Well, we’re at the halfway point of the movie year – the summer movies are winding down, and the Oscar bait is still ahead of us in the autumn and holidays. So it’s time to take stock of the year’s movies to date. I now have ten movies on my list of Best Movies of 2010 – So Far. You can read my comments and watch the trailers on the Best Movies of 2010 – So Far page.
Better yet, you can see Toy Story 3and Inception in the theater this week.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, A Prophet, The Girl on the Train, Fish Tank, The Ghost Writer and Sweetgrass are all available on DVD right now. Sweetgrass is also available on Netflix streaming video.
The Secrets of Their Eyes will be available on DVD on September 21. The DVD release of my top film of the year so far, Winter’s Bone, is October 26.
Joseph Gordon Levitt and Leonardo DiCaprio in Inception
I recommend the summer’s one high quality blockbuster, Inception. If you have followed The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, you will want to continue the trilogy with The Girl Who Played With Fire. The indie dramedy The Kids Are All Right is enjoyable, too. One of the year’s best, Toy Story 3, is still playing, but the equally great Winter’s Bone has become difficult to find. For trailers and other choices, see Movies to See Right Now.
My DVDs of the week are the gnarly Step into Liquid and the way awesome Riding Giants. For the trailers and other DVD choices, see DVDs of the Week.
Movies on TV include The Searchers and Bad Day at Black Rock, coming up on TCM. Before Sunrise is still playing on IFC.
I can’t speak to the three most promising new films, because I haven’t seen them yet: The Kids Are All Right, Inception andThe Girl Who Played With Fire. But that should be remedied by next week’s recommendations. In the mean time, I can say that the “must see” films in theaters remain Winter’s Bone and Toy Story 3. Winter’s Bone has been out for a while, so, if you haven’t seen it in a theater, you’d better see it soon. For trailers and other choices, see Movies to See Right Now.
My DVD of the week is Tortilla Soup. It’s the closest thing to a chick flick that I’ll be recommending for at least a month. For the trailer and other DVD choices, see DVDs of the Week.
John Ford's The Searchers
Movies on TV include The Searchers and Bad Day at Black Rock, coming up on TCM. The Crying Game and Before Sunrise are still playing on IFC.
The “must see” films in theaters remain Winter’s Bone and Toy Story 3. Winter’s Bone has been out for a while, so, if you haven’t seen it in a theater, you’d better see it soon. For trailers and other choices, see Movies to See Right Now.
It’s summer vacation, so I am letting people catch up with my most recent DVD recommendations: Eight Men Out, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl on the Train, John Adams and The Deep End. For the trailers and other DVD choices, see DVDs of the Week.
The Crying Game
Movies on TV include The Crying Game and Before Sunrise on IFC this month. Freaks, Soylent Green and 12 Angry Men are coming up on TCM.
The “must see” films in theaters remain Winter’s Bone and Toy Story 3. Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work is good, too. For trailers and other choices, see Movies to See Right Now.
My DVDs of the week are Eight Men Out (for the MLB All-Star Game) and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (because its sequel The Girl Who Played With Fire has been released. For the trailers and other DVD choices, see DVDs of the Week.
Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke in Before Sunrise
Movies on TV include The Firemen’s Ball, The Crying Game and Before Sunrise and on IFC this month. Freaks, Soylent Green and 12 Angry Men are coming up on TCM.
The “must see” films in theaters remain Winter’s Bone and Toy Story 3. Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work is good, too. For trailers and other choices, see Movies to See Right Now.
My DVD of the week is John Adams. For the trailer and other DVD choices, see DVDs of the Week.
Milos Forman's The Firemen's Ball
Movies on TV include The Firemen’s Ball, The Crying Gameand Before Sunrise.
Winter’s Bone Director Debra Granik has delivered one of the year’s best American films – with just her second feature. Every moment of Winter’s Bone seems absolutely real and absolutely true. Granik shot in southern Missouri, and used local people, local homes, local clothes and local music – all choices that result in the film’s authenticity. Even the Army recruiter is a real-life Army recruiter. Similarly, the soundtrack is spare and pure – pretty much just the snapping twigs, chirping birds, barking dogs and sputtering pickups of the Ozarks; the audience feels the gripping story without the filmmaker layering on manipulative music.
Granik’s first feature, Down to the Bone, won acting awards for its star Vera Farmiga as a grocery clerk mom who undergoes drug rehab without support from her husband or employer. In both Winter’s Bone and Down to the Bone, Granik lets her actors act, most compellingly when they are not talking. Down to the Bone is available on DVD and Netflix streaming.
Granik and screenwriting partner Anne Rosellini were looking for a story that featured a strong female protagonist ans found it in Daniel Woodrell’s novel. Here are Granik and Woodrell on NPR’s Fresh Air.
Richard von Busack also has an excellent interview with Granik and Lawrence – click here and scroll below his review.
Thanks to David H. Schleicher of the Schleicher Spin, here is the blog of Marideth Sisco, the musical consultant for Winter’s Bone, and the lead singer in the pickin’ scene.
Winter’s Bone inspired me to think of other great movies set in a hillbilly milieu. If there is a Hillbilly Genre, these movies don’t fit because they aren’t about Being a Hillbilly. They are human stories that happen to be set amongst hillbillies. Winter’s Bone and Ulee’s Gold are about determined individuals determined to protect their families no matter the risk. Coal Miner’s Daughter is about an artist’s journey from naive teen to superstar. Harlan County USA is about a community banding together to find justice. And Deliverance is about men sharing an ordeal and secrets from it.
1. Deliverance: Four suburban guys seek a mild adventure – canoeing down a backwoods river before it is dammed. The adventure becomes an ordeal. The most horrible things happen to them, and they are forced to do horrible things.
I have watched this twice in the past few years, and it still really stands up today. In particular, the cinematography and editing are fantastic. Here is the famous banjo scene.
2. Harlan County, USA: This is the story of coal miners seeking a union contract with a hostile mining company. It won the Oscar as best documentary. Filmmaker Barbara Kopple embedded herself among the strikers and got amazing footage – including of herself threatened and shot at.
3. Winter’s Bone: A 17-year-old Ozarks girl is determined to save the family home by tracking down her meth dealer dad – dead or alive. The girl’s journey through a series of nasty and nastier Southern Missouri crank cookers is riveting – without any explosions, gunfights or chase scenes. Every moment of this film seems completely real.
4. Ulee’s Gold: In his finest performance, Peter Fonda is a rural beekeeper who must enter a dangerous underworld to track down his druggie daughter-in-law. Here is how Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert saw it.
5. Coal Miner’s Daughter: Sissy Spacek won the Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Loretta Lynn in this successful biopic. In an early major role, Tommy Lee Jones plays Loretta’s husband Mooney. Levon Helm, the Arkansas-bred drummer for The Band has one of his rare but compelling film roles as Loretta’s Daddy. Besides the performances, the movie works because Loretta must grow from nobody to star, girl to woman and hick to worldly.
Levon Helm at left and Sissy Spacek in Coal Miner's Daughter
Winter’s Bone is the year’s best live action movie so far. A 17-year-old Ozarks girl is determined to save the family home by tracking down her meth dealer dad – dead or alive. The girl’s journey through a series of nasty and nastier Southern Missouri crank cookers is riveting – without any explosions, gunfights or chase scenes. Every moment of this film seems completely real. Winter’s Bone won the screenwriting and grand jury prizes at Sundance.
With just her second feature, Debra Granik has emerged as an important filmmaker to watch. She presents an unflinching look at this subculture without ever resorting to stereotype. Granik hits a home run with every artistic choice, from the locations to the spare soundtrack to the pacing to the casting. I’ll be watching for her next film.
As the protagonist, 20-year-old Jennifer Lawrence is in every scene. With a minimum of dialogue, she creates a lead character of rarely seen determination.
Dale Dickey is exceptional as a criminal matriarch. John Hawkes (the kind Sol Star in Deadwood) also gives a tremendous performance as the ready-to-explode Uncle Teardrop.
