Shame (On Me) (Contest!)

See Shame, on me!

I'm giving away several passes to the Scotiabank Theatre Toronto screening of Shame on Thursday, Dec. 1st 2011 at 7pm from Alliance Films. Shame is the new film by Steve McQueen, starring Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan, which opens in theatres on Dec. 2nd.

So this it the film lots of people are talking about, and I'm dying to see Michael Fassbender's performance, which won him the Best Actor award at the Venice Film Festival. Michael Fassy is having quite the year, after being Magneto in X-Men: First Class, and now this is a very different and emotional role that strips him down, in more ways than one.

Here's the trailer:


To enter:

- Email me at tapeworthycontest at gmail dot com
Subject: "SHAME CONTEST"
And tell me which Canadian Film Festival the film Shame made it's Canadian premiere?

- Please include your name and email. (And twitter account name if you included the Bonus Entry tweet)

- For a BONUS ENTRY, follow @Tapeworthy and tweet this msg: "I want @Tapeworthy to give me Shame! (With Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan)"

The Details: - Contest closes at 11:59pm EST on Tuesday Nov. 22nd 2011. Only winners will be contacted directly by Wednesday Nov. 23rd 2011. Winners will be randomly drawn from all entries. Only one prize pass per person.

- Contest is open to residents of Canada. Prize does not include transportation.

- Prize consists of a Code to redeem for a Pass for 2 tickets to Shame screening presented by Alliance Films on Dec. 1st at 7pm at Scotiabank Theatre in Toronto, Ontario. Doors to open at 6pm. Tapeworthy is not responsible for over-capacity of screening or the prize itself. Screenings are overbooked to ensure capacity. Please arrive early. Tickets are distributed on a first come, first serve basis. Code or Pass does not guarantee admission. No one will be admitted into the theatre with any type of audio or visual recording device, including cameras, cell phones with photo capabilities, laptops etc. Security will enforce this policy at the screening.

Film is subject to classification. Issuer has a right to refuse, revoke or limit admission in its sole discretion at any time.


Post Film:

Tweet your thoughts and feelings about Shame with hashtag #ShameFilm and/or @AllianceFilms in the tweet and Alliance Films will be choosing winners and giving away DVD prizes!

Vance at http://tapeworthy.blogspot.com

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Wizards of Broadway Place

This makes me so happy! Ron Weasley, Neville Longbottom and Draco Malfoy visiting J. Pierrepont Finch backstage at How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying on Broadway this past Saturday on Broadway, New York, just after the Harry Potter cast had their final premiere in London on last Thursday.

Matt Lewis (Neville Longbottom), Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley), Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter/J. Pierrepont Finch), and Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy)

Rupert Grint and Daniel Radcliffe

Matt Lewis (an all grown-up Neville Longbottom, making everyone's mouth drop) and Daniel Radcliffe

Tom Felton and Daniel Radcliffe

Thanks to @LindzSpice for the heads-up on the photos!
Vance at http://tapeworthy.blogspot.com

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The End IS Near

July 15th 2011


Vance at http://tapeworthy.blogspot.com

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Best of Movies 2010

So here are my picks for the Best of Movies for 2010 (based on either a North American theatrical release date or if I saw it at a festival in 2010 since some have yet to open):

(This post will constantly updated as I see more films from 2010. *** indicates latest new review. Latest Update: Feb. 22nd 2011)


1. Rabbit Hole
Written by David Lindsay-Abaire, Directed by John Cameron Mitchell
(Original Review)

A beautifully drawn portrait of a couple dealing with the grief of their sons death. John Cameron Mitchell provides mature direction in an often surprisingly funny and intensely acute study of loss and the breakdowns required to move on. Nicole Kidman and Miles Teller provide quiet but sharply real performances that anchor the film.


2. Blue Valentine
Written by Derek Cianfrance & Cami Delavigne and Joey Curtis, Directed by Derek Cianfrance

Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams are devastatingly haunting as a couple who fall in and out of love, and Derek Cianfrance's film is clever in twisting up the simple devolution of a relationship into a sweet but heartbreaking story.


3. Tangled
Written by Dan Fogelman based on the fairy tale Rapunzel by the Brothers Grimm, Directed by Nathan Greno and Byron Howard
(Original Review)

A beautiful blend of modern gusto with classic Disney nostalgia and good old musical fairy-tale storytelling. Even with some moral holes, the Disney team has returned to their great animated history with a smart, funny, action-packed, and even moving tale.


4. The Social Network
Written by Aaron Sorkin, Directed by David Fincher

The movie is about the creation of Facebook but it's also about the creation and destruction of relationships. Sorkin and Fincher manage to turn what is essentially a court case, into a thrilling drama, with some terrific performances from Andrew Garfield and Jesse Eisenberg.


5. Black Swan
Written by Mark Heyman, Andrew Heinz, and John McLaughlin, Directed by Darren Aronofsky
(Original Review)

A haunting exploration at the inner cores of the darkness an artist must face to truly create brilliant work. Or some crazed psychological thriller. Take your pick, but either way, Natalie Portman gives a tremendous performance as someone seeking perfection.


6. The Fighter
Written by Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, and Eric Johnson based on the story by Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson and Keith Dorrington, Directed by David O. Russell
(Original Review)

A feelgood underdog story given some rough edges by David O. Russell to give the true story of a fighter from the wrong side of town, with a tight but suffocating family, a realistic and unpolished feel. Christian Bale and Melissa Leo give glorious performances but they truly only work against Amy Adams and Mark Wahlberg's more subtle and sincere performances.


7. Toy Story 3
Written by Michael Arndt based on the story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, and Lee Unkrich, Directed by Lee Unkrich

A rumination on the end and finiteness of life, and how our lives can have lasting effects on others. Oh yah, and also the 3rd movie in the Toy Story series that becomes a beautiful (and often quite hilarious) denouement to the series with some of our most faved animated characters.


8. True Grit
Written and Directed by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, based on the book by Charles Portis
(Original Review)

Hailee Steinfeld and Jeff Bridges make a wonderfully odd pairing, together on a mission to avenge a murder, with an amusing Matt Damon as the interloping sidekick. The Coen Brothers manage to make a Western (not my favorite genre) into a serene film that still keeps all the markings of a Western while melding it with Coen's mix of humour and horrifying violence.


9. Girlfriend
Written and Directed by Justin Lerner
(Original Review)

A wonderful little film at the Toronto Film Festival that uses the director's real life friend, Evan Sneider, a young man with Down Syndrome, as a man who loses his mother (Amanda Plummer) and tries to find solace in his nice neighbour (Shannon Woodward), while befriending her abusive ex-boyfriend (Jackson Rathbone).


10. Buried
Written by Chris Sparling, Directed by Rodrigo Cortés
(Original Review)

Sometimes a ridiculously jampacked bunch of plot-twists throwing every fear and frustration into a box, a box entrapping Ryan Reynolds as the minutes tick down towards a suffocating death, can still be nonetheless a thrilling and intense experience. Reynolds and Sparling manage to keep humour within this dramatic thriller.


Every 2010 Movie I saw, grouped within each grade, is listed below:

Rabbit Hole = A (Review)
Blue Valentine = A
Tangled = A (Review)
The Social Network = A (Tweet Review)

Black Swan = A- (Review)
The Fighter = A- (Review)
Toy Story 3 = A-
True Grit = A- (Review)
Girlfriend = A- (Review)
Buried = A- (Review)
Inside Job = A- ***
Inception = A-
The Ghost Writer = A-
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 = A- (Tweet Review)
Easy A = A- (Review)
Kick Ass = A- (Tweet Review)

Winter's Bone = B+
The King's Speech = B+ (Review)
127 Hours = B+ (Review)
How To Train Your Dragon = B+
Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief = B+
Despicable Me = B+
Eat, Pray, Love = B+ (Tweet Review)
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World = B+ (Tweet Review)
Ramona and Beezus = B+
Waking Sleeping Beauty = B+ (Tweet Review)
Nowhere Boy = B+

Date Night = B
Another Year = B (Tweet Review)
The Kids Are Alright = B (Tweet Review)
She's Out Of My League = B
Letters for Juliet = B (Tweet Review)
Morning Glory = B ***
Cyrus = B
Never Let Me Go = B (Review)
Shrek Forever After = B
Leap Year = B
Valentine's Day = B (Review)

I Am Love (Io sono l'amore) = B- (Tweet Review)
Rio Sex Comedy = B- (Review)
Little White Lies (Les Petits mouchoirs) = B- (Review)
Paper Man = B- (Tweet Review)
Knight and Day = B- (Tweet Review)
Ceremony = B- (Review)
Score: A Hockey Musical = B- (Review)
Heartbreaker (L'arnacoeur) = B-(Tweet Review)
Babies = B- (Tweet Review)

Streetdance = C+ (Tweet Review)
Sex and the City 2 = C+
Daybreakers = C+
The Last Song = C+ (Review)
Remember Me = C+ (Review)
The Back-Up Plan = C+
Repo Men = C+ (Review)
Hot Tub Time Machine = C+ (Review)

Death at a Funeral = C (Review)
Dear John = C
Silent Souls (Ovsyanski) = C (Review)

Step Up 3D = C- (Review)

Alice in Wonderland = D+
Going the Distance = D+ (Tweet Review)
When in Rome = D+ (Review)
Taken = D+ (Tweet Review)

Our Day Will Come (Notre jour viendra) = D (Review)


______________________________________

Best of 2010 Lists:
Best of Music 2010
Best of Television 2010
Best of Stage 2010
Best of Movies 2010

Previous Best-of Lists:
Best of 2009 Lists:
Best of Music 2009
Best of Television 2009
Best of Stage 2009
Best of Movies 2009

Decadeworthy - The Best of 2000-2009 Lists:
SYTYCDworthy (w/ Videos) - List Format
Theatre of the Decade
Best Films of the Decade
Favorite Films of the Decade
Television of the Decade
Television of the Decade - 1 Season Wonders

Best of 2008 Lists:
Best of Music 2008
Best of Television 2008
Best of Stage 2008
Best of Movies 2008
Best of Television Fall '07 - Winter '08 List

Best of 2007 Lists:
Best of Music 2007
Best of Television 2007
Best of Movies 2007
Best of Stage 2007
Best of 2007 (The Final Wrap Up)
Best of Television Fall '06 - Winter '07 List

Best of 2006 Lists:
Best of Music 2006
Best of Television 2006
Best of Movies 2006
Best of 2006
Best of Television Fall '05 - Winter '06 List

Best of 2005 Lists:
Best of Television 2005
Best of Movies 2005
Vance at http://tapeworthy.blogspot.com

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Oh Boy A!

Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man. Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man!


via /Film
Vance at http://tapeworthy.blogspot.com

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Oscarworthy

I've already posted my list for the Best Movies of 2009 so you can pretty much figure my guesses for my Oscar picks, but here's my picks and predictions.

Since this year the voters rank all 10 Best Picture nominees in order, here's what I would have put down. (The short of it is, the most popular movie in general may win over a movie that gets more #1 picks but I guess we will see how it turns out.)

Best Motion Picture of the Year
1. Up
2. District 9
3. Inglourious Basterds
4. The Hurt Locker - WILL WIN
5. A Serious Man
6. Up in the Air
7. Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
8. Avatar
9. The Blind Side
10. An Education

Since it's really down between the big movie Avatar and the little movie The Hurt Locker, I'm hoping The Hurt Locker prevails.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart - WILL WIN
George Clooney for Up in the Air
Colin Firth for A Single Man - SHOULD WIN
Morgan Freeman for Invictus
Jeremy Renner for The Hurt Locker

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side - WILL WIN
Helen Mirren for The Last Station
Carey Mulligan for An Education
Gabourey Sidibe for Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire- SHOULD WIN
Meryl Streep for Julie & Julia

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Matt Damon for Invictus
Woody Harrelson for The Messenger
Christopher Plummer for The Last Station
Stanley Tucci for The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds - WILL WIN/SHOULD WIN

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Penélope Cruz for Nine
Vera Farmiga for Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal for Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick for Up in the Air
Mo'Nique for Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire - WILL WIN/SHOULD WIN

Best Achievement in Directing
Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker - WILL WIN/SHOULD WIN
James Cameron for Avatar
Lee Daniels for Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
Jason Reitman for Up in the Air
Quentin Tarantino for Inglourious Basterds

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
The Hurt Locker: Mark Boal - WILL WIN
Inglourious Basterds: Quentin Tarantino
The Messenger: Alessandro Camon, Oren Moverman
A Serious Man: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Up: Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Thomas McCarthy - SHOULD WIN

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published
District 9: Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell
An Education: Nick Hornby
In the Loop: Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche - SHOULD WIN
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire: Geoffrey Fletcher
Up in the Air: Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner - WILL WIN

Best Achievement in Cinematography
Avatar: Mauro Fiore - WILL WIN
Das weisse Band - Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte: Christian Berger
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Bruno Delbonnel
The Hurt Locker: Barry Ackroyd
Inglourious Basterds: Robert Richardson - SHOULD WIN

Best Achievement in Editing
Avatar: Stephen E. Rivkin, John Refoua, James Cameron
District 9: Julian Clarke
The Hurt Locker: Bob Murawski, Chris Innis - WILL WIN/SHOULD WIN
Inglourious Basterds: Sally Menke
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire: Joe Klotz

Best Achievement in Art Direction
Avatar: Rick Carter, Robert Stromberg, Kim Sinclair - WILL WIN
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus: David Warren, Anastasia Masaro, Caroline Smith - SHOULD WIN
Nine: John Myhre, Gordon Sim
Sherlock Holmes: Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer
The Young Victoria: Patrice Vermette, Maggie Gray

Best Achievement in Costume Design
Bright Star: Janet Patterson
Coco avant Chanel: Catherine Leterrier
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus: Monique Prudhomme - SHOULD WIN
Nine: Colleen Atwood
The Young Victoria: Sandy Powell - WILL WIN

Best Achievement in Makeup
Il divo: Aldo Signoretti, Vittorio Sodano
Star Trek: Barney Burman, Mindy Hall, Joel Harlow - WILL WIN/SHOULD WIN
The Young Victoria: John Henry Gordon, Jenny Shircore

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score
Avatar: James Horner
Fantastic Mr. Fox: Alexandre Desplat
The Hurt Locker: Marco Beltrami, Buck Sanders
Sherlock Holmes: Hans Zimmer
Up: Michael Giacchino - WILL WIN/SHOULD WIN

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song
Crazy Heart: T-Bone Burnett, Ryan Bingham ("The Weary Kind") - WILL WIN
Faubourg 36: Reinhardt Wagner, Frank Thomas ("Loin de Paname")
Nine: Maury Yeston ("Take It All")
The Princess and the Frog: Randy Newman ("Almost There") - SHOULD WIN
The Princess and the Frog: Randy Newman ("Down in New Orleans")

Best Achievement in Sound Mixing
Avatar: Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson, Tony Johnson - WILL WIN
The Hurt Locker: Paul N.J. Ottosson, Ray Beckett - SHOULD WIN
Inglourious Basterds: Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti, Mark Ulano
Star Trek: Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson, Peter J. Devlin
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Geoffrey Patterson

Best Achievement in Sound Editing
Avatar: Christopher Boyes, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle - WILL WIN
The Hurt Locker: Paul N.J. Ottosson - SHOULD WIN
Inglourious Basterds: Wylie Stateman
Star Trek: Mark P. Stoeckinger, Alan Rankin
Up: Michael Silvers, Tom Myers

Best Achievement in Visual Effects
Avatar: Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham, Andy Jones - WILL WIN/SHOULD WIN
District 9: Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros, Matt Aitken
Star Trek: Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh, Burt Dalton

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year
Coraline: Henry Selick
Fantastic Mr. Fox: Wes Anderson
The Princess and the Frog: John Musker, Ron Clements
The Secret of Kells: Tomm Moore
Up: Pete Docter - WILL WIN/SHOULD WIN

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Ajami (Israel)
Das weisse Band - Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte (Germany)
El secreto de sus ojos (Argentina)
Un prophète (France)
La teta asustada (Peru)

Best Documentary, Features
Burma VJ: Reporter i et lukket land: Anders Østergaard, Lise Lense-Møller
The Cove: Louie Psihoyos, Fisher Stevens - WILL WIN
Food, Inc.: Robert Kenner, Elise Pearlstein
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers: Judith Ehrlich, Rick Goldsmith
Which Way Home: Rebecca Cammisa

Best Documentary, Short Subjects
China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province: Jon Alpert, Matthew O'Neill
The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner: Daniel Junge, Henry Ansbacher
The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant: Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert
Królik po berlinsku: Bartosz Konopka, Anna Wydra
Music by Prudence: Roger Ross Williams, Elinor Burkett

Best Short Film, Animated
French Roast: Fabrice Joubert
Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty: Nicky Phelan, Darragh O'Connell
La dama y la muerte: Javier Recio Gracia
Logorama: Nicolas Schmerkin
Wallace and Gromit in 'A Matter of Loaf and Death': Nick Park - WILL WIN

Best Short Film, Live Action
The Door: Juanita Wilson, James Flynn
Istället för abrakadabra: Patrik Eklund, Mathias Fjällström
Kavi: Gregg Helvey
Miracle Fish: Luke Doolan, Drew Bailey
The New Tenants: Joachim Back, Tivi Magnusson

Vance at http://tapeworthy.blogspot.com

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Best of Movies 2009

So here are my picks for the Best of Movies for 2009 (based on either a North American theatrical release date or if I saw it at a festival in 2009 since some have yet to open):

(UPDATED Sep. 19th 2010: This post will constantly updated as I see more films from 2009. *** indicates latest new review)

1. (Tie) A Single Man and Up
A Single Man: Directed by Tom Ford
Written by Tom Ford and David Scearce, based on a novel by Christopher Isherwood
Original Review
Up: Directed by Pete Docter and Bob Peterson
Written by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson and Thomas McCarthy
Original Review


I chose these two very different movies independently but when I did, I realized they were actually far more similar than I thought. Both films follows a grieving man as he loses his love of his life, and the life choices he must make in the aftermath. Both are visually stunning, using colours and tones to tell the story and enhance the emotions.

A Single Man, Tom Ford's brilliant directorial debut imbues all his talent as a fashion designer in a well focused, beautifully shot film that manages to present a glossy stylistic surface that pulsates with a human core yearning to crack the perfect outline. The film's style manages to mirror the central single man's emotional swings as Colin Firth creates an intimate portrait of a man yearning to show his broken soul while living in the glass house society of LA in the 60's.

Up follows an old man finally takes the dream trip he planned with his longtime wife and takes his house, and a boyscout along for the adventurous fantastical ride. But not before we get a quick explanation of the old couple's entire life that is guaranteed to make you tear up in the first 10 minutes of the movie, only to be replaced by tears of laughter during the rest of the trip Pixar has so brazenly imagined.


3. The Class (Entre Des Murs)
Directed by Laurent Cantet
Written by Laurent Cantet, Robin Campillo and François Bégaudeau, inspired by the memoirs of François Bégaudeau
Original Review

The lines blur between real and re-created when Bégaudeau recreates his own life in a dramatic re-telling of his own memoirs based on his life as a teacher in France. The scenes feel so raw and real that it seems like a documentary, which only makes Bégaudeau's unsaintly portrayal all the more moving and all the more honest. (This was technically a 2008 film and nominated already for an Oscar last year, but it didn't get a Canadian release until 2009)


4. (500) Days of Summer
Directed by Marc Webb
Written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber
Original Review

A wonderful and witty spin on the romantic comedy that pulls you in with the wonders of romance, spits it back on the floor with the truths of relationships, and gives a ray of hope for a happy ending. Joseph Gordon-Levitt gives a manly performance that carries the film in the relationships ups and downs, and we are willing to follow the chopped up tale told backwards and forwards because we've all seen ourselves in Gordon-Levitt's Tom Hansen and we've all yearned to fall in love the way he does.


5. District 9
Directed by Neill Blomkamp
Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
Original Review

A clever and highly entertaining satire on the segregation in South Africa using space aliens and the sad state of our human hospitality. Sharlto Copley and a father and son extra-terrestrial manage to create a humane look at a government's treatment of a differing race.


6. Inglourious Basterds
Written and Directed by Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Tarantino's Nazi revenge film is furiously funny and moving and strangely deliciously entertaining and cathartic, with all round great performances from its multi-lingual cast. The beautiful visuals and the different chapters have a nice stylistic approach that balances between Quentin's usual over-the-top energy and the gravity of the WWII story.


7. The Hurt Locker
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow
Written by Mark Boal

A dizzying heated look at a bomb diffuser in the Iraq war with Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie and Brian Garaghty giving harrowing performances in a intensely plain direction (and I mean that as a compliment). Gripping in its almost mundane look at a very dangerous job.


8. A Serious Man
Written and Directed by Ethan and Joel Coen

Speaking of mundane, the mundane life of a Jewish man living in a very American suburb during the 60's manages to be totally fascinating in a nicely restrained new film by the Coen brothers. Michael Stuhlbarg's delivers a seriously great performance as a man trying to do good in his life as things spin beyond his control.


9. Up in the Air
Directed by Jason Reitman
Written by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, based on a novel by Walter Kirn
Original Review

It's about the economy, it's about our life decisions, it's about flying and racking up points. George Clooney, Anna Kendrick and Vera Farmiga form a perfect triad of semi-lost souls who may still actually have a better grip of their destiny than everyone else around them. Reitman makes a patient film with some nice documentary-like interviews with people being fired which mixes nicely against the story of one man's skyward journeys.


10. The September Issue
Directed by RJ Cutler

It made Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour (rumoured inspiration for The Devil Wears Prada) seem human and understandable and I could see how and why she worked the way she does. That alone makes this fascinating look into the fashion editing world one to admire. But that we get to peer into the creative process of this mythical world (a world that I really don't care for) and we get fascinating characters like Anna's right hand woman Grace Coddington or Anna's daughter's response to the "silly" fashion industry.


Everything 2009 Movie I saw, grouped within each grade, is listed below:

A Single Man = A (Review)
Up = A (Review)
The Class (Entre Des Murs) = A (Review)
(500) Days of Summer = A (Review)
District 9 = A (Review)
Inglourious Basterds = A
The Hurt Locker = A
A Serious Man = A
Up in the Air = A (Review)

The September Issue = A-
Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" By Sapphire = A- (Review)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince = A- (Review)
Every Little Step = A- (Review)
One Week = A- (Review)
In the Loop = A-

City Island = B+ ***
Grey Gardens = B+
The Princess and the Frog = B+
Cairo Time = B+
Julie & Julia = B+ (Review)
Amreeka = B+
Avatar = B+
Good Hair = B+
The Blind Side = B+ (Review)
Broken Embraces = B+
Whip It = B+ (Review)
The Last Station = B+
An Education = B+ (Review)
Fantastic Mr. Fox = B+ (Review)
Terminator Salvation = B+ (Review)
Adam = B+ (Review)
Duplicity = B+ (Review)
I Love You, Man = B+ (Review)
Sunshine Cleaning = B+ (Review)
Adventureland = B+ (Review)
Earth = B+ (Review)
Sherlock Holmes = B+
Star Trek = B+ (Review)
The Informant = B+

Me and Orson Welles = B
Where The Wild Things Are = B (Review)
Bandslam = B
Cloudy with the Chance of Meatballs = B
17 Again = B (Review)
The Damned United = B
The Proposal = B
The Invention of Lying = B
Prom Night in Mississippi = B
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus = B
My Sister's Keeper = B
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past = B
Coco Avant Chanel = B
The Boys Are Back = B (Review)
Michael Jackson's This Is It = B (Review)
Angels & Demons = B (Review)
Summer Hours (L'Heure d'été) = B (Review)
Extract = B (Review)

Hannah Montana The Movie = B- (Review)
Easy Virtue = B-
New York, I Love You = B-

It's Complicated = C+ (Review)
Nine = C+ (Review)
He's Just Not That Into You = C+ (Review)
Fifty Dead Men Walking = C+
My Life in Ruins = C+
I Love You Beth Cooper = C+
J'ai Tué Ma Mère (I Killed My Mother) = C+
The Hangover = C+ (Review)
Monsters Vs. Aliens = C+ (Review)

Amelia = C (Review)
Post Grad = C (Review)
Coraline = C
Taken = C (Review)

All About Steve = C -
Youth In Revolt = C - (Review)

The Taking of Pelham 123 = D+
Bruno = D+

Bright Star = D
Gentlemen Broncos = D (Review)

______________________________________

Best of 2009 Lists:
Best of Music 2009
Best of Television 2009
Best of Stage 2009
Best of Movies 2009

Decadeworthy - The Best of 2000-2009 Lists:
SYTYCDworthy (w/ Videos) - List Format
Theatre of the Decade
Best Films of the Decade
Favorite Films of the Decade
Television of the Decade
Television of the Decade - 1 Season Wonders

Previous Best-of Lists:
Best of 2008 Lists:
Best of Music 2008
Best of Television 2008
Best of Stage 2008
Best of Movies 2008
Best of Television Fall '07 - Winter '08 List

Best of 2007 Lists:
Best of Music 2007
Best of Television 2007
Best of Movies 2007
Best of Stage 2007
Best of 2007 (The Final Wrap Up)
Best of Television Fall '06 - Winter '07 List

Best of 2006 Lists:
Best of Music 2006
Best of Television 2006
Best of Movies 2006
Best of 2006
Best of Television Fall '05 - Winter '06 List

Best of 2005 Lists:
Best of Television 2005
Best of Movies 2005
Vance at http://tapeworthy.blogspot.com

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Decadeworthy - Best Films of The Decade

So I've already posted my Favorite Films of the Decade. Now I'm going to post my picks for the 25 BEST Films of the Decade. If I have to explain the difference, why are you even reading me in the first place?

Here are my picks for the Best 25 Films of the Decade (in alphabetical order):

About Schmidt (2002)
A Single Man (2009)
Billy Elliot (2000)
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
Boy A (2008)
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Casino Royale (2006)
City of God (Cidade de Deus) (2002)
The Class (Entre Des Murs) (2008)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
Dancer in the Dark (2000)
District 9 (2009)
Far From Heaven (2002)
(500) Days of Summer (2009)
Good Bye Lenin! (2004)
The Incredibles (2004)
Lost in Translation (2003)
Moulin Rouge! (2001)
The Pianist (2002)
Ratatouille (2007)
Talk to Her (Hable con ella) (2002)
United 93 (2006)
Up (2009)
The Wrestler (2008)
You Can Count On Me (2000)

Stats:
5 are foreign language films.
3 animated films (all Pixar).
10 English films directed by a non-American
2 films by Ang Lee
2 films by Paul Greengrass

The list in more detail below (with poster images and all! Fancy!):

About Schmidt (2002)
Directed by Alexander Payne
Written by Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, based on a novel by Louis Begley

I find Jack Nicholson always plays Jack Nicholson but here, Payne manages to pull a great PERFORMANCE in an anti-Jack Nicholson role in a moving story about a man who loses his wife and tries to reconnect with his daughter and his own life. Great support from Kathy Bates, Dermot Mulroney and Hope Davis, but Payne beautifully creates portrait of a man learning to live for the first time in his life.



A Single Man (2009)
Directed by Tom Ford
Written by Tom Ford and David Scearce, based on a novel by Christopher Isherwood
Original Review

Tom Ford's brilliant directorial debut imbues all his talent as a fashion designer in a well focused, beautifully shot film that manages to present a glossy stylistic surface that pulsates with a human core yearning to crack the perfect outline. The film's style manages to mirror the central single man's emotional swings as Colin Firth creates an intimate portrait of a man yearning to show his broken soul while living in the glass house society of LA in the 60's.



Billy Elliot (2000)
Directed by Stephen Daldry
Written by Lee Hall

A perfect blend of fairytale underdog story with a sense of harsh reality. Daldry and Hall keep the film grounded and heartbreaking while the joyous spirit of a boy's love for dance against the backdrop of the miners union strikes in Great Britain during the 80's manages to make it a crowdpleaser.



The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
Directed by Paul Greengrass
Written by Tony Gilroy, Scott Z. Burns and George Nolfi, based on a novel by Robert Ludlum

Fast and furious, Greengrass manages to perfect what Doug Liman started in the first film and creates a jagged, unflinching action movie that remains intelligent and fresh.



Boy A (2008)
Directed by John Crowley
Written by Mark O'Rowe, based on a novel by Jonathan Trigell
Original Review

A wonderfully small story about a young man who gets re-introduced to society and without spoiling the film, there's a darkness played against the innocence of Andrew Garfield's breakthrough performance that just pulls you right in.



Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Directed by Ang Lee
Written by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, based on a novel by Annie Proulx

A beautiful love story and it's pretty much as simple as that. The politics surrounding the movie may make great arguments, but Lee brings his usual patient and quietly observant style to the tale of two cowboys in love in a time that it was forbidden.



Casino Royale (2006)
Directed by Martin Campbell
Written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Paul Haggis, based on a novel by Ian Fleming
Original Review

Campbell and Daniel Craig punches in a fresh new action packed energy into the Bond franchise with a hyper-real look spinning the wild tales of our favorite agent spy. 007 has never looked this sexy while actually breaking a sweat.



City of God (Cidade de Deus) (2002)
Directed by Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund
Written by Bráulio Mantovani, based on a novel by Paulo Lins

A frightening look into the slums of Rio de Janeiro with a kinetic style and heartbreaking pace. There's a sadness to the humanity of the situation but fear takes over as Meirelles and Lund propel their cameras through the dark alleys that exist for this underlying class living in Brazil.



The Class (Entre Des Murs) (2008)
Directed by Laurent Cantet
Written by Laurent Cantet, Robin Campillo and François Bégaudeau, inspired by the memoirs of François Bégaudeau
Original Review

The lines blur between real and re-created when Bégaudeau recreates his own life in a dramatic re-telling of his own memoirs based on his life as a teacher in France. The scenes feel so raw and real that it seems like a documentary, which only makes Bégaudeau's unsaintly portrayal all the more moving and all the more honest.



Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
Directed by Ang Lee
Written by Hui-Ling Wang, James Schamus and Kuo Jung Tsai, based on a novel by Du Lu Wang

A fantastical epic Chinese tale told at the sure hands of Lee with an all-star Chinese cast, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon cast a spell on worldwide audiences and introduced the masses to the style of ancient Chinese legends and martial arts in bamboo forests.



Dancer in the Dark (2000)
Directed by Lars von Trier
Written by Lars von Trier

It stars Bjork! It's a musical! It's directed by Lars von Trier! And it's depressing as hell. The story of a woman whose situation gets continuously worse and worse makes you want to kill yourself, but it's also an emotional wallop and a stomach churning experience.



District 9 (2009)
Directed by Neill Blomkamp
Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
Original Review

A clever and highly entertaining satire on the segregation in South Africa using space aliens and the sad state of our human hospitality. Sharlto Copley and a father and son extra-terrestrial manage to create a humane look at a government's treatment of a differing race.



Far From Heaven (2002)
Directed by Todd Haynes
Written by Todd Haynes

Haynes' beautifully directed film about a 1950's White housewife discovery of her husband's true sexuality and her own self-discovery through a friendship with her Black gardener is bold in it's colours and subtle in its emotions. Julianne Moore, Dennis Haysbert and Dennis Quaid give solid performances of the lives of people living in a 50's who don't fit the times constructs and it's truly heartbreaking.



(500) Days of Summer (2009)
Directed by Marc Webb
Written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber
Original Review

A wonderful and witty spin on the romantic comedy that pulls you in with the wonders of romance, spits it back on the floor with the truths of relationships, and gives a ray of hope for a happy ending. Joseph Gordon-Levitt gives a manly performance that carries the film in the relationships ups and downs, and we are willing to follow the chopped up tale told backwards and forwards because we've all seen ourselves in Gordon-Levitt's Tom Hansen and we've all yearned to fall in love the way he does.



Good Bye Lenin! (2004)
Directed by Wolfgang Becker
Written by Bernd Lichtenberg and Wolfgang Becker

A son does everything he can to keep the charade that the Berlin Wall has not fallen when his mother wakes up from a coma. The story of familial love turns into a tense comedy that devolves into a shattering statement on politics and family devotion.



The Incredibles (2004)
Directed by Brad Bird
Written by Brad Bird

A brilliant and brilliantly fun satire AND homage to the super-hero pic. Pixar not only spoofs the genre, but creates one of the best action adventure movies in the process by creating a central family that remains relatable despite their incredible talents. The movie flies all over the place aided by an incredible score by Michael Giacchino but let it be made very clear, it never flies with a cape! NO CAPE!



Lost in Translation (2003)
Directed by Sofia Coppola
Written by Sofia Coppola

Scarlett Johansson and Bill Murray contemplate about life while stuck on the other side of the world in Sofia Coppola's beautiful ode to lost souls.



Moulin Rouge! (2001)
Directed by Baz Luhrmann
Written by Baz Luhrmann and Craig Pearce

An explosion of sight and sound in this spinning dizzy hallucinogenic musical of everlasting love (until the end of time!). Ewan McGregor exudes romance in his sensational performance while Nicole Kidman breathes an air of sensuality in her musical debut. Luhrmann's celebration of undying love is a feast for the senses and the heart.



The Pianist (2002)
Directed by Roman Polanski
Written by Ronald Harwood, based on the book by Wladyslaw Szpilman

Adrian Brody plays Wladyslaw Szpilman in the true story of his survival during WWII by surviving in the ruins of Warsaw. It's a harrowing story filmed by Polanski with a chilling still calmness.



Ratatouille (2007)
Directed by Brad Bird and Jan Pinkava
Written by Jan Pinkava, Jim Capobianco, Brad Bird, Emily Cook, Kathy Greenberg and Bob Peterson
(My Review)

A beautiful film about the enduring trials of artistic perfection and the pursuit of one's dreams, that just happens to star a rat with great taste buds. Again in perfect Pixar style, the film runs from adventure to art, from comedy to drama, in a luscious (and luscious looking) tale of Ratatouille and his finesse in the kitchen.



Talk to Her (Hable con ella) (2002)
Directed by Pedro Almodóvar
Written by Pedro Almodóvar

A bookend to All About My Mother, Almodóvar this time follows two men whose lives intertwine but it's still really about the women in their lives in this ode to the female species. Always odd, always colourful, and extremely touching and haunting.



United 93 (2006)
Directed by Paul Greengrass
Written by Paul Greengrass

A movie people probably don't want to see, Greengrass recreates the hours and minutes leading up to the morning of 9/11 with painstaking detail and documentary like precision (including a cast made up of many of those involved that day, playing themselves on film) and clarity that remains unjudgemental throughout. Incredibly disturbing yet truly cathartic, the recreation of flight United 93 before it plunged into a Pennsylvanian field becomes both eye opening and comforting to see the heroism that arises from such a human tragedy.



Up (2009)
Directed by Pete Docter and Bob Peterson
Written by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson and Thomas McCarthy
Original Review

An old man finally takes the dream trip he planned with his longtime wife and takes his house, and a boyscout along for the adventurous fantastical ride. But not before we get a quick explanation of the old couple's entire life that is guaranteed to make you tear up in the first 10 minutes of the movie, only to be replaced by tears of laughter during the rest of the trip Pixar has so brazenly imagined.



The Wrestler (2008)
Directed by Darren Aronofsky
Written by Robert D. Siegel

The painful life of a hasbeen wrestler making his way through life while trying to recorrect his mistakes, Mickey Rourke gives a tremendous performance (that partly mirrors his own life) against the reliably sharp performances of Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood. Aronofsky gives us a tour through the wrestler's harsh life and the glimmer of winning moments that may soften his journey.



You Can Count On Me (2000)
Directed by Kenneth Lonergan
Written by Kenneth Lonergan

Laura Linney, Mark Ruffalo and Rory Culkin give terrifically subtle and smart performances of a single mom and her quiet life and the upheaval caused by the arrival of her less-responsible brother (with a great side performance from Matthew Broderick as her boss). A wonderful peak into the lives of a woman trying to hold on to her family as things seem to spin out of control, in a wonderfully directed film by the writer Kenneth Lonergan that keeps the drama honest and simple.


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