Barry's Beetchin Movies: June 2007

The cream of the crap are:

10.RV (Barry Sonnenfeld)
9.Step Up (Anne Fletcher)
8.Lucky Number Slevin (Paul McGuigan)
7.Failure to Launch (Tom Dey)
6.The Covenant (Renny Harlin)
5.The Black Dahlia (Brian de Palma)
4.Sorry, Haters (Jeff Stanzler)
3.Miami Vice (Michael Mann)
2.See No Evil (Gregory Dark)
1.Stay Alive (William Brent Bell)

The Top 10 of 2006 will start later today...

Top 10 of 2005: #1

First a rundown of films 20-2 (I wrote captions for films 10-2):

20)The Upside of Anger
19)Transamerica
18)The Skeleton Key
17)Rent
16)North Country
15)Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit
14)Cinderella Man
13)Pride & Prejudice
12)Match Point
11)Howl's Moving Castle
10)Sin City
9)Brokeback Mountain
8)King Kong
7)Memoirs of a Geisha
6)Walk the Line
5)Heights
4)Cursed
3)November
2)Junebug

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Crash dir. Paul Haggis

Typical? Maybe to some people. However, to all the haters out there, Crash rightfully won the Oscar for Best Picture. That's it, let the bile flow. Crash is a better film than Brokeback Mountain. Crash examines the lives of several people over a 36 hour period in Los Angeles, and how different accounts of racism affects each of them. These people are Rick Cabot (Brendan Fraser), a district attorney, his wife Jean (Sandra Bullock), Anthony (Ludacris) and Peter (Larenz Tate), two thieves, Graham Waters (Don Cheadle) and Ria (Jennifer Esposito) two detectives, Officers John Ryan and Tom Hansen (Matt Dillon and Ryan Phillippe), Cameron and Christine Thayer (Terrence Howard and Thandie Newton), Daniel (Michael Pena), a locksmith and Farhad and Dorri (Shaun Toub and Bahar Soomekh), a shop owner and his daughter. We come to care about all of these characters and they are fully fleshed out in the screentime given to them. We want all of their situations to be resolved in the right way even though we know some of them might not end happily. The writing here is extremely strong and powerful. The way these people talk, although not pretty at times, speaks volumes about how some people act today. Paul Haggis and Robert Moresco have fashioned an amazing script and all the actors speak their lines with conviction. Paul Haggis is a great director too, doing everything perfectly from the get-go. All of the actors are amazing. I mean every single one of them. My favourite performances come from: Sandra Bullock (giving the performance of her career), Thandie Newton, Matt Dillon, Michael Pena, Don Cheadle, Terrence Howard and Ludacris. My most favourite performance however, is Thandie Newton's. The pain and sadness she conveys is shattering and in every one of her scenes, I felt for her. She was unrightfully robbed of an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Every scene in this movie is fantastic and absolutely perfect. Crash is one of the best movies I have ever seen and definitely the best movie of 2005.

Top 10 of 2005: #2

Junebug dir. Phil Morrison

Junebug is a movie I didn't expect to carry the huge impact that it had on me. I thought it would be a nice, charming, small little movie, but it was so much more. Junebug is about a woman named Madeleine (Embeth Davidtz), an art dealer, who has recently married her boyfriend George (Alessandro Nivola). With the marriage already in place, it is time for Madeleine to meet her in-laws. While Madeleine may be nervous already, her in-laws assumptions and comments will add to that. The in-laws consist of Eugene & Peg (Scott Wilson and Celia Weston), George's parents, Johnny (Benjamin McKenzie), his brother and Ashley (Amy Adams), Johnny's pregnant wife. While everyone else dislikes Madeleine, Ashley takes an instant liking, before even meeting her. What goes on for the rest of the movie is not what you expect. This film is truthful and honest and every single piece of dialogue in this movie is authentic. Angus MacLachlan's writing is masterful and he carefully explores each person in this family with precise detail. Phil Morrison is an amazing director and he guides his cast and the movie as a whole, to excellence. I can't wait to see what he does next. Every performer is great. Scott Wilson is great as Eugene. Ben McKenzie's performance makes me wonder why he would ever agree to be on such a shitty show as The OC because he is extremely talented. Alessandro Nivola brings a lot of charm and humor to George and one of my favourite scenes is when he sings that hymn. Embeth Davidtz is fantastic as Madeleine and is great at showing us the layers hidden beneath her quiet exterior. However, two performances stand out for me. Celia Weston is excellent as Peg. Being brazen and tough one scene and vulnerable and deep in one scene towards the end of the movie. Amy Adams is a revelation as Ashley. She is extraordinary in this role and deserved the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. I loved her charm, humour and wit throughout the film and in one pivotal scene towards the end, her heartbreaking realness. That scene is heartwrenching and it moved me to tears. Not enough words can describe how amazing Adams is. Junebug is another masterpiece of 2006 and while not the best movie of the year, a close runner up.