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| billyweeds |
 Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 11:50 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Trish wrote: Saw the Bank Job last night. It was okay, enjoyable enough - 2 1/2 stars, maybe 3 stars if one was feeling generous
I've been getting much more enthusiastic reports on this movie than yours. I was thinking of going to see it, but maybe I can put it off to DVD now.
What I am definitely going to see this weekend is Stop-Loss, the first movie in a while I am salivating over. |
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| Nancy |
| Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 1:07 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4607
Location: Norman, OK
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| Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day is finally making it to the local theater this weekend. I am definitely going to see it. |
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"All in all, it's just another feather in the fan."
Isaacism, 2009 |
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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 1:22 pm |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
Posts: 12533
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Sad to see Eric Roehmer, the eminence grise of French cinema, hit rock bottom. Last year I saw his "The Lady and the Duke," which contrary to the title is NOT a John Wayne western  but an awkward period drama.
This year I saw "The Romance of Astrea and Celadon" which is probably even worse. This is supposed to be a love story about mythic characters set sometime in the very distant past but pitifully has the look of a student film. The mostly young cast is ill at ease. It took a long time to get used to this acting style, if it IS a style.
The film has a budget look, a _very_ low budget look. At one point, I cringed as the characters play a scene under an arbor where there's a modern curb painted with yellow and black stripes. I thought - couldn't they have at least painted that out - or covered it with some plants?
Curiously the film was shot in Super 16 and meant to be shown in the 1.85 ratio. The print I saw was gorgeous (sure didn't look like Super 16) and was projected with NO matte at all. Actually, the film looked just fine in this ratio, which is very strange for a current film.
I just read the viewer comments at the imdb.com. They aren't very favorable and conclude that the Canadians at Toronto are too polite to boo.
This was one of the most anticipated movies of my current stay in Paris - and needless to say, it turned out to be a huge disappointment. I can't quite figure out what's up with Roehmer. He's 87...but then Manuel Oliveira (sp?) from Portugal is over 90 and still makes wonderful films.
I'd say avoid this like the plague, but then you'll probably never get a chance to see it. |
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| Rod |
| Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 7:44 am |
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Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 2944
Location: Lithgow, Australia
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| Finally saw Sweeney Todd. Effortlessly, both the best musical and the best horror film I've seen in a long time. |
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A long time ago, but somehow in the future...It is a period of civil war and renegade paragraphs floating through space. |
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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 8:22 pm |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
Posts: 12533
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Current European Film
“California Dreamin’” is the title of a Romanian film that won the 2007 “Un Certain Regard” prize at Cannes. Cristian Nemescu, the film’s late director, died in a car crash at age 28 while the film was in post-production. Given the current interest in Romanian cinema, I think it’s only a matter of time before this film gets U.S. distribution.
The film is about a NATO group of Marines (their captain is Armand Assante) escorting a trainload of communications equipment to Kosovo in 1999. A petty train master at a country station decides to hold up the train because of a lack of paperwork.
Over the course of three days, the Romanians wine and dine the American Marines. These young soldiers get their pick of the village’s attractive teens and indulge in plenty of partying. There’s even a Romanian Elvis impersonator and another party with a huge Eiffel tower replica in the front yard. The party’s theme manages to combine “Dallas” and “Dracula.” Assante, disgusted by this, wants to gets to Kosovo as soon as possible.
The film is considered an epic and is over 2-1/2 hours long. Personally I think it should be shorter but I probably didn’t get all the Romanian implications. It may also have to do with the fact that Nemescu did not live to realize his final vision.
Eventually the viewer realizes why the station master won’t let the train through. And at the end you’ll understand why the title "California Dreamin'" fits so well. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 8:49 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12944
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is generally a lot a fun, with an edge since it takes place on the verge of World War II. Guinevere Pettigrew is a homely and penniless governess who loses her last hope at a job due to her independence. She sneaks into what she thinks is going to be yet another governess job, but it turns out out that the job is to be social secretary for aspiring actress Delysia Lafosse, who sorely needs one, since she is juggling three boyfriends in hopes of getting the lead in a new production. (Note: the verge of World War II might not be the best time to be opening a new play.) Delysia is bubbleheaded, lively, seductive and mostly sweet, and Miss Pettigrew is sensible, observant, conservative, and rather appalled by how much Miss Lafosse is ready to give up that's really important. In other words, she's a governess of sorts to Delysia Lafosse.
Very well cast, with Amy Adams as Delysia Lafosse giving a sexier performance than you might expect (she shows quite a bit of skin although the naughty bits stay hidden); her song at the climax is especially well done--watch her face while she does it. Frances MacDormand is Miss Pettigrew, hungry, desperate and surprised to find herself in a romantic triangle. Shirley Henderson, Lee Pace and Ciaran Hinds are all strong in support. |
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Rocky Laocoon foretold of Troy's doom, only to find snaky water. They pulled him in and Rocky can't swim. Now Rocky wishes he were an otter! |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 11:54 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Stop-Loss is a well-made, very interesting, but not fantastic film about the practice of sending soldiers back again and again to fight Bush's war. If it's a hit, it's a boon to Obama since it puts the war front and center in the country's priorities again. It's good, not great, but has audience appeal and may score better than other Iraq war movies have.
It's Kimberly Peirce's first film since Boys Don't Cry and in some ways is reminiscent of that feature--gritty, sometimes violent, dealing with people on the fringes. Ryan Philippe is excellent in the lead, showing there's life after Reese Witherspoon. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 3:43 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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Has anyone seen Battle for Haditha?
Here's a summary I swiped form an IMDb review.
Quote: The film tells story of the events of November 19, 2005, when a troop of US Marines exact revenge for an earlier attack which killed one of their number in the Iraqi town of Haditha.
The Film focuses on three different viewpoints, the first of Iraqi insurgents, which in this case isn't some mad Mullah but an old man, who we learn is an ex-Army officer and his son. The second focuses on a Corporal Ruiz, a young Marine who you feel wants to be anywhere but Iraqi and the finally the film focuses on a young Iraqi couple and their extended family.
Another review says that most of the dialogue was improvised based on the scenario, and real ex-marines were used to play the marines.
And while I'm not familiar with Nick Broomfield, the director, he previously made a number of documentaries, while his last film was called Ghosts a docudrama about the Chinese cockle pickers drowned in Morecambe Bay in 2004. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 7:34 am |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
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gromit wrote: Has anyone seen Battle for Haditha?
Here's a summary I swiped form an IMDb review.
Quote: The film tells story of the events of November 19, 2005, when a troop of US Marines exact revenge for an earlier attack which killed one of their number in the Iraqi town of Haditha.
The Film focuses on three different viewpoints, the first of Iraqi insurgents, which in this case isn't some mad Mullah but an old man, who we learn is an ex-Army officer and his son. The second focuses on a Corporal Ruiz, a young Marine who you feel wants to be anywhere but Iraqi and the finally the film focuses on a young Iraqi couple and their extended family.
Another review says that most of the dialogue was improvised based on the scenario, and real ex-marines were used to play the marines.
And while I'm not familiar with Nick Broomfield, the director, he previously made a number of documentaries, while his last film was called Ghosts a docudrama about the Chinese cockle pickers drowned in Morecambe Bay in 2004.
I think Marc has seen it.
It's playing in Paris at one theater only, one time per week. This theater is in a bad area so I may miss it here unless it switches to another venue. |
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| ehle64 |
| Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 11:39 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 7149
Location: NYC; US&A
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| Has anyone seen David Gordon Green's Snow Angels, yet? I haven't been to the cinemas in so long, perhaps a venture out today might solve this ever-increasing problem. . . |
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It truly disappoints me when people do something for you via no prompt of your own and then use it as some kind of weapon against you at a later time and place. It is what it is. |
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| jeremy |
| Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 2:43 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 6794
Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)
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Nick Broomfeild has a long history of making television documentaries in the UK. His early work was cinema verite in style, but he has since used much more in-front of camera narration. He may have influenced Michael Moore in this repsect, but that's just me speculating. He studied politics or some such at Essex University, famous for its somewhat pathetic radicalism, "Oh there having another sit in at Essex." That said, although he is obviously fired by social injustice, I wouldn't say his work is as overtly political as the latter day Ken Loach, say.
I've not seen The Battle For Haditha but I've heard good things about it. It was filmed a la Mike Leigh with actors improvising their lines in given scenarios. This probably helped it paint the marines involved in a more sympathetic light than might otherwise have been the case. Apparently the film is less angry than De Palma's Redacted, but perhaps more powerful because of it |
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I am angry, I am ill, and I'm as ugly as sin.
My irritability keeps me alive and kicking.
I know the meaning of life, it doesn't help me a bit.
I know beauty and I know a good thing when I see it. |
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| lady wakasa |
| Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 3:24 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 5911
Location: Beyond the Blue Horizon
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BAM Retrospective coming up:
Tomu Uchida: Discovering a Japanese Master
April 11-30
From BAM: "BAMcinématek is proud to present the first New York retrospective of the long overlooked Japanese director Tomu Uchida, whose name translates to “spit out dreams.” Uchida’s films from the 20s and 30s possess a leftist social commentary, while his post-war work reveals a strong genre stylist with no immediately discernible themes, much like many golden-age Hollywood directors. Uchida effortlessly directed chamber dramas, comedies, and samurai epics, often in color, and with a forward-looking dose of irony. This could be your only chance to view these exceptionally rare films. All films directed by Tomu Uchida and in Japanese with English subtitles. All archival prints!"
His film Policeman (Keisatsukan) actually sounds something like Infernal Affairs / The Departed. |
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http://www.wakasaworld.com |
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| Marilyn |
| Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 3:51 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8210
Location: Skokie (not a bad movie, btw)
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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 6:22 pm |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
Posts: 12533
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lady wakasa wrote: BAM Retrospective coming up:
Tomu Uchida: Discovering a Japanese Master
April 11-30
From BAM: "BAMcinématek is proud to present the first New York retrospective of the long overlooked Japanese director Tomu Uchida, whose name translates to “spit out dreams.” Uchida’s films from the 20s and 30s possess a leftist social commentary, while his post-war work reveals a strong genre stylist with no immediately discernible themes, much like many golden-age Hollywood directors. Uchida effortlessly directed chamber dramas, comedies, and samurai epics, often in color, and with a forward-looking dose of irony. This could be your only chance to view these exceptionally rare films. All films directed by Tomu Uchida and in Japanese with English subtitles. All archival prints!"
His film Policeman (Keisatsukan) actually sounds something like Infernal Affairs / The Departed.
Lady --
Thanks for the heads up as his films are beginning to show in a couple of theaters in Paris! |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 12:54 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 3784
Location: AZ
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| Nick Broomfield did a doc about Kurt Cobain. I like his style. |
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