Top 5 List: Great Performances of 2022

 Jeremy Pope, "The Inspection"

As a gay man entering basic training for the most dire of reasons, Jeremy Pope's performance in Elegant Bratton's autobiographical "The Inspection" is one of the most beautiful things on screen this year. Vulnerable to his emotions, his performance isn't one that causes him to hide his true nature from his fellow recruits. In fact, they all find out pretty quickly, and the rest of the film is his how he deals with the swirl of prejudice. Compounded by the fact his mother (Gabrielle Union) has essentially disowned him for his sexual orientation, Pope's magnificent, layered embodiment of a man just trying to survive (literally) in the most unforgiving of places makes us care all the more.

Ashton Kutcher, "Vengeance"

B.J Novak's social media film noir came and went in theaters pretty fast, which is a shame because it gets more interesting as it goes along and features some genuine depth (and comedy) about our relationship with each other through the thin guise of "cultures". But the minute Kutcher shows up as a laconic, slow drawl Texas record producer who may have something to do with the central murder-mystery, "Vengeance" received a sever injection of brilliance. Whether it's the way he spouts metaphysical nonsense with the cadence of a Southern psychopath or the way he commands attention with his lanky body, his role as Quentin Sellers is the stuff of genuine supporting actor charm.

 

Bella Ramsey, "Catherine Called Birdy" 

Making her name as the braver-than-most-men in season 6 of "Game of Thrones", Bella Ramsey dons another side of her personality in Lena Dunham's whip smart medieval comedy "Catherine Called Birdy". This time she plays..... well her goofy 14 year old self. Anachronistic, playful, and comedically intelligent, Ramsey inhabits Birdy with all the charm and giggling grace of a young woman who's not only braver than most here as well, but smarter. She has a bright future ahead of her.

Hayley Lu Richardson, "After Yang" and "Montana Story"

The year of Hayley Lu Richardson continues. Or maybe the last 5 years? Her performance as an emotionally stunted daughter returning home to settle her dying father's affairs in "Montana Story" and the lovelorn young woman in her second brilliant effort with filmmaker Kogonada in "After Yang", both show her range as someone battling against her inner demons while remaining a steadfast, independent figure in vastly different realms of narrative. Both films rank as two of my favorite films of the year mostly because of her honest presence.

Key Hu Quan, "Everything Everywhere All At Once"

(image from A24) 

In "Everything Everywhere All At Once", Quan is asked to play many roles as he and his family spin out of control in a whirlpool of multiverses. But through each one (especially the one that directly sinks him and Michelle Yeoh in the recesses of a Wong Kar Wai film), his uncanny ability to portray the goodness and humanity is a revelation. Oscars don't mean much to my view, but I so desperately want Quan recognized later next year for this role.

Best Performances of 2018, so far

With only a couple months left in the movie-going season, some of the studio's biggest potential knockout performances are still en route. However, surveying the past 10 months of the year, here are a few performances that stand out for me (unranked):

Maura Tierney, in "Beautiful Boy"- Naturally, Steve Carell and Timothee Chalamat provide a good majority of the emotional fireworks in "Beautiful Boy", an adaptation of the best selling memoir about drug addiction that posits the two actors in various shades of meltdown and catharsis (and some very big Acting Moments). It's Maura Tierney's supporting background role as the stepmother to Chalamat's destructive young 'un that stuck with me long after seeing the film. In a role that could've been designed in formulaic overlays, Tierney inhabits her role with various degrees of invincibility, anger, understanding and nuance that, for me, pushed the film into bearable enjoyment outside of its dour subject matter and powerful method acting.

Jonah Hill, in "Don't Worry He Won't Get Far on Foot" - Actor Hill is having quite the monumental year. Debuting as a director with his personal micro-indie "Mid90's" a few months back (which, if you haven't seen it, is very good and boasts an impressive editing style that rightly just received a Spirit Award nomination), Hill also gave one of the year's more memorable performances in Gus vanSant's "Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot". Though the film can and went with very little fanfare, it's worth seeking out because of Hill's gentle and almost spiritual role as the self help guru who tries to get the lives of his addict followers back on track. The way he dresses and moves, at first, seems like a put-on, but Hill slowly turns the character (based on real life) into someone achingly genuine.

Lady Gaga, in "A Star Is Born" - A natural performer, yes, but not all can easily make the transition to film. Lady Gaga did just that in Bradley Cooper's remake that charts the astronomical rise of a singer from hotel laundress to Grammy award winning singer. Displaying all the tenets of wide-eyed optimism folding into world-weary acknowledgement that she belonged at the top all along, Lady Gaga's debut role seems destined for Academy awareness and rightly so. While co-star Bradley Cooper has the more complicated role (i.e. depressive rock 'n'roll star), Lady Gaga holds the film together through sheer strength. Look no further than her song towards the end of the film that reveals the hardest thing in singing is not allowing your emotions to shipwreck the moment.

Ethan Hawke, in "First Reformed" - An incredibly rigorous examination of a priest losing himself, Paul Schrader's "First Reformed" features Hawke in a career best performance. Cracking at the seams slowly, Hawke's character is a smoldering cauldron of doubt, alcoholism and out-of-body experiences that places the film on a metaphysical level as it winds down. It's a film whose nature I admired more than fully liked, but Hawke's role is a revelation and Schrader- who's made a career of spiritual agony on film- certainly pulls no punches .

Support the Girls, ensemble cast - Regina Hall. Hayley Lu Richardson. Shayna MacHale. Andrew Bujalski’s Support the Girls presents a milieu rarely explored in modern comedies. It’s not that its characters — a group of service industry women who work at a Texas-based Hooters-esque sports bar — never get their due on film.

Top 5 List: Films To Help You Deal With the Trump Administration (For better or worse)

5. Running Man- Stay with me on this one. A middle aged, white TV host with perfect white teeth and hair that's coiffed like a perfect toupee (Richard Dawson) and taking place in the years 2017-2019, forces convicts and under privileged people to fight for their lives in a sadistic televised game show. Poised somewhere after an economic collapse and a totalitarian police state, Paul Michael Glaser's futuristic 80's thriller was a staple for kids like me growing up. Looking at it now, in the shadow of the current administration, it feels more prescient than ever as the cultural, economic and idealistic divide is growing wider by the hour. Yes, at the time, it was simply an Arnold Schwarzenegger 'actioner' vehicle- based on a short story by Stephen King- but today (as with so many sci-fi efforts that deal with political events in the guise of imagination), it comes across as a chilling deconstruction of our dominating reality TV obsession and our President with the same empty smile and coiffed hair, just waiting for the chance to throw us all to the hungry wolves. Whether a television camera will track it all is yet to be determined. Stay tuned dear watchers.

4. A Face In the Crowd- While working my way through all of Elia Kazan's films last year, I'm not sure I was quite ready for this one. I'd heard about it, but watching it during the summer with the presidential primaries going on, it slowly gained a resonance that I don't think would have been there otherwise. About the film I wrote, ".....exhaustive from start to finish, Andy Griffith portrays a drunken bumpkin who ascends to stardom as a folk-singing cultural prohpet. Combining Peter Finch ala "Network" and pre-dating Beatlemania while mixing in some brutal stabs at political and media stalwarts, "A Face In the Crowd" has alot on its mind. It winds up being a pretty sorrowful reflection on hollow stardom". I've begun to re-think this assessment and see it as a sorrowful reflection on hate mongering and the empty spectacle of someone saying just what the insecure/insulated/insolent American wants to hear without a shred of decency or thought to back it up. So yes, this film is pretty damn topical right now. I wonder what Andy Griffith would have to say about things right now. Let's all sing a song about this.

3. Rashomon- I've said it once already, but stay with me on this one. Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece not only set the precedence for wonky timelines in narrative cinema, but its perspective and suggestive story is an endlessly fascinating example of art cinema at its highest. Depending on who is telling the story, heroes are recast as villains and victims become perpetrators. A single act is shattered into a million perspectives and ideas. I can't think of a better analogy to the Trump administration than this. It's not a travel ban, says one official. Trump himself tweets that its a "ban". Someone else says its not a ban. It's not a "Muslim" ban. So many people are talking out of seventeen sides of their mouths, becoming a clusterfuck of bent rhetoric and non-transparent ideology. Kurosawa's tale of a crime splintered looks quite baroque compared to the double speak of today. Watch this one again for an extremely jaded outlook on things. And it's one of Toshiro Mifune's best roles, which is saying alot for his long, illustrious career.

2. All the President's Men

Probably the most obvious film on this list, but also, perhaps, the most hopeful? That being the current administration will eventually step over an imaginary boundary that seems to be pushed further ahead every day and finally commit some sort of treasonous act that requires impeachment. And if that day comes, Alan Pakula's film (based on the brilliant book by reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein) serves as a tremendous reminder of the sweat and tears that goes into a journalistic investigation to get the facts sound and accurate.

1. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington- Frank Capra was Hollywood's most humanist director. He routinely found goodness in most people's actions, thoughts and reactions. In his classic "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington", an ordinary 'bumpkin' replaces a senator and comes against the forces of political skulduggery at its most venomous. He eventually "wins" by filibustering and shining a light on the improper actions of others around him. Oh, if only it were that easy. I doubt there ever will be a Mr. Smith in our present government, but if there is one, now would be the time for him to step up and whisk us all away into his Capra-esque fantasy and wipe clean the (now daily) mounting improprieties of the Trump Regime. Released in 1939, "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington" was certainly attuned to the growing feelings of misrepresentation and dishonesty, but I think even Capra (and screenwriter Sidney Buchman and original story writer Lewis R. Foster) would shrink from the foulness of today. Ultimately, "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington" is a triumph for the small man against a hulking, corrupt institution. Placed alongside the other nihilistic, sardonic and utterly prescient films on this list, I include Capra's film solely because of its illusion of decency and innocence. Lord knows we all can use some rays of hope nowadays, and this film provides it.

Top 5 List: Standouts From Halfway Thru 2016

5. Stellan Skarsgard in "Our Kind of Traitor"

Though the film itself is sturdy, efficient but completely unremarkable, the real pleasure of Susanna White's spy thriller is Stellan Skarsgard as the "traitor" in question. Playing a Russian mob accountant who wants to go straight and get his family out of dodge before they end up like the rest of his compatriots, Skarsgard plays his role like a bumbling good natured giant who not only seems to understand the complexities of the international game in front of him, but is prescient about his determined attempts in protecting his family. The rest of the cast is solid. Ewan McGregor is Ewan MvGregor. Damien Lewis hams it up as an MI-6 agent playing by his own rules, but its Skarsgard who registers the most.

4. Rebecca Hall in "Tumbledown"

Allow my Jason Sudeikis moratorium to expire with "Tumbledown". Sean Mewshaw's romantic drama not only provides him with his best and most affable performance to date, but its also a film of surprising warmth, humility and carefully crafted emotional manipulations. Oh, and Rebecca Hall is pretty damn amazing also. Taking the narrative of cult-songwriter worship to varying heights, "Tumbledown" initially wallows in grief as Hannah (Hall) struggles to come out from under the shadow of her late husband's death. Added to her grief is the fact he released one personal album that (as mentioned in the same vein as Kurt Cobain) still resonates around the world as a lost musical genius. Obsessed with writing a biography of the man, Sudeikis enters Hannah's world as the two try to manage their expectations and accolades for the man from drastically different sides of his persona. Packing a huge emotional wallop, "Tumbledown" is a film that builds slowly. Part romantic comedy and part backwoods New York cultural war, I wasn't expecting the ultimate wallop it delivers. There are no big dramatic shifts or surprise secrets, just a cautious and searching tale about the lives we lead after unforeseen devastation. Just watch the scene where Hall listens to a previously unrealized song and watch the shadows of memory, love and loss sway across her face. In that single moment, "Tumbledown" hooked its claws into me and never let go.

3. Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe in "The Nice Guys"

Shane Black's loopy, irreverent 70's noir has been one of the genuine surprises so far this year both in how it manages to tell a story (i.e. "The Big Lebowski" would be proud) and for its high-profile star duo who bounce and repartee off each other like Abbott and Costello. The denouement is less important than the sly comedy and almost accidental way this pair of private detectives bob and weave their way around Los Angeles trying to solve a scheme of kidnapping, murder and political infractions. It's a joy from start to finish.

2. Anya-Taylor Joy in "The Witch"

It's a film in which the character speak in mid 18th century English. It's taken from the annals of witchcraft history. It's dark, a bit glacial and certainly not the Blumhouse production most audiences were expecting. But Robert Eggers' superb atmospheric horror features not only features skin-crawling dread in just about every scene, but a terrific lead performance from wide eyed Anya-Taylor Joy. As the oldest daughter of a family experiencing some profoundly evil attributes, she grounds the film in realism with her anger, disbelief and misunderstood adolescent behavior that today would pass as simple tween angst. 

1. The Ensemble Cast of "Mustang"

In the opening scene of Deniz Erguven's devastatingly real tinderbox of female-emotion-drama, the older three of five sisters are waiting outside the school for young Lala (Gunes Sensoy) as she says her goodbye to a teacher. The three stand, half full of swagger and attitude, knowing that their budding sexuality and natural beauty are but moments away from blooming when they meet their boyfriends by the ocean. It's as if they're poised to star in an 80's teen drama and they're most certainly Kim Richards or Lea Thompson... i.e. the bad girls. But it's exactly this risque attitude that lands all five sisters in trouble when they get home, subsequently beaten and verbally abused for being such loose women and flirting openly with men. "Mustang" doesn't reside in John Hughes middle America, but the restrictive culture of Turkey. Gradually, their freedom (both of personal expression and choice) are eroded as they're locked inside their home and kept prisoners by grandmother and uncle until, slowly, each one is given away to womanhood and arranged marriages. "Mustang", the debut feature film by Erguven, works methodically and brilliantly, canvasing the girl's suffocation in gentle overtones. There are night time escapes to freedom. Outward displays of retaliation. And of course tragedy. Even though it's a Turkish film, "Mustang" is universal in its depiction of smothered youth via overwrought and antiquated traditions. By the time it ended, not only was I reduced to tears for these girls to make it out alive, but ultimately resentful of so many nationalities whose backwards belief system chokes the life from sparkling eyes.

Top 5 List: The Con's the Thing

5. Nine Queens (2000)- The loss of Argentinian writer/director Fabian Bielinsky in 2006 was a massive loss to international film making. If one hasn't seen his 2005 "The Aura", then you're missing a flat out masterpiece. But his calling card to larger acclaim came five years earlier with this film, "Nine Queens", about the hustle and bustle of two men (one of whom is the terrific Ricardo Darin) attempting to pull off a massive con involving a rare set of stamps. Bielinsky understands the tension of the con lies in good characterizations... men and women who inhabit the full spectrum of good and bad and everyone in "Nine Queens" deserves a varying degree of observation. Infused with a kinetic Tarantino-esque inertia and a script that flies by with pure adrenaline, this is one film to seek out.

4. The Brothers Bloom (2008)

Starring Mark Ruffalo and Adrien Brody as grifting brothers who choose the eccentric but wealthy mark played by Rachel Weisz, "The Brothers Bloom" establishes itself right away as another entry in the cinema of "New Cool" as I call it. Director Wes Anderson being the godfather of this movement, of course, Johnson employs some of the same stylish techniques (whip pans, cutesy acoustic music, vibrant color schemes) but creates characters and a story that feel all their own. Perhaps too whimsical for some, I absolutely loved the way Johnson films Brody and Weisz falling in love through a simple dolly tracking shot as they walk the streets of Prague, disappear behind a row of stone pillars, and re-emerge holding hands. Self conscious and definitely aware of its coolness, "The Brothers Bloom" doesn't beat one over the head with it though. Keeping the sweetness intact between child-like Weisz and impressionable Brody as the story (and con-game) grows convoluted is the single masterstroke of Johnson's "The Brothers Bloom". Their relationship isn't a con, and that makes the whole thing work. While the black suits and shades worn by the brothers remains consistent throughout, there's a great scene towards the beginning of the film where we think the action is happening in some burlesque in 1920's Chicago, and then the brothers emerge in broad daylight on a graffiti-filled rooftop overlooking a very modern downtown. Again, some of the images in this film are breathtaking. Johnson seems to relish telling small stories against the fabricated backdrop of embedded narrative styles. And with "The Brothers Bloom" he does this magically.

3. The Spanish Prisoner (1997)- David Mamet has etched a glorious career out of his razor-sharp words. The second Steve Martin suddenly appears and tells Rebecca Pidgeon "I'll give you a thousand dollars for that camera...." in response to inadvertently snapping a blurry picture of him and his (supposed) private plane in the background, nothing is what it seems. As the hot-shot designer of the classic "whatsit" and the technological breakthrough that seems to drive everyone's conniving angle in the film, Campbell Scott is perfectly dry and suited to the Mamet-fold of sheep being led to the slaughter house. I remember first watching "The Spanish Prisoner" in an empty theater in Waco, Texas, feeling awestruck by the mood and tone of Mamet's control. I went back that same night for a second viewing, hoping to connect the dots even more. Yes, its a brilliant con film, but what's not said is more pertinent to the film. It's silences, eye movement and mannered performances are the essence of good suspense cinema and "The Spanish Prisoner" wades exuberantly within these unspoken characteristics. Yes, I even appreciate the stiff performance of Mamet's wife and muse Rebecca Pidgeon here, whose odd inflections and theater-like cadence add a special dimension to the quicksand atmosphere. I think this film is ripe for a re-watch. And looking over the reviews again, I really forgot how well received this film was, garnering special praise from Ebert and really breaking out of the gates from an early premier at the Sundance Film Festival. Special mention to Mamet's "House of Games" as well.


2. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988) - Oh how much I laughed as a kid at the iteration of "Ruprecht" by Steve Martin. Yes, its juvenile and slapsticky and obviously catered to the 80's (which is a whole other post), but "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" also holds up today as a terrific comedy with a smart con at its core.

1. Hard Eight (1996)- Yes, it's not "The Sting" or "The Hustler" (although those are very obvious honorable mentions), but P.T. Anderson's mid 90's debut tracks the sleazy exploits of a down-on-his-luck drifter (John C. Reilly) and the mentor (Philip Baker Hall) who takes him under his wing, teaching him how to survive and thrive in Reno. Sharpened from an earlier short film work print called "Coffee and Cigarettes", the film brilliantly announced the prowess of Anderson through gritty performances, astounding cinematography and a strong sense of mise-en-scene as their relationship grows in complexity and danger. Choosing to set the film in Reno instead of the prototypical lush Vegas also adds a sleazy luster to "Hard Eight", succinctly conveying the smoke stained walls and greasy-fingered tables that dominate the film's settings. Very few films are as astounding right out of the gate as this.

Top 5 List: Under Rated TV

5. High Incident (1996-1997)

 

Executive Produced by Steven Spielberg and partly scripted by Eric Bogosian, this very short lived cop drama was essential viewing for me. Taking a now treaded narrative- i.e. the daily travails and friendship of Los Angeles cops-, and crafting something special was not an easy task. Starring Matt Craven, Blair Underwood, Cole Hauser and David Keith, "High Incident" only ran one year and even the almighty powerful Spielberg couldn't save its dismal ratings. And the biggest shame of all? Ending the show on such a cliffhanger- with several stars in comas or battling for their lives after a massive shootout- proved that the cast and crew believed they had more fuel in the tank.

 

 

 

4. The Job (2001)

 

 

Denis Leary and executive producer Peter Tolan would reach larger acclaim with another show on this list later, but "The Job" could be considered its training ground. Assembling a diverse cast and spending of their episodes on digressive matters such as being taken hostage in the restroom by an escaped criminal in the police station or the preoccupation with how dull his badge is compared to others, "The Job" was vintage Denis Leary. It only lasted 19 episodes, but "The Job" is light years ahead of current fare such "Brooklyn 911".

 

 

 

3. The Shield (2002-2008)

 

 

A bit more appreciated than others on this list, "The Shield" still doesn't receive the kudos it deserves. Placing himself near the top of anti-heroes alongside Tony Soprano, Michael Chiklis' portrait of dirty LA cop Vic Mackey colors himself irredeemable right from the opening scene when he commits murder. The next six seasons are spent not only trying to cover up his own criminal transgressions AND hold a family together, but take down some of the city's toughest drug dealers. "The Shield" is compulsively watchable and tension inducing, not afraid to spotlight its lead character's coal-black moral center.

 

 

2. Curb Your Enthusiasm (1999-)

 

 

 

This is the one show on this list I may be mis-informed about, yet I just don't know of anyone....ever that talked about it. It may be highly regarded.... I just don't know about it. As a fan of "Seinfeld", I was genuinely interested in creater Larry David's foray on HBO, hoping for some of the same humor, instead getting an entirely new misanthropic outlook on everything from sleeve cuffs to hookers for the HOV lane. "Curb Your Enthusiasm" takes shots at everyone and anything, and I love Larry David for it.

 

 

 

 

1. Rescue Me (2004-2011)

 

 

After the demise of "The Job", Denis Leary and friend/producer Peter Tolan (and a majority of the cast) came to FX with this masterpiece of a television show about New York City firefighters. Haunted by dead friends and shadows of September 11th, "Rescue Me" weaved an eight year run that embedded the viewer with poignant, involving and wildly funny moments from the lives of these men and women. Highly recommended if you weren't already a fan.

 



Top 5 List: Best Use of a Song In a Scene

5. Roy Orbison's "In Dreams", "Blue Velvet"





4. Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglov, and a record producer slowly realizing the greatness, "Once"





3. Nina Simone and just a sublime finale, "Before Sunset"




2. Ryan Gosling hitting rock bottom, timed to Broken Social Scene and "Shampoo Suicide"




1. How could it not be Phoebe Cates and The Cars.....

Top 5 List: Best Movie Openings

In conjunction with Film.com and their 50 best movie openings of all time, here's my humble five that missed the cut:

5. Narc

 

 

 

 

4. Birth 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. The Gangs of New York

 

 



 

 

 

2. We Own the Night

 

 

1. Ali

Top 5 List: Men On A Mission Genre

5. The Sword of Gideon/Munich- Two films, made almost twenty years apart, document the same episode in history as a group of trained men take revenge on the perpetrators who staged the infamous Munich Olympic murders in 1972. While both films are based on the same book (George Jonas' "Vengeance; the Story of an Israeli Counter-Intelligence Team") they go about their storytelling in different ways. "Sword of Gideon". released in 1986 and directed Michael Anderson, is a bit more low-budget as it was originally aired on television (and never available on DVD by the way). Starring Steven Bauer, Michael York and Rod Steiger, "Sword of Gideon" remains an ambitious TV project. "Munich", tackled in 2005 by Steven Spielberg, ups the ante, of course, in production value and the thriller aspects- although both films representation of a telephone bomb are riveting. Starring Eric Bana, Daniel Craig and Ciaren Hinds, both "Munich" and "Sword of Gideon" are terrific examples of the men-on-a-mission genre in the way they portray the dissolving morals of the men as they embed themselves deeper into their mission.

4. The Dirty Dozen- After watching this again for the first time in years, I’m reminded how much of a genre-stealing hack Quentin Tarantino really is. With an all-star cast, Aldrich basically upped the ante on the “men on a mission” war genre that would see itself re-invented and re-imagined for years to come- and on both sides of the ocean as well. The great conceit in Aldrich’s adrenalized affair is just how long he spends humanizing the ‘dirty dozen’ before their fatalistic mission to wipe out the German high command at a Paris chateau. Nihilism doesn’t begin to describe the lengths Aldrich goes in that final battle, and its all very non-Hollywood, which probably earns the film even higher regards nowadays. This was 1966 and we’re treated to Lee Marvin sadistically trying to break off the vent hoods so his men can drop grenades down into the underground hideout of the German men and their party-goers. As an action film, “The Dirty Dozen” is aces. As a film that successfully inverts our expectations about the ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys’, it’s a revelation. Probably the prototypical men-on-a-mission film that almost everyone identifies with.

3. The Wild Bunch- Like "The Dirty Dozen", Sam Peckinpah's "The Wild Bunch" was a game changer for Hollywood, especially in its cinematically ritualized violence and bloodshed. What begins as a western ends up as a dead-mans-walk when the bunch in question take on the whole Mexican army. Stellar, grizzled performances by William Holden, Warren Oates (always stellar and grizzled!), Ben Johnson and Robert Ryan push the human element in this one as we sorta begin to root for these bad guys.







2. Wages of Fear

Henri Georges Clouzot's 1953 film about a group of men hired to transport a truck full of nitroglycerin across a rugged South American jungle is such an underrated film. The tension reaches unbearable lengths and sweat, grime and an almost silent cinema mise-en-scene overtakes the second half of the film. I regret to say I've never seen William Friedkin's remake, titled "Sorcerer" due to a terrible DVD print, but I may have to buck up and bear it soon. As it stands, "Wages of Fear" is a classic men on a mission entry.


1. The Untouchables

Brian DePalma's (usually) maligned cops and gangsters story remains one of my favorite movies. Featuring a sweeping Ennio Morricone score, two of the most perfectly realized setpieces ever (the bridge raid and train station shootout) and Al Pacino hamming it up as Al Capone, "The Untouchables" real momentum lies in its representation of real life gangster busters led by Kevin Costner. Teamed up with the veteran (Sean Connery), the book worm (Charles Martin Smith) and the sharpshooter (Andy Garcia), they slowly but surely take back Chicago from the gangsters. I've seen this film over a dozen times and it only grows in my estimation each time.

Top 5 List- Best Female Faces post 2000

5. Leslie Mann- Despite the fact actress Leslie Mann is married to Judd Apatow, giving her an exemption in pretty much all of his comedic efforts, I get the sense Mann could hold her own in the Hollywood universe. After years of bit roles in 90's Adam Sandler and Jim Carrey comedies, it was Mann's scene stealing performance as a drunk woman giving Steve Carrel a ride home in "The 40 Year Old Virgin" and subsequent starring role in "Knocked Up" that cemented her place in stardom. Yes, a majority of her roles have been comedic ones- and ones that she routinely knocks out of the park through her wry delivery and razor sharp reaction shots- but Mann has shown uncommon depth as an actress as well. Just watch the scene as she's shut out of a popular night club and the ramblings of a thirty-something come streaming out of her in "Knocked Up" And it's an understatement to say I'm excited for "This Is 40" when it hits theaters later this year. Mann co-starring, front and center, with Paul Rudd... taking a supporting role and spinning it into a lead role is a definite recipe for cult success.

4. Carice Van Houten- I suppose its downright flattery for an actress to become so encumbered in a role that one doesn't even recognize her... and that was the case with me and "Game of Thrones". Until recently, I had no idea she played the fiery goddess Melissandre in that series. Regardless, van Houten has an angelic face that would look at home in a silent film from the 20's. Just imagine her in a Murnau film! In 2006, van Houten's smash success came in Paul Verhoeven's brutal Resistance drama, "Black Book". At the time, I wrote the following of van Houten: even after being covered by a vat of human shit, stripped naked several times and one scene of pubic hair dying, actress Carice Van Houten manages to pull out of Paul Verhoeven's World War 2 thriller Black Book with finesse and grace. Not only does she carry herself like a true classic screen actress, but Houten has the emotional temperance to make her role as a German double agent highly accessible and believable.

3. Keira Knightley- A lot of pot shots have been hurled at British actress Knightley over the years... and admittedly, it's really hard when the term "beanpole" is one of the first adjectives awarded to you (courtesy of Aint It Cool News back in the day). By now, I would hope Knightley has shed the laments and proven she's more than a pretty statue. Probably the closest thing to a bonafide superstar on this list, Knightley continues to accept a wide variety of projects. Loyal readers may remember I flipped for her in this year's "Seeking A Friend For the End of the World"- a film that deserved so much better- and next we have a lushly mounted adaptation of "Anna Karenina" later this year. The intensity and sincerity she approaches each role is astounding. And my god just look at those eyes....

2. Emily Blunt- The photo here isn't the best, but I just love the contrast. From her young performance as a confused teenager in the excellent "My Summer of Love" (2004), I recognized something unique in her. Since then, she's surprised me with every new role. Her latest, in Rian Johnson's brilliant "Looper" sets a new standard for her as she slowly becomes the focus of the film and single-handedly takes control of it's swirling sci-fi universe. Blunt is on an exciting precipice, mounted to become the next big thing and dazzle us for years to come.

1. Vera Farmiga- I couldn't resist using at least one scandalous photo! Farmiga- chiseled face and intense eyes- is the total package. Intelligent, fierce and beautiful, Farmiga has already exceeded her actress expectations and turned in one terrific directorial effort as well, the under appreciated "Higher Ground" (2011). This double threat of a performer seems to own every scene. From the minute she walks into Scorsese's "The Departed", things get serious. Farmiga, like Blunt, is an untapped resource that will hopefully provide years of creativeenergies.

Top 5 List: Halfway Point in 2012

The top 5 things that have stirred me in 2012:


5. The duo of Keira Knightely and Steve Carell in "Seeking A Friend For the End of the World"

In my recent review for Lorene Scafaria's apocalypse dramamdy, I stated "Knightely is wonderful again, although it wouldn’t take much for me to fall in love with a 28 year old Brit-hipster chick who totes around Walker Brothers and John Cale vinyl and who scribbles David Bowie sayings on her wall." This is very true. I'm an easy mark for this "pixie girl" as I've seen her described, and no doubt that Knightely's performance and "bean-pole" persona sways my affections easily. But it's the film itself- and its never wavering finale- that has lingered with me for over a month now. If that's not the sign of something good, then I don't know what is.


4. Sigur Ros and their new album "Valtari"
 
I know the criticisms..... but I still love this band and everything they do. Just magical moments in so many songs on this new album.


3. Mood Films

Three new films this year dispense with traditional storytelling for the most part and paint wrenching portraits of a very specific time and place.... what I love to call mood films. Oren Moverman's "Rampart" is the thinking man's "Training Day", following a terrific Woody Harrelson over the course of a few days in early 90's Los Angeles as he deals with police corruption, impending debts and his own fractured, confusing home life with two ex-wives and two daughters. Wes Anderson's "Moonrise Kingdom" is style and place tilted to perfection in "Moonrise Kingdom" with 1960's New England coastline and tweener love. Benh Zeitlin's debut film, "Beasts of the Southern Wild" is certainly the most experimental of the three, but no less acute in its representation of a group of poverty-ridden people living on the outskirts of the Louisiana coastline. Not only are these three of the very best films of the year, but when placed in a time capsule, these films should show how beautiful, fucked-up and complex our modern world is.

2. Films on YouTube

This very well may be a wave that I'm just now catching onto, but the wealth of obscure and not-readily-available-on-home video films that are cropping up on YouTube is overwhelmingly good. If one is searching for something, go there and type in the title. You may be surprised. Or you can check out blogs such as the excellent Lerner International blog whose mission in life is to direct consumers to overlooked gems available there. Add to that a few software downloads and one can always own a ready-made dvd version.... not that I'm promoting such an act but throwing it out there as rhetoric.

1. HBO Continues Strong

Select television continues to be the defining initiative for intelligent, culturally impactful works of art. Channels such as HBO, FX and AMC continue to push the envelope (yes, "Breaking Bad" begins its assaulting final season tonight!) and churn out unbelievably impressive series. Aaron Sorkin's "The Newsroom", Louis CK's "Louie" and others such as "Boardwalk Empire", "Game of Thrones" and "Eastbound and Down" have firmly planted themselves as challenging, sometimes uncomfortable but always meaningful works of art.

Top 5 List: Morose French Kids, Post 1990

Yet another random top 5 list that came to me recently. Post 1990 because, you know, it's way too easy to create a list from early Truffaut, Garrel, Godard and Eustache!



5. A Single Girl- Not only was this the film that introduced a majority of the western world to the stunningly beautiful Virginie Ledoyen (and she can act too!), but it helped establish director Benoit Jacquot's career. Released in 1995, it was one of the first films I can remember Dardenne Brothers style.... i.e. a simple idea (a cleaning girl struggling to make a life for herself), exemplified through long handheld camerawork perched just above the shoulder and creating extreme tension from the mundane. Benoit would go on to make other films in this vein, but none had the power of "A Single Girl", largely thanks to Ledoyen's steely eyed gaze and supermodel visage. With a pregnancy just discovered and a forceful push into the adult world, "A Single Girl" could be described as a psychological procedural as Ledoyen goes about her daily routines trying to push the bad news aside. A great film. Jacquot deserved more recognition on home video distribution. Ledoyen went onto a terrific little career as well.


4. New World-The late Alain Corneau made this quirky, fascinating little movie in the mid 1990's, garnering some attention due to its supporting role of mid 90's "it girl" Alicia Silverstone as the love interest of a jazz-crazy French teen during the American occupation of France in the decade after World war 2. Patrick (Nicolas Chatel) loves a prim and proper French girl Marie (Sarah Grappin) until his horizons are expanded through jazz music and the arrival of an American soldier and his family, including teeny bopper Silverstone. The idea of the loud, boisterous American versus the quaint French ways of living are a bit heavy-handed, but the film hits so many right notes in its depiction of young love that it wins one over. A young James Gandolfini also stars as a burn-out soldier who befriends both Patrick and falls in love with the impressionable Marie. Corneau's straight forward filming style and the charismatic performances raise "New World" into something quite good. There are dark moments and lots of brooding by Patrick as well.


3. Rosetta- No list like this would be complete without a Dardennes Brothers film, right? For my money, "Rosetta" is it. Sure I admire "The Son and really love "Lorna's Silence", but "Rosetta" was the film that put them on the map and branded their now imitable style. Morose doesn;t even begin to describe the punishment Rosetta (Emilie Dequenne) endures throughout the film, losing her job in the opening scene and crawling around a cold Paris scratching a living by selling old clothes and trying to stave off the death of her alcoholic mother. As a surprise winner at the Cannes Festival in '99, "Rosetta" is a tense, compulsive experience.


2. Wild Reeds- I much prefer the French title, "Les Roseaux Sauvages". Andre Techine's much lauded 1994 film, along with the next film on this list, probably did more than any other French film of its kind to propagate the confusing lives of French teens in the 90's. This time its a love triangle between young Francios (Gael Morel) and his best friend Maite (Elodie Bouchez), who has a hidden crush on him. Francois meets Serge (Stephane Rideau) and his latent homosexuality is stirred up. Techine establishes wonderful atmosphere in "Wild Reeds", placing the confused teenagers during a very volcanic time.... circa the Algerian War, whose effects are felt in killed loved ones and talk of future enlistment.


1. Cold Water- My appreciation for Olivier Assayas' masterpiece is well documented. Released in 1994 before Assayas would become an international sensation with "Irma Vep", I'm tempted to call "Cold Water" his best film- though I've yet to find three more of his earlier films. Ledoyen would go on to become a marginal star in the late 90's alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in the under appreciated "The Beach" and we're all aware of Assayas' cinematic legacy. "Cold water" is a tender, alive and raw example of a film that deserves a larger audience. And for all the films on this list, THIS is the most morose, moving and ultimately timeless example.

Top 5 List: Those Troubled Teens

5. Suburbia


Penelope Speerhis' early 80's drama feels like the blueprint for every other emo-punk rock film to come after. It's Los Angeles setting, populated by landscapes of suburban redundancy and barren graffiti riddled flophouses, fits the nihilistic attitude of its protagonists well. Featuring a cast of no-names (except Flea.... yes that Flea from The Red Hot Chili Peppers), "Suburbia" follows these youth through endless days spent robbing from the open door garages of neighboring houses, going to punk rock shows, and tattooing the symbol of "TR" (the rejects) on their arms. And when the film takes a detour in slow motion as a pack of wild dogs runs through the neighborhood, Speerhis effectively transitions her experiment into something like an apocalyptic disaster film. If the feeling of being smothered by the sneering kids in "Suburbia" is your choice of a good time, then this film is for you. For that alone, it deserves a spot on this list.

4. A Clockwork Orange


Probably the seminal film about teen anomia (although all the actors portraying these teens were well into their 30's), Kubrick's adaptation of Anthony Burgess's novel remains a riveting exploration of sex and violence.

3. Less Than Zero- Cheating a bit here since this 1987 film features college age kids, it's just hard to leave any film derived from a Bret Easton Ellis off the list. The guy just invents such perverted, self absorbed and loathsome characters... yet his films earmark many high points of the last three decades including the outright crazy satirical masterpiece "American Psycho". I do hold a soft spot in my heart for his 2002 adaptation "The Rules of Attraction".... but back to "Less Than Zero". Released in 1987, not only did the film help solidify the rising star status of diverse talents such as Robert Downey Jr, Andrew McCarthy, Jami Gertz and James Spader, but I can't remember a film exemplifying the empty nature of sex, drugs and moody nightlife quite like this film. In retrospect, "Less Than Zero" is a zeitgeist film that embodies the 80's in so many ways. And no imagines the creepy aqua blue lights that reflect off a pool at nighttime quite like Ellis and director Mark Kanievska.

2. kids


Like Easton Ellis, one could have their pick from the films of Larry Clark for this list, but its his 1995 debut, "kids" that takes the cake. While "Bully" and "Ken Park" (which I finally managed to track down recently) observe the same dead-end, sexually promiscuous teens in slightly vulgar and uncomfortable ways, "kids" was his breakthrough effort and a film that has grown in admiration over time. Upon release, "kids" was downright shocking, both for its seemingly documentary take on an aimless group of New York kids and its themes of underage sex, violence and complete absence of parental supervision. Watching it today, it still shocks and confounds.... which ultimately is what a good piece of art should probably do. And I had no idea that was a young Rosario Dawson!

1. Over The Edge Raise your hand if this 1979 film- about a sleepy Colorado town whose juvenile delinquents decide to violently overtake the high school during a PTA meeting- didn't scare your socks off. In the early days of HBO, I must have watched this film about a dozen times behind my parent's watchful eyes, not quite understanding all the undertones but equally enthralled by the angry subtext. Starring a young Matt Dillon, "Over the Edge" represents the best of the teenage rebellion genre.