Rants and Ruminations

2011 in Movies: documentaries

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PROJECT NIM

As usual, several documentaries made my list of Best Movies of 2011:  Project Nim, Buck and Tabloid.

Werner Herzog gave us the wonderful 3D Cave of Forgotten Dreams.  Page One highlighted David Carr of the New York Times.  The Polish documentary War Games and the Man Who Stopped Them was a great find.  I also admired Thunder Soul (about a Houston high school stage band in the 60s), Magic Bus (featuring actual footage of Ken Kesey’s Merry Pranksters), American Grindhouse (about the grindhouse films of the 40s, 50s and early 60s) and These Amazing Shadows (about the National Film Registry).

PBS had stellar year, especially with Woody Allen: A Documentary, Jimmy Carter, Stonewall Uprising and Troubadours.

HBO delivered Bobby Fisher Against the World.  And ESPN has entered the documentary arena with the surprising The Marinovich Project.

2011 in Movies: comeback of the year

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Woody Allen makes a movie each year, including some good recent ones like Vicky Christina Barcelona and Match Point, but Midnight in Paris is his best movie since 1986′s Hannah and Her Sisters.  Not only is Midnight in Paris a delightful and excellent film, but it’s the top indie box office performer of the year, with a $56 million gross so far.

In addition, Woody is the subject of a top rate 2011 PBS documentary Woody Allen: A Documentary.

2011 in Movies: most fun at the movies

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Brendan Gleeson in THE GUARD

 

1.  Seeing The Guard with the Wife.  We howled.

2.  My mad dash with my friend Kiefer to see five movies in 42 hours – in five theaters in four cities.  It’s described in The Movie Gourmet hits the all-you-can-eat buffet.

3.  A solo sprint to see five movies in 44 hours – in three theaters in two cities:  Another five movie weekend for the Movie Gourmet.

4.  I didn’t see this as a highpoint at the time, but it was FAILING to get a rush ticket at the SFIF for Le Quattro Volte.  In retrospect, this delayed being subjected to the coughing goatherd for a precious three-and-a-half months.

5.  Listening to writer/director Kyle Smith tell my film club about the making of Turkey Bowl.

6.  Finding the 1980 Werner Herzog documentary God’s Angry Man on a Dr. Gene Scott fan site.

7.  Attending a preview of Cars 2 at the Pixar studio.

Another five movie weekend for the Movie Gourmet

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The Wife once again left me to my own devices, so I decided to make it another five movie weekend.   I started off with the Japanese gangster film Outrage at 6:30 Friday at Camera 3 in San Jose. I enjoy a good Yakuza flick now and again, severed fingers and all.

Saturday morning I drove to San Francisco for a tripleheader at the Embarcadero.  Kicked it off with a noon show of The Artist.  Wow.  Had high expectations and it did not disappoint.  The Artist will make my Best of the Year list.

Next I caught the 2:30 show of Shame.  Lost count of all the sexual deviations.

I learn that the Embarcadero sells Nathan’s hot dogs with jalapenos and sauerkraut.  Just what I needed.

And I topped it off with the 5:10 show of A Dangerous Method.  I had just seen Michael Fassbender with a severe emotional disorder in Shame and here he’s playing Carl Jung! And who knew that Viggo Mortensen could be so funny!

Ended up at Sunday’s 12:20 showing of Young Adult at San Jose’s C12.  I was very surprised that I admired it as much as I did. It’s something of a comedy game changer from Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody.

So there – five movies in 44 hours – and a fine time it was.

Warning: The Wife’s girlfriends hated Like Crazy

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I thought that there are things about Like Crazy to admire:  two appealing leads, an intelligent and authentic story, a realistic beginning to the relationship, and a fine falling-in-love montage.

But my wife and her gal pals loathed it.  Why?  Primarily because they didn’t care about any of the characters.  Of course that makes sense, because if you don’t relate to the characters, you’ll never buy into the story.  The key to the story is an impulsive and stupid decision by the female lead that leads to the separation of the lovers; if you don’t care about the couple when this happens, then she’s just stupid.

The gals also pointed out that the extremely talented Jennifer Lawrence didn’t have much to do in this film other than get dumped twice by the same guy.  On reflection, they have a good point there.

Buck, Project Nim and Paradise Lost 3 make Oscar short list.

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The Academy’s short list of candidates for the Best Documentary Oscar includes two films on my Best Movies of 2011 – So Far:  Buck and Project Nim.  Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory from the HBO Paradise series also made the list.  All fifteen films on the short list are here.

RIP Smokin’ Joe

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Joe Frazier in THRILLER IN MANILA

Former heavyweight champion Joe Frazier has died.

Many consider the 1975 Thrilla in Manila, the heavyweight championship bout between Frazier and Muhammed Ali, to be the greatest boxing match of all time.  Ali usually dominates the narrative of 1970s boxing.  However, the 2009 HBO documentary Thriller in Manila revisits the fight and its aftermath from Frazier’s point of view.  The film depicts Frazier in his final years, broke and living on the margins of society, still boiling with resentment from the experience.

In contrast, the 2009 documentary Facing Ali showcases Ali’s other rivals, who have all embraced their experiences with Ali as their career-defining moment.  We hear from George Chuvalo, Sir Henry Cooper, Earnie Shavers, George Foreman, Ernie Terrel, Larry Holmes, Ken Norton and Leon Spinks.  Chuvalo, Cooper and Shavers prove to be surprisingly charming raconteurs.

Thriller in Manila is on my list of 10 Best Boxing Movies, and I’ll put Facing Ali on the list when I have time.

They shouldn’t have done this to John Doucette

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I was watching the 1950 Western Rancho Notorious when I asked myself, “Who’s the bad guy in the pageboy?”.  Indeed, the reliable character actor John Doucette has been forced to don a platinum blonde pageboy wig to play Whitey.  When shot in the back at the campfire, he gets to die with his boots on  – and with his pageboy.  I’ve added this on to my list of Least Convincing Movie Hair.

the John Doucette that we all recognize

BTW Rancho Notorious – directed by Fritz Lang and starring Arthur Kennedy, Marlene Dietrich and Mel Ferrer – really doesn’t stand up very well.  It’s easily the most disappointing Lang film that I’ve seen.

A Remarkable Film Distributor

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Roger Ebert just tweeted that today is the 20th birthday of Sony Pictures Classics.  I normally don’t weigh in on distributors, but I note that Sony Pictures Classic has already released three of the films on my Best Movies of 2011 – So Far – Incendies, The Guard and Midnight in Paris.

In 2009-20, their released four films that made my annual top ten lists:  Another Year, The Secrets in Their Eyes and A Prophet.  And, in 2008, Sony Pictures Classics released both my #1 film, I’ve Loved You So Long, and my #2, Rachel Getting Married.  Not bad.