Posts Tagged ‘Movie’

  • 17 Feb

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    Siskel & Ebert Full Archives Now Available

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    If you’re interested in some nostalgia, Siskel and Ebert’s very, very early episodes of “At the Movies” (then titled “Opening Soon”) are now available for viewing online. The post 1985 archive was put online quite a while back for searching and viewing but anything pre-1985 was thought to be lost. Now thanks to the Library of Congress you can catch a lot of of those early reviews with Gene Siskel sporting an almost Shalit like mustache.

    I’ve embedded the very first episode from 1975(!) under the seats since the damn thing auto-plays (with a review for something called One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) and you can see a lot more of these early episodes (full episodes too, no just individual reviews!) with the search function over at Siskel & Ebert.org. Good times. Now I’m off to go see what their initial impression of Return of the Jedi and Blue Thunder was.
     

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  • 17 Nov

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    Cinecast Episode 190 – That is a Lot of Tussle

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    The question is simple. What is more terrifying: aliens descending upon the earth to scoop up its citizens and eat their brains or the ongoing global warming political and scientific brouhaha or the crazy devastation of laissez-faire economics. Maybe a better question would be, which of the three is more likely? Diving into the finer points of the enviro-doc, Cool It! proves interesting conversation fodder before throwing less intelligent insults and praise at what is essentially an 80-minute, SFX, demo reel in a (SPOILERS!) discussion of the Strause brothers’ Skyline. Kurt rambles rather incoherently on the style, tone and minutae of Charles Ferguson’s Wall St. melt-down doc Inside Job. Furthermore on the documentary front, Netflix.ca proves to be quite the treasure trove for old Errol Morris and other delights. South of the border, Andrew and Matt sort of take it easy on their DVD players this week. Tangents on the Harry Potter franchise, fanaticism and multiplex hordes (which take their sanity toll on a certain fellow working in the multiplex biz.) Then there are some interesting DVD and Blu-ray picks this week; including the restoration of Metropolis (Blu-ray) (unfortunately delayed for a week) and what sounds like even more of an amazing prospect is the documentary about a man with no arms and no legs jumping (so to speak) into the world of competitive mixed-martial arts which puts the peanut gallery in stitches vis-a-vis insensitive wise-ass remarks. Lastly, there is a call put out to the listener base to offer ideas for our 200th episode which should land somewhere in the early going-on of the new year!

    As always, please join the conversation by leaving your own thoughts in the comment section below and again, thanks for listening!

     
     

    Cinecast Episode 190 [ 2:39:18 | 91.15 MB ] Play Now | Play in Popup

     
     

    To download the show directly, paste the following URL into your favorite downloader:
    http://rowthree.com/audio/cinecast_10/episode_190.mp3

    ALTERNATIVE (no music track):
    http://rowthree.com/audio/cinecast_10/episode_190-alt.mp3

     

     
    Full show notes are under the seats…
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  • 15 Apr

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    Millar’s Crossing: Extended Thoughts on Kick-Ass

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    In Carl Matheson‘s early aughties piece on the humour of TVs The Simpsons, he talks about something he calls hyper-irony: “The flavor of humor offered by today’s comedies is colder, based less on a shared sense of humanity than on a sense of world-weary cleverer-than-thou-ness.” Of course this is not designed to be perjurious, but rather complimentary, insofar as any fan of The Coen brothers reacts to the humour of their equally cleverer-than-thou takes on both genre and cinema. Matthew Vaughn’s new superhero adventure certainly plays in this sandbox and it does it very well. It walks the line of ‘what if’ while soft-shoeing around comic nerd fantasy and realism. Knowing full well that the bulk of comic-book entry points are from the adolescent pure fantasy point of view (Iron Man‘s wise-ass chauvinist inventor stud billionaire anyone?), that is the tone that wins out in the end, but damn if it still wants you to believe that things are set it in real world. I think it is this sort of high-wire act that got The Dark Knight such critical and audience love, although it was done without any sort of ironic distance by Christopher Nolan and company. Kick-Ass seems to specialize in this sort of tone and succeeds (not in making high-art) where the makers behind the film version of Millar’s Wanted completely failed to find the right proportions of grounded-ness and ironic fantasia. Vaughn and Goldman have certainly done the author a service.

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  • 04 Mar

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    Booksmarks for March 1-4

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    • Artifice and truth: From Mean Streets to Shutter Island
      To salute the surprise success of “Shutter Island” (top of the box-office for two weeks running), [Jim Emerson] took some excerpts from an introductory interview Scorsese did for the now out-of-print 2005 MGM DVD release of “New York, New York” and interpolated frame grabs from that movie and others. The result might serve as a primer on how to watch any Martin Scorsese picture.
    • Jeff Bridges Voice-overs Almost Scotched Hyundai Oscars Ads
      With just a few weeks to go before the March 7 Oscar ceremony, Hyundai was told its commercials were unfit for air. The problem? Actor Jeff Bridges has been doing voice-overs for Hyundai since 2007. But Mr. Bridges is also a nominee for best actor in this year’s contest for his role in “Crazy Heart.” So the automaker is keeping the ads but has enlisted seven other celebrities to read the marketing copy.
    • An End Without End: Catastrophe Cinema in the Age of Crisis
      “Dusting off the tedium and ash deposited by Hollywood’s recent spate of catastrophe movies, Evan Calder Williams takes aim at their world-affirming pessimism and calls for some real apocalypse”
    • Are You F*cking Kidding Me? Junket Jornalism Gone Bad.
      Not that the bar was ever set high for the Junketeering set, but this Alice In Wonderland conference seems particularly high in the doofus quotient.
    • A Third Way: The Rise of 3D
      Anthony Lane gives an exhaustive overview of cinema and the Z-axis
    • We Champion Stuff – Five Years of Twitch Love.
      “Twitch turned five years old back in September of 2009 and over those years Todd and his small army of writers have turned up trailers, shed light on numerous ‘strange films from around the world’ and have become a happy crossroads between the art-house and the grindhouse.”

     
     

    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:

  • 28 Feb

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    Bookmarks for Feb. 26-28th

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    • Hollywood hears Roar of Women – Commercial Performance Power of Actresses has Never been Stronger
      “Traditionally, female roles in Hollywood fall into one of three categories: the mother, the ingénue and the quirky (usually unlucky-in-love) best friend or sidekick. Not this year. What we were served in 2009 were some real characters, storylines and performances we could really sink our teeth into.”
    • Variety Will Kill a Bad Review of Your ‘Mediocre’ Movie For Just $400,000
      “Last month, Variety panned a thriller called Iron Cross. But the review has been disappeared from Variety’s web site, which probably has something to do with the $400,000 Iron Cross’ producers paid to Variety for an awards campaign.”
    • David Lynch-ified Movie Trailers
      Well, actually David Lynch had indeed a shot at Return (Revenge) of the Jedi, but passed on it. Want to see what the trailer at least for this, as well as Friday The Thirteenth (Part 5), A Goofy Movie and more would look like? Lynch cliches abound.
    • The Repo Men One Sheet Collection
      Whether or not you feel that the filmmakers are simply re-making Repo! The Genetic Opera with a more traditional style, or there should be a lawsuit, these handsome one-sheets are nifty!
    • The Curious Case of Tilda Swinton
      “Below is a guided tour of Tilda’s career in movie posters. Despite her striking beauty she hasn’t been particularly well served by poster designers (fashion designers, on the other hand, have a field day with her), which makes the I Am Love posters all the more notable. Do make sure to scroll all the way down though for the superb poster for the Beijing installment of her film festival: The Scottish Cinema of Dreams in China. Pure Tilda.”
    • Roger Ebert regains his power of Speech from DVD Commentary Tracks
      “Before I lost my voice due to cancer-related surgery, I’d recorded commentary tracks for some movies on DVD: “Citizen Kane,” “Casablanca,” “Floating Weeds,” “Dark City” and, ah, “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.” These tracks had been recorded separately from the movies, so they could be edited to fit scenes. They might be “pure” audio. I asked two friends of mine, Ronnie Sass of Warner Bros. and Kim Hendrickson of the Criterion Collection, if they still had the original digital recordings. They rummaged in warehouses and found they did.”

     
     

    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:

  • 17 Nov

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    Things You Need to Know Before Seeing New Moon

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    The build-up to New Moon, the much anticipated follow-up Twilight, the first film adapted from Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight Saga,” is palpable. We’re nearing the breaking point of over-saturation and even for a fan, it’s getting a little out of hand. I’ve managed to steer clear of most of the media blitz but you can almost taste the estrogen in the air; the women are about to explode.

    But what of the men? The studio has done a fairly good job of promoting the fact that this film has more action, better effects and an all around a more polished look, but is that enough to draw in the male crowds? We’ll have to see when the film opens on Thursday night (midnight screenings are sold out across the US and Canada) but here’s a hint: if you’ve got a girlfriend who is a fan, you may want to consider sucking it up and going with her to the movies. There are worse ways to earn major brownie points.

    So for you, the lovable twi-dunces in the audience, here are a few tidbits, a cheat sheet if you will, of information that you should know before heading to out to brave the line-ups:

    The Players:

    Edward Cullen – The sex-haired vampire who makes millions of women break into cold sweats. He’s a little creepy (likes to watch women sleep – not to mention a bit stalker-ish), very handsome, gallant and completely in love with Bella. Special power: can read people’s minds.

    Bella Swan – The damsel. She’s accident prone, hates blood, all things cold and wet but loves Edward with all of her heart. Special power: her mind can’t be read.

    Jacob Black – Bella’s best friend who, in this instalment of the story, we also discover is a wolf (not to be confused with werewolf) and in love with Bella. Special power: can control his wolf transformations better than the others.

    Alice Cullen – Edward’s sister. She has a wicked sense of style and loves Bella like a sister. Special power: can see the future.

    The Wolf Pack – Sam (the leader), Paul (the volatile one), Embry (Jacob’s right hand guy), Jared (the joker) and Jacob. They all transform into wolves. Special power: the group can communicate telepathically when in wolf form.

    The Volturi – Aro, Caius, Marcus (all three are leaders), Jane and Alec (guard), Demetri, Felix (enforcers). The Volturi live in Italy and are sort of “rulers” of the undead. They guard the secret of Vampirism from humans and ensure no one strays too far out of line.

    Twilight in 250 words (or less):

    Bella moves to Forks, Washington (the wettest place in the continental US) to live with her dad so that her mother can travel with her new husband. Bella is re-introduced and strikes up a new friendship with Jacob who she used to play with when the two were little.

    On the first day of school, Bella sees the Cullens in a dramatic entrance into the cafeteria and is immediately drawn to Edward (it’s all in the hair). After a rocky start (he looks constipated the first time they meet), Edward and Bella strike up an awkward friendship that is always tinged with sexual tension that eventually transforms into a relationship that mostly sees Edward protecting Bella from a group of wondering Vampires one of which becomes obsessed with munching on Bella. After a heated battle in a ballet studio Bella, Edward and the rest of the gang return to Forks to live happily ever after. That is, until a little event at Bella’s birthday party throws their world out of whack.

    Other tidbits to note:

    - Edward does not want to turn Bella into a vampire in fear that she will regret losing her humanity.

    - Jacob sees Edward as the opponent – the two can’t stand each other.

    - The Cullens don’t drink human blood. The vampires that do have red eyes.

    - In this universe, vampires don’t die in the sun, their skin sparkles in daylight.

    You are now up to date. These little tidbits will help you maneuver through the events that will unfold in New Moon without feeling too lost. Enjoy the film and be sure to check in soon. Review is forthcoming!

  • 01 Oct

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    TIFF 09 Review: An Education

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    A beautifully told, classic coming of age tale through the eyes of a mature, cultured 16 year old growing up in suburban London in the 1960’s, Jenny (Carey Mulligan). Attending an all-girls school, she is by far the most inspired of her peers, the biggest dreamer. Though the dreams of her stern parents have their little girl studying at Oxford next year (and Jenny has the credentials and talent to see it through) her greatest joys come from listening to her Juliette Greco albums, as oppose to playing her cello, and speaking French instead of her dry school-book Latin. With Jenny’s cross into womanhood playing out for the duration of the film, this familiar struggle is an on going battle between her institutional obligations, and the new world she is carefully escorted into as she seeks her path in life.

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  • 03 Sep

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    Spike Jonze, Where The Wild Things Are, The NYT Feature

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    Where the Wild Things Are Movie Still

    It is sitting in the “Bookmarks Sidebar” at the moment, but is worthy of a full entry on the mainpage. Saki Knafo’s substantial feature on Spike Jonze and the long road to get Where The Wild Things Are to the screen in a daring and original (for a children’s novel) fashion.

    Some Choice Snippets are below

    On the famous Sabotage Music Video:
    ” One day Jonze showed up at the apartment wearing a white tank-top and a gold chain with a freshly grown mustache and his hair slicked back. According to Jonze, it was the combination of that 1970s outfit and those 1970s television reruns that inspired him and the band to create their very own three-minute 1970s-style police drama. They decided to shoot everything illegally, without permits. The band members dressed as plainclothes detectives in fake mustaches, polyester suits and aviator shades. Adam Yauch (another Beastie Boy) and Jonze did all the stunt driving. By the end of the two-day shoot, they had destroyed two cameras — the first, an $84,000 Arriflex, while speeding around a bend with the camera bolted to the hood, the second while trying to get an underwater shot with the camera protected only by a Ziploc bag. “We did it the way we did everything,” Jonze said. “Not necessarily the right way, but our way.” In 1999, MTV named “Sabotage” the seventh-best music video of all time.”

    On Where The Wild Things Are philosophy:
    “Although there were plenty of factors that contributed to the movie’s endless delays, what caused Jonze the most grief with the studio seems to have been his insistence on shunning a more traditional narrative in favor of directly conveying, through moments and images, those raw, untamed feelings. The blogs that reported on Jonze’s disagreement with Robinov and other Warner executives tended to frame the dispute in familiar terms, as a conflict between Hollywood’s love of all things light and an auteur’s “dark” vision. Really, though, the quarrel was about something more unusual in Hollywood than darkness versus light, something more central to Jonze’s identity: the question of plot versus attitude.”

    On Where The Wild Things Are reception:
    “Where the Wild Things Are” seems sure to appeal to the sensibilities of a certain cohort of urban young adults — the type who read comic-book novels and wear skateboard sneakers; who might concur with a note I saw one day scrawled on a legal pad in Jonze’s office: “There is no difference between childhood and adulthood.”

    Full NYT Article is here.

  • 26 Aug

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    Bookmarks for August 26th

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    What we’ve been reading – August 26th:

    • A CRITICAL MOMENT: THREE PERSPECTIVES
      Earlier this year the San Francisco International Film Festival screened Gerald Peary's For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism, and followed it up with a free-to-the-public panel entitled "A Critical Moment", moderated by SF360 editor Susan Gerhard. Panel participants included Gerald Peary, B. Ruby Rich, David D'Arcy, Dennis Harvey, John Anderson, Jonathan Curiel, and Mary Pols.
    • The ‘Alt-Canon’ according to the Gospel of Time Out.
      Which 25 movies deserve promotion? David Fear, Joshua Rothkopf and Keith Uhlich make their own list of absolute must-see films.
    • Fanboy $$$
      In the never-ending debate over whether the studios dictate what mass audiences consume or whether they respond to what mass audiences demand, it appears that at this moment in time, they are absolutely meeting the needs of tens of millions of young people across the globe whose tastes are moulded by the internet.
  • 25 Aug

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    Whip It One Sheet and New Release Date

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    I thought the trailer for Drew Barrymore’s Whip It looked like fun. The Ellen Page starring comedy about a girl who finds herself via a local roller derby could be a disaster but the trailer was fun and any movie which features a girl heavy cast and story is likely to get my attention.

    This here’s the newly released one sheet for the film which features Page in all her grungy glory but the thing to really take note of is that the film’s release has been pushed up one week. Whip It will now open on October 2nd instead of the previously announced October 9th. Oh yeah, and apparently there’s no (!) mark in the film’s official title. Thank goodness for The Informant!!

    Whip It One Sheet

  • 17 Aug

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    Row Three Narcissism: Movies We Watched

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    August has been a surprisingly busy month at the cinema, lots of smaller films and an experimental blockbuster or two have offered some pleasant surprises for the summer of 2009. This may explain some of the sleepiness on our part in updating the Movies We Watch section of the site. Below are some of the stuff the writers have been watching that have not been put into a full post anywhere on the site, yet warrant a sentence or two in the interest of stimulating conversation. The complete list of these (since the inception of the feature in 2007) can be accessed by using the icon on the side-bar, and here is a sample:

    Vidocq (2001) 4/5
    If I were to give a rating for the visuals in Vidocq I would have to give it a 5 out of 5. Many times throughout the movie I felt as is I was watching a live action painting. The story itself is a fairly straight forward murder mystery where you watch the murder happen to the main character and then watch the victims biographer track down the killer. Even though both the acting and the story are merely satisfactory I will be revisiting this one over and over just for the visuals. The French director/visual-effects multi-tasker Pitof cut his teeth doing work for Marc Caro & Jean-Pierre Jeunet and went on (after Vidocq) to make the comic book disasterpiece Catwoman -JOHN

    Franklyn (2008) 2.5/5
    With its handsome production design and quite experimental structure and thrust of the story, it is a bit disheartening that Franklyn does not quite come together as a piece of smart entertainment. Using a fractured narrative involving a suicidal woman (Eva Green) a mopey fellow looking for his childhood sweetheart (Sam Riley) and a Gothic comic-book universe involving a masked avenger (Ryan Phillipe) who assassinates religious nuts in a theocratic future, Franklyn has lots of puzzling things it wants to drop on the viewer. Yet it takes far too long to get there, taxing interest/patience to the breaking point. Yes I wanted to know how it all turned out, but only to get the darn thing over with. A shame, because there are some great ideas in there, waiting for a better movie. -KURT

    The King of Kong (2007) 4.5/5
    Despite its alleged deceitful editing, what started with snarky comments of “I can’t believe these guys” soon turned into a “I can’t stop watching this.” A flawed and lone protagonist, a villain and his henchman who has even the law (er, video game referee) under his thumb. It’s documentary drama at its finest. Absolutely magnificent. -JONATHAN

    Harper (1966) 4.5/5
    The mere presence of Paul Newman in a film is usually enough to lift the entire production to another level. With HARPER, not much of a lift was needed; this is an entertaining, engaging crime thriller, with Newman at his best as a Sam Spade-like private detective hired to locate a missing millionaire. With a supporting cast as strong as the lead (including Lauren Bacall as the millionaire’s devious wife), HARPER is a blast. -DAVE

    The Cold Hour (2006) 2.5/5
    A post-apocalyptic survivor picture from Spain that boasts incredible production value, a great collection of actors and far far too many ideas, themes and conceptual quirks to gel into anything special. Biblical names, Zombies, Electrical Monsters, bearded tough guys, sexual awakening, World War II allegory, video journals, gay lovers in the future, to saying things are overstuffed into this holocaust bunker is completely accurate. One can only hope that writer/director Elio Quiroga can find the balance for his imagination and coherence in the future, or trim some of the overindulgences here and start making great new Twilight-Zone styled episodes. -KURT

    Die Hard (1988) 5/5
    “Welcome to the party pal!” This movie seriously kicks all kinds of ass in every way possible. I still say it’s the best action movie of all time and easily Bruce Willis’ highlight. Watching this again (for the 300th time) at 2:30am last weekend I was just amazed at everything occurring here. I spotted some new details and was further amazed at stuff I already knew was fantastic. The humor works like gangbusters, the action sequences are devilishly tricky and exciting. Bruce Willis is the definition of cool. Alan Rickman is the villain – need I say more? There’s a scene in which one of the bad guys steals a candy bar from the display case while he’s supposed to be guarding the door. The music that plays during that 10 seconds of humor is priceless. “I’m special agent Johnson, this is special agent Johnson… no relation.” The FBI guys are hilarious. Argyle. Ellis. Yeah, this movie completely obliterates all other action comedies and I can’t ever see it being beaten. “WOO-HOO! Just like fuckin’ Saigon, eh slick?” – “I was in Jr. High… dickhead.” -ANDREW

  • 14 Aug

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    Kate Winslet on TV? Yes Please!

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    Kate WinsletI have yet to read James M. Cain’s 1941 novel “Mildred Pierce” and sadder still, I haven’t seen the film for which Joan Crawford won an Oscar but with these news, I’m ready to delve head first into both the book and the film.

    Variety is reporting that Kate Winslet is attached to star in a miniseries adaptation of the story set in 1930’s Los Angeles of a middle-class, single mother’s attempt to maintain her and her family’s social position during the Great Depression. If the news that Winslet has signed on for the production aren’t enough to get the glands salivating, perhaps news that Todd Haynes is set to adapt and direct the project will do the job. I wonder if there’s a role somewhere in there for Julianne Moore? This has multiple Emmy wins written all over it.

    Though this new incarnation of “Mildred Pierce” has yet to find a home, there is speculation that this will find space at HBO and I’m sure that if they pass it up (though I find that highly doubtful), Showtime will step into the action. Either way, I’m ready to see it.

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