Quentin Tarantino's Top 10 Films of 2013... So Far

The Tarantino Archives have published the Django Unchained filmmaker's fave films of 2013 so far, and I have to say, it looks like the guy hasn't been eating his "cultural vegetables" lately. Again, as with recent years, it's a rather middle-of-the-road, American-centric bunch of films that speaks to QT's populist leanings rather than the cinematic eclecticism that's influenced his work. That's not to say there aren't any good films in there, but I always seem to expect something more adventurous from Tarantino...
 
1. Afternoon Delight
2. Before Midnight
3. Blue Jasmine
4. The Conjuring
5. Drinking Buddies
6. Frances Ha
7. Gravity
8. Kick Ass 2
9. The Lone Ranger
10. This is The End

Knowles on Kane

When Sight and Sound published their latest Top 10 a month or so ago, naming Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo as the #1, and knocking off Orson Welles' Citizen Kane off the throne, no doubt a lot of people were incensed (I have no qualms myself!). One of them was Ain't It Cool News' head Harry Knowles, who's now created a video professing his love for Welles' film and explaining why it should still be the greatest film of all time. Depending on how you feel about Knowles' style, his fanboy gushing can either be grating or infectious, but in this vid, he does make valid points about Kane's massive influence on cinema, particularly in the technical aspects. The only problem is when he starts off on a weird tangent about The Cabin in the Woods (Welles and Drew Goddard should not even be mentioned in the same sentence!) - he strains for credibility, and I kinda tuned out. It's worth a watch anyway, it works as an easy-to-digest primer on Kane (note: SPOILERS ABOUND!). P.S.: Kane is coming to Blu-ray end of October. Reserve your copy here.

Remembering Dino

This is a little tribute to Dino De Laurentiis - who passed on today at 91 - a Top 10 list of my favourite DDL films you can rent from fatso. What can I say? The guy is a legend and produced such a diverse range of movies, some great, some not, but always interesting.

10. Maximum Overdrive - Dino made several Stephen King film adaptations - the best being The Dead Zone - but you can't beat this one for sheer WTF fun. It did nothing at the box office, but there's definitely a small following out there who love this goofy pic.


9. King Kong ('76) - campy, entertaining big-budget romp didn't convince fans of the original classic, but it's not as bad as they say, and hey - it's nearly an hour shorter than PJ's version.

8. Barbarella - Vadim's direction is almost lethally static, but this '60s cult classic is still one of the greatest 'trip' movies of all time. I'd put Danger: Diabolik here but it hasn't been released on DVD in NZ yet (Paramount!!). See also: Flash Gordon.

7. Three Days of the Condor - key '70s political conspiracy thriller, up there with The Parallax View and All The President's Men.

6. The Brink's Job - it's a shame this movie is so unknown and neglected. One of my favourite Friedkins, it's a gem of a heist comedy with a brilliant cast.


5. Death Wish - brought on the vigilante movie craze of the '70s, turned Charles Bronson into a massive star.


4. Serpico - THE great police drama of the '70s that's not The French Connection. Al Pacino is pure stunning in this.

3. Manhunter - remains the best of the Hannibal Lecter series. Mann's electrifying direction, creepy-as-hell Tom Noonan. Way less cartoony than the Hopkins films.

2. Nights of Cabiria/La Strada - this pair of '50s Fellini flicks are personal favourites, heart-breakingly beautiful works of art that will never age.

1. Blue Velvet - Dino's faith in Lynch's unique vision created one of the most original films ever made. When this came out in the '80s, it was like an A-bomb dropped in Hollywood.

Top 10 Films of the Decade REDUX

I hate making end-of-year lists with a passion. I tend to do them out of occupational obligation, or some strange personal necessity to challenge myself, but I'm never satisfied with how they turn out. The damn thing never looks right. So out of this "personal necessity" I'm going to attempt picking my top 10 films of the 2000s here. But I'm also doing this partially to set the record straight that the list which appeared in Real Groove's December issue doesn't reflect my tastes accurately (The Royal Tenenbaums wouldn't even crack my top 50!), but is the result of tallying votes from all the RG contributors who sent in their lists. Just felt like I need to clarify this, since I've had quite a few people come up to me wondering what IS up with that list... it probably wasn't made clear enough in the copy, but anywho, things happen - now onto the Real List (or as real-as-can-be-at-this-point-in-time, i.e. meaning "will regret once posted").

10.

CAST AWAY
(Robert Zemeckis, '00)
I'm no Tom Hanks fan, but this is probably his greatest performance to date. The first two-thirds is pure incredible. Stranded on an island. Volleyball. Large stretches of no dialogue. Some of the Zemeckis' best, bravest work.

9.
THE HOST
(Bong Joon-ho, '06)
The best monster flick of the last decade came from South Korea. Stylish and funny, superb effects, a Jurassic Park for the new millennium.

8.
FUNNY HA HA
(Andrew Bujalski, '03)
I'm not going to call to this mumblecore - the much-derided term given to the movement this film help kickstart; Bujalski's debut is just a fresh, raw, smart, unaffected "small film" that rings true. A genuine independent gem.

7.
SPIRITED AWAY
(Hayao Miyazaki, '01)
I think Miyazaki might have peaked with this film. Spellbinding MAGIC.

6.
BATTLE ROYALE
(Kinji Fukasaku, '01)
Surprised to see this not getting mentioned more in end-of-decade lists around the web. Timely, blood-soaked, hyperkinetic action movie with a brain.

5.
GERRY
(Gus Van Sant, '02)
Don't care if Van Sant was shamelessly riffin' on Bela Tarr. This is my favourite of his "Death" trilogy. Beautiful head movie to zone out to.

4.
PRIMER
(Shane Carruth, '03)
Ultra-cerebral low-budget sci-fi screwed my mind and I loved it. Nothing quite like it.

3.
KEANE
(Lodge Kerrigan, '04)
Remember seeing this at the Melbourne Film Festival and being blown away and emotionally shattered. Why isn't Damien Lewis more famous? This is a performance for the ages. Kerrigan should be making more films.

2.
ZODIAC
(David Fincher, '07)
Finally Fincher is married to material that's worthy of his perfectionism and obsessiveness. Mystery with no solution. Devil is in the details. Masterpiece.

1.
PULSE (KAIRO)
(Kiyoshi Kurosawa, '01)
If the 2000s felt somewhat apocalyptic - Y2K fears, swine flu, Bush, recession, etc - Pulse seemed to prefigure, and perhaps now in a way encapsulate, this prevading ominous mood that we've been experiencing in the past ten years. As a horror film, it pretty much closed the chapter on the post-Ring J-horror boom, and for my money, it's one of the scariest, creepiest and most haunted movies ever made.

HONORABLE MENTIONS
Films for one reason or another couldn't be squeezed into the Top 10, in no particular order:

L'Intrus (Claire Denis, '04)
Read My Lips (Jacques Audiard, '01)
Yi Yi (Edward Yang, '00)
Demonlover (Olivier Assayas, '02)
Session 9 (Brad Anderson, '01)
Werckmeister Harmonies (Bela Tarr, '00)
Ong Bak (Princa Pinkaew, '03)
Grizzly Man (Werner Herzog, '05)
Ratatouille (Brad Bird, '07)
4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days (Cristian Mingiu, '07)
Oldboy (Park Chan-wook, '03)
Gosford Park (Robert Altman, '01)
Adaptation (Spike Jonze, '02)
Femme Fatale (Brian DePalma, '02)
Apocalypto (Mel Gibson, '06)
The Triplets of Belleville (Sylvain Chomet, '03)
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Steven Spielberg, 01)
Dancer in the Dark (Lars von Trier, '00)

Missing lots no doubt. Next up? Top 10 of 2009. Gahh.