Previous 10: 15 December - Closing In

It would seem fitting that the only film in the "Les Autres" category would be one I don't know where to place in terms of year or in the simple terms of "like" or "dislike." According to some sites, IFC releases Abel Ferrara's Go Go Tales this year at some point, but I can't find evidence of such on either IFC's site or anywhere else for that matter. While there was plenty to like about his last film Mary (which, to this day, I believe IFC has done nothing with), there's a lot about Go Go Tales that demands a bit of settling before I decide my feelings on it (and, yes, that is Asia Argento French kissing a dog). At least two people suggested that Frost/Nixon worked not only because it was based on excellent source material but also that Ron Howard wasn't working with that absolute hack Akiva Goldsman. It's a pretty good sign when my biggest complaint about a Ron Howard film revolves around the overuse of eyeliner on Michael Sheen. Also, if anyone wants to explain to me why they (or anyone else) liked Gran Torino, I'd be much obliged. Most of the rest of the films will show up somewhere on my year-end round-up, so expect more close to the end of the month! P.S.: Even if you're slightly curious or a closet gore fan, I would still suggest it better to avoid Donkey Punch and Gutterballs altogether.

La Crème

Frost/Nixon - dir. Ron Howard - USA/UK/France - Universal - with Michael Sheen, Frank Langella, Kevin Bacon, Sam Rockwell, Matthew Macfadyen, Rebecca Hall, Oliver Platt, Toby Jones

Gomorrah [Gomorra] - dir. Matteo Garrone - Italy - IFC Films - with Toni Servillo, Gianfelice Imparto, Salvatore Cantalupo, Gigio Morra, Maria Nazionale, Carmine Paternoster, Salvatore Abruzzese, Marco Macor, Ciro Petrone

Milk - dir. Gus Van Sant - USA - Focus Features - with Sean Penn, James Franco, Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch, Alison Pill, Diego Luna, Victor Garber, Joseph Cross, Stephen Spinella, Denis O'Hare, Lucas Grabeel

Summer Hours [L'heure d'été] - dir. Olivier Assayas - France - IFC Films - with Charles Berling, Juliette Binoche, Jérémie Renier, Dominique Reymond, Edith Scob, Valérie Bonneton, Isabelle Sadoyan, Kyle Eastwood, Alice de Lencquesaing, Emile Berling

Les Autres

Go Go Tales - dir. Abel Ferrara - Italy/USA - IFC Films - with Willem Dafoe, Matthew Modine, Bob Hoskins, Sylvia Miles, Asia Argento, Roy Dotrice, Joe Cortese, Burt Young, Pras, Riccardo Scamarcio, Stefania Rocca, Bianca Balti, Anita Pallenberg, Lou Doillon

The Bad

Changeling - dir. Clint Eastwood - USA - Universal - with Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich, Jeffrey Donovan, Amy Ryan, Michael Kelly, Colm Feore, Jason Butler Harner

Donkey Punch - dir. Oliver Blackburn - UK - Magnet Releasing - with Robert Boulter, Sian Breckin, Tom Burke, Nichola Burley, Julian Morris, Jay Taylor, Jaime Winstone

Gran Torino - dir. Clint Eastwood - USA - Warner Bros. - with Clint Eastwood, Bee Vang, Ahney Her, Christopher Carley

Gutterballs - dir. Ryan Nicholson - Canada - TLA/Danger After Dark - with Alastair Gamble, Mihola Terzic, Nathan White, Wade Gibb, Candice Lewald

Mamma Mia! - dir. Phyllida Lloyd - USA/UK/Germany - Universal - with Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried, Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgård, Colin Firth, Christine Baranski, Julie Walters, Dominic Cooper

Awards, Etc. from Boston, NY and AFI

I'll never get sick of seeing of seeing Penélope Cruz's name on Critics Award lists. She added two more to the list for her performance in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, but we all remember that Tilda Swinton beat out Gone Baby Gone's Amy Ryan, who was undoubtedly the reigning champion of last year's supporting actress awards, when it came to Oscar time. Sean Penn, Heath Ledger and Sally Hawkins took home two more as well, with both The Boston Society of Film Critics and the New York Film Critics Online mirroring one another in the acting categories (although Penn tied with Mickey Rourke in Boston). Although I frown a bit at Boston's feel-good Best Picture tie of Slumdog Millionaire and WALL·E, their choices of Gus Van Sant for Best Director (honoring both Milk and Paranoid Park) and Christopher Doyle and Rain Kathy Li for cinematography for Paranoid Park was absolutely refreshing. Martin McDonagh was awarded the best new filmmaker for In Bruges by both. The two groups' awards, as well as AFI's list of the ten best films of 2008 are below:

Boston

Picture: (tie) Slumdog Millionaire; WALL·E
Director: Gus Van Sant - Milk; Paranoid Park
Actor: (tie) Sean Penn - Milk; Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler
Actress: Sally Hawkins - Happy-Go-Lucky
Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
Supporting Actress: Penélope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Foreign: Let the Right One In
Animated: WALL·E
Documentary: Man on Wire
Screenplay: Dustin Lance Black - Milk
Cinematography: Christopher Doyle, Rain Kathy Li - Paranoid Park
Editing: Chris Dickens - Slumdog Millionaire
Ensemble Cast: Tropic Thunder
Best New Filmmaker: Martin McDonagh - In Bruges

New York Film Critics Online

Picture: Slumdog Millionaire
Director: Danny Boyle, Loveleen Tandan - Slumdog Millionaire
Actor: Sean Penn - Milk
Actress: Sally Hawkins - Happy-Go-Lucky
Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
Supporting Actress: Penélope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Foreign: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
Animated: WALL·E
Documentary: Man on Wire
Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy - Slumdog Millionaire
Cinematography: Anthony Dod Mantle - Slumdog Millionaire
Score: A.R. Rahman - Slumdog Millionaire
Ensemble Cast: Milk
Breakout Performance: Sally Hawkins - Happy-Go-Lucky
Debut as Director: Matin McDonagh - In Bruges

The 10 Best Pictures (alphabetically):

Che
A Christmas Tale
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Happy-Go-Lucky
Milk
Rachel Getting Married
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL·E
The Wrestler

AFI's 10 Best Films of 2008 (Alphabetically)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Frozen River
Gran Torino
Iron Man
Milk
WALL·E
Wendy and Lucy
The Wrestler

In the Cold, I'm Standing

I'm feverishly working on my culminating lists of 2008 (I can hardly resist), and I've narrowed down my need-to-see list to two (Gomorrah and Still Life), both of which I'll be viewing in the next couple of days. With that in mind, I thought I'd use this opportunity to ask for some final recommendations before I put the final touches on my lists. I'm kicking myself for missing Ballast when it came through town, but the flu kept me out of commission that entire week. This is as good an opportunity as ever to list the 151 films released in 2008 (according to my own designated set of rules which allows for films that made their official premiere in any country during the year or hit US theatres during said time). For argument's sake, I'm considering 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days a 2007 release. I'll be updating this list with new films in italics (though I'll have an official update for every 10 qualifying films).

Alexandra
Another Gay Sequel: Gays Gone Wild
The Art of Travel
Baby Mama
The Babysitters
Baghead
The Band's Visit
The Bank Job
Before I Forget
Ben X

Billy the Kid
Blind Mountain
Blindness
Boarding Gate
Boy A
Boystown
Burn After Reading
Changeling
Che
A Christmas Tale

City of Men
The Class
Cloverfield
A Complete History of My Sexual Failures
The Dark Knight
Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
Derek
Diary of the Dead
Dog Tags
Donkey Punch

Doomsday
Drillbit Taylor
The Edge of Heaven
Eight Miles High
Elegy
Expired
The Fall
Filth and Wisdom
Finding Amanda
Flight of the Red Balloon

Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Four Minutes
The Free Will [Video premiere]
Frontier(s)
Frost/Nixon
Frownland
Garden Party
A Girl Cut in Two
Go Go Tales
Gomorrah
The Good Boy [Video premiere]
Goth Cruise

Gran Torino
The Grand
The Grocer's Son
Gutterballs
Hamlet 2
The Happening
Happy-Go-Lucky
Heidi Fleiss: The Would-Be Madam of Crystal [TV premiere]
Help Me Eros
Holding Trevor
The Houseboy

Humboldt County
Hunger
I Dreamt Under the Water
Ice Blues
In Bruges
In Search of a Midnight Kiss
In the Arms of My Enemy [Video premiere]
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Inside [Video premiere]
Irina Palm

I've Loved You So Long
Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer
Jellyfish
Joy Division [Video premiere]
Julia
Kiss the Bride
The Last Mistress
La León
Let the Right One In
Lost in Beijing

Love Songs
Mamma Mia!
Man on Wire
Married Life
Milk
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
Mister Lonely
Mother of Tears
My Blueberry Nights
My Brother Is an Only Child
Nights & Weekends

Noise
O' Horten
OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies
The Other Boleyn Girl
Otto; or Up with Dead People
Paranoid Park
The Plans of Man [Video premiere]
Pleasure Factory
Polar Opposites
Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead

Priceless
Rachel Getting Married
Recount [TV premiere]
Religulous
Reprise
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
The Ruins
Savage Grace
A Secret
The Secret of the Grain

Sex and the City
Shelter
Shelter Me
Shotgun Stories
Shutter
The Signal
Slumdog Millionaire
Snow Angels
Son of Rambow
Step Brothers

Stuck
Summer Hours
Summer Palace
Synecdoche, New York
Taken
Team Picture
Teeth
Tell No One
Then She Found Me
Timecrimes
Times and Winds

Transsiberian
Tropic Thunder
The Unknown Woman
The Untouchable
Up the Yangtze
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
The Visitor
The Wackness
WALL·E
Waltz with Bashir

Water Lilies
The Wedding Director
Wendy and Lucy
What We Do Is Secret
The Witnesses
Wonderful Town
The Wrestler
XXY
Yeast
Yella
Young@Heart

Quick DVD Update

Eric posted about Koch Lorber's upcoming release of Luchino Visconti's final film L'innocente, which is set for 10 March. Sony also announced Wong Kar-wai's Ashes of Time Redux for 3 March. Dark Sky will release Juraj Herz's The Cremator on 31 March. And finally, look for Aleksandr Sokurov's Alexandra on 7 April from New Yorker (though with all New Yorker announcements, note that the date is not solid, though the chances are better for one of their Cinema Guild releases like this one).

New Films from Moodysson, Potter, Angelopoulos, Miller, Kaige at Berlin

10 films, in addition to Tom Tykwer's The International, have been announced to play at next year's Berlin International Film Festival. The titles include Lukas Moodysson's Mammoth, with Michelle Williams, Gael García Bernal and Thomas McCarthy (the director of The Visitor, who was also in the last season of The Wire); Sally Potter's Rage Great, with Judi Dench, Jude Law, Steve Buscemi, John Leguizamo, Eddie Izzard and Dianne Wiest; Theo Angelopoulos' The Dust of Time with Irène Jacob, Bruno Ganz, Michel Piccoli and Willem Dafoe; Chen Kaige's Forever Entralled; and Rebecca Miller's The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, with Robin Wright Penn, Julianne Moore, Winona Ryder, Keanu Reeves, Blake Lively, Monica Bellucci, Maria Bello, and Alan Arkin, which is adapted from her novel of the same name. More information here.

Notorious

R.I.P. Bettie Page.

Previous 10: 12 December - Or Is It Nine?

So technically/maybe this is only 9 films, but I suppose it depends on how you view Che. I'm still not sure what to make of it, as Soderbergh makes a lot of strong decisions as well as bad ones. More thoughts on some of the others later, including Slumdog Millionaire and Blindness.

La Crème

Julia - dir. Erick Zonca - France/USA/Mexico/Belgium - No US Distributor - with Tilda Swinton, Aidan Gould, Saul Rubinek, Kate del Castillo, Bruno Bichir, Horacio Garcia Rojas, Jude Ciccolella

Man on Wire - dir. James Marsh - UK/USA - Magnolia - with Philippe Petit

The Secret of the Grain [La graine et le mulet] - dir. Abdel Kechiche - France - IFC Films - with Hafsia Herzi, Habib Boufares, Farida Benkhetache, Abdelhamid Aktouche, Alice Houri

Les Autres

Che [The Argentina; Guerrilla] - dir. Steven Soderbergh - USA/France/Spain - IFC Films - with Benicio del Toro, Demián Bichir, Catakuba Sandino Moreno, Franka Potente, Rodrigo Santoro, Julia Ormond, Unax Uglade, Kahlil Mendez, Joaquim de Almeida, Lou Diamond Phillips, Yul Vazquez, Jordi Mollà, Matt Damon

Step Brothers - dir. Adam McKay - USA - Sony Pictures - with Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Mary Steenburgen, Richard Jenkins, Adam Scott, Kathryn Hahn

Slumdog Millionaire - dir. Danny Boyle - UK/USA - with Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Anil Kapoor, Irfan Khan

The Bad

Blindness - dir. Fernando Meirelles - Canada/Brazil/Japan - Miramax - with Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Gael García Bernal, Yusuke Iseya, Alice Braga, Don McKellar, Yoshino Kimura, Maury Chaykin

Dog Tags - dir. Damion Dietz - USA - TLA Releasing - with Paul Preiss, Bart Fletcher, Candy Clark

Goth Cruise - dir. Jeanie Finlay - UK - IFC

And thank you, Brooke Shields!

I've come to terms with the fact that I can't intellectualize my fascination with the cinema award season (maybe I'll come up with something someday), so even acknowledging the general silliness of the Golden Globes, I watched the announcements this morning hoping for at least one moment where my jaw would semi-drop and another where I react like Ja'mie from Summer Heights High when she's told she can't put on a year-eleven formal. I at least got the first one when Rebecca Hall's name was called for Best Actress for Vicky Cristina Barcelona, easily the most overlooked, fantastic performance of this awards season (Colin Farrell's nomination for In Bruges was also a pleasant surprise). There were some disappointments too, though not really in the nominees as much as the omissions (where was Michelle Williams?). I'm pretty fed up with the notion that Rachel Getting Married is one of those "performance movies," where everyone marvels at the actors and has nothing to say about the film as a whole. Usually "performance movies" are relegated to biopics, but I still don't quite fathom why Anne Hathaway is still the only thing in the film getting the attention it deserves. Milk was also mysteriously M.I.A. when the Motion Picture - Drama category was called (as was Doubt), but the fact that Gran Torino (which I admittedly haven't seen yet) was only nominated for "Best Song" (yep) hopefully marks Hollywood's wake-up call to the idea that Clint Eastwood isn't infallible (he never has been). Also, I hope the Academy goes the way of the Globes in keeping accolades for The Dark Knight surrounding Heath Ledger and nothing else (outside of the technical awards). And finally, what an atrocious bunch of foreign-language films! Okay, not really, but I'm ashamed to see a lousy film like I've Loved You So Long and an overrated one like Waltz with Bashir above The Class and even Let the Right One In; if you're curious, here's the full list of the foreign selections for this year's GG. I suppose we can kiss Australia's chances of contending at the Oscars away. Keep in mind this: Last Chance Harvey, 2 nominations; Milk, 1. Anyway, here are the nominees, full list here:

Motion Picture - Drama

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - dir. David Fincher
Frost/Nixon - dir. Ron Howard
The Reader - dir. Stephen Daldry
Revolutionary Road - dir. Sam Mendes
Slumdog Millionaire - dir. Danny Boyle

Motion Picture - Musical/Comedy

Burn After Reading - dir. Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Happy-Go-Lucky - dir. Mike Leigh
In Bruges - dir. Martin McDonagh
Mamma Mia! - dir. Phyllida Lloyd
Vicky Cristina Barcelona - dir. Woody Allen

Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama

Leonardo DiCaprio - Revolutionary Road
Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn - Milk
Brad Pitt - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler

Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama

Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie - Changeling [really?]
Meryl Streep - Doubt
Kristin Scott Thomas - I've Loved You So Long
Kate Winslet - Revolutionary Road

Actor in Motion Picture - Musical/Comedy

Javier Bardem - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Colin Farrell - In Bruges
James Franco - Pineapple Express
Brendan Gleeson - In Bruges
Dustin Hoffman - Last Chance Harvey

Actress in Motion Picture - Musical/Comedy

Rebecca Hall - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Sally Hawkins - Happy-Go-Lucky
Frances McDormand - Burn After Reading
Meryl Streep - Mamma Mia!
Emma Thompson - Last Chance Harvey

Actor in a Supporting Role

Tom Cruise - Tropic Thunder [har har]
Robert Downey Jr. - Tropic Thunder
Ralph Fiennes - The Duchess
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt
Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight

Actress in a Supporting Role

Amy Adams - Doubt
Penélope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis - Doubt
Marisa Tomei - The Wrestler
Kate Winslet - The Reader

Director

Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire
Stephen Daldry - The Reader
David Fincher - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard - Frost/Nixon
Sam Mendes - Revolutionary Road

Screenplay

Eric Roth, Robin Swicord - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
John Patrick Shanley - Doubt
Peter Morgan - Frost/Nixon
David Hare - The Reader
Simon Beaufoy - Slumdog Millionaire

Animated Film

Bolt - dir. Byron Howard, Chris Williams
Kung Fu Panda - dir. Mark Osborne, John Stevenson
WALL·E - dir. Andrew Stanton

Foreign Language Film

The Baader Meinhof Complex [Der Baader Meinhof Komplex] - dir. Uli Edel - Germany
Everlasting Moments [Maria Larssons eviga ögonblick] - dir. Jan Troell - Sweden
Gomorrah [Gomorra] - dir. Matteo Garrone - Italy
I've Loved You So Long [Il y a longtemps que je t'aime] - dir. Philippe Claudel - France
Waltz with Bashir - dir. Ari Folman - Israel

New York Film Critics Circle for Milk

Gus Van Sant's Milk took home the top prize at the New York Film Critics Circle. Many of the other winners are repeats of the other awards that have already been given out, with a surprise of 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days winning their Best Foreign Language Film, further pushing it into the grayest of areas in terms of what year it technically qualifies for. The other NYFCC winners include Mike Leigh, Sean Penn, Sally Hawkins, Josh Brolin, Penélope Cruz, Jenny Lumet, Man on Wire and WALL·E. Full list here.