Fave Films O’ The Year

I don’t do Top Ten Film lists. One, because I don’t see every film that comes out in a year. Two, because I often miss the ones I should see until later (so I expect some latecomers like CHE). I’m also not a film critic and only analyze them within a past cultural context and sometime within a present context. But I don’t mind compiling a limited list of my favorites of the year (while Craig Kennedy at LIC is bringing in a boatload of reader Top Tens)- in somewhat sequential order but no connecting thread other than I thought these films delivered and some:

THE WRESTLER – I love me my Mickey Rourke, always have since his great run of 80’s films, DINER; THE POPE OF GREENWICH VILLAGE; THE YEAR OF THE DRAGON; ANGEL HEART. I’ve been waiting for his comeback and I’m glad it came with SIN CITY and especially this film. The script does play on our sympathies for Rourke’s odd career arc, and Darren Aronofsky wisely shoots in a verite 70’s style to highlight the grungy twilight of a former Pro Wrestler. I dig how the movie captures the non-competitive camradarie of the backstage wrestlers. But this is Rourke going to the mat and I like his transformative physical appearance, since it is integral to this film; it gives him a unique presence that I don’t think will hurt the influx of roles coming his way. Everybody loves a great second act, and Mickey Rourke’s is just that, my favorite performance of the year.

WALL-E – While I didn’t find the story here as compelling as others in the Pixar canon, there’s no doubt that this company is the Tiffany’s of American animation, always focused on story and character to fulfill theme. Their distance from Hollywood  proper might count for the clear-headed lack of cynicism that is is too prevelant in the pop-and-poop culture ghetto of other big budget toons. The first section of Wall-E is melancholy and marvellous with Pixar’s animation reaching a new level of apropos surrealism that renders the CG with a tangible model-like quality. I’m less fond of the second half aboard the space ship, but the consumerist thematics at work are brave and worth mulling over. Damn Berkeley hippies!

PARANOID PARK – Two of my fave films this year were directed by Gus Van Sant, who I’ve admired tremendously since DRUGSTORE COWBOY. MILK is the more obvious choice, what with Sean Penn’s dynamic portrayal of the doomed gay rights activist; but PARANOID PARK is pure Van Sant, with its ethereal skateboarding sequences and an eclectic soundtrack featuring Nina Rota’s delightful theme to JULIET OF THE SPIRITS (1965). More than just about any filmmaker, Van Sant has a gift for how disaffected teens act and speak to each other, and this film, a small meditation on the nature of guilt, has stuck with me since I saw it in Portland, the perfect place to see it…

THE DARK KNIGHT – While I wasn’t as bowled over as many of you, I’m still gobsmacked by the global success of Christopher Nolan’s truly dark and disturbing Urban Gothic. Heath Ledger is magnificent as many have noted, and I found myself turning his scenes in my mind long after the movie was over. And I was sad when I realized I wouldn’t get to see him appear in the next film…

PINEAPPLE EXPRESS – I enjoyed the stoner antics of Seth Rogen and James Franco in this amiable violent action comedy directed by David Gordon Green. I wish the second half didn’t turn into an 80’s style bloodbath, but Franco is utterly appealing and the film’s themes of redemptive friendship are touching in this dying age of irony. Then they got high.

SPEED RACER – I know, I know. My list devolves. Here’s my complete review. And here’s a snippet: “Some critics have attacked the film for its anti-corporate ownership message and yes, there’s irony considering the studio producing it, but the message is actually about the power of art and the individual, and it’s not aimed at the old cynics in the audience. This is a fucking kid’s film fer Gawd’s sake…The Wachowski’s have a subversive political nature, and outside its visual style, SPEED RACER’s most revolutionary aspect is that the film was truly made for children, not adults. Robert Rodriguez’s charming SPY KIDS series is similar in that Rodriguez directs with the eyes of a child; SPEED RACER looks like it was directed by a child with LSD eyes.” Plus, there’s a monkey.

VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA – Woody Allen is a true Sagittarian. He darts the arrows of his critics by often aiming one right back into the hearts of audiences. Every few years there’s another article bemoaning Woody’s fate, then he pops out and surprises everybody as with MATCH POINT — which has become his biggest hit — and again with the awkwardly titled VCB, which will end up his second. It’s no surprise, the film is a breezy romantic snapshot of love triangles in exotic lands we can only dream about, filtered through Woody’s satirical lens. Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz are terrific fun as the tortured couple and I almost wish Woody would make his next movie entirely in another language. He’s still America’s greatest living filmmaker.

TROPIC THUNDER – Since satire is what usually closes on Saturday night, I was pleased this Ben Stiller Hollywood parody found an appreciative audience. Of course, it’s all about Robert Downey Jr.’s triple role as the method Australian actor who goes full African-American. He’s simply hilarious in his ignorant righteous.

IRON MAN – Like I said in my original piece, Greatest. Superhero. Casting. Ever.

Honorable Mention: CLOVERFIELD – While the film didn’t quite get me, I liked its sense of dread spectacle and thought it had the funnest William Castle type marketing since THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. And Michael Giaccino’s “Roar,” his fantastic musical homage to Akira Ikufube and the Godzilla films, wrapped it all up over the credits in a nifty Saturday Matinee sheen.