Film Years: The Good, The Bad, and 1975

Earlier in this year, many critics dubbed it, "The Worst Film Year Ever." While they have been largely quieted by the successes of The King's Speech, The Social Network, and Black Swan, among others, it is still a good opportunity to discuss some notoriously good and notoriously bad film years.

1953
This was a horrendous year, it's only decent offering being Julius Caesar. While avoiding good films, 1953 managed to rack up such garbage as the undeniably cheesy western, Shane, How to Marry a Millionaire, and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, both lackluster cookie cutter Marilyn Monroe vehicles, and Hondo, an easily forgettable and mind numbingly predictable John Wayne film.

1969
With classic films like Midnight Cowboy, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Wild Bunch, and Easy Rider, 1969 was a defining year of the American New Wave of Filmmaking and a year that will go down in the history books.

1975
A year marked by such immortal films as One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Barry Lyndon, Nashville, and Dog Day Afternoon, 1975 continued to display the great works that defined the American New Wave, and planted the seeds of the Hollywood Blockbuster in its most famous film, Jaws.

1976
One of the finest years in film history, 1976 saw the release of Rocky, All The President's Men, Network, and Taxi Driver. While some of the films of 1976 have fallen into a pit of cultural insignificance, they remain important documents of America as the nation finished its second century.

1983
While Terms of Endearment and Return of the Jedi managed to keep this year from being a disaster, few other films released in 1983 held any lasting interest.

1995
Braveheart and Toy Story were undoubtedly classics, but 1995 was brought down by weak films like Batman Forever, Casper, Die Hard With a Vengeance, and the infamous flop, Waterworld.

1999
American Beauty, Magnolia, The Sixth Sense, The Green Mile, The Matrix, Fight Club, and cult favorite Being John Malovich were all released in this stunningly good year.

2009
In 2009 the Academy changed the number of best picture nominees from 5 to 10 films to fit all the great films released that year. Up in the Air, Inglorious Basterds, The Hurt Locker, An Education, Up, Precious, and A Serious Man were all products of 2009.

While some years are good and some are bad, even the worst years have a few redeeming films. And even the best years have to suffer a few Waterworlds.

Golden Globe Picks

They recently announced the nominees for the 2010 Golden Globes. Since this is a film blog, I neglected to post my opinions on the television awards. Nonetheless, here are my picks for the film awards in the Golden Globes.

Best Picture- Drama: Black Swan

Best Picture- Comedy or Musical: The Kids Are All Right

Best Actor- Drama: Colin Firth (The King’s Speech)

Best Actor- Comedy or Musical: Paul Giamatti (Barney’s Version)

Best Actress- Drama: Natalie Portman (Black Swan)

Best Actress- Comedy or Musical: Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right)

Best Supporting Actor: Geoffrey Rush (The King’s Speech)

Best Supporting Actress: Mila Kunis (Black Swan)

Best Director: Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan)

Best Screenplay: The Kids Are All Right

Best Animated Film: Toy Story 3

Best Original Song: “Coming Home” (Country Strong)

Best Original Score: 127 Hours

Best Foreign Language Film: Biutiful

The Ten Best Films you've never seen

1. Straw Dogs (1971)
Director Sam Peckinpah, better known for his 1969 film, The Wild Bunch, is on the top of his game in this 1971 thriller. Dustin Hoffman plays a timid American who finds himself harassed by local thugs upon moving to Britain with his wife. The film culminates in a bloody siege of Hoffman's house, in which Hoffman finally decides to settle things by violence. Controversial for a perceived pro-violence message, this gritty classic is worth the difficulty you may have in finding it.

2. The Conversation (1974)
This film, from director Francis Ford Coppola, is often overshadowed by Coppola's The Godfather Pt II, released in the same year. Although this film is far less popular, it is definitely worth checking out. Coppola's original screenplay examines the dangers in monitoring others. Gene Hackman gives one of the best performances of his career as the complex and paranoid snoop, Harry Caul.

3. Alphaville (1965)
In this unorthodox film noir, Jean Luc Godard, director of Breathless, creates a nightmarish future city and a hardboiled wise guy trying to tear it all down. The film is almost like blending Roman Polanski's Chinatown with Orwell's novel, 1984. Utilizing the jump cuts that made Godard famous, this film is an interesting take on a classic genre.

4. El Mariachi (1992)
Everyone has heard of director Robert Rodriguez and his films like Spy Kids, or his most recent film, Machete. Few though, have heard of Rodriguez's first film El Mariachi. Made for a microscopic budget Rodriguez earned from a stay in a research hospital, the film twists the classic tale of mistaken identity from goofy comedy to brutal action.

5.Happiness (1998)
Despised by many for it's comedic treatment of controversial subjects, Happiness was avoided by many mainstream filmgoers. Raunchy and candid in its subject matter, Happiness manages to deal with very tough topics without having a cruel tone. The story concerns a group of people whose sex lives are not quite normal. If you have a strong stomach and aren't easily offended, Happiness might be a great film for you.

6. My Dinner With Andre (1981)
This film might seem incredibly boring. The plot is nonexistent, with the whole film consisting entirely of a dinner conversation. That aside, this is a stunningly original work with unorthodox insights on the human condition and its relation to the theater.

7. Onibaba (1964)
This stunningly shot Japanese horror film is among the best films to ever be produced in the land of the rising sun. When a young woman who lives with her mother in law learns that her husband has been killed in a war, the young woman begins to have a relationship with her late husband's best friend, only to be haunted by a demon. The cinematography is amazingly well done, particularly in the horrific chase through a field of tall grass during a hellish thunderstorm.

8. Two Lane Blacktop (1971)
Part road race film, part reflection on speed and human nature, Two Lane Blacktop is a staggeringly well written work. With characters simply known as the driver, the mechanic, the girl, and GTO, director Monte Hellman crafts a wonderful tale of youth, speed, and the dangers of both of them.

9. Army of Shadows (1969)
Master director Jean Pierre Melville reintroduces us to the French Resistance during the Second World War with this dramatic thriller. Melville's men and women of the resistance find great turmoil not only struggling with the Third Reich but with their own moral choices and the consequences of their choice to take a stand.

10. Secret Honor (1984)
Phillip Baker Hall steals the show in Robert Altman's one actor film about the life of Richard Milhous Nixon. Hall's Nixon sits secluded in his study dictating a secret autobiography that covers his whole presidency, and all the people who tried to bring him down. Hall gives one of the best screen performances of all time, often breaking his lamenting soliloquy with a fit of rage.

House (Japan) (1977)

House is perhaps the strangest horror film I have seen. The plot concerns a group of young girls at a haunted house whose furniture attacks them. Filmed in lush colors with less than dazzling special effects, this is far from being a standard horror film. Anyone looking for a more adventurous Halloween film, who isn't afraid to step outside the box of horror film conventions will enjoy this off-the-beaten-path classic of Japanese cinema.

Gore Rating:
7/10

Scare Rating:
7/10

Overall Rating:
8/10

Halloween (1978) (USA)

Halloween is truly an American horror classics. Eighteen years after Alfred Hitchcock's influential masterpiece, Psycho, this film took the premise of the psychotic serial killer and reinvented it into the Slasher film. A young Jamie Lee Curtis stars as a girl who is stalked by infamous killer, Michael Myers. Legendary director John Carpenter made this iconic film, whose style would be imitated in such films as Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and many others.

Gore Rating:
7/10

Scare Rating:
7/10

Overall Rating:
8/10

Nosferatu (1922) (Germany)

Nosferatu was the first film to introduce the most legendary of all horror icons, Dracula. After being originally written by Bram Stoker, Dracula was adapted to film in this silent classic from 1922. Although the film quality has faded over the years, this film is still terrifying just short of a century later. Anyone looking for a more classic approach to halloween should try this film.

Gore Rating:
0/10

Scare Rating:
7/10

Overall Rating:
7/10

Slumber Party Massacre (1982) (USA)

Slumber Party Massacre is one of the cheesiest horror films ever made. From the Pizza man arriving dead to the drill wielding psycho, Slumber Party Massacre delivers the classic cult slasher feel like no other film can. Filled with scenes of screaming high school girls, this film will thrill anyone who loves Piranha or similar movies. The plotlessness and completely ridiculous screenplay may make some viewers who favor more high brow works thoroughly frustrated.

Gore Rating:
9/10

Scare Rating:
6/10

Overall Rating:
5/10

Onibaba (1965) (Japan)

Onibaba is among the most interesting horror films I have ever seen. The story is about a recently widowed woman who begins to have relations with her late husband's best friend, only to be haunted later by her mother in law. The film is mainly shot at night in very tall grass, making for some spectacular cinematography. The nightmarish scenes of frenzied running through the dark field are stunningly horrific.This film is a little off the beaten path. In fact, unless you're a Japanese film buff, you've probably never heard of it. That aside, it's well worth the hunt to find this gem.

Gore Rating:
4/10

Scare Rating:
7/10

Overall Rating:
9/10

Halloween Horror Films

For Halloween, I will be posting about various horror movies, from horror classics to foreign horror films to cult films. I will introduce and rate the films based on scariness, gore, and overall quality.

2010: Worst Film Year Ever

If I claimed that 2010 was the worst film year of all time, I'd be far from being the first. Most newspapers have had their film sections smeared with editorials on how hopelessly idiotic all the films of 2010 are. Truthfully, what we've seen thus far gives us nothing to be optimistic about. Maybe you wondered how it was possible that the American remake of Death at a Funeral came out so much worse than its British counterpart. Perhaps you saw Salt and rolled your eyes at the obvious set up for a sequel. Maybe you even stumbled into Clash of the Titans and decided that you would have paid the nine dollars you spent on your ticket to stay home and not be sitting through this inane film. Yes there have been very few films which give one a sense that 2010 will be anything more than the recycled nonsense that some big movie producer is convinced will be the next Avatar. Having optimism in such dark times can be very difficult. Yet, there is some hope. Sofia Coppola and Clint Eastwood both have projects slated to be released in 2010. Also, we haven't even hit the November-December season in which the Oscar Winning Films are usually released. There is some hope for 2010. The main problem now is that many of the critics who have been complaining about 2010 are using 2010 as ammunition against the whole first decade of our new century. Some critics have called our decade hopeless, plagued by films like Clash of the Titans. These critics forget that just a few years ago they were pouring buckets of praise on Crash and claiming that Brokeback Mountain is perhaps the greatest film ever made. They can't even think back to last year when films like Up in the Air, The Hurt Locker, and Inglourious Basterds graced the screen. True we haven't had any Godfathers or Citizen Kanes, but keep in mind that those films came far later in the century. How many classics were released from 1900-1910? I think there's a lot to look forward to in the century to come, even if the year 2010 is a bust.

My Top Ten Directors, Actors, and Writers

To elaborate more on the last post, I'll focus on the directors, actors, and writers. The director is often the person who gets the most credit for a film's success or failure. The actor is of course the person who the audience notices the most. The writer is another member of the crew who's efforts are clearly visible. Here are my top ten directors and the films that I think are their crowning achievements.

1. Akira Kurosawa-Seven Samurai
2. Quentin Tarantino-Pulp Fiction
3. Francis Ford Coppola-The Godfather
4. Milos Forman-One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
5. Martin Scorsese-Taxi Driver
6. Sidney Lumet-Network
7. Alfred Hitchcock-Vertigo
8. Sofia Coppola-Lost in Translation
9. The Coen Brothers-No Country for Old Men
10. Charlie Kaufman-Synecdoche, New York

Here are my top ten actors.

1. Al Pacino-The Godfather Part II
2. Jack Nicholson-One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
3. Daniel Day Lewis-There Will Be Blood
4. Phillip Seymour Hoffman-Synecdoche, New York
5. Marlon Brando-The Godfather
6. Toshiro Mifune-Seven Samurai
7. Alec Baldwin-Glengarry Glen Ross
8. Dennis Hopper-Blue Velvet
9. Robert De Niro-Taxi Driver
10. Peter Finch-Network

Here are my top ten writers
1.Quentin Tarantino-Pulp Fiction
2. David Mamet-Glengarry Glen Ross
3. Paddy Chayefsky-Network
4. Charlie Kaufman-Synecdoche, New York
5. Christopher Nolan-Memento
6. Michael Arndt-Little Miss Sunshine
7. Whit Stillman-Metropolitan
8. Gene Wilder and Mel Brooks-Young Frankenstein
9. Taxi Driver-Paul Schrader
10. Crash-Paul Haggis

At their best

While many people work on a film there are some times in which various departments have really showed their ability. Here are some of the best people at work on a movie.

Screenwriters
Quentin Tarantino-Pulp Fiction
Robert Towne-Chinatown
Julius and Phillip Epstein and Howard Koch-Casablanca

Directors
Francis Ford Coppola-The Godfather
Sam Peckinpah-The Wild Bunch
Sergio Leone-The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly

Actors
Daniel Day Lewis-There Will Be Blood
Marlon Brando-The Godfather
Jack Nicholson-One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Cinematography
Nestor Almendros-Days of Heaven
Kazuo Miyagawa-Rashomon
James Wong Howe-Body and Soul

Editors
Lou Lombardo-The Wild Bunch
Richard Marks-Apocalypse Now
Walter Murch-The English Patient

Special Effects
Star Wars
Avatar
Jurassic Park

Costume Design
The Last Emperor
The Age of Innocence
Titanic

Original Score
The Sound of Music
The Good the Bad and the Ugly
Shaft

Art Directors
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Moulin Rouge!
Pan's Labyrinth

Westerns Worth Watching

These are necessarily the best westerns, but here are a few that it is worth your time to check out.

1. High Noon (1952)
A classic American western showcasing the bold heroism of a small town marshall.

2. The Searchers (1958)
Wayne's finest film, and the quintessential American western film.

3. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966)
The greatest spaghetti western filmed. This film's epic showdown is still the stuff of legend.

4. Stagecoach (1939)
This great western established many of the methods still used today in action films.

5. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1963)
Wayne departed from his traditional campy feel for this serious and thought provoking western.

6. The Wild Bunch (1969)
Peckinpah's bloody classic created the "MTV" method of film editing that is now highly popular.

7. Unforgiven (1992)
Eastwood broke western convention with this Academy Award winning classic.

8. Django (1966)
This cult spaghetti western is a great example of the low brow action that lived in Italy during the spaghetti western movement.

9. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
This new western is perhaps the greatest film to explore the legendary outlaw.

10. Sukiyaki Western Django (2007)
This very strange film blends western and samurai film ideology creating a fantastic if unconventional film.

The Types of Westerns

Maybe when you hear western, you immediately think of some corny John Wayne movie with two guys having a phony shootout at high noon. While there are some like that, there are many different types of western. These are the primary types.

Classic Western
Essential Film: High Noon (1952)
These are the westerns you probably think about. They're old and usually involve a very simple plot in which the protagonist always triumphs over the antagonist after some grand duel, and the good guy always, "gets the girl".

Wayne Era Western
Essential Film: The Searchers (1958)
Very similar to the classic western, John Wayne's school of western differed in having a slightly more campy feel, with the protagonist making frequent corny jokes. Wayne also created the standard device of using Native Americans as antagonists.

Spaghetti Western
Essential Film: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly (1966)
Cost efficiency attracted some Italian filmmakers to begin shooting low budget westerns in Spanish deserts. These films were usually almost plotless, but full of action and "lone gunfighter" mythology.

Revisionist Western
Essential Film: The Wild Bunch (1969)
As the New Hollywood movement began to take hold of the film industry, counterculture filmmakers unleashed a new type of western. These new westerns were faster paced and began to clear out much of the myth that had accumulated in westerns during Wayne's era.

Acid Western
Essential Film: Walker (1987)
Blending the exaggerated violence common in spaghetti westerns with counterculture ideology and unconventional filmmaking methods, Acid Westerns were incredibly strange and very unpopular for their portrayal of the classic western myths in an unconventional way.

Anti-Western
Essential Film: Unforgiven (1992)
Clint Eastwood created this genre, refuting the western myths upon which many of his early films were based. These films focused on humanity, taking into account the tragedy of a human losing his life.

Dead Center Film Festival

Just a little break from my series on controversy in film to remind everyone in the Oklahoma City area that starting tomorrow, Wednesday June 9th, is our own Dead Center Film Festival. Film Festivals are a great place to meet young directors, catch up on film gossip and see the films that usually don't make it to theaters.

Lights, Camera, Friction: Racism in Film

Perhaps the most racist film ever made, The Birth of a Nation, was released in 1915. The film recounted the events that created the Ku Klux Klan, and did so through a horrifyingly warped view of history. While it was praised by some audiences at the time, The Birth of a Nation has sunk into obscurity due to its blatant and disgusting levels of racism. Less controversial was 1939's Gone With the Wind, which despite popularity at the time has since been acknowledged by many to glorify slavery. In the 1970's with the rise of the exploitation film genre, the African American community began producing their own films. While many enjoyed these "blaxploitation" films like Super Fly, Black Caesar, or Coffy, others disliked the films for their often stereotypical portrayal of African Americans. The Academy Award winning film, The Deer Hunter, released in 1978, sparked controversy for portraying Vietnamese people as being sadistic, showing Vietnamese soldiers forcing American prisoners to play russian roulette. Throughout their history, Disney has released many films that contained racially insensitive material. Their 1946 film, Song of the South, was and continues to be denounced for its negative portrayal of African Americans. In 1992, many Muslims denounced the film Aladdin for its stereotypical portrayal of people of the Islamic faith. The latest controversy has come only last year with complaints about stereotyping in Disney's The Princess and the Frog. In 2004, Crash became one of the first films to deal with racial issues without sparking any sort of controversy. Crash hopefully will lead a stride of new films to deal with race fairly and honestly instead of hiding behind stereotypes.

Lights, Camera, Friction: Negative Views of Religion in film

While early films dared not be critical of religion, a few managed to break the ice later on. The earliest film to stir up religious controversy, The Exorcist, released in America in 1973 became highly controversial due to its portrayal of religion. In 1979, Monty Python's the Life of Brian was widely attacked for its satire of Christianity. In 1988, The Last Temptation of Christ was attacked for showing Jesus to have a sexual life. Along similar lines, the film The Crime of Father Amaro would be controversial for showing a Catholic priest having sex. Dogma attempted to be a light religious comedy in 1999, but was criticized for satirizing religion. Things died down until Mel Gibson's film The Passion of the Christ in 2004. While many in the religious community felt this film to be a wonderful depiction of Christ's suffering, others complained that it associated extreme violence with religion. The latest controversy came in 2007, with the film September Dawn. The film recounted a true story of a massacre carried out by Mormons, but was attacked by the Mormon Church for its negative and sometimes inaccurate depiction of Mormons.

Lights, Camera, Friction: Homosexuality in Film

Controversy in film typically parallels controversy in society. Therefore if something in controversial in society it will be controversial when they show it in a movie. Homosexuality was completely avoided by film until 1961 when the film Victim made history by being the first film to say homosexual, and continued to shock audiences by having an openly homosexual protagonist. Aside from this film, there are very few examples of homosexuality in film. Al Pacino starred in 1980's Cruising, a film about a cop who goes undercover as a homosexual to stop a killer. The most recent controversy has come in 2005's Brokeback Mountain. This film showed several scenes of explicit homosexual intercourse, and stirred up major debate amongst the supporters and detractors of homosexuality. Aside from these, there have been other films to discuss homosexuality, but most of these have only circulated throughout the homosexual community and avoid mainstream success. In spite of this, whenever a film about homosexuality does come up though, it is certain to spark lots of debate.

Lights, Camera, Friction: Sexuality in Film

Showing sex in film is an issue that still rocks the film world. The first wide controversy over sexuality in film came in 1943 with a scene in the film Outlaw, which by today's standards wouldn't even earn the film a PG-13 rating. In 1962, Stanley Kubrick released the film Lolita, which had such graphic sexual depictions of a young girl's intercourse that the young female star was not allowed to attend the film's premiere. Aside from these early icebreakers, sexuality was kept out of films until it came around in 1967, along with violence, in the New Hollywood film movement. In 1967 the Graduate displayed a story of a woman's extramarital affair, but managed to avoid widespread controversy due to a lack of any explicit sex scenes. Midnight Cowboy came along in 1969 and finally brought in huge waves of controversy over this issue. Originally receiving an X rating, Midnight Cowboy shocked audiences with the graphic depictions of intercourse yet unseen in film. After Midnight Cowboy, M*A*S*H was released, one of the first films to feature sexual humor. A Clockwork Orange continued the trend, having an equally gratuitous amount of sex as it did violence. The director of A Clockwork Orange, Stanley Kubrick, also directed Lolita and would become known for the sexual explicitness of his films. In a later film, Eyes Wide Shut (1999), Kubrick was criticized for his again graphic display of voyeuristic sex. Aside from this film, Basic Instinct also sparked controversy in the nineties with its very graphic scenes, including an infamous shot of actress Sharon Stone. Sexual relationships in film have never ceased to be controversial. In 2002, a film entitled The Crime of Father Amaro sparked controversy in Mexico for its display of the sexual relations of a Catholic priest. The association of the church with carnal relations also caused trouble for the film Hail, Mary in 1985, and the several lurid scenes in The Exorcist in 1973. Perhaps the biggest controversy over associations of sexuality and religion in film came in 1988 in the film, The Last Temptation of Christ, which was widely denounced for its depiction of a sexual life of Jesus. The other area of controversy with regard to sexuality has been with displaying odd sexual scenes. The "tree-rape" scene in The Evil Dead of 1981 was one such scene, leaving viewers shocked. Likewise, the German film Nekromantik caused widespread controversy for its display of necrophilia. Sexuality in film is an important issue, even in the far more liberal world of today.

Lights, Camera, Friction: Violence in film

Violence has become less controversial in recent years, but it has sparked quite a bit of controversy throughout film's history. Psycho became the first widely controversial film due to violence in 1960. Prior to this film, violent films had been so far removed from mainstream audiences, that early films containing any significant level of violence were completely unheard of. While Psycho is fairly tame in the world of Tarantino that we live in today, in 1960 it was quite shocking. Violence came up again in 1967 with Bonnie and Clyde. The bloody shoot outs, including the gory killing of the duo shocked audiences in full color, while Psycho had simply been in black and white. The sprays of red blood heralded a new era, creating the sort of R rated masterpieces that still win Academy Awards today (Note No Country for Old Men and the Hurt Locker). Despite Bonnie and Clyde's trailblazing, violence continued to be a controversial subject in film. When the Wild Bunch was released in 1969 it shocked western viewers who were used to the bloodless, straight laced films of John Wayne and James Stewart. Wild Bunch director Sam Peckinpah earned the nickname "Bloody Sam" for the brutal violence in this film. Peckinpah's next film, Straw Dogs in 1971 also sparked controversy due to its glorification of violence. The glorification of violence present in 1971's A Clockwork Orange kept debate on violence in film heated as violent films became more common. Horror films like The Last House on the Left (1972) and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) used unprecedented levels of violence leading to controversy around these types of films as well. After these films, overly violent movies began to go underground. With the exception of Taxi Driver in 1976, the rest were played in cheap grindhouse theaters if they were even played at all. All throughout the 60s and 70s imported samurai films from Japan like Hanzo the Razor, Lady Snowblood, and Sex and Fury, caused controversy for their strong levels of violence. In these samurai films it was quite common to use a hose to literally spray fake blood after a limb was severed. Things died down until the ultra violent Cannibal Holocaust in 1980. Perhaps the most violent film ever made, Cannibal Holocaust showed graphic footage of people literally being eaten. The over the top level of violence caused another whiplash against violent films, but it was short lived. Violence became less controversial, violent films became more mainstream, and the debates over it became less heated. While a few films like those of Quentin Tarantino still spark some anger over their levels of violence, these arguments usually die down fast and are only carried out by extremists.

Coming this month: Lights, Camera, Friction

This month I'll be having an ongoing study on controversy in film entitled Lights, Camera, Friction. I'll be exploring all the various things that have made films controversial from negative racial stereotyping to "tree-rape".

Documentaries

The average American will never see a documentary. They are notorious for losing money, and are rarely entertaining. Most video stores don't carry documentaries, and most people hoping for a career in film don't want to make them. Yet, in my opinion, great documentaries can be some of the best kept secrets of the film world. The first problem a potential documentary viewer faces is where to find documentaries. My advice is to just look around. Some sit on the bottom shelves of movie stores, and some float around on the internet, but the best place to look is at a local film festival. Such festivals usually have lots of documentaries, and catching them at the festival is a rare opportunity to see them before they hit any major markets. While many documentaries can be drab and overly informative, there are definitely some that tell their story with excitement. A good way to find a good documentary is to pick one on a subject that interests you. While this is not a sure fire method, it's a good place to start. Many documentaries carry a liberal political method, simply a result of more liberal thinkers being attracted to documentaries than conservative thinkers. Below are a few of my recommendations for good documentaries

1. Man on Wire
2. Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace and Music
3. Religulous
4. Good Hair
5. A Restless Conscience
6. Jesus Camp
7.Supersize Me
8. Super High Me
9. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
10. The Corporation

Also look at these two "mocumentaries" (fictional stories told in documentary format)
1. C.S.A. Confederate States of America
2. This is Spinal Tap

The Avatar Apocalypse and the Eventual End of Great Movies

Where would movies be without technological advancements? Imagine what it would be like without the continuous shots pioneered in Birth of a Nation (1915) or without the sound pioneered in The Jazz Singer (1927). The problem has come now with Avatar. While the previously pioneering movies were milestones in terms of technical achievements, they were also great movies. They had great stories, and great actors. In the age created by Avatar, the story is cast aside as a minor element only there to serve the special effects supervisor. As for actors, the computerized blue people will probably replace actors in the next thirty years. Movies will be done entirely on a computer, each simply seeking to outdo the previous hit's 3-d imaging. The real human emotions will be lost as will the magic in the touch of a skillful director and the vitality of the screenplay writer. The worst of it is, that many claim that Avatar is the greatest film of all time. Sure it impressed us with special effects, but did it make us cry like Citizen Kane, laugh like Dr. Strangelove, surprise us like Vertigo, engulf us in a man's ascent to power like The Godfather, or make us feel the pain of a defeated people like Gone With the Wind. Avatar cannot match up to any of these classics, because Avatar lacks the heart that connects us with movies. The important question for us to ask is if we are willing to sacrifice the genuine emotion that can be portrayed in films for a few tricks.

Films of the Week: Foreign Film

This week we will be discussing foreign films. While an award is given to one each year at the Academy Awards, the majority of Americans will go their whole lives without ever seeing a single film from a foreign country. Although America has the world's greatest film industry, American films can sometimes lack the avant-garde approaches used in other countries. It can be very enlightening to see what kind of work is being done in other places, where film is often seen more as an art form than an entertainment form. These are my Picks for the ten greatest foreign films to date.

1. Seven Samurai (Japan 1954)

2. Last Year at Marienbad (France 1961)

3. 8 1/2 (Italy 1963)

4. The Seventh Seal (Sweeden 1957)

5. Le Regle de Jeu (France 1939)

6. Rashomon (Japan 1950)

7. Chungking Express (China 1994)

8. The White Ribbon (Germany 2009)

9. I, Vitelloni (Italy 1953)

10. Ran (Japan 1985)

Classic film Noir

Throughout the thirties, noir films were released, but the genre didn't reach its climax until the forties. Here are some of the classic noir films that contributed to the huge success of the genre prior to its reincarnation in Chinatown (1974).

The Maltese Falcon (1941)

The Postman Always Rings twice (1946)

Double Indemnity (1944)

Satan Met a Lady (1936)

The Thin Man (1934)

Rebecca (1940)

The Killers (1946)

The Third Man (1949)

Other Neo-Noir Films

Although the term film noir was first coined by film critic Nino Frank in 1946 to describe films of the time, the noir genre was revitalized and reformed through 1974's Chinatown after nearly 20 years of unpopularity. While the Neo-Noir Films lack many of the characteristics of classic noir, these films are still very interesting experimentations within the genre even venturing into science fiction noir, and will usually be enjoyed more than the classics by a contemporary audience. These are some great neo-noir films for any who are interested.

Chinatown (1974)

Taxi Driver (1976)

Mean Streets (1973)

Blade Runner (1982)

The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981)

Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Soylent Green (1973)

The Two Jakes (1990)

True Crime (1996)

Sin City (2005)

The Good German (2006)

Film of the Week: Chinatown (1974)

Roman Polanski's Chinatown is considered to be the best noir film ever made, and began the neo-noir movement. In the thirties and forties, black and white detective films featuring hardened private investigators running through the heavy shadows produced by the ingenious lighting of these films. The noir films were typically thrillers or mysteries, all of them attempting to maintain suspense. In an attempt to revitalize the dead film noir genre, Polanski and his screenwriter Robert Towne created this masterpiece that was in full color, but was still able to retain the shadowy lighting that helps to define film noir. In one of his breakout roles, Jack Nicholson plays a private investigator who is caught in a web of deceit and profits when a mysterious woman enters his office offering him a job. Many critics say that Chinatown captures a lost genre, but I think Chinatown recreates noir.

Film of the Week: Where Eagles Dare (1968)

This big budget WWII thriller remains one of the best "behind enemy lines" war films. A favorite of the Coen Brothers, directors of No Country for Old Men, this film details the exploits of a group of commandos sent to a German castle to rescue an American general. Featuring plenty of explosions and gunfights, this film is perfect for thrill seekers and anyone who just wants a bit of classic escapism.

Film of the Week: The New Tenants (2009)

This Academy Award nominated short film, is among the finest of its kind. This film delivers a blend of black comedy and clever dialogue regarding two men who have just moved into their new apartment building when they meet their new neighbors. This film is a must see for any fans of comedy, or anyone interested in short films.

America's most Popular film

Examining the best films of the decades, one must look at the most popular film made in America. While most hold Citizen Kane to be America's best film, I think the true test of a film's value is in its lasting popularity. While Citizen Kane certainly has high artistic value, it lacks the huge fan base of three other classic American films.

Gone With the Wind is the highest grossing film ever made, with adjustments for inflation. Gone With the Wind is an epic romance, a classic war film, and a celebration of a lost way of life.

Casablanca is another of the most popular films. The most famous romance story ever made, Casablanca chronicles the journey of a man from callousness to sacrifice all in the name of a woman who left him.

The Godfather is an epic tale of a mafia family in post-war America. Celebrated even today by film viewers, the violent murders and family sagas that form the Godfather have stood the test of time.

As people tout new films such as Avatar as the best film ever made in America, I think the important thing to think about when declaring a film to be the best is this: Will be still be watching it in 70 years?

Film of the Week: Oldboy (2004)

A fast paced thriller with a mind bending twist at the end, Oldboy is among the best Korean films ever made. The story follows a man who is trapped in a strange private prison for fifteen years, and is then released and given five days to find out who ordered him to be sent there. Oldboy is full of martial arts fights and some rather gruesome scenes, including a scene of torture in which our protagonist rips a man's teeth out with the nail pulling end of a hammer. Between its violence and strangeness of plot, Oldboy embodies all the things we've come to expect of the modern grindhouse movement. We've talked previously of classic grindhouse films from their genesis in the 1970's, but we haven't discussed where grindhouse films have gone. As violence becomes more socially acceptable, the grindhouse films begin to leave the underground scene and even get more edgier than before. They also start to receive higher budgets and better productions. Oldboy is a great show for anyone interested in modern grindhouse.

Film of the Week: Che (2009)

Ernesto "Che" Guevarra is best known for his work in the Cuban revolution with Fidel Castro. The major difference between Fidel and Che is that Che left Cuba after the revolution to spread the revolution to all of South America. In a stunning two part epic, Steven Soderbergh gives us his monumental vision of Che Guevarra. The first part tells of the Cuban revolution and intertwines Che's trip to the UN. The second part is a dramatization of Che's guerilla campaign in Bolivia, which ended in failure and in death for Che. Benicio Del Toro portays Che in a once in a lifetime performance that won him best actor at the Cannes film festival. While not praising Che is a hero, this film looks more at Che as he was, an icon and the leader of a revolution.

Oscar Predictions

Here are my predictions for the Academy Awards

Best Picture:

Up In the Air

Best Actor:

Jeff Bridges-Crazy Heart

Best Supporting Actor:

Christoph Waltz-Inglourious Basterds

Best Actress:

Carey Mulligan-An Education

Best Supporting Actress:

Mo'Nique-Precious

Best Animated Picture:

Up

Art Direction:

Nine

Cinematography:

The White Ribbon

Costume Design:

Bright Star

Directing:

Jason Reitman-Up In the Air

Documentary:

Food Inc.

Short Documentary:

China's Unnatural Disaster: The tears of Sichuan Province

Film Editing:

The Hurt Locker

Foreign Language Film:

The White Ribbon

Makeup:

Star Trek

Music:

Up

Original Song:

The Weary Kind-Crazy heart

Original Screenplay:

Inglourious Basterds

Adapted Screenplay:

Up In the Air

Visual Effects:

Avatar

Sound Mixing:

The Hurt Locker

Film of the Week: The Seventh Seal (1957)

Upon its release in 1957 in the art house film circuit, Ingmar Bergman's classic The Seventh Seal was hailed as one of the most artistically inspired films of all time, and so it remains today. The Seventh Seal tells the story of a knight from the crusades who plays a game of chess with death as he attempts to find life's meaning. While mainstream America strayed away from this Swedish film, those viewers who would find their way into art house theaters flocked to go this classic. Perhaps the term "art house cinema" may require some explanation. Art house films are films that are particularly artistically interesting, and can often be quite strange. Usually ignored by mainstream audiences, art house films are by definition released in an art museum's theater, or specialty artistic theater.

Best Films of the Decade

Perhaps I'm a little late, but following the theory of "better late than never" I have decided that in addition to discussing Five Deadly Venoms this week that I would release my list of the top ten films of the past decade

1. There Will Be Blood

2. Che

3. The Departed

4. No Country for Old Men

5. Inglourious Basterds

6. Crash

7. The Hurt Locker

8. Slumdog Millionaire

9. The Dark Knight

10. The Lord of the Rings trilogy

Film of the Week: Five Deadly Venoms (1978)

Throughout the 1970's in Hong Kong, martial arts cinema was everywhere. Dozens of production companies sprung up after the success of Bruce Lee's films, but none of them were as famous or successful as the Shaw Brothers Studio. At their peak, the Shaw Brothers were rolling out over a hundred films each year. The Shaw Brothers films were made quickly and cheaply, with little attention to plot or dialogue. These films instead focused on supplying the viewer with frequent and extravagant martial arts battles. Five Deadly Venoms is a prime example of the offerings of the Shaw Brothers. With a paper thin plot about a young student of the Venoms martial arts school pursuing his five senior students, it may be difficult to see the appeal of Five Deadly Venoms. While the Shaw Brothers films have never attracted mainstream audiences in the U.S., they have maintained a steady cult following. The action and entertainment of these films cannot be overlooked, even if they do lack talented writers or actors. For all of those who would dismiss these films as having the artistry of a garbage can, I suggest that they look a little more closely.

Film of the Week: Vanishing Point (1971)

We're back to discussing a film this week, and what better to come back with than Vanishing Point. Throughout film history, a special breed of films called exploitation films have lived in the shadows. Ignored by mainstream audiences, these films gained their name from "exploiting" certain things such as violence or nudity, and many have attracted large cult followings. While exploitation films may exploit anything from the sexuality of Nazism to the violence of cannibalism, Vanishing Point is a carsploitation film. First, yes carsploitation is an actual term and it refers to films that attract audiences by offering outrageous stunts performed in cars. Vanishing Point is widely considered to be the best film of this genre though others such as Gone in 60 Seconds and more recently the Fast and the Furious films are also quite popular. Vanishing Point may be the ultimate movie for guys. It's exciting and filled with high speed chases, and in addition to that the protagonist meets all sorts of strange characters such as a blind radio host and a nude woman on a motorcycle. While Vanishing Point lacks an intricate plot or any real character development, it is very entertaining and I recommend it to anyone just looking for a good time.

Best FIlms of 2009

Once again this week, we will not be discussing a past film. Instead I'm going to weigh in on th best films of 2009.

1. Up in the Air

2. Inglourious Basterds

3. Nine

4. The Road

5. The Hangover

6.Paranormal Activities

7. 500 Days of Summer

8. Moon

9. The Hurt Locker

10. Avatar