Our Top 10 of 2009

Sabin
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Post by Sabin »

Looks like I'm alone in liking Away We Go.

Why is it loathed to such extent?

The reason I think it's evil (and I do) is that it perpetrates an incredibly wrong-headed idea: we don't need anybody but ourselves. Bull. Shit. This film is about their journey across America to find a place to raise their child. They encounter caricatures. I would be astonished if you lived around these people because they don't begin to exist. Red state hypocrites. Blue state hypocrites. Then they hit a breakthrough and meet good people in Montreal, but they're sad! They're dragged off to Florida to be with their brother who is in a state of misfortune in his life. All looks fine and well to form a family unit with him, but, no. There is one last stop along the way and it is total isolation: a perfect fit for these self-absorbed hipsters. They would rather opt to live alone than with other people. To not choose to live with other people is to in spirit not live for other people, which is the wrong mindset in which to raise a child. As put by John Givings, I'm glad I'm not gonna be that kid.

Maya Rudolph did not give a great performance, but a lot of people wanted her to. I think that clouded a lot of minds. Nobody did. And Sam Mendes stages the film - like he's doing now with everything - like an unpleasant dining experience. It's a crock.
"How's the despair?"
Zahveed
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Post by Zahveed »

The bizarre characters didn't bother me that much. Then again, I'm around equally bizarre people. What I liked about the film was the tone and mood, as well as Krasinski's character.
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Big Magilla
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Post by Big Magilla »

Zahveed wrote:Looks like I'm alone in liking Away We Go.

Why is it loathed to such extent?
Too many bizarre characters. Did anyone in this film actually seem like a real live human being? The Canadian couple, maybe, but by the time they show up it's too late. We've already had Allison Janney's red state moron and Maggie Gyllenhaal's blue state idiot as well as other unfunny personae. And Maya Rudolph sitting there passively taking it all in. At least John Krasinski had a park of life in him. Not much, but a spark is more than Rudolph had.

And that ending! I kept hearing Bette Davis saying "what a dump! what a dump!".
Zahveed
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Post by Zahveed »

Looks like I'm alone in liking Away We Go.

Why is it loathed to such extent?
"It's the least most of us can do, but less of us will do more."
Big Magilla
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Post by Big Magilla »

Sabin wrote:Away We Go is fucking evil. In message and execution. I now dread Sam Mendes films. They're like truffled medicine.
I wouldn't go quite that far, but I'm getting there.

A lot of reviews singled out Maya Rudolph for praise. Why? Must be left over affection for her form Saturday Night Live. Either I've never seen her on that show or she made no impression whatsoever on me if I did. Here she's a limp dishrag throughout.
Okri
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Post by Okri »

Ditto what Sabin says re: Public Enemies.
Sabin
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Post by Sabin »

I fucking hate Public Enemies. It's the most unprofessional, unpleasant sound-mix I've ever experienced outside of a film school production. I don't like the cinematography at all. It's an ugly looking film that has nothing really to say about its central idea of this gangster being among us. There are no intriguing narrative fillips. I would argue that if Michael Mann had shot on 35mm or even competent HD, it would only be somewhat better. Michael Mann has moved into a period of filmmaking where he is experimenting with the excesses of his early career. Miami Vice coasts on a sexy air of existential machismo, the notion of A Man Awash In... It strips it down to its core. Public Enemies is an exercise in Dogme 1930's melodrama filmmaking and it's dull! It reveals nothing save for one glorious scene where John Dillinger filmed in contemporary HD watched Manhattan Melodrama on the big screen, where it bears no more relevance onto his life then as it does ours today. It's one of the great scenes of the year, but everything else compels theoretically at best.

Were I to watch it again at home where no doubt the sound mix has been corrected (and I am going to use that word because I don't think there is any artistic merit to what Mann was attempting with that mix) in a viewing format more suitable to Public Enemies' format, I might enjoy it a little more.

Away We Go is fucking evil. In message and execution. I now dread Sam Mendes films. They're like truffled medicine.
"How's the despair?"
anonymous1980
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Post by anonymous1980 »

Sabin wrote:Worst of the Year?
Public Enemies (Michael Mann)
Seriously? ???
Big Magilla
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Post by Big Magilla »

Sabin wrote:Worst of the Year?
Away We Go (Sam Mendes)
Amen to that.
Jim20
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Post by Jim20 »

I have a list of films I still have yet to see, but here is my Top 10, thus far:

1. Where the Wild Things Are (dir. Spike Jonze)
2. Inglourious Basterds (dir. Quentin Tarantino)
3. A Serious Man (dir. Joel Coen and Ethan Coen)
4. The Hurt Locker (dir. Kathryn Bigelow)
5. (500) Days of Summer (dir. Marc Webb)
6. Up (dir. Pete Docter)
7. Up in the Air (dir. Jason Reitman)
8. District 9 (dir. Neil Blompkamp)
9. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (dir. David Yates)
10. Avatar (dir. James Cameron)
Sabin
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Post by Sabin »

EDIT.



Edited By Sabin on 1263506220
"How's the despair?"
Damien
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Post by Damien »

Still lots to catch up on, but here's where things stand today:

1. Summer Hours (Olivier Assayas)
2. Flame and Citroen (Ole Christian Madsen)
3. The Sun (Alexander Sukorov)
4 (500) Days Of Summer (Marc Webb)
5. Il Divo (Paolo Sorrentino)
6. The Road (John Hillcoat)
7. Up In The Air (Jason Reitman)
8. 35 Shots Of Rum (Claire Denis)
9. Two Lovers (James Gray)
10. Séraphine (Martin Prost)
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
anonymous1980
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Post by anonymous1980 »

My current Top 10, still lots to see:

01. Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
02. Fantastic Mr. Fox (Wes Anderson)
03. Up (Pete Docter)
04. Avatar (James Cameron)
05. (500) Days of Summer (Marc Webb)
06. The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow)
07. District 9 (Neil Blompkamp)
08. Two Lovers (James Gray)
09. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call, New Orleans (Werner Herzog)
10. Star Trek (J.J. Abrams)
dreaMaker
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Post by dreaMaker »

God, I didn't see so many movies but here is my list so far:

1. Inglourious Basterds
2. Avatar
3. (500) Days of Summer
4. Star Trek
5. The Hurt Locker
6. The White Ribbon (Das weisse Band)
7. Watchmen
8. District 9
9. Drag Me to Hell
10. Up
Okri
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Post by Okri »

01. A Prophet
02. Summer Hours
03. The Brothers Bloom
04. The Hurt Locker
05. The Road
06. An Education
07. The Informant
08. 500 Days of Summer
09. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnasus
10. In the Loop
11. Adoration
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