Archive for March, 2010

  • 31 Mar

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    Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: Five Easy Pieces (1970)

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    (3.5/5)

    I have a confession to make. I’m not a big fan of Jack Nicholson. There are a handful of his movies I like a lot, but it’s often in spite of his involvement rather than because of it. A unstated side effect of this marathon was supposed to be for me to gain a better appreciation for him. So far, it isn’t working very well. I’ve actually started watching Five Easy Pieces before, and didn’t finish it (I’ve forgotten why, but probably some combination of being distracted and lack of interest). This time I did finish it, and I can find a good bit to like about it, but I still don’t “get it” the way I was hoping.

    Nicholson is Bobby Dupea, an oil-rig worker who lives with his shrill but well-meaning girlfriend Rayette (Karen Black), in between killing time bowling with buddies and picking up other girls to break up the monotony of his life. As the film goes on, we discover bit by bit that Bobby wasn’t born a working-class stiff – rather, he comes from a well-to-do family of musicians and artists, who he turned his back on years earlier, feeling pressured and trapped by their expectations of him. When his sister contacts him to let him know of their father’s declining health, he travels back home to visit with Rayette in tow, creating a tense juxtaposition when she and his family meet.

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  • 31 Mar

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    Bookmarks for March 29-31

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    • Georges Melies: The Most Important Filmmaker You’ve (Probably) Never Seen
      “What do the following have in common: magic tricks, science fiction, ghosts, oversized insects, space aliens, vampires, the Devil, fairy tales, color, product placement, historical re-enactments, docu-drama, animation and pornography? The twofold answer is that they are all common elements in contemporary movies—and they were all first rendered in motion pictures by one remarkable man, French magician-turned-filmmaker Georges Melies.”
    • Justice is Messy
      Is the Roman Polanski case nearing its end? A three-sentence [court] order said, without explanation: “This court has determined that proper review in this matter requires examination of the transcript of the conditional examination of Roger Gunson.”
    • Gaspar Noe talks ENTER THE VOID
      “Gaspar Noe was in Hong Kong last week to screen his epic, experimental, head trip ENTER THE VOID as part of the 34th Hong Kong International Film Festival and Twitch spoke to him about the film – its origins, influences, intentions – and that ending!”
    • A Decade with Takashi Miike
      “Incorporating sources as diverse as these—as well as many, many others—Miike’s films suggest a common ground where all moviemaking can converse. Not since Jean-Luc Godard in the 1960s has a filmmaker’s approach to cinema been this holistic. But when Godard started making films, the distance between Antonioni and Monogram Pictures (to cite two poles of art and commerce) was not nearly as large as the gulf that today separates Bruckheimer and Costa. To bridge these two in a single film is to risk madness, but such wild combinations also carry the promise of new discoveries, perhaps a new cinema that makes old distinctions irrelevant. “
    • Anime’s female role models
      “If I had a small daughter, I would try to wean her away from Edward Cullen and Miley Cyrus and towards such anime series as the thrilling steampunk saga Nadia: Secret of Blue Water – inspired by Jules Verne, conceived by Miyazaki and featuring a 14-year-old lion tamer/acrobat in 1889 Paris. And I would teach her to read subtitles, so she wouldn’t have to settle for naff dubbed versions.”
    • David Mamet’s 2005 Memo/Manifesto to the writers of THE UNIT
      “There is no magic fairy dust which will make a boring, useless, redundant, or merely informative scene after it leaves your typewriter. *YOU* The writers, are in charge of making sure *EVERY* scene is dramatic.”

     

    You can now take a look at RowThree’s bookmarks at any time of your choosing simply by clicking the “delicious” button in the upper right of the page. It looks remarkably similar to this:

  • 30 Mar

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    Recently on MorePop Vol. 3

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    We’re all about film (mostly) over here on Row Three, but we indulge our love of other areas of pop culture over on MorePop. Here’s some of the things we’ve been looking at over there recently.

    Damn, I need to do this more often; we’ve been posting more on MorePop than I thought! Breaking it up into categories.

    Music

    Literature

    Other Cool Stuff

    Selected Images of the Day

  • 30 Mar

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    Review: Chloe

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    Chloe

     
     
    Chloe may be considered exhibit A in the ever shrinking market for commercial, adult erotic thrillers. Featuring the star power of Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson (who is a tad ubiquitous these days, but at least this is not another action blockbuster) and an on the rise starlet with a very pretty face, Amanda Seyfried, while directed by a much lauded director Atom Egoyan and coupled with the promise of soft-core hanky-panky. This is Egoyan at his most accessible, somewhere in middle of spectrum between Adrian Lyne’s mega-trashy Indecent Proposal and Jane Campion’s seriously underrated In The Cut. And while the director and his young starlet manage to drop the ball during the film’s over-hysteric climax (shades of another Lyne pot-boiler, Fatal Attraction), this is more than made up with a drop-dead performance from Julianne Moore. Perhaps the film should have been titled “Catherine,” albeit that does not quite have the same ring to it.

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  • 29 Mar

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    Trailer for Aussie Sundance Fave Animal Kingdom

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    One of Sundance’s big winners this year was Australian crime drama Animal Kingdom, which walked away with the festival’s World Cinema Dramatic Grand Jury Prize. Written and directed by David Michôd (who also penned this year’s highly anticipated Sundance film Hesher), the story concerns 17-year-old J, who is thrust into his uncles’ world of crime when his mother dies. Reviews for the film have been extremely positive, almost uniformly praising its dark atmosphere, slow burn pacing, and strong character development and acting, especially the performance of Jacki Weaver as J’s more-than-meets-the-eye grandmother. Those are elements I value highly in films, and throw in Australian accents and I’m totally sold. What? I can be shallow sometimes…often…never mind.

    Anyway, Twitch has the new poster and trailer for Animal Kingdom, which is set to open in Australia this June. Sony Pictures Classics is distributing the film in the US, but no release date has yet been announced.

    Watch the trailer after the jump.

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  • 29 Mar

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    Directory of World Cinema: American Independent – Free download!

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    The lovely folks at intellect have made available online their latest and soon to be published tome. The Directory of World Cinema: American Independent comes hot on the heels of the Directory of World Cinema: Japan which will be available shortly in physical form. Since several of the RowThree writers were fortunate enough to have contributed several reviews to the latter of those two books, we’re pretty happy to see the former one now available too. It’s a satisfying grab bag of different styles under the banner of “independent” and gives a solid overview of a number of films and directors that were equally as influential over the last several decades as any Hollywood name you could mention.

    The web site has a direct download link to the pdf file of the book.

  • 29 Mar

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    I Killed My Mother and Polytechnique Big Jutra Award Winners

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    The Jutra Awards, Quebec’s version of the Oscars which specifically honor Quebecois films, gave out its honors last night, and two Row Three favorites took home several of the top prizes.

    Writer/director/actor Xavier Dolan’s electrifying debut film I Killed My Mother (J’ai tue ma mère) took home awards for Best Picture, Screenplay (which Dolan wrote at age 17), and Actress for Anne Dorval, playing Dolan’s mother in the film. A tender, edgy, arty film that’s surprisingly mature considering Dolan’s age, I Killed My Mother was the standout of the AFI Film Festival for me (my review), and ended up as my second favorite film of the year.

    Meanwhile, Denis Villeneuve’s stark Polytechnique took home five awards, including Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Maxim Gaudette), Best Photography, Best Sound, and Best Editing. The film tells with devastating beauty and pain of the 1989 Montreal shooting at the École Polytechnique, where a student entered the school and coldly lined up women along a wall to shoot them. I have not seen it myself, but Marina’s review is full of praise for Villeneuve’s treatment of the tragic material.

    Interestingly, both of these films make good use of black & white; Polytechnique is shot entirely in black & white, while I Killed My Mother uses it for specific sequences of the main character’s intercut narration. I always love me some black & white cinematography, and it’s good to see Quebecois filmmakers using it to such good effect, and turning out such great films in general. I will definitely be trying to see Polytechnique soon, and recommend any opportunity to check out I Killed My Mother.

    hat tip Toronto Sun

  • 29 Mar

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    The Illusionist Trailer Pops Up in Russian

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    Don’t ask me why the first trailer to hit the net for Sylvain Chomet’s The Illusionist is from Russia. I do not know the answer to that. What I do know is that Chomet’s work, from Les triplettes de Belleville to his mime-centric segment in Paris, je t’aime doesn’t really depend on words, either spoken or written, so the fact that I have no idea what the intertitles on this trailer say means very little.

    The basic premise of the story is clear – an old-school magician is left behind by the changing times that prefer youth-centric rock bands – and the animation is as gorgeous as we expect from Chomet. The story is based on a Jacques Tati script that he never filmed, which only makes me that much more excited for The Illusionist to hit our shores.

    It has a 5 May 2010 release date in France; hopefully it will make its way to the rest of the world quickly.

    Trailer is after the jump.

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  • 29 Mar

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    Review: The Runaways

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    The Runaways Movie Poster

    Director: Floria Sigismondi
    Writer: Floria Sigismondi, Cherie Currie
    Producers: Art Linson, John Linson, William Pohlad
    Starring: Kristen Stewart, Dakota Fanning, Michael Shannon, Scout Taylor-Compton, Alia Shawkat, Tatum O’Neal
    MPAA Rating: R
    Running time: 109 min.

    (3/5)

    It’s hard to believe that both Lita Ford and Joan Jett got their start in the same band and if you’re looking for an inside story on how they went from all girl group to kick-ass rockers, you may be disappointed in what The Runaways has to offer for you see, this isn’t so much the story of the band as it is the story of two of the girls in the band and their relationship not just with each other but with sex, drugs and rock and roll.

    The Runaways Movie StillBased on the memoir of Cherie Currie, The Runaways begins just before the band is formed. We meet Currie, a girl with attitude who recently won a talent competition lip singing to David Bowie. Then there’s Joan Jett, a guitar player who has the aspirations and talent to be more than a groupie. She hooks up with producer Kim Fowley and as the film goes, with his hard as nails attitude and a bit of hard work, the girls become the first all female rock group to get signed and cut an album.

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  • 28 Mar

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    Dennis Hopper honored on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

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    Many would agree, this is long overdue. Sure, Dennis Hopper has a history of portraying campy villains in awful movies (oh whatever, who didn’t love Speed when it came out?), but I’ll best remember him for his roles like the alcoholic Shooter in Hoosiers, the drugged out Billy in Easy Rider, the sadistic Frank Booth in Blue Velvet, the wise friend of David Kepesh in Elegy, and for one of my favorite scenes in all of cinema between he and Christopher Walken in True Romance. He’s worked with Francis Ford Coppola in Apocalypse Now and Rumble Fish and alongside John Wayne in True Grit, Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke, and James Dean in two of his three films. The man has had quite an astonishing and varied career. So, yes – it’s just a silly award, but he was long overdue.

    Here is his speech from the unveiling ceremony this past Friday, which was attended by Jack Nicholson, Viggo Mortensen, and David Lynch. He is looking very frail, as seen in photos of the event, and his battle with cancer has taken its toll, but as you’ll see from the video, he is still in good spirits.

    And here is the previously-mentioned scene from True Romance, lest you forgot how awesome of a scene it is. We here in the third row love you, Dennis. Hang in there.

  • 28 Mar

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    Film on TV: March 29-April 4

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    The Passion of Joan of Arc, playing late Sunday/early Monday on TCM.

    Check out a little Marx Brothers marathon on TCM Monday night, from early work like Monkey Business at 8pm to the best of the best starting with Duck Soup at 10:45pm. And the last night of the Kurosawa celebration hits on Tuesday, with some of his later work. A few newly featured ones on TCM, but other than Dreyer’s silent The Passion of Joan of Arc next Sunday, which I’m actually looking forward to seeing for the first time, I’ll let you find those below on your own. Beyond that, there’s numerous worthwhile repeats (including some contemporary greats like Before Sunrise and The Station Agent on IFC) to make sure you haven’t missed on all channels.

    Monday, March 29

    9:45am – IFC – Before Sunrise
    Before Sunrise may be little more than an extended conversation between two people (Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy) who meet on a train in Europe and decide to spend all night talking and walking the streets of Vienna, I fell in love with it at first sight. Linklater has a way of making movies where nothing happens seem vibrant and fascinating, and call me a romantic if you wish, but this is my favorite of everything he’s done.
    1995 USA. Director: Richard Linklater. Starring: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy.
    Must See
    (repeats at 3:30pm)

    11:30am – IFC – Crimes and Misdemeanors
    When Martin Landau’s long-time mistress threatens to expose their affair unless he marries her, he’s faced with the decision to let her ruin his life and career or have her murdered. In a tangentially and thematically-related story, Woody Allen is a documentary filmmaker forced into making a profile of a successful TV producer rather than the socially-conscious films he wants to make. One of Allen’s most thoughtful and philosophically astute films – there are few answers here, but the questions will stay in your mind forever.
    1989 USA. Director: Woody Allen. Starring: Woody Allen, Alan Alda, Martin Landau, Anjelica Huston, Claire Bloom, Joanna Gleason.
    Must See
    (repeats at 5:15pm)

    9:30pm – TCM – Horse Feathers
    Most film comedians do a college-set film at some point, and this is the Marx Brothers entry into higher education. This is a relatively early film for them, and it’s not quite as great as the Duck Soup-A Night at the Opera-A Day at the Races trifecta, but it’s still really solid, one of my favorites of their pre-1933 films.
    1932 USA. Director: Norman Z. McLeod. Starring: The Marx Brothers, Thelma Todd, David Landau.
    Newly Featured!

    10:45pm – TCM – Duck Soup
    Leo McCarey directs the Marx Brothers in what many think is their best and zaniest film. This is the one with Groucho becoming the dictator of Freedonia and declaring war on nearby Sylvania. Frequent Marx Brothers foil Margaret Dumont is on board as the wealthy woman who causes the rivalry that leads to the war. Personally, I prefer A Night at the Opera to Duck Soup, but this may be your best bet if the idea of musical interludes from Allan Jones (of which Opera has several) turns you off.
    1933 USA. Director: Leo McCarey. Starring: The Marx Brothers, Margaret Dumont, Louis Calhern, Leonid Kinskey.
    Must See

    12:00M – TCM – A Night at the Opera
    One of the best of the Marx Brothers’ zany comedies finds them running awry through the world of opera. This is the one that contains the famous “how much stuff can we stuff into a stateroom” scene. And a subplot with Allan Jones and Kitty Carlisle, but that’s best ignored as much as possible.
    1935 USA. Director: Sam Wood. Starring: The Marx Brothers, Allan Jones, Kitty Carlisle, Margaret Dumont.
    Must See

    12:00M – IFC – The Cooler
    William H. Macy plays a loser whose bad luck gets him a job as a “cooler” at a casino – his luck spreads and cools off any hot winning streaks that might be going on. But when he starts a relationship with Maria Bello, his new-found love and acceptance turns his luck. This film reinforced my knowledge of Bill Macy’s talent, made me take notice of Maria Bello, and gave Alec Baldwin pretty much his best role until 30 Rock.
    2003 USA. Director: Wayne Cramer. Starring: William H. Macy, Mario Bello, Alec Baldwin.

    2:00am (30th) – TCM – A Day at the Races
    The Marx Brothers take over the racetrack in what is probably the last of their really great comedies. As with A Night at the Opera you do have to put up with the silly romantic subplot, but it’s not too big a strain.
    1937 USA. Director: Sam Wood. Starring: The Marx Brothers, Allan Jones, Maureen O’Sullivan, Margaret Dumont.
    Must See

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  • 28 Mar

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    Review: Hot Tub Time Machine

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    Director: Steve Pink (Accepted)
    Screenplay: Josh Heald, Sean Anders
    Starring: John Cusack, Craig Robinson, Rob Corddry, Clark Duke
    MPAA Rating: R
    Running time: 100 min.

    (3/5)

    When one heads to the theater to see an R-rated dude-centered comedy called Hot Tub Time Machine about a group of guys at a ski resort who travel backwards in time to the 1980s, there are going to be certain expectations. It’s going to be raunchy. It’s going to have beer and boobs. Most importantly, there will be plenty of fluorescent and Culture Club. Hot Tub Time Machine delivers on all of these expectations.

    The movie opens up by introducing us to the four characters who will find themselves displaced in time. There is Adam (Cusack) a self-absorbed and discontent workaholic who comes home from his job one day to find that his girlfriend has moved out. Jacob (Duke), Adam’s socially awkward nephew, lives in his basement playing video games online all day with no ambition to get a job or go to college. There is Nick (Robinson) who once had dreams of being a rock star, but now works unhappily grooming animals. Then there is Lou (Corddry), the alcoholic party-animal childhood friend who is estranged from the others due to his unwavering asshole ways.

    When Lou is hospitalized in an apparent suicide attempt, Adam and Nick decide to take Lou (and drag along nephew Jacob) to their old ski resort vacation town stomping grounds, where they had what they all believe to be the best times of their lives. When they find the once popular destination deserted, they try to make the best of it and proceed to get extremely drunk in their resort room’s hot tub. Waking up the next day and finding the slopes packed, they soon discover that they have somehow traveled back to the 1980s. This is where the story really begins.

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