, there is only one answer. As he explains,

Ethan Hawke makes an interesting point regarding the form of Boyhood and its possible narrative limitations. The film seemed designed as kind of a snapshot into a random life, rather than some drama carrying a weight of self-importance towards a protagonist. It wasn’t necessarily the specific life of young Mason that was intrinsically important to the film’s effect. Rather, it was that the structure of this decade-plus snapshot of his life -- and the relatability to the audience -- that seemed to be the crux of the film.

A perennial cleaner-upper during this past winter’s awards show season, save for "the big one" at the Academy Awards, Boyhood proved to be an artistic and utilitarian accomplishment in the unsung category of commitment. Director Richard Linklater would create the most definitive unraveling of continuity ever in a work, filming young Ellar Coltrane, who would quite literally grow into his role as Mason, from ages 6 to 18. The film completely broke new ground in its chronological production approach, yet showed itself to be a work that, in a certain sense, retained Linklater’s scattershot, sporadic focus on drama that seemingly unfurls on its own.

Thus, the grasp that Boyhood has on the audience was, in a Linklater-esque fashion, fleeting by its nature, as the titular time in one’s life was essentially the film’s "star." (Rather than, comparatively, a love-struck couple in Linklater’s Before films.) As Ethan Hawke would further imply in the interview, once you leave that structured "grid" of grade school, lives become radically disparate and certainly less relatable in the same cinematic scope. In that sense, moving past the depicted boyhood of Boyhood might be moot. A potential "quarter-life crisis" film might come across as detrimentally myopic.

It does seem that Boyhood was a once-in-a-career experiment that probably would not lend itself well to duplication. However, for all we know, another innovative idea could be ruminating in the mind of the eccentric Austinite, Richard Linklater, that’s equally as innovative, but may not be so time-consuming. While the life of Mason captivated many, audiences probably won’t want to stick with him long enough to see him register for his AARP card.

Amy Schumer started off her hosting gig at the 2015 MTV Movie Awards strong with a special tribute to a few favorite flicks from this past year and exciting ones to come including Boyhood, Pitch Perfect 2, Divergent, Whiplash, The Fault In Our Stars and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay. The comedian played up her awkward humor with a few funny one liners and encounters with actors from each of the flicks. Take a look:

Schumer starts looking up in a spoof of Boyhood where her and a young boy answer the question, "What do you think your life’s going to be like?" To which Amy realistically responds, "I mean statistically I’ll get HPV and get some sort of manageable eating disorder and wind up as one of those girls on The Bachelor who yells at strangers in a hot tub." And so it begins, the Amy Schumer raw humor that does not apologize.

Soon after, the MTV Movie Awards host is awakened by none other than Aubrey and Chloe from Pitch Perfect and gets kicked out of the group, as they are probably gearing up for the sequel to their fan-favorite flick. And Schumer sadly comes to the realization that she won’t be a part of their sing-along and decides to find where she does fit in. That’s when Divergent comes up, helping Schumer come to the realization that she is destined to host the MTV Movie Awards. And so, Schumer goes forth on her journey to meet one of the nastiest coaches you’d ever want to meet, J.K. Simmons as his terrifying jazz conductor character from Whiplash. If there’s one thing we can learn from Schumer in this interaction is that when Simmons starts throwing things, move away, slowly.

Schumer decides to hide from the Whiplash star in a support group meeting featuring Shailene Woodley’s The Fault In Our Stars character and things get a little awkward. As Schumer blatantly interrupts the group of cancer patients to talk about her dilemma (hosting the MTV Movie Awards), Shailene Woodley looks incredibly pissed. Schumer tries to lighten the mood by asking, "Is anyone else like not getting high from these things? Like is there a trick or something?" pointing to her oxygen tube.

Quickly Schumer gets paired up with The Hunger Games’ Effie Trinket who sends the comedian up to the stage with a few words of wisdom, just not in the Hunger Games style Schumer hoped for. It was a quick montage, and may have felt a little rushed at times, but it was a fun way to start the awards ceremony, and gave everyone a chance to get acclimated with that quirky Amy Schumer humor that you either love or hate.

The world's greatest filmmakers tell their stories from the very first frame in their movies to the very last. Need proof? Just watch the amazing supercut below, and you'll notice just how many brilliant films have beginnings and endings that work in stunning tandem.

This video, titled bluntly "First and Final Frames," was created by Vimeo user Jacob T. Swinney, and it's an impressive edit that highlights the brilliant work of filmmakers from every era, including John Ford, Martin Scorsese, Stanley Kubrick, Quentin Tarantino and many more. It's amazing to watch just how many movies have perfectly poetic beginnings and endings.

So what are some of the highlights? One of the earliest in the video comes from a film that was only released just last year: David Fincher's Gone Girl. The mirrored beginning and ending here isn't exactly subtle in framing, but what's lurking behind Rosamund Pike's eyes completely changes the context.

My next favorite is featured from Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch Drunk Love. This is a movie all about a man rejecting his loneliness and finding love, and it's illustrated perfectly here.

And then there's the visual magic of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, which juxtaposes "sunrise" with the giant space baby:

I've always found that part of the fun in watching these kinds of videos is simply naming as many of the movies as you can - and I imagine that many of you are the same way. If you've already made your guesses, head over to Page Two to check them against the full list of films, which the editor was kind enough to provide.

While Richard Linklater flew closer to the Best Picture Oscar sun with his Golden Globes-dominating film, Boyhood than he ever had before, the prestigious gold statue ended up eluding him. (Save for the Best Supporting Actress win for Patricia Arquette.) Now, the Texas filmmaker is circling another project that could end up, in much the same spirit of Boyhood, being an innovative, original look at the concept of family based off a book called Where’d You Go Bernadette.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Richard Linklater is in talks for a directorial effort that would be an adaptation of the 2012 best-selling novel by Maria Semple, Where’d You Go Bernadette: A Novel. The novel’s satirical, unorthodox plot depicts a young girl’s quest to find her brilliant, but capricious mother at the ends of the Earth. The film could very well continue the usage of what now seems to be Linklater’s new thematic toy, the idea of a depiction of family.

The plot of Bernadette focuses on a Seattle-based woman named Bernadette Fox, who is depicted as being somewhat of a misunderstood genius. Once celebrated as an innovate architect with a successful husband in the tech industry and possessing a special relationship with her 15 year-old daughter, Bee, she nevertheless seems to find herself misunderstood by conventional folks. The pressure begins to stifle her creative nature, which, for some reason, has caused her to suffer a bit of agoraphobia. She’s on the edge and her life is barely held together by a virtual assistant based in India. In an inexplicable whim, Bernadette uses a family trip to Antarctica (where creative, eccentric people love to holiday,) as an opportunity to completely disappear off the face of the Earth. The story then becomes a duel narrative about young Bee’s investigation to track down her mother and of Bernadette’s own journey of self-realization.

The story may sound like a case of an agenda-driven author injecting a sense of self-aggrandizement into a rather indulgent, transparently-crafted protagonist designed to make a statement about the world’s inability to understand her own genius. However, the storyline is much more self-deprecating and satirical than it sounds. In fact, it could provide Richard Linklater with a lot fertile ground to explore his new-found focus on the family unit, with this rather eccentric group and their absurd predicament which seems to amalgamate the 1990’s children’s property, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? with Ayn Rand’s own "misunderstood genius architect" story, The Fountainhead.

At this point in his career, Linklater, who first garnered attention for the subversive quasi-vérité filmmaking style of 1991’s Slacker, seems to be looking at the past to draw themes to his current, more drama-driven projects. In that sense, Bernadette seems to fit that archetype. Demonstrating this idea, is the fact that Linklater recently claimed that his next picture, That’s What I’m Talking About, a 1980’s period piece focusing on the lives of college baseball players will be a "spiritual sequel" and "continuation" to both his 1993 breakthrough, Dazed and Confused and the recent Boyhood. (For which Linklater recently teased a more conventional sequel.)

We could probably surmise that the centerpiece relationship between mother and son which successfully garnered Patricia Arquette her Oscar with Boyhood might shift Linklater’s focus to the clearly eccentric relationship between Bendadette and Bee -- in that sense, bringing it into this "spiritually" connected series of his films. However, this one won’t likely take him 12 years.

Boyhood, by design, doesn’t lend itself easily to a sequel. Richard Linklater famously spent 12 years creating his Oscar-winning masterpiece, filming the same actors once a year for longer than a decade. What, would we have to wait another 12 years to see a follow up? All Linklater is saying is that there’s a possibility.

On a recent episode of Jeff Goldsmith’s Q-and-A podcast, Richard Linklater admitted that he has been warming up to the idea of following his Boyhood characters further than he had initially planned. The director says that he has fielded that question numerous times as Boyhood reached new audiences, and he always shot it down. He says that he had "no idea about another story," and he didn’t give a sequel much thought. Now, however, that thought process has changed:

If you have followed Richard Linklater’s career, this should come as no surprise. After all, the director tends to reunite his actors Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy every few years to explore the evolving relationship of Jesse and Celine in the Before trilogy. And this series has taught Linklater new ways to approach unique timelines that would be necessary for a Boyhood follow up. The director notes:

Boyhood might not have won the Oscar for Best Picture, but it is a beloved film that has a 98% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and banked $25 million domestically. It’s a stunning achievement for Linklater, and I’m certain audiences would love to follow the family that we met and fell in love with in the film. Will the director find more things to say about them? And will it take quite as long for him to complete the vision? Let’s see how this develops.

Though individual tastes make it so that ever person on earth has a completely different concept of what makes a great movie, surely one element that can be appreciated universally is simple idea of a film delivering something new. None of us enjoy seeing the same characters and stories over and over again, and it’s when a filmmaker tries and succeeds at doing something different that we all stand up and take notice. Perhaps even more effective than showing something new, however, is the power to make audiences feel something new, emotionally connecting us to a piece of big screen fiction unlike anything before. It’s a rare and magical thing for any movie to do both, but that’s exactly why Richard Linklater’s Boyhood deserves to take home this year’s Academy Award for Best Picture.

There are multiple critics who have painted Linklater’s film as little more than a gimmick, arguing that the 11-year process that it took to get the film made ultimately overshadows anything else it brings to the table, but that’s a very narrow mindset. In the making of Boyhood, the director not only took a rather radical and impressive approach to both story and structure – ignoring the standard in favor of something more complicated and realistic – but also discovered a whole new approach to getting a deep empathetic response from an audience. The fact that these elements worked together in harmony after an incredibly long and risky production is actually nearly miraculous, and as the complete package is the argument for why it should be given Hollywood’s highest honor this year.

While most coming of age stories carve out one huge moment in a lead character’s life that catapults them from childhood to adulthood, Boyhood is truly the complete opposite of that convention, but still uses its compelling year-by-year structure to create a movie that is as dramatic, funny, and compelling as any other best example of the genre. Without the aid of any kind of larger arc driving all of the various plot strings of the film, what Linklater does is provide key slices of life that tell us everything we need to know about all the characters at a certain age, while expertly trusting the audience to fill in the gaps and understand the full breadth of the story. When packaged together with expert pacing that ensures that no moment feels ancillary and that each character gets proper exposure, the result is actually a piece of narrative genius that probably shouldn’t work nearly as well as it does.

It’s that same pacing that makes Boyhood’s near three hour runtime feel reasonable – but what’s kind of crazy is that same runtime actually seems short in light of the immense emotional impact that the movie inevitably has on the viewer. By the time Ellar Coltrane's Mason is all grown up and heading off to college to start his adult life, you can’t help but feel like you’re saying goodbye to someone that you’ve known for years. We’ve seen this kind of emotional pull in fiction before, whether it’s the series finale of a long running television show, or the final chapter in a storied big screen franchise, but for Richard Linklater to achieve that kind of feeling in just one feature is unprecedented and beyond impressive.

It’s ultimately a film’s story and style that should be the factors that determine a title’s worthiness to be named Best Picture at the Academy Awards, but in the case of Boyhood, the approach that Richard Linklater took to the material is just icing on the cake. In planning to make a movie over the course of more than a decade, the director not only opened himself up to all kinds of potential catastrophes, but was also forced at each step along the way to really trust that he had all of the material he needed in order to construct a cogent, entertaining story. Given the amount of risk involved, there was every chance that what could have come out at the end was a total disaster, but the fact that it wound up being one of the best movies of 2014 puts it on a pedestal above the rest of the competition.

It is perhaps the greatest tradition of the Oscars to award the film that is conventional and fits into the organization’s rigid sensibilities, but this year they have the opportunity to crown a film that is unique in every facet, from its storytelling to its emotional impact to its production. Boyhood deserves to win this year’s Best Picture prize, and it would be a significant shame if it didn’t get recognized.

Plastic surgery has long become a staple across much of Hollywood's talent. What began many decades ago (dating back to the 1930s) as a minor trend has now become an almost absolute necessity in the eyes of many men and women who aspire to grace our screens well into their golden years. That said, one Academy member thinks actress Patricia Arquette's recent success for her role in Richard Linklater's Boyhood may be linked to the now-common practice, or in Arquette's case, her lack thereof.

The latest article in THR's ongoing series featuring conversations with Oscar voters as we approach the 87th Academy Awards, found the topic of plastic surgery to be at the forefront of the discussion when talking about Arquette's recent run of "good luck." Not only that, the anonymous interviewee seems utterly convinced that the actress' potential for bringing home the golden statuette is directly tied to her willingness to choose not to go under the knife. Here's what the interviewee had to say:

We realize the above is only one Academy voter's opinion, but it likely echoes a sentiment revolving around the importance of plastic surgery in present day Hollywood. While I could see how it plays into Arquette's situation, I tend to believe her performance in Boyhood, first and foremost, is the leading factor in her already winning her numerous Best Supporting Actress awards. The fact that she could be experiencing an extra boost from her opting to avoid messing with her face only serves as an added bonus.

There were a couple other great performances recognized by the Academy for this year's Supporting Actress; I'm thinking of Emma Stone for her role in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) and Laura Dern for Wild. While both were very good, neither of them got to the depths that Arquette was able to reach, due to the nature of Linklater's film. At a foundational level, Boyhood connects as a very human story, told in an unconventional way, allowing actors to age on the screen. That in itself gave her a leg up, but it could only take her so far. It was her ability to embody and bring to life the character that made it a "stand-out" performance, not her lack of plastic surgery.

That said, it would be refreshing to see Patricia Arquette's beautiful and naturally-aging face spark a new Hollywood trend.

Richard Linklater's Boyhood was one of the most critically-beloved films of 2014, but it's been taken to task in the latest installment of Honest Trailers. Watch it below!

It's been kind of a rough month for Boyhood. Following the it's big win at the Golden Globes for Best Picture - Drama, the film looked like it was basically a lock for the top prize at the upcoming Oscars. Unfortunately, Alejandro G. Iñárritu's Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance has gone on a huge awards tear recently - winning big at the Screen Actors, Producers and Directors guilds - as has taken over front runner position previously held by Richard Linklater's film. Now, to add insult to injury there is this brand new Honest Trailer that points out all of the feature's serious flaws.

The main target that this video takes direct aim at is the same one that many Boyhood-haters have been using since the movie was released last year: that the film is more about its own gimmick than it is a interesting piece of storytelling. The ambitious project was filmed over the course of 12 years, following the same group of actors over that same time period, and while the Honest Trailers crew does admit that this was quite a substantial effort, it seems they were left wanting by the film's story of drunk asshole stepfathers and temporary teenage romance.

While I mostly disagree with Honest Trailers' assessment of Boyhood - as proven by the fact that the film was featured on my Top 10 list for 2014 - but I will give the video series a lot of credit for their presentation on this one. Instead of using the standard deep-voiced narrator to point out all of the movies faults, the crew went Weird Al Yankovic for this episode and wrote a full-on parody of Family of the Year's song "Hero," which was notable featured in Boyhood's trailer. Even better, this is actually the second one in a row with a musical component, as the crew also wrote their own version of "Everything Is Awesome" when they recorded their LEGO Movie episode last week.

Also, is anyone else happy they finally showed the voice over guy? I have to admit I was curious what he looked like.

Boyhood is currently up for six Academy Awards, and we'll find out how well it winds up doing when February 22nd a.k.a. Oscar Sunday rolls around.

We’re still a full two weeks away from the Academy Awards, but tonight in London was the biggest in British cinema. The British Academy Film Awards, better known as the BAFTAs, were held this evening - and it will be fascinating to see how it winds up having an effect on the on-going race in Hollywood.

Recently it’s been Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s Birdman that has been sweeping up big awards, winning the Director’s Guild, Producers Guild and Screen Actors Guild prizes, but it was Boyhood that the BAFTAs deemed to be the Best Film of 2014. In addition to winning the big award of the night, the 12-years-in-the-making movie also won Best Director for Richard Linklater amd Best Supporting Actress for Patricia Arquette. The Theory of Everything - the Stephen Hawking biopic – was also a big winner. The drama took the Outstanding British Film title, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Eddie Redmayne beat out the likes of Michael Keaton and Benedict Cumberbatch for Best Actor.

For a full account of the winners and losers, check out the list below!

BEST FILM

Boyhood - Richard Linklater, Cathleen Sutherland - WINNER

Birdman - Alejandro G. Inarritu, John Lesher, James W. Skotchdopole

The Grand Budapest Hotel - Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales, Jeremy Dawson

The Imitation Game - Nora Grossman, Ido Ostrowsky, Teddy Schwarzman

The Theory of Everything - Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce, Anthony McCarten

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM

The Theory of Everything - James Marsh, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce, Anthony McCarten - WINNER

’71 - Yann Demange, Angus Lamont, Robin Gutch, Gregory Burke

The Imitation Game - Morten Tyldum, Nora Grossman, Ido Ostrowsky, Teddy Schwarzman, Graham Moore

Paddington - Paul King, David Heyman

Pride - Matthew Warchus, David Livingstone, Stephen Beresford

Under the Skin - Jonathan Glazer, James Wilson, Nick Wechsler, Walter Campbell

BEST DIRECTOR

Boyhood - Richard Linklater - WINNER

Birdman - Alejandro G. Inarritu

The Grand Budapest Hotel - Wes Anderson

The Theory of Everything - James Marsh

Whiplash - Damien Chazelle

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

The Grand Budapest Hotel - Wes Anderson - WINNER

Birdman - Alejandro G. Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris Jr, Armando Bo

Boyhood - Richard Linklater

Nightcrawler - Dan Gilroy

Whiplash - Damien Chazelle

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

The Theory of Everything - Anthony McCarten - WINNER

American Sniper - Jason Hall

Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn

The Imitation Game - Graham Moore

Paddington - Paul King

BEST LEADING ACTOR

Eddie Redmayne - The Theory of Everything - WINNER

Benedict Cumberbatch - The Imitation Game

Jake Gyllenhaal - Nightcrawler

Michael Keaton - Birdman

Ralph Fiennes - The Grand Budapest Hotel

BEST LEADING ACTRESS

Julianne Moore Still Alice - WINNER

Amy Adams - Big Eyes

Felicity Jones T- he Theory of Everything

Reese Witherspoon - Wild

Rosamund Pike - Gone Girl

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

J.K. Simmons - Whiplash - WINNER

Edward Norton - Birdman

Ethan Hawke - Boyhood

Mark Ruffalo - Foxcatcher

Steve Carell - Foxcatcher

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Patricia Arquette - Boyhood - WINNER

Emma Stone - Birdman

Imelda Staunton - Pride

Keira Knightley - The Imitation Game

Rene Russo - Nightcrawler

BEST ANIMATED FILM

The LEGO Movie - Phil Lord, Christopher Miller - WINNER

Big Hero 6 - Don Hall, Chris Williams

The Boxtrolls - Anthony Stacchi, Graham Annable

BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC

The Grand Budapest Hotel - Alexandre Desplat - WINNER

Birdman - Antonio Sanchez

Interstellar - Hans Zimmer

The Theory of Everything - Johann Johannsson

Under the Skin - Mica Levi

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Citizenfour - Laura Poitras - WINNER

20 Feet From Stardom - Morgan Neville, Caitrin Rogers, Gil Friesen

20,000 Days on Earth - Iain Forsyth, Jane Pollard

Finding Vivian Maier - John Maloof, Charlie Siskel

Virunga - Orlando von Einsiedel, Joanna Natasegara

BEST MAKE-UP AND HAIR

The Grand Budapest Hotel - Frances Hannon - WINNER

Guardians of the Galaxy - Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou, David White

Into the Woods - Peter Swords King, J. Roy Helland

Mr. Turner - Christine Blundell, Lesa Warrener

The Theory of Everything - Jan Sewell

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

The Grand Budapest Hotel - Adam Stockhausen, Anna Pinnock - WINNER

Big Eyes - Rick Heinrichs, Shane Vieau

The Imitation Game - Maria Djurkovic, Tatiana MacDonald

Interstellar - Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis

Mr. Turner - Suzie Davies, Charlotte Watts

BEST BRITISH SHORT FILM

Boogaloo and Graham - Brian J. Falconer, Michael Lennox, Ronan Blaney - WINNER

Emotional Fusebox - Michael Berliner, Rachel Tunnard

The Karman Line - Campbell Beaton, Dawn King, Tiernan Hanby, Oscar Sharp

Slap - Islay Bell-Webb, Michelangelo Fano, Nick Rowland

Three Brothers - Aleem Khan, Matthieu de Braconier, Stephanie Paeplow

BEST BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION

The Bigger Picture - Chris Hees, Daisy Jacobs, Jennifer Majka - WINNER

Monkey Love Experiments - Ainslie Henderson, Cam Fraser, Will Anderson

My Dad - Marcus Armitage

BEST EDITING

Whiplash - Tom Cross - WINNER

Birdman - Douglas Crise, Stephen Mirrione

The Grand Budapest Hotel - Barney Pilling

The Imitation Game - William Goldenberg

Nightcrawler - John Gilroy

The Theory of Everything - Jinx Godfrey

BEST SOUND

Whiplash - Thomas Curley, Ben Wilkins, Craig Mann - WINNER

American Sniper - Walt Martin, John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff, Alan Robert Murray, Bub Asman

Birdman - Thomas Varga, Martin Hernández, Aaron Glascock, Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño

The Grand Budapest Hotel - Wayne Lemmer, Christopher Scarabosio, Pawel Wdowczak

The Imitation Game - John Midgley, Lee Walpole, Stuart Hilliker, Martin Jensen

BEST SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS

Interstellar - Paul Franklin, Scott Fisher, Andrew Lockley - WINNER

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Erik Winquist, Daniel Barrett

Guardians of the Galaxy - Stephane Ceretti, Paul Corbould, Jonathan Fawkner, Nicolas Aithadi

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies - Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, R. Christopher White

X-Man: Days of Future Past - Richard Stammers, Anders Langlands, Tim Crosbie, Cameron Waldbauer

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Birdman -Emmanuel Lubezki - WINNER

The Grand Budapest Hotel - Robert Yeoman

Ida - Lukasz Zal, Ryzsard Lenczewski

Interstellar - Hoyte van Hoytema

Mr. Turner - Dick Pope

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH ACTOR, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER

Stephen Beresford (Writer), David Livingstone (Producer) - Pride - WINNER

Elaine Constantine (Writer/Director) - Northern Soul

Gregory Burke (Writer), Yann Demange (Director) - ’71

Hong Khaou (Writer/Director) - Lilting

Paul Katis (Director/Producer), Andrew de Lotbiniere (Producer) - Kajaki: The True Story

BEST FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Ida - Pawel Pawlikowski, Eric Abraham, Piotr Dzieciol, Ewa Puszczynska - WINNER

Leviathan - Andrey Zvyagintsev, Alexander Rodnyansky, Sergey Melkumov

The Lunchbox - Ritesh Batra, Arun Rangachari, Anurag Kashyap, Guneet Monga

Trash - Stephen Daldry, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Kris Thykier

Two Days, One Night - Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne, Denis Freyd

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

The Grand Budapest Hotel - Milena Canonero - WINNER

The Imitation Game - Sammy Sheldon Differ

Into the Woods - Colleen Atwood

Mr. Turner - Jacqueline Durran

The Theory of Everything - Steven Noble

EE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)

Jack O’Connell - WINNER

Gugu Mbatha-Raw

Margot Robbie

Miles Teller

Shailene Woodley

This year's list of films nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards is an eclectic one, featuring multiple sharp, powerful dramas, as well as a couple rather darkly funny comedies. But what if you were to splice a bit of adorable into that formula? Well, then you would get this brand new video bluntly titled "KIDS REENACT 2015 OSCAR NOMINEES."

This parody video comes to us courtesy of the folks over at CineFix, and I honestly found myself laughing quite a bit watching the antics. While it definitely helps that the writing is actually rather sharp and and works well with the young voices, I actually have to give a lot of credit to the young stars as well as the costuming/make-up teams who really did an awesome job here.

Seriously, the beard on "young Bradley Cooper" from American Sniper is so comedically perfect that for a half-second I actually thought it was real:

Props are due to those who developed the wig on top of bald cap look in the Birdman parody. That portion of the video is most certainly the most bizarre of any of the segments, but double hair piece makes it.

So, if we were to select a Best Picture based on these clips, who would we choose? I'd personally pick Selma, but that's really just because of this sly, badass smile that creeps across "young David Oyelowo's" face when he realizes that he has "young Tom Wilkinson right where he wants him:

If you had to choose a favorite Best Picture nominee based on these clips, who would it be? Hit the comments section below explain your choice, and be sure to stay tuned to our Oscar coverage in the run-up to the Academy Awards on February 22nd.

Every year, five to ten films are selected by the Academy Of Motion Pictures And Sciences to represent the best of the previous year's crop. These Best Picture nominees can range from wide opening films you've already seen, to independent films you've been dying to see, but didn't want to spend the gas money on. Well, you're in luck, as the best event to celebrate the Best Pictures is rolling into town again; AMC Theaters has announced their ninth annual Best Picture Showcase.

Since 2006, AMC Theaters has been offering audiences the opportunity to indulge in the entire field of nominees for top Oscar honors. As times have changed, and the field of nominees has widened, the program has changed to offer two options for audiences to get their fix of Oscar nominated glory. What doesn't change is the fact that the price for the event is a steal, considering you're paying between $55 to $65 dollars to see the following great films:

• American Sniper
• Birdman
• Boyhood
• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• The Imitation Game
• Selma
• The Theory of Everything
• Whiplash

As we mentioned before, there are two options of Best Picture Showcase enjoyment. The first option is the admittedly more mainstream method, which breaks up this year's eight picture field into two weekends of four films a pop. This option will cost you $55, and is great if you're okay with a typical movie marathon, but don't feel like cramming all of the goodness into one day. However, if you're a daring sort that likes to live on the edge, there's always the more legendary option, which involved all eight films being shown in a 24 hour marathon on the day before the Oscars. That package will set you back $65, and is available in limited markets.

On top of that, this year will also see the debut of a new strategy that AMC Theaters are unrolling thanks to crowdfunding/voting platform Tilt. Much like you can "demand" a movie come to a theater near you, you can reserve a ticket to the Best Picture Showcase 24 Hour Marathon, and if 100 people sign up you'll be charged the $65. If the 100 ticket threshold isn't met though, the event is cancelled and you'll be able to enjoy the standard two day event. Either way, you're only a ticket's purchase away from enjoying an event that has been a staple of AMC Theaters' for almost a decade.

Why should you go to AMC Theaters' Best Picture Showcase? Speaking from experience, it's a fun event that brings together local pockets of the theater geek community. Everyone from internet junkies to people who've been to Sundance show up for two days in the dead of winter to act as a sort of informal film judging committee. On top of the camaraderie, there's also trivia breaks between each film, which offers a chance to net you some sweet swag from the theater's storerooms. Don't worry too much about getting tired or hungry though, as there is a dinner break on the longer day of the showcase, and the shorter day is short enough to let out in time for dinner.

AMC Theaters' Best Picture Showcase takes place on February 14th and 21st for the two day option, with the 24 hour marathon occurring on the 21st. One last suggestion: if your venue is a reserved seating venue, you might want to get your tickets as soon as possible. Reports have been coming in that Fandango sold tickets before they were available on AMC Theaters' website, thus leaving those watching the official channels at a disadvantage.

If you stick with the analogy that The Oscars are like the Super Bowl for movies, then this morning we finally learned which "teams" are playing. Eight movies were nominated for Best Picture, meaning we can actually discuss the potential of the films that will contend for the industry’s top honor: a Best Picture Oscar.

As expected, Richard Linklater’s Boyhood -- the current "frontrunner" in this year’s ongoing race – received one of the eight Best Picture nominations, keeping it in contention. It joins a prestigious field of dramatic and comedic movies, which I’m including below:

Eight films in total. And now, the big question: "Are these the seven movies lining up to lose to Boyhood? Or can one of these movies shift the tide and contend for the Academy’s top prize?"

Let’s talk a bit about how the Academy traditionally operates (which, in turn, will point out a few oddities in this year’s competition). Films that win Best Picture usually take the award for Best Director, as well. This isn’t set in stone, however. Alfonso Cuaron won Best Director last year for Gravity, while Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave won Best Picture. The year before, Ang Lee earned the Best Director Oscar for Life of Pi, while Argo won Best Picture.

Is this a trend? If so, it suggests that the Civil Rights drama Selma has a real shot at upsetting Boyhood, even though director Ava DuVernay wasn’t even nominated in her respective category. Just ask Ben Affleck how that worked out for Argo. In fact, a win for Richard Linklater recognizing his technical achievement, paired with a win for Selma in Best Picture, makes so much sense that you just wish we could hand out those trophies this afternoon and be done with this race.

At the same time, Oscar paired Picture and Director in 2011 (Tom Hooper and The King’s Speech), 2010 (Kathryn Bigelow and The Hurt Locker), 2009 (Danny Boyle and Slumdog Millionaire), 2008 (Joel Coen and No Country for Old Men), 2007 (Martin Scorsese and The Departed)… do you see what I’m getting at? Cuaron and Lee seem to be the exceptions that prove the rule, and I’d be surprised if the Academy split the categories for a third consecutive year.

Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel, however, are films that received both Director and Picture, and have good chances of generating momentum in this second half of the Oscar race. Alejandro Inarritu’s film, in particular, has a number of significant X-Factors that can help it on the campaign trail. First and foremost, it is a movie about the industry, focusing on a former superhero star (played by Best Actor nominee Michael Keaton) who is trying to resuscitate his career by writing, directing and starring in a Broadway play. The acting branch of the Academy – still the largest contingent of voters – likely will see a lot of themselves in the characters played by Keaton, Naomi Watts and fellow Oscar nominee Edward Norton. Keaton is even considered the frontrunner for Best Actor in some circles. Could Keaton and a possible Inarritu win power Birdman to the stage on Oscar night?

It’s possible, but improbable. In fact, if I were going to wager on ANY of the other seven Best Picture nominees rising up and stealing the trophy from Boyhood -- because I do believe it is Richard Linklater’s to lose – it’s The Imitation Game. There’s a laundry list of characteristics shared by Morten Tyldum’s movie that ring the Academy’s bell. It’s a period biopic. It’s expertly acted by a team of Brits. It has an element of tragedy, and an element of triumph. It’s this year’s The King’s Speech, and we all know how that race turned out.

Ultimately, I’m not betting against Boyhood. Richard Linklater’s movie has enjoyed Top Dog status for months now, and today’s Oscar nominations did very little to change the film’s status. But Phase Two of the marathon is all about maintaining momentum if you are the leader, and introducing doubt if you are a neighboring competitor. Do you think any film can slow Boyhood’s roll between now and February 22?

For Entertainment Weekly’s latest cover, the editorial team decided to feature Richard Linklater’s incredible film, Boyhood. A fantastic choice, to say the least: it swept most of the major categories at the Golden Globes, and it’s a surefire front-runner for the Oscars. Upon looking at the magazine’s finished product, however, the image they chose to run with just looks…well, kind of creepy.

The idea definitely seems cool — Boyhood was filmed over the course of 12 years, and during that time we saw its star Ella Coltrane grow up on screen from a young boy to an adult. So why not find some way to include the three key stages of his character’s story in one cover? Perhaps it’s the Photoshop, especially around 11-year-old Coltrane, but the image gives off a "Come play with us, Danny" vibe than something suitable for the glowing Oscar contender it is.

Despite this haunting image, it’s pretty safe to say that Boyhood will dominate the Oscar nominations when they’re announced tomorrow morning. We’re sure Richard Linklater is thrilled by the attention he’s receiving for Boyhood, but it didn’t seem as though something as small as an under-the-radar indie film could emerge as the darling of awards season. As Linklater told EW:

So far, Boyhood has won three Golden Globes: Best Picture, Drama; Best Director for Linklater; and Best Supporting Actress, Drama for Patricia Arquette. It also has a buttload of SAG, BAFTA and Critics Choice nominations to its name, in addition to all the critical acclaim its received (especially from President Obama). And all signs are pointing to some major victories this Oscar season. Some other buzzed-about contenders this year are the Martin Luther King, Jr. pic Selma, Brits Benedict Cumberbatch and Eddie Redmayne for The Imitation Game and The Theory of Everything, and Julianne Moore’s Still Alice. Despite all this strong competition and the chaos of awards campaigning, Boyhood has remained on everyone’s minds. It is truly a piece of cinematic history that we might never see replicated in our lifetimes.

I wish the same could be said of its EW cover…

Did the Directors Guild of America just solidify the Oscar race, or toss the whole deck of cards up into the air? We’ll know for sure on Thursday when the Academy announces its selections for Best Director (and every other category), but the five men nominated by the DGA have to feel pretty comfortable going into Thursday morning thanks to today’s nods.

The five finalists for this year’s Directors Guild of America’s top prize, revealed via press release, are:

Wes Anderson, for The Grand Budapest Hotel

Clint Eastwood, for American Sniper

Alejandro Inarritu, for Birdman

Richard Linklater, for Boyhood

Morten Tyldum, for The Imitation Game

And now, as we do with any list of this sort, we begin to analyze the people who are NOT included… and worry about their chances of breaking through at the Oscars. The most notable absence has to be Ava DuVernay, whose film Selma is winning over the hearts of critics but can’t catch a break with major awards groups. David Fincher and Angelina Jolie couldn’t crack the DGA for their work on Gone Girl and Unbroken, respectively. And it sounds like it’s officially time to give up hope on candidates like Bennett Miller (Foxcatcher), James Marsh (The Theory of Everything) and even Damien Chazelle (Whiplash).

The candidates that made the cut are deserving, however. Even Eastwood, who will rile up several awards-race trackers, delivered one of his better films in American Sniper (though it’s hard to argue that he belongs on this short list ahead of DuVernay, Miller, Fincher or Chazelle… but I digress). You do get the impression that four of the five candidates are preparing to lose to this season’s clear-cut frontrunner, Richard Linklater, who’ll likely collect all of the awards for Boyhood. As he should.

Are these five DGA nominees locks for Oscar? Not exactly. There have been exceptions over the years, where one or two DGA nominees didn’t carry over to Oscar’s ballot. That could be good news for Selma supporters, or for those hoping that David Fincher would pick up an Academy nod. But if I had to wager, I’d guess that three of these men are locks, and one of the remaining two – either Eastwood or Tyldum – will be disappointed on Thursday morning.

There are many different award shows that pop between the end of any given year and the Academy Awards, but fewer are seen as more significant than the Golden Globes. The winners selected by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association are often considered by analysts to be a strong indicator of what we may see happen come Oscar time, and this year was certainly no different. We saw some big moves and surprises during the 72nd annual show tonight, and it has painted an interesting picture for the 2014 awards season going forward.

Now that the dust has settled and all of the results are in, it’s time to look at the big winners and losers of this year’s Golden Globes. Who or what gained the most momentum? Who or what lost the most? Read on to find out!

Winner: The Grand Budapest Hotel – Best Picture - Comedy/Musical

After missing out on Best Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Actor – Comedy/Musical, things were looking quite bleak for Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel at the Golden Globes tonight – but that all changed when the Best Picture – Comedy/Musical award was announced. Birdman was certainly considered the frontrunner – especially because it had beaten Anderson’s movie in two of the three earlier categories – but in the end it was the quirky European-set dramedy that wound up taking home one of the biggest awards of the night. It’s true that the film still does face incredible competition for Best Picture at the Academy Awards (most notably from Boyhood), but tonight definitely made the picture look like a stronger contender. Will it be able to pull it off? We’ll have to just wait and see.

Loser: Selma – Best Picture - Drama

Ava DuVernay’s Selma was unquestionably one of the most shocking and powerful films to be released in 2014, and it did get one big win at the Golden Globes tonight thanks to its success in the Best Original Song category, but the film took a big hit tonight where the Best Picture race is concerned. Boyhood’s gain is Selma’s loss, and this could wind up being a considerable momentum shifter. It’s tremendously hard to argue with the Martin Luther King Jr. biopic’s case - as it’s not only an amazing movie, but one that is being released at a very important point in time – but at the same time it’s not hard to see the film’s miss tonight as having a possible impact on its Academy Award chances.

Winner: Michael Keaton (Birdman) – Best Actor - Comedy

Because of the way that the Golden Globes categories are laid out, it’s hard to precisely say how Michael Keaton would have done in direct competition with Best Actor – Drama winner Eddie Redmayne, but it’s still practically impossible not to see this Birdman win as a good sign for Keaton’s Oscar chances. There is a certain irresistible comeback nature to the actor’s story, and this Golden Globe win helps him really stay in competition with the big performances in big dramas like The Theory of Everything and The Imitation Game. Keaton is still certainly competing in what can easily be considered 2014’s tightest race, but this win shows that he is still very much in the game. We’re excited to see how it plays out next month.

Loser: Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game) – Best Actor - Drama

In this year’s awards race, there is no category with stiffer competition than Best Actor, and while Michael Keaton and Eddie Redmayne got some big momentum tonight, one can argue that tonight’s events hurt Benedict Cumberbatch’s chances more than anyone else’s. Things certainly don’t look great for Nightcrawler’s Jake Gyllenhaaal or Selma’s David Oyewolo either, but Cumberbatch’s turn in The Imitation Game has been touted as an Oscar frontrunner since the Toronto International Film Festival, and missing out on a Golden Globe is not a good sign for him. Cumberbatch obviously isn’t totally out of the race at this point, as the Academy Awards have a completely different voter pool, but one can argue that his position has been weakened.

Winner: Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything) – Best Actor - Drama

Going into tonight’s Golden Globes ceremony, many saw the key head-to-head matchup being Eddie Redmayne’s The Theory of Everything turn going up against Benedict Cumberbatch’s The Imitation Game performance, and at the end of the event it was Stephen Hawking who found himself victorious over Alan Turing. Redmayne has been getting Oscar buzz ever since The Theory of Everything debuted at 2014’s Toronto International Film Festival, and now that buzz is starting to turn into actual trophies. Academy voters obviously may still look in a different direction when it comes to the Oscars, but the fact that Redmayne got smiles from the HFPA is a feather in his cap and a sign that he could wind up taking the stage and getting handed a gold statue from Cate Blanchett next month.

Loser: The LEGO Movie – Best Animated Feature

Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s The LEGO Movie was one of the most critically-beloved films of the year, but tonight the Hollywood Foreign Press Association showed it no love. Things have looked good awards-wise for the animated film due to the fact that 2014 is a year without an entry for Pixar, but now How To Train Your Dragon 2 has entered the game as a potential spoiler candidate. As I noted in my piece about the loss, it’s very possible that the Golden Globes snub comes as a result of the movie reflects the fact that it didn’t translate well overseas, but ultimately what it really shows is that The LEGO Movie might actually have some stiff competition at the Oscars.

Winner: Amy Adams (Big Eyes) – Best Actress - Comedy

Julianne Moore’s win tonight for her part in Still Alice only further confirms suspicions that she will walk home with the Best Actress Academy Award this year, but in a conversation purely about momentum one has to give attention to Amy Adams. The Big Eyes actress hasn’t gotten a ton of buzz about her role in the Tim Burton film, but this win could suggest that analysts have been undervaluing her. In the past, voters have certainly shown an appreciation for biopics, and despite its Golden Globe categorization the film really does have plenty of drama for Adams to work with. The Best Actress category is perhaps the weakest in this year’s Oscar field, and with the award season power of Harvey and Bob Weinstein behind her, Amy Adams could find herself receiving acting’s highest honor in February.

Loser: The Imitation Game - Best Motion Picture - Drama, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Score

That’s right: Benedict Cumberbatch’s bad night was only one part of a much worse night for director Morten Tyldum’s The Imitation Game. Including the Best Actor – Drama category, the film was up for five awards this evening and walked away completely empty handed. One could argue that the movie’s strongest category is the Best Actor slot at the Academy Awards, but the big swing and miss tonight sincerely lowers its statistical chances in any other major category as well. It’s true that Oscar voters have a long history of really loving World War II-era period dramas, which means that the film’s aesthetic style could lead to a few technical awards like costumes and production design, but the Alan Turing biopic now looks like a much weaker contender the major categories.

Winner: Boyhood – Best Picture - Drama

It may seem a bit redundant to say that the receiving the Best Picture – Drama award at this year’s Golden Globes was a big win, but in the case of Richard Linklater’s Boyhood that’s certainly worthy of saying. The 11-years-in-the-making movie has been considered an Oscar frontrunner for months now, and this huge win only further confirms its strong standing. The movie is absolutely amazing and awards voters are clearly impressed with the effort that went into making the movie, and that fact is being reflected in numerous big wins. If the Oscars wind up matching the Golden Globes, this may be the first year since 2011 that Best Director and Best Picture go to the same feature. At this point it’s hard to argue against it.

Loser: Foxcatcher – Best Picture – Drama / Best Actor / Best Supporting Actor

It’s true that Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher never really had very strong odds at being a big player in this year’s Best Picture race at the Oscars, but this was a bad night for the film simply because of how it performed in the acting categories. It was bad enough that Channing Tatum wound up not getting attention for his gripping portrayal of Mark Schultz, but both Mark Ruffalo and Steve Carell getting shut down tonight severely hurts the film’s chances going forward. It appears that J.K. Simmons has things pretty well wrapped up in the Best Supporting Category, and Eddie Redmayne’s win gives him a distinct edge – and that all points towards Foxcatcher missing out on glory at the Academy Awards.

At one point do we stop pretending that Richard Linklater’s Boyhood isn’t a complete and total awards juggernaut? Do we continue to entertain the notion that an excellent film like Selma or Birdman -- or an unexpected awards contender like The Theory of Everything or The Grand Budapest Hotel -- can swoop in at the last minute and steal Boyhood’s thunder? Or can we just accept the fact that the results from Sunday’s Golden Globes ceremony will be mirrored at the Oscars, and just embrace that incredible reality.

OK, fine. Boyhood hasn’t even secured an Oscar nomination yet – a technicality that will be resolved on Thursday, when the Academy reveals its noms. And I have tracked enough awards races to know that films that build momentum can fade when challenged by an equally powerful contender. The Social Network won the Globe in 2010, but watched The King’s Speech claim the Oscar weeks later. Babel claimed the Globe in 2006, then lost to The Departed. Currents shift. Campaigns heat up. Films that look invulnerable in January suffer strange losses in March.

That shouldn’t happen to Boyhood. Richard Linklater’s movie has enjoyed its particular perch in the frontrunner’s "Driver’s Seat" since critics groups started handing out recognitions late last year. (Cue the latest joke about how long it took to make Boyhood, versus how long Hollywood has spent honoring Linklater’s incredible accomplishment.) That’s the thing, though. It’s virtually impossible NOT to ackowledge Linklater’s gamble – and his victory – by handing Boyhood the top prize any film can earn: A Best Picture Oscar. By filming a story once a year for 12 years, Linklater accomplishes what no one outside of Michael Apted has attempted. His film is more leisurely anthology than fervent page-turner. But it’s also a heartwarming, eye-opening time capsule of American life, and for so many reasons, it needs to be celebrated.

Boyhood earned serious momentum at the Golden Globes. It grabbed trophies for Director and Picture (Drama), as well as Supporting Actress for Patricia Arquette. It’s possible another film charms Oscar between now and February 22. But I firmly believe that evening will be reserved for Linklater’s final Boyhood party, one that has been 12 years in the making.

January is the time of year when everyone from diehard cinephiles to movie critics look back on the previous year’s film offerings and assign them a numeric value. This is what the "Best Of" lists are all about, and it’s not the most enjoyable process. If you think otherwise, at least check out this one particular movie ranking, which professes to rank the top films of not the year but of the past decade. We guarantee it’ll light a fire under your butt.

Filmmaker and critic Kevin B. Lee tweeted the following over the holidays, as he realized we were about to pass the midway mark of the 2010s: "What are the best films of the decade so far?" Anyone wishing to answer submitted their thoughts to him through social media, and he compiled the results into a definitive list. While he admits that this was an open inquiry, he notes in the headline of his analysis on Slate that the results reflect the thoughts of more than 300 critics.

The list, "The Best Films of the Past Decade So Far (2010-2014)," encompasses 491 films. But what would you, as a movie lover, think would make the top 10? Boyhood, perhaps? Maybe something like 12 Years a Slave or Argo? While Boyhood did make it into the top 10, it did so only by the skin of its teeth. And you’d probably never guess which films bested it.

1. The Tree of Life (103 votes)

2. Certified Copy (91 votes)

3. The Master (76 votes)

4. Margaret (68 votes)

5. Holy Motors (66 votes)

6. A Separation (64 votes)

7. Under the Skin (61 votes)

8. Inside Llewyn Davis (59 votes)

9. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (45 votes)

10. Boyhood (44 votes)

This is a damn-near perplexing list. While The Tree of Life was a fine film, the fact that it’s in the top spot on this list, above Boyhood and Inside Llewyn Davis, is disconcerting. The same goes for The Master and Under the Skin’s placements. And what about Certified Copy? The 2010 film starring William Shimell as a traveling author who spends a day with a French store owner (Juliette Binoche) in Tuscany, Italy, the film was widely praised by critics, but its overall resonance was unexpected. Those who participated in this poll are still thinking about it enough to bump it to the second-place spot.

As for Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, we have no words. Admittedly, this one eluded me, but after investigating, I can tell you it’s about a man reflecting on his past lives while on his death bed and seeing apparitions. For those of you who have seen it, good for you! The rest of us will still be scratching our heads.

According to Lee in his analysis of the list, the Cannes Film Festival is a greater indication than the Oscars as to the best films of the decade. As he notes, five out of the list’s top 10 films premiered at Cannes, while 12 Years a Slave was the highest ranking film to win the Oscar for Best Picture. (It came in 39th.) The full list of films can be found on Fandor, but prepare yourself for some aggravation.

If you ask me, no one really likes putting together a "best movies" list. It’s no easy task, and your order is forever changing depending on your mood and environment. So it’s times like this when I enjoy turning the reigns over to outside sources. The community over at Metacritic has put together its annual best-of rankings, including the 20 best movies of 2014.

For the past five years, Metacritic users have participated in surveys to name the best movies, TV shows, games, albums and songs. Before we get into their picks for the best movies (i.e. the good stuff), here’s a nitty gritty detail to keep in mind. The users were asked to rank their five favorite movies: five points for first-place picks, four points for second place, etc. In a wonderful turn of events, the film that most deserved to get the title of best movie of 2014 did. Here’s the full list of films, along with the number of points they racked up.

1. Boyhood (2,827)

2. Interstellar (1,754)

3. The Grand Budapest Hotel (1,742)

4. Birdman (1,478)

5. Gone Girl (1,453)

6. Guardians of the Galaxy (1,401)

7. Whiplash (801)

8. Nightcrawler (793)

9. The LEGO Movie (776)

10. Under the Skin (563)

11. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (470)

12. Snowpiercer (465)

13. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (379)

14. X-Men: Days of Future Past (375)

15. Edge of Tomorrow (305)

16. Inherent Vice (219)

17. Ida (191)

18. Foxcatcher (173)

19. The Babadook (166)

20. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (165)

I’ve said this time and again, but there’s truly nothing like Boyhood, and that’s all I’ll say on the matter. However, what was surprising is the second-place holder. Interstellar had its fair share of issues, and it didn’t seem like all that many people were into it. Apparently none of us should ever doubt Christopher Nolan’s reach.

Another well-deserved victory was how close Whiplash was ranked to the top. While Miles Teller was showing us a more vulnerable side that we’ve never seen from him before, J.K. Simmons was setting the screen on fire with his performance as the sadistic and abusive jazz conductor. Simmons earned a Golden Globe nomination for it, and the film deserves some attention at the Oscars, too. The fear, however, was that it didn’t resonate with audiences. Though, it’s good to know it has its fans.

As expected, the superhero movie genre turned out in full force. With the exception of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (for obvious reasons), all the Marvel films were included. Guardians of the Galaxy didn’t break into the top five, but it was close enough. Captain America 2, on the other hand, only bested Days of Future Past by one slot. Perhaps the biggest travesty, though, was how far down Edge of Tomorrow dropped. By all accounts, this movie looked like another Tom Cruise disaster movie (and we’re not talking about the natural disaster genre, either) but it proved itself to be one of the funnest times we’ve had in a theater this year. This brings me back to my earlier statement about the difficult determination process behind best-of lists. At least one person will always be let down.

Elsewhere, Metacritic users also named Interstellar, Boyhood, Guardians of the Galaxy, Mockingjay - Part 1 and Birdman as the five most overrated movies of 2014 (in that order). In the TV division, Game of Thrones and True Detective swept the two top spots. At least we know the pollers have good taste.

Could Richard Linklater have his own shared cinematic universe in the works? It seems like a farfetched notion, we know, as Dazed and Confused and his most recent film, Boyhood, are not directly linked. But that's not stopping the filmmaker from drawing a connection between those two movies and his next project. The director is currently busy working on his next film, which he's previously described as a "spiritual sequel" of his classic period dramedy, Dazed and Confused, and now he's added that the feature will also be a continuation of sorts to his most recent hit, Boyhood.

Linklater brought up this connection while speaking with Creative Screenwriting, first by explaining how the upcoming That’s What I’m Talking About is a "spiritual sequel" to Dazed and Confused and then going on to describe it as a sort of continuation of his 11-years-in-making epic... though not in the traditional sense:

The concept of "coming-of-age" seems to be one that fascinates Richard Linklater, given that a small chunk of his career has been dedicated to telling these kinds of stories, most notably in Dazed and Confused and Boyhood. Sadly, there will never be anything quite like the director's most recent film, as that undertaking was really quite extraordinary, but it sounds like That’s What I’m Talking About has a chance to hit on similar, albeit more mature notes. The movie won't feature any characters or story continuations from Dazed and Confused or Boyhood, but it sounds like the themes and conflicts that we all recognize from those eras of our lives will be further developed.

Linklater's upcoming period film has been described as following a college freshman as he gets acquainted with his roommates and a girl over the course of a weekend. As the director mentions, this makes its thematic connections to Boyhood rather obvious, as that's really where we left Ellar Coltrane’s Mason at the end of his childhood story. That's What I'm Talking About is populated with a cast of rising talent, including Tyler Hoechlin, Wyatt Russell, Ryan Guzman, Zoey Deutch, Will Brittain, and Glen Powell. That probably means, unfortunately, no surprise cameo from Matthew McConaughey's David Wooderson.

Every major awards group that reveals its nominations prior to the Oscars on Thursday, January 15, are another tea leaf waiting to be read and analyzed. Was your movie included? Great! Was it left out? You might be in trouble.

The Producers Guild Association is the latest group to drop its selection for the best of 2014, and those of us tracking each step of the Oscar marathon found more than enough interesting elements to single out. Some films bolstered their already strong showings as they wait for the main Oscar noms to be revealed next week. Other films that thought they had a clear path to the Academy Awards just hit an obstacle. And several films that were sitting "on the bubble" just got a nice boost.

The nominees for the Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures are as follows:

American Sniper

Birdman

Boyhood

Foxcatcher

Gone Girl

The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Imitation Game

Nightcrawler

The Theory of Everything

Whiplash

The PGA noms have been a reliable indicator of the direction in which the Oscar breeze is blowing. (Click here for the complete list of this year’s nominees.) What, then, did we learn about the Oscar race today?

Unbroken Is In Serious Danger Of Missing The Best Picture Category

We don’t yet know how many films will be nominated for Best Picture next week. The Academy changed its rules so that the night’s biggest category can have as few as five nominees, and as many as 10. It’s an intriguing way to freshen up what had become a stale race – and to let films that wouldn’t normally get in find a foothold in the competition. But so far, Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken has been well-received by audiences yet overlooked by professional groups. SAG bypassed it. The Golden Globes – which typically adore Angie – bypassed it. And now the PGA bypassed it. Will the Academy follow suit?

Selma Isn’t The Frontrunner

Because a true frontrunner takes virtually every prize leading up to the Oscars, and the PGA just handed Selma its walking papers. This counts – for me – as the biggest surprise of the PGA results. When SAG overlooked Ava DuVernay’s blistering and fantastic Civil Rights drama, we argued that it was because members of the Screen Actors Guild hadn’t received screener DVDs. Since then, Selma has been picking up steam… but a PGA omission is a snub, and one that can’t be taken lightly.

Whiplash Has A Real Shot At A Best Picture Nod

Which couldn’t make me happier. Damien Chazelle’s taut, terrifying drama was my choice for No. 1 movie of the year, and the Sundance hit has been collecting accolades since its debut at the Sundance Film Festival almost one year ago to this day. But for the most part, it has been JK Simmons collecting most of the attention for his searing portrayal of Fletcher, a dominant music instructor. Lately, however, those of us who adore Whiplash have seen its scope expand, and inclusion in the PGA equivalent of Best Picture have us believing that a shot at Oscar glory is possible.

There Are Five Best Picture Locks

Because they have earned recognition from each important pre-Oscar bellwether, from the SAGs to the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards. They are: Birdman; Boyhood; The Grand Budapest Hotel; The Imitation Game; and The Theory of Everything. If there are a bare minimum of five films selected for Best Picture, it will be these five. We’re just waiting to see how many more films will join them in the category.

Foxcatcher Might Outlast Its Latest Controversies

No film on the Oscar campaign trail wants to generate negative publicity. Selma recently was questioned for its historical accuracy, and Foxcatcher took a surprise beating when its chief subject, Mark Schultz, started slinging mud at director Bennett Miller. These public displays of aggression can damage a film’s Oscar chances… but it’s possible that the controversy occurred too late in the game to stop Foxcatcher. The movie has Oscar momentum, and likely will keep it heading into next week. The PGA nom was a big boost for a movie that had a rough couple of days, but seems to have found smoother sailing in 2015.

January isn’t typically the biggest month for Blu-ray, DVD and streaming releases, but thanks to the glories of awards season and midseason premieres on television, there’s quite a bit of good stuff popping up over the next several weeks, ranging from Nightcrawler to the latest season of HBO’s Girls. If you want to know when your favorite movies are headed onto Blu-ray and DVD, as well as streaming services, this list is one to peruse. Check back each week for new reviews!

January 6

No Good Deed Blu-ray

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s latest thriller may use a lot of basic tricks to set the mood in No Good Deed, but nothing can compete with Idris Elba’s onscreen presence and Taraji P. Henson’s ability to look wide-eyed and kick ass at the same time. The movie is about a stranger, Colin (Elba) who invades a woman named Terry’s (Henson) home on a rainy night. While elements of the script could have been a little compelling, the movie looks great on Blu-ray, despite a nighttime setting and plenty of dark scenes. It’s a little light on the bonus features with three featurettes "Making A Thriller", "The Thrill Of A Good Fight," and "Good Samaritan," but you can purchase the set here.

Boyhood Blu-ray

Richard Linklater’s latest movie, Boyhood, has been praised for its core concept—following a young boy who grows into a young man over a period of more than a decade, a monumental achievement considering Linklater and leads Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette had no idea if the kid actors would pan out as they started to deal with much tougher material. But Ellar Coltrane and Lorelei Linklater crush it, giving us a movie that reminds viewers of and sometimes adequately reflects our childhoods. Boyhood had a small release and didn’t make it into a ton of theaters. That being said, IFC has put out a nice Blu-ray set that takes a fascinating look behind-the-scenes of the making of the movie. These aren’t always the best segments, but with a movie that took 12 years to make, you’ll learn how Linklater originally outlined the movie and how it changed as his cast changed and grew older. It’s pretty great. You can grab the set for a great sale price here.

Girls: The Complete Third Season DVD

The packaging for HBO Home Entertainment’s comedies has routinely never been as spectacular as their dramas, likely because the comedies are a less lucrative enterprise. Plus, since there are no CGi’d dragons, it doesn’t matter whether or not you watch the set in glorious HD picture. The DVD set for Girls: The Complete Third Season features Hannah (Lena Dunham), Marnie (Allison Williams), Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet) and Jessa (Jemima Kirke) as they go on a brand new set of misadventures that end up landing them back at square one by the end of the season. Which should set things up pretty nicely during Season 4, which hits the TV schedule this weekend. You can catch up with Girls via HBO Go or order the set over at Amazon.

Other January 6 Blu-ray And DVD Releases

Archer (Vice): The Complete Fifth Season

Black Sails: The Complete First Season

Horns

Looking: The Complete First Season

Left Behind

Get On Up

Dinosaur 13

January 6 Early Digital Releases

Lucy

No Good Deed

Laggies

The Newsroom, Season 3

The Scorpion King 4

Love Is Strange

January 13

Boardwalk Empire: The Complete Fifth Season DVD

HBO graciously gave Boardwalk Empire a shortened fifth season during which the show was able to wrap up its storyline. In order to do that Terence Winter and the gang shot ahead to 1931. While the time hopping is chunky and the episode count is shorter (8 total) than fans would like, Boardwalk Empire: The Complete Fifth Season capably wraps up HBO’s Chicago, New York and Atlantic City-based drama in a manner that finishes up the stories of Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi), Eli Thompson(Shea Whigham), Al Capone (Stephen Graham), Nelson Van Alden (Michael Shannon) and the other colorful personalities on the show. With so many endings and some new beginnings, the show doesn’t hold back on either the violence or strategy that captivated audiences through the episodes that came before. HBO Home Entertainment’s set is slimmer than most HBO sets, and the big extra is "Scouting the Boardwalk," which looked at how the behind-the-scenes team made the 20th Century come to life on the small screen. HBO also tossed in a freebie: the first two episodes of the acclaimed Steven Soderbergh series The Knick.

Men, Women & Children Blu-ray

Director Jason Reitman’s latest film Men, Women and Children takes a look at technology and consumption and the myriad of ways that our relationships are affected by modern-day communications. The story follows an ensemble cast and hops perspectives frequently, with certain characters’ stories overlapping. Most compelling among these is Judy Greer’s Donna Clint, a mother who developed a risqué website to post her daughter, Hannah’s (Olivia Crocicchia), photos. Don and Helen Truby (Adam Sandler and Rosemarie DeWitt) are busy learning to use the internet as a tool to meet other people, missing out on the fact that their son Chris (Travis Tope) has a porn issue. The stories themselves are well-layered and intriguing, but they are set to a narrator (Emma Thompson) who is obsessed with discussing things on a grand scale. For a movie that tries to be grandiose, Paramount Home Entertainment’s Blu-ray set scales down to just a few extras, including deleted scenes and two featurettes, "Virtual Intimacy" and "Seamless Interface." Men, Women & Children is worth a watch for its underlying statements about relationships, but it may be one to rent.

Gone Girl Blu-ray

Gone Girl is a slow, crazy burn. It’s a character study involving ridiculous people, and a carefully put together thriller that keeps audiences guessing. Perhaps more importantly, it’s a book adaptation in all the best ways. It takes the general outline and sticks to it, but it changes portions of the material that are clearly problems. It’s a master work by director David Fincher, and while it didn’t net as many Oscar nominations as some would have hoped, it did snag a nomination for lead actress Rosamund Pike who crushes it as Amy, the title character and protagonist of the fictional series of children’s books Amazing Amy. The Gone Girl set comes with a sample book from the series, as well as an army of special features. In all, it's the type of set you would expect from a movie that's so diligent, detail oriented and complicated.

January 13 Blu-ray And DVD Releases

The Twilight Saga: Extended Editions Twilight/New Moon/Eclipse Blu-ray

Jessabelle

The Scorpion King 4: Quest For Power

The Identical

The Two Faces Of January

Revenge of the Green Dragons

Love Is Strange

Rudderless DVD

Duck Dynasty: Before the Dynasty DVD

Middle of Nowhere DVD

Wetlands

January 13 Early Digital Releases

Ouija

Jessabelle

Bird People

January 20

Lucy Blu-ray

Lucy’s a fast-paced action movie with less-than-modest intentions. Director Luc Besson loosely ties in solid action with the idea that the brain can’t achieve more than 10% capacity. When a new drug enters Lucy’s (Scarlett Johansson) system, the young woman begins experiencing enhanced powers, including telekinesis and mind-reading. She may not have much time, but Besson’s sensory movie is sometimes nonsensical, but is more often fun and involving and is worth a first watch or a re-watch, depending on whether you caught the film during its initial release. Fans of Universal Studios Home Entertainment’s film should find a smartly packaged Blu-ray set.

Annabelle Blu-ray

Annabelle is the prequel to the hit horror flick The Conjuring. As such, there were high expectations going into the release of the Warner Bros. Film. Luckily, it has perhaps the world’s creepiest horror prop going into the movie it its title character, Annabelle, a possessed doll who causes trouble for young mother Mia (Annabelle Wallis) and bookstore owner Evelyn (Alfre Woodard) who unite causes to take down the evil in the doll. There’s nothing new about the setup or premise in the movie, but it certainly has its moments, and the doll itself should frighten sufficiently. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment’s set is a perfect companion to The Conjuring, although the extras on the set are nothing to write home about. Eight deleted scenes comprise a big chunk of the bonus features, and a few short featurettes are also included. It’s currently running as a bestseller on Amazon and you can nab the flick for a sale price.

The Boxtrolls Blu-ray

Laika has been putting together reasonably scary kids flicks like ParaNorman for the past several years. In 2014, the animation company embraced the weirdness even further with The Box Trolls, a family-friendly flick about an orphan named Eggs (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) who meets a snob named Winnie (Elle Fanning) and collectively use their oddball skill sets to save a group trolls named the Boxtrolls from the villainous Snatcher (Ben Kingsley), who wants to exterminate them. The likable thing about the stop-motion animation that Laika produces is that there is a lot going on in both the forefront and background in every scene, which gives kids and parents a lot to look at. Additionally, there are off-color jokes for the adults and plenty of fun gags for the kids, throughout. (If your child doesn’t shout "jelly" in the car a few times on the way home, I’d be surprised.) Peppered with lovely featurettes that are more for the interested adults than the kiddos and feature commentary from Directors Graham Annable and Anthony Stacci, The Boxtrolls is a welcome addition to the Laika cannon, although I don’t know if I’ll dust this Universal Studios Home Entertainment set off and pop it in as often as I will ParaNorman.

Check out a sampling of the bonus features with this exclusive clip.

Other January 20 Blu-ray And DVD Releases

Little House On The Prairie: Season 4 Blu-ray

The Zero Theorem Life’s A Breeze The Pirates

A Bet’s A Bet DVD

January 20 Early Digital Releases

Dear White People

Dracula Untold

The Best Of Me

January 27

Fury Blu-ray

There have been plenty of World War II movies, but David Ayer’s Fury is the first one that really puts us into the belly of the tank. It’s a movie that reminds me a bit of Norman Mailer’s classic novel The Naked and The Dead in that it is gutsy and filled with deeply detailed personalities that have been affected and change during the course of the war. Brad Pitt rocks a scar as Don "Wardaddy Collier," a soldier with a kind streak who bonds with newbie Norman "Machine" Ellison. The two are part of a tank crew that also includes Gordo (Michael Pena), Bible (Shia LeBouf), and Coon-Ass (Jon Bernthal). The movie is engaging but I wouldn’t call it entertaining, rather, Fury is an unsentimental, swaggering movie that doesn’t relent until the very end, after it’s given us every ounce of courage from the soldiers that populate the pages of its script. It’s an interesting movie, and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s Blu-ray set is also worth a perusal, with a ton of deleted scenes (the press release says 50 minutes and it felt like an hour’s worth of extra content that adds to the story) and a "Directors Combat Journal" featurette, which looks at Director David Ayers experience with the complications of shooting tank warfare and more. You get a lot with the R-rated set, and you can get it for a reasonable price right now.

The Judge Blu-ray

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment’s release is a big one this week, thanks to Robert Duvall earning nods at this year’s awards ceremonies. David Dobkin’s thoughtful movie The Judge gets a lot of things right about living off a one-lane highway in Indiana. Characters get stuck behind the occasional tractor and stick close to home, thanks to enjoying the comfort of a close-knit community. The movie itself follows the troubled Hank Palmer, a high-end defense attorney with plenty of personal troubles, who heads home for the first time in years after his mother unexpectedly dies. While at home, he’s forced to confront the problems he has with the rest of his family, including brothers Glen and Dale (Vincent D’ and his father, Judge Joseph Palmer (Duvall). A murder case takes a backseat to the family dynamics, but overall The Judge is a pleasant movie to plow through. The Judge Blu-ray set has plenty of extras, but none are standouts. Check out the deleted scenes and the "Inside The Judge" feature.

Other January 27 Blu-ray And DVD Releases

PBS Masterpiece: Downton Abbey: Season 5

Justice League: Throne Of Atlantis

Open Windows

Mas Negro Que La Noche DVD

Big Driver DVD

January 27 Early Digital Releases

Nightcrawler

Kill The Messenger

The Remaining

Low Down

This poll is no longer available.

Ethan Hawke has been having a crazy year, thanks to his buzzworthy role in Richard Linklater’s Boyhood. He recently earned himself a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance, as well as numerous recognitions by critic circles across the country. But arguably the craziest thing to happen to Hawke happened when he was peeing next to former US President Bill Clinton.

It’s a pretty hilarious story that the actor dropped in a massive interview with The Daily Beast. This is how he tells it:

Gattaca is Hawke’s 1997 sci-fi film that takes place in a world where genetics are everything, including determining where one works and who one marries. When a man with proclaimed inferior genetics dreams of traveling through space, he masquerades as a member of the genetic elite. It’s good to know that Clinton has good taste in movies -- he also enjoys the work of Roland Emmerich -- but the story would’ve been a whole lot funnier if he had been a fan of Hawke’s through his one-time voice acting gig on Robot Chicken.

You gotta appreciate his balls, right? The fact that Clinton takes no issue in interrupting a Golden Globe- and Oscar-nominated actor’s urinal visit to make his fandom known is pretty hysterical. Though, it's important to remember that this is the same guy who passed a My Little Pony quiz on NPR and starred in a hilarious Funny or Die sketch alongside Ben Stiller, Kristen Wiig, Sean Penn, Matt Damon and Kevin Spacey.

Maybe Hawke will eventually win that Golden Globe or earn an Oscar nomination for Boyhood and Clinton will have to change his response the next time he encounters the actor at a urinal. However, Barack Obama is still the all-time winner of US president-celebrity encounters. With his appearances on Zach Galifianakis’ Between Two Ferns, Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show, and The Colbert Report, there’s no wonder movie stars love this guy. Not to mention that his favorite movie of the year is Boyhood. Full circle.

2014 could very well go down in history as the year of the supercut, simply because there have been so many of them in the past 12 months. A lot of them have even been more exemplary works of editing than some of the films we sat through this year. One such example is this awesome supercut of some of the best moments in cinematography that cinema had to offer in 2014, and it's included for your viewing pleasure below.

Kudos go out to Vimeo user Jacob T. Swinney for his extremely beautiful look at the moments of 2014 that caught our eyes for just a little longer than normal. The flow of the selection of clips is beautifully complimented by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross's track "Sugar Storm," coming from the Gone Girl soundtrack. In fact, if you look close enough, you'll see the scene this song was originally used for in the mix, as well as some gorgeous shots from The Grand Budapest Hotel, Snowpiercer, and Boyhood - just to name a few.

As well represented as the year of 2014 is in this video, only disappointing thing about this montage is that it solely focuses on live-action films. While animation wasn't at its best levels of representation this year, there were some pretty neat shots from The LEGO Movie, How To Train Your Dragon 2, and even Big Hero 6 that could have been represented in this clip fest. It's not a deal breaker, but it's a little upsetting that the major strides in animated cinematography were not represented at all in this otherwise pretty comprehensive reel.

In a year that saw everything from moments of crime to fake movie ads receiving a supercut of their own, Swinney's segment is probably the best one we've seen since Final Cut 2014 landed on our desks. Both are pure examples of editing flourish that link together so many dissimilar films together with the common thread of art, and they both hit the notes of the music just right with the moments that are chosen for exhibition. It's exciting when a supercut like this hits, because in this day and age all it takes is the right person to see this video and Jacob T. Swinney could become one of those editing greats that he is mimicking with his work.

So in the year of supercuts, what's the one supercut that could cap off the year so perfectly? Why, naturally, it'd be a supercut of the best moments from the best trailers that 2015 can offer. While we're mere hours away from the start of 2015, it's not too late to hope that some amateur editor with an eye for action is working away at their computer, putting together the perfect video to ring in a new year of cinema. Here's hoping we find such a supercut to share with all of you out there, and here's hoping 2015 is a year that's good to us all at the movies!

2014 won’t go down as the greatest year in the history of Hollywood, but it had a lot of damn good movies. Some of them were big budget, some of them were made on shoestrings. In a way, that’s the great thing about Hollywood. Yeah, it helps to have a budget for advertising and special effects, but in the end, the success or failure of a movie has the most to do with how well the audience is able to relate to the characters. If a director is able to say something honest and interesting, the film will get out there, even if it takes some time.

Here are the 10 greatest movies of 2014, presented in order. Feel free to disagree in the comment section. Honorable mentions are listed after the final paragraph…

10. Foxcatcher

The history of the United States is filled with a lot of great men who worked really, really hard and amassed incredible fortunes. Say what you will about some of their tactics, but people like John D Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie and J.P. Morgan pushed this country forward. Unfortunately, more than a few of these titans of industry left behind generations of unstable descendants who didn’t work and were incapable of managing their own lives. John E du Pont was one of these men, and beset by alcoholism and mental illness, he left an unfortunate trail in his wake. Foxcatcher gives the world a chance to meet him up close, and in the hands of Steve Carell, who gives the best performance of his career, it really, really works.

9. The Fault In Our Stars

YA novels aren’t always the go-to source material for great movies, but The Fault In Our Stars is a great movie. It’s filled with beautiful, heartbreaking moments without ever devolving into melodrama. It’s honest, unflinching and weirdly hopeful. Some people get a bad lot in life. They draw the short straw and have to fight through things like cancer, but that doesn’t mean they don’t just want to see the Anne Frank Museum and go out to nice dinners with their boyfriends. Deep down, we’re all 70% the same. The Fault In Our Stars is a beautiful movie, and it needs to be seen.

8. Skeleton Twins

Thanks to their years sharing the stage on Saturday Night Live, Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig are extremely comfortable with each other, and that really works to their advantage here. Playing siblings who both suffer from serious issues, they feel both close and distant in all of the right ways. More importantly, they manage to be really, really funny without every trying to hard. There are always a lot of laughs buried beneath misery, but it’s a clever trick to coax them out without ever ruining the larger emotions. Everyone is able to do that here, as a complicated and beautiful story of love and isolation is played out.

7. Obvious Child

There are few things more complicated than an unwanted pregnancy. The single best thing anyone could say about Obvious Child is that it doesn’t pretend to have any of the answers. It doesn’t oversimplify the subject into some easily digestible lesson viewers can take with them. Instead, it simply turns its camera on and lets the pain, the awkwardness and the humor play out. Pregnancy is a life-changing event, but it doesn’t change someone’s personality. It doesn’t change their goals, dreams or aspirations. It makes them take a long hard look at themselves, their lives and where they want to go. Obvious Child lets Jenny Slate’s character do that, and in turn, it lets the audience come to terms with her decision. She’s not a saint. She’s just a girl doing the best she can.

6. Grand Budapest Hotel

All of Wes Anderson’s movies are clever. The director is fueled by wit and snappy dialogue the way athletes are fueled by Gatorade. It’s in the plot where he usually gets in trouble. Either by introducing an unsustainable number of characters or too many wrinkles, some of his movies wind up getting a little messy. Grand Budapest Hotel buts up to both of those lines, for sure, but it always manages to stay on the right side, giving viewers a chaotic and zany experience without totally overwhelming their enjoyment. It’s not a perfect movie, but it’s perhaps as close as Wes Anderson has ever come.

5. Whiplash

Thanks to the best performance of his career, Whiplash is earning a ton of headlines for supporting actor JK Simmons. In fact, he’ll probably take home an Academy Award for his work, but the larger film deserves to be recognized with a Best Picture nomination too. It’s a near-perfect look at what it takes to be a musical genius and how teaching methods for some may not work for all. It examines what it means to be a genius and how far is too far to push yourself. See it for the music. See it for JK Simmons’ performance. See it for everything else too because it’ll change the way you look at the idea of prodigies and their mentors.

4. Boyhood

Boyhood should be a stupid gimmick that doesn’t really work. The transitions should be awkward. The acting should be shoddy from the children, and the finished product shouldn’t hold up. But it does. Because Boyhood somehow found the right child actors. And it somehow realized that focusing on the smaller moments people tend to remember would be better than just chronicling major life events. And it somehow nailed every little decision in order to create something truly special. Boyhood will live on and not just because it’s a cool idea.

3. Edge Of Tomorrow

Edge Of Tomorrow or Live.Die.Repeat or whatever the hell it’s called this week is a great movie. In fact, it’s arguably Tom Cruise’s best movie in about a decade, and the fact that it was underseen is one of the movie industry’s greatest tragedies in 2014. Fortunately, it will likely find a second life on home video and premium cable channels as more and more people discover its clever blend of action, humor, aliens and Bill Paxton. Tom Cruise still has it, and this movie proves it. He’s equally as captivating in the fast-paced action sequences as he is in the Groundhog Day-style same day freakouts, and opposite Emily Blunt, he’s a capable sex symbol too.

2. Selma

The best way to tell a story isn’t always with more information. Selma gets that. Instead of criss-crossing through Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s life, it focuses almost exclusively on one of his many battles: registering people to vote in Selma, Alabama. The focus is laser sharp and because of that, it’s able to also shine a lot on so many of the other characters in the Civil Rights Movement. It’s even able to show the friction inside, concerning objectives and strategies. With great work from a large supporting cast and an Oscar-level turn from lead David Oyelowo, Selma is heartbreaking and powerful, without really resorting to preaching or being pushy. It’s damn good, and if it wins Best Picture, it will deserve it.

1. Nightcrawler

Nightcrawler is unsettling. The basic plot points of the film are creepy and off-putting, and perhaps more importantly, lead actor Jake Gyllenhaal really dives into the deep end. He plays our "hero" Lou Bloom without even the slightest wink. This is a man who will lie, cheat and scheme to get ahead, and when he enters the television news business, he finds the perfect career, one willing to pay for and reward every morally compromising decision he makes. Nightcrawler isn’t interested in glorifying or condemning those choices either. It just bluntly shows them, letting viewers make up their own minds about how far is too far and exactly how corrupting the influences of people like Lou actually are.

Honorable Mentions: Gone Girl, Imitation Game, Guardians Of The Galaxy, The Theory Of Everything and Birdman.

While box office numbers may have been down compared to 2013, the truth is that 2014 was a pretty phenomenal year for film. We saw incredible new titles from amazing veteran and newcomer directors hitting just about every single month –regardless of season – and they introduced whole new worlds and kinds of creativity to the cinematic landscape. Needless to say, it made my work as a film critic a whole lot more fun… but it also made my Top 10 of the year incredibly challenging to put together.

After much agonizing, rank swapping, and last-minute screening squeeze-ins, I am ready to reveal my Top 10 for 2014 - and it’s a list of movies that made me feel hundreds of kinds of emotions throughout the year and that I plan to watch many times again in the future. So where should we start? #10 seems like the proper place…

10. Frank

As a movie fan, I think it’s rather important to have an appreciation for the weird. Studios have proven themselves excellent at making the same movies over and over again, so it’s endlessly refreshing when a title comes along that not only breaks from conventions, but also starts pumping out ideas straight outta left field. It’s all the more impressive when the film can do this as well as maintain a smart narrative with something to say. This is how why my Top 10 is kicking off with director Lenny Abrahamson’s Frank - a film that has Michael Fassbender wearing a giant paper mache head over his own for just about his entire performance.

The story of a young man named Jon (Domhnall Gleeson) who falls in with a group of somewhat-psychotic, experimental musicians led by a sweet odd-ball named Frank (Fassbender), the movie has a beautiful tonal blend of comedy and drama that mixes together an eccentric group of characters with wonderful themes about creative energy and personal outlook on the world. Surely there will be some members of the audience who find themselves a bit thrown by the weirdness of it all, but it’s an experimental and musical adventure well worth taking.

9. Selma

Martin Luther King Jr. is, without question, one of the most important Americans to ever live. Choosing means of peace over means of violence, he helped drive a nation towards a better future, and has enlightened generations about the utter importance of equality in freedom. In Ava DuVernay’s Selma, we not only get a closer, more intimate look at this legendary figure, but also the real man at the heart of it – and it comes together as one of the most effecting dramas of the year.

Not only is it powerful to get an intimate look at the determination-through-pain experienced during the Civil Rights Movement, there is an incredible, three-dimensional portrait painted of King in star David Oyewolo’s beautiful portrayal, and it’s emotional to watch him internally struggle with fear and pressure behind the scenes while also displaying so much strength externally for the campaign. It’s an impressive, compelling story that’s made only more important by what’s happening in the atmosphere in which it’s being released, with the cases of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. But really the film will stand-up through time for being a brilliant film about one of history’s most influential leaders. (Read my full review here)

8. Boyhood

As you get to the end of watching Richard Linklater’s Boyhood, there is a special feeling that overcomes you. In the span of two-and-a-half hours, the movie chronicles 11 years in the life of a young boy, and while you only get to see bits and snippets of this long time period, there’s an overwhelming sensation as the story begins to wind down that you are about to say goodbye to characters you’ve known forever. This is a sensation typically relegated in fiction to the finales of long series or franchises, but Linklater’s movie gets it in one shot – and that’s only one aspect that makes it one of the best of the year.

One can’t talk about Boyhood without mentioning the unique, extended, incredibly risky way that Linklater chose to shoot it – returning to the production year after year to film scenes with his naturally aging characters – and it not only creates a beautiful, special narrative flow, but becomes more impressive when you think of how well the story all comes together. The performances are incredible, music is perfectly utilized at every opportunity, and the story is wonderfully relatable. This is the best kind of risky filmmaking, and it’s amazing to watch it succeed.

7. The LEGO Movie

Writer/directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller seem to really enjoy challenging themselves as filmmakers. Why else keep taking on projects based on existing properties that have so much potential to fail? Of course, it doesn’t really seem to matter, as Lord and Miller have continued to knock it out of the park every time out, from Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs to 21 Jump Street. This year they continued that streak with the stupendously awesome The LEGO Movie.

While Lord and Miller also made the great meta sequel 22 Jump Street in 2014, it’s their animated film built with Danish building blocks that’s truly worthy of being called one of the 10 best movies of the year. The visual style is unlike anything we’ve ever seen in features before, blending the looks of LEGO stop-motion with CGI animation, and at the same time creates a world that is uncompromisingly weird and beautiful. The voice talent featured is an inspired collection of names, with Chris Pratt leading the team and really showing off his stunning charm and talent. The LEGO Movie is such more than a kids movie based on a toy brand, and is in truth one of the funniest, thoughtful, and creative comedies of the year.

6. Foxcatcher

It is hard to think of any actor who has advanced their professional performance abilities in the last five years more than Channing Tatum. He has moved far beyond his block of wood/eye candy days, and has proven that he can be a dynamic, ranged performer. Up until this year, however, all of his best turns have merely surprised me. As the lead in Bennett Miller’s powerful drama Foxcatcher, he has genuinely impressed me, and that turn – along with those from a transformed and terrifying Steve Carell, as well as the brilliant Mark Ruffalo – drive the movie to become one of the most transfixing and intense of the year.

Based on a true story, Miller’s film is a disturbing, character-driven exploration of what the American dream means to different people, and it all plays out with tremendous power dynamics that are created between the three leads. It’s incredible to watch the palpable upper hand transferring between Tatum, Carell, and Ruffalo, and the personalities are so volatile that you’re constantly in suspense over how the transfers of power will manifest in action. It’s certainly not an easy movie to watch, but it’s a damn effective one. (Read my full review here)

5. The Babadook

It’s not easy being a horror fan. There isn’t any other genre out there where the ratio of quality to crap is so skewed – and sadly it’s not in the more positive direction. As such, when a horror film comes along that is creative, thoughtful, and actually terrifying, it deserves to be celebrated. Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook is all of these things… with an extreme emphasis on the third.

To put it bluntly, The Babadook is easily one of the scariest movies I have ever seen, and I actually watched most of it curled up in the fetal position. Much of this can be attributed to the tension-dripping, shadowy atmosphere that Kent maintains throughout, but really the terror comes out of the movie’s themes and relation of dark realities. At its heart, this is a movie both about coming to terms with loss as well as the most horrific thoughts a parent might have or feel towards an unruly child. As the suffering mother at the center of the story, Amelia, Essie Davis puts on what is easily one of the best performances of the year, and drives the film towards perfection. This is a must see, and is guaranteed to scare the hell out of you.

4. Captain America: The Winter Soldier / Guardians of the Galaxy

Yes, I’m aware that I am cheating a bit here. Admittedly, Joe and Anthony Russo’s Captain America: the Winter Soldier and James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy are two very different films that succeed on their own merits and possess individual qualities that make them both unique and fantastic. Brilliant as they are separately, however, together they represent just how much the comic book world has changed over the last few years, and as a huge fan of the genre, I felt that both need to be celebrated equally.

We’ve spent decades watching the more typical versions of comic book movies, establishing superhero origins and fitting perfectly into the standard "action/adventure" box, but together Captain America 2 and Guardians of the Galaxy have blown that box wide open. The former is an action-packed homage to the great 70s conspiracy thrillers that just so happens to feature a costumed hero as its lead; and the latter brought a fresh, hilarious tone to the space opera genre while succeeding in making us fall in love with a talking raccoon and a walking tree. Marvel Studios has changed the comic book world forever, but they are also now putting out some of the best films of the year. (Read my full review here and here)

3. Whiplash

Passion is the most important thing in life. If you don’t care what you’re doing, or care who you are doing it with, there is no point in any of it. Of course, passion doesn’t come easy. Passion requires work. Passion requires focus. Passion requires sacrifice. But what are we willing to lose in the name of what we truly love, and how far can we be pushed in trying to find it? These are the questions at the heart of Damien Chazelle’s truly brilliant, music-driven Whiplash.

In the movie, it’s drumming that is the true passion for the protagonist Andrew, played by the fantastic Miles Teller, but while the musical sequences and performances are both stunning and beautifully shot, that’s just the film’s surface level. Really it’s about Andrew’s pure drive to be the best, and the perfection-required approach taken by the man who can get him to that level. Playing the drill instructor-esque Terence Fletcher – Andrew’s instructor at the country’s most prestigious music academy – J.K. Simmons puts on what will likely be remembered as the greatest performance of his career, and wonderfully straddles the line between mentor and antagonist. Whiplash is powerful filmmaking, and firmly establishes Chazelle as a director to watch.

2. Nightcrawler

Jake Gyllenhaal gives what can really best be described as a fascinating performance in Dan Gilroy’s Nightcrawler. His character, Lou Bloom, is an absolutely terrifying, sociopathic monster, and whenever he smiles it generates a disturbing level of dread – both in the audience and in the atmosphere of the movie. Scary as Lou is, however, you can’t help but feel utterly compelled by his voyage into darkness and the world of crime TV journalism, where the slogan is "if it bleeds, it leads." It’s utterly hypnotic unlike any other movie released in 2014, and without question one of its best.

Though the film is the directorial debut of Dan Gilroy, it’s clear that his years as a writer in the industry have served him well, as Nightcrawler is truly an unrelenting thriller and incredibly well directed. Not only does he help get Gyllenhaal to give what is easily one of the best performances of his career, but his portrait of the Los Angeles landscape is stunning and is captured for every bit of its legendary noir essence. In most years this film would have easily taken the number one spot on my list, but in 2014 there is one movie that just edges it…

1. Inherent Vice

It feels strange to say, but there is honestly a sensation that I feel whenever I’m first watching a film that will wind up taking the top spot on my personal Top 10 list of the year. It’s an extreme joy feeling like what I’m watching has been tailor-made for my sensibilities, and transports me to a cinematic world that I just want to live in forever. In the past few years it’s been movies like The Social Network, Drive, The Cabin in the Woods and Inside Llewyn Davis, and in 2014 it was Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice.

While I’ll admit that trying to wrap your head around the film’s central mystery on your first go-round is a fairly significant challenge, it’s also not really what Inherent Vice is about. Instead, it is a wildly entertaining portrayal of a particular place and time – namely Los Angeles in 1970 – and it’s a tale that drives forward on the backs of an endless array of ridiculous characters, the foremost being Joaquin Phoenix’s pothead private eye Larry ‘Doc’ Sportello. The immensely stylistic neo-noir feels like Paul Thomas Anderson’s own version of The Big Lebowski and is really just brilliant in an endless number of ways, from the unforgettable supporting character performances (Josh Brolin deserves extra credit here), to the groovy soundtrack, to the ridiculous hilarity that occurs throughout the film. It’s the best movie of 2014, and one I plan to watch over and over again for the rest of my life. (Read my full review here)

Honorable Mentions (in alphabetical order): Birdman: or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) , Gone Girl, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Guest, Locke, A Most Violent Year, Snowpiercer

By Christmas Day, basically every film that hopes to compete for an Academy Award has screened. Because major studios target the holiday date as a prime release slot, films like Disney’s musical Into the Woods, Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper, Tim Burton’s Big Eyes and Ava DuVernay’s Selma begin screening for wider audiences, so crowds from coast to coast can start to see what all of the fuss is about.

While The Interview ate up most of the movie headlines over the Christmas frame, it will be interesting to see which movies begin to have an impact with ticket buyers. Box office success is a factor when a film is campaigning for Oscar’s top prize, primarily because if a film fails to find a foothold at the ticket booth, detractors quickly can point out this flaw. With that in mind, Angelina Jolie’s Oscar contender Unbroken seemed to get off to a very good start on Christmas Day, and we discuss that in this week’s Awards Blend podcast.

Now, on to the charts. A number of films moved up and down as we sailed past Christmas. As of Friday, December 26, here’s where I think our major contenders stand:

It’s possible that this category could break major ground if two female directors (in Angelina Jolie and Ava DuVernay) are able to land nominations for their pictures Unbroken and Selma. I didn't have a lot of faith in Jolie's chances, especially after SAG and the Golden Globes left her out. The Director field is competitive this year (as in every year), but Unbroken finding a large audience boosts her profile:

Easily the toughest category in this year’s Oscar race. There will be at least five worthy Best Actor candidates who’ll be on the outside looking in on the morning of the Oscar announcements. When picking Frontrunners, I have four who I believe are mortal locks. That means there’s one possible slot open for nearly 20 possible contenders. Who’ll survive the lengthy Opening Stage of the awards campaign?

If the Best Actor is stacked, the Best Actress race is rail thin. A few candidates are emerging, particularly Julianne Moore in the buzzworthy Still Alice. Jennifer Aniston also received SAG and Golden Globes support for her role in the drama Cake, and now looks like she could disrupt the two-horse race between Moore and Reese Witherspoon.

As predicted, J.K. Simmons is taking the trophies in the early, regional awards races. Hopefully his wins – as well as positive word-of-mouth – can continue to boost Whiplash at the indie box office on fire. Right now, I’m waiting for someone to step up and challenge Simmons for the lead in this category. It hasn’t happened yet.

Much like the Best Picture race, I have one lock (in my mind) for the Supporting Actress race, and it’s tied to Boyhood. Patricia Arquette is the emotional anchor of Richard Linklater’s sprawling, 12-year journey, and her sentimental work should be enough to earn the actress her first Oscar nomination. Who will join her?

It’s amazing what a particular piece of music can do to a scene in a movie. Whether it’s part of an original score or massively famous pop song, its implementation by a talented filmmaker can completely transform how we experience and understand a sequence, while also laying down new layers of subtext and meaning. When a director can find the perfect track to match with certain events, there are few things more special in the cinematic world – and we’ve seen many great instances of it this past year.

The time has come to look back at all of the films of 2014 and single out what can be considered the greatest movie music moments we’ve seen. Which titles made the cut and which didn’t? You’ll have to read on to find out!

SPOILER WARNING! The following article does contain some major spoilers for a few of the films on this list. Tread lightly!

Click on each image to listen to the music moment in question, when available.

Guardians of the Galaxy – "Come and Get Your Love" by Redbone

The opening of James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy is rather shocking in its tone. Rather than immediately jumping into fun, sci-fi adventure mode, the movie actually starts with a dramatic vignette about a young boy who misses the opportunity to give his dying mother a proper goodbye. As such, there was a great deal of pressure on the movie’s second sequence, as it would have to transition out of the darkness and into the light that would surround the rest of the film. And boy, did it succeed.

The dark tone continues past the Marvel Studios logo, as we get our first look at Chris Pratt’s Peter Quill on a windy, desolate planet – but the movie completely changes once he throws on his headphones, presses play on his Walkman, and begins dancing to the beat of Redbone’s "Come and Get Your Love." The upbeat groove raises the fun factor by 10,000%, Pratt’s sweet dance movies are charming as well, and ultimately the song explains exactly what Star-Lord’s real mission is: to find love, acceptance and a family. Guardians of the Galaxy has an incredible number of amazing musical sequences that come courtesy of both Awesome Mix, Vol. 1 and the early tracks of Awesome Mix, Vol. 2, but it’s this opening dance number that’s both the best and the most important.

The Skeleton Twins – "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" by Jefferson Starship

In playing Milo and Maggie Dean in the indie drama The Skeleton Twins, both Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader really undergo skilled transformation in their performances. Audiences have come to recognize the actors for their incredibly goofy sensibilities, familiar with their weirdo character work on Saturday Night Live, but that is entirely disguised in a rather dark story about a suicidal brother and sister coming to terms with their personal relationship and their own lives. Entirely different as their energies may be, however, what Wiig and Hader don’t lose in their turns is their tremendous charm and likability, and nowhere in the film demonstrates that better than the lip-sync sequence set to "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" by Jefferson Starship.

There is an incredibly palpable chemistry between Hader and Wiig that really makes you believe they could be siblings, but what’s amazing about this musical moment in particular is the believable fun spell that the brother is able to cast on his sister. He pumps up the volume on the song because he really knows her and understands it’s really the only way to pull her out of her bad mood – and while it definitely takes a bit of pushing, he is believably able to break through her outer shell of anger and get her to participate in an energetic duet. It’s a wonderful light scene, and easily one of the best music moments of the year.

The LEGO Movie – "Everything Is Awesome" by Jo Li and The Lonely Island

I’ll be the first to admit it: listening to "Everything is Awesome" from The LEGO Movie is kind of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it’s a fun little pop-y hit that’s fun to sing along to with a giant grin. On the other hand, it’s so damn catchy that it sticks in your head until you want to bore it out with a drill. That may seem like a pretty extreme downside, but the truth is that it is still behind what is unquestionably one of the top movie music moments of 2014.

As we first get to know Emmet in The LEGO Movie, it’s immediately clear that he lives his life entirely by the book , following all of the strict rules for happy living and buying into all of the big fads of the moments. Of course, it’s parody at its finest, but everything is enhanced with the world’s most popular song comes over the radio and starts getting everyone working in hypnotic rhythm – while also generating a few laughs all by itself with its rather ridiculous lyrics. The track winds up coming back later in the movie and then again during the end credits, but it’s still the bright energy and tonal work in the first act that wins us over.

Snowpiercer – The Propaganda Song, performed by Alison Pill

There is a lot to be creeped out by in Bong Joon-ho’s Snowpiercer. There’s the deathly eternal winter that exists outside the train and threatens to never melt. There are the protein bars that are made of ground up insects. There are the backstories about cannibalism and murder. Even creepier than all of that, however, is the depth of the class divide on the titular train and the extent of the totalitarian rule – ingrained into children while they are still young. How is this accomplished? Through a song that explains that if the engine stops, everyone will freeze and die.

Of course, what really creates the nightmarish atmosphere of this particular music moment is how it runs in contrast with everything that the audience has experienced in the movie thus far. The colors are bright to the point where they are almost garish, people are actually smiling, and the cherub-faced schoolteacher played by Alison Pill exudes more glee than the folks from the trail of the train have experienced in their entire lives. The song works perfectly alongside this visual contrast, as the song of death and doom and praise for the evil Wilford is sung with a beautiful upbeat, tune by a throng of cheerful children. It’s tremendously unsettling, and has quite the explosive finish.

Whiplash – Andrew’s Final Drum Solo

An incredibly important part of what drives the drama in Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash is simply the extreme passion exuded by Miles Teller’s Andrew even in the face of extreme adversity – specifically in the form of J.K. Simmons’ insanely intense band leader Terence Fletcher. Andrew has clarity where it comes to what he truly wants to do with his life, and the depth of his desire makes his hands bleed and everything else in life fade into the background. So when faced with horrific embarrassment and shame at the end of the film – set up by Fletcher to fail – he doesn’t just shirk away. He shows the world what he is made of – and it is explosive and amazing.

More than just featuring a drum solo that would cause Buddy Rich to stand up and applaud, what makes the scene so significant in Whiplash is how it both perfectly settles the narrative and completes both Andrew and Fletcher’s character arcs. Almost the entire movie is made up of scenes where our protagonist is being judged and belittled and degraded emotionally, and the finale perfectly let’s Andrew explode in response, using his incredibly gifted drumming skills to tell his teacher, "Fuck you, I’m a drummer, this is what I can do." He graduates beyond Fletcher’s criticism and haranguing, and ultimately in the process earns the professor’s hard-earned respect. It’s powerful stuff, and a truly perfect ending for the movie.

Selma – "Take My Hand, Precious Lord" sung by Ledisi Young

It’s rather impossible to imagine just how much pressure Dr. Martin Luther King was under during the days of the Civil Rights Movement. His position of leadership not only made him the man that thousands upon thousands were looking to for guidance, but also was a responsibility that put a target on his back, surely leading him to constantly fear for his own life. King’s important legacy in our country blinds us to his human weaknesses and faults to a certain degree, but that’s a big part of what makes Ava DuVernay’s Selma such a significant portrait. As such, one of the most affecting scenes in the film is when MLK makes a late night phone call to gospel singer Mahalia Jackson just so that he can "hear god’s voice."

More significant than the religious element of this scene – King was a reverend after all – is just how beautifully it demonstrates the leader’s intense fear and need for strength before traveling to Selma and fighting for the rights of his brothers and sisters. It’s a rare intimate look at the man history has painted as a legendary figure, and only helps us appreciate his intense struggle all that much more. Adding a historical angle to the scene is the fact that "Take My Hand, Precious Lord" was King’s favorite song, and was actually sung by Mahalia Jackson at his funeral in 1968.

Frank – Frank Goes Pop, performed by Michael Fassbender

As a movie that is actually about creative expression through music, there are plenty of amazing song-fueled scenes in Frank that we could have chosen for this list – from Domhnall Gleeson’s Jon’s explosive first performance with the members of Soronprfbs, to the heartfelt emotional reunion at the end. In honor of the film’s true spirit, however, we’ve chosen to recognize what is the weirdest music moment in the movie: the scene where Frank presents his personal interpretation of popular music.

Upon their arrival at SXSW, the members of Soronprfbs discover that their YouTube hit count is rather insignificant in the wider world of the internet, and after this results in Michael Fassbender’s Frank suffering a bit of a stress attack, it’s decided that he will try and write a song that is a bit more mainstream than the material the band typically produces. Of course, what we’re ultimately talking about is the concept of what’s popular being filtered through the mind of someone who has a prescription to wear a giant paper mache head over his own at all times. The resulting track is not only hilarious, but also leads to the generation of some really great reaction shots as the band works to express what they feel while standing in Frank’s tiny hotel room.

Boyhood – "Ryan’s Song" sung by Ethan Hawke

Boyhood is a movie full of music moments. More specifically, it’s a movie full of moments that are accompanied by music. As we grow up, certain songs become stand-ins for certain portions of our life. From Coldplay to Vampire Weekend, our tastes evolve, and they provide the score for these time periods, like soundtracks for our memories. Boyhood is filled with these, all of which work very well, but the film’s single best musical moment is "Ryan’s Song".

Accompanied by Ethan Hawke’s acoustic guitar, the family, fractured and not seeing each other nearly enough, sits in a circle and belts out the goofy track. It’s not as beautiful as "Yesterday" or as brilliant as "Satisfaction" but it’s exactly what they need at that moment. Split by distance and frayed by bad decisions, the group hasn’t been as close as any of them would like, but in this moment, every single one of them is trying. The anger is gone. The bad vibes have melted away. All that’s left is love and a group of people who want nothing more than to be happy together. Boyhood will probably go down as one of the best musical movies of the decade. It contains a killer soundtrack, but none of those songs work better than this one—not because of the specific song but because of what it represents. (by Mack Rawden)

X-Men: Days of Future Past – "Time In A Bottle" by Jim Croce

It’s really hard not to gush about the famed Quicksilver sequence in Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Days of Future Past. Even the most cynical of viewers really has to appreciate what is being done in the scene visually, as the application of high speed cameras and practical effects are nothing short of magical. It’s funny, it’s clever, it’s thrilling, and it’s all backed up by a rather perfect song choice.

One doesn’t really ever expect to hear the dulcet tones of Jim Croce in a blockbuster comic book movie, and I can imagine some directors out there feeling the need to infuse this scene with a fast-paced song that reflects Quicksilver’s ability – but Bryan Singer makes an artistic move with "Time In A Bottle" and it is basically perfect. The speedy mutant isn’t running around the room punching out guards with anger and aggression, but instead reaches a zen like state where he is merely lightly touching things to change outcomes in real time. This funny tonal affectation needs music to reflect it, and Singer found a match with Jim Croce. On top of it all, I love that the sequence begins with Quicksilver throwing on a pair of headphones, allowing me to believe that what he has in his pocket is a collection of songs about the idea of saving time and/or moving quickly through life.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 – "The Hanging Tree" sung by Jennifer Lawrence

In Francis Lawrence’s The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1, Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss Everdeen becomes something much more than a warrior who is skilled with a bow and arrow. She becomes a symbol for the revolution. She is one of the few citizens of Panem who has shown herself to be brave enough to stand up against the fascistic rule of Donald Sutherland’s President Snow, and as a result she is used by the rebels to try and help inspire support for their cause. In the movie this is accomplished in many ways, but easily one of the most haunting and beautiful scenes has the District 12 heroine singing a somber hymn called "The Hanging Tree."

For starters, the scene offers yet another reason to be in awe of Jennifer Lawrence’s massive talent, as her soft, smoky singing voice lends the track an important solemnity that translates the tone from the scene before it – featuring Liam Hemsworth’s Gale Hawthorne recounting the tragic destruction of District 12. This hits an important emotional chord, as when the broadcast goes out, James Newton Howard’s score begins to soar, more voices join the song, and we visually see the effectiveness of Katniss’ message, as rebels storm and bomb a water dam, shorting out electricity in the Capitol. Gotta love diegetic music that actively moves the plot forward.

This was an impressive year for film. No matter the genre – from horror to heroes, awards-bait to animation – 2014 offered a buffet of challenging, disturbing, uplifting and rewarding cinematic excursions. This also was a diverse year for cinema. We had iconic storytellers working at the top of their individual games (Wes Anderson, David Fincher and Paul Thomas Anderson come to mind). And we saw relative newcomers like Ava DuVernay, Damien Chazelle and someone named Angelina Jolie announce their presence as directors to which we need to pay close attention. This was the year that the comic-book genre planted its deepest roots, inviting audiences on goofy interstellar adventures and expanding the scope of traditional "super" powers like the X-Men series. And what more can be said about the monumental achievement of Richard Linklater’s 12-year odyssey, Boyhood?

This, then, is my list of the 10 best films of 2014. All lists are subjective, and I’m sure we will disagree on certain selections. But these are the films that moved me most, the ones that either hit with the largest impact or stuck with the greatest intensity. They are the films I have revisited, analyzed, enjoyed and shared with fellow film geeks, and they are the ones I hold closest to the soul. Hit me up in the comments section with your reactions, and help me celebrate what ended up being an incredible year at the movies.

10. Chef

Much like Swingers (which he wrote, but didn’t direct), Jon Favreau’s Chef is a heartfelt, bittersweet and painfully honest story about existing at a certain age. It’s written, directed and acted by a man who actually experienced everything that we’re witnessing on screen – the good and the horrifically bad. Favreau's blood and sweat is in Chef, and I both admire and appreciate the candor he brings to his life, his career and his uncertain future. Try to watch the scene where Favreau’s chef character publically confronts a food critic without imagining the actual director screaming at the movie scribes who took down his Cowboys & Aliens or Iron Man 2. You can’t.

But beyond the Hollywood confessional, Chef also is a fantastic "foodie" movie, brimming with some of the best kitchen and food-prep scenes I’ve seen in years. It’s a tender father-son journey movie that cuts through conventional storytelling methods and finds the beating heart that drives creativity and passion. Chef is this year’s top crowd-pleaser.

9. The Grand Budapest Hotel

God bless Wes Anderson and all of his OCD tics. Only Anderson could create a film as meticulous as The Grand Budapest Hotel, a story-within-a-story-within-a-story comedy that continues to unpack delightful treasures with each viewing. Naturally, your opinion of Anderson’s signature style will dictate how much of Grand Budapest you’re willing to… tolerate? Accept? Adore? Endure? The Grand Budapest Hotel could be considered divisive, for if you reject Wes Anderson’s sprawling dollhouse stagings, you won’t understand what all the fuss is about.

But for those of us who appreciate Anderson’s airtight approach to unusual comedy, Grand Budapest is his most intricate, most calculated, most fascinating and most amusing feature. Ralph Fiennes joins the short list of gifted performers who simply plug into Anderson’s unique vocal cadences (Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman are founding members of Team Wes). And one could spend years exploring the cracks and crevices of the director’s fantastic production design in and around the Grand Budapest universe… and likely will, with glee.

8. Gone Girl

Not that I’d ever want to pigeonhole David Fincher, but the director should be required by law to deliver a moody, murky crime thriller every three to four years, because there’s simply no one better working this genre. Gone Girl pulls off the near-impossible, taking a page-turning story millions already had read and turning it into a breathless study in marital disharmony, a whodunit that is less concerned with guilt or innocence and more focused on how a criminal case is perceived – by the media, by the snooping public, and by the protagonists at the actual scene of the crime.

Gone Girl works like a David Fincher film, drifting in and out of the chilly shadows as the director’s expertly placed camera rides a disconcerting Trent Reznor score. But Fincher rarely gets enough credit for the performances he coaxes out of his cast, and everyone in Gone Girl is outstanding. Tyler Perry, Carrie Coon and Kim Dickens steal scenes as witnesses to the macabre soap opera fueling Fincher’s feature. Ben Affleck gives his best performance by playing a tweaked version of his recognizable, public persona. And the chillingly brilliant Rosamund Pike creates an on-screen villain on par with Norman Bates or Hannibal Lecter. Gone Girl is one for the ages.

7. The LEGO Movie

The funniest movie of 2014, and that’s saying something. In the wrong hands, The LEGO Movie could have become a cheap excuse to peddle toys, a crass advertisement aimed at the wallets of parents who brought their kids to a theater to enjoy something shiny and bright. Co-directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller aren’t interested in that, though. Using an intricate blend of CG and photo-real, stop-motion style, the creative duo behind Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and the Jump Street comedies have crafted a whip-smart, self-referential, pop-culture tornado that has as much intelligent humor as it does sentimental heart.

On a surface level, fans can get off on seeing Batman, Superman, several Star Wars heroes and a spaceship-loving astronaut joining forces to take down a sinister dictator voiced by Will Ferrell. The LEGO Movie makes this list, though, for the larger questions it dares to ask about its audience. Are you a rule-following builder, or an off-the-cuff creator who throws the instructions away? Should LEGOs be used to replicate what’s on the box? Or should you combine all of your pieces into one messy extravaganza and delight with what comes out? And is one way right, while the other is wrong? The third act of the hysterical The LEGO Movie elevates this outstanding comedy, making it an unforgettable feature for the whole family.

6. Force Majeure

What if one decision, made under duress in the heat of difficult conditions, irreversibly changed your life? This is the complicated – and ridiculously compelling – question asked and answered by Ruben Ostlund’s fantastically calculated, subdued "comedy" Force Majeure. While vacationing in the French Alps, a close-knit family finds themselves in the path of a minor avalanche. Instead of staying to protect his clan, though, Tomas (Johannes Bah Kuhnke) grabs his gloves and cell phone and flees for safety… showing his true colors and changing, forever, how his wife (Lisa Loven Kongsli) and children view the man they thought they knew.

Force Majeure skillfully turns the screws on a very believable situation, showing how one impulsive act of cowardice can instantly discredit a previously trustworthy husband and father – then hilariously explores how one uncomfortable truth can spread like a plague through innocent bystanders who happen to know our suffering protagonist. Force Majeure changes gears from darkly funny to crushingly sad, and does it with such grace and such ease that you’ll admire Ostlund’s craft while you are lamenting poor Tomas’ impossible situation.

5. Foxcatcher

I love Bennett Miller’s style. His intense, focused character studies put unique individuals (mostly men) under a microscope to reveal recognizable truths hidden in relatable flaws. And there’s no better director working with actors at the moment. Sure, it’s easy to hand a role like Truman Capote to Philip Seymour Hoffman, then sit back and collect the accolades. But look at what Miller did with Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill in Moneyball, then what he does with Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo and Steve Carell here in Foxcatcher. It’s legitimately brilliant.

Foxcatcher is a dark and disturbing fable about… well, it’s about far too many things to cover in this short blurb, touching on the influence of American wealth, the obsession with being the perceived "best" in your chosen field, the need to please a parent (or surpass a sibling), and the lengths individuals will go to just to be recognized. To be noticed. To be heard. You can – and should – see Foxcatcher to appreciate how this spectacular cast burrows into the psyche of some disturbed men. (Tatum, in particular, shows off a darkness I never believed he had.) But peel back each layer, and you’ll find a harrowing human drama that continues to reward the deeper you are willing to dig.

4. Inherent Vice

I wasn’t sure if I liked Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice the first time I watched it. All I knew, with a nagging certainty, is that I needed to revisit its world and plug back into its shaggy, rambling universe as soon as humanly possible. So I did, and ended up watching Vice three times over the course of one week. This is unheard of, particularly during the end-of-year crunch, when critics have piles of unseen screeners to work through. It didn’t matter. I kept gravitating back to Inherent Vice, and Anderson’s mesmerizing, loping, hysterical, trippy and beautiful SoCal noir cast its spell over me time after time.

If you try Inherent Vice and tell me you hate it, I’d completely understand. By adapting a Thomas Pynchon novel, Anderson has crafted a loose narrative around a semi-professional private dick (Joaquin Phoenix, brilliant) whose desperate efforts to protect his lost love (Katherine Waterston) put him in touch with an array of colorful and bizarre characters. But Vice is all about capturing a mood, of plugging in to a hazy moment where the 1960s were resisting the 1970s, and California faced multiple identity crises. I adore the atmosphere created by PTA in Inherent Vice, and I consider this to be his funniest, most clever and engaging film since Boogie Nights. In a perfect world, Phoenix and Anderson would be able to make multiple films based around the misadventures of the loopy Larry "Doc" Sportello, because this is a universe I’d love to revisit time after time after time.

3. Selma

Selma knocked me off my feet. Too many biopics view history from a distance, retelling important stories and spotlighting revolutionary figures through the safety of a invisible, protective glass. Ava DuVernay shatters that barrier to place us in Selma, Alabama during a significant time of racial and political upheaval. She immerses us into the diplomatic fight waged by the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., taking us to the front lines of Alabama as well as to the "battlefield" of the Oval Office, where King feverishly negotiated with President Lyndon B. Johnson (Tom Wilkinson). But most important – and here’s where Selma triumphs – DuVernay humanizes these historical figures, using a combination of filmmaking technique, editing prowess and pure acting ability (on the part of her searing cast) to make the message of Selma digestible and clear.

Even without the current racial troubles tearing at our nation, DuVernay’s Selma would stand out as an important, vital and passionate work of art. Given the time that it’s reaching theaters, though, Selma adopts a larger and more relevant mantle. See it now to know where we have been, to recognize what we went through to get to where we are now, and to understand what we must do to pave the way for future generations.

2. Boyhood

Boyhood shouldn’t exist. The fact that it does is reason enough to celebrate. An experiment in cinema’s possibilities, Boyhood -- as you likely know – chronicles a 12-year span in the life of a typical American family. Not much happens, and yet, everything happens, as director Richard Linklater’s camera captures the trials and tribulations (both large and small) that come with growing up. Is it a stunt? Sure, but it’s a gamble that actually paid off, documenting – in a sort of cinematic time capsule – what it meant to be a child during a particular time, in a particular place. Linklater’s rambling drama is rooted by his two mainstay performers, Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette. They give Boyhood a necessary foundation as the director allows the story of young Mason (Ellar Coltrane) to unfold at the pace of an uncertain documentary.

The movie peaks and it fades. It meanders, and it cuts to the quick. It can be melodramatic, and it can be brutally honest. It’s probably this high on my list because I still can’t believe that Linklater attempted, and completed, this seemingly impossible mission. Because as a snapshot glance of a child’s unpredictable life, Boyhood is unprecedented, and unparalleled.

1. Whiplash

No film hit me harder this year than Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash, my absolute favorite film from 2014. And it’s possible that this film just connected with me on emotional levels that won’t move you quite as much. I know that I rewatched the film with my wife, and she couldn’t embrace Whiplash because it made her upset, agitated, frustrated, nervous and sad. Well, yeah. This is a movie about sacrificing pretty much everything just to obtain one thing. But Whiplash succeeded in changing the way I think, both about my own approach to my chosen craft (writing, as opposed to drumming – as in the movie), as well as to the thoughts I have when it comes to parenting.

For that, I have to thank the relentless JK Simmons, who casts an enormous shadow over Whiplash by raising his clenched fist… and raising his voice. "There are no two words in the English language more harmful than good job," Simmons’ domineering instructor tells Miles Teller’s eager-to-please student. And I believe he’s right. At the risk of offending, though, I have to tell Chazelle, Teller and Simmons that when it comes to creating a blistering, compelling, furiously stimulating masterpiece, they all did a good job.

Tied for 11: Nightcrawler, Under The Skin, The One I Love, X-Men: Days of Future Past and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

President of the United States Barack Obama has revealed that his favorite movie of 2014 was none other than Richard Linklater's Boyhood. Apparently the Commander in Chief has decided to take a break from his political duties to try his hand at film criticism, and in the process he made a pretty wise choice.

According to Politico, Barack Obama was recently asked by the press what his favorite movie of the year was, and his response was, "Boyhood was a great movie. That, I think, was my favorite movie this year." It's a rather smart choice, as Linklater's drama has been found on many professional critics' Top 10 lists of the year so far. Of course, we also don't necessarily know how much time he gets to go to the movies. maybe he hasn’t actually seen that many films this year, and Boyhood only triumphed because its main competition came from Transformers: Age Of Extinction, The Purge: Anarchy, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. If that’s the case it would be understandable. I mean he is the President of the United States after all, so he is quite a busy man.

During the discussion, Barack Obama’s wife, Michelle Obama, also voiced her opinion on Gone Girl. It turns out that she wasn’t that fond of David Fincher’s adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s engrossing novel. Here's what Mrs Obama declared,

Poor David Fincher. Surely he deserves a bit more respect than that, especially from the First Lady.

Boyhood has had a rather impressive year. The coming-of-age drama was filmed intermittently over an eleven-year period that stretched from May 2002 all the way through until October 2013, and it depicts the trials and tribulations of the young Mason Evans, Jr. (Ellar Coltrane), as well as his relationship with his mother Olivia (Patricia Arquette), his older sister Samantha (Lorelei Linklater), and Mason Sr. (Ethan Hawke), his father. The film sumptuously moves from being tragic one moment to amusing another, while it's constantly compelling and intimate. Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette give the best performances of their careers, while Richard Linklater’s direction is composed throughout, never stretching for drama and constantly remaining patient and trusting its plot to engross. Over the last few weeks it has finished on top of a number of year-end lists, including those of The New York Times, The Washington Post, Indiewire and the British Film Institute. So it’s safe to say that Barack Obama chose wisely then.

The big groups continue to recognize the same big movies as we run up to next year’s Academy Awards nominations. Following both the SAG and Golden Globes nominations, the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) announced the nominees for its 20th Annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards. The winners will be revealed at the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, which will broadcast live on A&E from the Hollywood Palladium on January 15, at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT – which, coincidentally, is the day the Academy Award nominations are announced.

The CCMAs are selected by critics, and have no direct influence on the Oscars. But as I mentioned in the last episode of Awards Blend (our weekly Oscar podcast), recognition by groups like SAG and the BFCA only help a film’s Oscar campaign, and an omission by a key organization like the BFCA can damage a campaign (or, at the very least, set it back).

Birdman led the overall nominees this morning by collecting 13, including Best Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress and Ensemble. The Grand Budapest Hotel was right behind Birdman with 11 nominations.

Michael Strahan will host this year’s CCMAs. "The Critics’ Choice Movie Awards show paves the way for the upcoming awards season, and the best part is that the winners are selected by the very people who make a living watching and reviewing films," he said. "It doesn’t get much more competitive than that."

Here are the nominees:

BEST PICTURE

Birdman

Boyhood

Gone Girl

The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Imitation Game

Nightcrawler

Selma

The Theory of Everything

Unbroken

Whiplash

BEST ACTOR

Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game

Ralph Fiennes – The Grand Budapest Hotel

Jake Gyllenhaal – Nightcrawler

Michael Keaton – Birdman

David Oyelowo – Selma

Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything

BEST ACTRESS

Jennifer Aniston – Cake

Marion Cotillard – Two Days, One Night

Felicity Jones – The Theory of Everything

Julianne Moore – Still Alice

Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl

Reese Witherspoon – Wild

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Josh Brolin – Inherent Vice

Robert Duvall – The Judge

Ethan Hawke – Boyhood

Edward Norton – Birdman

Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher

J.K. Simmons – Whiplash

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Patricia Arquette – Boyhood

Jessica Chastain – A Most Violent Year

Keira Knightley – The Imitation Game

Emma Stone – Birdman

Meryl Streep – Into the Woods

Tilda Swinton – Snowpiercer

BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS

Ellar Coltrane – Boyhood

Ansel Elgort – The Fault in Our Stars

Mackenzie Foy – Interstellar

Jaeden Lieberher – St. Vincent

Tony Revolori – The Grand Budapest Hotel

Quvenzhane Wallis – Annie

Noah Wiseman – The Babadook

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE

Birdman

Boyhood

The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Imitation Game

Into the Woods

Selma

BEST DIRECTOR

Wes Anderson – The Grand Budapest Hotel

Ava DuVernay – Selma

David Fincher – Gone Girl

Alejandro G. Inarritu – Birdman

Angelina Jolie – Unbroken

Richard Linklater – Boyhood

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Birdman – Alejandro G. Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr., Armando Bo

Boyhood – Richard Linklater

The Grand Budapest Hotel – Wes Anderson, Hugo Guinness

Nightcrawler – Dan Gilroy

Whiplash – Damien Chazelle

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Gone Girl – Gillian Flynn

The Imitation Game – Graham Moore

Inherent Vice – Paul Thomas Anderson

The Theory of Everything – Anthony McCarten

Unbroken – Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, Richard LaGravenese, William Nicholson

Wild – Nick Hornby

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Birdman – Emmanuel Lubezki

The Grand Budapest Hotel – Robert Yeoman

Interstellar – Hoyte Van Hoytema

Mr. Turner – Dick Pope

Unbroken – Roger Deakins

BEST ART DIRECTION

Birdman – Kevin Thompson/Production Designer, George DeTitta Jr./Set Decorator

The Grand Budapest Hotel – Adam Stockhausen/Production Designer, Anna Pinnock/Set Decorator

Inherent Vice – David Crank/Production Designer, Amy Wells/Set Decorator

Interstellar – Nathan Crowley/Production Designer, Gary Fettis/Set Decorator

Into the Woods – Dennis Gassner/Production Designer, Anna Pinnock/Set Decorator

Snowpiercer – Ondrej Nekvasil/Production Designer, Beatrice Brentnerova/Set Decorator

BEST EDITING

Birdman – Douglas Crise, Stephen Mirrione

Boyhood – Sandra Adair

Gone Girl – Kirk Baxter

Interstellar – Lee Smith

Whiplash – Tom Cross

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

The Grand Budapest Hotel – Milena Canonero

Inherent Vice – Mark Bridges

Into the Woods – Colleen Atwood

Maleficent – Anna B. Sheppard

Mr. Turner – Jacqueline Durran

BEST HAIR & MAKEUP

Foxcatcher

Guardians of the Galaxy

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Into the Woods

Maleficent

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Edge of Tomorrow

Guardians of the Galaxy

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Interstellar

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Big Hero 6

The Book of Life

The Boxtrolls

How to Train Your Dragon 2

The Lego Movie

BEST ACTION MOVIE

American Sniper

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Edge of Tomorrow

Fury

Guardians of the Galaxy

BEST ACTOR IN AN ACTION MOVIE

Bradley Cooper – American Sniper

Tom Cruise – Edge of Tomorrow

Chris Evans – Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Brad Pitt – Fury

Chris Pratt – Guardians of the Galaxy

BEST ACTRESS IN AN ACTION MOVIE

Emily Blunt – Edge of Tomorrow

Scarlett Johansson – Lucy

Jennifer Lawrence – The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1

Zoe Saldana – Guardians of the Galaxy

Shailene Woodley – Divergent

BEST COMEDY

Birdman

The Grand Budapest Hotel

St. Vincent

Top Five

22 Jump Street

BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY

Jon Favreau – Chef

Ralph Fiennes – The Grand Budapest Hotel

Michael Keaton – Birdman

Bill Murray – St. Vincent

Chris Rock – Top Five

Channing Tatum – 22 Jump Street

BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY

Rose Byrne – Neighbors

Rosario Dawson – Top Five

Melissa McCarthy – St. Vincent

Jenny Slate – Obvious Child

Kristen Wiig – The Skeleton Twins

BEST SCI-FI/HORROR MOVIE

The Babadook

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Interstellar

Snowpiercer

Under the Skin

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Force Majeure

Ida

Leviathan

Two Days, One Night

Wild Tales

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Citizenfour

Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me

Jodorowsky’s Dune

Last Days in Vietnam

Life Itself

The Overnighters

BEST SONG

Big Eyes – Lana Del Rey – Big Eyes

Everything Is Awesome – Jo Li and the Lonely Island – The Lego Movie

Glory – Common/John Legend – Selma

Lost Stars – Keira Knightley – Begin Again

Yellow Flicker Beat – Lorde – The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1

BEST SCORE

Alexandre Desplat – The Imitation Game

Johann Johannsson – The Theory of Everything

Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross – Gone Girl

Antonio Sanchez – Birdman

Hans Zimmer – Interstellar

Someone’s going to be left out in the cold. Several very talented and deserving people, in fact. There’s no avoiding it. There are simply too many talented actors vying for five Best Actor slots this year, so on the morning of the Oscar nominations, there could be as many as 10 worthy performers looking at the five nominees and wondering why they aren’t in that exclusive group. I discuss the crowded Best Actor race in the current Awards Blend podcast.

Shortly after the Thanksgiving holiday, a number of professional groups started unveiling their year-end picks, giving slight momentum to hopeful projects. The National Board of Review honored J.C. Chandor’s moody American-dream drama A Most Violent Year with its top prize, while the New York Film Critics Circle chose Richard Linklater’s Boyhood as the year’s best film. Violent has been enjoying a nice push as it approaches theaters in the coming weeks. Boyhood, however, has been an Oscar favorite for weeks (almost months) now, and should continue to steamroll through several of the awards bellwethers as the season continues.

As of Friday, December 5, here’s where I think our major contenders stand:

It’s possible that this category could break major ground if two female directors (in Angelina Jolie and Ava DuVernay) are able to land nominations for their pictures Unbroken and Selma. The more I think about it, the more I think Clint Eastwood, who hasn’t been nominated in the Best Director category since 2006’s Letters from Iwo Jima, returns to the category by returning to the battlefield for American Sniper. His NBR win helps, plus the Academy loves him. We’ll see how Sniper plays in the coming weeks.

Easily the toughest category in this year’s Oscar race. There will be at least five worthy Best Actor candidates who’ll be on the outside looking in on the morning of the Oscar announcements, as we discussed in this week’s podcast (on Page One). When picking Frontrunners, I have four who I believe are mortal locks. That means there’s one possible slot open for nearly 20 possible contenders. Who’ll survive the lengthy Opening Stage of the awards campaign?

If the Best Actor is stacked, the Best Actress race is rail thin. A few candidates are emerging late, particularly Julianne Moore in the buzzworthy Still Alice. But I’m hoping Rob Marshall’s Into The Woods delivers a few noteworthy female performances, because right now, it’s looking like a two-horse race between Moore and Reese Witherspoon.

As predicted, J.K. Simmons is taking the trophies in the early, regional awards races. Hopefully his wins – as well as positive word-of-mouth – can continue to boost Whiplash at the indie box office on fire. Right now, I’m waiting for someone to step up and challenge Simmons for the lead in this category. It hasn’t happened yet.

Much like the Best Picture race, I have one lock (in my mind) for the Supporting Actress race, and it’s tied to Boyhood. Patricia Arquette is the emotional anchor of Richard Linklater’s sprawling, 12-year journey, and her sentimental work should be enough to earn the actress her first Oscar nomination. Who will join her?

Now that we are closing in on the end of the year every man, woman, dog and grandmother is currently chomping at the bit to reveal their ten favorite movies of 2014. Most of the time you will probably have to politely nod and pretend to listen. But when Edgar Wright unveils his favorite films of the past 12 months you tune in intently and make notes. So without further ado, here are his stand-out movies of 2014 in no particular order:

Boyhood

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Birdman

Snowpiercer

Interstellar

Nightcrawler

Under The Skin

The Lego Movie

Whiplash

Edge Of Tomorrow

It’s a pretty safe list from the Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz director. There aren’t any avant-garde choices, they are all in the English-language and each of the films involve a cast or crew member who is a mainstay of America cinema too. However except for Interstellar, Edge Of Tomorrow and The Lego Movie they are all inexpensive, borderline independent, movies too. In fact Edgar Wright told Esquire: "I thought it was a great year for independent movies," while he also went into more detail about the specific reasons why he picked the aforementioned movies.

On Boyhood Edgar Wright admitted that he was so transfixed by Richard Linklater’s intimate examination of growing up that he "left the cinema wondering if [he] had done everything [he] could with the last 12 years of [his] life." While Richard Linklater might be a tad worried about the mid-life crisis that his film provoked there’s no denying the fact that Boyhood was one of the most thought-provoking and transfixing movies of the last decade. But Edgar Wright also found room to nod his hat to Hollywood’s blockbusters too. Whether or not you found Interstellar to be either a soaring space opera that combined luscious visuals with a bombastic soundtrack to a rousing extent or simply a pompous dud you have to admit that seeing on the big-screen was a reminder of the power that cinema has. "Chris Nolan’s most personal movie is also the best argument for seeing films on a giant silver screen," Edgar Wright explained.

And while I adore everything that Edgar Wright has ever overseen and find him cute as a button too, I have to admit that I didn’t quite agree with one of his explanations. That might seem like a rather odd stance to take, especially considering that it is a person’s opinion - and doubly especially when the person in question is one of the most stylish, visually arresting and idiosyncratic filmmakers in the world – but hear me out...

Edgar Wright describes Whiplash as his "favorite horror movie of 2014," and to me there was nothing terrifying about Damien Chazelle’s rollicking masterpiece. I didn’t even find JK Simmons terrifying in the film. I simply thought he was preposterously compelling to the point that by the end of the movie I found myself with a man-crush on bald 59-year-old man. It also swayed the camera, sliced the edit, and fizzled with acting energy in a way that cinema rarely does. Other than that I have no issue with Edgar Wright’s list. In fact I agree wholeheartedly with everything on there.

It is strange that there wasn’t any room for either Guardians Of The Galaxy or Captain America: The Winter Solder on Edgar Wright’s list though. I wonder why …

The road to the Oscars have begun, and weekends are now starting to fill up with critically-acclaimed titles that are hoping for Academy Award glory this year. Of course, it was only a matter of time before nominations from various bodies to start pouring in, and this year it’s the Independent Spirit Awards that have come out the gate early and revealed the candidates for all of their big prizes. it’s the Independent Spirit Awards that have come out the gate early and revealed the candidates for all of their big prizes.

The Independent Spirit Awards’ official website has unveiled all of the films and talented individuals that will be vying for trophies this year, and there are a lot of expected titles and names on the list. Alejandro G. Inarritu leads the pack with a total of six nominations, but Richard Linklater’s Boyhood, Dan Gilroy’s Nightcrawler, and Ava DuVernay’s Selma are right behind it with five nods each. You can check out the list in its entirety below:

Keeping in mind that these are only independent films that are eligible for nomination, what do you think of this year’s candidates for this year’s Independent Spirit Awards? Who do you think will take the top prizes? Leave you speculation in the comments below!

Tis the season for all things Oscar, as the prestigious era of adult dramas, period biopics and Disney musicals gets under way at neighborhood theaters. True, Dumb and Dumber might be the biggest release offered to audiences this weekend. But if you scour the listings for your closest multiplex, you’ll also see that awards hopefuls like Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher, Jon Stewart’s Rosewater and Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash are opening in more markets – meaning the push for Oscar glory has begun.

We have been tracking the annual awards race up to this point, commenting on Birdman, Gone Girl and Boyhood -- to name just a few gender-driven titles. But with titles like Wild and The Imitation Game readying for release (and the slew of December titles sure to beef up the standings), this is the first time we’re going on record with official Oscar predictions, breaking films down into Frontrunners, Contenders, Dark Horses and Longshots. We still have a number of films left to screen between now and the end of the year. To date, here’s where I think all of the top films stand:

The initial pass of Best Director candidates lacks massive names like Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese or the Coen brothers. But it is possible that this category could break major ground if two female directors (in Angelina Jolie and Ava DuVernay) are able to land nominations for their pictures Unbroken and Selma. The latter just started to screen. The former hasn’t been shown yet. So yes, a lot of things might change on this list, but here’s where I think we are right now.

Easily the toughest category in this year’s Oscar race. There will be at least five worthy Best Actor candidates who’ll be on the outside looking in on the morning of the Oscar announcements. When picking Frontrunners, I have four who I believe are mortal locks. That means there’s one possible slot open for nearly 20 possible contenders. Who’ll survive the lengthy Opening Stage of the awards campaign?

If the Best Actor is stacked, the Best Actress race is rail thin. A few candidates are emerging late, particularly Julianne Moore in the buzzworthy Still Alice. But I’m hoping Rob Marshall’s Into The Woods delivers a few noteworthy female performances, because right now, it’s looking like Reese Witherspoon’s show.

If I had to place my money on one Best Supporting Actor candidate, it would have to be… too soon to tell. As much as I love JK Simmons in the breathtaking Whiplash, that movie hasn’t been setting the indie box office on fire. A few early critics’ groups could boost the profile of these candidates, but for now, it’s a level playing field.

Much like the Best Picture race, I have one lock (in my mind) for the Supporting Actress race, and it’s tied to Boyhood. Patricia Arquette is the emotional anchor of Richard Linklater’s sprawling, 12-year journey, and her sentimental work should be enough to earn the actress her first Oscar nomination. Who will join her?

With so many titles to choose from, Netflix Instant's library can be overwhelming. So we bring you this biweekly column as a tool to cut through the clutter by highlighting some now streaming titles that pair well with the latest theatrical releases.

Looking to Sex Tape, Boyhood and Planes: Fire And Rescue for inspiration, we've pulled together a selection of sex comedies, coming-of-age dramas and animated adventures.

Sex Tape

Jason Segel and Cameron Diaz star as a married couple who tries to give their sex life a jolt by recording themeselves doing the deed. But their private moments goes public when their sex tape auto-uploads to the cloud. Can they track all the shared files down before their friends, family and co-workers see it? Rob Corddry and Ellie Kemper co-star; Jake Kasdan directs. Read our review here.

If you like your laughs with a side of sex appeal, check out this trio of wild titles. Be it a bad grandpa letting it all hang out, a pair of pals making a porno, or a Jersey boy obsessed with all things smut, these oversexed anti-heroes will deliver all kinds of off-color comedy.

Bad Grandpa .5 (2014) Johnny Knoxville takes his Jackass shtick on the road and undercover, bringing to life Irving Zisman, a very dirty old man who proves a major influence on his chubby, foul-mouthed little grandson. Jackson Nicoll co-stars; Jeff Tremaine directs.

Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008) Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks play two best friends who are in desperate need of some quick cash. So--like you do?--they turn to porn. While fear or embarrassment might not prove a problem, their blossoming feelings for each other just might. Kevin Smith directs.

Don Jon (2013) In Joseph Gordon-Levitt's directorial debut, he stars as Jon Martello, a bronze and buff playboy who does well with the ladies, yet prefers alone time with porn. Can a relationship with a sizzling hot vixen (Scarlett Johansson) change him? Julianne Moore, Tony Danza and Brie Larson co-star.

Boyhood

Richard Linklater explores coming of age like no other by making a movie over 12 years. Ellar Coltrane, Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke and Elijah Smith star; Linklater directs. Read our review here.

Coming-of-age stories can offer tales that are tough and tender. For some stellar standouts of this subgenre, check out these three critically-heralded coming-of-age dramas.

My Girl (1991) In the summer of 1972, Vada Sultenfuss is an 11-year-old girl poised to learn some big lessons with and thanks to his best, bespectacled bud Thomas J. Dan Aykroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis and Macaulay Culkin co-star; Howard Zieff directs.

Mud (2012) Playing the titular mysterious figure, Matthew McConaughey fronts this celebrated original narrative from writer-director Jeff Nichols. Mud is a man wanted by the law, but he unexpectedly finds a chance at a happy ending when he meets two intrigued teen boys who discover his hiding place on a little island in Mississippi. In exchange, they find some tough lessons about growing up. Reese Witherspoon, Tye Sheridan and Jacob Lofland co-star.

Jane Eyre (2011) Adapted from the classic Charlotte Brontë novel, this period drama stars Mia Wasikowska as the eponymous heroine whose rough childhood led her to a vocation as a governess, and an unexpected but problematic romance with a dashing gentleman with a terrible secret. Michael Fassbender co-stars. Cary Fukunaga directs.

Planes: Fire & Rescue

As a sequel to the Cars spin-off Planes, this high-flying adventure has Dusty the cropduster-turned-racer back in the skies. But this time, he's switching gears, aiding helicopter Blade Ranger and his team, The Smokejumpers, to battle a massive wildfire. Dane Cook, Ed Harris and Julie Bowen lend their voices; Roberts Gannaway direct. Read our review here.

If Planes: Fire & Rescue is giving you a sense of wanderlust, then you (and the youngsters) might appreciate these animated adventures that trek around incredible worlds.

The Smurfs 2 (2013) Since the last Smurfs adventure, the villainous Gargamel has become the toast of Paris as a mean-spirited magician. But the magic is real, culled from the essence of Smurf. He's running low, and so calls on his Naughties to trick Smurfette into aiding his master plan to get more! Hank Azaria, Neil Patrick Harris, Jayma Mays and Brendon Gleason co-star; Raja Gosnell directs.

The Pirate Fairy (2014) Tinker Bell (Mae Whitman) makes new friends--and finds a new enemy--in this adventure about misfits and magic. Zarina (Christina Hendricks) is an inquisitive fairy who prefers to stroll, and has a passion for chemistry. But when her experiments get her thrown out of the fairy community, she finds a new friend in a dashing pirate named James (Tom Hiddleston). This is a charming cartoon, whatever your age. Peggy Holmes directs.

Tarzan (1999) A boy grows up in the wild of the African coast after being swept ashore post-shipwreck. He considers himself an ape, but when lovely explorer Jane and her team stumble across Tarzan, he realizes what man is, and that he is one. Plus musical numbers! Tony Goldwyn and Minnie Driver lend their voices; Chris Buck and Kevin Lima direct.

Richard Linklater's long-in-the-works coming-of-age drama Boyhood is getting tons of critical praise. Our own Sean O'Connell gave the indie five stars and called it, "the most ingenious, most effective, most experimental, most unpredictable, most demanding, most rewarding and most enjoyable movie I’ve screened." With reviews like these, it's understandable that Boyhood's makers are confident it will appeal to moviegoers as it expands in release this week. But one producer in particular is putting his time where his mouth is.

Producer John Sloss has had a hand in creating such celebrated cinema as Before Sunrise, Boys Don’t Cry, Far From Heaven, Bernie and (of course) Boyhood. But despite the rave reviews, the last of these might seem a tough sale in summer movie season. Blame it on the influx of spectacle-driven tent poles like Transformers: Age of Extinction or Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Blame it on Boyhood centering on an unknown actor Ellar Coltrane, as he ages from 5 to 18. Or blame it on a lengthy running time of 166 minutes. But if you think 2 ¾ hours is more than you care to risk on a widely acclaimed independent feature, Sloss has got a deal for you.

Yahoo reports John Sloss has promised a "Time Back Guarantee." In an e-mail to his newsletter recipients, Sloss wrote:

Imagine: a producer coming to your home and doing your dishes, scrubbing your floors, doing your laundry, or walking your dog! I wish some of the producers of the stinkers I've had to see this year had made that offer. My home would be positively spotless.

Sloss mentions that this is an offer he's made just once before. The first time he pitched his Time Back Guarantee was for the like-wise critically adored Exit Through The Gift Shop, a documentary that earned an Academy Award nomination for its compelling portrait of the street art scene and ability to make audiences question exactly how art is defined. There is one catch, however. You can only use it if you were on Sloss's newletter at the time it was offered. Sloss's Boyhood Time Back Guarantee is " strictly non-transferable."

Boyhood is now in theaters in New York and Los Angeles. It will open in 10 new markets this Friday.

If there was to be a proportionate increase in ticket sales for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes based on how much better it was than is predecessor Rise of the Planet of the Apes, it would have easily done twice as well. As it was, Dawn did better, but not by so wide a margin. With a $73 million debut it was well above the $54 million opening of Rise and an easy number one for the weekend.

The question now is whether or not it can go on to become the highest domestic grossing entry among any of the Planet of the Apes incarnations. At present that record is still held by Tim Burton's 2001 remake of the original Planet of the Apes with its $180 million total (it's also the highest when adjusted for inflation with a total in the $250 million range by today's average ticket prices). So far the movie hasn't seen wide release internationally, but it has a tall order to overtake Rise and the more than $300 million it earned abroad.

Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo's latest offering Begin Again finally edged into the top ten. After two weeks in limited release it expanded to just under a thousand venues to bank almost $3 million and ninth place, just above the financially floundering tenth place Jersey Boys. Transformers 4 dropped to second place, crossing the $200 million mark. Domestically it's still lagging behind all three previous Transformers films, all of which had crossed the $240 million line by this same time in their release. It's faring better in foreign markets, sitting at $543 million to date, still second in the franchise after the third entry Dark of the Moon and its hefty $771 million international haul.

The big winner in the per-theater department was Richard Linklater's Boyhood which banked more than $70,000 per location in just five spots, giving it a solid $360,000 small release opening. That sort of success isn't surprising given Linklater's strong popularity with the niche market of audiences that enjoy his particular brand of storytelling. But, despite its unique and ground-breaking twelve-year-long filming process, Boyhood will likely find the same quiet reception in wider release as Linklater's other writing/directing projects, most of which have enjoyed critical acclaim but domestic box office totals under $10 million.

For the full weekend top ten, check out the chart below:

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes *

$73,000,000Total: $73,000,000LW: N

THTRS: 3,967

Transformers: Age of Extinction

$16,500,000Total: $209,031,000LW: 1

THTRS: 3,913

Tammy

$12,910,000Total: $57,354,000LW: 2

THTRS: 3,465

22 Jump Street

$6,700,000Total: $171,961,000LW: 3

THTRS: 2,811

How to Train Your Dragon 2

$5,865,000Total: $152,068,000LW: 5

THTRS: 2,885

Deliver Us From Evil

$4,700,000Total: $25,002,000LW: 4

THTRS: 3,049

Maleficent

$4,169,000Total: $221,994,000LW: 7

THTRS: 2,077

Jersey Boys

$2,510,000Total: $41,705,000LW: 8

THTRS: 1,968

As of July 2, the year officially is half over. What kind of a year has it been? The summer blockbuster are struggling to surpass Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s The LEGO Movie on the box office charts (though Captain America: The Winter Soldier rode its late-spring release date to a massive financial win). And early film festivals like Sundance, SXSW, Cannes and Tribeca started introducing a few movies into the awards-contending conversation – but we have plenty of time left to tell which features will earn Oscar’s favor.

We decided that today would be a great day to regroup, reflect and single out the best movies we have seen on screen so far in 2014. The outstanding team of Cinema Blend movie writers have chosen to champion movies both massive and small, passionate and intimate. Even by expanding our list to 10, there are titles we had to leave off of the list. Be sure to tell us your favorite 2014 movie (so far) in the comments section below. For now, these are the best movies we’ve seen this year, starting with…

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Wes Anderson’s crippling OCD finally merges seamlessly with his distinct visual palette for The Grand Budapest Hotel, a dizzying sprint through a meticulously orchestrated murder mystery. This is Anderson perfecting every single one of his trademark quirks, from the lyrical dialogue to the brilliant cast hired to recite phrases that could only come from Anderson’s fountain pen. Appearing in an Anderson film always feels like a badge of honor for gifted character actors, and several familiar faces crowd the screen for The Grand Budapest Hotel. Skilled comedians like Edward Norton and Jason Schwartzman prove they understand the ticking-clock nature of Anderson’s prose, and scenes stealers such as Jeff Goldblum, Harvey Keitel, Tilda Swinton and Adrien Brody make the most out of small cameos.

But in Budapest, Anderson finds yet another exceptional lead performance in Ralph Fiennes, and his dry, condescending portrayal of Gustave places this odd character in the Anderson pantheon alongside Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman) and Herman Blume. The Grand Budapest Hotel instantly becomes a tangible place we’ll want to revisit time and time again. It’s one of the year’s best films.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Most people say that summer started with the release of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, but they seem to forget that Marvel kicked off the party a month earlier with Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The sequel to the best solo Marvel movie since Iron Man, it was a film that showed us how important Steve Rogers is to the modern world. As he's catching up to speed with our modern ways, he's dealing with a threat that's his match in strength and strategy. That threat is, in typical comic book fashion, also his supposedly long dead best friend. Go figure.

So why is Captain America: The Winter Soldier one of the best films of the year so far? Because Christopher Marcus and Stephen McFeely weren't content with just giving us another kick-assed Captain America movie. They also had to give us a Captain America movie that could make us think. With a storyline worthy of a 1970's political potboiler, especially when it's questioning the ethics of illegal surveillance tactics, Captain America: The Winter Soldier mixes two scoops of brain food into our Saturday Morning cereal. Considering the fluff in some comic movies these days, we're all the better for it.

The Fault In Our Stars

The Fault In Our Stars isn’t as sad as it could have been. It’s also not as funny, as triumphant, as depressing or as serious as it could have been either. A lesser movie would have manipulated circumstances in order to create more heroic wins and more crushing losses. But The Fault In Our Stars isn’t interested in anything but honesty. So, it ambles along like real life. It lets its characters smile with their friends, cry with their loved ones, and appreciate the last good day, even if they don’t know it’s all downhill from there.

The Fault In Our Stars works. It’s carefully and cleverly adapted so as to keep the spirit of John Green’s popular book while still streamlining it for a film audience. It’s perfectly cast, with leads who really understood how to humanize their characters, and it’s perfectly bolstered by great supporting players who stole scenes without bowling everyone else over (Laura Dern, especially). With a great self-awareness and wonderful emotional balance, The Fault In Our Stars is at the top of the 2014 pecking order, and it wouldn’t be a shock to watch it stay there.

Under The Skin

You can't watch Under The Skin passively. The movie stalks you, looks over your shoulder, curious and seductive. The alien played by Scarlett Johansson lures helpless Earth men to an endless black hole somewhere in this, or another, dimension. And it's entirely unclear what happens to these men, some floating in the abyss, some dead, some comatose.

Of course, these men are us: experiencing Jonathan Glaser's first movie since 2004's Birth is like slipping into a bottomless hole and hoping to adapt to a brave new environment. Mica Levi's unnerving score adds to the illusion that nothing is right. This is the apocalypse, and other worlds have sent their horseman. Glaser's camera captures sights so pregnant with ideas that they are themselves compelling shorts. A moment at beachside with a young infant is breathtaking in its majesty and matter-of-fact brutality. And a late night rendezvous between Johansson and a young disfigured man gives us a striking moment of kindness, a brief minute where suddenly, across the cosmos, two lifeforms have found something in common. It's the least we could expect from a film, the idea of two people coming together in spite of the obvious camera, changing the rules of existence, providing at once a brief glimpse of the babylon existing well outside of human understanding.

The LEGO Movie

There is a fascinating complexity in LEGO building blocks. Used by kids and adults alike, they are simply toys that, when fit and clicked together in a seemingly infinite number of ways, can be used to express unbridled imagination and originality. Abstract as that sounds, it was filmmakers Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s responsibility to infuse the February-released The LEGO Movie with exactly that idea – and they accomplished this feat in magnificent fashion.

Featuring a voice cast that includes some of the funniest actors working today – from Chris Pratt to Charlie Day to Nick Offerman – The LEGO Movie captures an intense sense of nostalgia, triggering memories of fun playing on your bedroom floor surrounded by plastic pieces. But it also beautifully communicates a valuable message about individuality, conformity, creativity and teamwork. At its core, the plot is simple (an ordinary guy goes on a larger than life hero’s quest), but what Lord and Miller are able to do with it – transporting us to whole new worlds and introducing us to all kinds of wild characters – is nothing short of magic. The LEGO Movie is sweet, hilarious, beautifully animated, and, above all, AWESOME.

Only Lovers Left Alive

His entire career, indie auteur Jim Jarmusch has defiantly and delicately danced to the beat of his own drum. He brought us the unconventional samurai tale Ghost Dog, and the mind-bending Western with Dead Man. With Only Lovers Left Alive, this cerebral filmmaker gives his own spin to the vampire genre, making it richer, funnier, and--can you believe--even sexier.

Only Lovers Left Alive stars Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston, two actors with limbs so lean and long, skin so pale, and sex appeal so aloof that it's shocking they'd not been cast to play vampires sooner. They are Eve and Adam, lovers reunited as Adam falls into despair over humanity's failure to advance. In many respects, Only Lovers Left Alive is a hangout movie. While seeking blood and avoiding detection do factor in, there's no real thrust to its story. But Jarmusch weaves a world so rich with character and detail that we're happy to hang with these blood-swilling vamps for all eternity. Only Lovers Left Alive oozes with sensuality that draws you and makes you want to curl up in its world. But aside from its pitch-perfect performances, impossibly cool soundtrack, and decadent decay, Only Lovers Left Alive shines bright with an insightful humor that makes it a delightful--though dark--escape.

Chef

Even for those of us whose cooking abilities are limited to the instructions on the back of the box, Chef hits home as a story about a man in need of personal re-invention. Movies often tend to focus on a character's rise to the top. But what happens when they reach their goal? Enter Jon Favreau's character, Carl Casper, a successful chef who's oblivious to the drastic life and career shift that's headed his way when one bad review throws everything into orbit. Chef is a story of Casper's efforts to rebuild himself, not from the ground up but from a less stable place, with more to lose but plenty to gain. In its efforts to tell that story, Chef offers an inside look at the culinary arts from one character's perspective, celebrating family and a sampling of American food culture, and emphasizing the necessary nurturing that creativity and passion require.

As writer, director and star, Jon Favreau succeeds in keeping Chef's story simple and entertaining, but also especially meaningful as we see Carl Casper attempt to reinvent himself as a chef and father. Chef also teases and torments us with some of the most delicious looking food to grace the big screen in a long time. See Chef, but don't watch it on an empty stomach!

Boyhood

Boyhood shouldn’t exist. There are too many obstacles – mentally, physically and spiritually – that should prevent a movie like Boyhood from happening. The fact that it’s screening anywhere is a movie-making miracle. And the fact that Boyhood also happens to be amazing is just a gift from the cinematic gods we simply can’t overlook. Filmed once a year over the course of 12 years, Richard Linklater’s experimental Boyhood tracks the progress of a contemporary nuclear family as children Mason (Ellar Coltrane) and Samantha (Lorelei Linklater, the director’s daughter) age from pre-school to young adulthood.

Linklater has created a fictional bunch, though the bumps they encounter along this spectacular journey are incredibly – and painfully – realistic. It’s impossible not to see traces of ourselves, and of people we know and love, in the writing and performances captured by Boyhood. Without having to serve one long, overarching story, Boyhood smartly comments on small, personal milestones in the lives of these characters. And stylistically, Linklater accomplishes a magic trick, circumventing all of the reasons why this project could have stalled out over the years to deliver a panoramic snapshot of a young life, well-lived. Boyhood is a triumph, a breathtaking cinematic achievement that celebrates the timeless value found in art, culture and family. One of the year’s greatest films, Boyhood cannot be missed.

Edge of Tomorrow

Put simply, Edge of Tomorrow delivers. And Doug Liman's film offers a lot more than "just" a big name star and lots of explosions. Set during a world war against an alien invasion, the story has Tom Cruise's William Cage caught in a time-loop where the day resets every time he dies. Cage isn't much of a soldier when he first drops into the battlefield, but give him dozens and dozens of tries at it and, as you might imagine, he starts to figure it out. What works so well about Edge of Tomorrow is that it embraces the humor of the Groundhog Day-like scenario, while also managing to keep the action and suspense rolling as Cruise's character teams with Emily Blunt's Rita Vrataski, a veteran soldier. Cruise not only does well at maintaining his action star status in the movie, but his acting talent is put to good use as we see the once chatty but not very battle-savvy Cage evolve into a full-blown warrior with the assistance of Blunt's tough-as-nails Rita.

Going into 2014, Edge of Tomorrow wasn't exactly high (ok, at all) on our list of anticipated films. But it proved to be a pleasant surprise, not only in being a truly fun summer blockbuster, but also offering a satisfying story, filled with action, laughs and alien mayhem.

Snowpiercer

South Korean director Bong Joon-ho grabbed our attention with his 2006 monster movie The Host. Before we'd got a beat on his style, he doled out 2009's Mother, a crime thriller that's final moments still haunt us for their bloodless monstrosity and simplicity. Now, he's bringing us his English-language debut Snowpiercer, about one train that protects the last of mankind against an unforgiving ice age.

Stuffing his cast with stars from all around the globe (Chris Evans, Song Kang-ho, John Hurt, Octavia Spencer, Tilda Swinton, Ko Ah-Sung), Joon-ho intrigued us in preproduction. Concept art teased a richly detailed world of wonder and brutal class disparity. Before long, our expectations were so great, it seemed no movie could truly meet them. And yet Snowpiercer did. Joon-ho masterfully unfolds his story and its world one train car at a time. Along the way, his impeccable cast sculpts captivating arcs as their characters struggle to survive one bloody battle after another in a merciless class war. It's a thrilling film that demands you attention from its first frames, and rewards its audience with heart-pounding turns, breathtaking action, and thought-provoking subtext.

There are flashier movies out this summer. There are movies with bigger stars. But none of these will chill and thrill you like Snowpiercer.

Precious few human opponents can stop Rama, the tireless and indestructible cop played by Iko Uwais in Gareth Evans’ The Raid and its pending sequel. But significant technical difficulties stopped Rama in his tracks at the South By Southwest Film Festival on Sunday night, disrupting Evans’ triumphant return to a theater he owned when The Raid played SXSW a few years back.

What happened? I explain in our latest video blog filed from Austin and shared with you above.

Richard Linklater’s Boyhood, on the other hand, went off without a hitch earlier in the day on Sunday, and captivated the Paramount audience with the audacity of its accomplishments.

For those who might not be aware, Linklater filmed his ambitious Boyhood over the course of 12 years, following actors playing characters as they aged, grew and matured (and as you know, all three of those don’t always happen simultaneously). It’s a staggering project, one that Linklater completes with an astonishing seamlessness. There are so many things that could have gone wrong with Boyhood. Actors could have lost interest. Schedules could have ruined continuity. I spent most of Boyhood marveling at the technical hurdles Linklater overcame to bring the movie to theaters.

The story isn’t deep. There isn’t a long-game plot arc keeping us passionately invested in Boyhood. Characters come and go, leaving lasting impressions with their actions and decisions. But Linklater’s unique approach allows us to grow attached to the characters played by Ethan Hawke, Patricia Arquette and the young actors cast as their children – Ellar Coltraine and Linklater’s own daughter, Lorelei.

Boyhood doesn’t peddle in big-screen drama, unfolding at the pace of our own recognizable existences. It tracks Coltraine’s journey from kindergarten to college, staging several universal milestones in the life of an average child, from the heartbreaks to the moments of brief elation. And it reeks of the collaborative DNA of Linklater’s more-introspective Before trilogy. But it’s a stunning achievement, and unlike anything you have ever seen (or likely will see again).