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Bellflower

If the Academy had any sort of "best debut film" category, my vote would go to Bellflower. It's Evan Glodell's first feature, taking place in what almost seems like an pre-apocalyptic LA (notice a theme with these films?). The main characters drink and prepare for the upcoming reckoning, and then they drink some more and then drink some more. It's morally devoid, but it seems like an insight to a route not taken in most people's lives. Plus, the cameras were built by Glodell himself, and it's got a very unique, burnt look to it. Halfway through, I thought to myself, "Well, this movie's really good, but where can it go from here?" Surprisingly, in interesting directions, handled expertly in ways that debut filmmakers can rarely succeed with. My #4 of the year so far.

Tom Houseman: There are so many great movies that just didn't get enough attention this year and won't be awards contenders, but deserve to be seen. My esteemed colleagues have already mentioned Attack the Block and The Skin I Live In, but there are two that I would like to give special attention to.

Circumstance

A beautiful, heartbreaking drama about the hardships faced by women in modern Iran, it features a number of phenomenal performances, and is perhaps the most important movie of the year.

Weekend

If all romantic comedies were as good as this indie gem, I would be a very happy man. Chris New and Tom Cullen are superb as they dive into a new relationship with each other over the course of the weekend. The production quality is low, but writer/director Andrew Haigh creates a moving and insightful film that manages to have far more depth than you'd expect.

I also want to give a shoutout the Korean psychological drama The Housemaid and the documentary Black Power Mixtape.

David Mumpower: A movie that is easy to catch right now is Waiting for Forever, which is already on Showtime. The Rachel Bilson romantic drama tells an odd story well, something we frankly don’t see enough in this industry. The premise is that a young boy’s entire personality finalizes in a single instant when his parents die in a tragic train accident (their train was not Unstoppable). From that moment, all he wants to do is entertain others, a special talent he has since his personality is so innocent and child-like. And he wants to be with the love of his life, the girl who consoles him at the funeral for his parents. So, he follows her around the country, which would be something of a surprise to her if she were aware of it.

The movie is by no means a masterpiece, but its combination of talent makes it worth a watch. Director James Keach is that famous, at least not relative to his brother, Stacy Keach, or his medicine woman wife, Jane Seymour. What Keach has proven over the years is that he understands how to get the best out of his actors, which is why Jane Seymour fell in love with him in the first place on the set of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. With Rachel Bilson playing off her character in The OC as an actress who doesn’t believe she has done any real acting, he has a winning female lead to compliment Tom Sturridge, the best part of this movie. Sturridge’s character is laconic, causing him to act a lot with body language. I was mesmerized by the performance and I fully expect it to be a finalist for me in the Best Acting category.

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