Best Cronenberg Films

Best Heist Movies

Top 10 Films Of 2011

In descending order, because that's how lists should be:

10) A Dangerous Method – David Cronenberg
This is more than a bio-pic. The film would have worked just as well with fictitious characters. 2011 saw its share of films dealing with the human mind when it comes to sexuality and this film states its purpose eloquently. There is very real danger behind temptation. And yes, the cause of suffering is indeed desire.


9) Attack the Block – Joe CornishThis was the best action film of 2011. Terrifying aliens pitted against a group of hooligans. The film plays out with a thrilling wit that’s unforgettable.

8) The Artist – Michel HazanaviciusI was fully expecting “The Artist” to be pretentious, but it was simple, elegant and just charming as hell.

7) Womb – Benedek Fliegauf
“Womb” is by turns heart-breaking and sickening. We feel revulsion and sympathy for our anti-heroine in equal measures. It’s not for everyone, but if you call yourself a cinephile, this film is not to be missed.

6) Sleeping Beauty – Julia LeighThe idea that prostitution is a kind of rape isn’t new. But I haven’t seen this concept so articulately stated as it is in this film. Fair warning: this movie is unsettling and very hard to watch. But it’s one of the best films I’ve ever seen to deal with just how sexuality and desperation can wreak havoc on someone’s life.

5) Melancholia – Lars von Trier
Von Trier has yet to make a bad film. His study of depression is spot on and his allegory is perfect. When you suffer from this illness, it is in fact like the end of the world. And the supporting cast was perfect. From Charlotte Gainsbourg to Keifer Sutherland, this is how people respond to a person suffering with depression. They try to sympathize, but they are filled with frustration and just don’t understand why you won’t just snap out of it.


4) 50-50 – Jonathan Levine
I don’t really expect a lot when I watch a mainstream film, but “50-50” took me completely off guard. The film deals with two themes: terror and friendship. And it avoids simple, trite answers to all the questions it raises. The love between these two friends touched me in a way no film has in years.

3) Hannah – Joe Wright – This is the best film of its kind since Frankenheimer’s “The Manchurian Candidate.” Everything, from the lighting to the score is perfect and helps the film hit its tone just right.

2) We Need to Talk About Kevin – Lynne Ramsay
This film hypnotized me from the first frame. It asks why tragedies like this happen, but it isn’t proud enough to pretend it has any of the answers. It poses several theories, like upbringing and environment. It also raises the possibility that some people, even children, are just evil. In the end “We Need to Talk About Kevin” is humble enough to admit it doesn’t know why people do these things.

1) Martha Marcy May Marlene – Sean Durkin
Every frame of this film is genuine, urgent and terrifying. It’s easily the best film of 2011.

Honorable Mentions:
These films didn’t make my top ten, but they’re just too good to ignore altogether.
“Drive”
"My Week With Marilyn"
“Tabloid”
“The Skin I Live In”
“The Descendents”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2”
“One Day”

The Worst Movies of 2010

This list is shorter than my list of the best films of 2010 primarily because I tend to avoid bad movies.

Still, you can't miss all of them.



Actually, I recommend you do miss all of these.







1) All Good Things - This was absolutely the worst film of 2010.

It was like a Lifetime movie, only worse.

The idea that this script not only got actual talent attached to it, but this movie ended up in those temples we call art-houses is deeply offensive.


2) Valentine’s Day - Wow. Romantic comedies already have a hard time winning me over, but this belongs in a special category of just don't.


3) Catfish - I hated these three guys. That's why I hated this movie so much. The protagonist was just such a tool I just wished bad things for him. This is especially problematic for a documentary.


4) Legion - Just bad. Bad, bad, bad.


5) A Nightmare on Elm Street - I almost had a heart attack and died from not-afraid.

6) The Social Network - I didn't know whether to hate Mark Zuckerberg (the character, I have no idea what he's like in real life) because he was being a jerk or because he was boring the crap out of me.


7) Megamind - The most boring cartoon of the year. And I saw a lot of cartoons this year.

10 Best Films Of 2010 (Plus Honorable Mentions)

I know you've just been on the edge of your seats. Well, wait no more!

Here is my list of the 10 best films of 2010.



1)“Howl”

2)“Never Let Me Go”

3)“Animal Kingdom”

4)“The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest”

5)“It’s Kind of a Funny Story”


6)“Blue Valentine”

7)“Dogtooth”

8)“Fish Tank”

9)“Somewhere”

10)“Micmacs”


Honorable Mentions:

“Rabbit Hole”

“Enter the Void”

“Machete”

Ne te retourne pas (Don’t Look Back) – Marina de Van (2009)

When I started watching this film, I had no idea what it was going to be about.

To tell the truth, I have a soft spot for French films, for some reason.

I have no idea what it is about that country, but their movies make sense to me.

Truffaut, Leconte, Alain Resnais, Gela Babluani, Alexandre Bustillo, Gaspar Noe, I love 'em all.

French films are beautiful and horrific. They move, inspire and scare the Christ out of me all at the same time.

"Ne te retourne pas" is no exception. It does all of those things at once and it does them very slowly and subtly.

Aside from that, I had seen de Van’s 2002 freak-fest “Dans ma Peau” (In My Skin) and to this day, I’m the only person I have met in real life who liked it.

And who doesn’t want to spend 100 minutes or so watching Sophie Marceau? (Well, as it turns out, the better part of half that time, anyway.)

I vaguely had the idea that it was going to be some kind of thriller.

So imagine my delight and surprise when I found myself completely lost and confused as hell about 12 or 13 minutes into the movie.

The film centers around Jeanne, a French trade writer who finally wants to write fiction, specifically autobiographical fiction.

The problem is, she can’t remember anything before she was 8-years-old.

The other problem is that while her work as a professional writer is exceptional, her first attempt at fiction is terrible.

It’s tepid, self-aware, disassociated, overly-descriptive and trite.

Of course this is because memories of childhood are more than just facts told to Jeanne by her mother. The novel is cold because Jeanne never felt, touched or tasted a childhood. Poor Jeanne.

Before long, Jeanne’s mind starts playing tricks on her. Or is her family just messing with her?

Little things start to seem out of place, like the kitchen table, and s

he catches her husband and children ges

turing ominously to each other, exchanging conspiratorial hand signals.

Of course, at this point, we, the audience have no idea what's going on, but that’s okay

because neither do any of the characte

rs. Is Jeanne going crazy? Is it a brain tumor or a legion?

Is it Satan?

Actually, there’s nothing that suggests anything supernatural, but whenever there are endless, baseless theories as to what’s happening in a movie, I always like to throw Satan into the mix.

Before long, Jeanne’s loving husband is actually changing into another man and then Jeanne finds herself morphing.

The scene where we first see her with half of her own face and half of a new face surprised me by how effectively creepy it was.

It’s impressive how we’re about half an hour into the film and we have no reason to be frightened, but for some reason, I’m finding myself with a severe case of the willies.

Again, we still have absolutely no idea what is going on. And that's a very good thing because none of the characters do, either.

The rest of the film plays out with Jeanne’s mind swapping out her perception of realities to the point where her husband, mother, children and herself are different people.

Jeanne goes on a journey to find who her ‘true’ mother, self, husband, and her whole reality actually is.

By the time we get to the 'twist ending' which I won't give away just on the principle of not spoiling films, the plot is no longer the point. This isn't a film where the story matters.

The chain of events is incidental. What’s important is Jeanne’s broken mind.

Toward the beginning of the film, there’s a scene that shows her mother playing poker in an apartment with a handful of friends around a small table.

Later, when Jeanne visits her mother, she’s playing poker in an enormous, elegant penthouse, filled with affluent gamers, security guards and high stakes.

When Jeanne’s reality is altered, it’s disturbing, especially when the change is subtle.

For me, the most jolting moments were toward the building when she would catch her husband and children exchanging those subtle hand signals out of the corner of her eye or in a reflection or on a home video.

Of course, they had no idea what she was talking about and watching the film, I believed them.

They were truly her loving family and meant her no harm.

I was just as lost as Jeanne was and that was what made the film so psychologically gruesome.

Because Christ, do any of us really have any kind of grasp on anything?

Watch this movie. Buy this movie. It’s a masterpiece.

Along with John Hillcoat’s adaptation of “The Road,” this is the second film to make me realize I put out my top 10 of 2009 too soon.

I need to wait like a year before doing those.

And, in case any of you care, right now, I'm listening to:

TheTop10Blog

The list of movies that make you root for the bad guys is now on thetop10blog.com.

Aside from the obvious good taste they have, as indicated by putting out a Resident Film Snob list, the blog is quite fun to just click around on.

Hell, everyone loves lists, right?

Top Ten Movies that Had Me Rooting for the Bad Guys!

10) The Killing – Stanley Kubrick (1956) - Sterling Hayden as Johnny Clay is the ultimate badass. He’s tall, tubby and middle-aged, but who cares? He’s the smartest, toughest guy in the room. Seeing the cops get their man in this movie is just heartbreaking.

9) Reservoir Dogs – Quentin Tarantino (1992) – The only things I wanted when I saw this film was for Mr. Orange to pull through and for Mr. Pink & Mr. White to find a way to get out of this mess with their hard-earned bag of diamonds. Mr. Blonde, Joe and Nice Guy Eddie, who really cares about them? I just like to tell myself Mr. Pink, in all the shouting and gunshots we hear at the end, managed to blast his way through the cops and get away. Probably not, but still.

8) 2,000 Maniacs – Herschell Gordon Lewis (1964) – They’re sadistic, they’re evil and they’re southern, but they are just so damn happy to be killing people, you just want to laugh along with their sick glee. And they dispatch our heroes in such inventive ways, too! (The remake is also more than worth checking out.)

7) Serial Mom – John Waters (1994) – Come on, she’s just a protective mother. Somebody hurts her little girl, so she impales him with a fireplace poker and removes his liver. It’s more than fair. Besides, how can you not love a woman who makes prank calls with such a dirty mouth? If only she had gotten her hands on Suzanne Somers in the end.

6) Heavenly Creatures – Peter Jackson (1994) – The first two acts of this movie achieve such a sense of wonder and create such a believable bond between these two girls that even when they turn to murder, we don’t want them split up.

5) Deconstructing Harry – Woody Allen (1997) – This one is an unusual choice. Horror movie villain? No. Bad guy? The worst kind. Everything Harry Block touches turns sour. He’s a horrible person and he admits it freely. But every time someone yells at him or calls him on his awful, selfish behavior, I kind of want them to back off the poor guy. We’re alone in the universe, are you going to blame that on him, too?

4) Scream – Wes Craven (1997) – Officially, I don’t really think of this as a good movie and Skeet is just awful. But tell me the first time you saw this movie, you didn’t want Matthew Lillard’s bug-eyed freakazoid to win the day. I actually left the theater pissed off because the good guys won.

3) Sin City - Robert Rodriguez (2005) – Hell, there aren’t any good guys to root for here. Especially Marv. He’s one of the most brutal thugs in film history, but he has a moral code of his own. If you end up on the wrong side of his fist, you probably have it coming. “I love hitmen. No matter what you do to them, you don't feel bad.” The man loves inflicting pain, but he knows the difference between right and wrong and that just makes you want to give the giant ugly son-of-a-bitch a cuddle.

2) Arsenic and Old Lace – Frank Capra (1944) – Two compassionate old ladies euthanizing strangers, offering the ultimate cure for their loneliness. I have seen this movie countless times and laugh my ass off every time I watch it. You adore the two balls-out insane old women with Teddy Roosevelt burying ‘yellow fever’ victims.

1) The Devil’s Rejects – Rob Zombie (2005) – From the moment Baby Firefly says, “I love you, mama,” as their house is under siege to the end when she’s firing her gun wildly, determined to take as many cops with her as possible, you just can’t hold anything against this girl. Her giggle is just so infectious. She could kill everyone you love and then turn to you and laugh and just make your heart melt. And that’s not the only thing she does with that mouth.

Top 10 Films of 2009 Because Who Doesn't Like Lists?

10 - (500) Days of Summer (Marc Webb)

9 - Sunshine Cleaning (Christine Jeffs)

8 - An Education (Lone Scherfig)

7 - Coraline (Henry Selick)

6 - District 9 (Neill Blomkamp)

5 - The Milk of Sorrow (Claudia Llosa)

4 - Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)

3 - The White Ribbon (Michael Haneke)

2 - Antichrist (Lars von Trier)

1 - Where The Wild Things Are (Spike Jonze)