Best Pictures Ranked (of the 30 so far)

So to celebrate that I've watched and reviewed I'm posting the ranking, from worst to best, of all the Best Picture's I've watched so far. You may not agree with my rankings, but I thought I'd be a fun little thing to commemorate making it to 30, after only 6 months of reviewing and blogging.

(note: some of  the ratings don't go in order. I rate films not compared with anything else but the overall thought, and sometimes films that got a lower rating overall, I enjoyed better than something that was a .5 higher.)

30. How Green Was My Valley  4/10

This film was just very long, and very dull, with very little action, nor anything of interest. It told the story of a family living in a Welsh coal-mining town. It sounded like it would be funny and interesting but didn't turn out that way, for me.

29. West Side Story- 4/10

I've never really understood the hype over this musical. The songs were alright, and the choreography was great, but the acting was pretty terrible, the story line (Romeo and Juliet modern-day retelling in New York with Americans vs. Latinos? With gang/turf wars?) was pretty lame too. It just wasn't the musical for me.

28. Going My Way- 6/10

Again, while it sounded like an interesting story, and Bing Crosby is a really good actor, it was a bit too long, and a bit too much not like what it said it was going to be. And just sort of dragged out the story line. There were a couple nice songs in it though.

27. The Broadway Melody- 5.5/10

Honestly, I thought this movie was pretty impressive for a movie made in 1930. The first talking film to win, and the 2nd winner overall. While it wasn't overly interesting, it was neat to recognize some of the music. And it was pretty good for something so old.

26. American Beauty- 5/10

While I realize this movie is supposed to be complex, and "deep", I just can't take movies like this very seriously, nor can I find myself to empathize for the main character. Sex and nudity don't go well with me either.

25. Shakespreare in Love- 6.5/10

While I thought it was alright, it's just funny to see what the Academy thinks is the best. Personally, I would've pushed it off as another period piece chick flick with lots of big name actors.

24. All Quiet on the Western Front- 6/10

WWI is something I find so tragic. So it was interesting to watch one of the first movies on the topic. While it was made in 1930, it was pretty impressive. The special effects weren't terrible, and the acting was quite good. However the story was a little slow and the characters weren't very connectable.

23. Terms of Endearment- 6.5/10

This was a cute story with good acting. However, some of it felt a little unrealistic, and some of it was just boring. And then the end came as a bit of a shocker, but I felt I hadn't connected well with any of the characters to really care as much as I ought to.

22. All About Eve- 6.5/10

One of the first Hollywood satires. It was a funny story, but was a little too drawn out at 2 hours and 18 minutes. It had a funny, witty script, and had some great performances (including an early Marilyn Monroe appearance).

21. Forrest Gump- 6.5/10

While we've seen movies time and again with people with "simple" mind views, Forrest Gump is probably the best known. While Tom Hanks have an amazing performance, the movie couldn't seem to decide if it was serious or funny, and that really hindered it for me.

20. A Man for All Seasons - 7/10

Being a Christian myself, I felt this movie had a very strong message, and found it quite inspiring. In the typical "die for what you believe in" this movie was well acted, if a little long.

19. The Departed- 7/10

Martin Scorsese's very first Best Picture and Director win. While it was good, and had an interesting plot, excessive swearing always puts me off a movie a little bit. And gangster/crime movies aren't really my thing. However, Leo, Matt, Mark and Jack were all fantastic.

18. Casablanca- 7/10

One of the big classics on the list. Humphrey Bogart being that suave lover, and Ingrid Bergman as the confused woman in love, it was a classy movie, with an interesting story. While it wasn't my favourite movie ever, nor was it what I expected it to be, it was good.

17. No Country for Old Men- 7/10

Very different from all the other best picture winners is No Country for Old Men, based on the Cormac McCarthy novel. It's a thriller, with guns, blood, violence, drugs and money. Javier Bardem floored me in this role. But reading it was a 'fast-paced action thriller' really left me disappointed, since that wasn't what it was at all. It was slow-burning, and psychological. A second watching may bring up the rating.

16. Slumdog Millionaire- 7.25/10

India, slums, romance, and Who Wants to Be A Millionaire. This movie portrays the slums of India, and tells a young Indian boys story in a brutal and honest way. While it wasn't my favourite movie of the year, or even of the nominees, I understand why it won. (Oh, and the little kids were probably the best part of the movie)

15. Chicago- 7/10

I was surprised by enjoying this musical. I thought it was funny, and the way they song numbers were done was interesting and different from other musicals, being on stage, and as an "inner monologue". The dancing was great, and Catherine Zeta-Jones was brilliant and sexy.

14. An American in Paris- 7.5/10

After seeing Singin' In the Rain, I've been kind of a sucker for Gene Kelly and for tap dancing. While the movie wasn't as charming as Singin', and with less tap, this movie looked great, was fun, and had great dancing.

13. Gigi- 7.5/10

Another musical, starring Leslie Caron, who got her start in the previous movie, An American In Paris. This movie, while it wasn't the best musical ever was cute, and fun, and girly. And a girl like me likes stuff like that sometimes.

12. Million Dollar Baby- 7.5/10

The first half of the movie bored me a little bit. The second half I spent bawling my eyes out. Hillary Swank was simply amazing. It was very interesting, very sad, and really well made.

11. Rain Man- 7.5/10

Through this project has brought me to really love Dustin Hoffman. And this movie definitely showcased his amazing abilities. While the movie wasn't altogether exciting, Dustin Hoffman was truly incredible, and I hardly realized it was even a performance.

10. The Bridge on the River Kwai- 8/10

I thought this movie would be boring, but I found it quite interesting. It's very different from any war movie we've seen, and tells the interesting story of soldiers who are prisoners of war, and how one stood up for what he believed in, and how they were able to succeed. I liked it a lot.

9. The Lost Weekend- 8/10

I thought this movie was incredibly interesting. It's about an alcoholic, in the time when alcohol addiction wasn't talked about very much. It was well-acted, and showed it in a really personal way. I enjoyed it. 

8. Gentleman’s Agreement- 8/10

Another interesting movie, from around the same time period. It's about a reported who goes under cover as a Jew to write an article on antisemitism. While it only stayed in the upper class way of things, it was interesting nonetheless and really showed how much antisemitism there was in the States. 

7. The Artist- 8.25/10

This year's winner, and the first silent film to win since the 20's (and only the 2nd one overall). It's a love story, but it's more than that. It's the rise and fall of the silent film era. It's depression and loneliness, pride and cowardice. Jean Dujardin gave an amazing performance and the film was really fun, as well as interesting. 

6. Annie Hall- 8.25/10

Probably one of the only comedies to win Best Picture (only comedy?). It's the story of a disfunctional relationship, not unlike (500) Days of Summer. It was cute and funny, and Woody Allen is adorable. 

5. Driving Miss Daisy- 8.75/10

I know a lot of people give this movie heck for winning, but I watched it with my mum, and we both really enjoyed it. Morgan Freeman is so great, and this role gave him a different side that I hadn't seen him do before. It was cute, fun, and just a nice movie. I like those kind too. 

4. Kramer vs. Kramer - 8.75/10

This is the movie that made me really like Dustin Hoffman. I'm too young to have really seen him in anything before, and I thought this movie was really good. I cried, and I laughed. Dustin was great, Meryl was goooorgeous, and their little boy was adorable. An interesting insight on divorce, when the dad is usually the one made out as the bad guy or the cheater. 

3. Titanic- 8.75/10

I'm a sucker for this movie, what can I say? I have a strange fascination with Titanic in the first place, so I'm pretty biased towards anything on the subject. Leonardo DiCaprio was great, and Kate Winslet was heartbreaking. I like romance, I like Titanic, and I cried a lot.

2. The Hurt Locker- 8.75/10

I'm really not sure why I liked this movie so much. I don't get into politcal movies, and I've never much been a fan of war films either, but I really, really liked this movie. It was different, gritty, and threw me right into the Iraq war. It had the interesting way of not being biased to one political take on the war or the other. It was more about the people, how they dealt with the war, and their feelings. I don't know why, but it was so good. 

1. Oliver!- 9/10

Childhood favourite, there's always a bias. This film never gets old, the music is fabulous and it's just so fun. I love this movie. 

So there you go, everyone. All 30 of the Best Picture's I've watched, ranked from worst to best. I know many will disagree, but I have a funny taste in movies. Enjoy!

The Hurt Locker

The Hurt Locker, 2008

Directed by Katheryn Bigelow

Nominated for 9 Oscars, won 6.

Synopsis: A new sergeant, Will James, has come to take over a an elite squad of roadside bomb disposal team after their previous sergeant was killed on the job. James is reckless and wild, and very different from their last sergeant. He shows himself to be unafraid and indifferent to life, death, and everything around him, except disarming bombs. His two subordinates, Sanborn (a strong, fierce man) and Eldridge (someone suffering post-traumatic stress after the death of their previous sergeant) are both just trying to adjust and deal with this new, wild, reckless man leading them. But war doesn't leave you indifferent. If anything, it leads you to caring too much, and thus trying not to care.

At least, this is what Ms. Bigelow shows us in her (almost) documentary-style film about bomb disposal soldiers in Iraq.

I settled down to watch this movie with my boyfriend. I was interested in seeing this film. I had watched the first 20 minutes or so in film class, and wondered about the rest of the movie. Being extremely oblivious to war (Iraq, Afghanistan, etc), politics, and the like, I wasn't sure how much of this movie I would understand, or even like.

But I quickly found myself transported into this world that I had no idea existed. I see just exactly how war is affecting everyone. How tricky it is to weed out the citizens you want to help, with the citizens who want to kill you. How much you can't get attached, and how much you have to block out in order to not bleed to death from the hopelessness of it all.

All Oscars it won for the technical side were well-won. Film editing, sound mixing and sound editing. Everything was so rocky and raw and real that I felt like I was there in Iraq, wearing the bomb protection suit, or in the Humvee with them. 

The cinematography was indeed, also, very good. Very shaky, and amateur, but on purpose. To not try to take anything away from what's going on. So you can't put a glamour on what you're seeing. This is real. You also saw so much of what they saw. How many places you have to keep watch over; balcony's, minarets, windows, everything.  All the people who constantly around, and just how poor Baghdad really is.

I really appreciated this movie because even though I wasn't sure exactly what was going on all the time, it didn't dumb down the movie to make it simple for viewers. It threw them into the life of these soldiers, where they weren't beginners. You jumped right in, and there was nothing to introduce you, which I thought was refreshing.

I really enjoyed this film because of the character of Will James. He was a complex character, and I really felt so much sympathy for, not only him, but all of the soldiers. It's just so sad what's going on over there. That war like this is going on.  It really taught me a lot about what's going on in the world, or at least in Iraq, and just how much the American soldiers do. Or how much they suffer, and how much this is affecting them. And just how much we take forgranted here. America, and Canada.

Rating: B+

Kathryn Bigelow Wins Director's Guild Award for Hurt Locker

Kathryn Bigelow [AP photo above], ex-wife of director James Cameron, won the Director's Guild of America's best director award for The Hurt Locker. The winner has won the Academy Award all but six times since 1948. Bigelow is the first woman to win the award. Previously, only Lena Wertmuller (Seven Beauties) and Barbra Streisand (The Prince of Tides) have been female Oscar® nominees for

Favorite Movies of 2009

Well since it’s the time of year when everyone puts up their top 10 list of the year I thought I would put together my 10 favorite movies I saw in the theater this year. The list is hardly inclusive, as I think I went to the theater far less this year than any other year in memory. (I saw 46 movies at the theater this year, not counting revivals). Part of it is middle age ennui, part of it is I just don’t care for a lot of the movies coming out these days, and a large part of it is realizing I have oodles of TCM titles I’ve taped and I’d much rather watch those than make a trek to local Cineplex, which is becoming more of a crapshoot with each year. Also, I do tend to see titles at the second run shows for $3, so there’s none of the big holiday openings here. With that in mind, here are my top ten favorite movies of the year.

Ten Favorite Movies of 2009

10. “Just Another Love Story”. Modern day film noir from Denmark about an unhappy husband and father who causes an automobile accident and puts a woman in a coma. She wakes up with no memory. He takes the identity of her boyfriend, falls in love with her and ingratiates himself in her family. Bad things begin to occur when the real boy friend shows up. A unique twist on a Cornell Woolrich-type situation. While some explicit nudity and violence are present, the central plot and characters are strongly reminiscent of many great noir pictures from the 1940s and 1950s.

9. “Extract”. The latest from Mike Judge, writer and director of “Office Space” (1998) with a similar vibe. I love these workplace comedies showing the affection (tinged with a bit of irritation) at the foibles of some of these characters. Mila Kunis continues to fulfill the promise she showed in the otherwise dreadful “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” (2008). Hilarious support from scene stealers David Koechner (great as a way too-friendly neighbor), .J.K. Simmons and Clifton Collins Jr. Collins gets my vote for favorite cinema find of 2009 (See “Sunshine Cleaning” entry below).

8. “The Informant!” Director Steven Soderberg’s latest, and I’m surprised it didn’t connect more with viewers. Matt Damon does it again in a spectacular performance. Is there any actor working today with a more consistent streak of good movies? I also love the Marvin Hamlisch score, and hope it’s remembered at Oscar time.

7. “Sunshine Cleaning”. One of the year’s sleepers, a slice of life picture with Amy Adams and Emily Blunt struggling to start the title business, a service that cleans up after crime scenes. Amy Adams is one of our most likeable actresses; you can’t help but like her, even when her character here is being totally irresponsible. There’s an excellent supporting performance by Clifton Collins Jr. as the owner of a cleaning supply store who helps Adams with her son that is one the year’s most overlooked, and probably my most favorite. He’s a talent to watch.

6. “Pirate Radio”. The year’s most pleasant surprise and a very agreeable slop of a movie. It reminds me a lot of those anarchic, anything goes comedies that Paramount produced in the 1930s, such as “The Big Broadcast” (1932), “Million Dollar Legs” (1932) or early Marx Brothers. Little vignettes, off the wall characters, satisfying pay offs and a great song soundtrack. Like Matt Damon, Philip Seymour Hoffman continues his hot streak of selecting strong properties. It may not have been very successful at the box office (I don’t know how it did overseas), but I have a feeling this will be a cult film. I will continue to happily support screenwriter/director Richard Curtis. His work is a glorious oasis in the current ocean of comedic mediocrity.

5. “Knowing”. I have to go along with Roger Ebert on this one by giving it four stars. Based on the trailers, I feared for the worst – a Nicolas Cage apolocalyptic thriller loaded with CGI. Instead I got a thoughtful and nail biting suspense thriller with some truly stunning imagery. I like Cage going unhinged and think he gets a bad rap for it. I appreciate that much more than some actor mumbling under his breath thinking he’s getting to the root of the character. No, he’s just mumbling under his breath and being irritating. The final images are among the year’s most haunting. Speaking of haunting, how about those strange figures following Cage’s family wherever they go? They invoke more uneasiness and dread than most horror movies. One of the year’s most unexpected surprises.

4. “The Hurt Locker”. Director Kathryn Bigelow’s apolitical look at an ace bomb disposal expert in Iraq (Jeremy Renner) who lives on an adrenaline rush of danger, this was nail biting from beginning to end. Another film that will live on long after it leaves the theaters.

3. “Inglourious Basterds”. Director Quentin Tarantino’s WWII fantasy film may be the most enjoyable movie experience I had all year. I think Brad Pitt has been severely underrated here, as I think his performance is an absolute jewel. I loved the slow buildups to the action scenes which are very cleanly shot and edited. No uber-hyper editing here, thank God. Two caveats: There should have been more of the great Rod Taylor (as Winston Churchill), and Tarantino’s use of already existing film music. I hope one day he’ll hire a composer to write an actual score for one of his movies.

2. “Adventureland”. I loved every minute of Greg Mottola’s intimate, bittersweet and lovely evocation of growing up, summer temp jobs and romance. Sold as a whacky comedy, this is much deeper and touching. Wonderful performances from Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Ryan Reynolds and Martin Starr. I especially liked Starr’s performance as the sad sack, perpetual stoner. This has been a strong year for under the radar supporting performances.

1. “Up”. Far and away the year’s most emotionally enriching experience. Pixar does it again, and was there any greater sequence this year than the first 15 wordless minutes showing joy, happiness, love, death and sadness over the course of a man’s life. Just glorious. Special kudos to composer Michael Giacchino’s glorious score, featuring – gasp - actual melody and musical devleopment. Easily the best score of 2009, which means it doesn’t stand a chance of winning the Best Score Oscar. I would dearly love to be wrong.

Honorable Mentions:

“Coraline”. A wonderfully weird 3D stop motion-animated feature with some hilariously deadpan sequences.

“State of Play”. Strong thriller about investigative reporters, a Washington D.C. scandal, and a prescient look at the declining newspaper industry. As one who loves newspapers, this one really got to me. Strong cast headed by Russell Crowe and Rachel McAdams. Ben Affleck is good too, and he was good in “Extract” too, a small gem of a comedic performance. I never cared for Affleck as a leading man at all, but maybe he’s found his niche as a supporting actor.

“Taken”. Exciting B movie actioner with retired agent Liam Neeson going after the scum who kidnapped his daughter for a sex slave ring. Clocking in at 90 minutes, this reminds me of the Charles Bronson-type action flicks from 1970s. It sets up the premise, and you’re in and out with a minimum of fuss. I could do with less frenetic cutting in the action scenes, but this is hardly the worst offender out there.

Worst Films of the Year:

“Angels and Demons”. Another Dan Brown adaptation, this one louder and stupider than “The DaVinci Code.” Do Tom Hanks and Ron Howard really need the money this badly?

“The Proposition”. Another bad Sandra Bullock movie. Is there any actress who is so consistently likeable yet makes so many bad movies? That’s a star.

“Public Enemies”. The year’s biggest disappointment, as director Michael Mann, in discovering the “joys” of digital filmmaking, forgot about writing a good script.

“Year One” I saw this at a second run theater with about 30 people attending and there was not one laugh throughout the entire film. Not one. Painful beyond all endurance.

“Couples Retreat”. A so-called comedy about testing adult relationships at a beautiful Caribbean resort. No laughs, no drama and a cast full of characters in real life I would stay far, far away from. In other words, it’s like a Judd Apatow movie except it’s shorter.

“The Fourth Kind”. Probably the worst movie I saw this year. Supposedly based on a true story, as people re-enact their alien abduction experiences. So we get split screens of people re-enacting their events while under hypnosis while dramatic re-enactments are shown alongside of it. Awful beyond belief. Mila Jovovich does the best she can. I think she’s a pretty decent actress but there’s no redeeming this movie.

Most overrated:

“Star Trek”. Sometimes a movie comes out and everyone raves about it and you go to see and for the life of you can’t figure out what everyone is raving about. For me this year it was “Star Trek”, which I found a perfectly excrutiating experience. Director J.J. Abrams overdirects every scene, complete with irritating lens flares throughout (not once or twice, but through the whole movie), tilted camera angles for no discernable reason (even on normal conversations on the bridge, maybe the lens flares blinded ol’ J.J. on the set and he had no idea his camera was all askew) and over-edited frenetic action scenes (my big bugaboo). I found it about as exciting as watching cupcakes being sold at a bake sale and was mighty glad when it was over.

Most underrated:

“Pirate Radio”. See above.

Movie I couldn’t bring myself to see even if my life depended on it: “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.”