BEST MOVIES OF 2010 -- so far
RECOMMENDED US THEATRICAL RELEASES THUS FAR (regularly updated)
As of Dec. 24, 2010.
-Ajami (Scandar Copti, Yaron Shani 2009) DVD
-Alamar (Pedro Gonzalez Rubio 2010) DVD
-American, The (Anton Corbijn 2010) DVD
-Animal Kingdom (David Michôd 2010) DVD
-Anton Chekhov's The Duel (Dover Kosashvili 2009) No DVD yet
-Daddy Longlegs (Josh and Benny Safdie 2009) DVD 2011?
-Exit Through the Gift Shop (Banksy 2010) DVD
-Eyes Wide Open (Haim Tabakman 2009) DVD
-Father of My Children, The (Le père de mes enfants, Mia Hansen-Løve 2009) DVD
-Fighter, The (David O. Russell 2010) Dec. 2010 release
-Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould (Michèle Hozner, Peter Raymont 2010) DVD in 2011
-Ghost Writer, The (Roman Polanski 2010) DVD
-Greenberg (Noah Baumbach 2010) DVD
-Mademoiselle Chambon (Stéphane Brizé 2009) DVD
-Making Plans for Léna (Non, ma fille, tu n'iras pas danser, Christophe Honoré 2009) no DVD yet
-Prophet, A (Un prophète, Jacques Audiard 2009) DVD
-Social Network, The (David Fincher 2020) DVD
-Solitary Man (Brian Koppelman, David Levien 2010) DVD release
-Somewhere (Sofia Coppola 2010) Dec. 2010 release
-Terribly Happy (Henrik Ruben Genz 2010) DVD release July 13, 2010
-Toy Story 3 (Lee Unkrich 2010) DVD
-Welcome (Philippe Lioret 2009) DVD release August 1, 2010
-Winter's Bone (Debra Granik 2010) DVD
This is from a page on my website where I list all the films I've seen in theaters so far this year with links to my reviews of them. The year is now half over. Have there been any great new American movies? Even though TOY STORY 3 was overrated in my view I list it here in recognition that it is well made and moves many people. But for me, THE SOCIAL NETWORK is the real grownups' great American movie of 2010. Brilliantly done, relevant, with wide appeal.
Many of these will be on DVD within a month or two if they aren't already.
*Alamar July 14-20 at Film Forum in NYC. SFFS at Sundance Kabuki in San Francisco from July 20. Making Plans for Lena at Kabuki August 6.
Some occasional theatrical showings of festival films in San Francisco this summer.
The San Francisco Film Society, which puts on the SFIFF, has some theatrical screenings at the Sundance Kabuki, the SFIFF main headquarters at festival time in May. They have a screen ongoingly available there. The first title is new to me; the others are familiar from the SFIFF of this year or Lincoln Center events.
Quote:
San Francisco, CA -- The Two Escobars (USA 2010), Jeff and Michael Zimbalist's captivating telling of the tragically entwined stories of infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar and star soccer defender Andrés Escobar, opens Friday, August 27 on SFFS Screen at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas.
Also coming to SFFS Screen
July 30: Alamar Pedro González-Rubio's lovingly made story of the growing bond between a father and son, who are spending a summer together on Mexico's Caribbean coast, demonstrates exquisite poetry and sophisticated craft.
August 6: Making Plans for Lena In Christophe Honoré's latest work a family weekend in the Breton countryside spirals out of control for recent divorcée Lena (Chiara Mastroianni) when her mother invites her ex over without her knowledge in this New Wave-inspired look at a woman on the verge.
August 13: Vengeance Johnnie To's genre-busting gem populated by a hit man turned chef, family men moonlighting as assassins and earnestly official women detectives stars Johnny Hallyday, the iconic French crooner who exudes cool.
August 20: Army of Crime Robert Guédiguian's lush historical drama focuses on a largely overlooked cell of French Resistance fighters-refugees of the antifascist fight throughout Europe, mostly Jews and communists-led by French Armenian poet Missak Manouchian (Simon Abkarian) and his wife Mélinée (Virginie Ledoyen).
September 3: Dogtooth In Yorgos Lanthimos's new drama the matriarch and patriarch of an upper-class Greek family teach their three college-age offspring an alternate language to protect a larger deception.
September 10: Change of Plans Danièle Thompson's light comedy begins as a group of friends and acquaintances gather for dinner, and the atmosphere couldn't be friendlier. Slowly the masks of civility drop and suspicions, jealousies and fears emerge.
I have seen all of these but DOGTOOTH and Johnnie To's VENGEANCE. I would like to see them and if I can get over there I'll watch them, but the one-time-only scheduling makes it a bit difficult for me. I think they've already screened ALAMAR post-festival. Unfortunately this is only a trickle compared to the programs continually presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, not to mention the Pacific Film Archive (which however focuses on older films) in Berkeley. This selection seems somewhat random. I like MAKING PLANS FOR LENA and ALAMAR and have heard good things about VENGEANCE and DOGTOOTH, but CHANGE OF PLANS and THE ARMY OF CRIME are not exceptional.
Local screening the new print of Godard's BREATHLESS.
Apropos of my earlier comment in this thread, "The best movie is always an old one," a nice newly restored 1930's cinema near me, the Realto Cerrito, is showing the renewed print of Jean-Luc Godard's 1960 BREATHLESS three times a day for a week or two. I saw it there this week and enjoyed it and found it indeed in a sense has dated little, even though it's quite nostalgic for me to watch it because it shows the Paris I first visited in my youth and the film itself I saw when quite young. I was struck by how beautiful and transparent Jean Seberg was, a person clearly made for the movie camera and possessed of a touching sweet innocence; also by Belmondo's ease and style on screen and how wasp-thin he was in those days. But artistically what struck me this time was the music -- the way themes identify characters and usher sequences in and out, and create a constant rhythm that provides momentum despite the fact that in a sense not all that much is happening. Anyway I'd say this is still a film worth watching and one that young people who haven't seen it ought to make an effort to see, especially in this pristine-looking new print. This was shown in NYC in late May and A.O. Scott wrote a piece in the NY Times about its contemporary relevance. Some local movie schedules incorrectly identify the Rialto Cerrito screening, confusing it with a new and by reports horrible and unpleasant Korean film also called BREATHLESS, but the San Francisco Chronicle acknowledges the revival of the Godard film with a recent brief telephone interview with Raoul Coutard, the famous cinematographer of the film, by G. Allen Johnson, a Chronicle writer. The newly re-minted Godard BREATHLESS is also showing at the Embarcadero Cinemas in downtown San Francisco.