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- stargate studios demo reel (via .tiff)
- more pictory bliss (thanks, Henrik!)
- Cinema 2009: My Top Ten
- Sunset on Ocean Beach (Dec 13 2009)
- Geek Culture (via Gizmodo)
- Breaking: George W. Bush To Train Berlusconi on How To Avoid Projectiles
- Pet Shop Boys - "Domino Dancing/Viva La Vida" (Priceless)
- Loretta Napoleoni: The intricate economics of terrorism (TED)
- Statuette used to hit Berlusconi does brisk trade (Reuters)
- Nick Cave - "Into my Arms" (1997) - still one of the best videos ever made
December 2009
Cinema 2009: My Top Ten
- Released theatrically in the U.S.;
- No documentaries, no festivals-only releases, no straight-to-video only.
1. The White Ribbon, Michael Haneke, Austria [link]
Pure cinematic bliss.
2. A Serious Man, Joel and Ethan Coen, USA [link]
Don't You Want Somebody to Love?
3. Il Divo, Paolo Sorrentino, Italy [link]
Yes, it's old news in Italy, but it was released in 2009 in the US.
And it rocks.
4. A Single Man, Tom Ford, USA [link]
In my next life I want to be Tom Ford.
5. The Limits of Control, Jim Jarmush, USA [link]
The best road movie of the year. Truly peripatetic.
6. Up in the Air, Jason Reitman, USA [link]
Don't expect a faithful adaptation of Kirn's novel. This is a different beast. It's to 2009 what Fight Club was to 1999.
7. The Baader-Meinhof Complex, Germany [link]
The kind of movie that makes you want to drop everything and join the RAF.
8. Inglorious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino, USA [link]
After so many disappointments (Kill Bill, Death Proof), Taranta-man got his mojo back.
9. The Girlfriend Experience, Steven Soderbergh, USA [link]
Sasha Grey is not a porn star. She's an hard-core intellectual working part-time in the adult film industry.
10 Vinyan, Fabrice Du Weltz, Belgium [link]
Most critics hated it. I found it mesmerizing, perverse, and powerful. After Calvaire, another instant cult.
Honorable mentions - in no particular order
Gomorrah (Matteo Garrone, Italy) - old in Italy, new in the US
Cold Souls (Sophie Barthes, France) - a cinematic mash-up: Being John Malkovich meets Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
District 9 (Neil Blomkamp, South Africa) - best sci-fi movie since Children of Men
Thirst (Chan Wook-Park, South Corea) - forget all the teen vampire crap a la "Twilight" - this is the only vampire movie you need to watch this year
O'Horten (Bent Hamer, Norway) - again, old news in Europe (2007) but was released in 2009 in the US
Moon (Duncan Jones, UK) - the ending is lame, but everything else rocks.
The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow, USA) - Kaboom!
In The Loop (Armando Iannucci, UK) - best comedy in a long, long time
Martyrs (Pascal Laugier, France) - nobody does horror like the French - it still gives me nightmares (released in DVD only in the US, otherwise it would have made the top 10)
Surveillance (Jennifer Lynch, USA) - twisted and deeply sick, just the way I like it
The Orphan - The Good Soon meets The Bad Seed with a dash of Fatal Attraction - good year for horror!
Watchmen (Zack Snyder) - that is, the Ultimate Cut on DVD, not the theatrical version
Pandorum (Christian Alvart, Germany) - just brilliant - what a surprise! - Event Horizon on steroids
(500) Days of Summer (Marc Webb, USA) - just for the karaoke scenes
2012 (Roland Emmerich, USA) - as Bret Easton Ellis put it, there are bits of unintended genius in this post-apocalyptic campy tale
Biggest Disappointments of the year
The Informers - how to turn a magnificent collection of stories into a sanitized, harmless soap opera [sigh]
Gentlemen Broncos - Napoleon Dynamite, RIP.
The Men Who Stare At Goats - how to waste the best cast of the year
Paper Heart - simply insufferable
Drag Me To Hell - after all the crappy Spiderman movies, Raimi lost it - this is what Hollywood does to you
The Brothers Bloom - ouch, this ain't Brick
The Box - 30 minutes are fantastic - the rest is embarrassing - Richard, what happened?
The Road - Problem is. Cormac McCarthy's novel made the very idea of an adaptation redundant.
Tetro - Not even Vincent Gallo could save this self-indulgent fantasy from Coppola.
Not released in the US (outside of festivals)
Vincere by Marco Bellocchio
A Prophet by Jacques Audiard
Enter the Void by Gaspare Noe'
I Am Love by Luca Guadagnino
Related: My Best Movies of 2008
Statuette used to hit Berlusconi does brisk trade (Reuters)
Coming Soon
"The Duomo Statuette in Gold", by Jeff Koons
"The Duomo Statuette Made of Diamonds", by Damien Hirst
"The Duomo Statuette in Blood and Mud" by Teresa Margolis
Pre-order them while they're hot!!!
We all know that the mastermind of the (in)famous performance art piece was Maurizio Cattelan, n'est pas?
A glorious publicity stunt just in time for Festivus.
Reuters – A girl holds a statuette of Milan's Duomo gothic cathedral, similar to the one which hit Italian …
2 hrs 1 min ago
MILAN (Reuters) – Souvenir vendors reported brisk business on Tuesday in statuettes of Milan's cathedral like the one hurled at Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in an attack at the weekend.
"Sales have definitely gone up," stall owner Mario said in the cathedral square where the attack took place on Sunday.
"People are definitely buying it as a souvenir of the event, it seems to be one of the most popular Christmas gifts."
A spiky replica of the gothic Duomo was used by an Italian man with a history of mental illness to strike 73-year-old Berlusconi in the face, breaking his nose, two of his teeth and gashing his lip.
The Italian conservative leader, who was hit while signing autographs after a political rally, will be released from hospital on Wednesday. Doctors say he will need two weeks' rest and was badly shaken by the assault.
While there was an outpouring of sympathy for Berlusconi, tourists were taking a macabre interest in the statuettes like the one used to attack him."I had to get a souvenir, it will be a Christmas gift," said Brazilian tourist Manuel Magalhaes.
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