Bobby Kilgore's yearly movie roundup

Well first some movie dork fun...

The Top Ten Films of 1918

1. A Dog's Life (Charlie Chaplin) 2. A Trip to Mars (Holger-Madsen) 3. The Blue Bird (Maurice Tourneur) 4. Shoulder Arms (Charlie Chaplin) 5. Good Night, Nurse! (Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle) 6. Tarzan of the Apes (Scott Signey) 7. The Ghost of Slumber Mountain (Willis H. O'Brien) 8. The Sinking of the Lusitania (Winsor Mccay) 9. Hearts of the World (D.W. Griffith) 10. The Outlaw and His Wife (Victor Sjostrom)

My alternate Oscar nominees in select categories are:

Director: Joel & Ethan Coen (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs), Wes Anderson (Isle of Dogs), Damien Chazelle (First Man), Alfonso Cuaron (Roma), Bo Burnham (Eighth Grade). Winner: Damien Chazelle

Actor: Brady Jandreau (The Rider), Ryan Gosling (First Man), Christian Bale (Vice), Stephan James (If Beale Street Could Talk), Charlie Plummer (Lean on Pete). Winner: Ryan Gosling

Actress: Rachel McAdams (Game Night), Yalitza Aparicio (Roma), Emily Blunt (Mary Poppins Returns, A Quiet Place), Kiki Layne (If Beale Street Could Talk), Elsie Fisher (Eighth Grade). Winner Elsie Fisher (Best performance of the year all around. So haunting and effortless and hilarious and subtle and indelible. Ridonkulously overlooked this year)

Supporting Actor: Tom Waits (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs), Josh Hamilton (Eighth Grade), John Huston (The Other Side of the Wind), Dick Van Dyke (Mary Poppins Returns), Kyle Chandler (First Man). Winner: Tom Waits (Tom Waits in a Coens movie? They should probably just stop making movies)

Supporting Actress: Sakura Ando (Shoplifters), Claire Foy (First Man), Zoe Kazan (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs), Greta Gerwig (Isle of Dogs), Marina de Tavira (Roma). Winner: Zoe Kazan

Adapted Screenplay: Lynne Ramsay (You Were Never Really Here), Joel & Ethan Coen (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs), Josh Singer, James Hansen (First Man), Barry Jenkins (If Beale Street Could Talk), Andrew Haigh (Lean on Pete). Winner: Joel & Ethan Coen for The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.

Original Screenplay: Bo Burnham (Eighth Grade), Wes Anderson (Isle of Dogs), Mark Perez (Game Night), Armando Iannucci, David Schneider, Ian Martin, Peter Fellows (The Death of Stalin), Alfonso Cuaron (Roma). Winner: Wes Anderson for Isle of Dogs.

Cinematography: Isle of Dogs, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, The Rider, The Favourite, Roma. Winner: Roma

Film Editing: Isle of Dogs, Eighth Grade, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, The Other Side of the Wind, First Man. Winner: The Other Side of the Wind.

Visual Effects: Black Panther, Paddington 2, Mary Poppins Returns, Christopher Robin, First Man. Winner: Christopher Robin (It's really a shame they couldn't make something better with how incredibly rendered these characters are.)

Original Score: Eighth Grade, First Man, Isle of Dogs, If Beale Street Could Talk, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. Winner: First Man

And my favorite 25 movies of 2018 are...

1. Isle of Dogs 2. First Man 3. Eighth Grade 4. Roma 5. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs 6. Game Night 7. If Beale Street Could Talk 8. Won't You Be My Neighbor? 9. Lean on Pete 10. The Rider 11. Shoplifters 12. You Were Never Really Here 13. A Quiet Place 14. Mission Impossible - Fallout 15. Age of Sail 16. White Tide: The Legend of Culebra 17. The Other Side of the Wind 18. Mary Poppins Returns 19. Paddington 2 20. Minding the Gap 21. Incredibles 2 22. The Death of Stalin 23. Tully 24. The Favourite 25. The Polka King

Episode 1, Blogisode 2

Every year, I like to watch through the entire Star Wars saga. Last year I promised myself I wouldn't include Attack of the Clones this time, so 1,3,4,5,6,7,8 it is! It might seem good to watch 1-9 with that new one coming out, but the 2nd tier Star Wars fan that I am, I probably won't be seeing 9 until 2020 anyways. I may even, *gasp*, wait until it comes out on dvd, so 1-9 could be a 2020 thing. Anyways.

As "Written and Directed by George Lucas" just popped up on the screen, I have completed Episode 1. After seeing The Phantom Menace a handful of times, I really think it's pretty underrated and holds up rather well as a primer for the series (especially when you go ahead and skip to Episode 3 afterwards). The fact that the plot is, on its own, pretty inconsequential gives the film a low stakes levity. The effects are underrated and impressive for pre-2000. I would say it has two of my top ten Star Wars characters, not controversially Darth Maul, and perhaps controversially Jar Jar Binks. That's right, the incomprehensible, notorious train wreck is just too awful to resist now.

Yet, admittedly, compared to the originals, it is tough to compete. But, I find all of the misery of the prequels to be concentrated solely in Episode 2. There you find the endless cosmic politics, the horrid, red tinted CGI, the bouncy ball fighting yoda. It's just the worst. But here is some more Jar Jar Binks…

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First Man, First Post

I have a theory that Damien Chazelle can only direct great movies. I mean to test this theory, I guess he would have to try and direct a Fantastic Four movie or something, but i'm no scientist. I'm a blogger. Anyways, enough about me. First Man makes it 4 for 4 4 my boy Chazelle (Fantastic!).

But something Chazzy (short for Chazelle) is great at is directing his movies in such a way where the style matches the subject matter. So here, my main man Damien Chazelle allows the story of Neil Armstrong's trek to the moon to be told in the emotionally muted and methodical manner to match its protagonist. Yet, Chazelle manages to pull this off without coming across as detached from humanity in a way that, say Christopher Nolan is sometimes criticized of doing. First Man is a very quiet movie. It allows its quietness to emphasize the grandeur that surrounds it. The soundtrack is provided by Chazelle's constant music collaborator Justin Hurwitz, who has managed to perfectly pitch four incredibly unique movies with Chazelle, Guy and Madeline On a Park Bench, Whiplash, La La Land and now First Man. The quietness and the score match to yield a tone like the Coen's masterpiece No Country for Old Men, which is hypnotic and builds the tension and gravity of the moment. This is actually a stark and unsettling tone at first, when one would expect a more conventional building through conflict and resolution leading to triumph. First Man, like Neil Armstrong, allows its actions to speak for themselves without much fanfare. This stark contrast to Chazelle and Hurwitz's La La Land shows their range and mastery of cinematic language.

On the other hand, the new collaboration here is with the Screenwriter of Spotlight Josh Singer. The script is impeccable and matches the tone perfectly. I read the biography of Neil Armstrong the film is based on last year and I have seldom seen a more rewarding film to watch having read the source material. While it is not necessary to follow the story, it is nice to see the movie pepper in details from the bio in ways that are perfectly timed while adding historical texture that plays organically with the provided dramatic tensions. There are scenes that feature minor and major equipment failure during missions that specifically call to mind with great detail recollections in the book. Yet, these details aren't pedantic and distracting. The balance between historical faithfulness and dramatic storytelling is met perfectly.

Now, First Man's Oscar showings were disappointing, but I try and not let these kinds of things bother me. Yet, humorously, the category I may anticipate the most is the one First Man seems to be the favorite in: Sound Editing. I will be on the edge of my seat for the Sound Editing award this year. I mean, I hope it finds a way to take any of its other three nominations, Sound Mixing (Okay, the obligatory explanation of Sound Editing vs Mixing. Sound Editing is the creation of sounds used in a movie and Sound Mixing is the actually piecing of these together. Though it's possible I have those "mixed" up), Visual Effects and Production Design. Wow. Production Design. I don't dare hope that First Man takes home Production Design.

Welcome to What's Matt Watching, What's Matt Listening To, What's Matt Think? !

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