Dave's Movie Site

2011 Year in Review: Worst Movies

2012-02-01T20:32:00.000-08:00

Despite the fact that I saw fewer films this year than in the past, I still managed to see quite a few stinkers. Other than the films on my worst 10 list, you couldn’t pay me to sit through the following films a second time: Anonymous (Roland Emmerich), The Bang Bang Club (Steven Silver), Battle: Los Angeles (Jonathan Liebsman), The Beaver (Jodie Foster), The Change-Up (David Dobkin), Conan the Barbarian (Marcus Nispel), Cowboys and Aliens (Jon Favreau), The Dilemma (Ron Howard), Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (Troy Nixey), The Eagle (Kevin Macdonald), Final Destination 5 (Stephen Quale), Green Lantern (Martin Campbell), Hall Pass (Peter & Bobby Farrelly), The Hangover Part II (Todd Philips), Henry’s Crime (Malcolm Venville), Hesher (Spencer Susser), I Am Number Four (DJ Caruso), The Iron Lady (Phyllida Lloyd), Kill the Irishman (Jonathan Hensleigh), Miral (Julien Schnabel), One Day (Lone Scherfig), Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (Rob Marshall), Pom Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (Morgan Spurlock), Sanctum (Alister Grierson), The Smurfs (Raja Gosnell), Something Borrowed (Luke Greenfield), Sucker Punch (Zack Snyder), Super (James Gunn), Texas Killing Fields (Ami Canaan Mann), Transformers: Dark of the Moon (Michael Bay), Unknown (Jaume Collet-Serra), Vanishing on 7^th Street (Brad Anderson), Wrecked (Michael Greenspan), The Woman (Lucky McKee).

The Bottom Ten

Despite all sorts of awful above, these were the 10 films that were the worst of the worst.

10. Sleeping Beauty (Julia Leigh)

This film is an empty shell. There is nothing beyond its admittedly beautiful surface. The story of a college student (Emily Browning) who works multiple part time jobs – and sometimes as a prostitute – who agrees to work as a topless waitress at fancy dinner parties, and then to be drugged so that men can do whatever they want with her unconscious body (not including penetration). Browning is a blank slate – there seems to be nothing going on behind her eyes, so the movie becomes an exercise in style, with nothing else going for. Painfully slow and dull, despite all the nudity.

9. Trespass (Joel Schumacher)

Joel Schumacher has taken a lot of lumps over the years for his films, but for the most part, they were at least competent. No such luck with Trespass, a film that went from having its premiere at TIFF to DVD in less than two months. I know why Nicolas Cage is in this – he needs the money. But what the hell possessed Nicole Kidman to be in this awful home invasion “thriller”. Incompetently directed, written and acted, Trespass is a movie best left forgotten.

8. The Future (Miranda July)

Some people love Miranda July’s follow up film to her indie hit Me and You and Everyone We Know. I am clearly not one of those people. I did like her first film, but The Future is about the two most annoyingly self involved people I can recall seeing in a movie. I mean, they let their poor cat get put down for Christ’s sake! The cat narrates the movie, and is counting down the days until they come and get him, and then they just let him die. The film tries so hard to be hip and cool, but I found it insufferable.

7. The Rite (Mikael Hafstrom)

This early in the year film tried to be a more serious version of The Exorcist, and failed miserably. A young seminary student starts to lose his faith, and isn’t sure he wants to go through with becoming a priest. His mentor decides to send him to Rome for a while to give a chance to think about it. And that’s when he meets Anthony Hopkins’ crazy, exorcist priest, who of course, will end up possessed himself. Thankfully, I have forgotten much of this film in the months since I have seen it. Hopefully, the rest will leave my mind soon.

6. Season of the Witch (Dominic Sena)

Dominic Sena had such a promising start to his career with Kalifornia – and since then, it’s been one crappy action film after another. This Medieval “epic” starring Nicolas Cage is perhaps his worst film. It isn’t scary, it isn’t exciting, and Nicolas Cage is perhaps even worse in this film than he was in Trespass. Borderline unwatchable.

5. Sarah’s Key (Gilles Paquet-Brenner)

The film tells an important story about a little remembered, shameful moment in French history, when in July 1942, French police rounded up over 13,000 Jews, including women and children, left them in a stadium for days and then shipped them to Auschwitz. Unfortunately, the movie undermines the story’s inherent power by focusing on an American woman in 2011 trying to piece together what happened to the family who used to live in her apartment. The movie is far more interested in her than in the roundup itself. Even the scenes from 1942 seem forced and phony. This was a tough sit – but not in the way the filmmakers expected.

4. Your Highness (David Gordon Green)

David Gordon Green’s debut film, George Washington, is a small scale masterpiece. His follow-up films – All the Real Girls and Undertow – are both excellent. Even when he moved onto the mainstream films, he made the wonderful comedy Pineapple Express. Then he made this film – which is quite simply God awful (he also made The Sitter, which came out late in the year and got terrible reviews – I’ll catch with it on DVD). I suppose this movie is trying to be something like Monty Python – with its ridiculous Knights of the Round Table epic crossed with stoner comedy, but none of it is funny. Why James Franco and Natalie Portman got involved, I don’t know – and Zooey Deschanel didn’t do herself any favors either. Once and for all, this film should prove that Danny McBride is a supporting player – not a leading man.

3. The Sleeping Beauty (Catherine Briellent)

I have long since tired of French filmmaker Catherine Briellent’s films which mostly are provocations for provocation’s sake. Once in a while however she makes a wonderful film like The Last Mistress, which keeps me coming back to her films. Her version of the fairy tale The Sleeping Beauty is a sexually explicit, incoherent mess. Good God, I am sick of her scenes where a horrid boy talks an innocent girl out of her virginity. This could be her worst film.

2. Passion Play (Mitch Glazer)

I had the misfortune of seeing this at the 2010 TIFF, and I have never quite recovered. How could a movie starring Mickey Rourke and Bill Murray be this bad? Somehow it is. Rourke is a fading jazz musician, who discovers an “angel” – Megan Fox – who is really just a stripper with wings. Bill Murray is a gangster who wants to buy her from him. The movie is perplexingly stupid and has the most ludircious climax of any film in recent memory. The worst part is everyone takes it so damn seriously. The film was barely released in theaters, and then when straight to DVD – where is really where it belonged.

1. Hobo with a Shotgun (Jason Eisener)

I know that some love Jason Eisener’s throwback to 1970s Grindhouse films starring Rutger Hauer, but for the life of me I cannot figure out why. The film is, as you expect, exceedingly violent, but it’s never disturbing because the violence is so over the top and cartoonish that it is ridiculous. The villains are laughably awful. I must give some credit to Hauer however – he delivers precisely the performance that the movie asks him too. Eisener won a competition run by Tarantino and Rodriguez as a marketing gimmick for their epic Grindhouse. Both of those filmmakers had fun with this exceedingly dumb genre of films. But Eisener takes this way too seriously. This is nowhere near the longest film of the year – but it felt like it to me. Simply horrible.

2011 Year in Review: Worst Performances

2012-02-01T20:23:00.000-08:00

Worst Actor: Danny McBride in Your Highness – I think McBride can be funny in small doses, but when he is asked to carry an entire movie, his shtick wears thin quickly. In this film, he is not hip or funny, which he tries so hard to be, but simply annoying and unfunny.

Runners-up: Nicolas Cage in Trespass starts out trying to use the same clipped, nasal voice he used in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call, New Orleans, but abandons that half way through, but no matter how he talks, he is still awful in the film. Nicolas Cage in Season of the Witch is perhaps an even worse performance, as he is completely unbelievable as a Medieval Knight in this groaner of a film. Mickey Rourke in Passion Play makes the mistake of thinking a movie that has Megan Fox with wings should be played completely seriously – this is the type of film I would expect him to make BEFORE his comeback. Anthony Hopkins in The Rite tries to go over the top, as he has so often before, but his crazy act grew stale a decade ago. Jason Momoa in Conan the Barbarian has little more than muscles to offer this updated Conan. Alex Pettyfer in I Am Number Four is a completely and totally blank action hero in this forgettable, would be franchise. Shia LaBeouf in Transformers: Dark of the Moon says his character arch through the three films is now complete – and the fact that he could say that with a straight is better proof that he can be a good actor than anything on display in this film. Keanu Reeves in Henry’s Crime is far too passive for a character that has to drive the entire plot of this awful bank robbery/comedy.

Worst Actress: Nicole Kidman in Trespass. I have often defended Kidman from those who say that her face is an expressionless mask, as normally I find her work to be wonderful and risk taking. But in Trespass, she simply gives more fodder to all of her detractors, and sadly, I have to be one for this film – her worst performance ever – by far.

Runners-up: Frieda Pinto in Muriel is completely miscast and perhaps proves that she is little more than a gorgeous face, as she can’t carry this role at all. Emily Browning in Sleeping Beauty and Sucker Punch is as empty and hollow as the movies she is in. Miranda July in The Future tries so very hard to hip and clever, and instead she is just really annoying. Megan Fox in Passion Play got dealt a horrible role, but still, she didn’t bring anything at all interesting to it. Kristen Scott Thomas in Sarah’s Key is so self serious and self involved and dour that it hard to watch.

Worst Supporting Actor: Cam Gigandet in Trespass again has me wondering how he continues to get work. I have yet to see him in a good movie – and he seemingly shows up in a ton of movies each year. In Trespass, I wondered the entire movie if his character was supposed to be mildly retarded or whether he was just plain dumb. I still have no idea.

Runners-up: Brian Downey and Gregory Smith in Hobo with a Shotgun made a truly awful father-son villain team – there is a difference between fun over the top acting and awful over the top acting, and these two don’t seem to know it. Ron Perlman in Season of the Witch and Conan the Barbarian was awful in two movies – he was great in Drive however, so perhaps we can forgive him. Colin Egglesfield in Something Burrowed was a romantic leading man completely and totally lacking in charm or a sense of humor. Harrison Ford in Cowboys and Aliens again makes me wonder why he continues to act, since he quite clearly doesn’t give a shit.

Worst Supporting Actress: Rosie Huntington-Whiteley in Transformers: Dark of the Moon replaced Megan Fox, and in doing so makes Fox look like Meryl Streep in comparison. She’s beautiful, sure, but there’s nothing else there.

Runners-Up: Olivia Wilde in Cowboys and Aliens once again has to play the “perfect” human, or at least some outside force’s idea of perfect, which must be getting tired for her. Kate Hudson in Something Burrowed was annoying and shrill, making me wonder how anyone in the movie put up with her for so damn long. Angela Bettis in The Woman continues to show that other than weird ticks, she can’t really do anything else. Vanessa Redgrave in Anonymous makes Queen Elizabeth I into a dottering old fool – and worst still, not a very entertaining one. Jordana Brewster in Fast Five proves why unless it’s a Fast and Furious movie, she doesn’t getting many acting jobs.

2011 Year in Review: Biggest Disappointments

2012-02-01T20:19:00.000-08:00

There is some crossover here between this and my worst of list, but these films are necessarily terrible, or even bad. But none of them are as good as we should expect from filmmakers who have proven they have talent, or interesting ideas that are blown. I also could have included: Battle: Los Angeles (Jonathan Liebsman), The Hangover Part II (Todd Philips), Kung Fu Panda 2 (Jennifer Yuh), The Mechanic (Simon West), Pom Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (Morgan Spurlock), Red State (Kevin Smith), Sucker Punch (Zack Snyder), The Woman (Lucky McKee), but already at 15 films, I decided not to.

15. The Skin I Live In (Pedro Almodovar)

I love Pedro Almodovar, and I actually liked The Skin I Live In. But coming on the heels of Talk to her, Bad Education, Volver and Broken Embraces, The Skin I Live In proved to be underwhelming. This revenge story, as twisted as any seen in recent Korean films (and they are truly fucked up) is well made, but seems hollow, and Antonio Banderas is bland as the “evil scientist”. I liked The Skin I Live In, but I expect to love an Almodovar film.

14. The Help (Tate Taylor)

I felt I had to address one of the biggest audience hits of the year – which is an Oscar player this year as well – somewhere in my year end wrap up, and since I didn’t much like it, this seemed like the place. I must say, the performances by Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Jessica Chastain, Bryce Dallas Howard and to a lesser extent Emma Stone are actually excellent. But The Help has such a retrograde view of race relations that it was off-putting to me, as was the fact that even in 2011, when Hollywood makes a movie about the Civil Rights Movement, it has to center on a kind hearted white person. This film doesn’t feel like it’s about the 1960s, it feels like it was made in the 1960s, when Sidney Poitier could still shock audiences by slapping a white man, or marrying a white woman. Also, how many times did the filmmakers need to completely and totally humiliate Howard’s racist house wife, as if she is the worst human being on the planet? Certainly not an awful film – and I do understand why some love it so – but to me it just wasn’t good enough.

13. Restless (Gus Van Sant)

Gus Van Sant has spent the last decade making films where death hangs over every frame – whether it’s Gerry with its friends lost in the desert, Elephant, with its high school shooters, Last Days with his Kurt Cobain stand in, Paranoid Park with his aimless skater kids or even the more mainstream Milk about a politician, his films lead to death. And Restless is no different, as it centers on a young woman with cancer and her first romance. But unlike those other films, Restless is a fantasy film, trying to make us believe that cancer really is like this, and while we may want to believe it, we don’t. Good performances, and great cinematography by Harris Savides, is wasted in this film that is far too lightweight – and tries too hard to be hip.

12. The Ward (John Carpenter)

I may the only person in the world who likes Carpenter’s previous theatrical film, Ghosts of Mars, but like it I did. After spending a decade languishing in TV work, he returns to the big screen with a film that seems right up his alley – a horror film set in a mental hospital inhabited by only beautiful young women. And yet The Ward seems so by the numbers and lacks Carpenter’s horror signatures. It’s like he’s trying to be Eli Roth, when Eli Roth can never even dream of being as good as Carpenter. If he’s not going to be John Carpenter behind the camera, than what the hell is the point?

11. Outrage (Takeshi Kitano)

In the 1990s, Takeshi Kitano seemed like the lone savior of Yakuza films, with great ones like Violent Cop, Sonatine and Fireworks. He kept the genre going when no one else seemed willing to. After a foray into comedy and samurai films, Kitano returned to the Yakuza genre after more than a decade. And while Outrage is appropriately violent, and is fairly well directed, I have to wonder why he bothered. Outrage is not any better than the myriad of copies of Kitano’s work that has sprouted up in the last 10 years. If he wanted to return to the genre, shouldn’t he have brought something better to the table?

10. Bad Teacher (Jake Kasdan)
Jake Kasdan has made some good comedies before – most notably the underrated Zero Effect – and the idea behind Bad Teacher is a good one. I, for one, am tired of seeing movies about saintly teachers who better their children, so I was looking forward to seeing a movie about a truly awful teacher. And, to be fair, Cameron Diaz really does seem to throw herself into the role. Unfortunately, there really is not a whole lot else here. The writing lets her down a great deal, nothing is quite as funny as it should be. It isn’t awful, but it isn’t very good either.

9. In a Better World (Susanne Bier)

I don’t share Lars von Trier’s feeling about Susanne Bier (if you recall, it was a joke gone awry about Bier that lead to Trier’s infamous Nazi comments at Cannes), but I have to say that I wasn’t all that impressed with her Oscar winning film In a Better World. The whole movie seemed so simple minded and clichéd – Crash in Denmark if you will – and the stuff in Africa felt completely out of place. Normally, Bier is a great filmmaker – see Brothers or After the Wedding or her underrated American effort Things We Lost in the Fire. But this film is her worst one, which makes it sadly ironic that she won Best Foreign Language film at last year’s Oscars.

8. The Beaver (Jodie Foster)

The idea of casting Mel Gibson as a bat shit crazy person was genius. The problem with The Beaver is that it never lets Gibson go far enough. It shoves his character – who starts talking through a beaver puppet of all things – into a clichéd dysfunctional family drama, thus blunting the films power. A truly off the wall, pitch black comedy about a suicidal Mel Gibson and a talking beaver puppet? Genius. This movie, nowhere close.

7. Cowboys and Aliens (Jon Favreau)

The idea of combing cowboys and aliens in one movie sounds like it should make for one of the most entertaining films of the year – especially with Jon Favreau at the helm, having made two damn good Iron Man movies. But this movie is surprisingly dull and lifeless. Why combine two of the most well known movie genres into one package unless you’re going to do something with it? Play with the genres a little? Or at least, make a decent guilty pleasure movie. Instead, we’re stuck with this one, which was just lame. Can someone tell Harrison Ford if he isn’t going to try anymore than he should give up acting?

6. One Day (Lone Scherfig)

Lone Scherfig made an excellent debut movie with An Education. David Schultz’s book One Day is a touching examination of friendship changing over time. Bring the two of them together and you get this thudding bore of a film, in which Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess have to age 20 years in less than 2 hours, have their complex characters stripped to the bone, and be forced into one cutesy routine after another. This one had so much potential that was simply squandered.

5. The Iron Lady (Phyllida Lloyd)

Perhaps it’s my own fault for thinking that the director of Mamma Mia could make a competent movie, but I was highly looking forward to The Iron Lady, the Margaret Thatcher biopic starring Meryl Streep. Streep is, as always, brilliant in the lead role. But the movie itself provides no insights into who Thatcher was as a politician or as a person. It seems much more interested in showing her as an old lady losing her marbles than anything else she did in her life. This is not the biopic one of the most powerful and controversial women of the 20^th Century deserved.

4. Your Highness (David Gordon Green)

David Gordon Green was at one point one of the best young filmmakers in the world. George Washington, All the Real Girls, Undertow and Snow Angels were all great indie films. I assumed when he crossed over to Hollywood to make Pineapple Express (also wonderful) that it was to get himself more freedom to make the types of movies he wanted to. But he followed that movie up with this stinking turd (and apparently, the late year comedy The Sitter isn’t any better). Does he really not give a shit about anything other than money? Please, come back from the dark side soon.

3. The Future (Miranda July)

This one was truly disappointing because I thought that July’s first film, Me and You and Everyone We Know, was so quirky and offbeat and charming. But this film is nothing other than navel gazing by self involved hipsters. Good god was this movie a pain to sit through – and I’m still pissed off about the damn cat!

2. Miral (Julien Schnabel)

Julien Schnabel is an immensely talented filmmaker as his first three films – Basquaint, Before Night Falls and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly – can attest. Unfortunately, he tries to use the same technique that made The Diving Bell and the Butterfly so successful in a completely different story – and the style doesn’t fit. The Diving Bell was a subjective story, told almost entirely from the point of view of one man trapped in his own mind. Miral is a decades spanning, multi-narrator story about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The effect is off putting confusing. For all the controversy the films politics spawned, they are never really clear – as the film is little more than a jumbled mess. I have faith that Schnabel will make a great film again, but Miral was far from it.

1. Cars 2 (John Lasseter)

Cars 2 is precisely the kind of animated film that Pixar doesn’t make. It is loud, fast moving, action packed and pays little attention to character or story. Sure, it fits and starts, they film can be entertaining – and I am sure that little boys loved it to pieces – but when I go into a Pixar movie, I expect something more – something not just for kids, but something adults can enjoy as well. Although the original Cars was one of Pixar’s weaker efforts, there are still many things to recommend it – especially it’s nice sense of nostalgia. Cars 2 moves so damn quickly, and has such an inane plot, that it has no time for anything else. Far and away the worst film Pixar has ever made.

2011 Year in Review: My Personal Oscar Ballot

2012-02-01T07:36:00.000-08:00

If I was the only Academy member, this would be who would have been nominated.

Best Picture

1.       The Tree of Life
2.       Drive
3.       Hugo
4.       Shame
5.       Moneyball
6.       The Descendants
7.       We Need to Talk About Kevin
8.       Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
9.       Martha Marcy May Marlene

Tell me you don’t prefer this line-up to the actual Oscar one? Yes, it has 4 of the same films (and a fifth was at number 10), but it also contains some darker films as well. The Academy nominated 9 feel good movies this year, but I think you need a little darkness to even things out.

Director

1.       Terence Malick, The Tree of Life
2.       Nicholas Winding Refn, Drive
3.       Martin Scorsese, Hugo
4.       Steve McQueen, Shame
5.       Lynne Ramsay, We Need to Talk About Kevin

This is the first time in I’m not sure how many years where my top 5 directors aren’t all from the top five films of the year – I usually don’t like to do it. But this year, I just felt that Lynne Ramsay’s directorial achievement with We Need to Talk About Kevin was greater than Alexander Payne’s or Bennett Miller’s, whose films placed ahead of Ramsay’s. Criticize me if you want, but I’m comfortable with my choice.

Best Actor

1.       Michael Fassbender, Shame
2.       Gary Oldman in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
3.       Brad Pitt, Moneyball
4.       George Clooney, The Descendants
5.       Ryan Gosling in Drive

A sex addict, a Cold War spy, a baseball GM, a father struggling to connect with his daughters, and a stunt driver turned killer/hero. A pretty eclectic mix I’d say. Too bad the Academy overlooked the best performance of the year.

Best Actress

1.       Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin
2.       Elizabeth Olson, Martha March May Marlene
3.       Kirsten Dunst, Melancholia
4.       Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
5.       Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn

Narrowing this down to five was very hard, but these were the best of the best in a very strong year. Too bad the Academy didn’t recognize the three best performances in this category this year.

Best Supporting Actor

1.       Albert Brooks, Drive
2.       Brad Pitt, The Tree of Life
3.       Andy Serkis, Rise of the Planet of the Apes
4.       John Hawkes, Martha Marcy May Marlene
5.       Patton Oswalt, Young Adult

For me, no one came close to Albert Brooks for this award, not matter how good the rest of them were. Too bad the Academy saw fit to nominate none of these five.

Supporting Actor

1.       Carey Mulligan, Shame
2.       Vanessa Redgrave, Coriolanus
3.       Carey Mulligan, Drive
4.       Jessica Chastain, The Tree of Life
5.       Jessica Chastain, Take Shelter

Two relative newcomers contribute 4 performances to this list, and one great veteran proves she still has the goods. Too bad the Academy didn’t recognize Mulligan or Redgrave’s brilliance, and gave it to Chastain for at best, her third best performance of the year.

Best Original Screenplay

1.       The Tree of Life – Terence Malick
2.       Midnight in Paris – Woody Allen
3.       Shame – Steve McQueen & Abi Morgan
4.       Martha Marcy May Marlene – Sean Durkin
5.       Take Shelter – Jeff Nichols

I know that for many, The Tree of Life was an achievement of directing and editing, but that screenplay was the most complex of the year. Midnight in Paris the most charmingly original, Shame the darkest, Martha Marcy May Marlene a complex character study, and Take Shelter a haunting portrait of paranoia. A strong year to be sure in this category, but these were the strongest.

Best Adapted Screenplay

1.       Moneyball – Steven Zallian & Aaron Sorkin
2.       The Descendants – Alexander Payne & Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
3.       Drive – Hossein Amini
4.       Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Bridget O'Connor & Peter Straughan
5.       We Need to Talk About Kevin – Lynne Ramsay & Rory Kinnear

What Zallian and Sorkin did to a book about baseball stats is impressive – making a book about baseball stats into a fascinating, supremely entertaining film. Alexander Payne and company wrote a wonderfully comic, and touching, movie in The Descendants. Hossein Amini’s Drive screenplay turns a not very interesting novel into a great movie. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy captured LeCarre’s novel perfectly – and even added a brilliant flashback that ran through the movie. Finally, the We Need to Talk About Kevin screenplay was brilliant, as it turns a very literary novel into a very cinematic movie.

Best Documentary

1.       Into the Abyss
2.       The Interrupters
3.       Tabloid
4.       Project Nim
5.       Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory

Too bad the top three didn’t even get shortlisted, and the fourth, which did, didn’t get nominated. They have a new system in place to begin next year to try and fix the doc system at the Oscars – but I doubt it will do much.

Best Animated Film

1.       Rango
2.       The Adventures of Tintin
3.       Chico and Rita
4.       Winnie the Pooh
5.       Arthur Christmas

Not really a strong year at all for animation – but Rango deserves the top spot, and would in some other years as well. The Adventures of Tintin was shamefully overlooked by the Academy – whose animation branch, it seems, will never embrace its style of animation. Chico and Rita, a surprise nominee at the Academy, is a charming, adult themed animated film, with some great Cuban music. Winnie the Pooh is the simplest animated film of the year – but that just adds to its charm. And finally, Arthur Christmas may not be in the same league as other Aardman films, but it’s highly enjoyable just the same.

Best Foreign Language Film

1.       Aurora - Romania
2.       Poetry – South Korea
3.       A Separation - Iran
4.       13 Assassins - Japan
5.       Café de Flore – Canada

Many probably think me insane for picking the three hour, slow moving Romanian film Aurora as the best Foreign Language film of the year, but I don’t care – it was. The Korean Poetry was heartbreaking. A Separation – the best of the actual nominees – a complex moral puzzle. 13 Assassins pure action filmmaking. And Café de Flore a mind bender I’m still trying to my head around.

Best Cinematography

1.       The Tree of Life – Emmanuel Lubezki
2.       Drive – Newton Thomas Siegel
3.       Hugo – Robert Richardson
4.       Melancholia – Manuel Alberto Claro
5.       Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Hoyte Van Hoytema

I quite easily could have added five more nominees here – Martha Marcy May Marlene, Shame, We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Artist – and still have overlooked some great work, in what was an amazingly strong year for this category. Still, no matter how many memorable shorts there were in Drive, or how great Robert Richardson’s work on Hugo was, or the brilliantly stylized work in Melancholia or the subtle complexity of Tinker Tailor Solider Spy was, Emmanuel Lubezki’s work on The Tree of Life is quite clearly the best work this category has seen in years.

Editing

1.       The Tree of Life
2.       Drive
3.       Hugo
4.       We Need to Talk About Kevin
5.       The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Malick’s editors deserve this award simply for spending years of their lives doing it - just kidding of course – the work itself is amazing and complex. Drive’s work set the tone in the action sequences, but also allows things to slow right down when needed. Thelma Schoonmaker once again proves with Hugo why she’s the best in the business. The work on We Need to Talk About Kevin is precise and brilliant. And The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo shows how to edit a thriller to maximum effect.

Score

1.       The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
2.       The Artist - Ludovic Bource
3.       Drive – Cliff Martinez
4.       Hugo – Howard Shore
5.       Moneyball – Mychael Danna

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are reinventing what a movie score can do, and following their win for The Social Network, deserve another one for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – the fact that they didn’t even get nominated strikes me as criminal as any other snub on Oscar morning. Yes, Ludovic Bource’s work includes part of the Vertigo score, but most of it is all his, and all brilliant homage to the scores of yesteryear. Cliff Martinez’s great work may have been deemed “ineglible” by the idiots in the Academy, but it’s still vital to Drive. Howard Shore did more than one great score this year (A Dangerous Method could have easily made this list as well), but his Hugo score ranks among his best. And finally, Mychael Danna’s work in Moneyball is subtle, but brilliant and memorable.

Song

1. The Muppets – Pictures in My Head
2. The Muppets – Man or Muppet

The Academy only saw fit to nominate two songs this year, and I take this as a good sign for those of us who feel this category really doesn’t need to be around any longer. Both of my nominees come from The Muppets – and I prefer the more emotional one done my Kermit.

Art Direction

1.       Hugo
2.       The Tree of Life
3.       Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
4.       The Artist
5.       Midnight in Paris

To this day, I cannot believe that the fact that Scorsese and company built New York for Gangs of New York didn’t win them this Oscar, no matter what one thought of the film itself. Their Paris should win it this time. The work on The Tree of Life is stunning. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy stays just this side of the over the top in its depiction of the 1970s – especially its wallpaper. The Artist has a fine, phony art direction, that brings to mind silent films – just like it should. And finally, all the work done Midnight in Paris is quietly wonderful.

Costume Design

1.       Hugo
2.       Midnight in Paris
3.       The Artist
4.       The Tree of Life
5.       Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Hugo’s costumes are meticulous and wonderful – straddling the line between period and fantasy. The Midnight in Paris costumes, both contemporary and period, are fine. The work in The Artist effortlessly brings to life silent film. The Tree of Life is quieter period work, but no less fine. And you can tell the personalities of every one of the spies in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by the difference in their suits.

Make-Up

1.       J. Edgar
2.       Hugo
3.       Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II

I’ll admit the work done on Armie Hamer wasn’t the best in J. Edgar, but the work done on DiCaprio puts most old age makeup to shame, so it gets my vote. A lot of work done in Hugo, and all of it quite good. Finally, I don’t think I’ve given enough love to the Harry Potter films over the years, and the work in them was always stellar, so let’s give it third spot.

Sound Mixing

1.       We Need to Talk About Kevin
2.       The Tree of Life
3.       Drive
4.       Hugo
5.       Take Shelter

The sound design of We Need to Talk About Kevin is absolutely stunning – and the type of work that never gets recognized. Normally, The Tree of Life would win this hands down, because its work is brilliant as well. Drive complex mix of sounds is not noticeable – as it should be. Hugo’s work is the grand stuff that wins awards – and should. And finally, sound plays a key role in getting us in the head of the paranoid lead character in Take Shelter.

Sound Effects Editing

1.       Hugo
2.       The Tree of Life
3.       Drive
4.       Rise of the Planet of the Apes
5.       Super 8

The sounds of the train station makes this Hugo’s. Not quite as much sound effects editing in The Tree of Life, but what there is, is wonderful. Drive’s action sequences make this one a no-brainer. And two summer blockbusters with terrific work deserve attention – Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Super 8.

Visual Effects

1.       The Tree of Life
2.       Rise of the Planet of the Apes
3.       Hugo
4.       Harry Potter and the Deahtly Hallows Part II
5.       Super 8

Legendary visual effects supervisor Douglas Turnball (2001, Blade Runner) proves with The Tree of Life that old school effects can still be the best one. Rise of the Planet of the Apes represents another huge leap forward in motion capture, and integration of digital characters with live action. Hugo’s work is subtle sometimes, but always spot on. Harry Potter’s effects are still impressive after all these year. And yes, Super 8 did have great effects – too bad the Academy missed them.

2011 Year in Review: Documentaries

2012-02-01T07:35:00.001-08:00

In the final analysis, this turned out to be a fine year for documentaries – although the Academy pretty much ignored all the truly great work there was out there. I hope the new system works better – but I doubt it.

Runners-Up: The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausesco (Andrei Ujica), Cave of Forgotten Dreams (Werner Herzog), Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop (Rodman Flender), Hell and Back Again (Danfung Dennis), If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front (Marshall Curry), Nostalgia for the Light (Patrice Guzman), The People vs. George Lucas (Alexandre O. Phillippe), Pina (Wim Wenders), Senna (Asif Kapadia).

10. Bill Cunnigham: New York (Richard Press)

Bill Cunningham is one of the few perfectly happy people I’ve ever seen in a film. He has spent his whole life doing precisely what he wants to do – and very little else. What he likes is clothes – not wearing them himself (he dresses like everyone else), but seeing what the people on the streets of New York are wearing. Yes, he’ll go to fashion shows, but he’s more interested in seeing how people dress themselves. He bikes around Manhattan from one location to the next doing just that. Any sadness in his life is merely hinted at – I don’t think even he spends too much time thinking about it. He lives modestly and alone, but is perfectly content. How many people can say that?

9. Buck (Cindy Meehl)

Buck is a quiet documentary about a quiet man. Buck Brannerman comes from a background of abuse at the hands of violent father. Unlike many, who repeat that cycle of violence, Buck has gone the opposite way. He spends 9 months a year on the road giving horse training clinics – where he teaches people ways to train their horses without being cruel towards them. He was a key contributor behind the scenes to Robert Redford’s The Horse Whisperer, and even if he never whispers to horses, he has the same sort of calming effect on them. Like I said, this is a quiet movie, but one that if you let it, will get to you.

8. Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times (Andrew Morris)

The news industry is in a period of constant transition. Traditional newspapers and magazines are either closing or laying off much of their staff. No one buys papers anymore – they get their news from the internet, and the papers have yet to find a way to make the internet profitable. No one is above this – not even the New York Times, the most famous, well respected paper in America. This fascinating documentary looks at life inside the paper as they try to find ways to make money – to stay relevant. In David Carr, the movie finds its most fascinating character – a brilliant reporter, a recovering drug addict, a single parent, and the most passionate advocate the Times has. Watching him belittle web journalists to their face in a pleasure. It doesn’t change the facts though. We need papers like the New York Times to survive. Who would all the blogs link to if they didn’t exist?

7. George Harrison: Living in the Material World (Martin Scorsese)

Martin Scorsese’s epic, two part, four hour documentary on the life of the “quiet” Beatle doesn’t come close to matching his epic Bob Dylan documentary – even though I think Scorsese feels more kinship for Harrison. They were both born Catholic, and have spent their lives in search of inner peace, even while giving into their own impulses more than they want to admit. For me, the first part, detailing the Beatles rise and fall from Harrison’s point of view is the better one – we know the story, but not with this twist, as normally, Harrison is shunted to the background, so this alternate version of events is fascinating. The second half – his post Beatle days – is still wonderful, but more scattershot, and less effective. Still, Scorsese’s film is a wonderful portrait of a man who kept to himself.

6. The Arbor (Clio Barnard)

The Arbor is a strange mixture of documentary and video art – which had been what director Clio Barnard had been doing before he made this film. He got interviews with the family and friends of Andrea Dunbar, a talented playwright who never could past her addictions or her background, growing up in a lower class, racist housing project, and died at the age of 29. One of her daughters is following in her footsteps. But while we hear the voices of those closest to Dunbar – we don’t see them. We see actors lip synching their words, and the effect is strange, but it works remarkably well, as does the staging of a Dunbar play in the neighborhood she grew up in. The Arbor is a story of the cycle of neglect, abuse and addiction. It is a painful film but one that works remarkably well.

5. Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (Joe Berlinger & Bruce Sinofsky)

The final chapter in Joe Berlinger & Bruce Sinosky’s Paradise Lost films, this one details the changes in the case of the West Memphis 3 since the last film – a decade before. Yes, it recaps everything that happened, but it also provides us with new footage, new insight into the crime. The version I saw, at the Toronto Film Festival, was not the final version, as they finished it just days before it was announced that the West Memphis 3 were going to be released. I am interested in seeing the final version whenever I get a chance to. One of the great documentary series’ of all time, and this is a fitting conclusion.

4. Project Nim (James Marsh)

If the apes ever do rise up against us, like they did this summer in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Nim could very well be their inspiration – and you could hard to fault them. Nim was a chimp born in captivity, and then ripped away from his mother so he could be used in an experiment that wanted to test what would happen to a chimp that was raised by humans. The doctor in charge of the experiment is uncaring, just focused on his research, and after years of Nim having no contact with other chimps, having learned sign language, he decides the experiment is over, and poor Nim is dumped back into captivity with other apes. Of course he becomes depressed, and later violent. The end result of the experiment? The doctor concluded that while chimps are similar to humans, they are also different. Bravo! Project Nim details the life of this poor animal, who was used for what ultimately turned out to be nothing.

3. Tabloid (Errol Morris)

Many people seemed to think that Errol Morris’ Tabloid was little more than a lark for him – that the filmmaker whose last three films were about a man who designs death penalty machines, Robert McNamara and the prisoner abuse scandal had picked a subject unworthy of him. Nothing could be further from the truth in my mind. Yes, the case of the “Manacled Mormon”, and the woman who manacled him, Joyce McKenna, isn’t as serious as those other stories, but it still taps into the reasons why Morris makes documentaries in the first place – the search for truth, or more tellingly, the difference between the truth as we perceive it, and how it really is. For this purpose, Joyce is just about perfect, as she sees her life just as she wants to see it. The fact that she’s now suing Morris because, in her mind, he misrepresented her, is somewhat fitting. Morris’ other films may be more serious – but that doesn’t mean they are better.

2. The Interrupters (Steve James)

Steve James’ The Interrupters tells the story of former gang members who work with CeaseFire, and essentially go out into the streets of Chicago and try and stop situations before they escalate to violence. While one interrupter says that what they do is little more than a band aid to try and solve the epidemic of inner city gang violence, they do get some results – and some lives are saved. It’s only if they give up when things will be truly hopeless. James and his crew are right alongside these interrupters in trying to confront violent situations and they are fearless. The director of one of the greatest docs of all time – Hoop Dreams – has made far and away his best film since.

1. Into the Abyss (Werner Herzog)

I cannot count how many anti-death penalty documentaries I have seen over the years, but somehow, Werner Herzog’s Into the Abyss affected me more than any other I can think of. In the film, Herzog tells the story of two young men convicted three murders in Texas – one got death, the other got life in prison. Both claim they didn’t do anything wrong, but the case against them is pretty much airtight – and no one really believes in their innocence. This is not a crusading documentary trying to get two innocent people out of jail, but rather it is a documentary that shows us that even though they are guilty, they don’t deserve to be put to death – that the State not only has no right to kill them, but that the State has no right to ask its employees to kill on their behalf. On the surface, this is a straight forward crime documentary, but because this is Herzog, it goes deeper than that. He asks strange questions that no one else would. The opening scene in the film is as devastating as anything I’ve seen this year, when Herzog simply asks a Minister whose job includes spending the last few minutes the condemned to tell him about an encounter with a squirrel. From such a seemingly odd question, comes a devastating answer.

2011 Year in Review: Ensemble Cast

2012-02-01T07:35:00.000-08:00

I think the concept of an Ensemble award is a good one. Often times with great ensemble work, it is hard to pick out a performance or two that is above and beyond the rest – because everyone is so good. In addition to my 10 favorites, I could easily have mentioned the following ensembles – The Artist, Beginners, Carnage, Contagion, A Dangerous Method, Hanna, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Meek’s Cutoff, Melancholia, Moneyball, Of Gods and Men, Shame, Submarine, Take Shelter, Terri, 13 Assassins, Warrior, Win Win. But I only had room for 10, so these were my favorites:

10. The Ides of March - Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Evan Rachel Wood, Marisa Tomei, Jeffrey Wright, Max Minghella, Jennifer Ehle, Gregory Itzin, Michael Mantell.

I don’t think The Ides of March was as great of a movie as director/co-star George Clooney thought it would be, mainly because he seems to think that his story of a political fixer losing his ideals should shock us – and he’s a few decades too late for that. But it is an intelligently written and wonderfully directed movie – and the uniformly excellent cast raises the level of the whole film. Ryan Gosling is great as the fixer at the heart of the movie, who believes in his candidate with everything he has, until he’s given reason not to. Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti add meat to their smaller roles as opposite campaign managers, Evan Rachel Wood wins our sympathy as a young intern over her head and Jeffrey Wright and Marisa Tomei, in little more than cameos, deliver in a big way. Best of all may well be Clooney himself, who is perfectly suited to play the “perfect” candidate, who begins to show his dark side as the movie progresses. With a cast this good, it’s hard to complain that the movie itself would have been more effective had it been made in the 1970s.

9. A Separation - Peyman Moaadi, Leila Hatami, Sareh Bayat, Shahab Hosseini, Sarina Farhadi, Merila Zare'i, Ali-Asghar Shahbazi, Babak Karimi, Kimia Hosseini.

The cast in this terrific Iranian film are all just about perfect. They have difficult roles, as the film resembles in some ways Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon, so people come across quite different from one scene to the next – the more we find out about what happened, the more complicated their roles get. The film is anchored by a terrific performance by Peyman Moaadi as the husband, who may or may not have known what he was doing. The supporting cast is excellent – Leila Hatami as his wife, who doesn’t know what to think, Sarah Bayat, as the quietly religious woman who loses her baby, Shabab Hosseini, as her possibly violent husband. Even the kids are great here. A terrific ensemble.

8. Margin Call - Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Penn Badgley, Simon Baker, Demi Moore, Stanley Tucci, Mary McDonnell, Aasif Mandvi.

Everything comes crashing down on a Wall Street Investment bank over the course of one long day and night. It all starts with people being fired, including Stanley Tucci, who gives an underling a flash drive, and tells him to look at the numbers. What he finds is that the risks the firm are taking are about to come back and burn them. As the numbers work higher and higher up the chain of command, it becomes clear no one knew what the hell was going on. Debut writer/director JC Chandor has assembled a top notch cast for his “Mamet on Wall Street” type movie. None of the characters in the movie are at all likable – they are greedy, self centered assholes, who are looking only to cover their own asses, but the cast is uniformly excellent. Best of all is probably Kevin Spacey, as a long time trader who knows what they are doing is wrong, and does it anyway, and Jeremy Irons, as the bottom line CEO. Although a case could be made for Paul Bettany, Zachary Quinto or even Demi Moore as well. In short, these people really do seem like co-workers, facing a long night’s journey into oblivion, unless they screw everyone else over.

7. Coriolanus – Ralph Fiennes, Gerald Butler, Jessica Chastain, Vanessa Redgrave, Brian Cox, Paul Jesson, James Nesbitt, Lubna Azabal, Ashraf Barhom, John Kani, Dragan Micanovic, Harry Fenn.

Casting people to do a Shakespeare movie can be a difficult task – as one wrong performance, and the whole endeavor suddenly starts to feel off as they break the rhythm of the dialogue. But Ralph Fiennes cast his Coriolanus just about perfectly. He towers over everyone himself with his wild eyed performance, and Vanessa Redgrave outdoes even him as his subtly manipulative mother. But the rest of the cast is fine as well – from Brian Cox as the only decent character in the movie, to Jessica Chastain as Coriolanus’ scared wife to Gerald Butler as his rival who becomes something like a spurned lover, to Paul Jesson and James Nesbitt as two clueless tribunes and even Lubna Azabal and Ashraf Barhom, as two civilians, whose hatred of Coriolanus is palatable. Casting Shakespeare in tricky – but this movie gets it right.

6. The Tree of Life - Brad Pitt, Hunter McCracken, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain, Laramie Eppler, Tye Sheridan, Fiona Shaw.

I think that the acting in Terrence Malick films is almost always underrated – consider the fact that no one has ever been nominated for an Oscar for any of his films as proof. And it is true that not all actors like working with Malick (both Colin Farrell and Christopher Plummer has whined about their experience of The New World for example). Yet, the performances are key to all of Malick’s films – and even if actors don’t always like the experience, they do tend to deliver some great performances. In The Tree of Life, more than any of Malick’s other films; the acting is delicate, sensitive and subtle. Watch Brad Pitt’s body language when dealing with his kids, even the way he touches them and they stiffen, especially his interactions with Hunter McCracken, who is brilliant as well. They feel like a father and son. And Jessica Chastain is equally good as the delicate, beautiful, idealized mother. And all the smaller roles that circle in and out of the movie that Malick handles perfectly – that helps him set the tone for the film. Sean Penn may have said he had no idea why the hell he was wandering around, but it worked. Yes, they all serve Malick’s grand scheme – but the film would be nowhere near as good without them.

5. Hugo - Asa Butterfield, Chloë Grace Moretz, Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Emily Mortimer, Christopher Lee, Helen McCrory, Michael Stuhlbarg, Ray Winstone, Frances de la Tour, Richard Griffiths, Jude Law.

No one performance stands out in Martin Scorsese’s epic, visual feast Hugo (which is why none of them made my individual lists), but together they make up one of the most wondrous ensembles of the year. From Asa Butterfield’s brave Hugo to Chloe Grace Moretz’s plucky sidekick to Ben Kinsgley’s stern Papa Georges to Sacha Baron Cohen’s physical antics as the station master, and on through the smaller roles – Emily Mortimer as a flower girl, Christopher Lee as a kindly bookstore owner, Richard Griffiths and Frances de la Tour as would be lovers kept apart by a yipping dog, Helen McCrory as the kindly grandma, Michael Stuhlbarg as the film professor who hasn’t lost his sense of wonder (do they exist anymore?) to Ray Winstone as a drunken uncle and Jude Law as a kindly father, every role in Hugo is filled perfectly. No one stands out above the others – they are all just perfect as parts of the whole, and that’s what a great ensemble truly is.

4. Midnight in Paris - Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Kurt Fuller, Mimi Kennedy, Michael Sheen, Nina Arianda, Carla Bruni, Yves Heck, Alison Pill, Corey Stoll, Tom Hiddleston, Sonia Rolland, Daniel Lundh, Thérèse Bourou-Rubinsztein, Kathy Bates, Marcial Di Fonzo Bo, Marion Cotillard, Léa Seydoux, Emmanuelle Uzan, Adrien Brody, Tom Cordier, Adrien de Van, David Lowe, Yves-Antoine Spoto, Laurent Claret, Vincent Menjou Cortes, Olivier Rabourdin, François Rostain.

The year’s biggest ensemble cast is also one of the very best. From Wilson, who thankfully lacks the cynicism that is in so many of Allen’s movie (even when he’s calling the Tea Party crypto fascists, he’s saying it nicely) to Marion Cottillard as the muse of 1920s Paris, to Corey Stoll as a raging Hemingway to Kathy Bates as the supportive Gertrud Stein to Adrian Brody as a rhinoceros obsessed Dali to Michael Sheen as that pedantic fellow to Adrien de Van as a confused Luis Bunuel (“I don’t get it. Why can’t they leave the room?”) Even the smallest roles in Allen’s movie are just about perfectly cast. Allen has a way with actors – apparently it’s ignoring them – that allows them to do some great work.

3. The Descendants - George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Judy Greer, Matthew Lillard, Beau Bridges, Robert Forster, Rob Huebel, Mary Birdsong, Amara Miller, Nick Krause.

Alexander Payne has a way with actors that brings out the best in them. When you consider how many actors have delivered career best performances in his films it is quite astonishing. Not only does he write great roles, he knows precisely who to cast. Clooney is the center of the film, and he is pretty much perfect, and I’ve already sang the praises of Greer and Woodley as well in the supporting actress section. But who would have guessed that Matthew Lillard could be as good as he is here, as the other man, or that Beau Bridges would be so good as a greedy hippie, or Robert Forster would be so downright hilarious as Clooney’s angry father in law? He even got a great performance out of a child actor like Amara Miller. Payne just gets the most out of his actors.

2. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Gary Oldman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, John Hurt, Toby Jones, Mark Strong, David Dencik, Ciarán Hinds, Kathy Burke, Stephen Graham, Simon McBurney, Roger Lloyd-Pack, Svetlana Khodchenkova.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy truly is an ensemble piece, and there is not a performance in it that seems out of place. Gary Oldman has the plum role of George Smiley, and he delivers a masterful performance, and I’ve already sung the praises of Tom Hardy’s Brando-esque wounded spy and Benedict Cumberbatch’s heartbreaking role. The rest of the cast though is equally good – from Colin Firth’s charming playboy to John Hurt’s aging, paranoid Control, to Mark Strong thirsting for revenge, to Toby Jones’ political maneuverings to Kathy Burke, who just wants to remember her “boys” through rose colored glasses. This is a movie where the cast is important – and this one does a remarkable job.

1. Drive - Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks, Oscar Isaac, Christina Hendricks, Ron Perlman, Kaden Leos.
Other than Albert Brooks, I don’t think the ensemble cast of Drive has gotten quite enough credit this awards season. They are all, after all, admittedly playing character types, and yet they all breathe new life into them – from Ryan Gosling’s dual transformations, to Carey Mulligan’s wounded fragility, to Bryan Cranston’s broken down “friend” the Oscar Issacs’ suspicious eyes, to Christina Hendricks brief but unforgettable turn, to Ron Perlman’s paranoia. And yes, Albert Brooks is mesmerizing as the villain. The whole cast plays off each other wonderfully, and although the film is a virtuoso directorial effort by Nicholas Winding Refn, they refuse to be shunted to the background. If they had, I would probably agree with the critics who think Drive is nothing more than pastiche. But they elevate the movie. The best ensemble of the year by far.

2011 Year in Review: Best Supporting Actress

2012-01-31T07:45:00.000-08:00

Dominated by two actresses this year, the supporting actress category was actually quite strong, with a lot of quality work this year.

Runners-Up: Sareh Bayet in A Separation, Jessica Chastain in The Help, Judi Dench in J. Edgar, Elle Fanning in Super 8, Jodie Foster in Carnage, Leila Hatami in A Separation, Janet McTeer in Albert Nobbs, Chloe Grace Moretz in Hugo, Sarah Paulson in Martha Marcy May Marlene, Maria Popistasu in Tuesday, After Christmas, Octavia Spencer in The Help, Kate Winslet in Contagion, Evan Rachel Wood in The Ides of March

10. Cate Blanchatt in Hanna

Cate Blanchatt has never been afraid to go over the top – whether it’s as a Commie bad guy in Indiana Jones or Bob Dylan. Here, affecting a strange, Southern drawl, she plays a truly woman, hell-bent on tracking down and killing the title character – a teenage girl. Yes, Blanchatt goes over the top, but would you really want it any other way, considering just as evil her character is? Often times, work in genre films is sadly overlooked, but Blanchatt’s wonderfully malicious performance here shouldn’t be.

9. Marion Cottillard in Midnight in Paris

Marion Cottillard is so beautiful and charming in Midnight in Paris, you have no trouble believing that she could be the muse that inspires practically every great artist and writer living in Paris in the 1920s. With Cottillard, it’s all in the most beautiful set of eyes of any actress currently working – when she turns those big eyes towards the camera, you cannot help but fall in love. She has been used by some directors as merely an object at times in her career, but not here, where Allen gives her a plum romantic role, and she runs with it. It’s pure bliss watching her in this movie.

8. Berenice Bejo in The Artist

It really doesn’t take long to fall in love with Berenice Bejo in The Artist. From her flirty first scene she exudes such sweetness, such charm that you just want to hug her. Like Dujardin, her co-star, she took a real risk here, attempting to recreated silent screen acting, which is miles away from the acting she is normally called on to do, and like him, she pulls it off brilliantly. Her role doesn’t require her to hit as many notes as Dujardin’s does, but with those big doe eyes, she does whatever she is called upon to do wonderfully. A great performance.

7. Judy Greer in The Descendants

Judy Greer has often been stuck in the “best friend” role during the course of her career, in one lame romantic comedy after another – yet she’s always been better than the material deserves. Here, she finally gets a role worthy of her talent. She plays the wife of the man who Clooney’s wife was having an affair with – at first chipper, smart, funny and kind when these strangers show up in her life. Her final scene though, as she visits the comatose woman her husband cheated on her with, is devastatingly good – especially her exit line, which is downright cruel, even though we understand where it’s coming from.

6. Shailene Woodley in The Descendants

I have suffered through a number of episodes of Shailene Woodley’s awful TV show The Secret Life of the American Teenager, so no one was more surprised than I was to discover what a great actress was lurking beneath the surface, waiting for a director as skilled as Alexander Payne to draw it out. As Clooney’s older daughter, a wild child who they’ve had to send away to protect her from her own darker impulses, Woodley creates a portrait of a troubled teenager that captures that confusing time in everyone’s life just about perfectly. I don’t know if this performance is the start of a great career, or simply an anomaly, but in this movie anyway, Woodley is just right.

5. Jessica Chastain in Take Shelter

Jessica Chastain had a breakthrough year in 2011, and her brilliant turn in Take Shelter isn’t even her best work. Yet it is much deeper than most “wife” roles in thrillers. Yes she is concerned that her husband is going to ruin their lives, spend all of their money, and perhaps kill them as he sinks further and further into his delusions (unless they aren’t delusions after all). As the movie progresses, she becomes more determined to stand by her husband – to help him, and not abandon him like everyone else, and perhaps that’s the key to understand the ending of the movie after all. This is the start of what should be a great career.

4. Jessica Chastain in The Tree of Life

It can be very hard to play a complete character in a movie like The Tree of Life, with all of its stylistics, and hushed dialogue, but that is precisely what Jessica Chastain does in this movie – her best performance in a year where she delivered quite a few. She plays Malick’s view of perfect motherhood – kind, gentle, delicate, sensitive – the opposite of their stern father. She’s also the symbol of her son’s confused sexual awakening, with Oedipal feelings running through him to a certain extent. That Chastain conveys so much, by saying so little in the film, is quite remarkable. Yes, she has gotten more awards attention for her work in The Help (and she is great in that movie, despite my feelings towards the movie as a whole), but it was The Tree of Life where she did her best work this year.

3. Carey Mulligan in Drive

Carey Mulligan’s face has been an inspiration to directors since her breakthrough role in An Education a few years ago. With those big doe eyes, mixed with the intelligence that shines through, and her seemingly fragile nature that makes you want to take care of her, you cannot help but fall in love with Mulligan. And never has that been more apparent than in Drive, where she simply looks at Ryan Gosling, and he melts. She is literally the damsel in distress in this movie, and although she says little, he leaves a definite mark in this film. The look in her eyes when the elevator door closes is wonderful.

2. Vanessa Redgrave in Coriolanus

There are a number of great performances in Coriolanus – but none quite match the level of Vanessa Redgrave’s bitch of a mother, who drives her son so hard, first into politics, which he isn’t suited for and everyone knows it, and then she destroys him completely when he comes back, guns blazing. I have a feeling that many actresses would have gone big and bold with this performance, but Redgrave smartly does not go that route. She is subtle in her manipulation of her son, even as she pushes him to his doom. Hers is the most complex character and performance in the movie – and it’s the best work this Oscar winning legend has done in years.

1. Carey Mulligan in Shame

Michael Fassbender has deservingly won many awards and hogged most of the acclaim for Steve McQueen’s drama Shame, but Carey Mulligan, as his equally damaged sister, is just as good as Fassbender was. From her far to intimate introduction (naked in the shower) to her slowed down rendition of New York, New York, to her encounter with Brandon’s boss, to her emotional breakdown at the end of the film, Mulligan is never less than brilliant – and holds our gaze, much like she does Brandon’s when singing. She is the reason why Fassbender breaks down – but she’s there to try and find a lifeline, something to save herself. But it’s too late for her; it’s too late for Brandon. Mulligan has quickly become one of the best actresses of her generation, and in Shame, she delivers her best performance to date.

2011 Year in Review: Best Supporting Actor

2012-01-31T07:36:00.000-08:00

For the second straight year, I thought this was actually a rather weak category. Yes, my top 3 would have been in the “Oscar slots” in almost any year, but after that, the quality drops quite a bit.

Runners-Up: Kenneth Branagh in My Week with Marilyn, Brian Cranston in Drive, Vincent Cassell in A Dangerous Method, Brian Cox in Coriolanus, James Cromwell in The Artist, Jonah Hill in Moneyball, Ben Kingsley in Hugo, Viggo Mortenson in A Dangerous Method, John C. Reilly in Carnage, John C. Reilly in Terri, Corey Stoll in Midnight in Paris, Mark Strong in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Max von Sydow in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

10. Jonah Hill in Moneyball

Jonah Hill brings a much needed humor to Moneyball – but not the broad sort of humor for which he is known. He matches Brad Pitt’s wittiness in their scenes together, going from a super smart, shy guy afraid to open his mouth, into something much more confident. There isn’t all that much depth to his character, and yet Hill makes him seem real – and likable throughout. Great comic actors can usually do great dramatic work if they are given a chance to – Jonah Hill was given a chance with Moneyball, and he made the most of it.

9. Tom Hardy in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

It was a very good year from Tom Hardy – who channeled Marlon Brando in the MMA epic Warrior, and left an impression in the trailer for the new Batman movie as Bane – giving fans hope that perhaps Heath Ledger’s Joker could be replaced by another villain. But it’s his small role in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy that impressed me the most. Here, he plays a man that everyone thought had gone rogue, but was really just hiding out, licking his wounds. He has become disillusioned with his role in The Circus, but wants revenge for the wrong done to the woman he loves. Chain smoking his way through the movie, Hardy once again reminded me of Brando – and unlike most actors who try to channel the acting legend, he actually pulls it off.

8. Benedict Cumberbatch in Tinker Tailor Solider Spy

Benedict Cumberbatch’s performance in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, like that of Gary Oldman’s, is all about subtly, and watching what happens when he isn’t talking. He plays a man who has essentially been written off by the Circus, who sees a chance to move back into its good graces – and he’s not going to let it go. When he’s called in to see his bosses, he has a masterful scene as he defends himself. But there is one moment in this performance that I will never forget – it last only a few seconds after he’s had to kick his gay lover out of his house to protect both of them, and he breaks down and cries in a moment of heartbreaking simplicity.

7. Christopher Plummer in Beginners

Christopher Plummer has been a great actor for decades now, and in Beginners, he gets one of the best roles of his career. He plays a man who has been in a loveless marriage for more than 40 years, but when his wife dies, he is finally “free” – and he uses this freedom to announce to his son that he is gay. He only has a few years left before cancer will take hold of him, but he uses them to full advantage – it’s never too late to find happiness. Yes, I thought the movie was perhaps a little too much of a fantasy (and I couldn’t help but feel more sympathy for Plummer’s late wife than anyone else in the movie – as she is the only one who doesn’t get to find happiness before she dies), and yes, Plummer’s role seems to be written with the idea of winning an Oscar in mind – he’s gets to the play gay and die of a long gestating illness – but Plummer transcends these clichés to find the humanity inside this character. A great performance by a great actor.

6. Ezra Miller in We Need to Talk About Kevin

Ezra Miller has been forgotten for most of this awards season, and I know why. Many people see his Kevin, as horrifying as it is, as a one note monster – a cynical, cruel, sadistic asshole who has does everything possible to piss off his mother – including killing his classmates. But Miller’s performance is more subtle than that – he matches Swinton’s performance with his own, and holds up a mirror to her, which is why she is so terrified of him. Yes, outwardly, Kevin is a monster, but if you pay attention and look closer, there’s much more to his character, and Miller’s performance, than that.

5. Patton Oswalt in Young Adult

A quiet performance by Oswalt, as a man who was beat up and permanently disabled in high school because everyone thought he was gay (he wasn’t), who has become a man who will never grow past high school. While everyone else can see what a train wreck Charlize Theron’s queen bitch character has become, he still idolizes her as the personification of female perfection he envisioned in high school. Yes, he tries to get her to see things clearly, but his own vision is so clouded, he can’t. Unlike Theron’s character however, we can’t help but feel sorry for him. A great performance by an under rated actor.

4. John Hawkes in Martha Marcy May Marlene

There is no creepier moment in any 2011 film than when John Hawkes sings Marcy’s Song to Elizabeth Olson. The song is outwardly beautiful – a sweet melody – and yet when you listen to the lyrics, you realize just how little he thinks of her (“She, she’s just a picture, that’s all”). This describes the entirely of Hawkes’ brilliant performance in one scene – where he puts on the guise of wise, older leader to his “family”, he’s really just exploiting them. Hawkes, who had a breakthrough last year in Winter’s Bone, delivers an even better performance this year. A great character actor finally getting the roles he deserves.

3. Andy Serkis in Rise of the Planet of the Apes

I have a feeling that a few decades from now, Andy Serkis will be looked upon as an acting pioneer. It started with his work as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings films, got better with his work as King Kong, and has reached its peak with his role as Caesar in this film. Yes, Serkis is covered in CGI, but it’s not that much different than being covered in makeup is it? Watch how they did the special effects, and you will see their efforts were made to try and give Serkis’ performance more, not less, importance. Caesar is one of the most fascinating, and yes, complex characters of the year, and while the special effects wizards certainly deserve recognition for that, Andy Serkis is the man who deserves the most credit. Yes, he should be eligible for an Oscar for his brilliant turn in this film.

2. Brad Pitt in The Tree of Life

It was a great year for Brad Pitt – his movie star persona shone through brightly in Moneyball – but his quiet, restrained work in The Tree of Life is equally brilliant, in a completely different way. His stern, strict father is not a monster – but a man who loves his children and wants the best for them, but who is unable to express his more tender feelings towards them. His performance is quiet and subtle – from the tense moments around the dinner table, to the few moments he does let that softer side through. Pitt is brilliant in The Tree of Life, and he deserves a little more credit for it than he has gotten so far this season.

1. Albert Brooks in Drive

I always love it when an actor with a seemingly set screen persona gets a role that allows them to turn it on its head. Alfred Hitchcock was a master at this, turning Cary Grant into an asshole and Jimmy Stewart into a creep, while all the while outwardly, they were the charming movies stars they always had been. For Albert Brooks’ in Drive, he still plays a fast talking, self absorbed man as he always had – but this time, he’s not charming or funny, but heartless, cruel and violent. His lines sound like they should be funny, but somehow you don’t laugh, because his delivery is blood chilling. Brooks’ has played the same basic character in pretty much every movie he has been in for his entire, brilliant career. But in Drive, he gets to take that screen persona, and turn it inside out. The result is not only the best villain of the year, but also the best performance of Brooks’ career.

2011 Year in Review: Best Actress

2012-01-31T07:31:00.000-08:00

An almost unfathomable about of great performances in this category this year – any of the top 8 would have been right at home in the “Oscar slots”, and the strength in the runners-up section is unprecedented.

Runners-Up: Maria Bello in Beautiful Boy, Glenn Close in Albert Nobbs, Viola Davis in The Help, Vera Farmiga in Higher Ground, Keira Knightley in A Dangerous Method, Felicity Jones in Like Crazy, Lina Liberto in Trust, Miriela Oprisor in Tuesday, After Christmas, Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady, Mia Wasikowska in Jane Eyre, Michelle Williams in Meek’s Cutoff

10. Saorise Ronan in Hanna

Saorise Ronan had a great coming out party with her Oscar nominated turn in Atonement a few years ago and this young actress continues to do great work in practically all of her films. In Hanna, she plays a the title character, a young girl raised in the middle of nowhere by her father (Eric Bana) to be a killing machine. Yet, while her character starts out as a little robotic, as the movie progresses and she gets out into the real world her character grows before your eyes – underneath it all, she is normal teenager – but one that can kill you. The movie could have so easily flown off the rails had it not been for this great performance.

9. Juliette Binoche in Certified Copy

Juliette Binoche is one of those actresses not afraid to throw herself into any role offered to her, by any director. Here, she teams up with Iranian auteur Abbas Kiarostami, to create a complex portrait that questions the nature of cinematic reality. While her co-star, William Shammell, is a little too stiff, Binoche is fearless, ripping into her dual role – one as a woman on a first date, one as a long suffering wife, as the film fractures half way through and makes us question everything we’ve seen. No matter, because Binoche is our baseline – and once again this great actress isn’t afraid to take chances. That she pulls it off is all the more impressive.

8. Olivia Colman in Tyrannosaur

Olivia Colman’s work in Tyrannosaur is quietly mesmerizing. When we first meet her, she seems like a nice, timid woman working in a Christian charity store, when the violent Peter Mullan storms in. But as the movie progresses, and we get to know her own violent life, her performance takes on added dimensions. Colman plays this role like a dog who has beaten repeatedly – meek, shy, timid, untrusting – until one day she can quite simply no longer take it. Mullan is a such a powerful, forceful actor that he can be difficult to keep up with, but Colman handles her role brilliantly – she really does become the center of the movie by the end, and her performance is heartbreaking.

7. Charlize Theron in Young Adult

This is the best work of Theron’s career. One of the most beautiful women in the world becomes a depressed, alcoholic with a sharp wit, who cannot see that everyone in her hometown – who he looks down – no longer, envies her like they did in high school. Now, they feel sorry for the mess she has become. Theron pulls no punches, never tries to make her character likable or sympathetic, but instead embraces her characters flaws, and makes her one of the nastier character of the year – who you would pity, if she wasn’t such a bitch. A great, brave performance by Theron.

6. Yun Jeong-hie in Poetry

Yun Jeong-hie is quietly brilliant as the woman at the heart of Lee Chang-dong’s character study. It is the story of a woman, raising her grandson on her own, who has to deal with the knowledge that he participated in a gang rape (and doesn’t feel sorry for it, even though the girl killed herself) and that she has Alzheimer’s. She bravely carried on with her life, even trying to expand her mind before she loses it, by taking a poetry class. This is a quiet, perceptive movie, that depends on this performance to make it as great as it is. Another triumph for director Lee Chang-dong to be sure, but also one for Yun Jeong-hie.

5. Michelle Williams in My Week with Marilyn

One of the ways to win an Oscar is to play a famous person – everyone knows that. And yet, Michelle Williams’s performance as Marilyn Monroe goes far deeper than most in biopics. This isn’t Williams simply imitating Monroe’s famous breathy voice, her innocent, sultry sexuality. Williams becomes Monroe, and shows us so many different sides of her during the course of the movie – the movie star basking in fame, the gifted comedic actress, the insecure little girl, the drug addict losing control and on and on. It’s a little bit of a shame that the movie itself is so light hearted, and inconsequential. Yes, it’s enjoyable, but Williams brings another dimension to the movie. If you want to look at the difference between imitation and embodiment, all you have to do is look at the difference between Williams and her co-star Kenneth Branagh, who while doing a spot on Laurence Olivier imitation, never becomes him. Williams becomes Monroe – and in doing so, elevates the whole movie.

4. Rooney Mara in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Rooney Mara lobbied hard for this role from David Fincher – and she was quite right that she would be perfect for it. She is not the typical beauty the studio wanted for the role, which we can all be thankful for, since it would have been wrong for Lisbeth Salander. Mara is asked to do a lot – convey a lot of complex emotions, while saying little. Salander has built up walls around herself to avoid getting hurt, and she keeps everyone away. As she digs into the past, she comes alive, and even learns to trust, only to be betrayed once again. This is a magnificent performance.

3. Kristen Dunst in Melancholia

Kristen Dunst has always been a talented actress, but even I have to admit that I didn’t suspect that she had this sort of performance in her. As the depressed, self involved center of the films first part, Dunst fearlessly embraces her characters flaws and contradictions. For some of the second half, she pretty much goes catatonic, but when she comes out of it for the finale, she once again reminds us that she really is the center of this movie. Dunst goes for broke here, and delivers. It’s not easy to work with Lars von Trier, but Dunst manages to give a career re-defining performance in this film.

2. Elizabeth Olson in Martha Marcy May Marlene

Elizabeth Olson delivers an expert performance in one of the most difficult roles of the year. The film flashes back and forth in time to show her both as a member of a Manson family like cult, and her efforts to fit back into society. Because the setting are both so similar – trees play a big role in the visual motif of the film – Olson has to show how disconnected she is in both settings. She is really isolated in both settings, alone with her thoughts, as she thinks what the cult is doing in wrong, and yet when she leaves, she cannot behave the way she is supposed to. Right up until the final, ambiguous frames of the movie, Olson carries this film brilliantly.

1. Tilda Swinton in We Need to Talk About Kevin

Tilda Swinton is probably the most fearless actress in the world right now. She is not afraid to do anything, work with anyone, speak in other languages, or deliver a performance like this one – where she has to paint a monstrous portrait of motherhood. Is there another movie mother who hates her own child as much as she does here, and yet keeps it as bottled up as she does – that resentment spilling over in everything else? She makes no effort to make her character more sympathetic, and that’s precisely why you do feel some degree of sympathy for her. We Need to Talk About Kevin is one of the darkest portraits of parenthood ever put on screen. What’s truly scary is how believable it is – and that’s do to Swinton’s brilliant performance.

2011 Year in Review: Best Actor

2012-01-31T07:27:00.000-08:00

I would have been happy to include any of my top 8 choices in the top five “Oscar slots” this year, but there just wasn’t room. A fairly strong year for this category.

Runners-Up: Demian Bichar in A Better Life, Michael Fassbender in Jane Eyre, Paul Giamatti in Win Win, Brendan Gleason in The Guard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt in 50/50, Ryan Gosling in The Ides of March, Tom Hardy in Warrior, Woody Harrelson in Rampart, Peyman Moaadi in A Separation, Peter Mullan in Tyrannosaur, Cristi Puiu in Aurora, Owen Wilson in Midnight in Paris.

10. Michael Fassbender in A Dangerous Method

Michael Fassbender had a great year, and his work in David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method, while great, isn’t even his best. Here, he plays Carl Jung, a disciple of Sigmund Freud, who will take Freud’s theories farther than he ever did – and then he’ll cross a line. Strangely, the movie reminded me of Martin Scorsese’s The Age of Innocence, and Fassbender’s work here deserves comparisons to Daniel Day-Lewis’ Daniel Archer – a repressed man, who wants what he cannot have, and tries, hopelessly, to repress it. Keira Knightley goes over the top, Viggo Mortenson has a lot of fun, but Fassbender quietly delivers the films finest performance.

9. Jean Dujardin in The Artist

You have to give credit to Jean Dujardin, who was gutsy enough to take the lead role in a silent, black and white film. He was most likely cast because he has the right look – I had no trouble believing that he was silent action star – but Dujardin goes a little bit deeper than that as well. Yes, he throws himself into the comedy of the movie – and does a wonderful job with it – but he also embraces the melodramatic side. In effect, he has to do three distinct styles of silent movie acting – the over the top action sequences for his film, the deft physical comedy, and the heartbreaking melodrama. That he attempted it means he’s brave. That he pulled it off means he’s brilliant.

8. Leonardo DiCaprio in J. Edgar

Playing J. Edgar Hoover from his early days at the Bureau of Investigation right up until his death could not have been an easy task for DiCaprio, and yet he absolutely nails it. As the older Hoover, covered in makeup, DiCaprio never loses his grip on the character – never allows the makeup to do the work for him. He is a man obsessed with secrets, his own and everyone else’s, and he destroys others lives, while trying to get what he wants. He is a man who loves three people in his life, and cannot sleep with any of them, but needs them close to him. The rest of the cast are not very well defined, but DiCaprio who is the heart of every scene carries the movie. He elevates the entire film. More proof that DiCaprio really is one of the best actors of his generation.

7. Ralph Fiennes in Coriolanus

When I think about Fiennes’ performance in his own directorial debut, Coriolanus, it is his eyes that come to mind first. When engaged in battle – against his enemies either on the battlefield or the political arena – they take on a wildness, a rage, almost an insanity. Later, when he has lost everything, and is seeking revenge, his eyes have gone cold and dead – remorseless. Yet, throughout, all he has to do is look at his domineering mother, and his eyes melt, and he becomes a little boy once more. Yes, Fiennes handles Shakespeare’s dialogue expertly, but unlike some actors when he delivers those lines, he doesn’t seem like he’s reading in class – but that he’s feeling every word. This is Fiennes’ best work in years.

6. Michael Shannon in Take Shelter

Michael Shannon has been a rising star for a few years now – the strange, gung ho military man in Oliver Stone’s World Trade Center (far and away the highlight of the movie), the paranoid veteran in William Friedkin’s underrated Bug, the insane truth teller in Revolutionary Road and Take Shelter director Jeff Nichols’ debut film Shotgun Stories, about two warring sets of brothers were all great performances. But in Take Shelter he outdoes himself, even while he still has the same trademark intensity, and paranoid ramblings he has become known before. Shannon is not repeating himself, but he is doing variations on a theme. He anchors Take Shelter with his performance, and lets us get inside his head, until we are as paranoid as he is. A great performance by one of the best actors working.

5. Ryan Gosling in Drive

Ryan Gosling begins Drive as a blank slate, which is precisely what leads Carey Mulligan to project her needs onto him – and because he loves her, he becomes whatever she needs on a scene to scene basis. Yes, Gosling barely says a word throughout the movie – he doesn’t need to, as he is a man of action, not words. But watch his performance as it takes on one dimension after another as the movie goes along, from sensitive confidant, into avenging hero; this is actually one of the most complex performances of the year. Shame so many seemed to have missed that.

4. George Clooney in The Descendants

Clooney gives his best, most multilayered performance in Alexander Payne’s deft comedy/drama. He plays a lawyer reeling from the revelation that his comatose wife was having an affair – and he is determined to track down the man she was cheating on him with to deliver the news. This is not altruism on his part, but curiosity, and a way to avoid dealing with his feelings about pulling the plug – not to mention the big real estate deal he has to close. Ultimately however, his performance tracks this man as he changes – grows closer to his daughters, becoming a real parent for the first time. Yes, Clooney turns on the charm here, and as always, he can be as funny as anyone else. But his performance has more heart than anyone else’s this year. Clooney continues to evolve as an actor in interesting ways.

3. Brad Pitt in Moneyball

At first, Brad Pitt’s performance as Billy Beane, Oakland A’s GM, seems like it’s going to be another one of his movie star performances, where he exudes charm and humor – and there’s nothing wrong with that, as Pitt does that better than nearly anyone else around right now. But as the movie goes along, Pitt’s performance takes on different elements – anger and resentment at his own stalled career, and how no one seems to want to listen to him, obsession over whether or not he’s ruined his career, and nervousness as he stalks around the clubhouse during the games. There is also a surprising, and welcome, emotional element in the sweet relationship between Beane and his daughter. Pitt is such a fine actor, and he does exude such charm in this movie, that’s easy to overlook just how complex it really is.

2. Gary Oldman in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Gary Oldman is very still throughout much of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – his George Smiley spends more time listening and thinking than talking. Hidden behind huge glasses that distort his face, Oldman keeps an even keel throughout the whole movie – only raising his voice once. But this is far from a one note performance. Watch Oldman in his stillness and see what masterful, subtle acting is going on behind those huge glasses. The centerpiece of his performance is inarguably the scene where he looks directly into the camera and describes his meeting with Karla years before. In that scene all of Smiley’s doubts, all of his moral ambiguity comes out in full force. Oldman delivers a subtle, sly tour-de-force in this movie.

1. Michael Fassbender in Shame

In my mind, the best performance in any category this year was Michael Fassbender as Brandon in Steve McQueen’s examination of sex addiction, and the sins of the past haunting the present. Brandon seems to have it all – a good job, good looks and a constant stream of women in his life. He keeps everything compartmentalized until his sister shows up, and throws him into a tailspin of shame and despair. Fassbender’s back-story is not explained, but hinted at. Fassbender does a brilliant job with this role, often wordlessly conveying the complex feelings running through Brandon’s head, as he breaks down again and again, until finally, he goes on a bender to end the film that is the most painful one I can imagine. This was the year Fassbender truly broke out, became star in many people’s eyes, even though he delivered a number of great performances before this year (Hunger, Inglorious Basterds, Eden Lake, Fish Tank). With his work in Shame, not to mention A Dangerous Method, Jane Eyre and X-Men: First Class, Fassbender proved himself to be one of the great actors of his generation. This is his finest performance to date.

2011 Year in Review: The Top 10 Films

2012-01-30T08:38:00.000-08:00

And finally, we arrive at the 10 best films of the year. I knew the best film of the year was going to be my favorite of the year as soon as it was over – even though most of the other great films of the year hadn’t been released yet. It towers over the rest.

10. Midnight in Paris (Woody Allen)

Woody Allen has been a hit or miss filmmaker for nearly 20 years now, but Midnight in Paris is his best movie in years. An effortless, charming comic fantasy in which Owen Wilson plays a 2011 writer vacationing in Paris who discovers if he stands on a certain street corner at midnight, he can be transported back to 1920s Paris, and hob knob with some of the greatest writers and artists of all time. Allen makes no effort to explain why he can do this, because really, what explanation would do? The movie makes the best use of Wilson’s comic gifts that I have seen so far – you need someone with his wide eyed innocence and lack of cynicism to make this movie work, and Wilson does a wonderful job. The film is also beautiful to look at – the cinematography, the art direction; the costume design is all top notch. You get the feeling at this point in his career, Allen is simply making movies because he’s made one a year for more than 40 years now – but once in a while, he gets one right. And Midnight in Paris is a movie like that.

9. Martha Marcy May Marlene (Sean Durkin)

I find that often times, debut directors try to accomplish way too much in their films, and it isn’t until they have a few under their belt that they realize that less often equals more. But debut filmmaker Sean Durkin knows this right off the bat with his masterful Martha Marcy May Marlene, a disturbing movie about a young woman (Elisabeth Olson) who escapes from a Manson family like cult, and tries to reenter normal society. The way Durkin visually draws parallels between the compound the cult lives at, and the spacious wilderness home of her sister who she goes to live with is wonderful – showing us how Martha really doesn’t fit in anywhere (full credit has to go to the great cinematography here). She’s too smart to truly get in with the cult, and yet too warped by her time there to fit in with the rest of society. Durkin also gets great performances from his cast – especially John Hawkes, charming and creepy, often at the same time, and Elisabeth Olson herself, who does brilliantly in one of the most difficult, complex roles of the year. Durkin – and Olson – are talents to watch.

8. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Tomas Alfredson)

John LeCarre’s spy masterpiece gets a great adaptation from Tomas Alfredson. This is not the spy work as seen in James Bond movies, but rather presents it as the long, slow, work performed by men who dress and act like accountants. Set in the 1970s, it is about a possible mole in The Circus, the British spy group based on MI6, where they bring back the deposed George Smiley (Gary Oldman) to figure out what happened. Cold War paranoia runs through the film, and the period detail in the art direction and costume design, is perfect. But this is far from just a period piece, as it draws links to the present day, and questions who really is on the “right side” and the “wrong side” or even if such distinctions exist. As Smiley, Oldman delivers the best performance of his career – he has no delusions of right or wrong, but does his job because it is his job. The masterful addition of a series of flashbacks to a Christmas party (not included in LeCarre’s book) is really the movie in a microcosm – starting out showing us what we think is the men in a more innocent time, but with each progressive flashback, it becomes a darker and more sinister. A masterful spy drama where the enemy really is within.

7. We Need to Talk About Kevin (Lynne Ramsay)

Lynne Ramsay’s We Need to Talk About Kevin, adapted from the brilliant Lionel Shriver novel, is really a domestic horror film, where the killer kid is not the spawn of Satan or has supernatural powers, but is the result of either his genetics or his upbringing. It’s clear from the beginning of the movie that what we are seeing is entirely from the main characters’ point of view, and she sees her son Kevin as a soul sucking monster from birth. So is it any wonder he goes on one of those high school massacre sprees? Ramsay’s direction here is great – not a lot of dialogue is spoken for long stretches of time, and Ramsay’s paints a portrait of suburban malaise and resentment that gradually bubbles over. The sound design is the most intricate of the year. She also directs two of the year’s best performances – Ezra Miller as the unfeeling Kevin with dead eyes and constant menace, and even more brilliantly Tilda Swinton as his mother, who rips into this role and delivers her best work to date. Ramsay draws the connection between the two of them quite clearly – they have the same angular, androgynous features, and the same outlook on the world, only if Kevin is more willing to show it. This is a movie that provides no answers, but only questions on top of questions.

6. The Descendants (Alexander Payne)

Alexander Payne’s The Descendants strikes that delicate balance between comedy and drama as no one else currently working can do. This is a story of a Hawaiian lawyer (George Clooney) whose wife has fallen into a coma following a boating accident, who discovers she was having an affair when she died. Knowing they have to pull the plug, he takes his daughters and tries to track down her lover so that he can say goodbye to her – or at least that’s what he tells himself. This probably sounds like a downer, but in Payne’s hands, The Descendants is hilarious one moment, and heartbreaking the next – and yet somehow the tone remains constant, and the film never feels like a cheat. Ultimately, The Descendants is about Clooney’s character discovering who he really is – both as a father, as he connects with his daughters like he was incapable of doing before, and as man. Payne took 7 long years to follow up his 2004 masterwork Sideways, which was simple perfection, and even if The Descendants isn’t quite that good, it is definitely made by the same filmmaker – one with uncommon skill and humanity. Call me a sucker because I had my first child, a daughter, this year, but this film moved me to tears.

5. Moneyball (Bennett Miller)

Moneyball is about how the stats nerds took over the game, for better and worse (seriously, have you tried watching a baseball game lately – it’s only gotten more boring since everyone has started to play moneyball). Starring Brad Pitt in one of his best performances as Billy Beane, GM of the Oakland A’s, who loses his three biggest stars in one offseason because his team has no money. In order to stay competitive, he decides to hire a stats nerd (Jonah Hill) who tells him that MLB teams value the wrong things in players – and therefore, they can build a great team out of players no one else wants. This is a baseball movie without much baseball in it – just a bunch of guys sitting around in the backroom crunching numbers. And yet, a more exciting sports movie you will not get. A lot of credit goes to screenwriters Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zallian, who have made all of this talk interesting, and the actors who exude charm, wit and intelligence. And director Bennett Miller finds the perfect pace for it all. Mainstream Hollywood entertainment at its absolute finest.

4. Shame (Steve McQueen)

I feel the need to take this space to defend Shame, which I think is a brilliant film, from some of the more ludicrous criticisms it has received since its release in early December. Steve McQueen’s masterful second film is not one that says sex itself is shameful, as many critics seem to think. The shame felt by Michael Fassbender’s character is because of what happened in his youth involving him and his sister – which is only hinted at in the movie (but to me, was obvious, was not incest between brother and sister, but rather molestation of the sister by someone else, that Fassbender did not stop – hence Fassbender’s breakdown when he hears his sister with his boss through walls, just like he would have as a child). This has forever damaged both brother Fassbender and sister Carey Mulligan, who have both become obsessed with sex in different ways – he keeping emotions completely out of it, not getting involving with anyone beyond a physical level, as a way to bury his demons, or at least keep them temporarily at bay. She inflates every sexual encounter she has to be a grand romance or love. Neither of them are healthy, both are damaged beyond repair. McQueen’s film daringly shows this descent by Fassbender, who becomes increasingly unhinged throughout the course of the movie. Just like his first film, Hunger, McQueen favors long, unbroken shots, often just sitting back and observing. And he is aided by two of the very best performances of the year by Fassbender and Mulligan. There are scenes here that are masterfully shot – the wordless subway flirtation, Mulligan’s slowed down rendition of New York, New York, and Fassbender breaking down during it. Shame, as much as a downer as it is, it is also masterful.

3. Hugo (Martin Scorsese)

There were two films this year that looked back at the earlier days of cinema. While I think The Artist is a charming and brilliantly well made homage to silent films that was all it was for me. What Martin Scorsese does with Hugo is better and deeper. It looks back at the first movie magician, Georges Meilies, who was on the cutting edge of cinema technology more than 100 years ago, and pays homage to him by using cutting edge technology from today – I have a feeling he would be awestruck. Scorsese uses 3-D not to make his images jump out at the audience, but to add depth – it’s the only live action film besides Avatar to truly uses 3-D brilliantly. But more than even that, Scorsese’s movie is about why we go to the movies – whether it’s Meiles himself staring in wonder the first Lumiere brothers movies, Hugo’s father staring in wonder at Meilies films, Hugo and his friend staring in wonder at Harold Lloyd, or Scorsese’s audience staring in wonder at Hugo itself, the film is about that movie magic, and reminded me of why I fell in love with movies in the first place. Hugo is a thrilling family adventure, a visual masterpiece and a cinema history lesson all rolled into one magical package. It is another triumph for my favorite filmmaker in history.

2. Drive (Nicholas Winding Refn)

The one thing both supporters and detractors of Drive seem to agree on is that is a pastiche – although they don’t agree on who it’s based on as I’ve heard Jean-Pierre Melville, William Friedkin, Walter Hill and Michael Mann among others. But strangely, when director Nicholas Winding Refn talks about the film, he mentions fairy tales and not neo-noir as his reference point. And perhaps it’s because I’ve been reading a lot of fairy tales to my newborn daughter (no, she doesn’t understand them, but she likes being read to), but I knew exactly where he is coming from. Because Drive is not a neo-noir about a heartless professional going about his job, but the story of a fairly ordinary guy (Ryan Gosling) who transforms himself not once, but twice for the women he loves. Yes, he is a getaway driver when the movie begins, but as his rules make abundantly clear, he is no killer. When he first meets the damsel in distress (Carey Mulligan), she needs a shoulder to cry on, and a surrogate husband for the one she has who is in prison, and this former blank slate becomes that. When her husband gets out of jail and he screws everything up putting her and her son in danger, her need of the driver doesn’t go away, but changes – she needs him to be the vanquishing hero to save her, and so he becomes that. It reminded me of the story of The Brave Little Tailor, who has to become a dragon slayer because of a misunderstanding – and what the princess projects onto him. The Driver, in essence, does the same thing here. Yes, the film is outwardly, and visually, a film noir, but at its heart it’s a romance. The best single scene of any movie this year takes place in the elevator, when first Gosling draws Mulligan to him and kisses her, and then turns around and stomps a gangster into a bloody mess. This is the movie in a microcosm, as the two are drawn together and then forever forced apart in a split second. The fact that Drive is one of the most visually alive films of the year, with its effortless roaming camera, and also one of the most violent and contains in Albert Brooks’ the best villain of the year seems to have led people to believe one thing, when really what Drive is up to is on a whole different level.

1. The Tree of Life (Terence Malick)

I really did love the rest of the films on my top 10 list this year, and yet none of them ever came close to knocking Terrence Malick’s masterpiece The Tree of Life from the top spot. Malick’s film feels like the movie his entire career has been building to – a large scale epic that considers the creation of the world, and a intimate portrait of his own family in 1950s Texas. Both parts of the movie are brilliant on their own, and when taken together add up to the most ambitious film I have seen in a movie theater in years. The film left many viewers frustrated, because Malick doesn’t tell his story through a traditional narrative, and yet to me the entire movie was mesmerizing from start to finish. The creation of the world sequence that starts the film, and then builds to the first act of compassion, when one giant lizard refuses to kill another, is brilliantly handled – with old school special effects (still the best of the year), and recalls the genius of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001. The part about growing up in Texas is as intimate as the beginning was epic – the story of childhood heard through whispers and remembered in moments. Yes, Malick’s version of the afterlife maybe a little clichéd, but that doesn’t make it any less beautiful. To those who know me, it may seem surprising that I picked The Tree of Life as the year’s best – after all, The Tree of Life is ultimately a fairly religious movie, and yet to me, The Tree of Life is about an agnostic questioning God, and his faith, throughout, before finally accepting him in the end. I may not be at that point in my life, but the questions Malick raises are more important than the answers he ultimately gives. Malick, one of the best filmmakers in history, has outdone himself with The Tree of Life – he has made one of the few films in recent years that I know with absolute certainty people will still be discussing and debating decades from now.

2011 Year in Review: Runners-Up: 20-11

2012-01-30T08:34:00.000-08:00

Any one of these films could have easily had made my top 10 list – especially starting at number 15. Unfortunately there just wasn’t room.

20. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Rupert Wyatt)

No other summer blockbuster was as exciting or as rewarding as Rupert Wyatt’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes – and no one is more surprised than I am that I think that way. I walked into the theater with few expectations, and was rewarded with this intelligent, emotional, action packed film. What makes this better than any of the other Planet of the Apes films, is that it focuses on the apes themselves, not the humans. James Franco, Frieda Pinto and John Lithgow are fine as the main human characters, but this is a movie from the apes’ point of view – and you cannot help but think they’re justified in doing what they do. The film’s ace in the hole is Andy Serkis, who does a brilliant job as Caesar, the ape who will lead the revolution against their human counterparts. This is big budget, popcorn entertainment done right.

19. The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius)

The Artist seems like the likeliest choice to win the Best Picture Oscar at this point, and while it obviously wouldn’t be my choice, I really don’t have a problem with that. The Artist is a technical marvel from beginning to end, recreating the silent era movies, but also incorporating elements of noir and later musicals as well. The cinematography is perfect, as is the score (and yes, I do know that not all of it was original, but no, I don’t see how Kim Novak can claim her career was “raped” because they used the score from Vertigo at a key point in the film). Beyond the technical aspects of the film, the acting is also top notch – Jean Dujardin as a silent screen star who falls on hard times, and Berenice Bejo as the up and coming star are wonderful, and supported by a top notch cast – a cigar chomping John Goodman, and an emotional James Cromwell are especially wonderful. Yes, The Artist is about as deep as a thimble – it’s about nothing other than itself – but when a movie is this much fun, I can’t complain.

18. A Separation (Asghar Farhadi)

A Separation is a deceptively simple movie – the further along it goes, the more damn complicated it gets. At the heart of the movie is a separation between and a man and his wife, and the hiring of domestic help to take care of the husband’s aging father with Alzheimer’s. Things turn violent, the man pushes his new employee out the door, where she falls down the stairs, and loses the baby she was pregnant with. What follows is an examination of the Iranian justice system, and tests the viewer’s loyalty – as more information comes out to make us question who is right and who is wrong – or if anyone is either. The screenplay is meticulously crafted, the acting natural and unforced, the direction simple, yet effective. Yes, the movie takes place in Iran, but the themes are universal. A probably winner of the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar this year, and a deserving one.

17. Poetry (Lee Chang-dong)

Lee Chang-dong made one of my favorite films of the last decade with his brilliant feature Secret Sunshine (now available from Criterion, so you have no excuse missing this film I have been praising since seeing it at TIFF in 2007). His follow-up, Poetry, is not quite as good, but is still an emotionally rich film about an elderly woman taking care of her grandchild, who has to deal with the knowledge that he participated in a gang rape, in which the victim then killed herself. She also learns she has Alzheimer’s. She and her grandson discuss neither of these things, as she tries to bravely forge on with these heavy burdens. She decides to take a poetry class. The film is all about language, and how this woman wants to use it (hence the poetry) before she loses it to her illness. In the lead role, Yun Jeong-hie, is brilliant. This is a quiet, perceptive character study.

16. Aurora (Cristi Puiu)

Crisit Puiu’s Aurora turns the crime movie on its head, showing us a warped individual (Puiu himself) stalking the streets of Bucharest and getting angrier and angrier, until at about the half way point of the three hour movie, he murders two people in a parking garage. Why does he do this? You have to wait until the end of the movie to find out, and even then you will not be satisfied, as even when the “motive” is explained, it doesn’t snap everything into place. This is not an M. Night Shyamalan movie after all. Aurora is about this damaged individual, who lives in a damaged city in a damaged country, still struggling with the fall of Communism 20 years later. This is not an easy film to watch, but it is a great one.

15. A Dangerous Method (David Cronenberg)

The last thing you might expect from David Cronenberg is a repressed costume drama – but not only does the famed Canadian provocateur attempt it, he pulls it off, and injects much of himself into the movie. Circling around the triangle of Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) his mentor turned rival Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortenson) and a female patient Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley), the film is about repressed sexuality that eventually bubbles itself up to the surface. Mortenson is great, Knightley uneven at first, but settles into her role as it goes along, and Vincent Cassell is wonderful in what is essentially a cameo. Best of all though is Michael Fassbender as Jung, who fights against his urges as much as he can. This is a movie about the conflict between the mind and the body, so while it doesn’t seem like Cronenberg’s typical film, can you imagine anyone doing it better?

14. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (David Fincher)

Most of the time, when Hollywood remakes a foreign film, the result is a neutered, not very good copy of the original. In this case, David Fincher’s remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is better in pretty much every way than the first film. From the magnificent opening credit sequence (easily the best of the year), to its perfect wordless finale, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a Hollywood thriller at its finest. As Lisbeth Salander, Rooney Mara delivers one of the best, bravest performances of the year, digging into her complex role with energy and verve. This is not a neutered, watered down film or performance. As they did last year, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross once again deserve to take home the Oscar for best score. The film is the flip side of the coin to Fincher’s Zodiac – that film was about the more you dig, the less you know for sure, and this one says that if you dig long enough, you’ll discover the truth. Zodiac is the better film – but I have no doubt that audiences enjoyed this one more.

13. Coriolanus (Ralph Fiennes)

Ralph Fiennes’ Coriolanus is a bold adaptation of a lesser known William Shakespeare play. Set in modern times, Coriolanus takes on contemporary resonance, because the themes and events seem timely to today’s cynical, political climate. The story, about a Roman General (Fiennes) who is pushed by his monstrous mother (Vanessa Redgrave) to try and become Consul, and ends up seeking revenge, is thrilling, violent, superbly crafted and masterfully acted by the entire cast – particularly the wild eyed, violent Fiennes, and the calmly manipulative Redgrave. This is the best Shakespeare adaptation I’ve seen on screen since Julie Taymor’s 1999 film Titus.

12. Melancholia (Lars von Trier)

Had the second half had been as strong as the first half, than Lars von Trier’s Melancholia easily would have been in the top 10. As it stands, the first hour of the film, set at Kristen Dunst’s wedding, is absolutely stunning – a portrait of depression as deep self involvement, and of family dysfunction run amok. The second half, set on an expansive estate as Dunst and her sister (Charlotte Gainsbourgh) and her family wait for the planet Melancholia to crash into earth and destroy everything. Yes, the finale of Melancholia is brilliant – but too much of the second half is over baked and as much as I love Charlotte Gainsbourg, her role is underwritten. The film is a visual masterpiece however to rival Trier’s last film, Antichrist, and there is so much of Melancholia to love, that’s its hardly fair to pick on the films few flaws.

11. Take Shelter (Jeff Nichols)

Take Shelter is about an ordinary family man from middle America who wonders if he is going crazy, or if the world really is about to end. His mother was a paranoid schizophrenic, and when he starts having dreams about a storm coming and wiping everyone out, he worries that he is following down the same path – but cannot help himself as he builds a bomb shelter, and slowly starts driving everyone away from him. Jeff Nichols, whose brilliant Shotgun Stories also starred Michael Shannon, and was criminally ignored, makes a major leap forward here as both as a director and writer. His film has a paranoid feel from beginning to end, and brilliantly evokes Hitchcock’s The Birds. In the lead role, Michael Shannon delivers his best performance to date. Despite what we see at the end, the question of whether he’s crazy or not is still up in the air.

2011 Year in Review: Runners-Up: 30-21

2012-01-30T08:30:00.000-08:00

As always, I admired more films this year than I could possibly include on my list – even when I extend it to 30. The following films are ones that I didn’t have room for above, although I would gladly watch any of them again: Beautiful Boy (Shawn Ku), Beginners (Mike Mills), Bellflower (Evan Glodell), A Better Life (Chris Weitz), Café de Flore (Jean Marc Valle), Captain America (Joe Johnson), City of Life and Death (Lu Chuan), 50/50 (Jonathan Levine), The Guard (John Michael McDonagh), Hanna (Joe Wright), The Ides of March (George Clooney), Insidious (James Wan), I Saw the Devil (Jee-Woon Kimg), Jane Eyre (Cary Fukunaga), Margin Call (JC Chandor), Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (Brad Bird), Monsieur Lazhar (Phillippe Falardeau), The Muppets (James Bobin), My Week with Marilyn (Simon Curtis), Mysteries of Lisbon (Raul Ruiz), Of Gods and Men (Xavier Beauvois), Terri (Azazel Jacobs), Tuesday, After Christmas (Radu Muntean), Road to Nowhere (Monte Hellman), Straw Dogs (Rod Lurie), Submarine (Richard Aoyade), Trust (David Schwimmer), Tyrannosaur (Paddy Considine), Warrior (Gavin O’Connor), Win Win (Thomas McCarthy), X-Men: First Class (Matthew Vaughn). Documentaries will get their own list.

The Runners-Up: 30-21

While I’m not sure that any of these are truly great films, they were all very good, borderline excellent and deserve your attention.

30. War Horse/The Adventures of Tintin (Steven Spielberg)

A double shot of Spielberg nostalgia hit theaters in December, and both were wonderful throwbacks to the films of yesteryear. The Adventures of Tintin, a 3-D animated adventure is the film the most recent Indiana Jones wanted to be – a wonderful throwback to the Saturday afternoon serials that inspired Indy in the first place. Working in 3-D and animation for the first time, Spielberg has crafted a wonderful, witty adventure, that while it looks great, doesn’t have the visuals overshadow the story. In War Horse, he has made another throwback to the inspirational, sentimental (some would say sappy) films that Hollywood churned out all the time in the studio era. Perhaps it is too innocent for these cynical times, but the filmmaking in impeccable, and yes, I admit it, I welled up a little as Joey went running through no man’s land. Neither film quite stacks up to Spielberg’s best – but then again, so few films do.

29. 13 Assassins (Takahasi Miike)

Japanese filmmaker Takahasi Miike has a well earned reputation for being the most extreme of all extreme Japanese filmmakers. But in 13 Assassins, he may well have made his best film – and he plays it mostly straight (there is one shot where the other Miike comes out of hiding). Yes, 13 Assassins is as violent as anything he has made before, but unlike his worst films, this doesn’t seem to be violence for the sake of violence. Instead, he has crafted one of the best samurai films in decades. It has all the elements of a traditional samurai film (it is after all a remake of a film from the 1960s, the golden age of Samurai films) – an insane, madman hell bent on power, who must be taken down, a selfless group of samurais, approaching the end of their era, who vow to stop him. The film is long, but doesn’t feel like – and the action climax, which makes up nearly 45 minutes of running time, is superb. Could Miike really be maturing here?

28. Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami)

Like his masterpiece Close-Up, Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami’s Certified Copy plays with the idea of cinema and reality. The first part of this film has Juliette Binoche and William Shammell playing a couple who has just met, and are heading out on a long first date of getting to know you. Half way through, that changes, and they are long married couple teetering on the brink of divorce. So what half is fake? Are they a married couple trying to rekindle the magic or a new couple trying to see where this is heading? Or, perhaps are they a new couple in the first half and a married couple in the second half – the same people, occupying the same space, but completely different? The more you think about the film, the more damn complex it gets.

27. Harry Potter and the Deathy Hallows Part II (David Yates)

Finally, after 10 years and 8 movies, the Harry Potter franchise comes to an end. What is amazing to me about the series is how each and every one of the 8 films is quality entertainment – yes, some are better than others, but the quality of the series was always top notch. Taken together, as one big long movie, I think Deathly Hallows is probably the best of the series – and is certainly the most emotionally satisfying. Some have not liked director David Yates approach since he took over in film 5, but I think he has done a remarkable job with such long, complex books. Yes, I still believe that Harry Potter should have died at the end of the series – it really is the only ending that makes sense – but I got over that years ago. What we’re left with is a truly wonderful series – with this as the capper.

26. Super 8 (JJ Abrahms)

While Spielberg was indulging in nostalgia for his childhood this year with Tintin and War Horse, JJ Abrahms was indulging in nostalgia of his own childhood – namely early Spielberg films. The result is an exciting alien invasion movie, set in small town America, where the heroes are a group of kids. The young cast is excellent, no one moreso than Elle Fanning, as that girl we all had a crush on in 7^th grade (she is already a better, more interesting actress than her sister). The film is well made, well paced, exciting, fun and humorous. It may not be E.T., but damn it if it doesn’t deserved to be mentioned alongside it.

25. Young Adult (Jason Reitman)

Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody’s second collaboration (following Juno) is a much darker, less witty than their previous one. This one centers on Charlize Theron’s best ever performance as the queen bitch from high school, drowning in alcoholism and depression, who decides to head back to her home town and win back her high school boyfriend (Patrick Wilson) – despite the fact that he clearly is happy with his wife and new daughter. Theron ends up spending more time with Patton Oswalt, a high school loser, who still idolizes her for what she once, was, not the mess she has become. This is an awkwardly hilarious comedy, with dark overtones about depression. This one pulls no punches. The feel bad comedy of the year, handled well by Reitman, Cody, Oswalt and especially Theron.

24. Contagion (Steven Soderbergh)

Steven Soderbergh’s icy cold examination of the world under attack by a new superbug – but unlike the ones we see on the news, this one actually does wipe out millions. Paranoia starts spreading across the globe as more and more people become sick and die shortly thereafter. The virus kills quickly, and the scientists can’t figure it out. We hop around the world from Matt Damon as a father trying to protect his daughter to Laurence Fishburne trying to figure out from the CDC, to Kate Winslet on the ground trying to help people, to Jennifer Ehle as a researcher looking for a cure to Marion Cottillard taken prisoner in Asian until a cure is found to Jude Law as a profiteering blogger. There isn’t a trace of sentimentality in the film, which feels all too scarily real.

23. Meek’s Cutoff (Kelly Reichardt)

Larger in scale than Kelly Reichardt’s previous two films, Old Joy and Wendy & Lucy, but no less well observed, Meek’s Cutoff is a story of a wagon train to Oregon in the 1840s that gets hopelessly lost. The film is devoid of the clichés that usually make up Wagon Train movies (like John Ford’s great Wagon Master); this is a quiet film where small events turn the story. Michelle Williams is the moral center of the film, as a young wife who lets the men think they’re making the decisions, when she really is. The heart of the movie is made up of three scenes – the beginning where the settlers discuss whether or not to hang their guide who lead them to nowhere, a later scene where they discuss whether or not to hang a Cayuse Indian who is following them, and the quietest of all, where a simple act of kindness by Williams could save them all. The cinematography is in 1.33: 1 that rarely used format that keeps these people at the heart of the frame at all times. A quiet, subtle film, where some may complain that nothing happens – when really, a whole hell of a lot does.

22. Rango (Gore Verbinski)

The year’s best animated film was Gore Verbinski’s endlessly funny and inventive Western spoof. Johnny Depp voices the title character – a pet lizard who finds himself trapped in a small desert town with no water, who reinvents himself as a hero – that is, until he has to prove it. No animated film this year looked better than this one did, none was written better or voices better. And for fans of the Western genre – and I consider myself to be a big one – this movie is packed with in jokes, that add, not detract for the narrative. An early year highlight that was impossible to forget. One of the most enjoyable film going experiences of the year.

21. J. Edgar (Clint Eastwood)

I know a lot of critics found Clint Eastwood’s biopic of former FBI Boss J. Edgar Hoover to be a long, drawn out bore, but I wasn’t one of them. After a few disappointing movies (Changeling and Gran Torino weren’t as good as they should have been and Hereafter was awful), Eastwood has made another fine film – a film about the different face we show to the world, and the one we keep private, which is a theme that has run through his work. As Hoover, Leonardo DiCaprio delivers a brilliant performance – the rest of the supporting cast does suffer a little bit by comparison (although Judi Dench telling him she’s rather have a dead son than a tulip was chilling). Made with fine attention to detail, the movie traces Hoover’s story in a traditional biopic fashion, but is never less than fascinating. The movie is in many ways a love story – it reminded me of Brokeback Mountain in more ways than one. I have a feeling this one is going to be better liked a few years from now than it was when it was released.

2011 Year in Review: An Introduction

2012-01-30T08:26:00.001-08:00

It seems like every critic’s top 10 list that I read begins with an introduction like this one, and every year it starts the same way “This was a weak year for movies”. They’ve said it so much that it has lost its meaning for me now. No, 2011 was not a great year for movies. The last truly great year was 2007 where no less than 5 films could have been my number 1 of the year (There Will Be Blood, No Country for Old Men, Zodiac, The Assassination of Jesse James, I’m Not There). But neither was it the weakest year in memory (that would be 2008). So just like 2009 and 2010, I think 2011 was an average year for movies – some great, some not so great. Few years are truly exceptional – maybe one a decade – so why keep harping on it?

2011 brought the biggest change in my life ever, as my wife gave birth to our first child, Natalie, in August and I couldn’t be happier. It did mean I saw a few less movies this year – around 200, down from my usual 230-250, but I caught almost all of the most acclaimed films. Out of the top 50 on my annual critics top 10 survey, I missed only 3 – Kenneth Lonergan’s Margaret, which closed in Toronto before I even knew it had opened, Aki Karismaki’s Le Havre, which did play in Toronto for most of December, but had I seen it, I would have missed something else equally or more acclaimed (and besides, it will play in Waterloo in February and I’ll see it then), and Andrew Haigh’s Weekend, which as far as I know didn’t play here at all. My list is later than most critics, as I am not a professional critic nor do I live in New York or LA, so films come to me later, and I want to give as many acclaimed films as possible a chance to make my list before I release it. I feel the need to point out that 3 films that did very well on this year’s survey – Uncle Boonme Who Can Recall His Past Lives, Film Socialisme and Incendies – were included in my summary for 2010 – as that is when they had commercial releases in Toronto. Uncle Boonme and Incendies were in my runners-up section last year, and I called Film Socialisme the 2^nd worst film of 2010. Make of that what you will.

Did having a daughter change my movie tastes? Perhaps. My top 10 list does contain a few more lighter titles than normal, and a few of the darker movies lurk just outside the top 10, but you could not call all of the films on my top 10 list light – in fact the two darkest films of the year, in my opinion anyway, are on there. But she has changed my outlook on life, so she probably changed my movie tastes as well without my even knowing it. I’m okay with that.

Every year, I keep waiting for the new guard to completely take over for the old one, and every year they don’t seem quite able to do it. Yes, I thought 2007 may just mark the year that they did, but looking at my top 10 list from this year we have 2 directors who made their debut in the 1960s, 1 director who made their debut in the 1970s, 3 who made his debut in the 1990s, 3 director who made his debut in the 2000s and one debut director from this year, so it’s clear there’s still a mixture going one. The older generation of directors are refusing to go quietly – and we should be grateful for that.

This year, I paid less attention than ever before to the noise all around about movies – in particular, I didn’t listen to any Oscar prognosticators this year. The effect has been that I have enjoyed awards season more than ever before. When you get to a point like Jeffrey Wells, who seemingly has at least one post a day bitching about how The Artist is winning everything, when it is clearly not the best film of the year (in Wells’ opinion), it’s time to step back. I was there a few years ago, and did just that. Now, I can observe the awards season from a distance – and find it more enjoyable than ever before. No, I don’t think The Artist deserves to win all the awards it has, but does that truly matter? Does winning awards make it a better film, or my own favorites not winning awards make them any worse? Of course not. This year is the first year I’ve released this list after the Oscar nominations came out – and while I knew before that my choices would differ greatly from the Academy’s – especially in the acting categories – I had no idea they would differ as much as they ultimately did. Yet, I still think I’m right – of course.

I’ve also stayed away from comment sections on most boards, because I find that they are filled with people who don’t want an honest debate about movies but simply to scream at the top of their lungs about their favorites or least favorites. I used to be there right alongside them, screaming, but I don’t have the energy anymore. My opinion is just that – an opinion – and is just one of many on any movie. I am comfortable with that, and don’t feel the need to try and change anyone’s mind, or have my own mind changed. You wanted a good, old fashioned debate about a movie, I’m all for it, but if you just want to call others stupid for having an opinion that doesn’t align with yours, that’s where I start to tune out.

So let’s get to it. First up is my list of the best films of the year – the top 10 and a host of runners-up. Then will come the top 10 performances in each Oscar category, the top 10 ensemble casts of the year, the top 10 documentaries, the 15 biggest disappointments of the year, the worst performances of the year and finally the 10 worst films I saw in 2011.

I’m not done with the films from 2011 yet – and most likely never will be. There’s always films you miss, and ones you didn’t even hear about during the course of the year. So, for now anyway, this is how the saw the year in film for 2011.

Interesting Oscar Stats Related to This Years Nominees

2012-01-27T11:02:00.000-08:00

· With 11 nominations for Hugo, Martin Scorsese’s films have now been nominated for a total of 75 Oscars – moving him all the way from 10^th on the list to 3^rd – behind only William Wyler and Steven Spielberg.

· The total number of nominations for Spielberg films rose from 103 to 110, keeping in second place, behind William Wyler’s 127. Can Lincoln close the gap more next year?

· With 4 nominations for Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen’s films have now been nominated for 50 Oscars – which is 22^nd on the list.

· The only other director who had a film nominated this year in the top 100 in total film nominations is David Fincher – with 29, good for a tie at 62.

· Both Martin Scorsese and Woody Allen picked up their 7^th Best Director nomination – putting them in a tie for third with Fred Zinneman and David Lean – although they have both won twice, and Scorsese and Allen have only won once. Billy Wilder has 8 Best Director Nominations, and William Wyler has 12. Steven Spielberg, who wasn’t nominated this year, has 6.

· Meryl Streep received her 17^th Oscar nomination this year – which makes it five more than her closest acting competitors – Katherine Hepburn and Jack Nicholson, who each have 12.

· Glenn Close received her 6^th nomination, which ties her with Deborah Kerr and Thelma Ritter for third in receiving the most nominations without a win – assuming she doesn’t win of course. Richard Burton was nominated 7 times without winning, Peter O’Toole 8 (O'Toole did a life time achievement award - but that doesn't count).

· Woody Allen received his 15^th writing nomination – which is now three more than Billy Wilder, who is second.

· In total, Woody Allen has now been nominated for 23 Oscars – 7 for Director, 15 for Writing and 1 for Acting.

· Stephen Daldry had his Best Director nominee streak snapped at three (Billy Elliot, The Hours and The Reader) to start his career. However, his last three films (The Hours, The Reader and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close) have all been nominated for Best Picture. Alexander Payne (Sideways, The Descendants) and Bennett Miller (Capote, Moneyball) have consecutive Best Picture nominations (with Payne also having consecutive Directing nods as well).

· Martin Scorsese and Woody Allen are the active leaders in terms of directing Oscar nominated performance – with 20 and 16 respectively – but despite each having a film nominated for Best Picture, their totals did not improve this year. The all time leader is, once again, William Wyler with 36, followed by Elia Kazan (24), George Cukor (21) and then Scorsese. With Max von Sydow’s nomination, Stephen Daldry moves up to 6 nominated performances, which is the best of any director who had a performance in their film nominated this year (although Alexander Payne is now up to 5, Bennett Miller and David Fincher each have 4).

· John Williams received his 40^th and 41^st Best Score nomination. Impressive as that is, it is still two behind Alfred Newman for the all time record for this category.

· Robert Richardson received his 7^th best cinematography nomination – which is second among active cinematographers (behind poor Roger Deakins who has 9 nominations – and no wins) – but still 11 behind the all time leaders – Leon Shamroy and Charles Lang – who were each nominated 18 times.

· Since the Editing Category came into existence in 1934 – only 9 films have won the Best Picture Oscar without picking up an editing nomination – the last being Ordinary People in 1980. So sorry Midnight in Paris, War Horse, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Help and The Tree of Life, this isn’t your year.

· There have only been 3 Best Picture winners in history that didn’t have their director nominated – Wings (1927/28), Grand Hotel (1932) and Driving Miss Daisy (1989). So sorry War Horse, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Help, Moneyball, this isn’t your year.

· There have only been 7 Best Picture winners who didn’t have their screenplay nominated – the last being Titanic in 1997. So sorry War Horse, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Tree of Life and The Help, but this isn’t your year.

· There have only been 11 Best Picture Winners that didn’t have at least one actor nominated – but it has happened twice in the last decade (Lord of the Rings and Slumdog Millionaire), so this isn’t a death knell for Hugo, War Horse, Midnight in Paris or The Tree of Life, but it makes it a little harder.

· In case you’re keeping count of the last four bullet points, only The Artist and The Descendants all got in for Editing, Director, Screenplay and at least one acting category. Hugo didn’t get in for acting, which is the least important, and got in for the rest. So, if you predict anything but those three films to win, you’re statistically unlikely to be right.

· Most Best Picture winners win at least 4 Oscars including Best Picture – only 19 have won three or less, the latest being Crash in 2005 (with 3). Before that though, you have to go all the back to Rocky in 1976 to find another Best Picture winner to win only 3 Oscars.

· Only 11 Best Picture winners have been nominated for fewer than 7 Oscars – but two of those came in the last decade - Crash which had 6 and The Departed which had 5. However, it should be noted that in both of those years, no films were nominated for more than 8 Oscars - this year, The Artist had 10 nominations, and Hugo 11.

· The only film that none of the above applies to is The Artist. Ergo, it’s most likely your winner – but we already knew that, right?

Movie Review: Coriolanus

2012-01-26T09:57:00.000-08:00

Coriolanus ****

Directed By: Ralph Fiennes.

Written by: John Logan based on the play by William Shakespeare.

Starring: Ralph Fiennes (Caius Martius Coriolanus), Gerard Butler (Tullus Aufidius), Brian Cox (Menenius), Jessica Chastain (Virgilia), Vanessa Redgrave (Volumnia), Paul Jesson (Tribune Brutus), James Nesbitt (Tribune Sicinius), Lubna Azabal (Tamora), Ashraf Barhom (Cassius), John Kani (General Cominius), Dragan Micanovic (Titus Lartius), Harry Fenn (Young Martius).

I think the reason why Coriolanus is not one of Shakespeare’s best known plays is because the lead character lacks the human frailty that so many of Shakespeare’s characters have. Like Othello, he is a returning war hero, without the knowledge to navigate through the political minefield back home. Like Macbeth, his ambition to be ruler is less his own than that of a powerful woman who holds sway over him. And like Hamlet, he wants vengeance. But Caius Matius Coriolanus does not have the more humanizing qualities of those other characters – he doesn’t love his wife, Virgilia, like Othello loves Desdemona which allows him to be driven mad with jealously. He regards her coldly – hell, he even regards his son coldly as well. He isn’t plagued with Macbeth’s doubts about whether he’s doing the right thing – he’s an upper class war hero who has led Rome to countless victories on the battlefield, and been repeatedly scarred, so he doesn’t feel the need to flatter the common people – who at his nicest moments, he refers to as “curs” – even though he needs their approval to become Consul. And he is not plagued with the self doubt or introspection of Hamlet, who wavers in his thirst for vengeance for almost the entire play. No, Coriolanus is a ruthless killing machine, brutal and uncompromising throughout. His sin, as all Shakespearian figures need one, is pride, but his downfall is brought on less by it than on the fact that at heart, this brutal, ruthless killer is a mama’s boy.

Ralph Fiennes’ bold, updated version of Coriolanus is the best screen adaptation of Shakespeare I’ve seen in more than a decade – since Julie Taymor’s 1999 film Titus. Fiennes sets the film in modern day, and that works out amazingly well. The film opens with common people in Rome protesting their government’s actions of hording grain and keeping it for themselves (gee, that could never happen today). The film’s portrait of a city, a country really, torn apart, and split into the rich and poor feels surprisingly contemporary and realistic. This is a deeply cynical film about people and their leaders – there is really only one decent character in the whole play, and Fiennes changes his ultimate fate from the play, to make it even more downbeat – offering little to no hope that things will ever actually change.

The opening scenes, of the riot, and the war between the Romans and the Volscians, is shot with shaky, handheld cameras, a tactic, I usually hate, but Fiennes and his cinematographer(Barry Ackroyd) use this technique properly – more Paul Greengrass than Michael Bay – as the action remains clear throughout. An extended knife fight between Fiennes Coriolanus and Gerald Butler’s Tullus Aufidius, the Volscian General, and Coriolanus’ sworn arch enemy – is particularly well handled, and has the visceral, vicious feel that this type of camera work can convey when done properly.

The visuals settle down when Coriolanus returns to Rome, once again, a hero. The elderly Consul is set to step aside, and Coriolanus has the support of Senator Menenius (Brian Cox) to take his place. Coriolanus sees himself as a warrior, and not as a politician, but his mother Volumnia (Vanessa Redgrave) wants glory for the family name, and encourages him to seek power. But Coriolanus is stubborn and prideful – he refuses to sit in the Senate to hear his own accomplishments listed, and even when the Senate grants his approval, he refuses to give a speech, like is customary. But he also needs the approval of the Commoners to gain power, and his pride will not allow him to flatter them – nor to show off his battle scars. The Commoners grant their approval, but egged on by their representatives in the Senate – Brutus and Sicinius (Paul Jesson and James Nesbitt), and the lead rioters we saw at the beginning (Lubna Azabal and Ashrad Barhom), quickly decide that Coriolanus has duped them into consenting – and want another chance to reject him – which they do – and he ends up banished. Infuriated that the commoners would treat the likes of him with such contempt, he seeks out his arch nemesis Tullus, and wants to join the Volscians in an assault on Rome.

Coriolanus is one of the bluntest lead characters in all of Shakespeare – he has few speeches, and says precisely what he thinks at all times. His stubbornness and his pride define him, and if not for the constant prodding of Volumnia, would never have sought higher office in the first place. Fiennes underlines the Oedipal feelings between these two throughout the movie. Coriolanus barely has time for his wife at all, and dismisses her easily, but every time his mother opens her mouth, he is powerless to disagree with her. Whatever she wants, he grants her. Redgrave’s performance is the finest in the movie – one of the finest of her distinguished career. She doesn’t make Volumnia into a harpy or a nag – as would have been easy and obvious – but that doesn’t mean she isn’t monstrous – she’s just nicer about it, subtlety manipulating Coriolanus at every turn. Told to go off to war by her, he does it, and distinguishes himself greatly. Told to try and become Consul, he does that as well – and may well have succeeded if he had gotten out of his own way. And when he leads the Volscians back to Rome in battle, he refuses to hear out his former brother in arms Titus or even Menenius, and is not moved in the least by Virgilia or even his son. But when Mommie Dearest opens her mouth, he cannot help it, and caves – which is what ultimately leads to his downfall.

While Redgrave delivers the best performance in the movie that takes nothing away from the rest of the wonderful cast. Brian Cox is the only character in the movie who thinks beyond his own needs, towards what is good for Rome, and when Coriolanus rejects him, he looks as if his heart has been broken. Jessica Chastain, who had a great 2011, is fragile, sensitive and fearful as Virgilia, never quite sure if she should stand up, either to her husband or her mother in law. The rest of the supporting cast do their jobs quite well – even in small roles, particularly Jesson and Nesbitt as the Tribunes, who like all politicians, are thinking mainly of themselves when they conspire to take down Coriolanus. The one casting decision I had my doubts about going in was Gerald Butler, but he does a surprisingly excellent job as Coriolanus’ arch nemesis. When Coriolanus comes to him, hat in hands, and asks to team up, and Tullus accepts, the two men embrace, but it’s far from a brothers at arms embrace – and homoerotic subtext simmers beneath the surface, as they almost whisper their lines into each others years. In the films dramatic final scene, Butler almost appears more like a spurned lover than anything else.

And towering above them all is Fiennes’ best work in years as Coriolanus. Fiennes has remarkable eyes that have the ability to look wild and crazy, filled with fury and vengeance. When he becomes almost like a God to the Volscian soldiers, and sits perched above them, with his shaved head, you may well be reminded of Marlon Brando’s Colonel Kurtz from Apocalypse Now – his formerly wild eyes have become cold and dead – fixated on his goal. And yet all of that crumbles away when faced with his mother, when he quite simply melts in front of her. This is Fiennes better than he has been in years. As a director, he matches his abilities as an actor. If he wants to continue directing, he should easily find success.

Overall, I think Coriolanus is one of the best recent adaptations of Shakespeare. It’s contemporary setting works for the film and even makes the film all the more timely. It is further proof that Shakespeare in timeless.

DVD Review: The Bang Bang Club

2012-01-26T09:56:00.000-08:00

The Bang Bang Club **

Directed by: Steven Silver.

Written by: Steven Silver based on the book by Greg Marinovich and João Silva.

Starring: Ryan Phillippe (Greg Marinovich), Malin Akerman (Robin Comley), Taylor Kitsch (Kevin Carter), Neels Van Jaarsveld (João Silva), Frank Rautenbach (Ken Oosterbroek), Nina Milner (Samantha), Jessica Haines (Allie), Russel Savadier (Ronald Graham), Lika Van Den Bergh (Vivian), Kgosi Mongake (Patrick).

The Bang Bang Club were four white, South African photographers who went out into the streets and documented the chaotic end of Apartheid in their country. They garnered fame, because they would go where few others would. They won Pulitzer Prizes, seemed to attract the attention of numerous beautiful women, drank and partied too much, and seemed to have no real opinion on what exactly they were photographing. There is a real story here that could make for a great movie – but in The Bang Bang Club, it’s buried underneath too many clichés.

The movie opens when Greg Marinovich (Ryan Phillipe), who is working freelance, heads out with his camera to try and capture the chaos that is running through South Africa. It isn’t long before he meets the other members – Kevin Carter (Taylor Kitsch), Joao Silva (Neels Van Jaarsveld) and Ken Oosterbroek (Frank Rautenbach), although they pretty much ignore him at first. It isn’t until he gets inside of the compound of the Zulu warriors, who are fighting against and sometime slaughtering supporters of Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress (ANC) that they accept him as one of their own.

What follows is a lot of male bonding, as we see these four photographers head out into the streets day after day to photograph the madness and violence all around them. They are constantly faced with danger, but they seem to thrive on it – they are adrenaline junkies more than anything else. They spend their off hours drinking in bars, and picking up women. The only woman that will snap into focus is Robin Comley (Malin Akerman), the photo editor of the Johannesburg Star, who the movie tries to make into a legitimate love interest for Marinovich. We see the photos they take – one of which documents the brutal murder by fire caught by Marinovich, which will draw the attention of the South African police, who want his film and for him to testify – because a crime has taken place. Instead of doing so, he hides out for a while, until his photo wins him a Pulitzer. He hides, because he doesn’t want him, and his colleagues, to become targets – because they are seen to be taking sides. Later in the movie, Kevin Carter will also win a Pulitzer, for a picture he takes in the Sudan – of a young girl, who is clearly starving to death being stalked by a vulture. When asked if he did anything to help the girl, he says no. That’s not his job.

These two photos obviously document real things going on in their respective countries, and as such have value, but where do you draw the line between being neutral and stepping in and taking some action? Marinovich clearly had reason to believe that if he stepped in, he himself could become a target. But what of Carter? Couldn’t he at least scare the damn vulture away? The movie raises these questions in only the most cursory of manners – it certainly has no opinion one way or the other.

And that essentially describes the movie as well. If you know nothing about Apartheid going into this movie, you certainly won’t learn anything about by watching it. There is no discussion of the issues, no discussion of right or wrong. The movie is essentially about four white photographers who head out into the streets and take pictures of black people killing each other.

I was reminded of The Hurt Locker while watching The Bang Bang Club – and the comparison does this film no favours. The Hurt Locker was an Iraq war film stripped of politics that showed its soldiers as little more than adrenaline junkies – who do what they do not because of anything greater than the fact that they are addicted to it. I think that probably describes the members of The Bang Bang Club as well – clearly they are not doing their job because of any moral or political leanings, and they take one risk after another, daring each other to go farther than any would go on their own. Yet, I think perhaps The Bang Bang Club is too close to its subjects to see them clearly. The film is based on a book by the two surviving members, and as such, I don’t think it ever really questions their actions – it simply accepts their version of events. The fact that writer/director Steven Silver felt he needed to add a romantic subplot – that is wholly unconvincing – doesn’t help, and neither does the fact that the actors don’t really add much to the proceedings (Taylor Kitsch maybe a fine actor, but I don’t think he was up for the role of Carter, which is clearly the movies most demanding). You could make a good story about these four photographers – but The Bang Bang Club isn’t it.

Movie Review: Pina

2012-01-25T19:36:00.000-08:00

Pina ***
Directed By: Wim Wenders.

I am not a big fan of dance, and unlike other critics who tell you that it in a movie like Pina you don’t need to be a fan of dance to appreciate the movie, I’m not going to say that. It would certainly help to know something about dance walking into Wim Wenders’ new dance documentary that is really a tribute to German choreographer Pina Bausch. She was supposed to collaborate with Wenders on this documentary, but suddenly died a few days before shooting was supposed to begin. So instead of a simple dance documentary, what Pina really is an elegy to Wenders’ friend. Not only do we get to see her stock company deliver four of her most famous routines (not in their entirety, but close to it) the film also gives her closer collaborators a chance to pay tribute to her – by speaking about their feelings for her, and by giving small snippets of their own favourite Pina dances, sprinkled throughout the movie. For fans of dance, Pina will likely be one of their favourite films of the year. For someone like me, whose knowledge of dance is limited to what I have picked up on So You Think You Can Dance over the years, the result was more scattershot. Yes, the film looks amazing from start to finish, and the dance numbers do have a hypnotic power to them in their best moments. But I never quite feel in love with any of them, and not knowing who Pina Bausch was walking into the theatre, I could not share the participant’s feelings for her. I felt kept at an arm’s length from much of the proceedings.

The dancing in Pina is terrific. There is no denying that, even if I don’t understand it on a deeper level like some do. All I can do is watch the movement on display, and be mesmerized. The first dance sequence is probably my favourite – there is primal rhythm on display, and the movement matches that, and seethes with sexuality. It gets Pina off on a high note – and one I don’t think it will quite match again, despite how good the other three massive dance numbers are. Again, I don’t know much about dance, but I know what I like – and I liked most of what was on display in this film.

I also enjoyed the little asides – the small snippets of other Pina dances that are sprinkled throughout the movie that take place outside, in a field, on a mountain, in a greenhouse, on the streets, or wherever the dancers felt best captured their feel. These are smaller – mostly just one or two people, and give you an intimacy that the larger numbers do not have. By displaying both, I think Wenders goal was to capture Pina on both a large and small scale.

The spoken tributes in Pina are what didn’t really work for me. Wenders plays these tributes as voiceovers, and shoots the speaker simply sitting looking into the camera. I’m sure to some this will work, but again I didn’t know Pina Bausch before I saw this movie, or her work. The movie itself only provides a few brief moments of footage of her – not nearly enough to get to know her. So while you feel their grief is genuine, it also holds you outside of it – as if you’re looking at a moment you shouldn’t be looking at. I couldn’t feel their grief the same way they did – or really on any real level.

For those who love dance, I think Pina will be one of their favourite films of 2011. It is at times thrilling to see these dancers work at the top of their game, and I have feeling they’ll appreciate things on a higher level than I did. For me, as much as I admired Pina, I was never truly involved with it. It is a visual masterwork, and on that level, it should be seen by anyone who has the slightest interest in it. But as an emotional experience, Pina left me cold.

Movie Review: Puss in Boots

2012-01-25T19:34:00.000-08:00

Puss in Boots ***
Directed by: Chris Miller.
Written by: Brian Lynch & David H. Steinberg & Tom Wheeler & Jon Zack.
Starring: Antonio Banderas (Puss in Boots), Salma Hayek (Kitty Softpaws), Zach Galifianakis (Humpty Dumpty), Billy Bob Thornton (Jack), Amy Sedaris (Jill), Constance Marie (Imelda), Guillermo del Toro (Moustache Man / Comandate).

I have for one, hope that the Shrek series has run its course. The first movie was immensely entertaining, the second one less so, but still fine, the third one pretty damn bad, and the fourth one a fitting end to the franchise. The giant green ogre, and his donkey friend, have nothing else to give, and I hope they stay off the screen. But Puss in Boots, a breakout star of the second film, offers new ground for the filmmakers to exploit. Yes, it still takes place in the same fairy tale world as Shrek did, but it allows for different characters to come to the forefront. This first, in what may turn out to be another series, is quite entertaining – better than Shrek has been in a while.

Antonio Banderas once again provides the voice for Puss in Boots, and in this film, it flashes back to his humble origins as an orphan taken in by Imelda. In the orphanage, he bonds with another outcast – Humpty Dumpty (wonderfully voiced by Zach Galifianakis), and the two soon become trouble makers. Puss sees it as innocent fun, and never wants to take things too far. But Humpty is bitter and angry at his treatment – and wants to pull off a major score – robbing the hometown bank. When the job goes wrong, Humpty is caught, and Puss has to go on the run. Years later, they are brought back together – and perhaps now they’ll be able to pull off the job they always wanted – robbing the giant of his golden goose. They may have finally found the magic beans necessary to make the job possible. Along for the ride is Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek), an expert cat burglar.

Puss in Boots is a fun, fast paced animated adventure. It has the same style as the Shrek movies – and has the same irreverent spirit of sending up fairy tales. But free of Shrek, and his conflict with his wife’s royal roots – which took up far too much time in the later Shrek movies – this film is more fun. And because Puss in Boots and company are pulling off a heist, more action packed as well. Banderas has always been great voicing Puss, and he finds much help for Galifianakis, who proves to be a natural as Humpty Dumpty, and Salma Hayek – as well as Billy Bob Thornton and Amy Sedaris as the evil Jack and Jill.

Puss in Boots doesn’t reinvent the wheel here, but it doesn’t really have to. It is a fast paced, animated adventure, with enough clever one liner to make adults laugh, and enough action to keep kids satisfied. No, it doesn’t rise to the level of truly great animated film, but what it does, it does really well.

Oscar Nomination Reaction

2012-01-24T08:49:00.000-08:00

The Oscar nominations were annouced today, so I thought I'd give some reactions. For those interested, out of the categories I predicted (all but the shorts), I got 72 out of 104 total nominees correct - right around 70% which is where I normally am in the nominating round. Hugo led the nominations with 11, followed closely by The Artist with 10, Moneyball and War Horse had 6, The Descendants and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo had 5, The Help and Midnight in Paris had 4, The Tree of Life, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Albert Nobbs, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II and Transformers: Dark of the Moon each had 3.

Surprise Nominees I'm Happy About: Gary Oldman for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is the only one that really stands out. I had Tree of Life getting Picture and Director Nominations, and I'm happy that it got in.

Surprise Nominees I'm Not Happy About: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close for Best Picture, Demian Bichar for Best Actor.

Surprise Nominee I Haven't Decided Yet: Max von Sydow for Best Supporting Actor. He's great in the movie, and out of the nominees, a fine choice, but they really screwed the pooch in that category.

Omissions I'm Not Happy With: Michael Fassbender for Actor, Tilda Swinton for Actress, Albert Brooks for Supporting Actor, Carey Mulligan for Supporting Actress. Perhaps the four best performances of the year, none of them nominated.

Supporting Categories Completely Messed Up: None of the nominees for Supporting Actor or Actress would have made my top 5 for those categories (you'll see my entire list next week). So, no vested interest for me in either one.

Before the ceremony, I'll come back with my Annual Oscar Odds post, which tells you will win and should win.

The nominees are:

Best Picture

The Artist

The Descendants

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

The Help

Hugo

Midnight in Paris

Moneyball

The Tree of Life

War Horse

Best Director

Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris

Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist

Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life

Alexander Payne, The Descendants

Martin Scorsese, Hugo

Best Actor

Demián Bichir, A Better Life

George Clooney, The Descendants

Jean Dujardin, The Artist

Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Brad Pitt, Moneyball

Best Actress

Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs

Viola Davis, The Help

Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady

Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn

Best Supporting Actor

Kenneth Branagh, My Week with Marilyn

Jonah Hill, Moneyball

Nick Nolte, Warrior

Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Max von Sydow, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Best Supporting Actress

Bérénice Bejo, The Artist

Jessica Chastain, The Help

Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids

Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs

Octavia Spencer, The Help

Best Original Screenplay

The Artist - Michel Hazanavicius

Bridesmaids - Kristen Wiig, Annie Mumolo

Margin Call - J.C. Chandor

Midnight in Paris - Woody Allen

A Separation - Asghar Farhadi

Best Adapted Screenplay

The Descendants - Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash

Hugo - John Logan

The Ides of March - George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon

Moneyball - Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, Stan Chervin

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Bridget O'Connor, Peter Straughan

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year

A Cat in Paris

Chico & Rita

Kung Fu Panda 2

Puss in Boots

Rango

Foreign Language Film

Bullhead

Footnote

In Darkness

Monsieur Lazhar

A Separation

Best Achievement in Cinematography

The Artist - Guillaume Schiffman

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Jeff Cronenweth

Hugo - Robert Richardson

The Tree of Life - Emmanuel Lubezki

War Horse - Janusz Kaminski

Best Achievement in Editing

The Artist

The Descendants

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Hugo

Moneyball

Best Achievement in Art Direction

The Artist

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

Hugo

Midnight in Paris

War Horse

Best Achievement in Costume Design

Anonymous

The Artist

Hugo

Jane Eyre

W.E.

Best Achievement in Makeup

Albert Nobbs

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

The Iron Lady

Best Original Score

The Adventures of Tintin - John Williams

The Artist - Ludovic Bource

Hugo - Howard Shore

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Alberto Iglesias

War Horse - John Williams

Best Original Song

The Muppets - Man or Muppe

Rio - Real in Rio

Best Sound Mixing

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Hugo

Moneyball

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

War Horse

Best Achievement in Sound Editing

Drive

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Hugo ,

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

War Horse

Best Achievement in Visual Effects

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

Hugo

Real Steel

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Best Documentary, Features

Hell and Back Again

If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front

Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory

Pina

Undefeated

Best Documentary, Short Subjects

Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement

God Is the Bigger Elvis

Incident in New Baghdad

Saving Face ,

The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom

Best Short Film, Animated

Dimanche

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris

La Luna

A Morning Stroll

Wild Life

Best Short Film, Live Action

Pentecost

Raju

The Shore

Time Freak

Tuba Atlantic

Movie Review: Haywire

2012-01-23T08:33:00.000-08:00

Haywire *** ½

Directed by: Steven Soderbergh.

Written by: Lem Dobbs.

Starring: Gina Carano (Mallory), Ewan McGregor (Kenneth), Michael Fassbender (Paul), Channing Tatum (Aaron), Antonio Banderas (Rodrigo). Michael Douglas (Coblenz), Michael Angarano (Scott), Mathieu Kassovitz (Studer), Bill Paxton (Mr. Kane), Anthony Brandon Wong (Jiang).

If the Italian neo-realists were right, and everyone can play one role better than anyone else – themselves – than Steven Soderbergh seems to have taken this to heart. From the small town Ohio residents in Bubble to porn star Sasha Grey as a high end prostitute in The Girlfriend Experience and now MMA star Gina Carano as Mallory Kane, a highly trained “specialist” working for a private firm doing sensitive jobs, Soderbergh has not shied away from casting non-professional actors in his movies. No, none of these people are playing themselves (they probably come closest in Bubble), but they are more convincing in their roles than professional actors would be. Gina Carano, star of Haywire, is probably never going to win an Oscar – and Meryl Streep doesn’t have to worry about competition – but she plays the role of Mallory better than any professional actor I could think of. Because of her MMA training, it allows Soderbergh to stage some of the best hand to hand fight scenes in recent memory – and not pull any punches. The punches, kicks, chokes, slams all look and feel like they hurt – and when Mallory ends up victorious in these matchups, we have no trouble believing it, like we do sometimes when women fight men in the movies. You can tell in each moment that it really is Carano involved in these fight scenes – and you can tell that she really would kick the other guy’s ass.

The plot of Haywire is standard issue action/thriller stuff – with Mallory having to unravel a conspiracy that aims to set her up for murdering someone in Dublin that she saved in Barcelona. Written by Lem Dobbs, the movie shares much in common with his previous collaboration with Soderbergh – the wonderful The Limey (1999), which was a stripped to the bone revenge thriller that gave Terrence Stamp perhaps the best role of his career. To quote Roger Ebert, the movie is not about what it’s about, but how it’s about it. And Haywire is elevated above its genre roots by Soderbergh’s expert direction, and the performances by the entire cast.

To make the plot seem a little more complicated than it actually is, Soderbergh cuts back and forth in time. Before we know anything about Mallory, or what is happening to her, we see her in upstate New York, in a little road side diner. When a car pulls up outside, and Aaron (Channing Tatum) pulls up, she simply mutters “Shit”, and we know something bad is about to happen. After a tense conversation between the two, Aaron throws coffee in Mallory’s face, and the films first expert fistfight takes place between the two of them – with Mallory eventually winning, and hitting the road with a customer who helped her – Scott (Michael Angarano), who she tells her story to.

Soderbergh is a great director, who has said that following his epic masterpiece Che a few years ago, the desire to make “serious” movies left him, and now he just wants to make audience friendly thrillers. You can hardly blame him, as Che is one of the great accomplishments of his career – and no one seemed to notice. His last film, Contagion released just a few months ago, was an icy cold disease outbreak thriller – and was handled wonderfully. Now comes Haywire, which in the hands of another director could have easily been shit. But in the hands of Soderbergh, becomes one of the best action movies in recent memory. I imagine what Michael Bay would have done with the wonderful chase sequence through the streets and rooftops of Dublin – it would have been so rapidly edited, featured such loud, pulsating music that it would have been incoherent. But Soderbergh takes a different path – his shots last a long time in this sequence, you catch the glimpses of Mallory’s pursuers in the background, and when the fight scenes come, they are expertly choreographed, and done with a minimum of editing. Most action sequences in movies these days are incoherent and happen so fast that the audience never settles into them – never truly gets what is going on. But Soderbergh holds back – you not only see everything happening, in real time, but you hear it as well. Instead of loud, pulsating rock music, you get David Holmes playful score that often cuts out when the fights start, to better accent the groans of the combatants, the sound of punches and kicks being landed. When people fight in Haywire, it hurts. You also have to pay attention in Haywire, because Soderbergh adds so much detail in the background.

Soderbergh did a smart thing in the casting process. Knowing that Carano may not be the world’s best actress – although she holds her own in every scene, even the dialogue heavy ones – he casts great actors in every single other role. From Ewan McGregor as Mallory’s slimy boss and former boyfriend, to Michael Fassbender as a new partner who may or may not be trustworthy to Antonio Banderas as a Spanish government official to Michael Douglas as his American counterpart to Mathieu Kassovitz as a criminal to Michael Angarano as Mallory’s confidant to Bill Paxton as her father, the rest of the cast fills what could have been cookie cutter roles wonderfully, adding depth. Even Channing Tatum, who career has more bad performances than good ones, is quite good here as Aaron. Soderbergh takes his time with these characters – giving them enough space to breath. It is quite an ensemble cast for a movie like this.

Overall Haywire proves to be an early year highlight for 2012. Normally, unless you’re catching up with movies from the previous year, January is the worst month of the year for new releases, as we get movies that the studios simply dump into theatres to try and get a good weekend of opening grosses against soft competition. But Haywire is better than that. In fact, Haywire will most likely end up being one of the best action films of 2012.

Movie Review: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

2012-01-23T08:32:00.000-08:00

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close ***

Directed by: Stephen Daldry.

Written by: Eric Roth based on the book by Jonathan Safran Foer

Starring: Thomas Horn (Oskar Schell), Tom Hanks (Thomas Schell), Sandra Bullock (Linda Schell), Zoe Caldwell (Oskar's Grandmother), John Goodman (Stan the Doorman), Max von Sydow (The Renter), Viola Davis (Abby Black), Jeffrey Wright (William Black).

I’ve been trying to sort out my feelings about Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close ever since I read the book a few months ago – and rather than clarifying my feelings on it, the movie version simply served to make them more complicated. I cannot argue with those who find either version an emotional tour de force, as the story certainly does certainly provoke a strong emotional response. Yet, I cannot also not really argue with its detractors, who find the story overly manipulative that simply exploits our existing emotional response to 9/11 and doesn’t really earn our tears, because to a certain extent, that is also true. If the book wasn’t as well written as it was – and if the movie wasn’t as skillfully put together and acted as it is – it would be easier to dismiss it, but because both versions are as well told as they are, I cannot simply write it off. I’m still not sure.

The movie centers on young Oskar Schell, played well by Thomas Horn, whose father Thomas (Tom Hanks) was trapped on the 106^th floor of one of the WTC Towers on September 11^th, and was killed. They have a funeral for him, even though they never found his body. Most of the action happens about a year after the attacks when Oskar is searching through his father’s things and discovers an envelope with one word written it – “Black” - with a key inside. Oskar is convinced the key will unlock something that his father wanted him to know. Since the word Black is capitalized, he assumes it refers to a name. So, he makes a list of all the people with the last name of Black in New York City – all 472 of them – and decides to visit them one at a time. Sooner or later, he thinks he’ll find the right Black which will lead him to the right lock.

So yes, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is a fantasy. There is no one anywhere who would think it’s a good idea for a kid, who looks to be about 12 years old, to walk all over New York City by himself and introduce him to countless strangers. But if you are able to buy the concept of the film, you may find yourself uncommonly moved by it. The people named Black he meets represent a cross section of New Yorkers – all races, religions, colors, etc. and for the most part, they are nice to him. He tells them his story, and they cannot help but feel sorry for this odd little boy. He informs us in voiceover that he may have aspersers (the tests were “inconclusive”), so he is extremely intelligent, but lacks normal social skills – and losing his father has simply made things worse. He needs for everything to make sense, and he simply cannot make sense of what happened to his father. Why would people who didn’t even know him, let alone the others in the buildings and on the planes, kill him?

The film was directed by Stephen Daldry, who is no stranger to movies that evoke strong emotions, nor being criticized for making overly manipulative movies. All three of his previous films – Billy Elliot, The Hours and The Reader – all have very vocal supporters and detractors. He has always been skilled in working with actors, and here is no exception. Thomas Horn, who was discovered as a contestant on Jeopardy, delivers a good performance in a difficult role as a kid who lacks normal emotions, and yet has to evoke an emotional response from us – and he succeeds. Tom Hanks’ is the picture of perfect fatherhood – and you find yourself missing him, like Oskar does, when he’s not around. Sandra Bullock has a rather thankless role as the remaining parent – although she does get a good final scene, and does a fine job of it. Viola Davis, as the first Black Oskar visits, and Jeffrey Wright, as the last one, give depth to roles that could very easily been completely one note – once again showing why they are great actors. Best of all is Max von Sydow, known only as The Renter, who has moved in with Oskar’s grandma, and accompanies Oskar on some of his travels. He cannot, or perhaps simply will not, speak, and communicates solely through words written in a notebook, and the “yes” and “no” tattooed on his hands. Without an actor as great as Sydow, this role could have been insufferable, but he infuses it with great physical humor and grace. Sydow, one of the best actors in history, has delivered his best work in years here.

I am thankful that the movie eliminated some of the more troubling aspects of the novel – the Dresden and Hiroshima segments that simply did not work and felt unnecessary, and far too manipulative. This movie has its fair share of manipulation – and the films first image, of Hanks falling from the building, gets the movie off on the wrong note – too much too soon – but once the movie settles into its groove, its finds its footing.

The movie doesn’t necessarily play fair, only doling out information as it wants to, in order to extract the maximum emotional effect of every revelation – from the answering machines messages left by Hanks on the day of the attacks to Bullock’s final revelation. But it works, at least for this viewer. The movie did make me cry, on more than one occasion during its running time. The questions remains whether the movie actually earns those tears, or simply manipulates them out of you. And I have to be honest – I still don’t really know. The movie is made with skill, is well adapted by Eric Roth and is well acted its entire cast, so I decided to give the movie 3 stars. Yet, this is a movie that I know some viewers are going to love and some are going to hate – and I really cannot find fault with either of those opinions. This is a movie where you’ll simply have to decide for yourself.