The Trilogy: On The Run (Lucas Belvaux)
At SIFF this year, I saw (in one sitting) Lucas Belvaux's The Trilogy , three stand-alone films (including An Amazing Couple and After Life) that have overlapping characters and situations. They were all excellent, but I liked this one (about a revolutionary who escapes from prison) just a little better, if only for the final shot, which is both horrific and heart-breaking. But if you get a chance, catch 'em, catch 'em, gotta catch 'em all.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Peter Jackson)
The main beef some people have with the final installment is that it mostly rehashes a lot of the stuff from The Two Towers; i.e. Theoden = crazy mixed-up koo-koo king of Minas Tirith, Helm's Deep = Minas Tirith, Frodo-Sam-Gollum = Frodo-Sam-Gollum. And in general, I agree, which is why it comes in at #8, instead of #1 like the last episode. But leftovers of, say, filet mignon, is still filet mignon, and it's still yummy. And "you bow before no man" is a goose-pimply, instant classic moment.
Now that Jackson's done his epic storytelling thang, though, maybe he'll inject a little of his juvenile gross-out humor into King Kong....
The Secret Lives of Dentists (Alan Rudolph)
Also seen at SIFF (same day as the entire Trilogy in fact), this was the most impeccably acted film of the year. Sure, Denis Leary does his Denis Leary schtick, but he's an imaginary character most of the time anyway. But Campbell Scott, Hope Davis, those three kids...Seriously, if you haven't seen this movie, you haven't seen what a good child actor under good direction is capable of. It's not a big movie, of course; in fact, it's intentionally small and fragile. But I like a movie where there are no villains, really, just conflicting desires and conflicted hearts.
Where we saw it: film | We deign to rate it: outta 100