jürgen fauth’s muckworld

I made it back to New York and just posted my final Berlinale piece on About.com. Below is a list of all Journal entries as well as an overview of the thirty-odd movies I saw.

Also: the official Berlinale site has video from the There Will Be Blood press conference — around 40 minutes in, you can watch me ask Paul Thomas Anderson about “I drink your milkshake!” I sure wish there was a wide shot of the podium so we could see Daniel Day-Lewis giving me the thumbs up, but it’s a nice record anyway. The site has been featured all over the web as well as in USA Today and Entertainment Weekly, but this was my favorite milkshake moment by far.

Berlinale Journal

• Berlinale Journal, Day 1
• Berlinale Journal, Day 2
• Berlinale Journal, Day 3
• Berlinale Journal, Days 4 &5
• Berlinale Journal, Day 6
• Berlinale Journal, Day 7
• Berlinale Journal, Days 8 & 9
• Berlinale Journal: The Awards
• Berlinale Journal, Wrap-Up

Films Covered, Sorted by Rating

1. United Red Army. Wakamatsu Koji, 2007. ****
2. Night and Day. Hong Sang-soo, 2008. ****
3. Megane. Naoko Ogigami, 2007, ****
4. Jesus Christ Savior. Peter Geyer, 2008. ****
5. Sparrow. Johnny To, 2008. ****
6. Wonderful Town. Aditya Assarat, 2007. ****
7. Quiet Chaos. Antonio Luigi Grimaldi, 2008. ****
8. Black Ice. Petri Kotwica, 2007. *** 1/2
9. Julia. Erick Zonca, 2007. *** 1/2
10. Another Love Story. Lúcia Murat, 2007. *** 1/2
11. Auge in Auge. Michael Althen and Hans Helmut Prinzler, 2008. *** 1/2
12. Transsiberian. Brad Anderson, 2008. *** 1/2
13. Gegenschuss. Dominik Wessely, 2008. ***
14. Heavy Metal in Baghdad. Suroosh Alvi and Eddy Moretti, 2007. ***
15. I’ve Loved You So Long. Philippe Claudel, 2008. ***
16. Katyn. Andrzeij Wajda, 2007. ***
17. Filth and Wisdom. Madonna, 2008. ***
18. Be Kind Rewind. Michel Gondry, 2008. ***
19. Chiko. Özgür Yildirim, 2008. ***
20. Happy-Go-Lucky. Mike Leigh, 2008. ***
21. Lake Tahoe. Fernando Eimbcke, 2008. ***
22. Standard Operating Procedure. Errol Morris, 2008. ***
23. Gardens of the Night Damian Harris, 2007. ***
24. Elegy. Isabel Coixet, 2008. ***
25. Kirschblüten - Hanami. Dorris Dörrie, 2008. **
26. The Other Boleyn Girl. Justin Chadwick, 2008. **
27. Shine a Light. Martin Scorsese, 2008. **
28. Lady Jane. Robert Guédiguian, 2008. **
29. Shiver. Isidro Ortiz, 2008. **
30. In Love We Trust. Wang Xiaoshuai, 2007. **
31. Ballast. Lance Hammer, 2008. *
32. Beautiful. Jaihong Juhn, 2008. *
33. Elite Squad. José Padilha, 2007 *
34. Coupable. Laetitia Masson, 2008. N/R
35. Asyl -Park and Love Hotel. Kumasaka Izuru, 2007. N/R
36. Restless. Amos Kollek, 2008. N/R
37. Leo. Josef Fares, 2007. N/R
38. Divizionz. Yes! That’s Us, 2007. N/R
39. Yasukuni. Li Ying, 2007. N/R

My list of top ten films of 2007 is up on About.com. I’ve taken some liberties this year, and instead of summarizing every movie’s appeal in a superlative-filled blurb, you get quick takes on my favorite scenes from each film. Hope you like the new approach. Marcy’s well-considered list is still being, well, considered, but we do have a list of most talented newcomers of the year — and soon, we’ll be listing our disappointments, too. But for now, “the six-pack stays where it is.”

We’ll be voting for the annual New York Film Critics Online awards tomorrow, and below is a round-up of all the last-minute watching and re-watching we crammed in. Instead of fabricating any more blurbs, is it ok if I just slap some star ratings on the titles and grab a few telling screen shots? Oh, good.

My best-of list for 2007 is almost done, too, but I’m waiting to see There Will Be Blood one more time before posting it.

• Atonement. ****
• Eastern Promises.****
• The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. ****
• Michael Clayton. ***
• Superbad. ***
• Into the Wild. ***
• Juno. ***
• Hairspray. **
• Gone Baby Gone. **

People who, like me, have seen too much:

Ah, lists! Like all fans, film aficionados are collectors, and every now and then, all collectors enjoy sifting through their stash to trot out their favorite baubles, arranged one way or another, to show them off to the world. Look! I’ve got three of the ultra-rare green kind, and oh, how that marbled one catches the sunlight just so! Toying with the objects of our affection in this way makes us feel happy and safe. In the world of movies, that’s what we call a list.

The movies we’ve seen (and can remember) are our stash and currency, and the best and shiniest of them will have to bear the scrutiny of any passers-by. As members of NYFCO, Marcy and I do this once a year, and recently, I’ve been asked, along with a number of bloggers and critics, to help put together a list of best films made in a language other than English before 2002. The list of nominations is out now at Edward Copeland’s site, and it’s a good one. You can go vote on your favorites, and a final tally will be published soon.

For the goal-oriented, that should be the end of the story, but I always find that democracy and criticism make an uneasy fit, and to me, the final result is somewhat beside the point. Instead, you might be happier taking a look at the individual ballots (or adding your own) here, at Jim Emerson’s site, at the House Next Door, or on your own damn blog. The fun is in the arranging of the marbles, the weighing of their comparative beauty, the debates over which ones have been overlooked or could be traded in for shinier ones. (It’s also a terrific way to fatten up your Netflix queue.) For the avid collector, the list is never an end in itself — it’s just a way to spend a little bit more time with some of our favorite things.

So here’s the snapshot of movies I considered worthy of inclusion according to this particular set of parameters on this particular day–culled from a much longer list of close contenders while LH 182, after three hours delay, finally began its initial descent on Berlin-Tegel, a fact I mention only because it may help explain the heavy Teutonic emphasis: I literally found myself in the Himmel über Berlin. Feel free to add your 25 favorites in the comments, and don’t forget to vote at Edward Copeland’s site. In alphabetical order:

8 1/2 Federico Fellini, 1963
Aguirre, The Wrath of God Werner Herzog, 1972
Akira Katsuhiro Otomo, 1988
Au Hasard Balthazar Robert Bresson, 1966
Band of Outsiders Jean-Luc Godard, 1964
Black Orpheus Marcel Camus, 1959
City of God Fernando Meirelles, 2002
Day for Night Francois Truffaut, 1973
M Fritz Lang, 1931
Nights of Cabiria Federico Fellini, 1957
Run Lola Run Tom Tykwer, 1998
Seven Samurai Akira Kurosawa, 1954
Solaris Andrei Tarkovsky, 1972
Spirited Away Hayao Miyazaki, 2001
Stolen Kisses Francois Truffaut, 1968
The Lovers on the Bridge Leos Carax, 1991
The Man Without a Past Aki Kaurismaki, 2002
The Rules of the Game Jean Renoir, 1939
The Seventh Seal Ingmar Bergman, 1957
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg Jacques Demy, 1964
The Wages of Fear Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1953
Wings of Desire Wim Wenders, 1987
Y Tu Mama Tambien Alfonso Cuaron, 2001
Yojimbo Akira Kurosawa, 1961
Zur Sache, Schätzchen May Spils, 1968

It’s not quite official yet, but here’s a sneak peek at my favorite movies of the year. We also have Marcy’s top ten, top ten documentaries and a list of the worst movies of 2006.

[tags]film, movies, top ten, 2006, lists, jurgen, marcy, worst, documentaries[/tags]

It’s a rough time of year to be a film critic. For the last two weeks, we’ve been cramming year-end releases and rewatching earlier favorites in anticipation of today’s vote for the prestigious NYFCO awards. Here’s a list, arranged by rating, of everything I’ve seen since Thanksgiving.

• Inland Empire - *****
• The Queen - *****
• Volver - ****
• Children of Men - ****
• Factotum - ****
• The Dead Girl - ****
• Jesus Camp - ****
• Half Nelson - ***
• The Motel - ****
• Curse of the Golden Flower - ***
• The Good Shepherd - ***
• Backstage - ***
• Lassie - ***
• Our Brand is Crisis - ***
• Sherrybaby - ***
• Old Joy - ***
• The Good German - **
• The Departed - **
• Notes on a Scandal - **
• Perfume - **
• The Illusionist - **
• Wordplay - **
• Babel - *
• World Trade Center - *
• Apocalypto - *

[tags]lists, roundup, movies, film[/tags]

I posted my review of Apocalypto at worldfilm. It’s the worst movie of the year. Previously.

Apocalypto. Mel Gibson, 2006. *

• Apocalypto at Rotten Tomatoes: 61%

[tags]about.com, film, 1 star, mel gibson, apocalypto, lists[/tags]

Here are my top ten movies of 2005.