1. PRECIOUS--Nothing this year cut so deep, had so much raw tension and intensity, and yet became, in a strange way, a feel good movie. Six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Director, Actress, Supporting Actress and Screenplay.*Please see my earlier PRECIOUS blog for more comments.*
2. A SERIOUS MAN--Takes Jewish angst to new and hilariously "everyman" heights. Now nominated for Best Picture and Screenplay Oscars. *See earlier A SERIOUS MAN blog for more comments.*
3. CHERRY BLOSSOMS--A smash hit during the 2008 Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) session where it won best picture, this German/Japanese film by director Doris Dorrie played a short run earlier this year in Seattle. An aging couple with preoccupied adult children scattered around the world decide to visit them all with the final destination being Tokyo where their furthest flung son now lives. Of course, things don't go according to an ideal plan, but this moving film shows us how even in disappointment and tragedy and loneliness, life has many pleasures to offer us. A beautiful celebration of life.
4. SUMMER HOURS, a French film about the emotional and intellectual impact of executing the estate of a loved one.
5. DEPARTURES, a Japanese film about a young man who becomes a preparer of dead bodies, much to his shame and ultimate satisfaction in helping the living appreciate life--the preceding three films very happy and sad at the same time--watch these with a box of Kleenex handy. Please see March 1 blog for more info on SUMMER HOURS and DEPARTURES.
6. THE COVE--One of the best documentaries shown at the SIFF this year, this film plays like a very intense, very serious MISSION IMPOSSIBLE episode, but with a very powerful political agenda. A diverse group of skin-divers, camera men, advocates and politicos attempt to expose the wasteful and cruel slaughter of innocent dolphins in THE COVE in Japan--a world wide scandal being suppressed by the Japanese government with the cooperation of other nations. A very empowering film, and hopefully now that it has a well deserved Oscar nomination for best Documentary Film, this issue will receive greater world wide attention.
7. INGLORIOUS BASTERDS--Filled with many fine intense scenes that keep building to something--you don't know what is going to happen, or how it is going to happen, but the dread and suspense keep coming, and keep you riveted, and satisfy you, finally, with horrible violence or a shocking moment or a big laugh. Director/writer Quentin Tarintino's best film yet. This totally creative "anti-Nazi fantasy film" has been nominated for 8 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actor and Original Screenplay.
8. UP--Creative, delightful and emotionally textured 3-D (although non-3-D is just as good) animated film from Disney and Pixar, this lovely, wacky gem has been nominated for 5 Oscars including Best Picture and Best Animated Picture, Screenplay, and for the likable musical score.
9. THE HANGOVER--Crude, lewd, and very funny, this adult comedy has the best laughs of the year, along with a wacky plot that unfolds like a murder mystery: What exactly, did happened last night?--with each revelation weirder than the last. What!!!!--no Oscar Nominations??!!???
10. A SINGLE MAN--Now nominated for Best Actor (Colin Firth), a moving and thoughtful "day in the life of" film with a lot of style and intrigue. *Please see my recent earlier blog of A SINGLE MAN for more info.*
11. BRIGHT STAR--A sensitive, subtle story of the unrealised and tragic love affair between poet John Keats and a neighbor woman, beautifully acted and filmed.
12. INVICTUS--Nominated for Best Actor (Morgan Freeman) and Best Supporting Actor (Matt Damon), this is an engrossing "based on true events" story by director Clint Eastwood. *See earlier blog of INVICTUS for more info.*
13. AVATAR--An unofficial remake of DANCES WITH WOLVES, except now set on another planet and featuring blue creatures instead of the Red man. The film impresses with thoughtful and wondrous special effects, and excellent technical achievements. Nominated for 9 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and 7 technical nominations. *See earlier AVATAR blog for more comments.*
14. BRONSON--Played at SIFF this year, but yet to open in Seattle, this is a stylish, actor driven, fascinating film based on a real life habitual criminal in Great Britain who has spent most of his adult life behind bars for various violent crimes including murder. Lead actor Tom Hardy is stunning. Watch for this film to play (probably briefly) this year.
15. UP IN THE AIR--Nominated for 6 Oscars included Best Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actress X2 and Best Screenplay. *See previous UP IN THE AIR blog for more comments.*
16. EVERY LITTLE STEP--A suspenseful and entertaining documentary about the recent casting experience for a new Broadway version of A CHORUS LINE. It plays like an adult version of AMERICAN IDOL with drama, tears, twists, music and dancing.
17. DISTRICT 9--A sensational and lurid science-fiction film with many blood splattered moments, laughs, thrills and haunting themes including racism, prejudice, discrimination and political abuse. Nominated for 4 Academy Awards, including Best Picture(!?!), Adapted Screenplay and Best Visual Effects.
18. AN EDUCATION--Now nominated for 3 Oscars, including Best Picture, Screenplay and Actress (Carey Mullingan). *See previous AN EDUCATION blog for more comments.*
19. 500 DAYS OF SUMMER--A wacky, funny, quirky romantic comedy, it's a lot of fun to watch.
20. THE FANTASTIC MR. FOX--Now nominated for 2 Oscars--Best Animated Feature Film, and best Original Score. *See previous THE FANTASTIC MR. FOX blog for more comments.*
21. CORALINE--Based on a twisted Neil Gaimen "children's novel," this also makes for clever and witty adult entertainment. Nominated for 1 Oscar--Best Animated Feature Film.
22. MOON--A low budget wonder, this deceptively simple science-fiction film has one set (a moon digging operation) and one actor (a very good Sam Rockwell) but manages to cast a haunting and disturbing spell when a second character appears
23. HURT LOCKER--There's excruciating tension created by strong direction and acting, but where's the plot and the point? Nominated for 9 Oscars including Best Picture, Actor and Director.
24. --32.--ADVENTURELAND, AWAY WE GO, YOUNG VICTORIA, NICK AND NORA'S INFINITE PLAY LIST, I LOVE YOU MAN, TAKING WOODSTOCK, IN THE LOOP, STAR TREK, LITTLE ASHES.
Also loved Oscar nominated Jeff Bridges in CRAZY HEART, the Oscar Nominated set direction and costumes in SHERLOCK HOLMES and NINE, Oscar nominee for Animated Feature The PRINCESS and the FROG, the docu Oscar nominated FOOD INC and possibly more TBA.
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worst films.......Lovely Bones, Observe and Report, Bride Wars, Cold Souls and G-Force.
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Showing posts with label Precious. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Precious. Show all posts
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Brothers and Fantastic Mr Fox top films this week
Chronologically, I started the week (Sunday 29 November) with a repeat viewing of what I think will be one the the year's best films, PRECIOUS, and I'm happy to say it lived up to a second view....it's still strong, startling and very well made and acted. After a late lunch at The Deluxe on Broadway, the three of us went to see THE FANTASTIC MR FOX with voices by George Clooney, Meryl Streep and Bill Murray, and it is one of the damnedest "kids" movie ever--in fact, I don't think that kids would really get it or appreciate it, but the adults sure were laughing. Roald Dahl wrote the book and Wes Anderson directed it (along with his previous winners RUSHMORE, THE LIFE AQUATIC with STEVE ZISSOU, and THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS)in a sardonic and ironic style, which adds to it's charm. If you like your 2D cartoons with creatures who act like animals, smoke and drink and thieve, and say witty things, then you'll enjoy FMF.
THE MAID played at SIFF last May and even though I was not bored, I found the film rather pedantic. Fortunately, the lead actress is gung-ho as a domestic who is beloved by her employer family, yet due to some physical (or mental) illness, becomes increasingly paranoid about her position, and when a succession of new help is hired to assist her, she drives them off with petty and exasperating hi jinks. Fun to watch, but not very cinematically adventurous.
EVERYBODY'S FINE is a remake of an Italian Marcello Mastroianni film from several years ago, remade to fit Robert De Niro, as a father who feels neglected when his four adult kids all cancel for a family reunion dinner, so he sets out around the country to visit them all one by one. There are obviously some big secrets that are uncovered, and some fences that need mending, and to its credit, the film has a lovely finale that is quite emotional, but getting to that point, it's bland and slow. It's also predictable. If his kids weren't such liars in the first place there'd be no film. I wish that were true. If you are desperate for a teary eyed film that ends at a Christmas reunion, then you might enjoy it. Otherwise, forget it.
The best new film this week turned out to be BROTHERS, another remake of a Danish film from a few years ago that has one brother (the "good" one) played by Tobey (Spiderman) Mcguire, going off to war in Afghanistan and leaving behind his loving wife Natalie (V for Vendetta)Portman, and his "bad" brother just back from prison, played by Jake (Brokeback Mountain) Gyllenhaal. The good and the bad get mighty blurred by the end. The TV spots for this film would have you believe this is a tale of infidelity, sexual jealousy and revenge. In reality it is a very intense and honest portrayal of the horrors of war, the pain of separation, the loss of loved ones during war-time, and the difficulty of readjustment to civilian life for returning soldiers. It is a fine and important film, possibly one the year's top films.
My library dvd find of the week is NINELIVES (2004)--basically 9 short films, all about women in transitional or climactic dramatic peaks in their lives, and each story shot in one 10-14 minute take (no cutting or editing). There is a large and dynamic cast which includes Aidan Quinn, Sissy Spacek, Amanda Seyfried, Amy Brenneman, Kathy Baker, Holly Hunter, and others. Sometimes it is hard to invest emotionally in so many different characters and stories, but each is quite different and unique and each strikes a different dramatic punch. I especially liked the first one with Elpidia Carrillo as an inmate who has a breakdown when a technicality denies her a visit from her child, a middle one where two ex-lovers (Jason Isaacs and Robin Wright Penn) meet in a grocery store and try or not to pick up where they left off several years earlier, and the last one with Glenn Close and Dakota Fanning as a mother and daughter who spend an afternoon picnic at the grave site of --well, let's save that shock for the viewer to discover.
THE MAID played at SIFF last May and even though I was not bored, I found the film rather pedantic. Fortunately, the lead actress is gung-ho as a domestic who is beloved by her employer family, yet due to some physical (or mental) illness, becomes increasingly paranoid about her position, and when a succession of new help is hired to assist her, she drives them off with petty and exasperating hi jinks. Fun to watch, but not very cinematically adventurous.
EVERYBODY'S FINE is a remake of an Italian Marcello Mastroianni film from several years ago, remade to fit Robert De Niro, as a father who feels neglected when his four adult kids all cancel for a family reunion dinner, so he sets out around the country to visit them all one by one. There are obviously some big secrets that are uncovered, and some fences that need mending, and to its credit, the film has a lovely finale that is quite emotional, but getting to that point, it's bland and slow. It's also predictable. If his kids weren't such liars in the first place there'd be no film. I wish that were true. If you are desperate for a teary eyed film that ends at a Christmas reunion, then you might enjoy it. Otherwise, forget it.
The best new film this week turned out to be BROTHERS, another remake of a Danish film from a few years ago that has one brother (the "good" one) played by Tobey (Spiderman) Mcguire, going off to war in Afghanistan and leaving behind his loving wife Natalie (V for Vendetta)Portman, and his "bad" brother just back from prison, played by Jake (Brokeback Mountain) Gyllenhaal. The good and the bad get mighty blurred by the end. The TV spots for this film would have you believe this is a tale of infidelity, sexual jealousy and revenge. In reality it is a very intense and honest portrayal of the horrors of war, the pain of separation, the loss of loved ones during war-time, and the difficulty of readjustment to civilian life for returning soldiers. It is a fine and important film, possibly one the year's top films.
My library dvd find of the week is NINELIVES (2004)--basically 9 short films, all about women in transitional or climactic dramatic peaks in their lives, and each story shot in one 10-14 minute take (no cutting or editing). There is a large and dynamic cast which includes Aidan Quinn, Sissy Spacek, Amanda Seyfried, Amy Brenneman, Kathy Baker, Holly Hunter, and others. Sometimes it is hard to invest emotionally in so many different characters and stories, but each is quite different and unique and each strikes a different dramatic punch. I especially liked the first one with Elpidia Carrillo as an inmate who has a breakdown when a technicality denies her a visit from her child, a middle one where two ex-lovers (Jason Isaacs and Robin Wright Penn) meet in a grocery store and try or not to pick up where they left off several years earlier, and the last one with Glenn Close and Dakota Fanning as a mother and daughter who spend an afternoon picnic at the grave site of --well, let's save that shock for the viewer to discover.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Ironically titled PRECIOUS tops 3 best film contenders.
Over a year ago, I came home from an early screening of a new, little known (at the time) film, and announced to my wife Toni that I think I had just seen the movie to beat for Best Picture. I had some reservations about this new title, which was to open in several weeks. That film went on to open to good reviews and a growing audience. It was called SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, and it did indeed go on to win the best picture Oscar in February of this year. The plot seemed a little too coincidental, too precious and too fantastical for me. But as I thought about it, it grew on me--it's exotica, music, energy, and humanity. I began to think of it like a Charles Dicken's novel where the hero starts his life a poor unfortunate orphan, living with evil or indifferent adults, and who by luck or good fortune or skill dug their way into an adulthood that was happy, adjusted and well deserved. Think Oliver Twist, Great Expectations or David Cooperfield.
Well, several weeks ago I came home from an advance screening and told Toni that I had just seen the film to beat at next February's Oscars. That film is PRECIOUS and everything you're going to hear about this film from others will probably be true. It is a stunning film. The audience I saw it with was absolutely transfixed, and when it reaches its excruciating climax, you don't want to see or hear anymore, but you know you've got to see this to the end, because this character has no where to go but up in life, and your heart aches for her to succeed.
This young Harlem teen in the early 80's has nothing to live for. Her mother abuses and beats her, her mostly absent father rapes her, and she is now pregnant with his second child. She lives in poverty and filth and neglect. The story is how she amazingly manages to survive and tries to break out of this terrible cycle, and it's based on a true story. Another Charles Dickens-type story, but without the feelgood ending or the train station dancing. The actors are remarkable. I was shocked to realise after the screening that the cast includes a comedian (not funny here) and two pop-singers (no music here) and an unknown, first-time actress who plays PRECIOUS with such honesty and directness that it made me cringe. As much as I enjoyed A SERIOUS MAN's deadpan, intelligent humor, the film PRECIOUS stands out for the unique and uncharted world that it explores.
Saturday night I saw another fine new British film, written by Nick Hornsby (High Fidelity) and featuring an assured cast including Alfred Molina, Peter Sarsgaard and Emma Thompson. A young 17 year old girl receives AN EDUCATION at the hands of a man nearly 20 years her senior as he introduces her to art, music, film and love. Unusual for me, I failed to predict the obvious twist towards the end that really had me rethinking my feelings for these characters. Very, very well done and thought provoking.
Slipping briefly into town this last weekend is a minor but enjoyably quirky, edgy comedy called "UNTITLED." It skewers the art gallery world and finds some big laughs in dresses that make noises, bucket kicking and chain rattling music, and "elevator" art (think musack). It is a low budget wonder.
Well, several weeks ago I came home from an advance screening and told Toni that I had just seen the film to beat at next February's Oscars. That film is PRECIOUS and everything you're going to hear about this film from others will probably be true. It is a stunning film. The audience I saw it with was absolutely transfixed, and when it reaches its excruciating climax, you don't want to see or hear anymore, but you know you've got to see this to the end, because this character has no where to go but up in life, and your heart aches for her to succeed.
This young Harlem teen in the early 80's has nothing to live for. Her mother abuses and beats her, her mostly absent father rapes her, and she is now pregnant with his second child. She lives in poverty and filth and neglect. The story is how she amazingly manages to survive and tries to break out of this terrible cycle, and it's based on a true story. Another Charles Dickens-type story, but without the feelgood ending or the train station dancing. The actors are remarkable. I was shocked to realise after the screening that the cast includes a comedian (not funny here) and two pop-singers (no music here) and an unknown, first-time actress who plays PRECIOUS with such honesty and directness that it made me cringe. As much as I enjoyed A SERIOUS MAN's deadpan, intelligent humor, the film PRECIOUS stands out for the unique and uncharted world that it explores.
Saturday night I saw another fine new British film, written by Nick Hornsby (High Fidelity) and featuring an assured cast including Alfred Molina, Peter Sarsgaard and Emma Thompson. A young 17 year old girl receives AN EDUCATION at the hands of a man nearly 20 years her senior as he introduces her to art, music, film and love. Unusual for me, I failed to predict the obvious twist towards the end that really had me rethinking my feelings for these characters. Very, very well done and thought provoking.
Slipping briefly into town this last weekend is a minor but enjoyably quirky, edgy comedy called "UNTITLED." It skewers the art gallery world and finds some big laughs in dresses that make noises, bucket kicking and chain rattling music, and "elevator" art (think musack). It is a low budget wonder.
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