AVATAR's Source Material

I think you guys should check this out but ONLY if you have seen AVATAR. It's a funny little comparison but contains a lot of spoilers.

Enjoy

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Not quite a "Best of the Decade" list Part 2 - Top 15

The 15 films here are all so good in my books that at any day of the week I could of easily reversed the order and still be happy with the result. On my list the top four films were all at one point number one during the construction of this list. As I stated earlier, every film on this list is here based on my own personal experience and enjoyment I had during each time I view these films.

Also if you are curious about the lack of foreign film's on this list I'd suggest you look at the post before this which explains why none are included as well as many other warnings for reading this list.

The 5 that almost made the Top 10

15: Where the Wild Things Are

dir: Spike Jones

It's a much darker version then many expected and it is in no way a children's movie. One of the most haunting and realistic tales of childhood created in film. Max is in no ways a nice child and Spike Jones shows that, by making all of the wild things their own distinct characters with there own faults and attributes Jones makes them relatable and allows the viewer to emotionally connect with them. Spike Jones's film is a perfect mix of style and substance and is one of the finest from this past decade. Will it stay this high after repeat viewings? All I can do is hope so.

14: Gladiator

dir: Ridley Scott

Gladiator is not just an epic film, but an artistic one at the same time. Ridley Scott crafted with Gladiator, not just a regular summer blockbuster but a film that properly combines artistic style, epic action and great storytelling. The action sequences are brilliantly crafted, and Russel Crowe gives a great heartbreaking performance. Besides Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix gives a horrifying performance that reminds us of how talented he once was and how he should give up on this joke he's pulling and return to real acting.

13: Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

dir: Andrew Dominik

Assassination is a poetic film, brilliantly crafted like a Terence Malick feature. The film perfectly portrays the final years of the Mid-West and provides great performances and beautiful photography. The brilliance in this film is that while you expect it to end with the obvious forthcoming assassination, instead the film just gets better, getting deeper and deeper into the characters.

12: Revolutionary Road

dir: Sam Mendes

The most brilliant portrait of a crumbling relationship since Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet both give career best performances and Sam Mendes manages to explore deeply into the characters, understanding their dreams and aspirations as well as allowing us to understand why they feel trapped in their own lifestyle.

11: Letters from Iwo Jima

dir: Clint Eastwood

I don't really know whether I'm allowed to include this on my list since it's not in the English language but it is an american production. This film is not just a war story, but it is a character study, a horror movie and a horrific yet brilliant depiction of one of the most brutal slaughters in history. Just for the scene when all the men are informed they must commit suicide, the look in their eyes and the undeniable fear they are experiencing. These men are all aware that their chances of survival are slim to none. Eastwood deals with the subject subtly and beautifully.

The Final 10

10: Brokeback Mountain

dir: Ang Lee

Heath Ledger gives two of the best performances of the decade as the Joker in the Dark Knight and as Ennis Del Mar in Brokeback. Ang Lee crafts one of the finest films I've ever seen, one both beautiful and haunting. The dilemmas these characters face is heartbreaking and the love story in the centre is the most beautiful homosexual romance ever captured on film.

9: 25th Hour

dir: Spike Lee

This is possibly Spike Lee's best film since Do the Right Thing. Edward Norton is brilliant in this film, as are the rest of this incredible cast. This film uses the post 9/11 New York atmosphere brilliantly referring to the attacks but never over doing it. Spike Lee crafts one of the best monologues in recent films as well a brilliant ending that doesn't exactly tell you how this film really ends, I would actually go as far as calling this the best ending in a film this decade.

8: Pixar Films (If I have to choose then UP)

dir: too many to name

This includes (in order of preference from worst to best) The Incredibles, Monsters Inc., Ratatouille, Wall-E, Finding Nemo and Up (Cars is there only film not good enough to make this list.) Every one of these films are great on their own, with their own great message, though I find they all kind of follow the same general structure. My favourite of these films is Up because I believe it is their most mature one yet, and even just the first fifteen minutes deserve it a spot on this list (the rest of the movie doesn't hurt). Up is such a great movie because I believe it is the most emotional animation film yet, and the only one to bring me to tears.

7: Requiem for a Dream

dir: Darren Aronofsky

Aronofsky's masterpiece is a perfect mixture of style and substance with superb performances from the whole cast, including one of the decades finest female performances from Ellen Burstyn. Requiem is one of the hardest films to sit through and has the most painful endings of the decade. The intervening story lines work perfectly together, the score fits the filmperfectly and the message against drugs and addiction is both affecting and horrifying.

6: Mystic River

dir: Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood is the only director with two films on this list and that doesn't suit me to well, especially since his last two films were terrible in my mind. I find that Mystic River works so well not solely based upon his direction but more because of the brilliant story and the oscar worthy performances from Sean Penn, Tim Robbins and Kevin Bacon, as well as the rest of the talented cast. Mystic River is likely the greatest classic mystery style movie from this past decade and by all likelihood it will, along with Tim Robbins haunting performance, stick with me for many years to come.

5: I'm not There

dir: Todd Haynes

I'm not There is both a bio pic on Bob Dylan and the farthest thing from one. It's saying that Dylan's life can't be told as one person but instead as a mixture of personalities that all describe a part of himself or a period in his life. The whole cast is extraordinary, especially Cate Blanchett and the soundtrack is brilliant. Todd Haynes focuses on style over substance but in result provides a masterwork of storytelling and one of the best most original bio pics ever made.

4: Minority Report

dir: Steven Spielberg

I remember first seeing Minority Report when I was just eight years old and being utterly confused by the storyline and everything that was going on. Just at the beginning of last month I decided I might as well give the film a second chance, and after renting the film the next day I went to HMV and bought it, within those next two weeks I saw the film another three times and enjoyed it more and more each viewing. The film poses a strong philosophical question as well as has some top class acting from both Tom Cruise and Samantha Morten. The film is an intense drama, an involving character study and a heart pounding action film.

3: The Departed

dir: Martin Scorsese

I've called this film one of my favourite's of all time for so long that it even surprises me that it didn't top this list. I may have earlier claimed that Revolutionary Road was DiCaprio's career best performance but to be honest it's actually a tie with the Departed, in which DiCaprio get's so deep into his troubled character. It's funny how both these performances were snubbed by the Academy Awards, at least The Aviator and Who's Eating Gilbert Grape got him nominations since they're almost as great. I think the Departed mean's so much to me since it was the winner of the first Oscar's I actually started paying attention to and was the first film that year that I actually fell in love with, when it won the Oscar I couldn't of been happier.

2: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

dir: Michel Gondry

I can watch this film a million times and be affected the same way each time. In my opinion this is the best film about a relationship I've ever seen. it is touching, comedic, romantic, depressing, heartfelt, beautiful and many more things as well. Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet give outstanding performances as three dimensional characters with their own distinct personalities. Charlie Kaufman's script is layered and original and Michel Gondry directs this film like a piece of art.

1: Children of Men

dir: Alfonso Cuaron

This film nearly missed this list completely and oddly enough it is the only film in my top four I don't own. It was only yesterday when I convinced my self to re-watch this film. I remembered a few years ago seeing this film and enjoying it quite a bit, but only recently did I realize how brilliant it is, when my friend kept convincing me to re-watch it based on how much he loved it, I took his advice and obviously I was pleasantly surprised. The film is pure brilliance, it is a believable vision of what the world might actually look like if everyone was infertile. It is depressing beyond belief but at the same time leaves us with hope. A film so well made, strong and affecting, based solely on it's affect on myself I find it incredibly difficult to put it any lower then number 1.

That's my personal opinion on the matter, whether you agree or disagree thats your own opinion and if you care to share I'd love to hear it.

Not quite a "Best of the Decade" list Part 1 - The Set Up

This isn't a list of the best films of the decade. First off I feel as if I have no right to declare anything the best of the decade. Instead, I feel I can only go as far as calling something a personal favorite. Also I feel this would be an unfair title because based on my viewing experiences I don't believe I can fairly judge the whole decade in film.

One of my limitations in creating this list is that I only started viewing films, big time in the past two years. It would seam than that most my choices would have been of films released in those years, but that isn't the case. Instead my favorite films tend to be either ones that my parents showed me before I was a film nut, or ones that have been recommended to me since I started focusing more towards artistic and non blockbuster filmmaking.

As well, as a sixteen years old Canadian, I've seen a little number of foreign and documentary films and therefore I find it unfair to include any on this list. This is not saying that I haven't seen any foreign films that are good enough to make my list. For example, a film like The Diving Bell and the Butterfly would most likely come near the top of this list.

So it seems as if a more fair title for this list would be something along the lines of "my top ten favourite American/ British narrative film's I've seen from the last decade," but that seems a bit long and unnecessary, doesn't it?

As a final notice before I state my favorite films, I'd like to inform you that as soon as I view any films that I believe should of been on this list, I will do my best to post my beliefs and notify you of them as soon as I can.

Here's a list of a bunch of my favourite films that just missed this list.

• A Beautiful Mind (just because of the first time I saw it and the effect it had on me)
• Almost Famous
• Anchor Man
• Catch Me if You Can
• Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Far From Heaven
• Gangs of New York
• Garden State
• Gone Baby Gone
• Hustle and Flow
• In Bruges
• Juno/ Up in the Air (Jason Reitman is a director to watch for)
• King Kong (you may think it's too long, I like every moment of it just how it is)
• Knocked Up
• Little Children/ In the Bedroom (Todd Field is a director to keep an eye on)
• Lord of the Rings franchise
• Lost in Translation
• Mulholland Dr.
• No Country for Old Men
• O' Brother Where art Thou?
• Precious
• Shaun of the Dead
• Slumdog Millionaire
• Super Bad
• The 40 Year Old Virgin
• The Aviator
• The Constant Gardener (I always preferred it to City of God for several reasons)
• The Hours
• The new Batman franchise
• Training Day
• Walk the Line
• Zoolander

For my Top 15 films tune in Tomorrow

What ruins Holmes?

I liked Sherlock Holmes, I really did. Downey Jr. was great as the detective and his chemistry with Jude Law, who plays Dr. Watson is beyond entertaining. But in the end I could only manage to give the film a C+ in my mind. And that got me thinking, why?

It definitely wasn't the acting, as I already mentioned Downey Jr. and Law are terrific together and every scene they share together are some of the best parts of the movie. It seems as if Downey is attempting to create a sort of Johnny Depp/ Jack Sparrow character with Holmes, and to my surprise he managed to do so very well. It isn't as great as Jack Sparrow but it sure is enjoyable.

So if it's not the acting that hurts Sherlock Holmes then could it be the writing? Well it's definitely a part of it. The dialogue between characters is great, but when Holmes is describing how he solved his mysteries he often gets way to scientific for the audience to keep interested.

Is it the plot? Maybe partly, as it turns out it's more interesting when Holmes and Watson have there bromance drama then when they're trying to solve a mystery. The demonic thing is kinda interesting and is a lot darker then you would expect from a christmas blockbuster, but the evil characters are not fully developed and some of the bad characters cause more laughter then fear. Most of the action scenes are pretty boring and nobody ever seems to have a gun when they need one, plus shouldn't sherlock have figured most of it out once they found the Ginger Midget?

I think the main thing that ruins this film is the direction by Guy Ritchie who for some reason thinks it's necessary to explain what's about to happen right before it does as well as go randomly into slow motion so you can watch run back and forwards into bombs (it looks even worse then it sounds). Ritchie nearly ruins this film by over directing it on several occasions. He creates a nice atmosphere but fails to bring anything else to the film, leaving Downey Jr. and Law to clean up his mess for him.

And on a parting note. I have to ask did anyone know who Moriarty was?

A mini rant on the Blind Side

This morning after waking up I decided to watch the film that was getting all this best actress buzz and was sure to cross $200 million. This also happened to be the film with the worst trailer I've seen a long time, one so typical, so schmaltzy that it made me angry just to think of it getting any oscar attention. After finally seeing it I'm glad to say it was better then the trailer... but thats not much to brag about.

The Blind Side is such a by the books kind of film, the characters are boring, the dialogue is terrible and there are never any consequences. The family barely ever doubt there actions, even after the main character gets in a car accident with their young son all they do is support him and then never bring it up again. The film tries to be overly sentimental but there is not one moment that makes you come close to tearing up. In an attempt to make you better understand Michael the director keeps taking us to flashbacks of his past but none of it is ever dealt with or fully explored, leaving me even more confused.

The football is boring and his rapid improvement makes no sense, like one conversation will make him into a better player. To top it all off Jae Head and Quinton Aaron both give Razzie worthy performances, just watch as Michael cries out I'm sorry and try to take him seriously. On the bright side (yes you heard me there actually is a bright side), Sandra Bullock gives one of the finest performances of her career which is often hard to find behind that terrible dialogue and unfunny humor. Saying the best of her career isn't saying that much for Sandra Bullock though, and though I won't be screaming with anger when she gets her oscar nomination, I will still be upset. I'm not going to give this movie an F because I've seen a lot worse and there were definitely parts where I wasn't hating every moment so I'll be generous and give it a D/D+

What have I seen recently?

Since I've been away for a while I thought I would give you a short recap of what films I've seen recently.

In Theatres:

The Invention of Lying: Not a great a movie at all, though there are some laugh inducing parts and the relation with religion was clever. All in all the clever story line is wasted by badly written dialogue and several wasted cameo's. C

A Serious Man: A well acted, incredibly written and flat out hilarious film. The Coen brothers created one of their funniest films that should definitely show up at this years Oscar race. If your a jew or a fan of the Coen brothers you should really enjoy this film, If you're both like me there's a good chance you'll love it. A-/B+

An Education: This is a great f

ilm. The acting is amazing, both Carey Mulligan and Alfred Molina are oscar worthy and Rosamund Pike and Peter Sarsgaard deserve nominations. The second half of the film isn't nearly as good as the first but all in all it's still an amazing film. A-/B+

The Men who Stare at Goats: This film is okay, it has a great last third but the first two thirds are boring at times and just plain weird at others. The cast is great but modern day parts are annoying and the parts in the past are funny but just not enough to make up for the rest of this lacklustre effort. C+

Precious: I don't understand the backlash towards this film, It's one of the most powerful and hard to watch film's I've seen in a long time. The acting performances from Gabby Sidibe and Monique are some of the best performances of the year. I believe that the film goes over the top a lot and never gives you a break from the drama. A-

The Road: After Precious I saw this film, and trust me it was

one of the most depressing afternoons I've ever had. This film is bleaker then imaginable yet at the same time feels as if your witnessing a very possible unliveable near future. Viggo Mortensen is amazing in this film and Robert Duvall has a great cameo in this film. B+/B

Up in the Air: Well acted, funny at times, depressing at others, great

characters, beyond great film. Jason Reitman has crafted one of the finest scripts I've seen in a long time and put together one of the best films of the year. George Clooney, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick all give amazing performances and should all get nominated this February. This film refuses to end as expected and provides both great comedy and drama. A-

Invictus: Morgan Freeman is incredible as Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon does what he can with the little he's given but besides some good one liners and some enjoyable rugby games the film is pretty boring and overly cheesy. Clint Eastwood overdoes the slow motion in the final rugby match and so much attention is put towards the security that when it leads you nowhere it seem's like he's wasted your time. One of Clint's weakest efforts. C

Broken Embraces: Not one of Almodovar's best efforts, but whenever Penelope Cruz is on the screen the film works wonderfully but whenever we're in the present with only her pictures to remind us of her the film crumbles. B-

Been a while

I haven't been using this site at all in the last few month's and as the year is about to end I feel like I want to start using it again. I'm going to set some goals and I'm going to meet them. The first post will be my most looking forward to in 2010 list which should come up a few days after new years, while my best and worst of the year will have to wait until I see Where the Wild Things Are on the 29th or 30th, Avatar and a Single Man this week, Nine and Sherlock Holmes near the end of the year and the Lovely Bones on the weekend on the 15th as well as several other films. This goes with best of the decade list as well. After that I will put out a list of what I think should be nominated for and win the main Oscar categories as well as some made up categories if they were up to me. Until then I bid you a due.