film: 2011

For my own reference, mostly. Re-watched movies will be included on the list, but won't add to the count. Will edit as I go.

Also, because it's fucking awesome: Filmography 2011, edited by Gen I.

January

The Social Network, dir. David Fincher. 2010.

1. The Green Hornet, dir. Michel Gondry. 2011.

2. Team America: World Police, dir. Trey Parker. 2004.

3. The Fighter, dir. David O. Russell. 2010.

February

4. Unstoppable, dir. Tony Scott. 2010.

5. Date Night, dir. Shawn Levy. 2010.

6. Pride & Prejudice, dir. Joe Wright. 2005.

7. The Cove, dir. Louie Psihoyos. 2009.

8. 127 Hours, dir. Danny Boyle. 2010.

9. Raiders of the Lost Ark, dir. Steven Spielberg. 1981.

10. The King's Speech, dir. Tom Hooper. 2010.

March

11. Love Actually, dir. Richard Curtis. 2003.

12. Roman Holiday, dir. William Wyler. 1953.

13. The Fog of War, dir. Errol Morris. 2003.

14. The Yes-Men Fix the World, dir. Andy Bichlbaum & Mike Bonanno. 2009.

April

15. Zombieland, dir. Ruben Fleischer. 2009.

16. Living in Emergency, dir. Mark N. Hopkins. 2008.

17. In the Loop, dir. Armando Iannucci. 2009.

May

18. Armadillo, dir. Janus Metz Pedersen. 2010.
19. Rio, dir. Carlos Saldanha. 2011.
20. Source Code, dir. Duncan Jones. 2011.
21. Raw Opium: Pain, Pleasure, Profits, dir. Peter Findlay. 2010.
22. God No Say So, dir. Brigitte Uttar Kornetzky. 2009.
23. Tears of Gaza, dir. Vibeke Løkkeberg. 2010.
24. Il Lupo in Calzoncini Corti (The Wolf in Shorts), dir. Nadia Dalle Vedove & Lucia Stano. 2010.
25. War Is Not A Game, dir. Lode Desmet. 2010.
26. Neurotypical. dir. Adam Larsen. 2010.
27. Food Inc., dir. Robert Kenner. 2008.
28. The Market, dir. Rama Rau. 2010.
29. Food Security: It's In Your Hands, dir. Nick Versteeg. 2009.
30. If A Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front, dir. Marshall Curry. 2011.
31. No! The Rape Documentary, dir. Aishah Shahidah Simmons. 2006.
32. The National Parks Project, dirs. Scott Smith, Zacharias Kunuk, Peter Lynch, Sturla Gunnarsson, Kevin McMahon, Louise Archambault, Hubert Davis, Catherine Martin, Daniel Cockburn, John Walker, Jamie Travis, Stéphane Lafleur & Keith Behrman. 2011.
33. Thor, dir. Kenneth Branagh. 2011.
Star Trek, dir. J.J. Abrams. 2009.
34. The Hangover Part II, dir. Todd Phillips. 2011.

June
35. X-Men: First Class, dir. Matthew Vaughn. 2011.
Pride and Prejudice
36. Super 8, dir. J.J. Abrams. 2011.
37. Waiting for 'Superman', dir. Davis Guggenheim. 2010.
38. Notting Hill, dir. Roger Michell. 1999.
39. District 9, dir. Neill Blomkamp. 2009.

July
40. Never Let Me Go, dir. Mark Romanek. 2010.
41. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: part 2, dir. David Yates. 2011.
42. Easy A, dir. Will Gluck. 2010.
X-Men: First Class
43. Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, dir. Robert Greenwald. 2005.
44. Captain America: The First Avenger, dir. Joe Johnston. 2011.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: part 2

August
45. Black Swan, dir. Darren Aronofsky. 2010.
46. Becoming Jane, dir. Julian Jarrold. 2007.
47. Conan the Barbarian, dir. Marcus Nispel. 2011.

September
48. The Interrupters, dir. Steve James. 2011.
49. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, dir. Edgar Wright. 2010.

October
50. The Price of Sex, dir. Mimi Chakarova. 2011.
51. 50/50, dir. Jonathan Levine. 2011.
52. Die Hard, dir. John McTiernan. 1988.
53. Miss Representation, dir. Jennifer Siebel Newsom. 2011.
54. Bridget Jones' Diary, dir. Sharon Maguire. 2001.

November
55. 도가니 (Silenced), dir. 황동혁 (Dong Hyeuk HWANG). 2011.
56. The Ides of March, dir. George Clooney. 2011.
57. He's Just Not That Into You, dir. Ken Kwapis. 2009.

December
58. 500 Days of Summer, dir. Marc Webb. 2009.
59. Shame, dir. Steven McQueen. 2011.
60. Contagion, dir. Steven Soderbergh. 2011.
Hitch, dir. Andy Tennant. 2005.
61. Midnight in Paris, dir. Woody Allen. 2011.
62. Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol, dir. Brad Bird. 2011.
Iron Man, dir. Jon Favreau. 2008.
Iron Man 2, dir. Jon Favreau. 2010.

...JESUS CHRIST.

film: The Ides of March

Blowing dust off the ol' blog again in an attempt to organize my thoughts on the film The Ides of March.

Warning: spoilers ahead.


56. The Ides of March, dir. George Clooney. 2011.

watched November 20th

What the fuck was up with the film's treatment of Molly and what happened to her?

I mean, it's possible I was missing things because I was occasionally acting as translator for my friend and so missed a few bits of dialog, but come on. I suppose I should give credit to the screenplay writers for not overtly casting judgment on her, but the moment it was revealed that she had "slept with" Governor Mike Morris, George Clooney's character, my face was a huge :/ because I'm not sure what I got.

See, I thought that the governor had raped her. I thought he chatted with her for a bit that night in the hotel, and then reached behind her and shut the door and raped her. And even if she didn't protest and even if she did go along with it, it wouldn't rule out rape because rape is very rarely the "guy jumps the well dressed (provocatively dressed?) girl in a darkened alley and rapes her while she cries and cries and tries to fight back" story that seems to pervade society's collective consciousness.

But then Steven, Ryan Gosling's character, tells the governor during the climactic blackmailing scene that the governor "made the one mistake [he] shouldn't've - [he] fucked an intern." (Or something along those lines, anyways.)

I was sitting there going, "wait a minute, did I not comprehend things properly? Did he not rape an intern??"

What kind of conclusions are the viewers supposed to draw about Molly? Are we supposed to assume that because she slept willingly with Steven - no, not only that she slept with him, that because she even took the initiative and flirted with him, whatever happened between the governor and her was consensual?

Also, wtf was up with the immediate questioning of Molly's sobriety?

I get that this film is about the ~corruption of politics~ and how it's so ~tough~ being a ~good person~ in politics. But really, we already know this shit. So George Clooney's environmental, secularist governor isn't actually perfect. So Ryan Gosling is perfect as Steven, the driven career man who'd do anything to get a seat at the big boys of campaign managing's table.

We already know this shit, seriously. Is it too much to ask for a film that goes beyond the obvious and instead of ~showing us how it is!!1 in the ~hard world of politics~ offers us a new perspective? Is it too much to ask for a movie that will legitimize a point of view that ISN'T the white, privileged man's? Something that doesn't recycled the same old (wrong) ideas about politics and where men, women, men of color and women of color fit into it?

And don't give me shit about how if I "want to see it so badly" I should just "shut up and write it myself". I mean, I get the point, but wow, way to be dismissive.

Ugh. But overall, good acting and the plot was well-paced, no matter how hackneyed I found it. Also, Ryan Gosling's face was excellent.