Let's resume this little tea party and close it out asap.
Up next are the honorable mentions, aka The Films I Liked Which Didn't Make the Top Tier. I won't say anything about them because really my recommendation is to see them if you're interested in them but not to go too far out of your way if you aren't. Basically, they're enough to justify a rental for someone who is already interested in...
4: Rise of the Silver Surfer, American Gangster, Blades of Glory, The Ex, The Golden Compass, I'm Not There, The Last Mimzy, Music and Lyrics, Ratatouille, Rush Hour 3, Sleuth, Starter for 10, TMNT and Zodiac.
Penultimately, these are The Films In the Lower Half of the Top Tier. They're movies I'd recommend seeing because I really liked them and I think a good number of the people I know would like them too. Here are a few words about each.
300 I already praised the obvious things about "300" above. But it's also interesting to the post B.A. me because I believe in modern myth. Not "am interested in." Believe in. And when the characters talk about their actions resonating through history, I think, "Just like how there's a movie about them now."
Beowulf Same thing about modern myth when it comes to this movie. "Beowulf" is synonymous with "Because you had to" reading and the epic poem has therefore lost why it survived in the first place. Myth should feel present. It should feel like a part of our lives. So when a film like "Beowulf" takes that myth and makes it "available" to a modern audience, it has succeeded.
Breach Based on the real-life Robert Hanssen espionage case, Chris Cooper is the gravity which holds the story together. His portrayal of Hanssen holds the duality of being patriotic and virtious and while being a traitor as well. He basically carries the film all by himself but, like a spy, without being obvious about it.
Charlie Wilson's War I saw this movie after the New Year so consider it bonus coverage to make up for not finishing this list earlier. The Global War on Terror is understandably a delicate subject right now. There really isn't a way that you can approach it without taking a stance on it. So laurels go to the people behind this film for saying something poignant instead of being preachy and for being funny without taking the topic lightly.
Control The saddest part of any movie about Joy Division and their frontman Ian Curtis is when the band finds out they are going to tour America. It's sad because they are all so happy and it appears their career (and lives) are taking off. But, knowing the history, a Joy Division fan knows Ian Curtis hangs himself on the eve of their American tour. It makes the moment sad because you know that their happiness is really just the beginning of the end.
Death at a Funeral This movie was a very dry almost-farce which has a brilliant "Chekov's Gun" and, based upon what I've read of other "End of the Year" lists, I don't know if other people got it in the same way I did. It's comedy is based in situations (but not sitcom) and in manners and in uncomfortable circumstances.
Eagle vs Shark Starring Jemaine of "The Flight of the Conchords", this movie's tagline was a perfect summation. A story about there being someone for everyone apparently, it's also a story about not judging yourself because of what other people think of you.
Hot Rod There is a new paradigm in comedy. Ten years ago you had to have a quirky concept like a 1960s superspy who is out-of-place in contemporary times. Now, in our post-YouTube culture, you just need to have funny jokes like "I needed to think about last night. So I galloped into a wooded glen, and after punch-dancing out my rage and suffering an extremely long and very painful fall, I realized what has to be done." It has become a medium of ideas and unlimited potential.
Juno This year's "Little Miss Sunshine" down to its quirky dialogue and the way it snuck from the fringe to the mainstream on the strength of its word-of-mouth. Here's the thing. I think it's a better movie and is even more deserving of the attention.
The King of Kong: A Fistfull of Quarters This movie was the perfect set of circumstances. Profiling something with as much drama already as the obsessive world of competitive arcade-game-playing, the filmmakers lucked into a situation which also injected some dark green-eyed jealosy.
Live Free or Die Hard One of my favorite moments of the year came when Susie and I saw "Hot Fuzz" in Madison with CJ and Elaine amongst others. We were all hyped up and talking about what we thought of the film (more on that later). Then CJ turned his head to see the poster for this film. "Oh, no," he said. "Oh, yes," said I. The movie promptly lived up to the moment.
Ocean's Thirteen As much as I liked "Oceans 12" at the time, later viewings have worn thin pretty quickly. In opposition to that is "Oceans 13", a movie I saw multiple times in the theater and enjoyed each time. The movie needs a strong villian to wash out the moral ambiguity of the heist and Pacino's character really deserves what happens to him.
The Simpsons Movie It says something about the vitality of "The Simpsons" that the series is still going while the movie came out over the summer. It says even more that the movie was so good proving that they aren't entirely out of ideas. Whether you thought it was a glorified episode or not, you couldn't deny it was made of what it is that makes The Simpsons great.
Spider-man 3 This was a different kind of Spider-man movie. Action was eschewed for emotion. I don't know if I would've liked this movie as much if I weren't in a relationship. But I liked the ending when Peter comes back Mary Jane, she goes to meet him and they are just back together.
Stardust Well, Neil Gaiman wrote it so you know the story will be good. And DeNiro is in it. And Claire Danes. And Ricky Gervais too. Then something awful happens to Rupert Everett's character and you say, "Oh, it's silly fantasy. I get it."
Superbad How great was this movie? That the phrase "I am McLovin'," didn't become annoying along the lines of "Yeah, baby!" is a testament to how many good jokes it had to spare. This movie almost snaked its way into the top flight of my favorite movies this year just on its quotability and rewatchability.
The Ten Now that the Apatow crew has gone above ground, The State/Stella/Wet Hot American Summer group is the best thing in the fringe. I was even willing to see this movie all by myself because of my love for their last movie, "The Baxter." Yet another which fits in the paradigm of having the jokes and "The Ten" has them in spades.
There Will Be Blood Another movie I saw after the New Year and I was going to write an entire entry about it. Instead I'll just summarize here.
Seeing a Paul Thomas Anderson movie can be like eating a salad. You get it in your head to eat right and so you order a salad. At first, you feel great because you're eating all of the croutons and cherry tomatos. Then it seems like there is too much fucking lettuce to eat in your whole life. Somehow though you stick out the lettuce and you finish the salad. You aren't particularly full and think maybe you should've ordered a steak. Then two days later you're still thinking about how good you were by ordering a salad. You even congratulate yourself for having the salad.
Ladies and gentlemen, I feel good about seeing "There Will Be Blood" in the same way I feel good about eating a salad.
Walk Hard After a few consecutive years of Oscar-baiting musician biographies, it was about time for someone to parody the genre. That it feel to Judd Apatow and his compatriots is comedy gold. The best part is that, since John C. Reilly can actually sing, it's actually able to be a good movie in the genre it simultaneously lampoons. If it were based on actual events, that is.
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