So, you may have noticed that TheMovieFrog has not had quite the output in May that I wrote in the several months previous...at least not yet. Part of this has been due to some general housekeeping and catching up on my part. Part of this has been due, however, to a lack of new films coming out on DVD that I planned to review. I've decided to use this as an excuse to catch up on some of the films that I never managed to see in previous years beginning with 2010, the year before I started publishing TheMovieFrog. I had, however already begun viewing a bevy of the year's most important films and grading them in preparation to write it. As such, there are only a handful that I have not already seen. There are some years that I caught a pitiful few of the really innovative and essential pictures. Rewinding through those years (this means YOU, 2007) will be epic by comparison. As of now, my 2010 rewind agenda includes:
1. Aftershocks - A Chinese disaster movie about one family's recovery after a real life earthquake during the seventies.
2. Angel of Evil - Italian crime thriller about the notorious outlaw Renato Vallanzasca.
3. Barney's Version - This best make-up nominee at the Oscars didn't get the most glowing write-ups but it does star Paul Giamatti and Dustin Hoffman. Even when actors of this caliber stumble, it is worth watching to note that we are all mortal...and who knows, I might LOVE it.
4. Children of Invention - This Chinese language feature sounds heartwarming in a way that doesn't make me feel nauseous so it's in.
5. Daddy Longlegs - This itty bitty almost unknown flick got JUST enough attention from the Gotham and Independent Spirit awards to make this list.
6. The Edge - Russia's 2010-2011 Oscar submission may have failed to garner a nomination but it certainly sounds like a unique film...
7. Enemies of the People - This tale of a man seeking revenge against the Khmer Rouge sounds like the (highly) rare documentary that plays like a thriller.
8. Film Socialisme - French living legend Jean-Luc Godard is always worth checking out, even when his directorial efforts sound as potentially convoluted as this one.
9. I Love You Phillip Morris - I wonder what sort of muggy expression Jim Carrey has come up with to represent "Gay Lust". This film may have gay themes, but I expect the Human Rights Campaign appreciates the light it shone on these issues in much the same way that PETA valued Ace Ventura. If Downey, Jr. caught hell over Tropic Thunder, how is Carrey not criticized for doing this film in "gay face".
10. Idiots and Angels - This feature from cult classic French animator Bill Plympton is an allegorical tale of how a man can change.
11. Lebanon - This Hebrew language piece is easily one of the most universally acclaimed films I missed in 2010, it has been called the Das Boot of tank movies, which sounds far less ludicrous than "the Citizen Kane of talking pig movies" which Babe actually was.
12. Life During Wartime - Director Todd Solondz's long awaited quasi-sequel to his much beloved 1998 film Happiness.
13. Outside the Law - This one was an Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language film, I believe representing Algeria. It tells of three brothers caught up in that country's fight for independence.
14. Passion Play - Writer/director Mitch Glazer did not get the BEST of reviews for this piece, but I can't resist a story about a gangster, an angel, and a trumpet player...especially with Bill Murray in the cast.
15. Plan B - This Argentinian Spanish language film with Gay themes tells the story of a man who tries to come in between his ex-girlfriend and her new man.
16. Post Mortem - Before he directed the Oscar nominated No, Pablo Larrain directed this other tale of Chile in the 1970's.
17. Prodigal Sons - Kimberly Reed's documentary tells of the first time the transsexual film-maker returned home...as a woman.
18. The Tempest - Director Julie Taymor's reworking of Shakespeare's final play with Helen Mirren playing the lead as the wizard Prospera (re-named from Prospero to fit her gender).
19. You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger - Woody Allen's yearly offering focuses on a recently divorced woman who seeks spiritual guidance from a psychic.
Of course, I am open to adding films if readers request them, but I am trying not to go back over films I've already seen (although if I get several requests to re-watch something and review it, of course I will). The list of 2010 productions that I have already watched (which as I mentioned, is extensive), and the grades that I gave them (for practice since I wasn't up and Frogging QUITE yet), are as follows:
5 star films:
127 Hours
Animal Kingdom
Biuitiful
Black Swan
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Gasland
How To Train Your Dragon
In a Better World
Incendies
Inception
Madeo
Mary and Max
Micmacs
The Social Network
Winter's Bone
4 1/2 star films:
Another Year
Blue Valentine
Carlos
Day and Night (short)
The Ghost Writer
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Inside Job
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
The Kids Are All Right
The King's Speech
The Oath
True Grit
Undertow
Waiting For Superman
Waste Land
White Material
4 star films:
The American
Catfish
Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky
Despicable Me
Easy A
Enter the Void
Fair Game
The Fighter
Four Lions
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One
Heartbreaker
Jack Goes Boating
Let Me In
Let's Pollute (short)
The Lottery
Love and Other Drugs
Mesrine: Public Enemy
Monsters
My Name is Khan
My Name is Maria (short)
Never Let Me Go
Nowhere Boy
Of Gods and Men
Ondine
Peepli Live
Please Give
Precious Life
Rabbit Hole
Restrepo
Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll
Shutter Island
Splice
The Tillman Story
The Town
Toy Story 3
Wild Grass
3 1/2 star films:
44-Inch Chest
8: The Mormon Proposition
Animated History of Poland (short)
Around a Small Mountain
Blood Done Sign My Name
Book of Eli
Cemetery Junction
City Island
Devil
Dinner For Schmucks
Eat, Pray, Love
The Eclipse
Everyone Else
Flipped
Get Low
The Girl Who Played With Fire
The Gruffalo (short)
Harry Brown
Hereafter
The Karate Kid
Kick-Ass
Lovely, Still
Morning Glory
Night Catches Us
One Thousand Pictures (short)
R.E.D.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Stone
Tiny Furniture
Vincere
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
The Way Back
Welcome To the Rileys
Women Without Men
3 star films:
Alamar
Blue Beard
Burlesque
Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Elliot Spitzer
Confession (short)
Countdown to Zero
The Crazies
The Disappearance of Alice Creed
Dust Kid (short)
Everything Strange and New
The Experiment
Fish Tank
For Colored Girls
Going the Distance
The Greatest
Greenberg
Holy Rollers
Howl
Iron Man 2
The Killer Inside Me
The Last Exorcism
Leaves of Grass
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole
Letters To Juliet
Love Ranch
Made in Dagenham
Mademoiselle Chambon
Megamind
Monica and David
Mother and Child
My Own Love Song
Oceans
Shrek Forever After
A Solitary Man
Somewhere
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Tamara Drew
The Twilight Saga: The Eclipse
Unstoppable
William Kuntsler: Destroying the Universe
2 1/2 star films:
After.life
The Art of the Steal
Barking Island (short)
Cairo Time
Casino Jack and the United States of Money
Chloe
Clash of the Titans
The Company Men
Conviction
Coyote Falls (short)
Daybreakers
The Exploding Girl
Green Zone
La Mission
Percy Jackson and the New Olympians
Prince of Persia
Salt
Secretariat
Smash His Camera
Tron: Legacy
Valentine's Day
The lists get shorter from here on out. I try to avoid films of less than two and a half star quality whenever possible, but a few always sneak through (and one is usually up for an Oscar). Two star films:
Agora
Alice in Wonderland
All Good Things
Death at a Funeral
Eccentricities of a Blond Haired Girl
The Expendables
Extraordinary Measures
It's Kind of a Funny Story
The Last Airbender
Robin Hood
Sensology
Sweetgrass
Tangled
The Tourist
Why Did I Get Married Too
One and a half star films:
Babies
Cique du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
The Extra Man
Jelly
Runaways
The Temptation of St. Tony
One star films:
Charlie St. Cloud
Jonah Hex
Legion
The Lost Thing (short)
Sex and the City 2
Skyline
Whew!!! I'm going to do my utmost to try and see you back here tomorrow for the first three in the rewind.
Froggy
1. Aftershocks - A Chinese disaster movie about one family's recovery after a real life earthquake during the seventies.
2. Angel of Evil - Italian crime thriller about the notorious outlaw Renato Vallanzasca.
3. Barney's Version - This best make-up nominee at the Oscars didn't get the most glowing write-ups but it does star Paul Giamatti and Dustin Hoffman. Even when actors of this caliber stumble, it is worth watching to note that we are all mortal...and who knows, I might LOVE it.
4. Children of Invention - This Chinese language feature sounds heartwarming in a way that doesn't make me feel nauseous so it's in.
5. Daddy Longlegs - This itty bitty almost unknown flick got JUST enough attention from the Gotham and Independent Spirit awards to make this list.
6. The Edge - Russia's 2010-2011 Oscar submission may have failed to garner a nomination but it certainly sounds like a unique film...
7. Enemies of the People - This tale of a man seeking revenge against the Khmer Rouge sounds like the (highly) rare documentary that plays like a thriller.
8. Film Socialisme - French living legend Jean-Luc Godard is always worth checking out, even when his directorial efforts sound as potentially convoluted as this one.
9. I Love You Phillip Morris - I wonder what sort of muggy expression Jim Carrey has come up with to represent "Gay Lust". This film may have gay themes, but I expect the Human Rights Campaign appreciates the light it shone on these issues in much the same way that PETA valued Ace Ventura. If Downey, Jr. caught hell over Tropic Thunder, how is Carrey not criticized for doing this film in "gay face".
10. Idiots and Angels - This feature from cult classic French animator Bill Plympton is an allegorical tale of how a man can change.
11. Lebanon - This Hebrew language piece is easily one of the most universally acclaimed films I missed in 2010, it has been called the Das Boot of tank movies, which sounds far less ludicrous than "the Citizen Kane of talking pig movies" which Babe actually was.
12. Life During Wartime - Director Todd Solondz's long awaited quasi-sequel to his much beloved 1998 film Happiness.
13. Outside the Law - This one was an Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language film, I believe representing Algeria. It tells of three brothers caught up in that country's fight for independence.
14. Passion Play - Writer/director Mitch Glazer did not get the BEST of reviews for this piece, but I can't resist a story about a gangster, an angel, and a trumpet player...especially with Bill Murray in the cast.
15. Plan B - This Argentinian Spanish language film with Gay themes tells the story of a man who tries to come in between his ex-girlfriend and her new man.
16. Post Mortem - Before he directed the Oscar nominated No, Pablo Larrain directed this other tale of Chile in the 1970's.
17. Prodigal Sons - Kimberly Reed's documentary tells of the first time the transsexual film-maker returned home...as a woman.
18. The Tempest - Director Julie Taymor's reworking of Shakespeare's final play with Helen Mirren playing the lead as the wizard Prospera (re-named from Prospero to fit her gender).
19. You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger - Woody Allen's yearly offering focuses on a recently divorced woman who seeks spiritual guidance from a psychic.
Of course, I am open to adding films if readers request them, but I am trying not to go back over films I've already seen (although if I get several requests to re-watch something and review it, of course I will). The list of 2010 productions that I have already watched (which as I mentioned, is extensive), and the grades that I gave them (for practice since I wasn't up and Frogging QUITE yet), are as follows:
5 star films:
127 Hours
Animal Kingdom
Biuitiful
Black Swan
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Gasland
How To Train Your Dragon
In a Better World
Incendies
Inception
Madeo
Mary and Max
Micmacs
The Social Network
Winter's Bone
4 1/2 star films:
Another Year
Blue Valentine
Carlos
Day and Night (short)
The Ghost Writer
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Inside Job
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
The Kids Are All Right
The King's Speech
The Oath
True Grit
Undertow
Waiting For Superman
Waste Land
White Material
4 star films:
The American
Catfish
Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky
Despicable Me
Easy A
Enter the Void
Fair Game
The Fighter
Four Lions
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One
Heartbreaker
Jack Goes Boating
Let Me In
Let's Pollute (short)
The Lottery
Love and Other Drugs
Mesrine: Public Enemy
Monsters
My Name is Khan
My Name is Maria (short)
Never Let Me Go
Nowhere Boy
Of Gods and Men
Ondine
Peepli Live
Please Give
Precious Life
Rabbit Hole
Restrepo
Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll
Shutter Island
Splice
The Tillman Story
The Town
Toy Story 3
Wild Grass
3 1/2 star films:
44-Inch Chest
8: The Mormon Proposition
Animated History of Poland (short)
Around a Small Mountain
Blood Done Sign My Name
Book of Eli
Cemetery Junction
City Island
Devil
Dinner For Schmucks
Eat, Pray, Love
The Eclipse
Everyone Else
Flipped
Get Low
The Girl Who Played With Fire
The Gruffalo (short)
Harry Brown
Hereafter
The Karate Kid
Kick-Ass
Lovely, Still
Morning Glory
Night Catches Us
One Thousand Pictures (short)
R.E.D.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Stone
Tiny Furniture
Vincere
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
The Way Back
Welcome To the Rileys
Women Without Men
3 star films:
Alamar
Blue Beard
Burlesque
Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Elliot Spitzer
Confession (short)
Countdown to Zero
The Crazies
The Disappearance of Alice Creed
Dust Kid (short)
Everything Strange and New
The Experiment
Fish Tank
For Colored Girls
Going the Distance
The Greatest
Greenberg
Holy Rollers
Howl
Iron Man 2
The Killer Inside Me
The Last Exorcism
Leaves of Grass
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole
Letters To Juliet
Love Ranch
Made in Dagenham
Mademoiselle Chambon
Megamind
Monica and David
Mother and Child
My Own Love Song
Oceans
Shrek Forever After
A Solitary Man
Somewhere
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Tamara Drew
The Twilight Saga: The Eclipse
Unstoppable
William Kuntsler: Destroying the Universe
2 1/2 star films:
After.life
The Art of the Steal
Barking Island (short)
Cairo Time
Casino Jack and the United States of Money
Chloe
Clash of the Titans
The Company Men
Conviction
Coyote Falls (short)
Daybreakers
The Exploding Girl
Green Zone
La Mission
Percy Jackson and the New Olympians
Prince of Persia
Salt
Secretariat
Smash His Camera
Tron: Legacy
Valentine's Day
The lists get shorter from here on out. I try to avoid films of less than two and a half star quality whenever possible, but a few always sneak through (and one is usually up for an Oscar). Two star films:
Agora
Alice in Wonderland
All Good Things
Death at a Funeral
Eccentricities of a Blond Haired Girl
The Expendables
Extraordinary Measures
It's Kind of a Funny Story
The Last Airbender
Robin Hood
Sensology
Sweetgrass
Tangled
The Tourist
Why Did I Get Married Too
One and a half star films:
Babies
Cique du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
The Extra Man
Jelly
Runaways
The Temptation of St. Tony
One star films:
Charlie St. Cloud
Jonah Hex
Legion
The Lost Thing (short)
Sex and the City 2
Skyline
Whew!!! I'm going to do my utmost to try and see you back here tomorrow for the first three in the rewind.
Froggy
No comments:
Post a Comment