My movie watching life can be broken into two sections: "Pre-Game" and "Post-Game." Had I never seen it I wouldn't be reviewing movies today, or probably watching them that much at all. And you wouldn't be reading this right now. So, just how strong a year was it for film in 1997? Let's put it this way: The two movies The Game beat out for the top spot are ranked among my top ten all-time favorites.
I was a freshman in college when this film came out in September and when a group went to see it on opening night I missed out because of some ridiculous academic commitment I made earlier. I always regretted that and wondered what the atmosphere and reaction was in the theater when the big twist came at the end. Of course, as a home viewing experience its just as impactful, but I still haven't gotten over the wrong choice I made that night. On the bright side, I saved my manhood a little because no one was able to see I was fighting back tears by the end credits. There are some movies where it takes a couple of viewings to realize it's an all-time favorite. This isn't one of them. The second it concluded I thought it was one of the greatest motion pictures I'd ever seen. 12 years later the needle hasn't moved at all. I still feel the same exact way.
There are some days (okay, a lot of them) when I wish someone would give me the birthday present egocentric millionaire Nicholas Van Orton (a superb Michael Douglas) receives in David Fincher's master puzzlebox of a film. Sometimes I think I could sure use it and as crazy as this sounds whenever I'm feeling at my lowest this is the movie I always pop in. I find it inspiring and life affirming in a way most films that are intended to be aren't. It's a description you wouldn't normally associate with a dark Fincher thriller but helps explain why it carries such emotional power.
John Brancato and Michael Ferris' airtight script puts us through the wringer, making us speculate wildly on possible explanations and outcomes before the curtain is finally pulled back to reveal that, like the protagonist, we completely lost sight of the big picture. Fincher went on to become one of our most talented and respected filmmakers and after being critically drubbed and commercially ignored upon its release, The Game is now considered a classic in its genre. It always was to me. It's the only film in my Best of the Year series where I'm entitled to jump up and down and say "I told you so." There's maybe only one or two other movies I've seen in my life I feel as close to and while there are likely many more great films to come from Fincher, he won't be able to top this. No one will.
Other Contenders: The Ice Storm, Boogie Nights, Titanic, L.A. Confidential, Face/Off, Contact
As I was perusing the slate of upcoming films for 2009 it occurred to me that the line between anticipation and dread can be very thin. It's always possible that projects looking to be sure bets on paper could easily turn out to be disasters while others you wouldn't give the time of day to could end up being listed among the year's best. If you think about it all we really have to go on is a premise and the past history of the participants involved. That's it. Expectations are a funny thing. For proof of that look no further than The Dark Knight. A great film to be sure, but my expectations going in were for it to be FAR BEYOND great.
Nolan's film was one of the more exciting experiences at the movies in the past few years yet somehow it's still somewhat of a disappointment to me because I expected something even better. Is that unfair of me? Maybe, but it's the truth. With all the cards Nolan held I don't think I was being unreasonable in asking for perfection. And because I wouldn't rank it among my top 10 (or even 20 or 30) films of all-time it will always carry a stench of disappointment. That stench has subsided over repeated viewings but I bet it will never completely go away. We always bring our expectations (or lack of them) to every film we see and denying it would just be a lie.
This was originally supposed to be a top ten list but I honestly couldn't name ten films I'm greatly anticipating so I picked five. My top two choices shouldn't surprise anyone familiar with my tastes. There were some movies (such as Star Trek and G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra) I thought I was looking forward to but the more glimpses I saw of them the less enthusiastic I got. Not to say I'm dreading them, but my anticipation has waned considerably. Now I'm just finding myself curious to see whether they fail or not.
It's great when a movie you have no expectations for surprises you, but it's even better (and far rarer) when you have giant expectations and they're met. These are the five films I'm most looking forward to in '09:
5. Inglourious Basterds(Dir. Quentin Tarantino)-Yeah, I know. I see the argument that Tarantino should dump this B-movie tribute nonsense and try to make a legitimate masterpiece again. And yes Grindhouse does feel more underwhelming the further you move away from it, but here's the thing. With some filmmakers I really do question how much passion they have for making movies, often thinking they're in it for a quick buck and nothing else. Tarantino loves movies and its visible in every single frame of every film he's ever written or directed, no matter how it turned out. In fact, he might be the only director alive who loves movies TOO MUCH. He's so self-indulgent he often needs to reigned in, but that's not necessarily a criticism. You've gotta give it to the guy--at least he knows how to have a good time. This promises more of that.
I know little about Basterds other than it's a WWII epic starring Brad Pitt that involves killing Nazis and is a remake of a Spaghetti Western from the '70's. And that's pretty much all I need or want to know until the opening credits. Plus, haven't you always wanted to see Eli Roth in a dramatic role? (no need to answer) And Tarantino is actually releasing it as ONE SINGLE FILM for a change. It could very well be train wreck...and I kind of hope it is. (Release Date: August 21)
4. Funny People(Dir. Judd Apatow)-I wasn't sure whether to include this on my most or least anticipated list but just because I'm so incredibly curious to see how it turns out creatively I figured it belongs here. I've been complaining for a while now that some of Apatow's written, directed and/or produced films (most notably Knocked Up and Forgetting Sarah Marshall) have had serious problems balancing tone and incorporating dramatic elements and emotional pathos into what's supposed to be comedy. So what does he do? Casts Adam Sandler as a comic...WHO'S DYING.
That this film is supposed to be the most dramatic of any of Apatow's output scares me because that aspect hasn't exactly been his strong suit. He's a better writer than director but he's such a gifted, observant writer that I still can't help but think he has a great film somewhere in him. Not just a great comedy, but a truly great film. I'm always willing to see Sandler stretch even just a little and the presence of Seth Rogen (on the streak of his life lately) and the criminally underrated Leslie Mann are big positives. I just hope the Apatow who directed The 40-Year-Old Virgin decides to show up instead of the one who made Knocked Up. If this doesn't work it's at least guaranteed to be an intriguing failure, but if it does, the sky's the limit. (Release Date: July 31)
3. Where The Wild Things Are(Dir. Spike Jonze)- Anyone interested in seeing their childhood unfold in front of their eyes in under 3 minutes should watch the magical trailer for Spike Jonze's adaptation of the Maurice Sendak's classic children's novel. What jumped out at me most are how the creatures are depicted. They actually look like something out of a child's imagination rather than the usual CGI crap we're used to.
The images and tone of the trailer bring to mind such '80's family classics as The Dark Crystal and The Neverending Story, movies in this genre that actually meant something. We need to get back to that kind of storytelling and from the looks of it Jonze may have captured everything that made that book special for so many. It also looks like he wasn't afraid to flirt with the story's darker side because, let's face it, everything is scary when you're a kid. The only thing that 's a concern is that the trailer's so strong (one of the strongest I've seen in years) that it's possible Jonze just won't be able to deliver on it resulting in a giant mess of great ideas that just doesn't come together. I hope not. (Release Date: October 16)
2. (500) Days of Summer(Dir. Marc Webb)- Talk about expectations. It isn't often my interest in a film (especially a romantic comedy) rests primarily with who's starring in it but this is one of those rare, welcome exceptions. I worry if a movie screen can even contain the talent of Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel at the same time, easily two of the best young actors working today.
As the title character I'm sure Zooey will be playing the ultimate dream girlfriend like only she can and it'll be very interesting to see JGL return to comedy after proving himself the real deal as a dramatic actor in a series of dark, torturous roles. This should be a nice break from that.
I still have my reservations with this though since I can't recall a single buzzed about film in this genre to come out of Sundance that wasn't either flat-out terrible or at least massively overpraised in some way. Being an indie festival favorite could almost be considered a curse nowadays. That it's being released by Fox Searchlight, the same studio that shoved Little Miss Sunshine, Juno and Slumdog Millionaire so far down our throats we were gagging, is also slightly worrisome to me. But that's a minor quibble at this stage. I still have to take a "wait and see" but the signs look promising. (Release Date: July 24)
1. The Box(Dir. Richard Kelly)- In 2001 Kelly directed Donnie Darko, one of the most daring, original films of this decade. Six years later he topped himself with Southland Tales. Luckily I won't have to wait that long this time. The Box, adapted from sci-fi legend Richard Matheson's short story (later adapted into a well known Twilight Zone episode) is the film that's supposed to help Kelly "recover" from the failure of Southland Tales, as if that's even necessary.As far as I'm concerned the only people who need to recover from it are audiences who unfairly dismissed it after only a single viewing.
The plot centers around a married couple (Cameron Diaz and James Marsden) who receive a box from a mysterious stranger (Langella!) who tells them each time they push a button they'll get a million dollars but simultaneously someone, somewhere will die. Kelly has stated this is his craziest and most personal film yet, scary to consider since his last one was made only for himself, me and maybe a couple of other people. It's also supposed to deviate heavily from the source material and incorporate NASA and, yes, time travel.
Believe it or not I'm a fan of Diaz and if pushed by the right director she's proven to be capable of great work (see Being John Malkovich, Vanilla Sky and In Her Shoes). If Kelly was able to get the performances he did out of that insane cast in his last film then wrangling one out of her should be a piece of cake. She usually thrives under bizarre circumstances like this and Marsden's been solid in any role he's had so we'll see. The release date has been shuffled around like crazy which isn't news since studios executives have already tried to sabotage his two previous films. This could be the first Halloween I don't rush out to see a Saw film. (Release Date: October 30, 2009)
Other Films That Could Be Great:The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Whatever Works, The Road, Moon, Taking Woodstock
Of the films I've selected as the year's best Fargo probably wouldn't rank among the top tier but it is one of the most important in that it shaped and influenced my view of film like no other. When I first saw it I felt as if I was being taken to school because I learned so much about movies from it. At that point I had never seen Raising Arizona or Barton Fink and had no idea who these Coen Brothers were. But I knew I had never seen anything like this.
I remember watching an episode of Siskel & Ebert where they both agreed Fargo was the best film of the year with no other movie standing a chance in topping it. And it was only March. Their passion convinced me to seek it out and like so many of these titles it took me a few viewings to completely warm up to it. Once I did there was no turning back. Dark comedy is mixed seamlessly with crime drama as the acting, cinematography and music (how was Burwell's score not nominated?) combined to create an unforgettable experience that's only enhanced with each watch.
Frances McDormand justifiably won the Best Actress Oscar and her police chief Marge Gunderson is one of our greatest, most likable film heroes because she's just like us. Only a little smarter. Her speech in the squad car at the end is so profound in its simplicity, making you wonder why all movie characters can't be written as sharply and have such a firm grasp on reality. Brilliant.
Other Contenders: The English Patient, Jerry Maguire
My selection for the best film of 1995, Terry Gilliam's dystopian nightmare, 12 Monkeys, also owns the distinction of being the worst theater experience I ever had. It was one of those screenings where exactly the wrong kind of crowd shows up for the movie you're watching and commits themselves to making it as miserable for everyone else as they can. It's a good thing this film can't be digested on a single viewing anyway.
I saw it again the following week and countless times after that in the years that followed. Did you know it's actually taught in schools? It's so difficult to make science fiction films that say something new, especially when they involve time travel. But Gilliam did it.The best performance of Bruce Willis' career, the first movie to convince the world that Brad Pitt is to be taken very seriously, a criminally underrated soundtrack and score and one of cinema's most haunting, cruelly ironic endings. A classic in every sense of the word, only in recent years getting the respect it always deserved.
Other Contenders: Leaving Las Vegas, Casino, Babe, The Usual Suspects, To Die For,Dead Man Walking, Before Sunrise, Se7en
This was a tough year. Three films of absolutely staggering quality were released and to the Academy's credit they nominated them all for the big prize. Ask me tomorrow I might change my mind and say Forrest Gump. Ask me the following day and I could say The Shawshank Redemption. What's really called for here is a 3-way tie but that's a cop-out. My choice for the year's best may seem obvious, but only in hindsight.
It didn't completely register for me the first time I saw it but then I discovered how repeated viewings can help shape your perception of a film. Frequently mimicked in tone and style but never equaled it's outlasted its competition and is one of the few Best Picture nominees to sit atop my year-end list. It's almost fitting that it lost to Gump. If ever there was a movie made for fans, not the Academy, it's this. Not to mention it boasts the greatest motion picture soundtrack of all-time. Tarantino's masterpiece:
With the unveiling of my choice for the Best Film of 2008 rapidly approaching (although unfortunately it's looking like it'll be next month instead of this one) I thought it might be fun to take a trip down memory lane and reveal some of my previous choices for the honor. Matt Damon recently made an interesting comment that he thinks Oscars should be handed out ten years after the contending films are released. He has a point and that's usually how I feel when it comes to naming a film the "best" of its year. It really can take that long to get an idea of its true staying power.
Some years I hadn't even made my mind up on yet and this forced me to do so (1994 was particularly tough as you could imagine). Plus, I'm always going back and discovering films I missed the year they were released. Since most of these picks pre-date the blogging era and I never really talked about them there are bound to be some surprises. Many of you will probably be scratching your heads asking, "He picked THAT?" But yes, I did.
At some point I may write in detail about some of these films, but for now I'm revealing the picks with their trailers. I started with 1993, the first year I can remember doing this. Just how long ago was it? Well, Kevin Costner was still a major star and making good films. This was a great one and for my money ranks as Eastwood's greatest.
It's not often I feel the need or urge to comment on anything related to television. If I did it would probably be mostly to complain. There just isn't a lot of good stuff on these days and I could count on one hand the amount of unmissable shows. In case you hadn't heard, Thursday night they aired the final episode of E.R., ending its 15-year run. And here's where I give you the opening to insert your own personal "Who cares?" or "I stopped watching this show 10 years ago" comment. I'm not going to pretend I'm a big fan of the show either or that its best years weren't behind it, but any way you look at it 15 years is a long time. To fully put this in perspective, Bill Clinton was serving his first term in office when it premiered. That's pretty damn impressive.
I won't bore you with a long, detailed review of the finale even though the episode was anything BUT boring. I realize everyone stopped tuning in and caring years ago, even if the 17 million indicate a lot more people tuned in Thursday than are willing to admit it. I always found the idea of series finales fascinating. More specifically, the idea that a show can run for a number of years, run out of gas, then limp to the finish line because the writers and producers threw their hands up in the air and just gave up. For every M*A*S*H that finishes in a blaze of glory there seem to be ten The X-Files. It's as if they have no clue that the final episode will be the last thing viewers remember and a bad send-off can tarnish the legacy of its entire run.
In E.R.'s final season the producers proved that they do have a clue and that they cared. Here's hoping the other networks were watching and taking notes because they just taught a master class on how to end a series. Fan of the show or not, they pulled out all the stops and what they pulled off is commendable. The amount of detail and dedication they put into closing this out was astounding, and all this for a show that very few were watching anymore! I'm not sure whether he was inspired by the recent death of creator Michael Crichton or he just knows how to deliver under pressure but writer/producer John Wells clearly summoned up every ounce of creative strength he had to make sure the show went out on not just a high note, but the highest one.
For their part, NBC was smart enough to treat it like an important TV event in an age where important TV events are becoming scarce. It may not have been but the point is that it was treated as one and because of that it felt like one. Besides giving it a one-hour retrospective and 2-hour finale they went all out, balls-to-the-wall and brought back EVERY SINGLE MAJOR CHARACTER from the show's run. Noah Wyle, Eriq LaSalle, Julianna Margulies, Sherry Stringfield (who apparently hasn't aged a day), Laura Innes, Alex Kingston and Paul McCrane all returned to reprise their roles in the final season. Of course, the big joke here is "What else did they have to do?" but, hey, I'm just impressed the producers even thought to ask. See what happens when you TRY.
But wait....we're not done yet. They didn't stop there. They actually went out and brought back Clooney. I don't know whether to be more surprised they had the guts to ask or that accepted with supposedly very little hesitation. If this isn't enough, they even somehow found a way to work back in Anthony Edwards back into the show via flashback in a really clever, believable way despite the fact that his Dr. Greene passed away years ago. Yes, they even dragged corpses back for this. Even if you're not or have never been a regular viewer (which I admittedly haven't been) you have to applaud the lengths they went to here to give the dedicated fans a celebration to remember. Why can't this happen more often? Instead, producers sabotage their own shows to screw the networks and everyone loses.
All of these creative decisions already far exceed reasonable expectations for a departing show (even one this long-running), but they STILL weren't finished. Rather than distractingly jam all these characters into the final episode in a forced, cliched way like any other program would, they knew to spread the wealth, sprinkling the returning characters into various episodes throughout the last episodes in such a way that it didn't needlessly call attention to itself or feel like a gimmick. When they showed up it felt real and organic, rather than something manufactured to grab ratings. Nor did they give in to the temptation to use the bigger names in such a way that it would steal the thunder from any of the current cast members, potentially short-changing their story arcs. And at a time when NBC could have easily been planning a funeral this was finishing so strong they actually added 3 more additional episodes to the final season.
Throughout its run E.R. has been known for its frequent use of big name guest stars but for the finale they took a HUGE RISK by casting a fairly well-known but mostly untested actress (Alexis Bledel) against type and giving her an absolutely enormous role in the show's last 120 minutes on the air. It should have resulted in disaster but she came off like a pro and seemed so comfortable in the part you'd think she'd been a series regular for years. Of the reviews I've read of the episode and people I've talked to, all of them have universally praised Bledel's performance, unheard of considering guest stars are frowned upon in finales where we're so accustomed to the focus being on series regulars. But they're right. She hit it out of the park under tough circumstances.
There's always that tendency when a "name" guest stars on something like E.R. to say that they're slumming it but with Bledel and the 92 year-old (!) Ernest Borgnine (who will probably earn an Emmy nod for his work) it sure didn't feel like it. They actually raised the caliber of the episode and likely earned a few more fans and some respect in the process. But that's not what I liked most about the episode. Most impressive of all was that they knew that Noah Wyle's Dr. Carter should have be the focal point of the episode because he was the character and actor who meant the most to the show throughout its run and he was who all the action should revolve around. It wasn't that obvious a choice and I could easily envision a lesser writer missing it. He was there at the beginning and there at the very end, giving back and doing what was done for him in the pilot. Full Circle.
In a surprising stroke of genius, they even brought back a minor but important character that perfectly tied the legacy of the show together while simultaneously paying tribute the roots of the show. I couldn't believe they actually thought to do it and there were tons of little details in a similar vain. Even the last line uttered in the episode and final shot MEANT SOMETHING. Just the right amount of loose ends were tied up and enough left unresolved. And if I got chills from the final scene I could only imagine how the longtime, diehards reacted. I've talked to a couple of casual viewers who told me they thought the finale was so strong they've questioned NBC's decision to cancel it and think that it was fleshed out so well that there was an opening for a spin-off. There was this feeling that there could be a little more gas in the tank, but best end it now. And that's exactly how a final episode should leave you feeling if its done its job.
Like I said, I'm hardly a frequent follower of the show but I just had to pause and give NBC credit. They didn't have to do it and certainly gain little from a monetary standpoint considering the show was going off the air no matter what. They also could have easily showboated Clooney's appearance but didn't. This and their recent renewal of Friday Night Lights (enjoying a creative resurgence that's another blog topic in itself) for two more seasons gives me hope that these network executives may have brains after all.
Moving forward, what Wells did could act as a blueprint for other shows drawing to a close. For a while I've thought about making a list of the best series finales and it would be interesting to see where this would show up on it. The general consensus seems to be that it was good, but that's it. I couldn't disagree more. Everyone has been shortchanging how hard this was to pull off. It's really tough to encapsulate what makes an entire series special (especially one with over a decade's history) in a single two-hour episode but they somehow managed to do it in a restrained, classy way.
Next year, ABC will face a similar challenge when they have to close out Lost. The pressure is really going to be on there since people are actually still watching that show and its rabid, cult fanbase expect only the best, as they should. Besides being a drama that's run for far shorter a time, the rules are also way different for sending it off. You have to wonder if anything they deliver could possibly meet expectations. And that's why these finales are so tricky. With apologies to Ben McKenzie, something tells me 15 years from now families won't be gathered around the TV watching the final episode of Wells' new cop drama Southland, the show "replacing" E.R. The constant promos clobbering us with hype for that upcoming series may have been the only black mark on an otherwise stellar presentation from NBC.
The episode made me consider whether E.R. really needed to go away. Did it really drop THAT MUCH in quality or did we just take it for granted? It's always been one of the shows that if you were flipping through the channels you'd keep watching because you knew it was at least smart and always technically sound. That's a lot more than you can say for most other shows on the air right now. That the finale actually had me asking myself this question speaks to how well it was executed. Because of this more will be willing to overlook the fact that the series stayed past its expiration date and embrace its legacy. I never thought it was THAT influential a program, but now I'm not so sure. But it should have ended. The timing was right and the final show confirmed it in a way we wish all shows could. 15 years IS a long time, but there's something to be said for going out on top.
★★★★★★★★★★All-Time Top 10★★★★★★★★★★
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