Love & Mercy (2014)

Jack and I loved this bio-pic of Beach Boy Brian Wilson, alternating between the 1960s and the late 80s. Paul Dano and John Cusack are both brilliant sharing the lead, and Paul Giamatti and Elizabeth Banks are also quite good as 80s Wilson's psychiatrist and girlfriend (last blogged in Prisoners, The Butler, The Congress, and Pitch Perfect, respectively).

This is the sophomore effort of director Bill Pohlad, whose first feature was 25 years ago. He was a producer of Brokeback Mountain (2005), Into the Wild (2007), Food, Inc., The Runaways, Fair Game, The Tree of Life, 12 Years a Slave, and Wild, among others, but may be better known as the son of billionaire Carl Pohlad, owner of the Minnesota Twins baseball team.

Co-writers Oren Moverman (covered in The Messenger) and Michael A. Lerner (new to me) worked with Pohlad to successfully blend the time periods in a cinematic and cohesive style.

Of course the music is awesome. This link contains what looks like a fairly accurate rendering of the end credits (as well as a photo of the wonderful poster). Unlike the imdb list, the first link shows which songs were sampled by composer Atticus Ross (most recently in the pages for Gone Girl). And here is a spotify playlist and article about the soundtrack, which has yet to be released for us to purchase.

Yep, we're with the majority here, as Rotten Tomatoes' critics are averaging 88% and its audiences 94. If depictions of Wilson's mild psychosis won't strike a painful nerve, you should definitely surf down the street to see it.