No Country For Old Men

Date: November 17
Location: Muvico Boca Raton

No Country For Old Men is not only the best movie of the year (so far), it's possibly the best thing the Coen Brothers have ever done. And if you know me, you know that's high praise. This is the first film I've seen since Pan's Labyrinth that I feel comfortable describing as a flat-out masterpiece. The film is surprising and memorable on so many levels that I don't want to give anything away in my description, so suffice it to say that it works as a heart-in-your-throat thriller, the blackest of comedies, a grungy crime flick and (not least) a powerful meditation on violence, society and the evil of which human beings are capable. Trading the bleak snowscapes of Fargo for the even bleaker deserts of Texas, the Coen Brothers have returned to form with a vengeance.

Black Book

Date: November 13
Location: Clifton Living Room

Master of excess Paul Verhooven brings his signature pulpy style to a most somber topic — World War Two — and delivers a rousing old-school Hollywood movie-movie. Carice van Houten does Oscar-worthy work as the main character, a Jewish songstress who joins the Dutch resistance and goes undercover as the girlfriend of an SS officer. Filled with double-crosses, shootouts and steamy sex scenes, Black Book is the most fun you can have watching Nazis. It also has a moral complexity and a somber pessimism about human nature and the ubiquity of war. Certainly the best thing Veerhoven has done since Robocop, and one of the nicest surprises of the year.

Best Oscar Race Yet?

I've been perusing the early Academy Award predictions and the following titles keep coming up: Atonement, American Gangster, No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Juno.

Now, I haven't seen most of those, but they're all exactly the sort of movie I love, and would love to see vie for the Best Picture prize. Just imagine: the Coen Brothers facing off against Paul Thomas Anderson; three crime movies going head to head a year after The Departed was the unlikeliest of winners; Joe Wright's follow-up to the exquisite (and woefully underrated) Pride & Prejudice sitting alongside a quirky Jason Reitman comedy starring Jennifer Garner, Michael Cera and Jason Bateman. I'd be in Oscar Heaven.

Of course, things could change. We might be looking at, say, Into the Wild, In the Valley of Elah, Lions for Lambs and Lust, Caution. But those seem to be long shots, and there isn't much else on the horizon. I'm guessing I'll be pretty happy with the lineup come February.

American Gangster

Date: November 4
Location: Muvico Boca Raton

My father and I, the manliest of men, saw this manly movie together while our women went shopping. As it should be. As for the movie... it's a great one, one of the best so far this year. 2007 has been a great year for throwbacks to a 70s aesthetic, from Michael Clayton to Black Snake Moan, Zodiac to American Gangster. The latter two, in addition to being filmed and plotted like great crime movies of the 70s, are largely set in that decade. They share a cinematographer and production designer, too, with award-worthy results. I'd rank both films among the best crime movies I've seen — if not the equal of The Godfather and Goodfellas, at least shoulder-to-shoulder with The Departed and L.A. Confidential.

Ridley Scott does great, subtle work here, content to let his actors carry the weight. And what a lineup of actors he has at his disposal — Washington and Crowe are note-perfect as always (both should vie for the Best Actor award), but just as impressive is the excellent work by Ruby Dee, Armand Assante, John Ortiz, Joe Morton and Josh Brolin. And Chiwetel Ejiofor has great taste and/or a great agent — he picks one winner after another and shines in every one.

I'm a sucker for movies like this — movies that feel gritty and real and put you right in the center of the depraved but fascinating lives of criminals. American Gangster goes a step further and puts you in the center of the lead investigation as well. The back-and-forth between these very different worlds, and very different central figures, is fascinating. And the climax is beautifully staged, delivering all the thrills of an action movie plus the heft of a tragedy. The movies runs 2 1/2 hours but I didn't want it to end.

The Best Frakkin' Show on TV

Recently Alex and I were deciding what movie we might see next and it struck us that pretty much everything out there would probably pale in comparison to the stuff we've been watching lately on TV.

It seems we're in a golden era of television entertainment where the finest character development, the most thoughtful treatment of major issues, the biggest laughs and the best-earned tears can all be found on the small screen.

Currently, I'm hooked on five shows each of which has a strong claim on the designation of the best frakkin' show on TV.

(This sets aside a number of other shows I watch and enjoy, but which fall short of that mark: Heroes, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Survivor. It also, obviously, excludes a couple shows I don't watch but which have received universal acclaim: The Wire, The Shield)

5. Entourage

This HBO comedy is the best time you can have watching TV — the episodes go down like popcorn and are more addictive than crack. Produced by Mark Wahlberg and inspired by the adventures he and his buddies from the mean streets of Boston had once he hit it big in Hollywood, Entourage gives viewers the chance to live vicariously the life of a huge movie star. We follow Vincent Chase as he takes the meetings, goes to the parties, dates the most incredible-looking women. We also get to hang out with a hilarious supporting cast, highlighted by Kevin Dillon as Johnny Drama, Vince's pathetic but proud older brother, and Jeremy Piven as Ari Gold, Vince's breathtakingly arrogant agent. This show makes me want to subscribe to HBO.

4. Lost

It started as an adventure about a group of people stranded on a remote island with something that sounded a lot like a dinosaur stomping through the woods behind them. But it quickly turned into a captivating puzzle, complete with mysteriously reappearing numbers, a series of hatches tied to psychological experiments, precognition, time travel and a freaky smoke monster. Best of all, Lost spends most of its time digging ever deeper into the backgrounds and psyches of its large ensemble cast of characters. In the most arresting season finale of last year, the flashback structure was turned completely on its head and we were treated to a flash-forward showing Jack and Kate off the island. The show's creators have arranged for a unique end game, giving us three shortened seasons eight months apart, and I'm confident they will deliver the goods, giving this special show a finish as satisfying as its start.

3. The Office

It seems unlikely that a remake of a beloved British show could end up as one of the best shows on American TV, but a month into its fourth season, The Office has never missed a step. It is consistently the funniest thing on the air but also has a thread of pathos running through every episode. Steve Carrell's Michael Scott is a buffoon, but you always believe he wants what's best for the people and company he cares about. And the Jim/Pam relationship has gone through so many phases now and just becomes deeper and more winning with each one. Of everything on this list, The Office is the show that best captures a regular daily life — we can all appreciate dealing with the weirdo the next cubicle over or harboring a secret crush on the pretty girl across the room. That it turns such mundane material into hilarious high art is quite an achievement.

2. Battlestar Galactica

On the opposite side of the spectrum (though Dwight is a huge fan, so there is a connection) we have Galactica. Though on hiatus for months now, and with months left before the start of its next season, this show continues to enthrall me (not least because I've been able to relive the first two seasons through Amy and Dana's eyes). It's a gripping human drama that happens to take place in outer space, with heroes and villains painted in so many shades of grey it is sometimes hard to tell them apart. Dark and uncompromising, Galactica has tackled issues such as torture and abortion through the prism of a world not quite our own, but powerfully similar. And it must be appluaded for adding to the lexicon the word "frak" — a TV-friendly stand-in for its more vulgar cousin.

1. Friday Night Lights

I don't want to be accused of lapsing into hyperbole, so believe me when I say this bold statement is completely heartfelt: the first 22 episodes of Friday Night Lights make up the finest season of television I have ever seen.

How is it that a show about a high school football team in Texas reaches such lofty heights? Well, for starters, you've got the sports thing. On the big screen, movies from Hoosiers and Rudy to Bull Durham and Rocky have made for outstanding fiction — mixing the heart-pounding tension of on-the-field competition with the personal battles between and within the characters. Now imagine that same level of excitement and emotion spread over a television season, with so much more time dedicated to each character.

And what characters these are — people you hate but grow to love, people you love but grow to hate and then grow to love again. People who are funny, angry, weak and strong. At the center of this universe are Kyle Chandler's head coach and his wife, played by Connie Britton, in an exquisitely dramatized marriage. You completely believe these people have been married for 20 years, and beyond that, you want to move to Texas to be friends with them. I know the Emmys are notorious for overlooking stellar shows and performances and for giving awards to the "wrong" people, but Connie Britton not winning (let alone being nominated for) the Best Actress trophy is the single biggest travesty in that award show's history.

Finally (though I could go on and on) I'll call attention to the meticulous attention to detail the show offers, the overwhelming realism. Whether it's the workings of a small Texas town obsessed with high school football, the atmosphere surrounding a quadriplegic rugby team or the awkward maneuverings of a first teenage love, everything is spot on. Friday Night Lights often feels more like a documentary than a scripted TV show.

We're about to start Season Two, and I hope the show maintains its level of quality (not to mention its very existence, which is in doubt thanks to lackluster ratings). But for now, I can confidently say Friday Night Lights is the best frakkin' show on TV.

The Darjeeling Limited

Date: October 20
Location: AMC Sunset Place

Wow, it's been awhile since I saw a movie. Can't let that happen again! I still don't know exactly how I feel about this movie, at least in terms of placing it on the list. I can say that, for now at least, I consider it the weakest of Wes Anderson's films. But that's not saying much, because I consider all the rest masterpieces of varying degree and this one definitely has its place among them. Complicating things is the fact that all of Anderson's films have grown richer and more effective for me over time, and I suspect future viewings of Darjeeling will continue that trend. I'd love to see this film again in the theater, and I will definitely buy the DVD the day it's released.

That said, I can appreciate the criticism that Anderson has gone to the well one too many times, producing another film about broken families set against obsessively detailed mise-en-scene and peppered with slo-mo shots set to obscure 60s pop songs. He definitely does that here, perhaps a couple times too many.

However, I was surprised to see how much Anderson breaks from his signature style in this film — shooting on a moving train and on location in India lends a more organic feel to many of his compositions. The film has a looser, more improvisational feel. And the performances are lovely, with Owen Wilson a particular standout — he has always done his finest work in Anderson's films.

Ultimately, while I feel this is a special film, I hope Anderson stretches his wings a bit more on the next one. His spectacular early success (artistic if not commercial) is working against him now, but I'm guessing 20 years from now his work will be studied and appreciated alongside the other great directors of our time. Five films into Steven Spielberg's career, he was regarded as a boy who refused to grow up, but a couple Munichs and Schindler's Lists later that criticism is forgotten. Wes Anderson is at a similar crossroads, and I for one can't wait to see what direction he takes next.

Death Proof

Date: September 26
Location: Clifton Living Room

Released in theaters as part of a double-feautre titled Grindhouse, this Quentin Tarantino film has been expanded by 30 minutes and given the solo treatment on DVD. The extra footage is unnecessary, and basically amounts to more scenes of people talking... and talking... and talking. Yes, Tarantino is a great writer of dialogue, but he's not at his best here. More so than any QT film, this thing is absent a single recognizable human emotion. It's all about the style. And stylish it certainly is — but Tarantino needs to grow up and stop reimagining B-movie schlock if he wants to regain his status as one of America's finest filmmakers.

Away From Her

Date: September 21
Location: Clifton Living Room

Writer-director Sarah Polley makes a striking debut with this haunting tale of a long-married couple dealing with Alzheimer's. Polley clearly learned some tricks under the tutelage of her Sweet Hereafter director Atom Egoyan (who is a producer here) — the snowy setting, fractured timeline and emotional restraint are all reminiscent of that great film. Julie Christie is a marvel as the afflicted, but I was moved even more by Gordon Pinsent in the difficult role of the left-behind husband.

Once

Date: September 16
Location: Regal Tara (Atlanta, GA)

I crept away to see this in the dead of night at a beautiful art theater outside of downtown Atlanta. This place was great. In the mold of the old 167th Street theater — four huge auditoriums — but strictly foreign and indie fare. It's a wonderful movie, with three or four scenes that will definitely make my highlight list for the year. It's sort of a long, emotional music video... I don't know that I've seen anything quite like it before. Given that, I suppose it can only be as good as the music, and there is some truly great music here. I'll definitely be buying the soundtrack, though I doubt "If You Want Me" will be as special without the exquisite image of Marketa Irglova walking down the street after buying batteries.

The Kingdom

Date: September 15
Location: AMC Sunset Place

We saw a sneak preview of this Peter Berg political thriller a couple weeks before its official release, and I'm predicting this thing will be huge. It's smart, funny, exciting and thought-provoking. With this film and Friday Night Lights, Berg has established a style I'm liking a lot — gritty realism rooted in a strong sense of place combined with a sure-handed Hollywood sheen. He delivers that "this is why I go to the movies" feeling even if you leave the theater in tears. This film is very well cast — the mix of procedural, culture clash and action movie doesn't leave a lot of time for character development, but these actors are instantly likable. The strongest impression is left by Jamie Foxx's Saudi counterpart, and the treatment of the Saudis in general is impressive. Look for a powerful cameo by a barely recognizable Tim McGraw, who definitely appears to have a future in film.