Film of the Year 2014

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Firstly, I'm going to say sorry for the lack of posts during December - it was a busy month and blogging took a massive back seat which is not how I wanted to end a fantastic year on Ticket Stub. To make up for this, I'm starting 2015 with the Film of the Year for 2014! I will also combine a brief December Film of the Month to this post too.

So let's have a very brief look back at last month's films. This final month of the year was actually pretty disappointing for movie-going. I only managed to see two films during December, and didn't get the chance to see the biggest film The Hobbit! I know, this is very poor. (Don't worry, it will be in the January 2015 round up).

As usual here is the rating system:

* = Poor. Why did I even bother?!

** = OK. Could have done better.

*** = Good. Recommended though don’t feel bad you don’t get to see this one.

**** = Excellent. Not quite perfect but highly recommended.

***** = Masterpiece. You’d be a fool not to see this film.

All titles to films link to their respective IMDB pages so you can discover more about the plot, cast and crew.

Dumb and Dumber To

Image: imdb.com

The dumbest duo are back in a not-so-eagerly awaited sequel. Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels look like they had fun making this themselves, but is it funny for the rest of us? Not so much. If you're a fan of the first film (really?!), then you'll probably enjoy this. For the majority though, there is no need to see it.

Rating: *

Big Eyes

Image: filmpulse.net

Tim Burton unexpectedly directs this movie starring Christoph Waltz and the brilliant Amy Adams. The story is exciting and it is actually rather refreshing to not have Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter starring in yet another Burton picture. Adams is excellent and Waltz plays the creepy crook very well. A great story that I would certainly recommend.

Rating: ***

Therefore, December Film of the Month is:

Big Eyes

Watch the trailer here:

Now to the main event - 

Ticket Stub's Film of the Year 2014. 

Let's look at the nominations:

Click on the links above to read each review in full.

January - 12 Years a Slave

February - Dallas Buyers Club

March - The Grand Budapest Hotel

April - Divergent

May - X Men: Days of Future Past

June - The Fault in Our Stars

July - Boyhood

August - Guardians of the Galaxy

September - Night Will Fall

October - Gone Girl

November - The Imitation Game

December - Big Eyes

There have been plenty of outstanding films throughout 2014 that it's genuinely hard to just pick one.
However, one must be crowned the winner so here are the top three:

Third Place - Boyhood



Second Place - 12 Years a Slave




First Place - The Grand Budapest Hotel

Do you agree with my choices?

What was your Film of the Year?

Next up will be a New Year's Resolutions post (much needed I think!)

Here is to 2015!

Oscars 2014: Favourite Moments

Highlights from this year's awards, hosted by Ellen DeGeneres

There were some pretty memorable moments from Sunday's Oscars ceremony where 12 Years A Slave won Best Picture and there was a rather popular selfie posted on Twitter too.

What did you make of it this year?

I have picked my favourite moments from the awards.

1. Benedict Cumberbatch's Epic Photobomb on U2

As if Benedict Cumberbatch couldn't get any better, he only went and did the best photo-bomb EVER!

Image: abcnews.go.com

Actually there were quite a few on the night:

Jared Leto photo-bombs Anne Hathaway.

Image: dailymail.co.uk

Leto gets a taste of his own medicine from Lupita Nyong'o.

Image: eonline.com

2. Jennifer Lawrence Falling...Again

Just as she got out of the car, Jennifer Lawrence tripped and fell on the red carpet. She didn't think anyone saw - Jennifer there are a gazillion cameras, how could we not notice?!

3. John Travolta's Pronunciation of Idina Menzel

How on earth did he get this so wrong?

There is now a website where you can have your own name 'Travoltified'.
Please now call me "Harrison Smurphy".

4. Ellen Ordering Pizza for A List Guests

The pizza delivery guy got a $1000 tip for dishing out pizza to the likes of Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt.

Here's a follow up video on The Ellen Show with Edgar and Ellen explaining how it all happened. Ellen also presented him his well deserved tip. She collected the money, along with Lupita Nyong'o's lip balm, in Pharrell Williams' hat on the night.

5. Pharrell dancing with Lupita, Meryl and Amy

Speaking of Pharrell, he performed his hit single, featured in Despicable Me 2, Happy. Some of the nominated actresses joined in with Pharrell's performance. Meryl's shimmy wins it for me.

6. Steve McQueen Jumping for Joy

After winning the Best Picture Oscar for 12 Years A Slave, Steve McQueen displayed his true delight and celebrated with a bouncy jump after his acceptance speech.

Image: standard.co.uk

7. Ellen's Oscar Selfie

The most talked about and certainly the most tweeted moment of the night. I predicted in my Top Ten Film Award Moments that Ellen would do a selfie with at least one of the famous faces. In fact, loads of them jumped in on it - including Nyong'o's brother.

Unfortunately for Liza Minnelli, she was too short to get in on the most retweeted picture of all time.

Image: businessinsider.com

 Though she did have an opportunity later with Ellen.

What were your favourite moments from the awards?

Did the Academy get it right or wrong?

Tweet @TicketStubBlog or comment below

February Film of the Month

In a blink of an eye this month has flown by! And to end the month of February, it is inevitably time for the second Film of the Month.

I haven't seen as many films as January - three in total. So let me know if you have seen any other movies this month - whether they were awful or awesome.

As always, here is the all important rating system:

* = Poor. Why did I even bother?!

** = OK. Could have done better.

*** = Good. Recommended though don’t feel bad you don’t get to see this one.

**** = Excellent. Not quite perfect but highly recommended.

***** = Masterpiece. You’d be a fool not to see this film.

That Awkward Moment

That awkward moment where the outtakes are funnier than the entire movie (and even then it's not great). This was one of those silly 'edgy' rom-coms or guy-rom-coms. Zac Efron put in a fairly comedic performance however Miles Teller as Daniel steals the show. I maybe laughed out loud once where Efron's character turns up in some rather obscene attire for a sophisticated birthday party. The rest of the film? Meh. Don't bother.
Rating: *

Dallas Buyers Club

The performances in the movie are phenomenal. Firstly, Matthew McConaughey is brilliant. As widely reported, McConaughey transformed himself for the role losing over 40lbs but he should be commended for a terrific performance - well he is nominated for an Oscar this weekend so I guess that is praise indeed! And so is Jared Leto for that matter who is up for a Supporting Actor Oscar. The story was engaging though I wasn't completely swept off my feet. Would I have still liked it if there was a different cast? I'm not too sure. The performances carry this film and I'm sure it will do well at the awards this weekend. Definitely recommended, not quite a four star film for me though.

Rating: ***

Her

I loved the cinematography of this film. The colour palette and futuristic look of Los Angeles is visually stunning. I liked the setting of the film too - a not too distant future where technology has developed even further to the point where we can have personal relationships with our devices. It triggered questions on what it means to be human and our relationship to technology right now. I'd have been interested to listen to Samantha Morton's performance, who was originally cast as Samantha in the film. She was replaced by Scarlett Johansson in post production who puts in a pretty good vocal performance. I thoroughly enjoyed the film though I don't know if I felt so emotionally connected or invested in Theodore and Samantha's relationship - but I guess that's kind of the point? It's a computer device, not a human being, so is it ok not to feel as emotionally invested with the central couple? I'll leave that open to debate. Joaquin Phoenix puts in a heartfelt performance which I adore and I think the movie overall is very original. Again, this is a good recommendation. It was close to four stars but not quite.
Rating: ***

This month has been hard to pick as you can see with two films getting the same three star rating, but my personal February Film of the Month goes to...

Dallas Buyers Club

Do you agree? Or do you disagree?

What films have you seen this February?

Comment below or tweet @TicketStubBlog

(All images from IMDB.com)