TOP 10 FILMS OF 2013

Happy 2015 everyone!

For posterity's sake (is that the right phrase).  Here's a list I came up with a year ago, with the idea that I would plan a little writing for 2014.  Alas, not much happened.  Will be trying to post essays of the top of 2014 when time allows.

10.  MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING - Dir: Joss Whedon

9.  IRON MAN 3 - Dir:  Shane Black / THOR:  THE DARK WORLD - Dir:  Alan Taylor

8.  MODEST RECEPTION - Dir: Mani Haghighi

7.  NO - Dir:  Pablo Larrain

6.  LIFE OF PI - Dir:  Ang Lee

5.  DJANGO UNCHAINED - Dir:  Quentin Tarantino

4.  NEBRASKA - Dir:  Alexander Payne

3.  12 YEARS A SLAVE - Dir:  Steve McQueen

2.  THE ACT OF KILLING - Dir:  Joshua Oppenheimer

1.  GRAVITY - Dir:  Alfonso Cuaron

CATCHING UP 

This is going to be one of the saddest posts around, as a representation about my general neglect for my idealistic mission to focus my writing through personalized film criticism.  But consider this a way for me to clear the air and start fresh with whatever I'd like to do regarding this form of expression.

My last top ten film essay was over my #2 selection Win Win, and that was actually recalling my top 10 of the PREVIOUS YEAR.  I have a whole set of top ten films seen in 2012 that I haven't shared yet.

Needless to say, my #1 film seen in 2011.

SUPER 8

A seamless blend of modern sci fi suspense and the cleaner fantasy of the 80s film adventures (like E.T.) that really hit the sweet spot.

Plenty of time to think about a long form essay on that movie (especially since I need to see it a second time to reevaulate).

Now, the top 10 of 2012.

#10  GENERATION ME

Seen at the San Antonio film festival, a real low-budget honest film.  Not perfect, but the characters are so organic and funny, just hanging around Austin,  that it feels very close.  I become facebook friends with the filmmaker afterwards and have been following the production of her next film through her posts, creating a really unique connection with a filmmaker that makes me admire indie films even more. 

#9  KILLER JOE

First time ever seeing a film adaption of a play I had previously seen in a theater.  Completely engaging to see how the different mediums translated, and the choices made by the writer and director to enhance the plot for the moving pictures medium.

#8 MOURNING

Seen at the art museum as part of their Global Lens series.  Iranian films always feel a little different and expose you to new cultures and emotional sensitivities.  Almost always shaken by the movies from that country and impressed with their style, and this film is no exception.

#7  THE MASTER

Challenging to understand what Paul Thomas Anderson was going for here, but it just makes me want to see it again.  Great intense performances throughout.

#6  THE AVENGERS

A invigorating and tight adventure.  Every hero gets some powerful screen time and interesting interactions with other characters.  So much fun that I just will immediately go to see any marvel movie from now on.

#5  SKYFALL

Action franchises continued to completely exceed expectations.  Beautiful settings, disturbing dark undertones, all grounded in the patience punched plotting you would expect from 007 movies.

#4  CABIN IN THE WOODS 

 Completely sublime movie watching experience.  Subversive and full on inside jokes.  Had to be careful not to let my inner film snob take control.. it's a scary and entertaining movie on its own.  But I had this great feeling that I was enjoying the movie even more because I "got it" in a deeper way than someone who would blindly cash out for a first weekend showing of Saw 7 or Final Destination 6 without looking for something more clever beyond the familiar gore.

#3 TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY

Gary Oldman gives such a bone dry performance that the level headedness he adopts in the most intense situations of global consequences provides more suspense that 1000 explosions.  The tone of percolating betrayal and sinisterism is maintained throughout the movie through direction, plotting, and acting.

#2  MOONRISE KINGDOM  

Wes Anderson writer/director in a pure form that is still evolving. Exciting, quirky, touching.  Hard to not make it #1.

#1  LOOPER 

Rian Johnson's film debut from a few years ago was so fascinating and fully realized in form and style, that I was secretly hoping that as a filmmaker he would continue to grow and inspire.  Looper is INTELLIGENT science fiction with such a full atmosphere that was completely satisfying.  Yeah, it's a genre picture but if Johnson can dump this much care into an original idea... not tied to some comic book or other franchise... I'm ready to follow him wherever.

2ND TIME AROUND - INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS

[spoiler abound]

I was hoping to start a new type of blog entry a long time ago about what new things I experienced upon seeing a movie for the 2nd time.  But I'm starting that now. 

I'm so overwhelmed by the opportunity to see such a wide range of movies  that it is hard to prioritize what I will see for a second time.  Fortunately I have somewhat formalized the second viewing movie selection process.  If a film is one of my top 10 of the year, then I make a point to see it again sometime.  Even limiting things to that 10 each year is difficult.  Not only do my various year-end lists accumulate to dozens of movies over each year (this blog has top tens going back to 2008), but when I see a movie that second time, I pick up so much nuance and complexities that I start questioning why I don't watch every movie I like a second time!

Case in point... Inglourious Basterds!  I wasn't too INSANELY thrilled with it the first time around, but now I am ashamed for being even the slightest bit disappointed.  Quentin Tarantino's scripts are deceptively multi-layered, and I believe the thrill with seeing a NEW TARANTINO MOVIE as it first comes out is such a rush that you are kind of hyped up the whole time.  Then as the filmmaker start to play some little tricks on you with expectations and pacing it becomes a little harder to appreciate.  But that's what the best films and filmmakers do, raise questions and give you some twists that stay with you as you leave the theater.

But after finally watching it a second time, and with Django Unchained fresh on my mind, I am appreciating this a whole lot more.

I might make this a multi-parter but the most intriguing dimension about Basterds experience #2 was the commentary on myth-making and the medium in which those myths are made.  I think a somewhat distracting aspect of Basterds the first time around was, with all the epic dimensions of World War II and Nazi philosophy, that there were so many scenes discussing movies and the detailed setup of the climatic scene in the cinema at the conclusion of the movie.  Now, on second thought, it is almost the perfect setting to understand what the movie is doing on a grand scale with all the characters and scenes.  This is because of the ability of movies and cinematic propaganda, in the wrong hands, to manipulate emotions in volatile situations to alter the reality that the masses believe in.

There is this fascinating commentary throughout the movie on the mix between the myths created by the enemy on each side of this epic conflict and the actual reality in which they behave. 

In the opening scene, Colonel Landa is pretty much 99% sure as soon as he walks into the dairy farmer's house that he is hiding Jews, and he uses his incredible evil charms and performance to use the reputation of the Nazi regime's viciousness to get the farmer to break down and confess to his crime without a single bit of physical torture.   

In turn, it is often more important that the legend of the Basterds spreads among the Nazi soldiers, then if that ragtag group is necessarily successful, tactically, in defeating the Germans.  When fake Hitler tells the only survivor of the attack in the ditch from the film's second major scene to not utter a word to anyone and his experience, he understands that as the legend of the Basterds grows-- of the 'Bear Jew", of the scalp collecting, of the inhumanity of this group as they seek vengance-- it will be a logistical distraction to the nervous rank and file as the war continues.

In this regard, the scene around the showing of the Nazi propaganda film at Shoshanna's cinema is very fitting, while not as subtle.  The young soldier is incredibly shaken by the cinematic depiction of his bravery, because he was actually there and  had the memories of killing all those people, while the audience uses the movie to build up their own emotions and belief in the courage of their regime.  The cinematic myth and the actual memories are too much to deal with, so the soldier wants to find comfort in his own mythology of unrequited love and decided to escape with a visit to the projection room where Shoshanna is making the final plans for the mass extermination of the theater-goers.   The soldier, after being clearly rejected for the last time, can no longer act like the smitten young man he pretended to be and succumbs to his uniform and image, becoming just as brutal and angry as any other Nazi.  Good and evil, predator and prey, are now more clearly black and white, when it comes to what the powerful can do to the weak. Or is it that cut and dry?  Because after Shoshanna shoots the young soldier, she looks at the filmed depiction of him suffering during Nation's Pride, and is manipulated into having just too much empathy for that character on screen.  She then gets close enough to the young Nazi shot on the flow, not quite yet incapacitated, to bring upon her demise.

These elements within the movie are fascinating themselves, but then there is the whole experience of the movie Inglourious Basterds itself, as it comes to the modern viewer and how he comes to terms with this movie and the real history of Nazi Germany.  Because, in fact, this movie is emotional propaganda for anyone who wants to believe, at least temporarily, in the fantasy that what went down in Europe in the 1930s and 1940s wasn't as epically horrendous and destructive, to Jews and Gentiles alike, as it actually was in reality. 

There was actual criticism that this movie was rather callous towards the actual Jewish persecution at the time.  By dehumanizing the Basterds through their brutal actions it does take them down to the Nazi's level, in many degrees.  No doubt war was hell for both sides in the actual war, and creating this amorality definitely makes it hard to condemn one side as completely evil.  It is definitely NOT a movie for young people to be INTRODUCED to the history of the time (God help us if teenagers slack off at history class in high school but lap this stuff up).  But this thematic thread of the cinemas power to create myths and emotional comfort applies to what contemporary viewers bring to this movie as well.  We don't want the Nazis to 'win' either, and Tarantino plays with that emotion by not only making the Nazi's lose, but making most of them all die in most extreme, ridiculously violent and painful way possible.  I'm not sure if we are supposed to feel bad about feeling elated when this happens, but if you know enough about the actual Holocaust (or the seige of Leningrad, and so much more) you hold a dark comfort as this movie makes at least a fictional version of the most horrible people in history get held accountable for what they 'did'.  

Which brings me to the conclude by discussing the confusing journey of Colonel Hans Landa, brilliantly performed by actor Christoph Waltz in a way that makes it so we will very likely never understand everything that motivated this character.  I think, upon my first viewing 3.5 years ago, this character's switch, prior to the cinema massacre, threw me off, but now I understand it a lot better.  I think the strength of that first scene (and our expectations fully realized of what Tarantino plus Nazi plus brilliant actor could do) set up a belief that this person is an unshakeable, brilliant, and completely loyal SS officer.  Fast forward 4 years later, and he is still as intimidating as ever, but perhaps a little exhausted in holding onto a myth in his regime's superiority and very clearly tired of his once-proud nickname of the "Jew-Hunter". 

Colonel Landa's charms don't seem to be completely in service of the Jew-hunting cause.  As with most of his violent characters (Jules in Pulp Fiction, Bill, Ordell in Jackie Brown) Tarantino wants to make you personally like his most disturbing characters so that you are filled with a mix of satisfaction and dissapointment when they are threatened.  The nuance of Landa doesn't stay hidden for very long, as he shows "mercy" on Shoshanna, and lets her run away even after he has her in his gun sights.  Small comfort after he just supervised the murder of her entire family, but also suggests he is more interested in his own grand feelings of being powerful than exterminating every 'rat' he finds.

It's not entirely clear how dirty his hands get as he presumably performs additional high-level security tasks for the Nazis over the years, but my second viewing almost convinces me that his strangling of the spy actress Von Hammersmark was his breaking point.  Rather than another culmination of a tension-filled interogation to weed-out another hidden traitor, you can see Landa visibly shaken by the level he has to go to take care of this problem.  All his personality and sophisticated manner in which he does his job is finally thrown out the window when he has to take care of a problem by removing life from this world with his bare hands.  You think that his methodical way in which he rounds up Brad Pitt is suggesting he is moving on with business as usual, but he now wants to act in his own self-interest and use the Basterds to betray his regime and leave the "Jew-Hunter" moniker once and for all, while also wiping the slate clean on all his past actions.  In Tarantino's perfect use of ambiguity in dialogue, Landa doesn't offer a clear answer to Lt. Aldo Raine on the welfare of  Von Hammersmark, suggesting that the poised colonel was starting to believe this was one killing too many in service of a regime that he no longer believed in.

Once you take on the identity of a group with a reputation, however, you can't just switch alliances through your actions alone.  It turns out, in the incredible final scene, that Lt. Aldo Raine was the character most fixated and confident in who the enemy was, come hell or high water.  Colonel Landa might have made a deal that saved lives, betrayed his country, but he will always be a Nazi.  I'm sure many Jews who thought they were good patriotic Germans were branded, literally and figuratively, despite of their actions.  It was something they couldn't take off, regardless of what kind of profession they had or what kind of life they lived.  Thoroughly beating the Nazis at their own game had to mean not only beating them tactically but thinking of the enemy as savage subhumans.  Lt. Raine  callously projects that mission as the movie's final statement. 

"Something you can't take off"... Brad Pitt's character says before he deforms the foreheads of the survivors of his attacks... that could easily mean something you can't switch off.  Because while movies and myths live past their makers and their impact is effected by the audience that hears them over time, there's nothing subtle about an evil symbol carved into your body.  Landa might have been loyal until that turnaround at the very end, but in an almost cartoonishly fixated way, Lt. Aldo Raine always thought of Nazis as monsters that had to be destroyed, regardless of what rank they are or how much humanity they demonstrated when under duress. Aldo Raine's branding is a brutal action in multiple ways given the context of the themes in this movie, in that it 'cuts' through the acts and deception everyone and everything is playing on eachother.  That person was a Nazi, and that's all that matters and all that will matter as these surviving characters live their future lives (presumably with a hat or heavy layers of forehead makeup).  Does it create even an ounce of sympathy for the Nazis in this movie universe?  I think it creates the potential for sympathy, but the film allows the observer to see the actions of Nazis mirrored through the Americanized actions of the Bastereds.  Then a viewer can question their own knowledge of history, their own past, and their own heritage, and reach their own conclusions.  Some of that questioning of who deserves sympathy will be enveloped in myths, images, and rhetoric.  It doesn't take away from what actually happened once upon a time in Nazi-occupied France, but Inglorious Basterds, while being a fun suspenseful movie on one surface, also portrays how contemporary audiences might approach a significant part of human history whose perception has been warped by time and artistic interpretation.

#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.