My Favorite Movies of 2012 Sunday, Mar 3 2013

I am finally ready to compile my list of favorite movies from last year. Living in a small town means that it usually takes longer to see all the important films of the year; some films never come here. Nevertheless I’ve managed to see all of the films that I think have the best shot for making my list. There are two major films I missed this last year: Argo and Les Miserables. I can always add them later if I see them and really like them.

1. Django Unchained

My favorite film of 2012 was Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained. Here’s the trailer:

As a general rule, I tend to love Tarantino’s films. Unlike everyone else in the world, however, I didn’t really care much for his previous film Inglorious Basterds. For me, that film was missing the element that I most enjoy in my favorite Tarantino films: personal revenge. (I know that the Shosanna Dreyfus character was more or less fulfilling this function, but I felt that the film’s revenge plot got swallowed up in the fantasy of killing Nazis.)

Many viewers and critics loved that movie and had a more lukewarm response to Django Unchained, arguing that the latter failed in its depiction of slavery and racism. I obviously disagree. For me, Django’s personal revenge story gives us an interesting, albeit fantastical glimpse into nineteenth-century slavery. I thought Tarantino was back in the mode of Kill Bill, my favorite of his movies, using violence and spectacle not merely to entertain but also to make us think. I think this is a challenging film that also happens to be really stylish and interesting. Consequently, it’s number one on my list!

Leave a Response »

 

Good Boys: A Review Saturday, Aug 4 2012

Last night, PJ and I watched the 2005 Israeli movie Good Boys, written and directed by Yair Hochner. It stars Daniel Efrat as Menni and Yuval Raz as Tal, two prostitutes in Tel Aviv who meet and then are hired to have sex together while their John watches. They then spend the night together, and both men feel that they’ve made a special connection to one another. They agree to meet up again the next evening; the movie follows their efforts to do so.

Here’s a trailer, of sorts:

Menni is clearly the more successful prostitute: he’s cuter that Tal and he dresses better, and the sign of his success is that he has regular clients rather than works the streets. But he still has problems, not the least of which is the appearance of a female prostitute he once slept with, resulting in a child. While Menni identifies as gay and has little interest in raising his daughter, he feels some need to make sure the two of them are safe.

Tal, on the other hand, lives hand to mouth and is constantly on the lookout for easy money. He’s not as cute as Menni and therefore takes more risks with his clients. Consequently, he’s in more danger as he works the streets.

Just before they’re supposed to meet up, Menni and Tal each meet another man. Menni runs into a younger hustler who has been beaten up. He befriends him and offers him a place to stay. The two then embark on a mini-quest to return Menni’s daughter to her mother or her parents. Tal picks up a trick in the bar just when he’s supposed to be meeting Menni. The trick turns out to be bad news, and film cuts back and forth between Menni’s efforts to find his daughter’s mother and Tal and Tal’s efforts to end his “date.”

Overall, this is an interesting, provocative movie. It seems to depict prostitution rather realistically — it doesn’t romanticize these men’s lives or work. The leads are both excellent in their parts, and I think we come to care for them and whether they’re going to make it or not. The movie is only about 75 minutes long, making it a short, but well-made little movie. It’s another good example of Israeli queer cinema.

Leave a Response »

 

My Favorite Movies of 2011 Sunday, Feb 26 2012

In honor of the Oscars tonight, I thought I would finally sit down and do my annual ten favorite movies list. As usual, these aren’t necessarily the best movies of the year. They’re the ones I enjoyed most.

Many of the movies on my list are anchored by a strong central performance. In a couple of cases, that’s what I love most about the film. Others are great stories. At least one is an artistic work that I don’t understand but really loved anyway!

Number one on my list is The Iron Lady.

I know that practically no one besides me loved this film, but I honestly think it’s not being given a fair shake. Meryl Streep’s performance is a masterpiece — one of her best ever — but I also liked the script, direction, makeup, sets, etc. The secret, it seems to me, is not to think of it as a Margaret Thatcher bio-pic. You have to think about it as a study of power, memory, and loss. Of all the movies I saw this year, it’s the one I most look forward to owning on DVD.

One Response »

 

The Tree of Life: A (Very) Brief Review Monday, Feb 6 2012

PJ and I recently saw The Tree of Life, directed by Terrence Malick and starring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, and Jessica Chastain. It started a bit slow, I thought, but the more I watched the more I got into it. It’s a movie that you have to let wash over you — just sit back and experience it rather than follow a plot or try to figure everything out.

By the end, I was convinced that this is a beautiful, amazing film that is one of the most interesting movies of recent years. It’s clearly auspicious in its imagination — a work of art more than a typical movie. Even though I don’t understand much of it, I loved it! It’s certainly one of the year’s best films.

Leave a Response »

 

The Iron Lady: A Review Friday, Feb 3 2012

Last night, PJ and I saw The Iron Lady starring Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher. We both love Streep, so we’ve been waiting for this movie to come to Athens and eagerly anticipating seeing it. Here’s the trailer:

The Iron Lady has gotten mixed reviews. The main problem, it seems to me, is the trailer, which gives the impression that the movie is about Thatcher’s years in office and gives viewers the idea that Streep’s performance is a caricature. Both are wrong.

The film is really about what it means to be old and dealing with the overwhelming loss of one’s mate. Margaret Thatcher is just the vehicle for an exploration of what it means to be near the end of one’s life and to have lost almost everything that gave that life meaning. In this case, that includes one’s husband, political power, and national visibility.

Leave a Response »

 

Shame: A Review Sunday, Jan 8 2012

While we were in New York City last month, PJ and I saw Shame directed by Steve McQueen and starring Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan. Fassbender plays Brandon, a high-functioning sex addict who’s delicately balanced world is thrown off keel when his sister, played by Mulligan, comes for an unexpected visit. Here’s the trailer:

Shame is a fascinating character study. The film’s emphasis is less on plot — Brandon drifts from one sexual liaison to the next without a whole lot of direction or purposefulness — and more on examining what’s happening to Brandon as he grapples with trying to make connections without other people. The way I saw it, sex is the only way in which he can connect, and when women — his sister and a beautiful co-worker, played by Nicole Beharie, begin to make demands on him that involve anything even remotely emotional, his world begins to fall apart.

We first saw Fassbender in Hunger, McQueen’s 2008 brilliant first feature about the 1981 Irish hunger strike. Fassbender was amazing in that role, and he’s equally great here. Both films focus on Fassbender’s body, but in very different ways. In Hunger, his character starves himself to death. Here, Brandon is obsessed with replacing the emotional with the physical. He’s a man who can’t satiate his emotional needs with sex, but he nevertheless tries and tries and tries.

Leave a Response »

 

The Devil’s Double: A Review Sunday, Dec 11 2011

Last night, PJ and I watched The Devil’s Double, which tells the story of Latif Yahia, who was forced to become the body double for Uday Hussein, Sadam Hussein’s psychotic son. Based on a true story, The Devil’s Double stars Dominic Cooper as both Latif and Uday in a memorizing performance that makes this movie a must-see. Here’s the trailer:

Cooper is amazing in this role. In the past, I’ve mostly thought of him as a sexy actor. In such movies as Momma Mia!, An Education, The Duchess, and The History Boys, he stands out as a handsome, attractive man rather than as an accomplished actor. The Devil’s Double certainly makes the most of his physical attractiveness. Early in the movie, for example, we see him in various states of undress, such as with his shirt unbuttoned:

In a speedo:

Leave a Response »

 

The Future: A Quick Review Wednesday, Dec 7 2011

Miranda July‘s You and Me and Everyone We Know is one of my favorite movies, so PJ and I were looking forward to seeing her new movie, The Future, which is about a 30-something couple, played by July and Hamish Linklater, who lead rather aimless lives until they decide to adopt a cat, Paw-Paw, who happens to be severely ill and who they think will only live a short time. In essence, they’re going to adopt it just so it can have a home to die in.

When they go to pick up the cat, they learn that they will have to wait 30 days before it can come home with them and that it might live for a few years if they nurse it properly. This isn’t at all what they had planned for, and it throws their lives into disarray. Jason, played by Linklater, quits his job as a computer tech guy and volunteers to help save the environment, and Sophie, played by July, quits her job as a children’s dance teacher and starts an affair with an older man with a young daughter. As their relationship falls apart, Paw-Paw, who also narrates the film, waits in the shelter hoping they will come to rescue him/her.

Here’s the trailer:

I won’t give away any more of the plot than that, but I have to say that this is one of the most affecting movies I’ve seen in a long time. Just thinking about it recalls the emotions I felt while watching it. I’m not sure I understand it, and I’m not even sure I enjoyed it, but I nevertheless think it is an interesting, smart, complex, and powerful movie that has stayed with me.

2 Responses »

 

The Muppets: A Quick Review Tuesday, Dec 6 2011

PJ and I recently saw the new Muppets movie starring Jason Segel, Amy Adams, and the Muppets. Here’s the trailer:

The plot of the movie is pretty simple: it’s been years since the Muppets were hot, so they have each gone their separate ways to have careers of their own. Some are barely making it — like Fozzie Bear, who stars in a knock-off group, The Moopets — while others are wildly successful in their new careers — like Gonzo, who runs a plumber supply shop. When Walter, a new character, and his fellow Muppet fans Gary and Mary (Segel and Adams) arrive in Hollywood to tour the Muppet Studios only to discover that evil oil baron Chris Cooper is planning to demolish the Muppet Theater and drill for oil, they reunite the Muppets for a big televised benefit to safe the theater.

Overall, The Muppets is fun and enjoyable. I thought the early plot points took a little too long to unfold — I would have liked more of the telethon scenes — but the songs are good, and it’s simply fun to see the Muppets on-screen again. I wish they would return to TV. Disney should restart The Muppet Show! People my age would love it!

Leave a Response »

 

Weekend: A Review Saturday, Nov 12 2011

Last night PJ and I went to see Weekend, a new gay independent film about two men, Russell and Glen, who meet on a one-night stand and end up spending a weekend together. Here’s the trailer:

This movie has gotten great reviews, and we assumed we would have to wait until our trip to New York next month to see it, so we were really excited when our local art theater, The Athena, announced that it was showing here. It’s not a perfect movie, but I really enjoyed it — it’s far and away better than the average gay independent movie!

Tom Cullen plays Russell, a not quite fully out gay man in search of connection after spending the evening drinking and smoking pot with his best straight friends. Chris New plays Glen, an artist who politicizes his gayness by talking loudly about gay S&M while hanging out in straight bars and then arguing with the other patrons about it, for example.

As the two men spend the weekend talking, arguing, fucking, and partying, they begin to open up to one another as they’ve never opened up to anyone before. The most appealing aspect of the film is the emotional honesty that these characters have. You feel like you’re eavesdropping on real conversations. For example, Glen and Russell talk about their coming out stories. Both of their stories feel real and honest. These moments seem incredibly wise and insightful but not out of character — Glen and Russell are never wiser than men like them would be. I tend to like talky pictures; that’s definitely what I like best about Weekend.

2 Responses »