Buck

BUCK: the man inside the horseman

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Buck Brannaman in BUCK

Buck is a documentary about real-life horse whisperer Buck Brannaman, an exceedingly grounded and gentle man who knows everything about horse behavior.  But the movie is more about human behavior, about the disturbing crucible that formed Buck, and about what we can learn about people from their handling of horses.

Fortunately, Director Cindy Meehl realized that she had a great story and got out of the way.  The understated guitar-based score never becomes melodramatic.  And Meehl never lets the admiring talking heads elevate Buck to more than what he is, which is remarkable enough.  This movie could have easily been painfully corny or pretentious and is neither.  I’d happily view it again today.

Buck’s own background is so nasty that it would totally unremarkable for him to have emerged mean or emotionally crippled – and he is the farthest from either.  With some help from loving people, Buck has chosen to become something different from his apparent fate.  In this way, Buck could be a companion piece to Mike Leigh’s Another Year.

Buck was shortlisted for the Best Documentary Oscar. You can rent Buck from Amazon, YouTube and Google Play or buy it from iTunes.

2011 in Movies: the year’s best movies

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INCENDIES

Here’s my list of the best films of 2011: 1)  Incendies, 2) Take Shelter, 3) The Artist, 4) The Descendants, 5) Poetry, 6) Midnight in Paris, 7) Beginners, 8) Source Code, 9) Young Adult, and 10) (tie) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Drive.

Continuing with my list of 2011’s best films, here are my honorable mentions: The Guard,  Project Nim, Buck, Tabloid, The Adjustment Bureau, Carancho, and Potiche.

(Note:  I’m saving room for some films that I haven’t yet seen, especially Roman Polanski’s Carnage and Ralph Fiennes’ Coriolanus.)

You can watch the trailers and see my comments on all these films at Best Movies of 2011.

According to Metacritic, all of my picks (except The Adjustment Bureau) were highly rated by prominent critics.  I did disdain some art films, most notably The Tree of Life, which made lots of critics’ end-of-year lists.  See 2011 in Movies: biggest disappointments, which I’m posting on Tuesday.

(Further Note:  Incendies was nominated for the 2010 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, but was widely released in the US in 2011.  A Separation, which I and most folks won’t be able to see until after January 27, will contend on my 2012 list.)

2011 in Movies: documentaries

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PROJECT NIM

As usual, several documentaries made my list of Best Movies of 2011:  Project Nim, Buck and Tabloid.

Werner Herzog gave us the wonderful 3D Cave of Forgotten Dreams.  Page One highlighted David Carr of the New York Times.  The Polish documentary War Games and the Man Who Stopped Them was a great find.  I also admired Thunder Soul (about a Houston high school stage band in the 60s), Magic Bus (featuring actual footage of Ken Kesey’s Merry Pranksters), American Grindhouse (about the grindhouse films of the 40s, 50s and early 60s) and These Amazing Shadows (about the National Film Registry).

PBS had stellar year, especially with Woody Allen: A Documentary, Jimmy Carter, Stonewall Uprising and Troubadours.

HBO delivered Bobby Fisher Against the World.  And ESPN has entered the documentary arena with the surprising The Marinovich Project.

Buck, Project Nim and Paradise Lost 3 make Oscar short list.

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The Academy’s short list of candidates for the Best Documentary Oscar includes two films on my Best Movies of 2011 – So Far:  Buck and Project Nim.  Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory from the HBO Paradise series also made the list.  All fifteen films on the short list are here.

DVD of the Week: Buck

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Buck is a documentary about real-life horse whisperer Buck Brannaman, an exceedingly grounded and gentle man who knows everything about horse behavior.  But the movie is more about human behavior,  about the disturbing crucible that formed Buck, and about what we can learn about people from their handling of horses.

Fortunately, Director Cindy Meehl realized that she had a great story and got out of the way.  The understated guitar-based score never becomes melodramatic.  And Meehl never lets the admiring talking heads elevate Buck to more than what he is, which is remarkable enough.  This movie could have easily been painfully corny or pretentious and is neither.  I’d happily view it again today.

Buck’s own background is so nasty that it would totally unremarkable for him to have emerged mean or emotionally crippled – and he is the farthest from either.  With some help from loving people, Buck has chosen to become something different from his apparent fate.  In this way, Buck could be a companion piece to Mike Leigh’s Another Year.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCMm5uoZtXw]

Movies to See Right Now

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Don Cheadle and Brendan Gleeson in THE GUARD

My top choice choice this week is still the Irish dark comedy The Guard, starring Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle.

There are three movies now in theaters from my list of Best Movies of 2011 – So Far, including Woody Allen’s sweet, funny and thoughtful comedy Midnight in Paris.  Buck is an extraordinary documentary about a real-life horse whisperer with a compelling human story. You might still be able to find Errol Morris’ documentary Tabloid, the hilarious story of Joyce McKinney, a beauty queen jailed for manacling a Mormon missionary as her sex slave and, decades later, cloning her dog.

A Little Help is a funny Jenna Fischer vehicle about a sad sack mom. Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone are excellent in the romcom Crazy Stupid Love.   The Names of Love is an amusing but forgettable French comedy about a flighty leftwinger who seeks to educate and convert conservatives by sleeping with them.

Turkey Bowl is a delightful indie comedy available from iTunes.

Despite Rachel Weisz’s performance, The Whistleblower is a misfire – a potentially riveting story clumsily told.  Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life contains a good 90-minute family drama that is completely derailed by an additional hour of mind-numbingly self-important claptrap.

You can see trailers of upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

My DVD pick is Queen to Play.

Movies on TV this week include the Hitchcock thriller North by Northwest and the Burt Lancaster epic The Leopard, both on TCM.

Movies to See Right Now

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Brendan Gleeson in THE GUARD

The best choice in theaters this week is the Irish dark comedy The Guard, starring Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle.

There are three movies now in theaters from my list of Best Movies of 2011 – So Far, including Woody Allen’s sweet, funny and thoughtful comedy Midnight in Paris.  Buck is an extraordinary documentary about a real-life horse whisperer with a compelling human story.  You might still be able to find Errol Morris’ documentary Tabloid, the hilarious story of Joyce McKinney, a beauty queen jailed for manacling a Mormon missionary as her sex slave and, decades later, cloning her dog.

A Little Help is a funny Jenna Fischer vehicle about a sad sack mom.  Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone are excellent in the romcom Crazy Stupid Love.   The Names of Love is an amusing but forgettable French comedy about a flighty leftwinger who seeks to educate and convert conservatives by sleeping with them.

If you have kids, Pixar’s Cars 2 is an excellent choice (adults will especially enjoy the James Bond spoof thread).

Turkey Bowl is a delightful indie comedy available from iTunes.

Despite Rachel Weisz’s performance, The Whistleblower is a misfire – a potentially riveting story clumsily told.  Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life contains a good 90-minute family drama that is completely derailed by an additional hour of mind-numbingly self-important claptrap.

You can see trailers of upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

My DVD pick is Kill the Irishman.

Movies on TV this week include two Jimmy Stewart classics: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and Anatomy of a Murder on TCM.

Movies to See Right Now

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Tabloid

What a summer for documentaries!  Errol Morris’ documentary Tabloid delivers the hilarious story of Joyce McKinney, a beauty queen jailed for manacling a Mormon missionary as her sex slave.  The riveting documentary Project Nim tells the story of a chimp taught human language and the humans who nurture, exploit, abuse and rescue him.   Buck is another wonderful documentary about a real-life horse whisperer with a compelling human story.

The sweet, funny and thoughtful comedies Beginners and Midnight in Paris are also on my list of Best Movies of 2011 – So Far.

See the original and heartfelt teen misfit movie Terri if you can still find it.   A Little Help is a funny Jenna Fischer vehicle about a sad sack mom.   Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone are excellent in the romcom Crazy Stupid Love.

If you have kids, Pixar’s Cars 2 is an excellent choice (adults will especially enjoy the James Bond spoof thread).  So is Super 8, a wonderful coming of age story embedded in a sci fi action thriller.  Turkey Bowl is a delightful indie comedy available from iTunes.  

In Bridesmaids, Kristen Wiig plays a woman whose insecurities keep her from seeing the good and the possible in her life; it’s funny, but not one of the year’s best. The Hangover Part 2 is just not original enough, and, consequently, not funny enough. Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life contains a good 90-minute family drama that is completely derailed by an additional hour of mind-numbingly self-important claptrap.

For trailers and other choices,see Movies to See Right Now.

I haven’t yet seen the dark Irish comedy The Guard (starring Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle) or the sexy French comedy The Names of Love, which opens this weekend.  You can see trailers of upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

My DVD pick is The Music Never Stopped, with excellent performances by J.K. Simmons and Lou Taylor Pucci and lots of Grateful Dead.

Movies on TV this week include the classic noir The Third Man on TCM.

Movies to See Right Now

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Project Nim

Watch for the original and heartfelt teen misfit movie Terri – it won’t remain in theaters very long.

Errol Morris’ documentary Tabloid delivers the hilarious story of Joyce McKinney, a beauty queen jailed for manacling a Mormon missionary as her sex slave.

Four movies on my list of Best Movies of 2011 – So Far are still playing.  The best movies are still the sweet, funny and thoughtful comedies Beginners and Midnight in Paris, along with the riveting documentary Project Nim.  Buck is a wonderful documentary about a real-life horse whisperer with a compelling human story.

If you have kids, Pixar’s Cars 2 is an excellent choice (adults will especially enjoy the James Bond spoof thread).  So is Super 8, a wonderful coming of age story embedded in a sci fi action thriller.  A Little Help is a funny Jenna Fischer vehicle about a sad sack mom.  Turkey Bowl is a delightful indie comedy available from iTunes.  

In Bridesmaids, Kristen Wiig plays a woman whose insecurities keep her from seeing the good and the possible in her life; it’s funny, but not one of the year’s best. The Hangover Part 2 is just not original enough, and, consequently, not funny enough. Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life contains a good 90-minute family drama that is completely derailed by an additional hour of mind-numbingly self-important claptrap.

For trailers and other choices,see Movies to See Right Now.

I haven’t yet seen the stylish noir The Road to Nowhere by cult director Monte Hellman,  which opens this weekend. You can see trailers of upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

My DVD pick is the inventive thriller Source Code, one of my Best Movies of 2011 – So Far.

Movies on TV this week include two mockable films on TCM:  the 60s melodrama The Chase, which has earned a place in my Bad Movie Festival.   Juarez contains one of my 10 Least Convincing Mexicans.

Movies to See Right Now

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Buck

The cream of the crop are still the sweet, funny and thoughtful comedies Beginners and Midnight in Paris, along with the riveting documentary Project Nim.  Buck is a wonderful documentary about a real-life horse whisperer with a compelling human story.  All four are on my list of Best Movies of 2011 – So Far.

If you have kids, Pixar’s Cars 2 is an excellent choice (adults will especially enjoy the James Bond spoof thread).  So is Super 8, a wonderful coming of age story embedded in a sci fi action thriller.  The Trip delivers some chuckles.  Turkey Bowl is a delightful indie comedy available from iTunes.  Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times explores journalism’s evolution in an age of new media, and I recommend it for hard news junkies.

In Bridesmaids, Kristen Wiig plays a woman whose insecurities keep her from seeing the good and the possible in her life; it’s funny, but not one of the year’s best. The Hangover Part 2 is just not original enough, and, consequently, not funny enough. Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life contains a good 90-minute family drama that is completely derailed by an additional hour of mind-numbingly self-important claptrap.

For trailers and other choices,see Movies to See Right Now.

I haven’t yet seen Sarah’s Key or Road to Nowhere, which open this weekend, or Tabloid, which opens widely. You can see trailers of upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.

My DVD pick is the French comedy Potiche, one of my Best Movies of 2011 – So Far.

Movies on TV this weekend include the prison classics Midnight Express and Cool Hand Luke on TCM, both on my list of 10 Best Prison Movies.