IN 2000, when I first got a Handspring Visor (rival PDA to the Palm) I started keeping a log of all the films I saw because obviously I do frequent the movie house. With 2010, I took Steve Stone’s advice to say something about each in a few words. (not the Steve Stone who was major league pitcher and the uncredited sports announcer in Ferris Bueller. The other Steve Stone.)
I gave in to netflix this year, but on the one at a time plan. A theater is still much preferred.
Log for 2010
25. Shutter Island
In a word “Portentous”. Let’s break that down to synonyms. Exciting shots; Foreboding events. Alarming plot twists. Apocalyptic acting. Augural forshadowing devices. Doomed characters. Exhilarating Hitchcock moments. Haunting mood. And so forth. But I sometimes wish Scorsese would get back to the grit and spontaneity of his early films. Everything is in place, lots of in & out cameos, Leo getting his snarl on, Ruffalo laying back, a cold creepy doctor played by (who else?) Sir Ben, and (thank goodness) Max von Sydow. But as a horror flick, B-Movie, or Shock Corridor/Snake PIt/Vertigo mash-up, it feels forced. The found music soundtrack is fascinating, but along with all the thunder, the creepy characters, flickering lights, and the lapses in continuity it tips into comically melodramatic. I say all this prostrating myself before the king of modern directors. I sure he MEANT to do all this. And it doesn’t matter anyway what I say, you will see it. And should.
24. The Unknown Woman (Giuseppe Tornatore 2008)
This is a lively rental, the acting is good, the plot engaging. Like his overrated “Cinema Paradiso” (I know, I’m in the minority on that), credibility takes a back seat to cool and sensuous visuals, and overly orchestrated emotion. In the end you can enjoy it, but I just feel a little taken advantage of.
23. Transsiberian (Brad Anderson 2008)
I missed this when it was released, but was really surprised. It uses our paranoia of creepy, cold-hearted, sadistic, amoral, drug dealing, irrational, Eastern European mobster types (Hostel, Eastern Promises, etc.) to put together a rattling paced movie across the trans-siberian railway. Emily Mortimer is a great choice, Ben Kingsley does another variation on his inscrutable and creepy bad guy, and we get the “aw, shucks” Woody Harrelson, not the nuts Woody. The plot just keeps chugging along, churning out suspense. Whatd’ya know? Just Iike a train! Boston’s Brad Anderson continues to satisfy. (rent Next Stop Wonderland!)
22. The Yellow Handkerchief (Udayan Prasad)
A carefully detailed film about forgiveness, atonement, relationships, love, and New Orleans. Kristin Thomas’ youthful skill and energy as an actress bumps up against William Hurts minimalist tendency to stare a lot. But he’s a wonderful physical actor, and she’s enchanting to watch. The conclusion may feel too plotted, but it’s an engaging and honest road movie and coming of age story.
21. Fish Tank
A really unmoored 15 year old girl with a clueless and fed up single mom attempts to come of age in the projects in Essex, UK. It’s amazing that these are first time actors. Starts slow and builds and builds never really letting you off the hook. I found myself surprised the abundant credits, because the film felt so intimate and natural throughout, like one person with a camera. Full of keen details, insinuations of behavior. Unfolds casually, but you gotta watch carefully as the plot patiently accumulates in power and devastation. A real surprise. I thought the ballon at the end was a nice touch (you’ll have to see it)
20. Avatar
I guess it has to be seen. I don’t think 3-D changes the game of movie making, but it’s fun being back in the 50’s. It’s also fun to look at your watch exactly at the half way point where Pocahontas/Dances with Wolves morphs into GI Joe. Like Madonna and Watchman and Good Will Hunting, it’s a pop product you can pick over for significance without too much effort.
19. The White Ribbon –
A great Heneke film, creepy and in ferocious black and white, like Berman’s best. It’s an interesting context with which to implicate the contemporary audience, and look at the roots of fascism through some questionable adult behavior, and in the horrid way children were raised in this vision of pre-industrial rural Germany. This was to be the new Germany? There are crimes, but as usual, the point isn’t whodunit. Discussing the possibilities of guilt and culpability is what makes it intriguing, discussable, and haunting.
18. The Last Station -
Interesting piece of history even if some details had to be fabricated to keep the story inspirational. Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren are hammy, but appropriately so for the likes of Mr and Mrs Toylstoy, so it makes for good fun, and a good lesson in how to create a spirited but authentic characterization.
17. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1943)
Really corny and unlikely with tons of holes in the plot, but watching Basil Rathbone singing and dancing in disguise in one particular scene, and snapping “Hello?” at each new discovery is worth the 70 minutes.
16. I’m Gonna Explode
Mexican with great great teen actors. Another film (like Fish Tank) where the behavior of the kids is disturbing, but you kind of like them and understand the problem, though here we’re in the upper class, and now that’s the problem. The depiction of these two alienated teens is ambivalent and unsettling. It seems Latin films are beginning to confront their teenagers. It leaves you needing a conversation with somebody. I saw it alone.
15. Julie and Julia
I met Julia Child several times and once outside of a Dunkin Donuts in Cambridge, I commented on her indulging on these chain donuts. “Well, they are rather good aren’t they” she squawked in her best Meryl Streep voice. I liked this movie, but do think Rich Little, David Frye, and even Robert Morse as Capote were good, too. I suppose impersonation is the way to go, and the gimmick of the movie. Stanley Tucci knows how to get out of the way, but it’s Amy Adams who gives it real heart.
14. Halloween (’09 Rob Zombie)
Cheesy psychology and lacking real suspense, but, man, Jason really wackes his victims good, and loudly, and to rock music! I guess somebody has to make movies like this. Boo. (as in scared ya)
13. Northface (German)
I guess people really do get vertigo and have trouble with this film which concerns really extreme repelling and the first attempt to ascend the Eiger north face in 1935. Another cheeseball love story services the audience, but the rest is exciting and convincing filmmaking.
12. Whip it!
I love Drew and her whole history and her crooked smile and sense of fun, but boy does this suck. Ellen Page is miles beyond this good time had by all.
11. The Gleaners and I (Agnes Varda) Pure poetry.
10. Valkyrie (Bryan Singer)
The (your) problem is I LIKE Tom Cruise. My expectations are noncombatant, and I assume he’ll be good, and if his church and he have approved of the project, I may even get a good yarn. That was the case.
9. I Stand Alone (Gasper Noe)
Expect it to be severe and you’ll be fine. Toward the end he has a ten second “countdown” so you can leave the theater if you don’t want to experience what comes next. Clever, but the isolated framing, the disquieting narration of the unemployed butcher at the story’s center, and the puzzling lack of a moral point of view serve to bury you deep into the mind of one very fucked up Frenchmen.
8. Waiting for Hockney Way more interesting and complex than you would imagine. It takes subjects of art, talent, delusion, creativity, gift, ambition, life, family and blends them seamlessly into a story that unfolds naturally with great suspense and a good payoff. You end up liking everybody here, even the unseen and gracious Hockney. For anyone who appreciates the creative process, you will understand the attitudes the film imparts about art.
7. Fantastic Mr FoxNever imagined I like it so much. I finally have found my inner Wes Anderson.
6. La DanseMessier than you’d imagine, but you really live in this world for three hours, as only Frederick Weisman can do it. Patient and compelling.
5. My Son the Fanatic Udayan Prasad)
4. The Beaches of Agnes (Agnes VardaYou start in confusion and finish in tears. She’s amazing, and so is her life, from which Varda creates another poem
3. 5×2 (w/ Valeria Bruni Tedeschi) (dir.by François Ozon -Criminal Lovers (1999),Swimming Pool (2003) Under the Sand (2000)
I loved this. Ozon is always a surprise. He chooses 5 scenes from a marriage and depicts them in reverse order. There is lots of room for viewers to discuss the psychology and behavior of the characters, which is fun. Tedeschi is just fascinating to look at, and a bold actress.
2. The Apartment (1960)
1. Die Die My Darling (Tallulah Bankhead 1965)
Dreadful, but not boring dreadful.