Coming Soon: The New Top 20

Yes my avid readers it has been a few months of processing, thinking, and personal change since my last top 20 list and so over the next week or so you will be witnessing a new list.

Top 10 Directors Younger Than 60

1. Paul Thomas Anderson

2. Guillermo Del Toro

3. Baz Luhrman

4. Peter Jackson

5. The Coen Brothers

6. Alfonso Cuaron

7. M. Night Shyamalan

8. Quentin Tarantino

9. Tim Burton

10. Marc Forster

Honorable Mentions: Sophia Coppola, Wes Anderson, Cameron Crowe, David Fincher, Danny Boyle, Jean Pierre-Jeunet

The Fall Oscar Potentials!

Yes, my avid reader, the time has come to look at our oscar hopefuls as they ready to enter the cinemas. We were lucky enough to observe a solid summer of blockbuster critical successes with Iron Man, Wall-E, and The Dark Knight to name a few, but now we move into the time of the year where studios flash their dramatic teeth. Do not look for this list to be the definitive list, but these are the ones I think have a chance.

My Top 5 Contenders(as of right now and not including The Dark Knight):
1. Revolutionary Road by Sam Mendes
Revolutionary Road looks to be an intense character drama about a fading marriage in the 50s starring Leo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, the former Titanic lovers. An early trailer that has been taken offline showed some extremely raw and phenomenal perfs from these two.

2. Australia by Baz Luhrman
This film looks to be typical Luhrman in the best way, it looks to take a cliche and overdone genre and revamp it with a new flair and passion only Baz could create. An added bonus is his reuniting with Nicole Kidman after their masterful collaboration in Moulin Rouge!

3. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by David Fincher
Here we have a much underrated director helming a risky screenplay with Cate Blanchett, the critical darling, and Brad Pitt, Jolie's darling. This will either be a huge success or an ugly flop.

4. Milk by Gus Van Sant
As a christian this is the hardest movie for me to put on here, BUT I have to say I am looking very forward to it because it is a challenging topic with the universal theme of the underdog. Penn looks great in the role and is backed by a phenomenal supporting cast including Emile Hirsch and Josh Brolin who have had busy years.

5. Changeling by Clint Eastwood
Why? Well it's Eastwood, he's gold. Plus how cute would it be to see Pitt and Jolie nominated in the same year ::wink wink:: In all seriousness Jolie looks stunning in this role and the story seems fascinating.

Don't Count These 5 Out

6. The Road by John Hillcoat
No Country for Old Men won last year, and Cormac McCarthy's book is highly acclaimed so with the right resources this could be an intense contender.

7. Doubt by John Patrick Shanley
Meryl Streep is beloved by the academy, Phillip Seymour Hoffman is working his way to academy fame after his win for capote, and Amy Adams needs some love. These 3 actors plus a hot topic screenplay should provide some buzz.

8. Frost/Nixon by Ron Howard
Howard hasn't had much luck with the academy lately, but this is based of an award winning play with two very strong performances. This could be the small actor vehicle that goes all the way visa vie Capote.

9. The Soloist by Joe Wright
After scoring with critics for both Atonement and Pride and Prejudice Wright has moved into contemporary times drawing on the revival of Robert Downey Jr.'s career and the fading star of Jamie Foxx for sentimental drama. The sentimental part worries but Wright has been good at avoiding that so far so this could be the audience winner.

10. The Wrestler by Darren Aronofsky
This is probably the riskiest prediction as Aronofsky has a very spotted resume when it comes to critical and audience responses, but this film seems to be being carried on the wave of festival success and Mickey Rourkes performance.

George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead

Yes, I've been on a horror-monster-gross kick when it comes to movies and Diary of the Dead is the next on my list. This movie follows right in line with Cloverfield and Blair Witch Project in that we see the entire narrative through the lens of one filmmakers camera as the world is slowly dissolved by the undead. As with all Romero films we are given equal amounts of gore and politics and here he gets to comment on the media, on the lies we are fed by the media, on widespread panic based on the media. While this film doesn't feel as authentic in the storytelling as Blair Witch or Cloverfield as far as truly feeling like these people are real and are truly being terrorized, it does bring new life to the slightly stale line of Dead movies after the gorefest of Day of the Dead and the cheesefest of Land of the Dead. Welcome back Romero.

Cloverfield

Cloverfield is a movie that, like many others, is the child of what the Blair Witch Project brought into the light as a possibility for scares. Sure, in BWP you never see the witch or anything aside from sticks and you can't help but be creeped way out and in Cloverfield you get to see the monster from many angles allowing the fear to take a tangible image. Cloverfield isn't so much about the fear of the monster as it is the fear of not understanding. It is about a few people thrown into something so preposterous and unthinkable that there is no way to understand it so they grasp to the things they do understand like friendship and love. One thing that could be said of the incredibly thin characters presented here is that they do indeed care for each other. Cloverfield does it's job well outside of character development, it provides a different take on the Godzilla story from a different perspective and leaves you thinking afterward. What was the monster, where did it come from, why, what happens when the crap monsters bite you? Doesn't matter, this is just meant to be a small story of the larger terror leaving us in the dark as it does it's own characters.

Speed Racer

Speed Racer may not have the depth that other movies this year will undoubtedly have, but what it lacks in depth it makes up for in visual flair and heart. This movie is one of the fastest paced, visceral, and still sensitive movies I've seen in awhile. Here we see the Wachowski brothers taking on something so different from the matrix and accomplishing one of the few movies of this year i know I will buy on DVD.

Iron Man

Tony Stark is Iron Man and Robert Downey Jr. is Tony Stark and boy is he ever. I mention this first and foremost because never has Downey Jr. been cast in such an iconic and perfect role and he has the most fun with it this side of how serious Bale takes Bruce Wayne. With that aside Iron Man is one of the best superhero movies in memory and really sets the bar for the summer blockbuster season. Now this isn't to say it is better than Batman Begins but when looking at the more fun-filled superhero movies this takes the cake over Spider-man, Fantastic Four, or X-Men. Another note to make is the remarkable turn by Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, I haven't seen her in such high caliber since Royal Tenenbaums. Good job team, this mission was a success.