Must Watch

If you have any interest in David Fincher as a director, or film-making in general, this video essay is excellent. Obviously, I'm Finchering out a little today, what with Gone Girl in my immediate future, but, really, this is so interesting.

Film Frames Launchday

A special Film Frames edition for the launch day of The Girl With a Clock for a Heart.

Ten Favorite Films of 2013

These are the films I liked the most this year. I'm hesitant to call this a Top Ten list because I haven't seen everything yet. 

10. American Hustle (David O. Russell)

I actually thought this film was a bit of a mess, narratively, but it was so entertaining. It really proved that cinema's best special effect is still an actor or actress, delivering movie star chops.

9. Drinking Buddies (Joe Swanberg)

This mumblecore-ish, improvised film started a little slow, but by the end, I was fully invested in the lives of the film's four main characters.

8. 56 Up (Michael Apted)

Michael Apted's documentary series is in its 49th year, chronicling the lives of ordinary citizens. It's a remarkable piece of filmmaking.

7. Her (Spike Jonze)

I thought I'd like it more, but I liked it a lot. Maybe it didn't go far enough for me in terms of exploring what a romantic relationship with an operating system means, but what was there on the screen was pretty flawless. Touching, cerebral, and a fully possible vision of the future (high-waisted pants!).

6. Frozen (Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee)

Disney's best animated film in years. Broadway-style songs, great story, and two of the biggest narrative surprises I encountered in a film this year.

5. Gravity (Alfonso Cuaron)

The ride of the year. A huge leap in special effects, and an emotionally satisfying story.

4. The World's End (Edgar Wright)

The third of the Cornetto trilogy is Edgar Wright's and Simon Pegg's deepest film yet. And Pegg, as a wrecked man trying to relive his glory days is one of my favorite performances of the year.

3. 12 Years a Slave (Steve McQueen)

This deserves to win the Oscar. Stunning depiction of Solomon Northrup's journey to a terrifying alternate reality that turns out to be his own country.

2. Before Midnight (Richard Linklater)

After seeing this sad, perfect third film (I'm hoping for more than a trilogy) in a series, I went back and watched Before Sunrise again, and marveled at how deeply Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy inhabit Jesse and Celine.

1. Inside Llewyn Davis (The Coens)

In some ways, the Coen Brothers' film this most reminds me of is Miller's Crossing, my favorite. A cold tale about a man trying to figure out where his heart lies. I keep thinking about it, and that cat.

And a special prize goes to Scapegoat (Charles Sturridge).

This was a TV movie in the UK in 2012, but it is just now available here on Netflix, and I enjoyed this film as much as I enjoyed anything in the theaters last year. Based on a Daphne Du Maurier novel of the same name, Matthew Rhys plays a mild-mannered classics teacher who meets his doppelganger, an aristocratic thug. They switch places, and the film alternates between comedy, romance, suspense and tragedy. 

10 Favorite Movie Adaptations

The Guardian has been doling out a lot of Top Ten lists lately, including today's Top Ten Movie Adaptations. Interesting and eclectic list, and not a single film on it would have made my own list of adaptations.

Oh, by the way, here's my own. Off the top of my head, and in no particular order:

Ethel Lina White's 1936 novel becomes ... 

Alfred Hitchcock's perfect 1938 film The Lady Vanishes

The 1974 novel becomes ...

a small 1975 indie by the same name

Leonard's 1992 novel becomes ... 

Tarantino's 1997 Jackie Brown

The 1943 novel becomes ...

Billy Wilder's 1944 film

This 1960 novel becomes ...

the 1962 film

Ira Levin's 1967 novel becomes ... 

the 1968 film directed by Roman Polanski

King's first novel, 1974's Carrie, becomes ... 

Brian DePalma's 1976 film

Patricia Highsmith's 1950 novel becomes ...

Hitchcock's 1951 film

McMurtry's 1966 novel becomes ...

Peter Bogdanovich's 1971 film

Henry James' 1880 novel becomes ...

William Wyler's 1949 film

My film-going weekend

There are many reasons I love where I live, but the proximity to great movie theaters is right up there. This weekend I got to see three of my all-time favorite films in actual theaters, on the big screen.

At the Brattle, I saw Rosemary's Baby, my favorite horror film of all time. I couldn't get that la la la theme out of my head all night long. I kept waking up and saying, "This isn't a dream. This is really happening!"

It has a chalky undertaste.

Then at the Harvard Film Archive, where they are showing every Hitchcock film, I caught what is probably my favorite film of all time, certainly the one I enjoy the most. The Lady Vanishes, featuring the comic genius of Caldicott and Charters.

We were discussing cricket.

And finally, also at the HFA, I saw Rebecca, Hitchcock's best picture winner with Lawrence Olivier and Joan Fontaine. It's my favorite filmic version of the gothic tale, or as I just heard that particular genre referred to, the girl-meets-house story.

I'm asking you to marry me, you little fool.

Film Frames Friday