As we reach the end of my salute to the achievements of 2009 here are my top films. I have been lucky, of the 42 times I went to the cinema I only consider 6 outright failures, and none of the films were so dreadful they had nothing to recommend them. That doesn't make the compilation of a top ten list any easier, in fact the overall quality has meant that many films which were very good ended up being left out. All but the top 3 could easily have been displaced by the dozen other contenders.
I won't be giving any commentary to list, not even a brief sentence, but please note that I have chosen these films because they moved me, gave me pure unadulterated pleasure or just led to more conversation than any of the other films I saw (number 10 for instance has led to 4 different viewings with deep discussions about the outcome).
1. Where the Wild Things Are
2009. Dir: Spike Jonze. Starring: Max Records, Catherine Keener, James Gandolfini, Catherine O'Hara and Lauren Ambrose. My Review
2. Maria Larsson's Everlasting Moments
2008. Dir: Jan Troell. Starring: Maria Heiskanen, Mikhail Persbrandt, Jesper Christensen, Emil Jensen and Ghita Nørby. My Review
3. Che Part 2
2008. Dir: Steven Soderbergh. Starring Benicio Del Toro, Franka Potenta, Joaquim de Almeida, Demián Bichir and Lou Diamond Phillips. My Review
4. A Serious Man
2009. Dir: Ethan and Joel Coen. Starring: Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind, Fred Melamed, Sari Lennick and Aaron Wolff. My Review
5. Away We Go
2009. Dir: Sam Mendes. Starring: John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph, Carmen Ejogo, Catherine O'Hara and Jeff Daniels. My Review
6. Milk
2008. Dir: Gus van Sant. Starring: Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, Diego Luna and James Franco. Not Reviewed.
7. Antichrist
2009. Dir: Lars von Trier. Starring: Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg. My Review
8. Avatar
2009. Dir: James Cameron. Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Sigourney Weaver and Michelle Rodriguez. My Review
9. Drag me to Hell
2009. Dir: Sam Raimi. Starring: Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver, Dileep Rao and David Paymer. My Review
10. Doubt
2008. Dir: John Patrick Shanley. Starring: Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Viola Davis and Joseph Foster. My Review
Thursday, 31 December 2009
2009 in Review - Best Film
Wednesday, 30 December 2009
2009 in Review - Best Actor
Compared to the last three days the Best Actor category is by far the starriest group with a couple of massively popular performers, but it still has it's fair share of wtf selections so I'm looking forward to hearing comments on this. Tee hee.
1. Benicio Del Toro - Che Part 1 and 2. There are few biopics where the actor so inhabits the person that we can't see the affectations and walls the actor has copied off the original. As far as I'm concerned Del Toro is Che Guevera.
2. Russell Crowe - State of Play. This superior thriller may not be the sort of film you would imagine as an acting showcase, but in casting Crowe as the archetypal news hound they managed to make it one. Everything he does is natural and built around an solid believeable characterisation.
3. Max Records - Where the Wild Things Are. Few child actors can make me sit up and notice their performance, often they come across as mannered or "stage schooly". As the one real wild thing in the movie Records was equally impressive when having a temper tantrum as when feeling isolated in his fantasy island.
4. Willem Dafoe - Antichrist. The He in Lars von Trier's nightmarish vision was a tough role for anyone to take on, both loving yet arrogant and mentally abusive, the performance had to be perfectly balanced to prevent it from going over the edge. Dafoe managed that and with Charlotte Gainsborough salvaged the humanity in the film.
5. Sean Penn - Milk. It's a tough choice for number 5, with both Penn and Mickey Rourke fighting for it. In the end I had to decide which performance spoke to me more, and Harvey Milk recruited me.
Saturday, 21 February 2009
Out this week (20/02/2009)
A draw at the top, but I'll have to go for Gran Torino. I won't be able to see it for a week, but I've already had Che: Part 1 as the recommendation earlier this year and it's only fair to give someone else a go.
Cadillac Records
Strange that a subject like the history of a record label has two films in a very short time period. In this version of the "Chess" story adrien Brody plays Leanard Chess and Beyonce, Jeffrey Wright and Mos Def all pop up. I'm still waiting on Who do You Love?
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
Che: Part 2
In the second part of Soderbergh's epic retelling of the life of Che Guevera we follow Del Toro through the jungles of Bolivia to his ultimate defeat. Bleak but worthwhile film.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●●●○○
Confessions of a Shopaholic
Is this the right time to release a film about a compulsive spender? Who cares, the perky Isla Fisher will guarantee this will go straight to the top of the box office.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●○○○○○
Dehli 6
American-born Indian, Roshan (Abhishek Bachchan - looking a little like Alfred Molina in some shots) brings his ailing grandmother back to India. Om Puri turns up again.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Gran Torino
Bizarre release pattern aside (opening in Manchester, Bristol and Leeds this week - next week everywhere else, huh?) Clint's swansong to acting will be incredibly watchable even if it's regurgitated rubbish.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●●●○○
Jag Jeondeyan De Mele
The film reflects a journey of a young man Abahijot (Harbhajan Mann) which holds so much excitement, dreams, sadness, happiness, hate and love.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○
Push
If Chris Evans would only release a film where he took a shower and then spent 2 hours drip drying I'd be super excited about seeing it. In the meantime there's only this sort of superhero lite stuff to see. Or not.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
20th Century Boys
Live action version of popular Manga series following a group of meet who meet at a school reunion, talk about their imaginery fights and then it gets weird. For diehard fans only.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Thursday, 19 February 2009
Benicio Del Toro
Happy Birthday to
Benicio Del Toro
42 today
Another attractive in an unconventional way actor - it's the way I like them - Benicio is on a bit of a role at the moment. I'm eagerly anticipating the second part of Che (hopefully opening this weekend) and he also has The Wolfman in November to propel him to the top of the Box Office. There are also rumours that he's to play one of the Jesuits in Scorcese's Silence. Now that a pairing the world needs to see.
Sunday, 4 January 2009
Che: Part 1
2008. Dir: Steven Soderbergh. Starring: Benecio Del Toro, Julia Ormond, Demián Bichir, Catalina Sandino Moreno and Rodrigo Santoro . ●●●●○
It has been over 24 hours since I saw Che: Part 1 and I'm not sure I've given enough time to fully be able to review the film. The experience was so visceral, so raw I find it difficult to seperate my thoughts about the process from my thoughts about the film making. It is common, when watching biopics, to be unable to distance my ideas about the characters to those of the film, but somehow, because of the way Che was made, I find it even harder than normal.
The films alternates between scenes of the July 26th movement's struggle against Batista's dictatorship in Cuba and Che's triumphant speech to the UN headquarters in December 1964.
It is in Cuba that the film is truly alive. We are plunged alongside Ernesto "Che" Guevera as he fights alongside Fidel Castro, romps with the wounded, leads the troops and in his decisive battle in Santa Clara. During these sections we get a real insight into what Guevera was like: his crippling asthma, his belief in education as being the only way of leading Cuba out of poverty, his resolve and bloody mindedness, even his ideas on justice.
In the main this is due to the seamless performance by Del Toro who disappears completely in the role, physically and spiritually embodying the famed revolutionary. Soderbergh's cinematography and direction help with this feat, the camera always appears to be placed so that Che is central to the action, or ahead of the rest of the crowd. You end up feeling like you're following Guevera in a documentary.
The grainy black and white work in the New York scenes are less sucessful. Seeming more like a greatest hits of Guevera's speeches and some interlocking scenes I was aching either to here the speech in full or just return to the Cuban jungles.
The rest of the cast are exemplarary too, even if the nature of guerilla warfare and the films focus on Che means that many of them have little characterisation to work with.
Perhaps the biggest issue I had with the film was that it seemed to focus on how Che acted but not on the why. It seems that Fidel persuaded him to join the Cuban revolution over a single cigar. Even in the New York scenes, where Del Toro is interviewed by Ormond he states he fully realized why he was joining the campaign whilst transporting the sick from the attack on the Moncado barracks yet what this why is is never investigated.
Maybe the whys will be become more apparent following Che: Part 2. Until then the review can only ever be 4 out of 5 blobs.
Friday, 2 January 2009
Out this Week (02/01/2009)
A quiet week for releases, although that's not unusual for this time of year. Couple that are fighting for my recommendation, but in the end I'd go for Che (Part 1) as the film to see this week. Hopefully I'll get to go tomorrow, in which case a review on Sunday won't be out of the question.
Che: Part one
Steven Soderbergh and Benicio Del Toro join together for the first part of their Che Guevera biopic. This, the more upbeat of the two films, follows Che as he leads the Cuban exiles against Batista's regime.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●●●○○
The Reader
Kate Winslet gets her Oscar (possibly) for playing a sexually predatory, murderous nazi. Although the film mainatins a detached pov throughout.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●●○○○
Sisterhood of the Travelling pants 2
The girls are back, swapping their magical jeans and getting into life affirming scrapes. Reviews make this sound not half as bad as it should be.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
The Spirit
Frank Miller proves Sin City was not a fluke and that he can only direct films in that style - albeit with more famous scantily clad women and a great deal more toilet humour. Avoid.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
By the way I never showed the trailer for The Reader, so here you go:
