ryan.smith.blog

Love these guys.

A fun little side project.

You can now buy tickets online to see "Devil's Shoestring" at the Nashville Film Festival on April 21st or 23rd. Follow the highlighted links or check out www.nashvillefilmfestival.org for more info.

Eclectic, I know.

Incredibly excited about "The Seventh Seal" coming out on Blu-ray:


And, during a beautiful drive yesterday afternoon, I remembered how much I love these guys:

Head over to Amazon and pick up U2's stellar new release for an unbelievable $3.99. Click here.

Here's my top ten films of 2008 (in no particular order), which appears in the latest issue of Southern Exposure Magazine:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Benjamin Button, director David Fincher's elegiac rumination on life and death, is a sweeping, intoxicating experience. Brad Pitt reminds us that he can still act and Cate Blanchett looks better than ever in this story of a man aging backwards. Shot on the Viper FilmStream camera, Button is the best-looking digital movie I've seen.

Wall-E
Ben Button may be the most beautifully photographed film of the year, but Wall-E is proof that animation is not an inferior medium. Director Andrew Stanton went to great lengths to give his tale of robot romance an organic, filmic look, and the results are stunning. How refreshing to be swept away by such an original, visionary film. It's Pixar's boldest venture yet.

The Fall
It's a shame this film got lost in the mix. Perhaps too avant-garde for the general moviegoing audience, director Tarsem's fantasy epic (shot across the globe over the course of four years) is a wonder to behold. Lee Pace stars as an injured stuntman who befriends a young girl in a hospital in 1920s Hollywood. He tells her an epic tale, and we have the pleasure of watching it unfold in her imagination.

Slumdog Millionaire
When I heard that Danny Boyle was directing a film about a contestant on the Indian Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, I was skeptical. Little did I know that the simple conceit would give way to such a vibrant, energetic film. I dare you not to fall in love with this movie.
 
Revolutionary Road
The slow dissolution of a marriage is the focus of Sam Mendes's uncompromising film, an adaptation of the novel by Richard Yates. Yes, it's depressing, but it is also impossible to turn away. Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet give two extraordinary performances in a tragic story that questions the American Dream and the lengths we go to protect the illusion of stability.

The Wrestler
Of all the films I've seen this year, I haven't witnessed a more remarkable performance than Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler. His portrayal of Randy 'The Ram' Robinson, a washed up wrestler, is so honest and true that you almost have to remind yourself you're watching a film. It's hard to imagine Darren Aronofsky, who is known for his visual style, directing a film like The Wrestler, but the results are unforgettable.

The Dark Knight
Quite possibly the greatest comic book movie of all time, Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight uses the Batman mythology as a backdrop for a tale of inner demons and the struggle between chaos and order. Never has a movie in this genre packed so much punch.

Iron Man
The Dark Knight may be the best "serious" comic book movie out there, but Jon Favreau's Iron Man is the most fun. Robert Downey, Jr. reclaimed Hollywood territory with his portrayal of Tony Stark, the brilliant, narcissistic inventor turned human weapon, and Gwyneth Paltrow proved that she can have a little fun every once in a while. This is what every popcorn movie should be.

Doubt
John Patrick Shanley's Doubt pits Philip Seymour Hoffman against Meryl Streep, and the results are dynamite. You may find yourself smiling as Hoffman's priest, who may or may not be a pedophile, has a yelling match with Streep's conservative nun. It's hard not to, with such phenomenal actors on screen together, duking it out. If it feels like a play, it's because it's based on one. Try to turn away.

Frost/Nixon
I have to admit, I felt somewhat of an obligation to watch Frost/Nixon. What I didn't expect was just how engaging it would be. Ron Howard hits a home run with this dramatic retelling of David Frost's famous interview with former president Richard Nixon. With a wonderful cast and a tight script by Peter Morgan, this is a must-see film.

In case you haven't noticed, LOST is a deeply spiritual show. And despite its flirtations with other belief systems, it seems to be particularly interested in Christianity. Last week's episode, titled "316" (John 3:16 is the reference), had Ben telling Locke (who must die a sacrificial death to save his friends) about Thomas the apostle, who unfairly become known for his doubt rather than his faith. I appreciated these comments by Entertainment Weekly's Doc Jenson, whose analysis of the show is consistently stimulating (read more here):

I think Ben's composite picture of Thomas as both believer and skeptic — or rather, moving from believing to unbelieving and back again — captures a universal theme that's swirling through Lost. Thomas is a one-man symbol for mankind's shaken, if not lost, faith in ANYTHING that purports to offer meaning and stability. Religion, science, government, the economy, even family — it's hard for people to completely trust in any of these institutions and the people who represent them anymore, for any number of reasons. This is what the ruins that dot the Island represent to me: They are reminders that we once lived in a world that no longer exists — a world of answers, not ambiguity. A world where God was experienced as a literal presence in everyday life. A world where science and religion were joined at the hip, and not at each other's throats. Now, everything is a mystery, and everything is an argument. Who is right: Jack or Locke? Which is correct: The God-forged cosmology of C.S. Lewis or the God-subtracted physics of Stephen Hawking? I'm not sure that Lost is asking us to pick a side, but I am certain Lost is saying: ''This kind of confusion profoundly sucks.''

I had high hopes for Joss Whedon's "Dollhouse". Not because of the premise, or because of Eliza "tanktop" Dushku, but because I think Whedon is a genius. His "Firefly" made a genuine fan out of me. It was intelligent, fresh, and emotionally involving. None of that can be said of the pilot episode of "Dollhouse". Whedon seems curiously off his game here. The dialogue feels stock, the acting is stiff and unconvincing, and the plot is derivative. I thought about summarizing the premise, but I got confused. Bad sign. But yes, I'll keep watching, in hopes that the Great Whedon might turn it around. Not looking promising at this point.