Starring: Brad Pitt, Christophe Waltz, Mélanie Laurent
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Country: USA
Genre: War
The master of homage is back in his homagiest homage yet!
It took two viewings of this film to fully appreciate it. The first time I was looking for the nuance of its brilliance, but it’s quite blatant and I think I took that as arrogance. Maybe it is. This is by far Tarantino’s most patient and deliberate film to date. For being two and a half hours, it’s only filled with a small number of incredibly long scenes. As it’s been said by many more articulate people than I, it’s his use of dialogue to build the suspense of the scenes, particularly the opening. Plus, his dialogue, though completely fantastical as it may be, is just so fun to listen to. Performance wise, Christophe Waltz almost doesn’t need mention as his talent is beyond obvious. However, many harp on Pitt for his lame accent. I, however, found it to be obvious that he knew he was doing a cartoon version of his character… because it is after all a fairy tale film. Once upon a time, and happily ever after.
Starring: George Clooney, Anna Kendrick, Vera Farmiga
Director: Jason Reitman
Country: USA
Genre: Dramedy
Airports have never been more appealing.
Reitman may have the Midas touch when it comes to independent dramedies. Thank You For Smoking gushed with style, Juno bled with character, and Up In the Air combines all of the things that make the aforementioned films great. With a script as spot on as one can get, and a cast as gifted as they come, this film really… um… ’soars’. Clooney has never felt more Cary Grant-ish than in this film which displays his talent for large amounts of dialogue and massive amounts of charm. It may not end up being a crowd pleaser, but it’s quality of filmmaking is undeniably stellar. Up In the Air is a wonderful story of a personal journey of opening up, and an insightful look into the current economic state of the country. When all is said and done, it’s an interesting statement on what’s important in life.
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoë Saidaña
Director: James Cameron
Country: USA
Genre: Fantasy
You’ll probably want to make sure you see it in 3-D.
Whether you buy into the hype or not, it’s hard to argue that James Cameron’s labor of love doesn’t push the boundaries of current film technology. Seeing the world he created on the big screen, there was no doubt any of it was real, and in the beautiful digital 3D, it was unreal how realistic the realism was… real. Avatar isn’t without it’s faults though, as it forcefully pushes the narrative forward through awkward dialogue. But when it boils down to it, no one is buying a ticket to get the specifics on how a person is transferred into one of the Avatar bodies… a drive down a glow in the dark worm hole and waking up in the body is completely sufficient, and way more fun. It’s this spectacle that the film delivers best. It’s not Cameron’s best action, it’s not his best story, but it’s one of the most fun rides he has to offer.
Starring: (voices) George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Wes Anderson
Country: USA
Genre: Animation, Adventure
The wonderfully amazing Fantastic Mr. Fox is an awesomely brilliant dose of excitement.
2009 seems to be the year that a lot of directors are answering to their inner child as they delve into more childlike films, and thank goodness, (though let’s be honest and admit that neither this nor Where The Wild Things Are are children films.) Wes Anderson’s stop-motion animation flick is anything but conventional. It’s so inventive in fact, that I often felt awestruck watching it, in a way that I really hadn’t since I was a young’n and saw the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, (does that date me?) Anderson uses his specific theatrical directorial style to its full extent, squeezing out every minutia of humor, adventure, and even drama. I’m beginning to realize that calling a film like this “brave” for not hiding elements of real life from kids, (like cussing, pregnancy, death, and even *gasp* smoking!) is silly. It’s just common sense. Fantastic Mr. Fox is just so much fun, and fulfills that gap in adventure films that will unlock creativity in children as they plot out their own schematics in their playtime.
Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Eric Bana
Director: J.J. Abrams
Country: USA
Genre: Science Fiction
I don’t know… I think this Star Trek thing might be big someday.
Confession time: I’d never seen a Star Trek film before, (save for The Voyage Home when I was a young lad… so it doesn’t really count.) That being said, it’s almost more of a credit to Abrams and his crew that he was able to draw me into the world of iconic characters without feeling like I was missing something. If you stirp away the fact that it’s a Star Trek film, it would still be as appealing. It’s a tour de force in action directing, something that other directors can take a cue from. It’s stylistic for sure, but never does that get in the way of the fun time-travelling story and adrenaline inducing excitement. The cast is almost too perfect to take over for the roles, yet they all bring something new to make the characters their own. I don’t even need to say that Star Trek is one of the best science fiction movies to come out this decade.
Starring: Max Records, Catherine Keener, James Gandolfini
Director: Spike Jonze
Country: USA
Genre: Fantasy, Family
The children & family genre is overstuffed with bubblegum movies that it makes a film like Where The Wild Things Are almost impossible to determine how it will play with its [supposed] target audience. This is probably the most personal children’s film I’ve ever seen. While it is told, brilliantly I might add, through the eyes of a child, it seems like it goes one step further and is told through the eyes of an adult looking through the eyes of a child, (Being John Malkovich?) It’s smart, it’s scary, it’s heartwarming, its tearjerking. The entire movie had me feeling like I had the heart of The Grinch when it swells up too big for my chest. It’s truly a spectacle. By the time the credits were rolling I was already thinking fondly back on it. Oh, and the score by Karen O and the Kids = amazement.
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Ryan Reynolds
Director: Greg Motolla
Country: USA
Genre: Comedy, Drama
I was really surprised that this film made it onto this list. Not because I had low expectations for it, but because after I watched it, it lingered in my mind for months afterwards. It got a bad wrap, as you can read almost anywhere, from a misleading marketing campaign promising the next Superbad, but in reality it’s a far more tender and personal story of growing up than the raunchy laughfest that Superbad is. The strongest thing about Adventureland is how well-written its characters are; not necessarily its dialogue, but what the characters choose to do and their motivations all seem so incredibly natural, and that none of their problems exist for the sake of the story. Everything just is. And that’s rare for a quirky coming-of-age dramedy.
