Jenny Levine
Arts, Entertainment, and Technology Editor
@JALevineCourant
After a year of superb filmmaking, there’s nothing set in stone over who is going to win the big kahuna, an Academy Award. Award shows, in my own opinion, serve no purpose but to get a bunch of famous people in one room, but many people use it as an excuse to reflect on all the great moments in cinema throughout the year, so why not do just that?
photo by media cache
1. The Grand Budapest Hotel- Wes Anderson
Your neck will hurt from whiplash by the end, the witty dialogue moves with all the precision of the US Open with enough panache to satisfy any midnight movie critic. You’ll want to kiss and slap the characters all at once, even though you’ll only see them for two scenes.
This movie was a breath of fresh air in a year that can only be described as incredibly depressing when it comes to films and TV, so I highly recommend this for a pick-me-up, I’ve watched it at least twice after a bad test grade.
- 2. Theory of Everything- Can somebody tell me how Eddie Redmayne was able to move every muscle in his body like that? No? Alright, throw him an Oscar, cuz at this point, it’s pretty clear Mr. Redmayne, the-man-who’s-able-to-contort-his-facial-muscles-on-a-whim is going to beat Batman, er, Birdman.
Besides the superb acting job done by Redmayne, the movie was tied together through memorable scenes like the May Ball or Stephen’s first fall, a quiet yet romantic soundtrack (by Oscar nominated, Johann Johannsson, the only name I would consider changing mine to), and the muted colors of each setting.
- 3. Under the Skin- mostly out of focus, this takes a look into through a predator’s view of trying to catch its prey. One can draw many motifs from this Science Fiction, but what was blatant to me was the majesty of using Hollywood’s most desirable woman’s, Scarlett Johansson, own skin as a tool to capture these men into a pit of their own blind desire and sexual drive.
Scar Jo plays a man eating alien in Under the Skin
photo by: bloody disgusting
This use of attracting men by walking forward, almost as if the predator were the prey, is a pretty comment on the film industry and the way this world works in its own; Sigmund Freud would have been quite pleased with this film.
photo by personality cafe
4. Gone Girl- I’ve never laughed and sympathized with an outright psychopath like “Amazing Amy!” In part, I think the screenplay worked so well because the author of the novel, Gillian Flynn, adapted the script for the movie. She chose every poignant, laughable, and terrifying line, the whole plot just felt balanced.
I know some Gone Girl readers were upset over the axing of a few scenes, but, I guess that’s the beauty in not reading the book before the movie, I’m somehow less hypercritical, and can like the movie for what it is (cough, cough, Eragon, cough, cough).
