Thanks for the feedback. My problem with PARANORMAL ACTIVITY is that it’s boring, not that it requires patience. Nothing happens for 99 minutes. Or so it felt to me. And yet it sells itself as a scary ghost movie. I like my scary ghosts movies to be scary. And to have ghosts in them. Putting it all in the last two minutes doesn’t cut it for me. I quickly lost patience with watching the young couple talk and complain and talk and complain in what was really more like an episode of MTV Real World. Not my thing.

The Bergman movie I mentioned is really quite pulpy and entertaining, not all that highbrow. I wasn’t thinking of it as name-dropping, but as an actual suggestion of a better ghost movie! But if I had to choose one more in keeping with the style and tone of PA, I’d go with BLAIR WITCH, even though I see PA’s now made more money than it.

I don’t mind films that require patience, but I like when the filmmaker rewards that patience. Tsai’s FACE, for instance, is long and slow, but Tsai gives you a lot in return: Gorgeous visuals. Musical interludes. Clever connections to other films that flesh out a complicated little world he’s been creating for over a decade now. It takes a while for it all to come together, but I was never bored.

I didn’t see much that captured my interest in PA. It was badly shot, badly recorded, and seemed all concept, with one “surprising” twist at the end. Nowhere near enough for me! (Secretly, I want to be entertained, like any viewer.)

Those who love ANTICHRIST can have it. Me, I’m sticking with Von Trier’s KINGDOM series. (Which is better than PA in every way, come to think of it…)

Cheers!
Adam

Sorry to be nitpicky, I really do enjoy the list and think you’re a great writer, even though I personally loved Antichrist :)

I do think (as of 2009) that Tarantino is a great director. All of his films are impressive, usually for multiple reasons. They’re technically interesting, very watchable, intelligent, fairly unique (despite—or rather because of—how much he steals). They’re also relatively small-minded and shallow (although I think they’re getting better). But so’s Jerry Lewis so…

It takes all kinds. After the guy’s made eight impressive features, I think it would be snobbery for me to not acknowledge how good a director QT is. How many excellent films does a guy have to make? Charles Laughton directed only one.

But there’s the rub: I doubt QT will ever make anything as good as NIGHT OF THE HUNTER. (Well, who will?) I think he’ll always make good films (I hope so), but will he ever make a film as sublime as a Tarkovsky film? Right after seeing INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS I rewatched LAST TANGO IN PARIS, and I was reminded of how truly excellent cinema can be. IB is a lot of fun, very impressive, maybe even a great film. But it isn’t anywhere near the league that LTIP.

Kael would agree with that!

Anyway, out of all the various contemporary US directors, I think QT’s better than most of them. Although I guess he belongs more to the New New Hollywood crowd (Coens, S. Lee, A. Lee, Wang, Bigelow) than the current Movie Brat crowd (W. Anderson, P.T. Anderson, Solondz, Singer, Nolan). Inasmuch as that matters. Ranking directors is only ever so interesting.

An aside: I think the value in “best of” lists is twofold. For one thing, such lists help people—everyone, critics includes—find movies to see. But beyond that, they help critics focus on which films deserve the most attention the soonest. Consensus views will only take one so far, but the truth is it’s impossible to see everything new that comes out. I saw maybe 800 new films in the 2000s? And from that could name maybe 35 films I truly adored, and another 120 or so that I thought were really good. The rest were, IMHO, mediocre or worse. And I saw, what? One-tenth of what came out? Not even that. There are just so many movies these days! (And have always been.)

So if people are going to get a handle on what’s out there, and where to focus, then it’s important for people to speak up about what they like/don’t like/think. I think.

Meanwhile, it’s silly to think that one could name the ten best movies that came out in a single year. There are probably at least 100 films worthy of serious attention from 2009 alone. And that will appeal to different audiences and sub-audiences…

As for overpraised/underpraised, I will admit to getting irked when that happens, but I don’t think it’s what primarily motivates me. Rather, I tend to just like what I like (and the converse), and then not be shy in sharing them. I don’t care that everyone loves, say, Almodóvar. He doesn’t do anything for me, so I’m not all that interested in either praising him or attacking him; I’m just not interested. Meanwhile, I’m happy to stick up for a film no one else seems to like, such Campion’s PORTRAIT OF A LADY, which I really adore.

But I also think VERTIGO is really great. And CITIZEN KANE. Can’t get more clichéd than that.

And I’ll say that what bothers me more is when there’s only one opinion or view about things. I tend to focus there, maybe because I’m somewhat contrary. For instance, everyone is so in love with Cormac McCarthy right now, it makes me want to say nasty things about the guy. Just so there’s not just one narrative out there (and these things are usually narratives designed by PR firms, then sold to consumers). I’d rather there be a diversity if opinions about things. Hell, there are things I like about CM’s work. But I don’t feel any need to say them right now, because they’re already being said by everyone everywhere. Why echo others? (Unless you think they need to be echoed.)

And ultimately I think it’s more interesting what one can say about a film, not whether one “loves it” or “hates it.” Most movies can be really interesting to talk about, regardless of how one feels about them. (I subscribe to the David Bordwell school.) I saw SHERLOCK HOLMES last night and would love to talk about it. It’s pretty interesting and there’s so much to say about it, especially in relation to the stories, other Holmes films, etc. As for how good a movie it is? Meh; I’m sure I’ll have forgotten it in a few more days.

Cheers,
Adam