I just reviewed it, so discussion on Michael Haneke’s film is fresh around these parts and it’s a film I don’t want to discuss any more than is absolutely necessary. I went into watching this film without knowing one iota of detail concerning its plot and my experience was all the better for it. Instead of saying much more I am going to quote a paragraph from my review and if you would like to read the rest you can click here, but my suggestion would be to simply check the theater listings and watch out for when it comes to your town. You don’t want to miss it.
The White Ribbon is intimately chilling. It hides behind a veil of perceived innocence that will keep you guessing all while the stark black-and-white cinematography will have you marveling at its beauty. If there was ever a modern film to convince younger audiences black-and-white is a legitimate story-telling tool and the classics of such directors as Ingmar Bergman, Jean Renoir and Francois Truffaut are worth investing time in… this is that film.
I hope you don’t need any more convincing.
The best animated film of the year doesn’t belong to Pixar in my opinion and after several critic’s groups have weighed in it seems I’m not alone in this sentiment as many have included Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox in their year-end top tens with both the New York and Los Angeles Film Critics declaring it the best animated film of 2009. While I don’t see this translating into an Oscar win as the Academy is almost guaranteed to award Pixar’s Up the animated studio’s third Best Animated Oscar in a row (WALL•E and Ratatouille) it’s nice to know others enjoyed this film as much as I did.
However, I know this film isn’t for everyone. Recently I was at a holiday dinner party and after being introduced to one couple I got the dreaded “So what’s your favorite movie of the year?” question. This question always sucks when you’re asked it because I have seen so many films and I know my “favorite” won’t always line-up with other people’s opinions so I try to think of the most widely accepted movies I liked. After bringing up Avatar and Star Trek and getting a blank stare when asking if they liked “political comedies” (In the Loop was ultimately never mentioned), I brought to the table Fantastic Mr. Fox. After describing a scene I found particularly funny, I was awarded with what appeared to be confusion and an “I like slapstick comedies” retort. I didn’t have much to offer after that other than turning the conversation to The Hangover and watching their faces light up. Good times!
You can read my review of Fantastic Mr. Fox from November right here.
If you read this site regularly you knew this film was coming up. With every viewing of Quentin Tarantino’s latest feature I’m more and more convinced the final words uttered by Brad Pitt’s Lt. Aldo Raine just might be true… This may be Quentin Tarantino’s masterpiece. Then I remember Pulp Fiction and that thought rushes out of my mind, but that doesn’t change the fact Inglourious Basterds is a wholly satisfying cinematic experience and I have had plenty of fun watching it at home on Blu-ray although nothing will beat seeing it a second time at a midnight screening the day it opened.
After not being entirely sure what I thought of the film after seeing it in what may actually be the stuffiest and smallest screen in Seattle (why the Weinstein’s chose to show Seattle press this film on an inferior screen is baffling to me), I sought out a second screening and saw it on one of Seattle’s largest screens at Pacific Place Cinemas. I had already written my review based on my previous viewing and at three-in-the-morning on August 21 I was home revising what I had already written, bumping this film from a possible “B” review to an “A-“. I rely heavily on repeated viewings and this is just one more case where it served me well.
