[b.miller]

i get to see Inland Empire at the end of the month I'm so psyched.

I'm also bored at the moment. this will be longer than it should probably.

Here are the best movies I saw for the first time this year:

NEW
10. Black Snake Moan
I really like seeing a deep south Sam Jackson playing the blues, so this movie really works for me. It's kind of the same formula as Hustle & Flow where it's a subject traditionally handled in a very exploitive way and delivered here with lots of heart that makes the movie surprisingly solid. Except this time instead of a pimp becoming a rapper it's a nymphomaniac chained up in Sam Jackson's house.

09. The Prestige
A really good puzzle of a film that I hope will live on due to the way that it throws out the big twist of the film halfway through the movie and spends the rest of its time talking about human nature. I'm looking forward to watching this again and seeing if it holds up.

08. Rescue Dawn
Werner Herzog's new one. A simple story very well told. Really great. Herzog in the jungle = unbeatable.

07. Knocked Up
I'll be the first to admit I love Judd Apatow's comic sensibility and the people he continually works with cracks me up. Getting to see this in a way-too-long cut was like movie geek christmas for me. It's basically Nine Months (but really funny) with Seth Rogan as the accidental husband. I didn't stop laughing for two and a half hours, which is more than I can say for Borat (which I also liked).

06. Black Book
Paul Verhoeven's new one; a WWII story of a Dutch resistance fighter who has to masquerade as a nazi wench and goes through epic amounts of troubles. Amazingly well-done, deep and serious and without any annoying Spielbergian sappiness tacked on to the end.

05. Science of Sleep
I really love Michel Gondry's work and thought this was his most personal to date. I love the originality, the exuberance, and also the sadness that comes with being so creative.

04. The Departed
OK let's be honest. Everybody REALLY loves this movie just for Mark Wahlberg and Alec Baldwin, right? There are a couple scenes where logic seems to disappear but other than a few very minor notes I think this movie is pitch-perfect. More infernal than the original.

03. The Host
The biggest surprise of the year for me and also put another name on my list of directors to watch. This Korean monster movie is beautiful, funny, scary, sad, and touching. That's four more emotions than I expected.

02. The Fountain
A poetic meditation on love and death. I think this movie will come into its own in a few years when people come to it with no expectations. It's serene and melancholy and I think everyone's great in it and it has the best score of the year.

01. Children of Men
It manages to be an overt statement that still entertains. I don't know about how prophetic or apt or believalbe it is but it's certainly a realistic portrayal. I love the end when it flashes the title again, in almost a propaganda or militaristic way, except softened by the sound effects. I think it's a really masterfully-well made film that carries some social importance as well as an interesting idea and it really blew me away.


DOCUMENTARIES
09/10. The Devil and Daniel Johnston / You're Gonna Miss Me
These are tied because they're so close both in quality and subject matter. Both are about successfull perhaps genius musicians plagued by mental illness, both are really sad, and both are really good. Plus Daniel Johnston appears in one scene with Roky Erickson in You're Gonna Miss Me so they're connected like that as well.

08. Walking to Werner
A guy decides to walk from his home near Seattle to Werner Herzog's home in Santa Barbara and do some soul searching along the way. I fully admit that I love this movie because I laugh AT it and not WITH it, but I don't feel guilty at all about it because this guy is such a moron. It's great, he really shows how much of a moron he is in this pinnacle of self-importance and style over substance.

07. Kiss My Snake
A doc about a small village that hosts Cobra Boxing and the superstar cobra boxers that live there. The footage of them plying their trade is excrutiating but evened out by how funny the interviews and characters are.

06. Rock the Bells
Showing the Rock the Bells festival that tried to get the entire Wu-Tang clan re-united. Talk about stress management. It's got Gimme Shelter tinges of mass hysteria and humanity gone wrong but it's also very funny and ultimately rewarding. I can't believe how many people showed up at that show!

05. This Film is Not Yet Rated
A doc about the MPAA and how much they suck. Required viewing for everyone who likes American movies.

04. Air Guitar Nation
The funnest doc I saw all year. I saw it as a festival screening so the producers were kind enough to include a complimentary air guitar under everyone seat for the show. If you live in a town that has air guitar championships and want a great night out, I urge you to check it out. If not, you can get a glimpse at why this is (surprisingly) fun and not as idiotic as it sounds by watching this movie. Really great fun.

03. Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple
Amazing. Powerful. Moving. Interviews with the handful of survivors, tape recordings, video footage, stills... all cobbled together to tell the strange and riveting story of Jim Jones and his kool-aid. It floored me.

01/02. Cocaine Cowboys / Excellent Cadavers
I can't decide which of these I liked more. They also share similarities in that with both movies, they sort of tell the true story that is so outrageous that it goes beyond all the popular fictionalizations. Cowboys is about the Miami drug trade in the early 80s and Cadavers is about the Sicilian mafia wars going on at around the same time. Really unbelievable stuff.


VINTAGE
10. Kill or Be Killed
Never seen a South African kung-fu movie about a nazi vs. Japan Karate Olympiad with conflict diamonds at stake starring a gay hand-puppet-owning kung-fu midget named Chico? Well maybe you should.

09. TNT Jackson
One of the best Trailer lines ever: TNT Jackson! She'll put you in traction! Coming as this theater's next attraction!

08. Unholy Rollers
The best rollerderby movie I've ever seen. period.

07. Night Warning
AKA Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker. This is a horror movie about a rabid aunt obsessing about her hunky teenaged nephew. One of the best opening scenes ever, and a super young Bill Paxton also makes an appearance.

06. Cinderella
Not quite the disney version. This one is a sexploitation musical will full on song-and-dance numbers about how the Prince has erectile dysfuntion and the wicked stepsisters have to masturbate with corn on the cob and whatnot. I Have no idea what kind of pervert would make this movie but I'm glad they did.

05. The Gravy Train
Hilarious crime comedy about a pair of brothers who get caught up in hijinks when all they want to do is open a seafood restaraunt. It's sort of a cheat to put this on here because it's virtually impossible to see but since I did get to see it and I loved it, tough.

04. Classe tous Risque
Amazing French crime film that connected with me 100%. Lino Ventura and Belmondo are both so amazing in this movie. It's about a guy trying to secure safe passage from Marseilles to Paris when he's wanted and his friends letting him down, so then he has to ensure the safety of his kids before fate closes in.

03. The Stuntman
A wonderful movie that walks the line between what is reality and what is the magic of film while also walking the line between a comedy and a tragedy. Usually, movies that try to do that fail hard. This one doesn't though, it's quite a virtuoso film.

02. Pretty Maids All in a Row
A pervy high school sex comedy directed by the king of pervy sex comedies: Roger Vadim. This film is just about perfect. For a guy at least. Angie Dickinson has never looked sexier.

01. Psycho From Texas
The number one mind-altering movie of the year for me. The thirty minute foot chase scene through the swamp, the 6-minute beer-pouring degradation bar scene, the casual manner in whith the titular psycho from texas ups the ante by producing a pocket knife. This movie should be in a museum of the absurd. I don't know why but I still can't get this movie out of my head.

WORST
Bobby