There are still several movies I have yet to see that may make this list, so these posts may continue for the next month or so. Nonetheless, here is part of a series of posts that will highlight 2011 releases that I gave an A+ grade to. It should be noted that release dates are complicated as movies often premiere in film festivals months or years before they hit theaters stateside, so “2011” should be taken liberally. You can see a list of all the movies I watch and rate linked in the description of my Tumblr page.
Class conflicts have always been a subject of examination in the art world. “A Separation,” the Golden Bear-winning film by Asghar Farhadi, acutely looks at class distinctions at Iran through intertwined family and legal drama.
Class is not the only rift that the film examines. It is, above all, a social drama. The movie takes a look at the impact of things like family, religion, and trust - as well as how those things are meaningful in different ways to different people.Those meanings muddle an objective understanding of right and wrong. Farhadi’s careful screenplay smartly takes no moral stance on the decisions of its characters, thus showing that the root of harm in life is not necessarily evil people, but an intricate design of circumstance that humans cannot have any just control over.
There are still several movies I have yet to see that may make this list, so these posts may continue for the next month or so. Nonetheless, here is part of a series of posts that will highlight 2011 releases that I gave an A+ grade to. It should be noted that release dates are complicated as movies often premiere in film festivals months or years before they hit theaters stateside, so “2011” should be taken liberally. You can see a list of all the movies I watch and rate linked in the description of my Tumblr page.
Michel Hazanavicius’s “The Artist” is a treasure. It follows the troubles of George Valentin, a silent movie star, at the dawn of the sound era in Hollywood and his budding romance with a sound movie star, Peppy Miller.
A deeply emotional, engaging performance by Jean Dujardin as George Valentin works wonderful chemistry with Berenice Bejo as Peppy Miller (Dujardin won the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for his role). John Goodman, playing the movie studio producer, gives a nuanced performance that doesn’t make him seem like either a cutthroat moneymaker when his character easily could be. Uggie grants the movie some levity without being cloying or extra. The beautiful story of progress is knit together beautifully by Ludovic Bource’s versatile score.
“The Artist” elicits great movies about hollywood such as “Sunset Boulevard,” examples of great black-and-white photography from “The Third Man,” and pays homage to masterpieces of film grammar, such as “Citizen Kane.” That is not to mention numerous other classics such as “Strike,” “The Trial,” “The Mask of Zorro,” “Vertigo,” and, of course, “Singing in the Rain” just to name a few. Movies in love with movies, such as “Inglourious Basterds,” are also cited.
“The Artist” is a prime example of a movie that can only be a movie, justifying its own existence by playing with the possibilities of its medium in exciting old ways.
There are still several movies I have yet to see that may make this list, so these posts may continue for the next month or so. Nonetheless, here is part of a series of posts that will highlight 2011 releases that I gave an A+ grade to. It should be noted that release dates are complicated as movies often premiere in film festivals months or years before they hit theaters stateside, so “2011” should be taken liberally. You can see a list of all the movies I watch and rate linked in the description of my Tumblr page.
Brad Bird’s “Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol” isn’t quite among the masterpieces that his animated movies - “The Iron Giant,” “The Incredibles,” and “Ratatouille” - are. However, it’s the best movie a “Mission: Impossible” entry can be expected to be. And then better than that. Brad Bird proves his worth as an excellent live-action director and Tom Cruise is as charismatic and as engaging that he’s been since “War of the Worlds.”
It’s also simply the best action movie in years. Constantly moving, complex enough to be smart, simple enough to be easy to follow, and with some truly incredible action setpieces (The Burj Dubai being the most famous one), it’s a movie for the ages. Jeremy Renner has a strong supporting role and Brad Bird throws in a few clever visual references to JJ Abrams, who produced the movie (and directed the previous installment, which Brad follows with clever ease). Also, Tom Cruise does his own stunts, which is crazy in a non-Scientologist way (though he’s also crazy in that way).
There are still several movies I have yet to see that may make this list, so these posts may continue for the next month or so. Nonetheless, here is the first of a series of posts that will highlight 2011 releases that I gave an A+ grade to. It should be noted that release dates are complicated as movies often premiere in film festivals months or years before they hit theaters stateside, so “2011” should be taken liberally. You can see a list of all the movies I watch and rate linked in the description of my Tumblr page.
I avoided ranking this list, but if anything were to top it, it would probably be Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life. The famous recluse has directed only five films in a forty-year career, this latest being his best. It is about, without exaggerating, the history of the universe and our place within it. Malick takes us across the cosmic - the big bang, the creation of our solar system, the dinosaurs, etc - to the microcosmic - a small family in 1950’s Texas dappled in sunlight, birth, arrogance, anger, understanding, and personal history - that no-doubt approaches the autobiographical. On can almost hear Nicolas Cage’s voice from Adaptation announcing his grand plan for the greatest screenplay, to start from the beginning of time and to take us to the present, to encompass all of history.
It may seem paradoxical that Malick’s grandest film is also his most timeless, but he pulls it off. Hunter McCracken, in his first role, channels the innocence and frustrations of childhood with astonishing results, holding his own against Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain, both at the top of their game. Jack Fisk built a beautiful house for the movie, which he says was built especially to allow as much natural sunlight in as possible. Emmanuel Lubezki’s capturing of this light on objects are among the most beautiful images ever committed to celluloid.
The Tree of Life’s detractors have been oddly vague about how the film fails to manage its ambitions, probably because they are wrong, do not understand the movie, or are emotionally bankrupt themselves. This masterpiece is about a lot of things; the main idea is establishing justification about existence within the grand world we inhabit not through pragmatism, but by emotional acceptance (shades of Heidegger, who Malick once translated into English). We cannot justify ourselves in space and time as important people in the grand, cosmic passage of history, but we can still feel emotionally anchored to reality and feel a sense of belonging in the world through religion, spirituality, or some other method. If my words do not do justice to this idea, then Malick’s images do.
There are still several movies I have yet to see that may make this list, so these posts may continue for the next month or so. Nonetheless, here is the first of a series of posts that will highlight 2011 releases that I gave an A+ grade to. It should be noted that release dates are complicated as movies often premiere in film festivals months or years before they hit theaters stateside, so “2011” should be taken liberally. You can see a list of all the movies I watch and rate linked in the description of my Tumblr page.
Miranda July is the real deal. She has too often been mixed in with the annoying Indie filmmakers who make boring realist movies about friends and money and stuff, when in fact she is achieving something much deeper, more sincere. After making the excellent Me and You and Everyone We Know, she has created something more intimate and smaller in its character palette.
The Future’s magical realism mixed with July’s signature sincere approach to the film’s subject matters leads to a brutally honest film. It deals with the passage of time and that which changes with it - love, sex, death, life, and relationships. July bravely gives a brutally nontraditional conclusion to the relationship in the movie, championing realistic needs and importance of attention of the physical over genuine romance. It is this bravery and unique narrative way of approaching it that makes The Future a great movie.
There are still several movies I have yet to see that may make this list, so these posts may continue for the next month or so. Nonetheless, here is the first of a series of posts that will highlight 2011 releases that I gave an A+ grade to. It should be noted that release dates are complicated as movies often premiere in film festivals months or years before they hit theaters stateside, so “2011” should be taken liberally. You can see a list of all the movies I watch and rate linked in the description of my Tumblr page.
I surprise myself sometimes. I would normally never think to put a movie as short as “Winnie the Pooh” - hardly over an hour long - as one of the best movies of the year, but this one took me by surprise. It is a delightful movie, very fun and easily-paced, unlike the usual frantic “get out of the theater and buy your children the tie-in merchandise” kid’s movies of studios today. “Pooh” also has a wonderful voice cast, with particular standout role of the great Craig Ferguson as the woeful Eeyore.
What really makes “Pooh” special is not only it’s leisurely, silly plot, or the characters that are a joy to spend time with, but the playful animation. I recently visited the Manhattan library (the Ghostbusters one) and they had on display the original dolls that inspired A. A. Milne’s books. This movie is tethered to reality, a sterling, clear example of the hand-drawn medium but also with characters that have weight, character, and a past that Milne gave to his in his books. Most particular are the sequences of the movie that recall the books as its source, and incredible, sincere self-awareness that works wonders, whether it is Pooh interacting with the letters on the page or conversing with the narrator. In most movies, these techniques would be annoyingly self-referential or some sort of cynical reference to the stupidity of children, but Winnie the Pooh does it with utmost sincerity, not unlike The Muppet Movie, that makes it work spectacularly.
There are still several movies I have yet to see that may make this list, so these posts may continue for the next month or so. Nonetheless, here is the first of a series of posts that will highlight 2011 releases that I gave an A+ grade to. It should be noted that release dates are complicated as movies often premiere in film festivals months or years before they hit theaters stateside, so “2011” should be taken liberally. You can see a list of all the movies I watch and rate linked in the description of my Tumblr page.
If any movie legitimized 3D in cinema, it’s Hugo. Avatar may have been the movie that brought its resurgence in popularity, but Martin Scorsese is the man who fulfilled James Cameron’s dream. The 3D, however excellent its use of representing space is, is only worthy of a footnote in describing this movie. It is visually stunning - with typically excellent cinematography by Robert Richardson and detailed art design and costumes - with a fascinating narrative to boot.
The eponymous Hugo, also titular in the novel upon which the movie is based, The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, is an orphan who fixes clocks in a Paris train station. He must constantly evade the station inspector, played by a funny Sacha Baron Cohen, to steal food. Eventually, he is caught stealing clock parts from a local toy shop owner, and it is then that a wonderful Dickensian narrative about success, failure, the uncontrollable past, and the wonders of movies themselves, takes hold.
There are still several movies I have yet to see that may make this list, so these posts may continue for the next month or so. Nonetheless, here is the first of a series of posts that will highlight 2011 releases that I gave an A+ grade to. It should be noted that release dates are complicated as movies often premiere in film festivals months or years before they hit theaters stateside, so “2011” should be taken liberally. You can see a list of all the movies I watch and rate linked in the description of my Tumblr page.
“Life in a Day” is a spectacular film. A documentary culled from the submissions of tens of thousands of Youtube users from around the world, it is perhaps the closest thing humankind can get to a representation of itself. Director Kevin Macdonald and his team of editors had to cut down 4,500 hours of footage to about 95 minutes, a difficult task, and it’s a wonder that the movie works so well.
It is episodic, naturally, with some segments running minutes long and others a fleeting fraction of a second. It is a strange, beautiful, wholly profound movie that represents some fraction of the awesome breadth of mankind.
There are still several movies I have yet to see that may make this list, so these posts may continue for the next month or so. Nonetheless, here is the first of a series of posts that will highlight 2011 releases that I gave an A+ grade to. It should be noted that release dates are complicated as movies often premiere in film festivals months or years before they hit theaters stateside, so “2011” should be taken liberally. You can see a list of all the movies I watch and rate linked in the description of my Tumblr page.
What do you get when you put two of the greatest actors alive in a room together to act out a play by one of the greatest writers alive? The Sunset Limited, that’s what. After taking a break from directing since his massively underrated The Three Burials of Melquiedes Estrada (2005), Tommy Lee Jones artfully directed this movie for HBO while also acting across from Samuel L. Jackson. The Sunset Limited was adapted by Cormac McCarthy from his play of the same name, and the movie feels very it. Because of the immense talent from the two actors, however, the script-y quality does not detract from the play, but rather serves to make it feel like a volleyball game of words.
The two characters, never mentioned by name (in the play, the text refers to them as “Black” and “White”), exist in a single room during the entire movie’s running time. Without oversimplifying them, the characters represent two different schools of existentialism. Tommy Lee Jones’ character is an existential nihilist with a painful past while Samuel L. Jackson looks at his harsh past from a more historical perspective to argue for the meaningfulness of life. There is one piece of dialogue that has stuck with me since viewing this movie many months ago:
White: But if you die you will give it up. Black: No you wont. You wont be here. White: Well. I cant help you. Letting it all go is the place I finally got to. It took a lot of work to get there and if there is one thing I would be unwilling to give up it is exactly that. Black: You got any other way of sayin that? White: The one thing I wont give up is giving up. I expect that to carry me through. I’m depending on it. The things I believed in were very frail. As I said. They wont be around for long and neither will I. But I dont think that’s really the reason for my decision. I think it goes deeper. You can acclimate yourself to loss. You have to. I mean, you like music, right? Black: Yes I do. White: Who’s the greatest composer you know of? Black: John Coltrane. Hands down. White: Do you think his music will last forever? Black: Well. Forever’s a long time, Professor. So I got to say no. It wont. White: But that doesnt make it worthless, does it? Black: No it dont.
