Processed Grass

Taking On 2025 - Top Films

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Thorne) — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 14:19:00 +0000

Time once more to look back on the year that was in film, a year that marks the halfway point of the decade and, fittingly, delivered some of the best films of the decade thus far. But can't get on to figuring out that list until we get through the year officially, and so I pulled from everything I saw in (and around) 2025 to settle on the ten best. This year's list was particularly exciting because of how many great releases ended up coming out, highlighted by established filmmakers and upcoming voices, though it was once asked how long can one spend on an intro? And honestly no sense delaying this shit anymore because I'm already kind of overdue on my loose self imposed deadline, so might as well get to the main course.

10. Pavements

Usually documentaries aren't one of my preferred types of films, though last year saw the return of a doc to my Top Ten, but Alex Ross Perry's ode to Pavement isn't exactly a doc in the traditional sense. It does use footage of the band, tracking their discography, the ups and downs over the years, and the way their music spoke to a dedicated fanbase, but where it elevates is blending in fiction and layering in its meta elements to obscure the central subjects. The film diverts into mockumentary at times, highlighted by some fantastic performances, specifically from Joe Keery playing himself playing Stephen Malkmus, but spreads even beyond that by incorporating the conception and staging of a Pavement musical. The approach to standard band documentary (and it's still that, getting in plenty of music) is charming and inventive, making the band seem so knowable but enigmatic. Fitting in that way that my earliest exposure to Malkmus was through his work on the soundtrack for I'm Not There, Todd Haynes's similarly expansive examination of Bob Dylan. That this film earns its comparisons to that one already puts it in tremendous company.

9. The Mastermind

When you start hearing people calling something Kelly Reichardt's most accessible film, it's probably right to have a bit of concern, as the pacing on a scene by scene basis in her films is such a defining aspects of her work, but my concerns were quickly put to rest when the film opens with Josh O'Connor's JB is seen visiting a museum that we soon learn is his target for an art heist. There's an attention to detail that works to establish his character, an observer in a small pond who buys in to his own status as titular mastermind, only for us to watch him destroy his life until all he can do is meander. As usual, Reichardt has a firm grasp on the political climate of the time, even setting it in the past it feels directly in conversation with the past decade or so of American politics with JB's unassuming con artist approach played pitch perfect.

8. Lesbian Space Princess

Despite how strong 2025 was overall, in terms of animated features it didn't exactly go up up up, though the standouts certainly did stand out, most notably from this hilarious one from co-directors Emma Hough Hobbs and Leela Varghese. The film's title can give you a pretty good idea of what it's about, and how direct its approach to gender is going to be, but it embraces its lack of nuance to wield its comedy like a hammer. While it may not end up re-shattering any glass ceilings, its charm permeates so much of the film. From Saira's songs to her journey of self discovery, there are few moments that aren't a joy to watch, and the film also packs in plenty of supporting characters to expand its comedy. Helps too when you get the members of Aunty Donna to voice some of the primary antagonists, the straight white maliens, as they get some of the biggest laughs of the film. But there is, of course, heart to it as well, and an emotional nuance that balances the lack of subtlety to its humor. Also those maliens are really funny.

7. Resurrection

Easy to look at Bi Gan's trip in to sci-fi as a love letter to cinema, opening on what is a near silent film for an extended stretch before delving in to the psyche of Jackson Yee's Deliriant, the name given to the humans who continue to dream in a world where losing that ability has granted significantly longer life, as he approaches death. It's a higher concept film, but one where the specifics aren't nearly as important as its thematic and technical prowess, both ambitious in their own right. Split in to multiple sections that borrow from different genres of film, we are asked to reflect on the role of art in life, how we understand humanity through it and how those changes act as their own kind of history. Both personal and in a more broad perspective, requiring a handle on tone that Bi Gan is more than capable of managing, and he even gets to pull out the elongated single take sequence from his last film (no 3-D this time, unfortunately) in a stunning penultimate section. There are some elements I still struggle with looking back, ones that are culturally and religiously beyond what I know, but, as with much of the film, getting too bogged down in the specifics risks missing the forrest for the trees. Even though sometimes the trees are fascinating all on their own.

6. Dracula

The past year (theoretically) brought two new films from Radu Jude, but while I still patiently wait for Kontinental '25 to release after being shafted from Philadelphia Film Fest's line up (a frustratingly common occurrence from the programmers given that Jude is consistently making some of the most compelling films on a near annual basis), there remains plenty to reflect on from his meditation on artistry and AI in filmmaking. And in the near three hours spent watching Adonis Tanta's struggling director attempt to piece together the first Romanian adaptation of Transylvania's most notable bloodsucker via conversations with various AI programs, Jude definitely presents plenty for us to consider about the digital age and filmmaking. Resisting an overdone 'AI bad lol' approach, the film plays up the absurdity and anti-art aspects of the technology while integrating it in to the narrative and portions of the film itself. Jude brings in theatre, film, and social media to probe at the relationship between art and commerce, looking at the relationship between the two and the stress points of their power struggle. As with much of his recent work, it blends crude humor with a philosophical slant to for a film that's balances its didactic elements with entertainment.

5. Sound Of Falling

Last year saw a few films that explored the passage of time through location, using a location as an entry point for thematic exploration. While that is the case with Mascha Schilinski's drama, situating itself on a small town German farm throughout the years as we see a series of young women at inflection points in their lives, what most stood out to me was the craft on display. The camera sort of drifts throughout time, giving an ethereal quality that accentuates its approach to history, capturing Germany in times of war, reconstruction, and peace, but also makes us aware of our role as viewer to create a haunting sense of danger and death that engulf so much of the film. It's oppressive, but fascinating in the moment, and conveys the scope of time, moments that will be lost forever and the people who will eventually be ground to dust. And asks us to grapple with that on an individual level. The nonlinear structure adds to this, but it also uses asides in to either daydreams or alternate futures that are chilling each time they get deployed, and, fittingly, the film's use of sound is remarkable. There are occasional points where it becomes engulfing, a cacophony that's nearly overwhelming, where the horrors of reality become manifest in a way that is staggering.

4. Barrio Triste

After a couple of Korine films, including one that made last year's Top Ten, it seemed like his EDGLRD label was going in one very clear direction, but the debut feature from STILLZ upends the technologically focused work that came before it for an ode to the physicality of filmmaking. The natural point of comparison for this film is, of course, Korine's Gummo, and early on especially those comparisons are pretty spot on, taking elements from Dogme 95 and bringing them to a group of kids in decaying Colombian barrios who take a news camera before following a day in their lives. Inherently it is giving a perspective that gets erased, and STILLZ does not shy away from making us focus on the darker aspects of life, from overcrowded homes filled with missing children, to photos of those who may have just disappeared, and, in what is the scene that has most stuck with me, a ride in the car as we listen to a radio show where a man calls in and details his life as a serial killer. A wholly unique film, the type that is rare to see get made, let alone get distribution or play on a big screen, and propelled by an incredible soundtrack from Arca. An artistic explosion, not just a thrilling debut feature, but easily among the best of the year.

3. Silent Friend

Throughout the three different time periods that encompass Enyedi's beautiful Silent Friend, the film tackles the relationships we share with others and with the world around us. This primarily happens by looking at plants, specifically one tree at a university that we see throughout the years along with the people who have memories around it. This naturally invites moments of quiet reflection, which are effective throughout; however, the portion that has most stuck with me is when the film (relatively speaking) feels almost supernatural. Since the film is not yet out, I'll dance around spoilers, but it involves a gate opening and the connected systems between the natural world and modernity intersecting. It's a beautiful moment that crystalizes many of the film's themes, and one that asks us as viewer to consider our own place in the world. We confront how even the smallest aspects of the world around us are interconnected, an idea that's easy enough to talk about but difficult to actually convey and harder still to comprehend. But that's where the brilliance of the film can be found, in these moments of beauty and hope, which (like with Sound of Falling) illuminate fundamentals of what it means to be human. How, even when the world is falling apart, both on a personal level and globally as we see in the pandemic era modern section, we are united not just as a species but as occupants on our planet.

2. Eddington

And fitting that we go from a film about unity to one that's so steeped in division. Ari Aster's latest, a COVID era tragicomedy following a mayoral race in the titular small New Mexico town, has the director confronting Our World head on in a way that captures the existential dread of the digital age in a way that few have tapped in to so directly. Would be easy to roll one's eyes at the set up, and early on there's perhaps some cause for concern when it opens up with a mask v. anti-mask standoff for multiple early confrontations, but it makes it clear not soon after that we're not going to be getting wrapped up in some safe neoliberal satire and that Aster's ambitions are much more expansive. Joaquin Phoenix as Joe Cross, sheriff turned mayoral candidate, is such a great anchor for the film because his performance invites some sympathy for his sincerity even as we can recognize his self serving interests and dangers that he's bringing to the town. Wisely, it gets juxtaposed with Pedro Pascal's Ted Garcia, incumbent mayor who is ready to expedite the town's decay if it means he can profit, gain at least some statewide notoriety, and move on to greener pastures before SolidGoldMagikarp's data center bleeds the people of Eddington for everything they're worth. The script is sharp, expansive, and focuses on division as a power tool that mocks the overpoliticized world we inhabit while those at the top continue to thrive. It's refreshing to have a film take on politics as a power structure, one where we can easily get bogged down in all the left v right angles, the barrage of information to continue to divide, that placates us. And the dangers of that placation, or the inevitability of it in a society where a dopamine rush is a swipe away, where truth and consequences are a matter of perspective. In the end, we really do just need to free each others hearts.

1. One Battle After Another

Not sure there could be a more generic choice for the best film of 2025, but sometimes it's just right. From the opening moments of Paul Thomas Anderson's familial drama you realize, as tends to be the case with his films, that we're simply in the hands of a master. When you have a film universally heralded, it's hard to actually write about it without just parroting points that have probably been discussed to death: the scale and spectacle, the two different car chases that Anderson films in such drastically different ways but both so thrilling, the arresting score that's among the year's best in terms of how its used, the supporting cast giving tremendous performances, the way it manages to keep sneaking in jokes even in its most tense moments, how its longer runtime flashes by in an instant. Realistically what could I add? Perhaps through the (slightly) less discussed portions, and a personal angle.

The first time I watched the film I was taken with it, though didn't find myself overly impressed by DiCaprio or Infiniti in their roles. Both were good, and needed to be because the core relationship between those two characters needs each to be at least serviceable for the film to work as well as it does, but I wasn't sure if they were close to my favorite performances of the year. But as time passed I kept coming back to one sequence in the film that I'd wager is about as good as anything I've seen in film in literal years. About 45 minutes in to the film we get a hard cut from the past to present, a bright closeup of Chase Infiniti's Willa in a dojo, paired perfectly with Steely Dan's "Dirty Work", that continues on to DiCaprio in a car before a parent teacher conference, burnout and transformed from Ghetto Pat to the Bob we spend the majority of the film with. Even thinking back to it now, I nearly cry recalling how stunning that who portion is, but then the music fades and we hear Bob talk about his daughter, about history, and you see how nuanced DiCaprio's performance is, the way he plays this man who has lost nearly everything, what Willa means to him, the reminder of humanity in someone so lost. It's a testament to his performance, Anderson's camera, the script, and pays off because of the work Infiniti does subsequently as Willa on her journey from child to adult, culminating in a moment before the epilogue that is nearly as much of a knockout at the introduction to her character. Anderson's There Will Be Blood is arguably the best film of the past 20 or so years, with the time between filled with plenty of other successes from him, but One Battle After Another has him rivaling his other masterwork. A monumental film, and not just the best of 2025, but maybe the best of the decade up to this point.

And with that we (mostly) bring an end to 2025, with only some smaller things that never actually released here and I probably will just end up counting as 2026 films still to come. Would say that last year was one of the stronger in quite some time, as I had a hard time trimming the list down to a top ten and there's a legitimate case for a lot of the top sixteen I settled on to have, at the very least, cracked the official ranking. As usual, feel free to let me know in the comments what I may have missed/should catch up on/why (insert film) didn't make it. Keep track of what I watch on Letterboxd, sometimes even with more words than just a few sentences. And sometimes not. Such is life.

Comments are welcome and, for anyone with a literary mind, I encourage checking out my poetry blog filled with all original works for your reading pleasure.

Also, I am on the old Twitter thing so I guess you can follow me at twitter.com/r_thor1.

Taking On 2021 - Top Films

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Thorne) — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 02:49:00 +0000

Quite the year, this past one, 2021, what with the release dates of things causing enough overlap that I ended up skipping my normal half year recap because I simply had not seen enough. Thankfully, I did manage to see a respectable number by the year's end, which I've still been keeping a running list of on Letterboxd. And now they've been narrowed down in a truly grueling process to filter out only the best of the best, a top ten that is truly one for the ages. It did turn out to actually be a pretty damn good year, even with titles still getting shifted around and some getting pushed back indefinitely. So fuck all that, might as well get to it.

10. The Green Knight One of the films that seemed to kind of get placed in to a release purgatory was the latest from David Lowery, an adaptation of the Sir Gawain Arthurian story. Having been nearly a decade since I've last read it, going in the details I recalled were more of the broad strokes, but even without a familiarity with the text I think the visuals here would be enough to carry it fairly far; however, the touches in the adaptation that make it play better in a modern context elevate it beyond just a beautifully shot film. The way the story is distilled down to the core themes and then expanded upon along Gawain's journey makes this a tremendous adaptation of a true classic.

9. West Side Story Continuing along with the idea of strong adaptations, Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner's remake of the classic musical is probably one of my favorite straight adaptations of 2021. I've had, to put it generously, a rocky road with Spielberg's filmography, but even looking beyond the choreography there's plenty to fall in love with when it comes to the visuals. The set design creates this world between film and theater, a transfixing tension that completely drew me in. Also of note is the way it blends English and Spanish fluidly in the non-musical sections, forgoing subtitles and just letting us as the audience exist as we would in the real world. Going in I was pretty hesitant, but at every turn this film surprised me, right up to my narrowing down process when it made its way on to this list.

8. Benedetta The latest from Paul Verhoeven isn't quite as controversial as some of the pictures of 'protests' leading up to its wider release led me to believe, but that's not a requirement for it to succeed as an examination of religious institutions. Despite taking place in the seventeenth century, it doesn't have the traditional feel of a period piece; instead, the final product prods at the ideas of truth and lies in religion, the manipulation of power structures especially in a society where upward mobility was limited, and the line between self delusion and conviction in one's self. Oh, and, Jesus totally fucks shit up with a sword.

7. Licorice Pizza Not nearly as many swords in this one, unfortunately. But more waterbeds, which isn't the worst tradeoff. Paul Thomas Anderson guides the film with his typical mastery, and the central performances by Haim and Hoffman create an emotional anchor that grounds the feature even as it focuses on a time and place distant from my own experience. What also struck me was how much happens on the periphery, especially for a film that is so resitant to a complex, traditional plot. There's not just the implications about the central characters's lives, but between the fuel crisis, political campaign, and the look at classic Hollywood there's plenty to look at without ever really losing sight of that emotional core. And having these ideas mostly exist on the fringes, it wraps the viewer up in the power of this connection, even if it's not forever, even if there are flaws, for just a few hours it can feel permanent.

6. The Power Of The Dog Despite the title there are not all that many dogs in this one, actually thinking back I'm not sure if there even was a single one in any prominent scene, but thankfully it's somehow able to overcome that massive ovesight. A lot of that has to do with Jane Campion's work with the camera, of course, and how it works to frame the bubbling conflict at the center of the film. It's just how thematically sound everything is that elevates it for me though, seeing how each charcter confronts expectations and grapples with their inability to meet them. It's in that performativity that you discover the rage, tragedy, and conflict that, even when it get a little too direct or on the nose, one of the year's most rewarding watches.

5. Drive My Car Another of the year's more dense dramas, the latest (or co-latest, though I think this one technically released stateside after Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy) from Ryusuke Hamaguichi is a nice blend of an emotional core with meta-textual layering. Having there be a play taking place in the film, and using that as a centerpiece to explore and flesh out character dynamics is a narrative choice that opens up the film thematically as well. It would be easy to focus on the length, which is daunting, but throughout the nearly three hour runtime it never actually felt close to that long, with the story paced incredibly well. And it does get a ton of mileage out of the differet types of fiction. Even if we aren't ever completely watching a play within the film, just the notion of story and fiction functions completely drew me in. Hamaguichi balances theme and narrative so well here, all without ever sacrificing the emotional weight of the different characters.

4. Red Rocket

3. Vortex

2. The Worst Person In The World

1. Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn

Draft I published because didn’t want to lose it

Taking On 2024 - Top Films

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Thorne) — Thu, 27 Feb 2025 03:03:00 +0000

Another long pause between posts, and one I had intended to do earlier but was derailed by having to wait for I'm Still Here (2024) to play locally before I could realistically finalize a list. Such is life, the fragility of permanence. But a list thankfully was finalized, and this year I broke with a Top Ten to include a bonus film, or perhaps it's the New Normal(tm) since it's the second year running where the list has expanded. Kind of in line with the year though, as it had a number of notable strong titles, some of the best would have contended for last year's list had they played the local festival in October. One can only speculate on the battles that were never fought.

This battle, however, is one that will be conquered. We have, as usual, a list of every film I considered eligible for the year, if you want to see what missed the cut in no real order. Nothing else really to plug, and perhaps one day I will return more regularly to blogging. There's always something fun about getting back to sit with and think through the year that was in film. But, as they say, fuck all that, let's get to it.

11. The New Year That Never Came

When thinking back on the past decade or so, I can think of so many fantastic films from Romania. Honestly need to seek out more, because there's still so much culturally and historically that I do not know, and this film reminds you that we aren't actually all that far removed from this major event. Taking place on the eve of revolution in Romania, it follows multiple characters from different perspectives of society. Ones that rarely intersect, but are all heading towards the same destination. What's impressive is its ability to make even the more banal moments feel heavy, and manages to weave in a wry sense of humor to offset everything just enough. Muresanu balances tone in his film with a rigor that makes it so surprising that this is a debut feature.

10. Megalopolis

Hasn't been one like this in a while. Francis Ford Coppola's latest embraces its epic scale (looking stunning even on a fake IMAX), and so much of the film is better for its willingness to lean in to the theatrical. Anchored by an expectedly great turn from Driver in the role of quasi-superhero super genius pushing for the perfect society, where things begin to elevate is in the smaller moments where it leans in to the theatricality and world that it creates. Coppola puts past, present, and future in heavy handed conversation with each other, and that lack of subtlety allows for some beautiful visual sequences. The moving statues, the extravagant party, the parts overlooking the city, rarely is there a moment where you don't have something to appreciate on a purely visual level. And it helps that the 'pick up my hat' scene is among the funniest moments from film last year.

9. The Substance

Following along with heavy handed social commentaries, the latest from Coralie Fargeat makes no effort to hide the targets of its satire. Which kind of pushed me off it at first, and is similar to the reaction I had to her previous film Revenge; however, as the months passed what stood out most were the great parts. The propulsive score, the sledgehammer subtlety that allows Moore, Qualley, and, especially, Quaid to get the most out of the characters, and just how fun the film is when the third act begins. By that point it already has felt relentless, but in those final forty minutes it shows you exactly what that means as the blood starts to flow. A delight, and electric in a way that you rarely see handled with such artistry.

8. Baby Invasion

As chance would have it, I was fortunate enough to attend the North American premiere of the latest from Harmony Korine's EDGLRD film division. Had some idea going in about the concept of it being a spin on a home invasion thriller where the faces of the invaders are, as the title so clearly states, replaced with generative AI babies. What I didn't realize was that it's a mostly silent film (aside from visual cues and the ever present soundtrack from Burial) where a copy of the game made its way to the dark web and we're watching essentially a livestream that pushes between artifice and reality as the crew breaks in to these mansions in a Payday-like series of missions. The near constant scroll of comments from the live chat add to the hyperstimulation that Korine is examining, and he does so with such an awareness of gaming visual language that goes well beyond even something like Hardcore Henry in terms of how the silent protagonist and first person perspective can be used in this medium. Despite its brief run time, it's a surprisingly dense film in terms of how much it packs in to every frame, and one that I hope to be able to revisit when it gets a proper release. An uncompromising work of art and ambition, and the first film so far that I kind of feel I'm slotting too low.

7. Grand Theft Hamlet

From one undeniable win for Gamers to another, this doc from Sam Crane and Pinny Grylls about the attempt to put on a production of Hamlet within the world of Grand Theft Auto Online surprised me not simply because it was a doc, but because of the lengths it must have taken to create this documentary at all. My own experience with GTAO is limited, having only messed around with it in a broken state on launch day, though I'm definitely aware of the shark cards, the constant updates, the money printer is continues to be for Rockstar. And, as the film shows, an open world where a constant threat of chaos is always lurking in the form of random players. The actual staging of Hamlet becomes less important as the film develops, shifting its focus to the toll that lockdown has had on its creators, on the connections being made in the game, and the interplay of bringing one of the most notable dramas in history to this modern medium where this specific game thrives on constant action. And all are explored well, but what most stood out to me was the construction itself, and the connection between the creators and the world Rockstar created. GTAO is, at this point, not the best looking game, but the tools within the game allow it to be experienced cinematically, and it's fascinating to watch the game be pushed in ways which are completely at odds with the design ethos. Creates moments of beauty between mediums, and is as much a testament to the scope and splendor of what Rockstar created, what games can mean, as it is to the power of art and connection.

6. Anora

Sean Baker's latest doesn't have him straying too far from the qualities that have made his work so great, and there are long stretches of Anora where it finds the propulsive energy that sees him operating on the same wavelength as his breakout Tangerine, but this film feels like an inevitable culmination of his growing success. Through Mikey Madison's titular Ani we get a glimpse in to the world of a dancer as she is swept up in a whirlwind romance with Vanya, a man (technically speaking) of near limitless money on a holiday retreat to the United States. And in the first portion the way Baker films the world, the club, the opulence, is brilliantly juxtaposed with brief glimpses in to Ani's life removed from all of this, just as easily sweeping us as viewer up in the dream of excess. Of course, this gives way to a second act that has the veneer begin to shatter, while the harshness of reality is cushioned some with moments of manic comedy. It requires a delicate balance, especially to not lose sight of its thematic concern with the class dynamics and manifestations of power as a result of Vanya's wealth, and both Baker and Madison handle it perfectly. Anora is, top to bottom, stunning.

5. Trap

Would be easy to say that 2024 was a massive year for Gamers, and while M. Night Shyamalan does spend about 45 minutes or so letting Josh Hartnett's father turned serial killer (or serial killer turned father) run through what would make a great Hitman level, his thriller has much more up its sleeve than the quasi-concert film first half. In what very well may be the best performance of the year, Hartnett gets to oscillate between completely in control and completely unhinged, bringing a depth to his Cooper/Butcher character that puts an interesting spin on the traditional serial killer formula. Shyamalan's camera is, as one would expect, beautiful, effectively framing the scale of the fake real concert that serves as the initial trap, though it's the script where the film elevates itself from fun entertainment to one of the year's best. It's not just the willingness to situate the film from a killer's perspective, the familial dynamic takes on its own richness as Cooper's desire to hold on to his family amidst his turbulent other life at least evokes Shyamalan casting his daughter in one of the film's key roles. That personal touch, a mark of so much of Shyamalan's work, blends seamlessly with Hartnett's performance to create probably the most purely entertaining film of the past year.

4. Do Not Expect Too Much From The End Of The World

One film that straddles the line of what is actually a 2024 release, Radu Jude's follow up to previous best of list occupant (not linked as I didn't finish writing that year in time, but it would have been 1 or 2) Bad Luck Banging of Loony Porn is just as daring, but approaches its subject differently than his previous work. Following Angela, a cog in an advertising firm that is charged with putting together a workplace safety video for an international conglomerate in hot water for workplace tragedy in a Bucharest factory, we see a day in her life as she wrangles people to film a spot that ostensibly is HR's wet dream, along with a few breaks as she films filtered TikToks under the guise of her Bobita, a hyper misogynist spin on the Alpha Male Andrew Tate figures. A fine enough playground on its own for Jude to showcase his humor and wit, though where his previous film segmented itself in to three distinct acts, this has Jude blending footage of Angela Merge Mai Departe (according to Wikipedia anyhow), a 1981 film about a taxi driver in Bucharest to create echoes of the city's past and place it in conversation with the present day. Again, my own knowledge of Romanian history is limited, so some parts are a bit more beguiling than the more straightforward Bad Luck Banging, but even with only a loose knowledge it's easy to appreciate how Jude explores the themes of labor, economy, and government as a machine that grinds down those on the fringes. The ways we grapple with limitations and these systems of confinement. It's a predictably dense work, but a rewarding one, and further cements Jude as one of the most exciting filmmakers working in comedy or otherwise.

3. A Different Man

Don't think there was a more surprising film last year than Aaron Schimberg's A Different Man, one where the basic plot description of a deformed man undergoes an experimental treatment, becomes attractive, and learns that it doesn't make his life perfect does not do the film itself justice. Sebastian Stan, in one of two great performances from him this past year, plays Edward, a man with neurofibromatosis causing a disfiguration in his face, who is a struggling actor in New York getting by on demeaning roles that focus only on his condition. His appearance is eventually changed, allowing him to assume a new identity and start over, but his happiness proves only temporary as he crosses path with Oswald, played by Adam Pearson, a successful man with the same condition as Edward. Where the film succeeds though is in its nuance, how it takes the simple premise and actually grapples with what it means to not only be different, but to be perceived that way. Stan and Pearson give two great performances, and Schimberg smartly plays them against type to explore identity and relation with both self and the world. It's a deeply human film, and one that effectively drops the hammer on its character study in a way that left me shook in its final moments.

2. I Saw The TV Glow

Returning to the near top of my yearly list, Jane Schoenbrun's follow up to the phenomenal We're All Going To The World's Fair has them shifting focus from the digital age and looking backwards to the days where Snick reigned supreme. Schoenbrun showed plenty of talent visually in their previous film, but it is all elevated pretty much from the opening moments here, and the integration of 90's staples as such a big part of the narrative allows for not just clear formal talent, but also encourages a change in the visual construction of certain scenes. Justice Smith plays a reserved high schooler, in a surprisingly powerful performance given how reserved he is asked to be, and bounces well off of Jack Haven's much more forceful Maddy. Each find common ground early on over an Are You Afraid Of The Dark-esque show, which serves as an entry point for the film's exploration of identity formation and sense of belonging. This manifests in a trans reading, one that's certainly valid, but reaches beyond that to a more universal fear of inertia, of becoming stuck, of losing one's sense of self that are universal. The film itself is not very scary, at least not in a traditional sense, but its final twenty minutes or so are terrifying. As with We're All Going To The World's Fair, it taps in to both modern and timeless fears, laced with tragedy, and asking the audience to engage with their own sense of self. Remarkable work once again from one of cinema's most exciting new voices.

1. The Beast

Still remember very well my moments after The Beast, Bertrand Bonello's decades spanning spin on Henry James's novella "The Beast In The Jungle", how shaken I was by the final moments, how the QR code credits were met with people quietly filtering out of the theater, the wind blowing as I walked back to the train station and paused, realizing just how special of a film I had seen. Taking place across three different time periods, Bonello weaves together the 1910's, 2014, and the near future to use the framework of a doomed romance to reach beyond the limitations of physical. The film achieves this in two ways: first by framing the distant future portion as an idealized world where AI has solved most global problems and is sanding down human fail points by purifying people of their past selves (allowing the film to jump around in time), but also has Lea Seydoux and George MacKay play the would be lovers across the three different times so that we as the viewer are aware of the inescapability of their story. I have not read the James novella, but early on in the 1910's section it outlines the central quandary that drives it (and the film) when one of the characters remarks that they have always had an awareness that their life will be defined by a terrible, spectacular event, which lets us and the characters constantly aware of and waiting for this mysterious moment that could happen at any time.

This central tension is maintained deftly by Bonello throughout, as he plays with echoes of the future and past to explore the characters, but more importantly to examine the existential dread at the emotional core of the film. Given the current rise of AI, it feels particularly prescient, and it's smart to place the future portion only about 20 years from now, making everything feel much more immediate. This idea is further refined in the relatively contemporary portion, likely the strongest section (and not just because of the blink and you'll miss it clip from Harmony Korine's Trash Humpers that makes an appearance) because it presents the most perverse form of attraction. Seydoux plays an aspiring actress watching a house in a well to do area of Los Angeles, and she is juxtaposed with MacKay's Louis Lewinsky, the quintessential Elliot Rodger incel spewing his manifesto to what one can assume is a near non-existent social media audience. While the Lynchian impulses are more direct in the future portion, Bonello best blends the surreal with the human in this contemporary section, with a darkness and humor that has the viewer hyper-aware of the dangers, both physical and beyond. This fear, this beauty, it is harrowing on such a raw level. Not sure there ever could have been another option for the year's best.

Brings us to the end of the list, another year in cinema in the books. Didn't see everything that I wanted, but was able to see a lot. As usual, feel free to follow along with my logs on Letterboxd, and feel free to leave any comments below. Until next time.

Comments are welcome and, for anyone with a literary mind, I encourage checking out my poetry blog filled with all original works for your reading pleasure.

Also, I am on the old Twitter thing so I guess you can follow me at twitter.com/r_thor1.

Taking On 2023: Top Films

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Thorne) — Thu, 07 Mar 2024 01:50:00 +0000

Back for my annual tradition of writing about the films that most resonated with me from the previous year as we either turn the page to the new year and/or lead up to the Oscars. In this case it's more the latter, though given the way some releases have gone part of the reason this list is being posted so late has more to do with the way distributors have opted to trickle out some heavy hitters. It would, of course, be a fool's errand to try and make a definitive list, and, despite seeing a good number of films in 2023 (easily tracked on my Letterboxd list for those who like to play along), 2023 proved unique in a number of ways.

While I certainly lament my inability to see/Mubi's holding hostage of Do Not Expect Too Much From The End Of The World, a film I am sure would at least reasonably have had the ability to compete for a top spot given the pedigree, I was fortunate enough to see a number of releases that are still considered in some strange limbo state. In the past I have also been resistant to including television on this list, and will continue to not this year, though those limits were pushed with Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, a marvelous work of adaptation that illuminates and repurposes the source material in such a surprising and rich way that it feels like it could stand alongside the best features, and was one of the few TV shows I logged on my Letterboxd. But there will be a slight change this year, as I write about a Top 12 for the first time, though for those who do care or are more sticklers than I am at present I have ordered things so you can opt to still have a definitive Top 10 without having to disqualify certain films that almost certainly should be thought of as 2024 releases based on when they'll actually be more accessible theatrically.

All that to say that things have changed, but not drastically. And it's time to count down.

12. Skinamarink

A viral horror, at least from my understanding, the debut microbudget feature from Kyle Edward Ball is one that I did not get a chance to see theatrically, but in hindsight that is perhaps for the best. Mercifully light on jump scares, there's still an ever developing sense of dread and terror that engulfs the film, watching as two young children navigate a night in their home where the house traps them. Or, something does, anyway. From the VHS aesthetic to the crunchy sound, those elements only help make the film scarier, listening to the whispers of the kids as they attempt to make sense of the night, and the noises of the threat lurking within the home. It also has one sequence that, even in its restraint, unsettled me so much I needed to take a break. Still a bit shaken thinking back on it a year later. A testament to the film's power.

11. Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.

Based on a text I've never read, wasn't entirely sure what to expect with this one, but this ended up exceeding all of my expectations. While the specific coming of age aspects were not directly relatable for me, the emotional core in the film is universal. Watching Margaret come to terms with life, with herself, her family, and friends, there's a feeling of authenticity that carries the feature. Little surprise coming from Kelly Fremon Craig, whose The Edge Of Seventeen probably occupied a slot on a previous list and also did an amazing job capturing an inflection point in life. And this film is brimming with life, beautiful and a joy to watch. Even enough to get through my hardened heart.

10. The First Slam Dunk

Each year I try to see at least one anime film on the big screen, something that, thankfully isn't the case anymore, used to be much more challenging than it currently is today. And yet this alternate look at Takehiko Inoue's manga (a work I have not read, for the record) still manages to be one of the most special anime films I saw theatrically last year. Stylistically gorgeous, the film uses flashback to fill in the characters and establish the stakes of the game we watch play out. It's a novel way to slow down a basketball game and also tell its story, one that allows Ryota to be an emotional anchor for the feature. Even without a familiarity of the original text, and only being a passive basketball fan, this weaves both and achieves something that goes far beyond either. Sports and art have a strange relationship, but by blending both this film produces a compelling meditation on emotion, connection, and self acceptance.

9. "Asteroid City"

A long time ago Wes Anderson probably wouldn't have come close to my own top tens, the artifice of his work leaving me cold aside from a few exceptions, but really since Fantastic Mr. Fox it's hard to imagine a year he releases a work that wouldn't at least push for consideration among the year's best. Even the collection of shorts he did last year were great. But the complete picture of his feature, one where the artifice layers to expose raw moments of emotion. That tension Anderson creates between the two result in some of the strongest scenes of the year, and brings a depth to even the most simple interactions. Remarkable craft, as always, but he's at his best, as he is here, when that craft is directly enhancing theme.

8. Red Rooms

Good to see over the past few years a push back on the rise of the True Crime genre, and how Pascal Plante approaches the dark side of obsession resulted in one of the more unsettling theatrical experiences I had last year. Splitting its time between a courtroom trial surrounding a serial killer and central character Kelly-Anne's apartment where her independent fixation on the case has her navigating her public life with dives in to the dark web. The film's exploration of obsession, and how media gives a platform to horrific people, can stand on its own as a compelling enough starting point, but the formal elements on display, a camera that feels simultaneously frantic and controlled, strike a ton that's absorbing, frightening, fascinating, disturbing.

7. Evil Does Not Exist

The latest from Ryusuke Hamaguchi has him working once again in a focused community, this time a small forest town that is in the process of dealing with a big corporation coming in to set up a luxury camping site. Scenes of the beauty of this town, the rituals of those who have made their lives there and the threat, financially and ecologically, play out with a care and reflection that Hamaguchi has worked with throughout his career. But it's probably an elongated town hall meeting towards the middle that serves as the standout sequence. The construction of this scene, the performances, are presented with a tangibility that almost feels like it would be at home in a documentary, but with a bit of humor injected that wouldn't be out of place in his previous Wheel Of Fortune And Fantasy. And, like that one, the complexity in this film builds. Hamaguchi captures the majesty of this community without romanticizing it, makes us understand what is at stake for these characters, and ends up culminating in one of the year's strongest closing sequences.

6. May December

Returning to the kind-of-true-crime scene that made the list earlier, Todd Haynes delivered what is, on the surface, a fairly straight forward story of an actress researching a role. The part, however, is based on a woman who had a relationship with a young boy, and we enter, as Natalie Portman's Elizabeth does, years after when the two have since wed and are living what seems like a fairly normal life. But Haynes gets in to the breaks within the characters to broaden the scope, showing the damage that is readily apparent and also that which bubbles below the surface. The entire cast play their parts perfectly, especially surprise standout Charles Melton as Joe portraying a quiet, subtle victim at an inflection point in life. There's an unexpected complexity as the film progresses, tackling what it means to commodify tragedy, the human cost that one can so easily overlook in a 'ripped from the headlines' shocking adaptation, and does so with both a care and viciousness that's fascinating.

5. Killers Of The Flower Moon

Kind of been a tremendous run for Martin Scorsese since Hugo (honestly even before that), but depending on how one feels about Silence this might be his most ambitious work in years. A predictably stacked cast, anchored by the (former Top Five Supporting Performance on this very blog if memory serves) great Lily Gladstone, is reason enough to get excited even without knowing the pedigree behind the camera. And Scorsese is visually firing at an elite level, especially having the pleasure to see this in IMAX where the scale of Hale estate early on, where the destruction, physically and culturally, is staggering. A film very much about America, this takes a specific town and time to explore the power dynamics that allowed the displacement of indigenous people in the United States, and how business and the law are manipulated to allow criminals to masquerade as pillars of a community. And then there's the final ten minutes or so, a stroke of brilliance that's audacious thematically and functionally. Even writing about it now I just want to go back and rewatch this. Honestly, maybe 5 is not high enough.

4. The Zone Of Interest

When Cannes wrapped up, I'll admit that I was a skeptic of all the buzz surrounding Jonathan Glazer's Auschwitz set drama following the life of a higher ranking Nazi family. But I was very wrong to doubt, and my initial hesitation was likely a result of ignorance of Glazer's non-Under The Skin work. From the opening moments, a couple of minutes of a black screen as sounds begin to condition us to listen, you realize that this film is going to be more in line with Son Of Saul (but good) rather than Schindler's List (but good). Think it's easy to get bogged down in the banality of evil talk that has cropped up in discussions around this film, and I'm certainly not going to say that isn't there as we literally listen to casual conversations about installing more efficient gas chambers in the concentration camp, but it also feels like that overlooks how the film examines the way evil gets justified on a personal level. How little it can take to kill groups of people for personal comfort. Glazer's distanced camera underscores this, we watch as the characters justify and accept constantly throughout, and it does it all with a terror that permeates the work. Can't speak highly enough about how the sound of this film works to communicate the horror, scenes playing out where it's sometimes hard to tell if you're hearing the family's children laughing or the screams just behind the Auschwitz wall in the background. A monumental work, formally, thematically, technically. Stronger than I ever would have thought.

3. Riddle Of Fire

Switching from probably the heaviest entry to a more traditionally enjoyable watch, Weston Razooli's debut can maybe be described as a modern day The Goonies meets Labyrinth, but even as some of its influences are clear it does feel like I'd be selling it a bit short to simply call it a homage to those types of films. Following a group of kids as they go on a quest that will allow them time to play a new game console, Razooli is able to create a balance between childlike wonder, the core cast confronting nearly every situation with a reckless attitude, and our awareness of how increasingly dangerous these sequences become. It also has some of the funniest scenes of the year, and Skyler Peters as Jodie, whose dialogue gets subtitled, knocks every line he's given out of the park, just such an electric and fun character. And I wouldn't want to overlook just how good this looks, fittingly shot on 16mm it gives each scene such richness that works perfectly to evoke the era of films from which it draws some inspiration and to situate our own memories of these childhood adventures (though ideally with fewer weapons in most cases, one would hope). Was able to see this at PFF this year and, even with what ended up being a strong lineup, this one was such a refreshing feature. Just pure cinematic joy, so refreshing to see a film like this one.

2. Barbie

Returning to the world of adaptation, albeit in a different manner than with Little Women, Greta Gerwig continues to show why she is a must watch filmmaker. There's so much care in every aspect of this film, the way Barbie's world comes to life, the costumes, the soundtrack, and Gerwig's referential nods to other classic films interact with the core themes of growing up, identity, and self-discovery. It's beautiful, literally and figuratively, to watch play out on screen, and what Margot Robbie brings to the titular role as a physical performance and the emotion she is able to convey as her Barbie becomes more self-aware is among the year's best performances. As is, of course, Ryan Gosling's Ken, a nice juxtaposition that lets the film dive a bit deeper in to its gender politics. Obviously this isn't a complex meditation on feminism, but it is a film that makes its themes accessible for any audience. Have seen since release a lot of criticisms that likely have better places to address more fully, but it does seem silly to criticize a film like this for not being earth shattering in how complex it is willing to get, especially since a more didactic version would likely take away from the cinematic successes it finds on its own terms. Arguably the worst moment of the film is when it gets didactic, using America Ferrera as a conduit for Gerwig's dialogue, especially when compared to possibly the strongest scene earlier with Barbie speaking with an older woman in the real world. And, honestly, sometimes you just want a big choreographed beach fight scene, and that's okay too.

1. Robot Dreams

And topping the list this year is what I suppose was the best film I saw at the Philadelphia Film Festival, Pablo Berger's essentially silent animated feature about a dog finding companionship with a robot he orders, taking place in an alternate New York City inhabited by animals. While it doesn't have the most jaw dropping style, and while the actual story it tells is pretty straight forward, this film is more than just the parts. Starting off as a fun animated film, one built for all ages and enjoyable in that regard, it never really lets us forget the loneliness that Dog feels, the desire for connection that led him to purchasing his robot, and how much their connection develops up to and beyond the early standout scene set to "September". This undercurrent of loneliness and tragedy is what begins to elevate the film, filling out both the characters in an economic way that ends up being surprisingly complex. It is a movie that does not shy away from emotion, good or bad, which is admirable in general, but as it starts towards its conclusion the film soars. Using the appearance of simplicity to hit on emotional truth, one that's surprisingly complex and difficult to face, creates one of the most moving and beautiful works from the past year.

And with that we've reached the end of 2023, all in all a strong year with plenty of great films. Ended up just shy of 130 films that I considered for the list, which you can check out here. Anything I missed? Things that are too high or too low? Feel free to let me know in the comments below. Until this time next year, if not earlier. Hopefully by then we have this Radu Jude released.

Comments are welcome and, for anyone with a literary mind, I encourage checking out my poetry blog filled with all original works for your reading pleasure.

Also, I am on the old Twitter thing so I guess you can follow me at twitter.com/r_thor1.

Taking on 2022 - Top Films

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Thorne) — Sat, 11 Mar 2023 03:31:00 +0000

Longer than I would have liked since my last entry, but, despite falling off schedule last year, I have returned to once again pound at the keyboard and hammer out a top ten of this past film year. The year cinemas died and/or thrived depending on which narrative you want to push and/or follow. And ultimately one that had me at the theatre often, often seeing at least a decent film. There were even some great ones, films that I occasionally was able to see on a big screen, and some that I simply could not. But the process has been run, the numbers plugged in to the opinion machine, and out came a list. So now it is time to write a little on that list. If you are interested in seeing which films were in consideration, I've got them all tracked on my Letterboxd. If not, well, take a gander below for the ten (or eleven, who knows) best ones from the previous year in the world of cinema.

10. Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood

Returning to the world of animation, Richard Linklater looks back at the past by way of a top secret pre-mission to the moon via a recruited shoolboy. Unsurprisingly, the film most soars in the specific details of childhood in the developing Houston suburbs. Paired with an effectively sentimental Jack Black narration, we are asked to confront nostalgia, giving in to the allure that it provides but doing so with a distance and perspective to not shy away from the more troubling aspects of the time. Even with the setup situating the film in the imagination, it maintains an impressive grasp on emotion and humanity.

9. The People's Joker

After a debut at TIFF that saw Vera Drew's comedy pulled from the program, it seemed like this could potentially be buried in a never ending cease and desist battle with Warner Brothers. And, unfortunately, that is still kind of the case despite the popup secret screenings that seem to have happened in a few different cities at this point based on what I've been able to gather. A shame, since, as a comedy, it's more jam packed with jokes than any studio one in longer than I can remember, and one that would definitely reward multiple viewings. But it's not just the success with its laughs that earns a spot among the year's best, the insightful way the film examines identity formation, specifically how Vera Drew explores her own experiences as a trans woman, and also in a more broad context in understanding one's sense of self, finds depth well beyond the jokes.

8. TAR

Continuing on with films that are more rewarding when poking at them a little more than just taking what it delivered on the surface, Todd Field's latest is anchored by Blanchett's work, but finds its strength in the way it delivers surprises. The film demands a tonal control to succeed, and that's maintained throughout with a deft, occasionally humorous, touch. The way traditional beats and structure are played with, not just in the plot but in the actual construction of the film, underscores the character study and themes in a way that remains transfixing throughout.

7. The Fabelmans

Another year, another Spielberg and Kushner project making my top ten. Truly never thought that I'd see the day, but such is life. And this film is one that, while focused on a very specific life, reaches for the universal. Like 2021's West Side Story from the two of them, we as viewers are once again looking back to the past, though this time through a not-exactly-but-it-is Spielberg stand-in as he discovers a love for the cinema, navigates family strife, and, perhaps most notably, the relationship between art and artist. There is, as one would expect, a healthy dose of sentimentality, yet it doesn't come close to overdosing on any of that as we never lose sight of the sacrifices so many characters make. Visually, Spielberg continues to operate at a high level, and because of how important film is to the text itself does serve as an effective entry point to engaging with cinema from a formal perspective. The mark of a master of his craft, and with a script that brings out the best from the film.

6. Mad God

Animation in the previous year was diverse, and I'm always happy to see more animated films to get more distribution. And very early on in Phil Tippett's mostly silent stop motion heavyweight it's very clear why. From both the visual style to the themes within the narrative, there is such a clearly defined vision that it's hard not to be enraptured. Stop-motion as a form already requires a deft touch even in the most straightforward stories, so to have Tippett aim considerably higher, offering up a meditation on the downfalls of humanity, demands a level of precision that is on full display here.

5. Bodies Bodies Bodies

Perhaps more surprising than a two year in a row appearance from Spielberg on my year end list is a film that prominently features Pete Davidson. Yet here we are with Halina Reijn's English language debut, a neon drenched spectacle that pounds with life from the opening scene until the credits roll. All of the performers at the center of the film turn in great work, the dynamics between characters natural in the moments where the film slows down and tense when the body count starts to rise. This film also delivered what was probably my biggest surprise in a theater last year when the credits did start and I saw this was penned by Sarah DeLappe. Not one to ever miss an opportunity to talk about how great The Wolves is, there's one scene towards the end that has the dialogue firing at the highest level, echoing what made some of the strongest exchanges in that play. I assume, anyway, I've only read it, and sadly have not seen a live performance. It did make sense on the ride home the more I thought about it, as you do notice the 'drama' style throughout in the way characters talk. Truly a marvel.

4. Smoking Causes Coughing

Pushing from a quasi-comedy, the list now gives way to a full on comedy. Following (kind of) the adventures of the Tobacco Force, Quentin Dupieux gets to play with the Power Rangers-esque world to thread together a collection of absurdist shorts. Because of the form he really gets to run the gamut of humor, packing the lean runtime with a plethora of sight gags, punchlines, and over the top body humor. As expected, it's a blast to watch, and because it is essentially a collection of shorts the pacing means that it never really gets too bogged down. Even as the film cuts back to the Tobacco Force, giving us a view in to who they are behind their costumes, that also delivers a ton of laughs. All culminating in a hysterical conclusion. In terms of having a premise and executing it flawlessly, few films from last year come close to this one.

3. RRR

Pretty early on in 2022 I remember starting to hear rumblings of the theatrical release of S. S. Rajamouli's RRR. While I occasionally will see some films from India, it is a blindspot, and while I know well enough that this is hardly representative of such a diverse country's cinema, it does serve as an entry point (for myself and many others, I'm sure) to a specific sub-genre of what can be offered. A lot of films were brimming with energy last year, and in terms of theatrical bombast there were a good number of big screen offerings, and this one was among the best. The action set pieces, the dance sequence, the pounding score. It all blends together for an awe inspiring cinematic experience.

2. R.M.N.

When the lineup for Cannes 2022 was released, the latest from Cristian Mungiu was basically at the top of my most anticipated. While I was a little cooler on Graduation than his other work, even that had his strong formal construction on display. So I entered this one hopeful, even though I was aware that I'd almost certainly not have a full cultural awareness of every dynamic ingrained in the Transylvanian village where it takes place. But it ended up being alright in that regard, as the film does a great job of setting up the different tensions in the town, and exploring what is behind that. As one may expect, there are many points where things simmer below the surface, moving at a methodical pace (though never at the expense of the humanity in which the film is deeply rooted), but the payoff is stunning to watch unfold. Honestly, even writing about this now I want to watch it again, to poke and pull apart more than it, because it does feel, like when Mungiu was at his best in the past, like this village, which clearly is going to be acting as a microcosm for the country from which the film partially gets its title, gets at the universal.

1. We're All Going To The World's Fair

Arriving at the top slot is Jane Schoenbrun's coming-of-digital-age horror following Casey as she takes part in a viral challenge/ARG that, despite being Very Online, lets the film, and new comer Anna Cobb, really shine. Cobb gets a few bigger scenes, though even in the quieter moments she's more than capable, Schoenbrun also plays with color and lighting in compelling ways, though what works so well in the film is how the character of Casey behind the videos reveals itself, and how the internet is looked at both as an outlet and danger with a modern perspective willing to grapple with the complexity of each aspect. Thus far I've written a lot about endings, I find, and perhaps that's because of how many really wrapped up great in 2022, and this one follows right along, revealing so much towards the end as well as in the coda that the film basically resituates the very type of horror in which it exists. It's a surprisingly layered and complex film, one that I still think about regularly and (while I didn't do a halfway best of films) that essentially ran wire to wire as my favorite of the year.

That'll do it until around this time next year. As usual I will tell myself that I'll try to write more, and perhaps that will come to pass this year. Still shaking off some of the rust, but this was fun to get back to, and, as usual, if you want to check out the full list of what I watched you can do so here, or feel free to chime in down in the comments section. Onward now to 2023.

Comments are welcome and, for anyone with a literary mind, I encourage checking out my poetry blog filled with all original works for your reading pleasure.

Also, I am on the old Twitter thing so I guess you can follow me at twitter.com/r_thor1.

Taking On 2020 - Top Films

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Thorne) — Sun, 25 Apr 2021 21:19:00 +0000

Back once again, mother fucker yeah, it's me. Got to this later than I anticipated, but, as with the Academy Awards, now seemed like the best time to put a bow on the previous year in cinema. Also because some things didn't push out to the public at large until even later than normal and seemed like things that I needed to include in my final count. Of course, I am currently accepting all 2021 screeners. Oh yeah, some 2020 things for the Academy are 2021 for my list because of how and when they played or released. For further reference on that, I do have a public list of all releases I'm counting as 2020 eligible. Things have changed since I did my Best Of The First Half, almost a year ago now, so might as well just go get in to the list proper.

By Source (WP:NFCC#4), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=64988437

10. The Nest

Went in to this one with lofty expectations given how long I'd been looking forward to Sean Durkin's follow up to a previous entry on one of these lists: Martha Marcy May Marlene. And it ended up being worth the wait, opening up and revealing itself in a methodical manner. Both from the way that Jude Law seems so much at the center early on to eventually give way to Carrie Coon's powerhouse performance. The film pulls influence from domestic dramas, psychological thrillers, and even Gothic fiction, but blends them all together to create a compelling portrait of this family's cracks and breaks.

9. Get The Hell Out

Conversely, I didn't know what to expect with this film outside of it involving zombies, a subgenre that typically hasn't worked for me in the past. But this sucker really blew me away pretty much from the opening. Visually, I'm not sure anything I watched last year was as arresting as this film, bringing an anime to life in the way that any attempt I've seen before has not. Even reflecting on it now, the way color is used, the editing, how shots are framed, it was hard to believe that translated to live action. I probably do not have the full sociopolitical knowledge of Taiwan to get everything that it's touching on with the narrative, but that also doesn't keep it from being a successful joyride from moment to moment.

By Source (WP:NFCC#4), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=62509099

8. The Assistant

One of the earliest films I saw in 2020, Kitty Green's narrative debut sees her looking at a day in the life of the titular assistant as she navigates the inner workings of a film production company, and using this as a means to examine the way power manifests and is abused by those at the top, at the expense and silence of the women in the industry. Though, while there are clear indications that it's about the world of film, having the mostly mundane office be the primary setting allows these concepts to broaden out and be applicable to many types of environments. The way Green uses the specific to confront the larger topic manifests in the strong control she exerts over pacing on a scene to scene basis. This film is one I wrestled with a bit when I left, but as I've had more time to look back on it, the more it has risen in my estimation, and the stronger I find it, especially in a world where no industry seems to have found an effective way to confront sexual injustice.

By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=63907858

7. Possessor

If Get The Hell Out had the most distinctive visual style of last year, I think that there wasn't a film that made better use of scene to scene individual visuals than Brandon Cronenberg's Possessor. An amalgamation of genres, this blends elements of body horror with a spy film and even heists to an extent. And the way it balances them all to create a transfixing experience is admirable in itself, but to do so without sacrificing the emotional weight is perhaps the most impressive part. In a year that saw Christopher Nolan return to some of his most detached, hollow filmmaking, Possessor stands in sharp contrast in the way it executes on high concept plot and the personal story of the characters.

By Source (WP:NFCC#4), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=64804656

6. Spree

One of the more surprising films of the year, this intersecting point between a failed Youtube streamer and probable incel killer is anchored by a massive performance from Joe Keery, in a way that I definitely was not expecting based on what I'd seen of him before. Inventively shot, this puts a spin on the screen film that we've seen before in things like Searching and Unfriended, not normally putting everything on a fake-but-you-know-what-it's-supposed-to-be-app but mixing in those moments with the more traditional focus on the action as the driver streams out his killing spree. Taking just enough of a modern spin on a fairly traditional narrative succeeds more than it probably has any right to.

5. Weathering With You

If it wasn't the first film I saw counting for 2020, it was among the first, and has had the staying power to remain pretty high when all was said and done. A stunningly animated film, the latest from Makoto Shinkai isn't all just looks though, using the freedom that animation allows to tell a wondrous story but keeping it focused on the human connection between its characters. The film has lofty ambitions, ones that are not always completely hit in the way Shinkai accomplished with Your Name, but the willingness to take those swings is sometimes enough in itself, especially in the moments when they really do connect.

By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=63838973

4. The Father

Did not do all that much reading up on this one before going in, only really knowing that it was about a man dealing with dementia and how that effected his family, and I'll be the first to admit this film seemed like a traditional Oscar play that I was ready to write off, but turns out that sometimes even I can be wrong. Hopkins on his own is very good, but it's the script here that is the real star. An adaptation of the director's own stage play, it is constructed in such a way that places the viewer in the perspective of Hopkins's father as his grip on the reality around him warps and changes in small and large ways. And it's dramatic, but not capital D Dramatic in the way that would be simple for both the film and the source material (which I was unfamiliar with head in as well) to take. Yet the way it explores the central idea is much more unconventional, which is always refreshing, and especially so in a film that could easily have gone off the edge in to generic territory.

By Source (WP:NFCC#4), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=62778899

3. First Cow

Ever since her earliest work, Kelly Reichardt has crafted films that have such a grasp on core humanity. Whether through connection, isolation, or the grounds between the two, her work is able to transcend time to examine the many facets of modern American existence. And with First Cow, she is able to put those, at least at times, in direct conversation with one another. In many ways, one can see this film as a culminating point of her career, traces back to Oldjoy defining the core relationship (however one may interpret it, as surprise to me that I did not see nearly as many queer readings of this as I noticed while watching), with the socioeconomic analysis that has marked her filmography. From the opening frame, to the beautiful conclusion, First Cow situates itself among both Reichadt's best, and the top films of the year.

By Source (WP:NFCC#4), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=64246866

2. Relic

Not sure how to write about this film, as the revelations throughout the film are powerful, though even the most cursory glance at pull quotes gives away the central metaphor that makes the film so powerful. To be fair, I went in knowing what this modern horror was exploring and it still nearly earned my top spot, so I suppose it's fine to disclose, but I guess I'll keep talking around it. Following three women in a family, specifically on the daughter returning to situate her aging mother in her presumably haunted house. Opting to not dive in to man jump scares, something that I always appreciate, the film still creates a sense of dread and melancholy that hovers over everything, all the way down to a mournful final frame.

By Source (WP:NFCC#4), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=64761780

1. I'm Thinking Of Ending Things

The latest from Charlie Kaufman has him adapting a novel that has him bringing the material to life in only a way he could. Reflecting on the way narrative functions, the film uses multiple misdirections to resituate a viewer's understanding of how we are viewing certain characters and the power with which voice shifts both our perception and understanding of storyteller. On a moment to moment basis though, it's not 'too clinical' in the way that literary reflection can get, packing great performances with sharp dialogue and enough humor to balance the more serious themes that the film grapples with throughout. But, above all else, this film tackles one specific topic (even having a title that plays to the idea of perspective and understanding) that gets overlooked in so much fiction, and handles it with consideration, care, and understanding that I've rarely, if ever, seen.

And that officially ends 2020 in the the world of cinema. There were, as there always are, a couple of things that I wasn't able to get to, even with the extra time, but I'll link my Letterboxd list of everything that I considered eligible. If there is something I missed, let me know in the comments below. Won't be long now before I'm back for the best of the first half of 2021, which I need to start working on now, because my list thus far is particularly paltry for this time of the year.

Comments are welcome and, for anyone with a literary mind, I encourage checking out my poetry blog filled with all original works for your reading pleasure.

Also, I am on the old Twitter thing so I guess you can follow me at twitter.com/r_thor1.

And if you want to know what I'm watching, listening to, playing , and reading you can follow my tumblr account!

Taking On 2020 - Top Films So Far

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Thorne) — Wed, 01 Jul 2020 01:33:00 +0000

Hard to believe that we have reached the halfway point of the year, though I guess anything is believable these days, am I right? Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week. Please, try the beef. And while you're at it, let me tell you about some of the best films I watched this year. While my Raw Numbers are not where I would like them to be, I was surprised when making this list that there were a number of tougher cuts to get down to ten. As usual, I track all the eligible entries (ones I did not see at a festival last year) on a running Letterboxd list if you want to see all the things in consideration or get an idea of what I've missed. The Virtual Theater experience has been super helpful in catching up with things that got pushed theatrically, and streaming services have also pumped out a lot of quality features this year. Of course, the biggest miss thus far is First Cow, which was set to open locally the week everything shut down. Anyway, how about the list?

10. The Trip To Greece

Michael Winterbottom's celebration of traveling, food, and meditation on mortality is what seems to be the final installment in the series, and finds Coogan and Brydon in strong form as they play to variations on the greatest hits of the series. The land and food are both filmed beautifully, and there's a central conceit built around them following Odysseus's path back home, which is a fun idea to build around and gives this trip a different type of purpose that gets explored in further detail throughout the film. And, probably most important to a comedy, it's funny.

9. Disappearance At Clifton Hill

While I saw Blow The Man Down and, personal favorite, Vast Of The Night last year, Disappearance At Clifton Hill is not completely out of place when looking at those two films. Much like the former, it's a modern noir that goes heavy on the plot, which is compelling on its own, but you get a strong central performance from Tuppence Middleton and surprisingly effective camerawork by Albert Shin. It would be easy to let the script do the heavy lifting, more so when the anchor of the film is working at such a high level, but the technical craft is what elevates this above just a solid thriller.

8. Emma.

Autumn de Wilde's adaptation of Jane Austen's novel has a tough job, as most adaptations of such time tested works do, especially ones that have been made and remade in various forms over the years. But what it gets right is the style of Austen's comedy, modernizing it just enough without losing the aspects that have made the novel a classic. The dialogue is sharp, Anya Taylor-Joy is completely captivating in the central role, and the film's visual aesthetic is marvelous in its use of color.

7. Onward

One of the things I enjoy about this halfway mark check in is that I get to write about things that will likely fall away by year's end. While Pixar's latest wouldn't be confused with an indie film, and it has a couple subplots that I think hurt the film, but when you push past all of that, kind of just take Ian's quest for a pretty good driving force, you get maybe Pixar's most purely successful and mature emotional exploration with Barley's story line. The animation, as one would expect, is polished, but there's one scene in particular that comes from such a raw, emotional place that it elevates the entire film.

6. Never Rarely Sometimes Always

Speaking of a scene doing a lot for a film, I'm sure there's plenty of writing about The Scene at the near center of Eliza Hittman's latest. A lot of faith is put in Sidney Flanigan to command the screen in this moment, especially after giving a performance that asks her to be incredibly detached a lot of the time, and she delivers with such force that it propels the film from that point until its conclusion. While the film is fairly straightforward from a plotting standpoint, there's a depth to the characters and the way everything is constructed that makes it one of the year's more hard hitting dramas.

5. The Assistant

The night I saw Kitty Green's The Assistant, I was actually supposed to be seeing a soon to be canceled showing of Yuasa's Ride Your Wave (a film I still haven't had a chance to see), which was fine in the sense that Green's film was high on my interest list, but not something I was able to go in to with the right frame of mind. Methodically paced, Green's exploration of silencing and power dynamics in the workplace leaves just enough gaps to keep the viewer engaging with the text without surrendering control of the narrative. It's not necessarily a film about answers, but, in reality, does any mirror have answers?

4. Da 5 Bloods

Switching to a much more lengthy production, Spike Lee's latest shows him grappling with ideas that he has been dealing with his entire career, but here you have Lee placing the present right alongside the past. You get some of that in BlacKkKlansman, but jumping between the two time periods lets the film engage with all the major ideas at the heart of it, and ties in with the Black Lives Matter movement in a way that Lee threads with a strong and uncompromising hand.

3. The Way Back

Perhaps the most surprising film on this list, even more than the Pixar, comes in the form of Gavin O'Connor's Ben Affleck vehicle. While it would be easy to fall in to the typical trap of a white guy saves urban youth, it (for better and worse) mostly uses the school portions as a backdrop that leaves a much more clear look at personal loss and grief. It's an, unsurprising, investigation of masculinity, but one that is largely uncompromising in its exploration that is propelled by an amazing performance from Affleck.

2. Shirley

From one amazing performance to another, Elizabeth Moss continues her streak of dominance in Josephine Decker's latest, a quasi-biopic that functions much more a take on a Gothic horror than a traditional exploration. Decker's camera, a wandering style that seems at odds with the traditional biopic, works perfectly with Moss's take on Shirley Jackson, keeping the viewer always guessing exactly how in control of everything Jackson is, and how much is being filled in by the moment.

1. Weathering With You

Makoto Shinkai's follow up to the fantastic Your Name earns the top spot by once again blending the supernatural with the emotional. Dressed in beautiful visuals, and some breathtaking sequences, Shinkai's latest soars when it focuses on the connections between its characters. While not as hard hitting as the previous film, this one still struck me as a remarkable accomplishment both in scope and execution, with a heart at the center that rivals the most dramatic live action films of the year.

And that brings us to the end of the first half of the year, at least what I was able to get to during the first six months. So what do I need to catch up before I finalize the list in another six months? Feel free to let me know in the comments below!

Comments are welcome and, for anyone with a literary mind, I encourage checking out my poetry blog filled with all original works for your reading pleasure.

Also, I am on the old Twitter thing so I guess you can follow me at twitter.com/r_thor1.

And if you want to know what I'm watching, listening to, playing , and reading you can follow my tumblr account!

Taking On 2019: Top Films

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Thorne) — Sat, 08 Feb 2020 03:55:00 +0000

Hey! We're here, the Oscars are about to happen and we can finally put a bow on the year that was, and as such that means I'm ready to write down this list with pictures and words that list, definitively, the best films of last year. At the halfway mark I'd already seen some pretty good films, but there are so many heavy hitters to come that things really did change. But you know what they say, the more things change, the more they stay the same. That is to say that you can check out all the things I watched on Letterboxd, but how about we get down to the Top Ten?

10. Parasite

The latest from Bong Joon-ho came in with pretty lofty expectations on my end, having been responsible for some of my favorite films, and while there are arguments to be made as to how it stands up against the rest of his filmography, he manages to once again craft one of the year's best. With a tightly wound story, tremendous cast, and his mastery of blending genres creates Parasite certainly brings together some of the year's most memorable scenes. As it wraps up there are more traces of Park Chan-wook than I was expecting, but with so much quiet action throughout it's hard to see Bong Joon-ho's latest as another rousing success in a career without a miss.

9. Fourteen

Every year there seems to be something that takes me completely by surprise, and this year I was floored when I finished up with that at the Philadelphia Film Festival by how strong of a grip it had on character, friendship, and the nuanced pains of life that so often either get overlooked or have the drama ratcheted up to Make You Feel. And there are bigger scenes here, but even those are rooted in realism that they can evoke emotion all on their own. Plus there's that train station scene where Sallitt just lets the camera linger in a way that encapsulates all the care that this film takes in capturing and depicting life. All around a remarkable film, and that's without even mentioning the two central performances from Tallie Medel and Norma Kuhling that are among the year's best.

8. Deerskin

Coming in to putting this list together, I wasn't sold on 2019 being all that great of a year, and while I do still question that, the fact that Deerskin sits so low in these final rankings is perhaps a testament to how high the year's highs ended up hitting. From start to finish, this film finds Dupieux apparently doing what he does, and at a remarkably high level. Aided by a wonderfully committed performance from Jean Dujardin, there's a meditation on art and the artist wrapped in that sweet, sweet deerskin jacket. Its lean run time means not a moment is wasted, as it brings you in to its truly killer style.

7. The Beach Bum

Remember that thing about Parasite coming in with sky high expectations? Well, I think only Harmony Korine's take on the stoner comedy would have entered with higher ones, as I've been waiting for it since it was announced, and am of the mind that there's a strong case to be made that Spring Breakers is the best film of the last decade. Unfortunately, this one seemed to come and go, which is a shame, because it once again finds Korine working at an insanely high level visually, nailing both a look and tone that conceal the larger mediation on art and commerce that occupies the core of the film (along with the whole in the moment and towards the future dichotomy). Oh yeah, and this movie is low key the real best ensemble cast of the year, all anchored by a mesmerizing turn in the role of Moondog by Matthew McConaughey. Florida is terrible, but Korine makes it the most captivating place in the world.

6. Les Miserables

Ending up as the best film I saw during PFF, Ladj Ly's remarkable debut has the first time filmmaker bringing a look at a city on the precipice of revolution, though brings us far from Hugo's source material to a modern Paris. Situating so much of the film in the perspective of the cops, letting us wallow in overt racism and the self serving interest of sustaining a corrupt institution, it makes for a compelling drama on its own, but finds life in the way this perspective is used to explore both the beginnings of corruption and resistance through the different characters. By the time it reaches the finale, I found myself stunned in my seat. A hell of an announcement for Ly, and I cannot wait to see what he takes on as his next project.

5. Little Women

Strong year for ensemble movies, with Gerwig's adaptation of Little Women retaining the original narrative, but shaping it in a way that both modernizes it in terms of its audience, but also its form. Or so I'm told, I haven't actually read the book, nor have I seen the other adaptations. Still, the way Gerwig handles telling the story, juggling between the two time periods, requires such an attention to detail and technical precision, which she achieves both overtly and subtly through visual cues and the use of color. There's Ronan too, who gives another tremendous performance, and pairs wonderfully again with Chalmet, as they both did in Ladybird. But also there's Florence Pugh. No need to tip my hand too much though, there will be time to celebrate her soon enough.

4. Marriage Story

Big year for Scarlett Johanson, probably an even bigger year for Adam Driver, but both bring their best to Noah Baumbach's examination of a couple going through a divorce. At this point I feel like it has been talked to death just how humorous it is, despite the weighty material, but that kind of makes the drama feel as if it's only assumed to be great. And that's the case, the dramatic beats, both quiet and loud, hit with the weight of a ton of bricks, but it's how that serves the deeper examination of love and partnership where the film earns its spot on my list. It doesn't pull punches, but doesn't completely give way to the cynicism of the reality that lawyers are terrible, children ruin everything, and no one will every truly love you 'enough' no matter what they say.

3. Uncut Gems

Would it be better to just write about this one entirely in meme form? Maybe, but I'm not about to do that. That is not how I win. Sandler is great, obviously, he has been plenty of times before, and few things piss me off more than the 'oh, he can be really good when he wants to/with the right director/when he tries' so we're not going to dwell on that one. The Safdie brothers bring about a thrill ride, capturing that thrill of the gamble, a life where any second could be the last, all complete with those moments to breathe, celebrate, and go right after that next high. Probably plenty more to get deep in the weeds with, as it were, and I will admit my slight bias in the sense that I was attended a game during the Sixers/Celtics series that takes place during the film and still keep the rally towel and Sixers shirt that they gave away in a steady gym rotation, but yowza is this film a sight to behold.

2. Midsommar (Director's Cut)

One of the films that I definitely had the chance to revisit from the previous year, obviously in an ideal world I'd be able to watch anything multiple times but it just doesn't fall that way sometimes, I'm highlighting my second viewing here because Ari Aster's sophomore feature, because that's kind of when it started making this climb, just as Hereditary did last year. This cut is more whole, extends some scenes, builds the world, contextualizes the characters, and makes a more complete picture. It also gives us more time for Florence Pugh, which brings me to the point we've all been waiting for, the brief departure in to just how great she was in 2019 between this, Little Women, and Fighting With My Family. She really is a force here, both through physicality, but just in how she commands the screen. She doesn't just give the best performance in this film, in Fighting With My Family, in Little Women, with Midsommar she is very likely giving 2019's best performance. End of sentence. Which now brings us to this list's...

1. Climax

Not very often that a film has the chance to go wire to wire, as it were, but Gaspar Noe's latest is such a shot of energy, chaos, and thrills all at once, and is entirely, given all the discussion around the topic last year, a work of pure cinema. When I came out of this film the only thing I wanted to do was walk right back in to the theater for the next showing, which says a lot in the moment, but the fact that feeling has been able to withstand the better portion of the year is likely the ultimate compliment I can pay to a film. The film is inventive, provocative, amazingly polished without losing the freedom of motion that defines the physicality the film needs in order to thrive. And it not only thrives, it comes alive. From start to finish, Noe's film pulses with life, that cut through everything else, and stands as the year's best.

So there we have it, the movies that stuck with me. In 2020 perhaps we will have more posts, but I don't want to write any checks that I can't cash. In this economy??? I don't think so, pal. But let me know if the comments what I missed out on, what I still need to see, and what your favorites were. Until next time!

Comments are welcome and, for anyone with a literary mind, I encourage checking out my poetry blog filled with all original works for your reading pleasure.

Also, I am on the old Twitter thing so I guess you can follow me at twitter.com/r_thor1.

And if you want to know what I'm watching, listening to, playing , and reading you can follow my tumblr account!

Taking On 2019: Top Films Of The Year So Far

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Thorne) — Tue, 02 Jul 2019 02:42:00 +0000

Another year halfway in the books, and another books halfway in the year, am I right? That means that we're at a point where it should be good to really take a deep dive in on roughly the ten best films that I've seen this year. The world of cinema has been, at the very least, pretty solid this year, even with a number of films that were kind of hard to cut down when making this list, even if, overall, I'd think it's more of an underwhelming year for movies thus far. I've been doing, as per usual, some capsule reviews on Letterboxd as I watch things, and also keep a running list of the things that I have watched. But we're here now, the cream of the crop, the best of the best, the list that doesn't include "Anima" because it's still too new and I'm more interested in diving back in than blurting out some thoughts this early, the list that also doesn't have Too Old To Die Young because I'm both still watching it and don't really put TV shows on here even if NWR is on another level with the first five episodes. Oh yeah, list time, baby.

10. Glass

In what feels, at times, like a makeshift trilogy, M. Night follows up two fantastic films, including the previous Split, with one of his more dense efforts. And while the worst part of Split was the reveal of The Watcher at the end, it did lead to this, and all the conversations about the idea of myth making, our fascination with superheroes, the extraordinary, all wrapped up in the visual language that Shyamalan has perfected over his career. The methodical way in which it moves is fascinating on its own, and while there are, perhaps, some squabbles to be had with just how well that translates to the action scenes, the work that Willis, McAvoy, and Jackson bring throughout make form and core cast and film that ought to make some of Marvel's best envious.

9. Teen Spirit

Just as the singing show seems to be waning in popularity (I actually don't know if that's true, I guess there are still a shit ton of them), it finally is the time to capitalize on the trend. Of course, I imagine that may be slightly boring were that the case, even if Elle Fanning is plenty capable of making pretty much anything watchable; however, that's not the case here, as the real driving force becomes less the competition itself and more the journey of self discovery. And it's kind of beautiful, even if it dips in to a few tropes of the coming of age genre while resisting others. For something that has opportunities to be showy, and there certainly are some, it's the quieter moments that tend to resonate the most. Well, that and the songs. Kind of nuts that Fanning isn't just an incredible screen presence, her work on the soundtrack, especially her version of Ellie Goulding's "Lights," is incredible.

8. The Last Black Man In San Francisco

Despite the relative lack of Bird scooters, this look at a city that exists as one of the most notable pillars of gentrification, and the effects of a community pushed aside. There are, as one would expect, different conversations around race and class, all anchored by two amazing central performances, one of which comes from writer and star Jimmie Fails, telling a deeply personal story. And that says nothing of the strong visual work, capturing different elements of the city and accentuating the humanity and making it feel sublime.

7. Deadwood: The Movie

When the show was originally airing, I certainly wasn't watching that type of television, dramas rarely doing much for me, and also probably not having HBO at the time anyway. So, as I prepped for the oncoming film, my experience with the series came one episode a night over the course of the weeks leading up to the Friday debut. And I grew to really love so much about it, though I'm not coming at this with the same perspective as fans who have been waiting since the cancellation for a continuation. While it does feel like two episodes of the show, that feels needlessly dismissive when the two hours here is so good, without being too heavy on the winks and nods and feel good reunions. What stands out is how it serves as a sendoff, but still kind of feels like there's way less resolved than there was at the end of the third season. And that's ballsy, for something that could be just a made for tv movie.

6. The Art Of Self-Defense

A few years back I had the chance to see Faults at the Philadelphia Film Festival with the director, Riley Stearns, in attendance, and when his follow up played at this year's Spring Fest it was pretty much at the top of my interest list. And it didn't disappoint, the tone here maintains a strict balance to very straight laced comedy even when the dialogue gets ridiculous, all housing an examination of the toxic aspects of masculinity. The focused manner in which it goes through this reveals complexities that are befitting of the topic, and does so in an unflinching way.

5. The Farewell

There was a part of me that felt like the recent dominance by A24 might have started to stall out, but looking at how this list is shaping up it seems to be shaping up that they'll take up a majority of the list, and Lulu Wang's kind-of-Awkwafina-vehicle-but-also-really-kind-of-a-family-drama clocks in at a well earned spot. Any conversation does probably need to involve the dynamic performance from Awkwafina, one that plays to her strengths while also giving her room to show off how well she can handle more emotional material. And, as with any successful family drama, the relationships on display are largely complex without spelling everything out, but it's the themes that ended up sticking with me. The lies we tell to ourselves, the fragility of life and what we do to preserve that, and all those other ones you'd expect of the genre. Were I to get in to spoilers, I could say there's one thing that I didn't care for, but, by and large, there's so much emotion in this film that it becomes hard to dwell on minor quibbles.

4. Under The Silver Lake

Speaking of A24, the latest from David Robert Mitchell, his follow up to the marvelous It Follows, was finally unceremoniously dumped out nearly a year after it had its Cannes debut. And I get it, the pseudo-noir is meandering, simultaneously too plot heavy while also not really getting too wrapped up in narrative, is relatively long, and stars Andrew Garfield, who audiences seem to be 'over' even if he, once again, shows off his talents as an actor. But it's transfixing. This film is one you can get lost in, until you dive in a bit and start to puzzle out what it's saying about entertainment, storytelling, and societies. It's a wonderful balance of tone, all told in Mitchell's impressive visual style that's marked by a deliberate vigor and use of space. At this point, Mitchell has established himself as such an exciting voice, and he's even more than ready to say that as he hearkens back to his earlier works. In a stray thought, it would be cool to look closely at the role water plays in his filmography.

3. The Souvenir

Probably my most surprising entry, Joanna Hogg's latest wasn't really on my radar even when I started to catch wind of how strongly it was reviewing. In a way I think I kind of just equated it to An Education because of a relatively similar two sentence synopsis, but I thankfully ended up being pretty wrong in that assumption. The way that the more insidious elements of the film creep in, subtle and slow at first, make it all the more effective. As is the choice to show us so much of the aftermath, the points where everything simmers, rather than the flashpoints. Not sure what will end up going on with the announced The Souvenir Part Two, or if it's even necessary, but whenever it does come out I'm very ready.

2. The Beach Bum

Probably my most anticipated film for like the last two years, Harmony Korine's follow up to Spring Breakers, one of modern cinema's marvels, part of me feels like it should be holding the number one spot. We could, I am sure, start with McConaughey's Moondog, a predictably stunning performance that, while it could feel too knowing, never really goes over the edge. Or Efron, who maybe does go over that edge, but goes all the way over it. The music, while a far cry from Spring Breakers, sets a tone and makes both Key West and Miami not seem like they belong to the pox of the United States. And then there's the camera work, Korine creating a world all its own, with most of the comedy hitting even when it takes the 'stoner' part of 'stoner comedy' a little too literally. The costumes. The everything. You have to go low to get high, and even if it's not presently holding number one, this is one hell of a film.

1. Climax

The next logical step from Korine, Gaspar Noe's latest is a visual delight with some of the year's most breathtaking sequences. I'm still not sold on being able to sit down and just watch a dance production for 90 minutes, but in the early portions of the film, at least once it gets past the couple fantastic bits in the opening, really make me think that I could get in to it given the right circumstances. While this, perhaps much like Korine with The Beach Bum, is exactly the thing one would expect Noe to make, right down to the title, perhaps that's for the best when he can make it so well. The soundtrack pounds, the camera gets intimate, and all the beauty so quickly devolves in to a drug fueled sense of mania that it's hard feel overwhelmed yourself at times. But the highest praise I can pay to this, and the reason it secured the number one slot, is that it felt like the best roller coaster, and I cannot remember the last time I walked out of a theater and wanted nothing more than to buy another ticket to the next show and walk right back for an immediate second viewing.

And there we have it, the best films of the year so far. Did I miss anything? Do I need to catch up on certain ones? Let me know in the comments below, and keep an eye on this and Letterboxd for all my steamy film takes.

Comments are welcome and, for anyone with a literary mind, I encourage checking out my poetry blog filled with all original works for your reading pleasure.

Also, I am on the old Twitter thing so I guess you can follow me at twitter.com/r_thor1.

And if you want to know what I'm watching, listening to, playing , and reading you can follow my tumblr account!

Taking On 2018 - Top Films

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Thorne) — Thu, 21 Feb 2019 04:47:00 +0000

Look at that, another year in the books. And that means that films came out, a lot of them, actually, and even though there were plenty I still wanted to check out, I did have a chance to get out to plenty of them. A lot of has changed since the last time I checked in on the world of cinema to name my best of the year so far. Not sure that I'd label it an amazing year for film, but also when I was whittling down this thing to the Top Ten it was pretty difficult, so in the end I guess it was pretty solid. As always, I logged everything that I counted as a 2018 film on Letterboxd in a list that isn't ranked, and some even have words if that's your thing. Just like the ones below the cut, or below these words if you've already clicked in to the post proper. There will be some pictures here too though, just the posters or something. Some numbers as well, ones that aren't even spelled out, so in that sense you ought to call this Mr. Toad because it's about to be ~~closed and never to be heard from again~~ a wild ride.

10. Long Day's Journey Into Night

Bi Gan's latest could, at least in title alone, be mistaken for an adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's Pulitzer winning play, but what we get instead is a journey of discovery, introspection and connection, all intertwining with an inventive spin on what could be a standard crime thriller. But, of course, no conversation about this film would be complete without looking at 'the moment' or at least mentioning that Bi Gan's integration of 3-D is daring, not just technically so, but the way in which it blends film and reality to achieve one of last year's most stunning sequences.

9. Night Is Short, Walk On Girl

In what was a fairly strong year for animated films in general, and specifically works coming out of Japan, Yuasa's latest (and one of two films, though I have yet to catch up with his other) stands at the top. The different styles create a visual sense that is inventive, while also keeping in line with the central energy and stories taking place throughout the film. It slows down just enough at the right points though to let the emotional cores build, which produces some incredibly resonate moments that connect just as all the world and characters thread together without sacrificing the power of growth and exploration to the film's central woman.

8. Hereditary

At this point it's not surprising that #HorrorIsHere because so many filmmakers have brought in elements from different subgenres under the greater umbrella, if not jumping in completely, but what makes Ari Aster's debut not only one of the strongest announcements of a new voice from last year, but also one of the year's best is just how well it builds a sense of dread. Sure, the influences are worn on its sleeve, but Aster plays with the idea of expectation and construction from the very opening to build to moments of tension and terror before pushing the film even farther. There's a surprising formal rigor, one that creates a fun tension with just how freewheeling the script gets.

7. The House That Jack Built

Going in, one might wonder if this would also fall in line with king of the provacauteurs (I've trademarked this word, by the way), Lars Von Trier's, other filmography, and just how 'far' he would push the envelope. But I was more interested in seeing how he followed up Nymphomaniac, which I think it probably his strongest work, and the answer is with something that kind of feels like an extension of the ideas explored in that film. The dangers of unchecked masculinity and hubris, the turmoil between art and violence, and even a wonderful internal dialogue that LVT just seems to be having with his own place in all of this. Which is even more than I could have imagined or wanted, each vignette building a better understanding of the ideas LVT prods, and, to be fair, I am always glad to listen in on any conversation LVT wants to have with himself.

6. Burning

When I got out of the theater after Lee Chang-dong's latest I knew I had liked what I saw, but it didn't register as something that would end up on my Top Ten, let alone pushing for a spot in the Top Five, but few films have stuck with me and risen in my estimation quite like this one. It's a difficult one to discuss without diving in to spoilers, but I guess that's why they pay me the big bucks. Without having too much of a knowledge of South Korea, what begins to reveal itself on a thematic level, working perfectly in conjunction with the actual plot, is pretty remarkable. Not to mention, in a year with so many movies trending towards musical sequences, the inclusion of a couple of the best musical sequences from the previous year. And Steven Yeun finally making sure I, without a doubt, understand "Gangnam Style" with one of the year's best performances.

5. Isle Of Dogs

Well, here we are again. I guess I've officially turned the corner on Wes Anderson, if there was any question left, really. Given Anderson's strengths as a filmmaker, namely just how controlled and detailed every single frame tends to be, animation truly does feel like the home for his sensibilities, and what he achieves here is up there with some of his best work. The cast is full of incredible performances, and the central relationship is so well drawn that it's believable every step of the way. And, despite the film seeming to skew younger, it doesn't shy away from a few more mature scenes that highlight the actual danger and reality of the world the film creates. All of that without mentioning the visuals which are stunning, celebrating such a beautiful Japanese style and a commitment to using the native language instead of having it all be in English, which is a bold move on its own.

4. Monrovia, Indiana

Not sure what it says about the year that I've got a documentary on this list, or that it says more about me that my arch-nemesis Frederick Wiseman is the mind behind it. I suppose I should say this is, front to back, my first full experience with Wiseman after catching plenty of clips here and there on the limited PBS opportunities I had for his other films, and did like what I saw, but you never know how something fly on the wall style will translate to a three hour feature in some smaller community in MAGA Country mother fucker. But it works pretty incredibly because, even though there are themes that run throughout, it doesn't come off as condescending or demeaning to the community that is central to the film. Making a town hall meeting compelling it a feat of its own, but the film really shines at the county fair, which I guess is kind of nuts on its own.

3. BlacKkKlansman

Coming off his best work in years with the Netflix refresher of She's Gotta Have It, I was pretty excited to see what Spike Lee would end up doing with his next feature, especially because I feel like I've been warmer on his recent films than most, but with what BlacKkKlansman ended up being my hopes ended up being exceeded. A lot has been said about the anger in the film, something that tends to bring out the best in Lee's work, and it's there. In the performances, two excellent turns by Washington and Driver, in the visuals, in the script. But there are moments of somber reflection as well, ones that punctuate the film and frame how cyclical the hate is, how even with what feels like a major victory is undercut by a reminder of how much more is still out there. Having a film that takes place in the past but is still very much having a conversation with the present could go really wrong, but those pitfalls are masterfully avoided as Spike frames the larger conversation.

2. An Elephant Sitting Still

It wouldn't be the #MostDepressingYear ever if we didn't have a four hour long film in Mandarin where the crushing weight of existence pushes characters to the brink of existence. Hu Bo's film feels imposing, and that's because there's plenty to digest over the robust run time, but with that it's hard not to be in awe of pretty much everything. From the opening exchange to the threading of these characters's lives in what feels simultaneously like a nexus and also well beyond the tipping point. Saying it is daunting comes off as negative, because it has that quality in the best possible way, and for something so complete, so dense, so brimming with ideas and emotion to come from a debut feature is staggering. Of course, it is also a final feature as Hu Bo took his life shortly after completing it, and hopefully in his decision to do so he found peace.

1. You Were Never Really Here

It doesn't happen very often, but the last time I checked in the latest from Lynne Ramsay stood at the top of my list, and it has fought off the competition (with a hammer, presumably) to retain its position. A film like this, where you have a professional security man (?) hired out to rescue a missing girl before things ramp up from there, is expected to have a certain amount of grit to it, but Ramsay softens this with a sleekness to the brutality that recalls other more full blown style dramas like the work of Nicolas Winding Refn, though the language of the film is still very much her own. Plus there's another stellar turn from Joaquin Phoenix, further cementing his status as the greatest working actor, where he plays a character that has so much going on in the interior that the moments where he breaks, when the sheer weight of his existence and the desire for that to end, that you really see the full depth of the performance. With the pace, the action serving more than just cheap thrills, and the central plot, Ramsay's latest is a hell of a ride.

And there we have it, the movies I watched last year that I enjoyed the most, or found the most rewarding, or a combination of the two. As tends to be the case in years that are solid without an immediate film that shakes me to my core the top three, and possibly four, films on this list are kind of interchangeable, but that's the order I've settled on when I wrote this post. I'm already decently deep in to 2019, though have not yet made a Letterboxd list tracking those films specifically, nor have I actually logged all the Oscar shorts I've watched, but definitely keep up with me there since that's typically where my capsule reviews happen. If you have things I left off, wondering where your favorite film is, or want to tell me that 2018 wasn't really that bad in general (spoiler alert: it was), feel free to dive in to that comment section and go to town. Thank you for reading, and see you all some time in the next few months probably.

Comments are welcome and, for anyone with a literary mind, I encourage checking out my poetry blog filled with all original works for your reading pleasure.

Also, I am on the old Twitter thing so I guess you can follow me at twitter.com/r_thor1.

And if you want to know what I'm watching, listening to, playing , and reading you can follow my tumblr account!

Taking On 2018 - Top Films Of The Year So Far

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Thorne) — Sun, 08 Jul 2018 04:46:00 +0000

Here we are once again, halfway through 2018, what is undeniably the worst year in existence, marked with nothing but pain, sadness, hopelessness, and a few okay films. Some would say it has #BeenAWhile since I last wrote anything on this blog proper, and it has, especially as I use Letterboxd to get out quick thoughts and then just process and have conversations elsewhere, but I imagine there's still a good amount of value is writing down more extensive thoughts on things that have stood out to me throughout the year. So I'll do that. This time in a list form while I try to figure out which things I liked more than other things. The actual process of putting this together ended up being more difficult than I imagined, mostly figuring out what would compete for the last few slots. So with that, it looks like this is how things shook out at the halfway point.

10. Flower

Unsurprisingly, things start with a quasi-coming of age tale where the age has already came. Flower is a film that I imagine will mostly be forgotten in a lot of conversations, but it is one that has stuck with me since seeing it in theaters. And not just because it makes great use of "Unfucktheworld" in an amazingly resonant sequence of connection and vulnerability. Deutch is asked to carry a lot, and she's more than up to the task, bringing a charm, sadness, and sincerity to a character steeped in the ennui of the middle class struggle. Which does fall back on tropes at times, but puts a twist on it by having a character at the center that, even when things get potentially more troublesome in terms of the sexuality on display (I've heard, I didn't find it, nor did a film about a young woman dealing with emotional turmoil and sense of understand being created by a team of men feel any less valuable or authentic), is never anything less than compelling.

9. Hereditary

The build has been happening for years, and at this point it's very clear that horror is not only back, but has been attracting filmmakers of all types to take a stab at terror. And as those elements seep in to other genres, it's refreshing to see something that is so focused on building a constant sense of dread, and all that from a debut feature. There are quibbles to be had about echoing the feeling of masters like Kubrick without capturing the intricacies that make his films more than technically brilliant, but there's still something so impressive about what happens here, the culmination points, the embrace of terror without relying on a cheaper type of manufactured scare, that makes the conclusion enrapturing.

8. Eighth Grade

Another in the line of films about women created by men. And another that easily makes the list at this point in the year. I've been mixed on Bo Burnham's comedy performances, but through those he has developed a voice that shines through in the dialogue here. From the painfully 'cool' teachers on the fringes to all the vlogs that Kayla records, there's a real empathy and understanding for a point in life where everyone feels like an outsider. It's a gross point in life, a scary one, and one that Burnham doesn't shy from in the slightest. There are moments of majesty and devastation, ones that are, just as much for as they are for the characters, glimmers of hope in a time we need it most.

7. Claire's Camera

Honestly, I probably need at least another viewing to fully begin to get a grasp on Hong Sang-soo's lean examination of art, connection, and purpose mixed with a dash of potential magic. However, that doesn't mean the initial experience was any less rewarding. For something that, from the run time to the filming process, appears to be so minimal, it uses that as a launching point for weighty meditations that are all framed with a striking lens.

6. Leave No Trace

On the surface, the latest from Debra Granik could be reduced to a father/daughter story, which it is, but it's in the moments of strain and compassion, the tension that this creates, where Granik's mark is left on convention. Because it's been such a long time since Winter's Bone (I didn't see that documentary, so I'm a part of the problem), there have been plenty of comparisons, so I'll try and avoid those. Regardless of any points of similarity (not as many, in reality, as I've seen written about), Thomasin McKenzie is a force and does appear to be quite the discovery. There's a restraint to her performance that makes the bigger moments feel all the more heavy, and injects the film with the compassion and heart it needs for this exploration of characters to succeed.

5. Paddington 2

The first Paddington is an okay film, but it hadn't prepared me for just how good the sequel would be, so much so that I was a little skeptical. No reason to be though, because what stands out most about this sequel, a film that, in a world that truly is the worst, is its sense of hope and sincere love. The jokes land, there are a lot of beautiful sequences visually that blend different styles of animation, and there's just so much authentic care. We can't always be the best version of ourselves, but Paddington lets us know that's okay, you can still be good.

4. First Reformed

In a way, I guess, this riff on Schrader's Taxi Driver script is also a companion piece to Paddington 2 in the way it (arguably) lets us know that even in a dark world no one is beyond saving. Though it also does not shy away from how cruel the world is, and how it can at times feel irredeemable. How an individual can feel that way. The methodical pacing, the strict visual style, all contribute to a building sense of chaos that bubbles and simmers more often than boiling over, and even when it does so it's typically in such formally stunning ways that it's easy to be drawn in to the mediation.

3. Tully

Reitman and Cody have paired in the past, and while each have had successes on their own, there's just something about the pairing that seems to draw the best out of one another. And, reteaming with Theron after Young Adult, definitely the strongest from each off screen individual, provides an immediate chemistry that feels different, yet natural. Which goes a long way since Theron basically needs to hold the film on her shoulders, and she's more than up to the task. Because of the nature of the film, a more intensive character study and all that, it's difficult to speak to its strengths without delving in to specifics, but even with those restrictions, I can definitely say that it's such a strong look at humanity that aspects of Tully that continue to resonate.

2. Isle Of Dogs

The return to animation for Wes Anderson, a form that is perfectly tailored to his strengths as a filmmaker and, even apparent at the time of Fantastic Mr. Fox's release when the films that followed were easily the best work he's done in live action, was welcome regardless of subject matter. But with Anderson there's really little to worry about in that regard, even when he's working with talking dogs the ideas he confronts are deeply human. There's a roughness to the film, even in in how beautiful the visuals are and how meticulously crafted it all feels, that comes through in the performances that juxtaposes the typical children's film (obviously animation as a form is so much more than that) with a much more harsh reality to create one of the year's best works.

1. You Were Never Really Here

Almost a year after its debut at Cannes in 2017, the latest from Lynne Ramsay finally made its way stateside and theatrically. And she continues to assert herself as such a thrilling voice in cinema. Of course Joaquin Phoenix does a ton in the central role, bringing a quiet rage that underscores the troubled mind we explore in a clinical yet sleek way that has echoes of Drive, another stylish film that confronts a mentally fractured central character wrapped up in overbearing masculinity. Ramsay's work is a masterful display of craft, but that also doesn't come at the expense of character or theme. And that final scene. Damn.

And there we have it, the best things I have seen thus far. I do have a full running list of everything from 2018 that I watch to keep track of, and I'm sure with so many major things to get distribution in the fall that the next check in will look considerably different. Ideally it won't take another year to get to that point.

Comments are welcome and, for anyone with a literary mind, I encourage checking out my poetry blog filled with all original works for your reading pleasure.

Also, I am on the old Twitter thing so I guess you can follow me at twitter.com/r_thor1.

And if you want to know what I'm watching, listening to, playing , and reading you can follow my tumblr account!

Taking On 2016 - Top Films

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Thorne) — Sat, 25 Feb 2017 01:06:00 +0000

Okay, it is finally that time. The year has, almost two months in, officially come to an end. At least in regards to cinema. Not counting, of course, a ton of foreign films that will have to be 2017 films for my list making purposes because distribution of them is kind of shitty or whatever, but at least I saw a lot of things. There's an entire list on Letterboxd of all the things I watched from 2016 (triple digits!), and of course I recently ran through my top performances. But now with the Oscars coming up in just a couple of days, well, it seems the best time to look back and get to thinking of what truly was the best of the best in the year that was.

10. Moonlight

What most struck me about Moonlight was the scope of the film, focusing on three key developmental points in a man's life as he grapples with both his sexuality and the circumstances of the world around him. It's really easy to fuck up a film like this, to make it too on the nose or lean too heavily in manufactured drama, but what is so impressive is the restraint shown. Letting the smaller moments take on just as much meaning as the larger ones, and using all of this to give us a better understanding of a very complex central character.

9. Tower

Generally it takes a lot for a documentary to make my list, because I know how much I value strong fictional works, but from the very beginning I was pulled in to the recreation of the world in Tower, an animated documentary about a college shooting in Texas. A situation that is still very much relevant in today's society, blending animation with actual footage from the time creates a chilling effect.

8. Toni Erdmann

The buzz of Cannes (and thought to be the Palme favorite before I, Daniel Blake took the award, a groaning affair of a film that would settle on the opposite end of this list.), I had only a rough idea going in of what was exactly going to happen in this one. Not having experienced any of Maren Ade's movies I was even more unsure of what I would get, but ultimately what I found was a sharp comedy, but an even more resonant family drama. There's so much that happens below the surface, relationship dynamics that are heartbreaking at times as it grapples with the idea of growing. It's funny, but the powerful performances, the emotions between a father and daughter who are very much in different places in life, are truly impressive.

7. Silence

Scorsese's latest might be his most complex in years, which I suppose is little surprise when you're taking on almost three hours of Catholic fathers spreading their religion in Japan when the government had strictly outlawed any practice of Christianity. The attempts to stay hidden, the brutality that comes to those who stray toward the path of Christianity, and even the spots of humor all coat what I am almost sure is the most complex film I watched this year. The frame composition, the script, and the reflections on faith provide a starting point, but there's so much to analyze that a paragraph simply is not enough time.

6. The Edge Of Seventeen

There was a point in time where I felt like I had possibly overcome my weakness for the coming of age film, but then here comes The Edge Of Seventeen to pull me right back in. There's a huge focus on Nadine as a central character, and as a study of her it makes for a really strong teen dramadey. But there's so many smart things the script does, and Kelly Fremon Craig's work with the camera subverts our expectations, not only when it comes to friendship, but also when Nadine finds herself in what are framed as potentially dangerous situations. I attempt to avoid spoilers, but there's one in particular with Woody Harrelson's character that is just so masterfully done that, even while thinking back to it, I'm still hit pretty hard.

5. The Handmaiden

When the Cannes lineup from last year was announced, one of my most anticipated films was Park Chan Wook's return to international cinema after the fairly strong Hitchcockian Stoker. I've been a huge fan of all of PCW's films, and seeing him get back to a more twisting narrative that doesn't abandon the gothic sensibilities he has undertaken between his last film and Thirst is a thrill from start to finish.

4. Paterson

Poetry! There's a lot going on in Paterson, a slice of life look at the relationship between a man and a woman that is so much more than that reductive description, but what I loved most about this film was how it showed off the production of poetry. You get the same thing repeated, different fragments being constructed and put together, and just like poems in general when you revisit them or reread them you can find so much more. Driver is also, predictably, great, and seeing Jarmusch revel in the scenery of New Jersey is surprisingly striking. Profoundly beautiful. Poetic.

3. The Mermaid

The year's best comedy comes from Stephen Chow, and though he remains behind the camera rather than in a featured role, his sensibilities are all over this film. The 3-D was also really impressive, but the physical comedy is once again incredibly funny. The scene with the police where a mermaid is being described, and they jokingly make different incorrect drawings stands right alongside so many of Chow's other great comedic moments in his career.

2. The Neon Demon

Part of me really does feel bad that I'm putting so many Cannes films on this list because it seems so generic, but when you have something as arresting and entrancing as The Neon Demon, well, I don't know how you have a list without it. The critique of the fashion industry is not entirely new, but the twist that Nicholas Winding Refn puts on it turns it more in to a warped fairy tale. Elle Fanning at the center brings a powerhouse performance that meshes with the visual style of the film, and as the energy ramps up, so too does her role, until it all explodes in a way that only Refn can manage.

1b. Manchester-By-The-Sea

In most years, Lonergan's latest would stand firmly at the top of my list, but this year it will share the honor. Still, that takes nothing away from this remarkable achievement. I want to be wary with spoilers, so I'll speak as broadly as possible, when I say that the way grief, loss, and ultimately a lifelong depression that could eat away and come to define us can be so all encompassing. This film hit me emotionally on a number of occasions, and you can combine that with a strong visual style that doesn't exactly capture an 'everyman's' America, but one that is instantly recognizable, and echoes the chilled despair, and moments of brief healing, at the film's core.

1a. The Lobster

Just as was the case at the halfway mark, and at this time last year after seeing it at the Philadelphia Film Festival, Yorgos Lanthimos's English language debut has itself firmly anchored at the top. I felt like I shouldn't count it, and if you want to ignore this pick and name Manchester-By-The-Sea the year's best, I won't object, but each time I rewatch this one I find more to love. The comedy hits harder, the satire is biting but does not lose the heart to make it at least a little muddy depending on the lens through which you view it, and damn is it visually stunning. I wrote before that it has hints of Brave New World and 1984, and that becomes even more apparent the more time I spend with it, though much more the former than the latter. The world sucks you in with conformity, prescribing happiness and making characters believe that. You see this surrender, even from many of the most callous characters, and it asks us to ask what is innate and what is socially crafted. Simply one of the best films I've seen in recent memory.

Once again, you can see a list of everything I've watched (including smaller reflections and reviews for a lot of other things) over on Letterboxd, as well as all the things that I will watch in 2017. I'm not sure how I'd rank the year as a whole, but looking back at this list, and at things that narrowly missed the cut, damn does it seem strong. Did I miss something? Let me know in the comments! And thanks for reading, as always.

Comments are welcome and, for anyone with a literary mind, I encourage checking out my poetry blog filled with all original works for your reading pleasure.

Also, I am on the old Twitter thing so I guess you can follow me at twitter.com/r_thor1.

And if you want to know what I'm watching, listening to, playing , and reading you can follow my tumblr account!

Taking On 2016 - Performances

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Thorne) — Sun, 19 Feb 2017 05:46:00 +0000

So, obviously I haven't been writing as much as I should have, but here we are with another year in cinema in the books. And I think, finally, I am close to as caught up as I am going to get with the year, even if I have a few things here and there I still need to add to the list before I fully put a bow on it, as the case was. No music this year, because I listened to a lot of things over and over again, but not enough of a selection to feel comfortable making a list. But I did watch a lot of films, and those films had actors. Normally I'd break things up, but how about one big list before The Big List(tm)?

Supporting Actor - Men

5. Alden Ehrenreich - Hail, Caesar!

I'm not super familiar with Ehrenreich's other work, but damn if the Coen Brothers don't get an amazing turn from him. In a film packed with notable performances, there's this sincerity to the obliviousness, and the determination, that Ehrenreich brings to his character, which result in some of the year's funniest scenes.

4. Lucas Hedges - Manchester-By-The-Sea

This won't be the only time that the latest from Lonergan turns up, both on this list and others, but let's take a little time to look at how strong Hedges is in a role that could be very limiting. He finds emotion in it though, and the bigger scenes feel authentic rather than manufactured, which in a film all about emotional realism, that's about the best you can be.

3. Ha Jung-woo - The Handmaiden

Another film with a strong ensemble cast, what I admire most about this performance is the ability to blend comedy in a film that could be very serious, but that's not how Park Chan-wook works. And that's not how Ha Jung-woo works either, apparently, never really losing the sleazy and conniving aspects that make him such a notable presence, but also leveraging that when he's asked to be kept in the dark at other times.

2. Dwayne Johnson - Moana

So charisma has always been one of Dwayne Johnson's strongest qualities as an actor, diving in to many roles with vigor, but there's something different about his voice work here. Maybe it's the bravado of the character, but from his introduction to his musical numbers to the more restrained moments of weakness, Johnson lights up the screen.

1. Tom Bennett - Love & Friendship

Could there be any other answer? From the moment Bennett's character stepped on screen, I knew I was watching something special. He wrings laughs out of nearly every line he speaks, and they generally aren't just minor laughs but some of the funniest scenes of the year. The unawareness, but willingness to barrel on with it, is a sight to behold.

Supporting Actor - Women

5. Lily Gladstone - Certain Women

Could be easy to give this to pretty much anyone in the main cast of Kelly Reichardt's latest, but Gladstone's turn was the one that ended up sticking with me the most. She's restrained, though many are in the film, but what really ended up impressing me was how she brought a familiarity to the role, a sense of heartache that was subdued without sacrificing genuine emotion.

4. Greta Gerwig - 20th Century Women

At this point, I've heard a number of conversations about how it's fairly easy to know what Greta Gerwig 'does' as an actress, but even if you know the type of character she tends to play in broad strokes, that doesn't make any of her work less compelling. And this performance sees her in top form, charismatic and entrancing as she reveals more about the woman she portrays.

3. Viola Davis - Fences

Davis's performance is theatrical, something that apparently has been a complaint about the August Wilson adaptation as a whole, but one that I certainly cannot get behind. It has been years since Davis broke out in another stage to screen adaptation, Doubt, and while it took me a bit of time to see whatever everyone else saw, her turn here is amazing.

2. Elle Fanning - 20th Century Women

Much like Gerwig's role, Fanning plays a type here, but goes well beyond the typical girl next door archetype. If that's even what she's going for, which I don't think the film casts her as, especially since it is as interested in tie and reflection as it is the moment and discovery. There's a confidence to her role, an understanding but also unawareness that requires a careful balance that Fanning nails.

1. Michelle Williams - Manchester-By-The-Sea

This pick almost feels safe or boring, but also what Williams does in her role is just that impressive. It's heartbreaking at times, and believable, which is a strength of the script, but also enhanced by how much emotion Williams brings to the part. She is capable of going big, but even though there's plenty of talk about her 'Oscar scene,' there's the quieter moments that really allow for that part to payoff.

Lead Actor - Men

5. Ryan Gosling - The Nice Guys

Here's the thing, I'm a little mixed on Gosling as an actor, because there are a lot of occasions of him overacting in roles that don't really call for it, but in a part that can be as comedic as the one in Black's latest it's a quality that benefits the film. If there's one thing you can't deny, it's that Gosling has a charm and charisma, and he brings it to every single scene.

4. Colin Farrell - The Lobster

Going from one very loud performance to a much more restrained one. It would be easy for Farrell to be passive, as his character is more quiet, but he plays against this with his comedy to make a nice juxtaposition that ends up with a much more defined and realized character. It's a quiet comedy, which allows for the more heartfelt scenes to transition seamlessly.

3. Casey Affleck - Manchester-By-The-Sea

Another one that would be easy to write off, especially because of how detached Affleck is asked to be at times, but as more is revealed about his character, it makes his work earlier in the film all the stronger. Affleck also has the benefit of delivering what is likely the year's most powerful line, and in just a few words he drops a hammer.

2. Denzel Washington - Fences

Much like Davis, this is a very theatrical performance, but probably even more so than hers because of how notably boisterous his character can be, dominating the screen in a way that is almost imposing. My exposure to the source material is limited, but Washington clearly does inhabit the character he plays, and makes him in even his most difficult moments captivating to watch.

1. Adam Driver - Paterson

But few characters were more captivating to watch than Driver's portrayal of the titular character. He, of course, does play to my soft spot for poetry, but there's a lot more to him than just being a writer. It's a quiet performance, but one where he makes every smile carry weight. It's an amazing turn, and I only expect more and more from Driver with each new project he takes on a prominent role.

Lead Actor - Women

5. Tae-ri Kim - The Handmaiden

As mentioned earlier, there's a lot to be impressed about when it comes to the performances in The Handmaiden, and in actuality either of the two women who anchor the film could make this list given how much deception goes on, but I found Tae-ri Kim's turn such a joy to watch both when she is in and out of the loop.

4. Ruth Negga - Loving

Despite there occasionally being a clinical feel to the presentation of Loving, the acting really is top notch, and what Negga does with her character, bringing a life and compassion to her interactions during the movie that feels so authentic. She left me really impressed, and I need to see what she will be working on next.

3. Krisha Fairchild - Krisha

Authenticity, right? I'm not familiar with the backstory of this film, but Fairchild's performance feels so personal and knowing that the line between character and actress almost felt like it could have blurred. Which is a sad thought in this case. Regardless, when it comes to compelling presences on the screen this year, Fairchild commands attention.

2. Elle Fanning - The Neon Demon

This performance is another one that could be misconstrued as nothing special because of how detached the character is asked to be in certain scenes, and unaware or surprised in others, but just as Nichols Winding Refn establishes a tone that only he can, Fanning supports this with a much more aware performance that continually twists just how much of an active role she plays in the action of the film.

1. Hailee Steinfeld - The Edge Of Seventeen

Welcome back. It has been a number of years (seven to be exact! wow!) since Steinfeld last made this list for her turn in True Grit, and once again she proves that she is still very capable of being a force and deserving her spot, once again, at the top of the year's performances. She puts the film on her shoulders, masking a vulnerability between a rough exterior, to make for such a compelling performance that hit me on such an emotional and personal level. It is a work that should be seen, because she's really remarkable.

And there we have it, even if there were a number of other actors that I would have loved to include. But I'm sure as I finalize my list of top films leading up to the Oscars, that I will have a chance to mention other things that stood out to me from the year. Until then, let me know below what you think!

Comments are welcome and, for anyone with a literary mind, I encourage checking out my poetry blog filled with all original works for your reading pleasure.

Also, I am on the old Twitter thing so I guess you can follow me at twitter.com/r_thor1.

And if you want to know what I'm watching, listening to, playing , and reading you can follow my tumblr account!

Taking On 2016 - Top Films (Q2 Quaterly Review)

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Thorne) — Tue, 19 Jul 2016 18:52:00 +0000

Ah, here we are again. Late to the party, but not too late. Though later than it should have been since my last post. In that time though I have watched a lot (but listened to a lot less, which would explain the halfway point of the year missing a music countdown), and this has been quite the year. After a few spotty years, finding a list that felt good to me was incredibly challenging. Regardless of genre 2016 has been simply superb for all types of films. And, as usual, there are plenty of busts as well. If you are interested, you can take a look at everything from 2016 I have watched over on Letterboxd. Either way, no reason to further delay, how about we get to it?

10. The Invitation

This was a movie that I didn't have a chance to see last year at the Philadelphia Film Festival while I was frantically hoping that some quasi-horror would thrill me in the way that It Follows did a year earlier, but I completely overlooked this one, much to my dismay. Karyn Kusama plays with genre expectation here in an incredibly smart way that helps play up the tension on a scene by scene basis. And it all builds to such a fantastic conclusion that has stuck with me for months.

9. The VVitch

During a graduate course I took a class on the figure of the witch in literature, and a component of this class involved a trip to Salem, MA where I had the opportunity to look through the Salem archives that contained actual documents preserved from the 1600s when witch hunts in America ran rampant. Every single scene of this film reminded me so perfectly of the tours we took through old farms where houses from the time, small and compact, are kept intact, or from the testimonies that I spent hours reading. But The VVitch is much more than married to its realism, what is at the core of this film's greatness is just how tense it remains without ever really resorting to jump scares. Refreshing, thrilling, and thematically rewarding, even if the sacrifice of ambiguity is a bit less thrilling.

8. Swiss Army Man

Here we are once again, that one film about farting or whatever. But to speak of this in that context is hardly indicative of the final product and what it all amounts to during what is a fun twist on a buddy movie. There is a ton of heart, but mostly what stood out to me is the journey of self discovery. The ending I still do not know if I am completely sold on, but I believe the right decision was made. What really stunned me about this film, however, was the way it dealt with sexual acceptance and understanding. Or perhaps processing is the better word, especially since everything is in relation to self confidence. Which is a simple message, but twisted and portrayed in such a fantastic way.

7. Hail, Caesar!

What happened with the Coen's latest film, one that calls back to the golden age of Hollywood, but also juxtaposes it with modernity, is so funny and insightful, as tends to be the trademark of their films. Every actor gives such a charismatic performance, and even if the plot does not completely excite, what the Coens do so well rarely relies on the plot. It is about thematic complexity, and that is here, religiously and nationally, as ideas of each are explored and prodded at throughout. And there are so many genres they get to try their hands at given the nature of the film, which only further shows how talented the two of them are as filmmakers.

6. 10 Cloverfield Lane

The original Cloverfield is a movie that I do not like. At all. The shaky cam, the first time actors, the intentional obfuscation of the creatures throughout the film in order to create some fake tension or whatever. But despite sharing the name, having a new director and refocusing to a much different genre than half-baked creature feature, 10 Cloverfield Lane manages to inject itself with a ton of life. Helped by some amazing performances, especially good work from Goodman, the central plot is so well doled out, the reveals excellently timed, the movie is infused with life from the soundtrack to the shot composition, it's all very impressive. Sure, it may not be entirely fulfilling, but it's fun, and sometimes that's all you need.

5. Love & Friendship

Whit Stillman's latest is a Jane Austen adaptation, but of one of her lesser known works, and though these period pieces could be a bit stuffy, this fits perfectly with Stillman's style of comedy. In fact, some of the year's biggest laughs come in this film, the script being so tight and well adapted that it almost feels modern. Which I suppose speaks to the timelessness of literature, but also how bringing that to the screen is a triumph in itself.

4. Everybody Wants Some!!

I realize that this is a spiritual successor to Dazed And Confused, and the threads that connect the two tonally are there, but I feel like constantly mentioning that film does a disservice to what is Linklater's charming take on a raunchy 80's college sex comedy. There is, of course, a naturalistic tone to the script and the world that he (re)creates, but it does not come at the sacrifice of the film reaching for the universal. The time period, at the film's best moments, slips away and we see a vision that is timelessly American, regardless of whether or not you have ever found yourself in a sports frat.

3. Green Room

The world is always better with color, though the grim Green Room is hardly a celebration of the vibrancy of life. Instead it is a struggle to survive for a group of teens who find themselves wrapped up in what can, very delicately, be called a dangerous situation. But what is so impressive about this film, much like Blue Ruin before it, is how it takes a fairly basic premise and shifts the balances of power throughout. There's also a bit more heft here, while it is still thrilling, and chilling at many points in time as we are offered a glimpse in to a world of hatred and fear.

2. The Neon Demon

Nicholas Winding Refn is a stylist, though calling him simply that is a huge disservice to what he is capable of doing when he is at his best, as he is here when paired with another amazing performance from Elle Fanning as they set their sights on the world of fashion and beauty. Though it is also about absorption, a horror film that challenges our expectations and plays on the idea of innocence and perception. There are unsettling parts in Refn's glitter fueled daze of neon, but all with a purpose, so carefully constructed and rewarding.

1. Mermaid

It has been a fairly strong year for comedies, and strict genre films as a whole, but the return of Stephen Chow behind the camera with the 3-D Mermaid is likely the most I have laughed at a movie all year. He is undeniably a master of comedy, and though the politcal eco-politics are nothing revolutionary, the entire film is such a stunning and hysterical spectacle that it hardly matters in the larger context. There is no more fun I could think of having with a movie, and just like Chow's other greats there is plenty of physical comedy and misunderstandings that wring out more laughs than I could count. While still being heartwarming. A slippery slope the navigate, but Chow once again proves more than capable.

1a. The Lobster

Alright, so I had a bit of trouble here. On last year's list, The Lobster, Yorgos Lanthimos's debut English language feature, topped things as I had a chance to see it at the Philadelphia Film Festival; however, the distance between that screening and its actual release in the US was just so large, and this movie so wonderful, that I feel like it ought to be mentioned twice. It is audacious, hysterical, and emotional. There's a core understanding of humanity, tragic and depressing, that rivals both 1984 and Brave New World in key ways. It asks us what is love? What is connection? And is never shy about showing the answers and conclusions it finds. This is the best, most exciting theatrical experience I have had (and I have had the good fortune to see it twice now on a big screen) since Spring Breakers. The Lobster is a marvel.

There we have it. This was a tough list to make and a bunch of other things contended for spots, so I assume when I check in again in a few months things will change even more. Thus far 2016 has been really strong. Let me know what I need to catch up on prior to making another one of these below, and thank you for reading!

Comments are welcome and, for anyone with a literary mind, I encourage checking out my poetry blog filled with all original works for your reading pleasure.

Also, I am on the old Twitter thing so I guess you can follow me at twitter.com/r_thor1.

And if you want to know what I'm watching, listening to, playing , and reading you can follow my tumblr account!

Taking On 2015 - Top Films

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Thorne) — Wed, 02 Mar 2016 02:54:00 +0000

Well, here we are, right after the Oscars and the official end to the year that was in cinema. Though there is still plenty of catching up that I wish I was able to do, but when is life not full of regrets, right? After a kind of lost year at the blog (where I should do a 2015 blowout post, but not sure that I'll get around to it), I feel compelled to continue at least the yearly tradition of writing up some things about films outside of short reviews on Letterboxd. You can also find a list there of all the films I have seen there. It helps to solidify my thoughts on how things have changed since the last time this happened. And changed they have. Also, it would not be a year end Top 10 if I didn't cheat. So let's start with that initial slip up.

11. The Visit

When trimming down my list, I really had no idea what to do with The Visit, because it was so surprising and enjoyable, and it really does deserve to be seen. I guess there's also the narrative that it's M. Night's "return to form," which maybe it is, though I'm not entirely sure how valid that is either but it's beside the point in regard to the rest of the film. Sure there are spots where it gets generic, but technically it's a well made film (and a good found footage kind of thing!) and even the emotional beats are notably strong thanks to some great performance from the two kids who make up the story's core. There's so much that goes on in the periphery that one almost may not realize until it creeps in to the center of the film. I cannot wait for M. Night's next film, and hopefully he finds a way to fit in that rapping little brother.

10. Room

A lot has been said, and rightfully so, about the opening of Room. It's wonderful in the way that it establishes the scenario, and terrifying in the way that it presents this tragedy, but perhaps the emotional heft comes in how the second half is executed. A lot has to do with Larson's performance, of course, but the way it balances the experiences of its co-leads is truly impressive. Room is potentially the announcement of a new voice (Frank may suggest otherwise, but who knows), which is exciting in its own right, but when a film as emotionally resonant as this one it's easy to be encouraged. This film gets tough to watch at times, though given the subject matter it should be, but when it looks in to its characters it finds truth, which is the best thing any film can do.

9. While We're Young

This could easily have been Baumbach's other film Mistress America as well, but what really struck me about While We're Young was the way it juxtaposed its characters in the process of aging. Stiller and Driver make up the core of the film, and each play their part incredibly well, highlighting the divides and lack of divides, while giving Baumbach the room to make generational commentary. Which could get in to dicey territory, and though it could, it manages to avoid that for the most part. And regardless, the comedy here is pretty top notch.

8. Inside Out

Is this the first time in the history of this list that a Pixar film has made the list? It very well may be, and I can hardly think of any more worthy title. There's so much fun to be had in Inside Out, but that also does not detract from the emotional cores (and I will not apologize for using that phrasing) of either the Sadness/Joy dynamic or Riley's external story. Even the Bing-Bong problem isn't nearly as big of a problem as it seemed at first, contributing to both stories while also working out a decent little arc of his own. It took a lot of time, but we made it. It's bursting with emotions or something like that.

7. The Boy And The Beast

Hosoda. Going in to this film I had lofty expectations, because in years past Summer Wars would have topped my list had I been writing at the time, and Wolf Children showed incredibly well during its release. So as Hosoda leans farther in to his penchant for anthropomorphization, so too does his filmmaking become a bit more refined. What he always does so well is establish the fantastic, but tell really human and universal stories in these worlds. And like in Wolf Children the film spans a number of years, which allows more room for exploration. I'm entirely on board for whatever Hosoda has up next.

6. The Hateful Eight

Look, this is a problematic film in a few regards. At least I think it is, I do really need to rewatch it, but Tarantino's latest is also so well constructed, so funny, so engaging. It's not surprising how carefully constructed everything is, every frame so precise, but what struck me was how controlled even the more chaotic moments were. And to the film's benefit. Some of that also has to do with the structure, breaking things in to acts and allowing perspective to shift, but it never gets away from Tarantino.

5. Mountains May Depart

A sweeping portrayal of changes in the economic structure of China mingling with a number of personal tales, I was not prepared to fall as hard for this film as I did. It is the power of cinema that allows us to transcend cultural boundaries, and even though I am sure I did not pick up on all the nuance, but it's hardly necessary to finding the true joy and heartbreak and pleasure in everything else.

4. World Of Tomorrow

This is the point where I would probably insert a joke about length not mattering as much as how you use it, but one assumes that shit has been done to death by this point. But seriously, in such a short time this film is able to cover so much ground, and does it in just the most remarkably visually inventive ways that are only possible in animation. Though it's only about twenty minutes long, World Of Tomorrow stands right alongside the best films of the year.

3. Ex Machina

Last year in cinema, there were few films more thrilling than Ex Machina, what is likely the most surprising thing that I saw. It's been a long time since I fell in love with a sci-fi film in this way, even Under The Skin didn't strike me in the way that I felt it should have, but the ideas here are so central to the intrigue that it goes beyond the plot. It makes us question how much intelligence and life actually mean in a developing world, doing it all while keeping us as viewer entirely unaware and guessing. It's riveting and exciting, in the way that cinema should be.

2. Anomalisa

Where to start with Charlie Kaufman's latest film? For something that is not incredibly long, there is so much here. But all the credit does not belong just to Kaufman, Duke Johnson should be spoken for what he does with the stop motion. It is little surprise, his work prior on Moral Orel was impressive, but a welcome addition to tying everything together, I am sure. And this really is a masterclass in craft. And funny, and emotional, and there are so many little touches that contribute to the ideas it probes at, all the heartbreaking reality. There's a complexity, one that I admire, and all of that wonderful animation. Anomalisa demands to be seen.

1. The Lobster

Alright, here's the real reason this is a Top 11 and not a traditional Top 10. Last year I felt kind of bad for putting It Follows so high on my list, but it wasn't number one so that was okay. This year though the best thing I watched had to be a film that should be getting a US release sometime in the near future. The Lobster is funny, it's engaging, and it forces us to examine the idea of love and the construct of romance with no punches pulled at all.

And there we have it, the final list. Obviously I will continue to catch up with a few things I never had a chance to get to in theaters. But this is as close as I'll get to a list for now. And, as always, I would love to hear in comments exactly what people think and what else I should go seek out in the coming months. Thanks for reading, and on to 2016!

Comments are welcome and, for anyone with a literary mind, I encourage checking out my poetry blog filled with all original works for your reading pleasure.

Also, I am on the old Twitter thing so I guess you can follow me at twitter.com/r_thor1.

And if you want to know what I'm watching, listening to, playing , and reading you can follow my tumblr account!

Taking On 2015 - Top Albums (Q2 Quarterly Review)

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Thorne) — Thu, 13 Aug 2015 02:30:00 +0000

Hey, here we are again. Some of the stats options tell me that people are still reading these things, so I guess I'll keep going even if I didn't have a personal obligation to myself. Which means now that we are through with the best songs of the year so far, it's time to take a look at the albums. Look, I'm not here to mince words, I haven't been keeping track of albums as rigidly as I have in the past, and honestly I haven't listened to nearly as much in 2015, so this list is going to be a little lean. But there's still a Top 10 in here, all of which are really great because, well, there's been some high quality shit this year. So why delay it any longer?

10. DS2 - Future

This realistically could be a collective award since Future has been pumping out high quality mixtapes at a pretty impressive pace over the past 9 months or so, but his return to the full length album with DS2 is notable for both its beautiful album artwork as well as the sense of cohesion that he is able to achieve. There's a nice varied sound, or as varied as one can expect, and the number of bangers is notably high, which one would want out of any quasi-trap album released in 2015. The Future is now, or whatever.

9. Ratchet - Shamir

Few other albums from the year pulsate with the same energy that Shamir displays on Ratchet, which honestly goes a long way to entering the music. On the surface it is almost poppy (whatever in the heck that means), but the actual lyrics of the songs, even when they are at their most broad, are underlined with an awareness that elevates them far above simple party music. There's a self destruction, willing or otherwise, that is probed at throughout the album, a vulnerability that is incredibly impressive and fully featured. Yet still, that energy is pretty damn addicting.

8. I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside (An Album By Earl Sweatshirt) - Earl Sweatshirt

Earl Sweatshirt's debut album, Doris, was something I was both way excited for and kind of let down by when everything was said and done. In the time since, the collective that first brought Earl to prominence, Odd Future, has disbanded yet apparently he has not entirely lost the skill that initially commanded attention. The more lackadaisical delivery on Doris is gone here, replaced not by a 'return to form' but rather an evolution of style. Yes there are songs that echo Earl, but by and large tracks like "Grief" and "DNA" advance his music beyond simple shock value. Growth: gradual, transformative, and ultimately really encouraging once more.

7. Surf - Donnie Trumpet and The Social Experiment

Despite the inclusion of Chance The Rapper on any number of these songs, this is not a Chance album, the instrumental work by Trumpet really creating an aural aesthetic which takes on the recent upswing in jazz influence and infuses it with a more modern edge in the way that many other artists have not been able to exactly grapple with in nearly the same way. Of course Chance's vocals bring a lot of extended life to the record, and my favorite songs remain the more lyrically intensive ones like "Sunday Candy" and "Familiar" (there's a strange majesty in the delivery of Quavo's almost startlingly simple "Long hair, don't care girl you look familiar / And her momma doesn't like me, cause I'm a rapper so icy."). But there's plenty here to just appreciate on a musical level.

6. In Colour - Jamie xx

Speaking of musical appreciation that even my limited brain is capable of processing, after a few listens I really came around on Jamie xx's 2015 release. In much the same way that there's an obvious construction to James Blake's music that really connects with me, those qualities are also present here. The instrumentals are heavy, they are intensive, but they move. Not just in the sense that the album clips along nicely as background music, but so many of the songs feel alive. That takes a large level of skill and craft, plus "I Know There's Gonna Be (Good Times)" could probably almost assure this album at least a mention on a list like this.

5. The Powers That B - Death Grips

It's been too long. I think last year I was willing to consider songs from the first half of The Powers That B for my lists (thankfully because "Have A Sad Cum" and "Black Quarterback" still hold up insanely well), but held off on placing it on the albums list because Jenny Death had still not released to complete the double album. Seems to have been a really great decision, because despite both albums making the run length pretty long, the sheer force of each part back to back, and the differences in both the way lyrics are used and the sheer force of production creates a wonderful discordant beauty that really defines the music Death Grips make.

4. Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit - Courtney Barnett

Sometimes the insular is used as a means to explore heavier topics, but other times the small is just able to exist on its own, letting the innate beauty and idleness of being do most of the heavy lifting. Or not. Which is one of the ideas that Barnett's portraits of the extraordinary mundane seem to drive at on this album. At times even the idea of singing is nearly abandoned, turning more in to read poetry than anything else, which obviously is going to have a pretty great draw to me, especially when the writing is so captivating. Not exactly free association, which ends up being a strength, but a simplicity that occasionally yields complexity.

3. I Love You, Honeybear - Father John Misty

Father John Misty's latest also took me a little while to get in to, which considering just how strong the initial "I Love You, Honeybear" track starts things off, but when I got in I fell hard. The nearly folk rock style of something like Fleet Foxes (not surprising, I guess, considering Tillman's involvement) is on full display here, and the hefty focus on lyricism is right up my alley. Add in a dash of cynicism, though always laced with a sense of personal triumph and survival and you end up with one fantastic album. The songs connect so well thematically, the arrangements string the entire thing along with confidence, and it's just really damn enjoyable to experience all the way through. It's undeniably an album, which, fuck, is just so damn refreshing.

2. Beat The Champ - the Mountain Goats

Speaking of the poetic, it seems only fitting to have music's poet laureate take his rightful spot near the top of the list. Even without this past year's personal dark descent in to a strange fixation/fascination/revulsion with professional wrestling, I like to think that I could find plenty to appreciate on the Mountain Goats's latest ode to wrestling's days of yore. Look, part of this is my own apology for not realizing just how great "Choked Out" is as a song, but really what's impressive is the way the songs take the specific, whether factual or otherwise, and use that as a means to explore the universal. That's the foundation of art, what attracts me so much to poetry, and all the small vignettes that add up to this entire experience are just glorious.

1. If You're Reading This It's Too Late - Drake

Realistically I don't know where else we could end at this point in time. Thus far 2015 has essentially been a Drake takeover (Drakeover), and pretty much from the moment this was sprung upon the internet I have kept it in rotation. Is it perfect? Not entirely, but from top to bottom there is just so much worthy of praise. Lyrically it's on point, there's such a raw energy to so many of the songs, and it's just so much damn fun to throw on and let it run. There's nothing else from the year that I have listened to quite as much, and until something begins to come close, this will likely continue to hold the top spot with a fairly strong grip.

There would be honorable mentions, but maybe when we revisit this in a few months. Until then let me know what I need to listen to below in the comments! And keep an eye out in the next few days for the best films of the year so far.

Rich

Comments are welcome and, for anyone with a literary mind, I encourage checking out my poetry blog filled with all original works for your reading pleasure.

Also, I am on the old Twitter thing so I guess you can follow me at twitter.com/r_thor1.

And if you want to know what I'm watching, listening to, playing , and reading you can follow my tumblr account!

Taking On 2015 - Top Tracks (Q2 Quarterly Review)

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Thorne) — Fri, 07 Aug 2015 03:09:00 +0000

Alright, so once again we have returned with our Quarterly Review series, spotlighting (as usual to start) the top songs of the year so far. Or that's what I guess I would write had I not neglected to do a Q1 Quarterly Review back at the end of March, but alas the time for that has passed while I was just listening to a lot of Drake and being lazy. We aren't here to read about the goings-on in my life though (presumably there is only a minimal 'we' anyway, but let's ignore that for the time being as these words continue to be typed in to the void), it's music time. As usual here is a Spotify list of all the songs that are on Spotify which I considered for this list, and you can also click on the song titles for corresponding Youtube/SoundCloud links where applicable.

10. "SMUCKERS" - Tyler, the Creator (feat. Kanye West and Lil Wayne)

Though it is debatable how successful Tyler, the Creator's latest album was on a whole, opinions definitely seemed split though I ended up enjoying it more than expected, "SMUCKERS" easily exists as the standout track. It takes a lot to make Lil Wayne tolerable, so perhaps the fact that he doesn't ruin the song is a testament to how good it is (aided toward the end by a nice bit of back and forth with Tyler), but that would be overlooking the obvious verse that elevates this song: Kanye's verse. The smooth beat recalls his older work, and while there is still plenty of Yeezus and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in here, there's a fair amount of Late Registration in there as well. The lines are quotable, the verse starts with trademark vulnerability mixed with enough braggadocio to make it unmistakably Kanye. Plus there's the final gem "Had a drink with Fear and I was textin' God/He said 'I gave you a big dick, so go extra hard.'" But I'm sure there's still plenty of time to gush over Kanye's 2015 coming soon.

9. "Drink Tickets" - kitty

While this is a far cry from "DEAD ISLAND" and other more traditional hip-hop kitty songs, the more traditional pop elements are not exactly unwelcome and add to the infectiously addictive quality of the song. Not to mention that kitty does get her rapping in, and damn if she doesn't do her thing in the limited time. Realistically the length of her second verse makes 2 Chainz's guest verse on "Breakfast" seem like Paradise Lost by comparison, but this is a pop song so perhaps it's to be expected. Kitty has always had a presence on songs, but with time it starts to become a lot more commanding as she embraces pure pop in a surprising turn, and on "Drink Tickets" she does take command, at least in a kitty way (whatever the fuck that means), which is more than enough for me.

8. "Can't Feel My Face" - The Weeknd

It's easy to write off "Can't Feel My Face" as a fairly standard The Weeknd song, but I think that kind of loses sight of just how powerful and clear his voice is on the track. Both literally and less so, a nice blend of style that occasionally recalls the Michael Jackson cover "D.D." from Echoes Of Silence that made one of these lists years and years ago, I believe. Oh, here it is. The instrumental work is arguably the star, however, switching from the more subdued to the quicker synth qualities of the chorus, all adding up to a song that exists in the magical (liminal?) space between personal and universal, as any successful emotionally charged song ought to, but The Weeknd elevates that as he has so many times before.

7. "Blessings (Remix)" - Big Sean (feat. Drake and Kanye West)

Well, here we are more than halfway through 2015 and somehow there is a Big Sean song on this list. Now, obviously it's not exactly because of Big Sean, but credit where it is do, his work on this song is pretty good and works really well with the beat. But come on, Drake and Kanye at the same damn time! No real need to mince words, this isn't technically close to Drake's best verse of the year because realistically there are so many to pick from, but the more sedate beat really plays to his ability to make the lavish seem common, which works perfectly on the song. And, of course, just when the song (originally) concludes, in comes Kanye with a pounding verse that almost seems to transform the song in a way, all leading up to the track's refrain standing on its own. Brief a capella moments in hiphop have always done a ton for me when used correctly, and this goes way beyond a simple word like "correct."

6. "Sunday Candy" - Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment (feat. Jamila Woods)

Technically this song came out in 2014, but Surf came out this year and I missed it in 2014, so here it is. At some point this list will not have a hiphop song on it, at least I think, but let that not serve as a distraction from the soulful sound that Trumpet creates nor the magnificent vocals that Woods provide. It's easy to focus on the emotion conveyed in a song from a vocalist, and while I wish I could say I was above that I am not, especially when it's so powerful. Chance the Rapper's two verses both build in different ways, creating an energy that is complimented wonderfully with Woods's voice. The part that has stuck with me the most comes in the second verse, a rapid fire list that Chance makes of the tangible and intangible, utilities and survival: "You smell like light, gas, water, electricity, rent." And even though I'm not super religious, the central metaphor to explore the idea of love (familial or otherwise) just makes this one of the most beautiful songs I have heard in quite some time.

5. "The Powers That B" - Death Grips

The title track from Death Grips's long awaited double album does not disappoint, leaning in to what I most love about the group: MC Ride's blasting vocals over pounding instruments occasionally broken by moments of clarity. The lyrics here, at times, are almost drawn out, almost all immediately comprehensible (except when they are not), but still mostly contributing to the overall sound that is created. It's Death Grips at their best and most versatile, showing off just how carefully arranged the seemingly discordant noise is. And while it's easy to write off how silly something like "My favorite color is oh my god bitch" can be, it all leads that that starkly clear final verse that proves to be one of the most jarring and forceful moments I've listened to this year.

4. "Legend" - Drake

Realistically I could have picked so many songs from Drake's latest album to occupy this slot, but even if "Legend" isn't the most in depth or impressive song from on there it's not only an incredible way to start everything off but the song sort of best captures Drake's 2015 so far, as it kind of has been the thing of legends. And while putting a representation on the list rather than a best song is something I try not to do, this one also does happen to be so addictive and capable of repeat listens that I think the spot is well earned. Sure it's not as quotable as "Energy" or as resonant as "You & The 6" but it sort of blends those two together in a really impressive way.

3. "Holy Shit" - Father John Misty

Look, I'm going to blame 2015 being a spectacular year for hiphop for the absence of the genre diversity on this list (plus we have the album list for that, don't worry), so when something stands out so much that it is able to cut through the sea of Kanye and Drake it definitely deserves one of the top spots. The lyrics, as seemingly simplistic as they may be over the bare instrumentals, are simply staggering, but what they contribute to is even more so. The pent up cynicism seems to flow freely (not as much as on "Bored In The USA"), creating just an engaging sort of poetry. The variations on the refrain, moving from an inward "black hole" to a bursting form "atom bomb" and ultimately tossing aside all the external factors and complications for a simple "you and me" is remarkably powerful. The song kind of reminds me of "Blowin' In The Wind" were that one not so aggressively hollow with its arresting lyrics (I still love you, Bob Dylan, I promise), and it even gets through my jaded exterior to cut right to the core.

2. "Only One" - Kanye West (feat. Paul McCartney)

Pretty sure this song came out on January 1st, and at this point I'm still not entirely convinced that Kanye didn't start the year off with the best song of 2015 when all is said and done, but I'll refrain from anointing it just yet. Once again Kanye turns entirely to singing, channeling the spirit of his deceased mother reflecting on Kanye's newborn child and life at present. It's surprisingly effective even in its obvious sentimentality, a true beauty and connection that transcends life and death found in the lines "And when you cry, I will cry/And when you smile, I will smile." Now I'm not going to contextualize this in relation to whatever Kanye has released this year, nor am I in any position to speculate on what his new album might sound like when it does release because I have no idea at all, but looking at "Only One" on its own has me convinced that it's one of the year's best songs. And also has me wondering if I may have grown soft in my old age.

1. "I Know There's Gonna Be (Good Times)" - Jamie xx (feat. Young Thug & Popcaan)

Perhaps this does little to refute my concerns over finally having the rock in my chest worn down, but I like to think that it at least puts some of them to rest. The undisputed song of the summer comes equipped with a healthy dose of The Persuasions paired with Popcaan's reggae influences all carefully arranged by Jamie xx's watchful eye, but it's got a hefty fucking amount of Thugger too. And let us not forget what may very well be the most ridiculous and spectacular set of words put to paper in 2015 in that shrill opening to the second verse when Young Thug hollers out, "I'ma ride in that pussy like a stroller!" A case for a spot on this list could be made with that line alone, but the energy that pulsates through the rest of the track solidifies it in the top spot at the year's halfway mark.

And, of course, the songs that were just outside the Top 10 in no particular order:

"Twist My Fingaz" - YG
"bodyache" - Purity Ring
"Elevator Operator" - Courtney Barnett
"Constantly Hating" - Young Thug (feat. Birdman)
"Christ Conscious" - Joey Bada$$

How does it all look? Did I get anything insanely wrong or right? What should I listen to before I get around to doing this again? Let me know below in the comments and check in soon for a list of the top albums of the year so far!

Rich

Comments are welcome and, for anyone with a literary mind, I encourage checking out my poetry blog filled with all original works for your reading pleasure.

Also, I am on the old Twitter thing so I guess you can follow me at twitter.com/r_thor1.

And if you want to know what I'm watching, listening to, playing , and reading you can follow my tumblr account!

Taking On 2014 - Top Films

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Thorne) — Thu, 19 Feb 2015 02:33:00 +0000

So, after a(nother) long break, we have once again found our way back here to fully wrap up the year that was 2014 hot on the heels of the Academy Awards. I sort of got bogged down trying to play catch up, especially with films like American Sniper and Selma, things I couldn't qualify as 2015 films because of their place in the Oscar race, releasing about halfway through January. But it's time to stop chasing and start moving on to the year ahead. But first, one last look back at the year that was, the movies that have changed, and the films that will continue to be.

10. Goodbye To Language 3D

Perhaps the hardest slot to settle on this year was this final one, though in the end I think that Godard's latest film certainly earns its spot. It didn't strike me in the way that Film Socialisme did, but to see what he does with 3D is truly awe inspiring. Not nearly as adverse to interpretation as it or others make it out to be, the film clips along at a fine enough pace. However, there is a single moment of fusion in the film, one that I never thought possible, that uses the medium in such an exhilarating way that it more than earns its spot on this list. A technical marvel, and once again another wonderful case for 3D as both a worthwhile formal element and one that can inform theme.

9. Night Moves

One of the later additions to this list, Kelly Reichardt's most recent film is less the on the surface ecoterror yarn and much more a character study. An exploration of consequence, if you will. or perhaps guilt? There's really a decent amount of depth to the film's otherwise simplistic premise. It's a movie about ambition and navigating a societal structure, so for the most part it fits in with the rest of the BIG THEMES of 2014, but the psychological thriller aspects that Reichardt infuses is both surprising and refreshing.

8. The Grand Budapest Hotel

Wes Anderson, you are undeniably on a roll. At this point, in a post-Fantastic Mr. Fox world, Anderson crafting an amazing film is hardly surprising from a technical level, but the script here is so layered with the very idea of storytelling that it almost feels like a variation on Cloud Atlas. Not as personally effecting as the glorious Moonrise Kingdom, there is still plenty of heart here to elevate it above its formal prowess.

7. Boyhood

This film is tough, because any discussion about it needs to acknowledge the great lengths taken to even make it possible, but doing so can minimize just how beautiful and tragic Linklater's latest can be on a moment to moment basis. The restraint with which he brings up most of the bigger moments and revelations in the film is so impressive, and properly stages the human drama at the film's heart.

6. Snowpiercer

Missing out on being the final member of 2013's Big Three Films where Korean masters made their English language debuts, it was a small miracle that Bong Joon-ho's Snowpiercer was released at all. And while its own themes are not the freshest aspects, Bong's ability to film action is just so damn impressive. He has certainly made more complex films, but even compared to The Host, there's a refined sense of style here that is unlike most of what I have seen in quite some time. Bong does not disappoint, elevating the summer blockbuster to heights that I doubt many other films could achieve.

5. It Follows

We have reached a fairly important moment in Processed Grass history with this one. I believe that this might be the first time that a horror film has ranked on a yearly Top 10, and while this Philadelphia Film Festival (and Cannes, though I couldn't go there, obvi) favorite is still awaiting its 2015 release, there are moments in this film that have lingered with me months after the initial viewing. Not exactly terrifying, the teen horror caution tale plays on common Gothic and horror tropes of dangerous sexuality invading the youth in an overly sexed world or whatever by having some demon STD passed around and killing the most recent carrier until it (presumably) makes its way back to the source. What this does for the film though is make you pay attention to every character in the background, to be suspicious of each and every slowly moving person. All of which culminates beautifully in one of the best closings to any film I saw in 2014.

4. Inherent Vice

Ah, Paul Thomas Anderson, it has been too long. Though I have no ties to the source text, Anderson's film seems to have just as much in common with a Coen brothers comedy as it does with any literary work. There is a brilliant intimacy to the camera, but what makes this film so great is that quality extends to reveal so much about the characters. For all the twists and turns, the narrative is not all that difficult to follow, but the dreamlike haze of the actual actions make the film so amazingly compelling.

3. Mommy

In a year that was marked by wonderfully technical film making, the most staggering example may be Mommy. The concept of the film is not incredibly high, but the way the camera works here is simply marvelous in a way that blends perfectly with the film. Sure, it gets ostentatious at times, but always with a purpose and always incredibly effective. Not to mention the soundtrack is pretty much magical. All the elements from the film, the performances in the film, are just so well constructed. And that Lana Del Rey. Damn...

2. Nightcrawler

Dan Gilroy's directorial debut took me entirely by surprise, but the stylish satire is biting in the way that it deconstructs both the news cycle as well as the systems of communication and signals define them. Sort of like Drive meets There Will Be Blood, this film is chilling in a way that I did not expect, but also entertaining at every turn. Just truly fascinating. It really is a remarkable motion picture, and probably the most fun I had in a theater all year.

1. Nymphomaniac

Could it truly end any other way than with Lars Von Trier's wonderful epic? Known as a provoc-auteur, there was not all that much shocking about this film in terms of the way sex was presented. Certainly it got intense at points, but the study of Joe's life as she progresses through it is decidedly nuanced and even injects the film with humor at times. And the culmination of nearly four hours of film is so striking and effective, but frustrating in its execution, where about systems are challenged and rebelled against, is simply wonderful. Von Trier's film is the film that defines 2014.

And with that, I do believe that we are likely finished with the year that was, so thank you for sticking through this long and arduous process. Additionally, I have two lists on Letterboxd: the first of which is simply all the 2014 films that I watched from the previous year, while the other is a ranked list of my 20 favorite films, so you can see what nearly made the cut as well.

It was not a great year for cinema, but there were certainly some gems, and I cannot wait to see what 2015 brings. Agree or disagree with the lists? Let me know in the comments below!

Rich

Comments are welcome and, for anyone with a literary mind, I encourage checking out my poetry blog filled with all original works for your reading pleasure.

Also, I am on the old Twitter thing so I guess you can follow me at twitter.com/r_thor1.

And if you want to know what I'm watching, listening to, playing , and reading you can follow my tumblr account!

Taking On 2014 - Top Albums

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Thorne) — Mon, 26 Jan 2015 16:07:00 +0000

So look, there's a reason I have been pushing these lists off. I got through songs well enough, but when it comes to BIG THINGS like albums and games (not really films though in this case) I lost a lot of the overall rankings lists that I put up. So, really, while I could go based on the previous lists, I have listened to a lot more. What I am going to do, instead, is just write quickly about a few of my favorite albums, and maybe games at some point in the future. Apologies to all musical artists who are left out, you truly deserve better.

These Days... - Ab-Soul

The most lyrically capable member of TDE (a surprising feat in itself), Soul's follow up to Book Of Soul is truly a marvel. The wordplay on display here is second to none, and using it to both grapple with larger ideas and deconstruct hip-hop is handled so incredibly well.

Run The Jewels 2 - Run The Jewels

Not sure if I prefer this to last year's, but Killer Mike and El-P know how to make a mixtape. It clips along at a breakneck pace, which helps contribute to this energy which pulsates through every song, even when the beats slow down a bit to allow for some more breathing room.

The Future's Void - EMA

Broadening the more overtly personal qualities of Past Life Martyred Saints, EMA's latest never sacrifices her signature sound nor the chilling lyrics and perspective which have made her music such a delight to experience.

St. Vincent - St. Vincent

Another highly accomplished work from a highly accomplished musician. While it may appear at first that her work does not change too often, it really is in the aural nuance and subject matter of the songs that define the true brilliance of Annie Clark.

"What Is This Heart?" - How To Dress Well

As far as raw emotion is concerned, few albums produce the results that are found on the latest How To Dress Well. There's a longing, a desire, and occasionally even a bliss that permeates the entire record, and it's all so beautiful.

Benji - Sun Kil Moon

Yet the most compelling art of the year (and wherein I essentially call this, with These Days... as a close second, my favorite album from 2014) comes when the deeply personal is used as a window in to a larger conversation about humanity. Surely that has happened here with Sun Kil Moon's latest. Sweeping and sprawling, every line even in their most basic form takes on gigantic importance. There's little more I could ask for in a great album.

And there we have it. If I do the games one next, I guess maybe it will be the same? We'll see. I might just switch over to film first if I don't do/post games pretty soon though. I promise to try and keep better tabs in the coming year!

Rich

Comments are welcome and, for anyone with a literary mind, I encourage checking out my poetry blog filled with all original works for your reading pleasure.

Also, I am on the old Twitter thing so I guess you can follow me at twitter.com/r_thor1.

And if you want to know what I'm watching, listening to, playing , and reading you can follow my tumblr account!

Taking On 2014 - Top Tracks

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Thorne) — Sat, 17 Jan 2015 01:22:00 +0000

Alright, I know I missed the last round of these, and it's getting pretty late to still be caught in the last year, but who the fuck would want to escape the Year Of Young Thug anyway? Not me. So let us revel in a list of great songs that somehow isn't dominated by Thugger. As usual, here is a Spotify list I made of songs I liked from 2014, the complete playlist of songs that you see here, and the most recent entry in this series. As usual, click the songs for Youtube links to them or Soundcloud ones or where ever I can find them. Right, I also have some songs on Soundcloud that I like, so maybe look at that too? Sure, why not.

10. "Push Pull" - Purity Ring (New Entry)

I guess it's pretty easy to talk about the aural aesthetic that Purity Ring inhabit, perhaps even yearn the resurrection of mindie even in an electropop fashion, but really what makes this song so endlessly compelling is how simple it sounds both in terms of lyrics and sound while actually masking what may be the year's best pure pop song writing.

9. "Benz Friendz (Whatchutola)" - Future feat. Andre 3000 (NE)

Though this spot could just as easily go to "Move That Dope," But damn if Andre 3000's verse isn't something pretty fucking special. But what puts everything over the top is how it juxtaposes with Future's brilliant work. I'm still not sure if Andre 3000's wordplay, basically running with an extended metaphor throughout his entire verse, is even better than Future's work. That jump from the more literary aspects to "That worldwide pussy, yeah, worldwide pussy/Pull up to this girl crib bumpin' Lil Boosie, yeah" is pretty much incredible.

8. "Fine, Great" - Modern Baseball (+2)

Something about local pride or whatever. I probably made that joke the past two times too. Anyway, what was initially so strong about this song, the idea of vulnerability and how one grapples with the repercussions of the past is what has solidified it, despite the near year between first hearing it. The opening line is so simple, yet so powerful. It's a raw strength that few songwriters capture at any point and here it is right up front.

7. "Black Quarterback" - Death Grips (No Change)

2014 sadly saw the end of Death Grips. I mean they will release the second half of this album, so there's a chance it's not the last we see of them on this list, but even if this was the real note of finality, it's one well worth experiencing. Though it pains me to not be able to list "Have A Sad Cum" as the best song, there's this energy to "Black Quaterback" that kind of reminds me of The Money Store but blends it with the musical evolution of Government Plates. It will be a huge loss, but at least Death Grips went out with a bang.

6. "Attak" - Rustie feat. Danny Brown (NE)

Talk about a pulsating beat. Seriously. Talk about it. I'll give you some time. Okay, enough clowning around. While it is easy to admire the production of this track, Danny Brown absolutely murdering it is what elevates it. Though I wasn't huge on all the directions that Brown went with Old, when he displays his raw lyrical talent it's a fucking delight. Not to fault him for his evolution as an artist, but damn if this song doesn't bring the energy in a way that few other artists can ever hope to match. When dressed with this kind of production, it's almost not fair.

5. "3Jane" - EMA (+3)

Part of me feels bad picking the most "California"-esque song from EMA's sophomore album, but FUCK is "3Jane" one Hell of a song! EMA's voice, as usual, is transfixing and arresting, dominating the song in a way that could easily wash away the lyrics if they were not as chilling as the delivery itself. The perspective with which EMA ruminates on modern technological artistry is on full display here, but I'm getting ahead of myself, I guess. There is an albums list coming up to consider.

4. "Hot Nigga" - Bobby Shmurda (NE)

Undeniably the anthem of 2014, Bobby Shmurda's "Hot Nigga" isn't incredibly flashy, not exactly complex, but endlessly fascinating. It's that surge of lightning that every year seems to have, coming from the most unexpected of places. Crown it this year's "Versace" or whatever you want, Shmurda's "Hot Nigga" isn't just a song of the summer, it's one of the songs of the year.

3. "Problems" - Migos and Young Thug (+1)

In a year so filled with the majesty that is Young Thug, how does one only pick a single song? What about "Old English?" How about "Dresser?" I mean "Clap Your Hands" is pretty great too. But the pairing of Thugger Thugger with Migos (not their only work together from 2014, but definitely the best) is far too much to resist. From Thug's chorus to his verse, to the energy that the members of Migos bring, it's a full on rush from start to finish packed to the brim with quotable lines, all seemingly better than the last.

2. "Tree Of Life" - Ab-Soul (No Change)

Have I made a Terrance Malick joke in reference to this song title before? I sure hope so. Much like Malick's tour-de-force, Ab-Soul's lead single from his latest album showcases the artist at his finest. TDE's best lyricist by a wide margin, Ab-Soul continues to toy with simplistic jargon of 'enlightenment' and pair it perfectly with true moments of introspection and realization. I am constantly in awe of how he delivers lines, and the way this entire song folds in upon itself to the wonderful crescendo. "With a dollar and a dream, why you think money is green? The color of vegetation, the most important thing. Trees." That is Ab-Soul.

1. "Words I Don't Remember" - How To Dress Well (No Change)

From the moment I heard this song I knew it would be a tall order for anything else to live up to it. The profound effect it had, and continues to have, on me is immense. From the opening lines to the extended instrumental closing, it's difficult not to get lost in the yearning, in the passion, in the majesty that is "Words I Don't Remember." Even the title itself is so perfect in the context of the song. The difference between "don't" and "can't" is minor, but is also so important to realizing the true depth of emotion. "Can't" is an impossibility, while "don't" is more personal, an active role almost. They are there, but has either not been appreciated in the time and are lost, or are perhaps not forgotten but lying dormant somewhere. It's late and I'm rambling, hopefully that doesn't sound like nonsense.

And, of course, a few honorable mentions:

"URL Badman" - Lily Allen
"Cut Her Off (Freestyle)" - Kevin Gates
"I Don't Sell Molly No More" - ILOVEMAKONNEN
"Fuck KD" - Lil B
"Birth In Reverse" - St. Vincent
"All About That Bass" - Meghan Trainor
"Black" - The-Dream
"New Atlanta" - Migos, Young Thug, Rich Homie Quan, and Jermaine Dupri

There we have it. I'm sure I inevitably missed something, but that's just the way it goes. I need to be more diligent about keeping everything in one place next year. Agree? Disagree? Did I miss something? Let me know in comments and keep on the look out for more music things as well as my favorite games, (possibly) TV shows, and all sorts of film related lists in the near future!

Rich

Comments are welcome and, for anyone with a literary mind, I encourage checking out my poetry blog filled with all original works for your reading pleasure.

Also, I am on the old Twitter thing so I guess you can follow me at twitter.com/r_thor1.

And if you want to know what I'm watching, listening to, playing , and reading you can follow my tumblr account!

Taking On 2014 - Top Films (Q2 Quarterly Review)

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Thorne) — Sat, 26 Jul 2014 14:55:00 +0000

It's been a while, so to speak, and I really did mean to do this earlier, but part of me hoped that I would somehow be able to see Boyhood prior to making this list, but that's just going to have to wait for our October check in. So now with TV, songs, and albums out of the way, it's time to take a quick look at the best of the silver screen in 2014 thus far. Have things changed since we last looked in? Probably. How much? Let's find out.

10. Journey To The West: Conquering The Demons (-4)

Since seeing this film in October of 2013 (which I guess makes me a huge cheater when making this list, but whatever), some of the initial excitement has faded, which is probably to be expected from any film after enough time passes, but Stephen Chow's most recent still has one of the funniest scenes that I have seen in a good while, and honestly it's enough to make sure that it competes for a spot on this list. However, it's the visual splendor that elevates it, and makes it one of the comedies I am most interested in being able to revisit.

9. The Double (New Entry)

Easy to talk about Jesse Eisenberg when thinking about Richard Ayode's wonderfully dark adaptation of The Double, especially considering just how different the two characters he plays are, but really it's an opposites performance that I've seen before. Wasikowska really shines in her role, however, as the dual love interest. But, above that, what makes this film so engaging, and it really does go by in a flash, is just that central idea of doubling and how the film plays with the traditional literary device. Obviously the foundation for the film's script is rock solid, but the execution is incredibly well handled.

8. Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes (NE)

The first film in the Apes reboot was a huge surprise for me, though honestly I was incredibly skeptical going in to this one for a number of reasons. First, Matt Reeves hasn't really impressed me in the past, and I was also uncertain that the emotional resonance of the first film could be successfully reproduced, but placing the focus more on Caesar allowed the series to grow and develop in an unexpectedly resonant manner. And, of course, the performance that Serkis gives is once again remarkable. Honestly, of all the major franchises, this may be the one I'm most interested in following forward considering the quality of the first two films.

7. Only Lovers Left Alive (NE)

Honestly, part of me is still puzzling out this film, even though as far as plot is concerned it's all pretty basic. Two vampires go carousing around Detroit, a decaying city that Jarmusch somehow is able to inject with life. Once again there are enough scene stealing parts with Wasikowska, even if she conflicts with the more serene tone of the rest of the film. Yet the balance between these portions, and the way that tone is maintained throughout, is incredibly impressive, and makes for one of the year's more memorable cinematic experiences.

6. Joe (NE)

So here's the thing that's probably going to continue to be apparent to anyone who has read a few posts around here, I love two things: Nic Cage and coming of age stories. However, rarely do the two meet, and even more unexpected is when a guy like David Gordon Green brings them together. So part of me was meant to fall in love with this film before I even saw it, but even beyond that I came to love a lot about Joe. Cage is, as expected, a powerhouse, but this may be the closest thing that DGG has done to George Washington since he made that film. The way he inspects this part of America with such intimacy, a broken but resolute subsection of a massive country, is absolutely incredible.

5. Palo Alto (NE)

Here we are again, coming of age, this time with a poster that features Processed Grass favorite Emma Roberts and based on a collection of stories or whatever penned by James Franco, who also plays some creepy gym teacher in this film. What I found so compelling about this film was just how varied the cast is, and how the feeling of short stories all coming together is conveyed. There are obvious through lines, but so many stories are going on simultaneously, and none ever feel unimportant. Hell, the most engaging for me was one of the smaller parts of the film, centering on a character who at first seems shallow and disposable, but in just a few scenes becomes an incredibly tragic figure. Oh yeah, and then there's the Blood Orange soundtrack.

4. The Wind Rises (-1)

Known for his magical yarns of human emotion and fantasy, Miyazaki calls a bit of an audible with this animated biopic that at first seems like it documents Japan's development throughout WWII, but it's so much more than that. The film, while singular in its central character focus, is broad in its themes. There are moments of joy, moments of pain, and so much frustration that kind of perfectly encapsulates the human condition. If this is how Miyazaki's career truly does end, it's on a spectacularly high note.

3. The Grand Budapest Hotel (-1)

It took me a long time, but I suppose I am now fully on board the Wes Anderson hype train. The cast here is stacked, which shouldn't be much of a surprise by this point, but the way that Anderson cleverly layers narrative, and reflects this in the visual construction of specific sequences within the film, is simply remarkable. Doing so adds much more depth to the film, changing the focus from the actual story to more an inspection of storytelling itself.

2. Snowpiercer (NE)

Last year saw a couple of notable Korean directors make their English language debuts with mixed results, and Bong Joon-ho was supposed to also make his with the constantly delayed Snowpiercer. Thankfully, this Bioshock-esque apocalyptic parable more than lived up to my hopes that it would be the best of the bunch, thanks in large part to the surprisingly effective action that punctuated the more plot heavy aspects of the film. However, that's not to say this film thrives solely on its action, in fact the entire visual style, and how it shifts from car to car, along with the diverse cast all contribute to one of the best blockbusters I have ever seen.

1. Nymphomaniac (No Change)

Going in to this list, and really since I finished watching this film as a unified whole, I knew it was going to take a lot to unseat Lars Von Trier's latest epic, and the more I thought about it, the higher this film rose in my mind. Sure, some parts are comedic, almost intentionally so, it would seem, but at the film's core there's such a universally tragic idea, and how it's explored both through Joe and the characters who interact with her throughout her life is so nuanced and real that one almost hopes it cannot be true. Not true in the sense that all the events in this film happened to an actual figure, but true in the more universal sense, and the note it ends on maintains this simultaneous brilliance and tragedy perfectly.

There we go, took longer than I thought, but until the end of September we are done with lists. Thanks for reading along and if there's anything you disagree with let me know below in comments! Additionally, as usual, here's a rough, ranked list of everything I have seen so far this year:

Nymphomaniac
Snowpiercer
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Wind Rises
Palo Alto
Joe
Only Lovers Left Alive
Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes
The Double
Journey To The West: Conquering The Demons
Noah
Ernest & Celestine
The Immigrant
The Dance Of Reality
The Raid 2
“Dinner With Friends With Brett Gelman And Friends”
Non-Stop
X-Men: Days Of Future Past
The Rover
Transformers: Age Of Extinction
22 Jump Street
Maleficent
The Lego Movie
How To Train Your Dragon 2
The Past
“One Man And His Dog”
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Omar
Jersey Boys
Neighbors
Robocop
Amazing Spiderman 2
“The Powerpuff Girls: Dance Pantsed”
Draft Day

Rich

Comments are welcome and, for anyone with a literary mind, I encourage checking out my poetry blog filled with all original works for your reading pleasure.

Also, I am on the old Twitter thing so I guess you can follow me at twitter.com/r_thor1.

And if you want to know what I'm watching, listening to, playing , and reading you can follow my tumblr account!

Taking On 2014 - Top TV Shows (Q2 Quarterly Review)

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Thorne) — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 00:38:00 +0000

Okay, so we've gotten through music by looking at the best songs of the year and the best albums, which means it's now time for films, right? Usually, yes! However, this time I'm going to try something a little different. I've been watching a lot more TV this year, and with last year marking my first TV round up, I figured it's worth it to at least look at all the series I have watched so far and start at least considering them. Not really a full on Quarterly Review, since I won't do this again until January, but probably worth checking in simply because with the fall approaching a few of the shows towards the bottom are likely to get bumped by Boardwalk Empire or that new Soderbergh show or other things. Not to mention the time I have to catch up on this season of Oranges: The New Black, Fargo, and Penny Dreadful. Plus Gravity Falls is coming back. This list could end up being the hardest to make by year's end.

10. Orphan Black

Season two is kind of a tough spot to be in for a drama, especially when the first season was as riveting as what BBC's Orphan Black delivered. It was a late addition to my list from last year, where I devoured the entire season in a matter of days, so I was interested to see how it would hold up stretched out between weeks, if the energy would fade or not. Mostly it was able to maintain its pacing perfectly fine, even if as the fiction got bigger and the cast spread out more some of the initial excitement was stretched thin. Still, Maslany's performances are reason enough to watch, and the season's conclusion seems to indicate that there will be a continued balance between character and the larger mythology as the show continues, which remains exciting. Also, Felix is still around, which is probably enough for it to compete for a slot here on a consistent basis.

9. Silicon Valley

While Mike Judge, most notable for his film Office Space, has always had a distinctive voice to his work and I have enjoyed a number of his other projects, the first season of Silicone Valley is likely the only work that I can truly say I kind of adore. The quasi-coming-of-age underdog story about Richard (!) who gets caught up in a whirlwind of fame and money when his compression start up takes off overnight is packed with satire, both over and understated, to draw me in, but it's the ancillary cast that pushes it over the top. Martin Starr, TJ Miller, and Kumail Nanjiani all draw out so many laughs from their characters while maintaining this remarkable chemistry as an ensemble. It's damned impressive comedy work.

8. Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Another comedy in its first season, I was highly skeptical about this show going in because I have a tenuous relationship with Andy Samberg headed projects, but channeling Parks And Recreation while also establishing its own identity, Brooklyn Nine-Nine quickly turned in to must-see television for me. Once again, the work of the ensemble must be called out, with each actor nailing their comedic notes nearly every time, and even injecting some unexpected drama within the season as well. Oh yeah, plus Chelsea Peretti gets to showcase her talent as a series regular, which is always welcome.

7. Archer: Vice

After a few seasons of diminishing returns, I figured that I'd just continue to enjoy Archer, but never love it like I did in its first couple of seasons, but then everything changed when Adam Reed retooled the show to put the members of ISIS on the other side of the law. But what really sold Archer: Vice for me wasn't the expected snappy dialogue or increasingly crazy situations the characters found themselves in, but rather the long form story that the show has only toyed with in the past. There are narrative threads throughout the series, but from the opening episode to the finale, Archer: Vice told a story. Sure it meandered at times, but there was a weekly build that far too often is jettisoned in comedies. When the show returns, apparently retaining the Vice in its title, I hope so too does the extended plot that was showcased this year.

6. Game Of Thrones

Coming off a spectacular third season, and concluding the adaptation of the best book thus far in Martin's Song Of Ice And Fire, GoT had a ton to live up to this year, and even though the build felt slow at times (plus I guess I'm terrible because I'm still upset about what was left out of the finale), this season nearly matched it in every way. As the show continues to spread out, it's definitely walking a fine line of getting too big for its own good, but the way it pulls off such beautifully constructed and powerful scenes is remarkable. The integration of longer sections this year, where jumps between characters happened much less frequently, was a welcome development too, and I am interested to see how the show handles that with the upcoming material being much more slow than what has happened up to this point.

5. Veep

Though Armando Iannucci's Veep has been hysterical each season so far, so far Veep has easily been the funniest thing I've watched this year. It would be easy to focus on JLD's work as the titular Vice President, but as is the case with the other comedies I have written about I want to take some time to highlight the rest of the cast. Specifically: Timothy Simmons. Thinking back to the first season, there were pockets of individuals saying this show needed its own Malcolm Tucker-esque figure, but I've always contested that Jonah Ryan filled Peter Capaldi's The Thick Of It Role by inverting it to the extreme. However, this year gets to see him play around with a little more power, and even the show as a whole ups its dramatic stakes to an unexpectedly successful degree.

4. Louie

Look, I've been critical of this show since the end of the second season. I've always enjoyed it, and respected it, but after loving the first season and a half I started to feel like the show wasn't for me anymore, but the year hiatus that Louis CK took from the program brought it back invigorated in a way I did not expect. More a collection of films broken apart, yet thematically held together, Louie dove in to long form storytelling in a way that if didn't, and with "In The Woods" the show may have well constructed both its best singular episode and also stands in contention for the best episode of TV I have seen this year, and once more I can't wait for the show to return.

3. True Detective

I've been a proponent for Cary Fukunaga since his debut film Sin Nombre and his adaptation of Jane Eyre, though allowing him to stretch his style over the run of True Detective results in his most successful work to date. By this point it's barely even worth it to discuss the McConaughey Renaissance because it's been happening so long that excellent work was sort of expected from him and co-star Woody Harrelson in HBO's detective sensation. The mix between large ideas and the incredibly specific scenery results in one of the most dense, and eventually, thrilling shows where the plot itself almost becomes irrelevant at times. Not many shows can pull off such a balance, or even make the attempt, so to see it succeed so remarkably is damned impressive.

2. Girls

Three seasons deep, and Girls still remains one of the best programs on television. It's been battling increasing complaints about its focus, that some characters have lost their value (which spilled over from the ends the previous seasons), but even with the introduction of new characters who faded in and out of existence, the central cast continued to grow in engaging ways while continuing their drifts apart. Sure, there could always be more Ray, but terrific strides were made in Marnie's storyline and Hannah's growth as a character was much more powerful than I expected. In a way, this show gets more and more like Game Of Thrones with each passing season, characters connected by threads rather than proximity, and combined with Dunham's steady hand at the center it remains one of television's best.

1. Mad Men

Unlike Breaking Bad, which was obviously two seasons rather than an elongated singular one as AMC insisted, I am a bit more hesitant to count this year's abbreviated Mad Men run its own season; however, on a weekly basis no show is able to top the craft and care that goes in to the construction of each episode, so even if the second half/next season connects thematically with this one in a way that the previous ones often don't, this list would be a sham without highlighting just how amazing this show was this year. Even without as much Ken Cosgrove as one would want, seeing time move forward and how all the characters are adjusting to promises that when this show concludes next year it could easily threaten for this spot once again.

There we have it, and here we have a list of all the shows I have watched so far (completed ones, anyway, there are a few that are currently in progress) so I can see how things change in the future:

Mad Men
Girls
True Detective
Louie
Veep
Game Of Thrones
Archer: Vice
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Silicon Valley
Orphan Black
Review With Forrest MacNeil
Inside Amy Schumer
Bob’s Burgers
Check It Out! With Dr. Steve Brule
Parks And Recreation
Kroll Show
The Mindy Project
House Of Cards
Community
American Dad!
Eagleheart: Paradise Rising
The Spoils Of Babylon

And with that, we will soon wrap up this session of Quarterly Reviews by taking a look at the best films of the year so far. As usual, let me know if you agree or disagree in comments, and what I need to watch before we revisit this in January!

Rich

Comments are welcome and, for anyone with a literary mind, I encourage checking out my poetry blog filled with all original works for your reading pleasure.

Also, I am on the old Twitter thing so I guess you can follow me at twitter.com/r_thor1.

And if you want to know what I'm watching, listening to, playing , and reading you can follow my tumblr account!

Taking On 2014 - Top Albums (Q2 Quarterly Review)

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Thorne) — Mon, 07 Jul 2014 21:06:00 +0000

Back once again, this time to put the year's first half in music to rest. We've already taken a look at the best songs of the year so far, and now it's time to turn our gaze toward those more complete works: albums. There have been a few changes since we last had a look at the best albums of the year, and with plenty more on the horizon as well as others that I have yet to experience, I am sure that this list will change when we are back here in three months. But, until then, how about we celebrate all the greatness that has come thus far!

10. YG - My Krazy Life (No Change)

Okay, I know I said there would be changes and here we are, once again, with YG's debut album sitting at the ten spot, but there was a point in time that this release had slid down my list; however, as I went through it once more, the true power of this album became apparent. Though the hand of DJ Mustard is, for better and for worse, heavy with this record, what strikes me the most are the way songs where he doesn't produce. "Really Be (Smokin N Drinkin)" and "Sorry Momma" are two of the best examples that prove YG's ability to exist as a talented musician outside of Mustard's production, one presenting refreshing vulnerability while the other showcasing more lyrical prowess. Looking forward to how he follows this one up.

9. Lykke Li - I Never Learn (New Entry)

I was a massive proponent of Li's sophomore album, I was really looking forward to her followup, and she did not disappoint. Though I loved the variety of sounds she used on Wounded Rhymes, there's a greater sense of unity to the aural qualities of this album. As such, the end result creates these expansive sense of experience while narrowing the scope of the sound, a stunning effect that Lykke Li uses to impressive ends.

8. Frankie Cosmos - Zentropy (-2)

While I can appreciate a sprawling album, there's also a certain appeal to the insanely focused short burst that occasionally finds its way to my headphones. Frankie Cosmos's Zentropy doesn't meander, but it still manages to hit on larger concepts that usually require a lot more room to contemplate. A lot of artists wrestle with aging and death, but the way that Cosmos contextualizes it here, making personal links that are wonderfully specific without losing the universal, is simply remarkable.

7. Lily Allen - Sheezus (NE)

Allen generated a lot of talk prior to this album's release because of the title track where she called out contemporary song writers. After sifting through many a think-piece on the topic, I'm not sure anyone ever settled on if it was a brilliant or convoluted statement, but one thing is for sure: top to bottom, Allen can still put together one Hell of a catchy record. This one goes bigger than her last work, which was much more focused on the individual level of her brand of satire, but it's successful in different ways so there's no reason to fault it for shifting its focus. Sheezus might not be a grand statement, but it's one of the most enjoyable times I've had with an album so far this year.

6. Modern Baseball - You're Gonna Miss It All (-2)

There's a certain energy to this album that is hard to deny, and when paired with the raw emotion in the lyrics, it becomes nearly irresistible to me. I understand that a lot of the appeal is the youthful disenchantment with the world, but it's not as if the entirety of this album oozes cynicism. It's a tough balance to maintain, but one that Modern Baseball is able to achieve without being overwhelmed in one direction or the other, which is quite impressive.

5. St. Vincent - St. Vincent (-2)

Annie Clark's latest album as St. Vincent sees her firing on all cylinders. By this point in her career one would imagine that it's easy to pin down her sound, and while that's not entirely incorrect since many staples of her previous discography are on display, she also has a number of surprises still left to offer. Her lyrics remain hypnotic, but now more than ever the way that the instruments on each track further draw out or echo the pictures she creates become more prominent. The end result is this magnetic album where every song has its own unique feel, where each one builds and falls in ways that many whole albums are never even able to achieve.

4. Sun Kil Moon - Benji (-2)

Remember a few paragraphs back when I was talking about sprawling albums? Few this year are more full than the latest Sun Kil Moon, and the way it's so packed with personal references and images should make it very difficult to penetrate, but there's this openness and familiarity to it all that makes even the longest songs on here easy to digest.

3. EMA - The Future's Void (-2)

Big ideas seem to be the theme of this year, especially with artists who generally have remained incredibly insular and personal in the past. While I don't want to commit fully to that previous claim, if I do end up settling on it then I would say that EMA's latest is likely the most successful. In an age where music and entertainment is constantly being shoved out, EMA takes the time to contemplate how she fits within that context, and what it ultimately means for the world at large. It's fitting that the Oculus Rift she wears on the cover, acquired earlier this year by Facebook for nearly two billion dollars earlier this year, as the tension between corporate creation and individual artistry is one that we can all only speculate on, and EMA is there to help with that speculation.

2. Ab-Soul - These Days... (NE)

It was going to be hard to follow Control System, but as TDE's empire in hip-hop grows, Ab-Soul continues to prove that of all their artists he is one who deserves the most attention. While there was debate about whether or not this album is satirical, I choose to more or less read it as a means of discourse about the relationship between content and form. Ab-Soul shifts his delivery style from track to track, taking heavy influence at times from Migos and Chief Keef, as well as many others, but none of it seems malicious or biting. Rather, what he does is use these subgenres of hip-hop to showcase his lyricism in new and dynamic ways. Much like on his previous album, not all the other ideas he tackles are revolutionary, but the way he goes about doing it is incredible.

1. How To Dress Well - "What Is This Heart?" (NE)

Tom Krell's more recent album under the How To Dress Well name is, for me, the most easily accessible. Though there's still enough distortion at times to make the lyrics a little difficult to hear, it's juxtaposed with this brilliant clarity to his commanding voice. No other album this year so perfectly permeates a specific mood or tone, and to do that without sacrificing any of the thematic heft is cause for celebration. I feel as if with each listen I discover more about the album, and that's perhaps the best feeling I can ever experience when it comes to art.

And, as usual, here's a list of all the albums I have listened to this year in some kind of loosely ranked order:

How To Dress Well - “What Is This Heart?”
Ab-Soul - These Days...
EMA - The Future’s Void
Sun Kil Moon - Benji
St. Vincent - St. Vincent
Modern Baseball - You’re Gonna Miss It All
Lily Allen - Sheezus
Frankie Cosmos - Zentropy
Lykke Li - I Never Learn
YG - My Krazy Life
Girl Talk and Freeway - Broken Ankles EP
Angel Olsen - Burn Your Fire For No Witness
RiFF RAFF - NEON iCON
tUnE-yArDs - Nikki Nack
Gucci Mane & Migos - The Green Album
Ratking - So It Goes
Freddie Gibbs and Madlib - Pinata
Kevin Gates - By Any Means
Lana Del Rey - Ultraviloence
Young Thug & Gucci Mane - Young Thugga Mane La Flare
The War On Drugs - Lost In The Dream
Future - Honest
2 Chainz - Freebase EP
Migos - No Label II
Various Artists - Palo Alto OST
ScHoolboy Q - Oxymoron
Marissa Nadler - July
Willis Earl Beal - A Place That Doesn’t Exist
Isaish Rashad - Cilvia Demo
Parquet Courts - Sunbathing Animal
kitty - Impatiens
Future Islands - Singles
Cyhi Da Prynce - Black Hystori Project
Atmosphere - Southsiders
Cloud Nothings - Here And Nowhere Else
Various Artists - Catch The Throne
Phantogram - Voices
Young Thug & Rich Homie Quan - Narley
Todd Terje - It’s Album Time
Mac Demarco - Salad Days
Rick Ross - Mastermind
Perfect Pussy - Say Yes To Love
Tacocat - NVM
Beck - Morning Phase
Pharrell Williams - G I R L
Young Money - Rise Of An Empire

Did I miss something? Need to prioritize one of your favorites? Any other comments? Let me know below! And keep an eye out as I turn to film and possibly television in the coming days!

Rich

Comments are welcome and, for anyone with a literary mind, I encourage checking out my poetry blog filled with all original works for your reading pleasure.

Also, I am on the old Twitter thing so I guess you can follow me at twitter.com/r_thor1.

And if you want to know what I'm watching, listening to, playing , and reading you can follow my tumblr account!

Taking On 2014 - Top Tracks (Q2 Quarterly Review)

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Thorne) — Wed, 02 Jul 2014 02:43:00 +0000

Hey, what do you know, here we are again! So I haven't written in a while, which I guess by this point isn't all that surprising. But as the sailor is unable to resist the gentle embrace of the sea's calling at night, I too stand on the docks of this page waiting for the ships to dock once more and take me back in to the salty depths. Or whatever. I'm actually just here to do some more lists because I'm terrible and haven't written enough over these past few months. So it's quarterly review time!

We're starting with songs, remember when we did that like three months ago? Well, the times have changed and so has the list. As usual, click the titles of songs to hear them where avaible. Follow my 2K14 masterlist on Spotify for all new heaters as they get added, or follow me on SoundCloud I guess. I also tend to only put one song per artist, though that definition has been stretched this time. Now, on with it!

10. "Fine, Great" - Modern Baseball (-7)

Philadelphia's own quasi-emo (terrible label for the type of music they make, but I'm a jackass) band bring such energetic and longing to both the lyrics and delivery of them on the two and half minutes that make up this song. It's fairly simplistic and straightforward, but as such that makes the emotional impact all the stronger. There's a specificity to everything, though that's meant to underscore a bigger question, which I'm a sucker for, I guess.

9. "Eww" - Young Thug (NE)

Speaking of simplicity, there's kind of this beautiful minimalism to the beat on this song that really allows Young Thug to flex his vocal strengths. I'm still not sure what my favorite song from last year's 1017 Thug is, but the pace with which Young Thug is releasing high quality music in 2K14, I doubt I'll ever be able to figure it out, because just when I thought I was getting close, "Eww" dropped and dominated my earphones for weeks on end. Sure the lyrics become a bit jumbled and silly, but damn that voice and how it absolutely manhandles the track.

8. "3Jane" - EMA (NE)

One of the biggest differences between EMA's most recent album and her previous one is the grandness in scope, which is fully present on standout track "3Jane". Here, Anderson grapples with the digital age, pondering both her position as artist and contributor, a figure who is both digested and personalized. It's all delicately handled, a deft touch that shows the care she puts in to her song writing. And, as usual, her vocals are wonderful.

7. "Black Quaterback" - Death Grips (NE)

Known for creating an aural assault, Death Grips do not disappoint here. Last year their "Birds" was my favorite song, and though the provocateur/twelve year old in me really wants to anoint the equally wonderful "Have A Sad Cum" what makes this song so alluring is the focus once again on lyrics. In the time since Death Grips's brilliant "The Money Store" the group has gone in a direction more focused on expanding their sound, with the lyrical content being more and more of another instrument in their work, but combining so many aspects of The Money Store standouts like "Hacker" and "Hustle Bones" has me the most excited for Death Grips I have been in a while, which is saying a lot considering the quality of what they've been releasing.

6. "URL Badman" - Lily Allen (NE)

Generally, skits in songs don't do it for me, but the opening of this song is less a skit and more a dressing for the individuals that Allen goes on to tear apart. Likely the closest she gets to "The Fear" on Sheezus, this song has her lashing out against internet thugs and disenchanted bloggers who just contribute to noise rather than any type of conversation. So myself, I guess, but very fortunately I'm a masochist, so keep it up, Lily!

5. "Black" - The-Dream (NE)

I can't claim to be an expert on The-Dream, but from what I have heard of his particular brand of R&B, this song stands in surprising contrast to his other music. As the video openly states during its conclusion, The-Dream places an emphasis on classism being the new racism. Though, as the title implies, the racially charged qualities within the song are not absent, creating for a thoughtful take on a complex topic. There's an expansion to his thought process on display both in the lyrics, all delivered in his well polished vocals, a refreshingly conscious song and hopefully indicative of whatever his next project becomes.

4. "Problems" - Gucci Mane & Migos feat. Young Thug (NE)

I am technically labeling this as a collaborative song since it's on a Gucci Mane and Migos mixtape, but Gucci Mane isn't even on this song; however, this list would not be complete without this brilliant collaboration between two of Atlanta's greatest forces from the past year and a half or more. What Thugger does on the hook is a work of magic, straining his voice in ways that don't seem humanly possible at times, but that's only the beginning. His verse showcases him switching his flow, with this incredibly live moment about a minute in to the song. And then there are the verses from the members of Migos, both of which work perfectly with the rest of the song. There are just endlessly quotable lines, the song pulsates energy, and this very well could be the song of the summer, if only I didn't know better.

3. "New Atlanta" - Migos feat. Young Thug, Rich Homie Quan, and Jermaine Dupri (NE)

Though it doesn't quite pick up where "Versace" left off last year, completely shutting down the summer, this collaborative track is a mission statement. Undeniably, 2014 has been the year where Atlanta returned to a position of prominence, and as an anthem this functions flawlessly. There's interplay between the rappers, there's a myriad of styles and deliveries, there's a simplistic but nuanced beat, and Hell there's even an appearance by Jermaine Dupri because why not? Sure it's not the same type of insane pairing that is Justin Bieber's song with Migos "Looking For You" but it's still pretty surprising.

2. "Tree Of Life" - Ab-Soul (NE)

Despite the admiration for Kendrick Lamar around the hip-hop community at large, if you ask me there's no one from TDE that I want new music from more than Ab-Soul. The wordplay on display in the lead single from his incredible These Days... is a marvel, linking words and ideas that on the surface are nothing ground breaking, but become elevated when put in conversation with the multiple ideas Ab-Soul tackles simultaneously. There'a delicate balancing act on display, though as this song shows it's one that he's more than capable of handling.

1. "Words I Don't Remember" - How To Dress Well (No Change)

Halfway through the year, it seems like there will need to be some kind of titan to knock off this beautifully melancholic soundscape from the top slot come January. The lyrics within this song are actually pretty sparse, but when they enter they just hit so hard. Tom Krell's voice is so crisp and clear, but eventually becomes mechanically distorted at times, which creates this dreamlike feel to the entire song that I find to be completely captivating.

On The Bubble

"Cut Her Off (Freestyle)" - Kevin Gates
"Crib In My Closet" - 2 Chainz feat. A$AP Rocky & Rick Ross
"Sanctified" - Rick Ross feat. Kanye West & Big Sean
"Birth In Reverse" - St. Vincent
"Love Me Like I'm Not Made Of Stone" - Lykke Li

It's been a Hell of a year for singles, and soon enough we'll get to albums! Do I need to catch up on something else? Let me know below in the comments!

Rich

Comments are welcome and, for anyone with a literary mind, I encourage checking out my poetry blog filled with all original works for your reading pleasure.

Also, I am on the old Twitter thing so I guess you can follow me at twitter.com/r_thor1.

And if you want to know what I'm watching, listening to, playing , and reading you can follow my tumblr account!

Taking On 2014: Top Films (Q1 Quarterly Review)

noreply@blogger.com (Rich Thorne) — Sun, 06 Apr 2014 17:31:00 +0000

I kind of wrestled with how best to do this list, as I do most years, because by the end of March the total number of films I have watched is actually not all that high since much of January and February is spent catching up with movies I missed out on the previous year. Unlike with songs and albums that I have already written about, film takes more time to digest and slightly more effort to access. It also doesn't help that the first two months of the year are generally a wasteland. But as I looked over my final list, even the films that barely make up a top ten have something worth writing about, so I guess we'll do ten and just wait for the rest of what looks to be a fairly stacked year if March is any indication.

10. The Past

Farhadi's acclaimed A Separation was a film I had a number of problems with, though the most egregious was how on the nose the idea of separation manifested in the film. So, with a title as big and looming as The Past, I entered his latest with similar apprehensions. There are moments where he indulges too much in this discussion of heavy themes in simplistic ways, but he builds a slightly more nuanced take at times that isn't as weighed down by the camera as one would imagine. The film is also stacked with great performances, which helps elevate the material.

9. The LEGO Movie

It is with great regret that I have not seen a lot of Clone High, the work that likely led to Lord and Miller being given the chance to make the middling Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs and the slightly funnier 21 Jump Street. And eventually this film. At this point I'm fairly sure that, while I can appreciate what they do on a visual level, Lord and Miller's sense of humor doesn't always line up with my own, but despite the pretty big void at the center of this film between Emmett and his quest to be a master builder or whatever, the side characters are so delight (particularly Neeson's cops, Brie's manic Unikitty, and Arnett's masterful Batman) that it's easy to overlook the fairly pedestrian plot.

8. Non-Stop

Another excellent entry in the Liam Neeson action film series of films that probably connect to each other in some weird multiverse way, Non-Stop is occasionally goofy and unbelievable, but the visual flair that adorns the film is so good and the ride so enjoyable that I was never compelled to poke too hard at any of the questionable plot devices set in motion during the film. There's also maybe the craziest use of a gun I have seen in a film in a long time.

7. The Immigrant

Been a while since James Gray directed a film, but seeing him reteam with Joaquin Phoenix once again in this almost prosaic yarn about early America would have fit in perfectly with the American Dream theme that dominated 2013 (when the film was probably supposed to release anyway, and when I had the chance to see it at the Philly Film Festival). Gray leans in to melodrama in the way that many modern films do not, and the results are mostly magical, evoking a wide range of emotions that all feed back in to the film's real core: Marion Cotillard's titular immigrant.

6. Journey To The West: Conquering The Demons

Stephen Chow, how long has it been? Far too long. Hong Kong's master of humor returns with his take on the Chinese classic Journey To The West. Of course the film is packed with Chow's signature brand of comedy, so much so that at times it almost feels like he is breaking out a collection of greatest hits. But they still work as perfectly as they do in King Of Comedy, the action is as tight as it is in Kung Fu Hustle, and the character work as engaging as Shaolin Soccer. No one makes films like Chow, and yeah it would have been great to see him in front of the camera, but when something is as funny as Journey To The West: Conquering The Demons, it's hard to complain about the little details.

5. Ernest & Celestine

A Town Called Panic is one of the strangest animated films I have ever watched. I still can vividly recall the adventures of Cowboy, Indian, and Horse. So my excitement for the follow up from Stephanie Aubier and Vincent Patar, with Benjamin Renner as well, was pretty high. Though not nearly as crazy as A Town Called Panic, the central relationship between the two titular characters (a large vagabond bear named Ernest and the tiny mouse Celestine) is stronger than the core relationships between many live-action pairings I have watched. The film never loses this childlike storybook quality, but the layers of social commentary give it welcome depth. If I ever have kids, I want them to watch this film.

4. Noah

Spectacle is hard to accomplish, but even harder is to make it resonate with some kind of substance. Taking on the story of Noah, Darren Aronofsky creates a visually masterful representation of humanity's rebirth in the way that only the director of Requiem For A Dream and Black Swan could. Since he's working with a well known story and in a narrative tradition hundreds of years old, Aronofsky does not need to spend as much time setting everything up, rather he's able to make free associations between loaded cultural images to explore much larger ideas about the human condition. There are sequences in the film that thread together photographs, evoking a cyclical sense of time that is impossible to escape. He captures the sublime, which is one of the hardest things for an artist to accomplish.

3. The Wind Rises

Maybe once a year I have the pleasure to see an animated film from Japan, and it's often even fewer times that I have the ability to see anime films on the big screen. Even last year's great Wolf Children was one I had to settle seeing on the small screen. What is possibly Miyazaki's last film as a director, The Wind Rises is in many ways far different than most of the the animation master's more magical works of the past. Essentially a biopic that recounts the life of famed Japanese aerial engineer Jiro Horikoshi, Miyazaki is also able to examine natural and man made atrocities that have occurred in recent Japanese history. It's here that this film begins fitting more squarely in to his cannon, creating one of his most overtly mature and occasionally disturbing works. There's also this beautiful relationship that is heartbreaking and quiet, like so much of this film. If this is how Miyazaki does end his career, he goes out with one of his best.

2. The Grand Budapest Hotel

It's finally happened. While I can still recognize the flaws in many of Anderson's earlier work, he has now cemented his spot as one of the best filmmakers currently working. The way narrative functions in this film, telling three or four tales simultaneously, bouncing between aspect ratios to create different sensations during its run time, is a delicate balance that does make its full force known until the very final minutes. Each frame is so perfectly constructed, as has always been commonplace with Anderson's films, but once again its how he steadies the camera that allows all the artifice to simply exist. It's damned impressive, the mark of a master.

1. Nymphomaniac

Provac-auteur Lars von Trier's epic (not really two-parter) Nymphomaniac is usually discussed outside of what it is as a film. There's been conversation about its lack of rating, its graphic depictions of sex, the advertising campaign leading up to its release, Shia's paper bag, and so on. In the end that's all mostly rendered meaningless. Yeah, there's sex in the film that is ostensibly shot with real penetration or whatever, but over the course of the four hours the sex scenes not only feel mostly tame but also don't make up all that much of the film. It's really the more clinical aspects that are harder to watch (with the exception of the Jamie Bell portion, which is pretty rough to take throughout). Not that it matters, because what von Trier accomplishes with his script, with such gorgeous prosaic qualities and dramatic construction that never loses focus on some genuinely funny moments, is so marvelous.

Nymphomaniac doesn't use sex as the stopping point for anything, but rather as a barrier to entry for examining the patriarchal systems in place throughout society. Discussing this film without throwing up a spoiler alert is near impossible, so I may save that for a later post if I am so inclined. But for now I can honestly say that I have not been hit this hard by a film in quite some time. The set up for everything, while overt, is so meticulously crafted that I couldn't help feeling invigorated when it finished. It resparked my love of cinema. That's really the highest compliment that can be paid to any film.

And for like the three other films I have watched this year, here's the full list:

Nymphomaniac
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Wind Rises
Noah
Ernest & Celestine
Journey To The West: Conquering The Demons
The Immigrant
Non-Stop
The Lego Movie
The Past
“One Man And His Dog”
Omar
Robocop
“The Powerpuff Girls: Dance Pantsed”

That's the end of this quarterly review, but with heavy hitters like Bong, Linklater, Jarmusch, and more releasing films over the next three months I expect this to change dramatically by that time. What do I need to catch up with before then? Let me know below in the comments!

Rich

Comments are welcome and, for anyone with a literary mind, I encourage checking out my poetry blog filled with all original works for your reading pleasure.

Also, I am on the old Twitter thing so I guess you can follow me at twitter.com/r_thor1.

And if you want to know what I'm watching, listening to, playing , and reading you can follow my tumblr account!