Monday, March 26, 2007

50 Films to Look For

Here is a list of 50 films that I think have a good shot at a nomination for best picture, of course I could also be wrong and none of these will make it. But I will bet that out of these there will be four of them that get a nomination.

Charlie Wilson’s War
The Kite Runner
American Gangster
Youth Without Youth
Lions for Lambs
Eastern Promises
Sweeny Todd
There Will Be Blood
Lust, Caution
The Other Boleyn Girl
The Brave One
In the Valley of Elah
Reservation Road
No Country for Old Men
My Blueberry Nights
Rescue Dawn
The Darjeeling Limited
Goya’s Ghost
Before the Devil Knows Your Dead
I’m Not There
Across the Universe
Into the Wild
Rendition
Margot at the Wedding
The Assassination of Jesse James
Love in the Time of Cholera
Closing the Ring
The Feast of Love
Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium
Things We Lost in the Fire
Atonement
In Bloom
Margaret
The Golden Age
Beowulf
A Mighty Heart
Nothing is Private
His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass
An American Crime
The Savages
King of California
Away From Her
Evening
Gone, Baby, Gone
Leatherheads
Silk
The Children of Huang Shi
Stardust
Michael Clayton
The Hoax

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

My first film of 2007

Zodiac was the worth the wait. Ah, finnally Fincher gave us a thrid act, well done! If you don't know that the Zodiac killer was never caught, then you will walk away unsatisfied and you are a moron.
Most defiantly the best true crime drama that I can remember. I don't know maybe since In Cold Blood. I know usually when i see a film about unsolved true crime stories I am left wanting a better conclusion, yes, yes I know they never caught the guy, but... I want closer, and when we are given a possible conclusion to what probably happened I am left unsatisfied and full of more questions as to why the writer and director went with that conclusion. When ficional elements are introduced to move the plot or give us character development it subtracts substance from the story and it ultimately fails the true crime and the victums. David Fincher stayed well away from adding fictional elements to the story or go the other route and shorten the telling in a nice, neat and tidy little way, you know and turn it into the TV thriller of the week. He stuck to the story and it draws you in and won't let go.
I was particuarlly impressed the attention to detail, the period setting in a time that I grew up in was a very uniqe experience to watch on screen (all except Gyllenhaal's Levis shirt with the little red tag - wrong era.) I have no complaints with this film, just when I felt that the story had run out of gas we were taken in a different direction and it was worth the ride and the almost two and a half hours. I was so happy to see Anthony Edwards again and in fine form also Charles Fleishcer, I've always liked that guy, and he creeped me out!