This is inspired by Nick Davis's remembrances of his many trips to the movies through the 2000's. One thing I am going to do differently though, is to include some notable home-video viewings as well. Some of my most memorable movie moments this year were home-video viewings, and some of my theatre viewings weren't worth blogging. It wasn't my most active year of movie-watching (due to a full-time teaching position that I had for several months) but it was a fun one, and this gives a small representation of what I watched, and how I felt about it.
January 14, Rave Valley Bend 18, Huntsville, AL
Who gets up, leaves home by 9:00 AM on a Saturday morning, and drives to a movie theatre almost forty miles from home just to see The Artist and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy? That would be me. I was teaching full time then and I didn't have time for weeknight movies, so this was pretty much my only bet. I caught a 10:30 showing of The Artist, and maybe it was because of the early showtime, but I was shocked that there were less than ten people in the theatre. I was also shocked that the audience really didn't seem to fall in love with the movie the way I had thought they would. I myself liked it, okay, but it was nothing like the full-on coup of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy at 1:30. Even though I had read the book, I went into Tinker Tailor..., fully expecting to be confused and frustrated, but it turned out to be as good of an adaptation of a novel as one could hope for. From the perfectly moody atmosphere to the tricks it plays on us--especially by making us wonder when the "plot" is going to really kick in, only for us to realize that it kicked in from the minute it started--I totally, completely fell for it, and to my surprise, the audience did as well.
Based on US Release Date
Best Film:
1- The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick)
2- A Separation (Asghar Farhadi)
3- Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami)
4- Of Gods and Men (Xavier Beauvois)
5- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Tomas Alfredson)
6- Take Shelter (Jeff Nichols)
7- Like Crazy (Drake Doremus)
8- City of Life and Death (Lu Chuan)
9- Into the Abyss (Werner Herzog)
10- War Horse (Steven Spielberg)
Runners-Up: J. Edgar (Clint Eastwood), Higher Ground (Vera Farmiga), How I Ended This Summer (Aleksey Popogrebsky)
Director:
1- Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life
2- Asghar Farhadi, A Separation
3- Abbas Kiarostami, Certified Copy
4- Xavier Beauvious, Of Gods and Men
5- Tomas Alfredson, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Actor:
1- Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
2- Michael Shannon, Take Shelter
3- Michael Fassbender, Shame
4- Grigoriy Dobrygin, How I Ended This Summer
5- Michael Sheen, Beautiful Boy
Actress:
1- Juliette Binoche, Certified Copy
2- Maria Bello, Beautiful Boy
3- Vera Farmiga, Higher Ground
4- Yun Jeong-hee, Poetry
5- Olivia Colman, Tyrannosaur
Supporting Actor:
1- Armie Hammer, J. Edgar
2- Shahab Hosseini, A Separation
3- Norbert Leo Butz, Higher Ground
4- Jeremy Irons, Margin Call
5- Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Ides of March
Supporting Actress:
1- Jessica Chastiain, Take Shelter (and The Debt, The Help, Coriolanus, and The Tree of Life)
2- Vanessa Redgrave, Coriolanus
3- Sareh Bayet, A Separation
4- Carey Mulligan, Shame
5- Jeannie Berlin, Margaret
Ensemble:
1- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
2- A Separation
3- Higher Ground
4- Margaret
5- Crazy Stupid Love
Adapted Screenplay:
1- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
2- Higher Ground
3- Moneyball
4- One Day
5- Incendies
Original Screenplay:
1- A Separation
2- Certified Copy
3- Take Shelter
4- J. Edgar
5- Margin Call
Cinematography:
1- The Tree of Life
2- City of Life and Death
3- Mysteries of Lisbon
4- Like Crazy
5- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Editing:
1- The Tree of Life
2- Certified Copy
3- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
4- Moneyball
5- A Separation
Score:
1- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
2- Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
3- Take Shelter
4- City of Life and Death
5- War Horse
Production Design:
1- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
2- City of Life and Death
3- War Horse
4- Shame
5- The Tree of Life
Costume Design:
1- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
2- J. Edgar
3- Mysteries of Lisbon
4- Crazy Stupid Love
5- Higher Ground
Makeup:
1- Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
2- City of Life and Death
3- Contagion
4- The Ides of March
5- Higher Ground
Sound:
1- The Tree of Life
2- How I Ended This Summer
3- City of Life and Death
4- War Horse
5- Drive
Sound Effects:
1- War Horse
2- Drive
3- City of Life and Death
4- How I Ended This Summer
5- The Robber
Visual Effects:
1- The Tree of Life
2- Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
3- Rise of the Planet of the Apes
