Click here to hear my thoughts on what films managed to get nominated for Oscars...and which films didn't.
Monday, January 30, 2012
The Oscars and Antidepressants
Click here to hear my thoughts on what films managed to get nominated for Oscars...and which films didn't.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
The Top 35 Films of 2011: #10-#1
10. The Descendants What a wonderful movie this is. Director Alexander Payne has a unique gift: the ability to create worlds and characters that are instantly recognizable and–most importantly–instantly relatable. He’s firing on all cylinders in The Descendants, taking what are fairly played out storytelling tropes–an exotic land (Hawaii), a coma, an affair, a single parent attempting to raise his/her troubled children, etc.–and elevating them so as to make them grounded. He’s even able to take George Clooney, one of the most familiar stars in the world, and make him...well, just a little less familiar. The Descendants is this year’s everyman movie.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Thoughts on 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' Phenomenon
Click here to hear some of my thoughts regarding the cultural phenomenon that surrounds Stieg Larsson's trilogy.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
The Top 35 Films of 2011: #20-#11
20. Rango
Rango is not a children’s movie. It’s not even really an adults movie. It is, first and foremost, a movie lover’s movie–a big, messy scattershot of ideas and influences, ranging from Sergio Leone all the way up to Hunter S. Thompson. The animation is beautiful; Johnny Depp is delightfully quirky, even in CGI form; the story is both witty and pleasantly standard. Yet Gore Verbinski makes no qualms about who he is catering to with Rango; it’s a film that is for film fanatics, made by film fanatics.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Friday, January 13, 2012
The Top 35 Films of 2011: #35-#21
35. How to Die In Oregon
If this isn’t the grimmest, most devastating movie of the year...well, then please don’t tell me what is. How to Die In Oregon takes an up close look at legalized assisted suicide, both in its legal and personal repercussions. It makes for a tough, at times almost unwatchable ordeal; yet the film is always honest, and never gratuitous or insensitive. And regardless of one’s own political beliefs, it’s impossible to deny the power in watching someone take life-ending prescription pills and then waiting for the end to come. Don’t watch the film to be entertained; watch it to be be pained.
Monday, January 9, 2012
Saturday, January 7, 2012
The Six Breakout Stars of 2011
Michael Fassbender:
Shocker, right? Like anyone didn’t already know that Fassbender was this year’s biggest breakout. Consider the films he starred in in 2011: Jane Eyre. X-Men First Class. A Dangerous Method. Shame. All, to one extent or another, acclaimed pictures. All well recognized. All widely seen. Throw in next year’s double-shot of Steven Soderbergh’s Haywire and Ridley Scott’s Prometheus, and you’ve got a lineup that Brad Pitt or George Clooney would envy, let alone a newcomer like Fassbender. The man is great–what else is there to say? He was stuffy in the best ways in Jane Eyre and A Dangerous Method. He compelling portrayed Magneto’s inner anguish and pain in X-Men First Class. And his portrait of a sex addict in Shame is positively devastating. He’s an actor that can seemingly do everything.
Like I said: Breakout of the Year.
The Four Most Disappointing Films of 2011
4. Captain America: The First Avenger: I already outlined my thoughts on Captain America in my Most Overrated list, so I’ll be brief here. My main disappointment with the film lies in the blandness of its central character–unlike equally notable film heroes such as Tony Stark, Peter Parker, or Bruce Wayne, there’s little to nothing to hang upon Steve Rogers’ shoulders in terms of actual personality or character idiosyncrasies. Without a basic hook, there’s only so far that the already generic proceedings can go.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
The Six Most Underrated Movies of 2011
6. The Green Hornet: Unlike a few of the other films on this list, I can actually sort of see why someone wouldn’t take to The Green Hornet. For one thing, it’s comedic style isn’t exactly for everyone, and at the end of the day, you’re either a Seth Rogen fan or you’re not. I personally happen to adore the guy, and found that his frat-boy comedy style translated splendidly with the trappings of the typical comic book movie.
What can I say, I loved pretty much everything about this movie, from Jay Chou as Kato, to Christoph Waltz as the villain, to the action-finale set at the newspaper, to the film’s irreverent and slightly sloppy edge. No, it wasn’t exactly as deep or innovative as The Dark Knight or even Spider-Man 2...but as pop entertainment, I found it quite fun.
The Six Most Overrated Films of 2011
6. Contagion: I like Contagion. I think it’s a well directed, well acted piece of studio filmmaking. But do I think it’s “a hugely gripping blockbuster?” Do I think it “offers the best thrills of 2011?” Do I think it’s “the most gut-grabbing non-zombie pandemic thriller” ever made?
C’mon.
Look, there’s a lot to like in the movie. Matt Damon, Kate Winslet and Marion Cotillard are all reliably strong, and Jude Law is as slimily compelling as he’s been in a long while. But the story itself? It’s just so...routine. Nothing about the epidemic narrative is especially ambitious or surprising. Director Steven Soderbergh injects an admirable chilliness to the proceedings, but even he can’t mask the film’s familiarity. Like I said: I like Contagion. I think it’s a well constructed example of a well trodden story model. And that’s all.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Top Six Most Pleasant Surprises of 2011
As the year finally 2011 winds to an end, various critics and bloggers have all begun to post their various Top 10 and Best of lists. I’ve flirted with the idea many times, but only now have I decided to make the effort to actually contribute my own personal lists. So, with One Man Film’s Tangent's recent creation, the time seemed perfect to take the plunge. Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll publish my various lists, ranking everything from Best Performances to Most Overrated Films. Hopefully it’ll make for interesting conversation.
6. Final Destination 5:
First things first: no, Final Destination 5 wasn’t exactly ‘good,’ at least not in the conventional sense. In all honesty, its quality is par for the course from past installments–the characters are wooden, the writing is stilted, and budget wise, the whole thing looks uncomfortably similar to a SciFy feature. Yet unlike 2009’s The Final Destination, it was also a surprisingly good time at the movies.
Director Steven Quale keeps his tongue planted firmly in his cheek throughout 5, and it helps–unlike the previous films, Final Destination 5 seems to be completely self-aware of its own inherent looniness. The methods of death are more ridiculous, as are the physical killings themselves–see the gymnastic scene for proof. Yet the film’s biggest surprise lies in its opening disaster sequence, wherein a bus full of teenagers are stuck on a collapsing bridge. It’s a visual marvel, and one of several pleasures in 5 that are by no means guilty.
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