tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102008602024-03-07T15:53:45.892-08:00Montage 66’Party of the first part’ sometimes comes out ‘arty o’ the irst art.’
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger311125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10200860.post-24148260983603914262016-05-24T14:14:00.000-07:002016-05-24T14:16:43.237-07:00Cannes 2016 critics choicesCannes has come and gone again but the life of the films that played the festival is just beginning. The awards only tell part of the story. Critic's reviews, word-of-mouth buzz and festival play will tell another story and then distribution will have the final say.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://cannes-rurban.rhcloud.com/2016">Here</a> is the biggest critical consensus.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.indiewire.com/survey/best-films-and-performances-from-cannes-2016/best-film/">Here</a> is the IndieWire critical ratings for best films.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.screendaily.com/festivals/cannes/cannes-toni-erdmann-tops-final-screen-jury-grid/5104255.article">Here</a> is the Screen Daily critics scorecard.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://letterboxd.com/rashomon66/list/cannes-2016-ranked-by-letterboxd/">Here</a> is something I put together - it's the ratings rankings of the Cannes films from users on Letterboxd.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10200860.post-84927637006786308172016-05-05T14:49:00.001-07:002016-05-05T14:49:42.044-07:00DGA Best 80This DGA <a href="http://www.dga.org/Craft/DGAQ/All-Articles/1602-Spring-2016/80th-Film-Poll.aspx">list here</a> is why I have mostly stopped reviewing movies. It's like no matter how many great old classics that me and my fellow bloggers blog about the information just falls into a black hole and we end up with a list of bland, predictable, standard 'classics'. <br />
<br />
The news isn't only that one female director makes the list; the news is that when film directors are polled about what they consider the best films directed [worldwide] over the past 80 years they put films like BIRDMAN and AVATAR on the list.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10200860.post-9917605482434876842016-01-13T18:39:00.001-08:002016-01-13T18:39:13.174-08:00Old movie discoveries 2015<span style="font-family: Calibri;"> watched well over 200 movies last year. Many were older movies that I discovered or finally caught up with. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Here are twelve I enjoyed.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">CHAMPAGNE FOR CAESAR [1950] Ronald Coleman, the smartest man
in the world, takes on Vincent Price, the most arrogant CEO in the world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">WILL PENNY [1967] Charlton Heston as a lonely ranch hand
drifter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">GAMBIT [1966] Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine plan a
heist and nothing goes as planned.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">TRAPEZE [1956] Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis and Gina Lollobrigida
swing from the trapeze – with no net!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">WOMAN ON THE RUN [1950] A San Francisco noir in which a woman looks for her husband who is a suspect in a murder.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">THE KING OF COMEDY [1982] Robert DeNiro is funny crazy not
funny ha ha.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">LONELY ARE THE BRAVE [1962] Kirk Douglas is a cowboy off-the-grid
in a desperate way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">SUNFLOWER [1970] Marcello Mastroianni and Sophia Loren get
married and then war pulls them apart.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">THE QUIET AMERICAN [1958] - Michael Redgrave gives the film the weight it needs to be tragic and memorable.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">STARS IN MY CROWN [1950] Joel McCrae is a sheriff and a
preacher; say your prayers!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">YO YO [1965] Pierre Étaix and his excellent comedy of
manners.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">RED SKIES OF MONTANA [1952] Richard Widmark is a smoke
jumper who might also be a coward. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10200860.post-76849052195914045912015-07-21T18:45:00.005-07:002015-08-03T17:25:25.921-07:00Man In The Wilderness<strong>Man in the Wilderness</strong><br />
<br />
In some ways this is a hippie western. Released in 1971 when many films had darker, cynical storylines and themes this one takes a hopeless situation and turns it into a positive, hopeful moral lesson.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Richard Harris plays Zachary Bass - who is a stand-in for the real life legendary hunter / trapper <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Glass">Hugh Glass</a>. He is attacked by a bear and left to die. But he survives, crawls cross country for a while, slowly recovers and sets out to get revenge. But along the way he reflects back on his life at home, which he left soon before his son was born. So he is torn; should he seek revenge or go home?<br />
<br />
It is directed by Richard Sarafian the same year he released <em>Vanishing Point </em>but Man in the Wilderness is less existential and, in many ways, less fun. It's a survival tale with not much of a pay off. But Harris is good coming off of his more famous role the year before in <em>A Man Called Horse</em>. John Huston chews the scenery a bit as the captain who moves west on a land ship with his crew and waits for the inevitable showdown with Harris.<br />
<br />
I like the way the films unfolds almost as a silent. There is little dialogue. And the world of wilderness he encounters; starting with a bear attack, wolves feeding on an still living buffalo calf, Native American's killing one another and a lot of dirt, mud, rock and brush gives the film an authentic, gritty feel. It doesn't have beautiful scenery as one gets used to in many movies that take place in the west.<br />
<br />
I'm reviewing this in part because my dad was a fan of Hugh Glass and had written a treatment that became another story altogether. But also because I recently read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Revenant-Novel-Revenge-Michael-Punke/dp/125006662X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1437528484&sr=8-1&keywords=the+revenant">The Revenant</a> by Michael Punke, which is the same story - although with different motivations and ending. And also because of the forthcoming movie of the book by Alejandro González Iñárritu with Leonardo DiCaprio, which comes out around Christmas. I feel that film may be better if only because the ending of Man in the Wilderness is both a bit unrealistic [why would the Natives suddenly stop fighting?] and anti-climactic. <br />
<br />
On the other hand, it is meant to be a satisfying, almost family friendly, ending. That is - in part - what really sets this movie apart from so many other movies of the early 1970's. There is a strong Christian theme of forgiveness and redemption running through the narrative. Harris reflects back on Bible study, which he never understood. But now, alone in the wilderness, waiting to die, he sees the light. [In one scene he has befriended a bunny, that for some reason he chooses to cuddle up with rather than kill and eat].<br />
<br />
Still, the ending could have been so much better, in my opinion, if the Native American attack was that much more savage, thus making the Harris character see that revenge is not only ugly but not necessary. THAT I think would have made his final decision much more real and effective because it would have shown a man turning away from violence and heading back to civilization.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10200860.post-49071295830564521602015-06-04T14:09:00.002-07:002015-06-04T14:10:35.369-07:00UpdatesSorry I haven't been blogging.<br />
<br />
I really enjoyed Daredevil on Netflix. More like this, please.<br />
<br />
Finally caught up with Winter Sleep - the looonnng Turkish film by Nuri Bilge Ceylan that won last year's Cannes Film Festival. His films are so full of subtle yet emotional violence that if you miss one line of dialogue you may not get it. Although characters do tend to repeat themselves a lot. Here's a good <a href="http://time.com/112394/winter-sleep-cannes-winner/">review</a> by the late Richard Corliss.<br />
<br />
I've been using <a href="http://letterboxd.com/">Letterboxd</a> a lot lately. I like the layout much better than IMBD. Smarter critical opinions too.<br />
<br />
Here's my favorite <a href="http://letterboxd.com/rashomon66/list/best-of-2015-so-far/">films of the year</a> so far.<br />
<br />
Here's some <a href="http://letterboxd.com/rashomon66/list/discoveries-2015/">discoveries</a> I made or films I finally caught up with. All are recommended especially <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champagne_for_Caesar">'Champagne For Caesar'</a> a really wild and fun comedy from 1950 starring Ronald Coleman and Vincent Price.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10200860.post-31364128153592116832015-05-20T17:59:00.002-07:002015-05-20T17:59:33.517-07:00Cannes TweetsSome worth following or at least reading while the festival unfolds.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/Geoff_Andrew">https://twitter.com/Geoff_Andrew</a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/MatchCuts">https://twitter.com/MatchCuts</a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/JonathanRomney">https://twitter.com/JonathanRomney</a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/foundasonfilm">https://twitter.com/foundasonfilm</a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/JustinCChang">https://twitter.com/JustinCChang</a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/JordanCronk">https://twitter.com/JordanCronk</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10200860.post-43613781992839546922015-05-20T12:34:00.001-07:002015-05-21T13:47:13.503-07:00Netflix CannesDespite a recent dust-up about <a href="http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-cannes-film-festival-netflix-ted-sarandos-weinstein-20150515-story.html#page=1">Netflix at Cannes</a> this week you can actually stream numerous films that have been in competition at Cannes over the past few years.<br />
<br />
Age of Uprising: Michael Kohlhaas<br />
Antichrist<br />
Beyond the Hills<br />
Blue is the Warmest Color - Palme d'Or winner<br />
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly<br />
Goodbye to Language<br />
Grigris<br />
Holy Motors<br />
The Homesman <br />
The Hunt<br />
In Another Country<br />
Jimmy P<br />
The Kid with The Bike<br />
Lawless<br />
Like Father, Like Son<br />
Melancholia<br />
Mud<br />
My Joy<br />
Nebraska<br />
The Son's Room - Palme d'Or winner<br />
Touch of Sin<br />
Vengeance<br />
Venus in Furs<br />
We Have a Pope<br />
The Wind That Shakes the Barley - Palme d'Or winner<br />
Winter Sleepers - Palme d'Or winner<br />
Young and BeautifulUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10200860.post-83960440773153594382015-04-12T20:19:00.000-07:002017-05-30T16:15:08.519-07:00Clouds of Middle Age<b>Clouds of Sils Maria</b><br />
<br />
Olivier Assayas continues his trend toward making smart, well-written, meta-narrative films laced with trace of ironic insight. The film is deserving of a longer review but others have done that so I will instead give a list of references in the film as well as things I saw that reminded me of other films and such.<br />
<br />
The film deals, in part, quite literally with clouds. In this case, the famous Maloja snake that is indeed a natural wonder that can be seen in the autumn and winter winding through the Engadin Valley in Switzerland. The play within the film too is called The Maloja Snake letting us know that the natural phenomena can be both metaphor and real.<br />
<br />
So what about clouds?<br />
<br />
- I find the poem <a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/241616">'Mutability'</a> by PS Shelley apt. It begins.<br />
<br />
<div style="padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">
<em>We are as clouds that veil the midnight moon; </em></div>
<div style="padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">
<em>How restlessly they speed and gleam and quiver,</em></div>
<div style="padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">
<em>Streaking the darkness radiantly! yet soon</em></div>
<em>Night closes round, and they are lost for ever:...</em><br />
<br />
How does one deal with aging [mutability in one's own life] when one doesn't necessarily feel that much older? That is a big part of what the movie is about. So what about influences? <br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: yellow;">-</span> </span>All About Eve</span> is an obvious influence although it's not as much about youth and age in the same way.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;">- Persona</span> is another influence; as it is a two-hander with two women in a remote location - granted only one talks in that one while Cloud of Sils Maria has good back and forth dialogue.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;">- The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant</span> is also a film about two women in one location [one room] and deals with a older woman and her roommate who she treats like a slave. It's much more caustic but the elements are there.<br />
<br />
- The film <span style="color: yellow;">Rendez-vous</span> written by Assayas is connected as well. It was Binoche's first staring role. About it Assayas <a href="http://twitchfilm.com/2015/04/interview-olivier-assayas-on-clouds-of-sils-maria-and-hall-of-mirrors.html">says</a>:<br />
<em>If you've seen Rendez-vous, you know how much I am drawing from that film. I used the same theme... I think I used the overall mood of the film too. It's still a completely different animal. But it's also because the world has changed.</em>
<br />
<br />
- Binoche's past relationship with her first director Henryk Wald has shades of Otto
Preminger and Jean Seberg; He the older [bald] director who founded and nurtured the
inexperienced young actress who in turn fears and hates [and possible loves]
him.<br />
<br />
- The black and white film segment that is shown is from a 1924 film titled <i>Das Wolkenphänomen von Maloja</i> [Cloud Phenomena of Maloja] by Arnold Fanke. <br />
<br />
There is probably more here but taken as a whole all these elements help shape Clouds of Sils Maria. Yet, like any good artist, Assayas nods to influences but makes his own definitive work.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10200860.post-22749544729773716032015-03-31T14:08:00.001-07:002015-08-03T17:26:12.559-07:00Woman on the Run<strong><span style="color: yellow;">Woman on the Run</span> -</strong> [Norman Foster - 1950]<br />
<br />
This is a very good 1950 San Francisco noir - some would say crime drama - with Ann Sheridan in a loveless marriage who has to try to find her missing husband before the killer does. The opening and closing scenes are definitely noir; The opening scene a man [Ross Elliott] witnesses a murder while walking his dog late at night and just avoids being shot himself; the killer shoots at his shadow. The final scene takes place in an amusement part and involves a really terrific edited sequence with Sheridan on a rollercoaster when she realizes the killer is on the way to kill her husband whom she can see right below the coaster. In between is essentially a really cool travelogue of San Francisco and a lot of wise cracks by Sheridan toward the dogged inspector played by Robert Keith and Dennis O'Keefe - who plays an eager newspaperman accompanying her as she tries to find her husband.<br />
<br />
Considering this is a prominent San Francisco noir it is ironic that the two best scenes were not shot in San Francisco - the first scene was shot on Bunker Hill in Los Angeles, and the final scene was shot in Santa Monica at the Ocean Park Pier.<br />
<br />
Ann Sheridan was a big star at Warner Bros. but was overshadowed by such stars as Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland; plus she had a reputation for turning down roles. Once she left Warner's she went to independent film companies to make films. Woman on the Run was made by Fidelity Pictures, a small production company, which released the film through Universal as a B-crime drama. Sheridan - showing she had plenty of talent - does a terrific job in this film as a woman who goes from incredulous to caring in the course of searching for her husband.<br />
<br />
What is particularly notable about the film is the scarcity, for many years, of a good quality print. Eddie Muller, the head of the Film Noir Foundation, who was a big fan of the movie went in search of a print many years ago. With some work he stumbled across one in the Universal archives. He was startled by how good the print was and after showing it at a festival he implored Universal to send the print to the UCLA Film and Television Archive not only to house it in a world class archive but because, technically, they didn't own the rights. Then in 2008 there was a studio lot fire, which destroyed a number of videos and prints including Woman on the Run.<br />
<br />
Muller managed to find a 35mm print at the British Film Institute in London. He immediately had them ship their 35mm nitrate composite print to UCLA where it was used restore a new copy by Scott MacQueen along with a 35mm nitrate dupe picture negative and a 35mm acetate composite print.
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
The image quality of most all DVD's and online copies of the film are atrocious. The only good print is available at UCLA, which just showed the film at their <a href="https://www.cinema.ucla.edu/events/2015/03/29/woman-run">Festival of Preservation</a>; it will show again at the <a href="http://www.noircity.com/">Noir City Festival</a> April 3rd at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. <br />
<br />
A [presumably] good quality DVD IS <a href="http://www.wildside.fr/films-noirs/woman-on-the-run-150.html">available</a> from France and includes a 70 page book on the film written by Eddie Muller. But if you don't have $40.00 to spare and an all region DVD player then you should try to get to the Egyptian.<br />
<br />
Some links.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.noiroftheweek.com/2005/05/woman-on-run-1950.html">Film Noir of the Week</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://reelsf.com/woman-on-the-run-1950/">San Francisco Movie Locations</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://thesunbreak.com/2010/03/05/noir-city-man-eddie-muller-speaks-part-2/">Interview with Eddie Muller</a> about his dealings with Universal.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10200860.post-81179062970259155972015-03-05T20:44:00.001-08:002015-03-05T21:05:57.456-08:00Really Short reviewsA few recent older movies I've seen.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: yellow;">Heaven Knows, Mr Allison</span></b><br />
1957<br />
Nun But the Marines. Good solid Hollywood film by John Huston with Deborah Kehr and Robert Mitchum stuck on an island in the South Pacific together as they hide from the Japanese and await the war to end. It darn near almost gets hokey and heavy handed but ends on the right tone.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Bitter Victory</b></span><br />
1957<br />
Bitter Misery. Nicholas Ray takes on war by pitting two men against each other who love the same woman. The perfect one, [Richard Burton], is too cowardly to love a woman and the far from perfect one, Curt Jürgens, is too cowardly to kill a man - except his rival when it suits him. Set in the forbidding desert the film is action packed but more memorable as a psychological study of the two men.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Will Penny</b></span><br />
1968<br />
Penny for Your Naughts. Tom Gries directed Charlton Heston in one of his best performances. Here he is a cowboy who can fight anyone, herd cattle anywhere but when it comes to the love of a woman he bows out; also a coward. Joan Hackett, who has similar features to Jean Arthur, is terrific as the tough woman who almost gets her man.<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>The Sun Shines Bright</b></span><br />
1953<br />
The Judge Aligns Right. Rarely seen John Ford film set in the Confederate south after the civil war involving a judge running for re-election. He encounters a lynch mob and - in his laid back southern way - finds a way to keep the peace and maintain his popularity. The film would be called politically incorrect today but it's pretty evident that Ford is not making a value or judgement call toward the African American characters. But the personalities they exude would not be portrayed in the same way by actors today.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10200860.post-34794197246640584932015-02-13T13:45:00.002-08:002015-02-13T13:51:48.073-08:00Fifty Shades of...Fifty Shades of Bay - A love story about two swimmers in San Francisco.<br />
<br />
Fifty Shades of Clay - A love story between two sculptors.<br />
<br />
Fifty Shades of Fey - A doomed love story about two clairvoyants.<br />
<br />
Fifty Shades of Gay - A bisexual, transgender love story.<br />
<br />
Fifty Shades of Hay - A love story between two horses.<br />
<br />
Fifty Shades of Lay - A love story between a sex addict and a neurotic.<br />
<br />
Fifty Shades of May - A love story set in France during the revolts of May '68.<br />
<br />
Fifty Shades of Nay - An anti-love story.<br />
<br />
Fifty Shades of Pay - A love story between rich men and a hooker.<br />
<br />
Fifty Shades of Stay - A story about a couple dealing with their impending divorce.<br />
<br />
Fifty Shades of Way - A love story between a Buddhist and a Taoist.<br />
<br />
Fifty Shades of Yah - A positive love story.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10200860.post-38066204367032243292015-02-02T17:27:00.006-08:002015-08-03T17:26:54.010-07:00Man of Flowers<strong>Man of Flowers [Paul Cox - 1983)</strong><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
This terrific film made in 1983 by Australian filmmaker Paul Cox is about an eccentric, lonely middle aged man [Norman Kay] who derives pleasure from flowers, bronze statues, music and a female stripper named Lisa [Alyson Best] whom he has hired to perform in his house once a week.<br />
<br />
The film opens on a close-up of a painting and then segues into the striptease. Charles, too uptight [possibly due to premature ejaculation issues] to do anything [including talk] with the stripper when she finishes he runs out of the house across the street to the church to play the organ. Something he does with such frequency that the pastor has given him a key to come and go as he pleases.<br />
<br />
But more than just another film about a lonely man the film has style. For instance flashbacks shot in 8mm [or possibly 16mm], accompanied with opera music in which we see young Charles who had a serious Oedipus complex, which led to him ogling his aunt and other women who come to the house. This in turn leads to beatings by his strict father [played by Werner Herzog!]. <br />
<br />
In the present day Charles tries to live a normal life but his search for perfect aesthetics and sexual frustrations as well as religious convictions [or confusions] lead him to a solitary confinement within his memories. Lisa, the young stripper, has problems of her own; her artist, drug abusing boyfriend is continually in debt and all they do is fight. Lisa thinks she has found a friend with Charles but really she needs someone her own age. Although she has decided to attempt a sexual relationship with her girlfriend for a while.<br />
<br />
As in many of Cox's films the pace is leisurely but engaging and there is an undercurrent of melancholy with a touch of witty humor as well. Characters try to exert their individuality in unique and funny ways; in one scene in which Charles attends an art class is drawing a naked model [who happens to be Lisa] and what he draws are a bouquet of flowers. The busybody class teacher tells him he can't paint flowers in place of a naked body and he yells back that if she tries to stop him he will go to the arts board and claim artistic freedom.<br />
<br />
The one weak character in the film is the artist boyfriend who tries to force Charles to buy one of his paintings so he can feed his drug addiction. However, his presence in the film drives the narrative - especially after he leaves Lisa with a black eye thus forcing Charles to take matters into his own hands. In short; don't mess with a mamma's boy.<br />
<br />
The final shot of the movie is a beauty; as four men stand in a seaside park in the dark as the sun is going down overlooking the brightly lit sea and sky as seagulls fly around. It lasts about two minutes. My reading of this scene when I saw the films 20 years ago was that it says from the dark we see the light and therefore in the dark we see our dreams flying around but not away. Perhaps that's too fancy a reading but nonetheless it's a visual wonder to behold; like a painting by Caspar David Friedric. <br />
<br />
The DVD is tough to find although it is available in Australia at a reasonable cost.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10200860.post-70366586139773457172015-01-26T18:57:00.001-08:002015-08-03T17:27:52.799-07:00Best Movies 2014These lists get harder to do each year because I find I have a difficult time make a definitive list; and all too often I'll enjoy a film but then find flaws that keep it from being truly great and making a 'top ten' of the year. <br />
<br />
I found 2014 to be a good year but not an exceptional year; even though there certainly were exceptional moments in many films. <br />
<br />
Here, then, is a list of films I enjoyed last year.<br />
<br />
<strong>Tier 1 [meaning I enjoyed these films without many reservations]</strong><br />
Blue Ruin
<br />
The Dance of Reality
<br />
The Edge of Tomorrow
<br />
Guardians of the Galaxy
<br />
Ida
<br />
The Lunchbox
<br />
Whiplash
<br />
<br />
<strong>Tier 2 [meaning I enjoyed these films with some reservations]</strong><br />
Begin Again
<br />
Bethlehem
<br />
Boyhood
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Cycling with Moliere
<br />
The One I Love
<br />
Under the Skin
<br />
Le Weekend<br />
Wild Tales<br />
<br />
<strong>Tier 3 [meaning I enjoyed these films despite reservations].</strong><br />
Goodbye to Language
<br />
Locke
<br />
A Most Violent Year
<br />
Selma
<br />
The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears
<br />
The Congress
<br />
Two Days, One Night
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10200860.post-55749751119406997632015-01-16T18:17:00.002-08:002015-08-03T17:27:21.462-07:00Older Film Discoveries 2014Every year I stumble upon movies I'd previously not heard of or was only vaguely familiar with. Here are some of the better discoveries I made in 2014<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;">The Agony and the Ecstasy</span> [Carol Reed, 1965] - Charlton Heston as Michelangelo! Even if it is just another one of his many epics it is also a Carol Reed film and worth a look. And, yes, Michelangelo does see 'The Creation of Adam' in the clouds one evening! Perfect schmaltz.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;">Chair de Poule</span> [Julian Duvivier, 1963] - A nice slice of French noir by Duvivier that no one has seen.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;">Club de Femme</span> [Jacques Deval, 1936] - A mixed group of lonely women in a women-only Parisian boarding house try to come to grips with their [mainly sexual] frustrations.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;">Corridor of Mirrors</span> [Terence Young, 1948] - The influence that Cocteau had on British filmmakers is evident in this rarely seen [not on DVD] film about a woman who falls for a mannequin wax figure from the past.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;">Il Cristo Proibito</span> [Curzio Malaparte, 1951] - An Italian neo-realist film about a disillusioned man who comes back from WWII to his small Italian village to avenge the death of his brother who was ratted out to the Germans by one of the locals. Excellent film - rarely seen.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;">The Most Wonderful Evening of My Life</span> [Ettore Scola, 1972]<br />
Wonderfully dark Italian comedy about a man whose car breaks down following a beautiful woman biker who then ends up the dinner guest of a bunch of old judges who, for fun, put him on trial for his life.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;">London Belongs to Me</span> [Sidney Gilliat, 1948] - My appreciation for Gilliat films continued with this tale of a young man (Richard Attenborough) who commits a crime to get money to impress his girlfriend.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: yellow;">Madeleine</span> [David Lean, 1950] - Based on a famous 1857 trial of a woman who was accused of killing her husband. Is she guilty, not guilty or is it not proven!? Beautiful black and white cinematography.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;">Murder He Says</span> [George Marshall, 1945] - A crazy, fun comedy about hicks in the sticks and a government census worker (Fred McMurray) who stumbles into their world and can't get out.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Films I finally caught up with:<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;">Big Trouble in Little China</span> [John Carpenter, 1986] - Classic 80's!<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;">Le Deuxieme Souffle</span> [Jean Pierre Melville, 1966] - The only bad thing about this is that I only have one more Melville film to see before I've seen them all. Darn! I love his films.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;">Eden and After</span> [Alain Robbe Grillet, 1971] - A sexy, psychedelic, French, acid trip movie by Robbe Grille. This really fits the bill as a"they don't make like this anymore" film.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;">From Here to Eternity</span> [Fred Zinneman, 1953] - You know that scene on the beach with the lovers kissing as the wave overtake them? Yeah, they fight after they kiss. No one tells you that. Great film.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;">Phantom of the Paradise</span> [Brian DePalma, 1974] - DePalma knows well how to make a movie that is both a mess and terrifically entertaining. When the phantom takes revenge the film soars into blissful madness.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;">White Dog</span> [Sam Fuller 1982] - Is racism treatable or incurable? Would this film be made today?<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;">Wild River</span> [Elia Kazan, 1960] - Great script, story, acting... how come it's one of Kazan's least seen?<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10200860.post-929233879988690342014-12-31T19:53:00.001-08:002015-08-03T17:28:08.537-07:00Films re-watched 2014Each year is a year of film discoveries; some new, some old. But too each year there are films I re-watch because I enjoy them or because I want to see them again.<br />
Here are some of the films I saw again in 2014.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Downhill Racer</b></span> - I grew up in Colorado and I love skiing so it fits the
bill every time. This is really one of the best sports movies ever made
because it cuts through the rah-rah-rah.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>The Ruling Class</b></span> - As wicked and clever as ever. Peter O'Toole is terrific.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Casablanca</b></span> - I'd forgotten how good this film was. Curtiz is often underrated.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Flirt</b></span> - A forgotten Hal Hartley, which is saying something. Still, a good film.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Nostalgia</b></span> - I hadn't seen this Andrei Tarkovsky film in years; and always on the big screen. The images on the small screen are still powerful and the ending just as harrowing and mysterious.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Badlands</b></span> - Leaning towards Malick's best because each scene doesn't stay vacant for long.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>The Train</b></span> - Burt Lancaster commandeering a Nazi train full of art. What's not to love?<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Hiroshima mon amour</b></span> - One remembers the beauty of the images rather than the tragedy, which makes it all the more powerful when you see it again.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud</b></span> - Claude Sautet's last film and still a solid, effective love story.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Peking Opera Blues</b> </span>- I watch this Hong Kong classic every few years. It's ridiculous but fun. Or is that ridiculous AND fun?<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Pursued</b></span> - When they made psychological westerns.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Miller's Crossing</b></span> - Man, I forgot how good this was. I liked it better this time around.<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Pascali's Island</b></span> - No one remembers this film but it's got fine performances by Ben Kingsley and Helen Mirren<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>The Long Day Closes</b></span> - Terence Davies' beautiful, personal and nostalgic film is one for the ages.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Life and Nothing But</b></span> - Bertrand Tavernier's film about World War I and the effect on two people; one an officer and one the wife of a lost soldier - is a film I watch every few years.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Red River</b></span> - Is this the best Western ever made? Maybe. Still entertaining.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Ali: Fear Eats the Sou</b>l</span> - Has any director ever continually cut as deep and as sharp as Fassbinder did film after film? This film is still so darn good.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>Excalibur</b></span> - I put this in to test my Blu-ray player and decided there was nothing better to watch at that moment. Fun film.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>The Yakuza</b></span> - Robert Mitchum doing his thing; only as an older man in the 1970's. Better than I remembered it. <br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><b>3 Women</b></span> - Robert Altman's Persona made at the height of his artistic powers - when zooming was all the rage and people still ate patty melts.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10200860.post-83825841009125173382014-10-19T19:22:00.002-07:002015-08-03T17:28:25.237-07:00Whiplash<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
WHIPLASH</div>
<br />
Some would say Whiplash is about a music conservatory student drummer who - with the help of a sadistic teacher - achieves success. But really the film is about a student who has to endure the abuse and manipulative tactics from the teacher on the way to achieving success.<br />
<br />
The teacher - played brilliantly by J.K. Simmons - tells a story to the kid about how Jo Jones threw a cymbal at Charlie Parker's head and it made Parker practice harder until he achieved his legendary success. The story is apocryphal but it sets the stage for the lesson the teacher wants the student [Miles Teller] to understand, which is that abuse and intimidation will bring out the best in someone with talent. <br />
<br />
I don't think the filmmaker - Damien Chazelle, believes this method works. But he teases it out enough to make us at least believe the student thinks it has some merit. However, by the end, he finds that the only real way to achieve success with this teacher is to fight back - and hard.<br />
<br />
It's a terrific film; entertaining, intense and rather unpredictable. Especially the final scene when the student gets humiliated and then turns the tables - all on stage for the world to see. He finally finds a way to achieve the success he would have achieved earlier with a better teacher. But sometimes you have to overcome hurdles to win.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10200860.post-37901081548785371172014-06-22T10:43:00.001-07:002015-08-03T17:28:53.890-07:00Horses and Men in Iceland<a href="http://www.icelandicfilms.info/films/nr/1499"><b>Of Horses and Men</b></a> is an entertaining, fresh and unique tale about men and horses in modern day Iceland.<br />
<br />
It's all the more remarkable because the director Benedikt Erlingsson is a first time filmmaker who manages to capture the story visually better than many seasoned directors. Through editing juxtapositions, close-ups as well as the majestic use of horses in many different scenarios, he keeps the tale going strong for its 86 minute running time.<br />
<br />
The film takes place in and around a quirky small Icelandic community where everyone knows one another and no one holds a secret from anyone. The film unfolds much like a series of short stories; each one loosely connected to the others and all in one way another involving horses and the various characters of the region.<br />
<br />
Both the horses and the men [and women] live off the loamy, windy, fjords that surround them. And the only thing that separates man from beast is that the men attempt to be a bit more formal in their proceedings - although barely. The film's first scene is indicative of this. A man rides his horse to call on a lady friend. He is dressed in formal attire. She greets him with - who we assume - is her mother and her young son. They have tea and commence with small talk and laughter. Meanwhile his horse has drawn the attention of a stallion who begins to go wild. As the gentleman leaves the wild stallion managers to break through the fence holding him and he rushes to the mare to mate with her. What ensues is a major embarrassment for the gentleman and a good hearty laugh for everyone else.<br />
<br />
One thing Erlingsson does really well is present each story in such a unique way that you don't exactly know what's happening. Many times I found myself surprised by unpredictable [but subtle] narrative twists. Each story has its own delight or shock or revelation and all of them have moments of exhilaration, which are helped along by the amazing cinematography of Bergsteinn Bjoergulfsson and a terrific score by David Thor Jonsson.<br />
<br />
Movies like 'Of Horses and Men' is one of the reasons I go to movies. I hope it finds a distributor.<br />
<br />
UPDATE: It has been picked up by Music Box Films.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10200860.post-57339674135149165252014-05-25T20:55:00.001-07:002015-08-03T17:29:27.174-07:00Jodorowsky's Reality<b>The Dance of Reality</b> is everything cinema should be; Daring, bold, controversial, theatrical, raw, surreal, cathartic. In short, a balancing act that threatens to tip over yet maintain its equilibrium all along carrying the audience through the ups and downs and conflicts and vicissitudes of its main characters.<br />
<br />
Make no mistake, this is a Alejandro Jodorowsky film through and through. It is not a compromised, mainstream film put together by studio producers or marketing hacks. It's not safe and easy yet it's not too outrageous to scare away the timid. For every bit of harsh or clunky mise-en-scene it segues into confident narrative structure and the assurance of faith or a mother's love.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
As in most of Jodorowsky the narrative is a bit messy - yet one is never confused. It is both a coming-of-age tale about a young boy [the young Jodorowsky] and a coming-to-Jesus tale about the boy's father who is a bully and a tyrant. He's also Jewish in the 1930's, which puts him one wrung down in the mind of everyone in the small Chilean village he lives in.<br />
<br />
This is entertainment that astonishes and pushes us; from scenes like the mother urinating [for real] on her ailing husband, to dancing naked with her son both blackened with shoe polish, to the craziness of not one but a dozen crippled one [or no] armed men drinking themselves into despairing drunkenness. It's a world that not only embraces atheism and faith, but cornball sincerity [the mother sings every line as if in an opera] with outrageous sadistic madness [the father hurts the child early on to gain his respect]. <br />
<br />
It's a film about the cruelty of dictatorships and economic difficulties but a one of hope too. Ultimately, it's a film about the rebirth of both a man and his country.<br />
<br />
It's tough to recount the plot. And since I saw it with no knowledge of the plot I'll leave it there.<br />
<br />
See it. It's a great, unforgettable film. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10200860.post-10477373879132071962014-04-01T21:29:00.003-07:002015-08-03T17:29:07.460-07:00Chair de poule<b>Chair de poule</b> - 1963<br />
<br />
Julien Duvivier is best known in the United States for 'Pépé le moko'. But he had quite a distinguished career that lasted from 1919 to 1967 and included over 70 films. Jean Renoir is noted to have said: "If I were an architect and I had to build a monument to the cinema, I would place a statue of [Julien] Duvivier above the entrance….This great technician, this rigorist, was a poet."<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
I've seen few Duvivier films but each film I have seen is impressive in one way or another. Even if he was just knocking off a genre picture. One such film is <b>Chair de poule</b> [translates as Goosebumps but was also known as 'Highway Pickup']<br />
<br />
It's a French film noir and the plot is rather typical. A criminal named Daniel [Robert Hossein] after being caught robbing a safe escapes from a train on the way to prison, finds himself in a remote location where he is befriended by a man, Thomas [Georges Wilson], and his wife, Maria [Catherine Rouvel] who run a roadside restaurant and gas station. It's evident rather quickly that the young wife is not interested in her older husband. The only reason she hangs around is because he has a fortune of money stashed away in a safe. Daniel, it turns out, is a safe cracker. Once Maria finds out this convenient fact she decides to double-cross her husband with this handsome criminal. However, Daniel wants nothing to do with her.<br />
<br />
Enter Paul [Jean Sorel] Daniel's partner in crime who in the we saw in the movies first scene manage to escape and avoid Daniel's prison fate.<br />
<br />
The plot thickens.<br />
<br />
I don't want to recount the plot or give anything away but suffice it to say the film fits into that niche we might call cynical noir. It builds to a very satisfying conclusion. The story is not Duvivier's. It is based on a novel by James Hadley Chase titled <i>Come Easy Go Easy</i>. But it is well directed and it's terrifically entertaining.<br />
<br />
The reason the film is not well know is most likely because it has no big movie stars we can associate with. The biggest being Jean Sorel who was in 'Belle de Jour' and 'The Day of the Jackal'. But it's got big talent behind the lens. The cinematography is by Léonce-Henri Burel who shot Abel Gance's Napolean as many Robert Bresson films. The score is done by Georges Delerue. It would be nice to see this film get the Criterion treatment at some point. Or just any old release will do. Look for it.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10200860.post-86028519941969515962014-03-05T20:21:00.001-08:002014-03-06T20:27:46.646-08:00Resnais from memory<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This will be
possibly the worst reviews you will read of any of Alain Resnais' films. I will attempt in
his honor to write memories I have of some his films without actually re-watching them. Some I haven't seen for 10 or 15 years.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b>Hiroshima
mon amour</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CDYrOUqIvik/Uxf2w3uihQI/AAAAAAAAGNc/D3RvXD12orA/s1600/Last-Year-at-Marienbad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CDYrOUqIvik/Uxf2w3uihQI/AAAAAAAAGNc/D3RvXD12orA/s1600/Last-Year-at-Marienbad.jpg" height="400" width="278" /></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">He’s an Asian architect</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">She’s a French actress</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p>Love making and crying</o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Breakfast on a rooftop<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Flashback in a cellar</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p>Contemplation of life and death</o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p>And love...</o:p></span><br />
<b><br /></b>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b>Last Year at
Marienbad</b><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Everyone’s at
a party in a castle. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">People walk
around in a quiet black & white world. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Some guy is
doing card tricks.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p>Did any of it ever happen?</o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p>Even their shadows don't show up sometimes.</o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><o:p></o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Muriel<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Muted colors. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Algerian
war is in the past</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Or is it the present? <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A young man.
<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A woman.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The memory of war = depressed characters</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p></o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b>La guerre
est finie</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A revolutionary
has many girlfriends. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">He attempts
to drive across the border. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At one point
a woman walking down the stairs suddenly becomes many women.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<b><br /></b>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b>Je t'aime,
je t'aime</b> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Man in a
bean bag looking contraption. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Spun through
fragments of time. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Mouse on the
beach. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Scenes repeat
until he goes mad and the machine breaks.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><o:p></o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Providence<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wr70DgWntyc/Uxf25UmWZEI/AAAAAAAAGNk/uENuedEgEcc/s1600/wild_grass.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wr70DgWntyc/Uxf25UmWZEI/AAAAAAAAGNk/uENuedEgEcc/s1600/wild_grass.jpg" height="400" width="299" /></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">John Gielgud
as a misanthrope with hemorrhoids.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Ellyn
Bursten talks in a man’s voice sometimes. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Violence.
Anger. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Expensive
chateau. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Reconciliation.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><o:p></o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Stavisky<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Political
scandal<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Belamondo in
20’s style<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Wears nice
suits</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Drives a
nice car</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">People talk a lot </span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p></o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b>Mon oncle
d'Amérique </b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Human and
animal behavior<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">French
actors</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p>A beating heart</o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Rats<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<b><br /></b>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b>Wild Grass</b><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A woman dentist<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">An older man<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A handbag<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A shared love of
aviation<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A promise of
romance.<o:p></o:p></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10200860.post-25861703753680733732014-01-14T11:21:00.001-08:002014-01-24T18:52:14.053-08:00Older Film Discoveries 2013I watched more old movies last year than any year since I've been tallying up the movies I watch. Here are a few of the highlights that were discoveries for me.<br />
<span style="color: yellow;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: yellow;">An Enemy of the People</span> [Satyajit Ray, 1989] - An adaptation of a Henrik Ibsen play about a doctor who believes the holy water at the nearby temple is contaminated. He faces a lot of opposition including from his brother who is determined not to let the news out.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_N_ol70_3EI/UtTLGvUm9pI/AAAAAAAAGD0/rJoOMDMRW-o/s1600/hard_times.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_N_ol70_3EI/UtTLGvUm9pI/AAAAAAAAGD0/rJoOMDMRW-o/s320/hard_times.jpg" height="320" width="209" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;">The Earthling</span> [Peter Collinson, 1980] - The dying journey of a dreamer who meets a young boy lost in the wilderness after the death of his parents. A movie that is both tough and touching but without being sappy. [I wrote it about it <a href="http://bunuel.blogspot.com/2013/05/lost-island-of-vhsxiii.html">here</a>].<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;">Hard Times</span> [Walter Hill, 1975] - Charles Bronson plays
Cheney a drifter who travels around the south during The Great Depression
earning money by prize fighting and beating just about everyone in
sight. A streamlined tale directed by Walter Hill [his first]
with no frills just solid action.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;">Heidiko The Bus Conductor</span> [Mikio Naruse, 1941] - My discovery of Naruse
continued last year and this fun short film about a young woman who
comes up with the idea of a starting a bus travel guide business on in her small town. A delightful comedy romance. <br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;">Justin De Marseille</span> [Maurice Tourneur, 1935] - A French
gangster film set in Marseille about a suave but likable gangster who
attempts to set the black market business right. A film that captures a
particular locale with color and mood and characters in ways that are
purely French - but not Parisian.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;">The Last Valley</span> [James Clavell, 1971] - Novelist James Clavell directed
this historical drama set in the 17th century that pits a captain who
leads his group of rough shod soldiers into a quiet valley where they
consider their next move. Surprisingly good considering it's B-movie trapping.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;">Millions Like Us</span> [Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launde, 1943] This is
one of best British propaganda films made during the war. Tightly
scripted, well acted and directed it combines humor, drama, tragedy and
the characteristic positive British attitude.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;">A New Leaf</span> [Elaine May, 1971] - Elaine May's first and possibly best
film about a rich man who is soon to lose his fortune and decides to
marry a very naive woman whom he plans to kill for the insurance money. A
comedy and while not always politically correct or comfortable full of many laughs.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FLQ0SLfYCfc/UtTLNvbfomI/AAAAAAAAGD8/7hvYtDdWkec/s1600/rome_ore11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FLQ0SLfYCfc/UtTLNvbfomI/AAAAAAAAGD8/7hvYtDdWkec/s320/rome_ore11.jpg" height="320" width="238" /></a></div>
<span style="color: yellow;">Quatorze Juillet</span> [Rene Clair, 1933] - Clair is best known for <i>Le Million</i> and <i>À nous la liberté</i> but, in fact, this movie is more in the classic tradition of French films of the 1930's. And in my view certainly as good.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;">A Pig Across Paris</span> [aka Four Bags Full] [Claude
Autant-Lara, 1956] - A terrific French comedy set during the Occupation
in which Jean Gabin - an erstwhile artist - decides to help [or maybe
it's hinder?] his new found friend get pork delivered around Paris. A
true classic that deserves to be discovered.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: yellow;">Rome Ore 11</span> [Giuseppe De Santi, 1952] - Italian drama about a group of women searching for a job in a tough market who experience an accident while waiting in line for an interview. A film right on the heels of Italian neorealism but with a romantic twist.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Here were a few I knew about and finally caught up with.</i><br />
<br />
<span style="color: lime;">Applause</span> [Rouben Mamoulian, 1929] - Classic early talkie that used sound in novel ways.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: lime;">The Blue Lamp</span> [Basil Dearden, 1950] - Awesome British crime drama.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: lime;">Breakfast at Tiffanies</span> - [Blake Edwards, 1961] Yeah, I know, I hadn't seen this until last year.<br />
<span style="color: lime;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: lime;">The Breaking Point</span> - [Michael Curtz, 1950] John Garfield in a noir classic version of Hemingway's To Have and Have Not. <br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9rR6_EOLVPY/UtTL1EF8f6I/AAAAAAAAGEE/nJfXjZGlpFs/s1600/zoo_budapest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9rR6_EOLVPY/UtTL1EF8f6I/AAAAAAAAGEE/nJfXjZGlpFs/s1600/zoo_budapest.jpg" /></a><br />
<span style="color: lime;">Contraband</span> - [Michael Powell, 1940] World War II drama with Conrad Veidt as a Danish sea captain who uncovers a Nazi spy ring.<br />
<span style="color: lime;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: lime;">The Lady and the Beard</span> [Yasujiro Ozu, 1931] I had a chance to see this twenty years ago at an Ozu retrospective but passed up the chance. Glad I finally saw it.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: lime;">Witchfinder General</span> [Michael Reeves,1968] - Terrific British horror drama featuring one of Vincent Price's best roles.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: lime;">Zoo in Budapest</span> [Rowland Young, 1933] - Always loved the title. And Loretta Young just shines.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10200860.post-32821296057874848022014-01-01T20:04:00.003-08:002014-01-23T18:18:20.577-08:00Best Movies 2013I watched more movies in 2013 than I have ever watched and I still feel like there are great films I missed. Nonetheless, it's time to make the annual list. Here are the top ten films I saw in 2013.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5qwg_wK4k5c/UsTib1hOWSI/AAAAAAAAGBM/vOk5IuzSEfM/s1600/short-term-12-poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5qwg_wK4k5c/UsTib1hOWSI/AAAAAAAAGBM/vOk5IuzSEfM/s320/short-term-12-poster.jpg" height="320" width="216" /></a>1) <span style="color: yellow;">Inside Llewyn Davis</span> - The movie that stayed with me longer than any other this holiday season. Melancholic, melodic and humorous it's a film that shows the Coen Brothers at the top of their game. It's also nice to see one of their characters garner our sympathy a bit. [Some say he is unsympathetic but in my view he simply makes bad choices and knows when he screws up]. <br />
2) <span style="color: yellow;">Gravity</span> - Hollywood - with the talents of Alfonso Cuarón - found how to use IMAX 3D without overdoing the 3D and yet immerse us in an awesome story of survival.<br />
3) <span style="color: yellow;">Upstream Color</span> - Shane Carruth jumbles his narrative in such a way that is at once perplexing and impressive. At the heart is a movie about doubts and loneliness that just happens to push the narrative envelope a bit so we pay attention.<br />
4) <span style="color: yellow;">Short Term 12</span> - If there was justice in the big bad film world then this SWSX winning film by Destin Cretton would be nominated for best picture and Brie Larson would win best actress.<br />
5) <span style="color: yellow;">Hannah Arendt </span>- This movies dares to tread where few movies do; into the world of intellectual battles. At the heart this movie, by Margarethe von Trotta, is a woman who chose to defend a common<br />
sense idea over common sense.<br />
6) <span style="color: yellow;">Stories We Tell</span> - Sarah Polley went in search of the mom she<br />
never knew and in the process she found herself.<br />
What else are documentaries supposed to do?<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XTAsFgq6RH8/UsTiloW8tEI/AAAAAAAAGBU/1ebNHLpv_dE/s1600/traviata.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XTAsFgq6RH8/UsTiloW8tEI/AAAAAAAAGBU/1ebNHLpv_dE/s320/traviata.jpg" height="320" width="216" /></a>7) <span style="color: yellow;">All Is Lost</span> - Robert Redford lost at sea for a couple hours, working hard to survive but doomed to sink all without saying anything except 'Fuuuuuuuckkkk!'. What's not to love? J.C. Chandor shows with only two films he has considerable range.<br />
8) <span style="color: yellow;">Tim's Vermeer</span> - Penn & Teller take on Vermeer. Or more exactly Vermeer art historians in this fascinating, engaging documentary. The theory is certainly debatable but the process of creating a Vermeer is undeniable.<br />
9) <span style="color: yellow;">The Past</span> - Asghar Farhadi makes films about the complexity of human relations. This is his second film about the effects of divorce and while it may not be as rich as his last film it still offers much more than the average 'divorce picture'.<br />
10) <span style="color: yellow;">Becoming Traviata</span> - I know what you're saying; What is Becoming Traviata? It's a behind the scenes documentary about a staging of Traviata at the Aix-en-Provence Festival. Presented by Philippe Béziat as a fly on the wall approach it avoids all the reality TV b.s and just shows us professional singers and a director doing what they do best. I was riveted. <br />
<br />
The next twenty [alphabetical]:<br />
American Hustle <br />
The Attack<br />
Blue Jasmine <br />
The Company You Keep<br />
Computer Chess <br />
Drinking Buddies <br />
Fill the Void <br />
Frances Ha<br />
The Great Beauty <br />
Her<br />
Lore<br />
Mother of George<br />
Museum Hours
<br />
Nebraska<br />
Oblivion <br />
Pacific Rim<br />
Rush<br />
Something in the Air <br />
A Touch of Sin <br />
Wadjda<br />
The World's End<br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10200860.post-63009751673396045072013-12-01T19:25:00.000-08:002013-12-01T19:27:11.679-08:00Current Movie LinksThe real life <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/30/world/europe/a-forced-adoption-a-lifetime-quest-and-a-longing-that-never-waned.html?hp&_r=0">Philomena.</a><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“They really make me look like a silly billy, don’t you think?” she
said. But Ms. Lee says she accepts the screenwriters’ efforts to inject
some lightness into the film because, “otherwise, it is a very sad
story.” </blockquote>
<a href="http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-ca-sorrentino-great-beauty-indie-focus-20131117,0,1905173.story#axzz2m6bPVNdm">The Great Beauty</a> follows a misanthrop. <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"The underlying
theme of the film is not so much the decadence of Rome and all that, it
really has to do with this fact that people deep down, as horrible,
bizarre and gross as they can be, deep down they all have a fragility.
And people living that life are trying to find a way to distract
themselves, with gossip, being frivolous, going to stupid parties and
all that."</blockquote>
<a href="http://www.indiewire.com/article/10-remakes-of-classics-by-great-auteurs-for-the-release-of-spike-lees-oldboy">10 Remakes of Classics</a> by Great Auteurs.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://bookforum.com/inprint/020_03/12167">Barbara Stanwyck</a> - no lady of leasure.
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Stanwyck, even in her liveliest comic performances, never quite erased a
palpable aftertaste of bitterness, and even in her most hard-boiled
roles never lost the trace of painful vulnerability.</blockquote>
<a href="http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2013/nov/21/david-cronenberg-visual-shock/">David Cronenberg</a> - Evolution <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Cronenberg is a filmmaker of ideas, one being the notion that human
beings have merged with technology. His protagonists are often cyborgs
as, in some sense, he is as well—not a commercial director with artistic
aspirations so much as an avant-garde filmmaker who has contrived a
commercial career, in part by remaining in Canada.</blockquote>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10200860.post-79059341411913604882013-10-29T13:38:00.003-07:002015-02-13T11:27:30.021-08:00Only God ForgivesOnly God Forgives<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
The latest movie by Nicolas Winding Refn is hardly the disaster that some critics have made it out to be. Far from it, actually. For starters, the cinematography by Larry Smith is amazing. And the set design is a knock out; the characters all seem to exist in a remarkable post rain storm Bangkok exterior and dark neon, glossy, color saturated tableaux interior, which all help to give the film the look of a live action, hothouse, graphic novel.<br />
<br />
True, the story isn't much. A man kills a teenage prostitute, her father kills him, the police are involved in a cover-up and Ryan Gosling and mom [Kristin Scott Thomas] come seeking revenge. Amid all of this the themes of morality, judgement, loyalty and betrayal are all swirled together in the narrative much like the colorful neon noir look of the film. But, like many comic books, the whole story is at the service of the visuals and the style. Yes, the film is an exercise in <i>style</i>. Yet, at 90 minutes, it hardly overstays its welcome because every frame offers up something visually remarkable to behold.<br />
<br />
I would say the expectations of Refn after the huge success of <i>Drive</i> - and a long string of other good movies - was such that it pretty much sunk this movie in the eyes if the critics even before it was shown.<br />
<br />
But there is a lot here to savor. Other than the look of the film there is Kristin Scott Thomas giving a deliciously bitchy performance as Gosling mother; there's a dream-like, symbolic quality to the editing, which alternates between the reality of what we are seeing and the visions and dreams and flashbacks [or are they flash forwards?] that are in the head of the characters. There's also the dark, deadpan humor that is often accompanied with some sharp, vicious violence. And an engaging, ambient musical sound-scape score that keeps the movie creeping forward [some would say slowly].<br />
<br />
I believe Refn and his cast and crew knew exactly what they were up to and what they wanted to achieve with the film. It can be argued that perhaps Refn needs a producer [or an editor] to rein him in. He certainly, too, could have used a co-writer - as was the case with his last three movies. When he writes alone he gets a bit indulgent.<br />
<br />
So, yes, <i>Only God Forgives</i> is not the film of the year and it's also not the film that pushes the range of Refn's talent. But who cares? I would say this film is pure unfiltered Refn and if you like the way that sounds then dive on in.<br />
<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10200860.post-29939194048259705682013-10-16T20:35:00.002-07:002017-05-30T18:15:10.361-07:00Lost Island of VHS...XIV<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Unforgettable_Summer">An Unforgettable Summer</a> - Lucian Pintilie - 1994<br />
<br />
Even though in the past few years there have been maybe half a dozen notable Romanian films most moviegoers in America can count the number of Romanian films they have seen on one hand. But prior to that the pickings were mighty slim. One film that some may have seen would have been <i>An Unforgettable Summer</i>. However, they likely wouldn't have seen it because it was Romanian or because it was directed by Lucian Pintilie. They would have seen it because it starred Kristin Scott Thomas who was hot off of<i> Four Weddings and a Funeral.</i><br />
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The story, which takes place in the 1920's, is about an army officer who with this wife and three kids is essentially exiled to a garrison out near the Macedonian border. The officer is Captain Petre Dumitriu [Claudiu Bleont] who is a short, monocled man who follows orders without questioning them. His wife [Kristin Scott Thomas] makes the best of the situation by bringing a bit of sophistication to the household, and treating everyone - including the Bulgarian peasants who work for them - with respect.
However, after they are there a short while, there is an attack by some Macedonian bandits who kill some of the Romanian soldiers on duty. Captain Dumitriu is commanded to circle the wagons and take no chances, which includes the strict instructions to execute the Bulgarian peasants. An order which his wife is adamantly opposed to. What's a Captain in the army supposed to do? Especially when on the one hand his wife will never respect him again and on the other his subordinates are chopping at his heels to get his job.<br />
<br />
Pintilie directs the movie in a stately manner filling the frame in foreground and background and some nice camera movement. He also has some occasional dynamic flourishes [the movie's opening and ending in particular are amazing]. And, yes, Ms Thomas speaks Romanian in the movie. How can we not be impressed by this charming polyglot?<br />
<br />
The film's conflict comes down to will Captain Dumitriu follow or disobey orders.<br />
<br />
It's more than worth seeing it if you can find the VHS.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0