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The 50 Best Films of the Decade: No. 11-20

January 5th, 2010 by Scott Marks

Lyrics by Scott Marks, arrangement by Anders Wright.

20. “No Country for Old Men” / Joel & Ethan Coen (2008)
The biggest problem I have with the Coen Brothers is my inability to connect with their sense of humor. The boys seldom if ever make me laugh. There is also this certain smug sense of schoolyard bullies getting cheap laughs at their character’s expense. It’s okay if you think that all of your characters are shits, just don’t pretend that you like when it becomes convenient for you to do so. Try finding a laugh line in the Cormac McCarthy novel upon this was based. Bergman produced more titters. In spite of some of the logic problems I have with the movie and the Coen Bros. in general, “No Country for Old Men” is their masterpiece. No film this decade, not “Limits of Control” or even “Il Divo” sparked this much discussion. It took me three viewings and the help of many before I was able to firmly grasp the film’s ending. Any movie that makes me work this hard deserves my respect.

Martin Scorsese stars in Paul Schrader’s upcoming Dominion: Prequel to the Excorcist Sequel.”

19. Martin Scorsese
Okay…I’ll be the first to admit it wasn’t His most fertile decade, but do you think that I’m going to compile a decade’s best that doesn’t in some way honor Him? It peaked very early with “Gangs of New York,” easily His best film of the decade. A rough, gritty, profane popcorn picture aided and abetted by Dante Ferretti’s breathtaking recreation of New York’s Three Corners. His most indelible image of the past ten years is the bloody footprints in the snow. It was as if he was channeling the last shot in Borzage’s “Mortal Storm.” He was also one of the first filmmakers to acknowledge 9/11 and at the time it opened, the final shot was a choker. “The Aviator” houses his best scene of the decade – the plane crash landing in suburbia – but the script was not up to par (when all else fails blame the screenwriter) and it never amounted to much more than a diversion. “The Departed” finally brought Him an Academy Award. Right church, wrong pew. They should have given Him the Oscar for “Gangs” and been done with it. He fared much better as a documentarian. “My Voyage to Italy” was a worthy successor to “A Journey Through Cinema…” and I probably learned more about Marty when he went off topic and spent a few hours talking music with Dylan than I did in either of His movie histories. Then there was “Shine a Light,” the documentary equivalent of “The Departed.” Marty’s most brilliant moments of the decade came when he performed in front of the camera. The American Express commercial (“It’s been an hour!”) was sublime. What’s funnier, Martin Scorsese having his photos processed at a drug store or Martin Scorsese personally going to said drug store to pick them up? The premise alone has more on the ball than anything in “The Departed.” I’ve probably watched Marty’s 60 second message instructing theatergoers to silence their cell phones (and themselves) enough times to constitute a feature. Marty’s “Nah, I’ll get it, please” dismissal is funnier than anything in “Borat” and the “Excuse Me” cutaway is tighter than anything in “Raging Bull.” It should have been a five second spot. Fade In on Marty who looks directly into the camera and says, “Shut the f*@# up!” Until then, all roads lead to February 19.

18. “Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance” / Chan-wook Park (2002)
Part One of Chan Wook Park’s Vengeance Trilogy (“Oldboy” and “Lady Vengeance” followed). Ryu (Shin Ha-kyun), a young deaf mute, is fired from his factory job for spending too much time away caring for a sister fighting kidney failure. A black market cash-for-kidney scheme leaves Ryu without either. Joined by his leftist girlfriend Yeong-mi (Du-na Bae), the two decide to raise organ money by ransoming off the four-year-old daughter of Ryu’s former employer. And that’s just the first eighteen minutes! There’s six more reels of multiple vengeance, murder, stunning ‘Scope compositions, torture, suicide, an expressionistic use of color, electrocution, and Baskin-Robbins’ 32nd flavor, kidney.

Continue reading The 50 Best Films of the Decade: No. 11-20

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The San Diego Film Critics Award this year’s top honors

December 18th, 2007 by Scott Marks

no-country-for-old-men.jpg

 

Riddle me this: With the hundreds of movies released every year, why is it that come awards time everything hinges on 5 or 10 pictures?

First off, a lot of local critics won’t see some of the more obscure foreign films because their readers are more interested in Shia LeBeouf than Jafar Panahi. Sadly, more and more critics wind up watching screeners instead of trekking to the screening and studios are not likely to send copies of films that even they know don’t stand a chance of winning. Hence Offside and Killer of Sheep, two of my top three films this year, weren’t even considered.

2007 turned out to be one the worst years for movies ever; compiling a 10 best list is virtually impossible. With not much to chose from, the voting went rather quickly. The eleven of us met in a conference room at KPBS and in three hours all votes were argued and tallied.

Well, not exactly argued. You’d be surprised how many critics sit in silence, never so much as offering one word’s defense for any of their choices. They circle their picks before the floor is opened for debate. At least be polite enough to pretend that you’re interested in what your colleagues have to say.

My partner on the Film Club is a royal polemicist, so Beth and I were responsible for a lot of the verbal pyrotechnics. A welcome addition to this year’s vote was City Beat critic Anders Wright. He’s a bright film junkie who knows his stuff and in at least one instance (best score) actually convinced me to change my mind.

As mentioned in an earlier piece, the sole reason the group exists is so we may fill a shelf with screeners come November. With the exception of the annoying Juno’s best original screenplay award, this year’s selections were by no means an embarrassment.

And the winners are…

Best Picture
No Country for Old Men

Best Director
Paul Thomas Anderson for There Will Be Blood

Best Actress
Julie Christie for Away from Her

Best Actor
Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Ryan for Gone Baby Gone

Best Supporting Actor
Tommy Lee Jones in No Country for Old Men

Best Original Screenplay
Diablo Cody for Juno

Best Adapted Screenplay
Paul Thomas Anderson for There Will Be Blood

Best Foreign Film
The Diving Bell and the Mermaid

Best Documentary
A tie: Crazy Love and Deep Water

Best Animated Feature
Ratatouille

Best Cinematography
Roger Deakins for No Country for Old Men

Best Production Design
Dante Ferretti for Sweeney Todd

Best Editing
Paul Tothill for Atonement

Best Score
Jonny Greenwood for There Will Be Blood

Best Ensemble Performance
No Country For Old Men

Outstanding Body of Work
Christian Bale for Rescue Dawn, 3:10 to Yuma and I’m Not There

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