Author Archive

  • Film on TV: April 2-8

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    Kind of a sparse week, but still some quite notable things to come, including a Dreyer double feature on Sunday night on TCM. Speaking of TCM, their star of the month this month is Doris Day, with a five-day tribute going on all week. I’m not a huge Doris Day fan, and I couldn’t pick out very many of her movies I felt like wholeheartedly recommending (though I’ve seen most of them), but if you are a fan definitely check out TCM’s whole schedule. They’re playing five or six of her movies a night all week.

    Monday, April 2

    6:00am – Sundance – Police, Adjective
    Part of the Romanian New Wave of slow-burn dramas and crime films, this one looks like an interesting take on the police procedural, though it garnered some mixed reviews during its run on the festival circuit.
    2009 Romania. Director: Corneliu Proumboiu. Starring: Dragos Bucur, Vlad Ivanov, Irina Saulescu.
    (repeats at 3:00pm)

    7:00am – IFC – Curse of the Golden Flower
    One of the weaker entries in Zhang Yimou’s series of historical martial-arts-on-wires films, but it still has its moments – and the production design, as usual, is flawlessly beautiful. Definitely worth a watch if you’re a fan of the style.
    2006 China. Director: Zhang Yimou. Starring: Chow Yun-Fat, Gong Li, Jay Chou, Ye Liu.
    (repeats at 1:25pm)

    9:35am – IFC – Mrs. Dalloway
    Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway is likely my all-time favorite book or very close to it, and it’s a book that you’d never expect could be made into a good film. It depends an awful lot on stream of consciousness, internal monologue and memory, and a subjective experience of time – all stylistic and narrative elements that don’t translate well to film. However, this 1997 version of the novel with Vanessa Redgrave perfectly cast as the older Clarissa Dalloway and Natascha McElhone as flashback-Clarissa comes about as close as I think is cinematically possible. It doesn’t come close to matching the book for me, but it is a solid film and captures a lot of Woolf’s spirit.
    1997 USA/UK. Director: Marleen Gorris. Starring: Vanessa Redgrave, Natascha McElhone, Michael Kitchen, Alan Cox, Sarah Badel, Lena Headey, John Standing.
    (repeats at 3:55pm)

    3:00am (3rd) – IFC – The Dreamers
    Bernardo Bertolucci’s love letter to the French New Wave, with American Michael Pitt heading to Paris just in time to join the ’68 Cinematheque riots, becoming friends and eventually lovers with a siblings Louis Garrel and Eva Green, a pair of fellow cinephiles. Bertolucci draws on Band of Outsiders and Jules and Jim especially, as well as the history of the era and his own sensibilities. It loses me personally a bit in the eroticism of the second half, but the first part is fantastic.
    2003 France/UK/Italy. Director: Bernardo Bertolucci. Starring: Michael Pitt, Louis Garrel, Eva Green.

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  • TCM Classic Film Festival 2012: Preview

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    In just about two weeks’ time, the TCM Classic Film Festival will descend on Los Angeles once again, turning downtown Hollywood into a mecca for film fans hungry for the glamour and nostalgia of the days of yore. Waxing poetic aside, this is the third year for the festival, and it seems to be going as strong as ever. Last year, attendance nearly doubled over the first festival, so we’ll see what the crowds are like this year! In any case, with Robert Osborne and the TCM crew bringing in films big and small, essential and rare, along with star appearances and special events galore, it’s sure to be a weekend of fun for anybody who loves classic Hollywood. The theme this year is “Style in the Movies” – with an apparent eye toward costume design and set decoration. There are sidebars for specific designers, specific “looks,” especially style-conscious directors, and even the broader Essentials section has been curated to favor films that feature a unique design aesthetic. Confirmed special guests include Kirk Douglas (who was fantastic last year at a screening of Spartacus), Debbie Reynolds, Liza Minnelli, Shirley Jones, Kim Novak, Robert Wagner, Angie Dickinson, director Norman Jewison, and more.

    Along with the festival, TCM sponsors a Road to Hollywood series of screenings in various cities throughout the weeks leading up to the festival, with Robert Osborne and special guests presenting the screening. That series continues with The Last Picture Show March 31st in Toronto, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers April 3rd in Denver, and Marty April 5th in Portland. TCM did this last year as well, bringing a taste of the festival to other cities, so even if you don’t live in LA, keep an eye on where TCM is holding these (free!) screenings. Plus, you may learn insider info before the rest of us – at a recent screening, Robert Osborne let it slip that Mel Brooks will be a special guest. But he caught himself before revealing what film Brooks will be introducing – could even be something not announced yet!

    As far as the main event in Hollywood, taking place April 12-15, Matinee Festival Passes are still available, and individual tickets will be on sale before each screening. With no further ado, here is the line-up thus far announced. There could well be additions – as I recall, last year they added films into the “Discoveries” section almost right up to the festival start. And I hope they do that again; the pickings are a little slim in that section this year, though there are plenty I’m excited about in other sections. Without the schedule in hand, all my predictions of what I’m going to see are probably wrong – with only three days of festival and over fifty films, very difficult choices will have to be made. (Note: I took most of the synopses below from IMDb, so my apologies if they’re bland.)

    Edit: I have amended this post to include the films announced on March 28 when the schedule was released, as well as additional guest star and presenter information. I’ve highlighted the additional films in red. Also, The Godfather, Part II has been removed from the lineup, citing “unforeseen circumstances.” Most notable among the newly announced guests – Stanley Donen will be appearing with all three of his films (not including his co-directed Singin’ in the Rain), producer Robert Evans will be introducing most of the New Hollywood films, with writer Robert Towne introducing Chinatown, Sara Karloff and Bela G. Lugosi will be presenting their respective fathers’ film The Black Cat, legendary makeup artist Rick Baker will introduce The Wolf Man, and John Carpenter will introduce Frankenstein.

    Essentials

    20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)

    Director: Richard Fleischer
    Starring: Kirk Douglas, James Mason, Paul Lukas, Peter Lorre
    Synopsis: A ship sent to investigate a wave of mysterious sinkings encounters the advanced submarine, the Nautilus, commanded by Captain Nemo.
    My take: I’ve not seen this before, but Disney’s first live-action feature film promises practical special effects galore, and I’m a sucker for those. Plus, any chance to see Kirk Douglas live is probably worth taking. Hoping to see
    Festival Guide
    In attendance: Kirk Douglas

    Annie Hall (1977)

    Director: Woody Allen
    Starring: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts, Carol Kane, Paul Simon, Shelley Duvall, Christopher Walken, Colleen Dewhurst
    Synopsis: Neurotic New York comedian Alvy Singer falls in love with the ditsy Annie Hall.
    My take: I love this film a lot; in fact, it’s a constant battle between this and Manhattan for the title of my favorite Woody Allen film. Still, I think I’ll skip this in favor of things I haven’t seen a dozen times. Probably won’t see
    Festival Guide

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  • DVD Triage: March 27, 2012

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    New Release Pick of the Week

    A Dangerous Method
    David Cronenberg’s latest got some disappointing reviews and I never made it out to see it, but it’s still Cronenberg with a killer cast, and I’d be happy to catch up with it on DVD while waiting for Cosmopolis to make its way to theatres.
    2011 UK/Canada. Director: David Cronenberg. Starring: Michael Fassbender, Keira Knightley, Viggo Mortensen.

    Other New Releases

    Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (2012 USA, dir Mike Mitchell, stars Jason Lee)
    The Broken Tower DVD (2011 USA, dir James Franco, stars Michael Shannon)
    Confucius (2010 China, dir Mei Hu, stars Chow Yun-Fat)
    Dog Sweat DVD (2010 Iran, dir Hossein Keshavarz, stars Ahmad Akbarzadeh)
    In the Land of Blood and Honey (2011 USA, dir Angelina Jolie, stars Goran Kostic)
    The Kate Logan Affair DVD (2010 USA, dir Noel Mitrani, stars Alexis Bledel)
    Soda Springs DVD (2012 USA, dir Michael Feifer, stars Tom Skerritt)
    Eureka: Season 4.5 DVD (2012 USA, stars Joe Morton, Colin Ferguson)

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  • Film on TV: March 26-April 1

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    Monday, March 26

    5:45pm – TCM – Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
    Trust Stanley Kubrick to find the funny side of the Cold War. Peter Sellers plays multiple parts, including the President, an insane general who wants to nuke Russia, and the limb-control-impaired doctor of the title. It’s zany, it’s over-the-top, it’s bitingly satirical, and it remains one of Kubrick’s best films in a career full of amazing work.
    1964 USA/UK. Director: Stanley Kubrick. Starring: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott.
    Must See

    8:00pm – TCM – Kes
    A young working class boy his only solace out of a hard existence in taking care of a falcon named Kes. One of the most highly-regarded films of the British New Wave finds director Ken Loach in his element, telling the stories of the British working class with tenderness but without oversentimentality.
    1969 UK. Director: Ken Loach. Starring: David Bradley, Brian Glover, Freddie Fletcher, Lynne Perrie, Colin Welland.
    Newly Featured!

    8:00pm – IFC – The Last of the Mohicans
    Michael Mann brings James Fenimore Cooper’s classic novel to the screen, with Daniel Day-Lewis as the part-white, part Mohican Hawkeye – a lone trapper who ends up protecting British colonists caught in the midst of the French and Indian War. The film adds a romantic subplot absent from the novel, but manages to capture the adventure well.
    1992 USA. Director: Michael Mann. Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Madeleine Stowe, Russell Means, Eric Schweig.
    Newly Featured!
    (repeats at 1:00am on the 27th)

    10:00pm – TCM – Darling
    Julie Christie’s portrayal of a model sleeping her way to the top of London’s swinging mod fashion scene won her an Oscar – a sign that the British New Wave was having a large impact as well as that even Hollywood was ready to start pushing the content envelope. Four years later, the Schlesinger-directed Midnight Cowboy would become the first (and only) X-rated film to win Best Picture.
    1965 UK. Director: John Schlesinger. Starring: Julie Christie, Laurence Harvey, Dirk Bogarde.
    Newly Featured!

    10:30pm – IFC – From Hell
    Johnny Depp takes on the role of a troubled Victorian police detective on the trail of Jack the Ripper in this adaptation of Alan Moore’s graphic novel. Not quite as memorable as would hope, but worth a watch.
    2001 USA. Directors: Albert and Allen Hughes. Starring: Johnny Depp, Heather Graham, Ian Holm, Robbie Coltrane.
    (repeats at 3:30am on the 27th)

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  • Rep Cinemagoing: Modern Times

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    The thing that makes me happiest in the world is seeing audiences respond to classic films with joy and wonder, and that’s exactly what I saw last week when Cinefamily screened Modern Times to a nearly full audience. First off, it’s awesome that 150 people will choose a Chaplin silent film over the hoards of other entertainment options in this city, but it’s proven to me again and again that Chaplin (or Keaton) will still pack them in at Cinefamily, as they run these films every year or so to delighted audiences. Last time they ran Modern Times, though, I think I wasn’t able to go. This time it coincided with my volunteering night, so once I finished taking tickets, seating people, and clearing up a minor popcorn vs gravity issue, I settled in just as the credits finished to watch my favorite Chaplin film with a wonderfully receptive audience.

    I’ve seen Modern Times probably five or six times, but never before with an audience, and it added an awful lot to the experience. The film itself is incredible, and falls squarely within my top twenty of all time. Chaplin’s tramp starts off as a cog in the machine (literally, at one point) of a steel factory, spending his days tightening bolts on an endless stream of conveyor-belt carried steel plates. Slowing down piles him into the workers further down the assembly line, and stopping (for lunch) puts him into spasms as his muscles try to continue the tightening motions. After being put into an automatic lunch machine to test it – with hilarious results – he ends up having a nervous breakdown, losing his job, getting arrested by accident, meeting up with an orphan waif from the docks, trying to find a job to support her and protect her from the child services authorities, etc.

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  • DVD Triage: March 20

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    New Release Pick of the Week

    The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
    This may have been an unnecessary remake, and it may have been something Fincher could do in his sleep, but regardless, this still came out as one of the most satisfying thrillers of the year, even improving on the original film in subtle ways and more than earning its right to existence.
    2011 USA. Director: David Fincher. Starring: Rooney Mara, Daniel Craig.

    Other New Releases

    From Time to Time (2009 UK, dir Julian Fellowes, stars Timothy Spall, Maggie Smith)
    Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life (2011 France, dir Joann Sfar, stars Eric Elmosnino)
    Hop (2011 USA, dir Tim Hill, stars James Marsden)
    In the Garden of Sounds (2009 Switzerland, dir Nicola Bellucci, stars Wolfgang Fasser)
    Private Eye (2009 South Korea, dir Dae-Min Park, stars Jeong-min Hwang, Dal-su Oh)
    Sidewalls (2011 Argentina, dir Gustavo Taretto, stars Javier Drolas)
    The Sitter (2011 USA, dir David Gordon Green, stars Jonah hill, Sam Rockwell)
    This is Not a Movie (2011 USA, dir Olallo Rubio, stars Edward Furlong, Peter Coyote)

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  • My Love for Film in a Snapshot #14

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    Chaplin’s streak of sentimentality doesn’t always work for me, and I’d say over the past few years I’ve grown to be a bigger fan of Keaton than Chaplin overall. But rewatching Modern Times (my favorite Chaplin by far) last week solidified that at least this one time, Chaplin’s combination of humor and pathos worked utterly perfectly for me. The Little Tramp’s struggles with mechanistic technology, labor strikes, hunger, homelessness, and authority have never been quite as well put-together as here, with every moment grabbing laughter and tears, often at the same time. This last shot is the Little Tramp’s farewell to cinema, Chaplin’s farewell to silence, and perhaps, a hopeful if tearful farewell to the Depression, as the Tramp and the Gamin walk off together, away from the city, away from the authorities, and towards the sunrise of a new life. No matter how many times I see the film, no matter how much I stoically steel myself against it, I can’t help tearing up at this moment – in large part, of course, to Chaplin’s score, which swells here with the theme “Smile”…”smile, though your heart is breaking.” A happy ending? Yes, but not without acknowledging hardships both past and future.

  • Film on TV: March 19-25

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    Quite a lot of Newly Featured ones this week, starting with a bunch tonight that I didn’t actually feature. TCM is running a tribute to the British New Wave on Mondays this month, and tonight has four heavy hitters: starting with This Sporting Life at 8pm, followed by Billy Liar, The Servant, and Seance on a Wet Afternoon. I haven’t seen a single one of these films, nor do I know much about them besides “British New Wave” and “should see,” so I didn’t write them up individually, but they’d definitely all be on my DVR if I still had cable.

    Monday, March 19

    8:00pm – TCM – This Sporting Life
    One of the foremost examples of the British “Angry Young Men” dramas of the early 1960s, known for their gritty and realistic portrayal of the working class. This one has a Northern England man gain rankings in the local rugby league, but he can’t be content with either his professional or personal situation.
    1963 UK. Director: Lindsay Anderson. Starring: Richard Harris, Rachel Roberts, Alan Badel.

    8:00pm – IFC – Kill Bill Vol. 1
    A lot of people would point to Pulp Fiction as Tarantino’s best film, and I think Inglourious Basterds is right up there, too, but I vote Kill Bill Vol. 1 for sheer amount of fun. He homages spaghetti westerns, Hong Kong fighting flicks, and revenge-sploitation, and ties it all together with incredible style.
    2003 USA. Director: Quentin Tarantino. Starring: Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox, Daryl Hannah, David Carradine.
    Must See
    (repeats at 1:15am on the 20th, 8:00pm on the 24th, and 1:15am on the 25th)

    10:15pm – IFC – Kill Bill Vol. 2
    On the one hand, Kill Bill Vol 1 isn’t quite complete without Kill Bill Vol 2. And there are a lot of good parts in here – the film noirish opening as the Bride catches us up on what’s going on, the fight with Daryl Hannah in the trailer, training with the kung fu master, her getting out of the coffin, etc. But the ending lags a little too much for me to truly say I enjoy watching it as much as Vol. 1.
    2004 USA. Director: Quentin Tarantino. Starring: Uma Thurman, Daryl Hannah, David Carradine, Michael Madsen.
    (repeats at 10:15 on the 24th)

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  • Saturday Morning Toons: The Cat Came Back (1988)

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    With the friendly debates over Canadian accents going on in the comments of the latest Cinecast episode, I figured I’d bring a little classic Canadian animation to the fore this week. “The Cat Came Back” was originally a comic children’s song written by Harry S. Miller way back in 1893. It has remained popular throughout the 20th century, but now it’s pretty much indelibly linked to Cordell Baker’s 1988 cartoon, depicting the trials of one Mr. Johnson as he struggles to get rid of a persistent and destructive little yellow cat. Frankly, Mr. Johnson does seem to get angry at the cat for very little reason in the beginning – if you didn’t want him to play with the rattle, why did you wave it in front of him? But the cat gets his revenge and moreso, as Mr. Johnson goes to ever more explosive lengths to get rid of him. The cartoon won a Genie Award for Best Animated Short, and was nominated for an Oscar, but lost to Tin Toy, one of the very earliest Pixar films. I guess if you’re going to lose an Oscar, losing to Pixar is about as good as you can do. I will warn you, once the song starts playing, you will NOT be able to get it out of your head.

  • DVD Triage: March 13, 2012

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    New Release Picks of the Week

    Melancholia
    Lars von Trier’s newest film is a masterful and artful (self-consciously so) exploration of depression in terms of the end of the world. It’s beautiful, and terrible, and overwhelming, and magnificent, with a near-career best performance from Kirsten Dunst. It’s also one of von Trier’s most accessible films, though I guess that’s not saying a lot.
    2011 Denmark. Director: Lars von Trier. Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland, Alexander Skarsgard.

    The Adventures of Tintin
    I had plenty of skepticism going into a 3D motion capture film, but The Adventures of Tintin won me over immediately, giving me a breathlessly whiz-bang adventure story that feels just like a 1930s serial updated to use modern technology, and quite well, too.
    2011 USA. Director: Steven Spielberg. Starring: Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost.

    Other New Releases

    Bag of Bones (2011 USA, dir Mick Garris, stars Pierce Brosnan)
    Fresh: New Thinking About What We’re Eating (2011 USA, dir Ana Joanes)
    The Guild: Season 5 (2011 USA, dir Sean Becker, stars Felicia Day)
    Happy Feet Two (2011 USA, dir George Miller, stars Elijah Wood)
    The Killing: Season 1 (2011 USA, stars Mireille Enos, Joel Kinnaman)
    Loosies (2012 USA, dir Michael Corrente, stars Peter Facinelli)
    My Joy (2011 Ukraine, dir Sergei Loznitsa, stars Vladimir Golovin)
    Neverland (2011 USA, dir Nick Willing, stars Rhys Ifans, Anna Friel)
    A Second Knock at the Door (2011 USA, dir Christopher E. Grimes)
    The Swell Season (2011 USA/Ireland, stars Glen Hansard, Marketa Irglova)
    The Three Musketeers (2011 USA, dir Paul W.S. Anderson, stars Milla Jovovich)
    Wallace & Gromit: World of Invention (2011 UK, dir Merlin Crossingham)

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  • Film on TV: March 12-18

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    Monday, March 12

    11:15am – TCM – A Star is Born
    This is not the better-known Judy Garland version, but the non-musical version featuring Janet Gaynor in one of her last roles. Gaynor’s not well remembered now, but she won the very first Academy Award for Best Actress back in 1928, and she holds this story of a hopeful ingenue married to a has-been actor together. I still love Judy’s version better (because I can’t get enough of her singing “The Man That Got Away”), but this one is well worth watching as well.
    1937 USA. Director: William A. Wellman. Starring: Janet Gaynor, Fredric March, Adolphe Menjou, May Robson.

    1:15pm – TCM – The Ox-Bow Incident
    A pair of drifters become the leaders of a lynch mob when they hear about a local cattle rustler and murderer. Ahead of its time in terms of psychological depth and shades-of-grey morality at a time when most westerns were pretty simplistic with clear good guys and bad guys.
    1943 USA. Director: William A. Wellman. Starring: Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, Anthony Quinn.

    6:40pm – Sundance – Mary and Max
    This adult-aimed stop-motion film from Australia got a number of positive reviews last year on the festival circuit, but didn’t get much of a release in the United States despite having a fairly recognizable voice cast. Anyway, here it is on Sundance, and I’m greatly looking forward to catching it one of these days.
    2009 Australia. Director: Adam Elliott. Starring: Toni Collette, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Eric Bana.

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  • Rank ‘Em: Academy Award Best Picture Winners

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    I know Kurt promised last week we were done with all the Academy Award related stuff, but I was already working on this, which took me longer than I’d hoped to finish. But then, this is by far the most epic and most difficult Rank ‘Em I have ever attempted. Not only are there a great many more Best Picture winners than there usually are films in an individual director or actor’s filmography (on average; of course there are prolific exceptions), but they’re also extremely diverse. We’re not dealing with the specific themes, genres or stylistics that a single director or actor tends to work with, nor even the limited amount of time that usually constrains a director or actor’s output, but with 84 years of cinema history going back to the silent era. I didn’t even attempt to rank these in “best” order – this is not a ranked list of the objectively best films to ever take the Academy’s top prize, but instead a personally biased ranking of Best Picture winners according to my own preferences. In fact, while making the list, I wasn’t even thinking “which of these films deserved to win Best Picture the most,” but simply, “which of these films do I like the most.” Some things are going to be surprisingly high, others surprisingly low. Feel free to quarrel with my placements, and even with my memory – some of these films I saw long ago. But enjoy it for what it is – a largely arbitrary list honoring what is a largely arbitrary award.

    I’ve split the post up into pages to mitigate load times a bit. Continue clicking through to get to my favorites. Also, there’s a handful of Best Picture winners I have not seen yet: All the King’s Men (1949), Marty (1955), Around the World in 80 Days (1956), A Man for All Seasons (1966), Rocky (1976), The Deer Hunter (1978), Ordinary People (1980), Terms of Endearment (1983), Platoon (1986), The Last Emperor (1987), Driving Miss Daisy (1989), and A Beautiful Mind (2001). So they won’t be included on the ranked list. The listings of my favorite films are just that, purely my favorites, with no thought as to whether they could’ve actually won the award or not (i.e., no American or prestige bias). The bolded nominee is the one of THOSE films I like the best; if none are bolded, I would’ve gone with the Academy choice – based on that set of nominees (or I haven’t seen enough of the other nominees to vote, which is the case with some of the earliest years).

    “Did it deserve to win” legend:
    Yes = the right film won the award this year
    Sure = I might’ve liked another film this year better, but this is an excellent choice
    Maybe = I won’t argue with it winning, either because it’s pretty solid or I like it personally
    Not really = it’s not the worst choice, but it doesn’t really deserve it
    No = a different film absolutely should’ve won this year

    #72: Crash (2005)

    If you know me at all, you’ll know the abiding hatred I have for Crash. In fact, a lengthy thread about this movie is even to blame for my presence at Row Three. What was initially just disappointment and dislike moved to hatred after the film gathered critical acclaim and eventually an Oscar win – in my opinion, the most egregiously misplaced Oscar win in the history of the Oscars, and not even because I was passionate about another film in the race. I’m not a particular Brokeback Mountain fan, either, as were most people who thought Crash should’ve lost. No, I just dislike this film that much. It’s well-made enough, I guess, but it’s so manipulative and heavy-handed in getting across a message that we all know, whether or not we necessarily put it into practice. Racism is still a problem, I realize this. Telling me racism is still a problem in the didactic and condescending way that this movie adopts is not effective. There, now that this one is out of the way, pretty much all the rest of the low-ranking films aren’t films I dislike, just ones that are unmemorable or unremarkable.

    Did it deserve to win? No
    Other nominees: Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Good Night and Good Luck, Munich
    My favorite film that year: Brick

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