All About New Year's Eve (and what is forthcoming in 2010)

Well, as J.L. said, another year over and a new one just begun.  It is December 31st and 2009 is coming to a close.  As for that annual critic's tradition, I will be revealing my Top 10 List in less than a week.  Also coming soon will be the Best of the Decade List (as those who follow this blog know I have been counting down to the past few weeks).  As far as new reviews, or more precisely, reviews that I have been procrastinating on, they are coming too. In the next few weeks I will (finally) be publishing my reviews of Up in the Air, The Messenger, Bad Lieutenant, Precious, Invictus, Nine, A Single Man, Me & Orson Welles, A Town Called Panic, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Brothers, The Road, Red Cliff, Police Adjective, Still Walking, Broken Embraces, Crazy Heart, Mammoth and Avatar.  After that a fresh new start in 2010. Until then, Happy New Year and go watch the ball, strawberry, banana, heart, pickle, goat, cow, bow tie, apple, turtle, badger, kumquat or whatever one watches drop at midnight, because tonight is all about eve (get it?).  See you next year.

Sherlock Holmes Reviewed at The Vigilant Monkey

I went into this movie with absolutely no intentions of liking it.  Expecting to hate it actually.  I do like Robert Downey Jr. and I did enjoy Iron Man (he is playing essentially the same character here!? - just sans the armour overalls) but to think I could sit there for more than two hours and enjoy a Guy "Snatch" Ritchie movie???  A Guy "Lock, Stock & Two Freakin' Smoking Barrels" Ritchie movie?????  A Guy "RocknRolla" Ritchie movie??????  A Guy "Swept Away" Ritchie movie???????  Just ain't happenin' brothah.

But guess what?  I sat there for more than two hours and enjoyed a Guy Ritchie movie.  A Guy "Sherlock Holmes" Ritchie movie!!!!!  True, the arbitrary auteur's annoying filmmaking style is still quite intact but with the help of Tony Stark gone back in time...er, I mean with the help of Robert Downey Jr. (and Jude Law), Ritchie's movie works - for the most part.  It still had the most mundane of villians and relied too heavily on CGI, but hey, just the fact that I sat there for more than two hours and enjoyed a Guy Ritchie movie should be enough of a victory.  Anyway, my review is over at The Vigilant Monkey (one of my three regular haunts outside of my own site). 

Read my review of Sherlock Holmes at The Vigilant Monkey.

Best of the Decade: Year 2005

Welcome to Part VI of the Best of the Decade Project.  Each few days I will name my choices for the best films of each particular year in the aforementioned decade.  This will culminate just after the new year with my list of the 50 greatest films of the decade.  So without further ado I give you my top ten for the year 2005.  

1. Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee) 

2. The Wayward Cloud (Tsai Ming-liang) 

3. The New World (Terrence Malick)

4. A History of Violence (David Cronenberg)

5. Gabrielle (Patrice Chereau) 

6. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Cristi Puiu)

7. Battle in Heaven (Carlos Reygadas) 

8. Three Times (Hou Hsiao-hsien)

9. The Proposition (John Hillcoat)

10. Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story (Michael Winterbottom) 

Julie & Julia (finally!) Reviewed at MovieZeal

I usually don't do DVD reviews (at least not since I had my own DVD column at a local alt monthly called Central Voice from 2004-2005, before having a falling out of sorts over the hack job edit they did on my Brokeback Mountain piece) but since I never bothered to review the movie when it originally came out (oh that darned procrastination) here I am writing a review of Julie & Julia on the release of the movie on DVD.  It is my eighth review written specifically for Luke Harrington's wonderful review site, MovieZeal.  

Read my review of Julie & Julia at MovieZeal.

Best of the Decade: Year 2004

Welcome to Part V of the Best of the Decade Project.  Each few days I will name my choices for the best films of each particular year in the aforementioned decade.  This will culminate just after the new year with my list of the 50 greatest films of the decade.  So without further ado I give you my top ten for the year 2004.

1. 2046 (Wong Kar-wai)

2. Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (Quentin Tarantino) 

3. Before Sunset (Richard Linklater)

4. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry) 

5. Dawn of the Dead (Zack Snyder)

6. Primer (Shane Carruth)

7. Birth (Jonathan Glazer)
8. Sideways (Alexander Payne)

9. Collateral (Michael Mann) 

10. Closer (Mike Nichols)

An Education Reviewed at MovieZeal

I first saw Lone Scherfig's An Education in NYC about a month or so ago.  Now, finally, it has made its way to Midtown Cinema here in Harrisburg.  I suppose that means it is about time for a published review - so here it is.  It is incidentally, my seventh review written for MovieZeal.  As far as the movie itself goes, it is a serious mood piece.  Well, a comic-serious mood piece, but whatever.  Scherfig has created something that is a stunning period-pitch set piece.  Designed with a unique flare that makes it seem both more real (an honest portrayal of late fifties/early sixties London) and more cinematic (it is a dreamlike fantasy world) than most movies of its ilk.  Granted, the film is let down a bit by Nick Hornby's loquacious yet cliche'd screenplay, but pulled up again by the central performance of Carey Mulligan as Jenny.  It's a role that could win this twenty-four year old newcomer an Academy Award for Best Actress.  But enough of that.  Read my review if you want any more.

Read my review of An Education at MovieZeal.

Best of the Decade: Year 2003

Welcome to Part IV of the Best of the Decade Project.  Each few days I will name my choices for the best films of each particular year in the aforementioned decade.  This will culminate just after the new year with my list of the 50 greatest films of the decade.  So without further ado I give you my top ten for the year 2003.

1. Dogville (Lars von Trier)

2. Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (Quentin Tarantino)
3. Goodbye Dragon Inn (Tsai Ming-liang) 

4. The Dreamers (Bernardo Bertolucci) 

5. Mystic River (Clint Eastwood)

6. The Brown Bunny (Vincent Gallo)

7. The Triplets of Belleville (Sylvain Chomet)

8. Capturing the Friedmans (Andrew Jarecki)
9. Los Angeles Plays Itself (Thom Anderson) 

10. Elephant (Gus Van Sant)

Everybody's Fine Reviewed at The Vigilant Monkey

When was the last time you can remember seeing a new Robert De Niro movie that didn't make you cringe with a sort of fallen idol disappointment?  Been awhile, huh?  Other than his somewhat small role in The Good Shepherd a few years back, you pretty much have to go back more than a decade to his Jackie Brown, Wag the Dog, Heat & Cop Land days.  And don't even think of getting another Travis Bickle or Rupert Pupkin outta the man from Tribeca.  Sad really.  Very sad.  De Niro still seems to be the man he always has been, and his cinephilia is more than evident with his annual film festival, but his roles are shrinking and shrinking and shrinking some more.  Perhaps, to quote Norma Desmond, it's the pictures that got small.  Whatever it is, De Niro is at it again with the extremely mediocre Everybody's Fine.  My review can be read over at The Vigilant Monkey if you really care.  I've got to be honest and say I didn't really care while I was writing it.  The film wasn't good by any stretch of the imagination, but it also wasn't so bad as to incite wrath and ire.  But I suppose it must be done.  So here it is.  I heard one person, upon leaving the theater, say they now had to go home and get the bad taste out of his mouth by watching Taxi Driver.  Go ahead and read the review, but instead of seeing the film, go home and watch Taxi Driver instead.  To cleanse your own palette, instead of posting a shot from the questionable movie in question, I give you the poster from the original Italian version.  I haven't seen that film, but it must be better, right? 

Read my review of Everybody's Fine at The Vigilant Monkey.

Weighing in on the Rather Hum-Drum Globe Noms

My predictions (announced a day prior - and right below here if you were to scroll down just the teensiest little bit) were not that far off, and the ones I missed were pretty much my alternate choice(s) anyway.  Only Julia Roberts' Best Actress (Comedy or Musical) was a surprise (!?).  Glad to see all the love for Inglourious Basterds and The Hurt Locker.  Hope it holdsover for the Oscars.  The complete list of nominations can be viewed here.  Otherwise, just another day in predictability mode, but a pretty strong set of predictables.  The first woman director to win an Oscar is coming up boys, so look the fuck out.  And it would be an extra bit of fun to watch her beat out her ex-husband for that particular Oscar.  Who's king of the world now Jimmy!?  Now my only question is, when Christoph Lantz accepts his Golden Globe and Oscar later on, we he shout "That's-A-Bingo!!"?

Golden Globe Predictions

I suppose I should go and take a stab at predicting the Golden Globe noms which will be announced in the wee hours of Tuesday morning.  So here they are.  I have predicted five nominees in each category bjt the HPFA has gone with six on more than one occasion - which is where the alternate choices come in.   Of course some of them I maybe cheat a little by naming as many as four alternates. 

Best Picture (Drama)

• An Education
• The Hurt Locker
• Up in the Air
• Inglourious Basterds
• Invictus

alt: Precious or The Last Station or Avatar 

Best Picture (Comedy or Musical)

• Nine
• Julie & Julia
• It's Complicated
• Sherlock Holmes
  
• A Serious Man

alt: The Hangover or (500) Days of Summer 

Best Director

• Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker)
• Clint Eastwood (Invictus)
• Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds)
• Jason Reitman (Up in the Air)
• James Cameron (Avatar)

alt: Lee Daniels (Precious) or Pedro Almadovar (Broken Embraces) 

Best Actor (Drama)

• George Clooney (Up in the Air)
• Morgan Freeman (Invictus)
• Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker)
• Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart)
• Colin Firth (A Single Man)

alt: Johnny Depp (Public Enemies) or Toby Maguire (Brothers) 

Best Actress (Drama)

• Carey Mulligan (An Education)
• Gabourey Sidibe (Precious)
• Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side)
• Helen Mirren (The Last Station)
• Michelle Pfieffer (Cheri)

alt: Emily Blunt (The Young Victoria) or Abbie Cornish (Bright Star) or Audrey Tautou (Coco Before Chanel) or Hilary Swank (Amelia) 

Best Actor (Comedy or Musical)

• Daniel Day-Lewis (Nine)
• Robert Downey Jr. (Sherlock Holmes)
• Matt Damon (The Informant!)
• Michael Stuhlbarg (A Serious Man)
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt (500 Days of Summer)

alt: Sacha Baron Cohen (Bruno) or Bradley Cooper (The Hangover) 

Best Actress (Comedy or Musical)

• Marion Cotillard (Nine)
• Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia)
• Zooey Deschanel (500 Days of Summer)
• Sandra Bullcok (The Proposal)
• Meryl Streep (It's Complicated)

alt: Katherine Heigl (The Ugly Truth) or Amy Adams (Julie & Julia) 

Best Supporting Actor

• Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds)
• Alfred Molina (An Education)
• Stanley Tucci (Julie & Julia or The Lovely Bones)
• Matt Damon (Invictus)
• Woody Harrelson (The Messenger)

alt: Alec Baldwn (It's Complicated) or Christopher Plummer (The Last Station) 

Best Supporting Actress

• Mo'Nique (Precious)
• Penelope Cruz (Nine)
• Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air)
• Julianne Moore (A Single Man)
• Melanie Laurent (Inglourious Basterds)

alt: Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air) or Natalie Portman (Brothers) 

Best Screenplay

• Up in the Air
• The Hurt Locker
• Inglourious Basterds
• Precious
• An Education

alt: The Messenger or A Serious Man or The Last Station 

Best Foreign Film

• Broken Embraces
• The White Ribbon
• Coco Before Chanel
• A Prophet
• Lebanon

Best Animated Film

• Fantastic Mr. Fox
• Up
• Ponyo
  
• Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
• Coraline

That's my line-up.  Taking a bit of a chance with not nominating Precious and I can't help but name Melanie Laurent for Supporting Actress.  We'll see Tuesday morning...

Best of the Decade: Year 2002

Welcome to Part III of the Best of the Decade Project.  Each few days I will name my choices for the best films of each particular year in the aforementioned decade.  This will culminate just after the new year with my list of the 50 greatest films of the decade.  So without further ado I give you my top ten for the year 2002.

1. Russian Ark (Aleksandr Sokurov)

2. City of God (Fernando Meirelles)

3. Irreversible (Gasper Noe) 
4. Talk to Her (Pedro Almodovar)
5. 28 Days Later (Danny Boyle)  

6. Far From Heaven (Todd Haynes)

7. Gerry (Gus Van Sant)

8. Punch Drunk Love (Paul Thomas Anderson)

9. Femme Fatale (Brian De Palma)

10. Gangs of New York (Martin Scorsese)

My Quest To See the 1000 Greatest: The Last Picture Show (1971)

The Last Picture Show is #567 in  
My Quest to watch the 1000 Greatest Films 

Screened 11/25/09 at Midtown Cinema, on DVD from Netflix

Ranked #269 on TSPDT
 

Watching this film on the big screen for the first time (though unfortunately on a DVD and not the obviously preferable 35mm) was a delight I never expected.  Though enjoying his cinephiliac writings, I have never been a big fan of Bogdanovich as a filmmaker.  Only seeing his mid to later work, I was unaware of the stark beauty of this particular film.  Mask and Cat's Meow, though both having their good points do not a favourite director make.  So after years and years of pretty much ignoring The Last Picture Show, I finally sat down and watched it.  My reaction?  Wow!

Shot in black & white - Bogdanovich, afraid the studio would not let him film it this way, claims it was Orson Welles who made him talk the studio into filming as such - the film relays the era (1951-52) with a naturalness that makes you almost forget it wasn't actually made at that time.  This sharp black & white also adds to both the deep focus Bogdanovich wanted to work with as well as the starkness of this dead end Texas town that is the setting for Larry McMurtry's book and screenplay.

Filmed in the actual town McMurtry grew up in and wrote about, The Last Picture Show was made in the midst of the most raucous cinematic revolution ever, and at first glance, with its classic style and visual imagery, may seem quite out of place, yet it couldn't have been more revolutionary.  Styled as a sort of classicism that makes it seem out of time, more attuned to fifties Hollywood cinema, yet at the same time a frank (especially for 1970) look at sexual mores that give the film a shocking streak throughout.

This sexual frankness of course brings us to the heart of the film - or perhaps the g-spot - Cybill Shepherd as Jacy Farrow.  Making her film debut (after being found on the cover of a magazine by Bogdanovich's wife) Shepherd is a sizzling sexual beast, able to lure in and then destroy any young man she so wishes.  The most prominent being the director himself - an irony made even more ironic considering who discovered the young model-cum-starlet in the first place.

Perhaps Bogdanovich is one of those filmmaker's who spent their creative abilities early (I still must see Targets, What's Up, Doc? and Daisy Miller) and are left flailing in mediocrity later in their careers.  This idea seems to be magnified by the fact that the only theatrically released movie made by Bogdanovich in the past decade was the mildly well received Cat's Meow.  And speaking of later Bogdanovich, I have yet to see Texasville, the nineteen years in the making sequel to The Last Picture Show, but not much good has been heard about it.

Best of the Decade: Year 2001

Welcome to Part II of the Best of the Decade Project.  Each few days I will name my choices for the best films of each particular year in the aforementioned decade.  This will culminate just after the new year with my list of the 50 greatest films of the decade.  So without further ado I give you my top ten for the year 2001. 

1. Mulholland Dr. (David Lynch)

2. Y Tu Mama, Tambien (Alfonso Cuaron)
3. The Royal Tanenbaums (Wes Anderson)

4. Moulin Rouge (Baz Luhrmann) 

5. Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (Zacharias Kunuk)

6. Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki)

7. Late Marriage (Dovar Kosashvili) 

8. The Piano Teacher (Michael Haneke)

9. The Son's Room (Nanni Moretti) 
10. Gosford Park (Robert Altman)