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Tuesday 19 October 2010
End Of The Month Review - September To October
Added Jan 6, 2010,
Top 10 Films Of The Month
10. The Fantastic Mr. Fox
Wes Anderson
Year:
2009
My review:
"A film that elevates you to a level of bliss that you'll rarely feel anywhere."
09. Aguirre: The Wrath Of God
Werner Herzog
Year:
1972
My review:
"The most awe-inspiring piece of his fictional work and an absolute must see.."
08. The Proposition
John Hillcoat
Year:
2005
My review:
" A bloodthirsty and oddly beautiful story of violence, family and Australian history."
07. Wall-E
Andrew Stanton
Year:
2008
My Review:
"A little slice of magic from Pixar, Wall-E is a visual poem about the little things beauty of the world that will leave even the most cynical of souls uplifted."
06. The Dark Knight
Christopher Nolan
Year:
2008
My Review:
"The Dark Knight remains both masterpiece of the crime genre and a turning point in modern cinema that will surely be remembered as one of the finest this era of filmmaking produced."
04. Breathless
Jean Luc Godard
Year:
1960
My Review:
"Love it or hate it, there's no way of telling what modern cinema would be like if it wasn't for both Jean Luc Godard and his one and only masterpiece."
03. Fargo
Joel and Ethan Coen
Year:
1996
My Review:
"Right up there with Pulp Fiction and even better than Reservoir Dogs, Fargo is one of the seminal crime dramas of the 1990s and remains among the best that the Coen brothers have ever made."
02. Paris, Texas
Wim Wenders
Year:
1984
My Review:
"A movie so beautifully made that you almost forget that it's 26 years old. A story so intelligent yet so simplistic in its execution that I doubt anyone could dislike it. And a story so moving that, despite it's 140 minute running length, you could revisit it day after day for the rest of your life and still fall in love with it."
01. Brazil
Terry Gilliam
Year:
1984
My Review:
"A fantastic science-fiction story that is rich in subtext and, although filmed in the 1980s, is still as relevant today as it ever has been. Brazil is one of the finest movies that British cinema has ever created."
7 comments:
1. Brazil - 10/10
2. Paris, Texas - 9/10
3. Fargo - 8/10
4. Breathless - 5/10
5. The Wrestler - 10/10
6. The Dark Knight - 7/10
7. Wall-E - 5/10
8. The Proposition - 7/10
9. Aguirre, The Wrath of God - 8/10
10. Fantastic Mr. Fox - 9/10
Lemme know when you update your Another Year review and I'll make an effort to come up with a somewhat constructed response. Most of my affection comes from how it got to me personally.
Seems like we are mostly in a agreement this month. :)
Except for Wall-E but I can let that slide. Haha.
I might take a crack at that review later. I don't think I've quite got to what it is I really liked about it but it's so hard to express with words.
I think the inability to truly articulate it is exactly what Another Year stands for. It is the epitome of what I want cinema to be, essentially.
You know what, I'm just going to have to leave my review as it is. I really can't express what it was that really got to me about that film. I think it's something that comes from somewhere so personal that I don't have words to explain it. Of course, this is a wonderful thing. It's the same kind of experience I had with Six Feet Under but just on a lesser scale. :P Haha.
I wouldn't say it's as good as Happy Go Lucky yet though. Maybe a few more watches will chance my mind? I kind of have rule that I won't consider anything to be a 'favourite' film until I've seen it at least twice. I think it's only with repeated viewings that you really get to notice the most amazing aspects of a movie. For me, the first time is always more about the story while a second or third viewings get to the things under the surface or between the lines.
Cases in point: Happy Go Lucky, La Haine, No Country For Old Men, The Big Lebowski, etc. :P
Naked still you favourite Leigh movie?
That's a fair rule considering your standards. I've only seen about 6 top 100 worthy films this year so far. Another Year is my first 10/10 on a first viewing since last July, which was In Cold Blood (you seen? you'd love). Oh, totally agree on Six Feet Under comparisons. That's how I took it too. The beauty of Another Year is its subtlety and ambiguity that each individual person can have a favourite bit, even if it's a mere tiny eye twitch, and even if they chose the same, it could be for a different reason.
I'm not sure how rewatches will handle. Granted, I had the fortunate experience of seeing the LFF premiere, which, as you say with Slumdog Millionaire, has its benefits.
Uh, Naked wasn't my favourite Leigh film before, but only by a fraction. Here's Mike Leigh, ranked and rated:
1. Another Year - 10/10 (top 15)
2. Secrets & Lies (top 25)
3. Naked (top 30)
4. High Hopes (top 35)
5. Happy-Go-Lucky - 9/10 (top 80)
6. Life is Sweet - 8/10
7. The Kiss of Death
8. Grown-Ups
9. All or Nothing
10. Nuts in May
11. Career Girls
12. Abigail's Party
13. Vera Drake
14. Meantime - 7/10
15. Topsy-Turvy
16. Bleak Moments
17. Hard Labour - 6/10
18. Four Days in July
19. Home Sweet Home
20. Who's Who - 5/10
Sudden blog suggestion; how about director retrospectives? Any director you've completed the filmography of, you give rank/rate and review the director as a whole. Probably the best idea would be big name directors coming up... say, Coens, Boyle, Aronofsky. Would be very interesting. I've done a little "writeup" on Mike Leigh myself but I haven't gotten around to any others. I suppose Wes Anderson is a director fresh in your mind too at the moment.
'Essentially, he is the master of social-realism. With the organic style and bleak use of humour, the majority of his films strike a unique draining chord with me, sometimes totally crushing me; especially in his use of savouring moments. The screenplays are genius, full of rich characters, family situations and connections; even making the smallest of sharp actions devastating - the performances he gets are often flawless with such precise detail in their every action. And after viewing all his feature films including TV work, I'm absolutely fascinated by his work: enough for me to call him my absolute favourite. His vision is admirable, and above all; inspirational, though I'd never have the balls to do a film like Mike Leigh. His utter confidence in the "less is more" attitude astounds me, let alone the lack of narrative. Often it is "such is life" and a filling food for thought.'
That idea about compiling the work of a director and ranking it and discussing them as a whole is brilliant. I'll definitely look back over some of the ones I've watched a lot of recently and see if I can add some in the next week or two. :)
WOW! Another Year in your top 15? That's amazing! I look forward to watching it again because I think that, seeing as I'm going in this time without any preconceptions about what might happen to the characters or in the story, I'll have a completely new outlook on it. :) Right now it stands at a solid 8.5/10 but I hope a re-watch will bump it up to a 9.
It's been soooooo long since I watched In Cold Blood so it wouldn't be fair of me to judge it right now. I watched it right after Capote - for obvious reasons - so it must have been at least 4 years ago. I think I have it on DVD somewhere so I'll have to find it.
What are the other top-100 worthy ones you've seen this year? :)
Haha, it's useless to have any preconceptions when it comes to Mike Leigh because even when the characters do something you don't like it still ends up being great.
I bought the Capote/In Cold Blood boxset shortly after it won the oscar and wasn't too impressed by the former but haven't watched it since. In Cold Blood sat in the case for about 2 years before I finally watched it and it turned out to be top 10 worthy. I don't know what it is about it that makes it stand out so much for me. I half-expected to be disappointed with my last rewatch but it was even better, haha.
Umm... only a few, La Antena, Man With A Movie Camera, Cemetery Junction, Limelight, They Shoot Horses Don't They? and Dark Days is very very close.
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