nevillekiser's Xanga

The Top Ten Films of 2007

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 06:45:36 GMT

If you want to read the list, you gotta go to Neville's Blogger Blog

If I Could Pick the OSCAR NOMINEES (2007 Edition)...

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 07:37:12 GMT

Most of the time, the Academy Award only honors a few select films. Roughly 8-12 films receive the majority of nominations and the films truly excelling in the field get left out. It's all political I guess (to some extent in the end) but here's my list (somewhat of an annual tradition) of the films and people I would've honored had I gotten to nominate peeps for these awards.

I hope you can respect them more than the current nominees.

BEST ACTOR
Daniel Day-Lewis THERE WILL BE BLOOD
Viggo Mortensen EASTERN PROMISES
Don Cheadle TALK TO ME
Ryan Gosling LARS AND THE REAL GIRL
Philp Seymour Hoffman THE SAVAGES

BEST ACTRESS
Nikki Blonsky HAIRSPRAY
Amy Adams ENCHANTED
Laura Linney THE SAVAGES
Ellen Page JUNO
Keri Russell WAITRESS
Helena Bonham-Carter SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett I’M NOT THERE
Amy Ryan GONE BABY GONE
Tabu THE NAMESAKE
Allison Janney JUNO
Vanessa Redgrave ATONEMENT
Leslie Mann KNOCKED UP

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Casey Affleck THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD
Philip Seymour Hoffman CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR
Javier Bardem NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
Irfan Kahn THE NAMESAKE
Hal Holbrook INTO THE WILD

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
JUNO
KNOCKED UP
LARS AND THE REAL GIRL
RATATOUILLE
THE SAVAGES
WAITRESS

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
ATONEMENT
THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY
THE NAMESAKE
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
THERE WILL BE BLOOD

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS
THE COUNTERFEITERS
THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY
PERSEPOLIS
ETERNAL SUMMER
LUST, CAUTION

BEST DIRECTOR
Joel and Ethan Cohen NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
Julian Schnabel THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY
Sean Penn INTO THE WILD
P.T. Anderson THERE WILL BE BLOOD
Russell Crowe AMERICAN GANGSTER

BEST PICTURE
4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS
THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY
INTO THE WILD
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
RATATOUILLE

Did I miss anyone or anything?

Sundance Film Festival 2008: DAY FOUR

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 00:13:44 GMT

Baghead

The Duplass Brothers (The Puffy Chair) are back at Sundance again and this time, with a documentary-style homage to film festivals, art and the responsibilities of creativity. Baghead achieves the nearly impossible in 85 minutes. It plays as an all-out comedy, a horror film and a saucy romance drama. The comedy runs throughout but there are moments that are truly scary and also moments that are truly human. The four leading actors are dead-on portrayals of two couples---one recently broken up but still interested in one another and one just in the beginning stages of friendship, where the guy likes the girl more than the girl likes the guy---and this struggle is strong amidst the "baghead" dilemma going on in the woods outside of Los Angeles. With an ending as surprising as it is emotionally affecting, Baghead may appear to be art-house-minimalist cinema but instead it functions more as a small gift, funny and creepy and in the end, moving. Neville's Grade: B+

* * *

Sleep Dealer

It's really depressing when a film has such great ideas and yet, gets bogged down and diluted by them. This is the case with the science fiction/faction fantasy Sleep Dealer, a mess of a film that's predictable, "over" photographed and suffering from a screenplay written by the director who really needed someone tell him to "simplify, simplify!" Additionally, the film feels preachy and treats its audience as if they know nothing about what's going on in the world today. Yes, we know America attacks innocent people in other countries. Yes, we know the world is disconnected and cheap labor is outsourced overseas. But the problem is, the director/writer takes this "travesties" and rubs your face in it and says "this is the future!" On top of all this, the central character is one-dimensional...which is surprising for such a good actor in the role. His eyes resonate within us (or at least wants to) but the script doesn't resonate with him. Someone will one day make a solid, focussed motion picture about the future and the age of the disconnect (with immigration, global economy and water shortage) but this movie is not that one. The worst movie I've seen at Sundance 2008. Neville's Grade: D

* * *

Towelhead
(REVIEW COMING SOON)

Sundance Film Festival 2008: DAY THREE

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 07:33:22 GMT

It's late and we saw 4 films today after class this morning so it was boom, boom, boom, boom. Not that I'm complaining...but still. I'm tired now so the summaries will be brief.

* * *

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh

The weakest film of the day, yes, but still a good one. Not as emotionally engaging as the other three but still worth the ticket. Peter Saarsgard is in it and he's brilliant as usual. It's a coming-of-age story for a wealthy son who's just finished college and is about to go out into the real world. The only thing is, he meets two free-spirited lovers in Pittsburgh who change his path and his mind on a number of things, as the summer goes along. It could've been so much better but strong performance, strong visuals and making Pittsburgh look as beautiful as it can be, gives the film its 'oomph.' Neville's Grade: C+

* * *

The Wackness

Ben Kingsley in the nuttiest performance of his career, no doubt, as a psychiatrist who gives sessions to a recent high school graduate in exchange for weed. This is also a coming-of-age tale but it's one set (surprisingly and wonderfully) in 1994. This is the era. And this is why this film is becoming such a hit at Sundance with the 24-35 crowd. Why? Because we love Notorious B.I.G., we listened to all the music the film has on its soundtrack back in our high school days. Still, the movie works as a great comedy, a coming-of-age tale (but for mature audiences for sure--not for kids) and as reaffirmation of hope in people. From parents who aren't perfect to friendships that are born out of a need and longing for one another. Once again, this is one of the many (what I'm calling) "Ecclesiastes" movies at Sundance 2008. A powerful story that will be out in theaters this summer (no doubt....word!). You'll get that joke when you see it for yourself. Neville's Grade: B+

* * *

Frozen River

Some movies come out of nowhere and knock you off your feet. Frozen River just about does that. It's the story of two poor women---one white, one Native American---who both find each other out of selfishness and abandonment. At first, all they want is money. Whatever the other can do to help them get this is all that matters. But later, things change. Smuggling people in America is the theme and it's set against the true-life backdrop of a Native American land in upstate New York where people cross the border often, transporting people in the trunks of their car. And they do it across a frozen river. The performances by all are hot, the direction is solid and the movie is the antithesis of your normal independent film. Why? Because it's about compassion, about grace and mercy and most shockingly, sacrifice. The best drama I've seen at Sundance probably. Neville's Grade: A-

* * *

The Visitor

Remember that little movie from 2003 that won the hearts of everyone at Sundance and all around the world? Its name was The Station Agent. And the director is back with a film so pure, so original, so deftly profound in its use of simple, everyday people and visuals, I almost couldn't get the lump out of my throat by the film's end. More moving than his previous film, for sure, The Visitor is about illegal immigration. Actually, that's not true. That may be what some people will tell you but it's not all about that. There's so much more here---every musician or artist who likes to create music must see this film---and so much rhythm to be found on the screen, it almost takes your breath away. Also, this is the only film I've been to at Sundance that received a 1200+ audience member standing ovation after the film's end. With thunderous applause that lasted for over a minute--maybe even two--this clearly reflected the political and the personal. The great Richard Jenkins leads this extraordinary cast. Basically, you must see this in April when it's scheduled to be released. A fantastic picture of community---and the Church, really---and the rhythms we must all learn to live inside. Neville's Grade: A

----

As you can see, the films just kept getting better. More tomorrow.

Sundance Film Festival 2008: DAY TWO

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 14:40:49 GMT

Sundance Film Festival 2008...the second day. Same setup--three films--and all of them this time were extremely different.

* * *

Mermaid
(Dir./Screenwriter: Anna Melikyan--World Dramatic Competition -- Russia)

The first act of Mermaid is imaginatively explosive, waking people from the coma of creative mediocrity. It's a fairy tale set in Russia and it's about a girl who wants to be a ballerina. The only problem is, that's "not her destiny." The film is hilarious, shocking, and always surprising. The sound pulsates and screeches and screams its way into your air so you can truly feel Director / Screenwriter Anna Melikyan's magic. Her heroine is a loner, a quiet and desperate-for-love little girl who wants to meet her father. In this journey she realizes she has power in her self--not figuratively, but literally--and this becomes the catalyst for nearly everything else that will happen later on in the film.

The director of Sundance introduced the film as one of the movies this year that is "truly original" and there is no exception about that. Melikyan gives us a different way of seeing the dreary and developed Moscow today and does so with a production design and the kind of cinematography that will inspire anyone to pick up a camera and capture something beautiful.

Mermaid is not a perfect ride but it shouldn't be. Its wildness and unpredictability shift from fable to traffic to imagination to picturesque beach scenes that possess the idyllic spirit of aesthetics, as a concept. I won't give away anything else but to say...I'd love to see this Russian fairy tale win the Audience Award. And I think it has a good shot at it. For everyone I saw, including myself, voted "4 stars" for this dark and dreamlike comic fantasy. See it. As soon as you can. Neville's Grade: B (But if I only was to grade the first hour: A+)

* * *

Goliath

A random DV low budget film about a man who recently gets divorced and loses his cat while in the process. To cope, he searches for his cat (Goliath) and hopes to find redemption there. However, things change as we see the painfully funny (and sometimes only painful) effects divorce can have on one's life. This movie means well and has some incredibly funny and original scenes but it's gratuitious by its end and goes for an ending that feels "edgy" rather than "honest." Whenever a writer does that I always feel a little cheated. Still, I appreciated this film as a Sundance selection. Why? Because it's so lyrical it makes you actually think hard about what is actually going on onscreen b/c there's so little dialogue. For serious film buffs only. Neville's Grade: C

* * *

Alone In Four Walls

Not much needs to be written about this Russian documentary film in competition for the World Documentary award. It's about a group of young adolescent boys who are put into an educational/correctional facility for stealing food, stealing small items and oh yeah...murder. They are all younger than 13 and it's all done with interviews with the children (and a few of their parents). It's an eye-opener documentary for sure and one many people need to see. Community is such a powerful thing. We all really do need it no matter how young (or old) we are. Neville's Grade: B

Sundance Film Festival 2008: DAY ONE

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 08:50:18 GMT

In Park City, Utah, the infamous Robert Redford darling Sundance Film Festival has begun. Here is the beginning of my blog journey through the Sundance Film Festival. This is my first time at Sundance so please bear with me. I'm not an expert. I don't know what I'm doing here. I just like movies. So please, have mercy on some of my reviews. Most of the films we're seeing have been seen by no one yet and like always, it's always dangerous to give your opinion of a film that could be the next Little Miss Sunshine or Alpha Dog. Needless to say, this year's theme "Film Takes Place" is what Sundance is about. So sit back, relax and bear with me on movies I've seen so far. I'll try to update every day. Here are the films I saw on my first wonderful day at Sundance:

The Last Word
(Starring: Winona Ryder, Wes Bentley, & Ray Romano)

A man makes a living writing other people's suicide notes. This is the premise of this dark, but sharply observed comedy that hits as many good notes as it misses. Some scenes in "The Last Word" explode and creatively showcase a kind of energy rarely found in a black comedy. However, for me, there was a lot that just didn't work...mostly...this had to do with the screenplay. Gimmicky is what it ended up being, with little substance really left over in the end. Maybe it was because I felt like I didn't get to know the lead character, that I knew more about the supporting ones and they seemed far more interesting. I'm not sure. Whatever the case, it was a pretty good film that was creative in its subject matter but in the end, not a very memorable last word. Ray Ramona is wonderful though, and his scenes are where all of the film's best laughs are. Neville's Grade: B-

Henry Poole Is Here
(Starring: Luke Wilson--this was the World Premiere screening)

Luke Wilson plays against type as Henry Poole in director Mark Pellington’s surprisingly wonderful film parable (and metaphor) about a dying young man who moves into a community filled with faith and fanaticism. This movie goes places you never thought it would go, judging from its quaint and simple opening scene, and it goes there on the wave of aesthetics. Everything—from lighting to cinematography to music to the screenplay—works somehow. It shouldn’t work, but it does. Everything about the film seems overt and yet, there’s a whirling sense of ambiguity to it. Rhada Mitchell (Finding Neverland) brings this to the screen, as do all the supporting characters in the film. The weakest, who’s still pretty strong, is probably Luke Wilson playing the title role. His emotion devastation feels authentic but sometimes it doesn’t feel like he knows what to do with that. However, the film at the end of the day is about choice. It’s about belief, about community, about the strange and the coincidental and the outrageous and the unexplainable and the purely simple and sweet. If you get the chance, don’t read other reviews, don’t read the synopsis of the film, don’t watch the movie trailer. Whenever it does get wide distribution (and I’m hoping and praying it will) go see it and get ready to be taken aback. Back to your childhood, maybe but more importantly back to yourself. Neville's Grade: B+

Phoebe In Wonderland
(Starring: Elle Fanning, Felicity Huffman, Patricia Clarkson, Bill Pullman)

Phoebe In Wonderland is a psychologist’s nightmare. It’s about the madness of childhood and family juxtaposed against the fragmented and eccentric and fantastical world of Alice and Wonderland. Phoebe (Elle Fanning) lives in a colorful grey world. The lines between fantasy and actuality are constantly blurred. Phoebe’s mother (Felicity Huffman) and father (Bill Pullman) don’t know what to do with her. It’s not that there worried about her fantasies, but it’s that they’re worried of how she’s dealing with them. The movie plays out like Finding Neverland and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. It complexly juggles heavy subject matter (child neglect, elementary school bullying, mental illnesses, homosexuality, being a mother, etc.) with the alluring and colorful world of Wonderland. Wisely, writer and director Daniel Barnz (who spoke before and after the film and conveyed a genuine magnetic appeal to his audience—even though it was an 11:30 PM showing) tackles the drama of the theater with a film filled with arresting visuals and breathtaking cinematography. Having been a theater major in college, Barnz knows the stage and thus, directs his actors accordingly. Not one performance in Phoebe In Wonderland is lacking. Every person—most notably, the scene stealing Patricia Clarkson as Miss Dodger, the storybook theater teacher who astutely inspires her students to “jump!” in acting—is pitch perfect. Out of the Sundance Dramatic Competition films I’ve seen so far, I hope this one wins the Audience Award for 2008. Neville's Grade: A-

* * *

See you tomorrow. Bye for now.

Creator God, He is Yahweh

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 03:55:08 GMT

Names have always been important.

According to Christian Orthodoxy, God came to his people and announced who he was. He was, to Israel, a name. And what's behind that name is even more significant. But I often wonder how much our parents have set our future in motion by giving us the name they did. What if my name was Randall? Would I be like the character in "About Schmidt" and sport a mullet and sell waterbeds? Or would I write books to Christian audiences with Christian characters to be sold in Christian bookstores? Or would I wear bow ties and be the chaplain of Taylor University? I'm not sure. But one thing is for sure, the name may be crucial but how you use it seems to be key.

According to some people in China, a name can be your destiny. If your name means "Little Mountain," that's all you'll ever be--something that was once big but is relatively small when compared to K2 or Everest. But different cultures express interest in different ways. What's wonderful in one place may not be so wonderful in another. Any person who's traveled outside the lines of their American-born state can tell you this. And probably every person outside of the USA as well.

According to Mr. Webster, the word has been around since before the 12th century, which seems puzzling to me. Couldn't we go back any further than that? After all, thousands of years of history weren't determined by historians, were there? People didn't record people's actions and by that, they were known....or did they?

Call me an egotistical, narcissistic prick but I've always rather liked my name. It's simple yet not. It means literally "new town" or "new village." When used as a person's name, it means "from the new town." I often wondered when I was young, 'what town was i from?' If I wasn't from the town of Greenville or Simpsonville or Richland or Gull Lake, then where do I call my home? Where did I come from?

"I'm an alien! From another planet! My skin is too sensitive for this world."

I've always liked this line from Mateo, the character from my favorite film of 2003, "In America." When I saw it my name finally made sense. Anytime I wanted to call anyplace my home, I couldn't. For home was a place that seemed to only exist truly in my memory. Every future concept of home would inevitably be compared to this imperfect definition then: the meaning of my name. I just wish I could meet all the other Nevilles out there in the world and ask them if they feel the same way.

Ode to Madeleine

Sun, 09 Sep 2007 05:27:52 GMT

If I could write music, today would be a day to do it. If I could create a melody, today would be a day to do it.

I was at church when I opened my email and saw my friend Nate writing about my favorite author Madeleine L'Engle. And within a second, I knew what was coming.

Ironically, I had thought about her on Wednesday of this week. I'm not a psychic, I don't have the gift of prophecy, I don't have any sort of sixth sense or intuitiveness, but on Wednesday I was searching around on her web site and looking for recent books she had published (if any) and I thought to myself "She's got to be almost 90...I wonder where she is now?"

Perhaps Wednesday, from what it sounds like, she was already where she will be for eternity. When I heard she passed away from natural causes in a nursing home, my heart ached. "What about her writing in 'The Summer of the Great Grandmother' I wondered! "Didn't her grandchildren read that?" In the book, the second of her Crosswicks Journal series (a must series for anyone who enjoys nonfiction) she explains the painful process of having her mother being diagnosed with Alzheimer's. She recalls the temptation of others to send her away to a "home" (where she fully dissects the utter irony of such a name, as it usually is the opposite of the very definition of home) and she writes page after page of how she refused to give in to modern medicine in this way. She refused to let her mom be a vegetable for 3 years before slipping out of this life. "No," she says. She won't be that daughter.

Of course she took the more painful road, the one Robert Frost writes about in his poem. The one M. Scott Peck writes about in his self-help book. The one Jesus took all the way to the top of a hill. It's not the easy way out, yet, it is a way out. A better way in fact.

In 2003, I finally got enough courage to write Madeleine a letter. To this day, she's the only writer I've written a letter to and for me, that remains (and will remain to be) very special. In the 8-9 page letter, I basically told her she was my second Saviour. I told her how Jesus was the one to grab me, my heart, but how she (Madeleine) was the one to keep me going when Jesus was being hidden by all the other Christians in my life. She was the one to say, "Don't give up on Christians....don't let other Christians ruin the name of Christ.....don't be that guy who takes the road filled with so many people." Her response to my letter through her daughter was just another sign of that. I am one of her many "Ones..."

And to this day, she still pushes me to go. I know theologically it's really / technically the Holy Spirit doing the work here but I don't care really. The point is, the Holy Spirit has used her. He's used her words. Madeleine L'engle died on September 7th, 2007, yes...but as she wrote about in "Walking On Water" her words, like art (like faith), still goes on. In other people. In me. In the heavens whenever I look up in December and realize again the gloriusness and incredible (and irrational) Incarnation, I think of Madeleine's words in "Bright Evening Star." And whenever I think about Christians finding the devil in someone or people finding no love in the world at all, I think of the chapter in "A Stone For A Pillow" entitled, "What Are You Looking For?" The way she describes "love" in "The Irrational Season," the way she describes the pain of losing her loving husband in "Two-Part Invention" (her one book to literally drive me to tears, where I almost couldn't go on reading the last few pages because of it---perhaps b/c I thought of how one day, she too would die). The way she taught me that fiction, good fiction, is truer than any "based on a true story" story will ever be. Truth, love and grace in the Cosmos ("And It Was Good"). And of course, her classic "A Wrinkle in Time" and how it taught me to love, never forget to love, the mind of a child. The child-likeness God affirmed and delighted in. The one he says we need to be more like.

I hope one day I can be like Madeleine. Not publishing great books, or being a famous author necessarily, but I hope I can be like how she was in God's eyes. The woman with the heart to listen, the mind to be skeptical, and the emotion to feel, deeply as only an artist can, the gravel and wind and waves of the world around her.

As the Chinese would say I miss you & love you, ...."wo xiang ni, wo ai ni, Madeleine."

The Day After The Day Before Tomorrow

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 23:53:08 GMT

Sometimes I feel like I'm running in circles. Sometimes I feel like circles are running into me.

It's been about 5 weeks since I've been back from China and it's now starting to settle in my mind: I'm not going back. At least, not anytime soon. I'm here to get back into the lull of American life, where overeating unhealthy foods and watching excessive amounts of TV (and internet surfing) seem to be part of people's internal organs. Like an extra kidney except if one goes bad, you really do only have one left. Or something.

Nearly ten pounds heavier (people warned me about coming back---those who had left before me from China said over and over again, "All I do is eat!") and I swore I wouldn't be that guy. But I was and now, I'm attempting to lose what me and my mouth have worked hard to put on so fast in the last month. I really do hate dieting, but of course like everyone, it's the end result that makes it worth it. The thing is, I've never completely been satisfied with the end result. The end result gives way to binge eating, which gives way to a slow decrease in the space between your legs, between your underarms, between your chin and your neck, between cheeks (both on top and bottom) and it all just seems to be circling over you---hovering---as if to say, 'you'll be trying to get rid of this weight again in another 3 months.'

It'd be nice to have the problem that most Chinese people have: not getting enough food, or rather, not having enough money to overeat in the first place. But I'm not Chinese and this is not Linyi. This is Richland. The place where you can go and get Cider and Donuts in the Fall at Gull Meadow Farms. Temptation is everywhere. And I guess Richland isn't really the problem. Perhaps the problem is really my unwillingness to be satisfied with the end result. Generally speaking, it seems to be the thing I fight against daily---in so many areas of life. So how to be really, truly, totally satisfied? Should that even be an expectation? A desire? Or is that completely the wrong question to be asking in the "I buy, therefore I am/I eat, therefore I am/I shop, therefore I am" American identity gene pool?

I know I'm not the worst person in the world struggling with this, but I also know I'm not one of the better ones not letting it get to me, and how I view myself, etc., etc.. I fall---like most Americans---into that lump mean, the one that jiggles like jello at the sound of eating out, popcorn at the movies, or strawberry cheesecake. I like to eat. Eating is a kind of release for me. When I want to divert my attention from life, all I need to do is whip up a batch of Rotel cheese dip and a bag of Tortillas and my cares fly away. Some people watch movies, I eat. Some people exercise, I eat. Some people read skanky gossip celebrity magazines, and still, I'm eating. It's funny how my problem seems to be the least judged out of the various potential vices I just listed. It's funny how I get off easy while people that read INSTYLE or PEOPLE get judged---usually by people like me. 'Why do they care so much about other people's lives and seem to care so little about their own?' I ask. And then I look down, trying to see my feet without sucking in my little gut.

Oops.

I don't know. Maybe me and the readers of STAR have little in common at the surface, but with all this talk about identity and eating and China and America and circles, it does hype up the interconnectivity idea. Or whatever that word is.

Monday, July 23, 2007

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 03:27:18 GMT

Tanner, I must apologize: I was wrong.

After being in China for two years you tend to forget some things about your home country. For one, I forgot how different the weather in Linyi and the weather in Richland, Michigan really is. The last 11 days in Michigan have been euphoric. After the heavy-hazy smog, ridiculous exhaust from 3-ton-brick-hauling trucks at 12:00 a.m. every night, and the stench from the pollution (from garbage to human excrement outdoors and on the streets) that fluttered here and there and almost everywhere in China, my home sweet home here has been a little taste of heaven.

The constant blue skies. The cotton, fuzzy white clouds. The breezy night air accompanying the 68 degree farenheit sun-filled mornings and afternoons. It all is almost too much to handle. Do my fellow West Michigan residents realize how good they have it? Is Al Gore aware of how green Kalamazoo is? How fresh and sweet and almost pure the air in my hometown is?

If they don't or Gore doesn't, I suggest you seriously take a second glance and stop, at least once a day, to smell the air. You don't know how good you have it.