84 replies to this topic

[Peter T Chattaway]

Owen Gleiberman @ Entertainment Weekly (#1: Tree of Life).

Lisa Schwarzbaum @ Entertainment Weekly (#1: Melancholia).

Todd McCarthy @ Hollywood Reporter (#1 seems to be The Descendants).

[Peter T Chattaway]

Black Film Critics Circle (#1: The Help).

Edited by Peter T Chattaway, 24 December 2011 - 03:04 AM.

[Tyler]

Paste's 25 top performances. Take Shelter claims the top two spots (Chastain and Shannon).

[Overstreet]

The Vancouver Film Critics Nominations

[Peter T Chattaway]

Overstreet wrote:
: The Vancouver Film Critics Nominations

That list omits the Canadian nominations. The full list is up on our website.

[Nathan Douglas]

Peter T Chattaway, on 03 January 2012 - 02:30 AM, said:

Overstreet wrote:
: The Vancouver Film Critics Nominations

That list omits the Canadian nominations. The full list is up on our website.

Small Town Murder Songs! I don't know if it rates the best of those three, but it's nice to see the nomination for a non-Toronto Ontario film that also happened to be pretty good. The way they swung for the fences with those musical asides was pretty bracing, for a contemporary Canadian film.

[Christian]

Anne Thompson's Best Performances of 2011 is spot on! Well, let me soften that a bit. I can't confirm the performances in Tyrannosaur or Take Shelter -- both still unseen by me, much to my frustration. But I don't doubt that the performances are worthy of the list, based on the collective comments from other film writers. Also, I never was engaged with Beginners. Guess I should give it another shot.

So, the list is ... nearly spot on! I'm trying to think of who I might add. Maybe Keira Knightley in A Dangerous Method.

Edited by Christian, 03 January 2012 - 07:40 PM.

[M. Leary]

Christian, on 03 January 2012 - 07:39 PM, said:

So, the list is ... nearly spot on! I'm trying to think of who I might add. Maybe Keira Knightley in A Dangerous Method.

Good, but I really don't like anything about We Need to Talk About Kevin, including Swinton. Watching it again confirmed that really was one of the worst films I have seen for a long time. Somehow Ramsay went from Loach to Van Sant in the span of two films.

Would be slightly tempted to see Miranda July there on that list instead.

Edited by M. Leary, 03 January 2012 - 09:04 PM.

[Christian]

M. Leary, on 03 January 2012 - 09:02 PM, said:

Good, but I really don't like anything about We Need to Talk About Kevin, including Swinton. Watching it again confirmed that really was one of the worst films I have seen for a long time.

I am surprised to hear this. I was floored by the film, mainly by Swinton's performance. I've not seen anything else by the director.

The movie ended, and before I had given it much thought, my wife blurted out, "That was great!"

I was surprised by the intensity of her reaction.

Recently she was talking to a friend who has a son who has started manifesting disturbing behavior and saying awful things -- but only to her, when no one else is around. She started a video camera one day to capture him on video. She gave the tape to a doctor, or therapist, who the boy had been seeing because the parents couldn't account for his behavior and wanted to prove that their son was saying horrible things to his mother.

He's five years old.

My wife told me about this, and mentioned We Need to Talk About Kevin. FWIW.

Edited by Christian, 03 January 2012 - 09:23 PM.

[M. Leary]

I have seen the film on a few top ten lists from critics I generally admire, which has thrown me for a loop. We should move this to the thread for the film, as I wouldn't mind hearing a spirited defense of the film from someone who appreciates it. Part of my animosity toward the film is a general disappointment in Ramsay as a stylist.

[Darren H]

Quote

I never was engaged with Beginners

I don't know why anyone would include this film in a discussion of "best ensemble" performances. I think I would've really enjoyed a 90-minute film starring Christopher Plummer as an elderly, dying widower who comes out, falls in love with an unfaithful man, and attempts to reconcile with his son (Ewan McGregor in a supporting role). The other story line bored me to tears, though. I'll never forgive Mike Mills for casting a talented actress -- and one of the most beautiful women on the planet (Melanie Laurent) -- and then crafting a performance with her that sucked the life out of every scene.

[Tyler]

Darren H, on 04 January 2012 - 10:20 AM, said:

Quote

I never was engaged with Beginners

I don't know why anyone would include this film in a discussion of "best ensemble" performances. I think I would've really enjoyed a 90-minute film starring Christopher Plummer as an elderly, dying widower who comes out, falls in love with an unfaithful man, and attempts to reconcile with his son (Ewan McGregor in a supporting role). The other story line bored me to tears, though. I'll never forgive Mike Mills for casting a talented actress -- and one of the most beautiful women on the planet (Melanie Laurent) -- and then crafting a performance with her that sucked the life out of every scene.

So that wasn't just me, then. Good to know.

[M. Leary]

Darren H, on 04 January 2012 - 10:20 AM, said:

I'll never may not forgive Mike Mills Lynne Ramsay for casting a talented actress -- and one of the most beautiful women on the planet[s][s] (Tilda Swinton) -- and then crafting a performance with her that sucked the life out of every scene.

Edited by M. Leary, 04 January 2012 - 12:24 PM.

[Christian]

M. Leary, on 04 January 2012 - 12:23 PM, said:

Darren H, on 04 January 2012 - 10:20 AM, said:

I'll never may not forgive Mike Mills Lynne Ramsay for casting a talented actress -- and one of the most beautiful women on the planet[s][s] (Tilda Swinton) -- and then crafting a performance with her that sucked the life out of every scene.

Interesting that I just followed a tweet to Reverse Shot's takedown of the film. The writer gives several indications that the film is about Kevin -- hey, he's the focus of the title, so that's not incorrect. But the interest in the film is all about the mother and her baffled reaction to her own kid. I suppose you could say that we don't see a lot of development in her reaction, but it never failed to interest me.

As for the "f-o-r-e-s-h-a-d-o-w-i-n-g" dig, OK, I laughed, but the film frames what's already happened. We know that something was the instrument of the action. When we see the weapon, we realize what it was. But rather than rolling my eyes, I thought, "How horrifying."

Spoiler

The Columbine parallels had me thinking guns, of course.

EDIT: Oh, just re-read the Reverse Shot item and noticed this: "nothing can justify a film about a perpetrator of high-school mass murder that doesn’t have anything substantive to say, ethically or emotionally, about his predilections for cruelty."

This is what makes the film interesting, rather than a failure. It doesn't provide answers. It's troubling. I figured the Reverse Shot folks liked that sort of thing.

Edited by Christian, 04 January 2012 - 01:03 PM.

[M. Leary]

Hoberman's lists have long been a lodestar for me, but no longer.

[Overstreet]

This long Q&A is my favorite 2011 reflection on the year in film: A Nashville Scene conversation between several critics including Michael Sicinski, Jim Ridley, and others. Great stuff all the way through.

[Darrel Manson]

National Society of Film Critics:
Top film: Melancholia
Runner up: The Tree of Life
3rd place: A Separation

[Tyler]

Best and worst sci-fi/fantasy movies, from IO9.

Attack the Block is #1 on the best list, but Limitless is #3, so I'm not sure what to make of it overall.

[Overstreet]

Cinema Scope's #1 pick: This is Not a Film

Oh, uh... this top ten list is probably NSFW.

Edited by Overstreet, 12 January 2012 - 06:38 PM.

[Christian]

Did Dave Kehr post his Top 10, or is this blog post the closest he came?

My ten best is more like a two best — I don’t think I saw anything better than Lars von Trier’s “Melancholia” and (to my own astonishment) Jason Reitman’s caustic and courageously unlikable “Young Adult.” But I missed a lot in the last twelve months and I’m open to suggestions, which I hope you folks will submit in great profusion.

Comments ensue.