#2 FILM OF 2011

WIN WIN

It has now been many many months since I made my short list of favorite films in 2011.  I had planned to roll these writings out at a steady clip but sometimes it's very hard to find the inspiration to offer unique poetic thoughts on something so specific as a movie I saw.  As dozens of films are now wedged in my memory between this #2 film and the present, it is honestly hard to dissect it in detail.  But what I do remember about Win Win is that it wasn't a very complicated movie.  Like Young Adult (#4) it was just very honest, but the characters are even more believable and relatable that the narcissistic types in that other well-regarded movie. 

I remember reading criticism for Paul Giamatti's character in the movie Sideways as being too much like how a screenwriter sees themselves... a little too much navel gazing.  I could definitely see that... all one had to do to possibly channel that creative frustration of that character would be for any actor, writer, or director to just think about what they've been through and express themselves.  Still, Paul Giamatti, who has had a huge run of enduring likeable performances, was the perfect person for that part.

But this Paul-Giamatti type in Win-Win has him playing someone off that Hollywood-aspring grid... he's a Paul Giamatti type playing someone who could very well be a Paul-Giamatti type in real life.  Struggling, neurotic, a little sneaky, but loving, human honest, and warm.  The situation his character and his family is put through is powerful but in a wholesome family-oriented way.

So what makes this movie suprisingly not-dull as it follows these ordinary characters?  It's the flourishes of real drama, the levity of humorous moments integrated seamlessly into the plot, and the percolating emotional resonance that comes with the actors being very distinct to their styles while building a  relationship to the audience.  At some point these characters become your neighbors, and there's no alienation between what they are doing and how you might react if you were in their shoes.

Once again it is kind of a travesty that something like this didn't get any major award recognition despite being a solid movie.  But maybe that's the way it ought to be.  Because some movies aspire to be art and make a statement, while others just move you to a warmer place through honesty and character building.  I have a feeling that movies like Win Win, that tap into a modern relatable human condition, will be a little more timeless to many people than those prestige pictures which grab up all the honors.

NUMBER 3 FILM OF 2011

VIVA RIVA!

This was a selection from the 2011 Wisconsin Film Festival.  The quick description is African Film-Noir, and it might be a loose example of a 'Nollywood' which refers to the Nigeria-based film industry that puts out entertaining movies for the African masses (like Bollywood in India).  But this is set in Zaire so I can't say what connections this movie has to the main African hub of popular filmmaking. 

Viva Riva has a femme fatale, a charismatic anti-hero, multiple layers of eccentric villians, and a (minor spoiler) bleak ending.  It has that feel of a B-Movie... where it's best to just enjoy the ride and not think to hard on the amorality of it all.  For any fan of film noir it's a unique treat, because all those movie tropes are set in the weighty background of a chaotic impoverished African country.  In this environment, the desperation these characters get themselves into aren't just dramatic flourishes but a real possibility.  What might be thrown away as a genre picture actually becomes something more compelling.  Is this kind of violence and tragedy a purely escapist for of cinema for "NollyWood" viewers?  Is there an overall message involved?  Are Western viewers supposed to think of this in a more sociopolitical way?  All important questions, but in the meantime it is a really incredible version of a familiar story. 

The WIFF 2011 wasn't the best of the Wisconsin Film Festivals I attended, but this was a real treat.

BEST FILMS OF 2011: NUMBER 4

YOUNG ADULT

The film countdown that should have been completed months ago returns!  I think at the beginning of this fun I mentioned how there were some non-epic character-based dramas that resonated, and this is one of them.  I couldn't help but compare this to Juno, which won an Oscar for screenwriter Diablo Cody, who also wrote this film.  As sweet as Juno was... the rumblings in my head and among some critics were that as naturalistic as the dialogue was, teenagers didn't really talk like that.  For me, the move was a little bit of a cop out, to give an eccentric larger-than-life character her own little sayings and "isms"...  there was something warm and heartening about what Juno went through, but how is it original or challenging to layer on an adult sensibility to a juvenile character?

So I assumed after watching Young Adult that it would at least receive a screenwriting NOMINATION, because these characters talked in really authentic ways that fit in well and organically with the situation.  In addition, I was sure Charlize Theron was going to get at least an acting nomination as well.  She didn't have to get into layers of old-person makeup like in Monster to pull off a complete performance of a defeated woman.  But nothing for this sweet sad movie?  No matter... I don't need that kind of validation.  While it didn't get a lot of legitimate acclaim (and some of my facebook friends hated it too) the film has stuck with me.  So many great movies and filmmakers are very derivative... they are basically perfecting a genre movie and subverting it in a way that hits a sweet spot for me... and those are usually the ones I really like by the end of the year.  So I long for chances to give equal credit to the movies that have real characters, real performances, and believable situations, executed with the appropriate cinematic scope (minimal works just as much as maximal) that is suitable for the well-written material.  It's not a film that explodes... it percolates... but it was always engaging.  Of course, throwing Patton Oswalt in for good measure is a huge bonus, especially when this goofball gives his all to a dramatic role that you knew he was capable of.

This isn't the last of the character dramas that were really good last year.  I don't think I've spoiled anything yet.

TRON LEGACY (2010)

TRON:  LEGACY (2010)

Format:  Blu-Ray from my Uncle Jay

I've been in the middle of some unfair cinematic immersions this summer.  First I see a bunch of Avengers movies that were released a year apart in the course of a couple weeks in order to build up for the main event in theaters.  Then I watch these movies, made 28 years apart within a few weeks as well.  The suckers that watched the first movie sure had to wait a long time and grow up before this franchise was revisited! 

But I won't be mean... like I said before, the first one established a pretty distinct universe and imagery that was invigorating despite the low-budget effects (which weren't really a factor if you thing of the Tron universe as a different dimension with a visual logic all its own).  I also think of the wonderful effect it would have to see a completely high budget version of only what you could imagine back in 1982.  Tron 1 felt like it could really inspire imaginations because you only get a hint of what that computer universe is.  So I am a little jealous of the Tron-heads who were able to see a vision realized that they might have been thinking about during their entire adult lives.

And with enough space between films, this definitely does not suffer from sequel-itis.  A few reviews seemed to talk about how there was not enough action, that the big scenes were more of a homage and not central to anything important.  But those scenes were AMAZING to watch.  While technology might have restricted what action pieces could have been shown in the first one, it took a unique perspective to decide to add more darkness and an interesting storyline to the saga without using every technical gimmick in the book that was at their disposal.  Of course I would have love to seen more big battles in this uniquely realized polished computer world, but the exposition gave it a depth and seriousness that wasn't necessarily expected as a way to build off the first Tron.

OK, now, the lead actor playing Flynn's son was pretty wooden, and some of the cliche action-based dialogue seemed like it could fit right into Star Wars prequels, but the first one wasn't perfect either.  But TRON:  LEGACY gave new and old fans what they were looking for, with some surprising maturity as well.

DOWN BY THE RIVER / SAN ANTONIO FILM FESTIVAL

DOWN BY THE RIVER (2012)

[Sorry not a lot of images and links available]

Other than a program of short films at the end of the night, this film was how I wrapped up my San Antonio Film Festival experience 2 and half months ago (wow, falling behind!).

Don't mean to sound grumpy, but the film's technical quality was pretty low.  Sound was bad, images were blurry.  That is forgiveable if you can see a unique vision on the screen that just couldn't get realized because of the low budget limitations.  But this was a rather conventional, though heartbreaking, story of a family struggling with a daughter afflicted with sickle cell anemia.  There's badly mixed montages as the love interest builds a relationship with the protagonist, a lot of slow-motion scenes, and not the best acting.  Credit where credit is due, the little girl was probably the best actress in the whole bunch, and the heavy-handed emotional tugging was broken up by some naturalistic scenes with the protagonist and his work buddy, who provided some genuine innocent laughs.

But here's the rub... this was a very personal and emotional.  The writer/director/actor (one or some of those roles, I don't remember) actually had a little sister die early of this disease.  The cast and filmmakers and well-wishers were all in the front waiting for the world premiere of this movie.  And while it didn't strike me as a high quality movie, you could tell this was coming from a really raw place.  It's a great capstone to this film festival where personal visions that weren't technically perfect or grand in scope were presented to filmmaking colleagues and the interested public.  I am often conflicted about whether I have the capacity or resources and outright healthy obsession to put aside my normal routine and work hard to put whatever creative visions in my head out there.   I have to give an incredible amount of respect for people to decide to do whatever they can to get their films made and released.  I kind of wish that these movies completely blew me over to the point where I saw a revolutionary filmmaking talent in its chrysalis, because I could really be on board with preaching their quality to whomever would listen.  But while I still don't think making a film (and not just imagining ones better than the things I see) is in my blood, this experience made the filmmaking experience more approachable to me.

So the verdict on this whole festival experience is that not all film festivals are the same.  This was not incredibly well organized, and the choices weren't as diverse as the Wisconsin Film Festival.  This had a more local and regionalized feel, but it looked like it also served as an initial testing ground to present some films, someone's hard work and toil, for the very first time.  It was a great opportunity to be a guinea pig for films that might not ever be seen for a wider public. 

And now back to the regularly scheduled viewing process, which over the past few weeks have included some real mainstream duds but some gems as well.

BEST FILMS OF 2011: NUMBER 5

NUMBER 5 FILM OF 2011

TREE OF LIFE

There were reports when this movie came out said that theaters were warning movie-goers that this movie was a little different.  I also heard they withdrew it from screens after audiences were complaining that the film was boring and nothing happened.  I even remember an interview excerpt with cast member Sean Penn, offering his opinion that his own character could have been given something more to do by director Terrence Mallick.

Trying to reason with this movie, to bring it down to a level where it has a definite purpose, would be like an attempt to ask the Lord or whatever supreme deity you believe in to take existence as a whole and try to "dumb it down" for the masses to understand within 2 hours.  And like Job or my namesake in those Bible stories, reasoning with the divine is pointless.

Tree of Life uses the film medium to contemplate the universe and try to place a comprehension of the infinite into an intimate human context.  If untethered from any kind of story this movie would be more at place in a museum gallery or experimental film festival.  I'm sure Brad Pitt being present helped increase the general interest as well.  But this film does have a story, it just isn't remotely linear.  It subsumes any human conflict or petty struggles of a protagonist to a logic of a divine presence that is incomprehensible.  Every moment in this movie is made to make human struggles insignificant compared to a bigger picture.  But with that dramatic cloud hanging over the movie, the effect is that the most tender life-affirming and death-accepting moments are given the air of a divine cosmic order.  A baby's foot, a rejected patent hearing ruining a man's dream career, a tragic call drowned out by airplane noise, and all forms of nature big and small.  These are all weaved into an immense tapestry that makes the only real character the overseer of all this wonder.  But the most interesting moment to me was a split second where an elderly father (not close to being a main character) is having a likely fatal stroke just in the corner of the frame.  It's so subtle you hardly notice it, because it is part of this vast montage of a mother raising a child as innocently as she can.  And the focus is not on the real tragedy of the dying father in the background, but the mother figure shielding the toddler from viewing that tragedy.  The film continues and the grandfather is no longer there.  We live, we die, some die abruptly, but everything is part of a bigger picture.

When people go to the movies they do not necessarily want to want to get popcorn and a soda and have the experience that is the sensory equivalent to hiking in a park and taking in completely natural surroundings, or even questioning the meaning of everything or the logic of whom may or not have created it.  Tree of Life was so moving... using sounds, pictures, spirituality, and solemn performances to take cinema to very unique places.

GENERATION ME / SAN ANTONIO FILM FESTIVAL

GENERATION ME (2012)

SAN ANTONIO FILM FESTIVAL

Usually around Sunday night every week, when I have seemingly taken in all the culture and life opportunities that I can handle in my waking hours, I have a habit of feeling like I should be the CREATOR of art instead of the nitpicky INTAKER.  If I don't keep that desire in check (and I don't mean suppression) I can snowball that creative desire into frustration with my own professional and personal life and that's never constructive.  I really do find being artistic challenging and overwhelming and whenever I get that bug I usually start thinking all practical-like as far as wondering what I can uniquely offer and how feasible it would be to give up other interests to pursue that path.  Anyway, over the past week my creative distractions came about when I noticed how artistic my doodles have always been, especially when they are around the margins of legal pads and notes from occasionally boring business meetings and conferences.  I seem to be tapping into something artistic in my subconscious that is both part and separate from the mundane working world that I occupy to "pay the bills", so to speak.  Because with those blank yellow spaces on my pad of paper or bulleted points and fragments and contact names those creative scribblings wouldn't stand out as weird or odd.  As far as a unique artistic exhibit that I could imagine revolutionizing the art world would be a full-fledged display of this concept.  Masterpieces drawn in the margins.  Paintings, abstract to a degree, where whole spaces are restricted from any markings whatsoever.  This idea that if you have limits you might not have a complete picture of unrealized potential but your passion shows through in the parts you can create.

Which brings me to a movie featuring a baby throwing up on someone's face, and a lady fishing a wad of cash out of a toilet with unwrapped tampons.

I kid, I kid, there is a LOT MORE raunchy stuff in this comedy, set almost entirely around Austin in places even a newbie like me could recognize.  This film is also over two hours, which allows for plenty of time with a large cast of different characters as they try to meet and greet people in an age where online communications can be so distracting and create all sorts of misinterpretations.  This is a really fun movie.  Flawed for sure... it's social commentary was dealed out a little too directly, and not every toilet humor scene seemed necessary or effective.  But as the cast and crew were introduced after the film, I had felt that in my filmwatching history I had never seen a movie that looks more like a huge gang of talented people just having a blast in making the best movie they could.

I laughed probably as much at this movie than at most theatrical comedies starring big celebrities.  Even the amateurish jokes rang true because these people weren't in it for a big paycheck.  The characters also weren't cartoonish (well some of them were a little overblown for even more comic relief)... they talked like people I know, and heck if I hung out in Austin instead of Des Moines in my early twenties (no knock against Drake) I might have done a lot of the things they do.  I don't care about technical difficulties or scenes that fell flat, because to make 2 hour plus comedy that flew by takes a lot of skill as a filmmaker.

Imagine the motivation of an Adam Sandler and whoever produces his next movie.  Adam Sandler gets millions of dollars, the producers get all the tools they need to make a high quality looking movie, because its guaranteed to make money.  What motivation is there, other than pure artistic integrity of those involved, to make a movie that is consistently funny from beginning to end?  So many mainstream comedies offer up the laughs you need in order to not feel cheated, but cheapen those laughs with a LOT of padding in order to move the narrative along and make the film last over 70 minutes.  It's been disappointing to say the least.

Now imagine the motivation of Erica Marsallis-Lamanna (who friended me on facebook once I gave a positive review, incidentally), who wrote and directed this movie.  I can't be in her shoes so I don't know all the budget and scheduling issues that made it at times not look or sound excellent, but you can see how motivated she was to make Generation Me as good as it could be.  Star power could not sustain a low-budget movie like this, so she had to create engaging characters, engaging themes, and just make it a whole lot of fun.  I'd almost rather see a movie like this that throws so much up there and come up short than to see a movie with a lot of resources behind it that has no heart.

I am happy I had a chance to see Generation Me but also getting more upset as I write this that there are movies like the American Pie series and whatever young adult movie of the day that represent such a shallow version of youth culture.  I hope this movie gets a lot of buzz and gives the director a chance to make more films.

Also, another weird thing, this movie marks the second appearance in this festival of an actress named Jamie Teer.  She was the female love interest in A Schizoprenic Love Story.  This festival gave me an appreciation for filmmakers but also to indie movie actors too, as I had to pay attention carefully before I realized that these two very different characters were played by the same person!

BIBLE STORYLAND (SAN ANTONIO FILM FESTIVAL 2012)

BIBLE STORYLAND (2012)

San Antonio Film Festival

As I discussed before, the unique feature about Bible Storyland was all about access.  You had the feeling that this was a testing ground for films before they really made the big festival circuit.  When I was waiting to get inside the screening for this movie, the DIRECTOR introduced herself to me, and even remembered my name a couple times later when I was being seated and during the post-screening Q+A.  I cannot say how willing I was to dismiss some very minor imperfections in this movie when you were able to meet the person who put their passion on the screen.  Not only was the director there, but the documentary's main protagonist, Harvey Jordan, an art dealer from Southern California whose obsession with finding out more about a failed religious theme park in the central drive of the movie.

Listening to the director's vision was interesting to me, though, because personally the most compelling idea in the movie (maybe it was the urban planner in me) was the failed attempt at creating a religiously-themed pseudo-utopia, with the accompanying interviews with historians commenting on what theme parks like Disneyland and Disneyworld were trying to achieve at the time of their creation.  And if I have to say anything bad about the movie, that particular topic didn't have enough depth to sustain the whole movie.  When the director said that that her film was really an exploration of Jordan's evolving obsession with Bible Storyland and his personal journey towards the acceptance of mortality I didn't really see it at first, and maybe it could have been less subtle. 

As I think about it though, the connections fuse together.  I think movies about individual obsessions come a dime a dozen, and if you followed every person around who had a pet hobby it would end up concluding the same way.  Jordan follows through his interest in Bible Storyland through the very end, and one of the final scenes is really unique in tone.  This is when Jordan presents his research and work on his obsessions to a group of elderly social club attendees who might have heard about the theme park plans in the 1960s, but now could barely care less.  It seems like he is rather humbled by this experience and is able to move on with his life.

Again, I chose this film on a whim because it fit into my festival schedule.  I had no idea who would be attending NOR that it was the world premiere of the movie.  But now that I've met the people involved who were able to present their perspective on their own creation, Bible Storyland is now a more compelling and personal movie than I could have imagined.

BEST FILMS OF 2011 (NUMBER 6)

#6

THE KING'S SPEECH

I think there's been a whole Oscar cyle since I've seen this movie, and it was released in 2010.  Nonetheless I saw this in Madison in 2011 so it was in the running for my top 10.  I'll have to say it's a movie that suffers from Oscar-winning residue.  This is the kind that makes not-bad but not-incredible movies the ultimate winners over much more interesting and deserving movies.  A look at some of my top 10 of 2010 shows this... True Grit, Social Network (that one was a little overrated, I admit), INCEPTION, WINTER'S BONE, THE FIGHTER... AND BLACK SWAN!  Not only were these movies great, they were also directed by visionaries behind tons of bold groundbreaking movies of the past 15 years.  Yet King's Speech won Best Picture, and Best Director... sigh, well water under the bridge.

Yes, the subject matter puts a lot of monumental global tension through a dim narrow prism in the form of the King's struggles with his speech impediment.  But put aside the need for a context with more gravitas and what you get is a very well acted and engaging story, rich in detail and surprisingly suspenseful.  Colin Firth's performance is just incredible... there is so much weight on the delivery of his words that your heart stops as he struggles.  Royalty is nothing if not without stature and the ability to impress, and this King, while not mentally weak, has to struggle so much early on to do the most basic speeches.  So it's not something I'm rushing out to see again, but it is a high quality movie with an honest expression of human frailty and its consequences.

A SCHIZOPRENIC LOVE STORY (2012)

A SCHIZOPHRENIC LOVE STORY

San Antonio Film Festival

As my journey through this very unique film festival continued, this screening was compelling because of the ability to get a little bit of an insider's view of the film business.  The film itself was entertaining and a fairly light and unique take on crippling mental illness.  The main character suffers from a trio of delusions in the form of three eccentric people... fortunately if you've seen Beautiful Mind you can understand the angle this film is taking towards the portrayal of this guy's madness.  Through the process of his therapy and medication, and a friendly neighbor and love interest who decides to show up at his door.  Bruce Davison, who is best known to me as the guy who played the Senator that was turned into a mutant by Magneto in X-Men but who was also nominated for an Oscar, also has a small role and gives this film a little more clout.

The screening was attended by cast and crew, and it was a blast to see the people up on the screen right down in the multiplex afterwards to answer questions.  What was fascinating was how they talked about setting a film in a simple scene in order to prove to investors that they can make a low budget film with a compelling story.  That opened up a new idea on how to appreciate movies.  No one has a big budget to portray their complete visions as first-time filmmakers.  What they can do is try to weave an interesting tale with those limitations of scope and budget, and A Schizophrenic Love Story is an example of using the the perspective of a troubled mind to take a movie into weird realms while staying within a very simple setting.

INTO THE WAKE / SAN ANTONIO FILM FESTIVAL

INTO THE WAKE (2012)

WIFF 2012 FILM

Upon coming to terms with missing a chance to join Marge and Steve in Madison for my fifth Wisconsin film fest in a row with them, I was excited to find out that a film they had watched was playing at the San Antonio Film Fest!  Also, as an example of how many films are out there that will never be blockbusters, Into the Wake was the ONLY film from the dozens playing in Wisconsin in April that made its way to my new town's festival.

First off, Into the Wake made me nostalgic for the Upper Midwest.  Most of the movie's dramatic scenes are shot in what appears to be in the North Center or Ravenswood neighborhoods of Chicago, as well as around scenic vistas by the Wisconsin River that I became very familiar with.  Just like the Dark Knight movies taking place on the streets of Chicago had a weird effect, I think the familiar landscape personalized the cinematic experience for me.

 

About the film itself, I would consider it a slightly shallower take on Winter's Bone that is a tad less believable and a smidgen less well acted.  Given that Winter's Bone was incredible on so many fronts though, that means that Into the Wake was pretty darn good.  The thick rich vein that comes with backcountry family rivalries can be tapped to many ends, and the filmmakers gave the story a style and intensity it deserved.

 

Enjoying these recaps!  Maybe I'll make it a daily clip!

TRASH DANCE (SAN ANTONIO FILM FESTIVAL)

TRASH DANCE (2012)

So, now begins my recollection of my San Antonio Film Festival experience.  From June 18-24 I sampled a few movies.  A little different that the very popular and fun Wisconsin Film Festival, which I attended from 2008-2011.  First of all, hardly any details of the scheduled films were released beforehand.  The theaters weren't very full.  During the short film showcases I had to wait minutes at a time for the projectionist to load up the next 2 minute film.  These films were often student films of varying quality... some had very local colors and themes.  So, it is not something that I would jump at the chance to go again.  It's not an immerse film experience, and not a user-friendly festival to say the least.

BUT, what was interesting about this festival was ACCESS to the filmmakers.  One movie had it's world premiere and the filmmaker came up to greet me and remembered my name.  The cast and crew were available at most screenings.  I'm now facebook friends with two of the filmmakers.  What made this special was that by seeing the physical people that attempted to make their cinematic visions with a limited scope and budget it really personalizes the experience in a whole new way.  There were some real technical and thematic faults with these movies but you can tell there was a passion behind them, and it convinces you that with enough drive (and the willingness to commit money of course) anyone can make something, and it can have many redeemable qualities.  It was a real insiders experience.  I just wanted to watch some unique movies, but I was surrounded by aspiring filmmakers who talked about the business of making movies and using this fest as a forum as a testing ground to get their careers started.  

Trash Dance was my first film screened during the three days that I attended the festival, and while the theater was empty and the film was only 60 minutes long, it actually probably had the most compelling theme of the festival.  A choreographer in Austin specializes in creating pieces that make blue collar activities artistic. She wants to create a performance using real trash workers.  She is a real Austin weird artistic type but through patience and understanding recruits folks that don't seem to have any interest in interpretative expression begin to rehearse for her work.  You feel that tension.. that feeling that this is really out of place for her to be doing this.  But the life stories of the workers and the way she crafts something that respects what they do shows that you can't judge anybody at face value or working class level.  From the lady's spacey eyed thoughts on dance you think you'll have maintenance workers dancing around in leotards but it's pretty magical what she pulls off.

More entries from the San Antonio Fest forthcoming!

Jonah

THE INTOUCHABLES

THE INTOUCHABLES (2011)
2012 WIFF selection

I am far from the 2012 Wisconsin Film Festival now, but this film was the Audience Favorite at that festival, and it found its way to the Santios Bikou theatre a few weeks ago.  The Bijou is near my apartment, they show artsy movies, and it's one of those movie cafes like the Alamo Drafthouse.  Nice to have it nearby.

This is about the most interesting and entertaining version possible of a very cliched premise.  Basically you have two people from different walks of life forced by circumstances to spend time with eachother, and each person learns a little more about themselves in the process.  But it is warm and charming, with unique twists given the French setting and the race issues in that country.  It's not  enough to overpower the feeling that you've seen this before, but worth a try.

In case you haven't noticed, I am trying a one film per post format.  I hope to address every film I've seen despite the backlog, and maybe somedays I'll want to give a simple recap or another day I want to do some tangential essay about how the movie relates to life experience.  We'll see how it goes.

TRON (1982)

Enormous credit has to go to the Matrix for introducing the concept to me of a complete alternate reality created by computers.   These films aren't really comparable, but I think for my generation the Matrix was a gateway drug to this kind of heady science film, stylized in a slick way that the MTV generation could find appealing.  Now we have this earlier interpretation, where the computer wasn't a prison for humanity's minds but a universe where elements of a data network were personified into characters with distinct relationships to their system.  Pretty geeky stuff but approachable if you try just a little bit to understand it.

I can't imagine how mind-blowing this must have been for people from 1982 to see this.  1982... when I was one year old!  You have to excuse me for laughing at the special effects, because  sometimes it was just too much.   "Why don't they fill these graphics in!" I was saying to myself.  But in actuality Tron likely pushed movies to the absolute edge of what they could accomplish visually for it's time.  I might assume that a movie focusing on innovative graphics would be all flash but no substance, but I actual found very little movie cliches that could take me out of the story for the duration of the film.  I think it's effective, in particular, when you have to focus on the alternative lingo of a new world.  Finding out what a "program" means to these characters, as well as a "user", and an "MCP" gives you an additional puzzle to acclimate to this universe.

I think the power of a completely realized cinematic world is that you actually feel like you were cheated by the movie's running time in that you couldn't explore this world for days.  Tron isn't some overhyped baby-boomer geek fetish.  It's the real deal... a stunning and exciting visual kaleidoscope with a solid story and concept.

Grade:  A-

NUMBER 7

NUMBER 7 FILM OF 2011

 

URBANIZED

So, here I am now, moved from Chicago to San Antonio in a big career and big life move.  I was able to build off of a small portion of my work in Rockford into a new position that is full of challenges and new opportunities.  My municipal organization is different, this big city is very different, and the range of duties and tools at my disposal are at times better and at times more frustrating than my old position.  My title is "Senior Planner" but the explanation of my position to outsiders is getting more and more difficult.  "What planners do..." is becoming a hard question to answer, as the academic pursuit of a planning degree gets further distant from the practice of fitting into a multifaceted group of professionals... some of which don't need to know how important your training is, but rather what you can deliver to the department. 

With time I now have great memories of seeing this movie in the Gene Siskel Film Center (one of my final cinematic experiences) in a theater full of urban planning students, a few old professors and scattered groups of oddball planning enthusiasts.  Urbanized showed for only a limited run and this was the final screening.

This film wasn't perfect.  I was joking with my Chicago planner friends that this wasn't quite the propaganda I was looking for that could turn people to the dark side and be full flag waving supporters of community planning.

What it provided was something more nuanced however.  These vignettes of the complicated situations that arise when folks try to organize space is a reflection of the often chaotic contexts in which planners work.  What is one group's opportunity for grand urban transformation is another group's destruction of natural heritage.  As I work more on specific projects and physical sites in my work I'm going to try not to lose sight that planning is an inherently philosophical profession.  Whether it's a suburban cul-de-sac or a gentrifying neighborhood, planners can't exist unless there is a universal understanding that organizing around the good of a community is an approach that can provide benefits to everyone. Urbanized encouraged that kind of conversation in an age of individualism, and it makes it essential viewing, and at least a top ten film for me.

Cleaning

The halfway point of the year has almost passed, so soon I will need to roll off my Favorite Films of 2011 for safekeeping.

For now a little housecleaning as I was dragged out to see some fairly pleasant big-screen blockbusters over the past few weeks.

MEN IN BLACK 2 (2002)

Almost completely forgettable.  Saw snippets of this on Cable TV over the years and trusted the reviews that said it was a crappy sequel.  I only watched it to take advantage of my uncle's big TV and to prepare myself for #3, which he bought me tickets to see in McAllen when I visited them over Memorial Day weekend.

MEN IN BLACK 3 (2012)

I have to say I was really surprised when I read reviews that said this was actually good.  Maybe a good 10 years is enough to let the motivation for a cop-out sequel to die down a bit and for someone creative to tackle this world again.  And actually, while it didn't completely shed its sequel grime (a telltale sign is the tongue-in-cheek repetition of tired elements of previous movies), it was engaging and weird, with a really powerful ending.

GOD BLESS AMERICA (2011)

Ah, back to obscure indie movies.  This movie was promoted by Writer/Director Bobcat Goldthwait on no less than 2 comedy podcasts which I pay attention to.  I was worried that it wouldn't reach my area.  But it did play in hipster-haven Austin when I visited.  First off, this was my first experience in the Alamo Drafthouse Austin Ritz, right on the main strip of clubs and music venues downtown.  Great theater with full restaurant service.  Neatest of all, it wasn't your chain cinema roll of previews they showed prior to the movie, but a mixture of clips that really prepared you for the movie.  I'm talking Bobcat Goldthwait comedy clips, the climatic scene of Taxi Driver, previews for vigilante movies, and disturbing exceprts from the trashiest actual reality shows like Toddlers and Tiaras and My Super Sweet 16.  The movie isn't perfect but taps into a dark place, the kind that feels like it would be such a release to lash out at the mean-spirited ignorance and stupidity of the world with brutal violence.

PROMETHEUS (2012)

My first visit to San Antonio's IMAX multiplex... a lush and beautiful science fiction film that demands your attention at first but reverts (not in an entirely bad way) to chaos as the monsters take over.  Ain't It Cool's review says it is best to not think too much about Alien when watching, which is very difficult to do.  Especially for someone who gets a kick out of quality foreshadowing (Star Wars Episode III for example) it was hard to ignore the callbacks to gory invasive alien procedures.  But if you don't try to make too much sense of it and evaluate it on its own it's pretty satisfying


MIDNIGHT IN PARIS (2011)

Oscar Count

Best Picture 4/9 -- Best Director 4/5 -- Best Original Screenplay -- 2/5

OK, there's been a consistent cleverness in Woody Allen's movies throughout, but a cynical side of me is thinking that he's given too much credit just for not being terrible with some of his recent movies.  I haven't had time to watch any movie he made in between 1989 Crimes and Misdemeanors and 2006's Match Point, so I can't judge, but this was entertaining but minor.

OK, line them up for the next month of viewing.  I'll be back.

CAPTAIN AMERICA:  THE FIRST AVENGER (2011)

Blu-Ray

Another installment from Ruth and Jay's collection.  A really good action movie.




THE AVENGERS (2012)

Regal Fiesta Theater - San Antonio

In some way I'm so glad I was lazy and dismissed those other superhero movies when they were in theaters.  Watching Thor and then Captain America in the course of two weeks and then watching this was like watching some kind of huge big-budget miniseries.  This movie really feels like a culmination of lesser comic book movie parts (that all had redeemable qualities).  With this and Cabin in the Woods, Joss Whedon is on a roll and is providing me with the best subversive and straightforward cinematic entertainment this year.

LE BONHEUR (1965)

Criterion #420

via Hulu Plus

Back to the artsy stuff after a long absence. A stylistic lush permeates this film, and you can see the influences in filmmakers of modern times that establish a tone just by letting characters or groups of characters move within an expansive enviornment.  It's a completely satisfying but cryptic expression of man's pursuit of happiness through women.  Like the best of these older foreign movies, it has a coherent structure, but leaves you with a very unique emotion at the end.  Those are the "dated" movies that make an impact, the ones the dig up a new sense of feeling that you didn't know what existed.  What was this old French filmmaker (a woman, significant for the directors working at the time) trying to say?  What were her motivations?  Le Bonheur intrigues you into finding an answer.

Film Report

Films over the past month

and blogger.com is reformatted?  Hmm...

CABIN IN THE WOODS (2012)

Absolutely wonderful.  I was giddy about writing a long post about this movie at the time, but I'm a little weary of making a whole diatribe now that time has passed.

Basically this movie attacks you on so many levels.  It's not a profound story that is filmed, which is one set of quality cinema.  Rather it is all knowing wink to any film geek that 'gets' satire, genre films, and subversive attitudes towards movies.  It is definitely one of the most nasty movies to spoil... I honestly felt that even the previews ruined some things for me.  But you can't just go to a horror movie... you need a context, and horror movies need a context to be entertaining and relevant.

I'm sorry... too vague... but basically there is a moment in this movie that is nearly the perfect listhmus test for everything I look for in complicated odd cinema.  During that moment if you don an all knowing grin or display a sense of giddiness, then you are one of my kind.  However, if you were confused, or frustrated that the moment wasn't "scary", or if you started actively disliking the film after that point... well then we better find other common interests because you are not going to movies for the same reason as me.

BRIDESMAIDS (2011)

Oscar Count
 - Best Supporting Actress - 1/5
- Best Original Screenplay - 1/5
There is one key argument left for going to the actual movie theaters.  When you are stuck there, it's considered impolite and distracting to take out your cell phone and check e-mail, etc.  When watching a movie at home I find myself shocked and a little appalled that I can't focus for a long time on what should be a complete cinematic story without fiddling with my smartphone.  BUT, could it be reflective of the quality of the movie I'm watching that I'm reaching for that phone when a movie slows down?  It should really be attention grabbing from start to finish to be timeless, no?

Bridesmaids was on my radar because of its critical acclaim, and there were some truly funny moments and performances.  But like most hyped comedies there were character-building scenes in between those funny moments and it got into a boring pattern that couldn't rivet me.

THOR (2011)

I've got to catch up comic book movies... especially because The Avengers is supposed to be real good and it came out last weekend!  And this movie was in my Netflix 'Q'... it just happened that my Texas Aunt Ruth came to visit me with some spare Blu-Rays from my Uncle's collection.  So be prepared for some more popcorn as I make my way through them (and downgrade to a cheaper Netflix plan in the process).

So I'll have to say that on average it was watchable.  The set designs of Norse God world were pretty stunning.  But it was juxtaposed with some very irritating Natalie Portman stuff where she talked in nervous girl cliches and smart allecky quips in the presence of the big towering stud that are superhero represented.  Ain't it Cool thought her scenes were believable and I just thought they were shallow and dishonest and distracting from a big flashy movie.  Some of the action pieces on Earth seemed a little cheap looking as well.

Despite that I have to say... it's fun to see a character from Iron Man 2 pop up and just tie together a saga that is likely to go through multiple films of mostly good quality.  Captain America will be next!

Film Log

BROADCAST NEWS (1987)

Criterion #552

OSCARS 1987

BEST PICTURE (1/5)
BEST ACTOR (1/5)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (1/5)
BEST ACTRESS (1/5)
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY (2/5)

Getting my 1987 film credentials up to par with this one, when I original had only Woody Allen's Radio Days and Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket in the docket as the Oscar-nominated films from that year.

Despite my general annoyance with As Good As It Gets, I knew that James L. Brooks was known for sharp honest dialogue and this is an incredible movie full of characters whose depth and complicated personalities don't belong in the eighties. Holly Hunter was in Raising Arizona the same year and her sweetness takes on a whole new shine in Broadcast News. You are in awe of her aggressive newsroom personality in once scene and you just collapse when the career mode is taken away and she becomes an emotional wreck. The tension is great because the love triangle takes place in parallel to the battle over journalistic integrity, strengthening both conflicts.

All I've got for now.

A huge film update

Greetings from San Antonio Texas!

Lots of transition time... and a pretty light movie watching schedule. The top 10 films of 2011 will have to be continued at another point.

There have been some adjustments to my entertainment budget and multimedia setup...

1) No longer have cable. Comcast OnDemand movies are no longer an option for me.
2) Continue to be a Hulu Plus subscriber... in fact with the lousy bunny ears I have on my TV, broadcast TV is a lousy option
3) CinemaNow is a pay per view service through my PS3 that will provide cinema options
4) With the money saved I have now upgraded to the 2-BluRays a month Netflix plan!

Enough semantics... got to catch up.

BAMAKO (2006)

This movie travelled from Rockford to Texas with me in a Netflix envelope. It was the first new movie I watched upon my big move and transition. I'm ashamed to say I dozed off multiple times and had to watch it in 20-30 minute spurts. I was probably pretty exhausted from my move, but it isn't exactly the most engaging cinema. The movie's device is a mock trial of the World Bank with various testimonials from Malian citizens. It's interspersed with a personal narrative (and a cameo by Danny Glover)... it's difficult and definitely one of those alternative films to dabble in occasionally.

BE LIKE OTHERS (2008)

WIFF 2008 selection - watched via Hulu Plus

This documentary is centered on how people deal with such a warped religious doctorine regarding transexuality... but I also had a undercurring feeling that when it comes to the Iran regime, their doctinairre is barely less brutal than what is the operation philosophy in most American conservative circles. In Iran, you see, homosexuality is a sin punishable by death. Sex change operations, however, are condoned, as way for people to fix their bodies to fit their desires. So homosexuals can only follow their desires without getting completely harassed by undergoing incredibly invasive surgical procedures. It's a brutal emotional and physical situation these people are put in, and it's riveting from start to finish.

ABDUCTION (2011)

Watched via CinemaNow

I should definitely explain. One of the Comedy Podcasts I've been listening to is How Did This Get Made? where a few cool comedians tear apart (or giddily praise) a bizarre/crazy/so-bad-its-good movie. It's a very satisfying update of the whole mst3k formula... usually covering mainstream movies that were really really terrible. It's the only way I ever want to "watch" Smurfs or the Twilight Movies for example. There's a preview episode every other week, and these podcasters were having so much fun that I really wanted to see one of these movies for myself before the main episode. So there's this movie with the Wolf from Twilight, which I watched late one night. The tricky thing is.. for a few moments I was compelled by this movie, which I think defeats the purpose of watching a movie because it's "terrible". Fortunately the podcasters really tore apart the stupid parts of the movie, and it was a very satisfying experience. I'm ready to see one of these really awful movies though... this one was a little bit too good for this podcast.

THE HUNGER GAMES (2012)

Watched at Quarry Theater - San Antonio

Yes, after 5 years I am living in an incredibly exciting City in a really interesting job, so there's no reason whatsoever to spend my time indoors in a movie theater. But this movie's marketing campaign could not let me out of its talons, and I absolutely had to see it. It was actually really solid, but I knew that the PG-13 going in would mean that this brutal event wouldn't be depicted with the blood and violence that it might have deserved. And the "rules" of the game seemed a little more tighter than the one depicted in the Japanese movie Battle Royale (which I had discussed). I think the characters carried the movie through it's weak points, and I might have to read the books to see where the whole saga goes from here.

Whew... all new movies covered (might as well let you know I watched my Blu-Ray of A Clockwork Orange and a Netflix Blu-Ray of Where the Wild Things Are in the interim). Talk more soon!

BEST FILMS OF 2011 - NUMBER 8

RED CHAPEL

You will probably never find a movie, especially a documentary, where it is so much fun to describe the incredibly complicated premise.

This selection I saw at the Wisconsin Film Festival of 2011 is a very rare look into North Korea. In order to get permission to film this country as candidly as possible, the Danish filmmaker proposed a cultural exchange program. Two Danes of Korean descent offer to perform as a comedy duo for a select North Korean audience. The reasons why the North Koreans accept are a little hard to fathom, but it boils down to using these visitors for propaganda purposes. Through their record performance they can both show their openness to their Westernized Korean brothers and to show how ridiculous the non-Communist world is through the absurd and ridiculous antics of this comedy duo's performance.

BUT WAIT, there's more, and it adds an even more dark and weird turn to this film. One of the Korean-Danes actually is a spastic (his words that he uses for himself, which I hope isn't offensive). He has a speech impediment and uses a wheelchair. His presence serves two purposes for both the propogandists and the sneaky Dane filmmaker. He is used as a propaganda tool because of the suspicion by many human rights activists that North Korea has actually executed many disabled people over the years. This is a way for them to counter some of those suspicions. From a more immediate standpoint, the disabled Dane's speech impediment makes it very hard for the North Korean "handlers", already challenged by the Korean-to-Danish translation, to decide whether what is being filmed and what is being said will undermine the regime if the footage is allowed to leave the country. So you get a few incredible moments where this guy says how ridiculous everyone in North Korea is to their faces, and this footage actually makes it out of the country intact for our American eyes to see!

What a premise! And it's honestly a hard one to sustain, especially through interesting but unfocused sidetracks where the disabled Korean begins to feel sympathy for their North Korean tour guides and resists chances to humiliate them. Even the filmmaker himself questions whether he is abusing his authority and exploiting these two Danish-Koreans for less-than-noble purposes. All this introspection takes a little away from the satire the film tries to accomplish but it does offer another level to the documentary.

It's hard to believe there isn't any other way to get this kind of access to North Korean society, but despite the films flaws, whatever this filmmaker did to find this window into an incredibly disturbing world was worth it. The whole convoluted setup to get this kind of openness from an oppressive regime actually makes it a fitting portrayal of a crude and iconoclastic country so dedicated to using lies, delusion, and overinflated egos to ignore reality.

WHO ARE YOU, POLLY MAGOO?

WHO ARE YOU, POLLY MAGOO? (1966)

via Hulu Plus

2/3 Eclipse Series 9: The Delirious Fictions of William Klein

Eclipse is a special edition of Criterion Collection Films that are in the form of box sets of one director's work or sometime a cinematic theme. Most of the Eclipse collections are now on Hulu Plus and it's another way to sample a substantial palette of a certain director's style and to feel like a completist by watching a complete set of available films.

Quite a while ago, I decided to get started trying out the Eclipse set with Mr. Freedom (1969), directed by William Klein, who was a famous 50s and 60s fashion photographer who mostly made documentaries and was an American expatriate in France. Mr. Freedom was fairly narratively incoherent, but contained a lot of unique editing and bizarre imagery to sustain a viewing. It was also referred to as the most anti-American movie ever made by one critic, but it was so crazy it was hard to pick up the social commentary.

The earlier film in the collection (and I have one more film to complete this Eclipse set after this) provides pretty much the same kind of visual punch, although having it take place in the world of Paris fashion makes it a little more grounded. The ending is weird and definitely in inconclusive in the style of many art house films... but it definitely isn't boring and provides a very exciting visual snapshot of the sixties and revolutionary-style filmmaking.

BEST FILMS OF 2011 - NUMBER 9

ANOTHER YEAR

I have talked in length on multiple occasions about the amazing talent of Mike Leigh and the actors that work with him. Just a reminder... in all of his movies, he doesn't create scripts in the strict sense. Rather, he creates characters with a select group of trusted actors and then sets them loose in situations and encounters he develops that the actors haven't specifically rehearsed for. It's dramatic improvisation perfected. I can't understand the mystery of that kind of process, but the excitement that everything you see in his movies is being made up on the spot, that the actors are reacting as people AND as their characters, is incredible to behold. The fact that it stays so coherent and engaging is a credit to the direction and the performances.

Mike Leigh's last film, Happy-Go-Lucky (a top 10 favorite of mine for that year), had its momentum on the unrelenting optimism of the main character, a kindergarden teacher who remained young at heart and reacted with smiles and cheerfulness to all adversity. It was an inspiring performance which I at least hoped at the time would actually impact how I view the world. Yeah, it moved me a little bit.

Another Year gives us a calming and content middle-aged couple (Jim Broadbent, of Moulin Rougue fame, and Ruth Deen) that are less boisterous than the young lady in Happy-Go-Lucky but no less infectious in their warmth. What they have to contend with are some lonely and desperate people in their circle of family and friends. The style of the film makes it inherently slow and patient, but the realistic character moments make it very rewarding. The couple serves as the steady anchor of the movie, and I could find very little flaws in them other than the human quirks that are easily countered by the compromise and happiness that a successful marriage symbolizes.

The characters that rotate around them create such a sharp contrast, and they are definitely the dynamic force that drives the movie's tension, especially in the excellent performance of Lesley Manville as an aging flirtatious assistant in the Manville character's social worker office.

You can see the amazing power of people that find their soul mate early and have figured a major part of their lives out, and with that stability comes an amazing ability to be good friends to other people. But eventually as the film goes into a darker direction, the tolerant nature of the happy characters gives in to just a hint of annoyance at the people that cling to them expecting help in figuring out the major disappointments in their own lives. There's a limit to what even the kindest people can do for others, and you feel for the others that are going to have to eat some humble pie and find a different kind of peace than what this central couple has.

This is the kind of movie that I think impacts people in different ways. For anyone with someone special in their lives, it will for sure make them appreciate what they have. For others that don't, it provides a subtle suggestion that perpetual loneliness is mostly a state of mind, and you can always question your evolving standards of companionship without considering it "settling".

But I honestly have troubling nailing down a universal theme for Another Year which is why it is a little bit low on this list. It really is just another amazing unique movie by Mike Leigh.

TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY

Only a week ago since the Oscar nominations were announced!

And here's my tally of what I have seen so far of the nominees

BEST PICTURE - 3/9
BEST ACTOR - 2/5
BEST ACTRESS - NONE
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - NONE
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - NONE
BEST DIRECTOR - 3/5
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY - NONE
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY - 3/5

So some serious watching to do, but I am glad I am two away from a complete directors and adapted screenplays set... and the remaining movies are actually things I want to see!

TINKER TAYLOR SOLDIER SPY (2011)

I realized that seeing a classic spy movie in a theater is a rather rare occurrence for me. Other than James Bond the last time I remember an espionage movie being so powerful was Munich. This one was incredibly quiet and very dry, and required patience and attentiveness to appreciate. Being held complacent by the drab seventies cold war setting made the artistic hiccups of brutal violence very striking. Gary Oldman was so amazing. Hard to imagine this is the same guy as Zorg in The Fifth Element and good old American Commission Gordon in the recent Batman movies. I wish I made a point to see more of his performances because he completely sinks into a character. His head spy role here is so poised, that again those little hiccups of emotional expression are amazing to see as an example of the razor's edge of composure he is required to keep in order to do his job.

MARY AND MAX / MERMAID

Taking a break from the top 10 (there will be a lot of them) to log some more films I saw in the past week...

MARY AND MAX (2009)

via Sundance On Demand

This is a really powerful movie, one that combines a perfect style of animation with tone and story into something pretty emotionally devastating, but in a unique way. The animator Adam Elliot had some earlier animated shorts that sting in the same way, and which might be essential prerequisite viewing before diving into this. So glad I was able to find this.

MERMAID (2007)

via Sundance On Demand

WIFF 2009

A short description would be a Russian Amelie, but imagine general Russian bleakness being pushed onto a whimsical tale and this is what you get. Found myself a little disengaged and distracted by this one and the flights of fancy it takes. But its a good weird performance by the female lead.

TOP FILMS OF 2011 - NUMBER 10

THE DESCENDANTS

As I said in my original brief review the use of voiceover at the beginning of this movie is a lousy device. But as I start to think poetically in order to write my first top 10 film essay, I am beginning to forgive this inconsistent narrator that hovers over the first third of Alexander Payne's latest film, only to disappear as the strength of the characters and the performances carry the story to its conclusion. Without the voiceover, it honestly might have been difficult to explain the context of the complex real estate transaction subplot that is essential to the movie's powerful climax.

This movie is about loss, but also what makeshift emotional tools there are out there to cope with loss. Sometimes spirituality serves as a form of escapism from devastating losses, or other secular settings provide the right physical environment to contemplate the bigger picture. Several of Hawaii's islands are the setting of The Descendants, and this tropical utopia serves as a blessing and a curse, as the environment shapes an understanding of these character's contentment, but also makes the sadness of their situation more dissonant. In the cold Midwest its always interesting to see how seemingly perfect natural places are depicted as something other than a place to get away from mundane misery. The quick visit to Hawaii in Punch-Drunk Love for example seemed odd because the weird main characters didn't seem that phased by the awesome beaches they were surrounded by. On a more darker level, the beautifully shot landscapes of Brokeback Mountain, which in any other movie or nature documentary might symbolize the grandest of Creation, becomes a slowly mocking symbol of the increasingly confined (yet physically vast) world that these characters have to occupy to express themselves.

In The Descendants, the intangible and overpowering forces of paradise and beauty are relentlessly fighting against narrow-minded and petty attitudes. The Descendants is not a naive movie though... it doesn't suggest that time heals all wounds and that eventually you can move on from pain. Rather, I think it confirms with peaceful clarity that when someone or something is gone, it is very permanent in a very real way, and that jealousy and bitterness can not hold out indefinitely against an acceptance that circumstances have irreversibly changed. The Hawaiian setting provides that extra visual reminder that there is beauty in the world beyond personal emotions and hangups. Something can be taken, and eventually you can only hold on to that beauty, and appreciating only the best memories of that person. But after that loss, there's also a coda to that pain and acceptance, and that is the nagging sense that your own life (which you are fortunate enough to continue to enjoy) now needs to mean something a little more.

The Descendants navigates this nuanced emotional territory very well. Yeah, there's some clumsy moments with characters but gradually the movie begins to tell the complicated stories it needs to tell with images and raw emotions alone.

OSCAR NOMINATIONS TOMORROW!

Films of 2011 / Honorable Mentions

Before I start my top 10 it's time for a quick synopsis of the remaining films I saw this year, I wanted to go through some...

HONORABLE MENTIONS

LA QUATTRA VOLCE

This was an experimental film I saw at WIFF that I didn't get around to covering in my synopsis of the film festival back in April. It follows a path of reincarnation between an old man, a goat, a tree, and I think (I can't remember the film perfectly) a pile of coal. Yeah, it's pretty difficult. But you can see what it's trying to do, and it truly uses camera techniques and movement to try and tell a poetic story.

ANITA

WIFF selection as well... a tale of a mentally handicapped Argentinian Jewish girl who is shell shocked by a terrorist attack and is set on a confused path around Buenos Aries, as various characters with their old flaws are annoyed by her naivete but eventually altered by her complete innocence to darker elements of the world. This was pretty sweet and touching, but other movies covered newer ground for me.

THE ARBOR

And another 2011 WIFF... of the obscurities I saw at the festival this one actually showed up on the AV Clubs year-end list as one of their best films. It has a very narrow focus on the short reckless life of a ground-breaking London playwright. But I have to admit I didn't realize how compelling the documentary style was until I was reminded of it by the AV Club's review. The documentary uses actual audio testimonials from the subjects, but the actual visuals are staged with other actors lipsyncing to the recordings. You bet it was a unique experience. I wonder if this type of narrative style will pop up in new films, because it's true I've never seen anything like it before.

HOW I ENDED THIS SUMMER

I had tickets for this at 2011 WIFF, but had to leave early because of the weather (or maybe it was getting late... I've bailed out of WIFF before). HuluPlus came through a few months later. This dragged out a bit but at times it was incredibly tense. A young intern type and a seasoned scientist/engineer are stationed in a very remote Russian island to do radiation tests. The mood is set and some tragic news (delivered through fuzzy channels) creates something very dark. The tone is a little off sometimes and there's a central mystery to a character's motivations that doesn't give me anything more than confusion... which makes a 2 hour plus movie hard to sit through.

GOOD WILL HUNTING / HUGO

GOOD WILL HUNTING (1997)

"No one could possibly understand the depths of you. But you presume to know everything about me because you saw a painting of mine. You ripped my fuckin' life apart. You're an orphan, right? Do you think that I'd know the first thing about how hard your life has been - how you feel, who you are - because I read Oliver Twist? Does that encapsulate you? Personally, I don't give a shit about all that, because - You know what? I can't learn anything from you... I can't read in some fuckin' book. Unless you wanna talk about you, who you are. And I'm fascinated. I'm in. But you don't wanna do that, do you sport? You're terrified of what you might say. Your move, chief."

OSCAR COUNT

5/5 BEST PICTURE - 2/5 BEST ACTOR - 4/5 BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - 5/5 BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - 4/5 BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY - 5/5 BEST DIRECTOR

Watched via Hulu Plus

HUGO (3D) (2011)

Rockford Showplace Theater

Best Films of 2011

IT'S TIME...

I gave up on writing extensive entries for each film I've seen over the past year. No real explanation... I think I had adequately exercised my writing chops and just wanted to make sure I kept a record of all the movies I watched. But as much as I resist end of year sentimentality, I think I have to hold on to some summary ritual that attempts to wrap up my experiences in a nice little bow.

I will say that the films I liked this past year really didn't provide an absolute level of escapism that one might say represents the pure movie-going experience. In fact, after my top movie of 2011, the films drop down both in their ability to transport me to another place and in their overall package of complete quality that would make them really timeless. What we have instead are very unique character experiences and derivative ideas that, despite their limitations, are executed nearly perfectly. Even if you couldn't tune out the rest of the world very easily with these movies, the engagement that these films both big and small had with real moments and consequential topics kept me grounded in reality in a good way.

So, just to remind you... my rules for the top 10, with very few exceptions, are films that I saw in theaters in 2011. That means that the many times I did a whole cost-benefit analysis with my time and money and determined to use my astronomically expensive cable connection to see an older movie at home (streaming, on-demand, etc.) instead of the blockbuster as the local theater, then those older movies will NOT appear on this countdown and instead live on as long as the Internet is up and running with their single film log entry in past blog posts. Or maybe they could appear later in a special topical countdown. Who knows?

I'll start next time with a quick recap of honorable mentions and the disappointments with a few short comments. Covering those will actually fully cover all of 2011's eligible films, believe it or not. Stay tuned...

TINY FURNITURE / MIAMI BLUES / SPECIAL WHEN LIT

IT'S COMING.... MY 2011 FILM IN REVIEW! Can't wait... or I probably will.

Anyway, this is the first film log entry of 2012... wrapping up what I watched on my holiday break.

TINY FURNITURE (2010)

"I just got off a plane from Ohio. I am in a post-graduate delirium."

Criterion #597

Watched via Sundance Free On Demand

I vaguely heard of this movie when it was listed as playing at the great Music Box Theatre in Chicago. I dismissed it when it popped on as one of the free on-demand offerings but then it got the upcoming Criterion blessing so it became a viable movie watching option.

Pretty quirky and honest... and it is once again refreshing to hear people talk like normal 20 somethings. The honesty is understandable once I found out that the writer-director-star's real sister and mother played the character's sister and mother, and the bohemian Manhattan house that the movie was shot at was also the actual family home. Didn't like the ambiguous abrupt ending though which didn't seem to symbolize anything for me.

MIAMI BLUES (1990)

New Cult Canon

"Where IS the whipping cream?"

Watched via Movieplex HD on Demand

One of the very first entries in AV Club's New Cult Canon feature, this was also not on the top of my list, because... well, a movie from 1990 with Alec Baldwin as some kind of criminal seems like it would just look soooo dated. But it was all right. The feeling I get from most of these almost great cult movies is that there are really weird engaging completely unique moments at a pretty good clip, but they are often interspersed with scenes that can remind you how much time you're wasting. It was a great performance to watch though, and I can understand it's charm.

SPECIAL WHEN LIT (2009)

WIFF selection

Watched via Hulu Plus

A documentary from a previous Wisconsin Film Festival available via my new Hulu account... that ISN'T available via Netflix. Music to my movie-accessing ears/eyes/whatever. Not bad... gets a little fragmented at times, but a nice window into the weird world of pinball fans. A nice looking film too... it reminded me of how neat pinball machine art is, but also how confusing all those pinball bonuses could be. Also a reminder that Chicago is the historic pinball capitol of the world.... I can't believe I haven't taken advantage of that fact in my time in Illinois!