Name That Film: Z (Quiz Start Page)

Cinematic Alphabet Quiz: Z  (Good Luck)

RULES

1. Three screen captures categorized into easy (mainstream), medium (classic), and hard (obscure) and each will be worth 1, 2, and 3 points. 26 posts, 6 points per post, plus 10 points of bonus questions--totaling 166 points. 
2. This is by the honor system; no Internet searches or research please, but you can use the person directly to your left for help (only one person, but no one in the other directions).
3. Keep track of your scores; there will be point ranges (at the end) that rank your film geekness. The answers will be placed in the comment box of each subsequent post.

Z_01

Z_02

Z_03

"oh my god[ard]!!!"

I'm quoting one of the comments left on a trailer (YouTube) for Jean-Luc Godard's Film Socialisme (2011). Apparently, the 4-minute trailer, known as trailer 2, looks like the entire movie but in fast forward. He's 80 years old now, he can get away with such things; actually: he's JLG, he could always get away with such things.  

Here's some recent articles on JLG, from gaurdian.co.uk and indieWIRE. The various trailers for Film Socialisme can be seen here. Trailer 3, which runs 2 minutes and 10 seconds and has music, is embedded for your viewing pleasure/displeasure.

Let's go with an impromptu Top Five:

1. 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her  (1967)
2. Vivre Sa Vie  (1962)
3. Breathless  (1960)
4. Contempt  (1963)
5. A Woman Is a Woman  (1961)

Honorable Mention: Bande à part (1964)
It has some of the best scenes and moments in all of his movies. Like this one:

Top Five Films of 2010

2010: a good year for movies

 

Except for Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours*, I finally saw all of the 83^rd Academy Award’s Best Picture (2011 Oscar) nominees** during the past month. I still prefer Nicole Holofcener’s Please Give, while my Oscar list favorites are The Kids Are All Right, The Social Network, and Inception. I thought of adding Derek Cianfrance’s Blue Valentine to round out a Top Five list, but then remembered Scott Pilgrim vs. the World was also released this year***. The list is as follows:

1. Please Give  (Nicole Holofcener)
2. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World  (Edgar Wright)
3. The Kids Are All Right  (Lisa Cholodenko)
4. The Social Network  (David Fincher)
5. Inception  (Christopher Nolan)

Honorable Mentions: Blue Valentine, I Am Love, The Man From Nowhere, The Town, and Harry Potter: Deathly Hallows, Part 1 (maybe I'm nuts or just getting younger with old age?)

Guilty Pleasure: She's Out of My League

* My apologies to Mr. Boyle, who I think is a wonderful filmmaker (see Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, and Sunshine).

** Other Best Picture Oscar Nominees included True Grit, The Fighter, Winter’s Bone, The King’s Speech, Black Swan, Toy Story 3, and 127 Hours.

*** I have yet to see Animal Kingdom, Another Year, Everyone Else, The Illusionist, and Rabbit Hole--all 2010 releases.

Ondine (2010)

Directed by Neil Jordan

Neil Jordan’s Ondine is a charming picture, where fairytales face off with reality. One believes there’s magic in Castletownbere (an Irish fishing village), with Alicja Bachleda’s character (is she a selkie?), and in store for Alison Berry’s character (Collin Farrell’s child who rides a wheelchair because her kidney is failing).

Here's the trailer. And it can be easily seen on Netflix streaming. 

The beautiful cinematography is by Christopher Doyle (of Wong Kar-wai fame and the outstanding Paranoid Park).

And like the little girl in The Man From Nowhere, young Alison Berry turns in a great performance.

Film reviews in fifty words (2011).

Top Ten Films That Need A Bluray Release

1. McCabe & Mrs. Miller  (1971)
   
2. The Magnificent Ambersons  (1942) *
3. In the Mood for Love  (2000)
4. Marie Antoinette  (2006)
5. Three Colors Trilogy  (1993-1994) **
6. The Age of Innocence  (1993)
7. The Royal Tenenbaums  (2001)
8. The End of the Affair  (1999)
9. Manhattan  (1979)
10. Mulholland Drive  (2001) ***

Honorable Mention:  Citizen Kane, Vertigo, Stardust Memories, The Purple Rose of Cairo, The Indiana Jones Trilogy, Jurassic Park, The Hudsucker Proxy, Pulp Fiction, Rushmore

* It's a crime that this isn't even on DVD (US release).
** I know I'm cheating here, but you can't have Red without White and Blue.
*** This has a UK release, but no US release. 

Revision, July 19, 2011 
Abbas Kiarostami's Through the Olive Trees (1994) at #10 (currently no US release in existence)  

The Man From Nowhere (2010)

Directed by Lee Jeong-beom  (original title: Ajeossi)

The Man From Nowhere, a top-notch action thriller, directed by Lee Jeong-beom has similarities to Luc Besson’s Leon: a dark horse next-door neighbor, a little girl (orphaned), and DEA cops. Lee’s film is darker (akin to its Korean pedigree) and serves up a spectacular dish of retribution, redemption, and revenge. 

It’s available on Netflix streaming, so go see it. Here's the US trailer (it's probably better if you don't watch it).

Here's the UK DVD trailer (which shows a lot of the action scenes) for those who have already seen the movie.

* Revision: this movie is more like Man On Fire than anything else (i'm not into that movie; that's why i dis-remembered).

Film reviews in fifty words (2011).

Lost in Translation (2003)

Directed by Sofia Coppola

Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation owes a lot to Wong Kar-Wai’s films—their sense of loneliness and images—as well as the premise of Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise.  However, it’s Bill Murray that gives Coppola’s film its own magic.  His connection with Scarlett Johansson's character can’t be described, only felt.

I'm not even sure if the top poster is an official movie poster, but i like it.

I also like this image:

On a side note, Wong Kar-wai's In the Mood for Love takes cues from a movie set in Japan, Hiroshima Mon Amor.
Film reviews in fifty words (2011).

The Best Comic Book Superhero Movies (revised Aug. 10)

I just saw X-Men: First Class and it’s awesome.

Why do the X-Men movies have the worse posters? 

This international poster for First Class is the best of the bad bunch.

Top Ten Superhero Comic Book Movies (*)

1. The Dark Knight (2008)
   
2. Spider-Man 2 (2004)
   
3. Iron Man (2008)
   
4. Watchmen (2009) **
   
5. Spider-Man (2002)
6. X2: X-Men United (2003)
   
7. X-Men (2000)
   
8. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
9. X-Men: First Class (2011)
   
10. Hellboy (2004) 

Honorable Mentions
Batman Begins (2005), Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011), and Fantastic Four (2005)

Let me know of your top ten or top five in the comments section.

* I tried to keep the list to contemporary/modern era films. I’m not counting Superman (Christopher Reeve, both one and two would be on this list).   Superman Returns should probably be an honorable mention too.  Christopher Nolan's Batmans are so real that they don't feel like superhero movies (i almost don't want to put them on the list--almost).

** I know Watchmen is an anti-superhero movie but it has superheroes nevertheless. I dis-included action movies based on comic books such as The Losers, Red, 300, Sin City, etc. (perhaps Kick-Ass? and Scott Pilgrim is not a superhero). 

Revision (6-25-11): moved X-Men First Class from 7 to 6, X2 from 9 to 7, and Batman Begins from 6 to 8. 
Revision (6-29-11): added X-Men at 8, bumped everything down, and moved Thor to honorable mention.  
The X-Men movies hold up a lot better than I had previously thought (re-watched them all on bluray).
Revision (8-10-11): revised the list to include Captain America and Hellboy; repositioned X-Men: First Class.

I Am Love (2010) / Two Lovers (2008)

Directed by Luca Guadagnino / James Gray

Both Luca Guadagnino’s I Am Love and James Gray’s Two Lovers look to melodramas of the past, with Joaquin Phoenix and Tilda Swinton as the leads in their own miniature operas set in Brooklyn and Milan/San Remo.  Themes of love/lust and following/breaking tradition drive each film.  John Adam’s score swells in key scenes of I Am Love in contrast to the film’s subtle pacing.  While in Two Lovers, the scenes play out as if they’re on stage but the textures of the interiors and exteriors of the apartment and Brighton Beach are very real—like its characters and their choices.

Trailers: I Am Love and Two Lovers (the UK version is less revealing). Both films can be seen on Netflix streaming.

Other reviews: I Am Love by John Powers and Two Lovers by A.O. Scott, Roger Ebert, and Bartleby (Pop Culture Ninja).

Film reviews in fifty words, a new series (2011); times two, one hundred words for two films.

In the Mood for Love (2000)

Directed by Wong Kar-Wai

There are transcendent moments in Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love when the characters play-act the roles of their spouses (involved in an affair).  Simultaneously, you feel their pain, empathize with their spouses, and experience their connection—pushing you to understand what has happened, is happening, and could happen. 

Here's the french movie trailer and an extended trailer/montage with great images from the film.
The image above is the original Hong Kong poster from Posterdemic. Watch the US Criterion Collection release. 

Film reviews in fifty words (2011): Movies in need of a bluray release.