The Best Film of 2010

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Catching you up with links to my rankings of all the 2010 Best Picture nominees:

The Introduction of William H. Dirkness

Ranking The Best Pictures: 8-10

Ranking The Best Pictures: 4-7

Ranking The Best Pictures: 2-3

1. Black Swan

Bam! The credits roll but paralysis has overtaken my body. The other people in attendance (after laughing through many of the scenes that made them squeamish or uncomfortable) are standing and leaving the theater. Meanwhile, I can't move. I can't even think. I will be the last one to leave the theater. By far. I feel like what I had just witnessed has changed me.

The sign of a great film can be traced to the emotional impact it has on you. I experienced an entire spectrum of emotions throughout Darren Aronofsky's best film to date (2. Requiem, 3. Wrestler). When I returned home, I scribbled down on a sticky note (my preferred way to record thoughts) the following words: Delusional, paranoid, confidence, created a monster, insecurities, sense of self, dark tones. My mind was so active afterwards that I could've written a Harvard dissertation on it, but instead chose to just scribble those seven notes down.

Black Swan hit me on such a personal level with what I felt was the heart of the film: Natalie Portman character's quest for perfection. I've always wrestled with the idea of perfection. It seems so boring. Without the proper perspective of losing, it just becomes ego feed (yes this is a sports rant, my specialty, but can be applied to other facets of life). Yet, so many people seek it, while really, if it's about anything, it's about the pursuit of it. The journey > final destination (A cool story: I wrote this preceding paragraph on a spiritual frolf outing before nearly missing a called ace on #5 at Shawnee Mission Park, which gets me to my next point...).

I'm afraid of perfection. I'm an avid bowler and disc golf player who has never shot 300 or thrown an ace, while numerous people of inferior skill have accomplished those feats, for just a few examples. I feel like I handle times of failure/sadness better than times of success/happiness, which is a weird concept. It's almost as if I sense the impeding upward/downward swing that follows (a result of keeping one eye on the future instead of two eyes on the present). In conclusion, I'm better from behind (as much of the local Asian population already knows) than I am in front.

Can you believe I've written 4 paragraphs on this film and haven't even discussed the hottest lesbian scene in movie history (waiting to be proven wrong)? In fact, I was so blown away by Black Swan that the carpet munching didn't even crack my ten favorite things about the film (but maybe it will on the second viewing). The transformation of Nina, both literally and metaphorically, from an innocent White Swan to an emotionally corrupted Black Swan is truly incendiary. Incendiary. The director, the most underrated character of the film, knows that he must shatter her purity in order for her to fully embrace the role of the Black Swan, which sets the metamorphosis in motion.

The process drives Nina to the brink of exhaustion, both physically and mentally, complete with delusions and paranoia, a manifestation created from her own intrinsic insecurities, with the audience left to decide what's real and what's not (Personally believe more of the scenes are her own illusions than most other people) - I theorize that every delusion is directly related to one of Nina's scratching episodes (ripping the hangnail back is absolutely terrifying and haunted me for the ensuing fortnight). Portman portrays the character so well, that just saying she should win the Oscar for Best Actress doesn't come close to expressing how I feel about her performance. The way most people are talking about Colin Firth's performance is how I felt about her achievement. It would be an absolute travesty if she didn't emerge victorious on Sunday night.

I know Black Swan doesn't have a chance of bringing home the Best Picture Oscar, but it fulfilled its destiny by snatching up one of nominations (the committee isn't ready to recognize a film of such complicated psychological depth). Plus, what it does get, is William H. Dirkness' first annual 'Best Movie of the Year' label. Furthermore, searching back a few years, Black Swan would classify as the most powerful and meaningful film to me since 2007's No Country For Old Men.

IMDB Nugget: SPOILER: There is a mirror or a reflective surface in nearly every shot of the film. The only noticeable place where there isn't one is when Nina is on stage, during the film's climax, performing the Black Swan, when her 'dark side' has taken over.

IMDB Double Dose: Nina Sayers: I was perfect...

I hope you all enjoyed my rankings of the 2010 Best Picture nominees, and hope that you gained something from atleast one of the films. Everybody enjoy the Academy Awards tomorrow night!

William H. Dirkness

Ranking The Best Pictures: Films #2-3

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Catching you up on William H. Dirkness' past MovieTox:

The Introduction of William H. Dirkness

Ranking The Best Pictures: Films 8-10

Ranking The Best Pictures: Films 4-7

Without further ado, here w'go....

3. The Social Network

Once upon a time, I was made fun of by my friends for wanting to see "The Facebook movie." Yea, well, who's the crazy man now?!? This really made me take notice of an interesting paradox existing within my generation, which ironically, parodies this very movie. Despite the universal participation of Facebook, any mention of it in the real world gets you a seat at the loser table. It's very uncool. In fact, the only time you do hear about it is when people brag about how little amount of time they spend on it or how much they hate it. The social networking site has almost become socially unacceptable. People have long been obsessed with being perceived as cool, and to tie this all together, perhaps no movie better captures the essence of that chase than The Social Network.

The heart of the movie can be traced to whether you feel sympathy for the main character, exquisitely played by Jesse Eisenberg. Personally, I do. All Mark Zuckerberg wanted was to be liked and accepted (see what I did there?). He's noticeably filled with a tremendous amount of insecurity. Obviously, some of his actions came off as evil-natured, but I don't think he was ever trying to purposely hurt anybody, but rather he's just vulnerable to being taken advantage of. At the head of that was former Napster creator Sean Parker, who is the perfect embodiment of 'cool,' magnificently casted as Justin Timberlake (finding out the dude from Napster had anything to do with Facebook was one of the nice surprises of the flick). Parker introduced Zuck to the big time, showing him what it was like to be cool, seemingly giving Zuck what he had always lacked: (In the irony of all ironies) Friends. In fact, The Social Network contains so much irony wrapped up into one movie that I felt anemic afterwards.

I have to mention the two brainchilds behind it, Director David Fincher (who my buddy, CS Mofo, would light me up if I didn't mention has a background in music videos, not to mention Fight Club), and writer Aaron Sorkin (who my buddy, Leftover Taco, still jerks off manually). That dream team made this movie a near can't-miss. There's also the Winklevii, who (through one actor, I might add) offer the comic relief of the film, and provide the best line of the year, "I'm 6'5, 220, and there's two of me." The movie oozes with so much relevance that it would be hard not to enjoy, especially because the story is relatively unknown. I will be cheering hard for this film to emerge victorious over The King's Speech come Sunday.

IMDB Nugget: During one of the depositions, it is mentioned that the invention of Facebook made Mark Zuckerberg "the biggest thing on a campus that included nineteen Nobel Laureates, fifteen Pulitzer Prize winners, two future Olympians, and a movie star." One of the lawyers then asks, "Who was the movie star?" and the response is, "Does it matter?" This movie star was, in fact, Natalie Portman, who was enrolled at Harvard from 1999 to 2003 and helped screenwriter Aaron Sorkin by providing him insider information about goings-on at Harvard at the time Facebook first appeared there.

2. Inception

It's a shame that this film was released in the summer and is no longer fresh in people's minds. Even I started to question my own previous enjoyment of it until I rewatched it just the other night (which resulted in zero-gravity like slobber bubbles). It's like the College Football player in the Heisman race who dazzles at the beginning of the season, only to be forgotten when his team falls into irrelevancy at the end, and never sniffs the trophy. In other words, Inception is Denard Robinson. I believe Christopher Nolan got hosed on a Best Director nod because of this, and that this may be his masterpiece.

Most people's first focus is on the ending, which is hard for some because it is left open to interpretation and people are forced to think for themselves, but I'm gonna start with my favorite scene of the movie, when Leo Dicap's character is explaining the "rules" of inception to Ellen Page's fine piece of tail. A few of them were simply brilliant, and here are my favorites...

• I really like how people's biggest secrets are hidden into safes that can be very difficult to discover
• I thought having characters from your subconscious out to hurt the people around you was a fantastic representation of how your past affects your present
• Recreating past memories in your dream world is the best way to lose grasp on reality
• People can have defense systems implanted in their mind to protect them from extraction, also referred to as being "militarized"

Now let me take a stab at my very own interpretation of the ending (SPOILERS). Let me start by saying that the question everybody wants answered is if Cobb is still dreaming or if he has actually gotten back to his kids in "reality." While that aspect of the ending was very thought provoking, and extremely fun to debate, I believe Nolan's ultimate message was that he didn't care about whether he was dreaming or not anymore. He doesn't stick around to witness the verdict of his totem, but rather walks out and plays with his kids, accepting whatever state he is in as reality. That's the evolution of his character in the movie.

Now for what I believe? I think he was still inside his limbo, deep into dream world, to a point where he was convinced it was reality. To take it even further, I believe the Asian dude, Saito, possessed the capabilities to help him achieve his faux-reality. The key was eliminating the idea of trying to keep his wife alive in his subconscious, and this may have been what Saito had promised to him all for his incepting con-job on the business dude. But you never see Cobb being "kicked" through the different dream stages (brilliantly differentiated with different settings - rain/snow/subconscious shores) like the others, he just wakes up on the airplane. And from that moment on, none of the other characters ever say anything to him, but instead just look at him like they are his "projections." And the biggest decider in my mind was how the kids he came "home" to hadn't aged at all, and were identical to his memories of them. This all led me to believe that he was still dreaming, but was ready to accept it as his reality regardless, which in a way, might be what we all do from time to time.

IMDB Nugget: The first letter of each of the main character's first names - Dom, Robert, Eames, Arthur/Ariadne, Mal, Sato - spell the word DREAMS.

IMDB Double Dose: Not counting flashbacks, Cobb's wedding ring only appears in scenes where he is dreaming. Was he wearing it in the final scene??

Only one movie left to go on the list, which you can wait a day or two for, or decipher on your own by digesting the rest of my list, the choice is yours.

William H. Dirkness

Ranking The Best Pictures: Films #4-7

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In case you've missed it, here's quick links to my first two Movietox write-ups:

Introduction of William H. Dirkness

Films #8-10

Without further ado, here w'go.....

7. True Grit

Let me preface the breakdown of the film that many would consider to be the best of the crop, by saying the Coen Brothers are my favorite directors. The Big Lebowski and No Country For Old Men would make my Top 10 movies of all time, and would most likely crack the Top 5. Barton Fink and Fargo would both get Top 20 consideration. No other director(s) could come close to matching the resume of these two brohams. I thought True Grit was good, but not great, which is an accomplishment because of the expectations I hold Coen Brothers' movies to.

However, the public seemed to eat this movie up. Here's my theory on why. People know that the Coens are highly respected and renowned amongst movie folk, but they don't make films that are easy on the brain. They like to challenge their viewers. So the bros finally made a movie that connected commercially, which caused a sort of universal overreaction by drawing in the common moviegoer. Now the mainstreamers feel ok about claiming themselves as Coen Brothers fans, and now I feel slightly perturbed because I have one more thing in common with the rest of society, which hurts my perception of this movie. All this said, it was good, and I liked it.

IMDB Nugget: The first Coen Brothers film to gross over $100 million in the United States.

6. The Fighter

This was the most surprising movie of all to me (although it suffered from a late fall from 4 to 6 - three films that are all neck-and-neck), because I did not expect to like this one. The crazy part about this movie was that it centered on Micky Ward, who I knew as a boxer (the epic Ward-Gatti threequel), yet  I never made the connection between this flick and the fighter. However, I am a big fan of movies that portray true stories where I'm unaware of the outcome (even though I was, I wasn't cognizant of at the time).

The heart of the movie was the relationship between Ward (Marky Mark) and his brother (Christian Bale). It's not just their direct relationship though, but indirectly, as well, by how their relationship affects everyone else in their lives. It's Bale who really carries the movie, providing comic relief while doubling as both the antagonist and the inspiration to the protagonist. He shall be rewarded this year. My only problem with the movie was Ward's knockout of Alfonso Sanchez, which seemed poorly executed (my dislike of it lessened after watching the real clip of it at about the 1:25 mark of this video...)

IMDB Nugget: Q: Did HBO make a documentary about Dicky Eklund? A: An HBO documentary film crew did follow the real Dicky Eklund. While the title of the documentary in the film is Crack in America the real title was High on Crack Street: Lost Lives in Lowell (1995).

IMDB Double Dose: Darren Aronofsky was previously attached to direct but left the production to work on Black Swan (2010).

5. 127 Hours

After the introduction is shot in a fast-paced city setting, Aron Rolston finds himself trapped under that fateful rock about 20 minutes into the movie. After that happened, I sort of thought to myself, "If he's reserved to being under this rock, what could possibly fill the rest of this movie?" Well, that's the beauty of this film. Through creative flashbacks and hallucinations (I'll never look at Scooby Doo the same) you are told the background of the main character, played awesomely by (my boy) James Franco (Freaks and Geeks 4 Life), who I'm eagerly anticipating as host of this year's Oscars.

You get a peek into the mind of Rolston through a narrative video diary he keeps along the way. I believe it's designed to show him experiencing the 5 stages of grief: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance. It was fascinating to see what parts of his life, and which people, resonated through his mind as time went on because at that point, there's simply no lying to yourself. It all crescendos with the scene that everybody paid for (and if you're squeamish, you will pay for it), which doesn't disappoint one bit.

IMDB Nugget: Aron Ralston: "You know, I've been thinking. Everything is... just comes together. It's me. I chose this. I chose all this. This rock... this rock has been waiting for me my entire life. It's entire life, ever since it was a bit of meteorite a million, billion years ago. In space. It's been waiting, to come here. Right, right here. I've been moving towards it my entire life. The minute I was born, every breath that I've taken, every action has been leading me to this crack on the out surface."

4. Winter's Bone

This is the kind of movie that benefits from expanding the Best Picture category to 10 films (instead of 5), earning an otherwise unknown indie some recognition. This movie was just the latest reminder to me to avoid Ozark Country in Missouri (the Hansbrough's were enough of a reason). This slow and subtle peek into backwoods life, where everybody may or may not be related and anybody may or may not be out to get you, sets an excellent tone with drabness painted all over the set. At no point, is this a place you'd ever want to find yourself, and yet these people are real, just like you and I.

The heart of the movie is the ever-present theme of the wild, which these characters are more sensical to than us city folk. Visuals of the surrounding animals and trees are consistently displayed between scenes of dialogue (including a harrowing black-and-white squirrel sequence). The movie climaxes with a spine-tingling scene that goes above and beyond the way-more-hyped scene in 127 Hours. It's haunting enough to stay with you for more than a few days. This is probably the most under-the-radar film of the 10 nominations, but if you can handle the unsettling nature of it, you're sure to pop a Winter's Boner.

IMDB Nugget: References: Boyz n the Hood (1991) - Porch convo in final scene. It's basically a scene-for-scene replica of Boys n the Hood actually.

Only 3 movies left, see which W.H. Dirkness selects as his favorite movie of the year between Black Swan, Inception, and The Social Network.

William H. Dirkness

Ranking The Best Pictures: Films #8-10

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William H. Dirkness is proud to announce that he has soaked in all 10 Best Picture nominations of the year. It wasn't easy as I was forced to trek through foot high snow drifts, while dealing with young punk kids and their fancy cell phones lighting up the local cinemas. Don't worry though, I only had to get violent once, and that 13 year old girl deserved it (she tried to spoil the ending to Toy Story 3). This year's crop also led me to question my sexuality, halt my quest for perfection, and dream about dreaming about dreaming about dreaming up a new social networking website.

I would describe the field as deep, because there wasn't a movie that I disliked, while there was only one truly great film that stood out by itself, which earns masterpiece status in my books (sticky notes). My final rankings of the films 1-10 are complete, which I will reveal to the world over the course of the next week, in reverse order, but of course. My feelings on the films may include some spoilers, but I won't give away enough to ruin the essence of enjoyment for you (or atleast I'll warn majorly ahead of time if I do). With each movie I plan on sharing an interesting IMDB nugget along with, because I love scouring a movie's page after watching it to solidify my thoughts. You may also find me referencing the 8 criterion I laid out defining my enjoyment of the movie-watching experience, which can be found in my introduction to the film blogosphere.

Without further ado, here w'go.....

10. Toy Story 3

Despite coming in last on my list of Best Pics, this flick was not disliked by any means. At no point did I think to myself that the movie was bad. It was charming and enjoyable, just not award-worthy. Ever since experiencing the greatness of WALL*E, which had such an excellent social commentary representation, that now animated films are staring down a new ceiling. It's very similar to how The Dark Knight came along and raised the stakes for all comic book movies. Now, while WALL*E is The Dark Knight in this analogy, Toy Story 3 comes off like Iron Man 2. It was good, but couldn't even approach the achievement of its predecessor.

Now you might say it's unfair to compare animated films to past greats, which I concur that might be true, to which I would say there just wasn't enough substance to stand up to the other 9 films. It almost felt like an episode of a 90's TV show dealing with cults (Boy Meets World comes to mind). The lost souls (other toys beside Woody/Shawn) believed that their new home was going to be a great place (Shawn), while the protagonist (Woody/Corey) did all that he could to help them see the truth. Meanwhile, my favorite character was the charismatic cult leader (Lotso), who if you aren't beware of, might screw you over (although Barbie is rather sassy as well).

IMDB Nugget: WILHELM SCREAM: During the opening segment of old home footage, when Andy is watching TV with the toys. YESSSSS! Greatly admire a good wilhelming.

IMDB Double Dose: Sid Phillips, the next-door-neighbor who was the first movie's major antagonist (he destroyed toys by blowing them up, and he liked to dismember toys and reconstruct them by mixing up their parts) makes a brief appearance in the third movie as a garbageman. He is identifiable by the same black and white skull t-shirt he wore during the first movie, and he is voiced by the same actor, Erik von Detten. This character was awesome!

9. The King's Speech

The most overrated movie of the nominations. That's not a statement to say it's a bad movie, but is just so outside the realm of what I'm looking for. I did actually enjoy the movie because it didn't suck, therefore impressing me. Every year the Oscars nominates a period piece oozing with elegance and sophistication (Atonement, The Reader, The Queen), that I find to be bloody boring. So, the fact that I didn't hate this speaks highly towards it. Part of my enjoyment may have come from trying to decide if leading man, Colin Firth, looked more like Bill Self or John Calipari (It's Calipari).

The heart of the story was the main character overcoming his biggest fear in the grandest way possible. Unfortunately, I never really felt enough sympathy towards the character to fully enjoy what the movie had to offer (I would have drawn out the opening scene about twice as long, where the introduction of his speech impediment is fully displayed, letting that initial embarrassment drive the story even more so). Also, I would've liked to see more from his brother (played by Jude Law!), who held his reign for all of about 5 minutes, but partied it up Charlie Sheen style while he did. Those are just a few of my complaints on the only movie with a chance of upsetting The Social Network for the Osceeeeee.

IMDB Nugget: Lionel (the speech therapist) is reputed never to have sworn in front of the King, nor ever to have called him 'Bertie.' This was one of my favorite elements to the movie, the informal way Lionel (definitely the best character) treated the King, but it wasn't historically accurate. I've debated whether this bothers me ever since reading it, and honestly have yet to reach a conclusion. However, it is interesting to note.

8. The Kids Are All Right

Although "gay movies" tend to be a bit overrated, because people are quick to tell you how much it doesn't bother them, this movie does a good job of avoiding the usual stereotypes of those types of movies. And by that, I don't mean they avoid stereotypes oftentimes hung on homosexuals, but by taking an honest look at a relationship between two members of the same sex. The heart of this movie can be traced to that relationship and its refreshing look into its dysfunctions. Oftentimes, movies like to portray these relationships as especially erotic (always hot n' heavy) or without much struggle (there's always the happy gay couple). This movie drives home the point that their relationships can go through many of the same troubles that heterosexual couples do.

The movie also adds the extra speed bump a gaylationship might encounter, with a man thrown into the mix, who just happens to be the sperm donor for the couple's children. Of course, that man is played by the Ruff Dogg (Mark Ruffalo), who happens to be the best part of the flick. The movie is superbly acted, although I was not wowed by Annette Benning (who's character is named Nic!), who is Natalie Portman's biggest competition for Best Actress. I was more impressed by the always-likeable Julianne Moore, who shares my affection for the Ruff Dogg. 8 is a low number on this list, but this movie sits at the bottom of a logjam from 4-8.

IMDB Nugget: When Jules is trying, awkwardly, to explain the reasons that lesbians might prefer to watch gay male pornography rather than porn showing two women together, one of the reasons she gives is that they always cast two straight woman pretending to be gay in those movies. Both Julianne Moore, who plays Jules, and Annette Bening, who plays Nic, are in their real lives straight actress pretending to be lesbians for this movie. That scene is as awesome as it sounds.

Be sure to check back in for films 1-7, which will all be coming your way before the Academy Awards air next Sunday.

William H. Dirkness

The Introduction of William H. Dirkness

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William H. Dirkness (The H stands for Hoffman, and you know why)

For years upon years now, I have been showering you all with my sports wisdom freshly squeezed from my golden mane (with a little extra knowledge emanating from my beard as of late). But, now that I have the platform to do so, I'm gonna dip my pen in some company ink (#misusedcliches), and take on a new endeavor for the next two weeks...

MovieTox with William H. Dirkness

My passion for movies sprouted from a college course (English Topics in Youth Rebellion) where I wrote a paper for Professor Iain Ellis (A Punk-Brit-Rock-Hooligan who couldn't wait to tell me what a pansy Leonardo Dicraprio was in response to his casting in The Basketball Diaries) on Sam Mendes, concentrating mostly on his directorial work on American Beauty. I couldn't believe how much I enjoyed what I had found once breaking down every scene of the film down (in the most elementary way possible).

That same semester I watched, and for the first time, really focused on the Academy Awards. It wasn't so much Ellen Degeneres that got me hooked, but just the whole atmosphere of the event. This led to a IMDB obsession, a Netflix infatuation, and an EW subscription that would be read on the pooper until this very day. It all peaked at the 2008 Oscars when my two favorite films of the 2000's (No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood) squared off for Best Picture honors. Since then, the Oscars have been an event scheduled on my calendar, and I look forward to them every year.

But now, it's time to take it to the next step. Writing about movies. I've been on a quest to watch all 10 of the Best Picture nominees this year, and share my personal rankings 1-10 with the world. My goal isn't to judge the cinematic achievement of the films, but rather share with you what they meant to me on a more personal level. Movies aren't intended to mean the same things to everybody, which is what can make people's opinions of them so fascinating.

I've put together a list of criteria that I look for in movies that I watch (in no particular order). I don't use them to the rate the movies in any way, because I don't feel like movies are meant to be relegated to numbers like that. I might reference a certain criterion that a movie excels at or disappoints in. Here's the list:

• Substance - The essence of what goes into a movie. The script. The depth. The message.
• Style - All-encompassing feel of a movie. I'm more of a style over substance kinda guy.
• Originality - Has it been done before? Or, more importantly, have I seen it before?
• Creativity - This is what separates the men from the boys (and also why it's hard for me to enjoy action movies). I draw your attention to a brilliant scene in (500) Days of Summer where a split-screen of reality and the main character's expectations play out simultaneously. Can't get it out of my head.
• Risk-taking - Give me something my Mom wouldn't like.
• Connectivity - Did you relate with it? Did the movie spark an emotional reaction out of you?
• Transcendence - Does it take you above and beyond the movie itself? Or is it supposed to?
• Entertainment Value - Was there a story? Did I care? Would I suggest it to my dumb friends?

So for all those sports fans out there, this will be just a short 2 week hiatus until after the Oscars, while I give movie blogging a shot (although the always growing live Gametox will continue). I'll be hitting you with my thoughts on each and every Best Picture nominee (yes, even The King's Speech if I don't fall asleep at it tonight) over the next two weeks. Be sure to check back make some fun.

William H. Dirkness