In celebration of The Friends coming to netflix in January! Here are The Friends!

Glad to have you back...

You sick fucking assholes. "Hi my name Ross, DUUH." 

Oh yeah, so I have a podcast...

A couple of my buds and I have a terrible podcast that we're pretty proud of...

98 Degrees Heat Stroke (With The Ninja Turts!)

It's not film related and somewhat pop-culture related? I don't know, it's just wacky! Give it a listen!

Night Of The Demons theme

The opening credits theme to Night Of The Demons is pretty awesome.

So far, a movie full of peculiar aesthetic choices and awful dialogue.

Woah.

Everything Is Terrible! as far as I'm concerned, are the masters of the found footage game. They're new project is called Memory Hole and their videos are beautifully nightmarish. Click on that link and watch their videos! Here's a taste though:

Also, I'm sorry I haven't updated this blog in so long! I've already failed on the "being consistent" aspect of my blog description. But hey! I'm here! An update from my last blog. I saw Mac DeMarco in San Francisco this past week and it couldn't have been better. Seeing both Limp Bizkit's "Break Stuff" and "Enter Sandman" being covered was the best treat one could receive. His new album Salad Days is my current favorite album of the year, so there's that.

As for recent film watches that were notable...

Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes was pretty incredible. One of the most wholly satisfying genre films I've ever seen. The Grand Budapest Hotel is probably my favorite film of the year so far. The Raid 2 trumps over the original in almost every way and it literally makes almost every big summer action movie look pretty weak in comparison. Blue Ruin was amazing, and my original #1 most anticipated film from this year! The 1987 horror film, Brain Damage came out of nowhere and blew me away. It's the second film from Frank Henenlotter, the man behind the horror cult classic Basket Case. Anyways, Brain Damage is a very unique, interesting film and I'm shocked this isn't considered to be essential viewing. There's a great underlining theme on addiction in there, as well as a turd-like talking penis monster. As silly as that sounds, it works. In fact, I may be posting my list of my top fifteen favorite 1980s horror films soon and Brain Damage will be on there somewhere! Keep an eye out on that!

I like the cut of his jib.

This guy will be opening for Mac DeMarco in San Fransisco this July. I am officially extremely excited for this dream boy pairing.

Top five tracks of February and I suppose a month in review?

I haven't been posting as much as I'd like to in recent weeks. I've been busy! Not doing anything particularly important, mind you. February is coming to a close (and if I don't finish it by the end of February, then it'll already had come to a close), so I think it's time to continue my month-long tradition by posting my favorite songs released this month. Oh, and if you're wondering why I haven't been posting so much, I've been spending my morning computer time (which is when I usually write these things) watching True Detective. And if you haven't been watching that show, I highly recommend finding a way to do so. It's brilliant and the most thrilling thing on television at the moment.

Anyway, without further ado... here are my favorite tracks of the month!


5. Trust - "Capitol"

4. Beck - "Wave"

3. Sun Kil Moon - "I Love My Dad"

There are so many great songs on this album, any of the tracks could have made this list but I'll list this one because I heard it in February!

2. Cloud Nothings - "Psychic Trauma"

1. Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks - "Little Fang"

A few honorable mention songs that I really liked:

https://soundcloud.com/woodsist/woods-moving-to-the-left

https://soundcloud.com/fatpossum/spiritualized-mississippi/

Album of the month:
 

Sun Kil Moon, Benji.
 
This is going to be a top ten album of the year for me. There's not enough I can say about it, but I'll put it simply. This is one of the most heart-wrenching, beautiful albums I've ever listened to. As heavy as the album can be, it's often sweet, funny, and heart-warming as well. I've dug Kozelek's stuff for a while now, but aside from a few great songs, nothing has worked as well for me as this album did.

Best songs: "I Love My Dad," "Richard Ramirez Died Today Of Natural Causes," "Dogs," "Ben's My Friend," and "Carissa."


Great runner-up albums:

Yumi Zouma, Yumi Zouma.

Only four tracks, but it's perfect from start to finish.

Beck, Morning Phase.

Not quite on par with Sea Change, but it's still a very solid record.


I haven't given myself time to really listen to St. Vincent's album yet, but I've liked what I heard. Also, I'm pretty overwhelmed with all of the music that's out right now so you may see albums released now, that I won't talk about until April or May.


As for my movie of the month?

My previous movie of the week post! We Need To Talk About Kevin.



Alright, I'm done.

Dream Warriors!

So it just came to my attention that A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors just turned 27 today. This movie is special to me for a few reasons, not only was it released during my birth year (1987) but it also happens to be my favorite Elm Street film, and one of the better horror films of the 80s which makes it one of the best horror films ever made.

Sure, none of that is extremely personal enough to warrant it to be truly "special." I can't exactly recall what my Elm Street timeline is, my first memory of watching a Freddy Krueger film was seeing the fifth one in the iconic series, The Dream Child, at the tender age of eight. After that, in fifth grade I remember trading videotapes with a good friend from school at the time, a few of which were Elm Street films taped off of Showtime or Cinemax. Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, and Dream Warriors were those films. I loved them all, each with their respected charms, but Dream Warriors was definitely the one that stood out to me at the time. The special effects were incredible, and among the best of the decade. The film marked the transitional phase between "Scary Freddy" and "Comic Freddy," implementing the strongest of both personality traits. Plus, his best one-liner can be found here: "Welcome to prime time, bitch!" I'm basically trying to say I love this film.

Anyways, happy birthday you filthy animal!

This is why Thailand is better than we are...

With that said, our poster was pretty damn cool too. I really miss hand-painted horror movie posters by the way.

The best horror film of 2014 has just arrived (in trailer form)

If you're a fan of horror films, then that probably means you're a fan of filmmaker, Ti West. Ti West is responsible for some of the better (and scarier) horror films of the past few years, The House Of The Devil and The Innkeepers. The red-band trailer for his new film, The Sacrament, was released earlier today and it looks intense!

I'm not sure how I could forget to include this on my Most Anticipated Films Of 2014 list, I would've fit nice and snugly in there. Anyways, I'd start getting excited because Ti West's name will one day be synonymous with horror, just as much as George Romero or Wes Craven is today.

Happy Valentine's Day everybody! Here's songs!

Pure X - Starlight

Woods - Moving To The Left


Thee Oh Sees - Penetrating Eye

The 25 Best Films Of The 2000s

This took longer than I wished for, but here it is folks! My 25 personal favorite films of the 2000s!!! That's 2000 - 2009 mind you, enjoy!

25. Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai [2000]

24. Shaun Of The Dead [2004]

 23. Bronson [2008]

22. The Proposition [2006]

21. Brick [2006]

20. City Of God [2003]

19. Finding Nemo [2003]

18. Zodiac [2007]

17. Kill Bill Saga [2003/2004]

16. Mulholland Drive [2001]

15. Before Sunset [2006]

14. District 9 [2009]

13. Synecdoche, New York [2008]

12. Sunshine [2007]

11. Requiem For A Dream [2000]

10. Memento [2001]

9. Donnie Darko [2001]

8. Dogtooth [2009]

7. Punch-Drunk Love [2002]

6. 28 Days Later [2003]

5. Children Of Men [2006]

4. Inglourious Basterds [2009]

3. Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind [2004]

2. No Country For Old Men [2007]

1. There Will Be Blood [2007]

So there you have it! There were a lot of films that loved during that decade that didn't make the cut, so here's my big list of other great films from the 2000s:

Inland Empire

The Dark Knight

Pan's Labyrinth

Oldboy

Lady Vengeance

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Irreversible

Enter The Void

Thirst

The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy (especially Fellowship)

25th Hour

The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford

Grindhouse (Death Proof being the better of both films)

Waking Life

A History Of Violence

Almost Famous

The Man Who Wasn't There

A Serious Man

The Hurt Locker

Tideland

Spirited Away

The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou

Dear Zachary: A Letter To A Son About His Father

Ratatouille

The Incredibles

21 Grams

Coffee & Cigarettes

Dogville

Half Nelson

This list could go on and on... Bye bye!

Movie of the week!

Since I haven't posted anything in a few days (I'm working on a list at the moment! Maybe we'll see it in the next few days?), I might as well post something. Keep the content coming, they say! The subject title says it all, this is my movie of the week!

We Need To Talk About Kevin [2011]

If you haven't had a chance to see Lynne Ramsay's finest film to date, We Need To Talk About Kevin, I recommend you rectify that situation. It's a hauntingly beautiful portrait of parenthood GONE WRONG (sorry, everything is an exploitative Fox TV special in my head) and it mirrors every fear I have about the subject. As fascinating as the story is, and as wonderful as Tilda Swinton is in the film, I'd recommend watching it just for the masterful visual storytelling. Ramsay's use of lighting and color (pay attention to the reds, blues, and yellows) to accentuate guilt and story is some of the best display of the technique I've seen in recent film. It's been nearly a week since I first watched it and it's still present in my mind and it'll likely stick with you for a long time.

I thought about giving the film some sort of gimmicky rating, but my ms paint pictures are already my gimmick. Can one have two gimmicks and still be okay? I don't know. But I give this movie FOUR BAD MOMMIES AND DADDIES OUT OF FIVE.

Philip Seymour Hoffman (1967 - 2014)

We lost a true artist yesterday, even more tragic because he died at the young age of 46. Philip Seymour Hoffman was one of those rare talents in which he improved literally any film he appeared in, he had a phenomenal on-screen presence and he'll be dearly missed. His work has influenced my passion for film as much as any great director has. I've been a fan ever since I was a kid, watching Twister nearly every day, his character "Dusty" being the best part of the film. In the rare instance of appearing in not-so great films, he managed to create memorable characters even when the writing didn't warrant it (Along Came Polly, Twister). As great as he was as a dramatic actor, he also was a great comedic actor. One of my favorite moments of physical comedy comes from his character in Along Came Polly:

His body of work is as close to perfection as an actor could achieve and here's a list of some of his most noteworthy performances. I highly recommend checking every one of these films out:

Capote

Before The Devil Knows You're Dead

The Savages

The Master

Synecdoche, New York

25th Hour

Magnolia

Boogie Nights

Owning Mahowny 

Happiness

There are so much more. I'm really fucking bummed about this. We're lucky to have had the chance to see and admire his work and we can only wonder what else he could have achieved.

My look back at the Oscar's, PART TWO

Okay now, where were we? F those of you catching up, you can look at the first part of my two-parter The Matrix Reloaded/Revolutions deal...

And now, I will continue to criticize the Academy Awards!

2007

No Country For Old Men
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
There Will Be Blood

Listen up and listen good! This is one of the very few years in recent history where the deserving film won the award. To be honest, I still would have preferred There Will Be Blood because it's my second favorite film of all time and it's one of the few films released in the 2000s that will be considered a classic years down the line, if not already. I'm splitting hairs here, because No Country For Old Men is destined to be celebrated forever as well. If anything, I'm happy the Coen Brothers won what was long overdue.

Let me digress a little bit... Did you know both films were filmed in Marfa, Texas and at the same time? And apparently the Coen Brothers and Paul Thomas Anderson would invite each other to their sets to watch footage from both films? I think that's fucking awesome. Both films have always felt linked together, both spiritually and thematically. They feel like companion pieces, two incredibly bleak revisionist westerns. I'd also like to point out that another revisionist western similar in tone came out that year called The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford and a bit of that was shot in Marfa, Texas as well. It's a neat coincidence, and as far as the genre goes, 2007 was had a trifecta of great Western cinema.

Now let's get down to brass tacks! I think the nominees list is fairly accurate aside from the Juno nomination. I enjoyed that film despite its flaws, but Zodiac was the third best film released that year and it's a damn shame it didn't get nominated. It's David Fincher's masterpiece and maybe the best true-crime film ever made? I'll look into that! I get why Juno was nominated, and I won't argue that it didn't deserve to be nominated, but Zodiac is really important film that still garners thought-provoking think pieces and will continue to do so.

What should have won: There Will Be Blood. Eh, I think history will be on my side years from now.

2006

The Departed
Babel
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen

First of all, the two of the year's best films are not even nominated: Pan's Labyrinth and Children Of Men. Yeah yeah, I know, Pan's Labyrinth was nominated for Best Foreign Film. But fuck that! Pan's Labyrinth was one of those rare foreign films that American audiences decided to invite in with a warm embrace. And Children Of Men should have nominated because it's awesome and for its technical wizardry. But whatever, The Departed won. I loved The Departed, it's a great crime film and it's endlessly entertaining. And as great as it was when Martin Scorsese won Best Picture, it felt like an IOU by the Academy. Here is a small list of every time Scorsese was robbed at the Oscars:

- Taxi Driver [1976], what beat it: Rocky
- Raging Bull [1980], what beat it: Ordinary People
- Goodfellas [1990], what beat it: Dances With Wolves

You see what I mean? The Oscar's have been pussies for many, many years. Overall though, 2006 had a pretty solid list of Best Picture nominees.

What should have won: Pan's Labyrinth. Duh. It was the most original film made that year, one of the greatest fantasy films ever made, the make-up effects were phenomenal (and frightening), it was emotionally rich, everyone loved it, and it still managed to be a great war film.

2005

Crash
Brokeback Mountain
Capote
Good Night, And Good Luck
Munich

Fuck Crash! Any film released that year could have won over that diarrhea-fest, even Son Of The Mask! Crash is essentially a film written by a kid in high school who's just learning about racism in America. The film has a potentially great idea and could have been an interesting examination of race issues in Los Angeles, but it ended up being hokey and manipulative. If you want to watch an excellent film about racial tension, structured through vignettes in a similar fashion as Crash, watch Do The Right Thing. It's Spike Lee's best film and it was robbed of a Best Picture nomination back in 1989. What won that year? Rain Man.  

Rain Man is a good movie, it's a Saturday-afternoon cable staple for crying out loud! Do The Right Thing is one of the most important films of the last 40 years.

Terrence Malick's gorgeous interpretation of the Pocahontas-story, The New World is missing a nomination and that was a film that audiences seemingly brushed aside because Colin Farrell is in it. Then again, they did the same with Miami Vice [2006] and that's one of the most underrated films of the 2000s. I've still have yet to see Good Night, And Good Luck (even though I own it) so I'm not exactly qualified to choose here. Munich is excellent, and one of Spielberg's ballsiest films, even if it's a bit overlong. I think everyone who gave a shit back then would agree that Brokeback Mountain deserved it.

What should have won: Brokeback Mountain. It was the most talked about film of the year, with good reason. Not only was it important culturally, how many romance films between two gay men were recognized amongst a wide-audience before then? It was also one of the great love stories of the decade, as well as in recent history. Ang Lee's direction is perfect, the performances were incredible and because of that the emotional weight the film carries is well-deserved... unlike Crash! It's a shame that whenever Brokeback Mountain is referenced in pop-culture it's usually as a punchline to a joke. I'm not saying I'm above a gay cowboy joke (my ms paint picture below should indicate that), but I think the film deserves more than that.

2004

Million Dollar Baby
The Aviator
Finding Neverland
Ray
Sideways

This is one of the Oscar-baitiest lists of the 2000s, Ray especially (despite Jamie Foxx's great performance). None of them are necessarily bad, The Aviator and Sideways (which should have won from that list) were great and Million Dollar Baby was pretty good as well. But let me point out a few films that could have been nominated, Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, Hotel Rwanda, and Closer. There's not much to really discuss here because there's only one logical film that should have won.

What should have won: Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind. Not only is it one of the most wholly original and creative films ever made, it also boasts one of the great original screenplays (courtesy of Charlie Kaufman). Eternal Sunshine is a film that struck a cord with audiences, as surreal and abstract as the film is, it still resonates with almost anyone who's ever been in love or has been in a bad relationship. In fact, I'd say it's the best depiction of a failing relationship ever in film (and I'm including the extremely realistic Blue Valentine). What this movie achieves that so many films like it don't, it's funny and it rewards with each subsequent viewing because of how the narrative is structured. Eee! There's almost too much to say about this film, it's so richly-detailed with subtext and symbolism you find something new every time you watch it. The performances are spot-on (especially by Jim Carrey, who didn't even fucking get a Best Actor nomination) and the direction is gorgeous. I'd also like to point out that Michel Gondry and Kaufman's depiction of dreams is the most realistic portrayal of something that's nearly impossible to capture. Plus, I forgot to include this on my list of music used effectively in film post a couple weeks back.

Basically what I'm trying to say is that Eternal Sunshine could be the best film of the 2000s and even when it was released it was something special. So, screw the Academy for not recognizing it enough.

2003

The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King
Lost In Translation
Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World
Mystic River
Seabiscuit

I'm not going to argue with the Best Picture choice. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy (do I italicize "trilogy?") was the movie event of the decade and they were all fantastic films, The Return Of The King wasn't the best of the three (The Fellowship Of The Ring holds that honor) but it still was a huge cinematic achievement. It was well-deserved I say! Although, I'd also like to say that Seabiscuit is garbage. And here are a few films that could have replaced it: Monster, Kill Bill Vol. 1, Finding Nemo, Cold Mountain, Big Fish, City Of God, and 21 Grams.

What should have won: The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King. But it actually won! For the reasons I specified above. It's a spectacle in every sense of the word.

Whoo, finally done! Just remember kiddos, Pulp Fiction lost to Forrest Gump back in 1994. That's one of the great examples of the Oscar's making the wrong choice by playing it safe, and most film enthusiasts would agree that Pulp Fiction was the most important film of the decade and nothing has had it's impact since (please correct me if I'm wrong though, because I could be overlooking something.). I'm not one of those kinds of people who hates Forrest Gump, I love that movie, and it's something I rarely get bored of whenever I catch it on the television but let's be real here! I'm rambling now, kind of a weak finish to my blog, but I don't really care, I have to go to work in a minute.

I got a little too excited I guess...

Sometimes I hate when I get too excited about posting "best of" month/year lists a few days before the actual month/year ends. Things fall through the cracks... and two songs that could have surely made my top five were released within the past couple days. Take this charming (as fuck) song by Sales, "Chinese New Year."


https://soundcloud.com/sales/chinese-new-year

Check out their other stuff too, it's all great. Also, screw soundcloud for not letting me embed songs on here.


Also, a track from my #4 most anticipated album of the year was released the other day, and it's really good.

So let that be a listen I won't learn! Be patient.

Here are other cool songs that you probably need to listen to:

Gorilla Vs. Bear is one of the better music sites around, and I get introduced to a lot of cool music from their website. Also, expect the 2nd part to my Oscar's post in the next couple days.

The Black Atlass EP

If you haven't heard of Black Atlass, I highly recommend checking his stuff out. He released an incredible ep a couple years ago and it's FREE. That's the link! You can't beat free!

But I've also just learned he has a new EP coming out on February 18th, called "Young Bloods EP." There a new single out for it too:

It's pretty fucking smooth.

Now, here's my incumbent oscar's blog, 2013! Not your mother's Oscar's blog. PART ONE

In case you were wondering, yes, I took "incumbent" from the thesaurus. And this isn't a speculation blog.

I know as well as many that the Oscar's don't really matter aside from increasing ticket/dvd sales and rentals. The Academy rarely gets it right with whatever they choose as "Best Picture" for any given year. That's not to say that any of those films that won were shit, they're usually good-to-great films (aside from Crash, which was garbage water printed celluloid). I think they have their place, they bring attention to some of the better foreign films and documentaries of the year (even if they wimp out in those categories too) as well as some of the domestic ones that the casual movie-goer would have originally avoided. I don't hate the Oscar's, I do think it's celebrating film more than say, the Grammy's do for music.

I'm not going to speculate who's going to win this year other than "Best Picture," we've already seen plenty of those posts. This isn't terribly original either, but I'm going to point out what they've gotten wrong in the last ten years as far as their big award goes... soooo, here goes nothing!

2013

12 Years A Slave
American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Dallas Buyers Club
Gravity
Her
Nebraska
Philomena
The Wolf Of Wall Street

This year I'm a bit torn, they already got something wrong by leaving Before Midnight and Inside Llewyn Davis out of the category. American Hustle is probably going to win (undeservedly so), I like it a lot but it was one of David O. Russell's weakest films. The Wolf Of Wall Street should win because it did a far more effective job executing what Hustle was about, as well as being better and more funny movie. To be honest, I wouldn't mind seeing Gravity win either. It was one of the best genre films I've ever seen and a technical masterpiece.

Verdict (what should win): The Wolf Of Wall Street. As far as American films go, I don't think there's a more relevant film nominated right now. Especially in a year full of films based around capitalism, greed, and excess (The Bling Ring, Springbreakers, American Hustle, The Great Gatsby, etc..), this one succeeds and still achieves more. And why award American Hustle when it's a Scorsese knock-off anyways? I love films that draw heavy inspiration from Scorsese's work, Boogie Nights is one of my five favorite films but American Hustle doesn't even compare to the best films in that category.

2012

Argo (bold means it won that year)

Amour
Beasts Of The Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Misérables
Life Of Pi
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook 
Zero Dark Thirty

I admit, this wasn't my best year either. I've still have yet to see Amour or Lincoln. The 2012 ceremony already failed by leaving The Master and Moonrise Kingdom out of the category. Half of films already nominated should have won over Argo, don't get me wrong, I liked the movie but I really doubt people are going to have thoughtful discussions about it 10-15 years from now. Shouldn't those kinds of films be the ones that win? Sure, you can't really predict if a piece of art will survive and be important years down the line, but it's also not hard to assume which ones probably will be. If I had to choose out of those based on what I enjoyed the most, Django Unchained should have won. It was more exciting and tense than Argo by a long shot, the script was better and it was probably the most fun out of any movie that year. Zero Dark Thirty was a better thriller than Argo was even. Still though... The Master.

What should have won: The Master (Hypnotic, gorgeous, surreal, and ambiguous. This is going to be one of those films that people will write about forever and lectures will be based around it.).

2011

The Artist
The Descendents
Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight In Paris
Moneyball
The Tree Of Life
War Horse

Geez, what an incredibly boring nominees list. Extremely Loud and The Help? Really? I love how they nominate these middle of the road, bland feel-good movies to get more viewers for the television broadcast and still fail to get people to watch the Oscar's. While Drive was my favorite film from 2011, the one that deserved it was The Tree Of Life. So there. I haven't seen The Artist though, so maybe my opinion would be different?

What should have won: The Tree Of Life (It was the most unique film experience of the year, it had dinosaurs and outer space. Not to mention Terrence Malick's uncanny ability to compose perfect shots that resonate and make you feel something more than any of the manipulative shit from the oscar-bait films.)

2010

The King's Speech
127 Hours
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter's Bone

Another tough year, everything nominated was excellent and one of the few times where they got most of the nominees right. Except for the winner. I really enjoyed The King's Speech but it's one of the most safe choices I've ever seen win. The Social Network, Winter's Bone, The Fighter, Black Swan and Inception were all vastly superior, by a lot. That why it's hard to choose, because I feel like at least four of these films nominated are important footnotes in cinema. But honestly, what movie from this year inspired more than Toy Story 3? For an animated film about talking toys and a second sequel, it was more honest and beautiful than anything that came out that year. This is a film that is universally loved and will be forever, and it's Pixar's best film (which is quite the feat in itself). I don't think there's been a more moving film since its release (maybe I'm a weirdo?) and I won't be surprised when it makes many appearances on the best-of decade lists when 2020 rolls around.

What should have won: Toy Story 3 (for all the reasons I explained above.)

2009

The Hurt Locker
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
Inglourious Basterds
A Serious Man
Up
Up In The Air

The Blind Side? Fucking really? Eh, I don't even have the energy to go into that right now but it's essentially everything that's wrong with the ceremony. As satisfied as I was initially when The Hurt Locker won, in hindsight they made the wrong choice. Now bear with me, I might change my mind as I write this blog because apparently I write what I think when I think it. YOU CHOSE TO RIDE THIS SINKING SHIP WHY JUMP NOW? The Hurt Locker is incredible. It's a truly unique war film, it's essentially a series of vignettes built around elaborate set-pieces that gradually become more and more nerve-wracking and scary, all credited to Katheryn Bigelow's fantastic direction. It's also a great character-driven film and Jeremy Renner does an amazing job.

Another unique "war" film came out that year too and it was Inglourious Basterds. While it's genes can be found in many other films like The Dirty Dozen and The Inglorious Bastards, Quentin Tarantino always has a knack for transforming his influences/homages into something that feels new and exciting. In a year where Avatar was the big movie "event" (at least that's what they were forcing down our throats), Inglourious Basterds is the one that really ingrained itself into people's minds (in my fantasy world, maybe?). Christoph Waltz's brilliant performance alone is more memorable than almost anything from Avatar. Don't get me wrong, I loved Avatar. If I was eight years old, it would be my absolute favorite movie and the technical feats that movie accomplishes are outstanding and groundbreaking. Yet, there's still District 9, a wholly original science-fiction film that's consistently riveting throughout it's running time and still manages to be a powerful social commentary on apartheid. And then there's the elusive A Serious Man, one of the Coen Brothers' best films and one of their most mysterious. This is pretty tough, I'm not sure which one of these will be the most celebrated years down the line. Hmm...

What should have won: District 9. If I was measuring films by what I enjoyed more, Inglourious Basterds would be on top. But District 9 feels like a modern classic. It blends practical and digital effects seamlessly (like my boy, Jurassic Park does) and it's endlessly rewatchable. Plus, things I already said above.

2008

Slumdog Millionaire
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk 
The Reader

Okay, first of all, where's Wall-E, The Dark Knight, Synecdoche, New York, and lot of other great films released that year? While I prefer the five nominees list and there's no reason to have it be larger, three of those films could be switched out with the ones I've mentioned. Slumdog Millionaire was fantastic and it deserved to win out of those films, it was a feel-good movie done extremely well (thanks to Danny Boyle) and never managed to feel like Oscar-bait. Synecdoche, New York was unrepresented at the Oscars which is almost insulting because it didn't even garner a nomination for Best Original Screenplay and it's one of Charlie Kaufman's finest work. Sure the film is a mess (which is intentional), but messy films sometimes are more interesting than the finely-tuned ones, take Magnolia as an example. I can't think of a more ambitious film released that year, or most recent years actually. Even if this is a cliched answer, the real winner still should have been...

What the winner should have been (redundant after that last sentence, I know): The Dark Knight. Even though the film has come dangerously close to over-saturation in pop-culture, I can't think of another massive blockbuster film that brought almost unanimous appraisal from audiences and critics alike. It harbors an exceptional performance from Heath Ledger, no one will argue that his interpretation of The Joker will be considered one of the great villains in cinema. Heavily-influenced by Michael Mann's Heat (seriously, watch them back-to-back, the pacing and atmosphere are similar), it's a compelling crime film that continues the effective examination of superhero pathos from Batman Begins. It's a rare film that's executed so well you can believe any of the plotholes or inconsistencies in the plot, unlike say The Dark Knight Rises. It's also one of those rare instances where a summer blockbuster based on an existing franchise feels like a singular vision from a filmmaker, and not just some product designed to make money (and it made a lot of money). It's an important film, critically and commercially, it helped raise the bar for mainstream film and it still resonates with audiences, which could be partially attributed to Heath Ledger's tragic death but it's also just one hell of a movie.

To be continued... I realized if I went back ten years, this would be too long so I'm splitting it into two parts.

JANUARY! (in review!!!!)

Ladies and gentlemen, here are my top five favorite tracks released in January...

I'm limiting it to songs released in January for the list... which is tough because A LOT of great music has been released this month, just look take a look at these cool songs and these rad songs too. Some of the songs in my list will certainly be on some best-of compilations later this year.

5. Liars - "Mess On A Mission"

4.  Real Estate - "Talking Backwards"

3. Damaged Bug - "Eggs At Night"

2. Yumi Zouma - "The Brae"

Seriously though, Yumi Brae is going to be big. She's crafted some perfect dreamy pop music. Can't wait for the EP to drop in a couple weeks. In fact, I'm calling it now Yumi Zouma is the best new artist of the year!

1.  Sun Kil Moon - "Ben's My Friend"

I didn't see in a movies released in January, so I can't really comment on that. The best film I saw all month though was definitely Martha Marcy May Marlene. It took me long enough to finally see it and it lived up to all the praise. So I guess my movie of the month is that!

Movie of the month:

Runner-up: Wake In Fright [1971]


Album of the month!

Willis Earl Beal, A Place That Does Exist (EP).

This is the release that really opened up Beal's music for me. It's a beautifully, understated folk album and I can already see it being on my best-of list at the end of the year.

Here's two other albums you probably should listen to as well...

Silkken Laumann, Not Forever Enough.


and...

Cities Aviv, Come To Life.

I'm bored now, ENJOY!