BEST MOVIES
Once again, my list of best films for the year is complicated by the inclusion of films that I have seen before. These would include Slacker, Gosford Park, King of Hearts, Y Tu Mamå También, Young Frankenstein, The Warriors, Women in Love, Bread, Love and Dreams, A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints and Treasure of the Sierra Madré.
These are all rated 1 out of Netflix5.
I did not see Diva this year or it would be on the list. It is an annual, usually, but just missed this time by a couple weeks.
The ten best "new to me" films, (all 5's out of Netdlix5) were:
Le Cercle Rouge—Jean-Pierre Melville's crime film with Alan Delon and Yves MontandThree by Robert Linklater: Waking Life, Before Sunset and After Sunset—These fine films are part of a growing body of Linklater's work that actually demands reviewing. Very nice. Yes. This is three in one.Yi Yi, a chinese film about a chinese family who actually live in Taiwan but to round eyes it seems all the same. Very funny. Very good. Many layers and too much to see at one sitting.Tommy Lee Jones and Susan Sarandon In the Valley of Elah. Haunting. My anti-war film for the year.I Served the King of England—the obligatory Eastern European film for this year. Funny as hell. And not.In Bruges—Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes in this very dark comedy by Martin McDonagh. Be sure to use the "hard of hearing" subtitles.Tom Petty—Runnin' Down a Dream—My musical selection. Very engaging. Earphones a must.Milk—Mostly to see Sean Penn and to be homosexually correct at the same time. A wonderful film. Gus Van Sant. "Our" mainline director at home with his material.Crash—is the one film that I didn't want to see but I saw it anyway and now I am very glad that I did because it was excellent.And that is it. There were a few more new experiences this year. I saw all the films of Ramin Bahrani. Chop Shop, Man Push Cart and Goodbye Solo, all 4's out of Netflix 5 but seen together very powerful little films.
For those who care about stats, I saw 245 films this year. I am amazed. That is 4-5 a week. Which is about right, actually. Recently it has been more like three or four a week because of the MIT thing and other interruptions, but I am at my post at 1200 every day or so except Thursday. Nose to the grindstone.
Labels: films
