You can listen to us discussing these films at length on the podcast on the show, but please do check out the list below for perpetuity. Sam’s list is annotated and included below, Tom’s is not annotated and its right here. This just means you will have to check out the podcast to hear Tom’s viewpoints. So check out Sam’s choices after the jump, along with a few choice thoughts and honourable mentions. Enjoy!

10. Fish Tank

Andrea Arnold’s excellent second film is not quite the match of the stunning Red Road, but the performance from Katie Jarvis and the touch of the director in the interpersonal scenes elevates this to somewhere that the script doesn’t quite merit, notably given the slight overcooking towards the end. Some amazing scenes, however, and some beautifully constructed and openly-interpretive moments between characters make this nigh-on unmissable.

9. Star Trek

Easily the best blockbuster of 2009, this film is not far off perfect, outside of the terrible scene involving the original Spock. Delete that and you have an indecently entertaining film with, perhaps, the best ensemble cast of the year. The character moments, especially those involving Chris Pine’s Kirk and Karl Urban’s McCoy, are charming and packed with charisma and comedy. Unexpectedly, a Star Trek movie was the most accessible and entertaining action film of the year.

8. Up

Though it’s somewhat messy for the most part, the first ten minutes of this film are enough to give it a solid top ten spot. The ‘life’ sequence at the start, wordless and annotated only by music and tiny personal moments, is completely breathtaking but the rest is a rag-tag road movie with a terrific sense of adventure, just a slight lack of focus. The character moments are sweet and touching, the story itself, focusing on the Pixar-favoured topic of fatherhood, is perfectly pitched and the animation, and imagination involved in that, is wonderful. Forgetting Cars, will they ever truly misstep?

7. Let the Right One In

A very Swedish take on the vampire movie, this was another driven by likeable characters and a sweet romance, but oh so much more bite and existential interest than that other abominable vampire movie. The performances from the two child leads are perfect, but the best thing here is Alfredson’s filmmaking, his camera retaining a stillness throughout which mean that the explosions of violence and disturbing themes are allowed to breathe enough to get under the skin of the audience.

6. Funny People

I wasn’t completely alone in loving this film, but I might be completely alone in loving the film as much as I did. Adam Sandler gives a great performance in this sprawling, hyper-personal exploration of comedy by Judd Apatow. Sandler’s character seems oddly close to his own life, which Apatow is intimately familiar with, and is used to examine the psychological make-up of comedians and the mindset they hold which prevents them from truly connecting. It’s not about all comedians per se, but it explores that mindset held by those who need to keep misanthropy a part of their act. Beyond that, the character interplay is perfect and there are just plenty of fascinating, emotionally open scenes. It’s Apatow’s passion project and, for whatever reason, I just connected completely.

5. Fantastic Mr Fox

Unexpectedly, a huge return to form from Wes Anderson. Ostensibly taking Roald Dahl’s tale as a starting point, Anderson imprints his own style on the source material without losing the overall spirit of the original. The voice performances are perfect, especially the great Jason Schwartzmann, but the star of the show is Anderson’s directorial choice-making. Plenty of great jokes and, in the stop-motion, the best choice he has made in his whole career, completely suited to his minutiae-fetishism on one level and just so aesthetically-pleasing on another. It’s also the first of his films since Rushmore where he seems to genuinely like his characters, a difference which is so important in how much love you can build up for the film.

4. Synecdoche, New York

I love achingly personal filmmaking and this, from the cavernous mind of Charlie Kaufman as both writer and director, is self-examination to the point of borderline insanity. The film drives from meta level to meta level, getting further and further lost inside itself but never, for me, losing the neurosis at its centre: the need to be remembered for something great. It evokes the madness of attempting to create great art, the subjectivity of the world which prevents this from ever being truly possible and the intense need and desire to achieve something, whatever it may be, before death.

3. Where the Wild Things Are

A mad mess of ideas and inspiration, Spike Jonze proved himself once more to wholly understand the spirit of his story, creating a narrative which takes Maurice Sendak’s book and expands it into a swirling, mad imagination picture. It captures the moment when children begin the journey to adulthood, when they realise that they are no longer the centre of the world and have to compromise to the needs of others. Max may well be a disturbed and troubled young child, but I think the feelings and thoughts that he has just capture those that most children would have at that age in his situation, just more vividly than may would perhaps have liked. It’s slightly self-indulgent in places, but it evokes and engages with childhood in ways that modern movies simply never even try. All that and the soundtrack is the absolute best of the whole year.

2. The Wrestler

Low-key and often too close to stereotype in the script, this is a film elevated an enormous amount by the amazing performances, direction and cinematography. Aronofsky shifted away from the insane ambition of The Fountain to deliver and measured, appropriate directing job to prove his versatility, Marise Alberti’s cinematography captures the cold isolation of the characters and the supporting players, notably the ever-brilliant Marisa Tomei, are superb. But, come on, the star of the show is Mickey Rourke. His performance goes somewhere beyond acting onto a meta level that suggests this will be a once-in-a-lifetime role. If that’s the case, he took his chance with both hands and booked his place back amongst the greats after all those year’s in the wilderness.

1. The Hurt Locker

Iraq filmmaking has proved itself a difficult art. The shift has gone from those explicitly exploring the experience of soldiers with a heavy political stance to those exploring the soldiers coming home with a heavy political stance. None of them have been absolutely awful (outside of Redacted and Stop-Loss) but none have managed to explicitly understand the experience of soldiers from an entirely apolitical viewpoint. The Hurt Locker is not only the most exciting, tense film of the year, but it’s understanding of the psychology of the soldier, and its focus upon this, captures what is actually important about Iraq. This was Jarhead with a boatload of action and without the showy visuals, though the visual style here is gripping. Kathryn Bigelow should and hopefully will win the director Oscar this year, not just for the construction of scenes and her understanding of space, but for her focus on the relationship between the lead characters and subsequently their relationship to the warzone. Emotionally and physically, this is a breathless film.

Honourable Mentions

District 9 – Thrilling allegorical sci-fi, only let down by reliance on genre traits.

Milk – Stately and finely-tuned biopic, excellent acting, slightly ponderous in some places.

Slumdog Millionaire – Overrated undoubtedly but still extremely entertaining and sweet. Superb direction.

(500) Days of Summer – Arrival of a talent in Marc Webb and career-best performance from Zooey Deschanel.

Moon – Lovely, charming sci-fi with immense central performance and best performance by Kevin Spacey in years.

Zombieland – Hugely fun and rollicking zombie ride.

Rachel Getting Married – Career-maker for Anne Hathaway, only dips because of hyper-long wedding sequence.

Bronson – Tom Hardy’s performance dominates but Winding Refn’s work is, as always, bracing.

In the Loop – Satire at its highest, only let down because it never quite reaches the Strangelove-ian heights it’s going for.

Anvil: The Story of Anvil – Heartfelt, sweet hair metal homosocial love story.

Doubt – ACTING! And more ACTING!! Stagey at times but otherwise nye-on perfectly judged.

Drag Me to Hell – Raimi returns to horror with fun, cheeky ride with great horror performance from Alison Lohman.

A Serious Man – Obtuse, uber-Coen exploration of Book of Job. For fans only, maybe. If you’re a fan though, world class.

A Fox family portrait.

(Fox Searchlight) Starring the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzmann, Michael Gambon, Wally Wolodarsky, Eric Anderson, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson, Jarvis Cocker, Brian Cox. Directed by Wes Anderson

One thing is true of all of God’s critters, two-legged and four-legged alike and that is that we must all be true to our own natures. If that nature invites danger and disaster, can we but follow the path presented to us or can we diverge into safety and security?

Mr. Fox (Clooney) is a chicken thief, and like all successful thieves he survives by being quick-witted and adaptive. His wife Mrs. Fox (Streep) doesn’t really approve of his line of work, but when they nearly get caught she forces a promise from him that he will find a different career path. He chooses the one that may be of all jobs even less reputable than chicken thievery – journalism.

Years have gone by and Mr. Fox continues to live in poverty in a comfortable hole with his family. He has gone straight but only on the surface; in his heart he is a clever chicken thief liberating poultry from farmers who are unwise enough to allow them to be liberated. Despite his lack of financial wherewithal Mr. Fox decides to buy a home above ground in a beautiful tree overlooking the farms of the three men who control the valley they live in (and three of the meanest men you’ll ever meet). While Mr. Fox’s lawyer Badger (Murray) cautions against it, Mr. Fox goes through with his plan to buy the house anyway even though it will put his family in the line of fire. That family is going through enough as it is with the arrival of cousin Kristofferson (Anderson) which further antagonizes Mr. Fox’s teenage son Ash (Schwartzmann) who has a bit of an inferiority complex to begin with.

In order to pay for his new mansion, Mr. Fox supplements his ink-stained wretch salary with a little thieving on the side, along with the help of his friend and general handy-man Kylie (Wolodarsky) who is prone to spacing out at odd intervals. This incurs the wrath of the farmers, led by the rail-thin chain smoker Mr. Bean (Gambon) who has nothing to do with the Rowan Atkinson character of the same name. They declare war on the fox responsible for the filching of their hard-earned wares, forcing the animals to tunnel for their lives. Can Mr. Fox devise a clever enough plan to save the animals and make everything fantastic again?

I want to make it clear from the beginning that I’ve always blown hot and cold when it comes to director Wes Anderson. While his best moments from movies like Rushmore and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou are arguably as good as any being produced today, he can also turn the quirk factor from charming to overbearing in a heartbeat. He is most definitely an acquired taste and one that I haven’t yet acquired.

However, to my mind this is the best work he’s done yet. The sight gags are often hysterically funny and the tone of the movie is just off-beat enough to be interesting. I suspect that Anderson may have dialed down things a bit in deference to the audience which is bound to include children (the source material is, after all, a classic children’s book penned by Roald Dahl, author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). In toning things down and making the movie a bit more accessible, he makes the quirky elements all the more effective.

It helps that he has a great voice cast. Clooney is sly, witty and charming in a Danny Ocean vein, with a heaping helping of Everett (the lovable ne’er do well from O Brother Where Art Thou?) thrown in for good measure. Streep is solid as the very much long-suffering Mrs. Fox and Gambon throws the right amount of hissable evil to his villainous Mr. Bean. Most of the others read their lines in a deadpan monotone which makes the humor a bit dry but emphasizes the irony much better. Those who don’t appreciate that sort of humor will probably find this movie frustrating.

I have to make it known that while this is ostensibly a children’s movie, I think adults may wind up finding it more appealing than the wee ones. Kids are not known for being terribly accepting of things that are different than what they’re used to, and some may find the tone strange or the overall humor a bit boring. There are some over-the-top physical gags that will keep ‘em happy but by and large adults will get this a little more than the Nickelodeon set will.

The animation is stop-motion and highly textured, with the fur of the animals rippling in unseen breezes along with the grass. Trees bend in unison like an arboreal chorus line, and tunnels are filled with dirt, rocks and roots. It is not specifically realistic, more like hyper-realistic (if you take for granted that foxes walk upright, wear tailored clothes and speak with more intelligence than the average human). Animator Harry Selick, the man who did The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach was originally slated to animate this movie before delays caused schedule conflicts and Selick would go on to do Coraline. Instead Anderson hired Mark Gustafson who did the California Raisins commercials back in the day. Good choice, that.

Pleasant surprises make going to the movies a pleasure. I hadn’t been particularly looking forward to this movie but there’s a good chance this will wind up in our home video collection (which will likely be Blu-Ray by the time it gets out in that format). It isn’t often that I can say an animated feature will be appreciated more by adults than by children, but I think that I can say that with confidence here. Certainly there is that sense of magic and enchantment that is necessary in any animated feature, but with a tone and intelligence that is more adult. In other words, this is a movie that doesn’t talk down to children which is a good thing in my book. Next to Up, this is the best animated feature I’ve seen this year.

REASONS TO GO: Lots of great sight gags and a snappy off-kilter tone make this appealing to fans of indie films and Wes Anderson. Quirky without being overbearing. There are some nice vocal performances, particularly from Clooney and Gambon.

REASONS TO STAY: Although based on a children’s book and marketed to kids to a certain extent, this really isn’t a traditional children’s movie and if your tyke isn’t open to new things, they might find this strange or boring.

FAMILY VALUES: Some mildly salty humor but really suitable for the entire family.

TRIVIAL PURSUIT: The tree the Fox family lives in is based on a beech tree on the property of original book author Roald Dahl, and Mr. Fox’s study is a near-perfect recreation of Dahl’s own study in his garden hut where he did most of his writing.

HOME OR THEATER: Chances are this will work just as well on a home screen but I kinda liked it on the big screen. You make the call.

FINAL RATING: 7/10

TOMORROW: MirrorMask

“Take a Dive”

November 8th, 2009

I was going to write about how it’s been a while since I’ve checked in with Bored to Death here at Cultural Learning before I realized that, in fact, I’ve never checked in on it at all. I watched the pilot and was intrigued if not overly engaged, and since that point I’ve sort of been watching the show off and on while following critics’ reactions to the series. So, instead of reaffirming previous statements about the show or potentially offering a different point of view, I need to start from the beginning.

I like this show, but I’m having trouble falling in love with it. There’s something about Ames’ style and the way the show is being organized that keeps us as an audience at a distance, which the pilot was indicative of: there were logical leaps and bounds that were simply never explained about why Jonathan would ever become a private detective. And while I’m aware that part of the show’s charm is how uncomfortable Jonathan can be in that environment, and that the randomness of some of the cases often gives the show a unique sort of tone, I wanted to be able to watch “Take a Dive” and completely buy into the character development it seemed to imply. This show is full of great actors and some very solid material, but there a few points in this finale where I questioned less this individual episode (which I really enjoyed) and more how, precisely, these kinds of developments haven’t taken place up to this point.

The show has sort of been meandering around the same themes for a while, and the finale was largely a vessel through which Jonathan, George and Ray all find some sense of purpose in their largely aimless existences. Because of the talent involved, this episode goes well, but I do wish that the investigation of that aimlessness had been a bit more even.

There’s a really nice scene in this one where George and his ex-wife Priscilla are in bed, and George observes that they’ve finally reached the third act: Married, Divorced, and now Lovers. He evokes the adage that there is never actually a third act in life, but what’s interesting about Bored to Death is that it was actually missing the Second Act. This episode was a nice cap-off to the season, and moments like the final scene of George and Jonathan being glad they’re in each other’s lives and play boxing around the ring in the darkened theatre are indicative of the camaraderie that the show has occasionally considered. It felt like a goodbye to a show of characters that had really grown, which was odd considering that we never really got the second act where any of that growth could have taken place. The pilot was so quick to rush into Ames’ Private Eye business as the show’s procedural hook that it never bothered to really contextualize it within his life.

It took this episode, as he lies post-coital with Stella (Jenny Slate, pre-SNL), for him to realize that perhaps the reason he was unable to complete his novel (which was the end of season’s slow-burning serialized development started a while back with Bebe Neuwirth as his editor) is because he wasn’t writing about something exciting like his work as a private detective. However, this has been staring him in the face for a while, and the show has just been slow to have him pick up on it. Never mind that he actually did write about it for the comic that he and Ray put together following the show’s best episode, featuring Ray and George getting high while Jonathan gets victimized. It’s as if the pilot rushed its way into being both Acts One and Two (establishing Jonathan’s problem of both writer’s block and commitment issues), and then it just sort of meandered through Brooklyn for a while, wavering in quality until it reached its Act Three and brought its characters some sense of closure.

I don’t think this is a terrible thing, as those episodes have been divisive but have also made some loyal fans out of those who enjoy the show’s variable sense of humour. I thought that the finale wasn’t firing on all cylinders so much as it was letting the characters do the work. Paul Feig directed the episode in a very laidback style, so scenes like Jonathan and Stella playing nerf basketball were punctuated with beats like Jonathan biting at the ball in her hand, or the pile of books falling over in the midst of their play. The episode also resists one of its two potential punchline (pun unintended): while the fights themselves were predictable (our heroes are too hapless to win, and you knew that the first two fights would split), the show gave Stella her less than graceful exit (urinary tract infection) but actually left George standing tall. Despite my expectation, Priscilla wasn’t lying about Antrem’s heart condition, which really shocked me – I kept expecting the credits to switch to Antrem and Priscilla having sex and celebrating the ruse, but it didn’t happen.

And I think that shows you were the show is ultimately at when it comes to those type of stories. It really loves these characters, perhaps because Schwartzmann is playing a version of Ames himself and perhaps because they’re just having a lot of fun with this great cast. The episode takes some shortcuts to pretend as if there has been consistent development all season, like Ames playing private detective and searching out his would-be blackmailer using his P.I. skills, but in doing so it was ultimately engaging. I like the show better in this mode than I do during some of its more aimless journeys, and considering just how great this cast is I’m willing to follow them into a second season knowing that things might be just as uneven all over again.

At the very least, I wasn’t bored.

Cultural Observations

• Loved seeing Sarah Vowell (who, alongside being a regular contributor to public radio, also voiced Violet in The Incredible) covering the fights, and those initial sets of interviews were all pretty great: I especially enjoyed Ray’s opponent being so masochistic, a runner that the show put to good use but didn’t overuse.
• John Hodgman was another great edition to the cast, and as was Oliver Platt for that matter. The show did well with guest stars along the way, and I hope that can continue in season two.
• And speaking of continuing: while some episodes didn’t give him much to do, and he’s a big movie star now, I hope that Zach Galifianakis has time to do Season Two.

M. fantastique Fox, as they would say over in le France, comes to visit in the studio as Sam and Tom discuss Wes Anderson’s stop-motion Roald Dahl adaptation. Against that, we get  to hear Sam make a clanger, a car crash happen outside the base, Tom argue that Hollywood doesn’t promote domestic violence and the pointless nature of remakes. The boys then lament the lost potential of FlashForward, praise In Bruges to the hills and then set out the movies their children will have to see.

Download The Movie Overdose Episode 40

Sam and Tom venture into the world of Surrogates for no good reason, but emerge stronger for the experience fails to kill us. We move on talk of justice and Roman Polanski, to David Cronenberg remaking himself and to drawing a new career path for Tarantino. Next, the boys all convene to talk about a multitude of documentaries and the pilots of FlashForward and Bored to Death. The conclusion comes in tribute to Patrick Swayze, celebrating him in Road House and Point Break.

Download The Movie Overdose Episode 36

Show notes will follow in a later post.

If you’re a fan of Jason Schwartzmann, head to Hulu.com and check out the collection of clips under the title “Yo Teach!” According to imdb, he plays an actor named Mark Taylor Jackson in Funny People, a new Judd Apatow movie. “Yo Teach,” the imaginary TV show that stars Mark Taylor Jackson, satirizes Saved by the Bell-type shows. And speaking of Saved by the Bell, look at the luscious locks on Mark-Paul Gosselaar (aka Zack)!

Sinopse: Mirabelle (Claire Danes) é uma jovem que trabalha na seção de luvas da Saks Fith Avenue, em Beverly Hills. Ela é uma artista que luta para se manter, vivendo sempre no limite do cartão de crédito e empréstimos bancários. Até que encontra Ray Porter (Steve Martin), um homem bem mais velho por quem se apaixona. A partir de então sua vida muda drasticamente, com os problemas financeiros ficando no passado. Porém, quando sua vida parecia ter entrado nos eixos, ela passa a ser assediada por Jeremy (Jason Schwartzmann), um músico recém-formado.

Download Por Torrent:

Download Torrent.

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Torrent.

MIRABELLE VESTE:

I would like to add the caveat that Brian is very gentlemanly and, in addition, is quite the kidder.

The idea of naming a favorite album for every one of your years on Earth has been kicking around the internet for a little while now. I’ll give that a try some time soon, but in the spirit of this blog, I thought I’d give the game a go with my favorite movies. The further I go back, the less movies I’ve seen that year, so some of these picks are less representative of my taste than others. I’m being honest about movies I like, rather than resting just on films with good reputations. So let’s go!

1980: Caddyshack 

In a pretty strong year for movies, the irreverent slice of life at Bushwood Country Club comes out on top. It’s still eminently watchable (and eminently quotable), and I’ll give it a slight push for pure enjoyment over runner-up Raging Bull.

Honorable Mention(s): Raging Bull, Airplane!, The Empire Strikes Back, The Shining
Dishonorable Mention(s): The Blue Lagoon

1981: Raiders of the Lost Ark

In a year with fewer of my favorites, the first (and still best) Indiana Jones foray comes out on top.

HM: Superman II, Stripes
DM: Nothing else too great this year, but nothing too offensive (that I’ve seen anyway) either.

1982: Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Probably the best film in both Amy Heckerling’s and Cameron Crowe’s oeuvre, Fast Times handles teenage life with equal parts crudeness and sophistication, which is why it’s the definitive cinematic statement on the topic, even today.

HM: E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial
DM: Airplane II: The Sequel

1983: The King of Comedy

Features a darkly comic Robert De Niro (back when he was method), and a deadly serious Jerry Lewis, playing against type. Scorsese explores celebrity obsession at a time when it was just beginning to be a hot button issue.

HM: Return of the Jedi, Risky Business, Trading Places, National Lampoon’s Vacation
DM: The Big Chill

1984: This is Spinal Tap

A top contender for funniest movie ever made, in a banner year for mainstream comedy.

HM: Ghostbusters, The Karate Kid, Broadway Danny Rose, Sixteen Candles, The Muppets Take Manhattan, Amadeus
DM: Footloose, Police Academy

1985: Back to the Future

Sure, the special effects don’t really hold up, but it’s hard to think of a movie from the 1980s that’s more iconic of its era. This despite the fact that most of the film takes place in 1955. Even on the hundredth viewing, I still root for Marty to make it to the clock tower in time, as if I don’t already know the ending.

HM: Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, Rocky IV
DM: Mask
 

1986: Hoosiers

A year with some good films, but no great ones. Hoosiers stands in the upper echelon of sports movies, an ultimate David and Goliath story that manages not to be trite, despite throwing out conventions we’ve seen a million times before.

HM: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, An American Tail, Platoon, Stand By Me
DM: The Money Pit

1987: Raising Arizona

The Coens’ first true comedy established an offbeat sensibility that would later be perfected in Fargo and The Big Lebowski. Edges out the mainstream but underrated dramedy Broadcast News.

HM: Broadcast News, The Princess Bride, Full Metal Jacket, The Lost Boys
DM:  Innerspace, Leonard Part 6

1988: Eight Men Out

Not quite the masterpiece it could have been, D.B. Sweeney, John Cusack, David Straithairn, et al. join a fine ensemble cast in adapting Eliot Asinof’s fine book about the 1919 Chicago White Sox. The players are portrayed as flawed individuals in a desperate situation in a film that brings life to the most famous black mark in baseball history.

HM: Die Hard, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
DM: Action Jackson

1989: Roger and Me

It’s hard to remember today, but the Michael Moore of Roger and Me was much more right than self-righteous, a balance that he’s seemed to forget in latter days, when he has a tendency to overplay his hand. We can also thank this film for the excess of first person documentaries that litter the cinematic landscape. Though as Roger and Me shows, when something gets imitated, it usually means that the original was onto something.

HM: Batman, When Harry Met Sally…, Parenthood, Major League, Field of Dreams, Il Nuovo Cinema Paradiso
DM: No Holds Barred, Turner and Hooch

1990: Goodfellas

Martin Scorsese brought the gangster genre into the modern age, using long takes that brought the viewer into the action, and period music to establish time, mood, and tension. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to separate the piano coda from “Layla” and the crescendo the film reaches while it plays. Here, Scorsese marries a subculture to the culture at large, using only his camera and a set of speakers.

HM: My Blue Heaven, Edward Scissorhands, The Grifters, House Party
DM: Rocky V, Mr. Destiny

1991: Defending Your Life

The protagonist (Albert Brooks) dies in the first minute, and must rely on incompetent attorney Rip Torn to defend his indiscretions and move him on to the next life. A great showcase for the sharp comedy of Brooks, who also wrote and directed.

HM: Barton Fink, The Silence of the Lambs, L.A. Story, Terminator 2: Judgment Day
DM: King Ralph 

1992: Reservoir Dogs

In a fine catalog, Reservoir Dogs still stands up as Quentin Tarantino’s most realized vision, from an auteur whose extraordinary vision sometimes exceeds his reach. Limited by his budget, the young filmmaker delivers a shoot-em-up pulp crime story perfectly cast and professionally executed.

HM: Wayne’s World, The Player, Glengarry Glen Ross, Aladdin
DM: Ladybugs, Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot 

1993: Groundhog Day

Probably the first film to realize the true curmudgeonly potential of late period Bill Murray, revealed expertly by director (and longtime Murray collaborator) Harold Ramis. 

HM: Army of Darkness, Dazed and Confused, Philadelphia, A Bronx Tale
DM: Judgment Night

1994: Clerks.

With the way he’s tarnished his legacy over his past several films, it’s easy to forget that during the mid-90s Kevin Smith was something of a low-budget wunderkind. Filmed for $10,000.00 (the proceeds garnered from maxing out credit cards and selling his comic book collection), Smith gave false hope to any film school reject hoping to make it big. The dream of making the next Clerks didn’t work out for many of them, and, subsequently, didn’t really work out for Smith either.

HM: Pulp Fiction, Forrest Gump, Quiz Show, The Hudsucker Proxy
DM: Last Action Hero, It’s Pat

1995: The Usual Suspects

Though it admittedly wouldn’t be much without the twist ending, Kevin Spacey’s standout performance highlights an otherwise worthy ensemble cast in the 1990s’ finest caper film.

HM: Kicking and Screaming (Noah Baumbach), Se7en, The Basketball Diaries, Toy Story, Clueless
DM: Dangerous Minds, Nine Months

1996: Fargo

Compared to Raising Arizona, Joel and Ethan Coen played this one a little closer to the vest. Some of the comedic elements are still a little screwball, but they hide under the surface this time around, letting the characters be amusing in spite of the crime plot, not because of it.

HM: The Cable Guy, Kingpin, Trainspotting
DM: Mars Attacks!

1997: Boogie Nights

The first major release for P.T. Anderson and the first starring vehicle for Mark Wahlberg. In his ensemble tale about the Southern California porn industry, Anderson reveals a style derivative of his cinematic heroes, yet altogether singular. The cast, comprised mostly of Anderson’s own troupe of actors (William H. Macy, Philip Baker Hall, Julianne Moore, et al.), excels all around. The obvious choice in a year full of excellent films (see below).

HM: Waiting for Guffman, L.A. Confidential, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Grosse Point Blank, Donnie Brasco
DM: Bean, Fools Rush In

1998: Rushmore

By this point, the curmudgeonly Bill Murray era was in full swing, and Wes Anderson really put that persona on the map in Rushmore. Still, Murray is outshined by a young Jason Schwartzmann, who portrays Max Fischer with just the right balance of faux sophistication and emotional childishness. Though it’s Anderson’s second film, Rushmore marks the real arrival of a career that’s weathered universal praise, the backlash, and the backlash to the backlash.

HM: The Big Lebowski, American History X, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Saving Private Ryan
DM: Very Bad Things

1999: (Tie) Office Space and American Beauty

Forced into a decision on my favorite 1999 film, i have chosen not to make one. (Though, according to Canadian power trio Rush, I still have made a choice.) The best comedy and the best drama of their year, time has not been kind to either. American Beauty has been ruined by my own aging and realization of its trite message, while Office Space has been ruined by endless repetition of its best gags. Both are about grown men questioning the routines their lives have worn into them, a predicament with which everyone is at some time familiar. I wish I could see both films again with my 1999 eyes.

HM: Magnolia, Being John Malkovitch, Fight Club, The Matrix, South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, Election
DM: The Big Kahuna, EDtv

2000: High Fidelity

John Cusack’s emotionally stunted record collector was really the perfect character for me in my college years. High Fidelity is the kind of harmless, satisfying trifle I’ll reach for when I hit my midlife crisis, just to remember that it’s all going to be OK.

HM: Almost Famous, Snatch, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Traffic
DM: Dude, Where’s My Car?, Pay It Forward

2001: The Royal Tenenbaums

Following up Rushmore, Wes Anderson proved he could handle a wide ensemble and all the plot underpinnings that entailed, without leaving any stones unturned. He also proved himself as a rare filmmaker who can handle an unexpectedly large budget without losing his original vision, and coax just the right tone from actors as diverse as Anjelica Houston and Ben Stiller.

HM: Wet Hot American Summer, Zoolander, Oceans Eleven, Freddie Got Fingered, Donnie Darko
DM: Corky Romano, A Beautiful Mind

2002: Spider-Man

Immersed as we are in the “Comic Book Summer,” let’s not forget about Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man adaptation, which took forever to get to the big screen, and proved to be worth the wait. There have been a slew of good comic book films over the years, but this one stands out due to the Raimi touch, using the same offbeat conventions Raimi employed in his Evil Dead films on a scale about a thousand times as large.

HM: Adaptation., Super Troopers, One Hour Photo, Punch-Drunk Love, Death to Smoochy
DM: Eight Crazy Nights, Like Mike, Juwanna Mann

2003: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Like the Academy did, when I recognize Return of the King, I’m recognizing the whole achievement. Though it falters in places, Peter Jackson’s saga managed to bring Tolkien’s tale to the screen in a way completely unimaginable before. The trilogy was made at the right time, with the right cast and the right technology, and Return of the King is the best singular film of the three.

HM: Lost in Translation, Elf, Bad Santa, American Splendor, A Mighty Wind, Old School
DM: From Justin to Kelly, Gigli

2004: Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy

Rightfully so, Scorsese’s The Aviator was the most critically acclaimed film of 2004, but no film of the year (and few films of the era) are as rewatchable as Anchorman. Bumbling idiot Ron Burgundy is the perfect voice for Will Ferrell; Paul Rudd, David Koechner and Steve Carell are his perfect goofball playmates, and Christina Applegate is his perfect foil. Ferrell has tried to catch the same lightning in a bottle, with varying success, ever since.

HM: The Aviator, Friday Night Lights, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Kill Bill Vol. 2, Team America: World Police, Mean Girls
DM: Christmas With the Kranks, Garden State

2005: The Squid and the Whale

I’m still a little confused by Noah Baumbach’s The Squid and the Whale, but I can’t hold that against him. In fact, I praise him for it. It’s a tribute to the director that his characters are so far removed from mainstream society, yet their plight resonates. What can we expect the aftermath of a ruptured family to look like, when that family was so nontraditional to begin with? The director seems to be as confused as his characters are, and that’s a good thing. It means no reaction can be altogether unbelievable.

HM: Batman Begins, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, The Aristocrats, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Munich, Walk the Line, The Corpse Bride
DM: The Man, The Dukes of Hazzard 

2006: Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

You can blame Sacha Baron Cohen for all the bad Borat impression you heard throughout 2006. But you can’t blame him for exposing Americans for what we are: usually well meaning, often naive, and, sometimes, complete assholes.

HM: The Departed, Casino Royale, Marie-Antoinette, Little Miss Sunshine, Nacho Libre, Grandma’s Boy
DM: Failure to Launch, Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector, The Pink Panther

2007: There Will Be Blood

A brilliant performance by Daniel Day-Lewis, a haunting Johnny Greenwood score, and a pitch perfect tale of greed and corruption during the turn of last century’s oil boom. Day-Lewis plays a man who feels no emotion, who seeks money in lieu of the happiness he will never find. In maybe the best movie year of my lifetime, P.T. Anderson comes out of hiding and shoots his masterpiece.

HM: No Country for Old Men, Once, Ratatouille, Gone Baby Gone, Juno, The King of Kong, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, The Darjeeling Limited, Knocked Up, Superbad
DM: Epic Movie, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry

2008 (So far): WALL-E

It may get knocked from the top spot before the year is out, but, as I’ve said before, it’s the best of the year so far.

HM: Iron Man, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Kung Fu Panda
DM: The Happening, Made of Honor, Speed Racer, Meet Dave

If you’re keeping score, that’s two each for Martin Scorsese, P.T. Anderson, Wes Anderson, the Coen brothers, and, um, Harold Ramis.

So please, if you have an afternoon to kill, try this exercise. It’s fun!

Post your results, or a link to them, in the comments.

I love Wes Anderson’s films. The Royal Tenanbaums has such a great story, casting and soundtrack;  The Life Aquatic of Steve  Zissou  has that same combination of irony and tenderness. Last night I was so inspired by both Hotel Chevalier (the short film that precedes the actual long running feature) and The Darjeeling Limited. The story follows 3 brothers: Francis, Jack and Peter, in a journey across India, in order to regain touch with one another. As the youngest of 3 brothers, I obviously projected a lot of myself in the story (we’ve had our ups and downs, and trust became an issue at some point). Co-written by Anderson, Roman Coppola and Jason Schwartzmann (who also plays Jack, one of the Whitman brothers), it easily will become one of my all time feel good/melancholic films.

I wonder if the three of us would’ve been friends in real life. Not as brothers, but as people. Jack Whitman

The Anderson Train Runs Out of Steam           

In Wes Anderson’s recent The Darjeeling Limited and its short film prologue Hotel Chevalier, the once promising director delivers what’s easily his most disappointing work to date. 

The story centers on three brothers – Francis (Owen Wilson), Peter (Adrian Brody) and Jack (Jason Schwartzman) – who have not spoken in over a year since their father’s funeral.  When Francis proposes a train voyage across India, Peter and Jack seize the opportunity to run away from their problems: Jack is reeling from a disastrous breakup with his girlfriend (Natalie Portman), while Peter struggles with deep anxiety about impending fatherhood. Little do they realize that Francis is pushing them towards a meeting with their estranged mother (Anjelica Huston), who is herself trying to escape a previous life. The brothers’ journey is fraught with silliness and tragedy, but the film never manages to get over itself enough to come together. 

Co-written by Anderson, Schwartzman and Roman Coppola, both film and short film feature the director’s set of trademarks: a kitschy production design, quirky characters, and a precocious 60’s pop soundtrack. The story also includes the by-now-unsurprising coterie of Anderson veterans, including Bill Murray as (presumably) the brothers’ late father.  So if audiences liked Anderson’s previous works, they should enjoy this too, right?  If only. 

Bottle Rocket, Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums succeeded because of the emotional attachment that the films’ characters earned from the audience.  In Hotel Chevalier and The Darjeeling Limited, Anderson seems preoccupied with perfecting his signature style and less concerned with making the interpersonal relationships resonate.  Of course, Anderson may have intended to forego extensive character development in order to portray the intimate family conflicts as subtly as possible; unfortunately any subtlety is devoured by patronizing symbolism and rigidly stylized costume and set designs. 

Perhaps equally frustrating is Anderson’s unwillingness to resolve or even explore dangling plot threads, which in turn are complicated by the almost complete absence of a climax.  While most directors entrust plot resolution to the viewer’s individual interpretation, even the most experimental filmmakers seldom cloak their works in funny animals and annoyingly cheerful folk music.  And with this film, that evasion of stance is getting annoying. It’s as though Anderson is terrified of getting caught saying Something, and it’s hard to take an insistently whimsical filmmaker seriously.

In a film obsessed with style over substance, the actors themselves ultimately become moving set pieces.  Wilson delivers the most engaging performance, his overbearing enthusiasm hiding deep despair. Sure, it’s remarkably similar to Dignan (his charming dolt from Bottle Rocket), but I for one am glad to see the actor return to form after playing a string of one-dimensional buffoons such as in Drillbit Taylor. Brody and Schwartzman are so deadpan that they’re both unmoving and unmemorable. Portman shows up, gets gratuitously naked and disappears, while Huston basically copies Wilson’s performance (only more quietly). 

If I seem overly harsh, it’s because the enduring quality of Anderson’s first three films demand that the director be held to a high standard.  Even the bloated and disjointed The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou managed to gel, ulimtatley, into a sublime climax.  Ironically, Anderson’s better works all feature one constant that The Life Aquatic and Hotel Chevalier/The Darjeeling Limited lack: Owen Wilson as co-writer.  Given that Drillbit Taylor recently tanked, it’s becoming obvious at this point in their careers just how much Wilson and Anderson need each other.

 - Steve Kabel

A Film Review

Copyright Dragan Antulov 2005

In late 1990s most of Hollywood films were – just as they are now – “safe”, predictable, formulaic and utterly forgettable. This was especially so when the plots were set in or around high schools or adolescents. So, whenever a Hollywood film set in high school would dare to break such constraints, it was bound to be treated by everyone, especially critics, as something very special. RUSHMORE, 1998 comedy directed by Wes Anderson, is one of those films.

The protagonist of the film is Max Fischer (played by Jason Schwartzmann), 15-year old pupil of the elite Rushmore prep school. By all standards, Max is extraordinarily gifted and charming young man who excels in all kinds of activities – fencing, debating clubs and theatre, where he wrote and staged couple of ambitious plays. Unfortunately, his impressive record at extracurricular activities was achieved at the expense of his academic life – he is about to be expelled because of abysmal grades. However, Max has one important asset in the form of Herman Blume (played by Bill Murray), local tycoon and former Rushmore pupil who sees Max Fischer as the complete opposite of his own obnoxious sons. However, Max would soon realise that there limits to what he can do when he falls in love with Rosemary Cross (played by Olivia Williams), teacher whom he would try to impress by building a luxury aquarium at the school premises. Max is finally being expelled and Rosemary not only rejects his advances, but adds insult to injury by starting relationship with Herman. Hurt and humiliated, Max would use his talents in the increasingly brutal conflict with his former friend.

Anderson based his script, co-written by Owen Wilson, on the elements of his own biography, but the film itself looks almost surreal. The world of Rushmore is populated with quirky characters that are hard to find in real world. It is nevertheless very personal film, and that sets it apart from most of Hollywood films with similar themes and settings.

Very personal approach could be seen in the way Anderson broke certain Hollywood conventions. For example, the protagonist is not protagonist in the strict meaning of the word – his actions and motivations put him far away from the conventional moral alignment. He is selfish, megalomaniacal, scruples and his personality is closer to the psychopath than “normal” human being. Perhaps this is the reason why the audience would prefer to root for the more “normal” and humane character of Herman, brilliantly played by Bill Murray in one of the best and most underrated roles of his career.

Anderson, just as he did with characterisation, experimented with style and atmosphere. Although set in present-day, RUSHMORE looks very much like late 1960s film and the soundtrack featuring songs of that period is one of the reasons for that. However, editing left something to be desired, especially in the middle of the film, which looks too “artsy” and overlong. It seems that Anderson, at least at that point, preferred the style to film’s substance.

But, this is not the reason why film shouldn’t be remembered. There are some marvellous images in the film, especially in the scenes in which the protagonist recreates some of film classics – like Lumet’s SERPICO and Coppola’s APOCALYPSE NOW – on stage. RUSHMORE might not be the funniest or even the best film of its time, but it is nevertheless refreshing experience for any viewer demanding something unconventional on screen.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)