Of the nine films nominated for best picture, I would have included four in my list. Those include Martin Scorsese’s Hugo, Alexander Payne’s The Decendants, Terrance Mallick’sThe Tree of Life and Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris. Of these four one could make the argument that Tree of Life was too inaccessible to the average viewer to have a mass appeal but Mallick should not be faulted for being the auteur he is; even if it means the rest of us have some serious catching up to do.

The rest of the films on this list are either there to cater to the Hollywood establishment or are just a reflection of how the standards of film excellence are in sharp decline.

War Horse and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close are the two that stand out the most in that they are both competent films that are happy to walk a very thick line of mediocrity. Both films are dripping with sentimentality and both directors resort to extracting as many tears from their audience to cover up the obvious shortcomings in story and pace. One could argue that The Help suffers from the same obvious emotional manipulations. It is a great story with strong performances, but at the ned of the day, I do not want to be force fed emotional responses when watching a film. I want them to be genuine rather than manipulated.

Many people feel that The Artist is a lock for best picture this year and while the film is a joy to watch, it does not leaving any lasting emotional response and I have a hard time accepting a film winning best picture when the best performer in it is a dog.

Moneyball was by far the best of the films that should not be on this list. I had very little expectations when I went to see this film and was surprised at how engaging the story was. Let’s face it, a movie about baseball is usually going to do fairly well but a movie about mathematics in baseball has an uphill battle ahead of it and Moneyball succeeds admirably.

Here are the films I would have included in this list.

The first is We Need to Talk About Kevin. Make no mistake, this is a tough film to watch. I left the theatre feeling depressed and needing a drink. But it the questions raised and more importantly the ones not answered in the film still linger weeks later and at the end of the day, when a film strives for artistry over entertainment and succeeds as well as Kevin does, it deserves recognition. How Tilda Swinton failed to get nominated for her performance is unforgivable. The only thing I can think is that her performance is so subtle and nuanced that the Academy voters failed to recognize and appreciate its subtelty. This is by no means a perfect film, but its flaws are far easier to swallow than those of War Horse or Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

Next on my list was David Fincher’s Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. David Fincher may be one of the best directors at establishing mood and tone through the use of set design, music and cinematography. This is a beautiful film to look at. Stylistically it is the class of 2012’s films. Bolstered by strong performances all around and an exceptional one from newcomer Rooney Mara, the film is darker and carries more of an emotional wallup than its swedish predecessor. Having your film scored by the duo of Trent Reznor and Adicus Ross goes a long way in creating the lurking tension that permeates the film; from its opening music video like credits to the films satisfying conclusion. Can’t wait to see the next one.

Next up his the frinetic bloody, Drive. Starring Ryan Gosling Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston and Albert Brooks, this film caught me completley off guard and blew me away. Building slowly at first, the story develops with a violence that is slowly burning just off the screen and is so palpable. Yet even when it finally erupts on the screen , it still left me cringing and appalled. Shot in a style that reninded me strongly of Michael Mann’s To Live and Die in L.A., this film works mainly because of the performances of Gosling and Brooks and because it knows exactly what it is and that is a credit to director Nicolas Winding Refn, who had somehow made an art house B movie that is in every way an A film.

Lastly is a little film called Take Shelter that boasts the best performance of the year by Michael Shannon of Boardwalk Empire fame. This is a wonderful film about a man who is haunted by apocolyptic visions and takes to constructing a shelter for himself and his family as a way a rationalizing what is happening to  his wavering sanity. Quiet, sombre and beautifully filmed, this a movie that requires more than one viewing to appreciate the delicacy of Shannon’s performance.

Honourable mention goes to Nostalgia for the Light, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Criolanus. Any of these films couls have made it on the list, perhaps on a diffent day they would have.

So having established that the Academy fucked everything up with their inclusions and omissions, I will say the best film of the year was on their list, and that is the sublime The Descendants. Alexander Payne has crafted a perfect little movie with impeccableperformances all around and should finally net George Clooney his first Oscar. This film is evrything I love about the movies. Emotionally engaging story and characters, well written script and just the right anount of artistic integrity without pushing it over the edge into directorial self indulgence or pretension. This is an film with universal themes of love and loss and redemption that if lovingly crafted and executed will get my vote every time.

So there you have it, my list of best movies from the past year. Feel free to agree or disagree.

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I ponder past lives
searching for you
Will you come if I stop looking?
you fade
I lose myself

the search begins anew

We were lovers
I felt your presence

promises unfulfilled
 
Can you feel me?

Do you look as well?

How often have our paths crossed?

Perhaps we’ve yet to pay

debts that love demands.
 

I saw you once….
Driving twisting mountain roads

for the briefest of moments
saw you there

beside me,
 
Curled asleep

long golden hair covered your face,

delicate hands held

softly in your lap.
I knew you at once…
looked away….and you were gone
Premonition or recollection?

I do not know…
A promise made that moment…

to recapture what was lost
 
I walk empty streets
feel you close…out of sight.
Many times I sought solace

in arms of strangers
A lapse in conscience,

painful lessons learned
 

I embrace quiet solitude

amidst pained hopes and expectations
deny my flesh and heart

to all but you
 
700 days have passed

since I answered the call

to heal old wounds
putting you aside
out of mind

but never heart.
Did you rejoice?

knowing distance

would bring us closer
 

The wounds have closed and scarred
reminders of the cost of compassion
 

The wall was never going to fall
so I climbed it
saw the other side
and opened my arms.
 
 
I will see you again
hold you
and know the debt

has been repaid in full

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So I have been back in the rockies for a month now and although I am enjoying the job and the new people I have met, I have come to realize that I don’t have the passion for the mountains that I once did. Somewhere in the last two years of living in Toronto, I fell in love with the city again. As much as people confound me, I do love the culture and vibrancy and constant artisitc stimulation that comes with being in a city.

I drove out here and on the way had a chance to spend a week in Seattle and Vancouver and spent countless hours on foot exploring as much of noth cities as I could. The new sights and sounds and faces are such a wonderful intellectual and artistic stimulant that it makes me crave more.

One of the reasons why I wanted to spend the summer out here was to be in a place for a few months where I could take everything I have lived in the past few years and process it and translate it into something creative….namely my writing…..and yet all I want is more of that stimulation; the well has not yet been filled so to speak! Perhaps it never will.

The only way I am going to make better use of this site that Irwin spent so many hours building for me is to be a little more fearless and stop giving a shit about what people may think if they happen to stumble upon it.

More honesty to come…..

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What can I say about New York? Other than the fact that it is gigantic!! Well for one, it is certainly one of the dirtiest cities if not the dirtiest I have ever been. The infrastructure is in terrible shape. And yet there is an unmistakeable vibrancy to the city. Whether it be the people or the stunning if crumbling architecture or the endless array of restaurants and cafes…..New York is undoubtedly the cultural capitol of the world. The entire time I was there wandering the streets and soaking in the barrage of sights and sounds all I could think is, this must be like Babylon before the fall.

By the end of the first day I had completely given in to New Yorks many charms and had stopped noticing the garbage and scores of homeless people. The very things wrong with the city also contribute to its allure.

I was lucky enough to take some really great pics as well and they will follow this post in the next few days or so.

My next great journey starts in 33 days. At that time, I will pack up my car and head west again. This trip will take me to California….and then back to the Banff area for the summer where I will be Chef at the Num Ti Jah lodge on Bow Lake, north of Lake Louise. I will be there for the duration of the summer and into the fall…..and then its off to Vancouver!!

2011 is shaping up to be a fantastic year!

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I am going to New York on the 17th of this month and am super excited as it is my first time there. Doing it on the cheap as well….I got my transportation there and back and accomodation for $180 dollars!! Yay!! More money for food and cultural stuff.

I bought a ticket to see an off broadway show called Blood From A Stone starring Ethan Hawke that looks really good.

The best part of this trip thpough is that I will be taking some new pics for the first time in quite a while. I have another show scheduled for March at the Crooked Star which will feature a black and white series from my trip so I am really looking forward to pounding the pavement and taking some great pics.

I’m also planning a move to the west coast in June, most likely Vancouver, which has gotten me really excited. I’m going to take a long winded route through the states and California to get there so there will be lots of travelling and pics as well as writing through 2011. Promises to be a great year indeed!!

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So here we go:

Top five movies of 2010:

1) Black Swan- I’ve seen this film twice and will probably see it again. There is so much to appreciate about this film…first and foremost the performance of Natalie Portman. Her transformation from white swan to black is breathtaking and should earn her an Oscar. Aronofsky masterfully blends the story of Nina with the actual story of Swan Lake.

2) Biutiful- Watching this film is like a kick to the gut. It leaves you breathless, then a little numb and the emotional wallop lingers for days. Javier Bardem is also my pick for an Oscar. He is so convincing that I found myself slipping into his character while I watched this film.

3) Inception- Rarely if ever have I been treated to such a cerebral joy ride. This movie is like crack for your brain. A strong story, great acting, visuals that left me wide eyed and a great ending had me buying a ticket to see it again two days later…..the second viewing certainly helped piece together what I missed the first time.

4) 127 Hours- Give Danny Boyle credit! He has made a visceral, harrowing film from a story most of us are going to be familiar with before we even walk in the theater. Yet my attention never wavered and James Franco deserves the rest of the credit for that. There is something immeasurably watchable about him.

5) Winter’s Bone- After watching this film I can honestly say that I hope to never find myself trapped in the Ozarks. Jennifer Lawrence is a revelation. This really is a simple story but told with such harsh and effective minimalism. This is a violent movie but the brilliance of it is that it is all implied….always lingering on the periphery, ready to spring any moment.

Honorable mentions…….the fighter, the kings speech, rabbit hole, shutter island, the crazies

Look for more best of lists in the next few days!

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First was 127 Hours, the true story about Aaron Rolston, the outdoor enthsiast whose cockiness and perhaps lack of respect for nature put him in a situation where he was forced to cut off his own arm after it was pinned by an 800 pound boulder while hiking through the canyons of south eastern Utah. James Franco gives an outstanding performance that should at the very least earn him an Oscar nod. He has a way, as all good actors do, of losing himself in the character he is playing without seeming to be acting at all. 127 hours is a very powerful movie about the will to survive and the people that give us that will.

Black Swan proves Darren Aranovsky is one of the premier film makers of our time. From Requim for a Dream to The Fountain, The Wrestler and now Black Swan, Aranovsky clearly is enthralled with the theme of obsession and the toll it takes on those who fall prey to it. Natalie Portman has been a respected if somewhat underrated actress who has managed to avoid following the same predictable career arch as some of her contemporaries. In Black Swan, she lays the gauntlet in what has to be one of the most feerless performances I have ever seen in a film. The training alone to play this character requires a special level of committment in order to seem authentic. Now I`m not an expert on ballet….far from it, but at no point in the film was I distracted with the realization that I was watching an actress playing a ballerina. She is that good as a ballerina….and as an actress, well she has clearly jumped to the front of the field. Anything less than an Oscar for this performance would be a sham.

127 Hours 4/5

Black Swan 4.5/5

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That little child inside of us never really dies though and aren’t we all blessed for that. It’s been a month since my last trip from the city and I get very antsy if I don’t get to breath a little fresh air and hear the sounds of nature every once in a while, so I headed up to Georgian Bay to visit family and get some much needed rest before another crazy week at work. I woke up this morning and saw the sun shining and the leaves on the ground and the little kid in me shouted, ‘lets play’!!!

So I drove to Indian Falls and went for a great little hike with my step dad. It’s amazing how fresh air and beautiful scenery can recharge the batteries. We even wandered off trail a little……my shoes got mud on them!!!

The point is that when that little kid inside us says, ‘lets play’, we should always take some time to listen and take action. Now for some wine!!

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This time of year always puts me in introspective moods. I turn inward so as not to see the increasingly grey days. Winter in the city is no where near as enjoyable as it is in Banff…where the bitter cold is dulled by the beauty of snow capped peaks and the crunch of pristine white snow under your feet.

It has been 17 months since I moved back to the city. That is the longest I have been in one place since 2004. I have pretty much been on the move my entire life. Never having lived in one place for more than three years…..new beginnings have been in my blood from a very young age indeed!

Just about everyone, including myself, figured I have been running from something. And yet as I sit here, that all too familiar itch starting to set in….I wonder if not perhaps I am running to something? This much I know; when I spend too much time in one place, the colours seem to fade, the people become too familiar, the sights and sounds and smells seem to blend together making everything seem indistinguishable…..and a profound boredom seems to overtake me.

I am reading On the Road by Jack Kerouac again, and I’m reminded of a passage from the book…………”because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars….”

I don’t know whether I am one of the “mad ones” or whether I just love to be arond these people….perhaps a bit of both. All I know is that the comfort most people draw from the security of a ‘normal’ suburban life makes me feel like a caged animal. And so despite the fact that I am in a secure job, surrounded by family and friends who love me….I still plan for that next move.

So what is it I am running to?

…..I’m going to take a little time to answer that one, so as not to bullshit myself or you;)

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