Poster: "Source Code" (2011)

Okay, maybe I'm looking a little bit forward to Duncan Jones' "Source Code" (4.1.11, Summit), the son of David Bowie's follow-up to the critically-acclaimed and beautiful made yet (for this viewer) slightly undercooked "Moon". 
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This one-sheet is fairly bad, though - I get the metaphor, of course, but Jake Gyllenhaal looks oddly proportioned, too far from view and of course that tagline is pure studio marketing hash. Plus the type reminds me of "2012," that's all I see.

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Flipping the Calendar

With my year-end list now complete, I can finally turn the calendar over to 2011, stop looking at top ten lists in search for something that I missed or that I can pull up on Netflix - I'm done, it's over with, I'm moving on. 
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Normally at this time of year, I would have already shamelessly seen "Season of the Witch" or at least "The Green Hornet," but I'm having a tough time gearing up - "The Rite," anybody? 
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Oh well, something will come along. I'm going to The Texas Theatre on Saturday (amidst the Super Bowl insurgence here in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area) to see "The Other Woman" - not expecting much there. 
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Oh yeah, and perhaps - just maybe - Kevin Macdonald's "The Eagle" will be better than Neil Marshall's dull, fake-blooded "Centurion". 

The Best of 2010

96 Movies. Lots of them bad. However, any year in which you have Darren Aronofsky, David Fincher and the Coen Brothers all in their prime, how bad can things be?
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Anyway, I'll avoid trying to draw a link from film-to-film, gradually building to a year-end crescendo - I don't feel like it and honestly there isn't much there. So without further ado, the twenty best films of 2010:

#20  

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"CATFISH"

Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman, Relativity Media/Universal

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The first of the two "is it real?" documentaries of the year, Catfish is a tense, awkward and finally poignant film about online identity told like a thriller. 

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#19 

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"THE GHOST WRITER"

Roman Polanski, Summit Entertainment

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Speaking of thrillers, Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer is a wonderful little minor work, echoing the overseas paranoia of Frantic and the hopelessness of Chinatown.

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#18 

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"ANIMAL KINGDOM"

David Michod, Screen Australia/Film Victoria

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This Australian crime drama following the rise of a young, nearly mute teenager thrust into the bowels of his family's nest of criminals - the ending packs quite a punch. -

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#17  

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"THE AMERICAN"

Anton Corbijn, Focus Features

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Anton Corbijn's European-styled anti-thriller is more of an exercise in mood than anything else, but its commitment to its craft and the chiseled brow of George Clooney see it through. -

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#16 

"TRON: LEGACY"

Joseph Kosinksi, Buena Vista/Disney

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Quibbling about writing and storytelling and acting and all that stuff? Pfff. You missed the year's greatest sound-and-light show - a pounding techno-musical. -

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#15  

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"TOY STORY 3"

Lee Unkrich, Buena Vista/Pixar Studios

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Yeah, it's really good.....what's next?

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#14  

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"VALHALLA RISING"

Nicolas Winding Refn, IFC Films

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Nicolas Winding Refn's minimalist viking odyssey brought us some of the more memorable images of the year - brutal and spiritual. 

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#13 

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"INCEPTION"

Christopher Nolan, Warner Bros.

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Christopher Nolan's massive science-fiction epic may indeed become dulled by home viewing, but in a summer full of limp, stolid studio fare, Inception engaged and absorbed like no other.

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#12  

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"BLUE VALENTINE"

Derek Cianfrance, The Weinstein Company

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Capturing both the levitation and the destruction of young love, Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams do more than enough to cover up the film's sporadically authentic story structure.

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#11  

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"THE FIGHTER"

David O. Russell, Paramount Pictures

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Fidgeting between commercial viability and edgy realism, David O. Russell's boxing flick ultimately wins us over because of its daring ensemble and portrait of a damaged family.

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#10

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"SHUTTER ISLAND"

Martin Scorsese, Paramount Pictures

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As the year tumbled along, the film starring a broken-down, mentally unstable Leonardo DiCaprio that stuck with me the most was not Christopher Nolan's mammoth actioner, but rather Martin Scorsese's "Shutter Island." Sure, even at first glance, the film feels an awful lot like an exercise (its final revelation hardly unanticipated), yet it's inevitable depiction of a tragic husband and father lingers long after that lighthouse has faded from view.

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#9

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"FISH TANK"

Andrea Arnold, BBC Films/UK Film Council

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Andrea Arnnold's expertly shot coming-of-age drama is a spunky, grimy dose of British kitchen-sink realism. Charting but a few months in the life of 15 year-old Mia (played wonderfully by newcomer Katie Jarvis), "Fish Tank" is a rush of sexual curiosity, hopeless dreaming and yes, a scummy, glassed-in setting.

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#8

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"HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON"

Chris Sanders, Dean DeBlois, DreamWorks Animation

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In a banner year for animation (the nostalgic "Toy Story 3," the song-and-dance fairy tale "Tangled"), DreamWorks' "How to Train Your Dragon" was just pure storytelling. There's nothing revelatory in its dweeby coming-of-age arc or know-your-enemy resolutions, yet its ability to hit all of the required notes with precise timing and minimal deluge should be commended. John Powell's score is one of the best of the year.

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#7

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"RABBIT HOLE"

John Cameron Mitchell, Blossom Films/Lionsgate

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When approaching the death of a child, one would immediately think of something either tediously depressive or fallaciously uplifting, but "Rabbit Hole" is easily the most truthfully moving drama of the year. The film subverts our typical expectations of the grieving process by providing no easy answers. It says, in way that's not cynical but rather comforting, that life is unpredictable and highly enigmatic and we must deal with the outcomes we're dealt with.

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#6

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"SOMEWHERE"

Sofia Coppola, American Zoetrope/Focus Features

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In a year full of redemptive stories of middle-aged men overcoming the failures in their respective professions ("The King's Speech", "The Fighter"), Sofia Coppola's "Somewhere" may be the best of the bunch. Stripping down her proven formula of celebrity ennui ("Lost in Translation") to its bare essentials ironically allows Coppola to make perhaps the warmest film of here career.

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#5

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"THE SOCIAL NETWORK"

David Fincher, Paramount Pictures

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Inevitable potshots and front-runner backlash be damned, David Fincher's "The Social Network" is still one of the singular artistic achievements left standing. Despite its formal exactitude and brainy, eccentric dialogue, allegations about the film's coldness remain more than a bit befuddling - Zuckerberg's ironic, self-made seclusion is one of the more tragically human resolutions of the year.

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#4

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"EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP"
Banksy, Paranoid Pictures

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While the questionable authenticity of "Catfish" leaves that otherwise terrific film about the perils of online identity in the shadow of doubt, the mysteries surrounding the hooded Banksy and his strange documentary about the hypocrisy of the modern art world actually enhance the film's message about the blurred line between meaning and cheap imitation.

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#3

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"A PROPHET"

Jacques Audiard, Sony Pictures Classics

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Jacques Audiard's stark but thrilling French prison drama is one of the more indelible experiences of the year, balancing traditional rise-to-the-top crime saga storytelling with more delicate themes of supernaturalism and globalization. 

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#2

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"WHITE MATERIAL"

Claire Denis, Wild Bunch, IFC Films

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Claire Denis' simmering, unshakeable drama quietly evokes the tensions and desperate struggles of a French plantation owner attempting to wait out civil war in Africa, Pulsing with inevitability and conflict, the film masterfully sidesteps broad statements and easy racial boundaries.

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#1

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"BLACK SWAN"

Darren Aronofsky, Cross Creek/Fox Searchlight

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Lurid and sensational, fierce and beautiful, Darren Aronofsky's psychological ballet-thriller is a provocative pastiche of everything from the sexual identity of Roman Polanski to the violent technicality of Dario Argento, all the while continuing the director's fascination with the debilitation and the extremes of the human body.

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Natalie Portman's frantic, ragged performance is surprisingly moving as her heightened repression and bottlenecked anxiety finally give way to exhilarating artistic liberation and - sometimes literal - transformation.

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So, to recap: 

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1. "Black Swan"

2. "White Material"

3. "A Prophet"

4. "Exit Through the Gift Shop"

5. "The Social Network"

6. "Somewhere"

7. "Rabbit Hole"

8. "How to Train Your Dragon"

9. "Fish Tank"

10. "Shutter Island"

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11. "The Fighter"

12. "Blue Valentine"

13. "Inception"

14. "Valhalla Rising"

15. "Toy Story 3"

16. "Tron: Legacy"

17. "The American"

18. "Animal Kingdom"

19. "The Ghost Writer"

20. "Catfish"

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And for kicks, the five worst of the year:

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5. "The Secret in Their Eyes"

4. "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"

3. "Harry Brown"

2. "Eat Pray Love"

1. "Valentine's Day"

Review: The Way Back (2010)

Peter Weir's The Way Back is a well-mounted, impeccably-shot slog - a grueling survival study with a true story sheen about a hodge podge group of prisoners who walked 4,000 miles to freedom at the onset of World War II.
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It's certainly commendable and well-fashioned and even a little moving, but the end result is something that's too one-note and too much about the trudge and filthiness of the journey, settling all too comfortably in a problem/solution, problem/solution groove. 
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Occasionally, the film's script (co-written by Weir himself) finds weight in the banality of survival, but ultimately it's just comprised of thin characterizations, flimsy backstories and creaky bonds of trust. The landscapes dwarf the performers (perhaps intentionally), but The Way Back is finally too reserved to take off. [C+]

The Social Network: The Opening Credits

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' track "Hand Covers Bruise" from David Fincher's The Social Network is easily the most haunting and memorable piece of music from a film this year if you're asking me. That piece gently brings out the unbridled ambition and lurking isolation of its subject so profoundly - it fits the film like a glove. 
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So naturally I perked up when I listened to Fincher's commentary on the Social Network Blu-ray when he discussed the various musical choices that were in place before the final decision on the Trent Reznor track. Fincher had in mind Elvis Costello's "Beyond Belief" for the opening sequence while Aaron Sorkin wanted to go in a completely different direction. 
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Immediately, I thought, "oh, the opening sequence with the dubbed alternate musical choices will be on Youtube in a few days ." And low and behold, /Film and their readers have taken the initiative to splice the new songs in there. Of course, it's not really fair to keep the visual sequence the same with a completely different audio track, but you get the general idea. 
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So here is the Aaron Sorkin version with Paul Young's "Love of the Common People". Needless to say, thank you, Trent Reznor. 
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As of right now, I don't think the Fincher/Elvis Costello version has been uploaded by anybody yet, but I'll try and post it as soon as I can.

Apparently, no matter the language, it's just impossible to design a decent poster for The King's Speech. Yeah, that sherbet-orange design that came out later was certainly an improvement, but it's no great shakes, either.

The Lincoln Lawyer

Matthew McConaughey, Ryan Philippe, William H. Macy, Josh Lucas, John Leguizamo...was this movie shot in late 1998? I feel like I could just wake up one morning and watch this on Encore or Netflix Instant Streaming...
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Sundancing with Carlos

The Sundance Channel will be airing all 330 minutes of Olivier Assayas' Carlos this Saturday (1.15) at 7 p.m. CT for those who couldn't catch it in theaters like me.
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I don't know how it is for all satellite/cable service providers, but for Dish Network, The Sundance Chanel comes with a payed subscription to Showtime. Carlos will also re-air at 7pm on Thursday, 1.20. 
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The Sadness of 2011

Once again, it's time to play the "there are no good movies coming out next year" game - except this time, the barren wasteland of 2011 is quite shocking - scary, even. 
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Seriously, over the first four months of the year, what is anybody legitimately looking forward to? I kind of have a hankering to see Joe Wright's Hanna or Duncan Jones' Source Code and maybe Francis Lawrence's Water for Elephants, but I'm not really excited about any of it - even Pixar's offering this year will struggle to get me in the theater. 
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The summer? Full of superheroes (Thor, Captain America, Green Lantern) and sequels that nobody cares about (Pirates of the Caribbean, Transformers), what's new? 
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Well Jon Favreau's Cowboys & Aliens should be a wonderful little genre splice-up that I'm looking forward to and Matthew Vaughn's X-Men: First Class should be interesting, given the conceptual work being shared by the film's creators plus the young, diverse cast slipping on the costumes. (Although I still contend that Singer's X-Men films were uniformly overpraised for being simply competent.) And J.J. Abrams also returns to the monster-flick with Super 8, so that should be fun. 
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Other than that, it's Katherine Heigl Lionsgate action-comedies and more Kevin James buffoonery...and we thought last year was bad. 

Monday Reviews

With two-to-three inches of snow on the ground today, I decided to make a movie day of it - what else? - and underwent four movies in succession. 
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Now my OCD prohibits me from potluck viewing, so I almost always have a plan going in, frequently categorizing my viewing habits either by year, genre, director, actor or what have you. So today, I tackled some late 80's/early 90's brooding thrillers, thanks to Netflix's handy streaming/Watch Instantly service. 
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First up was Phil Joanou's Final Analysis ('92), starring Richard Gere, Kim Basinger and Uma Thurman. Now I'm a sucker for Richard Pierce's No Mercy ('86) if for nothing else than the steamy sexuality of the leads, which is why Final Analysis was so messily disappointing. 
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It's essentially regurgitated, chewed up-and-spit-out Hitchcock tropes, served up over a bed of psycho-babble and by-the-law subterfuge. The twists pile up so high and so furiously over the last hour, each one as inept as the last, all the way up too the embarrassing finale atop a creaky lighthouse. DePalma is appalled. [D+]
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Next is Ridley Scott's Someone to Watch Over Me ('87), a competent cop-thriller that nonetheless is ultimately muted by its middling aspirations and formula climax. There's an intriguing through-line as Tom Berenger, a happily married man, slowly falls under the spell of his beautiful, socialite witness - played by Mimi Rogers - but this tale is ultimately a little too bare. [C+]
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Roman Polanski's Frantic ('88) was next up and found a lot of admire here (the director's trademark tension and slow-burning paranoia are in full effect in the first half), but the central mystery is solved a bit too tidily and too soon, leaving the audience weary instead of hanging by the end. Still, this is a well above-average thriller, makes a nice companion piece to The Ghost Writer. [B]
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Last but not least, Jim McBride's The Big Easy ('87) is a Southern cookin' mystery with a luminous Ellen Barkin and a spicy Dennis Quaid. The moralizing and emphasis on cop corruption spoil the mood a little, but for the most part, this is a winning formula of witty and charming. [B]

An Alternate Take On 2010

While I'm hopelessly waiting out the remaining films for my Top Ten list, I thought it would be fun to post my sister's just recently completed list, which she then sent to me this morning.
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Obviously, she has a soft spot for Robert Pattinson...and musicals...and....Facebook(?), but it's an interesting list nonetheless:
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10. "THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE"
9. "COUNTRY STRONG"
8. "THE BOOK OF ELI"
7. "BLUE VALENTINE"
6. "SHUTTER ISLAND"
5. "INCEPTION"
4. "REMEMBER ME"
3. "BURLESQUE"
2. "CATFISH"
1. "THE SOCIAL NETWORK"

Classic Rewind: The Plainsman (1937)

Unapologetically chimerical and about as authentic as a Gary Cooper air-punch, The Plainsman ('37), beginning with a shot of the pinned-on beard of Abraham Lincoln, is the kind of all-encompassing, shamelessly romanticized vision that could only be cooked up by Cecil B. DeMille, the master showman himself.
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Combining history, myth, and good old jingoistic western sentiment, The Plainsman is a contradiction in motivations - an epic, sweeping dime novel, hastily pitting historical figures like Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane against the savage, embarrassingly stereotypical Native Americans, who squawk and howl and become distracted by pretty hats.  
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DeMille, who was at this point highly susceptible and everlastingly concerned about his commercial status, (once a highly artistic silent-film director booted to the streets) brings a charming, nonthreatening quality to all of his work and has never met a story he couldn't project onto the largest canvas possible. (Both of his "epic westerns" begin with a dutiful delegation in Washington.)
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Two years later, with Union Pacific ('39), a similar story of post-war westward expansion, DeMille would slightly hone in his childish, idealized vision of the open plains, although both are ultimately too nationalistic and too enchanting to compare with the tougher, morally ambiguous and revisionist westerns that would come soon after. [C]

Cabin Fever

I watch movies for moments like this train cabin fight scene in Reuben Fleischer's The Narrow Margin ('52). That moment were innovation and inspiration meet to deliver a kick-ass, perfectly executed scene. Seriously, isn't this two minutes better than any of the hand-to-hand beatdowns from The Bourne trilogy?

Film-Noir Cram Session

During a Netflix-induced Western lapse (it's tough to have new movies to watch when there's no mail on Saturday and Sunday), I decided to have a film noir cram session yesterday - six movies, one day. 
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The highlights were Nicholas Ray's They Live By Night ('47), Robert Wise's Born to Kill ('47) and definitely Richard Fleischer's masterfully economic The Narrow Margin ('52) - seriously, if you haven't seen it, it's 71 minutes long, it's readily available, make it happen, it's really quite an amazing little B-movie. They Live By Night [A-], Born to Kill [A-], The Narrow Margin [A]
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On the downside, Max Nosseck's Dillinger ('45) is such an abrupt, slapdash biopic that it's a blur and Anatole Litvak's Out of the Fog ('41) has a wickedly cruel performance from John Garfield, an interesting concept about having to reach back into your darkest intuitions when all else fails, but a wildly ludicrous climax. It's certainly one of those films that feels more like 30's Warner Bros. morality than mid-20th century RKO cynicism. Dillinger [C-], Out of the Fog [C+]
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And Robert Wise's The Set-Up ('49) is just an okay film noir but a terrific boxing movie. Seriously, no wonder Martin Scorsese cites it as an influence on Raging Bull - it probably has one of the best shot fight scenes ever committed to film. Robert Ryan is wonderful. [B+]

The Town Extended Cut

So I watched Ben Affleck's extended, 153-minute cut of The Town last night and I was immediately reminded that there's a reason that this stuff gets left out. I think we, myself especially, are victim to treating extra footage like it's found Orson Welles reels from The Magnificent Ambersons or something - it's just not the case.
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Basically the new cut of The Town (about 28 minutes longer) adds a lot of dispensable police procedural stuff, more strip clubs and a few more scenes between Ben Affleck's Doug McCray and Rebecca Hall's Claire Keesey, especially in the first half, which feels fractured and sluggish here opposed to the theatrical version. (All of the key action sequences seemed untouched, and there certainly wasn't anything added of any significance in the last 45 minutes or so.)
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So despite my disappointment in the new material, watching this extended cut is fascinating stuff from the perspective of really learning how to edit, compose and sequence a finished film, sometimes less is more and too much bare, inconsequential information and material can do more harm than good. 
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(I'm hearing that Affleck's commentary on the extended cut is pretty interesting, so I definitely need to check that out.)

"Pearl!"

King Vidor's Duel in the Sun ('46) is as wildly hysterical as its reputation suggests, overheated and under-nourished and frequently threatening to bring new meaning to the word "melodrama", but surprisingly, it's also shapeless, irritating and fatiguing - a mixing pot of sexual tension, big family politics and steamy, wayward tetchiness.  
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Whereas David O. Selznick's Gone With the Wind was a focused, gripping, tempered and selectively boisterous epic, Duel in the Sun, besides being inherently inferior on paper, is a complete misfire for the simple reason that it lacks coherence - it's all sexual fussiness and big melting emotions without cause or concern. [D+]