2005 movie discussion

[little_bill]

i'm still kinda angry it dissapeared out of the local cinema here so quickly, apparently it was playing to packed houses

[Brendan]

Munich... the neverending movie. My butt hadn't felt so numb since I saw The Lord of the Rings trilogy in theatres. Geeze... why so long? The film could have easily lost a half hour and it wouldn't have made a differance. I loved the film, quite a lot actually. But damn... you can really feel the length in this one. It's definitley one of the years best and I highly recommend it.

[The Schofield Kid]

Munich... the neverending movie. My butt hadn't felt so numb since I saw The Lord of the Rings trilogy in theatres. Geeze... why so long? The film could have easily lost a half hour and it wouldn't have made a differance. I loved the film, quite a lot actually. But damn... you can really feel the length in this one. It's definitley one of the years best and I highly recommend it.

That opened here today and I've decided to go next Monday,so I checked my local cinema's website for session times and that was the first thing I noticed.163 minutes.

[KC]

Yeah, I'd have liked it a lot better if they had cut the last half hour ... and maybe the first half hour too, for that matter. And maybe a half hour in the middle somewhere.

Reminded me of that picture I saw a couple of years back that Nicole Kidman won the Oscar for ... The Hours. Or as I call it ... The Hours, and Hours, and Hours! 

[Holden Pike]

Caché[/color][/font] (2005 - Michael Haneke)

Michael Haneke's latest is an allegory wrapped in Hitchcockian mechinations. While the subject is an important one and hasn't been addressed much by French filmmakers, unfortunately it works more as an intellectual polemic than a satisfying or emtionally engrossing filmgoing experience.

Daniel Auteuil (The Girl on the Bridge) stars as Georges, an extremely comfortable upper-middle class intellectual who hosts a popular television show where guests debate art and politics. His wife Anne, the ever lovely Juliette Binoche, is surprised to find on their doorstep one afternoon an unmarked videotape. All that is shown for the entire running time of that cassette is static, unblinking surveillance of the front of their apartment, taken by a camera placed somewhere about half a block or so up the street. No note, no explanation, just an ominous alert that they are being watched by someone. They don't really know what to make of it. Is it a prank or a threat? Then come phonecalls with nobody on the other end of the line and another tape, this one showing somebody driving the back country roads to the home where Georges grew up as a child. The couple, now fearing this may be something serious and wanting to protect themselves and their teenage son, go to the police. But as there is nothing overt in the annoyances, there is nothing they can take action against.

Georges has a theory of who the perpetrator may be, though he doesn't share his suspicion with the police or even his wife at first. Seeing his rural childhood home makes him think it may be an Algerian orphan who his parents almost adopted, who had spent some time at that home with them. Georges tracks down the grown man, Majid (Maurice Bénichou of Amélie), who he hasn't seen since they were children. Majid denies any of the accusations about video tapes and phonecalls, but Georges is sure he has his man.

What followed that set-up could have been a taut thriller, but while there are sequences and the frame of the plot that use the conventions of the suspenseful mystery, that's not really what Haneke is aiming at. Anyone unversed in the dark history of 20th Century France will have to pay close attention to one sequence in the home of Georges and Anne where a television newscast gives the important underlying context. Or perhaps before you see Caché at the very least watch Gillo Pontecorvo masterwork The Battle of Algiers (1965) so we dumb Americans know a bit about the Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962), a bloody revolution where the North African Algerians rose up against the occupying French. Because THAT is what Caché is really about. Majid was orphaned because of that war, and Georges' treatment of him both as a child and as an adult is the allegory that fuels the story more than any mystery or thriller. Georges, Anne and their son as well as Majid and his son are all representations of the sociopolitical fallout from the Algerian revolution; the pain, guilt, empathy, cruelty, hope, sadness, resentment and the lack of recognition are all embodied by these five main characters. Sadly for me, once that all kicked they all stopded working as human beings to care about in the story and their actions and attitudes function only as metaphor. That's holds some interest intellectually, but really kills any emotional connection to the story. And this is despite some good acting, most especially Daniel Auteuil and Maurice Bénichou.

However, even though it gets too stuck in its own allegory for my taste, there is a nice final sequence that brings it back to the kind of movie it might have been if the elements of a mystery and a polemic had been better blended. The way the film is constructed, the final shot of the film forces the audience to debate the clues and possible answers of the mystery. Is this last shot another surveillance tape to be sent and further the reeducation of Georges? Do the characters we see meeting in this shot mean they are co-conspirators? The mystery, which had been left dangling in the final third of the film, is brought back. But for what purpose? Maybe so that we the audience become Georges for a moment, and all he represents. Instead of focusing on the underlying causes and addressing them, we are drawn into the question of who made the videotapes? There's a brilliant movie somewhere in all these pieces, but it never quite comes together as a whole.


GRADE: B

[Holden Pike]

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada[/font] (2005 - Tommy Lee Jones)

Working from a strong script by Guillermo Arriaga (Amores Perros, 21 Grams), director Tommy Lee Jones has crafted a piece of cinematic poetry about friendship, vengeance and responsibilty. Jones also stars as Pete Perkins, a southern Texas ranch foreman. As the movie opens a body is discovered in the desert: it is a migrant cowboy named Melquiades Estrada (Julio Cesar Cedillo), who has been shot and left for the coyotes in a shallow grave. The narrative takes us back and forth in time to see who Melquiades was, the fast and deep friendship he and Pete struck up, the border patrolman Mike Norton (Barry Pepper) and his wife (January Jones) new to the community, and the fateful intersection that led to the shooting. It was essentially an accident, but Norton is a thug who has quickly earned a bad reputation. He doesn't report the shooting of course, but Pete doggedly figures it out. When the local sherrif (Dwight Yoakam) refuses to take any action, old Pete Perkins decides to take matters into his own hands. He kidnaps Norton, forces him to dig up the body of his friend, and the three men set out on horseback toward Mexico, so that Pete can fulfill a promise to Melquiades and bury him in the small village he loved.

This is Tommy Lee's feature debut as a director (though he also helmed the 1995 made-for-TV movie The Good Old Boys, starring himself, Sissy Spacek, Frances McDormand and Sam Shepard), and it is strong, confident work. Wisely he lets the tone stay elegiac rather than becoming frenetic. Jones' Pete is most definitely angry, but he doesn't let thet be what drives him. Taking Norton out to the desert and shooting him would have been easy enough and maybe even cathartic, but he doesn't want that kind of revenge. He wants to make him understand the gravity of what he has done and cannot undo, to beg Melquiades for forgiveness, not him. Even with a graphically decomposing riding partner there is some real humor too, and the Quixotic journey they make is engaging and poignant.

In addition to stellar direction, Jones is excellent in front of the camera. Tommy Lee is one of those actors that is so good so often, but too much of the time - in recent years especially - he's off collecting paychecks in bad and forgettable flicks (The Hunted, The Missing, Man of the House). To see him in Three Burials is a vivid reminder of just how truly great he is on the screen, how powerful yet quiet a presence and what a range of subtle emotion he can project and embody. Pepper gets the more thankless role of the bastard who needs to be taught a lesson, but he can definitely stand toe-to-toe with Jones on screen. There's an excellent supporting cast, led by Yoakum who continues to impress. He might not have a heck of a lot of range, but when you look at his work in Sling Blade, Panic Room and here, you have to see he's more than a singer/songwriter with a sideline. January Jones (no relation) is good as the bored and unloved wife who is lost in the dirt and dust of Texas, Melissa Leo ("Homicide: Life on the Street", 21 Grams) is excellent as the sexy aging waitress involved in extramarital affairs with a few of the men in town, and speaking of musicians turned actors The Band's Levon Helm has a great cameo as a blind hermit. Julio Cedillo gets a relatively small number of scenes as the title man before he becomes a corpse, but he is able to convey his simple integrity and dreams very well and very quickly, and you understand why Pete would go so far to keep a promise to him.

It's a little bit of Lonely Are the Brave mixed with Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, Lone Star and "Lonesome Dove". The end result is a great film. Can't hardly wait to see it again. Definitely one of the best movies of the year, and a shame it was shut-out at the Oscars.


GRADE: A

[Holden Pike]

OK, think I'm finally ready to compile my 2005 lists.


Picture[/size][/font][/b]

1. Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada[/font]
2. Grizzly Man[/font]
3. Sophie Scholl: The Final Days[/font]
4. Hustle & Flow[/font]
5. Proof[/font]
6. Crash[/font]
7. Broken Flowers[/font]
8. Munich[/font]
9. Good Night, And Good Luck[/font]
10. SIN CITY[/font]
11. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room[/font]
12. The New World[/font]
13. The Squid & the Whale[/font]
14. Mua len Trau - Buffalo Boy[/font]
15. Batman Begins[/font]
16. Saraband[/font]
17. The Producers[/font]
18. Nine Lives[/font]
19. Serenity[/font]
20. Brokeback Mountain[/font]
21. Capote[/font]
22. Junebug[/font]
23. Match Point[/font]
24. The Aristocrats[/font]
25. Syriana[/font]
26. In the Realms of the Ureal[/font]
27. Me and You and Everyone We Know[/font]
28. King Kong[/font]
29. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang[/font]
30. Yes[/font]



Lead Actor[/size][/font][/b]

1. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote
2. Terrence Howard, Hustle & Flow
3. Tommy Lee Jones, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
4. Bill Murray, Broken Flowers
5. Peter Sarsgaard, The Dying Gaul
6. Heath Ledger, Brokeback Mountain
7. David Strathairn, Good Night, And Good Luck
8. George Clooney, Syriana
9. John Hawkes, Me and You and Everyone We Know
10. Daniel Day-Lewis, The Ballad of Jack & Rose


Lead Actress[/size][/font][/b]

1. Gwyneth Paltrow, Proof
2. Felicity Huffman, Transamerica
3. Maria Bello, A History of Violence
4. Patricia Clarkson, The Dying Gaul
5. Julia Jentsch, Sophie Scholl: The Final Days
6. Q'Orianka Kilcher, The New World
7. Joan Allen, Yes
8. Reese Witherspoon, Walk the Line
9. Claire Danes, Shopgirl
10. Miranda July, Me and You and Everyone We Know


Supporting Actor[/size][/font][/b]

1. Jeff Daniels, The Squid & the Whale
2. Mickey Rourke, SIN CITY
3. Ryan Phillippe, Crash
4. Gerlad Alexander Held, Sophie Scholl: The Final Days
5. Clifton Collins Jr., Capote
6. Michael Gambon, Layer Cake
7. Danny Huston, The Constant Gardener
8. Jim True-Frost, Off the Map
9. Matt Dillon, Crash
10. William Fichtner, Nine Lives


Supporting Actress[/size][/font][/b]

1. Amy Adams, Junebug
2. Robin Wright Penn, Nine Lives
3. Maggie Gyllenhaal, Happy Endings
4. Catherine Keener, The Ballad of Jack & Rose
5. Ilsa Fisher, Wedding Crashers
6. Sissy Spacek, Nine Lives
7. Hope Davis, Proof
8. Michelle Williams, The Baxter
9. Melissa Leo, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
10. Summer Glau, Serenity



More breakdowns later, but I gots to run....

[Holden Pike]

Director[/font][/b][/u]

1. Werner Herzog, Grizzly Man
2. Tommy Lee Jones, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
3. Craig Brewer, Hustle & Flow
4. Paul Haggis, Crash
5. Jim Jarmusch, Broken Flowers
6. Steven Spielberg, Munich
7. Robert Rodriguez & Frank Miller, SIN CITY
8. Terrence Malick, The New World
9. George Clooney, Good Night, And Good Luck
10. Marc Rothemund, Sophie Scholl: The Final Days


Original Screenplay[/font][/b]

1. Guillermo Arriaga, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
2. Craig Brewer, Hustle & Flow
3. Paul Haggis & Robert Moresco, Crash
4. Fred Breinersdorfer, Sophie Scholl: The Final Days
5. Noah Baumbach, The Squid & The Whale
6. George Clooney & Grant Heslov, Good Night, And Good Luck
7. Rodrigo García, Nine Lives
8. Miranda July, Me and You and Everyone We Know
9. Woody Allen, Match Point
10. Ingmar Bergman, Saraband


Adapted Screenplay[/font][/b]

1. Tony Kushner & Eric Roth, Munich
2. Dan Futterman, Capote
3. David Auburn & Rebecca Miller, Proof
4. Frank Miller & Robert Rodriquez, SIN CITY
5. Shane Black, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang
6. Diana Ossana & Larry McMurtry, Brokeback Mountain
7. Stephen Gaghan, Syriana
8. Mel Brooks & Thomas Meehan, The Producers
9. David S. Goyer & Christopher Nolan, Batman Begins
10. Philippa Boyens, Fran Walsh & Peter Jackson, King Kong


Cinematography[/font]

1. Emmanuel Lubezki, The New World
2. Chris Menges, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
3. Roger Deakins, Jarhead
4. Rodrigo Prieto, Brokeback Mounatin
5. Yves Cape, Buffalo Boy
6. César Charlone, The Constant Gardener
7. Adam Kimmel, Capote
8. Robert Elswit, Good Night, And Good Luck
9. James Muro, Crash
10. Declan Quinn, Breakfast on Pluto

[Chessie]

Great lists Holden.

Where did you see Saraband at, I've been dieing to see it. 

And, your lists just make me want to see The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada so much more badly than I wanted to before.   

[Holden Pike]

Where did you see Saraband at, I've been dying to see it.

Saraband was released on R1 DVD in January.

And, your lists just make me want to see The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada so much more badly than I wanted to before.

I took half the day off from the Film Festival that's in town last weekend so I could see Three Burials. If the Festival wasn't still going on, I would have seen it for a second time by now. Next week, though.

[Brendan]

Damn my city! It's highly doubtful that Three Burials will even get close to my place.

[Brendan]

Well I can't really make a "top ten list" since I didn't see many of the films I wanted to see from last year. So I'll just have to give out my own special awards:

Favourite Film:(not best just my favourite)

Batman Begins

Best Sci-Fi Film:

Serenity

Best Action Film:

Batman Begins

Best Fantasy Film:

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Best Comedy:

The 40 Year Old Virgin

Best Drama:

Brokeback Mountain

Best Director:

Werner Herzog - Grizzly Man (you were dead on with this Holden)
 
Best Documentary: (Tie)

Grizzly Man
Enron - The Smartest Guys in the Room

Best Actor:

Philip Seymore Hoffman (Capote)

Best Actress:

Reese Witherpsoon (Walk the Line)

Best Cinematography:

Rodrigo Prieto (Brokeback Mountain)

My overall favourites for the year: (in no order)

Munich
Batman Begins
The 40 Year Old Virgin
Brokeback Mountain
Serenity
Sin City
The Constant Gardener
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
War of the Worlds
Walk the Line
King Kong
Syriana
March of the Penguins
Grizzly Man
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
The Aristocrats
The Producers

[Chessie]

I saw alot of films this year, probably the most at the cinema I've ever seen.  So here's my top 12, cause I couldn't really just make 10, and my bottom 12 because there was a lot of crap out this year as well.

Top 12 of 2005
1.  King Kong
2.  Millions
3.  Good Night and Good Luck.
4.  Crash
5.  Transamerica
6.  Memoirs of a Geisha
7.  Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang
8.  Rent
9.  Sin City
10.  Match Point

Honorable Metions go to: Munich, Wallace and Gromit - The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Batman Begins, Capote, Star Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, and Upside of Anger.

I throughly enjoyed:  Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Wedding Crashers, The Island, The Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Exorcism of Emily Rose, Valiant, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

Bottom 12 of 2005

12.   Thumbsucker
11.  Stay
10.  Aeon Flux
9.  Waiting
8.  Derailed
7.  History of Violence
6.  Ice Harvest
5.  Brothers Grimm
4.  North Country
3.  Syriana
2.  Chicken Little
1.  The Constant Gardener

Other bad movies include Weather Man, Domino, March of the Penguins, An Unfinished Life, The Ringer, Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, Prime, and Monster-In-Law. 

And movies that for me that weren't good or bad were:  Brokeback Mountain, Walk the Line, Family Stone, Corpse Bride, War of the Worlds, Lords of Dogtown, Interpreter, Robots, and The Producers.

So that's my year in review.

[Doug]

My favorite movie of 2005:

Sin City

Other favorites (in no real order):

Grizzly Man
Hustle and Flow
Batman Begins
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Me and You and Everyone We Know
The Brothers Grimm
Walk the Line
Broken Flowers
Crash
Junebug
Control Room
The Beat that My Heart Skipped (De battre mon coeur s'est arrêté)
Match Point
Capote
Proof
The Squid and the Whale
Jarhead
Transamerica
The War Within
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada

Most overhyped movie:

 Brokeback Mountain

Worst movie:

Last Days

I'll edit in some others when I get around to seeing more.   

[Lilly]

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada[/font] (2005 - Tommy Lee Jones)

[...]

GRADE: A

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada came out in the UK last week.  It just got the usual bull$#!t review from the too-clever-by-half John Harris on Newsnight Review.  (He also got in a punch at "white stereotyping" in Million Dollar Baby.)  It sounds promising to me, and I will try to see it in the cinema.