Posts Tagged ‘Art’

  • 18 Nov

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    Friday One Sheet: Ghana take on Tom Cruise = Pudgy

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    It is fun to see how big Hollywood blockbusters are marketed around the world, and this series of hand-drawn posters from Ghana, are not sanctioned by the big American Corporations running the movie business, yet are insightful in how the particular artists sees the product. I am not even sure if that scene is in the Brian DePalma Mission Impossible; it looks a lot more like a scene from the John Woo sequel. The MI:2 poster has Tom Cruise looking like Corey Feldman. Click for lots more of these.

  • 02 Mar

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    Meek’s Cutoff Trailer

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    The team that brought you Wendy & Lucy are back to entrance you with another, albeit historical, take on the dire Oregon experience. Michelle Williams, Bruce Greenwood, Shirley Henderson and Paul Dano saddle up with writer/director Kelly Reichardt for the art film western, Meek’s Cutoff. I had the opportunity to catch the film at last years Toronto International Film Festival and it handily made my end of the year top ten list.

    The year is 1845 and Stephen Meek is a for-hire guide leading a handful of immigrant families across the Oregon Trail in search of the American dream. As hours turn into days since their last discovery of fresh water, mutinous thoughts and paranoid rumors abound among the families over the ability and motivations of their delegated leader. Part suspense story, part historical drama, part meditation on the frailty of life, Meek’s Cutoff is a mesmerizing feat that, while deliberately paced, is continually engrossing to watch. My TIFF review can be read here.

    The trailer is tucked under the seat.
    » Read the rest of the entry..

  • 20 Apr

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    Bookmarks for April 16-20th

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    • Dennis Cozzalio on the Memorable Lee Van Cleef
      “And because of the angularly unique sculpting of his features— an arrow-shaped head complemented by hawk-like nose, a smile that could seem warm and sinister almost simultaneously, and yes, those eyes—Van Cleef seemed destined, from the beginning of his movie career—a small part in Fred Zinnemann’s High Noon– to be typecast, albeit memorably, as a bad guy.”
    • Ray Harryhausen and the State of the Animation
      Horatia Harrod meets Ray Harryhausen at his London home and finds the post-war animation legend none too pleased with the state of modern film-making.
    • Actor Idris Elba, Generating His Own Buzz
      ““In this day and age, actors can’t afford to be pompous,” the 37-year-old Mr. Elba said, discussing a career that first caught fire with “The Wire” and peaked with last year’s popular but critically reviled potboiler “Obsessed.” “You can’t afford to turn your nose up at things. Audiences want to see you a bit more dynamic. We know you can act, Daniel Day-Lewis. That’s fantastic. Show us a bit more. We want to be entertained.””
    • “Video games can never be art” – Roger Ebert
      “…nevertheless, I remain convinced that in principle, video games cannot be art. Perhaps it is foolish of me to say “never,” because never, as Rick Wakeman informs us, is a long, long time. Let me just say that no video gamer now living will survive long enough to experience the medium as an art form.”
    • Better-Late-Than-Never: Another analysis of Starship Troopers
      “The business of satire is a risky one. When the concept is applied in literature, theatre, film or any other medium there is always a risk that it will be misunderstood. Satire is an ironic and sometimes sarcastic means of making an indirect social or political point, often leaving the author open to attack from those who were simply unable to distinguish their tone. Occasionally the reader/viewer will miss the point entirely or they’ll be convinced that the author believes in what they are satirising. Paul Verhoeven’s 1997 film Starship Troopers was not immune from the dangers of the audience misreading the films satirical content.”
    • Matt Brown on Kick-Ass
      “This is also why Kick-Ass is properly fantasy, and damned successful fantasy at that: because in the end of it all, Dave designs, and realizes, a complete revolution of the self. It’s a revolution which could never occur in the real world in the death-and-spraypaint comic book terms expressed here, but it’s a revolution which needs to happen for kids in the real world in some terms expressable somewhere. And baby, revolution’s afoot.”

     

    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:

  • 09 Oct

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    VIFF 09 Review: Rembrandt’s J’Accuse!

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    viff09bannerReviews

    RembradtsJAccuseMovieStill

    How can one not love a filmmaker who, in the opening five minutes of his film, states that most of humanity is “visually illiterate” and that it’s this illiteracy that may account for the world’s “impoverished cinema?” Though I laughed, a large part of the crowd in the nearly sold out screening coughed and shifted uncomfortably and you could nearly make out what they were thinking: is he going to insult us through the entire film? Peter Greenaway wasn’t trying to hurt anyone’s feelings, he was merely stating fact as he sees it and frankly, I can’t say I completely disagree.

    Regardless, the comment, though it initially comes across as a poke, gets at what Greenaway intended to do with Rembrandt’s J’accuse namely, study a painting like one would a novel to attain some meaning and understanding as to what Rembrandt was trying to say by painting it.

    » Read the rest of the entry..

  • 15 Sep

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    First Look at Andrew Niccol’s The Cross

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    TheCrossMovieStill

    Few filmmakers make an entrance the way Andrew Niccol did. Gattaca may not have broken box office records but the film was widely loved and for me, remains one of the most beautiful and favourite films about the near-future.

    Niccol hasn’t exactly been slipping but his offerings since that 1997 classic have been few. I found S1m0ne a miss but loved Lord of War and yet, I found myself hoping that perhaps Niccol would return to sci-fi. My hopes were lifted when earlier in the year it was announced that he was working on a new project, a sci-fi project titled The Cross about “a man seeking to cross a mysterious border, something no one else has achieved.” Vague stuff but intriguing none the less.

    The film starts Orlando Bloom in the lead as the man on the run and the fantastic Vincent Cassel as the guard every foiling his plans. Olga Kurylenko also stars in the film likely as some sort of love interest. The original announcement of the project was very vague but our good friends at Quiet Earth have uncovered both an expanded synopsis for the film and some concept art.

    First up, what’s it about?

    Mylar (Bloom) and his younger brother Castro come to a town to cross the border in search of a better life. The two travelers, full of hope, all too quickly realize that their journey leads them to an inescapable world full of doom. The enigmatic border is strictly enforced under the command of a guard, Guideon, who prohibits anyone from ever leaving. Castro doesn’t make it alive past two weeks, but Mylar defies all odds and becomes the first to successfully cross the border. And he also becomes the first to come back… all for the love of a woman, Vera. Mylar must now devise a plan not only to set himself free, but all of his fellow citizens as well. But perhaps crossing the border is not the answer. Perhaps the key lies in altering the border and whatever it may represent…

    If it sounded promising before, it sounds even better now and taking a look at these images, I can’t help but get all giddy.

    Images tucked under the seat!

    » Read the rest of the entry..

  • 11 Aug

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    Shorts Program: WORLD CINEMA

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    WorldCinema

    T this is one of those twitter things. Rope of Silicon by way of Anne Thompson by way of Scanners Blog via filmmaker Baris Azman who posted the link to the Coen Brothers’ contribution to the short film anthology Chacun son cinéma made specifically for Cannes a couple of years ago which is now up on Youtube. Curiously, this short (along with the David Lynch one, here) was left off the eventual DVD release. But it is freely available for the time being. Joy!

    It’s only a couple minutes long, and essentially Llewelyn Moss (although he is named Dan here) walking randomly into a repertory cinema and deciding whether or not to watch Jean Renoir‘s Rules of the Game or Nuri Bilge Ceylan‘s Climates (FYI, my review of Climates here).

  • 10 Jun

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    Tim Burton: The Exhibit

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    Tim BurtonApparently Tim Burton is some sort of national treasure because after years of making distinctive looking films, he is being honoured by none other than the MoMA.

    Running November 22nd through April 26th 2010, the major exhibit titled “Tim Burton” (how original) will feature 700 pieces including paintings, drawings, storyboards, maquettes, puppets and other work created or designed by Burton over the decades. If that’s not enough for film fans, the MoMA will also be presenting a series of films which either influenced or inspired the director and titles include James Whale’s Frankenstein, Robert Wiene, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Roger Corman’s The Pit and the Pendulum. Gotta say, none of those titles surprise me.

    I was much more interested to read that some of the items on exhibit are never before seen pieces produced by Burton while he was working for Disney on projects like The Fox and the Hound and The Black Cauldron.

    I hope that if the exhibit goes well, it will turn into a travelling show which makes a stop in Vancouver; it would be fantastic to take in a day (or two) of Burton goodness!

  • 05 May

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    Art Trek

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    Digging around the web this morning (not at my usual sites for some reason) I tripped over some fancy new ideas for the next evolution of the “Starship Enterprise”. While it might piss off a few fans, I would pay double the money to the movie in which Scotty has to recharge the dilithium crystals for a ship that looks like it spent three years in dry dock in gang territory or was retro-fit to play humongous galactic LP’s.

    These models were created by many respected graffiti, FX and pop Artists from all over the world and have designed their interpretations of the USS Enterprise from these 34-inch-long replicas which were cast from the actual 3D digital models created for the film by George Lucas FX-company, Industrial Light and Magic.

    These models are currently on world tour and you can find the current locations of each model by clicking on them at the official site – which I highly recommend you do as some of these are super duper cool (and admittedly some of them are just kind of stupid).

    I have posted a few of my favorites within this post and I’ll put a couple more under the seats, but go have a gander at the full gallery of ships with an easily navigable interface complete with multiple angles of each ship/model.

    via Cyana Trend Land
    » Read the rest of the entry..

  • 06 Apr

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    Jarmusch’s Rules for Filmmakers

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    Jim JarmuschWhen I posted the trailer for Jim Jarmusch’s upcoming The Limits of Control, it was instantly clear that there’s a whole lot of love in Row Three land for the director. He’s not afraid to work outside the “system”, consistently making great films that twist and bend expectations.

    Movie Maker recently gave Jarmusch free reign and asked him to share some information on his method of directing and result is five “rules” which read like a handbook for guerrilla filmmaking as well as a sort of simplified bible for filmmakers. Above all, it also sheds a bit of light into the director’s process and how he makes films.

    In short form, here are Jarmusch’s rules for directors:

    1) There are no rules.
    2) Don’t let the fuckers get ya.
    3) The production is there to serve the film.
    4) Filmmaking is a collaborative process.
    5) Nothing is original.

    Jarmusch expands on the rules over at Movie Maker; it’s a short article well worth a read.

    Big thanks to Peter Marshall for the heads up.

  • 02 Apr

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    Period Romcom Fun: Easy Virtue Trailer

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    Easy Virtue Movie StillIn 1994, writer director Stephan Elliott hit the ground running with the release of the cult favourite The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Though I saw it years after its release, it was my first introduction to two very talented actors: Hugo Weaving and Guy Pearce not to mention that it was a gorgeous and fun film.

    Ellilot’s film career never skyrocketed but the director did make a few other films, none of which I’ve seen, but he jumped back on the radar when it was announced that he would be stepping behind the camera to direct Colin Firth and Kristin Scott Thomas in Easy Virtue. A period drama about an Englishman (The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian’s Ben Barnes) who marries a glamorous but scandalous American woman (Jessica Biel), the project instantly had my attention but I never realized it would be the riot the trailer suggests.

    Though Firth and Thomas were and remain my main attraction to the project, this looks to be Biel’s opportunity to be more than just the pretty face and the trailer suggest she may have struck gold. It’s a familiar story (essentially a period romcom) but with this much talent behind and in front of the camera (not to mention that it looks beautiful), it’s one to keep an eye on.

    Easy Virtue has been making the festival rounds since it premiered at TIFF last; it will open in limited release across the US and Canada on May 22nd.

    Easy Virtue Trailer [ 0:01 | 14.67 MB ] Play Now | Play in Popup
  • 26 Mar

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    Angels & Demons: Nice Poster. Not Sure About the Movie

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    I’m not holding out much hope for Angels & Demons. Ron Howard and Tom Hanks’ first attempt to transfer Robert Langdon from the page to the screen was a dud and though Dan Brown has made millions from Langdon and the mysteries he “solves”, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the stories are ripe for the big screen.

    Good taste aside, The Da Vinci Code made a nice pile of cash so it’s no surprise that the studio would want to dig in for a second round. What is surprising is that both Howard and Hanks signed on for a second film; maybe they had a really great time on set. One thing is certain, if the book is any indication, the premise for this one will be less mind numbing than the first. Though it takes place before the events of The Da Vinci Code, the stories have no overlap aside from Langdon and a religious conspiracy which, this time, puts the symbologist in the middle of a mystery involving a murder, the Vatican and the Illuminati.

    As expected, the new film features quite the cast including Stellan Skarsgård, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Ayelet Zurer as the new love interest and Ewan McGregor in a role that is unlikely to be en par with Paul Bettany’s scene stealing performance in The Da Vinci Code. The trailers are far from awe inspiring but they do suggest that the film will sport some awesome locations and I have to admit, this new poster is very nice.

    Angels & Demons One Sheet

    Angels & Demons opens on May 15th.

  • 15 Mar

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    Sell Out! Trailer

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    Generally, a Malaysian musical comedy wouldn’t be something that appeals to me but I’m an equal opportunity lover and frankly, it’s not every day that I’ve already heard about a little known Asian film but here we are.

    Colleen saw and fell in love with Yeo Joon Han’s Sell Out! at VIFF and every time she talks about it, she breaks into gleeful hysterics; having seen the trailer, I can see why. From what I can remember, it’s about a boy, a girl and a company that is on the lookout for the next best product (as long as it has a deficiency that will break it immediately after the warranty expires).

    Doubtful that we’ll get to see the film outside of the festival circuit but at this point, I’m just happy to see a trailer! Keep an eye out for it possibly playing near you. I’m anxiously awaiting the DVD release!

    Thanks to the Twitch folks for the awesomeness!


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