#45 — Vera Drake (Mike Leigh, 2004) It is practically a necessity to begin any discussion or celebration of a Mike Leigh film by detailing his unique methodology. As is well-established, Leigh begins by assembling his actors and assigning them … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 00s — Number Forty-Five
Kung Fu Panda (Mark Osborne and John Stevenson, 2008). in the realm of computer animated features, there is Pixar and then there’s everyone else. Others have reaped box office success, but there’s an broad, enduring gap when it comes to artistry. Dreamworks Animation is arguably the outfit working most diligently to cross the divide. Kung Fu Panda doesn’t accomplish that, in part because the storytelling is as by-the-numbers as it gets, but it does boast a visual sense that is smoothly well-realized, generally engaging, and, at times, very striking. In particular, the sequences involving the elaborate prison created for the … Continue reading She’s making movies on location, she don’t know what it means
#46 — The Savages (Tamara Jenkins, 2007) The Savages may be an ideal title for a tale of domestic dysfunction. Savage is the shared last name of the compact family unit at the heart of the film, but, of course, … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 00s — Number Forty-Six
Michael Mann likes to make movies about men. Men who speak tersely and intently, conveying their views and plans with a creased-brow seriousness. Men who stride purposefully through the world. Men who stare each down across diner tables or through … Continue reading I got so much trouble on my mind, I refuse to lose
So the cinematic adventures of the world’s most popular boy wizard come one film closer to the end. Harry Potter and his favorite classmates at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry continue their academic pursuits while remaining vigilant against the … Continue reading Gettin’ down with your royal badness
#47 — Far From Heaven (Todd Haynes, 2002) Far From Heaven is an exercise in adoration. It is an unabashed, spellbound, swooning tribute to the technicolor melodramas of the 1950’s, particularly those directed by Douglas Sirk. The titles alone reverberate with grandiloquence: Magnificent Obsession, Written on the Wind, A Time to Love and a Time to Die, and the film that served as the most direct inspiration for Far From Heaven, All That Heaven Allows. Sirk’s films are famous for washing the screen with vibrant colors, sending the actors into teary-eyed overdrive with anguished dialogue, and approaching social issues with … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 00s — Number Forty-Seven
You know, I’d actually respect the team behind Roland Emmerich’s next movie more if they just went ahead and used the approach taken by this mocking revamp of their trailer. Why not! (Posted simultaneously to “Drilling Holes in the Wall.”) Continue reading A tattoo burned for everything I’ve ever wanted and lost
Recently I saw an interview with Michelle Pfeiffer on a morning talk show, the sort of place where informed discourse goes to die. Amidst the general harmless banter that Pfeiffer was clearly tolerating rather than enjoying, there came a point … Continue reading Maybe someday I’ll share your little distant cloud
#48 — The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Peter Jackson, 2003). When surveying the films of the past ten years, it’s tempting to view Peter Jackson’s three excursions into Middle Earth as a singular achievement. While he … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 00s — Number Forty-Eight
Taxi to the Dark Side (Alex Gibney, 2007). This Oscar winner for Best Documentary Feature catalogs and condemns the harsh treatment of prisoners in the Bush administration’s zealous “war on terror.” Gibney lays out the evidence of vicious abuse and clear-cut torture perpetrated by the American military at prisons in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Just as importantly–arguably even more importantly–he examines the ways in which the highest leaders created, encourages and perpetuated the environment for these horrendous practices and then casually, heartlessly blamed the enlisted men when the worst of it came to light. Like Charles Ferguson’s No … Continue reading Pivotal Film Selling Out Your Monkey
