The Illusionist follows the life of an older gentleman, a French traveling magician looking for work and finding it only in the lowliest of places.  His particular breed of stage performance is shown being eclipsed by young, up and coming rockstars, to both our amusement and dismay.  When he is invited to Scotland to perform in a bar, he meets a young woman who, seeking adventure, decides to go with him when he departs town.  Their lives are forever changed by this momentous decision. 

It is needless to say that the animation is absolutely breathtaking.  Each frame is a masterpiece unto itself.  Every character is completely different from every other but still they manage to exist seamlessly in the same universe.  Chomet is a genius because aside from a few muffled words and fully intended grunts, gasps, and yells, the film is devoid of a spoken narrative.  The storyline is propelled forward by subtlety and happenings that are fully compelling despite their quiet.  Chomet is able to make every movement and event have this momentousness and sensation that would have been lost on viewers if it were not for its silent treatment.  Quiet as it may be, the pacing is not sped up to make up for it.  In fact, the pacing is steady and bracing, slow but tension-building simultaneously.  This is aided also by an amazing score, some of which is done by Chomet himself.

I don’t want to talk about the story too much.  I want everyone who is reading this to go out and watch it instead of having it ruined by me.  But I will say a few things.  Each character is fully realized and goes through a tumult of development.  I feel as though there was more character development in this single 80-minute “cartoon” than I’ve seen in most movies from this past year combined.  They are charming, witty, and filled with hilarity as befits their whimsical illustrations and beautiful world, but they are also devastatingly believable, and force reality into firm view rather painfully at times.  In the end, The Illusionist is truly a film of intense self-reflection, made possible only through the viewing of the vulnerabilities and plights of the characters we easily come to love as the story unwinds. 

I give it a 10/10, easily.

20) Source Code

Duncan Jones’ follow-up to Moon, one of my recent favorites.  Honestly, I didn’t care for the trailer much, but I’m excited for this based on Jones’ name alone and the fact that it’s another original sci-fi.

19) The Grandmasters

Wong Kar-Wai’s new film about Bruce Lee’s trainer.

18) J. Edgar

A Clint Eastwood directed biopic about J. Edgar Hoover starring Leonardo DiCaprio.  Not usually a biopic fan, but I can’t wait for anything Leo does at this point.

17) Tintin

-Peter Jackson produces, Spielberg directs.  I’m honestly not very familiar with the source material, but I like the idea of Spielberg making an animated film, plus he and Peter Jackson should make a great combo.

16) The Hunter

An Indie thriller starring Willem Dafoe.  I can’t say exactly why I’m anticipating this one so much, just have a good feeling about it.

15) The Skin That I Inhabit

Pedro Almodovar’s latest.  That’s all I know about this one.

14) Hobo With a Shotgun

Like Machete, this was originally a fake trailer.  Should be another good 90 minutes of Grindhouse fun. 

13) The Rum Diary

The first film from Withnail and I director Bruce Robinson in 19 years.  Johnny Depp stars in his 2nd Hunter S. Thompson adaptation.

12) Meek’s Cutoff

Kelly Reichardt and Michelle Williams are collaborating again after 2008′s Wendy and Lucy, which was great.  This is about settlers traveling through the Oregon desert in the 19th century.  Could be amazing.

11) Hanna

The trailer makes this look like a blast.  Good director, good cast, should be fun.  Check out the trailer here.

10) The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

The Social Network was so good that I can’t wait to see this.  David Fincher’s next has some of the same cast and crew as Network, with Trent Reznor writing the score and Rooney Mara taking the lead role.  Even though I don’t like the idea of Hollywood remaking every recent successful foreign film, I’m on board with this one.

9) The Borrowers

The new Studio Ghibli film, written by Hayao Miyazaki.  Can’t wait.

8.) Wuthering Heights

Andrea Arnold’s follow-up to Fish Tank, one of my favorites from last year.  Classic source material, can’t wait to see what she’s able to do with it.

7) Shame

Director Steve McQueen and his leading man Michael Fassbender’s follow-up to their amazing 2009 film Hunger.  I can’t see this duo not going 2 for 2.

6) Drive

Nicolas Winding Refn (Bronson, Valhalla Rising) is one of the most interesting up-and-coming directors around, and this is first big “Hollywood” film, starring Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, and Ron Perlman.  The film is about a stunt driver who discovers that he has a price on his head.  Can’t wait to see what Refn does with a more straightforward story like this.  My hopes are sky high.

5) A Dangerous Method

The third film from David Cronenberg and Viggo Mortensen, this time also starring Michael Fassbender (!) and Keira Knightley.  The film’s about Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud, and it should be amazing.

4) Hugo Cabret

Martin Scorsese directing a kid’s film?  In 3D?  I’m happy to see Scorsese trying something so new, and the source material is great.  It’s also got a good looking ensemble with Chloe Moretz, Ben Kingsley, Jude Law, Emily Mortimer, Michael Pitt, Christopher Lee, Ray Winstone, and Sacha Baron Cohen.

3) Melancholia

Lars Von Trier’s follow-up to Antichrist.  I love anything Von Trier, and I love sci-fi, so my expectations are pretty much through the roof on this one.  Von Trier jokingly said that he’d have “no more happy endings!” before filming this one, and sure enough the plot deals with Earth’s imminent destruction.

2) The Tree of Life

I said the same thing last year, but I can’t remember a time when this wasn’t on my most anticipated list.  It looks like all the delays are finally over, especially since a beautiful trailer was released recently.  Terrence Malick movies are always an event, and this sounds like it could be one of his best.

1) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

It’s been an incredible series, and the end is looking to be 2 hours of epic non-stop climax.  I thought part 1 was amazing, so this should basically be the best thing ever for big Potter fans.  I’ll be sad when it’s over.

Memories abounded as I watched this ridiculous movie.  Don’t get me wrong, I found myself often times bursting with laughter.  Each time that happened though, I was profoundly embarrassed, both for me for having laughed at all, and for the scene which I had laughed at.   To exemplify this point, I leave you with this scene.  It is emblematic of the film and the way it makes me feel.  Try watching it a. without laughing and b. without feeling silly for having done so:

My rating: 3/10

And, if that got you interested enough, here’s some behind the scenes action:

*Spoilers*

The film follows Thierry, a quirky amateur-filmmaker who decides to make a documentary about his passion, street art.  After years of filming street artists and amassing boxes upon boxes of footage, Thierry is finally able to track down Banksy, arguably the biggest and most popular on the scene, and can now finish his “epic” street art documentary.  The problem is that Thierry is a truly awful artist and filmmaker, and when Banksy sees the finished product, he suggests that Thierry leave him the footage (after all, it is great, one-of-a-kind footage) for him to edit and in the meantime become a street artist himself.  Banksy then completely shifts the focus of the film to Thierry, raising the question of who the film’s true director is, as Thierry’s film about Banksy and street art transforms into Banksy’s film about Thierry.  Thierry becomes “Mr. Brainwash” (a fitting name) and goes on to create a huge collection of ripped-off, shallow work, but hypes his debut show so successfully (with help from Banksy and a few other street artists) that the art crowd becomes fascinated with it, turning Thierry into an overnight sensation as they rave about his work and spend thousands of dollars on every piece.

The result is that what started out as a documentary about street art turns into a giant “F-U” to the art world.  Thierry is a terrible artist, yet people love him and spend crazy amounts of money on his work thanks to the hype and the media.  The film works on multiple levels, not only as a critique of the art world but simply as a documentary on street art and its appeal in general.

Many are asking if this is real or a hoax (much like I’m Still Here and Catfish from earlier this year), but it’s brilliant however you choose to look at it.  Whether it’s a true documentary or an elaborate prank, it works.  It raises many questions about the art world, and documentaries, and is well worth seeing if you’re at all interested in either.

9/10

Written by Quentin Tarantino and directed by Tony Scott, True Romance is an oldy but goody.  No, more than that.  It’s absolutely great.  It’s one of those movies that makes you sit back, sigh and say to yourself as the credits are rolling: “They just don’t make ‘em like that any more.”

Made up of one part sweet dialogue, one part badass-ness, and one part fairy tale, True Romance unfolds at a dizzying pace revealing an awesome narrative that is made better by its star-studded and aptly chosen cast.  Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette act as the leading couple, and the question quickly becomes: can their quirky love and charm together withstand the strain of their murder of a pimp, accidental theft of a big time amount of cocaine, and the drama that ensues from there? 

If you haven’t seen it yet, you’re in for a treat!  Just check out this cast list: Dennis Hopper, Brad Pitt, Christopher Walken, Samuel L. Jackson, James Gandolfini, and Val Kilmer… as Elvis??  Not to mention Gary Oldman as the excellently rendered pimp that gets the axe to start the tale!

My rating: 9/10

Watching Black Swan has a similar feeling of intensity and horror as watching a car crash in slow motion.  From the start the viewer knows that this is a story about a ballerina named Nina (Natalie Portman) plagued simultaneously with a yearning for perfection and a penchant for doubt resulting in self-abuse, paranoia and neurosis.  Upon receiving her break-through role as the Swan Queen, Nina’s ambitions are tempered by the accusation that her performance may be technically impeccable but lacks the passion required to snare the audience.  This is delivered by the director of the play and company leader  Thomas (Vincent Cassel) who encourages her repeatedly to “let go.”  Thus ensues an incredibly visceral journey through Nina’s mind over the course of her rehearsals.  Violently and sexually charged, Nina’s succumbing to the neccesities of her demanding role as both White Swan and Black Swan unravels in a stomach-churning performance.   Questions of what is real or not real arise but take a back seat to Nina’s development and her overwhelming drive to play her parts.  In a word, the movie was chilling. 

My rating:  8.5/10

Life During Wartime is a sequel of sorts to writer/director Todd Solondz’s amazing 1998 film Happiness, and is basically a contrived and hollow replicant of that film.  The characters, dialogue, and style are all pretty much the same, but this time it all feels distant and unnecessary.  In Happiness, Solondz treated all his wonderfully twisted, but natural, characters with empathy and compassion, but that’s not the case in this film.  Not only does everything seem emotionally restrained, but Solondz actually seems to show disdain for his characters, who all have little depth this time around (another major difference from Happiness).  It’s as if Solondz is just going through the motions, with no inspiration whatsoever.  Even the “shock value” is forced. 

The upside is the cast.  It’s another ensemble, and every member is near-perfect: Shirley Henderson, Michael Williams, Allison Janney, Ciaran Hinds, Paul Reubens, and Dylan Riley Snyder.  It’s a great actors’ showcase but not much else.  This film has nothing to say or offer that Happiness didn’t.

5.5/10