YEAH, THIS IS LATE TOO!

One reason I finally got my act together now is because I discovered that undertaking any big project during the last part of February in a leap year would bring me much acclaim, fame and fortune.

Or it might have just been the train wreck over which Billy Crystal will preside this Sunday night. Actually, this is one of the few years that aside from the what-the-fuck? that is a best picture nomination for Seabiscuit, I didn't have too many problems with Oscar's noms, and I actually have a feeling I may agree with a bunch of the winners for one of the few times ever. But as I live and breathe movies, new and old, big and small, obscure and ... well ... not, and as I actually have vested, voting interests in both the Spirit Awards and the Razzies, this is a big weekend coming up, and I definitely wanted to post my thoughts and predictions. (I only ask for a 10% commission on any pool winnings. Now THAT would be a good use of "Trackback"!)

But since none of the awards groups truly reflected my own thoughts about the best and the worst, I had to take a moment to do so myself. To be "fair," there are plenty of movies from last year I did not get to, including Cold Mountain (seeing it tonight), but here's what I do know:

THE BEST

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King: I don't consider myself sheep. I do not prefer sci-fi or fantasy above all else. And I HATE overlong movies more than just about anything else. (As a good friend could tell you, my main criticism of most films is, "It was about 20 minutes too long.") I seriously do not understand much of the backlash/hate that has been placed upon this film, especially by overly-pretentious critics and artsy-asses who think anything without indie-cred is crap. What Peter Jackson accomplished in all three movies was incredible. The fact that he brought together the strengths of the first two movies into a near-perfect mixture of story, emotion and action in this third one was awe-inspiring to me. What he and his team did visually was revolutionary. He used all the elements of cinema to their fullest. While this was the best of the three films in my opinion, it is impossible to separate it from the other two, and I relish the day when I can watch all three (extended versions, natch!) back-to-back-to-back. 10-1/2 hours, feh! When Return of the King wins Sunday, it will do so deservedly.

2. City of God: There is a reason this Brazilian film that many people had not heard of received four Oscar nominations this year, none of which were Best Foreign Film -- it's fucking brilliant. Fernando Meirelles chronicle of life in the City of God section of Rio (a place we might call the Projects) is basically what Pulp Fiction would be minus the pulp and with a bit more substance. (Don't get me wrong ... I love Pulp Fiction; this film just deals with more important socialogical issues.) It's narrative is told through a collection of shorter "stories" that aren't always told in a linear way. The cinematography and editing provide an energy that grabs you right away and propels you through to the end, when I found myself sitting in awe, mouth agape, staring at the screen.

3. The Fog of War: Errol Morris's documentary about/first-person interview with JFK and LBJ Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara is the most important movie for every American to see today. Listening to (primarily) one person speak for 90 minutes has rarely been so compelling, and the parallels between the build-up to the Vietnam War and our current predicament in the middle east never so apparent. The scariest part to me is the old footage of McNamara: colorize it and the resemblance in sound and even appearance to Donald Rumsfeld is eerie. The audiotapes of LBJ bitch-slapping McNamara don't absolve the latter from his culpability in that period of American history, but it sure explains a lot. Sadly, it seems that even those "leaders" who rise to great heights don't always have the backbone to standup to loudmouths from Texas who think they know best. Yet again ... those damn parallels!

4. The Secret Lives of Dentists: I'm still not sure why this film has been so forgotten this year. I saw it at a screening last February and told my girlfriend I would be surprised if I saw many, if any, better films last year. I didn't. Alan Rudolph returned to the top of his game with the help of Craig Lucas's brilliant screenplay based on Jane Smiley's novella "The Age of Grief." It's a brilliant mediation on marriage, relationships, trust and the difficulty of communication between two people even if they love each other. Hope Davis and Campbell Scott are both brilliant, and I highly encourage you to rent this film if you haven't seen it. Get thee to thy Netflix queue immediately.

5. American Splendor: I just loved Robert Pulcini's and Shari Springer Berman's little mix of documentary and docu-drama. Hope Davis is just incredible as Pekar's neurotic and hypochondriacal but loving wife, and Paul Giamatti is almost better as Harvey Pekar than Pekar himself. Judah Friedlander steals the movie though as he actually is better than the real version of Pekar's nerdy best friend, Toby. I actually wouldn't mind seeing Pulcini and Berman upset Return of the King in the best adapted screenplay category on Sunday night.

6. Lost in Translation: Blah blah blah Sofia Coppola. Blah blah blah Bill Murray brilliant. Blah blah blah Scarlett Johansson sublime. It's all been said. You don't need to hear it from me.

7. Big Fish: I'm not always the biggest Tim Burton fan. I know that puts me in the minority, but I've always found him to be way more style than substance, with the exception of Ed Wood, which I loved. I know some people have found this a little schmaltzy, but personally, I think it's Burton's most mature movie to date -- mature as a filmmaker, not in an adult sensibility. Nobody wants Burton to lose his sense of childhood wonder and innocence, but Big Fish manages to take his visual whimsy and combine it with a wonderfully told story. The film owes an enormous debt to the great Federico Fellini and his brilliant 8-1/2 due to its culminating congregation of the entire cast of characters in an almost carnival-like atmosphere and its very existence as a memory play where the distinction between reality and fantasy is less important than the emotions that the memories or stories evoke. Nice work, Tim.

8. Monster: I can't use the word "pleasantly" to describe how surprised I was at my reaction Patty Jenkins's film or Charlize Theron's performance. I'm sick of the backlash against Theron for "uglying" herself or the idea that an actor who happens to be great-looking should not be allowed to play a character who is not. Jenkins and Theron do a brilliant job of making the film's Aileen Wournos (I don't pretend that this character is necessarily 100% true-to-life) uncomfortably sympathetic while never forgiving her for her actions. The trauma she experienced does not excuse or even fully explain her rage and violent reaction against those she killed. Her fucked-up thought-process is exposed completely, and I found myself pitying her while also holding her completely responsible for her actions. The film does have its flaws, and Christina Ricci is somewhat flat (at least, her performance is) throughout, but this film stayed with me long after I left the theatre.

9. Mystic River: Clint Eastwood's direction is masterful, and Sean Penn and Tim Robbins give two of the performances of the year, but I was most impressed by Brian Helgeland's superb adaptation of Dennis Lehane's novel. The book is told the alternating points-of-view of the three main characters, and it's more thought than action. Helgeland expertly maneuvers the transition from in-the-head to ready-for-the-screen without losing much from the essence of Lehane's book. In fact, I preferred the movie to the novel in one way, although credit for that mostly goes to Penn. Penn's character, Jimmy Marcus, goes through a transformation by the end of the story that I didn't totally buy in the novel based on how Lehane presents him throughout the story. In the film, however, Penn instills Jimmy with a consistent explosiveness and ruthlessness hiding just beneath the surface that makes the climax of the action much more believable.

10. Respiro: A beautiful, atmospheric Italian film clearly inspired by the greats of Neorealism. Not a lot happens on time seems to have stood still on this small fishing island of Lampedusa off the west coast of Sicily. Valeria Golino is one of only two professional actors in the film; director Emanuele Crialese used mostly nonactors who improvised most of the dialogue to create a heightened sense of reality. The story deals with how the very traditional inhabitants of this island realize that losing their most eccentric neighbor actually removes a vital piece of their own character and what makes their community so special. Truly a beautiful film and wonderful experience.
    

Honorable mention: 21 Grams, Bad Santa, Capturing the Friedmans, Elf, Finding Nemo, In America, Irreversible, Kill Bill Vol. 1, A Mighty Wind, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Raising Victor Vargas, The School of Rock, The Station Agent, The Triplets of Belleville and Whale Rider.

And finally, since they don't deserve a lot of space anyway, here are (in no particular order, and skipping the big three of Gigli, From Justin to Kelly and The Real Cancun) ...

The Worst

• 2 Fast, 2 Furious: John Singleton should have stayed in the 'hood where he was good. And please, someone tell me why Paul Walker is allowed to act.
  
• Bad Boys 2: I am now convinced that Michael Bay does not ever watch his movies in their entirety from beginning to end. He makes action sequences and music videos and then pieces them together without paying any attention to the final product. It's truly horrifying.
  
• The Company: When Robert Altman is good, there's nobody better. When Robert Altman is bad, we get The Company.
  
• The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: If you have ever loved Sean Connery so much that you said, "I could watch him read the phone book," this will change your mind. He sleepwalks through this paycheck, and he's still possibly the best thing in this dreck.
  
• Open Range: OK ... it really isn't among the worst, but I consider it one of the biggest missed opportunities of the year. Kevin Costner can't direct ... it's that simple. He's too overly reverent of John Ford, but not nearly as good. However, he's a great Western hero, and maybe the only great one of the current era. I imagine Clint Eastwood directing this film, and I nearly tear-up. Please ... Clint, Kevin ... get together ... do a western ... it will be brilliant.
  
• The Matrix: Reloaded and The Matrix: Revolutions: It's not really that they're terrible -- they're not really. It's just that they're so not as good as the original, they change the entire mythology of the world of the original, and basically, they were completely unnecessary.

Yeah, I'm sure there are others, but thankfully, I didn't see them.

And by the way ... future posts ... they'll be shorter!