25. Where The Wild Things Are
Directed by Spike Jonze
Written by Spike Jonze & Dave Eggers
Starring Max Records, Catherine Keener, James Gandolfino, Paul Dano, Catherine O'Hara, Forest Whitaker and Chris Cooper
Here's a film I was looking forward to purely because of Jonze's name, but the trailers and clips all looked naff, dull and like a sweet arts and crafts visual footage with no plot. The plot is, however, limited, but everything else I thought was wrong when I finally saw my first Jonze film in a cinema. Same amazing visuals as presented in his previous films and shorts & music vids, except Praise You which was very much the Jackass side of him.
A very dark, depressing film about a child's development problems and repression, bi-polar disorder and aggression, as he lives with massive creatures, all parts of his psyche, he finally understand what he puts his mother through as he becomes their king, and tells them what they should do, keeps them busy and holds the family together.
It's by no means a light kids film, but it's not a horrible film, it's daring to give children the chance to see something that's realistic in a fantasy environment, and much more subtle than some films this year. It's funny, interesting and the lead kid is actually a good actor.
24. Role Models
Directed by David Wain
Written by Paul Rudd & David Wain and Ken Marino and Timothy Dowling
Starring Paul Rudd, Seann William Scott, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Bobb'e J. Thompson, Elizabeth Banks, Jane Lynch, Matt Walsh and Ken Jeong.
Paul Rudd, now synonymous somehow with bromance films, honestly, I Love You, Man, that's all, and that's his worst film for ages. That and Monsters Vs Aliens, but it wasn't his fault there, he didn't have to hold the film together with Rush gags and pretending to be shit at improv. At the top of the year he was in my locket close to my heart, and you couldn't say a bad thing about the man. Add to that Chris Mintz-Plasse, who whilst always McLovin to everyone is a funny and intelligent guy, playing a geek, Stifler playing Stifler, Scott is epic at that, and Bobb'e J. as a foul mouthed kid constantly playing the race card, what could go wrong? Nothing.
A consistently funny, silly and entertaining film full of great lines, moments and an amazing 15 minute action sequence using plastic swords, a small wooded area in LA and lots of slow-mo. Jane Lynch, Matt Walsh, The lovely Liz Banks and Ken Jeong are just icing on the cake to showcase to idiots that these people are also hysterical, and it worked, see Community and Glee and The Hangover, recognisable now right.
23. Observe And Report
Written & Directed by Jody Hill
Starring Seth Rogen, Anna Faris, Michael Pena, Ray Liotta and Aziz Ansari
He did it! Finally that twinkle of brilliance in a sadly disappointing on the re-watch Foot Fist Way, and an appallingly unfunny series of Eastbound & Down wherein the joke is the main character is uninteresting and annoying, and we suffer that for 3 hours, has sparked. Jody Hill, it seems, is the funny guy next to Danny McBride, who is a funny actor but not writing material, and Ben Best, again the same here.
Jody, in a year where America was overcome with Paul Blart in January, gave the gift of a more adult Mall Cop for us all, though Kevin James' charm won over more, there's no mistaking this very dark black comedy about a bi-polar testosterone build idiot who feels castrated when real cops enter into the equation of a flasher getting the girl of his dreams. With this Seth Rogen delivers a tour-de-force, both funny and frightening, he's serious and silly at different times, but it's always right for the character, and at points he manages to get Curb style cringe moments.
With some exceptional work from the likes of Michael Pena as a drug abusing mall cop and second in command, Anna Faris as a complete bitch (It's a good year for bitch acting) and Ray Liotta as a cop who hates Rogen's guts purely because he knows that he is better than Rogen, Observe and Report is not for everyone's tastes, but it's hella fun to watch, short and bitter and a must see for comedy of the year.
22. 9
Directed by Shane Acker
Written by Pamela Pettler
Starring Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly, Christopher Plummer, Crispin Glover, Jennifer Connelly and Martin Landau.
It's not the most original tale, end of the world, key to existance, life and death, humanity destroyed by machines, but as it's told in a visually stunning, ever compelling, wonderfully acted, voice and animation-wise, 9 presents a dark tale of the future in a more adult animation than is normally in the mainstream consciousness, and for that it deserves props, unashamed of going for a more PG-13 area, it's interesting, entertaining and enjoyable, if not unpredictable it leaves you on the edge of your seat for a vast majority of the film's runtime. Well worth a viewing, despite negative reviews.
21. Gamer
Written & Directed by Mark Neveldine & Brian Taylor
Starring Gerard Butler, Logan Lerman, Alison Lohman, Michael C. Hall, Chris Bridges, John Leguizamo, Kyra Sedgwick & Terry Crews
Again an unoriginal idea, my friend thought of this concept about 10 years ago and tried to write a novel on it, I remember it distinctly because I thought it sounded like a good idea, we were not conscious of the outside world at this point, clearly.
Butler is Kable, a prisoner who is controlled once a week by a kid playing a game, an FPS, Kable, whilst knowing he's being controlled, has no contact with the kid. As it unravels, Chris bridges' cyber terrorist tries to help free Kable and get to see his family once more, And during this plot there's like 70 action scenes, all amazing in comparison to the year's blockbusters, unsurprising given the directors, more on that later, and a wonderful music sequence with Michael C. Hall being all evil and what not.
Massively entertaining and a must-see soon, if you miss this, well, you're sad. Butler, gun, prisoners, boom headshot, nuff said.
20. The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus
Written & Directed by Terry Gilliam
Starring Christopher Plummer, Heath Ledger, Verne Troyer, Jude Law, Johnny Depp and Colin Farrell.
When I was at Movie-Con, Mr. Gilliam came on stage, entertaining, funny and insightful. I had seen the trailer to Imaginarium and had no interest in seeing it. To me it looked like a poorly made, random kind of film full of weird images and no semblance of a plot. The subsequent clips, Empire claimed 'a massive amount of the movie' which was about 2 minutes in total, were poor, out of context and lacking content.
Cut to October and it's release, I'm bored, Up is out but saw it in May and June for free, what to do. I see Imaginarium. What a film it turns out to be, it's funny as hell, interesting, and although the last 20 minutes get a little too complex for it's own good, imaginative and visually arresting, compelling and well made. Imaginarium turns out to be a hidden gem, a Gilliam film which actually isn't as annoying as earlier works of this decade. Whilst Ledger's death looms over the film a bit, the changing face of the character through many actors is neither jarring or out of place, in fact it works better as it is than if, alas, it was Ledger all the way through, I'd guess the character's change would be more subtle, however...
19. Life During Wartime
Written & Directed by Todd Solondz
Starring Alison Janney, Paul Reubans, Ciaran Hinds, Chris Marquette, Shirley Henderson and Michael K. Williams.
Ok, so it's not been released yet, so probably next year people MAY put it on their lists of the year, however seeing it at the LFF this year the semi-sequel, more epilogue, to Happiness, the 1998 masterpiece from Todd Solondz that went through some dark areas of life, is a far lighter, easier piece, shorter too, surprisingly lean.
In place of a man's realisation of his sick fetishes and his relationship to his eldest son during the time, we see a few years later, the family still together, sans father pervert, and it's the youngest son's Bar Mitzvah coming up, as he learns to become a man he finds out what happened to his father. Recasting all the roles isn't as jarring as expected, though Philip Seymour Hoffman becoming Michael K. Williams is odd, I didn't understand they were the same person until I looked on imdb later that day. A hard film to really discuss, Wartime has elements from Happiness, the titular song is sung by the same character, who sees her past dead boyfriends all the time, having a mental breakdown, sisterly relationships, love, sex and that opening is very much made to welcome you in to a familiar world. It's a must see for a great wrap up to an 11 year old film, and it's very funny in itself.
18. Red Cliff
Directed by John Woo
Written by John Woo & Khan Chan & Cheng Kuo & Heyu Sheng
Starring Tony Leung, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Fengyi Zhang and Chen Chang
I was following the production of this film for at least 3 years and one day in June the UK cinemas were offered the film, not quite the 4 hour 45 minute epic two parter that was done in China but a condensed version. As of writing I have just viewed part one of the two part version on bluray, and the additional hour cut from our release adds the character development that was sorely needed in the condensed, intense but empty version we saw this year.
It says a lot for a film if, without any sign of interesting character development it was still able to climb this top 25 list, the action is epic, well done and different each time, making it far more enjoyable than, say, star Trek, and the style presented, Woo meets modern Chinese filmmaking, it's pure heaven. Whizzing around, slow-mo, long shots, CGI, well choreographed fighting, and more amazing visuals.
17. Up
Directed by Pete Docter (Bob Peterson co-directing)
Written by Pete Docter & Bob Peterson
Starring Ed Asner, Christopher Plummer (Yes, again!), Delroy Lindo, Jordan Nagai and of course John Ratzenberger
It was too much to ask for Pixar to be able to one up last year's masterpiece WALL-E, a top 20 film of all time easily, and whilst you must lower expectations, it's no masterpiece, and unfortunately it's very much an action adventure with weak plotting and a change from wonderful to meh about half way through, it's still superior to many other films of the year. How many other films would have the balls to have a geriatric man lead the, hang on, Gran Torino, Harry Brown, erm.... Well, ok, but for a kids film, no vigilante-ism to focus on a man losing his wife, happy family film of course, and then fulfilling their dream with a kid who accidentally tags along, well, to be sure it's a heartbreaking, tearjerking beautiful 45 minutes that's hysterical beyond belief, it's just a shame that when they add a villain to the piece the film collapses, the greatest enemies in the opening half are gravity, time and annoying children.
16. Public Enemies
Directed by Michael Mann
Written by Michael Mann & Ronan Bennett
Starring Johnny Depp, Marion Cotillard, Christian Bale, Giovani Ribisi, Stephen Lang, Billy Crudup, Channing Tatum and Stephen Graham
Admittedly when I first saw this film I was devastated at how bland, empty and uninteresting it all was. However I credit this to the poor sound on the film, the fact that the earlier screening's surround was broken and we weren't warned though the cinema already knew and the factor of rushing back an hour after rushing home to catch a screening. And subtitles. Subtitles are wonderful creatures, you can understand the film even if you quiet it down because the dialogue is low but the gunshots are too fucking loud even fro Mann's standards, see Heat for a near well balanced sound system.
As muffled as it all is, the film is intense, interesting and, though slow, it lets you enter the period setting as we watch Dillinger in his last year, and Christian Bale as a panto villain FBI agent. It's not the masterpiece that Mann has offered time and time again, but it's certainly a well done little film.
15. Trick 'r Treat
Written & Directed by Michael Dougherty
Starring Dylan Baker, Anna Paquin and Brian Cox
Another of them long to get here films, one I heard about way back when, like 2005-2006 and was excited then. Then the trailer appeared on the 300 US DVD, and some kind person put it on youtube. I was squealish in anticipation. October, october, come on Warner Brothers. Then they let it slide that year, build a marketing campaign and release it next February was the idea, which was then changed to October '08. The WB proved time and time again how to mishandle a film which had only garnered positive reviews in it's precious few screenings. Time flew by and the film had still not appeared, then, October 09, fuck it, they just threw it on DVD, Blu Ray in the US, and didn't give a fuck. WELL WE DID!
I imported that mofo like it was my own film, I was so excited, and yet I waited 3 weeks before I put it in and watched it, I had to, needed a Halloween spirit. And you know what? It was funny as hell, clever, full of great twists in each scene and great actors, the best obviously being the one and only Dylan Baker, but it was scary without being too much, violent without being gory and entertaining without needing to spoof, relying more on pastiche and ambience, it's a brilliant film abused by a terrible studio.
14. Anvil: The Story Of Anvil
Directed by Sacha Gervasi
How wonderful when you can say a documentary was good, so good in fact you'd WANT to watch it again, and not just that, it's an easy watch and it surpasses a majority of the films released this year. With all their budgets and CGI and big name actors. Yes, ok, the similarities to Spinal Tap aren't exactly unmanufactured, but it's allowable to fudge the facts for the sake of telling a great comedic tale of two men in a heavy metal band respected by their peers, ignored by the public majority. It's an underdog story told like a documentary, just with details changed, but fuck it, it's just such a great film, and I don't like Heavy Metal music, so it's well worth checking out.
13. Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel
Directed by Gareth Carrivick
Written by Jamie Mathieson
Starring Chris O'Dowd, Anna Faris, Marc Wooton & Dean Lennox Kelly
How wonderful when you can go to the cinema and see a small British piece of cinema that is insanely funny but best of all, a pure geek film. 3 Imagineers, or geeks like us, find the men's room of the pub makes them travel through time by accident, and in true form, they understand the rules of such travel from films, and know about the kinds of dangers and scrapes from films too. And it's just lots of clever, silly and funny sequences which works even better on DVD than the cinema counter-part, more an epic feature length comedy for the BBC than a big budget sci-fi film that demands the screen, but it demands you go find a copy and tell your friends.
12. The Wrestler
Directed by Darren Aronofsky
Written by Robert D. Siegel
Starring Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood
Not the most shocking choice, a film that last year was garnering billions of pieces of praise for the film and Rourke's performance alike. Calling it his comeback was mean, however, his work with Robert Rodriguez, most famously in Sin City, was surely a performance he'll be remembered for years ahead, but it's no secret Rourke was amazing in The Wrestler, a simple and well told drama about washed out star rebuilding his career, fighting old age, finding love and losing family.
It's tragic, funny, superbly paced and tremendously acted, Evan Rachel Wood and Marissa Tomei are equally astonishing in their secondary roles, and yet Rourke is never a smug lead, he's charismatic, interesting, and best of all, true. Similar to seeing Jean Claude crying in JCVD, the warmth and reality of the film stems from Rourke's actual experiences, and that's what makes this film so damn good.
11. Punisher: War Zone
Directed by Lexi Alexander
Written by Nick Santora and Art Marcum & Matt Holloway
Starring Ray Stevenson, Dominic West, Wayne Knight, Dash Mihok, Colin Salmon and Doug Hutchinson
An odd choice, yes, but just outside the top 10 and I present a film I laughed at, was constantly interested in and purely entertained in the most visceral of ways when watching it, and not just in the cinema, multiple home release re-watches and if anything it gets better. It's not a great film in the sense of writing, character development, strong morality, but it's fun, violent and got some hysterical little moments. the Punisher without the commercial mainstream issues that made Tom Jane's one a little too polite, quiet and shiny, this is down and dirty, full of mad limb tearing moments, and never afraid to utter the term "Krispy Kreme Motherfuckers"
Awesome.
And so there we are.
2009 is officially over, and I'll be revealing my top 10 later today, hope you had a good year, and a better 2010, especially in cinema.
Thursday 31 December 2009
Thursday 10 December 2009
People of 2009 (Well, actors, not real people)
10. Eric Bana
The Time Traveler's Wife and Funny People were far and wide not GREAT movies, however both had great elements, TTW had an amazing visual style, couldn't say that for an Apatow film, a man who has completely ripped off Kevin Smith's career and made his latest bomb because of this, but they both had exceptionally grand performances from awesome man Eric Bana.
Bana was hysterical, and added some pep to a dying film suffering a wind an hour and 45 minutes into the 2 hour 20 minute runtime, he comes in, shouting, making jokes and swearing, he's Australian, that's the base gag, but he makes it so much more entertaining because he's, well, a genius.
In TTW thankfully the titular character, played by the terrible Rachel McAdams, isn't as important as this Terminator style nude man who pops up now and then, and is highly entertaining and charismatic as he appears through a non-linear timeline, never sure where he is, or when he'll go again.
And he's just so awesome, the kind of guy who oozes charisma, and even in weak films he proves himself to be a talent unhindered.
9. Jesse Eisenberg
I'll admit, I hated Adventureland, I knew it wasn't the loling on the floor comedy it was advertised as, I went in hoping for another masterful workplace comedy drama/coming of age comedy drama, like Dazed and Confused met Clerks and adopted Garden State, just not as good as any of those films of course, instead it was just pure depression and lots of hitting in the bollocks.
However it once again showed that Eisenberg is a loveable, not likeable, lead, he's funny, uncharismatic and awkward in the best way, and whilst he's done that schtick in the exquisite Roger Dodger and the masterpiece Squid And The Whale, he's great at it. But it wasn't that flop which proved him, t'was another.
Yes, Zombieland, where he, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin and Woody Harellson faced many of the undead with guns, jokes and geniusness. And once again Eisenberg was the top hitter in a group doing amazing work. And I just hope his star actually rises one day.
8. John Krasinski
From The Office to Leatherheads (If we ignore License To Wed, something I've managed to do so far) Krasinski has been funny and sweet consistantly, and whilst this year he only had the one film, it was an amazing film, and it just showed that even out of Jim Halpert he could be funny, sweet and, well, just so damn huggable. He continues to show his knack for great roles, great chemistry with co-stars, and, well, being great, there's nary a moment you don't buy into his relationship with Maya Rudolph, they just work perfectly together, and both can deliver lines snappy and funny adding more to what was written, as opposed to, say, Keanu Reeves, who might take what's written it, and revert the paper back to wood.
7. Amy Adams
I don't have to explain this decision do I? It's Amy Adams, the cute as a button, excellent in everything beauty who, even in films that seem bad, churns out brilliance, and lightens everything up. Sunshine Cleaning had a whiff of indie unsure what to do with this premise, but, Between Amy and Emily Blunt (2 beautiful sisters to enjoy) the aimless plot didn't bother me.
With Night At The Museum 2 I actually, and finally, enjoyed one of those films, having hated the first, and it's thanks in no small part to Amy's portrayal of Amelia Earhart. She's got a great voice going on, and she's super chipper, the kind of pep you can't fake.
And even with the boring half of Julie & Julia it was nice to watch Amy try and portray a normal human, one who has bad, dark moments, which, of course Amy will never have due to her awesomeness. Right?
Well, there was Doubt of course, she played a nun who fears she may have seen the process of child molestation occurring, but doesn't have any proof, making Julia Childs shout at Truman Capote Mark 1 for an hour, but even then she's super chipper and looking on the bright side.
6. Chris O'Dowd
From telly to belly, as a voice over on The Day Today once said, Chris O'Dowd wasn't in BIG films, he wasn't in many films, but he was in films, and they were good, and, dare I say it, he was the best part of them. In March Richard Curtis made a less rom-com, more actual com The Boat That Rocked, wherein a series of characters had vignettes to befit a 2 odd hour run time, one of which was Chris O'Dowd getting engaged, married, then finding his wife in bed with the famous DJ. He's funny as hell in the film, but at the same time he gave more emotion and gravity to the role than you'd expect from such a light, breezy, overlong film.
Add in the equation of a film of the year, and better each time, in the form of Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel, wherein he and two others play imagineers, nerds, and know far too much about Time Travel from films and television, though far too much is my way of saying "I concur with their statement having seen many of what they have and know all of it too. Once again he was hysterical, laugh out loud so, and made it thoroughly entertaining to watch these films.
5. Sharlto Copley
FOOKIN' PRAWNS MATE!
Who is this guy? Why is that 'tache swarming with icky? How would you actually find an orifice to insert oneself into a 'prawn'?
These are, almost, all good questions, and, well, I wouldn't have been able to tell you who he was without jumping to imdb, even after watching District 9. But, I made it my business to know his name, cos, whilst the film wasn't a masterpiece by any means, a no name carrying such a big film, well, and not making it dull and dry, instead being freaking hysterical, no easy task, but with limited effort, seemingly, he gets you interested, and makes him a hate-able racist AND a lovable character on the run in one fell swoop. Also he ad-libbed a lot of the stuff, making FOOKIN' PRAWNS MATE more awesome.
4. Michael Fassbender
Yes, he got lots of acclaim last year for playing Bobby Sands in Hunger, but, whilst that film was disappointing, he came into his own this year. A double header in the form of a brilliant job in Inglourious Basterds as a straight up English officer with a funky German accent, funny and interesting, and then playing a smooth, charismatic, yet darkly weird Irishman in Fish Tank, where he wooed a woman, then set his eyes on the 15 year old daughter, seemingly fatherly, sweet and innocent, but, of course, it being in Essex it can't last in innocence for too long, none of us do...
But he was a higherlight in both films, films swarming with highlights, and the more I watch Basterds, the more I enjoy his performance.
3. Sam Rockwell
What have you seen Mr. Rockwell in this year? If you didn't answer Moon you must now fin a copy and watch, it's one of the funniest, most constantly interesting, and brilliantly made for such a small budget, films of the year, and a testament to Zowie Bowie's work to manage to make a convincing Moon landscape for only £5million. Ok, yes, sound in space is annoying, but sod it, you get Kevin Spacey as a robot and many Rockwells, not just one, and each have a different attitude, and when two appear together and have conversations, boy is it endearing, entertaining, and you can tell which one is which with your eyes closed, the personalities sculpted are brilliant, subtle but entertaining, and showcase Rockwell's undeniable, and underused, talents.
Sam Rockwell for Best Actor Oscar '010!
('010 is a joke given that it doesn't reduce the characters)
2. Jackie Earle Haley
When he was nominated for an Oscar in 2007 I thought "Who the frak" then I finally saw Little Children. I didn't hate it like the trailer convinced me I would. No, if anything I loved it, and not just cos Patrick Wilson is mega awesome. (Although he seems desperate to prove he has an arse sometimes) But the film's most interesting, compelling, and dangerous character was Jackie Earle Haley's newly released paedophile, a man who, at the end of a date whacks off to a woman complaining about her love life.
Rorschach is a horse of a different colour. As the tests prove, he is pure black and white, right and wrong, there's no in between, and Haley, giving a Batman voice that works perfectly and is never painful to hear, it's a natural fit in every moment, offers up a vigilante who, whilst his methods can be cruel, is someone you root for because, unlike everyone els,e he sticks to his gun and can see the world for what it is, not the bull shit shrouding everything, and in this comic book character we get a £D human, two lives, one he likes, one he suffers until he can go back to what he does best, and the mix of solo and team work, how he reacts when working with others, just make everything even better.
If he doesn't get a nod this year I'll be miffed, if not shocked, it's a purer, better, more enjoyable performance than Heath Ledger by far.
1. Christopher Waltz
This time last year I'd have said "Who the frak are you talking about? Sounds weird, probably arthousey"
Well, Euro cinema. German cinema. But good ol' Tarantino, in his masterpiece Inglourious Basterds, created a perfect character, self assure, interesting, bad but not evil for evil's sake, and always has something to say, be it claiming he is the Jew Hunter because he's an excellent detective, or the faces he pulls, the subtle, and hysterical, foot on my lap please motion, the 'glass of milk' and pipe schtick, the Strudel (Oh lord that strudel) everything he does we are enthralled, and we don't care that it's not Brad Pitt in what is essentially the second lead behind Shoshanna, no, we're interested in what he's doing, is he gonna catch the good guys, is he there to shoot the Frenchman at the start? What's his game plan?
It's ambiguous, and well done, we fear him and his power, but also laugh at his events, they're funny and dark, and it's no mean feat that he has, in one film, proven himself to be an immense talent, where he goes from Basterds I don't know, I just hope he doesn't sell out and make "Hans Landa: P.I."
Actually, if any networks wanna make that, I'd watch it.
The Time Traveler's Wife and Funny People were far and wide not GREAT movies, however both had great elements, TTW had an amazing visual style, couldn't say that for an Apatow film, a man who has completely ripped off Kevin Smith's career and made his latest bomb because of this, but they both had exceptionally grand performances from awesome man Eric Bana.
Bana was hysterical, and added some pep to a dying film suffering a wind an hour and 45 minutes into the 2 hour 20 minute runtime, he comes in, shouting, making jokes and swearing, he's Australian, that's the base gag, but he makes it so much more entertaining because he's, well, a genius.
In TTW thankfully the titular character, played by the terrible Rachel McAdams, isn't as important as this Terminator style nude man who pops up now and then, and is highly entertaining and charismatic as he appears through a non-linear timeline, never sure where he is, or when he'll go again.
And he's just so awesome, the kind of guy who oozes charisma, and even in weak films he proves himself to be a talent unhindered.
9. Jesse Eisenberg
I'll admit, I hated Adventureland, I knew it wasn't the loling on the floor comedy it was advertised as, I went in hoping for another masterful workplace comedy drama/coming of age comedy drama, like Dazed and Confused met Clerks and adopted Garden State, just not as good as any of those films of course, instead it was just pure depression and lots of hitting in the bollocks.
However it once again showed that Eisenberg is a loveable, not likeable, lead, he's funny, uncharismatic and awkward in the best way, and whilst he's done that schtick in the exquisite Roger Dodger and the masterpiece Squid And The Whale, he's great at it. But it wasn't that flop which proved him, t'was another.
Yes, Zombieland, where he, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin and Woody Harellson faced many of the undead with guns, jokes and geniusness. And once again Eisenberg was the top hitter in a group doing amazing work. And I just hope his star actually rises one day.
8. John Krasinski
From The Office to Leatherheads (If we ignore License To Wed, something I've managed to do so far) Krasinski has been funny and sweet consistantly, and whilst this year he only had the one film, it was an amazing film, and it just showed that even out of Jim Halpert he could be funny, sweet and, well, just so damn huggable. He continues to show his knack for great roles, great chemistry with co-stars, and, well, being great, there's nary a moment you don't buy into his relationship with Maya Rudolph, they just work perfectly together, and both can deliver lines snappy and funny adding more to what was written, as opposed to, say, Keanu Reeves, who might take what's written it, and revert the paper back to wood.
7. Amy Adams
I don't have to explain this decision do I? It's Amy Adams, the cute as a button, excellent in everything beauty who, even in films that seem bad, churns out brilliance, and lightens everything up. Sunshine Cleaning had a whiff of indie unsure what to do with this premise, but, Between Amy and Emily Blunt (2 beautiful sisters to enjoy) the aimless plot didn't bother me.
With Night At The Museum 2 I actually, and finally, enjoyed one of those films, having hated the first, and it's thanks in no small part to Amy's portrayal of Amelia Earhart. She's got a great voice going on, and she's super chipper, the kind of pep you can't fake.
And even with the boring half of Julie & Julia it was nice to watch Amy try and portray a normal human, one who has bad, dark moments, which, of course Amy will never have due to her awesomeness. Right?
Well, there was Doubt of course, she played a nun who fears she may have seen the process of child molestation occurring, but doesn't have any proof, making Julia Childs shout at Truman Capote Mark 1 for an hour, but even then she's super chipper and looking on the bright side.
6. Chris O'Dowd
From telly to belly, as a voice over on The Day Today once said, Chris O'Dowd wasn't in BIG films, he wasn't in many films, but he was in films, and they were good, and, dare I say it, he was the best part of them. In March Richard Curtis made a less rom-com, more actual com The Boat That Rocked, wherein a series of characters had vignettes to befit a 2 odd hour run time, one of which was Chris O'Dowd getting engaged, married, then finding his wife in bed with the famous DJ. He's funny as hell in the film, but at the same time he gave more emotion and gravity to the role than you'd expect from such a light, breezy, overlong film.
Add in the equation of a film of the year, and better each time, in the form of Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel, wherein he and two others play imagineers, nerds, and know far too much about Time Travel from films and television, though far too much is my way of saying "I concur with their statement having seen many of what they have and know all of it too. Once again he was hysterical, laugh out loud so, and made it thoroughly entertaining to watch these films.
5. Sharlto Copley
FOOKIN' PRAWNS MATE!
Who is this guy? Why is that 'tache swarming with icky? How would you actually find an orifice to insert oneself into a 'prawn'?
These are, almost, all good questions, and, well, I wouldn't have been able to tell you who he was without jumping to imdb, even after watching District 9. But, I made it my business to know his name, cos, whilst the film wasn't a masterpiece by any means, a no name carrying such a big film, well, and not making it dull and dry, instead being freaking hysterical, no easy task, but with limited effort, seemingly, he gets you interested, and makes him a hate-able racist AND a lovable character on the run in one fell swoop. Also he ad-libbed a lot of the stuff, making FOOKIN' PRAWNS MATE more awesome.
4. Michael Fassbender
Yes, he got lots of acclaim last year for playing Bobby Sands in Hunger, but, whilst that film was disappointing, he came into his own this year. A double header in the form of a brilliant job in Inglourious Basterds as a straight up English officer with a funky German accent, funny and interesting, and then playing a smooth, charismatic, yet darkly weird Irishman in Fish Tank, where he wooed a woman, then set his eyes on the 15 year old daughter, seemingly fatherly, sweet and innocent, but, of course, it being in Essex it can't last in innocence for too long, none of us do...
But he was a higherlight in both films, films swarming with highlights, and the more I watch Basterds, the more I enjoy his performance.
3. Sam Rockwell
What have you seen Mr. Rockwell in this year? If you didn't answer Moon you must now fin a copy and watch, it's one of the funniest, most constantly interesting, and brilliantly made for such a small budget, films of the year, and a testament to Zowie Bowie's work to manage to make a convincing Moon landscape for only £5million. Ok, yes, sound in space is annoying, but sod it, you get Kevin Spacey as a robot and many Rockwells, not just one, and each have a different attitude, and when two appear together and have conversations, boy is it endearing, entertaining, and you can tell which one is which with your eyes closed, the personalities sculpted are brilliant, subtle but entertaining, and showcase Rockwell's undeniable, and underused, talents.
Sam Rockwell for Best Actor Oscar '010!
('010 is a joke given that it doesn't reduce the characters)
2. Jackie Earle Haley
When he was nominated for an Oscar in 2007 I thought "Who the frak" then I finally saw Little Children. I didn't hate it like the trailer convinced me I would. No, if anything I loved it, and not just cos Patrick Wilson is mega awesome. (Although he seems desperate to prove he has an arse sometimes) But the film's most interesting, compelling, and dangerous character was Jackie Earle Haley's newly released paedophile, a man who, at the end of a date whacks off to a woman complaining about her love life.
Rorschach is a horse of a different colour. As the tests prove, he is pure black and white, right and wrong, there's no in between, and Haley, giving a Batman voice that works perfectly and is never painful to hear, it's a natural fit in every moment, offers up a vigilante who, whilst his methods can be cruel, is someone you root for because, unlike everyone els,e he sticks to his gun and can see the world for what it is, not the bull shit shrouding everything, and in this comic book character we get a £D human, two lives, one he likes, one he suffers until he can go back to what he does best, and the mix of solo and team work, how he reacts when working with others, just make everything even better.
If he doesn't get a nod this year I'll be miffed, if not shocked, it's a purer, better, more enjoyable performance than Heath Ledger by far.
1. Christopher Waltz
This time last year I'd have said "Who the frak are you talking about? Sounds weird, probably arthousey"
Well, Euro cinema. German cinema. But good ol' Tarantino, in his masterpiece Inglourious Basterds, created a perfect character, self assure, interesting, bad but not evil for evil's sake, and always has something to say, be it claiming he is the Jew Hunter because he's an excellent detective, or the faces he pulls, the subtle, and hysterical, foot on my lap please motion, the 'glass of milk' and pipe schtick, the Strudel (Oh lord that strudel) everything he does we are enthralled, and we don't care that it's not Brad Pitt in what is essentially the second lead behind Shoshanna, no, we're interested in what he's doing, is he gonna catch the good guys, is he there to shoot the Frenchman at the start? What's his game plan?
It's ambiguous, and well done, we fear him and his power, but also laugh at his events, they're funny and dark, and it's no mean feat that he has, in one film, proven himself to be an immense talent, where he goes from Basterds I don't know, I just hope he doesn't sell out and make "Hans Landa: P.I."
Actually, if any networks wanna make that, I'd watch it.
Monday 7 December 2009
The Bottom Rung Of 2009
10. Star Trek
Yes, ok, I know, it's a cliche, everyone and their Trek addled mothers loved Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto in JJ's latest film, action packed, CGI heavy and more young stars than a Harry Potter vs Twilight battle royale, but you know what? You're all wrong. It's an appalling work of cinema. The plot? Near non-existant. The characters? Smug and annoying, like characters from the OC or Skins were aboard a spaceship. The graphics? Meh, too much shaky cam and lens flare, it's stylish in a shit way. The script? Appalling, a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory set piece for Simon Pegg, science delivered in such a way that it's laughably bad and horrendously believed with intent by the young, and shitty, actors. Well, except Yelchin, Cho and Pegg.
What is Star Trek? It's a mess, a disgusting looking film which is neither original nor inventive, it's Iron Man syndrome, people love it, claim it's original when it's quite the opposite.
9. Couples Retreat
What's that? It's nearly August and no sign of a Vince Vaughn Christmas film still? Thank you Tarvu! Wait, what's this on apple trailers? "Couples Retreat"? Looks like lots of people doing Forgetting Sarah Marshall, load it up.
DAMN YOU VAUGHN!
Not a single laugh, no sausages, even from resident genius Peter Serafinowicz. And yet number one for weeks in America. Shoddy. Shoddy shoddy shoddy.
8. The Spirit
First film of the year. Seriously. 1/1/2009.
Why?
Frank Miller makes a horribly stupid aesthetic decision, with a talentless group of actors and a braindead script that jumps between serious and silly so often you want to jump between dead and dead but not in hell watching the film on a continuous loop. An appalling work of inhumanity. Please Amnesty International, sort this out.
7. Year One
Jack Black, Paul Rudd, David Cross, Hank Azaria, Harold Ramis. A massive piss-take on the bible and evolution in one fell swoop, with some comedy geniuses. What went so wrong? 2 things: Michael Cera, indie charmer, formerly George Michael Bluth, and sticking to that role in every film he's in. Number 2, hee hee number 2, it's immature, puerile and neither subtle nor clever to sustain any jokes, and the characters are all loud and annoying. Plus Jack Black has a literal shit eating grin.
6. GI Joe: The Rise Of Cobra
The guy who gave us The Mummy said the trailer. The guy who gave us The Mummy died and was reincarnated by the man who offered up The Mummy Returns and Van frakking Helsing. CGI-less Sommers are something that were before Climate Change hit, now, well, if there's anything in GI Joe that hasn't been altered with computers, it's cut out before the final cut is confirmed. A shit storm of horrendously plasticy and overuse of CGI mixed with a cast that features Channing 'SlabO'Meat' Tatum and Marlon 'Funny Black Sidekick' Wayans. Yep, you read that right, Marlon Wayans is considered funny to some people. Fuck knows why, this film is proof that even Joeseph Gordon-Levitt needs to eat.
5. Seven Pounds
Will Smith - Good. He's funny, charismatic like only Clooney and few others are, and when he does drama he at least tries.
However... The Pursuit Of Happyness was shit, no bones about it, and here, same director, same star, the premise, he's giving away things, he did a bad thing, he wants to die and make peoples' lives better. It's dull, overly 'sentimental' without getting close to deserving any emotions. A bore and a terrible waste of time and money.
4. State Of Play
Tony Fu
3. Duplicity
cking Gilroy.
2. The Hangover
Todd Philips gave us Old School. He offered up Road Trip. There was Starsky and Hutch, an unappreciated silly little film that's just funny as hell at points. Well, he did School for Scoundrels, but that was fucked from Jump Street. This, a film in which 4 people forget the last night, and trace their steps, like Dude Where's My Car? succumbed to poorly written characters, over-explaining plot points and making the random events explained, thus destroying the inexplicability of it all. Add to that the two writing hackjobs did Four Christmases and, wait for it, Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past before this one. They aren't funny, and neither is this film. A shame as Ed Helms has proved himself on The Office, and Zach Galifianakis has reassured he's talented with Bored To Death on HBO.
1. Paranormal Activity
Here we are. The bottom rung of 2009, a year in which films never regained quality from the funk that mid October 2008 began, we're looking at you Quantum of Solace. And with a film that has received the highest of ratings from critics and consumers alike. A film I'm relieved to say I saw for free and earlier than the UK, not earlier than most, Sundance 08 and the US release were before, but it beat Saw VI at the box office, and is insanely profitable because it was super cheap. And the problems are inherent to it's budget. A poorly written, uninteresting 80 minutes that lack tension or investment into the film, it's not real, and never feels close to real footage, the acting is appalling, the script painful, the special scare moments either too small and easy to explain or ridiculously dumb such as the final 10 minutes. It's an appalling film in every respect, and another blow to my attempts at understanding why people like camcorder films, it's like fake snuff movies. And they're as entertaining and well made as the real things.
Yes, ok, I know, it's a cliche, everyone and their Trek addled mothers loved Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto in JJ's latest film, action packed, CGI heavy and more young stars than a Harry Potter vs Twilight battle royale, but you know what? You're all wrong. It's an appalling work of cinema. The plot? Near non-existant. The characters? Smug and annoying, like characters from the OC or Skins were aboard a spaceship. The graphics? Meh, too much shaky cam and lens flare, it's stylish in a shit way. The script? Appalling, a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory set piece for Simon Pegg, science delivered in such a way that it's laughably bad and horrendously believed with intent by the young, and shitty, actors. Well, except Yelchin, Cho and Pegg.
What is Star Trek? It's a mess, a disgusting looking film which is neither original nor inventive, it's Iron Man syndrome, people love it, claim it's original when it's quite the opposite.
9. Couples Retreat
What's that? It's nearly August and no sign of a Vince Vaughn Christmas film still? Thank you Tarvu! Wait, what's this on apple trailers? "Couples Retreat"? Looks like lots of people doing Forgetting Sarah Marshall, load it up.
DAMN YOU VAUGHN!
Not a single laugh, no sausages, even from resident genius Peter Serafinowicz. And yet number one for weeks in America. Shoddy. Shoddy shoddy shoddy.
8. The Spirit
First film of the year. Seriously. 1/1/2009.
Why?
Frank Miller makes a horribly stupid aesthetic decision, with a talentless group of actors and a braindead script that jumps between serious and silly so often you want to jump between dead and dead but not in hell watching the film on a continuous loop. An appalling work of inhumanity. Please Amnesty International, sort this out.
7. Year One
Jack Black, Paul Rudd, David Cross, Hank Azaria, Harold Ramis. A massive piss-take on the bible and evolution in one fell swoop, with some comedy geniuses. What went so wrong? 2 things: Michael Cera, indie charmer, formerly George Michael Bluth, and sticking to that role in every film he's in. Number 2, hee hee number 2, it's immature, puerile and neither subtle nor clever to sustain any jokes, and the characters are all loud and annoying. Plus Jack Black has a literal shit eating grin.
6. GI Joe: The Rise Of Cobra
The guy who gave us The Mummy said the trailer. The guy who gave us The Mummy died and was reincarnated by the man who offered up The Mummy Returns and Van frakking Helsing. CGI-less Sommers are something that were before Climate Change hit, now, well, if there's anything in GI Joe that hasn't been altered with computers, it's cut out before the final cut is confirmed. A shit storm of horrendously plasticy and overuse of CGI mixed with a cast that features Channing 'SlabO'Meat' Tatum and Marlon 'Funny Black Sidekick' Wayans. Yep, you read that right, Marlon Wayans is considered funny to some people. Fuck knows why, this film is proof that even Joeseph Gordon-Levitt needs to eat.
5. Seven Pounds
Will Smith - Good. He's funny, charismatic like only Clooney and few others are, and when he does drama he at least tries.
However... The Pursuit Of Happyness was shit, no bones about it, and here, same director, same star, the premise, he's giving away things, he did a bad thing, he wants to die and make peoples' lives better. It's dull, overly 'sentimental' without getting close to deserving any emotions. A bore and a terrible waste of time and money.
4. State Of Play
Tony Fu
3. Duplicity
cking Gilroy.
2. The Hangover
Todd Philips gave us Old School. He offered up Road Trip. There was Starsky and Hutch, an unappreciated silly little film that's just funny as hell at points. Well, he did School for Scoundrels, but that was fucked from Jump Street. This, a film in which 4 people forget the last night, and trace their steps, like Dude Where's My Car? succumbed to poorly written characters, over-explaining plot points and making the random events explained, thus destroying the inexplicability of it all. Add to that the two writing hackjobs did Four Christmases and, wait for it, Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past before this one. They aren't funny, and neither is this film. A shame as Ed Helms has proved himself on The Office, and Zach Galifianakis has reassured he's talented with Bored To Death on HBO.
1. Paranormal Activity
Here we are. The bottom rung of 2009, a year in which films never regained quality from the funk that mid October 2008 began, we're looking at you Quantum of Solace. And with a film that has received the highest of ratings from critics and consumers alike. A film I'm relieved to say I saw for free and earlier than the UK, not earlier than most, Sundance 08 and the US release were before, but it beat Saw VI at the box office, and is insanely profitable because it was super cheap. And the problems are inherent to it's budget. A poorly written, uninteresting 80 minutes that lack tension or investment into the film, it's not real, and never feels close to real footage, the acting is appalling, the script painful, the special scare moments either too small and easy to explain or ridiculously dumb such as the final 10 minutes. It's an appalling film in every respect, and another blow to my attempts at understanding why people like camcorder films, it's like fake snuff movies. And they're as entertaining and well made as the real things.
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