What movies have I liked so far this year? I used to keep a list on Facebook until Facebook stopped letting people list things they liked without linking to their promotional pages (so, so lame). I liked The Ghost Writer a lot; I’m looking forward to seeing it again. Mother, by Bong Joon-ho, unquestionably one of the best of the year. It aims for something so specific and weird and sad and funny and hits it perfectly. Exit Through the Gift Shop was a great art prank. Inception, yeah, I don’t really want to add to the billions of words on the internet that have been written about Inception, but I liked it. And I’ll totally stand up for Shutter Island, for the opening scene, Max von Sydow by the fire and Mark Ruffalo saying “boss” alone.
Solitary Man was a real surprise; I had no idea I’d enjoy it as much and I’d forgotten how much fun Michael Douglas can be when he’s totally wired. I liked Greenberg at the time but it hasn’t really taken up residence in my consciousness. Marwencol was a really super documentary. I think about it a lot. I can’t say I loved Cyrus but it had some terrifically funny and awkward moments. I was down with Winter’s Bone’s feminine-fronted family noir vibe (it sort of shared that with Mother—one woman against an intimately hostile town). MacGruber—my god, MacGruber. Didn’t see that one coming; funniest film of the year. Liked not loved Vincere, but some scenes really stuck with me (Mussolini Jr.’s deranged impersonation of his father (both played by Filippo Timi). Un prophète had some great, really inspired stuff, but was 30 minutes too long. Fish Tank was like the badass version of An Education, a bit heavy-handed with the symbolism but I liked the actors so much. Revanche lived up to most of the hype.
Seeing Alamar again made me happy; I hope it gets a proper release somewhere, anywhere, in North America. Half-nature doc, half-something else, it might be the most purely pleasurable film I’ve seen all year. Finally getting to see La Mujer Sin Cabeza was also great, though I feel like I need at least one or two more viewings for it to seep in fully. Seeing Historias Extraordinarias again was as inspiring as ever; I’ll stand up for that movie until everyone finally catches on.
