CAST
WILL FERRELL, CHRISTINA APPLEGATE, STEVE CARELL, DAVID KOECHNER, JAMES MARSDEN, PAUL RUDD

DIRECTED BY
ADAM McKAY

Time has shown that the first Anchorman movie was a product of timing, with a talented troop of comedic actors (Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd, Steve Carell) all hitting their prime, while delivering infectiously silly material that a generation of movie fans lapped up with repeated watches on DVD.

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues proved that lightning does not strike twice, even if many are deluded enough to think that it had, with the giddy sight of watching moustached news man Ron Burgandy and his news team in a new adventure, overriding the fact that this sequel was all hype and one over saturated gag after another.

CAST
BRIT MARLING, PATRICIA CLARKSON, SHILOH FERNANDEZ, TONY KEBBELL, ELLEN PAGE, ALEXANDER SKARSGARD

DIRECTED BY
ZAL BAJMANGLIJ

Sundance darling Britt Marling continues to keep us in suspense for whatever cinematic game changer many swear she’s due to deliver. It’s definitely not The East, Marling’s latest collaboration with writer/director Zal Batmanglij (the pair also worked on the equally overrated The Sound of My Voice) that despite its interesting premise and talented cast, is a boring take on the “undercover agent falls for criminal” story.

Exactly how critics found this plodding thriller to be “tense and thoughtful” is itself a mystery, as is how anyone could sympathise with a group of eco-terrorists who poison people because they’re “part of the system”. Then again The East is heavily influenced by the “Occupy” era, proving that bad judgement in politics just might also affect judgement in movies.

CAST
ROBERT DOWNEY JR., DON CHEADLE, REBECCA HALL, BEN KINGSLEY, GWENYTH PALTROW, GUY PEARCE

DIRECTED BY
SHANE BLACK

With its Phase: Two set of movies (thus far) it’s clear Marvel Studios thought that tinkering with their winning formula (which brought critical acclaim and high box office) was a good idea. It took Iron Man 3 to prove otherwise.

Granted it made a tonne of the box-office (no doubt a by-product of the monster that was The Avengers), but exactly how Iron Man 3 received the good reviews that it did is a mystery. Too long, too campy and way too much Robert Downey Jr. at his most annoying, Iron Man 3 felt the brunt of replacing regular series director Jon Favreau with Shane Black, who seemingly forgot he was directing a super-hero movie and not one of his patented buddy cop comedies.

Worst yet was Black’s mishandling of The Mandarin, one of Marvel Comics great villains that – as portrayed by Ben Kingsley – is reduced to a cog in a ridiculous plot twist. Yet considering Iron Man 3 is ridiculous on so many levels, perhaps it suits.

CAST
EMMA THOMPSON, COLIN FARRELL, PAUL GIAMATTI, TOM HANKS, JASON SCHWARTZMEN, BRADLEY WHITFORD, RUTH WILSON

DIRECTED BY
JOHN LEE HANCOCK

Saving Mr. Banks is as schizophrenic a film as you can get.

Where one half of the movie featured two great actors (Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson) on top of their game in the story of one bitchy novelists stubborn refusal to hand her work to the giant known as Disney, the second was an overblown, awkwardly presented coming of age story that featured Colin Farrell at his fidgety worse.

That Saving Mr. Banks managed to get so much positive buzz during awards season just might be proof positive that director John Lee Hancock made some kind of pact with the Devil. How else to explain why Saving Mr. Banks and his previous movie The Blind Side (one of the worst Oscar nominated movies of all time) managed to dupe audiences and critics alike?

As tonally jarring and poorly structured a film as one can get, if it weren’t for the fine performances from Thompson and Hanks, nothing could have saved Saving Mr. Banks.

CAST
STEVE COOGAN, JUDI DENCH, SOPHIE KENNEDY CLARK, MICHELLE FAIRLEY, PETER HERMANN, BARBARA JEFFORD

DIRECTED BY
STEPHEN FREARS

Bashing the Catholic Church is all the rage, and sometimes deservedly so. Philomena get its kicks in, with its story of Philomena Lee (Judi Dench) and her search for the son taken away by scheming nuns.

Philomena is not an ant-Catholic movie (although NY Post critic Kyle Smith did make a good point in the exposing executive producers the Weinstein’s record with anti-Catholic movies), but it is certainly an over-hyped and over-praised one, underserving of its Best Picture Oscar nomination especially during a packed year filled with more deserving movies.

While its true life story of injustice does provide plenty of dramatic juice, it is the curiously applauded road trip scenarios shared between Dench as sweet, forgiving Philomena and Steve Coogan as cranky, atheist journalist Steve Sixsmith that aggravates, with director Stephen Frears trying to wring out laughs from an Odd Couple situation, yet only succeeding in softening the impact of otherwise shocking revelations.

A documentary on the case of Philomena and the injustice wrought upon he would have been much better.

CAST
SARAH POLLEY, SUSY BUCHAN, JOHN BUCHAN, HARRY GULKIN, MARK POLLEY, MICHAEL POLLEY

DIRECTED BY
SARAH POLLEY

It is clear what Sarah Polley’s intent is with her immensely personal documentary Stories We Tell, in which her own family, identity and the memories about them are revealed for all to see. But what’s missing is a true sense of emotion throughout this carefully constructed manipulation, centred on the multiple adulteries of Polley’s mother that had strong ramifications for all involved, most of all on Sarah Polley herself whose existence is the result of her mother sleeping with another man.

Especially hard to swallow is the treatment given to Polley’s non-biological father, as he narrates a story whose centre piece is his wife shagging another man. Exactly how anyone can applaud such cold-fish storytelling and not question the morally troublesome scenarios it presents is beyond disappointing.

Worse is how Polley can expose so much without feeling conflicted about the whole scenario. Then again, given that her mother’s constant betrayals are greeted with a shrug of the shoulders and presented in an almost saintly fashion, perhaps it is too much to ask for some morality to be injected in this docu-fantasy.

CAST
MERRY CLAYTON, LISA FISCHER, JUDITH HILL, GLORIA JONES, DARLENE LOVE, TAT VEGA

DIRECTED BY
MORGAN NEVILLE

What is it with the Academy’s obsession with music related documentaries? 20 Feet from Stardom marks the second straight time a music subject film won the best documentary Oscar, yet while it is an interesting look at the voices behind those great rock/pop singers, 20 Feet from Stardom is in no way better than The Act of Killing or Blackfish.

Granted we are talking about different types of documentaries, but outside of the celebrity interviews (Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen, Sting) and cool tunes, 20 Feet from Stardom is no more illuminating than a VH1 music special on the subject.

Perhaps the music and its subjects pulled at the heartstrings of those baby-boomers that make up a majority of the Academy (and those among critics). Regardless, 20 Feet from Stardom winning on Oscar will have many shaking their heads in the not too distant future.

CAST
MATTHEW McCONAUGHEY, JENNIFER GARNER, JARED LETO, DENIS O’HARE, MICHAEL O’NEILL, STEVE ZAHN

DIRECTED BY
JEAN MARC-VALLE

Dallas Buyers Club is a film that relies solely on the strength of its performances, especially from Matthew McConaughey whose well charted “McConaissance” lead him to Oscar gold.

But what to say when said performances are themselves overrated, with a heavy reliance on shock ‘n’ awe body transformations that saw the “world’s sexiest man” McConaughey and too hot to trot rock star Jared Leto appear on screen as skeletal versions of themselves?

Movie history is filled with actors going that extra mile in extreme bouts of method acting, but that doesn’t mean the films they stare in are worthy of near universal praise of awards love. Dallas Buyers Club is a good film. Rather damn good, in fact. But not as good – or as important – as many claim it to be.

CAST
JOAQUIN PHOENIX, AMY ADAMS, SCARLETT JOHANSSON (VOICE OF), MATT LETSCHER, ROONEY MARA, CHRIS PRATT

DIRECTED BY
SPIKE JONZE

Have we become such a tech obsessed society, that the one film which does an (admittedly) good job at delving into the intimate relationship between man and machine causes such a knee jerk reaction? For Her, that answer is “yes”.

It’s odd, though, that this one Spike Jonze film that is loved most above all his works is in in fact his least good work.

Perhaps it’s all just a matter of timing, with Her released during a time when mechanised gizmos of all shapes and sizes practically a new appendage. It kind of also makes sense that Jonze won an Oscar, considering he’s been rapping at that door for a while.

Yet time reveals hard truths, and in the case for Her it’s that quality does not match they hype.

CAST
SANDRA BULLOCK, GEORGE CLOONEY

DIRECTED BY
ALFONSO CUARON

“Gobsmacked” is the word to describe the opening scenes of Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity. “Overrated” is another word to describe the very same film when those end credits fade to black.

Surely we have learned by now that no matter how great the visual effects, much more is needed to make a sci-fi movie like Gravity to work.

Repetition isn’t one of those things, yet Gravity is a film that seems to be stuck in a time warp, as stranded astronaut Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) tries to survive one obstacle after another…and another…and another.. . Everything and anything that can go wrong does, to the point of throw your arms in the air frustration.

Needed was an actor capable at elevating above the films ho-hum script and its never ending cycle of near escapes, and to also portray the physical, mental and spiritual journey which the central character in Gravity undertakes. Sandra Bullock was not that actor. Granted she tried her best, yet the limitations of Bullock’s talents proved costly.

While director Alfonso Cuaron’s visual majesty is a game changer, his storytelling is two steps behind. Gravity suffers as a result, as did and will many potential viewers who bought the hype.