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This is the perfunctory year end column where I get to tell everyone which movies released in the year soon-to-end were my most and least favorites and try to write it with pizazz as if you give a damn. It's a trite subject, I know, but cut a girl some slack. I have cookies to bake and a gorgeous little red headed girl to impress. Her kudos, quite frankly, are more important than yours.
I want to point out that I average at least one trip a week to the movie theater. But I also do a great deal of movie watching at home, usually through rentals at NetFlix or that wonderful privilege of free screeners. Which means that I watch a bunch of low budget indie movies that you might not have ever heard of and that your local Blockbuster probably doesn't carry. (Click Here to add me to your list of "Friends" in the NetFlix community. That way you can rate my brief reviews over there as being "helpful" if you so choose, as well as preview what I've got queued.)
Because of the monopoly that the larger video chain rentals stores have on the movie watching public, I'm again urging everyone out there in my corner of cyberspace to invest in NetFlix. (And again, sorry to you Canadians who don't have NF. Write to your equivalent of a congressman and get on the ball with that shit already.) You can get practically anything through NF, never have to pay late fees, never have to waste gas driving to the video store, and as long as you've got a high speed connection, for the times that you're waiting on a new movie to arrive in the mail, you can take advantage of their "Watch it Now" feature. I urge you to use that as much as possible to increase their selection of movies through that feature.
All that maniacal rambling aside, here are a few of the movies that I liked the best this year. (In alpha-numerical order.)
300
Sure, there have been a lot of people mocking the movie for its lack of historical accuracy (body hairless Greeks? No f*cking way!) and it's heavy handed melodramatic dialog, but the movie is beautifully filmed and the pinnacle of what we've been able to achieve with technological advancements. It was an experience seeing in the packed opening weekend theater, listening to the crowd get into the action. While you're bound to just rent it for your home theater viewing, the film is still a great stop along the history of film-making in general. Plus Gerard Butler is poised to become an even bigger movie star with more recent movies such as P.S. I LOVE YOU, so get him while he's hot.
BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA
Based on a rather melancholy children's book, this film wasn't properly marketed, trying to capitalize on the action/adventure/fantasy angle that had made THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA so popular the year before. While there are elements of fantasy contained within the film, this is more the tale of a boy making friends with the new girl, one who isn't afraid to be weird or make up stories to make the journey through childhood and into adolescence an easier travel. Be forewarned though, while this is a magical film with great cinematography and child actors who don't make you grind your teeth from their overabundance of precociousness, it is a tear-jerker of the grandest proportions. From what I hear, it even made Zombie Boy bawl.
ENCHANTED
This is sweet enough to make your teeth ache, in that grand tradition that Disney movies manage to keep dentists in business. However, it solidly strikes a blow at the very core of the sweetness normally contained within. Mocking the institution of happy endings that it built up, Disney scores by enlisting grown-ups (Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden and Susan Sarandon are all seasoned, adult performers) to tackle the delicate job of walking the fine line between poking fun and poking cynical. You learn that it takes that fine balance in life to keep moving forward, knowing that it's OK to crave a happy ending and not feeling guilty that that's what you secretly wanted all along.
GRINDHOUSE
All of the fanboys were beside themselves as to the pitiful box office reception that this film garnered. They spoke about it at length for months, all the while making fun of people like Tyler Perry for successfully finding a niche and driving home number one spots on opening weekend. Personally, I couldn't have been more satisfied that GRINDHOUSE did as badly as it did at the theater. This wasn't the film(s) for everyone and to have a room packed full of idiots frothing at the mouth would have diminished the experience for me somehow. I really love being able to mock the people who didn't see it in the theater and keep asking how the two different DVD releases (PLANET TERROR & DEATH PROOF) varied from the original theatrical release. Haha, motherf*cker. You'll never know.
HAIRSPRAY
This was the version that was based on the stage musical that was based on the movie. And I really wasn't too interested in seeing it, but due to my daughter's obsession with everything HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL (as well as the majority of the film going audience that pushed the film to a $100+ million box domestic box office draw), including that hobbit-looking freak, Zac Effron, we stopped into a twilight showing. And I loved it. In fact, I liked it better than the original. Brimming with music that you can actually move to (as opposed to so many recent musicals that either have nothing original or nothing interesting) as well as inspired performances by the young and seasoned 
Making you wet your pants in a different way than the Rose version |
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cast alike (Michelle Pfeiffer is so wickedly fun that if you'd watched her in the campy GREASE 2 sequel, you'll gain an even bigger wealth of respect for her), this was a movie that I not only ate crow on after walking out of the theater, I also agreed to purchase not only the DVD for my Midget upon its release, but the soundtrack as well. Which is unheard of out of me in my older, more persnickety years.
HOT FUZZ
Q, you have a new bedmate. See, if there's one thing that gets me about a man, it's a sense of humour and a fine attention to detail. Brit director Edgar Wright has mastered what Tarantino cornered in the American market, finding a way to lovingly send-up his favorite fanboy films while making a legitimately funny and smart movie in the process. He's helped in his endeavor by having one of the best male pairings since Laurel and Hardy in Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. The two play off of one another so seamlessly that you forget that they've know each other for so long when their characters are first introduced in this flick and then understand their pining for one another's friendship once the film gains full speed. HOT FUZZ is one of those rare examples where it uses previously existing material to build a sense of familiarity with its viewers while at the same time delivering its own unique and original story. Holy Trinity, Batman. The future of filmmaking is here.
IN THE LAND OF WOMEN
This is the year's undiscovered gem for me. It was marketed poorly, with a poster that lead people to believe that it was just another young person's romantic soft-core drama. In reality, this is a movie more about what it takes to be a mother, the energy that goes into the simplest of things, the sacrifices that you make and the yearnings that you never forget. It is subtle and assumes that the audience has a brain in its head rather than painting the screen with a color-by-numbers paint brush. While this is definitely more the film for women than for men, it is smartly written, sharply directed and beautifully acted by Meg Ryan. Oh, and the other actors aren't too bad either.
KNOCKED UP
Suffice it to say, there isn't much that I could write about this movie and the people involved in its screenplay, acting and direction that hasn't been said already. Judd Apatow and company are golden children in Hollyweird right now. I have my fingers crossed that they don't screw it up. Or that people don't elevate them too high that the fall breaks them completely. You can group SUPERBAD in with this movie as well.
MARTIAN CHILD
Another poorly marketed film that kept watching its release date get pushed back until a little pocket in the calender opened up for it to fall into. And be completely forgotten. When it comes out on DVD, I hope that it gets another life with single moms and close families. John Cusack has become an adult (finally, and if only on screen) and Amanda Peet gets far too little credit for what she brings to a production. Plus, a child actor that you want to swoop up in your arms and protect rather than bash them over the head. Triple score!
SMOKIN' ACES
One for the fanboys to easily argue over, this movie was either loved or hated. There were no expectations for the film and it was largely panned prior to even being seen based solely on its cast list. But the movie surprised me. In fact, the only way that it's not going to surprise you is if you go in with a cynic's critical heart. For Jason Bateman and Chris Pine's parts alone, this movie is a violent classic.
STARDUST:
I'm beginning to watch a pattern emerge. Most of the movies that I ended up liking a lot were the ones that were poorly handled by the marketing department at their studios. STARDUST had everything that it should have needed to be a box office success: based on a popular writer's previously produced material, huge stars, big budget and a fantasy story line. But someone not only dropped the ball, I think they forgot they were in a ball game to begin with. Michelle Pfeiffer not only brightened HAIRSPRAY, she was the poisoned witchy blood pumping in the heart of this film. It's a must-see for her alone. But it's one of those films that you can let your children watch and not feel dirty (or bored to tears) for watching along with them.
WAITRESS
Funny, bitingly realistic in its approach to unhappy marriages amongst the financially insecure, cynical without losing its heart... this film is made all the more bittersweet in its success when you find out that writer/director Adrienne Shelly was murdered before she could see how well the movie was received by audiences. While I didn't like the ending, I loved everything straight through the scene where she leaves the hospital. And while this movie is a chick flick, if you've got a man with an open minded sense of humour, he should enjoy it as well.
ZODIAC:
A movie that suffered only from having a run time that was slightly longer than most people are willing to sit through, the film is beautifully directed and unwaveringly faithful to its source material, a non-fiction crime novel that was written by Robert Graysmith. Graysmith is featured as a character in the film, in his pursuit of discovering who a serial killer was from back in the late '60's and early '70's. The movie is laced with stellar acting (history aside, Robert Downey Jr is a sublime actor) and a dark and creepy feel that puts you right in the heart of what was going on during that period in time. Perhaps 
Runner-up of the "Girl you don't wanna see a picture of pole dancing" award |
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it's because I read Graysmith's book back in the day, but I loved what they did with this film.
Those are just my highlights of what I loved during my theater outings. For the sake of space, I'll only notate a couple of DVD movies that knocked me out.
SNOW CAKE
I work with people who have autism. I have first hand knowledge of a disability which is very much a spectrum disorder and not a cookie cutter one. This movie manages to incorporate that while underlining the important message that it is no one's place to judge how someone else chooses to grieve.
SHORTBUS
I still think about this movie and what it represents about human nature, our capacity to understand, accept others, develop a sense of judgment and truly find compassion. Sure, it's loaded with graphic sex. Which I have to mention because I don't want to send you into cardiac arrest from going in blind. But this movie not only blew my mind for this year, it blew it for film in general.
And because I always have to profile a documentary to give the illusion that I might be educated or enlightened in some manner:
MAXED OUT: HARD TIMES, EASY CREDIT AND THE ERA OF PREDATORY LENDERS
If you have a credit card, if you've ever had to worry about how to pay them back... watch this film. And even if you can't have sympathy for those people who "get themselves into debt," you could stand to watch it to have a little compassion for how they were preyed upon to end up in that position.
As for the movies that I hated, I want to start out with one that I hated and yet loved at the same time.
I KNOW WHO KILLED ME
If you're the kind of person who likes spoiler alerts, I'd suggest not reading my review of the movie here. There are so many things wrong with this movie, so many bad lines, implausible plot happenings and some painfully, wretchedly bad acting by LiLo. But dammit, I had a f*cking BLAST making fun of it when I went to see it with my sister. I'd rank it up there with Dario Argento's horristerpiece, PHENOMENA. I love it because it is so damn bad. Now, I don't exactly LOVE this film, but it most definitely is a perfect addition to a drinking game night with the buddies. Or a tokin' fest. Yannow?
But the following films I just plain hated. And this is really the worst of the worst, as there were plenty others, but I didn't feel they deserved more space being wasted on them.
BLADES OF GLORY
Not funny. Not clever. Not amusing. Stupid, pointless, annoying and a complete waste of time. Jon Heder is supposed to be the clean-cut athlete and in real life he's supposedly the clean-cut Mormon actor... and it just doesn't ring right. He can't pull it off and it just makes it all that much more painful to watch when coupled with Will Ferrell's "anything for a 20 million dollar paycheck" hamming.
GOOD LUCK CHUCK
This movie was so completely repugnant to me that I get cringes to this day, many months after I watched it. The disgusting behaviours displayed by men who supposedly are professionals, educated, blah blah blah... This movie has really nothing to redeem it. You can't enjoy a supposed happy ending when there was nothing worthy of one going on for the length of the film. I'd like us to finally admit that DANE COOK IS NOT FUNNY and move on.
SHOOT 'EM UP
You know, I was actually really looking forward to this movie. It had a killer trailer, highlighted with a Motley Crue track ("Kickstart my Heart"). Clive Owen is fun to look at and Paul Giamatti is usually entertaining. But even with all that it supposedly had going for it, there was something missing. The film felt hollow and the pointless violence just didn't play out to my enjoyment like other pointless violence flicks have. Clive Owen fucks up the style by playing it too straight and NOT in that, "I'm playing it so straight so that you'll laugh at me," kind of way. I honestly believe that he didn't get the f*cking joke. Giamatti looks bored and Monica Bellucci looks like she's doing Hooked on Phonics and not understanding the words that are coming out of her own mouth. I don't want to dwell for too long, but I really feel cheated by this film. (And yet I ended up loving SMOKIN' ACES. Not sure what that means.)
THE LAST MIMZY
I typed too much about it last time.
THE TRIPPER
Another one of those movies that thoroughly disappointed me. A great plot idea, a guy that is borderline obnoxious in everything he does and yet has grown on me (David Arquette in his directorial debut) and hippies getting chopped up. So what went wrong? I blame a lackluster cast (I hesitate to refer to Jamie King as an "actress" and Lucas Haas is just one ugly motherf*cker as an adult) mixed with a directorial hand that was uncertain (when things are failing, Arquette throws in gratuitous nudity and sexuality) and a budget that was wasted on securing gorgeous scenery but left nothing over for the necessary gore. This could have been so good. Instead it was just another let down.
I'm walking down the easy road for my remaining columns of the year. In two weeks we'll gather around and talk about what Zara thinks would be Awesome to see in '08. Until then, I've got better shit to do.
Who am I kidding? You've seen my queue.
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