Myths of the Near-Past

Dec 19

This looks like a very interesting place. ‘The science of fun and fine dining is artfully executed daily at L.A.’s newest gastropub. … The Lab is the perfect place to test your theories on food,…

Dec 17

Towards a Film List

While at the Frye Art Museum’s Critics Wrap 2009 this evening, several things occurred to me. One was that Robert Horton has an alien but wonderful sense of style: brown velvet jacket, diagonally lined shirt, bronze paisley tie, polka dot socks. Another was dissatisfaction with the similarity of all the lists. Mostly that got me thinking about the age of the panelists (estimated average: 52) and how a panel of younger filmgoers/critics might differ.

Kathleen Murphy made the point that you often have to be in the right mood for a certain film and there are several this year for which I suspect I wasn’t, 35 Shots of Rum and Liverpool come to mind.

Here’s a tentative list for this year (with several left to see and arbitrary exclusions for certain festival-only titles), but it feels like kind of an irrelevant reduction because I saw so many great movies this year.

The Beaches of Agnes

Beeswax

Coraline

Hunger

Inglorious Basterds

Import/Export

The Road

Revanche

Summer Hours

Treeless Mountain

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Milestones