Netflix Cannes

Despite a recent dust-up about Netflix at Cannes this week you can actually stream numerous films that have been in competition at Cannes over the past few years.

Age of Uprising: Michael Kohlhaas
Antichrist
Beyond the Hills
Blue is the Warmest Color - Palme d'Or winner
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Goodbye to Language
Grigris
Holy Motors
The Homesman
The Hunt
In Another Country
Jimmy P
The Kid with The Bike
Lawless
Like Father, Like Son
Melancholia
Mud
My Joy
Nebraska
The Son's Room - Palme d'Or winner
Touch of Sin
Vengeance
Venus in Furs
We Have a Pope
The Wind That Shakes the Barley - Palme d'Or winner
Winter Sleepers - Palme d'Or winner
Young and Beautiful

Best Movies 2014

These lists get harder to do each year because I find I have a difficult time make a definitive list; and all too often I'll enjoy a film but then find flaws that keep it from being truly great and making a 'top ten' of the year.

I found 2014 to be a good year but not an exceptional year; even though there certainly were exceptional moments in many films.

Here, then, is a list of films I enjoyed last year.

Tier 1 [meaning I enjoyed these films without many reservations]
Blue Ruin
The Dance of Reality
The Edge of Tomorrow
Guardians of the Galaxy
Ida
The Lunchbox
Whiplash

Tier 2 [meaning I enjoyed these films with some reservations]
Begin Again
Bethlehem
Boyhood

Cycling with Moliere
The One I Love
Under the Skin
Le Weekend
Wild Tales

Tier 3 [meaning I enjoyed these films despite reservations].
Goodbye to Language
Locke
A Most Violent Year
Selma
The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears
The Congress
Two Days, One Night

Best Movies 2013

I watched more movies in 2013 than I have ever watched and I still feel like there are great films I missed. Nonetheless, it's time to make the annual list. Here are the top ten films I saw in 2013.

1) Inside Llewyn Davis - The movie that stayed with me longer than any other this holiday season. Melancholic, melodic and humorous it's a film that shows the Coen Brothers at the top of their game. It's also nice to see one of their characters garner our sympathy a bit. [Some say he is unsympathetic but in my view he simply makes bad choices and knows when he screws up].
2) Gravity - Hollywood - with the talents of Alfonso Cuarón - found how to use IMAX 3D without overdoing the 3D and yet immerse us in an awesome story of survival.
3) Upstream Color - Shane Carruth jumbles his narrative in such a way that is at once perplexing and impressive. At the heart is a movie about doubts and loneliness that just happens to push the narrative envelope a bit so we pay attention.
4) Short Term 12 - If there was justice in the big bad film world then this SWSX winning film by Destin Cretton would be nominated for best picture and Brie Larson would win best actress.
5) Hannah Arendt - This movies dares to tread where few movies do; into the world of intellectual battles. At the heart this movie, by Margarethe von Trotta, is a woman who chose to defend a common
sense idea over common sense.
6) Stories We Tell - Sarah Polley went in search of the mom she
never knew and in the process she found herself.
What else are documentaries supposed to do?
7) All Is Lost - Robert Redford lost at sea for a couple hours, working hard to survive but doomed to sink all without saying anything except 'Fuuuuuuuckkkk!'. What's not to love? J.C. Chandor shows with only two films he has considerable range.
8) Tim's Vermeer - Penn & Teller take on Vermeer. Or more exactly Vermeer art historians in this fascinating, engaging documentary. The theory is certainly debatable but the process of creating a Vermeer is undeniable.
9) The Past - Asghar Farhadi makes films about the complexity of human relations. This is his second film about the effects of divorce and while it may not be as rich as his last film it still offers much more than the average 'divorce picture'.
10) Becoming Traviata - I know what you're saying; What is Becoming Traviata? It's a behind the scenes documentary about a staging of Traviata at the Aix-en-Provence Festival. Presented by Philippe Béziat as a fly on the wall approach it avoids all the reality TV b.s and just shows us professional singers and a director doing what they do best. I was riveted.

The next twenty [alphabetical]:
American Hustle
The Attack
Blue Jasmine
The Company You Keep
Computer Chess
Drinking Buddies
Fill the Void
Frances Ha
The Great Beauty
Her
Lore
Mother of George
Museum Hours
Nebraska
Oblivion
Pacific Rim
Rush
Something in the Air
A Touch of Sin
Wadjda
The World's End
              

Best Movies 2012

Another year has passed and it's time to try and make a best film list. I watched a good many new films in 2012 but still managed to miss many that could make this list. Nonetheless, a list must be made so here it is - in no order.

The Kid With The Bike
Moonrise Kingdom 
This Is Not A Film
Unforgivable
Lincoln
Argo 
Footnote
Rust & Bone
The Turin Horse
Django Unchained
Farewell My Queen 
Searching for Sugar Man

The next twelve:
9.79*
Barbara
Beasts of The Southern Wild
The Hunter [Australian]
The Hunter [Iranian]
In The Family
Intouchables
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
Premium Rush [pleasure - no guilt]
Silver Linings Playbook
Starlet
Women on The Sixth Floor

A few that had good moments:
The Avengers
The Deep Blue Sea
Haywire
The Loneliest Planet
Miss Bala
The Master
Perks of Being a Wallflower
Prometheus
The Sister
Wuthering Heights [the first half]
Zero Dark Thirty

As always there are a good many I have yet to see that may make these lists as I catch up with them.^

^Updated 3/14/13

Greatest Movies of all Time?

I haven't said much about the Sight and Sound poll because how can I take a poll of the top 100 films seriously that does not include a film by Luis Buñuel? [The top 100 are at the top of this page.]

I've been aware of the list for years as most critics have and all the films are so familiar at this point that I am not sure they are the greatest so much as a bunch of titles carved in stone. What we call the canon. If anything this list just reaffirms the prevailing critical view. 

I like many of the films on the list but I'd like to know what they mean by greatest. Historically important? Ultimately it's just a game to which most critics choose to play along with by nodding in agreement. I'll be more interested to see the individual critc's lists. [As well as the director's lists. Some are here].

Plenty of people will have an issue with Vertigo being #1. But is there any film that could be in the #1 spot and not cause some criticism? I understand why some of the films make the top ten list but am puzzled by others.

Vertigo, Citizen Kane,Tokyo Story, La Règle du jeu, Sunrise, Man with a Movie Camera - yes

 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Passion of Joan of Arc, 8 1/2 - maybe

The Searchers - no. I've tried to like it three times. It doesn't do it for me and other than a few directors who like it I don't see how it influences anyone. Stagecoach, My Darling Clementine and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance are much better in my view.


With regards to the top 50

After that the next 42 films get interesting. There is no way to make the list politically correct or fair but how does Godard get 4 films and Buñuel gets none? Tarkovsky has 3 films thus out-pacing Bergman in the eyes of the critics. Also there are only three films from the 1930's and three from the 1940's and yet also three from the 1990's.

There are 15 films from the 1960's. We're the 1960's the best decade in cinema? No way. A provocative era that, no doubt, has struck the fancy of many critics who were growing up then.

The list is a starting point for those who have yet to delve into the history of cinema. With that in mind it is acceptable. But I really hope no one takes it literally. I'd be more interesting in seeing a top ten personal list of favorite films.

[Here is the Fandor link where there are links to all kinds of discussions]

Best Movies 2011

I watched more movies this year than in any year in the last ten. So, naturally, choosing ten is tough. But due to the fact that my top three were so easy I figured I would go ahead and name my top ten in order. But the next ten after that are in alphabetical order. It was another terrific year in film. [I think they all are]. Here are my favorites.

1. Poetry - devastating
2. A Separation - heartbreaking
3. Melancholia - exhilarating
4. A Dangerous Method - intellectual
5. Win Win - nuanced
6. The Princess of Montpensier - impressive
7. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall... - theological
8. Seena - dynamic
9. Le quattro volte - authentic
10. Sucker Punch - audacious


The next eleven.
Beginners
The Descendents
Drive
Hanna
Le Havre
Margaret
Meek's Cutoff
Midnight in Paris
Pina
Source Code
Tree of Life

A few of others I liked:
Bill Cunningham: New York
Buck
The Conspirators
Martha Marcy Mae Marlene
Mysteries of Lisbon
Nostalgia For The Light
Of Gods and Men
Point Blank
Project Nim
Sarah's Key
Source Code
The Strange Case of Angelica
X-Men First Class
A bunch of movies I have yet to see from 2011...

Updated: 9/21/12

Older Film Discoveries 2011

Here are 10 great films I finally caught up with or discovered in 2011.

Pandora and The Flying Dutchman [Albert Lewin, 1951] - I'd always avoided this film because of the title and because it seemed to have that psychological drama soap thing I dislike about a lot of 50's cinema. But when I realized is was shot by Jack Cardiff I realized it was time to see it. On Blu-ray it looks delicious.

By The Bluest of Seas [Boris Barnet, 1936] & The House of Trubnaya Square [Boris Barnet, 1928 - Soviet films are always so darn serious but Barnet's films are a real treat for film lovers; he makes high art delightful and fun while still maintaining the social themes that were required by the USSR.

Revenge of a Kabuki Actor - aka An Actor's Revenge [Kon Ichikawa, 1963] - Ichikawa is one of the great Japanese filmmakers yet his films remain a tad out of reach [read cold] because his themes and his filmic structures don't try to entertain us. This film is self reflexsive and deep - can I use that word?

The African Queen [John Huston, 1951] - Yes, I know this falls under the 'I can't believe you had never seen' this category. Years ago I was busy cutting my teeth on Fassbinder and Fellini and I passed Huston by. Glad I am finally catching up with his work.

Il momento della verità - aka The Moment of Truth [Francesco Rosi, 1965] - I reviewed this a couple months back. It's one of Rosi's rawest yet truest films. Brutal, beautiful and full of life and death. It is not easily forgotten.

The Man Who Could Work Miracles [Lothar Mendes, 1936] - This [sort of] falls into the quota quickly category for which the Brits excelled in the 1930's. It's solid fun from start to finish as a man finds he has enough power to run the world - until he tries.

The Phantom of Liberty [Luis Buñuel,1974] - Yes, this terrific and crazy Buñuel film still remained on my 'to see' list. I'm like the cat who leaves a little food in the bowl because I don't want there to be a last bite. I can't bear to have no more new Buñuel films to discover.

The Spy in Black [Michael Powell, 1939] - The first of the Powell / Pressburger films is a wonderful picture that had me guessing all the way to the end. Most remarkable, perhaps, is that the lead character is German. This during a time of war.

Love and Pain and The Whole Damn Thing [Alan J Pakula, 1973] - How do you make awkward endearing? This film is full of cringe-worthy scenes and performances but by the end you realize how refreshing it is to see a movie that is a lot closer to who we are rather than who we think we are when we see perfect movie stars in relationships.

Romantic Netflix

Netflix has recommendations. But half the time they are odd. For instance, I don't think they [or their algorithms] know what is or what is not a romantic film.

Besides this screen grab here are a few titles they recommend as romantic films based on my taste:

That Obscure Object of Desire
Secret Things
Talk to Her
Emmanuel 7
La Jetee
The Piano Teacher
Jerichow

Mom's favorites

My mother loved movies.
She grew up in San Francisco and was able to see many while she was growing up.
But she moved to a small town in Colorado in the 1960's and spent the remainder of her life there and was only able to see a few in the theater through the years. Once video came along she caught up with many of the classics she had missed as well as new ones that she grew to love.

Here is a list of a few she loved:
Beauty and The Beast [Cocteau] - A fairy tale for adults.
Brief Encounter - Purely romantic.
Bullitt - San Francisco in the sixties appealed to her.
Forbidden Games - One she remembered with fondness.
Four Wedding and A Funeral - Always made her laugh.
Gone With The Wind - She loved the book and felt the movie did it justice.
It Happened One Night - She loved Claudette Colbert.
The Red Shoes - One of the Powell Pressburger films she found magical.
Roman Holiday - After she had been to Rome this meant more to her.
La Ronde - Elegant and funny.
Room With a View - Romance in Italy.
La Strada - Funny and tragic.
Wages of Fear - French suspense film in South America.


My mom didn't watch much TV. In fact she really only watched Masterpiece Theatre.
Poldark
Pride and Prejudice
Summer's Lease
Upstairs Downstairs

There are many more of course, which I may write about later. I am sorry I will no longer be able to share new and old movies with her. Bye mom and thanks for everything.

70's vs 80's

Mubi had a forum in which someone asked for people to list the movies that exemplify the difference between the 1970's and the 1980's. Here's a few I came up with [and one I didn't*].

 Obviously, I am being selective to the point that I am highlighting gritty and more independent [70's] vs more glossy and mainstream [80's]. But I'm also sticking with the films that are more memorable for the era in which they were made.

GANGSTER FILMS

70’s – The Godfather
80’s – The Untouchables

COMEDIES

70’s – Nashville
80’s – The Breakfast Club

COP MOVIES

70’s – Dirty Harry
80’s – Beverly Hills Cop

COP MOVIES II

70’s – The French Connection
80’s – Lethal Weapon

WESTERNS

70’s – McCabe and Mrs Miller
80’s- Silverado

SPORTS

70's - Breaking Away
80's - Hoosiers

LOS ANGELES

70’s – Chinatown
80’s – To Live in Die in LA

MEDIA

70’s – Network
80’s – Broadcast News

HORROR

70’s – The Exorcist
80’s – Nightmare on Elm Street

CAR MOVIES

70's - Two Lane Blacktop
80's - The Cannonball Run

SCORSESE

70’s – Taxi Driver
80’s – The Color of Money

SCI-FI

70’s – A Clockwork Orange
80’s – Back to the Future

SCI-FI II

70's - Alien
80's - Aliens

AFRICAN-AMERICAN

70's – Superfly
80's – Do The Right Thing

NEUROTIC COMEDIES

70's - Annie Hall
80's - LA Story

ITALIAN

70's - The Conformist
80's - Cinema Paradiso

FRENCH

70's - La Maman et la putain
80's - Diva

SPANISH

70's - The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
80's - Matador

* SCI-FI 2

Anticipated Movies 2011

A list of some of the most anticipated movies of 2011 in the art house and the multiplex.
If half of these are good or great films it will be a good year in film.

Terrence Malick's Tree of LIfe
Pedro Almodóvar's Skin That I Inhabit
Alexander Payne's The Descendants
Wong Kar-wai's The Grandmasters
Alexander Sokurov's Faust
Lars von Trier's Melancholia
Bela Tarr's The Turin Horse
Guillaume Canet's Little White Lies
Lynne Ramsay's We Need To Talk About Kevin
Walter Salles' On the Road
David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method
George Clooney's The Ides of March
Michael Haneke's Love
Susanne Bier's In A Better World
Aki Kaurismaki's Le Havre
Richard Linklater's Bernie
Dardennes Bros.' Set Me Free
Arnaud Desplechin’s Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian
Hou Hsiao-Hsien's The Assassin
Jia Zhang-ke's In the Qing Dynasty
Terence Davies' The Deep Blue Sea
Jason Reitman's Young Adult
Steven Spielberg's War Horse
David Fincher's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Martin Scorsese’s Hugo Cabret
Steve McQueen's Shame
Steven Soderbergh's Contagion
Jon Favreau's Cowboys and Aliens
Cameron Crowe's We Bought A Zoo

Best movies 2010

As is often the case I get to the end of the year and have a tough time compiling a best movies list. Some movies have to sit with me for a while and, of course, I need to catch a good many that I missed throughout the year. This past year was no different and so I find it a bit easier and more entertaining to list the films in categories. The 28 films [!] are listed under each heading by preference. [If I haven't listed a movie that is making a lot of other lists it is probably because I have yet to see it].

What Dreams May Come

-The Social Network
-Inception

Life is Harder Than Death

-Vincere
-Secret Sunshine

Where Art Thou

-The Art of The Steal
-Henri George Clouzot Inferno 
-Exit Through The Gift Shop
-Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child

Psycho Trauma

-Black Swan
-Shutter Island
-Mother

The Old New Wave

-Around A Small Mountain
-Inspector Bellamy

Whose Family is This Anyway?

-The Father of My Children
-The Kid's Are All Right

Formula Ones

-The King's Speech
-The Town

Escape is Impossible

-The Ghost Writer
-The Prophet

Terror Error

-Carlos
-Farewell

Picking Up The Pieces

-Soul Kitchen
-Winter's Bone

The West Was Guns

-The Good The Bad The Weird
-True Grit

Cuts You Up

-Salt
-Centurion
-Machete

1999 best

One of the best recent years in film was 1999. Check out a list of over 40 films released in the US that year. [I've only included films I either liked or that were significant in one way or another. I've also only included films that got an official release of a week or more in the US in 1999].

Affliction
All About My Mother
American Beauty
Audition
Autumn Tale
Beau Travail
Being John Malkovich
Besieged
The Blair Witch Project
Boys Don't Cry
Buena Vista Social Club
Dogma
The Dreamlife of Angels
Election
The Emperor and the Assassin
Eyes Wide Shut
Fight Club
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
Go
Humanité
Human Resources
The Insider
The Iron Giant
It All Starts Today
Late August Early September
The Limey
Magnolia
The Matrix
My Best Fiend
Not One Less
Princess Mononoke
Ride with the Devil
Rosetta
Run Lola Run
Show Me Love
The Sixth Sense
The Straight Story
Three Kings
Time Regained
Topsy-Turvy
The Wind Will Carry Us

Best films of the Decade

Best films of the Decade lists:

AV Club
Time Out London
Time Out New York
Glenn Kenney's top 70
TIFF Cinematheque [and here]
Michael Atkinson
Filmmaker Top 25
Reverse Shot Decade list
Flicks top 50
IndieWire Best of the Decade Poll
Sydney Film Happenings
The Guardian 100 best
Cinema Becomes Her
Tim Robey [The Guardian] Top 100
Dusty Somers
Michael Hawley
Jon Bowman Fin de Cinema
Ty Burr's 33 best
Scott Foundas
Mike D'Angelo
Shooting Down Pictures
Radiator Heaven
Wonders in the Dark Top 50
Sight & Sound 30 Key Films
Filmicability 101 Best

This is an ongoing post that I'll add to as more film lists come along.

Good unreleased films 2000 to 2009

Here are the some of the better films I saw this decade that did not get regular distribution in the US. By regular distribution I mean films that did not get a week long theatrical play date in New York and/or Los Angeles.
All of these films could have been seen at festivals and some had a two day run at places like the Anthology Film Archive in New York - and most all are available on DVD.

Of course, there are many, many more films that could make this list. But this is a list of what I managed to see [and like] over the last decade.


Battle Royale [2000]
Be With Me [2005]
La Captive [2000]
In The City of Sylvia [2007]
Johanna [2005]
Mysterious Object at Noon [2000]
One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich [2000]
Photos to Send [2002]
Secret Sunshine [2007]
The Silence Before Bach [2007]
Turning Gate [2002]

Best films 2008 & 2009

This decade flew by and the films kept coming. But here we are at the end. Will these films hold up in ten years? Perhaps. I enjoyed them at the time.
>2008
4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days...
Alexandra
The Edge of Heaven
Man on Wire
Red Belt
Tell No One
Time Crimes
Vicky Christina Barcelona
Waltz with Bashir
Woman on the Beach
Yella


>2009*
Avatar
The Baader Meinhof Complex
Beeswax
Il Divo
In The Loop
Flame & Citron
Jerichow
The Last Station
Lemon Tree
Revanche
Soul Power

---------
*Subject to change a bit...

Best films 2006 & 2007

Just past half way with the decade in full swing plenty of good titles were being released.
>2006
Army of Shadows*
Children of Men
The Departed
Half Nelson
Miami Vice
Mountain Patrol: Kekexili
La Moustache
Notes on a Scandal
The Prestige
Thank You For Smoking
This Film Not Yet Rated
Tzameti
* a 1969 film finally released in the US.


>2007
After The Wedding
Atonement
Diving Bell And The Butterfly
Eastern Promises
Juno
The Lives of Others
Michael Clayton
Offside
Once
Planet Terror [full version]
There Will Be Blood

Best films 2004 & 2005

Mid-decade had plenty of good films. In fact, maybe too many. It is tough narrowing it all down to only 10. So I'll just include as many as I feel are necessary.
>2004
Blind Shaft
Bright Leaves
Collateral
The Corporation
Distant
Dogville
Enduring Love
Endless Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Hero
Moolaade
Notre musique
Reconstruction
Secret Things


>2005
The Beat That My Heart Skipped
The Best of Youth
Campfire
Capote
The Devil's Miner
The Edukators
Forty Shades of Blue
Head-On
A History of Violence
Kontrol
Munich
The New World
Tropical Malady

Best films 2002 & 2003

Early in the 2000's the films were going strong.
>2002
The Fast Runner
Femme Fatale
I'm Going Home
Intacto
Late Marriage
Read My Lips
Sex and Lucia
The Sleepy Time Gal
Spirited Away
Talk to Her
War Photographer
Y Tu Mama Tambien


>2003
demonlover
Divine Intervention
The Fog of War
Japon
Lilya 4-Ever
Lost in Translation
The Man Without a Past
The Man on the Train
The Mother
Rivers & Tides
The Son
The Station Agent
Veronica Guerin

Best films 2000 & 2001

The only way to consider what the best films of the decade were is to make a list of the top ten [or so] year by year.
It was a heck of a good decade. I'll do one post each day this week.
>2000
Aimee & Jaquire
Beau travail
Croupier
The Girl on The Bridge
Humanite
Human Resources
The Idiots
It All Starts Today
Pollock
Ratcatcher
Traffic
Yi Yi
Wonder Boys
You Can Count on Me


>2001
Amelie
Amores Perros
La Cienaga
Chunhyang
Code Unknown
The Gleaners and I
In The Mood For Love
Last Resort
The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of The Ring
Memento
Mulholland Drive
Under The Sand
Wisconsin Death Trip

----------
I will try to be consistent with one rule and that is the film needs to have been released for a regular run in either NY or LA the year it is listed. If it played at a festival or was released in another country in an earlier year then it does not count until the year it gets an actual release in the US.