Top Ten of 2005 and more

Gotta love posting top ten lists for a year that is not only 9 months ago, but also well out of the public consciousness by this point. Either way, this is how I roll. I can't in good conscience make a top ten list without having seen all the potential candidates so with that said, god bless Netflix and enjoy.

10) Grizzly Man - Possibly the most compelling documentary since Metallica: Some Kind of Monster as Werner Herzog demonstrates madness in a way that has never made the statement "truth is sometimes stranger than fiction" more true. While I appreciate and enjoy documentaries whose sole intention is to educate, I am even more compelled by documentaries that actually provoke. In the case of Grizzly Man, the truth may be presented before you, but the investigation only begins once the film has ended and reflection begins to take place.

9) The New World - Terence Malick has a reputation for such meticulous attention to detail that the fact he takes roughly a decade to make a new film has come to be expected. In the case of The New World, the wait is well worth it as history buffs will appreciate the rigid accuracy, those with an eye for photography will appreciate the gorgeous cinematography, and those who enjoy a bold narrative with a torrid romance (or romances) will all find something to savor as Malick manages to meld all these ingredients (and more) to make a completely engrossing and intoxicating picture.

8) Walk the Line - In general, I'm not a fan of the biopic because it too often has a tendency to have a trajectory that is far too predictable and boring. In the case of Walk the Line, the narrative does not tread any new ground, but it just goes to show what strong acting and a central story arc can do for a biopic. Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon give two of the best acting performances of the year as WtL manages to be both relentlessly compelling and endearing. By mainly focusing on the love story between June and Johnny and the aforementioned stellar performances, WtL manages to rise above the mediocre standard set by recent biopics.

7) Mysterious Skin - Don't get me wrong, the Doom Generation films were entertaining, but if this is what Gregg Araki has been holding back all these years, then he has been wasting time. That may seem like an insult to his earlier work, but really, it's an accolade for how good Mysterious Skin is. I can't recall having ever seen a film that found such a unique way to tell such a tragic tale. Araki's vivid imagination serves him well as he depicts how two teenagers might deal with such a horrible history and Joseph Gordon-Levitt proves his Angels in the Outfield days are far behind him as an interesting/talented acting career apparently lies ahead.

6) Match Point - Woody Allen has long been a filmmaker who has always been able to transition between comedy and drama as well as anyone, but for the past decade, most critics have not been terribly kind to any of his work, whether dramatic or comedic. I'm in the minority in that I don't think Woody's work of late has been utter shit, but I'm also not about to put any of it into the same category as Annie Hall or Hannah and Her Sisters. With Match Point, we can all thankfully celebrate a glorious return to form for one of the best American filmmakers to ever live. Every aspect of this film is executed to perfection with the only drawback being the story itself, which is one that we've all seen before, but when all the elements (acting, writing, direction, etc.) are mixed perfectly, it just goes to show what a master can do when in peak form.

5) Oldboy - Similar to what Saw was for me in 2004, Oldboy arrived in 2005 as an unexpected shot of adrenaline. One of the advantages of Asian cinema in general is that there is no Hollywood formula. Risks are taken, storylines are unpredictable, and in more intense pictures, if there is a body limb that can be mutilated or done away with, rest assured it will be done in the most stomach turning way possible. That doesn't mean that shock appeal is what counts (because it doesn't, that's why the American Pie movies suck), but when you're making a film about revenge, you want the tension and the rage to be palpable so that you genuinely feel anything could happen. In the case of Oldboy, sit back and enjoy madness at its best. And here I thought Takashi Miike was the only clinically insane director working today, but it looks it's time to make room for Park Chan-wook.

4) 40 Year Old Virgin - The funniest film since Wet Hot American Summer. The encouraging thing about Judd Apatow's directing debut is that he seems to get 2 basic aspects of good comedy: 1) Story and characters worth giving a shit about actually ENHANCE the comedic effect, not work against it, 2) Working in different kinds of comedy is beneficial. Steve Carell gives a great performance and the supporting cast is more than up to the task as Apatow manages to incorporate smart humor, stupid humor, perverted humor, racial humor, and a "you know how I know you're gay..." improv exchange that immediately carved itself a spot on the short list for the year's best scenes.

3) Munich - I'm a firm believer that somehow, someway Spielberg continues to be underrated, but that's another story for another day. Munich is an amazing feat because it manages to be a taut, intense thriller of consequence that actually challenges its audience. Is the war on terrorism a futile undertaking? Of course that's rhetorical in the most depressing way possible, but its depiction here makes it all the more real. Oh and Eric Bana continues to fly under the radar for some bizarre reason.

2) 2046 - The extent of my love and appreciation for the brilliance of Wong Kar-Wai has already been well documented on this blog so I won't try to belabor that point, but the conclusion to his Days of Being Wild/In the Mood for Love/2046 tragic love story is about as heartbreaking as one could hope. One of the most appealing aspects of Wong's work is his clear understanding of dreams shattered and the drudgery of life post-heartbreak. It doesn't hurt that he has the luxury of utilizing one of the best actors alive in Tony Leung. But is there a more gifted visual filmmaker working today? Assuming you allow yourself to abandon the typical storytelling/narrative techniques of what modern day cinema has conditioned you to, you won't find a more compelling or palpably emotional filmmaker than Wong Kar-Wai.

1) Brokeback Mountain - Talk show monologue fodder it may be, but please don't ever dismiss this film as the Hollywood darling that merely brought the gay love story into the mainstream. The fact that it didn't win best picture is just even more evidence of the Academy's incompetence, but in some ways, their dismissal can be seen as a long term blessing as films like Raging Bull and Citizen Kane have proven. Regardless of this kind of baggage, Brokeback Mountain is an incredibly potent examination of love lost and the potentially perilous effects of a socially taboo relationship. Never in my darkest hour did I think I'd say Heath Ledger gave the best performance of the year, but I'll be damned if it didn't actually come true. Brokeback Mountain makes you care so much about its characters that you genuinely feel the pain and heartbreak that they feel. It's quite a feat and its indelible imprint on our collective conscience makes it more than worthy of being number one on anyone's top ten list.

Runners-Up: Cache, A History of Violence, 3-Iron, Good Night, And Good Luck, Elizabethtown, King Kong

Individual Awards:
Best Actor: Heath Ledger - Brokeback Mountain: What a shock. I've never liked Heath Ledger nor thought him to be a capable actor, so him giving such a nuanced, heartbreaking performance shocked me as much as the next person.
Runners-Up: Bruno Ganz - Downfall, Tony Leung - 2046, David Strathairn - Good Night, And Good Luck, Joaquin Phoenix - Walk the Line, Joseph-Gordon Levitt - Mysterious Skin

Best Actress: Reese Witherspoon - Walk the Line: If only I could convince her to stop taking on generic Julia Roberts-esque roles. The girl can act. She proved it before in Election and further proves that that performance was not a deal-with-the-devil kind of arrangement.
Runners-Up: Toni Collette - In Her Shoes, Keira Knightley - Pride and Prejudice, Q'orianka Kilcher - The New World

Best Supporting Actor: Paul Giamatti - Cinderella Man: Not a particularly strong category this year, but it is a nice excuse to give props to Giamatti who, with each performance, continues to make a case for being one of the best actors of his generation.
Runners-Up: Jake Gyllenhall - Brokeback Mountain, Ed Harris - A History of Violence, Jason Schwartzman - Shopgirl

Best Supporting Actress: Ziyi Zhang - 2046: I've never been a big fan of Zhang's considering up to this point, she's pretty much just a pretty face stealing Gong Li's thunder and I'm not down with that. However, leave it to Wong Kar-Wai to find a way to make her bare her soul and her performance in 2046 was a true eye-opener for me. Just stay out of Gong's way.
Runners-Up: Amy Adams - Junebug, Frances McDormand - North Country, Robin Wright Penn - Nine Lives

Other Miscellaneous Awards (or lack thereof):
Worst Film of the Year: What can one say about a year that included such worthy candidates as The Producers, The Aristocrats, Wolf Creek, Ong Bak: The Thai Warrior, etc.? That doesn't even include an utterly disgusting entry like Rob Zombie's The Devil's Rejects (I guess rape is something Zombie thinks makes a horror movie seem "cool") or the source of my Oscar misery, Crash. Nope, this year's most dreadful movie-watching experience was The Longest Yard. Cliches abound about as much as the homophobia and oh yeah, it's not funny at all. I went into this movie to get out of the heat, there were a lack of decent options, and Adam Sandley is usually good for at least a few good laughs. Shortly afterwards, I wished I had stayed out sunbathing nude on the asphalt parking lot.

Most Underrated/Underappreciated Film of the Year: Elizabethtown - I had a hard time understanding how this film went largely unseen and uncared for by both critics and the general public alike. To me, this had every element of a Cameron Crowe film. Likeable characters, hilarious sequences, excellent dialogue, and touching moments. He even managed to make Orlando Bloom tolerable. Crowe deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for that feat. Oh well, instead of lamenting the past, let's move forward and hope more people will discover this gem on video/DVD. Runners-up: Melinda & Melinda, The Beat That My Heart Skipped, The Weather Man, The Brothers Grimm, The Ice Harvest, An Unfinished Life

Best Performance Within A 10-minute Sequence: Robin Wright-Penn in Nine Lives. The film is composed of 9 vignettes with marginal relationship to each other, some are effective and some aren't. In Wright-Penn's sequence, her performance is so mesmerizing and you get so wrapped up in her character that it's almost impossible to believe the length of her segment is the equivalent to an interview on the Tonight Show.

Crappiest Film that Scared the Piss Outta Me: One Missed Call. For a film that had some of the most pedestrian writing this side of Friday the 13th Part 18: Jason Gets a Pension, I was amazed that I was scared shitless at times. Thank the lord for small blessings, kids.

Film that should have been so much better: Sin City. We all know how much this film rocks in the visual sense, but the film itself...not so compelling. Elijah Wood's character is pretty interesting in a Hannibal Lecter kinda way, but other than that, when you have a cast that includes Clive Owen, Benicio Del Toro, Rosario Dawson, and a broken down Mickey Rourke, then you really have no excuse for the film to not move at a Pulp Fiction-like momentum.

Schoollll'ssss Out For Summer!

Thoughts on a couple movies I've recently seen:

Superman Returns - As a kid, I was a big fan of these movies and made it a point to watch the first two before seeing this new one since Bryan Singer's version is supposed to take place after Superman II. After rewatching the first two, I was reminded of how fantastic they are. The limited special effects do little to deter from the overall enjoyment of the films because the story is ripe with interesting characters that are worth giving a shit about. Not to mention, perfect casting was in order here as Christopher Reeve seemed absolutely born to play Superman and Gene Hackman delivers the kind of scene-chewing gusto necessary to make Lex Luthor a villain that is more interesting than the standard mustache-twirling, menacing-laugh-inducing psycho we're usually subjected to in these kinds of films. It just goes to show that while special effects eventually become dated, good acting and proficient character development never go out of style. In Bryan Singer's film, it's hard to openly hate the film because you can tell he earnestly tried to do the franchise justice. However, Singer really adds nothing to the series that hasn't already been accomplished by Donner and Lester's versions. I can't fault Brandon Routh, who gives such a sincere performance, or Kevin Spacey for essentially doing what Hackman did with Luthor (albeit, he did make him a little more diabolical), but the story itself does nothing to earn its keep. Kate Bosworth may be a better looking Lois Lane, but no way in hell is she better than Margot Kidder was in the role. Margot Kidder had that fast-talking swagger that was so characteristically Lois Lane, whereas in Singer's film, Bosworth takes on the stereotypical damsel-in-distress role waiting for someone to save her. Maybe that's the script's doing and it's not Bosworth's fault, but either way, Kidder and Reeve had great chemistry and you actively rooted for them. In Returns, I didn't really give a shit about THESE characters. The only reason I cared in the first place was because I kept thinking about the original films and how much I rooted for those characters. I like Bryan Singer and I can definitely appreciate his intentions/effort, but this may have been a case of letting sleeping dogs lie.

Lady in the Water - The venom being spewed in the direction of Shyamalan's latest is surprising to me. Although, maybe it shouldn't be since despite the reputation of being able to spit acid in print every which way possible, critics very rarely have shown the ability to take what they are able to dish out. The backlash stems from the movie critic character played by Bob Balaban. A character that Shyamalan has no problem um...disposing of. I remember critics bitching about the same thing with Todd Solondz's Storytelling. Get over it. It's unbecoming of you to reflexively criticize one guy for doing the very thing you are doing. It's his movie and it's a very small part of the movie at that, so let it go and let your insecurities play out through your work like everyone else. That being said, I enjoyed LitW. Certainly not for everyone, but if nothing else, you gotta applaud the guy's ambition. I've never been Shyamalan's number one fan, but I've always said that if you're gonna make a failure, at least make it interesting. And while I don't think that LitW is a failure, most would beg to differ, but I challenge them to honestly answer this question before destroying this movie in their reviews, would you rather watch John Tucker Must Die? That's right. Count your blessings.

next generation goddess of hollywood and the quest for inspiration

I watched Pride and Prejudice last night. Doesn't seem like a big deal right? Especially considering that they've made like 10 of them (no seriously, look it up, that's not me being a smartass...they really have made that many), but I had heard good things and I gotta say I was quite impressed. Newbie director Joe Wright clearly has some chops as I didn't know it was possible to stylize and/or add visual flair to a period piece, which is part of what is wrong with the majority of period pieces (or at least my initial interest in them). Of course, period pieces aren't supposed to be a cinematographer's dream job a la David Fincher or Jean-Pierre Jeunet, but considering film is a visual medium, it never hurts to spruce up the aesthetic a little bit. But I digress. The real thing that stood out to me about P&P was Keira Knightley. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the next great Hollywood actress. This is your mission, Keira, should you choose to accept it. It is there for the taking. She has the chops for it. Now the only question is whether she will focus on the "Hollywood" aspect or the "actress" aspect. Obviously, I'm rooting for the latter, especially since it's not like there's a lack of "pretty faces who need to get a clue" out on the West Coast. It's go time, Keira. Are you going to be Julia Roberts or Julianne Moore? Jennifer Love-Hewitt or Jennifer Connelly? Sarah Jessica Parker or Sarah Polley? You get the point. Choose wisely, Keira. Don't disappoint me.

Now on to other matters. One of the drawbacks of being immersed in the Netflix universe is that there is no possible way to be consistently blown away because quite frankly, there aren't that many good films out there. At least there aren't many within the sample I've been subjected to, considering I'm finishing up with the movies of 2005 and since I've already seen most of what I want to see or thought might be good, the dregs are pretty much what's left. I guess the one advantage to all of this is that it really makes me appreciate the films that knock me on my ass. Let's take a stroll down memory lane, shall we?

- I want to see a film that makes me want to dig deeper into the mystery like the first time I saw Mulholland Drive and all I could do was try to figure out what the fuck David Lynch was thinking. I talked about it nonstop and before all was said and done, I saw the film 6 times in the theater, each time taking someone new just because I relished the experience of witnessing someone get mindfucked like I did the first time.

- I want to see a film that has a performance so powerful that there are literally moments in the film that give me goosebumps because that particular actor/actress is so in the zone. The rest of the movie might be good or might be bad, but it doesn't matter because the performance overshadows everything else. The first time I saw Gong Li's performance in To Live, I was completely and utterly mesmerized. It's a great film, but her performance is part of that greatness. Her scene at the end is so heartbreaking and tragic that I almost watch the film solely for that reason.

- I want to see a film that scares the living shit out of me like the first time I saw The Exorcist. The film that redefined what it means to be terrified. I never want to see it again, but am nonetheless grateful for having experienced it.

- I want to see an intense action film that makes me want to run through the streets screaming "Where's the fuckin' van?!" as I shoot an AK47 into the air for no apparent reason. Terminator 2 was and still is this film for me.

- I want to see a film that is so intensely disturbing it puts me in a somber mood the rest of the day where I have no desire to talk, eat, or do anything, let alone sleep. I want disturbing images to plague my thoughts like the first time I saw Taxi Driver.

- I want to see a film that makes me laugh so hard I feel like I'm going to throw up. I want to see something like Dumb and Dumber that nearly made me piss my pants the first time I saw it.

- I want to see a film that makes me hate life the way that The War Zone did.

- I want to see a film that makes me love life and look optimistically at everything the way that Wonder Boys does every time I watch it.

- I want to see a film that breaks my heart the way In the Mood for Love does.

- I want to see a film that makes me question my puny existence and bow before the awesomeness of nature the way that 2001: Space Odyssey does.

But to paraphrase Jason Lee in Vanilla Sky: "The sweet is never as sweet without the sour and I know sour, which helps me appreciate the sweet."

bleh

It was only a matter of time before I hit a lull in my Netflix viewing extravaganza as films like The Kingdom of Heaven, Proof, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, etc. have proven that it's not all peachy in the glorious world of Netflix heaven. I guess if nothing else, it adds some levity to 2005, but even then, it sucks when you're trying to relax and enjoy a film only to be sidetracked by dull characters, lobotomized scripts, and uninspired direction. I haven't seen anything that I really could get behind since maybe Nobody Knows and Serenity, but even those weren't spectacular and even then, I watched Chungking Express again recently just to be reminded of what moving, inspired filmmaking is like.

I know I already wrote my drunken ode to Wong Kar-Wai, but goddamn, when you compare how he is able to fashion a palpable connection between the audience and his characters by maximizing the potential of aesthetics and a minimalized script, it constantly amazes me that these other directors and screenwriters cannot do the same with bloated budgets and supposed "experts" at their craft tinkering with every aspect of production. While it's true that they don't get the benefit of utilizing the talents of such masters as Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung, or Christopher Doyle, you would hope that there's enough talent out there to create comparable work. Just look at someone like Orlando Bloom's character in The Kingdom of Heaven, who is someone that is so noble that you need a potent gag suppressant in order to tolerate some of his character's actions/dialogue that it's ridiculous to accept this person as someone to care about, let alone root for, for an entire 145 minutes.

While I am not someone who turns his nose up at "Hollywood" for the sake of being cool or "intelligent" (in fact, I am a consistent advocate for the merits that it has to offer), I can't help but feel disdain for the system that currently feeds Americans their cinema while Asian cinema continues to push the envelope and encourage all forms of meaningful filmmaking.

tribute to a modern day icon

Oh how do I love Wong Kar-Wai...let me count the ways:

- I love that he makes films out of pure, unadulterated emotion with no script.

- I love that he is perhaps the most visually gifted filmmaker of this (or maybe?) any generation.

- I love that he uses the same and yet, most gifted of asian actors for all of his films, including Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung.

- I love that he understands so well, maybe more than anyone, the sentiments of heartbreak as well as the feelings of love and loss. It is never some trite, contrived version of human emotion.

- I love that the last lines of Chungking Express are so simple yet so perfect.

- I love that he repeatedly uses pop songs throughout an entire film to emphasize their effect and context.

- I love that In the Mood for Love hits all the right notes and pains your heart just to watch the two main characters interact.

- I love that 2046 is so strangely compelling, yet heartbreaking.

- I love that when I am watching one of his films, I feel every sentiment he is trying to convey with all of the lucidity imaginable.

- I love that he is one the best filmmakers working today.

good year

I just realized that I'm already developing a bad habit of actually writing reviews of some of these films and I don't want this to become all reviews b/c first of all, I don't have the chops to write a full-on competent review and secondly, this is mainly to be random musings on all things film-related. It's not like anyone sees this anyway, but I'm writing to my pretend audience. The one that needs to exist in real life so I can make a living watching movies all day and then share what I thought about them. Who doesn't want to get paid to say what they think not to mention validated financially that your opinion actually "matters"?

• Mr. and Mrs. Smith is way smarter and wittier than it has any right to be. The only drawback is that as a result of the aforementioned wittiness, the action comes across as mundane and tedious, until the final sequences (mainly the minivan chase scene). Part of what I love about the interaction between the two main characters is that **spoilers follow** once they find out they're both assassins, they immediately think the other is only casing the other person as a job, albeit a very long 6 year job, but nonetheless, a job. In reality, they actually connected on some level outside of their respective careers, but due to this newfound wrinkle of finding out what they REALLY do, they are suspicious of each other and neither wants to budge. The lack of communication and overt expression of their emotions over this is what makes their relationship so compelling b/c it's something we've all experienced. We've all been in a situation where we felt we knew what was really going on and that we were on to the other person, but were too busy focusing on ourselves to actually realize that the other person thought the same thing about us. The biggest key to communication is the willingness to open up and try to see the other person's side. I think the metaphor that the film uses for this concept works pretty effectively. That's not the only thing, the film has plenty to say about marriage and relationships in general. Flawless it ain't, but it worked for me.
• Also watched Three...Extremes and while I was disappointed given the pedigree involved, I will give Takashi Miike credit for taking seemingly boring ideas as scripted on a sheet of paper and making them suitably creepy and effective. His segment in Three...Extremes uses a plethora of horror movie cliches (girl walking into an eerily empty room, dead relative appearing in unexpected places), but manages to make them work because he uses surprising restraint and his lack of music is especially disturbing.
• Still have a little ways to go (maybe 15-20 films left) 'til I'm done with the 2005 crop of films, but I think I can already say that it was the best year for film since 1999. My only complaint is that there are very few masterpieces, but those are few and far between, otherwise they wouldn't be masterpieces I guess. Even then, my top three are secure, but with everything else, we'll have to see how everything shakes down when it's time to make the "best of" list.

bastards

I swear I better start racking up some kickbacks b/c of so many high-profile folks stealin' my shit. First, we had Jon Stewart stealing my Academy Awards joke not ten minutes after I had already posted it for the world to see on the internet and now we have this. A single day after my Curtis Hanson hero-worshipping, the IMDB decides to exploit the little man, read on:

"Is there anything Curtis Hanson can't do? The director who made silk purses out of sow's-ear thrillers The Hand That Rocks the Cradle and The River Wild, revitalized modern-day film noir with L.A. Confidential, went upscale-bohemian with Wonder Boys and then gritty-urban with 8 Mile, has taken another familiar formula and given it an amazing shot in the arm with In Her Shoes. As he's done with all his previous movies, Hanson has fashioned something pretty incredible out of pretty ordinary material and given it a life and energy that sends it head and shoulders above any expectations you may have had. Not only is it amazing that In Her Shoes works better than you expect it to, it's proactively good, a stellar accomplishment in an era of moviemaking when "not bad" is what passes for high praise for most mainstream Hollywood films..."

Yeah, In Her Shoes was their "IMDB Movie of the Day". It's all well and good, but c'mon IMDB, give credit where credit is due, I don't mind sharing.

Curtis Hanson

Curtis Hanson is one of those directors that can take just about any subject matter and make it as entertaining as humanly possible. I mean, the guy made a freakin' Eminem movie somewhat decent for chrissakes, THAT requires talent. One of the things I love about Hanson is that while his direction doesn't exactly break new ground, it is always so surehanded, there are very few missteps emotionally or tonally. Take his latest film, In Her Shoes, for example, it is not on par with his masterworks, L.A. Confidential and the best film of 2000 Wonder Boys, but he takes what is typically a manipulative tearfest and manages to make a funny, poignant motion picture that never becomes too cloying or over the top (well, maybe in a scene or two, but it's negligible). Now, I'm not saying that IHS is sublte, b/c subtlety is not one its strong points, but hey, not everything has to be dramatically underplayed a la Lost in Translation in order to be effective (even if it is no Lost in Translation). IHS works because Toni Collette is phenomenal and is more than ably supported by Cameron Diaz and Shirley Maclaine. Another strong point is that just because the subject matter is fertile ground for hokey manipulation and maudlin sentimentality, Hanson manages to mostly avoid those potential pratfalls by never letting the picture get away from him. Just when you think it is about to go off the deep end, Hanson reels us back in, it's almost like he knows exactly when and how to check himself. He has seen other dramas and taken note of when, where, and how they went wrong and he has disciplined and trained himself not to make the same mistakes. It reminded me of another film, The Cider House Rules, which had the opportunity in so many places to go down the wrong path, but it never did because Lasse Hallstrom knew how to play it just right. It just goes to show that the subject matter doesn't have to be original and groundbreaking in order to craft an effectively moving film. It just requires a director who knows what the hell he (or she) is doing...oh and a good script, actors, cinematography, score and all that other stuff matters too, I s'pose.

the dawn of a new era

Ah, now this is what I needed all along. A place where my film obsession can blossom unfettered and where guilt has no place since if you are subjected to my interminable ranting, it is by choice and not because you unwittingly became part of my "friends list" on livejournal. Speaking of, my livejournal page is responsible for the newest incarnation of my inter-whining. For the past 5 years, livejournal has been my home, but realized that for the past year or so, all I ever felt compelled to write about were movies. Given the fact that it was usually something like an end of the year top ten list or Academy Awards coverage, I felt bad for those on my friends list that had to scroll through a bunch of crap they probably don't give a shit about. Granted, I posted once in a blue moon, but still...either way, here I can post guilt-free and since Netflix has become my new teacher, mother, secret lover, a whole new world of film watching has been given to me. So, here's to a long summer of catching up on old classics I may have missed, brushing up on the Takashi Miike filmography, rewatching old Woody Allen, and of course, hating Crash 'til the end of time.