The Dallas-Ft. Worth Film Critics Love Birdman!


Dallas is my home -- deal with it, haters!

And finally, one last group of critics announced their picks for the best of the year today.  The DFW Film Critics, who represent my hometown but have somehow failed to offer me membership (and what’s going on with that!?), today announced that — in their opinion —

Birdman is the best film of 2014!

(I know that some people will probably be surprised that the DFW Film Critics did not pick Boyhood — a film that was made in, based in, and basically about Texas — for best picture.  Personally, I suspect that if Boyhood had been set in North Texas — as opposed to the Houston area and Austin — it probably would have won.)

Check out the winners below!

Best Film: Birdman

Best Actor: Michael Keaton for Birdman

Best Actress: Reese Witherspoon for Wild

Best Supporting Actor: J.K. Simmons for Whiplash

Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette for Boyhood

Best Director: Alejandro G. Inarritu for Birdman

Best Foreign Language Film: Force Majeure

Best Documentary: CitizenFour

Best Animated Film: The LEGO Movie

Best Cinematography: Birdman

Best Original Score: Interstellar

The Russell Smith Award: Boyhood

Top Ten Films of the Year:

Birdman

Boyhood

The Imitation Game

The Theory of Everything

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Whiplash

Gone Girl

Selma

Wild

Nightcrawler

The Online Film Critics Check Into The Grand Budapest Hotel!


The-Grand-Budapest-Hotel-580

Along with everyone else, the Online Film Critics named their picks for the best of 2014 earlier today and they selected … THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL!

You can view a full list of nominees here.  As for the winners, they are listed below!

Best Picture
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”

Best Director
Richard Linklater, “Boyhood”

Best Actor
Michael Keaton, “Birdman”

Best Actress
Rosamund Pike, “Gone Girl”

Best Supporting Actor
Edward Norton, “Birdman”

Best Supporting Actress
Patricia Arquette, “Boyhood”

Best Adapted Screenplay
“Gone Girl”

Best Original Screenplay
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”

Best Cinematography
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”

Best Editing
“Birdman”

Best Animated Feature
“The LEGO Movie”

Best Film Not in the English Language
“Two Days, One Night”

Best Documentary
“Life Itself”

Here are the Critics Choice Nominations!


BFCA

This morning, the Broadcast Film Critics Association announced their nominations for the best of 2014!  No sooner had I started to dismiss Unbroken as a contender then the BFCA nominated not only the film for best picture but Angelina Jolie for best director as well.

As opposed to a lot of critics group, the BFCA is considered to be a pretty strong and influential precursor.  So, if anyone should be worried by today’s nominations, it might be those hoping to see Foxcatcher and Steve Carell nominated in January.

The BFCA awards will be broadcast on A&E on January 15th.

Best Picture
“Birdman”
“Boyhood”
“Gone Girl”
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
“The Imitation Game”
“Nightcrawler”
“Selma”
“The Theory of Everything”
“Unbroken”
“Whiplash”

Best Director
Wes Anderson, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Ava DuVernay, “Selma”
David Fincher, “Gone Girl”
Alejandro González Iñárritu, “Birdman”
Angelina Jolie, “Unbroken”
Richard Linklater, “Boyhood”

Best Actor
Benedict Cumberbatch, “The Imitation Game”
Ralph Fiennes, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Jake Gyllenhaal, “Nightcrawler”
Michael Keaton, “Birdman”
David Oyelowo, “Selma”
Eddie Redmayne, “The Theory of Everything”

Best Actress
Jennifer Aniston, “Cake”
Marion Cotillard, “Two Days, One Night”
Felicity Jones, “The Theory of Everything”
Julianne Moore, “Still Alice”
Rosamund Pike, “Gone Girl”
Reese Witherspoon, “Wild”

Best Supporting Actor
Josh Brolin, “Inherent Vice”
Robert Duvall, “The Judge”
Ethan Hawke, “Boyhood”
Edward Norton, “Birdman”
Mark Ruffalo, “Foxcatcher”
J.K. Simmons, “Whiplash”

Best Supporting Actress
Patricia Arquette, “Boyhood”
Jessica Chastain, “A Most Violent Year”
Keira Knightley, “The Imitation Game”
Emma Stone, “Birdman”
Meryl Streep, “Into the Woods”
Tilda Swinton, “Snowpiercer”

Best Adapted Screenplay
“Gone Girl”
“The Imitation Game”
“Inherent Vice”
“The Theory of Everything”
“Unbroken”
“Wild”

Best Original Screenplay
“Birdman”
“Boyhood”
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
“Nightcrawler”
“Whiplash”

Best Art Direction
“Birdman”
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
“Inherent Vice”
“Interstellar”
“Into the Woods”
“Snowpiercer”

Best Cinematography
“Birdman”
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
“Interstellar”
“Mr. Turner”
“Unbroken”

Best Editing
“Birdman”
“Boyhood”
“Gone Girl”
“Interstellar”
“Whiplash”

Best Costume Design
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
“Inherent Vice”
“Into the Woods”
“Maleficent”
“Mr. Turner”

Best Hair & Makeup
“Foxcatcher”
“Guardians of the Galaxy”
“The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies”
“Into the Woods”
“Maleficent”

Best Score
“Birdman”
“Gone Girl”
“The Imitation Game”
“Interstellar”
“The Theory of Everything”

Best Song
“Lost Stars” from “Begin Again”
“Big Eyes” from “Big Eyes”
“Yellow Flicker Beat” from “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1″
“Everything is Awesome” from “The LEGO Movie”
“Glory” from “Selma”

Best Visual Effects
“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”
“Edge of Tomorrow”
“Guardians of the Galaxy”
“The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies”
“Interstellar”

Best Animated Feature
“Big Hero 6″
“The Book of Life”
“The Boxtrolls”
“How to Train Your Dragon 2″
“The LEGO Movie”

Best Foreign Language Film
“Force Majeure”
“Ida”
“Leviathan”
“Two Days, One Night”
“Wild Tales”

Best Documentary Feature
“CITIZENFOUR”
“Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me”
“Jodorowsky’s Dune”
“Last Days in Vietnam”
“Life Itself”
“The Overnighters”

Best Acting Ensemble
“Birdman”
“Boyhood”
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
“The Imitation Game”
“Into the Woods”
“Selma”

Best Young Actor/Actress
Ellar Coltrane, “Boyhood”
Ansel Elgort, “The Fault in Our Stars”
Mackenzie Foy, “Interstellar”
Jaeden Lieberher, “St. Vincent”
Tony Revolori, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Quvenzhane Wallis, “Annie”
Noah Wiseman, “The Babadook”

Best Action Movie
“American Sniper”
“Captain America: The Winter Soldier”
“Edge of Tomorrow”
“Fury”
“Guardians of the Galaxy”

Best Actor in an Action Movie
Bradley Cooper, “American Sniper”
Tom Cruise, “Edge of Tomorrow”
Chris Evans, “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”
Brad Pitt, “Fury”
Chris Pratt, “Guardians of the Galaxy”

Best Actress in an Action Movie
Emily Blunt, “Edge of Tomorrow”
Scarlett Johansson, “Lucy”
Jennifer Lawrence, “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1″
Zoe Saldana, “Guardians of the Galaxy”
Shailene Woodley, “Divergent”

Best Comedy
“Birdman”
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
“St. Vincent”
“Top Five”
“22 Jump Street”

Best Actor in a Comedy
Jon Favreau, “Chef”
Ralph Fiennes, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Michael Keaton, “Birdman”
Bill Murray, “St. Vincent”
Chris Rock, “Top Five”
Channing Tatum, “22 Jump Street”

Best Actress in a Comedy
Rose Byrne, “Neighbors”
Rosario Dawson, “Top Five”
Melissa McCarthy, “St. Vincent”
Jenny Slate, “Obvious Child”
Kristen Wiig, “The Skeleton Twins”

Best Sci-Fi/Horror Movie
“The Babadook”
“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”
“Interstellar”
“Snowpiercer”
“Under the Skin”

Here Are The Chicago Film Critics Association Nominations!


Happy Valentine's Day!

Finally, from the former hometown of Al Capone and President Obama, here are the Chicago Film Critic Associations Nominations!

BEST PICTURE
Birdman
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Under the Skin
Whiplash

BEST DIRECTOR
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
David Fincher, Gone Girl
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Birdman
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Christopher Nolan, Interstellar

BEST ACTOR
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler
Michael Keaton, Birdman
David Oyelowo, Selma
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything

BEST ACTRESS
Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night
Scarlett Johannson, Under the Skin
Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon, Wild

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Josh Brolin, Inherent Vice
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
Edward Norton, Birdman
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons, Whiplash

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Jessica Chastain, A Most Violent Year
Laura Dern, Wild
Agata Kulesza, Ida
Emma Stone, Birdman

BEST ORIGNAL SCREENPLAY
Birdman, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo
Boyhood, Richard Linklater
Calvary, John Michael McDonagh
The Grand Budapest Hotel, Wes Anderson
Whiplash, Damien Chazelle

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn
The Imitation Game, Graham Moore
Inherent Vice, Paul Thomas Anderson
Under the Skin, Walter Campbell
Wild, Nick Hornby

BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
Force Majeure
Ida
Mommy
The Raid 2
Two Days, One Night

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Citizenfour
Jodorowsky’s Dune
Last Days in Vietnam
Life Itself
The Overnighters

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
The Lego Movie
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

BEST ART DIRECTION/PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Interstellar
Into The Woods
Only Lovers Left Alive
Snowpiercer

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Birdman
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Ida
Inherent Vice
Interstellar

BEST EDITING
Birdman
Boyhood
Gone Girl
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Whiplash

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Birdman
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Under the Skin

MOST PROMISING PERFORMER
Ellar Coltrane, Boyhood
Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Belle/Beyond the Lights
Jack O’Connell, Starred Up/Unbroken
Tony Revolori, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Jenny Slate, Obvious Child
Agata Trzebuchowska, Ida

MOST PROMISING FILMMAKER
Damien Chazelle, Whiplash
Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler
Jennifer Kent, The Babadook
Jeremy Saulnier, Blue Ruin
Justin Simien, Dear White People

The Kansas City Film Critics Circle Honors Birdman!


Birdman

Did you know that the Kansas City Film Critics Circle is apparently the oldest critics organization in America?  It’s true!

Anyway, here are their picks for the best of 2014!  Let’s just call this: Birdman Soars In Kansas City!

BEST PICTURE
Birdman

BEST DIRECTOR
Richard Linklater, Boyhood

BEST ACTOR
Michael Keaton, Birdman

BEST ACTRESS
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Edward Norton, Birdman

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Patricia Arquette, Boyhood

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Birdman

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Obvious Child

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Ida

BEST ANIMATED FILM
The Lego Movie

BEST DOCUMENTARY
CITIZENFOUR

BEST SF/FANTASY/HORROR FILM
The Babadook

 

The Indiana Film Journalists Embrace A Film From Texas!


boyhood0612

The Indiana Film Journalists today announced their picks for the best of 2014!  For best film, they selected an obscure little indie film named Boyhood.

Here’s a complete list of winners!

Best Film

Winner: “Boyhood”

Runner-up: “Whiplash”

Other Finalists (listed alphabetically):

“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”

“The Grand Budapest Hotel”

“Guardians of the Galaxy”

“The Imitation Game”

“Life Itself”

“Locke”

“A Most Violent Year”

“St. Vincent”

Best Animated Feature

Winner: “The LEGO Movie”

Runner-Up: “The Boxtrolls ”

Best Foreign Language Film

Winner: “Two Days, One Night”

Runner-Up: “Ida”

Best Documentary

Winner: “Life Itself”

Runner-Up: “An Honest Liar”

Best Original Screenplay

Winner: Wes Anderson, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”

Runner-up: Richard Linklater, “Boyhood”

Best Adapted Screenplay

Winner: Damien Chazelle, “Whiplash”

Runner-up: Graham Moore, “The Imitation Game”

Best Director

Winner: Richard Linklater, “Boyhood”

Runner-up: Damien Chazelle, “Whiplash”

Best Actress

Winner: Reese Witherspoon, “Wild”

Runner-up: Rosamund Pike, “Gone Girl”

Best Supporting Actress

Winner: Jessica Chastain “A Most Violent Year”

Runner-up: Melissa McCarthy, “St. Vincent”

Best Actor

Winner: Ralph Fiennes, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”

Runner-up: Tom Hardy, “Locke”

Best Supporting Actor

Winner: J.K. Simmons, “Whiplash”

Runner-up: Ethan Hawke, “Boyhood”

Best Musical Score

Winner: Mica Levi, “Under the Skin”

Runner-up: Alexandre Desplat, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”

Original Vision Award

Winner: “Boyhood”

Runner-up: “Under the Skin”

The Hoosier Award

Winner: Eric Grayson, film historian and preservationist

(As a special award, no runner-up is declared in this category.)

The San Francisco Film Critics and the San Diego Film Critics Have Spoken!


It’s been a busy three days as far as Oscar precursors are concerned so let’s jump straight into things and take a look at the latest victories.  We’ll start with two critics groups from Arleigh’s home state of California!

Yesterday, the San Francisco Film Critics announced their picks for the best of 2014!

Best picture: Boyhood
Best director: Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Best actor: Michael Keaton, Birdman
Best actress: Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Best supporting actor: Edward Norton, Birdman
Best supporting actress: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Best screenplay, original: Birdman
Best screenplay, adapted: Inherent Vice
Best cinematography: Ida
Best production design: The Best Grand Budapest Hotel
Best editing: Boyhood
Best animated feature: The Lego Movie
Best foreign-language picture: Ida
Best documentary: Citizenfour

Nightcrawler

Meanwhile, the San Diego Film Critics Society announced earlier today that they really, really love one of my favorite films of the year, Nightcrawler!  You can see a full list of the San Diego nominees by clicking here.  And the winners are listed below!

Best Picture
“Nightcrawler”

Best Director
Dan Gilroy, “Nightcrawler”

Best Actor
Jake Gyllenhaal, “Nightcrawler”

Best Actress
Marion Cotillard, “Two Days, One Night”

Best Supporting Actor
Mark Ruffalo, “Foxcatcher”

Best Supporting Actress
Rene Russo, “Nightcrawler”

Best Adapted Screenplay
“Gone Girl”

Best Original Screenplay
“Nightcrawler”

Best Cinematography
“Nightcrawler”

Best Editing
“Edge of Tomorrow”

Best Production Design
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”

Best Score
“Nightcrawler”

Best Animated Film
“The Boxtrolls”

Best Foreign Film
“Force Majeure”

Best Documentary
“CITIZENFOUR”

Best Ensemble
“Birdman”

Body of Work
Willem Dafoe (“John Wick,” “The Fault in Our Stars,” “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “A Most Wanted Man,” “Nymphomaniac: Part 2”)

For Your Consideration #4: I, Frankenstein (dir by Stuart Beattie)


I_Frankenstein_Poster

For the tonight’s final entry in For Your Consideration, I’m going to suggest that everyone take the time to consider a film that came out way back in January — I, Frankenstein.

“WHAT!?” someone out there is saying.  “It was bad enough when you tried to convince us that The Purge: Anarchy deserved an Oscar nomination…”

Okay, okay — hold on a minute.  You get upset so easily, it can’t be good for your blood pressure.  Anyway, have you calmed down now?  Good.

Here’s the thing — I said that I was going to suggest some films that I thought were worthy of award consideration.  The Oscars aren’t the only awards around.  There’s also the Razzie Awards.  The Razzies claim that their mission is to honor the worst movies and performers of each year.  To be honest, looking over some of their past nominations, it looks like they’re more interested in picking on easy targets like Lindsay Lohan and … well, I was going to say Adam Sandler but there’s a reason why most of his films are such easy targets.

Now, as far as this year is concerned, I’m sure that the people behind the Razzie awards are already busy coming up with snarky things to say about that Kirk Cameron Christmas movie.  And good for them!  However, I’m simply suggesting that instead of just settling for nominated Kirk Cameron a gazillion times, the Razzies might want to give some consideration to another potentially deserving film that came out this year.

Personally, I really wanted to like I, Frankenstein.  It was produced by the people behind the Underworld films, all of which are definitely guilty pleasures of mine.  And it starred Aaron Eckhart, who is such a good actor even if he rarely seems to get the lead roles that he deserves.  That said, even before I saw the film, I had my doubts about whether an actor with the almost satirically all-American facial features of Aaron Eckhart would be believable as a reanimated corpse and sad to say, he was not.  You could definitely imagine Eckhart playing a legendary big game hunter who has decided that he’s going to add Frankenstein’s monster to his wall of trophies.  But as the monster — well, not so much.

In I, Frankenstein, Frankenstein’s Monster survives through the centuries and eventually ends up fighting a bunch of demons for some reason.  Or something like that.  I have to admit that I was never quite sure what was going on in I, Frankenstein.  Some of that was because I was bored with the movie and a lot of it was because the movie felt less like an actual film and more like a collection of highlights.  This is one of those films where off-screen narration was necessary to describe a huge chunk of the movie’s plot.

And, finally, I just couldn’t buy Aaron Eckhart as a monster.  He’s too handsome in his own clean-cut, middle American way.  There’s a reason why Aaron Eckhart was convincing as the symbol of good government decency in The Dark Knight and that’s the same reason why he’s not very convincing playing a creature who has been built out of random body parts.

So, to the people behind the Razzies, I would encourage them to continue to try to come up with the perfect Kirk Cameron joke.  But don’t forget about I, Frankenstein.

It’s worthy of your consideration.

And speaking of consideration, For Your Consideration will continue tomorrow with 6 more films that are worthy of your awards consideration!

For Your Consideration #3: Angelina Jolie in Maleficent


Mal

Way back in March, when people like me first started to ask ourselves what and who would be nominated for Oscars in January, a lot of us assumed that 2014 would be the year of Angelina Jolie.  We predicted that her film Unbroken would be an Oscar front-runner and quite a few people felt that Angelina herself would become the second woman to win the Academy Award for directing.

And, it could still happen!

However, with Angelina being pretty much ignored by most of the traditional Oscar precursors and Unbroken getting positive but hardly rapturous reviews, it’s starting to look more and more like Unbroken will be lucky to receive a picture nomination, much less a mention for Jolie.

Now, I haven’t seen Unbroken yet so I can’t really judge whether it deserves any awards consideration or not.  However, I can say that Unbroken is not the only film for which Angelina Jolie deserves consideration.

Maleficent came out this summer and did quite well at the box office but it seems to have been forgotten and that’s a shame because it features one of Angelina Jolie’s best performances.  The film itself is a revisionist take on Sleeping Beauty, re-telling the story from the point-of-view of the fairy queen Maleficent (played, of course, by Angelina.)

In this version of the story, we see that the true villain was Sleeping Beauty’s father, Stefan (Sharlto Copley).  When they were younger, Stefan and Maleficent were lovers but the Stefan eventually abandoned her, knowing that having a relationship with a winged fairy would only serve to thwart his own ambitions.  Years later, when the humans attempt to conquer Maleficent’s kingdom, it is announced that whoever slays Maleficent will become the new king.  Knowing that Maleficent is still in love with him, Stefan drugs her and then cuts her wings off.  Using her wings as evidence to back up his claim that he has killed her, Stefan becomes the new king.  The now wingless Maleficent is left alone and embittered.  When Stefan’s daughter, Princess Aurora, is born, Maleficent announces that, on her sixteenth birthday, Aurora will sink into a deep sleep and will only be awaken by the kiss of someone who truly loves her.

Maleficent was one of those films that truly divided critics.  Male viewers tended to rightfully criticize the film for being tonally inconsistent and for relying too much on CGI.  Female critics, however, understood that none of that mattered.  As flawed as the film may have been, we knew that the most important thing was Angelina Jolie’s performance.  She may have been playing a fairy and she may have been appearing in a movie that was dominated by CGI but Angelina Jolie brought such strength and complexity to the role that she transcended all of the film’s flaws and instead created a thoroughly real character.  We understood and we related to Maleficent’s fury.  When she first woke up to discover that her wings had been stolen from her, it was devastating because the moment was real.  We all knew what had truly happened to Maleficent.  When she sought revenge, we sought it with her.  When she regretted her actions, we shared her regrets.  Her pain was our pain and her triumph was our triumph.

Angelina Jolie gave one of the best performances of the year in Maleficent and she certainly deserves your consideration.

Angelina-Jolie-as-Maleficent

For Your Consideration #2: The Purge: Anarchy (dir by James DeMonaco)


The_Purge_–_Anarchy_Poster

Yes, I know what you’re saying.

“Seriously, Lisa!?  We should give awards consideration to The Purge: Anarchy!?  Are you serious!?”

Yes, actually I am quite serious.  Notice that I didn’t say that we should necessarily give The Purge: Anarchy any awards or that we should even nominate it.  I just said consideration.  For whatever flaws that The Purge: Anarchy may have, it’s actually one of the better and, in its way, one of the more thought-provoking mainstream American films released this year.  Working within the guise of being a simple genre film, The Purge: Anarchy is one of the few films to give serious consideration to the politics and culture that could both lead to and result from dystopia.

What I’m saying is that — despite what the critics may have said last summer — The Purge: Anarchy is actually one of the most subversive and intellectually curious films released this year.  You just have to be willing to look past all of the action conventions and instead focus on the film’s subtext.

The Purge: Anarchy takes place one year after the end of the first Purge film.  America is still led by the New Founding Fathers and every year, for one night, all crime is legal.  As the national media constantly assures everyone, the Purge is responsible for every good thing about America.  And even though there are a few rebels who claim that the Purge is not necessarily a good thing, most people chose to believe that — as long as it’s government-sanctioned — it’s for the best.

Whereas the first Purge film took place solely inside one family’s house and focused on the domestic melodrama within, The Purge: Anarchy focuses on what goes on outside of the gated sanctuaries of the rich.  As quickly becomes apparent, the Purge is less about purging negative feelings and more about keeping the non-rich, non-white population under control.  While the poor kill each other in the streets, the rich pay for the privilege to kill poverty-stricken “volunteers” in the safety of their own homes.  (Some of the volunteers agree to die out of the hope that their family will be sent some money.  Most are just rounded up on the streets, killed, and forgotten.)

Perhaps even more so than the first film, The Purge: Anarchy works because it feels so plausible.  We live in a society where we are continually told that moral rights and wrongs can be determined by man-made laws.  When a man is filmed being literally choked to death by a pack of police officers, we’re told that it was the man’s fault because he was failing to respect authority and many choose to believe it because “the law is the law.”  (Never mind, of course, whether the law is being fairly applied or makes any sense to begin with.)  If a man in uniform is murdered, it’s rightfully called a crime.  If a man in uniform commits a murder, we’re told it’s simply a part of the job.

And so, that’s why I suggest that The Purge: Anarchy deserves greater consideration than it’s been given.  Yes, it is a genre film and yes, it is an installment in an action franchise.  However, it’s also far closer to the truth than many people are willing to acknowledge.