“Approximately and exactly.”
— Parabatial Kanhaiyalal ‘P.K.’ Dubey (Vijay Raaz) from Monsoon Wedding (2001)

Great Television Shows

2025

If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (dir. Mary Bronstein)
Sound of Falling (In die Sonne Schauen) (dir. Mascha Schilinski)
Sharp Corner (dir. Jason Buxton)
The Ugly Stepsister (dir. Emilie Blichfeldt)
The Love That Remains (Ástin Sem Eftir Er) (dir. Hlynur Pálmason)
Bring Her Back (dir. Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou)
One Battle After Another (dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)
Sentimental Value (Affeksjonsverdi) (dir. Joachim Trier)
The Plague (dir. Charlie Polinger)
Weapons (dir. Zach Cregger)

HONOURABLE SELECTIONS (+1)

WE’VE LOST CONTROL

28 Years Later (dir. Danny Boyle, 2025)
28 Weeks Later (dir. Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, 2007)
28 Days Later (dir. Danny Boyle, 2002)

Caught by the Tides (Feng Liu Yi Dai) (dir. Jia Zhang-ke)
Black Bag / Presence (dir. Steven Soderbergh)
Caught Stealing (dir. Darren Aronofsky)
Honey Bunch (dir. Dusty Mancinelli and Madeleine Sims-Fewer)
No Other Choice (Eojjeolsuga Eobsda) (dir. Park Chan-wook)
A Private Life (Vie Privée) (dir. Rebecca Zlotowski)
The Life of Chuck (dir. Mike Flanagan)
Dangerous Animals (dir. Sean Byrne)
The Rule of Jenny Pen (dir. James Ashcroft)
The Ice Tower (La Tour de Glace) (dir. Lucile Hadžihalilović)

Sketch (dir. Seth Worley)
The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie (dir. Peter Browngardt)
Eddington (dir. Ari Aster)
The Shrouds (dir. David Cronenberg)
April (dir. Dea Kulumbegashvili)
Henry Johnson (dir. David Mamet)
Franz (dir. Agnieszka Holland)
The Friend (dir. Scott McGehee and David Siegel)
The Luckiest Man in America (dir. Samir Oliveros)
Final Destination: Bloodlines (dir. Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein)
(The Sky View Tower Sequence is a Standalone Masterpiece)

MORE MOVIES (33-49)

2024

THE SUBSTANCE (dir. Coralie Fargeat)
What Remains: The Confession of a Serial Killer (dir. Ran Huang)
Armand (dir. Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel)
Club Zero (dir. Jessica Hausner)
Snack Shack (dir. Adam Rehmeier)
Mars Express (dir. Jérémie Périn)
The Coffee Table (dir. Caye Casas)
Janet Planet (dir. Annie Baker)
Music (dir. Angela Schanelec)
The Apprentice (dir. Ali Abbasi)

HONOURABLE SELECTIONS (+7)

PERFECTLY SET GET-TOGETHERS
(REPRESSIONS AND RELEASES)

The Sparrow in the Chimney (Der Spatz im Kamin)
(dir. Ramon Zürcher, 2024)
The Girl and the Spider (Das Mädchen und die Spinne)
(dir. Silvan Zürcher and Ramon Zürcher, The Best Movie of 2021)
The Strange Little Cat (Das Merkwürdige Kätzchen)
(dir. Ramon Zürcher, 2013)

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WALLACE & GROMIT

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
(dir. Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham, 2024)
A Matter of Loaf and Death (dir. Nick Park, 2008)
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (dir. Nick Park, 2005)
A Close Shave (dir. Nick Park, 1995)
The Wrong Trousers (dir. Nick Park, 1993)
A Grand Day Out (dir. Nick Park, 1989)

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THE ESTATES OF COUNT ORLOK

Nosferatu (dir. Robert Eggers, 2024)
Nosferatu the Vampyre (dir. Werner Herzog, 1979)
Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (dir. F. W. Murnau, 1922)

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“I’M THE GHOST WITH THE MOST, BABE.”

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (dir. Tim Burton, 2024)
Beetlejuice (dir. Tim Burton, 1988)

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TIME DESTROYS ALL THINGS

Irreversible (The Straight Cut) (dir. Gaspar Noé, 2024)
Irreversible (dir. Gaspar Noé, 2002)

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“I’M A TEMP.”

Vulcanizadora (dir. Joel Potrykus, 2024)
Buzzard (dir. Joel Potrykus, 2014)

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STICKS AND ZONES

ME (dir. Don Hertzfeldt, 2024)
World of Tomorrow Episode 2: The Burden of Other People’s Thoughts
(dir. Don Hertzfeldt, 2017)
World of Tomorrow (dir. Don Hertzfeldt, 2015)
It’s Such a Beautiful Day (dir. Don Hertzfeldt, 2012)
Rejected (dir. Don Hertzfeldt, 2000)
Billy’s Balloon (dir. Don Hertzfeldt, 1998)

Strange Darling – A Thriller in 6 Chapters (dir. J.T. Mollner)
Memoirs of a Snail (dir. Adam Elliot)
Eephus (dir. Carson Lund)
Small Things Like These (dir. Tim Mielants)
The Brutalist (In VistaVision 70mm) (dir. Brady Corbet)
His Three Daughters (dir. Azazel Jacobs)
Oddity (dir. Damian Mc Carthy)
Hard Truths (dir. Mike Leigh)
Better Man (dir. Michael Gracey)
Daddio (dir. Christy Hall)
CONTINUE READING ►

This has to be a record! Five of my choices for the Best Films of 2008 are being released today on DVD. To top it off, a real Disney classic has been given the pristine treatment. What a stellar date this is for film lovers.

Pinocchio (2-Disc 70th Anniversary Platinum Edition) (1940)

Pinocchio is arguably the best animated feature film that Walt Disney Studios initially released. This beautifully rendered animation directed by Ben Sharpsteen and Hamilton S. Luske makes my heart go out to the immortal two-dimensional format. It’s true that Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) directed by David Hand was a revolutionary pioneer of animated features, but Pinocchio easily trumps Snow White as a compelling narrative.

About the video quality on Blu-Ray, David Boulet from dvdfile.com writes:

With Pinocchio, every brush-stroke, the rich texture conveyed by the surface of the canvas or paper, the consistency of the watercolor wash, or the density of the pastel chalk, is all displayed with dazzling purity. The effect is like being absorbed into a moving picture full of life and infused with the spirit of the artisans that crafted it together. Such nuance, which was obscured by the added artifacts of multi-generation film-print production for its original audience now breathes a new life of clarity for high definition viewers today. I can’t complain. I don’t think that Walt or his artists would either.

The DVD has a number of extras including documentaries, deleted scenes, and an indispensable audio commentary by Leonard Maltin, Eric Goldberg and J.B. Kaufman.

CONTINUE READING ►

A Punishing Character Study

One of the most painful moments in The Wrestler is when the doctor explains to Randy “The Ram” Robinson (Mickey Rourke) after his heart attack that he must not exert himself. The aging, muscular man is devastated and cries out, “Doc! I’m a professional wrestler!” The key word there is professional. He takes it seriously. It defines him. Being stripped of his identity, Randy feels worthless. He has never thought about the long term. His lost years of celebrity, drug use and promiscuity left him devoid of anyone who really care about him. Now, Randy is finally going to feel the emotional punishment he has spent his life numbing by punishing himself in the ring.

Why do I love Randy “The Ram” Robinson? Because after sleeping in the back of his van, he has the good spirit to humour the kids knocking outside his window with some horseplay. Because he is a good sport when he choreographs a wrestling match involving a staple gun being used on him. Because he really does love Cassidy (Marisa Tomei), that sweet woman who works at the strip joint he often frequents. Because he is a good sport when he choreographs having a staple gun used on him during a match. Because when Randy picks out a jacket with the letter “S” for his justifiably resentful daughter Stephanie (Evan Rachel Wood), he really thinks she’ll like it. Because Randy hates himself for screwing up the good things that come his way. I can’t hate a man who already hates himself so much.

Mickey Rourke plays this character as if he atoning for sins for which he cannot forgive himself. Watch how Rourke has Randy force himself to smile and not cry when Cassidy swills the rest of her beer down. Sizing up Rourke, Marisa Tomei as Cassidy stomachs so much pain here, whether she exposes her body and is passed over by customers or how she just can’t bear to watch Randy punish himself. Back in 2005, Rourke played a brutish lug named Marv in the comic-adaptation of Sin City. That character’s dialogue and scarred face were the stuff of pulp. Marv is an extension to Randy, a very sad avenger who nurses romantic fantasies. The closest Marv gets to a confession is when he confides his trouble with love. “I couldn’t even buy a woman… the way I look.” Mickey cut a big slab of himself off that meaty character and named him “The Ram”.

CONTINUE READING ►

Taken as a whole, the best films released in 2008 tasted just as sweet as those in 2007 did. Looking at only the titles There Will Be Blood (dir. P.T. Anderson, 2007) and Synecdoche, New York (dir. Charlie Kaufman, 2008), I would be immensely cheered at the state of American cinema. However, there were a number of films scattered and tucked away in corners of the film distribution that saw almost 650 films released in 2008. My impression is that at least twenty to thirty films of a given year should be of great quality. Within those hundreds of films released, it is a pity that so few are wonderful. Still, who can quibble about a year where Charlie Kaufman, Christopher Nolan, Hsiao-hsien Hou, Mike Leigh, Kelly Reichardt, and some triumphant newcomers such as Lucí­a Puenzo and John McDonagh performed so well from either the open or the outset?

I saw a number of films that made their way to Vancouver. There are a few lingering titles that might have been included on this list if I saw them such as Steve McQueen’s Hunger, and Pere Portabella’s The Silence Before Bach. I missed those films shown at the Vancouver International Film Festival that year. My excuse was being bedridden with a cold; I missed out on so much that week. Unfortunately, Portabella refuses to release his film through circuits outside the mercy of unreliable theatrical distributions, which I am taking personally.

Making a list of the best films of the year generally affords the critic an opportunity to collect preferred films as an artist would apply to a collage. Which titles that carry particular visuals and ideas are arranged by the same intellectual deliberation crossed with the finesse of emotional intuition a painter applies a brushstroke. These recommendations could be read as a chef’s deliberate, however liberal feeling, succession of entrées like: starting with Potage à la Tortue, then Quail in Puff Pastry Shell with Foie Gras and Truffle Sauce, following by Cheese and Fresh Fruit, and finally Baba au Rhum avec les Figues — the prize to the movie I am referencing is the prize itself.

The films themselves are so different from one another — not including the given works of formulistic hacks — that measuring a film about a vampire versus a film about a hermaphrodite often appears as a defeatist’s approach. I look at this as a collection of films that made a lasting impression on me, and not as a system of rank. Just because Gus Van Sant’s Milk or Jonathan Demme’s Rachel Getting Married didn’t make the top ten does not mean I think any less of them. I love them dearly.

Without further ado, here are the movies that made me sit up a little straighter than usual this year.

1. Synecdoche, New York

CONTINUE READING ►

American Psycho (dir. Mary Harron)
You Can Count On Me (dir. Kenneth Lonergan)
Werckmeister Harmonies (dir. Béla Tarr)
Panic (dir. Henry Bromell)
The Terrorist (dir. Santosh Sivan)
Yi Yi (dir. Edward Yang)
Shadow of the Vampire (dir. E. Elias Merhige)
Quills (dir. Philip Kaufman)
Girl on the Bridge (dir. Patrice Leconte)
Requiem for a Dream (dir. Darren Aronofsky)
Almost Famous (dir. Cameron Crowe)
Traffic (dir. Steven Soderbergh)
Sexy Beast (dir. Jonathan Glazer)
George Washington (dir. David Gordon Green)
Wonder Boys (dir. Curtis Hanson)
Code Unknown (dir. Michael Haneke)
Memento (dir. Christopher Nolan)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (dir. Ang Lee)
Unbreakable (dir. M. Night Shyamalan)
Chicken Run (dir. Nick Park)
Dinner Rush (dir. Bob Giraldi)
The Claim (dir. Michael Winterbottom)
My Dog Skip (dir. Jay Russell)
Amores Perros (dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu)
Diamond Men (dir. Dan Cohen)
The Gleaners & I (dir. Agnès Varda)
Maelström (dir. Denis Villeneuve)
Dancer in the Dark (dir. Lars von Trier)
The Cell (dir. Tarsem)
Under the Sand (dir. François Ozon)
High Fidelity (dir. Stephen Frears)
The Contender (dir. Rob Lurie)
Best in Show (dir. Christopher Guest)
Pollock (dir. Ed Harris)
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (dir. Joel Coen)
Faithless (dir. Liv Ullmann)
In the Mood for Love (dir. Kar Wai Wong)
The Emperor’s New Groove (dir. Mark Dindal)
The Dish (dir. Rob Sitch)
The Widow of Saint-Pierre (dir. Patrice Leconte)
Ginger Snaps (dir. John Fawcett)
The Crimson Rivers (dir. Mathieu Kassovitz)
Everything Put Together (dir. Marc Forster)
Tigerland (dir. Joel Schumacher)
The Isle (dir. Ki-duk Kim)
Cast Away (dir. Robert Zemeckis)
Space Cowboys (dir. Clint Eastwood)
Dr. T & the Women (dir. Robert Altman)
Gladiator (dir. Ridley Scott)
Chuck & Buck (dir. Miguel Arteta)

A Simple Plan (dir. Sam Raimi)
Dark City (dir. Alex Proyas)
Love and Death on Long Island (dir. Richard Kwietniowski)
The Truman Show (dir. Peter Weir)
Pleasantville (dir. Gary Ross)
Babe: Pig in the City (dir. George Miller)
Affliction (dir. Paul Schrader)
Rushmore (dir. Wes Anderson)
Happiness (dir. Todd Solondz)
Gods and Monsters (dir. Bill Condon)
Hilary and Jackie (dir. Anand Tucker)
Antz (dir. Eric Darnell and Tim Johnson)
The Red Violin (dir. (dir. François Girard)
Dangerous Beauty (dir. Marshall Herskovitz)
The Prince of Egypt (dir. Brenda Chapman and Steve Hickner)
Life is Beautiful (dir. Roberto Begnini)
Pi (dir. Darren Aronofsky)
Claire Dolan (dir. Lodge Kerrigan)
Your Friends And Neighbors (dir. Neil LaBute)
The Last Days of Disco (dir. Whit Stillman)
The Spanish Prisoner (dir. David Mamet)
Nil by Mouth (dir. Gary Oldman)
Shakespeare in Love (dir. John Madden)
The Thin Red Line (dir. Terrance Malick)
The Big Lebowski (dir. Joel Coen)
Beloved (dir. Jonathan Demme)
Great Expectations (dir. Alfonso Cuarón)
Bulworth (dir. Warren Beatty)
Living Out Loud (dir. Richard LaGravenese)
Out of Sight (dir. Steven Soderbergh)
There’s Something About Mary (dir. Bobby and Peter Farrelly)
Saving Private Ryan (dir. Steven Spielberg)
The Negotiator (dir. F. Gary Gray)
He Got Game (dir. Spike Lee)
Last Night (dir. Don McKellar)
High Art (dir. Lisa Cholodenko)
Simon Birch (dir. Mark Steven Johnson)
Primary Colors (dir. Mike Nichols)
Perfect Blue (dir. Satoshi Kon)
American History X (dir. Tony Kaye)
Run Lola Run (dir. Tom Tykwer)
The Celebration (dir. Thomas Vinterberg)
What Dreams May Come (dir. Vincent Ward)
The Mask of Zorro (dir. Martin Campbell)
Little Voice (dir. Mark Herman)
Insomnia (dir. Erik Skjoldbjaerg)
Small Soldiers (dir. Joe Dante)
The Opposite of Sex (dir. Don Roos)
Madeline (dir. Daisy von Scherler Mayer)