Year-End Leftovers

It's that time of year again.  I've been blogging with fairly decent regularity over at TheSplitScreen, and next week my "Best Of" list for 2011 will be making an appearance.  I have agreed to narrow it down to a strict ten picks, though it's pretty difficult.  I liked a lot this year that I think deserves to be seen.  As a teaser, I thought I'd share a few of the trimmings from the list.  Some of these may have made the list at any given moment, but at the time I finalized my selections, they just didn't make the cut.  Think of this as a supplement to my year-end list, an addendum.

I would also like to note that Cave of Forgotten Dreams and 13 Assassins, though I love these films immensely, have not been included in either of my lists because I saw them both well over a year ago at this point, and it's hard enough to narrow it down as it is.  Consider them as in the official Top Ten, but off to the side, looking on as everyone else gets a turn on the merry-go-round.

Cedar Rapids

An amazing comedy that is just enough smart and just enough raunch.  Ed Helms gets a chance to take a turn as leading man, and he pulls it off with plenty of help from my perennial favorite John C. Reilly (who was in another terrific film this year, Terri).  Helms plays Tim Lippe, who is sent to represent his small-town insurance company at a big industry convention in Cedar Rapids.  Having never really left his small town, the world of Cedar Rapids is opened up to him with wide-eyed wonder, and he soon finds himself taken under the wings of three veteran conventioneers.  This wonderfully kooky movie really shines in its supporting performances, with Reilly fleshing out a character who could become one-note very quickly, and Anne Heche appearing in a significant small role (funny, sweet, sexy, loopy) as Joan Ostowski-Fox, a mom who is tied to her boring life in much the same way as Lippe and everyone else who uses the convention as an annual oasis of drinking, fornicating and other shenanigans they could never pull off at home.

Captain America: The First Avenger
Director Joe Johnston takes us retro with this thoroughly entertaining superhero origin story.  There's great action, the film's design is terrific, and there's a big ole' musical propaganda centerpiece that stole my heart while I wasn't looking.  One of the things I absolutely fell in love with regarding that musical number/USO show montage was that it is a rare instance of how a superhero's story can be successfully condensed into a few minutes, and still leave so much untold that will be hinted at, only to be discovered much later.  The other thing I like about this film is that it's the culmination of Marvel's long-in-production franchise building process leading up to next summer's superteam film The Avengers, and as such, there are some well placed references to the earlier films in the series, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, and Thor.  This is not to say that the film is stuffed to overfill with constant in-jokes and references like some unholy marriage of unabashed spoof "comedies" and self-serious action spectacles that ended up acting like comedies anyway.  Instead, what we have is a light-weight, very fun flick that operates with the best of them.  There's a lot crammed into this Captain America movie, and all of it, by my estimation at least, works to its advantage.

Love Crime
Alain Corneu's final film is an airy, delicate examination of love and betrayal, high stakes office politics, and cunning deception.  What it lacks in plot (it's wafer-thin at best), it more than makes up for in its performances and great cinematography, both of which serve to highlight the intricacies of the central relationships of the film.  Kristen Scott Thomas is always terrific and this is no exception, but I really loved Ludivine Sagnier's performance as Isabelle, who is the central character.  Sagnier's such a great actress that she sneaks up on me constantly, just as she did Swimming Pool and both Mesrine films, and in spite of my personal feelings toward murder and murderers, I just kept rooting for her to pull her scheme off.  While we plainly see that she was, in fact, guilty, Corneau masterfully sets up the methods Isabelle will use to evade the cops and exact total revenge on her conniving boss and the corporate office power structure.  I think this movie was fairly well received by critics, but a lot of the commentary seems to express problems with the plot or lack thereof.  I think that's actually one of the film's strengths, giving us more time to absorb the characters and become familiar with its world.  Honestly, that's something more films could use.

The Guard
Brendan Gleeson is so good in this movie that I had a review typed up and ready to go all about his face until I decided it was just a bad piece of writing and I never wanted it to see the light of day.  But I'll give you a taste anyway: "He has a big ole' round moon of a face is possibly the most likable movie star currently working, which no doubt helps him land roles for characters we would otherwise find it difficult to understand the motivations of or sympathize with."  I know, and it only got worse from there. But the truth is that Gleeson is a fascinating performer, able to give an audience one piece of information only to betray our thoughts about it seconds later, and a lot of it has to do with his physical presence.  In The Guard he is Sgt. Gerry Boyle, who ultimately teaches us that appearances and first impressions are not always correct.  When Don Cheadle's FBI Agent Everett comes to Boyle's sleepy Irish town on the tail of some drug smugglers, he is confronted with Boyle's overtly racist remarks and seemingly dimwitted rube of a police officer.  Truth is, he's actually smart, and likes to play toward others' perceptions of him.  Despite his outward demeanor (and his very real insistence on taking vacation days) he knows police work, and knows exactly what is going on at all times, mostly because everyone thinks he will be easily overpowered.  The film is a very funny comedy, pitch-black at times, and confronts us with an ending that is confounding, inconclusive, touching, and inevitable.

Melancholia
A film that looks to the cosmos not as a creative entity but as the manifestation of the natural destructive impulse, Lars von Trier's Melancholia is the treatise on humanity and life on Earth that Terence Malick's Tree of Life so desperately wanted to be.  Told in two halves, each examining one of two sisters with a seriously strained relationship more closely than the other, the film is an emotionally draining experience.  Kirsten Dunst's Justine is a pitch-perfect portrayal of clinical depression, and Charlotte Gainsbourg (given a break from the tortures she endured for the director in Antichrist) keeps things from pitching over into total lunacy until the final sequence of the film with her denial of the world-ending event that everyone knows is coming.  Told in grandiose images and stark melodrama, Trier's film is shocking in its revelations, and by allowing us to wholly identify with the depression of Justine–and the depressing denial of Claire–it jolts us to discover that we, too, could be comfortable with the end of the whole maddening show of this world.  The existence of life beyond corporeal bodies and human thought is just as unfathomable as in Malick's film, but is not made into some hopeful message about our existence at this moment.  Death of all life is inevitable and the only sure thing in the entire universe.  And yet somehow I found myself feeling better about life in general after this latest von Trier depress-fest.  I actually believe thematically this is a work that is much closer to the heart of 2001's mystifying look toward infinity and our own understanding of ourselves and our lives than that other movie which is constantly compared to it, even though there is no "beyond the infinite" possible here, and none is even posited.  Melancholia is a film in which we learn that we only have this one life on Earth, and not for long (to misappropriate the tag line of the movie).  There's something to be said for that message.

Source Code / The Adjustment Bureau
I'm pairing these films up because I think they're just some terrific examples of science fiction that isn't all about monsters blowin' shit up.  Speculative Sci-Fi damn near doesn't exist anymore on American screens, and these films, though they fall a bit short of true greatness, at least gave me something to chew on and think about.  Source Code, Duncan Jones' second feature after a terrific masterpiece of a debut, Moon, confronts some of the same issues at the heart of his first film, namely the question of what constitutes life and death?  Jake Gyllenhaal plays a soldier who was killed in action but whose body was saved enough so that his mind could still function, permanently plugged into a virtual reality system that can play back the final minutes of someone's memories, allowing him to investigate a crime and discover the person behind it.  The Adjustment Bureau operates in a similar vein, adapted from a Phillip K. Dick story, and typical of that author's work, is concerned with questions of fate, human relationships, and digital manipulation of the physical world.  I like the relationship between Matt Damon and Emily Blunt as they attempt to overcome the machinations of the bureau, an entity (thankfully never fully explained) that oversees all things on Earth according to a "plan" and must maintain balance and order.  Thematically these films are almost too similar, but such is the world of adult science fiction.  My colleague Eric Plaag wasn't too big on either film, but I thought they were both really solid and thoroughly enjoyable flicks.  

The 15 Best Feature Films I Saw from 2010

So, I know it is nearing the end of March, 2011, but I wanted to see as much as I possibly could before finalizing my list.  In any case, narrowing it down as much as I did was already too difficult to go much further with it.  Of course this means that many films I loved are missing from the list, notably TRUE GRIT, THE OTHER GUYS, LET ME IN, THE CRAZIES, and WINTER'S BONE.  I also wanted to focus on my main interest, which is narrative feature films, and though I saw a good many documentary and experimental films in the past year, I just don't feel versed enough in those worlds to really rank and qualify them, especially among the features that share a special place in my heart.  Anyway, these aren't really in any order, though BLACK SWAN most definitely was my favorite film of 2010.

1. BLACK SWAN (dir. Darren Aronofsky)
I'm not finished with this film, and it's definitely not finished with me.  I haven't felt as strongly toward a film in years.  Aronofsky's masterpiece, no matter your feelings toward it, has a way of getting into your brain and noodling around (or tunneling, if the metaphor is to lack subtlety in the same manner) for days and weeks afterward.  I don't believe anyone who says they haven't thought about it since they saw it.  Natalie Portman's performance as Nina, a ballet starlet striving for perfection, is admittedly one-note innocence, until the final forty minutes, when she really starts unraveling and there's enough sturm and drang and outward physical expression of her inner turmoil that even Fritz Lang would rise from the grave and take notice.  Surrounded by a more-than-capable cast (a terrific Barbara Hershey and Winona Ryder), Portman's interpretation is breathless, filled with the kind of bravura that most actors shy away from (though there are hints of Daniel Day-Lewis' comic-grotesque employed in THERE WILL BE BLOOD and GANGS OF NEW YORK to be found here and there).  The Grand Guignol of the whole affair is something refreshing and exhilarating in the landscape of American cinema, not merely rehashing and blending older genres like many of our most capable filmmakers, but re-appropriating entire filmmaking styles to make something bold, fresh, daring and ultimately as divisive as BLACK SWAN turns out to be.  By the time the final notes of SWAN LAKE play, and the screen turns into a bright, searing white, it never fails to send genuine shivers down my spine.

2. SALT (dir. Phillip Noyce)
A master of the political thriller, having directed two Jack Ryan films with Harrison Ford and the subtler but no less break-neck THE QUIET AMERICAN, Phillip Noyce has returned with a more action-oriented take on the genre within which he seems most comfortable, and turns in the first Movie Star movie in quite some time.  Angelina Jolie is in full-on movie star mode (helped along with the gorgeous cinematography of Robert Elswit) as Evelyn Salt, a U.S. CIA operative who may or may not be an insider for the defunct Soviet regime in Russia.  The film is pretty breezy, and packs enough of a wallop that the Blu-Ray release features three different cuts of the movie, all overseen by Noyce, and all of which are worth a look.  It's a shame this is an action film, though, since it automatically excludes it from any serious awards consideration.  Except for from me, of course.

3. THE KILLER INSIDE ME (dir. Michael Winterbottom)
A literal and figurative sucker-punch, this bleak, utterly hopeless adaptation of Jim Thompson's rowdiest novel sticks very close to the first-person narrative of the novel, with closet psychopath/sheriff's deputy Lou Ford expounding his every horrible thought.  Directed by the chameleon-like Michael Winterbottom, who shows a seemingly innate ability to work within any and every genre, THE KILLER INSIDE ME wears its nihilism on its sleeve, and features two of the most realistic, brutal and physically sickening murders many audiences have likely ever seen.  What is so profound and disturbing about the film (and what makes it stick with me) is that Lou's descent into his suppressed dark side only comes about by what he sees is a necessity for his survival.  Essentially, he's happy to murder people, in fact he seems to actually feel nothing about the act other than its status as an action that must be undertaken, but never once does he even care that his own fate may be sealed before he's even found out.  Lou Ford is a monster, and THE KILLER INSIDE ME is a horror film that is more terrifying than any two or three genre films released in any given year.

4. DESPICABLE ME (dir. Pierre Coffin, dir. Chris Renaud)
A refreshing change of pace for an animated film glutted by pop-cultural references and the morass of an industry that views its child audience as mere money-generating morons.  And while the last part of that statement may apply to parts of DESPICABLE ME (especially the marketing surrounding the Minion characters), the film itself is generally devoid of everything that makes one loathe the current climate of children's entertainment: it is a sweet, funny and poignant film that earns its laughs through situation, dialogue and universal truths rather than forced imitations of other, usually much better products.  The plot, which concerns a super-villain named Gru, who seeks world domination (also the plot of MEGAMIND, another film of note this year, though lacking in some respects as regards the praise I have for DESPICABLE ME), is wrapped in the story of his changing focus when he takes in three young girls from an orphanage as pawns for one of his schemes.  The animation is exaggerated and smooth, with a very welcome cartoonish slant, and it finally puts to rest the debate about whether or not Pixar holds a monopoly on the quality of mainstream animated features.

5. SPLICE (dir. Vincenzo Natali)
An early surprise for 2010, the brilliant sci-fi freakout SPLICE was the perfect antidote to a slate of genre releases that featured heavy on the remakes (some of them being very good notwithstanding), and with diminishing returns in original content.  A biomedical / body horror / ethics meditation worthy of the distinction of being Cronenbergian, Vincenzo Natali's little film about a superstar team of geneticists who design what they think could be the perfect creature is one of the more disturbing films to receive a major release.  Seriously, the Adrien Brody / Sarah Polley / Dren triangle is beyond bizarre (and beyond intriguing material for a film), and I can't honestly say that I've experienced as big a sucker-punch to my mind since.

6. GET HIM TO THE GREEK (dir. Nicholas Stoller)
This semi-sequal to FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL features Russel Brand's character Aldous Snow returning in his full rock-god glory, anchored by Jonah Hill's record company errand boy trying to get him to an anniversary show while avoiding all kinds of disturbances and distractions.  The script is smart and funny and I kind of love the idea of serializing characters through multiple films and in different situations (something uber producer / director Judd Apatow is looking to do with his next movie).  In addition, the soundtrack is absolutely hilarious, with spot-on pop and rock tracks by Aldous Snow's band Infant Sorrow as well as Rose Byrne's pop-star, Jackie Q.  Seriously, "Ring Around the Rosie" was robbed of Best Original Song awards left and right.

7. THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (dir. Niels Arden Oplev)
I don't think there's any doubt that 2010 was the year of Lisbeth Salander.  There wasn't a single place you could turn where there wasn't a copy of one of the books or without talk of Noomi Rapace's absolutely bewitching (and star-making) turn in the film versions of the novels.  Oplev's first film is still the strongest because the first book's story could be effectively trimmed down into a lean thriller without losing too much of the enchanting nature of all the side characters littered throughout the periphery of the story.  Following an punk computer hacker with Asperger's, Lisbeth Salander, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO is a dark and gritty Swedish thriller that unearths corruption on many levels both corporate and private in almost all of its characters.  And though the film may focus more on journalist Mikael Blomquist, there is no forgetting Rapace's interpretation and dedication to the role that took the entire world by storm.

8. THE TOWN (dir. Ben Affleck)
The second feature from Affleck may be 2010's overlooked gem, telling a complex story about the failings of human nature and the ineffable nature of our actions with the veneer of a crime drama and heist film.  Affleck also stars in the film as Doug McCray, a professional thief who runs a crew in Charlestown, an area of Boston that, statistically speaking, has spawned the most armored car thieves in the U.S.  After a bank robbery that gets a bit out of hand, and from which they abduct a hostage (a wonderful Rebecca Hall), the crew must protect themselves as an FBI team led by Jon Hamm (MAD MEN) starts looking into the members and putting the pressure on them as they cook up their next scheme.  Of course, McCray takes to making sure the former hostage doesn't know who he is, and he ends up falling in love with her.  This may seem very silly, but trust me it's not.  Based on Chuck Hogan's supremely enthralling novel, the film flies by, even though it clocks in at over two hours.  Trust me on this, THE TOWN is a must-see, slow burn crime film that is all about human interaction.

9. SHUTTER ISLAND (dir. Martin Scorsese)
Yet another collaboration between the greatest living American director and his current muse Leonardo DiCaprio, SHUTTER ISLAND is a psychological thriller that is all about film aesthetics, film history and paying homage to the old Hollywood masters while providing an engaging old-school entertainment with shades of Hitchcock and Samuel Fuller.  I remember sitting in the Denny's with my podcast co-hosts Woody and Pierce for over an hour afterward just picking apart the imagery and sound design, and it was one of the most thrilling academic exercises in aesthetics I was exposed to by a mainstream film all year.

10. THE RUNAWAYS (dir. Floria Sigismondi)
I'm a big fan of Joan Jett, and when I heard a biopic was being developed for The Runaways, I was a bit apprehensive, but I have to say the end result completely knocked my socks off.  The performances by Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning as Jett and Cherie Currie are electric, erotic and moving.  And that's not even factoring in how brilliant Michael Shannon is as sonic mastermind and band manager Kim Fowley.  Director Floria Sigismondi perfectly captures the youthful urgency of the music and the spirit of the band while also exploring the growing chasm between the hodgepodge group of musicians that form the band, particularly the desire and distrust surrounding Jett and Currie.  I wrote at length about this film last year when I saw it, and have revisited it a few times since then, and each time I feel the same way.  I don't really care how anyone else feels about it, THE RUNAWAYS is an amazing piece of filmmaking.

11. THE ILLUSIONIST (dir. Sylvain Chomet)
Based on an un-produced screenplay by the French master Jaques Tati, THE ILLUSIONIST follows an aging magician who plays variety shows throughout the world, but is slowly being edged out by the mainstream entertainment of hot, new rock and roll acts.  As with his previous film, THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE, Chomet uses very little real dialogue to tell his story, focusing instead on his magical hand-drawn animation and the development of strong, sympathetic characters.  The film's best moment also features a cameo from the deceased Tati, and it's quite brilliantly done, and not forced at all.  THE ILLUSIONIST is a film that is heartfelt, beautiful and urgent.  A masterpiece by one of the most intriguing animators in the world.

12. OUTSIDE THE LAW (dir. Rachid Bouchareb)
Telling the story of four brothers who dabble in organized crime in Algeria and France during the Algerian revolutionary period, Rachid Bouchareb's film allows a glimpse into an oft-neglected chapter of world history, and provides us with a classic gangster picture at the same time.  Featuring the same cast of his previous, Academy award-winning film, DAYS OF GLORY, all playing characters who are unrelated but have the same first names as the characters they played in that film, Bouchareb weaves the stories of the brothers into the history of the Algerian resistance.  I particularly appreciated Jamel Debbouze (AMELIE, ANGEL A) as Said, who is trying to distance himself from the political and criminal lives of his brothers and make it as a legitimate boxing promoter and trainer, but is seen as an outcast and traitor by his own family for respecting the French oppressors in any way.

13. THE FIGHTER (dir. David O. Russell)
The only real difference between any boxing film is the milieu within which it attempts to tell its story.  With ROCKY it was an underdog picture, with RAGING BULL we had a tale of masculine self-destruction, and with MILLION DOLLAR BABY it was a message picture.  THE FIGHTER takes place firmly within the family melodrama genre, following Micky Ward's rise from stepping stone to world champ, and also his brother Dicky Ecklund, a former contender whose one famous moment was knocking down Sugar Ray Leonard, as he overcomes a crippling addiction to crack.  Directed by David O. Russell, THE FIGHTER is a film that is worth seeing just for the performances, with Oscar winner Melissa Leo as Micky and Dicky's overbearing witch of a mother tearing up every scene she's in, and a love interest played by Amy Adams that brings a bit of heart to a film that might otherwise be too depressing to seriously contemplate as reality.

14. GREEN ZONE (dir. Paul Greengrass)
An action film that takes all the best parts of Greengrass's masterful work with his historical/political drama period pieces and the Bourne flicks, GREEN ZONE is the adrenaline rush the Iraq-war subgenre needed, and it delivers on all fronts.  I personally think this is Greengrass's masterpiece as an action filmmaker.  Matt Damon once again proves why he's one of the most interesting movie stars in ages and co-star Amy Ryan proves that she needs much more work than she has been getting.

15. DEEP IN THE WOODS (dir. Benoit Jacquot)
This film hasn't seen a release here in the U.S. yet, but when it finally does come out, I will see it again and again.  Isild Le Besco pairs with Jacquot yet again for the story of a girl who follows a stranger wanderer into the countryside in 1865.  Timothee, who may or may not have the gift of hypnotism and bewitchment, is smitten with Josephine, who is from a well-to-do family, and he wills her to go with him into the woods and live outside of civilization.  The big question throughout the film, of course, is whether or not their relationship is consensual, or if she is in fact being raped and Timothee really does have these powers she claims he has.  The characters in the film come to a conclusion, but director Benoit Jacquot allows the story to linger and settle with the audience.  The film also has a brilliant score, with baroque chamber tendencies.  Loved this.

Golden Globe Nominations

THEY'RE HERE...

The real showdown at the Golden Globes will be between Tarantino and Bigelow, two filmmakers at the peak of their abilities, and two of my favorites.

If there are any surprises in the nominations the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced earlier today, it's that Sandra Bullock was nominated not once, but twice, and that I nearly vomited when I realized that. But then, I just remembered what a shit year it was for female roles and how almost any actress was relegated to rom-com performances (or, for Gabourey Sidibe, something a little...different.)

Anyway, I've been thinking about them all day, and I actually think there are some strong choices. I still haven't seen THE HURT LOCKER, A SERIOUS MAN, a handful of other smaller films (ANTICHRIST, A SIMPLE MAN, THE ROAD, THE WHITE RIBBON, BROKEN EMBRACES,) and the late-December/early-January wide release flicks (NINE, AVATAR, UP IN THE AIR, IT'S COMPLICATED,) but I will eventually; definitely before Oscar time. You can check out the full list at the HFPA website. I'm going to make some predictions based on what I think will happen, and reserve my own choices for a more informed post with the year-end stuff I've caught up on.

Without further ado, my predictions in a few categories:

Best Picture, Musical or Comedy - 500 DAYS OF SUMMER
This was the most inventive comedy I've seen all year. I think it runs a good chance of winning this, and nothing else. A shame, really.

Best Actor, Musical or Comedy - Michael Stuhlbarg (A SERIOUS MAN)
Haven't seen it, but the Globes sometimes like to give awards to actors no one has ever heard of. Stuhlbarg is supposedly quite good, which furthers him as my pick.

Best Actress, Musical or Comedy - Sandra Bullock (THE PROPOSAL)
Just because everyone else was so dismal and Bullock isn't really ever recognized for her 'acting.' I'll stick with SPEED and DEMOLITION MAN, thank you.

Best Picture, Drama - THE HURT LOCKER
I don't think there's a chance at anything else winning. It's walking away with every other critic's circle award.

Best Actor, Drama - George Clooney (UP IN THE AIR)
I think this will be the nod that both Clooney and Reitman get for the next few years. Then, they'll both win probably for something not as good. But, having not seen it, this could be the thing they win for not being so good anyway.

Best Actress, Drama - Gabourey Sidibe (PRECIOUS)
Already won it so many other places, and really there's not another female performance this year that comes close.

Best Animated Feature - THE FANTASTIC MR. FOX or UP I really can't make up my mind here what I think will win.

Best Foreign Language Film - THE WHITE RIBBON
Haneke is a striking filmmaker, that's for certain. I am anticipating this very much, especially given my own predilictions toward German history and filmmaking movements. Plus, it's really the only foreign selection garnering near-universal acclaim.

Supporting Actor - Christoph Waltz (INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS)
There is no question in my mind he will take this award at the Globes and the Oscars. This was the best single performance I saw from anyone all year; period.

Supporting Actress - Penelope Cruz (NINE)
Gotta recognize NINE somehow, right, and why not with Ms. Cruz in the supporting role? If she loses, it all has to do with politics and making sure to spread the love around.

Best Director - Quentin Tarantino (INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS) / Kathryn Bigelow (THE HURT LOCKER)
This category's really tough. Tarantino really nailed it this year, making a 'movie movie' through and through, and that may earn him points with the Hollywood critical acclaim crowd. However, by all accounts, Bigelow pulled off a similar feat with THE HURT LOCKER, and I would really like to see her win; she's one of my favorite directors, and I can't wait to see her film in the coming weeks. But, I can see this going either way...and if anyone else wins, well, it'll be because this vote was split.

Best Screenplay - Quentin Tarantino (INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS)
Yeah, I think it's that good. Of course, look for Neil Blomkamp as the dark horse for DISTRICT 9.

What do you guys think? Let's discuss this, everyone. There will be more to come, after all!