Click for full list.
Directing
- James Grey’s Two Lovers
- Lars von Trier’s Antichrist
- Quentin Tarentino’s Inglourious Basterds
- Michael Heneke’s White Ribbon
- Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker
- Chan wook Park’s Thirst
- Duncan Jones’s Moon
- Roy Anderrson’s You, The Living
- Jane Campion’s Bright Star
- Coen Brother’s A Serious Man
- John Hillcoat’s The Road
Writing
- QT’s Inglorous Basterds
- Armando Iannucci and co.’s In the Loop
- James Grey’s Two Lovers
- Coen Brothers’ A Serious Man
- Alessandro Camon and Oren Moveman’s The Messenger (a better story than Hurt Locker!)
- Duncan Jones and Nate Parker, Moon
- Woody Allen, Whatever Works (oh, shut up, the writing in that shit is tight)
Favorite Performances
- Sam Rockwell in Moon–one of the best one-man-performance movies ever. No other actor put as much in a role as Rockwell did. He not in the movie, he is the movie. Rockwell needs his due.
- Charlotte Gainsburrow and Willem Dafoe in Antichrist
- Kang-ho Song in Thirst–Easily my favorite international actor. The best vampire performance since Willem Dafoe in “Shadow of the Vampire.”
- Viggo Mortensen in The Road–History of Violence, Eastern Promises, The Road. Wow.
- Cristoph Waltz in Inglorous Basterds
- Peter Capaldi in In the Loop–”Climbing the mountain of conflict”? You sounded like a Nazi Julie Andrews!”
- Melenie Lorrent in Inglorous Basterds–Nobody could have seen either Lorrent (or Waltz) coming. While he stole the show, the movie belonged to her.
- Joaquin Phoenix in Two Lovers
- Jeremy Renner in Hurt Locker
- Tilda Swinton in Julia
- Colin Firth in A Single Man–This is what happens when a great actor finally gets a great role.
- Woody Harrelson in The Messenger and Zombieland–Great fun in Zombieland, great sad in Messenger. Harrlson plays crocked eyed wild in both but his crying scene in the later is one of the best dude crying scene in recent memory.
- Jason Cope in District 9–If only the movie was as good as the performance.
- Samantha Morton in The Messenger–One of the best actresses working. What baffles me is how few talked about how good she was in this film.
- Bill Murry in Zombieland and Limits of Control–Most leading performance did not contain as much brilliance as Murray’s five or so minute scenes in these two movies.
- Nick Cage in Knowing and Bad Leutenent–A laughable actor in two laughably good films. Bad Lt. specifically figured out Cage in a way few films have.
- Paul Schneider in Bright Star
- Abbie Cornish in Bright Star ?
- Mimi Kennedy in In the Loop
- Jeffery Dean Morgan in Watchmen
Cinematography
- Javier Aguirresarobe, The Road
- Anthony Dod Mantle, Antichrist (hereby forgiven for being the DP on Slumdog)
- Bruno Delbonnel, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
- Joaquin Baca0-Asay, Two Lovers
- Robert Richardson, Inglourious Basterds
- Roger Deakins, A Serious Man
Best and/or Most Iconic Lines
- “I can’t stand to see a woman bleed from the mouth. It reminds me of that Country and Western music which I cannot abide.” In the Loop
- “Chaos reigns.” Antichrist
- “Wait for the crème.” Inglorous Basterds
- “You don’t speak Spanish, do you?” Limits of Control
- “My name is Shosanna Dreyfus and THIS is the face of Jewish vengeance!” Inglorous Basterds
- “I failed John Keats. I did not know until now how tightly he wound himself around my heart.” Bright Star (that line gets me every time)
- “What are these fucking iguanas doing on my coffee table!” Bad Lieutenant
- “I can’t say enough times, whatever love you can get and give, whatever happiness you can filch or provide, every temporary measure of grace, whatever works.” Whatever Works
- “Goddamn it, Bill fucking Murray!” Zombieland
- “His soul is dancing.” Bad Lieutenant
- “Is Doc Miles gonna have to choke a bitch?” Crank: High Voltage
- “Are you mad that you died at the end of Die Hard?” Funny People
- And this one from A Serious Man…
Larry Gopnik: So, uh, what can I do for you?
Clive Park: Uh, Dr. Gopnik, I believe the results of physics mid-term were unjust.
Larry Gopnik: Uh-huh, how so?
Clive Park: I received an unsatisfactory grade. In fact: F, the failing grade.
Larry Gopnik: Uh, yes. You failed the mid-term. That’s accurate.
Clive Park: Yes, but this is not just. I was unaware to be examined on the mathematics.
Larry Gopnik: Well, you can’t do physics without mathematics, really, can you?
Clive Park: If I receive failing grade I lose my scholarship, and feel shame. I understand the physics. I understand the dead cat.
Larry Gopnik: You understand the dead cat? But… you… you can’t really understand the physics without understanding the math. The math tells how it really works. That’s the real thing; the stories I give you in class are just illustrative; they’re like, fables, say, to help give you a picture. An imperfect model. I mean – even I don’t understand the dead cat. The math is how it really works.
Clive Park: Very difficult… very difficult…
Larry Gopnik: Well, I… I’m sorry, but I… what do you propose?
Clive Park: Passing grade.
Larry Gopnik: No no, I…
Clive Park: Or perhaps I can take the mid-term again. Now I know it covers mathematics.
Larry Gopnik: Well, the other students wouldn’t like that, would they, if one student gets to retake the test till he gets a grade he likes?
Clive Park: Secret test.
Larry Gopnik: No, I’m afraid…
Clive Park: Hush-hush.
Larry Gopnik: No, that’s just not workable. I’m afraid we’ll just have to bite the bullet on this thing, Clive, and…
Clive Park: Very troubling… very troubling…
Music
- Clint Mansell, Moon (one of the best composers around)
- Hanz Zimmer, Sherlock Holmes(Hanz is back!)
- Christopher Young, Drag me to Hell
- Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, The Road
- Joe Hisaishi, Ponyo
- Abel Krozeniowski, A Single Man (see, it’s possible to sound like Phillip Glass w/o being as annoying as him)
- Mike Patton, Crank: High Voltage
- Michael Giacchino, Star Trek (much, much better than his Up score)
- Mark Jakubowicz and Fernando Villena, Crank: High Voltage
- Sally Menke, Inglourious Basterds
- Anders Refn, Antichrist
- Jon Gregory, The Road
- Ant Boys (real name?) and Billy Sneddon, In the Loop
Best Set Piece
Pretty much any sequence in Hurt Lucker.
The bar scene in Basterds which is not even really a set piece… which is why it’s such a good set piece!
Best Nekkedness
That girl in Jarmish’s Limits of Control that was naked for like the whole movie!
Liam Neeson from Taken vs. Jason Stathem from Crank
I can’t, I can’t, it’s like choosing between my two (really buffy) kids. Okay, Chev wins the fight but only because he can’t really be killed.
Best Horror
Antichrist, best of the year, which makes it two years in a row for the horror genre.
Best Vampire Movie: Thirst
Best Zombie Movie: Zombieland
Best Sci-fi
The Box and Knowing
Funniest Movie
In the Loop
Best TV Movie
Caprica… long live the new/old flesh!
Best 3D Movie
Still not Avatar so Coraline it is!
Best Ensemble Performance
- Basterds–Pitt, Waltz, Lorrent etc.
- Moon (not New Moon!)–Rockwell, Rockwell, Rockwell and Robot.
- Bright Star–Cornish, Winshaw, Snyder, Fox.
Best Non-Human Performance
- Kevin Spacey in Moon. Robot.
- Jason Schwartzman in Fantastic Mr. Fox. Fox (better in clay than he was in flesh in Funny People)
- Up‘s talking dog. Dog.
- Jim Carrey in Christmas Carol. Um, human.
- Dakota Fanning as Coraline.
Best Video Game Performance/Voice Acting
- Nolan North in Uncharted 2
- Mark Hamill in Batman Arkham Asylum
- Cammy in Street Fighter IV (not good, just like looking at the booty)
Finally, check later in the week for the final installment if the best, before I get to the worst that is.
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