The calm before the pending Oscar storm is trembling in front of us. Here at TFS we asked each writer to give their Top 20 so far. I then gave 1 point to their #20 pick and 20 points to their #1 pick and everything in between. I added up points for all the films and here is the order leading up to the film with the most points. Let’s take a look at some of the best films of the year so far.
Honorable Mentions: Coraline, State of Play, Thirst, World’s Greatest Dad, Duplicity, Bruno, and Away We Go
20. The Girlfriend Experience (Soderbergh, May 22nd)
By Miles Trahan (#6)
Steven Soderbergh’s follow-up to last year’s magnificent Che put a unique spin on the usual “Belle du Jour” yawn, by tackling the story of a young “girlfriend” (read: a prostitute with benefits) played by adult film star Sasha Grey whose clients are seemingly more concerned with the current state of the economy (read: dire) than with anything even approaching casual sex. Shot on the cheap in and around New York City, Soderbergh’s film feels like a modern riff on Godard’s Vivre sa Vie — mixing unfulfilling sex with weighty conversation and editing the whole thing like an avant-garde oddity, Soderbergh’s film feels both remarkably fresh, remarkably kitschy and surprisingly relevant. Only time will tell if it holds up once the market dusts itself off.
19. Drag Me To Hell (Raimi, May 29th)
by Merrill Barr (#10)
After Spider-Man 3 many wondered what Sam Raimi could possibly follow up with. Well he decided to return to the thing that made him what he is, horror, and he did so in a big way with Drag Me To Hell. The film is everything we love about Raimi, campy horror, humor, some action, and a great story to hold it all together. Not to mention an ending that will leave any horror fan giddy with excitement and disbelief. It didn’t put The Evil Dead series to shame but deserves just as much praise. The only thing missing was a cameo by the Bruce man himself.
Judd Apatow’s (The 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up) latest film Funny People is his best film to date (directed or otherwise). It reverses the standard “Apatow formula” and delivers something completely original. In 40 Year Old Virginand Knocked Up we get a well-written dirty comedy with a fair amount of drama thrown in at key points. Funny People however is a well-written drama with comedy thrown in at perfect moments so you aren’t left in a sea of sad emotion.
This film is also another example of Apatow telling the story of a sensitive topic through humor, much like Knocked Up, which dealt with the issue of unplanned pregnancy, this film deals with the very broad topic of death. Apatow has stated that most of his writing comes from personal experience. What is nice about Funny People is that we actually get to see these personal experiences play out. The very opening of the film features a young Adam Sandler on an old home movie, prank calling people. It was nice that Apatow added that sense of realism, allowing us to dive much deeper into the character of George Simmons.
With the recent success of The Hangover, becoming the highest grossing R rated comedy in history, and with the release of Funny People only a day away, we’ve compiled a list of the best R-rated comedies of the last decade (2000-2009).
Honorable Mentions
Zack & Miri Make a Porno (Smith, 2008)
Role Models (Wain, 2008)
Hot Fuzz (Wright, 2007)
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (Charles, 2006)
Here is the monthly rundown of what I’m looking forward to in July. Leave a comment and let me know what you are looking forward to!
10. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (Saldanha, July 1st)
Synopsis: When Sid gets into some trouble, it’s up to Manny, Ellie, Diego, and Scrat to save their friend. Their mission leads them to an underground world where encounter dinosaurs, flora, and fauna — as well as a one-eyed, dino-hunting weasel named Buck.
Why You Should See It: Looks to be more of the same, but the 3-D component should be worth a view. The first two films were fun, and this one doesn’t look wildly different.
9. The Cove (Psihoyos, July 31st)
Synopsis: Using state-of-the-art equipment, a group of activists, led by renown dolphin trainer Ric O’Barry, infiltrate a cove near Taijii, Japan to expose both a shocking instance of animal abuse and a serious threat to human health.
2008 was a great summer for the movies. Good entertainment was had, and not just dumb popcorn movies for once. We got The Dark Knight, Wall-E, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Iron Man, Tropic Thunder, and Pineapple Express. This summer is even going to be better. Although the start was a bit shaky with Wolverine, Star Trek kicks it off right this weekend. Here are the top 15 stand out films this summer:
15- Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen
Release Date- June 24th
Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen will inevitably offer no more then a lot of explosions and CGI, but with robots. While the first film wasn’t a landmark of any kind, and mostly dumb, it was fun none-the-less. The 147 minute running time for the new one is a bit bothersome, but long running times are fine when the story calls for it. My only question is do we really need to see robots fighting for that long? Its a Michael Bay movie, there will only be good action, nothing more. Even the length of the first movie was a problem, the last thirty minutes turned into nothing but repetitive action. Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen will without a doubt be a fun action movie, even if it extends its welcome.
Editor’s note: We have already reviewed I Love You, Man on our 1st podcast, but here is a text review. Enjoy!
When I first saw the trailers for I Love You, Man, I thought this movie would be comedy gold. Starring the always hilarious Paul Rudd (Role Models) and Jason Segel (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) and featuring supporting performances by Andy Samberg, Rashida Jones, Jamie Pressly, J.K. Simmons, and Rush (!) , I had tremendously high hopes for this film. Despite the fact that it was co-written and directed by John Hamburg, whose last comedic attempt was the disastrous Along Came Polly, I went into the theater hoping for Apatow-esque levels of laughter. Instead, I Love You, Man is a wholly different film from the one I expected, but it still delivers a significant amount of laughs. Instead of being a hard-R comedy as the trailers and TV spots would have you believe, I Love You, Man is more of a romantic comedy with hard language than a straight comedy. As a result, there is a lot of sentimentality and heart in this film, some of which comes at the expense of laughter.
In case you shut off the TV after Slumdog Millionairewon best picture at the Academy Awards last night here is a montage of some major films coming out this year that aired during the credits of the show. It features new footage from G-Force, Up, Monsters vs. Aliens, Funny People, Imagine That, 500 Days of Summer, Julie & Julia, The Soloist, Amelia, The Taking of Pelham 123, Public Enemies, Sherlock Holmes and Terminator Salvation. Check it out below:
Public Enemies looks officially awesome. I can’t wait to see that film. Terminator: Salvation is also looking better and better with every new clip. Not sure why they decided to include so many not-so-good films, but the montage was enjoyable nonetheless.
The trailer for Judd Apatow’s summer comedy, Funny People, is here. The film stars Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman, Eric Bana and Leslie Mann. Check it out below or at Youtube in HD or at Moviefone in HD:
Plot: When seasoned comedian George Simmons learns of his terminal, inoperable health condition, his desire to form a genuine friendship cause him to take a relatively green performer under his wing as his opening act.
Variety reports Kevin James, Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider and David Spade are in negotiations to star in an untitled comedy for Columbia Pictures. Dennis Dugan (You Don’t Mess With the Zohan) will direct, and hopefully start shooting by summer. Sandler’s Sony company, Happy Madison, will produce. Sandler wrote the screenplay with Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star scribe Fred Wolf. The comedy is about five best friends from high school who reunite 30 years later on a Fourth of July weekend.
Because director Adam McKay knows what will stand the test of time and what won’t. And so does Ferrell and John C. Reilly. They proved this point with Tallageda Nights, which they were all a part of. McKay was also responsible for Anchorman, which may be the most recited/imitated comedy since Caddyshack. One-liners are the key to these movies, and Step Brothers is a feature-length collection of Ferrell/Reilly one-liners. From Reilly’s “Dad, I’m saying this because I love you: FUCK YOU!” to Ferrell’s “SHH! You’re waking the neighbors!!!” while he attempts to bury Reilly’s Dale alive, the movie’s sole intention is to be repeated by adolescents and boy-men whose most recent purchase was most likely a keg. And while it’s easy to argue that these are the only people who find this kind of crude, rudimentary humor funny and worth recitation, that does not rightly explain the over 100 million domestic box office dollarsStep Brothers brought in. Men over 25 liked this crude movie, and women did too. They are just less likely to admit it. Another group of people also enjoyed the film but won’t admit- at least not fully. They are called movie critics.
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