Dale, Colleen and Marina discuss a few new releases, a film classic, an award winning musical and the best documentary of the year.
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I was intrigued when I first heard that David Strathairn was starring in The Sensation of Sight, a low-budget indie drama about a middle-aged man who after facing a tragedy in his life starts going door to door selling encyclopedias and searching for the meaning of it all. I haven’t been able to get enough of Strathairn after seeing his Oscar-nominated performance in Good Night and Good Luck – and I’ve always loved films that deal with the meaning of life. So, this seemed right up my alley. Then I saw the trailer (which you can watch at the end of this article) and I loved what I saw. The winner of the Best Feature Film at the New Hampshire Film Festival and Best Cinematography at the Durban International Film Festival (where it was hailed “An instant American classic”), The Sensation of Sight has been receiving great reviews so far and some are saying Strathairn’s performance is one for the ages. I was fortunate enough to have the chance to chat with the film’s director Aaron J. Wiederspahn, who is making his feature film debut with this, and if his passion for the film carries over onto the screen, I think we’re in for something really special here.
I don’t ski, snowboard or hike. For that matter, I have a great dislike for snow but when a trailer makes me hold my breath and say “wow” repeatedly over its two minute running time, I know I’ve hit on something good.
Steep is a documentary which traces extreme skiing from its early days to the pioneers of today. Directed by TV producer/director Mark Obenhaus, and from my bit of research, it looks like Obenhaus’ documentary features many of the big players in the sport, if you can it a sport. I’m more inclined to call it a crazy obsession.
At some point in their lives, everyone has at least one experience that gets the adrenaline pumping and the senses tingling but to walk that line on a regular basis would be too much for most yet, there are a few folks out there that live for the rush and I’m hopeful that the documentary will also give me some sense of the thought process behind the decision to participate in this potentially deadly activity – something more than just looking for a rush.
Watching the trailer on the small screen, I realized that it’s not nearly as impressive as it was on the big screen but between the gorgeous scenery and the incredible stunts, I’m curious to hear some of these folks talk about the experience of jumping off the side of a mountain.
Steep opens in limited release on December 21st.
Over the years I’ve been told that I’m not a typical girl. I’ve never quite figured out what that means. I look like a girl and I sure as hell feel like a girl but I’ve always just slugged it off like a comment for the sake of making a comment. But then I read something like the Women Film Critics Circle Awards (WFCC) and I start to wonder if maybe the commenters weren’t on to something.
The WFCC is an association of 40 women film critics and scholars from around the country, who are involved in print, radio, online and TV broadcast media. For three years they’ve been making their own best of year list. I’m actually quite happy with most of the list but a few of the films listed in the group’s WFCC Hall of Shame really have me scratching my head. Here’s their list of 10 worst portrayals/treatment, of women in film for 2007:
Black Snake Moan***Winning Loser
Exterminating Angels***Winning Loser
Goya’s Ghost***Winning LoserAtonement
Captivity
Gone Baby Gone
Hairspray/Edna [John Travolta]
Lust, Caution
Norbit/Rasputia [Eddie Murphy]
Red Road
There are a few films on the list which I haven’t seen and a few others that obviously deserve to be there but Atonement? Are they seriously suggesting that Briony and Cecilia are weak characters that are taken advantage of? Did we see the same film? Cecilia comes across as a strong willed and independent woman and Briony is no less her own woman. Did I miss something? Can someone explain this to me?
And though I can appreciate the dislike for Rae in Craig Brewer’s Black Snake Moan, she is hyper-sexualized and tied to a radiator, are we also forgetting that the film is about change, growth and self discovery? I’m assuming the message isn’t as important as the visuals.
And don’t even get me started on Gone Baby Gone.
Maybe I’ve misunderstood the criteria for these wining losers but I can’t say I agree with a number of the films on the list and frankly, I’m confused by what message these critics are trying to send with this list – not to mention that it overshadows many of their excellent choices for 2007.
Help me out. Am I missing something?
I don’t always search out short films, I have a hard enough time keeping up with the full length features, but once in a while, something comes up that encourages a search. That was the case last week when IGN ran a news story that Ari Sandel, the director of last year’s Academy Award winning live action short film West Bank Story, has signed on to direct an upcoming comedy for Fox Atomic.
I wasn’t all that interested in the announcement of Sandel’s new project but the story did kick off a search for his award winning short film and nearly an hour later, I was watching one of the funniest things I’ve seen this year; a year that sported some pretty funny comedies.
It’s a musical complete with Disney-like singing and dance numbers that look like they’ve just come out of a classic Hollywood musical (I kept getting flashbacks to Singing in the Rain). It’s also a comedy that makes use of every conceivable stereotype while not being offensive – it’s a bit too sweet for that.
If you’re curious to see the greatness that is West Bank Story, I suggest you put aside 20 minutes and prepare yourself to laugh out loud. Check out the film after the jump.
Ever since the trailer was released for Frank A. Cappello’s He Was a Quiet Man a few months back, I’ve been left really curious. Frankly, I’ve never really felt that Christian Slater had much talent. He’s done some stuff I’ve liked (True Romance comes to mind), but for the most part, I’ve felt that he hasn’t been too out of place these past few years in crappy straight-to-DVD sequels like Hollow Man II and Uwe Boll disasters like Alone in the Dark. After seeing that trailer though, I was left wondering if the guy might actually be able to pull off something special, something beyond what I thought he had in him. Then a few months passed and the movie received about zero buzz and despite IMDb saying it had a November 23rd limited theatrical release in the U.S., I never heard much about it. Now, it looks as though the movie will be released on DVD in the US at the end of January.
It has a solid 75% on Rotten Tomatoes – out of only 12 reviews though. It seems the general agreement is that Slater does a great job, but the movie itself is a little shifty and unsure of what it wants to be, one reviewer calling it a mix of The Office with Boxing Helena, others saying it has shades of Falling Down and Office Space. It has a supporting cast that includes William H. Macy and Elisha Cuthbert and it covers the scenario of the unsuspecting, quiet man becoming a recognized hero that everyone has daydreamed about at least once in their life.
So, has anyone out there actually seen this? If not, anybody else think Slater actually might have the chops to impress here? Check out the trailer by clicking on “show text” below.
I am actually looking forward to seeing Alvin and the Chipmunks tomorrow night. I’m not sure if its just nostalgia or if its that I already know my son will like it. Either way there is just something wrong with wanting to see this.
I truly am sorry…. 
1986. Perhaps the year when I consciously became aware that a movie could be aware of the fact that it was a movie. Call it Meta, call it Breaking the Fourth Wall, I didn’t know either of those terms at the time – I was only 11. In early June of that year, the family was split on what to do for entertainment one weekend. Should we go to a horror picture, April Fool’s Day (yea, we had the option of seeing some of the sleazier films at a tender young age, but that is a different article), or Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. A family consensus was never reached, as my younger brother and dad went to the horror picture, and myself and my mom went to the John Hughes picture. There, I was indoctrinated by the cocky young Yuppie-Rebel-in-Training (Remember, this was rumoured to be Vice President Dan Quayle’s favourite film), Matthew Broderick, as he took over a Chicago Parade, and trashed a beautiful vintage Ferrari, got the girl and still made it home on time to stick it to the Man. But the most memorable thing about the film at my young age was how Ferris talked directly to the theatre audience from within the movie. I mean he looked right into the camera and acknowledged his full awareness that an audience was watching. During the closing credits, he even tells the audience to go home! Not three months later, a little comedy sitcom debuted on TV starring comedian Gary Shandling. The theme song, episode structure and just about every single element (including the title, “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show.” of the show) was played as if Garry was fully aware of the fiction yet participating and mocking it too. It was pretty brilliant and groundbreaking TV at the time (see also the similarly named and even more brilliant, “The Larry Sanders Show”, also starring Shandling), and quite an eye opener for an impressionable future media-junkie.
Article continues after the jump, and is spoilerific to several films, so be warned…
» Read the rest of the entry..
Director: Jason Reitman (Thank You for Smoking)
Writer: Diablo Cody
Producers: Lianne Halfon, John Malkovich, Mason Novick, Russell Smith
Starring: Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Allison Janney, J.K. Simmons, Olivia Thirlby
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Running time: 92 min.
In my experience, expectations are everything. They can single handedly make or break a film for a person. Having read rave after rave about The Toronto International Film Festival’s darling, Juno (including folks in the third row), my expectations were through the roof. I’ve been so looking forward to this film for weeks. Finally it shows up in Minneapolis (where screenwriter Diablo Cody resides from) to a (that’s “a” – singular) packed theater every night this week. I could hardly control my anticipation. And then the dialogue starts.
Maybe it was the incredibly annoying audience that seemed to genuinely think that every single line spoken in this film and every sinlge facial expression is laugh-out-loud hilarious. Maybe it’s the fact that Rainn Wilson is only in the first five minutes of the film with the most annoying, un-funny dialogue I’ve heard this year. Maybe it’s 5 degrees (that’s fahrenheit to our metric friends) in Minnesota and I’m cold and bitter. Whatever it is, I was turned off from this film from the get-go. Though it eventually won me over.
The storyline is simple and surprisingly original. I say original because I can’t think of another movie off the top of my head that revolves around a pregnant teen. I say surprisingly because I’m shocked the issue has not been tackled before (and often). Maybe it has and I’ve not paid attention. Still, the way it’s portrayed here is certainly original in its cutesy sort of way. Anyway, the story goes as follows: because “she’s bored,” 16 year-old Juno (Ellen Page) gets pregnant from her dorky, high school friend, Pauly (Michael Cera). After deciding to not have an abortion, along with her supportive family and friends, Juno decides to give the baby up to a nice couple in the suburbs; played by Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner. Then it just trolls along and we watch Juno over the course of nine months dealing with the kinds of things a pregnant teen might deal with; again, in a cute and fun way – not a serious way.
A side plot develops when Juno and prospective, adoptive father start to become friends and begin sharing music, movies and general interests with one another. This confuses the young man and he begins to have second thoughts about raising a child.
The beauty of the film is in fact its simplicity. The audience prances along with the characters as they make their decisions and crack humorous jokes about various situations. Nothing overly dramatic ever happens and very little that would spoil the mood. And the good news is, the story doesn’t seem to go where you think it’s going. There is a curvy road and even a slight angled turn here and there. Notice I didn’t mention twist, just slight adjustments to keep this film from being 100% predictable.
AFI has just announced the official selections of AFI AWARDS 2007. AFI Awards is an annual program of the American Film Institute–an almanac which records the year’s most outstanding achievements in film and television. Ten AFI Movies of the Year have just been determined by the juries.
In alphabetical order:
Some interesting choices here. For the most part I can’t really argue too much. The one that sticks out like a sore thumb though is Knocked Up. While I think it’s a fun movie and while I generally slag on awards that never recognize comedy, this seems like an odd choice while leaving Atonement, Jesse James and Once just hanging in the wind. What jury member decided on Knocked Up as opposed to any number of far more deserving films? Let alone an entire jury of 13 people. Maybe there’s some criteria that I’m not aware of here, but…
Am I way off base here?
I‘m still going through my list of movies from 2007 and in order to write up my top 10 of the year and I started to realized just how many movies I haven’t seen this year. You know, I’m quite happy with the number of movies I watched. I’m going to make my goal of 3 movies per week or 156 movies over the entire year. I guess if I wasn’t working through the backlog of old movies perhaps I would have seen all the following:
I did not include Sweeny Todd nor There Will Be Blood because I will definitely see them before January!
So how many of these would be on your top 10 for the year?
Feel free to check out all the trailers behind the cut.
There is something particularly off-putting about watching people during the simple act of eating. Certainly there have been a large number of films that have used this for one purpose or another, but personally, the criminally overlooked Ravenous is the first one that springs to mind. Perhaps due to the genre-mashing nature of the film (which is part comedy, part cannibal horror, part snowy western) or the subject matter, namely the Wendigo myth of gaining the strength of one’s enemies by eating them, this film withered quickly at the box-office during its 1999 release. It probably didn’t help that the film was plagued with some production troubles including uncooperative weather and a director replacement in the early stages of production. Nonetheless there are those of us who love the film warts and all. Those who enjoyed The Aussie art-western The Proposition can see perhaps a germ of Guy Pearce‘s character on display here, as a disgraced war-hero. Heck, any film that opens with an ominous quote from Nietzsche immediate followed by “Eat Me!” has already gone a goodly way towards goofy likability.
This scene, the opening one, has the tone immediately set from the off-kilter score from Blur’s Damon Albarn over a shot of the waving American Flag. Cut to a dinner in honour of a war-hero of the Mexican-American war. A long table of officers in full ceremonial regalia sit down to a meal that consists of a single, plate filling blood-red steak. From the reaction shots of the senior officers and the flash backs of Guy Pearce‘s character to the actual battle, it is immediately obvious that he is a bit of a coward and not a hero at all. But before we can go there, all the officers dig into the meal in synch to the sounds of plate clanking and chomping. Heavy breathing also dominates on the soundtrack to add a note of nausea echoed in the visuals. That would be close-ups of the meat and the chewing and the queasiness on Pearce‘s face which culminate with our hero running from the room and vomiting. This as the opening title card slides in with a gratuitously amusing sound effect. Meat is murder and murder to most, especially during war, murder tastes pretty darn good. Just ask Dennis Leary on this one. The scene is played firstly free of dialogue and secondly with a sense of humour that is not often encountered in American films (although despite a Hollywood studio paid for the film it is notable that the director is British (and interestingly enough female, possibly a vegetarian too) and the lead actors are Australian and Scottish and the film was shot in Eastern Europe).
I have a fondness for Sergio Leone‘s Duck You Sucker which features some great shots of upper class folks maowing down in extreme close-up, or Peter Jackson establishing a character in Return of the King, merely by his unsavoury eating habits and body posture. The implied sex between Albert Finney and Angela Baddeley simply by showing a meal in Tom Jones is memorable as well. But Ravenous takes the cake for having one of the most grotesque eating scenes of all time.
