films

[Chris]

It's a great time of year to go to the flicks - pre-Oscar season and lots of top films released and all that . . . Some musings on one's I've caught recently -

6/10 Black and White (passable human rights drama)
A half-caste aborigine in 1950s Australia is sentenced to death on little more than racist supposition over the rape and murder of a young girl. Penniless and inexperienced good-guy lawyers, Robert Carlyle and Kerry Fox, go up against the system to save the man's neck from the gallows. David Ngoombujarra, as the half-caste, turns in a moving performance, the story has sufficient emotional pace, legal twists and unusual setting, yet for some reason manages to peter down like a wet squib. The climax doesn't seem to do the rest of the film justice, and the reminder that it is based on true events comes too late (at the very end of the credits) to have the proper impact. Black and White is an interesting film, but more of a near miss than a resounding success.

8/10 Cold Mountain (top grab for everyone! - solid epic / love story - some blood & guts)
Another triumph for Nicole Kidman - playing the long suffering sweetheart of a man she knew for only moments (Jude Law) and who has gone off to fight in the Civil War. Plenty of realistically bloody scenes tracing this troubled period of American history, but Cold Mountain is much more than a war film. Kidman is the daughter of a preacher who can play piano and speak several languages but is poorly equipped to look after herself when times get hard. Zellwegger plays her down-to-earth companion and saving grace and as such is a revelation. Jude Law's character as a 'moral' soldier is an interesting one, as his long journey, physical and emotionally, against many difficulties. Torments of facing very alien scenarios unprepared, and of a love that spans several years of separation giving hope to the future.

8/10 Girl With a Pearl Earring (top grab if you're feeling arty)
Either its an incredibly dull movie about some painting, or it's a mesmerising insight into the artist Vermeer. Depends on your point of view. Griet is a young girl who goes to work for the great painter as a humble servant. She gets pushed around by his overwrought and jealous wife, naughty kids and all-powerful horny patron. Yet the biggest force in her life, gradually teasing out her own artistic sensibilities, is the Master himself. Griet becomes the subject of his most famous painting, lured by a mixture of dread and fascination. For Vermeer, his work is all-consuming. Every part of his world - the welfare of his family, his eccentricities, his whole energy and purpose in life, is concentrated into his work. Art becomes the light illuminating thoughts and our world in a way that cold logic alone would deny us, letting us see the world in a new way, inspired and informed. Vermeer sometimes protects the vulnerable Griet, but is his concern towards her paternal, secret desire, or just protecting an exquisite tool of his trade? Girl With a Pearl Earring calls to us as art, but if one just wanted to be entertained then it probably falls short. Holland of the period is beautifully recreated and Scarlett Johansson gives a very well-tempered performance as young Griet. Costumes, music and overall cinematography are accomplished and haunting without loss of subtlety, producing a memorable film for lovers of art and cinema; but if paintings don't do anything for you, this film might not either.

7/10 The Last Samurai (very good Tom Cruise - solid epic - some blood & guts)
A great action adventure in a setting that hasn't been too overworked - the final days of the legendary Samurai Warriors. Cruise plays the American hero of General Custer's time, recruited to Japan to help the government defeat the Samurai, but he learns to value the values of the Samurai. There is nothing very Japanese about the feel of the movie - it seems firmly like a Hollywood recreation put together to glorify Cruise's strengths and set in historical Japan - but Cruise puts plenty of work into the part with a performance to be proud of. And historical tosh as might it be (the Samurai were not really as noble as they are portrayed) - it does present the legend quite well, and the legend and the values retrospectively attributed to the Samurai are in some ways more important and interesting perhaps than any reality.

9/10 Lost in Translation (top grab - arty comedy)
There's more than one way to 'find oneself', but many of them involve taking oneself away from the slipstream of daily life, the ever-ending succession of familiar things, faces, events and corresponding thoughts - the sum total of which we often, for shorthand, think of as 'our life'. Crossing the desert alone, quite literally, or spending hours in meditation, are two ways of going to a place where one becomes intensely aware of one's own limitations, one's own 'self.' Another is immersing oneself in a traumatically alien culture. This is exactly what director Sofia Coppola's characters do in Lost in Translation - although hardly with that intention. Bob (Bill Murray) is a film star who has been paid a huge sum to go to Japan to endorse a whisky. Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) is a young philosophy graduate who is accompanying her photographer husband. Both are fish out water, isolated by their own sincerity and the barely intelligible culture gap, and trying to make sense of their lives. Much is left unsaid. The inner struggles of the characters are portrayed more in what they don't do/say than what they do do/say (although some suitably deep ideas penetrate the silences and underline the substance of what is going on). Moreover this is a rare glimpse of modern day Japan - from the high-tech intensity of Tokyo to the more tranquil beauty of Kyoto. Instead of being thrown into a mythical past or mad kung-fu scenes, we are confronted with the incomprehensibility of institutionalised karaoke, picture menus in restaurants that convey little about the food (often the photos are photos not of the food but of plastic mock-ups of the food), hectic TV that seems almost a caricature of itself, vigorous but ill-informed attempts at Western politeness, and very wordy sentences that somehow get condensed into a single phrase when 'translated'. This incongruous setting is the backdrop for a moving tale of a sensitive friendship between two strangers. Nothing is polished up to make it more entertaining: the realism of the engaging characters, who come to realise that less in their lives can be more, makes it a major cinematic achievement. It is not mainstream, but many audiences will be deeply moved, and rightly so.

7/10 Love Actually
Sometimes great movies aren't born - they're made. This is one of those. Lots of money, big names, and a well-tested formulaic script that is cleverly enough edited to be enjoyable (just). It's the perfect thing for a hangover when your brain is barely functioning. The loosely related love lives of eight couples, including a befuddled Hugh Grant as Prime Minister (who at least stands up to the American President - very topical) gallop into a hectic run-up to Christmas. 'Three Weddings and a Funeral' without the originality.

6/10 Out of Time (Competent but predictable cop thriller)
A police chief is having an affair with a woman who is being abused by her husband. This leads him into a difficult situation where he has to race against time to prove his own innocence in a web of murder and greed. Denzel Washington and Eva Mendez manage to keep the whole thing going quite well, but it's still only slightly a cut above a tv who-dunnit.

5/10 Paycheck (lame sci-fi - ok for staying out of the rain)
What starts off as a reasonable fix for dedicated sci-fi addicts spins along quite reasonably for a while as Ben Affleck (a reverse technology engineer) does jobs that require having his memory wiped afterwards so he won't know how he hacked into competitors' technology. Of course it all goes a bit wrong and Uma Thurman joins in as the kick-ass biologist and love interest. Based on yet another story from fashionable sci-fi writer Philip K Dick, this would seem to have all the ingredients of an above average near-future escapade, with overtones of Total Recall and Memento, but the interminable addition of predictable box-office draws (fights, car chases and explosions), the facile removal of any trace of political or social comment, and a resultant plot with more bugs than Windows 95, dooms this undisciplined thriller to mediocrity.

8/10 Runaway Jury (fab Grisham courtroom thriller with loadsa famous stars)
So much happens in the opening credits of Runaway Jury that we need to be riveted from the start - a sudden mass murder, a string of interesting and fully-fledged characters played by well-known stars, interwoven story lines, a time lapse of a couple of years - all before we get into the main film. Runaway Jury packs in so much and is a great film - the saddest thing probably being that it is not the greatest film of the year (which I sensed it could have been). The main premise, high powered jury consultants that can affect the outcome of a trial, is rammed down our throats from the start with demonstrations of psychological manipulation and legal shenanigans that beggar belief - if more time had been spent building these aspects of the story up in a more believable fashion a stronger statement could have been made. But statements it does make, with a moral righteousness that taxes the consummate skills of Dustin Hoffman, John Cusack, Rachel Weisz, Gene Hackman, and several others. It reminded me of those monster movies that start with a big monster, as if to say, "skip the build up to suspension of disbelief, just take it as read that the big plasticky thing with ten legs and lots and lots of teeth is real, then we can get on with the story." The monsters here are bad guy Hackman and his CIA-style organisation that knows the weakness of every juror with such hi-tech precision and depth psychology that it verges on mindreading, and a system that is so lacking in any moral fibre that legal procedures connected to fair trial can be bypassed like someone with a houdini kit getting out of a lead box at the bottom of the ocean and still arriving for dinner without a hair out of place.

5/10 Stuck on You (A pleasant comedy, but not quite outstanding)
This story of conjoined twins who seek different careers has lots going for it without ever quite being a major smash. The story is well-enough acted, with matt Damon playing the quiet one, hawked along to Hollywood so his brother can have a go at acting. Cher is great as 'herself' - a haughty actress, as is the mild-natured Streep and a number of other cameos; the script is just tight enough to pull it off without seeming cheesy or ridiculous, but the real triumph is perhaps the way all 'normal' characters are lampooned (even down to the over-achieving wheelchair-bound agent) but only the conjoined twins are 'normal'.

4/10 Touching the Void - walking in the rain is more fun than watching this dramatic reconstruction of two daft climbers getting stuck on a mountain.

Or of course there's . . .
9/10 Lord of the Rings: ROTK

Enjoy!

Chris x

http://www.docker.demon.co.uk/films/filmsintro.html

[TheTramp]

Hiya Chris....

Only seen 3 of those films (Love Actually, The Last Samurai (well, okie, I gave it 7.5, but close enough), and LOTR). But I actually agree with the ratings you gave. (Look, all you people. Pick yourselves up off the floor).

Out of interest, what films would you give a 10 to. Or, are you one of those markers that never manage to give a 'perfect' 10??

(I don't understand when I'm reading reports, where the critique says, 'This is the perfect film', or 'This player/actor/whatever gave the perfect performance', and then they score them a 9).

Steve

[Jive Brummie]

Originally posted by TheTramp


Out of interest, what films would you give a 10 to. Or, are you one of those markers that never manage to give a 'perfect' 10??


Steve

The Usual Suspects, Goodfellows/fellas?, The Italian Job and The Crow.

[TheTramp]

Originally posted by Jive Brummie
The Usual Suspects, Goodfellows/fellas?, The Italian Job and The Crow.

Yeah. Maybe I should have said what my 10 rated films are:

I also think that the Crow is superb.

Good Will Hunting
Life is Beautiful
Billy Elliot
The Sixth Sense
Highlander I
Terminator I
Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure
Month Python's Life of Brian

Steve

[Chris]

Originally posted by TheTramp
Out of interest, what films would you give a 10 to. Or, are you one of those markers that never manage to give a 'perfect' 10??

I use a marking system to try and keep track - I find it particularly hard to be perfectly consistent over several years. It's difficult to choose between marking 'objectively' and being more consciously subjective, as interpretation is subjective anyway. I tend to give a film (as with any art form) a slightly higher rating if it goes 'beyond it itself' - but my markers are, did it entertain, inspire or educate me? I try to answer that before analysing it in terms of acting, direction cinematography etc, to avoid judging component parts over the whole. On the other hand, I try to look at accessibility as well - much as I think The Hours, Mulholland Drive and the (coming) Dogville are amongst the finest films ever made, some people find them impenetrable or boring, whereas everyone can enjoy Singin' in the Rain! (I'll dig out my 'marking' system in a minute)!

At the moment, the only ones I have as a 'ten' on my IMDb record are Casablanca, Singin' in the Rain and Top Hat. There's probably others that should be there and there's lots I've not marked.

My current 'nines' are: American Beauty, American Splendor, Beautiful Mind, Belle et la bête, Dancer Upstairs, Dogville, Donnie Darko, Earth, Erin Brockovich, Fa yeung nin wa, Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain, Far from Heaven, Gattopardo, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, Hours, L.A. Confidential, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Lost in Translation, Monster's Ball, Mulholland Drive, Once Were Warriors, Pianist, Point Blank, Quiet American, Reservoir Dogs, Shall We Dansu?, Smoke, Snow Falling on Cedars, Straight Story, Terminator, Traffic, Tragedy of Macbeth.

I rated (checking) Usual Suspects at 8, the (new) Italian Job as 7,
Terminator (I) as 9, Good Will Hunting as 8, Billy Elliot 7, Sixth Sense 8, so fairly close maybe.

btw Does anyone else use IMDb to record their views? post the link if you do

ps - I never get bored discussing films!

[Chris]

Originally posted by Chris
(I'll dig out my 'marking' system in a minute)!

Here we go - (bearing in mind it that for me at least it should inspire, educate or entertain)

At 5 and below I think it's flawed <snip degrees of flawedness>

A rather pedestrian or less than wonderful example of the genre I give 6/10

A reasonably good example of the genre I try to give 7

8 is an outstanding example of the genre

For 9/10 I expect it to be ouitstanding on several levels

For 10/10 I believe it is a rare classic or cinematic milestone

For general reading, stars out of five would probably more useful, but IMDb uses 10 points so I use that for quick online 'logging'.


I'd love to hear other people's systems. Gut feeling? Or if you had to explain a rating what would you say?

http://comments.imdb.com/user/ur0064493/comments

[Chris]

The Golden Globes Awards, that often manage to predict the Oscars, have just been announced. If like me you have only terrestial tv so couldn't watch it here's the results.

LOTR and Lost in Translation have done brill, but Cold Mountain less well than expected.

Nice to see Ricky Gervais do well too! (in the television section). He's made history by becoming the first British actor to win a TV comedy acting award at the Globes, and The Office became the first UK sitcom to win the best comedy prize. "I'm not from these parts... I'm from a little place called England. We used to run the world before you," he joked!

• Best Picture - Drama "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"
• Best Actress - Drama Charlize Theron, "Monster"
• Best Actor - Drama Sean Penn, "Mystic River"
• Best Picture - Musical or Comedy "Lost in Translation"
• Best Actress - Musical or Comedy Diane Keaton, "Something’s Gotta Give"
• Best Actor - Musical or Comedy Bill Murray, "Lost in Translation"
• Best Actor in a Supporting Role Tim Robbins, "Mystic River"
• Best Actress in a Supporting Role Renee Zellweger, "Cold Mountain"
• Best Foreign Language Film "Osama," Afghanistan
• Best Director Peter Jackson, "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"
• Best Screenplay Sofia Coppola, "Lost in Translation"
• Best Original Score Howard Shore, "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"
• Best Original Song "Into the West" from "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," by Howard Shore, Fran Walsh and Annie Lennox
  
  TELEVISION (some)
• Best Series - Musical or Comedy "The Office," BBC America
• Best Actress - Comedy Sarah Jessica Parker, "Sex and the City"
• Best Actoromedy Ricky Gervais, "The Office"

[Chris]

Big Fish - Cold Creek Manor - Culloden - Human Stain - Sylvia
(note - I'm sure my views on some of these - particularly Sylvia and Culloden, are to an extent one-sided!) - Chris (SNP flag-waving etc etc)

Sylvia
- More kitchen sink melodrama than famous poet biopic?
What makes poetry a special art form? Answers might include bringing together extremes of joy and despair within a couple of lines, offering an alternative to rational thought, enriching our outlook and understanding in ways that prose would struggle to equal. Poetry can provide a single phrase or sentence that is easily remembered and somehow unlocks difficult-to-express inner states, just as a song can (and poetry is the basis of songs). It offers a freedom of expression where you don't need to explain every aspect of what you are saying - it urges the listener to grasp a semi-spoken truth or idea.

That's my rough guess. I've got over 40 books of poetry on my bookshelf at the last count, yet I'm no literary expert and appreciate poetry in a very simple way. Most people might agree that poetry offers something special, so a film celebrating the life of a famous poet might be expected to bring us a glimmer of that something.

Sylvia Plath has been championed not only as a poet but as a sort of ‘feminist' – a cry on behalf of women treated as a commodity, subjugated by an unfair male-dominated system. Cast in the lead role, Gwyneth Paltrow's Plath focuses much attention on how downtrodden she was, chained to two children, overshadowed by a brilliant and celebrated Ted Hughes, struggling with bitterness, jealousy, mental instability and a less than attractive persona. We also get the occasional poetic outburst, from who-can-recite-poetry-fastest undergrad shenanigans to romanticised performances of Chaucer (addressed to an audience of watching cows whilst floating downstream in a boat). All punctuated with soft-focus shots of a naked Plath/Paltrow, hysterical and often violent outbursts at Hughes, and scenes of a generally uninteresting and uninspiring life of moderate wretchedness. The only thing that distinguishes Sylvia from the now-unfashionable kitchen sink drama is that its central character is called Sylvia Plath.

So is the film worthy of the title? In A Beautiful Mind, we learnt of the joy of mathematics, Lunzhin Defence championed the addictive mysteries of chess, and Dead Poets Society made us lift our eyes to literary horizons that could inspire the dullest of minds. Sylvia was limited, perhaps, by the refusal of her daughter to allow much of Plath's poetry to be used in the film but, for whatever reason, it has failed to be more than a rather humdrum biopic. It offers little insight into her poetry or the magic of poetry generally, and adds little of interest about the historical figure that doesn't apply to millions of women. If any deep philosophical statement can be drawn from this, the film certainly doesn't make it, poetically or otherwise. Sadly, it would seem that the words of Sylvia Plath's daughter almost became a self-fulfilling prophecy: "Now they want to make a film . . . They think I should give them my mother's words . . . To fill the mouth of their monster . . . Their Sylvia Suicide Doll." Whilst not quite an empty doll, Sylvia is maybe an arm or leg short of a manikin.




Cold Creek Manor
- Would be entertaining enough as a 'B'-movie.
A mysterious old manor, bought at a knock down price complete with the belongings of the former inhabitants, acting skills of Sharon Stone and directorial flair of Mike (Leaving Las Vegas) Figgis, should prove a powerful combination. There is no headlong rush into the story – the characters are built up gradually and we are left wondering whether it is going to be a supernatural thriller, whodunit, or serial killer flick till at last half way through. The fact that so many other minor details and lines of script are totally predictable isn’t crucial if you don’t expect too much in the first place – but ‘slightly above average B movie’ is perhaps the nicest accolade this passable but rather lame two hours of film can hope for.




The Human Stain
- An important film but not delivered with the intensity it deserved.
Political correctness in the late nineties, originally devised as a way of protecting minorities, became a weapon that those minorities could sometimes use against anyone, without the slightest reference to fact or justice.

This is what happens in The Human Stain. The stage is set by undergraduates on campus discussing the sanctimoniousness of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, before moving on to examine this ‘persecuting spirit’ in issues of race, gender, class and education levels. Anthony Hopkins plays Coleman Silk, a classics professor who makes an untoward comment about absent students, asking if anyone has seen them or if they are ‘spooks’. As he’s never seen them (they’ve not come to class once) he’s unaware that they also happen to be black. Whilst he clearly used the word spooks as meaning ghosts, he is accused of using a racist epithet and forced to resign. He later begins an affair with a much younger woman (Nicole Kidman). Although she is uneducated and very working class, they bring much joy into each other’s life. He finds someone who can challenge his ideas because of her (harsh) life experience and she finds someone who cares about her without abusing or belittling her. The relationship brings even more disdain piling down on the unfortunate Coleman Silk.

The Human Stain develops the injustices of such a situation and the human misery that people righteously inflict on each other. It is bleak, bitter and depressing, as well as requiring much concentration to follow the ideas. A worthwhile movie, but enjoyable is hardly the word that comes to mind. Given the importance of the themes, it maybe deserved a more compelling treatment.




Big Fish
- Quirky and lovable - Burton just about carries it off this time
One of the quirkiest and lost lovable of films, Big Fish is about a grandfather who has perfected the art of telling bedtime stories. His stories are all made up, all feature fictionalised episodes from his own past life, and polished to a degree that make them in demand to children and adults alike (except to his own grown-up children, who have heard them once too often). The second most difficult thing about grandfather Ed Bloom is that he is constantly telling these stories. The most difficult thing is that, when it comes to his own life, he tells nothing else.

Most of the film is devoted to putting these stories into pictures, just as he tells them. Fantastical, endlessly inventive and incredibly entertaining, they would be enough for a film itself if only aimed at children; but what makes Big Fish a joy for adults as well as kids is that Ed Bloom's life becomes more than that, it becomes an illustration of the fantastic within all of us and how valuable that it. He is a self-mythologizing man, a living example of the magic that can put a sparkle of wonder in a child's eye, and remind us that imagination is a wonderful thing, not just for storytelling, but to realise the greatness within each of us. It is also one of whimsical and visionary director Tim Burton's most rounded and mature films to date, and makes good use of a star studded cast that includes Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Jessica Lange, Helena Bonham Carter and Steve Buscemi. A film to leave you smiling all the way home.




Culloden
- Very dramatic historical reconstruction
Enjoying a revival on the art-house circuit, this reconstruction of the famous last battle fought on British soil uses modern documentary-style reporting to convey immediacy. An effective and bloodthirsty film, it covers a landmark period of Scots-Anglo history, showing not only the senseless waste of human life, the total incompetence of the Bonnie Prince Charles as a military leader, but the barbaric excesses of both Scots and English, and the iniquity and the Scottish ‘clan' system. The period opened the way for the ‘clearances' where indigenous people were shipped off and the land used for (more profitable and less troublesome) sheep farming.

It really doesn't have anything very good to say about anyone, English or Scots, but this won't stop many English feeling it is racist and one-sided (just as the English critics as a whole were the only ones in the world to lambaste the magnificently spectacular but historically inaccurate, Braveheart). Watkins may well have had a political agenda – the film was likened to a social commentary on the American involvement in Vietnam (as the gutting of the Gaelic Highlands by the Noble Army was said to parallel the ‘pacification' of the Vietnamese by the U.S. Army). Culloden, however, is not only a key historical massacre but almost part of Scottish folklore. Arguing the details of the battle is still a not uncommon pub conversation, especially to the north and west of the country. My favourite version is by an elderly lady who lives near Culloden (just outside of Inverness) who ‘tells it like she was there'. The movie, although originally made for television, is also a landmark, and riveting stuff, but whether it can justifiably be used to further a pro-Scottish Independence agenda is much shakier, given that it happened a long time ago. (I'm bending over backwards to be fair, but I think the movie is equally damning to Scots and English and not at all 'anti-English').

[Lynn]

Originally posted by Chris
Or of course there's . . .
9/10 Lord of the Rings: ROTK

I would agree with the 9/10 rating.


Finally got to see LOTR ROTK on Sat night. Really enjoyed it. (Noticed several changes but think they worked well into the film though there was one part of dialogue that I didn't think worked but I can't remember what it was now, and this aspect has been discussed on another thread anyway). My friend who hasn't read the books enjoyed it as much as I did (I have read them many times). Well directed and acted throughout.


Another film I would probably give a high score (8/10?) for would be Moulin Rouge - a unusual cinematic experience - I came out feeling I had been to a show instead of a film. There are a lot of 'average' films made these days, enjoyable enough as an evenings entertainment, but its nice to find something that's a bit different.

[Bill]

Went to see Lost in Translation and for a man who usually prefers something dark or depressing ( ) I really enjoyed it and was smiling all the way home.

Great performances and shows that you don't always need sex, violence and action to have a great film.

Also enjoyed the LOTR but for me it was spoiled by having dummies on horseback in the long shots when they were meant to be Hobitts. Theywere so obviously not real that I was disappointed escpecially after spending millions on special effects. But apart from that wonderful trilogy.

Last year City of God and before that Amos Peres were outstanding films.

[TheTramp]

Originally posted by Bill
Went to see Lost in Translation and for a man who usually prefers something dark or depressing ( ) I really enjoyed it and was smiling all the way home.

Great performances and shows that you don't always need sex, violence and action to have a great film.

I saw Lost in Translation on Saturday. It was okie, and I only fell asleep once I think. But I was tired! And the bits I saw, I quite enjoyed

Definitely a chick flick though....

Steve

[Chris]

I meant to mention there was a modern jive / rock n roll scene in one of that latest batch - can't remember which one - must have been Sylvia? Didn't recognise any of the dancers.

[Bill]

Originally posted by TheTramp
I saw Lost in Translation on Saturday. It was okie, and I only fell asleep once I think. But I was tired! And the bits I saw, I quite enjoyed

Definitely a chick flick though....

Steve

How come I find myself enjoying a chick flick And it was quite cheerful. Oh no.................... surely I'm not becoming a happy person. Must go see something depressing soon.

[Mary]

Originally posted by Chris



btw Does anyone else use IMDb to record their views? post the link if you do

I'm listed on that - under 'people'!! But you'd have to know my surname to look me up And it's not a complete filmography

M

[Chris]

Originally posted by Mary
I'm listed on that - under 'people'!! But you'd have to know my surname to look me up And it's not a complete filmography
M

What fun! I would love to see the reference - do PM me if you want to share it but not be public (am happy to respect a confidence). I love dredging through IMDb but I think I've only ever met / known one person who's actually listed. I love reading reviews by other people I've met as well - so much more fun when there's a face to the name.

(Mine's just reviews )

[foxylady]

Originally posted by Mary
I'm listed on that - under 'people'!! But you'd have to know my surname to look me up And it's not a complete filmography

M

I'm listed too !! 'Swing kids' featured dancer....

not under my pseudonym though... (Boomster 'the detective' blew my cover via the IMdB)

FL

[Mary]

Originally posted by foxylady
I'm listed too !! 'Swing kids' featured dancer....

not under my pseudonym though... (Boomster 'the detective' blew my cover via the IMdB)

FL

Wow, cool! I'm going to have to check it out.

M

[Bill]

Might try and catch Girl with the Pearl Earing tonight. Be interesting to compare Scarlett Johansen's performance in this compared to Beyond Translation. Trailers and reviews looked good.

[Chris]

Lovely to hear from people on the Forum who have actually been involved with filmmaking. Like a small window opening into different worlds and interests . . .


On films and dancing - a thought that maybe some poeple will relate to (and many not, but one I'll be trying fwiw ... )

I was listening to Nicole Kidman's commentary on The Hours (on the new DVD features) and she was describing an acting technique she used 'like electricity' as an idea was born in her mind and travelled quickly down her arm and fingers, and I was thinking how we often don't (consciously) know what we're about to do next in dancing - it just happens - so paraphrasing . . . 'thinking of it like electricity, the moment of that dance starting in head and heart, and travelling very quickly down the arm, through fingers, communicating to and through partner, and taking form on the dancefloor . . .'

(Errrm . . . Is this why I get static electricity off so many partners . . . )

Another one - Julianne Moore said how Kidman rehearses a lot to get it just right, whereas she (Moore) likes to rehearse as little as possible, to let subtleties just be created in front of the camera before they get stale. Not sure how this would apply to dance but I suppose it might . . .

[Chris]

The Dreamers - Something’s Gotta Give - Scary Movie 3

The Dreamers – Sex, film history and politics (or soft porn for socialites)
It was the May and June of 1968 in France. Student uprisings were occurring in many countries, frequently in response to the U.S. war in VietNam, but in France the situation was more complex and more embracing. Amongst those taking to the streets were cinephiles, protesting over the way film was distributed and also its political content. French New Wave cinema was born, led by such people as Godard and Truffaut. Riots broke out and strikes ensued. Godard and Truffaut both received a beating in the mayhem and the fights (which involved tear gas and Molotov cocktails).

The film’s story starts just before all this. A Californian youth (Matthew) meets up with two fellow film buffs (Theo and Isabelle, who are brother and sister) and they become close friends, united by youthful hedonism, a bohemian, revolutionary spirit, and a love of cinema that spills over into elaborate games and dares, testing each other’s knowledge of movies. The film’s elements include the developing sexual challenges between the three main characters, the atmosphere of political unrest and uprising, and a detailed questioning of various cinematic trends. A backdrop of some of the best sound recordings of the time (Hendrix, Pink Floyd, The Doors) uses analogous developments and confrontations in music, characteristic of that period. Director Bertolucci (of Last Tango in Paris), also pushes at the boundaries of censorship with the sexual themes and degree of full frontal nudity (censorship was a major issue in French cinema in the late sixties – today it is U.S. distributors that are complaining about the nudity in The Dreamers). There are also political dilemmas represented by the pacifist Matthew (who feels he has been lucky to dodge the draft) and the French siblings who preach love but allow their left-wing sympathies to not rule out violence. In an interesting debate about film, or viewing one’s life as a film, Theo expresses admiration for Mao’s red army and what a wonderful film that would make – but Matthew points out that in such a film ‘everyone would be extras, no-one would be special’.

The final mix in The Dreamers is a heady cocktail for serious film lovers, but not mainstream by any standards. Reflecting its subject matter, this is cinema as art rather than as entertainment.

Something’s Gotta Give – old-young love stories, well-worn plots, but great acting
A romantic comedy in which Jack Nicholson (as Harry) revives much of his role from As Good As It Gets and plays the type of character he has in so many movies now – aging, eccentric, charismatic – but this time with an eye for the ladies – in fact ladies that are always less than half his age. Balancing heart attacks with a string of love affairs with beautiful young women, he suddenly finds himself being cared for by his latest romance (Amanda Peet), her mother Erica (Diane Keaton) and Dr Julian Mercer (Keanu Reeves). Julian is attracted to the older woman. This predictable romp is enlivened by some fabulous dialogue (Harry: 'I have never lied to you, I have always told you some version of the truth.') and a talented cast. Nicholson so often overshadows everyone in a movie, but here Keaton shows she can give him measure for measure (the parts were written especially with these two actors in mind). Gradually Harry and Erica are drawn together, against their initial judgements, and this formulaic and improbable story nevertheless manages to be entertaining for a couple of hours.

Scary Movie 3 – A film to round off the pub crawl
Round three of gratuitous bad-taste spoof comedy has unlikely characters chasing crop circles, alien invaders, and people dying mysteriously seven days after watching a weird video. It includes several silicone-enhanced women, a white rapper, and other caricatures of actors or characters from other movies (as well as several that just play themselves). The IMDb website lists 23 movies (horror, sci-fi and other) that receive the send up treatment so, if you see enough mainstream movies, half the fun is seeing how many references you can spot. My own list included two that weren’t in the IMDb list - Dark Water and Something About Mary – but there were enough I didn’t spot to make it party fun for watching again later with such friends who can share these otherwise