Hilton: Year in Review

A is for: Audrey. As if A would be for anyone else then Audrey Tautou, even in her year lacking in performances as she still shined in The Russian Dolls.

B is for: Boyle. As surprising as it was, Danny Boyle made the transition from the horrors of Trainspotting
and 28 Days Later to children’s film with Millions rather successfully.

C is for: Chow. With Kung Fu Hustle , Stephen Chow is finally getting the recognition in western nations that he deserved 10 years ago with God Of Cookery.

D is for: Down Under. Australia has pulled itself out of the creative slump in the film industry with the hits of Little Fish , Look Both Ways and Wolf Creek. Now it just needs to get attendance up and reaffirm to the world that we’re not all racist rednecks.

Cate in Aussie flick Little Fish

E is for: Elizabethtown. It was better then Vanilla Sky but still wasn’t as good as Almost Famous. It also does beg the question, why wasn’t the road trip the whole film?

F is for:
Fernando Meirelles. For not being a one hit director and following City of God with the worthy sophomore film The Constant Gardner.

G is for: Ganz. Actor Bruno Ganz gave one of the best performances of the year in Downfall as one of most despicable historical figures, Adolf Hitler.

Ganz gets high marks from Mr.Hilton

H is for: Hunter. Hunter S. Thompson won’t be forgotten; he worked in journalism but has been immortalized in cinema twice and provided source material for memorable cinematic explorations of the heartland of the American dream.

I is for: Iraq. The unique voices from Iraq seen in Turtles Can Fly reaffirmed that human strength and creativity can thrive even in the darkest parts of a war devastated nation.

J is for: Junior. I’m talking about Robert Downey Jr and my surprise at his performances this year with Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Good Night, and Good Luck. And to think I used to dislike the man.

K is for: Korea. South Korea has taken its spot on the international stage this year to the smiles of many with Oldboy, Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance , Memories of Murder and 3-Iron getting distribution.

L is for: Land Of The Dead. Romero proves himself to still be the master of the zombie genre, begging the question why it took so long to get this film out of development hell.

M is for: Miranda. Ms. July is my new Sofia Coppola, deserving of a crush for the talent for whimsical filmmaking and writing human characters in Me and You and Everyone We Know.

N is for: Non-Fiction. Attention is finally turning to thoughtful documentaries, with The March of Penguins, Murderball and Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room, and Moore’s messy approach is now ‘so’ 2004.

O is for: Ôtomo. Katsuhiro Ôtomo made his first return to feature length anime since Akira this year with Steamboy being distributed throughout Western nations and it was nothing short of triumphant.

P is for: Pryor. Every year comes sadly with losses and one to hit hardest in 2005 was Richard Pryor, a comical genius at both stand-up and the films he appeared in.

Q is for: Quentin Tarantino. Is anyone else sick of this guy yet? He just had to get his name flashed about in the trailers for both Sin City and Hostel while mentioning about ten projects he is in pre-production on that we will never see.

R is for: Revenge of the Sith. Although love for the original trilogy is forever scarred, with this final heartbreak by Lucas at least the saga is complete.

S is for: Sundance. For being the first major festival for me to attend as well as bringing attention to films such as The Squid and The Whale, and providing screenings of often-more difficult to see short films, Oh My God and In The Morning.

T is for: Terry. No matter how much Gilliam blames the critics, it is a sad reality that he has lost it worse than John Cleese with The Brothers Grimm.

U is for: Undead. The Australian zombie film finally made its way to the shores of North America this year and this will undoubtedly give the Spierig Brothers a push on their next effort at b-grade horror.

V is for: Vampires. After the second dismal Blade sequel, it was reassuring to see that at least the Russians were getting vampires right with Night Watch. Now let’s hope Fox Searchlight doesn’t mess up the sequels.

W is for: Wallace. This inventor and his loyal pooch truly deserve the Oscar with their transition into features with The Curse of the WereRabbit, having all the heart that The Corpse Bride was lacking.

Wallace tops animation films this year.

X is for: X-Men 3. This film began the year as one of my most anticipated films of 2006 and ended the year surrounded by a sense of dread. It’s amazing what Brett Ratner can do.

Y is for: You and Your Stupid Mate. The worst movie that I’ve seen this year and unfortunately, and sadly unsurprisingly, it’s an Australian film.

Z is for: Zzzz’s being manufactured during Everything Is Illuminated. The truth is Liev Schreiber slaughtered this masterpiece of the novel into a mediocre and rather boring film, marking the biggest disappointment of 2005.

Top Ten films seen this year:

1. Oldboy
2. Me and You and Everyone We Know
3. Downfall
4. Wallace and Gromit in The Curse of the WereRabbit
5. The Squid and The Whale
6. Steamboy
7. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
8. Little Fish
9. The Constant Gardener
10. King Kong