There’s always a level of filtration, or Hollywoodization, that happens in reality-based films. There’s no getting around it, really. It’s storytelling, and the truth can always be embellished and beautified, or uglied and undermined, depending on the writer/director’s whims. True Story is indeed a true story, but it isn’t the stranger-than-fiction elements of the narrative that detract from how good the film could have been. Instead what distracts from an essentially intriguing cat-and-mouse tale is the poor casting and obviously narcissistic angle the film is presented from. An ironic criticism, I know, in that a film based on a memoir (Michael Finkel’s True Story: Murder, Memoir, Mea Culpa) would seem the most forgiven for a certain level of narcissism. But director Rupert Goold (known for his theatrical direction and making his film directorial debut) can’t seem to detach from Finkel’s egocentric intentions.

The true story of True Story lies in the tale of Michael Finkel (Jonah Hill), a high-rising and adventurous journalist with The New York Times Magazine, or at least up until 2001 when it came to light that Mike had fabricated the bulk of a cover article he wrote for the magazine, leading to his dismissal and being blacklisted in his industry. He’s deep in the throes of depression from this momentous career failure, retreating to his home in Montana with his girlfriend Jill (Felicity Jones), when he receives a call from a small-time reporter in rural Oregon. A man, Christian Longo (James Franco), has been taken in and accused of murdering his wife and three children. He had been traveling under the name Michael Finkel, claiming to be the journalist. Intrigued by anyone who would want to take on his identity, especially at a time when his name feels so entirely sullied, Mike reaches out to Longo. The two begin to meet and a friendship of sorts ignites.

Finkel is drawn to Longo’s resistance to be forthright with the truth, seeing him as a journalistic challenge. Longo finds Finkel to be inspiring and draws on his writing skills and insights as he navigates his path toward trial. Perhaps the two seek affirmation and possible redemption in one another? Finkel starts work on a book about Longo and their relationship, thinking that if he truly devotes himself to the pursuit of truth he can somehow find his way back to credibility. Longo continues to string Finkel on, eventually getting to trial where his side of the story finally comes out and inevitabilities are revealed.

Hill tries to imbue Finkel with a certain amount of innocence, which feels disingenuous based on the existence of Finkel’s memoir and this film. A competitive journalist doesn’t seem very likely to have been so taken in by a small-town sociopath, thus the performance just doesn’t quite add up. His ego may have blinded him in real life, but Hill’s portrayal implies it as more related to Finkel’s personal road to atonement.

Franco, who I’d normally call chameleonic with his ability to meld into most genres, is actually more unbelievable in this role than Hill is for the opposite reason. Whereas Hill puts too much innocence into Finkel, Franco could use a heavy dose of it for Longo, who he never plays as remotely virtuous—even falsely so—in a way that might garner the trust of the audience. This just makes us question further the believability of Mike holding any hope in the truth of what Longo tells him. It makes it hard not to expect Hill and Franco to jump into their usual on-screen fare and crack a few jokes just to see them do something together that makes more sense.

Felicity Jones makes up 75 percent of the reason to see the film. Her role is minimal but adds the only real hint of true emotion and genuine reaction in the film. She gets one scene face-to-face with Franco and somehow manages to steal the entire show with it. She’s an absolute wonder.

Goold seems to have fallen prey to the charms of Mr. Finkel, falling for the story rather than the facts. The story of a journalist uncovering the layers of an accused murderer while finding his own way back to what truth really is would be interesting. But that’s not what True Story is. It’s one man’s continued search for affirmation and attention, a man who ultimately meets someone just like himself who plays the same game, only against him. So he writes a book and gets the final word. It’s na-na-nah-boo-boo with adults. You can almost see Finkel put his thumbs in his ears, wave his fingers around and stick out his tongue mischievously.

So, what ultimately makes True Story an interesting watch is the viewer being allowed to pass detached judgement, not just on a murderer, but on a man egotistical enough to think that being taken advantage of makes him unique or entitles him to anything. A man entirely blind to his own hubris. There’s a certain satisfaction in passing judgement on someone who claims that “truth is always important,” when what he obviously means is “the story is always important.”

The film’s ending would suggest Finkel wasn’t altogether pleased with the way things played out—no one wants to be taken for a shmuck—but neither do audiences, and it’s not clear if Mr. Finkel understands that satisfaction from his memoir stems from seeing both he and Longo get the justice coming to them. And that’s why the movie isn’t a failure, and is even (maybe inadvertently) appealing. If Goold had thought to approach the self-serving subject matter with more awareness, the added layer may have made it so the film was in on the joke instead of being the punchline, but that’s the unpredictability of a true story, is it not?

The Hangover director Todd Phillips has been developing Arms And The Dudes, based on The Rolling Stone article “The Stoner Arms Dealers: How Two American Kids Became Big-Time Weapons Traders,” with Jonah Hill attached to the lead. It appears that Phillips has now found his other dude. Whiplash star Miles Teller has joined the upcoming Warner Brothers film. Teller will play licensed massage therapist David Packouz, who becomes an international arms dealer with Efraim Diveroli (Hill).

The 2011 Rolling Stone article detailed the “Stoner Arms Dealers” awarded a $300 million contract to supply weapons to U.S. Allies in Afghanistan. Prior to Hill & Teller signing on for the lead roles, Jesse Eisenberg and Shia LaBeouf were rumored for the project.

There’s no specific release date as of yet, although a 2016 release date is expected.

Universal Studios announced that the next Coen Brothers project, Hail, Caesar! has been slotted for February 5, 2016, according the EW.

The film looks to be a return to pure comedy for the Coens, their first since 2009’s A Serious Man, and stars George Clooney as a Hollywood fixer in the 1950s. The overall cast is very strong, including Scarlett Johansson, Ralph Fiennes, Tilda Swinton, Josh Brolin, Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill.

On first thought, the February date is a bit surprising and disappointing, considering the month is typically reserved for films that studios decide to dump while people are still focused on the upcoming Oscars. Also considering the film was initially thought to be released in 2015, this may be a bit of a bad sign. However, since the Coen Brothers are behind the project I wouldn’t be too concerned yet.

Martin Scorsese went cold after surprising everybody with his 2006 Best Picture winning The Departed. Years of toiling for Oscar with big-scale period epics like Gangs of New York and The Aviator reaped little reward. Instead, it was a violent, rapidly-paced gangster picture with its loose roaming camera that finally gave a great director his due. In the seven years since, he’s made a slick thriller from a popcorn crime page-turner (Shutter Island), a couple of music documentaries (Shine a Light and George Harrison: Living in the Material World), a love-letter to his art disguised as a family movie (Hugo), but nothing to match the equal parts existential tragedy and offhanded comedy of the aforementioned Oscar champ; his best film since setting the mold with Goodfellas. Cue The Wolf of Wall Street, the 5-times nominated gonzo Jordan Belfort biopic that, while hardly ‘indie,’ is more against-grain than you’d think.

Working from a script by his Boardwalk Empire collaborator and show runner Terrence Winter, with The Wolf of Wall Street  Scorsese sets a feverish pace and never lets up, as if defying anyone to get bored across its epic, 180-minute runtime. A quick scene-setting with a wide-eyed graduate Belfort and his mentor, Mark Hanna (Matthew McConaughey, who can currently do no wrong) thrusts us right into the mindset of the wolfish stockbrokers that guide the audience through this twisted version of that elusive dream: pump some people up, screw some people over, then subject mind and body to enough excess to forget the amorality of it all. The film doesn’t waste it’s time getting into the specifics of the acts of swindling executed by Belfort and his merry pack of deranged bandits. Scorsese is more focused on the life they lived as a result of it: the seductive extravagance of it, the excitable glee we feel toward it as we live vicariously through the actions unfolding. It’s a hardline stance against giving the film a moral compass to relate to (and Academy members love their moral compasses) that has equally found detractors decrying Scorsese’s glorification of the depravity, and champions praising the artistic verve in his aligning the camera with the repugnant pricks, so that we experience the same empty, uncaring attitude they hold for their victims; the same selfishly indulgent attention for only their possessions, their own highs, their own comedowns and sexual coups.

It’s brash, bold filmmaking, but those qualities are worn like a face tattoo: overtly apparent and even attention-seeking, as if Scorsese wanted to subtly remind us he made Goodfellas by taking a megaphone into an echo chamber and blaring “Remember when I made Goodfellas?!?” Leonardo DiCaprio gives a brilliantly committed performance as a classically deluded Scorsesian protagonist, blind to his steadily advancing comeuppance because his brain renders ideas quicker than his rearview can reveal the speed bumps. But when he breaks the fourth wall to remind us we don’t really care about the technicalities of what he did, it’s his best Henry Hill conceding to the artifice of the work of art. And when he’s doing his best His Left Foot, in a magnificent expired quaaludes sequence that’s both a peak and nadir in Belfort’s story, it’s with the kind of satisfying, outwardly showy performing that makes you miss the frustrated, inwardly-focused anguish that so marked his unawarded career-best work in The Departed.

Still, add in the comic chops of Jonah Hill, as deranged caporegime Donnie, and a relatively unknown Margot Robbie (as Belfort’s second wife, Naomi) — who, for better or worse, has nailed the sort of role that will make her a lot better known — as well as bit parts from Hollywood’s finest just-shy-of-A-Listers (McConaughey, Kyle Chandler, Jean Dujardin, to name a few), and The Wolf of Wall Street offers more than enough to satisfy at the cineplex. It’s an explicitly funny, absolutely entertaining three hours that nonetheless leaves us with a distinctive sense of emptiness, despite the fullness of aesthetic experience to which we’ve just been subject. Scorsese means precisely to close the film with his camera turned back to the audience, with a moment that — in perhaps another nod to The Departed — is almost cheekily literal. In spite of its length, it’s been said that The Wolf of Wall Street barely scratches the surface, hardly covering half of the story contained in the book. It may have just been a running time thing. Maybe I look too hard for poetics. But I like the idea that Scorsese wanted his audience to close the loop by design.

The Wolf of Wall Street trailer:

Well we can thank the Best Supporting Actress category for giving us some sense of competition. Best Supporting Actor is one of the few categories in this race that’s set in stone. Jared Leto, who plays an AIDS-infected transgender woman in Dallas Buyers Club, goes through a physical transformation that’s just as dramatic as Matthew McConaughey’s in the film. Leto is excellent in Dallas Buyers Club, and by now the Oscar is his to lose.

Personally speaking, out of the five performances it was Jonah Hill’s in Wolf of Wall Street that surprised me the most. For a 3 hour film about pure excess, and the most over the top performance in Leonardo DiCaprio’s career, it was Hill who turned out to be the glue that held the film together. He repeatedly stole scenes from DiCaprio and plenty of other great actors, and provided the film’s biggest laughs throughout. It’s the kind of role that will establish Hill as a true talent, and help him step out of the shadow of his more famous friends in the Apatow clan.

As for the others…Michael Fassbender is great at playing the horrendously evil Epps in 12 Years A Slave, but it’s too one-note when he’s in a field of more multifaceted performances. Barkhad Abdi gets the “happy to be here” nomination slot for his debut role in Captain Phillips. Abdi’s rise from limo driver to Oscar nominated actor makes for a great story, but he doesn’t have a chance at getting near the stage on Oscar night. And in all honesty, I completely forgot about Bradley Cooper getting nominated for American Hustle. He’s not bad (I think he did a much better job in The Place Beyond The Pines, but that’s just me), it’s just a slight performance in a slight film.

It’s tough to pick one actor who should have been nominated. I think it was a great year for comedic performances, with James Franco in Spring Breakers and The Rock in Pain & Gain being highlights (also severely under-appreciated: Danny McBride in This is the End). Ultimately, I decided to go with Keith Stanfield in Short Term 12, who felt like a real discovery this year. His arc as troubled teen Marcus is the best thing about the film, and he brings such a quiet intensity to the role that a separate film could have easily been dedicated to his character.

Category Predictions

Best Supporting Actor Nominees

Barkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips (review)

Bradley Cooper – American Hustle (review)

Michael Fassbender – 12 Years a Slave (review)

Jonah Hill – The Wolf of Wall Street

Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club (review)

Previous Category Analysis

Best Shorts
Best Supporting Actress

Spike Jonzes’s film Her is without a doubt incredibly endearing, thought-provoking, and technologically probable as a socially awkward man (Joaquin Phoenix) in the not so distant future falls in love with his advanced Operating System (voiced by Scarlett Johannson). Though admittedly, the premise sets itself up for people to easily make fun of it. After all, Her is about developing a relationship with a computer. There has already been several spoofs about the film, but we bring you two of the best ones that we have seen so far.

Scarlett Johansson gets replaced by Philip Seymour Hoffman

Jonah Hill plays Joaquin Phoenix and falls for himself, a skit from Saturday Night Live

Why on earth would this post-modern feminist put a crass, self-referential, bro-mantic apocalypse film in her top 5 of the year (thus far)? Because Seth Rogen and super side-kick Evan Goldberg (Superbad, Pineapple Express), hit it on the head with this film. Everything’s been done before. Stoner comedy. Check. Apocalyptic bromance. Check. Crazy amounts of cameos. Check. A healthy dose of celebrity voyeurism? Wait a second boys, I think you may be on to something.

From scene one in this film as Seth Rogen waits at the airport for his buddy from Canada, Jay Baruchel, to arrive for a visit, it’s apparent Seth is, well, real-life Seth. “Give us your trademark Seth Rogen laugh” an asshole with a camera at the airport chides. And he does, establishing that yep, he can turn it on and turn it up, and you’re going to eat it up. Seth takes Jay home and its established Jay isn’t a big fan of LA and it’s pompous Hollywood types. So the two stay home for gaming and smoking, until Seth throws out that maybe they pop over to James Franco‘s housewarming party. Jay is hesitant, they aren’t his crowd, and they represent Seth’s new Hollywood life.

They go anyway. Cameo after cameo of young Hollywood comedic actors pop up. Hello, Craig Robinson. Hello, Jonah Hill. Hello, Micheal Cera (busily casting off any semblance of George Michael Bluth by baring his ass while receiving “favors” from another party guest and blowing coke into peoples faces; not unlike a few of his other films coming out this year, ahem, Crystal Fairy and Magic Magic). Hello, Mindy Kaling. Hello, Aziz Ansari. Hello, Rihanna? Ok, who invited her?

Yes, it’s exaggerated, but it all just feels somewhat likely. For all we know these actors have weekly ragers at Franco’s house. Eventually Jay feels a bit stifled by Seth’s new group, and the two walk to the store for munchies. Queue the apocalypse, or as Jay will later devise, the Rapture, complete with blue light sucking the enlightened into heaven. Jay and Seth make it back to Franco’s house in time for most of the party to die via sinkhole in James’s front yard (or Cera by even more hilarious means) and Jay, Seth, James, Craig, and Jonah manage to survive and horde themselves into Franco’s house, immediately fortifying it with duck tape and barring the doors with Franco’s eclectic art collection as protection. Danny McBride shows up shortly thereafter, an oblivious and unwelcome member of the group.

The film is endlessly hilarious and it seems to manage this with the perfect amount of self-awareness. The actors trash talk each other in their tell-all room camera and we think, yeah, I bet Danny McBride is a pain in the ass. And when they sit around the dinner table describing just how difficult it is to be an actor because sometimes you have to pretend it’s hot, when it’s really freezing cold, it’s funny because as comedic actors (ironically, all who are now taking on much more serious roles, Jonah Hill is Oscar-nominated for Pete’s sake) we’d possibly expect them to be so shallow. One of the more hilarious bits is when Emma Watson shows up and the guys sabotage her stay by being overly sensitive to her role as a woman. In fact the lack of sexist jokes is worth noting.

In This is the End, during which I literally slapped my thigh and gasped for air at numerous times, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg have created a film that maintains a steady comedic ride that never lets up. A feat I’d consider much more difficult than tugging at my heartstrings. As each of these actors recognizes they weren’t “good” enough to make it up to heaven and attempts to make up for that, we wonder in earnest about their fate. If living in sin is as funny as they make it out to be, could being good people possibly be as hilarious? It could. It can. It is.

Moneyball is a film based on the book of the same name that was directed by Bennett Miller about a small market baseball team that found an innovative way of evaluating players. Co-written by the talented Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network), the film is a true story about how Billy Beane used unconventional thinking to focus on buying wins instead players.

Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) was a whole package as a baseball player. He could hit, field, throw and run; a rare package to find. The New York Mets gave him an offer right out of high school. Billy already had a full ride to Stanford but a tough decision that the Beane Family would have to make is go to college or go to the pros.

There are some players that just do not pan out in baseball. They have the ability on paper but for one reason or another just do not perform in the major league. Billy Beane was one of those players. After 6 years he comes to grips that he is not a baseball player but he would like to stay in baseball as a scout. He eventually became the General Manger for the Oakland Athletics.

Set in the 2002, the team with the lowest budget aims to get back to the postseason again but will have to do so without 3 major players. They lost first baseman Jason Giambi, outfielder Johnny Damon and closer Jason Isringhausen to teams that could offer a higher salary. “There are rich teams and there are poor teams. Then there is 50 feet of crap. And then there is us, says Billy.” Their budget limitations make it an unfair game but it is his problem to fix. Billy realizes that they need to think differently with their existing recruitment process.

On a trip to the Cleveland Indians management office, Billy is talking to their GM about possible trade acquisitions. As they throw some possible trade ideas around he notices a man in the corner who whispers advice into the ears of the other guys in the room. The negotiations are going nowhere but the man in the corner intrigues him.

After the failed negotiation meeting is over Billy walks right out of the office to the desk of the man in the corner to find out more about him. His name is Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), a shy young player analyst who has never had a job in baseball before this. Not only that, but this is his first job in any profession. This baffles Billy but he is more concerned on what exactly he told the guy in the meeting.

The two step out of the building to talk more privately about what Peter Brand is all about. Peter explains that baseball teams are misjudging their players and more importantly mismanage their teams. He explains that instead thinking in terms of buying players they should think in terms of buying wins.

Soon after the two first met, Billy hires Peter to his team as the assistant GM. Peter uses Bill James’s formulas to come up with the true values in each player. He believes that there are 25 undervalued players out there that the team can buy on the cheap. Billy refers to their new strategy as counting cards at the blackjack table, trying to beat the odds. He calls this new strategy Moneyball.

The team’s scouts were very skeptical about this new strategy. They believe that there is more to baseball than just numbers and stats, it is about people and chemistry. There are fundamental elements where stats do not apply. Billy knows that the only way he can prove that the system works is by winning games.

The team starts the season off cold (losing 14 of the last 17 games). The seriousness of their poor record is starting to be brought to Billy’s attention. Even by his daughter. She asks him if he will be losing his job. He tells her not to worry about the fact his team is in last place and the things on the internet about him potentially losing his job. He tells her not to worry for her comfort but you can tell he is worried. Still, deep down he believes in his strategy.

The film portrays the hero to be Billy Beane but when you really think about it, it was only his acceptance of Peter Brand’s (in real life his name was Paul DePodesta) strategy and philosophy really changed the game. Every decision that he makes is because Peter said to do it. At least that is what I got out of the film, though props to Billy for looking for progressive ways to win and giving Peter a chance.

It is a movie about sports but it is not a sports movie. In fact, you do not even need to be a baseball fan to enjoy Moneyball, but it does not hurt either. The point of the film is not about an underdog sports team winning games but rather the way they went against the traditional way of evaluating players.

Brad Pitt does a fine job playing Billy Beane but I think the top performance goes to Jonah Hill. He played the number-crunching nerdy Yale graduate wonderfully. Philip Seymour Hoffman comes in with the small role of the team manager named Art Howe but takes a backseat to the main roles of Pitt and Hill.

Moneyball is an entertaining and soulful crowd pleaser with great acting and terrific writing. The only thing preventing this home-run film from being a grand-slam is the lack of risk taking. In the film’s defense, it is hard to take too many risks when it is based on true life events because staying true to the story is best. I do not know much about Billy Beane but perhaps they could have developed more from his ex-wife, the high billed Robin Wright, who only is seen in one scene. Still, you will likely not walk out of this film disappointed.

Cyrus is not quite the comedy the trailers have you believe it is. This indie film is much more than your typical John C. Reilly and Jonah Hill slapstick you are accustom to seeing in Judd Apatow films, it adds a touch of dark creepiness. Written and directed by upcoming indie superstar duo Mark and Jay Duplass, Cyrus takes cues from their previous films such as, The Puffy Chair and Baghead. In other words, it is wonderful. I would be lying if I said I was not excited when it was announced they were doing this film.

John (John C. Reilly) is socially inept who openly admits is lonely, depressed and desperate after being separated from his wife for seven years now. Just days away from his ex-wife getting married, she feels bad for John and wants him to move on with his life. She knows he needs a relationship for this to happen, so she drags him to a party.

At a party that he not only was not thrilled on going to, let alone meet someone at, he finds a girl named Molly (Marisa Tomei). Even though John is completely drunk beyond reason, for which he can thank his ex-wife for, Molly looks past that. She is in a lot of ways like John, lonely and single for far too long.

He is overly excited when she comes over for the first date, someone that every male can probably empathize with. He purchases condoms, wine, makes dinner and even puts in a few last minute sit-ups. What John lacks in confidence, which is a lot, he more than compensates in honestly. As in this case, sometimes the two are not completely unrelated. The date goes well but ends mysteriously when she tries to sneak out but is caught by John.

John suspiciously follows her home and accidentally falls asleep in his car. The next morning he discovers that she has a son named Cyrus (Jonah Hill). The two oddly hit it off being completely and sometimes too open with each other. Cyrus being overly welcome, invites him to stay for dinner, which John eagerly agrees to.

Something strange happens the next morning as he is about to leave, his shoes are missing. He becomes a little paranoid that something is up. He consults his ex-wife whom which is also his co-worker it turns out. She tells him to forget about it and pretend it never happened. Partly, because she does not believe they took the shoes but mostly because she wants him to be in a relationship more than anyone.

John, as well as the viewer, begins to question whether or not Cyrus is trying to sabotage their relationship or if the bizarre and overly welcome encounters are legit. The film then shifts it’s focus around Cyrus. Hence, the title of the film. The romantic comedy takes a sharp turn and reveals a darker side.

We see John go through an amazing character development as he transforms into a new person. He goes from the timid and lonely, depressed person, to a smart and tactful one. In many ways, his character is a reprise from his character in Magnolia. I am not only talking about him being in a more serious role in general but specifically similar personalities. I missed that John C Reilly. Apparently, so did others as he was nominated for Best Male Lead at Independent Spirit Awards.

Cyrus does not rely solely on John C. Reilly to carry the film though, nearly equally as impressive are Marisa Tomei and Jonah Hill. Tomei is plays a lovable character that is hard not to like. Hill shows that he can play an unlikeable, dark and creepy character instead of the usual pure comedy role. I am not putting down his typical roles, because I find them, and subsequently him, to be hilarious. It is delightful to see this different side of him.

For better or worse, the film was shot in a typical Duplass style. Which feels very amateur, almost home movie style with random snap-zooms. Personally, I think it works here but others may not agree. The dialog between characters was very natural and believable. The film as a whole is completely realistic. Which is tends to be a recurring trademark of the Duplass brothers and what has become known as the mumblecore movement. They achieve this by less script and rehearsal and more improvisation on the set.

Cyrus is a straight forward and incredibly honest film, two simple qualities that big budget films should take note of. It proves that you do not need an overly complicated plot with unrealistic situations in order to make a film interesting. Throw in terrific acting performances by the cast and you have yourself one very superb indie film.