What was 2011?

       2011 is ending. Great for me personally because it was possibly the worst year of my life and let's hope history doesn't repeat itself. However, this is mostly a film blog and we will focus on all things celluloid. Thus a few things that happened in 2011, film-wise:

1) The Social Network lost to The King's Speech and David "God-like" Fincher lost to bloody Tom Hooper in the Oscars. These Oscars were the first one I properly followed, unlike earlier when I would have seen a few films and performances. I am probably never going to forget it... too much devotion towards TSN.

2) My childhood, along with hundreds of thousands of others from "my generation", ended with the final installment of the Harry Potter film series hitting the theatres. A lot of tears were shed as we said goodbye to the Boy Wizard and his friends and Hogwarts.

3) Pirates of Caribbean 4 came out- honestly who remembers this? Me neither, and I actually liked the film...

4) Loads of superheroes- some were terrible and green, and the others were better than I expected, most notably the film with Fassy in the turtlenecks and the film in which Chris Evans is a scrawny kid from Brooklyn.

5) A few nice surprises like Midnight in Paris and Bridesmaids. Even Rise of the Planet of the Apes, with the ridiculous name, is one of the better reviewed films of the year.

6) Two absolutely stunning films about the cosmos and human life came out- The Tree of Life and Melancholia. One won the Palme D'Or, the other suffered due to the director's big mouth. Still, I'm pretty stoked about Kirsten Dunst winning the award for her brilliant performance.

7) This year will be looked back as the year when Ryan Gosling came on his own, hence it was the Year of the Gos. I for one, was always a fan, even before The Notebook, and it gave me a lot of joy. People were left gobsmacked at his photoshopped-esque beauty in Crazy, Stupid, Love; they felt the thrill of the Driver in Drive; and they were totally won over by his charm in The Ides of March. So much so that the crowning of Bradley Cooper as the Sexiest Man Alive for 2011 led to protests and petitions being signed (I signed one myself). In all of this though, the Gos has remained completely oblivious and awesome- breaking fights and making comedy videos and oh what a lustrous career ahead!

8) The biggest breakthroughs this year was ofcourse Jessica Chastain and Michael Fassbender. Seriously, how many people knew about Chastain existing before 2011? But she was in everything, and was lovely. Fassy fever hit me and many others this year, and this is only the start. Along with them, four other actors, who were quite brilliant this year, I am looking forward to see are Asa Butterfield, Elizabeth Olsen, Ezra Miller and Tom Hiddleston.

9) Quite a malnourished year when it comes to animated films. People really enjoyed Rango, though I was totally won over by The Adventures of Tintin. What this year did have was two very well received films about films,  Hugo and The Artist, which is always great.

10) This year was also when one of the greatest and most beautiful actresses ever, Elizabeth Taylor, died. She will be sorely missed.

(So those were the 10 things that pop into my head when I think 2011. For cutesy purposes I guess, I shall talk about an 11th thing, that isn't film-based so much, but meh- my list!)

11) I discovered the brilliance of Doctor Who (the Eleventh incarnation no less) and Sherlock, and went gaga over the genius that is Steven Moffat. Also since we're taking a personal route here, I finished Quentin Tarantino's filmography, started and finished watching all of P.T. Anderson's films, and started on auteurs like Pedro Almodóvar and David Lynch. Yaay :D

All in all, a pretty decent film year I think. Goodbye 2011, hello 2012!

This is a Poster-Appreciation Life- 2011 edition

Last year, and I think everybody will agree with me, Darren Aronfsky's Black Swan had the most beautiful posters, and of it were a competition, it would've emerged as the obvious winner. 


Case in point-

Perfect.

I will now attempt to review some of the posters from 2011 (I might have forgotten a few :P)-


Despite the vigorous poster campaign from the Harry Potter group, none of the 500 million posters were actually that brilliant. 

Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris was the most enchanting film of the year, and it cleverly uses what might be my most favourite painting ever, Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night, as part of its poster.

I think Ryan Gosling films had pretty good posters, especially with all that hot pink in Drive, and one truly ingenious The Ides of March poster.

Kirsten Dunst looked absolutely beautiful in the stunning albeit extremely depressing, Melancholia. The same  goes for the poster.

I just searched for this film, and a lot of "Young Adult" book reviews came up. So witty.

Steve McQueen's follow-up to Hunger has an equally minimalistic poster, which I think truthfully captures the essence of the film, and keeps you wanting more. Also, I love the naughty French poster.

Roman Polanski's multi-starrer had an awesome colourful poster.

Another gem was the poster of Tomas Alfredson's Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy. The film is set in the Cold War times of codes and deceit, and that's exactly what we get.

Steven Spielberg brought to screen a most iconic character this year, and the posters just go to sow how even the shadow of Tintin immediately resonates with us.

The original poster to Pedro Almodóvar's The Skin I Live In was a beaut. Too bad it got changed.

The most eye-grabbing poster of this year was the teaser poster for David Fincher's The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo. *Love* Fincher's guts so much!

Martha Marcy May Marlene had some very alluring posters too, and I think is thus far closest to Black Swan status. See especially the moving one.

But finally, the most gorgeous and dazzling poster of them all, which I think single-handedly beats Black Swan and almost every other poster that I have ever seen, is the one and only *cue drum roll* The Tree of Life, from master filmmaker Terrence Malick. You just cannot look away from it.

 Absolutely amazing.

"I don't carry a gun... I drive."

             As the hot pink lettering on the black screen fade away, and an electronic beat starts playing, we hear the voice of a man, a nameless man, who is talking about the streets of a city. The first image that comes on the screen is of a marked map, and then we see this man, his scorpion jacket and everything, talking on his phone, telling the person on the other end of the line about his conditions and rules. Soon we find out that this nameless driver is the getaway driver for two robbers and what then ensues is one of the most riveting opening sequences that I have ever seen, definitely the best one since last year's The Social Network. But while TSN's opening sequence showcases the clever dialogue that will become the essence of the film, Drive's opening sequence shows the mystery and the efficiency of the Driver, the fast-paced action and an excellent car chase, the almost addictive pop score, and of course, the total unexpectedness of 'what will happen next' that will continue throughout the film. And this really is just the beginning.


            It is because of this unexpected nature of the film that I will just mention the obvious plotline that one is able to devise from its trailer. There is a man, who I'm sure everyone knows by now, doesn't have a name and is simply called the Driver in the film's IMDb page. He drives stunt cars in Hollywood films by day, and is a getaway driver at night. He meets a woman named Irene and her kid, and his very exciting yet lonely life changes, for what seems, the better. That is until her husband returns from prison and is in some kind of trouble. The Driver decides to help him, but then all hell breaks loose. It is then that the Driver has to takes things into his own hands to protect the only people he has seemingly ever cared about in his life.

          God I make that sound so clichéd, and you know even if the basic idea seems all too familiar, the film really is not. Atleast not to me. I have read innumerable reviews in which comparisons have been drawn to 70s action flicks, and that it is an "arthouse Transporter" and that's probably right because people have seen much more cinema than I have, obviously. I am not at all familiar with 70s action films and I have not seen any of the Transporter films because of reasons unknown to all of us. Personally speaking, I found elements of Taxi Driver, American Psycho and A Clockwork Orange in the film, but the latter two were just singular scenes. I sort of liked my ignorance in this case, having had two amazing cinematic experiences, and this film has just left me wanting so much more.


              For one thing, I am going to watch all of Nicolas Winding Refn's films soon. He has made one stylish film here, for which he won a well deserved Best Director award at this year's Cannes. I am a  huge fan of specific shots that make me go "And this is why I love films", and they were there in Drive aplenty. The lighting especially defined some of the best shots in the film. For starters there was L.A. as the back drop, and it is the city of lights and the perfect place to film those amazing car chases. Then the kiss, which was dazzling and beautiful. Towards the end there was a scene with a lighthouse, and it has stuck to my brain like superglue, I was that impressed with it. But those are just some scenes. Contrasting with these bright gritty scenes, there were scenes between the Driver and Irene, like when he takes her and her kid for a drive, that were soft and intimate and just real. I liked the emotional sweet parts as much as the gory visceral ones. Refn struck a great balance in this film in this way. While the first-half was slow, but darling, the second-half was one intense, brutal ride. The screenwriter Hossein Amini should get equal points for this; he really has written a thrilling film that isn't just some action flick with computer effects galore, but  rather a somewhat emotional film with quite a violent streak in it.

            Speaking of emotional things with violent streaks, can Ryan Gosling as the Driver be more bang on? And fantastic? It is one of the most restrained performances that I have ever seen. He only speaks when completely necessary, he drives with utmost focus, he smiles occasionally, and though they are not big smiles, they seem ginormous because of the rarity of such smiles. And all this is important, because once he breaks this reserve of his, he is a very dangerous man who can bash your brains out, quite literally. I think this might have become my favourite performance by Gosling ever. Gosling, who has the ability to give really intense performances but more on an emotional level, is almost stoic here. The Driver seems to have no feelings or thoughts or cares, but once Irene and her kid enters his life, we immediately understand how devastatingly lonely he is. I am going to put in another superbly clichéd line here so you have been warned, but he tries to save them so much because they had saved him. He was a nameless man with a pointless existence, no matter how cool, but they give him a reason to live and fight for something. Sure his methods are a bit out of hand (if there ever was an understatement...), but his motives are in place, and because of all this, Driver has now joined the very prestigious list of my favourite anti-heroes. 


          It is true that this was Gosling's film through and through, but the whole ride would have been slightly boring, inspite of the awesome music playing (more on that later), if he wasn't backed by some stellar supporting performances. The two I really loved are of Carey Mulligan's, who plays Irene, and Albert Brooks's, who plays Bernie Ross. It is true that Mulligan can do sad roles well, my favourite one was in Never Let Me Go, but I really did not expect Irene from her. What I mean is that the whole image of a lonely, American single-mother with her husband in prison is not what one necessarily thinks of when they think of Mulligan, but she pulled it off. She is sweet and adorable in the film, and no wonder the Driver would want to go to any lengths to protect her. Her chemistry with Gosling was incredible. During their, for lack of a better word, courtship period, the simple smiles and long glances that they gave to each other was more sincere than most over-the-top romantic crap we see nowadays. The second time when I had gone to watch this film, it was with two female friends of mine and one of them kept trying to think of expected lines and things that we are so used to in such scenes. But none of that happened, which is good. It made me think of something Uma Thurman said as Mia Wallace in Pulp Fiction, "Why do we feel it's necessary to yak about bullshit in order to be comfortable? ...That's when you know you've found somebody special. When you can just shut the fuck up for a minute and comfortably enjoy the silence." If anything can define the Driver's and Irene's relationship, it's that quote. And that kiss...*swoon* Apparently Gosling put it in there because he really wanted to kiss Mulligan. Good call sir (Lucky Bitch!).

               Albert Brooks, on the other hand, is the furthest thing from sweet and adorable you can find. Of course if you think that being a two-faced, murderously efficient or efficiently murderous mobster is sweet and adorable, he is exactly that. When we first meet him, he seems okay...I mean as far as mobster go, talking about his fortune cookies and all. But the second he meets the Driver and admits to his hands being dirty, you know this guy is bad news. He tries to be friendly with everyone- the Driver, Shannon, who is played by Bryan Cranston, Nino, played by Ron Perlman, but something evil and disturbing lurks underneath his skin. While I only had Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver to compare the Driver with, and that also not so much because the former now looks like a Parliamentarian orator compared to the latter, I could see clearly the kind of mobster Bernie Ross was. He had the whole gruff talking and frighteningly vicious criminal thing down. And that is amazing, seeing that Brooks is famous for being a comedic actor.


              Among the others, Cranston was good as an almost-fatherly figure to the Driver, who has a lot of bad luck. Now most people would compare this performance of his to his character in Breaking Bad, but I know him as Malcolm's dad, so you can see how remarkable it was to me. I especially liked the final part of when his character is shown. Perlman, a.k.a. Hellboy, was the slobbery, angry mobster Nino who contrasted with the perfectionist, cool and collected Bernie. Oscar Isaac played Standard, Irene's ex-convict husband. He could have been deadly generic, but he was very good too as an emotional family man who is trying to do the right thing. Christina Hendricks of Mad Men was in this as well. She had a really minor role, albeit a pivotal one, but honestly I couldn't care less about her. Last, but not the least, Irene's son Benicio was played by Kaden Leos, who was so cute and his scenes with Gosling were lovely and touching.


        I have two more points to make about this film, but I'll take help of another review. This is what NME magazine had to say about Drive:

'Drive is the epitome of cool. It isn't just as cool as fuck. It's cooler. That's right: “Drive Is Cooler Than Fuck”.'

I agree whole-heartedly. Three reasons: the first is everything I have written above- you know the whole mysterious scary driver, and stunning shots, and stylish directing, and splendid acting. The second would be the music. I personally am not a big fan of electronic, synth-pop tunes that were prevalent throughout the film. Having said that, I must say that I am now a big fan of those tunes because of the way they were put in the film. Gosling has talked about how he chose Refn to direct this film because Refn had wanted to make a film about a guy who drives around at nights listening to pop music. So you see the music is as an integral part of the story as the friggin' Driver himself, somewhat. The four songs that come in the film- 'Nightcall', 'Under Your Spell', 'Oh My Love' and 'A Real Hero' were perfectly placed according to the mood and feel of the film, especially 'Under Your Spell' which plays when Standard returns and it is playing in his welcoming party and it just means so much to the Driver and Irene. Ahmazing! The final reason why Drive is so fucking cool is because of the iconic status that it is going to inevitably reach. The Driver, with his duo-coloured scorpion jacket and leather gloves and toothpick-biting and the song 'A Real Hero' describing him...it's all going to become huge. I can see it. It has been a while that a film has really gotten a cult status, the last film worthy of it was Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, in my opinion, though that had Michael Cera and this has Ryan Gosling. I know I shouldn't care about how cool a film is and just think about all its goodness, but meh. I want to be the person who was there when it all happened. Drive might be for me what Pulp Fiction was to the people who were old enough to get it in the 90s. And that seriously is wayyyy cooler than fuck.

       I guess that's all folks. I loved this film to bits, my second favourite this year, that too only by a margin. It is awesome and gritty and smooth and just a hell of a ride. Oscar-wise, I'd love to see Refn, Gosling and Brooks get recognised but this film is a bit non-Oscar-baity. And I don't even care about that because um, was The King's Speech cooler than fuck? I didn't think so. So anyways, GO SEE IT!!

"We are going to BANG!"

             About 5 months back the trailer of Crazy, Stupid, Love released and I went nuts over it. But being a film of the majorly terrible (nowadays) romcom genre, I had some reservations about it. When I finally watched it yesterday, I was glad to see that the film did meet my expectations on most parts, and was just the kind of completely entertaining film I needed to break my movie-watching dry spell (I could not go through Eclipse okay).

           The film basically centers around three plots about the craziness and stupidity of falling in and out of love. The first story is of Cal and Emily, a married couple of nearly 25 years who see their marriage coming to a standstill after middle-age has hit them, especially with Emily having had slept with a co-worker, David Lindhagen. The second is about how a rich ladies man named Jacob sees Cal in his pathetic, depressed state and decides to help him "rediscover" his manhood, and by that I mean wear a lot of expensive clothes and hit on women with utmost ease and then bang 'em. It is at this time when Jacob finds the awkward and gorgeous Hannah who starts to change his life and lifestyle too. The third story is about Cal's son, thirteen-year-old Robbie's love for his seventeen-year-old babysitter Jessica and her love for "like parent-old" Cal. 


            I liked how the different stories interlinked in the film. It could have been deadly generic, but it was fresh and funny. There is a part where it starts raining and I was like "What a cliché!" and then Steve Carell, who plays Cal, says exactly that. I think the film stayed very true with its title and showed love and all its facets in all age groups and many realistic scenarios. It was funny not in a slapstick or gross way, but in a relateable way, like how I mentioned above. I love pop-culture references and this one had quite a few of them...I mean I will never look at Dirty Dancing the same way again.

             Obviously what really drives the film is the super attractive and well, effortlessly talented cast. Steve Carell is adorable here. From being all depressed to being goofy and then charming, and all throughout being a man who has never stopped or never will stop loving his wife, his character was very likeable and I sort of liked how they didn't show him reaching total rock-bottom, because they do that a lot. His wife is played by the beautiful Julliane Moore who is as naturally funny and sweet as she is dramatic and awesome. Both of them had such a real chemistry between them and their random jokes and conversations were very believable because that is how married couples are, or should be. Emma Stone, whom plays Hannah, is going to be a comic genius one day, I know it. She is so expressive and hilarious and awkward, but in an honest way, that she always makes one feel that they know her. Ryan Gosling plays the suave playboy extraordinaire Jacob. He was..ahem..good, ofcourse. I think I should leave it at that otherwise I will be slobbering all over my key board. I mean seriously it's like he's photoshopped unreal, and I am not going to lie- a HUGE reason why I enjoyed the film as much as I enjoyed it is because Ryan Gosling is a total sex-god in it who should be worshiped everyday, all the time. Marissa Tomei plays one of Cal's "conquests" and she is probably the funniest person in the film. I just love her. Kevin Bacon was Lindhagen, a universally hated character in the film. Robbie was played by Jonah Bob and he was a cute kid. I liked how he idealised love...in my head he grows up to be Tom Hansen. I was surprised to see Analeigh Tipton from ANTM there, but she was sweet and confused like all teenage girls should be. Also Josh Groban made his film debut in this, playing a bore. Lastly, I loved Liza Lapira as Liz, Hannah's best friend, because she reacted to everything, especially to Mr. Sex-on-Legs Jacob, as I would.


           I personally thought that after the great revelation towards the end of the film, the film gets a bit boring. Especially with the Jacob-Hannah story. If they had ended it on a higher note, or atleast have an amusing ending, I would've liked it better. Also I want a spin-off with Marissa Tomei's character being the protagonist- "I am 5 years SOBER!" Still, the film was cute and enjoyable and keeps the romcom candle burning brightly. Watch...if not for anything else then for Ryan Gosling eating a slice of pizza like it was some sort of ambrosia and he is was a Greek god from heaven, in a suit.

Thoughts

1) I just read this at The Film Experience and honestly I have been thinking about this for a couple of weeks now- remember how I said this year was the Year of the Goz. Well, it might just not be that and be Year of the Fass instead. How does one choose between Ryan Gosling and Michael Fassbender? Both of these men are obviously brilliant actors (even though I haven't seen the "Oscar-buzz" films of this year yet, but you know what I mean). And they are mind-numbingly sexy. And they are effortless in everything they do. I think only after seeing Drive and Shame can I truly decide whose Year it is for me (The Ides of March is still getting lukewarm response and A Dangerous Method is more of a Keira Knightley thing it seems), but it will break my heart.


2) So I haven't seen any films since I don't know when. I have been watching all the True Blood episodes. How amazing is that show? I think, in my adequate vampire-entertainment-related knowledge, it might just be the best vampire thing ever. Followed by Let The Right One In. And then today The Vampire Diaries starts again. And and, tomorrow on the telly, they will show the Movie of the Month- *cue drum roll* Eclipse! And New Moon before that! YESSS!! Surely you must realise that sitting in front of the telly and laughing my ass off at sparkly vampires, poverty-stricken werewolves who cannot afford shirts, and mopey annoying girls right before my exams, is what I do best. Don't you love how I am breaking my movie-watching hiatus with these two films?! Coming back to True Blood, I am so in love with Alexander Skarsgård. I need to see a film in which Skarsgård, Gosling and Fassy play brothers. Or kinsmen. Or soldiers in an army. Or bar-hopping friends. I don't care- I NEED IT!! (Deluded hormone-driven teenage girl fantasies). 


3) I think the big trailer of this week is Cameron Crowe's We Bought A Zoo. It's so lame. I was actually looking forward to it, and then when the trailer came out I realised an important thing in it which I don't like- animals. I am not the biggest animal-movie fan, in the live-action sense. And the film looks terribly sappy. I love Say Anything and Almost Famous, and respect Jerry Maguire, and so I kind of had hope for it, but I dunno. I highly doubt I will watch it. But I am a huge Elle Fanning fan now, and maybe a sudden surge of love for Crowe might make me.


4) Okay one more thing which I was reminded of from the The Film Experience post- I need Alexandre Desplat to get nominated for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2. That score is amazing!! I can live and die listening to 'Lily's Theme', I do not kid you. I did download the Tree of Life score by him too, but I dunno. I'll give it another go sometime later. Desplat is also doing the scores of The Ides of March and Carnage. That being said, I am super duper excited for the Trent Reznor-Atticus Ross score in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. It seems the 8-minute footage that have been shown in selected cinemas in the US has been well-received. YAAAYY FOR THAT!! I recently finished reading the book, and I can tell you that the Swedish film did no justice to it.


5) I did a really random post on Indiana Jones this week, spurred by Raiders of the Lost Ark coming on the telly, which I could not watch because it was my grandmother's Hindi soap opera-time. These two pictures are just a continuation of that...hipster style!

Ofcourse.
Thoughts over.

Thoughts

Whatever thoughts I had has been wiped out from my mind by this THIS-

and THIS

          2011, as said in The Film Experience Blog, is truly the Year of the Goz. Just last week I was saying how I thought after watching Drive's trailer that Ryan Gosling has the anti-hero action movie star thing down, and now he looks perfect in a political drama scenario. He might just be the best actor out there at the moment, and this year will be historic because of his talent. And fuck! He looks so good too.


          Speaking of good looks, I also love the idea of George Clooney as President. This film definitely has a very strong support cast, and I have no idea where my loyalties lie at the moment- Giamatti or Hoffman? This is gonna hurt! The trailer gave me Social Network-esque chills, and that's just not because Max "Divya" Minghella is in this too.


       So this makes me ask the question...what will be the "The Social Network" film for me this year? I think the following might become the candidates-
1) Tree of Life
2) Midnight in Paris
3) A Dangerous Method
4) Ides of March
5) Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy
6) Drive
7) Carnage
8) Hugo
9) The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
10) Melancholia
11) The Artist
12) Tintin
13) We Bought a Zoo
14) The Descendants


         I haven't seen any of these. The only films thus far that I saw and thought were actually good were Hanna and Jane Eyre. I enjoyed Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 2, X-Men: First Class, Captain America: The First Avenger and Bridesmaids also, but summer blockbusters and female-driven comedies don't get much love from AMPAs.


         Yes...random line of thought triggered by the AMAZING Ides of March trailer and poster over. What do you think will be your __________ film of the year? And HOW amazing will the Year of the Goz be?