kingrat
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Posts posted by kingrat
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Jake, thank you for the information about the Saggies. SPOTLIGHT is a good choice for best ensemble performance. THE BIG SHORT also had some fine performances, but it is more of a director's and editor's show, whereas SPOTLIGHT depends on its script and its actors.
However, last night I saw a film I consider superior to both: BROOKLYN. This story of an Irish girl who comes to America in 1952, falls in love, and then is called back to Ireland where she meets another man, is close to perfection. Some comedy, some tears, some romance, always in the right proportions. Only halfway through did it occur to me what a magnificent job of direction John Crowley was doing. The camera is right place at the right distance showing us the right emotion. Saorise Ronan is perfect as the main character, and there are no weak links in the supporting cast.
Crowley's work reminds me of a classic era director like Zinnemann or Preminger. There's none of John Ford's underlining or stage Irish cuteness. This is real Irish, not stage Irish.
BROOKLYN must just be finding an audience. There were about 100 people in attendance last night at the show I saw, and everyone seemed to be loving it.
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Great idea for a thread, filmlover!
My choice for the Best Film of 1947 is BLACK NARCISSUS for its sublime cinematography by Jack Cardiff, the imaginative direction by Michael Powell (every shot tells you something about the art of direction), and a great cast headed by Deborah Kerr and Kathleen Byron.
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I had no idea Frank Finlay was so old. He was magnificent as Iago, just the way I imagine the role. Too bad he didn't make more films.
Lawrence, thank you for posting this sad news.
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I liked CAROL and would recommend it. Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, and Sarah Paulson are all first-rate, the costumes evoke the era (1951-52) splendidly, and my car collector friend would enjoy seeing some of the old cars. The script is an intelligent adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's novel THE PRICE OF SALT. Rooney Mara is in no way a supporting actress--she's probably on screen as much as Cate Blanchett, if not more.
However, I will join the puzzlement of Bogey and others about why CAROL won the NY Film Critics awards for best picture and best director. Todd Haynes' FAR FROM HEAVEN was an attempt to re-create the Douglas Sirk mode for themes Sirk couldn't have treated openly. He achieved his goal, but some (including me) wondered if the result was more a museum piece than a living film. Haynes seems to taken his critics too much to heart, for CAROL looks all too much like a 2015 film, despite the loving re-creations of the period.
The cinematography is, to my mind, surprisingly poor, or at least not to my taste. I consider the current period one of the two lowest points of cinematography, the other being the Sepia Sludge era of the 1970s. Where is our late lamented FredCDobbs to complain about how underlit some of the scenes are, for no apparent dramatic reason? The scene when Carol consults her lawyer is one example out of many. This is 2015 cinematographic cliche; you see this sort of thing on TV as well as in the movies. Haynes also overdoses on rain-streaked cab windows and car windshields and diner windows, as if he had been watching too many imitation New Wave movies. This gets very tiresome.
Rooney Mara is made up to look as much like Audrey Hepburn as possible, and Cate Blanchett, one might say, has the Lauren Bacall role. Bacall would definitely have worn those clothes, the fur coat, and the little hat. Had CAROL been made at the time the novel was written, and without the production code, would we have been seeing Hepburn and Bacall in bed together?
I should also add, on the positive side, that this has to be a perfect lesbian date movie, and Rooney Mara will gain some devoted fans.
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Last night I saw SPOTLIGHT. There were some problems with the sound throughout--not sure if this was the theater or the 70s style of not making all of the dialogue as clear as it needs to be. The opening of SPOTLIGHT is flat and not well paced. It came to life ten or fifteen minutes in with the first appearance of Billy Crudup as the trial lawyer Eric Macleish, who gave a much-needed jolt of energy.
Fortunately, the film does build, and the more the story unfolds, the more gripping it becomes, and seemingly, Tom McCarthy's direction improves, too. The performances are all very good, the writing is solid, and the production design is admirable. I don't see Mark Ruffalo's work as Oscar-worthy, which is not to knock it. I thoroughly appreciate the way the performances are underplayed--a performance cannot be more underplayed than Liev Schreiber's, yet that seems right for a character who never shows his cards. It's easy to imagine an approach that has all the reporters emoting heavily as they come to realize the horror of the situation.
Michael Keaton as Walter Robinson, John Slattery as Ben Bradlee, Billy Crudup as Macleish, Stanley Tucci as Garabidian, Jamey Sheridan as Sullivan, and Len Cariou as Cardinal Law are all outstanding, as are others I'm probably forgotting to mention. The minor parts are cast with actors with faces who look like they belong in Boston, such as Rachel McAdams' grandmother or the woman who plays the priest's sister.
The story is so compelling that I was very glad I had seen it, though a crispness of approach from the beginning, establishing characters from the get-go, would have made the movie even better.
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CaveGirl, here are a couple of other examples for you:
Two of the best, most honest, and most accurate films ever made about the South are WILD RIVER and COAL MINER'S DAUGHTER. WILD RIVER was directed by Elia Kazan, who had grown up in New York and whose parents were Greek immigrants from Turkey. COAL MINER'S DAUGHTER was directed by Michael Apted, an Englishman.
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I want to second filmlover's recommendation for SHOW PEOPLE. TCM has shown this several times. Marion Davies is a delight as a Southern gal who wants to star in the movies.
A couple of comedies just missed making my list: KIKI, wonderfully directed by Clarence Brown, and MY BEST GIRL, which shows why Mary Pickford was America's sweetheart. She's a delightful comic actress.
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Favorite silent films (this includes two post-1929):
Passion of Joan of Arc
Sherlock Jr.
The Cameraman
Our Hospitality
The General
Steamboat Bill Jr.
The Circus
The Gold Rush
City Lights
Modern Times
Show People
The Crowd
Siegfried (first half of Die Nibelungen)
Metropolis
Safety Last
The Freshman
Thief of Bagdad
The Battleship Potemkin
The White Sister
Pandora's Box
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Kingrat's Kingliest, Rattiest Films, At Least Today (chronological order, more or less):
Sherlock Jr.
The Cameraman
Passion of Joan of Arc
Duck Soup
Port of Shadows
Black Narcissus
Deep Valley
The Long Night
Stray Dog
The Furies
The Wages of Fear
La Strada
Ashes and Diamonds
Vertigo
Bonjour Tristesse
The Key (1958)
The Nun's Story
Wild River
Whistle Down the Wind
Lawrence of Arabia
The Manchurian Candidate
King Rat
28 Up
Un coeur en hiver
Napoleon Dynamite
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You guys have given me so many more titles to check out. I'm completely impressed by how many movies some of you have seen, and how you have been keeping records for years. It's a great example for the rest of us. This mad dash through the decades has been a great pleasure with such good company.
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2010-2015:
Life of Pi
The Artist
Hugo
Ida
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
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Of the handful of films I've seen this year, the best was THE BIG SHORT. I'm looking forward to seeing several others. I also recommend PAWN SACRIFICE for some fine performances, especially by Tobey Maguire as Bobby Fischer. He would probably have received a Best Actor nod if people had actually seen the film. I also really admired Steve Carell's performance in THE BIG SHORT.
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The Judge is decent, with a good grumpy turn by Robert Duvall, and solid supporting roles from Vera Farmiga and Vincent D'onofrio. Robert Downey Jr spends much of the film in pseudo-charming jerk mode, and your tolerance for that may determine your mileage. This film will almost definitely disappear from my list after I have seen more titles.
Lawrence, be warned, I am going to steal the phrase "pseudo-charming jerk mode." That hits the nail on the head squarely. There is a lot of that going around these days, and my tolerance for it is not too high.
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Sorry, guys, I didn't know you were waiting on me. Just having some lunch. Despite some historical inaccuracies (Commander Denniston was one of the good guys, and the one who brought women into the codebreaking program), I liked THE IMITATION GAME, which had a fine feeling for the period and a great performance by Benedict Cumberbatch. And on to 2015!
Oh, and I want to second the recommendation for IDA. Definitely a favorite.
And for 2013 I should add the lovely period film BELLE, with the beautiful Gugu Mbatha Raw.
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I saw almost no movies in 2013 except on TCM. However, I did like SAVING MR. BANKS quite a bit, and would recommend PHANTOM, a little-seen film about a Russian nuclear sub on an unknown mission, which had a good script and strong performances by Ed Harris and William Fichtner. Benedict Cumberbatch was excellent as Julian Assange in THE FIFTH ESTATE.
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Favorites for 2012:
1. LIFE OF PI - Would have been even better if Ang Lee could have cut, say, fifteen minutes of Pi's talking to the tiger. Everything else is brilliant. The use of CGI to create visual beauty rather than clones killing each other. A profound religious allegory.
2. ARGO - The fake thriller elements toward the end--are they going to get on the plane? will there be bloodhounds snapping at their rear ends?--is the only false move in an exciting and very well directed film.
3. THE WORDS - If only this film had a great ending to live up to the rest of it. I'm not sure I'd ever seen a film that I'd assumed was an adaptation from a novel, but was in fact an original screenplay. Fine performances from Bradley Cooper, Dennis Quaid, and Jeremy Irons.
Is it a sign of the times when Abu Dhabi sponsors an anti-fracking film (PROMISED LAND)? The movie wasn't very believable, but Frances McDormand manages the unusual feat of giving a superb performance in a mediocre film.
I certainly agree with Bogey about the excellence of Daniel Day Lewis, Jennifer Lawrence, and Jacki Weaver.
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I regret not having seen THE DESCENDANTS and THE TREE OF LIFE.
Favorites for 2011:
1. THE ARTIST - Weak script; gorgeous music, cinematography, and direction.
2. HUGO - One of the few Scorsese films I like as well as admire.
3. THE IDES OF MARCH - I'm glad to see that Bogey also liked this one. This could be a film by Zinnemann, Preminger or Wyler. Excellent script, with several characters facing moral dilemmas at different points. George Clooney is a capable director, much more so than Tony Gilroy, who directed Clooney in MICHAEL CLAYTON.
4. THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL - An interesting phenomenon: popular with audiences, panned by some critics as "predictable." I've noticed this is a common tactic to put down movies that appeal to those over 50. Action movies, horror movies, and comic book movies are rarely dissed as predictable. I believe that some critics actually resent the existence of movies aimed toward an older audience or else think it wouldn't be cool to like them. I didn't think MARIGOLD was particularly predictable in the way that some of the storylines went, and there was some interesting casting against type that was successful. Surely Ronald Pickup and Tom Wilkinson would normally have swapped roles, and Maggie Smith is not the first actress I'd think of to play a working-class character.
5. MIDNIGHT IN PARIS - I hope the charm holds up on a second viewing. I got the movie and cultural references (like the great moment with Bunuel) and my spouse mostly didn't, but we both enjoyed the film. Owen Wilson is a great substitute for Woody in the leading role.
6. LE HAVRE - TCM showed this film by a Finnish director about an old man in Le Havre who befriends a young illegal immigrant from Africa.
7. THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN - Wasn't too successful commercially in the U.S., but I thought it was fun.
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If THE KING'S SPEECH and THE SOCIAL NETWORK were the best films of 2010, as the awards givers suggested, then 2010 was not a very good year. I would certainly give a thumbs up to both, which were certainly well-made films, but in a good year neither would be a serious contender for the top ten. THE TOWN was an enjoyable thriller. About on a par with these three is a film which hasn't been mentioned yet:
LOVE CRIME (CRIME D'AMOUR) - Did you ever wonder what ALL ABOUT EVE would be like as a French Neo-Noir in a business setting? Kristen Scott Thomas is the boss, Ludivine Sagnier is her protegee. Sagnier has the larger role; both are excellent.
Fortunately, 2011 has a handful of films I can actually be enthusiastic about.
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I'll go ahead and post my end of decade best, but I hope others will continue to post top tens for 2009, so maybe I can catch up with some of them.
Favorites for 2000-20009:
1. NAPOLEON DYNAMITE
2. BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
3. SIDEWAYS
4-6. LORD OF THE RINGS
7-10. HARRY POTTER AND: THE SORCERER'S STONE, THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS, THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN, THE GOBLET OF FIRE
Alternate: THE HOURS
There, that wasn't difficult, was it?
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Bogey, back in 2009-2010 several of us had a game where we would come up with titles like:
TWILIGHT, BREAKING DAWN 2: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE
2009 was an intense year of TCM-watching, and the best movies I saw that year were things like SHERLOCK JR. and Cocteau's ORPHEUS.
Of the 2009 releases I saw, I did enjoy Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci in JULIE AND JULIA. Poor Amy Adams, a talented actress I like, but I kept wanting her scenes to be over so we could see more of Meryl as Julia Child.
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MILK is the only film I saw from 2008 that might (or not) be considered a favorite. But I'd started watching TCM obsessively, so all was not lost.
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Lawrence, I just realized that none of the Harry Potter films are included in the 1001 lists. I checked the website to be sure. This is odd, given that some movies are obviously chosen because they were very popular at the time of release. At a bare minimum, I would expect the first one and perhaps the third one (because of Alfonso Cuaron).
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Bogey, only for you is 55 films a year not many! As for Lawrence . . . amazing. The few films I saw were not too impressive, but there were these:
(Lukewarm) Favorites for 2007:
BREACH - Good film, superb performance by Chris Cooper as Aldrich Ames, a conservative Catholic spy who did it for the money.
THE GOLDEN COMPASS - Did not become the next Harry Potter franchise. Did not even manage to get the other two books in the trilogy filmed, mainly thanks to Philip Pullman's outspoken atheism. Still, this was an enjoyable film.
THE DARJEELING LIMITED - Somewhat disappointing, given the possibilities, but Owen Wilson is a plus for just about any movie.
THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM - Another good entry in the Bourne series. The CIA doesn't solve the problem, it is the problem.
CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR - Interesting to see a movie about the need to kick the Russians out of Afghanistan. Be careful what you ask for. I agree that Philip Seymour Hoffman is excellent.
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I'm thinking that my best of the decade list includes only films from 2000-2005. However, I did scrape together six films of the second rank for 2006. All have already been mentioned.
(Lukewarm) favorites for 2006, no particular order:
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA - I totally agree with Bogey that Meryl had a supporting role. Worth seeing for Meryl. Unexpected bonus: when I visited New York in 2005, a friend arranged a brunch at the Mayrose Cafe, which turns up as a location in THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA.
THE QUEEN - Worth seeing for Helen Mirren's performance.
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE - Not profound, but fun.
THE GOOD SHEPHERD - Much underrated, and I would welcome more films directed by De Niro. Too bad Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie have absolutely no chemistry, like Katharine Hepburn and Robert Mitchum in UNDERCURRENT.
THE PRESTIGE - Here's an additional reason for hating the swarm of comic book films. Christopher Nolan's work in MEMENTO and THE PRESTIGE was quite good. In any other era, he would have directed something other than Batman films. I hated BATMAN BEGINS and wanted to walk out, but thought THE PRESTIGE was one of the best films of its year. Nolan has become rich and famous, so at least he has that going for him.
THE DA VINCI CODE - An acceptable, if far from great, adaptation of an unbelievably popular novel. However, beginning with this film many critics turned viciously on Ron Howard.
I'm not sure I like THE DEPARTED enough to add it to this list. In some ways, I think the script had more potential than the film realized. I'm afraid I thought Jack Nicholson's death scene was as over the top as Lillian Gish's death scene in DUEL IN THE SUN.
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Top Ten Films of...
in Your Favorites
Posted
Favorite Westerns of the 1950s (alphabetical order):
Day of the Outlaw
The Furies
High Noon
Man of the West
The Naked Spur
Ride Lonesome
The Searchers
Vera Cruz
Warlock
Westward the Women