2010 Awards and Critic Lists Discussion Thread [Archive] - Page 2

baby doll

12-17-2010, 05:46 PM

Ebert:

http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2010/12/the_best_feature_films_of_2010 .htmlI wrote this in the comments section:

Of your top ten, I've seen all but two ("The King's Speech" hasn't opened in my city, and "The Black Swan" just did today), and the only one I responded to strongly was "The Ghost Writer." There are some that I admired ("The Social Network," "Winter's Bone," "Inception," "The Secret in Their Eyes"), but aside from the Polanski, none that I really loved. Then again, I guess these lists would be pretty boring if everybody agreed all the time.

"I Am Love," I thought was kind of a mess: It's a film about messy patriarchal successions, infidelity, globalization, lesbian daughters, cooking, and how great Tilda Swinton looks in haute couture. This would be fine, except that it didn't get interesting until the final sequence, when things get really bonkers.

My problem with "The American" isn't that it was too starkly minimal, but that the twist is so obvious that I was astonished the protagonist didn't guess it sooner, and that he continues to trust exactly the wrong person much longer than is dramatically credible. For this sort of thing, I prefer Jim Jarmusch's "The Limits of Control."

"The Kids Are All Right" seemed to me overly pious in its need to confirm for liberal viewers that two women can be great parents, as if straight-jacketed by political correctness. Rainer Werner Fassbinder was more progressive in his treatment of a lesbian relationship in 1972 when he made "The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant," in which the characters are all awful, awful people. I'd love to see a contemporary American film in which two women make really lousy parents because of flaws in their own characters--not because I think that gays shouldn't raise children, but because it'd probably make a more interesting movie.I wonder if Ebert will respond. Probably not.

dmk

12-17-2010, 10:29 PM

TinyMixTapes' Top 25 (http://www.tinymixtapes.com/features/2010-favorite-25-films-2010) with an Everyone Else write-up from your's truly.
Holy crap, Flooding with Love for The Kid sounds like the greatest thing ever.

Groovy list. The Ghost Writer is far too low though.

Derek

12-17-2010, 11:26 PM

Holy crap, Flooding with Love for The Kid sounds like the greatest thing ever.

Yeah, it sounds utterly absurd, but in an epic, wonderful way. :)

Groovy list. The Ghost Writer is far too low though.

I'd prefer it didn't make the list at all, but I can live with it hovering at the bottom.

Mysterious Dude

12-18-2010, 12:42 AM

I always find this interesting: Movie City News (http://moviecitynews.com/2010/12/top-tens-december-13-2010/) and CriticsTop10 (http://criticstop10.com/) both combine the top ten lists of critics into consensus lists. I think their scoring methods are different.

Boner M

12-18-2010, 02:13 AM

Film Comment (http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/archives/sorry_the_social_network_black _swan_film_comment_says_carlos _the_best_pictu/): Carlos at #1

Spinal

12-18-2010, 02:17 AM

Film Comment (http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/archives/sorry_the_social_network_black _swan_film_comment_says_carlos _the_best_pictu/): Carlos at #1

That headline reminds me of the classic MC Awards gag.

"Social Network is over-rated, but still the #2 film of the year."

DavidSeven

12-18-2010, 02:29 AM

That headline reminds me of the classic MC Awards gag.

"Social Network is over-rated, but still the #2 film of the year."

I thought the same exact thing. :lol:

We've officially reached the point where listing The Social Network as the second greatest film of the year is considered iconoclasm.

Watashi

12-18-2010, 02:33 AM

Well, The Social Network is a better film than the former "it's overrated but still the second greatest film of all time" film.

TripZone

12-18-2010, 03:10 AM

Carlos bah.

baby doll

12-18-2010, 06:22 AM

More fundamentally, I find myself increasingly perturbed by the equation of getting the most votes with "the best film of the year." It would be more accurate just to say that film X was "the movie mentioned on the most number of ballots."

Incidentally, if you want to talk about true contrarianism, Cahiers du Cinéma had The Social Network at like eight or nine. Take that general consensus!

Watashi

12-18-2010, 06:31 AM

Edgar Wright's Best of 2010 lists. (http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/archives/exclusive_edgar_wrights_top_10 _of_the_year/#)

Dude has taste.

DavidSeven

12-18-2010, 06:43 AM

Edgar Wright's Best of 2010 lists. (http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/archives/exclusive_edgar_wrights_top_10 _of_the_year/#)

Dude has taste.

Note that the top 10 posted there is his most underrated/under-seen of 2010.

When I did a Top 5 for GQ, all I received in response were cries of ‘Where’s ‘Inception??’” The truth was that it would have easily been in my Top 10, but you can’t please everyone with your rankings.

Well, here's his top five overall from GQ...

The Social Network
Hugely entertaining, and portrays the rise of billionaire geeks as if it were a gangster saga, with more backstabbing than poking.

Black Swan
A dark tale about what happens when you drive yourself crazy aiming for perfection. Sinister, sexual, and captivating. Great cinema in the vein of Hitchcock, Polanksi and De Palma.

Toy Story 3
It contains the key ingredient of so many children's classics: being utterly terrifying. The furnace sequence joins the Bambi's mother dying, the Sorcerer's Apprentice, and Pink Elephants on Parade in the pantheon of dark Disney greatness.

Enter the Void
A total out-of-body experience: Our druggie hero dies early on, then spends the movie floating through a neon Tokyo heaven, techno hell, and every orifice imaginable.

127 Hours
Hiker Aron Ralston was trapped in a canyon under a boulder for five days; Danny Boyle tells this true story in ninety-five amazing minutes.

Like the Black Swan blurb, but oof for 127 hours.

DavidSeven

12-18-2010, 06:57 AM

Dude has taste.

Honestly, I got a very Watashi-vibe as I read through that article. Maybe you and Edgar Wright are soul mates.

baby doll

12-18-2010, 07:52 AM

Leonard Maltin's IndieWire ballot (http://www.indiewire.com/critic/leonard_maltin):

1. The Town (Ben Affleck)
2. The Ghost Writer (Roman Polanski)
3. The King's Speech (Tom Hooper)
4. The Social Network (David Fincher)
5. Un prophète (Jacques Audiard)
6. City Island (Raymond de Felitta)
7. Cyrus (Jay and Mark Duplass)
8. Please Give (Nicole Holofcener)
9. The Kids Are All Right (Lisa Cholodenko)
10. Exit Through the Gift Shop (Banksy)

Comments: "Most of my favorite films this year came from American independent filmmakers, and from overseas--yet these are the very films that continue to struggle to find an audience and make themselves known."

Meta-comment by me: This is a weird list. First of all, it's a bit of a shock to see three of my personal favorites (The Ghost Writer, Un prophète, Exit Through the Gift Shop) alongside some of the median-ist movies of the past year: The Town (really?!), Cyrus, Please Give, The Kids Are All Right (not to mention the awfully median sounding The King's Speech). And then he caps it off with a pious, utterly rote one-sentence comment on the near-invisibility of independent and foreign films in the US market place, even though his staid, middlebrow taste have demonstrated that, among reviewers, he's one of the least curious about contemporary world cinema. Of the four foreign titles on his list, one is British Oscar-bait, one is a British-American documentary, one is an adaptation of a British novel set mainly in the US by a French-Polish director who for legal reasons can't travel to either the UK or the States, and one is a French Oscar-nominee. And his favorite US independent films are hardly edgy or challenging. Of City Island (the only film on his list I had never heard of), he writes in his original review, "One could broadly describe it as a comedy--at times, it even plays like farce--but its humor doesn't come from gags or funny lines of dialogue. It derives, instead, from the real, recognizable emotions of a boisterous Italian-American family." Oh, and under "Best undistributed film," no response. Exactly.

Boner M

12-18-2010, 09:09 AM

Leonard Maltin, fightin' the good fight.

Spinal

12-18-2010, 04:49 PM

I don't think Leonard Maltin has aged in my lifetime. He's perpetually 50 years old.

baby doll

12-18-2010, 05:00 PM

I don't think Leonard Maltin has aged in my lifetime. He's perpetually 50 years old.Yeah, this is the oldest photo of him that came up in a Google search (from 1985!), and the only discernible difference between then and now is the colour of the beard.

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/mupKLLuH6yQ/0.jpg

Spinal

12-18-2010, 05:19 PM

Jesus, he was actually younger in that picture than I am now. I just can't make that work in my brain.

baby doll

12-18-2010, 05:25 PM

Jesus, he was actually younger in that picture than I am now. I just can't make that work in my brain.The beard adds fifteen years.

Spinal

12-19-2010, 07:31 PM

Major American film critic makes 2010 Top Ten list WITHOUT The Social Network. (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/19/movies/19scott.html?_r=1&src=fbmovies)

So, it is possible.

Of course, Toy Story 3 is #2, but you can't have everything.

Winston*

12-19-2010, 07:36 PM

Major American film critic makes 2010 Top Ten list WITHOUT The Social Network. (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/19/movies/19scott.html?_r=1&src=fbmovies)

Is it weird that I expected to be linked to The Onion?

Pop Trash

12-19-2010, 07:37 PM

DavidSeven

12-19-2010, 07:50 PM

More annoyingly: 127 Hours.

Yeah, the inclusion of that film sort of compromises the whole thing.

baby doll

12-19-2010, 08:11 PM

How about putting Inside Job at number one? It was informative and entertaining, but as filmmaking it was purely by the numbers.

eternity

12-19-2010, 09:36 PM

How about putting Inside Job at number one? It was informative and entertaining, but as filmmaking it was purely by the numbers.
Topicality is a big deal in end of the year list making.

baby doll

12-20-2010, 06:02 PM

More Maltin, this time his top ten of the decade (2001-10) (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leonard-maltin/time-capsule-of-a-decade-_b_798837.html#s211558). Chronologically:

Le Fabuleaux destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001)
Adaptation (2002)
City of God (2003)
Finding Nemo (2003)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Lost in Translation (2003)
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Milk (2008)
Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
The Social Network (2010)

What a depressingly mediocre lineup of movies. The only one I haven't seen is Milk, although it seems telling that this was the Gus Van Sant movie he went with, as opposed to, say, Elephant or Paranoid Park. (Of course, Finding Forrester came out in late 2000, so it wasn't eligible for his list.) I mean, I like Amélie as much as the next heterosexual male (and it's the only movie on his list I'd like to see again), but its inclusion speaks to his enthusiasm for all things mild and innocuous (demonlover, it ain't).

Spinal

12-20-2010, 06:53 PM

City of God mild and innocuous? Since when?

But yeah, that list is very Maltin-y.

baby doll

12-20-2010, 07:22 PM

City of God mild and innocuous? Since when?

But yeah, that list is very Maltin-y.Admittedly, it's less offensive in its treatment of third world poverty than Slumdog Millionaire, where it's a "feel-good" story because the hero keeps his eyes and gets rich, which is so unlikely under the circumstances that the film has to truck in a bunch of new age bullshit about it being written in the heavens. This is much less the case in Meirelles' film, where the narrator gets out of the ghetto essentially by accident--and more to the point, the film ends with the whole cycle starting over again, rather than some bullshit fantasy transformation wherein the hero getting rich is supposed to be representative of some larger sea change in the country as a whole, as if the fact of there being condos where there was once a slum meant there weren't any more slums in India.

That said, I still think this is a pretty clear-cut case of poverty porn for middle-class audiences, where the horrors of the third world, seen from the safe distance of a movie theatre, offer cinema-goers an exciting walk on the wild side. The only movies about poverty that reviewers like Maltin are likely to endorse are ones have athletic, photogenic youths and a slick, quasi-music video style seemingly derived from Amores perros (down to the cross-processed cinematography, as if movies became more realistic by degrading the film stock in a lab) that make squalor seem kind of exciting--unlike, say, Pedro Costa's films about crackheads in Lisbon, which fly well below the radar of most mainstream reviewers.

Eleven

12-21-2010, 07:45 PM

Not that I like this, but I just happened to find it:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Gdt6SgFdNNw/TQ_7nVkSatI/AAAAAAAAUcg/HraS3M_9Q2U/s1600/socialawards.gif

Rowland

12-21-2010, 09:12 PM

DavidSeven

12-21-2010, 09:48 PM

Armond's Sight & Sound list was notable for its lack of "crazy", but he was more willing to let his freak flag fly with his indiewire poll (http://www.indiewire.com/critic/armond_white). I'm surprised by the sudden top placement for Scott Pilgrim, his review for the film read like begrudged admiration at best.

Armond's 2010 Comment

Cowardice, cliques and herd-mentality thinking have destroyed criticism--if not damaged democracy--but good films get made anyway. Good luck finding them.

Annual Critics Survey 2009 »

Best Lead Performance »

1) Michael Jackson, This is It
2) Colin Firth, A Single Man
3) Paul Rudd, I Love You Man

That's cute.

baby doll

12-21-2010, 10:14 PM

Armond's Sight & Sound list was notable for its lack of "crazy", but he was more willing to let his freak flag fly with his indiewire poll (http://www.indiewire.com/critic/armond_white).Aside from Scott Pilgrim vs. The World at number one, and the inclusion of Takers and From Paris With Love (which I haven't seen) at nine and ten respectively, the majority of his list strikes me as exceedingly not crazy. And the inclusion of all three doesn't surprise me, given that this some who one who sees the culture in terms of pop art (Spielberg, Michael Bay) and hipster elitism. Didn't he even write a book on Michael Jackson?

In any case, anybody who likes Vincere and Film socialisme is alright in my books, and Les Herbes folles is pretty awesome as well. I haven't seen Mother and Child or Life During Wartime (although I'm generally a fan of Solondz), but he's far from the only reviewer to put them on his list. Another Year isn't, in my opinion, one of Leigh's better films, but much of it is masterful, and again, the film's gotten many rave reviews. Bellamy is the final film by Claude Chabrol, and given White's commitment to "humanism," it's easy to see why he's a fan of André Téchiné (he also praised Les Témoins), even if La Fille du RER doesn't strike me as one of his best films.

baby doll

12-21-2010, 10:29 PM

Jonathan Rosenbaum's top ten:

1. Les Herbes folles (Alain Resnais)
2. Vincere (Marco Bellocchio)
3. Ne change rien (Pedro Costa)
4. The Art of the Steal (Don Argott)
5. Carlos (Olivier Assayas)
6. Chloe (Atom Egoyan)
7. Greenberg (Noah Baumbach)
8. The Ghost Writer (Roman Polanski)
9. The Social Network (David Fincher)
10. Winter's Bone (Debra Granik)

I knew there's a reason why I like this guy so much.

Ivan Drago

12-22-2010, 04:51 AM

Not that I like this, but I just happened to find it:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Gdt6SgFdNNw/TQ_7nVkSatI/AAAAAAAAUcg/HraS3M_9Q2U/s1600/socialawards.gif

That'd be even more awesome if it was an actual FYC poster.

eternity

12-22-2010, 05:26 AM

His love for Scott Pilgrim, despite his hypocritical love for Edgar Wright (he's not yet 40 so he shouldn't be making films by Armond's standards), makes no sense to me. It's about as hipster as "hipster films" come.

transmogrifier

12-22-2010, 05:37 AM

Any great love for Scott Pilgrim makes no sense to me. Wright's worst film, easily. The last 30 minutes are excruciating.

Rowland

12-22-2010, 06:35 AM

The Los Angeles Film Poll (http://www.laweekly.com/filmpoll/) is superior to the Indiewire Survey, in large part because it's easier to track who voted for what. Interesting to note that both Zacharek and her hubby Charles Taylor included The King's Speech on their lists. Maybe I shouldn't just presume that it's "middlebrow" Oscar bait.

Boner M

12-22-2010, 08:31 AM

Spinal

12-22-2010, 09:07 AM

LOL @ Inception tying with The Last Airbender for worst film.

That's fucking ridiculous.

Boner M

12-22-2010, 09:11 AM

That's fucking ridiculous.
With a startling 4 votes each.

dmk

12-22-2010, 09:40 AM

I'll probably like The Last Airbender more than Inception.

:D

baby doll

12-22-2010, 11:06 AM

If Inception is the year's worst movie, then it must've been a pretty good year.

If it's the year's best movie, then it was the worst year for movies ever.

(Feel free to substitute The Social Network for Inception.)

TripZone

12-22-2010, 12:24 PM

Man, Fincher's film gets a lot of shit here.

Mysterious Dude

12-22-2010, 01:28 PM

I'm surprised The Ghost Writer is doing so well. It seemed really average to me.

B-side

12-22-2010, 02:14 PM

I'm surprised The Ghost Writer is doing so well. It seemed really average to me.

I haven't seen it, but...

Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1966) **½
Black Swan (2010) ***½

Oof.

Mysterious Dude

12-22-2010, 04:11 PM

Oof.
But you liked Black Swan! Or is it just so obviously not as good as Ancestors?

I will say this about Ancestors: It is quite a bit more watchable than The Color of Pomegranates, having more energy and a story that is possible to follow, but as it wore on, it was clear that both films were directed by the same person and I was ready for it to be over.

Derek

12-22-2010, 04:16 PM

I'm surprised The Ghost Writer is doing so well. It seemed really average to me.

Me too.

B-side

12-22-2010, 04:17 PM

But you liked Black Swan! Or is it just so obviously not as good as Ancestors?

I will say this about Ancestors: It is quite a bit more watchable than The Color of Pomegranates, having more energy and a story that is possible to follow, but as it wore on, it was clear that both films were directed by the same person and I was ready for it to be over.

That one.:D

You crazy, Isaac. Cuh-ray-zay.

Spinal

12-22-2010, 06:50 PM

Man, Fincher's film gets a lot of shit here.

THE SOCIAL NETWORK - 38 out of 44
yay - DrewG, number8, Ivan Drago, Ezee E, watashi, philosophe_rouge, Pop Trash, Derek, Eternity, Madman, Bosco B Thug, Henry Gale, weeping guitar, roadtoperdition, Sxottlan, Brightside, Nickglass, Isaac, Fezzik, Bosco B thugh, Isaac, EyesWideOpen, balmakboor, baby doll, DaMU, DavidSeven, Rowland, Lazlo, Chac MOol, Briare, transmogrifier, rightforthemoment, Winston, raiders, stanleyK, Sycophant, soitgoes

nay - Israfel the Black, Spinal, Qrazy, Melville, ending credits, Kurosawa Fan

Really?

Derek

12-22-2010, 07:20 PM

Really?

Many of those yay's tend to be on the low side and the people behind them are among the most vocal of the film's deficiencies (D7, Qrazy, etc.), so the comment's not that far off base. Compared to the critical community's collective blow job of this movie, MatchCut is pretty down on it. And not that I disagree - it's not in my top 10 and I agree with most of the complaints against it.

Qrazy

12-22-2010, 07:22 PM

I'll probably like The Last Airbender more than Inception.

:D

So you're saying you have terrible taste or? Inception isn't perfect but Airbender is god, god, god awful.

DavidSeven

12-22-2010, 07:31 PM

Bosco B Thug

12-22-2010, 08:19 PM

MC, as a whole, has The Social Network pegged just right. A good film with reservations. The year-end critical consensus just doesn't make sense. I'm starting to think maybe a movie about a socially awkward, elitist know-it-all somehow relates especially well with movie critics. Weird! Bflergh.

It makes perfect sense. It's quite conceivably the best mainstream American release this year. What's it up against? Black Swan, Toy Story 3, and Inception. I'm not trying to rag on those films when I say my sentence above stands as quite quite-conceivable.

DavidSeven

12-22-2010, 08:22 PM

Bflergh.

It makes perfect sense. It's quite conceivably the best mainstream American release this year. What's it up against? Black Swan, Toy Story 3, and Inception. I'm not trying to rag on those films when I say my second sentence stands as quite quite-conceivable.

Why does best "mainstream" film of the year have to mean unanimous favorite for all things released? Black Swan and Inception were considerably better and more ambitious than The Social Network.

Bosco B Thug

12-22-2010, 08:28 PM

Why does best "mainstream" film of the year have to mean unanimous favorite for all things released? Black Swan and Inception were considerably better and more ambitious than The Social Network. That's one opinion. I'm just saying, even if the tidal wave effect of Social Network praise irks you, calling it mass hysteria and some impossible lapse in critical faculties does not validate your personal opinion. With no mainstream film this year receiving unanimous praise, for the other three we mentioned being undeniably mixed (well, not Toy Story 3... but it's Animated), it's no surprise a "good film" with such undeniable polish and the most unanimous agreement on its "good"-ness is getting the most consistent praise by awards circuits.

I can relate to your position, though, on other films, and I admit I am on the privileged side of the fence in this case.

EDIT: I can also see how the professionalism and easily-mined fashionableness of The Social Network seems a price to pay for the very personal and risky endeavors that Inception was and Black Swan seems to be. Still think The Social Network ends up being more than that, and overall a better film.

DavidSeven

12-22-2010, 08:31 PM

That's one opinion. I'm just saying, even if the tidal wave effect of Social Network praise irks you, calling it mass hysteria and some impossible lapse in critical faculties does not validate your personal opinion.

Not asking for my personal opinion to be validated. Just offering it. My judgment of the critical consensus is the same. An opinion.

Bosco B Thug

12-22-2010, 08:40 PM

Not asking for my personal opinion to be validated. Just offering it. My judgment of the critical consensus is the same. An opinion.
Fair enough, but I'd be careful with the claim that critics are all over it because they personally, neurotically identify with the subject matter and the Zuckerberg story.

P.S. Did you see my edit in my last post? It' s quite a concession to your opinions. :)

DavidSeven

12-22-2010, 08:48 PM

Fair enough, but I'd be careful with the claim that critics are all over it because they personally, neurotically identify with the subject matter and the Zuckerberg story.

P.S. Did you see my edit in my last post? It' s quite a concession to your opinions. :)

Yes, and I do think your point is fair, too. But I'm nothing without conjecture. That's the way I roll. :)

Bosco B Thug

12-22-2010, 09:00 PM

Yes, and I do think your point is fair, too. But I'm nothing without conjecture. That's the way I roll. :)
Hey, movie critics can be snappy bitches. Throw the "Your criticism reflects you more than it does the film" thing at them and they'll bite your head off.

And for the record, in the Land of Match-Cut, bashing or backhanding The Social Network is totally the establishment. Just stating I agree with TripZone and Derek (and I've the call to be so argumentative), not trying to start a new argument. :D

dmk

12-23-2010, 02:15 AM

So you're saying you have terrible taste or? Inception isn't perfect but Airbender is god, god, god awful.
It’s not a matter of taste, it’s a matter of Shymalananan having a firmer grasp of the camera and being an infinitely more appealing visual stylist and Nolan being the contrarian by doing the reverse with a consistently flat set of filmmaking talents – Inception fares worse than ever because it is – gasp – about architecture.

But I’m in no hurry to see Airbender.

Spinal

12-23-2010, 05:32 PM

MacGuffin

12-23-2010, 06:24 PM

It's a shame, because Shutter Island is an inferior product.

Shutter Island is more visually interesting than Inception and more exciting on a theatrical level.

Spinal

12-23-2010, 06:38 PM

Shutter Island is more visually interesting than Inception and more exciting on a theatrical level.

Don't see it.

transmogrifier

12-23-2010, 06:44 PM

Now that I've seen Shutter Island, it makes more sense to me why Inception has been curiously absent from so many of these lists. For critics who had just seen the Scorsese a couple months prior, certain elements of the film probably seemed less novel. It's a shame, because Shutter Island is an inferior product.

Disagree. Inception is more stage-managed and idea driven, but Shutter Island has a more tangible atmosphere and a jazzy trashy vibe that better sits with the pulpy material. Plus it is much better shot, and doesn't have a friggin long dull action sequence set in the snow. And I certainly felt more of an emotional connection to the family problems of Leo in Shutter Island than I ever did with Inception. And the decision at the end of Shutter Island has far more of a resonance than the cheap "cliffhanger" directorial-centred ending of Inception. (I mean, if it was truly not important what the reality of the final scene was because Leo had found happiness, the top should never have been set spinning - I mean, after he has hugged his kids, he will walk back in and find it either spinning or not, and thus have it answered for him. But Nolan can't resist the gimmick just to leave the audience in the dark for no thematically logical reason)

Bosco B Thug

12-23-2010, 07:11 PM

a jazzy trashy vibe Bleh. Inception's better, and its aesthetic eye is underrated. Its naturalistic dream metropolises and Parisian streets are more evocative than Shutter Island's gothic/noir pandering.

transmogrifier

12-23-2010, 07:15 PM

Bleh. Inception's better, and its aesthetic eye is underrated.

I didn't get any particular vibe from Inception. It's functional, well-constructed, entertaining. But there is no real mood to it. For me, anyway. It was just another action blockbuster with some good action sequences, some bad.

transmogrifier

12-23-2010, 07:16 PM

Its naturalistic dream cities early on are more evocative than Shutter Island's gothic pandering.

Yeah, cos if you can't get the goths out to the theatre, your film's dead! :)

baby doll

12-23-2010, 07:19 PM

Bosco B Thug

12-23-2010, 07:20 PM

Yeah, cos if you can't get the goths out to the theatre, your film's dead! :) I meant the ambient element, not the constituency. You just made me call goths a constituency, thanks a lot!

Sweeney Todd is better than both films, so there's proof I've nothing against goths.

Derek

12-23-2010, 07:22 PM

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger also made essentially the same point, but instead of bludgeoning us over the head with portentous music and dead wife back stories, Allen handles his material with a relatively light touch and even a bit of humor.

True. It's almost like it was a comedy instead of a big-budget action film.

Bosco B Thug

12-23-2010, 07:29 PM

True. It's almost like it was a comedy instead of a big-budget action film. I was going to reconstruct baby doll's post so as to invert You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger and the other two films in his comparison, but this is a much better version of the same point. :lol:

transmogrifier

12-23-2010, 07:32 PM

Can't we all agree they're both incredibly silly movies that take themselves way too seriously? Both Shutter Island and Inception argue that human beings (or at least Leonardo DiCapprio) need to deceive themselves about certain things in order to function--except that, unlike the characters in these movies, most of us aren't schizophrenics or living a literal dream world. You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger also made essentially the same point, but instead of bludgeoning us over the head with portentous music and dead wife back stories, Allen handles his material with a relatively light touch and even a bit of humor.

Inception takes itself way more seriously than Shutter Island, to the former film's detriment, I think. Though Nolan is not exactly a director attracted to screenplays with a light touch. Just as Shyamalan went through a stage where he tried to insularize usually expansive genres (Unbreakable - superheroes; Signs - alien invasion; The Village - monster movie), Nolan seems to be trying to run genre through a "weighty drama" matrix.

Derek

12-23-2010, 07:33 PM

I was going to reconstruct baby doll's post so as to invert You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger and the other two films in his comparison, but this is a much better version of the same point. :lol:

BD is MC's King of Inane Comparisons.

transmogrifier

12-23-2010, 07:37 PM

I meant the ambient element, not the constituency. You just made me call goths a constituency, thanks a lot!

Sweeney Todd is better than both films, so there's proof I've nothing against goths.

So then I guess I don't understand the term "gothic pandering" then. Do mainstream audiences really lust after a good bit of gothic ambience, and if so, it is wrong to provide it? And what is it about the material in Shutter Island (isolated island, mental institution, weird cast of characters) that means it is the wrong decision to make the atmosphere gothic in nature?

I don't get it.

baby doll

12-23-2010, 07:39 PM

True. It's almost like it was a comedy instead of a big-budget action film.A director can have a light touch in genres other than comedy. (Incidentally, since when are big-budget action movies supposed to be dour and humorless?) You only have to compare Scorsese's mostly tone-deaf direction in Shutter Island (didn't Patricia Clarkson's scene just go on and on? Talk talk talk talk talk) with Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer, which is a much more elegant thriller, beginning with the opening sequence in which he simply cuts from the empty SUV to a body washing up on the shore.

Bosco B Thug

12-23-2010, 07:43 PM

So then I guess I don't understand the term "gothic pandering" then. Do mainstream audiences really lust after a good bit of gothic ambience, and if so, it is wrong to provide it? And what is it about the material in Shutter Island (isolated island, mental institution, weird cast of characters) that means it is the wrong decision to make the atmosphere gothic in nature?

I don't get it. Well, Scorsese's pandering to a certain type of viewer, some in the mainstream, some not, probably mostly to movie-lovers and cinephiles.

There's nothing wrong with it, but I found Scorsese using it mostly in distracting and hollow ways. It seemed more condescending to genre films of the kind than a channeling of their sensibility.

Boner M

12-23-2010, 11:13 PM

Being visually functional is central to Inception's thesis, anyway.

Spinal

12-24-2010, 01:37 AM

Shutter Island was not too far being from an M. Night Shyamalan film. Basically, all it needed was an M. Night Shyamalan cameo.

Derek

12-24-2010, 03:43 AM

Shutter Island was not too far being from an M. Night Shyamalan film. Basically, all it needed was an M. Night Shyamalan cameo.

And to be awful. Let's not forget that part.

TripZone

12-24-2010, 04:35 AM

I didn't think baby doll's comparison was inane.

Spinal

12-25-2010, 05:45 PM

Jaime Christley's top 10 list doesn't have The Social Network. Or Toy Story 3. Or Inception.

It does have Resident Evil: Afterlife though. (http://jaimefavorites.blogspot.com/2010/03/2010s.html)

eternity

12-25-2010, 05:47 PM

Jaime Christley's top 10 list doesn't have The Social Network. Or Toy Story 3. Or Inception.

It does have Resident Evil: Afterlife though. (http://jaimefavorites.blogspot.com/2010/03/2010s.html)
That's list is just bizarre. Not a bad kind of bizarre though.

EDIT: The 2009 list included Survival of the Dead and the 2008 list included Death Race. Someone's got a taste for zombie horror and Paul W.S. Anderson...

TripZone

12-26-2010, 12:08 AM

Mysterious Dude

12-26-2010, 03:13 PM

Rowland

12-27-2010, 05:45 PM

How about not liking either film very much? That said, Shutter Island has Ted Levine wax philosophical over Leo cracking open his skull with a rock and eating his meaty parts, so it wins.

Bosco B Thug

12-27-2010, 06:28 PM

How about not liking either film very much? That said, Shutter Island has Ted Levine wax philosophical over Leo cracking open his skull with a rock and eating his meaty parts, so it wins. This makes me want to change my mind, in the jokey sense, but to make a serious point, I agree with all the praise for this scene because it's the exact point when the film's complicated and serious thematic points finally come out. It's definitely the key scene, as others have concluded already.

Rowland

12-27-2010, 06:40 PM

This makes me want to change my mind, in the jokey sense, but to make a serious point, I agree with all the praise for this scene because it's the exact point when the film's complicated and serious thematic points finally come out. It's definitely the key scene, as others have concluded already.In all seriousness as well, it's one of my favorite scenes of the year in an otherwise "mild yay" of a movie.

dreamdead

12-27-2010, 07:06 PM

ReverseShot's Top Ten (http://reverseshot.com/article/reverse_shots_best_2010).

A little surprised by the love for Mother over Secret Sunshine. Lots to still see, though, so I'm excited.

Rowland

12-27-2010, 07:07 PM

Reverse Shot's Best of 2010 (http://www.reverseshot.com/article/reverse_shots_best_2010)

A few idiosyncratic results, a few obviously less so, but still an interesting top ten. Love that Sweetgrass made the list, a pretty great documentary amidst a slew of them this year, Bluebeard and Mother are both very good, and Alamar is an intriguing choice, if not one I responded quite so positively to.

EDIT: Almost first. :)

Pop Trash

12-27-2010, 07:15 PM

ReverseShot's Top Ten (http://reverseshot.com/article/reverse_shots_best_2010)

They might have good taste, but their condescension is always annoying. I mean "boogedy boogedy boo! Ozarks!" re: Winter's Bone? Gimme a break.

Watashi

12-27-2010, 07:16 PM

You gotta love a website where they begin one of their top ten films with the phrase "maybe it's not that good".

Reverse Shot makes babydoll look sane.

Watashi

12-27-2010, 07:18 PM

Rowland

12-27-2010, 07:40 PM

After reading that cranky opening passage, I decided to seek out as many of the contributers' individual lists that I could find, just for curiosity's sake. Every top ten besides one features Alamar within their top three, with that single exception positioning it all the way down at the #8 spot, and while I couldn't find Andrew Tracy's list, he wrote that ecstatic blurb about it, so safe to presume it's one of his favorites as well. Oh, the conformity!

I kid because I love of course. I'm sure I'll get a kick out of their sure-to-be brutal beatdown of Black Swan, one of my favorites from the year.

MacGuffin

12-27-2010, 07:41 PM

They might have good taste, but their condescension is always annoying. I mean "boogedy boogedy boo! Ozarks!" re: Winter's Bone? Gimme a break.

They may be wrong (and slightly condescending too), but at least they're funny about it.

At any rate, exceptional list. I've always known about Reverse Shot and in general have liked what I've read. I'll be keeping an eye on that site for sure in 2011.

Boner M

12-28-2010, 01:17 AM

Reverse Shot can be absurdly snide and as Rowland implied, they often fall victim to the groupthink they frequently lambast, but yeah, they have a good taste and reviews to back it up. So shuddup, Wats.

And frankly, after reading the results of the Sydney Film Critics (http://www.mattriviera.net/2010/12/sydney-film-critics-best-of-2010.html) poll (my list is in there), any cynicism about critic-bots is welcome.

2010 was a great year for movies but my favourite was Toy Story 3. More than a decade has passed since Buzz Woody and their toy pals last came out to play. Young fans of the first film may have reached their teens but Toy Story 3 has grown up with them. Hot on the heels of Wall-E and Up, the third Toy Story is a masterclass in animated joy to be loved by all ages. Eye-poppingly awesome animated imagery, fabulous vocal performances – but what do you expect from Pixar. What surprises here is the level of emotional involvement that sneaks up on you. The finale will bring a tear to the most hardened of sceptics. In an incendiary moment, when the toys may meet their makers, a fleeting moment of friendship is devastatingly poignant. Toy Story 3 is perfectly judged end to one of the greatest trilogies of our time — animated or not. To Infinity…

Seriously? Seriously?

baby doll

12-28-2010, 01:57 AM

"Any critic who could, with a straight face, populate a ten-best list either primarily or exclusively with American films released in one of the worst years in recent memory for homegrown filmmaking at all levels either wasn’t watching enough movies or watching movies well enough."

Anyone who thinks this is an idiot.I guess that makes me any idiot, since I don't necessarily see a connection between one country dominating the marketplace (both locally and globally) and producing the best films, even granting the fact that subtitled films only account for a ridiculously small percentage of the films released commercially in the United States each year. Just because a movie opens in every multiplex from Buenos Aires to Cairo to Seoul doesn't mean it's good.

baby doll

12-28-2010, 02:02 AM

Reverse Shot makes babydoll look sane.My top ten was boringly sane, and you know it.

eternity

12-28-2010, 04:04 AM

Watashi

12-28-2010, 05:18 AM

If a Japanese critic only included Japanese films on his list, would anyone care?

I don't buy in the whole "you have to diversify your list just because". If the 10 best movies I saw were American, then so be it. Not everyone can go to these festivals where these small niche titles only play.

Seriously? Seriously?

I heart the Sydney Critics.

Boner M

12-28-2010, 05:37 AM

Not everyone can go to these festivals where these small niche titles only play.
The Reverse Shot bit you quoted was talking about critics, not fans. If you're a professional critic and you choose only to watch commerically distributed fare, you're not fulfilling your duties. Didn't Ratatouille teach you anything?

Watashi

12-28-2010, 05:40 AM

The Reverse Shot bit you quoted was talking about critics, not fans. If you're a professional critic and you choose only to watch commerically distributed fare, you're not fulfilling your duties. Didn't Ratatouille teac you anything?

I don't know about choosing only to see them, but most critics just simply prefer films they are more accustomed to. A Peter Travers lists that sucks the Academy's dick is no worse than a cranky critic who shuns any film that features a person who has stepped on American soil.

Boner M

12-28-2010, 05:44 AM

I don't know about choosing only to see them, but most critics just simply prefer films they are more accustomed to. A Peter Travers lists that sucks the Academy's dick is no worse than a cranky critic who shuns any film that features a person who has stepped on American soil.
The RS list included 2 American films.

TripZone

12-28-2010, 05:49 AM

Silliness.

Watashi

12-28-2010, 05:51 AM

The RS list included 2 American films.
Did you read the Social Network review? They feel ashamed to even put it there.

Boner M

12-28-2010, 06:08 AM

Did you read the Social Network review? They feel ashamed to even put it there.
I read it/they didn't.

Winston*

12-28-2010, 06:15 AM

Don't like the self-satisfied tone (you shouldn't feel proud of yourselves just for liking some movies), but seems like there's some good recommendations in that list. Looking forward to seeing the Leigh.

DavidSeven

12-28-2010, 07:23 AM

Seriously? Seriously?

I know. Of the three animated films I've seen in the past week (Toy Story 3, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and Fantastic Mr. Fox), the Pixar flick impressed me the least. It's positively by the numbers in comparison. Couldn't even imagine ranking above the best of everything else.

Boner M

12-28-2010, 07:34 AM

I know. Of the three animated films I've seen in the past week (Toy Story 3, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and Fantastic Mr. Fox), the Pixar flick impressed me the least. It's positively by the numbers in comparison. Couldn't even imagine ranking above the best of everything else.
I was taking exception to the Lyons-esque blurb rather than him considering it the year's best - even worse considering it was submitted to a freakin' blog and not a Blockbuster catalogue.

baby doll

12-28-2010, 02:49 PM

If a Japanese critic only included Japanese films on his list, would anyone care?It would depend on the movies being listed. (I know a lot of people really liked Love Exposure, but I found that the energy diminished rapidly after the first hour.)

But more to the point, if you go to a multiplex in San Diego, half the movies playing aren't going to be Japanese, whereas if you go to a theatre in Tokyo or Osaka, at least half are going to be American blockbusters. So if a Japanese reviewer were to come up with a list of the year's best movies, unless it's specifically a list of the year's best Japanese films (and you can find any number of those on the web, including top tens just for anime), chances are that the US is going to be over-represented on their list as well.

In any event, there's no excuse for liking The Kids Are All Right.

I don't buy in the whole "you have to diversify your list just because". If the 10 best movies I saw were American, then so be it. Not everyone can go to these festivals where these small niche titles only play.With DVDs and torrents, you can see lots of foreign movies, even if your town doesn't have a festival. You just have to be curious.

NickGlass

12-28-2010, 02:58 PM

In any event, there's no excuse for liking The Kids Are All Right.

Yeah, anyone who enjoys a breezy, thoughtful observation on family dynamics--and potential entropy--filled with intelligent ensemble performances must be a total moron who understands zero about le cinema. Poor excuses, excuses.

It's not always easy to buy what it's selling, but to call it completely worthless is flippant bullshit.

baby doll

12-28-2010, 03:04 PM

Yeah, anyone who enjoys a breezy, thoughtful observation on family dynamics--and potential entropy--filled with intelligent ensemble performances must be a total moron who understands zero about le cinema. Poor excuses, excuses.

It's not always easy to buy what it's selling, but to call it completely worthless is flippant bullshit.Even putting aside the pious gender politics (lesbians can be great moms? Gee, who knew?), I just found the whole thing incredibly bland and sit-comy from frame one, and not very funny. It's far from the best that world cinema had to offer in the previous calendar year.

Raiders

12-28-2010, 03:33 PM

Even putting aside the pious gender politics (lesbians can be great moms? Gee, who knew?)

C'mon. This strikes me as a comment coming from someone determined to criticize the film. The representation in the film isn't overly pious by any stretch, and you seem to indicate that the only good portrayal would be one in which they are less-than-ideal? The conflicts in the film don't really involve their actual qualifications as parents but rather the stress of being same-sex parents, of having this third party (Ruffalo) involved and the stress and confusion it brings.

I just found the whole thing incredibly bland and sit-comy from frame one, and not very funny. It's far from the best that world cinema had to offer in the previous calendar year.

That's fine, but you obviously understand some people disagree, right? I wouldn't call it great either, but certainly more worthy than you.

NickGlass

12-28-2010, 03:40 PM

Even putting aside the pious gender politics (lesbians can be great moms? Gee, who knew?), I just found the whole thing incredibly bland and sit-comy from frame one, and not very funny. It's far from the best that world cinema had to offer in the previous calendar year.

The film does its best to neither overplay nor underplay the fact that "oh gee, lesbians can be great moms," but just matter-of-factly observe the family as it is. Normal. If you want to look at it politically, it's political in the way that it is plausible and has mainstream appeal. I can't argue the "bland" idea, but I didn't feel it was sit-comy at all (sure, the main subject is family, but it's focused, well acted, and hardly broad).

Oh, and before you said there's no excuse for "liking" it, not "placing at #1."

baby doll

12-28-2010, 03:51 PM

C'mon. This strikes me as a comment coming from someone determined to criticize the film. The representation in the film isn't overly pious by any stretch, and you seem to indicate that the only good portrayal would be one in which they are less-than-ideal? The conflicts in the film don't really involve their actual qualifications as parents but rather the stress of being same-sex parents, of having this third party (Ruffalo) involved and the stress and confusion it brings.Well, Cholodenko's in a bind here, because on the one hand, she wants to convince homophobes that lesbians can be great parents (or at least validate liberal viewers' preexisting ideas on the subject), while on the other hand, she also wants to make a movie. And if it's not a film about their actual qualifications as parents, why then does the movie hold itself up as this beacon of tolerance (take Ruffalo's toast to an unconventional family, for instance)?

As I've said on this board many times before, Fassbinder was more progressive in his handling of a lesbian relationship 38 years ago in The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, where the heroine (who's far from sympathetic) gets screwed over by her lover and then takes it out on her daughter and mother (in a spectacular extended sequence). Also, Fassbinder had style, while Cholondenko's approach to form is strictly functional.

TripZone

12-28-2010, 03:54 PM

The gay porn farce, the sex while at work/inconvenient gardener, and the basin hair was all pretty sitcomy. Maybe not so much the latter, but it was just as bothersome and contrived.

I agree that the "oh gee, lesbians can be great moms" is hardly a heavy-handed point here. In fact, I'm not sure where you pulled it from.

The film's worth is in the authenticity of the details, that includes speech, clothing, gestures, non-stereotyping. The film is undone by contrived drama and a thoughtless ending.

baby doll

12-28-2010, 04:00 PM

The film does its best to neither overplay nor underplay the fact that "oh gee, lesbians can be great moms," but just matter-of-factly observe the family as it is. Normal. If you want to look at it politically, it's political in the way that it is plausible and has mainstream appeal. I can't argue the "bland" idea, but I didn't feel it was sit-comy at all (sure, the main subject is family, but it's focused, well acted, and hardly broad).Sit-coms tend to reflect an idealized notion of family (not families as they really are, but as we wish they were), and the family in this movie is so loving and middle-class and stable that it's just boring. So where does the conflict come from? As in a sit-com, it comes from the outside, with Mark Ruffalo attempting to usurp Annette Benning as a parent and lover. And in the end, the status quo is restored and everyone lives happily ever after (except that home-wrecker Ruffalo). One can very easily imagine this same script but with Bob Saget or Tony Danza in the Annette Benning role.

DavidSeven

12-28-2010, 04:01 PM

I was taking exception to the Lyons-esque blurb rather than him considering it the year's best - even worse considering it was submitted to a freakin' blog and not a Blockbuster catalogue.

To me, it comes off as Lyons-esque precisely because Toy Story 3 itself comes off as a calculated and generic money grab, rather than something organically artistic, regardless of how well they executed it. Really broad gush over something so plainly driven by commerce is pretty gross. It's like copping to tearing up over an iPad release. The fact that there's so little artistic virtue in it leads him and many others to devolve into idiot fanboys spouting generic hyperbole to fill the requisite capsule space.

Pop Trash

12-28-2010, 04:13 PM

I don't think baby doll was hugged enough as a child.

baby doll

12-28-2010, 04:19 PM

I don't think baby doll was hugged enough as a child.I was hugged plenty. My point is: Who goes to the movies to see happy families? Happy families are boring. Give me Yi Yi.

Watashi

12-28-2010, 05:11 PM

The fact that there's so little artistic virtue in it leads him and many others to devolve into idiot fanboys spouting generic hyperbole to fill the requisite capsule space.

Yep. You really nailed down all the people who loved Toy Story 3.

Why haven't you applied for the NY Press yet?

DavidSeven

12-28-2010, 05:21 PM

Yep. You really nailed down all the people who loved Toy Story 3.

Why haven't you applied for the NY Press yet?ð

Yeah, I realize that came off as more Armond-ish than I like. I can understand general audiences loving it, and if nostalgia plays a role in their love, then fine. I just can't get on board with this outpouring of love from critics that also appears steeped in nostalgia. I'd expect more objectivity there. The best reviewed film in a decade being an average Hollywood sequel just doesn't feel right, especially when there are recent animated efforts from other studios that feel superior. Guess I'm just over the Pixar worship.

Watashi

12-28-2010, 05:29 PM

ð

Yeah, I realize that came off as more Armond-ish than I like. I can understand general audiences loving it, and if nostalgia plays a role in their love, then fine. I just can't get on board with this outpouring of love from critics that also appears steeped in nostalgia. I'd expect more objectivity there. The best reviewed film in a decade being an average Hollywood sequel just doesn't feel right, especially when there are recent animated efforts from other studios that feel superior. Guess I'm just over the Pixar worship.
Have you actually read any of the critic reviews or did you just glance at the tomatometer? Not all of them are steeped in nostalgia or written by Peter Travers.

I think Schager's capsule review (http://www.nickschager.com/nsfp/2010/06/toy-story-3-2010-b.html) is good and also EdGo's review (http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/toy-story-3/4869). Both review more or less dive a bit deeper into the film beyond Pixar worshiping.

j_christley

12-28-2010, 10:25 PM

In my defense:

I did like Inception - a lot actually. It just made my runners-up, that's all. Concerning Top 10s, I concern myself less with a film making/not making the Top 10 as making/not making the list at all, whether the list has 10 titles, 20, 30, or more. If you go to the main page (http://jaimefavorites.blogspot.com/) of my "favorite films" blog, and scroll down through the years, you will see I use color-coding to indicate my level of affection. Therefore you will see, regarding 2010, that #s 8-13 are all in one group. (In fact, I am considering including the whole "Louie" series as one and putting it on at #4.)

It's true also that I liked The Last Airbender. Sometimes it happens that filmmakers I like are generally regarded as pariahs. Another is Paul W.S. Anderson. Anderson, Shyamalan, and Nolan (at least with two of his last three films) are directors who excite me architecturally, even if their scripts aren't very good, or there are problems with actors.

As for The Social Network, while I thought it was okay, it has sometimes been the case with me and Fincher that I need more than one viewing to get into the rhythms of the picture. For example, I liked Zodiac only moderately when I first saw it. The second time, it was as clear to me as it was to a lot of other people that it was a great movie. We'll see what the Blu-ray for TSN brings.

Toy Story 3: what can I say? I liked Pixar's 2007-2009 triple-play, The Incredibles, and Toy Story 2. Something about this one, though - awareness of its own (and its corporation's) genius without any kind of unruliness, or tension. I dunno, it was fine I guess. But I'd rather rewatch a minor Miyazaki, Ponyo for example.

Finally: these lists are strictly personal, and don't reflect my awareness of a film being good or great, or not. To that end, I built Unexamined/Essentials (http://www.unexaminedessentials.com/p/directory.html), where you can travel year-by-year and get literally thousands of recommendations for films to see. Check it out.

DavidSeven

12-28-2010, 11:18 PM

Toy Story 3: what can I say? I liked Pixar's 2007-2009 triple-play, The Incredibles, and Toy Story 2. Something about this one, though - awareness of its own (and its corporation's) genius without any kind of unruliness, or tension. I dunno, it was fine I guess. But I'd rather rewatch a minor Miyazaki, Ponyo for example.

Yeah, though now that I think of it, I didn't even like Ratatouille or Up much either. (Wall-E was a home run.) I've never considered any of their films to be less than at least OK, but these days, I don't see them dominating their own genre, much less the rest of the film world.

Boner M

12-29-2010, 12:21 AM

To that end, I built Unexamined/Essentials (http://www.unexaminedessentials.com/p/directory.html), where you can travel year-by-year and get literally thousands of recommendations for films to see. Check it out.
Oh man, awesome. I'll be investigating the shit out of this blog.

MadMan

12-29-2010, 01:18 AM

Right now I want to see The Illusionist, the new movie from the creators behind The Triplets of Belleville, more than I want to view Toy Story 3. This is more so due to the fact that the animation in that one looks far more cooler than Pixar's. Guess I'll have to save it to my Netflix queue.

baby doll

12-29-2010, 01:26 AM

j_christley

12-30-2010, 02:50 AM

Oh man, awesome. I'll be investigating the shit out of this blog.

Thanks man. I see you like the 2nd French Connection movie. Me too. When Frankenheimer was on, he was on.

1) I love the shot of Popeye looking at the volleyball game on the beach, and the ball that comes bounding toward him from what seems like a mile away. It's kind of amazing, pretty much a throwaway shot but done in one take. I can't get my head around how they did it.

2) Funny story about the "f*** Mickey Mantle!" bit. The producers were terrified of offending the baseball legend, so they screened it for him privately to gauge whether they should remove it or not. When the scene in question came up, he laughed himself hoarse, and it stayed.

Rowland

12-30-2010, 01:01 PM

Some (http://www.inreviewonline.com/inreviewonline/HOME/Entries/2010/12/27_Year_in_Review_2010_-_Luke_Gorham_%28Film%29.html) fine (http://www.inreviewonline.com/inreviewonline/HOME/Entries/2010/12/27_Year_in_Review_2010_-_Sam_C._Mac_%28Film%29.html) lists (http://www.inreviewonline.com/inreviewonline/HOME/Entries/2010/12/22_Year_in_Review_2010_-_A.A._Dowd_%28Film%29.html) from the folks at In Review Online.

Dukefrukem

12-30-2010, 01:08 PM

True Grit made it to 10? I gotta see this asap.

jamaul

12-30-2010, 05:10 PM

:frustrated:

http://www.reelviews.net/reelthoughts.php?identifier=65 7

Rowland

01-01-2011, 08:36 PM

Film Freak Central's 2010 lists (http://filmfreakcentral.net/toptens/top102010.htm)

Boner M

01-01-2011, 10:25 PM

Really not a fan of FFC's year-end diagnostic fever.

Pop Trash

01-01-2011, 11:38 PM

Really not a fan of FFC's year-end diagnostic fever.

Not a cunnilingus fan?

Boner M

01-01-2011, 11:58 PM

Not a cunnilingus fan?
That was funny, though.

eternity

01-02-2011, 12:10 AM

BuffaloWilder

01-02-2011, 06:54 AM

Coming from someone who was raised partly by lesbians the whole of his entire life - I can say with confidence that there was not enough emotional lunacy, or plate-throwing.

Rowland

01-02-2011, 10:30 AM

Really not a fan of FFC's year-end diagnostic fever.Yeah, Chaw attempting to sum up the year with some thematic thesis is just his thing, and they've been hating on Scott Pilgrim since its release.

The Valhalla Rising love is a nice change of pace, even if its stauncher admirers such as Derek and Wats would likely appreciate it more, I'm further tempted to give Greenberg another shot, my anticipation for True Grit and (sorry) Somewhere rises, and I'm reminded that there's yet another documentary from last year that is by most accounts stellar.

angrycinephile

01-02-2011, 01:19 PM

they've been hating on Scott Pilgrim since its release

Walter didn't hate it. He tweeted something to the extent of "watching Scott Pilgrim, surprisingly visually impressive" a few weeks ago.

He also posted this on their blog:

I do wonder about the venom, though, of my colleagues against Scott Pilgrim which, though it didn't touch my heart in any discernible way, I was sort of impressed by in a technical way.

Watashi

01-02-2011, 11:12 PM

I'm loving Tarantino's Top 10 of 2010. (http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/2011/01/02/toy_story_3_tops_quentin_taran tinos_best_of_2010/#)

1. Toy Story 3
2. The Social Network
3. Animal Kingdom
4. I Am Love
5. Tangled
6. True Grit
7. The Town
8. Greenberg
9. Cyrus
10. Enter The Void (“Hands down best credit scene of the year … Maybe best credit scene of the decade. One of the greatest in cinema history.” – QT)

Spinal

01-02-2011, 11:16 PM

5. Tangled

Nice.

Watashi

01-02-2011, 11:18 PM

I kinda purposely avoided posting his 11-20 because it's full of WTFs like Robin Hood and Knight and Day.

Boner M

01-02-2011, 11:31 PM

Hmm, guess it must've been the rest of the Venice jury responsible for giving Somewhere the Golden Lion.

TripZone

01-02-2011, 11:53 PM

Hmm, guess it must've been the rest of the Venice jury responsible for giving Somewhere the Golden Lion.

Hah, yeah.

baby doll

01-03-2011, 01:05 AM

When did Tarantino turn into such a pussy?

Also, no Asian movies?

Ezee E

01-03-2011, 01:10 AM

When did Tarantino turn into such a pussy?

Also, no Asian movies?
1. Black Swan
2. Shutter Island
3. Inception
4. Mother
5. Fish Tank
6. A Prophet
7. The Social Network
8. 127 Hours
9. The Fighter
10. Exit Through the Gift Shop (resonating very well with me)

Spinal

01-03-2011, 01:12 AM

Also, no Asian movies?

I noticed that too. Weird.

Pop Trash

01-03-2011, 05:16 AM

I'm loving Tarantino's Top 10 of 2010. (http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/2011/01/02/toy_story_3_tops_quentin_taran tinos_best_of_2010/#)

The hell? I thought QT didn't like the Coens' flicks? Oh well, I just think he drew those pics out of a hat. And since when has he ever been that into animation?

Edit: And yeah uhh guess he forgot about Somewhere. Lay off the blow Quent.

Ezee E

01-03-2011, 05:20 AM

Surely he loved Toy Story 3 for its Cool Hand Luke references and the Security Monkey.

Boner M

01-03-2011, 07:02 AM

Pop Trash

01-03-2011, 07:25 AM

In a shocking turn of events, Inception didn't make Reverse Shot's annual 11 Offenses (http://www.reverseshot.com/article/reverse_shots_11_offenses_2010 ) list.

Wow, nor did 127 Hours which probably deserved to be on there. I have to say, they are really reaching with their "takedown" of Winter's Bone. But good on them for calling out the shitty Kick-Ass.

Dead & Messed Up

01-03-2011, 06:10 PM

The hell? I thought QT didn't like the Coens' flicks? Oh well, I just think he drew those pics out of a hat. And since when has he ever been that into animation?

Edit: And yeah uhh guess he forgot about Somewhere. Lay off the blow Quent.

I wonder if he has a no friends clause, since he's buddies with Edgar Wright and Sofia Coppola, and Scott Pilgrim and Somewhere are conspicuously absent.

eternity

01-03-2011, 07:05 PM

In a shocking turn of events, Inception didn't make Reverse Shot's annual 11 Offenses (http://www.reverseshot.com/article/reverse_shots_11_offenses_2010 ) list.

Enter the Void, Catfish, Love and Other Drugs, Kick-Ass, The Secret in Their Eyes... good choices.It's quite hard to take an article seriously that starts out by recalling their feelings about Juno and Southland Tales, both of which are ridiculous.

NickGlass

01-04-2011, 02:56 PM

In a shocking turn of events, Inception didn't make Reverse Shot's annual 11 Offenses (http://www.reverseshot.com/article/reverse_shots_11_offenses_2010 ) list.

They've made fine choices by debasing Life During Wartime, Catfish, Eat Pray Love, and Kick-Ass.

I may not be as smitten with Black Swan and Winter's Bone as most are, but I think they are flawed films with somewhat considerable strengths. I saw no redeemable quality in the four I mention above.

Also, my willful refusal to see The Secret of their Eyes, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Get Low was validated. Everything I had heard about all three--whether positive or negative--led me to believe they were certainly not for me.

Spinal

01-04-2011, 06:14 PM

Reverse Shot is utterly obnoxious. And this yearly column is on my personal list of offenses I can always count on.

Pop Trash

01-04-2011, 06:47 PM

Producer's Guild list is out, if anyone cares. Supposedly this is the closest to what the ten Oscar noms will be:

127 Hours
Black Swan
Inception
The Fighter
The Kids Are All Right
The King's Speech
The Social Network
The Town
Toy Story 3
True Grit

Still hoping Winter's Bone can squeak in for BP.

Morris Schæffer

01-04-2011, 06:52 PM

Still hoping The Ghost Writer will make it in, but that appears to be a fine, fine list. There's certainly no Blind Side equivalent in that list.

Pop Trash

01-04-2011, 07:00 PM

Still hoping The Ghost Writer will make it in, but that appears to be a fine, fine list. There's certainly no Blind Side equivalent in that list.

I still think The Social Network will most likely win BP this year, despite initially thinking it was too young and nerdy for the Oscars. Black Swan and Inception will split the younger, more adventurous voters. The King's Speech and True Grit (and maybe The Kids Are Allright) will split the older voters. The Social Network will pick up the rest.

Pop Trash

01-04-2011, 07:04 PM

One thing to consider is that Black Swan might pick up enough women voters to cause an upset over The Social Network for BP.

angrycinephile

01-04-2011, 07:10 PM

And here are the WGA nominations:

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Black Swan, Screenplay by Mark Heyman and Andres Heinz and John McLaughlin; Story by Andres Heinz

The Fighter, Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson; Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson

Inception, Written by Christopher Nolan

The Kids Are All Right, Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg

Please Give, Written by Nicole Holofcener

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

127 Hours, Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy; Based on the book Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston

I Love You Phillip Morris, Written by John Requa & Glenn Ficarra; Based on the book by Steven McVicker

The Social Network, Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin; Based on the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich

The Town, Screenplay by Peter Craig and Ben Affleck & Aaron Stockard; Based on the novel Prince of Thieves by Chuck Hogan

True Grit, Screenplay by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen; Based on the novel by Charles Portis

DavidSeven

01-04-2011, 07:40 PM

One thing to consider is that Black Swan might pick up enough women voters to cause an upset over The Social Network for BP.

Gotta say I'd be stunned if The Academy gave BP to something as overtly sexual as Black Swan, even if it's not Verhoeven-level explicit.

elixir

01-04-2011, 08:19 PM

The race is definitely between The Social Network and The King's Speech. Unless something changes (perhaps The Fighter gaining momentum?). Yeah, no way the Academy would choose Black Swan, though Portman has a very good shot at Best Actress, I think.

Ezee E

01-04-2011, 09:07 PM

Good lord, the original work done this year is pathetic.

DavidSeven

01-04-2011, 09:23 PM

Good lord, the original work done this year is pathetic.

Are you basing that on the WGA nominations or something else? Thought you were a big fan of at least two of those films and the rest got raves in most circles. Four out of the five seem likely headed to Best Picture contention (not to say that is much of a barometer of their quality).

Rowland

01-04-2011, 10:41 PM

Slate's annual Movie Club (http://www.slate.com/id/2279738/entry/2279749/) is in progress, this year featuring Dana Stevens, Dan Kois, Karina Longworth, Matt Zoller Seitz, and Stephanie Zacharek.

Matt Zoller Seitz's ten best scenes of 2010 (http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/film_salon/2010/12/30/scenes_2010_intro/index.html). I completely forgot about that sequence in Winter's Bone.

Spinal

01-05-2011, 12:05 AM

There is zero chance Black Swan wins Best Picture.

Pop Trash

01-05-2011, 03:41 AM

Gotta say I'd be stunned if The Academy gave BP to something as overtly sexual as Black Swan, even if it's not Verhoeven-level explicit.

It didn't seem that explicit to me. They didn't even take their bras off. I mean it's nowhere near the level of something like Dogtooth or even Y Tu Mama Tambien.

This is an interesting topic: movies that are at least partially sexual that have won best picture:

-Midnight Cowboy
-The Silence of the Lambs
-The English Patient (sorta)
-American Beauty

Ezee E

01-05-2011, 04:27 AM

Are you basing that on the WGA nominations or something else? Thought you were a big fan of at least two of those films and the rest got raves in most circles. Four out of the five seem likely headed to Best Picture contention (not to say that is much of a barometer of their quality).
The top three are good. But the bottom two, especially Please Give getting a nomination? Maybe I"m in the minority there, but that's just a script that seems to get 3-4 of those type of movies every single year.

Pop Trash

01-05-2011, 04:56 AM

Can I be an angry nerd here for a sec and say it really fucking bothers me that the ubiquitous "WHOOMP" sound people keep criticizing about Inception...I sincerely don't think is actually in the film itself. I mean, can we once and for all clear this shit up? Is it in the first or second dreams? In the beginning of the film? Anywhere? I need answers!

transmogrifier

01-05-2011, 05:50 AM

Pop Trash

01-05-2011, 07:11 AM

I'll be happy to answer you as soon as I figure out what the hell you are going on about.

http://inception.davepedu.com/

angrycinephile

01-05-2011, 01:23 PM

No, it's from the trailer. There is a similar WHOOOMP sound in the film though. At the end when the snow fortress explodes, van hits the water etc.

Ezee E

01-05-2011, 01:29 PM

Not in the movie.

TripZone

01-05-2011, 02:03 PM

It's literally the Edith Piaf song slowed down, and is heard in the lower levels during the final kick build-up, as it is diegetic. I don't think it's heard elsewhere in the film.

megladon8

01-05-2011, 07:32 PM

Jackass 3D has released a "For Your Consideration" poster, and at the top is Best Picture.

Eleven

01-05-2011, 08:48 PM

From Dec 31, the NYTimes gang's hypothetical Oscar ballots (http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/01/02/movies/awardsseason/20110102-oscarpicks-feature.html?ref=awardsseason) .

Adam

01-06-2011, 08:08 PM

Armond's 2010 better-than list (http://www.nypress.com/article-22020-better-than-list-2010.html)

transmogrifier

01-06-2011, 08:19 PM

Armond's 2010 better-than list (http://www.nypress.com/article-22020-better-than-list-2010.html)

Heh, he has The Social Network on there three times. Obsessed much, Armond?

Adam

01-06-2011, 08:53 PM

http://www.nypress.com/imgs/hed/art22020nar.jpg

The NY Press art department is lazy

NickGlass

01-06-2011, 08:55 PM

http://www.nypress.com/imgs/hed/art22020nar.jpg

The NY Press art department is lazy

Yes, and so are their copy editors. Have you seen the NY Press in print before?

baby doll

01-06-2011, 10:16 PM

Heh, he has The Social Network on there three times. Obsessed much, Armond?I've just seen two of the movies he regards as better than The Social Network, and I gotta say, given the choice, I'd much rather take a second look at Another Year or a third look at Les Herbes folles (a film that seems to grow in stature the more I think about it, which is not something I can really say about Fincher's film, as much as I liked it) than take a second pass at The Social Network.

Then again, I'm not crazy about Facebook, douchey Harvard kids, or David Fincher, so it's not like this movie was really up my alley to begin with in the same way that, say, Vincere or Greenberg were. (A douchey middle-aged Jew, and Greta Gerwig lookin' fine in a dowdy sort of way while rockin' the cardigan? Hells yeah!)

transmogrifier

01-06-2011, 10:30 PM

Pop Trash

01-06-2011, 11:25 PM

I've just seen two of the movies he regards as better than The Social Network, and I gotta say, given the choice, I'd much rather take a second look at Another Year or a third look at Les Herbes folles (a film that seems to grow in stature the more I think about it, which is not something I can really say about Fincher's film, as much as I liked it) than take a second pass at The Social Network.

Then again, I'm not crazy about Facebook, douchey Harvard kids, or David Fincher, so it's not like this movie was really up my alley to begin with in the same way that, say, Vincere or Greenberg were. (A douchey middle-aged Jew, and Greta Gerwig lookin' fine in a dowdy sort of way while rockin' the cardigan? Hells yeah!)

My feelings exactly, even if I admit The Social Network is very good. I would just say that Stiller is more of an "asshole" than "douche" to use the parlance of our times.

Arthur Seaton

01-07-2011, 10:33 PM

New ‘At The Movies’ Critic Ignatiy Vishnevetsky’s Top Ten Films of 2010 (http://www.slashfilm.com/movies-critic-ignatiy-vishnevetskys-top-ten-films-2010/)

soitgoes...

01-07-2011, 11:05 PM

New ‘At The Movies’ Critic Ignatiy Vishnevetsky’s Top Ten Films of 2010 (http://www.slashfilm.com/movies-critic-ignatiy-vishnevetskys-top-ten-films-2010/)The best part about this list is the comments section.

transmogrifier

01-08-2011, 12:19 AM

New ‘At The Movies’ Critic Ignatiy Vishnevetsky’s Top Ten Films of 2010 (http://www.slashfilm.com/movies-critic-ignatiy-vishnevetskys-top-ten-films-2010/)

Having that strictly average thriller as his #1 is not exactly encouraging.

Adam

01-08-2011, 12:40 AM

By contrast, here's (http://articles.sfgate.com/2010-12-20/entertainment/25291775_1_winter-s-bone-giamatti-s-barney-king-s-speech/3) his co-star's (Christy Lemire) list

1. The Social Network
2. Inception
3. Winter's Bone
4. I Am Love
5. Black Swan
6. 127 Hours
7. Never Let Me Go
8. Animal Kingdom
9. The King's Speech
0. Exit Through The Gift Shop

baby doll

01-08-2011, 12:42 AM

Having that strictly average thriller as his #1 is not exactly encouraging.It's not what a movie's about that counts, it's how it's about it.

transmogrifier

01-08-2011, 01:04 AM

It's not what a movie's about that counts, it's how it's about it.

That's the problem. Both the what and the how are very meh. And the ending is just dumb.

baby doll

01-08-2011, 01:30 AM

That's the problem. Both the what and the how are very meh. And the ending is just dumb.But as filmmaking, the final shot (and before that the long tracking shot of the note being passed from one person to another) is masterful and elegant.

transmogrifier

01-08-2011, 02:29 AM

But as filmmaking, the final shot (and before that the long tracking shot of the note being passed from one person to another) is masterful and elegant.

But in service of a silly little joke is not masterful IMO. There is not tension there. The whole thing is telegraphed, and you think "No, it can't be so transparently cynical to end like that", and yet it does, and you think "What a stupid ending"

baby doll

01-08-2011, 02:45 AM

But in service of a silly little joke is not masterful IMO. There is not tension there. The whole thing is telegraphed, and you think "No, it can't be so transparently cynical to end like that", and yet it does, and you think "What a stupid ending"Regarding the final shot, it's manifestly not telegraphed; the point couldn't be made more elegantly. Furthermore, the twist that so-and-so was, you know... It's supposed to far-fetched; it's a movie about paranoia, and looking for meaning and order in a universe that is apparently random and meaningless, so you can read the ending as a deliberate event or this random fluke. And the way that Polanski sustains this shot is just beautifully done (this is something completely outside the range of a filmmaker like Christopher Nolan, where each shot makes exactly one point, which is then reinforced three or four times in the dialogue).

transmogrifier

01-08-2011, 04:26 AM

Regarding the final shot, it's manifestly not telegraphed; the point couldn't be made more elegantly. Furthermore, the twist that so-and-so was, you know... It's supposed to far-fetched; it's a movie about paranoia, and looking for meaning and order in a universe that is apparently random and meaningless, so you can read the ending as a deliberate event or this random fluke. And the way that Polanski sustains this shot is just beautifully done (this is something completely outside the range of a filmmaker like Christopher Nolan, where each shot makes exactly one point, which is then reinforced three or four times in the dialogue).

Well, I don't know about you, but as soon as the paper got passed forward, I knew how the film would end in terms of the fate of the characters, and then as soon as I saw that character step out onto the street, I knew exactly what would happen. And it was all a silly little joke, and the holding of the shot was, to my mind, an example of the director being a little too pleased with himself.

Pop Trash

01-08-2011, 04:27 AM

New ‘At The Movies’ Critic Ignatiy Vishnevetsky’s Top Ten Films of 2010 (http://www.slashfilm.com/movies-critic-ignatiy-vishnevetskys-top-ten-films-2010/)

He seems like a huge 'egghead' critic. Even more so than most of the Film Comment writers (he panned The Social Network, Black Swan, and Inception BTW). Very ballsy choice. In fact I think he secretly might be baby doll.

MacGuffin

01-08-2011, 05:43 AM

He seems like a huge 'egghead' critic. Even more so than most of the Film Comment writers (he panned The Social Network, Black Swan, and Inception BTW). Very ballsy choice. In fact I think he secretly might be baby doll.

I've just spent some time reading his blog (http://soundsimages.blogspot.com/) and I don't see it at all. Excellent writer, even more admirable and surprisingly considering his age. He deserves the spot as much as any other critic. I'm looking forward to the show now.

Boner M

01-08-2011, 05:58 AM

he panned The Social Network, BTW).

No he didn't. (http://mubi.com/notebook/posts/2300)

Watashi

01-08-2011, 07:32 AM

Ignatiy is posting in the slashfilm comments and is schooling all the haters.

His top ten list for 2009 has The Taking of Pelham 123 on it. He would fit well on Match Cut.

B-side

01-08-2011, 07:41 AM

Ignatiy is posting in the slashfilm comments and is schooling all the haters.

His top ten list for 2009 has The Taking of Pelham 123 on it. He would fit well on Match Cut.

Oooh.

B-side

01-08-2011, 07:58 AM

His top ten list for 2009 has The Taking of Pelham 123 on it. He would fit well on Match Cut.

Where are you seeing this at?

B-side

01-08-2011, 10:29 AM

Where are you seeing this at?

Ah, I saw it in the comments section.

Rowland

01-08-2011, 09:06 PM

His top ten list for 2009 has The Taking of Pelham 123 on it. He would fit well on Match Cut.Whoa, he has Nimrod Antal's underrated Armored at #4 on the list.

Derek

01-08-2011, 09:53 PM

Well, I don't know about you, but as soon as the paper got passed forward, I knew how the film would end in terms of the fate of the characters, and then as soon as I saw that character step out onto the street, I knew exactly what would happen. And it was all a silly little joke, and the holding of the shot was, to my mind, an example of the director being a little too pleased with himself.

Glad I´m not the only one that felt this way and with the insane praise this film has gotten, I often do.

Adam

01-08-2011, 10:43 PM

Are you generally a Polanski fan, Derek? The cynical, ironic goofiness of Ghost Writer's ending has pretty much always been his M.O.

Matt Zoller Seitz's short video essay (http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/film_salon/2010/12/30/scenes_2010_ghost_writer/index.html) on the final 4 shots of the movie pretty much says everything I personally love about it, filmmaking and narrative wise

Pop Trash

01-08-2011, 11:02 PM

Raiders

01-09-2011, 07:54 PM

I'm loving Tarantino's Top 10 of 2010. (http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/2011/01/02/toy_story_3_tops_quentin_taran tinos_best_of_2010/#)
...
5. Tangled

Clearly he was infatuated by the film's highlighting Rapunzel's lack of shoes for most of the film.

Spinal

01-09-2011, 07:56 PM

Clearly he was infatuated by the film's highlighting Rapunzel's lack of shoes for most of the film.

:lol:

angrycinephile

01-10-2011, 05:13 PM

DGA:

Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
David Fincher, The Social Network
Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
Christopher Nolan, Inception
David O. Russell, The Fighter

Adam

01-10-2011, 07:07 PM

National Society of Film Critics (http://www.nationalsocietyoffilmcriti cs.com/?p=34)

BEST PICTURE
1. The Social Network 61
2. Carlos 28
3. Winter’s Bone 18

BEST DIRECTOR
1. David Fincher 66 – The Social Network
2. Olivier Assayas 36 – Carlos
3. Roman Polanski 29 – The Ghost Writer

BEST ACTOR
1. Jesse Eisenberg 30 – The Social Network
2. Colin Firth 29 – The King’s Speech
2. Edgar Ramirez 29 – Carlos

BEST ACTRESS
1. Giovanna Mezzogiorno 33 – Vincere
2. Annette Bening 28 – The Kids Are All Right
3. Lesley Manville 27 – Another Year

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
1. Geoffrey Rush 33 – The King’s Speech
2. Christian Bale 32 – The Fighter
3. Jeremy Renner 30 – The Town

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
1. Olivia Williams 37 – The Ghost Writer
2. Amy Adams 28 – The Fighter
3. Melissa Leo 23 – The Fighter
3. Jacki Weaver 23 – Animal Kingdom

BEST NONFICTION
1. Inside Job 25 (Charles Ferguson)
2. Exit Through the Gift Shop 21 (Banksy)
3. Last Train Home 15 (Lixin Fan)

BEST SCREENPLAY
1. Aaron Sorkin 73 – The Social Network
2. David Seidler 25 – The King’s Speech
3. Roman Polanski and Robert Harris 19 – The Ghost Writer

BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
1. Carlos 31
2. A Prophet 22
3. White Material 16

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
1. True Grit 31 (Roger Deakins)
2. Black Swan 27 (Matthew Libatique)
3. Somewhere 18 (Harris Savides)

baby doll

01-10-2011, 07:14 PM

National Society of Film Critics (http://www.nationalsocietyoffilmcriti cs.com/?p=34)

BEST ACTRESS
1. Giovanna Mezzogiorno 33 – Vincere

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
1. Olivia Williams 37 – The Ghost WriterI like these picks.

NickGlass

01-10-2011, 07:20 PM

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
1. Olivia Williams 37 – The Ghost Writer

I'm a big fan of this, and it's nice to see Harris Savides score a dozen and a half votes for his beautiful work on Somewhere.

Eleven

01-10-2011, 08:23 PM

I like these picks.

Yep, I was waiting for either of them to get any recognition this year, so thanks NSFC.

Rowland

01-11-2011, 05:38 PM

Reverse Shot's Two Cents of 2010 (http://www.reverseshot.com/article/reverse_shots_two_cents_2010)

Frozen! Contempt for the ugly cinematography in The King's Speech and Cyrus!

Watashi

01-11-2011, 06:49 PM

Oh, Armond White. (http://gawker.com/5730615/)

baby doll

01-11-2011, 07:13 PM

Oh, Armond White. (http://gawker.com/5730615/)Annette Benning should be criticized and made to cry.

Incidentally, was Maria Schneider really pelted with butter at Cannes, or is that just an urban myth?

Raiders

01-11-2011, 07:43 PM

Bening deserves much praise for her performance in The Kids Are All Right. I will make no comment on Armond White.

Sycophant

01-11-2011, 08:49 PM

Why should Annette Bening be made to cry?

Boner M

01-11-2011, 09:13 PM

Like when he insulted Michelle Williams by introducing her with praise for her role in 2004's Land of Plenty
I love Michelle Williams, but... :lol:

baby doll

01-11-2011, 09:19 PM

Why should Annette Bening be made to cry?Because she's terrible.

Spun Lepton

01-11-2011, 09:27 PM

baby doll is the Armond White of Match-Cut.

Pop Trash

01-11-2011, 10:33 PM

Most Unexpectedly Moving Finale: True Grit

I'm right there on this one. After the "smash cut" endings of No Country and A Serious Man, I was expecting the same thing with True Grit. Glad I was wrong, and this is the first Coen Bros. flick that choked me up a bit at the end.

Ezee E

01-11-2011, 11:55 PM

Jesus. I was trying to figure out what will win the Comedic Acting awards in the Golden Globes. I have no idea. There really seems like no performances worth awarding.

Ivan Drago

01-12-2011, 12:19 AM

Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky actually started things last night, when he told White from the stage, "You give us all another reason not to read New York Press." That may have been a response to White's review of Black Swan, which accused Aronofsky of "ethnic denial" and went on to discuss how much better Kanye West's video for "Runaway" was.

http://www.gogaminggiant.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/facepalm.jpg

E: The Kids Are All Right and one of the Johnny Depp performances would be my best guess. Hopefully not Alice in Wonderland. I'll agree, the comedy noms are sad this year.

Boner M

01-12-2011, 12:39 AM

Reverse Shot's Two Cents of 2010 (http://www.reverseshot.com/article/reverse_shots_two_cents_2010)

Frozen! Contempt for the ugly cinematography in The King's Speech and Cyrus!
Michael Cera being an Anthology Film Archives attendee is a neat anecdote. Wanna see The Anchorage now.

RoadtoPerdition

01-16-2011, 01:44 AM

Thought I'd post my Golden Globe predictions for the "major" categories. I'm interested to see what others think, too. The predicted winners are in bold:

Best Motion Picture - Drama

Black Swan (2010)
The Fighter (2010)
Inception (2010)
The King's Speech (2010)
The Social Network (2010)

Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy

Alice in Wonderland (2010)
Burlesque (2010/I)
The Kids Are All Right (2010)
Red (2010/I)
The Tourist (2010)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama

Jesse Eisenberg for The Social Network (2010)
Colin Firth for The King's Speech (2010)
James Franco for 127 Hours (2010)
Ryan Gosling for Blue Valentine (2010)
Mark Wahlberg for The Fighter (2010)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama

Halle Berry for Frankie and Alice (2010)
Nicole Kidman for Rabbit Hole (2010)
Jennifer Lawrence for Winter's Bone (2010)
Natalie Portman for Black Swan (2010)
Michelle Williams for Blue Valentine (2010)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy

Johnny Depp for The Tourist (2010)
Johnny Depp for Alice in Wonderland (2010)
Paul Giamatti for Barney's Version (2010)
Jake Gyllenhaal for Love and Other Drugs (2010)
Kevin Spacey for Casino Jack (2010)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy

Annette Bening for The Kids Are All Right (2010)[
Anne Hathaway for Love and Other Drugs (2010)
Angelina Jolie for The Tourist (2010)
Julianne Moore for The Kids Are All Right (2010)
Emma Stone for Easy A (2010)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

Christian Bale for The Fighter (2010)
Michael Douglas for Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010)
Andrew Garfield for The Social Network (2010)
Jeremy Renner for The Town (2010)
Geoffrey Rush for The King's Speech (2010)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

Amy Adams for The Fighter (2010)
Helena Bonham Carter for The King's Speech (2010)
Mila Kunis for Black Swan (2010)
Melissa Leo for The Fighter (2010)
Jacki Weaver for Animal Kingdom (2010)

Best Director - Motion Picture

Darren Aronofsky for Black Swan (2010)
David Fincher for The Social Network (2010)
Tom Hooper for The King's Speech (2010)
Christopher Nolan for Inception (2010)
David O. Russell for The Fighter (2010)

Best Screenplay - Motion Picture

127 Hours (2010): Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy
Inception (2010): Christopher Nolan
The Kids Are All Right (2010): Stuart Blumberg, Lisa Cholodenko
The King's Speech (2010): David Seidler
The Social Network (2010): Aaron Sorkin

The Globes usually throw a few curveballs, so it'll be interesting to see how it pans out. I think the toughest one to call is Supporting Actress; the rest of the categories are realistically a race between two nominees, if that.

Ezee E

01-16-2011, 01:55 AM

Predictions:
Picture (Drama) - Social Network
Picture (Comedy) - The Kids Are All Right
Director - David Fincher
Screenplay - Aaron Sorkin
Actor (Drama) - Colin Firth
Actress (Drama) - Natalie Portman
Actor (Comedy) - Johnny Depp (Tourist for the big WTF)
Actress (Comedy) - Emma Stone (surprise!)
Supporting Actor - Christian Bale
Supporting Actress - Mila Kunis
Animated - Toy Story 3
Foreign Language Film - I Am Love
Score - Inception
Song - Aguilera in Burlesque

baby doll

01-16-2011, 01:55 AM

I have no idea what will win the golden globes (my wild guess: The King's Speech and The Kids Are All Right), but if I had to vote based on those choices, I'd go with The Social Network, abstain (I've just seen The Kids Are All Right and it sucked), Jesse Eisenberg, Jennifer Lawrence, abstain (haven't seen any of those), Julianne Moore (but for Chloe more than the film she's actually nominated for), Andrew Garfield, abstain (I've just seen Black Swan), David Fincher (that hurts), and Aaron Sorkin (ditto). Either I'm seeing the wrong movies (for the record, I haven't seen Blue Valentine, but it's not like I really want to), or this year seriously sucked for industry awards-bait. Precious is just looking better and better.

Ezee E

01-16-2011, 02:01 AM

Defending Precious... What?

baby doll

01-16-2011, 02:06 AM

Defending Precious... What?As far as year-end awards-bait goes, it looks pretty good, especially alongside this year's crop, which is even more mediocre than usual.

RoadtoPerdition

01-17-2011, 02:53 AM

Very pleased overall with the award winners. Barring a major upset, The Social Network is going to take Best Picture here in a minute. Psyched for Bale, Leo, Portman, and The Social Network wins. Thought Inception would pick SOMETHING up, so that's sort of a surprise.

Ezee E

01-17-2011, 04:18 AM

I liked that Carlos got some recognition.

Sxottlan

01-17-2011, 04:24 AM

Thought Inception would pick SOMETHING up, so that's sort of a surprise.

I think it'll nearly sweep the technicals, of which the Golden Globes have none.

number8

01-17-2011, 04:33 AM

Ricky. Fucking. Gervais.

Ezee E

01-17-2011, 04:57 AM

Ricky. Fucking. Gervais.
Which bit was your favorite? His dig at Hugh Hefner was probably the funniest to me.

Did he ever respond to the HFPA President?

Ivan Drago

01-17-2011, 05:47 AM

His rip on Steve Carell was hysterical.

Pop Trash

01-18-2011, 04:50 AM

Ricky. Fucking. Gervais.
"I would like to thank God...for making me an atheist."

Raiders

01-18-2011, 11:36 PM

The controversy over his comments is just ridiculous. It rarely occurred to me while watching anyone was taking what he said to heart. I mean, Robert De Niro's highly awkward mock-racism and all around bizarrely unfunny routine should have been much more questionable than Gervais.

Adam

01-19-2011, 12:24 AM

He didn't say anything especially outrageous. But, in the moment, I did find his tone a little unnecessary. Too bitter of shtick for the Golden Globes, which is a show nobody's ever taken seriously anyway. I'm not generally a fan of Gervais as an awards show host/podcast host/stand-up comic, though. He has an almost Mencia-like quality to him in that every barb is laced with an obnoxious and self-congratulatory dash of "I tells it like it is, whatareyougonnadoaboutit?"

Raiders

01-19-2011, 12:33 AM

He didn't say anything especially outrageous. But, in the moment, I did find his tone a little unnecessary. Too bitter of shtick for the Golden Globes, which is a show nobody's ever taken seriously anyway.

Exactly, it isn't serious, so why take it seriously and be offended? (I'm speaking to any "stars" who were taken aback)

He has an almost Mencia-like quality to him in that every barb is laced with an obnoxious and self-congratulatory dash of "I tells it like it is, whatareyougonnadoaboutit?"Er, no.

Adam

01-19-2011, 12:57 AM

I mean, the actual lines he had were pretty tepid and wouldn't feel out of place in any given Leno/Letterman monologue. I'm also surprised people made a semi-big deal out of it. But the reason they did, I think, is because his delivery seemed so unnecessarily mean-spirited. He also didn't have anything as funny as Chevy Chase opening the '87 Oscars with "Good evening, Hollywood phonies"

And I like The Office and Extras and everything, but his standup is godawful

number8

01-19-2011, 02:33 PM

The difference, to me, is that Leno or Letterman or Conan would never make those jokes in front of the people they're making fun of. I mean, Conan rips on Paris Hilton 364 days out of a year, but when she was on his show, he was reasonably respectful. I think Hollywood stars are used to getting ripped on in the media and on roasts, but not in self-congratulatory events like the Globes. At least, not that severely and truthfully.

I really think that's what made it funny. It's not so much the jokes themselves as it is the awkward aura it was creating. Gervais' humor is cringe humor. I think it would have been MUCH funnier if no one in the audience laughed and Gervais kept digging himself into a deeper and deeper hole. It'd be like David Brent hosting.