CINEMANIA:

Melancholia (Denmark, 2011, Lars von Trier)

Ben Livant:

Just as NHL addicts love to pick and choose from the whole league to create their dream team, film buffs make Top Ten lists.  And just like a hockey fan who wants to see nothing more than a show-down between his best goalie and his favorite forward, cinema enthusiasts enjoy programing the ultimate double-bill.

Ides of March (USA, 2011, George Clooney)

Ben Livant:

The West Wing for boys instead of girls.  The erotic soap-opera romantics have been replaced by language-as-a-weapon hard-ball sports.  Ostensibly a no-nonsense examination of politics as a profession in a supposedly democratic system, The Ides of March is at the core yet another bleeding-heart morality tale.  The topic is the loss of innocence and the entrenchment of cynicism due to deal-making and back-stabbing on the campaign trail.

Shame (UK/USA, 2011, Steve McQueen)

Ben Livant:

If you hadn't seen the films but merely heard a plot synopsis of each, Steve McQueen's current offering, Shame, could easily sound entirely different than his 2008 debut, Hunger. The latter is about an actual person from a relatively recent historical period, a public figure who became so as the result of his involvement in a political action.

A Personal Journey Through Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise and Before Sunset: Laden With Happiness and Tears

Dan Jardine:

There are many reasons that Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise and Before Sunset demand, like Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece Godfather I and II, to be addressed as a single unit, but two are predominate.

Melancholia  (Denmark, 2011, Lars von Trier)

Then Ben:

Just as NHL addicts love to pick and choose from the whole league to create their dream team, film buffs make Top Ten lists.  And just like a hockey fan who wants to see nothing more than a show-down between his best goalie and his favorite forward, cinema enthusiasts enjoy programing the ultimate double-bill.

Midnight in Paris (USA, 2011, Woody Allen)

Thus Spake Ben Livant:

I am pleased with the timing on this.   I had the opportunity to see this picture prior to visiting Paris this summer.  To my credit, I declined the inviation of Monica and Audrey to go with them to the movie theatre.  I am so glad I did.  Before actually being there this year, my image of Paris given by cinema was b/w, a 60s take provided by 400 Blows, Band of Outsiders.

Pina (Germany, 2010, Wim Wenders)

Then Ben:

This is a very cool film.  It's a remarkable creation considering the star of the show died before Wenders could get her to co-create it with him.  Clearly, that original project had to be scrapped and the film became a tribute that draws on her creativity the best it can.  This circumstance reminds me of the album Mingus, by Joni Mitchell.

The staging of the performances in the various locations is tremendously engaging.

The Exterminating Angel (Spain, 1962, Luis Bunuel)

Then Ben:

Hitchcock gave a name to what was little more than the biggest plot device, but does not this film boast the biggest thematic McGuffin you have ever seen in cinema?   Not that the "force" "forcing" them to stay in that room isn't the premise of the plot.  But this premise is not a mere device.  It is a totalizing condition.

Meek's Cutoff  (USA, 2010, Kelly Reichart)

And So It Goes, with Ben Livant:

You know that Depression-era cowboy tune about a guy talking to his horse - "Dan" happens to be the critter's name - while the two of them stagger on in the desert, dying of thirst?   No, no, not the hit from the early 70s by the band, America; although that song too and the band name as well are certainly suitable enough for the subject matter of Meek's Cutoff.  But no.  THAT horse had no name, Dan.

City of Life and Death (China, 2009, Chuan Lu)

Then Ben:

By definition, it is impossible to watch the unwatchable.  So  it will sound nonesensical of me when I say that City of Life and Death is not as unwatchable as it should be.  But this is the only way I can express how I feel about the film.

I am not saying in the dry, authoritative manner of an expert historian that the fictionalization does not do justice to the facts.