Happy November, everyone! Oh what a whirlwind October it’s been, but you won’t hear me complain about the weather as the past few weeks we’ve had one of the best Autumn weather ever. In fact, the entire Twin Cities Film Fest run, the weather was in one word, glorious. Temp was in mid 60s – low 70s, which in my book is absolutely perfect!
Well I think it’s obvious that TCFF was the highlight of my blogging time this month. It’s especially awesome that I got a chance to chat with some filmmakers and cast. Scroll down below to check out the complete recaps of the 10-day festivities!
Posts you might’ve missed:
- This Week’s Question: Breakthrough Performer of 2014
- Rental Pick: Pirate Radio [a.k.a. The Boat That Rocked]
- The Flix List: 10 Actresses I’d watch in just about anything
- This Week’s Question: Actors whose famous roles you can’t shake
- Ted’s Review: FURY
Top 5 Fave Movies Seen at TCFF
The Imitation Game [Review Upcoming]
Time Lapse [Review upcoming, but check out my interview
w/ its filmmaker Bradley King & actor George Finn]
TCFF 2014 Recaps
- TCFF 2014 Opening Night Festivities + ‘Men, Women & Children’ review
- TCFF 2014 Day 2 – Interview with Haley Lu Richardson
- TCFF 2014 Day 2 Reviews: Father-Like Son, The Last Time You Had Fun, V/H/S: Viral
- TCFF 2014 Day 3 Reviews: These Hopeless Savages, 3 Nights in the Desert, The Well and House of Manson
- TCFF 2014 Day 4: Wild Canaries, Just Before I Go & double reviews of The Young Kieslowski
- TCFF 2014 Interview with Rik Swartzwelder, Writer/Director/Star of Old Fashioned
- TCFF 2014 Day 5 & 6: Reviews of ‘Evil, Enemies & Aliens’ Shorts Block + Solitude
- TCFF 2014 Day 7: Romance Double Bill – Old Fashioned & Comet
- TCFF 2014 – Interview with Ink & Steel Filmmakers/Cast
- TCFF 2014 Interview with Bradley King & George Finn for sci-fi thriller Time Lapse
- TCFF 2014 Documentary Reviews: Stray Dog, Flying Paper, Where The Trail Ends & One Good Year
- TCFF 2014 Wrap Up & Final Awards: The Imitation Game, Time Lapse, Stray Dog Doc, Solitude & More!
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New-to-me Movies outside of TCFF lineup:
I saw the last three in 48 hours, in fact I saw Big Hero 6 exactly an hour after my Foxcatcher screening. I’m glad that’s the case though, as I really needed something light and vibrant to shake off the dark and morose tone of Foxcatcher. Stay tuned for my interview with director
I’m still behind on a few reviews from the last couple of days of TCFF, but I should have all these reviews done in the next couple of weeks. Unfortunately, with the crazy schedule of the Film Fest, I was unable to complete my Blindspot assignment of the month. Ah well, something’s gotta give I suppose. I probably will have 10 out of the 12 Blindspot films completed by end of the year, so I’ll just include the two I miss in my next year’s list.
Favorite Movies of October 2014:
I’m going to choose films that are NOT part of TCFF lineup, and it’s quite a tough one as there are some truly awesome movies I saw this past month. After much deliberation, it comes down to a tie of two completely different films. I love that when that happens! 😀 Stay tuned for my reviews of both of these, but if you’re on the fence about either one of these for whatever reason, I urge you to check both of ’em out.
Citizenfour is one of the most intriguing and gripping documentaries I’ve seen in a long time. Whether you think of Edward Snowden is a hero or criminal, this is such an important documentary that should be seen by anyone who has ever been online [and really, unless you’re Amish, who hasn’t?]. Big Hero 6 on the other hand, is so entertaining and so full of heart it’s easily one of my top animated features now. Definitely another winner from Disney, it’s just pure exhilarating fun and I love that it would inspire kids to explore their imagination and dream big.
So, what movies did you get to see in October and which one is your favorite?
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FLIXCHATTER FILM BLOG 
That’s easy. Possession. Fucked me up.
Ah yes I remember your review of that one.
Likely Gone Girl. You had quite a month, Ruth!
Ah, I’m sure that’ll be lots of ppl’s faves this month. Yeah, Oct is one busy month for me! 😀
The only movies I saw in October were the ones I saw for your site. And my favorite . . . you know that one, too: Big Significant Things.
Hey Josh! I hope to see Big Significant Things later this week. Wish I had time to do that during the film fest, that might make my top 5 too!
My favorite in October was a tie between Gone Girl and Nightcrawler. Look fotward to your review of Foxcatcher, and well done with the film fest coverage!
Hello Chris! Are you gonna review Nightcrawler? I missed the press screening though I was really intrigued by it. Jake G. is on a roll w/ dark, bold role choices.
Hi, Ruth. The Imitation Game has me the most curious. Best films I’ve seen in October were Marnie, Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde (Spencer Tracy and Ingrid) Otherwise, I just got around to watching ‘Winter’s Tale’ and thought the magical realism and message interesting. What a collection, what a cast. Still looking to see ‘Fury’.
It’s really an important and well-made film Cindy, you shouldn’t be disappointed. I’ll definitely add Marnie to my next year’s Blindspot. Ummm, sorry to say Cindy, but I didn’t care for Winter’s Tale at all. Intriguing story to be sure but I can’t say I like the way it’s executed.
Sadly I haven’t been to the theater all month.
But you’ve got all those TV series to keep you company, right Dave 😉
I saw Begin Again on Halloween night and I just loved it, even though it had flaws and the ending broke my heart a bit but it just had so many romantic and cute scenes so I’d say other than Gone Girl that was my fav in October.
Will you review Foxcatcher? I’d love to read your thoughts!
Oh I still need to see Begin Again. Is that the movie that made you fall for Ruffalo? 😉 Yeah I’ll review Foxcatcher in a couple of weeks, closer to the local release date here. Let’s just say it’s a film I appreciate but not exactly love. Btw, I’ll be interviewing its director Bennett Miller next Thursday. Do you have any question for him?
Oh no pretty much when I saw him all angry/vulnerable covered in that blanket in Avengers 2 trailer i went ‘wait a minute….’ 😛 But Begin Again is so amazing and his character? That’s the kind of a guy I’d date 🙂 Who would you say was the standout of Foxcatcher? do you think any of the guys can win Oscar for it?
Oooh that’s awesome! Moneyball is one of my all time favorites. I wonder why he chose those 3 guys for the roles it’s kinda eclectic team with Tatum being girls’ favorite (although why women fancy him I do not know), Carrel a comedy actor and Mark, but Mark does so many different things he is no shock whatever roles he is cast in.
Man you really makes me want to rent Begin Again pronto! Oh I think all three main actors are excellent in Foxcatcher so I think the chance of Steve Carrell getting an Oscar nod is pretty high. I actually like Ruffalo more than Tatum here, though both did a good job, but Ruffalo is just likable and charismatic. Oh and I never get the physical appeal of Tatum either.
That’s a great question! I’m definitely gonna ask him about casting, I always do when I talk to a director, ahah. Especially w/ Carrell playing against type. He did that w/ Hoffman as Capote too, so I wonder how he knew which actor to cast. Yep, I’m not surprised by Ruffalo’s casting at all as he can pretty much do ANY role.
I think you’d like that, it’s really a very charming movie 🙂 I’m really looking forward to seeing Carrel’s work – he is one of my fav comedy actors, such a legend in The Office, and he looks intensely creepy here
I definitely will. I like the premise and I could see Keira + Mark working well together on screen. Funny but wasn;t Carell also did a movie w/ her not too long ago? Yes I LOVE Carell too, I actually like him more in The Office than Gervais. He’s so unrecognizable in Foxcatcher, not just ’cause he’s wearing prosthetic nose but his whole mannerism is so different. It’s not a fun movie per se, but definitely a wonderfully-acted one worth checking out.
Yep, they were together in Seeking a Friend for the End of the World which was another charming indie. I’m really looking forward to Laggies, she’s with Rockwell in that
I still need to see Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, esp since I love Carrell. Yeah I missed Laggies at TCFF as I had to rush finishing an interview post, bummer as I was really looking forward to seeing that!
Oh, I can’t wait to see Foxcatcher and The Imitation Game! I also want to see Citizenfour and Big Hero 6.
I watched a lot of movies for the CinSpec’s last month, but my favorite is A Swedish Love Story, a coming-of-age teen romance from 1970.
Hello Josh!! Glad to see you stop by w/ a plethora of comments, LOVE it!! Well I highly recommend all four of those films, though Foxcatcher is intense though a bit drab and depressing overall.
Very cool, I need to stop by and catch up on your blog too, esp. your CinSpec posts.
You definitely had a busy month Ruth and I’m glad you covered the TCFF, I tried to make a show but work just got me down, oh well there’s always next year!
Since I missed the screening, I’ll just wait to see Gone Girl on Bluray, if I miss a movie on opening weekend, I tend to just wait till it hits Bluray. Only saw two new movies last month, Fury and John Wick, Keanu’s action flick was definitely what I wanted see in an action picture. I so miss the violent R-rated action picture, lol.
Hi Ted. Oh I’m surprised you’re gonna save Gone Girl for rental, I thought you’re a huge fan of Fincher. I think it’s worth seeing for matinee at least. Hey, I have my review of John Wick ready to go. LOVED it, it’s violent but luckily not gory, and boy was that fun!
I was thinking of going to see it on at a matinee but with work and then the move, I just wasn’t in the mood. Figure I’ll just wait till it hits bluray and watch it on my mini home theater, much better that way. 🙂 It’s funny because this will be the second movie of Fincher that I won’t be seeing in a theater, the other was Benjamin Button.
Yeah I thought John Wick was a lot of fun, it’s nice to see an action movie that didn’t take the subject too seriously or make it more “realistic”. I’m so tire of action movies these days that tries to be so “real” and serious.
Lucky, getting to see Big Hero 6 already. Really looking forward to that one. As for my top of the month, hrm, I dunno, may well be John Wick, the more I think about it. October was an interesting month if nothing else, that’s for sure.
Hi Chris! The timing was cutting it close, it’s literally an hour after my Foxcatcher screening on the other part of town, but it was well worth the effort. It’s soooo much fun, and John Wick is great too, for totally different reason, ha!
The only recent release I saw in theaters was Gone Girl. The best new-to-me film I saw though was Vampyr.
Vampyr? Hmmm is that a classic film? Haven’t heard of that before.
Ooo fun! I didn’t realize you liked Big Hero 6 so much . . . now I’m really anticipating it!
Excited about reading your review of The Imitation Game. But ya know, take a breath every now and then, Ruth! You always seem to be up-to-date and on your A-game with posting. I’m always impressed with how well you keep up with things, Ruth!
Hi Kris! I was hooked from the trailer and the movie turns out to be even better!
I really need a break from writing reviews, so maybe I can muster up some writing mojo next week, we’ll see.
Well I just saw Big Hero 6 today … And I know what ya mean now! Loved it!!
Yay!! I REALLY love that movie! I definitely will watch it again.