2006 - A YEAR ON SCREEN

well, it's the end of 2006 and i thought since this blog is usually about movies and my life i would post my top ten movies of 2006. it has been a good year i think, and quite a few aussie movies were on the radar as well.

it was actually quite hard to make this 10- at the end i was getting a brain hurt from not being able to decide. but the highly-deserved-worthy-mentions are -

the new world, v for vendetta, munich, jindabyne, brick, an inconvenient truth, capote, chicken little, flags of our fathers, road to guantanamo, squid & the whale, tristam shandy - a cock and bull story, casino royale, the departed, prestige, shortbus, hard candy ...

keep in mind there were quite a few movies i didn't a chance to see which made others top ten lists. so, out of what i saw this year i could only put onto the list.

so, i present to you... (in no particular order) ben chuah's top ten films of 2006.

MISSION : IMPOSSIBLE - 3

ok... i'm actually proud of this one! i am actually quite a big fan of tom cruise. i was watching a montage of all his movies, and there are quite a few that i like. anyways, this mission was totally off the hook, mainly thanks to lost creator j.j abrams ... the action was crazy and the acting was all top notch. cruise, phillip seymour hoffman, laurence fishburne, keri russell, maggie q, jonathon rhys meyers... what a line up. you have to give kudos for tommy's "intense" nature which makes this film totally enjoyable. all the fights and action are totally kick arse and realistic... all the music was cool too by lost composer michael giacchino. pure cinema entertainment. on my mark. 3... 2... 1 EXECUTE!!! (light that fuse bitch!!!)

WALK THE LINE

i hear the train - a - coming... it's rollin round the bend... ding ding ding... dang dang... man this movie was emotional. and so many good songs. i didn't know anything about his life or her life for that matter which made this thing so enjoyable. both performances were amazing... and lil old reese got her oscar... sooo deserved. the music and singing were all fantastic and it is just one of those movies you can watch over and over again. it's a pretty messed up love story but it has a sweet and happy ending. kind of. but, I'm sure everyone has seen this one and enjoyed it. i really liked the way the camera would kind of linger and do those really long shots from behind as they sung. all together now ... "i fell into a burning ring of fire ... i went down, down, down as the flames went higher"

BABEL

wow. like a bullet into cate's neck this movie made me hurt. i knew going into this i was going to be sitting for 2 and half hours watching peoples life's just... kinda... go to shit. i love movies that interconnect people's lives.. this is like "crash" but for intelligent people. and i thought that movie was good. fuuuck. we can certainly learn a lot about from this film. "listen" it's as simple as that. shot all over the place and starring an amazing cast - most of which are non-professionals this movie is one of the most moving and kinda thoughtful movies i have seen in a long time. incase you didn't know it's made by the dude that did the extremely positive and uplifting films amores perros & 21 grams. shot by rodrigo prieto (fotography on brokeback) and edited by stephen mirrone (traffic) and the music by gustavo santaolalla (brokeback oscar winner) this movie has perfection written all over it. it's probably my 2nd fave movie of the year. but it is certainly one of the finest movies made this year.

LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE

it's been a while since i went to a movie and laughed, cried and was all "hmm" when the drama got so tense i couldn't handle it. this movie provided me with all those moments. the cast is great, and it's good to see toni doing some good roles ... (where is she lately) steve carrell who i don't usually like... and greg kinnear who i always thought was creepy after seeing "the gift" both gave fine performances... but the star is little miss sunshine herself, that little girl from "signs" ... oh man, the tears and the laughs came so quick and then there was the drama and then the laughs again and then the tears. talk about emotion fest. it has a really good message about being yourself and all that jazz.. i don't know, it's hard for me to explain how i feel about this movie - but it certainly was one of the best debut directing & writing highlights from recent memory.

UNITED 93

oh man... this was another emotion fest. how do you even start to make a movie about this. gosh. well, start with the facts and talk to all the families involved with the tragedy and then hire a bunch of unknown actors to sell the story. director paul greengrass (bloody sunday & bourne supremacy) does an amazing job at showing the truth and pain to this story and still remaining true to what happened. it's a totally realistic experience, and for the most part i felt like i was watching a doco ... as if someone had a camcorders in the plane and was getting all this stuff in the moment. shot hand held and largely improvised with the cast it's an incredible effort and doesn't hide any of the ugliness and doesn't glorify or make it over the top. the ending is HUGELY powerful and even though i have watched it a few times, it still makes me all short of breath and teary. definately a movie that has to be seen with everything that has happened since that one day in september.

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

wow. little ang lee. oh man. he's seriously my legend. small asian man making a movie about a forbidden love between 2 guys in the middle of this fucking amazing location. there is something about this movie i think everyone can relate to. it's not about gay. i mean, it is a little. but it's about love. and how fucked up it makes us. you cant help how you feel... and once it's there... it's there forever. performances were all FABULOUS as sarah chu would say... music, script & direction oscars ... as well as tonnes of other awards. probably one of my favourite movies of all time... the theme song - possibly my favourite music theme - this movie is a masterpiece of modern cinema. I WISH I KNEW HOW TO QUIT YOU.... ohhh man, the tears are coming. xox

A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE

bang bang... he shot me down... ahahah wrong movie, right song though... this movie all about violence. and how we react and how we deal with it. it's an interesting film with some interesting themes and underlying messages and all that jazz. david cronenberg who lost me with 1996's "crash" (sex in cars) got me back on board as viggo mortenson stars as a small cafe owner, father and dedicated husband... until some dudes decide they wanna rob his cafe and then he turns all killer on them and fucks them up. then some more dudes come around saying he is someone else and that he should stop pretending and then they fuck him up... or do they? ... i already reviewed this on the blog before... i loved this movie for it's brutal violence and it's sex on stairs scene. it's intense but it's worth the screen time. it's a short little film but it all wraps up in the end. i think i like this movie as it reminds me of when i was a- held up with a knife @ work ... & b- punched in the face @ work. if i only had balls like viggo... mmmm in my dreams.

HAPPY FEET

mummy, can i have a baby penguin for my birthday please? this film will certainly make a good impact on the little ones - hopefully they will learn about the message in this film which is actually quite amazing. man, ok... this movie was awesome. it had something for everyone. it's about 2 hours, but it goes by like a speeding bullet. from the opening shot i was getting all smiley- carol can testify i was enjoying myself too much - the story is about cute pingu's that sing and dance and have fun - but i wasn't aware at how big the message was in there. about the environment. it was quite strong. i did get a little emotional near the end, it all looked so bleak and down but then they busted into song and i was happy again. the music is all great - certainly does the job, the way they used the music was pretty cool too... instead of breaking out into song, it was incorporated into the music as part of who they are... they each all have a "heartsong" (emo huh?) yeh, so they sing and dance and make ben emotional. the animation was amazing. at times it just looked like they found the deleted more exciting scenes of "march of the penguins" and chucked them in here... it was quite scary at times but overall a HUGELY enjoyable little film. i bought the combo and now i have a bucket & cup ... and i was HAPPY!!! fantastic family fun. "dont push me coz im close to the edge..." ehehehehehehe

CHILDREN OF MEN

how do they do it? if you've seen this movie then chances are you're like... "hang on... that's all 1 continuous shot... fucking cool" well, maybe it's not worth swearing over. but this movie was a cinematographers dream. well, at least mine. all hand held... gritty... dirt and blood on the lens... running around with large stunt crews and sequences and capturing it all perfectly. man, i was soo impressed by this. anyways, the story is not bad either... apparently no kids have been born because women cant have babies anymore or something like that. then there is this woman who is pregnant and then they have to take her to a safe place. clive owen, julianne moore & michael caine all do an excellent job ... but it is the production & art designers that do an outstanding job at making this film feel as if we are looking into the future. the music and editing is all great too ... but, yeh, for sure this movie belongs to the camera crew and the DOP... once you've seen it ... you'll know what im talking about. WOOOOOO!

2:37

i was totally won over by this movie. even though i guess it's pretty manipulative in terms of it's story and characters... the fact it was made by a first time director who was 18 or something when he wrote it... it's pretty amazing. it's very similar to "elephant" by gus van sant... but this movie i think is alot more... well, wordy for 1... casting pretty much unknown people in this film, it's done pretty effectively... all the performances are pretty good... and there are some outstanding moments of direction for someone who hasnt done this before. i read an article about how the whole film came about and it is pretty impressive just how far the kid went to get it off the ground. it uses the whole "different angle/character perspective" thing which i love... seeing the same scene from another point of view... with the steadicam just hanging around to capture the action. i think the story is pretty important as well.. dealing with teen suicide is pretty tough, and it's probably one of the most brutal depictions i have seen on the big screen... so, yeh... mmm the editing is all okay and the music i cant really remember much off.. i liked the idea of using little interviews with the characters to keep the story moving along... so, to complete my top ten... 2:37 is definately in there for it's balls and it's inspirational quality for me to get off my arse and make a film.





so, that concludes this year of movies.... next year is looking to be fucking awesome. just a small list of what's to come...

• dreamgirls
• apocalypto
• spiderman 3
• the good german
• pursuit of happyness
• bourne ultimatum
• grindhouse
• the fountain
• pan's labirynth
• letters from iwo jima
• harry potter 5
• stardust
• hot fuzz
• notes on a scandal
• inland empire
• southland tales
• and much MORE ! ! ! !