>Alien 3 (1992, David Fincher) (2010 Assembly Cut) – 90

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I know the last two films in the Alien Quadrilogy are much-maligned, but they don’t really deserve it.  They can’t help that they are always compared to two absolute masterpieces.  And the “Assembly Cut” of Alien 3 makes an argument that there’s another masterpiece in the series, albeit one that never saw theatrical release.  The cut that went to theaters in 1992 was apparently very compromised by studio interference, but when the original quadrilogy DVD set was released its producers set out to put together a director’s cut of each film and ended up making their own re-assembly of an earlier version of Alien 3 since Fincher wasn’t interested in being involved with the box set.

With the latest Blu Ray edition of the quadrilogy, that cut has gotten even better with additional dialogue recording with the original actors and some added digital effects.

What the Assembly Cut reveals is that Alien 3 is a masterful depiction of monastic prisoners facing down with death and senseless evil in a very tangible way.  Unlike Aliens, the characters in this film know that they don’t stand a chance in fighting off the alien but are forced into trying.

The arc of Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley from the first film to her death in this one is probably my favorite in any film.  I guess that means she’s my favorite movie character ever.

>The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford (Andrew Dominik, 2007) – 86

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I recently watched this a second time. I don’t know what took me so long. Roger Deakins’ cinematography is more impressive here than anywhere else I can think of.

I think it was the cinematic fireworks of the first half of the film giving way to a much more dour and minimalistic second half that threw me off the first time around. Paul Schneider’s turn as Dick Liddell is particularly wonderful, but all of those side characters with the exception of Sam Rockwell’s Charlie Ford (who I overlooked the first time around) are invisible as the film winds to its close.

This has to be my favorite Casey Affleck performance and maybe even my favorite Pitt performance. It all comes from a lightening rod of a script adapted by Andrew Dominik, and adds up to film that’s almost without precedence: Dominik’s previous film, Chopper, has moments of wit but isn’t even in the same territory artistically as TAOJJBTCRF.

The only part that I don’t like now is Nick Cave’s scene as the barroom performer. He’s the very sore thumb in this otherwise masterful film. And it’s unfortunate, because his score is impeccable.

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>Watching Anne of the Indies (1951) and Rob Roy (1995)

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Sarah and I finished watching Swiss Family Robinson (1960) – 82 last night and moved along to Anne of the Indies, a surprisingly vibrant take on piracy in the Caribbean. I’ve been watching a number of pirate movies lately and have discovered that I actually really like Cutthroat Island (1995). I also discovered a really enjoyable pirate movie called A High Wind in Jamaica (1965) which features a group of kids being kidnapped by pirates, a pirate storyline that is almost impossible to mess up. It’s got a tremendous Anthony Quinn performance as an Argentine pirate captain.

We were only halfway through Anne of the Indies before Sarah went to bed. And then I watched the majority of Rob Roy, which I haven’t finished yet but am really enjoying. Despite the look of the trailer it’s fairly low on action but has some great characters. Liam Neeson, Jessica Lange, Eric Roth, John Hurt and Brian Cox are all quite impressive. It’s almost nothing like the other movie about a Scottish folk hero that came out that year. Much more modest in its scope.

>Filmography 2010

>I don’t know if anyone else enjoys these year-in-summation montages as much as I do, but here’s my favorite of the two that have dropped in the past few weeks. Kees van Dijkhuizen was the editor who’s been doing this the past few years, but his “Cinema 2010” which just went up isn’t as sharp and several days later than Gen Ip’s take below.

>Spike Jonze Wants You To See This Trailer for The Fighter

>Spike Jonze sent this email to one of the writers at /Film yesterday:

Hey Peter –

Spike here. I’m writing on behalf of my friend David Russell, regarding his new movie The Fighter. Did you get a chance to see it yet? How insanely great is Christian Bale?

Can you do me a favor and post this 2 minute trailer called “Pressure” on your site?

The trailer that they put out originally makes the film feel a little generic and I just want to help David get the word out. I got to see it a few weeks ago, and I loved it, and if all you saw is the trailer that’s out, you might not know that it’s as interesting and strong as it is.

Thanks for your help!
Spike

>2nd Best Scene of 2010

>I watched The Other Guys (2010) last night. Or rather, I watched the first 2/3 of The Other Guys and fast-forwarded through the rest after it started to rapidly lose steam.

This scene, though, is fantastic.

(My favorite scene of the year is the opening scene from The Social Network.

>Despicable Me (Pierre Coffin, Chris Renaud, 2010) – 79

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Despicable Me is on the surface, a slight, very simple, more or less family-friendly piece of feature-length animation. I didn’t pick up on a number of layers of detail until a second viewing with my son tonight, but there’s actually a whole lot there. It is heavily influenced by the drawings of Charles Addams, has a charmingly morbid streak a la Lilo in Lilo & Stitch or Anne Hathaway’s White Queen in this year’s Alice in Wonderland – just look at the stuffed lion head with a stuffed dog in its mouth and a stuffed cat in the dog’s mouth hanging on Gru’s wall, and manages to steer clear of conventional storytelling throughout – the villain ends up being largely innocuous and Gru learns his valuable lessons in a way that verges on being organic. It definitely isn’t as groan-inducing as the majority of “mainstream” animated fare (I guess by mainstream, I mean the majority of Dreamworks, Sony and Disney stuff).

This is looking like a year with a pretty solid crop of animation. I haven’t seen Sylvain Chomet’s The Illusionist yet, which I anticipate liking, plus Megamind and Tangled, so I’ve got hope I’ll end up with another animated film or two on my list of favorites (It might be worth pointing out that Toy Story 3 was also good and How to Train Your Dragon was incredibly bland).

>The Production Design of Black Swan

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>Tin Tin

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