Monthly Report: August + September 2013

August was a busy month with work, so there was little time for movies, hence the lack of an August report. Here’s another double-monther to compensate.

Trance (Danny Boyle, 2013)
Cool and twisty thriller, presented with all the flash and flair we’ve come to expect from Mr. Boyle. In fact, this might be my favorite film of his since Trainspotting. Maybe. Okay, probably not. But it’s up there with Sunshine.
4/5

The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia (Julien Nitzberg, 2009)
A freak show kind of documentary with little intent other than to show off one train wreck of a redneck family. It’s lazy, mean, and a bit too long for its own good, but I won’t deny that it’s reasonably amusing for the most part.
3/5

World War Z (Marc Forster, 2013)
Started out as a War of the Worlds-ish family survival action movie, only to settle into more familiar zombie flick territory as it went along. Most of it works just fine; there’s nothing extraordinary about anything going on, but nothing offensively bad either. I’m not sure the film needed both the Korea and Israel sections, as it felt like they were just trying to cram as much of the world into the film as possible. The characters just went along from one location to the next without much flow to the story. Overall though, I was fairly entertained.
3/5

Butter (Jim Field Smith, 2011)
Clunky story that tries to meld feel-good comedy with an underscore of political satire to limited success. Hugh Jackman earns a few snickers, but other than that, there’s not a whole lot of laughter on offer in this one.
2/5

Flirting with Disaster (David O. Russell, 1996)
The rare comedy where all the characters are funny in their own ways. Plenty of laughs to be had here.
4/5

Shotgun Stories (Jeff Nichols, 2007)
So restrained it becomes nothing at all. The ending was handled nicely, but for the most part, this was quite the yawner, and very much a disappointment when compared to Take Shelter.
2/5

Before Midnight (Richard Linklater, 2013)
To say that I have been looking forward to this one would be an understatement. My initial reaction is that it’s a very good film, but the shift in tone from Before Sunrise and Before Sunset threw me for a loop, and I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, the new more bitter taste feels like a realistic evolution of the relationship between Jesse and Celine. On the other hand, I’m not sure that’s what I would have really wanted to see – though since when has “it should be more feel-good” been valid criticism? A film is what it is, and should probably be judged as such. I could see myself coming around to this one after some more time to process it. It does have the same qualities as the two previous films in the series, in that the fine writing and the wonderful acting from Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke makes it a joy to listen to these characters talk for 100-ish minutes.
4/5

Nick of Time (John Badham, 1995)
Sometimes, you look at the cast list of a film and are immediately intrigued. Johnny Depp and Christopher Walken is one such combination of actors that easily sparks my interest. Unfortunately, Sleepy Hollow this ain’t. As great actors as the two are, they can’t lift this one above the level of run-of-the-mill thriller.
2/5

Total # of new films seen: 8
Average score: 3.0 / 5
Best film of the months: Trance
Worst film of the months: Shotgun Stories

 

My Top 10 Favorite Movies of 1996

As usual, this goes by release year as listed on IMDB.

Honorable mentions: The Rock, Sling Blade

10 – FOXFIRE (Annette Haywood-Carter)

“Live dangerously. Walk me to class.”

A cool and thoughtful movie about the friendship that develops between a group of teenage girls, with drifter Legs (a pre-breakthrough Angelina Jolie) acting as the catalyst. Truth be told, I don’t remember much details about this film, but I do recall being quite taken by the earnest performances and the very 90s-y feel of the movie. Sadly, not many people seem to have seen this one. Do check it out if you have the chance.

9 – KINGPIN (Peter & Bobby Farrelly)

“It’s round, has three holes, and you put your fingers into it.”

I haven’t seen this one since the early 2000s, but this one got frequent play on my VCR back in the day. The humor is of the typical Farrelly brand; if that’s not your thing, this bowling comedy won’t change your mind. For those of us who like this stuff, Kingpin offers plenty of laughs. Having two great actors like Woody Harrelson and Bill Murray in the central parts certainly doesn’t hurt either, with Murray in particular stealing the show in the film’s climactic bowling game.

 

Monthly Report: April 2012

Looks like this will be a recurring feature after all! Here are the films I saw for the first time during the month of April, along with mini-reviews and ratings.

Horrible Bosses (Seth Gordon, 2011)
There are a few fairly funny lines in this one, but the real reason it (barely) succeeds is the cast. They have fun with their characters and find the right tone for the material – Kevin Spacey in particular is spot-on as one of the bosses. I have some pretty big problems with the plot, which is contrived in a non-funny way and feature more logic gaps than what’s easy to swallow. Overall, I guess the movie was okay, but I don’t see myself ever revisiting it.
3/5

Pleasantville (Gary Ross, 1998)
It’s always a delight when a movie grows as it goes along and becomes something richer than you expected. I had figured this one would be merely a fun-poking of old 50s sitcoms, and it looked that way at first. But then it changes and evolves, finding nuances in unexpected places and bringing up thoughts and ideas I though would be left unexplored. And what a stunning blend of black & white and color! Wonderful stuff. I wish I had seen this one before I made my Top 10 of 1998 list. It would have made the cut for sure.
5/5

We Bought a Zoo (Cameron Crowe, 2011)
Very formulaic for sure, with few surprises to behold to anyone who has seen this kind of drama-comedy before. But it’s sweet, it’s charming, it offers a surprisingly high amount of laughs, and the cast all put in solid efforts – from Matt Damon and Thomas Haden Church to Angus Macfadyen and Elle Fanning.  We Bought a Zoo might not be Cameron Crowe’s most daring work, but it has a lot of heart.
4/5

 

Better late than never: My Top 10 Favorite Movies of 2010

Most critics and bloggers put together their Best Of The Year lists at the end of the year. That doesn’t work for me. Many films take a long time before they arrive here in Sweden, a problem hardly alleviated by American studios scheduling a lot of quality stuff for awards season at the tail-end of the year. So by the time the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve, I’ve never seen all the films I feel I need to in order to make a list that has any chance of meaning anything.

But by now I feel like I’ve caught up on a lot of my personal must-sees of last year, so the time to make my own list is at hand. That’s not to say I’ve seen all there is to see. I’m particularly underwatched in non-English language films still, not to mention documentaries which people were saying had a banner year in 2010. But the great thing about lists is that they’re never set in stone. This list only reflects my feelings today, and might well look radically different one year from now.

There isn’t a ton of surprises on this list of mine, which I’m okay with. So far I’ve mostly focused on seeing the films people are talking a lot about. As time goes on, I will hear about and track down the smaller films, the forgotten gems, the new cult classics. The further removed you are from a year and the more you see, the more eclectic your list is bound to become. Time changes everything.

So here are my ten favorite movies of 2010 (note: listed as 2010 on IMDB), a particularly strong year of cinema in my opinion. Many films were hard to leave off, but that’s the way it is. No honorable mentions, no consolation prizes, no mercy. Just ten films that I love.

10 – GREENBERG (Noah Baumbach)

“There’s a confidence in you guys that’s horrifying. You’re all ADD and carpal tunnel. You wouldn’t know Agoraphobia if it bit you in the ass, and it makes you mean.”

Some people can’t stand the quirky characters Noah Baumbach comes up with. I can’t get enough of them. In Greenberg, we’re treated to two stand-out examples. One is the titular Robert Greenberg (Ben Stiller), a man angry at the world and obsessed with his own misery. It’s arguably Stiller’s most nuanced and impressive performance, in some ways his own Punch-Drunk Love. The other is Florence (Greta Gerwig), a woman whose life is in turmoil yet she still can’t help but bend over backwards to help people. Gerwig is even better than her co-star. A grimly funny film, true to life if not the one we live.

9 – THE SOCIAL NETWORK (David Fincher)

“Did I adequately answer your condescending question?”

David Fincher and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin play loose with the truth as they tell the tale of how Facebook came to be. Those wanting the real story ought to look elsewhere. The rest of us can enjoy the quick razor-sharp dialogue, the impressive performance by Jesse Eisenberg as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, the Trent Reznor-penned score and a fascinating tale of how in the pursuit of connecting people, two friends can drift farther apart than ever.