Ever since George Clooney learned how to hold his head still while acting (approximately 2000 A.D.), he's become much more effective, and UITA is a perfect vehicle for whatever it is he does. It has a tendency to hold the audience's hand a bit too much, but Alan Smithee forgave it that because it was so entertaining.
Fantastic Mr. Fox
After the self-indulgent and unfunny The Darjeeling Limited (2007), Wes Anderson bounced back with this original and entertaining film that no one saw. FMF is wry and touching - possibly due to the collaboration with Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale (2005)) - and visually delightful.
Up
Up joins Monsters, Inc. (2001) and WALL·E (2008) as one of Pixar's masterpieces. The talking dog collars alone are worth the price of admission.
The White Ribbon
Didn't see it. Was it good?
District 9
Alan Smithee chose to ignore the inconsistent portrait of the aliens in District 9 and enjoy the visceral sensation the film creates, which stays in your memory for a long time.
Whip It
No one ever remembers comedies like this at award and end-of-the-year listmaking time. But Whip It, which reminded Alan Smithee of Breaking Away (1979) (it even features BA's Daniel Stern - very effective as the father) was one of the best of the year.
Duplicity
An above average espionage film made more intriguing by its clever structure.
Most overrated films of the year - whatever year it was
Most overrated films of the year - whatever year it was
(500) Days of Summer was structurally interesting, but otherwise creepy. It almost ruined Zooey Deschanel for Alan Smithee, but her recent cameo on TV's "Bones" won him back.
Away We Go - Alan Smithee has long had a thing for Maya Rudolph, but AWG (co-written by Dave Eggers) felt shallow and elitist - proof that novelists don't necessarily make good screenwriters.
Avatar just looks like it would be terrible.
4 comments:
Whip It? White Ribbon? I shall have to investigate.
I read Up in the Air; can't see it as a movie, and I understand the director used actual people who are job seekers and didn't tell them. Snarky.
UITA Director Jason Reitman recruited people who had lost their jobs during the recession to play the characters who get fired in the film.
I have no desire to see Avatar, really.
Haven't seen any of these yet. I'm still finishing up the films of two years ago. Sad, isn't it? So don't delete your archives because I may need to refer to this post again, oh, about the summer of 2012. If we are still here, of course.
But, as some boob will say, Avatar just broke the earnings record. That means it must be good, just like the previous winner, Titanic, another silly expensive epic.
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