I saw about 74 movies that came out in theaters this year (believe it or not). You can figure out how much money that is; I really don't know or care, I'm pretty tired right now. I kept a list since the beginning of the year of what I saw in theaters, including ones that came out late last year, and ones that had come out on DVD this year but I didn't get a chance to see in theaters. So, here they are in order, for your enjoyment:
the white countess, bubble, fateless, the three burials of melquiades estrada, the matador, firewall, dave chappelle's block party, running scared, cache, neil young: heart of gold, v for vendetta, l'enfant, inside man, the devil and daniel johnston, thank you for smoking, lucky number slevin, slither, friends with money, the notorious bettie page, brick, united 93, mission impossible 3, art school confidential, lady vengeance, x-men 3, over the hedge, an inconvenient truth, cars, peaceful warrior, nacho libre, you me and dupree, a prairie home companion, the proposition, superman returns, clerks 2, pirates of the carribean 2, miami vice, little miss sunshine, talladega nights: the ballad of ricky bobby, jesus camp, the descent, snakes on a plane, beerfest, half nelson, the illusionist, idlewild, crank, mutual appreciation, sherrybaby, hard candy, the science of sleep, a guide to recognizing your saints, the room, little children, the departed, inland empire, marie antoinette, the prestige, saw III, babel, last king of scotland, borat, volver, come early morning, casino royale, the fountain, tenacious D in the pick of destiny, the queen, dreamgirls, the pursuit of happyness, children of men, rocky balboa, letters from iwo jima, and notes on a scandal. ha!
God, I love movies. I could drink them. But this year really sucked.
Here are my top 10 of the year....I guess. It's a bit rough, in my opinion, but I have to make one for newspaper regardless, so here you go. I'm definitley going to add the explanations for each of them underneath as I write the article, but here's the list for now. (Runners up are Hard Candy and The Notorious Bettie Page.)
1. Mutual Appreciation
2. The Departed
3.
4. Half Nelson
5. The Prestige
6. Dave Chappelle's Block Party
7. The Science of Sleep
8. Jesus Camp
9. United 93
Comments, questions...
4 comments:
just remembered what i forgot to tell you...my chief criticism is that you put two gondry movies (block party and science of sleep, the latter of which is more like an honorable mention).
Gondry's a director I respect a lot, in that he can be extremely creative and not abandon his audience at the same time. (Unlike, say, David Lynch, whom everyone I know loves to hate except me.)
I admit "The Science of Sleep" was not a perfect movie--neither was "Children of Men" or "Pan's Labyrinth", anyway. But it's just that I'd rather spend my time in Gondry's mind than I would Del Toro's or Cuaron's. He makes better use of a lower budget and personally I can identify with his characters a lot more. (Not to mention that all three of the aforementioned movies were made for completely different reasons.)
And "Block Party" is self-explanatory--that is, if you love hip hop. It's rare that you get to see great live rap performances, by the best rappers, and all in the same place. A lot of people wanted a Dave Chappelle comedy sketch--that wasn't the point. It's a testament to his love for celebrating music (as he sometimes did on his show), bringing people together, and in the end, shows a whole other side of his personality that the show didn't begin to cover.
You should rent "The Work of Director Michel Gondry" DVD--it has some of the best music videos I've ever seen, and will convince you that Gondry has a lot more going on in his mind. (Don't YouTube the videos, please--the quality is awful compared to DVD.)
No movie is perfect...even in A.O. Scott's massive suck-up fest for Iwa Jima, he said it was "nearly" perfect. So of course, Pan and Children of Men (which isn't my second favorite movie of the year anyway) aren't perfect. Having seen some other Gondry films too, like eternal sunshine, even though that's partly Kaufman, he does have a whimsical genuinly interesting mind. But what I loved about Pan that I liked about "Sleep" is that it made me want to go into Toro's mind much more than Gondry's. Both films, while exploring different themes, used similar means; in terms of semi-delusional characters who are either children or act like children. Bernal is extremely childish in the movie--his character flaw, you can argue. You have to realize that Del Toro's didn't have a massive budget either--and used some creativity as well to bring his story alive. And ultimately the story is the difference maker. The "melodrama" you complained about, I loved, even though I didn't think it was melodramatic, and you might've liked some of the strange humor, and subtle performances of the slower "Science." Both are sad in a way, at least I thought "Sleep" was but Pan's Labyrinth has such amazing pace and gruesome ending that it really hit me more.
Again, I dont' mean to critique. But discussion is great.
Thanks
I think "Sleep" was definitley a more self-indulgent film, which usually works against a movie, but I loved the freewheeling nature feel of it.
As I've told you before, I wished that there was more of a fantasy element in "Pan", but by the end of the movie I understood that it had served its purpose.
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