Moments Out of Time 2010

SPOILER: "Well, Rooster--I am shot to pieces!" The last words of Ned Pepper (Barry Pepper) before LaBeouf (Matt Damon) aims for the kill, fires, and waits...

One of my favorite features of the end-of-the-year list-making.

Some of my favorites off the top of my head:
Black Swan: Mila Kunis breezes into rehearsal late, Vincent Cassel tells her to get warmed up, and she says, nonchalantly, "Naw, I'm good".

Salt: Angelina Jolie. In fur. On a boat.

Please Give: Amanda Peet incites a birthday discussion of plans for Andra's apartment whenever she dies.

Inception: Joseph Gordon-Levitt wrapping up floating people in a hotel room.

Lindsay Lohan toting a gun in a nun's habit at the end of Machete.

The floating lantern set piece midway through Tangled.

Exit Through the Gift Shop: "I heard he'd started calling himself Mr. Brainwash"

The bottom half of Cara Buono in Let Me In

Catfish: Nev & Ariel finding the songs "Megan" says she'd written for them on someone else's Youtube page, and their strange incredulity.

Ramona & Beezus: Ramona Quimby jumping through the gaping hole in the side of her house and imaging she's flying. A kid in a movie actually resembling a kid.

The Social Network: Mark Zuckerberg sending a friend request to his ex and nervously refreshing the page.

The Fighter: Alice's (Melissa Leo) reaction when Micky (Mark Wahlberg) tells her her off at the gym after Dicky (Christian Bale) gets out of prison.

How to Train Your Dragon: Hiccup's first successful flight aboard the Night Fury.

Predators: Yakuza vs Predator sword fight in the flowing tall grass.

Michael Cera's aside justification for not wanting to hit the only female evil-ex in "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World": "They're soft..."

The female prisoner drinking from an invisible cup in "Shutter Island"

Ivy and Al in the back seat in "The Exploding Girl"

The greatest band in the world (in the movie), The Clash at Demonhead, performing Metric's "Black Sheep" in "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World"

The constant numbers and 'x's placed throughout the production design, costumes, and dialogue of "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World"

The shocking shots of Barbara Hershey sleeping in "Black Swan"

The opening shots of Milan covered in snow in "I Am Love"

A moment between a mother and daughter one at the end of "I Am Love"

Roger staring at the dead possum in the pool, feeling his mortality while the young people around him laugh in "Greenberg"

A young man ready to fight, ten years too late to participate in a revolution, fights anyway in "Night Catches Us"

The night of aphrodisiac-enhanced cooking in "Soul Kitchen"

Your introduction is beautiful. Thank you for pointing us in the direction of Moments Out of Time. I love the way Richard and Kathleen capture small, isolated images and words that for me are too soon forgotten. Now I have a place I can go to and remember moments that captured my attention.

An old man (Eli Wallach) opens his door to see our "Ghost Writer" -- likely unknown and unloved in this world, celebrated in our own.

Any such list that does not include the staring sheep from "Sweetgrass" is invalid. This list is valid.

Also from "Sweetgrass" - Cussing Cowboy does exactly what Ethan Edwards or the Ringo Kid would have done if they had cell phones - he calls mom when things get rough.

"Film Socialisme" - Geez, that woman sure looks like Patti Smith. Oh my god, it IS Patti Smith!

The sounds of "Sweetgrass" and "Film Socialisme." The constant ringing of sheep bells, the constant ringing of the bells and whistles of a casino floor - apparently a universal sound that knows no cultural or linguistic barriers.

"True Grit" - Matt Damon flashes a ***t-eating grin as he pulls back his lapel to show his silver star. "Texas Ranger." Mattie Ross is not impressed.

TEDIOUS = OUTSIDE in "Splice," a title that has no anagram.

They serve cat munchies in Marienbad. "Wild Grass."

Workers who have stepped out of an 18th century pastoral painting sing an old-time harmony in "The Strange Case of Angelica."

A "Big Time" opening credit montage in "Inside Job" proves to be the slickest Hollywood sequence of the year.

From cosmic noodling to naming names, Patricio Guzman begins with the universe as his subject and whittles it down relentlessly to the specifics with a "simple" montage of photos that excavates a whole generation buried by state warfare. No abstractions in "Nostalgia for the Light."

The star of Emile de Antonio's "Millhouse (A White Comedy)" makes his inevitable cameo in Andrei Ujica's "The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu." Wacky hijinx ensue.

I fall completely in love with a film called "What I Love the Most", a short and sweet Argentinean film directed by Delfina Castagnino. It was the last film I saw at Toronto. Nobody else I know saw it, or even heard of it. The few people I heard outside after the show were complaining about how bad it was. I actually confront a man saying "You've got to be kidding! That was wonderful!" He walks away. The very few reviews I can find are negative. Was I worn down by the long festival schedule? No, I know I was right. This was lovely. Yet I wonder if it will ever surface again. I do the only thing I can, by mentioning it at one of the most popular film blog sites I know of.

Maria straining to hold on to the overcrowded bus in White Material...

I don't have any moments to add. It's been a slow moviegoing year for me. But I'm so glad to see someone else recognize that moment in "Black Swan". My friend and I were the only ones in the theatre to laugh at it (not a loud laugh, just a little chuckle). The moment brought the strangest hint of normality to Nina's tense predicament and it really was one of the most brilliant little snippets of the year.

Great moments listed from The Ghost Writer, although what stays with me most from that movie are two elements that most echo Hitchcock: the brilliant incorporation of GPS as a suspense device that also moves the plot forward, and the final shot (if you've seen it, you know; if you haven't, I won't say). I hadn't considered the deft echo of The 39 Steps as Wilkinson and McGregor talk in the study, but that's a wonderful observation from Ms. Murphy.

The only thing that's disappointing about this feature every year is that it always pops up before I've had a chance to watch, like, 80% of the movies referenced in it. :(

But a couple of my own that come to mind:

"Restrepo": A soldier reduced to tears in the middle of "Operation Rock Avalanche"...

"Scott Pilgrim vs. The World": The choice of what is the absolutely perfect musical reference to open the film with -- which maybe only some gamers who grew up in the 90s can fully appreciate.

"Mein lieber drei-hunde" -- Dr. Josef Heiter's sentimental epitaph for the failure of his first attempt at "open[ing] God's door" in THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE.

Re: Adam Zanzie -

Thanks for the spoiler, I'm glad to know that character dies before even setting foot in the theater.

I've always loved "Moments Out of Time." A perceptively noticed and aptly described moment can remind you of why a particular film you already like is so great or allow you to see bits of greatness in a film you otherwise might not recall so fondly.

People have been agitating for different Oscar categories for years now. "Best Ensemble Performance" is one that gets batted around often. Why not "Best Scene"? It's hard enough to create one truly excellent and memorable scene, let alone a whole film. I'd even go for "Best Shot."

SWEETGRASS is an especially rich source of striking moments. The sheep looking into the camera is an amazing way to start the film. Another one that really did it for me is the hay bale tractor ride. You get a sense of the immensity of the herd from this unbroken take; and the cinematography itself is an almost ideal mixture of James Benning-like landscape formalism and a looser in the moment approach to documentary.

Alice Braga in Predators: "I've never seen this jungle. And I've seen most."

Ellen Wong's manic anime pose with her arms up in the air followed by her collapsing on her bed in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt waking up somewhere in the middle of Inception, a little jarred and disappointed as he pulls the cord thingy out of his arm.

The running gag with Crispin Glover's arm in Hot Tub Time Machine.

The dive through the whirlwind in Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole.

The coma patient showing signs of life in You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger.

Michael Keaton's constant TLC references in The Other Guys.

"I'll see you when you get back." Jeremy Renner in The Town.

The long hold on Ben Kingsley's profile at the end of Shutter Island.

The action sequence with the snake and the lighter fluid in Buried; and Stephen Tobolowsky's voice.

The matching close-ups of John Hawkes and Jennifer Lawrence in Winter's Bone, and the understanding between them.

Ooh, I also loved the two exchanges with Jeff Fahey in Machete. First:

Fahey: Where are my wife and daughter?
Marin: In hell!
Fahey: I guess I'll be seein' 'em soon.

And then later...

Fahey: Where are my wife and daughter?
Trejo: With God.
Fahey: I guess I won't be seein' them.

And the use of a weed-wacker as a weapon was GENIUS, I tell you!

A few more, if we're allowing TV:

"Treme":

Big Chief shaking his yellow feathers, strutting down a dark, quiet street.

A very private moment interrupted by a very public tour bus...

An unlikely party-goer belting out "I Wish Someone Would Care."

Double-checking on a stranger on a fairy: Something seemed off about how that guy was staring out at the water, didn't it?

The Walking Dead:

"Don't Open. Dead Inside." Fingers poke through...

Taking time during the apocalypse for an act of mercy. "I'm sorry this happened to you."

A pan across a rooftop, revealing the evidence of Merle's desperate act to survive...

Warning: Page 2 of the MSN page gives away the twist of Black Swan, without a warning. Unfortunately I haven't seen the film, and I was trying to avoid knowing anything about it other than the trailer. Well that's blown now, and there's no way I can see the same movie that I would have seen had I known nothing. Damn.

The silent affirming hands reaching and clasping, as final gesture of poignant solidarity: "Toy Story 3"

This is the singularly most affecting scene in all of the films I have seen in 2010. Some toys have the most expressive eyes that humans in acting can never duplicate ;)

Just a tip: I've read these for years and I've learned to scan the sentence and find the film title first before reading them. Saves you from a piece that is, inherently, full of spoilers.

I don't know which moment to pick out of it, so let me just say -

I saw The Devil. A film of incredible morality.

The most divinely beautiful moment of the year is Ondine emerging out of the water. It is breathtakingly composed by Christopher Doyle. Here is what I said about it elsewhere.

I think there must be something beautiful, something divine, something poetic about a feminine figure gracefully emerging out of the water, something that, it ought to be said, causes a boner that is memorable. Mr. Christopher Doyle (Paranoid Park, Lady in the Water, In the Mood for Love) and Mr. Jordan create an image that is so strikingly composed and captured that it brings to mind the wizardry of the window perspective trick in Citizen Kane. Ondine (Ms. Bachleda) is neck deep in water when she is confronted by Syracuse’s (Mr. Farrell) little daughter Annie (Ms. Kirwan). Annie knows Ondine is a sea nymph of some sort. Considering the manner in which movies generally compose such shots – tedium of close-ups and mediums with the background only to serve as nothing. In Dr. No the water behind only serves as a background, and Ursula Andress’ relative position and size hardly is of any concern. It is just a whole lot of sea. But here, we are first served a medium shot. And then, with Annie’s silhouette in the foreground covering a part of the frame to the right, we’re served a long shot, as Ondine gradually emerges (not walks out) out of the water. Her arms do not move at all. Her body is as much the object in the frame, as the rocks to the left of the frame, as are the strange patterns of the ripples in the water. It is quite breathtaking, as her body gradually attains a size sizable in relation to the background, as she gradually grows larger, and there is something divine almost fantastical about that shot. As her complete figure stands on the land, suddenly bathed in a soft diffused glow of sunlight, the surrounding landscape seems strangely small, which hitherto felt much larger in size and scope. There’s nothing tangible in the shot I can hold on to, to claim quantitatively how the feel and effect is created, and such is the magic we often come across at the movies. I was in love with Ondine right there. The film is a joy to behold, if for nothing else, then this divine moment alone.
A great aspect of this shot, as any good shot, is that it so beautifully captures the themes and the psychology at the heart of the film. What is Ondine about but a sort of deconstruction of the male version of the desire that drives the Twilight saga fantasy.

Another striking bit of imagery is the climax of Iron Man 2.
Here's Hammer introducing the future defense forces mad completely out of drones. It is quite intimidating, and I was reminded of Edward Zwick’s The Siege. And I was reminded of The Terminator franchise. You have machines, huge machines, as the cornerstone of your dominance. Does Favreau, by way of Vanko, allude to the iron hand of the iron curtain? I mean, if this was your government, you could assume what we’re talking about here. Capitalism and individualism is fine. Is proper. Is in fact how God is. I mean, at the end of the day, it is always reassuring knowing that he’s an individual. But when you imagine God as an army of iron-clad Goliaths stretching upto the horizon, you would be wetting your pants even if you were Iron Man himself.

The ending montage of Inception is one of the glorious climaxes in recent movie-going memory. The way the very art of editing is brought into as an essential plot device, and as a clue is just a showcase of Christopher Nolan's genius. A truly truly beautiful bit of filmmaking as there has been any all year.

a sudden jump in time, and we've joined a trio of Barcelona teenagers looking to shoot off fireworks, and what happens when they do --- REC 2

The Secret in Their Eyes:
Isidoro cocking his gun in the elevator while Benjamin and Irene stand in terrified silence -and- Isidor's reappearance at the elevator door (but we only see a piece of him in the mirror) at the end of the scene.

1. Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) trying to "friend" his ex-girlfriend on Facebook at the end of THE SOCIAL NETWORK.

2. "Machete don't text."

3. The sputtering chainsaw in WINTER'S BONE.

4. The final procession in A PROPHET.

Now that I've seen True Grit: everything with Brolin and Pepper, which is like one extended moment; Cogburn watching Mattie cross the river; "I do not know this man;" "I extend my hand;" the hanging; and the last shot. I don't know if the Coens intended this as a companion piece with No Country for Old Men, but now the two movies are inextricably tied in my mind. And can anyone imagine old Ed Tom Bell mixing it up with these people?

Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence) lays her hand on the side of a boat, and for a moment, we think we see her father reaching up towards her--"Winter's Bone"

The Ghost (Ewan McGregor) approaches the home of Paul Emmett, following his deceased predecessor's GPS directions. There are thick trees all around, and some have toppled like giants near the gates of the house--"The Ghost Writer"