Snub-dance Film Festival

Oscar nominations are the staunch conservative uncle in a family of 99%-ers. We collectively toss "What the hells!?" at the incognito voters and they wait with arms at their sides making little effort to catch our heartfelt pleas for reason. A winner can be voted against by three out of four voters. Wait, an actor can put "Oscar winner" on their cv after receiving less than 15% positive votes? I believe that HOM will one day grace the covers of DVDs for what I am calling "Official selection at the HOM Snub festival." I just need an eye catching 'oak leaf-like' insignia to go with my faux-festival that only features snubbed movies and movies featuring actors snubbed from Oscar nominations.

Our first festie will be headlined by Drive featuring Albert Brooks and Ryan Gosling. They'll be on the main stage and we'll have the speakers turned up real loud like.

The opening act will be The Descendants featuring Shailene Woodley. Her performance in the movie makes The Help seem like the somewhat-boring-straight-to-DVD film that it might actually be.

I am going to go ahead and concede that The Tree of Life will not win best picture. At our festie we will have a stage that is decorated all futuristic and stuff. We will act like its 2080. Because in 2080 people will still be talking about The Tree of Life and they'll look at you with crooked brows when you say you loved that french guy in that movie that won an Oscar one time.

We are going to have a seven hour Q&A with Michael Fassbender on Thursday and Friday. Critics and fans will not be allowed to ask him how much weight he lost for Hunger or about what it's like working with that director with the same name as a famous actor. Questions on Thursday will be funneled into topics like, which character in Mighty Ducks do you most identify with? If you could be in any Indiana Jones movie, which would you pick? What does it feel like to be the actor version of Matthew McConauhey? What is a normal day like when you spend it with McConaughey? These Q&A sessions will dovetail nicely with the shorts that I assume he and McConaughey having been making about playing chess with Death on Malibu beaches. We'll screen each one of the 38 shorts believed to exist, intermittently. Charlie Rose will be the only one allowed to ask questions on Friday, though. 


On Sunday, before we all head over to the main stage for the screening of Drive, and before we go to the Renaissance festival where you can hurl tomatoes at production czars like Weinstein that campaign for Oscar votes, we'll all go to Mass and Leo Dicaprio will be giving the homily. 


All in all, it should be a good film festival. We'll have to look into hiring some foreign language film consultants, though. I can't even imagine how many good movies we're missing out on by our box office's lack of deference for sub titles. 


Tickets will go on sale when we nail down a venue. Surely some community college in Tennessee will be down to host. I'll draft a letter to them or something.

HOM Mailbag

It has been suggested that movies often cause duress and confusion. They also spur in us a desire to talk about them. As it is, HOM is introducing a movie mailbag. One can now, when stressed or devastated by a movie or a thought that a movie brings on, write to a democratic HOM and expect advice or guidance in return. We're here for you when you're trying to explain to yourself how you got sucked into a Steven Segal marathon on Spike TV. We're here to respond to your opinions on new releases and Netflix Instant Classics. We'll also be asking some questions that plague us. So, write to us with your questions or comments. We'll make sure that your questions or comments get in the hands of someone that can assuage your unease. After all, the adage put forward by most high school teachers is a true one: someone else probably has or has had the same question. We'll do our best to empty the mailbag fortnightly. Check back on hashingoutmovies.blogspot.com for our/your responses.

Write to us at: hashingoutmovies@gmail.com

James Dean and Heath Ledger

Watch this scene and then watch this one.

Rob Reiner after Ledger's death said, "It's a real tragedy when someone talented dies, because you don't know on the early part of their career what more they could have offered us." It's about us, is it not?

The post-death immortalizing is aweless when viewed through gossip magazines. Let's take it back from the voyeur trash and re-align some meaning. Because, it's ultimately about us and we are respectful.

James Dean and Heath Ledger were better than most. Their early deaths were intensely felt. Their stardom was on an incline and with death, came megastardom. To us they were phenoms pre-death and post-death. We were devastated when Ledger died. His family and friends were wrecked. It's because it is about us and what actors do to us.

When a young physician dies are we devastated because of how many lives she could have saved? 

Movies can be more meaningful than physical health and wellness.

Immortalization is a testament to how necessary movies and the actors really are. We're super bummed because we don't get to see them in movies anymore. In reality, we're all just waiting for the next great movie that features the next great actor. Their movies did something to us and we want them to do it to us again. We immortalize and write biographies because we want to know how they did what they did. Most of all, we want to know why they are not going to be doing it anymore. East of Eden and The Black Knight were really freaking good the year of their release. They're still really good movies now. They're good because Ledger and Dean do something to us that only the best can do to us. Dean and Ledger are humans that were actors that pushed on culture. Here's to them being badasses. I feel like the Greeks knew where to situate their artists, do we?

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Joey Proffitt

Directed by Tomas Alfredson (Swede)

I want you to go see Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.  And I don't want to tell you anything about it, except to be prepared for a slow, realistic, and challenging movie experience.  

Excellently written - I know that it cannot hold all the details, intricacies, and character and story nuances.  But it succeeded in giving us just enough to hold on to us and ultimately fulfill us even though we know it can't measure up to the book.  Makes you want to read the book which i'm sure is a complement rarely given.

Directed to be equally character and story driven with excellent storytelling devices - Whenever a important secret is revealed, it immediately flashes to the scene where the act happened so we can see it naturally play out.  It not only completely confirms the secret revealed, but also leaves the dialogue natural and important.  In a film that has you gripping for whatever pieces of evidence you can get, it's nice to get confirmation on what evidence is important.

An Authentic Hashing Out Moment

I had an incredible movie experience with TTSS.  My wife was having a tech/computer emergency at a women's event she was running and I had to take her call DURING THE MOST IMPORTANT SCENE IN THE MOVIE!  I'm pretty proud of myself for putting wife over movie enjoyment and walking out for a few minutes.

So as soon as the movie ended I was looking for 1 of the 8 people, who were watching a relatively unknown spy thriller at 4:25 on the Thursday, to ask what happened.  While waiting in the hall one of the men actually approaches me first and before I could ask him says, "Can I ask you a question?  What did you think of the movie?"  Upon hearing his question, two other people stopped to hear my reply.  I had to start with, "Before I answer that, can I ask you what happened in that [...one scene]"

I ended up spending the 10-15 minutes explaining what I thought had just happened in the movie and trying to help fill in the gaps.  Mostly because I was prepared to see it.

I Went in Prepared

Go see this movie!  But also be ready for what you are getting in to.  TTSS is Thick! But in a great way.  It's kind of slow and there are a million names and places and relationships.  But to really enjoy what's going on you have to catch most of it.  It's a challenge but totally worth it.  Go in knowing that and you'll be alright.  Enjoy the confusion, you will get closure.

No Bournes or Bonds

This movie is what being a spy is prolly really like.  None of these spies are butt kickers or sharp shooters.  They're nerds, they watch endless amounts of film, crack codes, profile people, get information on them and use it against them.  And mostly live in a constant state of paranoia and loneliness.

What a Cast

Mark Strong (Sherlock Holmes, Body of Lies), John Hurt (Harry Potter, V for Vendetta), Gary Oldman (Dark Knight, Harry Potter), Colin Firth (King's Speech, Pride and Prejudice), and watch out for this guy on the rise, Benedict Cumberbatch (BBC's Sherlock, which you must check out on Netflix, MUST)

Great Story supported by Greater Cast.  If you're in for a challenge and a lot to discuss. See it.

The Artist & The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari - Kyle Jones and James King

I feel a bit slighted by The Artist. I'm wondering if the idea (novelly making a throw-back) has carried it this far or if the movie is as much of a stalwart as awards season is making it out to be. The Artist is a movie that is worth your time. However, my approach to the movie, the one I had prior to first viewing, is not recommended. Don't expect an original movie. Expect an original idea to tug-boat along a series of  harangued Hollywood vignettes. Expect a movie that applauds an audience and takes a rest from challenging one. Plan on being entertained as you would by an installation. Enjoy yourself and invite your Grandmother along, she'll be glad you did. Definitely see it, but if you're lucky, that Friday night showing might be sold-out and you can run ahead to catch King and Buddy before they Netflix a game-changer--they'll most likely save you a slice of pie, invite you to an Oscars party, and remind you that silent movies were at once, "everywhere and nowhere."


-KJ

Ich mub Caligari werden!

The other day a buddy and I went to see the Artist.  It was sold out, so we went back to his apt., turned on Netflix streaming, and watched another, classic silent film from 1920s Germany.  According to Wikipedia (back from a successful blackout), Germany in 1920 was a bleak place---marked by crippling debt and territorial losses resulting from losing World War I.  Its citizens were coping with losing 1,796,000 soldiers in the trenches and being 200,000,000,000 marks (or a couple of wheelbarrows full) in debt.  All of this is both nowhere and everywhere in Robert Weine’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.  Nowhere because the plot is about a mysterious doctor who controls a somnambulist named Cesare who happens to be very open to the suggestion of murder, and everywhere because the world they inhabit is all jagged edges, tilted camera angles, and suffocating spaces.  Streets look like trenches and vines reach out like barbwire.  All the citizens in this Kafkaesque city either look like sleepwalkers or ants panicking.  Even for a black-and-white film, everyone looks alarmingly pale.  All that to say, the atmosphere of foreboding is both an expression of its time and a great reason to see the first, and arguably best, horror movie ever made.  Another reason is the twist at the end that I never saw coming, even though I’ve seen it copied in almost every horror movie since.  (Also, for all of you true nerds out there, Cesare is played by the same actor who portrayed Major Strasser in Casablanca! Following cinematic logic, it makes total sense that Cesare would grow up to be the Nazi getting zotzed by Humphrey Bogart!)

If you’ve never seen a silent film, the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a good place to start.  It’s fun, will not lose your interest, and is easy to follow.  It also makes you realize how a silent movie like the Artist could be successful in this day and age.  A good story transcends sound and the lack of noise forces us to look closer at visuals, expressions, and other critical, often overlooked details.

-JK

Source Code

(Spoiler Alert) Science fiction movies have become more about blowing crap up and less about presenting a cool idea and seeing where it might lead. Source Code is Duncan Jones' second really cool science fiction movie because it puts out a pretty cool idea and then takes it somewhere.

Colter Stephens (Jake Gyllenhal) is a helicopter pilot in the U.S. Army, at least from what he remembers. In fact, he is now part of a science experiment of sorts in the war on terror. He doesn't know it but he was killed in action and kept alive, sort of, in a way that allowed him to be transported into the last eight minutes that a history teacher lived on a commuter train headed into Chicago. He looks like the history teacher to everyone around him but we see him as Colter. I thought this was a cool way of doing it. The idea is that a really smart scientist has figured out how to insert one human into another human's memory of the last eight minutes they lived. Colter's mission is to find the terrorist that bombed the commuter train before the terrorist bombs all of Chicago.

The explanation of how this is possible was a little sketchy but good enough so that it didn't take away from the plot - which is a second part of science fiction movies that has been lacking in recent attempts; plot, that is. The human element takes form in the conversations between Colter and two really good looking women. One is played by Vera Farmiga as the scientist in charge of updating Colter on mission objectives and sending him back into the eight minute missions until he finds the terrorist. Naturally, she begins to see Colter as more of a human and less a science experiment. On the other end, Colter is traveling with Michelle Monaghan and begins to kind of fall for her. Each entry into the recurring eight minute segments allows Colter to pull a Bill Murray in Groundhog Day. He gathers more information about his attractive commuter company until he finally hits her with a kiss, twice. At any rate, through all this entering and re-entering and figuring out, Colter does what a good science fiction character should do. He, before any scientist, finds the loop-hole. Though the eight minutes has already happened, fate is always fate. If Colter accepts the limits of time, or embraces the fact that time is impossible to transcend, then he can become human - he can stay in the life he was meant for by dying to the life in the Source Code. In this way, Coulter cleverly emails Vera and lets her know that the space/time continuum is in fact altered each time he goes back (she gets this email before she sits down at her desk to first begin working with Coulter), gets Monaghan to fall in love with him, arrests the terrorist, and carries on with the the life as a history teacher forever in the Source Code; or forever in REAL life.

"Stack of High Society"

HashingOutMovies has reached 10,000 pageviews. This milestone calls for nods to the 19 Contributors mostly responsible for over 125 reviews/essays. Since 2009 HOM has been viewed in the U.S., United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia, France, Russia, Netherlands, Taiwan, South Korea, Colombia, Malaysia, Egypt, Vietnam and Italy. Furthermore, to the best of my knowledge, HOM is currently blocked in China (which is decent).

10 Second Screenshot Reviews - Perfect Host, Beauty and the Beast and Battlefield Los Angeles

Bridesmaids - Luke McKay and Kyle

Click here for a link to part one and part two of a podcast on Bridesmaids and much more. This was recorded just after the release of the movie.

Top 100 - Joey Proffitt

1. Braveheart

2. Lord of the Rings Trilogy*

3. Tommy Boy

4. Saving Private Ryan

5. Dumb and Dumber

6. The Private Eyes

7. Clear and Present Danger

8. The Fugitive

9. The Saint

10. A Knights Tale

11. Indiana Jones (sans Crystal Skull)

12. Sneakers

13. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

14. Lion King

15. Jurassic Park

16. Gladiator

17. Three Musketeers

18. The Rock

19. Remember the Titans

20. Big

21. Happy Gilmore

22. The Patriot

23. Top Gun

24. Billy Madison

25. The Count of Monte Cristo

26. Avatar

27. Ace Ventura When Nature Calls

28. Primal Fear

29. Rain Man

30. Goonies

31. Star Wars

32. Terminator 2 Judgement Day

33. Aladdin

34. Little Mermaid

35. Good Will Hunting

36. Live and Let Die

37. Back to the Future (all of em)

38. The Godfather & II

39. Con Air

40. Zoolander 

50. Tombstone

51. The Game

52. The Usual Suspects

53. Last of the Mohicans

54. Clash of the Titans (original)

55. Young Guns

56. Fight Club

57. Monty Python's Life of Brian

58. Black Sheep

59. Cliffhanger

60. Italian Job

61. Mighty Ducks 2

62. Wizard of Oz

63. Ernest Scared Stupid

64. The Sound of Music

65. Forrest Gump

66. The 10 Commandments

67. Rocky III & IV

68. Hook

69. Blade 1 & 2

70. Passenger 57

71. Goldfinger

72. Die Hard: With a Vengeance

73. Groundhog Day

74. The Matrix

75. The Silence of the Lambs

76. Patriot Games

77. What About Bob

78. Pan's Labyrinth

79. Home Alone

80. Conan the Barbarian

81. Harry Potter Series (lowest is Half-Blood Prince)

82. Boys in the Hood

83. Dan in Real Life

84. Days of Thunder

85. The Ring

86. Stand By Me

87. Mary Poppins

88. The Dark Knight

89. Sleepy Hollow

90. Taken / Man on Fire

91. Momento

92. Open Range

93. Armageddon

94. Best in Show

95. Robin Hood: Men in Tights

96. Thomas Crowne Affair (new one)

97. Se7en

98. A Few Good Men

99. Rounders

100. The Sting

*Notice that I have put trilogies and such together, except for James Bond Series, and have not include Mini-Series'.

1st Annual HOM Awards

As voted on by HOM contributors and some decent movie-going folks, here are the nominees and winners of 2011.

Best Supporting

Kenneth Branagh - My Week With Marilyn
Albert Brooks - Drive
Andy Serkis - Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Jessica Chastain - The Help
Melissa McCarthy - Bridesmaids
Carey Mulligan - Shame
Octavia Spencer - The Help
Shailene Woodley - The Descendants
Jonah Hill - Moneyball
Viggo Mortensen - A Dangerous Method
Keira Knightley - A Dangerous Method
Armie Hammer - J. Edgar
Seth Rogen - 50/50

HOM Award for Best Supporting - Melissa McCarthy - Bridesmaids

Best Director

Woody Allen - Midnight in Paris
George Clooney - The Ides of March
Alexander Payne - The Descendants
Martin Scorsese - Hugo
Nicolas Winding Refn - Drive
Steven Spielberg - War Horse
Terrence Malik - The Tree of Life

HOM Award for Best Director - Terrence Malik - The Tree of Life

Best Soundtrack

The Artist - Ludovic Bource
Drive - Cliff Martinez
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
Hugo - Howard Shore
War Horse - John Williams


HOM Award for Best Soundtrack - Drive - Cliff Martinez & The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross


Movies We'll Watch Again


Drive
Hugo
War Horse
The Help
Bridesmaids
The Tree of Life
Moneyball
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
50/50


HOM Award for Movies We'll Watch Again - Bridesmaids


Best Actor/Actress


Brad Pitt - Moneyball
Michelle Williams - My Week With Marilyn
Brad Pitt - The Tree of Life
George Clooney - The Descendants
Ryan Gosling - Drive
Michael Fassbender - Shame
Leonardo DiCaprio - J. Edgar
Jean Dujardin - The Artist
Viola Davis - The Help
Charlize Theron - Young Adult
Rooney Mara - The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Joseph Gordon-Levit - 50/50


HOM Award Best Actor/Actress - George Clooney - The Descendants


Best Picture


The Descendants
Hugo
The Tree of LIfe
Drive
Moneyball
The Help
Midnight in Paris
War Horse


HOM Award Best Picture - Drive


Notable information for hashing out the results. Each movie in the 'Best Picture' category received at least one vote. Rooney Mara came in a close second for her Dragon Tattoo performance. Melissa McCarthy won by a landslide. Drive, Dragon, and 50/50 all did well in 'Movies We'll Watch Again'. The editor believes that Shailene Woodley deserves an award. 

The Guard - James King

The Guard

Or

How a dirty, racist-seeming Galway cop and a straight-laced African-American FBI agent learn to get along and stop some drug dealers.

Straight from the Red Box at Shaw’s Supermarket comes a very funny Irish film called the Guard.  If you were a fan of Martin McDonagh’s In Bruges and Six Shooter ( a short available on itunes), then you’ll like this movie written and directed by his brother, John.  Be warned, however, that it lacks the dramatic heft and razor-sharp dialogue of those films; but what John’s film lacks in depth it makes up for in comedy.  And the style, the style is terrific—kind of like a an episode of Twin Peaks using a foul-mouthed, ultra-violent, ostensibly-racist, Spaghetti Western-inspired script from Terrantino.  But that might be off, because this is a local film and it can’t really be described apart from its connection to Connemara and Galway.  For instance nearly everyone involved--save Cheadle (remember Hotel Rwanda? Crash? He’s great)-- is Irish and it plays on stereotypes and references unique to the West of Ireland (for instance- a memorable Irish-language scene, the unique dangers of Dublin whores, “I’m Irish, racism is part of my culture”, and other things I have no clue about because I’m not from there).  I think that the film’s international success stems from how everyone can relate to the eccentricities of small-town communities far removed from the culture (confines?) of an urban center.  Also the acting is top-notch:  Brendan Gleason plays Sgt. Gerry Boyle as a likable, roguish, slightly-corrupt cop with a heart of gold so well that you feel like you’ve known him for years.  Gleason has the unique gift of giving any character instantaneous depth but not at the price of not making you want to laugh at him.  Furthermore, the supporting cast all help create a very real sense of community--from the steely Fionnula Flanagan as his equally lovable, unscrupulous mother to--my favorite character—a freckled-face boy in Reebok gear riding his bicycle around weapons drops and drug boats.  I think that it’s this depth that makes the comedy work:  you feel like you know Boyle and the rest and you laugh at their shortcomings and, by the end, really really hope that they can save the day and themselves.      

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - HOM and Dan Tepe

HOM: You suggested that we all go see this movie? Why did you suggest it? Why not suggest Hugo or Young Adult or My Week With Marilyn?

DT: As someone who isn't the most updated on new movies and what is out in theaters, I heard a lot of rumblings about The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo from friends and family. The first time someone mentioned it, I had never heard of it, but everyone was talking about it. The consensus I heard was that people approved, but even if someone disliked it, they were talking about it. I just wanted to see what all the buzz was about. While other movies might have been a good selection as well, I'm a fan of suspenseful, make you think, murder mysteries. This one fit the bill.

HOM: So what did you think overall? Did the movie meet expectations? I really liked it. This was the second time I saw it. Would you see it again?

DT: Overall, I really enjoyed the movie. Most of the movies I'll see in theater are safe picks (Batman, Bournes, Sherlock etc); you know what you're going to get. However, I went in to this one not really sure what I would be experiencing. I felt this was going to be one of those movies that a person really enjoys or leaves with a feeling of pure disdain. I'm glad I came out feeling the former. Having not read the book, I can't compare to it although I generally think books are better because it leaves more to the imagination. The snowy Sweden setting made it a little darker and colder which I enjoyed.

HOM: Let's talk about the few scenes that were not so much fun to watch. David Fincher directed this book-to-screen movie. He got a decent amount of attention when he made the movie Se7en. That movie was freaking nuts the first time I saw it. I think he is really good at pushing the viewer to the max. But the reason I think he is better than horror movie directors is that for some reason, his freakish characters are not impossible to relate to. Saw is ridiculous cause the protagonist is ridiculous (this is not to deny that the first Saw movie was gripping). Before we went to see this movie the rape scenes had been hashed out extensively. How do you think these scenes fit into the movie? I have not read the book trilogy. I have read depictions of rape scenes in books, though. Is it worse to watch a rape scene? Was the graphic nature of the scene necessary for the movie to work? What were your general thoughts on the whole ordeal?

DT: I don't know much about the director. In fact, I don't know much about any director. However, just hearing that he directed Se7en is all I need to hear. That movie created a lot of buzz and shock, but it was critical to the plot. Like you, I haven't read the books, so I don't know how those scenes and information will help develop the plot in the other two movies to come. I will say that, while the rape scenes are extremely disturbing, they do help illuminate just how crappy Lisbeth's day-to-day life can be. If that was the director's hope, it worked. Because by the end of the movie, I felt completely different about her. Like she had some light and hope in her life from meeting Mikael. Did the scenes need to be that graphic? Maybe not. But you learn a lot about the type of person she is from those scenes. She has issues, but she's a fighter.

HOM: Rooney Mara, keeper of two really wealthy family names, shows up in a huge way for this movie? I thought her stoic portrayal of a girl with a dragon tattoo, and all the insanity such a tattoo implies, was excellent and surprising. Fincher used her in a minor role in The Social Network and must have seen something that other casting folks hadn't seen, in my estimation. What did you think of her? Where in the movie was she at her best?

DT: The woman who played Lisbeth seemed to be a perfect fit. Apparently, she had all of those piercings done for this role. If that's true, it says a lot about her commitment to the character. I found her extremely intriguing, and it seemed like all of the scenes she was in raised me to a new level of curiosity...of learning more about her character. I believe she was at her best while investigating the death of the young girl. In the beginning of the movie, you learn about her background, but you see a completely different side of her when she's solving the puzzle...something you wouldn't expect.

HOM: Do you have any thoughts on movies wherein the characters are Swedish and the actors are British or American? Is anything lost when the movie takes place in Stockholm and is watched in Newport, Kentucky without subtitles?

DT: No

HOM: What are your expectations for the next two installments of the trilogy? High? Low? Are you anxious that they will be a let down? Or did this one not yet peak so as to leave some space for cooler stuff in the future?

DT: My expectations for the next two are very high. This one left me wanting more, but I don't know why. I say that because this movie went from a murder mystery to a semi-romance. Am I anxious to see the next one because I want to see whether the two main characters end up together or because I want to see them investigate another murder? I'm not a romance guy, but throw in some suspense before/during the romance, I'll accept that. I do look forward to seeing where this goes though and will definitely see the next installment.

HOM: Lastly, which famous celebrity (actor or non-actor) should have been part of the cast in this movie? Who would have made it better? And, do you have any final words on The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo? Anything we need to know about it?

DT: It's difficult to watch a movie you enjoy and try to come up with someone who should have played a particular role. Sarcastically, Lindsay Lohan as Lisbeth and Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mikael. Just think about that screenplay and rapport those two would build with one another. I thought Daniel Craig and Mara were pretty good fits. I believe Tom Hardy, who was in Inception, could play the role as well, if not better, than Craig.

I recommend the movie for anyone without sensitive eyes. The rape scene is disturbing and could potentially ruin the rest of the movie for someone. I felt it dragged a little bit in the last fifth, but not too much where it gets annoying. Go see it if you haven't already and like movies that piece together at its proper pace.

Shame-a-Colia - James King

My girlfriend and I went for a date. Which, for us, means dinner and a movie. We had two choices—Melancholia and Shame; we chose Shame.

I knew a couple of things going into the movie: Fassbender (great actor), McQueen (not Steve, former artist), sex, addiction, sex-addiction. I also knew the movie was NC-17, which means that, for the benefit of underage readers of this blog, I will have to use the following euphemisms:

“Piece”, as in Fassbender’s piece cannot be contained in a single frame

“Unmentionables”, as in women regularly disrobe, fully exhibiting unmentionables

“Knew”, as in Fassbender knew multiple women, simultaneously, in progressively less erotic, seedier encounters

Gritty and disturbing, Shame provides a haunting portrait of a man’s descent into addiction (and proves that sex addiction is no more fun than the others). He’s a functioning addict, who has a good job and some surface-level relationships. He’s also handsome and charming—a curse as he succumbs over and over again to compulsive sexual encounters. His cycle of unending porn and casual encounters becomes threatened when his troubled sister (Carey Mulligan) moves into his apartment. Her introduction into his life both hints at the cause of his addiction and forces him to acknowledge his troubled state. Agonizingly, however, Shame is more about the depths of addiction rather than the glories of recovery, and the audience can only hope for the eventual, off-screen healing hinted at during the movie’s final act.

Being the fun-loving couple that we are, we decided to see Melancholia as well the following Friday. Though much less gritty and disturbing than Shame, Melancholia is no slouch when it comes to despair, with an uber-depressed Kirsten Dunst even telling us that the “world is evil”. To me, it seems like the difference between the two films is that one is realistic, surface despair, while the other is fantastical, existential despair. That being said, Melancholia’s portrayal of severe depression felt no less real than Shame’s unflinching look at sex addiction. In fact, it might be necessary to use fantastical means to express the utter, extreme despair that someone with depression undergoes.

Of course the ultimate difference between the two films are the endings: one ends on a note of possible (though pretty unlikely) redemption and the other ends with (Spoiler!) the END OF THE WORLD (pretty rare for a movie to end with no possible next scene). For other comparisons, please refer to my bar graph: (Regrettably, the editor is unable to publish the graph at this time, not due to copyright laws. It's because the editor lacks computer skills.)

So, if you and a loved-one are looking for a good time on a bleak, winter’s evening; skip the feel-good flicks and embrace the post-holiday-hangover of Shame-A-Colia.

Top 100 - Patrick

     100.The Hurricane

99. Breaking Away

98. Blue Chips

97. Air Force One

96. Remember the Titans

95. Star Wars

94. The Goonies

93. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

92. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

91. Back to the Future

90. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

89. In Bruges

88. Sling Blade

87. Full Metal Jacket

86. Days of Thunder

85. Taken

84. Talladega Nights

83. Meet the Parents

82. Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood

81. Independence Day

80. The Sandlot

79. Edward Scissorhands

78. That Thing You Do

77. Ocean’s 11

76. Last of the Mohicans

75. Terminator 2 Judgment Day

74. Home Alone

73. Rudy

72. Kingpin

71. D3: The Mighty Ducks

70. The Count of Monte Cristo

69. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

68. Orange County

67. Beetlejuice

66. Robin Hood: Men in Tights

65. Airplane!

64. Anchorman

63. Finding Forrester

62. Ghostbusters

61. Braveheart

60. The Legend of Bagger Vance

59. The Graduate

58. Gone with the Wind

57. Ace Ventura Pet Detective

56. Gladiator

55. Moneyball

54. Die Hard

53. Austin Powers (trilogy)

52. Inception

51. Big Daddy

50. Uncle Buck

49. Field of Dreams

48. Big

47. The Outlaw Josey Wales

46. The Royal Tenenbaums

45. Office Space

44. Dances with Wolves

43. A Night at the Roxbury

42. A Beautiful Mind

41. Snatch

40. Shawshank Redemption

39. Caddyshack

38. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

37. A Few Good Men

36. Slumdog Millionaire

35. As Good as It Gets

34. Rushmore

33. The Patriot

32. Blazing Saddles

31. Billy Madison

30. Almost Famous

29. Top Gun

28. Elf

27. Me Myself and Irene

26. The Fugitive

25. Jurassic Park

24. The Sixth Sense

23. Major League

22. Old School

21. The Hangover

20. The Truman Show

19. The Italian Job

18. The Bourne Identity (trilogy)

17. Good Will Hunting

16. This is Spinal Tap

15. Christmas Vacation

14. Zoolander

13. The Departed

12. Cool Runnings

11. Twister

10. Apollo 13

9. Jerry Maguire

8. Happy Gilmore

7. Tommy Boy

6. Band of Brothers

5. There’s Something About Mary

4. Saving Private Ryan

3. Dumb and Dumber

2. The Princess Bride

1. Forrest Gump