Happy 2010 to all. And I spell that out as two thousand and ten. No "Twenty Ten" for me. It is not that hard and while it may save smattering of time and computer memory to....oh, wait, those twenty ten folks don't care about the computer memory. They just want to say things faster. Well, I pity them when it becomes the year twenty thousand and ten because my brain will be laughing at their predicament from its place in whatever pickling jar my gray matter will be residing and continuing to keep up its curious analysis of movies and whatnot.
So, here we are, two thousand and ten. We are ten years into a new century. For those of us who were born twenty or more years into the last century, we thought we'd never get here, since the 1980's were rife with warnings of thermonuclear war. And if it wasn't the 80's movies, we had severe warnings from movies and books and just general word of mouth that had been going on since the late 1940's. ..."We'll meet again...don't know where, don't know when." And yet here we are.
Don't worry folks. I don't think that mere human survival past the 2010 marker means that we'll last forever. It just means that we have lasted past arbitrary dates created by fantasists and forward-thinkers of the late Twentieth Century. We proved them wrong mainly by being far behind the curve of the predictions of science-fiction movies of the latter half of the Twentieth Century. Heck, on of my favorite movies, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, has been made obsolete since we did not have eugenics wars during the 1990's or the technology to send criminals into deep space-stasis. On that note, we won't even talk about what you or I was doing back on Judgment Day in 1997.
Happily, here we are. And what do we do now that we are here? Some will certainly look ahead but since I am more fascinated with history I will look into the past, not counting my eagerness to see upcoming movies!
So, off the top of my head and probably I'll wish it were up to review, here are 10 movies that all of a sudden make me think that the art of movies isn't dead. And that makes me glad, because if the art of movies isn't dead that means that the art of the novel and the art of the stage are also not dead since both of them were determined to have been killed off by other newer forms.
Oh, and while we might worry about it and while yes, movies can be influenced by it (and certainly audiences can be) I don't think the Internet has killed movies....yet. It may have hurt directors... and quite certainly actors.... but that is another topic.
And by the way, I've given no importance to order with the exception of my number one pick. Therefore numbers 10-2 fall in no order representative of merit beyond the fact that I think that they are super. In fact, I'm making this list up as I go along. The whole thing is fairly spontaneous and may account for some of the exclusions that you might decry. I know that I will regret leaving something off of this list myself so I will not be surprised if anyone reading this feels the same. Also, some exclusions are simply due to my not seeing every movie in the world as I did back in college. Some exclusion are due to the fact that I think that I saw some of your favorite movies and I think they stink. Some inclusions are due to the fact that I think some movies that you loathed were in fact gems. Hopefully everything breaks even in the end. So, here goes.
Yours in subjectivity,
Indyguy
10. Y Tu Mama Tambien. Wow. Sex, love, rock and roll. Or at least some music that our crappy car radio plays as we try to find the beach that we made up. But then again sometimes the random guessing of imagination is right. And sometime the random nature of life is cruel. Or kind. Or sweet. Or just random. And always filled with choices and situations that meet our realities and fantasies no matter what culture we are from. This movie looks at those choices and the desires that inspire them as well as the consequences along the way. Glorious travels from chaotic beginnings, the nature of friendships and the desires of humanity. And how everyone loves beauty and life. And how fleeting it all can be. Plus, it is foreign so American will think it is good from the get go.
Hey, folks. It is!
9. Black Book. Here is a harrowing war tale. Here is a topsy-turvy (in a most unexpected sense) love story, here is a taut wartime suspense tale, here is a sordid, violent, sleazy piece that...is all of the above and more and still has a human heart beating. Here is the most recent and best movie by Paul Verhoeven since Robocop. Doubt me? See it!
8. Love Actually. Ok, I don't think this is the best romantic movie of all time. Nor do I think this is the most romantic format for a movie. But well, I think this is one of the most well written romantic movies of the past decade and while it has moments of treacle it wisely has moments of sourness, sadness, scorn and confusion. This is a standard formula, see: Life, It's a Wonderful for more details. Lots of famous faces, some truly unforgettable moments at Christmas or whenever. Maybe not an All Time Classic but certainly worth our time to remember and cherish.
7. Pan's Labryinth. Remember being a kid? Remember how it was a daisy-filled meadow of sunshine complete with butterflies and a constant sound of angels plucking rainbows like ethereal harps? Well, neither does Guillermo del Toro. This was not a fun movie. But neither was this movie unimportant. It was very important. Not only did it show us how important fantasy is and how much it can become a part of real life, but it showed better than most the oft-told chestnut that the worst you can imagine is sometimes less than the worst you can live. Tender, visionary, painful, real. Watch....and feel. Remember when your parents wouldn't let you see some things because they thought it would be bad for you? This movie shows you those things, and the things you saw instead, and the reason why they tried to shield your eyes. Unfortunately, children are curious. Fortunately, children are curious.
6. Casino Royale. Remember when you cared about James Bond? Listen, this is probably not the best action movie of the decade or the best superhero movie (see Spiderman 2 or Iron Man for that, Hellboy close runner up) but this one hit all the right notes, and for a British agent, he hit all the themes that resonate with the United States, or at least the American mythos- building oneself up from nothing through toil and elbow grease (and waxing a few enemy agents), smarts, cunning, inginuity and heck, despite being strong and fast and smart having a heart. Oh, and the heart can get broken. Yeah, even tools can get damaged, Ameri...er, Bond.. and you must keep honing. Working. Looking. And sometimes serving others, despite your better thoughts but that pesky call to duty calls you back. Heck. In some ways, this movie is the ultimate tie between our two oddball gulf wars (but that is another story...)
And besides, while the follow up left much to be desired, a good start means that those Bond producers have much incentive to keep trying to keep there movies interesting and relevant. And filled with oh so awesome men's fashion.
5. The Descent/The Devil's Rejects These horror movies made me leap out of my seat. They also made the unpalatable palatable for critics and horror fans alike. But better than that, they actually did more than try to just be nods and winks to genre schlock from days past (for that, please see Roth, Eli). No, these puppies were the real deal. Lean, mean scaring machines. A bit different in tone- one a claustrophobic haunted house movie that focuses on hero-no! -heroinism- and shows how much that we children of the earth can fear the mother that bore us all. Are my words accidentally symbolic or just me being a fancypants? Watch and decide.
And the other is a not-so-shaggy dog that envokes the dusty horror of Texas Chainsaw and The HIlls Have Eyes while still focusing on the main thing: People can be brutal. Or they are all brutal. Or we can all be brutal. What is the truth? Maybe that is the horror.
4. The Incredibles. Ok, it was a toss between this and Wall-E. I guess I might've been trying to think of an animated title just to fill aa slot to show how well rounded I am, but then again, I just had a tough time choosing between these two. But remember when you were a kid and you were old enough that your parents would show you stuff that looked cool? Remember when you thought you were being sly and seeing TV shows and movies that were beyond your age limit? I remember that stuff. I saw it again in this movie. I felt young and yet I felt mature. All the time I felt transported and challenged. So what if there was a purported Ayn Rand philosphy behind it, because that doesn't hold up under scrutiny. This movie, however, does.
3. Femme Fatale. I don't know anything about this movie and yet I saw it. And yet Brian de Palma movies are all about seeing things. But then again, they are about how seeing can be believing but don't believe anything you see. But some people say they are just about murdering women and ripping off Hitchcock. But then again, there is something to homage. But this didn't seem like Hitchcock. This didn't really seem like homage. Women lived- or died- or lived and died or- something. What was this movie about? I don't know but I know it was about movies. And I know de Palma likes movies because he used movies to tell this story. Sometimes the story is all we have except in a de Palma movie, when sometime all we're left with are the images we've seen and the story is ours because we're seen them. What does this mean? I don't know, but there was also a heist plot going on. And Rebecca Romeijn is beautiful.
Listen! If art can be profound and shallow, so can I.
So nyyyyah!
2. Grizzly Man. Death and fur. Man and nature. Man is nature. Man needs nature. But does nature need man? Man likes to think so. Man can certainly effect nature (sorry Republicans!) but can man relate to nature? Love is a many splendored thing but does the meaning of love transcend what we are? Heck, does it even matter to those other things? Timothy Treadwell certainly thought so. His opinion got many people up in arms. His opinion also got him dead. His death got Werner Herzog's attention. The result is worth seeing. So is Treadwell's footage. For all his quirks the man took some beautiful images of a wonderful landscape that is still untrammeled by humans. Treadwell spent thirteen years in that world before it ate him. Herzog examines it skeptically but with a jealous-sounding awe. We should always be afraid about what could happen to us. And also about what we can do, speaking of which...
1. There Will Be Blood. This movie was to me Americana. It is the start all be all of the idea that became The Godfather, Chinatown (Plainview to Noah Cross is obvious for much more than the voice), King of New York and even the crazed mini-nation building of Apocalypse Now! and other movies. This movie is very long but to me it felt too short. This movie is decades crammed into a short two and a half hours. This movie is electricity. This movie is a tragedy because it shows that drive moves us all, drive can create monsters, and even monsters can love. But monsters can put drive and ambition over love. "Most people don't want to admit that at the right time and the right place...they are capable of...anything!
See you in Afghanistan!
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3 comments:
First of all, we haven't lived through 2012 yet, so don't get all cocky. You know Mayan intelligence came from outerspace. Second, movies are not art, you should know this, because you've already been told this by someone very wise. Third, just wondering if you had seen Into the Wild. What you wrote about Grizzly Man, made me think of that movie.
Rock on with your first post, dude. Keep it coming.
Two bullet points, one short, one long.
* Black book effing rules. I hate to say it, but in retrospect I feel that it is superior to Inglourious Bastards, at the very least as a WW2 movie in general and as a WW2 Thriller specifically. I'll have to see them both again, but I'm willing to stand by this.
* The last 10 years, film-wise to me, was the decade of the fantasy film. The 90's were the slow death of the 80's action movie (especially the R-rated action movie) and the powerful resurgence of science fiction that Really kicked off in the 70's but kinda petered a little by the mid-80's, but I feel like Sci-Fi has been trumped for the first time in the history of film by it's poorer literary cousin, fantasy. Between LotR and the Harry Potter movies, along with films like Pan's Labyrinth or The Golden Compass, fantasy has finally emerged from it's cheesy Krull and Hawk the Slayer days to be taken seriously as something other than Sci-Fi (oh, I'm sorry, SyFy) "premiere movies".
The "oughts" have also seen the powerful emergence of the comic book movie genre, which is a mish-mash of sci-fi and fantasy depending on which way you look and what you happened to have for breakfast that morning. Iron Man? Sci-Fi. Hellboy? A little more Fantasy, I think. Spiderman? Who knows. Watchmen? Film Noir's bastard stepchild. Only time will tell if this proto-genre will ever really be taken seriously, or if it'll just be (even more of a) money-making contraption that cares nothing about quality as long as it can rake in ticket sales.
My verification word is "walached", which makes me think of Eli Walach. Thought you might find that appropriate.
Sounds like you get your orders from a higher source. Your list has quite a few unexpected choices, which is good. That stirs debate! I'll have more to say later on when I have the time. Think of it as Directive 4, to be revealed later on. . .
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