Top 15 (okay 16) films of 2004 Retro Edition

Back in 2004 I started constructing my Top 10 (or 15 or 20) films of each year lists. I didn’t have this blog then, and was just posting them on myspace (hey, remember when myspace was essentially twitter! Good times, good times). Before closing down my myspace I copied them with plans of posting them here and taking a look at what I think of each list retrospectively.

The Importance of Wes Craven’s New Nightmare

Scream gets a ton of credit for resurecting the slasher genre, and horror movies as a whole, but often overlooked in this equation is Wes Craven’s New Nightmare. Released two years before Scream, New Nightmare is essentially the same story, people in a horror movie who acknowledge they are in a horror movie and know the rules of slasher movies. Both are self-referential, laced with satire, and were directed by Craven.

Top 15 Films of 2008 (updated)

Since I finally got around to seeing The Curious Case of Benjamin Button via the wonderful world of Netflix, I thought it would be a good time to publish my annual Top Films of the previous year list. And here…we…GO:

Top 15 Films of 2008:

MERRY CHRISTMAS MR. POTTER!

So, I did a whole Top 10 Christmas movies list last year, but after re-watching most of them this year, and finally seeing Its A Wonderful Life all the way from beginning to end, I decided I must redo the list. I’ll add some video this time to spruce things up (some of which contain explicit language, AND you can probably guess which ones) -

Long time, no blog

The first new blogolumn in months and months, due to a combination of being busyness and laziness. This will cover a hodgepodge of topics that are connected in no way other than being thoughts that are bouncing around in my head.

Firstly, my list of the Top 10 movies of 2007:

Lars and the Real Girl review

Lar and the Real Girl - stars Ryan Gosling, you might know him from Fracture or The Notebook, but you should know him from Half Nelson (made my top movies of 2006 list) and United States of Leland (think Donnie Darko without the weird timetravel stuff). Much like in the previous three movies I have seen of his, he was very very good in this. He is making his way onto the short list of best actors going.

The real gem in this movie is the performance by Paul Schneider. I hadn’t seen any of his previous work, but he is hilarious. His delivery in this is priceless. (If you go see this or have seen it, he is Lars’ brother).

The story, which under the control of different actors may have been corny, leads to tons of laugh out louds moments and still had heart as well. It walked the comedy/drama line very nicely.

Not much else can be said about the movie that wouldn’t ruin the plot. Another highly recommended movie.

Rating: 8.0/10

There Will Be Blood review (hint: I loved this movie)

There Will Be Blood – directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, of Boogie Nights fame, and starring Daniel Day-Lewis. This is only the 3rd movie Daniel Day-Lewis has done in the last decade (Gangs of New York and a movie you have never heard of, seriously I haven’t even heard of it and I have a nonsexual mancrush on Mr. Day-Lewis), and he just might be the best actor alive right now (I know Pacino and Deniro are still alive but there careers have peaked long ago and neither are showing any signs of a career resurgence). In fact, I am crowning him the best actor. There I did it. Daniel Day-Lewis is the best actor alive. This performance only reinforced that. The movie also stars Paul Dano, of the kid who took the vow of silence in Little Miss Sunshine fame, and he is shockingly good in a far more serious and larger role than he had in Little Miss.

Onto the movie, while it is quite long and very slowly paced, it didn’t seem long or slow to me. It just felt epic. It reminded me a lot of Giant, the epic about a family’s oil business starring James Dean. Also, I really enjoyed the subplot about oil (money) versus religion (morality).

From what I hear, because I have only seen one other PT Anderson movie (Boogie Nights) and saw that over a decade ago, this movie doesn’t look or act anything like his other movies. So, for those out there worried because it was directed by PT Anderson, don’t worry. It’s very restrained and beautifully shot.

This movie was technically released theatrically in 2007, although it was, and to a certain extent, still is in limited release. Basically, it is…(had to take a break there as the commercial for There Will Be was on and it got all re-excited to see the movie again, and yes what the commercial is saying about it being a great ending, is totally correct, the ending was amazing)…the leader in the clubhouse for best movie of 2007. It’s up for best picture and the only thing I can think of (and have seen) that has a legit argument as a better movie last year would be No Country For Old Men. Still There Will Be just felt grander and epic-er (new word I just made up) and featured the more entertaining ending.

Rating: 9.5/10

GO SEE THIS MOVIE!

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Review

This will be a super quick review, mostly because I am in no way an expert on musicals.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street- this isn’t the first adaptation of the musical into movie form, there was one from the 80s starring Ben Kingsley (aka Gandhi). I haven’t scene it, and nobody has acknowledged it exists, so it couldn’t have been that great. There are probably others, but I am too lazy at this moment to go check imdb. This adaptation features another collaboration between Johnny Depp and Tim Burton. If you like Johnny Depp, and at this point who doesn’t, you will probably enjoy this movie. It is actually a very cool story, and features some plot twists that I found amazing, even though its pretty easy to see them coming.

Being a Burton movie, obviously it looks insanely good and is a unique vision of a world that is completely and fully realized. As for the songs, I will admit I have a problem with most musicals. I can’t suspend my disbelief when someone just bursts into song for no reason. Also, I find most songs that are burst into are pointless, annoying, and do nothing to advance the story. I felt that way about almost all of the songs in this, and would have enjoyed this more if they could have somehow taken out the musical aspect, although that might not have been possible. I did enjoy the “I will have vengeance” song that was sung by Depp. I found it catchy.

One other thing I enjoyed, the casting of Alan Rickman (of Hans from Die Hard fame, HAAAAANNNS!). He is one of my villainous actors, yet he seems to be stuck on the Harry Potter movies which I refuse to see.

Rating – 7.5/10 (Probably lower than most because of my anti-musical bias)

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead review

Before the Devil Knows Your Dead - for those not familiar, this is the latest Philip Seymour Hoffman movie. He stars along with Ethan Hawke, Marisa Tomei, and Albert Finney. It was directed by the legendary Sidney Lumet (Network, Dog Day Afternoon, and Serpico).

The acting, as you would assume from a movie with Hoffman, Tomei, and Finney, is outstanding. Hoffman, in my opinion, is one of the best actors going today. He is amazing with emotion, and when he is given a character with depth, he becomes that character. Marisa Tomei is 43 years old, according to imdb. I can’t believe that after seeing this movie. She looked absolutely stunning, and was shockingly very topless in multiple scenes. Albert Finney, who was also almost topless in one scene, brought exactly what I expected from him, that being some classicness (which is a word I just made up to describe Albert Finney being Albert Finney). Also, this was the best performance I have seen out of Ethan Hawke, however I have only seen a handful of his other performances and wasn’t as into Training Day as everyone else seemed to be.

The story, not to give too much away, involves a robbery of a jewelery story that doesn’t go quite as planned, which leads to a tragic chain of events. The story is told in a non-linear fashion that reminded me quite a bit of the way 21 Grams was presented. Also, it lead to the use of the uber-cool and unique cuts from one part of the story to another. Its hard to acually describe the cuts that lead to flashbacks or flashfowards, but if you see the movie you will know exactly what I am talking about.

This movie isn’t in wide release as far as I know. So, you might have to search around to find where it is playing, or wait for the dvd release. Either way, I highly recommend seeing it the first chance you get. One of the best films I have seen this year.

Rating: 8.5/10

I am Legend review

I saw I am Legend on its opening night. Here is my review:

I am sure everyone knows it stars Will Smith. I have never been a huge fan of his. I did enjoy Independence Day, but never got into the Bad Boys series. He and everyone attached to Wild Wild West should never be forgiven for that movie. I have yet to see Ali, so I haven’t really seen what would be considered his ‘best’ work. That said, I thought his performance was above average in this movie. He showed decent range. I didn’t necessarily laugh at most of the jokes, but I don’t blame him; I think it was the script’s fault for that.

The movie did contain about 4 legitimately good scares, which come out of nowhere and almost have you jumping out of your seat. There were a few really great shots in the movie as well. Specifically, there is the shot a bunch of spotlights are turned onto what I will call for the purposes of not spoiling anything ‘the evil creatures’ and you just see the shadows, which are extremely enlarged due to the angle of the lights. This shot is in the trailer, and is one of the coolest things I have seen on the big screen this year. One more thing I really enjoyed, the pacing during the first half of the movie. Very slow pacing used to build up to the action sequences.

However, I did have some problems with the movie. There is a deal with the evil creatures that I feel wasn’t explained very well. I won’t say what as to avoid spoiling anything. Also, I didn’t like the look of the evil creatures. It was far too CGI-rific for me. I could have done without the religious undertones, which went from subtle to extremely in-your-face.

Overall it wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t as great. If you are a fan of Will Smith, you will probably really dig it. If you don’t have any problem with a movie that is 85% CGI than you will probably dig it. If neither of those applies to you, than you will probably still be ok with the movie; you won’t hate it, but you won’t love it.

Rating: 6/10