Anyone who knows me will tell you I love science fiction, and I especially love science fiction when it is clever, new, and refreshing. This brings me to Mark Romanek's Never Let Me Go. Now I may have started this wrong by classifying Never Let Me Go as a sci-fi, but to a certain degree I have to admit that part of it makes me love it slightly more than I already did. As this review continues, I am not sure how much will be a spoil and how much won't.
Never Let Me Go is the delicate tale of an alternate history where cloning was discovered early in the 1900s and the clones were used to save the lives of the naturally born. The film follows three of these donors as they go to a school specifically for donors, fall in love, grow up, have hearts broken, and move towards completing their donations. It is a story about characters whom the audience at first feels sorry for, but goes on to realize these characters are living life the same way any other person does. It is a beautiful and tragic and intelligent story.
The film stars Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, and Keira Knightley as the three leads. Each actor has grown into their own since breaking into cinema, but, as she did in An Education, Carey Mulligan pulls the film along. It is rare to find an actress so in control of her performance, of every inch of her body that she can control every scene with a flick of the eye or tweak of the lips. Her Kathy H is the both full of hurt and beauty and complexity, it is another great performance. Knightley and Garfield are both incredible in their performances and support the head performance of Mulligan perfectly. This is definitely their film and relies so much on their interactions, and they delivery beautifully taking the audience on a personal journey of heartache and discovery rare in any sci-fi these days.
There is this great misfortune in the world of cinema that the greatest entertainments are often overlooked. People tend to watch relatively tasteless and awful films and a great film like Scott Pilgrim vs. The World suffers at the box office. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is the story of one boys journey through the deadly baggage of his new girlfriend. In this film the baggage happens to be seven evil exes who fight and try to kill Pilgrim in video game styled fight sequences.
It is the great joy of this film that it is so informed by our contemporary culture with references to games like Street Fighter to sitcoms like Seinfeld. The film becomes an inventive exercise in style that maintains its large heart and delightful story. The strength beneath all of this is, of course, the direction. Some movies are writer's movies, some are actor's movies, and some are very much a showcase of directorial style. Scott Pilgrim displays Edgar Wrights typical flair for fast cutting, clever dialogue, and performances that are perfectly skewed to capture character. As mentioned before there is a brilliant reference to Seinfeld in which the entire scene takes place in a kitchen, has the soundtrack of Seinfeld, and even the sitcom laugh track which results in one of the more inspired and hilarious scenes in modern movies.
Something must be said, too, about Michael Cera in this film. Often seen as a one note player, it is refreshing to see someone pulling the right amount of quirk and heart out of Cera in the way Wright does. Michael Cera is perfect in the role of Scott Pilgrim and brings a great center to the character allowing the audience to relate and empathize with him even through all the over-the-top wacky antics that happen in the film that might take away from a weaker film. All in all Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is a great, often perfect, film that represents all the silly fascinations of our generation.
Christopher Nolan is one of those few directors who consistently makes inventive, bold films while still working within the studio system. Nolan is the man who has brought us such high concept studio films as The Prestige and the blockbuster The Dark Knight, and here with Inception he continues to wow audiences by crafting an audacious, wild, and original film that dares to remind you why we watch movies at all.
Inception is a film about a world where we have figured out not only how to infiltrate dreams, but to create them and share them in order to steal secrets from the unconscious mind. The film follows Leonard DiCaprio as Cobb, a man who cannot return to America for a crime he claims to not have committed and uses the dream sharing espionage in order to hopefully find a way home. The rest is a wonderfully detailed web for you to unravel and I will leave you to it if you are one of the six people who hasn't seen it.
The wonder of Inception is the way it weaves a seemingly convoluted narrative into something wonderful and fresh. It uses its characters and wondrous uses of montage to deliver exposition while also detailing and building its world and characters. What many people will continue to talk about is Nolan's visuals within the film, which granted are some of the most astounding and breathtaking things seen on screen since The Matrix came about. People will talk endlessly of the "hallway scene" as shown above or the way the world of paris seems to roll upon itself. Inception delivers on its promising premise by building all of its spectacle on the grounded performances of its actors, most notably to me are Marion Cotillard and Cillian Murphy, though many will point of DiCaprio, not unjustly. Go see it and figure out what the hype is about.
The Toy Story series one of those truly special franchises in film history much like the Lord of the Rings franchise or Back to the Future franchise. It is a series that has been made better with each addition, with each new character it has added depth. Now here we stand at the third and presumably final film in the series where we get to rejoin some of our most beloved film heroes in a story that will bring them to the edge of their lives and force them into the deepest and most profound place Pixar has dared to go with its child friendly stories.
The story goes that Woody and his pals are coming to terms with Andy growing up and now moving out when it dawns on them that without him they have no purpose. Through a series of mishaps the toys wind up donated to a daycare center where they are welcomed with open arms, that is, until they are booted to a toddler playroom where their days can be counted as torturous. Woody leaves to find Andy, the others stay and are forced to fight against the other toys as they fight to accept what their lives are and what it means to have purpose. The film eventually builds to a big reunion and one of the darkest, but philosophically satisfying climaxes in any childs film to date. Don't worry though, it is still a Pixar film.
I have grown up with the Toy Story franchise, I still remember seeing the original film in theatres with my mom and getting one of the toy story toys from Burger King right after. I remember empathizing with Andy as he cherished his toys as his best friends. I remember watching Toy Story 2 and feeling appalled that Jesse's owner would leave her like she did. Watching Toy Story 3 I remember the first day I left my parents home to move into college and had to say goodbye to all my childhood memories. I get Andy, I get his story, and I get his toys' story because in the end it is also our story. What makes Toy Story 3 great is that it uses a childs plaything to comment on our culture's constant desire to find "purpose" in life in lieu of being with the ones we love. I dare you not to tear up at the end of this film as you see your entire life played out by these plastic things we so carelessly cast away when we are "too old" for them. Easily one of the best Pixar films and definitely one of the absolute best of the year.
So it has been awhile since I have posted on here, but I will be updating with reviews of the films I have truly loved so far this year and hope to maintain my reviews through the remainder of the year.
In the early part of the 90s visionary director Tim Burton tried his hand at adapting Batman to the big screen. He brought to life two films that, sadly, have been forgotten in the presence of Christopher Nolan's gritty reboots. Burton created two films brimming with gothic vision a whimsy that he seemed to really understand what a comic book adaptation is before the big superhero fad of the past 10 years, it's a shame that people dismiss his films so easily. This all to bring attention to Burton's second Batman film. Batman Returns is the continuing story of Bruce Wayne in his self proclaimed mission to save Gotham City from the wretches who inhabit it. This time, however, instead of one villain in The Joker we have two in Penguin and Catwoman. The film itself is a delightful and wonderful adaptation, but the real gem here is Catwoman, or should I say Selena Kyle, or better yet Michelle Pfeiffer. Catwoman as a character has always been one of the more innately complex villains in Batman's rogues gallery. Catwoman has never been a real enemy of Batman, just someone working in opposition to, a foil to him if you will, but in this incarnation her alter ego Selena Kyle is falling in love wth Bruce Wayne, thus the true drama of Batman Returns. While in many cases Catwoman, and more importantly Selena Kyle, could have been played as a sex object who seduces Batman it is Pfeiffer who gives true life and depth to Kyle. Pfeiffer plays Kyle and Catwoman as a conflicted woman slowly losing her grip on the person she wants to be. Pfeiffer has those wonderfully revealing eyes that capture every inch of emotion so that no one can miss it without her saying a word, and in those eyes she brings so much to the screen. In this film Pfeiffer becomes the definition of a scene stealer, there isn't one moment of her screen time that the viewer isn't infatuated with her over anyone else, including Batman. While Batman Returns is a good film, in many ways its wonderful, its still a superhero movie with all of its comic book-ness intact, there is no reason to expect a performance at the caliber that Pfeiffer delivers. There is one scene where Bruce and Selena are dancing and they both realize they are also batman and catwoman, Pfeiffer whispers to Bruce "Does this mean we have to fight now?" and in that one whisper she devastates the viewer with the sudden twist of her heart as she deals with this revelation. Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman is a surprising performance in a surprising place.
Harriet the Spy is a nickelodeon film from the 90s that rode on the success of children's novels by the same name. The film itself if very typical childrens fare, but what it lacks in invention it gains in a myriad of able child actors and a surprisingly grounded performance by Rosie O'Donnell. O'Donnell here plays Golly, Harriets nanny of sorts. Golly is the kind of mentor character we see in most movies where she is given lines of insight to speak into young Harriet's life and the two have an endearing exchange of the poem "The Walrus and the Carpenter." While many of these lines and much of this character could have been sacrificed to triviality, it is O'Donnell that gives her character presence. Ms. O'Donnell looks at young Harriet with such undying parental affection that if you didn't see Harriets mother you might think that Golly was her mother. She is more than a mentor and we see this in just how O'Donnell carries her character and how she delivers her lines. It is also O'Donnell that takes what could have been a tirelessly sappy character and makes her a strong person who, even to this day, I wish was my nanny to guide me through the trials of elementary school. Is her performance oscar worthy? Perhaps not, but she takes a childrens movie filled with fluff and gives it a sense of gravitas, she gives a surprising performance in a surprising place.
This is a new series of posts I will be starting covering performances in films that are surprising in the context of the film. Sometimes these will be good performances in plain awful films, other times it'll be a that one performance that makes the movie good and without it the film would be nothing or a lot less than it is. So here it goes.
Every time we watch a movie we see actors doing their job. Some are good, some great, and sometimes by the sheer power of their performance a star is born. Rebel Without a Cause is the film that made James Dean a star. James Dean plays Jim Stark, a boy who lives in a suburban cage and can't seem to ever do the right thing. His family is constantly moving from place to place in an attempt to protect him. The film begins as they are getting comfortable in a new home and Jim meets the girl next door, Judy played by Natalie Wood (West Side Story). What follows is a superbly written and expertly performed tale of teenage isolation and rebellion in a world wrapped in plastic. The strength of the film is in its tight script. There are moments of such gripping honesty and rage that fly by with perfect subtlety in lieu of becoming a cheap melodrama. This isn't to say there aren't moments of melodrama, but when they come they're even more effective because of the moments of sublime subtext preceding them. The script is played out by a host of pitch perfect and skilled performers, but it is weighted and carried by James Dean and Natalie Wood. Dean here expresses an ability to act that became legend and the inspiration for many of todays contemporary actors, he reminds us why people remember him all these years after his death and after a resume of only three films. Natalie Wood is quite the compliment to Dean's sensitive bad boy as she plays a girl who has learned a long time ago that life isn't all sock hops and malt shops. What is even more fascinating about this film are two key elements in the subtext that couldn't be outwardly explored at the time. The first is in the character of Plato. Plato is a neglected boy who has clear psychological problems (the film starts right after he has shot dogs for no reason) and is the school nerd to boot. When Jim gives Plato a fair chance at a real friendship it becomes fairly clear that Plato is interested in more than friendship with Jim. There is one moment where the two are tightly framed almost as if they might kiss, but Jim isn't interested and the moment ends. The attempted exploration of homosexuality within the film feels pretty remarkable, even if it is a bit short sighted. The other aspect that fascinates me is the relationship between Judy and her father. In kissing her father when he gets home he gets upset, and after a second kiss he smacks her in the face and tells her to sit down and that a girl shouldnt do that. The whole scene implies the father has a growing sexual attraction to his daughter in a way that he doesn't want to be tempted. These two pieces of the story help to aid in the exploration of suburban dysfunction that wouldn't be as heavily explored for a good while. Rebel Without a Cause is an iconic film that stands up to its reputation.
As I sit in my room now thinking back on the barrage of wonder that this film is I cannot help but think to myself "Why, oh why didn't Matthew Vaughan direct X-men 3 instead of Brett Ratner?" Kick-Ass is one of those movies that kind sneaks up on you, or at least it did me. After Watchmen last year I was starting to feel tired of the whole deconstruction of the superhero trend in movies and then comes a film called "Kick-Ass" and I wanted very little to do with it, yet as trailers started to pop up and more footage started circulate my interest was piqued. Finally the film released to a score of praise filled reviews and a few reviews that were so appalled by the violent amoral nature of the film that they intrigued me just as much as the ones singing it's praise. So I was then officially amped for this film. What I saw on the screen was certainly not entirely what I was prepared for. Kick-Ass is the story of Dave Lizewski, an ordinary boy who dared to wonder what would happen if superheroes were really. He dons a green wet suit and couple sticks and fashions himself into an internet phenomenon. Meanwhile Damon and Mindy McCready a.k.a. Big Daddy and Hit Girl are training hard to become the real deal when it comes to superheroes. What grows from this plot is a film full of clever jabs at superheroes, intelligent commentary on the humanity behind them, and a really kick-ass action movie. Don't let the trailers fool you, there is a significant amount of heart to his film amidst all the blood letting and foul mouthed 11 year olds, but it is truly an adrenaline pumping good time outside of that heart. Much has been made of Chloe Moretz as Hit Girl the pint-sized assassin with a sailors tongue, and much should be made. This little girl steals every scene she's in and when Hit Girl goes in for the big final battle, well its like watching Neo and Trinity at the end of the Matrix shooting up all that marble. This is easily at the top of superhero pantheon with Spider-man 2, The Dark Knight, and Watchmen.
So I know it has been a few months since the last decade ended, and if you follow my facebook posts I know I posted a list on there. However there are a slight few changes I would like to make to the list so here we go, my top 10 of 2000-2009.
10. The Royal Tenenbaums by Wes Anderson
Within the past 10 years or so a few filmmakers have emerged with a strange filmmaking savvy. Without any real title to lay on them they have been unofficially called by some the American New Wave. These filmmakers include Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry, Sofia Coppola, Charlie Kaufman, and Wes Anderson as well as a couple others. Each of these filmmakers has found their way onto this list at some point as you will see, but to start it off is Wes Anderson and his beautiful tale of one eccentric family in The Royal Tenenbaums. Anderson has a very literary way of telling stories, in almost all of his films he enlists the aid of narration of some sort whether it is a voiceover or text on the screen. In Tenenbaums he uses both. It is often a great pitfall to use narration out of laziness, but Anderson utilizes it with such purpose as to develop his characters in a way that what we on screen can only be a fragment of who they are. He gives his characters such depth. It is difficult in many ways to explicitly explain the draw of a film like The Royal Tenenbaums, but hopefully the clip above will give you just the right amount of understanding into the cinematic wizardry of Wes Anderson. With its tightly written script, its perfect cast, a story that is left to breathe without wandering, and an ending that avoids any sense of emotional manipulation The Royal Tenenbaums is one of the best films of our last decade.
9. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind by Michel Gondry When it comes to love stories Michel Gondry with co-writer Charlie Kaufman has crafted a fresh vision of love and heart break. The story mechanics are genius in a way Gondry would never follow up with, and Winslet gives her best performance opposite Jim Carey as Clementine the mistress of heart break. A true original, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind has yet to be topped in its form. Because of it's incredible vision and rapturous tale Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is one of the best films of our last decade.
8. Moulin Rouge! by Baz Luhrmann
Few will argue that when it comes to filmmaking not many directors have the bold, eccentric temperment of Baz Luhrman. Prior to his 2001 hit Luhrman did a small ballroom film that few saw and the extravagant retelling of William Shakespeare's Romeo+Juliet, but it was with Moulin Rouge! that he made his mark. Moulin Rouge! earns its place on this list in the same way Eternal Sunshine did by being about love in a way I hadn't seen before it. Where ESSOTM was a sad and strange film about heartbreak, Luhrmans film is a bright, bombastic, and passionate story about the saving grace of love. It is so unashamed its brash idealism, so uninhibited by reality that your soul truly soars just watching it. Because of its dedication to truth, beauty, freedom, and, above all things, love Moulin Rouge! is one of the best films of our last decade.
7. Almost Famous by Cameron Crowe Cameron Crowe's 2000 film about a young rock journalist is the best coming of age story in these past 10 years. It tracks a short time in the life of William Miller as he travels with the up-and-coming band Stillwater, falls in love with a girl, feels the cold reality of fame trickle down to him, loses his virginity, and grows up. The story is made with such a personal attachment by Crowe, who toured as a journalist as well, that every moment feels real and even the funny parts are embedded with a sense of depth and care. Because of it's honesty and heart Almost Famous is one of the best films of our last decade.
6. Kill Bill by Quentin Tarantino Counting both volumes as a singular whole Kill Bill by auteur Quentin Tarantino is a daring experiment in mainstream filmmaking. Tarantino's films are director's films, sure they are usually carried by strong performances from cult-status actors, but they are always his films. It was with Pulp Fiction that Tarantino made a name for himself, but with Kill Bill he truly let loose with an orgy of his greatest loves: westerns, kung-fu, dialogue, and Uma Thurman. Kill Bill reinvented Tarantino's sense of daring, since these two films no one can easily peg down the man behind the films. These two were closely followed in quality by Inglorious Basterds, but because they set the bar for that film I consider these more worthy of their place on this list. Because this film reawakened the world to Tarantino in a new way it is one of the best films of our last decade.
5. Where the Wild Things Are by Spike Jonze The only film from this year on the list, Where the Wild Things Are is the most significant film to close out this decade. A masterful adaptation of Maurice Sendak's beloved children's book, director Spike Jonze has created a stunning, wondrous work that understands childhood and children. It is a film filled equally with that nostalgic feeling of looking back on childhood, and that pain associated with growing up. It never talks down to children or treats them in any other way than exactly how they should be treated. For once in a movie Max feels like a little boy; he is crazy, rambunctious and out of control of his emotions, his logic makes sense for a child and he is always fantastic to watch. Something is to be said of the production design of the film, Jonze enlisted a crew of skilled designers to craft both the Wild Things and their nests on the island. A truly staggering work of art to close out these 10 years in filmmaking. Because it is truly visionary and captured my heart so profoundly Where the Wild Things Are is one of the best films of our last decade.
4. Children of Men by Alfonso Cuaron Dystopian societies are a staple in storytelling. We have seen the gray worlds of fallen cultures a thousand times over, but it is with Alfonso Cauron's adaptation of P.D. James' novel that this story cliche feels rich and new again. Utilizing the brilliance of cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki the world of Children of Men feels lived in and real through the perspective of the camera. Where the film treads familiar territory in some story or setting element its always feels new and real and exciting. Whats more is the film is an important one, one that looks closely at who we are as people and where we are headed. It doesn't make heroes out of nobodies it just lets the nobodies do something worthwhile. Children of Men may feel cold and strange, but it is one of the most striking and memorable films I have had the pleasure of watching. Because of its daring and original vision of the future of humanity Children of Men is one of the best films of our last decade.
3. Lost in Translation by Sofia Coppola
Sofia Coppola has the distinct place on this list as the only female director. Her three films have so deeply captured the sense of imprisonment that every young adult feels, but Lost in Translation has something about it that makes it so distinctly special. There is a sense of whimsy and drifting surreality that encapsulates so much of the film, so many quiet little moments that connect to make one sophisticated tapestry of mystery of friendship and a sense of love. Coppola has a great eye for comedy too that helps elate her films when they become to somber such as the call girl "lip my stockings" scene. It was hard to choose one film of her thematic trilogy, but then you remember that moment at the end when bill murray whispers in scarlet johannson 's ear and all of a sudden in that one moment of romantic mystery this film because elevated above so many others of the decade. Because of unique frame of mind, its understanding of youth, and its impeccable beauty Lost in Translation is one of the best films of our last decade.
2.There Will Be Blood by P.T. Anderson
I have long been a fan of the work of director Paul Thomas Anderson, and his staggering work in There Will Be Blood is no exception. The work here is truly one of a kind from the production design of the make-shift town and the oil wells to the beautiful cinematography to the score by Jonny Greenwood. Yet it comes down to one very pivotal thing and that thing is the performance by Daniel Day-Lewis as Daniel Plainview. Here, within this film, is a performance of such powerful, and often frightening, intensity such as to never have been rivaled before or since. There Will Be Blood is an awe-inspiring, tense, disturbing, and shattering portrait of one man's search for wealth and power and the monstrosity born within him. As one of boldest, most audacious and breathtaking works of cinema There Will Be Blood is one of the best films of our last decade.
1. The Lord of the Rings by Peter Jackson
Tricked you didn't I? It is three films that hold the number 1 spot. Peter Jackson's adaptation of the revered trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien is a grand epic that details the age old battle of good vs. evil. The good side is really good and the bad side, well, they're awfully bad. By the end of the trilogy you care for each and every member of the fellowship and feel for each citizen of the kingdoms of middle-earth, well except the citizens of Mordor. Trying to some up the greatest of 9+ hours of cinematic gold in a small paragraph seems futile. I simply want to say watch these films, forget the books if you've read them, and enjoy the treat on the screen in front of you. These movies will be shown to children and adults generation after generation to come. Thank you Peter Jackson for deliver the best movies of the past 10 years. Because of its ability to remind us of the magic of movies and why we watch them the Lord of the Rings trilogy is, combined, the greatest film of our last decade.
Starting at number 10 here are the best films of the year:
10. An Education by Lone Scherfig: a swift, beautiful period romantic drama that is carried with deft talent by the wonderful Carey Mulligan.
9. Avatar by James Cameron: a landmark achievement in filmmaking in terms of breathless visual wonder.
8.(500) Days of Summer by Marc Webb: a clever story of love and loss with witty dialogue and delightful performances from the leads Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt
7. Away We Go by Sam Mendes: a sweet and intelligent look at love and the lengths to which it can grow between two people. Maya Rudolph and John Krasinksi carry the weight with ease.
6. District 9 by Neill Blomkamp: an original film with a striking visual style and a story that cuts to the heart about a man and his journey to redemption amidst alien apartheid.
5. Up by Pete Docter: Once again Pixar comes through with a tale of age and innocence that hits hard and still lifts you into the clouds with typical pixar glee. The first 15 minutes are some of the best on film this year.
4. A Serious Man by The Coen Brothers: a very personal tale from the brothers turns out to be their best work yet as it retells the story of Job using a pitch perfect Michael Stuhlbarg as the man in the midst of suffering.
3. A Single Man by Tom Ford: a heart wrenching story of lost love that delights in strong performances and visual splendor, a great year end film to see.
2. Inglorious Basterds by Quentin Tarantino: A truly unique film that delights in all the whimsy of storytelling while recreating the World War II drama into something pulpy and vastly entertaining.
1. Where the Wild Things Are by Spike Jonze: A soft, delicate, and yet raucous, wild film about the pains of growing up, told in a way only Spike Jonze could visualize. The best film of the year and one of the best of the decade.
