Top 6 Favorite Films of 2011

Screw what that other guy said yesterday – I’m going to put up my TOP 6 favorite films of the year because I feel like it! Why should it be just 5? I can stretch it out to be 10 if I wanted to add in a few other titles – but I want to just put down my absolute favorites of the year – not just the movies I liked. I liked X-Men: First Class, I liked The Ides of March, I liked The Muppets, I liked Super 8 – if you feel the need to make it a full round 10 – but below are the movies that I give a solid 5 outta 5 – not an iffy 5 outta 5 – or a hesitant 5 outta 5 – or a drunk 5 outta 5 – below are my only real 5 outta 5 films of 2011.

#6. Super – what I really liked about Super was that it didn’t let down at what it was advertised as – it was a dark comedy involving topics and situations that you wondered if you should laugh at – disturbing and graphic – tragic and funny – the heart ultimately is to save himself he must save the girl – there’s something wonderful about that to me

#5. Rise of the Planet of the Apes – great performances – solid effects – and a truly believable story of the scientist who sets in motion the end of the world at the hands of the apes – Andy Serkis was outstanding as Caesar blending in a mind boggling way the differences between what is ape and what is human in the performance

#4. Win-Win – Thomas McCarthy’s knack for turning what could be a depressing topic and finding the human spirit that lifting out the optimism without forcing it – this time with a displaced kid who’s looking for the home he never had and the coach/lawyer who was looking for inner strength but not knowing where to find it

#3. Source Code – what stuck with me about Source Code ever since I made it the first film I saw in the theater this year – was the optimism – science fiction tends to lean toward the loss of humanity and the hopeless struggle of it all – but with Source Code the idea of the hopeless struggle and pulling victory out of the jaws of defeat was so wonderfully conceived and executed
#2. 50/50 – a pleasant surprise – figuring I was in for a raunchy stoner comedy (thanks to Seth Rogen) but turned out to be a true comedy with some heart – laughing at the face of tragedy – no cheese – just great performances – the strength of the script – the fact that it never discounted the situation but never used it to drag the viewer down – it wasn’t just a “cancer comedy” – it was more of a true to life cancer story #1. Drive – intense, atmospheric, mesmerizing action, pitch perfect acting – Drive kept my excitement up well after I saw it – thinking about scenes – thinking about the execution – thinking about so many aspects – it’s the mark of a great film the resonance of it well after watching it – still feeling that atmosphere lost in questions and memories of it

Quick Picks - Sept 3, 2011 Edition

Love and Other Drugs [2010]

A shallow guy meets a hot girl – they have a bunch of sex – then fall in love – they do it some more – break up – and get back together.

Anne Hathaway has an amazing rack – and she shows it aplenty in this film – they even give her some “drama” to do while she’s not naked. Jake Gyllenhaal is becoming an interesting actor – and he coasts for the most part through this movie – hitting his marks when he needs to be shallow and when he needs to be sweet. Not spectacular but lots of boobs – more of a romantic dramedy – with lots of boobs – could Hathaway be the lead in a remake of NUDE ON THE MOON please?

The Company Men [2010]

A bunch of guys lose their jobs and have to cope with being unemployed.

The problem with this movie is they followed the plight of a bunch of well off guys who get fired. Who the fuck cares? If they cut their fucking spending – took a “lesser” job – they would be able to coast. Does Affleck do that? No! Do I feel sorry for him? No! Boo hoo he has to work blue collar – until he’s offered out of the fucking blue a job that pays a fuck load! I call bullshit all over this movie – though it was scary because everyone got fired after their company got bought out – and my company just got bought out a week or two before I watched this movie. There was some good yet very muddled messages mixed in there – but the problem was they took the wrong approach to get to them.

Z is for...

Closer in spirit to a police procedural than a gory serial-killer flick, David Fincher's Zodiac provides a sleek, armrest-gripping re-invention of the crime film. It surveys the investigation of the Zodiac killings that terrorized the San Francisco Bay area in the late -60-early -70s; Zodiac not only killed people, but cultivated a Jack the Ripper aura by sending icky letters to the newspapers and daring readers to solve coded messages. But the film's focus isn't on the killer. We follow the reporters and detectives whose lives are taken over by the case, notably an addictive crime writer (a sartorially splendid Robert Downey Jr.), an awkward editorial cartoonist (Jake Gyllenhaal), and a hard-working cop (Mark Ruffalo). Fincher and his brilliant cinematographer Harris Savides are deft at capturing the period feel of the city, without laying on the seventies kitsch, and James Vanderbilt's script doles out its big moments to major and minor characters alike. Fincher's confidence is infectious; the movie glides through its myriad details with such dexterity that even the blind alleys and red herrings seem essential. The well-chosen cast includes unexpected people popping up all over: Anthony Edwards as a lunch-bucket homicide cop; Charles Fleischer as a mysterious suspect; Elias Koteas and Donal Logue as small-town policemen whose districts are hit by Zodiac; Chloe Sevigny as Gyllenhaal's sweet-natured wife; Brian Cox as the media-friendly lawyer Melvin Belli, so famous he once appeared on Star Trek; and the mighty John Carroll Lynch, as a supremely creepy suspect. The film is based on non-fiction books by Robert Graysmith (he's portrayed by Gyllenhaal), although Fincher and co. did extensive research on their own. The result is a propulsive whodunit without (thus far) an ending, but the uncertainty makes the film even more intriguing. (synopsis provided by Amazon.com)

released 2007

directed by David Fincher

This is the Zodiac speaking...

I’m currently reading ZODIAC UNMASKED by Robert Graysmith – I finished his first ZODIAC book a couple months ago – and I’m gearing up to watch David Fincher’s ZODIAC film. The books are very well written and interesting to see from the first hand – and it’s easy to see how Graysmith got so wrapped up in the mystery of it all. Reading the books is also bringing to light – how very well made Fincher’s film is.

Fincher captures not only the mania surrounding the ZODIAC killer – but also the obsession of Graysmith – and how it ate away at Avery, Toschi and Armstrong – the lack of cooperation between the various jurisdictions not realizing the fact that the killer was planning on them to not cooperate so it would make his secrets easier to maintain.

You’d naturally think that in a serial killer film – it’s the crimes, the killer and the cops that take center stage – and the investigation is only a by-product of all of those things – a way to fill the middle of the film. What’s really interesting about this case is that the killer shows up – taunts everyone - and then disappears – leaving everyone to wonder and the complexity of the entire investigation is what is interesting.

As I’m reading the second book – I keep flashing to the scenes in the film – it’s beautiful how the two are really playing off each other so very well. Fincher’s capturing the era of the late 60’s/early 70’s – is outstanding – the constant doubt if they are on the right path.

Graysmith goes on in the books to link various unsolved murders in Northern California to the lead suspect and his habits – and draws a much thicker stronger line in the sand saying that his suspect IS the killer. The evidence all points to it – and it’s hard to argue – but the fact that there hasn’t been a definitive swab of DNA or finger print makes it remain a mystery still.

Guns, bombs, articles on Zodiac, articles on how to successfully plea an insanity defense, recipe cards that have the same misspellings as do the Zodiac letters, a Zodiac divers watch the only other place than the letters that feature word Zodiac and the crosshair symbol – all pulled from the main suspects home in a search warrant weeks before his death. The suspect’s psychiatrist claims to have heard his confession in session over and over. The suspect’s brother, sister in-law, friends and former associates all claiming to suspect him for various reasons – up to claiming he wants to hunt humans and call himself Zodiac – or bragging that he IS Zodiac. The fact that the suspect was one of the first interviewed as a suspect in one of the early murders – only to be ruled out by a “gut feeling” – and no note remains as to why he was fingered.

This is all interesting and damning – but hardly a court case to be made to be a serial killer.

Fincher keeps the mystery going until the very end – then even at the end gives us a bit of an ellipsis – a cute little wink by saying that the suspect died before he was brought in or charged – which is enough to place a little doubt.

I’m willing to argue that ZODIAC is Fincher’s best film. I think it’s fair to say that Fincher’s best film is generally regarded as SE7EN. Don’t get me wrong - SE7EN is a really good film – it has solid acting – an interesting plot - it’s dark and gory and interesting - and has a really strong twist ending that wraps the story – but ZODIAC doesn’t have all that the powerful ending – but it remains AS strong missing those “shocking” elements. I think if you strip out the shock elements out of SE7EN – it doesn’t hold up.

It’s such an subjective argument though – so arguing that it’s a “better” film is not really valid. You can’t strip out part of a film and then really judge it as a film because the film is an entire work. I could judge the films more easily based on my “liking” one better than the other – and ZODIAC is certainly becoming my favorite of Fincher’s films and that’s more what I’m about than judging which is “better” for reasons of which I have to inflict on the film.

When I finally finish ZODIAC UNMASKED going to pair Fincher’s film up with DIRTY HARRY and make it a double feature – as it’s a bit of an homage to the Zodiac case – but in the end Harry gets his Zodiac (Gemini killer).

So much for due process, huh, Toschi?

[27-Apr-2011 edit: of course I meant Scorpio not Gemini - I was thinking of the Exorcist film (the 3rd) that had the homage to Zodiac in it and THAT homage was named Gemini - not the Dirty Harry homage which was Scorpio]

Source Code [2011]

A soldier is sent into another man's body - on a doomed train - and given eight minutes to find the explosive and find the bomber - and if he doesn't succeed - the train blows up, the source code will reset and he will have to try again.

I really liked this film - it's not a puzzle movie - it's more of a trial and error build your own story kind of film. It doesn't really expect for you to fully understand the full reasonings as to how it's possible - and it doesn't linger too long on explanations - but provides a good enough one to let you just enjoy the film. I felt that the acting was great by all the leads - each provided an angle that was much needed to ground the film in a humanistic/emotional tale rather than merely a non-feeling run-a-round sci-fi caper. The direction was great - it kept the pacing up - kept you guessing and kept you interested throughout even as questions were answered. I can't name anything I didn't really care for - I guess there's some questions that I have in the total grand scheme of the film - but I think that's what they intended - and I kind of like that.

What I liked the most was the overall feeling of optimism - it could've been a very bleak film - but it wasn't. This is the first film I saw in the theater this year - and I'm giving it full marks - 5 out of 5

directed by Duncan Jones