Just read the very sad news that Eric Rohmer passed away at age 89. I will never forget many of his movies but there is one that I have seen several times and know will watch several times again: Le Genou de Claire (Claire's Knee). RIP.
If you read French, I suggest you read the article here.
Monday, 11 January 2010
Movie Bits
Strongly suggest you do not miss the following movies.
Invictus - Very Emotional, Clint Eastwood definitively it's a master filmmaker and storyteller! Morgan Freeman as Mandela is Outstanding!
It's Complicated - If you're a woman or men of certain age you have to watch this comedy with stellar Meryl Streep that definitively is greater (if possible) in a comedy. The story is entertaining, only at the end is sort of rushed into the climax in a not so great way.
The Blind Side - Nice real life story and Sandra Bullock delivers a great performance that will mesmerize you.
An Education - Excellent performance by Carey Mulligan, she totally steals the movie. Great period representation and costumes. Story is predictable, but who cares when Mulligan delivers a remarkable performance.
Didn't enjoy it much, but is entertaining
Up in the Air - Found nothing outstanding, but the story is relevant for current times.
Invictus - Very Emotional, Clint Eastwood definitively it's a master filmmaker and storyteller! Morgan Freeman as Mandela is Outstanding!
It's Complicated - If you're a woman or men of certain age you have to watch this comedy with stellar Meryl Streep that definitively is greater (if possible) in a comedy. The story is entertaining, only at the end is sort of rushed into the climax in a not so great way.
The Blind Side - Nice real life story and Sandra Bullock delivers a great performance that will mesmerize you.
An Education - Excellent performance by Carey Mulligan, she totally steals the movie. Great period representation and costumes. Story is predictable, but who cares when Mulligan delivers a remarkable performance.
Didn't enjoy it much, but is entertaining
Up in the Air - Found nothing outstanding, but the story is relevant for current times.
BMC MOVIE OF THE WEEK: HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN
January 10, 2010: The Baptism of the Lord (Year C)
“All the Screen's Titans of Terror - Together in the Greatest of All Screen Sensations!” So proclaimed the posters for House Of Frankenstein, heralding the fact that for the first time ever, Universal’s unholy trinity of classic monsters would share a single screen together. Sort of.
The problem is that the movie plays more like two short stories thread-barely stitched together rather than as a complete film. Dracula is revived by the eeeevil Dr. Niemann, but is dispatched halfway through the film when he proves uncontrollable. Only then does Niemann move on to Castle Frankenstein where he thaws out The Wolfman and The Monster. From there the movie follows the lycanthropic Larry Talbot as he mopes around while the comatose Monster lies strapped to a table. Only near the end do things pick up as Larry wolfs out just in time to take a silver bullet and the monster wakes up long enough to drag Niemann into a pool of quicksand.
Don’t get me wrong, if you’re a fan of the old Universal Monsters, there’s still fun to be had in House Of Frankenstein. There’s all the requisite foggy moors and full moons. And its hard to deny the charms of a movie where a homicidal lecherous hunchback gets tossed out a castle window. But ultimately, the film leaves you feeling just a tad bit gypped because the three monsters, while technically in the same movie, are never all onscreen together at the same time.
If you really want to see three big names come together and see it done right, look no further than this week’s reading on the Baptism of Jesus, an event which marks the first explicit appearance of the Holy Trinity in scripture. As Pope John Paul II described it, “At the centre of the scene we see the figure of Christ, the Messiah who fulfils all righteousness. He is the one who brings the divine plan of salvation to fulfillment, humbly showing his solidarity with sinners. His voluntary humbling wins him a wondrous exaltation: the Father's voice from heaven resounds above him, proclaiming: "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased"… The Holy Spirit descends on Jesus as the power of superabundant love. Referring precisely to Jesus' Baptism, the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: "The Spirit whom Jesus possessed in fullness from his conception comes to "rest on him”'. Jesus will be the source of the Spirit for all mankind". The whole Trinity is therefore present at the Jordan to reveal this mystery, to authenticate and support Christ's mission and to indicate that with him salvation history has entered its central and definitive phase.”
As a former actor, JPII seems to have recognized the epically cinematic nature of the scene. “It involves time and space, human life and the cosmic order”, he exclaimed, “but first of all the three divine Persons.” Now that’s a tagline for a movie poster!
SHORT FEATURE: FRENCH FRIED STAR WARS
While we’re still on the subject of musicals (I’ll get that review of Voyage Of The Rock Aliens out soon, I promise), I might as well post this video which is currently making the rounds on the Internet.
I can declare war on France for this, right? It has to be covered somewhere in Just War Theory. If not, it should be. And do we need any more proof than this video that dancing IS NOT appropriate for all subject matter.
That’s why Pope Benedict XVI, then writing as a Cardinal, explicitly stated in his book Spirit Of The Liturgy that “Dancing is not a form of expression for the Christian liturgy. In about the third century, there was an attempt in certain Gnostic-Docetic circles to introduce it into the liturgy. For these people, the Crucifixion was only an appearance. Before the Passion, Christ had abandoned the body that in any case he had never really assumed. Dancing could take the place of the liturgy of the Cross, because, after all, the Cross was only an appearance. The cultic dances of the different religions have different purposes—incantation, imitative magic, mystical ecstasy— none of which is compatible with the essential purpose of the liturgy of the “reasonable sacrifice”. It is totally absurd to try to make the liturgy “attractive” by introducing dancing pantomimes (wherever possible performed by professional dance troupes), which frequently (and rightly, from the professionals’ point of view) end with applause. Wherever applause breaks out in the liturgy because of some human achievement, it is a sure sign that the essence of liturgy has totally disappeared and been replaced by a kind of religious entertainment. Such attractiveness fades quickly—it cannot compete in the market of leisure pursuits, incorporating as it increasingly does various forms of religious titillation... Liturgy can only attract people when it looks, not at itself, but at God, when it allows him to enter and act. Then something truly unique happens, beyond competition, and people have a sense that more has taken place than a recreational activity. None of the Christian rites includes dancing.”
Anybody who argues otherwise should be forced to watch this video one time for each bead on the rosary as penance. Oh crap, wait, we’re against torture aren’t we?
Predicting the WGA Nominations
I didn't bother to predict the DGA or PGA nominations because, frankly, who cares? But the WGAs have always been a bit more interesting to me so let's take a stab at them. But first, a look at the movies that are ineligible this year for one reason or another.
Original: Adam, Antichrist, Broken Embraces, Capitalism: A Love Story, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, Inglourious Basterds, The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond, Me and Orson Welles, Moon, Ponyo, The Princess and the Frog, Trucker, Up, The White Ribbon
Adapted: Angels & Demons, Coco Before Chanel, The Damned United, District 9, An Education, Everybody’s Fine, Fantastic Mr. Fox, In the Loop, The Men Who Stare at Goats, Red Cliff, The Road, A Single Man, That Evening Sun, A Woman in Berlin
With that settled, here are my predictions for Best Original Screenplay:
(500) Days of Summer - Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber
Bright Star - Jane Campion
The Hurt Locker - Mark Boal
A Serious Man - Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
Sugar - Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden
It's tough to ignore the box office goliath that is Avatar here but James Cameron's screenplay isn't its strong suit. I realize that Titanic got a nomination here but that was a classy period piece. I think the WGA snubs Cameron and lets others have their day... Jon Lucas and Scott Moore's The Hangover is a close call but there were several other comedies this year with more graceful screenplays, such as Judd Apatow's Funny People, Greg Mottola's Adventureland, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick's Zombieland and Dave Eggers & Vendela Vida's Away We Go. None of them had quite the same fresh perspective and perverse insight as (500) Days of Summer though... I gave Two Lovers some consideration, as well as The Messenger, with both being critics' darlings, but in the end, I gave that spot to Sugar. At the end of the day, it was the better movie. I think if The White Ribbon were eligible it would snag that 5th slot so instead I gave it to a wholly different foreign language film... If there are any other serious contenders, they'd have to be Nancy Meyers for It's Complicated, and Lynn Shelton for Humpday, which was rather brilliant. I think Bright Star gets a nod here since Campion has won the award before in 1993 for The Piano.
Moving on, here are my predictions for Best Adapted Screenplay:
The Blind Side - John Lee Hancock
Precious - Geoffrey Fletcher
Star Trek - Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci
Up in the Air - Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner
Where the Wild Things Are - Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers
There's a lot of prestige sitting on the sidelines here but what can you do? Invictus, The Lovely Bones and Nine were all major letdowns, critically as much as commercially. The second tier of flopped "prestige" pics include Brothers and The Soloist... The Informant! is a close call here but that movie seems to have been forgotten, and those who remember immediately recall Matt Damon's performance before Scott Z. Burns' screenplay... The Last Station has to be in play here, as well as two more likely nominees in Crazy Heart and Julie and Julia, but for some reason, I think the WGA honors the moneymakers like The Blind Side and Star Trek. Where the Wild Things Are is my hip arthouse pick.
If I hit 7/10, I'll be happy. It's a very unpredictable field when you take into account all the ineligible screenplays. Best of luck to all the writers out there!
Original: Adam, Antichrist, Broken Embraces, Capitalism: A Love Story, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, Inglourious Basterds, The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond, Me and Orson Welles, Moon, Ponyo, The Princess and the Frog, Trucker, Up, The White Ribbon
Adapted: Angels & Demons, Coco Before Chanel, The Damned United, District 9, An Education, Everybody’s Fine, Fantastic Mr. Fox, In the Loop, The Men Who Stare at Goats, Red Cliff, The Road, A Single Man, That Evening Sun, A Woman in Berlin
With that settled, here are my predictions for Best Original Screenplay:
(500) Days of Summer - Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber
Bright Star - Jane Campion
The Hurt Locker - Mark Boal
A Serious Man - Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
Sugar - Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden
It's tough to ignore the box office goliath that is Avatar here but James Cameron's screenplay isn't its strong suit. I realize that Titanic got a nomination here but that was a classy period piece. I think the WGA snubs Cameron and lets others have their day... Jon Lucas and Scott Moore's The Hangover is a close call but there were several other comedies this year with more graceful screenplays, such as Judd Apatow's Funny People, Greg Mottola's Adventureland, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick's Zombieland and Dave Eggers & Vendela Vida's Away We Go. None of them had quite the same fresh perspective and perverse insight as (500) Days of Summer though... I gave Two Lovers some consideration, as well as The Messenger, with both being critics' darlings, but in the end, I gave that spot to Sugar. At the end of the day, it was the better movie. I think if The White Ribbon were eligible it would snag that 5th slot so instead I gave it to a wholly different foreign language film... If there are any other serious contenders, they'd have to be Nancy Meyers for It's Complicated, and Lynn Shelton for Humpday, which was rather brilliant. I think Bright Star gets a nod here since Campion has won the award before in 1993 for The Piano.
Moving on, here are my predictions for Best Adapted Screenplay:
The Blind Side - John Lee Hancock
Precious - Geoffrey Fletcher
Star Trek - Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci
Up in the Air - Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner
Where the Wild Things Are - Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers
There's a lot of prestige sitting on the sidelines here but what can you do? Invictus, The Lovely Bones and Nine were all major letdowns, critically as much as commercially. The second tier of flopped "prestige" pics include Brothers and The Soloist... The Informant! is a close call here but that movie seems to have been forgotten, and those who remember immediately recall Matt Damon's performance before Scott Z. Burns' screenplay... The Last Station has to be in play here, as well as two more likely nominees in Crazy Heart and Julie and Julia, but for some reason, I think the WGA honors the moneymakers like The Blind Side and Star Trek. Where the Wild Things Are is my hip arthouse pick.
If I hit 7/10, I'll be happy. It's a very unpredictable field when you take into account all the ineligible screenplays. Best of luck to all the writers out there!
Sunday, 10 January 2010
secret shame
Okay, quick show of hands:
How many of you, besides me, are guilty of FULLY RECOGNIZING that "Ctrl Alt Del" sucks... but can't stop reading the fucking thing? It's as though it's devolved into something like the ultimate, last-word parody of masturbatory, self-aggrandizing, soap-operatic webcomics... except it doesn't know that it's a parody. It's "The Room" of webcomics.
How many of you, besides me, are guilty of FULLY RECOGNIZING that "Ctrl Alt Del" sucks... but can't stop reading the fucking thing? It's as though it's devolved into something like the ultimate, last-word parody of masturbatory, self-aggrandizing, soap-operatic webcomics... except it doesn't know that it's a parody. It's "The Room" of webcomics.
2010 BAFTA Awards Long List
Before announcing the long list (the results of Round One of three) the Academy announced the nominations for the following category.Film Not in the English Language
Abrazos Rotos (Broken Embrances)
Coco Avant Chanel (Coco Before Chanel)
Let the Right One In
A Prophet
The White Ribbon
To read the official announcement please go here. Have seen the five and truly love the Swedish vampire movie, but my vote is split between A Prophet and The White Ribbon.
So here is the long list for some categories. Remember that over 6000 members of the Academy vote in three rounds and this is the result of Round One that distilled 220 films down to fifteen in each category, Round Two will reduce the fifteen to the five nominations in each category. The full list of nominations will be announced Thursday January 21.
Best Film
Avatar
District 9
An Education
Gran Torino
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Invictus
Moon
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
The Road
A Serious Man
A Single Man
Star Trek
Up
Up in the Air
Best Director
Avatar *
Bright Star
District 9 *
An Education *
Fish Tank
Gran Torino
The Hurt Locker *
Inglourious Basterds
Invictus
Moon
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
A Prophet *
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air
Animated Film
Coraline
A Christmas Carol
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Up
Leading Actress
Abbie Cornish (Fanny Brawne) – Bright Star *
Amy Adams (Julie Powell) – Julie & Julia
Audrey Tautou (Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel) – Coco Before Chanel
Carey Mulligan (Jenny) – An Education *
Emily Blunt (Queen Victoria) – The Young Victoria
Gabourey Sidibe (Precious) – Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire *
Helen Mirren (Sofya Tolstoy) – The Last Station
Katie Jarvis (Mia) – Fish Tank
Maggie Gyllenhaal (Jean Craddock) – Crazy Heart
Marion Cotillard (Luisa Contini) – Nine
Melanie Laurent (Shosanna Dreyfus) – Inglourious Basterds
Meryl Streep (Jane) – It’s Complicated
Meryl Streep (Julia Child) – Julie & Julia *
Penelope Cruz (Lena) – Broken Embraces
Saoirse Ronan (Susie Salmon) – The Lovely Bones
Leading Actor
Aaron Johnson (John Lennon) – Nowhere Boy
Andy Serkis (Ian Dury) – Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll *
Ben Whishaw (John Keats) – Bright Star
Brad Pitt (Lt. Aldo Raine) – Inglourious Basterds
Clint Eastwood (Walt Kowalski) – Gran Torino
Colin Firth (George) – A Single Man *
George Clooney (Ryan Bingham) – Up in the Air *
Jeff Bridges (Bad Blake) – Crazy Heart
Jeremy Renner (SSgt. William James) – The Hurt Locker *
Michael Sheen (Brian Clough) – The Damned United
Morgan Freeman (Nelson Mandela) – Invictus *
Peter Capaldi (Malcolm Tucker) – In the Loop
Peter Sarsgaard (David) – An Education
Sam Rockwell (Sam Bell) – Moon
Viggo Mortensen (Man) – The Road
Supporting Actress
Anna Kendrick (Natalie Keener) – Up in the Air
Anne-Marie Duff (Julia) – Nowhere Boy *
Claire Danes (Sonja Jones) – Me and Orson Welles
Diane Kruger (Bridget von Hammersmark) – Inglourious Basterds
Emma Thompson (Headmistress) – An Education
Julianne Moore (Charley) – A Single Man *
Kristin Scott Thomas (Mimi) – Nowhere Boy *
Mariah Carey (Mrs Weiss) – Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
Mo’Nique (Mary) – Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire *
Olivia Williams (Miss Stubbs) – An Education
Penelope Cruz (Carla) – Nine
Rachel Weisz (Abigail Salmon) – The Lovely Bones
Rosamund Pike (Helen) – An Education *
Susan Sarandon (Grandma Lynn) – The Lovely Bones
Vera Farmiga (Alex Goran) – Up in the Air
Supporting Actor
Aaron Wolff (Danny Gopnik) – A Serious Man
Alan Rickman (Professor Severus Snape) – Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Alec Baldwin (Jake) – It’s Complicated
Alfred Molina (Jack) – An Education *
Anthony Mackie (Sgt. JT Sanborn) – The Hurt Locker
Brian Geraghty (Specialist Owen Eldridge) – The Hurt Locker
Christian McKay (Orson Welles) – Me and Orson Welles *
Christoph Waltz (Col. Landa) – Inglourious Basterds *
Christopher Plummer (Leo Tolstoy) – The Last Station *
Dominic Cooper (Danny) – An Education
Matt Damon (Francois Pienaar) – Invictus
Stanley Tucci (Mr Harvey) – The Lovely Bones *
Stanley Tucci (Paul Child) – Julie & Julia
Timothy Spall (Peter Taylor) – The Damned United
Zachary Quinto (Spock) – Star Trek
*Denotes one of the top five or six vote-getters from Round One
I do not know about you but for to me this long list seems very similar to what I imagine could look the Oscar long list if existed. To check all the categories please go here.
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