Aguirre, Wrath of God (1973)

Damn cannibals. Damn jungle.

I've seen a lot of movies in my lifetime, but nothing quite like Aguirre, Wrath of God. To try and relate it to something familiar isn't easy; if I had to try, I might describe it as Herzog's own sort of Apocalypse Now, a Conrad-style descent into madness on a river. But hard as it might be to imagine, Aguirre makes Apocalypse Now look like the Hollywood version with its expensive sets and wealthy movie stars; in contrast, Herzog's film feels like the real deal. Shot cheap and filmed on location in South America with an authentic cast, genuine death and agony seem to linger at the edge of every frame. The jungle doesn't get paid to perform and there's a very real sense in every sequence that it's barely 10 feet away from devouring the cast and crew. If Klaus Kinski doesn't get them first.

What makes Aguirre astonishing, like so many other Herzog films, is the tremendous sense of awe that envelopes it. This isn't a movie that is quickly digested and forgotten and there's at least a half dozen images that startled me as much as anything I've seen on screen. Many of those images happen right at the jungle's edge which surrounds and swallows men (and horses) as easily as it produces surprises. A baby sloth. A raft full of monkeys. A tall ship stranded atop a tree. These images float into the frame like dreams and in that particular Herzog way get deep deep under the skin. Plot and character, rendered so spare in this kind of movie, seem like secondary considerations. An elysian score, sounding neither like a pure synthesizer or human voice, carries the entire experience into a different dimension. Or at alternate stretches, silence, which betrays the dream-like quality of the visuals into a much more dreadful place, and invites the jungle to add its own hungry soundtrack.

Beyond these visuals and flourishes, there's Kinski. Well of course Kinski is a magnificent visual unto himself, loping and twisting through every shot and eyeing the jungle as if he could glare it into submission. But more important than that glassy look is that performance that bleeds madness. Watching My Best Fiend early this week and hearing first-hand about Kinski's ferocity on-set, it's clear from that terrific face that he might as well be a wild animal carefully photographed with handlers and meat incentives just off-screen. There's the legend that Herzog directed him at gunpoint, dispelled by Herzog himself in the Kinski documentary as only a threat to shoot him in the head if he tried to abandon the production. Even so, it's clear that Kinski walks a fine line between performance and reality. At one point, as he lifts a small monkey in one hand, I was actually terrified that he might actually bite its head off. Such an awful thing wouldn't be unexpected in a movie like this.


Aguirre won't be for everyone. Despite the immediate sense of danger, the movie drifts slowly down river, silent for long stretches and detached at the most curious points. Perhaps the most interesting instance of this is when a parallel raft of explorers becomes trapped in an eddy, spinning out of control for hours. The action (and subsequent doom) of the raft is regarded from such a distance that it's virtually background to the main story. The fate of the raft is delivered off-screen and left intentionally mysterious. And in this way, it's most effective, adding to the growing sense of dread and anxiety and foreshadowing the castatrophe to come.

O Sweet Movie Goodness, this is the stuff of legend! Herzog and Kinski floating deliriously down the Amazon river, butchery at their backs. I can't wait to continue deeper into this Herzog-Kinski box set...

There's Still Much Blood

I can't remember the last time that a movie made it hard for me to go to sleep, but there you have it. There Will Be Blood was swimming in my head all night.

I read a substantial numbers of reviews and message boards this morning, but found the following to be the most well-written and on-the-nose commentary on TWBB. AICN's Moriarty usually writes excellent reviews but this one crystalized the particular misanthropy of Daniel Plainview and the monstrous impact of the movie better than most. This passage in particular articulates well why I left my brains on the floor at the AMC:

When you’re first falling in love with film, when you’re starting to realize you are a film geek, there are SO MANY amazing, classic, essential films and filmmakers that you need to catch up with. And thanks to video, I remember when I would fall in love with a filmmaker like Stanley Kubrick and I would be able to watch 2001, A Clockwork Orange, Lolita, Paths of Glory, The Killing, The Shining and Barry Lyndon all in the space of a week, all for the first time. Do you know what kind of a hole that left in the back of my skull? Once you’ve really caught up to a certain point, though, you don’t get to discover true classics as often, because there aren’t that many left. You don’t get to gobble up whole filmographies at once because you already have. That experience of having my brain chemistry altered by a film is more and more rare these days, and I suspect the same is true for many of you who are also rabid film freaks. You still hope you’re going to feel it whenever you put on some new film, but you’re starting to suspect that you’ve caught up... that you’re not going to get your head caved in as often... and it’s a little bit depressing.

Well, There Will Be Blood was that sort of experience for me. It hit me that hard, that immediately. There Will Be Blood restores my faith in American film in general. It is still possible to make a classic, a new film that tells a story in a unique way and that makes no apologies. This is not homage. It’s not post-modern. It’s not pastiche. It’s not a sequel. It’s not a remake. It’s not a reimagining. It’s not ironic. It’s not some ham-handed political screed. It’s not an excuse for style over substance. This is, simply put, a great story about a great character told confidently by a great filmmaker.

You can read his entire review here.

There Will Be Blood (2007)

Following There Will Be Blood tonight, I did something that I don't think I've ever done before. I walked right back in and watched it again.

Er, sort of. I don't want to sound part-time about this, but it's an almost-3-hour movie and I promised my wife that I'd be home from the theatre in good time. In truth, I could really only watch that first hour again and when the time came to finally get up and leave, it felt a bit like I was trying to pull off a band-aid. I did it quick and it hurt; I really didn't want to go. If not for the outside world, I very badly would have watched the entire movie again.

There Will Be Blood is one of those unstoppable juggernaut films that propels forward with such momentum that it knocked me flat. How ironic that I should see The Best film of 2007 almost 3 weeks into 2008. I'm struggling to avoid raving-lunatic hyperbole but I'm in that heady honeymoon period that follows a truly intoxicating movie experience. Right now, I wouldn't hesitate to put There Will Be Blood at the top of my 2007 list, bumping every movie that you see further down this blog by one number. That buzz may fade in the days to come, but there is no question the movie will ultimately settle in the top 2. To my great and happy surprise, it's even more satisfying than No Country.

Paul Anderson has done something remarkable. I know well and have enjoyed Anderson's other films, but wasn't at all prepared for this. To be honest, given movies like Boogie Nights and Magnolia, no one could really be prepared for TWBB. The movie erupts like an instant classic with confidence and directness that very few working directors could muster. The ones who could accomplish this kind of powerhouse film fit on a very short list: Scorsese, Malick, Kubrick, Huston, Ford. And at times, TWBB gently passes familiar homage to great movies, lifting echoes of everything from Leone Westerns (those sets!!), John Huston (Treasure of the Sierra Madre...sweet goodness!!) and even Citizen Kane (yes, I can see the comparisons now). But in the end, it's also something unique and special which must be why I'm spinning like a teenage boy with his first beer.

An essential part of what gives TWBB such an uncommon pace and flavour is Jonny Greenwood's astonishing score. Words won't do his enormous creativity any justice but Greenwood's urgent, spastic music adds an edgy madness to the movie that spirals faster and faster as the story stretches out. At times, sequences seem to sizzle and boil like a kettle on a stove, threatening to explode before the camera can cut away to the next scene (it very often doesn't get away in time). It's Greenwood's score, layered on some stunning photography, that took my breath away more times than I can count.

It's an old song that Daniel Day Lewis is one of the best working actors of his generation. In TWBB, he sort of takes that mantle and smashes it over his knee. There is stuff going on here in his voice, his face, his body language that puts every other performance I've seen this year into a distant second (including Casey Affleck's complex performance in Jesse James, something I didn't think could be unseated). Yet Day Lewis' achievement is so measured and mannered that it almost feels like a put-on. There's bound to be plenty of people trying to copy Lewis' particular cadence and dialogue, but it's not a cartoon or parody by any stretch. Seeing that first hour again, there's something happening in his eyes that sells everything to come. There's madness and dangerous compulsion there. Barely covered hatred. This might be the best thing that Daniel Day Lewis has ever done.

Of course it's tough to grab the spotlight in that kind of shadow, but the rest of the cast fares extremely well. Paul Dano, in particular, steals the screen whenever it's required of him, showing surprising range and presence when he's facing off against Day Lewis. His sermons (in particular the "out, out" sermon) are so overblown that they almost "overdo" it, but then that's the line that TWBB dangerously walks at various stretches (and part of what makes it so exciting). Dillon Freasier, for his part as Day Lewis' son, has one of those man-child roles where it's tough to imagine how any casting director could find a kid with the right maturity and depth to handle the part. And finally Hans Howes, who I've never seen before this film, showed up to almost walk away with the movie for his very small part.


No spoilers here but I'd be remiss not to make passing and cryptic mention of that ending which in its own way is as challenging as the sharp right-hand turn in No Country. I spent more time thinking about that damn last scene on the drive home than any other, in part because it's so contrary. At first pass it feels like it might just be a bad scene stuck on the end of a great film, but I think that's just the harsh and quick reaction. Like any masterpiece worth revisiting, I think it's meant to frustrate and compel you to come back. Lord knows I was. But with more and more thought, I'm not sure the film could have ended any other way. And more importantly, the milkshake jokes are now paying in spades!

Boy. Even in light of the crazy reviews that have been travelling the Internet, I wasn't quite prepared to have my face blown off like this. As I think back on the film, what's most exciting is just how many great scenes and moments there are: it's really an embarrassment of riches. That the entire film is packaged with such a lean spine and the head of a rhinerocos in full-charge makes it as close to perfect as I can imagine. It's not perfect, but the flaws are part of what makes the package so scrumptious.

I wouldn't have let 3 weeks float by if I'd known what I was missing in the meantime...

Montage-ing Slowly...

This is a fun, if occasionally clumsy, clip-reel collecting some of the very best bits of the very best films of 2007 (the video calls itself "The Year of Drama" but that's more than a little questionable given the inclusion of some comedy titles). Spoiler-free if you're worried.

It's so enjoyable to see this many excellent films rolled together into one delicious movie snowball. It also drives home what a uniquely fantastic year this has been for great movies. Consider that if you haven't seen all or most of the movies in this clip show, you might just be missing something special...?

(I counted 4 movies here that I'll need to catch up on in the weeks to come, but There Should Finally Be Some Blood tomorrow night...)

No Country for Round Tables

Discussing No Country For Old Men is a good thing. Good for you and good for your friends.

This podcast is a little on the longish side and does stray into some awkward tangents, but nevertheless a very worthwhile listen. Just a group of on-line critics discussing everything from the ending of the film to Javier Bardem's mullet.

Worth putting on the next time you're painting a room or some other brain-light chore...

http://www.nocountryforoldmen-themovie.com/podcast/

The 2007 Highlight Reel (Part A)

I love lists. Absolutely love them. Love making them. Love reading them. Love posting them. So it is that I wanted to post my top movies of 2007. In truth, I just wanted to see all these movie titles collected in one space at one time.

It's a beautiful thing...

It was an unusually productive year for me in the theatres in large part because it was an uncommonly great year for new movies. The best of the 21st Century for certain and I'm dubious that we'll see another year this great for a while (writer's strike, crappy '08 line-up and all.) I saw 125 first-run movies in 2007 and have taken the Top 13 (or about 10%) as the prime cut; however it's worth noting that I saw at least 30 movies this year that I would consider to be at the very least excellent or better.

These 13 are spectacular without exception.

The Cream of the Crop

Ranked by preference as of today and right now at this moment, but it changes like the weather. All are solid, instantly re-watchable and marked tremendously pleasureable movie-going experiences for me. Most would be in my top-5 in any other movie year:

13. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly ~ Frankly, I'm a little surprised to see this movie on my list. When I walked out of the theatre I wasn't sure that I liked it much at all. As it turns out, it simply didn't make any kind of immediate impact on me but in the days that have followed, it's growing on my mind the way the best movies do. Oh, I love it when movies percolate like this. What strikes me now and the thing I keep coming back to is the particular visual style of the film. To say that the scattershot imagery and memory-tinged photography reminded me of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is to betray exactly how much I'm falling for it, because Eternal Sunshine is one of my most cherished favourites. What makes Diving Bell so remarkable is that like Eternal Sunshine, it follows a sort of emotional logic and structure and frequently spins outwards into great romantic segueways. At the centre of the picture is a man trapped in his body, which would be compelling in its own right. But at the margins is something far far richer and Julian Schnabel and Janusz Kaminski outdo themselves finding imaginative ways to bring the inner spirit of the man to life. This is what it looks like to see someone's dreams and memories on film. Further to that, I can't get the blasted Ultra Orange song that sits in the spine of the film (and trailer) out of my head.

12. In the Valley of Elah ~ Another great surprise. For someone who has yet to be knocked over by Paul Haggis, I wasn't expecting a lot from this movie and slotted it casually into a Sunday night trip out. Good thing too as this is the kind of movie I might have otherwise skipped. The final scenes and in particular the final haunting image (which I suppose I should have seen coming) hung over me for days. Annie Lennox's Lost sticks in my ear. This was a really great year for Tommy Lee Jones and he's as good in this movie as he is in No Country for Old Men, in many ways playing the same sort of thoughtful, deliberate and patient role. What's devastating here is the intolerable grief that he buries deep in his heart but which informs every step he takes through the movie. Brilliant, moving stuff and it's a shame that the film got lost in the fall shuffle.

11. Gone Baby Gone ~ Damn, Ben Affleck? This is probably the only movie on the list that I couldn't quickly and easily watch again dealing as it does with the abduction of a 4-year-old girl. The subject matter is raw, but the performances, direction and dialogue are all so amazing and unexpected that I've been recommending the movie to virtually everyone I see. Both Ben and Casey Affleck demonstrate awesome range as director and actor respectively, and the supporting cast (Harris in particular) is equally on-game. This was the one film of the year that I actually embarrassed myself with a large and inappropriately loud gasp during a critical point in the film: a sure sign that the movie had its hooks in me deep and good. I lost all track of where I was.

10. King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters ~ The best documentary of 2007 is also the funniest and the most moving. The back-and-forth rivalry between Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell is the stuff of legend, and the background politics (and machinations) of the classic arcade tournaments go well beyond the rules of Q-bert and Donkey Kong. If it was just funny, I would be recommending this movie, but the movie finds some deeper chords in the second half and I'm surprised how much it upset me. Frankly, I'm astonished that somebody caught this story on film.

9. The Darjeeling Limited ~ Like a lot of people, I had written Wes Anderson off with the trailer for Darjeeling. If ever a man could appear to be parodying himself, this was it. And in just about every way, Darjeeling is exactly the movie that I was expecting but so much more. Key to this is the inclusion of the Hotel Chevalier short at the front of the film which cues the flavour and sets up some delicious pay-offs in the film proper. The transition to the main film (opening titles) was one of my favourite movie sequences of 2007. Still, what surprised me the most is how much I laughed during the film, rolling with every absurdity and snatched entirely into the Whitman's bizarre family dynamic. It's a gorgeous film to watch, capturing a vibrant and colourful India that can't possibly exist in the real world. If Wes Anderson wants to continue to do the Wes Anderson Thing, I'm game. I can't wait to see this movie again.

8. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead ~ A perfect mousetrap that turns on a startling emotional spring. Everyone in this film comes to work with their A-game and it's always a pleasure to see someone like Albert Finney inspired and knocking down scenery. This is one of those films that's a treasure to experience in a dark theatre as the stress builds until the tension for release becomes unbearable. I'm not sure how it will play on repeat viewings as so much hinges on not knowing where the movie is going to spin off next, however for first-time theatre experiences, this one was absolute aces.

7. Into the Wild ~ I was so primed for this movie that I made a special day of it, taking a pilgrimage to an old movie theatre in Kingston and giving it the extra time on either side that I felt it would need to sink in. All of this paid off in spades and created a really special movie day. Penn's film doesn't play like anything else I saw this year, following Chris McCandless' cross-country odyssey with an off-beat pace that suits the subject matter perfectly. But in hindsight, I'd love to see it again on a double-bill with Grizzly Man, another favourite that documents a similar lost spirit.

6. Away From Her ~ I started this film on DVD before bed one night with the intention of watching only 30-minutes but the damn thing hooked me deep and kept me up well past midnight. What snared me was the performances; but what puts the movie on the list now is Sarah Polley. Really, it is still unbelievable to me that a movie this mature and this well-crafted could come from a first-time feature director, particularly one under the age of 30. There is a wealth of experience here that masters in their final years struggle to realize. And that story...devastating. Julie Christie is reaping a lot of attention for her performance, but it's Gordon Pinsent who is the silent heart of the film, tacitly watching the love of his life disappear into the abyss.

The Top 5:

...is rock-solid and unlike the list above, the sequence here is pretty firm. All 5 are movies that I will be watching again and again and again in the years to come. Instant classics every one:

5. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford ~ This one started creeping up on my radar the minute I read that title. Then images started creeping on-line and that second, heart-stopping trailer which showed how beautiful a western could be. Without contest, it was the most anticipated film of the fall for me and it paid off in every respect (the fact that it's #5 only means that the next 4 months all drastically surpassed expectations...) I can't wait to see it again.

4. Sweeney Todd ~ This was supposed to be my last film of 2007 and awkwardly ended up being my first matinee of 2008. Still, even with only 24 hours between me and the Todd, I am already thinking more and more about it. Songs are stuck in my head and more importantly, those bloody bloody beautiful and horrendous images. The fact that it's a sort of Tim Burton's Greatest Hits is only one of many things that makes it special for me. I'm also an enormous fan of the Sondheim musical and couldn't be more thrilled that Burton adapted it right. Johnny Depp in particular plays such a hollow, dispirited Sweeney that I immediately have to see the movie again. I was also delighted that Burton didn't shy away from the gore, as much as it may alienate a lot of audiences. That final image is one of my favourites of 2007 (er, 2008?)

3. Juno ~ Sweet, sweet Juno , pure movie sugar and the cynic's favourite kicking bag for late 2007. This was a highlight for me at this year's Toronto Film Festival and came as the crown-jewel of a virtually perfect movie day. In fact, I haven't been in a theatre as enthralled and enthusiastic as this once since I saw an early screening of Amélie years ago (Sept 10th, 2001 to be exact.) The thing about Juno is that after you cut through the fast comedy and singular dialogue (which is excellent), there's a beating heart to the picture which is really, really tough to deny. The movie might start as some sort of spunky teen-pregnancy film but it ends on an authentic and richly realized chord which fills your heart. A lot of the credit for this goes to Jennifer Garner of all people who I think travels the most interesting path in the film. Unlike the other movies in this top 5, I can't say if I'll be able to watch Juno 5 or 10 or 20 more times without seeing it lose its charm; however, it's here because the initial screening and response was so unique and wonderful that I'm lucky if I get a theatre experience like that once in a decade.

2. No Country for Old Men ~ Three times I've watched this stunning movie and it's getting better every single time. What's funny to me now is how closely it mirrors Raising Arizona which until now had always been my favourite Coen Brothers film. In so many ways NCFOM is like the dark-side remake of that film and that just endears it to me all the more. Then there's that ending...sweet money, it couldn't be any better. In fact, it's the ending (and in particular the final pensive scene with Tommy Lee Jones at the kitchen table) which to my mind has cemented this film as a masterpiece. 10 years and 50 years from now. "And then I woke up."

1. Once ~ I've written so much about this film already on this blog. Like No Country, I've watched it 3 times already and it's quickly passed the point of a simple favourite to that uncanny level of comfort food. In fact, I struggled between this movie and No Country in the top spot; it seemed to me that this was the best heart movie of the year while No Country was the best head movie. And at the end of the day, I'm a sucker and a girly-man...

Honorable mention:

Hairspray ~ which has become the most-watched movie of my household in 2007, in large part because it is spun almost daily by my 4-year-old. I liked it the first time I saw it but with each consecutive viewing, I'm finding more to appreciate. The music is as dynamic and sends both my kids bouncing off the walls like hyper-caffeinated chocolate. It's a fun piece of business that should hold up well in the years to come.

Zodiac ~ my first impression back in March was sort of messo-messo, but then that's true of at least a few movies on my best of list above. The difference here is that I didn't go back and give Zodiac another chance. I think this is one that needs another viewing and I'm looking forward to revisiting the special Director's Cut DVD coming out in January.

It's also worth adding the handful of high-quality movies that fell just outside my list (and barely):

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days ~ Absurb how treacherous this movie is in the second half. All on a minimal scale where the dread and anxiety is left imagined in the heart and mind of the viewer.

The Bourne Ultimatum ~ It's a rarity that the final part of a trilogy is the best. Are you listening, Spider-Man 3??

The Orphanage ~ I swear to you that I got genuine palm-sweats not once, but twice during this film. A lot of similarities have been drawn to Devil's Backbone, The Others and even Rosemary's Baby (all are fair comparisons), but I was a little surprised at how much old-school Poltergeist was happening here, particular in the middle act. This is a superior, virtually flawless ghost-story movie. You'll know already if that does anything to stoke you.

Superbad ~ The best belly-laughs that I had in a movie theatre all year. The movie might be totally filthy, but there's heart to it that makes it worth watching and re-watching. Between this and Juno, I find myself hunting down 3 seasons of Arrested Develoment just to catch more Michael Cera.

Special Note:

There Will Be Blood ~ TWBB seems to be cut from the same material as most other movies that have made this year so great. I haven't seen it yet but it opens in Toronto on Friday. I'll be making a trip of it in the next week or two and based on the early word, it's very realistic that it will end somewhere on the list above. For now, it's the only noticeable omission in my 2007 playlist.

The 2007 Highlight Reel (Part B)

Like I said, I love lists.

In addition to a ton of first-run movies, 2007 was also an exceptional year for catching up on old classics. I've already posted a slew of impressions of the old movies on this blog, but thought it might be interesting to list the absolute Best of the Best from 2007: those classics which were 5-star experiences and demonstrated their pedigree in every way. An interesting list for me anyway.

Here's a snapshot of the films that absolutely slayed me this year, in alphabetical order:

3:10 To Yuma (1957) ~ The original. The 2007 remake was a great modern Western in its own right but the original is The Cheese: shot wider, richer, and in vicious black and white with a killer lead performance by Glenn Ford. For 1957, this movie is astonishingly progressive. It's the version I watched first and everything else is coloured by that. As such, I prefer it about 5-to-1 to the new version (which I also really liked.)

Badlands (1973) ~ The very reason that I'll never need to watch True Romance again.

The Conversation (1974) ~ One thing that 2007 has made clear to me is how much the movie world misses Gene Hackman, who hasn't worked in 4 years and hasn't made anything of substance in almost 7 years. Between this classic, The French Connection and Night Moves, it's revelatory how much Hackman brought to the party in the early to mid-70's. And to think that my first impression of the man was as Lex Luthor.

Double Indemnity (1944) ~ Billy Wilder's classic noir has redefinied the entire sub-genre for me. This is exactly the sort of movie that I look for every Monday night when I tackle a new old movie and this one in particular is the sizzling benchmark: callous, crisp, and undeniably toxic. The dialogue is like a back massage that pinches and then burns, while the performances, every one, overwhelmed me. Fred MacMurray fires comebacks and come-ons like no one I've ever seen before, and it's a shame that more directors didn't tap into this jet-black cynicism.

Faust (1926) ~ Perhaps one of the earliest silent epics to blow my mind; forget for a moment that it's a beautifully classical silent picture with another crazy-mad performance by the incomparable Emil Jannings as Mephisto. That would be enough for me. However what excited me more was the enormous scale of production and absolutely insanity on display from the opening frames: earth-shaking celestial figures, super-sonics flights over the sleeping city, plagues and devastation. All very modern and rendered with Murnau's singular style and direction. While this might have been the year of Buster Keaton for me, the movies of F.W. Murnau weren't very far behind...

Footlight Parade (1933) ~ I think I made my mad-crush on this film pretty direct when I wrote about it here.

The General (1926) ~ The movie that single-handedly launched a massive year-long love-in for all things Buster Keaton and all virtually things silent. Funny to consider that just a year ago, I still considered this type of old masterpiece to be a bit of "work"; now I gravitate quickest towards the old silent classics, devouring anything that I can get my hands on. I'm finding that almost anything that has survived the test of 80-90 years, is worth the adventure. I received the spectacular 11-disc Art of Buster Keaton box-set as a gift this Christmas and early-2008 should see a new gush of Keaton catch-up. I honestly can't wait to get started.

The Gold Rush (1925) ~ The best of the Chaplin films I watched this year and I tapped into about 4 or 5 of them. Chaplin still takes a back-seat to Keaton for me, but in the months to come, I certainly intend to keep the competition going between them and will watch as much Chaplin as I can find.

The Graduate (1967) ~ Ah, it's one of those kinds of classics - the kind that are so influential, film-school-large and "important" that it's practically embarrassing to admit that you've never actually seen it. I made up for it this year and the biggest surprise of The Graduate is that it is much lighter and looser comedy than I ever expected. In fact, it has an awful lot in common with a lot of modern comedies from the likes of David O. Russell, the Coen Brothers and even Wes Anderson. I laughed a lot and in particular appreciated the measured and studied performance by a very very young Dustin Hoffman who is a revelation in his first on-screen role.

The Great Silence (1968) ~ I'm always interested in revisionist Westerns and this is one of those heavy stylish Italian sorts that doesn't do anything that you might expect it to. For starters, it unfolds in stark winter under heavy snow giving Western visuals that I've never seen anywhere else (apart from maybe McCabe & Mrs Miller which came 3 years later.) The violence is extreme and bloody, punishment handed out with a sort of Old Testament measure. And the ending...? That's probably why the movie made the short-list in the first place. I wouldn't dream of spoiling anything here, but the finale needs to be seen to be believed. It's true that they don't make them like this anymore, but I can hardly believe they made them like this in the first place.

The Hustler (1961) ~ Paul Newman in his peak is unlike just about any other movie star in the world. And watching him glide into a pool hall, all charm and arrogance and brilliance, is a special movie thing. Surround him with legends like Jackie Gleason and George C. Scott and it's a Christmas present. (No kidding, it really was...)

The Last Laugh (1924) ~ Another Murnau masterpiece and quite literally the most compelling silent I watched this year. The hook? The film is entirely dialogue-free told through stunning pantomime and more importantly, delicate visual clues. This, in many ways, is pure cinema. It's a delight to watch a movie like this and find not only that it's easy to follow, but that there's a deep emotional current to it. Bonus points for another prodigious Emil Jannings performance.

The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) ~ I found this movie too hard to write about and made one half-ass attempt here. I'm no better position to articulate the impact of the film here and now.

Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997) ~ I was an enormous fan of Grizzly Man and in many ways, it was the gateway film that turned me onto the sublime documentaries of Werner Herzog. This one is actually even better than Grizzly Man. The story told here formed the basis of Rescue Dawn, which is an excellent movie in its own right, however the real-life account of that narrative is far more compelling. Dieter Dengler is a fascinating and engaging tour guide on a remarkable emotional journey. I'd recommend this version of Dengler's story first in the same way that I'd recommend reading a novel before you see the adaption. Undeniably excellent.

The Long Goodbye (1973) ~ I didn't know this until just this year, but Elliot Gould is one of the coolest men on the planet. Or he was at least. Ini 1973. I absolutely loved this movie, as much as any 70's crime-film I've ever seen.

Mean Streets (1973) ~ Early Scorsese and the first delight was that Scorsese came to the screen fully-formed. I was expecting something sort of derivative and sketchy, like an early artist finding his voice, but instead found one of the most personal and compelling Scorses films I've seen.

Modern Times (1936) ~ I wrote much more about it here, but this was another stand-out Chaplin film. How did I go so long without dipping into these old silents?

Nashville (1975) ~ It's a genuine pleasure to return to a movie like this and find that you've grown enough as a movie fan for it to blossom into a favourite. My first-year film-school experience of Nashville was somewhat underwhelming and textbook-stiff so it took a little conviction to watch it again. However the subsequent reward was all mine. It may be true that Robert Altman composes his movies for big pay-off in repeat viewings and Nashville is a great example of that. I wrote more about it back in July.

Philadelphia Story (1940) ~ This was enough of a thrill to send me rushing after a run of Katherine Hepburn films. Movie stars and performances like this are movie gold. I mentioned Paul Newman above and Hepburn is another one. Sweet damn.

Spellbound (2002) ~ Just a surprisingly warm and touching documentary. Every kid in this documentary is starring in their personal story and its to the credit of the filmmakers that they don't choose to highlight one over another, even as the competition gets narrower. Instead, the movie seems to be overflowing with respect and affection for its subjects. I had as much invested in the final rounds of this Spelling Bee as I've ever had in any legitimate sporting event.

Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928) ~ Another Keaton classic and one of the other silents to really impress me from virtually minute one. The infamous storm sequence that closes in the picture is the principle reason to watch this but Keaton fills the edges with so much humanity and subtle character action that the movie would still be a 5-star experience if you cut it in half.

The Thin Man (1934) ~ As you can tell, I'm a big fan of great dialogue and many of these old classics deliver lines that you can only dream about. The Thin Man, to be honest, isn't about much more than snappy banter and one-liners, but all are delivered with such easy-going swagger that it's like hanging out with the coolest cat at the party. Elsewhere on the web, I read this movie described as someone's personal movie comfort food and it's easy enough to see why. This is the sort of movie that settles like a favourite shirt with every viewing, effortless and comfortable. A personal little treasure.

Vanishing Point (1971) ~ It's embarrassing to me that it took a movie like Death Proof to point me towards a great movie like Vanishing Point, but there it is. Always go to the source, kids. This is one arresting and distinguished "car" movie that completely annihilated my expectations by being nothing like anything I've seen before. Minimal, inward and frankly kind of sublime. The best part: it put me back in the spirit of a cross-country road-trip, which is always welcome feeling.

Honorable Mentions:

The Cameraman (1928)
Days of Heaven (1978)
Gangs of New York (2002)
The Lives of Others (2006)
McCabe & Mrs Miller (1971)
Midnight Cowboy (1969)
Paths of Glory (1957)
Phantom of the Paradise (1974)
Princess Mononoke (1997)