Directors: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris
Year: 2006
Writer: Michael Arndt
Cinematographer: Tim Suhrstedt
Monday, February 1, 2010
Ver Llover *****
(Watching It Rain) - short film
Writer/Director: Elisa Miller
Year: 2006
Cinematographer: Jimena Montemayor
Won the Palme d'Or short film prize at Cannes in 2007.
Won the Palme d'Or short film prize at Cannes in 2007.
Traffic ****
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Year: 2000
Writers: Simon Moore, Stephen Gaghan
Cinematographer: Steven Soderbergh
Bottle Rocket *****
Director: Wes Anderson
Year: 1996
Writers: Wes Anderson, Owen Wilson
Cinematographer: Robert Yeoman
Dancer in the Dark ****
Writer/Director: Lars von Trier
Year: 2000
Cinematographer: Robby Müller
Bjork stars in the most tragic, strange musical ever.
I admire the stories, the characters of von Trier, but I still hate his camera work.
I feel like Trier hates his audience some times, that he wants to punish us. He is a self-righteous filmmaker, and he focuses much on the evil committed against and suffered by women, even, as he seems to consistently accuse, at their own hands. He has certainly been accused of portraying only foolish women who mistakenly cause themselves unnecessary harm.
I don't know if he really has such a view of women, I tend to think he just thinks this to be a tragedy, one that all people suffer, but especially these particular female characters. They are victims of men always, but the most horrific things that happen to them come directly from their own decisions.
I speak of these films in trend because I have only so far seen: Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark, Dogville, and Antichrist. There is some interesting cinematic research to be done in looking further into these characters and films.
Anyway, speaking directly to Dancer in the Dark, I like the way the music comes only as a function of Bjork's character's love for musicals, and as she is fantasizing about musical interludes in her life, we see those. For those who find Bjork's music a bit grating on the nerves, expect the same here, for she did compose the music. I can, however, suffer the music because of the way it is used vitally for the story here, and I also like how von Trier works in the music in the second half, the film is not a musical, it is about a woman who fantasizes about being in a musical.
The acting, again, is great, but the constantly moving camera drives me nuts. I know that von Trier seems to always want to deconstruct cinema in a way, to break the comfort of the audience, reminding us always "It's only a movie", but I've had enough of the stupid moving camera and zooms. I guess at times it seems to achieve a certain type of realism, as the camera is able to just be a document of great acting, however I would love to enjoy that acting, and the powerful stories he tells, with stable images at least.
Bjork stars in the most tragic, strange musical ever.
I admire the stories, the characters of von Trier, but I still hate his camera work.
I feel like Trier hates his audience some times, that he wants to punish us. He is a self-righteous filmmaker, and he focuses much on the evil committed against and suffered by women, even, as he seems to consistently accuse, at their own hands. He has certainly been accused of portraying only foolish women who mistakenly cause themselves unnecessary harm.
I don't know if he really has such a view of women, I tend to think he just thinks this to be a tragedy, one that all people suffer, but especially these particular female characters. They are victims of men always, but the most horrific things that happen to them come directly from their own decisions.
I speak of these films in trend because I have only so far seen: Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark, Dogville, and Antichrist. There is some interesting cinematic research to be done in looking further into these characters and films.
Anyway, speaking directly to Dancer in the Dark, I like the way the music comes only as a function of Bjork's character's love for musicals, and as she is fantasizing about musical interludes in her life, we see those. For those who find Bjork's music a bit grating on the nerves, expect the same here, for she did compose the music. I can, however, suffer the music because of the way it is used vitally for the story here, and I also like how von Trier works in the music in the second half, the film is not a musical, it is about a woman who fantasizes about being in a musical.
The acting, again, is great, but the constantly moving camera drives me nuts. I know that von Trier seems to always want to deconstruct cinema in a way, to break the comfort of the audience, reminding us always "It's only a movie", but I've had enough of the stupid moving camera and zooms. I guess at times it seems to achieve a certain type of realism, as the camera is able to just be a document of great acting, however I would love to enjoy that acting, and the powerful stories he tells, with stable images at least.
Wings of Desire ****
Director: Wim Wenders
Year: 1987
Writers: Wim Wenders, Peter Handke, Richard Reitinger
Cinematographer: Henri Alekan
It Might Get Loud ***
Director: Davis Guggenheim
Year: 2009
I won't tell you to not see it, cause face it, if you like these guitarists, you are going to be just as anxious as I was to see it... but you might be let down.
The Edge, Jimmy Page, and Jack White get together to talk guitars, while the film attempts to explore a bit of their background with the instruments in order to explain their different styles and approaches. Some really good music gets pulled out of the closet by White and Page, so take notes on which overlooked bands you're now going to need to add to your i-pod. But ultimately this doc directed by the over-hyped Guggenheim lets us down because just as in "An Inconvenient Truth" his skills as a documentarian lay more in the visuals and big premise than in actually investigating and giving us an in-depth, revealing film.
We also never get the promised loud moment. Things stay pretty calm, and non of these guys really busts a gut playing something spectacular for the audience.
Interesting fiction bits with Jack White teaching Jack White as a kid about rock and roll... but still, Guggenheim is really the one lacking the chops, not the guitarists. That's why this film falls flat. The best moment is when Jack White hand-makes his own single-string steel guitar.
Jarhead ****
Director: Sam Mendes
Year: 2005
Book by: Anthony Swofford
Adapted by: William Boyles Jr.
Cinematographer: Roger Deakins
Hamlet *****
Director: Lawrence Olivier
Year: 1948
Play by: William Shakespeare
Adapted by: Lawrence Olivier
Cinematographer: Desmond Dickinson
Excellent film, truly great performance by Olivier.
Morirse en Domingo ***
(Never Die On A Sunday)
Director: Daniel Gruener
Year: 2006
Writer: Antonio Armonia
Cinematographer: Guillermo Granillo
Fitzcarraldo *****
Writer/Director: Werner Herzog
Year: 1982
Cinematographer: Thomas Mauch
A crazy man is obsessed with the opera, and determined to bring it with him aboard a river steamboat to an isolated river in Peru. First he must drag the ship over a mountain.
If you aren't convinced that real cinema is born without CGI, well you haven't seen Werner Herzog, the mad director, insist that his actors literally drag a ship over a mountain.
The film is intended to document the madness of the character Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald... but maybe serves better as a document of the madness of Herzog. Still, you got to love it, after all, knowing the real struggle and danger actually exists adds enormously to the drama of the film in a documentarian sense. Put this film on the list with Cleopatra, Dances With Wolves, Lawrence of Arabia, Bridge on the River Kwai, and Birth of a Nation for cinema that actually captured incredible real events on film, just for the sake of cinema.
Frost/Nixon **
Director: Ron Howard
Year: 2008
Writer: Peter Morgan
Cinematographer: Salvatore Totino
A well-made documentary would be more interesting here, even though the acting is good, and Frank Langella ought to be commended for not doing an out-right impression of Nixon, I still think the drama of the original tapes is interesting enough to make a good documentary out of.
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford ****
Director: Andrew Dominik
Year: 2007
Book by: Ron Hansen
Adapted by: Andrew Dominik
Cinematographer: Roger Deakins
Was Jesse James America's first celebrity?
If so Robert Ford was the first obsessed celebrity fanatic. This film shows us the dark nature of this type of celebrity worship, and the lengths to which some will go for that perverse desire of fame. I find this film greatly relevant in our time of celebrity reality TV shows, the gossip on the E! channel, and the statistic that revealed that the current generation most wants fame, even more than fortune.
Gorgeous to look at, and thoroughly enjoyable because of Dominik's non-traditional approach to the western. He doesn't adapt his screenplay to fit the usual hollywood plot-points, doesn't make this an action film, it is more accurately a character-study who's setting is western. I really love this film. It's moody and haunting, and Casey Affleck is perfect in this role, although I really enjoy the acting put forth by the entire cast.
I like Brad Pitt here as well precisely because he plays it down. He gives us maybe a more realistic look at the hero's of legend... they maybe weren't all so charismatic, maybe it was the fans like Robert Ford who built them up so much in the imagination that we can't even recognize the real man living in the shadow of his hyped-up legend.
In America ***
Director: Jim Sheridan
Year: 2002
Writers: Jim Sheridan, Naomi Sheridan, Kirsten Sheridan
Cinematographer: Declan Quinn
The Fountain *****
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Year: 2006
Writers: Darren Aronofsky, Ari Handel
Cinematographer: Matthew Libatique
Pink Floyd: The Wall ****
Director: Alan Parker
Year: 1982
Writer: Roger Waters
Cinematographer: Peter Biziou
A classic must see for any fan of rock and roll.
A well made film, not perfect, but extremely memorable.
Raising Arizona *****
Writer/Directors: Joel and Ethan Coen
Year: 1987
Cinematographer: Barry Sonnenfeld
In my top 5 favorite comedies of all time.
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