Redirection

This incarnation of The Memory Bank is now defunct. Check out
the new wall of bile at http://thememory-bank.blogspot.com/

Top 10 of the Year 2006

Admittedly, one of the few years where visits to the cinema have been limited. But of those:

1. Hidden (Michael Haneke)
2. Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story (Michael Winterbottom)
3. The Departed (Martin Scorcese)
4. The Queen (Stephen Frears)
5. The Squid and the Whale (Noah Baumbah)
6. Walk the Line (James Mangold)
7. A History of Violence (David Cronenberg)
8. Little Miss Sunshine (Jonathan Doyle & Valerie Faris)
9. Babel (Alejandro González Iñárritu)
10. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (Larry Charles)

Close Encounters

I've spent a lifetime with them. John Lennon wrote a song about them. John Cusack spent a film talking about them. Renaissance painters painted them. Men are driven insane by them. And I already know I'll never understand them.

Meet me in Montauk.

Jon Brion. Clementine's baby doll. Joel Barish's chicken. Gondry and the bird.

What more is needed, seriously?

Oh, shit.

I forgot to update this blog.

More end of year mushings

Oh, and while we're at it...

* Here's my Top 10 films that I viewed on DVD/non-theatrically this year...

1. The Exterminating Angel (Luis Bunuel)
2. Stranger Than Paradise (Jim Jarmusch)
3. Blade Runner - The Director's Cut (Ridley Scott)
4. Los Olvidados (Luis Bunuel)
5. Last Tango In Paris (Bernado Bertolucci)
6. Collateral (Michael Mann)
7. Crimes and Misdemeanors (Woody Allen)
8. The Barbarian Invasions (Denys Arcand)
9. Jackie Brown (Quentin Tarantino)
10. Napoleon Dynamite (Jared Hess), Rio Bravo (Howard Hawks), Down By Law (Jim Jarmusch) and Pieces of April (Peter Hedges), Proof (Jocelyn Moorhouse), Bad Santa (Terry Zwigoff)

* Worst movies of the year:

5. Finding Neverland (Marc Forster)
4. A Very Long Engagement (Jean Pierre Junet)
3. We Don't Live Here Anymore (John Curran)
2. Ocean's Twelve (Steven Soderbergh)
1. Kingdom of Heaven (Ridley Scott)

* Extreme disappointments:

King Kong (Peter Jackson)
Little Fish (Rowan Woods)

* The yearly gooey French comedy:

Me and my Sister (Alexandra Leclare)

* Movie that wasn't so funny the second time:

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (Wes Anderson)

* Most overrated film of the year:

Wolf Creek (Greg McLean)

* Still divided:

The Idiots (Lars Von Trier)

* Performances of the Year (based on theatrical releases I saw, as I said, down on usual years):

1. Paul Giamatti (Sideways)
2. Hugo Weaving (Little Fish)
3. William McInnes (Look Both Ways)
4. Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake)
5. David Strathairn (Good Night and Good Luck)
6. Brandon Ratcliffe (Me and You and Everyone We Know)
7. Virginia Madsen (Sideways)
8. Bill Murray (Broken Flowers)
9. Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda)
10. Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener)

Honourable mentions:
Clive Owen (Closer)
Jamie Foxx (Ray)
Bruno Ganz (Downfall)

Top 10 of the year

Hi. It's been a while, but I've been busy...

Might come back soon. In the meantime, here are my Top 10 films of the year. Admittedly, I spent more time watching television box sets this year...

1. Sideways (Alexander Payne)
2. Good Night and Good Luck (George Clooney)
3. Look Both Ways (Sarah Watt)
4. Me and You and Everyone We Know (Miranda July)
5. 2046 (Wong Kar Wai)
6. Downfall (Oliver Hirschbiegel)
7. Broken Flowers (Jim Jarmusch)
8. Vera Drake (Mike Leigh)
9. Last Days (Gus Van Sant)

and, begrudgingly, though I have to admit it is a very well made film...

10. Million Dollar Baby (Clint Eastwood)

FCCA look the right way (hey! that rhymes!)

The Film Critics Circle of Australia has emerged with its list of winners. With regards to the face off between Little Fish and Look Both Ways, I think the right choices were made. Except I was moved more by Justine Clarke than Ms. Blanchett. But Cate had little to do except walk around Cabramatta and stare broodingly into space.