Ten years after the movie's 1999 release, a YouTube critic called RedLetterMedia has created a seven-part review of Star Wars, Episode I: The Phantom Menace. It's quirky, but surprisingly watchable. Part 1 is below. (Warning: spoilers and language.) --David
Editor's note: We asked one of our reviewers, Robert Horton, to give us his picks for the best films of the decade. Robert has been a film critic in Seattle for 25 years, writing for The Herald (Everett, Wash.), KUOW-FM, and the Seattle Channel.
"Best films of the decade" is such a grand concept it seems to place an undue amount of gravity on the process: this ten-spot had better be weighty indeed, right? A certain heaviosity required, no? But great movies are about lightness, too, so I feel fine about including films that wonderfully balanced dark and light, seriousness and humor, gravity and lift. Here are ten best of the decade 2000-2009, until somebody asks me again tomorrow.
1. Moolaadé (2004). The final film from Africa's greatest director, Ousmane Sembene, this one perfectly embodies the sense of balance I'm talking about: on one hand its subject is grave--the still-existing practice of female genital mutilation in African communities--but on the other, the film is infused with folk humor and a rich, mellow wisdom. It's also poised between a completely modern sophistication and ancient modes of storytelling. It seems to have the whole world in it.
2. Punch-Drunk Love (2002). Paul Thomas Anderson's story of a button-down man (Adam Sandler) unleashed is one of those films that pull off a strange trick: you can never predict what's going to happen from one moment to the next, and yet by the time you reach the ending it all seems absolutely inevitable that it had to unfold exactly this way.
3. Birth (2004). When Jonathan Glazer's movie opened (and then closed a week later), I had the feeling nobody else had seen it. Since then, it has slowly found its appreciators, a process that has been one of the nicer critical movements of the decade. A fine performance by Nicole Kidman commits completely to this particular l'amour fou.
4. The Fast Runner, aka Atanarjuat (2001). Not quite like anything else, this low-budget Inuit epic by Zacharias Kunuk is much more than an ethnographic study (though it's pretty cool as that): it's got the epic sweep of a David Lean picture.
5. Kings and Queen (2005). A wild ride from director Arnaud Desplechin, shifting hot-and-cold tones and storylines at a moment's notice, and featuring nimble performances by Mathieu Amalric and Emmanuelle Devos.
6. A Prairie Home Companion (2006). Somehow this warm look at community and performance turned into exactly the right way for Robert Altman to leave the stage: a funny exercise that left behind traces of melancholy.
7. Before Sunset (2004). Catching up after almost a decade with the characters from Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise, we find them decidedly older but still willing to talk their way through a city--an enchanted Paris, caught here in a two-person moment of clarity and connection.
8. No Country for Old Men (2007). The Coens are on an exciting cinematic journey of late; this film has all the gorgeous movie-making skills of old Hollywood combined with a distinctly modern way of telling a story.
9. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (2006). A spellbinding trip through a long night of ill health, rendered in what seemed like real time by director Cristi Puiu.
10. Cast Away (2000). Could never get this movie out of my head: what appears to be a shipwreck picture from a populist director (Robert Zemeckis) turns into a kind of rebuke to audiences about how they should be watching movies (hint: slow down). Tom Hanks is splendid, too.
And there should be room for Million Dollar Baby, The Duchess of Langeais, Yi Yi, In the Mood for Love, Mulholland Drive, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Va savoir, Syndromes and a Century, Napoleon Dynamite, Sideways, Japon…but you gotta stop somewhere. Maybe next time.
At the time of his death in 2008, Heath Ledger was working again with Terry Gilliam on The Imagination of Dr. Parnassus. Left without a star to finish his film, Gilliam re-worked the story so three other actors could rotate in the same role (Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, and Jude Law). Here is the first look at the trailer; the film opens Christmas Day. --Ellen
Precious and The Last Station topped the Independent Spirit Award nominations today. They'll both battle for Best Feature along with (500) Days of Summer, Amreeka and Sin Nombre. The awards air Friday, March 5 on IFC. Here's a list of the major nominees. --EllenBEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Sophie Barthes, Cold Souls
Scott Cooper, Crazy Heart
Cherien Dabis, Amreeka
Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious
Tom Ford, David Scearce, A Single Man
JOHN
CASSAVETES AWARD - Given to the best feature made for under $500,000
Big Fan
Zero Bridge
BEST FEMALE LEAD
Maria Bello - Downloading Nancy
Nisreen Faour - Amreeka
Helen Mirren - The Last Station
Gwyneth Paltrow - Two Lovers
Gabourey Sidibe - Precious
BEST MALE LEAD
Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart
Colin Firth - A Single Man
Joseph Gordon-Levitt - (500) Days of Summer
Souléymane Sy Savané - Goodbye Solo
Adam Scott - The Vicious Kind
BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Dina Korzun - Cold Souls
Mo'Nique - Precious
Samantha Morton - The Messenger
Natalie Press - Fifty Dead Men Walking
Mia Wasikowska - That Evening Sun
BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Jemaine Clement - Gentlemen Broncos
Woody Harrelson - The Messenger
Christian McKay - Me and Orson Welles
Raymond McKinnon - That Evening Sun
Christopher Plummer - The Last Station
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Roger Deakins - A Serious Man
Adriano Goldman - Sin Nombre
Anne Misawa - Treeless Mountain
Andrij Parekh - Cold Souls
Peter Zeitlinger - Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
Food, Inc.
More Than A Game
October Country
Which Way Home
BEST FOREIGN FILM
A Prophet (France)
An Education (UK/France)
Everlasting Moments (Sweden)
Mother (South Korea)
The Maid (Chile)
ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD - (Given to one film's director, casting director, and its ensemble cast)
A Serious Man
I must admit that when I volunteered to blog about the top 10 science fiction DVD and Blu-ray releases of 2009, I thought it would be a relatively simple task. However, before the day was over, I realized that narrowing it to only 10 would actually prove quite difficult. Then of course, there is the ranking thing, how do you decide the order? I won't bore you with the intricately complicated ranking system I devised to handle my new found conundrum, but I can assure it didn't involve picking names out of a hat. With that said, here are a handful of movies and TV shows that any fan of sci-fi would enjoy.
District 9 - What would you do if Peter Jackson gave you 30 million to make a movie? Director Neill Blomkamp made the best sci-fi movie of 2009. Deep, enthralling, original, and action-packed, this movie will leave you breathless.
Dollhouse: Season One - Joss Whedon, need I say more? An underground group of “Actives” who change their personalities for the whims of the rich and powerful, not to mention, Eliza Dushku is very easy to watch. Sure, Fox canceled it, but they also canceled Firefly.
Star Trek – JJ Abrams didn't disappoint. He kept it true enough to the original for the Trekkies (time warps are helpful for re-imagining story lines) yet refreshed it enough to introduce the franchise to a whole new audience.
Franklyn – Could be one of the best sci-fi films Americans haven’t heard of. A temporal twister set in contemporary London and a futuristic Meanwhile City. In the vein of Terry Gilliam’s Brazil, bring your thinking cap.
Ben X – A teen with Asperger’s syndrome finds respite from endless bullying at school in video games. A little bit like Donnie Darko, but with subtitles.
Watchmen – great comic book, great movie. Any questions?
The Prisoner: The Complete Series [Blu-ray] – Before there was Lost, there was the Prisoner. A spy quits his job and wakes up on a mysterious island where people are given numbers instead of names. A constantly changing number two tries various methods to find out why he quit. Now you can revel in all that 1960’s mod high-tech weirdness in high definition since it’s now available on Blu-ray.
Logan’s Run [Blu-ray} – Made in 1976 and still good in 2009. Now on Blu-ray, so you can revisit all the incredible Oscar winning visual effects in stunning 1080p.
Fringe: the Complete First Season – I know, it’s another offering from JJ Abrams, but it’s a fantastic TV show. The FBI, a mad scientist, and his son team up to investigate seemingly related unusual crimes. Great to watch on DVD, because minor clues in one episode become important later in the season, I don’t recommend starting if you have anything pressing to attend to.
Monsters vs Aliens - This one's for the kids. A young woman grows to an inch under 50 feet after being stuck in the head by a meteorite, gets locked away by the government, and is tasked with leading a team of 1950’s B-movie monsters to save the earth from an alien invasion. Sound like fun, right?
See the rest of the top 100 DVDs, the top 100 Blu-ray discs, and many other lists at http://www.amazon.com/bestmovies2009. ---Mike
As we reflect on the films of 2009, I have the distinct honor of highlighting those DVD or Blu-ray films that are slightly quirky as well as dig into our vast product selection to identify the packaging and collector editions that are not just unique, but often a bit…odd. Enjoy a sampling of this year’s best quirky films and unusual packaging.
Top Five Most Unusual Packaged DVDs and Blu-rays, 2009:
Star Trek Limited Edition Replica Gift Set (Three-Disc + Digital Copy) (Amazon Exclusive) [Blu-ray]
Model directly from the digital effects files used in Star Trek (2009)
Watchmen (Director's Cut) (Amazon Exclusive Nite Owl Ship + Digital Copy and BD-Live) [Blu-ray]
Owl Ship packaging: Lights and sounds included
Ghostbusters 1 & 2 (Limited Edition Gift Set)
Limited Edition T2 Complete Collector's Set Endoskull [Blu-ray]
14” collectible T-800 Endoskull bust – plays sound effects from the film while its eyes glow
Twilight Ultimate Collector's Gift Set + Limited Edition
Twilight (Special Edition) Blu-ray Disc
See all of the Best of 2009: Unique Packaging DVDs and Blu-rays
Top Five Most Quirky Concept Films, 2009:
The IT Crowd: The Complete Season One
Whether you appreciate British humor or not, this show about an IT Help Desk is for all audiences. With oddball characters, an over dramatic “boss man,” anyone can relate to the odd world of the corporate help desk.
Xavier: Renegade Angel, Seasons 1 and 2
Aired on Adult Swim and now available on DVD, Xavier: Renegade Angel takes you on a crazy ride as the main character sets out to discover his origins. The off-the-wall dialog and story lines are too unusual to attempt to explain so I suggest you check out the clip on the detail page.
Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy
Ever wonder if any pop-culture icon is safe from the humor of Seth MacFarlane? The wait is over! With his typical no-holds-barred approach, MacFarlane tackles such favorites as Wile E Coyote, Super Mario, Bob Dylan, Barney Rubble, and much more.
The State: The Complete Series
Before Crank Yankers and the deluge of “reality TV” on MTV, there was The State. A sketch comedy show with edge, this show gave us early previews of the comedic talents of future Reno 911! alums Robert Ben Garant, Kerri Kenney, Thomas Lennon, Joe Lo Truglio, and Michael Ian Black as well as a personal favorite, Ken Marino (Veronica Mars, Party Down, Reaper).
An internet sleeper hit, The Guild delves into the deep, dark world of online gaming and roll-playing. Starring Felicia Day, known from another online phenom, Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog, this show explores what happens when people you meet online invade your “real” world, and how they can become true friends.
Halloween makes us think of horror movies and regular frightfests. But
if you're like me, you steer clear of the horror genre altogether,
because blood and shrieks may be scary, but do not entertainment make.
Instead, I'd like to think of those movies that still frightened the
bejeezus out of you, sometimes in unexpected ways, by using good
old-fashioned suspense, timing, mood music, and acting not done by a
twentysomething nubile woman who forgot to put on a bra.
Case in point: Back in 2000 I attended a press screening of What Lies Beneath, an underrated thriller that (SPOILER ALERT!) ended up with Harrison Ford as the killer. The Robert Zemeckis film, about a woman (Michelle Pfeiffer) who suspects the ghost of her husband (Ford)'s former lover is haunting her house, featured a lot of jumpy moments: A corpse in the water suddenly coming to life, a cell phone that will not get reception (apparently before Verizon plans came along), and, in the clip below, Pfeiffer trying to save herself from drowning in the bathtub. Drowning is my very worst nightmare, and her character's been injected with a paralyzing serum by Ford (he's a scientist, he does it to rats, just go with it).
Possibly even more frightening was what happened afterwards: I went back to my car, shut the door, turned the key, and for no reason whatsoever my glove compartment door popped open.
Luckily no one could hear my shriek, but it was nothing compared to the
out-of-town journalists the studio had put up in the Four Seasons that
night; after watching the film, they returned to their rooms to find
that their bathtubs had been FILLED WITH WATER (a prank by the
DreamWorks publicity team). One critic reportedly fainted, another
refused to sleep in his room. No word on what review they gave the film.
I asked around our movies editors for their most frightening cinematic moments ; below are their responses.
I know it is often mocked, but that end scene in The Blair Witch Project
with the guy standing in the corner facing the wall freaked me out, and
I can’t even see a second of that scene without it giving me the chills
still. --Lisanne
Wait Until Dark in two spots. The first is when Alan Arkin makes an unexpected entrance into Audrey Hepburn’s apartment, and the second I can’t say anything about it if you haven’t seen the movie. The audience gets completely wrapped up in Hepburn’s blind character, and knowing that she can’t see what they can see is what makes it so terrifying. --David
The scene I have in mind doesn’t necessarily rank very high on the scare-o-meter for me these days, but it certainly left a lasting impression throughout a childhood spent watching and loving The Wizard of Oz. Forget tornados or even the Wicked Witch—they’ve got nothing on those flying monkeys! After watching them chase a screaming Dorothy through the haunted forest and swooping her and Toto into the night sky, I’d have nightmares for days. --Daniel
The scene from The NeverEnding Story
with the black wolf in the swamp. There’s thunder and lightning, and
the lightning lights up his teeth. That really freaked me out as a kid.
--Kelsey
To me, the scariest movies are the ones that I somehow internalize to the extent that I alter my behavior. After I saw Jaws for the first time, I, like every other kid I knew, made a habit of avoiding the deep end of a swimming pool. When I saw The Ring later as an adult, I had to avert my eyes from the television screen any time I passed through the living room. Good thing I never made it all the way through Psycho, or I’d be one slatternly gal today. --Kellie
The Cell - the way that Vincent D’Onofrio was able to capture the girl in the parking garage with his dog had a lasting effect on me. I think I had a hard time breathing throughout most of that movie. --Kira
when I was 16, I was forced to watch The Exorcist--a movie that I had been avoiding like the plague. There wasn’t just one scene that scared me, the entire movie, from the creepy backwards crawl down the stairs to the horrifying scene with the crucifix, scared the crap out of me and I lived in a state of terror for a month afterward. Even the slightest mention of it still freaks me out and I can already tell that I will be sleeping with the lights on this week. --Amanda
The first 10 minutes of The Dark Crystal.
I was only 5 or 6 at the time. My dad saw how much it upset me so we
left my Mom and my older brother to finish the movie and went to see Peter Pan instead. I’ve never forgotten because my older brother still loves to bring it up. In fact, two years ago he bought me The Dark Crystal on DVD for my birthday. I watched it again and I must say that first 10 minutes is still pretty scary. --Mike
What about you? What moment chilled you to your core? --Ellen
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox; directed by Michael Bay)--Critic-proof
sequel is the highest-grossing film of the year ($402 million
domestically). Our reviewer says: "Think of Transformers I on crack."
(Available on two-disc, single-disc, and Blu-ray)
Cheri (Michelle Pfeiffer, Rupert Friend; directed by Stephen Frears)--Pfeiffer
stars as a Parisian courtesan who has an affair with a man half her
age. Our reviewer says: "A comparatively somber affair that comes
recommended more for fans of the actress, who gives the role her all,
than for fans of the filmmaker, whose direction feels perfunctory,
particularly during the blink-and-you'll-miss-it epilogue."
Also out this week: Blood: The Last Vampire (DVD and Blu-ray); Peanuts 1970's Collection, Vol. 1; The L Word: Final Season; Hawaii Five-0: The Seventh Season; Numb3rs: The Complete Fifth Season
--Ellen
In Hollywood's never-ending quest to strip mine its back catalog of "name recognition" films for the new millennium popcorn gallery, I'm never terribly shocked to see yet another past success get greenlit for the old remake wagon. But, when I heard that legendary director Wes Craven's (A Nightmare on Elm St.) grindhouse cult classic Last House on the Left was coming up for replication, I had to--in much the same way as the original films marketing--keep reminding myself that "it's only a movie".
Truth be told, the 2009 incarnation of Last House on the Left is really just another in a long series of productions of this tale. The first cinematic manifestation came to us in 1960 courtesy of Swedish master Ingmar Bergman's Oscar winning feature The Virgin Spring. But even that wasn't the beginning. Bergman based his film on the original fable--of the tragedy that befalls a beautiful girl in the woods and the subsequent revenge taken upon the brutes who raped her and left her for dead, by the girls parents--on a 13th century Swedish ballad. Craven and Producer Sean Cunningham (Friday the 13th) remade Bergman's film in 1972 ramping up the violence and nihilism as a metaphor for the lost innocence of the 60's. Even just a few years ago Director David DeFalco attempted his own homage to the story with his production Chaos.
So, after several versions the question really becomes could filmmaker Dennis Illiadis bring anything new to the table. Well....that answer is decidedly mixed, but the result is nonetheless impressive. By all accounts, Last House of the Left is an intense and impressive film marking one of the better remakes of the last few years and a likely contender to be amongst the top 10 best horror films of 2009.
In keeping with the original tale, the film follows the tragic rape of Mari Collingwood (Sara Paxton). Shot and left for dead, the killers led by Krug (Deadwood's Garrett Dillahunt), wind up taking refuge for the night at the home of Mari's parents (played by Tony Goldwyn & Monica Potter). When a bloody and beaten Mari makes her way back home, the parents piece together that the killers are only a few feet away sleeping off the storm in the guest house. From that point, it's all out war as Goldwyn and Potter exact bloody revenge on those who tried to murder their only daughter.
Last House on the Left is a morality tale that asks the simple question what would you do if your entire life was sent spinning off its axis. How far would you go to protect the ones you love and would that make you as evil as those that tried to take your family away from you?
The beauty of this film--like it predecessors, and right up to a minute before the wildly inappropriate final scene--is that it never answers that question. It revels in ambiguity. It doesn't ask you to identify with the parents and it doesn't ask you to empathize with the killers. It has redeeming and not so redeeming moments a plenty. It would be a stretch to say--with a money-grab 2009 remake--that the studio was aiming for moral ambiguity. But the fact of the matter is the filmmakers more or less delivered it with the same respect as Craven and Bergman did. And by keeping that level of disconnect intact, I think the film not only succeeds as an intense thriller but also as an interesting social commentary. When was the last time you could say that about a nasty bloody and visceral horror film?
The DVD and Blu-ray arrives with a gorgeous transfer and a stellar 5.1 surround mix. Pay attention people because this is a film that is dark, and rain soaked -- taking place in the silhouettes and moonlight, bathed in blankets of foggy atmosphere. It's a nightmare world of shadows and the Blu-ray transfer envelops the screen in that inky blackness dragging the viewer kicking and screaming into the netherworld. To further expand on the film's viewing experience the DVD and Blu-ray both contain a collection of deleted scenes, totaling just under 9 minutes of excised footage--including extended moments in the store with Paxton and co-star Martha MacIsaac and a different take of the films tonally bizarre final shot. The disc is rounded out with a two and a half minute EPK style collection of interviews with the main cast and crew about the making of the film.
In a day when we are inundated with a nonstop barrage of remakes and reimaginings that are uninspired at best and insipid at worst, it's quite a coup that a group of filmmakers would consider taking on a film that most people would admit to seeing but very few would admit to loving, and giving that film--warts and all--a reverent (to a point) remake that doesn't really pull any punches in the pain department. It's hard to say that one version is better than, or more tasteful than, any other when the main subject of your film is rape/revenge. But with that said, the original is considered to be one the kings of the 1970's exploitation film craze. The remake however hardly ever feels exploitative and for that, and its daring ability to keep the crux of the story intact, I would call it a rousing success.
-Tim Anderson, Bloody-Disgusting.com
Unwigged & Unplugged is a newly released musical documentary featuring an evening with Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer; the legendary
musical and comedic trio performing music from heavy metal's loudest band
Spinal Tap plus more. The DVD features two plus hours of songs from the original soundtrack This
Is Spinal Tap (1984), the studio album Break Like The Wind (1992), and
A Mighty Wind (2003) along with some special surprises and rarities
thrown in. Check out Harry Shearer's blog post detailing gearing up for the tour....--Angela
Perhaps the scariest day in the six-week rehearsal period for the "Unwigged" tour came when, after about a week of rehearsing the Tap and Folksmen songs which we knew would form the bulk of our show, we decided to play 'em straight through and time them. As each song finished, one or another of us glanced at the stopwatch application on my laptop: 2:53, 3:12, 2:37...nothing even approaching four minutes. We played twenty songs and barely cracked an hour. We laughed at the result. How the hell were we going to fill an evening, let alone a DVD?
That's when we started thinking about the rest of the show--the comedy part. The three of us--comedy people with a deep love of music--had been concentrating on the songs, particularly on the most interesting challenge of the project, the question neatly summed up in the faux bumper sticker (or bracelet): WWWD? (What Would We Do?) Mssrs McKean, Guest and Shearer (sorry about the third person there) had become quite proficient at inhabiting the characters in these two distinct bands, and particularly at making the kinds of lyrical and musical decisions those guys would have made. Now we were faced with a brand new task: making the musical choices we'd make. We were covering our own tunes.
The acoustic-instrument setting (I was cheating, playing an electric bass for the Tap stuff) dictated its own changes. Even so, when we finally decided to add "Heavy Duty" to the lineup, we were capable of some quasi-Tap rocking. Other songs took some thought. We were initially skeptical of being able to replicate the pseudo-historical bombast of "Stonehenge", until we realized there was no way we weren't going to do that song. After toying with every other possible persona for the spoken passages, Christopher reverted to default Nigel. Even though some of his other attempts (I seem to recall a couple of his classically bad impersonations of older actors) were Funny At The Time.
Maybe the most dramatic musical alteration came to our most-covered Tap song, "Big Bottom". Clearly, we weren't going to muck up the simple logistics of the show by hauling around extra basses for one song. Simple logistics, after all, was one of the prime motivations for doing "Unwigged" during the 25th anniversary year of the Tap film, rather than a full-on rock tour in the teeth of an economic meltdown. So, with my one (standup) bass, I proposed a kind of swingy solo version of the tune. Chris and Mike immediately started scatty vocal parts, and then came up with the idea of guest dancers, and we had a definitively un-Tap version of "BB".
Then came the question of comedy. We knew there were some little video treats we could lay our hands on--the original theatrical trailer for "Tap", cleverly disguised as a sad little documentary about a cheese-rolling festival in Denmark, the original appearance of Tap on "The TV Show", a short clip of my appearance in "The Robe". Then there were the fan-made videos of Tap songs, about which more appears on line if you Google Lego and Tap.
Finally, Michael had squirreled away--he being our chief squirrel--a copy of a memo from the NBC censor at the time, outlining how "Tap" could be, uh, adapted for late-night television viewing. We decided on a reading of the memo, and, small world that it is, a month after the tour ended, I got an email from said censor (with the memorable name of Bill Clotworthy). He'd heard about his role in our show, and was sending his greetings, and a copy of a book he'd written about "Saturday Night Live", where he served as censor for a couple of decades. And, each night of the tour, we all discovered new things to say, and new things to leave out. In that sense, there was an improvisational element to the show, as well.
--Harry Shearer
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