Up (2009) Dir/Scr: Pete Docter, Bob Petersen

There’s moments in Cinema where you just have to sit back and marvel at the complete and total brilliance on shown by the filmmaker and it’s no understatement that every single movie made by the Pixar Studio has one of these moments, sometimes more, but it all pales in comparison when you have finished viewing the opening 11minutes of their latest masterpiece, Up. The director scales us through the entire courtship of Carl and Ellie, from the wonderful first meeting, to their wedding and clips of their life together, right up until her death, which then leaves Carl to wander back to his house alone. It is poignant without being mawkish, tenderly done and completely heartbreaking. If they manage to top this opening in any of their future projects then you may well be looking at one of the best films ever. But enough about Toy Story 3.
The plot is simple; cranky widower Carl decides to fulfil his late wife’s lifelong dream of living in the mystical land of Paradise Falls. He achieves this by attaching thousands of balloons to his house and sailing over by air. Things don’t go so smoothly when he finds a stowaway in the shape of portly wilderness explorer Russell who then attracts more attention than Carl would care to have.
In some ways it would appear a very dull subject but ultimately the reason for the trip carries more than enough weight. Add to this some of the best voice acting put to film and a script that is as razor sharp as it is filled with well shaped sentiment and it is up there with the best of Pixar. It is amazing that they are still not resting on their laurels in the slightest, even now they have ten films under their belt. In fact bar the mild blip with Cars (which was still visually breathtaking and genius in parts) each of their films is a masterpiece of visual mixed with perfect storytelling, and now they have completely mastered their human characters as much as their lovable collection of monsters, toys and aquatic creatures. Personally I feel that pound for pound Carl is Pixar’s best creation to date and all of the supporting characters add a wonderful edge to the proceedings. The only minor gripe would be the utter villainy of Charles Muntz, who was both Carl and Ellie’s lifelong hero. It seems a bit tacked on that he has to be so crazy but as I said, it is being very nitpicky. The finale does not disappoint, and includes a wonderful moment when Carl looks back though Ellie’s adventure memories book.
As an example of storytelling it has rarely been matched this year. As part of the Pixar cannon, it stands level with Toy Story, Nemo & Wall-E and could well in time (Toy Story 3 not withstanding) be looked upon as their ultimate achievement. A joy and a privilege to watch from start to finish.

5/5

A Shout Out For The Underdogs

Ah, the natural order of things. The longlist of films in my previous post has barely time to settle before the culling begins. To be honest the hardest part was getting them down in the first place. Now they are there the only choice left is natural progression, and so it goes.
From a critical eye the most obvious targets for elimination would probably be ‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’ and ‘Saw’, the former because it is basically a progression of brilliant lines punctuated by a ridiculous plot jazzed up to appear labyrinthine and the latter due to the atrocious and seemingly endless sequels that make an art form out of the term ’diminished returns.’ But that’s not really how it works. Before the murder-by-franchising ‘Saw’ was a kick in the face for the horror genre. A plot so simple yet so clever that naturally every horror film scribe adopted the formula afterwards with some great performances (needed really as most of the film was two characters confined to one dingy room) and a final reveal that was gripping, shocking and brilliant made it deservedly a critical hit and box office success. Yes, the sequels were terrible beyond words but so were a large portion of the Rocky series and yet no one speaks ill of the opener to that franchise so no, it’s not going to be an easy throw away for me.
As for ‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’ I rarely have enjoyed a film so much in my entire life. Downey Jr gives a performance that got him back on the A-list and he was born to play his role. It couples a great double comeback as screenwriter/director Shane Black came out of his self imposed film exile to produce the most sizzling script Hollywood had seen in years. There is not a duff line of dialogue throughout and the plot, although silly, is irrelevant for the most part as set piece by set piece blisters at breakneck speed. Extra kudos must go to Val Kilmer for stealing the movie with a priceless performance as a gay hitman/acting coach. It has great comic acting, fantastic chemistry and is a great pimped up version of Raymond Chandler novels. So again I will find it hard to cut this one.
It’s still early days so I don’t need to cut anything as yet but if I had to be ruthless right now I’d probably opt for…ugh….The Darjeeling Limited. But that’s only because I’ve just seen Marley & Me advertised on TV. Why Owen, why??

Last Film(s) Watched:
The Bourne Ultimatum
Friday Night Lights
Downfall

Next Film(s) To Watch:
Up
Bloody Sunday
City Of God

Quite Perturbed By:
The trailer for Shutter Island. Scarily reminded me of ‘The Lake House’ in parts. I hope the final product is not as…what’s the word? Oh yes….crapola.

The Long and Long Of It

Here's the longlist. How I'm going to shorten this down to 20 is beyond me but it will be a great challenge. I'm gonna go put my feet up and watch the late P-Swizzles greatest film - Point Break. And it's a 90's film so no stress involved. Bye for now. Oh and if a new film (eg Up or Shutter Island) is good enough to go on the longlist then they will be. I'm just hoping it's gonna be a shite end to the year. And The list is in no discernible order. So pah.

The Longlist for Best Film Of the Decade (2000-2009)

The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
There Will Be Blood
No Country For Old Men
4 Months, 3 Weeks And Two Days
Lost In Translation
Revolutionary Road
Before Sunset
Donnie Darko
Sideways
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Collateral
Zodiac
Before The Devil Knows You're Dead
Hunger
Matchstick Men
Batman Begins/The Dark Knight
The Departed
Memento
Million Dollar Baby
Changeling
Amelie
This Is England
Blood Diamond
Finding Nemo
Saw
The Descent
Atonement
The Incredibles
Cloverfield
The Lives Of Others
Pan's Labyrinth
Let The Right One In
Downfall
The Diving Bell and The Butterfly
City Of God
Brokeback Mountain
The Darjeeling Limited
Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
Lord Of The Rings Trilogy
The Experiment
Dancer In the Dark
Touching The Void
Friday Night Lights
Garden State
Hotel Rwanda
The Motorcycle Diaries
The Constant Gardener
Munich
Babel
The Bourne Ultimatum
The Hurt Locker
The Wrestler
Slumdog Millionaire
The Sea Inside
Bloody Sunday
The Story of The Weeping Camel
The Three Burials of Melquiadas Estrada
The Death Of Mr Lazarescu
Wall-E
Irreversible
Amores Perros
The Kite Runner
Up

Last Film(s) Watched:
The Wrestler
Before The Devil Knows You're Dead
Amores Perros

Next Film To Watch:
Point Break

There Will Be Blood...Probably Flowing From My Eyes

It's not getting any easier. Actually I tell a lie. 'Me and You and Everyone We Know' will not make my list. Despite some solid performances, especially from the young boys the film was a little too quirky, as if it was trying too hard to be an indie winner. After a few years build up in my head I was severely disappointed. However since that I have also watched 'There Will Be Blood' which would proudly stand high in any list of great films. Everything that can be said about it already has but it thoroughly deserves the praise, as does Daniel Day Lewis for yet another visceral performance. To compound my excellent week of excellent naughties film's I went nutso yesterday with 'The Hurt Locker', 'The Incredibles' and 'Slumdog Millionaire'. Slumdog was a movie I felt trepidation about and decided to wait until the fuss surrounding it had ended. And yes, I feel like a dickhead now. It is a movie that deserves to be seen on the big screen. So lushly photographed and emotionally charged you can't dislike this film and the closing stages are matched only by Rocky in the feelgood ending stakes. I knew 'The Incredibles' would be great but it wasn't; it was perfect. Pixar keep making films with stories so good you forget they are animated, and this one tops the lot. Not as outright beautiful as 'Finding Nemo' or 'Toy Story', the calibre of voice acting and gripping/hilarious premise and plot more than make up for it. A smashing film from start to finish and THE best superhero film of the decade (sorry Dark Knight). As for 'The Hurt Locker', it ticked all the boxes and surprised me with a few extra. Superb tension throughout coupled with a fantastic lead performance and a great twist on a war film (no politics, just self preservation and adrenaline seeking) made this, by a distance, the best action film since The Matrix and a welcome return from Katheryn Bigelow.
As you can guess the contenders for a place on the coveted top 20(?) list for the decade's finest are growing and having seen the gripping 'Touching The Void' during my sleepless night I can only slap myself for watching such great films whilst patting myself on the back for....well, watching such great films. At first it was almost a form of self torture but now I'm loving it (do do do do do..curse Maccy D's) and can't wait for the next set of top films. I'm going to mull over it during the weekend. My next post shall have the longlist but for now I shall be researching (watching) more possibles before more than likely turning them into definets. I am going to have to fish out my copy of Street Fighter on Sunday night though. Nothing like ending the best film week of my entire life by watching JCVD kicking some Major Bison Ass. "You're ass is 6 months overdue. and i....sminnnnnnee". Oh happy days.

Films Safely In The top 20:
er...I'll get back to ya...

Last Film(s) I Watched:
Touching The Void (a tense, fabulous story of courage and willpower though fear)
The Hurt Locker (Action/War film of the decade, with minimal war and maximum acting)
The Incredibles (er, it's incredible...guffaw)
There Will Be Blood (it's good like)

Next Film To Watch:
Before The Devil Knows You're Dead

Jaw Dropping Moment:
The 'Ocean Of Oil' exploding to the heavens in 'There Will Be Blood'

Not Helping Myself Much

I guess I have a bit of the masochist in me after all. Not two days after deciding to set this blog up to help me through the pain of choosing a top 20 films of the decade list and I'm screwed. Not only do I have an abundance of films already in mind but now I've gone and watched three more that are potential top 20's, with another two lined up for later. Yes, idiot that I am I watched 'The Assassination Of Jesse James..' (see review in previous blog), 'No Country For Old Men (stupefyingly brilliant, even for the Coen's) and the dark, tragic 4months,3weeks and 2days, all of which I loved, all of which are vying for their place. And to top it up I have 'There Will Be Blood' and 'Meand You and Everyone We Know' set up for the next 24hours. This list is going to make me stay up late, stress me out and, worst of all, be an incredible nerd (dammit, The Incredibles) until the New Year strikes and now the element that controls self harm is taking over and I'm forcing myself to watch countless brilliant films, either for the first time or a repeat viewing in order to determine what films truly belong on the list. Sighs aplenty.
So two days in and I'm already resigned to the fact that I'm probably going to have to expand the list to 25 (maybe 30). I'm going to try my best not to because if it gets too long I'll cry for the rest of 2010 and then drown myself before the next list comes along. So I'll see if the films I've got lined up to watch are any good before committing myself. Maybe 'There Will Be Blood' won't strike any notes with me. As fucking if. Toodles.

Films Safely In The top 20:
Lost In Translation
This Is England
The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford

Last Film I Watched:
No Country For Old Men

Next Film(s) To Watch:
There Will Be Blood and
Me and You and Everyone We Know

The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford (Director: Andrew Dominik, 2007)

2008 was a strange, strange year for the Academy Awards. Among the standout films of the year lay three westerns: No Country For Old Men, There Will Be Blood & The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford. Each of these movies would have been a worthy winner of the Best Picture award but sadly Andrew Dominik’s wonderful slow burning epic did not even make the list and the Coen Brother’s ended up with the baldy statue. Now if the omission from the list was due to the Academy feeling uneasy about three westerns in the final five or simply because the length of the films title would add at least two minutes extra onto the show is unknown but one thing is definite; this will go down as one of the best films not to even be nominated for Best Picture (joining great films like Psycho & Some Like It Hot).
The film centres around Robert Ford (Casey Affleck), who gets to live out his lifelong dream to be a part of the James gang led by Jesse James (Brad Pitt) when his brother Charlie (Sam Rockwell) gets recruited. As he gets deeper in with the gang and closer to his boyhood hero Robert soon learns that the outlaw’s life is not as glamorous and exciting as the Newspaper articles he had read (and stored) of them. After a series of double crossings tears the gang apart, James spirals into a world of mistrust, paranoia and brutal score settling. Fearing the worst for the own lives the Ford brothers set up a chain of events that leads to the titular event.
The plot itself has been done endless times before but the screenplay is sharp and it is executed some simply stunning performances. Sam Rockwell, Paul Schneider and Jeremy Renner are all great but it is a the title stars that steal the limelight. Brad Pitt gives the performance of a career as James, displaying charm, cool and menace without needing to even raise his voice. To give a performance this immense is the measure of how impressive he has become as an actor, with nary a critic even mentioning his pretty boy days. Having said that Affleck is even more impressive, giving a towering performance that is the leading role in all but title. It’s all in his eyes, that go from doe eyed and eager in the beginning to dark, hate-filled and suspicious as his dream life gets flipped on its side. The highlight of the performance comes when James pays the Fords a visit out of the blue. Caught by surprise Robert re-acts so suspiciously that James forces him to tell a story. Ford’s story about how he and James are similar causes a retort that Ford reminds James of a man he once killed for betraying him which makes Ford miserable, acting out like a child and leaving the room. It is brilliant how Pitt coolly takes apart Affleck’s thin wall of control and fantastic just to watch Affleck struggle to look even slightly at ease.
On top of fantastic performances Andrew Dominik directs wonderfully in only his second feature film. He came under scrutiny by the studio due to the slow pace of the direction but it perfectly encapsulates the tension running through the film and when during the action scenes the ante is upped admirably with some great framing during the more violent moments. The last shout out however shall go out to the film’s cinematographer Roger Deakins who gives the film it’s backbone with astoundingly beautiful photography from start to finish. The landscapes are made to look like paintings and the use of bleached negatives in the train robbery scene emphasises the basic lantern light from the robbers and brings a phenomenal effect to the darkness surrounding them. He was one of the only two recipient’s of an Oscar nomination (the other went to Affleck) but he should be extremely proud of the finished product, as should every other person attached to this magnificent film.

Verdict: 5/5

It's All About Travolta In A Dress

It's almost the end of the decade, the first of the 21st Century so what better time to start thinking of the best films of this decade. Of course I shall wait until January of 2010 to make my list, which I shall whittle down from a large list to a final choice of 20 (Maybe) pictures that for me have been the best in show since y2k (Note: Best In Show will not be in the final list).
Of course there has been a slew of terrible films this decade, maybe more so than ever before but among the endless remakes, piss poor spoof's and Martin Lawrence vehicles there have been some truly great films released, some successful, some ignored gems and some complete surprises for one reason or another. So how can I take all these into account and make a deciding 20 that I will happily post next January and say, 'There, perfect'? The answer is I won't, I'll just have to grin and bear my choices when they are made. I will undoubtedly forget a film I'll want, possibly more than one. This happened to me before when I made my top 100 American films list three years ago and sat down proudly to look at it and smile smugly. The smile lasted 3 seconds, the time it took me to glance from my list to the TV, which was on Turner Classic Movies and wail in despair as 'Treasure Of The Sierra Madre' unfolded before my depressed eyeballs. It's bad enough to forget a wonderful movie such as that when compiling a list of top American pictures but to forget it when you know, and have so for years, that it is one of your favourite 5 films ever...well, I was ever so slightly browned off. So I took the mature option, which was of course to look at the wild eyes of Bogart's Fred C. Dobbs and mutter 'Overrated Shit..And it's Black &White' before turning over to the reliable Horror Zone Movies channel. Ah, Jack Frost 2, no fear of a list spoiler on this golden channel.
Of Course I re-re-evaluated 'Treasure' and tore up the list to incorporate more brain work, and a few more glaring absentees (How the hell did i forget 'Treasure' and 'The Maltese Falcon'? Sorry Bogie). So I'm sure the 20 I shall finally pick will not come easily but it will be fun. My favourite part is putting your guilty pleasures on the shortlist for as long as possible before the cull has to be made and reputations need to be kept. If I had to say off the top of my head what this decade's guilty pick would be I think I would have to say 'Hairspray', a film that I have seen at least ten times more than films I actually love. It's all about Travolta in a dress.
I shall finish for now but will return soon with more updates, reviews and general wordstuffs. I shall leave you with a few samples of what may end up in the final 20. Buh-bye.


Films Safely In The Top 20 So Far (Probably)

• Million Dollar Baby
• Lost In Translation
• This Is England

Next Film I'm Going To Watch:
The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford

Last Film I Watched:
Rocky (The ending still gives me goosebumps, better with each viewing)

Annoyed at:
Film4's decision to air the dubbed version of Peresopolis. It ruins the movie you numb skulls. The people who decide to watch a film of this nature are the same kind that can read words whilst following action. Subtitles please.

Missing:
Jack Lemmon, still