The 2013 Paulies

What a fantastic year at the movies.  Even as an armchair critic and regular dispenser of cinematic snark, I had a hard time mustering negativity about this year’s crop of films and Oscar nominations.  I mean, the Academy actually rewarded the best picture of the year with the Best Picture Oscar (12 Years a Slave), gave a slew of technical awards to one of the best recent feats of technical filmmaking (Gravity), and even gave the “miss congeniality award” (or as they call it, Best Original Screenplay) to a wildly original and heartfelt film that didn’t exactly crush the box office (Her).

Of course, AMPAS being AMPAS, several nominations also went to: (1) a mediocre Scorsese rip off with wigs, wide lapels, and name brand onscreen talent (American Hustle); (2) a turgid black and white travelogue with delusions of profundity (Nebraska); (3) an issue drama that only rises above Lifetime movie status because of the charisma of its lead performances (Dallas Buyers Club); (4) a decent enough thriller with unpleasant geo-political overtones (Captain Phillips); (5) and Philomena (sorry, this is the only Best Picture nominee I missed).  But overall, there just wasn’t much to get worked up about….unless you count Bette Midler’s musical performance taking the focus away from one of the most brutal “In Memoriam” lineups in recent memory.  So (mostly) hooray for the Academy…and hooray for the filmmakers that made this an excellent year at the cinema.

My annual caveat still applies.  I am not a film critic and, as such, I can’t see everything.  Some movies I missed this year that may have made a difference in the final tally include: Bastards, Philomena, Blue Caprice, Like Someone in Love, Beyond the Hills, At Berkeley, and The Great Gatsby (hahahaha).  In addition, some movies that were well represented on critics’ top-10 lists did not, to the best of my knowledge, get a DC theatrical release in 2013 and have not yet been released on Blu Ray/digital download.  These include: A Touch of Sin, The Wind Rises, and The Stranger by the Lake.  I will roll them into my 2014 list if they pass muster.

Also, consider this a blanket SPOILER ALERT for all movies discussed. 

The 2012 Paulies

So, once again we find ourselves in late February.  Winter is hopefully on its last legs and so is the interminable season of Hollywood self-congratulation.  But before we bid the films of 2012 adieu, we all must endure one more bloated awards show featuring Seth Macfarlane…and, of course an equally bloated write-up featuring me.  I leave it to you to decide which of us is more annoying.

Overall, it was a very good year at the movies and even the Academy recognized it.  While the Academy and I were not in complete alignment (and where would the fun be in that), at least they only nominated two terrible movies for Best Picture (oh Les Miserables how I loathe you) and that’s progress in my book.  The rest ranged from excellent (Amour, Django Unchained) to entertaining enough (Lincoln, Argo) to a unique but confounding first feature (Beasts of the Southern Wild).  Not too shabby.  Of course they left the best movie of the year out in the cold but that’s just par for the course.

This year, I did manage to see everything that was nominated for Best Picture so I have included capsule reviews of each of the Best Picture nominees in addition to the usual top-10.  However, I didn’t get to everything.  Some notable films that I missed this year are: Tabu, The Turin Horse, This is Not a Film, Cloud Atlas, Barbara, and Rust and Bone.

The 2011 Paulies

One of the presenters on Sunday evening said (and I paraphrase) that the mission of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is to promote excellence in filmmaking.  Not to be glib but…really?  In the decade that I have been writing this yearly list of reviews, takedowns, and potshots at Baz Luhrman, I can’t remember the Academy ever having been so disconnected from both the moviegoing audience and the critical community.

Now it is certainly no secret that the Academy does not include film critics or see eye to eye with that ill-defined group of bloggers, journalists, and broadcasters.  But this year, despite nominating NINE (Seriously, how did they get that number?  To go over 5 nominees under the new system, I’m pretty sure a film needs to be on at least 5% of the ballots cast and be in the top-10 in total votes.  So at least 1 out of every 20 members of the Academy liked Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close…a lot) movies for Best Picture, only one of the nominees was in the top-10 of the Village Voice Critics Poll and only two graced the top-10 of the Indiewire Critics Poll.  On its own, this wouldn’t be entirely shocking except that this year’s nominees weren’t even popular.  Per Box Office Mojo, the highest grossing Best Picture Nominee (The Help) was only the 13^th highest grossing picture of 2011 and you have to go all the way down to number 41 to find the next nominee (War Horse).  In all, the 2011 Best Picture nominees averaged just over $60M in domestic box office.

Based on the numbers, it is clear that the nominees are, by and large, not popular with critics or moviegoers.  So, why the hell are they being honored and how do they somehow represent “excellence in filmmaking?  Sadly, the mission of the Academy is not (and, arguably, has never been) to reward excellence but rather to express the tastes of the predominantly old, white guys who run the industry.  While the “groundbreaking” research done by LA Times (click the link!) does not exactly constitute an earth shattering revelation, it does shed some light on whose opinions of excellence are reflected in the Academy Awards.  Now, I am not saying the Academy is racist (or ageist or sexist or any other “–ist”) but it is undeniable that the rather undifferentiated demographic makeup of its voting membership has a strong influence on which films are recognized by the Oscars.   Moreover, I think it is safe to say that, unless something changes (or some of these old dudes die off), this Leonian Divide will only grow, giving us an even clearer differentiation between the Good, the Popular, and the Oscar.

But enough about the Oscar process…on to the Paulies! 

The 2010 Paulies

Welcome to another edition of The Paulies…slightly delayed, as has been the case the past few years, by some work related issues. It has been almost a decade of the Paulies now, though those first magnificent tones of rabid semi-coherent criticism have been lost to history. In all that time I guess the “big change” has been that the Academy nominates ten films now…and this year I managed to see them all (Yay?). But, as they say, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Sadly, more nominations does not equal more chances for a small or challenging movie to seizee victory. Before the show went on the air, everyone knew which films actually had a chance of winning (just look at who got the Best Director nominations...but really I didn’t read one analysis that thought anything but The King’s Speech or The Social Network even had a chance.) and which ones would have to content themselves with the joys of having their producers’ plastic smiles broadcast on an unwieldy split screen. At least the ten film format does give some extra exposure to the Winter’s Bones of the world but most of the field was still filled with mediocrities, and sub mediocrities, like The King’s Speech, Toy Story 3, and The Kids are All Right. Ah well, like I said, the more things change…

But fear not! As always, there were plenty of good films released in 2010. So fire up your Netflix queues, get your finger on the VOD button, and read on…

The Aughts Project - Top 10

Just an FYI as I prepare to post the Paulies.  I never did get the commentary done on these but, for informational purposes, here is how the Top-10 shook out.  Even if I didn't end up doing everything I wanted with it, it was very interesting and informative and I want to thank everyone who participated. 

As a reminder, the numbers within the brackets are as follows [total points/total ballots]

The Top 10

10. Kill Bill (Volumes 1 and 2) [112 – 6]

9. The Royal Tenenbaums [114 - 7]

8. Mulholland Drive [132 – 7]

7. Children of Men [134 - 8]

6. The Dark Knight [150 - 10]

5. No Country for Old Men [154 - 9]

4. Memento [164 - 10]

3. There Will Be Blood [166 - 9]

2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind [190 - 8]

1. Pan's Labyrinth [207 - 9]:  You have to love that a movie that got overlooked for even a Best Foreign Film Oscar was considered the best movie of the decade. 

The Aughts Project

What is the Aughts Project you ask?  Well, it all started at the end of last year when everyone and their mother started putting out “Best of the Decade” lists for everything from magazines to reality TV stars to eating trends.  Of course, I decided I would put together a top-50 list of my own and throw it out into the ether. But, as much as I like to pretend that my opinions are correct (and that anyone gives a damn what I think), I was curious about what my friends, family, and co-workers considered to be the cream of the Aughts.  So, the call went out from Coast to Coast and 13 stalwart film lovers responded. Their lists were entered into the secret Paulies database and scored using the methodology described below.

The 2009 Paulies

Welcome once again to that wonderful post-Oscar tradition known as the Paulies.  Unlike the Oscars, this top-10 list will not feature two over the hill movie stars spitting on the corpses of Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, a nonsensical NPH musical production, or Ben Stiller in blue body makeup (though it will hopefully elicit more forced laughter).  Also unlike the Oscars, the Paulies will be shorter this year.  I am finishing up work on The Aughts Project (a list of the best movies of the decade as voted upon by my friends and family members) and I’d like to get it posted before the next decade ends.  So, this year I am going with an illustrative quote from the movie and a couple of (hopefully) pithy lines instead of my usual rambling diatribe. Check back in the next day or so for the Aughts posts…or, better yet, sign up as a follower of The Paulies and get notified whenever there is a new post.

As always, my usual disclaimer applies: I am not a  professional critic and I didn’t see everything this year (despite my best efforts).  Some notable movies I missed are: Summer Hours, The Blind Side, Sin Nombre, Antichrist, The Road, Julia, The Last Station, Broken Embraces.