Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Top Ten Movies of 2007

Yes, it's a little late. But it is here. It was a sneaky year, deep issues hidden where you don't expect to find them. Much has been written about the quality of movies released in 2007 for movies, so look for that elsewhere. We're going to get right into it.

1. There Will Be Blood - Months later and I am still speechless. I may always be. I hesitate to even place it on a list. It feels like it diminishes the movie. Every time I get into a discussion about the movie with someone else who has seen it, I learn something. A towering, sprawling, gigantic movie, it is by no means perfect: fat in some places, lean in others, its imperfections create a perfection that few films have ever attained. And at the center of it, a character that finally allowed us to see just what Daniel Day-Lewis is capable of.

2. Michael Clayton - As scattershot as There Will Be Blood is, Michael Clayton is surgically precise. I didn't know how the plot would resolve until it did. But beneath its slick exterior, Michael Clayton is really a morality tale, warning against corporate greed and the personal losses it takes. That there are such great performances strewn throughout (from roles as minute as Mrs. Greer (Julie White) to the lead, George Clooney) is a testament to just how finely crafted this film is. Tilda Swinton gives the female performance of the year.

3. No Country for Old Men - Much like Michael Clayton, No Country for Old Men used a genre to explore deeper themes. A bag of money is stolen, a man is sent to find it, and a sherriff considers the carnage wrought in the pursuit over breakfast. While on one level it is a simple chase picture, it also is interested in exploring fate and mortality. All the actors are excellent but it is Javier Bardem as the monster of a man Anton Chigurh whom you will not be able to forget.

4. Ratatouille - The nature of art, the pursuit of dreams, and family issues, all in the guise of a kids' movie about a rat with a passion for food. And that it does all of this with such joy and effortlessness is remarkable. And perhaps of all animated movies I've seen, this one fully realizes what animation is capable of. Paris looks a little brighter and the food, well, you'd swear you were able to smell it.

5. Lars and the Real Girl - If you're cynical, skip this one. You'll hate it. Here, let me drive you away: Lars lives IN A SMALL TOWN and is too shy to even talk to a girl so he buys a sex doll. But he doesn't have sex with it; he pretends she's real. And the people of the town go along with it WITHOUT A HINT OF IRONY. See ya. To the rest of you, my top three bowled me over with their filmmaking; this one bowled me over with a story of people simply doing good and I swear there is nothing more moving than that. The movie mines the material for some laughs, but they're never made at the expense of the characters and all of the actors love these people. Daniel Day-Lewis gave the male lead performance of the year. Paul Schneider as Lars's brother is best supporting.

6. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead - What an amazing movie this is. A bank robbery goes awry and we watch the aftermath tear a family apart. The situation becomes too much for their means of coping, and soon, years of pain and abuse can no longer be buried. To reveal anymore is to detract from the movie's power. There is a voyeuristic thrill as we watch these people unravel. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke and Albert Finnery are all superb under Sidney Lumet's unflinching direction.

7. Knocked Up - Judd Apatow's follow-up to The 40-Year-Old Virgin is just as funny and deeper and richer. You know the story: a schlub and a hot girl make a baby and decide to keep it. It's full of sophomoric humor, grossout jokes, and a shot of a baby crowning. It's also full of some very real moments. Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann as a longsuffering married couple are responsible for most of these. I fell in love with all of these characters. The movie is over 2 hours long and when it was over, I didn't want it to end.

8. Atonement - Joe Wright is a complete filmmaker. He leaves no aspect of filmmaking behind. Music flows seamlessly from the background into a scene. As a character walks down a hallway, lights turn on one right after the other. A 5-minute steadicam shot shows us how idle soldiers at Dunkrik during WWII are spending their time. All of it in service of a story about a young girl who thinks she sees something that has devastating consequences on all involved for years to come. The power of the story is only truly revealed in the closing moments.

9. Once - It's the music. I can talk about how it's a feel-good movie that doesn't settle for the cheap conclusion. I can talk about how engaging the leads are. I can talk about the charm of the movie. I can talk about the fact that it's a musical that doesn't follow the standard formula. I can talk about all of these things and they're all true. But the music is what raises it to such great heights.

10. Rescue Dawn - An American pilot, Dieter Dengler, is shot down over Laos before the Vietnam War has begun. He is captured and imprisoned in a camp. He organizes an escape. Any other director would amp everything up with dramatic music and soaring camera shots. In Werner Herzog's hands, it's simply a story that needs to be told. He is ably aided by Christian Bale as Dieter and Steve Zahn as a fellow POW.

I saw a feature on the web last year in which a critic detailed her favorite moments of the year in movies. It was awesome. I didn't know all of them, but that didn't matter somehow. It's probably a better tribute than a list. I love lists, so that's why you got the above, but let me share with you a couple of my favorite moments from the year.

Lars and the Real Girl - Gus's (Paul Schneider) voice crack as he confesses his feelings about his brother Lars to his wife.

Lars and the Real Girl - Lars on the porch as the icicles thaw. He turns and sees just how much he is loved.

There Will Be Blood - Daniel Plainview's face as his brother confesses his motivations.

Ratatouille - That first bite of Ratatouille.

No Country for Old Men - Llewellyn Moss tracking the blood across the desert.

Atonement - Briony Tallis's strength when the wounded arrive.

Friday, April 04, 2008

Top Ten Movies of 2006

Yep, a year late. But here it is. Don't hold your breath for 2007. Let's say I'll try not to let a year pass.

Scott

1. Babel – In Morocco, a goatherder buys a gun so his children can defend the goats. A middle-aged couple is sight seeing in Morocco when the wife is shot while riding in the tour bus. In California, their nanny decides to take the couple’s children to Mexico so she can attend her son’s wedding. And a young, deaf girl in Japan searches for intimacy. Four stories loosely connected by circumstance are bound together by theme. We are omniscient viewers, observing the devastation that miscommunication wreaks. It is an emotional journey, but a timely one.

2. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby – That name, Ricky Bobby, tells you everything you need to know about the movie. On one level, it’s just a funny name, but on another level, it’s funny because it sounds like a racecar driver name. It’s this ability to work on two levels (straight comedy and satire) simultaneously that makes Talladega Nights so brilliant. It adheres to the standard structure of a biopic: the tough childhood, the rise to fame, the fall, and the rise once more. If you see this, great. If not, the movie’s still just funny with great performances by all, particularly Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly. Rare is the movie that knows so well what it is. Rarer still the comedy. This is the most intelligent dumb comedy I’ve seen.

3. Children of Men – In the year 2027, the youngest person on earth is killed at 18. In England, Clive Owen is kidnapped by a former lover (Julianne Moore), a leader of the Human Genome Project. They need his connections in high places to smuggle someone out of the country. Only later does he learn that this someone is a woman and she is pregnant. This leads to a journey through a country devastated by the fact that it knows its time is finite. As much thought went into realizing what this future would look like as went into Talladega Nights’s complete skewering of every nook of the tired biopic. It’s also got two of the most incredible action sequences I have seen in years.

4. Lady in the Water – I know. Reviled doesn’t begin to describe the reaction by critics. But people, I can’t help it. I came at the movie with reservations and I held onto them as long as I could. Hey, I’m only human, I want to look good in front of you. Well, I just couldn’t hold onto them, so here I am telling you that this was one of the best movies of 2006. All it is is a simple, modern-day fairy tale about people learning their purpose for being on this earth. Please, oh please, don’t come at this movie with any cynicism. If you can do that, you may actually find you like it.

5. The Descent – I’m not much of a horror movie fan because they are so often cheaply made, and not cheap with the money (though that is also often the case) but cheap in their purpose. Thrills are the name of the game and as long as you can deliver on that front, well, what else do you really need? I think The Descent ably answers that question. It knows that thrills need to come from somewhere; they can’t simply be manufactured. So a group of women go spelunking. Tight spaces, the fear of getting lost, darkness: caves contain everything we fear and also act as a metaphor for the mind. And don’t think that director Neil Marshall isn’t aware of this. Visual quotes of other movies are parsed throughout enriching the viewing and also letting us know this guy’s done his homework. When my roommate and I saw the movie, a fire alarm went off about an hour into the movie. Our discussion outside on the sidewalk was whether there were any monsters in the movie. The thought that there might be was daunting. The movie had already been scary enough.

6. The Bridge – There was a time when people thought movies could change the world, a time captured in Bertolucci’s The Dreamers. Honestly, it’s rare the movie that even changes my mind. The Bridge, however, did just that. The filmmakers set up cameras on the Golden Gate Bridge where more people commit suicide than anywhere else in the world. For a year they recorded. And they captured some suicides on film. But it is not exploitative at all. If they saw someone who was going to jump, they called. It is the interviews that are what is hard about the movie. The filmmakers found friends and families of the people who committed suicide and in one instance, a person whose suicide attempt failed. Suicide had always been simple for me: bad. Now I feel that for some, it is nearly inevitable. This is not always an easy movie to watch, but it is surprisingly life affirming.

7. Little Miss Sunshine – I’m well aware of the backlash against this movie, and yes, it’s quirky, but it is also smart enough to realize that quirks do not a movie make. The characters begin as sketches but quickly come into focus. And then we get to have some fun. It’s a farce, it’s a road movie, it’s a coming-of-age movie for all involved. But most importantly of all, it is consistently funny from beginning to end. And that is a thing far too rare.

8. Stranger Than Fiction – My friend Tyler said it best: “That movie’s got 8 levels and I love all of them.” It’s true. I sat here for a second, trying to determine how I was going to tackle this movie and decided it a futile effort. There’s too much going on. If you’ve got reservations about Will Ferrell, let ‘em go, people, let ‘em go. So much of Will Ferrell’s comedy comes from him happening to people or circumstances. Here, he is the person to whom things happen. It’s a 180 and he is entirely successful. The performances all around are amazing. I really wanted a supporting nom for Emma Thompson. Ah, well. See it. I bet you can’t pick just one level.

9. The Proposition – The Western has experienced a resurgence recently but don’t come expecting your dad’s westerns. The West here is not only the Australian Outback but is dirty and full of dangerous people with nary a hero to save us. A wanted man’s brother (Guy Pearce), himself wanted, is caught. Here is the titular proposition: Save yourself by giving up your brother. It leads to a long and dark journey under the blazing sun. Perhaps the fascination of the Western is the sense of exposure it gives to things we try and hide: no shade and vast expanses. Whatever the case, the best movie of 2005 was The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, and here is a worthy successor.

10. A Prairie Home Companion – Another movie about death that is about life. The last show of a radio broadcast, an angel of death, and a whole lotta good music. There’s not much of a plot and the movie just kind of happens, but if you can fall into its gentle rhythm, the ride is full of joy. It’s a typical Altman production with a large cast of characters (and characters they are) and a restless camera. The performances are amazing: Lily Tomlin and Meryl Streep; John C. Reilly and Woody Harrelson; Kevin Kline; and in the midst of it all without ever missing a beat, Garrison Keillor.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Movie Quote Quiz - ANSWERS!!!!

Thanks for playing.

See each quote for the answers.

Scott

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I was tagged. And thus it is my duty to oblige. And really, how could I resist?

INSTRUCTIONS:
Look up 15 of your favorite films on IMDb. Take a quote from each. List them below. When someone guesses the quote correctly, cross it off the list. I trust you will not cheat (Google). I tried not to trick, but I found myself sometimes limited by IMDb or my own preference.

(For my more sensitive readers, it gets a little vulgar.)

Enjoy!

1) [T]he fucking regret and guilt, these things, don't ever let anyone ever say to you you shouldn't regret anything. Don't do that. Don't! You regret what you fucking want! Use that. Use that. Use that regret for anything, any way you want. You can use it, OK? Oh, God. This is a long way to go with no punch. - Magnolia

2) You want to know what? If I do nothing else I will convince them that Herbert Stemple knows what won the goddamned Academy Award for best goddamned picture of 1955; that's what I'm gonna accomplish. - Quiz Show

3) Oh God! Don't you want to fuck every woman you see just once? - The Talented Mr. Ripley (You will be missed, Mr. Minghella)

4)
--No unnecessary shots, Conrad, 'cause we know what they do.

--Make infected pockets full of bile, sir.

--That's right, Conrad, that's what they do.
- Three Kings

5)
--Maybe an elf or a leprechaun.

--It was nothing like that, penis breath!
- E.T.

6) Son of a bitch, our boy came home. - The Fugitive

7) Just pretend you're a janitor. Janitors are never terrified. - Notorious (It's a little more obscure than I would have liked, but IMDb didn't have any quotes containing Cary Grant's immortal reading of two little words: "Skip it.")

8) And then what did he do? Did he train you? Did he rehearse you? Did he tell you exactly what to do, what to say? You were a very apt pupil too, weren't you? You were a very apt pupil! Well, why did you pick on me? Why me? - Vertigo

9) To smoke, and have coffee - and if you do it together, it's fantastic. - Wings of Desire

10) I tried taking pictures, but they were so mediocre. I guess every girl goes through a photography phase. You know, horses... taking pictures of your feet. - Lost in Translation

11) Do you see any Teletubbies in here? Do you see a slender plastic tag clipped to my shirt with my name printed on it? Do you see a little Asian child with a blank expression on his face sitting outside on a mechanical helicopter that shakes when you put quarters in it? No? Well, that's what you see at a toy store. And you must think you're in a toy store, because you're here shopping for an infant named Jeb. - Unbreakable

12)
--Bitch, what do you want to listen to?

--I like Schubert.

--Schubert? Well, I don't!.
- Out of Sight

13) It don't matter to Jesus. - The Big Lebowski

14) Welcome the rich man, he's hard for you to miss. His butt keeps getting bigger, so there's plenty there to kiss! - Spirited Away (Again, IMDb failed me.)

15) When you have your dick in his mouth, does he just keep talking like that? 'Cause it seems to me he just never shuts up, and I'm just curious, does that get annoying? You know you're fucking a guy in the mouth and he just won't shut up? - The 25th Hour

Jake, Tyler, Curt, Tracy, Ziggy: Consider yourselves tagged!