dir. Shawn Levy
USA, 2010
First post-dinner film. Competent - Tina Fey and Steve Carrell are good actors regardless of the film - but the script could've been better and it never really lifted off, despite having a supporting cast that included Mark Wahlberg (who is good when rightly cast) and James Franco.
Saturday, 26 January 2013
Up
dir. Pete Docter
USA, 2009
Strange, strange film. Not sure the animation style did it any favours. I kept thinking that the visual imagination cried out for a live-action film - the balloons and the house would've been rendered so much better that way. When it got into the parallel world or whatever it is I lost interest. The real heart of the film seemed to have been abandoned - the man missing his wife and the city's and the developers' threats to his house.
USA, 2009
Strange, strange film. Not sure the animation style did it any favours. I kept thinking that the visual imagination cried out for a live-action film - the balloons and the house would've been rendered so much better that way. When it got into the parallel world or whatever it is I lost interest. The real heart of the film seemed to have been abandoned - the man missing his wife and the city's and the developers' threats to his house.
Rewatch: The Fantastic Mr Fox
dir. Wes Anderson
USA, 20-
I didn't have good memories of this, but it was on TV so we watched it. Much better than I remembered, although I still wouldn't say it was great.
USA, 20-
I didn't have good memories of this, but it was on TV so we watched it. Much better than I remembered, although I still wouldn't say it was great.
Written On The Wind
dir. Douglas Sirk
USA, 1956
On New Year's day, we - film club - watched five films in a row, with just a break for dinner. This was the first, after we'd all loved All That Heaven Allows (1955).
This was even more melodramatic, if possible. More lurid, and the acting more extravagant. Rock Hudson was in this one too, though he was a more conventional guy here - not the Waldenite in the earlier film. His pal's sister was a great baddy, and while there weren't as many great scenes or memorable moments as in All That Heaven Allows, there was a marvellously edited scene featuring this sister dancing as someone else dies:
The setting - the Texas oil fields, a rich family - and the melodrama made me wonder if this wasn't a key precursor to the TV soap Dallas.
USA, 1956
On New Year's day, we - film club - watched five films in a row, with just a break for dinner. This was the first, after we'd all loved All That Heaven Allows (1955).
This was even more melodramatic, if possible. More lurid, and the acting more extravagant. Rock Hudson was in this one too, though he was a more conventional guy here - not the Waldenite in the earlier film. His pal's sister was a great baddy, and while there weren't as many great scenes or memorable moments as in All That Heaven Allows, there was a marvellously edited scene featuring this sister dancing as someone else dies:
The setting - the Texas oil fields, a rich family - and the melodrama made me wonder if this wasn't a key precursor to the TV soap Dallas.
Return
I haven't done this for a long time and I regret it, so with the New Year not to far advanced, I'm going to try to update it regularly again.
Wednesday, 7 September 2011
Roll Out, Cowboy
dir. Elizabeth Lawrence
USA, 2009 (?)
Great documentary on charismatic North Dakotan Chris Sand, who has a double-life as a cowboy and country/hiphop musician.
USA, 2009 (?)
Great documentary on charismatic North Dakotan Chris Sand, who has a double-life as a cowboy and country/hiphop musician.
The Skin I Live In
dir. Pedro Almodovar
Spain, 2011
A fan of those "torture-porn" films like Saw could watch this and in some scenes respond in the same way as they would those horrific Hollywood films. They could do that whilst also being comprehensively critiqued and attacked without realising it, such is the twisted genius of Almodovar's film. Every instance of apparent misogynistically-inclined control or violence is turned inside out and sent back at the misogynist whilst conning him into thinking the film's in agreement. Mindboggling.
Spain, 2011
A fan of those "torture-porn" films like Saw could watch this and in some scenes respond in the same way as they would those horrific Hollywood films. They could do that whilst also being comprehensively critiqued and attacked without realising it, such is the twisted genius of Almodovar's film. Every instance of apparent misogynistically-inclined control or violence is turned inside out and sent back at the misogynist whilst conning him into thinking the film's in agreement. Mindboggling.
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