Movies of the decade #11-20

11. The Flight of the Red Balloon (2008). This take on one of the most beloved children’s films of the last fifty years has none of said film’s preciousness. In her second great performance of the last two years (see my #2 film), Juliette Binoche generates enough force to make us wonder just who the

Best of the decade.

1. Mulholland Drive (2001). Uneven pacing and incongruous prefatory thirty minutes aside, this is a master’s class in the analysis of performance. Everything about Naomi Watts — from her pink sweater to the sensible shoes her relatives in Canada no doubt thought were the best sort of thing to wear on a long plane ride

Incest and plutocracy

My review of Andrew Ross Sorkin’s Too Big to Fail is up. The definitive history of the collapse hasn’t been written — maybe Matt Taibbi wants to volunteer?

Unforgiven vs Casablanca

As part of its periodic  “Best Picture from the Outside”  series, the Film Experince crew publishes an extremely thorough, impressive side by side analysis of Casablanca and Unforgiven. I’m taken with the notion that Clint Eastwood is too besotted with the limitations of Classical Filmmaking and the good but explicit script to do anything but

Not enough thinking

Since I don’t go to Animal Collective for clarity, let alone cohesion, my instant attraction to “What Would I Want Sky” from the Fall Be Kind EP didn’t surprise me (it narrowly missed my top twenty). The way one of their singers says “glasses clinkin’” makes up for the feeling with which he imbues the

Greetings.

A mad holiday weekend. Besides eating and seeing friends, I’ve been spending time with my new niece, born yesterday at 11:59 am. I’ll return to regular scheduled programming shortly.

Merry Xmas

Has anyone remarked on the similarity between this and Jackson Browne’s “Somebody’s Baby”? Same sentiment too…

2009 – Best singles

My Pazz and Jop ballot: 1. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Heads Will Roll 2. Natalie Imbruglia – Want 3. Walter Jones – Living Without Your Love 4. Lady Antebellum – Need You Now 5. Pains of  Being Pure at Heart – Higher Than the Stars (Saint Etienne Visits Lord Spank Mix) 6. Taylor Swift –

Best albums of the year

I will likely submit the first ten in my Pazz and Jop ballot: 1. Maxwell – BLACKsummer’snight 2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz! 3. DJ Quik & Kurupt – Blaqkout 4. Wussy – Wussy 5. Mos Def – The Ecstatic 6. Brad Paisley – American Saturday Night 7. Amadou & Mariam – Welcome to

Gimme half a chance

The mystery of film: how is she so empty an actress yet so alive in clips like this? The sequence between 0:48 and 0:51, and, near the end, the smile on her face when the boy realizes he’s kissed Madonna, encapsulate what I loved about Madonna then: so hungry, so alive, up for anything, and

Tilda Swinton, meet Joan Crawford

In which Tilda Swinton swills several cocktails, bumps and grinds with a coworker at an office party, totters uneasily on stiletto heels, fucks him in the car, is forced to attend an AA meeting, drinks some more, and wakes up next to Saul Rubinek. That’s in the first forty minutes — before an acquaintance talks

Selling your soul at the Hilton bar

In which George Clooney realizes that being a single man with limitless frequent flier miles isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, so  after visiting his estranged sisters in Milwaukee he attempts to convince Vera Farmiga to settle down with him, despite having enjoyed a perfectly marvelous relationship in which they get to play Cary