You never know what kind of year it will be in movies. For the last couple of years, it’s been good times. The box office numbers were high, and the critics’ movies were in abundance. There was cross over, too. So the Academy Awards were really a contest, with lots of nail biting. Prognosticators were in full force.
But 2014? Not so much. We are now two months away from the end of the year, and the big deadline. For the first time in a long time, we’ve seen a lot already. Only a few movies remain serious question marks: Clint Eastwood’s “American Sniper,” Rob Marshall’s “Into the Woods,” Angelina Jolie’s “Unbroken.” Another film with a lot of promise, “Selma,” from Ava Duvernay, isn’t ready. It’s so not ready that only 30 minutes of it will be shown at the AFI fest next week.
For once, there is no last minute Harvey Weinstein addition. His films have all been seen. There will be no drama over “wet print” screenings. We complained about them. Now we miss them.
This year, unlike last, we don’t have a big important movie like “12 Years a Slave.” There’s no “Gravity” (“Interstellar” does however talk about gravity a lot). “American Hustle” for 2014? Closest would be “Foxcatcher.” And so we wait and see. Could it be JC Chandor’s “A Most Violent Year”? That would certainly make up for Roadkill Attractions destroying his “All is Lost.”
I don’t know why, it’s just a feeling, but the importance of “Boyhood,” how people feel when they see it, and how it was made could come back if it has the right campaign. Will Josh Sapan spend the money to make it happen? Could be, he’s very smart.
So, to paraphrase Sting from his new musical, what have we got? This is it:
1. Foxcatcher
2. Boyhood
3. The Imitation Game
4. The Theory of Everything
5. Whiplash
6. The Grand Budapest Hotel
7. St. Vincent
8. Birdman
9. Wild
10. Mr. Turner
What we don’t have: realistic Best Picture nominations for “Gone Girl,” “Inherent Vice,” or “Interstellar.” Elements of these films may wind up with nominations, but the totals are less than the parts. Julianne Moore is a shoo in for “Still Alice,” but the movie is slight.
