Love My Way: The Best in Film of 2017

2017 was kind of a bad year for humanity, and it really wasn’t an especially good one on a personal level either (to put it mildly). So more than ever, the movies became an escape. I wouldn’t just watch anything that I came across, I looked for things that would either make me feel good, end at the very leadt on hopeful note, or somehow enrich me.

I found all this, even in the most unlikely places. Mudbound was not so something that I would have anticipated this particular year, but went ahead and watched it because it was a Dee Rees film. It was not an easy sit, but by the end, although it obviously didn’t change me, I felt like I had a new valuable experience in my life. I even found value in something like Home Again. I can see the problems that people who dislike it have with it, but my viewing experience during a particularly bad day was so much fun that I couldn’t help but fall for it.

2012 Oscar Winner Predictions

Finally, the Oscar season will come to an end this Sunday. Even I, someone who doesn’t follow the Oscars for a living, I’m tired of the dirtiness of the race this year. This year, the Academy made a couple of bold choices, and they were punished for them. And at the same time, studios did them impossible to make their films stand out, even if it meant making the people involved in other films look bad. So read on to find my predictions of what will happen this Sunday, in what is surely to be one of the most disastrous shows in the history of the Academy (seriously, so much music!).

Review: Nine

Nine | Rob Marshall, 2009

When I sat down to watch this, I decided that I was going to judge this movie on it’s own merits despite the fact that it is a musical version of 8 1/2, one of my favorite movies of all time. Yet, as I sat there, I could not help but do it. So many shots are so similar despite that they are from different directors, and it overall takes a different approach to the story. So, in the end I was left with an entertaining movie that lacked the emotional depth of the original source.

Like 8 1/2, Nine follows Guido Contini (Daniel Day-Lewis), a famous director who has hit a creative slump. There are high expectation for his latest film, Italia, but he doesn’t even have a script, and he’s supposed to start shooting it in 10 days. In addition to this, he is having problems with his wife Luisa (Marion Cotillard), he has a mistress, Carla (Penelope Cruz), he is having problems getting his muse Claudia (Nicole Kidman) to make the film because he doesn’t have a script yet, there is an American reporter (Kate Hudson) after him, and he is seeing his dead mother (Sophia Loren). Then there is his costume designer Lilli, who is his confident, and he is having flashbacks to when he was a child and got reprimanded for messing with a prostitute.

The biggest difference between Nine and 8 1/2 is that the former takes the latter’s subtleties and urinates on them. No longer do we have to wonder what Guido is feeling about these women because his feelings are told through elaborate  and flashy musical numbers. Then there is how cold it feels. It seems like Rob Marshall was too focused on getting the choreography right, and forgot that this story has to have heart. I guess that also roots from the fact that he is an inexperienced director, and that he has not gone through half of what Fellini had gone through when he made 8 1/2.

With that said, now let’s focus on the positive. First off, the cast. Every part here, no matter how unnecessary, was perfectly cast. If there was one person that is good enough to step into Marcello Mastroianni’s shoes, it is Daniel Day-Lewis. Sure, he doesn’t have a great voice, but it is adequate for the lyrics, and he knocks out the non-singing parts. Marion Cotillard gives the best performance in the movie as the alienated wife. Nicole Kidman and Penelope Cruz do wonders with their alloted screen time (although Cruz did not deserve to be nominated for an Oscar). And Denched seemed to have a lot of fun. Fergie, Kate Hudson, and Sophia Loren were just standing there, although I must say that Fergie’s rendition of “Be Italian” gave me chills. Then there is the production. The cinematography, the sets, the costumes, etc, are all great. If there is one thing that Rob Marshall is good at is at making things look pretty.

Nine is an entertaining movie, and that’s about it. Maybe it would have been more acclaimed if they had changed the character names and had dropped the whole “inspired by 8 1/2” angle. Totally unnecessary, but fun.

The Decade in Review: The Best and Worst Oscar Winners (Per Category)

Now that we know who came out victorious at the 82nd annual Academy Awards, I thought it was a perfect time to make the list of the best and worst Oscar winners of the decade per category. It wasn’t hard coming up with them since the Academy tends to reward lesss-than-worhty features all time, which makes it easier for the good ones to stick out.

In each category I’ve listed what I think are the best and the worst choices the Academy made, and a reason why they are on the list. I skipped the Documentary and the short categories and I have not seen enough to make a judgement.

Without further ado, here are my pick for the best and worst Oscar winners of the decade.

The Decade in Review: Top 50 Films, Part Four (11-20)

Today I continue the countdown towards revealing what my favorite movie of the decade is with the number 11-20 on the list. Before going into that I will take some time to talk about my choices for the three worst movies of the decade.

My number three is The Dukes of Hazzard. The original show was not very good to begin with, but it was entertaining and a good way to kill some time. The movie rather than being a straight remake in tone, is a sex movie that is even more pointless than the show. Every single performance in the movie is horrible, especially Jessica Simpson. I like her, but she rightfully belong in the bubblegum pop music genre.

Number two goes to the Walking Tall remake. This movie came out back when Dwayne Johnson was still being called “The Rock” and even then I saw potential in him because he was great in The Rundown, one of the greatest action movies of the decade. However, his work here made me question his abilities (just like every movie he is making these days). Cliché after cliché, Johnny Knoxville, and many over-the-top performances, simply did not allow me to enjoy it, but rather made me cringe every minute.

But the one movie that made cringe throughout the entire movie was Spike Lee’s Miracle at St. Anna. After his feud with Clint Eastwood, I was seriously hoping that his World War II movie would deliver, but it was a humongous disappointment. First off, the movie is extremely offensive. We get every kind of stereotype for just about every nation that was involved in the war. Lee just showed that he is a bit of a racist too. The script aside from being offensive, as I said, has horrible dialogue and too many characters, and that does not allow for proper character development. This is also shown in the bad performances from every one in the cast. It is also a very ugly-looking movie. The cinematography is horrible and it does not allow the good-looking sets shine. The fights are horribly choreographed, and the score…don’t even get me started on the score. Plus, it is over three hours long, or at least it feels like it.

Anyways, go ahead and read part four of the countdown to get the bad taste out of your mouth.

The Decade in Review: The Top 10 Actors of the Decade

I guess it goes without saying that without actors, there would be no movies, unless it is a silent animated movie or a documentary. The overall quality of a movie can be decided by the quality of an actor’s work. Sometimes a good performance saves the movie from being average or from being a complete failure. At the same time they can also bring down a movie with great production values,  a great script, and mostly good performances from the entire cast.

Today I’m going to focus on the actors that showed their excellence throughout this decade. It may have been one project that made them stand head and shoulders above others, or their entire filmography, but all these actors have done something very special that blew me away.

I have picked five men and five women and ranked them within their respective gender. However, I do point out who I think is the most outstanding of their profession for this decade.

(FYI, the picture represents their best performance of the decade)

Without further ado, here are my picks for the top 10 actors of the decade.