Lists...

So...I never really understand Best and Worst Lists...

I guess we read them to agree or disagree...to reflect on our own year of media and experience...and to prove to others why we are right.

However, this was the year that I lost all perspective.

I liked everything. (Well...almost everything.)

And I was even told by more than a few people that my opinion was not to be trusted anymore because I was too positive.

Well, so what?! I've been having a good year...I'm full of positive energy and hope...I am open and appreciative...

And really...what person who might actually be reading this really cares what my favorite movies, books, whatever of the year were anyway!?!?!

So, here they are.

the cinema

(in no particular order)

1. MUNICH

perfect.

i like this Spielberg guy. and who is this Tony Kushner?! a singing washing machine at the 1972 olympics!? brilliant.

7. THE HISTORY OF VIOLENCE

In my opinion...Cronenberg's best film. And I loved Crash. Yes, I did. (The one where James Spader fucks Roseanna Arquette's scar in a car wash...not the Sandra-Bullock-is-now-an-indie-actress movie).

Cronenberg should win an Oscar. or something shiny. Maybe this:

5-E. GRIZZLY MAN

Okay...seriously! Where did this come from!? I had heard about it when it was in the theatres and never really thought about it one way or the other. Finally saw it last week on dvd...and I was fascinated, moved...and even inspired...



Seriously...not only the Best Documentary of the Year. One of the best films I saw all year. Incredible. I just added a lot of Werner Herzog to my Netflix list.

also, i love the music...the final Richard Thompson song, "Coyotes," is gorgeous.

4-D. THE SQUID AND THE WHALE

Vassar-be-proud. Noah Baumbach went to my school. I used to live in Park Slope. I have spent a number of my frequent "wander-alone-in-New-York" days in the underwater room at the Natural History Museum. In fact, it is one of my favorite places in the whole world.

The actual story...characters...nothing in common.

Still. An amazing movie. And another amazing soundtrack.

I wish I had been alive in the 70s. Or at least older than 2. Actually, I would have like to be Elijah Wood in The Ice Storm...but not get electrocuted.

The 70s fascinate me. A lot of subdued angst, divorce and electrocution.

Moving on...

48. MYSTERIOUS SKIN

Amazing. I mean, did people not see this?! Will this be up for awards? I was so happy it made the NY Times Best of the Year List. Joseph Gordon-Levitt was incredible. Gregg Araki made a beautiful film. The final moment is unforgettable...

...as well as the snowfall at the abandoned drive-in...
Some of the most incredible images of the year...a living book. And it was a book. I need to read this.

Also, amazing score.

63. KING KONG

i cried.

a lot.

especially when there were three T-Rexes in one shot. i love the dinos, so it was all incredibly overwhelming.

also i was very moved by the Kong/Watts relationship. maybe it's because my first boyfriend tried to throw me off the Empire State Building.

12c. WALLACE AND GROMIT: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

the most i've laughed all year. all the kids in the theatre kept staring at me like i was crazy. i had to explain to them that brits, rabbits and cheese are incredibly funny. especially when portrayed by clay. i would have gone right back in and watched it again, but i saw it with my mother who actually thought the 5-minute short starring the 'Madagascar' penguins was the entire movie. She couldn't understand why Wallace and Gromit weren't in it and left.

G2. BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

okay. personally, i liked Ice Storm more -- I think it was Ang Lee's best film and one of my favorite movies of all time. And Brokeback is wonderful...don't get me wrong...I just wish Ice Storm had gotten some of the same attention and awards. But I do love it and it's good for my people.

Gorgeous score.

P3. MATCH POINT

Again...love Woody Allen. A huge fan of his earlier work (again with the 70s!)...and his dramas... Interiors, Crimes and Misdemeanors, September...love them all.

Match Point was one of his best films in a loooong time. The last half-hour was so intense I almost died. Then it ended and I kept on living.

Honorable Mentions: CAPOTE and RENT

Two great new musicals. Both feature stellar performances from Phillip Seymour Hoffman as a bitchy gay drag queen in a santa suit.


I told my mother I loved "In Cold Blood" as well as the Capote movie and received a pile of everything that has ever been written by or about Capote for Christmas.

Next year I'll tell her I love Szechuan Chicken and see what happens...

Now, I don't like to do a "Worst" list...because it's just unnecessarily cruel. And, like I said, I loved everything...

BUT...

i will say, that there were two big things this year that really confused me.

HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF DEAD CHILDREN

and

THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA

Now, don't start hating me yet. I have never been a huge Harry Potter fan. I read three of the books. I enjoyed the first two movies, thought the third movie was amazing...but this time, I just didn't get it. Now I am going to ruin some of the plot here, so if you are one of two people who hasn't seen or read this...I warned you.

Now...let me get this straight...Harry's name appears in some goblet of magic and he then has to compete in a tournament in which students can be killed. They say this at the beginning..."Students can be killed."

Meanwhile, the most evil being in the universe is still after Harry...And the faculty can't make an exception because the goblet told them so!!!??? And then they all sit up in the bleachers and watch students almost get mauled by dragons, tie innocent classmates up underwater so the contestants will think they are dead and finally they send them off into a dark wooded maze with attacking tree limbs...AND at the end of all this they are all surprised and distraught when one of them is killed?!!? EXCUSE ME?!!!!

And to make it all okay, Dumbledore apologizes and tells Harry that he "put him in a lot of danger this year."

Um...yeah.

Now would you send your kids to a school where your children can be killed in an athletic tournament? Now I understand there are accidents in real life...people can die playing football or field hockey -- games meant to encourage physical activity as well as encourage social skills and "teamwork"...but dragons are a little different.

My conclusion: The school should be shut down. And Harry should be put into some kind of Witness Protection Program. The End.

And NARNIA!! First of all...there are cute talking beavers, a cute half-deer man, a kind lion thing...then Santa shows up and gives the kids weapons. Santa!!!??

I just don't get it.

He might as well have given them a copy of KILL BILL.

And everyone used to think Maleficent was scary and Cruella deVille was so awful!? I just don't understand family entertainment anymore. I think I will stick to my dvd of Pete's Dragon where the scariest thing is Mickey Rooney singing in a lighthouse.