Normal Life

I may close my eyes in the theater when a preview comes for a film I want to see, avoid detailed reviews, etc, but I always want to know who the director is.  I appreciated knowing that Normal Life was made by the same director as Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, otherwise it might have blended seamlessly into the Lifetime Movie Network muzak.  Too bad the co-dependency tale never could get out from under the bank robbing silliness.

Rating: 4 out of 10
Recommended instead: Bug

The Friends of Eddie Coyle

A now standard device is to retell part of the story by changing the point of view.  Less common is taking an entire plot and recasting it with a new protagonist.  Grendel intrigued me in high school (via a Steve Ingham song) and Wicked is currently the best known edition.

So here's my screenplay idea for anyone who wishes to run with it:  Heist movie with the bank manager as protagonist.  Elements include:

• Building suspense of when and how the robbers will strike
• Seeing the minutia of bank protocols (and how, when and by whom they are not followed) so the viewer can plan their own robbery
• All characters major and minor create the guessing game (always for the viewer but only gradually for the protagonist) of who is honest and who is just slowly setting up the heist for their never seen partners in crime.  Is it the old high-school drinking buddy who has recently descended into the drug underworld?  Is it the too good to be true sexy new lover?  Is it the disgruntled teller who is resentful of the "Wall Street" villians of our day?  Is it that eccentric customer that keeps on coming in with the requests that require extra trips to the vault?  No, it couldn't possibly be Rusty the guard who can't afford the nursing home for his wife, could it? 

All I ask for is an "inspired by a blog by Bill Maisannes" in the opening credits.

Rating: 7 out of 10
Also recommended:  Kubrick's The Killing.  Before Reservoir Dogs, this was the most famous Rashomon heist movie.

They Shoot Pictures, Don't They?

While my wife is nerding over the new iWhatever, I am similarly enthralled by They Shoot Pictures, Don't They?'s 2010 update to their 1,000 Greatest Films list.  I just love their use of Google Docs.  Hours of Excel fun for me. 

Ukikusa monogatari

Sparky Anderson, like most Hall of Fame managers, got his first job quite young.  In those days before weight training, year long conditioning, over-expansion, the DH and last, but not least, million dollar salaries, players had neither the incentive, ability or opportunity to hang on past their prime.  So, at 36, he was still older than every player on his team.  He earned the nickname "Captain Hook" for being one of the quickest to pull his starting pitchers for the bullpen.  By the end of his 27 year career, he stuck with his starters way longer than average.

Sparky himself never really changed.  The game kept on getting faster and faster around him.

So, when Donald Ritchie points out in the DVD commentary that Ozu's editing in 1934 was modern and fast, well, you can finish the story for me.

Rating: 7 out of 10
Recommended also: I think An Autumn Afternoon, Ozu's final film, is the best place to start.  The commentary track is superlative as well.

Across the Universe

Since I will never run out of new films to see, I am resistant to seeing any for a second time, so it follows that I rarely buy a DVD.  Across the Universe will be an exception.  The script beautifully links together the British and American experiences of the 60s.  Taymor also manages to take two of my nominations for the most overrated Beatles songs ever (Come Together and [numberless] Revolution) and make them high points of the movie.  Revolution in particular is so perfectly constructed that I wonder if the whole screenplay was built around it.

Rating: 9 out of 10.  Now my #39 of the 00s, making an even 100 for the evolving list.
Recommended instead of:  Alice's Restaurant

Night Nurse

No, no, no, not 70s porn.  Pre-code Hollywood!  Wellman takes advantage of the libertine climate to feature ladies in their undergarments, a stunningly negligent boozehound mother and an ending that made me do a moral double-take.  Did I just see that?  Did they intend that as a "happy ending?" 

Rating: 6 out of 10
Recommended also as my pre-code sampler (like Night Nurse, the titles speak for themselves):  Scarface, The Public Enemy, Forbidden, Baby Face, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, Freaks. 

Youth in Revolt

Just another teen sex comedy, which is disappointing since Cera has been doing such a good job picking his scripts.  Maybe he loved the books and assumed the screenwriter/director would do better.  Wikipedia says that a 1994 play adaptation failed as well, so C.D. Payne's tone may only work in print.

Rating: 3 out of 10
Recommended instead: any 4 Arrested Developments would be a more efficient use of your time

Careful

Guy Maddin is like Stereolab.  If you've seen/heard one then you have seen/heard them all because their style is their style and their style is their own.  You get it or you don't and if you get it you want to see/hear them all.  Repetition is OK if you are OK with repetition.  The same thing again is a good thing if the first thing you see or hear you like.  Some jokes are only funny the first time but some are good the second time and funnier the third time and the fourth time makes you wince but the fifth time is the funniest yet.

Guy Maddin is like Stereolab.  Some works are harder to find and some are short and some are long and if you want one you eventually want them all.

Robert Hull was so dismayed that the Virginia Film Festival showing of Brand Upon the Brain appeared online to be sold out that he offered a princely sum for a ticket.  I was grateful I could tell him about the OffScreen connection to the Sunday night show.  Turns out there were plenty of seats available, but if there was only one, I would have given it to him.  Thanks Robert for all of your ESH.

Rating: 6 out of 10
Recommended also: Any Guy Maddin will work, but The Saddest Music in the World is a good portal to Maddinland.

Flaming Star

The Elvis superfan's burden to bear is the movie career.  Accept, reject, apologize for, bemoan, blame Parker, blame Hollywood, blame Hawaii, blame Elvis, defend Elvis, appreciate as camp, appreciate sincerely, avoid out of fear, avoid out of respect, like, love, endure?

My Flaming Star dreams were for Don Siegel (and King Creole/Michael Curtiz) to shine through, but....

Tell me why, oh why, oh why can't my dream come true
Oh why?

Rating: 2 out of 10
Recommended instead: Who am I to question the wisdom of the ages?  Jailhouse Rock and Viva Las Vegas really are the best.

Funny Ha Ha

There are many genres, sub-genres, styles, auteurs or periods, but very few "movements," in film history.  A smallish group that maybe didn't all know each other at the very start, but they meet, exchange ideas and eventually form a group identity.  They get chapters in books and months at Film Forum or Lincoln Center.

Soviet Revolutionary Cinema.  Italian Neorealism.  French New Wave.  Dogme 95.  They all were unhappy with "the world today" or "the state of modern cinema" or "the studios" or what have you.  They unabashedly claimed to be "reinventing cinema" and liked to talk about Reality.  The Soviets were early enough in the timeline to be a part of the formation of basic cinematic grammar.  The others had the benefit of having style or genre or studio calcification to rebel against.  They were new waves, paradoxically, by getting back to basics.

So, the last three share these family resemblance characteristics: on location shooting, non-professional actors, set in the present day, small budget, about everyday people, dialogue over action.

Sounds like mumblecore to me.  Doesn't rate a capital M yet.  Hope they keep on going and earn one.

Rating: 7 out of 10
Recommended also: if you aren't familiar with any of these movements, then google, read, and add to your Netflix queue 4 or more films spread out among 3 or more directors per movement and treat yourself to a few DIY film festivals.

House of Bamboo

Robert Ryan (hooray!) vs Robert Stack (yawn).  Too bad the bad guys weren't allowed to win in Hollywood in those days. 

Rating: 4 out of 10

Recommended instead: The Naked Spur.  For you Losties out there, Robert Ryan plays Ben (!) Vandergroat, a clear forerunner of Ben Linus, the man you just can't believe doesn't get gagged by the second act.  James Stewart plays the Jack role.  Anthony Mann, like the Lost team, wasn't afraid of having a lead with so many warts you can barely see his face.

Korol Lir

The favorite film version of King Lear of no less an authority than Timothy Roscoe, who in a happy coincidence currently has this as his favorite quote on his Facebook page:

"O sir, to willful men,
The injuries that they themselves procure
Must be their schoolmasters. Shut up your doors."
- King Lear II.iv

Somewhere else The Imp is laughing.  I have so far watched 15 of his films, with a mean rating of 4.4.  You would think I would stop at some point, but no, he just keeps me hanging on.  The latest hook is Peter Sellars.  I just marveled at his knowledge and passion for this Soviet King Lear as a special feature commentary on the DVD and had to see what work he has produced himself.  So there he is, co-screenwriter (with Norman Mailer!?) of Godard's King Lear.  Merde.

As an aside, I hereby volunteer my services as a subtitlist for foreign Shakespeare films. I'll cut out the middle man and just use the original text instead of translating back into English whatever the actors are saying.

Rating: 7 out of 10
Strongly recommended, but not as a first date movie, from personal experience: Kurosawa's Ran. Finding Neverland worked out much better.

The Devil's Rejects

For a time this film held the dubious record of most uses of the f-word.  Now I certainly have no problem with profanity, but here it was just proof of lazy writing and wearisome to the ear.  I couldn't help thinking about 3/4ths of the way through that this is the rare movie that would actually be improved by being edited for television.  In between the cursing and the cruelty, there is actually some decent 70s vibe, best embodied by Otis Driftwood, whose face covering hair would make Molly Hatchet proud.

Rating: 5 out of 10
Recommended instead: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, naturally

Up in the Air

I was happy to hear Sharon Jones getting the love at the top.  Saw her & The Dap-Kings live in Cville and I felt I was getting as close to a young James Brown as a non-time-traveller could get.  Word got out that she pulled up guys and gals alike to dance on stage, so the second show a few months later got a little too chaotic.  Binky Griptite had to declare: "We love you all.  But the stage.  Is by invitation only."

Sad to say but the credits and the opening scenes of the master at his craft were the highlights of Up in the Air.  I'd go so far as to call the screenplay misogynistic towards the little girl (do cardboard cut-outs deserve names?) and "I'm just like you, but with a vagina" Vera.

Rating: 5 out of 10
Recommended instead: Save the Tiger (thanks Kevin)

The Vampire Lovers

This Hammer horror doesn't overcome the traditional British handicaps of flat tone and generally lousy cinematography.  The Vampire Lovers only succeeds in providing a few picturesque ports of call for the sailing fastforwarder.  I will give Terence Fisher's well regarded work a shot before giving up.

Rating: 2 out of 10
Recommended instead: That sexadelic dance party called Vampiros lesbos by mi amigo Jesus Franco.

Le dernier métro

I have given the French New Wave more chances than Earl Weaver gave Mike Cuellar. 

Rating: 5 out of 10

Recommended instead: La nuit américaine, which may be superficially similar (behind the scenes of a movie instead of a play) but is a much more nimble work, not being laden down with period pieceness and Gérard Depardieu.

Kevin Kellam correctly commented that my Top 10 of the 00s was much more a personal "what I like" statement than the 11-99, which was less idiosyncratic.  You're absolutely right.

Cat People (1982)

Simone Simon.  Nastassja Kinski.  Only exotic euros need apply for the lead in Cat People.  Schrader takes a 73 minute wonderful B-movie and makes it 118 for no good reason other than to give himself more time to get stoned.  Jesus Franco would have had just as many thrills in half that time.  Paul Schrader wrote Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer. While I respect those gentlemen, I get a real kick out of The Lightning Filmmakers: Suzuki, Franco, Fassbinder.

Looking back, Schrader has spent a lot of time pulling the erotic fringe into the mainstream.   His first major work, Taxi Driver, featured taking a first date to a porno.  Hardcore followed George C Scott down the rabbit hole to find his daughter.  He has brought to the screen the real-life sexual obsessions of Yukio Mishima and Bob Crane.  Oh, and he wrote Obsession (my favorite DePalma) and American Gigolo.

Rating: 6 out of 10

Recommended also: Eugénie de Sade if you want to see Soledad Miranda and Jesus Franco have some fun in the 70s.

1-10

10 Wristcutters: A Love Story*
9 Paranoid Park
8 Burn After Reading
7 Humpday*
6 O Brother, Where Art Thou?
5 Man Push Cart
4 Fa yeung nin wa (In the Mood For Love)
3 Fantastic Mr. Fox
2 Memento
1 Unbreakable

Given that I am giving them 3 out of the top 17, I guess I'm saying the Coen Bros. are my favorite directors of the decade.   5 of the top 10 are more or less comedies.  Fancy that.

I was pretty surprised that Unbreakable came out #1, I must say, but I just look at all the ones above (from other years) and below it and it resists moving.  It features great performances across the board, a carefully crafted pace, and presents a still unique take on the superhero script, one of the dominant genres of the decade.

11-20

20 The Cell
19 Mulholland Dr.
18 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
17 No Country for Old Men
16 Persepolis
15 Cidade de Deus (City of God)
14 Dogville
13 There Will Be Blood
12 Brick
11 Artificial Intelligence: AI

We're now getting up there, and the serious auteurs and the films that are showing up on most lists are here.  Respect must be paid to Rian Johnson, who brought noir to the 21st century.  I strongly recommend watching the DVD with the commentary track and the subtitles on, for the explanation of the world and its language.

21-30

30 American Splendor
29 Fils, Le (The Son)*
28 Punch-Drunk Love
27 Dopo mezzanotte*
26 Innocence*
25 Russkij kovcheg (Russian Ark)*
24 A Scanner Darkly
23 The Village
22 Sexy Beast
21 Xiao cheng zhi chun (Springtime in a Small Town)

Russian Ark's tagline is "2000 cast members, 3 orchestras, 33 rooms, 300 years, ALL IN ONE TAKE."  Oh, and it is also the first uncompressed high definition film in history (hence, needs to be released on Blu-Ray).  99 minutes long without a cut, so the "making of" and DVD commentaries are must-sees as well.   
 
In excitement, I watched the opening sequence of Sexy Beast over and over again and got the whole soundtrack during the heyday of Napster.  It also features incredible performances by Ray Winstone (I needed subtitles for him, similar to Snatch), Ben Kingsley and Ian McShane.

31-40

40 Broken Flowers instead of Coffee and Cigarettes
39 Shotgun Stories* instead of Big Fish
38 Bloody Sunday instead of The Bourne Ultimatum (the best by far of the insteads)
37 Capote instead of Mission Impossible: III
36 Moartea domnului Lazarescu* (The Death of Mr. Lazarescu) instead of 4
35 Coraline instead of Hounddog
34 Tape instead of Training Day
33 Adaptation. instead of Where the Wild Things Are
32 Rois et reine (Kings and Queen) instead of Un conte de Noël (A Christmas Tale)
31 Step Brothers instead of Kicking and Screaming

Given that there are so so so many good movies out there, maybe the best service a critic can perform is to give advice on what to avoid instead of what to see.  After all, they are getting paid to watch bad movies, while the rest of us are paying for them with our time and (usually) our money.

41-50

50 Keane
49 El Aura
48 Amores perros
47 Finding Nemo
46 The Incredibles
45 Guizi lai le (Devils on the Doorstep)
44 Inglourious Basterds
43 Tokyo!
42 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
41 United 93

Lodge Kerrigan has released three movies in the past 16 years.  Alejandro González Iñárritu has made three in 10 years.  My mathematical formula for ranking directors has a four film minimum, so these guys will just have to make more.  The Taymor/Tarsem/Selick group also falls short, but at least they have the "Don't rush me, I have to create a whole new world, after all!" excuse.  More tragically, Fabián Bielinsky died and Wen Jiang is suffering a slow death at the hands of the Chinese government.

Devils on the Doorstep is the only film I have seen so far that has ventured into the grandness of Kurosawaland, that wonderful place where everything seems bigger and greater and yet is fully grounded in details and humanity, filmic fractals to last a lifetime.

Three major 00s trends are also evidenced here: 9/11, the dominance of the fantasy franchise, and the growth of the animated film.

51-60

60 Ying xiong (Hero)
59 Stellet licht (Silent Night)
58 Stranger Than Fiction
57 Waking Life
56 Babel
55 Primer*
54 Elephant
53 Blades of Glory
52 Caché
51 Brødre* (Brothers) (just remade)

Some of my favorite new directors are represented above (Bier and González Iñárritu especially).  Van Sant and Linklater are confortably mid-career and we are still awaiting the follow-up to Primer, which is as good a time travel tale as any that has been/will be/is being told.

61-70

70 La Moustache* (Un Buñuel, somehow crisp and diaphonous)
69 Kontroll (A vibrant soundtrack can do so much for a low budget film. I hope that Hollywood resists the temptation to remake this.)
68 Open Water (I liked the sequel more than most too)
67 Eastern Promises (Elevated by the sounds of the sauna scene)
66 The Royal Tenenbaums
65 Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary*
64 The Night Listener (Given my Robin Williams prejudice, incredible)
63 Salinui chueok (Memories of Murder) (Preferable to The Host)
62 Lost in Translation (One hit wonder?)
61 Wu jian dao (Infernal Affairs)

Guy Mann asked offline why 99?  It just turned out that I had that many from the decade ranked 8 out of 10 or better.

71-80

80 My Blueberry Nights
79 The Saddest Music in the World*
78 Transsiberian
77 Bin-jip (3-Iron)*
76 Rachel Getting Married
75 INLAND EMPIRE
74 Dare mo shiranai (Nobody Knows)*
73 Blindness
72 Zui hao de shi guang (Three Times)*
71 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

I'll take this moment to once again praise the U.Va. students running OffScreen for bringing so many fine films to Cville.  I have been a regular attendee since Fall 2002 and two of my favorite days of the year are when the next semester's slates are announced.  It's like a cinematic WTJU..  I don't choose and I never know what I am going to get.   For instance, the four asterisked above and 2 of my top 10 for the decade.    And if I hadn't already seen INLAND EMPIRE twice, I would have seen it with them as well.

81-89

89 The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
88 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
87 Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
86 Charlie Wilson's War
85 The Departed
84 The Fall
83 La Graine et le mulet (The Secret of the Grain)
82 Redbelt
81 Revanche

I am surprised that Mike Nichols makes my 00s list but not Woody Allen.  

My 99 favorite movies of the 00s decade (90th through 99th)

99 Paris, je t'aime
98 King Kong
97 The Kite Runner
96 Iron Man
95 Che: Part One (Part Two never played Cville, I feel cheated)
94 Chuck & Buck
93 Planet Terror
92 Frida
91 The Puffy Chair
90 The Fountain


Re: Iron Man:  I sure hope that the trend of letting people who know as much about working with people as working with explosions (Favreau, Forster, Cuaron, Greengrass) helm blockbusters becomes the industry standard.
 
Re: Frida: Taymor, like Selick, is someone I want to make more movies but I know if they did, I'd like them less.