S.K.o.S.

I have to leave my car outdoors during the workday. On Monday and Tuesday it was cold. On both those days, when I got back to my car, the lock on the drivers' side was frozen (meaning I could put the key in the lock but couldn't turn it) but I was able to get in through the passenger side, probably because the sun was hitting that side of the car during the day. Today it's the coldest it's been all week. Apparently the easiest way to open your car if your locks are frozen is to heat up your key. So I'm going to buy a cigarette lighter just in case.

Here are three that I liked a lot. More to come. Clouds of Sils Maria - Plot is that a famous actress, who made her name starring in a play where a younger woman seduces an older woman, is asked to return to a production of the play - but she'll now be playing the older woman, opposite a young celebrity actress with a wild reputation. The genius here is that Juliette Binoche is playing the actress, and Kristin Stewart plays her assistant (with Chloe Grace Moretz playing the younger actress). Stewart opposite Binoche is stunt casting, but it works so well. I almost couldn't process them doing scenes together early on, to the point where I had trouble focusing on the actual dialogue, but in the end I bought them as BFFs (though their relationship is more complex than "BFFs"). Seeing them doing line readings together is a hell of a thing, though, and Binoche choking on her beer while Stewart attempts to explain the character motivations in a superhero movie put a huge smile on my face. First time I'd actually seen Stewart in a big role, and if she ever actually was a bad actress, then she must be getting better now. The whole arthouse vs. TMZ theme and the idea that we perceive art and life differently with more experience is a conversation-starter too. The Drop - Based on the script alone, I'll grant you that this is "only" a very good movie, not an exceptional one. But strictly from the perspective of creating a completely new persona, Tom Hardy gives the performance of the year here with his simple Brooklyn bartender, even better than Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler (and Gyllenhaal playing a sociopath is a much more natural fit than Hardy playing this character). Compare Hardy in Locke to what he does here. It's like two completely different people. Matthias Schoenaerts' psycho ex-con character, also totally different than what he was doing in Rust And Bone, is the icing on the cake. Then they go head-to-head against one another... it was just a complete delight. Stretch - Patrick Wilson plays a limo driver who needs a bunch of money by the end of the day to pay off gambling debts. Chris Pine chews absolutely all of the scenery as an insane coked-up billionaire, and Ed Helms shows up every 15 minutes or so as the ghost of a dead limo driver to make discouraging comments. This is kind of like Crank, but with the volume at 6 instead of 10, more of a nighttime neon-tinged feel, and with Wilson as the relatable everyman in an crazy situation. Also features a couple of fun cameos from celebrities playing themselves. Thought it was a really good time.

Whiplash unexpectedly finds itself in the Best Adapted Screenplay category rather than Best Original. http://deadline.com/2015/01/academy-and-wga-at-odds-over-acclaimed-whiplash-screenplay-will-it-hurt-oscar-chances-1201341846/# It might not be a bad thing - the competition in Best Adapted is arguably easier (Gone Girl, Theory of Everything, Imitation Game in Adapted vs. some subset of Boyhood, Birdman, Grand Budapest Hotel, Selma, Mr. Turner, Nightcrawler, Foxcatcher in Original).

Just for the record, this is eligible for 'The Best of 2014' poll! It is? IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes, and Wikipedia all list it for 2013. Rotten Tomatoes lists it as 2014, and that's the one that counts for the poll.

It's very high on my 2014 list, and I've seen at least one person acknowledge that it wasn't the absolute scariest movie while at the same time calling it one of the best of the year. Also it's making some mainstream critics' top ten lists, which is very rare for a horror movie. I may be pointing out the obvious here, but the Babadook is meant to represent depression or mental illness. It completely takes over your life, the mother ends up in a zombie-like state in front of the tv for a good chunk of the second half of the movie, and there's the "you can't get rid of the Babadook" idea where you can't ever cure mental illness, you can only learn how to cope with it. A movie with some level of subtext and relating to real-world problems is going to score points with critics. I also thought the special effects were a big plus, and "special effects" might not be the right term to use, but it felt like a real feast of sight and sound to me in spite of the fact that most of the big scenes take place in a dark house. Stuff like where they have a wide shot of the mother across the room from the kid, and she's looking directly into the camera, which is creepy enough, but then she sort of floats forward at us, getting closer without actually moving her feet. There was just a lot of creativity. Lastly I think it's also getting points for its almost complete lack of jump scares. Your spoiler about Taking of Deborah Logan (which I haven't seen) is a little ironic, because it was a similar moment in The Babadook that chilled me the most (that imagined news report on the tv).

For best current Canadian director, two more names that should be in the conversation are Jean-Marc Vallée (Dallas Buyers Club, Wild) and Xavier Dolan (nothing really mainstream, but he won an award at Cannes this year).

Taking out everything from 2013 and 2014 eliminates everything I watched from like mid-July onwards. Here's a top ten, though. 10. The Secret Lives Of Dentists (2003) 9. Manic (2003) 8. A Lonely Place To Die (2011) 7. Videodrome (1982) 6. In My Skin (2002) 5. The Man On The Train (2003) 4. Lake Mungo (2009) 3. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) 2. Fargo (1996) 1. Psycho (1960)

Was doing some end-of-year cramming this month, and I've seen close to eighty movies under that criteria. It's been a very good movie year for me. And I still haven't seen 2 Days 1 Night, American Sniper, Foxcatcher, The Imitation Game, Selma, etc... Right now, I've got a rough list of 21 movies that I'd vote for. By the end of February, I might end up having to cut some off to make a list of 30 (not complaining though). Will do some pimping before the end of the week.

I was at that game just now, sitting behind the net. (15 rows up, but still.) Was thinking "well, at least Clarke's stopping him from actually doing anything..." and then the net got in the way.

Finally saw Under The Skin. Wanted to say that the creepy music whenever anyone is about to get killed deserves to be on the level of the themes from Psycho or Jaws. Like you should be able to hum it and people should know what movie you're referencing. Although I'm also noticing that it bears a strong resemblance to the Warp Whistle from Super Mario 3. Edit: This is what I'm talking about! Maybe more like a slowed-down first half of the warp whistle song.

I've seen this on a few top ten lists for horror this year and want to check it out. Did you get it on demand? I didn't, but VOD seems to be the way to go to watch it legitimately right now. http://starryeyesfilm.com/where-to-watch

Watched Starry Eyes last night (not to be confused with Bright Eyes). That's gotta be one of the top 5 horror movies of the year. Very good performance from the lead, and the third act, in terms of sheer violence, is right on the level of any of the new wave French extreme horror from the late 2000s. I was expecting things to get crazy, but not that crazy.

According to the New York Post's "sources", Sony is now planning to release the movie on their streaming service, Crackle, for free. http://nypost.com/2014/12/21/sony-plans-to-release-the-interview-on-crackle-for-free/

Here's a largely uninteresting personal story. A buddy of mine texted me a while back that he had passes to a preview screening of The Interview. At the time, I had no interest in seeing it, so I never followed up with him. If I'd known all this was going to happen, I would've gone to see it just for short-term bragging rights (I think the odds are still pretty decent that we'll all be able to see it in the long term). I texted him today to ask if he'd gone to see it. He replied "No, I never used the passes... Had u gone with me I would have... I blame u" So some people blame Sony, some people blame the theatres, some people blame Kim Jong-un, and at least one person blames me.

Here's the FBI going on record as saying they believe the North Korean government is responsible. http://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/update-on-sony-investigation

You're going to poop yourself over Werckmeister Harmonies. Might want to wear diapers.

They're not going to release it on VOD or DVD either, according to Variety. http://variety.com/2014/film/news/sony-has-no-further-release-plans-for-the-interview-1201382167/ Maybe some counterterrorists can hack into Sony and leak it online!

Thought Sony were the ones who gave them the okay to opt out of showing it if they wanted to.

I'm torn on whether or not that's the right thing to do. "Don't let the terrorists win" vs. "It's just a movie".

glfpunk, if you weren't already aware, interest in Punk is at a fever pitch right now after he did a couple of podcasts in the past week slamming the WWE. So everything is sort of magnified right now, and it might cool off a little bit if we all have to wait a few months before he actually fights.

FWIW I had Lawler winning the first and fifth, Hendricks winning the second and third, fourth round I thought was close but would've given it to Lawler if I had to pick. Was baffled by the 49-46 though.

No where yet. I am sure there are... ways... to see it now But it doesn't appear to have been "released" yet. Though usually documentaries get the "On Demand same day as theater" treatment Amazon Instant seems to have it. Might be some Canada vs. US issues in terms of availability, but here's the link where I can see it: http://www.amazon.com/Sheik-Khosrow-Vaziri/dp/B00P7PH4V6/ref=sr_1_2?s=instant-video&ie=UTF8&qid=1417652382&sr=1-2&keywords=the+sheik

I finally watched it this past weekend. Co-sign on everything you said (already liked Teller due to Spectacular Now, but he's way better here). It's damn good. Just off the top of my head, my top five of 2014 in no particular order would be something like Whiplash, Coherence, The Babadook, The Drop and Haemoo. Still lots more to see, though.

I don't think Punk really believes Ryback intentionally injured him, even though that's what he says. I think he's just making the point that Ryback was really, really bad in the ring at that point in time, and making that point in kind of a dickish way. It's an Occam's Razor thing - it's more believable that Ryback was intentionally trying to injure Punk, than it is that he fucked things up that badly. He was THAT bad. Like if someone asked Punk "What do you think Ryback's motivation was for intentionally trying to hurt you?", he'd probably say "I have no idea, but he must have been trying to hurt me, because it's nearly impossible to fuck up that badly by accident." Hope that makes sense. I'm drinking.

I was actually down on Norton in the '90s since there's a good number of his roles that smack you in the face and go "Look! I'm ACTING!" Like, people would be high on his acting because the movie tells you he's a great actor. (Primal Fear and The Score are the ones that come to mind, I think you could make an argument for Rounders, might be others.) But in that sense, it's perfect casting. The role is right in his wheelhouse.