A Quick List of Anticipated Movies

I'll be honest with you all - I've been a bad moviegoer this year. I've seen not more than ten films, and I've missed out on a lot of movies I've wanted to see. Plus, besides The Tree of Life, I've not been floored by any of the year's output (though almost everything has been pleasantly and surprisingly enjoyable).

However, there are quite a few upcoming releases that I just can't wait to get my hands on - so without further ado, a quick look at my top ten most anticipated releases for the rest of 2011.

10. Shame - This would be higher based on the Fassbender/Mulligan factor (both actors I love) if there was just a bit more information about it. For now though, I'm content with my curiosity.

9. A Dangerous Method - Cronenberg is a fascinating director, and with Fassbender as one of the leads, this is a must see. Also, after Keira Knightley's surprisingly powerful work last year in "Never Let Me Go", I'm looking forward to see what she can do with what looks like strong material.

8. Crazy, Stupid, Love - The cast is impeccable. Julianne Moore and Emma Stone? Ryan Gosling AND Marisa Tomei? It's coming out this weekend so thankfully the wait isn't that long!

7. The Artist - It looks so quirky and interesting - the silent film aspect is intriguing and I look forward to something so different and unique.

6. The Skin That I Inhabit - It seems like Almodovar has been trying to make something frightening for the past few years, what with "Volver" and "Broken Embraces" having dark elements. Thus, this all out horror film is extremely exciting - plus, remember what happened last year when an auteur made a shameless horror movie? Brilliance, that's what.

5. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - I love the book, and though I was underwhelmed by the original, the trailer looks like Fincher's going to blow us all away. I can guarantee that I'll be midnight screening this one.

4. We Need to Talk About Kevin - I read the source material, which was unbelievably dark and disturbing, and it's a perfect role for Tilda. Honestly, Tilda's one of those actresses who I would watch reading the phonebook.

3. Contagion - OH MY GOD THIS CAST. I love every single member of this cast and the trailer looks frightening and thrilling.

2. The Future - I've not seen Miranda July's debut feature, but I'm a big fan of her writing (if you haven't read her short story collection, "No One Belongs Here More Than You", you absolutely should), and the trailer showed a lot of promise.

1. Melancholia - Um, did you guys see the trailer? There is absolutely nothing about this that I don't want, right now.

"Midnight in Paris" Trailer

Hm. Strangely, I was much more excited about this movie before watching this trailer (which is kind of the opposite of the point of a trailer, right?). It seems like Woody is rehashing the same old stuff he's been doing for the past few years and unfortunately the repetitiveness is starting to get tiresome. However, I'm still definitely willing to give it the benefit of the doubt, with the amazing cast that it boasts. The trailer does, at least, give us some insight to that aspect of the movie - Rachel McAdams looks like she's going to be a blast, Marion Cotillard is looking as stunning as ever, and hey there Mimi "my teeth are bleeding" Kennedy, good to see you!

Anyway, though I'm not as enthusiastic about the movie as I was about ten minutes ago, I'm still going to be seeing it for sure. How about you all? Thoughts or reactions on the trailer? Speak up below!

Golden Cornea Awards 2011: The Supporting Actresses

Hm, this is perhaps my most "alternative" category, as almost none of my top five received as much mainstream praise as they perhaps deserved. I do think it was a very strong year though, with a really fantastic variety of performances from a whole group of fantastic ladies. So, my personal favorites!

5. Amy Adams - "The Fighter"

I honestly think Amy Adams can do no wrong, though playing against type seemed like a risky gamble for her. However, she totally pulls it off and then some. Charlene is such an interesting character, thanks heavily to Adams's complex and multilayered performance. She never takes the easy way out and even through her thick accent she has an irresistible heart and moxie that transcends the typical "supportive girlfriend" role that she was given.

4. Dale Dickey - "Winter's Bone"

Dickey's performance is simply frightening as Merab. She's a conflicted character - it's obvious that she cares about Ree, but her loyalty to her family comes first. Just watch as Dickey changes from protective matron to helpful friend from beginning to the end of the movie, it's a fantastic arc. Her haunting and expressive eyes seal the deal.

3. Naomi Watts - "Mother and Child"

"Mother and Child" is, as I mentioned before, full of fantastic performances. But Naomi Watts is particularly notable because of how much her performance simply should not have worked. On paper, her arc is borderline ridiculous. However, Watts makes her character powerfully real, human and believable. Her change from beginning to end is simply beautiful to watch and that elevator scene...perfection.

2. Ellen Wong - "Scott Pilgrim VS the World"

You can read my full thoughts on her here. Simply, Wong steals the movie from the rest of the uber-talented cast and creates an unbelievably loveable, beautifully sensitive and perfectly funny. I just can't get enough!

1. Jacki Weaver - "Animal Kingdom"

Oh my goodness, I can't even begin to describe this performance in words. Weaver is always in the background, always watching over her children, always an ever present force that drives the rest of her family. She's not perfect - she's manipulative, she's definitely a criminal, but she's no villain. Above all she loves her sons and will do anything for them. Weaver's Smurf is so effortlessly complex that her motives and actions can simply not be shaken from your mind. Weaver is truly a force of nature.

Honorable Mentions:

Okay, there will be a lot, so prepare yourselves. In "Black Swan", Mila Kunis slides effortlessly in and out of each of her scenes, with a natural ease that is unmatchable, while Barbara Hershey is a frighteningly powerful and even sympathetic force onscreen; Rebecca Hall is just the right amount of pathetic and loveable in "Please Give"; Kirsten Dunst single handedly saves "All Good Things" with a devastating and truly emotive performance (cast her NOW!). Dianne Wiest is fantastic as embodied grief in "Rabbit Hole"; Kerry Washington gives a wonderful, and perhaps the most interesting, performance in "Mother and Child", even when her character's being a total bitch; Marion Cotillard provides the complete heart and soul of "Inception" and her Mal is a fascinating force of primal emotion; Melanie Laurent's role in "The Concert" may be small but she does so much with it; I wasn't much a fan of "City Island" but Emily Mortimer is joyously cute and yet perfectly complicated; I thought Melissa Leo's performance in "The Fighter" was kind of all surface no substance but my oh my, what a surface it was.

Almost Made It:

Kristen Stewart in "The Runaways", Lucy Punch in "You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger", Tammy Blanchard in "Rabbit Hole", Helena Bonham Carter in "Alice in Wonderland", Anna Kendrick in "Scott Pilgrim VS The World", Ann Guilbert in "Please Give"

Wow, so many ladies to mention I just couldn't stop myself. In case I haven't covered someone, who were your favorites? You know the drill, comments below! :)

Golden Cornea Awards 2011: The Costumes

I'm not going to pretend to be a connoisseur of fashion or anything, but I can definitely tell you what I like and dislike and movie costumes, when done well, can be extremely enjoyable eye candy. So, without further ado, 2011 in costumes...

5. Jacqueline West - "The Social Network"

At first it may not seem like much, but this subtlety is its greatest strength. Every character is dressed marvelously and the integration of the costumes with the rest of the narrative is seamless.

4. Laura Jean Shannon - "Scott Pilgrim VS the World"

Every colorful and often over-the-top costume in "Scott Pilgrim" is perfectly suited to the character that wears it. Shannon suits Scott in the perfect band shirts, Knives in the most adorable of Catholic school girl uniforms, and Ramona in perfect hipster chic. Every costume is so much fun to behold!

3. Mary Zophres - "True Grit"

The film doesn't have many costumes, but the ones it does have are simply marvelous. The way that Mattie's clothes are always just a little bit too big and way that LaBeouf's uniform seems to both match and betray his persona are just a couple of Zophres's wonderfully solid achievements.

2. Antonella Cannarozzi - "I Am Love"

The costume design nomination for Cannarozzi at the Oscars was surprising, but totally and utterly deserved. Never before has Tilda Swinton looked so fabulous as in this film, and like "The Social Network" Cannarozzi fits the characters so well, contrasting the stoic suits of the Recchis with the colorful outfits of Emma. Perfection.

1. Carol Beadle - "The Runaways"

This may seem like an off kilter choice for the best costumes of the year, but simply watch the movie and you'll see what an accomplishment they are. Beadle not only captures the era perfectly, but is able to costume the film's characters with a unique voice and vision, too often lost in period recreations. But perhaps best of all is that the costumes, while brilliant, never distract from the movie, and that is the most important accomplishment.

Honorable Mentions: Black Swan's gorgeous and often demented costumes just barely missed this list; I don't think they're very unique but The King's Speech still dresses its characters well; Obviously it's not hard to make Marion Cotillard look stunning, but her black dress in Inception was perfect and the rest of the cast looks really spiffy too.

Surprised by my choices? What were your favorite costumes of the year? Sound off in the comments!

My Long-Delayed Review of Inception

Okay, so I know everyone is SO over Inception. After all, it is very "July", and people have moved on to bigger and better things. But! I've only just now gotten the enthusiasm to organize up my thoughts about it, and so I felt it was worth it to write them down. You all know what Inception is about and who is in it, so let's just dive right in.

"Inception" is a very, very entertaining movie. It's a perfect summer movie - fast paced, action packed but intelligent enough for discerning viewers, and very interesting. Not only that, but it provides a discussion topic for countless conversations post-view. The acting is quite good (more on that in a bit) and, for all the hype, it did not disappoint.

However, Inception is nowhere near the mind-blowing movie that I thought it would be. To be honest, while I know that everyone is disputing what exactly happened (including myself), I feel like the movie was just a bit too up front with all of the information. One viewing is perfectly sufficient to grasp every bit of information needed to propose an interpretation of the film. For a movie about dreams, it was unsatisfyingly grounded.

On that note, I felt that the visuals were restrained. There were some fantastic moments (the slow motion, the exploding stuff with Ariadne, and the rotating hallway for example), but overall, everything was very bland to look at. Perhaps Christopher Nolan was going for a bleak look, but the whites, grays and blacks that permeated the color scheme just got so tedious after a while. Ellen Page's red sweater thing was like a breath of fresh air in the gloomy movie.

And, since the movie is about dreams, one could hope that the dreams were more creatively constructed visually. A dream-centric movie like "Paprika" (which I could not help but compare this to) which is simply visually brilliant, makes even the best visual creations in Inception look unoriginal. On the other hand, I can see why Christopher Nolan did that - it's the human architects who are constructing the dreams, they wouldn't bother to make them look fanciful, right?

On the acting front, Leo DiCaprio was absolutely fine in his role. He actually managed to make this crazy-man different from his Shutter Island persona, which I was quite happy to see. Just having Ellen Page and JGL on screen made me light up, even though they had very little to do. Cillian Murphy and Tom Hardy really shined in surprisingly juicy roles. Best in show goes to Marion Cotillard, who simply stole every scene that she was in with a primal, emotional power. My favorite scene in the movie was probably the one where Ariadne and Mal have the showdown in the abandoned hotel room. So intense!

So, okay. I know I just ripped on the movie like crazy but I really did like it, and it's one of the better ones I've seen so far this year. It's still remarkably intelligent and so well layered - I'm still trying to figure out. It's not my favorite Nolan film, and I feel it pales in comparison to The Dark Knight especially, but perhaps the reason I'm being so harsh on this poor movie is because (A) I'm instinctively nonconformist, and (B) I keep comparing it to better films ("Paprika" and "Dark Knight" especially).

Well, there you have it. Great summer movie, very intelligent, though it felt a bit too restrained at times. Marion Cotillard FTW!!!

7/10

2009: The Performances

Because I never did this, and because I like to hang on to the past. Haha!

So these are just my favorites...what about you? React down below!