The PDC Picks the Top Films of 2014

Mae's Picks

5. Snowpiercer - This is the first English-language feature film for director Bong Joon-ho. And you know what? He gets it right. The production value, a re-envisioned take on already-used themes, and fantastic execution and performances by Chris Evans, Octavia Spencer, and Tilda Swinton, among many others, makes this movie really stand out. It's dark, it has fantastic themes, and keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout. Watching Snowpiercer is essentially like being on a thrilling ride you never want to get off of. As the passengers, who are the last of humankind and are placed in a class system on the train that makes a complete turn around the earth every year, grow tired of being mistreated, they plan to take over the train one car at a time. This literal look at society's economical system is in heavy play here and Bong Joon-ho's direction takes center stage in a suspenseful epic that deserves to be seen and gives us something to think about.

4. Gone Girl - One of the best adapted screenplays of the year (probably because Gillian Flynn, the author of the novel, was the one who adapted the script), Gone Girl is chock-full of powerful acting, a crazy plot, and just the right balance between drama and insanity. Flynn writes with a deft hand and layers the story with proverbial stereotypes about certain gender notions and exceptionally memorable characters. Rosamund Pike's monologue about the "cool girl" is so popular, and for good reason, and her portrayal of Amy is nothing like we've seen from the actress before. Ben Affleck is the accused husband whose life hangs in the balance between normal life and prison (mostly due to the media's twist and portrayal on the proceedings, which plays a large part in the film). I could go on and on with all the great things to say about this film, but just know this: It's excellently done. Also, did I mention the entire "Cool Girl" speech, already?

3. X-Men: Days of Future Past - We can never forget Brett Ratner's turn in the director's chair for the doomed X3, but now with Days of Future Past, we kind of can. Finally! The excellence that was X-Men: First Class and the wonderful first two X-Men films combine worlds in a time travel mash-up that was exciting and more than fulfilling for longtime fans of the movies and comic books alike. For one thing, Bryan Singer is back in the director's chair and the fluidity with which he directs what could have been a complicated plot (what with flip-flopping timelines and all) could have ended in disaster in anyone else's hands. Plus, spoiler alert, every X-Man (and woman!) makes a reappearance in a spectacular fashion. A definite example of how superhero films should be done.

2. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) - What is there to really say about Birdman that hasn't already been said? Most of the time, critics don't agree on everything, but when they do, there's reason to, and this film is definitely reason to. One of the reasons to love it is that the story pretty much, and ironically, mirrors Michael Keaton's career and rehabilitates it all in one go. The ensemble cast is fantastic, it's a cohesive story, and director Alejandro Inarritu gets technically creative when it comes to the style and oh, yeah, the entire film looks like it's entirely one shot. Which is just awesome. That is all.

1, Selma- A lot of people won't see Selma until January 9, but believe me when I tell you that if you see this film and manage not to like it, then... well, you won't like it, but that in and of itself would be a tragedy. This film couldn't have come at a better time and director Ava DuVernay takes great care to make this film, first and foremost, about Martin Luther King, Jr. Everything else is just an extension of him and only serves to make the film that much better. It's powerful, will probably make you bawl like a baby (bring tissues!), and will leave a great impact on you like no other film will this year. Selma is also backed by a strong cast (David Oyelowo as MLK is outstanding) and really steps up to the plate. The best picture of the year!

Julian's Picks

I don’t see as many films as the rest of the crew but I get out there and you know why

5. The Raid 2- Imagine this whole paragraph with this Sean Bean’s face the whole time you’re reading this.

ONE DOES NOT SIMPLY VIEW THE RAID 2.

The Raid 2 is like pure martial arts film life. It breathes in pure awesome. Where the first film The Raid is like what if some one took late 80s beat’em up video games, bosses and all this one was like a perfect upgrade. With perfect mix of films like Infernal Affairs and Donny Brasco with martial arts classics like the Big Boss or Fist of Legend the Raid 2 had it all. Had me catching the shaolin holy ghost in the theater when I saw it. Every fight is money and also such great new remember able characters like Bat-man and Hammer Girl along with their friend curved knife dude had everyone on the edge of their seat. I go around telling people all the time that they need to fix their life if they haven’t seen The Raid 2.

4. Dear White People- Man I loved the idea of this movie from the title alone. 2014 had been a very weird year for race relations in the United States. For a many just looking at the film’s title and trailer they probably thought this film was about Black people telling white people how they are wrong and really folks are wrong. It’s very much more about generation dealing with race in the country now when it’s supposed to be so post racial. I don’t know, I feel this film a lot. I ended up talking about race a lot this year in many different type of situations and a lot of the issues raised here were needed to be explored in the mainstream. The film also gave me one of my favorite reaction gifs

and Tessa Thompson is fine as all outdoors.

3. Interstellar- This movie is my jam y’all. IT HAS TWO ROBOTS!!!! TARS and CASE all damn day folks. 

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I know this film gets flack from some, I probably love it the most out of our crew here. The movie has Proto-Culture in it! I loved the science in it. The real science fiction explored in it. I loved the whole four-dimensional tesseract part; talk of singularities and the theory of relativity in use.

2. Lego Movie- Lego Movie is my jam. It has Batman in it just stunting on everyone. Holding it down like he does in his Lego games. This joint had my dude Chris Pratt aka The Star-Lord out there being awesome building bunk couches. Being a master builder and all. The film basically has the opposite message of The Incredibles, where in everyone is special in their own way. Which does make everyone the same yet amazing at that same time. I also love how they have that play at the end with something that seems innocuous but really plays with Emmitt (Chris Pratt’s Lego alter ego) basically meeting Judeo Christian God and Jesus with the kid and Will Ferrell. Ferrell created the world and wants strict rules where in his son wants the Lego world to be more forgiving and peaceful. Yeah I saw all that when I was watching it and I’m not even close to religious. I just know stories.

1. Top Five- Chris Rock man, Chris Rock. See I always liked his movies. Head of state was enjoyable. I Think I Love My Wife I swear by but this, Top Five is next level. It’s true what everyone is saying it is Rock’s Annie Hall. It’s a great film basically just about people talking in NYC but from a completely black experience. I love how the film deals with fame, especially urban fame and some of the stuff a person has to deal with. It deals with pressures and the way people view you that really struck a cord. The use of hip hop as a constant topic of a person’s top five favorite emcees is perfect way to really tap into a lot of peoples’ life. Also the whole interview that becomes a date I really connected to in this. A TON! Top Five had me like

Rocky's Picks

5. TIE 22 JUMP STREET/VERONICA MARS- Let’s start with a couple of movies that had big expectations this year: Veronica Mars, which needed to simultaneously please the Marshmallows that helped fund it and people new to the show in order to draw in additional audiences; and 22 Jump Street, which had to prove that the original film starring Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill wasn’t a fluke success. And I think both of them succeeded quite admirably—I couldn’t stop smiling during the former and I couldn’t stop laughing during the latter. Veronica Mars, as I talked about during my Best Trailers of 2014 and Best Kisses of 2014 posts, picked up exactly where the show had left off so many years ago, channeling the right wry and cynical tone while still letting a bit of hope (Logan and Veronica forever!) peep through. And 22 Jump Street continued to poke fun at youth culture, this time mocking the absurdity of college and allowing Tatum and Hill to further their weird sibling rivalry charm. (Let’s hope that the Jump Street/Men in Black crossover hinted at in the Sony email leaks never comes to fruition, because I would shake my fist in prolonged rage.) Overall, though, two of the films that gave me the most smiles this year.

4. TIE: ERNEST & CELESTINE/THE BOXTROLLS- In a year that saw huge success for animated films The LEGO Movie and Big Hero 6, and following last year’s mega-obnoxious-it-will-never-go-away mania of Frozen, I would rather watch Ernest & Celestine or The Boxtrolls. The former is a beautiful (and I mean that both visually and thematically) French-Belgian film about a friendship between a mouse and a bear; they’re not supposed to get along, but they realize their differences from the others of their species make them more attuned to each other than anyone else. The movie was originally released in 2012 but only made its way stateside this year, and please find it and watch it (the subtitled version!). You won’t regret it. The same goes for The Boxtrolls, the latest film from Laika; it underperformed when released this fall, but it’s such a weird, bizarre, gleeful little film that I’ve been recommending it to anyone and everyone. It’s about classicism and creativity and, well, cheese, but all of its disparate elements come together into something great.

3. GONE GIRL- What else is there to say about Gone Girl? I won’t write you a thinkpiece; all I’ll say is that Amazing Amy is my favorite villain of the year. Her cruelty gives me joy. And any time I get the opportunity to smugly say “That’s marriage” to someone, well, I’ll take it!

2. FOXCATCHER- I listed Foxcatcher as my most underrated movie of the year in our staff post, and I stand by that claim. Of the more than 150 movies I saw this year, this is probably the one I can’t stop thinking about—the story that makes me the angriest at American sports culture, social structure, and inherited wealth. All of the performances are great, and in a year packed with male competitors, it’s disappointing that Steve Carrell, Channing Tatum, and Mark Ruffalo might get forgotten for their work here (and they absolutely shouldn’t). The methodical stillness of the filmmaking is unshakably eerie. And while I hear the critique (which fellow PDC-er Travis Hopson has made to me) that director Bennett Miller doesn’t really add anything to the story with his film, I disagree; I think the mystery of the narrative, and the abruptness with which Miller moves between subplots and how he chooses to end the film, speak for themselves. There’s a moral decay to Foxcatcher that is simultaneously enthralling and repellant, and it’s going to stay on my mind for a long time. 

1. BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE)- Masterful is how I would describe Birdman—director Alejandro González Iñárritu; cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki; composer Antonio Sanchez; the ensemble led by Michael Keaton and including great work from Edward Norton, Emma Stone, and Zach Galifianakis. Everyone here is in top form; every scene works; every criticism of cinema and theater and fame hits exactly where it needs to hit; every sneer from Norton lands perfectly; every narrated line from Birdman himself has impact. That voice! Who doesn’t love the Keaton-as-Birdman voice? It’s a twisty-turny film, and the ending won’t work for everyone, and the play within the movie structure has its moments of exceeding meta-ness—but I couldn’t take my eyes off any second of it. Birdman is unforgettable, and it’s my favorite movie of the year.


John's Picks

5. Foxcatcher- The ‘Based on a True Story’ film starring Steve Carrell and Channing Tatum chronicles the story of John du Pont and his relationship with the Schultz brothers during their time working with Du Pont’s Team Foxcatcher wrestling camp. The flick had a ton of buzz a while back but has since taken a back seat to films like Boyhood and Birdman. While the prosthetics used on Tatum and Carrell are a bit distracting I can’t find another flaw with the film. The performances are great and the story has this subdued quality that really grips you by the arm and makes you pay attention. Honestly, if I were to watch a scene out of context I’d think the film lacked any semblance of energy, but the entire film in context? Simply gripping. Carrel’s Du Pont is equal parts sad, weird, and ominious and Ruffalo brings that overly likeable persona he adds to each of his characters making the whole film that much more tragic (Sorry Channing, you were good but those two stole the show).

4. Guardians of the Galaxy- I wonder if this was what it was like to see Star Wars in a theater back in 1977? Guardians brings us to a whole new world full of such fun and wonder that it’s amazing there was any trepidation about the film being too out there. Hindsight is 20/20, I would never have guessed a film starring a talking raccoon and anthropomorphic tree would be one of the best of the year either. Calling a film “the total package” is, like most review tropes, overused and under deserved most of the time. Not here, nope, this is the definition. Chris Pratt brings more laughs than you could possibly expect, the action scenes are top notch…I haven’t seen such great sci-fi dogfighting choreography since Return of the Jedi, the story and writing are so good that you find yourself empathizing with the pain felt by that same talking Raccoon in a bar scene, and if you didn’t cry during the hyper-emotional “We are Groot” conclusion…well then I think you need to see a psychiatrist.

3. The Raid 2- Given how overly-verbose I was when talking about last years The Raid: Redemption it surprises me to have so little to say about the best martial arts movie of the last decade (taking the honors from its predecessor). The simple fact is you don’t need a lot of words to explain why this film is in my top of 2014 list. It surpassed the original. Point made.

2. The Imitation Game- Benedict Cumberbatch’s role as Alan Turing, the British born cryptographer who broke the Nazi’s enigma code and created the first computer while doing it, is both captivating and heart-breaking. Cumberbatch is at his best in the role pulling out that persona of an anti-social genius that has become his calling card. Some have criticized the film for just that, Cumberbatch playing the same old role, and in some sense they are right but he does it so well how can you blame him. Extra points to the filmmakers for making the film about his work and not the tragic conclusion to the story. It’s not that I think that angle shouldn’t be covered, quite the opposite, the way they used it as a final punch to the story made the impact that much more heartbreaking.

1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier- How could it not be #1? I’m in the minority that I absolutely loved Captain America: The First Avenger, but the follow up left me among the masses in our mutual love for Cap. The Russo brothers deliver an amazing piece of filmmaking, comic-book or not. Their use of practical effects and shying away from the big flashy CGI of most comic book films brings this movie right down to eye level adding a layer to it that I don’t think we’ve seen yet in the Marvel Universe. The far reaching impact on the Marvel universe at large is obvious but it’s the personal story and in your face blood and sweat action that brings Cap back to #1 and cements The Winter Soldier as my #1 film of the year. 

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The Best and Worst Movie Trailers of 2014

+ Note: This post will focus only on trailers for movies released in 2014. So sorry, no love here for The Avengers 2: Age of Ultron trailer, even though it is great. Come back next year for that one.

We love trailers, which is why when I had to see The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies last week, on top of the 150-minute runtime for the film, I also had to sit through 10 – YES, TEN – trailers. That’s an additional 30 minutes of sitting in the theater! And yet a good trailer can be so great – an excellent bonding opportunity for you and the people sitting around – and a bad trailer can build camaraderie, too. The collective groan from myself, the three bros in front of me, and the mom and her son behind me at The Hobbit when we saw the Terminator: Genisys trailer is proof of that.

So what trailers excited me most this year, and which made me want to run out of the movie theater and never come back? Read on for the five best and five worst movie trailers of 2014.

The five best trailers of 2014:

+ VERONICA MARS. You could brush off this movie as fan service, sure, but it’s extremely satisfying fan service. Take this trailer for proof: Look, all of your favorite Veronica Mars characters are back! Look, Veronica and Logan still long for each other! Look, Mac has an amazing new haircut! Look, Weevil is still the shit! Look, Daddy Mars is still doing dad stuff! Dick Casablancas is being, well, a dick! As a promise to fans, the Veronica Mars movie trailer was undeniably well orchestrated. (And so was the movie, too.)

+ GONE GIRL. The creepy vibe of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s score still haunts my dreams, as does Amazing Amy’s equally chilly, “That’s marriage.” Maybe this year’s best movie for grownups, Gone Girl delivered with a trailer that laid out the central question—Did Ben Affleck’s Nick Dunne kill his wife, the beautiful and intelligent and perfect Amy?—while also subtly analyzing the 24-hour news cycle and upending the fake-American-dream promise of suburbia. “Where’s your wife, Nick?!” Yes, where, indeed.

+ GODZILLA. Godzilla underperformed a bit this year, but I agree withfellow PDC-er Julian Lytle that it was actually one of the year’s mostunderappreciated films—a movie that excellently chose when and how to feature Godzilla to build toward the impactful (and thrilling) final action set piece. And this trailer is a perfect microcosm of that approach: Blink and you’ll miss Godzilla, but when he wants to be seen, he’s unforgettable. And Godzilla’s final, discordant scream at the end of this trailer? It’s still giving me goosebumps.

+ X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST. “We need you to hope again.” Sporting the most self-indulgent-and-yet-totally-successful cast of the year was X-Men: Days of Future Past, and this trailer forced you to acknowledge how great they all are. Patrick Stewart! Ian McKellen! Michael Fassbender! James McAvoy! The internet’s best friend Jennifer Lawrence! The internet’s best friend’s ex-boyfriend Nicholas Hoult! Tyrion Lannister! Jean Valjean! And on and on and on. Regardless of whether Days of Future Past had your favorite X-Men character or your favorite X-Men actor, that was the point: they were all in there. (Well, except for Anna Paquin, but that is a complaint for another day.) The cohesiveness of the cast did wonders for the timeline-mind-fuck of a story, and brought the contrasting movie worlds together in a way that keeps the storyline moving forward. How could you not get excited?

+ INTERSTELLAR. One of my most disappointing movies of the year still had one of the year’s best trailers, a perfect distillation of the things Christopher Nolan does well: cajole excellent performances from A-list male actors who play aching, ambitious widowers (here it’s Matthew McConaughey; see Leonardo DiCaprio in Inception or Hugh Jackman in The Prestige for further proof); present smoothly envisioned, sleekly impressive visual effects; and get Michael Caine to say something wise and sad, because that is basically all Michael Caine does in Christopher Nolan movies. It was such a formula, but oh, it was effective. If only the full version of Interstellar had been this airtight.

The five worst trailers of 2014:

+ TRANSCENDENCE. Oh look, Johnny Depp’s brain got uploaded into a computer because it’s super easy to do that. How could such an interesting idea seem so generic from even the first trailer? Pass. (Also, you’re going to have Cillian Murphy in your movie, but not even mention him in your trailer? For shame.)

+ THE OTHER WOMAN. Putting feminism back a century or two.

+ TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES. Stop giving Michael Bay enough money to destroy all our childhood dreams. Stop it! And stop pretending Megan Fox can act. Seriously, stop it.

+ DUMB AND DUMBER TO. When I saw 22 Jump Street this summer, more people laughed at this supremely awful trailer than they did during the entire length of 22 Jump Street. Because for some reason a senior citizen forcing Jim Carrey to pleasure her vagina full of dust is more amusing than the amazing meta-ness of Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill. (I hate people.)

+ EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS. Noooope.

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The Best Movie Duos of 2014: Rocket Raccoon and Groot, Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill, and More

This year of movies has seen its ups and downs. I'd like to think there have been more ups than downs, but I'd have to go through some sort of movie list to be sure. And with a slew of films under 2014's belt, there have definitely been a lot of characters we've seen vie for the screen. Some are memorable, most are really not, but the best characters usually come in pairs. 

Among my picks from last year were Theodore and Samantha from the critically acclaimed Her and Spock and Kirk from Star Trek Into Darkness, among many others. Now a new year has brought new duos to our screen. There was a lot to choose from and they most definitely don't disappoint. It was hard, but I've narrowed my list down to 6 this year (must be a thing), and in no particular order, you can check my picks for the best duos of 2014 below, gifs included! Do you agree with them? 

Groot and Rocket Raccoon (Voices of Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper, Guardians of the Galaxy) - Before this movie, the Guardians of the Galaxy didn't have as avast an audience as they do now, and while Chris Pratt is finally getting the recognition he deserves and Zoe Saldana is always excellent, the highlight characters from the film have to most definitely be Groot and Rocket Raccoon. Rocket is the badass spokesperson and Groot is the loving manpower. Wouldn't it be fun if they made an origin story film about these two? I'd definitely watch. And how can a raccoon and a tree be best friends, you ask? Well, apparently, Marvel can sell anything, can't they?

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Maggie and Milo Dean (Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader, The Skeleton Twins) - If there was ever a more dysfunctional set of twins, it's Maggie and Milo Dean. They're both unhappy with their lives, depressed, and have a ton of other personal issues with themselves and each other, but one thing that is never in question is how much they love and care for each other. For proof, please entertain yourself with these lovely gifs!

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Amy and Nick Dunne (Rosamund Pike and Ben Affleck, Gone Girl) - These two make up what is probably the craziest and most dangerous duo on this list. One is completely insane, and the other is an asshole who just doesn't seem to care that he's being accused of his wife's murder. Apart, their actions are questionable, together they're, well, the most dangerous and demented couple ever. 

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Cage and Rita (Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt, The Edge of Tomorrow) - Probably one of the most underrated and overlooked action film of the year, Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt prove that they're an action team powerhouse in this film. Rita is rough around the edges and Cage initially tries to save his ass at all costs, but an unlikely situation draws them together. And, hey, a pair that fights together, and subsequently keep dying only to find each other again (even if one doesn't remember the other), stays together, am I right?

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Jenko and Schmidt (Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill, 22 Jump Street) - You know, comedy sequels are hard. But not for the 21 Jump Street series. They knew what they had was worth millions in laughs and they ran with it. The sequel even pokes fun of sequels, but most importantly, it reunites Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill as Jenko and Schmidt. These two are the duo you probably never thought you'd actually see or hell, even enjoy, but the mixture of personalities definitely makes watching their antics that much more entertaining. 

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Baymax and Hiro (Voices of Scott Adsit and Ryan Potter, Big Hero 6) -- An animation on the list! This film is probably in the top 3 animations of the year and at its core is the friendship between the cute, fluffy, medical caretaker and a genius kid who's angry and lost in the world. Their relationship is sweet and full of great moments. Hiro grows and learns in Baymax's care, and Baymax provides a support and loyaly for Hiro to lean on. 

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Box Office: 'Mockingjay' Hits a Bullseye with $275M Worldwide Debut

1. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay part 1- $123M
It may have become a bit too easy to brush off The Hunger Games as just another YA franchise, but those who do are missing the historical significance of what it is accomplishing. The third film Mockingjay, the first of the two-part finale, opened this weekend with $123M. Now while that's lower than the $152M of The Hunger Games and the $158M of 'Catching Fire', the amazing thing is that we're talking about three $100M+ debuts in a row. No other franchise in history has accomplished that, which is pretty amazing. To show just how wide and deep the audience for these movies is, Mockingjay blew up overseas with an additional $152M giving it $275M globally. With a start like that we could be looking at the one film left on the calendar with a shot at surpassing Guardians of the Galaxy.
2. Big Hero 6- $20M/$135.7M
3. Interstellar- $15.1M/$120.6M
4. Dumb and Dumber To- $13.8M/$57.4M
Nostalgia can only stretch so far, and in the case of Dumb and Dumber To it couldn't go beyond the first weekend. The Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels reunion slid 61% and out of first place with $13.8M.
5. Gone Girl- $2.8M/$156.8M
6. Beyond the Lights- $2.6M/$10.1M
7. St. Vincent- $2.3M/$36.6M
8. Fury- $1.9M/$79.1M
9. Birdman- $1.8M/$14.4M
10. Nightcrawler- $1.2M/$27.1M

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Box Office: 'Dumb and Dumber To' Wisens Up to #1 with $38M

1. Dumb and Dumber To- $38.3M
Apparently there was a much stronger contingent of Dumb and Dumber fans than many thought, proving that Universal were the smart ones for going ahead with a sequel 20 years after the fact.  Dumb and Dumber To opened with a robust $38.3M, easily outpacing what many were projecting. The film reunites Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels as the moronic Harry and Lloyd, and it's interesting to see where both actors are at this stage of their careers. It could be argued they are in opposing places, actually, with Daniels a top dog on The Newsroom and Carrey kind of floundering lately. This is the best opening Carrey has had in years, not since Bruce Almighty in 2003. But this will no doubt give Universal all the ammo they need to push ahead on a third 'Dumber' film if the actors are interested, and of course if the Farrelly Brothers can be convinced to return.
2.Big Hero 6- $36M/$111.6M
Disney's animated superhero film Big Hero 6 held extremely well, slipping only 35% for another $36M. Showing some international might, also, the film has earned $148M worldwide.
3. Interstellar- $29.1M/$97.8M
Also boasting big numbers is Christopher Nolan's Interstellar, which has nearly cracked $100M after two weeks. Worldwide it's doing even better, amassing $233M overall for the $165M feature.
4. Beyond the Lights- $6.5M
Opening in 1700 theaters and off to a good start is Beyond the Lights, from Love & Basketball director Gina Prince-Bythewood. One can't overstate how much a certain segment of people adore Prince-Bythewood's work, and those who waited anxiously for her to release another African-American led romance obviously turned out. Set against the backdrop of the music industry, the film features rising stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Nate Parker.
5. Gone Girl- $4.6M/$152.6M
6. St. Vincent- $4M/$33.2M
7. Fury- $3.8M/$75.9M
8. Nightcrawler- $3.03M/$25M
9. Ouija- $3.02M/$48.1M
10. Birdman- $2.4M/$11.5M

Jon Stewart's directorial debut Rosewater opened in semi-wide release with $1.2M, pretty middling for a film largely fronted by The Daily Show host.

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Box Office: 'Nightcrawler' Edges Out 'Ouija' for Top Spot by $9,000

1. Nightcrawler- $10.909M
I feel I should say something about the state of the American cinematic audience when a potential Oscar film featuring a certified superstar BARELY makes the top spot against the worst reviewed horror movie in years. Then I remember that it was Halloween weekend. Still, while not a traditional Halloween type movie, Nightcrawler had enough of a creepy element to it that it should have stolen a chunk of Ouija's box office.

2. Ouija- $10.9M/$34.9M
See Above

3. Fury- $9.1M/$60.4M
The Brad Pitt starring WWII masterpiece holds on to a top three spot in its third week of release. Few movies combine this level of acting with top tier action sequences, I guess that's why these numbers are disappointing to me. As one of the best movies to come out since July I had really hoped Fury would have passed the $100M mark by now.

4. Gone Girl- $8.8M/$136.6M
Now a certified hit on both the critical and financial scales, Gone Girl pulls in another 8 million, Affleck's really bringing some Bruce Wayne style success to his films as of late.

5. The Book of Life- $8.3M/$40.5M

6. John Wick- $8M/$27.5M
Keanu is starting to solidify his new calling as a B-movie action star (B-movie meaning type of film, not quality) as John Wick pulls in another $8M bringing them within reach of the $30 million dollar goal for most films of its kind.

7. St. Vincent- $7.7M/$19.5M
With all of the meh buzz surrounding Bill Murray's latest these numbers are quite surprising to me.

8. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day- $6.4M/$53.6

9. The Judge- $3.4M/$39.5M
Despite lackluster reviews the Robert Downey Jr vehicle nears the $40 million dollar mark.

10. Dracula Untold- $2.9M/52.8M
It's no masterpiece but if the world was fair Dracula Untold would be swapped with the craptastic Ouija. What, is Dracula not Halloween worthy anymore?

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Box Office: 'Fury' Steamrolls to #1 with $23.5M; 'Dear White People, 'Birdman' Both Open Strong

1. Fury- $23.5M
When was the last time we had a big Hollywood war movie? It's been awhile, and apparently audiences were eager to see Brad Pitt in an R-rated war flick like Fury, as the film opened with $23.5M, basically hitting all the projections. While the $68M movie was largely sold on Brad Pitt back on a war footing for the first time since Inglourious Basterds, the strong debut is also a feather in the cap of David Ayer, the director best known for cop dramas like End of Watch and Sabotage. As he pushes ahead to direct the DC Comics adaptation Suicide Squad, this should go a long way in establishing him as a director capable of painting on a larger canvas.
2. Gone Girl- $17.8M/$107M
Another solid hold for David Fincher's Gone Girl, moving past the $100M in week 3 and totally $181M worldwide. And just as it hurt the chances of success for The Judge last week, I think it may have done the same to The Best of Me's debut. More on that later.
3. The Book of Life- $17M
For my money the best animated film of the year, 20th Century Fox's Latin-themed The Book of Life opened strong with $17M. The $50M film had the backing of producer Guillermo Del Toro, and a number of popular celebrity voices in Channing Tatum, Zoe Saldana, Ice Cube, and Diego Luna, along with many popular Mexican entertainers. It's been a strong year for movies geared at Latin audiences and The Book of Life is just the latest example, but it also saw benefit from an ad campaign that emphasized how different it was from the familiar projects by other studios. Sometimes audiences do reward movies that dare to be different.
4. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day- $12M/$36.8M
5. The Best of Me- $10.2M
Opening with a scant $10.2M was The Best of Me, the latest melodramatic romance adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks novel. This is actually the ninth film based on the author's work, and it's also the lowest-debuting of the bunch, which hopefully means people are getting tired of them because they're all telling the same story but with different white people. And yeah, that is a factor in today's multicultural society where diversity is seen as a virtue; Sparks' films seem antiquated by comparison. I hesitate to blame stars Michelle Monaghan and James Marsden because Sparks adaptations have never needed big stars to be a hit. Josh Duhamel and Julianne Hough starred in Safe Haven and that nearly broke $100M. The bigger problem may be competition, with Gone Girl locking down much of the "date night" audience. Whether this is the start of a trend we'll find out soon enough because two Sparks adaptations are on the way in The Longest Ride and The Choice, both with essentially the same plot. Ugh.
6. Dracula Untold- $9.8M/$40.7M
7. The Judge- $7.94M/$26.8M
8. Annabelle- $7.92M/$74.1M
9. The Equalizer- $5.4M/$89.1M
10. The Maze Runner- $4.5M/$90.8M

Opening in limited release were two of this season's most anticipated films. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's meta-comedy Birdman opened in four theaters and banked $415K, while Justin Simien's satire on race, Dear White People, made $344K at only 11 locations. Not bad for both, and they'll likely keep up the pace upon expansion in the next few weeks.

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Box Office: 'Gone Girl' Finds Another $26M; 'Dracula Untold' Not Far Behind with $23M

1. Gone Girl- $26.8M/$78.2M
As expected, David Fincher's Gone Girl held strong to its audience, slipping only 29% and adding another $26.8M. Genre films like Annabelle or even Dracula Untold tend to be heavily frontloaded while those aimed at older audiences having longer life spans. Unfortunately, this is exactly the audience The Judge was trying to nab, and we'll see how that worked out further down on the chart.
2. Dracula Untold- $23.4M
So perhaps we should take Universal's relaunch of their classic movie monsters more seriously? Unabashedly geared towards fans of superhero flicks, Dracula Untold shifts the vampire villain into a tragic hero in a Braveheart-style war for freedom. The $70M film had a star in Luke Evans, best known for his cheekbones in The Hobbit and Fast & Furious 6, so it didn't pack a ton of star power. That means audiences were genuinely interested in Drac's origin, a fact which should make Universal extremely happy.
3. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day- $19.1M
The film with the overlong title got off to a blistering start with $19.1M, practically guaranteeing Disney is going to make a mint on the $28M-budgeted adaptation of Judith Viorst's book. Interesting connection to Gone Girl: Viorst is jokingly pitched as a suspect in Amy Dunne's disappearance at one point in Gillian Flynn's novel. Anyway, this one will benefit from the presence of Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner, plus the trailers and TV spots have just been a ton of fun. Audiences clearly responded to it, giving it an 'A-' Cinemascore, and with the Columbus Day holiday tomorrow we may see 'Alexander' do even better. 
4. Annabelle- $16.4M/$62.1M
5. The Judge- $13.3M
Not that anybody was expecting Iron Man-type numbers for the family courtroom dramedy, The Judge, but $13.3M is still pretty disappointing for a Robert Downey Jr. film. Once eyed as an Oscar hopeful, all that died pretty quick once reviews starting coming out, with positive notice only given to Downey and Robert Duvall's performances. But the truth of the matter is it might have done better if Gone Girl wasn't around targeting the same audience looking for adult-oriented, R-rated thrillers.
6. Addicted- $7.6M
Ever seen Zane's Sex Chronicles late at night on Cinemax?  They were more popular than you may know, just as the erotic novels by author Zane are probably read by just about every woman you know. And so there was a deep built-in audience for the adultery drama, Addicted, which opened at only 846 theaters and pulled in a sizable $7.6M. The R-rated film boasts no major stars or big time direction but never really needed it, and this is probably going to encourage Lionsgate to build this as their next urban franchise after parting ways with Tyler Perry early this year.
7. The Maze Runner- $7.5M/$83.8M
Has now surpassed $200M worldwide, by the way.
8. The Boxtrolls- $6.6M/$41M
9. Meet the Mormons- $3.5M
Mormons are people, too, and apparently they go to the movies. And star in them. Meet the Mormons is a documentary about six mormons living in different parts of the world, and their various experiences trying to escape the shadow of Mitt Romney. Okay, I added that last part. But really, the point of this one is showing that Mormons are just like everybody else, and it's a message that is obviously clicking. The film was originally meant to only be shown in the Mormon hotbed of Salt Lake City, but audience reaction convinced the LDS to expand it further. Good move.
10. Left Behind- $2.9M/$10.9M

Also releasing in limited fashion in more ways than one is Kill the Messenger, the Jeremy Renner-led biopic of journalist Gary Webb. Webb had exposed the CIA's drug connection to Contra rebels and had his character assassinated for it. The film is not off to a promising start. Bad reviews have killed any buzz for Renner as an Oscar contender, and it only earned $939K at 374 locations. Yikes. Off to a much better start is the Sundance Award-winner Whiplash, which stars Miles Teller as an aspiring drummer terrorized by JK Simmons. Opening at 6 sites the film earned $143K.

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Punch Drunk Podcast: 'Gone Girl' and...were there other Movies this Week?

On this week's show we'll be talking about Gone Girl, starring Batman as a guy who might have murdered his wife and seeks Madea as his attorney. Plus, Nicolas Cage's religious action flick Left Behind is probably going to get ripped; we'll talk about the hot documentary Nas: Time is Illmatic, and Reese Witherspoon rescues refugees in The Good Lie. Plus whatever else comes up, like TV or something.

The Punch Drunk Podcast airs most Sunday mornings at 11AM on Blogtalkradio. Not all because we like to sleep in.

Check Out Film Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with The Punch Drunk Podcast on BlogTalkRadio

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Box Office: 'Gone Girl' and 'Annabelle' Open Big; 'Left Behind' gets Left Behind

1. Gone Girl- $38M
I began the week expecting that the horror Annabelle would beat out David Fincher's mature-themed thriller, Gone Girl, simply because genre movies have such immediate appeal. Plus, adults tend to wait a bit longer to check out big movies. But I was wrong and it's Gone Girl that eeks out #1 with $38M, but to be honest both movies did great. Gone Girl benefits from having Ben Affleck in one of his biggest roles to date that doesn't involve a Bat-suit, and obviously Gillian Flynn's buzzy novel. This is a total water cooler movie that casual moviegoers will be talking about for awhile (that twist!!!!), and to that end it should hang around near the top for a few weeks at least. It's also the biggest debut for Fincher but not really surprising as the film is easily his most commercial.
2. Annabelle- $37.2M
Spinoffs of established films tend to be a gamble, but Annabelle, a prequel to last year's small-budget hit The Conjuring, did nearly as well. Its $37M debut is just a shade under The Conjuring's $41M. It will probably take a tumble next week like most horrors do but this is obviously a win for Warner Bros. and don't be surprised if the demonic doll returns in some fashion, possibly in next year's The Conjuring sequel.
3. The Equalizer- $19M/$64.5M
Denzel Washington continues to equalize the box office with an additional $19M for The Equalizer, which has now surpassed $100M worldwide.
4. The Boxtrolls- $12.4M/$32.5M
Laika's stop-motion animated film The Boxtrolls added another $12M, slipping only 28% in week two. Overall the $60M film has gained $50M, good enough to earn the studio another three-picture deal with Focus Features.
5. The Maze Runner- $12M/$73.9M
6. Left Behind- $6.8M
In a year that has seen faith-based movies really tear it up at the box office, Left Behind is still off to a pretty terrible start. The film is basically a reworking of the atrocious Kirk Cameron-led version of the Rapture-loving movie from years ago, only this one stars Nicolas Cage and Jordin Sparks, two actually movie stars. And it's probably due to them and the typical prodding from right-leaning websites that it was able to score $6.8M, which is still one of the lowest debuts in Cage's career. Full disclosure, the studio behind this one knows me and wouldn't let us put up a review, knowing that it would get bashed. They were probably right because it looks awful.
7. This is Where I Leave You- $4M/ $29M
8. Dolphin Tale 2- $3.5M/$37.9M
9. Guardians of the Galaxy- $3M/$323.3M
10. No Good Deed- $2.5M/$50.1M

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Review: David Fincher's 'Gone Girl' starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike

It's easy to see why the world has fallen so in love with Gillian Flynn's best-selling novel, Gone Girl. Salacious and twisted, with clever jabs at our TMZ-fueled celebrity culture, it's also a pretty clever mystery full of dark corners in the human psyche ready to be explored. And if there's one director who explores those dark places better than any other it would be David Fincher, who takes Flynn's guilty pleasure of a novel and shapes it into an absorbing crime tale that works whether you know the twists or not.

It shouldn't be surprising that Fincher would take on a project like this, although some may wish he'd go back to heftier material. He's spent the last few years turning the printed works of others into movies that are uniquely his own. Nobody else could have done what he did with The Social Network, and his take on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo resembles the Swedish version in name only. Gone Girl is at its core a crime procedural, a genre that doesn't typically demand the visual flourish of a filmmaker like Fincher. The care and precision, the dark and foreboding undercurrents racing through every moment, are what Fincher brings that another director may have taken for granted.

Flynn penned the screenplay herself and, for better or worse, she keeps most of it intact. Ben Affleck, delivering the kind of cagey, mature performance we haven't seen from him since Hollywoodland, plays Nick Dunne, a bar owner stuck in a terrible marriage with Amy (Rosamund Pike). On their fifth wedding anniversary he's sitting at his bar having a drink and chatting with his sister Margo (Carrie Coon). Asked to think about the marriage's future, he returns home to discuss it only to find the door open, the living room a shambles, and Amy gone. The police are called and this is one case guaranteed to get a lot of attention. Amy is better known to the public as "Amazing Amy", the main character in a fictional book series loosely based on her childhood. Detective Rhonda Boney (Kim Dickens) is called in, the media descend on the small Missouri town, and it isn't long before Nick is suspect numero uno. He doesn't do much to help his situation, either.

And that's really all you should know going in because Gone Girl goes to some unexpected...heck, let's just call them bizarre....places. If you've read the book you will find the film is everything you wanted it to be. Otherwise this is a film you'll want to go in to knowing as little as possible, and prepare to hold on to the armrests for the wild turns it's going to take. A lot of this stuff is just straight up trashy and totally absurd, but once those moments come it's refreshing how deeply all involved are committed to it. It can only work if the mystery is worth us investing in, and Flynn does a masterful job peeling back the layers of these characters in a controlled manner. We're never fully aware of everything that's going on, what each character is really doing, or who we should be trusting.

Flynn has said her goal with Gone Girl was to explore the dynamics of a long-term marriage and the look she provides here is a cynical, acidic one. Marriage isn't so much about love as it is about power, and whoever holds it lords over the other, intentionally or unintentionally. Basically, men and women rarely present their true selves to the opposite sex, and marriage is basically two people struggling to maintain their facade. Over the course of years that will obviously become an impossibility, and at least in the case of Gone Girl it turns pretty ugly. There's a lot of meat there to be chewed on, and while Flynn doesn't really dig into it the way she could have it's an intriguing idea to consider after the credits roll. She also takes time to plant a foot in the butt of Nancy Grace and our media's love of turning tragedy into a cause celebre. But she also uses that to explore our country's rather pathetic abundance of celebrity lawyers who, in the wake of the O.J. Simpson trial, are famous for defending those the public has pre-judged to be guilty.

Visually this may be one of Fincher's most impressive efforts, adding texture to what could have looked like an episode of Law & Order. There's a shadowy pall hanging over every scene, even in some of the happier flashbacks, as if teasing the pain that is sure to come. In one beautifully haunting moment that is pure Fincher, Nick and Amy share a perfectly romantic kiss while a cloud of sugar drifts beautifully around them like snow in a light wind. Reteaming with Fincher on the score is Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor who largely stay out of the way this time. It's perfect, actually, for a film that demands its characters remain ambiguous. Overbearing musical cues would give away more than we need to know.

While some continue to pick apart Affleck as an actor he's only been doing the best work of his career over the last few years. In Gone Girl he's brilliant in the less flashy of the two main roles, called upon to keep his emotions close to the vest except in rare occasions. Nick is a jerk, but the kind used to getting his way because of his looks and charm. Affleck fielded his share of criticism early in his career for basically being a pretty face and having him in this role adds some resonance. It's Pike who has the greater challenge because her Amy seems to be in a constant state of emotional flux. There isn't much more you can say about her without giving too much away, but let's just say that Amy is the kind of woman every man is terrified of falling for, and Pike plays that kind of character wonderfully. While Carrie Coon, Kim Dickens, Patrick Fugit, and Neil Patrick Harris all stand out in their various supporting roles, it can be overlooked the contribution of Tyler Perry as Nick's publicity-seeking defense lawyer, Tanner Bolt. Perry may not have heardof David Fincher or Gone Girl before this, but he's pitch perfect here as a Johnny Cochran-type. Perhaps he should get away from the bad Madea flicks more often.

For Fincher, he takes a hold of our attentions right from the beginning and never lets go. It's to his credit to him as a visual guide through the story's lunacy that we never begin to question the craft behind it. Gone Girl is a wildly tilting roller coaster of surprises, and while it often threatens to go off the rails, Fincher's direction and the cleverness of Flynn's script keep us gripped in suspense.

 Rating: 3.5 out of 5

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