BEST
1. vicky christina barcelona Is anyone else sick of critics calling every amazing Woody Allen film his comeback? First, I thought they would stop saying that after the funny/sad/experimental Melinda/Melinda. I was wrong. When Match Point opened to glowing reviews, critics called it his comeback, as if Melinda/Melinda didn't count. Then when Vicky Christina Barcelona was seen to be another classic film from the Woodster, they called it a return to form, forgetting all about Match Point!! Anyway, see Vicky. It's another of Woody Allen's bright, funny clashes of society's bourgeois sensibilities and Allen's desire to do his own thing. Scarlet Johannson atones for her Tom Waits cover album (just in time for Yom Kippur!!) and Penelope Cruz turns in her best work since Volver. The real draw, though, is Javiar Bardem, speaking Allen's witty dialogue and probable views on relationships. If Johannson is Allen's muse, Bardem is the writer-director's sexy avatar.
2. the dark knight Christopher Nolan's sequel to his own Batman Begins isn't just an improvement. It's a spectacular improvement. More emotionally and thematically complex, this box office champion sees Nolan eschewing the German Expressionism-lite of Tim Burton's versions and instead summoning his inner Scorsese to create a visceral crime saga with as much psychological impact as summer thrills. And Heath Ledger's Joker is the most terrifyingly unpredictable villian since Ralph Fienne's Amon Goethe in Schindler's List.
3. standard operating procedure This dispassionate but no less scathing look the Abu Ghraib scandal is not the classic that is his Fog of War, but it's still enthralling with its examination of the soldiers who committed these heinous acts as well as the politicians who allowed them.
4. paranoid park Experimenting once again with focus in/focus out shots, slow-motion, and Dogme 95, queer director Gus Van Sant pricks his characters until they bleed. A disaffected young boy who is involved in a security guard's accidental death is at the center of this emotionally exhausting film, the helmer's best since Elephant. All his usual elements are here: the plot is thin, the texture is rich, the boys are gorgeously photogrpahed (by cinematographer Christopher Doyle,) and relatable characters, the girls (like the cheerleader girlfriend) are not.
5. tropic thunder Big-money studios usually don't release inflammatory, wildly offensive movies. That's why it came us such a happy suprise that this DreamWorks release even got made.* Ben Stiller should write, direct, and star in more dark, edgy films like this than glossy corporate trash like Night at the Museum. From the hilarious fake trailers for the characters' other movies (the gay monk drama Satan's Alley winning MTV Movie Award's Best Kiss is the highlight) to the action-and-big-laughs climax, Tropic Thunder is one of the best mainstream comedies in a very long time.
MOST DISAPPOINTING
indiana jones and the kingdom of the crystal skull The thing about Indiana Jones films is that they are entertaining AND well-made. Lots of trashy movies are entertaining and provide escapist entertainment, but they suck. And lots of movies (like Remains of the Day or Ghandi) are well-made but incredibly boring. But Steven Spielberg poured craftsmanship into Raiders of the Lost Ark, creating an action-movie masterpiece of well-paced plotting, swift-but-great characterizations, eye-popping camera-work, and lavish mise-en-scene. And those action scenes!! They were so intricately choreographed they actually involved physics and mathemtical problem-solving. (That's not an exaggeration.)
Indy IV looks, sounds, and feels like it was made by people who know or care nothing about filmmaking. I expect that from George Lucas, who hasn't been involved with a good film since the first Bush was president (and that was Indy III, directed by Spielberg.) But for Spielberg to have been the captain of this sinking ship is just depressing. It's time to cut ties with his first mate.
*Not that any minority is actually ridiculed or even slightly made fun of in this film. The fact that Special Olympics chairman Timothy Shriver doesn't understand that Tropic Thunder is satirizing arrogant, incredibly stupid actors who are so hypocritical they would use the "r" work after winning Oscars for their "sensitive" portrayals of developmentally delayed people is a deperssing statement on the fact that so many people don't understand satire. It reminds me of those older Jewish people in my synagogue (and even young Jews on Facebook) who actually think Borat is anti-Semitic.
1 comment:
Johannson did a cover album of Tom Waits material? Pitty. No one can cover Tom Waits appropriately, it’s virtually biologically impossible.
Of what I’ve seen of those on your list, I would agree with you. Paranoid Park was a real good movie.
I never did watch Batman Begins in full, but it must be true that the Dark Knight is not only “more emotionally and thematically complex” than its predecessor, but, in fact, is more so than most other run-of-the-mill action thrillers; I certainly agree with you on this point. It was clear that time and care had been taken in the constructing of the human drama written into the Dark Knight and I was both impressed and grateful (an involving story surely serves to make the action that much more thrilling).
I thought that Ledger’s portrayal of the Joker was absolutely brilliant, a perfect balance of stupendous acting and great writing; I loved the Dark Knight’s horror-show version of the Joker. Usually when there is a seemingly overabundance of hype surrounding something, that something fails to live up to the hype, this was not one of those instances by any means.
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