2009 |
2008
18 articles from 2009
The best films of 2009
25 December 2009 11:21 AM, PST
| blogs.suntimes.com/ebert
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Since Moses brought the tablets down from the mountain, lists have come in tens, not that we couldn't have done with several more commandments. Who says a year has Ten Best Films, anyway? Nobody but readers, editors, and most other movie critics. There was hell to pay last year when I published my list of Twenty Best. You'd have thought I belched at a funeral. So this year I have devoutly limited myself to exactly ten films.
On each of two lists.
The lists are divided into Mainstream Films and Independent Films. This neatly sidesteps two frequent complaints: (1) "You name all those little films most people have never heard of," and (2) "You pick all blockbusters and ignore the indie pictures." Which is is my official Top Ten? They both are equal, and every film here is entitled to name itself "One of the Year's 10 Best!"
Alphabetically:
¶ The Top 10 Mainstream Films
Bad Lieutenant.
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- Roger Ebert
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Arnold's Fish Tank and Jones' Moon Lead 2009 Bifa nominations
12 December 2009 6:25 PM, PST
| ioncinema
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No surprises here with the noms for the 12th British Independent Film Awards as the overwhelming favorite Fish Tank grabbed a total of eight nominations, while a sci-fi film that looks big budget but was closer to shoestring in Duncan Jones' Moon placed second best in the noms tally with a total of seven. - No surprises here with the noms for the 12th British Independent Film Awards as the overwhelming favorite Fish Tank grabbed a total of eight nominations, while a sci-fi film that looks big budget but was closer to shoestring in Duncan Jones' Moon placed second best in the noms tally with a total of seven. The major "snub" is that the committee of 70 were high on Lone Scherfig’s An Education, Armando Iannucci’s In The Loop and Sam Taylor Wood’s Nowhere Boy (they all received 6 nominations) but failed
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- Ioncinema.com Staff
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Duncan Jones’ Moon Wins Best Picture and Best Debut Director at the British Independent Film Awards
6 December 2009 9:43 PM, PST
| Collider.com
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One of the best sci-fi films of the past several years, Duncan Jones’ Moon took home both Best Picture and Best Debut Director at this year’s British Independent Film Awards. The was also received nominations for Sam Rockwell for Best Actor, Duncan for Best Director (a category which included both debut and veteran directors), Nathan Parker for Best Screenplay, and two nominations in the Best Technical Achievement category with Clint Mansell getting a nod for Original Score and Tony Noble for Production Design.
Any victory for Moon is an important victory because while it received large critical acclaim, its June release may have left it slightly adrift in the minds of critics and societies compiling their Top 10 of 2009 lists. I’ll admit that it is disappointing that Rockwell didn’t win, but he did lose to Tom Hardy’s universally loved performance in Bronson so it wasn’t like
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- Matt Goldberg
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Sophie Okonedo on Race, Obama, and New Film Skin
3 November 2009 8:00 AM, PST
| Movieline
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They say that in the specific you find the universal, and Sophie Okonedo can relate. The actress was raised in such a very unique household, having been born in London's East End to a Nigerian and an Ashkenazi Jew, yet from those particular roots, Okonedo's found herself able to play cultural realities that are very far afield from her, whether it's a Tutsi wife (her Oscar-nominated role) in Hotel Rwanda, a genetically modified super-agent in Aeon Flux, or even Winnie Mandela in the upcoming film Mrs. Mandela.
Okonedo's current film is Anthony Fabian's Skin, the devastating true story of Sandra Laing (Okonedo), born to two white Afrikaner parents in Apartheid-era South Africa yet torn asunder by a legal system that couldn't fathom such a possibility. It's a meaty role for Okonedo, and one I tried to convince the reticent actress to open up about.
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Interview with Director Anthony Fabian
3 November 2009 12:05 AM, PST
| SoundOnSight
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By William S. Gooch
At first glance, Anthony Fabian draws a strong resemblance to Alan Cummings, so I expected him to be funny, which he was; witty, which he undoubtedly is, and a bit irreverent, which I saw shades of as well. Maybe because he's British, I was slightly offset by his relaxed charm and uncomplicated manner. I expected him to have a stiff upper lip and be all about business. Well, he was all about business, the business of promoting his first feature film, Skin. And that's a good thing.
Rarely does passion; creative genius and insightful nuance come together to create a cinematic product that examines the worst of us and the best of us at our most basic need, the need to be loved and accepted. In Skin, Anthony Fabian has created a liberating work that gets beneath the skin of pretension, revealing what is true, real and truly felt.
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- Ricky
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“Skin”‘s Anthony Fabian: “For days afterward, I had a lump in my throat”
30 October 2009 7:00 AM, PDT
| indieWIRE - People
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Anthony Fabian’s “Skin,” which premiered in Toronto in 2008, and was a finalist for the Audience Award, arrives in Us theaters today. The film follows the life of Sandra Laing, a phenotypically black woman born of a white couple in South Africa. indieWIRE spoke to Fabian via e-mail, asking him some questions about his experience bringing “Skin” to the screen and to America. What initially attracted you to filmmaking, and how …
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“Skin”‘s Anthony Fabian: “For days afterward, I had a lump in my throat”
30 October 2009 7:00 AM, PDT
| IndieWIRE
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Anthony Fabian’s “Skin,” which premiered in Toronto in 2008, and was a finalist for the Audience Award, arrives in Us theaters today. The film follows the life of Sandra Laing, a phenotypically black woman born of a white couple in South Africa. indieWIRE spoke to Fabian via e-mail, asking him some questions about his experience bringing “Skin” to the screen and to America. What initially attracted you to filmmaking, and how …
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“Skin”‘s Anthony Fabian: “For days afterward, I had a lump in my throat”
30 October 2009 6:00 AM, PDT
| indieWIRE - People
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Anthony Fabian’s “Skin,” which premiered in Toronto in 2008, and was a finalist for the Audience Award, arrives in Us theaters today. The film follows the life of Sandra Laing, a phenotypically black woman born of a white couple in South Africa. indieWIRE spoke to Fabian via e-mail, asking him some questions about his experience bringing “Skin” to the screen and to America. What initially attracted you to filmmaking, and how …
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This Weekend at the Movies: October 29, 2009
30 October 2009 1:28 AM, PDT
| Rope of Silicon
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I don't understand why studios don't release a scary feature on Halloween weekend, or at least weekend's where Halloween falls on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Of course, I know the attempt is to rake in the first weekend dollars beforehand and then hope the fact it is Halloween will make sure second weekend grosses are higher than they would normally be, but with the current release model everyone that's going to see movies like Saw VI or The Stepfather have already seen them to this point. For these reasons we end up with a weekend like this one where the top movie was released on Wednesday and the following selections are either completely unknown or so bad the studio didn't even screen them.
Michael Jackson's This is It
There isn't much more I can say about this one that I didn't already say in my review. Then again, tickets
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- Brad Brevet
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Sophie Okonedo in Skin: Black Daughter of White Parents
28 October 2009 11:32 PM, PDT
| Alt Film Guide
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Sophie Okonedo in Skin
Winner of four audience awards, including at the AFI Dallas and Santa Barbara film festivals, Skin tells the factually inspired (and quite curious) story of Sandra Laing (Hotel Rwanda’s Academy Award nominee Sophie Okonedo as an adult; Ella Ramangwane as child), the "black" daughter of "white" Afrikaner parents (veterans Sam Neill and Alice Krige), who until then — South Africa in the 1950s — had been unaware that they must have had some black ancestors.
Though raised as a white girl by her parents, Sandra soon discovers the importance of her skin color after she’s officially reclassified as black and is expelled from her school. Her parents then fight a judicial battle to have their [...]
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- Andre Soares
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Movie Review: Skin Is Deep
28 October 2009 12:10 PM, PDT
| Huffington Post
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The corrosive legacy of South Africa's apartheid system is still being felt, 15 years after that country's first free elections and its move to majority rule.
To get a sense of just how deep the lingering effects of institutionalized racism must run, take yourself to Anthony Fabian's Skin, a powerful and compelling drama based on a true story that still resonates. It opens Friday (10.30.09) in limited release.
The film looks at the life of Sandra Laing (played by Sophie Okonedo as a teen and adult, Ella Ramangwane as a child), a black-looking child born to white parents in South Africa in the mid-1950s. Though her parents, Abraham and Sannie (Sam Neill, Alice Krige), are in denial as the film begins, it's apparent to anyone who sees Sandra that she is, to use the terms of apartheid, colored, meaning of mixed race
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- Marshall Fine
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Moon, Fish Tank & An Education Lead the Bifa Nominations
27 October 2009 8:00 AM, PDT
| HeyUGuys.co.uk
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The 12th annual British Independent Film Awards announced their nominations for the 2009 awards this morning and Duncan Jones’ Moon and Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank lead the way with 7 and 8 nominations respectively.
Looking down the list, which you can find after the jump, the variety of talent being honoured here is truly astounding and shows the British Film Industry is very good health. Armando Iannucci’s In The Loop has a number of nominations for its cast and crew, Peter Capaldi and director Iannucci as well as a nomination for its exceptional script in Best Screenplay catergory.
One of my favourite films of the year, Lone Scherfig’s An Education, has a host of nominations for its script, actors and Scherfig herself as Best Director. The ceremony takes place on the 6th of December and HeyUGuys hope to on hand to help celebrate what has been as outstanding year for British film.
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- Jon Lyus
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Bifa Nominees: Abbie Cornish, Michael Fassbender and More
27 October 2009 5:29 AM, PDT
| FilmExperience
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Oh, agony! The British Independent Film Award nominations have arrived (in October? Damn that’s early) to serve up the dread reminder that there is no such thing as ‘day and date” releases outside of rare mega blockbusters. I suppose I should thank the celluloid cosmos. In a way the erratic nature of film distribution helps me to continue living my blissfully delusional life wherein I pretend that people would actually flock to more challenging higher quality international cinema if they only had access to it and could see it and talk about it at the same time. Isn’t this one reason that television is so popular? It’s communal. Movies are supposed to be communal but it doesn’t work out that way so much.
Michael Fassbender in Fish Tank
I have no idea when I’ll ever have a chance to see Fish Tank for example, which
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- NATHANIEL R
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Day-Lewis Feted At British Independent Film Awards
27 October 2009 5:11 AM, PDT
| WENN
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Daniel Day-Lewis is to be honoured with the top prize at the 2009 British Independent Film Awards.
The There Will Be Blood star will receive the Richard Harris Award in recognition of his contribution to British film at a London ceremony on 6 December.
David Bowie's filmmaker son, Duncan Jones, has scored seven nominations for his directorial debut Moon, including best director and the Douglas Hickox Award for best debut director.
His movie was only beaten by British drama Fish Tank, which garnered eight, including best film and screenplay.
Emily Blunt is nominated in the best actress category for her role in Young Victoria and is set to compete against 18-year-old Katie Jarvis (Fish Tank), Abbie Cornish (Bright Star), Carey Mulligan (An Education) and Sophie Okonedo (Skin).
The Wire actor Idris Elba joins this year's selection jury, which also includes Irish actor Liam Cunningham and Brick Lane director Sarah Gavron.
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BIFAs Uncovers 2009 Nominees
26 October 2009 11:36 PM, PDT
| Aceshowbiz
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Which movies are vying for the 12th annual British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs) have been unraveled on Monday, October 26 at Soho House in London with the announcement of 2009 nominees. Receiving the most nods was "Fish Tank", an Andrea Arnold's drama that won the Jury Prize at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival.
The movie revolving around the turbulent relationship a 15-year-old girl has with her mother and her new boyfriend has collected 8 nominations in total. Vying for the major categories including best British film, best director and best screenplay, it also placed its leading actress Katie Jarvis in competition for best actress and most promising newcomers.
Following behind "Fish Tank" with seven noms was Duncan Jones' sci-fi thriller "Moon". "An Education", "In the Loop" and "Nowhere Boy", in the meantime, gathered six counts each. Other movies with multiple nominations were "Bright Star" with four, "Katalin Varga" with three, and
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- AceShowbiz.com
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Red Carpet: Yo, Adrien. It's Marion and Maid Marian
8 July 2009 6:00 PM, PDT
| FilmExperience
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Time for our weekly stream of consciousness trip to the red carpet to visit with random celebrities who've been walking it.
First up are two Hogwarts franchise girls. Sartorial madwoman Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix LeStrange) and the delightfully batty Miriam Margoyles (Professor Pomona Sprout) came out for the Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince premiere. Helena gets a few wickedly cackling scenes in the new picture but Miriam goes entirely missing. Oh well. Next time, Miriam. What is it with out lesbian actresses that they are all so endlessly adorable? I mean Jane Lynch + Miriam Margoyles + Lily Tomlin + Fiona Shaw... it doesn't get much better than them. They're always an audience treat. But back to Helena. Sometimes I try to time travel back to the late 80s and imagine this current fate for Lucy Honeychurch (sharing a home and hairdresser with Tim Burton) and I'll tell you... it's hard to fathom.
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- NATHANIEL R
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Okonedo's Skin Rules Paff Film Competition
17 February 2009 4:10 AM, PST
| WENN
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Sophie Okonedo's new movie Skin has triumphed at the 17th Annual Pan African Film & Arts Festival Film Competition, scoring two major prizes.
The drama, based on the true story of a black woman born to white parents in apartheid South Africa, was awarded the Jury Favourite prize at the awards luncheon in Culver City, California on Monday.
The picture was also named Best Narrative Feature in the category voted for by moviegoers.
French film Cuba, An African Odyssey landed the Best Documentary Feature honour, Prince of Broadway was handed Best Narrative Feature by festival bosses and Maria Govan was handed the coveted Best Director-First Feature award for 2008 film Rain.
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Actress Gibbs To Be Honoured At Pan African Film & Arts Festival
2 February 2009 11:05 AM, PST
| WENN
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Veteran actress Marla Gibbs will be honoured with a lifetime achievement award at the 17th annual Pan African Film and Arts Festival (Paff) later this month.
The five-time Emmy and Golden Globe nominated star, best known for her long-running role in U.S. sitcom The Jeffersons, will be present with the prize at the 10-day event - which promotes racial tolerance through the film and arts industries.
Miracle at St. Anna star Omar Benson Miller will receive the Paff's Canada Lee Award, while filmmaker Anthony Fabian will present his film Skin, starring Sophie Okenedo, during Paff's opening night at the Directors Guild of America on 6 February.
In Treatment actor Blair Underwood will host the festival, held at the Culver Plaza Theatres in Los Angeles from 5 to 16 February.
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18 articles from 2009
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