Movie Trailer - Inherent Vice

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, Benicio Del Toro
Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, Eric Roberts, Jena Malone
Release: January 9th, 2015

PTA is a directing genius.  Hard Eight, Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love, There Will Be Blood, The Master;  all amazing films that might not be for everyone but make no apologies.  And of course, Joaquin Phoenix is just as much an acting genius, so there is absolutely no way I will miss this movie.

Thought - Oscar Preview

Of course it's too early to make Oscar predictions; the nominees are months away from being announced.  Some of what may be the best films of the year haven't even come out yet.  But that doesn't mean we can't talk about it anyway and make guesses based on almost nothing.  At the very least, here is a list of movies that deserve a watch, as they might be in the Oscar conversation soon.

This is the Indiewire.com ranking of top possible Academy Award contenders:

1. Boyhood
2. Birdman
3. The Imitation Game
4. Gone Girl
5. Unbroken
6. Interstellar
7. American Sniper
8. Selma
9. The Theory of Everything
10. Foxcatcher
11. Mr. Turner
12. Whiplash
13. The Grand Budapest Hotel
14. Wild
15. A Most Violent Year
16. Into the Woods
17. Big Eyes
18. The Gambler
19. Fury
20. Inherent Vice
21. Still Alice
22. Top Five
23. Rosewater
24. Love is Strange
25. The Homesman

Left off the List: A Most Wanted Man, St. Vincent, Nightcrawler, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby, The Judge, Calvary, Kill the Messenger, The LEGO Movie, The Boxtrolls, Fury, Automata, White Bird in a Blizzard, '71, Pride, Rudderless, Map to the Stars, Camp X-Ray, My Old Lady, Tusk, Guardians of the Galaxy, Exodus, Wish I Was Here, Magic in the Moonlight, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Chef, Book of Life, Happy Christmas, Lost River, Lullaby, Fort Bliss, The Drop, Noah, Get on Up, The Monuments Men, The Rover.

Movie Trailer - Black Sea

Director: Kevin Macdonald
Starring: Jude Law, Scoot McNairy, Ben Mendelsohn
Release: January 23rd, 2015

Boom, there's the Jude Law reappearance I've been waiting for.  It's not like he's been off the rails, he's had roles; The Grand Budapest Hotel, Dom Hemingway, Side Effects, Anna Karenina, 360, Contagion, Sherlock Holmes.  But nothing that's screamed Jude Law, like back in the early 2000s Jude Law; Closer, Alfie, I Heart Huckabees, Cold Mountain, Road to Perdition, A.I., Enemy at the Gates.  That's the guy I want and I think he's back.