Somebody gave David Lynch $$$$$

Went to see Inland Empire today. Walked out of Inland Empire today. Lasted an hour and a half but any movie that has a Gypsy curse as a plot point (or should I say "plot-less, point-less") and isn't Borat is going to have serious problems in 2007. Harry Dean Stanton bumming money is funny, but doesn't he look exactly like someone who would bum money? And any movie where odd, baroque, sexually ambiguous Jeremy Irons plays the movie's most seemingly normal character is going to have problems. The movie-within-a-movie had a smaller cast and crew than Plan 9. I'm amazed I lasted the 90 minutes.
But the past year did have some remarkable films and I feel I have to join the parade of best-of/worst-of lists.
As stated earlier, the best film I saw last year was Children of Men. Odd, but the dystopian vision of the film looks like America after 8 more years of Republlican rule - immigrants in cages, armed military on street corners, no future for most of the populace - please see this film, think of today and tomorrow, and vote Democratic.
Pan's Labyrinth was wonderful. Again, a hate-filled time, the end of the Spanish Civil War with Fascism winning. But the promise of a better world somewhere, even if it is just in the imagination, is the point. To me, the people who fought Fascism in Spain are the true heroes of the 20th century. They're the ones who stepped up, made their way to Spain to fight alongside their Spanish compatriots, and died there in the first battle against the Nazi war machine. I have always said, if I could go back in time to a place where I could test my courage and humanity, it would be alongside the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, the American volunteers who fought in Spain. Those were people with guts and commitment.
Belated kudos to The Clash back in the 70s for writing a song called Spanish Bombs and bringing that history to a new group of young people. They really were "the only rock and roll band that matters".
As for the worst movie of the year, go back in time to a little place I like to call Versailles. Imagine rich kids eating even richer food and completely unaware that the people outside are starving. Imagine characters that never learn anything, never grow, and are for the most part, nonverbal. Imagine waiting, hoping, for them to have their heads cut off. Imagine reviewers bending over backwards to say good things about this film. But the costumes!!! It was Versailles, for God's sakes! They had great clothes. That's the job of wardrobe. And that shot by Roman Coppola, the A.D., where he put the Converse sneaker in among all the fancy French 18th century shoes. That was funny. No, Sarah Silverman in the Aristocrats is funny. The sneaker in the shoe montage is 2 seconds of product placement. And why did reviewers go overboard for this film? Why did they put away their critiical appraisal skills. Access. Sofia is young, her star friends are young, they'll be working forever. Young reviewers would be committing suicide if they panned this movie. They'd never have access again to this crowd. Access is the new criticism. Marie Antoinette had fun while the people suffered. Her life should be a lesson. Make your life matter. Feed your head, feed your mind. Or you just might end up losing one. Or the other.
As the man said, war is over if you want it.