Various Films, part 2, New Year Songs & This Week's Statistics

Hello again, my friends! I'm still in a film-watching mood, trying to fill the blanks in a year full of great films. You seemed to enjoy the last time I shared my impressions of some of these films with you, so, let's do it again!

There is not much time to write, being in the middle of the holidays, so today, we will be talking about only two films, one gay-themed and one not. We'll start with the latter.

22 July

Paul Greengrass is an English director who made a series of good documentaries for British TV and then exploded into the film scene with a number of based-on-true-facts movies that have a documentary-like authenticity. Among them: Bloody Sunday, winner of the top prize at the Berlin Film Festival, United 93, giving him an Oscar nomination for Best Director, and Captain Phillips, which gathered six Oscar nominations. He also made three of the "Bourne" films, among them, the most successful, The Bourne Ultimatum (three Oscar wins.)

His latest, 22 July, returns to the based-on-true-facts movies. For those of you who don't remember, on 22 July 2011 one of the worst terrorist attacks ever that traumatized Europe happened in Norway. There were over seventy dead and more than two hundred seriously wounded, the majority of whom were teenagers. The terrorist responsible for this awful carnage was an extreme-right-winger, one of those who wants racial purity in the Western World.

The movie is extremely timely, especially today with the troubling rise of the extreme right all over the Western World. Greengrass' creative choice to use Norwegian actors speaking in English was criticized by many but, in my opinion, it's for the best: the use of Norwegian actors allows for increased authenticity, while the use of English language allows for the film's reach to be universal.

The film examines the case from all possible fronts; the preparation of the attacks, the attacks themselves, the aftermath, the trial - and we get to see the point of view of all the protagonists; the terrorist, the victims, their families, the terrorist's defendant, the government.

The film moves at a terrific pace (kudos to the director and to the editor) - making the experience feel visceral. The cinematography is amazing, capturing the big picture as well as the minute details. So is the screenplay. The actors are all superb. I really recommend this film to everyone - it works on so many levels; as a re-enactment of a painful piece of recent history; as an edge-of-your-seat adventure; as a look in the mind of a monster; as a tale of inner strength and perseverance on the part of the victims; and finally, as the decision of a government to uphold the law and safeguard its democracy, despite the strong emotional drive to treat such a terrible criminal as less than human. A wonderful film...

This is the movie's trailer:

Here's the film's main cast talking about the movie:

The other movie I will talk about is gay-themed and also has a date as a title: It's called 1985 and is directed by Yen Tan. The movie manages to do something special: it mixes all the tropes of a gay-themed movie; the closeted youth leaving for the big city and returning after a few years to come out to his parents; the deeply religious small town; the confused parents, trying to understand; the deadly and ever-present (at the time) ghost of AIDS; the former girlfriend; the bullied teen - and comes up with something fresh. Not an easy task, believe me - we've seen too many mediocre and bad movies telling these stories.

The artistic choice to film in black and white strips the film of sugar-coated nostalgia and firmly places it in reality. The good actors help sell the film with their amazing performances: Cory Michael Smith (Carol), Virginia Madsen (Oscar-nominated for Sideways), Michael Chiklis (The Wire), Jamie Chung (Big Hero 6), and the film's discovery, the very talented young actor, Aidan Langford.

It's a gentle and sensitive film, while at the same time being grounded and reflective. I recommend it to those who remember 1985, as well as to those who don't.

This is the movie's trailer:

OK, we're done with the movies. What about the songs? Well, it's already New Year's Eve as I'm writing this so today's songs will orbit around this subject. Let's begin with something great, U2 and New Year's Day:

Abba follows, with Happy New Year:

A Great Big World gave us This Is The New Year:

B.B. King is all about Bringing In A Brand New Year:

... While Van Morrison reminds us of the Celtic New Year:

I couldn't find the original Funky New Year by the Eagles, so here's the Candyman Funked Up Edit:

The Great Lake Swimmers explain how we are Gonna Make It Through This Year:

... While The O'Jays sing a song with a very long title, called ‎Christmas Ain't Christmas, New Years Ain't New Years Without The One You Love:

Mary Chapin Carpenter sings about New Year's Day:

A Long December is by the Counting Crows:

Sugarland gave us Maybe Baby (New Year's Day):

Death Cab For Cutie sing about The New Year:

Snoop Dogg and Marty James sing about New Year' Eve:

Pale Waves also sing about New Year' Eve:

Yet another song called New Year' Eve is by MØ:

Here's Ella Fitzgerald with What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?:

This is Taylor Swift and New Year's Day:

Next Year is by the Foo Fighters:

Next Year is also by Two Door Cinema Club:

The gone-too-soon Jeff Buckley gave us New Year's Prayer:

Nothin' New For New Year is performed by Harry Connick, Jr. and George Jones:

Same Old Lang Syne is by Dan Fogelberg:

It's Just Another New Year' Eve is by Barry Manilow:

Happy Xmas (War Is Over) by John Lennon & The Plastic Ono Band may not have the New Year in its title but it's there in the lyrics:

There's another group of songs that are not necessarily about the New Year but they have years as their title. After Beatle John, it's appropriate that we listen to Paul McCartney and Wings and their song Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five:

The Beatles' close friend, Nilsson, gave us the autobiographical 1941:

1984 would surely be one of the years mentioned - and who better to write a song about it than David Bowie:

One of The Who's masterpieces is the rock opera, Tommy. In it is the song 1921:

... For the 1975 adaptation of Tommy to film, the song was moved 30 years to the future, in 1951:

In their monumental album, A Night At The Opera, Queen included '39:

We travel 60 years to the future, with the amazing Prince and 1999:

These next two years have both been important in my life. First, let's listen to 1972 by Josh Rouse:

... Then, there's James Blunt's 1973:

So far we've been revisiting past years. How about a trip to the future, with Zager & Evans' In The Year 2525:

Auld Lang Syne is the traditional song most people associate with this day. I chose a few versions of the song. Here's an acapella version with the wonderful harmonies by the Beach Boys:

Unfortunately, Jimi Hendrix's amazing version of Auld Lang Syne is nowhere to be found, so we skip it.

Aretha Franklin & Billy Preston give Auld Lang Syne a Soul spin:

This is Auld Lang Syne combined with People and stage banter by Barbra Streisand:

Here's a dance version of Auld Lang Syne (The New Year's Anthem) by Mariah Carey:

... And I left Bing Crosby's more traditional-sounding Auld Lang Syne for last:

Now, let's continue with our statistics; the number of visits this week rose by 32%, even though there was no new material since last weekend. People found the time to revisit older stories, like George Maharis, Peter Straker, Dave Clark, Tevin Campbell, Simon & Garfunkel, Chris Bell, Freddie Jackson, Joe Jackson, and Luther Vandross were among the week's most popular stories.

As far as countries are concerned, the United States, Russia, Australia, and the Netherlands see their all-time rates rise, while France and Cyprus experience minor losses: As a result, Australia overtakes Cyprus and lands on the ninth position on the all-time chart. The rest of the major players kept their percentages stable.

Here are this week's Top 10 countries:

1. the United States

2. Russia

3. the United Kingdom

4. Australia

5. Germany

6. Canada

7. France

8. Greece

9. the Netherlands

10. Brazil

Here are the other countries that graced us with their presence since our last statistics (alphabetically): Albania, Angola, Argentina, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Benin, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Bulgaria, Cape Verde, Chile, Colombia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Lebanon, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Republic of Congo, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, Vietnam, and Zambia. Happy to have you all!

And here's the all-time Top 10:

1. the United States = 32.6%

2. France = 17.4%

3. the United Kingdom = 11.4%

4. Greece = 8.2%

5. Russia = 2.6%

6. Germany = 1.9%

7. Canada = 1.9%

8. Italy = 0.93%

9. Australia = 0.84%

10. Cyprus = 0.84%

That's all for today, folks. Till the next one!