Paul Thomas Anderson is another one of my favorite Directors. I remember watching Magnolia on my birthday at the theater with three other viewers in attendance. It is one of my favorite film-watching experiences ever. A few months later, when I received my first paycheck working as a lawyer, the first thing I did was buy the deluxe imported 2-discs DVD edition of Magnolia. I was hoping to get a commentary track by P.T. Anderson, but sadly it was not included. There was, however, a documentary about the making of Magnolia. I watched it several times, trying to get a sense of the Director behind Magnolia.

Back in the day, I used to track down the DVDs with commentaries in order to learn about films and filmmaking. It was not easy. Nowadays you can listen to these commentaries online. But another resource that I enjoy as well are podcasts. Recently I listened to Marc Maron’s WTF podcast with Paul Thomas Anderson.

It is a funny, interesting and insightful conversation. PT Anderson is a Wunderkind of American filmmaking. If you love his films, or if you love films in general, I highly recommend you to listen to it.

Kubrick and GTA V

Stanley Kubrick is one of my favorite filmmakers. The title of my blog probably gives that away. His movies are intense dissections of characters and always go beyond what you would expect. If there was ever a master of filmmaking, it is Kubrick. Up to this day, I have not watched all of his films, the reason being that I want to save some of his films for a special occasion. I am yet to see The Killing and Paths of Glory.

The reason I bring this up is because I recently stumbled upon a reenactment of some of the scenes in A Clockwork Orange made entirely by using Grand Theft Auto V. The video is great and goes to show that Kubrick’s influence still remains intact.

Have a look.

Tusk (2014)

Tusk is not a date movie. In fact, my wife claims she is still traumatized because of it. Although I did not like the movie upon first viewing, I find myself occasionally thinking about it since then. I still think it is not a good movie, but I am glad Kevin Smith made the movie.

I have always liked Kevin Smith’s movies, but I am aware not everyone likes his movies. Thinking of Clerks and Mallrats brings back memories of my teenage years. I have not watched them in a long time, and if I did, I might find out that they do not hold up as well as I remember them, but then again, few movies do.

Tusk is weird movie, and it is also uneven in tone. Nevertheless, I do not think Kevin Smith was striving for anything other than that. It is a movie based on a silly story told in his popular podcast. During the podcast, the story was played for laughs, and that is pretty much all you can do with a story like this. During the short writing process before it became a movie, Kevin Smith added several references to his podcast network, and included everything from comedic elements, relationship drama, horror and thriller elements and a detective character that seems from a different movie. Finally, his movie ends the way you would expect from a movie containing all of this.

In the end, the movie is not for everyone. Just like my wife did not like it, many out there did not like it either. However, the movie did revitalize him and now we can expect a few more movies from him. I look forward to seeing them.

A Good Marriage

A Good Marriage is based on an interesting premise but the movie never quite delivers on its promise. It is a shame, because it could have been a great movie. This is because the movie was done better not so long ago when David Fincher delivered his adaptation of Gone Girl. Both movies share similar ideas and both serve as a commentary on the institution of marriage, but Gone Girl does it better.

This is not to say that A Good Marriage does not have some good moments, which is based on a short story by Stephen King. Joan Allen is as good as she typically is and Stephen Lang delivers a solid performance.

Some of the problems with the film are the repeated use of the imaginary scenes, which after seeing them once, we can easily anticipate them. Also, the ending comes too abruptly, leaving the viewer wanting more and confused.

Unfortunately, Stephen King’s film adaptations rarely fare well, and even if this is better than most of the Stephen King’s adaptations, it still fails to make a lasting impression.

Best of 2014

The best films I watched in 2014, in no particular order are:

The Raid 2

Expansive in its scope like the Godfather II.

The Guest

A great 80's throwback thriller with a great performance by Dan Stevens.

Red Army

A riveting documentary about hockey, politics and more that is as relevant now as it was 30 years ago.

Locke

A one-man show which shows why Tom Hardy is a great author.

Captain America The Winter Soldier

A comic movie that transcends its comic book origins, and it is a lot of fun.

Interstellar

An epic film and experience.

Gone Girl

David Fincher is alive and well.

Dawn of Planet of the Apes

The franchise that keeps surprising.

Snowpiercer

What Elysium should have been.

Nightcrawler

Taxi Driver in L.A.

Other movies I was unable to watch, but have potential to end up on my 2014 list:

The Babadook, Birdman, Jodorowksy’s Dune, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Only Lovers Left Alive and It Follows.

Reslts at the Oscars

Well 11 out of 24 is not great. On the upside I wanted The Hurt Locker to win Best Picture; I just did not expect it would. Having Kathryn Bigelow win Best Director was also a nice touch (James Cameron and Quentin Tarantino already have Oscars), and she did a great job directing The Hurt Locker. I also liked that the Academy finally acknowledged horror films.