For 82 years, the Academy Awards have purported to choose the year’s best film. For the next year, I’ll be watching one best picture winner per week, starting 52 years ago and working up to tonight’s winner. Some of the films are rightly regarded as classics. Others, decidedly less so. But each of them must have had some quality that earned it the top spot, and I’ll be trying to suss out what that is, and why it holds up — or why it deserves to be forgotten.

1958: Gigi (Best Picture, Best Director, and seven others)

“It’s the same dull world wherever you go / Whatever place you’re at / The Earth is round but everything on it is flat” — Gaston in “It’s a Bore”

If I had started this project when I first thought of it a year ago, the first entry would be David Lean’s Bridge … Read More

I can offer no commentary on this that makes it any funnier. And so, here is a portion of a letter recently recieved by Latino Review concerning the new Benicio Del Toro film, The Wolfman. The letter was written by Kayla Patterson, who is a, ahem, devout Twilight fan:

"This movie was a complete waste and I feel that it offends ALL Twilight Fans around the world, that including myself. For one, it was a COMPLETE remaking of the Wolf Pack from the Twilight Saga: New Moon. It gives the werewolves a bad name and makes them look like some deformed mutation of a rabid dog. I actually started to like werewolves after seeing Jacob Black and all his awesomeness on the big screen at the movies. That was until I saw your crappy remake of what you call to be … Read More

Before Mark Webb (500 Days of Summer. Ugh.) signed on to direct Sony's reboot of the Spiderman franchise, Wes Anderson's name was briefly bandied about as a potential director. Though either selection seems to me like a cynical attempt to cash in on the popularity of faux-indie deadpan twee, at least Anderson's the genuine article when it comes to faux-indie deadpan twee, and not, well, a hackish Anderson impersonator.

So, yeah, not really looking forward to the reboot. 

Still, this "What If?" scenario concocted by a group of Spiderman/Wes Anderson fans made me grin. They make all the jokes you'd expect them to, but damn if they aren't well-executed. 

(via Comics Alliance)

I was idly staring at a wall of movie posters at Eau Claire the other day when it struck me that the film industry right now has a pronounced case of serious face going on. This is really nothing new — with a few badass exceptions like the Terminator: Salvation poster, studios tend to play it pretty safe with their promotional campaigns. But it does raise the question: Who has the best serious face?

Though initially impressive, Denzel Washington's post-apocalyptic bible thumper is too reliant on props to take the crown. The perfectly horizontal grimace and the ever-so-slightly flexed neck muscles connote a certain intensity, but the gravitas are undoubtedly added to by the shoulder-holstered gun, and the sunglasses hide … Read More

Sigh. If only the ability to perform innocuous, hum-drum actions very quickly actually translated into the ability to beat up children. At least then I could be assured of an actual application for the DVD organization muscle memory I've developed over the years. 

Anyway, I won't comment on this too much, because the jokes are all too easy (see above), and I am, at the very least, proud of them for at least trying to do something new with everyone's favourite flu-movie that isn't Ferris Bueller. A couple thoughts occur, however: 

• Does Jackie Chan's appearance as Mr. Miyagi signal a transition away from a kung fu cartoon typecast into a mysterious/strange old Asian man typecast? As career moves for an aging Chinese actor goes, he could really

A little last-minute, but here's a pair of film screenings that didn't make their way into this week's paper.

First, on Tuesday, January 5, the Calgary Cinematheque Society presents Jean-Luc Godard's 1962 classic Vivre sa vie. It's pretty much impossible to overstate the importance of the French New Wave on modern film, and Godard was one of the movement's spearheads. If you can't make Tuesday's screening, there's a repeat on Saturday afternoon, along with a lecture from the University of Calgary's Bart Beaty (both at the Plaza). Here's the original trailer (which does contain some spoilers, so fair warning):

Then, on Wednesday, January 6, CIFF kicks off this year's Doc Soup series with Presumed Guilty, a look at the Mexican justice system, where … Read More

I wish I could remember where I read the funniest thing said about Avatar since the James Cameron hypemobile started doing laps around the PR racetrack months ago: 

"It took him ten years to think up a blue horse?" 

But since I can't, I'm just going to post it here, totally unattributed, and hope no one e-screams at me. I hope the author of the comment won't mind, however, as I'm about to talk about why I think it's a perfectly concise statement about the problems with the film itself. Before I go and start being Ned Negativity, however, I think it's worth pointing out that Avatar is, for all its faults, an eminently enjoyable film. The CG work is easily the best ever committed to the screen, there's some fine performances, decent dialogue, and as a … Read More

O, frabjous day! A new Ironman 2 trailer has surfaced on Apple. Unfortunately, there is no youtube-ified version yet, so you'll have to be brave and follow the link away from FFWD. I know you can do it. I believe in you. 

Your firm resolve will be rewarded, too. There's footage of War Machine, Whiplash, Nick Fury and what appears to be Black Widow along with some clips of the action and Robert Downey Jr. obviously having a ball with the role (again). Yus. 

There were a couple things that penetrated my optimistic disposition, however: 

1) Racecar driving. I understand that Tony Stark is the kind of character who would (and could) race Formula 1 cars for fun, but that doesn't do much to allay my concerns of such a scene representing the bloated, "kitchen sink … Read More

 I guess it's a good enough time to publish the rest of my interview with The Road director John Hillcoat. I had the good fortune to speak with him back in September at the Toronto film fest, which led to a cover feature last month, but here's the raw transcript, where Mr. Hillcoat talks about the film's optimism, the trickier aspects of adaptation and why he wanted to avoid looking like Mad Max.

Had you read the book before you were approached to do the film?
I actually got the unpublished manuscript – that’s how it started. I don’ think I would have actually been able to make this film if I didn’t get it unpublished , because once it went on to the Pulitzer prize, I’m sure there would have been half a dozen other people on top of it. So I was very lucky … Read More

So, in our enthusiasm to tell you about Hausu, the Japanese horror film co-presented by the Calgary Underground Film Festival and Calgary Cinematheque — which was awesome, by the way, and you should try to track it down when Criterion eventually releases it — we (well, I) neglected to mention that the Cinematheque is showing Truffaut's The 400 Blows tomorrow (Tuesday), 7p.m. at the Plaza. I haven't yet seen it myself, which I aim to remedy tomorrow, but the movie's reputation more than speaks for itself. Plus, it's sure to up your film-snob cred at your next glamourous cocktail party.

Also in awesome movie news this week: Burning Moon Video presents John Carpenter's The Thing, also at the Plaza. Kurt Russell and Mr. Quaker Oat himself, Wilford … Read More