Director: Robert Altman
Year: 1971
Novel by: Edmund Naughton
Adapted by: Robert Altman, Brian McKay
Cinematographer: Vilmos Zsigmond
Friday, July 1, 2011
X-Men: First Class ***
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Year: 2011
Writers: Matthew Vaughn, Ashley Miller, Zack Stentz, Jane Goldman, Sheldon Turner, Bryan Singer
Cinematographer: John Mathieson
Fun action movie, not too much annoying stuff in it.
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer *****
Director: Tom Tykwer
Year: 2006
Novel by: Patrick Süskind
Adapted by: Tom Tykwer, Andrew Birkin, Bernd Eichinger
Cinematographer: Frank Griebe
I was surprised and delighted by this film. Tykwer knows he can't share the scents with his audience, so he heightens sound and visual detail to evoke smell without ever resorting to a kind of colored smoke drifting into someone's nostrils like a Tom and Jerry cartoon. The character surprised me, with his lack of dialogue, with his complexity of character, and the frustration of my emotions... then the end finishes with one scene in particular that was incredible. This film is CINEMATIC just as all films ought to be, surprising and fresh... new. I felt that I experienced something new and I LOVE that. That's why Tykwer earns himself a 5 star review.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Encounters at the End of the World ***
Director: Werner Herzog
Year: 2007
I really enjoyed this film as a way to unwind. Listening to Herzog narrate is like listening to your father read you a bed time story when you were a kid, or my wife running her fingers through my hair as I drift asleep on the couch. I just soak in his random way of following whatever catches his interest, philosophising always on the smallness of man in the giant universe, and the incredible odds stacked against us which must someday lead to our doom. Yet Herzog doesn't depress me. He lifts my spirit in a way that quiet meditation does. I think it is good for us to realize now and then how small and how helpless we are in the violent, powerful, mystifying, and infinite universe. It is good for us because it makes you cherish the magic of the fact that we even exist at all.
That said, its a sloppy little documentary, and highly personal. It's like the film is a page from Herzog's private journal of musings. It will either touch you or completely bore you. Or maybe alternate between the two.
All About My Mother ****
Writer/Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Year: 1999
Cinematographer: Affonso Beato
Another great little melodrama from Almodóvar.
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp ***
Writer/Directors: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Year: 1943
Cinematographer: Georges Périnal
I wasn't in the right mood for this. I was in the mood for a comedy and I thought it would be more comedic. There are comedic elements, but its really a thoughtful film. I will re-watch it someday and appreciate it more, I am sure. The idea certainly is interesting in a way that Hollywood wouldn't approach now days, considering it boring. To judge an old man as foolish in the first scene, then to go back in time with him, seeing how he was as a young man... explaining why he is how he is now, so that the audience by the end has changed perspective. We start out the film against him, and by the end, we love him. I think Tom Hardy could play Roger Livesey's role in a remake. I would pay to see that.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo ****
Director: Niels Arden Oplev
Year: 2009
Novel by: Stieg Larsson
Adapted by: Nikolaj Arcel, Rasmus Heisterberg
Cinematographer: Eric Kress
Certainly avoids stereotypes. Dark material taken seriously. It's heavy and its not for everyone, but I think it is important that subject matter of rape and abuse of women is talked about in cinema, and showed to be horrific, as it is here. But that very content is what will turn some people off to this film. I think it is dealt with maturely, and yet surprisingly. This film is very memorable, it certainly breaks new ground for me as a viewer, and it challenged me whilst being an entertaining thriller. I think this is a very solid film, it was a bit slow starting, and it just took a while to tie up all the loose ends of the film. However, overall, it keeps a good pace and certainly held my interest. Good material here to start with, I imagine the books must be real page turners.
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three ***
Director: Joseph Sargent
Year: 1974
Novel by: John Godey
Adapted by: Peter Stone
Cinematography: Owen Roizman
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Pusher ***
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Year: 1996
Writers: Nicolas Winding Refn, Jens Dahl
Cinematographer: Morten Søborg
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe ****
Directors: Emily and Sarah Kunstler
Year: 2009
I think William Kunstler is a hero, and this documentary isn't perfect, but it shed light on an important subject of history, America's most famous fighter for the underdogs. I was glad to learn so much more about Kunstler's life by getting short introductions to some of his most famous cases. Makes me want to be a lawyer. Makes me want to do something to further justice in the world, makes me want to be a father that teaches those values to my children one day, the values that Kunstler taught his daughters.
I hope I remember to show this documentary to my children one day, maybe when they are in high school.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
High and Low *****
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Year: 1963
Novel by: Evan Hunter
Adapted by: Hideo Oguni, Ryûzô Kikushima, Eijirô Hisaita, Akira Kurosawa
Cinematographers: Asakazu Nakai, Takao Saitô
The first half of the film takes place entirely within a living room, dealing with the moral dilemma the main character, Reiko Gondo, is put into. The second half is almost an entirely different film as a police procedural plays out hunting down the man who put Gondo into his tight spot. The ending is a bit unexpected, a scene that illuminates the title. High and Low is the theme and the tension of the film.
Animal Kingdom ****
Writer/Director: David Michôd
Year: 2010
Cinematographer: Adam Arkapaw
Very well written first feature. Thoughtful direction, realistic dialogue, very good acting. Really good movie, excited to see what comes next from this new director.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Before Night Falls ***
Director: Julian Schnabel
Year: 2000
Writers: Reynaldo Arenas, Julian Schabel, Lázaro Gómez Carriles, Cunningham O'Keefe
Cinematographer: Xavier Pérez Grobet, Guillermo Rosas
127 Hours ***
Director: Danny Boyle
Year: 2010
Book by: Aron Ralston
Adapted by: Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy
Cinematographer: Enrique Chediak, Anthony Dod Mantle
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Exit Through the Gift Shop *****
Director: Banksy
Year: 2010
A fascinating documentary. Banksy delivers a well-told story about a "documentary filmmaker", Thierry Guetta, that is also a think piece about art, celebrity, and success. The film works because it's not about art, nor is it about Banksy, the film succeeds and stands as an intriguing film and document because it is about a guy who accidentally becomes a microcosm of the art world. Thierry is an every artist.
Banksy certainly has woven a masterful documentary by documenting the man who wanted to document Banksy.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
A Prophet *****
Original Title: Un prophéte
Director: Jacques Audiard
Year: 2009
Writers: Jacques Audiard, Thomas Bidegain, Abdel Raouf Dafri, Nicolas Peufaillit
Cinematographer: Stéphane Fontaine
Tahar Rahim gives an incredible performance, in a film filled with great acting, perfectly directed... great film. Everything I love about american gangster films like the Godfather, combined with everything I love about french cinema.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Biutiful ***
Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Year: 2010
Writers: Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Armando Bo
Cinematographer: Rodrigo Prieto
This is a well made movie, but I think Iñárritu's passion, his idea for what cinema should be is not a contagious idea. The story is so heavy that it failed to live beyond the screen. Amores Perros is still his greatest work. Don't get me wrong, I think he's a great filmmaker, taking on serious subjects, choosing to show things that we haven't seen before... this is great. The problem is that stories must have levity. You can tell a depressing story, in fact, I prefer a pessimistic view to an unrealistically optimistic view in story telling, I am all for realism, showing the way real people suffer... but the way you tell that story must empower the human spirit, educate you, move you... or at least leave you with images that will not leave you alone.
I am okay with a film meandering a bit, like real life, but I found myself wanting either more or less of the chinese story and of the african story. He gave us hints, just little glimpses into their story, but didn't really develop the characters... if you're not going to develop a character, why introduce that character in the first place?
Great cinematography, great acting. Story didn't connect with me as much as I wanted it too. I respect this director a lot, but I don't think I got what he was going for... I'll still be eager to see his next work.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Death of a Cyclist ****
Original Title: Muerte de un ciclista
Director: Juan Antonio Bardem
Year: 1955
Writers: Luis Fernando de Igoa, Juan Antonio Bardem
Cinematographer: Alfredo Fraile
Some great cinematography, poetic script. Some melodramatic acting, I don't have enough fingers and toes to count how many times distressed characters grabbed their heads in anguish... but worth sitting through. Symbolic and critical of spanish culture of the time and of the Franco regime, definitely worth a watch. The opening and closing scenes are especially cinematic.
The director is Javier Bardem's uncle.
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