Critic Consensus Top Ten Films of 2005 & 2004

Okay, in order to quench my addictive personality, I had, HAD to calculate 2005 and 2004! (Don't ask why!)

After giving myself a killer mini-migraine, I felt like Paul Newman in the picture above!

Well, here it is: (this is officially IT, until, of course, 2008 tallies come in).

Critic Consensus Top Ten Films of 2005...

10. 2046 (57)
9. Cache (67)
8. Good Night, and Good Luck (88)
7. Capote (94)
6. King Kong (97.5)
5. Grizzly Man (101)
4. Munich (104)
3. The Squid and The Whale (117)
2. A History of Violence (137)
1. Brokeback Mountain (212)

Let's take a look at that year's Academy Award Nominations:

-Winner: "Crash" (15, 47)
-"Brokeback Mountain" (1, 212)
-"Munich" (4, 108)
-"Capote" (7, 94)
-"Good Night, and Good Luck" (8, 88)

Wow. How the HELL did "Crash" win that year??? I mean, it had some amazing moments and I liked the film, enough to be in my own personal Top Ten of that year, but I never, EVER thought it could win Best Picture.

"Brokeback Mountain" definitely deserved the Top Award. For Christ's sake, even Miranda July's super-indie "Me & You & Everyone You Know" (14, 51) beat out "Crash"!

Biggest Critical Miss? Uhm, can you say "The New World" (43, 15)??? I mean, that film by Malick was a masterpiece! Better than "A Thin Red Line" and definitely better than "The Devil's Rejects" (38, 18), "Kung Fu Hustle" (34, 24), and (don't get me started) "Cinderella Man" (23, 37)! Are you serious? That film was begging moviegoers to see it or they'd be given their money back! What the EFFER??

Whew. All right, let's move onto 2004 before I blow a gasket!

Critic Consensus Top Ten Films of 2004...

10. Moolade (61)
9. Bad Education (75)
8. The Aviator (76)
7. Maria Full of Grace (78)
6. House of Flying Daggers (90)
5. The Incredibles (126)
4. Before Sunset (148)
3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (186.5)
2. Million Dollar Baby (196)
1. Sideways (233)

Again, and the Academy Award Nominations went to:

-Winner: "Million Dollar Baby" (2, 196)
-"Sideways" (1, 233)
-"The Aviator" (8, 76)
-"Ray" (23, 19)
-"Finding Neverland" (62, 6)

Wow. Now, I can understand the Academy digging "Finding Neverland", it was a pretty solid movie, but it was in 62nd place!!?!?!? That's like giving an Olympic track-guy, who fails to qualify for the semi-finals, a spot on the podium.

Then, we have "Ray". That movie was just plain horrible. It was like a Greatest Hits of Ray's life without any emotion or substance.

Who got Robbed in 2004?

"Eternal Sunshine" (3, 186.5)? Seriously. Was this "too difficult" for the Academy? I mean, how can you look at yourself in the mirror, and not pick this film. Critically lauded. Masterpiece.

"Maria Full of Grace" (7, 78)? Hah. Maybe they didn't want to include two indies? Who the heck knows with them.

This is fun.

I hope it is fun for you as well!

Happy New Year!

See you next week!

Critic Consensus Top Ten Films of 2006

The 2008 Critic Consensus List is still tallying top tens, so, since I did the 2006 version anyway, and I'm still tired and sore after cutting my fingers THRICE while assembling child, and evidently, adult-proof toys for my son Luke, here is the...

...Critic Consensus Top Ten Films of 2006.

10. Little Miss Sunshine (92)
9. Babel (109)
8. Children of Men (123)
7. Army of Shadows (124)
6. Borat (158)
5. The Queen (163)
4. Letters From Iwo Jima (188)
3. Pan's Labyrinth (198)
2. The Departed (224)
1. United 93 (270)

I'm going to do a little wrinkle this week.

Academy Award Best Picture Nominations for 2007.

-Winner: "The Departed" (2, 224)
-"Letters From Iwo Jima" (4, 188)
-"The Queen" (5, 163)
-"Babel" (9, 109)
-"Little Miss Sunshine" (10, 92)

Looking back now, we see that "United 93" was robbed big-time.

In my opinion, the noms should've been:

-"The Departed", "Letters From Iwo Jima", "The Queen", "Children of Men", & "United 93".

"Babel" is not better than "Amores Perros" and "Little Miss Sunshine" was a terrible, terrible mess of a movie.

This is fun, let's look back at the Critic Consensus Top Ten Films of 2007 and compare them to the Academy Award Nominations of 2008.

-Winner: "No Country For Old Men" (1, 300)
-"There Will Be Blood" (3, 194)
-"Atonement" (4, 124)
-"Michael Clayton" (11, 84)
-"Juno" (15, 77)

Again, solely my opinion here, but if I was doing the Noms...

-"No Country For Old Men" (even though, upon second viewing, the film is completely boring and the book is much, much better), "There Will Be Blood" (a masterpiece and probably my favorite film of ALL-TIME), "The Diving Bell and Butterfly" (another masterpiece), "The Lives of Others" (masterpiece theater), & finally "Juno" (which I loved).

Critic Consensus Top Ten Films of 2007

"The Critic Sees" by Jasper Johns.






If any of you really know me out there, you know that I'm a statistical hound.

I was the type of kid that read Baseball Enyclopedias for breakfast and invented stats before sabermetrics spawned moneyball.

Well, I've decided to blend my statistical background with my film "foreground" and comprise a formula that best illustrates the critical consensus best films of the year.

I'm starting with the Year 2007 because the raw data has already been compiled.

I will update the Year 2008 sometime in January when all the lists are in.

First things first: The Formula.

It's really easy. Even my wife, who is notoriously horrid in math, can figure this out.

I take the Top Ten Lists of the National Critics from The Austin Chronicle to the Washington Post (which are compiled on Metacritic.com) and I allocate the following scores to the list:

1(10 points), 2(9), 3(8), 4(7), 5(6),6(5),7(4),8(3),9(2),10(1).

Criteria: Some critics have a tendency to bend the rules in their favor. This is like a student not doing the homework assignment. This is a TOP TEN List, not a Top Eleven, or a Top Ten and 1/2. TOP TEN.

But I'm willing to be a little lenient. If your (critic's) list has one-tie, then your list is admissable.

Two or more ties?

Sorry, try again next year and maybe read the assignment.

That goes for you: Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader, Scott Foundas & Ella Taylor of the LA Weekly, Kenneth Turan & Carina Chocano of the Los Angeles Times, A.O. Scott & Manohla Dargis of the New York Times, & lastly you, Dennis Harvey of Variety.

Upon further ado, here is the Critic Consensus Top Ten Films of 2007.

10. Zodiac (99)
9. The Lives of Others (99)
8. I'm Not There (102)
7. Into the Wild (104)
6. Once (113)
5. Ratatouille (123.5)
4. Atonement (124)
3. There Will Be Blood (194)
2. The Diving Bell & Butterfly (230)
1. No Country For Old Men (300)

Why, do you ask, does "The Lives of Others" beat out "Zodiac" even though they both have 99?

Easy. Tie-breaker. The first tie-breaker is the highest score (10). They both have 2. The next tie-breaker is the second highest score (9). "The Lives of Others" had more.

If any of you are interested in learning which other films rank on the list, then please either:

1) Name the film in the comment section and I will reply,

OR

2) Pick a number between 11 and 120, and I will glady reply back.

The list spans from "No Country For Old Men" (300) to "The TV Set" (1).

Let's just pick a random number and test the system, I'm thinking...

67?

"A Mighty Heart" (8)

How 'bout...

29?

"Gone Baby Gone" (21)

And last, the year I was born...

'79?

"Blame It on Fidel!"

The End.

Short Film Within a Feature: "Brooks Was Here" from the "The Shawshank Redemption" (1994)

Brooks Was Here

"Short Film Within a Feature" is a new, ongoing segment of Continuity Film that examines a sequence in a feature film that can stand-alone as its own short film.

There is a sequence in Frank Darabont's "The Shawshank Redemption" (1994) that would make a perfect and powerful short film.

I've titled it "Brooks Was Here" and it is about Brooks Hatlen, an elderly man who struggles to adapt to his new life.

Taken out of the context of "Shawshank", "Brooks Was Here" still works as a short.



A raven crows as we see Brooks Hatlen, an elderly man in what we assume is a library, talking to a raven named Jake. He tells Jake that he can’t take care of him anymore and that he is free.

The raven flies through a window and Brooks is sad.

Brooks shakes hands with Prison Guards as he walks out into the new world.

The piano slowly chimes in, playing a song of melancholy.

Brooks is then seen gripping tightly, with both hands, onto a railing in a bus. He is frightened. He looks like a lost boy.

Brooks is then seen walking down a street carrying a briefcase. A large bus passes by in front of him.

A Voice-Over starts with “Dear fellas…”.

It is Brooks’s voice.

Brooks almost gets hit by a car as he attempts to cross a street.

He uses the word “automobile”, an old term for car, which indicates that he’s been away for awhile.

A door opens and he is given keys to an apartment.

We learn from his VO that the parole board got him a room in a halfway house called “The Brewer” and a job bagging groceries at the Foodway.

He is brow-beaten by a young Store Manager who reminds him to double-bag his groceries.

Birds eat feed as Brooks sits on a park bench. We learn that he goes there and hopes that his raven Jake might show up.

But he never does.

Brooks tosses and turns in his bed. It is night time. We learn that he has trouble sleeping at night, that he has bad dreams of falling, that he wakes up scared and he doesn’t remember where he is.

Brooks contemplates getting a gun and robbing the Foodway, maybe even shooting the Store Manager. What is critical in this scene and VO is that Brooks says: “Maybe I can get a gun and rob the Foodway so that they can send me home.”

Home.

We see Brooks neatly folding his clothes into an open suitcase and he thinks again about the gun and says he’s too old for that nonsense.

While fixing his tie and looking into a mirror, we learn that Brooks is tired of being afraid and decides not to stay.

He pulls out a knife and we automatically fear that he’s going to slit his wrists but instead he looks up and climbs a chair and then a table.

He balances himself on the table as he begins carving something on the wall of the threshold.

Wood fragments fall onto the table, in-between his two feet.

Through the prison-like railings of the threshold, we see Brooks closing his knife and smiling at what he wrote.

We then see the shot of his feet. He raises himself to his tippy-toes.

He balances his feet again and then rocks side-to-side and…

…the table gives way but Brooks is suspended in the air.

His feet shake and we can see the back of his body in the reflection of the mirror in the background.

We track-back from the wall that reads “Brook Was Here” to reveal…

…Brooks hanging from a rope.

Dissolves to:

A letter being read by Andy and his prison-mate Red.

It turns out that the VO of Brooks was his suicide letter to his friends in prison.

Home.

Best Actor Nominations 2009 (Based Solely on Trailers) TAKE 2

The 2009 Oscar Race just entered the Stretch Run as December is now one-week old.

Months ago, I decided to predict the 2009 Best Actor Nominations (Based Solely on Trailers) as one of my first posts.

Well, things have changed.

The original list included: Sean Penn, "Milk"; Frank Langella, "Frost/Nixon"; Jaime Foxx, "The Soloist"; Heath Ledger, "The Dark Knight"; & Leonardo DiCaprio, "Revolutionary Road."

The updated list has 3 Locks: Penn, Langella, & DiCaprio.

"The Soloist" was pushed back to April, 2009. Therefore, DQ'ing Foxx from 2009 contention.

Plus, the word around the campfire is that Ledger will be nommed for the Best Supporting Actor award to increase his chances of being only the second actor to win a major-acting award posthumously (Peter Finch, "Network" (1976)).

That means there are two spots open.

Well, one just got filled up pretty quick!

Watch the trailer below and see what I mean.



Mickey Rourke -- "The Wrestler" (2008).

Oscar Background: None.

The Clincher: (1:06-1:17) & (1:43-1:44).

Thoughts: Mickey Rourke. Yeah, that's not a typo. Now, if it was all about incredible physique, then Stallone would've been a contender for his HGH-induced role in "Rocky Balboa" a couple of years ago (but that film was garbage, worse than "Rocky 5", which I thought would be impossible to do!). Rourke looks absolutely amazing in this trailer. On face-value, it looks like Rourke has completely immersed himself into the role of Randy "The Ram" Robinson, an amalgam of 1980s washed-up, has-been wrestlers of yesteryear. Sure, it's a redemption-piece, and we've seen that a million times, but this feels different, it feels important. And the film seems to mirror his own up-and-down career in film. From his dazzling start in "Diner" (1982), to his amateur boxing days, to his freak-performance in the Dennis Rodman/Van Damme actioner "Double Team" (1997), to now.

Like his character says in the trailer:

"With a little luck, this could be my ticket back on top."

I hope it is.