February 2012
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"Oscarmetrics: Viola Davis, The Help, and... →
“With her deep voice, her gravity, and her gift for restrained sorrow and quiet moral authority, Davis often gets cast as responsible people — detectives, doctors, social workers, cops. Once she was a mayor; once she was the head of the CIA. Either she hasn’t been asked to play a maid very often, or she has declined those roles; before The Help, her one memorable stint as a housekeeper was...
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gifparty:
It’s a shame that it’s only February, and we already have the best music video of the year.
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The Best Films of 2011: Part V- Great...
GREAT MOVIES/UNQUALIFIED RECOMMENDATIONS 15. Margin Call (J.C. Chandor)- I don’t know anything about finance, so I don’t know if the perils of Margin Call’s investment bank are complete hogwash. But the suspense mined from the bank’s day-from-hell is palpably real. The performances, especially Kevin Spacey’s, demand use of the word “gravitas,” with each...
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The Best Films of 2011: Best Performances
I’m never going to finish this, am I? It’s February. Honorable Mention: Dominic Cooper in The Devil’s Double, Hunter McCracken in The Tree of Life, Will Ferrell in Everything Must Go, Shailene Woodley in The Descendants, Brad Pitt in The Tree of Life, Kristen Wiig in Bridesmaids, Tom Cullen and Chris New in Weekend. 10. Stanley Tucci- Margin Call- By now, any supporting...
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The Best Films of 2011: Best Movies I Saw for the...
1. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre- John Huston (1948) 2. Black Narcissus- Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger (1947) 3. Repulsion- Roman Polanski (1965) 4. Wild Strawberries- Ingmar Bergman (1957) 5. Straw Dogs- Sam Peckinpah (1971) 6. Double Indemnity- Billy Wilder (1944) 7. Marathon Man- John Schlesinger (1976) 8. All That Jazz- Bob Fosse (1979) 9. The General- Buster Keaton (1926) 10....
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The Best Films of 2011: Part IV- Good Movies
37. Project Nim (James Marsh)- Through recreations, talking heads, and found footage, Marsh throws a lot onto the screen, and most of it sticks. It’s as much about the idealism and wonder of the ’70s as it is about the titular chimp, and Marsh excels at getting the subjects to expose their most human foibles. 36. Bellflower (Evan Glodell)- Bellflower is a surprisingly endearing romance...
January 2012
22 posts
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The Best Films of 2011: The Essentials
I always chuckle at the promotional cliche “If you see only one movie this year…” because it seems to place undue pressure on the consumer. Why not see any movie that looks interesting to you? Why are you limiting yourself? But I get it. Not everyone has the cinematic appetite I do. Some people might prefer thinking about seeing only one movie a year, then branching out from...
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"The Return of Young Jeezy"- Amos Barshad-... →
“The cameras roll, and ‘OJ’ kicks in. I know I technically shouldn’t, but I can’t help but be impressed by Jeezy’s ability to — in a room full of people, and early, on a weeknight — immediately begin to act like he’s starring in a rap video. Heather’s also clearly been to the rodeo before: Propped behind Jeezy, she starts rubbing his back, popping...
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The Best Films of 2011: Part III- Likeable but...
(Apologies to Roger Ebert) 66. Another Earth (Mike Cahill)- For a lot of films on this list, I end up writing something like, “There are some memorable moments and directorial flourishes, but I wish Idea X had been explored deeper.” Another Earth is the opposite: a film invested deeply in an intriguing idea and pretty bankrupt everywhere else. Its conceit (What if there was an...
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Predicting Oscars: Results
I went 35/44. I didn’t expect there to be nine Best Picture nominees, so that’s three wrong right there. I don’t know who’s watching stuff like Albert Nobbs. On the other hand, pretty much every prestige film that positioned itself as a Best Picture was perceived that way. I don’t get upset by the Academy Awards anymore. I just get confused.
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The Best Films of 2011: Part II- Admirable...
95. J. Edgar (Clint Eastwood)- For a film depicting such a divisive figure, I found Eastwood’s rushed, time-hopping vision non-committal. If you’re not going to have a definitive opinion on Hoover’s sexuality and contradictions, I don’t see the point in making a movie about him, even if there are some interesting moments. An Eastwood hate-piece is brewing somewhere deep...
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The Best Films of 2011: Trailers- Legit Goosebumps...
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The Best Films of 2011: Trailers- LOLwut? Division
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"TV's Eerie New Race-less World"- Salon- Katrina... →
“‘Parenthood’s’ silence about its black characters’ blackness reflects our genuine desire for things to be different, but also our willingness to ignore the reality of the experiences of people of color in an eagerness to move ahead to post-racialism. This underlines two things: Things have changed, in that there’s a collective desire for equality. But the main problem remains:...
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The Best Films of 2011: Part I- Garbage
You are about to read (or ignore) the first in my series of autopsies on 2011 film. As I have for the past few years, I kept a fastidious spreadsheet of every film I watched. Then I ranked the films and added explanations. You probably don’t care. That’s fine. Believe it or not, I normally devote a lot of attention to audience and purpose—I censure myself to an unbelievable...
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Watchfilmprojections:
The first official trailer for Wes Anderson’s latest film, Moonrise Kingdom, starring Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Bruce Willis, Ed Norton, Frances McDormand, and more. The film will be released on May 25, 2012.
Good to see your boy branching out.
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"War Horse: An Illustrated Review"- Lisa Hanawalt-... →
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Top 10 Albums of 2011
(Accompanying Spotify Playlist) 10. Danny Brown- XXX Danny Brown sounds like the problem child of Aesop Rock and Busta Rhymes. Across XXX, he filters sex, fatalism, and Detroit doom through his wide-mouthed yip, and he pulls such a convincing rope-a-dope with the sophomoric parts that it’s all the more devastating when he says something sincere. Brown knew this mixtape might be his only...
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"2011's Better-Than List"- Armond White- CityArts →
It’s not really a new year until we get White’s batshit opinions about the previous year. Like this: ”Adam Sandler’s affectionate, very broad ethnic satire defies Alexander Payne’s smug denial of America’s ethnic history. Humility vs. Sanctimony.” Or this: “David Gordon Green indulges his love of fiction and adolescence while college dropout Woody Allen name drops...
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"Hard Core"- Natasha Vargas-Cooper- The Atlantic →
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Top 50 Songs of 2011
Spotify Playlist of the Top 50 Spotify Playlist of More That I Loved but Didn’t Have Room for—check back, I’m still adding 50. Lil’ Wayne feat. Cory Gunz- “6’7’” 49. Cold Cave- “The Great Pan Is Dead” 48. Real Estate- “It’s Real” 47. 1, 2, 3- “Work” 46. Cults- “You Know What I Mean” 45. Shabazz...
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"Screenwriters Lecture: Charlie Kaufman"- BAFTA... →
December 2011
20 posts
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"You Say You Want a Devolution?"- Kurt Andersen-... →
“Why is this happening? In some large measure, I think, it’s an unconscious collective reaction to all the profound nonstop newness we’re experiencing on the tech and geopolitical and economic fronts. People have a limited capacity to embrace flux and strangeness and dissatisfaction, and right now we’re maxed out. So as the Web and artificially intelligent smartphones and the rise of China...
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Riff Raff- “Marc Jacob” From his...
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T-Pain- “Default Picture” From his...
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Predicting Pitchfork: Results
Pitchfork released its top albums of the year today, and their picks varied from my predictions quite a bit. This is their order. In parentheses is where I thought that album would be. (While we’re on the subject, I would recommend Eric Harvey’s note on sales figures for these albums, which is always an interesting way of showing how small this tiny alt-verse really is.) 1. Bon Iver-...
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Watch“We’re Going to Need a Bigger Spielberg Face” by Kevin B. Lee
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Predicting Pitchfork's Top Albums of the Year
It’s that time again. Pitchfork releases their top albums of the year tomorrow, and, based on the past year’s reviews and their overall tendencies, I handicap the order. Play along in the comments. 1. Girls- Father, Son, Holy Ghost- When doing this, you have to remember how scores are tabulated. All the critics—who have different tastes and specialties—rank their albums,...
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"Take Me to the River"- Tom Ewing- Pitchfork →
In his final Poptimist column, Tom Ewing is predictably perceptive and articulate about what he refers to as the nanoculture:
“But what gets made, and who controls it? In a series of posts several years ago on ‘spreadable media,’ the academic Henry Jenkins put his finger on the great faultline in nanoculture— its equivalent of ‘major label vs. indie,’ except...
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Can People Stop Saying: "No Regrets"?
As you already know, I can’t stop watching MTV’s The Real World. Last night, this year’s fey sociopath, Frank, who is like the spiritual hate-child of Ignatius J. Reilly and Blanche DuBois, cheated on his boyfriend out of promiscuity and lack of self-control. Although he claims that he loves this boyfriend, he also “doesn’t know what it’s like to be in a...