Only God Forgives (2013)- 'Drive' on steroids (3½ Stars)

Ever since the first trailer premiere, I've been hotly anticipating what could have been one of the year's best films.

Guess what? It is!

Ryan Gosling stars as a Julien, a Thai drug dealer who also manages a boxing ring. He is conflicted between good and evil when his devilish mother (note: DEVILISH) pays a visit when Julien's brother is killed. A god-like cop played by Vithya Pasingram comes between Julien's mom's plan for Julien to take revenge.

That's just the plot. And the plot is only a small part of the film. That is what is potentially dividing so many viewers: the lack of a strong plot. I thought the plot (at least for material like this) was perfect in importance, since a stronger plot would only complicate the religious themes even more, and a lesser plot... less plot would lead to a pointless movie.

The Place Beyond the Pines (2013)- An American Mosaic (3 Stars)

Last year The Place Beyond the Pines premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. It was picked up by Focus Features, but they chose not to release it until the desolate early April. I wrote an article discussing the film's Oscar potential, and I was going blind without seeing it.

The Place Beyond the Pines... Best Picture Winner?

No, do not take my word for this... but if this happens, you heard it from me first.

So, I thought about this awhile back. The main reason Silence of the Lambs won Best Picture (despite its February release date,) was home media and dead controversy. Sure, in February people called it "gross", "misogynistic", and "stupid", but by the next year (when it was nominated,) people viewed it at home as an "intense, unpredictable thriller with top-notch performances."

So controversy tends to bite many films in the butt, especially the ones late out of the gate (er hem Zero Dark Thirty er hem). When Argo won a couple of months back, the film had almost celebrated a week on Blu-ray, easily accessible to anyone at home. It's been awhile since a BP winner was on video before it won, so could this year be the year?

Only God Forgives, red-band trailer

Announced for Cannes. Looks great.

84th Oscars: Dublin Film Critics Circle Winners

Thanks to AwardsDaily for this list. For the sake of time, I'm not going to italicize every film's title.

Best Picture
“Drive”

Best Director
Nicolas Winding Refn, “Drive"

Best Actor
Ryan Gosling, “Drive”

Best Actress
Jessica Chastain, “The Tree of Life”

Best Documentary
“Senna”

Best Foreign Language Film
“A Separation”

Best Irish Film
“The Guard”

Best Irish Documentary
“Knuckle”

International Breakthrough
Jessica Chastain, “The Help,” “Take Shelter” and “The Tree of Life”

Domestic Breakthrough
John Michael McDonagh, “The Guard”

I highly doubt Dublin is a big Oscar game changer, but it's a cool list.