That gives The Counterfeiters a slight boost in Academy history. Tsotsi's victory over the far superior (and more challenging) Palestinian entry Paradise Now and Germany's gutwrenching Sophie Scholl - The Final Days was a travesty.
Of all the films that have won the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in the past decade, from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to The Lives of Others, Austria's The Counterfeiters is by far the weakest. It is a solid, competently made film, but in a year where great films like 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days, Persepolis, and The Band's Visit were all submitted by their respective countries (Band's Visit was later disqualified), giving the title of best foreign language film of the year to a film like The Counterfeiters should raise a resounding "huh?"
I know it sounds like I don't like the film, but I do. It is merely a good film that never rises to greatness, and to see it crowned as the best world cinema had to offer in 2007 is, to me, a slap in the face to much more daring, ambitious filmmaking.
While it is compulsively watchable, I never felt that the moral complexities were explored to their fullest extent. Sorowitsch makes for a hard, stoic hero, and I felt that Ruzowitzky could have dug deeper into his character than he did. He is juxtaposed by Adolf Burger, a young idealist determined to sabotage the Nazis' plan, and the two continually clash as the movie progresses, but I felt there were places left unexplored in their relationship and their dilemma that could have made The Counterfeiters a better film.
Following in the footsteps of Cinema Paradiso and Il Postino, Under the Same Moon (La Misma Luna), is an uplifting, heartwarming drama about a 9 year old Mexican boy named Carlitos (Adrian Alonso), who after the death of his grandmother decides to cross the border into America in search of his mother (Kate del Castillo) who is working there illegally to support him.
It's a new twist on a plot we've all seen before, but director Patricia Riggen handles it very well. We know where this is going from moment one, and could probably chart the storyline beforehand to relative accuracy, but Riggen directs with a compassion and grace, and young Alonso carries the movie with such charm and sincerity, that it is hard not to like.
Under the Same Moon may be predictable and sentimental, but it's impossible to question its conviction. It's got a heart as big as the moon, and succeeds in its goals far better than the similarly themed August Rush, which was maudlin and manipulative, whereas Under the Same Moon is touching and warmhearted.
A friend of mine told me about this a few weeks ago. There's a huge collection of fan art out there from people who have chronicled a love affair between Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy. I was surprised to discover how popular and widespread it is...not that that's a bad thing ;-).
Who would have thought Ross could have put together such a solid little movie? It's all pretty predictable, but it's enjoyable nonetheless.
The Band's Visit, Eran Kolirin's wonderfully droll Israeli comedy, which was unfairly disqualified from Oscar consideration last year for containing too much English, will finally open in North Carolina tomorrow in Greensboro at the Carousel Luxury Cinema.
Kolirin establishes the offbeat tone from the very first frame, in which a van driver takes an enormous yellow ball from the back of the van and inexplicably places it in the front seat. Using static shots, long takes, and few cuts, he accentuates the awkwardness of the band and their out of place status. They are, in a sense, a relic - a reminder of a bygone era that people have forgotten.
The Academy committed a grave injustice for disqualifying the film. Like Cristian Mungiu's 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days (which was also unfairly jilted by the Academy), The Band's Visit is all about what is going on beneath the surface in any given scene. The two films may bear no other resemblance to each other (4 Months is a much grimmer film, Band's Visit is a quietly uplifting charmer), but both have the ability to say much while speaking little, and feature finely tuned performances (especially by Sasson Gabai as the band's leader, and Ronit Elkabetz as the beautiful restaurateur, who also starred in Late Marriage, another Israeli comedy that was one of my favorite films from 2002) and pitch-perfect direction.
From The Dispatch:It's disappointing that producer Apatow and screenwriter Seth Rogen would follow up "Superbad" with a film that is such a blatant retread of previously covered material about an awkward skinny teen, a loud-mouthed fat teen and an even skinnier, squeaky-voiced über-nerd trying to navigate the tricky waters of high school. "Superbad" was an extremely funny, hugely successful embodiment of teenage fears and dreams (and centered around an awkward skinny teen, a loud-mouthed fat teen and an even skinnier, squeaky voiced über-nerd). "Drillbit Taylor," which focuses on the same thing for a younger crowd (note the less restrictive PG-13 rating), is nowhere near as good.Click here to read my full review.
Variety is reporting that Oliver Stone has cast James Cromwell as George H.W. Bush, and Ellen Burstyn as Barbara Bush for his upcoming biopic, W.
I am as guilty as anyone for not championing this film earlier. Since it did not make it to my area until late in its theatrical run, I gave it very little coverage until quietly adding it to the Honorable Mention category of my 2007 Best Of List, and giving it a grade in the right-hand column of my blog. No review, no blurb, nothing.
Sam Reilly is a revelation as Curtis, and Corbijn, a director of music videos, grabs the audience from the first frame, in no small part thanks to the gorgeous black and white cinematography of Martin Ruhe.
There is never a moment in the film that doesn't feel unquestionably authentic. This is partially due to the involvement of the remaining Joy Division members (now known as New Order) in making the film and composing original music to bring to life the story of their fallen band member, so searingly embodied by Reilly. Samantha Morton is also terrific as always as Curtis' long suffering wife.
The Mike Myers vehicle The Love Guru looks nothing short of repulsive, ditto the latest Eddie Murphy "comedy," Meet Dave. These are the kinds of trailers that make me wonder if people actually see these and think "wow, that looks like something that would really be worth my time!"
It hasn't even been released yet, and already Ben Stein's "Intelligent Design" (i.e. Creationism in disguise) documentary Expelled is drawing controversy.
He has also appeared in Cool Hand Luke, They Call Me MISTER Tibbs, co-starred with John Wayne in Rooster Cogburn, Charlton Heston in The Omega Man, and Christopher Walken in David Cronenberg's The Dead Zone . 
He took the time to speak to each one of us, and was very interactive throughout his lecture. When he got to me he reached over and hit me on the knee and said "I've been neglecting you all morning!" to which I replied "it's OK, I've just enjoyed listening." And he said "Well good, I just wanted you to know I noticed." Then we proceeded to talk about my favorite playwright, Tony Kushner.
"I feel so lucky, so much blessed that one day our roads have crossed. Anthony my friend, my soul mate who made me blossom and create the best of my music. You are alive for ever in my heart. Despite my sorrow, I'll keep going on and remembering you through my work. I can see you smiling at me, always...there are no words, in English or French to say what I mean, I will say it in music throughout my life."
Last night I watched Ingmar Bergman's Through a Glass Darkly for the first time. I was not introduced to Bergman until I got to college, but he is without a doubt one of my favorites. My favorite Bergman work remains Wild Strawberries (1957), and is one of my top ten films of all time. But Through a Glass Darkly definitely gives it a fun for its money.
From The Dispatch:Donaldson's direction, however, keeps the proceedings taut and engaging. He keeps the goals clear and the twists coming, but they never get tangled over themselves or lose sight of the film's purpose - to entertain. In that regard "The Bank Job" is highly efficient, shifting back and forth between suspense and lighthearted moments with ease so that the film never feels choppy or false. Donaldson also does a fine job of not only evoking the 1970s as a time period but the style of filmmaking as well. "The Bank Job" may not be the best evocation of '70s filmmaking of recent years ("Zodiac" has that distinction), but it is still a very good, middle-of-the-road kind of entertainment that is hard not to like and respect.Click here to read the full review.
Of course, solid mainstream films such as this one tend to get overlooked when they are released in the shadows of mega-blockbuster wannabes like the dreadful "10,000 B.C." "The Bank Job" is infinitely more skilled filmmaking and is one of the best films playing in wide release, and as such deserves far more attention than it has received. Movies used to be fun without being dumb, and "The Bank Job" fits that description perfectly.
The press release sums it up thusly:AMERICAN TEEN is the heartbreaking and hilarious Sundance hit that follows the lives of four teenagers
We see the insecurities, the cliques, the jealousies, the first loves and heartbreaks, and the struggle to make profound decisions about the future. Filming daily for ten months, filmmaker Nanette Burstein (ON THE ROPES, THE KID STAYS IN THE PICTURE) developed a deep understanding of her subjects. The result is a film that goes beyond the enduring stereotypes of high school to render complex young people trying to find their way into adulthood.
Variety is reporting that Anthony Minghella, Academy Award winning writer/director of The English Patient, has died of a brain hemorrhage. He was 54.
George Clooney's Leatherheads (Universal, 4.14) was shot near where I live (the train station scenes were filmed where I had my high school prom), and with the release date close at hand, I began to remember the almost ridiculous amounts of coverage it was given by our local paper. Not The Dispatch, but the Salisbury Post. Check out this gem from March 19, 2007:NEWSFLASH: RENEE ZELLWEGER USES SALISBURY RESTROOM!! There's something painfully pathetic about that kind of star-fawning. Movie stars come to town and suddenly their trip to the Starbucks drive-thru becomes newsworthy.Josiah Gamble was working the drive-through window Thursday at Starbucks when he got an unexpected customer -- Renee Zellweger, a star in the movie "Leatherheads."
"She came through and she had the visor down in her car like she was trying to block her face," he said.
Zellweger visited around 5:30 p.m. Thursday, driving a navy blue Ford Explorer -- a car Gamble said he thought was rented.
Her shoulder-length blonde hair was curled 1920s style and she had on her full costume, Gamble said.
"I was trying to be professional about it. I didn't want to scream or ask for her autograph or anything," he said.
Zellweger came to the window and ordered five drinks. Gamble couldn't remember exactly what she got but "it was all soy stuff," he said.
When she was at the window, she told Gamble she was going to come inside to use the shop's rest room and then she'd get the drinks.
"She was friendly and she had a really soft voice," he said.
From the Front Row has just become LAMB #52 over at the Large Association of Movie Blogs . Welcome to all LAMB members who are coming over to read my blog, and I hope those of you who aren't members will head over to the LAMB website and check out the 51 other blogs who make up the membership.
Maybe it's because I share Michael Haneke's contempt for audiences in general, or maybe it's because I enjoy seeing people get worked up in a righteous outrage."The fact that it features fine performances, talented direction and some moments of genuine suspense only makes the end product that much more grotesque and appalling." - Richard RoeperAnd then give it a bad grade. He admits that it is well acted and directed...yet then gives it a rotten grade. That is not what film criticism is supposed to do...we are supposed to recognize quality filmmaking even when it repulses us to do (i.e. The Birth of a Nation, Triumph of the Will).
"Can a movie be gripping and repellent at the same time? In Funny Games, a mockingly sadistic and terrifying watch-the-middle-class-writhe-like-stuck-pigs thriller, the director Michael Haneke puts his characters in a vise, and the audience too." - Owen Glieberman, Entertainment Weekly
"A chilly and extraordinarily controlled treatise on film violence, Funny Games punishes the audience for its casual bloodlust by giving it all the sickening torture and mayhem it could possibly desire. Neat trick, that." - Scott Tobias, The Onion (A.V. Club)
"This is cinematic gamesmanship that is simultaneously brutal, bizarre and elegant in its audacity. Director Haneke has artistically exploited cinematic structure to play with and engage the mind. It's a very funny game indeed." - Adam Fendelman, HollywoodChicago.comThere are more of course, but you get the point. Funny Games wears its purpose on its sleeve, but there is plenty going on beneath the surface as well...but it must be experienced. For better or for worse this is a film that demands to be considered by every serious film buff, cinephile, or critic.
FUNNY GAMES is one of the most despicable movies ever made. It is a pretentious, sadistic thriller intended to make a phony statement against media violence by showing in graphic detail the psychological torture of a family by two psychotic young men.See Funny Games, piss off a conservative nutjob. What a hypocritical review...he constantly rails against violence...but only when it isn't of the patriotic/crucifixion variety. He has the gaul to criticize Haneke's stance against violence, while constantly lecturing in his own reviews in a far more pretentious, holier-than-thou manner.
The filmmaker, Michael Haneke, claims that he’s trying to show “the reality of violence” and the pain it brings to victims. He also claims that this movie is a reaction against the violence in American cinema, “the way American cinema toys with human beings.” This is pseudo-intellectual baloney. Haneke never asks himself, So what? And, he never gives viewers a clue as to how they’re supposed to respond to the pain he presents. Thus, the only thing he accomplishes in the viewer is buyer’s remorse for being asked to pay for sitting through such a despicable movie. The actors involved should be ashamed of wasting their talents. The studio should also be held accountable for releasing it.
I spent yesterday catching up on some final things I wanted accomplished before my spring break ends (it's back to school tomorrow), and hanging out with some friends I might not see again for a while.
We were practically the only ones in the theater, so when John Rambo first appears on screen, or every time he would appear behind the bad guy to save the day, and I would lean over to my friend and whisper "RAMBO!!" in her ear. This is a highly interactive movie...you can't just sit there and take it. Like Snakes on a Plane before it, this is an audience participation movie.
I'm not really sure how I feel about this. Another Star Wars film is not exactly cause for celebration in my book, especially after how the prequels turned out (even if Episode III is pretty good), and it's animated to boot. I'm much more excited about J.J. Abram's new Star Trek movie than this (I'm a fan of both, OK?).
This is good news of course. Less because of Hounddog's quality (I've heard nothing but bad things), but more as a slap in the face to the prudish naysayers who raised hell about it.
"Don't worry Mary, we can BOTH have Henry. I mean, there ARE eight of him...right?"
"Screw Henry, let's run away to the countryside and become lesbians."
A successful period piece should first and foremost be a total immersion into the time and place it depicts. Braveheart, Elizabeth, and Gladiator, to more contemporary period films like Zodiac are all prime examples of this - pitch perfect evocations of bygone eras in every detail, from the production design to the costumes to the performances.
The Other Boleyn Girl is a dour affair, and the two leads fail to generate any kind of sympathy or interest in their characters - it's all political posturing and catty sibling rivarly and romantic entaglements - but for all the intrigue and conflict it all feels oddly flat.
Not that it's a particularly bad film. It's moderately diverting and held my attention for two hours, but I never escaped the feeling that it could have been so much more than it is. The film certainly looks great, thanks to production designer John Paul Kelly and costume designer Sandy Powell, and Paul Cantelon's score is quite good, but the film itself is plodding and unfocused.
The theatrical costume class I'm currently enrolled in has ruined me. I can't watch a period film like The Other Boleyn Girl now without sitting there going "hey look! He's wearing a doublet! And it's been slashed and pulled! And those are leg-o-mutton sleeves! And his chemise is poking out at the wrists!"
From The Dispatch:It's all supremely silly, as it continues to defy logic and intelligence at every turn. I would have preferred to see the filmmakers take a chance and make a movie totally without dialogue (these cavemen would not have had much of a language to speak of, let alone English) and let the images speak for themselves. It's an interesting concept, but the execution is beyond ridiculous. The scenery is pretty, and the special effects are passable, if nothing special (the close-ups of running men early in the film betray their greenscreen roots), but the dialogue is truly atrocious to the point of being laughably bad, and the rest of the film, well, if this is what passes for good entertainment these days then we have reached a sad state indeed.
Michael Haneke's Funny Games will be released in theaters this Friday, and already the critical reactions have been extremely divided, with many crying "brilliant" while the others gather up their moral umbrage.
I have yet to see the shot-for shot remake, but I have seen the original, and I agree that it is one of the sickest, most vile films I have ever seen (click here to read my review). But one cannot deny its skill and sense of purpose, no matter how disturbing it may be.
If this movie knows it’s merely a movie, and concedes as much, why should we honor its mayhem with any genuine fright? When Michael Pitt turns to the camera and asks, with a smile, “You really think it’s enough?,” or “You want a proper ending, don’t you?,” we don’t feel nearly as chastened or ashamed as Haneke would like. We feel patronized, which is one of the worst moods that can beset an audience. Would “Psycho” have been a more profound film if Norman Bates had turned off the shower halfway through, adjusted his dress, and said to us, “Don’t worry about the blood. It’s chocolate sauce”?
Director Martin McDonagh won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short film in 2005 for Six Shooter, a film that I was admittedly not a fan of (I was pulling for the haunting Icelandic nominee, The Last Farm). I found the film well made but ultimately grating and unpleasant, but I want to revisit it after seeing his first feature length film, In Bruges.
McDonagh's screenplay is devilishly witty, filled with macabre humor and gleefully irreverent observations about everyone from fat American tourists, to the mentally disabled, to midgets. In other words, it's not a film for the easily offended. But for those who can stomach drolly offensive humor peppered with ultra-violence and nearly non-stop profanity, then In Bruges is a rare treat indeed.
The difference is clear from the opening credits, where McDonagh makes great use of the scenery and architecture of the ancient town, accompanied by Carter Burwell's wistful piano theme. In fact music is one of the film's strongest aspects, especially the powerful use of The Dubliners' "Raglan Road" near the end of the film.
In Bruges works on so many levels - as a comedy, as an action film, as a mood piece, but above all, an exercise in pitch perfect filmmaking. McDonagh really nails this one, everything about it is perfectly executed and finely tuned for maximum impact, and all the performers are in absolutely top form (Gleeson and Farrell have never been better).
In short - I loved every single minute of it. McDonagh's first feature film hits it out of the park in a bloodly blaze of drunken Irish rage - with plenty of profane insults just for good measure. In Bruges is a an absolutely maniacal, and yet strangely beautiful, pleasure.
GRADE - ***½ (three-and-a-half stars out of four)
IN BRUGES; Directed by Martin McDonagh; Stars Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes, Clémence Poésy, Jordan Prentice, Thekla Reuten; Rated R for strong bloody violence, pervasive language and some drug use.
3. Better saber-toothed tigers. If you're going to have a movie with saber-toothed tigers, at least have them, you know, do something - like attack somebody - instead of going all soft-hearted because it has been rescued by a human.
4. Hire a historical consultant. The use of swords was bad enough - but woolly mammoths helped build the pyramids??
5. Find better actors. What happened to Camilla Bell? She was great in The Ballad of Jack and Rose, but now she does movies like this and When a Stranger Calls. Maybe they should hire someone who can actually, you know, act.
6. Dispense with the narration. The dialogue was bad enough (especially that romantic pap near the beginning about being "like a star in my heart"), but the narration was grating and unnecessary.
7. Spend more time perfecting the special effects. Some of it looked great, but some, especially early close-ups of the men running alongside the mammoths, are painfully obvious that they're greenscreen shots.
8. Throw out Joseph Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces. And do something completely original. I know Campbell says every heroic myth follows the same basic structure, but damn it's almost like you just gave up and followed the book's Cliff's Notes.
In Gus Van Sant's latest film Paranoid Park, the prolific director wastes no time in drawing us into the world he creates. But what is so fabulous about this world is that it doesn't seem created at all, but wholly organic, as if Van Sant just stumbled across it and set up a camera to capture what he saw.
Through the performances of the mostly non-professional cast (Taylor Momsen, as Alex's girlfriend, has been around for a while though...my how far Cindy Lou Who has come), Paranoid Park captures the essence of high school life better than most teen movies could ever dream. Van Sant achieved a similar feat in the Palme D'Or winning Elephant five years ago, but despite some truly beautiful moments in that film I have never really been a fan of it. Here, however, Van Sant has achieved something very close to breathtaking. The blurred images of soaring skateboarders that repeat throughout the film take on a hauntingly surreal beauty, almost as if they are a foggy notion of what Alex could one day achieve, or something he sees begin to fade away as a tragic accident changes his life forever.
In Paranoid Park the camera is a window to the soul, and cinematographer Christopher Doyle (In the Mood for Love, Hero) treats it as such. It allows images to linger in the mind and sink slowly in, like a lingering sunset or a flowing river. And through his lens, Paranoid Park becomes a place we all remember, where a frightened little boy growing up in an ever changing world must learn to deal with things he doesn't always understand or know how to handle. It is teenage life seen through a horrific situation to amplify that unspoken fear that we all feel, but precious few know how to articulate.
