An Action Packed Weekend and the Airing of Grievances Against the Oscar Nominees

It was a violent weekend at the movies. The week's best film was certainly Gerardo Naranjo's crime thriller "Miss Bala," although I was not quite as enthusiastic as some of the film's supporters at last year's Cannes Film Festival. It is, however, a solid and intense picture.

I also enjoyed Steven Soderbergh's "Haywire," but the picture is definitely an example of a great filmmaker working in a minor key. I had mixed feelings about Anthony Hemingway's "Red Tails," which is full of beautiful aerial photography and some good performances, but is a missed opportunity. It's merely an action picture that happens to feature the Tuskegee Airmen as its heroes, rather than an in-depth study of the pilots.

Here are my Patch reviews.

And then, the Oscar nominees - what's to say. I believe the exclusions this year, which were many, are the most telling. While I didn't expect "Melancholia" or "A Dangerous Method" to be included in the picture or directing categories due to their darker content, I thought it was a great sin of omission to leave Keira Knightley and Kirsten Dunst off the Best Actress roster.

And where the hell were the Best Original Score and Supporting Actor nods (Albert Brooks) for "Drive"? And Leonard DiCaprio for "J. Edgar"? And Jessica Chastain for "The Tree of Life," not "The Help"? And "Le Havre" in the Best Foreign Film category. And Michael Shannon's Best Actor nomination for "Take Shelter"? And Michael Fassbender for anything? Etc., etc.

I was glad to see "The Tree of Life" pick up nods for Best Picture and Director as well as a slew of nominations for "Hugo," "The Artist" and "The Descendants." And that was cool that "A Separation" also snuck into the screenplay slot. But, overall, it was a disappointing group of nominees.

'The Devil Inside' and 'Contraband'

I had a nice long post ready to go that was complete with some commentary on Todd Haynes's "Mildred Pierce" and links to this week's movies.

But, my piece of shit computer or internet provider or whatever failed on me not just once, twice or three times, but about six times. So screw it.

To sum it up, I loved "Mildred Pierce" and was not too fond of this week's selections: "The Devil Inside" and "Contraband." Here are the reviews.

This coming week, I'll review "Miss Bala," "Haywire" and "Red Tails." So there.

You Can't Handle the Truth: 'A Separation,' 'Once Upon a Time in Anatolia' (and 'The Iron Lady')

It's only nine days into the new year and I've already seen two new amazing films - "A Separation," which is actually a 2011 film, so I've update my top 10 accordingly, and "Once Upon a Time in Anatolia."

Both films, which deal with the nature of truth and the limits of knowledge, are spellbinding.

This weekend, I also caught up with "The Iron Lady," which is a well-made and mostly enjoyable - if somewhat non-provocative - take on a controversial leader. Regardless, Meryl Streep gives a terrific performance, as always.

Check out all three reviews for Patch.

2011 Wrapup: 'War Horse,' 'Pina' and 'Pariah'

Happy New Year, everyone!

This week, I posted a wrap-up for Patch of the year's final films, including Steven Spielberg's "War Horse," Wim Wenders's "Pina" and Dee Rees's "Pariah."

I very much enjoyed all three films, but none of them managed to crack my top 20. Here are my reviews.

This coming weekend, I'm finally going to catch "A Separation" as well as "The Iron Lady." I will also most definitely be seeing Nuri Bilge Ceylan's "Once Upon a Time in Anatolia."

The Best Films of 2011, Vol. II

Here's my official list of the year's best films as posted on Patch.

The list has not changed - at all, in fact - from the cinematic roundup I posted last week. However, I have a chance to flesh out my reasoning for picking each of my top 10 movies as well as include my second 10 best and a brief note on the year's worst.

This week, I've been able to catch up with "War Horse," which is a solid war movie/family drama that I will review this coming week, and "The Adventures of Tintin," which is, admittedly, not one of my favorite Steven Spielberg films. It's not bad, just not great either. I also watched "Margin Call," which I thought was quite good.

Tonight, I'll be watching "Pariah" and "Pina," which will be included in next week's roundup. I won't be able to see "A Separation" until next week.

So, here's my Best Films of 2011, Vol. II.

Fell in Love with a 'Girl'

I'm in the midst of holiday travel, so I'll keep this week's post very, very short. In essence, this week's reviews include David Fincher's "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," which is a solid thriller and more of a re-imagining of the source material than a remake of the 2009 Swedish film. I also caught up with "We Bought a Zoo," which is not one of Cameron Crowe's best, but still quite charming.

Here are my reviews for Patch.

I also saw "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol," but after my deadline for posting reviews. It was a lot of fun and most likely the best of the series since Brian De Palma's 1996 picture.

This coming week, I'll review "War Horse," "Pariah" and "Pina" as well as catch up with "The Adventures of Tintin." Sadly, I won't be able to get to "A Separation" until the new year, but I'll post a review at that time.

Later this week, keep an eye out for my extensive awards for this year's movies as well as my Patch roundup of the year's best.

The Best Films of 2011, Volume I

It ended up being a solid year for film following a slow start in the spring and some long stretches in the summer.

This is my unofficial Best of 2011 list. Next week, I will post my best of the year list on Patch that will include explanations for my choices as well as my worst of the year.

I will update this list as necessary.

Also, I would be remiss not to mention that I've missed a few notable pictures this year. I currently have "Margin Call" at home and plan to view it this week. But I won't be catching up with "United Red Army," "Mysteries of Lisbon" or "Margaret" until the new year.

For now, here are my acting choices for 2011:
Best Actor: Jean Dujardin, "The Artist"
Best Actress: Keira Knightley, "A Dangerous Method"
Best Supporting Actor: Albert Brooks, "Drive"
Best Supporting Actress: Jessica Chastain, "The Tree of Life"

And, here are my ten runners up and ten best films:

Ten Runners Up:
20. Higher Ground (Vera Farmiga)
19. Contagion (Steven Soderbergh)
18. The Skin I Live In (Pedro Almodovar)
17. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (David Fincher)
16. Shame (Steve McQueen)
15. J. Edgar (Clint Eastwood)
14. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
13. Moneyball (Bennett Miller)
12. Midnight in Paris (Woody Allen)
11. Bellflower (Evan Glodell)

Ten Best:
10a. Hugo (Martin Scorsese)
10b. The Artist (Michel Hazanavicious)
  9. City of Life and Death (Chu Luan)
  8. A Separation (Asghar Farhadi)
  7. The Descendants (Alexander Payne)
  6. Le Havre (Aki Kaurismaki)
  5. A Dangerous Method (David Cronenberg)
  4. Take Shelter (Jeff Nichols)
  3. Melancholia (Lars Von Trier)
  2. Drive (Nicolas Winding Refn)
  1. The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick)