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[tothemaxxx]

My Favorite Films and Performances of 2021

Another year of watching movies mostly at home! Would I have enjoyed certain titles more had I seen them on the big screen? Very likely! Did we buy a slightly larger TV? We sure did! Big screen or small, I found plenty to enjoy this last year... there may have even been a few instant classics. As per, I didn't get to see everything on my list. But I am excited to say that I've finally gotten back into Letterboxd after almost a decade's hiatus and it has injected some new excitement (and more organization) into my film-viewing habits. Here is my Top 20 as a list on Letterboxd, if you're into that sort of thing. Otherwise, keep scrolling! Thanks for your passing interest in my taste in film. Happy watching!

TOP 10

Ranking is VERY loose, and subject to change as the years pass and the details fade.

1. DRIVE MY CAR, Ryusuke Hamaguchi

2. LICORICE PIZZA, Paul Thomas Anderson

3. BERGMAN ISLAND, Mia Hansen-Løve

4. BENEDETTA, Paul Verhoeven

5. WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY, Ryusuke Hamaguchi

6. THE VELVET UNDERGROUND, Todd Haynes

7. ANNETTE, Leos Carax

8. SPENCER, Pablo Larrain

9. THE POWER OF THE DOG, Jane Campion

10. THE LAST DUEL, Ridley Scott

Imagine my surprise upon drafting this list, that at some point in the last year Tumblr imposed a limit of 10 images per post! What's a guy with a top 20 to do other than be bummed out?!

Here's 10-20, sans photo, also loosely ranked:

TITANE, Julia Ducournau

WEST SIDE STORY, Steven Spielberg

RED ROCKET, Sean Baker

THE LOST DAUGHTER, Maggie Gyllenhaal

THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD, Joachim Trier

MALIGNANT, James Wan

CRYPTOZOO, Dash Shaw

DUNE, Denis Villeneuve

ZOLA, Janicza Bravo

THE SOUVENIR: PART II, Joanna Hogg

And a special commendation to is-it-a-film-or-a-series, Peter Jackson's THE BEATLES: GET BACK

I also enjoyed:

About Endlessness, Azor, Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn, Beckett, The Big Trim, Boiling Point, Candyman, The Card Counter, Caveat, Censor, C'mon C'mon, Compartment No. 6, The Duke, El Planeta, The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, The French Dispatch, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, The Good Boss, The Hand of God, A Hero, I'm Your Man, In the Earth, Jockey, Lapsis, Last Night in Soho, Limbo, Mad God, Mandibles, The Many Saints of Newark, MASS, The Matrix Resurrections, The Mitchells vs The Machines, The Night House, Nightmare Alley, No Sudden Move, No Time to Die, The Novice, Old, Old Henry, Only the Animals, Parallel Mothers, Paris 13th District, Passing, Pig, Prime Time, Quo Vadis Aida, Riders of Justice, Saint Maud, Seance, Shiva Baby, Stillwater, The Summit of the Gods, Swan Song (the one with Udo Kier that is), Test Pattern, The Tragedy of Macbeth, Undine, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Violation

And these documentaries:

Becoming Cousteau, Billie Eilish: The World's a Little Blurry, Julia, kid 90, Like A Rolling Stone: The Life & Times of Ben Fong-Torres, Listening to Kenny G, Procession, The Rescue, Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain, The Sparks Brothers, Tina, Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror, Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage

And some memorable (and mostly underdicussed) performances worth shouting out:

Niamh Algar as Enid Baines in Censor

Moises Arias as Gabriel in Jockey

Javier Bardem as Julio Blanco in The Good Boss

Don Cheadle as Curt Goynes in No Sudden Move

Jodie Comer as Marguerite de Carrouges in The Last Duel

Anders Danielsen Lie as Joseph in Bergman Island and as Aksel in The Worst Person in the World

Ana de Armas as Paloma in No Time to Die

Ariana DeBose as Anita in West Side Story

Benicio del Toro as Moses Rosenthaler in The French Dispatch

George DiCaprio as Mr. Jack in Licorice Pizza

Virginie Efira as Benedetta Carlini in Benedetta

Adèle Exarchopoulos as Agnès in Mandibles

Mike Faist as Riff in West Side Story

Brendan Fraser as Doug Jones in No Sudden Move

Isabelle Furman as Alex Dall in The Novice

Skyler Gisondo as Lance in Licorice Pizza

Seidi Haarla as Laura in Compartment No. 6

The Haim family as the Kane family in Licorice Pizza

Brittany S. Hall as Renesha Bell in Test Pattern

Rebecca Hall as Beth in The Night House

Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock/Venom in Venom: Let There Be Carnage

Harriet Sansom Harris as Mary Grady in Licorice Pizza

Sally Hawkins as Maggie in Spencer

Simon Helberg as The Accompanist in Annette

Kathryn Hunter as Witches in The Tragedy of Macbeth

Amir Jahidi as Rahim in A Hero

Riley Keough as Stefani in Zola

Udo Kier as Pat Pitsenbarger in Swan Song

Vicky Krieps as Chris in Bergman Island

Tōko Miura as Misaki Watari in Drive My Car

Katsuki Mori as Nao in Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy

Tim Blake Nelson as Henry in Old Henry

Hidetoshi Nishijima as Yūsuke Kafuku in Drive My Car

Allessandro Nivola as Dickie Moltisanti in The Many Saints of Newark

Woody Norman as Jesse in C'mon C'mon

Masaki Okada as Kōji Takatsuki in Drive My Car

Taylor Paige as Zola in Zola

Park Yu-rim as Lee Yoon-a in Drive My Car

Martha Plimpton as Gail in MASS

Renate Reinsve as Julie in The Worst Person in the World

Simon Rex as Mikey Saber in Red Rocket

Jonathan Richman as himself in The Velvet Underground

Agathe Russelle as Alexia/Adrien in Titane

Makita Samba as Camille Germain in Paris, 13th District

Rachel Sennott as Danielle in Shiva Baby

Reece Shearsmith as Zach in In The Earth

Kiyohiko Shibukawa as Segawa in Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy

Milena Smit as Ana in Parallel Mothers

Kodi Smit-McPhee as Peter Gordon in The Power of the Dog

Suzanna Son as Strawberry in Red Rocket

Timothy Spall as Major Alistar Gregory in Spencer

Dan Stevens as Tom in I'm Your Man

Tilda Swinton as J.K.L. Berensen in The French Dispatch

Honor Switon Byrne as Julie in The Souvenir: Part II

Fusako Urabe as Moka in Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy

Annabelle Wallis as Madison Mitchell/Emily May in Malignant

Jeffrey Wright as Roebuck Wright in The French Dispatch

[tothemaxxx]

My Favorite Films and Performances of 2020

“I wish I could’ve seen it on the big screen.”

It was a strange year, and even stranger year of movie watching. In 2020 I saw only one of my top films in a theater, which is crazy (like much else over these past months). But the experience of keeping up with the movies this year was a reminder that great filmmaking can transcend the specifics of the viewing experience. In your living room, in bed, projected onto the side of a garage, streaming on Twitch, broken up into multiple sittings, maybe even on your phone (desperate times)… if doesn’t matter as long as it connects with you. A great film has the power to soothe and transport, to alter your perspective, to re-wire your brain. So while I didn’t get on a single airplane last year, I definitely went places. And I’m grateful for these changes of scenery. For the time-travel as well; last year in my house, we found great comfort in revisiting a bunch of old favorites. It was also an opportunity to finally watch a number of those older films that had someone evaded us… a year of catching up, now or never. We were members of a weekly movie club for some months — that was cool. Another pleasant silver lining was the emergence of virtual film festivals, which have been a fantastic opportunity. I hope that they can continue in some form when this pandemic is in the rearview. Because, you know, getting to Park City is a real schlep. All this to say: like you, I’ll always remember 2020. In this truly crummy year, the movies really helped.

I’m including some of the film festival stuff that’s coming out a little later, because the boundaries between 2020 films and 2021 films feels blurry to me without proper theatrical releases.

TOP 5, loosely ranked. I love these deeply.

1. LOVERS ROCK, Steve McQueen

2. NOMADLAND, Chloe Zhao

3. ANOTHER ROUND, Thomas Vinterberg

4. TIME, Garrett Bradley

5. MARTIN EDEN, Pietro Marcello

--------------------

The rest of the Top 25, in alphabetical order. I loved these.

À L’ABORDAGE, Guillaume Brac

BACURAU, Kleber Mendonça Filho

COLOR OUT OF SPACE, Richard Stanley

THE FATHER, Florian Zeller

FIRST COW, Kelly Reichardt

I’M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS, Charlie Kaufman

JASPER MALL, Bradford Thomason and Brett Whitcomb

LUXOR, Zeina Durra

ALEX WHEATLE / EDUCATION / MANGROVE / RED, WHITE AND BLUE, Steve McQueen

THE NEST, Sean Durkin

NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS, Eliza Hittman

NEW ORDER, Michel Franco

THE PAINTER & THE THIEF, Benjamin Ree

THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD, Armando Iannucci

POSSESSOR, Brandon Cronenberg

PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN, Emerald Fennell

RELIC, Natalie Erika James

SAINT FRANCES, Alex Thompson

SOUND OF METAL, Darius Marder

THE TRUTH, Hirokazu Koreeda

--------------------

I also enjoyed (some more than others):

Apples, The Assistant, Babyteeth, Bad Education, Black Bear, Blow the Man Down, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Butt Boy, The Climb, Da 5 Bloods, Deerskin, Emma, The Father (Bulgaria), Greed, His House, The Hunt, I Used to Go Here, I'm No Longer Here, Impetigore, The Intruder, The Invisible Man, Kajillionaire, La Llorona, Let Them All Talk, Lost Girls, The Man Who Sold His Skin, Mank, Never Gonna Snow Again, News of the World, One Night in Miami, Palm Springs, Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time, Rebecca, She Dies Tomorrow, Shirley, Slow Machine, Sorry We Missed You, Soul, Spree, Straight Up, A Sun, Swallow, Tenet, Tesla, Tommaso, The Traitor, The Trip to Greece, True History of the Kelly Gang, Uncle Frank, Under the Open Sky, The Vast of Night, Vitalina Varela, Wendy, The Whistlers, Wildland, Young Ahmed

--------------------

And these documentaries!

American Murder: The Family Next Door, The American Sector, Assassins, Beastie Boys Story, The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart, Bloody Nose Empty Pockets, Boys State, Brainiac: Transmissions After Zero, Circus of Books, Class Action Park, Collective, Crip Camp, David Byrne's American Utopia, Dick Johnson is Dead, Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds, The Go-Go's, Gunda, Miss Americana, MLK/FBI, The Mole Agent, Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado, My Psychedelic Love Story, Mystify: Michael Hutchence, Narrowsburg, On the Record, Other Music, Sisters with Transistors, Spaceship Earth, The Way I See It, Whirlybird

--------------------

And these shorts:

Bye Bye Body (which I edited), Fit Model, Friday Night Pizza for Daddy, Hard Cracked the Wind, The Human Voice, John Was Trying to Contact Aliens, Michael's Preference West, What Did Jack Do?, World of Tomorrow Episode Three: The Absent Destinations of David Prime

--------------------

My favorite performance of the year:

Frances McDormand as Fern in Nomadland

--------------------

Favorite ensembles:

À l’abordage, Another Round, Bad Education, Babyteeth, Bloody Nose Empty Pockets, Blow the Man Down, Emma, First Cow, Kajillionaire, Let Them All Talk, Lovers Rock, Mangrove, Mank, One Night in Miami, The Personal History of David Copperfield, Promising Young Woman, True History of the Kelly Gang

--------------------

More memorable (and in some cases under-discussed) performances:

Christopher Abbott as Colin Tate in Possessor and as Gabe in Black Bear

Idir Ben Addi as Ahmed in Young Ahmed

Riz Ahmed as Ruben Stone in Sound of Metal

Daniel Algrant as Kelvin Kranz in Let Them All Talk

Maria Bakalova as Tutar Sagdiyev in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

Haley Bennett as Hunter Conrad in Swallow

John Boyega as Leroy Logan in Red, White and Blue

Rob Brydon as Rob Brydon in The Trip to Greece

Jessie Buckley as Young Woman in I’m Thinking of Ending Things

Nicolas Cage as Nathan Gardner in Color Out of Space

Salif Cissé as Chérif in À L’abordage

Sheyi Cole as Alex Wheatle in Alex Wheatle

Cleopatra Coleman as Trina in The Argument

Carrie Coon as Allison O’Hara in The Nest

Michael Angelo Covino as Mike in The Climb

Willem Dafoe as Tommaso in Tommaso

Charles Dance as William Randolph Hearst in Mank

Catherine Deneuve as Fabienne Dangeville in The Truth

Katie Findlay as Rory in Straight Up

Sidney Flanigan as Autumn in Never Rarely Sometimes Always

Johnny Flynn as George Knightley in Emma

Julia Garner as Jane in The Assistant

Robbie Gee as Simeon in Alex Wheatle

Chris Giarmo as himself in David Byrne’s American Utopia

Betty Gilpin as Crystal Creasey in The Hunt

Ethan Hawke as Hank in The Truth

Kris Hitchen as Ricky Turner in Sorry We Missed You

Anthony Hopkins as Anthony in The Father

Jonathan Jules as Dennis Isaacs in Alex Wheatle

Sandra Guldberg Kampp as Ida in Wildland

Joe Keery as Kurt Knuckle in Spree

Udo Kier as Michael in Bacurau

Orion Lee as King Lu in First Cow

Delroy Lindo as Paul in Da 5 Bloods

Peter Macdissi as Walid "Wally" Nadeem in Uncle Frank

Matthew Macfadyen as Wilcock in The Assistant

George MacKay as Ned Kelly in True History of the Kelly Gang

Yahya Mahayni as Sam Ali in The Man Who Sold His Skin

Luca Marinelli as Martin Eden in Martin Eden

Tuppence Middleton as Sara Mankiewicz in Mank

Mads Mikkelsen as Martin in Another Round

Wunmi Mosaku as Rial in His House

Elisabeth Moss as Cecilia Kass in The Invisible Man

Kelly O'Sullivan as Bridget in Saint Frances

Shaun Parkes as Frank Crichlow in Mangrove

Robert Pattinson as Neil in Tenet

Paul Raci as Joe in Sound of Metal

Kadeem Ramsay as Samson in Lovers Rock

Gayle Rankin as Marissa in The Climb

Tanya Reynolds as Mrs Augusta Elton in Emma

Tyler Rice as Detective Russell Fox in Butt Boy

Andrea Riseborough as Hana in Luxor

Cecilia Roth as Marta in The Intruder

William Sadler as the Grim Reaper in Bill & Ted Face the Music

Kenyah Sandy as Kingsley Smith in Education

Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn as Martha Trenton in Lovers Rock

David Strathairn as David in Nomadland

Michael Stuhlbarg as Stanley Edgar Hyman in Shirley

Swankie as Swankie in Nomadland

Tilda Swinton as Woman in The Human Voice

Kristin Scott Thomas as Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca

Steve Toussaint as Ken Logan in Red, White and Blue

Alec Utgoff as Zhenia in Never Gonna Snow Again

Jairaj Varsani as young David Copperfield in The Personal History of David Copperfield

Ben Whishaw as Uriah Heep in The Personal History of David Copperfield

Sharlene Whyte as Agnes Smith in Education

Letitia Wright as Altheia Jones-LeCointe in Mangrove

Ramona Edith Williams as Frances in Saint Frances

Kôji Yakusho as Masao Mikami in Under the Open Sky

Youn Yuh-jung as Soon-ja in Minari

Helena Zengel as Johanna Leonberger in News of the World

--------------------

Favorite pre-2020 films I saw for the first time in 2020:

Blood on the Moon, But I’m A Cheerleader, Crooklyn, Cure, Daughters of the Dust, The Death of Dick Long, Deep Cover, The Draughtsman's Contract, Eyes of Laura Mars, Give Me Liberty, Greener Grass, Hardcore, High Hopes, The Last Party, Long Day's Journey into Night, Maiden, One Day Pina Asked, Persona, Right Now Wrong Then, Right On!, The Seventh Victim, Slightly French, Synonyms, Tammy and the T-Rex, Variety, The Watermelon Woman... and a tip of the hat to Coppola's new The Godfather Part III recut, The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone

[tothemaxxx]

My Favorite Films and Performances of 2019

As per, I did’t get to watch everything. But these are the films that did the most for me in 2019. If it’s not on here, I either didn’t have the opportunity to see it or I just plain didn’t dig it.

TOP 5, loosely ranked. I love these deeply.

1. ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD, Quentin Tarantino

2. PARASITE, Bong Joon-ho

3. UNCUT GEMS, Josh and Benny Safdie

4. PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE, Céline Sciamma

5. MONOS, Alejandro Landes

The rest of the Top 20, in alphabetical order. I loved these.

THE AMAZING JOHNATHAN DOCUMENTARY, Ben Berman

BEANPOLE, Kantemir Balagov

THE FAREWELL, Lulu Wang

A HIDDEN LIFE, Terrence Malick

IN FABRIC, Peter Strickland

THE IRISHMAN, Martin Scorsese

KNIFE + HEART, Yann Gonzalez

KNIVES OUT, Rian Johnson

THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO, Joe Talbot

THE LIGHTHOUSE, Robert Eggers

LORDS OF CHAOS, Jonas Åkerlund

MARRIAGE STORY, Noah Baumbach

MIDNIGHT FAMILY, Luke Lorentzen

THE SOUVENIR, Joanna Hogg

TRANSIT, Christian Petzold

                                                          —————

I also enjoyed, some with reservations:

A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood, Ad Astra, Arctic, The Art of Self-Defense, Ash Is Purest White, Atlantics, Birds of Passage, Climax, Dark Waters, The Dead Don’t Die, Diamantino, Diane, Dolemite is My Name, Downton Abbey, El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, Ford v Ferrari, Gloria Bell, Greta, Her Smell, High Flying Bird, High Life, Hotel By The River, Hustlers, I Lost My Body, Les Misérables, Little Women, Midsommar, The Mustang, Non-Fiction, Pain & Glory, Peterloo, Ready or Not, The Report, The Standoff at Sparrow Creek, Us, Waves, Wild Rose

And these documentaries:

Amazing Grace, Apollo 11, David Crosby: Remember My Name, The Great Hack, Hail Satan?, Honeyland, The Kingmaker, Knock Down The House, Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice, One Child Nation, Well Groomed

                                                         —————

Did anyone ask for my favorite movies of the decade? No. Will I list them now, allowing only one title per director? Yes.

Carlos, Dogtooth, Force Majeure, Green Room, Inherent Vice, Mad Max: Fury Road, Mandy, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, Parasite, Shoplifters, The Social Network, Toni Erdmann, Under The Skin, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Wild Tales

                                                         —————

My favorite performance of the year:

Adam Sandler as Howard Ratner in Uncut Gems

                                                         —————

Dynamic Duos:

Leonardo DiCaprio as Rick Dalton & Brad Pitt as Cliff Booth in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

Valerie Pachner as Franziska Schwaringer & August Diehl as Franz Jägerstätter in A Hidden Life

Robert Pattinson as Ephraim Winslow & Willem Dafoe as Thomas Wake in The Lighthouse

Vasilisa Perelygina as Masha & Viktoria Mironshnichenko as Iya in Beanpole

                                                         —————

Favorite Ensembles:

Climax, The Dead Don’t Die, Dolemite Is My Name, The Irishman, Knives Out, Les Misérables, Marriage Story, Monos, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, Parasite, Peterloo, Uncut Gems, Us

                                                         —————

So many memorable performances:

Alan Alda as Bert Spitz in Marriage Story

Christian Bale as Ken Miles in Ford v Ferrari

Antonio Banderas as Salvador Mallo in Pain and Glory

Paula Beer as Marie in Transit

Annette Benning as Senator Dianne Feinstein in The Report

Juliette Binoche as Selena in Non-Fiction

Damien Bonnard as Ruiz in Les Misérables

Jessie Buckley as Rose-Lynn in Wild Rose

Sofia Buenaventura as Rambo in Monos

Tom Burke as Anthony in The Souvenir

Julie Butters as Trudi Fraser in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

Honor Swinton Byrne as Julie in The Souvenir

Louis Cancelmi as Sally Bugs in The Irishman

Chang Hyae-jin as Chung-sook in Parasite

Cho Yeo Jeong as Park Yeon-kyo in Parasite

Ana de Armas as Marta Cabrera in Knives Out

Laura Dern as Nora Fanshaw in Marriage Story

Wayne Diamond as High Roller in Uncut Gems

Julia Fox as Julia in Uncut Gems

Kevin Garnett as Kevin Garnett in Uncut Gems

Rebecca Gayheart as Billie Booth in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

Jon Glaser as Mark in Hustlers

Adèle Haenel as Héloïse in Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Julie Hagerty as Sandra in Marriage Story

Tim Heidecker as Josh Tyler / Tex in Us

André Holland as Ray Burke in High Flying Bird

Isabelle Huppert as Greta Hideg in Greta

Marianne Jean-Baptiste as Sheila in In Fabric

Karl Johnson as Lord Sidmouth in Peterloo

Lee Jung-eun as Gook Moon-gwang in Parasite

Martha Kelly as the Evaluator in Marriage Story

Ted Levine as John Brennan in The Report

Ray Liotta as Jay Marotta in Marriage Story

Jennifer Lopez as Ramona in Hustlers

Jonathan Majors as Montgomery Allen in The Last Black Man in San Francisco

Idina Menzel as Dinah Ratner in Uncut Gems

Noémie Merlant as Marianne in Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Fatma Mohamed as Miss Luckmoore in In Fabric

Julianne Moore as Gloria in Gloria Bell

Elisabeth Moss as Becky Something in Her Smell

Eddie Murphy as Rudy Ray Moore in Dolemite Is My Name

Julianne Nicholson as Doctora Sara Watson in Monos

Alessandro Nivola as Sensei in The Art of Self-Defense

Lupita Nyong'o as Adelaide Wilson / Red in Us

Al Pacino as Jimmy Hoffa in The Irishman and as Marvin Schwarz in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

Joe Pesci as Russell Bufalino in The Irishman

Mary Kay Place as Diane in Diane

Florence Pugh as Dani in Midommar

Keanu Reeves as Keanu Reeves in Always Be My Maybe

Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

Franz Rogowski as Georg in Transit

Taylor Russell as Emily in Waves

Andy Serkis as Parker Wembley in Long Shot

Wesley Snipes as D'Urville Martin in Dolemite Is My Name

Song Kang-ho as Kim Ki-taek in Parasite

Tilda Swinton as Zelda Winston in The Dead Don’t Die

John Turturro as Arnold in Gloria Bell

Zhao Shuzhen as Nai Nai in The Farewell

          ... and Sayuri the pit bull as Brandy in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

                                                         —————

Favorite older film I saw for the first time in 2019:

War and Peace, Sergei Bondarchuk, 1965

                                                         —————

THE END!

[tothemaxxx]

My Favorite Films and Performances of 2018

Tomorrow: Oscar nominations Today: My opinion

So much to see this year. As usual, I did't get to catch everything that I’d hoped. But these are the 25 films that moved me the most in 2018. If it’s not on here, I either didn’t have the opportunity to see it or I just didn't dig it.

1. ROMA, Alfonso Cuarón

2. MANDY, Panos Cosmatos

3. BURNING,  Lee Chang-dong

and the rest of the Top 25, in alphabetical order:

BEAST, Michael Pearce

BLACKkKLANSMAN, Spike Lee

BLAZE, Ethan Hawke

BORDER, Ali Abbasi

COLD WAR, Paweł Pawlikowski

THE FAVOURITE, Yorgos Lanthimos

FIRST REFORMED, Paul Schrader

THE GUILTY, Gustav Möller

HAPPY AS LAZZARO, Alice Rohrwacher

THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT, Lars von Trier

LEAVE NO TRACE, Debra Granik

McQUEEN, Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: FALLOUT, Christopher McQuarrie

REVENGE, Coralie Fargeat

SHOPLIFTERS, Hirokazu Kore-Eda

SUSPIRIA, Luca Guadagnino

UNSANE, Steven Soderbergh

VOX LUX, Brady Corbet

WESTERN, Valeska Grisebach

WILDLIFE, Paul Dano

WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR?, Morgan Neville

YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE, Lynne Ramsay

Those were the 2018 films that I loved the most. This is the next tier -- films that I enjoyed... sometimes with reservations, but I enjoyed them nonetheless:

22 July, All Good, American Animals, Annihilation, Ash Is Purest White, Bad Times at the El Royale, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Black Panther, Cam, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, The Death of Stalin, Dogman, Early Man, Eighth Grade, Game Night, Green Book, Halloween, Hereditary, I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians, If Beale Street Could Talk, Isle of Dogs, Lean On Pete, Let The Sunshine In, Love After Love, Never Look Away, The Other Side of the Wind, Paddington 2, Private Life, Red Sparrow, The Rider, A Star Is Born, The Sisters Brothers, Sorry To Bother You, Support The Girls, Thoroughbreds, Upgrade, Zama

And these documentaries:

Free Solo, Grace Jones: Blodlight and Bami, Minding The Gap, Shirkers, Studio 54, They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead, Whitney, The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling

Favorite Short Film:

FAUVE, Jeremy Comte (watch it here)

Small-Screen Freshness:

Barry, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, The Deuce, Escape At Dannemora, GLOW, High Maintenance, Insecure, Mosaic, Wild Wild Country

My favorite performance of the year:

Nicolas Cage as Red Miller in Mandy

Power Trio: 

Bill Heck as Billy Knapp, Grainger Hines as Mr. Arthur, Zoe Kazan as Alice Longabaugh in “The Gal Who Got Rattled,” The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Dynamic Duos:

Ben Foster as Will and Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie as Tom, Leave No Trace

Tomasz Kot as Wiktor and Joanna Kulig as Zula, Cold War

Favorite Ensembles:

Black Panther, BlacKkKlansman, Happy As Lazzaro, Isle of Dogs, Shoplifters, Sorry To Bother You, Widows

So many more memorable performances:

Yoo Ah-in as Lee Jong-su, Burning

Mahershala Ali as Dr. Don Shirley, Green Book

Yalitza Aparicio as Cleo, Roma

Juliette Binoche as Isabelle, Let The Sunshine In

Madeline Brewer as Alice Ackerman / Lola_Lola, Cam

Jessie Buckley as Moll, Beast

Steve Buscemi as Del Montgomery, Lean On Pete

Henry Cavill as August Walker, Mission Impossible: Fallout

Jakob Cedergren as Asger Holm, The Guilty

Toni Collette as Annie Graham, Hereditary

Olivia Colman as Queen Anne, The Favourite

Daisy as Butterscotch, Damsel

Ben Dickey as Blaze Foley, Blaze

Matt Dillon as Jack, The House That Jack Built

Yannis Drakopoulos as the Lawyer, Pity

Cynthia Erivo as Darlene Sweet, Bad Times at the El Royale

Rupert Friend as Vasily Stalin in The Death of Stalin

Marcello Fonte as Marcello, Dogman

Claire Foy as Sawyer Valentini, Unsane

Hugh Grant as Phoenix Buchanan, Paddington 2

Richard E. Grant as Jack Hock, Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Regina Hall as Lisa, Support The Girls

Josh Hamilton as Mark Day, Eighth Grade

Ethan Hawke as Reverend Ernst Toller, First Reformed

Nicholas Hoult as Lord Harley, The Favourite

Udo Kier as Hans, Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot

Regina King as Sharon Rivers, If Beale Street Could Talk

Jude Law as The Manager, Vox Lux

James Le Gros as Cubby, Support The Girls

Matilda Lutz as Jen, Revenge

Logan Marshall-Green as Grey Trace, Upgrade

Eva Melander as Tina, Border

Carey Mulligan as Jeanette Brinson, Wildlife

Meinhard Neumann as Meinhard, Western

Evan Peters as Warren Lipka, American Animals

Joachin Phoenix as Joe, You Were Never Really Here

Jesse Plemons as Gary, Game Night

Charlotte Rampling as Matron, Red Sparrow

Andrea Riseborough as Mandy Bloom, Mandy

Jason Ritter as Bill, The Tale

Linus Roache as Jeremiah Sand, Mandy

Jake Ryan as Gabe, Eighth Grade

Mark Rylance as James Halliday, Ready Player One

Aenne Schwarz as Janne, All Good

Tilda Swinton as Madame Blanc, Helena Markos and Lutz Ebersdorf as Dr. Josef Klemperer, Supiria

Dolly Wells as Anna, Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Michelle Williams as Avery LeClaire, I Feel Pretty

Angela Winkler as Miss Tanner, Suspiria

Anton Yelchin as Tim, Thorougbreds

Steven Yeun as Ben, Burning

And a special commendation to all the bunnies in The Favourite.

Favorite older film I saw for the first time in 2018:

INDISCREET, Stanley Donen, 1958

THE END!

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My Favorite Films and Performances of 2017

Tomorrow: Oscar nominations Today: the stuff that I loved

I hope you check out something on this list that you haven’t heard of, or reconsider something you didn’t intend to see. If it's not on here, I either didn't have the opportunity to see it or I didn't really care for it (and here’s 2016 and 2015 for your perusal).

1. TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN, David Lynch

Without question, the greatest cinematic experience of my year was 18 hours of new David Lynch material, unfurling over four months. However, if we’re talking strictly about theatrical releases, my favorite film of 2017 is

2. PHANTOM THREAD, Paul Thomas Anderson

and the rest of the Top 25, in alphabetical order:

AFTER THE STORM, Hirokazu Kore-eda

THE BIG SICK, Michael Showalter

BPM, Robin Campillo

BRAWL IN CELL BLOCK 99, S. Craig Zahler

BRIGSBY BEAR, Dave McCary

CALL ME BY YOUR NAME, Luca Guadagnino

DUNKIRK, Christopher Nolan

FACES PLACES, Agnès Varda & JR

THE FLORIDA PROJECT, Sean Baker

GET OUT, Jordan Peele

GOOD TIME, Josh and Benny Safdie

IN THE FADE, Fatih Akin

THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER, Yorgos Lanthimos

LADY BIRD, Greta Gerwig

THE LURE, Agnieszka Smoczynska

MOTHER!, Darren Aronofsky

PERSONAL SHOPPER, Olivier Assayas

RAW, Julia Ducournau

THE SHAPE OF WATER, Guillermo del Toro

THE SQUARE, Ruben Östlund

SUNTAN, Argyris Papadimitropoulos

THIRST STREET, Nathan Silver

THE WORK,  Jairus McLeary and Gethin Aldous

But that’s not all! I enjoyed so many more 2017 movies. Sometimes with reservations, but enjoyed nonetheless:

A Ciambra, Baby Driver, Battle of the Sexes, Beatriz at Dinner, The Beguiled, Blade Runner 2049, Brad’s Status, Colossal, The Commune, A Cure For Wellness, Darkest Hour, Detroit, The Disaster Artist, Donald Cried, A Fantastic Woman, Foxtrot, Free Fire, Gerald’s Game, The Ghoul, Girls Trip, Graduation, The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki, Happy End, The Hero, Hounds of Love, Hostiles, I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore, Ingrid Goes West, It, John Wick: Chapter 2, Lady Macbeth, Landline, The Lego Batman Movie, Logan, Logan Lucky, The Lost City of Z, Lost in Paris, Loveless, Marjorie Prime, The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected), Nocturama, Okja, Patti Cake$, The Post, Prevenge, Roman J. Israel, Esq., Song to Song, Split, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Stronger, Super Dark Times, Thor: Ragnarok, T2 Trainspotting, Thelma, This Is Not What I Expected, The Trip To Spain, The Unknown Girl, Wind River, Wonderstruck, The World of Tomorrow Episode 2: The Burden of Other People’s Thoughts

And these documentaries:

All These Sleepless Nights, Brimstone & Glory, City of Ghosts, Contemporary Color, David Lynch: The Art Life, Dawson City: Frozen Time, Icarus, Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond – Featuring a Very Special, Contractually Obligated Mention of Tony Clifton, Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold, Karl Marx City, Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press, Risk

Small-Screen Wonders:

Atlanta, The Deuce, GLOW, Mindhunter, Nathan for You “Finding Frances,” Top of the Lake: China Girl, Vice Principals

My favorite performance of the year:

Michael Stuhlbarg as Mr. Perlman in Call Me By Your Name.

Dynamic Duos:

Fiona Gordon as Fiona & Dominique Abel as Dom, Lost in Paris

Armie Hammer as Oliver & Timothée Chalamet as Elio, Call Me by Your Name

John Hamm as Water & Lois Smith as Marjorie, Marjorie Prime

Vicky Krieps as Alma & Daniel Day-Lewis as Reynolds Woodcock, Phantom Thread

Favorite Ensembles:

Beatriz at Dinner, The Big Sick, Detroit, The Florida Project, Free Fire, Hostiles, It, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Lady Bird, Okja, The Post, T2 Trainspotting, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

More memorable (and in many cases underrated) performances):

Lior Ashkenazi as Michael Feldmann, Foxtrot

Kris Avedisian as Donald, Donald Cried

Nahuel Pérez Biscayart as Sean, BPM

Emma Booth as Evelyn White, Hounds of Love

Rob Brydon as Rob, The Trip to Spain

Lindsay Burdge as Gina, Thirst Street

Bene Coopersmith as Bene, Person to Person

Siddharth Dhananjay as Jheri, Patti Cake$

Kirsten Dunst as Edwina, The Beguiled

Buddy Duress as Ray, Good Time

Betty Gabriel as Georgina, Get Out

Jeff Goldblum as Grandmaster, Thor: Ragnarok

Tiffany Haddish as Dina, Girls Trip

Adèle Haenel as Jenny Davin, The Unknown Girl

Fantine Harduin as Eve, Happy End

Harriet Sansom Harris as Barbara Rose, Phantom Thread

Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Travis, It Comes at Night

Sally Hawkins as Elisa, The Shape of Water

Sylvia Hoeks as Luv, Blade Runner 2049

Lil Rel Howery as Rod Williams, Get Out

O'Shea Jackson Jr. as Dan Pinto, Ingrid Goes West

Dafne Keen as Laura, Logan

Udo Kier as Placid Man, Brawl in Cell Block 99

Kirin Kiki as Shinoda Yoshiko, After The Storm

Kevin Kline as Maurice, Beauty and the Beast

Diane Kruger as Katja Sekerci, In The Fade

Jarkko Lahti as Olli Mäki, The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki

Alice Lowe as Ruth, Prevenge

Melanie Lynskey as Ruth, I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore

Lesley Manville as Cyril, Phantom Thread

Garance Marillier as Justine, Raw

Elizabeth Marvel as Jean Meyerowitz, The Meyerowitz Stories

Tatiana Maslany as Erin Hurley, Stronger

James McAvoy as Dennis et al., Split

Kyle Mooney as James Pope, Brigsby Bear

Terry Notary as Oleg, The Square

Michelle Pfeiffer as Woman, mother!

Florence Pugh as Katherine, Lady Ma

Lance Reddick as Charon, John Wick: Chapter 2

Andrea Riseborough as Marilyn Barnett, Battle of the Sexes

Millicent Simmonds as Rose, Wonderstruck

Maryana Spivak as Zhenya, Loveless

John Turturro as Alan, Landline

Daniela Vega as Marina Vidal, A Fantastic Woman

Denzel Washington as Roman J. Israel, Esq., Roman J. Israel, Esq.

Michelle Williams as Gail Harris, All the Money in the World

Dwight Yoakam as Warden Burns, Logan Lucky

Favorite older films I saw for the first time in 2017:

MARRIED TO THE MOB, Jonathan Demme, 1988

THE MERCHANT OF FOUR SEASONS, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1972

PAPER MOON, Peter Bogdanovich, 1973

PIECES, Juan Piquer Simón, 1982

Fin!

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Download 5-part mix here: http://bit.ly/1P4eBRh or Spotify playlist (missing some songs) here: http://spoti.fi/22BHqhZ  Cliff Martinez "Get Well Or Jump Off" From The Knick. This is the first track of Part 1, which is entitled BEFORE WE BEGIN. Bouquet "Come To Your House" Field Music "The Noisy Days Are Over" Mura Masa "Lovesick Fuck" Empress Of "Water Water" Goat "It's Time For Fun" Car Seat Headrest "Something Soon" Charlie Brand "Baby Blue Motorcycle" Chris Stamey "The Summer Sun" 1977. From this year's Ork Records box set, released by Numero Group. Shannon and The Clams "Point of Being Right" Last Ex "Hotel Blues" Blur "Lonesome Street" Operators "Ecstasy In My House" Alex Calder "Strange Dreams" Waxahatchee "La Loose" BEAK> "The Meader" Sweet Spirit "I've Made Up My Mind" Molly Nilsson "1995" Arp "Pulsars e Quasars" Julia Holter "Sea Calls Me Home" End of Pt 1 --------------------------------- Wild Nothing "To Know You" This is the first track of Part 2, entitled WIND UP. Deradoorian "A Beautiful Woman" Wilco "Taste The Ceiling" HEALTH "LIFE" FFS "Johnny Delusional" Gardens & Villa "Fixations" Unknown Mortal Orchestra "Can't Keep Checking My Phone" Bully "Reason" HeCTA "Sympathy For The Auto Industry" Spoon "TV Set" The Cramps cover Colleen Green "Whatever I Want" Sufjan Stevens "Blue Bucket of Gold (Remix)" Cat's Eyes "Opening Credit Song" from The Duke of Burgundy Martin Courtney "Northern Highway" Gun Outfit "Legends Of My Own" Micachu & The Shapes "Oh Baby" Tobias Jesso Jr. "Crocodile Tears" Little Wings "Light Brang" Autolux "Change My Head" End of Pt 2 --------------------------------- Belle and Sebastian "The Party Line" This is the first track of Part 3, entitled MOVEMENT. This song also came out at the very end of 2014, but whatever. Daphne "Vikram" Chairlift "Ch-Ching" Thundercat "Them Changes" Shamir "On The Regular" Also technically 2014, but I was way late to this. Frankie Cosmos "Sand" Tanlines "Pieces" Deerhunter "Breaker" Grimes "Kill V. Maim" Animal Collective "FloriDada" Mariah "Sora Ni Mau Maboroshi" 1983. Reissued this year by Palo Flats. Tirzah "Make It Up" Django Django "First Light" Brenmar feat. Uniiqu3 "Hula Hoop" WIN WIN "Don't Freak Out" Telekinesis "Sleep In" YACHT "Don't Be Rude" Baio "Sister of Pearl" Destroyer "Tines Square Force Publique "Excess" End of Pt 3 --------------------------------- Royal Headache "My Own Fantasy" This is the first track of Part 4, entitled RIPPERS. Hop Along "The Knock" Viet Cong "Continental Shelf" Sleater-Kinney "A New Wave" Thee Oh Sees "Lupine Ossuary" Simon Doom "My Baby's A Baby" U.S. Girls "Sed Knife" Disappears "Breaking Glass" (Live) David Bowie cover Alex G "Kicker" EZTV "Hard To Believe" Mike Krol "La La La" The Distributors "Never Never" 1980. From the new compilation [Cease & Desist] DIY! (Cult classics from the Post-Punk era 1978 - 82) from Optimo Music. Coke Weed "Dead Man Walking" Protomartyr "Clandestine Time" Torres "Sprinter" Katie Dey "Unkillable" Helen "Covered In Shade" Seth Avett and Jessica Lea Mayfield "Roman Candle" Elliott Smith cover The Mantles "Island" Jessica Pratt "Back, Baby" End of Pt 4 --------------------------------- Beach House "Majorette" This is the first track of Part 5, entitled ALL FALL DOWN. Chrome Sparks "Moonraker" Ultimate Painting "Kodiak" Iron & Wine and Ben Bridwell "God Knows (You Gotta Give To Get)" El Perro Del Mar cover Widowspeak "Dead Love (So Still)" Katie Von Schleicher "Baby Don't Go" Kurt Vile "Life Like This" Benji Hughes "Freaky Feedback Blues" Tame Impala "The Moment" Lower Dens "Quo Vadis" Boy & Bear "Walk The Wire" La Grima "Lithium" Nirvana cover Weyes Blood "Maybe Love" Aphex Twin "avril altdelay" Björk "Stonemilker" Natalie Prass "Reprise" Chromatics "Girls Just Wanna Have Dub" Cyndi Lauper cover Atticus Ross "Believe" From Love & Mercy Yo La Tengo "Deeper Into Movies" Yo La Tengo cover Joanna Newsom "Time, As A Symptom" End of Pt 5. End of mix. End of 2015.

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Leonard Cohen’s “Midnight Run For Cheetos At The Local 7/11" – May 23, 2015

Photo by Bob Faggen. Photo & caption contributed by Leonard Cohen.

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My Favorite Films of 2014

Tomorrow: Oscar nominations! Today: one guy’s opinion!

For those of you who care, here are the movies of 2014 that I enjoyed more than the rest of ‘em. If it ain’t here, I didn’t really care for it OR I just damn didn’t see it. And, for those who missed it, here are my year-end music favorites + mix.

20,000 DAYS ON EARTH, Iain Forsythe & Jane Pollard

THE BABADOOK, Jennifer Kent

BOYHOOD, Richard Linklater

THE CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA, Olivier Assayas

EDGE OF TOMORROW, Doug Liman

FORCE MAJEURE, Ruben Östlund

GONE GIRL, David Fincher

THE HOMESMAN, Tommy Lee Jones

INHERENT VICE, Paul Thomas Anderson

LEVIATHAN, Andrey Zvyagintsev

MOMMY, Xavier Dolan

MR. TURNER, Mike Leigh

NYMPHOMANIAC, Lars von Trier

ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE, Jim Jarmusch

UNDER THE SKIN, Jonathan Glazer

WHAT IF, Michael Dowse

WHITE GOD, Kornél Mundruczó

WILD TALES, Damián Szifrón

———————————————-

I also enjoyed:

Blue Ruin, Citizenfour, The Double, The Drop, Enemy, Evolution of A Criminal, Finding Vivian Maier, Frank, Fury, The Gambler, Godzilla, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Guest, The Humbling, Ida, The Imitation Game, The Immigrant, Jodorowsky’s Dune, John Wick, The Lego Movie, Listen Up Philip, Love Is Strange, Maps To The Stars, A Most Wanted Man, Nightcrawler, Obvious Child, The Rover, Starred Up, Top Five, A Touch of Sin, Two Days One Night, The Two Faces of January, A Walk Among The Tombstones, Wetlands, Wild, Young & Beautiful

And…

TV, but I’m counting it: Doll & Em, The Knick, Olive Kitteridge, True Detective

Released in 2014, but included on my previous year’s list: Borgman, Stand Clear Of The Closing Doors, We Are The Best

Repeat viewings:

3 times: Under The Skin — this is my favorite movie of the year!

2 times: Birdman, Boyhood, Edge of Tomorrow, Force Majeure (second favorite!), Gone Girl, Inherent Vice, Mr. Turner, Whiplash

Sub-genre of the year — "Doggie Drama"

The Drop, John Wick, The Rover, White God

———————————————-

Instant favorite director:

Ruben Östlund

Favorite performances of the year:

Scarlett Johansson in Under The Skin

Timothy Spall as J.M.W. Turner in Mr. Turner

MVPs:

Jake Gyllenhaal — as Adam & Anthony in Enemy, as Louis Bloom in Nightcrawler

David Harbour — as Frank Masters in The Equalizer, as Ray in A Walk Among The Tombstones

Boyd Holbrook — as Jeff in Gone Girl, as Billy in The Skeleton Twins, as Peter Kristo in A Walk Among The Tombstones

John Lithgow — as Ben in Love Is Strange, as Reverend Alfred Dodd in The Homesman, as Donald in Interstellar

Lance Reddick — as Major Carver in The Guest, the Hotel Manager in John Wick

Mia Wasikowska — as Ava in Only Lovers Left Alive, as Hannah in The Double, as Agatha Weiss in Maps To The Stars

Greatest loss:

Philip Seymour Hoffman

Favorite ensembles of 2014:

The Grand Budapest Hotel, Force Majeure, The Homesman, Inherent Vice, The Lego Movie, Mr. Turner, What If (aka The F Word)

More memorable performances of 2014:

Riz Ahmed as Rick in Nightcrawler

Will Arnett as Batman in The Lego Movie

Patricia Arquette as Olivia in Boyhood

Jamie Bell as K in Nymphomaniac

Juliette Binoche as Maria Enders in Clouds of Sils Maria

Emily Blunt as Rita in Edge of Tomorrow

Body & Luke as Hagen in White God

Josh Brolin as Lt. Det. Christian F. “Bigfoot” Bjornsen in Inherent Vice

Rob Brydon as “Rob Brydon” in The Trip To Italy

Nick Cave as “Nick Cave” in 20,000 Days On Earth

Hong Chau as Jade in Inherent Vice

Marion Cotillard as Sandra in Two Days, One Night

Essie Davis as Amelia in The Babadook

Laura Dern as Bobbi in Wild

Anne Dorval as Die in Mommy

Michael Fassbender as Frank in Frank

Ralph Fiennes as M. Gustave in The Grand Budapest Hotel

Tom Hiddleston as Adam in Only Lovers Left Alive

Bill Irwin as TARS in Interstellar

Alejandro Jodorowsky in Jodorowsky’s Dune

Carla Juri as Helen in Wetlands

Agata Kulesza as Wanda in Ida

Roman Madyanov as Vadim Sergeyich in Leviathan

J. Mascis as the Janitor in The Double

Jefferson Mays as Dr. Threeply in Inherent Vice

Julianne Moore as Havana Segrand in Maps To The Stars

Johannes Moustos as the Cleaner in Force Majeure

Elizabeth Moss as Ashley Kane in Listen Up Philip

Jack O’Connell as Eric Love in Starred Up

Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as Jonas Loogan in A Walk Among The Tombstones

Guy Pearce as Adam in The Rover

Adam Pearson as the Deformed Man in Under The Skin

Rosamund Pike as Amy Dunne in Gone Girl

Antoine-Olivier Pilon as Steve in Mommy

Erica Rivas as Romina in Wild Tales

Matthias Schoenaerts as Eric Deeds in The Drop

Jason Schwartzman as Philip Lewis Friedman in Listen Up Philip

Dan Stevens as “Adam” in The Guest

Uma Thurman as Mrs H. in Nymphomaniac

Agata Trzebuchowska as Anna in Ida

Marine Vacth as Isabelle in Young & Beautiful

Michael Kenneth Williams as Neville Baraka in The Gambler

Casey Wilson as Noelle Hawthorne in Gone Girl

———————————————-

Favorite older films I saw for the first time in 2014:

Investigation of A Citizen Above Suspicion, Elio Petri, 1970

The Last Detail, Hal Ashby, 1973

The Uninvited, Lewis Allen, 1944

———————————————-

THAT’S ALL FOLKS!

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2014 Year-End Music Stuff + Mix!

I know! I know. 2014 is over.

But as tradition dictates, here's my annual year-end mix. Mostly songs released in 2014, with a handful of older jams that also stuck with me this year. Related: I'll have my 2014 film list up in a few weeks. Still digesting and sneaking bites of leftovers. But now… MUSIC!

FOURTEEN (Sung To The Tune Of 'Jolene') 

A 2014 Maxx Mixx Compiled by Max Goldblatt December 31, 2014

Download Stream

00:00 / OPERATORS /Ancient 06:20 / IBIBIO SOUND MACHINE / Uwa the Peacock (Eki Ko Inuen Uwa) 11:40 / J.J. CALE / Wish I Had Not Said That 14:54 / FLOATING ACTION / House of Secrets 18:17 / SYLVAN ESSO / Play It Right 21:15 / SPOON / Inside Out 26:06 / MINIATURE TIGERS / Frazier Ave 29:25 / EX HEX / War Paint 33:19 / TIMBER TIMBRE / This Low Commotion 38:19 / WILLIAM ONYEABOR / Fantastic Man 44:40 / AMAZING BABY / You're Not The Man 48:58 / MAC DEMARCO / Blue Boy 51:01 / CARIBOU / Second Chance 54:52 / PETER MATTHEW BAUER / Shiva The Destroyer 58:42 / BILLY SWAN / Don't Be Cruel 1:02:40 / THE ECHO FRIENDLY / I Wanna Get High With You 1:05:52 / PINK MOUNTAINTOPS / Sell Your Soul 1:09:38 / SHOCKWAVE RIDERZ / Mountaintop Rock 1:12:11 / NAT BALDWIN / Knockout 1:16:43 / THE SORONPRFBS ft. MICHAEL FASSBENDER / I Love You All 1:20:27 / JOSEPH / Shopping 1:23:49 / BOOGARINS / Lucifernandis 1:27:37 / ANGEL OLSEN / Unfucktheworld 1:29:40 / FUTURE ISLANDS / Fall From Grace 1:33:44 / BENJI HUGHES / Monterey

——————————————————————————-

//////15 Favorite Albums///////

Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks - Enter The Slasher House

Nat Baldwin - In The Hollows

Ballet School - The Dew Lasts An Hour

Caribou - Our Love

Ex Hex - Rips

Floating Action - Body Questions

Future Islands - Singles

Benji Hughes - xxoxoxx

Mica Levi - Under The Skin OST

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Wig Out At Jagbags

Angel Olsen - Burn Your Fire For No Witness"

Ariel Pink - pom pom

Spoon - They Want My Soul

Sylvan Esso - Sylvan Esso

Timber Timbre - Hot Dreams

//////Favorite EPs///////

Chrome Sparks - Goddess EP

Operators - EP 1

Speedy Ortiz - Real Hair

//////Favorite Concerts///////

Arcade Fire - dancing onstage in the Win Butler bobblehead, the last show of their tour @ Parc Jean Drapeau, Montreal

Atomic Bomb! The Music of William Onyeabor @ The Greek

Ballet School @ Privatclub, Berlin, Germany

Beck @ Susquehanna Bank Center, Camden, NJ

Daedelus @ Gretchen, Berlin, Germany

Deradoorian @ Bootleg Theater

Floating Action @ La Cita

Jenny Lewis @ Newport Folk Festival

Miniature Tigers, Total Slacker @ The Roxy

Operators @ Monarch, Berlin, Germany

The Replacements, Boston Calling Festival, Boston, MA

Slint, Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks @ Forecastle Fest, Louisville, KY

Speedy Ortiz, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks @ El Rey 

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Shockwave Riderz @ The Echo

Timber Timbre, Tasseomancy @ The Troubadour

Veruca Salt, The Echo Friendly @ The Roxy

and of course 31 shows on tour with Spoon (w/ support from A Giant Dog, Operators, Future Islands, Ex Hex, Hamilton Leithauser, EMA, !!!, and Dale Watson) and also (?!?) 31 Band of Horses shows (w/ support from Pink Mountaintops, Midlake, Sera Cahoone and Susto).

——————————————————————————-

///////Related-Ish… Favorite Restaurant Discoveries of 2014///////

Boutiq' Bar, Budapest, Hungary

Brut pop-up, Minneapolis, MN

Café CK, Berlin, Germany

Cecilia's Cafe, Albuquerque, NM

Crook's Corner, Chapel Hill, NC

Das Gift, Berlin, Germany

Doi Moi, Washington D.C.

Island Foods, Toronto, ON, Canada

Katz Orange, Berlin, Germany

Laffa, Tulsa, OK

Long Provincial Vietnamese, Seattle, WA

Marubi Ramen, Berlin, Germany

Mockingbird Hill, Washington D.C.

Pai Men Miyake, Portland, ME

Red Iguana, Salt Lake City, UT

Rose's Luxury, Washington D.C.

Pizza Brain, Philadelphia, PA

Rustic Canyon, Santa Monica, CA

Schwartzwaldstuben, Berlin, Germany

Vedge, Philadelphia, PA

——————————————————————————-

That's all folks!

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THE COLD WAVE

A Mix From Berlin Compiled by Max Goldblatt December 3, 2014

DOWNLOAD STREAM

140 MB / TRT 1:16:08

00:00 / RHEINGOLD / F.A.N. 05:15 / DAVID BOWIE / Fantastic Voyage 07:57 / THEE OH SEES / Lupine Dominus 10:59 / SAÂDA BONAIRE / You Could Be More As You Are 16:47 / JJ BURNEL / Euroman 20:11 / ARIEL PINK / Not Enough Violence 26:06 / THE CLEAN / Safe In The Rain 27:54 / X-MAL DEUTSCHLAND / Matador 32:40 / CLUSTER / Hollywood 37:00 / VIVI BACH & DIETMAR SCHÖNHERR / Molotow Cocktail Party 39:28 / MODERAT / A New Error 44:29 / MAZZY STAR / Five String Serenade 48:41 / LA DÜSSELDORF / La Düsseldorf 52:25 / HENRY BADOWSKI / My Face 55:38 / LOWER DENS / Lion In Winter Pt. 2 59:00 / GRAUZONE / Eisbär 1:02:22 / ANNIE / Anthonio (Berlin Breakdown Version) 1:06:16 / SIBYLLE BAIER / Forgett 1:08:23 / NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS / Jublliee Street (Live)

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IS IT COLD YET

A mix of mostly bummerjams Compiled by Max Goldblatt October 15, 2014

Download Stream 139.17 MB /  TRT 1:15:57

00:00 / PEARLS BEFORE SWINE / When I Was A Child 04:40 / BALLET SCHOOL / Cherish 08:21 / BERT JANSCH / In The Bleak Midwinter 10:37 / BROADCAST / Echo's Answer 13:33 / GABOR SZABO / Love Is Blue 17:46 / FLOATING ACTION / Fang And Fur 21:08 / THE MOVE / No Time 24:44 / THE ROLLING STONES / Heaven 28:59 / CHAVEZ / Unreal Is Here 31:07 / ANGEL OLSEN / Lights Out 35:23 / FRED NEIL / The Dolphins 39:19 / OPERATORS / Cruel 42:19 / JIM SCHOENFELD / Before 45:40 / PETER MATTHEW BAUER / Fortune Tellers 49:06 / UNICORN / Autumn Wine 51:53 / EMA / When She Comes 55:26 / TIMBER TIMBRE / Run From Me 59:33 / BILL FAY / Release Is In The Eye 1:01:44 / ELLEN O / Heaven Looks Like Flowers 1:04:20 / TIM BUCKLEY / Once I Was 1:07:35 / MICA LEVI / Love 1:12:38 / EX HEX / Outro

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One of my favorites covered one of my favorites. And it was good. 

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REQUIEM FOR A HEAVYWEIGHT

I took this photo of Mickey Rooney at a book signing in May of 2009. It was the end of the event and Mickey seemed tired. His handler had wandered off and Mickey sat perfectly still for a while. At peace.

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NEW Timber Timbre "Hot Dreams"

I wanna wake from hot dreams of you.

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Favorite Films of 2013

In the past, I'd put up my list a day before the Oscar nominations were announced, but this year they're doing that a week later than usual. So, because Best of 2013 lists are already old news (and so is mine), let's just get on with it, shall we?

I enjoyed the bulk of the new movies I saw this year. Yes, there's a lot of crass crap out there, but I didn't see too much of it. Cinema ain't dead yet. 

My 25 favorites of 2013, in alphabetical order:

(and in case you missed it: my favorite music of 2013 can be found HERE)

THE ACT OF KILLING, Joshua Oppenheimer

AMERICAN HUSTLE, David O. Russell

APRÉS MAI, Olivier Assayas

BASTARDS, Claire Denis

BEFORE MIDNIGHT, Richard Linklater

BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR, Abdellatif Kechiche

BORGMAN,  Alex van Warmerdam

THE COUNSELOR, Ridley Scott

DRUG WAR, Johnnie To

FRANCES HA, Noah Baumbach

GRAVITY, Alfonso Cuaron

THE GREAT BEAUTY, Paolo Sorrentino

HER, Spike Jonze

THE HUNT, Thomas Vinterberg

INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS, Joel & Ethan Coen

LAURENCE ANYWAYS, Xavier Dolan

LEVIATHAN, Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel

PRISONERS, Denis Villeneuve

SHORT TERM 12, Destin Cretton

STORIES WE TELL, Sarah Polley

TOM AT THE FARM, Xavier Dolan

12 YEARS A SLAVE, Steve McQueen

WE ARE THE BEST, Lukas Moodysson

THE WOLF OF WALL STREET, Martin Scorsese

THE WORLD'S END, Edgar Wright

———————————————-

I also enjoyed:

After Tiller, The Angel's Share, A Band Called Death, Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me, Blackfish, Blue Jasmine, The Broken Circle Breakdown, The Call, Captain Phillips, Computer Chess, The Conjuring, Dallas Buyers Club, Fast & Furious 6, Free Range - Ballad on Approving of the World, The Grandmaster, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, In The House, Like Father, Like Son, Mud, Nebraska, Pacific Rim, Philomena, The Place Beyond The Pines, Prince Avalanche, R100, Rush, The Selfish Giant, Side Effects, Sightseers, Stand Clear of the Closing Doors, The Wind Rises, World War Z, You're Next

And...

Made in 2010, first released in the U.S. in 2013: The Silence (Das letzte Schweigen)

TV, but I'm counting it: Behind The Candelabra

Released in 2013, but included on my previous year's list: Beyond The Hills, No

For thoughts on some older films I saw for the first time in 2013, including Wake In Fright, Star 80, and Life Is Sweet, check out my list over at Rupert Pupkin Speaks.

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Repeat viewings:

3 times: Frances Ha — if forced to choose, I suppose this is my favorite movie of the year.

2 times: The Act of Killing, The Call, Inside Llewyn Davis, Her, The Hunt, The World's End

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Favorite filmmaker of the year:

Xavier Dolan — He's only 24, but he made two of the most interesting movies I saw this year, Laurence Anyways and Tom At The Farm. Huge talent, still developing; I'm excited to see what's next. 

Favorite performer of the year:

Matthew McConaughey for his dynamic work in Dallas Buyers Club, Mud, and The Wolf of Wall Street.

Sub-genre of the year:

The slow burn art-thriller: Bastards, Borgman, The Counselor, Prisoners, Tom At The Farm

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Memorable performances of 2013:

Jan Bijvoet as Camiel Borgman in Borgman

Cate Blanchett as Jasmine in Blue Jasmine

Connor Chapman as Arbor in The Selfish Giant

Andrew Dice Clay as Augie in Blue Jasmine

Suzanne Clément as Fred Belair in Laurence Anyways

Anwar Congo as Anwar Congo in in The Act of Killing

Sharlto Copley as Agent C.M. Kruger in Elysium

Paul Dano as Alex Jones in Prisoners

Cameron Diaz as Malkina in The Counselor

Leonardo DiCaprio as Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street

Adam Driver as Al Cody in Inside Llewyn Davis

Chiwetel Ejiofor as Solomon Northup in 12 Years A Slave

Michael Eklund as Michael Foster in The Call

Adèle Exarchopoulos as Adèle in Blue Is The Warmest Color

Greta Gerwig as Frances in Frances Ha

John Goodman as Roland Turner in Inside Llewyn Davis

Jake Gyllenhaal as Detective Loki in Prisoners

Emile Hirsch as Lance in Prince Avalanche

Gaby Hoffman as Crystal Fairy in Crystal Fairy

Sun Honglei as Captain Zhang Lei in Drug War

Scarlett Johansson as Samantha in Her

Stacy Keach as Ed Pegram in Nebraska

Sir Ben Kingsley as Trevor Slattery in Iron Man 3

Brie Larson as Grace in Short Term 12

Vincent Lindon as Marco Silvestri in Bastards

Alice Lowe as Tina in Sightseers

Joanna Lumley as Aunt Emma in The Wolf of Wall Street

Mads Mikkelsen as Lucas in The Hunt

Lupita Nyong'o as Patsey in 12 Years A Slave

Simon Pegg as Gary King in The World's End

Melvil Poupaud as Laurence Alia in Laurence Anyways

Margot Robbie as Naomi Lapaglia in The Wolf of Wall Street

Toni Servillo as Jep Gambardella in The Great Beauty

Keith Stanfield as Marcus in Short Term 12

Ernst Umhauer as Claude Garcia in In The House

THE END

[tothemaxxx]

2013 Music + Lists + Year-End Mix!

As the year draws to a close, I present my annual Maxx Mixx (each part fits on a CD if you're into that sort of thing). For the uninitiated, these collect some of my favorite songs of the year. I've also included a handful of older tunes I had on repeat the last twelve months, some of which were featured in the films of 2013. Speaking of which, I'll have my film list up in a few weeks. But for the time being...

MAXX MIXX: HIP MANEUVERS OF 2013

PART ONE -- CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

1. Gap Dream "Shine Your Love" 2. Coke Weed "Anklet" 3. Ballet School "Heartbeat Overdrive" 4. Pretty & Nice "New Czar" 5. Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel "Make Me Smile" (1975) 6. Arp "High-Heeled Clouds" 7. Cate Le Bon "Are You With Me Now?" 8. Sparks "Sherlock Holmes" (1982) 9. Colleen Green "Time In The World" 10. Deerhunter "Sleepwalking" 11. Bill Callahan "The Sing" 12. King Drippa "Touch Down" 13. Johnny Paycheck "(It's A Mighty Thin Line) Between Love And Hate" (1966) 14. Buke and Gase "Houdini Rush" 15. Chrome Sparks "Marijuana" 16. Los Vlamers "Se Lo Prohibio El Doctor" (1967) 17. FKA twigs "Water Me" 18. Roxy Music "Pyjamarama" (1973) 19. Kurt Vile "Shame Chamber" 20. Juliette Commagere "Rebel" 21. Dwight Twilley Band "Looking For The Magic" (1977, used in You're Next) 22. Telekinesis "You Take It Slowly" 23. Scott Walker "The Ballad of Sacco and Vanzetti" (1972, used in Free Range)

PART TWO -- CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

1. Divine Fits "Chained To Love" 2. Disclosure feat. AlunaGeorge "White Noise" 3. Hot Chocolate "Every 1's A Winner" (1979, used in Frances Ha) 4. Speedy Ortiz "Hitch" 5. Poliça "Chain My Name" 6. Majical Cloudz "Childhood's End" 7. Eleanor Friedberger "When I Knew" 8. Giorgio Moroder "Son Of My Father" (1972) 9. Clay Cole "Theme Song From Fight For Tomorrow" 10. Waxahatchee "Peace & Quiet" 11. Bleached "Dead In Your Head" 12. Palma Violets "Best of Friends" 13. Arcade Fire "Flashbulb Eyes" 14. Tirzah "I'm Not Dancing" 15. TV On The Radio "Million Miles" 16. Omega "Gyöngyhajú Lány" (1969) 17. Phantogram "Celebrate Nothing" 18. John Wizards "Iyongwe" 19. Disappears "Weird House" 20. Lykke Li "I Follow Rivers (The Magician Remix)" (2011, used in Blue Is The Warmest Color) 21. Fleetwood Mac "Did You Ever Love Me" (1973) 22. Angel Olsen "Forgiven/Forgotten" 23. Oscar Isaac "Fare Thee Well (Dink's Song)" (from Inside Llewyn Davis) 24. The Men "Bird Song"

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//////15 Favorite Albums///////

Arcade Fire - Reflektor

Bill Callahan - Dream River

Deerhunter - Monomania

Disappears - Era

Gap Dream - Shine Your Light

Colleen Green - Sock It to Me

Inside Llewyn Davis Original Soundtrack Recording

Cate Le Bon - Mug Museum

Poliça - Shulamith

Polvo - Siberia

Pretty & Nice - Golden Rules for Golden People

***Speedy Ortiz - Major Arcana*** (my favorite)

Telekinesis - Dormarion

Thee Oh Sees - Floating Coffin

Yo La Tengo - Fade

//////5 Favorite EPs///////

Ballet School - Boys Again EP

Chrome Sparks - Sparks EP

Courtney Barnett - The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas

FKA twigs - EP2

Tirzah - I'm Not Dancing EP

//////Lou Reed///////

Lou Reed

//////Favorite Concerts///////

Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks at The Echo

The Both (Aimee Mann & Ted Leo) at Largo

Chrome Sparks at the Avalon

Coachella sets from Blur, Divine Fits, Grinderman, Johnny Marr, Palma Violets, and Sparks 

Juliette Commagere w/ Ry Cooder at The Hotel Café

Deradoorian at the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles.

Dirty Projectors at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY

Disappears at The Echo

Sam Flax at The Echo

Fort Lean and IO Echo at The Visulite Theatre, Charlotte, NC

Goat at The Masquerade, Atlanta, GA

Colleen Green and Joel Jerome at some Vice thing in Culver City

Oscar Night Karaoke with the crew of Beasts Of The Southern Wild and members of Blood Orange, Dirty Projectors, and Tearist at Pattaya Bay Thai Restaurant

Speedy Ortiz at The Bootleg Bar

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///////Why Not... Favorite Restaurant Discoveries of 2013///////

Ajax Diner, Oxford, MS

Attari Sandwich Shop, Westwood, CA

Bennachin, New Orleans, LA

Bizarra Capital, Whittier, CA

East Side King, Austin, TX

Juice Served Here, Los Angeles, CA

Little Chinatown, Kenner, LA

Maurepas Foods, New Orleans, LA

Petty Cash Taqueria, Los Angeles, CA

Pho Tau Bay, New Orleans, LA

PINGTUNG Eat-In Market, Los Angeles, CA

Pizza Delicious, New Orleans, LA

ROC Kitchen, Los Angeles, CA

Second Bar + Kitchen, Austin, TX

Spicy BBQ Restaurant, East Hollywood, CA

Star Noodle, Maui, HI

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Okay. Stop it.