Sundance Review

Well now that I am home and have got a little sleep I thought I would do a little Sundance Wrap up.
I ended up seeing 10 movies, and 18 Shorts.

My 5 favorite feature films are
1.  Rebirth-about the aftermath of 9/11
2.  Circumstance-(which ended up winning the Audience Award) about two girls coming of age in Iran
3.  Martha Marcy May Marlene-with great performances by Elizabeth Olsen and John Hawkes about a girl who is trying regain her life after being in a cult.
4.   Sound of My Voice-about a couple who try to infiltrate a cult who's leader claims to be a time traveler.
5.  Take Shelter-about a guy who is either having dreams of a coming apocalypse or a psychological disorder.

Worst movie we saw at Sundance was Letters From the Big Man about a girl who trys to protect big foot.

Best Short Movies
1.  Fight For your Right Revisited- start studded short about the Beastie Boys
2.  The Legend of Beaver Dam-a crazy musical horror movie.
3.  Living for 32-a documentary about a survivor of the Virginia Tech murders
4.  Grandpa's Wet Dream-a funny documentary about a 75 year old Japanese guy who stars in porn movies with out his wife or family knowing about it.
5.  Out of Reach- a documentary about two girls who try to reconnect with their mother


With alot of movies playing at Sundance it is interesting to see what themes come out. This year there has been alot made about the cult theme. With something like 5 movies about cults(two of which I saw) it is an interesting theme. But I found a different theme in the movies I saw. The psychology of surviving. With Rebirth, Living for 32, and The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement all documentaries about surviving horrific events and having to deal with the psychological drama. Also, with the fiction movies like Martha Marcy May Marlene where the main character is dealing with her survival of a cult. And even in Take Shelter where a guy is preparing to survive either a coming apocalypse or a mental illness.  The movies I saw this year were a psychologist dream of mental  illness and grief and made for some fun twisted movies. 

Sundance Day 6

Our last day here in Park City and ended it with 2 great movies.
First was Martha Marcy May Marlene at midnight. The movie starred Elizabeth Olsen the younger sister of the Olsen twins and John Hawkes who was just nominated for Best Supporting Actor for last years Winter's Bone. Both give great performances in this movie. Elizabeth Olsen plays Martha who ends up in a cult where they call her Mary May. John Hawkes plays the cult leader who uses fear and sex to control the numerous women he has there. After Martha escapes the cult and goes to live with her sister who she hasn't talked to in 2 years she has a lot of trouble assimilating to the normal world and is in constant fear that the other cult members are going to come looking for her. While the movie has one of those typical Sundance ambiguous endings it still was a great movie.

The last movie we saw before we left Park City was Circumstance about two liberal girls living in highly conservative Iran.  The movie is a love story between the two girls as they struggle with growing up and coping with a restrictive society. The brother of one of the girls starts working for the morality police and ends up getting them arrested.  Unlike other Sundance movies there was a good ending even if it was not a happy ending. 

Now time to fly home and get some sleep.

Sundance Day 5

Well had tickets to Gun Hill Road at 8:30am but decided to sleep in a little and ski all day. And since I got a discount on my lift tickets I basically didn't lose any money. 

So the only movie I saw today was Vampire with Keisha Castle-Hughes and Rachel Leigh Cook. The movie was ok. It was a bit slow and some of the camera work was a little weird. The story was original and different not you typical vampire movie. Basically a guy surfs suicide websites and makes a suicide pact with young girls. When he meets them he convinces them to die first and he says he will kill himself after. But instead he drains their blood then drinks it. Has some graphic scenes but it is not scary and doesn't feel like a horror movie.  

Now for one of the most talked about movies and hardest title to say Martha Marcy May Marlene with Elizabeth Olsen the younger sister of the Olsen twins. Seeing that at midnight so will give the review tomorrow.  

Sundance Day 4

Day 4 was a short day as in short films. I saw 3 short film programs(including one I saw at 11:30 pm last night.  The first short film program I saw was Short Program 1.  This program included 6 shorts.  Ranging from a crazy animated film to a movie about a Russian submarine crew.  I am not going to go into each movie just want to highlight a few. My favorite short in this program was Fight for Your Right Revisited which was directed by Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys.  This imagines what happens after the video for Fight for your Right to Party. In this short the Beastie Boys are played by Seth Rogan, Danny McBride, and Elijah Wood.  After they leave the party they go on a alcohol fueled adventure. The movie is alot of fun and filled with tons of cameo appearances, including Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci, Ted Danson, Will Farrell, and Jack Black.  Just crazy mayhem and fun.
The Terrys was a crazy comedy from the creators of Tim and Eric Awesome Show. If you like that show then I am sure you will like the short but for me it was a little too over the top.
Worst Enemy was a funny movie about a women who has some bizarre things happen to her.

After getting another 4 hours sleep was up for Documentary Shorts Program 2. This one had 3 shorts and all were good. The first was about a survivor of the Virginia Tech shooting called Living for 32. The guy was shot 4 times and after recovering went on to be an advocate for stricter policies for buying guns. Then was The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement about a barber who was on the forefront of the civil rights movement and his reaction to seeing the African American President.  Then was Isabella Rossellini's Animals Distract Me. This was about her obsession with animals and Charles Darwin.

Then it was on to a day of skiing. It was nice to get out on the slopes in some beautiful weather.

After a nice shower after skiing I tried to watch Life in a Day live streaming on Youtube. This didn't work so well as the stream get getting stuck and was kind of annoying to watch. But then went out and stood in the waitlist line for Documentary Shorts Program 1. I wasn't sure if I was going to get in since I apparently underestimated the draw of the doc shorts. I was lucky and got one of the last seats right in the front row.
This program had 6 shorts in it. And while not all were good there were some good ones. Grandpa's Wet Dream was the stand out. It is about a 75 year old Japanese guy who stars in Porn movies without his wife knowing about it. Also, good was Out of Reach about two sisters search for their mom who abandoned the when they were young. Incident by a Bank was an interesting look at a bank robbery in Sweden from the point of view of the people on the street that witnessed it.

Then back to bed for some sleep. Decided to skip the movie I was going to see at 8:30am and get a little bit more sleep and get a full day of skiing in. 

The Sound of Music

The second musical in a row to win Best Picture during the height of musicals in the mid 60's. I think it is probably the best musical of all time.  From the first notes how can you not love Julie Andrews.  I first saw this movie when I was visiting my grandparents one summer and I was going through their video tapes to find something to watch and put it in.  Seemed better then other movies they had and I loved it. It also could have something to do with the scenery. I love the mountain scenery.

In case you do not know the story. The movie is about a women who attempting to become a nun but is having a hard time concentrating. The nuns decide it might do her some good to get a little real world experience and send her to become a governess to the 7 Von Trapp children. The Von Trapp family is ruled by the very strict naval Captain Georg Von Trapp and all the kids are mischievous. After a while the kids warm up to her and she teaches the whole family to loosen up and have a good time by singing. Eventually there is a little spark between the captain and Maria and they both have to question some decisions they made and what they want to from the rest of their lives.

This is probably Jule Andrews best performance. You really feel her free spirit and you can understand how that spirit is contagious to the kids and even to loosen up the captain. All the songs are great and catchy (I still do not understand why they play My Favorite Things at Christmas time as the movie or the song has nothing to do with Christmas). They even manage to fit a little action and intrigue in the movie when they try to escape Austria before the Nazi's take over.  The Sound of Music won 5 Academy Awards in total. Including Best Director for Robert Wise who won 4 year earlier for another musical West Side Story. Oddly enough Jule Andrews did not win probably because she won the previous year for Mary Poppins and the Academy has a history of not awarding best acting awards to the same person two years in a row. Also Christopher Plummer was not nominated for best actor as Captain Von Trapp. 

The movie that it was up against that year for Best Picture was Doctor Zhivago which also won 5 awards. Another great movie that didn't get any nominations for it main actor Omar Sharif. This was another epic directed by David Lean after Lawrence of Arabia and The Bridge on the River Kwai but this time he did not get the big prize.

Interesting fact. Julie Christie who beat Julie Andrews for Best Actress in the movie Darling was the first performance with a nude scene to win an Academy Award.

The Sound of Music made AFI Top 100 list at number 55 in 1997 and number 40 in 2007.
Dr. Zhivago was number 39 in 1997 but did not make the list in 2007

Sundance Day 3

Well since I didn't review it last night and technically I saw it today I will start with the Catechism Cataclysm. Being a midnight film you have to know what you are getting into.  This is a crazy comedy.  It is about a priest who is really no good at his job and goes on a canoe trip with a guy he idolized in high school.  Things just go wacky on their trip.  It is a funny movie that just keeps getting more bizarre as it goes along and you never know what to expect. 

After 4 hours sleep I got up at 6:30am and we barely made it to the first movie this morning due to some bus issues.  But we made it in time to see Sound of My Voice. I wasn't sure what to expect. The description was kind of vague with something about a cult. I was kind of expecting something over the top like Eyes Wide Shut, but it was nothing like that. It was actually really grounded in reality. The characters felt real and even though the cult leader was crazy she was not over the top.  She claimed she was from the future and knew what was to come. This was one of the first times I actually asked a question during the Q&A. I was curious where they got the idea for the time traveler from because it sounded like the story of Jon Titor who claimed he was a time traveler and the director confirmed that he did base the character on him.  There were some bizarre things in the movie that they never really explained but I really enjoyed the movie. 

I went right from Sound of My Voice to Hobo With a Shotgun.  This was one of the most entertaining screening I have ever had.  Rutger Hauer who played the Hobo was at the screening and showed up with an actual shotgun. Then during the Q&A he ran around the theatre with a video camera recording peoples questions.  Was a lot of fun. The film is exactly what you would expect from a movie in the midnight category called Hobo with a Shotgun.. Basically a hobo goes on a rampage with a shotgun to clean up a town. Just lots of blood and disgusting scenes and a whole lot of fun. 

Before all these screenings there were short film screenings.  Before the Catechism Cataclysm the movie was Sasquatch Birth Journal 2. It was a pretty ridiculous movie about a big foot giving birth. It was kind of amusing since the movie I had seen right before this was Letters From the Big Man which was an awful movie about big foot. While this wasn't very good it was funny.  Then before Sound of My Voice the short was Pandemic 41.410806, -75.654259.  This is part of a larger project at Sundance that includes the Internet, cell phones, and random tokens left around Park City. The movie didn't make much sense by itself but I am interested in seeing what else this guy does. The whole idea of the project is that this pandemic is sweeping the country and turning adults into zombies and leaving the kids to fend for themselves.  While you don't get all of that from the short I am hoping maybe he will do a feature as I like the concept.  Then before Hobo with a Shotgun the best short I have seen so far was shown and that was The Legend of Beaver Creek. This is a funny horror musical about kids on a camping trip. Similar to Hobo with a Shotgun it is ultra violent and overly gory and a lot of fun. 

Thats it for now. Another midnight movie tonight and early morning movie tomorrow then some skiing. 

Sundance Day 2

Sundance day 2
As I am writing this I am standing online for the last movie of the day The Catechism Cataclysm at midnight. So far this day was pretty good. Woke up early to catch a 9:15 movie. We saw The Details with Tobey Maguire and Elizabeth Banks. It is about a guy who makes a bunch of bad decisions that leads to adultery and eventually murder. This is a dark comedy and is the funniest movies I have ever seen at Sundance. Then afterwards it was cool to see Tobey Maguire on stage for the Q&A.

Next up after some lunch was Rebirth. This is a documentary about 5 people coping with the aftermath of 9/11. Each person tells their story of dealing with loss and healing. The director interviewed each person every year for 8 years following 9/11. We get to see all their stages of grief and how they put their life together. The most compelling story was that of one of the survivors and her struggle to recover from her injuries.
This was a great movie and it's going to tough to find a movie to top it as best of the fest. The movie had everyone tearing up especially when the survivor came up for the Q&A.

After such an emotional movie we decided to go eat some dinner the head over to the new frontier exhibit. That is where the have experimental film exhibitions. We saw the much talked about James Franco exhibit Threes Company: The Drama which I found very stupid and unnecessary. But one of the better exhibits was The Jonny Cash Project which took Internet user submitted drawings of each scene and put them into the video.

After that we went up to the iconic Egyptian theatre for Letters From the Big Man. A movie about this women's encounter with big foot. It was the most boring movie. A whole lot the women sitting alone in the wilderness. While the scenery was good the story had no point. I was thinking it was the worst movie about big foot I have ever seen then I realized the only other big foot movie I can't think of is Harry and the Hendersons which was funny and much better then this movie. We really need a good big foot movie.
That is it for now time for the last movie of the day then 4 hours sleep then it is back up at 6:30 am for a couple of movies then some skiing.

Sundance Day 1

Well the day started off a little rough. Got up at 3:30am then had a rough flight from Milwaukee to Houston and almost missed our connection to Salt Lake City.  We had to run from one terminal to the other and when we got to the gate they had the door closed but luckily enough the plane was still there and we were able to board. So, finally made it to Salt Lake City and luggage arrived with no problems. Then  we got on the shuttle to take us to Park City and after driving around the airport an extra time we were on our way.  One of the things I love about Sundance is you never know who you are going to run into.  On the shuttle was an assistant director for Take Shelter which was the first movie on our list to see today. Also, on the shuttle was the stand in for Tobey Maguire in The Details which is on the list of movies to see tomorrow.  

Take Shelter is a movie about a guy who has dreams about a coming storm and is not sure if it is prophetic or he is going crazy.  The vistions are so intense that he decided to build a storm shelter in his backyard.  The movie was a great start to Sundance. Great performance from Michael Shannon and the rest of the cast.  It is a great story about a man struggling with his sanity.  The movie drags a little in the middle and seems to go on a little too long, but it has a good ending. 

Sundance 2011

Its my first day here in Park City for the Sundance Film Festival and thought I would give you a preview of movies I am going to see.

Take Shelter



The Details The Detals at Sundance
 
Rebirth Rebirth at Sundance

Letters from the Big Man Letters from the Big Man at Sundance

The Catechism Cataclysm -The Catechism Cataclysm at Sundance

Sound of My Voice- Sound of My Voice at Sundance

Hobo With a Shotgun



Gun Hill Road



Vampire-Vampire at Sundance

Mary Marcy May Marlene



Circumstance

2011 Oscar Nomination Predictions

Well the Oscar nominations are coming up in a few days and thought I would share my predictions for what will be nominated. Not real original ideas since most of these nominations have been predicted before. But here they are.
Predictions for Oscar Nominations


Best Picture
127 Hours
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids are All Right
The Kings Speech
The Social Network
The Town
Toy Story 3
True Grit

Best Director
Darren Aronofsky
Danny Boyle
David Fincher
Tom Hooper
Christopher Nolan

Best Actor
Jeff Bridges
Robert Duvall
Jesse Eisenberg
Colin Firth
James Franco

Best Actress
Annette Bening
Nicole Kidman
Jennifer Lawrence
Natalie Portman
Michelle Williams

Best Original Screenplay
Another Year
Black Swan
Inception
The Kids are All Right
The Kings Speech

Best Adapted Screenplay
127 Hours
The Social Network
The Town
True Grit
Winters Bone

Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale
Geoffrey Rush
Mark Ruffalo
Andrew Garfield
Jeremy Renner

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams
Helena Bonham Carter
Mila Kunis
Melissa Leo
Hailee Steinfeld

Best Animated Feature
How to Train Your Dragon
Tangled
Toy Story 3

Best Documentary Feature
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Inside Job
Restrepo
Waiting for “Superman”
Wasteland

My Fair Lady

This is the second musical of 4 to win best picture in the 60's and the first of 2 musicals in a row to win best picture.  The mid 60's were kind of  the peak of musicals in my opinion. Growing up my sister loved this movie. I have not seen it in a long time but was still excited to see it. Some of the songs aren't great but I love the story and the acting. 

The movie is about a phonetics professor Henry Higgins(Rex Harrison) who accepts a bet to reform a simple cockney Londoner Eliza Doolittle(Audrey Hepburn) into a lady who could pass as royalty  This meeting of two worlds gets off to a rocky start.  Higgins is an egomaniac and treats everyone else as dirt.  Eliza is a girl that will not stand to be treated like that and is always standing up for herself and constantly butting heads with Higgins. Her whole reason for being there is to improve her place in society so she doesn't have to sell flowers in the street anymore.  After some work she starts to  make progress and he eventually brings her to a big ball where she is mistaken for royalty.  After winning his bet Higgins begins to gloat and feeling very good about himself but does not give any credit to Eliza. When Eliza finally leaves after not feeling very appreciated for the work she put in Higgins realizes that he kind of liked having her around and wants her to come back and live there. 

I can see why my sister and any young girls would like this movie. It is that age old story about an ugly ducking turning into a princess.  Audrey Hepburn is amazing. Her transformation in the movie is amazing and when she finally steps into the ballroom she is stunning. I love the constant back and forth between her and Rex Harrison.  The unfortunate thing about this movie is that all of Hepburn's singing was dubbed, which is sad because she is a good singer. And probably because her voice was dubbed she got denied a nomination for Best Actress which is a shame because it is such a great performance. The movie did win 8 awards in total including Best Director for George Cukor and Best Actor for Rex Harrison

The big competition for My Fair Lady that year was another of my favorite musicals Mary Poppins. Mary Poppins was nominated for 13 awards and won 5 including Best Actress for Julie Andrews and Best Song for  "Chim Chim Cher-ee" which is my favorite songs in that movie.  It is interesting that Julie Andrews won for Mary Poppins because she originated the role of Eliza Doolittle on Broadway and many people thought she should have reprised the role in the movie seeing as Rex Harrison reprised the role of Higgins for the film. The other musical that came out that year that got 2 nominations was A Hard Day's Night. And while it was nominated for Best Screenplay and Best Score none of The Beatles songs were nominated for Best Song.

The movie that is currently considered the best of 1964 is Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb directed by Stanley Kubrick. This movie was probably a little bit too edgy for the Academy at that time and it is truly amazing that it got 4 nominations including Best Picture, Best Screenplay and Best Director. Oddly enough Peter Sellers was not nominated for Best Actor even though he played 3 characters in the movie. Sellers also had two other movies that came out that year that he could have been nominated for. A Shot in the Dark and The World of Henry Orient.
On AFI 100 Greatest Movies My Fair Lady was number 91 in 1997 and did not make the list in 2007
Dr. Strangelove was number 26 and 30 in 2007.

Best Movies that take place in Boston

With three movies that take place in or around Boston The Fighter, The Town, and The Social Network all getting high praises this year and each with a chance for an Oscar Nomination or two I thought it would be fun to give my list of the top 5 movies that take place around Boston. Having gone to school and lived there for 5 years I am kind of partial to movies from there.

1. Good Will Hunting
2. The Departed
3. Mystic River
4. Fever Pitch
5. The Social Network

Other movies that didn't make my list.
Gone Baby Gone, Southie, Blown Away, Legally Blonde.
What are your favorite movies that take place in Boston

Tom Jones

Tom Jones the movie not the singer.
This movie in my opinion is the worst movie to win best picture. It took me 3 tries to watch the whole thing and even though I tried watching it all the way through in one sitting I just could not do it. I kept falling asleep or just stopped paying attention. I guess it is supposed to be a comedy but I did not find it funny at all. If anyone knows why this is still considered a good movie please let me know.

The movie is about Tom Jones(Albert Finney) an illegitimate baby adopted by a rich squire in 18th century England . The baby grows up to be irreverent and very found of women and drink. He has sex with one of his adopted father’s servants and is eventually kicked out of the house where he then travels to London . Along the way he gets into even more trouble has sex with more women (one who turns out might be his mother!) and eventually makes it to London where he hooks up with a rich older women. All this time he keeps professing his love for his neighbor’s daughter Sophie. Sophie runs away from her house when she is set in an arranged marriage to Tom’s cousin. She eventually makes it London only to find Tom living the high life with his new mistress. Eventually after many antics and a few crazy revelations they do end up together.

I read somewhere that this is supposed to be a romantic comedy. I found it neither romantic nor a comedy. It was just a boring really crazy movie. I do not understand why Sophie likes Tom so much even though he is always off sleeping with other women, and in the end it doesn’t seem to matter. She just accepts him back. The other problem with this movie is the crazy camera work. It just jarring and seems out of place. I can’t even say the acting is good because it is hard to believe that this movie got 5 nominations for acting including 3 for best supporting actress. Luckily it did not win any(the only movie to have 5 nomination for acting and not win any). All I kept thinking is how bad Albert Finney was and how good he was in Erin Brockovich another role he was nominated for. I read one of the actors (Hugh Griffith) was drunk through the whole movie which really shows how little they cared for the movie and I think it shows.

I think 1963 was another year where any movie that was released the year before could have won best picture. For example if To Kill a Mockingbird was released in ’63 instead of ’62 there was no way it was going to lose. What should have won in ’63? In my opinion The Birds one of the best Hitchcock movies which wasn’t even nominated. Other movies The Great Escape, The Pink Panther, and while I never saw it I heard Lilies of the Field was a great movie and did win Sidney Poitier’s only Academy Award. The other movie that was nominated and had a lot of press that year was the big budget epic Cleopatra. Which almost put 20th Century Fox into bankruptcy.
It also marks the second time in the 60's that a movie about sexual promiscuity won best picture. Showing again how in the 60's the film industry was pushing the boundaries of what was acceptable to show in theatres. With lots of sex (none on screen but very much implied) and some partial nudity this is by far the most sexually explicit movie to win best picture up to that time.

Top 10 of 2010 Part 2 Documentaries

Top 10 Documentaries


1. Waiting for “Superman” - Definitely the highlight of Sundance 2010 for me. I didn’t have a ticket for the movie but managed to get waitlisted and get in. Really was an eye opening movie for me. It seems the school system has been broken for a while and no one seems to be able to fix it. This movie proposes some radical ideas and shows what some parents go through to get their child into a good school. If anything this movie is a great movie just because it starts the conversation. I would love to hear some feedback from teachers if they have seen the movie and how they feel about the ideas talked about in it.

2. Restrepo - A fascinating look into the life of a platoon in one of the deadliest parts of Afghanistan . The movie really captures the real experiences of an American Soldier from the highs to the lows.

3. The Tillman Story- Another fascinating look at the military. This one deals with the controversial death of football star Pat Tillman. More about government propaganda then about the military it gives a glimpse how the government tried to use the death of a celebrity to promote the war.

4. Best Worst Movie- One of the funniest documentaries of the year. It looks at the cult following of Troll 2 which is considered the worst movie of all time. It is directed by one of the stars of the movie as he interviews other cast members and fans of the film. Two interesting points of the movie are how people get obsessed with their own celebrity and the director who thinks it’s a great movie and doesn’t understand why everyone is laughing at it.

5. A Small Act- A real touching movie about how making a little donation can change someones life. The movie is about a man who grew up in Kenya and had his education sponsored by a charitable organization and an unknown women who gave money to the organization. After going to school in Kenya he ends up getting a scholarship to Harvard and ends up working for the United Nations. He eventually seeks out the women who made the donations and finds out she is a Swedish women who he eventually becomes friends with. He has now started his own charitable organization to help other school children in Kenya . The point of this movie is to show that what we might consider a small donation can go a long way.

6. Catfish- A somewhat controversial documentary because some claim it is really not a documentary. About a guy who becomes friends with a family on facebook but things isn’t always what they seem. I don’t want to ruin the ending but it is an interesting look at how we connect through technology.

7. Exit Through the Gift Shop- This movie had been getting great reviews but the premise didn’t sound at all interesting. I finally watched it on Netflix streaming and was pleasantly surprised. The movie is a documentary about a guy making a documentary about street artists. Sound ridiculous but the people in this movie are some unique they make it work. Banksy a world famous street artist whose identity is unknown flips the camera on the guy who was making a film about him. Basically because the guy ends up being a bad filmmaker. I heard on the DVD is the original documentary the guy made but turns out his is the more interesting story.

8. Gasland- This is one of those muckraking movies that sets out to expose a dangerous practice of a corporation. Josh Fox finds out that energy companies are using a technique called “fracking” to get natural gas out of the ground. And while it works and could lead to lower energy prices the practice has a lot of hazards. The corporations are using their government connections to create loop holes that allow them to keep doing despite some evidence that it is harming the environment and people.

9. The Red Chapel- This is one of the funniest and sad documentaries I saw this year. Basically this comedy troupe from Denmark gets invited to North Korea to perform their routine. The leader of the troupe Mads Brugger brings two Korean comedians with him and documents the whole experience. The point of the movie is to get a sneak peek into the world of the North Koreans. He does things purposefully to get a reaction from them and the two comedians with him struggle with what the injustice they see around them and the crazy things Mads want them to do.

10. Marwencol- Interesting documentary the delves into the mind. The movie is about a man who was beaten within inches of his life and makes a recovery but now suffers serious brain damage. Unable to work he creates war scenes with his toy soldiers and pretty much lives in this fantasy world of Marwencol where he can be a brave soldier. He takes a lot of pictures of his soldiers in action and has elaborate sets. These pictures end up taking him to an art show where they become instantly praised and he struggles to figure out how this new found reality fits into his fantasy world.

I did not see Inside Job or A Film Unfinished two of the best reviewed documentaries.

Top 5 Short Documentaries

1. Born Sweet - Definitely the best documentary short I saw at Sundance and now has the chance of being nominated for an Academy Award. It is about a village in Cambodia whose wells have been poisoned by arsenic. The movie shows the struggles of one boy with effects of the arsenic.


2. Quadrangle –The story of two couples who end up swinging in the 70’s. The story is made by the daughter of one of the couples and she gets her parents to be very frank about their experiences as they try to explain it to her. http://www.quadranglefilm.com/ Quadrangle will be premiering on HBO 2/16 check it out.

3. The Poodle Trainer – The title pretty much says it all. About a Russian lady who trains poodles for circuses. I don’t know what is more fascinating how smart the dogs are or how crazy she seems. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kwwb_G_92tk


4. Dock Ellis and the LSD No-No – An animated short about one of the craziest baseball feet’s in history. Doc Ellis tells how he ended high on LSD and still ended up pitching a no hitter. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vUhSYLRw14

5. Lets Harvest the Organs of Death Row Inmates – A 2 minute animated documentary that is both disturbing and thought provoking. Since my dad had a heart transplant this subject is very near to my heart and makes you think. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJkpDNwM0lk

Lawrence of Arabia

Considered one of the greatest films of all time. It was ranked in the top 10 of AFI’s Greatest Movies of all time both in 1997 and 2007 along with almost every other list. The movie is almost 4 hours long. Making it pretty much a tie with Gone With the Wind for longest movie ever to win best picture. Here is the break down from http://www.filmsite.org/


It remains a very close call, a tie virtually, between the top two 'longest' Best Pictures: the total film time (without music) of Gone With The Wind (1939) is almost 221 minutes (3 hours, 41 minutes), and with the Overture, Intermission, Entr'acte, and Walkout Music, it reaches 234 minutes (3 hours, 54 minutes). The total film time (without music) of the "original" Lawrence of Arabia (1962) is just over 222 minutes (3 hours, 42 minutes), slightly longer, while its additional elements extended the film to about 232 minutes (3 hours, 52 minutes). If just counting the film itself, Lawrence of Arabia is the longest of the two contenders.

Being nearly 4 hours long I was surprised to only get one disc from Netflix since I got two discs for Ben-Hur, but they managed to get it all on there and I watched up to the intermission one day and picked back up after the intermission the next.

The movie is about T.E. Lawrence a British officer who fought with the Arabs against the Turks during the First World War. He was both crazy and brilliant and no one really knew which side he was on. The movie follows him as he starts off as a guy who doesn’t fit in with his fellow soldiers and is sent off to Arabia on some unclear mission. He eventually makes friends with the Arabs and helps lead them to victory over the Turks. Along the way we are never quite sure if he is doing it for the British, the Arabs, or just for his own ego to prove he is some god like person.

What I like about this movie is that it is a glimpse into a history that is not well known at least not known by me. And it makes me want to learn more about this guy and find out how much of this movie is true. While the movie is good I don’t think it is the greatest movie of all time or even in the Top 10. This is similar to how I feel about Citizen Kane. Both movies have their good parts but it is usually the technical aspects that get the two movies recognized as the best movies. And I guess the art is just lost on me. The long sweeping shots of the desert are cool and I am sure was very hard to do but it makes the story drag. I am all about story. It takes Lawrence over and hour to cross a desert without much happening to him. I get it he'scrazy for walking across a desert that some say are uncrossable but really a whole hour of him walking is a bit much.

A major plus for this movie is the acting. All the actors are amazing, from Peter O’toole (in his first major film) to Alec Guinness (who was great in A Bridge on the River Kwai and who would go on to play Obi Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars movies) with Omar Sharif, Anthony Quinn, and Claude Rains in great supporting performances. But, besides Peter O’Toole and Omar Sharif the characters just don’t have much interaction between them, I would have loved to see them go toe to toe more often.

While Lawrence of Arabia is usually considered the deserving winner of Best Picture there was a number of other great movies released in 1962. It’s biggest competitor for Best Picture was To Kill a Mockingbird. Gregory Peck ended up beating Peter O’Toole for best actor and To Kill a Mockingbird beat Lawrence of Arabia for Best Screenplay. The two movies are again a contrast of large epic movie and small movie with great emotional story. Other movies that came out that year are The Manchurian Candidate, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, The Miracle Worker, The Music Man and the first James Bond movie Dr. No.

Random Fact-Lawrence of Arabia has no female speaking parts and is considered the longest movie without any female dialog.

Top 10 of 2010 Part 1

Top 10 movies of 2010
It’s that time of year again when everyone is making their Top 10 lists and figured I would throw my 2 cents out there.

1. Inception- The most creative and inventive movies of the year. Entertaining and made you think. It is one of those movies that it takes several views to figure it out.

2. Social Network- I had high expectations for this movie. With Aaron Sorkin writing and David Fincher directing it had a lot of potential. Luckily it lived up to the potential. I love Aaron Sorkin’s writing. It is fast and snappy. And it takes some great actors to deliver the dialogue. Luckily the cast was great, and is there anything that Justin Timberlake can’t do.

3. Blue Valentine- When this movie was over I wasn’t sure how to feel about it. Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams were amazing in it. The story is a very sad movie and that’s what I didn’t like about it at first. It is a raw emotional story. Then I realized that a movie that could make me feel that emotional about the characters and want them to stay together must have done its job.

4. 127 Hours- AKA the movie where the guy cuts his arm off. The part where he finally cuts his arm off has gotten alot of headlines with people passing out or getting sick but the movie leading up to that is very good. Here is a guy stuck litterly between a rock and a hard place and he contemplates his life and how he ended up there. Similar to Into the Wild from a few years ago where the life lesson learnedis you need friends and family around to be truely happy.  I heard and interview with Danny Boyle the director and he described the movie as “an action movie about a guy who can’t move”. And he managed to pull it off.

5. Black Swan-I was really looking forward to this movie. Darren Aronofsky directed Requiem for a Dream about drug users decent into madness. This one about a ballerina’s decent into madness and he is at his best. The visuals and the overall feel of the movie you never know what is real or imagined. It will keep you thinking about it for days.

6. Buried-Similar to 127 Hours this is a movie about a guy who cant move. But unlike 127 Hours we never leave him. It is 90 minutes of Ryan Reynolds in a coffin. The camera never leaves him and we never see what is going on outside. It is a very claustrophobic movie and could have just been a very boring movie, but it somehow works. One of the best psychological thrillers I have seen in a while.

7. Kick Ass- Had to throw this in my top 10. One of the most fun movies I have seen this year. The story actually is pretty cool but it is the action that takes it over the top. It has some of the coolest action and fight scenes of any movie this year. Chloe Grace-Moretz is just amazing as Hit Girl.

8. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo-Now Swedish movies usually put me to sleep. Must be something about the language that is very soothing. But this movie kept me awake the whole time. Which is impressive considering I watched it after work and I was kind of tired which is reason enough to make it on my top 10. But it is a dark movie and has some very shocking parts that caught me off guard.

9. Feed the Fish-Along with Blue Valentine and Buried this was one of the highlights of the Milwaukee Film Festival for me. Made in Wisconsin by Wisconsinites and starring Tony Shalhoub. It is a fun little movie and I wish it got a wider release. It was made even better by having the filmmaker and Tony Shalhoub there for a little Q and A.

10. The Human Centipede (First Sequence) - Probably the movie I talked about the most. While not a great movie the premise is bizarre and disturbing and made for some interesting conversations. If you don’t know what it is about I wont gross you out now, but needles to say it is one of those movies that just sticks with you. The first half hour plays out like any other silly horror movie but quickly turns into something else.

Honorable Mention: Tucker and Dale vs. Evil-Looking over my list there isn’t any real funny movies. And thinking over the year there hasn’t been any movie that made me laugh as much as The Hangover did last year. But Tucker and Dale vs. Evil comes closest. It is a parody of horror films where a bunch of kids get lost in the wood and cross paths with what they think are killer hillbillies. The movie is told mostly from the hillbillies’ perspective as they try to just fix up their cabin. It is very funny without spoofing specific film like the Scary Movie franchise. Just a lot of fun but there is also a lot of blood.

There were some movies that got a lot of good reviews that I did not see and maybe would have made the list if I did.
Highly praised movies I did not see: The Town, The Kings Speech, Toy Story 3 and The Fighter.

For me 2010 was the year of documentaries and shorts. I was on the Milwaukee Film Festival short committee and got to see a lot of shorts. Here are some of my favorites some from MKE Film Fest and some from Sundance. Next week I will post my favorite documentaries of the year.

Top 5 Short Movies

1. Drunk History-Tesla and Edison-While Drunk History is not really a documentary it was part of the docu shorts at Sundance. It is one of the funniest shorts I have ever seen. There were two of them at Sundance Tesla and Edison and Lincoln and Douglas. But Tesla and Edison in my opinion is far better. You should check them out online along with some of their others. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwI1Xpwhyi8


2. Little Children, Big Words-One of the standouts at the Milwaukee Film Fest it is a dramatic short which shows a lot of emotion. This also has the chance to be nominated for and Academy Award. The acting in this movie is amazing, and what makes it stand out for me is that fact that most shorts are either silly or funny and I find it is rare for there to be a great dramatic short.

3. Banana Bread-This is a fun little movie that combines action and humor. About a hit man who has a nagging mother who feels the need to call him when he is on the job. Just a lot of fun. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFO0_x99gMw

4. The New Tenants –This movie won best short last year at the Academy Awards and has some of the oddest dialogue. About two gay guys who end up moving in to an apartment where there previous tenant was killed and a bunch of odd people start showing up to their door. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITE7Nshd3SM

5. The Surprise Demise of Francis Coopers Mother-One of the only animated shorts I like at the MKE Film Festival. About a guy whos mother dies unexeptedly and he tries to figure out statistically when he will die.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWphsMc8MGs