What a fantastic year...for movies, that is. Nearly all the other top ten lists I've seen have juxtaposed the tumultous public and political year against the highly successful cinematic one. And yes, unlike the previous year, I had an ongoing year of top movies that kept getting topped and shuffled around. If I could, there'd probably be a separate list of "elevens", as in the movies that just barely didn't make the cut. Opinions will differ -- that's what makes it art, and also what makes it personal -- but for whatever reasons, these were the ones I liked the best.
10. Phantom Thread
10. Phantom Thread
Like his protagonist, Paul Thomas Anderson sews secrets inside the folds of his art, and I'm sure there are some mysteries that he'll take to the grave. His opaque stories and characters always invite a second viewing, and Phantom Thread is no exception. And maybe actress Vicky Krieps is the best example of that - playful and transparent one moment, and then completely unfathomable the next. She can be inscrutable and then terrifying in the span of one instance. Director PTA called her the "woman of 45 faces". And despite what you feel for her character, there's truth in her statement "I can stand endlessly. No one can stand as long as I can," in that she knows she can endure whatever is thrown at her.
Anderson paints a play of power struggles, what it means to be in the driver/passenger seat, and the necessity (or not) of enjoying food and love. And as always, he makes it look so good. Although the high fashion couture is merely the backdrop, he makes every moment of it gorgeous and cinematic. Have we ever been half as interested when watching someone make measurements?
9. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Anderson paints a play of power struggles, what it means to be in the driver/passenger seat, and the necessity (or not) of enjoying food and love. And as always, he makes it look so good. Although the high fashion couture is merely the backdrop, he makes every moment of it gorgeous and cinematic. Have we ever been half as interested when watching someone make measurements?
9. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Frances McDormand plays a fire-spitting avenging angel in McDonagh's tale of retribution. And yet, this is more than a story about a woman that takes action into her own hands; it's about redemption and compassion, whether that comes in the form of an offered juice straw or the aftermath of a sneeze.
It's about ugly people and the painful or damning ways people seek an outlet for their grief. They don't always get it right, but humans rarely do. McDormand never plays for the audience, and her actions alienate as much as they rouse cheers, which puts her on even keel with Sam Rockwell's flawed, racist police officer -- a delicate tightrope walk of a caricature, which Rockwell does to aplomb. Coming from a playwright, Three Billboards sometimes plays better as an arena for bitter wit and caustic words, but there's a marvel at experiencing it in the hands of this talented cast.
8. Dunkirk
It's about ugly people and the painful or damning ways people seek an outlet for their grief. They don't always get it right, but humans rarely do. McDormand never plays for the audience, and her actions alienate as much as they rouse cheers, which puts her on even keel with Sam Rockwell's flawed, racist police officer -- a delicate tightrope walk of a caricature, which Rockwell does to aplomb. Coming from a playwright, Three Billboards sometimes plays better as an arena for bitter wit and caustic words, but there's a marvel at experiencing it in the hands of this talented cast.
8. Dunkirk
I am rarely able to write a review on a Nolan movie after I've seen it (I think the only one I've reviewed is The Dark Knight Rises), because it feels impossible to rate the immersive experience he provides. And here I have to add, is it wrong to say that if Christopher Nolan had done a film about the Vietnam War back in the day, we would have pulled out far earlier?
Nolan gets the experience of World War II better than anyone else (although I'll have to rewatch Spielberg to stand by that statement), and Dunkirk is a barrage of sound, suffocating space and water, and hopelessness. He makes us understand that the war is littered with heroes like the Mark Rylances and the Tom Hardys, but mostly of people that were simply trying to live through it. And in the face of that, war is an equalizer, like a shockwave of soldiers dropping down to the sand simultaneously.
Nolan is probably the best director at getting audiences to shift to one side, whether it's the hallway scene in Inception, the space shuttle scene in Interstellar, or the dogfight scenes here. I still feel queasy thinking about the twists in air combined with the all-too-real movements by sea. The time-stitching of narratives on land, sea, and air was masterful, and anxiously compounded by the ticking time in Hans Zimmer's score.
You have to wonder though, whether Nolan decided somewhere along the line that Hardy emotes better through his eyes and behind a mask.
7. Baby Driver
Nolan gets the experience of World War II better than anyone else (although I'll have to rewatch Spielberg to stand by that statement), and Dunkirk is a barrage of sound, suffocating space and water, and hopelessness. He makes us understand that the war is littered with heroes like the Mark Rylances and the Tom Hardys, but mostly of people that were simply trying to live through it. And in the face of that, war is an equalizer, like a shockwave of soldiers dropping down to the sand simultaneously.
Nolan is probably the best director at getting audiences to shift to one side, whether it's the hallway scene in Inception, the space shuttle scene in Interstellar, or the dogfight scenes here. I still feel queasy thinking about the twists in air combined with the all-too-real movements by sea. The time-stitching of narratives on land, sea, and air was masterful, and anxiously compounded by the ticking time in Hans Zimmer's score.
You have to wonder though, whether Nolan decided somewhere along the line that Hardy emotes better through his eyes and behind a mask.
7. Baby Driver
Edgar Wright, you delightful man. The first fifteen minutes is probably enough to cement Baby Driver's inclusion onto my top ten list. It's not just the very first wonderful heist, which proves Wright to be a genius genre director, but also the playful dance of Ansel Elgort down the street as song lyrics jive around him.
The precise choreography of the film down to just the outright fun of it -- Baby using samples of conversations to make song clips, for one -- makes it a joie de film vivre. It's great to see Wright move on from the Cornetto trilogy to darker, more modulated fare, and still make the genre sing.
6. The Beguiled
The precise choreography of the film down to just the outright fun of it -- Baby using samples of conversations to make song clips, for one -- makes it a joie de film vivre. It's great to see Wright move on from the Cornetto trilogy to darker, more modulated fare, and still make the genre sing.
6. The Beguiled
What a glorious year for Nicole Kidman, and also what a joy to watch her in two movies with Colin Farrell. Here, Kidman is the headmistress of a closed off girls' school. Hidden from the outside world which is in the throes of Civil War, their world is disrupted by Colin Farrell. Unctuous and calculating, he at first appears to have the upper hand in manipulating all of the women to his whims, but it isn't long until director Sofia Coppola turns the tables on him.
It's a huge range of talent here, from Elle Fanning to Kirsten Dunst, all who use Farrell as a foil for their own desires. But I have to say that I love this movie because of the theatricality of it. Coppola feels no need to show us the gore and exhibitionist violence that most films these days enthralls in (for the reality of it?). The manse is shrouded with a sweltering fog, and we never see any other men or soldiers except at a distance. But the sheer theater of the first and last supper as they reflect and unfold from each other is a downright delight.
Top five to follow next week!
It's a huge range of talent here, from Elle Fanning to Kirsten Dunst, all who use Farrell as a foil for their own desires. But I have to say that I love this movie because of the theatricality of it. Coppola feels no need to show us the gore and exhibitionist violence that most films these days enthralls in (for the reality of it?). The manse is shrouded with a sweltering fog, and we never see any other men or soldiers except at a distance. But the sheer theater of the first and last supper as they reflect and unfold from each other is a downright delight.
Top five to follow next week!
