Tuesday, December 29, 2009

The NOUGHTIES: PT 1

My favourite movies of the decade (2000-2009) are, to say the least, an eclectic bunch. From big budget blockbusters, through to serious art-house fare (and a fair multitude in between!), this decade has produced many varied  & memorable movies that have made an indelible impression upon many people. This list is my personal selection of films that made a sizable impact on me. Movies that I am quite happy to recommend to pretty much anyone. Granted, you probably wont agree on all my choices-but that's cool. It's the nature of this beast. What one person may love-someone else may hate-both with equal passion! Still, no harm in trying to convince you of what kind of movies I really loved this decade - is there?




This first part is movies ranked from 50-11. Part 2 will reveal my top 10 of the decade.

50: HELVETICA: A doco about a font? It both entertains-and educates. Go and look at your world again...
49: ONCE: Musicals shouldn't be this cool. This one is a total reinvention of the genre-and no happy ending!
48: SECRETARY: James Spader as a perv? Who else! And Maggie Gyllenhaal was more than up for it...
47: ONG-BAK: A Thai reinvention of a much maligned genre. Tony Jaa is the new boss...
46: THE NEW WORLD: Terence Malick's beautiful rendering of the legend of Pocahontas. Sublime...
45: MEMORIES OF MURDER: A taunt Korean thriller about a serial killer-and dogged cops.
44: BRICK: The new riff on Shakespeare & daylight Noir. Great cast, great script. This will age well...
43: DOWNFALL: The definitive Hitler movie. Bruno Ganz makes him human. Debate that!
42: ANTICHRIST: Von Trier-love him or hate him. He makes movies that leave an impression...
41: DEAD MAN'S SHOES: Paddy Considine is not a man to be messed with. Especially in this film!
40: AMERICAN BEAUTY: The deconstruction of the American dream with Spacey & Bening on song.
39: SIDEWAYS: An atypical romance that reeked of 'real' for the boomer generation.
38: WALL.E: Pixar are the force in animation. Where they lead, others merely follow...
37: AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH: For making 'Green' sexy-and still in fashion years later...
36: SUNSHINE: An overlooked gem-and a decent serious Sci-Fi movie to dazzle your minds-eye...
35: CONTROL: Anton Corbijn's heartfelt paean to his first love-Joy Division's genius-Ian Curtis.
34: BAD SANTA: The best Santa movie ever! Billy-Bob wasn't acting...
33: SEXY BEAST: Arise Sir Ben Kingsley! You are not Gandhi anymore. You are bloody scary!
32: MOON: Bowies son directs & a tour-de-force performance from the underrated Sam Rockwell.
31: SHAUN OF THE DEAD: The worlds first "Rom-Zom-Com"!!! Genius from Pegg & co!
30: APOCALYPSE NOW-REDUX: A great movie made even better! 'Released' in 2001..
29: BATMAN-THE DARK KNIGHT: The hype was justified. R.I.P Heath.
28: IRREVERSIBLE: Gasper Noe's masterpiece wasn't easy to watch. Great cinema sometimes isn't...
27: YES: Sally Potter's unique 2004 gem with its 'rhymed iambic pentameter' dialogue. A 'one-off' for sure...
26: HIGH FIDELITY: John Cusack's bravura visualization of the classic Nick Hornby novel. It ROCKS!!!
25: CITY OF GOD: A Brazilian descent into a bleak, bloody & raw teenage hell. The runts. The runts...
24: FAHRENHEIT 9/11: Michael Moore's attack on Dubya was box office gold. Doco's are sexy!
23: THE WRESTLER: Its all about Mickey Rourke. It was actually a doco on his life don't ya know?
22: UNITED 93: The best 9/11 movie. Period.
21: I'M NOT THERE: A Dylan movie that was genius for having multiple actors playing him. Sheer genius.
20: NORTH FACE: The best climbing movie since 'Touching The Void'. Taunt, grim & heart-stopping...
19: THE LIVES OF OTHERS: The human face of the Stasi in cold war era East Germany.
18: THE INCREDIBLES: Pixar-again! Superheroes never were this funny...
17: THE SQUID AND THE WHALE: A perfect cast (Daniels/Linney) in this New York tale of a dysfunctional family.
16: CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS: This powerful doco doesn't take sides. You try and decide. Hmm...
15: HUKKLE: Unlike anything you've ever seen before. Hiccup.   Hiccup.   Hiccup...
14: SAVAGE GRACE: Most like Streep. I think Julianne Moore is the new Streep for this generation. Bravo!
13: YOUNG @ HEART: Dont stop, thinking about tomorrow-It'll soon be here. Yesterdays gone, yesterdays gone...
12: TONY TAKATANI: If this was music, it would be a long, slow, sorrowful, smoky jazz tone poem...
11: MAN ON WIRE: Riveting doco about a mad Frenchman walking between the twin towers in 1974. Brave-or totally insane? You decide...

PT 2 coming next week...

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Aint nothing like a BIG MAC...

...Especially if its a FLEETWOOD MAC!
 


Its always gratifying to see a wide range of people at a live gig covering the very best & worst that humanity can offer. From the boomers singing along to the hits,to the yobs-well, just being yobs!, the hard-core music fans, live gigs attract so many, from places so far away. Thankfully though, where we (Mike, Johnny & myself) were 'parked', there weren't too many dickheads nearby to ruin the evening. So, having nabbed what seemed like a good location, we cracked open a refreshing ale, assumed a relaxed pose, and let the band take us on a trip to musical nirvana!

Now, call me a purist-or a die-hard, but I enjoy live gigs for one main reason; to see 'professional musicians' strut their stuff. I just really get off on watching these consummate pros make musical magic. Its the trademark of all truly great modern bands to be able to deliver concert after concert-for decades in some cases-that set them well apart from all the other poseurs. Cutting it live is the only true way to cement your bands legacy into the hearts & minds of your followers.

So, can the Mac still 'cut it' after all these years? Hell yeah! - and then some. Perhaps this gig was best summed up by Lindsay Buckingham on Sunday night, when he said that this gig was one his top 5-this year, if not his whole career. High praise from someone who has done many top notch gigs in his lifetime. Reflecting back on this show, I'd say I'd have to damn well agree with his sentiments. The band were on fire from the first song "Monday Morning" till the last song in the 2nd encore. Mick Fleetwood is still a towering presence at the back-providing a solid-but subtle foundation with John McVie on Bass. McVie is your typical stoic strong but silent type, never stepping out into the spotlight, content to anchor the proceedings with nicely understated bass lines & riffs that drive the songs-rather than overwhelming them with fiddly bits; like Entwhistle in The WHO! This venerable pairing have now been playing together for 43 years as the rhythm section in the Mac. That is cause for wonder and astonishment that two muso's still feel compelled to create music together. Long may they continue. In complete contrast to the engine room, up front its still the Buckingham & Nicks show. On stage left, we have the still glamorous Stevie Nicks, singing with her trademark raspy, achingly tender voice-still hitting all the right notes, in all the right places. Her stage image is uniquely hers-and hers alone. She may have inspired plenty of imitators-but there's only one original.
Over to her right, "The Man with the Magic Fingers"-Lindsay Buckingham. After this evening, I was totally in awe of his incredible talent on the guitar. With his unique finger style, Buckingham scorched his way through the set, providing so many musical high-points with this instrument. From a defiant power-driven acoustic rendering of "Big Love", to a blistering solo laden lengthy version of "I'm So Afraid" ( I didn't time it-it seemed to run on for 15 minutes?!-that's not a bad thing in my book either! ), this man was on fire from go to whoa. Hugely entertaining in his own right, I might just have to go and buy his solo DVD I suspect... The other musical highlight was another lengthy interpretation of a mac classic, the ethereal "Gold Dust Woman". Besides stretching this beguiling tune out, they also reinterpreted it as a slow moody blues piece, changing the time signature numerous times. Not once, did I think of the term "Prog Rock" during this number...

Interestingly, there's a rumour floating around about the possibility of a combined tour next year with another iconic seventies super-group, The Eagles. That is, very much a tantalising prospect. Gotta feeling the tickets could sell fairly quickly for that one. Just a hunch...

Saturday, December 19, 2009

AVATAR



After all the hype, its finally here. James Cameron's new movie "Avatar" has arrived to massive expectations-primarily about its much vaunted 3D technologies that Cameron has developed specifically to realize his vision of the world of Pandora and its inhabitants. To say that I've been looking forward to this would be an understatement of some magnitude. Any time a big event movie such as this comes along, then count me in for being one of the first to a screening. Still a big kid at heart I guess...

So, obviously the key question is... Is it any good? Does it live up to the hype-or not?

Hell yeah!

One of my key criteria for enjoying a movie is believing that the world the filmmaker creates is one that is real and will completely immerse me in it for the length of the running time. It then doesn't matter about such trivial details such as plot, character development does it? heh heh, you know that's not true-but anyways...

Firstly, without hesitation-go and see this movie in 3D. You will believe that you are on Pandora! And what a world Cameron and the super-talented people at Weta, Digital Domain have conjured for us to feast upon. Totally indebted to the fabulous artwork of Roger Dean without any doubt whatsoever. Go and look at a YES album cover-or "Google it" to see what I'm saying! It is surprising to me that in all the other reviews worldwide-no other reviewer/critic has picked up on this coincidence (Or not!). Or maybe its because of my age that I'm old enough to remember YES in the first place... Back on topic.

Although the visuals are absolutely stupendous, Cameron hasn't forgotten the rudiments of great film-making which is to create a compelling story-and characters that we both feel for-and believe in their destiny or fate.
To achieve this goal, you need to cast wisely-and get actors that will look and feel like a real life person. If they (Actors) are well cast, then your not watching an actor-your watching the character. So casting a relative unknown (By Hollywood standards) is a sometimes risky manoeuvre for an unwary director. Many notable directors have rued the day they choose a supposed marquee A-List actor, to find out that that person in retrospect, wasn't the right choice. Aint hindsight a wonderful thing? Sam Worthington is Jake Sully. He is both A) Good enough for the role, and B) feels credible as person grappling with a complex set of decisions to make about his future-and all that he believes in in his present situation. Sure, sometimes a line (Or two...or three!) of dialogue may be slightly cliched, but in the overall context, it doesn't really matter because moments later, an action scene will start-and that corny line is quickly forgotten. Stephen Lang as Colonel Miles Quadritch is a major revelation. Apparently Michael Biehn did have some preliminary talks with Cameron-and even traveled to New Zealand to check out production work a couple of years back. But, Cameron decided after signing on Sigourney Weaver, that having two ex-Aliens cast members in this movie was one too many! As much as I would love to have seen Biehn in another major movie, this was inspired casting by Cameron to get Stephen Lang on-board. He totally embodies the hard nosed military madman with supreme ease. We definitely aint in Kansas anymore! Again, although Quadritch may have a cliched line (Or two-again), Lang delivers those lines with such powerful conviction - that you soon get over yourself about such trivialities. Sigourney Weaver is, as to be expected, tough, no-nonsense-and completely idealistic about the interactions with the local indigenous population, the Na'vi. Giovanni Ribisi is perfectly cast as the company bad guy! He has the Paul Reiser role from Aliens down pat! And the other human characters are not just window dressing either-all the various actors are credible in their respective roles.

But the crucial part was the Na'vi. You can see where a big chunk of money has gone. The Na'vi look, feel and act like they are very real characters. The actors that did the groundwork for these roles (Zoe Saldana, Wes Studi, CCH Pounder, Laz Alonso) all did remarkable jobs to emphatically embody the specific Na'vi characters they play. I now believe that a race of creatures like the Na'vi could conceivably exist somewhere out there in the universe. The attention to detail is simply staggering. Hats off to Cameron for putting the time & effort into developing this most crucial aspect. If he didn't, then we wouldn't have a movie. Now, we can understand why he said that he couldn't have made this movie 10 years ago. The technology wasn't at the point (then) to realize his vision properly. Thank the gods he waited! Its been well worth it Jim, absolutely...

The storyline is both straight forward-and clear for this kind of movie that is so visually driven. To have a cast of many would have bogged the story down unnecessarily. So, we cut to the chase-to follow the hero (Jake) on his quest to right some wrongs-and win over the local princess while he's at it! Its all you need to know before you go and see this movie.

But, without a shadow of doubt, the biggest thrill for me was seeing the spectacular world of Pandora-and its stunning native fauna & flora. My god, oh my god. What a planet! I now, want to ring Richard Branson and say-forget about suborbital flights. Build a really big (and light-speed fast!) spaceship to take me to Pandora-or another world like it, PLEASE! Today preferably! (I mean, C'mon Richard-Mr Emmerich has already foretold the end of the world!). I too, want to run through towering trees, climb precarious rocks, swim in luminescent rivers-and be at one with nature. I'm already feeling closer to my cat (Not that close!). I know I'm going to want to see this movie many times-just for those reasons alone.   

My final thought is this. My favourite film of the decade was Almost Famous. Now, with merely days left till the next decade, James Cameron has made AVATAR my new number one movie of the decade. I simply can't wait for parts 2-and 3. Trust me. They will be made. He didn't create all this just for a 'once-off outing'. Stay tuned...

GO AND SEE THIS MOVIE. NOW!

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

2012




It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.



Mr Stipe summed it up very nicely in this song from the mighty R.E.M didn't he? It should have accompanied the teaser trailer when it first appeared on the internet, but maybe he (Stipe) objected to its use in the movie-or maybe he wasn't even asked?  Regardless, its chipper tones would have been a great juxtaposition against the onscreen mayhem unfolding before our disbelieving eyes. Still, your there to see the dollars spent on the visual FX in this film. The music's entirely secondary in an event movie of this kind. Lets face it-we are only going to watch this film for one reason. To see how spectacularly it all ends on 12/21/2012! And if you're going to do a movie of this magnitude, only one name needs to be called. Step up Mr Emmerich! No-one else needs to apply for this position. There is no other director who could be as technically convincing as this transplanted German. Well, maybe Mr Bay-or Spielberg, or Jackson. But you just know its not really their forte. They know to leave it to Rolly to perfectly recreate the end of the world as we know it.


And how do the money shots add up? Do we get our "Bang for our bucks"? Does it seem realistic? Does it entertain us for the length of the running time?


Short answer: Hell yeah!

Long answer: Its a Roland Emmerich movie! If you've seen Independence Day or The Day After Tomorrow, then you'll know what he's capable of. Shit going BOOM! on a bloody massive scale! Lets face it-this is the only reason to justify seeing this movie on a big screen. The story is perfunctory, the acting fairly average (Cusack's good though! Actually so's Woody Harrelson...), the cliches are piled on so much, that you give up after a very short while worrying about these trivial concerns. Everything is geared to one thing only. Shit going BOOM! That it does, extremely well...

There is one thing that does ring entirely true though in this film. That the Chinese are the only nation capable of building the arks within the 'allotted' time-frame! That sorta thing they could pull off most definitely. Any other nation would be looking for the financial gains to be made. And squabbling about union rates etc!

Any other kind of deep analysis on this type of film is redundant. Your only there for one reason. Don't complain about any percieved shortcomings. Its not art. Its commerce. They just want your bum on that seat OK?

Don't forget the main reason for viewing this...

SHIT GOES BOOM!