My Favorite Agnes Varda Film

The female cinema auteur is a rare creature, and there haven't been many who have managed to fill my requirements for an entry in my Great Directors series. The few who have, like Leni Riefenstahl, Věra Chytilová, Ann Hui, and Chantal Akerman, present the additional dilemma of obscurity. It's very difficult to find many of their works. The same was true of the beloved New Wave filmmaker Agnes Varda until recently. It's thanks to the efforts of Criterion and Mubi that I'm finally able to include her here.


I came to Agnes Varda's films knowing very little about their historical and political context, though I recognized that many were explicitly feminist. "Le Bonheur" or "Happiness" was released in 1965 just before the political climate would really become explosive, and though it appears mostly peaceful and lovely on the surface, the undercurrents of unrest are visible. The plot is very simple: a happy young family's existence is upended by a moral lapse and resulting tragedy, but this unpleasantness is quickly resolved with disturbing efficiency.

"Happiness" can be viewed as a reflection of the French women's movement of the time, as women began to enter the workforce and became more socially conscious. This is done through the film's cynical examination of romance and relationships in particular, how the protagonist views the two women in his life, and how his worldview is challenged or fails to be challenged. There have been many interpretations of the film over the years, and its intentions are not entirely clear. Is Varda warning against the false security of domesticity? Condemning the newly emerging sexual revolution? Should we consider the protagonist a villain for seeking his version of happiness or merely pity the wife who cannot accept it? Or is self-delusion the real culprit?

What really gives the film its bite is the contrast of all these thorny psychological questions with the stylized loveliness of the mise en scene. The film largely takes place in the pastoral French countryside, and the lives of the characters are portrayed as sunny and idyllic. They picnic in beautiful clothes, surrounded by bright flowers. The young children are unusually well-behaved, and no one ever appears tired or stressed. Even the most mundane chores are brightened by the presence of colorful household objects and artful composition. Instead of fading to black, the screen fades to blocks of solid color. It's worth noting that this was Varda's first color film, and remains one of her most eye-catching.

Also very evident is Varda's aggressive editing style. She coined the term cinécriture, or “cine-writing,” to describe her method of directing, which involves highly detailed planning of sounds and images to maximize their effectiveness within the narrative of a film. And it's in the editing of all these pretty, colorful images that you really get a sense of something amiss in the universe of "Happiness." There's the relentless quick-cut montages and the use of repetition. There's the use of the musical score to underline the emotions of the characters, and their incongruity to the situations we watch unfold.

There are also some metatextual elements, which would become very prevalent in her later work. Popular television actor Jean-Claude Drouot was cast as the lead, and his wife and children were played by Drouot's real life wife and children. It gives the satirical elements of the film a few more teeth, knowing the picture perfect family was one that was already familiar to the French media. However, "Happiness" stands apart from Varda's other films in that it is so stylized and removed from reality, lacking the documentary-style blurring of the real and the unreal she often employed.

I had some difficulty deciding on "Happiness" as my favorite Agnes Varda film, because I don't enjoy it nearly as much as some of her later films, particularly her warmer, self-reflective documentaries. However, "Happiness" was the film that stuck with me, years after I saw it. I've never been able to shake the chill that the ending gave me, or the strangely sinister vibe of the gorgeous domestic imagery. I keep coming back to it, again and again, and ultimately I think it's the Varda film that best encapsulates everything I so admire about her.

 
What I've Seen - Agnes Varda

La Pointe Courte (1955)
Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962)
Happiness (1965)
The Creatures (1966)
One Sings, the Other Doesn't (1977)
Mur Murs (1980)
Vagabond (1985)
Jane B. by Agnes V. (1987)
Kung Fu Master! (1988)
The Gleaners and I (2000)
The Beaches of Agnès (2008)
Faces Places (2017)
Varda by Agnes (2019)


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Roll the "Oats"

Director Neill Blomkamp has made quite a splash this summer with his new series of web shorts, dubbed "Oats Studios: Vol. 1." These are interesting little experimental pieces, testing various ideas and concepts. I don't think any of them work very well as stand-alone shorts, because they're mostly left open-ended by design, but they do offer some interesting bits and pieces to chew on. Blomkamp is hopeful that they could lead to bigger things, the way that "Alive in Joburg" lead to "District 9." But do any of them have what it takes? And is this a worthwhile use of Blomkamp's time?

Please note that more shorts from Oats Studios are likely forthcoming in the weeks ahead, and I'm not exactly sure what the cutoff between "Vol. 1" and any further volumes is. However, Blomkamp has said in interviews that July 14th was the endpoint for the first round of releases, so I'm taking him at his word and doing this write-up now. Oh, and spoilers ahead.

"Rakka" - Notable for featuring Sigourney Weaver, this is an alien invasion story that does a good job of creating a tactile future dystopia and showing off some icky special effects. I love the first segment that charts how the vaguely reptilian Klum have taken over and are trying to squash the remains of the human resistance. The image of the puppet politician being used as bait is especially nasty. However, the second and third segments setting up other characters are less coherent and less interesting. "Rakka" is probably the most likely contender for being turned into a full feature film, but it would need a lot more work to get there.

"Firebase" - I completely missed the VR simulation element the first time I watched this, which doesn't speak well of this short's effectiveness in getting across its narrative. This one is a clear step down from "Rakka," with less impressive CGI and noticeably more wooden actors. And it really hammers home how reliant the "Oats" shorts are on genre conventions, jarring shock imagery, and slick effects. Still, I like some of the depictions of carnage and horror here. The few seconds of floating military vehicles in the grainy film footage is extremely effective. I'm less impressed with the execution of the "River God," however, though I do think that the idea has some promise.

"Cooking With Bill" - Now this set of shorts just feels like throwaway filler. We've seen plenty of spoofs of crummy infomercials from other sources done much better. Adult Swim's "Broomshakalaka" immediately comes to mind. "Cooking With Bill" leans heavily on shock value, and the multiple installments just get repetitive by the end. All the shorts share the same formula, and the sushi and smoothie installments essentially have the same gross-out ending, even. I'm not sure why this series is even included on the channel, considering how unpolished it is, and it's telling that pretty much all the coverage of "Oats" has been soundly ignoring it.

"God: Serengeti" - So far, this is my favorite of the shorts, mostly because it's such a departure in tone and style from the others. Sharlto Copely, as God, is also allowed to give a full-fledged comedic performance as he messes with mankind and a dutiful butler. The concept is well-executed, even if it doesn't add up to much and lacks a good punchline. However, this appears to be the first installment of another series, so I'm hopeful that it can build up to something bigger in the future.

"Zygote" - Well, it's nice to see Dakota Fanning again. This is the strongest piece from Oats so far, largely because it is a complete narrative that follows one continuous, well-executed story for a full twenty minutes, even if that narrative ends on a cliffhanger. Arguably it's one of the least ambitious concepts, with a very familiar monster scenario with plus some slapdash worldbuilding mainly conveyed through exposition dump. The monster, however, is a winner. I love the way this thing looks and moves, even if all the mumbo-jumbo around its creation didn't play so well. If any of the Oats shorts were to be expanded, this would be my choice. In this case, simple works best.


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Attack of the Rotten Tomatoes

This has been a fairly disappointing summer movie season if you're a fan of big franchises and expensive tentpoles.  There have been some notable busts at the box office over the past few months, including "Transformers: The Last Knight," and "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales," and would-be franchise starters "King Arthur," "Baywatch," and "The Mummy."  Even the hits are mostly coming in below expectations, like "Despicable Me 3," "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2," and "Cars 3."  Thanks to overseas audiences, most of these titles will make plenty of money, but there's an overall sense that the audience is losing interest with most of the big summer movies.

And who have the studios been blaming for this?  Rotten Tomatoes.  And by Rotten Tomatoes, they mean the critics who write bad reviews of these films.  There's been a much closer correlation between the Rotten Tomatoes aggregation scores for big tentpole films and how they've performed at the box office this year.  Specifically, if the Tomatometer is especially rotten, it takes a bite out of the bottom line.  Somehow, after years of terrible summer movies becoming blockbusters and earning oodles of money, the audiences have started paying attention to the critical notices, or at least the appearance of a general consensus.  That consensus is illusory, of course, as I've discussed on this blog before.  However, it's an illusion that has turned out to have some teeth.

Personally, my first instinct is to write this latest trend off as a coincidence or a fluke.  After so many years where the Tomatometer didn't make a lick of difference to box office results, it stands to reason there should be at least one year where they just happen to correlate more than usual.  I'd really love to believe that bad movies are finally getting their just desserts and will stop being rewarded, forcing the industry to make some changes, but I've grown cynical with age and experience.  I know the marketing and the release dates and so many other things have a bigger effect.  The recent gossip about Johnny Depp's finances probably had a bigger impact on the latest "Pirates" than a dozen bad reviews.

Then again, it's possible that the bad reviews are having more of an effect because the actions of the movie business have pushed audiences to become more receptive to them.  A good chunk of the bombs this year were from franchises that had arguably overstayed their welcome.  The most recent prior installments of "Transformers," and "Pirates" made lots of money, but nobody much liked them, and there wasn't much buzz for the new installments to begin with.  If audiences are already skeptical about a franchise, the bad or even middling reviews seem to hit harder.  Viewers that might be forgiving enough to see a third installment will run out of patience for a fifth one.  And keep in mind that good reviews remain powerless to affect much - before Labor Day, anyway.  

Theatrical exhibition is already suffering as attendance has been stagnant and the studios are contemplating other distribution options.  SVOD has reared its head again, though the likelihood of its implementation is far from clear.  A problem with pushing for more event movies is, of course, that the trip to the theater only becomes worth it if a movie is really an event.  And it's hard to sell the fifth or sixth installment of an aging franchise or the umpteenth reboot of an overly familiar story as an event.  Only one movie really seemed to be on everyone's must-watch list this summer, and it was "Wonder Woman," thanks to being the first major female-led superhero film in a decade.  And it was well-reviewed to boot.  

Rotten Tomatoes is the new scapegoat, however, which has both upsides and downsides.  The industry is paying attention to reviews, which is good.  However, some are calling for an end to critics' screenings and more embargoes to limit the perceived damage, which is bad.  I expect significant curtailing of high-numbered sequels in the future, which is good.  However, reboots and spinoffs will inevitably take their place, which is not so good.  As I type this, that "Bumblebee" spinoff is still being readied for next summer.

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And What Didn't Make My 2016 Top Ten List

As a companion piece to my Top Ten list, every year I write a post to discuss some of the other major films that got a lot of positive attention, in order to give some context to my own choices. I find this type of analysis piece helpful when working out how I feel about my list and the year in film as a whole. I wish more critics would do similar write-ups, as what's not on someone's top ten list can be as fun to discuss as what is. Please note that I will not be writing about films listed among my honorable mentions like "Silence" or "Moonlight."

Let's talk about the big awards contenders first. Why isn't "La La Land" on the list? Well, while I appreciated all the care and craft that Damien Chazelle and his collaboration poured into the film - not to mention the audacity of making a wholly original jazz musical in this day and age - the film didn't work for me. Stone and Gosling are a great pair, and the film was fine when it was dealing with their relationship. But every time they were obliged to act like they were in a musical, it all fell apart. These two just aren't musical actors, and the only big number that landed right was the first one - which didn't feature them.

What about "Arrival"? A heady science-fiction film with prestige honors should have been right up my alley, right? Well, again, I liked what the film was trying to do, but I couldn't' stop thinking of all the ways that it could have been better, and the manufactured dramatics at the climax really grated. It was a smart film, but it could have been smarter. Ditto "Jackie," which I found impressive in bits and pieces, but never as a whole. There were a lot of indie films that I had been looking forward to which just didn't connect. "The Nice Guys" was too uneven and unsure of what it was doing. "Everybody Wants Some" and "Swiss Army man" felt too slight. "Sing Street" had some good songs, but was way too indulgent for me. "Certain Women" had one great story, and two completely useless ones. "The Neon Demon" was just ugly through and through.

As I've already written about in a previous article, I suffered an awful disconnect with the foreign arthouse pictures this year. I was pretty cool on "Elle," "Toni Erdmann," "Things to Come," "The Lobster," "Julieta," "A Bigger Splash," "It's Only the End of the World," and liked "The Handmaiden" all the way up until it became a pulpy revenge picture with extra lesbian fetishization. "Aquarius" and "Under the Shadow" had me intrigued, but their flaws were too major to ignore. However, I was impressed some of the genre films - "Train to Busan" and "Shin Godzilla" were in serious contention for spots on the Top Ten list earlier in the year. "Your Name," however, was not. This is probably the best Makoto Shinkai film I've seen yet, but it still has all the bad habits that make me think he's still got a long way to go.

Usually a big populist mainstream hit or two manage to grab some critical attention, but there weren't may contenders this year. "Deadpool" was the biggest one, which I found enjoyable, but not excellent in any sense. "10 Cloverfield Lane" and "Green Room" had their supporters, but I didn't find either to be transcendent of their very specific genres. "Kubo and the Two Strings," sadly, struck me as Laika's least successful film due to poor writing. There were some pleasant surprises, however, with the latest "Star Trek" film, and "Captain America: Civil War," which delivered all the summer action thrills I could ever have hoped for.

Movies just missing a spot on the list included "The Edge of Seventeen," "Hail Caesar!" "Anthropoid," and "Hell or High Water." I considered "Our Little Sister," the recent Hirozaku Koreeda film, for my Plus One spot, but realized I wasn't all that impressed with the film, at least not enough to want to spotlight it. Oh, and after some deliberation, I've decided Beyonce's "Lemonade" really shouldn't count as a theatrical film.

And that's my 2016 in film.

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My Top Ten Films of 2016

It was a good year for movies, though an uncertain one. Lots of disappointments, lots of interesting surprises, and lots of excitement. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm feeling the blockbuster fatigue, and nearly all my top picks are very small films. My favorite genre films came from overseas this year, though more on that in a later post. I also haven't been in the best of moods, and my picks tend to skew toward darker subject matter over more hopeful, uplifting, and escapist fare.

My criteria for eligibility require that a film must have been released in its own home country during 2016, so film festivals and other special screenings don't count. Picks are unranked and listed in no particular order, and previously posted reviews are linked where available. I usually have a "Plus One" spot reserved for the best film of the previous year that I didn't manage to see in time for the last list, but there wasn't anything this year I found compelling enough to single out for praise.

And here we go.

Manchester by the Sea - Kenneth Lonergan returns with a film about a man and his nephew, both figuring out how to pick up the pieces after a tragic loss. While there are moments of gutting sadness, there's also a tremendous amount of humor and warmth here, conveyed through keenly observed behavior and dialogue. I especially appreciate Lonergan's ability to not only create great characters, but the vital relationships and communities around them.

Krisha - First time director Trey Edward Schultz creates a showcase for the formidable talents of his aunt, Krisha Fairchild. She plays an addict who is trying to reconnect with estranged family matters during a Thanksgiving holiday, but suffers a nightmarish relapse. Schultz puts the audience right inside her breakdown, the filmmaking mirroring Krisha's alienation and eventual descent. It's Fairchild, however, whose raw emotion and verve give the film its edge.

The Fits - A tomboy's decision to join a dance troupe is the catalyst for an engrossing exploration of gender, identity, community, and group dynamics. With very little dialogue, the film is largely told through the striking visuals and the very physical, very energetic performances. In the hands of director Anna Rose Holmer, a Cincinnati rec center becomes a maelstrom of strange, unknown forces, that our young heroine finds herself irrevocably changed by.

American Honey - Andrea Arnold provides an outsider's view of America by exploring the parts of it that others rarely do. The heroine spends most of her time travelling through an endless Midwest, eking out a marginal existence hustling for magazine sales. However, there's also a tremendous sense of exploration and possibility for her, as she encounters different people along the way from all walks of life. It's a hard film at times, but also a hopeful one.

The Witch - I love Robert Eggers' "New England Folktale" for its daring and its unwavering commitment to its ambitious premise. The final scenes especially sound very unlikely on paper, but Eggers and his actors fully earn that ending and make it work. They've created a universe where God and the Devil are real, powerful forces, while also acknowledging the harmful, repressive nature of the Puritan culture of the times on our tortured cast of characters.

The Wailing - Can be seen as a South Korean companion film to "The Witch," where a policeman investigates a series of demon possessions. The ambiguity of the narrative is a major strength, the way it film keeps the audience guessing all the way to the end which of the spiritual figures are benevolent, and which are the monsters. The oppressive atmosphere of paranoia and frustration is terrific, but the exorcism sequence is the showstopper.

The 13th - I don't have much patience for documentaries with an axe to grind, but Ava Duvernay's latest, linking the American history of slavery to the current prison boom, is exceptional. It makes its case in very clear, very memorable ways, and shines a spotlight on a major American social problem that clearly needs to be addressed more seriously. More than that, I found myself deeply engrossed and emotionally invested as I watched it all unfold.

O.J.: Made in America - A five hour documentary on the O.J. Simpson case may sound like overkill, but all the historical and cultural context prove to be absolutely vital in understanding why the case was the cultural landmark that it was. I certainly didn't understand all the little nuances and implications of what was going on at the time it was happening. And, or course, there were all those fine details we never knew, and the aftermath we mostly ignored.

Zootopia - I can't get over how beautifully this was executed, a modern day Aesop's fable and buddy cop comedy that tackles the none-too-child-friendly subject of discrimination. Sure, there are some missteps and a Shakira single, but otherwise this may be the most thoughtful, earnest, and intelligent children's film I've seen in years - and it's from Disney no less. It's always heartwarming when so much creative energy is used for something so positive.

I, Daniel Blake - Ken Loach has always made very timely, socially conscious pictures, and this may be one of this most pointed, but something about the travails of Daniel Blake really resonated with me. Loach does such a great job of capturing the mindset and the behavior of people living on the brink, and all the little cruelties that they face. I can so easily imagine this story in other hands being deluged in sentiment and soapboxing, smothering its more subtle charms.

Honorable Mentions

High Rise
Love & Friendship
Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Cameraperson
Silence
The Red Turtle
Paterson
Moonlight
The Founder
The Witness

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About That "Wonder Woman" Movie

Wonder Woman was never one of my favorite superheroes, even though I was always more invested in DC properties than Marvel ones. Princess Diana of Themiscyra has a complicated origin story, a bunch of random powers that don't seem to go together, and no particularly interesting allies or villains associated with her. Being a "Justice League" fan I was familiar with her, and I've liked the various bits of media that have featured her over the years - including an excellent animated direct-to-video feature from a few years back. However, I wouldn't count myself as a fan.

And now here come Gal Gadot and director Patty Jenkins to give us a live action Wonder Woman who I finally feel like cheering for. Her origin story still strikes me as one of the weaker ones, as superheroes go, but at least all the various elements feel consistent here, and the character of Wonder Woman herself is given her due. Diana's journey from spirited princess of a hidden island of warrior women to full-fledged heroine is handled very well, and thankfully there's no real attempt to darken or add complications to her story the way that we've seen with the most recent Batman and Superman films.

What surprised me the most was how much of a WWI film "Wonder Woman" turns out to be. After early scenes establishing how Diana grew up among the Amazons, as the daughter of their Queen Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen), she meets the American spy Steve Trevor (Chris Pine), whose plane crashes on their hidden island home. She journeys with him back to Europe, believing that the war is the result of the god Ares' influence on mankind, and intends to kill him. The rest of the film follows their adventures getting to the Front, and trying to stop the evil General Ludendorff (Danny Huston) and chemist Dr. Maru (Elena Anaya) from launching a devastating gas attack that would destroy the impending Armistice.

Gal Gadot makes a great "Wonder Woman," accent and all. She really gets across all the hopefulness and heroism of the character, and is appropriately inspirational and badass. I think the film's real secret weapon is Chris Pine, however, who is essentially playing Captain Kirk again, but a Captain Kirk who does a great job of both embodying this particular era in history and transcending it. Another major highlight is Robin Wright as Diana's aunt Antiope, a warrior woman who inspires her niece to follow in her footsteps. The Amazons in general are fantastically cast, all played by incredibly physically impressive women who sell their battle scenes with everything they have. The weak spots are the villains, but that's mainly due to them being fairly two-dimensional baddies. I'm not even going to name the actor who turns out to be playing Ares, because it's quite obvious when you see him. I'll just say that he's had much better material on television this year.

The Great War is treated with all possible gravity, staying within a PG-13 rating, but acknowledging the horrors of warfare. This setting really gives Diana's actions some weight as she grapples with how best to fulfill her mission. I appreciate that while Diana's gender is acknowledged and there are some brief jabs at the sexist attitudes of the era, the filmmakers don't feel the need to underline it. We understand how strong the Amazons are from their spectacular fight scenes. Diana demonstrates her independence and drive again and again in her dogged pursuit of Ares. The "stranger in a strange land" narrative works very well for her, slowly chipping away at Diana's idealism and naivete while also also allowing for little moments of humor and subversion.

And it makes such a difference to have those moments of lightness and romance. Diana and Steve Trevor's relationship is handled right, so when the plotting starts to sputter and falls victim to the usual third-act superhero pitfalls, at least the emotional throughline is strong enough to get us through the ending. "Wonder Woman" is by no means a great superhero film, though there are a few moments of greatness in it. However, after the DCU has delivered one grim, unfun slog after another, it's such a relief to have one that balances out its sequences of intensity and bleakness with warmth and optimism. And though there are some superficial similarities between "Wonder Woman" and the first "Captain America," it's tonally very distinct from the MCU.

So while I'm thrilled that the new live-action "Wonder Woman" movie has been so well received by critics and audiences, and that it's going to pave the way for more female-led superhero films, and maybe get a few more female directors heading up blockbuster films, what I really love about it is that it's righted the DCU franchise. Well, at least temporarily. We'll see how "Justice League" fares in a few more months.

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I Actually Do Want to See the Sequel

I've been complaining about sequels this year an awful lot lately, so I thought I'd write up a list of a few movie sequels that I actually do want to see. I'm absolutely not against sequels being made, but which films have gotten sequels often confounds me. In some of these cases, a sequel was explicitly set up by the original film, but isn't close to actually being in production for one reason or another. Others just left the door open for more.

"Chronicle" - There's clearly demand for another trip into the universe of 2012's "Chronicle," considering that the original made ten times its tiny, $12 million budget. However, Max Landis's script for the sequel, "Martyr," went in a much darker direction than FOX wanted. Landis and troubled director Josh Trank don't appear to be involved in the development of "Chronicle 2" anymore, and the last anyone heard, a new writer had been brought on sometime in 2014. I think that the likelihood of another "Chonicle" film being produced at some point is likely, but if Dane DeHaan really blows up next year - he has three high profile films coming out in 2017 - there's probably little chance of "Chronicle 2" looking anything like "Chronicle."

"District 10" - We were promised a sequel three years after "District 9," which came out in 2009, remember? Director Neill Blomkamp has kept insisting that he'll get around to it eventually, as no one can imagine doing a "District 10" without him, but I wonder if he'll have to hit rock bottom in Hollywood first. Frankly, after the bumpy path that Blomkamp has taken over these last few years, I'm eager for him to return to the "District 9" universe, which is still by far the best thing he's ever created. I'm hoping that if his "Alien" project falls through, he'll turn his attention back to the plight of poor Vikus Van der Merwe. And ultimately it's really not going to matter if it takes ten years for the story to continue instead of three.

"The Mortal Instruments" - There was so much about "The Golden Compass" that went wrong, not the least of which was the removal of its original downbeat, cliffhanger ending, which was supposed to be shifted to the beginning of the next movie. All the pieces were put in place for a much more interesting pair of sequels, which sadly never happened. I know that the BBC is looking into making their own version of "His Dark Materials" for television, but the cast assembled for the film was a once in a lifetime convergence of some impeccable talent, and the failure to launch still stings quite a bit. Compare to "The Dark is Rising," which I'm quite happy to see being redone as a television series after the spectacular bungle that was "The Seeker."

"Brave" - This PIXAR film didn't get the greatest reception, because certain viewers were expecting something more epic and grand. And that's why I think it's the studio's best candidate for a sequel, because there are so many more places that the story of Merida could go. A sequel could see her bloom into a full-fledged warrior on a big adventure, or we could have another wacky outing with more bear transformations and family bonding. While I don't object to other PIXAR movies like "Toy Story" and "The Increcdibles" getting sequels, those feel like finished stories to me, while "Brave" remains intriguingly open-ended. Merida learned one important lesson, but she's clearly got a lot more growing up to do.

"Wasington" - Taking a brief detour into the arthouse, don't think I haven't forgotten about your incomplete American trilogy, Lars von Trier. "Dogville" was a disturbing masterpiece, and "Manderlay" less so, but still fascinating. I want to see von Trier bring this series to a climax, especially in the wake of the recent mess of an American election. There was some chatter about Nicole Kidman coming back for "Wasington," but it never came about. Fortunately, because of the way von Trier made the first two films, with essentially no sets and a completely new cast each time, it doesn't matter how long the gap is between the films. If he still wants to make "Wasington" in thirty years, he can and should.

"Master and Commander" - There are twenty Aubrey and Maturin novels! Twenty! I know that "The Far Side of the World" didn't as make as much money as the studio may have liked, but it was massively critically acclaimed, and plenty of people still love it. Russell Crowe seems game for making another one, going so far as to try to drum up support for a potential sequel on Twitter in 2010, and director Peter Weir certainly doesn't seem to be up to anything else. I don't understand why Fox and Universal haven't pulled the trigger on another installment, as costly as it might be. We're getting close to the point where the original cast wouldn't be able to come back, and that would be an awful shame.

.... and "Bill and Ted." Because I still love those dudes.

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