Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010)

9/10
Definitely a lot of fun, and some fantastic visuals. I find Nolan's movies often tie themselves up into knots but Inception avoided that admirably right up until the end when I suppose he just couldn't resist the temptation to leave things somewhat open-ended. Wasn't a fan of that. I thought the dual stories sat together somewhat awkwardly and took a long time to gel, and I was never really invested emotionally in the characters. But I guess it's easier to talk about what I didn't like. Otherwise it was a really great, really fun, really interesting movie that, in a perfect world, is what all summer blockbusters would aspire to be. I didn't love it, but I liked it a lot. I'm sure people keep waiting for the Nolan Midas touch to wear off, and it certainly had potential to here...but nope, not yet.

The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (Tom Six, 2009)

8/10
Actually a lot better than I thought it would be. The acting is pretty top notch (the German doctor in particular is like some weird Klaus Kinski/Tommy Wiseau hybrid), there's a good amount of suspense and tension throughout, the gore is as brutal as you'd expect...basically it delivers, which is more than most Fantasia movies have done for me this year. It's also surprisingly witty and totally depressing. As far as torture porn goes, it's pretty well up there in my opinion.

The Last Exorcism (Daniel Stamm, 2010)

3/10
Incredibly disappointing. Why are we still making exorcism movies when it was all said and done (better) back in 1973? Just a note to the filmmakers, when you do a movie shot "handheld" style, as soon as you use non-diagetic music, you've completely betrayed your film. Additionally, your "cameraperson" should be filming the action as honestly as possible. Instead his filming (i.e. what we see) is so obviously directed, with the possessed girl shot from obtuse angles, through holes and behind fences, with reaction shots of the father and priest thrown in, when any sane person actually filming it would have trained his camera dead-on the possessed girl writhing around on the floor.
Finally the ending to this movie is one of the biggest cop-outs I've seen, almost felt insulting. Don't be tempted by the great poster when this comes out in a few weeks...total dud.

Black Death (Christopher Smith, 2010)

6/10
Kind of interesting action/horror starring Sean Bean in full Boromir mode as a knight searching for a first a way to quell the Black Plague that's ravaging his homeland, and eventually a necromancer. There was a lot of potential but I thought the film was mostly flat, although the way it juggled the characters and their morals (and the inevitable "who are the real good guys" moment) was well done. I dunno, I just think it mostly missed the mark and was pretty forgettable all told.

Winter's Bone (Debra Granik, 2010)

8.5/10
Surprisingly great, unheard of little movie I saw on a whim in the theatres. A 17-year old girl has to take care of her invalid mother and two siblings, living in this destitute loghouse in a barren, sparsely populated village. Her methhead father puts the house up as bond, so the girl has to either find her father or proof of his demise in order to keep supporting her family. Jennifer Lawrence as the girl is the movie and gives a fantastic performance, and the movie is consistently tense as she undertakes a brutal, undesirable journey with an inevitable ending. I thought the emotion was lacking a bit but otherwise, really good.

Red White & Blue (Simon Rumley, 2010)

6/10
"Revenge" horror movie in the mode of Eli Roth et al, definitely not without its flaws - the first half of the movie is very flat, some of the acting is pretty subpar (Noah Taylor is great in his role as the stereotypical hick psycho though), and you can tell they're working on a tight budget as most of the gore occurs offscreen or out of the camera's view. But it picks up towards the end and all in all is a decently competent horror. Other movies have done less with more, at least.

The Secret in Their Eyes (Juan Jose Campanella, 2009)

7.5/10
An enjoyable, very well-acted, very well directed crime/love story that just didn't really grip me enough to give it more than a 7.5. The dual stories are handled well and fluently and the dialogue was extraordinarily sharp, but I just didn't love it. I'd definitely recommend it though.

The Devils (Ken Russell, 1971)

7/10
Pretty cool to see this buried 1971 cult classic with director Ken Russell in-house (getting a lifetime achievement award from Fantasia). It was quite an interesting movie, not at all what I was expecting, but I was really too tired to truly get into it. It reminded me a lot of The Wicker Man, a movie I like a lot, so I wouldn't mind watching it again...but it's never been released on DVD. Oh well, maybe one day.

Mr. Nobody (Jaco van Dormael, 2009)

4/10
Saw this movie to kill some time before the one below. I didn't know much about it beforehand. Basically Jared Leto plays the unfortunately named Nemo Nobody, the last living mortal man in 2092, and on his deathbed he recounts 3 possible paths of his life (altered slightly by the butterfly effect). Kind of like a Benjamin Button/The Fountain/Run Lola Run mashup, 3 movies I didn't care much for. The movie has some severe problems, not least of which an opening 20 minutes that has the movie deep in Razzie-worthy territory, some of the hokiest pseudo-philosophy ever put to script, and an unbelievably obnoxious soundtrack, but it somehow settles down near the middle and gets interesting as we center around 15-year old Nemo and his incestuous relationship with his step-sister Anna. It's a good thing this plot thread takes up the majority of the movie because whenever we get away from it, the movies numerous weaknesses are brought to the fore. It's a messy, messy, movie, much like The Fountain was, that people will surely explain away to "artistry" or "unconventional storytelling". The movie has some good ideas but it desperately needs to be reeled in a bit more. I also have no earthly idea how they're planning on recouping the $46 million (!) they spent on this thing.

Fish Story (Yoshihiro Nakamura, 2009)

7/10
2009 Japanese flick that ties together stories from five different years to tell a tale about a song saving the world, and also to do a little musing on Chaos Theory along the way. It's a fun movie that provides some good laughs but it has some severe pacing issues and while its storyline should be unpredictable and off the wall, it comes together somewhat flatly at the end. In comparing Japanese films that tie together five different storylines, Survive Style 5+ is still the undisputed heavyweight champion.

A Serbian Film (Srdjan Spasojevic, 2009)

8/10
Switching gears entirely, A Serbian Film is a new film from Serbian director Srdjan Spasojevic, and it is easily one of the most harrowing, disturbing movies I've ever seen, and I've seen a few. The plot is a retired porn star is coaxed back into action by a director with a vision for a new kind of "real" porn (and a boatload of cash), but quickly finds he's bitten off more than he can handle as he's put into increasingly fucked up (there can be no other term) situations. Thematically the movie reminded me a lot of Irreversible - not only in terms of disturbing content but in the way the whole movie makes you feel wrong and dirty. But like Irreversible I thought ASF worked on a higher level than just a shock piece. The acting was really great too, and that helped a lot. I have to say, I've never seen a movie filled with as much hatred and loathing for the country that birthed it than this one. It's metaphor is blatantly unsubtle but hammered home with such ferocity, it's hard not to be impressed. Well, impressive to me, but really, really, really not for everyone.

I Am Love (Luca Guadagnino, 2009)

7/10
Attractive-looking film starring Tilda Swinton as a woman married into a powerful Italian family, and whose actions threaten to burst it apart at the seams. Swinton is great and everything is well-acted, but there was a lot of ebb and flow in terms of keeping my interest - sometimes I was hooked, sometimes I was bored. But I have to say, the last couple of scenes in the movie are so bracingly powerful and brilliantly filmed they almost make up for everything that precede it. But I didn't feel the tension that was supposed to build throughout at all times, so I have to dock it a couple of points there.

Rubber (Quentin Dupieux, 2010)

7/10
The first of my 11 films at the Fantasia Festival this year was Quentin "Mr. Oizo" Dupieux's debut film about a murderous tire. Last year the first movie I saw at the festival was La Antena, a silent feature film from Argentina that I thought would have worked better as a short. Rubber gave me the exact same vibe - the idea of a tire stalking and killing insects, then birds and rabbits, then people, is funny at first but becomes increasingly one-note as the movie wears on. Stephen Spinella as the surrealist sherriff in charge of tracking down the tire is the best part. There's also a subplot involving a bunch of characters watching "the movie" afar through binoculars that makes for some nice self-referential humor, but it can also come off distractingly smug, particularly for a debut film. There's a great monologue given by the sheriff to open the movie, but when it's shown again from a different camera angle during the closing credits, you get the nagging suspicion that Dupieux is a bit too proud of himself and his writing abilities. A fun watch with some laugh-out-loud moments, but not without its flaws.

Toy Story 3 (Lee Unkrich, 2010)

9.5/10
I thought it was absolutely tremendous is just about every way. Didn't know I could care so much about animated toys but come on, if you didn't tear up at any point in the last 20 or so minutes, you're a robot. Definitely the best movie I've seen so far this year (not saying a whole lot though). The only thing I could really dock it 0.5 for was that I thought the middle was surprisingly dark and humorless for a while - especially for essentially a kid's film. But then the last act goes right back to being incredible again. I really hope they don't try to do a fourth one...even though Pixar probably could pull it off, 3 was just a perfect ending to the series.

Toy Story 2 (John Lasseter, Ash Brannon & Lee Unkrich, 1999)

8/10
Just a notch below the original on first blush but also quite good, especially for a sequel that, on the surface, seems to be recycling the plot of the first one. But there were a lot of nice touches (the "other" Buzz and Zerg, the other toys getting more face time, etc) that made it rise above typical sequel fodder. I could see myself eventually liking this one more than the original actually.

Toy Story (John Lasseter, 1995)

8.5/10
First time seeing it, it was a lot of fun, and of course touching too. Lots of genuinely funny moments too, and the camaraderie between Buzz and Woody is very satisfying.

Sideways (Alexander Payne, 2004)

6.5/10
To be honest, with all the critical acclaim this movie got, I was a little letdown. At times it's pretty tepid and safe, although there are definitely a few laugh-out-loud moments. It's a testament to both the script and the acting that the two main characters Miles and Jack are, when you get down to it, wholly unlikeable people, but not a chore to watch for 2 hours (although Giamatti's Miles grates at times). But like I said, I was left expecting something...bigger.

Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954)

9/10
Really liked it a lot...loved the setting, the mise-en-scene, whatever you call it...the view from the rear window is perfect cinema, seared in my mind forever. James Stewart and Grace Kelly are both fantastic. Probably a notch below Psycho and above Vertigo in terms of my preference of the 3 Hitchcock movies I've seen.