Interesting premise - 1974: Charlie Cox is briefed (by an unfriendly Simon Russell Beale) to make Russian friend Andrew Scott defect, but finds out his father was working for the KGB. He also falls for married Romola Garai. Paula Milne has adapted Alan Judd's novel, not without inconsistencies. With Geraldine James, Olivia Grant, Christian McKay.
Well acted but extremely irritatingly shot and directed e.g. zoom in then zoom out of character in long shot for no reason.
Thursday, 27 March 2014
Philomena (2013 Stephen Frears)
Based on Martin Sixsmith's book, adapted by Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope (Dirty Filthy Love), won BAFTA.
Judi Dench, Steve Coogan, Anna Maxwell Martin, Sophie Kennedy Clark (young Philomena), Mare Winningham (not Jessica Hynes as we thought), and as the nasty old nun Barbara Jefford, who was the voice of Tatiana in from Russia with Love and who we've most recently seen in The Deep Blue Sea.
I'm not a huge fan of Frears, whose films seem to me streaked with cruelty, but this is his best - written and shot (Robbie Ryan) like a thriller, which it sort of is - a good choice. And Coogan is right to inject humour, which in no way dissipates the material.
Alexandre Desplat wrote the music and Valerio Bonelli (Cemetery Junction) edited it
Judi Dench, Steve Coogan, Anna Maxwell Martin, Sophie Kennedy Clark (young Philomena), Mare Winningham (not Jessica Hynes as we thought), and as the nasty old nun Barbara Jefford, who was the voice of Tatiana in from Russia with Love and who we've most recently seen in The Deep Blue Sea.
I'm not a huge fan of Frears, whose films seem to me streaked with cruelty, but this is his best - written and shot (Robbie Ryan) like a thriller, which it sort of is - a good choice. And Coogan is right to inject humour, which in no way dissipates the material.
Alexandre Desplat wrote the music and Valerio Bonelli (Cemetery Junction) edited it
Wednesday, 26 March 2014
Saving Mr Banks (2013 John Lee Hancock)
Something of a breakthrough for British TV writers Kelly Marcel (a virtual beginner) and Sue Smith, with some influence from the actual taped sessions of Mary Poppins author PL Travers. Emma Thompson is enjoying being rude, Tom Hanks an intelligent casting choice from the head of Walt Disney, Paul Giamatti especially enjoyable, but Jason Schwartzman also good against his usual lugubrious type; with Colin Farrell (again playing an alky), Ruth Wilson (so memorable in Luther), Bradley Whitford (recognisable to us from Studio 60), BJ Novak, Rachel Griffiths (aunt) and Annie Rose Buckley (the kid).
Shot by Seabiscuit's John Schwartzman, edited by Mark Livolsi (Almost Famous, Elizabethtown), music by Thomas Newman (his 12th Oscar nomination).
Shot by Seabiscuit's John Schwartzman, edited by Mark Livolsi (Almost Famous, Elizabethtown), music by Thomas Newman (his 12th Oscar nomination).
Monday, 24 March 2014
Perfect Strangers (2001 Stephen Poliakoff & scr)
Michael Gambon, Matthew Macfadyen, Claire Skinner, Lindsay Duncan, Toby Stephens, Jill Baker, Timothy Spall, Anton Lesser, Michael Culkin, Kelly Hunter, Kathleen Byron (! pictured below) Sheila Burrell and Muriel Pavlow, Tony Maudsley, JJ Feild (Ruby in the Smoke).
Edited by Paul Tothill.
Ph Cinders Forshaw.
Music by his regular collaborator Adrian Johnston.
It's the stories you are told that make the lasting impression: so the Jewish girl relearning her family tree, the two sisters who live in the wild (soldiers collecting cobwebs), father dancing. And the photos...
Staged at Claridge's, and at several unknown country and town houses.
Edited by Paul Tothill.
Ph Cinders Forshaw.
Music by his regular collaborator Adrian Johnston.
It's the stories you are told that make the lasting impression: so the Jewish girl relearning her family tree, the two sisters who live in the wild (soldiers collecting cobwebs), father dancing. And the photos...
Staged at Claridge's, and at several unknown country and town houses.
Sunday, 23 March 2014
L'Anée Dernière à Marienbad (1961 Alain Resnais)
25 March 2013
Just two shots from this shocking editing sequence, that extends for maybe 30 seconds, is probably my favourite in any film and worthy of study. One of the cuts really is this fast (or even faster).
Just two shots from this shocking editing sequence, that extends for maybe 30 seconds, is probably my favourite in any film and worthy of study. One of the cuts really is this fast (or even faster).
Brief Encounter (1945 David Lean)
Screenplay by Noel Coward (play 'Still Life'), Anthony Havelock-Allen, David Lean and Ronald Neame.
Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard ("what exciting lives we lead!"), Stanley Holloway (who's in four of my Top 100), Joyce Carey (In Which we Serve, Blithe Spirit, The Way to the Stars), Cyril Raymond ("No dear, I like it"), Valentine Dyall (the disappointed friend).
Photographed by Robert Krasker.
The fade to remembrances may have come from Citizen Kane? (Expert darkening of background.)
That station bell is such an important element in the film.
Wonderfully clever and ahead of its time (ending at beginning from different point of view).
26/2/12: A perfect film, which of course gave Wilder The Apartment.
Screenplay, actress, director all nominated.
16/10/11.
24/10/10. Ronnie Neame himself cries at the ending, though suggests that the husband doesn't know?
And the featurette.
It was Coward who insisted on Rachmaninov.
That's Denham village.
14/2/09. Q's Valentine's Day suggestion.
When Johnson contemplates suicide, there's a wonderful camera tilt that makes its way into the next two shots.
Loved Beryl and her date running past in background.
But twist is husband seems to have known all along.
13/01/08.
18/3/95.
Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard ("what exciting lives we lead!"), Stanley Holloway (who's in four of my Top 100), Joyce Carey (In Which we Serve, Blithe Spirit, The Way to the Stars), Cyril Raymond ("No dear, I like it"), Valentine Dyall (the disappointed friend).
 |
| "I should have felt utterly ashamed and wretched, but I wasn't." |
Photographed by Robert Krasker.
The fade to remembrances may have come from Citizen Kane? (Expert darkening of background.)
That station bell is such an important element in the film.
Wonderfully clever and ahead of its time (ending at beginning from different point of view).
26/2/12: A perfect film, which of course gave Wilder The Apartment.
Screenplay, actress, director all nominated.
16/10/11.
24/10/10. Ronnie Neame himself cries at the ending, though suggests that the husband doesn't know?
And the featurette.
It was Coward who insisted on Rachmaninov.
That's Denham village.
14/2/09. Q's Valentine's Day suggestion.
When Johnson contemplates suicide, there's a wonderful camera tilt that makes its way into the next two shots.
Loved Beryl and her date running past in background.
But twist is husband seems to have known all along.
13/01/08.
18/3/95.
The Red Shoes
Q finally got it.
Jottings this way.
Most amazing new thing I noticed was in the Red Shoes ballet, when Marius Goring appears to walk out of the orchestra onto stage...
Jottings this way.
Most amazing new thing I noticed was in the Red Shoes ballet, when Marius Goring appears to walk out of the orchestra onto stage...
Saturday, 22 March 2014
Seven Psychopaths (2012 Martin McDonagh & scr)
Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson, Christopher Walken, Harry Dean Stanton.
Grandly entertaining story of script being written as the film. Though sequence of Vietnam monk burning himself seems oddly out of place.
Still, generally, good, bloody entertainment.
Grandly entertaining story of script being written as the film. Though sequence of Vietnam monk burning himself seems oddly out of place.
Also, the film's self-criticism - that the women are secondary characters quickly despatched - doesn't address itself.
Still, generally, good, bloody entertainment.
Friday, 21 March 2014
The Butler (2013 Lee Daniels)
Great cast supports Forrest Whittaker - Oprah, David Oyelowo, Cuba Gooding Jr, Terrence Howard, Lenny Kravitz, Mariah Carey, plus guest stars.
It looks like an Andrew Dunn film, and it is.
Felt the pivotal diner / dinner scene should have been a stand-out, but wasn't. There's a great edit later when two people who aren't in the same room seem to look at each other - more of that would have helped. (Brian Kates and Joe Klotz).
Too Hollywoody. A bit of a disappointment from Daniels, who seems to be going downhill from Precious.
As evidence, goes on too long.
It looks like an Andrew Dunn film, and it is.
Felt the pivotal diner / dinner scene should have been a stand-out, but wasn't. There's a great edit later when two people who aren't in the same room seem to look at each other - more of that would have helped. (Brian Kates and Joe Klotz).
Too Hollywoody. A bit of a disappointment from Daniels, who seems to be going downhill from Precious.
As evidence, goes on too long.
Tuesday, 18 March 2014
Inspector Morse
Watching early episodes - films in effect - from the first two seasons, 1987-8.
Colin Dexter's novels supply the material, Alastair Reid is amongst those directing and Anthony Minghella (ep. 1), Julian Mitchell (Arabesque) and Charles Wood (The Knack) all wrote episodes. Barrington Pheloung wrote the music for the entire series.
John Thaw and Kevin Whately star, Peter Woodthorpe good fun as pathologist.
Familiar guests include Simon Callow, Kenneth Cranham, Robert Stephens, Patrick Troughton, Barbara Flynn, Michael Gough, Roger Lloyd Pack, Michael Hordern etc.
The Wolvercote Tongue features the Ashmolean and the Randolph Hotel opposite ("one of the best hotels in England" - really?), and it's amusing that although a precious treasure is stolen, no one for a moment investigates the red herring that is a group of builders on scaffolding who have easy reach of the jewel from outside.
Colin Dexter's novels supply the material, Alastair Reid is amongst those directing and Anthony Minghella (ep. 1), Julian Mitchell (Arabesque) and Charles Wood (The Knack) all wrote episodes. Barrington Pheloung wrote the music for the entire series.
John Thaw and Kevin Whately star, Peter Woodthorpe good fun as pathologist.
Familiar guests include Simon Callow, Kenneth Cranham, Robert Stephens, Patrick Troughton, Barbara Flynn, Michael Gough, Roger Lloyd Pack, Michael Hordern etc.
The Wolvercote Tongue features the Ashmolean and the Randolph Hotel opposite ("one of the best hotels in England" - really?), and it's amusing that although a precious treasure is stolen, no one for a moment investigates the red herring that is a group of builders on scaffolding who have easy reach of the jewel from outside.
Monday, 17 March 2014
Unrelated (2007 Joanna Hogg)
Bare, improvised film (somewhat akin to watching a holiday video - not one of my holiday videos, I hasten to add) has no music and 'natural' sound, and remote shot lengths, and shows emotionally-repressed woman Kathryn Worth staying with her old school chum Mary Roscoe, her family and friends in Tuscany (near Siena), including young Tom Hiddlestone, for whom she falls.
Reminded me a great deal of Rohmer's Le Rayon Vert in both its subject matter and execution. What they don't share though is this one's sense of underlying unsettlement, which surfaces in (off-screen but potent) shouting match between father and son. Doesn't always feel credible, e.g. the scene when they've skinny dipped into the pool.
We didn't really like the woman, but I thought her friend was even worse.
Reminded me a great deal of Rohmer's Le Rayon Vert in both its subject matter and execution. What they don't share though is this one's sense of underlying unsettlement, which surfaces in (off-screen but potent) shouting match between father and son. Doesn't always feel credible, e.g. the scene when they've skinny dipped into the pool.
We didn't really like the woman, but I thought her friend was even worse.
Sunday, 16 March 2014
Captain Phillips (2013 Paul Greengrass)
It's over before it's begun. Greengrass hits you over the head with his film, which then won't end. It's like being assaulted. It is all edits, verité camerawork, sound effects and music, and not much in the way of suspense or surprise (or story). (Several scenes would have been more effective without music.) The ending is actually the only good bit.
Several opportunities for Britney Spears jokes though. And why on earth aren't giant cargo ships like these armed??
Tom Hanks was noticeably not nominated by either Academy; Barkhad Abdi was the surpise BAFTA supporting actor winner.
Shot by Barry Aykroyd in the same docu style as Hurt Locker.
Several opportunities for Britney Spears jokes though. And why on earth aren't giant cargo ships like these armed??
Tom Hanks was noticeably not nominated by either Academy; Barkhad Abdi was the surpise BAFTA supporting actor winner.
Shot by Barry Aykroyd in the same docu style as Hurt Locker.
The Selfish Giant (2013 Clio Barnard & scr)
Immediate, real, poignant, Clio Barnard immediately earns the right to sit beside Lynn Ramsay and Andrea Arnold as one of our top directors. And Conner Chapman is so natural it's like he isn't acting. Weird that he and Shaun Thomas were originally to play each other's parts. Lots of good support from Sean Gilder and Siobhan Finneran (salvagers), Lorraine Ashbourne and Steve Evets (friend's parents), Elliott Tittensor (brother, also from Shameless), and Rebecca Manley as mum.
Lyrical too (final shot is of the horse's eye).
Shot by Mike Eley (Parade's End).
Films which Barnard researched - The Boy on the Bicycle, Kes, Les Quatres Cent Coups, Bicycle Thieves - certainly spring to mind.
Lyrical too (final shot is of the horse's eye).
Shot by Mike Eley (Parade's End).
Films which Barnard researched - The Boy on the Bicycle, Kes, Les Quatres Cent Coups, Bicycle Thieves - certainly spring to mind.
Saturday, 15 March 2014
Moonrise Kingdom (2012 Wes Anderson)
Delightful romantic fable written by Anderson and Roman Coppola, featuring young stars Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward, supported by Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Bruce Willis, Frances McDormand, Bob Balaban, Jason Schwartzman and Tilda Swinton. Packed with so many amusing details (her suitcase, megaphone) and touches that there's no beginning nor end to them - and warmth, wonderful colours courtesy Robert Yeoman.
"Was he a good dog?"
"Who's to say?"
Scored by Alexandre Desplat.
Q thinks it's Wes's most enjoyable film, and of course she's right.
"Was he a good dog?"
"Who's to say?"
Scored by Alexandre Desplat.
Q thinks it's Wes's most enjoyable film, and of course she's right.
Tirez Sur le Pianiste / Shoot the Pianist (1960 François Truffaut)
Amusingly written by Truffaut and Marcel Moussy, based on the novel 'Down There' by David Goodis.
With a sad Charles Aznavour, Marie Dubois, Nicole Berger (his wife), Michèle Mercier (prostitute), Serge Davri & Claude Mansard (amusing gangsters), le jeune Richard Kanayan, Albert Rémy.
Stunningly shot in the very lowest of lights by Raoul Coutard (in DyaliScope) and edited like lightning by Claudine Bouché (who "stood in for Cecile Décugis at the last minute" who is also credited: Truffaut, de Baecque & Toubiana); music by Georges Delerue.
Certain amazing sequences e.g. when he tries to take her hand, kidnapping, the edits of the couple in bed.
Described by Truffaut as a 'musical', and with the intention of being completely unlike Les Quatre Cents Coups, we end up with this most amusing film noir romance comedy thriller, with a pace and style unlike almost all other films, and raising the question, why do other people not make films like this any more? It certainly succeeds in being immediate and real (all on location). It's extremely fresh, lively, romantic, sexy, funny and sad. Perhaps it is pulling all that off in one short film which is the tricky bit.
Loved it when I first saw it, on TV, 16 February 1979. The kid had class.
Paris locations in Levallois-Perret and a brasserie at the Porte Champerret.
With a sad Charles Aznavour, Marie Dubois, Nicole Berger (his wife), Michèle Mercier (prostitute), Serge Davri & Claude Mansard (amusing gangsters), le jeune Richard Kanayan, Albert Rémy.
Certain amazing sequences e.g. when he tries to take her hand, kidnapping, the edits of the couple in bed.
Described by Truffaut as a 'musical', and with the intention of being completely unlike Les Quatre Cents Coups, we end up with this most amusing film noir romance comedy thriller, with a pace and style unlike almost all other films, and raising the question, why do other people not make films like this any more? It certainly succeeds in being immediate and real (all on location). It's extremely fresh, lively, romantic, sexy, funny and sad. Perhaps it is pulling all that off in one short film which is the tricky bit.
Loved it when I first saw it, on TV, 16 February 1979. The kid had class.
Paris locations in Levallois-Perret and a brasserie at the Porte Champerret.
Friday, 14 March 2014
Blue Jasmine (2013 Woody Allen & scr)
He's bloody unstoppable - the 78 year old genius is definitely in a late creative flowering, getting closer to his hero Bergman (who he only discovered because he had heard there was a topless girl in his film) every year.
Irony abounds in usual style.
If ever there was a director who defines Truffaut's auteur theory, making the same film over and over again, it is Mr Woody Allen.
Precise musical choices as always, rich photography (Javier Aguirreasrobe) in Panavision, for a change (try finding a screen shot in the correct ratio, I challenge you), making San Francisco look as unfamiliar as Woody did London in Match Point.
Less continuous takes than earlier films - he's actually working harder. Though did notice a quick Gordon Willis moment where no one's in shot.
And he allows another performer to win Best Actor, his sixth or seventh (refer to earlier posts for definitive answer). Cate Blanchett is absolutely brilliant, but so is Sally Hawkins. As for the 'loser' boyfriend who so bugged us, he's from Nurse Jackie or Will & Grace, Bobby Cannavale. The elusive Andrew Dice Clay, and Alec Baldwin, also appear.
Irony abounds in usual style.
If ever there was a director who defines Truffaut's auteur theory, making the same film over and over again, it is Mr Woody Allen.
Precise musical choices as always, rich photography (Javier Aguirreasrobe) in Panavision, for a change (try finding a screen shot in the correct ratio, I challenge you), making San Francisco look as unfamiliar as Woody did London in Match Point.
Less continuous takes than earlier films - he's actually working harder. Though did notice a quick Gordon Willis moment where no one's in shot.
And he allows another performer to win Best Actor, his sixth or seventh (refer to earlier posts for definitive answer). Cate Blanchett is absolutely brilliant, but so is Sally Hawkins. As for the 'loser' boyfriend who so bugged us, he's from Nurse Jackie or Will & Grace, Bobby Cannavale. The elusive Andrew Dice Clay, and Alec Baldwin, also appear.
Thursday, 13 March 2014
About Schmidt (2002 Alexander Payne & co-scr)
Novel Louis Begley - adapted by AP and Jim Taylor.
Subtle, grey film (by that I mean not black and white), open to interpretation (is the son-in-law just a 'nincompoop' or is the father incapable of seeing that his daughter is marrying for love?)
Jack Nicholson, Hope Davis, Dermot Mulroney, Kathy Bates.
Music Rolfe Kent (and featuring piano music that is unmistakably Satie). Edited by Kevin Tent. Ph James Glennon.
Subtle, grey film (by that I mean not black and white), open to interpretation (is the son-in-law just a 'nincompoop' or is the father incapable of seeing that his daughter is marrying for love?)
Jack Nicholson, Hope Davis, Dermot Mulroney, Kathy Bates.
Music Rolfe Kent (and featuring piano music that is unmistakably Satie). Edited by Kevin Tent. Ph James Glennon.
 |
| Mark Venhuizan, with the Nicholson |
Goodbye Again (1961 Anatole Litvak)
Not having read François Sagan's novel, I can't comment on its adaptation. And why should I anyway? My neighbour Ann cannot understand that a novel is a novel and a film is a film, and there is no mileage in comparing the two. In any event, it's been adapted by the great Samuel Taylor, author of the plays and screenplays of Avanti and Sabrina, and screenwriter of Vertigo (as regular readers will know, a thoroughly good chap).
The always fabulous Ingrid Bergman has made the mistake of allowing womanising boyfriend Yves Montand to get away with it for five years; she finally succumbs to the assiduous advances of young lover Anthony Perkins, who I've never seen smile so much.
Great use of Brahms 3rd Symphony, incidental music by Auric, nice jazz also with singer Diahann Carroll.
Jesse Royce Landis and Allison Leggatt (This Happy Breed) co-star.
I like a film set in Paris which actually is set in Paris.
Avoid Korean DVD though, which is at the wrong frame rate and not anamorphic, though does preserve the 1.66:1 ratio.
The always fabulous Ingrid Bergman has made the mistake of allowing womanising boyfriend Yves Montand to get away with it for five years; she finally succumbs to the assiduous advances of young lover Anthony Perkins, who I've never seen smile so much.
Great use of Brahms 3rd Symphony, incidental music by Auric, nice jazz also with singer Diahann Carroll.
Jesse Royce Landis and Allison Leggatt (This Happy Breed) co-star.
I like a film set in Paris which actually is set in Paris.
Avoid Korean DVD though, which is at the wrong frame rate and not anamorphic, though does preserve the 1.66:1 ratio.
Monday, 10 March 2014
Erin Brockovich (2000 Steven Soderbergh)
Scr, Susannah Grant (Oscar nom, also In Her Shoes and The Soloist).
Julia Roberts (AA, BFA, great, the way she says "Please don't make me beg"), Albert Finney (nom, also great), Aaron Eckhardt, Peter Coyote, the real EB as a glamorous looking waitress.
Edited by the legendary Anne Coates, using one of her distinctive jumbled up bedroom scenes, lots of canny shot size choices and much use of the dissolve. Shot by Far from Heaven's Ed Lachman.
Music by Thomas Newman is very simple, centring on a piano riff over an electric piano.
Lots of great scenes and moments e.g. when Julia hears her kid has spoken her first word. Great dialogue e.g. speech to Eckhardt when he wants her number (though probably quite unrealistic).
Thoroughly professional and enjoyable, and true. Last on 7 April 2012.
Julia Roberts (AA, BFA, great, the way she says "Please don't make me beg"), Albert Finney (nom, also great), Aaron Eckhardt, Peter Coyote, the real EB as a glamorous looking waitress.
Music by Thomas Newman is very simple, centring on a piano riff over an electric piano.
Lots of great scenes and moments e.g. when Julia hears her kid has spoken her first word. Great dialogue e.g. speech to Eckhardt when he wants her number (though probably quite unrealistic).
Thoroughly professional and enjoyable, and true. Last on 7 April 2012.
Sunday, 9 March 2014
The Goodbye Girl (1977 Herbert Ross)
Written by Neil Simon.
Richard Dreyfiss (AA, BFA, Golden Globe, even the David di Donatello!), Marsha Mason, Quinn Cummings (we like a smart, funny kid).
Last watched it on 31 October 2012 - was way overdue. No doubt if we'd had it in our collection earlier we would have watched it loads.
Gay Richard III v. funny.
Scene where Dreyfuss romances Mason is great, both of them - note long takes e.g. in bathroom.
Also, moments of real grit - nasty mugging, violent drunk.
Music Dave Grusin, Ph. David M Walsh (many comedies).
Margaret Booth, editor of Orphans of the Storm and feared head cutter at MGM, was the supervising editor aged 79. She lived till 104.
Richard Dreyfiss (AA, BFA, Golden Globe, even the David di Donatello!), Marsha Mason, Quinn Cummings (we like a smart, funny kid).
Last watched it on 31 October 2012 - was way overdue. No doubt if we'd had it in our collection earlier we would have watched it loads.
Gay Richard III v. funny.
Scene where Dreyfuss romances Mason is great, both of them - note long takes e.g. in bathroom.
Also, moments of real grit - nasty mugging, violent drunk.
Music Dave Grusin, Ph. David M Walsh (many comedies).
Margaret Booth, editor of Orphans of the Storm and feared head cutter at MGM, was the supervising editor aged 79. She lived till 104.
Saturday, 8 March 2014
La Grande Bellezze / The Great Beauty (2013 Paolo Sorrentino & co-scr)
Distinctly Felliniesque (the light which turns into an aircraft is a direct quotation), La Dolce Vita for the 21st Century, but funnier.
Toni Servillo (Gomorrah, Le Conseguenze dell' Amore) is absolutely splendid as the weary cynical observer of the party-going ruling class in modern Rome (a chilly representation of the city).
Fantastic, sweeping photography in Panavision by Luca Bigazzi (This Must be the Place, Romanzo Criminale) with stunning candlelit scene in a museum, and incisive editing by Cristiano Travaglioli, great music too Lele Marcitelli.
With Olivia Magnani, Sabrina Ferilli,
Toni Servillo (Gomorrah, Le Conseguenze dell' Amore) is absolutely splendid as the weary cynical observer of the party-going ruling class in modern Rome (a chilly representation of the city).
 |
| cineblog.it |
With Olivia Magnani, Sabrina Ferilli,
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004 Wes Anderson)
Another totally original tale from Anderson (there's a hint of things to come in Rushmore with diving footage and a book featuring Jacques Cousteau) in which Bill Murray seeks revenge against a Jaguar Shark which has eaten his friend. Meanwhile Owen Wilson, who may be his son, tags along and gets involved with pregnant Cate Blanchett. Also features Anjelica Huston, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Michael Gambon, Bud Cort and Seu Jorge, who sings most of the film's Bowie songs in Portuguese! Seymour Cassel also guests.
We see evidence of the director's keenness for fake trickery - the crabs and the shark.
We see evidence of the director's keenness for fake trickery - the crabs and the shark.
Rushmore (1998 Wes Anderson)
Well-made film, written by Anderson and Owen Wilson, in which student Jason Schwartzman is befriended by industrialist Bill Murray - they both get involved with Olivia Williams with echoes of The Graduate. Seymour Cassel - a Cassavetes alumni - plays the father. Many amusing moments and details (such as Scottish teenaged thug who excels in Apocalypse Now-style school play!)
Robert Yeoman on camera, David Moritz edits.
Sunday, 2 March 2014
Funny People (2009 Judd Apatow & scr)
Adam Sandler, Seth Rogan, Leslie Mann, Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman, Eric Bana, Aubrey Plaza, Iris & Maude Apatow.
Perhaps because director spends too much time on his wife and kids, film is way too long.
Perhaps because director spends too much time on his wife and kids, film is way too long.
Pride and Prejudice (2005 Joe Wright)
For his first feature, my favourite working British director could only muster a second rate cast: Keira Knightley, Matthew McFadyen, Brenda Blethyn, Donald Sutherland, Rosamund Pike, Tom Hollander, Judi Dench, Claudie Blakley, Simon Woods, Carrie Mulligan, Talullah Riley, Jena Malone, Kelly Reilly and Pip Torrens.
Showdown between Dench and Knightley is like two great generations of actors coming to blows.
Adapted by Deborah Moggach, photographed by Roman Osin (in Panavision), edited by Paul Tothill, music by Dario Marienelli.
Beautifully choreographed scenes make me think of The Magnificent Ambersons.
Showdown between Dench and Knightley is like two great generations of actors coming to blows.
Adapted by Deborah Moggach, photographed by Roman Osin (in Panavision), edited by Paul Tothill, music by Dario Marienelli.
Beautifully choreographed scenes make me think of The Magnificent Ambersons.
Saturday, 1 March 2014
Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008 Nicholas Stoller)
I wanted another classic but had to settle for something lower-brow. This from co-producer Judd Apatow is written by star Jason Segel and also features Mila Kunis, Russell Brand, Kristen Bell and stock company regulars Paul Rudd, Bill Hader, Jonah Hill and Jack McBrayer.
Why do films never really capture Hawaii? I'm thinking of the Hawaii of Hunter S Thompson...
Why do films never really capture Hawaii? I'm thinking of the Hawaii of Hunter S Thompson...
Atonement (2007 Joe Wright)
Atonement is one hell of a film and Joe Wright is one hell of a director.
Just when you think you have been dazzled enough by a wonderful Dario Marienelli score featuring a typewriter, scenes which take place from different points of view and David Lean moments (Brief Encounter in a tea room, Doctor Zhivago with a bus) he throws in the most amazingly choreographed and shot five minute single take which - like Soy Cuba - defies the brain with how it was achieved: it clearly isn't hand held / steadicam, so how does it traverse the steps? (OK. It is a remarkable Steadicam shot, operated by Peter Robertson, sometimes in a vehicle, sometimes being pulled on a two-wheel trolley and sometimes hand-held. Full info here.) Naturally, we had to watch it twice.
Full marks go to Seamus McGarvey (DOP) and Paul Tothill (editor), Christopher Hampton and Ian McEwan (screenplay and novel), and a great cast, headed by the fantastic James McAvoy, comprises Kiera Knightley, Saoirse Ronan, Benedict Cumberbatch, Brenda Blethyn, Danny Huston, Daniel Mays (superb), Kristin Scott Thomas, Vanessa Redgrave and Romola Garai.
The film showing is apparently Le Quai des Brumes (Marcel Carné 1938).
Just when you think you have been dazzled enough by a wonderful Dario Marienelli score featuring a typewriter, scenes which take place from different points of view and David Lean moments (Brief Encounter in a tea room, Doctor Zhivago with a bus) he throws in the most amazingly choreographed and shot five minute single take which - like Soy Cuba - defies the brain with how it was achieved: it clearly isn't hand held / steadicam, so how does it traverse the steps? (OK. It is a remarkable Steadicam shot, operated by Peter Robertson, sometimes in a vehicle, sometimes being pulled on a two-wheel trolley and sometimes hand-held. Full info here.) Naturally, we had to watch it twice.
Full marks go to Seamus McGarvey (DOP) and Paul Tothill (editor), Christopher Hampton and Ian McEwan (screenplay and novel), and a great cast, headed by the fantastic James McAvoy, comprises Kiera Knightley, Saoirse Ronan, Benedict Cumberbatch, Brenda Blethyn, Danny Huston, Daniel Mays (superb), Kristin Scott Thomas, Vanessa Redgrave and Romola Garai.
The film showing is apparently Le Quai des Brumes (Marcel Carné 1938).
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