Netflix Movie World: January 2019

Thursday 31 January 2019

IO (2019)

You know what I've been seeing for the past week or so as soon as I opened Netflix? The trailer of IO, their new post-apocalyptic movie. Worn out by its continuous playing and because Anthony Mackie is in it, I decided to give it a shot. How bad could it be, right? A lot, as it turned out.

The film follows Sam Walden (Margaret Qualley), a young scientist as well as one of the last people on a post-cataclysm Earth who is dedicated to finding a way to save the planet and for humans to adapt and survive on it. Time is not on her side though as the final shuttle is about to depart and she only has a few days to make a meaningful scientific outbreak discovery or stay on the dying planet. That's when another survivor, Micah (Anthony Mackie), shows up and tries to convince her to leave.

If you add many scientific inaccuracies, plot holes, unnecessary things and no explanation whatsoever to what happened to Earth, why it has become uninhabitable —it's not a surprise though, considering how we are treating our planet— you get the entire plot of IO, which, I'm sure I don't need to tell you, is far from being compelling. The essence of the story isn't even terrible as it keeps reminding us how important human connection and relationships, not just with family or friends but humans in general, are important. The problem is that the filmmakers found the most unappealing and tedious way to do it.

The characters are another big issue here. Considering that there are only two characters, Sam and Micah, one of which, Sam, has about half of the film all for herself, you would expect fleshed out characters. Well, I'm sorry to tell you but it does not happen in IO as the characters are flat, bland and uninspired, and their actions don't make a lot of sense —they both acknowledge what is going on but they don't act like it. Margaret Qualley and Anthony Mackie do exactly what you expect anything to do with such a poor script, they crumble. The script isn't the only problem though as they don't even try.

Netflix

To say that IO is a complete misfire would be wrong though. As a matter of fact, the visuals and scenery are pretty good looking, and the costumes are quite interesting.

Ultimately though, the film doesn't bring anything new to the table in terms of post-apocalypse, science fiction or romance. It's just a tremendously slowly paced film that you wish you never watched.

Thursday Movie Picks: Television Edition: 2018 Freshman Series

Welcome back, or welcome if you are new to Thursday Movie Picks, the weekly series hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves. The rules are very simple, pick three to five movies —series on the last Thursday of the month, which happens to be today— to fit the week's theme. I didn't have much of a choice this week as I've only seen three series, but it's alright though as I loved them all.

My Brilliant Friend (2018- )

An elderly woman tells the story of her lifelong friendship with Lila, a girl she met at primary school in Naples in the 1950s. Honestly, I was not planning on seeing this as I'm not a fan of Italian series and I missed the first two episodes where they aired. But then an Italian blogger I follow, Sauro from Solaris, recommended it, and my mom also loved so I checked it out and I didn't regret it. One of the best series of 2018 and probably the best Italian television has to offer.

The Haunting of Hill House (2018- )

It follows a group of siblings who grew up in what would become the most famous haunted house in the country and are now forced to confront the ghosts of their past. Easily my favourite series of 2018 as it was dark, scary and very atmospheric. I felt invested in the characters and the acting was great, especially from Kate Siegel and Carla Gugino.

Sharp Objects (2018)

A reporter (Amy Adams) returns to her hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls and she ends up confronting the demons from her past. I still haven't read Gillian Flynn's novel but Jean Marce-Vallee and Amy Adams really did an outstanding job as the main character is just as fleshed out like any other female character Flynn has written.

Wednesday 30 January 2019

Cold War (2018)

On Mondays, my cinema shows art house and indie movies but I don't go often as it usually shows movies that I'm not interested in seeing. This week's movie was Cold War (Polish: Zimna wojna) and, since I heard great things about and I was also curious to see if all the Foreign Language nominees are dreadful this year or if it's just Roma, I decided to go.

Set in post-World War II Europe, mainly in Poland, from the late 1940s until the 1960s, the story follows Wiktor (Tomasz Kot), a musical director, and Zula (Joanna Kulig), a young singer with incredible talent, as they fall deeply, hopelessly in love. Forced to perform communist propaganda songs, they dream of escaping to the West and they soon have their shot in France. However, Zula misses it and over the years they will cross paths often.

Loosely inspired by the lives of his parents, director and co-writer Paweł Pawlikowski delivers one of the most passionate but tragic romances of recent years. Sure, the star-crossed lovers plot has been done before, but everything is against them —Wiktor and Zula's relationship goes against all the conventions as he is much older than her, they have different backgrounds and cultural levels, and they are from a country, Poland, were their love won't ever be able to blossom— that you can't help but hope they will end up together. While doing this, Pawlikowski also shows how powerful art is as it can be used as a mean of political and social protest.

The issue with Cold War is the characters. They don't have a lot of depth and they don't always feel like real human beings but more like walking stereotypes. Despite this, as I said above, you care about Wiktor and Zula, and it truly hurts to see them apart. The performances probably have something to do with that as both Joanna Kulig and Tomasz Kot gives great performances as they bring intensity, energy and authenticity to their roles.

Kino Świat, Diaphana Films, Curzon Artificial Eye

No matter how good the romance or the acting is though, it's the black and white cinematography from Lukasz Zal that absolutely steals the scene. It is simply breathtaking —it's like poetry for the eyes— and really transports us in the period when the story takes place. The music, which fuses Polish country folk and French jazz, is also outstanding.

69th Berlinale Complete Lineup Final

Post is ready with all sections verified and yes, have read about each of below films. Festival has about 400 films and below list has most of them. Sections listed with films have ALL films (features and shorts, if applicable) and Forum has some additional older films that interested me.

There are many films that I'm looking forward to watch, which have exponentially increased my viewing queue, sigh. No doubt this year Berlinale Competition is very interesting with films of well-known directors -which is always welcomed as believe newcomers should debut in fests other than-competitition sections, unless their film is outstanding...

In about a week the fest will began and yes, I'm starting to feel sad as will miss Kosslick and his pleasant larger than life casual personality. But will try to enjoy him for one last time during the festival. Wonder if he leaves, will fun-to-watch (in a very dark way) Anke Engelke leave too? The chemistry these two had was like oil and water but was the funniest I have seen in any festival and elsewhere; remember that I like very-dark dry humor (lol).

So, unless something unexpected happens the post has become final as of this moment.

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1/29/19
Press conference was today, films info is up at official site (no wait this time), so will be working on post until becomes final, probably tomorrow. Enjoy!!

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1/10/19
Post will be In Progress first, until January 29, 2019 when the entire public program will be publish online a few minutes after the press conference is over; and second, until festival uploads all movie info, trailers, etc to the official site, which usually happens about a week after the press conference. For the record the festival runs from February 7 to 17, 2019.

Today will start the always VERY LONG annual post with (almost) ALL movies in the current edition of the Berlin International Film Festival, better known as Berlinale. The best news from today, January 10, is learning Dieter Kosslick is still mentioned as Festival Director in an official press release! Yes, seems this will be his last festival as his contract expires May 31, 2019, so we have one last edition to enjoy a great personality with exactly my kind of humor, darkish. Next year seems will be the turn to Italian-born Carlo Chatrian, who has been the artistic director of the Locarno Film Festival since 2013. I'm going to miss Kosslick and hope Chatrian improves his image as didn't precisely enjoyed him with whatever he was doing in Locarno.

Post will be updated constantly as soon as there is new information available.

Competition

Opening Film: The Kindness of Strangers, Lone Scherfig, Denmark, Canada, Sweden, Germany and Fance
Der Boden unter den Füßen (The Ground beneath My Feet), Marie Kreutzer, Austria
Der Goldene Handschuh (The Golden Glove), Fatih Akin, Germany and France
地久天长 Di jiu tian chang (So Long, My Song), Wang Xiaoshuai, China
Elisa y Marcela (Elisa & Marcela), Isabel Coixet, Spain
Grâce à Dieu (By the Grace of God), François Ozon, France
Господ постои, името и е Петрунија Gospod postoi, imeto i' e Petrunija (God Exists, Her Name is Petrunija), Teona Stugar Mitevska, Macedonia, Belgium, Slovenia, Croatia and France
Ich war zuhause, aber (I Was at Home, but), Angela Schanelec, Germany and Serbia
Kız Kardeşler (A Tale of Three Sisters), Emin Alper, Turkey, Germany, Netherlands and Greece
La Paranza dei bambini (Piranhas), Claudio Giovannesi, Italy
Mr. Jones, Agnieszka Holland, Poland, UK and Ukraine
恐龙蛋 Öndög, Wang Quan'an, Mongolia
Répertoire des villes disparues (Ghost Town Anthology), Denis Côté, Canada
Synonymes (Synonyms), Nadav Lapid, France, Israel and Germany
(*) Systemsprenger (System Crasher), Nora Fingscheidt, Germany
Ut og stjæle hester (Out Stealing Horses), Hans Petter Moland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark
~~一秒鐘 Yi miao zhong (One Second), Zhang Yimou, China~~

Out of Competition
Amazing Grace, Alan Elliott, USA (documentary)
L'adieu à la nuit (Farewell to the Night), André Téchiné, France
Marighella, Wagner Moura, Brazil
The Operative, Yuval Adler, Germany, Israel, France and USA
Varda par Agnès (Varda by Agnès), Agnès Varda, France (documentary)
Vice, Adam McKay, USA

Check info and available trailers at @MOC
Check posters for all films in all sections at Storyteller Pinterest

International Jury
President: Juliette Binoche, actress, France
Justin Chang, film critic, USA
Sandra Hüller, actress, Germany
Sebastián Lelio, director, Chile
Rajendra Roy, MOMA's Chief Curator, USA
Trudie Styler, actress, director and producer, UK

Berlinale Special

Berlinale Special
Anthropocene: the Human Epoch, Jennifer Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier and Edward Burtynsky Canada (documentary)
Brecht, Heinrich Breloer, Germany and Austria
El Norte (The North), Gregory Nava, USA, 1984 - restored in 2017
Es hätte schlimmer kommen können - Mario Adorf (It Could Have Been Worse - Mario Adorf), Dominik Wessely, Germany (documentary)
Peter Lindbergh - Women Stories, Jean Michel Vecchiet, Germany (documentary)
Watergate - Or: How We Learned to Stop an Out of Control President, Charles Ferguson, USA (documentary)

Berlinale Special Gala
Celle que vous croyez (Who You Think I Am), Safy Nebbou, France
Gully Boy, Zoya Akhtar, India
Lampenfieber (Kids in the Spotlight), Alice Agneskirchner, Germany (documentary)
Photograph, Ritesh Batra, India, Germany and USA
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Chiwetel Ejiofor, UK (first feature film)
Weil du nur einmal lebst - Die Toten Hosen auf Tour (You Only Live Once - Die Toten Hosen on Tour), Cordula Kablitz-Post, Germany (documentary)

Check Berlinale Special and Special Gala films info and available trailers @MOC

Panorama

(*) 37 Seconds, Hikari, Japan
(*) A Dog Barking at the Moon, Xiang Zi, China and Spain
All My Loving, Eduard Berger, Germany
Dafne, Federico Bondi, Italy
Der Atem (The Breath), Uli M. Schueppel, Germany
Breve Historia del Planeta Verde ( Brief Story from the Green Planet), Santiago Loza, Argentina, Germany, Brazil and Spain
(*) Buoyancy, Rodd Rathjen, Australia
Dafne, Federico Bondi, Italy
Divino Amor (Divine Love), Gabriel Mascaro, Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, Denmark, Norway and Sweden
Eynayim Sheli (Chained), Yaron Shani, Israel and Germany
Flatland, Jenna Bass, South Africa, Germany and Luxembourg
(*) Flesh Out, Michela Occhipinti, Italy
(*) Greta, Armando Praça, Brazil
Hellhole, Bas Devos, Belgium and Netherlands
Jessica Forever, Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel, France
Kislota (Acid), Alexander Gorchilin, Russia
La Fiera y la Fiesta (Holy Beasts), Laura Amelia Guzmán and Israel Cárdenas, Dominican Republic, Argentina and Mexico
Light of My Life, Casey Affleck, USA (debut film)
Los Miembros de la Familia (Family Members), Mateo Bendesky, Argentina
Mid90s, Jonah Hill, USA (debut film)
Monos, Alejandro Landes, Colombia, Argentina, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Uruguay and USA
O Beautiful Night, Xaver Böhm, Germany
Šavovi (Stitches), Miroslav Terzić, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia Herzegovina
Skin, Guy Nattiv, USA
Staff Only, Neus Ballús, Spain and France
Temblores (Tremors), Jayro Bustamante, Guatemala, France and Luxembourg
(*) The Day After I'm Gone, Nimrod Eldar, Israel
风中有朵雨做的云 The Shadow Play (aka Cloud In The Wind), Lou Ye, China
The Souvenir, Joanna Hogg, UK
To thávma tis thálassas ton Sargassón (The Miracle of the Sargasso Sea), Syllas Tzoumerkas, Greece, Germany, Netherlands and Sweden
우상 Woo Sang (Idol), Lee Su-jin, South Korea

Panorama Dokumente
A Dog Called Money, Seamus Murphy, Ireland and UK (documentary)
Estou Me Guardando Para Quando Carnaval Chegar (Waiting for the Carnival), Marcelo Gomes, Brazil (documentary)
La Arrancada (On the Starting Line), Aldemar Matias, France, Cuba and Brazil (documentary)
Lemebel, Joanna Reposi Garibaldi, Chile and Colombia (documentary)
Midnight Traveler, Hassan Fazili and Emelie Mahdavian, USA, UK, Qatar and Canada (documentary)
Normal, Adele Tulli, Italy and Sweden (documentary)
Schönheit & Vergänglichkeit (Beauty and Decay), Annekatrin Hendel, Germany (documentary)
Searching Eva, Pia Hellenthal, Germany (documentary)
Selfie, Agostino Ferrente, France and Italy (documentary)
Serendipity, Prune Nourry, USA (documentary)
Shooting the Mafia, Kim Longinotto, Ireland and USA (documentary)
Système K (System K), Renaud Barret, France (documentary)
Talking About Trees, Suhaib Gasmelbari, France, Sudan, Germany, Chad and Qatar (documentary)
Western Arabs, Omar Shargawi, Denmark and Netherlands
What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael, Rob Garver, USA

Panorama 40
2019 marks the 40th edition of the Panorama section, on the occasion a special program from its 40-year history. To check the feature and short films go here, where there is a great article to read

Forum
A portuguesa (The Portuguese Woman), Rita Azevedo Gomes, Portugal
A rosa azul de Novalis (The Blue Flower of Novalis), Gustavo Vinagre and Rodrigo Carneiro, Brazil African Mirror, Mischa Hedinger, Switzerland
Aidiyet (Belonging), Burak Çevik, Turkey, Canada and France
Baba, Juwansher Haidary, Afghanistan, 1989
Bait, Mark Jenkin, United Kingdom
Breathless Animals, Lei Lei, USA
Chão (Landless), Camila Freitas, Brazil
Chun nuan hua kai (From Tomorrow on, I Will), Ivan Marković and Wu Linfeng, Germany, China and Serbia
Delphine et Carole, insoumuses (Delphine and Carole), Callisto Mc Nulty, France and Switzerland
Demons, Daniel Hui, Singapore
De quelques événements sans signification (About Some Meaningless Events), Mostafa Derkaoui, Morocco, 1974
Die Kinder der Toten, Kelly Copper, Pavol Liska, Austria
(*) El despertar de las hormigas (Hormigas), Antonella Sudasassi Furniss, Costa Rica and Spain
Egaro Mile (Eleven Miles), Ruchir Joshi, India, 1991
Erde (Earth), Nikolaus Geyrhalter, Austria
Fern von uns (Far from Us), Verena Kuri and Laura Bierbrauer, Argentina
Fortschritt im Tal der Ahnungslosen (Progress in the Valley of the People Who Don’t Know), Florian Kunert, Germany
Fourteen, Dan Sallitt, USA
Fukuoka, Zhang Lu, Korea
(*) Gli ultimi a vederli vivere (The Last to See Them), Sara Summa, Germany
Hamas-e eshq (Epic of Love), Latif Ahmadi, Afghanistan, 1984
Heimat ist ein Raum aus Zeit (Heimat Is A Space in Time), Thomas Heise, Germany andAustria
Kameni govornici (The Stone Speakers), Igor Drljača, Bosnia Herzegovina and Canada
Khan-e tarikh (The House of History), Qader Tahiri, Afghanistan, 1996
Kimi no tori wa utaeru (And Your Bird Can Sing), Sho Miyake, Japan
Lapü, César Alejandro Jaimes and Juan Pablo Polanco, Colombia
Malchik russkiy (A Russian Youth), Alexander Zolotukhin, Russia
Man you (Vanishing Days), Zhu Xin, China
(*) Monștri. (Monsters.), Marius Olteanu, Romania
Mother, I Am Suffocating. This Is My Last Film About You., Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese, Lesotho
MS Slavic 7, Sofia Bohdanowicz and Deragh Campbell, Canada
Nasht (Leakage), Suzan Iravanian, Iran and Czech Republic
Ne croyez surtout pas que je hurle (Just Don't Think I'll Scream), Frank Beauvais, France
Nos défaites (Our Defeats), Jean-Gabriel Périot, France
Nuestra Voz de Tierra, Memoria y Futuro (Our Voice of Earth, Memory and Future), Marta Rodriguez and Jorge Silva, Colombia, 1981
Olanda, Bernd Schoch, Germany
Oufsaiyed Elkhortoum (Khartoum Offside), Marwa Zein, Sudan, Norway and Denmark
Querência (Homing), Helvécio Marins Jr., Brazil and Germany
Retrospekt, Esther Rots, Netherlands and Belgium
Sátántangó (Satantango), Béla Tarr, Hungary, Switzerland and Germany, 1994
(*) Serpentário (Serpentarius), Carlos Conceição, Angola and Portugal
(*) So Pretty, Jessie Jeffrey Dunn Rovinelli, USA and France
Sois belle et tais-toi! (Be Pretty and Shut Up!), Delphine Seyrig, France, 1976
The Garden, Derek Jarman, UK 1990
The Plagiarists, Peter Parlow, USA
The Second Journey [To Uluru], Arthur Cantrill and Corinne Cantrill, Australia, 1981
Une rose ouverte / Warda (An Open Rose), Ghassan Salhab, Lebanon
Variety, Bette Gordon, USA, Germany and UK, 1983
Weitermachen Sanssouci (Music and Apocalypse), Max Linz, Germany
What We Left Unfinished, Mariam Ghani, USA and Afghanistan
Years of Construction, Heinz Emigholz, Germany

Forum Expanded
To check films, shorts and events go here; additional info at official site here.

Generation

Generation Kplus
Feature Films
Opening Film: (*) Cleo, Erik Schmitt, Germany
Ambessa, Mo Scarpelli, USA and Italy (documentary)
Baracoa, Pablo Briones and The Moving Picture Boys, Switzerland, USA and Spain (documentary)
Daniel fait face (Daniel), Marine Atlan, France
Di yi ci de li bie (A First Farewell), Wang Lina, China
Driveways, Andrew Ahn, USA
Kinder, Nina Wesemann, Germany (documentary)
Kok-du yi-ya-ki (Kokdu: A Story of Guardian Angels), Kim Tae Yong, Korea
Lotte ja kadunud lohed (Lotte and the Lost Dragons), Janno Põldma and Heiki Ernits, Estonia and Latvia
Månelyst i Flåklypa (Louis & Luca - Mission to the Moon), Rasmus A. Sivertsen, Norway
(*) Mijn bijzonder rare week met Tess (My Extraordinary Summer with Tess), Steven Wouterlood, Netherlands and Germany (debut film)
Sune vs Sune, Jon Holmberg, Sweden and Denmark
Une Colonie (A Colony), Geneviève Dulude-De Celles, Canada
Where We Belong, Jacqueline Zünd, Switzerland (documentary)

Out of Competition
2040, Damon Gameau, Australia (documentary)

Short Films
Ani, Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu, New Zealand, 13'
Armed Lullaby, Yana Ugrekhelidze, Germany, 9'
City Plaza Hotel, Anna Paula Hönig and Violeta Paus, France, Germany and Chile (documentary), 14'
Dian jiao jian (Tiptoe), I-Ju Lin, Taiwan, 17'
El tamaño de las cosas (The Size of Things), Carlos Felipe Montoya, Colombia, 12'
Juste moi et toi (Just Me and You), Sandrine Brodeur-Desrosiers, Canada, 22'
Le dernier jour d'automne (The Last Day of Autumn), Marjolaine Perreten, Switzerland, Belgium and France, 8'
Magralen, Maryam Zarei, Iran and Canada, 18'
Nest, Sonja Rohleder, Germany, 4'
Oh Corbeau! Oh Corbeau! (Oh Crow! Oh Crow!), Pierre Garcia-Renne, Canada, 9'
Pappa (Dad), Atle S. Blakseth, Einar Dunsæd, Norway, 8'
#pestverhaal (#bullyingstory), Eef Hilgers, Netherlands (documentary), 16'
Pouštět draka (The Kite), Martin Smatana, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland, 13'
She-Pack, Fanny Ovesen, Norway, 18'

Out of Competition
Los ausentes (The Absents), José Lomas Hervert, Mexico, 17'
Zibilla, Isabelle Favez, Switzerland and Belgium, 26'

Generation Kplus International Jury
Kamila Andini, director, Indonesia
Tilda Cobham-Hervey, actor, Australia
Jerzy Moszkowicz, director, Poland

Generation 14plus
Feature Films
Opening Film: We Are Little Zombies, Makoto Nagahisa, Japan
Beol-sae (House of Hummingbird), Bora Kim, Korea
Bulbul Can Sing, Rima Das, India
By the Name of Tania, Bénédicte Liénard, Mary Jiménez, Belgium and Netherlands (documentary
Espero tua (re)volta (Your Turn), Eliza Capai, Brazil (documentary)
Goldie, Sam de Jong, USA
Guo chun tian (The Crossing), Bai Xue, China
Hölmö nuori sydän (Stupid Young Heart), Selma Vilhunen, Finland, Netherlands and Sweden
Knives and Skin, Jennifer Reeder, USA
Ringside, André Hörmann, Germany and USA
Shao nian de ni (Better Days), Derek Kwok-Cheung Tsang, Hong Kong and China
The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open, Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers and Kathleen Hepburn, Canada and Norway
The Magic Life of V, Tonislav Hristov, Finland, Denmark and Bulgaria (documentary)
The Red Phallus, Tashi Gyeltshen, Bhutan, Germany and Nepal

Out of Competition
Rekonstruktion Utøya (Reconstructing Utøya), Carl Javér, Sweden, Norway and Denmark (documentary)

Short Films
Cocodrilo (Crocodile), Jorge Yúdice, Spain, 5'
Four Quartets, Marco Alessi, UK, 11'
Hush, Armağan Ballantyne, New Zealand, 15'
Kids, Michael Frei, Switzerland and France, 9'
Leaking Life, Shunsaku Hayashi, Japan, 15'
Les petites vagues (Little Waves), Ariane Louis-Seize, Canada, 12'
Liberty, Faren Humes, USA, 17'
Los rugidos que alejan la tormenta (The Roar That Keeps the Storm Away), Santiago Reale, Argentina (documentary), 15'
Mientras las olas (Meanwhile the Waves), Delfina Gavaldá and Carmen Rivoira, Argentina, 17'
Mosul 980, Ali Mohammed Saeed, USA, 10'
Paula sans lui (About Love), Maéva Berol, France, 22'
Soeurs Jarariju (The Sisters Jarariju), Jorge Cadena, Switzerland, 20'
Story, Jola Bańkowska, Poland, 5'
Tattoo, Farhad Delaram, Iran, 15'
Tigre, Delphine Deloget, France, 21'
Yulia & Juliet, Zara Dwinger, Netherlands, 12'

Generation 14plus International Jury
Nanouk Leopold, director, Denmark
Pascal Plante, filmmaker, Canada
Maria Solrun, director and screenwriter, Iceland

Perspektive Deutsches Kino

Berlin Bouncer, David Dieti (documentary)
Born in Evin, Maryam Zaree (documentary)
Das innere Leuchten (The Inner Light), Stefan Sick (documentary)
(*) Die Einzelteile der Liebe (The Components of Love), Miriam Bliese
Die Grube (The Pit), Hristiana Raykova (documentary)
Dreissig (Thirty), Simona Kostova
Dust, Udita Bhargava
easy love, Tamer Jandali
Fisch lernt fliegen (Fish Takes Off), Deniz Cooper
Heute oder morgen (Before We Grow Old), Thomas Moritz Helm
Off Season, Henning Beckhoff (medium-long feature film)
(*) Oray, Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay

Guest of the Perspektive
6Minuten66 (6Minutes66), Katja Feldmeier and Julius Feldmeier (documentary)
Das melancholische Mädchen (Aren't You Happy), Susanne Heinrich - Winner of the Max Ophüls Preis 2019
Tackling Life, Johannes List (documentary) - Winner First Steps Award 2018 (Documentary) at Perspektive Deutsches Kino 2019

First Feature Competition
The Berlinale has been even more committed to supporting the next generation of film makers since 2006, when it introduced the GWFF Best First Feature Award. There are sixteen (16) febut feature films from the sections Competition (1), Panorama (6), Forum (5), Generation (2) and Perspektive Deutsches Kino (2) competing for the award. To check films in competition and general info go here.

(*) First Feature competing for award

First Feature Award Jury
Katja Eichinger, author and journalist, Germany
Alain Gomis, director, France and Senegal
Vivian Qu, director, screenwriter and producer, China

Documentary Competition
There are 17 documentaries competing for the Glashütte Original – Documentary Award; five (5) come from Panorama, four (4) from Forum, five (5) from Generation, two (2) from Perspektive Deutsches Kino and one (1) from Culinary Cinema. To check films and info go here.

Documentary Award Jury
Maria Bonsanti, documentary programmer, Italy
Gregory Nava, director and writer, USA
Maria Ramos, director, Brazil

Berlinale Shorts

All on a Mardi Gras Day, Michal Pietrzyk, USA, 22’
Blue Boy, Manuel Abramovich, Argentina and Germany, 19’
Can't You See Them? - Repeat., Clarissa Thieme, Germany and Bosnia Herzegovina, 9’
Entropia, Flóra Anna Buda, Hungary, 10’
Flexible Bodies, Louis Fried, Germany, 19’
Héctor, Victoria Giesen Carvajal, Chile, 19’
How to Breathe in Kern County, Chris Filippone, USA, 9’
It has to be lived once and dreamed twice, Rainer Kohlberger, Germany, Austria, 28’
Kingdom, Tan Wei Keong, Singapore, 5’
Leyenda Dorada (The Golden Legend), Chema García Ibarra and Ion de Sosa, Spain, 11’
Lidérc úr (Mr. Mare), Luca Tóth, Hungary, France, 19’
Mot Khu Dat Tot (Blessed Land), Pham Ngoc Lan, Vietnam, 19’
Në Mes (In Between), Samir Karahoda, Kosovo, 15’
Omarska, Varun Sasindran, France, 19’
Past Perfect, Jorge Jácome, Portugal, 23’
Prendre feu (Catching Fire), Michaël Soyez, France, 26’
Rang Mahal (Palace of Colours), Prantik Basu, India, 27’
Rise, Bárbara Wagner and Benjamin de Burca, Brazil, Canada, USA, 20’
Shakti, Martín Rejtman, Argentina and Chile, 19’
The Spirit Keepers of Makuta'ay, Yen-Chao Lin, Canada, 11’
Splash, Shen Jie, China, 9’
Suc de síndria (Watermelon Juice), Irene Moray, Spain, 22’
Umbra, Florian Fischer and Johannes Krell, Germany, 20’
Welt an Bord, Eva Könnemann, Germany, 29’

Out of Competition
Al Mahatta (The Station), Eltayeb Mahdi, Sudan, 1989, 16’
Crvene gumene čizme (Red Rubber Boots), Jasmila Žbanić, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2000, 18’

Berlinale Shorts Jury
Jeffrey Bowers, Senior Curator at Vimeo, USA
Vanja Kaludjercic, MUBI Director fo Acquisitions, Croatia
Koyo Kouoh, artistic director, Senegal

NATIVe
In 2019, NATIVe – A Journey into Indigenous Cinema is screening 16 short and feature-length fiction and documentary films from the Pacific region. Characteristic of the programme is the presence of women on both sides of the camera: the special series’ opening film Vai alone features the collaborative efforts of a group of eight female filmmakers. Check info here.

13th Culinary Cinema
The 13th Culinary Cinema will be held under the motto “A Taste for Balance” from February 10 to 15, 2019. Ten documentaries and two fiction films focussing on the relationship between food, culture, and politics are being presented this year. Check info here.

Retrospective

Berlinale Classics
A total of six Berlinale Classics will be screening as part of the Retrospective at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival. Check line up here. Also there are three restored films in the program by Dominik Graf, Carl Theodor Dreyer and Márta Mészáros, check info here.

Retrospective 2019
The Retrospective of the 69th Berlin International Film Festival takes as its subject women filmmakers between 1968 and 1999. The programme encompasses 26 narrative and documentary features from the former East and West Germany, as well as German films after re-unification in 1990. In addition, the Retrospective will show some 20 shorter films on their own, or as lead-ins to the features. To check more info plus films to be screened go here.

Berlinale Goes Kiez
Since 2010, Berlinale Goes Kiez has honoured the vibrant diversity of cinemas throughout the capital and surrounding regions by featuring one local cinema as an additional Berlinale venue on each of seven consecutive evenings. Daily, from February 9 to 15, 2019, when the Red Carpet is rolled out in a different neighbourhood, not only the film teams will be in the limelight, but also the cinemas themselves and their visitors. For its tenth anniversary, Berlinale Goes Kiez is returning to several movie theatres it went to in its first year, as well as visiting three local cinemas for the first time. This year’s Berlinale Goes Kiez will again honour the festival’s commitment to break down barriers and enable cultural participation with a special event in a prison. To read more about the program go here.

Books At Berlinale
On February 11, in the scope of “Books at Berlinale”, a co-operation with the Frankfurter Buchmesse, the Berlinale Co-Production Market will present twelve new and notable literary works that lend themselves perfectly to adaptation for the screen. At the pitch event, which has been showcasing promising new publications and bestsellers since 2006, film producers can come into contact with the renowned, internationally active publishers and literary agents who hold the rights to these works. To read more about the event go here.

Berlinale Series
The fifth year of the Berlinale Series program will see seven drama series from Denmark, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Israel, Austria and Sweden celebrating their premieres at the Zoo Palast. The rapid development of episodic content in Europe is reflected in this year’s Berlinale Series programme. Blockbusters and film classics have been re-interpreted and bestselling books brought vividly to the big screen, while well-known series are back at the Berlinale with exciting new stories. Check more info here.

Alongside Berlinale Series, the festival will also host the Drama Series Days for the fifth time this year from February 11 – 13, a joint initiative of the European Film Market, Berlinale Co-Production Market, and Berlinale Talents. There are ten new international series projects in the Co-Pro Series pitch event which is taking place in the scope of Drama Series Days. Check info about the projects here.

17th Berlinale Talent Campus
From February 9 to 14, 2019, 250 up-and-coming film professionals from 77 countries will gather at Berlinale Talents to share ideas, network, and further develop their latest projects. This year’s group of 141 women and 109 men is socially, culturally, and artistically extremely diverse. Check lots of info at official site here.

European Film Market & Co-Production Market
From February 9 to 13, 2019, the 16th edition of Berlinale Co-Production Market invites 600 international producers and financiers to come together to explore new partnerships. This time out, 37 new feature film projects whose producers are looking to team up with co-production partners from other countries have been chosen to participate. In addition, five exceptional production companies will be presented in the scope of the Berlinale Co-Production Market’s “Company Matching” program.

Also in the Co-Production Market there are 22 Projects, 3 Berlinale Directors' projects, 2 Rotterdam-Berlinale Express projects and 11 Talent Project Market projects and selected production talents. Check info about projects here.

Homage
The 69th Berlin International Film Festival will award the Honorary Golden Bear to British film and stage actress Charlotte Rampling for her lifetime achievement, as well as dedicating the Homage to a selection of her films. To check info and the Homage films go here.

The Berlinale Camera
Sandra Schulberg, producer and IFP founder, USA
Wieland Speck, the long-term head of our Panorama section, Germany
Agnès Varda, filmmaker, France and Belgium
Herrmann Zschoche, director and writer, Germany

PODCAST 344: Beware! Children at Play & The Children [Kids Who Kill & Then Get Killed Edition]

This week the Horror Duo take on a pair of movies about kids who kill and then later get killed. Forest share his thoughts on Beware! Children at Play, while Cory takes on The Children. Both distributed by Troma.

CONTINUE READING

Tuesday 29 January 2019

Mumbai 125km :Full Teaser,Info,Cast & Crew, Release Date Bollywood Indian movie Mumbai 125km

mumbai 125km full movie download,mumbai 125km cast & reviews,upcoming bollywood movies

Bollywood Indian movie Mumbai 125km directed by Hemant Madhukar in 2014 is an Indian horror film, which was produced by Nishant Pitti. Veena Malik played the main antagonist led by Karanvir Bohra, Vedanta Pratap Singh, Jaya Debroy, Vij Bhatia.Ashika is frightened in a hospital and goes to the flashback.A group of friends, Prem, Jack, Diya and Vivek plan to go to Mumbai to celebrate New Year's Day. While traveling, a patrol solder stops the car and interrogates them due to the influence of alcohol, which makes Prem bribe to leave it. While traveling on the road, Prem, Jack, Ashika, Diya and Dev accidentally hit a car. To find out who they have been hit with, find them - they find them, they come to a person who has warned them to go back. He or she will all be killed. They try to take the right person to the same police person who had met earlier, but brutally murdered the police. Man suddenly disappears. After which they start to be killed one by one.

Friends sense the danger and start looking for a way back to the road. But the road looks endless. She sees a girl in the street who looks a bit sick, gives her lift. The friends assumed that he was a mental patient and tried to take him to the hospital. To find shelter in the forest, they leave Jack in the car with the girl.And everyone goes to seek shelter, but When all come back, then see that Jack is murdered.Prime gives orders to girls to stay together, but the scared lion gets away and she is also killed. Fear, love and hope come running and love goes to a graveyard. He sees the soul of his deceased friends, and kills the girl.

Currently, Ashika finds out about a girl by a nurse. The girl's name is Poonam. She goes to Poonam's house and becomes the witness of Poonam's husband and mother-in-law's souls. Saas says that Poonam was eccentric and the child wanted. He argued with his now-dead husband for a child and after his delivery his mental condition worsened. Doctor recommends Poonam's husband that he needs counseling. It has also come to know that accident by Prabhu's car accidentally collapsed by love and her friends and her husband and her child are killed. Poonam returns as a ghost and takes vengeance on his friends for killing his child. Ashika was saved only because she was pregnant with child of love, so Poonam did not hurt her. Ashika's parents call her and tell her that her child has been aborted. This angle Poonam and Poonam killed Ashika.

Release date: 17 October 2014
Director: Hemant Madhukar
Producers:Hemant Madhukar,Mani Sharma

Roma (2018)

I wanted to watch Alfonso Cuarón's Roma back in December when it released on Netflix but the length put me off. Then it got 10 Oscar nominations and, despite the Academy once again embarrassing themselves with awful nominations and jaw-dropping snubs and people mentioning how boring the movie is, I decided to give it a shot.

The film is set in early 1970s Mexico —Roma is a neighbourhood in Mexico City if you are wondering where the title came from— and follows a year in the life of a maid, Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), and the middle-class family she works for.

As you probably guessed, Roma doesn't have much of a story as it's a sequence of episodes that affects its characters in different ways, mainly the maid. The problem is that every single event falls flat —everytime you think drama is about to be delivered, nothing but a disappointment comes—, it is uninteresting, fails to captivate you but succeeds in boring you to death.

Another issue with Roma's story is that Cuarón decided to include some Mexican historical events but they are just thrown in there and, if you don't know anything about Mexico's history, you won't understand what is going on and why. Why are people rioting in the streets? What's the story behind the tension between landowners and labourers? If Cuarón made a historical movie and added his personal story in it instead of the other way around, Roma would have worked much better and would have been more compelling.

Of course, the film could have worked this way too, but the characters in Roma are just too thin, too underdeveloped, they lack complexity. In other words, they are flat and you never really connect with any of them, nor care about them.

As for the acting, it easily is the most overrated aspect of the film. Yalitza Aparicio gives one of the most wooden performances of the year, and the only thought of her being nominated and probably winning the Oscar and Toni Collette, whose performance in Hereditary was one of the most powerful in recent years, being snubbed, angers me. Marina de Tavira's performance is a bit better than Aparicio's but it still isn't Oscar-worthy.

Netflix

Roma has a redeeming quality though. The black and white cinematography is gorgeous and captivating and makes the film look like a piece of art you would see in a museum. Stunning visuals are pretty useless when the film is damn boring though, and Roma is just that, a long, slowly paced, unengaging, tedious film that often gives you the vibe of a telenovela.

25th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards Winners

Last Sunday the guild had their awards ceremony and after unremarkable not entertaining "red" carpet -that wasn't red, pretended to be silver but was dirty-gray- with so many not-really-known or popular actors announced not really surprising winners as lost-of-interest came from the moment the guild announced the nominations. Sigh.

By now we know that SAG nominees were quite different to Oscar nominees, so I'm hoping SAG winners do not reflect much what Oscar winners could be. As a matter of fact some industry pundits are already talking about Oscar winners and indeed they seem to pretend SAG awards didn't happened this year. Sigh.

Nevertheless here are the winners in *BLUE.

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12/12/18
Watched live the nominations only to get quite disappointed by the omissions and the too-many honors to actors that did not perform well. So, that's why I'm doing post the next day when my head has cooled off. Seems this year will lean toward what film critics honor than to what the guilds could or will honor. Still, let's hope that is too-early as SAG is the first of the guilds to announce their nominations.

Believe it or not, the actors guild preferences made A Star is Born to lead the pack with four nominations and Best male and female actors to the leads. Then BlacKkKlansman and The Favourite followed with three nominations each. Know don't talk much about TV but this year's TV nominations are a lot more exciting than the film ones as well, they honor shows that I enjoy a lot.

Going back to film remarkable is that several actors earned more than two nominations (because of ensemble) and there are three that earned two and none are from ensemble; to the surprise of many, all are female actors as Amy Adams, Emma Stone and Emily Blunt earn 2 nominations from film (Blunt plus film and TV (Adams and Stone).

What really blew my mind is the group not recognizing Ethan Hawke outstanding performance in a well-directed First Reformed; another actress ignored was several critic's honored, Regina King supporting role in If Beale Street Could Talk. The list is very long when you consider the many films that were snubbed just to mention a few besides the two above, Boy Erased, On the Basis of Sex, Widows, The Rider, The Hate U Give, Eighth Grade and more.

The SAG awards film nominations are determined by a sizeable nominating committee comprised by approximate 2,500 people drawn from the membership of SAG-AFTRA, the largest union of actors comprised roughly by 160,000 people and yes, is the guild with largest group of AMPAS voters. So, what THR's Scot Feinberg mentioned last year becomes relevant as truly hope this year the record is broken again, he said: "It has been 22 years since a film won the best picture Oscar without being nominated for this SAG award, so one of these five is almost certainly your eventual winner", he's referring to the Cast in a Motion Picture. Say again because last year Oscar went to The Shape of Water a film that had NO SAG nomination.

These are the 2019 nominations

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Dave Chapelle, Andrew Dice Clay, Bradley Cooper, Sam Elliott, Rafi Gavron, Lady Gaga, and Anthony Ramos in A Star is Born
*Angela Bassett, Chadwick Boseman, Sterling K. Brown, Winston Duke, Martin Freeman, Danai Gurira, Michael B. Jordan, Daniel Kaluuya, Lupita Nyong'o, Andy Serkis, Forest Whitaker, and Letitia Wright in Black Panther
Harry Belafonte, Adam Driver, Topher Grace, Laura Harrier, Corey Hawkins, and John David Washington in BlacKkKlansman
Lucy Boynton, Aidan Gillen, Ben Hardy, Tom Hollander, Gwilym Lee, Allen Leech, Rami Malek, Joe Mazzello, and Mike Myers in Bohemian Rhapsody
Awkwafina, Gemma Chan, Henry Golding, Ken Jeong, Lisa Lu, Harry Shum Jr. Constance Wu, and Michelle Yeoh in Crazy Rich Asians

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Emily Blunt in Mary Poppins Returns
*Glenn Close in The Wife
Olivia Colman in The Favourite
Lady Gaga in A Star is Born
Melissa McCarthy in Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams in Vice
*Emily Blunt in A Quiet Place
Margot Robbie in Mary Queen of Scots
Emma Stone in The Favourite
Rachel Weisz in The Favourite

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Christian Bale in Vice
Bradley Cooper in A Star is Born
*Rami Malek in Bohemian Rhapsody
Viggo Mortensen in Green Book
John David Washington in BlacKkKlansman

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
*Mahershala Ali in Green Book
Timothee Chalamet in Beautiful Boy
Adam Driver in BlacKkKlansman
Sam Elliott in A Star is Born
Richard E. Grant in Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture
Ant-Man and the Wasp
Avengers: Infinity War
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
*Black Panther
Mission: Impossible - Fallout

The Silver Anniversary SAG awards ceremony will be on January 27th, 2019 with Megan Mullally hosting and will be simulcast live on TNT and TBS. As previously announced, Alan Alda is the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award.

To check TV and film nominations in the official site go here.

Awkwafina and Laverne Cox announced the nominees at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood. Before the announcement JoBeth Williams and Elizabeth McLaughlin announced the stunt ensemble action performance nominees. Check the video.

Monday 28 January 2019

Netflix NEWS 01.29.2019

Netflix NEWS

Updates on Netflix original content releasing this week and the announcements from last week. You can always read more about what's coming out this week and in the future on our Upcoming page.
Netflix Originals Releasing This Week

Gabriel Iglesias: One Size Fits All (January 29)

Netflix Netflix Comedy Special

Gabriel Jesus Iglesias, known comically as Fluffy, is an American comedian, actor, writer, producer and voice actor. Iglesias has a comedy series, Mr. Iglesias and a second untitled comedy special in the works, as well as I'm Sorry For What I Said When I was Hungry which released in 2016.
Announcement
Watch the trailer

Always a Witch [Siempre Bruja] Season 1 (February 1)

Netflix Original Spanish Language Series - 10 episodes

Carmen, a 19 year old Colombian slave and witch from the 17th century travels in time, with the help of a wizard, to escape being burned at the stake. In present day Cartagena, Carmen starts a new life ... but once a witch, always a witch.
Announcement
Cast Announcement
Watch the teaser
Date Announcement
Watch the trailer

Dear Ex (February 1)
Netflix Distributed Mandarin Movie
Follows three people who are linked by fate because of love and family. Teenage Song Chengxi loses his father Song Zhengyuan to cancer, but instead of having time to mourn, Chengxi finds himself caught in a feud between his widowed mother Liu Sanlian and his father's gay lover Jay. As Liu fights Jay for Song's insurance money, Chengxi slowly learns issue is not the money, but the weight of the loving memories.
Won three Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival Awards, including Best Actress for Hsieh Ying-xuan.
Announcement

Free Rein: Valentine's Day (February 1)

Netflix Original Teen Special

A coming of age story about American teen Zoe and her summer in the English countryside.
Zoe meets mysterious horse Raven. It's not about falling down, it's how you get back up.

Nightflyers Season 1 (February 1) - Excludes U.S./Canada
Netflix Exclusive Series with SyFy
A group of scientists begin a space voyage to find a mysterious alien creature, but become victims of the ship's malevolent computer. This is based on a 1980 George R. R. Martin novella.
Airs on SyFy in the U.S.
First Look video (Excludes the U.S.)
Watch the trailer (Excludes the U.S.)
Watch the Season 1 trailer (excludes U.S.)

Russian Doll Season 1 (February 1)

Netflix Original Series - 8 episodes

Natasha Lyonne (Orange is the New Black) plays a young woman named Nadia. She's the guest of honor at a seemingly inescapable party in New York City.
Leslye Headland and Natasha Lyonne are writing and they and Amy Poehler are executive producers and co-creators.
Announcement
Season 1 Date Announcement video
Watch the trailer

True: Happy Hearts Day (February 1)

Netflix Kids Series

True, the guardian of Rainbow Kingdom, teams up with her friends to use the power of love to save the day.

Velvet Buzzsaw (February 1)

Netflix Original Movie

Dan Gilroy (writer for Real Steel, The Bourne Legacy, Kong: Skull Island) will direct his own script, re-teaming with stars Jake Gyllenhaal (Donnie Darko, Zodiac, Source Code) and Rene Russo (Ransom, Outbreak, The Intern) from his directorial debut Nightcrawler (2014).
This revolves around big money artists and mega-collectors who pay a high price when art collides with commerce.
Watch the trailer

Bordertown Season 2 (February 2)

Netflix Distributed Series

Detective Sorjonen is one of the most respected officers at the Finland National Bureau of Investigation. When his wife barely survives brain cancer, he decides to take his family to an idyllic small town near the border of Russia to live a quiet peaceful life.

Romance is a Bonus Book Season 1 (February 2)
Netflix Distributed Korean Series
A gifted writer who's the youngest editor-in-chief ever at his publishing company gets enmeshed in the life of a former copywriter desperate for a job.

Streaming every Saturday.

Netflix Trailers
Suburra Season 2 trailer - February 22
Ray Roman: Right Here, Around the Corner trailer - February 5
The Umbrella Academy Season 1 trailer - February 15
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind trailer - March 1

Netflix Previews & Videos

Tidying Up with Marie Kondo - How to Store Toys

Tidying Up with Marie Kondo - How to Organize Your Treasure Box

Carmen Sandiego - 90's Favorites with Gina Rodriguez

Our Planet - His Royal Highness Prince William Interviews David Attenborough

New to Netflix U.S. February

Conversations With a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes - Clip: The Abduction

Sex Education - Thirst Trap 101 with Ncuti Gatwa

Sex Education - Road Trip with the Cast

Sex Education - Snack Showdown U.S. vs U.K.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt - Sheeba Goodman