Post by Her 69 Eyes on Aug 1, 2010 20:16:45 GMT -5
The year is a little over halfway done. What's your current list of favorite movies?
Mine...
10.) Please Give (dir. Nicole Holofcener), Trailer
The closet thing we'll get to a really good Woody Allen film in 2010. Not much happens - it's really just a "life-goes-on" sort of thing (as David Denby put it) - but I savored every minute I spent with these characters, no matter how questionable their morals might be.
09.) The Secret in Their Eyes (dir. Juan José Campanella), Trailer
This is the film that won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It shouldn't have beat The White Ribbon and A Prophet (both ineligible as I saw them last year), but it's good to see a smart, Hitchcockian thriller that doesn't resort to gimmickry.
08.) Greenberg (dir. Noah Baumbach), Trailer
I feel like this is a movie i'd move up on my list after each viewing. The character is too nasty for most, but I almost found him endearing. His thought process is not necessarily foreign, but it's his lack of self-awareness that's so offputting. I liked seeing that honesty on screen.
07.) Dogtooth (dir. Giorgos Lanthimos), Trailer
This movie is... well, fucking nuts. It'll probably remain on my list until the end of the year - just as I had listed Antichrist as one of my favorites of last year. This is an incredibly audacious movie, one that unabashedly wears it's satire on it's sleeve. Nuance is always preferable, but there's something commendable about literally having your characters get on all fours and bark.
06.) The Square (dir. Nash Edgerton), Trailer
Clearly a film that would fit right in with the Coen Brothers' oeuvre. Beautifully constructed film noir - suspenseful, terrifying, and packed with a dark, dark sense of humor. It might be the film that i'd recommend to a casual audience more than any other on the list.
05.) Daddy Longlegs (dir. Ben & Joshua Safdie), Trailer
Very, very few people saw this - it had a miniscule release. I was lucky enough to catch it in Chicago and thought it was terrific. It's a realist film about an awfully irresponsible father. One who, in the film, drugs his kids to keep them asleep. It serves as a loveletter to him, nonetheless (based off of the directors' father), and the great performance by Ronald Bronstein keep you from completely hating him.
04.) Restrepo (dir. Tim Hetherington & Sebastian Junger), Trailer
A flooring experience. You're in the midst of combat, watching soldiers shooting at unseen opposition. "Kill that motherfucker" is shouted while someone who appears to be younger than me mans a large gun. It's a tremendous film about the war experience - one that explores the soldiers' coping mechanisms and bonds in brotherhood. The film about the War in Afghanistan.
03.) Toy Story 3 (dir. Lee Unkrich), Trailer
Not much to say that hasn't been said. Pixar is untouchable. A great escape movie, one that lovingly embraces familiar tropes of the genre and incorporates them into a truly original vision. I feel like Pixar's biggest fault has always been the stakes - the villains are always sort of late additions to the film, and the audience never really feels that the heroes are in any sort of danger. Lotso might be their most menacing villain to date.
02.) The Kids Are All Right (dir. Lisa Cholodenko), Trailer
I didn't realize quite how much I loved this until about a week later - it's the most fun i've had at the movies all year. The script is perfect. Five characters, all three-dimensional, full of flaws and contradictions. A film that revels in what isn't said as opposed to what is. It's not necessarily a formula that you haven't seen before, but it's rare you see it done this well.
01.) Exit Through the Gift Shop (dir. Banksy), Trailer
Fascinating. I had no idea where this movie was going from one minute to the next. It serves as a brilliant introduction to street art, turns into a character study about a documentary filmmaker, then a character study about a street artist, then a parody about the commercial influence on street art, and so on. I've never seen anything like it.
Honorable mentions: Cyrus, Inception, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, Vincere, Winnebago Man
I notice that a trend on my list is bad people. Awful fathers in Daddy Longlegs and Dogtooth. Self-centered yuppies in Please Give and Greenberg. Philanderer and eventual murderer in The Square. Whatever Thierry from Exit Through the Gift Shop is.
Mine...
10.) Please Give (dir. Nicole Holofcener), Trailer
The closet thing we'll get to a really good Woody Allen film in 2010. Not much happens - it's really just a "life-goes-on" sort of thing (as David Denby put it) - but I savored every minute I spent with these characters, no matter how questionable their morals might be.
09.) The Secret in Their Eyes (dir. Juan José Campanella), Trailer
This is the film that won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It shouldn't have beat The White Ribbon and A Prophet (both ineligible as I saw them last year), but it's good to see a smart, Hitchcockian thriller that doesn't resort to gimmickry.
08.) Greenberg (dir. Noah Baumbach), Trailer
I feel like this is a movie i'd move up on my list after each viewing. The character is too nasty for most, but I almost found him endearing. His thought process is not necessarily foreign, but it's his lack of self-awareness that's so offputting. I liked seeing that honesty on screen.
07.) Dogtooth (dir. Giorgos Lanthimos), Trailer
This movie is... well, fucking nuts. It'll probably remain on my list until the end of the year - just as I had listed Antichrist as one of my favorites of last year. This is an incredibly audacious movie, one that unabashedly wears it's satire on it's sleeve. Nuance is always preferable, but there's something commendable about literally having your characters get on all fours and bark.
06.) The Square (dir. Nash Edgerton), Trailer
Clearly a film that would fit right in with the Coen Brothers' oeuvre. Beautifully constructed film noir - suspenseful, terrifying, and packed with a dark, dark sense of humor. It might be the film that i'd recommend to a casual audience more than any other on the list.
05.) Daddy Longlegs (dir. Ben & Joshua Safdie), Trailer
Very, very few people saw this - it had a miniscule release. I was lucky enough to catch it in Chicago and thought it was terrific. It's a realist film about an awfully irresponsible father. One who, in the film, drugs his kids to keep them asleep. It serves as a loveletter to him, nonetheless (based off of the directors' father), and the great performance by Ronald Bronstein keep you from completely hating him.
04.) Restrepo (dir. Tim Hetherington & Sebastian Junger), Trailer
A flooring experience. You're in the midst of combat, watching soldiers shooting at unseen opposition. "Kill that motherfucker" is shouted while someone who appears to be younger than me mans a large gun. It's a tremendous film about the war experience - one that explores the soldiers' coping mechanisms and bonds in brotherhood. The film about the War in Afghanistan.
03.) Toy Story 3 (dir. Lee Unkrich), Trailer
Not much to say that hasn't been said. Pixar is untouchable. A great escape movie, one that lovingly embraces familiar tropes of the genre and incorporates them into a truly original vision. I feel like Pixar's biggest fault has always been the stakes - the villains are always sort of late additions to the film, and the audience never really feels that the heroes are in any sort of danger. Lotso might be their most menacing villain to date.
02.) The Kids Are All Right (dir. Lisa Cholodenko), Trailer
I didn't realize quite how much I loved this until about a week later - it's the most fun i've had at the movies all year. The script is perfect. Five characters, all three-dimensional, full of flaws and contradictions. A film that revels in what isn't said as opposed to what is. It's not necessarily a formula that you haven't seen before, but it's rare you see it done this well.
01.) Exit Through the Gift Shop (dir. Banksy), Trailer
Fascinating. I had no idea where this movie was going from one minute to the next. It serves as a brilliant introduction to street art, turns into a character study about a documentary filmmaker, then a character study about a street artist, then a parody about the commercial influence on street art, and so on. I've never seen anything like it.
Honorable mentions: Cyrus, Inception, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, Vincere, Winnebago Man
I notice that a trend on my list is bad people. Awful fathers in Daddy Longlegs and Dogtooth. Self-centered yuppies in Please Give and Greenberg. Philanderer and eventual murderer in The Square. Whatever Thierry from Exit Through the Gift Shop is.