I think it'd be nice to see what your top films of the year are so far before the blockbuster and summer movies make your lists.

1. Coraline
2. Earth
3. Adventureland
4. Watchmen
5. Knowing
6. State of Play
7. Sunshine Cleaning
8. Notorious
9. Duplicity
10. Paul Blart: Mall Cop

And I thought last year was thin...

Very likely to end up on my SLA ballot. I think my current #1 is a lock:

1. Wendy and Lucy
2. The Class
3. Treeless Mountain


These have a chance. Maybe they'll move up on a revisit:

4. Tokyo Sonata
5. A Christmas Tale
6. Tulpan


Good, but likely won't end up in my top-ten next March:

7. Eldorado
8. Stranded: I've Come From a Plane that Crashed on the Mountains


Liked:

Two Lovers


Underwhelming:

Lake Tahoe


I don't get it:

Sita Sings the Blues


I think that's it.

I was fascinated by it... I wouldn't say I loved it, but it was very interesting. Here's my review from my blog: http://thepasswordisswordfish.wordpress.com/2009/01/18/wendy-and-lucy-a-slow-portrait-of-a-stalled-life/

I haven't seen the rest of Reichardt's films. Perhaps you can school me?

I've only seen W & L, Old Joy, and River of Grass.

Old Joy is, IMHO, a great film, though, not as great as W & L. The film largely deals with 2 friends that see each other for the first time in a long time and we see their interactions as a result of the different paths they took. It's also a film about, in Reichardt's words, "two lost liberals trying to find their way."

RoG is a very good noirish on the lam film.

I'd probably recommend RoG first because OJ is an even more sparse film than W & L and RoG isn't as a melancholic viewing. Compared to OJ, W & L is plot heavy.

Man I really hated that waste of my time movie. But with a Sponge endorsement I might have to give it a chance. I'm still pretty skeptical...

I can see Old Joy being an insufferable watch for people.

I also can see someone that hated OJ liking W & L. Or, I can see someone that likes The Bicycle Thieves or movies of that ilk being taken with W & L.

It's a remarkable film showing socioeconomic forces at work on people. I also love what the film has to say, and I can't say it better than Reichardt. A couple of quotes:

"It was very post-Katrina -- what it was for everyone just to be watching, but also the conversation of, you know, "Those people, living in such peril," they wouldn't be in the shape they're in, the position they're in. We just started pondering: If you don't have a net and you've had a shitty education and you don't have the benefit of family that's in any better situation than you're in, how does one improve their lot? Not even reaching the middle class, but how do you just get a toehold in the next level? That was the seed, and then Jon went off and wrote the story. The screenplay was just an adaptation of his story."

"But when you’re strapped financially, it’s hard to escape some things. The myth that we’ve bought into in this country, especially in the last eight years, is that if it’s not working out for you, then it’s because you’re lazy or don’t really want it. So we started with this character who actually has the wherewithal to look around her and say, “There’s no opportunity here.” And she has the spirit to go out and seek something. Is that really all you need?"

"The idea was just that she would be a stranger, and the film has sort of proven the question to some degree. Do we have any responsibility to each other? What's our obligation to each other? And the way she just runs into people in the film, and comes across them, they don't know her whole story, and that was how I wanted the audience to be with her."


At the very least, I recommend the film solely for Michelle Williams' performance. Incredible. Off the top, probably the best American actress her age +/- 5 years.

my future wife and future mother of my children.

In some pics she's looks Chinese, in some 3/4 Chinese, some 3/4 Portuguese, some 1/2 each, some other Asian-European mix. Peep:

http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/pr/subs/swimsuit/images/09_jessica-gomes_02.jpg

http://images.askmen.com/photos/jessica-gomes/56214.jpg

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009_swimsuit/models/jessica-gomes/

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/features/2008_swimsuit/models/jessica-gomes/

http://images.teamsugar.com/files/users/2/20652/18_2007/JessicaG.jpg

She is AMAZING. Don't expect to get her without a fight.

1. Sugar
2. Duplicity
3. Gomorrah
4. Notorious
5. I Love You, Man
6. Taken
7. Watchmen
8. The Soloist
9. Monsters vs. Aliens
10. Crank: High Voltage


Edited cause I forgot about Taken for some reason
________________________________________________________________________
He is stupid
But he KNOWS that he is stupid
And that almost makes him smart
Let's listen

In no order:
Taken
Watchmen
Black Dynamite
P-Star Rising
Monsters vs. Aliens
Observe and Report

1. Fast and Furious (tho could have been more car-oriented)
2. Watchmen (glad I saw it once, but not for me)