And the final report of the year...

The holiday season allowed me to do a significant chunk of movie watching, including the final new release of 2010. That makes the possible candidates for the 2010 Top Ten closed, with a top 10 list to come very shortly.

For now… here's what I saw in the past week.

TRUE GRIT (2010)

This was the one I wanted to see before the year got out, and my last two hours of available personal time for the year were put to good use, as I saw a 4:20 screening of this on Thursday at 12/30 before my day off. More about this later.

TIME AFTER TIME (1979)

First it was listed on Ain’t It Cool News as a good time traveler flick, and then the expiration date for Netflix Instant got closer. Finally, I wanted to see Malcolm McDowell again in something. It was pretty good.

That being said, I have to agree with some archived reviews that said the direction was clumsy. The romance was not very believable, and while it was a unique diversion for a sci-fi movie, it felt like it was an easy way to play along with a human interest subplot to avoid expanding the much more interesting and dynamic implications of both H.G. Wells being in modern society and Jack the Ripper reeking havoc in a new world.

I also have to say that, after watching a beautifully shot San Francisco in The Conversation a month ago and now this, that it seems like a really beautiful City to visit.

CHE (PARTS 1 AND 2)

[Criterion 496] This was a viewing project. A film in two parts (over two hours each) on Che Guevara. Selected randomly from my Netflix list, this is also a Criterion release and I’m still making my way through the extras on the Blu-Ray. Sometimes I don’t like to read the reviews afterwards because they reveal faults in the film I simply couldn’t realize while watching it because of the initial inundation of senses that comes with watching a movie made by someone who has an obvious vision and is passionate about it. And sure, the reviews I read had a little bit of a point, but I don't think anyone with some sense of impatience is going to dismiss some of the plotting and pacing that director Steven Sodenbergh decided to go with. I will say, that I did really want to see the second part (I split the viewing over two days) after the style and performance of part 1 hooked me. Given that I didn't know much about Che despite his appearance on the dorm room posters of radical college students, it's a very strong epic movie that can compell my attention like this film series did. With additional contemplation, I have to say that this film is nearly perfect and very long... whether length is good or bad I can't really conclude one way or another.

TOP 10 OF 2010 .... TOP 10 OF 2010 ... COMING SOON!

Follow-up

Seven Samurai

[Criterion collection #2] I hate to be uptight and say that Netflix did not have a streaming widescreen version or a Blu-Ray available so I had to watch this epic 3 hour movie on a square screen. The horror, the horror, I know.

I’m trying to be of the mindset that these very old classic movies are something that I have to sit through, despite my contemporary tastes and attention span, just as a self-imposed requirement that I begin to have a foundation of cinematic understanding based on all the good epic movies that inspired so many future films. Just when I was getting antsy and thought I was sitting through a movie that was made for a different audience and time, Seven Samurai has the breadth and patience enough to give you some out of nowhere characterizations that get me paying attention once again. The whole farmers vs. warriors class dynamic created some very unique tensions. I think what puts me a little off are the battle scenes. While epic and important to the story, they also drag on for a while. I believe that’s my reaction to just being accustomed to that kind of dynamic epic violence being so easy to view in any number of filmed mediums. Back in 1954, I bet the movie-going audiences without televisions were willing to watch battles as long as possible on the big screen.

Diversion aside, this film’s length made it a struggle to watch, but no doubt was this an important and entertaining movie.

Irreversible

Probably close to the most disturbing and brutal movie I’ve ever seen. In regards to The Human Centipede, which might now be the runner-up in this category, there are inventive ways to shock and awe by depicting a horrible torture fantasy in the most realistic way possible. It’s quite another thing to portray something horrible that is realistically possible and structure a movie in the most incredibly jarring way, so the audience can’t really gain a comfortable distance from the movie because they are so incredibly disoriented that they can’t tell what’s going on, who the characters are, and what their motivations for acting in the most extreme way possible. I’m so glad (if you could call that an appropriate emotion allowed in this movie) that while I knew there was going to be a pivotal and brutal scene going in, I didn’t read the Wikipedia entry or any reviews further than that. What I experienced was a film whose very form, function, and style, allowed for the themes and story to hit you deeply, in ways that the most bloody, disgusting, straightforward horror film never could. I only think I’ll be watching Irreversible again for plot clarification, because there are parts I never want to see again unless I feel like showing a very trusted friend the absolute edge I’m willing to go when watching movies.

Final Tuesday of the Year

SEVEN SAMURAI (1954)

IRREVERSIBLE (2002)

More on these later...

And really, honestly, I will cut off all my candidates for the top 10 movies of 2010 at midnight Dec. 31st. That means there might be some really good ones that I'll see this weekend that will just have to be powerful enough to stay in my memory a year from now. All the more incentive to see True Grit as soon as I leave work!

Tueday penultimate of 2010

A special trip to see this one... well coordinated with other things in Chicago, but still.

BLACK SWAN (2010)

The latest from Darren Aronofsky is enough to get excited about... but that creepy and beautiful poster? I was waiting and waiting for this movie to come up to Rockford (Natalie Portman as a ballerina? C'mon, that's mainstream enough!) but I couldn't wait any longer. This movie delivers incredibly well, staying within the scope of an artistic struggle while layering just as much psychological, surreal, and dark elements as can be handled into a perfect suspensful mix. After leaving the theater, I realized that I could judge this film based on whether or not I'm interested in this type of story, and in a way that COULD bring it down a few pegs, just because ballet and the torments of artistic endeavors don't pack a real power to me. As the best films do over time, I started to contemplate Black Swan even more, and it's themes began to haunt me more. Because the symbology and just fanstasticalness of the ballet Swan Lake create a very dramatic and cinematic framework to demonstrate the main character's personal struggle, and it's executed perfectly. However, what lengths would you go to in order to achieve a perfect victory, at work, in a personal situation, or in a project that has meaning and power to other people? To completely succeed in her endeavor, Natalie Portman's character had to open up the whole spectrum of her repressed emotions and memories, and in her physical sacrifices she had to make moral sacrifices as well to do a perfect performance. When you see multimillionaires achieve greatness, yet remain unhappy and morally compromised through their personal actions, it makes you think at what point does the struggling to achieve something end and the morally questionable actions or philosophies to reach that accomplishment begin. Slowly but surely, Black Swan became personal to me.

More about this, for sure, in my top 10 wrap up of the year coming as soon after Dec. 31st as possible.

post number 100 Tuesday report

Ah, let's here it for commitment! I didn't finish those 'film snob' essays (someday) but keeping this up at a minimal level is a good thing.

With business as usual...

THE CONVERSATION (1974)

This movie was not on any special list that I keep of films to see. It was just a well-revered classic that also had to be watched in traditional disc form since it wasn't available instantly. Given Francis Ford Coppola's reputation as The Godfather maker, it was surprising to see such a restrained thriller that creates an environment that isn't full of lush set pieces. Rather the sound, the direction and the emotional distance the characters have to keep create an environment where sensory perception in enhanced in some ways but creates such deception in other, more important ways.

I also want to mention that totally awesome tingle moment that comes with revelatory, perfect moments in film (and books, TV, and other mediums). That physical reaction to something so mesmerizing, conclusive, or expressive, that would normally be contained in just the mental realms is such a mysterious sensation, and it seems to happen only in those rare moments where I truly didn't see such a twist coming. There was one of those twists in The Conversation, and it shook me to the core... it seemed to actually be toying with my brain and I how I hear and understand things. Definitely hard to describe as you can see, but that twist wouldn't have been so amazing if the film wasn't made so perfectly.

I think I need to give it 5 stars on Netflix instead of 4.

Jonah

Tuesday Night

A deadline for Instant Netflix viewing was approaching for one 2009 WIFF selection... and that was the movie I saw this past week.

LION'S DEN (2008)

This film sets up an very compelling situation which is almost, in and of itself, fascinating enough to watch exist regardless of the whatever kind of narrative or plot exists. There's a special block of a women's prison for pregnant women, who are then allowed to raise their children in their cells until the kids turn 4 years old. These cells are decorated like children's rooms and the kids run around playing like there is nothing different from their play area as any other. The bonds between the inmates are explored and the main character goes through some struggles. Over time this movie drags with a lack of a narrative with gravitas, as the oddness of the situation subsides and the mother-offspring instincts are expressed a little too obviously. As an expression of something I've never seen on film before (and isn't that what makes up for even the weakest of film festival fare?) it succeeded.

I always want to watch more, especially on a cold weekend where I stayed away from day trips to Chicago, but that's it.

Irregularly Scheduled Tuesday report

Hey there:

With a vacation schedule, available movie watching chunks go by the wayside (as well as access to my nice TV, one of the few things I miss while on vacation).

So here's a Wednesday movie report...

THREE MONKEYS (2008)

A Turkish film whose deadline for availability on Netflix Instant fast approached, I watched this the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. And like Lake Tahoe it awards patience and the appreciation of a steady pace, although there are definitely more cinematic vistas that are highlighted in this movie, that seem to replace most dialogue in suggesting the tension between the three main characters. I still did find this compelling enough to recommend as a gateway into artsy foreign films.

BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOUR DEAD (2007)

Available via Comcast On Demand at my parent's house, this is one bleak film. It's pretty much an incredibly downward spiral from the botched heist that begins the movie, and I am a little tired of movies that inflict dire consequences on people for deciding to go morally astray through criminal activity. But this is fairly invigorating to watch because of the performances (although I'm sick of Philip Seymour Hoffman always mumbling) that include a non-irritating Ethan Hawke! Additionally the mixed up chronology is incredibly exciting, as scenes are repeated and revisited again to both offer deeper context and a reminder of the horrible situation this characters have put themselves in. This movie dares to double punch you in the gut with devastation, but in a tastefully directed way.

CLOCKERS (1995)

Watched this in fragments via Comcast OnDemand, as different things were going on around my parent's house. Very stylized movie at the peak of Spike Lee's powers (let's see, I've seen Do the Right Thing, Crooklyn, Summer of Sam, and this one), I know for sure this movie was inventive for its time, but between all the expressions of drug dealer amorality and ghetto life that I've seen since this movie was made (most recently the miniseries The Corner) I don't see much new here. Of course, the kind of free flowing directing improvisation and style mix-ups that I remember in the other Spike Lee movies make this stand out despite the subject matter, and the ending offers as ambiguous sense of hope as the best of them.