From peacetime to frontlines, from coming home to left behind: Rotten Tomatoes presents the 100 best-reviewed war movies of all time, ranked by Adjusted Tomatometer with at least 20 reviews each.
Between The Killing Joke, Hell & Back, and Anomalisa destroying Charlie Kaufman’s career, R-rated animation is making a real comeback! Continuing the hot streak unabated is this week’s Sausage Party, which looks to be the purest distillation of co-creator/star Seth Rogen’s comedy MO: a literal walking talking dick joke. And we keep the party going with this week’s gallery: the 24 28 best and worst R-rated animated movies by Tomatometer.
There’s something for everyone this week on DVD, starting with an Oscar-nominated animated documentary (Waltz with Bashir), a Jerry Bruckheimer-produced chick flick (Confessions of a Shopaholic), and a disappointing adaptation of a bestselling family fantasy (Inkheart, starring Brendan Fraser). Foreign film fanatics have a well-received import to watch (Alice’s House, from Brazil), while an international cast can’t save Steve Martin’s latest slapstick (The Pink Panther 2). Criterion releases a French New Wave classic conundrum (Last Year at Marienbad on Blu-ray), Elle Fanning gets a star vehicle (Phoebe in Wonderland), we get twice the Crispin Glover than usual (Simon Says, in which he plays twin psychos), and Antonio Banderas and Morgan Freeman team up to show that “direct-to-DVD” doesn’t always equal terrible (The Code, directed by Mimi Leder).
This celebrated animated documentary earned award season raves — and, notably, an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Film — for its dreamlike depiction of one man’s struggle to remember his involvement in controversial events during the 1982 Lebanon War. Director Ari Folman illuminates his own hazy recollections as a young Israeli soldier with striking, gorgeous animation as his on-screen alter ego revisits old colleagues and a psychologist in order to understand why he has only fleeting memories of the war. An English language version is available on DVD and Blu-ray, along with a making-of featurette, director commentary, and more behind the scenes features.
Next: Jerry Bruckheimer does chick flick in Confessions of a Shopaholic
Under the guidance of producer Jerry Bruckheimer — maestro of the blockbuster — Disney churned out this appropriately glitzy, yet mildly inappropriate, ode to shopping and female consumption adapted from Sophie Kinsella’s bestselling Shopaholic series. And who knows? Maybe in more buoyant economic times audiences could have latched on better to its designer clothes-fetishizing, credit card-maxing heroine, Rebecca Bloomwood (the charismatic and talented Isla Fisher), an aspiring fashion writer who lands a job writing about fiscal responsibility while hiding her own huge personal debts. Critics, however, spared no expense in dressing down this overly glossy, stereotype-enforcing chick flick (though it does make use of some fabulous costuming by Patricia Field). Deleted scenes and a blooper reel (entertaining itself, thanks to Fisher’s comic sensibility) are included on DVD. (Read Jerry Bruckheimer’s Five Favorite Films here!)
Next: Brendan Fraser reads books in his latest fantasy clunker, Inkheart
Star Brendan Fraser chalks up yet another family fantasy clunker with Inkheart, based on the international best-seller by Cornelia Funke. Fraser plays Mo, a man who shares the gift of the “Silvertongue” with his 12-year-old daughter, Meggie (Eliza Bennett), meaning they can both bring characters to life from reading aloud from books. When Mo and Meggie become drawn to one book in particular, a colorful cast of characters pop up to help — and hinder — the pair, including Paul Bettany, Andy Serkis, Jim Broadbent, and Helen Mirren. It’s a shame, then, that this fantasy tale wound up woefully short on, well, magic. A handful of featurettes on writing and reading accompany the disc.
Next: The acclaimed Brazilian drama, Alice’s House
Chances are you haven’t heard of this acclaimed Brazilian drama, so what better time than now to check it out on DVD? Director Chico Teixeira unfolds a chamber piece about secrets, love, and betrayal among family members who share a cramped home in Sao Paolo. Teixeria, a former documentarian, uses his experience with nonfiction subjects to lend the film naturalism and the kind of complex characters only found in real life, following 40-year-old manicurist Alice (Carla Ribas) as she tries in vain to balance her dysfunctional sons, her aging mother, and her philandering husband.
Next: Who really wanted a sequel to The Pink Panther?
The original films aside, did the world really need another Pink Panther movie? According to the critics, the answer would be a resounding “no,” since the rebooted films keep falling further and further down the Tomatometer. (The previous Pink Panther landed at 24 percent.) Steve Martin, who we’d swear used to be funny, returns as the bumbling Inspector Clouseau, charged this time around with catching a thief who is targeting the world’s most prized historical treasures. As if we didn’t feel bad enough for Martin, a passel of respectable actors find themselves stuck with him in this lame slapstick sequel, including Lily Tomlin, Andy Garcia, Jean Reno, Emily Mortimer, John Cleese, and Aishwarya Rai. The upside: the 2-disc DVD and 3-disc Blu-ray come with 27 original Pink Panther cartoons, which you can watch instead.
Next: Simon Says double the Crispin Glover, double the fun!
Sometimes when it rains actors, it pours. In the little-seen Simon Says, which opened quietly back in 2007 and made the rounds at genre festivals, actor and cult figure Crispin Glover plays not one, but two psycho-killer brothers. What’s more, the comic horror pic stars not one, not two, but four members of the Lively family of actors (Gossip Girl‘s Blake Lively, her sisters Lori and Robyn, and dad Ernie)! Oh yeah, the plot… five teenagers on spring break encounter demented twins (both played by Glover) while camping in the woods. Gory kills and wacky Glover-isms ensue! What more do you need?
Next: Elle Fanning takes center stage in Phoebe in Wonderland
Eleven-year-old Elle Fanning is fast stepping out of her sister Dakota’s shadow, thanks to notable roles in films like The Door in the Floor, Babel, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Phoebe in Wonderland, her first role carrying a film, should further the younger Fanning’s rep, even if critics were mixed on the film overall. Fanning plays Phoebe, a youngster with inattentive parents (Felicity Huffman and Bill Pullman) and a penchant for flights of fancy who may actually be suffering from serious mental illness; Patricia Clarkson co-stars as Fanning’s encouraging drama teacher, who, like the filmmakers, means well but can’t quite save Phoebe. Unfortunately, no extra material is included.
Next: Criterion Blu-rays Last Year at Marienbad
Movie lovers who like a challenge should make note of Criterion’s Blu-ray release of Last Year at Marienbad, the oft-discussed and enigmatic 1961 film of French New Wave auteur Alain Resnais. Set within a gathering at an upper-class chateau, Marienbad offers dreamlike and fractured pieces of a puzzle that suggest that a man named X (Giorgio Albertazzi) and a woman called A (Delphine Seyrig) met a year prior and made plans to run away together. Or did they? An interview with Resnais, an essay on the film, a making-of feature and an interview with Resnais scholar Ginette Vincendeau highlight the extra features.
Next: Rachel Leigh Cook in Bob Funk
Alcoholic, politically incorrect slacker Bob Funk (Michael Leydon Campbell) is a misanthrope whose own mother fires him from the family business in this misfire of a workplace comedy, adapted from a play by writer-director Craig Carlisle. As Bob tries to slime his way through life and ladies (including The Office‘s Amy Ryan), he must learn to make a change in earnest in order to win the heart of a new love interest (Rachel Leigh Cook). Sadly, critics agree that for a comedy, Bob Funk has too few laughs (and worse, zero bonus features).
Next: Antonio Banderas buddies up with Morgan Freeman in the direct-to-DVD thriller,The Code
Sometimes films go direct to DVD for a reason. (Ok, most of the time that reason is they’re just plain terrible.) Increasingly, however, we see films go direct to DVD because the current moviemaking climate simply can’t accommodate independent films with theatrical releases, no matter the talent or material involved. Case in point: The Code (formerly Thick as Thieves), a jaunty buddy-thief thriller starring Antonio Banderas and Morgan Freeman, directed by Mimi Leder; it’s a flick that could have opened decently in theaters, say, a decade ago. In fact, there’s a distinctly ’90s feel to The Code, which introduces the 48-year-old Banderas as a young upstart taken under the wing of Freeman’s seasoned criminal and proceeds to follow the traditional heist movie formula note by note, including cheeky banter, double-crosses, damsels in distress and, yes, a roomful of lasers. For a direct-to-DVD title, you can’t get much better than this. Watch an exclusive clip below.
Until next week, happy renting!
The Academy has narrowed its choices for this year’s recipient of the Best Foreign Language Film Award, choosing its favorite nine releases from a field of 65.
The films, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:
Revanche (Austria; Gotz Spielmann, director)
The Necessities of Life (Canada; Benoit Pilon, director)
The Class (France; Laurent Cantet, director)
The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany; Uli Edel, director
Waltz with Bashir (Israel; Ari Folman, director)
Departures (Japan; Yojiro Takita, director)
Tear This Heart Out (Mexico; Roberto Sneider, director)
Everlasting Moments (Sweden; Jan Troell, director)
3 Monkeys (Turkey; Nuri Bilge Ceylan, director)
The selection process for the award has been outlined by the Academy in a press release, partially excerpted below:
Foreign Language Film nominations for 2008 are being determined in two phases.
The Phase I committee, consisting of several hundred Los Angeles-based members, screened the 65 eligible films between mid-October and January 10. That group’s top six choices, augmented by three additional selections voted by the Academy’s Foreign Language Film Award Executive Committee, constitute the shortlist.
The shortlist will be winnowed down to the five 2008 nominees by specially selected committees in New York and Los Angeles. The committee members will spend this Friday, Saturday and Sunday viewing three of the films each day.
The 81st Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Thursday, January 22, 2009, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2008 will be presented on Sunday, February 22, 2009, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.
The 14th Annual Critics’ Choice Awards were given on January 8, 2009, to honor the finest achievements in 2008 filmmaking. A list of nominees follows below, with winners in bold:
Best Picture:
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Doubt
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire
Wall-E
The Wrestler
Best Actor:
Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino
Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn, Milk
Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
Best Actress (Tie):
Kate Beckinsale, Nothing But the Truth
Cate Blanchett, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie, Changeling
Melissa Leo, Frozen River
Meryl Streep, Doubt
Best Supporting Actor:
Josh Brolin, Milk
Robert Downey, Jr., Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
James Franco, Milk
Best Supporting Actress:
Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis, Doubt
Vera Farmiga, Nothing But the Truth
Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler
Kate Winslet, The Reader
Best Acting Ensemble:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Doubt
Milk
Rachel Getting Married
Best Director:
Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon
Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight
Gus Van Sant, Milk
Best Writer:
Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire
Dustin Lance Black, Milk
Peter Morgan, Frost/Nixon
Eric Roth, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
John Patrick Shanley, Doubt
Best Animated Feature:
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
Wall-E
Waltz With Bashir
Best Young Actor/Actress:
Dakota Fanning, The Secret Life of Bees
David Kross, The Reader
Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionaire
Brandon Walters, Australia
Best Action Movie:
The Dark Knight
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Iron Man
Quantum of Solace
Wanted
Best Comedy Movie:
Burn After Reading
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Role Models
Tropic Thunder
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Best Foreign Language Film:
A Christmas Tale
Gomorrah
I’ve Loved You So Long
Let the Right One In
Mongol
Waltz With Bashir
Best Documentary Feature:
I.O.U.S.A.
Man On Wire
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
Standard Operating Procedure
Young At Heart
Source: Broadcast Film Critics Association
It’s a varied pick of films in the UK cinemas this week; we have Sir Ridley Scott‘s latest collaboration with Russell Crowe, the CIA thriller, Body Of Lies. Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo star in dystopian sci-fi flick, Blindness. An animated documentary dealing with the Lebanon war of 1982 – Waltz With Bashir — twirls onto our screens following critical acclaim in Cannes. And the US remake of Spanish horror [Rec], Quarantine, completes the motley lineup. But what did the British critics have to say?
Sir Ridley Scott’s continuing partnership with his Russell Crowe bears its latest offering with the Middle Eastern thriller Body Of Lies. Such a talented director and leading man, plus the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio and British Mark Strong also on screen, this was surely a recipe for success? At a Rotten 50% on the Tomatometer however, it looks like this recipe may have been overcooked, with many critics deriding Scott for his over-direction, tedious scripting and over reliance on bombastic pyrotechnics. There were, however, plaudits for the actors, with Mark Strong being praised for his portrayal of Hani Salaam – head of the Jordanian secret service – and for Crowe and DiCaprio who put in ever dependable performances in a film which was nonetheless never anything more than a soulless and generic thriller.
Fernando Meirelles, the director of science-fiction thriller Blindness, has a decent track record so far, with directorial debut, City Of God at 93% and The Constant Gardener at 84% on the Tomatometer respectively, but does his latest effort make it a hat-trick of successes? At a dismal 41% on the Tomatometer, it would seem that Blindness has missed the target, with the film being described by critics as “a bit of a mess” (Derek Malcolm, Evening Standard) and “Rhubarbed Melodrama” (Nigel Andrews, The Financial Times). Its pretentiousness, didactic pomposity, awful score and gloopily unnecessary voiceover all aroused critics ire. As with many book adaptations, it seems the film doesn’t match up to the standard of the source material.
Waltz With Bashir meanwhile is an entry into that very rarest of genres; The animated documentary. Piecing together director Ari Folman’s and various eyewitness accounts of the Sabra and Shatila massacre during the 1982 Lebanon war using hallucinatory and mesmerising animation, Waltz With Bashir is like no other film, and was a strong contender for this years Palme D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. That critical buzz has continued, and at a very healthy 94% on the Tomatometer, nearly all the critics agreed that Waltz With Bashir is a distinctive, pioneering and utterly memorable movie with Sukhdev Sandhu of the Daily Telegraph calling it “A blistering, powerful work”.
Spanish horror [Rec] was a Blair Witch-esque hand-held camera zombie flick, released in the UK back in February earlier this year, which stands at 94%. Quarantine is the US remake – which much surely be a record for turnaround time for a Hollywood adaptation – but does the yank counterpart stand up to it’s Spanish cousin? At a healthy 63% on the Tomatometer, most critics enjoyed the competent remake, but felt that it was kind of little unnecessary, with very little to warrant the reboot. Simon Crook of Empire Magazine summed it up by saying “As a visceral, camera-shuddery ride into foamy-mouthed zombie hell, it’s efficient enough – but if you’ve already seen [Rec], steer clear…”
Quote of the Week
“Visually the film is so undistinguished it may be time for the maker of Blade Runner to be subjected to that film’s Voigt-Kampff test, to determine whether the current owner of the name “Ridley Scott” is real or a replicant.”
Body Of Lies. Nigel Andrews, The Financial Times.
