We asked faculty and staff all over campus what movies they enjoyed this year. While we may not have all the movies listed here at the libraries, you can request most of them via Prospector and have them delivered to UW at no cost. And please, if we forgot a movie you enjoyed this year, or if you have strong feelings about one of the suggested films, let us know in the comments!
Rick Fisher, English Department:
Lars and the Real Girl was a good, good show. One of the best in recent memory. A show bitter and sweet and sharp and well crafted.
A good quote: “You grow up when you decide to do right, okay, and not what’s right for you, what’s right for everybody, even when it hurts. Like, you don’t jerk people around, you know, and you don’t cheat on your woman, and you take care of your family, and you admit when you’re wrong, or you try to, anyways. That’s all I can think of, you know – it sounds like it’s easy and for some reason it’s not.”
Abigail Beaver, Coe Library Circulation Supervisor:
Eagle VS Shark
Eagle VS Shark is a amusing film about two socially awkward people who find love in a very strange setting. If you like Flight of the Conchords you might recognize Jemaine Clement who plays one of these wonderful misfits. He attempts fighting a high school bully to regain his honor but can he also win the love of his lady friend in the process?
Hannah Durkee, Coe Library A/V:
Following – Chris Nolan’s (Dark Knight, Memento) first film. Produced in London over weekends for only 6,000 dollars, Following is about a young man who gets caught in his own quest for excitement. Nolan presents his films as riddles to be solved. This film is a suspenseful ride and a look at how one of the biggest directors in Hollywood got his start
Leif Cawley, History Department:
Scarface (1932)
Okay, so I’ll admit that when I first watched Al Pacino shooting up his mansion and uttering all those iconic (or maybe by now cliché) lines, I had no idea that it was a remake. Now I’m not going to be one of those snobs who insist that the original is always better than the remake; all I will say is that this particular original is still a great movie. Watch them both. Make a night of it. Compare the two. If nothing else, watch it simply to think about how a movie that was controversial enough to be widely banned when it premiered now runs with the advisory “The following motion picture is rated PG.”
Le petit soldat (1963)
This was Jean-Luc Godard’s second feature-length movie, and the contrast with his first is in many ways . . . um, breathtaking (sorry). Let’s see . . . a Western occupying power fighting an insurgency in the Middle East, torture (including something that looks a lot like waterboarding), disillusioned soldiers . . . why does this seem so familiar? Let’s just say that the French government was as opposed to the release of this film in 1960 as it was to the idea of entering into another Middle-Eastern adventure 43 years later.
Hukkle (2002)
I know what you’re thinking — “A Hungarian movie with no dialogue? What could be better?!” Okay, maybe that wasn’t the best way to try to get you to watch this film, but you really ought to. It’s actually quite entertaining and tightly crafted. I would suggest not reading the description of the plot — just kick back and watch, and you will likely either want to stop and rewind at some point or just watch it all over again a second time.
The Saddest Music in the World (2003)
It is the middle of winter in Winnipeg during the Great Depression, so what is one to do? Hold an international competition to determine which country can lay claim to having the saddest music in the world, of course! Enough said.
Lisa Muller, Office of Institutional Analysis:
I’m not there – I felt the movie really explored amazing Bob Dylan possible personas without using his name.
From the Nov. 21, 2007 New York Times movie review: “It’s not just that Robert Zimmerman, a Jewish teenager growing up in Eisenhower-era Minnesota, borrowed a name from a Welsh poet and the singing style of an Oklahoma Dust Bowl troubadour and bluffed his way into the New York folk scene. That was chutzpah. What followed was genius — the elaboration of an enigmatic, mercurial personality that seemed entirely of its moment and at the same time connected to a lost agrarian past. From the start, Mr. Dylan has been singularly adept at channeling and recombining various strands of the American musical and literary vernacular, but he has often seemed less like an interpreter of those traditions than like their incarnation. “ from the Movie Review I’m Not There (2007) NYT Critics’ Pick By A. O. SCOTT
Brenna Harkins, Coe Library Circulation Supervisor:
Dial M for Murder
I love suspense films, so naturally Alfred Hitchcock is one of my favorite directors. Dial M for Murder is an excellent film noir and represents the quintessential Hitchcock movie.
Cass Kvenild, Distance Learning Librarian:
Eastern Promises
If you enjoyed History of Violence, you’ll love this movie directed by the sick and brilliant mind of David Cronenberg. Viggo Mortensen is a Russian mobster and Naomi Watts a midwife following the trail of a young diarist. Featuring lots of plot twists and one of the best fight scenes in a movie, ever. Wait til the kids go to bed before you start this one.
Reminiscing about the Buffy days makes me want to revisit the dvds myself. I love love love the season two finale when Buffy kills her vampire boyfriend, Angel, sending him straight to hell. I’m also a pretty big fan of any episodes featuring Oz the Werewolf.
