Okay, these are my top two picks, as well as some good, fun (sometimes near great) movies that just didn't make my top ten but are worth seeing anyway. This is the last part of the list, I promise.
To recap 10-3 are:
10 - The Bourne Ultimatum
9 - Sweeney Todd
8 - Michael Clayton
7 - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
6 - Atonement
5 - Once
4 - Into the Wild
3 - The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
2 - There Will be Blood - This may be the most powerful film of the year and Daniel Day Lewis gives the most powerful, transcendent performance by any actor (or actress) in any film of 2007, and to my mind one of the top performances of the decade. The director, Paul Thomas Anderson, has described it as a horror movie and much of the sick sick horror and feeling of queasiness comes from watching Day Lewis' decline from driven entrepreneur to soulless monster. The film is pitched as a struggle between two strong-willed men, one of whom is a preacher and the other of whom is a businessman. These two men are supposed to stand in for the competing forces of religion and commerce. And that is definitely a large part of the film. But the film is really about Day Lewis' relentless drive to succeed at all costs. In the process he discards all that is uneccessary to his success and all that makes him human, leading to a brutal and unforgettable final act. The soundtrack lends an air of dread to the whole endeavor making even routine actions seem ominous and portentous. I don't know if Stephanie and Ryan have seen this film, but there are two scenes in particular which stand out to me. I can't help but getting chills when I think about Daniel Day Lewis getting reluctantly baptized in a church where the preacher forces him to say, "I've abandoned my son." over and over again. Unbelievable. And then the scene at the end in the bowling alley where Daniel Day Lews and the preacher (Paul Dano) have their final confronation. Man, if I had just 1/10 of one percent of Day Lewis' talent.
Finally....
1 - No Country For Old Men - The film is set in motion by Josh Brolin stumbling upon a drug deal gone wrong and making off with $2 million dollars. The rest of the film deals with the consequences of that action. To me the film is an examination of fate. Josh Brolin unleashes a terrible killing machine in Javier Bardem while Tommy Lee Jones looks on largely helpless to resist. Bardem is the agent of fate, irrestible and implacable. He cannot be turned aside and will not waver. But like fate, he is arbitrary as well. Twice in the film he uses a coin to determine if someone will live or die. Josh Brolin is his ultimate target but he will not hesitate to stamp out anyone he sees along the way. Tommy Lee Jones acts as the overwhelmed observer of that fate. He grows increasingly incapable of comprehending his job and the world in which he finds himself, which is no country for old men in case you missed it. This film stood out in a crowded pack of top-notch films for several reasons, 1) The excellent excellent adapted screenplay. 2) The best ensemble acting in any film this year. No performance was off-key and several actors gave oscar-worthy performances, even those not nominated. In particular Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones and Javier Bardem should get a shared Best Actor Award. 3). The Coen brothers visionary directing which filled every scene with meaning and grabbed the most out of the sun-drenched countryside. This was unmistakably a Coen brothers film with all of their humor and grim realism. They took what could have been a shoot-em-up revenge fantasy and transformed it into a masterpiece.
Okay, that's it. There were so many great movies this year I couldn't list them all. Here are my also rans.
Ratatouille - Again, the perfect animated movie. There is a site on the web called metacritic which takes movie critics ratings and gives an average score based on a 100 point scale. So for example this year's Meet The Spartans got a 9 while No Country for Old Men got a 91. Well, Ratatouille was the highest rated film of 2007 with an average of 96. So, with over 50 reviews it averaged a 96, which is basically an A+. I agree with this wholeheartedly. It was cute, well drawn, totally family friendly and absolutely hilarious. So it didn't make it into my top ten only because it was so slight. There is not much to it beyond a bland "Believe in your dreams" type of message. You know me, no bloody deaths, no top ten. But still a fun movie. Definitely worth seeing.
Knocked Up - Very funny, vey human movie about trying to deal with pregnancy. Maybe this came at the perfect time for Meghan and I since we'd just found out we were pregnant, but we both thought it was great.
Juno - Another pregnancy movie. Also very funny and poignant. It deals in a very touching and humorous way with growing up and accepting responsibility.
Gone Baby Gone - Who knew Ben Affleck could direct? Well, this film is first rate. It's a brilliantly plotted missing child mystery where the mother's child is such a horrible person, you start to hope she won't get the child back. Great performances again by Casey Affleck and also by Amy Ryan.
Breach - Good spy drama - It's about the case of the worst spy in US history (in terms of damage to the US) as played by Chris Cooper who is great as always. The thrill of the movie is watching him on the tail end of a downward spiral and watching Ryan Phillipe trying to dance around him.
The Good Shephard - Matt Damon again plays a spy except this time the type of spy which actually exists, or used to. So bland and unaffecting he blends into the scenery, but a mastermind who grows to help direct the CIA. It's a bit cold-blooded, but still worth watching.
Away From Her - A film about a couple who have been together for 44 years when the wife develops Alzheimer's. Once at a nursing home, she forgets her husband who can only watch as she develops an attachment to a man at the home. It's poignant, well-acted and maybe something we will all have to face at some point. But god is it depressing. I really like this movie, but the wife was crying from the first few minutes and it almost never lets up. It is short and I highly recommend it but this one is more like eating your vegetables.
The Host - Hilarious Korean monster movie that doubles as a commentary on the US military presence in South Korea. No seriously. When a US military surgeon orders his reluctant Korean employee to dump old bottles of medical chemicals down the drain, they wash right out into the Han river and cause a normal fish to mutate into a huge tadpole/fish/lizard hybrid. The movie is very funny and there are lots of little digs at how the US is perceived in Korea. For example, when the monster first makes a rampage across the city, many Koreans die while fighting or fleeing it, but the Korean news media only reports on the death of one US soldier who bravely died trying to fight off the monster. Anyway, it's pretty good. Okay, that's all I've got. Hope this wasn't too much.
Let me know what you think and please give me any movie recommendations you might have.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Hi again. Hope you all made it through part 1, because here I am, back again with part two.
So, to recap, it's been:
10 - The Bourne Ultimatum
9 - Sweeney Todd
8 - Michael Clayton
7 - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
And here are numbers 6-3. Read, or don't.
6 - Atonement - Apart from possessing admirable qualities including top-notch writing (adapted from a novel of the same name), cinematography (the amazing scene on the beach at Dunkirk which was shot in one take), acting and directing, this film is unique this year in that it has multiple strong female leads. This was a very manly, very dark, bleak year of film (now that's my kind of movies!), but this movie feels like it could have been made ten or twenty years ago. And that's a good thing. The story is about a love affair (again one of only a few in film this year) between an aristocratic lady and her family gardener (who was also Oxford-educated at her family's expense). Through a series of mishaps and black coincidences, the woman's younger sister sees an act she cannot understand and the man is accused of a horrible crime and locked away. The rest of the film deals with the young girl's realization that she has committed a horrible act that doomed a man and a love affair and her attempts to attone for it. Personally, I thought the coincidences were a bit shoe-horned in for the sake of the story and I also found some too-convenient occurences toward the end. I say this because otherwise this movie would have made it into my top three, hands down. Some people didn't mind these things. You should see this film.
5 - Once - What a beautiful film. The only other love story in the whole lot. It's just about a Dublin street musician who meets a young Czech woman who plays classical music on the piano. They realize they like each other and they can make beautiful music together (sorry, but it's true in this case). So they make a CD which the man intends to sell in London. That's it. That's the whole story. But the music is incredible. Meghan and I immediately downloaded the soundtrack and still listen to it. Falling Slowly is one of my favorite songs of the year. I like this film because it stays small. Look at all of the rest of the films on this list. They are big, they are about ideas, concepts, fate, justice. This movie is about a thing. It's about a love affair that both people know can't last beyond the completion of the album they're working on. It never intends to solve any problems or talk about mortality. I love the movie for just these reasons. Oh and did I mention it's a musical?
4 - Into the Wild - I was moved on a deep level by this film and by its protagonist's decision to turn his back on society and seek his true nature. We are all faced every day with the temptations and traps of society and we all know with each new purchase or activity we add another layer between ourselves and our essential nature. But we are all drawn in anyway. This film is the story of Chris McCandless as played by Emile Hirsch, who had a fierce determination to resist that temptation at all costs. But the film is not just about his Thoreau-like quest to reinvent himself, it also shows the human cost of his decision and how selfish and self-indulgent his actions can seem. At almost every stage along his journey Hirsch is met with kind-hearted people who seem more than willing to take him in and share their lives with him. He leaves them all behind, usually without a goodbye as he slips out in the night. The film is partially voiced by his sister with whom he seems to have had a very close and loving relationship and yet who never receives one word of his whereabouts. She is alternately hurt by his lack of contact and worried sick about his safety. Other people he meets along the way are a hippie couple who share many of his ideals and seem willing to take him in a surrogate son, and a young woman who sees in him a potential soulmate. Most heartbreaking of all is his relationship with an elderly man with whom he lives for a few months who offers to adopt him as a grandson. He turns his back on all of these people. Ultimately, what moves me about this film is this dual exploration of our humanity and how we are all individuals but how we are all connected as well.
3 - The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - This film is a nuanced look at the culture of celebrity worship cleverly mascarading as a Western. The movie concerns the interaction between Pitt's Jesse James and his hero-worhsippingest fan Robert Ford who has been obsessed with James since he was a little kid. In real life, Brad Pitt is as famous for his movies as he is for his off-screen legend, and possibly as a consequence, this may be his best performance since Fight Club. I know you wouldn't think it, but Brad Pitt gives a terrifically menacing performance as a man who is feared much more than he is respected because his henchman and hangers-on know he will kill any and all of them at the drop of a hat. He seems to take pleasure in torturing their psyches like a cat playing with a mouse before he kills it. Meanwhile, Casey Affleck is surprsingly tremendous as Robert Ford the little boy lost who loves the legend more than the man. Eventually mocked and publicly ridiculed by James, Ford turns against him and assassinates him in his own house. Ford expects to be publicly praised for this action, but instead lives to hear himself mocked and called a coward. The film is excellently cast and assuredly directed by Andrew Dominik. The length turned off some people but the director uses this to convey the growing sense of menace and dread among the claustrophobic band of outlaws surrounding the most feared/worshipped outlaw/hero in the US.
So, to recap, it's been:
10 - The Bourne Ultimatum
9 - Sweeney Todd
8 - Michael Clayton
7 - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
And here are numbers 6-3. Read, or don't.
6 - Atonement - Apart from possessing admirable qualities including top-notch writing (adapted from a novel of the same name), cinematography (the amazing scene on the beach at Dunkirk which was shot in one take), acting and directing, this film is unique this year in that it has multiple strong female leads. This was a very manly, very dark, bleak year of film (now that's my kind of movies!), but this movie feels like it could have been made ten or twenty years ago. And that's a good thing. The story is about a love affair (again one of only a few in film this year) between an aristocratic lady and her family gardener (who was also Oxford-educated at her family's expense). Through a series of mishaps and black coincidences, the woman's younger sister sees an act she cannot understand and the man is accused of a horrible crime and locked away. The rest of the film deals with the young girl's realization that she has committed a horrible act that doomed a man and a love affair and her attempts to attone for it. Personally, I thought the coincidences were a bit shoe-horned in for the sake of the story and I also found some too-convenient occurences toward the end. I say this because otherwise this movie would have made it into my top three, hands down. Some people didn't mind these things. You should see this film.
5 - Once - What a beautiful film. The only other love story in the whole lot. It's just about a Dublin street musician who meets a young Czech woman who plays classical music on the piano. They realize they like each other and they can make beautiful music together (sorry, but it's true in this case). So they make a CD which the man intends to sell in London. That's it. That's the whole story. But the music is incredible. Meghan and I immediately downloaded the soundtrack and still listen to it. Falling Slowly is one of my favorite songs of the year. I like this film because it stays small. Look at all of the rest of the films on this list. They are big, they are about ideas, concepts, fate, justice. This movie is about a thing. It's about a love affair that both people know can't last beyond the completion of the album they're working on. It never intends to solve any problems or talk about mortality. I love the movie for just these reasons. Oh and did I mention it's a musical?
4 - Into the Wild - I was moved on a deep level by this film and by its protagonist's decision to turn his back on society and seek his true nature. We are all faced every day with the temptations and traps of society and we all know with each new purchase or activity we add another layer between ourselves and our essential nature. But we are all drawn in anyway. This film is the story of Chris McCandless as played by Emile Hirsch, who had a fierce determination to resist that temptation at all costs. But the film is not just about his Thoreau-like quest to reinvent himself, it also shows the human cost of his decision and how selfish and self-indulgent his actions can seem. At almost every stage along his journey Hirsch is met with kind-hearted people who seem more than willing to take him in and share their lives with him. He leaves them all behind, usually without a goodbye as he slips out in the night. The film is partially voiced by his sister with whom he seems to have had a very close and loving relationship and yet who never receives one word of his whereabouts. She is alternately hurt by his lack of contact and worried sick about his safety. Other people he meets along the way are a hippie couple who share many of his ideals and seem willing to take him in a surrogate son, and a young woman who sees in him a potential soulmate. Most heartbreaking of all is his relationship with an elderly man with whom he lives for a few months who offers to adopt him as a grandson. He turns his back on all of these people. Ultimately, what moves me about this film is this dual exploration of our humanity and how we are all individuals but how we are all connected as well.
3 - The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - This film is a nuanced look at the culture of celebrity worship cleverly mascarading as a Western. The movie concerns the interaction between Pitt's Jesse James and his hero-worhsippingest fan Robert Ford who has been obsessed with James since he was a little kid. In real life, Brad Pitt is as famous for his movies as he is for his off-screen legend, and possibly as a consequence, this may be his best performance since Fight Club. I know you wouldn't think it, but Brad Pitt gives a terrifically menacing performance as a man who is feared much more than he is respected because his henchman and hangers-on know he will kill any and all of them at the drop of a hat. He seems to take pleasure in torturing their psyches like a cat playing with a mouse before he kills it. Meanwhile, Casey Affleck is surprsingly tremendous as Robert Ford the little boy lost who loves the legend more than the man. Eventually mocked and publicly ridiculed by James, Ford turns against him and assassinates him in his own house. Ford expects to be publicly praised for this action, but instead lives to hear himself mocked and called a coward. The film is excellently cast and assuredly directed by Andrew Dominik. The length turned off some people but the director uses this to convey the growing sense of menace and dread among the claustrophobic band of outlaws surrounding the most feared/worshipped outlaw/hero in the US.
God damn, it's been a long time since I posted. And as usual, this one will be late. It's a blog all about my favorite movies from the year that was, 2007. I've broken it up into three different posts because it's so frickin' long. Without further ado, here it is.
So, every year the wife and I try to watch as many movies that are nominated for Oscars as we can. This usually results in some pretty good movies, but not always (Crash, Dreamgirls). Anyway, this year seemed like it was a very good year for movies. Well actually, the second half of the year was a great 6 months for movies. So, since I've been obsessing over movies these past few months I thought I'd let you know which I thought were the best, which are in my top ten, which deserve a look and which are best to be avoided.
10 - The Bourne Ultimatum - The perfect action movie. I only sort of enjoyed the first two, but this last one topped them all. It's an action movie with a brain. It even had a message of sorts about responsibility and free will as Jason Bourne finally confronts the people who turned him into the unfeeling perfect killing machine he is. No cheesy James Bond one liners and coolness in the face of danger. No ridiculous technology to save the day, just relentless action. Relentless unstoppable action.
9 - Sweeney Todd - Ok, I know the reception to this one was decidedly mixed and I admit the opening sequence was badly handled, but I loved the combination of Sondheim, Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, and Helena Bonham Carter. How can you watch a movie where a man sings a song called "My Friends" to his knives and not love it? I loved the music and while I missed the rich baritone of Sweeney Todd's voice from stage versions, I thought Tim Burton's faux-gothic darkness and solid, solid performances all around more than made up for it. But I like discordant "melodies", don't mind the blood and welcome moral ambiguity. In many ways this musical is the opposite of most cornball musicals. Man goes to prison for a crime he didn't commit, but then comes out cold and deadly and instead of righting his wrongs, exacts murderous revenge on those who wronged him and on society in general. What's not to love?
8 - Michael Clayton - A tight legal thriller which never goes anywhere near the inside of a courtroom. George Clooney's title character is a guy who goes around and "fixes" problems for a large law firm, by calling in favors from the police and, it is hinted, by performing other less savory, less legal maneuvers. When a senior partner (Tom Wilkinson) discovers the firm is representing a corrupt company he goes off his medication and threatens to expose it all. Clayton's job is to track him down and set him back on the right path. Anyway, George Clooney is very strong but the movie is worth seeing for Tom Wilkinson's hilarious and chillingly demented performance and for Tilda Swinton's almost indescribable portrayal of a corporate lawyer who is all cool on the outside but falling apart on the inside. Her collapse into a horrible sweaty mess in a corporate restroom is something only she could have pulled off. If you haven't seen her in The Deep End, go rent it.
7 - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - On paper, this sounds like the movie equivalent of eating your spinach. Sure, it's good for you, but who wants to choke down all that bitterness. But in fact the movie is surprisingly light. And thankfully fairly short. It's about a high rolling and famous man (he's the editor of the French Elle magazine) in his early 40's who has a kind of stroke which leaves him paralyzed except for his left eye. That's right, he can only blink his left eye. That's it. But, he is able to pull himself out of despair and eventually dictates a memoir by blinking his eye! The title is taken from his description of his condition, his body feels like it's weighed down by a bulky diving suit (the diving bell) while his imagination can take him anywhere (the butterfly). What makes it worth seeing is the hilariously sarcastic French humor he retains and the director, Julian Schnabel's use of color and imagery. Seriously, this is a fantastic movie, that doesn't feel like a disease of the week brought to you by Hallmark.
Okay, that's it for pat 1. Hopefully it's not too long. I hope you enjoy. I'll send part II later. I've already written the rest. I sent the same list into a film website I visit to try to win a competition, but didn't win a damn thing. but you don't have to compete with friends and anonymous strangers on the internet right? Right? Anyway, you guys might not have seen all of these and I'm willing to bet I have seen more movies than most of you this year.
So, every year the wife and I try to watch as many movies that are nominated for Oscars as we can. This usually results in some pretty good movies, but not always (Crash, Dreamgirls). Anyway, this year seemed like it was a very good year for movies. Well actually, the second half of the year was a great 6 months for movies. So, since I've been obsessing over movies these past few months I thought I'd let you know which I thought were the best, which are in my top ten, which deserve a look and which are best to be avoided.
10 - The Bourne Ultimatum - The perfect action movie. I only sort of enjoyed the first two, but this last one topped them all. It's an action movie with a brain. It even had a message of sorts about responsibility and free will as Jason Bourne finally confronts the people who turned him into the unfeeling perfect killing machine he is. No cheesy James Bond one liners and coolness in the face of danger. No ridiculous technology to save the day, just relentless action. Relentless unstoppable action.
9 - Sweeney Todd - Ok, I know the reception to this one was decidedly mixed and I admit the opening sequence was badly handled, but I loved the combination of Sondheim, Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, and Helena Bonham Carter. How can you watch a movie where a man sings a song called "My Friends" to his knives and not love it? I loved the music and while I missed the rich baritone of Sweeney Todd's voice from stage versions, I thought Tim Burton's faux-gothic darkness and solid, solid performances all around more than made up for it. But I like discordant "melodies", don't mind the blood and welcome moral ambiguity. In many ways this musical is the opposite of most cornball musicals. Man goes to prison for a crime he didn't commit, but then comes out cold and deadly and instead of righting his wrongs, exacts murderous revenge on those who wronged him and on society in general. What's not to love?
8 - Michael Clayton - A tight legal thriller which never goes anywhere near the inside of a courtroom. George Clooney's title character is a guy who goes around and "fixes" problems for a large law firm, by calling in favors from the police and, it is hinted, by performing other less savory, less legal maneuvers. When a senior partner (Tom Wilkinson) discovers the firm is representing a corrupt company he goes off his medication and threatens to expose it all. Clayton's job is to track him down and set him back on the right path. Anyway, George Clooney is very strong but the movie is worth seeing for Tom Wilkinson's hilarious and chillingly demented performance and for Tilda Swinton's almost indescribable portrayal of a corporate lawyer who is all cool on the outside but falling apart on the inside. Her collapse into a horrible sweaty mess in a corporate restroom is something only she could have pulled off. If you haven't seen her in The Deep End, go rent it.
7 - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - On paper, this sounds like the movie equivalent of eating your spinach. Sure, it's good for you, but who wants to choke down all that bitterness. But in fact the movie is surprisingly light. And thankfully fairly short. It's about a high rolling and famous man (he's the editor of the French Elle magazine) in his early 40's who has a kind of stroke which leaves him paralyzed except for his left eye. That's right, he can only blink his left eye. That's it. But, he is able to pull himself out of despair and eventually dictates a memoir by blinking his eye! The title is taken from his description of his condition, his body feels like it's weighed down by a bulky diving suit (the diving bell) while his imagination can take him anywhere (the butterfly). What makes it worth seeing is the hilariously sarcastic French humor he retains and the director, Julian Schnabel's use of color and imagery. Seriously, this is a fantastic movie, that doesn't feel like a disease of the week brought to you by Hallmark.
Okay, that's it for pat 1. Hopefully it's not too long. I hope you enjoy. I'll send part II later. I've already written the rest. I sent the same list into a film website I visit to try to win a competition, but didn't win a damn thing. but you don't have to compete with friends and anonymous strangers on the internet right? Right? Anyway, you guys might not have seen all of these and I'm willing to bet I have seen more movies than most of you this year.
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