These Are A Few Of My Favorite Scenes...

So it's the end of the year, and although I kinda want to finish up reviewing all the movies I've seen this year (and the film of the month thing) simply because I started it almost a year ago and I've put too much time into it already, I also don't really care enough. Instead, I think it's about time to start wrapping up this blog and moving on to something different. I've come to realize that, while I love to overanalyze, judge, and rank the movies I see, I don't really enjoy writing about them. Unless I'm making jokes about them, the writing feels wooden and boring. However, one thing I've always loved to do is the end of the year lists. And I'm starting mine off with a four-part "scenes of the year" list. Granted, although I have seen a ridiculous amount of movies from this year (the number's around 75 at this point), I have not seen quite a few films that I have a feeling could crack this list, such as Hugo, War Horse, The Descendants, Melancholia, The Artist, and Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. I'm bored, though, and don't feel like waiting around for another 2 months for them to come out on video, so I'm just gonna go ahead and do this thing. Each of the four parts will have five scenes, with links to the scene if possible.

Oh. And they're in alphabetical order.

Another Earth - The Musical Saw Scene

This scene is here for two reasons. The first is because of how beautiful that musical saw is. I don't know much about the instrument, but in a science fiction movie, I doubt if there's a more perfect musical interlude than the eerie, warped noises coming from that piece of metal. I also loved this scene for its simplicity. The scene carries some serious emotional content, but the only thing happening on screen is a guy holding a saw and a girl watching him. With their glances and expressions alone, we understand how deep the relationship between these two characters has become. 

Video? Nope, but thanks to the only comment to ever be posted on my blog, you can at least listen to a section of the musical saw from this scene.

Beginners - This is Love

I love the idea of representing life with a collection of photos. Beginners took this concept a step further, using photos to represent not only the person, but the time that they lived in. This particular one focuses on Melanie Laurent's character. As his description of her continues, the photos are replaced with reality and the factual details of her life are replaced with an emotional attachment to the person, the same progression that we follow in real relationships.

Video? Click here.

Biutiful - Father and Son

Biutiful opens and closes with a meeting of Uxbal (Bardem) and his father in a snow-covered forest. Problem is, Uxbal's father died in Mexico years ago. This is a meeting of father and son in the afterglow of life. Is this Uxbal's rendition of heaven? Is this just some final, half-memory of his father, conjured up by the story Uxbal was telling his daughter as he died? I'm not sure, but that serene look of satisfaction tells me that it doesn't really matter.

Video? Click here.

Bridesmaids - The Airplane Scene

Bridesmaids is a hilarious movie, but this is the scene that really makes it memorable. And, just like the rest of the movie, it's memorable because of two people: Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy. Wiig's SNL experience playing crazy women really gets to come out here. She mocks her friends, she hallucinates... she calls a flight attendant a stove. McCarthy, on the other hand, goes for the sexpot, simultaneously trying to seduce and blow the cover of an air marshal. It's 4 minutes of hilarious chaos.

Video? Here's a clip of part of it.

Crazy Stupid Love - The Fight

Speaking of chaos. Up to this point in the movie, there were four or five separate plotlines that were very loosely connected with each other. Then, all of a sudden, they all meet, head-on, and the result is one of the funniest scenes from any movie this year. This guy's mad at this guy for doing this... that guy's mad at this other guy for doing this other thing... this other guy's not really mad at anybody, but he's still gonna punch somebody. The actual fight only lasts 10 or 15 seconds, but just watching all these things pile up, one after another, was comedy gold.

Video? Click here.

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That's it for part 1. Stay tuned for parts 2-4!

October Film of the Month/Ricochet Reviews

Wow, I'm behind. I've got a Film of the Month post due on top of 13 more reviews. So I'm just going to knock them both out with one post. It'll be a little longer, but whatever.

Film of the Month: Lars and the Real Girl (2007)

Directed by Craig Gillespie.

Starring Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer, and Paul Schneider.

This movie came out of nowhere and blew me away. I'm still not sure how they managed to take a film revolving around a sex doll and create such a powerful and touching story out of it, but that's exactly what Lars is. Probably the best aspect of the film is how well it blends its serious and comical elements together. Gillespie was able to keep the story realistic and believable while also addressing how absurd it is to fall in love with a sex doll. Of course, the heart of the film is Gosling's performance. After seeing him in 6 separate films so far this year, I am amazed at his versatility. Few people could take a role like "guy in love with a sex doll" and make him not seem crazy, but Gosling is able to capture that. This was easily my favorite film of the month and I would recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it.

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Honorable Mentions:

50/50 (2011)

Directed by Jonathan Levine (The Wackness).

Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, and Anna Kendrick.

Another example of a perfect blend of comedy and drama, 50/50 is smart enough to know that a movie about cancer doesn't need to make fun of cancer to be funny. JGL and Rogen play great alongside each other, with JGL giving a terrific dramatic performance and Rogen being his typical hilarious self. A great movie from beginning to end, and one of the best films of 2011.

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Attack the Block (2011)

Directed by Joe Cornish (debut film).

Starring John Boyega, Jodie Whittaker, and Alex Esmail.

This is an example of style over substance that actually works. Block is low on plot but more than makes up for it with great camera work, pacing, music, and effects. The aliens are simple enough to look good on a low budget but cool enough to still be entertaining. A note of warning though, these are extremely thick British accents, but if you bear with it, you'll eventually get habituated to it.

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Hanna (2011)

Directed by Joe Wright (The Soloist, Atonement, Pride and Prejudice).

Starring Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana, and Cate Blanchett.

After telling them how much I liked Hanna, a friend of mine felt it necessary to point out the three or four minor logical flaws in the film. I felt it necessary to slap her. Luckily she lives in another state. Hanna is an action-packed film with some great cinematography and chase sequences.

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Jane Eyre (2011)

Directed by Cary Fukunaga (Sin Nombre).

Starring Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, and Jamie Bell.

Have you ever read Jane Eyre? If not, you probably won't like this movie. If you did, did you like it? If not, you won't like this movie. However, for us fans of the book, Jane Eyre is a much better adaptation than I expected. The film stays true to the book while rearranging the story in a more film-friendly manner, a small thing that has a big impact on how good the film is. Jane also hinges on the performances of Wasikowska and Fassbender, who are great in their roles (especially Mr. Rochester).

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Troll Hunter (2011)

Directed by Andre Ovredal (debut film).

Starring Otto Jespersen, Hans Morten Hansen, and Tomas Alf Larsen.

Language: Norwegian.

Probably my favorite found footage film ever aside from the original Paranormal Activity. The actual troll hunts are really exciting and the side story about the film crew running from the government was interesting. If they had just toned down the religious themes a bit (really? Trolls can smell Christian blood? That doesn't even make sense), Troll Hunter would have been a masterpiece. As it is, it's still a great movie worth your time.

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Previous Films of the Month:

January - Children of Men (2006)

February - Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)

March - Rango (2011)

April - Source Code (2011)

May - Blue Valentine (2010)

June - The Tree of Life (2011)

July - Once (2007)

August - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

September - Drive (2011)

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...and now the rest of the October 2011 film reviews that weren't good enough for honorable mention (in viewing order). These are gonna be reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally short.

Conan O'Brien Can't Stop

Directed by Rodman Flender (Idle Hands).

Documentary.

Well, if you're a huge fan of Conan this is probably great. For me, it was entertaining but masturbatory.

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Outside the Law

Directed by Rachid Bouchareb (London River, Days of Glory).

Starring Jamel Debbouze, Roschdy Zem, and Sami Bouajila.

Language: French, Arabic.

Good movie, but it needed to be longer to fully tell this story. And it was already 2.5 hours long.

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Buck

Directed by Cindy Meehl (debut film).

Documentary. 

Not usually a fan of biographical documentaries about people I've never heard of, but Buck Brannaman had a great story to tell.

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Hesher

Directed by Spencer Susser (debut film).

Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Devin Brochu, Natalie Portman, and Rainn Wilson.

This one disappointed me. Great cast with some good moments, but mostly pointless and crass.

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Your Highness

Directed by David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express).

Starring Danny McBride, James Franco, Natalie Portman, and Zooey Deschanel.

...And this one surprised me. Very stupid humor, but the mix of that and the medieval setting cracked me up.

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Red State

Directed by Kevin Smith (Clerks, Chasing Amy, Dogma).

Starring Michael Parks, Melissa Leo, and John Goodman.

I give credit to Smith for branching out, but the film itself is very sporadic. Special mention to Michael Parks for his complex portrayal of the cult leader.

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The Thing

Directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. (debut film).

Starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, and Ulrich Thomsen.

Nowhere near the magnificence of the 80's version, but this remake was still suspenseful enough to recommend seeing.

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Paranormal Activity 3

Directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman (Catfish).

Starring Jessica Tyler Brown, Christopher Nicholas Smith, and Lauren Bittner.

Pretty good. Better than the second, not even close to the first. The trailers are hilarious though: literally none of that footage is actually in the movie.

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And that's it! I'm caught up through the end of October. Just one month to go...