2015 Recap – Best of the Rest

by Sara Michelle Fetters - January 1st, 2016 - Features

Tangerine – “Baker’s film is so confident, so honest, so gosh darn friendly, of all things, that the tatty seediness of the underlying facets of the subject matter are never as off-putting or as uncomfortable as they potentially could have been. He never belittles his two heroines, never pokes fun at their respective situations. Instead, he celebrates their fearlessness while recognizing with gut-wrenching honesty the lengths they feel as if they must go to in order to be true to themselves and what it is they want out of life.”

Tangerine – “Baker’s film is so confident, so honest, so gosh darn friendly, of all things, that the tatty seediness of the underlying facets of the subject matter are never as off-putting or as uncomfortable as they potentially could have been. He never belittles his two heroines, never pokes fun at their respective situations. Instead, he celebrates their fearlessness while recognizing with gut-wrenching honesty the lengths they feel as if they must go to in order to be true to themselves and what it is they want out of life.”

2015 Recap – Worst of the Year

by Sara Michelle Fetters - January 1st, 2016 - Features

Not every movie is Mad Max: Fury Road or Carol. Heck, they’re not even The Water Diviner, The Duff or even No Escape, perfectly acceptable genre fair that even with a misstep here or there proves to be hugely enjoyable in and of itself all the same. No, some movies are nothing but lost causes only worth sending to the dung heap, while others should be buried deep, deep within it never to be heard from again. The following ten titles are sadly some of those.

Not every movie is Mad Max: Fury Road or Carol. Heck, they’re not even The Water Diviner, The Duff or even No Escape, perfectly acceptable genre fair that even with a misstep here or there proves to be hugely enjoyable in and of itself all the same. No, some movies are nothing but lost causes only worth sending to the dung heap, while others should be buried deep, deep within it never to be heard from again. The following ten titles are sadly some of those.

2015 Recap – The Top 100 Movies of the Year

by Sara Michelle Fetters - January 1st, 2016 - Features

For the past couple of years I’ve been tracking everything I watch for the first time. This year that number came to 410 films that I’d never seen before, and of that number 241 were features that were released to domestic theatres at some point during 2015. Here to my mind are the top 100 of them, ranked in as close to semblance of order as I feel comfortable assembling them into.

For the past couple of years I’ve been tracking everything I watch for the first time. This year that number came to 410 films that I’d never seen before, and of that number 241 were features that were released to domestic theatres at some point during 2015. Here to my mind are the top 100 of them, ranked in as close to semblance of order as I feel comfortable assembling them into.

2015 Recap – The Moviefreak “Sara Awards”

by Sara Michelle Fetters - January 1st, 2016 - Features

As we’re now well into Oscar season, the following are my picks for the absolute pest performances, screenplays and what-not for 2015. Many of these individuals and films will certainly get singled out for Academy Award consideration; quite a few of them sadly will not. To my mind, however, all are worthy of recognition, and push come to shove were arguably my favorites in their individual categories.

As we’re now well into Oscar season, the following are my picks for the absolute pest performances, screenplays and what-not for 2015. Many of these individuals and films will certainly get singled out for Academy Award consideration; quite a few of them sadly will not. To my mind, however, all are worthy of recognition, and push come to shove were arguably my favorites in their individual categories.

Criterion Blogathon – The Black Stallion (1979)

by Sara Michelle Fetters - November 18th, 2015 - Features

Maybe it was because I’d been read the book as a kindergartner by my mother. Maybe it was because it was one of the first pieces of literature I set out to read on my own. Whatever the reason, Ballard’s visually sumptuous take spun me round in such deliriously entranced circles I almost didn’t know how to react, [The Black Stallion] a poetic realization of everything I myself had imagined yet also at the same time so much more.

Maybe it was because I’d been read the book as a kindergartner by my mother. Maybe it was because it was one of the first pieces of literature I set out to read on my own. Whatever the reason, Ballard’s visually sumptuous take spun me round in such deliriously entranced circles I almost didn’t know how to react, [The Black Stallion] a poetic realization of everything I myself had imagined yet also at the same time so much more.

2014 Recap

by Sara Michelle Fetters - December 31st, 2014 - Features

There will be those that who try to convince people 2014 was a weak year for film. They would be wrong.

There will be those that who try to convince people 2014 was a weak year for film. They would be wrong.

2014 Recap – Top Ten Films of the Year

by Sara Michelle Fetters - December 31st, 2014 - Features

Richard Linklater’s 12-years-in-the-making coming of age drama Boyhood following a young boy from 6 to 18 was a revelation for a number of reasons, not the least of which is its breathtaking, magnificently simplistic authenticity.

Richard Linklater’s 12-years-in-the-making coming of age drama Boyhood following a young boy from 6 to 18 was a revelation for a number of reasons, not the least of which is its breathtaking, magnificently simplistic authenticity.

2014 Recap – Best of the Rest

by Sara Michelle Fetters - December 31st, 2014 - Features

Force Majeure – An avalanche might have got them talking, but the troubles afflicting Tomas and Ebba’s marriage had been simmering underneath the snowy emotional perimeters of their hearts long before the rumbling and tumbling became all-too literal. A masterpiece of introspective eloquence.

Force Majeure – An avalanche might have got them talking, but the troubles afflicting Tomas and Ebba’s marriage had been simmering underneath the snowy emotional perimeters of their hearts long before the rumbling and tumbling became all-too literal. A masterpiece of introspective eloquence.

2014 Recap – The Worst of the Year

by Sara Michelle Fetters - December 31st, 2014 - Features

Winter’s Tale – Colin Farrell attempts to save the love of his life with the help of a flying horse while demon Russell Crowe engages in heart-to-heart conversations with Will Smith’s Satan and, no, I didn’t make a single part of that description up. A disaster.

Winter’s Tale – Colin Farrell attempts to save the love of his life with the help of a flying horse while demon Russell Crowe engages in heart-to-heart conversations with Will Smith’s Satan and, no, I didn’t make a single part of that description up. A disaster.

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