Pompeii doesn’t get mentioned once in this review – a tragedy
When I started this blog 363 days ago, my first post was my top ten movies of 2013. We’re at the end of another year, and I have seen more movies than ever before (according to my letterboxd summary I’ve watched over 1,000 hours of film – yikes!), so it’s about time for another roundup of the state of cinema.
With the end of December (and the year) approaching, we come upon another of Jason Reitman’s Live Reads, hosted by Film Independent at LACMA. Only this time, the Live Read was not at LACMA; for December, Jason, Elvis Mitchell and the whole team moved to The Theatre at Ace Hotel, formerly known as the United Artists Theatre. Such an expanded venue could only be necessary for one film: The Empire Strikes Back.
There were some real contenders at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, including God’s Pocket, Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter, Life After Beth, The Skeleton Twins, and many more. But ultimately the jury awarded the grand prize to Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash – a bit of an out-of-nowhere dark horse that opened the festival.
Steven Cohen's 365 Days of Reviews 