New Movie A Day: Next 167 Days

Watching a movie a day is really hard. The plan has derailed. In the next 90 Days I only manged to watch 34 movies. So I've caught the list up to present to represent more movies. All in all I've watched 128 new movies this year. So far. There's still over 100 days left in the year to catch up.

Here are some highlights:

Spike Lee films - I went through and watched several of Spike Lee's older films and I have to say I am not a fan. I think they fail on a lot of attempts, either from poor writing, odd formal elements or just that they're really bad. I can't tell if that means Do the Right Thing is that much better or maybe Do the Right Thing is actually not that great. What I think is the case is that he just happens to get the recipe right in Do the Right Thing. He mixes the right amount of social commentary with story. His other early works, with perhaps She's Gotta Have It, the mixture is way off. School Daze is so all over the place and un-cohesive that by the end when all of sudden every black character is out on the quad looking at the camera the message has never sunk in. This awakened moment is un-earneMo Better Blues has a narrative but it's so lightweight that it becomes boring by the second half of the film. And this is the straw that broke the camel's back with Lee acting in his own movies. He's a joke when he tries to act alongside the powerful Denzel Washington. Washington is the best part of that film and He's Got Game. He Got Game is probably the best of the early Spike Lee films, perhaps because it's not that early. But it has a stronger plot and some interesting characters. The B plot with Milla Jovovich really doesn't work and could and should have been cut from the film. Jungle Fever works on a lot of levels, but is really really dated with early 90's music and art direction. John Tuturro and that storyline actually is one of the best parts of the film, overshadowing in my mind even the main plot, partially because Tuturro is so good, but also it's more subdued and not as in your face with its half of the message.
d and out of place.

Major Disappointments - I was so looking forward to Dogtooth. The premise sets up so thoughtfully, but it never fully pays off. It would have paid to have a stronger structure, at least some structure because as is it's slightly random and in-cohesive. La Dolce Vita is a huge disapoint too. Another film where a little more structure would have gone a long way. It too was kind of just a string of scenes, that while are fun and interesting themselves, don't pay off as The Last Picture Show was slightly disappointing. I just never quite got into it. Anchorman 2. Now the definition of major disappointment. The fall off is tremendous from the first film to this one. The one bright moment is the epic newscast fight toward the end, which basically became the point of watching the film once it's realized the film awful.
much at the end.

Slight Disappointments - The Raid 2 will not be making any top ten lists. The first one is so tight and effective. This one is basically a martial arts crime film. Not the worst thing but just not as unique as the first film. My Neighbor Totoro was good but not one of my favorite Ghibli films. Totoro doesn't show up till 45 minutes into it. Although the huge highlight of the film is Catbus, my new favorite character of any Ghibli film.

Major Surprises: After Earth. It really wasn't that bad, just a little bad. The Lego Movie. It's true: Everything is Awesome, including this film. The hype is justified, it's super fun and awesome. I was nauseous the whole film and managed to hold off throwing up until the very end when I ran to the bathroom and vomited into the movie theatre toilet. The movie good enough to hold off my vomit. Totally worth it.

The Grand Budapest Hotel - My favorite film of the year.
I smiled the entire time in the theater. It was so delightful.

All is Lost - I think there are two or three bits of dialogue in the whole film. Amazing. Perfect minimalist film making, it's captivating from start to finish.

The sound work is stunning as well, there are other parts where the sound is prime in telling the story so well.

79. Apr 2 - 12 Years a Slave - award winner

80. Apr 2 - Fail Safe - compare to Dr Strangelove

81. Apr 3 - Anchorman 2 - just for funs

82. Apr 5 - Much Ado About Nothing - love the play

83. Apr 6 - He Got Game - unseen Spike Lee film

84. Apr 7 - Freakonomics - prep for class on Documentary

85. Apr 9 - Empire of the Sun - unseen Spielberg film

86. Apr 12 - Doctor Zhivago - unseen AFI Top 100 film

87. Apr 14 - Mo Better Blues - unseen Spike Lee film

88. Apr 15 - End of Watch - student suggestion

89. Apr 16 - Thor: The Dark World - pop culture

90. Apr 18 - School Daze - unseen Spike Lee film

91. Apr 19 - Blackboard Jungle - youth culture study

92. Apr 22 - Another 48 Hrs. - study of film sequels

93. Apr 27 - My Neighbor Totoro - unseen Miyazaki film

94. Apr 27 - Foreign Correspondent - unseen Hitchcock film

95. Apr 28 - The Guilt Trip - on the dvr 

96. May 2 - The Three Faces of Eve - students paper on mental illness on screen

97. May 6 - The Grand Budapest Hotel - Wes Anderson!

98. May 10 - Jungle Fever - unseen Spike Lee film

99. May 11 - After Earth - on the DVR, pop culture

100. May 12 - Muppets From Space - with the boys

101. May 14 - Frances - a students paper on mental illness

102. May 15 - Princess Mononoke - unseen Miyazaki film

103. May 17 - The Lego Movie - with the boys

104. May 20 - Dogtooth - sounded extremely interesting

105. May 24 - Escape from Alcatraz - unseen prison film

106. May 28 - Westworld - unseen sci-fi classic

107. May 31 - Escape From Tomorrow - pop culture, indie film

108. June 7 - Wall Street - unseen classic

109. June 8 - Freebirds - with the kids

110. June 16 - La Dolce Vita - unseen foreign classic

111. June 19 - The Firemen's Ball - unseen Milos Forman film

112. June 22 - All is Lost - unseen film from 2013

113. June 29 - The Secret Life of Walter Mitty - pop-culture

114. July 1 - Bringing Out the Dead - unseen Scorcese film

115. July 5 - Begin Again - went to the theater

116. July 8 - Shadow of a Doubt - unseen Hitchcock film

117. July 9 - The Last Picture Show - unseen classic

118. July 15 - The Life of Emile Zola - unseen classic

119. July 20 - All of Thomas Edison's short films to 1903 - unseen classic

120. July 21 - Tiny: A Story About Living Small - interesting doc

121. Aug 7 - The Raid 2 - just for funs

122. Aug 10 - Magnificent Obsession - unseen Douglas Sirk film

123. Aug 15 - The Cat Returns - unseen Studio Ghibli film

124. Aug 21 - Lone Survivor - pop culture

125. Aug 24 - Amazing Spiderman 2 - pop culture

126. Sep 2 - Saftey Last - unseen silent comedy classic

127. Sep 9 - August: Osage County - awards contender

128. Sep 10 - Captain America: Winter Soldier - pop culture

Lover or Hater of Film: Top 10 Films of 2004

For 2004 I went back and watched every major film to come out. All the blockbusters. All the awards contenders. A lot of foreign films as well. I re-watched some that I hadn't seen since then even. Some held up pretty well. And I found a few gems I had previously overlooked. Of course, this was the year of The Butterfly Effect, it was also the year of these day films.

1. Downfall - Absolutely my favorite film from 2004. The moment I saw the trailer for this film I knew there was something different about it. The entire film is so incredibly intense, from start to finish. It's amazing how intense it is considering that 1. these are Nazi's we're following, 2. there's no real main character (the secretary is the main protagonist, but there are long stretches of the film without her and there are so many other plot lines that she's lost at times). Still, every scene and sequence has a haunted quality, as if we're watching the ghosts trapped in their last tomb, reliving their final moments over and over. The haunted nature sucks the life out the viewing time and again as we watched horrible and evil acts being played out by maniacal beings; from parents killing their children so they won't have to grow up in a world without National Socialism to officers shooting themselves as a last act of defiance. The world perhaps will never see a movement quite like the Nazi's, who mixed such an odd sense of kitsch with such an evil way of taking over a modern society, and this film captures all of that whole movement distilled down to the last week in it's fanatical leader's life.

2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - One of the most unique movies ever made. Movies in so many ways are like dreams and memories and this film probably gets closer to what memories feel like than any other movie. The details and emotions are what carry this film; and it seems like the filmmakers understood that, planting tiny details into every scene that eventually comes back later at some point. It's sort of like the pieces or objects in our dreams that make sense until we wake up and they don't quite fit into reality. That's sort of the essence of symbolism in literature, when an object carries more meaning that the physical object itself. But Eternal Sunshine doesn't ever dwell on this more than needed, they place these important things in spots around the action; from cups to drawings to hair color. It's an odd romance


3. Anchorman - This is the movie that made me laugh so hard I fell off the couch. It has spawned a thousand one-liners relating to such topics as: San Diego, scotch, a woman's hiney, relaying important news items like "Cannonball", a whale's reproductive organs, the use of cologne, bears, lamps, when to drink milk, our cages of emotions, the sizes of burritos and their proper disposal, and so much more.

4. Kung Fu Hustle - I had to go back and watch this again because I fell asleep watching it in 2004. I'm glad I did because this film is legit. It combines so many different styles to fit into a whole new world of it's own. It's hilarious and captivating alongside being an amazing action film. Besides all that, it is one of the best Asian films of the last 15 years, up there with House of Flying Daggers and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. This film though, follows the tradition of so many Asian films, though, that merge Eastern and Western styles so fluidly. It builds a world full of depth all while paying homage, a balance that's hard to do sometimes.

5. The Aviator - This should have won Best Picture. Watching this again really brings out how good of a biopic this is and how well the effects still hold up pretty well. In many ways, this was a big grand movie (much aligned with the subject matter) and deserves the praise for the large leaps it takes in tackling every aspect of what makes a movie a spectacle. The aeriel plane sequences alone are amazing, but matched with DiCaprio's performance and the breathtaking production design (covering several decades) this film fires on all cylinders. And it's now given me reason to say "Show me all the blueprints" over and over again when my three year olds ask the same question twelve times.

6. The Incredibles - Usually when movies(or TV shows) make up their own superheroes it comes off as fake or forced. But leave it to Pixar to do it right. They not only created very real and believable heroes, but they created a whole world to support them. They play homage to the 60's Modern style that fits so well with the tone of the superhero world. I'm sure Mad Men took at least a little inspiration from The Incredibles' production design. The world they create yearns for a sequel, yet the story is so perfectly wrapped up a sequel would probably take away from the complete story of the family.





7. The Life Aquatic - Here we are with Wes Anderson. Perhaps part of his low dip (with Darjeeling Limited) but the film holds up on repeated viewings and gets better over time. Perhaps the low dip is due to the grander scope of the film, as compared to previous films that were more personal and primarily character driven. Here you still have the characters, but that's mixed with bigger scenery and grander adventures. Anderson has been able to find a balance now, Grand Budapest Hotel is very grand and adventurous), but Life Aquatic was almost silly at times because you have small, quaint Anderson-esque characters out in the dangerous world in real life seeming situations. But that's where the value of repeat viewings come in. The Anderson-esque nature of the characters and situations is initially lost of the real-world grand scope, but on a re-watch it's easier to find the tiny Wes Anderson touches. For instance, Willem Dafoe's facial expressions in the background of scenes. Maybe one other flaw is Owen Wilson playing a Kentucky pilot. It seems so out of place. Perhaps Anderson has learned his lesson on forcing accents onto actors that shouldn't have them. (Just look to Ed Norton's plain accent in Grand Budapest Hotel for an example of a performance not needing it.)

8. Hotel Rwanda - Have to put this in here. It's such an incredible true life story. The emotion and chaos are so real and wild and hard felt. Not necessarily a film you go back for for entertainment, but one worth watching for something else.

9. House of Flying Daggers - This film could not be left off a top ten list of that year. The use of color alone could make it one of the best films of the last decade. The blind dancing sequence as well could keep it on that list as well. The film truly shows that Hollywood does not have a monopoly on amazing cinematography. The best cinematography could be coming out of the Far East. Wuxia storylines sort of thread the line between overly complicated and overly simplified, which is a hard thing to do. Emotions and characters and the situations they're in can be simplified, i.e. a girl pretends to be a blind geisha to spy on the government. But Wuxia films are filled with twists and turns; i.e. She's not really blind at all! And the guy who is protecting her really is a spy from the government! And of course they fall in love while performing amazing martial arts. Amazing film. On par with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, maybe better even.

10. Spiderman 2 - The best of the Spiderman films. Like most superhero films, the second takes what works from the first and makes it better, then avoids the bloated plot trappings of the third. (Look to the Dark Knight trilogy as the prime example.) The character arch is the best of the films, and Doc Ock is the best villain from the films, mainly because Alfred Molina was cast. The Spiderman series actually did an amazing job with casting. It's always nice having amazing classic actors in superhero films; Willem Dafoe, Patrick Stewart, Ian Mckellan, etc...) Molina isn't necessarily given amazing dialogue or characterization, but he manages to put so much depth and intellect into the character. Even Dafoe in the first film just sort of relied on being crazy a bit too much, something Molina never does in this film. It really is a shame that the third film failed so badly when this film gets every part right. There's only one villain, which means so much more time can be spent on his story and on Peter Parker's story, which is what makes the Spiderman character so interesting. Overall, one of the best superhero films to date, and a shining moment for 2004.



Honorable Mention:
Man on Fire - saw this the first time after coming back from Mexico City. Glad I didn't see it before, otherwise I would have been scared the entire time, and not just during taxi rides.
Miracle - can't help myself. I believe in miracles.
The Chronicles of Riddick - this one surprised me a lot. I thought for sure it would be awful, but it isn't bad at all. Vince Diesel isn't really the best actor, and the story is a little shallow, but the production design is amazing and a decade later it holds up pretty well.
Kill Bill Vol 2 - just off the list. No real reason to keep it off the top ten, but maybe in hindsight after Tarantino's later films isn't as shiny.
Collateral - landmark film. One of the early great features shot on video. The use of light and dark is amazing. Overall, a very compelling story. And Tom Cruise has grey hair.
The Sea Inside - for a film about a guy stuck in one place this film is quite engrossing. Mainly because of the philosophy it brings up.
Motorcycle Diaries - such an easy film to watch. This belongs on the top ten road movies ever made.
Yesterday - the premise seems so simple; An African woman discovers she has AIDS and deals with her life. But the whole film goes about it in such a straightforward and simple way that the existential crisis is there without being on the nose.
A Very Long Engagement - I love this director. WW I looks so great. No one knows love like the French.

Kung Fu Panda 2 and the Modern Sequel

It's an unavoidable fact: Hollywood makes sequels. They even make sequels to sequels. Those are called "threequels." And as everything Hollywood does, there's a pattern to how they're structured, sometimes good and sometimes awful. And just like with most movies, there's usually a pattern to the whole process, and the more and more franchises Hollywood makes, the more they're exploited and the easier they are to notice. The modern day sequel has been even more patterned with the advent of the trilogy. Now, three movies can follow that pattern. The first film of a franchise is usually pretty standard, whether it's The Godfather or Green Lantern. But just as the first film is usually patterned(and noticed for it's pattern after the sequel comes out), the sequel is just as patterned as the first film.
I can pinpoint the birth of the modern day sequel to The Godfather Part II. It was the first major film to recognize in title that it was a sequel. Before this, Hollywood shied away from calling a sequel a sequel and giving it a numerical designation. The Godfather revitalized the film industry, making more money than a film had made in a long time. A sequel today would be a no-brainer, but back then it was sort of a risky idea. But with the success of the first film, Paramount felt like it was a good idea to directly associate the second film with it. 
Soon there were other sequels and franchises popping up in the 70's and early 80's; French Connection II, Jaws, Star Wars, Indiana Jones...Hollywood now wasn't just making sequels they were making franchises; film empires that could sustain themselves through not only film revenue but through other media and merchandise. 
Enough film history. Let's look at the patterns that started way back then and are still being used today in sequels. First off, it should be noted that trilogies could be looked at as one long three part movie. With the first being Act One, the second being Act Two and the third being Act Three. The first act sets up the hero, sets up the world and the major problem, and ignites the hero on a wider adventure. The second act is the big ordeal the hero goes through, perhaps it is the hero's darkest hour or an unmasking where he learns who he really is and who his enemy really is. The third act sets up the final conflict and resolves the turmoil.
In franchises, the first film is usually some sort of origin, especially in super hero films. The hero comes to terms with who he is and begins his quest in the "New World." First films vary widely, usually following the same basic story structure, but the big difference is that at this point its not always knowable if the film will turn into a franchise.
Third films vary even more, but that can be attributed to other non-story elements. There's either years between films, a change in the writer or director or there's such a problem with tying everything together it gets too bogged down in the details. Examples include The Godfather Part III where it was almost twenty years between films, or X-Men 3 where there was a new director involved.
Now onto what's often described as the best film in the trilogy: "the second one."

The biggest and easiest trait to see in the sequel is the "our house is under invasion" or "they've gotten into our system" or in the case of the new G.I. Joe sequel the "they've destroyed our whole freaking team!." This provides the basic framework for the sequel, but each film does it in a different way, some more subtle like The Dark Knight, and some way too obvious like G.I. Joe: Retaliation.

Here's some of the better examples. In the first Godfather film we see the rise of Michael Corleone into the role of the new Godfather. It's basically his origin story set at the end of his father's reign as the Godfather. By the end of the film Michael has not only attained that status, but also set himself up as the definitive power in organized crime. It appears as if no one could take him down. In the second film, as the first there are a few plots going on, and there's two that directly play into the sequel theme. One plays into the notion from the first film, Michael is so powerful he could not be brought down, except a power outside the realm of organized crime: the government. Michael and the family is under attack from a Congressional committee looking into his crime family. It looks as if he's going to be taken down by this bigger power, especially since the star witness is a member of the crime organization. Michael outwits the Feds by bringing the witness' brother from Italy in a statement that his brother would be in danger if he testified. 
The other plot is that there is a mole somewhere in the organization that allowed an assassin access to the family compound. Literally, a sniper is within the family gates shooting into Michael's house, and the mole is the relative closest to him; his brother. His house is literally under attack. Oh and one of the other plots...Michael's wife had an abortion and she's leaving him.

Here's a few more examples. X-Men 2 is about the government finding out about Professor X's secret school for mutants. They infiltrate the school, taking some of the student mutants and scattering the team.

One of the most classic sequels: Empire Strikes Back literally starts with the rebels base being invaded, scattering the rebels and our heroes. Toy Story 2 involves a plot to split up the heroes, changing their world, they're being invaded by the toy store owner. Back to the Future 2 involves Marty saving his own family from being ruined.

One other often used trait of the sequel is the internalization of conflict. In most of the films above there is also some internal conflict the hero struggles with concerning his new place(i.e. new powers, new station, new setting.)

In X-Men 2, that great internal struggle is placed on the shoulders of Wolverine, who basically carries the entire franchise anyway. In the sequel, Wolverine is struggling with his identity and who he really is. Through the plot of the film, he ends up discovering his dark past and what he was "supposed to be." But he rejects that and becomes a hero instead.
In Empire Strikes Back, we delve deeper into the feelings and emotions of the characters we came to know in the first film. Luke Skywalker goes on a journey to find Yoda and learn the ways of the force. Literally, he has to find the power within himself in the form of the force. As well, Han Solo and Princess Leia are internally discovering their real feelings, as they fight against the walls they've built up. And even as they finally build their relationship, a metaphor for unity, Darth Vadar and the Empire tear it down. Again, back to the idea that "our base is under attack."
In Back to the Future 2, Marty McFly no longer is trying to save his family's past, he's now saving their future in the opening segment of the movie. He comes literally face to face with himself(actually his son) and as the arch of his three film story goes, he begins to look internally at what his own demons are. Those demons and his internal conflicts, as is the case with most trilogies, don't get totally resolved until the third film, but it's the sequel where the hero begins looking internally at them.
Hollywood has gotten really good at making sequels. So good that they usually can hide the pattern when done well. And perhaps when not done so well the sequel doesn't turn out "as good as the first one." Iron Man 2 is a good example of a poorly structured sequel. At first it seemed to profess the traits of a good franchise sequel, Tony Stark was supposed to feel more of the weight of being a hero, there was a government investigation that was trying to take him down, and there was supposed to be a plot inspired by the comic book storyline of Tony's alcoholism being his real demon. But none of those storylines authentically stuck. The film got bogged down in the actual villain, Whiplash. The Whiplash story bookends the film, rather than a storyline dealing with something internal to Tony. The other villain is also an extremely external villain, Justin Hammer, is trying to destroy Iron Man from the outside. (It appears from the trailers that Iron Man 3 is taking on the persona of a usual sequel: Tony's house is literally destroyed, the villains are trying to make Tony weak, and there is a great amount of emphasis placed on Tony's personal struggles rather than struggles as the superhero Iron Man.)

The film I'd like to explore, and that brought this whole thesis to a head is Kung Fu Panda 2. I was extremely surprised by how well done this film was. It is not a perfect film, by the strengths far outweigh the weaknesses, and the pattern DreamWorks has drawn upon and the way they crafted it into this story is remarkable.
The film opens with a trope often employed in sequels, the reveal of the villain. This doesn't always work, Iron Man 2 uses it, but in this case it works quite well. It tells the tale of Lord Shen and how he came to be, which also leads to how Po came to his circumstance. Their stories become so intricate that for the film you almost can't tell one without the other. Po became the Dragon Warrior because of Shen, and Shen became a villain because of his fear of who Po would become. Even with the villain, it's internal.
The film then movies on with what seems like an average adventure for the Dragon Warrior and the Furious Five; they rescue or attempt to rescue and subdue bandits raiding the Musician's Village. Of course, that ties in with the larger plot, and isn't just any adventure. This is where the movie could have turned into something for the straight to video bin. Their adventure is seen as ordinary. That may work for an episode of the Kung Fu Panda TV series, but for a movie it has to be epic and life or death.
But what the film does well is tie together Po's opening, learning the internal secrets of Kung Fu, and infuses that into every aspect of the plot and theme. In the first film, Kung Fu and Po becoming the Dragon Warrior was about becoming an external fighter. Po, the panda, was the only creature that could defeat Tai Lung, a tiger. Po defeats him externally, and Po is able to get to that point by learning to take his inner strength and make it external.
In the sequel, Po must take his external strength and internalize it. He slowly gets there on his journey of self discovery. That first reveals itself in the opening battle when Po has the flashback. It again happens when Po winds up where he was born and lived as a child. It's here, discovering his roots, that he first begins to internalize Kung Fu. In the final conflict, Po has internalized his power so much, that he's able to internalize any external force, including the great power that Shen has controlled; his canons.
It's interesting also to note the other part of the plot. Not only is Po fighting to save Kung Fu for himself, he's fighting to save all of Kung Fu. Kung Fu is LITERALLY under attack. Literally. That's greater than any base, or organization, he's saving an entire philosophy and way of life. A way of life that is actually internal. The Kung Fu Panda franchise was set up for this story and this setup. It would have been so easy to make another adventure. But the filmmakers finely crafted the story to provide just what the whole arc needed. Hollywood may know how to exploit things. But along the way that means they can make really good sequels.

Am I a Hater or a Lover?....of film. Part 1

Because I have been recently accused of being a hater, rather than a lover of film, mostly because my Top 10 List for 2011 consists of four films, I've decided to go back and make my Top 10 Films of the Year list for the past decade.

BTW, here's my Top 10 Films for 2011, I added X-Men: First Class just to try to get to five.

1. Drive

2. Melancholia

3. Bridesmaids

4. Super 8

5. X-Men: First Class

And just to be fair, here's some honorable mentions: Tree of Life, Captain America, Rango, Thor, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. (I could have made a full list with these, but these last films I just didn't feel like I could list on my "favs" list.

2010

Now while this year was a huge disappointment for blockbusters and Summer films, it was exceptional when it came to dramas and technical pieces. But despite that, Youth in Revolt was by far my favorite film of this year, while Winter's Bone was my favorite for the dramatic and higher brow films and A Prophet was my favorite foreign film.

1. Youth in Revolt

2. Winter's Bone

3. A Prophet

4. King's Speech

5. The Social Network

6. Black Swan

7. Inception

8. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

9. Despicable Me

10. Tron: Legacy

2009

Again, a clear favorite at the top, but Moon is definitely one of my favorite films of the last few years.

1. Fantastic Mr Fox

2. Moon

3. Zombieland

4. The Road

5. The Hurt Locker

6. A Serious Man

7. Away We Go

8 500 Days of Summer

9. District 9

10.  Inglourious Basterds

Honorable Mention: An Education, Taken, Where the Wild Things Are

2008

Besides these five films I just could not find another film I would consider a favorite. I was a hater this year apparently.

1. The Dark Knight

2. Kung Fu Panda

3. Iron Man

4. Wall-E

5. Doubt

2007

Barely got to 10 on this year. I didn't see Zodiac until this last year and I found it an utterly amazing film. No Country For Old Men still holds a special place in my heart for the film that caused two nightmares where Javier Bardem tried to kill me.

1. Zodiac

2. No Country for Old Men

3. Hot Fuzz

4. Ratatouille

5. Transformers

6. Across the Universe

7. The Darjeeling Limited

8. Juno

9. Live Free of Die Hard

10. Sicko

2006

This is a year that I can look back and re-assess what my favorite films are. I hated Children of Men at first, but now I love it. I didn't see Nacho Libre till way later and now....I am in love with it.

1. Nacho Libre

2. The Departed

3. Children of Men

4. Borat

5. The Pursuit of Happyness

6. Little Miss Sunshine

7. The Prestige

8. The Devil Wears Prada

9. Marie Antoinette

10. United 93

Honorable Mention: V For Vendetta, Accepted

2005

Another hater year. Not much to "fav" during the year, except we saw the best of the Star Wars prequels and the beginning of the new Batman franchise.

1. The New World

2. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

3. Batman Begins

4. Wedding Crashers

5. Serenity

6. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

7. Madagascar

8. Munich

9. Hitch

10. Walk the Line

Gimrack: An All-Inclusive History of Cinema from the Dawn of Man to the End of Time

As a deep believer in story, it's hard sometimes to appreciate when a film can become true art without being confined to the rigors and structures normally associated with narrative films. There is a very definite structure to film stories, we know it going into the theatre, while we're watching a film and afterward when we wipe our brow and smile that the hero made it out alright, not knowing if he would or not. The same basic story is being told again and again, and yet movies can tell such fresh stories. Rarely has a film ever come out where this structure is completely absent. And usually when a film deviates from the story structure mastered by screenwriters for a century, it's a disaster.

Here's a quick rundown of basic film story structure. A catalyst happens which changes the "normal world" the hero inhabits. The hero accepts or is thrown into the call of adventure, going into a "special world" where he is in over his head, up against a villain or challenge that seems impossible. Midway through the film he faces an ordeal, one in which his "mask" and sometimes the "mask" of the villain is revealed and it's an ordeal that pushes him further away from the "normal world." (An example of a mid-point sequence is in Sixth Sense when the kid says he sees dead people. The kid reveals himself, and Bruce Willis takes his mask off afterward saying he thinks the kid is crazy and he can't help him.) The hero is then plunged into greater and worse obstacles until he faces off in a climax. If he wins, the film is resolved, if he loses it is a tragedy and we are to learn from his mistakes.

Films fit into the structure almost every time. Sometimes they compress years, months or weeks down into two hours, just showing the important scenes and events that help us follow the story structure. Sometimes the film is over a day or weekend, and the plot points are very sequential. As close as films get to being art, they're still confined by the basic idea that the overall story structure is broken down into arcs, sequences, scenes and dialogue. To paint a painting you have to have paint and a surface. So it is assumed, to make a film you have to have these things to tell your story. But every once in a while a film comes along that transcends this.

The Tree of Life is Terrence Malick's latest film. It's an experimental film and an art film. I don't throw those titles around lightly. I hate experimental and art films. I like story and structure. I like when films have structure, it makes them better. I hate films that feel like they can do what they want with no regard to story, because they usually fail. But I believe that at it's greatest, a movie can be cinema, and cinema is art. Cinema is art where filmmaking is the medium. It can combine different elements of other art forms to form something more alive and real than any other art form, but still it's something you could never touch, as you could a statue. The art is in the image and in the spaces between the images. Just as a novel can have magnificent sentences and an intriguing story, but the art is found between the sentences. 

In normal films we feel the art in one shot to the next and one scene to the next. Sometimes films barely become like great literature, with interesting characters and a unique plot. But then they can go above that and reach what is actually art; something deeper than a creation that is something else. The "something else" is actually something else, something symbolic.
At times Tree of Life just seems so much like an art film that knows it's an art film and just is randomly showing you images and breaking the norms, and it's at these times when the audience is the most distant from the film. There's a reason films have structure, structure involves characters and growth and that's what ties us emotionally to the film. But then what else is film, but a dream. Dreams cut together images and actions seamlessly without room for nothing. Think to your dreams, they're never about nothing. Something is always happening and when they blend together, like "somehow it turned into a snowstorm but we were still at the mall shopping for the thing..." Dream merge together, there's no space between for when you would potentially travel from one part to another. Your mind is editing the boring stuff out, just as a film does. And then when you walk up, what do you remember the most usually? It's the feelings. The raw feelings and emotions. Sometimes they're odd, like being so scared of something, it's so dreadful. Again, like a film, it's how we feel during and after the movie that counts. Tree of Life plays like a dream, going from one thing to the next. It's also how memory works, we don't always remember things in exact order with every detail. We just remember how it felt and what the interesting stuff was.
And that's what makes the film so interesting! It's playing like what the core and heart of what film is....a dream. Like memories, it's just the important stuff and it's aim to get right to the raw feelings. The film primarily is just what Sean Penn remembers and feels from his childhood. The scenes are little glimpses and snapshots, edited together to show what he remembers, and ultimately what he learned from his parents at that age; grace and nature. The film strips every other wasted piece of flesh from cinema, that we're left with the bare bare, nakedly on display to show the audience what the real core of filmmaking is. We're so inclined to watching films heavily clothed in lots of special effects and action told in sequential order, that's what usually makes films beautiful. This film bares it all though, warts and fat. It's tough to watch,  but it's usually tough to look at something totally naked.

My 1st Summer Movie!!!! Green Lantern

Being a stay at home dad is great. I get to watch a lot of TV. Sarcasm. The morning is spent trying to keep the boys occupied, either with a nap or with the flickering box, so I can take my own nap. So PBS kids is on, because flickering color is way better than the talking heads on the Today Show or CNN. Then the afternoon is spent catching up on my DVR list. Mostly it's random things from the History Channel, College Football Live and lots of re-runs of Seinfeld and The Office. Occasionally I squeeze in a movie off the list, like The Crazies or The Other Guys.

But today, I got out of the house and went to the movies by myself, something I said I'd never do, but in the last 6 months I've done 3 times. "Two f"ing babies at the same time"(This American Life Episode) makes it impossible for Betsy and I to go to the movies together.  Needless to say, the people in front of me decided they absolutely needed to get out of the house, and went with their toddler that didn't care to be there. I wasn't upset at their choice, I just felt really sorry for them because apparently they really, really, really needed to get out of the house. Anyway.....Green Lantern.

Green Lantern - We are now living in a post Iron Man world. That movie set the watermark for all superhero movies now. And with the exception of Nolan's Batman series, superhero movies have sort of gotten into a rhythmic funk of mediocrity. Green Lantern fits right into that mold of pretty good superhero film, but doesn't quite get over the hump to be really great. The sad part, though, is that they really tried to.

The film follows the usual 1st film in a series, it's the backstory of the character, Hal Jordan. He's a test pilot, his love interest thinks he's a slacker dofus, he's living in the shadow of his Dad....actually really close to the Iron Man story isn't it? Except, Hal doesn't have it so bad, his life is actually pretty good, he just stumbles upon getting the green lantern ring, or it finds him or something. The first half also goes through the backstory of the whole Green Lantern Corps, and this huge unstoppable threat that could wipe out the Universe, yadda yadda. Great place to start the series, the threat is total annihilation of the Universe. That's actually the watermark that this movie adds to cinema, before threats were The Entire City!, The Entire Country! or The Entire World!!!! Nope, this film trumps all that and goes for the whole Universe. Keep in mind; Hal Jordan just got the ring, he's the newest Corps guy amid thousands and before this he knew nothing of anything off the planet Earth at all, oh and btw this Universe destroying thing just killed the best Green Lantern guys easily. But he's the guy to do it.
That's actually not the real problem with the film, to be honest there wasn't really anything "wrong" at all. It was laid out properly, like a mom laying out her kids clothes for the next day. In fact, little foreshadowing hints were dropped here and there to make you smile later.

So what is the real problem? Mediocrity, that's what the problem is. The film sort of just balances between comic book wonderment and real life what- would-it-be-like feeling. And because of that, it has no foundation. We know the characters, but it's because they're cartoons. The plot and characters were basically like the cartoon movies that have been put out the past few years, by both Marvel and DC. And those movies are actually really good, but they're cartoons. This is a feature film. Or should have been. Iron Man was so good because it told the story of a flawed man so well. The action was sort of just incidental. Green Lantern seemed to be based around action a little too much. (It is an action adventure film, I know, I know.) But when you start to present yourself as an adult film with real people, you should follow through.

The one great thing I think the film did do well, was that the theme was actually really telling to the story of the comics. Superhero films are all about courage and fear and really base emotions. Good versus Evil at it's core. Green Lantern was all about that, it pitted the good guys with strong will and courage against the pure evil of fear. I'm not a fan of the Green Lantern comic book, but from what I can gather it's about really solid core values of being courageous and having honor. These guys have an oath and are sworn to protect the Universe. With their rings they can construct anything in their minds and it's as strong as their will is. That's what makes Hal Jordan so strong, his will and his courage against evil. Visually that was a no brainer, the rings and the constructs that they made were awesome to see, but they really did a solid job in putting that thoroughly in the story. And in my opinion, the best superhero movies are the ones that really get into the core of what makes the comic great. Dark Knight did it, Iron Man did, the first two Spidermans did it, and anytime a superhero film fails, it's usually because they made it about action and awesomeness rather than about the core of the character and what the comic was all about. And character is what's really awesome. Thumbs up.


Top 5 Superhero Movies


5. 4 Way Tie - Batman(1989), Spiderman, X-Men, Batman Begins
4. Iron Man
3. Spiderman 2
2. X-Men 2: X-Men United
1. The Dark Knight

A Few Awards Potentials

The Town - You'll hear this a lot from my reviews, it was just alright. The Town was just alright. It's basically a hard nose, violent story about the criminal with a heart. It's supposed to seem like a new take on the genre and it's supposed to feel fresh, but frankly the film was really stale. The film was built on convenience and cliche. They showed you what you needed to see and that's it. We never saw the real FBI tracker's character, he was just Jon Hamm acting like an FBI bank robber catcher. In fact, he was basically playing Keanu Reeves from Point Break, only without the Valley accent. In fact, if I didn't know Jon Hamm from Mad Men I would think he was a horrific actor based on this film alone. He brought nothing to the character, no flaws or quirks or depth, and apparently none was provided for him by the director. And that's what was so typical of the film, you were sort of told about things and shown things when the time was right, like how the character of this neighborhood was, but really you never saw it.

What happens sometimes with films is that it exceeds expectations. Who would have thought Ben Afleck could make a decent movie? He did, so it got lauded. But compare this to The Departed or something with some heart and depth and it's nothing. The Town...pretty good. It gets a B+.

The Kids Are All Right - And that's what it was. It was just alright. I admire their creativity in mapping out a unique story, but when you actually look at the story, it's so basic and childish that you imagine some kids came up with the plot points. Except it's not kids that came up with it, it's a lesbian woman who wanted to make a story about her life experiences. So okay, we have a unique situation, which is a great starting off point, but then it just kind of dribbles along and then what you think is going to happen, happens. Why didn't the story stay with the kids? They were the interesting ones. But no, they had to show the lesbian start having sex with a man, and that becomes the plot. Who cares about them, the kids...why aren't we spending more time with them? Anyway. That's not my problem with the film, actually I don't have a problem with it, like I said, it was just alright.

My actual problem is that people are thinking it's so great and Annette Benning got the GG for her role, and I thought she was the worst part of the film. Her acting, and Julianne Moore's acting and the guy who is always horrible, Mark Ruffalo's acting. It was all horrible. The only good actors were the kids. But they're doing all right, so we can stop worrying about them. I honestly was thinking during the first half of the film that they must not have had a script, it just seemed like the director was just telling Benning and Moore to just improvise a scene and act like a gay married couple. The timing was off, it wasn't funny, they weren't saying anything interesting. These are two amazing actresses and they were just floundering around, and everyone thinks they're so good; they're like a real gay couple, blah blah...No. The film needed to be either A. funnier, B. have a plot that focused on some real problems, or C. Stick with the kids, the only thing interesting going on.

Winter's Bone - The Best buzz worthy film I've seen on DVD. (I saw Social Network in the theatre.) Now this is a film with real drama, with some real heart, with something real to say. And it actually isn't getting the year end buzz it deserves. It follows the story of a girl who has to make sure her father gets to his court date or they'll lose the house which was put up for bail. It takes place in rural Missouri, and I mean rural. From the start, it's almost like they're in a third world country, except you know it's America. The Mother is almost brain dead, so the teenage girl has to take care of her little siblings. It's heartbreaking, but so empowering seeing this girl take control of the dire situation she's in. From top to bottom she's determined, from making sure the kids get fed and to going deeper and deeper into finding her father.

It seemed for a while that the film was just going to be her going from place to place saying, "Have you seen my dad?", but slowly the story unravels. Honestly, a lot of the details and nuances of the relationships are lost because it's hard to pay 100% attention for the whole time, but you get the idea by the end. 

Great film. It's raw and deliberate and shows a side of America that is so overlooked, even by the reality shows.

Because Kyle Asked: An Animation Special

Because Kyle Olson asked what animated movies DO I like, I decided to put the answer into a blog post. As well, since it's that time of year when there are a myriad of cartoon specials dancing around television, what better time than now to talk about my favorite animated movies.

I spend an awful lot of time talking about the suck cartoon movies out there; from Cars to Shark Tale to Emperor's New Groove, I hardly get to the really good animated films. In fact, my favorite film from last year was Fantastic Mr Fox. Happy Holidays, here is my top 10 Favorite Animated Films.

10. Ratatouille/The Incredibles - Tied for 10th Place, and perhaps a spot deserving of many of Pixar's best films from Toy Story to Finding Nemo, but these two stand out as two of my favorites from them, and for different reasons. Ratatouille is prime example that Pixar really knows how to tell a story. The movie is so captivating from start to finish, it's like they've re-invented the same story structure that's been around for thousands of year, but making it feel so fresh and new. This was the first of the so-called "Art House Pixar" films, making a film that was more like an adult movie than a children's animation, the film has great themes and interesting dialogue. I can't say anything bad about the film. Even the main voice talent, Patton Oswalt is stupendous.

The Incredibles is in the same vein, a film that feels like it could be for adults. It's the classic, kids will love it while not getting all the jokes, yadda yadda. But it's true, what's playing here is the average family allegory played out as superheroes. Each super member of the family has a power related to their personality and social position; the mom stretched a million directions, the invisible daughter, the energetic and bored boy, and the strong father emaciated by society. If this were live action, which it seems in many ways it already has been in some ways in other films, it would have probably been overlooked or at the least not regarded by the critics the same way. Which shows the importance of stretching the limits of genre, this film went in a direction no animated film had gone.

8. Sword in the Stone - A childhood favorite. The story is simple enough, even for the likes of Disney. Instead of delving into the adventures of the King Arthur, the film follows his backstory, which is taken from an 20th century author's story about the Legend of Excalibur, rather than from the original tales. Interesting how the story was slightly watered down even before Disney got their hands on it. But as most Disney films go, this is the story of adolescent struggling with challenges larger than they can comprehend. Young Arthur has little to no control over his surroundings, even pulling the sword out is by accident. Then what makes this story so magical? The spectacle and presentation; mostly involving Merlin. He has a Wizards' Duel, he transforms Arthur and himself into animals, and my favorite thing he puts his whole household (in which everything has personalities) into his bag.) The sugar cup! Oh boy, what a naughty little utensil.

7. Secret of NIMH - Another childhood favorite, but this one holds up even more, which is a surprise, you'd think it wouldn't. It has the look of those old, forgettable Non-Disney Animated films, but this one is better and deeper. The story is solid, and leads your imagination down a deep hole where you can explore the many possibilities of the NIMH world. In fact, the books have a lot of great adventure stories. But alas, no immediate sequels were meant to be for this low performer. Maybe it was just a little too dark for the masses of children and their parents to grasp. At any rate, it's a modern set adventure that has a timeless feel of a classic myth. And I love it.

6. Kung Fu Panda - Finally, Jack Black in an animated film playing basically himself, but more awesome. This film kind of breaks my rule of not liking anachronistically wrong cartoons, but who cares, this film was awesome. Who cares that it's supposed to be set in ancient China, but Jack Black is like a kid growing up in 1980's San Fernando. In every other way, this is done so right. It's like they merged all the good things from Karate Kid and every awesome Kung Fu movie, then packaged it in an awesome anthropomorphically animal movie for awesomeness. I was saying Skadoosh all Summer after this came out. And now that I remember that awesome word, I'm going to use it all Winter. Skadoosh!

5. Wall-E - If you could make a captivating animated film without using any dialogue for 45 minutes, I will put you on this list. If you can also add in some social commentary and a love story between two robots, you will displace this film from my heart. No animals (besides a bug), humans take a back seat, and hardly any dialogue, make for a weird combination to make a cartoon movie, especially one set in a bleak future. But as the best animators do, they provide a lovable hero without conversations or heavy plot. Before all that starts, we know and love Wall-E, laughing and longing with him until finally Eve shows up and turns the world upside down. Pixar was channeling all the great silent-era comedians for this film, and honestly only through animation could you make a futuristic science fiction film that's basically a silent movie romance.

4. Beauty and the Beast - I honestly don't know why I love this film so much. It's packaged perfectly for little girls, but still it appeals to me. Again, it's just that Disney (of old) knows how to tell a story. And here, they tell the Beast story so well. Perhaps, they simplify it too much from the classic fairy tale, and also classic Cocteau film, but honestly this is the blueprint for all romance stories. I'm probably mistaken, but its basically the first romance comedy. Disney just managed to strip away the unnecessary parts, like the sisters and some details, then added in three hot triplets and made a perfect film. In fact, my only gripe is without Gaston himself, he should have forgotten about Belle and married the three triplets.

3. Dumbo - Which leads me to another silent hero; Dumbo. He says even less than Wall-E does, but still he manages to capture your heart. Like Sword in the Stone, this really is another example of a youngster trapped in a bigger world that he can neither understand nor control. As well, there isn't much of a story either, Dumbo becomes an outcast and through the help of a friend triumphs and saves his mother. All in 60 minutes. Considering that a good 10 minutes is taken up with the Pink Elephants song, there is barely a story at all here. But who cares, this is spectacle at its finest...a child elephant with huger than normal ears, "black" crows singing, a dark musical number about being drunk and seeing images, plus one of my favorite animated bit parts; the Stork. It's fun, it's easy, and you can always go back to the film for pure joy.

A Break From the List

My Favorite Animated Short

Mickey's Trailer - This cartoon utterly fascinated me as a kid. This is the one where Mickey, Donald and Goofy are traveling in a little trailer. Goofy is driving the car pulling the trailer, while Mickey and Donald are inside. Lots of hijinks ensue, where Goofy almost kills them with his absent minded driving. But what got me was the wonder of the trailer. How they had all the different compartments and how different areas turned into different things, and especially how it all fit into the little trailer.

2. Fantastic Mr Fox - The 2009 Nick Reddoch Movie of the Year Award Winner. This movie was fantastic. I haven't ever read the book, but love Roald Dahl's imaginative worlds. Mixing that with a director that creates worlds in real life places in an animated film and we have the makings of a masterpiece. I'm not going to claim that this film is some kind of masterpiece, but it stands apart from other films so distinctly. The art direction, story pacing, rich detail, fun and interesting characters...there isn't one flaw with it. But who cares about those things, the story was so fun and quirky and for once a film tackles the difficult question of how humans and intelligent anthropomorphic animals and regular animals live together. This film finally acknowledges the difference between smart animals and the dumb ones that can't think, it's part of the plot and basically part of the whole theme of the movie; animal instincts and how to overcome and is overcoming them what makes us civilized? Up didn't ask those kinds of questions, or hint at any deep theme to think about. Fantastic Mr Fox didn't force you to cry in the first 15 minutes only to lead you into some stupid and meandering adventure that ends up making no sense. (That's right, think about Up next time it's a Sunday night and your friends are getting together to watch something fun that everybody loves. Ask yourself, wait...why am I teary eyed at the beginning of the film before I've truly grown attached to this character...wait....is Pixar manipulating me? Wait...what's happening to everyone's eyes...why are they crying...am I actually watching Invasion of the Body Snatchers?....wait....I wanted to watch Finding Nemo....wait!!!!!!)

Fantastic Mr Fox doesn't wow and pizazz you into a spectacle of emotion. It tells a story like Plato (or whoever came up with the 6 things a story should have...was it Aristotle?)...like whoever that philosopher guy intended. Sorry, Pixar...I really liked Toy Story 3.

1. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow - And now we have number 1!!! A forgotten Disney classic, it was released as part of a duo with The Wind in the Willows. But growing up, we had the video cassette of just the Ichabod Crane story, with some hilarious Halloween shorts before it. That tape, which I stole from my Mom's house is so worn out it doesn't play normally anymore. The sound is fine, but the frames frlicker and move off the screen. Luckily, I bought the DVD used and it's as good as new, but now has the Mr. Toad part with it.

So what makes this film so good? It's spoken entirely by Bing Crosby! And he sings through a lot of it. The whole film is just one big piece of Disney kitsch. On top of that, it's Disney's dark kitsche, like the Haunted Mansion or Something Wicked This Way Comes, it's evil and demented, but never entirely over the line. But still, just like on the ride Haunted Mansion, some of the details are really dark if you think about it.

In Ichabod, there's drinking (even by animals) and attempted murder and of course a Headless Horseman that may or may not have killed the main character. It's wicked fun, and I watch it every chance I get.