Feature | Lights, Camera, Action! – Movies to Watch in Early 2015

Movies to Watch in Early 2015

The movie year usually swings from feast to famine, although the first three months always fall into the first category - and that means both quality and quantity, to the extent that it can be difficult to fit in everything. Too much of a good thing? Lights, Camera, Action!'s Freda Cooper takes a look…

The following week, 9th January, sees another brace of award contenders come in to land. First, there's Bennett Miller's Foxcatcher, which won him Best Director at Cannes. Held back for its release by twelve months because of the strength of last year's competition, most of the fuss about this one has surrounded an almost-unrecognisable Steve Carell, with a huge prosthetic nose and unpleasant teeth in the role of multi-millionaire John DuPont, who sponsored the American wrestling team in the 1980s. Once again, Miller has gone for a true story and a one-word title (Capote, Moneyball). The omens are good.

On 16th January, Clint Eastwood's American Sniper puts in an appearance. His most recent pieces of direction, including Jersey Boys and J. Edgar, indicated that his glory days might be over but, by all accounts, this is a return to form. Bradley Cooper stars as a relentlessly successful Navy SEAL sniper who finds it hard to leave war behind him when he returns home.

Out on the same day is one of the must-see films of the year, Damien Chazelle's jaw-dropping debut, Whiplash, which was screened at the London Film Festival. Check out the Lights, Camera, Action! review for a reminder of what makes it so different - and so great!

That's just January, folks! Things calm down in February, but there are still some goodies to come. Civil rights drama Selma is released on 6th February and has been quietly amassing awards nominations, with both Independent Spirit and Golden Globe nods. First time feature director Ava DuVernay has made a clear-eyed, authentic depiction of the events in Alabama in the '60s that dismantled the barriers preventing African Americans from exercising their right to vote. Most of the attention has been headed in the direction of British actor, David Oyelowo, who plays the legendary Martin Luther King, and that attention is well deserved.

On a smaller scale, and released on 13th February, is Love is Strange, the story of a gay couple who have lived together for 39 years. A change in the law makes them decide to get married, but that's not the only thing that changes the relationship. Alfred Molina and John Lithgow both give beautifully sensitive performances as the couple.