Blog Archives
Movie Quote of the Day – True Grit, 2010 (dir. Ethan Coen and Joel Coen)
Mattie Ross: I know you can drink whiskey and snort and spit and wallow in filth and bemoan your station. The rest has been braggadocio. They told me you had grit and that is why I came to you.
Movie Quote of the Day – Animal Kingdom, 2010 (dir. David Michôd)
Janine ‘Smurf’ Cody: Hey Randall, before you go on, this boy who’s currently being looked after, tell me if you agree with this, this boy who’s being looked after – he knows who you are. And you know how these things go. They’ll ask him all sorts of questions, about everything he’s ever seen or done and everyone he’s ever met. The whole shemozzle. And you’ve done some bad things, sweetie. . .haven’t you?
517 Films, 365 Days and a Year Filled with Cinema
I’m sure you’re probably wondering how I managed to watch so many films in one year. To answer that I have to give you a little background information. For about 9 months out of the year I was unemployed and for those other 3 months I was only employed about half-time. That left me with a lot of free time. I figured with so many free hours I ought to spend my time doing something I love and maybe something constructive as well. If you ask me, watching as many films as possible counts as something constructive. My brain hasn’t felt this stimulated in years. A lot of my viewing came courtesy of Netflix, instant Netflix and the best channel on television: Turner Classic Movies. Throughout this epic film-watching year I managed to watch all the remaining Best Picture Winners I hadn’t seen, as well as multiple classic horror films in October and about 38 of the top Film-Noir films (I plan on referring to November from now on as Noirvember). In fact, I watched so many wonderful films in the last year it’s hard for me to imagine there are any films left for me to watch in 2011. That is, until I look at my completely full Netflix queue and all the films TCM has scheduled in January and February that I haven’t seen.
Cinema Fanatic’s Favorite Fifteen Films of 2010
So we’ve gotten to the end of the year, which, of course, means end-of-the-year lists. I don’t think 2010 was the worst year ever, but it pales in comparison to 2009. Last year I was in love with so many films – starting very early in the year and continuing into January of this year with the films I wasn’t able to see before ’09 ended. I really just think 2010 will go down as a mediocre year. I did, however, still manage to come up with a list of my 15 favorite films of the year. I’d like to emphasize that this list is based on my favorites and not necessarily a “best” list. I’d also like to note that, unlike last year, I was able to see almost all of the 2010 releases I was interested in seeing before the New Year. There were three, however, that I missed that I wish I could have seen before making this list: The King’s Speech, 127 Hours and Blue Valentine. There’s no guarantee those would have made the list anyhow, but I still wish I could have seen them. Regardless, I did manage to see fifty-five 2010 releases this year, a personal record for new releases. I’d also like to note that I’ve seen over 500 new-to-me films this year, but I’ll make a proper round-up post for that tomorrow (I’m watching movies til Midnight tonight!).
The list is after the cut, because I think my #1 is a little shocking and I want to keep up the suspense.
Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan” – First Look
Darren Aronofsky is certainly one of Hollywood’s most unusual filmmakers. I haven’t seen 1998’s Pi, but I hear it is strange. I’ve only seen 2001’s Requiem For A Dream once because it freaked me out so hard. 2006’s The Fountain was beautifully shot, but not all that well received by critics. 2008’s The Wrestler was brilliant. I still think it should have been up for Best Picture and as much as I loved Sean Penn in Milk, Mickey Rourke should have won that Oscar. Later this year he’s releasing what is being called a “supernatural ballet drama/thriller” starring Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Winona Ryder, Sebastian Stan, Barbara Hershey and Vincent Cassel. Today we finally get a peak at the film’s visuals, thanks to USAToday and FirstShowing.net.
More pictures and plot synopsis after the cut.
Three Contenders: Shutter Island, Toy Story 3 and Inception
I feel like 2010 has been a relatively slow year for movies. It’s almost universally acknowledged that this has been one of the worst movie summers ever. There are only about two or three films that have already been released this year that I’ve yet to see that I actually really want to see. That being said, there has also only been three films released this year that are even close to Best Picture quality: Shutter Island, Toy Story 3 and Inception. If the Academy is really going to keep having ten slots in that category, Hollywood is going to have to do a lot better than only three great films in a matter of seven months. I love all three of these films. Toy Story 3 made my whole family cry, including my 59-year-old father. I still can’t decide if I liked Shutter Island more or Inception more. The thing is both movies are full of great performances, but Shutter Island is really about Leo’s performance, whereas Inception felt like a true ensemble piece. I think I’m going to have to see Inception one more time before I can make that decision.
Spoilers may lurk after the cut.
the diary of a film history fanatic 