Top 10 of stuff I watched in 2007 (not in any particular order)
1. Kicking and Screaming (1995)
3. Heaven
9. The Prestige
10. Match Point
Honorable Mention: 3:10 to Yuma (1957), Batman Begins, The Last Days of Disco, Bob Le Flambeur, Death Proof, Return of the Secaucus 7, In the Soup, Barcelona, Forty Guns, 28 Days Later
Well, as someone who sees most of his movies at home, I haven’t seen most of the heralded movies of our current year. But these awards get me excited for future viewing. You can click on the titles to see complete awards.
LOS ANGELES FILM CRITICS- Best Picture, There Will Be Blood; Best Director, Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood)
NEW YORK FILM CRITICS -Best Picture, No Country for Old Men; Best Director, Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country for Old Men)
CHICAGO FILM CRITICS -Best Picture, No Country for Old Men; Best Director, Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country for Old Men)
BOSTON FILM CRITICS -Best Picture, No Country for Old Men; Best Director, Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly)
This movie explains its title. We get to see what makes Batman… well, Batman. I generally have enjoyed all the Batman movies (except the Joel Schumacher one), so I went into it with a bent toward enjoying the subject matter. This one was very different. It was more stripped down and treated the comic book subject matter fairly seriously. Bruce Wayne’s dealing with his own fear in order to use fear as a weapon was interesting. As was his deciding on Batman as an idea/symbol, rather than a man, that would play on the fears of Gotham’s criminals. Craftsmanship in the picture was all first rate. Christopher Nolan is a good director. He’s yet to have a poor film in my opinion.
Grade: 91.75% A-
As I looked back over the movies I’ve listed, I thought of several that I watched and forgot to write about. This is one. Wong Kar Wai is one of my favorite directors. Before this film I had viewed In the Mood for Love, 2046 and Chungking Express (in that order). It is what everyone says, but I think everyone is right, so I will join in saying that I think he is the most romantic filmmaker working today. His films are so beautiful visually and not bound to plot as much as most. Characters, setting and atmosphere are at least as important.
Taking place in the 1960s, Days of Being Wild follows Yuddy (played brilliantly by the late Leslie Cheung, doing James Dean better than James Dean), an anashamedly womanizing young man who is trying to find out who his real mother is after the woman who raised him tells him he is adopted (she won’t tell him his mother’s identity because she doesn’t want him to leave). Two girls fall for him, unfortunately for them, and he lets them compete. Finally, he finds out the whereabouts of his mother and sets off to meet her. The film is gorgeously directed with graceful cinematography and his use of music really transports you (it is mostly Xavier Cugat). The director has stated that it is nostalgic for a time that really didn’t exist. I think that makes the experience all the more enjoyable.
Grade: 95% A
This is a movie by John Boorman. He teams up again with Lee Marvin, whom he worked with on Point Blank. Although in this picture he is exactly one half of the entire cast. The other actor is the great Toshiro Mifune. It is WWII and the film opens on an island. Mifune, a Japanese soldier is deserted there. But on this morning he notices a raft on the shore. Marvin, an American fighter pilot has crashed into the ocean and made his was to the island. As you can imagine, they don’t become friends very quickly, and we now have a struggle between the two men for survival. The cinematography is incredible and the expressiveness by these to unbelievable actors is outstanding. There is hardly any dialog and no subtitles. The genius of the casting is worth mentioning also. Marvin is a tough guy from American genre pictures, especially known for westerns (with John Ford). He is iconic. But so is Mifune, veteran of many amazing Japanese samourai pictures (with Akira Kurosawa). A tough guy in his own right. And both actors are actually veterans of WWII. Overall I thought this movie was great. The ending is a little strange and there is an alternative on the DVD. But I think that, although different, both endings can be seen as consistent with the overall story in giving us powerful metaphors for human nature.
Grade: 95% A
