Declan Cashin

Writing: the art of applying the ass to the seat

Whatever you’re doing, and however you choose (not) to mark it, Happy 2011 to y’all.

Some of the 25 “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant titles that have just been added to the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry. See full slideshow here

Classy, no? Read more about them here

This mosaic image is the sharpest wide-angle view ever obtained of the starburst galaxy, Messier 82 (M82). From NASA.

My feature on Anne Hathaway in today’s Irish Independent

It seems apt that Anne Hathaway‘s earliest acting roles were playing princesses, because 2011 is shaping up to be the year that the young star is crowned as Queen of Hollywood.

Forbes magazine has named the smiley 28-year-old as this year’s best value female star thanks to her roles in hits such as Valentine’s Day and Alice in Wonderland.

It’s estimated that Hathaway generates an estimated $64 (€48) for every dollar she’s paid in salary. In terms of offering most bang for the buck, Hathaway came out on top over heavy-hitters like Jennifer Aniston, Meryl Streep and Sarah Jessica Parker.

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My Best Movies of 2010:

1) Toy Story 3:
Beautifully written, wise, insightful, scary, profound and heartbreaking, no other movie came close this year for sheer cinematic and emotional magic.

2) 127 Hours:
Everyone knows how it ends, yet 127 Hours still manages to be an extraordinarily tense, gripping and – pun intended – nerve-shredding drama, directed with flair and indefatigable energy and enthusiasm by Danny Boyle and anchored by a charismatic and utterly engrossing performance by James Franco. The last 30 minutes are probably the most intense and exhilarating I’ve experienced at the movies this year simply because it’s the culmination of a story about a guy discovering the joy of life, arguably for the first time.

3) Black Swan:
Weird, scary, intense, and bonkers – and proud of it too – Black Swan is unlike any other movie you’ll see this year. Brilliantly directed by Darren Aronofsky, it’s challenging, no doubt, but worth the concentration and emotional investment as the fiercely committed Natalie Portman’s mind and grasp on reality starts to unravel as she preps for the dual role in a production of Swan Lake.

4) The Social Network:
It might be over-hyped, and I for one am surprised that it has emerged as the front-runner for next year’s Best Picture Oscar, but TSN is still an extremely well-made, brilliantly written (by Aaron Sorkin) and gripping drama featuring some great, textured performances from Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield in particular.

5) Inception:
The DiCaprio-Cotillard love story subplot didn’t work for me, and the snowy finale is a bit of a let-down, but Chris Nolan’s brain-melding, ballsy blockbuster deserves credit for its flair, confidence and execution of some terrific set pieces. Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s revolving room fight might just be the scene of the year. Plus that very last scene continues to spark debate.

6): The Kids Are All Right:
I really enjoyed this comedy-drama, mainly thanks to its tight ensemble acting and for wringing some well-aimed laughs from its provocative storyline. That dinner scene, with its close-up on Annette Bening’s devastated face as her partner’s betrayal dawns on her, is a classic. That all said, I’m not sure I like the ‘all-a-gay-woman-needs-is-a-man’ idea that was thrown into the mix: this is my biggest problem with the movie, and, after two viewings, it still detracts from it in my opinion.

7): Kick-Ass:
Foul-mouthed, extravagantly violent, laugh-out-loud funny and energetically directed, Kick-Ass was amongst the most fun experiences at the movies in 2010. And in Chloe Moretz, a star is truly born.

8  ) Another Year:
This is a gentle, deceptively simple, tragic-comedy-drama that focused on that most rare of cinematic tropes: a genuinely happily married couple (played by Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen). Of course, the real interest was in observing how that couple’s contentment affects the people who orbit their lives, especially the profoundly unhappy Mary, played to truly uncomfortable, haunting and ultimately devastating effect by Leslie Manville.

9) The King’s Speech:
A solid, engrossing and surprisingly suspenseful historical drama with well-chosen flourishes of humour, TKS features two of the great performances of the year – not to mention one of the best on-screen duos – in Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush. Helena Bonham Carter is also a treat as the lively and loving future Queen Mother.

10): Easy A:
Ok, it wasn’t anything near as good as Mean Girls, but this was still a sassy, witty, well-written and sharply observed teen comedy that was hugely enjoyable and anchored by a star-making turn by Emma Stone.

Honorable Mentions:

Waste Land (Lucy Walker’s extraordinary Brazilian art documentary);

Howl (an imaginative and loving tribute to Allen Ginsberg and another great James Franco performance);

Animal Kingdom (riveting Aussie crime thriller with a chilling supporting performance from Jacki Weaver);

Blue Valentine (Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams’ performances are flawless albeit in an intentionally hard-to-watch movie);

Monsters (low-budget sci-fi thriller-romance that continually defied expectations);

Shutter Island (Scorsese’s gloriously shlocky B-movie mystery thriller).

*Performances:

Actress of the Year:
Natalie Portman (Black Swan)

Honorable Mentions:

Leslie Manville (Another Year)

Noomi Rapace (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo)

Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right)

Jennifer Lawrence (Winters Bone)

Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom)

Emma Stone (Easy A)

Actor of the Year:
James Franco (127 Hours and Howl)

Honorable Mentions:

Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush (The King’s Speech)

Jim Carrey (I Love You Phillip Morris)

Jeese Eisenberg (The Social Network)

Ryan Gosling (Blue Valentine)

Leonardo DiCaprio (Shutter Island and Inception).

*Guilty Pleasures of the Year:

Heartbreaker (L’arnacoeur)

Easy A

Going The Distance

Morning Glory

Step Up 3D

*Most under-rated/underappreciated movies of the year:

Brothers

I Love You Phillip Morris

Whip It!

Knight and Day

*Biggest Disappointments of the Year:

Alice in Wonderland

The Girl Who Played With Fire

Iron Man 2

Somewhere

Love and Other Drugs

And finally…

Worst Movies of 2010:

1) Scott Pilgrim Vs The World: the only movie this year that I genuinely had to fight the urge to walk out of half-way through.

2) Twilight: Eclipse: boring, turgid, dramatically limp, and downright silly to the point of unwatchable.

3) Leap Year: Awful, infuriating, gob-smacking Oirish stereotypes, hackneyed plot and script, horrible protagonists (especially you Amy Adams) and embarrassed, and embarrassing performances all round.

4) The Last Airbender: Irredeemably bad fantasy flick. Wait, scratch that: there were some giggles to be had from the many instances of the word ‘bender’ being used in dialogue.

5) Sex and the City 2: That gay wedding. Enough said.

6) Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps: Perhaps not, but the audience certainly did. The best nap I had in a cinema throughout 2010.

7) Prince of Persia: Only Jake Gyllenhaal’s biceps could get me through it.

8 ) Alice in Wonderland: There was no magic or fun in this re-working of the Alice story, apart from Helena Bonham Carter’s bonkcrs turn. Johnny Depp’s Mad Hatter was wildly misjudged, while, as Alice, Mia Wasikowska – so wonderful elsewhere in The Kids Are All Right – gave one of the worst and most catatonic performances I’ve ever seen. Yet it made $1bn worldwide. What the hell do I know?

9) Clash of The Titans: This one was a borderline guilty pleasure but, on mature recollection, it really is so awful I don’t think I could even bring myself to watch it again. It also has possibly the worst 3D of any movie this year.

10) Grown Ups: Why Adam Sandler? WHY?

Just finished watching the cracking Aussie crime thriller Animal Kingdom, which features one of my top 5 favourite performances of 2010: Jacki Weaver as the cool, ruthless, all-smiling sociopathic matriarch of a family of dysfunctional criminals. Weaver, an Australian stage and TV actress, has been nominated for a Golden Globe for the role, but missed out on an SAG nomination. I still think she’ll pick up an Oscar nomination – if there’s any justice at any rate. In fact, I think she deserves to win it. Released here at the end of February

Novelist Joseph O’Connor has a great piece in today’s Irish Times on what direction Ireland should – could – go after the fateful year that’s just passed.

“IF WE do as we always did, we’ll get what we always got. This could actually be a time of opportunity. As the grim year passes, with its public anger and private agonies, the four-in-the-morning anxieties many of us have known, what could we do to regain our dignity?

We might start by taking a more clear-eyed look at how it was stolen. We need to move deeper than the surface narratives, true though they are (rapacious bankers, shabby standards, cheap money, bungling politicians,) and drill down to the bedrock of what it is in our society that permitted, indeed caused, such a brutalising crisis. I’m sick of being told by authority that “we are where we are” as though any of us hadn’t noticed that fact. We didn’t get here by accident, wherever “here” is. Understand the weapon, understand the wound.”

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