tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46706915852536701412024-03-05T18:29:07.157-05:00Gate DimensionMovie Musings from a Hopeless MiddlebrowArthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845394320537913576noreply@blogger.comBlogger68125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670691585253670141.post-11261365441857099342015-12-09T23:59:00.002-05:002015-12-09T23:59:58.949-05:00Movie Poster of the Week <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk24uioo50nKiu68cdnYdF0_Pqhaz78PrqPkKcTrTGiYRHm0r5NBSGAs-tjEWQ4v6jy9lBlCk17JSp7ziA20yfD8yEaoCl_fG3jM3EOc6FuYs99leTf3xfWZUAHts-pknjLqTFdO5T2aA/s1600/silent-night-deadly-night-movie-poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk24uioo50nKiu68cdnYdF0_Pqhaz78PrqPkKcTrTGiYRHm0r5NBSGAs-tjEWQ4v6jy9lBlCk17JSp7ziA20yfD8yEaoCl_fG3jM3EOc6FuYs99leTf3xfWZUAHts-pknjLqTFdO5T2aA/s640/silent-night-deadly-night-movie-poster.jpg" width="412" /></a></div>
<br />Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845394320537913576noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670691585253670141.post-65041938122504236672015-09-03T18:44:00.001-04:002015-09-04T00:44:00.267-04:00James Bond - From Russia With Love - That's Hitchcock You Hear Coming<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIew-48FMcwsq3NYWgrz0HZ7j4S0PP1La1ZIJdvEzjxTq2E3QtSUKHwq-nwvVMpz01yHlKZt0tbHL4sQDNHcAhpIeGVsWeKdpuDbiPSTFn7eK_2JZaZ-2HjgCK1YN680Fd4ULg5fjuZ5Y/s1600/From+Russia+With+Love+Poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="498" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIew-48FMcwsq3NYWgrz0HZ7j4S0PP1La1ZIJdvEzjxTq2E3QtSUKHwq-nwvVMpz01yHlKZt0tbHL4sQDNHcAhpIeGVsWeKdpuDbiPSTFn7eK_2JZaZ-2HjgCK1YN680Fd4ULg5fjuZ5Y/s640/From+Russia+With+Love+Poster.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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When the gypsy catfight turns into a fiery western gun battle, (complete with flaming arrows,) and ends with James Bond bedding both the gypsy women, I was almost going to bail on <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057076/?ref_=nv_sr_1">From Russia With Love.</a></i><br />
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The second James Bond film fills almost all of the template that would endure for decades, though much of it was already there in <i><a href="http://www.gatedimension.com/2015/08/james-bond-dr-no-minimalist-template.html">Dr. No</a>, </i>the very first outing for 007. In this movie we get a briefcase with all sorts of gadgets in in it, we get some henchmen for the evil genius villain, credits projected onto scantily-clad dancing women, and a pre-credit sequence. This is a complete Bond package.<br />
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But, oh, how silly the movie gets, and how fast it gets there.<br />
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Bond doesn’t appear until quite a ways in, as the early sequences are spent with the bad guys. We realize SPECTRE, the organization introduced in Dr. No, is pretty upset with Bond, and it’s personal. They have even recruited the perfect assassin to take him out, an icy killer with tremendous strength and quite a bit of smarts, played by Robert Shaw. Shaw is best known to most movie fans as Quint, the salty sea captain in <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073195/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Jaws</a></i>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0QSvwDceajuPU2Q4pTmBGCmqTYQmTMZmFnZMWNmJlauw539XJcG5RY2x3ZPw7x0L1D0reWCGyFSZ8CG7vAcNGpGhxLmXdKlIXDM7KXO8wks9QtQbjeniU9vuTdmX_xxwWPqeSp3CiOvg/s1600/From+Russia+with+love+grant+and+klebb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="398" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0QSvwDceajuPU2Q4pTmBGCmqTYQmTMZmFnZMWNmJlauw539XJcG5RY2x3ZPw7x0L1D0reWCGyFSZ8CG7vAcNGpGhxLmXdKlIXDM7KXO8wks9QtQbjeniU9vuTdmX_xxwWPqeSp3CiOvg/s640/From+Russia+with+love+grant+and+klebb.jpg" width="640" /></a>We are also introduced to Shaw’s bosses: Ernest Blofeld (though not called that in this movie) and his Number 3, Agent Rosa Klebb played by Lotte Lenya.<br />
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These two characters are really hard to take with any seriousness at all, you see they are both specifically spoofed in Mike Meyers’ brilliant parody of the Bond films, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118655/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1"><i>Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery</i>. </a> And those performances, by Mike Meyers as Doctor Evil and Mindy Sterling as Frau Farbissina, are indelible to anybody who has watched any of the three films in that series.<br />
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So it is complete credit to Ms. Lenya that her performance is able to emerge on its own, pulling away from the parody. You feel danger at certain points when she is near, the fact that she is armed with a knife with fast acting poison only intensifies that. I thought, upon her first appearance that I was going to be rolling my eyes throughout, but instead I ended up delighted whenever she would return to the screen.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs-HAhVo8KDDao-uPXhkAeHdx3WswFhzbzuT6YDxqu3bwzuNzyZ3efoOidL186G7bm3oYSoK6Gy7IjwUJJcyvyeP3vGSrMVh30pC9JXlcqoL-fiq5KpulnnFOuuVwov9dbTv2-EVDBAE0/s1600/Klebb+and+Tatiana+-+From+Russia+With+Love.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="324" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs-HAhVo8KDDao-uPXhkAeHdx3WswFhzbzuT6YDxqu3bwzuNzyZ3efoOidL186G7bm3oYSoK6Gy7IjwUJJcyvyeP3vGSrMVh30pC9JXlcqoL-fiq5KpulnnFOuuVwov9dbTv2-EVDBAE0/s640/Klebb+and+Tatiana+-+From+Russia+With+Love.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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SPECTRE has actually set up a pretty good trap. They will lure 007 into an affair with a beautiful Soviet double agent, who claims to be able to provide a Russian encryption device. The genius of the plan is that SPECTRE is aware that Bond and MI6 will suspect it is a trap, or at least that something is amiss, but they won't be able to resist the possibility of getting this crucial piece of Soviet technology. I really liked this particular wrinkle. It is fun to watch Bond and his superiors trying to work the angles, knowing that they are most likely being set up.<br />
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Bond is sent off to Turkey, which is part of what makes this installment distance itself from the original film immediately. Istanbul is a great location. The budget of this second movie is reported to have been double that of <i>Dr. No</i> and it shows. The city looks great, and the designers takes advantage of the locations to build sound stage sets that are interesting and detailed.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxJIstMJUEJr_ynbhXM8tTgvee8KQgPnr1v7awtF8geTNPMQueAG1BOk_pYvgW2wMqYJwmNEVtVaMV8DB2tRl52kXl9FOxkIN8hOE-nYWolwiRJQOdl1HRoo202Rxw0LYdu5mBTwhHLuA/s1600/From+Russia+With+Love+Istanbul.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxJIstMJUEJr_ynbhXM8tTgvee8KQgPnr1v7awtF8geTNPMQueAG1BOk_pYvgW2wMqYJwmNEVtVaMV8DB2tRl52kXl9FOxkIN8hOE-nYWolwiRJQOdl1HRoo202Rxw0LYdu5mBTwhHLuA/s640/From+Russia+With+Love+Istanbul.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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However, the beats are a little similar to what we saw in <i>Dr. No.</i> Bond is followed from the airport, Bond meets his local contact, (a very likable and perfectly mannered performance by <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000784/?ref_=tt_cl_t3">Pedro Amendariz</a>,) Bond checks his hotel room for bugging devices, etc. <br />
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And… next thing we know, we end up at that gypsy encampment, with belly dancers and then the two women in the catfight. These proceedings are interrupted by a weird assault on the camp by squadron of heavily armed men. Soon, the covered wagons are burning and Bond is using a knife to cut the guidewires for flaming tents and using his Walther PPK to pick off enemy soldiers as easily as if he had a sniper rifle. He even saves the gypsy king’s life, and as a reward he gets to bed both the women who were in the catfight. The next morning, they women are best of friends. 007 has brought peace to even these savages.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU2yOEIppLDDxgzIlnr618wo1jiw-EbaVGD7uh41xjW0l6qLtb9NurCOdarEr_-hc2wAzCXxYS-QnSE-b_h7Tw2-JFNv2vpf6sFkCDnMNS9OMdfxPIrrMSrcz4abOiUUbX9ET8DHYh1S0/s1600/Catfight+From+Russia+With+Love.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU2yOEIppLDDxgzIlnr618wo1jiw-EbaVGD7uh41xjW0l6qLtb9NurCOdarEr_-hc2wAzCXxYS-QnSE-b_h7Tw2-JFNv2vpf6sFkCDnMNS9OMdfxPIrrMSrcz4abOiUUbX9ET8DHYh1S0/s640/Catfight+From+Russia+With+Love.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Although it is all in good fun, the movie really underperforms here. How can I say that? Because it gets a lot better, very quickly.<br />
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The intrigue that we want from a spy movie begins when Bond meets with Tatiana Romonava (<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000938/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Daniela Bianchi</a>), and the two spend a night together as the sparks instantly fly. This Bond girl is a big step forward character-wise from the almost childlike Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress) in <i>Dr. No</i>.<br />
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Tatiana is the bait for the trap to get 007 and snag a Soviet encryption machine for SPECTRE, but remember, Bond <i>knows</i> she might be part of a trap.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigOpcPTKQ62Qv8gRnnDpr1CcZcgYwfN2Q3L-ZpBHGsX_TQOcIG1P1oXLP5usGWzD09XBk1bQou2lIjeMehYUeosO4krBI4SXn9rZRmXGbbr06ldXsoqf1_C1wve0-D2tvI3uJ5vPGJdzk/s1600/From+Russia+With+Love+Bed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigOpcPTKQ62Qv8gRnnDpr1CcZcgYwfN2Q3L-ZpBHGsX_TQOcIG1P1oXLP5usGWzD09XBk1bQou2lIjeMehYUeosO4krBI4SXn9rZRmXGbbr06ldXsoqf1_C1wve0-D2tvI3uJ5vPGJdzk/s640/From+Russia+With+Love+Bed.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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The chemistry between Connery and Bianchi is electric, and so the setup works perfectly. Is Bond falling for her and putting himself in danger? Is she falling for Bond and starting to lead Spectre along?<br />
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I’m going to say that influence of Alfred Hitchcock starts to be felt very strongly in the rest of the film. Of course, there is the obvious helicopter scene, which is a direct aping of the crop duster sequence in <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053125/?ref_=nv_sr_1">North by Northwest</a></i>, but I was more engaged by some of the subtler moments.<br />
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For instance, there is rendezvous on a ferry that makes interesting use of light and shadow, as well as sets up a great segue into an administrative meeting or the head honchos back at MI6.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDZvvJGhiOuucpDuNvgey2Cb8liWlCm1ga6dSAm91fuLJyjYNrJnxqwWIKWcusB1d0rQ676scCG93KGGxxDn6qIzereh3ZsL16ugeR7M4d3md7g6WHEUntBilGa3eSBUDZ6EwebKBOCv4/s1600/Ferry+From+Russia+With+Love.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDZvvJGhiOuucpDuNvgey2Cb8liWlCm1ga6dSAm91fuLJyjYNrJnxqwWIKWcusB1d0rQ676scCG93KGGxxDn6qIzereh3ZsL16ugeR7M4d3md7g6WHEUntBilGa3eSBUDZ6EwebKBOCv4/s640/Ferry+From+Russia+With+Love.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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A wordless sequence involving a covert drop off of classified information incorporates the magnificent Haggia Sofia in Istanbul, as well as tracking multiple participants with great skill.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0aCZkpX2Z7UON6D89FMwfo7I5ze3cQ1GLXPX-taMsU0sV-A1L1YV80GxUCs3yyF1gkl0qPD1Ipyvbts06YyTssgYam4MHkcEPQuj9MHEMIXPSqj07E66FvuAMRXtSsOykkIpI-5lNyU8/s1600/From+Russia+With+Love+Haggia+Sophia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0aCZkpX2Z7UON6D89FMwfo7I5ze3cQ1GLXPX-taMsU0sV-A1L1YV80GxUCs3yyF1gkl0qPD1Ipyvbts06YyTssgYam4MHkcEPQuj9MHEMIXPSqj07E66FvuAMRXtSsOykkIpI-5lNyU8/s640/From+Russia+With+Love+Haggia+Sophia.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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During both these sequences, I could easily imagine Hitchcock behind the camera. The adventure even takes Bond on board the Orient Express, and the cat-and-mouse elements there reminded me a lot of train sequences.the master brought us.<br />
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Things get more action-oriented as the film nears the end. In fact, it keeps giving us climaxes for a good fifteen minutes, eventually ending in a massive explosion. But, unlike the earlier gypsy encampment fight, we are invested so much in Bond and Tatiana’s journey together that the silly action doesn’t bore us.<br />
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<i>From Russia With Love</i> is often mentioned near the top of James Bond film rankings, and I can understand why. A lot of it feels like a good espionage romance movie. At times if feels like something like <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038787/?ref_=nv_sr_2">Notorious</a></i>, though its indulgences in the very campiest of 007 tropes keeps it away from that artistic territory. <br />
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Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845394320537913576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670691585253670141.post-13960656878368912212015-08-29T20:01:00.000-04:002015-08-29T20:01:13.705-04:00The Search for General Tso - Food reveals our history - Good and bad<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Near the end of the documentary <i>The Search for General Tso</i>, two avatars of the film's primary interests - Chinese history and Chinese cuisine - celebrate, but also lament, the proliferation of Chinese culture throughout the West, particularly America . <br />
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A fifth generation descendant of General Tso himself is flattered and hopeful that the General's name is so well known throughout the United States, but sad that it has no real connection to the incredible historical feats of the actual General, a hero of Hunan province in China.</div>
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Meanwhile, an influential chef, who once fled from Hunan to Taiwan, is impressed with how much Chinese cuisine, (inspired by the wonderful culinary traditions of his homeland,) is consumed in America, but regrets about how Westernized those foods have become in the process. </div>
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In a simple quest to find the origin of the ubiquitous dish of the documentary's title, the filmmakers end up telling the story of American and Chinese relations including geopolitics and immigration. They travel across the world in their inquiry, speaking to foodies, restauranteurs, chefs and historians. </div>
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The story of the multi-billion dollar Chinese food industry in the United States is, as one of the talking heads in the film puts it, "the story of the Chinese in America." It was birthed out of draconian policies put in place to suppress the Chinese population who had come to this country in droves to gain employment during the railroad boom.</div>
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Chinese, who legally could not gain any type of employment, started laundry services and restaurants as a way to survive. And to assimilate. </div>
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There are Chinese restaurants in some very remote places in the country and the filmmakers go to them to hear their stories. And all of them include details of how they adjust their menus to the tastes of their regional American customers. A very common response from the Chinese who own these restaraunts: "The Chinese food Americans like is very bland."</div>
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The story takes a lot of twists and turns through history and opens up some questions that stuck with me.. For instance, one commentator notes that fine Chinese food takes just as much labor and craft as French food, but Americans will not pay premium price for Chinese food. </div>
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Also, there is a section of the film exploring a massive network of social organizations that help staff and support Chinese food establishments across the country. </div>
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The pace of the film is leisurely and methodical and it doesn't have any real surprises or urgency that will keep you hanging on the edge of your seat. In fact, it feels like the final answer to the film's central question was known way before they even started rolling cameras. </div>
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But it is always interesting and supported by fun graphical interludes. And as much as it is the inspiring story of people coming from nothing and building successful businesses and a whole industry, it's also a shameful look at our how our country's xenophobic policies made it very hard on them. </div>
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Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845394320537913576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670691585253670141.post-23380426444296919462015-08-26T11:00:00.000-04:002015-08-26T11:00:06.500-04:00Stay away from reviews of The Gift! Especially the New York Times one<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Having<a href="http://www.gatedimension.com/2015/08/review-gift-2015-through-glass-past.html"> just posted my own review</a> of the thriller <i>The Gift</i>, my advice seems self-defeating. But I mean it. <br />
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<i>The Gift</i> is a thriller that unfolds organically and takes some nice twists and turns. It subverts some genre conventions and toys with others. It is best experienced with as little information as possible upfront.<br />
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I had seen the trailer for the film back before the movie was released and took note of it simply because Jason Bateman seemed to be playing a more dramatic role, and because it included Rebecca Hall, who makes every movie better. However, at least from the trailer, it appeared that this was a predictable stalker genre film about somebody tormenting a couple in their new home - <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100318/">Pacific Heights</a>,</i> anybody?<br />
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As the film gained some positive buzz on Twitter and racked up an impressive score on <a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_gift_2015/">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, I was very intrigued. And, after seeing it this past weekend, I began to check out some reviews. <br />
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Wow. The first one I read - the New York Times review by Stephen Holden - gave away way too much. Several others did as well.<br />
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Now, I'm sympathetic to reviewers trying to hit a word count, and I'll admit that Mr. Holden doesn't give away any major spoilers, but I would have had considerably different experience if I had read that review before seeing the film.<br />
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I did find many writers doing a pretty good job at critically discussing the film and performances, and taking care to weave around things just enough to not give away the game.<br />
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Intrigued, I tried my hand at writing a little review of the film myself, and it wasn't easy. I ended up concentrating on the style and some of the visual motifs, but my review seemed anemic and vague.<br />
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I'm not a spoiler cop at all. I think the idea of spoiler warnings has gone a little too far in recent years. But this is one case where I find myself putting on the uniform and sounding the alarm.<br />
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<i>The Gift</i> is a good movie and deserving of its current 92% on Rotten Tomatoes. I don't usually do this, but I'd advise you to just trust that aggregate score, skip reading the reviews, and check out the film while it is still and theaters. Hurry before it gets spoiled for you.<br />
<br />Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845394320537913576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670691585253670141.post-11370469731498801882015-08-25T11:00:00.000-04:002015-08-26T00:19:50.479-04:00Review -The Gift (2015) - Through the Glass, The Past Will Find You<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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There is a lot of glass in <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4178092/?ref_=nv_sr_1">The Gift</a></i>, Joel Edgerton's debut as a director and writer. Windows, wine goblets and mirrors reflect, refract and act as invisible barriers. The opening shots are of an empty modern home, sunlight streaming through its floor-to-ceiling windows.<br />
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Simon (Jason Bateman) and his wife Robyn (Rebecca Hall) are checking it out as possible new home as Simon has landed a big new job with an area start-up. The house is bright and has a spectacular view, but as they close the deal and begin to set up their happy home, you start to notice how little privacy all that transparency provides.<br />
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And it is through another glass that we first view Gordon, an unassuming looking man with a goatee and dressed casually. He is in the corner of the frame, observing Simon in a store, picking some things out for the new house. After an introduction Simon vaguely remembers Gordon as "Gordo." <br />
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It seems they went to high school together. While the exchange is not awkward or weird, it is just slightly unsettling. Simon seems to just barely remember Gordo, but Gordo seems tentative, as if Simon should remember him very well.<br />
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Before we know it, Gordo is appearing quite a bit at the house, politely bearing gifts and helping them get their new home up and running. He appears in windows, looking in, as if he is searching for something. Robyn, feeling the stress of transitioning from running a design firm to trying to start a family, sort of welcomes Gordo in the midst of all of this, or at least feels bad for him in some way.<br />
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However, Simon is getting less patient and starts to view Gordo as mentally unstable. He thinks his high school acquaintance may be imagining that they were better friends than they were, or worse, Gordo could be developing an unhealthy obsession with Robyn.<br />
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And after reading all of this, you may think you know where this is going. You don't, or at least I didn't. The story, written by Edgerton, makes all the right feints to make you think you are a step ahead, but then it jukes you. Smartly keeping the focus on psychological mind games, Edgerton keenly shapes his themes of memory, the past, privacy and secrets. <br />
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At one point, Gordo asks Simon, who works for an Internet security company, what he thinks of the NSA spying scandal. We are always being watched and analyzed, yet we can sometimes keep secrets of the past, even from our most intimate partners. By the end of the film, the glass walls of the house will provide no safety for the couple.<br />
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<i>The Gift</i> is one of those movies that is hard to discuss without spoiling it too much. If you are up for a thriller, and willing to take the ride, you'll be rewarded by the turns of the plot, but also the nice visual motifs that Edgerton layers within the film. <br />
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Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845394320537913576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670691585253670141.post-13275217590248258212015-08-24T11:00:00.000-04:002015-08-26T00:10:11.019-04:00James Bond - Dr. No - Minimalist Template for Grandness and Goddesses<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Late in <i>Dr. No</i>, the 1962 spy thriller that introduced moviegoing audiences agent 007, James Bond (Sean Connery) is sneaking through a network of large ventilation shafts, some of which release torrents of water and some of which are extremely hot. He comes to intersections and he has to make a quick decision to go left or right, up or down. <br />
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The scene is almost avant-garde by today’s action standards. It is wordless, the only sounds are far off rattles and clangs echoing in the shafts. Bond makes his way through the tunnels and actually into the heart of the command center of Dr. No, who is the villain of this first entry into the film franchise. The climax of the film starts to ramp up, when, finally, we hear something that has been absent for a long time: the score.<br />
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Indeed, this long stretch of the film has proceeded without any music backing it. Today, we are used to heavy, and sometimes quite good, compositions for action films. So, it is a little conspicuous to go without it for so long in an action thriller. However, the editing and the direction come together in a way that definitely builds tension towards the final confrontation. <br />
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Aside from the charisma of Sean Connery, which is refreshingly muted in this first outing, the fine editing and workmanlike direction in <i>Dr. No</i> are the key to its success. David Mamet is famous for saying that, “movies are simply about what happens next.” Probably no other movies illustrate this point better than the entries in successful series based on Ian Fleming’s spy novels.<br />
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Though filmed in Jamaica, this movie seems like it could have been filmed anywhere. The budget was obviously tight. This wasn’t the Bond juggernaut that we know today. This was merely an adaptation of a successful set of novels. <br />
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The opening is an exception though. The prototype of the Bond titles is there, mostly at the tail end of them. We get an exciting series of circles and patterns through the famous Bond theme, and then a segue into colorful sillohettes dancing to a calypso song. Then we see three blind men walking the streets of Jamaica. We get the feel of this place, but soon we are thrown into interiors and bungalows that feel like they are shot on the back lot. Exteriors, such as some of the car chases, go along dirt roads that seem as if they could have been in California.<br />
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And I won’t even talk about the weird projections behind Connery as he tries to shake a car tailing him. Actually, I will talk about it. At times it seems like the car is larger than his by about three times. It made me laugh out loud. <br />
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Later, in Dr. No’s underground lair, Bond sees an aquarium with extremely large fish in it. The Doctor informs him that it is a special glass that magnifies them. I immediately thought they must have used that glass in the car chases.<br />
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The standard scenes we have come to expect from the first act of Bond films are all here. We get to meet Moneypenney, Q and M. And Bond gets his Walter PPK, but no special gadgets though. In these first scenes, there is an interesting dynamic that I didn't remember from later films in the franchise. Bond is corrected by M. and even threatened, but it doesn’t have the feeling we get in later 007 movies of a winking understanding between both of them that Bond knows better. Here Bond is an agent, an employee and he has to follow procedures in a bureaucracy.<br />
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But make no mistake, this Bond is still smart, or maybe just very clever. He is usually about one step ahead of the bad guys, although sometimes misses something crucial and is waylaid. His weakness is women, but he seems pretty good at reading the ones who are treacherous to him, though he has no problem taking them to bed before he dispatches them. <br />
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While there are treacherous women, there are also helpful ones. Bond’s good fortune is in meeting Honey Ryder as she emerges from the sea with shells in hand. The iconic image still works, Ursula Andress is breathtaking. In a way, she provides enough production value to make up for the anemic visual style…as do the other Bond Girls.<br />
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The ladies provide some added sexiness to the rather pedestrian spycraft that is going on in the plot. This Bond spends his time tracking down a lead on a charter fishing boat captain like detectives on Law and Order. The action is kept to a minimum, and when it happens, there is nothing out of the ordinary, especially if you are looking back on the film with the experience of seeing decades of action films: losing tailing cars on mountain roads, thwarting an attack by a spider, hiding from a search party in the reeds of a river, some light judo.<br />
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All of this is done with good pacing and clear direction, although without any real flashy directorial flourishes or artistry. The sets are trying to be grand, but very apparently hit the budget ceiling early. To compensate for richness and detail they probably couldn't afford, the designers smartly used space. The interiors have high ceilings, sunken living areas and flow-through layouts. Some even reach a kind of minimalist pinnacle, looking like they should be the set of a Beckett play. (Check out the shot below.) This grandness is something the series continued to develop.<br />
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That doesn’t mean the movie doesn’t have some other nice touches. For instance, Bond stages a trap for a killer with the upbeat song “Under the Mango Tree on the record player, and the song is later reprised in an unexpected way. In Doctor No’s underground nuclear facility, the captured Bond is treated like a guest at a world class resort, 007 even somewhat approves of the alcohol choices. Connery also delights in delivering little quips about the opposing agents he dispatches, something that reached groan-worthy heights during the Roger Moore era.<br />
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This first installment in the Bond franchise stands out because so much of what would come in the series is right there. It is almost like this is a template for not just the 007 movies, but for action thrillers, especially spy thrillers, for decades to come. And, yet, it doesn’t feel that way. You do watch with interest and are caught up in the suspense, but you don’t feel like you are seeing anything groundbreaking. You feel like you are watching a decent spy thriller.<br />
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Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845394320537913576noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670691585253670141.post-69279466156434285282015-01-19T00:34:00.002-05:002015-01-19T00:34:57.640-05:00Coverage - What I've Been Watching<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">Snowpiercer</span></i></b><br />
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I missed the party, or, I guess, the train on this one. Currently hovering at over 90% on Rotten Tomatoes and on many critics Top Ten lists for 2014, this dystopian sci-fi action thriller slows down the further up the train its rebel dregs of society get. The filmmaker doesn't seem to know what do as the rag-tag group advances, so the movie starts stretching out action sequences and recycling well-worn tropes of the many genres it is pulling into its orbit. All the actors, especially Tilda Swinton seem game for the ride, but the film never gets back on track after she departs.<br />
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<i><b><span style="font-size: large;">Coherence</span></b></i><br />
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In the spirit of <i>Primer</i> and the under-seen mind-bender <i>Triangle</i>, this low budget ensemble piece starts as a mumblecore-type dinner party movie, like we've seen a hundred times in the past eight years. However, a passing comet starts to affect the guests in strange ways. Very interesting through most of its running time, it also sticks the landing better than many other films of its type.<br />
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<i><b><span style="font-size: large;">In Fear</span></b></i><br />
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The desolate English countryside and the narrow, tree-lined woods, through which this couple have to navigate as night falls and strange events begin to happen, is the best character. The atmosphere is creepy and the maze of trails get more tight and claustrophobic, but the film falters as it runs into its second half, only temporarily picking up a little jolt from the performance of an added character with a twisted smile and a glint in his eye. Once the usual climactic beats kick in, the film gets less and less interesting.<br />
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<i><b><span style="font-size: large;">The Babadook</span></b></i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWyqVJ61P4m-495bem9WsrxLXYYsECNg-3lyn89suDiNScWUR78sAdm7P7cl3tB4Bfqi7YsSbY8kIRqIQY7eAn_DNC681RjLGfs3mDrydfPYyw-cqGNtKb-4wcG9WAsQQjjaOEex3bHRE/s1600/The+Babadook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWyqVJ61P4m-495bem9WsrxLXYYsECNg-3lyn89suDiNScWUR78sAdm7P7cl3tB4Bfqi7YsSbY8kIRqIQY7eAn_DNC681RjLGfs3mDrydfPYyw-cqGNtKb-4wcG9WAsQQjjaOEex3bHRE/s1600/The+Babadook.jpg" height="173" width="400" /></a></div>
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The Babadook promises a lot with its slow buildup and its gambit of saddling the protaganist, a widowed single mother, with a kid prone to flights of maddening screaming or fits. Essie Davis, in a bravura performance that leaves everything on the table, screams at the child, "why can't you just be normal!" We feel for her, deeply. While the introduction of a sinister, Edward Gorey type pop-up book fills the dark corners of our mind with horrifying possibilities, the film abandons this innovation to give us warmed over homages to moments from other horror classics, almost like ticking off boxes:<i> The Exorcist, The Shining, Nightmare on Elm Street, The Grudge, etc.</i> It becomes apparent that the filmmaker is less interested in making a truly terrifying film, and more insistent on making sure that we get the deeper meaning, that we know that we're not just getting a horror flick, but a story with themes. As a harrowing story of the closed world of a damaged mother and son, the movie is solid. There are genuine creepy moments and some interesting sequences, but don't come for The Babadook, instead this is Essie Davis's film from the first frame. Her performance leaves nothing behind and she commits to every single moment.<br />
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<i><b><span style="font-size: large;">The Unknown Known</span></b></i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZih59Yl1pK0efNT9-cVtb3-SFTBA_VO3k3LFr0QxRRLmKdE9LHAyDqRmop5ebD2xn-fdoCogRnbObs_QOYbvE9PgArW3rVWl_lPw7uQZK_UC76ttAbo1SeqMTfEzHncoT62qB4vc92ms/s1600/The+Unkown+Known+Rumsfeld.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZih59Yl1pK0efNT9-cVtb3-SFTBA_VO3k3LFr0QxRRLmKdE9LHAyDqRmop5ebD2xn-fdoCogRnbObs_QOYbvE9PgArW3rVWl_lPw7uQZK_UC76ttAbo1SeqMTfEzHncoT62qB4vc92ms/s1600/The+Unkown+Known+Rumsfeld.jpg" height="166" width="400" /></a></div>
<i><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></i>
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Errol Morris is a national treasure, and this interview, his second with a U.S. Secretary of Defense who presided over a complicated quagmire of war, is a fascinating chase down a rabbit hole of beauracratic thinking gone wild. Morris and Rumsfeld are actually quite well matched, and Rumsfeld comes off as an amazing performance artist, who has perfected his bit so well that he long ago bought completely into it. I'm not sure you could create a better fictional character to represent the military industrial complex of the Iraq War era. Danny Elfman's score is odd and distracting at points.<br />
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Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845394320537913576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670691585253670141.post-57457019666514858352014-06-09T14:56:00.003-04:002014-06-09T14:57:51.327-04:00Movie Shot of the Week - M.A.S.H. (1970)<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1Q64CC1s1joQImH1matmPQfi5OlyHWLJuPv_aYjIH4TYI-VbnGK4y7gORuJ2aLXStchVtdEIli9zPknQ2IoMIoEYD4bJWmNv6EsQ9A9Sl64KcXcCGB-jZv9vVbVPLJHzvwDhxmtvZYTg/s1600/Mash+Last+Supper+II.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1Q64CC1s1joQImH1matmPQfi5OlyHWLJuPv_aYjIH4TYI-VbnGK4y7gORuJ2aLXStchVtdEIli9zPknQ2IoMIoEYD4bJWmNv6EsQ9A9Sl64KcXcCGB-jZv9vVbVPLJHzvwDhxmtvZYTg/s320/Mash+Last+Supper+II.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a>Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845394320537913576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670691585253670141.post-47306587851615510462014-05-24T15:36:00.002-04:002014-06-07T18:55:16.514-04:00Godzilla (2014) - Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkaCuCAzu3iDx0ec1r1VDh8E4TWbTB4nV9erwLJitRxrFvAtYEs0DZawqF1WRrd8URqmMvsjTjfBplGIbulGyHLic1Ch43-CcFx-urs5g1J9MpAhATMxBbhom0WLiwDAfAw5x54S7hHr0/s1600/Godzilla+Doors+Closing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkaCuCAzu3iDx0ec1r1VDh8E4TWbTB4nV9erwLJitRxrFvAtYEs0DZawqF1WRrd8URqmMvsjTjfBplGIbulGyHLic1Ch43-CcFx-urs5g1J9MpAhATMxBbhom0WLiwDAfAw5x54S7hHr0/s1600/Godzilla+Doors+Closing.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
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<p>Very late in the newest entry in the <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0831387/?ref_=ttmd_md_nm">Godzilla</a></i> franchise, the
giant titular lizard has leveled half of San Francisco, but finds himself only
halfway to his goal of defeating his enemies.
His massive frame, supported by two impossibly large legs, slumps, and his
shoulders droop into a fatigued sigh. It's as
if he’s moaning, “ whew, how much <i>more</i> of this?"</p></div>
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"I know how you feel, big guy," I wanted to shout at
the screen. </div>
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This monster action movie takes a long time to get the
monsters and then lays on a lot of action late in the game. </div>
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The good news is that moviegoers who have an intense
interest in seeing the old fashioned Godzilla fully realized through the best of modern
cinematic technology will come away satisfied. The bad news is that anybody looking for almost anything else will most
likely walk away shrugging. </div>
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The original <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047034/?ref_=nv_sr_3">Godzilla</a></i> film, made in 1954, was birthed in
direct response to incidents involving nuclear weaponry and its effects on the
Japanese people. In director Gareth
Edwards new re-imagining, the premise, involving Japanese nuclear reactors, admittedly
brings up the shadow of the recent Fukishima disaster, but is tossed into the
narrative with less care than a ripped-from-the-headlines <i>Law and Order</i>
episode. </div>
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Bryan Cranston, fresh off his
artistic triumph as Walter White in AMC's series <i>Breaking Bad</i> plays a nuclear
scientist living in Japan and running a power plant with his wife played by
Juliette Binoche. Steadily ncreasing tremors
trigger a full meltdown and disaster at the plant, but when we flash 15 years
forward, it seems that the disaster may have been something else entirely. Cranston's scientist, now a loner and estranged from his only son, is sure that the government, which still keeps a strict quarantine on
the area is lying to the public about what really happened. </div>
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Guess what? They are! And, like all government operations in these disaster monster movies,
there are tens of thousands of personnel involved in these top secret
machinations. As these things usually
go, the experiments conducted get out of control fast, and soon there is a
prehistoric creature on the loose, and it feeds on nuclear material! This flat-headed, winged creature seems to
be a nod to another famous Japanese monster creation Rodan, and it turns out
that it isn't alone! </div>
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You might notice that in my summation of the plot so far I
haven't even mentioned Godzilla. Exactly! Most of the movie's first half is establishing
Godzilla's antagonists, which the U.S. military, in its inimitable fashion,
names the M.U.T.O.'s (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms.) In truth, the military doesn't seem very
perturbed. In fact, everybody is pretty calm about this impending titanic clash
between a couple of mating MUTOS and now-wakened Godzilla, who seems, for some
reason, incredibly intent on locking horns
with these creatures.</div>
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Apparently, Godzilla has risen from the depths in
response to the presence of the MUTO's , seeing them as worthy prey for his
apex predator tastes. This is all according
to a pair of scientists; both are played by the way overqualified duo of Ken Wantanabe and Sally Hawkins. They explain everything with about as much
excitement as the military does. Everything is so matter-of-fact in this film
that it is hard for any suspense to materialize. </div>
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In trying to follow the classic formula of indirectly
revealing the monster over time, a technique popularized by Steven Spielberg's <i>Jaws</i>, the
film is infused with aimlessness that even the spectacular destruction of two
major U.S. cities can't redeem. I will
admit that the filmmaker does get off a shot of genuine irony when
Godzilla finally appears full bodied on screen.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3HENwmIM6Y0Ms_EyzqxYv0eLiuJMJ5O_kkqF4FZecDVkCbMQ8g34C9TIYGoniSUS4I_XIjbdkOE6-uk4E28PqPvItC2x6vGavX3CMd9U5w6MF-6kdCMNe_OhcOcV6hOsQZ9DrQQGYDLY/s1600/godzilla-ken-watanabe-david-strathairn-600x399-578x384.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3HENwmIM6Y0Ms_EyzqxYv0eLiuJMJ5O_kkqF4FZecDVkCbMQ8g34C9TIYGoniSUS4I_XIjbdkOE6-uk4E28PqPvItC2x6vGavX3CMd9U5w6MF-6kdCMNe_OhcOcV6hOsQZ9DrQQGYDLY/s1600/godzilla-ken-watanabe-david-strathairn-600x399-578x384.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ken Wantanbe's scientist and David Straithern's Admiral<br />
wait around some more.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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But, mostly, we wait.
This is a film in which main characters spend a good amount of time on a
Navy ship, following Godzilla's huge spiked back as it cuts a wake at a comfortable
speed through the Pacific. One exception
is a suspenseful nighttime mission where two soldiers are trying to evade a
lurking MUTO while they maneuver on a high railroad trestle. </div>
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Back to the good news, though. Godzilla looks great and moves, well, like a
guy in big rubber suit, and I mean that in the best way possible. When the
gigantic, and I mean gigantic, reptile is pushing the MUTOs around the city, he
seems like a live wrestling bear rather than some sleek CGI creation . He really
is a great technical achievement. It is
pretty thrilling to see the infamous Godzilla roar send ripples through his neck
muscles. The MUTOs, on the other hand, look more like the standard issue creatures that
seem to inhabit summer blockbusters over the last five or six years, although I
do like the way they crack open nuclear missiles and chug the radiation
inside like they were a downing a Red
Bull.</div>
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All of this technical magic comes later in the movie, (which
isn't really that unusual for a monster film,) but what <i>is</i> unusual is the way
the human stories are treated so perfunctorily.
Director Gareth Edwards made a small stir with his indie film <i>Monsters</i>
back in 2010. In that film, the
creatures also take their time revealing themselves, but there was much more
suspense built through the growing connection between the two human
protagonists, so that when all hell cuts loose, we're on the edge of our seat.</div>
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While <i>Godzilla</i> cuts a fine 3D figure in this updated
version, he couldn't care less about the humans underfoot. Now, that can be
excused for a 300 foot prehistoric apex predator, but I’m not sure
filmmakers should get the same pass.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a></div>
Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845394320537913576noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670691585253670141.post-18626705370488585252013-02-26T23:01:00.001-05:002013-02-26T23:09:44.894-05:00Movie Posters - Oh, Heavenly Dog! (1980)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2duhBv_E4-oC1bdyvKAqR5D47xrt_UXSUxxP3ce3BiQkQkMXn2KWLSI56EQw_evI4eG5Bj4U98fCuqSs6kt9yvjWKeQgfpAWCHvDCNeXSq660DUsrSi67lKxqaLHoACPjS05Takt5qIc/s1600/Oh+Heavenly+Dog!+(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="311" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2duhBv_E4-oC1bdyvKAqR5D47xrt_UXSUxxP3ce3BiQkQkMXn2KWLSI56EQw_evI4eG5Bj4U98fCuqSs6kt9yvjWKeQgfpAWCHvDCNeXSq660DUsrSi67lKxqaLHoACPjS05Takt5qIc/s400/Oh+Heavenly+Dog!+(2).jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Chevy Chase shares billing with Benji. As a bonus, down at the bottom, above the PG rating, are the following sentences that create a bizarre juxtaposition: <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRmad7TeQfTlouwWZnctOwW9F3LkLRZ-0rTbTxGgCeotopuuz-2JUaFCSHFh8YlS1ueoYxQegquusCjvQ-WGlJ2q46gBfBdlvnrSXJzM6628zFnsbxRvL2OEeD9vwfvf3LjIxHKCvOXJ4/s1600/Oh+Heavenly+Dog!+Highlight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="75" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRmad7TeQfTlouwWZnctOwW9F3LkLRZ-0rTbTxGgCeotopuuz-2JUaFCSHFh8YlS1ueoYxQegquusCjvQ-WGlJ2q46gBfBdlvnrSXJzM6628zFnsbxRvL2OEeD9vwfvf3LjIxHKCvOXJ4/s400/Oh+Heavenly+Dog!+Highlight.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
1. "Read the Scholastic Paperback"<br />
2. "See Benji as the August Playgirl Centerfold"<br />
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Those were the days, huh?Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845394320537913576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670691585253670141.post-43649593058664759812013-01-03T12:09:00.000-05:002013-01-03T17:10:57.693-05:0010 Best Movies of 2012This year, I decided to try my hand at making a list of what I thought were the best films of the year. I tried to limit myself, as most critics do, to movies screened or released in 2012. I also tried to limit the list to films I saw in theaters.<br />
<br />
I haven't seen some films (Zero Dark Thirty, Django Unchained, etc.) that appear on many other end of year lists. However, I also have seen most of the films (Lincoln, etc.) that appear on those lists, but do not appear on mine.<br />
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Here is my Ten Best of 2012.<br />
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<b>1. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1966604/">The Imposter</a></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge10-43OXNG5eLpFaMrCDDTaZtxp3Whn3a-a62n69CMtmyReD645HggN5exfTT0bmUcNZeCtEIt9S8UOcKABj9gTSd2g0YqJzYFt61IY5WQoaUp-KjU5dsoP_gwdY1Xp7JuWiDl2y2WRc/s1600/the-imposter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge10-43OXNG5eLpFaMrCDDTaZtxp3Whn3a-a62n69CMtmyReD645HggN5exfTT0bmUcNZeCtEIt9S8UOcKABj9gTSd2g0YqJzYFt61IY5WQoaUp-KjU5dsoP_gwdY1Xp7JuWiDl2y2WRc/s400/the-imposter.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I can't remember the last time I watched a movie with so much of my time spent thinking, "No. No, it can't be. What? Oh, my god." It also contains one of the most incredible criminals every put on film. If he was a fictional creation, you wouldn't buy him.<br />
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<b>2. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2088933/">The List</a></b><br />
<b><br /></b>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvp3KhH2wLb-0N3uI3Rw1izsR6HKlcA-E_xz6ddwfRNVSn4zCBo-Xi2MTR8qNhQzUO0h5iYdPfOZBvcBOW14Kd7qUJzNt2ML_tk2r0kU30NSHEdb1r6NVE-crVriz7SbP-l_uZQTTE998/s1600/The-List.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvp3KhH2wLb-0N3uI3Rw1izsR6HKlcA-E_xz6ddwfRNVSn4zCBo-Xi2MTR8qNhQzUO0h5iYdPfOZBvcBOW14Kd7qUJzNt2ML_tk2r0kU30NSHEdb1r6NVE-crVriz7SbP-l_uZQTTE998/s400/The-List.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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A fascinating documentary about an interesting hero. He has dedicated his life to saving from retribution the Iraqi's who helped coalition forces during the Iraq war. Even with generals and politicians behind his crusade, the wheels of bureaucracy threaten to grind his righteous mission into dust.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>3. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1614989/">Headhunters</a></b><br />
<b><br /></b>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5yidElgU326xc3XvwsSiPaxnXoAleKVMbZek8CP6VRJH6pioAt1eBUS0Q5UumCXql-UjtYfY5bM6_NCxJ8TbdvxkL_WOT9USr8fyzaT8dvmQruxzPLRzw_5hOiErU8FewjavchCJ7vEI/s1600/Film+Headhunters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5yidElgU326xc3XvwsSiPaxnXoAleKVMbZek8CP6VRJH6pioAt1eBUS0Q5UumCXql-UjtYfY5bM6_NCxJ8TbdvxkL_WOT9USr8fyzaT8dvmQruxzPLRzw_5hOiErU8FewjavchCJ7vEI/s400/Film+Headhunters.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Over the course of this brisk Norwegian thriller, you will laugh, cringe and shriek at the gathering misfortune of an arrogant art thief. He is the kind of character you would usually hate in another movie, but from the very opening words and images, he won me over with his unusual predicament, which only gets worse.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>4. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2258685/">The World Before Her</a></b><br />
<b><br /></b>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0E3RYbjQVHrlnB-vO0ruZwaWvN1NXYIQJ1XuaBaRCxt8wsfoz9XZdI0y6ecnQ-c-g8xyegIWZYJbUFZ_PzpQ8P31hcPU6__9q4CDya4EL_m71lqkDtL2jVc2JTpiPa_xaD7q3DGzAhTE/s1600/The-World-Before-Her.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0E3RYbjQVHrlnB-vO0ruZwaWvN1NXYIQJ1XuaBaRCxt8wsfoz9XZdI0y6ecnQ-c-g8xyegIWZYJbUFZ_PzpQ8P31hcPU6__9q4CDya4EL_m71lqkDtL2jVc2JTpiPa_xaD7q3DGzAhTE/s400/The-World-Before-Her.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The filmmakers follow two contrasting training programs : The preparation for the televised Miss India pageant and the boot camp style indoctrination of the young girls of a radical religious/political movement. If the two forces currently battling for global supremacy are celebrity entertainment culture and militant conservative religiousness, then I can't think of movie that better juxtaposes and examines the two.<br />
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<br />
<b>5. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1024648/">Argo</a></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5aBzhbjkPNnTKrF5T1u566rFVM67_8wU-Z9YU_ZbLL0tqmkOiHj_9KeIBv38c3T_6VyyXY35a9A7R3UG4Cb6hytOE4FtcQ_7AiPOdnpdNh9kvZj51xEpmaRJp8gW6p6DKIYFCEQk_zP4/s1600/Affleck+Argo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5aBzhbjkPNnTKrF5T1u566rFVM67_8wU-Z9YU_ZbLL0tqmkOiHj_9KeIBv38c3T_6VyyXY35a9A7R3UG4Cb6hytOE4FtcQ_7AiPOdnpdNh9kvZj51xEpmaRJp8gW6p6DKIYFCEQk_zP4/s400/Affleck+Argo.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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This movie is labeled by many as a thriller, but it is actually a heist movie. Affleck's direction is pretty marvelous and doesn't call attention to itself. I was gripped throughout, even during the over-the-top, apparently embellished ending of this real life tale, despite, I hate to say this, Affleck's miscasting of himself in the lead.<br />
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<b>6. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1560747/">The Master</a></b><br />
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A tough film to include since I think it ultimately falls away, and apart. However, it was engrossing and hypnotic. The 70MM print I watched left me with indelible cinematic memories. Joaquin Phoenix's Freddie Quell may go down as a great movie character. If only Hoffman's Lancaster Dodd was more equally realized.<br />
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<b>7. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2125666/">The Queen of Versailles</a></b><br />
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Though the last third lags a bit, this whirlwind ride down the financial collapse of 2008 is almost a perfect farcical creation. The larger than life characters, trying to keep the lights on and the dog poop off the carpet of their mansion, are so warped that they become a funhouse mirrors into which we cry at our own distorted reflections.<br />
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<b>8. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1232829/">21 Jump Street</a></b><br />
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All right. This was a very funny movie. It dispensed with the usual re-make/sendup strategy and tried to make us laugh on its own terms. The best part was that almost every single actor in it, even some well-placed cameo players, seemed to get what was happening.<br />
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<b>9. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1045658/">Silver Linings Playbook</a></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj34fgBzrzTzYpj707el8pjBTIZbkdFZuIaMn1FFYpg6V7f_AJK8-RYkbNGl66sGK8xJHkOpmzGL6SvEYvH0oni3yrq2F6wuKN57PXjF0PMuD7M_wcfFgllF7RePlpjNIc4uynB_m7N5xk/s1600/silver-linings-playbook-De-Niro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj34fgBzrzTzYpj707el8pjBTIZbkdFZuIaMn1FFYpg6V7f_AJK8-RYkbNGl66sGK8xJHkOpmzGL6SvEYvH0oni3yrq2F6wuKN57PXjF0PMuD7M_wcfFgllF7RePlpjNIc4uynB_m7N5xk/s400/silver-linings-playbook-De-Niro.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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When was the last time you saw Robert Deniro as vulnerable as he is in this film? A rediscovery of his immense talent is just one of the joys of this romantic comedy by way of recovery melodrama. It is an odd hybrid for sure, but David O. Russell just about manages to pulls off with heart, pain and only a modicum of the schmaltz and pretension that accompanies similar efforts.<br />
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<b>10. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1832382/">A Separation</a></b><br />
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I admit, it is a bit of a cheat on my list, <i>A Separation</i> was released at the very end of 2011 in the U.S., so most of us didn't see it until 2012. However, it is, quite simply, as good as you have heard it to be.<br />
<br />Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845394320537913576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670691585253670141.post-27851060282375873482012-08-14T21:24:00.002-04:002012-08-15T09:29:34.687-04:00Spellbound (1945) - Let My Love Open the Door<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgry9nXXcROLuzGq6VKiBHC5CRESHfrH1afHPaMEjTpje90xNGrmhAdmqYTmb7KX2S1h9eYNR1SeC0pV52LHEvy-wbGeKvcNTxTR-5W74_hS_AAVv_9lqgp_v5p8II3TIAnumLIIP4b2dE/s1600/Spellbound+knife+Door.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgry9nXXcROLuzGq6VKiBHC5CRESHfrH1afHPaMEjTpje90xNGrmhAdmqYTmb7KX2S1h9eYNR1SeC0pV52LHEvy-wbGeKvcNTxTR-5W74_hS_AAVv_9lqgp_v5p8II3TIAnumLIIP4b2dE/s400/Spellbound+knife+Door.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Doors abound in Alfred Hitchcock's <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038109/">Spellbound</a></i>. </div>
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This 1945 thriller is a combination of the man-on-the run-story, which Hitchcock continually worked on perfecting, and the man-chasing-himself -without-knowing-it story.</div>
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Gregory Peck plays a man caught impersonating a noted doctor who has recently disappeared. Once exposed, he claims to have amnesia and demonstrates the symptoms of a man with a deeply repressed trauma. Ingrid Bergman plays the
psychiatrist who tries to help Peck figure out who he really was, and, more
importantly, why he insists on believing he murdered somebody.</div>
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Apparently, producer David O Selznick was very taken with
the practice of psychotherapy and took a very personal interest in the project. The opening credits boast an expert
advisor for the psychiatric elements of the plot. A title card informs us that in the process
of psychotherapy, "the analyst seeks only to induce the patient to talk
about his hidden problems, to open the locked doors of his mind."</div>
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The film latches onto this like a man with a hammer. The symbol of doors, closed and open, is bluntly wielded at times, but there are few more subtle uses that contribute to some of the film's best moments. </div>
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<i>Spellbound</i> is most often remembered for its dream sequences,
which were designed by Salvador Dali. There is a central dream landscape which
contains clues to the murder mystery at the heart of the film. This dream sequence was supposed
to be about 20 minutes worth of footage, but the finished film only features a couple of minutes what was intended.</div>
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One dream-like sequence, (I'm not sure if is a Dali concept,) placed early in the film, is composed of a long hallway with doors opening endlessly. This image dissolves into the two leads embracing.</div>
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However, just prior to this moment, Hitchcock uses doors to frame
Bergman and Peck as she comes to his room in order to find out more about him. Bergman approaches Peck's door from the stairs. From her point of view we can see the light
spilling at the threshold, telling her that he is still awake.</div>
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She at first
avoids the door, but then enters unannounced to find him awake in his bedroom, obviously troubled. She remains standing in the study, and they begin to talk through an open doorway. Hitchcock creates an uneasiness, coupled with an anxiety of
discovery, by using carefully directed eye lines along with framing the scene using
the doorway itself. At an important moment, when
Peck approaches Bergman, nearing the doorway, he even passes through a shadow.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3hHwOlS4jd6mhqjtCjEoBrGiW-UUzMYkebTUjpvPR6qeUnEIAtq71cvWKK3Kqh-pUULDOFqY_ReAwLdB4PHWs4dXt2BuTytkELEzxVL_esyxqlr30_988aqhSB9drXnkcrQbFs-SfVKM/s1600/Spellbound+Doorways.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3hHwOlS4jd6mhqjtCjEoBrGiW-UUzMYkebTUjpvPR6qeUnEIAtq71cvWKK3Kqh-pUULDOFqY_ReAwLdB4PHWs4dXt2BuTytkELEzxVL_esyxqlr30_988aqhSB9drXnkcrQbFs-SfVKM/s640/Spellbound+Doorways.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
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Once he has completely entered the room with Bergman, his
gaze shifts slightly. He is now looking directly at the camera, at us. The result is hypnotic and signals that Bergman's trip down the twisting hallways of
the troubled mind is about to begin.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3Vzd67VEwo2hNeNQp2D8pYT6xP6MU3ZZ1fcYpuEKnQDf3w_a8QSwSay9R6gcAoHNn3oMGQqkxW6e7PtFqMeEYPtthSlLLiP63lqcsIOs37c4JCVQIbxAocK7n4fZiPX0Ewd0jwjsuOQc/s1600/Spellbound+Peck's+Gaze.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3Vzd67VEwo2hNeNQp2D8pYT6xP6MU3ZZ1fcYpuEKnQDf3w_a8QSwSay9R6gcAoHNn3oMGQqkxW6e7PtFqMeEYPtthSlLLiP63lqcsIOs37c4JCVQIbxAocK7n4fZiPX0Ewd0jwjsuOQc/s400/Spellbound+Peck's+Gaze.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Unfortunately, though <i>Spellbound</i> has its moments of
suspense, it is bogged down by intrusive explanations of psychotherapy. Peck and Bergman are able to generate some great chemistry as tortured and tentative lovers, and there are a few nice visual elements, but there is not much else going for this minor Hitchcock film.</div>
Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845394320537913576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670691585253670141.post-33394630524129807192012-08-12T13:27:00.003-04:002012-08-15T09:52:39.679-04:00Shadow of Doubt - Alfred Hitchcock - Homewrecker<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFrpdVUYLYoxUCRtWAXFXKugjTwd286x3WUtU-LXqUn6axQYna_eqXDIikAc_-_HY6IXpqMUbVr9M76Vxd4U7dJeK1o8nA2MomCTy9bw8WRRPRl7oJgcdCr2Sy0LSyEjVvPOPKvQw0aBs/s1600/Shadow+of+Doubt+Stairs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFrpdVUYLYoxUCRtWAXFXKugjTwd286x3WUtU-LXqUn6axQYna_eqXDIikAc_-_HY6IXpqMUbVr9M76Vxd4U7dJeK1o8nA2MomCTy9bw8WRRPRl7oJgcdCr2Sy0LSyEjVvPOPKvQw0aBs/s400/Shadow+of+Doubt+Stairs.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Uncle Charlie always knows where the back stairs are
located. He's bright, outgoing, handsome
and witty; one could never imagine him shying away from a conversation in
public. However, he has a tendency to disappear out a window or a fire escape
just when people are looking for him. </div>
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Charlie's niece, and his namesake, begins to favor the back
stairs as well. She wants to avoid her visiting Uncle Charlie who is always
patrolling the parlor or dining room of her family's home, a
two-story house with a nice lawn and quirky neighbors. When she ambles up the front walk, there he is, guarding the front porch in his light-colored suit, smoking his cigar. The wooden steps around the back of the house
become her preferred entrance and egress.
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The two Charlies play out this sinister game amidst a sunny,
but drab suburban setting. Just the way Alfred
Hitchcock likes it. </div>
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In <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035279/">Saboteur</a></i>, the film Hitchcock made before <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036342/">Shadow of a Doubt</a></i>, the entire expanse <a href="http://mirroruptolife.blogspot.com/2008/05/man-on-run.html">of America was made claustrophobic</a>. Here, the suspense is telescoped to a pleasant neighborhood in Santa Rosa, and, eventually, the family house itself becomes a prison. The aforementioned back stairs, the
garage and the dining room all transform into possible traps.</div>
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This situation is quite different from the original daydreams
of the heroine, Charlotte Newton (Charlie, to her friends and family), when she
conjures a visit from her mother's worldly, bachelor brother, Charlie Oakley. </div>
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Charlotte is bored in her safe little community and she has
her well-travelled Uncle on her mind when, almost magically, she receives a
telegram informing her that Uncle Charlie is on his way to stay with them for a while! Her
elation is infectious as she walks down the street, beaming and chanting,
"I knew he'd hear me." </div>
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Hitchcock literally dissolves this very innocent and
youthful moment into the oncoming force of a locomotive, the train carrying the
wayward Charles Oakley. </div>
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He takes the young Charlie's bedroom for his stay at the
family house, while young Charlie moves in temporarily with her much younger
sister. This displacement of the young
woman grows as she learns more about her Uncle and his strange finances and idiosyncrasies
- he always carries large amounts of cash and he doesn't like his picture being
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Soon, some reporters arrive to do a story on the Newton
family. But are they really reporters? Uncle Charlie seems very wary of them and
when one of them snaps his photo, he insists on them surrendering the
film. </div>
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Uncle Charlie transforms from a charming bachelor, to an odd
duck ,to a dark presence as the visit from the "outside" world that
young Charlie so longed for takes up residence with more baggage than she ever
anticipated. Their boring household is
now unsafe as the young Charlie learns a terrible secret about Charles Oakley.
In fact, she literally has to watch her step - did those boards that tripped
her come loose on their own? </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLRH7nn_P-NQEfKAW_WSll-vUlgTbpArM_ADkYbFof3nnWVt-161jmxf7OFRQNRoVInUtJP1DUwevCF2z9bG166Nqj6tnSYP1PZpU_q8lPPEK2nOTADdGdYPmqcW-3NjuSzThL-N5z3bU/s1600/Shadow+Stairs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLRH7nn_P-NQEfKAW_WSll-vUlgTbpArM_ADkYbFof3nnWVt-161jmxf7OFRQNRoVInUtJP1DUwevCF2z9bG166Nqj6tnSYP1PZpU_q8lPPEK2nOTADdGdYPmqcW-3NjuSzThL-N5z3bU/s400/Shadow+Stairs.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hitchcock seemed to have found a very good collaborator in
screenwriter Thorton Wilder. Wilder's
Pulitzer-Prize-winning play <i>Our Town </i>almost invented the idea of death lurking
behind the ideal image of small town America.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the young Charlie of <i>Shadow of a Doubt</i>, one can see a bit
of Emily Webb, the heroine of <i>Our Town</i>, who is cautious about marriage. Indeed, when Charlie begins to receive the serious
romantic attention of one of the "reporters" who seem hot on Uncle Charlie's
trail, she is flattered, but halting.
The enormity of societal existence is being laid out to her very
rapidly. Life, marriage, money and death
are all explained in cynical sermons by her Uncle, who intones: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><i><b>"The
cities are full of women, middle-aged widows, husbands, dead, husbands who've
spent their lives making fortunes, working and working. And then they die and
leave their money to their wives, their silly wives. And what do the wives do,
these useless women? You see them in the hotels, the best hotels, every day by
the thousands, drinking the money, eating the money, losing the money at
bridge, playing all day and all night, smelling of money, proud of their
jewelry but of nothing else, horrible, faded, fat, greedy women... Are they
human or are they fat, wheezing animals, hmm? And what happens to animals when
they get too fat and too old?</b></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><b>"</b></i><o:p></o:p></span></span></blockquote>
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">This is quite a strain for the young
Charlie as she finds herself desperately trying to avoid her Uncle, The house
becomes strange to her, and ultimately dangerous. For instance, she shares an intimate moment of romantic
revelation in the house's garage, only to later find the same location is a
deadly snare.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeZMrjCM_w0sivb1yGQQEThuFiTcUewBfdVx34I9c9w0sJceoJZnSBpw-5dosgpD2u27e1nrh9OvokC6cCV-OHMxD4AD8aCinWZhVyG0UlbUR1_AZZjFVBS4BzcTlIoVn9a-405FIGoTQ/s1600/Shadow+of+a+Doubt+Charlie+Takes+the+Stairs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeZMrjCM_w0sivb1yGQQEThuFiTcUewBfdVx34I9c9w0sJceoJZnSBpw-5dosgpD2u27e1nrh9OvokC6cCV-OHMxD4AD8aCinWZhVyG0UlbUR1_AZZjFVBS4BzcTlIoVn9a-405FIGoTQ/s400/Shadow+of+a+Doubt+Charlie+Takes+the+Stairs.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">It is not news to anybody that Hitchcock got a great
amount of joy in pushing these macabre ideas to almost perverted ends. His camera seems to take strange pleasure in
robbing Young Charlie of her innocence. He
lingers on her broken spirit as she realizes evil in the world can survive and
thrive, even in the knowledge and view of the righteous. She sees evil, but can do nothing about it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">In a final toast, and a tender moment with
his sister, Uncle Charlie reveals the secret he has learned, that the instinct
to preserve the idea of "home"
and "family", and by extension
community, can provide cover for sinister doings. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Shadow of a Doubt</i> moves Hitchcock a little further into the psychology of domestic life being invaded and taken advantage of by sinister forces. <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032976/">Rebecca</a></i> and <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034248/">Suspiscion</a></i> had already probed the infestation of marriage by psychopathic and cynical agents, but <i>Shadow</i> simultaneously expands this vision and turns it inward. </div>
Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845394320537913576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670691585253670141.post-90155102625087281532012-06-27T22:33:00.002-04:002012-06-27T22:34:02.670-04:00Movie Shot of the Week - Fantomas (1913)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxzGFC0zOf3EeLFhK-EP0jvY4OZ6ItLDHce9NU_JTAnyLiozGtp9Iulx1Os2XbHN2D-wangIOZIlktpA368aSVDOQ-IYTlYNCpggcRrsYKVfm_Hsujp91se_zJcsj0PuIcNITU0ou1AVk/s1600/Fantomas+1913+Cropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxzGFC0zOf3EeLFhK-EP0jvY4OZ6ItLDHce9NU_JTAnyLiozGtp9Iulx1Os2XbHN2D-wangIOZIlktpA368aSVDOQ-IYTlYNCpggcRrsYKVfm_Hsujp91se_zJcsj0PuIcNITU0ou1AVk/s640/Fantomas+1913+Cropped.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845394320537913576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670691585253670141.post-32014124238068454982012-06-19T10:19:00.001-04:002012-06-27T22:38:24.120-04:00Movie Shot of the Week - The Fall (2010)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggdgrOrlK5ptT6ClF2Wa8xCRcfU6K5JUrHkgOyEACAXJ57mw47hiW3Ms7py5U5i8Tcwc4Unobcp04_JpTueAcGYUiK2ny366nG12AEivv2Md0LA30tLXYs2IKihyphenhyphenJqVhTzYpCW465bJ9g/s1600/The+Fall+Train.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggdgrOrlK5ptT6ClF2Wa8xCRcfU6K5JUrHkgOyEACAXJ57mw47hiW3Ms7py5U5i8Tcwc4Unobcp04_JpTueAcGYUiK2ny366nG12AEivv2Md0LA30tLXYs2IKihyphenhyphenJqVhTzYpCW465bJ9g/s640/The+Fall+Train.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845394320537913576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670691585253670141.post-85582120508659809642012-05-10T00:11:00.001-04:002012-05-10T14:20:20.210-04:00The Cabin In The Woods - Review - Office Space Meets Evil Dead?<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjMOvKwFcrsAaICPFLbKPtzTvu1xIyGlrPfq8Y-HcTwREQ_KB-TRMHvVQfXB7st4YH0Y4QCu3jn-d_aMDQ1yXhN0aTstkPJh6iT59zKR7_CjlF2Lv5Ybxt1Tt7cxbzPSoAPzDFK6m61vg/s1600/Cabin+in+the+Woods+Mirror.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjMOvKwFcrsAaICPFLbKPtzTvu1xIyGlrPfq8Y-HcTwREQ_KB-TRMHvVQfXB7st4YH0Y4QCu3jn-d_aMDQ1yXhN0aTstkPJh6iT59zKR7_CjlF2Lv5Ybxt1Tt7cxbzPSoAPzDFK6m61vg/s400/Cabin+in+the+Woods+Mirror.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Who's watching? </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
More than most films, when reviewing <i><a href="http://imdb.to/K0ToKc">The Cabin in the Woods</a></i>, the first question one asks is how closely one must hew to the
guidelines set out by the film's creators.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is probably not news that producer Joss Whedon (<i>Buffy the
Vampire Slayer</i>, <i>The Avengers</i>) and director Drew Goddard (<i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1060277/">Cloverfield</a></i>) have implored critics,
podcasters and audience members to try their best not to spoil the many twists
and turns that they have baked into their thriller satire. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Reviewers have approached this request with at least a modicum
of respect, excepting a few
tongue-in-cheek attempts at humor. For
example, the Village
Voice review should only be read by somebody who has seen the film, because it
gives away the ending in the first sentence! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the end though, Whedon and Goddard's much publicized
entreaty for radio silence is strangely misplaced. For <i>The Cabin in the Woods</i> is not really constructed
as a whiplash inducing plot twister.
Indeed, if you are looking for that floor-dropping-out-from-under-you feeling induced by such mind-benders as <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167404/">The Sixth Sense</a></i>, <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114814/">The Usual Suspects</a></i> or <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/">The Matrix</a></i>,
you may be very, very disappointed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rather than a brain teaser, or labyrinthine philosophical
puzzle, this masquerading horror film is actually more akin to an open-ended mid-term
question that students are expected to elaborate on at length in blue books
that will never be cracked by the professor.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Let's start at the beginning of the syllabus though. The titular abode in the forest is the
destination of five college friends seeking to blow off steam on a long
weekend, but, right away, you sense that not all of them will be coming
back. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you think you've seen this movie before, that's the
point! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Like Wes Craven's franchise
engendering, genre-prodding <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117571/">Scream</a></i>, Whedon and company know you've seen it all
before and they aren't even going to try to pretend you haven't. Almost everything in the opening sequences of
the college romp into the deep woods is by the numbers...only it
isn't.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The young, attractive cast of stereotypical slasher prey
display some strange divergences from the norm in these pictures. Chris Hemsworth's jock archetype, for
instance, has a deep knowledge of economic theory and the stoner character,
played with great aplomb by Franz Kranz, has a pretty
rational and lucid handle on the increasingly weird situation in which the crew
finds themselves.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Also, there is that creepy cabin, the road to which runs by
an abandoned gas station, naturally attended by a sun-wrinkled, grouchy red
neck who warns the students of the dangers ahead. This harbinger of doom seems to be plucked
right from central casting and the cabin seems constructed from the same wood
as the forest cottage in Sam Raimi's ground-breaking film <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083907/">The Evil Dead</a></i>. This all seems so perfect that we aren't scared as much as we are amused.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Once the kids arrive at
their destination a nice sequence unfolds.
One of the men discovers, behind a rather gruesome painting, a two way
mirror that allows him to see into the adjoining room of one of the sexy
coeds. However, the scene doesn't go as
we are expecting, and indeed it flips our expectations. Who is watching whom? Why would we watch? Do we have the power to look away? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
However, we have already been tipped off to these questions
and themes through the introduction of a completely different set of
characters. And here's where that spoiler
question I talked about comes into play.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Trying to honor the filmmakers as best I can, I'll just
briefly explain that within the first few minutes, as we are getting to know
these young lambs heading to the horror movie slaughter, we are also introduced
to two bureaucratic engineer-types operating at some vast-Pentagon-like war
room. Portrayed humorously by Bradley Whitford and Richard Jenkins complete with
ties and white, short-short sleeve shirts these two seem to have wandered in from
Mike Judge's workplace satire <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0151804/"><i>Office Space</i></a>.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJmFTCEAOiwjM8IV6fKbIfxYOQAHBPR2z-P61gyqjt_onkICqN9macydMHgDZZzBynjyi7ymYPUsp7PGosmV10komwSBfuT8F4O7ss65srDKzvMCrhBWZK4l7amxSi2awJ6-E41s0C__U/s1600/Cabin+in+the+Woods+Office+Space.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJmFTCEAOiwjM8IV6fKbIfxYOQAHBPR2z-P61gyqjt_onkICqN9macydMHgDZZzBynjyi7ymYPUsp7PGosmV10komwSBfuT8F4O7ss65srDKzvMCrhBWZK4l7amxSi2awJ6-E41s0C__U/s400/Cabin+in+the+Woods+Office+Space.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Somebody has a case of the Mondays!"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From the start, <i>Cabin in the Woods</i> is about the interplay of
these two worlds and my guess is the filmmakers were relying on our continued
interest in exactly how these worlds connect to buoy their experiment. Unfortunately, too many cats are let out of the bag too
early. We're ahead of the movie a bit
through most of its running time, and, after a while, I got a little impatient waiting for these two worlds to intersect. It does happen, but it is very late in the game.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The collision of these two story lines
unleashes a frenetic orgy of non-stop horror jokiness that is so blood- drenched
that you can't help but giggle with delight at the pure audacity of it. However,
I also couldn't help but think that it was overcompensating for the film's flimsy
and slightly boring middle section. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>The Cabin in the Woods</i> is amusing enough and has its moments
that illuminate its themes brilliantly, but without showing a real flair for
horror, or for conspiracy, we are left with bald satire that doesn't really have a
strong enough spine. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some great filmmakers have tried to twist genres inside out
with more successful results artistically. Stanley
Kubrick's <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081505/">The Shining</a></i> and his thriller take <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120663/">Eyes Wide Shut</a></i> are an example. And Michael Haneke subverted the expectations
of the horror genre with his movie <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119167/">Funny Games</a></i>.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It doesn't appear that Whedon and Goddard are attempting
the same sort of experiments that Kubrick and Haneke did, and their movie is a lot of fun despite that, but I found myself
wishing they had tried a little harder. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I will give them this though, they really go for broke with
the ending of this movie, and, while not a real twist, it is delightfully
subversive. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And unlike that Village Voice reviewer, I'll keep it confidential!</div>Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845394320537913576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670691585253670141.post-34134454901127597032012-04-19T11:56:00.001-04:002012-04-19T11:56:41.634-04:00Movie Posters - Invasion of the Bee Girls<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJvc4bYOwCiePM6MBZGoYY4xondkftSRJ8eP4vIGlqrgz8_cSvsmHq1yy6r9IlDoZVBCXbc2OZp5JrmKkBV3j8EkkSb8caD_SmPwJWMp9kHEYzOuFu3PSsazA782vgeGFB1KY_Y9Xj72s/s1600/Invasion+of+the+Bee+Girls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJvc4bYOwCiePM6MBZGoYY4xondkftSRJ8eP4vIGlqrgz8_cSvsmHq1yy6r9IlDoZVBCXbc2OZp5JrmKkBV3j8EkkSb8caD_SmPwJWMp9kHEYzOuFu3PSsazA782vgeGFB1KY_Y9Xj72s/s640/Invasion+of+the+Bee+Girls.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845394320537913576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670691585253670141.post-37565606028582732862012-04-07T15:49:00.001-04:002012-04-07T23:45:28.776-04:00Moneyball - Visual Strategy - Ghosts of the Past<i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1210166/">Moneyball</a></i> is an interesting film. It is not entirely successful, but at the very least, (unlike many Hollywood films these days,) it takes its shots and design seriously.<br />
<br />
Here are just some of the shots which emphasize the weight of the game's past on the shoulders of Billy Beane, played by Brad Pitt.<br />
<br />
In these cases, the old photos of baseball's great teams and players loom heavily in front of him, behind him, and over his shoulder.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDtI5RVMFp7Y_AnsOd80HZk3lnugYnwRanCl7yWXFFQxH_B3sr9_X_6mKFrv1eyvvT7epogf6TuXFNkxXM_Dfa5gT-UFBiA40sTHbC3j_au3xO8KpvlDx3a4vxHqJ1ANSwoy_fb1yTRQA/s1600/Moneyball+Older+Pictures4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDtI5RVMFp7Y_AnsOd80HZk3lnugYnwRanCl7yWXFFQxH_B3sr9_X_6mKFrv1eyvvT7epogf6TuXFNkxXM_Dfa5gT-UFBiA40sTHbC3j_au3xO8KpvlDx3a4vxHqJ1ANSwoy_fb1yTRQA/s400/Moneyball+Older+Pictures4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn9XScvo6zvd7AzdWhrx8h5Y6JICVZMWIf1QhofpaRwf6d9M_qH2RDpmpDHT3fdwCZvJHuy7mPwMa97I5D82L_wDcGmAPzwlYMqAa-Vpiap5YJhGBN8G95Q2Z6Ikm58d0nEc3-A6zLS6c/s1600/Moneyball+Old+Pictures.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn9XScvo6zvd7AzdWhrx8h5Y6JICVZMWIf1QhofpaRwf6d9M_qH2RDpmpDHT3fdwCZvJHuy7mPwMa97I5D82L_wDcGmAPzwlYMqAa-Vpiap5YJhGBN8G95Q2Z6Ikm58d0nEc3-A6zLS6c/s400/Moneyball+Old+Pictures.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7OlOtZqwQlUsAK3wXGYfkFWmZlJ4u7HjEHrG6Y-dYMqbaCGB-OG5-hVVbA3ErPBDLzoKw-CINtZPXEIqt6dwHePUjQu5kGZGJqMnOzt69z_ccurxIgw47f56owVq_Rkyvc5Jm1dOu0fE/s1600/Moneyball+Old+Pictures+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7OlOtZqwQlUsAK3wXGYfkFWmZlJ4u7HjEHrG6Y-dYMqbaCGB-OG5-hVVbA3ErPBDLzoKw-CINtZPXEIqt6dwHePUjQu5kGZGJqMnOzt69z_ccurxIgw47f56owVq_Rkyvc5Jm1dOu0fE/s400/Moneyball+Old+Pictures+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRjnfj-_lO6X_EqtJLX3PWtyIB5EBKp6d_fIZGLCDOH9wIth7auYzuGZ6xyLPbHKSYNCd7tzLwR3YgwR2mD8YcNVhpp9tr6d4GCXx9Yklj3rGvpE8s4RmA2k6Xld2KLgilgNyc_HEIrio/s1600/Moneyball+Older+Pictures+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRjnfj-_lO6X_EqtJLX3PWtyIB5EBKp6d_fIZGLCDOH9wIth7auYzuGZ6xyLPbHKSYNCd7tzLwR3YgwR2mD8YcNVhpp9tr6d4GCXx9Yklj3rGvpE8s4RmA2k6Xld2KLgilgNyc_HEIrio/s400/Moneyball+Older+Pictures+3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845394320537913576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670691585253670141.post-77428892296598094052012-03-28T21:34:00.003-04:002012-03-28T21:34:59.158-04:00There Are Two Sides to Every Story!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiw4PLOYwRKF-_0n4MDTXN4NeObspmzpQDJVrTSfhuTocjDNvdcW9lUQFG6zvb35KxArhlJ0yqRf5DDHm4f7bxszmQllQ8ifmd4MNvREtGjuUGB4r_WVuUo1TNgkNP6ekWwV9eybPLWqA/s1600/The-Reef-+Comparison.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="335" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiw4PLOYwRKF-_0n4MDTXN4NeObspmzpQDJVrTSfhuTocjDNvdcW9lUQFG6zvb35KxArhlJ0yqRf5DDHm4f7bxszmQllQ8ifmd4MNvREtGjuUGB4r_WVuUo1TNgkNP6ekWwV9eybPLWqA/s400/The-Reef-+Comparison.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845394320537913576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670691585253670141.post-77737614347522295952012-03-03T19:42:00.000-05:002017-08-02T17:25:26.368-04:00Orca (1977) - Great Locations, a Good Score and an Odd Ending Saved This Sinking Picture<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji6FuMOvl7tBzZGsRTJzauH62cqmoY-6NcBUkm2PVokmCkd-S-7nnw9cYKedv_-ncoctb_AN4tz-EYPatWNqZPbMSNlohMDxd3BjYQBXdHKrtQcasK5bNdZx_s06SxJq-vrXNYPSpVlYQ/s1600/Orca+Boat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji6FuMOvl7tBzZGsRTJzauH62cqmoY-6NcBUkm2PVokmCkd-S-7nnw9cYKedv_-ncoctb_AN4tz-EYPatWNqZPbMSNlohMDxd3BjYQBXdHKrtQcasK5bNdZx_s06SxJq-vrXNYPSpVlYQ/s640/Orca+Boat.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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In 1977, movie mogul Dino DeLaurentis hopped on the killer
shark train and fast-tracked a high seas leviathan horror picture that now occupies a
strange position in the B-cinema archives.</div>
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The resulting movie, <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076504/">Orca</a></i>, a tale of a vengeful killer whale
in mortal combat with a grizzled fisherman, sank at the box office and was
harpooned by the critics, but it strangely never entered the realm of Ed
Wood-dom, the kind of movie that is so bad it's good.</div>
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Instead - if reading comments on YouTube clips of the film or
on various message boards is any indication - the film has attained cult status
as a kind of eco-horror show. </div>
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Watching it today, it is difficult to understand the vitriol
it faced from its harshest critics.
After the visceral thrill ride of Steven Spielberg's <i>Jaws</i> just two years
earlier, many must have thought the lugubrious pace of <i>Orca </i>to be interminable and inexcusable for a
killer fish picture. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6tTm-rgY5CqpmbV1fZ6wH0egefF8LEIyVEdNDVbRMnLyARe2g-W23OYq1MDBfLOiU1hoStQ0aXzFa-VoWWriyyNC7R5l6stKPcR-Z6vXvEC71gXKf41eaNoId89Up369I1pJ8U08GOk0/s1600/orca+Film+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6tTm-rgY5CqpmbV1fZ6wH0egefF8LEIyVEdNDVbRMnLyARe2g-W23OYq1MDBfLOiU1hoStQ0aXzFa-VoWWriyyNC7R5l6stKPcR-Z6vXvEC71gXKf41eaNoId89Up369I1pJ8U08GOk0/s320/orca+Film+poster.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>
And the story really is ridiculous. Richard Harris plays salty Captain Nolan, (an obvious rip-off of Robert Shaw's Quint from Speilberg's movie,) a
fisherman who has his sights set on corralling a great white shark for possible
sale to an aquarium. His plans are
foiled by the unexpected appearance of a killer whale that literally blasts the great white out of the water.</div>
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After a local scientist, (Charlotte Rampling) doing research off the coast of
Nolan's fishing village, lectures Harris on the uniqueness of these creatures and their limitless intellectual capacity, Nolan decides to try and catch
one. This leads to an all out battle
between man and giant predator that strains credulity to the breaking point and then pushes further.</div>
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It would seem that this movie would be ripe for midnight
screenings, especially since it includes a scene in which the titular orca
demonstrates knowledge of how to dismantle a natural gas line and then even knocks over a lantern to ignite the fumes.</div>
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Why then, is Orca not so bad it is good? There are a couple things working to save it.</div>
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First, and foremost, is the haunting score by
legendary film composer Ennio Morricone. Yes, that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ennio_Morricone">Ennio Morricone</a>.<br />
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Right from the opening frames, where the
titles alternate with some type of sonar tracking device, Morricone's simple
notes are almost a counterpoint to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8SnZmUjhAA">John Williams' famous opening bars of the
Jaws soundtrack</a>.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/oyjBQ9zz8Ms" width="420"></iframe>
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Second is the beautiful location in which the film takes place. Filmed in Newfoundland, the vistas and colors
of the fishing village are stunning.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-wuI_pfTJ5UvLqfFrO_p9fqnUAAF4vrhWz0pBY9sKm1KCxenSUeTJ7d6s3quy0PONoZukbQq9uyKnbaiNg_rjOjHLSsxFncsE2zzBIltk3FJNidTEPdwmVtKFK2t4mSyuoW85XTjLay4/s1600/Orca+leaving+newfounland.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-wuI_pfTJ5UvLqfFrO_p9fqnUAAF4vrhWz0pBY9sKm1KCxenSUeTJ7d6s3quy0PONoZukbQq9uyKnbaiNg_rjOjHLSsxFncsE2zzBIltk3FJNidTEPdwmVtKFK2t4mSyuoW85XTjLay4/s400/Orca+leaving+newfounland.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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For years, Orca was only available
on a pan and scan VHS transfer, but now it can be seen on DVD with its original
widescreen presentation.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikoh3Y3PTn1M_kElnJSz0u3fVv4bpdyifJ_PpO94M6o0cPBpDe63FtRlAhAo-D2_SETd_4B8MfKeaQdr_Cds2iNujJHmXNoBm2f_Tps87VEnaaCZ4rSTVIV0yt4EIavrqPuzI2gdipqC0/s1600/ORCA+porch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikoh3Y3PTn1M_kElnJSz0u3fVv4bpdyifJ_PpO94M6o0cPBpDe63FtRlAhAo-D2_SETd_4B8MfKeaQdr_Cds2iNujJHmXNoBm2f_Tps87VEnaaCZ4rSTVIV0yt4EIavrqPuzI2gdipqC0/s400/ORCA+porch.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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And there are
some really good shots as well - shots that would probably be iconic in a better
movie.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA2jjzlHMBbZbQAm4AgSnSNNYzXvGsWC5xkY5sngDzj_2Ks9urSzP0bz70rbJugbzUi9wkp-dzoB2od7siBTsMXcPr0M7Q8v72Pdarq33h1CF8B-ABseuNQxsaHYredSaBJ6Oex0B66Sc/s1600/Orca+Before+the+Mast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA2jjzlHMBbZbQAm4AgSnSNNYzXvGsWC5xkY5sngDzj_2Ks9urSzP0bz70rbJugbzUi9wkp-dzoB2od7siBTsMXcPr0M7Q8v72Pdarq33h1CF8B-ABseuNQxsaHYredSaBJ6Oex0B66Sc/s400/Orca+Before+the+Mast.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Lastly, the screenplay, despite hampering the film on a scene by scene basis, charts a story with an epic sweep that Morricone's score helps to buoy through to the
end. Rather than throwing together a
shark-eats-swimmers gore fest, the writers of <i>Orca</i>, (who also penned many Sergio
Leone films,) tried to fashion a revenge tale that cobbles together elements of
<i>Moby Dick</i> and Greek tragedy.<br />
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When the
film is this realm, it is actually not bad, and Richard Harris is very good as a
man who is deeply troubled by his action, (the movie contains a stunningly horrific scene in which Captain Nolan, in his zeal to capture a killer whale maims and kills a female whale and its baby,) and therefore obsessed with this creature
that is more and more unpredictable. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivD19SQYpygy7WywWhPAvepI__aP13AL8oHGPywfWioasOQUjaTGzB1luQtM5B7eIfJVRh9gXsr85O-KaXi9jEIenSc1gVns_k4bverNtbYizmiDVqP4iTUo36g2eemt49qZ8Bre0ydKc/s1600/Orca+North+Point.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivD19SQYpygy7WywWhPAvepI__aP13AL8oHGPywfWioasOQUjaTGzB1luQtM5B7eIfJVRh9gXsr85O-KaXi9jEIenSc1gVns_k4bverNtbYizmiDVqP4iTUo36g2eemt49qZ8Bre0ydKc/s400/Orca+North+Point.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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In the heart of the film, there is a great scene where Harris goes down to a jetty
because somebody has told him that a fin was spotted there. He goes at dusk and looks out at the water, but he sees nothing - only the gentle water. He smirks and then turns away to leave. There is the
smallest splashing sound, and he turns around again. He waits, looking out over the dark water for a long moment. He is just about to turn
again, when he hears more gentle splashing and sees the water roiling just a bit. Then, as he strains to see in the gathering darkness, there is the
movement of white and black under the surface of the water. When the film is focused like this, it is compelling. </div>
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However, when the film is trying to shoehorn in spectacular
explosions and orca attacks on Harris's crew, the results are eye-rolling. (I won't go into the horrible expository dialogue.)</div>
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The finale of <i>Orca</i> certainly turns the tables on the
ending of any of the <i>Jaws</i> films. I remember being surprised and troubled by it when I saw the movie as a kid. But the sequence seems rushed, and the execution of it is edited badly and shot clumsily.<br />
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The idea of the climax taking place in the icy north Atlantic is a good one, but the actual scenes were shot in Malta, using iceberg mock-ups, so the power of it is diminished and the visuals are almost laughable. More unfortunate is the fact that this is the worst part of the picture transfer on the currently available DVD and streaming options.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibx9hXTEo6JsjbYBJNGe5e5rJrbauu97qg6cGFsYBiCILeGL4Ic-3ya9cp8PSjixv_Fw9rYE-GS7ZFu7jaXWlLhEB994_j_2K7bKLegvl4dZzTVf9LMPXOx_sa09CyVWmTNC5dF-hZO20/s1600/Orca+Climax.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibx9hXTEo6JsjbYBJNGe5e5rJrbauu97qg6cGFsYBiCILeGL4Ic-3ya9cp8PSjixv_Fw9rYE-GS7ZFu7jaXWlLhEB994_j_2K7bKLegvl4dZzTVf9LMPXOx_sa09CyVWmTNC5dF-hZO20/s400/Orca+Climax.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The way the ending is handled is symbolic of the way the rest of the film is handled. Somewhat mythic and poetic ideas, choked off by attempts to also deliver a monster movie. <br />
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The movie is currently available on Netflix streaming.<br />
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Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845394320537913576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670691585253670141.post-20827733747110769302012-02-20T23:01:00.003-05:002012-02-20T23:01:37.493-05:00Movie Posters - Orca (1977)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKMsCihXskcPwHq78pL3vpUXOx3Xwvp6I7rbeal31QNE1xLVzznzxX5QMPLwuoLWITfvZIY_SIKfBczu48gh2capqLam1-aKEAISjSJm66dbHPUtYtyQb87rm_HcJ9o9-odlkTiRylCwA/s1600/orca+Film+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKMsCihXskcPwHq78pL3vpUXOx3Xwvp6I7rbeal31QNE1xLVzznzxX5QMPLwuoLWITfvZIY_SIKfBczu48gh2capqLam1-aKEAISjSJm66dbHPUtYtyQb87rm_HcJ9o9-odlkTiRylCwA/s640/orca+Film+poster.jpg" width="416" /></a></div>
<br />Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845394320537913576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670691585253670141.post-24027775246497409402012-01-20T13:12:00.003-05:002012-01-20T13:22:35.702-05:00Sundance 2012 Filmmakers on Twitter<a href="http://www.sundance.org/festival/">Sundance</a> is in full swing this weekend. If you like following your film festivals on Twitter, you may want to follow some of the filmmakers that are active Twitter users.<br />
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This is a list of filmmakers, writers, editors, etc who have films in this year's Sundance film festival.<br />
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<b>Rick Alverson </b><a href="http://filmguide.sundance.org/film/120097/the_comedy"><i>The Comedy</i></a> <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/ralver">http://twitter.com/ralver</a><br />
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<b>Mark Webber</b> <i><a href="http://filmguide.sundance.org/filmguide/search/the-end-of-love">The End of Love</a></i> <a href="http://twitter.com/likemark">http://twitter.com/likemark</a><br />
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<b>Ira Sachs</b> <i><a href="http://filmguide.sundance.org/film/120092/keep_the_lights_on">Keep the Lights On</a></i> <a href="http://twitter.com/irasachs">http://twitter.com/irasachs</a><br />
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<b>Ava DuVernay</b> <i><a href="http://filmguide.sundance.org/film/120031/middle_of_nowhere">Middle of Nowhere</a> </i> <a href="http://twitter.com/avadva">http://twitter.com/avadva</a><br />
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<b>Lena Dunham</b> (Screenwriter) <i><a href="http://filmguide.sundance.org/film/120102/nobody_walks">Nobody Walks</a> </i> <a href="http://twitter.com/lenadunham">http://twitter.com/lenadunham</a><br />
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<b>Colin Treverrow</b> <i><a href="http://filmguide.sundance.org/film/120089/safety_not_guaranteed">Safety Not Guaranteed</a></i> <a href="http://twitter.com/colintrevorrow">http://twitter.com/colintrevorrow</a><br />
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<b>James Pondsalt</b> <a href="http://filmguide.sundance.org/film/120030/smashed"><i>Smashed</i> </a> <a href="http://twitter.com/jamesponsoldt">http://twitter.com/jamesponsoldt</a><br />
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<b>Jamie Travis</b> <i><a href="http://filmguide.sundance.org/film/120043/for_a_good_time_call_._._">For a Good Time Call</a> </i><a href="http://twitter.com/jamietravis">http://twitter.com/jamietravis</a><br />
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<b>Marshall Lewy</b> <i><a href="http://filmguide.sundance.org/film/120217/california_solo">California Solo</a> </i> <a href="http://twitter.com/marshalllewy">http://twitter.com/marshalllewy</a><br />
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<b>Spike Lee</b> <i><a href="http://filmguide.sundance.org/film/120133/red_hook_summer">Red Hook Summer</a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1437314049"> </a> </i><a href="http://twitter.com/spikelee">http://twitter.com/spikelee</a><br />
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<b>Laurence Thrush</b> <i><a href="http://filmguide.sundance.org/film/120076/pursuit_of_loneliness">The Pursuit of Loneliness</a></i> <a href="http://twitter.com/growthfilms">http://twitter.com/growthfilms</a><br />
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<b>Michael Birbiglia</b> <i><a href="http://filmguide.sundance.org/film/120081/sleepwalk_with_me">Sleepwalk With Me</a> </i><a href="http://twitter.com/birbigs">http://twitter.com/birbigs</a><br />
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<b>Carrie Preston</b> <i><a href="http://filmguide.sundance.org/film/120074/thats_what_she_said">That's What She Said</a> </i><a href="http://twitter.com/carrie_preston">http://twitter.com/carrie_preston</a><br />
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<b>Tim Heidecker & Eric Wareheim</b> <i><a href="http://filmguide.sundance.org/film/120075/tim_and_erics_billion_dollar_movie">Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie</a></i> <a href="http://twitter.com/TimHeidecker">http://twitter.com/TimHeidecker</a> & <a href="http://twitter.com/ericwareheim">http://twitter.com/ericwareheim</a><br />
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<b>Terence Nance</b> <i><a href="http://filmguide.sundance.org/film/120135/an_oversimplification_of_her_beauty">An Oversimplification of Her Beauty</a></i> <a href="http://twitter.com/terencenance">http://twitter.com/terencenance</a><br />
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<b>Rodney Ascher</b> <i><a href="http://filmguide.sundance.org/film/120136/room_237">Room 237</a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1437314063"> </a> </i><a href="http://twitter.com/rodney_ascher">http://twitter.com/rodney_ascher</a><br />
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<b>Ice T</b> <i><a href="http://filmguide.sundance.org/film/120027/something_from_nothing_the_art_of_rap">Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap</a></i> <a href="http://twitter.com/finallevel">http://twitter.com/finallevel</a><br />
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<b>Joe Berlinger</b> <i><a href="http://filmguide.sundance.org/film/120105/under_african_skies">Under African Skies </a></i> <a href="http://twitter.com/joeberlinger">http://twitter.com/joeberlinger</a><br />
<br />
SHORTS<br />
<br />
<b>Todd Sklar</b> <a href="http://filmguide.sundance.org/film/120172/92_skybox_alonzo_mourning_rookie_card">96 Skybox Alonzo Mourning Rookie Card </a> <a href="http://twitter.com/rangelifeent">http://twitter.com/rangelifeent</a><br />
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<b>Craig MacNeill</b> <i><a href="http://filmguide.sundance.org/film/120156/henley">Henley</a></i> <a href="http://twitter.com/craigmacneill">http://twitter.com/craigmacneill</a><br />
<br />
<b>Eileen Meyer</b> (Editor) <i><a href="http://filmguide.sundance.org/film/120153/the_thing">The Thing</a> <a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1437314074"> </a></i><a href="http://twitter.com/eileeneditor">http://twitter.com/eileeneditor</a><br />
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<br />Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845394320537913576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670691585253670141.post-39416551131465103722012-01-11T13:45:00.000-05:002012-01-11T13:48:37.579-05:009 Films About Money<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7emdgWsFRQrGSJoOgUtuSEz9QKpHlLnGxtVggbJDF_rbhyphenhypheniL9q2c4jAcfFnP4wuLCMueFrKseIiUESPkuGa4zMV-U0IVjVxGWQmvp2Pwmxw2uzlyuJiM1Qqcv-fS1Hh20GHcDG0fxlDY/s1600/edward-hopper-nyc-movie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7emdgWsFRQrGSJoOgUtuSEz9QKpHlLnGxtVggbJDF_rbhyphenhypheniL9q2c4jAcfFnP4wuLCMueFrKseIiUESPkuGa4zMV-U0IVjVxGWQmvp2Pwmxw2uzlyuJiM1Qqcv-fS1Hh20GHcDG0fxlDY/s400/edward-hopper-nyc-movie.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Edward Hopper's <i>New York Movie)</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The scene of a couple hunched over the kitchen table,
sorting through the bills and balancing the checkbook is familiar enough
reality for most people, but on the screen it seems to to be represented mostly in commercials for politicians and tax attorneys. In fiction, do we need a break from household financial drudgery?</div>
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In our popular culture, the familiar incantation is "People
go to the movies to escape!" From
what, exactly, the masses are fleeing is tough to pin down, and no doubt
changes with the times. But for
Americans, one issue seems to be almost deliberately elided on the silver screen: Money. </div>
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The independent film circuit showcases a number of ventures into these areas, but Hollywood tends to shy away. Outside of releases in the heist and crime
genres, it is the rare major motion picture in which money fuels engine
of the plot, or serves as an overarching antagonistic force which helps the film
thematically.</div>
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After critic and blogger Tom Garvey <a href="http://bit.ly/yEBwn7">asked about popular movies that use money as a driving force</a>, I took a look through the past 30
years or so of popular film. </div>
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Indeed, there are no films that use money and class in
precisely the same way the novelists Eliot, Trollop or even our American giant of
that era Henry James did.</div>
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However, there are a few mega-hits in which money is consistent and conspicuous
in both plot and theme. These are films that
appear in the box office range of #1-20 or so for their given years. </div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://imdb.to/w6uEUq">Caddyshack (1980)</a></span></b></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiYhf4l-u7E1qh5IrPfZvG96A-JQeu27Felw_cQqMtCO-OyZlFXrSBpzNxhGJvxRmi2byvX0fT8Hj0qe2SOb5QNjc-8olXs-H_Od7pR-ZToke3mqzAkExaMpwp2HB-6EuSZSFxp4UdIOY/s1600/Caddyshack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiYhf4l-u7E1qh5IrPfZvG96A-JQeu27Felw_cQqMtCO-OyZlFXrSBpzNxhGJvxRmi2byvX0fT8Hj0qe2SOb5QNjc-8olXs-H_Od7pR-ZToke3mqzAkExaMpwp2HB-6EuSZSFxp4UdIOY/s400/Caddyshack.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(The Country Club as societal microcosm.)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This 1980 film sits atop the pantheon of movie
comedies, and its tagline - "The snobs versus the slobs " - is just as famous. It is a still a delight to watch Ted Knight's smug, privileged judge being slowly driven insane by Rodney Dangerfield's boorish, working-class climber. However, we sometimes forget that the
real plot of the film involves Danny, a young caddy trying to get some money
to attend college, ingratiating himself to the wealthier members. </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://imdb.to/whEoFz">Arthur (1981)</a></span></b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGAGVK3SBx3L3l8MvMXDghDOaHuVBgSIjF9dihltNd5NRAyWFvOy_ig9OSDC01td8ZplTwM0JBnsgZIyRyShIFfuqQOyBQ4-8qPrZsusg_AmCP8_i2SXxt4rf7Xp3yyy_rfp6il55dlDE/s1600/Arthur+bath.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGAGVK3SBx3L3l8MvMXDghDOaHuVBgSIjF9dihltNd5NRAyWFvOy_ig9OSDC01td8ZplTwM0JBnsgZIyRyShIFfuqQOyBQ4-8qPrZsusg_AmCP8_i2SXxt4rf7Xp3yyy_rfp6il55dlDE/s400/Arthur+bath.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Marrying well? )</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Dudley Moore's iconic performance as the alcoholic
multi-millionaire playboy does not age as fast as the rest of the movie does,
(nor does Sir John Gielgud's turn as the understated butler.) However, the other thing that remains fresh
about this comedy of attraction between classes, is the way money is talked
about quite openly by Arthur and the object of his affection, Liza
Minelli. When the chips are down, and it
looks like Minelli won't be marrying into Arthur's family fortune, her father
weeps like a baby.<br />
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<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://imdb.to/w1ZaJ4"><b>Trading Places (1983)</b></a></span><br />
<iframe width="490" height="362" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7EjdC0pjo1A" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Another comedy from the eighties. Mortimer and Randolph Duke perform a Pygmalion-like social experiment by switching the financial fortunes of two very different individuals. When Dan Aykroyd's lock-jawed, Harvard-educated broker loses his money, he becomes persona non grata, almost immediately. Eddie Murphy's hustler is given entree, a nice home and a great salary and goes on to succeed admirably. We also <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EjdC0pjo1A">get a lesson in commodities trading</a>, (video above) prompting a memorable breaking of the fourth wall by Murphy</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://imdb.to/zAr0Hn">Wall Street (1987)</a></span></b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYeL4D4I-IqhIqjC_DXiWyMesZLfR5_4PU_faG9_usw9j_dAosy2LaY1zpLDPmBliWuxT5F9yxHbidhCqNHdQCq8JjmTNuZmrVrorhEhLkAtaXMoDXIi2uYMymXqrBapOrKBdQj6ktbSk/s1600/Wall+Street+Sheens.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYeL4D4I-IqhIqjC_DXiWyMesZLfR5_4PU_faG9_usw9j_dAosy2LaY1zpLDPmBliWuxT5F9yxHbidhCqNHdQCq8JjmTNuZmrVrorhEhLkAtaXMoDXIi2uYMymXqrBapOrKBdQj6ktbSk/s400/Wall+Street+Sheens.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Like father?)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Oliver Stone's slight homage to the classic film
<i><a href="http://imdb.to/AtmJWU">Sweet Smell of Success</a></i>, introduced us to Gordon Gekko. Some argue that
rather than simply reflecting the reality of arrogant traders, the movie served
as a kind of Dress for Success manual for the corporate raiders and hedge fund
wizards of the next few decades. (In a smart scene in the 2000 film<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181984/"> <i>BoilerRoom</i></a>, group of young brokers sit around watching <i>Wall Street </i>and mimicking of
Michael Douglas's iconic performance.)
Budd Foxx, Gekko's protege, starts off the film asking his Dad, a blue
collar worker for a small airline, for money to support him in his
apprenticeship in New York City. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="http://imdb.to/ym0d3x">War of the Roses (1989)</a></b></span></div>
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTU1wN9CKIZpB9LL6op_Qg5uJs12h8TwsyrRDxCW1diUg2X3NuCpM5iiT33Yxmf8YGBdTXSEO81dVTIy7KRPbBdYMWBd99r9EgElbZ0MynI9pFhTvABpi81RUVs6k_IirlujUpElHYvt4/s1600/War+of+the+Roses+II.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTU1wN9CKIZpB9LL6op_Qg5uJs12h8TwsyrRDxCW1diUg2X3NuCpM5iiT33Yxmf8YGBdTXSEO81dVTIy7KRPbBdYMWBd99r9EgElbZ0MynI9pFhTvABpi81RUVs6k_IirlujUpElHYvt4/s400/War+of+the+Roses+II.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(The best shot in the film.)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<i>The War of the Roses</i> may be the darkest film on this list and it's a comedy! I recently re-watched it and couldn't imagine it being made today. It approaches that kind of fiction about class and money that reigned in the novels of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. We are dazzled by the beauty and wealth of the Roses, but then we are flinching at the deadly battles over the couple's communal wealth.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="http://imdb.to/wr2vVz">Indecent Proposal (1993)</a></b></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivzPTIEptuPHEKNojoZaor4PsVSvwM1gvQXbVcgjkJfbWZApRARysPEJCxjRS5dvI3AKp-IUr_2tWILLns4Q44iGyXyL-dpGozHfB_MdTBqEFlpAau2HrUYJddxoBoLTC1qWNERTlo_98/s1600/indecent-proposal+Money.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivzPTIEptuPHEKNojoZaor4PsVSvwM1gvQXbVcgjkJfbWZApRARysPEJCxjRS5dvI3AKp-IUr_2tWILLns4Q44iGyXyL-dpGozHfB_MdTBqEFlpAau2HrUYJddxoBoLTC1qWNERTlo_98/s400/indecent-proposal+Money.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Sweet dreams, America?)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Ah yes, this movie prompted so much public discussion,
outrage and dismissal at the time. Roger
Ebert <a href="http://bit.ly/zoFsCe">correctly places it in that</a> class of films that put acceptable people in
unacceptable situations so that we can safely watch it play out . For instance,
the idea of a lonely businessman hiring a hooker is a pretty unsavory prospect
for a night at the theater, but looking at Richard Gere and Julia Roberts amidst
high society ain't so bad. Still there
was something so delightfully wicked about Robert Redford, (of <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071577/">The Great Gatsby</a>
</i>fame,) confidently proposing that anybody can be bought. <br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://imdb.to/yunO6L">Jerry Maguire (1996)</a></span></b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7veADn-WZAen9P_6FVJRUlXYrt-d1b0eJNyXCsi2erX9qqfiegOre78H0fHP-dddF_jXftYrDlqmfsvTRPT7lYcsQqEVUKUrj9QpxyntfoZ-BeQOEBM9JJ3AfHat04UIAcsEXC0ERR1Y/s1600/Jerry-Maguire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7veADn-WZAen9P_6FVJRUlXYrt-d1b0eJNyXCsi2erX9qqfiegOre78H0fHP-dddF_jXftYrDlqmfsvTRPT7lYcsQqEVUKUrj9QpxyntfoZ-BeQOEBM9JJ3AfHat04UIAcsEXC0ERR1Y/s400/Jerry-Maguire.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Into the financial abyss.)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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"Show me the money!" Indeed. Tom Cruise's idealistic sports agent
finds himself immediately down on his luck after he is ousted from a top
agency. Coming along with him to form a
start-up is a single mom (Renee Zelwegger) who, inspired by Cruise's farewell
speech, leaves her good job as an accountant at the former firm. Soon, the two of them find their bank
accounts drained and their hopes for a financial and romantic future pinned on
their one free agent client.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://imdb.to/wqMjFF">The Perfect Storm (2000)</a></span></b><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj11wqtJrAKmCO-xecHwg3a15xBOeCoFrrn2Yk0EoThotf03dv3Hk97SklHUPmnki6HsfrbcPhQ0uLKxBpSia9BxWdDbUsooOcnjKRfZga1h08MYLG33D7DlPm-RVx0HPQb-7pvm2tLTjs/s1600/The+Perfect+Storm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj11wqtJrAKmCO-xecHwg3a15xBOeCoFrrn2Yk0EoThotf03dv3Hk97SklHUPmnki6HsfrbcPhQ0uLKxBpSia9BxWdDbUsooOcnjKRfZga1h08MYLG33D7DlPm-RVx0HPQb-7pvm2tLTjs/s400/The+Perfect+Storm.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(A life and death decision.)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The 90-foot wave that threatens to swallow the crew of the
Andrea Gail in this disaster epic is nothing compared to the debts, bills and
lost wages that are awaiting the fishermen back on shore. What drives George Clooney's crew ever
further into the Atlantic? The promise
of a big catch and more money. And,
tragically, this is also what drives them back into the fateful storm.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://imdb.to/ApP5g4">The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)</a></span></b><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtaYRd3Qag-eASd0ftTxCPuqKWcCQdWs4m5JbomiXbjK0CH1wlB_pMDWRTfmXKR4e3ud2WRGMnZiK5rHSwU2vFv-vPrr2HW5M5veH_OGopKW2QdAy5ebaFZ0rSgPcJn5vnAyG7x6l0NXM/s1600/The+pursuit+of+happyness.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtaYRd3Qag-eASd0ftTxCPuqKWcCQdWs4m5JbomiXbjK0CH1wlB_pMDWRTfmXKR4e3ud2WRGMnZiK5rHSwU2vFv-vPrr2HW5M5veH_OGopKW2QdAy5ebaFZ0rSgPcJn5vnAyG7x6l0NXM/s400/The+pursuit+of+happyness.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(A true light of hope in a bleak film.)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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This was supposed to be the <i>Rocky</i> of urban class issues, but
audiences tended to leave the theater in shock.
The relentless penury of Will Smith's aspiring stockbroker pushed
viewers and some critics to the edge.
THIS is what it takes to pull yourself up from the grasp of
poverty? While watching in amazement at
the resourcefulness of the protagonist, it still made many people ask:
"Isn't there an easier way for a man like this to succeed?"</div>
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<br />
So there you have it. Some big hit films about money. I also noticed some things about hit films and how they handle class - specifically comedies. More about that soon.</div>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span>Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845394320537913576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670691585253670141.post-31524168414901627332012-01-02T01:26:00.000-05:002012-01-02T14:42:28.434-05:00A Few Small Films of 2011 That Stayed With Me<br />
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<b style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-size: large;">1. The Trip</span></b>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnk1IRMfVufJXE50ER4H_F-xbSPKLQ9jnAaldPBs-_u3DcQWaGXavZMFJP6reg2j8XKkM5DvbhbYE32VJQpp0pPzSAk5LYNJoJNcbVkJrHPM3O6xMH9lsek2x7OoqPB4OesUgEx-zbZ_0/s1600/The+Trip.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnk1IRMfVufJXE50ER4H_F-xbSPKLQ9jnAaldPBs-_u3DcQWaGXavZMFJP6reg2j8XKkM5DvbhbYE32VJQpp0pPzSAk5LYNJoJNcbVkJrHPM3O6xMH9lsek2x7OoqPB4OesUgEx-zbZ_0/s400/The+Trip.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><i>"Everything's exhausting when you're past 40."</i></b></div>
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Two British stars take a trip to the North of England together in this Michael Winterbottom project that was edited down from a BBC series. </div>
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<i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1740047/">The Trip</a></i> is a long form improvisation with a spine
created around the imagined (or real) middle-career and middle-aged
malaise of the actor Steve Coogan. Divorced, in the middle of a
break-up with his American girlfriend, Coogan calls his friend Rob Brydon, a
comedian and impressionist, to accompany him on an all-expense paid trip to
visit restaurants in the North of England for a magazine piece he has been
commissioned to write by the Observer.</div>
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Their talents are on full display with Coogan playing broody
and barely amused to Brydon's optimistic, playful needling. Several of the movie's centerpieces involve
the two men dueling with their impressions of iconic stars such as Michael
Caine or Sean Connery. These can go on for a bit, but one of them will always hit
on something deeper in their own relationship as friends or the others career. </div>
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The pair travel through the desolate, but beautiful moors and
end up in the Lake Country, while the deeper themes of time passing us by and
the desperation to make some type of mark on the world start to present
themselves more clearly. Finally, the
two are walking in the footsteps of immortal poets like Coleridge and
Wordsworth, but rather than things getting burdened with too much pretension,
the biting humor of Coogan and Brydon constructs a sturdy engine fueled with
just enough gallows humor to keep us moving along. <br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">2. Bellflower</span></b>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB5AM3HugJPJzGQHgZpLmJnrXOpeK3RvhGLOvBnrFTbXb4qJjsiesCkETqgyGoVv1aKh4fcvDyHHDgpiN_itX_Qn9aufN6-tpwGiJgHwoJJV944BJjdG-gmXUsPd13YbL5vU5gMDPkAiI/s1600/Bellflower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB5AM3HugJPJzGQHgZpLmJnrXOpeK3RvhGLOvBnrFTbXb4qJjsiesCkETqgyGoVv1aKh4fcvDyHHDgpiN_itX_Qn9aufN6-tpwGiJgHwoJJV944BJjdG-gmXUsPd13YbL5vU5gMDPkAiI/s400/Bellflower.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I wasn't sure what to think of this film once it finished,
but I was<i> feeling</i> many things. <i> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1242599/">Bellflower</a></i> is a rambling interestingly-shot trip through depression, jealousy and anger as could
only be properly filmed by the twenty- something renegade filmmakers who made
it.</div>
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Evan Glodell, the director and writer, puts himself in the
lead as the slacker Woodrow who spends his time fixing up a muscle car named
Medusa. He also tries to build the
perfect flamethrower with his friend Aiden.
Their shared buddy fantasy is that they will be prepared for an imagined Road Warrior-type apocalypse. However,
after Woodrow gets mixed up with a new girl, he and Aiden's lives become very
difficult, very fast.</div>
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Flawed, but with a raw artistry and vision,
there is no doubt that these guys have something here, but what it is, I'm afraid I or any critics I have read elsewhere can't describe fully.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">3. Another Earth</span></b>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE_wnntg5MP3vSKmR38SbC4vm2psTCF9FvuPVj7fL3WcDGTyI3bZ9vmYZAX2gGhH9fKGa0w2mA_YwoijAoK9wm2GC_4WsHF9Rm8iu-9EyZ_pNxH2HUAeygHIhf8MYIZCPfdSYbIoUJv0g/s1600/Another+Earth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE_wnntg5MP3vSKmR38SbC4vm2psTCF9FvuPVj7fL3WcDGTyI3bZ9vmYZAX2gGhH9fKGa0w2mA_YwoijAoK9wm2GC_4WsHF9Rm8iu-9EyZ_pNxH2HUAeygHIhf8MYIZCPfdSYbIoUJv0g/s400/Another+Earth.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Yes, the science fiction elements are shaky of course. If you have seen the ads or the poster for <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1549572/">Another Earth</a></i>, you
would know that an identical planet to the size of the Earth would create all
sorts of gravity issues if we could see it looming in the sky like that. Best
seen closer to the fantasy end of science fiction (think Twilight Zone) Mike
Cahill's film is really about coming to terms with ourselves as we are, with
all of our history and finding a way to move forward.</div>
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Earth's citizens become aware of another planet, one that
seems remarkably similar to their own, drifting closer to them This
unleashes the imagination of woman who caused a
fatal car accident that derailed her promising young life, (she was on her way to an MIT scholarship) and wrecked the
family of another man. She tries to find a way to
somehow make retribution. </div>
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One can easily forgive some of the science flubs, but the
credibility issues with the young woman's strange plan to make amends seems a
bit more outlandish than the huge doppleganger planet that hangs in the
sky. However, the haunting tone and the
camera's love of the beautiful Brit Marling, (also a co-writer on
the film,) makes for a hypnotic experience.</div>
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And the first contact of our NASA with the sister organization of that other
Earth is a spine-tingling sequence matched only by the finale, which is closest
thing to the chills I received when I first saw some of the classic Rod Serling
masterpieces.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">4. Senna</span></b>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilqjoOLzD_W3A1xmToKoiaCOcAYjkbWq8yflPjI0H8CnHxU_7bcf8rj-2kVX4kzQ20wQTD-jF-SRd2ZtdH2IAwmoqqXazOG5doPgy-yTVQCC83fsunYm9vpmiAsxS7cge4_PUX4dDVkL4/s1600/Senna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilqjoOLzD_W3A1xmToKoiaCOcAYjkbWq8yflPjI0H8CnHxU_7bcf8rj-2kVX4kzQ20wQTD-jF-SRd2ZtdH2IAwmoqqXazOG5doPgy-yTVQCC83fsunYm9vpmiAsxS7cge4_PUX4dDVkL4/s400/Senna.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Know nothing about NASCAR and even less about Formula One
racing? Then you actually might want to check out this documentary about Senna, Brazil's legendary Formula One racing champion. </div>
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An aggressive driver on the track, Senna is portrayed as a gentler
and more contemplative man out of the car.
Though the film doesn't hide that he was an intense character, he comes across as humble and self-aware. While he obviously dated some of the world's
most beautiful women, the filmmakers seem uninterested in his romantic life and
only fleetingly feature his family. The
politics and rules of the international governing body of Formula One racing
provide the obstacles and Senna emerges as a pure competitor who must somehow
negotiate his way through this thicket to the championship, despite sometimes being
the best driver. Unfortunately, the movie becomes a little bit of a hagiography
in this area, with only a hint of Senna's own infractions.</div>
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With the high decibel roar of the exclusive Formula One
footage to serve as a pillar, the story eschews the static documentary convention
of the talking head, and <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1424432/">Senna</a> </i>instead uses actual period interview audio and a few
voiceovers to thrillingly recreate the fast rise and short life of this athlete
dying young. Senna was killed in an
accident at the age of 34 and the footage taken from his racing car allows us
to be right next to him until the very moment of his fatal collision. <br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">5. Buck</span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY60BOS4TuHJ5gMkD0WeD-OWDShev4wtZbBfeOPz6DSwvVUlWOxC1j8qYgBBmY1ilBMK7I-DkuBPMGigm2x8SOAjWuaDLUajnT67y89_ki7jHNnR9ojmm39tn-1Q9fzvaeYSK0M_V4Egg/s1600/Buck.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY60BOS4TuHJ5gMkD0WeD-OWDShev4wtZbBfeOPz6DSwvVUlWOxC1j8qYgBBmY1ilBMK7I-DkuBPMGigm2x8SOAjWuaDLUajnT67y89_ki7jHNnR9ojmm39tn-1Q9fzvaeYSK0M_V4Egg/s400/Buck.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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A kind of serene twin to <i>Senna</i>, the documentary <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1753549/">Buck</a></i> shows us another man was born to be the best at what he does. Rather than <i>Senna's</i> high octane pace, this film ambles along and waits until its last
moments to throw you.</div>
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Buck Brannaman travels the country running training camps
and seminars for horse owners. He is a protege of a famous horse trainer who
was the inspiration for the novel The Horse Whisperer, which was made into a movie
with Robert Redford. Buck himself served
as a consultant on that film, and his own horse was used for many of the
stunts.</div>
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With beautiful sunsets and mountain vistas as a backdrop, director Cindy Meehl gradually reveals Buck's past.
His brother and he were young prodigies who performed rope tricks around
the country, managed by their increasingly abusive father. Buck's gentleness
and understanding of horses is almost magical, but the film has an ace up its
sleeve that leaves the sage cowboy and the audience off-balance.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">6. Five Days Gone</span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF3nhNNV0iedGwVLEF4bysRtE5_CpUIDKz4-EppXgRFntx3yYv9cOhDL58FUKQNCqfm4kd-CkJZORqSygNqH1eKWCzD9OR-NYpgRzLV9Rl1tTM9r2MRB1p8lIYAgfaIyaMczq3jvsm4IA/s1600/Five+Days+Gone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF3nhNNV0iedGwVLEF4bysRtE5_CpUIDKz4-EppXgRFntx3yYv9cOhDL58FUKQNCqfm4kd-CkJZORqSygNqH1eKWCzD9OR-NYpgRzLV9Rl1tTM9r2MRB1p8lIYAgfaIyaMczq3jvsm4IA/s400/Five+Days+Gone.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Playwright Anna Kerrigan made her first feature film by
scraping together 60,000 dollars and securing an interesting location - a large
estate out in Western Massachusetts. <i><a href="http://www.fivedaysgone.com/">Five Days Gone</a></i> starts in a New York City bar as two sisters, who never knew each other
existed, meet for the first time after their successful father has recently
died. </div>
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While one sister, Camden, grew up with her father and all the money that
that entailed, Alice, played by the writer Kerrigan, grew up poor, never really
knew her absentee Dad and doesn't seem to really care. Camden and her
reluctant husband, invite Alice and her boyfriend to stay for a weekend at the family estate, recently inherited.. </div>
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A few days on the grounds of
the house, and a slow tension
builds, with hints of Chekhov or Turgnev (Kerrigan admits these are her
influences.) The sparks come a little too slowly and there are some
inconsistencies in the characters that seem engineered to create some needed
conflict. However, the performances of
Kerrigan as the skeptical Alice and Brooke Bloom as the nervous Camden, keep
moving the film into the territory where it is at its most interesting: as a tentative
coming of age story about family and class.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="225" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/16470133?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="400"></iframe><br />
<a href="http://vimeo.com/16470133">Five Days Gone Trailer</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user4103539">Anna Kerrigan</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.<br />
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<o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> 7. </span></o:p><b><span style="font-size: large;">God Willing</span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaNMD0vVpnxcCLe0vMK4YPgYFPeH0MRuPzVWkjKWh4ivc1-uW68vojHk8FfN8_OhShkx8h5uxpbXl-Dz3aPKIftjSTJgy9whiDRId7bWU24M50rrp1jSecfOUnYWPWlI5yzrxFQ_Ntv2k/s1600/God%2527s+Willing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaNMD0vVpnxcCLe0vMK4YPgYFPeH0MRuPzVWkjKWh4ivc1-uW68vojHk8FfN8_OhShkx8h5uxpbXl-Dz3aPKIftjSTJgy9whiDRId7bWU24M50rrp1jSecfOUnYWPWlI5yzrxFQ_Ntv2k/s400/God%2527s+Willing.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Remember that <i>60 Minutes</i> piece years ago about the Jim
Roberts cult? You know, the sketchy church that seduces away bright young college students
into a Spartan, separatist lifestyle that prohibits them from ever talking to
the their families again and has them riding bicycles and eating out of garbage cans? </div>
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Well, that cult still exists and is as active as ever. Only now, bereaved family members who have
had children seduced into the organization can connect with each other over
the internet. As a network, the families
can run surveillance on the nomadic cult if they suddenly pop up in a metro
area. They share photos online so that
families can see if their sons or daughters are hiding out in the houses the
cult members rent.</div>
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Filmmaker Angeline Griego followed this group of family
members closely, and her film, <i><a href="http://godwillingmovie.com/">God Willing</a></i>, documents the attempt of one woman in particular
to make contact with her daughter. It
is as suspenseful as any Hollywood thriller - the cult has been known to
completely blow town at the slightest hint they are being watched.</div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">As they circle their
target, the family members talk about what they know about the cult and about
their loved ones, some of whom have been out of touch for decades</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="265" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/19685531?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="400"></iframe><br />
<a href="http://vimeo.com/19685531">God Willing - Trailer</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user2452791">About Time Productions</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.<br />
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<br />Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845394320537913576noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4670691585253670141.post-55274984476534993172011-12-29T15:59:00.001-05:002011-12-29T15:59:15.624-05:00Movie Poster - Buffalo Rider (1978)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9KCoHvAsOZsXATYtXkIK246LODAbWhd6i2dSCQWV3_Eje3Xi_YM57zshUZeTz6WmgZDp3jIWsz-T3vKzonwTqyulD0sGy2dvT6Ypy-7uG-ncopQFC40Ch9HIHb-Oi9VFiNTV2qix4K_0/s1600/buffalo_rider.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9KCoHvAsOZsXATYtXkIK246LODAbWhd6i2dSCQWV3_Eje3Xi_YM57zshUZeTz6WmgZDp3jIWsz-T3vKzonwTqyulD0sGy2dvT6Ypy-7uG-ncopQFC40Ch9HIHb-Oi9VFiNTV2qix4K_0/s400/buffalo_rider.jpg" width="259" /></a></div>Arthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04845394320537913576noreply@blogger.com0